#also I saw someone who said he was running all over the casino before the first show looking really busy

[oliwrightofficial]

https://twitter.com/lwtmoonrry/status/1663349503171219465

https://twitter.com/lwtmoonrry/status/1663354731782107136

https://twitter.com/lwtmoonrry/status/1663354921398173700

bonus:

😂

Oli let's see the jewelry! In fact let's see YOU, we're three dates in to tour and sadly lacking Oli sightings and stories let's see some pictures Canada!!

[fanfic-compass]

~Deal?~

Alastor X Reader

Summary: You're the newest Overlord and meet Alastor at a Meeting, tempting him to offer you a deal.

Word count: 1.3K

It was your first overlord meeting. Nobody knew who you were when you suddenly appeared in hell and killed a man who was coming just a little too close. Little did you know you killed an overlord on your very first day in hell but that asshole deserved it with the way he was trying to touch you and talking you into becoming a porn star.

Anyways, as soon as you killed that guy you felt a weird tingling sensation as if you could feel power running through your veins. And then you started your own little business in hell by building a casino. Who doesn’t like to gamble? And soon your casino attracted thousands of visitors every week and thanks to some of them being completely delusional with their stakes you also got many of their souls.

And then you got an invitation to a meeting of all the overlords of hell. You were excited and curious to see what they had to discuss and who they were. You stepped into a dark alley and you immediately stated questioning whether or not everything was just some prank or revenge. They alley looked so dark and shabby but then you saw another man. He was much taller than you, wore an elegant red coat and a monocle and he had red and black hair. But what you definitely saw first was the big smile on his face that showed his sharp teeth and simply looked creepy. For a moment he looked into what appeared to be a surveillance camera and then he got into an elevator. After carefully watching him you decided to follow him and see where he would go.

So you got into the elevator too and when you stepped out you found yourself in a big hallway with many other people. There were more elevators than you could see on the outside and so you couldn’t help but wonder where they all came from. But you did notice that they were all walking in the same direction and so you simply followed them into a big meeting room. There was a large table in the middle with many different people around it. When you stepped closer you were immediately greeted by a woman you’ve seen before, her name was Carmilla Carmine. You knew she was selling weapons but other than that she was a mystery to you. However she seemed rather friendly.

“Ah, our newest addition. Take a seat.” She gestured for you to sit down somewhere which you quickly did. You sat next to a woman who introduced herself as Rosie and you went along really well. She told you about the tasty side of cannibalism and invited you to come over to have a cup of tea. You agreed, although you were kinda scared that you were her next meal. When you wanted to ask her something again you heard someone clearing their throat which made you turn around in shock. And then you stared into the face of none other than the man you saw at the elevator earlier with his smile that sent shivers down your spine.

“Excuse me, my dear but you’re sitting in my seat. So would you please move?” He said, sounding awfully polite and not once dropping that smile.

You quickly wanted to move, scared of what he would be able to do if you didn’t but before you could get up, Carmilla spoke up.

“Brave words for someone we haven’t seen in seven years, Alastor.”

“Well yes, I have been absent for some time, I’m sure you’ve all been missing me, wondering where I am.”

“Not really.” Carmilla answered bluntly.

Somehow you could see that Alastor didn’t like the fact that she didn’t really care but yet his smile didn’t drop a bit which was honestly impressive and a bit scary too.

“But welcome back anyways. However you will simply have to find another seat if yours is taken.”

“Oh, I can move, no problem.” You offered, standing up but you were quickly pulled back onto your seat by Rosie.

“Don’t you worry, darling.” She said. “Alastor can find another seat.”

Shortly after that the meeting started. It was quite boring business about extermination day and you had to admit you weren’t really interested in all that. So after the meeting you quickly made your way out and went back home.

You were exhausted from your day so you quickly headed off to bed and fell asleep. In the middle of the night though you quickly got woken up again by weird noises. You got out of bed and investigated when you suddenly saw a figure standing in the corner of your bedroom, staring right at you.

“Hello?” You asked, trying to hide the fear in your voice.

The person stepped into the light and you saw that it was Alastor.

“Hello, my darling.” He said in his charming voice that carried a heavy radio static.

“What are you doing in my bedroom?”

“Well, I noticed you at the meeting today and I was absolutely intrigued by you. What a stunning young lady you are, down here in hell and immediately an overlord. Not many people got so high so quickly. Nobody except me actually.”

You knew his story, Rosie told you after the meeting. He was the radio demon who broadcasted the screams of everyone who tried to harm him.

“I know about you.” You told him.

“Very well, my dear. Then you are aware what I am capable of doing once you get in my way.” His smile grew a bit.

“I do not plan to get in your way. I am running my casino, I have my fair share of souls, I’m happy.”

“I don’t believe you are. Which is why I am here.”

“To kill me and broadcast my screams? Am I too powerful for your liking?”

Alastor laughed. “Oh no, darling. You are perfectly powerful. In fact I came to offer you a deal: We will combine our power to become the most feared pair in hell. We would be working closely together to get everyone under our command.”

It did sound tempting. “And how will I know once we did that you won’t kill me to have everything for yourself?”

Alastor chuckled. “That’s part of the deal, if one of us dies, the other one dies too.”

“That sounds too good to be so simple. So tell me, what do you want in return?” You knew that a deal would never be so easy. A deal always had a catch.

“We will work closely together, we will be partners. Not just in the conventional way like two business partners.”

Ohhhhh, you understood. But he didn’t seem like the type of man who cared about something like that. And Alastor must have noticed that because he quickly started explaining.

“You see, I was enraptured by you today. How you weren’t scared, how you didn’t care and the fact that you’re so powerful after such a short time… truly inspiring, darling. So what do you say? You will be mine and I will be yours… I’ll give you twelve hours to think about it.”

With that he was gone as quickly as he came, leaving you speechless and confused. You started thinking about it and finally made a decision. In the morning you walked o his radio station where you knocked on the door and were quickly greeted by a smiling Alastor. You didn’t need to say a word before he stormed towards you and kissed you fiercely.

The feeling of his lips on yours was a new sensation and you were startled for a moment before melting into him. He held you tightly but he didn’t force you into any position, he was a gentleman after all. After a moment he pulled away and grinned.

“I assume we have a deal?” He asked and without letting you answer he kissed you once again, sealing the deal.

[anonymousdisco]

How’d I get Isikiad into Yandere Obey Me Chapter Six: Hello Big Brother Part Two

(Y/N) POV:

“It’s time. He’s about fifteen minutes away.” Glitch informed me as she woke me from my nap.

”Thanks for the heads up.” I got down from the tree quickly and checked my eyes by using a compact mirror. Feeling that they weren’t red and puffy enough I rubbed them again and dabbed my cheeks slightly using water from a water bottle so it would be damp to the touch. Then I went back to the HOL as quickly as I could. Thankfully I hadn’t gone too far.

”This is gonna be one heck of a doozy to pull off, glitch.” I muttered before getting into character letting myself reveal my limp from my leg I sprained earlier. I also let my eyes tear up as I saw Mammons car pull into the driveway. I enter through the back door not letting him see me yet and I ‘coincidently’ ran into him just as he entered through the side door.

Mammons POV:

I entered quietly hoping not to get caught after being at the casino so long. Stupid casino keeping me on a win streak till last moment. I muttered angrily to myself over the money I lost as I started walking back to my room. On my way there I bumped into someone.

”Oi knock it off! Watch where you’re going and don’t bump into me-“ I trailed off as I saw who it was. “It’s late what are you doing up?” I looked her up and down as I said this noticing her looking a bit… strange. Like she’d been crying her eyes out. And why was she wearing outdoors clothes inside?

”I’m sorry…” She whispered timidly. “I didn’t mean to run into you. It was an accident. It’s hard to get out the way in time since-“ She stopped abruptly not speaking any further. She twiddled her hands nervously and despite not knowing her well I couldn’t help but be concerned a bit.

”Since what?” I asked her not letting her leave it alone.

”My ankle.” She looked at the ground with tears in her eyes. “It hurts so much.” 

I felt concerned immediately. Sure I always ignored her but I can’t just leave my little sibling injured! Lucifer would kill me! “Come over here.” I dragged her to my room and grabbed a first aid kit. 

Sitting her down on my couch I started unpacking things from the first aid kit. “Which ankle?” She pointed at the ankle that was hurt and I took off her shoes and socks before rolling up her pants enough to see the injury and I winced upon inspecting it.

”What in the name of Diavolo happened to you?” I inspected it carefully pressing on it slightly to feel for any broken bones.

“I fell in school.” I scoffed at her answer.

”Ain’t no way this is from a fall. I fall all the time and I don’t end up swollen this bad. I think it’s sprained. Luckily we have some healing potions that are still good in the first aid kit. We’ll have to wrap it in gauze after putting a balm on it too.”

I made her drink the potion and I treated her ankle. “So what really happened?”

”Like I said I fell. The halls were crowded at RAD and I think someone shoved me by accident. I ended up feeling something hurting but I ignored it so I could go to class.” Her shoulders drooped timidly. “I know it’s hard to believe but I’m not lying.” Tears started to flow again from her eyes and internally I panicked. I hadn’t soothed any of my little sibling since shortly after… Lilith died. I hesitantly sat next to her as she started to sob till awkwardly I held her. It wasn’t long till she was crying on my shoulder probably from whatever pain and stress she had today. When was the last time I got to hold one of my little siblings like this? Even belphie was too old to be taken care of now. And Lilith was long gone for me to take care of.

As I held her I couldn’t help but wonder why I hadn’t noticed she was in pain earlier. In fact when had I ever noticed her? After Lilith died it was all so painful I couldn’t even look at her. Father had created her just before the war started and she had been given to us at the time. She wasn’t even old enough to make her own decisions yet. We had all just dragged her along our rebellion and she had fallen as a result.

Feeling uncomfortable with all these sad memories she was reminding me off I showed her out my room almost slamming the door in her face before going to lay down to sleep.

(Y/N) POV: 

I went back to my room making sure to look sad till I was alone. Once I was glitch’s screen chimed and glowed green.

Message: Congrats User! You completed the mission within the timeframe. Click to open your surprise reward here:

A button popped up that I pressed. Once pressed virtual confetti appeared while a virtual gift box opened up to reveal my reward.

”That’s it?!” I asked incredulously as I held it in my hands. “This was what all my effort was for?!”

Glitch replied its screen glowing slightly red as it almost vibrated. “That is a highly valuable item I’ll have you know! It’s extremely hard to get and the fact you got it out of a random lottery on the first try is amazing!”

”But what does it even do?!” I held it up to the light puzzled.

”That quill has the ability to rewrite one detail of the story you are in so long as it doesn’t majorly damage the overall plot. There’s chances to earn more in the future but they’re very rare. I can’t believe you got one!” Glitch seemed to lighten its screen a bit as it buzzed around in excitement.

”I’ll have to keep this handy then just in case. Where should I put it…?” I looked around my room carefully.

”Why not inside your storage in the system?” Glitch sugested helpfully.

”My what now?” I looked confused.

”Did you not pay attention to the tutorial this morning? Select storage from the main menue and pass the object you want stored through my screen. It’ll then pop up on a list you can then take it out from when you want it back. Things can’t expire while on storage btw.” Glitch explained as I followed along to what it said to do. 

I yawned when I was done. “Goodnight glitch.”

”Goodnight user.” Glitch’s screen dimmed its light and turned transparent as I went to lay down to sleep.

Mammon

~Affection: 7% he refuses to believe he care for you though since he’s a tusndere

“Stupid little sister getting tears all over my expensive jacket… Crying all profusely. Not that I care though since the Great Mammon is above such a thing!

~Relation- Reluctant Older Brother 

~Danger Level- Green

[anqelically-archived]

hello! If i may ask for a prombt,can you mabey do sigma with the comfort prombt 13 and 14?

home | sigma x gn!reader

word count: 0.7k

content: manga spoilers, comfort, my first time writing sigma so probably not the best thing in the world

navigation | bsd masterlist | event

pawns are disposable pieces once they’ve been played. there was no need to keep them around once they’d completed their role, so it was always best to sacrifice them and continue on.

sigma was the pawn in this case.

a pawn of one person handed to another, he continued to be used. it was when he fell into the hands of the demon fyodor that he knew that this would be his last run.

he was new to the world and what it had to offer, and that’s what made it easy to manipulate sigma. after he completes what he has to do, fyodor would have him killed. knowing that fact instilled fear into the casino man.

also knowing what fate awaited him made sigma lose his mind. constantly running in circles over it, he began to feel sick.

you didn’t know sigma for long, but he was easy for you to read. he came off as confident and composed, but you saw past that exterior once you used your ability.

your special ability allowed you to read the emotions of people you looked in the eye. although it could be awkward or unnerving to other people, you often used it.

you harbored no ill intent, but it always felt easier to communicate with someone you understood. with your ability, it became possible.

it was because you could read emotions that you managed to gain the trust of the man who ran the sky casino. you’ve always been a good talker, so the words you’ve said to sigma have always provided him some sort of comfort.

but with his association with the decay of the angel and the fact that you were just a civilian, there was almost no hope. sigma would be taken out and you’d have to move on with your life. that was the harsh truth.

you were done playing another game at the casino when you noticed sigma hadn’t visited you yet. you never asked him to, but the dual-haired man visited at least one of your games every day you were in the casino. but as the day wrapped up, you still haven’t seen him around.

you decided to visit him in his office, which he’s welcome you into before. the two armed guards standing outside recognized you but were reluctant to let you inside. with a couple of believable lies spilling from your lips, you were allowed in.

you opened the door silently, looking inside to see if anyone was inside. sigma, the only one there, sat at his desk. his hands gripped at his hair tightly, his shoulders slumped and head down. with the door clicking shut behind you, he jumped in his spot.

his head whipped up to you, and you could see the faint tears on his cheeks.

“sigma…” you murmured as you started to walk towards him.

he immediately swerved his chair around and attempted to fix his appearance, “you shouldn’t be in here, y/n.”

“i know that, but i couldn’t help myself after not being able to see you all day. i wanted to see if you were alright-“

once you arrived at his desk, you attempted to grab his shoulder. the manager flinched at your touch and you immediately took your hand back.

