#and he probably would have carried on happily attaching himself to the most important person around | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dinthehottotty · 4 years

Text

Cultural Differences - Part 1 - Din Djarin

Summary: Din proposes and you have no idea that you said yes. Not that you'd say no but you don't have the heart to tell him when you realize.

A/N: Before ya ask, yes, I do play assassin’s creed. I’m shamless, I don’t care.

Warnings: Fluff, maybe a sprinkling of angst, part two will have all the smut for @buttercup--bee.

When you'd met Mando, you thought the same thing as everyone else from a glance. You believed him to be cold and dangerous. Very quickly did that entire idea go up in big, black smoke. It didn’t take long to watch this man ask for compliance rather than immediately demand it. He always did please and thank you’s when necessary and it was a surprise when that only got you hot and bothered.

Love was not on your radar when you joined his crew. Even now, months after you'd been working with him, you felt like you were pining for the man. That would imply that the awkward Mandalorian would ever foster the idea of a relationship with you. So instead you'd happily day dream your way through the days.

It was easy to do. There was no resentment at unspoken affection. You just loved both Mando and that little green bundle of wrinkles with everything in you. It always made you smile at how much he was an overprotective dad with his 50 year old baby. Even if he tried to deny that he was a dad now.

You found it too easy to tease him about it and your cute aggression reared it's ugly head. You were a person who's love language was physical touch. Constantly touching the bounty hunter surprised him in the beginning. But now it had no effect on him. You probably should have asked him more about Mandalorian culture because that would be your down fall with him.

It was a joke the first time you'd kissed his helmet. Planting a big, obnoxious kiss right on the top of his helmet when he was in the pilot seat and had maneuvered the razor crest out of quite the spot without killing you both. Now it was second nature to peck his helmet's cheek. A warm, friendly greeting when he'd returned from a hunt and when he departs for supplies. A quick smooch to his forehead and a pat to a pauldron as a thank you. Nudging his knee under the table at cantinas to tell him to calm down. A reassuring rub to his strong arms when Peli stresses him out too much. He even let you grasp his arm or thigh when you get excited about something. You were physically affectionate, you didn't think twice about gently bumping your forehead to his helmet when you were purposefully being annoying.

The last thing on your mind when doing this was actually whether or not Mando even thought much of it. He didn't tell you to stop, he never spoke about it, how were you to know.

One day, while Mando was on the floor trying to wear the kid out to go to sleep, you found teasing him all you could do. A light laugh bubbled up from you as his attempts failed repeatedly.

"Hand him over, Daddy." Squating down next to him. He turns his helmet towards you.

"I can handle it. Just go to bed," he orders, with no bark in his voice.

"Not a chance. Give 'im here." He heaves one of his heavy sighs before allowing you to scoop him up and into you. It was routine that you took the kid to bed most nights, Mando was okay with it, but he gives a frustrated sigh when the kid looks quickly like he's getting sleepy.

"Why is that so easy for you?"

"He's just used to me putting him to bed, Mando." You throw him a wink and bounce hip to hip as the kid jabbers sleepily.

There's a silence that feels a little heavy and the Mandalorian shuffles awkwardly. "I... I kind of wanted... nevermind," he cuts himself off, turning away.

That catches your attention very quickly. "No, no! Tell me, it's okay." Your hand darts out as he turns to leave and you catch his arm. He pauses even though he can easily push through it.

"I mean... you're like his mom. Kids like their mothers more. They sooth their children better and women are instinctivly better with kids." That startles you. Mando had never once referred to you as anymore than the kids nanny at any point. You weren't even originally hired to watch the kid.

You're cheeks flair up at that, burning uncomfortably and you feel... giddy perhaps? Did he think of you as a mom to his son? It catches you off guard.

"He definitely doesn't like me better," you reply softly and move closer. "I just put him to bed more often and it's close to bed time, that's all. Come here," you coax, your voice lowering to a warm tone. The bounty hunter twists reluctantly back towards you with slumped shoulders. The kid, who's half dozed in your arms, blinks up at him.

"He adores you, Mando, just take him."

"You don't have to-... its not a big deal."

"Take him," you insist. Finally he lifts the kid into his arms which makes the kid blink up with bigger eyes, a confused coo rising from him.

"Hes waking back up-"

"Shhh." You press forward, against Mando's arms as you run the pad of your thumb along the big ears. Softly you hum, no song in particular, and prompt the Mandalorian to sway with you both. It's a soft, intimate moment, that you never want to end.

It takes a few moments for the kid to settle back down and you hope it doesn't take to long but part of you longs for it not to end. The man-droid calling you his sons mother, or comparing you to one at the very least, is enough to fuel your longing for you employer with out a name for months.

At some point you glance up, expecting him to be watching his son. It paralyzes you when you find his visor trained on you. Gently you clear your throat, blush raising more on your cheeks.

"I didn't mean to overstep. I-"

Thunk.

The Mandalorian tilts his helmet forward and it knocks against your forehead suddenly. If you're honest, it actually hurts a bit with how hard he crashes his head into yours but suddenly the bunk feels so much smaller with him blocking the doorway. "You didn't." Is all he says, in his softest voice.

This was purposeful. He wanted to lean his head to yours. Not to be annoying. There was nothing practical about it, but he was doing it on purpose. Maybe he was feeling playful, you think.

The both of you stay like that for a while, as you allow your eyes to close. It could have been seconds or hours but finally he shifts away to gently put the kid in his hammock.

"I have something for you." He admits.

"For me?" You repeat, a little dazed. He nods.

"You don't have to accept." You arch your eyebrow as you both exit the room and you watch him mosey over to his weapons vault. Your curious as you attempt to guess what it is mentally. You didn't need anything.

But then he drew out a bundle of fabric and brought it over with both hands. He doesn't say anything, instead he just holds the bundle. You pause, hesitantly taking it. It was heavy and solid with plenty of ridges. When you peel the fabric back, the beskar gleams and a surge of emotion rushes forward as you twist the gauntlet. As you look to the inside you see it, the hidden blade attached to the bottom, something you explained to him before.

A rite of passage from your assassin training on your home planet. Yours had long since broken and you couldn't wear it anymore and it had been two years. You’d only really brought it up to him once, cursing that you would of had the bounty he’d only had the chance to capture after he slipped from your grasp. Mando had given you a short, “I still got him,” and carried on until you were both in the safety of hyperspace. The bounty had been sealed away and you couldn’t even remember who it had been.

“Like a knife?” He prompts in a way that made you both confused and suspicious.

“Knife? What knife?” you asked.

“You could have won the bounty if you had your blade?” he responded, he partially tipped your way. It was a bit odd of him to focus on that, a little out of character. You brushed it off, especially because he had previously explained that Mandalorians were religious about weapons.

You hadn’t known much about them (really anything) before him. You just pegged him as having an unhealthy fixation about any type of new weapon.

“Oh, my hidden blade,” you hummed and leaned back, making a face. “It broke a while back. I was apart of an assassin’s group on my home world, they had a few initiation practices. The important one was when you get your hidden blade. It’s like a gauntlet without the hand and the blade sits on the inside of the wrist. When you flex your wrist, the blade extends. My safety broke on it, nearly lost my ring finger.” You’d wiggled your finger that had a deep scar on the inside of it. “Then the blade snapped clean in two and I haven’t found anyone to fix it. I have to go home, since the mechanisms are broken. There are so few of my people left, however, that I’ve just put it off.” Was your response.

After that he’d never brought it up again.

"Mando," your voice cracks as you glide your fingers across it. "Mando, it's beautiful." You slide it on. It's heavier than your used to, but it fits like a glove. A quick click and the blade shoots out with a flex of your wrist. "Thank you," you murmur before sinking the blade away and launching into a hug with him.

"Din." He says, making you peer up. "Din Djarin is my name." Your heart skips a beat against his chest. You gaze up at him for a moment, before smiling back down at it. You turn, switching the safety off, before twitching your wrist. The mechanism was backwards from what you were used to, but the shiny blade jutted out as fast as your original had. It’d take a while for you to adjust to the weight of it, but it’s like having a working prosthetic after missing a limb for years.

“Din,” you test, “how did you get it to fit so well, my old one had straps I could adjust,” you ask. Drawing you eyes back up to the helmet, you let the big smile grow on your face.

He clears his throat a bit and twists to look at the blade that slinked away almost soundlessly. “I... I would measure your wrist when I grabbed your arm. To move you or stop you while we were out.” You grin at him, switching the safety on so that you didn’t accidently stab him.

“I didn’t even notice!” You quickly, jerk forward and hug him. He squeezes you back eagerly but a thought occurs. “Wait,” you draw back to look at him. “This beskar, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not Mandalorian, though. Won’t I get in trouble?”

“No, it’s given by a Mandalorian. There is no issue.” He promises and that’s the end of it because he thunks his helmet a little too hard against you again.

...

It goes on for months. Din suddenly being more physically affectionate with you. It makes you feel like you can have the softness that comes from a domestic relationship, the kind you never thought you could have. He called you something in Mando’a which seemed to change all the time. It was always at times you weren’t focused on what he was saying so you could never listen and try to look it up later.

You had found a short list of terms people had translated from the lost and secretive language. Most were mean ones, and you’d only heard him use a couple of those, but never toward you... well... maybe one. But that’s not the point! You were so lost with him.

It wasn’t until after nearly dying on Hoth, and then again on whatever water disaster of a planet this was. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And when Din dove in after those fisherman launched the kid in to be fed, you ripped those black market trades apart in sheer rage. Fortunately, or un fortunately, Mandalorians arrived and slaughtered more. You were happy to not have Din or the kid drown, but your want of revenge was exponential.

In short, it was a really rough week. One of the worst since the kid had arrived. He wouldn’t stop eating the frog lady’s kids that you were transporting. Not that your really surprised, but you were at the end of your rope.

Sitting in a warm little bar was nice. Between the kid warming himself in your arms and Din’s casual hand on your knee, you were simmering down. You were pressing yourself into din’s side, hoping to leach some of your warmth between his armor. He wasn’t even shivering anymore.

After quite the shock for the both of you when the other three took their helmets off, you had now been stunned into an exhausted mode. Anger had disappeared and replaced it’s self with the same distrust you felt radiating off Din. Shock seems to be the trend on this planet because one moment you’re ready to hear about the fall of Mandalore and the next Bo Katan is twisting to look directly at you.

“I find it strange that you’re wearing beskar at a black market beskar port.” She throws at you. Everyone glances at your wrist.

“It’s a gift.” Your rumbling response is the first words you’ve spoken to her from your sour mood. She lifts a condescending eyebrow at you.

“From you I assume?” She asks Din.

“Yes.” Is his response.

“Why a gauntlet?” Bo Katan makes a face. A flick of the wrist and the blade makes and appearance. Eyes widen. “Ah. An engagement gift.” Your brain stuttered in your head.

“How romantic,” her sidekick, Koska chirps. You were waiting for Din to deny it, all the while rushing through the encounter of when he gave it to you. Had Din proposed? Were you engaged to him this whole time? You weren’t even sure if he saw you in a romantic light, nevermind him actually wanting to marry you.

“I’m surprised you accepted a proposal from a watcher. Can’t be easy to love someone if you can’t see their face.” Bo Katan remarks. Din’s head turns a little towards you, he’s trying to read you right now. He’s waiting for your response. Had he done this on purpose? He wouldn’t do it out of malace, that you’re certain on. You wouldn’t put it past him to go this long into a relationship and not talk about his feelings.

“Hardly.” Koska smirks towards Bo Katan and you feel Din slowly let out a breath from beside you. You gently nudge his side.

“But to never kiss, to never see his face, might be harder than you think.”

“She can see me once were married.” Those words shock you more than the actual announcement that you were engaged. It sealed it for you as well. This surprises those sitting across from you. The ring leader grins suddenly.

“You really should communicate better with your partner. I don’t think she realized that you were even engaged to begin with.” Din swivels his head and you bite your lip as you’ve been caught red handed.

“You didn’t?” He asks, more of a demand. You wince.

“No, but even if I did know, I still would have accepted.” Din sighs, next to you, clearly frustrated. “In my defense, the only thing you asked me was, ‘Do you accept,’ which granted is a little cryptic, if I’m being honest.” Din takes a deep breath, shaking his head at you.

“What normally takes place on your world? A gift, correct?”

“Yeah, a ring! Not a hidden blade, you dork. I will say, I prefer this, it’s much more practical.”

“You don’t know anything about Mandalorians, do you?” Bo Katan prompts.

You pass her a look. “I’d never even heard of a Mandalorian before I met him.” All three of them have amused reactions and Din just sinks more into your side. You drop your hand down to his knee.

The conversation takes a new direction after that and your thankful to not have the attention on you anymore.

It’s not until you have agreed to help the three of them that the both of you decide to take the oldest (and smallest) clan member to the frog lady’s house.

“If you don’t behave,” you murmur, bristling in the cold ocean breeze rolling through the streets, “I will allow the frog lady to eat you, okay?” you promise the kid. Din pulls you to a stop and the kid perks his tucked ears up, prepared for your betrothed to deny that promise.

“Were you pulling their leg in there? Did you really not know we were engaged?”

“I mean, I suppose you were pretty forward with me, but I had no clue.”

“You think I was forward?” he demands. Uh oh. You were not expecting that response.

“What... what did I do that was forward?” You hear yourself ask when your not sure you want the answer. Din shakes his head at you.

“The keldabe kisses?”

“The what kisses? You mean me kissing your helmet?”

“That too. Obviously, I’m not able to kiss you the way you’re used to. I won’t be able to until were married, so what Mandalorians do instead is the keldabe kiss.” His hands are placed on your shoulders to hold you in place and he leans down, thunking his helmet against your forehead. “This.”

You’re eyes go wide as you think about the many times that you basically laid a big one on Din. “Did... did you consider us being in a... romantic relationship before you proposed?”

“I believed we were, you didn’t?” What a question. Mortification filled you and you could feel your cheeks burning despite the brisk wind. “Do... do you love me?” Your chest aches deeply at the insecurity in Din’s voice. The sound that rumbles isn’t like his warm and gentle tone he usually has. It’s brittle and frail.

“Of course I do! I just... I thought we were just really close friends, that you didn’t see me in that way so I bottled it up and hid it away. I mean... I wanted to mean more to you, but I just... maker, I feel so stupid.” The kid coos with confusion in your arms as you pull away. “Din, I’m sorry.”

“Do you want to marry me?” He asks so softly it’s almost taken by the wind. You find yourself immediately folding into his arms.

“Yes, Din, yes, I want to marry you. I love you.” You murmur the last part against his cape, feeling to shy to look at him when you say it. His rigid body soften around you and suddenly you’re clutched tightly to his chest. Tighter than he’s ever held you. Ironically, for the first time all day it feels like you can actually breathe.

“Good... good.” He breathes near you.

“Can we get out of the wind for a bit?” you prompt.

“Yes, let’s go.” Not how you were expecting your day to start... or end. But there are worse endings to bad days.

Tagging:

@lxdyred, @boliv-jenta, @amidjarin, @buttercup--bee

#din djarin #din x reader #din dijarin fanfiction #star wars #the mandalorian #mando x reader #mando and grogu #mando #not yet smut

248 notes · View notes

everythingsinred · 3 years

Text

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 13)

Oh no... 13 is an unlucky number! Oh, well.

Up to this point we've seen Natsume fall in love with Mikan. This next arc is all about discovering Natsume, however, and we've pretty much already talked about that so maybe my analysis for his perspective will leave some things to be desired, which is fine, because Mikan's will come in due time! That being said, there's plenty of stuff in this arc, especially at the start of it, to analyze for Natsume as well.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Takahashi-san has dressed all the Elementary children in their New Year’s kimonos and they are now ready to celebrate the holiday together. They eat a New Year’s feast in the dorms lounge, a rare day where the children don’t have to eat according to their star rank.

It just so happens that New Year’s Day is also Mikan’s birthday. Everyone pretends like they don’t know, because Hotaru told them to leave it a surprise. Mikan is trying to let everyone know about the special day, but the New Year’s cards come in and everyone gets immediately and understandably distracted.

Of particular interest to everyone is Ruka’s card from his mother, who references Natsume and Aoi in her letter. Now everyone is in Ruka’s business and teasing him, so Natsume steps in to help, taking the card from Mikan, returning it to Ruka, and making a very good point that she shouldn’t go looking at other people’s cards without their permission. Mikan is uncomfortable, so she decides to change the subject by asking Natsume how many cards he got this year.

With that, Natsume goes cold and leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.

He didn't want to sit around watching them all gush about their dumb cards anyway!

The truth is Natsume has never gotten any letters or cards, no matter what time of year or holiday it is, and he never will. We can think back to when he told Mikan that the academy would never send her letters to her grandpa. He’d said that the school would never, under any circumstances, allow them to contact the outside. Turns out, the only person who can 100% count on that is Natsume. Sure, he and Mikan are similarly targeted in strange and unfair ways, but he will always be just a little more targeted, because he’s strictly not allowed to have fun or be happy. It would make him happy to hear from his father, to know that he’s safe. The school can’t have anything like that, so they have Natsume sit in the same room as all the other kids, watching them excitedly gush about how many cards they get, while he knows very well he will receive zero each year without fail.

Natsume wants some time to himself, understandably upset about his situation. He’s thinking about Aoi and probably beating himself up because he tends to do that when it comes to his sister and his past. He genuinely has no idea where Aoi is, or if she’s safe, and the school likes to keep it that way, so they can hold it over his head. Aoi is always one of the people they threaten, somebody he works tirelessly to protect despite the fact that he hasn’t seen her in years, doesn’t know where she is, and probably won’t ever see her again.

Natsume looks out the window, sitting on his own, and sees Mikan crying to Narumi because of her guilt and because nobody remembered her birthday. We can see pretty immediately that he isn’t actually upset with Mikan, just with his own situation. He watches her, always lovelorn. Then we see him put his hand on a little bag with a holly decoration. Because of the holly, there’s an instant relation to Christmas. We can’t know what’s in the bag yet, but eventually we will discover that it’s an alice stone.

He's just been carrying this around since Christmas at the latest. How embarrassing.

Natsume made this stone at some point. I would assume it was after his birthday party, before Christmas. Because of the bag, my guess is that he had wrapped it to be a Christmas present but had never given it. That’s understandable. He’s not supposed to woo her, after all, and giving a girl an alice stone would be pretty romantic, even if she has no idea what it means. We will see this stone time and time again, because he likes carrying it around in his pocket. Perhaps he likes imagining that he could give it to her, but never actually goes through with it. Just like today, on her birthday, he will not give the stone, but he’s still carrying it because he’d like to.

The alice stone is proof of at least one thing: Natsume is very much in love with Mikan and he knows it.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Mikan is happily celebrating her birthday. Natsume has returned to the lounge, but he hasn’t said anything, so she’s still feeling awkward about what happened.

The class decides to make mochi once Tsubasa and Misaki arrive. Tsubasa tries to greet Natsume but Natsume responds coldly, with a thumbs down. Now properly irritated, Tsubasa has decided to pull a prank.

