#also none of this is an excuse for being a creep like we discussed last time

[toolazytodecide]

How does Theo live with the stress?! 😩😩😩😩

66% in so far

Drugs, alcohol and repression mostly.

I give him shit, but having read about all the shit hes been through its no wonder he didn't grow up to be the most well adjusted adult.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Jack Bass x Younger!Reader || Oneshot

Title: Bass's.

Notes:

I have no idea when this is supposed to be set. Just go with it.

I have two things to say about Jack in this gif, though. 1. Does he not know how to carry a tray. And 2. I love this statement, here. Its like 'Bart's Dead, Chuck. I can barely contain my joy, Chuck. Its taking all my willpower, Chuck, to keep a monotonous expression. Also Chuck I am carrying a tray, do you see this?'

Plot: Bart Bass decides to be his creepy fucking self (Not that Jack is exponentially better in any way but whatever) towards you, Chuck's best friend- but thankfully, Jack accidentally walks in on the scene and gives you a get out of jail free card.

Good old 'lesser of two evils' shit. I love stuff like that.

Warnings: BART BASS being predatory, and a bit of age difference (You and Jack. I'm going by actors ages though so there's only a, like, 11 year age gap between him and Chuck which is not that bad if you ask me). Sexual references.

~~~

Chuck looks from his phone, that's flashing Blairs name, to you and your big, wide eyes and lips mouthing 'Don't you dare', then to his father quietly tapping away on his phone on the couch a few feet away... then back at his phone.

"Charles- " You hiss, prepared to threaten his very existence but he cuts you off first- slipping off the bar stool beside you and heading for the hallway.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Why am I friends with him again!? You think, but stay quiet and hope that Bart doesn't realise that you're back there despite having said hello to you earlier when he came in. You think, if you stay quiet like a mouse, he will forget your existence and keep texting until Chuck gets back- although, who knows how long he and Blair can go on for.

Depends what its about, honestly. If its about revenge or espionage... well, the conversation could last quite some time.

Should I just leave?

The impulse to run away is a strong one, as you sit there with your cheeks heating up and you start to feel nauseated. You never liked Bart Bass, from the moment you met him. Before that, actually. You had heard Chuck talking about him to Nate before you even became friends with them, and none of what you heard was good. And then you did meet him, one day when Chuck invited you over to do a school project. Or 'school project' as he so obnoxiously put it. You really did end up just doing a school project, though. Hence your friendship nowadays. Bart was creepy towards you even then, at 16 with terribly died hair and the wrong eyeshadow.

You've been very careful since then to never be alone with him like this. You would talk to him at parties if you were forced to, say hello to him when Chuck had you at his place and the man walked by, but that is the extent of your communication with the creep. Always, always, someone would be around. Chuck, mostly. But also staff, or Nate, or random fundraiser ladies, or Jack who Chuck the bastard never left alone with all willy-nilly like this, unfortunately, or Lily, or literally anyone else possible on the earth.

You've even hidden away in the men's bathroom, which is disgusting no matter how expensive the restaurant, with Nate before to get away from this man when Chuck once ditched you both at a dinner with him. And that's the story of how you got your first kiss, too, and it was from Nate Archibald. Hell yes.

That's how much this man makes you want to grab your bag and flee.

But you don't. You stay glued to your seat, super still, listening only to the tap-tap-tapping noises that Bart makes and the bump-bump-bump noises your heart is making right into your throbbing ears.

Until it stops.

Not the bump-bump-bumping, oh no. The tapping. And, nightmarishly, it's replaced by a groan and footsteps coming towards your turned back.

"Y/N," As soon as he says your name, his hands fall on your your shoulders and you literally jump under his touch. Shit- Shit- Fuck- what's happening- "I've been meaning to speak with you recently but Chuck- ah. Well you know him. He refused to share with me your telephone number. But I knew you'd turn up here at some point, so not to worry."

"Uh... right." You cant even force yourself to be your normal, cheery, polite self in this position. You just want him to get. off. of. you.

"Did you want a drink?" He asks, in that possibly cheery (But only because its slightly louder then his usual husk level) but mostly still scary voice he uses to convey emotion, letting go of you thankfully and rounding to the other side of the bar. You shake your head, though. He raises his brows, picking out a scotch for himself. "You don't drink? Shocking, seeing as you're friends with my son."

Oh I drink. You think, giving him a shrug. Just not in situations like this one. Also, what must he think of Chuck? Jesus Christ. For sure, your boy likes debauchery but what's wrong with that?

"Well, I like that." Bart pauses before pouring his drink, to appreciate you. "Mature."

Damn it. It makes your skin absolutely crawl.

"So... " You take a deep breath, tucking your hair back behind your ears rather then ruffling it back like you usually would to get it out of your face- lest that be recognised as some kind of extremely subtle form of flirting. God, fear makes you think weird things. "What did you want to discuss?"

"Oh- Just, your future. Where are you going to school? Will you be sticking close to us?"

Us? US? No, I'll be far far away, from you.

You don't really want to tell Bart where you're going to be going to school, because in your fear addled brain you know that that will just lead to 'Which campus?', or 'Where will you be staying?' and you really don't want it to go there.

You're just taking another, shakier deep breath, when the front door of the apartment opens and shuts loudly and set of feet trample down the hallway towards you. Immediately total relief plashes over you and you wipe your face. Oh, thank god.

Jack Bass appears in the doorway to the living room, looking as put-together yet somehow simultaneously still totally relaxed, as always, and forces aa polite smile onto his handsome face. "Brother. Y/N? Its good to see you."

You have no idea. "Good to see you too Jack. Uh- Chuck's in the bathroom."

"Thanks. For that... enlightening, information, Y/N. I needed that." You cheeks flare up in embarrassment, but ultimately you just roll your eyes as Jack flashes you a subtle wink, and turns promptly to his - much, - older brother. "Bart."

The older brother in question looks less then pleased at his baby brothers appearance in his home. Right now. And he possibly isn't thrilled about that little wink, either. Like you two are in on some kind of joke together. "Jack... What are you doing here?"

"Simmer down, bro. Just visiting." Even you know that that excuse is weak, but anything that comes out Jack's own monotonous voice right now is blessed where you're concerned so you certainly don't say anything. Or make any faces, which would be more appropriate. "Y/N, I don't think Bart-man here's too happy about my presence." Hm, no. You'd have to agree with that observation- not that you've looked up at Bart since Jack came in. You wont risk it. Jack glides through the room with the practised grace of a man who's lived 3 quarters of his life in suits and the other, happier quarter in board shorts, and ends up right next to your chair, an arm resting on the bench in front of you.

If you weren't already so nervous about Bart, you would blush about Jack.

"At least tell me you're glad to see me."

You grin, which is less forced then you thought it would be prior to trying it. Damn, he's good. You think, realising he just swepped in here and made you comfortable in less then 50 words. "Always, 'Uncle Jack'."

"Oh," He groans, like it physically pained him to hear you tease him like that. A tiny smirk even slips through his usually emotionless - well, not emotionless. He has one standing colour, that being sly, - stone statue of a face. "'Uncle Jack'- Please, stop. I'm barely a decade older then you."

That's enough to make anything else possible, inappropriate. Unfortunately. "Hey, I said I'm glad to see you." You wink, a bit sly yourself. "Count your blessings."

His grin widens a bit, like the dangerously charming Cheshire cat-type that he is. Genes that Chuck inherited, clearly, if his track record with girls say anything at all, but that Bart obviously missed out on. "You've got a point."

"She's a remarkable young woman." Bart pipes up, making your stomach tie itself up in knots again, and you immediately revert your gaze to your lap. Remarkable young woman... you want to barf. "Who, I was actually having a conversation with before you burst in here, unannounced." He takes a slow sip of his drink, then mutters. "And uninvited."

"Well that's great." Jack straightens up, clapping his hands together and finally showing his teeth in a smile. They're really freaken white, compared to his skin, deeply tanned by the hot Australian sun. "A visit would be kinda uncomfortable without a conversation; I'll join. I can converse with the best of 'em, Bart. I assure you."

"It was private." The old man sneers, thinking that he's got the upper hand on Jack, and all you can do is hope to god that he's wrong.

Jack turns his head back to look at you, and you meet his gaze tentatively. Your eyes scream, 'Please don't leave me alone with that guy'. He promptly looks back to Bart. "Well Bart why don't we ask the lady in the room what she wants? We are gentlemen here aren't we?" Then Jack makes a face, all crumpled up and unsure, for a moment. "Err. Well actually... 'gentleman' might be a bold faced lie. We'll ask anyway. Y/N! Do you mind if I weigh in here?"

"Not at all." You say quickly, flashing a tiny, thankful smile. He gives you another wink- this time actually subtle. So Bart didn't see it. Your smile gets a little bit bigger, relaxing. He's got you.

"Great." You watch him pull out the stool beside you, that Chuck - who has still not returned from his phone call with Blair. You assume some, likely cruel vengeance must be involved. Possibly involving that Humphrey guy, - had vacated and settles down in it. He then sets his arms firmly on the bench and looks up attentively at Bart, not breaking eye contact with him. Boy these Bass's like their stare downs. "So?" He prompts, expectantly. And a little arrogantly- a Bass speciality that you truly don't mind at all. "What's on the agenda, today?"

Bart glares heatedly, back.

~

Throughout the awkward discussion between the three of you, which your good friend Chuck has yet to return to discover - at this point you're resigned to him having climbed out the window and scaled the building probably, - , Jack constantly, skilfully changes the subject for you whenever Bart rears to close to somewhere uncomfortable. He makes jokes that make you laugh, he nudges you with his elbow at times - but never touches you any more then that, although you honestly wouldn't mind it if he did, - and takes the attention off you a lot. At times you truly thought you saw steam come out of Bart's ears.

When finally Bart gives up and excuses himself, saying he as an early dinner with Lily, you feel exhausted and relieved. After the door swings shut behind him, you cover your face with your hands and deeply sigh.

"So, what was that about? You looked like a trapped mouse. I recognise that look, I invented that look." You pull back slightly from your hands and glance over at him, to see him thoughtful for a moment. "Well, not by making it. By... causing... it... Either way, it was not good." He shakes his head, taking a sip of his own drink - scotch, - that he made Bart pour for him; Raising his eyebrows at you for an explanation over the rim of the glass.

Jack's always been great, like this. Even when he was horrible, he was the lesser of two evils between him and Bart. Good for a laugh and quality eye candy in a pinch- and that counts for a hell of a lot when it comes to surviving Bart Bass and the Upper East Side. And he had the power and pull of an adult, but knew what the hell was going on like one of you.

So he always made you feel at ease.

You ruffle your hair back, and sigh, straightening your back finally from their hunched over position they live in when you're uncomfortable and pushing back your shoulders. "He was just, saying some weird stuff... and Chuck disappeared to talk to Blair." At that, Jack nods in total understanding. Like ah, yeah. Got ya. Finally, you shrug. "He just makes me really uncomfortable. No offence, but I hate your brother."

As you watch Jack's eyes don't even flicker; He's totally on board with what you've said. Then he finishes the rest of his scotch in one gulp. "Ahh- I hate him too."

"As do we all." Chuck's voice suddenly pops up, as he appears in the doorway like Jack had earlier. You have to practice some serious self control so as to not laugh, at Chuck so coincidentally turning up again at the perfect moment to proclaim his hatred for his father. Jack grins back at Chuck coldly, nodding. Yeah. "Anyway, Y/N, I apologise but I'll be having to abandon you. Blair's waiting for me at her, empty, apartment." He pauses for a moment for dramatic effect, in perfect Chuck Bass fashion, and you roll your eyes, grinning. Jack smirks. "But you're welcome to stick around a while and help yourself to the amenities All on my tab, of course. Good to see you again, Jack." Then he pockets his phone and heads toward the door. The second Bass of the day leaves the building.

"Bye, nephew!" Jack waives as the elevator doors close behind Chuck then swiftly turns around back to you, to which you raise your eyebrows. "So, what do we do now?"

"I dunno." Shrugging you grin and turn your stool to angle your legs towards Jack. "When Chuck says those magical words 'All on my tab'," Those words, oh; You speak them with just as much raw, breathy sexual arousal as the man himself would. As the words demand. 'All on my tab'. Good lord, sex if they were words. "I tend to take advantage."

"An easy girl to please; That's what I like to see." Your cheeks flame up at those words out of Jack's mouth as he turns to look down at the room service menu. Yes, Jack Bass has toed the line, between platonic and flirtatious since the very moment you met the man... but that seemed a little bit more then toeing the line.

And you get a far different reaction to him doing it then you do the other Bass brother.

You don't even really mind the implications of his words.

"You're staying back with me?" You ask, feeling hopeful at the idea.

"Yeah well, I cant in, uh, good conscience," He makes a bit of a show to you, of pressing his hand to his chest totally earnestly as those words 'good conscience' come out of his mouth. "leave you here unguarded in case Bart comes back, can I? Besides, the way you said 'All on my tab'- man, you could sell moonshine at an AA meeting with that voice."

"Ha," You laugh, rolling your eyes and shaking your head. "Well, thanks."

"Oh. Don't thank me. You're just using what uh, your mama gave you. I actually encourage you totally, to do that more often- "

"No!" You exclaim, sighing in exasperation; But there is still a smile on your face you cant seem to shake. "For not leaving, today. When you walked in. It would've sucked if you had, not that I would've blamed you at all."

"Hey, just call me your knight in shining armour." He doesn't look up from the menu, flicking through it. Then turns to you with one of those beach boy/politician, toothless grins of his. "Besides you were automatically, my favourite person in the apartment. I mean, anyone with... uhhh- different, appendages to what I have, instantly gets a one-way ticket access to my rare bouts of chivalry. Now come over here, pick out what you want off here."

You just gape at him and that comment, making him stifle a laugh and return to the menu himself.

Bass's.

[sweetchup]

💌Love/Hate💌

Type: Pariston Hill x Reader

Prompts: Soulmate Au (Colorblind) + 7– Innocent/Corruption Kink

Author Note: OMG I am so so so sorry this took so long. I’m not sure what it was but my brain couldn’t write for Pariston. Like it was if the zodiacs took over and put it into a total shut down mode. It was insane. (ALSO Small warning, this is Pariston and, as expected, he’s an abusive dick)

(Valentine’s Day Masterlist)

When you had first accepted the job of being randomly assigned someone’s secretary, you hadn’t expected to be assigned to the CEO of a high end tech company. You mean, who in the world would have known that by just calling a flyer on a street corner would have led to working with someone so prestigious.

It almost sounded too good to be true!

….And, you wished you hadn’t jinxed yourself in that moment. The CEO of that high end tech company actually turned out to be only 21, having inherited the company from his father. He was not only a spoiled brat and a player but, my god, was he lazy. You were sure that if you hadn’t spent hours on the phone discussing ideas with his father and done all the paperwork for him, that the company would be in ruins before someone could say “We’re broke!”.

Though, no matter how hard you worked your ass off these past couple months, nothing could prepare you for this moment.

“Dear god someone help me…”

You and his father had told him many times over this week. On February 14 at noon, you have an important meeting with the Hunter Association. You can’t miss it.

But, of course, that lazy ass was running late. By 45 minutes to be exact.

“Miss (y/n), is Mr Avoli going to be showing up any time soon? It isn’t like him to be late.”

… And it surely didn’t help that you were standing in the meeting room, waiting for him with the Hunters Association's very own Zodiacs.

Shamefully, you turn to the doglike woman who had introduced herself as ‘Cheadle’ earlier and give an apologetic bow, “I-I deeply apologize. You see Mr Avoli's son, Hunter Avoli, recently took over the company. I reminded him constantly this past week about the meeting but I’m afraid he may have forgotten...”

“Oh that guy.” You hear the monkey zodiac ‘Saiyu’ spit out in disgust, “He is almost as bad as that dirt bag, Ging.”

“It’s not a problem Miss (y/n). I’ve met Hunter many times before so I’ve seen first hand how unprofessional he acts. This is clearly not your fault.” Cheadle reassures, giving you enough confidence to lift your head up from bowing to look at her as some of the Zodiacs complain in the background.

As you stare at the grayish colored woman, you can’t help but wonder what color she was wearing. Due to you still not having found your soulmate, you can only see the color of your soulmate’s eye color. Which, in your case, was brown. A chocolate brown to be exact.

And, usually dogs were brownish in color so you kind of wondered what color Miss Chealde chose instea—

“We are still waiting on the chairman and two other zodiacs so why don’t you take the chance to try and give Hunter a call.” Mizaistom, the ox zodiac, suggests suddenly.  

“O-oh of course. Thank you very much Miss Cheadle, Mr Mizaistom. I’ll be very quick— Eep!”

Oh god why me?

Just as you made your way to the door to exit the room, someone on the other side had already swung it open. Making you, in pure surprise and shock, take a step backwards. Though, just like how your day is going so far, Luck truly didn’t seem to be on your side as you end up tripping on your own two feet and begin to fall backwards.

You expected to land hard on the cold tile floor in front of everyone, extremely embarrassing really, but instead you don’t. You still hit something firm and hard but… it was different. Actually, now that you think about it, you felt higher up than you were before…

“Ah, Ging this is why I said you shouldn’t barge into rooms so suddenly! You scared our poor guest!” A voice suddenly calls out from behind you, his breath slightly tickling the shell of your ear. Quickly, in surprise, you whip your head around to—

…Shit.

As your eyes lock with the male’s chocolate brown ones the room suddenly bursts into a flurry of color. Blues, reds, greens, maybe yellows? You honestly didn’t know the proper names for all the colors you were seeing for the first time. However, in all this chaos, you happened to know two things.

One, That you had just met your soulmate and Two,...

… it was none other than the Vice Chairman himself, Pariston Hill.

“Oh my! How unexpected!” Pariston chuckles out, causing what seems to be sparkles to pop out around him, “I never thought our guest here today would end up being my soulmate. Not at all!”

“I—“ “Shut up Rat!”

You freeze as something suddenly comes flying past your head. What the fuck...

“You have a soulmate? Not a Chance! Not a Chance! Not a Chance!”

“Quit joking.”

“I doubt the King Of Kickbacks would have an ordinary soulmate.”

It was as if a bomb had erupted in the room, everyone was in pure disbelief at what Pariston had just said, Suggested, he even had (Well everyone except Ging, of course). Hell, some of them haven’t even found their own soulmates yet. So, why did the heartless ass Rat get to have one?!

“I assure you, I’m speaking the truth. Why would I lie about something like this?”

We can think of many reasons…

“U-uh…” You suddenly speak out, slightly flinching as everyone’s attention turns to you, “He is telling the truth… I saw colors other than brown for the first time when we locked eyes.”

“See!” Pariston says happily, pulling you affectionately closer to him in his hold. As you are flustered by the act from the handsome man, he takes the chance to walk to what you believe is in the direction of an empty seat. However, you soon realize that wasn’t what he was intending as he walked right by it and leaves through the other door located in the room.

“Hey Rat!! Where do you think you are GOING!?!” The tigerlike man screeches out, storming through the door you two just left as well.

“Well, I’m going to spend time with my soulmate of course.” Pariston exclaims, his smile not even flinching as bloodlust from the other zodiacs creeps out from the room.

“As if I—“ Suddenly, a loud chuckle behind you rings out, cutting Kanzai off.

“C-Chairman Netero!” You squeak out in surprise at the older man. Oh god, what a disaster. As someone trying to make a deal to him, this looks bad. So bad.

“My, what a twist!” The Chairman rings out, stroking his beard as he thinks as he walks past you two. “Hmm… You and (y/n) can be excused from today’s meeting, Pariston.”

“B-But, Chairman!” Kanzai rebuts. Soon shutting up however as the chairman grabs onto the collar of his jersey.

“It only makes sense to give them alone time, Kanzai. We will just call Mr Aloisi for the meeting instead of having (y/n) give it to us.” Netero explains, giving you a small wink as he drags Kanzai as if he was some kitty cat back into the meeting room.

What a strange group…

As you sit there stunned at everything that has happened so far, you don’t realize Pariston has already begun walking again. It takes you a while to realize as well, precisely the loud sound of the door of his private office being closed. He must have walked pretty fast…

“A-ah. Umm you can put me down now.” You mumble out to the… Blonde man (unable to tell if that was the correct color).

“Hmm. What was that?” Pariston asks, as if he didn’t quite hear you from before.

“Oh. I was wondering if you could put me down.” You tell him again. Shit, the way you said that came out bad. “I-I mean I’m really appreciative of you saving me but you are likely getting tired of holding me and I can walk on my own.”

“Oh!”

You expected at that exclamation that Pariston would instantly put you down to the floor, but instead he walks over to his deck and places you down in front of that. Odd, but you don’t question the sparkly man.

Speaking of odd, as you looked around the room, you realized it was really cold in here. Much colder than the conference room and hallway. God, what a bad day to wear a skirt but no tights. Especially those insulated ones you recently bought.

“Are you Cold?” Pariston suddenly voices up, causing you to turn behind you to look at him. He still hadn’t moved from his spot right behind you.

“A-ah yes I am. I don’t want to be a bother but could you possibly turn it down a couple of notches?” You ask, taking a step back a little to give a little bit of space between you two.

“I’m afraid I can’t. My thermostat broke this morning.” Pariston exclaims, his smile turning into a bit of a frown. However, that didn’t last long as he soon had a full blown out smile again. “But, I do have my jacket that I wore to work this morning. It should be… Ah! There it is! Right on the seat of my chair if you want to grab it.”

“Oh.. thank you.” You give Pariston a small smile before leaning over the desk to grab the brown coat.

You couldn’t wrap your head around it but for some odd reason you didn’t feel fully comfortable around him. Which was even weirder because you didn’t understand what was causing it. Shouldn’t you naturally feel comfortable around your soulmate?

Perhaps, you just needed to get to know him better. That’s likely it. Your just nervous since he was supposed to be your clien—

“Ah!” You let out a yelp as you feel pressure and sharp pain in your lower regions. At first, you thought it was perhaps a weird cramp or something like that. However, once you fully grasped what you were feeling, you realized you were just trying to make yourself believe that.

“Oh whoops! Tight. Tight. That must have hurt.” Pariston chuckles out, rocking his hips back and forth as his eyes watched his cock disappear and reappear out of your hole. Harshly letting go of the strap of your panties that he had pulled aside to watch as an ever so slight bit of blood comes out in your slick. Delighted to see such results.

“P-Pariston. Please be gentle.” You gasp out, turning yourself by your waist to place a hand on the man’s chest. Ever so slightly fisting the fabric of his suit when he suddenly gave a really hard thrust. “Let’s slow down… too soon…”

“How come? I thought you said you were grateful to me right?” Pariston teased out, pulling your hand off his suit as well as pushing your front down against the desk. Making it so you were trapped underneath him.

“I-I am but—“ “Shh… I’m only taking my reward!”

However, even with your constant pleas for him to be slower, gentler, Pariston continued his actions. Watching you grow more and more wet as that uncomfortable burning sensation suddenly turned into pure ecstasy.

It was perfect…

Pressed down against the desk, unable to move as you were essentially being taken advantage of by him. Your very own soulmate.

It was embarrassing, agonizing and traumatizing.

Surely, you hated him. You despised him.

Having waited long enough, Pariston decided to finally pull out and flip you over so he could see you and the results of his hard work. “Now, Now my dear. It’s not so—“

Pariston feels himself blink a couple of times.

Oh… So, you were one of those types huh?

It was if you were some humanized version of a golden retriever. Your eyes that were supposed filled with terror or hatred were still as sparkly and innocent before you began. You were loyal to him to a fault and he honestly doubted you could bring it in your heart to even hate him.

It was annoying but it wasn’t that big of a problem. He could always break you in other ways.

However, that’s not exactly what was troubling him right now.

Fluttering? Or, Bubbles?

Whatever it was, he didn’t understand why he was feeling this sort of way. Especially seeing you look at him like that. With that love filled look…

“Pariston…” You mumble out, your voice slightly slurred. “Are you okay? Are you done?”

Are you okay?

Those three words ring in Pariston’s head. Eventually, causing him to break his composure and let out a light laugh.

“Aw. Did I leave you high and dry? Here I’ll fix that.” Pariston calls out. A slight shiver going up his spine as he hears you let out a small moan as he slips back into your dripping cunt.

You know what, he didn’t care how strange you were making him feeling.

Whether you looked at him with loved dazed eyes…

Or cried out how much you hated him with those kissable lips of yours.

Either way, he would enjoy every bit of playing with you. You had the rest of your miserable lives to try it out after all.

[onthecrosslook]

Three Acts

Note: @call-me-moo Here goes nothing…

Epilogue

(From this point onward, the chapters will not be illustrated. I attempted to illustrate them, but it diverges from canon so much that I couldn’t find a single scene that worked. I’m really sorry about it. But still, I hope you enjoy the epilogue…and whatever that entails.)

I’m in a wheelchair at Mary’s funeral. The doctors told John I was too weak to leave the hospital, but I insisted on going. Their concerns were warranted, after all- the last time I left, I nearly bled out in an abandoned building. But having my best friend…

Perhaps maybe more…?

I shake the thought away.

I can’t ruin this.

Being with John is the least I can do, and the most I could ever ask for.

I don’t deserve him.

Everyone that was there to pay their respects have already left- not that many people came to begin with. Most washed their hands of the whole situation when they found out who Mary truly was, and what she had done to us. Only John and I stayed afterwards.

Together. Once again, together.

We remain at the grave, respectively sitting and standing in companionable silence. Neither of us are sure what to say- to each other, or to Mary, I’m not sure. It’s fairly overcast, and I can see the beginnings of storm clouds rolling in above us.

How appropriate.

I exhale and tentatively steal a glance at John. He looks calm, but I can see a range of emotions flashing in his blue eyes as he stares at Mary’s gravestone. One of his hands is balled into a shaking fist, and the other loosely holds a bouquet of white lilies.

“Sherlock,” he murmurs, his voice cracking with emotion and painful, unsaid words. “Sherlock, what…what am I supposed to say…?”

He killed his wife.

I swallow hard. I’m not sure what to say, either, but anything I could do…“Do…would you like me to speak first?”

He killed his wife for me.

John nods stiffly and stands back, before hesitating and pushing my chair a bit closer. He looks as though he wants to say something to me, but he bites back the words and keeps them to himself.

I take a deep, shaky breath. “…Mary. I…I…want you to know that…Even if- if you shot me. Even if you…with Rosie…Even after all that, I- I think…I forgive you. You were selfish. And you- you lied, and you hurt everyone. But…you were also kind. And you were selfless, sometimes. And I saw some of the love you had f-for everyone, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

Where is this coming from? I hated Mary, I hated her, I really did, I hated her smile and her words and her subtle manipulation throughout the entirety of our fabricated friendship-

“Sherlock…” John says softly, urging me to stop getting lost in my mind. It’s funny how he can do that with a single look…

I can’t stop. Not now.

“-And…and I know I should be…the last person who tells you about love, because…because I’ve only truly…truly known what it meant after meeting John.” I don’t look at John. I’m too afraid of how he’ll react. “And…and you. I don’t…believe in the afterlife, you’re aware. But…I- I hope…” I feel hot tears burning my eyes. “I hope you’re at peace, Mary.”

John rests a hand on my shoulder as I choke back tears. I flinch at the sudden contact. He doesn’t say anything further as I take deep breaths to regain my composure.

I shouldn’t be this emotional. I shouldn’t care.

“Sherlock,” he repeats again, the barest trace of a smile on his face. “How- how do I compete with that?”

I laugh and lean into his touch. It feels warm, comforting, loving.

It feels right.

I smile weakly back at him. “Just say what's on your mind. You’ll be all right.” And I mean it. He will be all right.

He sighs and walks forward. A moment passes before he finally builds up the courage to begin speaking- and once he starts, it all rushes out of him like an unblockaded river. “Mary. You were my wife. Once. And…and yes, I shot you. But you shot Sherlock, so I think we’re even. You were a liar. And a killer. But I suppose that’s my type, yeah? I can’t help going for the crazy ones. It’s…it’s my addiction.” He glances towards me, pain in his eyes, before looking back. “I just…I don’t think I could forgive you, normally. But…if…if Sherlock could- if my favourite bloody sociopath could find it in his heart to…I…I think I can, too. Goodbye, Mary. I think I’ll be happier now.”

He deserves it. John Watson has been through far too much heartache, he deserves to have a bit of happiness.

“John, are you all right?”

His expression lightens a bit, as though he’s gotten a lot off of his chest.

I suppose, in a way, he has. Catharsis can be a wonderful thing.

“Yeah, Sherlock. I’m all right. For the first time…in…in a while. Come on. I’ve got to finish moving my stuff back to Baker Street, and I’ll be damned if you use being shot as an excuse not to help.”

I smile softly. “No excuses?”

“None,” he agrees, before leaning down and pressing a chaste kiss against my lips. “I think we’ve been making excuses for far too long.”

I know we have. Things will be different, at first. It’ll take a bit of getting used to. But I think we can do it.

Sherlock Holmes…and John Watson.

¿?MThIeSS?MEnd¿???

“R, sweetheart, do you have eyes on Sherlock Holmes?” A smooth voice- just like honey- creeps into R’s ear like a particularly cunning virus.

R swallows bitterly as her lips curl into a snarl. “Yes, sir. He’s at the grave,” she growls, her American accent feeling much more natural than the British one she had been faking for so many years.

“Excellent,” the voice says, which isn’t the most original comment, considering how many criminal masterminds have said ‘excellent’ in regards to evil plans before. “Ugh, isn’t he boring?”

“Who?” R asks reluctantly.

“John. So plain, so obviously in love- oh, I think he finally kissed his little boytoy! Bravo, John, it only took you five years!” The voice is taunting, emanating energy as though it would never again have a chance to play. “I’m sorry, that’s a bit of a sore spot, isn’t it?”

“Of course not, sir,” R says curtly, ignoring the previous musings. “Would you like me to eliminate them?”

“No, no, no!” the voice shouts viciously, making R flinch. “Don’t you dare touch a single curl on that pretty thing’s head! I want Sherlock to recover and be healthy for our next round.” He says ‘round’ as though it’s such an intimate thing- it’s altogether rather surreal.

As much as R would like to put a bullet in each of their heads, she controls her impulses. God knows what he would do to her if she did. “Yes, sir.”

The voice groans. “Stop with the formalities, Mary. It’s so dull, and you of all people should know how much I despise dull people.” He lowers his tone to something dark and deathly soft. “Refer to me as ‘sir’ one more time, and I will string your bloody corpse up in Regent’s Park for the birds to have at you.”

Mary swallows, her gun shaking violently from her sniper’s post. “With all due respect, Mr. Moriarty, Mary is no longer my name,” she whispers.

“Ah, well, it suits you!” Moriarty exclaims over the comms, his voice back to its regular gusto. “Head back to the car, Mary. We need to discuss your punishment.”

Mary pales. “Punishment, Mr. Moriarty? But- I haven’t-“

He laughs. It sends shivers up her spine. “Mary, Mary, quite the contrary,” he quips. “You nearly killed my favourite pet. Shooting him near the heart- tsk, tsk, I expected better of you. The little joke about saying ‘hi’ to me was clever, too, but I can’t have this go unnoticed. We’re both professionals, I’m sure you understand!”

“But-“

Moriarty interrupts her with a shout. “BUT I suppose I’ll be lenient, just this once.” He seems to be barely holding back deranged giggles. “Instead of taking your hand, I’ll settle for a finger. Off you pop!”

The line cuts off abruptly as Mary feels a needle plunge into her neck, and she suddenly wishes she hadn’t worn a bulletproof vest when confronting Sherlock…

~

(To Be Continued!)

Act One linked below:

https://benaddicted-linfanuel.tumblr.com/post/656892650818011136/three-acts

Act Two linked below:

https://benaddicted-linfanuel.tumblr.com/post/656968775195934720/three-acts

Act Three linked below:

https://benaddicted-linfanuel.tumblr.com/post/656990419321864192/three-acts

Act Four linked below:

https://benaddicted-linfanuel.tumblr.com/post/657145687996301312/three-acts

[trash0receptacle]

Headcannon

Before that however: I’m sorry for not being active lately I’ve been very, stressed, busy, and tired. Since school started back my mood definitely declined a shit ton. With that being said writing is a way of coping for me so this is really just gonna be what I need today. If it helps you then that’s wonderful too.

Tw: Deppresion, Anxiety, and Anorexia

Paring: Lucifer x f/Mc

Also the way I right Luke is supposed to be taken platonically.

(Mc’s Pov)

Life had been shitty lately a lot more shitty than usual. I suppose it started when I heard some of the other succubi talking about me in on the way to class.

“She’s so lucky!”

“I know why does that bitch get to live with the brothers?”

“What do they even see in her?”

Sure I shouldn’t have taken the comments so personally but hell I take everything personally. So thats when my self doubt started forming roots in my mind again.

Before devildom I already had a lot of unresolved trauma and pain but the brothers really helped me. They were there for me when I needed them and made me feel wanted however after Belphie escaped the attic things went downhill for me mentally. The situation caused me a massive relapse and I began my destructive habits again. It went unnoticed for the most part mainly because they didn’t know the full scale of my past. All they knew is that I struggled and was medicated but nothing else. Perhaps Barbatos knew but he never said anything and I don’t believe he truly knew what went on inside my head either.

Now in the present moment I am contemplating what the succubi were saying about me. They’re right, “what did they see in me?” Surely it wasn’t my looks. I’m decently smart but I have no work ethic. The only thing I know I’m good at is being kind yet I’m a bitch half the time. So that’s when it came back to my body. The thing I’ve always hated about myself because I was never skinny enough, tall enough, pretty enough, curvy enough. I was never enough for someone to care about me.

I started skipping meals here and there. I still ate 2 out of three meals but I figured losing weight couldn’t hurt but then before I knew it I was lucky to even eat once a day. I was always good at making myself lose weight but not so drastically that you could tell I starved myself. For the most part I seemed healthy. However since I was going unchecked it kept getting worse. First my curves disappeared, then it was my hips sticking out, after that my cheeks began to sink, and finally my hair began coming out when I brushed it. I knew what I’d done but I couldn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to hurt them and in the past asking for help only got me ridiculed or hurt.

“No one wants to here about your problems mc it makes us sad.”

“You wonder why I don’t like you!”

“You always beg for compliments!”

“Your fat anyway.”

Those words just kept circulating inside my mind and wouldn’t stop. I wanted to get better I really did but it was hard to force myself to eat. However I couldn’t rely on anyone else for fear of hurting them or them hurting me so I stayed silent. That was until my ddd pinged and I received a text from Lucifer.

Lucifer: Please come to my study mc.

Mc: Uh sure... is everything alright?

No response.

This is unlike Lucifer whats wrong? Is he mad at me? I guess I shouldn’t keep him waiting otherwise he will get mad. I got up and walked to his study inside the library. On the way I noticed the house of Lamenation was eerily quiet. There was no noise besides the sound of my feet walking through the hallways. When I arrived at the door to the study I was surprised to not only see Lucifer but everyone else?

Simeon resembled a worried parent, Luke seemed confused and angry, Diavolo was most serious I’d ever seen him, Barbatos stared at me with what I assume was pity, Solomon looked at me like I was a ghost. However the brothers appeared in worst shape. Mammon seemed on the verge of crying, Levi had guilt written over his face, Satan like Luke was angry angry, Amso was for once frowning, and Belphie and Beel looked disappointed. However I couldn’t read Lucifer’s expression but I could tell something was definitely off.

“Uh hey guys... what’s wrong you look like someone died or something?” I tried to laugh off the uneasy mood in the room but it was to no avail.

“Mc if you could sit down we have some things we must discuss with you.” Lucifer spoke solemnly

They had to have figured it out. Of course I knew this would come out eventually but it still felt like a stab to the heart none the less. I sat down not even listening to the others words. All my energy was focused into not breaking down in front of them but I’d stayed “strong” for too long and tears began to silently fall down my face. The talking stopped and I felt them all look at me which just made the tears fall harder. I felt my wall crumbling down as the final straw on the camels back was placed. I just cried for what felt like hours. Once I began to calm down I finally spoke in between sobs and breaths

“I-.... I’m so-...sorry.”

The room became silent once more. No of them knew how to respond to the broken girl infront of them

“I just didn’t want to burden you guys.... you have your own problems and don’t need to put up with mine” “nor would you want to” I mumbled the last part but I didn’t go unheard.

Luke got up and ran over to me enveloping me in a hug. He just stood there hugging me as if he didn’t I would fade away. I just hugged him back feeling slightly better by the angel’s hug.

Simeon was the first to speak

“Mc we aren’t angry at you. I think I speak for everyone when I say we are worried.”

A silent agreement was exchanged throughout the room.

Diavolo spoke next

“While Barbatos wouldn’t divulge all of what he knew for the sake of your privacy he warned me that you needed an intervention.”

I chuckled halfheartedly knowing my hypothesis was indeed correct.

“Well I figured it would come to this eventually.”

*time skip*

“Can I go back to my room now?” I whisper

I wasn’t really asking rather I just said it and got up to leave. The others stayed still likely digesting the information I’d given them. I felt ashamed and exposed. I hated seeing how much my words affected them and I really needed to be alone at the moment. Eventually I made it to my room. Walking in I closed the door and just cried.

(Lucifer’s Pov)

No one bothered to utter a word after Mc left and no one went after her either. Eventually my brothers excused themselves to go where, I’m not sure. I couldn’t tell if it was minutes or hours that passed but Solomon, Simeon, and Luke left saying they should head back to purgatory hall. Which left Barbatos, Diavolo, and I alone in the study. For the first time since I’d known the prince I couldn’t tell what was going through his head. Barbatos eventually composed himself however and turned to me.

“I believe My lord and I should make our way back to the palace..”

I just nodded in agreement as the pair left me alone with my own thoughts. I’d never seen that side of Mc before. Of course I knew somewhat of Mc’s history either from her file or her own account but clearly things had been left out.

I eventually got up and left to go to my room knowing I wouldn’t be able to focus on my work even if I wanted to. On the way there I passed by Mc’s room and noticed the light was on. I debated knocking or leaving her alone when a voice called out.

“If your gonna stand at my door like a creep you might as well come in.”

And so I did.

“Hey Lucifer...”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Foot steps. I can tell who’s in the hallway by how they walk.”

“I see then.”

The room’s atmosphere felt awkward as neither one of us bother or start conversation. So I simply sat down on the floor across from Mc, who had her head in her knees. (The fetal position) Eventually she brought her head up to wipe tears from her eyes and said with a broken laugh.

“I’m sorry you had to seem me like this. I look pathetic right now..”

“Mc why do you say these things about yourself?”

“Why not it’s how I view my self Lucifer. I’ve heard it from your mouth before”

“I’m just a mere human.”

I cringed at the memory knowing she were right of course.

“Mc I-“

“You don’t need to apologize or explain I understand I pissed you off then. It was just an example”

Wanting to change the topic of discussion I asked her a question.

“Why didn’t you come to any of us?”

“Denial...”

“Denial of what?”

“That it got out of control.”

“Is that all?”

“Not exactly...”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“I- just please don’t get angry...”

I silently nodded my head as a watched Mc loosen up a bit.

“I think it might be my lack of trust towards really anyone.”

Mc started looking into space as she continued.

“I’m terrified of needing people or letting people help me. Part of it is when I have in the past I ended up hurt and alone. So I stopped I started being the one to help others.... then I needed help and I was cast out like a piece of trash. According to them I was selfish for needing affirmation and love. So that was when I decided I didn’t need that again.”

I sat silently contemplating her words.

“I’m truly sorry mc.”

“I would say it’s fine but it’s not. It hurts like hell but that’s life isn’t it? You learn to love and trust then you get your heart stomped out like a burning ember. The people you love leave you or die and you can’t do shit about it.”

“Wait what do you mean by die?”

“You know this sounds awful but you should be thankful Lilith didn’t suffer... sure it hurts that she’s gone but you are able to remember her before then since her “death” was quick. Painless.”

“I’ve had to watch the people who were my Lilith for lack of better terms die and suffer for months or years. I watched their bodies grow weak and feeble. However I was a child then and couldn’t do anything.”

I didn’t know how to respond so we sat in silence until

“Why’d you tell me this Mc?”

“Honestly I don’t know. Likely it’s because my body is physically exhausted and my filter was turned off.”

I noticed the tiredness Mc was trying to hide for the first time.

“You should sleep mc.”

“That’s ironic coming from you Lucifer.”

“I’m being serious mc.”

“What are you going to do? Mak-“

She didn’t get to finish her thought as I picked her up and carried her to my room. I knew she shouldn’t be left alone and I wanted to make sure she would be alright.

We arrived at my room and I deposited her on my bed. I sat in on of the chairs by the fire figuring she’d want the bed.

“Ok but why is your bed more comfortable than mine? Like sis you don’t sleep wtf!”

I just sighed knowing she was probably out of it but she was kinda of adorable when pouty.

Eventually she quieted down and her breathing became slower.

Mc’s POV:

“Mc you need to wake up”

“Five more minutes”

“Mc wake up!”

I felt the covers being ripped off. A dick move really.

“Ahh I’m up I’m up asshole!”

Wait why is Lucifer looking down at me? Why am I in his room? Shit I cussed him out. Well death never seemed that terrible

“Well if you’re awake now you need to come downstairs to eat breakfast. No, you can not object to this either.”

With that he left probably to go make sure the house isn’t on fire. I walked over to his bathroom and splashed water in my face to wake me up and noticed how emaciated I appeared.

Where my cheeks always so pronounced? Or when did my eyes start looking glassy and dark? I brushed it off not wanting to delve deeper into my insecurities. So I made my way to the dinning room. When I got there all conversation stopped and 7 pairs of eyes shot in my direction. I awkwardly made my way to the table and sat down.

I tried eating breakfast but it’s always been something I’ve never been able to stomach. I honestly never feel hungry when I wake up and it’s not like devildom food is exactly tasty. I was about to get up to leave when

“Mc you need to eat more.”

“Lucifer is right mc.”

“Ok...”

I sat back down and tried to eat what was on my plate but couldn’t so I sat there looking at it. I looked over to mammon’s plate and noticed how much food his had compared to mine and figured at least one of them knew it was a process to get me to eat again.

“I really can’t eat anymore otherwise I might be sick.” With no objections I got up and took my plate to the kitchen.

As I was washing it in the sink slowly some of the brothers came in aswell. First Asmo offered to take me shopping but I didn’t feel up to it. Then Satan asked if I wanted to go to the library again I didn’t exactly want people to see me like this so I declined. So levi offered we could play video games or something and I took him up on his offer.

He made sure I ate lunch that day which I honestly forget about sometimes. By the end of the day the other brothers excluding Amso, Satan, and Lucifer were all piled in Levi’s room.

Belphie was passed out in the bathtub of all places. Mammon was trying to impress me with his video game skills and Beel was munching on snacks behind us. It felt normal.