“you don’t have to be afraid,” you told him, “it’s just me. i’m not here to hurt you…”

sigma’s lips parted at your words. with your comforting hand on his shoulder, he found some courage to look at you. he’s been judged by many before, so it didn’t matter to add another.

but instead of saying anything harsh, you merely wiped the corners of his eyes, “it’s okay to cry, you know. i know i shouldn’t be here in the first place, but you don’t have to hide it from me.”

after you wiped his tears away, you took his cheeks and cupped them with your hands. new to this sort of affection, sigma stiffened. you were just a customer… so why? why must he feel this way?

he’s never had a home, and maybe he thought the casino could be it. but he was wrong, the casino was part of him. his home? well, sigma has found it in you.

he leaned into your hands, “thank you, y/n. thank you…”

note: thank you for requesting!! hopefully i’ve done sigma justice ;)

reblogs are appreciated!

[kolyubov]

could you do like asking sigma to kiss ur sh scars?? also sorry for sending like a million requests I obviously don’t expect you to do them all

tw sh. if this kind of content triggers you, please, for your own good, don't keep reading.

hii nonnie<3, I forgot to put on my rules that I don't write this kind of thing, but I'll make an exception this time (and maybe even other times) because I know some people might need it. Someone might be going through hard times and need or seek comfort in these types of things, at least that's what I think…

and from this part on, I'm kinda like venting, if you don't wanna read it, you can just skip to the fic itself<3

I'm not good with words (let alone if I have to write in English) but I just wanna let you know, if you're having a hard time ( whatever the reason might be) that eventually things get better. Maybe not today, but someday. I know what it feels and I wish I could hug each person that's feeling down. If no one has ever said this to you; I care about you and your life matters a lot. Yes, I don't know you, but it doesn't matter. To me, every person is important just because they're humans to begin with.

If you have the opportunity, you can search for help with who you know it's going to help you. If someone really really cares about you, they will try to help you. They might not know how to react but please remember that they're humans too, and like I said, if they care about you they'll help you eventually.

I know it sounds cliché, but please, don't hurt yourself, and don't blame yourself.

I'm proud of how far you've come🫂.

Once again, I don't write this type of content. I'm not sure if this turned out well or not but I hope it helps.

Sigma kissing your sh scars.

(very short drabble)

Sigma and you were lying in bed, facing each other. His fingertips brushed against your forearm slowly, caressing it with feather-like touches.

This morning, after noticing you were feeling depressed, Sigma decided to take the day off for once and spend it with you. After all, his subordinates can take care of the Sky Casino on their own for a while.

Of course, the Casino is important for him, but you and your health are far more important. Sigma wants to be there when you need it. Always.

So when he saw the scars on your arms, he immediately assisted you. Bringing you to his room cleaning your wounds with careful hands and whispering soothing words. Then, he told you to stay with him in bed, just cuddling, no words needed.

His gray eyes went to your face, admiring your lovely features— the way your eyelashes flutter, the way your lips part, the way your eyebrows knit together as you’re deep in thought. Everything about you makes his heart flutter; he wishes you could see the way it beats for you.

“Can I kiss your scars?” He whispered, giving you a small smile.

After seeing you nod, he brings your arm closer, pampering kisses all over your forearm, taking his time with each wound. His lips pressed delicately against your skin, making sure he was not bringing you any more pain.

“Angel, if you ever feel down again, just call me… I don't like seeing you in pain…” He cups your cheeks again, this time with both hands, rubbing soothing circles on your skin.

Sigma kisses your forehead before pulling you into a hug; your head resting on his chest as he runs his fingers through your hair. The other hand is rubbing circles on your back.

“Everything is going to be okay, trust me. I'm here for you, darling.”

© 2024 pinklacydovey

[aestheticallyuncanny]

Did some more art to express Esperanza's story! Long reading ahead!

The first image is when her father's best friend, Enrico, found her outside his apartment building. He thought someone was trying to break in, but when he realized who he was looking at, the kind man immediately scooped up Esperanza in his arms, getting her cleaned up.

Esperanza was beyond relieved to see the man she considered her uncle, the two embracing each other with a sense of relief. Though, they both were confused as to why the other was there.

After Esperanza expressed her sins, she listened to Enrico as he explained his own. Apparently, while he was alive, he saw that her father, Manuelo, was struggling to provide for his little girl while also trying to fund his shows.

Wanting to help, Enrico did the unthinkable, and got involved with the mob. He stole money, and gave it to Manuelo, but would find himself drowned at the bottom of a lake for snitching on the mob.

After hearing this, Esperanza begged Enrico for forgiveness, apologizing and blaming herself for all the tragedy that befell their family. Enrico reassured her that he did not regret it, because he got to see his niece happy and fed before he died, and his best friend stable. And that made it all worth it.

The two would live together for 3 years, happy to have family again. Enrico would begin to help Esperanza get gigs at the clubs in hell, so she could provide income for their rent. Sadly, Enrico would pass away protecting Esperanza during an extermination, leaving her alone once again.

For 30 years, Esperanza gained popularity and was being bought out to perform at the various nightclubs, until a certain charming overlord would take notice of her, and offer her a deal.

Wanting security, and knowing if she worked for an Overlord she would be a lot safer, Esperanza signed her soul to a deal with Husk. She would perform and use her popularity to bring people to the casino, while he made sure she had everything she needed and wanted.

During their time together, like I said in the last post, the two became very close friends. Esperanza trusted Husk, and not once did he ever take advantage of her. He was a gentleman, and cared for her very deeply.

She would often tease him about the bell-bottom jumpsuits he would put her in, considering he died in the 1970s and liked the look on her.

The two would spend many night together, talking and laughing as they shared stories of their lives. Someone did once ask Husk if she was his "broad", or a plaything, but he made sure to put that demon in their place.

"Babydoll ain't no toy. And she isn't a fucking pet either. She's someone I trust very deeply, and you better fucking respect her unless you want this bottle broken over your damn head."

And this bond would remain even after Husk lost his soul to Alastor. When he relinquished Esperanza's soul back to her, he told her to run and get his other loyal employees to safety.

At first, Esperanza didn't want to leave Husk, willing to lose her life for the man who kept her safe and made her feel happy again, but Husk yelled at her to leave. That he wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to her.

With tears in her eyes, she gathered her friends and got them all to the safehouse, where she used the key he gave her to access all their funds.

It was because of Enrico, and because of Husk, that she got to where she was. She used every penny she earned to build her club, and she still attributes her success to those who took a chance on her.

She felt it only right to name her club 'Manuelo's', after her father, but made sure to honor the other important figures in her life as well. The swing band that plays in her club is called "Enrico's Ensemble", the members being made up of some friends she made while working under Husk. They heard her story, and were happy to help her achieve her dream.

Meanwhile, the signature drink at her bar is called "Husker's Vice". And it happens to be her top seller.

She performs almost every night at her club, never having grown tired of the thrill it gives her. Even after over 70 years of it, Esperanza doesn't plan on retiring her pipes anytime soon. ♡

[jacobb99]

I saw something strange at my local Astro-Mart pt. 4

Sorry for the lack of uploads recently, things have been weird as hell. So I won’t delay too much and just get right into this.

EDIT: Hey, so things got even crazier this was supposed to go up last Friday but my ISP flipped me the bird so now until further notice I’m uploading these from the local McDonalds.

First off apparently the store has some kind of time warpy altery effect? Okay, so my shift is supposed to be only 9 hours long including my two half hour breaks. However, it always feels like its longer, and my phone doesn’t really work right while in the store, and we don’t have a clock inside so I thought it was just that making it seem longer, kinda the reverse of the thing casinos do. But nope it really started bothering me so I did the first thing I could think of, check the security footage since it has a timer on it. And what do you know turns out my feeling was right, while only 9 hours have passed during my shift there is 11 hours of footage from when I come in to when I clock out. I’m slightly tempted to see about contacting my boss and maybe use that to get more paid hours but at this rate I would be surprised if it turned out the owner can’t melt my brain by thinking it. Are there any laws about this? I’m pretty sure Florida doesn’t have any laws that prevent employers from sticking you in a time warp but it feels like there should be.

The Smorgasbeast is back, turns out I was right when I thought I saw it creeping around outside the store, its apparently been eating out of the dumpster. I have also learned it really likes hot dogs, so now I bring some with me incase its hanging around when I take the trash to out back. Also, before I continue I’m still confused by all the comments saying that the Smorgasbeast is a Caudate, still super confused cause when I look that up I just get brain scan images.

I’ve had a few more “supernatural” customers since the last post, mainly a cyclops, What may have been a skinwalker or something, a walking pile of what I think were the cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls, and someone who I think is probably my favorite customer. But first lets go over the others.

The “cyclops” is kinda simple, this short dude, probably 3 ft. and some change, and buff as hell. If you told me this guy could pic up a car I would believe you. Anyway he walks gets himself a cup of coffee, and a bottle of oil (the kind for a car). And that was kinda that, he didn’t really say anything.

The skincrawler guy on the other hand was an, interesting one, so its about 11 pm on Wednesday and this dude with a deerskull on his head, complete with antlers, wearing nothing but furs and carrying a spear. He walks down the isles as I try not to make eye contact and comes back to the counter with a tin of spam, a bag of pork rinds, a hershy bar, and a Frostie Root Bear. He hands me a $50, then he says something in a language I don’t recognize, picks up his goods and leaves. It kinda sounded like he said aeiou afgan kid?

Alright, now he have to get the downright most bizarre thing I have seen since taking this job, the TP guy. Alright so its like 3 am, I’m chilling out listening to Moon Base Alpha songs cause I was bored as hell and hoping my shift would just end, when the door opens and in walks in this guy made of cardboard toilet paper tubes with a roll of TP for a head. Like this guy looked like a stick figure. So at this point I’ve paused my music cause, well there is a customer, and cause I kinda like to all my senses when the spooky stuffs happening. Anyway so it goes skipping down the isles like a shitty extra for the sound of music or something, and kept doing so for probably about 25 minutes, I was about to ask if I could help or something like I’m supposed to when it sticks its arms straight out to its sides (think like a T-pose) and it freaking sprints down the chip isle knocking. EVERY. SINGLE. BAG. Off the shelves, all of them. It then runs like its going to go out the door, but instead just runs into the door, exploding and sending cardboard tubes everywhere. Needless to say, after I regained my composer I spent the rest of my shift cleaning up the mess it left behind. If anyone has any ideas what that thing was some info would be appreciated, I’m partly wanting it cause I’m just confused, and partly because I’d like it to never return.

Alright, now onto Cloyed. My new favorite customer. Okay, so normally I’m fine with not being talked to by the customers, mostly cause on a given night most of them are just the creepy locals, and that one guy from the local church who comes in exclusively to preach at me how incest isn’t a sin and is the only way into heaven. So yeah, I’m usually pretty glad my more paranormal visitors aren’t talkative. Then I met Cloiyed. Now I want you to imagine this, its like midnight, you’re listening to Peper Steak while cleaning up a bottle of vegetable oil that decided to explode to make your night more interesting. You go sit down at the counter when a skeleton walks in. I’m not talking like a really skinny person, I mean what looks like one of those skeletons you’d have seen in your biology class on a stand, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, the classic socks and sandals combo, and wearing a pair of those stupid sunglasses, the ones where the lenses are made to look like a pineapple that you’ll find some of the tourist trap places down here selling, also the glasses still have the tag from wherever he bought them from still on it. Anyway so this guy walks up, leans on the counter and says

“Howdy Ho there pal, The name's Cloyed, and I'm just clawing my way through life. Say, mind if I shell out some dough for a pack of those smokes? I'm just dying for a puff."

Now as weird as hell this was I honestly having a hard time keeping from laughing, not quite sure why but I was just kinda over taken with a sense of. Humor? Laughter? Not sure, anyway I managed to keep my composure and ask what brand he wanted.

"Ah, the brand question. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I'm looking for something that won't make me feel like I've been buried six feet under. Any recommendations that won't leave a bad aftertaste or a skeleton in my closet?"

So, I ask him if he would like some Winston brand ones, (we are supposed to recommend Winston for some reason even though I’ve never met anyone who smokes that brand)

 "Well, I don't mean to sound like a pinchy penny, but I've had a few bad experiences with those before. Let's just say they left a bit of a crabby taste in my mouth. But, hey, I'm not here to point fingers or wave claws. If that's all you got, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it, or in my case, grin and shell it.”

I then let him know we also have Newports, and to be honest I was starting to wonder if he was blind cause you know there’s a huge cigarette display right behind me.

"Absolutely! You've been such a great help, I'll definitely take a pack. Mind if I pay with cash? I know it's not the most modern way to pay, but I'm just an old-fashioned fellow. I promise it's not counterfeit, I wouldn't want to get caught in a shell game, you know?"

I let him know that he can and he pays me with a Hamilton and waves at me telling me to stay safe as he leaves.

Needless to say that is one of the more pleasant encounters I have had recently.

So uh a few things before I disappear again, first I again want to thank everyone for the comments and likes.

I’ve been thinking about calling the Smorgasbeast “Smorgy” for short, both cause Smorgasbeast is a pain to spell and cause that’s kinda what I’ve been referring to it internally for a bit now, cause Smorgasbeast was just the name I slapped on the thing. Not sure, let me know what you think about that.

I made a shitposty kinda image to show you what the TP guy looked like. I’ll post it on my tumbler and my subreddit r/AstroMartStories

Saw the Tall man again this week, still creepy as all get out.

To u/Katters8811 I’m thinking your theory about Antonio and this job is correct.

To answer some other questions I am 24 years old. Not sure why that is such a popular question.

I do not smoke, never have and don’t as of now plan on picking up the habit.

I’m sleeping a little better now.

[obeymeoasis]

Demon Bros React: MC Defends Them From Nasty Remarks

Warnings: Explicit language, MC being mildly violent (throwing/kicking things).

Lucifer

Lucifer had just finished some paperwork for Diavolo and was on his way to R.A.D to deliver it.

In the hallway he could hear two demons talking and laughing. As he got closer he heard them say "Lucifer" and instinctively ducked into a nearby alcove.

"Lucifer's such an asshole." "I know, right? He acts like he's so much better than the rest of us when really, he just has a huge stick up his ass. It's no wonder he doesn't have any friends. Even his own brothers don't like him!" "He'll probably spend the rest of his life being Diavolo’s little bitch."