Natsume does not make mochi. He sits on his own, napping with manga over his face like always. Once the class is finished, Permy quickly offers her mochi to him, but his attention is immediately on Mikan, who is giving her mochi for him to eat. She tries to apologize, but can’t get the words out, so she leaves the bowl on the table. Natsume can tell that she’s still feeling guilty, even though he isn’t really mad at her. She was thinking of him, so it’s no surprise that he ends up eating the soup, even if it is disgusting.

It doesn't matter if it's disgusting. He's gonna eat it anyway. Because she made it. Zoe and I joke that Natsume would eat all her food (out of his unending love, of course) and eventually get used to the bizarre combinations she puts together. He might even start liking them, who can say.

Hotaru has been invited to the Hana Hime den to be a flower princess, a girl hand-picked by the middle school principal and who carries a heavy amount of prestige and status. Misaki mentions some rumors about the MSP, namely that she locks up her favorite girls in a dungeon, and that immediately gets Natsume’s attention. He’s struck, and to a first-time reader, this might seem odd. He’s strangely intrigued by a girly flower party where guys aren’t even allowed. But he’s not interested for himself. Natsume can guess based on this new information that if Aoi is anywhere on the Alice Academy campus, it’s in the Hana Hime den dungeon.

There’s always an extra invitation ball that is given to a random girl each year, so she can also attend the prestigious party, but the chances that it would land in the hands of an Elementary student are very low.

The Class B girls look for one anyway, but their search doesn’t get too far because suddenly the kids are flying across the room, sticking to each other, like Hotaru and Youichi to Ruka, Anna to Nonoko, Koko to Kitsu, and even Natsume to Mikan.

Turns out Tsubasa’s payback scheme for Natsume giving him the cold shoulder was to put sticky mochi flour into their mochi as a prank, which will keep all the children stuck to the people who ate the same mochi for a full hour.

He was counting on her never finding out he ate it, but alas.

Mikan then realizes that since she’s stuck to Natsume, that he must have eaten her mochi. He can’t argue that he didn’t, but he turns quickly to insults to distract from how sweet of a moment that could potentially be. He says he choked it down, which might very well be true, but it leaves the question of why he’d put himself through the trouble of choking it down if it didn’t mean anything to him. Hmm. Check mate, Natsume.

Then, Mikan finds out that she’s the recipient of the prize jewel, and has thus been invited to the Hana Hime party. There’s something quite fishy about Mikan being the recipient. It’s too much of a coincidence, and it isn’t one. This is all an elaborate trick to trap Natsume in the dungeon forever, and it’s not by the MSP.

Most of the groups have become unstuck, except for Hotaru, Youichi, and Ruka. Tsubasa reads the packet and discovers that some people may be stuck for two or three days as a possible side effect. Mikan and Natsume can become unstuck, but Natsume grabs her hand and keeps her still.

He's not going to miss this opportunity, even if it puts him on the spot and is kind of embarrassing. To be honest, this could possibly unravel all the work he's been doing to downplay how much he likes Mikan. What if she starts thinking he has feelings for her? It's all so risky, but he's willing to do anything for Aoi.

He’s going to do everything he can to go to that party and possibly find his sister. Getting stuck to Mikan and then her being invited to the Hana Hime den is all just too good of a chance to miss. If she can somehow still go while attached to him, it gives him an in to check out the palace and try to find the dungeon.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Natsume is adamant about keeping up the charade that he and Mikan are still stuck. It’s important to him and he’s desperate. He would do anything to save his sister, so if it means threatening Mikan a little, he’s willing to do it. It doesn’t matter that Mikan has no idea what’s going on, what matters is even the chance of going.

Narumi returns to say there’s not a good probability that Hotaru and Mikan would still be allowed to attend the party, because boys aren’t allowed and they are firmly attached to three of them. Mikan has more and more reason to not want to be stuck when she realizes that going to the bathroom and sleeping will be tricky business. Natsume is obviously not a huge fan of it either. He’s usually cold and snippy, even when bickering with Mikan, but this time he’s yelling just like she is. He’s uncomfortable too, but it’s something he’s willing to sacrifice for Aoi.

Mikan only gets more and more upset, screaming about how much she hates Natsume. He doesn’t seem to take it very seriously until Koko, who is reading her mind, asks Mikan if she likes Ruka better than Natsume, and she responds that she does.

Natsume is hurt, but sadly it’s not anything he can’t eventually come to terms with, like every other disappointment in his ceaselessly disappointing life. For now, he’s bitter, but this is great news for Ruka, isn’t it?

It’s time for sleep, and they’re standing in Natsume’s fancy special star room. At her discomfort, he offers that they can sleep in her tiny room if she’d prefer it, but the venue isn’t exactly her problem. He proceeds to be unpleasant, saying that he’s not interested in sleeping with her either, since she probably kicks a lot and talks in her sleep. But then he’s serious, still bitter when he tells her “Sorry for not being Ruka,” and promises that the whole charade would be over tomorrow.

It's on rare occasions like this that Natsume can express even the tiniest fraction of what he's really feeling, in this case jealousy and hurt.

He really never would have done this to himself if Aoi’s safety wasn’t potentially at stake. Having Mikan be so angry at him, hearing her say she much prefers Ruka to him, having to share his bed with her--it’s all stuff he doesn’t want to do! Further, he’ll probably be in serious trouble tomorrow if he does manage to find and rescue Aoi. There’s nothing fun going on in Natsume’s brain, just worry and the skeleton of a desperately laid-out plan to save his sister.

Sleeping with Mikan is something he doesn’t want to do, no doubt, but not because she probably talks and kicks in her sleep. That wouldn’t actually bother him so much. Natsume usually waits until he’s alone in his room at night to let himself be sick. According to the chapter where Tsubasa found out about his condition, Natsume sometimes wakes up in a coughing fit until he coughs up blood. He suffers and struggles and is in pain when he sleeps, and Mikan will be there this time, up close to possibly see it.

How soft his eyes get, just looking at her. It's interesting whenever he drops his facade, like now in a state of half-awakeness, and we can see just how affectionate he'd be if he wasn't always sacrificing his happiness.

But Natsume falls asleep first anyway, and pretty quickly starts having a nightmare. He’s breathing heavily and struggling, having a PTSD flashback nightmare about Aoi. But Mikan wakes him up, sitting up, concerned for him. Natsume is barely awake, but his eyes turn soft. She saves him from his nightmares in more ways than one, like walking-talking serotonin. He reaches for her, in a state of half-consciousness, because his nights are usually awful but the time he spends with Mikan usually isn’t. Maybe combining them is the way to sleep peacefully for a change. So he snuggles her. She starts freaking out, embarrassed, but Natsume tries to reason with her, and maybe with himself too, half-asleep as he is. No, no, it’s just for tonight, just for now. It’ll be like it never happened tomorrow, it’s fine. She can go right back to Ruka tomorrow, since she prefers him anyway, and it won’t be a big deal. He just wants this for now, just for a little bit. Just while he can.

It’s sad that Natsume always thinks of these moments with Mikan as aberrations. They’re little moments that he borrows or steals just to have them for now, thinking they’re meaningless to her, but carrying them like they’re precious to him. He doesn’t think they belong to him, or that he has the right to want anything from her. He holds her during the SA class’s RPG as a joke. He tells her he likes her hair down after fighting with her. He dances with her, knowing that she’s danced with lots of other people and it won’t matter as much to add him to the list. He kisses her after he assumes Ruka already has, just so he can have keep it in his memories. And he cuddles with her now, even though she’s freaking out, because he needs some comfort, even though it isn’t his place to be hugging her. He always has to reason himself into these situations, like he’s convincing himself that he’s allowed to do this one selfish thing, just as long as she doesn’t understand how much it means to him, just as long as it won’t mean anything to her, just as long as he can get away with it.

And because he’s borrowing, the next morning he acts as though her holding him is some kind of bother. He acts all irritated and pretends like nothing happened, because he was borrowing the moment to begin with. It wasn’t his right to take it, and she can’t know it meant something. It also could be that he genuinely can’t remember the last night that clearly. People do all sorts of crazy things in between sleep that they can’t remember. Maybe his lack of sense and restraint helped him get the courage to hug her in the first place, and now that he’s fully awake he can hardly remember. If this is the case, then he's probably scolding his sleepy self for being so ridiculous.

It's up to you to decide if he really can't remember or if he's pretending. Both are possible and neither would really surprise me tbh.

It’s possible, but knowing Natsume, it’s also possible he’s pretending like he doesn’t remember. Either way, he has to do damage control, because she absolutely cannot get the wrong right idea and think that he has affection for her.

The morning brings good news as well, because Natsume, Ruka, and Youichi are allowed to accompany Mikan and Hotaru, as long as they’re dressed as girls.

It’s all working out a bit too conveniently. This is Persona’s scheme to trap Natsume, so of course it would all work out in order that he could make his way to the dungeon. Natsume might be relieved that his plan is working, but it won’t go so smoothly once they’re actually in the Hana Hime den.

Conclusion

The most interesting scenes to analyze from Natsume's perspective are the ones where he chooses to be selfish just once in a while. They're such silly things to call selfish, but they are to him. Being sweet or affectionate to the girl you love should be second-nature, not something to deny yourself, but it's what he's trying to accustom himself to. We also see just how desperate he can be in trying to protect people important to him, like Aoi. The lengths he goes to in order to find her are impressive and show just how determined he is. Going forward, we'll only see more of this kind of determination.

My sister (Zoe) and I made three playlists for NatsuMikan, just like I'm making three essays. One playlist for Natsume's POV, one for Mikan's, and one general playlist for their relationship. I've been listening to the Natsume one while writing these and it's been a lot of fun! This is my long-winded way of plugging Love Song Requiem. Good bye.

<- Previous Next ->

#gakuen alice #alice academy #hyuuga natsume #natsume hyuuga #natsumikan #sakura mikan #mikan sakura #my meta #ga #mine #ga meta #ga meta: nm #ga meta: manga #ga meta: manga nm #let's talk about natsumikan #let's talk about natsumikan: natsume #go listen to trading yesterday and maybe youll understand the pain and selflessness involved in unrequited love with a girl made of sun #also im nervous abt this arc. it really might be underwhelming in this essay.#currently i just finished analyzing the sports festival arc and i had some trouble extrapolating in a fresh way #this arc is really hard bc natsume is absent for so much of it and then after a while he's not quite as active in it #whatever! hopefully itll be fun to read anyway #i always try my best #ANOTHER SONG particularly for this essay!!!#is the run and go by twenty one pilots #hehehehe its cute

26 notes · View notes

innovativestruggles · 4 years

Text

Daisuke and Suzue’s Mutual Trust - A Mini Analysis

***(Edited version with additional information re; Daisuke’s parents and Haru)***

Hey gang, so I had this nagging thought to write this awhile back and it just escalated after I watched Episode 10. So now my brain won’t leave me alone until I’ve shared this with you.

I would again, like to reiterate that only FOUR TIMES in the entire 10 episodes of FKBU so far, has Daisuke shown a soft, genuine smile. This man has been incredibly traumatised since childhood. He is apathetic, frustrated and emotionless and essentially an asshole at best. He has lost all reason to smile. The post traumatic stress sits very heavily on him.

Considering how he grew up as a happy kid, it was absolutely heartbreaking when that happiness was taken from him. So to see Daisuke show any type of soften emotion was incredibly profound. It shows a vulnerable side to him, because that side has been severely repressed.

I don’t want to go all social workey on everyone here but I just want to explain something. In those who have experienced significant trauma, they no longer view the world as a safe place. So Daisuke’s suppressed emotions were the only way he saw fit to survive in a ‘hostile world.’ When positive emotions are expressed, it makes the trauma survivor vulnerable. How? Because in Daisuke’s case, as a child, positive emotions were associated with feeling unsafe. He grew up happily along side his parents, only to witness his father murder his mother.

So any time a trauma survivor wants to show positive emotions (be it consciously or subconsciously), they must feel safe, because it makes them vulnerable.

The only four times Daisuke showed any sort of soft, genuine, smile-like emotion were:

When he came home. Given his unstable relationship with Grandma, I can make an educated guess that returning home was not for her or mostly for her. And we are not going to include the butler because that relationship was more professional.

Directly after this scene, Daisuke proceeded to cook for Suzue (and only her). In other words, I can take a guess that he was happy to finally return home to placate Suzue’s worries and be mostly in her company.

When he made food for Suzue. This man was so proud of himself istg ... just look at him .. but y’know, we have seen him with a proud smug face before, but this one was a soft and genuine one.

When he reassured Suzue that he will make it home alive.

When he carried Suzue in the OP

So what am I trying to say?

They are all related to Suzue in some way or another.

Suzue made Daisuke feel safe enough to express vulnerable emotions (in this case, positive ones). Throughout the anime, the dynamics between Suzue and Daisuke were solely based on trust. Daisuke trusted Suzue with his life. He knew she will always be there for him no matter what.

In that above scene where Daisuke reassured Suzue he will return home, Suzue, despite knowing the dangers, trusted him to follow through and keep himself alive. There was a hidden promise in the words he used and the way he said it.

Can I also add something too?

Compare the above two scenes to the two below

What do you see?

Daisuke does NOT like being touched.

Sure, Daisuke was visibly injured in the scenes with Haru, but he was not injured enough that he could no longer fight or walk on his own. What this meant was that Daisuke did not shove Suzue away or remove his hand from hers because he was not physically injured. It meant he has an immense level of trust in her. Daisuke may have initially been uncomfortable and unsure with Suzue’s actions, but he eventually allowed her to remain on him.

(Edit:) I’d like to explain the above part a little better as I realised it can get a bit confusing. Some of you may think that Daisuke pushed Haru away because he was physically weak and injured and therefore vulnerable. Which means you may also think that he did not push Suzue away or remove his hand from hers because he was not physically weak/injured at the time.

This was not the case. Daisuke simply did not like being touched because of his trauma. How did I speculate this? Daisuke was able to fight pretty well, despite being injured, so in essence, if he truly did push Haru away because of his injuries, he should not be able to fight or function for the sake of being physically vulnerable. That would be more of a probable explanation. But instead, Daisuke was still strong enough to walk and push on, which meant the likely explanation to refusing physical assistance was: Daisuke’s trauma

Remember this. Trauma survivors do not often like being touched, particularly when they have witnessed/experienced violence as a child. They view the world as an unsafe place.

(Edit:) So in other words, it was not because of his injuries or physical vulnerable state that made Daisuke push Haru away, it was because he did not like being touched by someone who has not earned that high level of trust. If Suzue was in Haru’s place on that boat scene, Daisuke most likely would have allowed her to assist him because she has earned that high level of trust.

This does not mean Daisuke does not trust Haru. As we saw in Episode 10, Daisuke grew to respect and trust Haru. But not at the level where he was comfortable with being physically touched. That’s literally a whole new level. (And no, a bump into the ass or brush on the shoulder does not count as proper physical touch).

When you have been betrayed as a child, and you view the world as an awful place, the idea of ‘trust’ does not exist. You won’t understand what that means because you will think there is no point in trusting people - they will just betray you. It’s more significant when this breach of trust occurred as a child.

So rebuilding trust for trauma survivors take a very, very long time. They have to learn to trust all over again, and even then, they may not trust just anyone. In Daisuke’s case, he ticked all the above. To have earned that level of respect where a traumatised Daisuke would trust someone with his life, Suzue must be one incredible woman. She must be so damn important to him, even though it may not be obvious all the time.

(Edit:) I’d also like to briefly add something here. There may be other significant reason for the bridal carry in the OP. It may indicate that Daisuke is indeed comfortable enough to have Suzue that (physically) close to him.

Seeing how I have seen quite a lot of anime where there are significant trauma involved as the storyline, I can definitely see the same patterns emerging with FKBU re; Daisuke’s story.

So I would like to end it on something.

In the above scene, Daisuke’s indirect way of showing he cared for Suzue was not out of the ordinary for someone who has been traumatised. There may not be a direct apology (or maybe there was behind the scenes??) we could see, but trauma greatly suppresses proper emotional development (and particularly when it happened to him as a growing child).

So Daisuke may not fully understand the right way to make amends or how to resolve the situation. He may not even think what he did was wrong, so his way of trying to amend things (whether with an apology intended or without), was to make food for Suzue.

Needless to say that Suzue was very forgiving and so extremely patient with him. Patience, support and empathy are key to supporting trauma survivors. Fuck. The more I analyse this, the more I realise how deeply profound Daizue’s relationship is ❤️

EDIT:

Daisuke’s Parents and Haru

Someone asked me a very interesting question about Daisuke’s trauma, his father and the photo frame of his parents on his bedside table.

Without delving too much into the complexity of trauma, the likely plausible explanation would be that Daisuke still has some form of attachment and love for his father. Trauma survivors can still love the person who betrayed them, despite holding a grudge towards them at the same time. It is not an unusual/uncommon thing. This would be a lot more significant for those who experienced childhood trauma. So to me, it sounded like Daisuke loved and got along well with both his parents.

The picture on his bedside table may be a representation of what he has lost - a happy childhood, so he still kept it there, not necessarily as a reminder, but as a form of subconscious attachment he has for his parents.

Haru vs Daisuke

The same person also queried about the differing traumas between these two. Whilst it is never an appropriate thing to compare traumas, I’m happy to explain this for the sake of understanding.

Haru’s trauma occurred during a one off incident that ended up spiralling into some form of post traumatic stress. Whilst we do not know about Haru’s past, based on his personality and some tiny hints along the way, Haru most likely grew up in a relatively normal family. So Haru was able to bounce back and overcome his trauma relatively well (as we saw in Episode 10, he finally fired a gun!).

Daisuke, however, is a different story. Daisuke’s trauma is extremely complex because of the age he experienced it, and the type as well. Trauma involving close families that end up in violence and murder is one of the biggest betrayals of trust, particularly for a child.

As I stated earlier, Daisuke no longer viewed the world as a safe place. His trauma was deeply ingrained and it shaped his emotional development and his interactions with others. If you look at Grandma and both Daisuke’s parents, you can see that they were relatively ‘normal’ in terms of emotional development. That is, you can see that they showed more varied emotions and their interactions with others were not ... weird.

But if you compare them with adult Daisuke, it is very different. Immediately you can say that there is definitely something wrong with him. And I am not talking about how he grew up rich, because that is a separate thing. I am talking more about his emotional responses to people.

#i solemnly swear i shall never bring my work life into analysing character trauma ever again #but i also solemnly swear that i cannot promise this #because my brain just goes into overdrive when it detects trauma in a character #suffice to say the story creators did a great job in depicting trauma #i really love the subtle hints in it #it makes it really real #and gives an accurate representation of what living with ptsd is like #the more i do this psychoanalysing shit the more i just love daizue #their rship is just so out there #omfg #ah fuck so many grammatical errors and typos #sozzies i cbf fixing it loool #daisuzu #daizue #daisuke kambe #suzue kambe #balance unlimited

178 notes · View notes

luca-moreno · 3 years

Text

So nonna Nico wanted a family dinner before Ethan leaves the Berlin

aka ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Luca doesn’t really know why he gets pulled in along with Marie for the odd little family dinner Zeus insisted on. Marie mutters something about an insurance policy when he asks and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to him but it means another one of Zeus’s home cooked meals and he won’t say no to that.

Plus, Ben will be there.

There’s tension in the room and around the table where they all sit. Tension and long silences while they wait for Zeus to dish out the food. There’s a semi circle of phoenix and the commander reigns at the head of the table like a sharp eyed Queen watching over her army.