Eventually I got tired of it and decided to have some alone time. I was on my bed watching tik toks. (But fr tho I do have a problem with tik tok) Laughing at some etc when a knock was at my door.

“Come in”

I said this without looking up figuring it was beel looking for snacks or even Satan wanting to come in here and read. When I didn’t hear anything I looked back up from my phone surprised to see Lucifer standing there.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I just heard laughing and was wondering is you were alright.”

“Oh yeah sorry about that I’m just watching stuff in my phone.”

“Would you mind if I joined you?” He smirked

Damn not that smirk. Stop blushing Mc you got this. It’s just Lucifer.

“Uh... sure...”

Damn that wasn’t smooth.

End. (Unless I am asked to make a part two)

So I’ve been working on this for a while because I’ve wanted to make something actually decent. I wanted to do a happy ending and remind you guys that you’re amazing. And no matter who you are you’re loved and remember that.

- Caroline



[damnedparker]

velvet and sunshine

pairing: obi-wan x reader (gender neutral, no y/n)

warnings: food mentions, reader is sad, very mild general hurt/comfort

summary: college au. little to no sleep and awful professors have given you quite the day, and you need a nap. preferably in obi-wan's bed.

also posted on ao3

more self-indulgent fluff from me! i’m a one-trick pony! but i was yearning and stressed over college and i’ve screwed up my sleep schedule again so yknow here we are. i hope some of you enjoy my too sweet fluff. i would definitely write a cute little au series of this concept if i had the time <3

Oh, college. The ultimate vehicle of stress.

Your first of two classes you had on Fridays had went absolutely horrid, all on top of the fact you had gotten maybe an hour of sleep the night prior to get the homework due today done. You knew you needed to be better about procrastination, you really knew, but there's only so much blame you can put on your past self before you run out of time to catch up on the work that was stressing you out enough to put it off in the first place.

Your one, single hour of sleep had been at the cost of you having enough time to properly wake up and get ready as usual, so on top of being exhausted, you also had to deal with being around people when you felt more insecure than usual, feeling like a slob and like everyone was judging you for not having your usual makeup or outfit on. It did nothing to help your already miserable mental state.

In your first class, there was a discussion on the work due today, and the professor had taken every shot he could at putting down your contributions and opinions in the assignment. The rest of the class was completely silent as well, not knowing what to say. It was humiliating, and had gone on for around fifteen minutes, which ended up feeling like hours. After finally getting out of that class, you just wanted to curl up in a ditch and cease to exist for a while. But you had another class in around half an hour.

You sighed as you got in line at the campus market, clutching your meager excuse for lunch—some potato chips—in your arms like it was a precious treasure. It wasn’t the most fulfilling lunch, but the campus up-charged on-campus food like crazy, so you didn’t feel like wasting too much of your money on mediocre food. You would just eat later after your next class.

Just as you were imagining the lecture you’d receive from him for your poor nutritional choices, your phone buzzed with a message from your favorite person—Obi-Wan. He had sent you a simple little meme, one of those with a cat surrounded by heart emojis, accompanied with a simple “thinking about you :-).” You smiled and almost felt like crying at how sweet it was, despite this being a daily occurrence from him. That man loved his wholesome memes, and sent them regularly, and you were so thankful. It always made your day better.

But after today? The little spark of happiness didn’t last long.

After paying for your sad excuse of sustenance, you trudged out of the university center, walking slow as can be in the general direction of your next class. You really did not want to go; you could feel the exhaustion creeping up on you and you could tell you’d doze off in class, which was a nightmare waiting to happen. Although you had your best friend, Anakin, to cover for you, since he sat right next to you in that class, you just didn’t feel like dealing with any of it today. None of it.

And with that, you simply turned and started walking towards the edge of campus, toward your safe haven: Obi-Wan and Anakin’s apartment. You lived quite the ways away from campus, much too far to walk, but Obi-Wan and Anakin’s little home was just a block over. Your boyfriend had class for another hour or two, but you really just wanted a place to nap, and you didn’t trust yourself to drive all the way home. You would’ve almost certainly been hanging out with Obi-Wan later tonight anyway, so you figured he wouldn’t mind. You could have him bring you to get your car sometime later.

After some delirious walking, you finally reached the apartment complex, heaving out a sigh once you stepped in the elevator, leaning against the wall as it made its way to the second floor. Your brain was absolutely fried from the lack of sleep, stress, and emotional day you had, and you could feel yourself struggling to hold back tears from the overwhelming mood beginning to take your mind once you arrived and managed a small knock at the door.

“Oh no, is it raining?” Anakin’s brows furrowed once he let you in, figuring you were there to drive him. That’s what you always did when it was raining outside, mostly just so you didn’t have to hear him complain about his clothes being wet during class.

“No, I just- I can’t deal with another class today,” You sighed, setting your bag down by the couch and toeing off your shoes.  “Obi’s not working today, right?”

“No, he should be home after class,” Anakin watched as you rounded the kitchen counter, helping yourself to a glass of water. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just having a day,” you could feel your shoulders hanging, your posture reflecting your mood. “I just need some sleep. I can’t do class the rest of today, sorry to leave you to deal with Windu alone today.” You scrunched your nose in apology, referring to your strict, and often frustrating political science professor. The man was wonderful at lecturing, but absolutely frustrating when it came to assignments and tests. He often liked to pick on Anakin for discussions, and usually you came in to save him when no one else in the class felt like talking.

“Don’t worry about it, I can handle him on my own,” your friend nodded, reaching over to squeeze your arm affectionately. “Enjoy your nap,” he collected his bag and put in an earbud, preparing for the walk to campus. “But do not eat all my snacks like last time. Obi-Wan hates Cheetos, so I know it was you.” He gave you one last playful glare before grinning and shutting the door behind him. You looked down at the counter, now alone in the quiet apartment. You felt safe here, comforted by your best friend and boyfriend’s belongings laying about. It was clear what was Anakin’s and what was Obi-Wan’s, the difference very clearly seen between objects that were tidily tucked in their places, while others were strewn about in random places. You had witnessed many fights between the two adopted brothers over things like this, and sometimes it was a wonder they were able to live alone together at all. Not to say that Anakin hadn’t insinuated you should move in with them multiple times lately, very pointedly looking at Obi-Wan while he did so. Of course you would say yes in a second, but you didn’t want to pressure your boyfriend, who was very careful about big decisions in your relationship. The two of you had been dating for almost a year now, and were practically inseparable, and he was secure in the fact that you both believed there would never be anyone else you could love as much as each other. However, you knew Obi-Wan was a very particular man, and could be somewhat traditional in his courting. You thought it was sweet. Anakin, who was already daydreaming to you about proposing to his own partner, thought it was stupid, saying you already practically live here anyway! He wasn’t totally wrong. At this point, unless Obi-Wan was at yours or you were somewhere with him, you were probably going to be found at their place.

You sighed to yourself, feeling your eyes getting heavy. You were beginning to crash from your many cups of coffee last night. You headed straight for Obi-Wan’s room after locking the front door. His room was always impressively neat, never any clothes on the floor or anything out of place, except momentarily when you had forgotten to put something away or the two of you were in the middle of something. Painted a deep blue, and decorated with various framed posters or art, along with a few framed photos, his room was very simple. It was just the right size for it to be cozy without being suffocating.

You made a pitstop at his closet, pulling a sweater off the very top of his laundry basket, the one he’d worn the day before, along with some pajama shorts you kept in his dresser for impromptu sleepovers. You changed quickly, not keen to sleep in jeans, and also wanting desperately to lay down. You crawled into his bed, snuggling under the sheets and breathing in the scent of him all around you. Sleep came not long after you settled into the blankets.

---

Obi-Wan hummed softly under his breath, a song that you had showed him a few days ago and had subsequently gotten stuck in his head. He smiled to himself as he remembered the overjoyed look on your face when he had told you how much he liked it, fumbling to get his keys out of his pocket and get in his apartment. He paused while he was hanging his jacket up, noting your bag next to the couch, along with the glass on the counter. He furrowed his brows, knowing you had class, and although you certainly had before, you rarely skipped since your professors counted absences against your grade. He dropped his bag next to yours and made his way into his room, shoulders drooping as the weight of worry escaped them. You were curled up in his bed, wearing one of his sweaters, fast asleep. It was an adorable sight, you clutching onto the stuffed bearded dragon you had won out of a claw machine at the mall on your last trip together, whom you had gleefully named Boga as you passed the gift into his arms, insisting it was for him.

Obi-Wan shucked off his pants, leaving him in a t-shirt and his boxers, before sliding in next to you. He watched your eyelashes flutter slightly; clearly you were dreaming. You mumbled something in your sleep, followed by a happy sigh, and another mumble of something that vaguely resembled his name. He could’ve collapsed in on himself from adoration purely aimed at you.Carefully, he reached over to brush a stray hair out of your face, before beginning to press kisses to your skin, first at your jaw, then cheek, forehead, nose. You began to stir at his affections, sleepily blinking open your eyes to your boyfriend smiling at you. He trailed his hand down your arm, intertwining your fingers together as you began to wake up more.

“Hi, Obi.”

“Hello, my love,” he murmured, keeping his voice soft. “Not that I don’t enjoy coming home to you in my bed, but don’t you have class right now?” Your peaceful state from just waking up seemed to crack at his words, and a lump came back to your throat at the return of your sour mood from earlier. His eyebrows furrowed at your immediate change in mood, knowing something was wrong.

“I really couldn’t handle another class today,” you rolled onto your back, moving your joined hands to lay on your stomach. Obi-Wan scooted closer to you, resting his head against his hand, propped up on his elbow as he studied your face. “Sorry, I should’ve texted you to let you know I was going to be here.”

“No apology needed, darling, you’re always welcome here,” he untangled his fingers from yours, beginning to play with your hair as you talked. You could feel tears springing to your eyes from the gentle affection, the simple relief of being around the person you loved most, and his immediate recognition of your need for comfort. Obi-Wan could read your moods almost scarily well, and he almost always knew what you needed from him to make it better. “If you want to talk about what’s made you sad, I’m here to listen. Or we can just have a cuddle and listen to music.” You managed a small smile at his offer. Always so sweet.

“Can I have all of the above?” You turned your head to pout up at him, earning a happy grin and chuckle from your boyfriend.

“Anything for my sweetheart,” he pressed a chaste kiss to your lips, rolling off the bed to retrieve his phone from where he’d set it on his dresser. He shuffled the playlist you had made together one late night on Spotify when you couldn’t sleep, full of relaxing songs that the both of you often drifted off listening to together, since the both of you couldn’t sleep in complete silence. “Now, come here.” He almost jumped back into the bed, immediately pulling you on top of him. Your head fell into its usual spot at his neck, forehead pressed to his pulse point, which was steady and comforting. Obi-Wan wrapped you up in his arms, gentle hands sliding under your— his— sweater, rubbing comforting shapes into your lower back. You hummed contentedly.

“I might fall asleep like this instead.”

“That’s okay, honey,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to your head. You let out a soft chuckle as his scruff tickled your forehead. “Now, tell me everything that’s wrong so I can make it better.”

As you began to detail everything that had led you to seek refuge in his bed, Obi-Wan listened patiently, humming affirmations every so often and continuing to trace lines across your back, his sweater now partially pushed up to expose your lower back. The contrast between the slight chill of the open air and his hands was pure heaven. You didn’t know how you were still talking so clearly; half your attention was busy focusing on the slight callouses of his fingertips against your skin. Everything was warm and gentle, swallowing you up in velvet and sunshine. It was an absolute miracle that you didn’t doze off by the time you finished venting, the heavy feeling dragging you down having been lifted just the slightest bit, both by letting it out and by Obi-Wan’s hold.

“That is quite the horrid day, my dear,” he affirmed. “But you made it through, and it’s over now. You’re here and you’re safe, and we can spend the rest of the night doing whatever you like. You can relax.” His arms fully circled your waist then, squeezing you to him affectionately in a hug. “Everything will be better now.”

“Yeah,” you murmured, lifting your head and slightly sitting up from your comfortable position against his chest. Your boyfriend gave you a small smile when your gazes met, leaning into your hand that was now resting against his cheek. “You’re too good for me, Obi.”

“Oh no, I’m afraid it’s the other way around,” he grinned, a bit of pink settling on his cheeks. Crow’s feet became evident around his eyes and you were absolutely crushed by how lucky you are, how much you loved this man. “It’s a privilege just to be able to make you feel better after the awful day you’ve had.” His words were completely genuine, gaze absolutely soft as he looked at you. You could have cried. You don’t know how you didn’t. Obi-Wan seemed to gather this from your long silence, and the slight shift of expression on his face. “Everything alright, angel?”

“Yeah,” you said after a moment, pressing a short, chaste kiss to his lips. He found your hand next to his head, intertwining his fingers with yours. He squeezed your hand and tilted his head in a silent are you sure?  “Everything’s perfect.”

[wefoundloveunderthelight]

The Love Cruise - by GleefullyCaptainSwan

Read on AO3: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Or on FF

Tagging:   @teamhook @kmomof4 @stahlop @lfh1226-linda

Chapter 6: Muscle Memory

Emma woke with a headache and a slew of questions from Ruby.

Why is there a painting in our room?

Who the hell is Walsh?

Just what are you doing all day when you disappear?

Emma just grumbled about rich stalkers and stumbled to the bathroom for a warm shower. As she stood under the hot water, she hoped the steam would blow it all away and make the annoyances of dealing with Walsh disappear.

Unfortunately, the painting staring back at her as she opened the bathroom door brought her back to the immediate reality that this man she barely knew, gave her a painting that he just bought for more money than she made in months because he thought she was beautiful.

His attention made her uncomfortable, it unsettled her. She wasn’t sure why he continued to pursue her, but she was going to make sure he understood that his gift was not appropriate.

Stepping out of her room, she ran into August who was limping along the hallway. “Need assistance?”

“Emma, you are a welcome sight.” He grinned and she stepped up beside him to offer her shoulder to lean on. “I’m on my way to the medical bay.”

She gave him a knowing glance and pursed her lips together. “Hmm, this seems to be happening often.”

“Hey, I’m an injured man.” He replied incredulously.

“With a very pretty and attentive nurse.”

“Is she pretty?” He said with a smirk, “I never noticed.”

“Mmhm, you know if you lie, it makes your nose grow.”

“That’s a child’s fairytale, you don’t scare me.” He teased, reaching up to tap his nose. “See, no change.”

They reached the medical wing and August’s face brightened when Tink walked up to them. “There’s my favorite patient.”

“Good morning, Ms. Bell, my friend Emma made sure I got here safely.”

“Hi Emma. Nice to see you again. Your friend is in good hands, I’ll make sure he gets back to his room safely, in case you have plans.”

“Oh yes, August definitely thinks that you take great care of him, I leave you in his charge.” She winked at August as she left the room.

She turned the corner and ran directly into a man in uniform. “Emma, what a pleasant surprise.” He looked in the direction she had come from, concern slipping onto his face. “Is everything alright?”

“Oh yeah, just dropping my friend August off for his daily flirting session.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Sorry, I think my friend has a crush on one of your nurses.”

“I suppose you know what the ship’s name stands for right? TLC, tender loving care. Seems only fair that he be taken care of properly.”

She laughed lightly. “Well, I think he’s a satisfied customer then.”

“Happy to hear that my crew is meeting expectation.” His gaze scanned her face, causing her body to heat up suddenly. “Well, I must continue on my duties. Captain’s job is never done.”

“Of course, you do have an important job here.” Disappointed to see him leaving, she started to walk away when she felt his hand on her elbow.

“I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me on the sky bridge this evening. I hear tonight will offer a beautifully clear night for star gazing, a favorite activity of mine while at sea.”

“Star gazing with the Captain, I don’t remember seeing that listed as an option on the excursion board.” She teased. “I’d be honored.” His mouth turned upward slightly, her heart pounding in her chest when his tongue darted out across his bottom lip.

“I’ll see you there, Miss Swan.”

Emma was in a haze the rest of the day, flitting about from activity to activity with anticipation. She couldn’t wait for the opportunity to get more alone time with Killian. Stargazing was lovely, but she wanted nothing more than to gaze into the galaxy held within his bright blue orbs.

Emma practically skipped to the dining room to meet her friends for dinner that evening, but as she rounded the corner, her eyes caught sight of the one man she wanted to avoid. Walsh.

He looked up and she knew he had noticed her approaching him, there was no avoiding this. She marched up to him and he immediately stopped her before she could speak.

“Emma, I do hope you liked my gift.”

“Actually, I was coming over here to tell you that I think it’s inappropriate to send me something that cost so much, considering we don’t even know each other.”

“Emma, it was not my intent to offend you. You liked the painting, and I wanted to get it for you.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

“But I wish to get to know you better. Can’t you allow me that much?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, you knew I was with someone the night we first met.”

He looked around. “I haven’t seen him with you since. Seems if a man had such a beautiful woman on his arm, he would be foolish to leave her alone so often.”

“That is clearly none of your business.”

“Please, Emma, surely my gift has granted me some favor, perhaps you could join me for dinner.”

“I have plans.” She stated simply and turned to walk away. “I’ll make sure you get your painting back.” Without turning around, she made her way to her table.

“There she is.” David announced as she sat down. “We were wondering where you have been all day.”

“I helped gimpy down to the medical wing, took in some trivia, a couple other activities, and then I needed to take care of something.” She looked over at Ruby and Will who both knew about the painting.

“Bloody shame, you could sell that thing.” Will huffed.

“Sell what?”

“Emma’s has an admirer who gifted her a very expensive painting last night.”

“Oh, are you finally warming up to the idea of this cruise?” Her brother mused.

“Absolutely not, and I’m returning the painting, the guy creeps me out.”

“I apologize, should I leave?” Graham looked apprehensively at the table as he approached them at the end of Emma’s sentence.

“Sorry, I was talking about this rich guy that won’t leave me alone.”

Graham wiped his brow and took a seat beside Ruby. “Do you need me to have him arrested.” He grinned.

“I don’t think you have jurisdiction out here on the water, but that’s not necessary. He’s harmless, just determined.” She groaned.

“Well, if he doesn’t back off, the Captain of the ship can take care of issues like that, he has maritime jurisdiction.”

Emma’s head shot up at the mention of the Captain. “Seriously guys, I took care of it. I’m not a damsel in distress. I don’t need to run to the Captain just because some guy acts like a jerk.”

She would prefer to use the Captain for more erotic activities.

The subject was interrupted when dinner was served, and Emma welcomed the change of discussion to keep her mind from wandering into a place it didn’t belong before she met with Killian tonight.

“So, Emma, a bunch of us are going to the dance club tonight, want to join us?” Graham looked over at her and Emma smiled politely.

“What time are you guys heading over? I planned to go to the gym for a bit, but I can meet you guys there.”

“Why the bloody hell are you stepping foot in a gym while you’re on vacation?” Will argued. “You’re on a cruise ship, who works out on a bloody cruise ship?”

“A lot of people, William. It’s kind of nice, the view is amazing.”

“Suit yourself, I think you’re quite mad.”

Emma had no plans of meeting the group this evening. All through dinner the only thing on her mind was spending time alone with Captain Jones. While she found that she enjoyed his company, it was the butterflies amassing in her stomach that surprised her. She was both nervous and excited to get to spend more time talking to him. As much as she detested the premise of coming on a ship to hook up with eligible bachelors, she couldn’t deny her attraction to the devilishly handsome Captain. Nor did she want to. The anticipation of his body in close proximity to hers was enough to have her squirming under the table.

“Emma are you alright?” Emma jumped, banging her knee under the table.

“Sorry what?” She glanced up to see everyone staring at her.

“I asked what you were thinking of wearing tonight.” Ruby sat staring at her curiously while Emma stammered about needing to go through her closet to see what she had.

~*~

Killian was pacing on the bridge thinking about his upcoming evening with Emma Swan. He hadn’t been this delighted about being alone with a woman in years. Well, perhaps delighted but also anxious and positively full of nerves.

“Captain, I looked up the woman you wanted me to find, but there is no one on the ship by the name of Emma Swan.”

Killian stopped pacing. “Are you quite sure?”

“I had them check twice just in case. Anything else you need from me, Captain?”

“No, thank you for checking sir.” Killian dismissed the man and frowned. How did a woman he had physically spoken to, not exist on the ship?

He pulled the pocket watch from the chain on his hip, time seeming to slow to a stop the closer it got to meeting with Emma.

“Somewhere to be, Captain?” He looked up to see his First Mate approaching him. He nodded. “Captain, we have things handled here.”

“Thank you, Smee. Let me know if anything is needed.”

He excused himself from the bridge and returned to his quarters. He tried to calm his nerves as he stood on his balcony, watching the sun falling toward the choppy waters at the horizon. When the ball of fire finally dipped into the surface of its lover, he left his room to wait for Emma on the top deck.

As he approached, he realized he was not alone on the sky deck.

“Emma?”

She turned, her golden hair glowing in the moonlight.

“Hey, I uh, was hiding out so I thought I’d come up here a bit early.”

“And what, pray tell, would you be hiding from?

“Doesn’t matter.” She approached him, her eyes glimmering as she met his gaze. “I believe I was promised star gazing.”

“Aye.” He took her hand and guided her to the corner of the deck, sitting down in the large lounger and patting the spot next to him. She stood thinking for a moment before joining him on the chair, melting into his side.

“So, Captain, what are we looking for?”

He took her hand and pointed it toward the sky, “Right there, you see that bright star?” She nodded. “That’s Deneb, the star sits at the tail of the constellation, Cygnus.” He turned toward her, meeting her eyes. “That’s the Swan. Mythology says that the Cygnus is actually Zeus in disguise on his way to a tawdry tryst.” He laughed, then traced her hand across the sky. “That star, that’s Albireo, it sits at the Swan’s head and if you are lucky enough to view her from a microscope, you would be blessed with the sight of not one, but two stars huddled together.”

“Where did you learn all of this?”

“My mother used to take Liam and I to our rooftop at night, she would tell us tales of the constellation and the Gods. After she passed, it was the one thing I took solace in, in a way, I suppose it allowed me to continue to communicate with her in some way.”

“That’s beautiful. When did you lose your mother?”

“Oh, I was but a young lad of four.”

“I’m so sorry, are you close with your father.”

“No, it was just Liam and I, my father left shortly after my mother died.”

“So, you were all alone?”

“Liam took good care of me. He did the best he could being a young man himself. But he raised me right, taught me to sail, he joined the Navy after I came of age and of course I followed him. Everything I have, all of this, I owe to him.” She was lost in thought beside him. “And what of your parents, are you close?” She laughed but it wasn’t a pleasant laugh which caught him off guard. “Just who are you, Swan.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Perhaps I would.”

“It’s not a pleasant story.” She said as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“You and I have that in common it seems.” He said sadly.

She sighed and relaxed beside him. “I never knew my parents, they left me, wrapped in a blanket on the steps of a police station when I was just a few months old. No note, just dropped me off like I was a donation at Goodwill or something.”

He swallowed hard; it was not a pleasant tale to be sure.

“Anyway, the Nolan’s adopted me, gave me a last name. But they passed when I turned 16, car accident. But my brother, David, he raised me, he’s a good man and he tried to do the best he could with an unruly teenager.”

“Is that why I couldn’t find you in the ship’s register?”

“You were looking me up?” She mused.

“I was merely curious.”

She narrowed her eyes before continuing, “I used the name Swan when I ran away from home.”

“Well, aren’t you a surprise? Your brother must have been distraught.”

“He was, like many sad stories, I met a guy, who I thought meant something to me. I mean, I wanted him to mean something so of course, he disappointed me. And it sucked and it changed my life.” She turned toward him, rolling slightly in the chair to face him. “You ever want something to work out so bad that your whole world falls out from under you when you lose it?”

He nodded, “Aye.” A lump forming in his throat.

“That’s what happened to me when Neal left. Things got hard and he ran, and I thought my world was over. But…” She stopped talking, looking back up at the sky.

“I was married.” He said suddenly.

“What?”

“I was married for two years.” He said softly.

“But you’re not married now?”

He shook his head sadly. “She died three years ago. Aneurysm. One day she was here, and then…just gone.” He snapped his fingers.

“Oh God, that must have been terrible.”

“One of the worst days of my life.” He felt her fingers trace the flesh at his arm and he turned toward her, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

“Life isn’t fair.” She said sadly. “Is it?”

She was staring at him, sadness sitting behind the green in her eyes. The wind was blowing across the bow, sending her hair in waves across her forehead. He reached out and brushed the strands from her face.

“Do you want to kiss me?” She whispered, reaching out to grab his hand before he pulled it away from her face.

“Does the lady wish for me to kiss her?” He asked, his heart speeding up in his chest.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about it since you kissed me on the bridge.”

“I was afraid I had overstepped.” She sat up, her eyes meeting his.

“I hadn’t been kissed in seven years.” She said softly and all he could think of was what a damn shame that was. “Why should everyone else on board this ship get to have fun except for us?”

“Is that what we’re doing? Having fun, Emma?” He paused before continuing. “I do wish to kiss you, again. I just…”

She frowned, “I understand if…” He pressed his hand to her lips, silencing her.

“It’s been three years, Emma. I’m rusty.” The corner of his lips turned up, “But I think I’d like to figure it out.” Her lips puckered, kissing the pad of his finger that was resting on her lip and he felt shivers race down his spine. His thumb pressed against her jaw line, sliding his hand to her neck, and bending forward to capture her lips with his. Her fingers slid into his hair, eliciting a light moan from his throat.

The kiss was intoxicating, she tasted of chocolate and honey and the moment her tongue slipped from her mouth, he allowed her entrance, their tongues tangling in a heat of desire, his hands exploring the curves of her torso. When his fingertips touched skin at her waist, she moaned wantonly into his mouth and he dropped his head against her neck.

“There may be others on deck.” He breathed against her neck, inhaling her intoxicating scent.

She pulled back, staring at him. “Perhaps the Captain can give me a tour of a more private location?” She said softly and he chuckled.

“I think that can be arranged.”

~*~

Emma couldn’t believe what she had said, did she really just ask him to take her somewhere private? Did she intend to sleep with him, a man she had only met a few days ago? Emma was not a reckless person, having Henry at such a young age had taught her to be responsible, never stepping outside of the lines she had set for herself.

And now she was stumbling down the hallways of a cruise ship, her mouth pressed against the Captain of the ship, her body on fire, burning to have him touch her, take her, devour her. She needed this, needed him. She never allowed herself a moment to have something she wanted, everything she ever did was for Henry. With her back pressed up against the door, his hand in her hair, his tongue hot against her ear, she decided that she could have one moment to take something she wanted.

The door pushed open and she fell backwards into the room, his hand steadying her at her back. “Woah, sorry, I think I’m a bit anxious.”

“I’m glad it’s not just me.” She looked around the room. “Holy shit, is this your room.”

He chuckled. “It’s a bit much, I know.”

She wandered through the room, finding a full living room, doors heading off in both directions. “How many rooms do you have?”

He held up his hand, counting on his fingers, “Living room, dining, bedroom, guestroom, and two bathrooms. It’s a bit obscene.” He laughed before stopping to lean against the wall of the door frame, his eyes dark and wanting. She walked slowly toward him. “Shit.” He swore and she stopped in her tracks. “I apologize, Lass, I am out of practice. I’m afraid I don’t have any protection with me, I had no intention of…”

She stopped in front of him, her lip turning upward. “Well, lucky for you, my best friend was determined, even under my direct protest, to ensure that I was prepared.” She opened her purse, displaying a full line of condoms. “Unless you’re not interested…”

He advanced on her in one move, pulling her against his body, the bulge pressing against her hip all the answer she needed. The nervous energy and concern she had before they got to the room were gone, replaced instead with curiosity and desire. Emma hoped that the few memories she had of sex would soon replace her inexperience from lack of practice. They stumbled in the dark, tripping over furniture, and Emma could barely hide her embarrassment when her bra clasp got stuck in the threads of her shirt. Standing in the darkened room, one arm free from her strap and the other encumbered in her sleeve. Despite her attempts at trying to look sexy she was the picture of inexperience.

“Perhaps I should rescue you.” He chuckled against her neck, reaching down to assist her, his teeth raking against her flesh causing goosebumps to appear along the length of her arms. “Relax love.” He whispered.

“Sorry, I’m not exactly experienced in hooking up with men.”

She felt his smile along her jaw, “I haven’t done this for 7 years, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t changed since then.” His fingertips slid from her neck down to her breast. “Perhaps it’s all muscle memory.” His voice was thick in her ear as his thumb rubbed against her nipple, eliciting a groan from her throat. His light chuckle at her response combined with his hot breath in her ear had her dripping with want.

She had only had sex with one other man before. Neal. He was not a talkative lover nor a patient one and while she found sex pleasant, she considered it something she could live without. Emma knew her own body and how to scratch the itch when the feelings arose. Men were never a necessity.

However, as Killian’s hand slid between her thighs, lightly teasing her before he reached up to push her shorts down, she felt her knees give way in anticipation of what was to come. He pushed her back toward the bed, the back of her knees bumping the mattress.

She sat back on the bed, his eyes staring down at her as he stood in front of her. With shaky hands she grabbed his belt, pulling the leather through the loops and sliding it to the floor beside her. Her heart was pounding as she fumbled with the buttons, pushing the pants from his hips to his ankles. He pulled his shirt over his head, leaving him in his boxers in front of her.  His thumb hooked under her chin, pulling her eyes up to meet his. “You really are quite beautiful, Emma.”

She gulped, sliding her hands up the bed to pull her body upwards. She felt the bed dip as his knees pressed into the mattress. He pulled her foot up his body, massaging her calf with his hand before bending to press his lips where his hands had been.  His fingers continued their way toward the apex of her thigh, his mouth not far behind, peppering hot kisses to each part of her flesh. Emma’s entire body felt like it was on fire as he slowly inched toward her most aching desire.

Their eyes connected before he dipped between her thighs, her entire body tensing when his tongue slid between her folds. She could barely stop herself from reaching out and gripping his hair in her hand, the other tightening in the folds of the sheet as her head fell backwards on the pillow, her moan echoing in the otherwise quiet room.

If this was what he was like without practice, Emma dared to think what he would be like after a few more tries. Squeezing her eyes shut she pushed away thoughts of continued activities with the man currently pumping his fingers inside of her. This was a fleeting moment, a one-time thing she deserved to experience, however when his teeth raked over her bundle of nerves, his thumb following with pressure, his fingers sliding in and out of her as she screamed out his name, she thought that maybe she really did owe it to herself to make this a two- or three-time thing before she got off the ship.

~*~

Killian was sure that the sound she made as her body tensed and fell apart under his hands was something he could play over and over again and never tire of hearing. Though he hadn’t pleasured a woman since Milah, watching Emma fall over the edge was like cracking a safe, it was intoxicating and worthy of the treasure it provided.

He slid slowly up her body, his teeth nipping at her soft flesh, sucking against her supple skin in ways that he knew would leave a temporary bruise in the morning. He knew he shouldn’t take pleasure in knowing he was marking her body, but it excited him all the same. He was eager to slide into her, to feel her beneath his body, writhing, moaning, all for him. His body was on fire and only she could put out the flames. When their mouths met, she hitched her leg around his hip, and he swallowed her moans, his erection twitching against her mound.

He moved away from her and she whined. “One moment, love, we aren’t going to get far without one of these.” He lunged for the condom on the bed, tearing the corner open with his teeth and reaching between them to sheath himself.

She bit her lip, watching him, the anticipation of what was about to transpire creeping into his brain. She blinked slowly; her hair splayed out on his pillow. He pressed his lips lightly to hers, “Are you…”

“I want you.” She whispered, the moonlight framing her face. His heart was racing as he pressed against her legs, she opened further to him as he positioned himself at her slick opening, slipping slowly inside of her. “Oh God.” Her legs squeezing him, pulling him toward her as he pushed forward, fully seating inside of her.

“Christ.” He grunted, before their lips met hungrily, his tongue slipping into her mouth before he began to thrust into her. Her nails pierced the flesh at his back, bucking her hips into his, sending his body into a frenzy. As if a switch was thrown, their motions became frantic, desperate, and messy, the sounds of moaning, heavy panting, and strangled screams invading the normally serene ocean sounds around them.

Just when Killian was sure he wouldn’t last any longer she shoved his shoulder, pushing he over onto the bed and sinking down on top of him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would last like this. Her blonde hair cascaded down her naked form, the moonlight glowing on her milky white breasts, her chin tilted toward the ceiling with her mouth open, soft moans falling from her lips.

“Emma, look at me, darling.” He reached out, taking her hand, and bringing it between them, intertwining their fingers against her clit. Their eyes made contact and she screamed out, squeezing his cock in her warm slick until he could hold back no longer, spilling into the condom as he bucked into her body. When her hips finally stilled against his, he reached up, his hand trailing her spine, pulling her down to him and twisting her to her side, his lips pecking softly at her jaw.

“I hope that was at least as good as you remembered sex to be.” He smirked.

“Oh God no.” She exclaimed before laughing and he frowned. “I mean, I’ve never experienced anything like that.” She added.

“My apologizes, for your past lover then.”

Her head fell back on the pillow as she broke into a fit of giggles that was almost music to his ears. “I don’t know what I find more attractive, the sounds you were making a minute ago or the ones you are making now.” He said lazily and she pulled back to stare at him before she started fumbling around for her clothes.

“You are welcome to stay, if you would like.” She turned to look at him.

“I would, but Ruby would ask a million questions if I didn’t come back to the room tonight. She’s already going to wonder why I didn’t come to the dance.”

He sat up, kissing her bare shoulder as she tried to gather her clothes to dress. “Emma.” He said softly against her skin. “I want you to know that I do not normally behave this way.”

She laughed again, “You mean have sex with your passengers?”

“Well that yes, but…”

She turned, “Killian, I wouldn’t be here if I thought that of you. You don’t have to explain. I find you attractive, I enjoyed the evening, we are two consenting adults.”

“I’d very much like to see you again.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we are stuck out here on the ocean for another week then. I can’t see how we wouldn’t see each other.”

He narrowed his eyes, “That is hardly what I meant.”

She leaned forward, nudging her nose into his neck. “I’m just teasing you.” She nipped at his ear. “I want to see you again too.” His arm went around her waist and he pulled her backward onto the bed. Their mouths connecting hungrily.

“It’s still early, Swan. I don’t have to check in on the bridge for another hour.” She giggled into his mouth, “It would be a shame to waste all those condoms.” When he felt her hand wrap around his cock, he thought perhaps he could be a little late to the bridge.

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: Territorial {One Shot} ***

Chris Evans x Reader

Warning: Cursing, Heavy Angst, NSFW, SMUT

Words: 7.2k

Note: Oh boy, I got carried away with this one. Please excuse the 7k words. I didn’t know I did it until it was too late. Hope you guys like this. Thank you for reading!

***Loosely Edited/Proofread***

***Interactive--Kinda***

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 What do you do when you are a single lady who is also a super busy actress who has too much going on to be bogged down by dating as a celeb? Or what do you do when you have needs that you need tending, but you don’t want the headache of complications? You get yourself a friend with benefits. So that’s what you did.

 Okay, you didn’t go out seeking a friend with benefits situation. It just happened. Thanks to a friend of a friend who was friends with what they called “a sweet guy who was also gorgeous and good in bed,” happened to be at a party you were at and introduced you to none other than Chris Evans. You know of him, everyone in the whole Hollywood fame circle did. You also knew of his reputation. He was a playboy who liked to have a good time. You didn’t knock it.

 That night after you were introduced and he passed the twenty-minute test, you allowed your friends to wander off, leaving the two of you to talk. That talk ended up being a good two hours. He wasn’t boring or arrogant, and he was quite funny. As you spoke, you were mentally going over your checklist.

Not Boring, check. Not arrogant, check. Funny, check. Smart, check. Handsome, check, and check. Tall, check. Nice lips, check. Sexy, all the fucking checks. He was hitting all the checks on your checklist. After another two hours, the two of you still hadn’t managed to wander off to speak to anyone else. Your friends texted several times, giving you your outs, but you didn’t take any of them. Chris, of course, laughed it off because he knew just what was happening.

 By the end of the night, you’d exchanged numbers and made plans to hang out sometime in the coming week or two. Three days passed before he called you. You pretended not to notice, but you noticed. When he called, he joked that he had to play it cool. That night you had dinner, which lasted another four hours. Things were going great, so great that you saw each other six times before the week was done. Each time you found more and more you liked about him. You had good chemistry, and things just felt natural with him.

 One night on the beach after a lowkey picnic dinner, he made his move with a star shooting kiss. It was that good. It quickly became more and more passionate, but the two of you pulled away at the same time. He whispered that he liked you a lot, you whispered it back, and the kissing continued. Then again, the two of you pulled back you said you had a lot going on and couldn’t afford distractions, he shared the same sentiments said his workload was about to pick up. That didn’t stop the kissing, though. On the third pull back, both of you said the words at the same time; “nothing serious.” Both of you laughed about it and nodded your agreement before hurrying back to his car to race back to your place because it was closer for one of the best sexual experiences you’d ever had.

 Nothing serious turned to whenever we’re in the same town. That turned to whenever we have an itch, and finally, it turned into just whenever. Normal fuck buddy arrangements operated with meeting, having sex, and leaving soon after. That never happened between you and Chris. You’d often go out, grab dinner, see a movie, go to a play, a game, whatever. You’d talk about everything, laugh like he was the funniest comedian, flirt your asses off to go back to each other’s houses, and have sensual, teasing, passionate toe-curling, back-arching hair ruining sex. Afterward, you’d cuddle for a little, watch some tv, talk, do it again and again, or however many times it needed to be done, you’d both fall asleep and depending on whose house it was one would leave the next morning after breakfast in bed together.

 Eleven months in and nothing had changed.

“Shit, yes. Right there.” You were so close. Chris continued to pound into you at just the right angle. You could feel the goosebumps prickling your skin, the telltale sign of your impending orgasm--the more goosebumps, the more intense. Chris knew it too.

 “You don’t gotta tell me where. I know what I’m doin’.” He brutally snapped his hips forward, delivering such a powerful stroke you splayed across the bed face down.

 With your face smushed in the down comforters, you moaned and cursed all at the same time.

 “What was that?” Chris slapped your ass and moaned no doubt getting lost in the way it jiggled. Turning your head to the side, you bit your bottom lip.

 “I said fuck that shit hurt,” you repeated. He smiled and grabbed your hips to pull you back up onto your knees. Slowly he slid back inside your warmth. Both of you moaned together. He allowed you to adjust for a few moments as he kissed along your spine up to your neck. Once there, he bit down onto your skin making you gasp.

 “You love that, huh?” You nodded as he held onto your shoulders and began plowing inside of you again. You grabbed the sheets and quickly got lost in the pleasure he was giving you. He sped up his thrusts but never missed his mark. Your moans got louder and louder; you could feel your orgasm creeping back up. Suddenly Chris slowed and hovered over your back to kiss your jaw.

 “I missed you,” his voice was deep, and it sent shivers down your spine.

 “I can tell.” Chris ground his hips into you, sending his dick to press against every wall you had. When he reached around to circle your clit, you knew you wouldn’t last much longer.

 “I mean it,” he added. You smiled and peeped at him over your shoulder.

“I missed you.” As if those were the words he needed he snapped his hips forward so hard your head jerked forward then back, Chris held on to your shoulders and used it as leverage to have you see stars.

 “Oh, fuck, yes. Uh-huh. Yes, Chris!”

 In a matter of seconds, the two of you came together and rode the waves of pleasure that was so familiar between the two of you. When the two of you crashed to the bed, Chris remained nestled deep inside of you as he tossed the throw blanket over the two of you before he hugged you to his chest. You moaned.

 “That was nice.”

 “Nice? Watch your mouth.” You giggled and pushed your ass back onto him some more, which elicited a deep moan from him. Chris dropped another kiss onto your shoulder.

 “So, you know that party tomorrow night?”

 “What party?”

 “The It party, the one that’s after the It luncheon,” Chris explained.

 “Oh, right. Yeah. What about it?”

 “Are you staying in town for it?”

 “Yeah, I’m here for a week or two, I think. I actually have to go to that stupid luncheon.” You groaned. You hated the horse and pony shows. Hated having to mingle and shake hands and smile and be pretty. It was tiring.

 “I know how much you hate them. Since I have to make an appearance at both, let’s just go together. I’ll distract you from the hoopla and even find some excuse to whisk you away when things get weird.” You snorted and laughed.

 “How in the world do you plan on distracting me? Dragging me into a bathroom part of the plan?”

 “It could be.” Again, he kissed your skin.

 “Listen, if you keep kissing me like that, we’ll be too tired to go anywhere tomorrow.” Chris rolled onto you and kneed your thighs apart.

 “Sounds fine by me. That way, I won’t have to peel a fancy dress off of you to get you naked and here like this.” He thrust forward joining your bodies again. You moaned and wrapped your legs around him.

 “But the fun is peeling off the dress.” Chris smiled and kissed you, beginning another round of mind-numbing sex.

   ~~~~~~