He would be lying if the comments didn't make him angry. But it was far from the worst thing he had heard about himself and would definitely not be the last time someone spoke ill of him.

With a weary sigh, Lucifer turned toward the south entrance where he could walk in order to avoid the demons. He could have strode past and glared at them menacingly. He could have made them grovel on their knees. But he was honestly exhausted and looked forward to this day being over as soon as possible. Plus, it would reflect poorly on Lord Diavolo if he started a fight with some lesser demons over this.

Suddenly, the chatter of the demons was interrupted by a loud thumping sound followed by the sound of one of the demons screeching in pain.

Lucifer quickly turned around to see- Oh no. You were standing in front of the demons, rage clear on your face. The demon who had yelled in pain was crouched on the ground holding his bruised shoulder. A History of the Devildom textbook was open on the ground, pages crumpled.

Did you... did you just throw a textbook at a demon?

Before he could even move, he heard your angry voice. "Listen here you fuckers. How dare you talk about Lucifer like that. He's one of the kindest, most intelligent, most thoughtful beings I've ever met. And you have no right to speak of him like that! I love him!"

Lucifer's heart burst at your declaration, his cheeks warming in pleasure. The two demons however, who had been gaping at you in shock, were now beginning to look murderous. The injured one stood up and slowly inched toward you, a vicious grin on his face. "Oh, is that so? And what the hell is a weak human like you going to do about it?"

You opened your mouth to speak but before you could say anything, Lucifer picked you up and threw you over his shoulder. "Love, I appreciate how you stood up for me. There's not many people who have done so for me before. But any more would cause trouble. And also, please don't throw textbooks at others, no matter how much you think they deserve it."

With a smug smile on his face, Lucifer began to walk toward the dorms. You, however, were struggling to turn your head around, still yelling and pointing angrily at the demons. "This isn't over! Sleep with your eyes wide open! You'll be hearing from my lawyer!"

He really did love you.

Mammon

Mammon was at the casino on a Monday night. It was lively as always, crowds of people playing group games and others drinking and mingling.

But for some reason, Mammon felt like being alone. He was in one of the more quiet corners, playing the slot machines.

He honestly should have been back at the dorms doing his homework. He was here because he felt like he had to, but his heart wasn't really in it. Mammon thought about packing it up early and texting you to see if you wanted to hang out.

The sudden sound of glass shattering broke through his thoughts. There was some sort of commotion going on and Mammon could hear angry yelling and cursing, some kind of argument.

Like many of the other customers, Mammon drifted toward the noise wanting to see what had happened. His heart sank when he saw you in the middle of the crowd, still in your R.A.D uniform, arguing with an older demon who Mammon recognized as a regular. They had played some games together before that always ended in angry accusations. The remains of a drinking glass lay shattered on the floor.

Mammon quickly rushed to your side. "MC, what the hell are you doing here?! What happened?" Up close he could see how livid you looked, you were trembling with fury.

The older demon opened his mouth while gesturing at his ruined clothes. "This bitch threw a drink at me! I should have them arrested! Do you know how much this tuxedo costs?" Ignoring him, you turned to face Mammon.

"Mams, Lucifer told me to check up on you and you weren't answering my calls. So I decided to come in person to make sure you were okay. But then I heard this asshole saying terrible things about you to his friends, calling you a liar and a cheater and all kinds of horrible names that you're not!"

Mammon was shocked to see you were struggling to fight off your tears, your lower lip quivering. "I know how caring and genuine and loving you are and I couldn't stand by while he said those things about you! None of it’s true!"

Overcome with emotion Mammon embraced you fiercely, shielding you from the other demon. "Oh, babe. Ya really are a special one.” Mammon gently stroked your hair and whispered in your ear. “I don't care about what he said, but thanks for sticking up for me. I love ya so much."

"Now let's make a run for it so that demon doesn't kill us."

Leviathan

Levi was slowly getting used to being in a relationship with you in public. At first, interactions were limited to the privacy of his room: cuddling and watching movies, gaming together, reading manga together. But now he looked forward to waiting for you after classes and walking home with you while holding hands.

His face got really red and he had a hard time making eye contact with you but still, he thought it was an improvement.

Right now he was waiting for you outside your classroom, scrolling through his D.D.D to kill time. Suddenly, he heard someone call your name.

“MC, you’re dating Levi right?” At the sound of his name he peeked in the window to see you cornered by three demons. He saw you nod. 

The demons began to barrage you with questions. “Why are you with a loser like that? Doesn’t he like never leave his room?” “He’s honestly the ugliest out of his family. I don’t believe that Levi and Asmo are related.” “You don’t actually find him attractive, do you?” “Are you with him ‘cause he’s like the easiest to control?” 

Each word felt like someone was piercing his heart. These were all things that he had thought or wondered himself, days when the darkness seemed to win over his mind. But to have them spoken out loud, especially in front of you, it was unbearable. It was as if his lowest and most shameful thoughts were being justified.

He was afraid to hear what your answers would be. Biting his lower lip, Levi turned to head home by himself but flinched at the loud sound of something slamming into the wall. He peeked inside the window again and saw you standing there, furious, your hands clenched into fists. You had apparently kicked one of the desks into the wall, black scuff marks clearly visible against the white paint.

“Alright, listen here you despicable fucks because I’m only going to say this once. My relationship with Levi is private, meaning all of your questions can be answered with ‘none of your damn business’. But since you’ve gone out of your way to waste my time, I’ll let you know this: Leviathan is more beautiful, inside and out, than any of you will ever be in your entire miserable lives. I honestly don’t think you deserve to breathe the same air as him and I hope Levi summons Lotan to devour the three of you."

Levi’s jaw was on the floor. He had never heard you speak that way. He had never had someone defend him so fiercely. His thoughts were interrupted by the classroom door suddenly slamming open as you walked out."

“Oh Levi, tell me you didn’t hear anything just now.” Your eyes were wide and you looked at him nervously.

Levi grabbed your hand and held it tight between two of his own. “I did, but it’s alright. Thanks for what you said.”

“Anything for my Lord of Shadows.”

Satan

Satan was heading to the library, your usual after-school spot. Some days you two spent hours there doing homework, reading, or just chatting quietly about your day before heading to dinner.

As he approached the table he saw you sitting down with a stranger seated opposite you. Leaning closer he was relieved to see it was a classmate you were friendly with, someone he knew you hung out with occasionally.

Satan was about to say hello when he stopped at the mention of his name. "MC, are you sure it's wise to be this involved with Satan?"

He quickly ducked behind a nearby bookshelf. Satan usually wasn't one to eavesdrop like this but the question concerned him.

"MC, I'm asking you for your sake. Satan is dangerous. He's violent and cruel. There are rumors about him beating up other demons and doing horrible things to them. What if he tries to hurt you too?"

Satan flinched. Sure his wrath had led him to do some destructive things before, but it was never without reason. Is this how you saw him as well? His thoughts began to spiral. What if you grew scared of him? Of his wrath? What if you flinched at his touch? That would hurt more than any of the rumors that swirled about him. 

Satan saw you take a deep breath before speaking. "Well, I appreciate you talking to me about this. I know you meant the best and were just thinking about me. But I promise you, you have nothing to be worried about. Satan would never hurt me."

He saw your friend shake their head, exasperated. "But you don't know that! What if one day he can't control himself and has an outburst or something?"

You replied carefully. "Satan is gentle. Incredibly so. He always treats me with nothing but respect and kindness. And Satan's not some kind of monster. He knows how to control himself and his powers. I love him. I really do. And until he decides to stop loving me, I want to be by his side."

He saw your friend huff irritably and get up to walk away. "Suit yourself, MC. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Satan took this as his cue to walk over. Your eyes brightened at the sight of him and you started to ask him about his day, acting as if nothing had happened. Satan played along for a bit, but then reached across the table for your hand and began playing with your fingers.

His hand was shaking. "I'll never stop loving you, you know. For as long as I live you're the only one for me. I love you, MC."

Asmodeus

Asmo was thrilled when you said you wanted to go dancing with him because he was usually the one pestering you to do things. He was having so much fun with you tonight, twirling you around on the dance floor and marveling how beautiful you looked under the shimmering lights of the club.

He was beginning to feel a bit hot, however, and excused himself to the bathroom, making sure you were safe on of the couches with a bottle of water in your hand.

Asmo had just finished touching up his makeup and adjusting his outfit when he heard two demons near the entrance of the bathroom gossiping loudly about him.

“Did you see what he was wearing tonight? He might as well have come naked instead of wearing those scraps of fabric he thinks counts as an outfit.” “My friend slept with Asmo once. She said he’s super easy, he’s willing to pretty much sleep with anyone.” “I bet him and that human won’t last another week. Once he’s done with them he’ll trash ‘em and move on to the next one, like he always does.”

Being the Avatar of Lust meant that Asmo had heard these kinds of comments before, whispered in the hallways at R.A.D or the dark hallways of nightclubs. It never really got easier listening to them though, and he realized he was biting down hard on his lower lip, his nails digging into his palm. 

Asmo contemplated what to do. He didn’t want to keep you waiting by yourself outside but he also didn’t want to run into the demons talking about him. Their comments affected him more than he thought they would. Maybe it was because you were involved. He wouldn’t do that to you. You knew that right? He would never treat you like a plaything.

Taking a deep breath and steeling his nerves Asmo schooled his face into an expression of careless indifference. He took a step outside, ready to greet his "fans", but was surprised to see that you had gotten there first.

And what a sight you were. Despite being much shorter than the two demons, it seemed you were the least bit intimidated. Your glare was ice cold as you gestured wildly at the two of them, and moving closer Asmo realized you were screaming.

"How fucking dare you say such vile things? You don't know the first thing about Asmo. You're really going to shame someone for what they wear?! For what they do in the privacy of their bedroom?!"

You pointed angrily at the demons, who seemed too stunned to move or say anything. "People like you make me fucking sick. You're despicable! Talking as if you're so high and mighty when all you do is judge others! How dare you? You cowards!"

Asmo could see you were getting more and more enraged and your hands were beginning to tremble. He leapt forward to stand between you and the demons and put his hands gently on your shoulders. Once he saw that you were okay, he gave you a passionate kiss, his mouth hot and needy against yours.

You kissed him back for a moment but moved away to hiss, "Karens, Asmo! Karens in the fucking Devildom, who would have thought?!"

"I know, darling. Let's head home. We can have a nice, relaxing bubble bath together."

Beelzebub

Beel was looking through the menu, deciding between a couple of his favorite dishes. It was your one year anniversary and despite his insistent protests, you had remained firm in your decision to pay for that night’s meal. Ever since you and Beel began dating, he pretty much always paid for your meals together because of how much he ate. But tonight, you wanted to be the one to treat him for once.

Beel knew you had secretly been saving up Grimm and he’d feel so guilty if you spent it all on him. Which was why he was trying to decide between a couple of different things, when normally he would have ordered everything on the page.

“Babe, please order whatever you want. I can practically see the thoughts turning in your head. I told you that I wanted to pay for tonight and I’m going to keep that promise. I want this to be a special night for us, so don’t worry about it.” Before he could protest, you called the waiter over.

Beel sighed and knew there was no changing your mind on this. You were incredibly stubborn when you wanted to be. He rattled off his usual order as the waiter frantically scribbled down notes, struggling to keep up. Once finished, Beel handed over the menus and smiled at how cute you looked, a mixture of pride and smugness on your face.

But your expression soon turned sour as you heard the conversation from a couple sitting a few tables over. Their voices were intentionally loud and they kept sneaking glances at your table as if to watch your reactions.

“Oh my lord, honey did you see how much food that guy just ordered? What an absolute pig!” “I saw, darling. I honestly pity his date right now, they must be soooo embarrassed.” “Is there anyone who wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen in public with such a selfish glutton?”

Beel’s heart felt like it had sunk. Embarrassed? Was MC embarrassed to be seen with him? Panicking, Beel thought back to all of the dates he’d had with MC so far. He realized that they ate out a good majority of the time they hung out, with Beel eating his normal enormous portions each time. Oh no, what had he done?

Head bowed, Beel slowly looked up at you, afraid to see what kind of expression you were making. But to his surprise, you didn’t look embarrassed or ashamed at all. You looked like you were going to murder someone.

He watched as you cleared your throat and then began speaking even more loudly than the couple had been. “OH BEEL, MY HANDSOME, KIND, LOVING, STRONG, SEXY, TALENTED BOYFRIEND. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! YOU’RE HONESTLY SO AMAZING AND ONE OF THE QUALITIES I LOVE ABOUT YOU MOST IS THAT YOU’RE NOT A JUDGMENTAL ASSHOLE WHO MAKES RUDE INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS TO STRANGERS ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS!” 

Beel felt his lips inch into a smile and he flushed with amusement and happiness. But you weren’t finished just yet. “EXCUSE ME WAITER?” 

Your waiter practically ran to the table and looked between you two nervously, then at the couple glaring daggers in your direction. “COULD YOU PLEASE BRING US ANOTHER MENU? MY BOYFRIEND WASN’T FINISHED WITH ORDERING WHAT HE WANTS. OH BEEL, I LOVE HOW MUCH YOU EAT. HOW COULD SOMEONE BE EMBARRASSED OF A WONDERFUL GUY LIKE YOU?”

Beel took the menu and began listing some more foods at random, not really paying attention. He was too busy thinking about how much he loved you, how nobody aside from Belphie had ever stood up for him like that, had protected him like that. His cheeks felt like they were about to split from how much he was smiling.

When the waiter finally left, looking frazzled, Beel made his way over to your side of the table. He knelt down and nuzzled into your neck before giving you a tender kiss on your forehead. “MC, you’re amazing.”

Belphegor

Belphie had to admit, the gardens were a pretty nice place for a nap. Earlier in the day you had practically dragged him outside claiming that you were bored of sleeping in his room. As if that was even possible.

At first he was pretty annoyed that you were making him get up and move around. But the newly washed picnic blanket, the cool breeze rustling through the trees, and the light smell of flowers in the air all contributed to a very nice environment for a nap.

Belphie rested his head on your lap, already feeling his eyelids growing heavier. Your fingers gently combed through his hair, lightly scratching against his scalp, and he practically purred.