Luca happily finds himself sandwiched between Ben on one side and Ajax, glowering and clearly unhappy with life on the other. Then there’s Mason and the final phoenix, Luca can’t remember the name of but vaguely recalls from the Commander’s party in the club. Pike maybe? Lance? Some kind of ancient earth weapon he might have read about in a history book somewhere.

He nudges Ben under the table, willing his face not to get all pink when his knee brushes against him.

(Which one is he again?) Luca signs, trying to be subtle and knowing he’s failed when the man in question’s gaze falls to him.

“Ethan,” Ben says easily. “Sabre. Big brother,” he adds proudly.

Luca’s gaze shifts between them then he kinda squints. He vaguely remembers that from their scamper in the hall trying to spy. “Wait. You don’t look alike.”

“Adopted,” Ethan cuts in smoothly, making Luca jump. He detects something in the phoenix’s tone. Humor maybe? Not hostility, which was a nice change for once. He decides then that he likes Sabre with his pretty hair and a jawline that could cut glass – and whew! He really has no business being that attractive but then phoenix, so Luca figures he’ll allow it.

Plus he’s really good at making Ben laugh.

“Huh,” he shrugs. “Okay.”

Silence falls over the table again. Luca twitches, drums his fingers on the edge of the table lightly until Mason narrows his eyes at him and he quickly snatches them back. He’s hungry and bored and jittery with too many freakishly still apex predators in the room when he feels like squishy prey and he sinks back in his chair and huffs with enough force to blow his curls off his face.

He scoops up his spoon and tries to balance it on his nose and wonders again why he’s there.

“Why me?” He had asked Marie on the walk to the little room she had secured for them. She paused on the other side of the sealed door and gave him an amused glance.

“Because with you there, they’re less likely to tear each other apart and for some obscure reason I can’t even begin to understand, it’s really important to Nic.”

“I thought you said they were family. Why would they tear each other apart?”

Marie’s face falls and she looks sort of sad. “Brothers by circumstances, not choice.”

Luca shrugged. “Aren’t all families like that?”

“Not all. Besides,” Marie continues with a small hum. “I think you’re probably the only other person on this boat who isn’t scared of them.”

It’s not true, not by a long shot but it had made Luca laugh anyway. “Yeah, because they know they have to go through to you get to me. And you’re scarier than all of them.”

Marie cuffed him lightly on the shoulder as she laughs – definitely not a very commandery thing to do – which is just reason nine million and twenty six thousand why Luca adored her so much. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, Ensign.”

“One of the highest order, ma’am,” Luca tells her seriously, adjusting the strap on his guitar just as the door opens.

Another quiet moment ticks by. Luca is almost cross eyed by the time his spoon drops into his lap. “Do you ever think about how spoons are just tiny bowls with sticks attached to them?”

There’s silence and it stretches. Luca glances around the table and finds a multitude of pinched faces. Ajax looks mad, Ben looks delighted, the Commander looks like she’s praying to the gods for deliverance as she breathes deeply through her nose, Sabre’s expression are calculating but surprisingly, it’s Mason that loses it first.

He turns his face into Sabre’s side, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Sabre’s lips twitch once then twice before he joins in. Then Ben, then Marie, and then Zeus even rumbles something. Ajax is the only one who doesn’t laugh, glaring around the table like he wants to murder them all as slowly and as painfully as possible. Luca shuffles ever so slightly closer to Ben. Marie was wrong, he thinks. He was a little scared of Ajax. Just a tiny bit, but he’s pretty sure Ben could take him if it came to that.

“Va bene,” Zeus booms. “Time to eat. Mangia!”

It’s easier when the food is in front of them. Luca helps Ben scoop out something red and cheesy, adding an extra dollop to his plate with a grin. “I know what you guys are like,” he whispers then does the same to Ajax just to stay on his good side.

The food seems to make them all relax, but only just.

“This is so fucking weird,” Ajax mutters around a mouthful of pasta.

Luca looks at the twirly shapes on his plate, drenched in quite possibly the tastiest sauce he’s ever come across. Even Mar’vera, the Asari that manned the roadside kiosk near his father’s place on the wards didn’t have stuff that tasted as good as this.

“Isn’t this pasta stuff a big thing back on Earth?”

“Not the food, idiot,” Ajax says it without any heat. He shovels in another mouthful as he gestures around the table.

Luca looks around curiously at the phoenix assembled there. “Oh. Why? Didn’t you do this all the time back in… phoenix land?”

“That’s not actually a thing, Luca,” Mason says with a snort. “Neither is phoenix school.”

“He means Phoenix One,” Marie cuts in, shooting Mason a look.

“Yeah,” Luca nods and waves his fork. A glob of sauce goes flying, narrowly missing Sabre. Luca’s pretty sure he would have to sleep with one eye open if that glob had ended up on a his very expensive looking outfit and he gulps nervously. “That.” He chews. “Wait, what’s Phoenix One?”

There’s an uncomfortable glance around the table when suddenly they all find their plates very interesting. Luca looks at Marie but she offers a small little shrug and keeps eating.

“Um…”

“It’s… complicated, Luc,” Mason says, not meeting his eye.

“Is it?” Luca wants to turn to Ben but he’s not oblivious to the way the vanguard beside him hunches over so he shrugs and stabs his pasta and chews enthusiastically instead. These phoenix guys were weird.

There’s a little stilted conversation around the table that Luca and Marie try to carry, but it’s still awkward. Mason and Sabre share too many sidelong looks and small smiles and Luca almost wonders if everyone should clear out and give them the room. He tries not to stare and leans in towards Ben, whispering out the corner of his mouth.

“I guess the divorce is off?”

Ben blinks in confusion before Luca jerks his head then realization dawns. Ben nods his head happily. He leans in close and Luca has to concentrate hard on what he says instead of getting distracted by how warm he is and how he smells far too earthy for being surrounded by the vacuum of space. “Archer,” he whispers. “Other brother. Talked sense and cooked brain food.”

Luca has no idea what that means but he’s utterly enthralled regardless. “Oh,” he says, like it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever heard but only because it is because Ben and he really likes the way Ben’s eyes kind of crinkle at the corners when he smiles and the way his canines seem a little sharper than the average human and the way his skin-

There’s a nudge against his boot that snaps him out of it and he looks up to see Sabre eying him with amusement.

“You were drooling,” he says, then flicks a napkin at Luca’s direction courtesy of a blue haze.

“What?” Luca squeaks as the napkin smacks him fair in the face.

“Are we going to have to give this kid the shovel talk?” Sabre asks no one in particular. Luca doesn’t know what a talking shovel is but it can’t be good and he shoots a panicked look in Marie’s direction.

“No,” she says firmly, fingers white around the stem of her wine glass. “We do not.”

“No shovel,” Ben says sternly, glaring at Sabre and Luca shoots him a grateful look.

“Um, thank… thank you?”

Ben knocks his shoulder and goes back to eating. Like almost everyone else at the table, he’s well onto his second serve.

“Marie, what’s this kid’s qualifications. Is he up to the job?”

“I’m going to be polite and pretend you didn’t just ask me that, Sinclair.”

“He’s one of Marie’s,” Mason reminds him. “So we know he’s solid.”

“Uh, hello? I’m right here,” Luca snaps irritably. What the hell? He’s about to open his mouth to complain some more but Ben leans over and he’s immediately distracted by the heat radiating off him.

“You get used to it. They do this a lot.”

Sabre looks momentarily offended by that. “Ben.”

Ben shrugs and licks the sauce off his fingers. “It’s true. Because youngest.”

“Because we’re supposed to look out for you.”

Mason chuckles and reaches for his glass. “Remember that time we took Ben to that strip club for his birthday?”

“That was definitely one of our more brilliant idea,” Sabre says mildly. Mason gives him an incredulous look.

“Okay, you and I remember that night very differently, Eth.”

Sabre’s slow smile has a distinctly predatory edge to it. “Do we?”

“Wait, you took him to a strip club?” Marie blinks and Mason bristles slightly.

“It was his birthday.”

“Oh my god,” she laughs behind her hand, like she knows something the rest of them don’t. Mason grins then.

“Oh, you’ve heard this one before, huh?”

“No, but I can only imagine with you involved.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing!” Marie waves her hand. “Continue.”

“I’m not sure I should now,” Mason mutters and Luca isn’t sure if he should be alarmed or not that the supposed leader of the fiercest human biotics in the galaxy pouts. Actually pouts, with the bottom lip and everything.

“Mason let him get drunk and then he ended up on stage with the dancers,” Zeus suddenly rumbles, cutting in to the conversation. Marie lets out a peel of laughter and Mason curses. “It was a riot. Had to pay for damages before they would let us leave.”

Ben looks confused. “Did I break something?”

“Only a lot of hearts, Benji,” Ethan chuckles indulgently and Mason snickers.

Luca tries very hard not to picture what the phoenix beside him would look like on a stage in colorful strobing lights and very little clothing in case his brain short circuits.

It does anyway.

“Uh,” he manages faintly. His voice suddenly feels like it’s coming from very far away.

“He ate the foliage on P1 too, once.”

Mason exhales heavily. “Phew, yeah. Now that was a rough night.”

That seems to snap Luca’s attention back and he eyes Ben and wonders if he needs to reconsider his crush. “You’re not gonna try to eat Meli, are you?”

There’s a little chirp in the corner from the drone when it hears its name. Ben cackles. “No, too spiky.”

“So was this your plan?” Sabre looks up from his glass as he addresses Zeus. “Get us all together to reminisce about old times?” His tone is faintly mocking but Zeus doesn’t react other than to pause his eating.

Ajax lets out a bark of brittle laughter. “Just hope that Huntsman doesn’t try to make another one of his fucking speeches.”

“Get fucked, Ajax,” Mason tells him cheerfully.

“We’re all hoping for that, Huntsman.”

Mason opens his mouth only for Marie to wave her knife threateningly in his direction. “Don’t fucking say it, Mase.”

Mason throws his hands up. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he says but Luca hardly knows Mason from a bar of soap and even he recognizes that’s a lie.

“You’ll have to tell me the story behind that one later,” Luca hears Sabre whisper before pulling Mason in for a kiss.

“And there goes my fucking appetite,“ Ajax mutters, shooting daggers across the table.

Mason looks like he’s about to snap something else but Sabre’s hand lands on his knee. There’s a lowly uttered, babe and then just like that, Mason’s bristle fades. Luca was starting to understand why Marie had been concerned. Insurance policy, she had said but he’s not so sure a nobody like him would be able to do much if this lot decided to go to war.

RIP the SSV Berlin, Luca thinks. The captain will be pissed.

“This is the first time we’ve ever done this,” Zeus rumbles suddenly. His voice isn’t overly loud but it seems to carry across the room and make them all sink into their seats. Zeus scans his golden eyes around the table, skimming over each face until he stops and settles on Ben. “All of us.”

Ajax scoffs into the silence. “Fucking sentimental bullsh-“

“Maddy,” Marie hisses and Luca realizes with a start she looks like she’s on the verge of tearing up. Evidently Ajax realizes it too because he curses under his breath and sits back, arms folded tight across his chest and blue eyes simmering with ire he’s only just keeping in check.

Mason pushes aside his plate and gives up all semblance of good humor. He leans against Sabre. “The last time, at this rate.”

“So dramatic, Huntsman,” Ajax can’t resist a final dig.

Mason makes a visible effort to swallow his retort. Luca wonders curiously what would have happened if Sabre hadn’t been there. He shivers with the crackle of energy in the air, the latent biotics making his teeth ache again. It was going to fuck with his aids, he’s sure of it.

“We’re the only ones left,” Zeus continues. “Like it or not. There’s only us.”

“We’re not some fucking brady bunch, Zeus,” Ajax snaps. “Fuck this. I’ll go, then it really will be like old times-“

“No!” Ben jumps up, grips Ajax’s arm tight. “No, stay.”

“Aw, fuck, Scoots. This isn’t… It’s not you, okay.”

“Stay,” Ben sits Ajax down roughly and Luca has enough sense to shove the last of the pasta in his direction. He almost smiles as he takes it. At least Luca likes to think it’s a smile. It’s barely even a grimace, just a tight stretch of his lips over sharp teeth but there’s a collective easing of tension around the table.

“Hey,” Luca says brightly into the silence. “Wanna hear a song?”

#I don’t know but it is but this is what happens when I’m left unattended in another time zone apparently #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#scooter roosevelt #marie miller #ethan sinclair #maddox gibbons #mason knight #luca moreno #ssv berlin #you know luca went ahead and played heathens too #smh

6 notes · View notes

lost-in-sokovia · 4 years

Text

The Way To My Heart

hey there hi there ho there! this is a request from @therealapluse involving steve’s iconic compass! there’s a lil angst in here but it all turns out fine in the end. please enjoy loves!

There he was, looking at that stupid compass again. Why was he once again so in love with that thing?

You huffed from the couch as you watched him smile warmly at it briefly before sticking it back in his pocket. Hello, he should know his directions by now!

At first you brushed it off as nothing, understanding that it was probably just the sentimental attachment to it and nothing more personal. That’s fine, people deal with grief and shock in different ways. But as time went on, you found it became more regular instead of less regular. He would look at it and smile throughout the day. You were starting to get annoyed, and slightly feeling alone and unwanted.

You couldn’t work up the nerve to confront Steve about it though. You felt too awkward about it and felt as though you might explode on him about it. How could he keep this picture of Peggy in the compass for so long even after finding you?

You didn’t want him to feel bad or pressured by you, but at the same time you wanted to freeze it in some ice and ship it off to the Artic.

You snapped yourself out of your anger and emotions and smiled as Steve came to sit next to you with a smile.

“Hi love,” you greeted happily and laid your feet across his lap. You felt the round compass in his pocket and curled your toes in disgust, screaming internally and feeling a flame inside you. He kissed your cheek and patted your knee.

“Hi doll, what are you up to?” He asked as his blue eyes sparkled innocently. You forced a smile and shrugged.

“Enjoying my time not having to train, that’s for sure,” you said. Steve chuckled lightly and wrapped his arms around you and held you close. For a guy who was hypothetically-technically-kinda-sorta-almost-basically cheating on you for a dead lady, he was awfully clingy and super lovey. Your insides curled and felt uncomfortable. You were starting to be over that stupid compass.

“I love you so much,” Steve sighed. You nodded against his shoulder before swinging your legs off his lap and pulling away from his embrace.

“Love you too,” you muttered. “Listen, I gotta go meet up with Tony to talk to him about something,” you lied as you stood up and backed away slowly. Steve stared at you with confusion in his blue eyes before nodding. “You know, important Avengers stuff or whatever,” you continued to make up reasons.

“Oh, okay,” Steve said with a twinge of hurt in his voice. You gave him a quick half-hearted smile before turning around and quickly walking out of the room.

It was a bright and sunny spring day outside. The sun reflected on the glass staircase as you made your way down to the gym. You flat out lied to Steve and were making your way down to meet Sam and Bucky. They were your best shot at getting any sort of answers for what Steve was doing.

You exhaled loudly as you entered the gym. Sam was bench-pressing and Bucky was doing push ups nearby. Bucky looked up when he heard you enter and gently sat down and gave a small wave while drinking some water from his water bottle. Sam sat up and wiped himself off with a small towel.

“Hey (Y/N), what’s up?” Sam asked breathlessly. You shrugged.

“So, I don’t want to get super weird or sound like that girlfriend...” You began slowly. Bucky rolled his eyes and Sam snorted.

“Okay (Y/N), whenever someone says ‘I don’t mean to,’ it means they do mean to they just don’t want to be called out,” Sam explained. You put your hands on your hips and glared at him. He raised his hands in defense as you began to talk.

“Look, Steve has really started to become attached to his compass again. You know, the one with Peggy,” you said. The boys nodded. “And at first i didn’t really care, but now it kinda bugs me and I feel like he’s just using me as a replacement,” you explained worriedly. Sam’s brown eyes studied you and Bucky cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I know what you’re talking about. Steve hasn’t let us look at the compass,” Sam began. “I couldn’t imagine him ever doing something like that to you, but you have a valid concern.”

Your heartstrings were being pulled. Your stomach knotted and you were all of a sudden very hot. Bucky stood up.

“(Y/N) I wouldn’t worry about it...” He tried to reason. You were slowly backing up.

“(Y/N), please,” Sam said. Your eyes became salty.

“Do you really think I’m just a substitute?” You choked. The boys shook their heads vigorously. You gently backed into the door and grasped at the doorknob. Your mind was flooded with various situations and worst-case scenarios. Your heartbeat was elevating and your chest was heavy. You were nearly having an anxiety attack.

You ran out of the gym back upstairs to your room. You didn’t know where Steve was but you didn’t care. Could you really even count on him as a shoulder to cry on anymore?

You burst your door open and shut it firmly behind you, collapsing onto your bed as tears streamed steadily down your cheeks and you hyperventilated.

~•~•~

“Have you shown Lady (Y/N) yet?” Thor asked. Steve glanced down at his pocket and smiled.

“No, not yet. It took me some getting used to in the first place so I wanted to make sure it was going to stay like this before I told her,” Steve explained. He pulled the tiny brass object from his pocket and flipped it open. Inside stared a picture of you smiling happily, your lit up eyes looking right back at Steve.

A few weeks ago Steve decided it was time he replaced the picture of Peggy with a picture of you. You were his girl now, and he knew it was going to stay that way forever. No, the picture of Peggy was not disposed of, it now sat in a small box full of other pictures he gathered of special events and special people. But since you were the love of his life, he knew he was ready to put your picture in his most prized possession.

It did take some getting used to. For one, your picture wasn’t black and white and low-quality. Tony has printed it for him after Steve had mentioned his compass idea to him. Steve also wanted to be completely sure and comfortable with the new adjustment before he showed you. He finally came to the conclusion he was ready and was going to show you tonight.

“I’m sure she will be very fond of it when you reveal it to her.” Thor smiled. Steve closed it and put it back in his pocket before frowning.

“You know, she’s been acting sort of weird lately...” Steve said unsurely. He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair and sighed. “I’m sure it’s not a big deal,” he decided. Thor nodded.

“You’ve dome nothing wrong my friend, I’m sure there’s not an issue,” Thor reassured and patted him on the back. Steve nodded and exhaled.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

~•~•~•~•~

“(Y/N) you can’t just leave,” Natasha said. You wiped an eye before shoving some more clothes into an overnight bag.

“No. I obviously thought wrong when I thought becoming an Avenger was a good thing,” you snapped. You remembered when you became an Avenger; you were already an agent of SHIELD but you were different than the others. You and Steve were just barely an official thing yet and he coaxed you into it.

The rest was history. You became a valuable member of the team and you felt like you belonged. And now, since there was no point in you staying since the man who convinced you no longer cared, you thought Fury would give you your old position at SHIELD.

You zipped your bag shut forcefully and looked at Nat. She was standing in front of you with concern written all over her face.

“(Y/N), don’t let him ruin things for you,” She pleased. “I’m sure you’ve got it all wrong anyway.”

“No Nat, I can’t stand to stay on the same team as someone who hurt me I can’t I just can’t,” your voice broke. Nat had her hands on your shoulders as she frowned at you. You stared at her through blurred vision before gently pushing her out of the way.