“So, the two of you are dating now.” You rolled your eyes at your best friend, Alicia’s sly statement.

 “Dating? What? No. We’re not dating. We’re going to the luncheon and party afterward. Where did you hear date?”

 Your friends all looked at you as if you were slow. The four of you were sitting and getting hair and makeup done.

 “What!?”

 “Is he picking you up?”

 “In the chauffeured car, yes,” you responded to Valentina’s question.

 “Are you guys planning on matching?”

 “Coordinating and matching are very different,” you defended while looking at Bianca.

 “Y/N! Oh my god, how are you blind to this. You’re dating your fuck buddy,” Alicia hammered home.

 “What! No, I am not. We are not doing anything out of the ordinary. We have dinners, hang out, get it in, and then leave. None of that says dating,” you defended.

 “Uh, yes, it does. Fuck buddies bypass all of that nonsense. You fuck in the car, then get dropped off, go hard at the house, and then leave. There are no calls, texts, dinners, hanging out. All of that you mentioned is called dating. Hence you’ve been dating your fuck buddy,” Alicia finished.

 You sat there thinking about her words. You’d never stopped and thought about this. It was all as easy and as simple as breathing. Chris fell into your life and meshed with it. There was no adjusting or rearranging. The two of you just worked. You enjoyed being around each other.

 “Aren’t you supposed to like being around your fuck buddy?”

 “Not past fucking.”

 You had a mental and I oop moment that you knew you could let out. You liked being around Chris.

 “Listen man; y’all are not going to have me in my head for the next eighteen hours. Nothing is happening between us. We’re being each other’s wing person for these events. End of discussion.”

 For the next hour or so, you got beautified and tried to push what they’d said out of your mind. As far as you were concerned, it was not true. When you got home, you got into your outfit and prepared yourself for the next few hours. When the doorbell rang, it was almost one. He knew you hated arriving anywhere on time. As you approached the door, you could see Chris’s back turned. His navy checkered slacks and brown jacket. You opened the door, and he spun around, holding white orchids.

“Wow.”

 “I know, I look just as good in clothes as I do out of them, right.”

 He smiled and shook his head as he leaned in and kissed you. What was to be a quick peck turned into another and another before you had a mini make-out session in your doorway.

 “Ready to go?”

 “Yes, let me put these down,” you answered before you hurried inside to place the orchids on a shelf. When you came back, you had your clutch, and it was time to go.

 The drive wasn’t long; it went by pretty quick thanks to your constant banter—banter that had been there from day one. You found yourself looking over him and admitting how he looked in his outfit. He looked good. He always looked good even when his team chose questionable pieces. At those times, you didn’t bite your tongue in shooting him a message telling him how bad the outfit was.

 “Is this outfit up to standards?”

 You snorted and shook your head as you bounced him with your shoulder. Instead of moving back to your side, you remained leaning on him. “If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere with you.”

 “Oh. So, it’s like that. Wow. Here I thought we were friends,” Chris feigned hurt.

 “You didn’t let me finish. Friends don’t let friends go out looking a hot mess, so I wouldn’t have gone anywhere with you until you matched my drip,” you teased. Chris laughed loudly, slapping his hand across his chest. You smiled. It was a laugh you loved, his genuine laugh.

 “Laugh if you want to. You know I have style, Evans.” He nodded and kissed your temple. It was an action that gave you goosebumps—goosebumps that were usually achieved during sex with him. Sensing your stiff demeanor, Chris looked at your face.

 “You okay?” You nodded more enthusiastically than you should have and hoped it didn’t come off weird.

 Thankfully, you arrived at your location just in time. With your hand draped inside of Chris’s arm, the two of you walked into the entrance of the venue, a sprawling home in the hills. You warmly smiled at the passing faces of those you knew and didn’t know.

 “Perfect little fake smile you have there,” Chris teased.

 Through your perfect little fake smile, you responded, “Not everyone can be charismatic Chris Evans. Some of us have to fake it till we make it.” Chris snorted beside you as the two of you kept walking through the venue. Within minutes you were surrounded by people all complimenting your outfit and expressing how happy they were to see you.

 You and Chris quickly got busy with mingling and small talk. You talked about everything from previous roles to impending ones and everything in between. The entire time you kept your smile up and even added other pleasantries—a hand touch here, a tossed back head laugh there, and infinite cheek kisses. It was exhausting. Halfway through mingling, you realized you and Chris had been torn apart. He was entertaining a group of women off to the side. The smiles on the faces of all the women told you his charm was in full effect, and he had each and every one of them under his blue-eyed spell.

 One of the women touched his bicep while she laughed a very fake laugh. Yeah, he was funny, but he wasn’t that funny. She was trying to inflate his ego. You rolled your eyes but continued to watch. Chris flashed one of his lopsided grins at the woman in the bright yellow body con dress. You knew her as Brandy Hannover, an up and coming actress. He usually didn’t have a type, but from his history, he liked blonds and brunettes, he could go either way. You were the only odd choice in his dating history. You had to mentally slap yourself when you registered “dating.” Then you had to remind yourself; you’re not dating.

 Brandy looked him over as she licked her lips. When hers and Chris’s eyes met, you felt a pang of something unfamiliar in the pit of your stomach. Their glance lasted seconds, but seconds was all it took for you to want to vomit. Chris looked from her and immediately found your eyes. You flashed him your fake smile and turned back to those in your group to join back into the conversation, ignoring the new uneasiness you felt.

 An hour passed, then two, and three. By the time five rolled around, you’d had way too much Bellini’s and mimosas and were ready to leave. As you thought it, Chris found you and expressed the same sentiments. Relieved, you wasted no time making your exit and getting back into the car. The drive back was quieter than the trip going. Chris tried to make small talk, but your short responses shut him down. You couldn’t keep your head in the present. You kept thinking back to watching him talk to Brandy. You didn’t know why it rubbed you the wrong way, and that was what bothered you. Before you knew it, the car was outside your door.

 “You okay?”

 “Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. Too much champagne, you know it makes me loopy.”

 He nodded but didn’t speak again for a few moments.

 “Have you decided on the color for tonight?”

 You were supposed to tell him the color of your dress so he wouldn’t clash with you. you hadn’t narrowed it down yet, so you shrugged. “Wear whatever. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not nearly that serious.”

 Chris looked confused, but you didn’t want to explain. Gathering your things, you went to open the door, but the driver did it for you.

 “Y/N, you sure you’re okay?”