He guessed he had been asleep for about ten minutes when he awoke to the sound of your voice and something prodding against his knee.

Irritated at the disturbance, Belphie looked up to see two R.A.D students he recognized for always causing trouble. He looked over to see you scowling and guessed you had been telling them to leave so they wouldn't wake him up.

One of the students leered down, blocking out the light, and used the tip of his foot to poke Belphie's knee again. "Well the two of you make an odd fucking pair, huh?” He sneered, “Personally, I don’t date people who have MURDERED me in the past but what do I know? Love works in all kinds of mysterious ways.” You flinched as if someone had slapped you and Belphie growled, his hands curling into fists.

The other student leaned down to clap Belphie on the shoulder. “I gotta admit I didn’t know you had it in you, chief! I always thought you were...” He gave Belphie a once-over before adding “Well, everyone thinks you’re a bit fucking useless, eh? But I’m glad to see you’re capable of something.”

Belphie opened his mouth to reply venomously but was interrupted by the most horrifying sound coming from your mouth. It sounded like a combination of wailing and screeching as fat tears rolled down your cheeks. It was difficult to hear what exactly you were saying because of how hard you were crying, but Belphie could make out “How could you say that?!” and “Leave him alone!” among the screams. 

The two students had their hands over their ears, their faces twisted into grimaces of pain. One shouted, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Worried, Belphie put a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to calm you down but you shrugged it off, continuing to cry and wail. Pretty soon other students began gathering around you, whispering amongst themselves and looking to see what all the noise and commotion was about. It was difficult to ignore you when you kept yelling things like “You’re horrible! Horrible! Leave us alone!” 

The two instigators looked at each other for a brief moment before deciding to run off, not wanting to get involved any further. And as soon as they left, it was like a switch had been turned off. You stopped crying and screaming immediately. If he hadn’t been there from the beginning, Belphie never would have guessed that you had been crying. Your face was perfectly calm and you sat relaxed with your hands folded, the picture of innocence.

“Belphie, don’t worry about what those two idiots said. We’ve talked about it enough and we’ve both worked it out, haven’t we? And you’re not useless. You know how much I love you and care about you. You mean so much to me.” 

Belphie leaned over to take your hand in his trembling one. He reached down to brush a stray leaf out of your hair before whispering, “MC, you’re fucking terrifying sometimes. I love you.”

[ghostlysenses]

could i ask for a second part of fake friends where the reader turns into a ghost and they only remember the reasons why the committed slip-n-slide- another catch is that they can’t leave the l’manhole and is basically stuck underneath the glass.

the bench trio finds them one day singing underneath the glass and when trying to get down they notice them and fade away with a scowl or something like that.

you can continue on with the idea if you’d like, i just find it serene of ghost reader to sing and all you can hear is it muffled because of the glass.

oooo i like this!

btw request are open!

The Memorial. Pt2 of Fake Friends

TW| suicide mention, sadness, fake friends.

You look up from under the glass, the replaying of you falling happening in your head, you know why you did it, how could you forget?

you had committed suicide after all, this is your death.

no one knew you were down here, and nobody sealed up the glass, they fenced it off and made a small memorial for you.

A rumor started going around though, considering people could see you just a tiny bit, it was that your spirit was down there, thinking you were fighting the war for l’manberg.

you’ve tried to leave before, but its like you physically cant, like theres some kind of barrier or invisible wall?

So you’re stuck here

not able to see anyone unless they’re walking by

in all honesty you wanted someone to stop by, anyone to stop by.

there wasn’t anyone who did though, unless it was to put things down near your memorial

Quackity put down casino chips saying “If you ever do come back, you are always welcomed at my casino amigo/amiga/friend”

Badboyhalo had set down some candles on the fencing, and he comes by every week to replace them with new ones “Because your flame will never die”

Puffy and George will come by once a month and set flowers down “You never got to bloom” “because you were as sweet and delicate as a flower”

Hell even techno and Phil would visit

Techno set down potions and a sword “May you fight whatever battle you have to with greatness, and always remember ill always have your back”

Phil had made a crown for you like he did for techno and he put it in the middle of everything “Because you never made anyone feel below you, even though we are”

people visited often

but you never saw

them

and frankly you didnt want to

the only time you did was when they would pass by, but they never stopped at your memorial, and never acknowledged it.

It hurt you.

You wanted them to apologize, to say their condolences, but they never did.

today though was different

you were singing the L’manburg theme

hey you dont have any better way to spend your time

The bench trio was walking past when they heard it

“my L’manburg....my L’manburg”

it was faint but they could hear it so clearly

They looked over at the memorial and realized it was coming from there

was...was someone in the hole?

tommy grabs tubbos wrist and starts dragging him towards it

Tubbo grabs ranboos wrist in process taking him along with him

when they get to the memorial tommy is already climbing over the small fencing, with tubbo falling behind.

Ranboo trying to get them to stop but also following along.

Once they jump down they see it...

they see you

you heard some whispering and turned around and then you got a chill down your spin and jerked your head up and gasped.

but you got control of yourself and before you disappeared

you glared at them

with white lifeless eyes

and they stared back

guilty

and

sad

the ghost of their ‘friend’ was stuck down here

and it was mad at them.

from then on they frequently visited

3/7 days a week

hoping you’d show up again

but you never did

they all agreed what they saw was fake, a prank someone was playing

but when they saw Philza and Techno talking to someone at the bottom of the pit, they grew suspicious.

But when they truly believe was when they saw puffy running, when they asked her why she was running she simply said “I need to see Y/N” and then kept running.

they now knew it wasnt a joke

it wasnt a prank

you were stuck in l’manhole, under the glass.

and it was their fault

and boy were you pissed at them

[ghostie-my-beloved]

Hey! I really loved your TNTduo comfort scenario! I was wondering (if you’re not busy of course) if you could write an uno reverse of sorts? I want to know how reader would comfort the TNT men bc heaven knows they need it ^^; (Also have an amazing day! I love your writing <3)

comforting the tnt duo

Synopsis: sometimes, villains get weak too, and it’s your job to look after them

Pairing: c!Wilbur / c!Quackity (separately) x GN!reader (they/them)

A/N: hi there! Yes I will gladly deliver your headcanons for this villain duo. They’re super fun to write for! I hope you enjoy this! Sorry if they’re a bit short tho— AND THANKS FOR LIKING MY WRITING (art credits go to @/kazayua on Twitter and SAD-ist)

TW: Implied family neglect, mentions of explosions, mentions of war, mentions of death

▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆

A familiar brunette sat on a familiar bench, with a broken record player right next to it, as he sat on the edge of the wooden furniture, admiring the view of the sunset before him, reminiscing the good times he had when he was younger.

He remembered how Tommy would cling and whine to him when Techno was bullying him. He remembered when he made flower crowns for his new baby brother, Tubbo. He remembered the times where he’d rush up to his mum and dad with a new song, eagerness blooming through his young eyes as he held a guitar in hand, excited to share his new tunes with everyone he loved.

It was all very sweet to him

But those were now nothing but broken memories.

His whole family was torn to shreds ever since the first incident with L’Manberg and the Dream team. He can’t forget those burning memories of his own brothers collapsing before his eyes, and how Eret betrayed them all. Not even his own son trusted him anymore.

Wars and wars passed from one to another, he slowly started losing himself to the madness of the chaos that ensued in the entire server. He was no longer the big brother Tommy looked up to, nor was he a leader that could run a nation even at its breaking point. He was nothing but a madman who blew up his entire nation, due to grief of losing everything he had, he couldn’t take it no more.

After getting revived, his true colors started to shine, he really was no longer the loving and caring older brother everyone once thought of him as.

No one else in this server, saw him as ‘Wilbur Soot’, but instead, as a villain.

And somehow, he was fine with it, what more did he have to lose? But deep down inside, he longed for more than just everyone’s opinions on him. He wanted someone to stand by him until the very end, someone who swore loyalty to him. Wilbur doesn’t want another person he cares for to leave him again, just like how his mother did.

That person who he longed for, was you.

You said nothing more than a sigh as you sat beside the red-eyed demon on the bench. You hovered your warm, delicate hand over his rough and cold one before setting it down on his, tracing small circles in Wilbur’s hand with your thumb. The white streaked male could only look at you, his tired red eyes gazing deeply into your own. You softly smiled at him before taking his hand and pressing a kiss against it, a sign of comfort for Wilbur.

The British male could only smile at your antics. The two of you didn’t need to speak words to comfort each other, the silence spoke for you both, and Wilbur was the most fluent in it.

The silence he shared with you was enough to sooth him from all of his trauma and dark memories, because all he ever wanted was a moment’s not wasted with his beloved.

The casino stood tall and proudly in the center of Las Nevadas, but the usual bustling and cheery atmosphere remained dead silent, and no one but the head of the gambling city remained inside.

Usually, Quackity’s face would have a bright, yet mischievous smile every time visitors came by to please themselves with a game of poker or my form of gambling game to feed their addiction, and Alex had to put up a fake facade through it all.

He’d see couples and grounds of friends walking in, having the time of their lives, the duck hybrid can’t help but feel envious of some of the people at times.

He wish he could feel the warmth of his two lovers again, but he just can’t have that now can he?

He hates himself for not seeing the other side of the coin sooner, and how Alex let himself fall into the world of greed and riches, something he never expected himself to get into, but it happened anyways. Now he’s got a whole ass country to run, with the help of some of the people accompanied by him in the server.

But he still felt weak.

Weak for not doing something earlier, weak for not just having the balls to listen to his fiancé’s, it made Quackity feel sick to his stomach.

‘I should’ve fixed our relationship while I still had time, but I guess it’s too late now huh?’ The yellow winged male thought to himself bitterly, staring at a portrait of him, Karl and Sapnap, reminiscing the fun and old memories he shared with his lovers. But it no longer mattered to him, nothing did.

Not even his loaded country with countless forms of entertainment mattered anymore.

However, during his span of sitting in his negative thoughts, as he aimlessly tossed a poker chip in the air, Quackity felt a head of warmth stop his own head, and someone’s gentle hands putting his smooth raven hair. The blue eyed male looked up to be met with a soft gaze.

You noticed Alex’s gloomy demeanor the moment you went to check up on him. It broke your heart to see your friend in such a vulnerable state, so you took it upon yourself to comfort him. Quackity could only let out a heavy sigh as he shifted his stance a bit and leaned his head into your chest, seeking for more warmth in your loving arms.

“It’s okay, Alex. It wasn’t your fault.” You whispered to him softly as you consoled him, letting his emotions flow out like rivers. “… Thank you, Y/N.”

It’s been a while since someone touched him like this, not since the incident. But for some reason, he’d like to experience it again.

But this time, he’d like to experience it with you.

▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆▆

[agustdakasuga]

Between The Bloodshed | Chapter 20

Genre: Mafia!AU, Angst, Romance, Fluff

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Characters: Doctor!Reader, Gangster!Namjoon, Gangster!Seokjin, Gangster!Yoongi, Gangster!Hoseok, Gangster!Jimin, Gangster!Taehyung, Gangster!Jungkook

Summary: Being a freelance doctor, this was just supposed to be any other job, helping a private client and taking care of him through his recovery. But you were not expecting to get caught in something so much darker that would change your life entirely.

The boys are trying their hardest to find you. And you are trying your hardest to find out more, to find out why you are so important. 

Warning: This story is fictional and has nothing to do with real life events or the actual members of BTS. It may contain depictions of violence, blood shed/ gore and mentions of abuse. Please read at your own discretion.

Chapter warning(s): Kidnapping, hint of violence. 

“W-What do you mean gone?” Namjoon was the first to break the silence.

“She was talking to some of our employees. Then she went to the washroom but never returned. They found this placed behind the stack of hand towels.” Jin opened his palm and all the boys saw your wing charm. The one that was supposed to be on your bracelet.

“So, she was taken?” Jimin asked in disbelief. His words made all their stomachs sink, this was their worst nightmare. This was supposed to be the perfect night for all of you.

“It’s obvious she was taken. She left this there for a reason.” Hoseok pointed to the black wing charm.

“There are hundreds of people here. Someone must have seen her. Namjoon, can’t you get access to the cameras? This is your building.” Yoongi asked.

“Let’s go.” Namjoon nodded and led everyone back in.

“I need access to all the security cameras. Now.” Namjoon commanded. The manager nodded, hurriedly bringing the 7 bosses to the security room. Taehyung sat down, typing away.

“Look out for her.” Jin said.

“There!” Jungkook pointed. You were being escorted out by a group of people, walking calmly to not attract any attention. But it was obvious that someone was pointing a weapon at your back to push you forward. For a split second, you turned to the exact camera the boys were watching, meeting eyes with the lens. The boys held their breaths as they watched.

“No...” They watched you get into a car and the car drive away into the night.

“Call a meeting. Now.” Yoongi growled, slamming his palm onto the desk. The boys were quick to move, exiting the small room.

“We’ll get you back.” Taehyung whispered, placing his palm against your face on the screen. Pursing his lips in determination, he ran out of the room to assist his brothers.

“We’re going now. Run the license plate number and put out a notice to our allies.” Namjoon ordered. Their car pulled up and they jumped in.

“Every enemy of ours is a potential suspect.” Jin said.

“We have thousands of people who want to kill us! It might be too late by the time we go through everyone. There has to be a better, more efficient way!” Jimin said impatiently.

“Give doc more credit. She is smart enough to survive a lot longer than we think. Besides, they won’t be so dumb to kill her off quickly. They’ll definitely come into contact with us to give us demands or make us do something for her to safely return.” Yoongi stated, crossing his arms.

“Young masters.” The maid opened the door for them.

“No more visitors. The house is on lockdown until further notice.” Hoseok ordered and the maid nodded, running off to inform the other workers of the house. The boys went to the other wing.

“As expected, the plate is of an old vehicle. It was meant to be scrapped last week.” Jungkook said.

“Get in contact with all your underground informants. Someone must slip somewhere. See if anyone has heard anything.” Namjoon sighed.

“I’ll go meet mine first.” Jungkook grabbed his coat, leaving the house once again. The boys tried to busy themselves but there wasn’t much they could do with no clues. 

“We can hardly see their faces.” Hoseok pointed at the screen, rewatching the footage from different angles. 