“Let Tony know that-“

The door creaked open as you were just about to leave. Steve stood in front of you with a smile before his expression drastically changing. He saw your flushed cheeks, teary eyes, and heard your shaky breathing. You tried to push him out of the way but he blocked you.

“Hey, hey...” He said softly.

“Steve let me go,” you pleaded. Steve glanced at Nat who shook her head. You were now trying to hit him out of the way as your crying picked up. You looked like a desperate five year old at this point but you couldn’t help but let your emotions show.

“(Y/N), what’s wrong? Where are you-“

“Steve, St-Steve!” You yelled at him. He picked you up and carried you to the bed as you went limp in his arms, crying your eyes out. Anger was boiling inside you as this man was holding you and stroking your hair. He was a dirty liar and you never wanted to see him again. You wanted to so badly scream at him and hit him until he felt what you felt, but all you could do was sob.

“Shhh...” He hushed gently. You coughed as your crying slowed, and you straightened up to look directly into his concerned blue eyes.

“Am I a-“ your voice broke. Steve continued to stare at you as you took a breath. “Are you using me?” You asked with a small voice. Steve did a double take and his jaw slightly dropped. What did you mean was he “using you?” His heart dropped as he tried to gather his words.

“(Y/N), no! Why would I-“

“I know you’ve been looking more at your compass,” you sniffed bitterly. “You’re obviously more attached to her than you are to me...” you trailed off. Steve shook his head.

“No, doll...” His hands flustered in his pocket as he grabbed the compass. He flipped it open and looked at you desperately. “Doll, you’re in it now,” he said. You gasped lightly as you stared at yourself. You looked at Steve who held it up next to him.

“It took me a while to get used to, and I just wanted to feel comfortable with it before I showed you... I’m sorry, I should’ve done it earlier. I love you (Y/N), you’re not a replacement,” he said apologetically as his hand caressed your wet cheek. You grabbed him and pulled him into a hug as you cried more into his shoulder.

He pulled you back onto his lap and kissed your head. So it was you all along he was looking at. You couldn’t believe it. You made the compass, you were the one he smiled at every day.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again. You nodded.

“No I-I’m sorry...” You said shakily. He pulled you away gently to kiss your lips. You put your head against his after a moment and you sighed shakily.

“I promise to not be a loser boyfriend anymore, okay?” Steve joked lightly. You giggled and hugged him again.

Of course your picture was now in the compass. His favorite girl in his favorite place.

OKAY TELL ME IF I’M WRONG BUT I KINDA LOVE THIS STORY?? not to be snobby but like i think i did a decent job writing it??? i know it took forever and i’m sorry but things should be coming out quicker now. i hope you enjoyed everyone, thank you for your endless support! love you all!🤍

252 notes · View notes

asterkiss · 3 years

Text

Claimed Pt IX, X and XI

Summary: An attempt to make a deal with a certain demon doesn’t go as Mabel planned. “Sorry kid but regardless of the pitch you’re selling me, your soul’s already claimed.“ Wait, what?

Read from beginning here. Also being compiled on AO3 here.

Really trying to finish this off so have multiple parts.

- CLAIMED Pt. IX

Seducing a fairy king wasn’t as easy as it may appear on paper.

Mabel may be a renown flirt queen when it came to guys in her own dimension, but the Erlking wasn’t exactly on the same standing as the cute boys in hoodies and sweatpants. His beauty was an unnatural scale where the very air around his seemed to bend to his will so as not to put a single hair out of place.

Mabel had the feeling he wouldn’t simply bow down to her from a stupid pick-up line as was her normal routine. (No matter how good the pick-up line may be).

It was everything she could do in her power to not be seduced by his inhumane charm and beauty, how on earth was she meant to turn it the other way around so she could rob him?

That said, the Erlking often invited her out on short “dates” where it was just the two of them alone.

Each time he would ask:

‘Will you break your deal with that demon?’

And each time she would reply:

‘No.’

She could tell it frustrated him even if he tried to hide it beneath his handsome features.

‘You are a stubborn one, Schatz,’ he sighed, turning to peer out across the lake with emerald eyes.

‘You don’t know the half of it.’

He had invited her out that morning for a walk, and Mabel had taken the opportunity of requesting it be by the lake so she could scope her so called “exit” out, at least according to Bill. It was large with pristine clear water and an abundance of colourful, glowing plants beneath its surface. And apparently at its centre deep beneath the surface lay a gate in waiting.

Mabel would get to it no matter what.

She just needed to get this guy away from his staff for five minutes but no dice, he acted like the thing was attached to him.

‘So, what exactly was the deal I made with you?’ Mable asked, peering up at him as she tried to consider the best way to steal from this guy.

‘You and I promised ourselves to one another.’

If Mabel had been drinking she would have promptly spat it out at this moment. ‘R-Really? Wow, I, uh… I would have thought I’d remember that!’

He gave a small chuckle as he turned towards her, raising a hand to push a stray lock of hair behind her ear. ‘You were young, but a promise is a promise.’

Mabel could feel her cheeks becoming somewhat flushed at the intimate gesture. She’d agreed to marry a guy when she was a kid? That… definitely sounded like something she would do. Hell, she’d probably made similar promises with whatever cute boys agreed to it. She just never expected one to actually come and see it through let alone for him to be a fairy.

The hand on her ear traced a path line down her jawline and she shivered at his icy touch. No, bad Mable, stay focused. ‘So, you’re saying we’re like, engaged?’

‘Indeed.’

Oh God. She swallowed thickly, heartbeat pounding in her ears. ‘A-And my deal with Bill is stopping that?’

The king’s expression darkened at the mention of the demon. ‘My dear, you are beautiful.’

‘Oh, ah, thank you.’ Random change in topic but she was flattered none the less.

‘The promise we swore upon one another was important enough to be ingrained within your delicate soul. It was proof to others that you were not to be touched. And yet…’ His face twisted, beautiful features transforming into something unpleasant. ‘To allow a demon to stake claim on your soul is to allow him to mar your very innocence. I cannot carry out my promise and welcome you into my kingdom when your soul is blemished by his very touch. To allow entry of such an ugly and vile mistake would stain my very ruling upon mu kingdom.’

Mabel wasn’t sure what to say, she could only stare in surprise as he spat his words out venomously. He seemed like an entirely different person.

Noticing her expression, the fae quickly amended his face and smiled serenely at her. ‘I do not blame you of course, he is the one filled with deceit and manipulation. However, as I have said, he will happily agree to you rescinding the deal.’

‘Which would mean… we’d be able to get married?’

‘Indeed.’

‘And I could never go back to my family.’

‘You cannot leave this realm, no.’ He grinned. ‘But do not worry, we will become your new family. You will breed several beautiful offspring for us―’

She blanched.

‘―and our lineage will be strong and capable.’

‘O-Oh yeah?’ Mabel faltered over her words in surprise. Wow, this guy was already talking about kids? Talk about forward. Also, the way he said “us” was slightly unnerving. He meant that as in the two of them, not like him plus other fae here? Right?

She found herself unable to voice that question, somewhat terrified of the answer it might procure. Instead, she asked: ‘Why me?’

He took a step forward, leaning over her with a piercing gaze as he cupped her face in his cool hands. Despite the uneasy feeling in her stomach heat still rose to her cheeks.

‘I chose you for it was you who rescued me from peril many years ago.’

She stared in wonder, lips parting. She had?

‘You are my saviour, my Schatz.’

- CLAIMED Pt. X

‘Oh yeah, the fae sometimes snatch up creatures from other dimensions to breed with. I don’t know the details but something to do about strengthening their progeny and race.’

Mable peered out across the tree-tops from her window for a moment, watching the sun setting in a splash of colour. Eventually, she turned her attention to Bill currently laid across her bed looking like he owned it, arms folded beneath his head.

‘I guess humans have something they want to add to the fae mix.’

‘What would they want from me? Or, I mean, humans?’ It wasn’t like humans had special powers or anything fancy like that.

Bill shrugged. ‘Beats me. They bred with a Eldanechk ten thousand years ago which gave them the ability to see in the dark but also made them vulnerable to iron.’

She frowned. So any human would have satisfied the fae, she just so happened to be picked because she apparently saved the Erlking? With a sigh she pushed herself away from the window and approached the bed, taking a seat on the edge. It was odd to be sitting so closely with the demon in such a casual manner but her mind was more attuned to other dangers outside of this bedroom right now.

‘I really wish I could remember meeting the king when I was younger but I just don’t.’ She’d tried and tired to no avail.

‘Probably because he didn’t look like that.’

She perked up at that. ‘What do you mean?’

Bill pushed himself into a sitting position, meeting her gaze. ‘Most fae folk can’t exist in their true form when they travel to another dimension, certainly not for long anyways.

Most creatures have limitations when visiting worlds they’re not native to.’

‘You mean like how you’re unable to use your powers here?’

The demon’s expression soured at that. ‘Yeah.’ A pause. ‘But hey, I can use my powers in most dimensions! It ain’t my fault that like eight of them can’t handle me at my full strength!’

Mable snorted as he tried to defend himself which only made his scowl harden. As she stood up to walk away he yelled after her, even going so far as to grab her hairbrush. He was mid-way in the process of throwing it before his shock collar activated.

‘Gyckh-! S-Stupid fairies!’

- CLAIMED Pt. XI

Mable wasn’t entirely sure how but one day she somehow found herself taking a walk with none other than Bill Cipher for company.

The demon had been getting a bad case of cabin fever after being holed up in their accommodation but unfortunately wasn’t permitted to leave without “supervision”. Every time he tried to leave the place he got shocked.

It turned out however that because he was her “pet” the fae would allow him outside if he was tagging along with her.

There was just one condition.

‘Hey, stop pulling,’ Mabel scolded, yanking on the lead. Bill let out a short choke as he was tugged back, stumbling a step before he turned to glare at her.

If looks could kill.

But hey, it wasn’t Mabel who had attached a leash to his shock collar! (Though, admittedly, she was enjoying the whole situation).

‘When I get my powers back I will end you.’

‘If you get them back, you mean.’

He released a cruel laugh as they continued walking along. ‘I will! You’ll be swayed by that fae’s looks one of these days. Everyone knows you’re not the smart twin.’

Her lips turned at that remark and she gave the leash another yank.

‘I had enough brain to outsmart you,’ she retorted.

He didn’t have a witty comeback to that.

The pair continued walking through the woodlands that made up the fae kingdom and surrounded its small city. They had been advised that a perimeter surrounding the area was enforced by a magical barrier and therefore escape was impossible. It was the only reason they had been allowed to scamper off unsupervised by anybody else, the fae were that confident they had them trapped.

Even so, Bill wished to go check it out which was the reason for their outing this morning.

It was obvious when they did eventually come across it. Upon crossing a river, Mabel noticed that the air up ahead seemed to take on a shimmer and the air hummed with magic. The nearer they approached it, the warmer their surroundings seemed to get.

Bill stood up against the barrier and studied it with a sharp eye whilst she took it in with wonder.

She noticed a rabbit on the other side of the barrier and watched it curiously. It came up towards the barrier before abruptly turning and going in the other direction.

Huh.

Mable looked around and picked up a broken branch, after a moment of consideration she threw it.

It sailed past the barrier without incident.

Bill watched her actions with curiosity before turning to search for something on the ground. A moment later, he also picked something up.

‘What is that?’

‘A beetle. Want to taste it?’

Mable made a face. ‘Ew, no, that’s gross.’

Bill shrugged. ‘Your loss then.’ He threw the bug at the barrier.

There was a shock of electricity when it made contact, and both Mable and Bill jumped at the eruption of sizzling that permeated the air.

When all done and gone, there sat a fried and crispy bug on the floor.

‘...Huh. So my theory was correct, it doesn’t let things through that are alive.’

Mable gave him a pointed look. ‘Did you really have to fry a beetle alive to confirm that?’

‘Would you rather I use you as a test subject instead?’ he asked, arching an eyebrow.

Before she could respond, a pair of distant voices reached their ears. But they were getting closer.

Two humanoid shapes came into view in the distance, and before Mable could do anything Bill yanked her aside and pulled the both of them out of sight behind a tree. The demon slapped his hand over her mouth and she would have protested had the voices not come into focus.

‘...wonder how much longer we have to wait.’

They peered around through the thick foliage to see two fae dressed in clothing that gave a sentiel appearence.

Guards.

The shorter of the pair shrugged casually. ‘Not long. Have you seen how the human acts around our King? She’s one step away from giving in. I heard humans like to play hard to get when they’re courting, that’s all she’s doing.’

‘Hm. What about her pet though?’

‘The demon? I heard that once the human breaks off their deal, the King’s going to hand him over to the scientists for experiments.’

‘Hah! Serves him right for messing with one of our claims.’

Their laughter faded until they were completely gone, and Mabel and Bill were left alone.

Bill remained still, his hand covering her mouth. Unlike the Erlking’s cold touch, the demon actually felt warm. It was weird, when they’d made their deal his flames had felt like ice shooting through her veins but in this form he felt, well, human.

She didn’t like it.

‘Urgh! Did you just lick me!?’

Mabel took the opportunity of his surprise to jerk away from him, turning to meet his annoyed glare.

‘Are you okay?’

He faltered. ‘H-Huh?’

‘What those two fae were saying...’ She trailed off.

‘Those imbeciles? Like I’d be bothered by their idiocy! Have you forgotten who I am, Shooting Star? It won’t be so easy for drivel like them to get the best of me.’

For somebody who claimed to be such a good liar and manipulator he was doing a bad job right now of hiding his real emotions. Perhaps because he was in this body?

It made him appear even more human, to the point one could almost forget he was actually a demonic triangle hell-bent on destroying her family and world.

So she needed him to act like his usual self.

‘Wha- hey, did you just pinch me!? You little brat-!’

‘Jeez, will you give it a rest and just face the facts. Regardless of what you or those guys think, I’m not going to give in,’ she insisted, face set in firm determination. ‘And you have every reason to be on my side now. So let’s work together and escape this place, alright?’

Bill regarded her warily, they were enemies. But right now they had tougher fish to fry. Or they were both done for.

He clicked his tongue in defeat, obvious distaste covering his face. ‘...Fine. But once we’re out of here, I don’t owe you anything anymore, got it? That’s my condition.'

Her face fell at that. Mable thought back to her original reason for tricking Bill to begin with. Their whole original deal which had set this thing in motion.

She had to give that up?

Then again, what was the point in trying to fight for Grunkle Stan if the alternative was being stuck here unable to see him ever again anyways.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she eventually gave a small nod.

‘Got it.’

#claimed #mabill #mabel and bill actually decide to work together #and are getting slightly closer #also this thing is gonna be like 20 parts so half-way there #why is it everytime i try to do something short and small it goes way too long #(i know why. i like plot too much)#ff update

8 notes · View notes

merakisnotavailable · 3 years

Text

MOON

Moon- verb; to behave or move in a listless manner.

-by Srishti Shivam

(written by Shivangi)

Blinded by the tears staining her cheeks, Niki closed her eyes and buried her head in her knees as she hugged her legs closer to her chest on the tiled bathroom floor, the warmth and the sound roused by the water running down her back in the constricted shower cubicle seemed to be the last string of sanity she was hanging onto, she truly felt like she would go crazy from the pain that sprouted from her broken heart, the absence of a certain someone's embrace and the deafening silence of her apartment. Moreover, she felt incomplete, insecure and listless. Why did she have to be here like this? Why was she pinning for someone who wouldn't even spare her a glance? Why did she give someone the power to turn her into the very person she swore she'd never become? and when did it start?

-3 months ago-

The soothing sounds from the air conditioner composed the background of the dimly lit room, the only source of light being the ceiling light right on top of the dressing table as Nikini added finishing touches to her makeup before leaving the house for a much needed dinner with her girlfriends.

Niki is like a breath of fresh air in a city where everyone seems to be walking in the same direction, everyone looks and dresses the same, everyone has similar goals and they seem to be rushing towards them all the time.

Surrounded by people who wore the same dull expression on their faces everyday, Niki's eyes glimmered with mischief and she'd throw her head back and laugh without a care in the world every now and then. Nikini is a woman who speaks her mind, she is an unconventionally slow paced, charismatic woman with a heightened sense of self importance.

Niki left the house and hailed a cab at 7:30 sharp, exactly half an hour before the dinner appointment had been made; being the most punctual one of the bunch came with it's own drawbacks, and one of them was waiting. Waiting for the the others to arrive after having done everything in her power to avoid getting late in the first place! Nikini had gotten used to it by now though, she arrived at the restaurant, was escorted to the table and started scrolling through her social media while she waited for the others to arrive and this is when she starts to drift off on her train of thought.

The people she is meeting up with today are her closest friends, their presence means a lot to her and if even one of them was in pain, there was no way Niki would be able to bring herself to sleep in peace, not until she had made sure that her friend is alright now.

She doesn't have a remarkable number of friends, it's just herself and her three girls; Nabi, Andy and Arya.

Work is good, she's happily busy with her life, but one could always use a catch-up with the friends! And besides that, Niki really wanted to check up on her friend Andy, who has recently come out of an excruciatingly long relationship followed by an extremely difficult breakup.

According to Niki, her friends deserved the best and only the best in life and she gets anxious whenever they start going out with a person who makes them feel otherwise, it goes without saying that Niki was not particularly fond of the way Andy had handled her feelings or even herself through the relationship as well as the breakup, but all she really could do here was give advice or even a shoulder to cry on; She could not make the choices for her friend.

This brought her back to the one thought that has been playing on a loop in her head lately; She knows that she still has a lot to learn in life, and that the future is the epitome of uncertainty itself, however, one thing she knew for sure is that she'd never become a part of the lovesick folk who are ready to roll the dice on everything they have and who they are for the only one that might not be meant for them to have in the first place.

That being said, she first needs to get a boyfriend.

Niki is brought off of her train of thought by a tap on her shoulder and as soon as she turns around, she comes face to face with Nabi who chose to wear a smile on her face that accessorizes her midnight blue dress in the best way possible, some people are effortlessly charming and this woman is definitely one of them. She gets up and greets her with a hug and sits down to talk while they wait for the others to arrive.

Andy is the next one to come and they decide to place the orders as they catch up so that the food will be ready by the time Arya makes it. While the girls are waiting for the orders to get prepared, they make a quick trip to the ladies.

On the way back to the table, Niki accidentally bumped into a stranger and impact was such that it sent her purse onto the floor and all of its contents out of it, they both started apologizing profusely as they bent down to collect the scattered belongings; the last thing she wanted was to be seen running after her lipstick as it rolled away from her in a Michelin star restaurant.

Niki only looks up once they're done collecting all of her stuff to thank the kind stranger only to be met with the most beautiful pair of hazel eyes she'd ever seen in her life. There was nothing extraordinary about them, they just felt familiar, like they carried a glint of mischief, much like herself. But she pushed the butterflies aside, thanked the guy and carried on with the night.

This was the first time they met.

The second time was at the park, when Niki had stepped out to complete her fitness target for the day and ended up meeting the cutest Golden Retriever while she sat at the bench for a little rest, the only thing that seemed off about the dog was that it didn't have anybody accompanying it at the moment.