 “Yeah. So—eight?” He looked like he had more to say, but he was contemplating if he should. With a defeated sigh, he nodded and repeated the time you’d agreed to pick you up. You nodded and walked to your front door without a glance back.

~~~~~~~~ 

That night the doorbell rang a little after eight. You were in a better mood now and actually couldn’t wait for the chance to drink some wine. Your friends were going to be there, and you knew they’d make you have fun. You smiled when you saw his crisp blue suit with black lapels, your jaw dropped. God, he was gorgeous. You almost said it too.

 “I had a feeling you’d pick the rose gold dress,” Chris informed. Your smile said it all. He knew you well.

 By the time you got to the party, the paparazzi were out and snapping pics of everyone in their path. When you and Chris walked by arm in arm, they shouted numerous questions.

 “Y/N, Y/N, Chris over here. Are you guys dating now? There have been tons of rumors. Is this your official outing as a couple?”

 You looked at Chris, who was rolling his eyes and giving you a silly face.

 “Uh, no. Chris and I are just friends as always.” You looked at him again, but the silly face was gone. He looked a lot more serious. His eyebrows were knitted and jaw tight. You wondered if you’d said something to warrant the change.

 Inside the venue, it was all opulence and luxury. It was filled with who was who of Hollywood. It was loud; the sounds of Normani’s Motivation was playing. There were a few places for dancing and quite a few tables for socializing. Everyone looked to be having a good time. Chris led you through the space on his arm. Occasionally the two of you would stop and greet a few people you knew before you continued on.

 After a few minutes, your friends found you, and it was then Chris made his clean break for the bar.

 “You look incredible,” Valentina elated. You smiled and did a spin so she could see the whole outfit.

 “Damn, boobs are out on display.” The four of you laughed as you looked around at your surroundings.

 “They had a good turn out.”

 “Yeah. No one needs an excuse to come out and drink on someone else’s dime, especially if it means it’ll possibly add to the notches on their bedpost,” Bianca said. It was true. You were only here because you half had to. In Hollywood, you had to make sure your face wasn’t forgotten.

 The song changed to an oldie, and the four of you jumped up and busted out your moves. The four of you made your way to one of the dance floors and got your party on. You parted the high split at your thigh and dropped a little low and winded your hips. Your friends followed your lead and showcased their skills. The four of you sang along to the song.

 “I’m on the floor, floor, I love to dance. Now give me more, more. Till I can’t stand. Get on the floor, floor like it’s your last chance. If you want more, more, then here I am.”

 That was when you got into it even more. When the hook popped, you lost it.

 “We’re higher than a motherfucker!” The four of you jumped like you were in a mosh pit and didn’t care who was watching. Soon a few others joined in with the four of you, and then the floor around you was filled.

 From the corner of your eye, you saw Chris leaning against the bar watching with a soft smile on his lips. He raised his drink and shook his head. Your shrug said it all. He knew how you were. The party didn’t start until you walk in. You nudged him over, but he shook his head. Before you continued to dance, you stuck your tongue out at him.

 You spent the next hour on that dance floor with your girls dancing your ass off with plenty of drink filled pit stops. You had no idea who was in charge of the music, but they were killing it. Usually, the music at these things was so bland, but tonight they must have had a good DJ. By the time Chris came over more than an hour had passed. He handed you a refilled glass of your Bacardi on ice. That was when the music changed to something new from the Jonas Brothers. You couldn’t lie; it was a good one.

 You pulled Chris into a dance before he could back off. Though he tried to make his getaway, you quickly stopped him by sliding before him, blocking him with your hip. He snorted and shook his head. You crooked your finger to him, telling him to come to you. When he walked to you, he looked like he didn’t want to. You crossed your arms and pouted, and that was when he took your hands and began moving to the beat. In no time, the two of you were doing some mixed up jive dances around the dancefloor. When the hook came on, you imitated Danny Zuko and Sandy’s dancing at the fair. Chris wasted no time joining in though the two of you laughed your ass off the entire time.

 This is what you loved. You had a good time with him no matter what. Towards the end of the song, you and Chris were close together with his arms around your waist.

 “I can’t believe you have me dancing in front of all these people, showing my white boy moves.” You laughed loudly, throwing your head back. This one was genuine.

 “And you give me the fake enthusiastic laugh,” he teased.

 “Oh, stop it. You know that one was real. I don’t fake anything with you.” Your eyes locked and you wiggled your eyebrows at him. Chris bit his bottom lip and sank his fingers into your back, holding you firmer.

 “Good to know.” You noticed how dark his eyes got, and you knew just what it meant. Thankfully this was not the place.

 “How do you feel about finding a balcony or closet with me?” you dropped your jaw in faux shock.

 “Really, Christopher? Here?”

 You were not surprised. This man was the energizer fucking bunny. He was always down to get his tip wet. In the last eleven months, you’d had sex in the most unimaginable places. He may be white, but he was anything but vanilla.

 “Oh, come on. you’re not down?” All of this isn’t working for you?” Again, you laughed loudly.

“Your Gemini cocky is showing.” He smiled and brought his lips to your ear and pressed them to your skin.

 “My Gemini cocky wants to show right here, right now, if you catch my drift.” He finished with a small bite to your earlobe.

 That was all it took, and he knew it.

 “I can feel your nipples through your dress. Follow me in four minutes.”

 You watched him walk off and tried to conceal your excitement. There was nothing like public sex. The possibility of being caught was just too intoxicating and exhilarating. He’d given you some of your best orgasms in an open space. Before he disappeared, he peeped back at you and licked his lips before giving you his signature molten smolder. Jesus the man was going to be the death of you. You looked around looking to see if anyone had seen anything. When you were satisfied, you made it to the bar. You needed a stiff drink.

 “What’s your poison?” Looking to your right, you saw a tall drink of milk. His hair was blonde and hung loose and was the perfect frame for his strong jawline. He was gorgeous. He sort of reminded you of Chris, but his vibe and aura were completely different, but still sexy.

Realizing you were gawking, you cleared your throat and looked to the bartender. “Um—uh--,” you stuttered. This was different, you thought.

 “Speechless or unsure?” you looked back to him and saw his perfect smile. Lord have mercy, you thought.

 “Both.”

 “I’m Charlie; maybe I can help.” You nodded and watched as he spoke to the bartender. His mouth was beautiful. You instantly began to wonder just what that mouth did. As if he could hear your thoughts, Charlie looked at you with dark eyes.

 “I can help with that too.”

 You were too horny for this, and it was all Chris’s fault. You remembered Chris and slyly checked your phone to see what time you had.

 “Am I boring or--,” Charlie trailed off.

 “I’m Y/N, and no, no, you’re not I just—was supposed to find a friend.”

 “Oh, so it has nothing to do with you not being interested?”

 He had you there. Were you interested? He was beautiful and sexy, and you were sure he could be a good guy.

 “It’s just—I’m not really doing the dating thing right now.”

“We can be friends—every good relationship starts with friendship.”

 “Relationship?”

 “Definitely, this chemistry can’t go anywhere else but up.”

 You were impressed. He was direct but not pushy. You liked it. Charlie then took your phone and held it up to you showing your lock pad. He didn’t say one word; all he did was stare in your eyes. You found yourself tapping in your lock code, giving him access to your phone. You watched his hands as they tapped away and admired the clean groom of his nails, you then looked up to his face and continued to admire the beard and mustache combo. He was fine.

 Charlie held your phone back to you with a smile. “Call me.” You smiled and nodded. From the corner of your eye, you saw Chris watching. He didn’t look happy.

 “Uh, I gotta—go. It was nice meeting you.” You tried to calmly walk over to Chris, but the sea of people on the dancefloor made it tricky. As you got close, you saw him walk away, but then you lost him. You were left spinning around on the dance floor, looking for which direction he went. That was when you shot him a message.

 MSG: Where’d you go?

 “You know, I think what you’re doing needs a partner.”

 You spun around and saw an incredibly tall buff dark-haired man with a sweet smile on his face.

“I’m sorry?”

 “Dancing, you’re all alone,” he filled in. You smiled and nervously laughed. Your mind had totally taken that somewhere else.

 “Right.”

 “What’d you think I meant?” His sly grin said he suspected just what you thought he meant. You pinched your lips and shrugged, which made him laugh.

 “Pablo.” He held his hand out for you to shake, which you did.

 “Y/N.” The moment your hands touched, there was an electric shock. Both of you pulled back with smiles.

 “That was a first,” Pablo informed. You smiled and nodded.

 “I have to admit; I’ve been watching you all night. Not in a crazy, creepy stalker way but a mesmerized way.”

 “Is that any less creepy or stalker like?”

 Again, he laughed, then nodded. “You have a point.”

 His smile was great, open, and free.

 “I wasn’t trying to be creepy. I just—haven’t been able to take my eyes off of you.”

 “It’s the dress, the color just—draws you in,” you explained. His eyes slowly roamed over your body, and every inch he looked, he looked as if he were in pain but also blown away.

 “While the dress is—infuckingcredible, like really wow, it’s not the dress. I’m sure it’s the woman wearing the dress.”

 He was smooth, you thought. The way he slid that in there was seamless.

 “I just had to come over and tell you all of this before I lost my chance,” Pablo admitted.

 “Lost your chance?”

 “It’s clear you have the attention of every man in here. I had to what do they say—shoot my shot.” You laughed loudly while pressing your hand to your cleavage.

 “Wow. Good one.”

 “Gotta stay up with the times. So, what do you say, do I have a shot?”

 You studied him and looked him over and admitted he was gorgeous. You didn’t get a bad vibe from him, either. You couldn’t believe this. You now had two equally beautiful men vying for your attention while you had Chris. You saw him them hanging to the back, watching you. Instantly you felt guilty as if you shouldn’t be talking to any other man but him. He sure as hell looked like he was thinking it.

 “Tell you what, take my number and give me a call if you think I have a shot.”

 Pablo’s voice brought your attention back to his face. You unlocked your phone and took his number. Once it was locked in, you said your goodbyes then looked back to the spot you saw Chris. Again, he was gone.

 An hour later, you’d had enough of the party. You’d sent Chris numerous messages, and he hadn’t responded to any of them. You were pissed at this point—pissed and horny. You found your friends and told them you were ready to go. They wanted to stay, so you left alone. On the drive back to your house, you looked between Charlie’s number and Pablo’s. It never ceased to amaze you the universe’s sense of humor. Usually, when you weren’t looking, you found situations to get yourself into as opposed to when you’re looking. When you were close, you looked at your text exchange between Chris and contemplated sending yet another one. You were so annoyed with him you decided against it.

 Once inside, you took a shower and sat in your bed with a bottle of wine ready to channel surf. After about thirty or so minutes of relaxation, your doorbell rang. It was damn near three in the morning, and you didn’t know who it could be. You checked your Ring app and saw Chris at your door. His suit jacket was missing leaving him in his crisp white shirt. In one hand he held a bottle, and the other was braced on the frame. His tie was loosened around his neck with a few buttons on his white shirt undone. Rolling your eyes, you got up and made your way to it as he continued to ring over and over.

 When you flung open the door, you were ready to push him away. “You have some nerve showing up here after what you did,” you slid out.

 “Me? After what I did? You have some nerve showing up here after what you did!”

 You sighed and rolled your eyes. “I live here, dumbass!”

 “Yeah, so!”

 He was drunk. It made no sense doing this now. “Go home, Chris, sleep it off.”

 “Now I have to go home? Why got someone inside?”

 You looked at him incredulously. “Excuse me? Who would I have--,”

 “You tell me. I saw you tonight with not one but two douchbags.” He held up three fingers instead of two. You rubbed your temples; he was going to give you a headache.

 “And you know they’re douchbags how?”

 “Oh come on, Y/N, you can see it. If you weren’t blinded, you’d have seen it too.”

 “Blinded? By what? Chris, you’re drunk and making no sense. Go home.”

 “No! I’m gonna say this. You had me waiting and waiting so you could flirt with dickhead one and dickhead two. That was cold, Y/N.”

 “I didn’t expect them to corner me. You didn’t answer my calls or texts. You left me there, Chris. We went together, and you left me.”

 “Oh, I thought you’d get a ride from one of them. You sure looked like you wanted it.”

 Your jaw dropped as you stared at him.

 “What is your problem right now, Chris? I don’t get all twisted when you flirt with every Brenda, Brandy, and Bernice. I just let you do your thing. What the hell?!”

 “Oh please, when was the last time I flirted with anyone but you? Months! Fuck, it’s been almost a year Y/N.”

 “You flirted today! I saw you give her the look. Don’t fuck with me, Chris.”

 You walked away inside your house then. He was really pissing you off. You heard your door slam and knew he showed himself in.

 “You want them to fuck with you, right. That’s what you want, Y/N?”

 “So what if I do? So what? Why does it matter? We’re friends. We’re—this was your idea.”

 “Don’t pull that, it was as much yours as mine,” Chris countered.

 “Exactly. What’s changed? We were good last night. What the fuck is the matter with you?”

 “I’m fucking tired of doing this. We do everything a couple does. Do you see that? We go on dates, fly out to each other, hang with each other’s friends. You’ve met my family; we have sex, we sleepover, cuddle. We do it all. What the fuck did you expect?”

 You were stumped. What exactly was he saying? Was he saying what it sounded like he was saying? The look on his face was an exasperated one. He looked genuinely at his wit’s end and completely flushed.

 “Do you need me to spell it out for you?”

 He scoffed and tossed the bottle he held into a nearby chair and approached you. Once close enough, he crashed his lips to yours and lifted you in his arms. Your brain was still in shock, but your body needed no adjustment. You wrapped your legs around him and kissed him back with just as much passion as he was dishing out. Your moans competed in the hallway before he made his way up the stairs toward your bedroom.

 Once there, he dropped you on the bed and pressed his body onto yours. He felt so fucking good. Quickly Chris undid the rest of his clothes. In a matter of seconds, he was naked pulling your tee shirt over your hips to push your panties to the side. When he thrust into you, it was a quick and rough movement that stole your breath. Chris loudly groaned in your ear as his body shook on top of yours. The pace he set was a fast one, one that said he had something to prove, one that was laced with aggression. You felt his meaning behind every deep, and bruising thrust.

 “Fuck, Chris!” He arched onto his forearms and looked down at you as he sped the way his hips rolled. You arched your head back and wrapped your legs more tightly around him, digging your heels into the flesh of his tight ass.

 “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” He bit down on your neck, and you saw stars. This was the quickest orgasm you’d had in months. He didn’t slow down while you clenched around him. He kept his pace but increased the loudness of his moans.

 “Fuck Y/N. You feel so fucking good.”

 This was the first time he’d ever gone raw. You both were meticulous about protection. The feel of him inside of you this way was pushing you so much closer to the edge.

 “Mmmm, fuck this pussy, Chris!”

 “Whose pussy is it? Huh? Is it mine?” He’d asked this before, plenty of times, and you always said his without hesitation, but this time, you felt he meant it differently. The realization of that made you lose your shit and come again.

 “Oh, gooooooood!” Chris grunted and slammed into you with slow, precise strokes that only prolonged your release.

 “I can’t hear you, Y/N. Is this pussy mine?”

 You nodded, unable to find an ounce of control. “Yes. Mmm, yes. Fuck this pussy, Chris. Fuck your pussy.”

 “With pleasure!” He looked devious as if he had nothing good planned for your pussy.

 Chris arced your ass up, changing the angle on you, and that was it. You screamed, feeling every single inch pound into you. He’d never been like this before. It was new, and you loved it a little bit too much.

 “Mine!” He didn’t even sound sane anymore. He sounded crazed. Who knew you liked crazed? He slammed his hips into you so fast you had to hold onto the sheets for some kind of leverage. He was impossibly deep, so deep, you found yourself trying to pull back. The look he gave you was warning enough.

 “Take all this dick, Y/N. It’s yours.” Chris threw his head back and groaned loudly before his thrusts became sloppy. You could feel his body shake, and you knew he was close. You held onto his hand and began rocking on him rolling your body like a wave. Chris dropped his head to look back at you. His eyes were wide. He was asking you the question. Your whines became louder, but you didn’t loosen your grip. You were giving him your answer. His eyes remained trained on yours from there, and it made the moment that much more intense. Your pants blended together as did the sweaty slap your bodies made together.

 Chris grunted then whimpered before he slammed into you once, twice and a third time as he made the most primal sound you’d ever heard. Upon hearing it, you came with such a force all you saw was blinding light behind your eyes.

 “Ahhhh!” The two of you screamed together as you rode the waves of your pleasure. You felt like you were going to rip apart and couldn’t handle it, as you began to move, you came again, and that was when you felt the geyser-like gush come from you. Again, you screamed and dug your nails into his hand.

 An eternity seemed to pass before either of you were coherent or even able to put speech together. The feel of Chris’ fingertips across your hip was what brought you back to reality. You had no idea how you’d gotten on top of him, but one thing was certain, he was still buried deep within you. You lazily moaned against his chest.

 “Mmm.”

 “Are you okay?”

 “Mmm.” That was literally the only thing you could respond with. You doubted you had a voice anymore; you weren’t even sure you had legs. You lazily opened your eyes, instantly regretting it. The sun was peeking in through your sheer curtains. You didn’t even realize the two of you fell asleep.

 “Are you sure you’re okay?” Chris brought his fingers up and down your spine, lulling you back to sleep.

 “It’s morning,” he said again when you didn’t respond for several moments. Again, you moaned, this time you shifted but only slightly. Chris moaned, the vibration had you opening your eyes.

 “I’m sorry if I was too rough. Shit, I’m sorry for everything I said. I was drunk.”

 “Oh so.” Chris snorted then groaned again.

 “I’m sorry. That’s not a side I ever wanted to show you.”

 “Your drunk, jealous, petty, and dom side?” His voice was doing things to you. You were so wide open for this man it was crazy and the final nail in the coffin.”

 “I was not petty.”

 “Oh, you were petty. I think you would beat several women at it.” Chris laughed, but slowly the silence returned.

 “Y/N.”

You moaned your response again. He didn’t speak right away, though; he waited for nearly a minute before he quietly spoke.

 “I need the words. I need--the titles, the ex--exclusivity.”

 The words hung in the air between you. Your eyes were wide open now, but you didn’t speak. You didn’t know what to say. After a few minutes, he gently lifted your head and turned it to him. Resting your chin on his chest, the two of you gazed at each other.

 “I need you. I need us the way we’ve always been, but so much more.”

 It was then you understood what you felt yesterday at the luncheon and what you’ve been gradually feeling over the last few months.

 “I love you, Y/N.” Your heart was racing as fast as his. It was cute. You raised up on him, changing the angle of his half-hardened cock. Both of you moaned. When you sat there looking at his lazy drooped eyes, you almost laughed. Of course, this is where the two of you ended up.

 “If you don’t feel the same, just say it. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”

 “I love you too, Chris.”

 “Really?” You nodded and smiled. He was adorable when he was insecure.

 “What about those two idiots from--,” Chris began before you groaned and got off of him. Chris sucked in a breath and released a groan. When you came back, you had your phone in hand holding it out to him.

 “Take it. The code is 081119.” Chris cautiously took your phone and tapped in the code as you sat on his thighs. “Go to contacts. Find Charlie and Pablo. Do whatever you want with them.” You watched Chris as he searched through and found what you told him to. He looked at you as if he were thinking about something. You didn’t waver, only gave him a disinterested look.

 “Whatever I want?”

 “Whatever you want.” He smiled and tapped away.

 “Your services won’t be needed. I’m in love with someone else, and he has the biggest, thickest--.” You lurched for your phone as he pulled it back to flip you onto your back. His laugh was loud.

 “Don’t be a dick about it, Chris. I may still have to work with them one day,” you whined. Chris showed you the blank screen. He hadn’t typed anything.

 “I can be a real dick; just remember that.” You smiled, seeing more of his possessive, territorial side.

 “You know, this possessiveness and territorial alpha thing is really hot.”

 “Yeah? It turns you on?”

 “Little bit.” You smiled and allowed him to spread your legs with his free hand. When you felt the heaviness of his member pressing against your slit, you moaned.

 “Are you watching?” you looked at your screen and watched him tap the delete contact button. He did the same for both of them then tossed your phone aside.

 “Mine!” You smiled and bit your bottom lip.

 “Mine,” you repeated. Chris smiled and kissed you softly before he pulled back and slid into you, connecting your bodies with a smooth stroke.

 “You have me as daddy in your phone.” His smile was so full you were sure it was his cocky side coming out.

 “I’ll show you, daddy.”

 Chris pulled a moan from you, and you knew it was just the beginning. There was nothing like we’re officially together sex, especially territorial we’re officially together sex.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

In Love and Death. Part 3

Harry Potter AU

Link to Part 2 

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M

_____

“I’m going to kill you.”

Evan’s voice was filled with fury as he started toward Regulus. He didn’t care that his best friend was backing up and trying to speak in his best “calming a child” tone.

“Evan, you need to calm down. Y/n, is a grown woman and it's her choice.”

Evan laughed hard.

“She’s a grown woman and it's her choice? Did you really just quote some bullshit social justice crap at me, Black? You were there when she was born. I’ll never forgive you for this! Avada…”

Before Evan could finish the rest of the curse, Regulus shot up in bed.

“Reggie?”

Your voice was soft as Regulus sunk back down beside you.

“Everything’s fine.”

He said, gently. You yawned and snuggled against Regulus’ shoulder. He was thankful that you didn’t press him further for questions.

The only reason that you are lucky is that she’s tired.

His mind supplied. Regulus knew that if you were awake you would have started asking questions. His nightmares had been a frequent topic of discussion. You had been the one to comfort him when Regulus would wake up screaming.

Regulus sighed as your fingers twirled in his hair. This was your “go-to” method to make him relax.

“Everything will be fine.”

You said with a small yawn.

“Yes, it will.”

Regulus replied. He didn’t believe a damn word coming out of his mouth. How everything was going to be alright was beyond him.

The next morning, you were the first to wake up. Regulus lay with his left arm over his eyes. You briefly considered waking him up to come downstairs with you but after his nightmare; you decided to let him sleep. Leaning over, you pressed a kiss to his cheek before getting up.

Going downstairs, you decided to ignore everyone else. No one had tried to apologize for the hurtful things that Moody had said. You didn’t expect anything from Moody himself but you had expected Tonks to come and try to talk you down. When your best friend didn’t come, your grandmother’s chilling words about “there are no such things as friends...there is only family” returned with a vengeance.

Several sets of eyes looked up when you stepped into the kitchen. Sirius was the first out of his chair. You held a hand up.

“Don’t. I’m fine.”

You replied. Sirius frowned and shot Moody a glare.

“I wanted to check on you.”

“Well, here I am. The same person that I was last night. You could have checked on me then too.”

Sirius rolled his eyes.

“I was not about to walk in on you having sex with my little brother. I do not want to think about the two of you like that.”

Sirius grinned when you smirked. There was the girl that he knew!

“Fair enough.”

You replied as Kreacher popped out of nowhere with a cup of tea. His little smushed face looked at you with eyes full of love. You made a mental note to tell Regulus that he needed to talk to the elf about getting a grip. Of course, if Regulus talked to the elf in any form of displeased expression the poor creature would probably start sobbing and grab onto Regulus’ leg pathetically.

“So, we wanted to apologize for that unpleasant scene last night.”

Sirius said as he shooed Kreacher off. You raised an eyebrow.

“First off, you didn’t do anything. You just stood there laughing like a maniac. Kind of strange but most things don’t surprise me anymore.”

Tonks jumped up from her seat.

“Please take back what you said. I don’t want you to quit. You're my favorite partner. You’re the Dean to my Sam...the…”

You held up your hand with a smile. Tonks wrapped her arms around you. You let your friend hug you for a moment before pulling away.

“I’m not giving Regulus up. I know none of you like it but I don’t care. He and I are leaving.”

Tonks stepped back with her hand over her mouth as Remus stood up.

“It's too dangerous. Your family knows that you are an auror. If it comes down to it, they will tell Voldemort everything. Now that Regulus is alive, he will be even more thrilled to come after you.”

You shrugged.

“Hopefully between Regulus and myself, one of us can do some magic and protect ourselves. Now, if you charming lot will excuse me, I have some errands to run.”

20 minutes later, Regulus came into the room looking like he had the hangover from hell. Sirius smirked up from his tea.

“For someone who got laid last night, you sure look awful.”

Regulus flipped Sirius off before sitting down.

“I’m not discussing my sex life with you.”

“Thank you.”

Moody snapped. Regulus didn’t even bother looking at the older man. The last thing that Regulus really wanted to do was deal with Mad-Eye Moody. Regulus had enough on his plate with the nightmares, keeping you safe, and figuring what the hell was going on in the world around him without Moody’s help.

“No one asked you. Where is Y/n?”

Sirius leaned back.

“Said she had some errands. She also said that the two of you were leaving.”

Regulus nodded.

“What does it matter to you all?”

Tonks was looking at Regulus like she was about to burst into tears.

“Because there is a hole in my heart where Y/n is supposed to be.”

Regulus gave her a disgusted scowl.

“That’s lame.”

Tonks jumped up.

“She was my best friend before you turned up!”

Remus stood up and pulled Tonks back down to her seat before Regulus’ shotgun temper went off. To his surprise, Regulus sat calmly

“She’s my girlfriend now. All of you might as well accept it and yes, we are leaving. You lot can carry on without us.”

Sirius decided to come back in.

“We need you both here. Whether some of us want to admit it or not, the two of you are useful. Y/n has connections to her psycho family and all of the dark magic that has to be stored in that brain of yours…”

Regulus held a hand up.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

Sirius frowned and scooted his chair out. Was Regulus still feeling salty over his brother’s leaving home all those years ago. The scowl on Regulus’ face was the same one that he wore as Sirius packed his trunk to run off to the Potter’s.

“Yes, I do! You’re my brother.”

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah? When is my birthday? What flavor of cake do I like? What did I say to you the night that you ran away to the Potters?”

Sirius blinked a few times before scratching his head. Regulus stood up to make a cup of tea.

“I rest my case. You know nothing about me.”

Moody finally stood up. He was tired of listening to the bull shit of the morning.

“That’s enough.”

He snapped as he limped toward Regulus and threw a file down in front of him.

“You want to be a part of our group. Take a look at this and tell me what you see?”

Regulus picked up the folder and thumbed through a bunch of photos of dead people He frowned before stopping on one that made his heart freeze...your mother. Regulus’ eyes rolled up to Moody’s face.

“Look at that, you noticed it too.”

Regulus focused back on Emma’s dead body. He had to bite his lip at how much you resembled your mother as well.

“Does the way that her body is laying seem familiar at all?”

Moody asked with a sneer. Regulus focused on the position before his mouth dropped. This was exactly how Evan left people after killing them.

“Evan…”

Moody nodded.

“Now you're catching on. Too bad it took you so long being hungover and all…”

Regulus was moments short of a massive freak out. Was Evan alive? Did he actually know about Regulus’ relationship with you and better yet, where the hell were you at?

“I don’t know how it happened. Dead people keep turning up as living. Voldemort is figuring things out that we don’t know.”

Regulus was on his feet and digging the stupid cell phone out of his pocket. He began to pace as he waited for you to answer.

Sirius had come over to join him with a concerned expression.

“What is it?”

“She isn’t answering. I have to get a hold of Y/n.”

(meanwhile)

You sat in a coffee shop with a steaming cup of coffee in front of you. Stirring the liquid, you took a look around your surroundings. This was the first time that you had come to this particular place.

It's no wonder coffee is so popular.

You thought, taking a sip. A man in the corner had quickly gotten your attention at this point. Antonin Dolohov. You had been looking for this particular death eater for some time. Going after him alone was stupid. You considered calling for Tonks but instead remained frozen.

Dolohov was blissfully unaware that you were watching his every move. He was eagerly nibbling away on some coffee cake while talking to a companion that you could not see.

I hope this place has insurance.

You thought before slowly standing up. This was probably a stupid move and your friends would probably be furious later.

I’ll ask for forgiveness instead of potentially losing this creep again.

Dolohov didn’t move as you stepped behind him.

“You are foolish for coming out in public, Dolohov.”

The man froze before turning and looking at you with wild eyes. He smiled ruefully when he realized that you were alone.

“Rosier, you’re alone.”

You nodded.

“Yeah, because I can haul your ass right off to Azkaban where you belong.”

Dolohov smirked. He knew that he had the upper hand against a new auror. Plus he had the perfect hand in this card game.

“Where I belong? I have a gift for you.”

Your hand was on your wand as Dolohov leaned to his left to reveal the companion...your father. Seeing the face that you hadn’t seen in many years, was enough to leave you standing with your mouth open. Evan Rosier looked as perfect as he did the last time that you had laid eyes on him. His blue eyes were looking furiously at you.

“Y/n.”

“D..dad.”

You stammered as Evan stood up. He was taller than you remembered. Dolohov meanwhile sat watching gleefully as Evan began to speak.

“My daughter is an auror. MY DAUGHTER IS A BLOOD TRAITOR.”

He yelled, making you jump back.

“I stopped drinking the Koolaid.”

You replied, smugly. Evan’s frown intensified as he stepped closer. He had already killed your mother. It looked like giving you a proper punishment was in order. Evan was not about to let you ruin the Rosier family name.

“I could kill you. I should kill you.”

“Over my dead body…”

Both Evan and yourself turned upon hearing Regulus’ voice. The two of you were so locked into the conversation that no one had noticed Regulus step in. Evan’s mouth dropped.

“Look who it is. A bit late to the party aren’t you?”

Regulus reached out and grabbed your hand. You didn’t fight as he pulled you into his arms. Evan’s scowl intensified.

“What’s happening here?”

Dolohov grinned from his place at the table. He had gone back to nibbling on his coffee cake but when Regulus showed up; there was no looking away.

“Looks like Reg is all over that daughter of yours in a less than holy way.”

“No one asked you!”

Evan snapped to his fellow death eater. He quickly turned back to Regulus.

“Get your hands off of my child.”

Regulus smirked. He was quickly getting back to his cocky self. After almost throwing a killing curse at Evan when he saw the man near you; Regulus was ready to get his head in the game.

“I don’t think that she is a child anymore. Honestly, I figured that you would be thrilled. I’m a pureblood. She’s a pureblood. Good match, if I do say so myself. Oh wait, we aren’t part of your stupid circle of ignorance anymore. I didn’t come to get in a fight with you. I only came for what’s mine.”

Regulus wrapped his arms around you and was ready to apparate from the room.

“Now that I got it, I must bid you a fond farewell.”

Evan still looked as though he was putting together the fact that you were dating Regulus. You were no longer a little 4-year-old child but instead, a woman whose ideals were far different from his own.

“Don’t you take her from me.”

Evan snapped. Regulus gave him an eyebrow wiggle before disappearing. Evan stood, shaking as Dolohov stood up and wandered over to the place where you had stood with Regulus.

“They are so fucked.”

______

@fairywriter-oracle

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[ashandboneca]

Racism, abuse, and why I don’t consider myself a part of the ‘community’

I’d like to talk about the event that pushed me away from the idea of a pagan community, and forced me inwards to further develop my own practice - and about the events of the last few years in regards to continued abuses in the pagan community. About 6 years ago, I started to look into the Norse pantheon. I had worked with Thor in the past, and about 6 or 7 prior to that I did an experiment where I worked with the Aesir for a month. At that point in my life, I didn't connect with them. I don't know why I didn't, I partially blame the terrible book I had for guidance, and the fact that the person who initially agreed to guide me flaked out. However, this time around I endeavoured to learn as much as I could from a reputable source, because the last time I had no idea what I was doing. I approached my friend, who is a practicing forn sidr heathen, and they agreed to teach me what they knew. We spent a number of sessions discussing cosmology and theology. I felt confident going forward, armed with book recommendations and a passion to learn further. I wrote a bit about my experiences openly on my previous blog with Odinn. Interactions with him were not sought after, but something that merely happened. When gods or spirits or ancestors come calling, you answer in some way out of respect. I wrote more about my experiences, and different techniques I utilized to connect with him. None of them were specifically Heathen - but I don't soley identify as Heathen, so I figured if that was an issue, Odinn wouldn't have shown up in the first place.