“We shouldn’t operate here. Let’s use ‘Magic Shop’.” Jin said. Magic Shop was a shared business between the 7 boys. Like the name, it had everything they needed. Information usually passes through there.

On your side...

When you woke up, you were in an unfamiliar place. You looked around to scan the area, it was a small concrete room with an old bed in the corner, a small barred window to the right and two doors, you guessed one led to a bathroom. Your hands were tied in front of you, ankle chained to the wall, and there was a dull ache at the back of your head. You remembered what happened. 

You were finishing up in the toilet when you heard the door open and footsteps enter the washroom. From the heavy stomp of footsteps and heavier breathing, you knew whoever entered was male and not female.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“Come out. We know you’re in there.” A gruff voice sounded. You remained silent but you knew that this can only go on for so long. As quiet as possible, you tried to get your phone out of your clutch to reach the boys but there was unfortunately, no signal.

“We’ll break the door down.” They threatened.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming out.” You sighed, hand resting on the doorknob. When you stepped out, you looked up to see two men that you’ve never seen before.

“Let me at least wash my hands first.” You raised an eyebrow. They looked at each other before nodding. You washed your hands with soap, not even meeting eyes with them.

“Are you done?” One growled in annoyance.

“Yeah.” You picked up a hand towel to wipe your hands then tossed the used towel into the bin.

“You’re gonna walk calmly, out of the building. If you dare do anything else, it’ll be the end for you.” You felt cold metal press against your lower back. You nodded as one opened the washroom door for you.

“Go.” They pushed you forward. As you left the washroom, you side eyed the gleam of a gem under the light. You only hoped that the boys would see it. No one suspected anything as you walked out of the building with two men behind you, one standing suspiciously closer than the other. A car pulled up to the steps of the building.

“Get in.” They opened the door. Turning around, you caught sight of a security camera, staring at it for a few seconds before the men impatiently pushed you into the car, slamming the door shut.

As the car drove, you tried to remember where you were headed or at least, some landmarks.

“You guys didn’t blindfold her?!” The driver finally noticed you. The male that was sitting next to you pulled out a blindfold, getting closer to you.

“Get away.” You tried kicking him.

“B*tch!” The male squirmed when you successfully manoeuvred yourself to get him in a chokehold despite the small backseat. But you had forgotten about the other person in the passenger seat.

“Sleep tight, princess.” There was an impact to the back of your head. Black spots appeared in your vision and soon, it was dark.

“Look who’s awake.” One of the doors opened, a bright light shining into your darkroom. You winced slightly at the sudden brightness hitting your eyes. A suited male came in, walking towards you. You stared up at him but the shadow made it impossible. 

“Nice to meet you again.” He said, a teasing tone in his voice. 

“Do I know you?” You groaned. 

“How could you forget me? I’m hurt, doc.” 

“Well, if you didn’t know how light directions work, the light makes it a little hard to see your face. All I see is a shadow now.” You hissed with a glare. Then he bent down and you saw his face. 

“Recognise me now?” He smiled. 

“Not... really?” You tilted your head. His smile fell from his face as he frowned. He backhanded you, waking you fall to the side. Your cheek throbbed and you tasted iron in your mouth, knowing that you were now probably bleeding. 

“Look, I’m sorry you’re butt hurt about me not recognising or remembering you. But I meet new people every day. If everyone is like you and expects me to remember them, my job would be a lot harder than it already is. Stop being petty.” You growled. Usually, someone in your position would be more submissive, considering you didn’t have the upper hand. 

“Ever the smart mouth, doc. Let’s see how long you can keep that up.” He threw his head back, laughing. 

“I also wonder how long it will take for you to realise that kidnapping me and holding me captive isn’t going to do anything.” You raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, doc. Ever so naive. What you don’t know is that with you being here, my boss already has control over your 7 mafia bosses. They’re probably scrambling and panicking to find you.” He said. 

“I’m just an employee.” You shrugged. 

“That’s what you think. You think every employee has a diamond bracelet like you?” He asked. 

“I never really cared, it was just a pretty bracelet to me. But I’m sure you’re about to tell me how important that is.” You said in a bored tone. Under playing everything was now your plan. 

“Only the 7 bosses have that bracelet. It’s a sign of their highest rank. And guess who’s the 8th person to ever get one?” He smirked. You didn’t let it show but deep down, you were surprised. You never really noticed the bracelet on the boys. Because like you said, you never really cared or gave it much thought. 

“So trust me, they’ll be here.” He scoffed.

“Hold on, I’m still trying to understand, so you and/or your boss is the enemy of the boys? You’re not from one of the families I cared for?!” You asked. 

“Oh, doc.” He shook his head, laughing. 

“Man, talk about shallow...” You rolled your eyes. The man just waved, heading for the door. He slammed the door shut, leaving you in darkness once again. You sighed, looking down at your dress that was now dirtied. 

“Who is he?” You wrecked your brains to try and remember. 

“The guy at the casino.” You finally remembered the incident that happened when you first had dinner with the boys outside, at Jin’s casino. 

He tried to speak to you as you were coming out of the washroom and it ended with Yoongi escorting you to the car while the others ‘dealt with him’. Though at that point, you didn’t know what that meant. Now, you imagined how the boys must have given him a ‘stern warning’, for him to have such bitter feelings towards you. 

“Talk about holding a grudge.” You sighed. 

“No wonder they didn’t want me to remove the bracelet. Some VIP treatment this is.” You wondered out loud. You needed to find a way out of here, you couldn’t just sit and wait to be rescued. 

“Let’s see.” You brought your bound hands up to your mouth, hoping to be able to use your teeth to try and loosen the knot. 

“Here. Eat.” The door opened, making you put your hands down quickly. It was one of the men that kidnapped you from the ball. He held a tray and a bottle of water in his hands.

“Is it poisoned?” You looked at him skeptically. 

“You never know until you try, right?” He raised an eyebrow, placing the tray in front of you. 

“Just eat!” He hissed impatiently. 

“You take a bite first. You eat it, I eat it.” You shrugged. The man was given strict orders to make sure that you ate. And all you were doing now was making his job a lot more difficult. He glared at you but you just stared back nonchalantly, not backing down either. 

“It won’t be poisoned. We’re waiting for the 7 to come. If you’re dead, there’s no use in all this.” The man scoffed. 

“If it’s not poisoned, then eat it.” You said. The man closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath. You knew you were being infuriating but your attitude was the only thing that you could use as a self defence now. 

“I swear.” He scooped up the rice and kimchi, taking a bite. 

“Now that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” You said. The guy clicked his tongue, undoing the rope around your hands to let you eat. He took a seat opposite you on the ground, but keeping his distance. 

“This food is sh*t.” You took a bite. 

“Well, it’s all you’re getting so learn to like it.” He crossed his arms. You sighed, eating your food in silence. 

“Alright, I’m done. I might actually throw up if I continue.” You scrunched your face, pushing the tray. The man took the rope to bind your hands again. Seeing the gun holster on his waistband, you knew it would be foolish to try and fight back to escape now. So at this moment, you just had to be obedient and do whatever they told you to do. 

“Ugh.” You threw your head back, trying to get the stiff kinks out of your shoulders and neck. You stared at the metal brace around your ankle, that was gonna be hard to get out of. 

-

“Where’s Taehyung?” Namjoon asked when he came back from his meeting. It was safe to say that thanks to their parents, Namjoon and Yoongi had the most ‘ears to the ground’ in the group. 

“He went for a breather.” Jimin informed softly. 

“We need to think this through. Doc hardly meets anyone with us... Or at least, ones who are alive.” Hoseok said. 

“I’m going for a meeting.” Jin looked at his phone. He stood up and left with his bodyguard in tow. 

“Hyung is right.” Jungkook started a fresh document to list down the times you went to visit any of the boys’ place of business. Most of the time, the boys tried to go home for you to treat them since most of your equipment was at home but of course, there have been urgent times. 

“She came to mine. But the person was dead.” Jimin raised his hand and Jungkook noted that down. The door opened and Taehyung came in. He dragged his bloodied bat on the ground, falling onto his seat. 

“Where were you?” Yoongi asked. 

“Just needed some fresh air.” Was all the younger said. Taehyung didn’t deal with emotions well, which is evident considering what happened with his father. 

“Anyway, we’re listing down the times doc came to our place of business to maybe find out a time where our enemy might have seen her.” Namjoon got his up to speed.

“Did you forget she doesn’t even know that she wears our family band around her wrist?” Taehyung asked. 

“Did she not even notice?” 

“No, she didn’t even know what I was talking about when I mentioned it to her at the club the other night. She thought it was just a nice gift. I told her the gist of it but she probably thought that most, if not all, our employees have one too.” Jimin informed. 

“Whatever it is. We’re all just trying to form at least a list of suspects. Every option, we’ll try it.” Yoongi said. 

“She hasn’t been to Stigma or Singularity before. I usually handle those businesses outside and try to go home to get treated by her.” Taehyung crossed his arms.

“Stop looking at that.” He saw Jungkook still had the paused video of you staring at the camera on his computer screen. 

“Let him be.” Namjoon chided. 

“I got video footage from Daydream.” Hoseok informed. His place was one of the only one that the car could have possibly driven past. If they did, they would have a general direction of where you went. 

“Hook it up to the screen.” Jungkook handed Hoseok the cable to hook his computer up to the screen and he played the footage from the night before. He carefully skipped forward the seconds, they couldn’t risk missing something. Everyone was quiet, their focus on the video footage in front of them. Jimin stood up from his seat. 

“There. Fast backwards 10 seconds. Slow the video down.” He pointed. Hoseok moved the video back. In the slowed freeze frames, they saw the exact car drive past Daydream and take a left.

“Hobi, where does that road lead to?” Yoongi asked. 

“Uh, the car slanted left. That leads to the highway... Up north, I think.” Hoseok pulled up the map. 

“Yes. That highway heads north.” Taehyung said. Finally, the boys felt like they had a breakthrough. The kidnappers probably held you captive somewhere up north of Seoul. 

“Who are the clans in the north?” Namjoon asked. 

“Here they are.” Jungkook flipped through the photos on the screen. 

“It is one of them. No one else would let another gang on their territory, knowing that they kidnapped one of ours. Unless they want an unnecessary war on their hands.” Yoongi said. Even if they did have enemies, a lot of gangs would rather be an ally instead. Bangtan was just that scary. 

“I’ll call Jin hyung and let him know.” Jimin took his phone out, stepping aside to call the eldest, letting him know what they had found out so far. 

It only took 20 minutes for Jin to come back, unsuccessful from meeting with all his informants. No one had a clue as to who was vengeful enough to kidnap you from Bangtan. 

“We’ll start visiting some of them. You guys fill Jin hyung in on what’s going on. It’ll be faster if we split up to visit the gangs.” Taehyung said.

“Okay. Don’t be reckless.” Namjoon said. Jimin nodded, a silent promise to keep Taehyung in check. Grabbing what they needed, the duo left ‘Magic Shop’ immediately. 

“Show me the photos.” Jin said. Once again, Jungkook pulled up the photos. 

“Hold on. Go back.” Jin stopped the maknae. Jungkook clicked the slide, going back to show the photos of the leaders and righthand men from one of the gangs. Jin moved closer, squinting slightly. 

“That guy... Don’t you recognise him?” Jin pointed. 

“What do you mean?” Yoongi asked. 

“We’ve encountered him before. That first dinner with (y/n) at my casino. He harassed her outside the washrooms. Jungkook came to rescue her in time and Yoongi took her away before he could reveal anything. We didn’t kill him since we didn’t want to make anything too obvious yet.” Jin frowned. The others finally remembered. 

“But she didn’t have a bracelet yet.” Hoseok reminded.

“From the way Jungkook sprung to protect her... They must have been keeping tabs on her.” Namjoon concluded. 

Just then, the phone rang. 

~~

Ko-fi link

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[fyodcrs]

Fyodor dismissed Sigma’s bafflement with a wave of his hand. “Oh, just assume I know everything.”

“Everything,” Sigma echoed flatly.

Snow - Read on AO3 here!

He dreamed of snow.

A blizzard raged in empty skies, white against white. In the midst of the swirling eddies he drifted, but he did not feel the cold. Softness below him and around him, he was cocooned in a lightless, floating warmth, trying to catch each snowflake as it passed him although it did not seem he moved.

There was nothing else with him in this endlessness—nothing but a sound, very faint at first and then growing, a sound that filled the snowy sky, one he knew but didn’t know, at once intimately familiar and wholly strange, a rhythm aligned with his own breathing, or maybe it was that his breathing aligned itself to that rhythm. It came from a far distance, but as it rose, the storm around him began to calm, until he could count each tiny snowflake as it fell.

Sigma woke slowly.

He sat up, hair tumbling like a curtain over his face, and looked around, at first completely disoriented. Little by little, he realized he was still in his bedroom in the Sky Casino. Last he remembered, he had been sitting on the couch looking through papers on his patrons, desperately studying every detail of each one, trying to commit all to memory—names, faces, backgrounds, quirks and personality traits. At some point he must have fallen asleep. The papers had been strewn about haphazardly across the table, a few errant ones scattered on the floor, but someone had stacked them neatly into two piles. On top was the file he recalled he had been looking at last. This same someone must have also been the one to tuck a pillow under his head and drape a blanket over him as he slept. Who—?

The sound he had heard as he had surfaced from the depths of his dreams and floated in the quiet liminal space between sleeping and waking he could still hear—the mellow strains of a violin, coming from somewhere in the other rooms of his living quarters. He thought he recognized the melody, faint as it was through the walls. Blearily rubbing his eyes, he stood up. He was still fully dressed. He gathered himself, running a hand through his sleep-tussled hair and fixing his clothes, and left his bedroom, following the music. He knew who it was, and a dim uneasiness stirred a chill at the base of his spine. Glancing at the clock as he passed through the main room, he saw that it was early morning, and he checked the date. He had not expected any of the others to be coming today, or anytime soon.

Sigma found Fyodor Dostoevsky in a room adjoining the combined living room and kitchen. This was an extra space he used mostly for storage. Fyodor was standing near the small table, playing a violin. The instrument’s case was propped up on the sofa. His eyes were closed, and he did not appear to notice Sigma, absorbed in the music. His body swayed gently with the rhythm, guiding the bow across the strings as long, delicate fingers danced. The melody was one he had written himself; Sigma had heard him play it before.