He was definitely not a stray, if the bright blue collar around his neck was anything to go by; he looked quite young and it didn't take her that long to put two and two together and figure out that he had probably run away from his owner who will come searching soon enough.

So she started playing with the little guy to engage him and distract him from getting any farther from his owner than he already was and almost as if on que, there was a tall figure that came calling out to the dog from a distance, the cheerful barks and wagging of the tail directed towards the said person being the tell tale signs that this man was in fact the owner of the dog who's name happened to be "Toffee" of all things.

Niki bid a silent yet smiley farewell to the dog as it ran towards his owner before carrying on with her jog, the earbuds blaring with music preventing her from hearing as the stranger out to her with Toffee in his arms to thank her, eventually having to give up on it.

The next time was at the grocery store at the corner of her street. Niki was struggling to bring down a bag of chips from the top shelf with one hand and balancing another armful of snacks in the other while she was in her favorite five inch heels, her current state was probably not very graceful to look at but her ego prevented her from asking for help and right when she lost balance, she was caught in a tight embrace, the person behind her waiting for her to regain her balance and get back on her feet so that he could let go of her.

And as soon as she did, she was greeted by a familiar pair of hazel eyes and she couldn't stop her lips from curling up in a smile that reached her eyes; Thank you! she chirped at the handsome stranger No, thank YOU!! was what he said back, and then went on to explain how he was out walking his brother's pet the other day and how he lost the dog and how thankful he was for her help; the realization dawned upon her, and she told him why she happened to remember him.

That night they realized, they were in fact meeting for the third time, they first exchanged smiles, then names and then the numbers. Niki was over the moon for she could now attach a name to the handsome face of the man that she kept running into these days; " My name's May, Maynard, but everybody calls me May."

Third times' a charm, they say; it however turned out to be a tribulation that led Niki into a relationship that proved to be a blight on her self worth for a very long time.

Her relationship with May taught her what it was like to be tied to a sallow heart, to be in love with someone with her entire being but only being entitled to a part of his heart. She was so deeply in love that she found reason in everything that he did and said, she lied to herself to pretend she was not hurt or suffering, the glint in her eyes growing dull day by day. She delayed her reactions to his actions till the day she could not take anymore and then she left.

The imprints of his touch were etched into her brain in the form of memory, and all the places they went to became off limits for a while. she became exactly what Andy used to be like; The way she handled herself and her feelings for the person she loved was not something she could be proud of, even when she was the one making all the choices this time.

And the most important lesson that she learned was that, loving is hard, and it is completely possible for the perception of a person that you've created in your head and the person himself to be entirely different from each other.

It was all fun and games till the late realization hit her like a ton of bricks in the face, the dates, the fun they had together, the feeling that they got along well and were on the same page in the relationship, the memories were all reduced to nothing until the day she fell in love and he didn't.

Here it is!!

MOON, inspired by the song, " One Last Night" by Vaults.

A huge shout out to Srishti for coming up with a great source of inspiration and allowing me complete creative freedom with the plot.

Make sure to leave your suggestions and encouragement in the form of a comment, share this post if you liked it and feel free to send me prompts for my next story!

Follow my blog;

#short story #female writers #writers on tumblr #ghost writer #writer's corner #writersociety #writersmonth2021 #writerblr #short story writing #writing life #blogger #blog post #blog owner #moodboard #unrequited love #one last night

3 notes · View notes

mugiwara-rosewolf · 4 years

Text

Alphabet Headcanons

One Piece Edition

Shanks

SFW

A=Affection (How affectionate are they with an s/o?)

Yes, Shanks is affectionate. He will take any opportunity to be near you without smothering you. He’ll have you sitting in his lap at every opportunity, if you’ll let him.

If you’re not okay with that, just having shoulders brushing is okay with him. When there’s a moment to rest, in public or private, as long as you two are touching in some way, Shanks will be happy as a clam.

Of course there are other ways one can be affectionate. So--perhaps equally as important as the action of physical touch--Shanks appreciates the value of words.

As such, the Red-Haired captain always knows just what to say in order to encourage you, affirm your decisions, to express his appreciation for you and empathise with what you’re feeling.

Shanks is also extremely intuitive. As well spoken as he is, and as much as he likes to talk, he also knows how and when to listen--actually listen. With him, you’ll always know that your being, your voice, is always appreciated.

B=Breath (What could their s/o do to take their breath away?)

Show your strength. Whether it be physically, mentally, morally, emotionally--almost any way you can imagine--Shanks will be deeply affected by the display and take notice.

For example: he admires Makino’s kindness for taking care of Luffy and her grace when confronted by dangerous bandits. He admires Luffy for his loyalty to friends and determination to pursue his dream of becoming ‘King of the Pirates’.

Whether it’s going toe to toe with a swordsman, standing up for a bullying victim, enduring painful hardships, or just going off on somebody about the importance of loyalty--just stick to your guns and Shanks will love & admire you for it.

C=Cuddling (Do they cuddle? If they do, how and when do they cuddle?)

Oh my goodness this man--this man is a closeted cuddle monster. If you thought he was affectionate before, that was just him playing it cool. When it’s just the two of you? Ho-boy.

Of course he’ll listen if you’re not comfortable at any particular moment, but again, if you let him, Shanks will plop you down in his lap. No matter your height or weight, this man will hold you and make you feel wanted--because he does.

Whether sitting up or lying down, Shanks will wrap his arm(s) around your waist and hold your waist and hold you close. He loves to feel your heartbeat so close to his--cause that’s what he loves most about you--in every possible way.

D=Dream (What do they dream of doing with their s/o?)

His dream is pretty much the same as when he was a kid, back when he and Buggy were cabin boys on Roger’s ship. He wants to have his own ship with a reliable crew and to take his time travelling the world.

The only thing that’s changed is that he wants to do all those things with you. It seems like such a small change, and yet to Shanks that little adjustment changes everything.

The way Shanks sees it--if life is an adventure, then life with you would be the greatest adventure he could ever accept.

If for some reason you weren’t able to travel with Shanks and his crew, the Red-Haired captain would still do everything in his power to include you in his life.

Postcards from Loguetown, Sake from Sabaody--living vicariously through a pirate (and a Yonko at that!) would turn your mailbox into the world’s greatest curiosity shop.

E=Effort (How much effort do they put into a relationship?)

As laid back and fancy-free as Shanks is--he does not choose a life partner lightly. Because that’s exactly how he sees them--a Life partner.

Sure, there was probably a phase of his life where he treated romance and intimacy more flippantly. He grew up with stereotypically rowdy and promiscuous pirates as his role models and mentors. It would take some time for him to realize that such shallow connections didn’t really suit him.

But once he fully realizes himself; his goals, his morals, his priorities, etc, he would treat relationships and intimacy more seriously.

That being said, when he finds somebody, you bet your bottom dollar this man is gonna Commit. Try to make you smile, try to make you laugh, be there when you’re sad, listen when you’re mad, he’ll aim to do all the above and more if he can.

If/when your relationship is confirmed, he’ll expect a similar level of commitment from you. This man is loyal to a fault. He does not choose his friends and family lightly. Once he grows attached to someone, he will do his best for them in whatever way they need.

But when he chooses a Partner, again, he’s gonna want a similar effort to be made for him as well. (In this house, we stan equivalent exchange in relationships).

F=Fear (What do they do if their s/o is scared? How do they handle it?)

This all depends on the threat level.

If someone is intimidating, boasting, or otherwise making his s/o anxious/uncomfortable, Shanks will intervene by just waltzing in and distracting the stranger in his charismatic, dorky pacifist way.

But if there’s a chance of his s/o actually coming to harm (or god forbid having their life threatened)--ho-boy.

Bitch better put some brown pants on ‘cause they’s about to shit themselves. Hands down, Red-Hair Shanks is down to murder to protect his loved ones.

We’ve all seen the footage. Shanks can be downright terrifying when he needs to be. And protecting his s/o from harm is an absolute necessity.

He tries to avoid violent confrontation if he can help it, but threaten someone he cares about and you gonna get yo ass whipped with his (1) good hand.

G=Gifts (What type of gifts do they give their s/o? Do they want a gift in return?)

Contrary to what many expect of pirates, Shanks isn’t a very materialistic person. (In utter contrast to Buggy and others).

He’s not really the type to buy every little trinket that reminds him of you. And he doesn’t expect that kinda behaviour from you either. If you are that kind of person? Great!

Shanks will appreciate pretty much any way you're willing to express your affections. He’ll happily accept anything you give him as long as he understands the thought/meaning behind it. Gift giving is appreciated, but not expected or required.

However, if/when he does decide to give you a gift, rest assured that it’s gonna pack one helluvan emotional punch (*cough Straw Hat *cough*).

For some reason I’m picturing the hand-carved engagement necklaces from Avatar the Last Airbender. I feel like he’d give you those types of gifts--small, but beautiful and immeasurably meaningful.

(How Shanks would go about carving a necklace after the loss of his arm, Idk. But this is Shanks we’re talking about. BAMF would find a way.)

H=Hugs (Do they hug their s/o? How often?)

Yes, yes he does. He doesn’t offer hugs as often as one would expect (esp. After losing his arm). But he will willingly accept any and as many hugs as you are willing to give him.

When he does hug you, it is usually him reaching around you from behind. Besides the heartbeat thing mentioned earlier, I have no idea why he does this. Maybe cause he feels like a shield around you--that he can protect you, you can support him and vice versa. Affectionate, devoted, but not smothering.

Then, of course, there’s the obligatory reunion &/or ‘thank god you’re alive’ hugs that are bound to happen when 1 or more partners lives a dangerous life on the sea.

I=Intimacy (How romantic are they? Do they have problems with intimacy?)

Oh Shanks is a raging romantic at heart. Love makes him absolutely twitterpated. He’s affectionate and can be an absolute cuddle monster when the mood strikes him.

But the majority of the time (esp. In an established relationship) the manic energy of love is often tempered by his naturally easy-going personality. Shanks is the same in his romantic gestures as he is with almost everything--he is super duper uber chill about it.

It’s the little things that carry the most meaning for him.

Tucking a wildflower behind your hair (anybody can rock a flower in their hair, fucking fight me)

Putting his arm around your waist or over the back of your chair (he’ll only do the cheesy ‘stretch and yawn’ technique to make you laugh)

Any sort of teasing or banter is fair game too, especially if you’re on the more playful or bashful side.

No matter how rowdy he and his crewmates can be, Shanks isn’t all that loud with his romanticism. The freakouts are usually before or after he’s done something grander/more elaborate than usual (Like that engagement necklace mentioned before).

Otherwise, as long as your boundaries have been established, he’ll do as many or as little of those cute intimate gestures as you’ll allow. Whatever bounds you give him, he’ll lounge comfortably within them so long as it suits you both.

J=Jealous (Do they get jealous? How do they act when jealous?)

He’s not really the jealous type. He does, however, tend to sulk when he wants your attention. Like a sad, kicked puppy he’ll pout until you refocus on him. The moment he knows he has your attention again you’ll easily be able to imagine a tail wagging behind his back just from the sparkle in his eyes.

See U=Unique for more

K=Kiss (Are they a good kisser? Do they like to kiss? How often do they try to kiss you?)

Remember that ‘previous experience’ we mentioned before? The part of his development where he thought intimacy consisted of one night stands at the tavern? He’ll probably have long outgrown that frame of mind by the time you enter a relationship with him. But what he gained from that time of his life, was experience.

Experience which serves him very well in a relationship. He’s a quick study, and thus a phenomenal kisser. He’ll figure out all the ways to make you melt with just his lips, teeth and tongue. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

He may get a bit over-excited on occasion, so not every kiss will be perfect. Clacking teeth and bonking noses are bound to happen once in a while. (He may be a Yonko but he’s still a giant dork).

Otherwise, besides your occasional snogging session and other such steamy moments, Shanks is a surprisingly domestic kisser. Cute kisses on the cheek, forehead and temple are common.

He’ll also surprise you on occasion, kissing your ear, nose or chin just to see how you’ll react. If it makes you smile or laugh, he’ll keep going. If you blush, he’ll laugh and take note. Again, a quick study, this man is.

L=Love (When do they say they love you? How often do they say it? Do they prefer to say or show it?)

The words slip out in the middle of something utterly mundane. That much is for sure. Either he’s known for a while (realizing mid-battle/mid-argument or something) and just can’t hold it in anymore--

OR--he just saw you there; washing dishes, swabbing decks, sipping sake, what have you--and the realization just happens out loud. “Oh shit, I’m in love with you…” *cue momentary panic* “HOly SHIT, I LOVE YOU!”I

When he finds his feelings are reciprocated, Shanks will feel like the King of the Pirates, One Piece be damned. From then on he’ll be boasting to everyone on his crew that he’s in love.

Anybody who wasn’t around during his epiphany will congratulate and tease him. Anybody who was there will chuckle and roll their eyes. Money will change hands and Beckman will be 100,000 berries richer.

Besides his nakama, those ‘three little words’ are meant for your ears only. In public, he’ll typically stick to those little gestures mentioned previously. Proud to be your partner, but keeping it low-key, ya know?

Contrary to what some may think, Captain Shanks is in fact capable of discretion. Not quite the same as subtlety, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Anyways, back on his ship it’s a whole ‘nother story. The manic energy of being in love mixed with his own innate dorkiness has led to some pretty ridiculous moments--all of which make his crew laugh and you smile like sunshine.

M=Marriage (Do they want to get married? If so, what kind of ceremony?)

Honestly, Shanks doesn’t mind either way.

He’s happy to have you as his life partner, he’d be happy to be your husband.

But if you don’t drop down on one knee, or explicitly address the topic of marriage, the subject will likely never come up.

If you ask, of course he’ll say yes. If you address the topic, but don’t act on it, Shanks may not act on it at first. But w/ a bit of advice from Beckman he’ll take the hint and ask.

Either way, as long as the two of you are together for life, Shanks will be more than satisfied.

N=Night out (What type of dates do they like to go on? How often do they like to go on them?)

Any time you two have together is precious to him. On the ship, through various markets, in various taverns--as long as the two of you are side by side, doing something together, he’ll consider it a date.

So, by that logic, y’all go on dates all the time.

O=Out of the Ordinary (What’s something they don’t normally do with/for their s/o?)

Those big, extravagant, over-the-top romantic gestures. Candle-lit dinners, bed covered in rose petals, extra shit like that.

Shanks is a Simple Man, like the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. So those kinds of exuberant gestures aren’t typically his style.

Sort of a continuation of the previous section--if he does try for one of those more extravagant date ideas than you know he’s up to some shit. Special occasions only. Whatever it is, you’re damn sure gonna enjoy yourselves, lol

P=Playful (Are they playful in a relationship? If so, how do they play around/mess with their s/o?)

Uhm, have you met Shanks? Man pokes fun at everyone he calls ‘friend’. Picking on Luffy for wanting to be a pirate. Drunkenly draping himself over Mihawk just to get on his nerves, the list goes on.

Believe me when I say this man loves to tease, prank and challenge his s/o at every opportunity. It’s just his personality.

Jump-scares, banter, pad puns, pretty much everything you can think of, this guy’s gonna try it. He’s gonna poke fun at you, but in a way that pushes you to improve; to grow your wit and prove your mettle.

That and he’s a generally light-hearted person. He loves having a good laugh with his crew and his s/o about just about anything.

If he’s feeling particularly mischievous, he might go for tickles, but that’s just him trying to get you close and maybe turn up the heat a little bit. Dork.

Q=Questions (Do they ask their s/o their opinion on things? Do they share theirs?)

Contrary to what some may assume about Shanks, he doesn’t always have all the answers. He is very wise, and occasionally insightful, but not perpetually so.

In moments where he is taken by surprise, afraid, or in a moment of panic, he will turn to you. You and Beckman are probably the two people he relies on the most. When he is unsure, he will ask your opinion.

Sometimes he’ll ask just cause he’s curious. He set out to travel and learn about the world, so of course he would be interested in different perspectives.

And if you ask his opinion, he’ll freely give it. He’ll give you his perspective so that you both have a chance to learn about each other.

He’s not a fake or duplicitous person, so you can be sure that his opinions are honest and true. He’ll make sure that you can count on him as much as he does on you.

R=Random (How spontaneous is their relationship? Do they do things on the spot or plan ahead?)

Shanks is a pirate. To him, ‘spontaneous’ is part of the job description. He’s not the speedy kinda spontaneous, though. The guy is known for his ‘go-with-the-flow’ attitude--like a human lazy river.

Strange as that metaphor sounds, that’s just how he is. Not in any kinda rush, just a pirate enjoying his life on the high seas. He’s happy just exploring new places with his s/o and his crew.

He’s happy chilling in the tavern for however long he wants. Following a whim at his own leisurely pace, that’s how Shanks lives his life--with a nice, laid-back kinda spontaneity.

S=Sleep (How do they sleep with their s/o?)

Pre-injury, Shanks liked being the big spoon. Usually he’d just sleep in lounge pants (not unlike his typical daywear, just without the shirt and cape).

After his injury, his sleep attire doesn’t really change, but he can’t really lie on his side for too long. So instead he usually lies on his back, letting you tuck yourself into whichever side you choose.

Since his arm was bitten off at the elbow, he can still press you closer with his upper arm if you choose to lay on his left side. It feels like the perfect nook to tuck yourself into.

You can drape your arm across this waist, lay your head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. That’s when you know you’re in the safest place in the world.

T=Trust (How much do they trust their s/o?)

Shanks wouldn’t be in a relationship with you if he didn’t trust you. In order for him to trust you, he’ll need to have a good sense of your morals.

He’ll respect it if your moral outlooks differ in some respects. For example, He and Buggy have very different ideas of what should be treasured in life & yet he still considers the clown to be a close friend.

However, as his romantic partner, it would make sense if the two of you had most of your principles in common. If there’s too great a difference/divide in your foundational beliefs, then the longevity of your relationship would be markedly limited.

Once Shanks has a solid understanding of your moral centre, he’ll give you more of his trust. He’s not really the kinda guy to actively hide anything. But as you two get to know each other, he’ll be more willing to volunteer information about himself and his life.

He’ll be even more unabashedly himself; more goofy, more charming, more openly intelligent and devoted. (The list could go on, but I’m gonna cap it here, lol).

After that, it’s just a matter of commitment and time--that’s how an intimate emotional relationship is built.

Because Shanks views romantic relationships to be a long term commitment (the whole ‘rest of our lives/death do us part’ idea is rather important to him), he is not in a terrible rush to trust someone. But he does want to eventually get to the point where he knows his partner inside and out.

U=Unique (What makes them unique as an s/o?)

He is (almost) unflappable. I swear to god, almost nothing phases this man. He hardly ever gets angry (unless innocents or loved ones are threatened) and doesn’t really get jealous either. (Have you seen this man? He has nothing to be jealous of!)

You mad about something? He’ll let you go off about it for however long you need. Even if it’s him you’re mad at, he’ll take it. He’ll listen to your rant and discuss it with you to help you cool off. He meets all of your moods evenly. No protests, no complaints, no interruptions, just active listening and meaningful dialogue.

The only exception to this is when (before/during/after) or or both of you is at risk for injury or death. That’s when his over-reactive tendencies rear up and fights are had. Though these fights are almost always from a place of either moral determination for the self or worry for the other person.