Some time later, my friend had messaged me to let me know they had gotten some hate mail about me via Witchvox (which no longer exists, but used to be a connection board for finding pagans and witches in your area, as well as open groups, etc). I was initially gobsmacked. Why the hell is someone emailing her in regards to something I did? Wouldn't have been more productive to email or message me to resolve whatever issue? I found it who it was. This person was, at that time, a member of a well recognized organization locally who put on events and rituals - an organization whose first mandate is "We hold that each one of us has their own path to follow to truth and spirit." To be honest, I had never really interacted with this person beyond being paid to do so in my former job at a pagan bookshop. We attended a few of the same events, but never really interacted. There was no real beef. I wasn't particularly fond of said person, but I had no real issues with them - so this came sort of out of left field. I sat on it for a bit.  I did not reply to the sender. Instead, I decided to post the initial email on my previous blog. Inevitably, someone is going to disagree with how you practice or what you do, even if you're not doing anything wrong. The  point I think is important to underline is that you do not need to stand for other people trying to tear you down, assert some kind of moral superiority over you, or telling you how and when you should be practicing, unless your practice is appropriative - in which case you should be taking a long, hard look at yourself. As heathenry is an open tradition, I had no concerns. I also think transparency is very important, and when people behave badly they often do so to gain something from it. Whether it is attention, drama, or they feel they are in a safe space to do so due to anonymity.  So, by posting the email (albeit in edited format - I removed all identifying information about said person, because I wanted to focus on the behaviour, not the person), I felt I was addressing something that more people should have been addressing. Afterwards, my friend received a few more emails about how I was 'pissing on their ancestors' and etc. My friend told them, in no uncertain terms, that the emails were unwelcome, the issue was none of their business, and to fuck off. I also got a few emails, a few messages on Witchvox, a few comments, and a lovely comment from a sockpuppet account here on tumblr, as well as finding out my writing was posted to be mocked because I wasn't 'heathen' enough - with screenshots! I did not respond to anything, just kept record of everything in case it was needed. I disagree with the idea of bringing in some third party who is uninvolved to do one's dirty work. If someone has an issue with how someone else is practicing, they need to question whether it's something to address. Bringing in someone uninvolved is both cowardly and childish. They did not ask to be involved, and I'm not sure what involving another person serves to carry a point. Fight your own battles, or say nothing.

There were a few other instances. A series of screencaps of this person’s continued racist, sexist, and abusive behaviour was provided to a few of us. A known leader was accused of racism and verbal abuse by other members of the community with credible evidence. This leader had a pattern of setting up multiple Facebook accounts and when one was found they would set up a new one with a new name. They talked at length about their feelings on immigration, POC in the Heathen community, and interfaith. They advocated violence and celebrated terrorist acts. Some really troubling, disgusting stuff.

We did what we thought was right - we emailed the organization to tell them and offer proof via said screencaps. In the response, we were told, and I am not bullshitting, that this person was a valued member of the community, that they are 'proud' of their heritage (uh, so am I, but I don't run my mouth off about diversity being white genocide), and that we could essentially go pound sand. I quote "own personal outlook on (their) culture and (their) path. (They are) entitled to (their) own practice as much as anyone of us are, and (they) cares deeply for (their) culture.  (They) makes a significant contribution to the Pagan community with (their) efforts through (group). (They are) a hard worker and has accomplished a great many things in (their) time on the board, a commitment that is not to be taken lightly. (They) fulfill (their) duties as a board member admirably."

Do I agree with their hot take on this? No. I think if someone comes to you with an accusation of that kind of wrongdoing, you have a duty to do some manner of preliminary investigation, because if you are in a position where you are teaching people and have authority, those students need to feel safe. You need to determine if the accusations have any truth, and if they are found to be false, feel free to stand behind and assert your belief in the accused. I truly believe the harasser/abuser showed their group the email, and they spun it in some way to discredit us.

Complicity via ignorance is still complicity - it's enough to tarnish an organization's good name. In the working world, business owners have been hung out to dry because of their racist, homophobic, or sexist employee's actions. The whole Kenny Klein situation happened for years because people excused his behaviour and allowed other people to be abused.  We are all finger-wagging and clucking when people try to bring up this behaviour  - don't be starting drama, oh that's just how (name) is, oh that's just rumours. Look, everyone - assholes, creeps, criminals, and predators exist in every faith, every organization. We are so quick to sweep it under the rug, so rushed to prevent judgement, that we always forget that one important fact. While I think it's important not to jump on every bad thing you hear about people, I do think it's important to have an open and frank discussion about proper behaviour while in a position of power. Especially if proof of misdeeds are being offered.

This group, and their lack of action, stood complicit in this person's bad behaviour. If they made the choice to stand behind a racist, bigoted person who spends their time trying to harass people online (I am not the only one, I have been told - there have been multiple people, including some of their own family members), that is their choice. They have made that choice, and they have chosen to accept any repercussions going along with it. They chose to stand behind an abuser.

Sarah Lawless, back in 2018, named a number of known abusers in the wider PNW community. The flack she received for being brave to stand up and call that shit out was disgusting.

Abusers are coddled and protected in pagan communities. They are viewed as elders, as productive members of the community,  as local heroes. While I have been fortunate to encounter very little sexual harassment in the pagan community, I have suffered other abuses and harassment that has shown me that, just like the priests and cardinals in the Vatican, pagans protect and believe only those in their clique. And there are cliques in the community, have no doubt about that.

Sarah pointed out that the ideal community is a fantasy - I agree. Stories I have heard from others about their own experiences in the 'safe and welcoming' pagan community would break your heart. One person I spoke with said 'it's scary to even fathom trying to approach anyone, because it's hard to know who to trust, who might lure you in and take advantange of you'. That is a sad statement, and one I know too well. I have a tendency to keep abuse like this close to the chest because I have been burned by people in the past. There is no spiritual support for people who get abused - no chaplains, no pastoral care, no therapists.

These were people who were putting everything on the line to be heard, and the vitriol and hatred and lies I had seen made my blood boil. This is precisely why people do not come forward. They could put everything on the line - in Sarah's case, the safety of her partner at the time and children - and people will still find a way to claim the survivors are lying. Why? What do the survivors get out of lying about their abuse? What person would come forward, knowing they will be attacked, confronted, slandered, and encounter more abuse, if they weren't telling the truth? Why would any survivor put themselves through that unless there is truth? The most stalwart defenders claim 'they couldn't have done it, I've never seen them do anything to me!' Humans are complicated and complex beings, with many facets and many faces. The face you see may not be the same face others see. The John Doe you know and the John Doe I know may be the same person, but very different relationships. 

It comes down to this: You can't 'believe survivors' if you're supporting abusers.

You can't support survivors if you're sheltering abusers.

You can't help survivors if you're siding with abusers.

You can't call it a safe community if you don't protect it's members.

Standing up for myself and others lost me “friends” who ditched me about the ‘drama’, and my community.  Something needs to change. It is inevitable that change will befall the community, and those denizens had better wise up quickly. There are a lot of young, vulnerable people looking for guidance and safety, and the community better fucking step up and prove they are willing to protect their members, or they have become no better than the Christian groups who continue to enable their abuse. We need willing leaders to push forward to make the community better. We need dedicated, smart, and savvy people to navigate a new and better future for paganism, because it's got a death rattle going on and it needs the kiss of a new life.

Burn the whole of the modern pagan community down. Burn down the groups that perpetuate abuse, that enable abusers, and grow something better and safe from the ashes. Dismantle the sexist, enabling, racist, oversexed community with it's abusive elders, cleanse it with fire, and create a place where people can come together without having to fear predators.

The only I have learned from watching my and other’s experiences is that we shouldn't call out wrongdoing in the community, because I have gotten abuse hurled at me for it and I have seen others who have done the same get more and worse abuse. People get mad, they accuse those who come forward of 'causing drama' or 'rocking the boat'.

That is a terrible lesson. A witch is sovereign unto themselves.

Bitches, this boat is rocking. Grab on, or drown.

This is my own story. I have posted links for further review down below.

Further reading:

Dealing With Toxic People in the Pagan Community

Sarah Lawless’ post about her suffered abuse, via the Wayback Machine

Abuse, the Pagan Community, and Our Commitments

Abuse Within Paganism - a taboo topic?

A Crisis of Faith

Authenticity and Racism in Contempory Paganism

This is not a new issue - via livejournal, 2006

Cultural Appropriation in Neopaganism

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #228: TRIAL and ERROR!

February, 1983

AT LAST! The trial of Yellowjacket!

Its been over a month in-universe and about a year out of universe but here we are. The Trial of Hank Pym.

Although the time getting here was mostly farting around with other stuff while Hank sat in prison. Can you believe Scott Lang is the only person we see visit him?

The Avengers found time to experiment on an immortal child who thought jumping into the sun was a good idea but not to visit Hank?

I’m not saying that Jan should have had to put herself through that and Tony is clearly feeling too guilty over the whole thing. But Cap didn’t visit? Hawkeye didn’t? Mr. Lets Bust Hank Out?

Possibly they did off-screen. The Hank arc has been kind of suffering from Shooter’s inability to balance writing and EICing. I feel that if redone, there would be more to the arc.

Anyway, the trial!

We skipped the first two days. Its the third day of the trial now.

The graphic guy went above and beyond for that Sad Composited Hank graphic.

I like the AN AVENGER’S DARKEST HOUR thing.

I also like the setup for recapping the necessary details.

Ex-Avenger attempts to heist the government would be big news so all the information is conveyed as this news report.

INCLUDING COURTROOM SKETCHES

God, that’s good.

That’s good comicing. Amazing.

Look at Thor in a courtroom sketch. Superb.

Look at that cheesy graphic for the coverage. Does anybody in Marvel even use a domino mask?? Everything about this is amazing.

People may say that Frank Miller revolutionized using media talking heads for social commentary in his comics. Maybe. Maybe so. But how many courtroom sketches did he include? Huh?

So apparently the reason why we’re on day three of the trial is that days one and two were entirely debates over whether Hank was even fit to stand trial.

I’d’ve thought they would get that out of the way ahead of time.

And Hank wants his day in court. So who was arguing he wasn’t fit to stand trial? The prosecution?

Apparently, the prosecution tried to argue that Hank’s history as a hero made his crimes more heinous, as a legal argument.

Which, uh? Um? Uh?

The defense objected that this was prejudicial but they were overruled.

The news recap ends when She-Hulk turns off the television angrily for reminding her of her legal career.

She-Hulk: “Leeches! I haven’t met Henry Pym, but he can’t be the creep they’re making him out to be! And that prosecutor -- ! I know it’s his job, but do they all have to be sanctimonious?! I hated that when I was a practicing attorney, and I don’t hate it any less since I’ve become She-Hulk!”

Reminds me that her nemesis in her original Savage She-Hulk book was an Assistant DA called Buck Bukowski who was a real sexist douche.

He mellowed out over the course of the book, mostly by learning that a death he blamed She-Hulk for was sorta his fault, but I wonder if she left LA so she wouldn’t be tempted to throw him out to sea.

She-Hulk is also still super bored (in New York??) and wanders downstairs to see if anyone is up to anything interesting.

Downstairs in the gym, she finds that the Caps are training.

The Captains America and Marvel.

Cap(tain America) is doing some combat training with Captain Monica Marvel.

This will not be at all confusing to have them on the same team.

Anyway, this training sequence is amazing so lets just have it all:

Cool stuff, Caps.

The training has to be cut short because Cap(tain America) has a prior commitment but still good stuff.

She-Hulk applauds Captain Marvel’s showing but Marvel waves it off as thanks to Cap(tain America)’s training. Which Cap(tain America) waves off as thanks to her being a quick study.

Its like a self-perpetuating modesty loop in here.

Cap excuses himself to go to his prior engagement.

Captain Marvel: “It’s easy to see why he’s called a living legend! He’s very good! And his grasp of strategy is second to none!”

She-Hulk: “Yeah, he does pretty well for a guy with no powers, but I could take him!”

What a this era of She-Hulk thing to say, She-Hulk.

Captain Marvel tells She-Hulk hey maybe not! Cap has stood up to some pretty tough customers, including Jen’s cousin the Hulk.

Which She-Hulk didn’t know!

Y’know, after Bruce (or recently implied to be Joe Fixit Actually??) started Jen’s origin story, the Hulk has not much further relevance in the Savage She-Hulk book. Jen doesn’t even give any indication that she’s keeping up with his exploits.

Not surprising, since the book was trying to be its own thing. And Jen’s life just starts to implode not very far into her solo so she doesn’t have time to also worry about Bruce.

Captain Marvel mentions that all of Cap(tain America)’s run-ins with the Hulk are recorded in the Avengers computer archives and She-Hulk concedes she should give that a look.

Hey, she finally has something to do in New York!

Captain Marvel also tells She-Hulk that she’s going to head home.

She-Hulk: “You have a place in the city?”

Captain Marvel: “Not this city... New Orleans.”

She-Hulk: “NEW ORLEANS?!?”

Captain Marvel: “Sure! It’s a snap to commute -- when you can travel at the speed of light! Take care!”

And then she nyooms off!

NYOOM!

It’s a good point! I hadn’t considered it but yeah, Monica can just commute. No need to uproot her life to become an Avenger.

I guess that’s why the decision was so easy for her to make.

She-Hulk is still at the window, wishing she could lightspeed to Malibu, when Thor and Janet arrive from court.

Janet thanks Thor for coming to court with her. Which he says no big to because “Time given to one’s friends is well spent. Would that I had given more time to poor Henry before this.”

You’re a cool guy, Thor.

The mention of Hank has Jan break down a little.

Jan: “Oh, Thor! Why has this happened to us... to all of us? We’re Avengers!”

Thor: “But still we are human -- aye, even a ‘god’ such as I! None of us are immune to wounds of the spirit. We err... we misunderstand. Janet? Is there anything more I can do?”

Jan: “No! No... I’m all right! We mustn’t dwell on the past. The future’s all that matters!”

Thor: “But...”

Jan: “I don’t want to talk about it anymore!”

Geez.

We’ve seen how affected the Avengers have been by what Hank has done and what they think he has done. We’ve seen Jan is more messed up by it than the smile she puts on lets on.

But the plaintive questioning of how this could be happening to the Avengers still hits hard.

Thor respects Jan’s wish to end the discussion to the frustration of She-Hulk who has been watching this conversation from the upstairs window.

She’s frustrated that Jan won’t just let it out, that Thor just let the subject drop.

She-Hulk: “It’s that blasted Avengers’ tradition of ‘respecting the privacy of members’ personal affairs.’ The founding members carry it too far! Can’t they see how it hurts them? And Jan -- ? Why does she hold in all that grief and heartache? Why doesn’t she cry and scream and shout and get it out of her system?!”

Jen and Jan are two very different people!

But She-Hulk, and Hulks generally, are about letting your feelings out. And Jan van Wasp has long been about playing the flighty sprite.

I’d crack joke about She-Hulk being this invested in the drama of the Avengers already but Jan is her friend. They presumably went car shopping together.

And She-Hulk has very few friends and almost zero female friends. Her one female friend died in a convoluted car accident and then She-Hulk mostly had a male supporting cast. Thank goodness she’s here on the Avengers with its two whole other women.

Meanwhile, at Stark International, Cap(tain America) has come to pay a visit.

He hasn’t been able to reach Tony in days. And Tony’s secretary told him that Tony has locked himself away in his private lab and that he doesn’t want to see anyone.

But if he didn’t want to see anyone, he should have thought twice about making it so that the security system will let in any Cap that flashes an Avengers ID.

Cap is particularly worried because of that nasty argument they had about Tony dating Jan. Tony has been pretty down since they broke up and Cap doesn’t want to see him fall apart like Hank did.

And.

Tony is. Doing. Maybe not okay.

He’s sweating a lot and unshaven and monomaniacally focused on a project.

Cap finds him holding up an enormous piece of machinery and doing SCIENCE.

This is the final evolution of Tony’s guilty conscience regarding Hank Pym.

Iron Man: “Remember how Moondragon used her mental powers to mess with our heads? Well, it’s my theory that she’s responsible for Hank’s recent troubles! I aim to prove that with this cerebral scanner! This baby should tell us whether or not Hank did the crazy things he did because of some outside mental influence! I hope I’m right!”

I mean, he raises a fair point! I don’t think its the case because what would it have benefited Moondragon to make Hank do what he did? And if its an inadvertent thing, she mind controlled a lot of people when the roster change-up was happening back in #211 so why did only Hank get affected? Plus, it doesn’t really match up with what both Hank and Jan have been saying about his behavior deteriorating before then.

But, Tony is going to Tony. And he, like many fans and writers and editors, just want a simple nonsense explanation that can make a distressing thing go away.

Cap points out that the ginormous machine can’t exactly be dragged down to the courthouse but this is just the prototype. Tony is going to have a miniaturized version ready by Monday.

Cap: “I see. Tony, how long have you been up?”

Iron Man: “I don’t know... 30... 40 hours, maybe. What difference does it make?”

Cap: “It makes plenty! You’ve had some rough sledding lately... You can’t keep on driving yourself this way!”

Iron Man: “But I have to do something for Hank. I feel that I let him down... In so many ways.”

Cap: “You can’t help him if you kill yourself in the process!”

Tony is going to Tony. I think that in some ways he might have a more overdeveloped guilt complex than Peter Parker or Matt Murdock.

For Reasons, I’ve taken a look at how things are going in the Iron Man book around this time and oof. Poor Tony.

Over in Leonia, New Jersey, Vision and Scarlet Witch are watching the trial coverage on the news and-

Okay.

1.) How do you make watching the network news so moody and dramatic, Vision? Do you ever actually relax?

2.) Do you two just wear your costumes around the house? Surely you must have other clothes? Vision? Do you have other clothes?

Some other stuff is that Wanda has been holding up Jan and Hank as the ideal marriage so this whole thing has been weirding her out. Although Vision has had a less rosy opinion of it, having been there for it with all of the marrying the split personality nonsense involved.

Although I don’t know why issue #68 is referenced. I don’t think that had anything to do with anything. Issue #60 is where the wedding happened.

Bet whoever put that caption wishes they had access to the internet.

I kind of wish we got more stuff like earlier, got to see Avengers not currently on the team and other heroes that worked with Hank Pym reacting to his disgrace exit from the team and then arrest. Wish we could have had Vision and Wanda try to visit him in jail.

Meanwhile, Long Island Sound.

A LOCATION OF EVIL

A suited man arrives and knocks on 13308 McKinley.

He is Dr. Chen Lu and he is expected.

Moonstone/Dr. Karla Sofen meets Dr. Chen Lu at the door and shows him in to the secret science basement where Egghead is running an experiment with the latest scientific equipment that can be begged, borrowed, or stolen.

I’m figuring... mostly stolen? Right? Like Egghead’s plan was to steal all the resources he needed? Because, ugh Effort?

Moonstone interrupts Egghead to let him know Dr. Chen Lu has arrived and Egghead is thrilled! He rushes from his seat to shake his hand.

And the sentiment is returned by Dr. Chen Lu who is eager to join Egghead’s project.

Y’know, Egghead is a jerk and is stealing all of his resources but his project will hugely improve medical science and he’s getting criminal scientists off the street and into some actual science jobs they can be excited about.

Dr. Chen asks how Egghead isn’t dead because he was pretty sure he was told Egghead was dead. And Egghead sure has a tale to tell!

In Defender #43, Egghead set up Cobalt Man to reach critical mass and explode to distract the Defenders so he could steal a magical star. When Cobalt Man found out, he was pretty pissed and decided to blow up Egghead.

Egghead: “We had a bit of a falling out, you might say... and he ended the situation most dramatically. Witnesses actually assumed we’d both perished. In actuality, I had been teleported by an experimental mechanism to relative safety in the New Jersey swamps... and unlike death, one can usually return from the state of New Jersey!”

Damn, Egghead! Criminal genius that you are, you’ve found the only New Jersey joke I’ve ever laughed at! Fiend!

I think its the glasses adjusting what does it.

Anyway, Egghead’s and Dr. Chen’s cool conversation gets interrupted by Tiger Shark and Shocker bursting through the ceiling fighting.

Beetle flies in after them and apologizes for the mess but says ‘really Shocker had it coming, man, fuck Shocker.’

Beetle and Moonstone jump in to separate the two.

Hey, you might be wondering how the Masters of Evil are out of jail when last time we saw them was getting arrested after attacking the Avengers like dumbasses?

Check that panel where Iron Man is lifting a really heavy thing. There’s a news broadcast about a bunch of prison escapes. Good job on the same issue setup, Stern!

Shocker complains that Tiger Shark called him a two-bit hood but Tiger Shark says in his defense that Shocker IS a two-bit hood (Not inaccurate...) who nearly screwed up the isotope heist. But Egghead says that Shocker is an important part of the operation.

Then Tiger Shark notices Dr. Chen Lu and says a slur.

C’mon, guy. Don’t be like that.

Dr. Chen Lu: “Speaking without thinking seems to be second nature to you, Tiger Shark. In the interest of our future partnership, I shall excuse the insult to my race... this time! But I warn you, do not use that word in my presence again, or you shall answer to -- THE RADIOACTIVE MAN!”

Tiger Shark hurriedly says that obviously he didn’t mean to offend. Because Dr. Chen Lu Radioactive Man fwooshed into his green skin (dammit comics whats with you and Asian people and green skin?) radioactive form and costume.

But with Radioactive Man on the team, the Masters of Evil are finally complete and ready for the next step of EGGHEAD’S BOLD PLAN.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye returns to his apartment from his day job, kind of looking a steady paycheck in the mouth. Sure the big wad of bucks is nice but its sooo boring. Thank goodness he has Avengersing to keep things exciting.

He then sings a short bit about “Best of both worlds -- !” because Hawkeye.

Hawkeye sees the news broadcast about the Hank Pym trial and even though he hasn’t been called to testify (because he wasn’t part of the team when Hank was caught with his hands in the government’s cookie jar) he figures what the heck, he’ll go to the trial anyway to show moral support.

And he does! In full costume!

In fairness, so are Thor and Captain America.

I guess Captain America and Hawkeye don’t have publicly revealed identities. But they couldn’t have thrown a suit on Thor?

Please put Thor in a suit. For reasons.

She-Hulk and Wasp are wearing nice court clothes.

Although She-Hulk seems uncomfortable in her nice court clothes.

(By the by, She-Hulk showing up at all makes Hawkeye warm up to her a little, since he figures that in her own way she cares about being an Avenger as much as he does.)

By the way, notice who wasn’t in that picture? Hawkeye leans over to whisper to Cap where is Iron Man? Annnnd Cap thinks maybe he just got wrapped up in his cerebral scanner project.

At this point in the trial (day 4), Hank has finally been called up to the stand to testify on his own behalf.

So, of course, given Hank Pym’s luck, the courtroom explodes.

What a dynamite conclusion to this arc!

The Masters of Evil (Moonstone, Radioactive Man, Tiger Shark, Shocker, and Beetle) jump into the court through the exploded ceiling, grab Hank Pym, have Shocker blow up the load bearing wall, and then run out while the Avengers are distracted holding up the entire ceiling!

An action scene fast enough that I can believe, yes, the Avengers didn’t have time to react to it before it happened.

But Thor is strong enough to hold up the ceiling, so Wasp orders Cap to get the crowd to safety and has She-Hulk and Hawkeye follow her to go after the Masters.

Cap: “Jan’s really coming into her own as group leader! Even Hawkeye’s snapping to at her orders!”

Good. I’m glad that people keep telling me that Wasp is doing a good job as Avengers leader.

Seriously. Given the way that the Avengers book handles teamwork and the idea that the Avengers even have a leader sometimes, I’m glad that the book is explicitly conveying that Wasp is doing good.

Hawkeye net-arrows Tiger Shark, She-Hulk tackles Radioactive Man, Wasp confronts Beetle, and nobody confronts Shocker because its just Shocker.

Beetle scoffs at Wasp trying to stop him but has to eat his words pretty soon. Her Wasp stings being souped up in this recent stretch of comics hasn’t stopped being a thing.

Beetle: “Ow! Maybe I was the one who spoke too soon! Even with my armor, I can feel a little of the Wasp’s bio-stings! If I can’t shake her, she might blow my micro-circuits!”

Very glad that Wasp continues to be an effective fighter in her own right and not just the distraction ‘fly around and pester people.’

She-Hulk just throws Radioactive Man out of the panel, mocking him for being green as her without any of her sweet moves.

Tiger Shark wants another go at She-Hulk after the way she stomped him in #222 but.

Oops guess I shouldn’t have mocked Shocker. Since he was ignored, he can sneak up behind She-Hulk and use HIGH INTENSITY VIBRO-SHOCKS to rattle her bones to dust.

Except, no. I should have mocked Shocker, a little.

Because even though the HIGH INTENSITY VIBRO-SHOCK rattles She-Hulk so that she chatters out “T-t-think a-a-again, y-y-you w-w-walking q-q-quilt!”, she grabs Shocker’s hands and holds him up in the air for Hawkeye to short out Shocker’s gauntlets with a couple of magno-volt arrows.

Shocker crumples, confused because one of the other Masters was supposed to be covering Hawkeye.

Radioactive Man tackles She-Hulk so She-Hulk just belts him away.

So Radioactive Man concedes, well, okay, She-Hulk is stronger than him. But brute force and being green aren’t the extent of his powers. He’s also radioactive, radioactive. 

He hits She-Hulk with a controlled burst of gamma rays, which shifts her back into Jennifer Walters.

Hey, Jen! First time you’ve appeared in this book in this form.

She’s less than pleased. In fact, she starts screaming “No! Not this!!” and begging someone to help her.

Thankfully, the Masters put her out of mind as not a problem anymore.

And the dominoes fall.

Tiger Shark smacks Wasp out of the air, freeing Beetle to blast Hawkeye. And nobody can stop Moonstone from nerve pinching Hank Pym and pulling him into a truck.

Thor and Cap run out of the courthouse, presumably having gotten everyone to safety.

Thor: “Ho, villains! You’ve not won the day yet! Not as long as a single Avenger stands!”

Thor do what Thor do and what Thor do is throw Mjolnir.

Exceppppt its at Radioactive Man and Radioactive Man can still deflect Mjolnir with energy fields. Radiation can do that. Mjolnir doesn’t exist in real life so we can’t prove that radiation can’t do that.

Radioactive Man deflects Mjolnir right at Captain America. He gets his shield up in time but it still knocks him on his ass.

The Masters all book it into the truck while the Avengers get to their feet.

Wasp orders Hawkeye to shoot out the tires to the truck. But before he can and before it can be fruitless, a getaway truck explodes out of the truck and flies off more quickly than the Avengers can chase.

And by “the Masters all book it into the truck” I mean, “except Shocker” because they ditched him.

With the Masters escaped, Wasp turns on the shocked Shocker and rips off his mask and demands he tell them where the Masters are going.

But the shocked Shocker is too shocked to answer. He seems out of it, really.

So Wasp changes the question. Who is behind this? Why did they want to kidnap Hank Pym?

Shocker: “Why? It... it was his idea! Dr. Pym’s idea... He arranged for us to free him!”

DUN DUN DUUUUU- no wait we know thats not it

whats your game shocker

Sometime later, Hank Pym wakes up in Egghead’s lab. And, of course, immediately leaps up to kick the shit out of Egghead as soon as he sees him.

Alas, Tiger Shark holds him back.

Egghead: “Don’t restrain him too tightly, Tiger Shark! He’s of no use to us injured!”

Hank Pym: “I’ll ‘use’ you, Egghead! You’re responsible for ruining my life! You manipulated me into stealing that government adamantium... and set me up, when your scheme failed! You’re mad if you think you can make me help you now!”

Egghead: “Pish-tosh!”

Good rejoinder, Egghead.

God, this also cracks me up.

Egghead says that he’s in the middle of a great experiment and that he needs the world’s greatest biochemist, Hank Pym.

Hank is still on the ‘why the hell do you think I’ll help you, I hate you so much.’

So Egghead has the tv turned on.

Anchorman, Non Burgundy: “... Authorities were stunned by the news that Dr. Pym had planned his own abduction! The Avengers refused to comment on the Shocker’s confession, but polygraph experts confirmed --”

Egghead explains that Shocker was a patsy. His gauntlets were secretly rewired with special circuits that brainwashed him into believing what Egghead wanted him to. So thoroughly that it fooled a lie detector.

Egghead: “As far as the world is concerned, Henry, you are now most assuredly a criminal. No one will believe otherwise. Not the police... not even your former friends. You have no one to turn to in this world... except us! Join the Masters of Evil, Henry! We will give you a new life!”

Hank Pym: “All right... I’ll do it!”

DUN DUN DUN!!

Wow, so I guess Egghead wasn’t just being petty. He was also systematically destroying what little was left of Hank’s life to force him to work on SCIENCE project with him.

Proving his innocence and ‘getting his dignity back’ was all Hank had left to him.

Geez, sucks to be Hank Pym!

Psst, follow @essential-avengers​? Like and reblog?

[satorilovebot]

Hiya! I saw another tumblr shout you out and I thought I’d come check out your account :) I was wondering if I could have a Tsukishima trying to help his procrastinator girlfriend study but in the end he ends up being the distracted one, one-shot? Tysm xx

Hello, thank you so much for sending a request.Honestly I also have problem with procrastinating! Being lazy is my passion /nah. ANYWAY, I hope this is not sucked.

bad habit. [ tsukishima kei x reader ]

pairing : tsukishima kei x fem!reader

word count : 1,404

warnings : none

His eyebrows twitch in irritation, “you what?” He merely asks, yet your whole body shivers from how stern his voice sounded. Tsukishima has always been intimidating, to say at least. But when he is upset, you just want to crawl under your bed and vanish rather than standing in front of him, under his knives-sharp gaze.

“My math homework is not done … ?” you squeaked, looking anywhere but him. Your fingers play with the hem of your blue sweater anxiously.

“And the English homework too, also I doubt that you even touched your literature assignment.” He heaved a sigh, long, frustrated one and run his hand on his blond hair. He knew you are a procrastinator. The way you often pull up all-nighter right before exam, or even subtle things like every excuses you give him when you are being ‘too lazy to move’. “At this point you are not procrastinating anymore; you are jeopardizing your own future.”

You gasps, pretend to be shocked. But he knew better. It is a bad habit of yours, and he knows that you knew. Yet it irritates him how you seem unbothered by your procrastinating habit. Tsukishima understand that everyone has one or two bad habits. He has it too. He sometimes thinks that you didn’t see procrastinating as a bad habit, or rather, too lazy to put an effort on fixing it.

“It’s fine! Everything is due next week anyway. I’ll finish somehow, like always,” you give him a small pout, and a puppy eyes. You expect him to soften up a little, cause, hey, who can deny a request from cute, and adorable little girlfriend right? Apparently Tsukishima Kei was not amused by your answer, neither your cute act.

“Tomorrow is Sunday. By next week, you mean the day after tomorrow.”

You let out a frustrated growl, pulling your hair desperately, “It’s not like it has anything to do with you! I don’t mind having a bad grade, I never liked study anyway.”

He clicked his tongue, flicking your forehead rather hard and making you whimper in pain. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” you said furiously as a hand went to your forehead, rubbing the now redden skin.

“Don’t you realize that every time you pull all-nighter you would texts me, and call me ‘Tsukki please don’t sleep yet, I’m not done with my assignment.’; or the next day you being so grumpy and cried on my shoulder, regretting why did you do all those task in one night rather than doing it little by little every day?” he took a step closer and you instinctively take a step back “and you call that has nothing to do with me? Your procrastinating habit and me? Me, y/n. Your beloved boyfriend.”

Suddenly you hug him, burying your face onto his chest and nuzzling there. Tsukishima’s eyes widen in surprise, he tried to push you gently because he started to feel his face getting warm. He is embarrassed. Not because this is the first time you hug him, but the current circumstances. You both were in the middle of busy street in shopping district and he is not a fan of PDA. Yes, you were just in a date with Tsukishima when your tongue slip and told him that you haven’t work on all your assignments.

“y/n let go, we are in public.” He said lowly, readjusting his glasses to try hiding his flushed cheeks and avoiding people’s stares.

Your hug only tightens around his torso, and the male could only let a soft sigh, “Fine, I’ll help, now please let go.”

“You do?” you look up, eyes as innocent as ever. Tsukishima’s heart skips a beat, if this was in private and you don’t have problem with your assignments, he might just kiss you right now. But no, he let a huff and simply nods.

“Yes. So let’s go home. Now,” there’s no room for discussion in his tone, yet you try to push your luck.

“But, it’s been awhile since I went on date with you! Aren’t we going to see giraffe?” your boyfriend raised an eyebrow at your whine, tucking away his hands inside his pockets.

“Maybe when you are being more responsible,” he starts walking, and you make a displeased face as your attempt to seduce your boyfriend failed once again. “Wait for me, Tsukki!”

*

So now there you are. Sitting across the coffee table, in your living room. Books scattered on the table, and Tsukishima sit cross-legged, reading a light novel he found in your room earlier. The reason why he choose living room is because there is no bed. He knew that you and bed are the worst combination ever. According to Tsukishima, you probably would be sleeping as soon as you touch it, so bed is off limit.

“Tsukki, I’m half-way through my English, why don’t we take a break and, say, I have popsicles!” you poke his arm with a pencil. He didn’t bother to look at you as he speak, “That means you’ve only done 16% from our goals, and you already asking for a break? Pathetic.”

Your veins popped out from your forehead, angry. But hey, this is Tsukishima. His mouth is nasty as always. “Then you are more pathetic cause you date this pathetic!” you stick out your tongue, mocking him. You are Tsukishima’s girlfriend; you sometimes are just as annoying as him. Before he could stop you, you’re already on your feet and making a beeline toward the kitchen.

Tsukishima frowns, putting down his book as he chase after you, “Y/n!” gosh, it is tiring to keep up with you sometimes. Why can’t you be as persistent as this when it comes to your responsibility? “Y/n, no rewards before you finish one of the assignments!”

He stood behind you, crossing his arms on his chest. Displeased with your childish action. “And what you gonna do about it? Punish me?” You tease, pulling out a grape popsicle from your freezer. Just when you are done with the wrapper, and about to put that refreshing ice in your mouth, Tsukishima takes it from your hand and give it a bite instead. “Hey! That’s the last grape flavor!”