Sigma leaned against the doorframe, watching him. Fyodor preferred the cello—so he said—but he was just as proficient with the violin, and with pretty much any string instrument he decided he wanted to give a try. Fukuchi-san had brought him a Chinese erhu once, and it had taken him no time at all to adapt to the new instrument; in hours he had been playing it as if he had done so all his life. Nikolai Gogol said Dostoevsky was something of a musical prodigy, and “one of those assholes that can do anything, basically” (his words). Apparently, whenever Fukuchi-san discovered a string instrument he had not heard of before or just saw an interesting one in a music store somewhere, he bought it for Fyodor. Fyodor had been amassing quite the collection, so Sigma had heard.

It had been a while since Sigma had heard Fyodor play. It was mesmerizing, in a way, to watch him, to watch how he moved, how light and graceful the bow was in his hand, the rise and fall and rise again of the music. A figure in white, tall and elegant and almost ethereal in the soft light of the room.

Nikolai had said once that Fyodor was like a winter storm, cold quiet death, serene and enchanting and pure like the new falling snow. Sigma had been dreaming of a winter storm, of unbroken white skies and swirling, driving snows that consumed vision and sound and sensation. He had been thinking of snow yesterday, too, remembering that in Japan the winter had come, although up here where the Sky Casino drifted solitary like a great cloud there was hardly a trace of changing seasons. He had been thinking, in an absent sort of way, of Fyodor Dostoevsky, this strange man who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once, like a shadow half-seen on the edge of perception, this strange man who always stood at a distance from him, as if to move too close to Sigma would scald them both, this strange man who spoke to him in such a kind and soft voice that Sigma sometimes forgot who he was, what he was—what they were.

He dreamed, sometimes, of Fyodor. These dreams were neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but they stayed with him as dreams were not supposed to do, lingering always at the back of his mind, as Fyodor himself always seemed to linger on the periphery of his awareness. There was something about Fyodor, something Sigma thought he should know, needed to know. He could find out, perhaps, if he used his Ability, but he was afraid to try to touch Fyodor. He did not know what Fyodor’s Ability was—no one knew, not even Fukuchi-san, who had known Fyodor for many years now—but he knew that Nikolai was right about him. He was death. He was silence, endlessness.

And sometimes, Sigma had the feeling, illogical though it was—but what about any of this, any of them, was logical?—that even if he tried to reach for Fyodor he would not be able to touch him, that his hand would pass right through the other man, as if through mist. As if Fyodor himself was a dream, a ghost, there but not really there at all.

Lost in his own thoughts, he did not notice the music had stopped until Fyodor said his name. “Sigma?”

Sigma jumped, and then flushed, realizing he had been caught staring. “He-hello, Dostoevsky. I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Did I wake you?” Fyodor asked. He was smiling a little, but as usual, it did not seem to reach his dark violet eyes. He set the violin on the table. “Izvinite. I did not mean to.”

Sigma shook his head. “No—no, that’s okay. I, uh—you don’t have to stop playing.”

Fyodor’s expression softened, just slightly, and for a moment Sigma might have believed that little smile was true. “You’d like me to keep playing?”

Sigma’s blush deepened. “Well, if you’d like to—”

Fyodor hummed, glancing thoughtfully down at his violin. After a beat, he said, “Perhaps I could play, and you could sing?”

Sigma blinked, uncomprehending. “Sing?”

“Sure. Nikolai tells me you like to sing. And you write your own songs, don’t you?”

“How did you—”

Fyodor dismissed Sigma’s bafflement with a wave of his hand. “Oh, just assume I know everything.”

“Everything,” Sigma echoed flatly.

Fyodor’s smile had a mischievous edge to it when he turned back to Sigma. “Indeed. Last time I was here, I remember you humming a song to yourself a lot. One you were working on, I presume? I can try to play it, and you can sing it for me. If you’d like. I’d like to hear it.”

“Oh, well, I—I mean, I’ve written lyrics, but I don’t really have a clear idea what the music should be, just…a basic rhythm, I guess.”

“That’s okay. Let me try.”

He picked up the violin and started to play again, and Sigma listened, bemusement turning to astonishment and finally to frank amazement as the vague and unfocused tune he had started to form in his head while he wrote the short verse of the song found cohesion under Fyodor’s practiced fingers, notes he recalled humming without much rhythm coming together in a sweetly melancholic melody exactly as he had imagined. It was short; when he reached the end Fyodor stopped and looked at Sigma, and maybe it was just Sigma’s skewed and unreliable perception, but there seemed to be real warmth in his eyes, in the curve of his pale lips. Not for the first time, Sigma thought that Fyodor was beautiful, in a distant, enigmatic kind of way.

Sigma walked over to the couch and sat down, taking in a deep breath. Fyodor took that as invitation and picked up the melody again, a slow building rhythm, sweetness tinged with a touch of sadness, loving but careful, unsure. Sigma closed his eyes and listened, finding the words he had written, some time ago now, but still clear from many moments absently repeated as he went about his daily tasks. He did, in fact, like to write songs, though usually they were more like snippets, refrains with no connection to a larger whole. He sang, softly at first, gaining confidence as he went on, following the rhythm Fyodor set:

“I’m just like the falling snow,

Drifting softly into your hand

I know I have found my home,

Even as the cold comes again

Time, it seems, has ceased its flow,

I could count each flake in the air

Tell me I am not still alone,

And I will follow you anywhere.”

When the song ended, and the music faded away, Sigma opened his eyes again. His face felt approximately the temperature of lava. But there was still that warmth in Fyodor’s face when he lowered the violin once more and set it back down on the table. The look he gave Sigma was almost…fond.

He said, “Have you picked a name for the song yet?”

“Not really. I have it as ‘Snow,’ but that seems kind of…plain, I guess.”

“Plain is not always a bad thing. What about ‘Yuki’?”

“‘Yuki’? Oh! That’s ‘snow’ in Japanese.”

“Da. Or…” He paused. “Or ‘zima.’”

Winter. Sigma smiled. “I like that one, I think.”

Fyodor nodded, and for a moment, Sigma didn’t feel like there was really so much of a distance between them, at least not the yawning chasm of empty space he had felt there was. Of the other members of the Decay of Angels, Fyodor was the only one Sigma could bear being in the company of for any length of time. Fyodor was the only one of them who talked to him like he was a person, the only one who had ever offered him kind words and advice. He was, really, the only one who seemed to see him.

“Yes, me too,” Fyodor said. “It’s good. I thought it would sound best on the violin, as opposed to my cello.”

Sigma looked at him, surprised. Had he brought his violin here specifically for this?

Fyodor walked over to the sofa to retrieve his violin case. He gave Sigma as wide of a berth as he could, and Sigma felt himself deflate a little, familiar uneasiness starting to creep back in. Watching as Fyodor laid the instrument carefully into its case, Sigma reminded himself there was a distance that separated them, as wide and desolate as the desert he had found himself the first day of his memory. He could not let himself forget what this was, and what Fyodor was. Perhaps there had been a part of him remembering his dreams as he wrote those lines, remembering the feeling of trying to catch innumerable snowflakes as he drifted thoughtless and content through vast nothingness. But he did not have a home. He did not have anyone to catch him, if he too fell. He had only this casino, and the terrible price he would have to pay to keep it.

Still, he remembered the smile Fyodor had given him in that moment, as the last echoes of a melody only the two of them knew faded in the air.    

[nightingaelic]

Not a good idea, maybe, but still... NV Followers' reaction to how the Courier tells the follower that sometimes all their adventures seem like a kind of deathbed dream to them (a bullet in the head after all...)

Just know, anon, that I am strongly resisting the urge to go full Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara with every single one of these reactions.

"Maybe this is all just... me." The courier waved their hand through the scorching air, tracing the shimmering line of the horizon that sang false promises of water. "A mirage. An oasis in the desert that I can't quite reach, but my eyes keep telling me is there if I just walk far enough."

Their hand went to the scar on their forehead. "I don't know. The things I've seen, since Goodsprings... if I told them to half the people in the Mojave, they'd toss me in the same shack as No-bark. HELIOS One? The Burned Man, in the crispy flesh? Jason Bright and his followers? Hell, the Sierra Madre? How do I know I didn't actually bite the dust in that graveyard, and all of this is the work of the bullet Benny put in my noggin?"

Arcade Gannon: "I guess there isn't a very convincing way I can answer that question," Arcade admitted. "But the fact that I know exactly how close you came to dying could be some evidence to the contrary. I doubt you were walking around with much medical knowledge about cranial vulnus sclopetarium prior to encountering it firsthand."

The courier looked somewhat interested, so the researcher continued hesitantly. "Did that doctor who checked you out not explain what happened to your brain? It's honestly a miracle that you're still walking around."

"I might've been a little preoccupied with the shock of being awake," the courier admitted. "Here, show me."

They guided Arcade's hand to the wound site, which he felt gingerly, trying not to awaken any pain. "Okay, close, very close range, left side... trajectory was too high, so it missed the speech center... probably sustained the most damage in the frontal and parietal lobes... well that tracks, that would affect problem-solving skills and spatial relationships..."

"Arcade?"

"Mm-hm?"

The courier grinned. "Just keep talking to me in Latin and I'll stop caring whether I'm dead or not. It sounds nice."

Arcade blushed.

Craig Boone: "Mmm." Boone pondered the thought, but immediately felt the shadow of guilt fall over his shoulders. Had any of his targets felt that way as they lay dying? Had Carla? He tried to shake the feeling off before it reached his face.

The courier, for their part, didn't notice, or at least knew enough to pretend not to notice. "That snake Benny was using a handgun, too, and who knows what caliber," they said, looking off into the distance.

"Low," Boone offered.

"Come again?"

"The bullet," Boone clarified. "It's still in your head. Slow and small caliber, if you're not already dead from it."

"But I could already be dead from it."

"Nah."

The courier looked as though they wanted to probe further, but Boone straightened his sunglasses and walked past them, signaling that the conversation was over. Headshot wounds, hypotheticals, they weren't his strong suit, but he did know one thing: The orders he had followed and the lives he had ended were far too real to be the figment of some Mojave wastelander's imagination.

Lily Bowen: "Come now, dearie, you're giving your imagination too much credit." Lily patted the courier lightly on the shoulder. Well, as lightly as a nightkin could. "Grandma's seen many strange things too, ever since she left the vault behind."

The courier smiled. "Stranger than the ones I've seen? Like what?"

Lily made an ugly face. "I saw many things when working for the Master. Golden geckos in Klamath. Ghosts in Baja. The Master himself, with his brain in the computers and the computers in his brain."

"Eugh." The courier mimicked the face Lily was making. "One of those, huh? Always seemed unsanitary to me."

"Good things too," Lily went on wistfully. "I saw Marcus' first city, when it was big and full of people. Humans, but also super mutants, ghouls. How I would have liked to take Becky and Jimmy there."

Her voice faltered a little, remembering the grandchildren that had been lost, left behind long ago. The courier reached out and took her hand. "I'm here, Lily."

After the memory passed, Lily returned to her smiling self. "You are, pumpkin. We're here together."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: "I know how you feel, boss." Raul sighed. "There are plenty of things in my past that I can't help but question the authenticity of. All I can say is that after a while, you stop asking and just go along for the ride."

"Right." The courier crossed their arms. "I suppose it's not that different a mindset from becoming a ghoul. Time stretching on in front of you, no clear end in sight, no expectation there will ever be one."

"Eh." Raul shrugged. "That might just be a mindset of mine. I stopped worrying about dying a long time ago. Or maybe I was looking for it, but never managed to find it. Either way, time doesn't bother me the way it used to."

"But it still does?"

"Sí. Now I worry more that I'll forget the crazy things I've seen altogether, or that they don't mean anything."

The young courier looked like they weren't quite ready to ponder that possibility. They stood together in silence for a while, watching the horizon's haze.

"Should we keep going?" the courier finally asked, shouldering their pack.

"Desde luego."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Sometimes I wonder the same thing," Cass replied with a nod. "Well, not the exact same thing, but somethin' similar. Plenty of times in my life, I've woken up in someone else's bed or on the floor of a bar and wondered if I actually survived the fight I was in the night before, or if I finally drank enough to make my heart stop. It's a strange feeling, but then someone douses me in water or slaps me too hard on the ass and the pain of the wakin' world creeps back in, little by little."

"Do you slap them back?" the courier joked, chuckling.

"Them and the world," Cass confirmed. "I always figured if I'd actually died in my sleep, why bother makin' up some desert full of sadness and sunburns to fill my time? Had enough of that in life, so I can't see my mind keepin' it around. Much rather conjure up a house by the beach somewhere, with a basement full of caps and enough booze to last me 'til the bombs fall again."

The courier eyed her mischievously. "Maybe you're in hell."

Cass held her canteen up. "Well then. To bein' stuck in hell with a true friend."

She drank, long and deep, and the courier retrieved their canteen to do the same.

Veronica Santangelo: "Oh, Six." Veronica's face filled with sympathy. "Is that really what you think about, when you're trying to sleep at night in the casino and Cass is snoring in the bed next to you?"

The courier blinked. "Cass snores?"

"How have you not noticed?" Veronica pulled her power fist off and flexed her fingers, re-stimulating her circulation as best she could. "Arcade said he wanted to trade with me, after Boone had his second night terror incident, but he changed his mind again after one night of her racket. At this point, I'm used to it. When she's not around, I have trouble sleeping, can you believe that? Brotherhood bunks really prepared me for the Lucky 38."

"No, I hadn't noticed." The courier sat down on a nearby rock and stretched their legs out. "I guess I haven't been there much, lately."

Veronica sat down next to them. "You know, the more often you're gone having adventures around the desert, the more crazy things you're going to see. People who rest on their laurels and stick to the Strip don't lie awake wondering if they actually died back when they choked on those buffalo gourd seeds at The Gourmand."

"Touché."

ED-E: The eyebot let out a few beeps of disagreement and rolled from side to side in mid-air, indicating as best it could that in its experience, being shot in the dome was a good method for scrambling circuitry but was actually terrible for fusing new connections. The courier laughed and reached out to rub the robot's side. "Thanks, buddy. Maybe I'm right, or maybe reality is just a weird place."