Also, this man is willing to try anything you show even a modicum of interest in. A new kind of sushi at the market? He’s down. Hiking up a mountainous island? Sure, why not. You a fan of art and crafts? Your room will be swallowed by paper cranes in three days (trial and error, he says).

V=Vulnerable (How long until they can be vulnerable around their s/o? What are they like in this state?)

It takes a while. Shanks trusts you implicitly, but he’s lived a long life as a pirate--and being a pirate ain’t an easy life to live. While Shanks is not opposed to sharing his emotions, necessarily, it takes a lot for him to thoroughly break down.

Not many people know this about Shanks, but he is just as much of a crier as Luffy is. He’s just gotten better at hiding it over the years (or so he tells himself).

But when it happens, it’s just as heartbreakingly messy as you can imagine. Waterfalls pouring from wide eyes. His hair askew with his expression crumpling. Teeth gritted and lips trembling, he looks like something broken. His whole body shudders with the emotions raking through him. At first, you won’t know how to put him back together.

Shanks is a much more emotional person than most would give him credit for. He feels things very deeply and when he crumbles what he needs is an anchor.

He’s not a broken vase that needs to be glued back together. He’s a dreamer with a heavy burden. Someone who can only carry the weight for so long on his own. What he needs is a solid pillar of a person to hold him close and tell him that he’s going to be okay--that there’s a lesson to be learned/knowledge to be gained from what he’s feeling and why he’s feeling.

After the storm passes, he won’t likely mention the incident to anyone. (His crew will know it happened anyway, they know him too long to be oblivious). But he will acknowledge it to himself. He will thank you for guiding and supporting him, but only quietly, so just the two of you can hear.

Remind him that he’s not alone in the world. Remind him that it’s okay to lean on others for more than just the daily duties of a pirate captain. It’s okay to be vulnerable.

W=Wild Card (Get a random domestic headcanon of the character of your choice)

Shanks loves to sing. He’s not exactly the best at it, but he enjoys the act so much he doesn’t really care how good or bad he is.

When it’s his turn to swab the decks, he’ll be dancing with the mop like he’s jamming with a microphone stand. When the crew get drunk together, he’ll egg them into singing sea shanties with him.

When they lose a crew member or a friend on their journeys, Shanks will start up the low chorus of mourning in memoriam. When you wake from a nightmare or just can’t sleep, he’ll sing you a lullaby. It’s this quiet little quirk that makes you love him all the more.

X=X-Ray (What would they do if their s/o got injured?)

Similar to ‘F for Fear’--if Shanks’ s/o is ever attacked or injured in battle...that bastard is gonna get their shit wrecked by one of the most powerful men in the world.

But once the dust is settled, the man completely switches gears. While his s/o is being treated and recovering from their injuries, Shanks turns into the ultimate worry-warted, mother-henning helicopter-partner.

He already has a habit of over-reacting at the oddest moments. But now that said reactions are actually somewhat justified? Poor man turns into a fretting ninny at the littlest things.

Mishandling Shanks’ worry and devoted protectiveness in these moments can result in fights about your well being and your being able to participate in any upcoming conflicts.

Once you get the hang of it, though, Shanks’ behaviour becomes simultaneously the most endearing and most exasperating thing in the world.

Please, be patient with him. He’s trying his best.

Y=Yuck (Do they have any pet peeves about their s/o? Are there any habits that might bother their s/o?)

Honestly? It’s near-impossible to get on this man’s nerves. You’d have to be a pretty big buzz-kill to get even a modicum of annoyance out of him.

He’s a bit grumpier when hungover, but even then, as long as you are considerate of lights and noises, he’s just gonna sulk and nurse his headache in grumpy peace.

One of the few things that may irritate you is his lax attitude about cleanliness and hygiene. When you’re one of the most powerful people in the world, exploring the world and constantly celebrating something with sake--thoughts of housekeeping kinda fall to the wayside.

If you get tired of smelling booze on his breath and clothes, or can’t take the ‘bachelor pad’ mess that is the captain’s quarters, you’re gonna need to sit him down and seriously talk to him about it. Otherwise he won’t even realize that there’s a problem.

Z=Zeal (Are they passionate as an s/o? Do they want or like passion?)

Hmmm...I would say that Shanks is a passionate partner, just not in the loud kinda way that’s usually associated with the word.

It’s more like a...quiet determination. A deep well of earnestness that he makes sure to show you whenever you need it.

He never wants you to feel like he doesn’t love you or doesn’t feel as deeply about your relationship. He’d put everything on the line for you.

And he’ll treasure and enjoy any passion you show him, in whatever way you choose to express it.

A/N: And that, my friends is my first attempt at ‘Alphabet Headcanons’. Three days which could have been spent in boredom instead contributed to this adorable masterpiece, lol.

Thank you to @demigodxtonio, @r-a-f-t-e-l, @kalissen, @r0r0noa, @kin-sama and @adicoon for the wonderful GIFs and thank you to @burnedbyshoto for inspiring this work with their SFW and NSFW headcanons about our favorite blasty-boi Bakugou Katsuki.

Y’all let me know what you think & let me know if you wanna see any NSFW headcanon--for Shanks. Or, let me know if ya’ll wanna see SFW/NSFW content for other One Piece & BNHA characters.

All the best

--Rose

137 notes · View notes

mostlyjustwhump · 4 years

Text

Gunpoint

Chapter 2 of Lucky’s story.

Things do not go as planned.

TW: Verbal abuse, physical abuse, blood, gun, death threats, BBU, human trafficking, modern slavery

Taglist: @shapeshiftersandfire @slaintetowhump

By the time Tyler came home, Lucky was antsy with anticipation. He strained against the chain as soon as he heard the car pull in and the door open. Tyler laughed when he opened the bathroom door.

“Hey Luck! Eager to get going tonight?”

Lucky nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir!”

Tyler unlocked the chain, and Lucky scrambled to hug him. He laughed more, hugging Lucky back. “Missed me that much, huh?”

“Mhm!” Lucky wondered when a good time to ask his question would be. He knew he still had to wait a bit more—Tyler was probably still a bit frazzled and burnt out from work. He’d get a much better shot later. Lucky unwrapped himself from Tyler’s arms and picked up his water bottle and the remains of his lunch. “How was work?”

Tyler shrugged and sighed melodramatically. “Work was work. My coworkers were a pain, but at least the workload itself wasn’t bad.”

Lucky nodded sympathetically, despite not being able to relate in the slightest. He wished he had coworkers to talk to throughout the day. Even annoying ones would beat staring at the bathroom wall and pretending to have a person’s life all day.

Tyler straightened, loosening his tie. “Anyway. I was thinking we could have linguini for dinner?”

“Right on it, sir!” Lucky scrambled to the kitchen. He put the water bottle in the sink, and threw out the remains of his lunch. What else could he do to make Tyler more likely to agree with his idea? He picked up a pot, filling it in the sink. The sound of running water relaxed his mind as he explored the possibilities. Some garlic bread on the side of dinner, maybe? Tyler liked garlic bread. He could even make a special dessert! Chocolate pudding would be easy enough to prepare, especially if he used the microwave.

He put the pot on the stove, salting the water and pouring the pasta in. A few rooms over, he could hear Tyler flicking through news channels. Lucky half listened as he prepared the sauce and garlic bread.

When he was putting the bread in the oven, he heard news that made him freeze.

“Tonight, a lost pet was found injured on the side of the road,” the local news anchor proclaimed in a nonchalant, almost chipper, tone. Tyler wouldn’t skip past this one. In the year or so Lucky had been in the house, Tyler had never skipped past the ones about bad things happening to stray and runaway pets like he skipped past the ones about wars, injustices, and the rare case of pet abuse that made it on television. Tyler turned up the volume. Did he know Lucky listened?

The microwave beeped, and he ran over to take the pudding out. The newscaster prattled on. “The pet, referred to as Reese, was found a couple miles south of his home. He sustained a few broken ribs and internal injuries.” Lucky put the pudding in the fridge to set, listening intensely. “Fortunately, his owner was quick to report his disappearance and law enforcement was able to find him before his condition could get any worse. His owner, an esteemed member of WRU’s marketing department, is shaken but relieved. I imagine I’d be relieved too if my company had such a good pet insurance policy after something like that!” The newscaster stopped to laugh at her own joke before returning to a more serious tone. “Police advise owners to install protective measures to keep pets from wandering off. Even if you feel your pet is well-behaved, it never hurts to be safe!”

Lucky let out a shuddering sigh. He wished Tyler wouldn’t play stories like that. Tyler worried about him running away so much, even though he’d never even had the chance to. It was unproductive to worry about himself ending up dead or hurt in a ditch, so he tried not to think about it as much as Tyler seemed to.

He started to plate the food, giving his owner a noticeably bigger portion. There was no time to feel sad over the news. He had a goal to accomplish, and if it involved being perfectly cheerful to placate Tyler’s worries first, that’s what he’d do.

“Dinner!” Lucky called, bringing out the plates to the dining room and sitting down. The TV shut off.

Tyler walked in, stopping to smell the air. “Smells good in here.” He looked at the food and his eyes brightened. “Wow! Looks great, too.”

Lucky smiled. He thought it looked pretty good too, especially after he put in the effort to put the flaked parmesan on top and garnish it with a few herbs. “I felt like doing something extra good tonight.”

Tyler sat and took a bite, nodding. “You’re on a roll today, Luck.”

Lucky could barely contain his excitement. It was working. Tyler would definitely be more open to listening to him now. He squirmed happily in his seat, starting to eat his own food. He wondered when he should bring it up. He figured he should at least wait until he brought the pudding out, otherwise the extra effort to make it would have been pointless.

Tyler shook his head. “Terrible what happened to that pet, huh?”

Lucky forced a bite of pasta around the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. “Yes, sir,” he said in a small voice. He had stopped thinking about it. Why did Tyler feel the need to bring it up?

“Wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t feel the need to run away. You’re too smart for that, huh, Luck?” Tyler looked at Lucky expectantly.

“Of course, sir. I’d never do that to you or myself.”

Tyler smiled. “Atta boy.”

Lucky’s mood brightened a bit again. He said the right thing! Not only that, but he couldn’t remember doing a wrong thing all day! If he asked the right way, this just might work. For the rest of the meal, he mentally reviewed all the ways he might possibly bring up his idea.

When all the food was gone, he stood up to collect the plates. “I made dessert too!”

“Wow, really? Awesome! What is it?”

“I made pudding! We can eat it when we watch TV!”

“Alright!” Tyler pumped a fist into the air, then laughed a little self-consciously. “I’ll wait for you and the pudding on the couch!”

Lucky went to the kitchen, humming a jingle he heard on TV. He put the plates in the sink and walked to the fridge. It was almost time! A sudden spike of nervousness struck him. Oh, gosh, it was almost time. He stopped, one hand on the refrigerator handle. Did he really want to do this? What if it went badly? What if Tyler took it the wrong way? He shook his head and steeled himself. It was a great idea and he knew it. It would benefit both of them, including Tyler, so Tyler would have no reason to say no.

Still, Lucky put whipped cream on the pudding before carrying out, as a last touch. Just in case that made a difference.

The living room was almost a relaxing area, with a worn couch across from a large flatscreen, but since it was the room closest to the front door, Tyler kept a gun attached decoratively to the wall above the couch. The gun effectively made the room unsettling to any guests that Tyler invited, but Lucky loved it. It was the spot he felt closest to Tyler, the spot he watched the people on TV with their better lives, the spot he almost felt normal.

Lucky settled in next to Tyler on the couch and handed one of the pudding bowls over, Tyler eagerly accepted it, putting a heaping spoonful into his mouth.

“Mmm!” Tyler picked up the remote and flicked through Netflix, looking for something to watch.

Lucky stared into his pudding bowl, using his spoon to poke at the dessert. He took a deep breath. Now was the best time.

“Hey, um, sir?”

“Yeah?” Tyler barely seemed to be listening.

“I was thinking… so, um, some people bring their platonics to work to help them with disabilities? I think, um, I think we should maybe do that.” Lucky hadn’t looked up from his pudding once while he spoke. Tyler was completely silent, so Lucky went on, hoping to fill the tense silence. “I mean, you wouldn’t have to worry about being scared at work, and—”

“Is this not good enough for you?” Lucky cringed into the couch. The spoon kept clinking against the bowl in his shaking hands. No, no, no, no… this wasn’t how it was supposed to go!

He forced words out of his frozen mouth. “Of… of course not, sir, I just think it would be good—”

“Bullshit!” Tyler slammed his pudding bowl on the coffee table so hard, Lucky cried out at the noise. “I’m the owner here! I know what’s best! Don’t you dare forget which one of us is in charge!” Tyler grabbed Lucky’s hair, yanking him forward. Lucky yelped in pain, dropping his bowl on the ground. It broke. Tyler yelled louder. “Now look what you’ve done!”

Lucky reached down, trembling, to pick the pieces up. “I’m, I’m sorry sir, but you’d be less scared, and I—”

Tyler shoved him onto the ground. His arms were cut on the broken pieces of the bowl, pudding staining his shirt.”You what?”

“I don’t want to be locked up all day!” Lucky blurted. The reality of what a damning thing he said hit him, and he started sobbing, choking out more words around his cries. “Please, sir, I...I can be useful...let me clean, at least… please…”

Tyler stood up, face twisted in harsh fury. “You know.” He raised his voice. “You know why I keep you there, and you still insist on leaving?” He laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “I want to protect you!”

“I, I know, I’m sorry—”

“Do you want something bad to happen? To wander off, get lost, and die alone? To be murdered if robbers break in? To be stolen and hurt? Is that what you want, huh?”

“No—”

Tyler laughed again, voice rising hysterically. “Well, if you have such a death wish, why don’t I kill you right now?” Lucky tensed, horror rising in him as Tyler took the gun off the wall. “I could do it, you know. No one would care. You aren’t as important as you think you are, Luck.”

Lucky tried to force his voice to remain steady. Tyler was right—if he were shot right now, no one outside the house would care. Most likely, no one outside the house would even find out. “Sir, please—”

Tyler swung the gun to point at him. Lucky whimpered, curling up on himself. His heart hammered so hard he felt like it was going to burst from his chest. How had this gone so wrong? It felt like the room was closing in, leaving him no escape. He vividly imagined bullets blowing him to pieces, and curled up even tighter.

“Oh, so now you’re nice and obedient. It’s too late for that, you know.” Lucky looked up at the man who was going to be the end of him. His vision was blurred by tears, but Tyler almost seemed to be smirking.

Lucky tried to force himself to beg, but all that could escape his throat was the word “please”. He said it again and again, barely above a whisper. He raised a weak, trembling arm, trying to put a hand on Tyler’s foot. It was over. He was going to die. Oh god, he was going to die.

“You’re getting blood on my socks.” Lucky recoiled his arm. It was covered in smeared blood from his cuts. He curled back into himself. Begging had only made it worse. All he could do now was wait.

He mentally detached himself from his body. A heart still pounded somewhere, but it didn’t feel like his heart. Eyes watered, but they no longer felt like his. Even the bleeding arm felt disconnected from his existence. He’d mentally run away like this many times in the Facility, but this time would be his last. The ability had served him well, anyway. He waited outside himself for the fatal shot.

It never came.

Suddenly, Tyler was carefully pulling him back up on the couch. Lucky’s head spun. What was happening? He blinked, glancing around. The gun was back in its place on the wall, as if nothing had happened. Tyler gently held him, running a hand through his hair as he cried. He was such a helpless mess, sobbing, covered in snot, blood, and pudding, yet Tyler, still well put together, was pretending not to notice.

“Shh. Shh. You didn’t think I was really going to shoot you, did you?”

Lucky couldn’t respond. He couldn’t even think clearly enough to string together a coherent sentence. He simply buried his head deeper into Tyler’s shoulder, sobbing out his fear and confusion.

But he couldn’t believe Tyler. He was certain that Tyler really might have killed him, no matter what reassurances he was muttering now. He knew what had happened, even if Tyler didn’t want to admit it to himself. He was sure of it.

#Lucky #Tyler #BBU #Box Boy #boxboy #box boy universe #verbal abuse #tw verbal abuse #physical abuse #TW physical abuse #blood #tw blood #gun #tw gun #gun tw #tw human trafficking #human trafficking tw

10 notes · View notes

danetobelieve · 4 years

Text

A Couple’s Home Is Their Castle || Rio and Winston

When: 24/08/2020 Who: @3starsquinn & @danetobelieve Where: Rio and Winston’s home. Summary: Winston and Rio keep working on the defenses that they’re slowly building up around their house. Warnings: n/a

Winston looked at the large spotlights that they had just finished attaching to the roof of their home. Ricky was down in his workshop grafting away at a new set of fastenings for the next set of defenses that they were affixing to their house which left Rio and Winston the job of actually installing the stuff to the house. A job that was more difficult for normies. But when you could use magic and your boyfriend had a serious degree of supernatural strength then everything was honestly a little bit easier. As Rio held the large frame of the bank of UV spotlights in place, Winston finished fastening it to the roof, made sure that it was secure and then gave it a slight rattle to see if it was done. “You know, I don’t think i could move this even if it was going to fall off,” Winston admitted, “do you wanna test it?” The bank of spotlights was something that they had been working on for a while. The idea was that they were basically security lights. Except they would shine out UV light (they were technomagically enchanted with a variety of runes and high powered LED bulbs). In theory they would stop vampires from getting too close to their home. In theory. The truth was Winston wouldn’t know until they tried it out. Which they hoped they’d never have to do. But better safe then sorry, especially when Miriam might be involved.

Orion liked watching Winston work. Considering all of the other thoughts that were constantly running through his head, this was a more than welcome distraction. And considering the whole love potion fiasco, Rio considered himself lucky that Winston was being as cool about it as they were. Even if it wasn’t Rio’s fault and Winston had insisted that the two forgot it ever happened. Rio’s body was still sore from the spawns, but he happily stood out and held the light into place as Winston worked on it. After it was completely fastened, Rio switched just group and began pulling at it, feeding only a small bit of his hunter strength into the motion. He didn’t want to accidentally rip it free, though he wasn’t sure he was necessarily in the best shape to do that anyways. Afterwards, Rio scratched at the wounds of his arms over his sleeves and winced at the pain. “This is incredible. It’s too bad we don’t know any vampires to test this with. I mean, not that I’d want to burn them or anything.” He studied the mechanism and glanced back and forth between it and Winston. God, they were so cool. “What can we do next? Please don’t make me go back into my room again. There’s only so many video games I can play.”

Somehow the sweetest and kindest person who had ever existed had managed to get themselves hurt again. Winston had all but forgotten everything to do with the love potion, although it had been tough to accept, Winston had worked through it and they’d been able to put the whole thing behind them. That was the way it had to be. Rio had hardly been consenting and Winston hadn’t admitted it yet but they really cared deeply about Rio, maybe to the point of loving him. But this was their first relationship and they didn’t want to knee jerk anything until they were completely sure. “You really think?” Winston asked curiously, “Honestly, you remember when we had that month of perpetual night and there was a shit load of vampires out there just snapping at everyone’s heels all the time, well that was when me and Ricky decided that it was time to start taking the safety of this place a lot more seriously.” With their developments in technomancy, well automating everything was only easier. “Oh, I know we’ve installed everything up here but don’t get excited about being with it yet.” Winston couldn’t help but tease Rio, he looked so cute when he was teased. “I still need to hook this up to our AI in the house so that we can literally go like defenses on or whatever and the house will become a safe zone, or as safe a zone as you can have in White Crest.”