“And what you gonna do about it? Punish me?” he sneered, giving you his smug face and keep biting the popsicle. Knowing full well that grape is your favorite flavor and this, with no doubt, will annoy you. Hopefully annoyed enough to get you back doing your homework, “I’ll buy you another one when you are done with English.”

Guess what? It worked, it does annoy you. But sadly, his bribe wasn’t enough. It makes you want to tease him instead. “No, I’ll take what’s mine.”

He is a second late to proceed what’s happening. Your hands were grabbing his collar, pulling him down to you just so you can place your lips onto his. His eyes are wide open, and about to protest when you licked his lower lip. Your warm lips against his cold one, Tsukishima couldn’t help but melt into the kiss. As his body relaxed, he put his arm on your waist. Pulling you closer. At first you only planned to give him a quick peck, but now as his lips moving against yours, the kiss get heated. The taste of his lips was like your favorite grape popsicle, and you can’t help but let out a soft mewl as he bite on your lower lip, slipping his tongue into your mouth.

“Tsukki… home… work,” you managed to whisper against his lips, once he broke the kiss to catch a quick breath.

“…nah,” and then his lips meet yours again. The kiss was more desperate, laced with hunger and lust. Tsukishima doesn’t care anymore about your assignments. He also doesn’t care how he unconsciously dropping the popsicle, let the ice melts on the floor. All he cared is how your body pressed against him, your lips that connected together. The heat he felt creeping on his cheeks, and below his navel. All he could hear is your soft whimper, all he could taste is your sweet lips, and all he could think is you, writhe beneath him some time later.

Maybe procrastinating is your bad habit and you didn’t want to fix it.

But maybe, you are Tsukishima Kei’s bad habit. Cause when he is with you, he doesn’t care about anything but you. And he doesn’t know how to fix it.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Developments & Discoveries

A JSE Fanfic

Alright guys, this are a lot of different scenes in this story, but they really just follow a few “storylines.” But big things happen. First, Chase finds out some good news. Laurens and Schneep talk again, yay! And we learn more about our antagonist, Anti. The fic itself isn’t any longer than my usual ones, but there’s a lot packed in here. Guess I was excited to return to this world, haha. Enjoy, guys :)

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

Chase woke up at two in the afternoon. Well technically, he was awake at twelve, but lied in bed for another couple hours before actually getting up. “Oh my gooood.” He squeezed his eyes shut and covered them with his hands. Why couldn’t he get up at a normal time lately? At least today he had an excuse because he had the kids over yesterday. Saturdays to Mondays, that was the agreement. And Stacy wasn’t ready to renegotiate it.

They’d talked about that last night, when she came to pick them up. “Chase, I know this isn’t...ideal,” she said in a low voice. “But look around. Your fridge is empty, things are scattered around the house in a mess, and, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I...haven’t heard anything about a job or anything.” She sighed. “It’s not even really up to me, you know. Courts.”

“No, no, I get it,” Chase had replied. “It makes sense.”

“We can work things out once things are more settled.”

Well, now he was lying in bed and feeling bad, which was a step down from lying in a bed feeling tired, so he decided to get up and shower. It had been a while since that happened, and he couldn’t go to his one outing he’d planned today like that. He rolled out of bed, took a quick shower, ate a Pop-Tart for breakfast, and he felt a little better.

It really did make sense to have the kids spend most of their time with their mom. Chase knew he hadn’t exactly been...kept-together recently. And by “recently,” he meant for about the past two years. Sophie and Nick needed a parent who could actually put energy into raising them. He could do that, eventually. If he worked on it. “Positive thoughts, Chasey boy,” he said under his breath. “Be optimistic.” 

Okay, that was enough of that for now. He had something to do. But before he did that, he checked his phone for any texts. Marvin sent a video of Luna and Ragamuffin being cute, that was nice. Nothing else. Alright, no more stalling. He grabbed his jacket and cap and headed out to the car.

——————

He stepped into the hospital just as visiting hours were starting. By now he had hospital check-in routines down to muscle memory. He was signing his name on the check-in clipboard when he was interrupted by a loud voice: “Ah, Mr. Brody! Good to see you again.”

Chase jumped a bit, then turned around. “Oh. Hi, Dr. Emerson.”

The doctor was a tall man with a thick beard. Chase had always thought he looked more like a Viking than one of the city’s best...well, he couldn’t remember what exact field the doctor was a specialist in, all he knew was it had something to do with whatever had gone wrong with Jack. Brains or nerves or something. “So soon, huh?” Dr. Emerson said, chuckling. “No, I understand.”

“Uhhh...” Was Chase missing something? The last time he’d been here was two weeks ago. “O...kay?”

“Well, don’t show too much enthusiasm.” Dr. Emerson raised an eyebrow. “Are you still confused, then?”

“Confused about wh—I mean I am confused, because I don’t know what to be confused about.” That was starting to sound less and less like a word.

“Ah.” Emerson’s smile faltered. “Do you not remember what I told you yesterday?”

“I wasn’t here yesterday,” Chase said, his voice slowly rising as nerves creeped up on him. “What are you talking about?”

Now Emerson looked as baffled as Chase felt. “I...think there’s been some misunderstanding here.”

“Y’know, I’m gonna, uh, go to Jack’s room.” Chase started walking away, down the hall towards the ICU wing. “You can, uh, come with me and tell me what happened yesterday while we go.”

Emerson followed. As the two of them waited at the elevator, he started explaining. “Well, about this time yesterday, you walked in, checked in just like you did, and went up to the room.” The elevator arrived with a ding, and the two of them stepped inside. Chase pressed the button for the third floor and listened as the doctor continued. “Of course, I only assume this part, since you wrote your name on the visitor’s slip. I was already in the room, and that’s when I told you about the change in Jack’s condition—”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Chase shouted.

“My god, man, you can be loud when you want,” Emerson said, taking a step away. “Anyway, yes, his GCS score went up.”

“I...don’t know what that means,” Chase said, staring at him in shock. The elevator dinged again, but he didn’t even step out.

“That’s what you said yesterday,” Emerson said. He made an ‘after you’ gesture, and Chase finally stepped out, now following Emerson as he walked down a familiar hallway. “Then you said you would look it up later, and I left you with Jack.”

“None of this happened,” Chase said, clenching his shaking hands into fists. “This did not happen, I-I was busy all day yesterday.”

“Well, could it have been one of your friends?” Emerson asked. “You do all look similar, don’t you? Though I don’t understand why he’d pretend to be you.”

Chase fell silent. He knew that neither Marvin or JJ would do something like that. But there was someone who might. Anti. In fact, hadn’t Anti done the same thing once before? Pretended to be Marvin visiting the hospital? But why? Jack didn’t have anything to do with any of this. He had no idea what Anti was planning, and that led his mind to the worst case scenarios.

They arrived at Room 309, and Chase reached forward to open the door. “Oh wait,” Dr. Emerson interrupted, placing a hand on the door. “I should probably tell you about the changes. I would have yesterday, but you—or, er, your friend saw first.”

“Okay, so what are theys?” Chase asked. “These changes. What’s a GCS? Is that some sort of fancy brain wave or something?”

Emerson chuckled. “No, it’s not actually anything in the body. GCS stands for Glasgow Coma Scale, it’s a way to describe someone’s level of consciousness after brain trauma. I suppose I’ve been so used to talking about it with others in the department that I forgot I had to explain it.”

“Yes, that would be appreciated,” Chase prompted.

“Well, the GCS measures three factors: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response. Each of these are measured on a scale, and when combined there’s a highest possible score of 15. Mr. McLoughlin’s has recently raised from the lowest possible score, three, to a five.”

“And that’s good,” Chase clarified.

“Yes, it is very good.” Emerson smiled. “I’ll be honest with you, Chase, it’s been over a year, and things weren’t looking good for Jack’s recovery. This is a huge development.”

Chase nodded. “R...right.” He grabbed the doorknob and swung it open, stepping inside. 

The room looked the same as ever. Jack looked the same as ever. Chase hesitated, then walked up next to the bed. And then the difference was clear. At the sound of approaching footsteps, Jack opened his eyes.

Chase had to stop and process what he was looking at. His eyes were open. He was looking at him. “I...oh my god.” He covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh my god, Jack?”

“He can’t respond, Chase.” Emerson walked up next to him. “He hasn’t reacted to anything verbally or through motion. Just the eyes, and it’s not spontaneous. Only to sound.”

“Oh.” Chase nodded, slowly lowering his hand. “Can he hear us?”

“Well, we have no way of knowing,” Emerson explained. “It could only be an automatic response, he could be hearing us but not comprehending what we say, or he could be listening to everything.” He paused. “You understand that a GCS score of five is still very low, yes? Anything below an eight is still considered to be a coma.”

“Right...” Chase took another step closer, reaching down to touch Jack’s hand. Still, it was an improvement, and at this point, he’d take any sign of change for the better. It had been so long since he last saw his friend smile...talked to him...perhaps eventually, he’d be able to do that again. But as the hopeful thought arose, it was brought back down by a sinking feeling. He looked over at Emerson. “Hey doc, this is important. I didn’t come to visit yesterday. My friends didn’t either. There’s...” he hesitated. “There’s someone else. He’s been following us, a-and I don’t know what he wants, but it’s most likely not...good.”

Emerson turned pale. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, the police know about this guy.” Even though he hadn’t told them that he thought Anti was stalking them...well, at least they knew he existed. He wasn’t sure if he should tell them, after all, he didn’t have much proof. “So you have to be careful, okay? I-I’ll tell my friends, we need to find a way for you to make sure it’s us and not him...” He looked back down at Jack. Nobody was more vulnerable than someone in a coma.

“I’ll wait outside, we can discuss this later,” Emerson said. “After you’re done here.”

Chase nodded. Emerson left, footsteps retreating, and Chase didn’t turn around as he heard the door shut. He squeezed Jack’s hand tighter. “Sorry you got caught up in this,” he muttered. “I don’t know what he’d want from you. I mean, Anti popped up in our lives after you went through all this. Or, well, JJ knew him.” He pulls over the chair, sitting down. “Yeah, uh, this Anti guy. He’s bad news. He kidnapped Schneep, and like...all those bad things I told you about, that he was accused of, it was actually Anti, and Schneep got framed. I guess it’s easy to scapegoat a guy who can’t even confirm he really saw you.” He paused. “He’s got Jackie too. The police are looking for him, so I guess there’s a better chance of finding Jackie now that they know where he is. Also. The craziest thing about this is that Anti is JJ’s brother.” He laughed dryly. “God, what a coincidence, huh? Maybe fate does exist. And it’s a dick.”

He goes quiet, watching Jack. After a few minutes of silence, his eyes started to close. “Y’know I really do hope you can hear me, and you’re listening,” Chase said. Jack’s eyes automatically opened wide again. “Because then you could tell us what Anti was doing here yesterday. It would be...I guess it would make me feel a bit better, to at least know.” He took a deep breath. “But you know what? It’s gonna be okay. Eventually. It might take a while, and I’ll be honest, right now is kind of sucky, but it’s gonna get better eventually. Y’know what you used to say, positive mental attitude. The viewers are really liking that, by the way. They still miss you, of course, but I’m keeping on. But on the track of positivity, at least Schneep’s first doctor is back, so he’ll be okay, I think. Marvin’s doing good, too. JJ...well, he was freaking out a bit, about Anti...I don’t want to make assumptions, but at best, they didn’t get along, and now he’s here, so it would freak anyone out. But he’s doing a bit better, I think. Yeah. It’s all getting better. Slowly.” He blinked furiously. “For everyone else. That...that’s great.”

For a moment, he thinks he feels Jack’s fingers move. Not like they were squeezing his hand, but a movement nonetheless. He looks down, surprised, but he doesn’t think anything’s changed. Maybe he imagined it. But in any case...“Hah. Y’know I can practically hear you giving me a lecture on self-care. Yeah, I’m trying, bro. Still in a bit of a gray spot. I really am happy that everyone else is doing good, it just kinda sucks when you’re in that gray spot, you know? But I am great and I’ll get through it. Yeah.” He didn’t really believe that, but Marvin had told him that saying positive things about yourself was the first step to believing them. “I just...miss you, Jack. Don’t want anything to happen to you.”

For the rest of the visit, he goes quiet, watching the heart monitor rise and fall. Things were crazy, but it would be fine. It would be.

—————— 

Dr. Laurens had rescheduled her sessions to be later in the day. Because quite frankly, she wanted to sleep in. And judging by the records Newson had left, the past sessions had gone all over the place in terms of what time they took place, so it wasn’t like she was interrupting a schedule. It was shortly before five o’clock when she met up with Oliver and they headed to Room 1010.

When Laurens opened the door, she saw Schneep was standing up and pacing the length of the back wall. Oliver handed her the paper cup with the medication inside, then went over to stand in the corner and try to attract as little attention as was possible for someone over six feet tall. Laurens nodded encouragingly, and walked forward. “Schneep?” She said, putting a confident tone in her voice. “Are you ready?”

Schneep jumped, and whirled around. Wariness faded away to happiness. “So it is you,” he said. “You are back. Unless this is not real too...”

“No, it’s real,” Laurens said, smiling. “I’m back. Dr. Newson won’t be handling your case anymore.” She’d actually briefly passed Newson when coming in, but hadn’t really stopped to chat. Newson briefly mentioned having an appointment with her lawyer after leaving, but Laurens hadn’t pushed. She already knew about the lawsuit anyway.

“Oh thank god,” Schneep said, relieved. “She was not...helpful.”

“That is the least you could say,” Laurens muttered. “Anyway, before we get started, I need you to...well, there’s this.” She set the paper cup down on the table.

Schneep paled, backing up. “No no no no, I have a clear head, I have energy, I will not—”

“There are no sedatives in this,” Laurens hurried to say. “I promise.” It was messed up that she had to clarify that. “It shouldn’t have that effect, and if it does, please let me know so that I can change it.” Schneep didn’t move any closer. “Dr. Newson had you taking an improper medication with much too high a dosage, so you’ll have to slowly ease off it and onto a medication that should be better.”

Schneep hesitated for a moment longer before stepping forward, picking up the paper cup, and swallowing the pill inside in one gulp. “If this is not...” He trailed off.

“It’ll be fine,” Laurens said reassuringly. “If it isn’t, you have to tell me so I can fix it, okay. Now.” She sat down on the room’s chair. “I think it’s important to give you an update.” She waited for Schneep to sit on the bed before continuing. “So, it appears as though I’ve been misunderstanding your condition. In that you actually have two of them.”

“Oh?” Schneep blinked, genuinely surprised.

“Yes.” Laurens automatically reached for her journal, before remembering that she’d given it to Oliver. He’d told her yesterday that he gave it to Schneep’s friend Chase, and she had yet to ask him for it back. She was now working with some loose sheets of paper, which she spread on the table. “You are aware of your schizoaffective disorder, but now that I know more about what’s happened to you, I believe you also have some post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Schneep paused. “Ah.”

She waited for a stronger reaction, but didn't receive one. “Yes. So that will change our approach from now on.”

“Alright,” Schneep said slowly. “Is there medication for it?”

“We’re still focusing on getting you off the last one,” Laurens explained. “But perhaps I could give you some anti—” Schneep flinched “—anxiety medication later. But it can’t be treated solely with that. You understand that, right?”

Schneep nodded slowly. “What happened to your arm?”

“A-ah...well...” Laurens hesitated. “Obviously I broke it. Dislocated my wrist, too.”

“How?”

“Well...” Laurens hesitated. She didn’t know what effect it would have on Schneep if he knew everything that happened with her and Anti and Jackie. The last thing she wanted right now was to upset him. And besides, she didn’t really want to talk about it anyway. “I’ll tell you some other time, okay? For now, I want to focus on you.” She shuffled her papers. “Schneep...there’s no way to ease into this that won’t alarm you, so I’m just going to say it. Do you know Anti?”

The effect was immediate. Schneep jumped, scooting backwards on the bed. “Do not say the name!”

“Why not?” Laurens asked. “You told me once that this would give him power, right? That giving him attention would make him stronger?”

Schneep nodded, looking significantly paler.

“Well, here’s where things are difficult, Schneep,” she said patiently. “I believe that he’s a major source of trauma for you.” Because why wouldn’t he be? Laurens remembered all the things Jackie had told her about what happened to the two of them, and that would give anyone trauma. “And we need to work that out, yeah? But we can’t do that if we can’t talk about him. So. Here’s what I’m thinking. We’ll be as indirect as possible. I’ll ask you about him, and you can give answers that are as short or as long as you see fit. If at any moment you feel like we are getting...you know, too close to giving him influence, tell me and we will stop. Does that work?”

He didn’t answer for a long time, shaking slightly, eyes darting around as if looking for something. Then he nodded slowly.

“Great.” Again, Laurens wished she had her journal full of notes. It would be a lot easier to reference past events. But she was stuck with this. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you said before that An—sorry, that he makes you hurt people. Am I right?”

Schneep nodded, starting to rock softly.

That made sense with what she knew. “Does he physically take control of you? How does this happen?”

“He...” Schneep’s voice cracked. “He puts...th-thoughts in my head...a-and makes me want...to...”

And that sounded familiar. Laurens made a note of that. “So...you have thoughts about wanting to hurt people, and this is caused by him?” This sounded like some form of intrusive or otherwise unwanted thoughts, and combined with his hallucinations and delusions, he believed Anti to be behind them.

Schneep nodded. “O-or he...he would say—tell me to do something horrible, and if I did—did not do it, he would do so-something worse.”

“But you clearly don’t want to hurt anyone, right?” Laurens asked.

“No!” Schneep protested. “I never—never! I-I may be angry with some people, maybe fight, but the th-things he makes me—” He buried his head in folded arms, taking deep breaths.

“Do you want us to stop?” Laurens asked gently.

He nodded without looking up.

“Schneep.” Laurens leaned forward. She waited until he looked at her before continuing. “You know this is not your fault, right? You’ve said that to me before. Any thoughts, any actions you may have done, it is not your fault.”

“I know that,” Schneep sounded a bit irritated. “I know that, i-it is him, I just—I still worry, I still...feel...”

“I know,” Laurens said softly. “Which is why I’m going to try to give you some ways to deal with this, okay? Some ways to cope.”

“That would be...appreciated,” he muttered.

“Good. Let’s begin.” This would be a good starting point, but that’s what it was, a starting point. Laurens could already see a long path ahead. The main problem here being that Anti wasn’t actually making any of these thoughts appear in Schneep’s head. But that had to come later down the road. There was still a lot to do before that.

—————— 

“Hey. Wake up.”

Jackie felt something kick his side and he winced, opening his eyes. Anti was standing in front of him, looking down. He stared up at him, tensed, waiting.

“Good,” Anti nodded. “It’s time to eat. Sit up straight.”

Jackie hurried to sit up, the movement making his spine crack. He’d taken to slouching, which probably wasn’t good for his posture when he was tied to a table leg.

Anti huffed, a bit impatient. He kneeled down next to Jackie, reaching around behind him. Jackie stiffened, very deliberately not moving even as he felt the handcuffs unlock. He’d tried to run once before. Schneep had encouraged it, almost demanded that Jackie get out even if it meant leaving him behind. He hadn’t liked it, but he’d listened. And he’d almost made it out of the house. But Anti caught him right at the end, and he hadn’t been happy. Jackie was pretty sure he had some burn scars on his arm from that day. And now, in such close quarters with Anti, who hadn’t left the apartment except for once yesterday, he didn’t want to risk it.

“Alright,” Anti muttered. He’d cuffed Jackie’s right arm to the table leg, letting his left one be free. Now he stood up, grabbing a plate and cup from the table, which he set down on the floor next to Jackie. A sandwich and a glass of milk. It would do. Anti sat down on the nearest chair and pulled out his phone, glancing at Jackie every few seconds. Jackie didn’t respond, just pulled out the gag and started eating. He should hurry.

All was silent for a few minutes. Until: “Wait, what?” Anti sat up straight, eyes scanning his phone again. “That’s—ugh.” He tapped the screen a couple times, then dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. Jackie could hear it ringing from here. The moment the call was picked up, Anti started talking. “Yeah, hi, it’s me. What the fuck?” There were the faint hints of a voice on the other end. “What, did you think I’d just forget your number? No. Now what the fuck is this on the website?” Anti paused. “I think you do know what I’m talking about. I told you, I don’t do repeats.” The voice on the other end sounded angry. “Well if he survived three stab wounds, I’d say he’s earned the right to live. Besides, he hasn’t told anyone, has he? That would’ve been on the news.” Pause. “I don’t do refunds either.”

Jackie couldn’t help but be intrigued. What was he talking about? It sounded like someone hired Anti as some sort of hitman. Was that what he did in his spare time? Or maybe that was his job and this serial killer stuff was just a fun side project for him. Jackie shuddered at the thought of it.

“Well boo-fuckity-hoo for you.” Anti drawled. “Look, I get not wanting loose ends, but I’m done here. I’m busy, I have shit to do, and the cops know about me now.” A long pause as the voice on the other end talked for a while. Anti raised an eyebrow. “Give me two hundred pounds right now and I’ll consider it.” Loud shouting from the other end. “Don’t give me that shit, that’s spare change for you. Tell you what, I’ll check out the guy’s house, too.” Pause. “Yeah, if I decide I want to.” Long pause. “Great. What’s the address again?” Short pause. “No, I didn’t, that would be insane. It was a lot easier to ambush him while he was out. What’s the address.” Another pause. Anti’s eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, really?” The other voice said something angry. “It’s none of your business. But I’m checking my account now, if the number doesn’t go up by two hundred in the next five minutes, I’m not even gonna think about it.” He hung up the call unceremoniously, and started swiping about on the phone screen again.

Well that was...interesting. Jackie stared at Anti as he seemed to wait for something, eyes glued to his phone. After a short while, he grinned, and looked away, immediately seeing Jackie. He glared. “What’re you looking at, hoodie?”

Jackie flinched and looked away, stuffing the last bit of sandwich into his mouth.

“That’s what I thought.” Anti stood up and disappeared through a doorway, into what Jackie assumed was the bedroom area. A few minutes later he returned, wearing a gray hoodie with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He crouched on the floor next to Jackie. “You’re not going anywhere, are you?” He chuckled. “No, of course not.” He grabbed Jackie’s wrist and yanked it around the table leg, causing him to cry out. Click. The handcuffs were back in place. Before Jackie could even process that, Anti was shoving the gag back in his mouth, sudden enough to make him choke a bit. “Of course, if you’re not here when I get back...” Anti didn’t have to finish that sentence.

After a moment of staring into Jackie’s eyes, making sure he got the point, Anti stood up and headed out, slamming the front door behind him.

Jackie flinched, then exhaled slowly, squeezing his eyes shut. Alone. Anti would be back soon, of course, but he’d enjoy this while it lasted. Trying to relax as much as he was able while in this awkward position, he tried to drift away in the relieving silence.

—————— 

Anti knew this address.

He drove there, parking some ways away and walking the rest of the way. The neighborhood immediately looked familiar, and by the time he reached the address, he knew where he was going, and wasn’t surprised to stop outside the house of Marvin Maher.

Marvin wasn’t someone he was particularly interested in. He knew enough to get a grasp on him...which was admittedly a lot. 28 years old, Irish, currently unemployed, no living relatives aside from his grandmother, has two cats and a snake, and was a practicing Wiccan. Though those were just the facts. In personality, Marvin was stubborn, loud, very visible with his emotions, and had some difficulty in social situations. 

And again, though that was a lot, Anti wasn’t particularly interested in him. Not compared to the other one, Chase. Ironic, considering that for all intents and purposes, Chase lived a much less exciting life. He didn’t go anywhere, had an ex-wife and kids, and ran two YouTube channels for “work:” his own channel, BroAverage, and the one that belonged to his coma-bound friend,  jacksepticeye. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so ordinary, stuck in this extraordinary situation, that fascinated him.

But he wasn’t here to find out more about Chase. Anti wasn’t usually one to try again on a job, since it increased his chance of being found, and anonymity was his greatest shield. He’d only decided to consider it due to already being known to the police in this city—a fact that he cursed that doctor lady for every day since she escaped. But now, realizing who his target was made this much more interesting.

Anti circled around the house, scouting it. Looking into the rooms, it appeared empty. All the windows were locked pretty securely, as was the front door...but not so much the side door. He twisted the knob and pulled it open. It looked like a chest of drawers had been pressed against the door from the other side, perhaps to prevent it from opening. He chuckled. This door had a spring hinge; it swung both ways. It also didn’t appear to have a functioning lock. Good, he was happy he didn’t have to pick his way inside and risk someone noticing that.

He pushed the chest of drawers to the side and entered the house, finding himself at the end of a hallway with a door to the left and right. Once inside, he carefully pulled the door shut and replaced the drawers; he could find another exit. The hall opened up into a living room. Anti walked down, careful to tread only where the carpet was worn down so his footsteps wouldn’t stand out. The living room was about normal, its main feature being the snake terrarium. He stared at the snake inside for a bit, but it appeared to be asleep. Huh, he didn’t know snakes could be purple. Mentally making a note to look that up later, he noticed another hallway branching off the living room, and was about to head there when something caught his eye.

A turquoise notebook was lying on the coffee table, looking quite out of place with the rest of Marvin’s decorations. Odd. Was that someone else’s? Anti frowned, and idly picked it up, skimming the pages. There was something tucked inside...a plastic keycard? He looked over the handwritten notes, not paying much attention until he saw a familiar name: Schneep.

He immediately started paying attention to this journal. What was this? He flipped back to the beginning, seeing a name written on the inside cover: Dr. Rya Laurens.

That doctor lady. Anti narrowed his eyes. Was this her notebook? Why did Marvin have it? What was in it? Was he mentioned in it anywhere?

He took his backpack off his shoulders and slid the notebook and its keycard inside. And then he looked up, and happened to glance out the window. Luckily he did in time, because he saw people coming up the front path.

Instinct kicked in and he looked around for the nearest exit. The back window. It only had a latch to lock it. Quickly he ran over, threw it open, and jumped outside, closing it behind him. Now in the backyard, he stayed low, backing up.

Once he was pressed against the fence of the house behind this one, Anti dared to straighten just enough to look through the window into the living room. It appeared as though Marvin had come home. He’d also brought a friend, the only one of the group that he didn’t actually know the name of. That annoyed him. But he just hadn’t seen the others with him that often, and looking up Chase and Marvin on social media, this guy didn’t appear in many photos, and the ones he did show up in never mentioned him by name or tagged an account. All he knew about this last friend was that he had a nice mustache and spoke BSL.

He watched as Marvin set a folder down on the coffee table, apparently not noticing the missing notebook. Marvin started talking with his friend, the two of them signing quickly. Anti huffed. God, it had been so long since he’d had to understand sign language. Not since—Anti stiffened, and pushed that thought away.

The point was, now this group would be forcing him to relearn it. He watched the two inside have an animated conversation, picking up the word ‘doctor’ a lot. It didn’t seem like an argument, but it was very...passionate. Expressions changed rapidly. Marvin made a sign, the letter J twice in a row—

Anti froze, staring. Not caring if he was visible.

He had to have imagined that, didn’t he? Marvin couldn’t have just made that sign. But no, he’d seen that, clear as day. But maybe...maybe the sign meant something different in this context. It couldn’t be…

He looked more closely at the friend he didn’t know the name of. This whole group looked similar, looked like him. That was weird, but it didn’t...didn’t mean...

The friend leaned forward, and something silver flashed. A silver disk on a matching chain around his neck. Anti stared at it, and reached up to where he wore a similar disk on a chain. He’d recognize that anywhere. It wasn’t just a silver circle, it was a watch, and he now grabbed his tightly.

Well, it wasn’t his, technically. It was his brother’s.

—————— 

“So how do names work in sign language, then?” Aneirin asked. “Are you supposed to sign them all out? With letters?”

Jameson picked up his pencil and started writing, showing him the result. Goodness, no, that would take forever. There are these things called name signs, which are unique sign combinations for people. Those are their names.

They were sitting in the living room of Aneirin’s house, legs pulled up onto the old sofa he’d gotten from the side of the road. It was in pretty good condition, for one that had a ‘Free’ sign taped to it. Eighteen and a homeowner would’ve been impressive for anyone else, but Aneirin had sped through the steps to getting it, knowing he needed a place to stay as soon as possible. He was sure that if the realtor knew where he’d gotten the money to pay for it, he never would’ve sold it to him.

“Okay, so what would mine be, then?” Aneirin asked, spreading out along the length of the sofa. “Do I get to choose it?”

Jameson considered this, and Aneirin watched him silently. His little brother was sixteen, and very thin and small, pulling into the corner of the sofa like he was trying to take up as little space as possible. Well, I think I have an idea for what I could call you. You can tell me if you don’t like it. He made the sign for the letter A, and followed it with another sign, curling his hands into fists and rubbing them against each other.

“Well, it depends on what it means,” Aneirin joked.

Jameson chuckled a bit. It’s just the letter A followed by the sign for “brother.”

“Oh.” Aneirin gasped softly. Then a wide smile broke across his face. “Yeah, I like that.” He paused. “Do you have one?”

Yes! I chose one, but no one’s ever used it. He signed the letter J twice.

Aneirin blinked. “That’s it? That’s just...JJ.”

Well it’s my initials, Jameson pointed out. I like the sound of it.

“Okay,” Aneirin said slowly. He copied the sign. “But when would I ever need to call you that? Instead of just saying it.”

You are saying it, just in sign, Jameson wrote. But I thought that, if you can’t talk after a bad seizing, you could use BSL.

“Uh...no, I don’t think so.” Aneirin frowned. “The problem is that after a seizure I’m confused. It’s not that I can’t talk because my muscles don’t work, but cause I don’t know where the fuck I am.”

Oh. Well, think about it, Jameson said. You need to at least learn it to understand me.

“Yeah, I know.” Aneirin smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be easy.”

—————— 

“Jamie! Don’t walk away from me!”

Jameson whirled on him. Don’t call me that!

“What? Jamie?” Aneirin blinked. “That’s your name!”

It’s a nickname, Jameson signed furiously. And it���s a childish one.

“Oh, what, I can’t call my little brother a nickname now?” Aneirin scoffed.

That’s not just it! Jameson protested. I’m not a kid, Aneirin! I’m twenty-one years old, I am an adult, and you don’t treat me like it.

“Okay, yes, legally that’s true,” Aneirin said. “But there’s more to being an adult than age. There’s experience. I mean, look at you. You can’t drive, you don’t have a job, you’ve never dated anyone. There’s just a lot that you don’t understand.”

I don’t know how to drive because you never taught me! Jameson stepped up to Aneirin, throwing his hands in his face. I don’t have a job because you won’t let me get one! And you’ve never dated anyone either, so I don’t see how you can say anything about that. And even if you had, you turn away every guy I’m interested in. You go through my messages to make sure I don’t say anything “inappropriate” in my own private messages! I need to live my own life, Aneirin.

“I...” Aneirin was at a loss for words. He couldn’t remember the last time Jameson had gotten this angry, and it was never directed at him. “Look, you’re...twenty-one is still pretty young, and with your condition—”

You’re only two years older than me, Jameson signed sharply. And don’t talk to me about how my disability means I can’t handle most jobs, I’m sick of hearing it from you. You can’t expect me to help you dispose of a body and at the same time say I couldn’t deal with working in an office. And it’s absurd that you involve me in the former in the FIRST PLACE!

Aneirin shook his head silently. What was there to say to this? What was there to say when his little brother was angry with him? With words failing, he fell upon action. And he started crying.

Jameson’s expression, previously so furious, turned to shock. Aneirin didn’t cry. Nothing ever seemed to phase him. The sight was concerning. No no, don’t—it’s okay, it’s fine, Jameson hurried to sign.

“I just—just don’t want anything—I just want you to be safe,” Aneirin gasped, vision blurring with tears. “I’m trying—trying to make sure you’re safe, a-and happy, and...am I failing? Am I a bad brother?”

No, you’re a good brother, Jameson reassured him. You just...made some mistakes.

“I’m just—th-this is dangerous, what I do.” Aneirin looked down, hiding his eyes in his hands. “People could—could come after you, to get to me, and—and I can’t let that happen, Jamie, JJ, I can’t—I’m sorry if you think I’m stifling you or something, I just—”

Hey, it’s fine, it’s fine. Really. I just...had some things to get off my chest. Jameson put his hands on Aneirin’s shoulders reassuringly and smiled.

“Are you sure?” Aneirin asked, wiping his eyes.

Yes, it’s fine, Jameson signed. We can talk this over later, work things out. I’m sorry for upsetting you.

“It’s alright, JJ,” Anti said, smiling.

—————— 

It really should’ve been obvious from the start. What were the odds of him running into someone else who looked like him and spoke BSL? But the possibility hadn’t even occurred to Anti. Because for four years now, he’d thought his brother Jamie had been dead.

But he was wrong. Jameson wasn’t dead. Jameson was alive, and friends with Chase and Marvin and probably involved with all this, all Anti’s plans.

Anti backed up, then turned around and jumped over the fence into the house behind Marvin’s. He took off in a run.

——————

The door slammed open, and Jackie startled awake. Anti stormed in, furious. Jackie tried not to cry out when his attention turned towards him, backing up as best as he was able.