ED-E beeped its satisfaction and bounced forward as if chasing the mirage. The courier trailed after the eyebot, their giggles blowing out with the wind into the desert for all to hear.

Rex: The old cyberdog whined and licked its companion's hand, uncertain what they were asking. Any dreams the canine had were good ones, long runs over grassy plains and prey that was always a hair too slow. Life with the courier was good too, but full of many more dangers than a savannah dotted with rabbits and deer. The courier scratched the dog on his ruff affectionately, before continuing over the hot sand toward their destination. Rex followed behind, happy and panting.

[lawslessons]

I Don't Gamble (Kid x Reader)

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for being absent for so long again. I'm currently in the process of writing and editing quite a few one shots that I'll begin to post more often. For now, I hope you all enjoy this. I actually wrote this after I went to a casino for the first time and got inspired by something I saw there. I love you all and I hope you're all doing well.

Synopsis: A chance encounter, Kid decides to recruit an upcoming gambling prodigy and use their abilities to earn him more money and win him a rare, invaluable devil fruit. But in the process, does he gain something more valuable?

Warnings: Gambling, Foul Language

“Did you hear about the poker game that’s going on over there? Apparently the person who is sitting there has never lost a game,” A passerby whispered to their friend as they looked over at the person who was playing the game. Their face was partially obscured by a gloved hand. Their eyes stared down at the board in front of them and they had a small, innocent smile on their face as they pushed in a couple of chips onto the betting table. No one seemed to understand how they were winning, and once again, they won the game without much trouble and moved about collecting their winnings with a small laugh.

“Thank you! Thank you,” They said as they shoveled the winnings into a large sack with a more arrogant smile on their face. “I’ll see you again soon,” They said before they went to push past the crowd so they could make a quick, and rather grand escape from the casino with their winnings. As they were running out, they didn’t seem to notice someone rather large in front of them. “Oh, sorry,” They quickly said as they ran into a rather muscular back. The person turned back to them and glared down at them.

“What did you say, pipsqueak?” The red haired man growled. They looked at the man in surprise and frowned.

“Wow, I never met a dog that was this big,” They spat out, but maybe they should’ve held their tongue. Without any hesitation, the large man grabbed them by their neck and lifted them up so they could be more at eye level.

“I could crush your neck right here and now, you know that?” He said as he gave a threatening squeeze. They winced and tried to kick their legs to get him to let go of them. They didn’t doubt that he could accidentally - or purposely - kill them.

“Let me — “

“Captain.” A sharp and smooth voice quickly said as he stepped up to where the red haired man was. Captain? Oh no, were they all pirates? “You promised not to cause any trouble, put them down,” The masked man said, they could feel the frown on his face. Luckily his words worked, and within seconds they were put down on the ground. They gasped for air and glared up at the man.

“Who the hell are you?” They asked bitterly, they grabbed their sack of winnings and held it close, he didn’t like how many people were looking at them, they just wanted a peaceful getaway with their goods. The sack didn’t pass by the eye of the captain.

“Doesn’t matter, is that sack filled with money or something?” He asked as he grabbed the sack from their hands and went about opening it up with his one human hand.

“Hey! Give it back — “ They quickly yelled as they lunged forward to grab it back from him. But he effortlessly moved to the side and looked at what was inside with wide eyes. It wasn’t just cash in there, there was also a devil fruit, one that could be sold for quite a lot of money.

“How the hell did you get this?” He frowned.

“I won it, now give it back!” They snapped as they tried to reach for it again. The captain grabbed their hand and smirked.

“Well, now it’s mine.” He stated as roughly dropped their hand and held the sack close to his chest. They felt their heart drop into their stomach when he said that, without realizing it they started to shake in anger. They looked at him in disbelief and felt the world slow down to the point where all they heard was his arrogant laugh. They didn’t know what happened next, all they knew was that their fist hit something warm and hard. When they came to, they saw the captain glaring down at them while holding his jaw in his hand. The crew around him gasped and looked at them in equal shock.

“Your punch is shit,” the captain stated as he moved his jaw around and got it back Into place. “But you’re gonna have to pay for that, bitch,” He roughly grabbed their arm and looked at the masked man. “Killer, take them to the ship, this too,” He said as he tossed the bag to Killer and the person who was in his arms.

“No! Let go of me!” They pleaded as they tried to get out of Killer’s arms. They could feel the male’s sympathetic gaze through the mask.

“I tried to help you, you should’ve taken it,” Killer said as he went to escort them to the rather large, intimidating ship. They were petrified, why on earth were they being taken to a ship? When they were tossed on board, they winced when their face met the cold, wet wood.

“Drag them to my office,” the captain smirked as he went to slowly walk there. And of course, the crew took his command’s literally. Someone grabbed them by their hair and started to drag them across the deck and up the stairs to the captain’s office. Tears swelled up in their eyes, but they didn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing them cry out. When they were in the office, they scrambled to their feet and glared at the arrogant man in front of them. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world, he sat down in his large chair and threw his feet up onto his desk and smirked at them. He pulled the devil fruit out of his bag and inspected it curiously.

“How the hell did someone like you win something like this?” He asked. They glared at him and rolled their eyes.

“I won it through gambling, I don’t lose,” They stated.

“You don’t?” He asked with a small smirk. “Well you may have some use for me other than being King Fish bait,” He said as he put the fruit somewhere safe for later. They growled at him and tried to lunge for them, but when the captain raised his hand, they were instantly subdued out of fear.

“I’m Kid. You mess with me and I won’t hesitate to kill you,” He stated as he lowered his hand and moved to stand up from his chair. “Now, let’s talk business. If you win more of these fruits for me, I’ll protect you, that good deal?” Kid asked with a small yawn. They couldn’t believe this man, his arrogance, he was the worst type of man out there.

“Eat shit.”

Kid laughed and darkly smiled at the person in front of him, he didn’t like their attitude, the arrogant expression on their face frustrated him and their lips looked so perfectly punchable.

“I will pin you against the wall and slowly drive nails into your body until you’re begging me for forgiveness,” Kid growled, and to his surprise, the person in front of him didn’t look too opposed to that.

“Doesn’t sound that bad,” They purred, that caught the usually in control captain by surprise, he looked at them in surprise and quickly moved to be scowling again, he didn’t like how they were trying to get control over the situation now.

“Shut the hell up, you work for me now, you have no choice now,” Kid stated as he snapped his finger and watched as the door to his office opened. “I tried to be nice but I guess you don’t like nice men, do you?” Kid smirked. They flushed at what Kid was implying and scoffed.

“I hope you poke your eye out when you do your makeup in the morning,” They huffed as they left the office and went to be escorted to their new room. Instead of being with the rest of the crew, they were surprised to be in an empty room, one of the executive rooms. What was he trying to plot? They looked around the room in some hesitation before they finally sat down on the rather comfortable bed. This was nicer than what they were used to, maybe this wouldn’t be that bad of a job? They hoped it would be over soon and that they wouldn’t have to suffer with working under Kid for long.

The next morning when the work began, they started off by having to go into the town again and try to gamble some more to earn more devil fruits or valuable prizes for Kid. But there was a small plus, they didn’t have to use their own money so they were able to freely bet more than they ever had before.

“Here’s the stuff from today,” They said as they tossed another devil fruit at Kid and a large sack of gold and precious materials. Kid’s eyes widened as he caught the devil fruit and the other prizes.

“Why’re you now being compliant?” Kid frowned.

“That’s because you’re giving me a place to sleep,” They simply stated as they walked back to their room. Kid paused and took in what they said, out of all things, why that? Why was that the most impactful thing to them, he didn’t understand nor did he want to. He just scoffed and went to put the prizes away. This process continued for weeks, every day they seemed to bring back more and more, and daily they and Kid became more notorious in the town for their little money making alliance.

“I think we need to leave this town, captain. The people here are getting restless with what you two are doing,” Killer said as he watched his captain and his new alliance partner both sitting in a pile of gold and inspecting it.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. I just need one more night for something,” Kid mumbled. Killer sighed and shook his head. He could clearly see that his captain was catching feelings for the blunt, hard headed person right next to him. But no one on the crew seemed that surprised, he seemed to show them favor from the start. First he didn’t try to actually kill them, and then he gave them their own room, that was enough for the whole crew to know that Kid had caught feelings for them and was showing his affection in his own little, strange way.

“One more night? What for?” Killer asked.

“We have a plan,” They interrupted with a large smile on their face. “There’s someone auctioning a rather expensive devil fruit in down tonight at this executive ball, so I’m going to break in and win it without having to spend a single coin,” They confidently stated. Killer looked over at his captain and saw how he was looking at them, god he was hopeless.

“Actually, we’re using my ticket to get in, and then you can steal it,” Kid corrected as he spun a coin on his mechanical finger.

“One more night, that’s all we can afford before we risk having the military coming after us and accusing us of some money laundering scheme,” Killer stated before he left the room. When he closed the door, he heard laughter from the both of them and he hoped for his captain’s sake that things would work out between the two of them.

“Now to get dressed up, right?” They asked as they stood up from the large pile of gold, they snagged a couple of small pieces and smiled to themselves. “I’m gonna buy something to wear, I’ll be back soon,” they said before they walked out. Kid mindlessly waved them off before he had to get ready too. After all, he was the one with the executive ticket. He got dressed in a nice, slick black suit with a red tie on the front. While it was a little uncomfortable, he was reassured by his crew mates that he looked fantastic. But when they weren’t looking, he unbuttoned the first few buttons of the dress shirt underneath, he couldn’t help himself, the fabric was too constrictive. When he finished, he heard a small cough and turned around.

“How do you like it?” They asked as they stood there in an elegant, red ensemble. Kid thought he liked how red looked on himself, but on them? He was captivated. His jaw went slack and he was pretty sure that his heart was going to burst out of his ribs. The way they stood there with their hands on their hips made Kid want to pounce on them, but he kept calm and nodded his head.

“Not as shitty as I was expecting you to dress,” Kid snickered as he went to lead the way off of the ship so they could go on their heist. They playfully rolled their eyes and placed a hand on his mechanical arm and walked with him to the large ballroom. Kid noticed what they were doing and smirked, he did his best not to focus on that and instead stayed focused on their task at hand. When they reached the ball room, Kid felt out of place. He was used to grease, oil and the smell of burning metal, this was too fancy for him, but for his guest it seemed rather nice. He silently let them lead the way inside and begin their quiet search. They were similar to him in so many ways but opposite in so many others, they were calculating, careful not to get caught while Kid was loud and loved the attention from getting seen doing bad acts.

“I found it,” they quickly said as they tightened their grip on his mechanical arm and looked out at the small glass case that was there.

“Are you gonna steal it?” Kid asked.

“Steal? No, I’m gonna win it,” they smirked. Kid felt his chest tighten when he saw how confident they were in their own abilities, it was attractive. He stared at their hips as they walked off and went to mingle with some people to find out more about the bidding going on that night. How were they expecting to win the fruit? Kid was confused, but when he saw how they were batting their lashes and giggling he knew. Oh. That's how. He didn’t like that. Kid frowned and tightened his hold on his cup, it was too small for his hands and he felt stupid being somewhere as nice as this. The more he watched them flirt and giggle to get their way to the fruit, the angrier he became. When he saw them place their hand on the arm of an older man, Kid snapped. He broke the glass in his hand and scowled. He pushed his way through the refined crowd and grabbed them by the shoulders.

“We’re leaving,” he growled, and without any warning, he picked them up and tossed them over his shoulder like a sack of money.

“Hey! Kid, what are you doing? I’m so close!” They protested as they slapped his back with their smaller hands. Kid’s mind read what they said in a much more dirty way, and thinking like that made the poor man's cheeks redden.

“Shut up, we’re leaving, I don’t need that damn fruit anyways,” He spat out as he went to carry them through the town. They were embarrassed, their face was red and they weren’t even able to say anything while being carried like that. Kid was quiet as he left the party and didn’t even care about the stares he received as he carried them out of the party with a sour look on his face.

“Why don’t you want the fruit?” They asked once they were finally outside and away from everyone else.

“It’s not that I don’t want it, I don’t like how you’re trying to get it,” Kid scowled. They thought about his words for a moment before a shocked expression came across their face.

“You’re jealous.”

“Shut the hell up, no I’m not!” Kid snapped. They’re frown quickly turned into a smirk as they hopped out of Kid’s arms so they could stand him up.

“You’re jealous because you like me, Kid,” they teased as they stepped closer. Kid scowled and tried to step away from them, their words were right, he liked them and it was pretty obvious. “Luckily for you, I find you tolerable enough to continue this little charade in a more intimate way,” they purred. Kid’s blood ran cold, he tried to look cool and maintain his composure but they were so close to them.

“You’re lucky I stole that fruit or else tonight could be ending very differently,” Kid growled as he picked them up again. They laughed and playfully smacked his shoulder.

“I knew you looked lumpier than normal,” they laughed. Kid scowled and smacked their rear.

“Shut up!”

[writing-in-april]

The Big Bluff

Spencer Reid x Female Reader

Summary: Spencer goes up against a professional poker player.

A/N: This is almost a purely self indulgent fic, once I had this idea I really really wanted to write it for myself. I wrote all of this today while sick so I’m proud of myself lmao. Also ‘the woman’ Is definitely inspired by Irene Adler. Thanks for letting me have the third person today @zhuzhubii (inside joke thanks to)and thanks to @imagining-in-the-margins who helped me figure out where the story was gonna go. Last day of my 500 follower celebration!! I did 7 fics in 7 days!! Thanks y’all so much for supporting me!!

Warnings: Smut, Fighting for dominance, Hand job, Spitting, Fingering, Choking - uhh should be it.

Masterlist Word count: 2.3k

The casino lights were bright as she walked in through the main entrance of the casino that was dripping in finery. She was a vision in red, dressed to the nines in a red dress that left little to the imagination. She was here to blow off some steam, though not in the way people would assume. The woman in red was a professional poker player, normally playing high stakes games that were also televised for people’s enjoyment. Usually people would try to escape what they did at work on the weekends, but not her as she rather enjoyed the adrenaline that pumped through her veins just as she was about to win.