“Of course I do! You’re like a tech genius. Anything you do is incredible.” Orion shrugged, as if this was the most natural thing to say in the world. Rio remembered back when they had first met. Rio had troubles giving anyone an abundance of compliments, afraid he was going to come across as weird or desperate. Now, Rio practically told anyone that he could about how great Winston was. It was a welcome change, one of many positive changes that Rio had begun noticing after moving in with Winston and Ricky. “Yeah I remember. It didn’t make doing things at the Scribrary easy. I mean, for people without night vision I mean. Well, I’m glad this place will be safe.” Luckily, Rio didn’t have much of an issue seeing at night. But it had certainly been creepy. He wished there were defenses against hunters they could do. “Oh. Great. So we’re staying on the roof then?” Rio crosses his arms and poured, “Guess it’s good I’m not scared of heights or anything.” He laughed sarcastically and readjusted his hold on the machine, holding onto it in case he slipped. “But that sounds super cool. So do your thing.” Rio couldn’t offer much in terms of technology and was here based solely on his muscle, by some weird sense of irony. But he supposed he could offer some suggestions. “You know, and I hate even suggesting this, but my family replaced all the doorknobs on the house with silver and pure iron.” He made a face at the idea of following something his family did, but depending on the threat, maybe it wasn’t the worst idea. “Not silver, obviously. We know too many werewolves. But maybe we can do something with the iron?”

“You’ve tasted my cooking right?” Winston replied with a chuckle, “Because not even your sweet sweet lips,” Winston winked in the most exaggerated way they possibly could to show that they were joking, “cannot convince me that my cooking is incredible.” The scribrary was going to be a perpetual work in progress for Winston, they weren’t sure if they would ever complete everything that they wanted to do with it, but the fact that they didn’t have to carry a flashlight with them at all times was refreshing enough. “We got all the lights fixed though,” Winston replied with a smirk, “so we’re definitely making progress.” Looking around, Winston shook their head. “Don’t worry, we won’t be up here for too much longer, we’ve just got to thread the wires down through the roof and then Ricky has said it’s cool if we set everything up for the connection in his room, he’s going to be in his workshop for a few more hours anyway so if we’re quick we shouldn’t even take up too much time or space.” Winston quickly and expertly began threading thick spools of wires through the hole in the roof. “Can you just like slowly give me slack on the wire until we’ve got it all through, and then we’ll go in through Ricky’s skylight because I’m way too lazy to climb all the way down and go in through the front door.” Heights bothered Winston too, they didn’t want to be up here any longer then they had to be. But it was easier to not seem bothered by stuff when Rio was around. He made it easier to be confident. “Uh, well we’ve got some fairly crude salt traps for ghosts, we could definitely include like iron and silver traps too, but I’d rather not have them in the doorknobs, it makes it difficult to bring anyone who’s fae or like you said a werewolf over without warning them not to touch the doors.”

Orion considered Winston’s statement. Sure, Winston’s cooking still probably beat Rio’s own. More due to the fact that Rio never actually tried to cook. The little that he knew he knew from cooking with Ricky. Who frequently took over jobs when Rio proved hopeless. “Not everyone can cook like Ricky.” Rio stayed neutrally, blushing at the comment about his lips and scratching nervously at his neck. Okay, so not all the butterflies were gone. But could Rio be blamed when Winston said stuff like that? “The Scribrary has come farther than I ever thought it would. So even if we never do anything else to it I’m going to count it as a win.” Of course, neither of them had any intentions of stopping their progress. The Scribe HQ was really important to Rio. Outside of being filled top to bottom with knowledge and a source of escape from Rio’s old life, the Scribe building attributed to how close Rio and Winston were now. If they hadn’t run into each other that night or started working on the place together, who knew if they would be as close as they were now. Rio would probably still be awkwardly crushing on them in secret. “You got it, boss.” Rio gave Winston a thumbs up and then moved over to hold onto the wire to help out. He loved the skylight idea, mostly so he didn’t have to stare at the ground and try to get down. “I completely agree. The last thing I’d want is for someone like Ariana to burn her hand try to come visit us. I want this place to be safe against threats. So I also want it to be safe for any of our friends that aren’t human.” It was strange, acknowledging that some people weren’t human. For as long as Rio could remember, he had considered everyone human. Undead, werewolf, Fae. But he remembered his conversation with Morgan and the one with Athena about Ariana. Not everyone wanted to be referred to as human. He was still getting used to that.

“Honestly, for someone who only eats meat or fish, I find it almost a little bit disconcerting that he is so good at cooking things that he can’t eat without getting sick. It’s like some kind of unfair super power.” Winston was honestly still glad that they were living with both Rio and Ricky. The two of them made their life so much easier then they had previously imagined that it could be. Grinning gently at Rio, Winston nodded. “I know we’ve still got tonnes of work to do, but with every step we make and everything that we do to make things like a bit more accessible it all seems a bit easier you know.” Winston shrugged to themself and Rio before continuing. “I was actually thinking that we should back up both of the databases, cause I know we back up the Scribrary here and vice versa but it’s probably not a bad idea to back both of them up just in case there is a truly cataclysmic event or something that could damage both locations, which although it sounds unlikely when it comes to White Crest I guess that you can’t be sure.” Laughing at Rio once more, Winston finished threading the wires through the hole in the roof before turning to Rio and pulling open the skylight. “After you dude, and yeah, exactly. I would ideally like to be able to turn everything on or off so that depending on who comes here we can make sure that nothing we have in the house hurts them. Just because someone is fae or something doesn’t mean they’re definitely bad but I also think it’s a good idea to have different things in place that can work with both, I don’t know, it’s just an idea and obviously all the houses defenses are still a work in progress. I’ve not got the autoturret prototypes anywhere near working yet, they don’t aim for shit and the firing mechanism doesn’t work properly either but we’re starting to really make progress on everything else.”

“Right? He has an unfair advantage.” Not to mention his human body was sculpted like some sort of Greek god. It had made talking to him very hard that first night the two had met. The infatuation didn’t last very long though, just until the two actually became close friends. It had been a common trait with most of Orion’s crushes. That star-eyed butterfly feeling mostly disappeared after getting to know them. Winston has been the exact opposite, that feeling only getting stronger and stronger the more time they spent together. “It’s a good idea. I was thinking it wouldn’t be bad to find someone else to keep hold of the information. Y’know, someone trustworthy obviously. If we start building this like we want to, we’re going to need to add in some more people eventually.” It was something Rio had thought about a lot recently. He had ideas of people he could ask, but he wanted to be really careful not to just pull in friends or people he liked. He needed to be smart about this. He wasn’t trying to create some fraternity or book club. He wanted to make a difference. “I’m not trying to hurt anyone. Just keep us safe.” Rio was slowly starting to realize that sometimes the two had to go hand in hand. It wasn’t a fun realization. Lots of existential crisis involved in that inner monologue. With the skylight open, Rio climbed down into it and then jumped, hitting the floor of Ricky’s room and rolling. It wasn’t graceful by any means, but Rio wasn’t injured. “I can’t believe we’re actually casually talking about turrets right now. With anyone else, that would scare me.”

“He’s also just a competent adult which isn’t something that I feel like I’ve ever been able to achieve,” Winston replied with a laugh. Winston raised an eyebrow and bit their lip. “Well there are options, someone like Nell or Bea or Luce could work but I don’t know if they’re impartial enough with their coven involvement, there’s also someone like Leah who’s already got her own library of information and I think that she would understand just the sort of discretion that this needed,” Winston honestly wasn’t sure if they were really the right person to be deciding who should or shouldn’t be involved in all of this, they were still so new to everything that they didn’t think that they could be impartial. “I just worry that if I have to pick someone then the obvious temptation is going to be to just pick my friends and you know that isn’t exactly a good idea.” Biting their lip, Winston slipped into through the skylight after Rio, landing far less gracefully and not managing to roll at all. “You make that look so easy, but yeah I get you. I just know that there’s a bunch of people that have either threatened me or would threaten me with death if they knew the actual truth about me -- also known as a witch hunter -- and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a relative safe haven in which we could offer people in need a place to go should everything go terribly terribly wrong.”

“Y’know? Valid. I wish I was half as competent as he was at adulting. I only got book smarts.” Orion laughed, though it hadn’t entirely been a joke. He often felt like the only thing he could actually contribute was an uncommon amount of storage he kept in his memory for historical facts. He was starting to learn that maybe he could bring more to the table. Just like many had told him, maybe this strength of his wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Leah? I know her name. Nell is supposed to introduce us.” A library? That was certainly interesting and something Rio would have to remember when they met. “I know what you mean. My first thought was Blanche. And I think she’d be great but I didn’t know if I only thought it because she was my best friend. Maybe we should make a pros and cons list!” It was one of his nerdier ideas, only made nerdier by the fact that it genuinely excited him. Winston followed after Rio, dropping onto the floor and wobbling against it. “You okay? I have uh- lots of practice falling from things. You didn’t hurt your legs did you?” He studied Winston’s legs for a minute before swiftly averting his eyes and trying to focus on what they were saying. “No. Yeah. Totally. I agree, safe haven is good.” Rio had heard about the witch hunter. He didn’t like the knowledge before, but now knowing about Winston and Nell and others he really didn’t like it. He crossed his arms and his sleeves rubbed against the wounds, a pain shooting through them. Rio was ready to ignore it before he realized that he didn’t have to wear it at all. “Hey uh- this is probably a dumb question, but…” Rio paused, not sure how to ask without sounding weird. Why did he feel so awkward about taking his hoodie off? Probably because he had never gone without it around anyone that wasn’t his family. “Do you mind if I take this thing off? It’s hurting my arms.” He had pulled his arm through the first sleeve but didn’t want to do anything without Winston’s approval. He had the short sleeved shirt under his hoodie, but his arms weren’t always easy to look at.

“Everyone has different abilities and different skills, unfortunately I think that Ricky got all of the practical and useful skills and the two of us got all the useless ones that are only good at Trivia nights.” Winston grinned. Spending anytime with Rio was always a pleasure but he was so similar to Winston in so many ways that sometimes it was night just to spend time with someone who had such similar views to them. “Leah is cool, she was one of Bea’s friends when they were younger and so I kind of know her through Nell and Bea, but she’s really cool and really nice and really really helpful. When I was struggling after Bea’s resurrection she was the one who really helped me work out how I could get rid of all that excess energy.” Chewing their lip, Winston nodded. “I think that Blanche would probably do great at it, but the truth is that she’s also my friend so I don’t know for sure if I can objectively say that, I guess my only concern is that she has lots of people constantly coming to her for help all the time when they probably shouldn’t and I don’t want to give her more tools to make things worse for herself and put more pressure on herself. I think that the scribrary is also a tool and not one that should be used lightly.” Dusting themselves off, Winston stretched a little as they got to their feet. “Nah, I’m okay, just not nearly as graceful as you.” Winston didn’t really realise what Rio had meant at first and frowned a little as they looked at them confused. It took them a minute to work out exactly what Rio was asking. “Oh, please of course, you don’t have to check with me if you don’t want to be wearing that sort of thing.” Winston quickly crossed the room and pressed a kiss to Orion’s lips. “I don’t care and it’s none of my business what you wear, you always look cute with or without the long sleeves and if you’re comfortable then so am I.”

“At least together we’re always going to win first prize?” Orion questioned, shrugging and hoping to find the silver lining in it, but he was giggling the whole time. Clearly, Rio and Winston had found a way to put their talents to use. Even if Rio’s only real contribution was an impressive memory for weird historical facts. The Scribrary was the perfect place to hone that talent. Rio nodded along as Winston explained Leah’s connections to the Vural’s and Blanche’s connection to… well everything. Rio was certainly intrigued by Leah, the girl who Nell said could help him learn more about Phoenix’s. From the sounds of it, she had more knowledge than just that. As for Blanche, Rio didn’t want to overwhelm her. And he didn’t want to ruin his only chance to get things with the Scribes kicked off again. He was positive she would make a good addition, but he didn’t want to rush anything. Not yet. “Good points. We will think on it more. We don’t have to rush anything. Especially since right now we don’t even really know what we’re doing.” That was the truth, at least for Rio. He knew they were going to continue archiving the Scribe information, but he still needed to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with it. All he knew was that he wanted to help people. They needed to figure out the how. But for now- Did Winston just say that Rio was graceful. He started snickering to himself, “Wow. I didn’t think anyone would ever call me graceful. That’s really sad for you.” With Winston’s approval, and a bonus kiss, Rio pulled the rest of the hoodie over his head and tied it around his waist. The sudden exposure in front of someone still felt incredibly weird. Weirdly enough, Rio didn’t even feel that awkward in the short sleeves around Winston. Rio supposed it was a testament to how much he cared about and felt comfortable around them. “Thanks. Seriously uh- I’ve never really walked around with a hoodie on so… it’s weird. But not with you. It’s just- god it’s so much less hot without that thing on.” He sighed into a laugh and gave a quick thumbs up to Winston, his way of thanking them for offering their support to Rio, “Okay, let’s get back to work.”

“I certainly hope that we’d always win first prize.” Winston had only ever been able to rely on their intellect in life. The rest of them hadn’t been exceptional in anyway, but being smart and having magic were really starting to get them places. “Plus with the amount of time you’re in college and the amount of time that I’m working, and the amount of time that we both seem to spend getting caught up in supernatural messes, well it is all something that is a bit much too plan to actively restart the Scribe chapter straight away, we definitely need other people to help and we could probably do with more resources then the two of us have at our disposal.” In that moment Winston wished that they had more money. Sometimes it felt like money fixed everything. Especially when it came to starting a supernatural organisation dedicated to recording supernatural phenomena. Laughing with Rio, Winston shrugged. “Sometimes I guess you have to just accept that your shortcomings are your shortcomings and move on with your life, grace isn’t something that I’ve ever possessed in any real quantity.” Pleased that Rio didn’t feel the need to keep from taking off the hoodie, Winston returned to their work, carefully and neatly winding the wires through the rafters with magic before taking them in their hands and continuing the work when they were at a level that Winston could actually reach. “Rio, you don’t need to say thank you for not wearing a hoodie, if you feel comfortable enough doing it then you know you’re totally fine doing it right, I don’t care as long as you don’t care y’know. It’s like, the people that matter don’t mind and the people that mind don’t matter.”

What Winston said made a lot of sense. The two would need more help, and they would need people that specialized in things that the two of them didn’t. Orion tapped his finger against his chin as he considered all of this. “I’ll start putting together a list. Try to figure out exactly what we are going to need and who may be able to help us, but-” Rio knew the thing that they were really lacking. Funding. “Well, I know we said we don’t want to pull in friends, but what we don’t have is money. Right now anyone that could offer to help us would be more volunteering their time like we are.” He shrugged it off, realizing that wasting time stressing over it now was useless when Rio was here to try to help Winston arm the house. “But that doesn’t matter right now. I’m going to start a list of what we need and then we will start thinking about it.” Rio settled in with Winston, what they were working on now wasn’t something that Rio could provide much help in, but he enjoyed watching them work regardless. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I get what you’re saying but all I’m hearing is ‘I’m Winston and I’m adorable and amazing and support my boyfriend no matter what’” He put on his best Winston impersonation but giggled the entire sentence through. Not that Winston would accept the thanks, because that was the amazing kind of person they were, but Rio couldn’t find a way to describe his gratitude that Winston didn’t act bothered by his appearance. It was only because of them that Rio felt comfortable right now. “So what are you doing right now? With the wiring?”

“Definitely, I can do the same thing and maybe once we’ve actually got some more time to look into this we can compare our notes and see what the other was able to come up with.” Winston knew that money was going to be an issue for a little while and they weren’t sure how they were going to solve that specific issue, but for now it was an issue that wasn’t pressing or urgent and it was certainly one that Winston could live with. “We can work all of this out soon, ideally we would be able to find some sort of donor or someone who could fund this for us but this isn’t like a university grant system and they were already hard enough to get in the first place.” Winston quirked an eyebrow thoughtfully as they pressed on with their work. Letting out a slight chuckle, Winston shrugged at Rio and gave them a quick smile. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it, ignoring all the compliments which thanks for those by the way, but yeah, I will support you no matter what because what’s the point of going out with someone if you’re not going to be there for them all the way, all the time, no matter what.” They didn’t even need to ask Rio about whether they’d do the same for them because they knew without hesitation that they they would. Focussing on their work, Winston grinned. “So, we’ve got power cables because this is going to take up a lot of power,” Winston indicated a bunch of the cables, “then we’ve got these, I’ve installed solar panels on the back of the lights and those feed down into a generator and battery set up that I’ve got in the basement of the house so that our power bill isn’t monstrous when or if we ever have to use these things, plus we should all invest in renewable resources anyway if we can…” Winston pulled a final wire out of the bunch and wiggled it for Rio to see, “this is an ethernet cable, it connects everything up there to the internet and to our computer and AI system so that everything works on voice command, at least that’s the theory.” Making magical tech work was an entirely different story.

“Deal!” Orion agreed, happy that he had Winston here to work through this with. Everything seemed easier with Winston’s help and support. “It’s sort of crazy to say, but honestly I’m not even stressed about it. And I’m usually stressed about… well, everything.” That wasn’t even an exaggeration, “I think I owe that to you. I mean, I also owe it to Ricky and Blanche and Ariana and everyone else. But with the Scribes stuff, you keep me grounded.” As Winston explained what they were doing, Rio peaked from behind Winston and rested his chin on their shoulder. His hands were flat against the ground, supporting him on either side. He pressed a quick kiss against Winston’s cheek from behind and turned his attention back to wires that Winston was fiddling with. “Have I mentioned that I love watching you work?” Rio was trying to get more comfortable with banter like this. Being able to openly compliment and flirt with Winston because the two were dating. It was still an odd feeling. “But in all seriousness, I love the idea of it being voice command. As long as I can’t accidentally voice command it to activate the turrets or something. But this is like the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“You know that we’ll get there in the end, just like with the scribrary and the house defenses, I think these things naturally take time.” Winston pursed their lips thoughtfully before bobbing their head in agreement with Rio. “Maybe it’s just a sign that you’re getting more and more mature then you already were and you’re getting better and better at handling all the stuff that the world throws at you, sure we’ve helped, but you were the one who has done all of the hard work. We’ll all obviously keep helping you, but you’re the one who’s doing the lifting you know, you can’t forget that. You shouldn’t either.” Winston gave them a reassuring smile. “But you know, you really keep me grounded too.” Running a hand over Rio’s cheek affectionately, Winston returned to their work as Rio watched, explaining everything that they did as they worked. “I’ve noticed that you love watching me work, I always just assumed that everyone thought it was boring, but I guess you not being bored by me is why we make such a good couple.” Winston returned the kiss before laughing. “I’ll make sure that the voice command to set off the turrets requires double verification or something so that you don’t have to worry about that, but considering that on some scale the house is going to be powered by a magic spell that I’ll be weaving as it goes, you’ve kind of got to bear in mind that once this all goes off it’ll feed off of my energy a bit, I know you won’t fuck around with it, but yeah, don’t fuck around with it … lol.” Winston was right back to being awkward. Great.