“You.” Anti grabbed Jackie by the front of the hoodie and pulled out his gag. “Tell me this. Do you know a man named Jameson Jackson?”

Jameson? Jackie’s heart stopped. What did Anti want with him?

“Answer me!” Anti threw him backwards, and Jackie’s head slammed against the table with a painful crack. “Tell me if you know him or I’ll cut your fingers off one by one.”

“I do, I do,” Jackie gasped. “I know him.”

“How?” Anti demanded. “How do you know him?”

“We—we met him last October,” Jackie explained. “Marvin met him. At the theatre. They started talking, and—and we all met him.”

Anti stared at him a while longer, then suddenly let go, dropping him to the floor. Jackie felt his heart racing. He turned and watched Anti pacing the length of the room.

“Not expecting this,” Anti was muttering. “Unexpected—unexpected variable. Can’t control this. Can’t control for this.” He reached up and grabbed the watch around his neck. “It’ll work. Work around it. Work around—Jamie.” The last word was strong with emotion. 

Anti hurried out of the room into the bedroom, slamming the door shut. Jackie flinched. What was Anti planning? It...couldn’t be good for anyone. Especially not Jameson.

Well he couldn’t do anything about it in his current position. He was just worried about surviving. So Jackie tried to put it out of his mind. Yet...there was one thing he couldn’t forget. Had he been imagining it, or had there been tears in Anti’s eyes?

[deku-leaf]

tangled up - part 3 - “can i have some?” kirishima x reader, bakugo x reader

part 1 | part 2

author’s note: the second half of this is literally just reader being very sleepy and cute in front of kiribaku and tododeku. not sorry.

warnings: scars, swearing, fluff, reader uses she/her pronouns

word count: 2,511

summary: y/n is sleepy and her friends want to help her figure out why her quirk is being mean to her :(

-

You fidget uncomfortably at your desk as your classmates bombard you with questions. From the second you walked in, Denki, Mina, and Mineta have been gawking at you and asking about your night in the nurse’s office. The rest of your classmates are looking on curiously from their seats, but aren’t invading your personal space and asking invasive questions like these three.

“Is your butt okay? Does it hurt to sit down?”

“Did Recovery Girl have to kiss your ass?”

“Oh, what about your...hoo-hah?”

Suddenly one of your other classmates speaks up. “Guys, I really...don’t think Y/N wants to answer any of those questions. Maybe leave her alone for a second.”

You smile sheepishly as Denki and Mina shuffle away, mumbling apologies. Mineta sighs deeply and returns to his desk without a word. You look over at Kirishima, the one who defended you, and feel a blush threaten to creep onto your cheeks, remembering your out-of-character behavior in the nurse’s office yesterday. “Thank you,” you mouth. Kirishima smiles widely. He’s definitely also thinking about the nurse’s office. You quickly look to the front of the room as your cheeks heat up fully. 

You’ve never...flirted with Kirishima like you did while on pain medication yesterday. He’s one of your closest friends at UA, and yeah, he makes you really happy. And while you’ve always thought he’s really handsome, you’ve never blushed like this because of him. And you’ve certainly never even considered making a move. But is playing with his hair even a move? Maybe it wasn’t flirting. You’re probably just overthinking it-

“Alright class.” You’re pulled out of your thoughts by Mr. Aizawa taking his place at the front of the room. “I hope your training yesterday was illuminating. To start today’s class, I’d like you to get together with your training partner from yesterday and discuss your combat. Analyze each other’s techniques, where improvements could be made, all that. I’m taking a nap. Have at it.”

You sigh. The last thing you want to do is discuss yesterday. You glance down at your legs as you stand up. Luckily, none of the smaller cuts on your arms and legs had scarred as you thought they might. However, your feet and hips are a different story. And, yes, your butt. You pull your skirt down a bit, attempting to cover the welt-like scars that peeked out from the top of your thighs. You chose to wear long socks today on purpose, thankful that they cover the scars around your feet that travel up as far as the base of your shins and calves.

You make your way over to Bakugo’s desk and plop down in the vacant seat next to him.

“So.” He side-eyes you. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah,” you sigh. He can’t possibly be more disappointed in your lack of quirk control than you already are. He has a right to be angry with you, for once. “I know.”

“...but do you, though?”

You furrow your eyebrows and glare at him. “What’s that supposed to mean? I feel bad enough already, I don’t need your attitude.”

“Yeah? You feel bad?” He turns to meet your gaze, feeding off your evident annoyance. “That sucks. But what are you gonna do about it?”

Though your instinct is to bark some catty reply back at him, you pause, considering his phrasing. He’s not attacking you like you thought he was. He’s actually asking.

He continues. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and figure out what the hell is happening with your quirk. It’s not gonna get any better if you just sit there and pout about it.”

“I’m not pouting,” you retort. He opens his mouth to argue but you interrupt. “And I’m in the process of figuring it out. Stop making assumptions about me.” To your surprise, he doesn’t respond. He just grunts and turns to the book on his desk, reading aggressively. 

You’re relieved that you don’t have to defend yourself anymore. In truth, his assumptions were completely right. You hadn’t even begun to look into why your quirk backfired so suddenly and violently. It’s only been one day, after all. You’re still in shock and recovering mentally. But Bakugo would see that as an excuse if you told him. 

“Sorry,” you hear him mumble from next to you, face still buried in his book.

Did Bakugo Katsuki just apologize?

You decide to not make a big deal out of it. If you did, he might never apologize to anyone ever again. 

“That’s okay,” you say quietly, studying his face while he reads. “You have a point.”

He looks over at you from his book. “Damn right,” he says, leaning back in his chair, stretching. “Plus, I’ve never seen your quirk that powerful. Ever. If you could somehow harness that…” He stops talking as his eyes flash down to the hem of your skirt and back up to your face. Your stomach drops. Katsuki was never a guy who had wandering eyes like that. Was he flirting or did something catch his eye…?

You glance down at the hem of your skirt, where his gaze had landed briefly, and see that some of your scars on your upper thigh are exposed. They’re still a bit angry and red looking, as Recovery Girl just healed you early this morning. You pull your skirt down again and bite the inside of your cheek as you look back up at Bakugo. His eyes are a little more sympathetic. 

“Sucks,” is all he says. But you know he’s expressing his condolences. 

The rest of class breezes by. By the end of it, you’re feeling extremely fatigued - you could feel the effects of Recovery Girl’s quirk. When she uses her quirk on someone, she uses their own body’s energy to accelerate the natural healing process, often leading to exhaustion in her patients. As Aizawa dismisses the class, you rise to your feet slowly, dreading the walk back to the dorm. You wish you could curl up right here and go to sleep.

“Not looking so yolked today.” You roll your eyes at Kirishima who’s waiting up for you at the front of the room, as he often does. Grabbing your backpack, you follow him out of the room. 

“How you doing?” He asks genuinely this time. You glance over as you walk, meeting his eyes. 

“Tired,” you say. Every step is a struggle. “But it could’ve been worse.” 

“Yeah,” Kirishima says, hesitantly. “What actually happened there? Bakugo didn’t really tell me anything — I know you said it was your quirk but — how did it happen?”

“It was crazy,” you start, and Kirishima visibly relaxes at your willingness to share. He clearly doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but still seems concerned and curious about your wellbeing. “We were just sparring normally - I was kicking his ass, of course - and,” you have to pause as Kirishima snickers loudly. “And then my vines grabbed me. From the ground. And they started pulling me under, fast. Bakugo had to yank me out before I got buried.”

“Damn,” said a different voice. You turn to see Jirou walking on your other side, with Tokoyami alongside her. “Sorry to intrude,” Jirou continues, “but that sounds terrifying. Have you tried using your quirk since?” “Hell no. I’ve been avoiding the grass all morning.”

Tokoyami looks thoughtful. “You know, Y/N, I have experience with a quirk that is - we’ll say, difficult to control. Not always cooperative, putting it lightly. Perhaps I could be of some help to you? If and when you’re comfortable with outside assistance, that is.”

Your eyes widen at Tokoyami. “Yes. Yes, please, I’ll absorb any and all wisdom you have to offer.” 

“Um, if we’re talking about not having control of your quirk,” Izuku Midoriya pipes up from behind you, “I think I’m qualified to speak on that as well.”

You smile knowingly over your shoulder at him. “Thanks, Midoriya.” Kirishima pats you on the back roughly in support. You’re finally starting to feel a bit of relief from the stress of having your quirk backfire. You have friends who are there for you, some who have been through something similar, and are willing to discuss things openly with you. You’re actually looking forward to getting to the bottom of this issue, now. Like Bakugo was suggesting, it’s not going to get better if you avoid the problem. Time to face it head on.

But first, a nap.

Your small group enters the dorms and you immediately make a beeline for the common area couch, pulling ahead of your classmates. The only other person in the room is Todoroki, curled up with a textbook on one end of the sectional. You drop your backpack and collapse face down onto the other end of the couch, groaning quietly as you allow your muscles to relax. You close your eyes and turn your head to the side so your cheek rests on the soft fabric. You hear your group of friends catch up to you and feel a bit more movement on the couch as they settle in around you. Normally, you wouldn’t take up this much room on the couch when there were other people who wanted to sit, but you can’t bring yourself to care right now. You fall asleep within minutes to the sounds of quiet chatter, backpacks unzipping, and snack wrappers crinkling. The last thing that registers in your brain is the feeling of a warm, soft blanket being gently placed on top of you.

--

“...she had quite a long day didn’t she?”

“Yeah. She must be tired from Recovery Girl’s quirk. I remember sleeping for like 16 hours after she healed my broken arms for the first time. It really wipes you out.”

“I seem to recall hearing it was your legs too.”

“R-right, heh.”

“I think I’ll share my homework notes with her when she wakes up.”

“Yeah, me too. Maybe we can all sit down and-- Oh, is she…?”

As you stretch yourself awake, you feel something pressing into the top of your head. Or rather, you were pressing into something with the top of your head. Something warm. It was a person, you were pushing your head up against another person like a sleepy cat.

You open your eyes to be greeted by Midoriya’s friendly face looking down at you, slightly amused. It’s the side of his thigh that you’ve been gently headbutting. “Oh- Sorry Midoriya-” You draw back instantly, sitting up in a daze. “I was...so asleep.”

You glance around the room and notice that there are fewer people around than there were earlier. You distinctly remember hearing Jiro and Kirishima fighting over pretzels just before you fell asleep, but now there was only you, Midoriya, and Todoroki on the couch. 

“It’s okay. You looked like you needed the rest. Sorry if we woke you up.” You blink at Midoriya as he speaks, still not completely awake yet. He giggles when you don’t respond, and points at his cheek. “Y/N, you- You’ve got the couch pattern on your face.” You mirror his gesture on your own face and feel the bumpy ridges that now populate your cheek. Todoroki raises his eyes from his book and his lips twitch into a small smile.

“Oh,” you say at length. You feel your own mouth stretch into a smile as Midoriya continues to laugh. You’re so out of it. How long have you been asleep?

“Hey, that’s exactly what Y/N looked like last night when she was drugged up in the nurse’s office!”

You turn to see Kirishima and Bakugo enter the room with a bowl of popcorn and some sports drinks. Kirishima is grinning from ear to ear as he takes in your disheveled appearance, and Bakugo looks bored as usual - but he quirks an eyebrow at you. Why’s he doing that? Have you been staring at him for too long? Wait - any amount of staring is weird, right? You’re too sleepy for this. What is happening.

“What’re you looking at, nerd?” There’s a hint of a smile on Bakugo’s face as he says this. You finally wrench your gaze away from his face and down to the bowl in his hand - an escape.

“Can I have some?”

Kirishima bursts into laughter as he plops down on the floor a few feet from you. “Oh my god. Y/N, I will never get over how adorable you are when you’re sleepy.” You frown at him as you feel a slight blush creep onto your cheeks. 

Sitting up a little straighter, you open your mouth to protest. But before you can get any words out, there’s a piece of popcorn sitting on your tongue. Bakugo inserts himself roughly between you and Midoriya on the couch and places the popcorn bowl on your blanketed lap. “Go nuts,” he says. You chew the popcorn and curl yourself over the bowl, grabbing another piece. The warmth radiating from the bottom of the bowl is comforting. Almost as comforting as the warmth from Katsuki’s leg pressing against yours. It doesn’t mean anything, though - his other leg is pressed against Midoriya’s in exactly the same way. He just wants a seat on the couch, and your brain is being creepy. You gotta stop with that.

Todoroki speaks up suddenly from his spot on the opposite end of the sectional. “I’d like some popcorn, too, if you have another bowl, or-” A fistfull of popcorn pelts Todoroki in the face. Bakugo smiles widely at him, brushing his salty hand off on the side of his pants.

“That enough?”

Todoroki gingerly picks up a kernel from his now popcorn-covered lap and pops it into his mouth. “Yes, thank you,” he says, returning his attention to his book.

“So.” Your attention is pulled back to Kirishima, who is looking at you seriously. “Earlier today, it seemed like you wanted to talk more about your quirk.” You felt Bakugo turn his head to look at you sidelong. He hadn’t been there for that conversation. Kirishima continues, reaching to grab a handful of popcorn from the bowl on your lap. “Do you still wanna?” Kirishima looks so innocent, his eyes sparkling at you with curiosity. 

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to be a bummer to everyone’s night with my problems…” you mumble, dropping your gaze to the floor. 

“You are not a bummer.” Your eyes meet Kiri’s again and he scoots towards you a bit as he speaks. “Like, what happened to you yesterday was really scary. And what would be a bummer is if that ever happened again. But talking about it and letting your friends help you is not being a bummer. It’d actually be in everyone’s best interest.”

Your eyes and throat sting at your friend’s words. “Yeah,” you croak before any tears can form. “Yeah okay, please help me.”

And that’s how you and four boys from your class end up outside the dorms just before sunset, picking a fight with Mother Nature.

-

part 4 coming soon!

tag list: @asja-the-hoarder​, @melancholicsthings​, @baby-ur-my-hyperfixation

[getitinbusan]

Jinnuendo

Jinnuendo Submitted by @befriendswithj​ is the first fic for our Campfire writing game. Jungkook, Jimin And Yoongi coming soon. Taehyung, Namjoon and J Hope are still open!

Camping with your friends was supposed to be fun- you could only agree, now that Jin had made camping even funner. 

 Jin x Reader

8806 Words

Genre: Fluff, Friends to lovers, Smut, Crack,

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, dirty talk, fingering, outdoor sex, unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it, kids), Jimin’s cakes, The title… Well, there’s no excuse for that, sorry

I think that’s it?

_______________

“Yikes, I wouldn’t wanna be her right now”

Said the bus boy standing next to you, crossing his arms as he watched the restaurant manager approach the newest addition to the waiter team, who was currently involved in a rather heated discussion with a guest,

“It’s a shame she’s gonna have to leave, she was nice…”

You added and both of you sighed heavily and returned to your duties while the poor girl was being fired for standing her ground. She was the third one this month alone. To be fair, your manager was not an easy man to please, so it only made sense that new additions to the tea would be examined even more closely than you and the others, who had worked here for longer. The only thing keeping you safe from the manager’s wrath was your natural ability to fake-smile for hours on end. It was a gift as much as it was a curse but it had secured your job in the customer service sector so far.

And soon you will have survived another painful day of serving bitchy, rude and entitled Karen’s and Chad’s for the sake of financing your studies. At least they tipped well if you smiled hard enough.

This was your last day of work before you could look forward to two weeks of uninterrupted relaxation time. You handed in your last paper for this semester last week, so all of the work for university was also

done and nothing would interfere with your plans to sleep for three days straight and then spend the rest of the time at the beach, cooking in the sun.

“See you guys in a few weeks”

You yelled into the kitchen after you gathered your things and clocked out for the night. A few hurried goodbyes reached your ears before you exited through the back door of the restaurant and finally breathed in the fresh air, smelling of freedom and definitely not the burger grease stench coming from the kitchen AC vent.

No, it was definitely freedom and it was glorious.

_________

After a hot shower and big glass of wine you were slumped on your couch, ready to pass out any second now, when your phone went off and almost gave you a heart-attack.

You took a deep breath and checked the caller ID to see your friend Seokjin calling,

“What is it?”

Normally, Jin calling was a thing you were happy about, however, being interrupted while passing out after a 10-hour shift at your job, was not a happy occasion and you couldn’t mask the annoyance in your voice,

“Whoa, what’s got your panties in a twist? Did that guy at work steal your tips again?”

He asked and you breathed a heavy sigh,

“No, I think he learnt his lesson after I cut out the butt on all his work pants…

You answered, slowly sitting up and reaching for your wine glass to empty it with a last few sips before continuing the conversation

“Why are you calling so late? I was about to fall asleep…”,

“I just wanted to remind you to pack if you haven’t done it already. Which you probably haven’t. Case in point”

Pack? You creased your brows. Pack for what?

“YN? You still there?”,

“Uhh, yeah I am I just… can you remind me what I’m supposed to be packing for?”

If you weren’t so tired, you’d probably be a little more embarrassed,

“Seriously? It’s that time of the year, YN! It’s blackout week! Joon send everyone reminders months ago! And then weeks ago! And then again 2 days ago! How could you forget the most magical event of the year?”

You needed to hold the phone at a slight distance as to not go deaf at the sound of Seokjin’s friendly reminder. He was right, though, how could you forget? Blackout Week was the one week that you and your group of friends all looked forward to collectively every year. A whole week of camping in the mountains near a beautiful lake and no one was allowed to bring any kind of electronic devices, unless it was absolutely necessary for survival. A flashlight would be an exception but other than that you guys were pretty adapt at reverting your way of life back to the good old dark ages.

You were lucky that Jungkook and Hoseok had been part of a group of boy scouts or else blackout week would have ended in a disaster each time. Yeah well, maybe you had exaggerated when you said that all of you were pretty adapt at this stuff… But nevertheless, you were all very determined, which was just as important,

“Shit, you’re right, I completely forgot…”

You ran your hand across your face and sighed,

“Of course, you forgot, why am I even surprised…”

Jin sounded more upset that he actually was, you knew him by now. You just needed to work him a little bit,

“How early are we leaving tomorrow? Can I do it in the morning? I’m so tired…”

You probably sounded a little whiney but that usually did the trick with Jin,

“I told you to be ready at 5, you know how long the drive is. Ah YN, I still can’t believe it, you’re so careless sometimes…”

He already sounded a little softer,

“I’m sorry, I’ll start packing right now, ok?”,

You made sure to sound like the helpless damsel in distress you wanted Jin to believe you were and you were sure you had cracked him. You heard him sigh heavily on the other end of the line,

“Do you need help packing? I’ll come over and help you, it’ll be quicker and you can get more sleep”,

“Are you sure? It’s late already…”,

“Just stay awake for the next fifteen minutes and open the door when I knock, ok? I’ll be right there”,

“Ok…”

He hung up and you smiled to yourself. There were a few advantages to knowing how Jin’s mind worked. And knowing Jin, he would never not come and help you out and you were grateful to have such a selfless friend. He knew you were an absolute mess and he didn’t mind picking up your slack once in a while because you took care of him in turn. It wasn’t like you turned up whenever he called, like he usually did for you but you were the type of friend to think of things he forgot to do for himself. You had been friends for so long, that he had given you a key to his apartment a while back and you used it to make sure his fridge was always stocked, and his plants were taken care of. He worked a lot. Way more than you and the little things like self-care and chores sometimes got put on the back burner. Since you had a little more time on your hands you would take care of these things once in a while.

Before you got up off the couch to put on some comfy pants, you stretched your tired limbs and pressed play again to let Netflix run in the background.

Jin knocked right as you finished pouring two mugs of coffee, which both of you would probably need to undertake the monumental task of packing your camping bag. You opened the door and let him inside, handing him the mug right away and watching a smile creep onto his face,

“Coffee was a good idea”

He said and slurped loudly after he closed the door,

“Thought it would make me feel less dead. I have yet to see that theory proven”

You sipped on your coffee, too,

“Thank you for helping me, though, I completely forgot about the trip”

Jin waved you off,

“At this point I’d be surprised if you actually had remembered it. I know I’m usually the busy one but this semester you’ve had so much stuff to do, that I can’t even be mad you forgot everything not related to uni”

You smiled at him. Even though Jin loved to get his Dad mode on and get all red-faced and out of breath from all the scolding, he was a softie at heart and everyone knew, no matter how hard he puffed up his chest, he never really meant any harm. He was all bark and no bite and none of your friends took anything he said seriously,

“Let’s get started then”

He said and put down the mug in your sink before waltzing off towards your bedroom and digging around in your closet until he emerged with your suitcase. You watched him zoom around the place for a second until you joined him, sitting down on the bedroom floor and grabbing some clothes to roll up and place in the case,

“You want some snacks?”

You asked Jin in case he wanted some food in addition to the great entertainment you provided with Netflix in the background, your loud combined breathing and the rustling of useless stuff around you as you moved it around to find viable things to pack,

“I’m good, thanks, though”

He said and dived head first into a pile of clothes to look for your warmer sweatshirts. The end of summer was in sight and you would be staying pretty high up the mountains, so better be prepared,

“Although… do you still have some of those mini pretzels?”,

“Yeah, sure”

You got up and got him the bag of his beloved snack and then it was time to get some real work done.

_________

“Thank GOD we finally made it!”

Jin jumped out of the car and went to kneel down to kiss the ground but you stopped him before things could get ugly. What a baby, you thought to yourself… so what if you sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight? It’s a timeless masterpiece,

“So what if I sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight, it’s a timeless masterpiece!”

You argued and Jin’s eyes almost bulged out of his head,

“A timeless- can you even comprehend the unspeakable agony I was in? It felt like my soul left my mortal body and only the haunting of Cotton Eyed Joe remained…”

He could be such a drama queen sometimes. You rolled your eyes and sighed; deciding to be the bigger person really should be considered a virtue,

“Anyway, we made it here on time, didn’t we? You sure know how to burn some rubber when you don’t like the music I play…”

Jin pulled himself off the ground, holding onto the car door. His joints weakly cracked while he got up,

“I aged like 30 years during this trip and it’s only just starting…”

He mumbled to himself, shaking his head and making his neck crack in addition to everything else,

“What was that?”

You asked and Jin quickly went to unload the trunk,

“Nothing, nothing”

He answered, avoiding an even longer discussion about Cotton Eyed Joe.

You quickly joined him and had your bags unloaded in no time.

It seemed like you were the first ones to arrive at the camping site and when you informed Jin of that, his mood immediately shifted,

“We get to choose our spot?”

He looked at you in disbelief,

“Seems like it…”,

“Finally, we don’t have to sleep next to the dumpster!”

You never got to choose your spot because you had never been the first ones to arrive,

“Jin, there isn’t even a dumpster here, were in the middle of literal nowhere, nothing but lake, mountains and forest for miles”,

“True but somehow, the garbage always ended up being next to our tent because it was the only space left”

Ok, well, you guessed that was kinda true. You didn’t mind it though, you were a heavy sleeper,

“Ok, so let’s pick a good spot this time, hm?”

You said, clapped your hands together and looked around to assess the available spots,

“How about over there?”

You pointed to the edge of the clearing, where the trees began to grow thicker and taller. Jin squinted and pursed his lips,

“Hmmmm….”

He hummed and you guessed you wouldn’t be setting up there,

“What do you think about setting up here?”

You walked into the middle of the clearing, near the stump where the campfire would be set up later and Jin immediately pursed his lips even harder and hummed louder and you quickly suggested more,

“Ok, so near the lake then? Work with me here, Jin”

You walked down to the soft grass near the shore and presented it as appealingly as possible and Jin lips formed a smile. He nodded, finally. He walked towards you with the rolled-up tent under his arm and you planted it firmly in the ground. Not a second to soon, too because right after you set it down, another car approached and parked right beside Jin’s,

“Ah, the cavalry arrives”

You commented and just as you and Jin had planted the last fixture and the tent was stable, the car doors opened and the three Musketeers exited the vehicle in style.

Yoongi, sporting his usual urban-grandpa-couture, adjusted his tinted glasses and ran a hand through the hair that stuck out from his

headband, before he casually nodded at you and Jin in greeting. Hoseok and his brother Taehyung waved at you enthusiastically in their brightly coloured jackets and each held up a bag filled with goodies that looked extremely promising,

“Woooow! You’re here early!”

Hoseok could barely believe it,

“And you even grabbed the best spot, well done guys!”

He congratulated you, genuinely surprised that you made it here before anyone else for the first time,

“be honest, did you ever expect this to happen?”

You asked him as he came over to hug you and Jin simultaneously,

“Not in a million years”,

“But we’ve been rooting for you guys ever since we started this tradition”

Tae said as he leisurely strolled over and hugged you tightly,

“Thanks, it only took us almost 10 years to get here, so we’re gonna make sure to rub it in your faces whenever possible”

Jin piped up and you chuckled to yourself,

“If you got here so early you could have prepared the fire already instead of being lazy”

Yoongi grumbled and trudged over, as well,

“Missed you too, boo bear”

You cooed at him and went to pinch his cheeks,

“Goochie goo, look at you, you put on weight”

You loved treating him like a baby. He also loved it when you did it but he would sooner die than ever admit to that,

“Ugh, don’t touch me”

He weakly tried to wiggle out of your grip on his pinchable cheeks and after they presented all the goodies, they brought with them, you helped the guys set up their tent. Then you actually did prepare the fire.

The last of your friends to arrive were Namjoon, his baby cousin Jungkook and Jimin. Even more pinchable cheeks for you to victimize, you thought, rubbing your hands together evilly.

When they arrived, the rest of you were sitting around the fire and you only noticed their arrival when you heard their voices approach through the trees. Apparently, they had chosen to hike here,

“I’m never listening to you again… hiking here, I can’t believe I thought this was a good idea”

Joon said, sounding somewhat out of breath as he and Jungkook stepped into the clearing. He dropped his bags and drew in a long breath,

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad! And it’s not like you couldn’t use a little more exercise…”

Jungkook said, mumbling the last part of the sentence,

“What was that?”,

“Nothing, nothing…”

Jungkook picked up Joon’s bags in addition to his and marched on towards you guys, sitting by the fire. Jimin stepped out of the woods last and looked just as ethereal as everyone remembered. As he ran a hand through his hair, the sun immediately took a step back to let him take the place in the spotlight.

A collective sigh ran through your group and a couple of awkward glances and coughs were exchanged before you all got your bearings back. He smiled when he saw you and gave a little wave that made you giggle like a little girl when you waved back. Jin could only shake his head in disbelief. Sure, Jimin was hot. Even he could admit to that; but surely you thought Jin was handsome, too, right?

“Sorry we’re late, guys!”

Jungkook said as he reached you and set the bags down,

“Don’t worry about it”

Hoseok got up first and hugged the younger boy tightly before the rest of you got up and said hi. Joon and Jimin walked over, too and the hugging continued for a little longer than usual hugging because everyone took a little more time to get an extended hug with Jimin. It was honestly ridiculous how thirsty all of you were for him. And the poor guy had no idea.

______

After all the tents had been set up, everything was prepared and all of you had settled back around the fire, you watched Yoongi and Jimin prepare dinner, while Hoseok and Taehyung played UNO and Jungkook was scribbling something in a notebook. Jin was sitting next to you and reading through the gas grill’s user manual, Jimin and Yoongi were currently trying t get to work,

“Are you sure, you’re not holding it upside down?”

You asked him and reached out to grab it from him but he held it out of your reach and sighed,

“YN, I know how to read a damn…- hold on, it’s actually upside down”,

“Wait, really?

You were only joking about the upside-down thing,

“NO, of course not! How incapable do you think I am?”

Jin slapped your shoulder with the papers and you laughed as you tried to lean away far enough,

“Very, and I’m not even sorry for it”

you said and Jin’s mouth dropped open and he coughed out a laugh,

“With a friend like you, I really don’t need any enemies”

He said and you leaned back in to look up at him and channel your cutest pout,

“This is why you love me, though”

You were right, he thought, no one could make him feel so dumb, yet so happy at the same time. Especially with an annoyingly cute pouty face like yours,

“You’re lucky, that’s true”

He continued flipping through the manual and soon, the grill was working and he saved Yoongi and Jimin from their misery. Just in time, too because Tae was getting hungry and no one wanted to deal with that.

_______

“Aw man, that was so good!”

Jungkook said, stuffing the last food from his bowl into his mouth, chewing loudly,

“You want the rest of mine?”

You asked him, holding your bowl in his direction and he nodded eagerly, big eyes getting even bigger,

“There you go, big boy”

You smiled to yourself and handed him your bowl,

“God, where is all that food even going?”

Yoongi said, as he watched Jungkook devour the additional food he had just received,

“Shhh, let him eat”

You shushed Yoongi with a pat to his leg and watched Jungkook munch happily,

“Anyone want some rice cakes?”

Jimin piped up and opened up a Tupperware filled with the juicy looking sweet treats,

“Oooooh, Jimin, they look amazing!”

You couldn’t believe your eyes; they were your favourite,

“I knew you’d like them”

Jimin said as he watched your eyes and smile grow bigger,

“Have some”

He added and held the box your way,

“Oh yes! Thank you”

You got up and tiptoed around the fire to kneel in front of him to munch on his cakes.

You looked at him with glossy eyes, happy that he remembered your favourite treat. And they were good, too. So good, that you had to close your eyes as you had the first bite,

“Ohmygod”

You mumbled with a full mouth,

“Amazing”

You said and Jimin smiled proudly. Jin watched the interaction quietly from his seat.

Damn, he thought, he should have remembered to bring some rice cakes for you. He wasn’t really jealous of Jimin and his cakes. Really, he wasn’t. He was convinced that little crush of yours was completely food related, so he didn’t really think there was anything more to it. All he wanted was for that interaction to have taken place with him and also, for you to give all your attention to him and not Jimin. That seems like a reasonable mindset, right? So, in conclusion, he wasn’t jealous, at all.

However, when Jimin took a second rice cake out of the box and held it to your lips, time seemed to slow down for Jin and not in the good, romantic way he would have preferred it. Jimin gently placed the cake in your mouth and your lips closed around his finger for a second before he slowly pulled away. You moaned in pleasure as you started chewing and Jin had to bite down on his tongue to not lose his mind. To the others this was a completely normal and innocent thing to witness; just two friends sharing some food, what’s wrong with that? Everything, according to the way Jin was currently staring Jimin down and tried to telepathically communicate his disdain for the way he fed you food in the most erotic way possible. Ok, maybe he was a little jealous, after all.

Why was this suddenly getting to him? He knows that the relationship you have with him isn’t purely based on friendship, since the both of you had had some ambiguous moments of will they, won’t they before but it was never really anything you acted upon or even talked about. Nothing to take seriously.

Maybe, by watching you and Jimin flirt so innocently, he had just realized now, how precious you really were to him and that he wanted to try and incorporate a romantic aspect into your relationship.

Or maybe, he just never felt threatened before. Never felt like his place in your life was about to be taken away from him by a guy with sweet, juicy and delicious cakes.

Damn Jimin’s cakes! Jin got up and started collecting everyone’s dishes. He didn’t want to continue watching you basically crawling in Jimin’s lap and sucking the cakes off his fingers.

Maybe he went a little too hard with the whole dish collecting thing because as he ripped Jungkook’s bowl from his hands, the younger hadn’t completely finished I and yelled after Jin, as he went down to the lake and started vigorously scrubbing everything.

However, Jin didn’t know that he had absolutely nothing to be jealous of because as soon as he had left the circle, Tae, who was sat next to Jimin, made him feed him cakes, as well.

Let’s just say that even someone as oblivious as you knew when some actual sexual tension was developing. You decided it was time to awkwardly retreat to your seat now, before you were sandwiched in between the two boys. Only now did you notice that Jin had left the comfort of his camping chair,

“Hey, were did he go?”

You asked Joon, who was wrapped in a thick jacket with his hands around a warm cup of tea. While someone outside of your circle might be a little confused at the sight of someone with such a warm jacket on in this warm weather, you had stopped wondering about his weird habits a while ago. He slurped his tea and pointed down to the shore where, if you squinted heavily, you could faintly recognise the outline of Jin’s body in the dark. You excused yourself from the others and walked the short distance to join Jin in washing the dishes. He was slumped over, kneeling at the shore and, apparently, hadn’t noticed you approaching. So you yelled and gripped his shoulders from behind:

“Careful!”

The high-pitched scream he let out almost burst your eardrums but it was definitely worth it to see him almost jump into the water in shock,

“What the hell, YN? Why would you do that?”

He was clearly very upset about the whole thing but you only snickered like a mean little kid and kneeled down next to him,

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist”