A man sat across from her at the table she chose with fluffy brown hair that curled slightly and wearing clothes that didn’t fit with the overall aesthetic of everyone else there. She would have assumed normally that he was an amateur player, only here to blow off steam (Plus his money) for the weekend by playing poker and laying in bed with someone. There was something about his demeanor however the way he acted just subtly arrogant as he waited for the dealer to start, that told her that he was the one to watch during the game.

Sure enough after the first round he had won, the woman lost nothing in the hand as she had folded right when she realized she’d gotten a bad hand. Worry still had creeped up on her as she gazed at the man who looked more like a teacher’s assistant rather than a poker player, she couldn’t be seen to lose even if this wasn’t a high stakes game, she had a reputation to uphold. She could’ve left the table, gone to find some easier people to swindle, but the challenge to bring the mystery man down was too hard to ignore.

During the next round her eyes almost never left the stranger only looking down every so often at the cards she had been dealt. It got to the point in the game where everyone had folded besides her and the man, she had been raising the stakes too high for everyone else to be comfortable with participating even if they thought they had a good hand. The whole table sucked in a breath as she went all in with her bet, no one at the table seemed to be able to get a read on her, including the man who thought he was unbeatable.

“I fold.” A triumphant smirk came across her face while taking a celebratory gulp of the wine she had ordered as the man had finally admitted defeat, this was exactly the kind of adrenaline rush she had been searching for. The look on his face was pure rage, she got the sense that he hardly got angry probably because he hardly lost.

She raked in all the chips she had earned, but then decided to not show her winning hand. It was far more satisfying to her to see the frustration on everyone’s faces, to see them try to figure out her game. Was she bluffing or not?

Once she had cashed them in she left to go to her hotel in a cab that she had called until she saw the man waiting by the entrance waiting and stopped. He looked like he was waiting for someone rather impatiently by the way he was tapping his foot.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yeah you.” He remarked rather simply, his foot still tapped impatiently clearly fed up with her even though the amount of words they had spoken to each other could be counted on two hands.

“Why are you looking for me?” She played the part of a coy woman perfectly, she knew exactly why he was looking for her. His cocky demeanor at the table had quickly given away to her that he rarely lost any hand that he was dealt, whether it was a bad one or not.

“How did you win? Were you bluffing? You must have been bluffing...Or you just got lucky...” His ranting would’ve been cute in any other circumstance, the fact that he had assumed what had gone down, that she was in fact only lucky or bluffing made her blood boil.

“How did you get away with card counting?” She countered back a little irritated that he had assumed that the only way she could win was if she was bluffing or getting lucky. He seemed caught off guard by her question, unable to comprehend how someone had caught him after mastering the subtle art of card counting over the years. Though she was irritated at him, she still wanted to know more about the man who looked more like a teacher's assistant than a poker player, even if she had beaten him it was still obvious that he was good at the game. “What’s your name?”

“Spencer.” His impatience was even worse now looking almost frantic at her slow pace in the conversation, he was more focused on her skills rather than her name.

“Well- Spencer it was nice to meet you, but I have to get going, better luck next time.” She wasn’t dumb, she knew he was going to follow her out to her cab, her real aim was to hopefully get him to come back to the hotel with her. She may have been looking for a poker game to release some tension, that had somewhat worked, however this game seemed far more fun.

“Please- I need to know.” His shouted out words had attracted the attention of a few casino goers who were not happy with the fact that a man was yelling right outside the doors of the casino. The little wave he gave as an apology before sprinting a little to get closer to her was cute, deepening her desire to take the man for a ride, maybe he wasn’t as much of a hot arrogant asshole that she thought.

“Why don’t you come with me if you want to find out.” She flashed him a coy smirk before ducking into the cab. The man she now knew as Spencer may be arrogant when it comes to his poker skills, but underneath it all she could tell there was a man that was intriguing. She wanted to get to know him beyond his card counting skills and possibly jump his bones. The fact that he was gorgeous did nothing but stoke the fire that he ignited during their heated conversation.

Spencer did take up her offer and got into the back seat with her. Though, whether he had caught onto the other game that they had started to play was still a mystery to her.

They had made it up to her room in the swanky hotel on the strip, being a professional did bring her in big money. The look in his eyes as he stood waiting near the door told her that he had definitely caught onto the game she had carefully set up for them. There was still a way to back out, to exit through the door where he came from, there was no chance in hell he was backing away from the woman he found infuriating but extremely gorgeous.

“You still haven’t given me your name.” The one thing that was holding him back, the fact that he still didn’t know her name. The name fell from her lips dripping with seduction, she was irresistible to him almost nothing could make him leave the room.

He surged forward to capture her lips with his own, he expected to gain dominance over the kiss swiftly though it was more difficult than he first expected. He was met with a pair of lips that wouldn’t let him gain access that he wanted, he tried to slip his tongue into her mouth but was quickly barred from entering.

She would not be giving up dominance easily.

“Condom?” He said breathlessly into my lips while she worked on the buttons of his shirt after I had hastily pushed his cardigan off and tossed it somewhere in the room.

“In my purse.” She released him to rummage through the purse that had dropped onto the floor in their haste. Once she had found what she was looking for she stood up to find Spencer sitting at the edge of the bed, belt now discarded with his slacks undone.

She moved to stand just slightly in front of him then pulled the straps of her red dress down until it pooled onto the floor. Their eyes were both blown with lust only focused on each other. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath besides a lace red thong to match the dress. Spencer was practically salivating at the sight of her only in heels and a thong, he was so distracted by it that he was caught off guard when she moved to straddle him while also pushing him to lay flat on his back.

Pulling his boxers down just enough she pulled his cock out, he was half hard at this point, she was already impressed with his size though she masked it with her practiced poker face.

“Now you’re going to sit back and look pretty while I have my way with you.” The anger on his face was prevalent in response to her words, the fight was taken away from him when she spit into her hand and started to jerk his length. Her hand moved up and down in a teasing manner not getting him even close to the edge, his moans caught up in his throat though one did escape in frustration after she had almost completely pulled away from him. Finally he had enough of her teasing, batting away her hand and flipping her over.

“Now it’s your turn to look pretty.” He pinned both of her hands above her head holding them together with one hand while the other dipped down to the apex of her thighs. At first he didn’t let her have anything she wanted, only running his fingers on her inner thighs and dancing his fingers right above her hole that was now absolutely dripping.

“Beg.” His voice was now harsh and biting, that did little to intimidate her and all it did was make her even wetter. She fought his grip with vigor not wanting to give into his demand.

“No, I won’t beg.” She said through gritted teeth, it had become much harder to finish her sentence when Spencer had unexpectedly curled his fingers inside of her, finding that perfect spot inside her faster than she had expected.

“You don’t want to beg fine, but don’t expect to cum.” The growl in frustration that came from her made Spencer pause just a little, long enough that she could retake control and flip him back over. A squeak fell from him clearly not expecting her to be able to take back control again and another noise came out from him, this time a broken moan, after she quickly put the condom down and she sunk down onto his length.

“I don’t beg for anyone.” She started at a rough pace, her anger came out in her movements as she undulated her hips with fury that Spencer had never experienced before in the bedroom. The moans falling from each of their lips would surely get her a complaint from her neighbors, neither of them could really care less as they both chased their release.

Spencer may have been on the bottom at this point, but he still had not submitted completely to her. His hands sat firmly on her hips, tight enough to create finger shaped bruises that she hoped would remain for the days after this tryst while he also thrusted with the same vigor as her bounces.

She wrapped her hands around his jaw pulling him up slightly to envelope him into a kiss full of teeth and tongue. As her hand slowly pulled away from him it made contact with the hollow of his throat, his breath hitched at the light contact and he gripped her hips a little harder. She hesitantly moved her hand to connect with his throat to lightly choke him, she may have wanted to dominate him, but she didn’t want to scare him off. He gave an approving grunt at her actions, starting to meet her thrusts even harder than he had before and moved his thumb to rub circles into her clit.

“Cum.” She ordered as soon as she sensed their coming releases. He wanted to fight her on the order, not wanting to give up what little dominance he still held, but his release was so close that he didn’t want to give it up. Their releases washed over them, Spencer first and then her not long after being shoved over the ledge after seeing how pretty he looked while cumming. She fell on top of him, limbs quite tired from her vigorous work.

As soon as she had caught her breath she enveloped Spencer in a long languid kiss that was much slower than any of their previous ones then getting up to meander with shaky legs her way to the bathroom in her hotel room to clean up. She slipped into a pair of her sexier pajamas, just in case Spencer was going to stay the night like she wanted.

“So will you tell me now if you were bluffing?” He quickly pounced the question onto me as soon as I emerged from the bathroom, he did seem a little less frustrated about the fact that he had lost, more like he genuinely wanted to know my process.

“Guess you’ll never know. It could take a long time to figure out our tells.” She feigned exhaustion with a sigh though the smirk on her face told Spencer what she really wanted. He was an expert on behavior after all.

“I've got time.”

[x-reader-theater]

I'm not sure if your requests are open but here I go. Can I suggest a Spencer Reid x Reader that likes to gamble? Maybe they met on a case and the unsub was spotted in casinos and while interrogating, Spencer met the reader? I don't know, I'm just tired at this point

I'm making the game Texas hold-em, because that's literally the only kind of poker I know how to play. Edited by @mystic-writes as always. 💛

Gif by @reidgifs

"Alright, blinds shifting to the right!" the dealer says from the middle of the table. The game was not standard casino fare, with everyone knowing each other and talking the entire time. But, seeing as it's the only game in town you learned to play.

It doesn't bother you, the lack of professionalism. You don't play to win, you play to have fun. And maybe take some money from your neighbors.

You know everyone at the table. Your next door neighbor Chucky is sitting to your right, his blonde hair just as unkempt as usual. George is sitting to your left. He's across the way from you. Frankie lives down the street, he's next to Chucky, and Harry is dealing tonight.

The only person you don't know is a man sitting next to George. He has shoulder length brown hair and is far too skinny to be from anywhere around here. Your town values hard work, and stands up against corporations that try to take over their farms. Everyone works their own land, and that's how they like it. That also means everyone is stocky and strong. The man does not look like he's from around here.

"Alrighty then, new-guy. What'll you have?" Miss Mary Garland asks, her circular metal tray tucked underneath her arm.

"Uh, just water please," he says, and you raise your eyebrows at that.

"Alright, I'm callin' the ten," George says, throwing in his chips. It's not a high stakes game at all, and you're glad for it. You would hate to take any significant amount of money from these people. It's all for fun.

"I call," the unknown man says, throwing in his own ten.

The rest of the round goes by uneventfully, you fold, not having anything good and not wanting to lose more than ten chips a round if you didn't have to, and the new guy ends up winning the fifty dollar pot, on what you can only assume is a bluff. That or he's not very good at the game. But the way the man's eyes are looking at everyone around the table, with a discerning eye, trying to see what they have based on their expressions, he's definitely bluffing.

The next round starts, and you find you have pocket sevens. You call the ante, putting your ten in, and it moves off to the next round. Another seven shows up, as well as a jack and a ten. You school your expression, as you raise by ten. The three men you know fold, and it's just you and the stranger. He looks at you, and you hold his gaze, his hazel eyes narrowing at you, trying to ascertain what you have.

The flop is put down and none of it interests you. A king and a queen, as well as a two.

Your percentage is pretty good at this point, but you can't put everything you have into it. The man could have something better. Potentially.

The turn is put down and it's an ace. Not helpful to you, so you put in five, and the man does the same.

Finally, the river is placed. It's another seven. You fight down the grin you want to bring to your face so badly, but you fight it, pushing it down, your face little more than a blank slate. You put in half of your pile, which, admittedly, isn't much, but it is a good 25 dollars. The unknown man, whose face is as blank as yours, raises you another 25. Your entire pot.

You swallow, but push the rest of your chips in. You think he swallows as well. Your hand is the third best, and the only thing that can beat you is a straight flush or a royal flush, and looking at the odds, he most likely doesn't have that. If he does, you'll eat your hat.

"Alrighty then," the dealer says and it's at that moment you realize how tense it's become. No one's said anything since they folded, and you've been too focused on the man sitting across from you. "Show us what you got!"

The unknown man lays his hand down, and you suck in a breath as you see what he has. A pair of Jacks. Full house with sevens.

"Full house," he says, and you almost forget to put your own cards down when he speaks. His voice is smooth but young, and you have to wonder how old he is.

You put your cards down and grin at the man, saying, "Four of a kind."

You pull all of the chips to yourself at your place at the table, stacking them, before saying, "Sorry boys, but I'm gonna take my winnings and go."

You push the chips to the dealer who gives you 100 dollars in twenties and another 15 for the blinds. You collect your money as the rest of the table, besides the unknown man, boos you, but you just laugh as you walk out of the room, into the main dive bar, and order yourself a glass of water, putting away your money.

The unknown man takes a seat next to you, holding his own water you didn't realize he got, too focused on the game.

"So, you come in, and somehow get a seat at our private poker game. Do I at least get to know your name?" you ask, taking a sip of the water placed in front of you.

"Spencer. Reid. Uh, Spencer Reid, is my name," he says, awkwardly, and you raise an eyebrow. This man is different to how you saw him only minutes ago. He's not as confident, cocky.

"Spencer. I like it. Classic," you say, and the man in front of you actually blushes. You smirk. "So, Spencer, what are you doing in my little town?" you ask, leaning forward into Spencer's space.

He flushes an even deeper red, and stutters out, "I-we- I'm here investigating the murders that-that occurred recently."

You nod. "And you think it's someone in the poker group?"

Spencer nods. "Yes, but the unsub took someone and is holding them, torturing them right now and it seems like everyone was there…"

You shake your head sadly. "We have another member who usually sits in your place. He's right shit at the game so we never talk about him. We just take his money usually, and send him on his way. He's a real creepy bastard if I've ever seen one."

"What's his name?" Spencer asks, and you go to write it down, taking a pen from your shirt pocket and a napkin from the bar, and writing the name, and something else down.

"Buddy. Buddy Green," you say, handing over the napkin.

Spencer takes it, nodding, before frowning. "What's this? Is this Buddy's number?" Spencer asks.

"What?" you ask back, flippantly. "Nah, I don't know Buddy's number. That's my number."

You wink, and Spencer blushes a deep red, thanking you for your info before running off. You down the rest of your water as you lean back against the bar.