You said and took the knife he was scrubbing out of his hands. Safer this way. Even in the dark you could see his eyes, big as saucers and it only made you laugh more. You took his hand in yours in apology and Jin didn’t resist, he just yelled louder like he usually did,

“You’re such a brat! I volunteer to do the dishes and what do you do? Wow, the disrespect is off the charts!”

His yelling was like an affectionate pat on the back by now because you knew he would never actually yell at you in anger. He knew you loved it because you always laughed even harder when he started ranting. And when you squeezed his hand a little tighter, he was sure there was nothing he enjoyed more than making you laugh by making an ass of himself,

“I’ll stop, I promise!”

You bowed your head and clutched his hand to your chest, still smiling,

“Tsk, empty promises”

He shook his head and you looked up at him,

“I’ll make it up to you, I’ll help you with the dishes”

You said eagerly,

“And also, I snagged one of the rice cakes for you”

Jin listened up,

“I know you love these things even more than I do”

He heard some shuffling and then you held your hand up in front of his face, a tiny cake sitting in your palm,

“Open up”

You said, taking the cake between two fingers and holding it up for Jin,

“For me?”

He asked, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining this,

“Of course, for you, you genius”

Jin slowly opened his mouth and you gently placed the treat in it, like Jimin did with you. However, Jin didn’t think of Jimin in this moment, he only thought about the way your thumb lingered on his lower lip for a few seconds before you pulled your hand back. He felt his affection for you stir in his heart again.

He also felt something else stir in a different bodily region at the feeling of your fingers on his lips.

He quickly turned away and swallowed the sweet cake before clearing his throat,

“Thanks”

He managed to mumble and went right back to washing dishing and willing away the growing problem you were responsible for,

“Move over, I’ll help”

You said and crowded his space again to help him with the dishes and then a comfortable silence set in, only interrupted by the occasional loud laughter from the rest of the guys.

_________

The last night approached quicker than all of you would have liked. After all of the days spent on the lakeshore, basking in the sun and eating smores at night around the campfire, it was finally time to return to your normal life. You and Jin had gotten used to the tent situation quickly, even though it wasn’t the most comfortable or convenient.

Well, for Jin at least. After the you had gone to sleep on the first night, Jin lay awake for a while longer, not being able to get your small fingers and your gentle touch out of his mind and it didn’t help that you were right here next to him, bodies only separated by a thin sheet you used as blanket.

And it had only gotten worse.

Tonight, the silhouette of your body, illuminated by the dying light of the fire outside, made Jin especially weak. He, like you and the others, had a few drinks to celebrate your trip and commemorate your friendship and, surprisingly, alcohol didn’t do a lot to enhance his self -control. More like the opposite,

“You good? Are you comfortable?”,

“Yeah”,

“Ok”

You and Jin had finally arranged yourselves into the bed rolls and were about to go to sleep. You were turned away from him with not a lot of distance between your bodies. It had been an especially hot day and even though it was already dark, the air and the ground hadn’t begun to cool down, yet. Jin was uncomfortable in the heat and he had already stripped down to his briefs; just being in the tent, next to you, not even a sheet over your bodies, to avoid even more heat, he felt like his body was heating up even more. He heard you shuffle around a little and then your thin top was flying over his face and you wore nothing but your underwear,

“I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable but I feel like I’m melting”

You said and fanned your face to feel even the slightest relief from the heat. Jin didn’t say anything for a few seconds, too caught up in the realisation that you were in nothing but your underwear, right next to him,

“It’s fine”

His voice betrayed him, sounding breathy and thin. He cleared his throat,

“Don’t worry about it”

There, he sounded super manly again,

“I’m dying over here… it was nice when we were in the water but now? I’m not made for this weather”

You lamented and turned to Jin, tucking your hands under your head to be comfortable. He was glad that it was so dark because if there were even a little bit more light coming in from the outside you would have seen him staring shamelessly at your tits, pushed together between your arms,

“Yeah it’s uh… really bad”

Very smooth, Jin, managing to answer even though his briefs were getting uncomfortably tight, he thought to himself. The fire outside finally went out completely and the clinking of glasses and the sound of another tent zipper let you know that the last of your friends were about to hit the hay, as well,

“Do you mind if I open the zipper? Let some more air in?”

You asked and sat up already,

“No, go ahead, can’t be worse than this, anyway”

You felt around for the zipper and dragged it down until the flaps of the tent opened and a slight breeze greeted you from outside,

“Well, it’s not much but I can breathe a little better”,

You fell back into the bed roll with a sigh and Jin suddenly had an idea,

“Hey, YN”,

“Hm?”,

“How about we just go down to the lake? Put our feet in the water, cool down a little, you know?”,

“Mhmh, I guess”,

“It’s probably more effective than just opening the zipper”,

“Yeah, you’re right”

You sighed again and sat up in the tent,

“Ok then, let’s go. We gotta be quiet though, I think everyone’s sleeping already”

You said and Jin sat up, too, to crawl out of the tent and help you stand up after you crawled out, too. He grabbed your hand and slowly you navigated the dark clearing in the full moon light down to the soft grass around the lake shore until you felt the water gently lap on your feet.

Both of you sat down on the grass and let the waves envelope your feet on their way up,

“Ugh, I already feel so much better”

You relaxed and lay back on the grass, stretching your overheated and tired limbs,

“Same”

Jin stretched his legs, tapping and tickling your smaller feet with his and making you giggle,

“Jin, that tickles”

You tried to wiggle away, and escape his big gorilla feet,

“Is this an unexplored fetish of yours?”

you asked, making Jin laugh and trying to not be too loud,

“The tickling or the feet?”,

“Oh my god is it both?”,

“Are you kink-shaming me?”

“Definitely! Feet are gross”

You smiled and pushed yourself off the grass back into a sitting position,

“I don’t have a weird kink, calm down”

Jin loved riling you up, just as much as you did it to him,

“Anyway, I’m gonna go in, I think.”

He announced after he was done teasing you and slowly waded into the shallow water,

“you coming?”

You looked up at him, shaking your head,

“I don’t think so, I don’t have my bathing suit. Don’t wanna sleep in wet undies”

“Suit yourself. But don’t complain about the heat”

He simply said and turned around, walking until water reached up to his ribs.

It probably wouldn’t be so bad to get your underwear wet; in this heat they would be dry in no time anyway. But another thought crossed your mind and you contemplated just going commando. Even though yours and Jin’s relationship had never been anything more that friendly, except for a little flirting here and there, you felt like it could be more. There could be more to the flirting and the innocent hand touching. And times like these made you want to just cross the line. Despite Jin thinking he was pretty subtle about everything, you had noticed how, during the trip, he eyed you and Jimin curiously whenever you were talking. You had also noticed how he tried to put as much distance between you as possible in the tent as to not push his very obvious hard on anywhere near you. By now you just wanted to see if he would cross the line first.

Watching him, you unclipped your bra and slipped your panties down your legs, before you also let the cool waves roll against your body. He had already made his way a little farther out and you stopped where your feet could still feel the ground and the water just reached around your clavicle,

“Guess the heat finally got to you, hm?”

Jin said, as he noticed you approaching,

“Right, the heat”

You mumbled and he swam closer, back to your,

“Not worried about the clothes anymore?”

You shook your head and smiled,

“What clothes?”,

“Your under- Oh”

Jin stopped in the middle of the sentence after he had realised what you meant. His mouth fell open as his eyes took in the naked line of your shoulders, no straps in sight,

“I didn’t wanna get them wet”

You said and Jin has to swallow hard. You’re naked under the blurry sheen of the water and he doesn’t know how to handle the situation,

“Yeah, no, I get it, convenience and all that, right?”

He laughs awkwardly and tries and fails to cover up his sudden insecurity about your naked boobs just a few inches away from his face,

“Yeah, I just thought I’d let the girls breathe, you know?”

You looked down and Jin could see your hands covering your boobs right under the surface,

“Yeah, yeah, no big deal, just let the… the girls out”

He took a deep breath and tried to look anywhere but your hands encasing your tits. The trees were pretty in the dark, so out there. And their crowns looked so big and full and round in the moonlight. They were probably very soft if he were to submerge his face between them.

Yeah, trees really were something; He had always been a tree guy.

And he probably should take a step back so he wouldn’t accidentally poke you in the stomach,

“Are you ok? Am I making you uncomfortable?”

You asked, your voice sounding all soft an innocent,

“Do you want me to put it all back on?”

Jin whipped his head around at that and held his hands up,

“No! No, I mean…”

More awkward coughing,

“Don’t bother, you’re comfortable. I’m completely fine”

You giggled cutely and Jin felt his self-control pack its bags and jump out of the window,

“Are you sure? You seem kinda bothered…”

You took a step forward and Jin escaped immediately,

“I think I’m gonna go back out, it’s freezing in here, don’t you think?”

He stuttered and rushed through the water so fast that I splashed you in the face. You smiled to yourself, fully aware that Jin was definitely not unbothered by your boobs. A fact, that you would use to your advantage.

And Entertainment.

You also swam back to the shore, where Jin was already standing on the grass again, his back turned to the water. When the water wasn’t high enough to cover up your nakedness anymore you wanted to get Jin’s attention again. You slowly exited the water and walked towards Jin, who was currently picking up your underwear carefully. You noticed him stalling a moment and feeling the soft fabric of your panties between his fingers before he spoke up,

“YN, I’ll leave your stuff closer to the water, ok?”

He said, thinking you were still swimming around without a care in the world,

“No need”

You said from behind him and he jumped, dropping your things, then tripped and landed on his ass, as he tried to put some more distance between you again,

“Ah… you scared me again”

He said, sitting on the floor and covering his eyes with his fingers immediately. He was only able to see your face through the gaps between his fingers. You didn’t say anything; you just stood there for a few seconds, making Jin suffer even more,

“I uh, do you wanna go back by any chance? I’m kinda tired”

He tried to find an excuse to flee again but you weren’t having it. You knelt down and placed your self firmly in his lap, straddling him,

“I don’t wanna go back, yet”

You mumbled and gently wrapped your small fingers around the wrist of Jin’s hand, trying to get him to uncover his eyes and look at you. He resisted. Not at all cost but it was enough to give you pause and make you doubt your intentions,

“Jin, it’s ok, you can look”

You tried to soothe him a little but he didn’t relent,

“YN, please, I’m trying so hard”

He whispered, hoping you would get the message.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to look, he definitely wanted to. He was sure, the hard dick poking you in the thighs told you so very clearly. It was just that he wasn’t sure what would happen, if he gave in. Your friendship was something he treasured and was thankful for every day, no matter how annoying you could be at times,

“Would it be so bad? We’ve been friends for so long, have you never thought about it?”

Your soft voice slowly but surely worked on dismantling his determination,

“Of course, I thought about it. Multiple times, actually. Especially this week”

Jin answered and he felt you shift slightly above him,

“So, if you thought about it, does that mean… you don’t want to?”

He thought he heard something like disappointment in your voice and he was never good at ignoring when you felt down,

“Are you kidding? You think I’d be this hard if I didn’t want to?”

He tried to lighten the mood and let his free hand move up and down your thigh,

“I’ve been wanting to do this for ever, YN, I just don’t know if this is a good idea”,

“Jin, please…”

He swallowed as he felt you move again, this time you were pushing down on him, grinding against him and he had a hard time to keep his eyes covered,

“Shit”

He cursed at the feeling of you grinding on him and you moved his hand higher from your thigh while you tried again to remove his hand from his face. He slowly let you but he kept his eyes closed,

“Jin, look at me”

You now held both of his hands in yours and you slowly moved the up your body until they cupped your breasts. You sighed and squeezed Jin’s hands around them making him moan and his head fell forward, against your shoulder,

“YN, fuck, you need to stop… I’m a weak man and your tits feel amazing”

He started squeezing on his own and slowly rubbed his thumbs on your nipples,

“Touch me, baby, please”

Your pleas were making him so weak and he knew there was no way he would stop now, that he felt your soft skin under his hands. He turned his head just a little, placing his lips against your neck and kissing you gently. He listened to your moans and let you move against him, rub yourself against his dick in his briefs and it made him so hard; shit, you just felt so good against him, warm and soft and your tits were so fucking nice he couldn’t form a coherent thought anymore. He wanted more, needed more, needed to touch more and taste more of you, so he quickly spun you around and pushed your body back into the soft grass and hovered above you,

“Kiss me”

You whine and he wants nothing more than to kiss every inch of your skin. Starting with your pretty lips; you pretty lips which were always pouting smiling, making him crazy and making him wish he knew what the felt like around his dick. He leans down and they’re so soft. So damn soft like your beautiful tits, which he went right back to squeezing and massaging, making you moan into his mouth. Then it’s wet; tongues finding each other, wet bodies grinding together and your wet pussy rubbing against him. God, you’re so wet. He even feels it through his boxer briefs. He never thought he’d be able to get you this wet. When you lift your legs and wrap them around his hips, he can’t hold back any longer,

“Shit, you feel so good, YN, so fucking soft”

He starts kissing your neck again, moving along the smooth skin down to your collarbone and then further down to suck one of your nipples into his mouth. You moaned and ran your hands through his hair, tugging slightly and running your nails along his scalp,

“Feel good, baby?”

He asked, voice rough as he switched sides,

“So good…”

You managed to answer through your bliss-clouded mind,

“Want more”

You added and weakly grabbed one of Jin’s hands to move it lower, between your legs,

“More? Want me here? Want me to touch your pussy?”

You never would have guessed Jin would be so vocal during sex, you always thought he’d be the sweet and vanilla type of guy but you weren’t about to complain when his fingers felt so good rubbing your lower lips,

“Yes, touch me, please, want you so much”

you pulled his face back down to yours to kiss him as he let his fingers slide through your wetness and moaned into the kiss at how fucking good it felt,

“Shit, you’re so wet… so fucking warm, fuck”

He started rubbing your clit lightly and you broke the kiss to bury your face in his neck and muffle your moans,

“Ah, Jin…”,

“Like this?”,

“Fuck, yes”

He made you feel so good, you wanted to do the same. You worked your hand between your bodies, too and started rubbing Jin through the fabric of his briefs. The feeling of his hard dick in your hands made you want more and you slipped your hand inside, wrapping it around him for real and gently moving it until you felt his fingers lose their rhythm on your clit and all you could hear were the pleasured moans he failed to hold in,

“Am I doing it right?”

You knew you were doing it right but you also knew Jin loved it when you acted helpless and cute. Could only apply even more in this situation,

“Yeah, you are… So right, so good, shit”

He sucked on the skin of your neck and slid his finger from your clit down and slowly, gently slipped it inside of you, moaning at the warm wet feeling that greeted him. You couldn’t find any words that would accurately express your thoughts at this moment; you could just tighten your legs around him and try not to be so loud you’d wake the others,

“You like that, hm? Feel so tight, baby, can’t wait to fuck you”

Jin moaned in your ear and you felt a heatwave run through your body,

“Jin, fuck me, plea- Ah…”

right as you begged him, he slid in a second finger,

“That what you want? Want me to fuck you?”

He pushed his fingers in deeper and you tried to not lose the rhythm you had going on with your hand around his dick,

“Mhmmh”

You couldn’t form a decent answer at this point,

“You sure, baby? I could make you come like this and then fuck you; make you come again”

He kissed you slow and deep this time, moving his fingers in tandem with his tongue. You shook your head, tightening your legs again, pushing his fingers even deeper,

“No? You want it now? Want me to fuck that tight little pussy?”

Jesus, you thought, you never knew words could turn you on so much,

“Then you’ll get it, baby”

He pulled his fingers out slowly and you watched as he stuck them in his mouth to suck them clean,

“Mhm, fuck, I’ll eat you next time, don’t even try to stop me”

You spread your legs as he sat back on his haunches and pushed his briefs down, finally. You couldn’t make out his size in the dark but you had already felt that it was a little bigger than what you were used to.

Jin gripped himself, moving his hand along his dick and sighing,

“Can’t believe this is happening…”

He said and leaning back down, hovering over your body,

“Wanted this for so long”

He continued and you let your hand travel over his naked chest as he guided his dick to slide through your wetness. You watched him shudder and a breath hitched in his throat as his dick made contact with your wet, warm centre,

“God, feels so good already, Jin, don’t tease me”

He bent down and kissed you,

“I won’t, I just…”

He hesitated for a second and took a deep breath,

“I don’t have any condoms with me, I wasn’t really planning on this to happen”

You smiled at the sudden insecurity in his voice and gently ran a hand through his dishevelled hair,

“It’s fine, I have an IUD, you don’t have to worry”,

“I can come inside you? You sure?”,

“I want you to”,

“Fuck…”

Jin went right back to kissing and sucking on your neck,

“Please, Jin, fuck me, come inside me… want you so bad”

The way you sounded so fucking whiney and sweet; he moaned into your skin and rubbed his dick along your pussy before he slowly pushed the head inside. Unprepared for the incredible feeling of your wet, tight pussy around his dick, he pushed in even more, swallowing all your moans and pleas. Never had he felt this good before, literally never. Your pussy felt so damn good around him, he wasn’t even completely sure this was real,

“Ah, Jin!”

He could tell you tried to be quiet,

“Shit, it’s so big…”,

“You ok? Want me to go slow?”

He asked for your comfort, yet he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it because his dick was definitely pushing itself deeper inside you of its own accord. He probably couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to,

“No, I’m fine, it feels amazing”

You threw your head back into the grass and Jin bent a little to suck your nipple back into his mouth, adding to your pleasure even more.

He pushed in deeper and deeper, moving his hips until they wouldn’t go any further and he was balls deep inside you. Even if you didn’t, he needed a moment to come back to reality and not finish before he had even started. You held him so tightly and he squeezed every bit of skin he could reach as your hips moved against his, stealing his breath and making him feel so fucking good,

“You feel so good, YN, so fucking good”

He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the feeling of your body against his,

“So wet, so tight- this pussy’s made for me”

He mumbled against your skin and kissed and sucked what his lips could find. He wanted to be more in control, wanted to be more focused on your pleasure but it just felt so good. He could only hope he was making you feel as good as he possibly could,

“Jin, touch me…”

He heard you sigh and he placed one last kiss to your lips before he pushed himself up to sit back, so he could bring his fingers back to your clit,

“Like this?”

He asked as he rubbed you and immediately felt you clench around him,

“Yes, ah… like that”,

He lifted your leg onto his shoulder with his other hand, spreading you even more for him. This new angle had him hitting you deeper and Jin did his very best to hit all the right places. He already felt his end approaching and he knew he couldn’t hold it off for long,

“Jin, fuck, I’m close, don’t stop”

Your words were music to his ears. He held your leg tightly to his chest, fucking you deeper and harder, working his fingers as close to the rhythm his hips were setting as possible,

“That’s it, baby, come for me”

He ben forward slightly, wanting to be closer to you, wanting to see your face when you came,

“Come all over my dick”

His words made you feel hot all over and you felt your muscles contracting, bringing you closer to your end,

“Ahh, I’m gonna come”

Your voice was strained and you put both of your hands over your mouth, knowing this was gonna be a loud one. Jin was captivated by the pure look of pleasure on your face and devoted all of his movements to making you come, desperate to see your face and feel you clench around his dick,

“Gonna come for me? I can feel it, baby, tell me what to do”,

“Just like that, don’t stop”,

“You’re so beautiful… look so good like this; I want you so much”

He told you all the things he always wanted you to know and more until he felt your pussy tighten around him and your leg spasm in his grip while you moaned through your hands in a desperate attempt to deafen the noise as you came around him. He pushed in so deep, revelling in the feeling of your orgasm and letting his own take over.

He bent down, pushing your hands out of your face and capturing your lips in a slow, deep kiss that made your toes curl like that orgasm just did. He came so deep inside you, filling you up so good and holding you so tight and close, you never wanted him to let you go.

As your muscles relaxed and your breathing evened out again, just like Jin’s, he took your hands in his and kissed them before intertwining your fingers and pressing another long, deep kiss to your lips,

“Jeesus, Jin, I never would have thought you’d talk so dirty to me”

Was the first thing that came to your mind as he slipped out of you and lay down next to you. He let out a hearty laugh and ran a hand over his face,

“I don’t know what came over me”

He said and you smiled,

“I just bring out the best in you, don’t I?”

He squeezed your hand lovingly,

“My best is definitely in you, yes”

He snickered and you slapped his shoulder,

“You’re so nasty, Jin!”

You both giggled as suddenly a loud voice rang through your post-orgasmic bliss,

“You’re both nasty! Fucking like horny teenagers while all your friends are trying to sleep? What are you, 16? Get a damn room next time, fuck!”

Both of you recognized Yoongi’s voice. You probably woke him up or kept him from sleeping,

“Whoops…”

You said, hiding your face in Jin’s neck,

“You should be happy it’s only happened now! Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all!”

Jin yelled back and you laughed even harder.

He had exactly zero shame and that was probably why you worked so well together. And you continued to work well together two more times that  night. And then you continued to work even better together for a lot more years to come.

Submitted by @befriendswithj​

[circuscarnage]

Celebrating a little early in my timezone because things are happening but in Japan it is the 17th so it counts! So yeah Happy Birthday Sebek! Diasomnia threw him a surprise party and I ran out of time to draw a background. And, of course, I wrote something for the occasion. Apologies for the length.

Words: 2360.

Sunlight flooded through the open window of the students room, illuminating the dark cobbled walls. Resting not so peacefully in bed laid a disgruntled member of Diasomnia. For more than one reason, he was unable to get a decent nights sleep. It wasn't only the fact that Lilia had decided to raid the kitchen at the crack of dawn, but also the dreaded thoughts that decided the plague his mind all night. It wasn't a pleasant experience. He turned over and looked at his alarm. 5:59AM. Another minuet in bed before he had to get up. Lazily, he laid flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling above.   

It was unlike him to be so apathetic. But as he lay there, letting a familiar feeling fester inside his chest, it was difficult not to be overtaken by a sense of detachment. He waited in silence, letting the seconds trickle by, like melting wax on a candle stick. Breathing still yet uneven. His alarm started to chime. 6:00AM. 

Follow the routine. Get up. Get dressed. Go to class. Guard Malleus. Go to bed. He followed this pattern everyday. A rigorous regime that had been drilled into his head ever since he came to Night Raven. It was nothing new to him though. He had been a stern advocator for routine for years. Never faulting for a single second. Respecting every rule. Always being on time. The perfect guard. He left his room early to do his morning rounds, trying to avoid all other Diasomnia students. With any luck, he would make it to the kitchen without anyone disturbing him. Today was not a good day. March 17th. Wonderful.

Sebek grimaced. He had been dreading this for some time. Every day it got closer, his mood got worse, growing even more strict and rigid. Things that he would normally let slide were becoming objects for discipline. Students who found themselves a minuet late for a meeting were being reprimanded in the hallway after, the guard seething with rage, telling them how disrespectful it was for them to be late when Malleus requested their presence. Some even starting to avoid him after that, not knowing what was causing this shift in attitude, but too afraid to find out.

This feeling had been eating away at him for days. Of course, this slow attitude change did not go unnoticed by his fellow peers. Malleus and Lilia were the first to notice. They brushed it off as superstition at first. It was little things that were almost unnoticeable, but steadily grew. Sebek didn't give them his usual heartfelt good morning when he left the dorm, leaving the room without a second glance. He wasn't anywhere to be seen at lunch. And when Sebek almost completely ignored praise from Malleus for doing a good job, they knew something was wrong. At this point, even Silver was growing concerned. 

The trio met up after their last class, eager to discuss possible reasons for their friends behaviour. "Well, its pretty obvious," Lilia hummed as he started to walk down the hallway. Malleus and Silver exchanged glances, unsure of what their friend was thinking. The smaller fae tapped the side of his head thoughtfully. "He's salty because no one has wished him a happy birthday yet! Can't say I blame him. You remember how mad I was when you forgot my birthday, right Mal Mal?" Lilia let out a frightening giggle as Malleus grimaced, a small shiver starting to creep up his back. He could all but forget what happened. Oh, how he wished he could forget.

"That's the reason?" Silver questioned. There was no way it was that simple. Something as trivial as that couldn't be the reason. Sebek may be uptight and a complete idiot at times, but this sort of childish behaviour was beyond him. Besides, he hadn't told anyone the date of his birth, so how did he expect anyone to know? Malleus didn't seem convinced either, he eyed his small friend, pressing him to give a better explanation. Lilia smiled "Who knows? Maybe its some sort of tragic event that forever haunts him whenever this time of year comes around? But what do I know? It's none of my business."

"Excuse me," Another voice interrupted their conversation. The trio turned and were met with a familiar student. She stood before them, books cradled in her arms, a worried expression on her features. "Sorry to disturb, I just wanted to ask if there was something bothering Sebek. He was very distant in Mozus's class, barely joining in with the discussion. And when I asked about the study session after, he just left the room without a word."

"It's nothing," Silver remarked sleepily. "Sebek's just having a bad birthday."

"It's his birthday?" Anna's hands flung up to her face, completely disregarding the books she was holding. They clattered onto the ground, but everyone was more focused on the girls reaction. She started to splutter out half formed words, her mouth unable to keep up with the rapid thoughts that spindled through her mind. This was news to her. She always suspected that Sebek would have told her about his birthday, not to be suddenly thrown through a loop on any given day. She was unprepared. She was surprised, slightly offended, but mostly in shock. "Why did no one tell me? He doesn't think that I don't care does he? I didn't know, how was I suppose to know? Oh gosh, he probably hates me now doesn't h-"

A gloved hand was clasped over her mouth, cutting off her monologue and allowing the other members to breathe. Lilia stood in front of her, his smile only growing wider. Before Lilia had the chance to taunt the poor girl, Malleus chimed in. "It seems you already had an idea in mind, care to share?" 

As soon as Sebek returned to the Diasomnia dorm, he immediately retired to his room. Those students unfortunate to find themselves in his path were greeted with a weary sight. Upon his face was a diligent scowl unlike anyone had ever seen. His furrowed brows deepened, and he seemed to be holding back a snarl. Even the braver students took the initiative not to irritate the guard, quickly moving out of the way for him as he continued to storm up the hall.

When he reached his room, he walked in before swiftly closing the door behind him. He didn't want to see anyone and he didn't want to be seen. Just for this one day, disappear without a trace, leave nothing behind, and be transported somewhere else. He sat on the edge of his bed, resting his head in his hands. It's not that he wanted to feel this way, far from it. He never had a good memory of his birthday. Ever since he was left alone with his father, celebrations like that were forgotten. In his eyes, they were pointless. Nothing remained apart from an empty shell of heartless memories and hollow wishes that never came true.

Before he could completely hide himself away, a firm knocking was heard. He glanced up, not in the mood to pry himself from his bed. Instead of briskly answering as per usual, he ignored the sound and returned back to his personal pit of pity. His state was interrupted yet again when another round was heard, heavier than before. Whoever was knocking knew he was in, and they weren't going to give up until he answered. Sebek sighed and stood up, walked over to his door, and opened it. This had better be important-

"Malleus," He started, his slited orbs widening. Words caught in his throat, he let out a silent curse. Being tardy when he was needed went against everything he had worked for. Useless. His mind began. Can't even answer the door properly. This sour mood was picking him apart piece by piece, making him feel like he could collapse any second. "I'm terribly sorry... If I had known you wanted to see me I would have-"

"Quiet." Malleus quickly cut Sebek off, raising a gloved finger to silence his peer. Sebek's mouth instantly closed. Fear and doubt began to crawl in his chest. Was Malleus mad at him? He hoped he hadn't accidentally missed an important meeting or neglected any of his duties. Last time he checked, there wasn't anything listed for today. The dark fae sensed the tension radiating off his friends body, and got to the point. "Meet me in the dining hall at seven pm sharp. Don't keep me waiting." And with that, Malleus walked away. His blunt personality radiant as ever. 

"Malleus, you wanted to see me?" Sebek questioned as he slowly started to open the large door. As soon as the door creaked open, Sebek was bombarded with confetti, streamers, and a loud bang. He opened his eyes to reveal an elaborate array of decorations covering the dining hall, all holding the dorms colour. 

Sparkling back and green glitter coated the long table, making it nearly impossible to sit down without getting a spec on you. The curtains that dressed the windows were wrapped in a lace bunting spiralling down to the floor, some even overflowing on the cobbled tiles, creating a decorative piece as well as a hazard. Several other decorations were tossed around the room, ranging from party poppers to a hastily painted banner hung up on the far wall. Everyone at the table was wearing a party hat. Lilia worse his with pride, whereas Malleus and Silver looked ready to rip the cheesy object in half. 

"Sebek, so glad you could join us!" Lilia called happily, clapping his hands with amused excitement. "We were informed about the human tradition of a 'birthday party', and we wanted to try it out. What do you think? Good, huh?" Silver raised his brow. Lilia was far too excited for this, and he despised that fact that he had to tag along with the idea. Being human himself, Malleus thought it valuable to gather his opinions on the matter as well. 

It took Sebek a moment to take in this sight. The most noticeable members of Diasomnia had created this just for him. It was hard to believe someone as great as Malleus or Lilia would do something like this for someone like him. He felt unworthy of such efforts, yet there was a slight tug in his chest that warmed his heart. "Malleus, I'm deeply honoured by all of this." He gestured around the room, taking in the bizarre decorations yet again. "I truly feel grateful to be invited. This act of kindness will never be forgotten!"

"Don't thank me," Malleus crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair. "It wasn't my idea." Sebek look confused. If Malleus didn't orchestrate this gathering, then who did? That's when Sebek noticed that two chairs were left vacant. 

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" His questions was answered when a Heartslabyul student came barrelling into the room carrying a silver tray covered by a checkered cloth. There would have been a collision if she hadn't stopped herself at the last second. 

"You?" Sebek's shoulders tensed up as his gaze met hers, brown irises glistening with wonder. His eyes darted around the room, trying to find anything else to focus on. He let out a surprised cough as questions started to swirl through his mind. What was going on? What was she doing here? He looked over his shoulder to his fellow companions, trying to look for any helpful cues. What the hell were they thinking inviting her of all people? They didn't know, did they? Of course not! They couldn't have. But as he tried to search their faces for any optional hints, he was greeted with sly smiles that completely ignored his panicked state, especially from Lilia. That look would forever be burned into his memory. 

"Me!" She happily replied, brushing off his nerves as if they never existed. "You should have told me today was your birthday, I would have made something better!" She placed the tray at the head of the table, a seat respectfully reserved for Malleus. But for one day, someone else was granted permission from the dark fae himself. 

Part of him wanted to join in with the celebration, conquer this overwhelming feeling of self doubt, and finally be able to move forward. But the other part urged him to retreat. He didn't deserve any of this. However, as Sebek looked around the room, the sight of his friends greeting him with eager faces inviting him over, he felt persuaded to stay. With all the effort they put in just for him, he couldn't bring himself to argue. Letting out a defeated sigh that lead into a slight chuckle, Sebek trailed his way over to the seat, trying not to let the overwhelming glee show. He sat down among his peers, a small soft smile littered his features. 

"I didn't have much time to make it, but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless." With one swift motion the cloth was removed, revealing a delectable desert. A small green cheesecake with a dark chocolate base was presented on the tray. On the side of the dish was green icing displaying a sloppily written birthday message. But the item that caught everyone eye was the pair of dark chocolate horns that stuck out from the sides. Curved and pointed at the end, it was no question who she had drawn inspiration from. Seeing his superior be reflected in such a way was endearing, if not a tad insulting to his power. 

"Thank you," He breathed out. There was so much more he wanted to say, express his gratitude, and personally thank each member. However, as his mind attempted to select the right words, he couldn't help but draw blanks. There wasn't a sentence he could string together that could ever represent how much this meant to him. Perhaps this time, when surrounded by people who truly cared about him, he could have memories he was proud of. "Thank you, so much..."