“Bleh. Ew. My one greatest weakness.” Orion feigned coughing and grabbed at his heart for dramatic effect. The joke was meant mostly to distract from the compliments and avoid having to agree with Winston that Rio had anything to do with his own growth and development since moving in with them. He’d rather give all the credit to his friends and the others that had helped him stand up to his family and leave. “But that’s good. I want you to be able to feel as comfortable as I’m able to feel around you.” Rio had that thought about it a lot recently, especially after the love potion. Once it began wearing off, it was so easy for Rio to say that he never loved Blanche. Because that wasn’t what love felt like. Rio was pretty sure he knew what love felt like now. It all seemed so obvious. “I don’t know how people couldn’t find this stuff fascinating. Technology is so rapidly evolving so watching someone work with it and learning how to wire things and-” Rio stopped himself, realizing that it actually did sound pretty boring just talking about it, “Y’know what? Now that I’m thinking about it I think it’s just you. I just like watching you specifically work.” Rio nodded and crossed his heart as a promise, but found himself smiling by how Winston’s voice trailed off awkwardly. Since the two had spent so much time together, the two didn’t sound nearly as awkward as they had when they first became friends or first started getting feels for each other. “Ooh. I can’t believe I’m the one not super awkward right now. It’s really cute.” Rio pokes at Winston’s cheek playfully, “No worries about me accidentally using the AI for evil. I don’t even like asking Siri to do too much for me.”

Winston knew that Rio was not very good at giving themselves compliments and they also knew that they were worse at taking them, so they would just continue giving them compliments until it was so normalised for them that they had no other choice but to accept them. That was the plan. “Of course, I do, like, you wouldn’t believe how comfortable I feel around you, you … I guess I just trust you without any hesitation.” Raising an eyebrow, Winston secured cable ties and plugged things in, making sure that everything was neat and tidy as it did run up through Ricky’s roof. “I’m glad that you admitted that you’ve just got a bit of a thing for watching me work because honestly sometimes when I do the stuff you love to watch even I am bored, there are definitely things that you’ve obviously just got to get done you know, but I appreciate you keeping me company, it makes everything a bit better and less boring then before.” Laughing gently, Winston shrugged. “I can believe that i’m the super awkward one, I know you think I’m not as awkward as you, but social situations don’t always come easy to me, people are less easy then computers.” Probably because they didn’t just think in ones and zeroes. “I don’t worry about you accidentally using the AI for evil, I worry that someone will upset Ricky and he’ll set the autoturrets on them for not being polite or something.” Winston joked, they were pretty sure Ricky wouldn’t do that … right?

Knowing how comfortable Winston was with Orion was probably the greatest compliment that Rio could receive, and certainly one that he was willing to accept. The trust between the two of them was something Rio had always wished he could have with someone but figured he never would. “Same to you. It’s good to have someone that I know I can come to with anything. And i’m glad you know that you can do the same with me.” Sure, not everything could be the most exciting thing on Earth. But one of the greatest things about the mutual comfort Rio held with Winston was that the two had the ability to work around each other and be completely comfortable and entertained. The two could probably just lie on the floor across from one another and Rio would be content. So maybe all of the actual work itself wasn’t the most riveting, but Rio loved watching the way Winston’s hands fiddled with the project. Or the way their nose scrunched as they processed something in their head and the switch in facial expression once they finally worked it out. Watching Winston’s break work through their passion was sort of incredible. “I’m here to hang out whenever you want company. And I can also dip whenever you need time to focus.” It wouldn’t hurt Rio’s feelings. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, we can’t all be like Ricky. Or Nell. Or any of the other social butterflies. But I think you have a certain charm with people. Even if you don’t think you do.” A lot of people in town seemed to know them and like them, so Winston must have been doing something right. Rio chuckled at the thought of Ricky messing with the turrets, mostly because he knew that Winston was joking and probably wasn’t serious. At least mostly. “Yeah well, let’s just keep an ear out for that to be sure. Otherwise, I think you’ve got a really good start. I feel safer already.”

#wickedswriting #p: orion #para #chatzy #chatzy para #a couple's home is their castle

10 notes · View notes

kaffeinic · 5 years

Text

Stray Kids Doctor!AU

Skz doctor! Au with some kind of romance please as a reaction

- Anon

I’m not entirely sure how to make this a reaction without a specific scenario, so I’ve turned it into more of a headcannon thing. Hope you enjoy!

ALSOOOOO I’m sorry that some members entries are much shorter than others. I tried my best, it’s not a bias. 😊 If you so happen to find gifs of the members in their doctor jackets, please send them to me~!

Bang Chan

Definitely going to be Chief of Medicine

I say this because the Chief is typically the one with the most experience and is highly capable of teaching the other doctors in the hospital

Which we know he would do on a moment’s notice

Probably specialize in diagnostics or orthopedics

And I say this because he seems to piece together many ideas really well

Which is great for diagnostics

And as for orthopedics....

You’re gonna kill me for this joke but

“I’m just a nice guy who has a lot of money.”

Sorry *cough*

Called in for the more difficult cases because he still needs to manage everyone else and can’t dwell on simple matters

Everyone looks up to him and comes to him for help

Whether it’s personal or professional

He’s always glad to help

Always the one clocking in the most hours in the hospital

Because, as we all know

This boy runs off of nothing but oxygen and cherries

Because they “reduce the risk of cancer”

Part of me wanted to make Chan a sleep medicine specialist

If you know

You know

Woojin

I’d say he could be an amazing oncologist

Why?

I know that I don’t have a way of knowing this for sure

But I feel like he’s good at giving news in a calming way

Whether it’s good news or bad

And there’s a lot of bad news in oncology

(For those who are a little lost, oncologists specialize in cancer.)

He is also a very dedicated person

And oncology patients tend to be in and out of the hospital for years

The only thing I’m not sure how well he could handle is the deaths

This boy would probably get attached

Even if he’s trying not to

But aside from that

I see him being an awesome oncologist

Lee Know

He was kind of difficult for me if I’m being perfectly honest

Most things I thought of for Minho I already chose for someone else lol

In the end

I think he could be a good ophthalmologist

(An eye doctor.)

First off

And probably the least important part

The patients would have no problem looking at this man for long periods of time in an appointment

*ahem*

Secondly

Ophthalmologists deal with a large range of ages in patients

I can see Minho getting an impatient middle aged businessman out quickly

And I can also see him being gentle and patient for a ten year old who is scared of the big machines

If anyone feels a little insecure because they need glasses

I know I do

I feel like he would notice immediately and give them a well-mannered compliment

Which would help a lot

All in all

Very good at his job

Changbin

He would make a phenomenal physiatrist

(Physical medicine and rehabilitation)

I say this because he is constantly working out

So he knows how to do it without hurting himself

I feel like he would happily teach others

He would patiently help someone get on their feet after a strenuous surgery

He would be ready for the long haul with a patient who needs an extreme amount of help

He’s strong af so he could catch someone before they fall

Which sounds all romance-y without me trying to make it sound like that

He would work out alongside you so that you don’t feel singled out or alone

After the patient’s recovery

He would be beaming if he bumped into you again at the gym

High key proud of you and of himself for the fact that you’re still going

Hyunjin

For Hyunjinnie, I’d say pathology

He’s not too outgoing

As I’ve said before lol

And many pathologists spend hours in dark rooms looking through microscopes

Not gonna lie, I almost posted this with the word telescope instead of microscope lmao

He would be very attentive with his work

Which he would need to be because we all know he would have many admirers

Again, another reason he would enjoy pathology

The lab would become one of his favourite places because of this

His coworkers would really respect him because of his accuracy

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him reading books a lot in the back of rooms

Which I’m sure he would do during his lunch break

Even on his break, if someone comes up to him needing results quickly

He would run back in the lab to help

Because that’s just who he is

Han

1000%

Pediatrician or family medicine

He’s just so warm and inviting

This works well for most children

And puts most others at ease which is important

It’s also known that Jisung is very dedicated to his work and can concentrate really well

So it’s a nice duality

He can act all crazy and energetic to make people happy

Then turn around and stare and a clipboard for twenty minutes figuring something out without breaking concentration

I also get the feeling he can work really quickly which is good when large families want to get out of the hospital

I’m so sorry that this one is so short, I can’t think of anything else 😭

Felix

Dr. Felix Lee

The psychologist

He just seems SO easy to talk to

Whenever I read things that fans have said about him from fansigns

He seems to help them open up in a short amount of time and they leave happily

It just screams psychology to me

He could even get those stubborn patients who don’t want to be there to open up

He would also be good at psychology because he is not quick to dismiss others’ problems

It really makes it hard to want to talk to your psychologist if they make you uncomfortable by constantly dismissing you

At the same time

He will be able to be an unbiased third party and get to the bottom of your issues

Whether it’s something that requires medication

Or just a change by you and your behavior

Regardless

He would help you through it and make sure that you’re ready for the world

As a side note

Imagine randomly bumping into him at the store between meetings

He’d probably crack a dumb face and make you laugh before carrying on

Which would make you that much more comfortable at your next session

Seungmin

Don’t @ me on this because I’m not 100% sure

But I feel like with the way Seungmin acts

And how smart he seems

He must be really good at math

Which leads me to believe he would be a great anesthesiologist

Why?

Anesthesiologists have to constantly calculate just how much of each drug to put in the syringe to keep someone knocked out for the entire surgery

One slip up and things could go a little sideways

He also doesn’t seem too overly outgoing

And most anesthesiologists don’t really interact with the patients or their families much

As far as I know lol

And I feel like he could low key keep people a little entertained during the surgery

By which I mean making some sly jokes

Because this boy can be a savage

And sometimes a patient is just a little too much

He definitely wouldn’t speak out of turn though

Extremely respectful to his superiors

For this, most of them like him

Which is definitely advantageous

I.N

I know a lot of people said Jeongin should be a pediatrician

But I just don’t see it

For only one reason

Unless this cutie is smiling

He looks like he could frickin murder you

(Not an insult btw I think it looks cool.)

Anyway, that just doesn’t seem good for a pediatrician

Which brings me to say that he might do well in geriatric medicine

(To explain, medicine for the elderly)

The elderly still require the gentleness that children do

But they’re much less likely to get scared away just because someone doesn’t automatically look warm and inviting

As we all know

This boy is so sweet

All the grandmas would love squishing his cheeks

And he would happily oblige

Because he’s just so darn cute

* DISCLAIMER: I do not own any gifs/photos used in this post. I do own the written content. Do NOT repost/edit. *

55 notes · View notes

phagechildon · 5 years

Text

That Which is Human - Chapter 6

Sorry I couldn't upload for a bit! The holidays were crazy and I ran into some personal problems x.x Thank you @kanamizaki for being very kind and editing this chapter for me~! I kept deleting large portions and they came to my rescue x.x Trigger warnings for this chapter: suicidal thoughts, guns, and someone being shot

Read on AO3

Tumblr Links: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

----

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” Matoba bowed to his most secretive business partner, his black tie dangling annoyingly away from his body. He couldn’t find himself to care much though. They were lucky he put his black suit on in the first place.

“Of course, anything for the head of the Matoba clan,” the Onabyn, who was the leader of the Yakuza said with a welcoming smile as the two bodyguards on each side of him returned the bow. Last time Matoba saw them, he exorcised two very dark youkai that someone deliberately attached to them; it seems they were still grateful. “What can I do for you, Seiji Matoba?”

“I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll get to the point,” he said, not sitting down as another guard pulled a chair out for him. “A very powerful ally of mine is being targeted by someone in your group. I need those orders cancelled immediately.”

The boss’s eyes widened in both shock and fear, though Matoba wasn’t sure what the man feared more: the fact that they targeted someone very important to him or the fact that he had to cancel an order because someone outside the Yakuza was demanding him to.

“I-I see, I’m afraid some orders are harder to cancel than others,” the boss carefully said, obviously trying really hard not to upset him. It was kind of amusing to watch him battle against pride and fear as they both knew there was only one right answer. “What’s this ally’s name?”

“Takashi Natsume,” Matoba said as another bodyguard brought a small computer over. The boss wasted no time typing the name in, his eyes filling with confusion.

“You said Takashi Natsume, right?”

“Yes,” he said, disappointed that the boss wasn’t smart enough to put the pieces together. Someone was only useful and worth saving if they had value, which was something they liked to discuss at length. If he considered Natsume to be worth saving, then he should’ve realized the child probably saw youkai too. It seemed like the Boss’s pride was winning over reason. Maybe a threatening push would bring him back to his senses. “His uncle Teppei Hojo is the one who hired someone to kidnap, torture, and murder him. Thankfully for you, he survived unless we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

The boss grew pale at the threat as he gulped nervously, seeming to catch himself. “I agree. If we had known he was such an important ally to you, we would’ve never approved the mission in the first place. I’m terribly sorry for the mix up. As things stand, I see new orders for his nurse to keep him sedated with meds until the therapist and officer gets there to hand him back over to the Disposal Team. But these orders… they’re nearly a day old. The officer and therapist may have gotten to him already.” Matoba’s eye narrowed, his whole demeanor instantly darkening.

“Then call and order them to stop immediately. I will not tolerate this mission progressing any further.”

“Y-yes, of course,” the boss fumbled for his phone, his bodyguards nervously looking at each other, not sure what to do. Against someone like Matoba, who could see and control what couldn’t be seen, they didn’t stand a chance. “Dammit!” The boss cursed as the call went to voicemail, not even bothering to leave one as he redialed. Matoba frowned, having a feeling they wouldn’t answer. “Dammit, pick up the damned phone!”

“Is the Disposal Team the ones that originally took Natsume?” He asked, to which the Boss nodded, trying to get a hold of another person. “Where do they conduct their business? I’ll personally go down there and pick Natsume up myself.” There was no way those youkai would let someone take Natsume, but the Boss didn’t need to know that. However, he was very interested in the youkai he saw in the vision. He could kill two birds with one stone by visiting the person who was ordered to ‘take care’ of Natsume.

The Boss grew a bit pale as he diverted his attention back to the computer. “It’s… complicated,” he hesitantly said. “We have the address, and know the general area, but no one’s ever been able to actually find the place. Usually we have to meet up somewhere in town or at one of our villas.”

They had a hard time finding them? For some reason he had a sinking feeling it had something to do with the youkai. That powerful cat of Natsumes would’ve found him within a day, yet he didn’t. There had to be a good reason behind that.

“Give me the information anyway. If I can’t find it I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

----

It’s quiet, he realized as he felt himself stirring again. It hasn’t been this quiet in a while, it was honestly a bit unnerving. Nothing could’ve happened though, not with everyone watching over him.

“Oh, he’s waking up,” he heard a nearly foreign voice comment, making him stiffen. Who was this, and why was he in his room?

“My my, he was only asleep for three hours this time. Hopefully you guys can ease his mind so he can fully rest again.” Touko said, convincing him to slowly open his eyes. Like the past few times, the lights were dimmed as he saw Touko still standing at his bedside as Detective Oishi and Investigator Akasaka stood at the foot of his bed. Upon seeing his gaze the two smiled warmly, though there was an overwhelming sadness and guilt in their eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Detective Oishi asked, Touko smiling at him happily. Natsume couldn’t help the happiness that swelled in his chest. They listened to him - of course they'd listen to him.

“Okay,” he quietly said, his eyes drifting to Nyanko Sensei who was still in his true form with his eyes closed. Somehow Natsume knew he wasn’t sleeping, which made him feel safer. As long as Sensei was there, he knew everything would be okay.

“Good, then Mrs Touko, we’ll call you back in once we finish,” Detective Oishi said, to which she nodded.

“We’ll be right outside, Takashi,” she reassured as she squeezed his hand, unable to hide the worry in her tired brown eyes.

“Thank you,” he said, feeling a bit sad as she let go of his hand.

When she closed the door behind her, the two moved to where she had been before, their faces growing a bit grim. “We want to be frank with you, especially after everything you’ve been through,” Oishi started, making Natsume gulp a bit nervously. “Protocol wasn’t followed at all. Typically you’re questioned before you’re introduced to a lot of outside people, even your family members to ensure no one influences your statement. Your coma made things a bit difficult, but even so, once you were awake, they should’ve cleared everyone out until the officer on duty was available to take your statement. However, the officers assigned to you never took a statement and, from what I’ve heard, weren’t really here at all. After doing some digging, we learned they were part of the Yakuza.” Natsume felt his heart stop as he clenched the bedsheets, fear coursing through him. Those guards had been members of the Yakuza the whole time??

Lightning lit up the sky as thunder shook the ground. Natsume felt his eyes widen in terror as his whole body locked up, letting his bare swollen feet sink in the runny mud. A loud squeak to his right snapped him back into reality as a weight pulled on his right hand, nearly knocking him off balance. His eyes quickly focused on the small child who was nearly as horribly beat as he was.

“A-are you okay?” His shaky voice managed to ask. The child opened his mouth, thunder echoing with his lips. Natsume felt his heart quicken, his own lips trembling with his soaked and bloody body.

‘Lightning is worse, you know.’

No - he couldn’t freeze up here, not when this child’s life was literally in his hands. The chances of lightning hitting him while down on the ground was significantly less than when he was on Sensei’s back. Someone in his situation had to be truly cursed to incur such wrath.

“I-I’m fine,” the boy whimpered back, those dark brown eyes looking into his with worry. “Are you?”

Natsume felt himself flinch at the question, his face contorting in shock. That was a genuine question from someone who spent the past day or so in hell with him. Any other typical kid would’ve focused on himself, but not Toshiki.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said with a soft smile the rain easily smeared away. “Let’s go.”

Pulling his foot out of the mud, he took another step forward, his heart stopping upon hearing the child let out a short pained cry. Pivoting around, he saw Toshiki leaning on one foot as one of his small bruised arms reached down towards his ankle.

The mud caked skin was turning slightly red and purple, indicating an injury. It was injured before, did he twist and hurt it again just now? Walking on it would only make it worse. If something happened to him, Toshiki needed to be able to escape.

“Stop,” he ordered, seeing the other try taking another step forward. Upon his command, Toshiki jumped, his cautious brown eyes staring into his own. That look of pure terror made Natsume sigh, knowing his own eyes probably held the same expression when he was caught off guard.

Kneeling to the ground, he turned so his back was facing the child. The purposeful knife wounds along his inner thighs were screaming at him, but he ignored it. They didn’t have a lot of time. They weren’t deep enough to make him bleed out. “Get on.”

“Wh-what? No, I-I can walk!”

“Don’t argue with me,” Natsume sternly said, the child instantly going silent. Guilt ran through him as he took a deep breath, trying to come up with a good medium between being protective and stern. “Sorry… we don’t have a lot of time, so let me carry you for now, okay?”

Another clash of lightening and thunder made Natsume squeeze his eyes shut as his arms went stiff, his ears ringing and veins bursting with phantom pains.

Small, gentle fingers against his shoulders pulled him from his shock, letting out a sigh of relief as the child wrapped his arms around his neck.

Right, the lightning wouldn’t touch them.

Carefully wrapping his arms around the child’s legs, he stood, ignoring the sharp and fiery pain shooting throughout his entire body. The wounds on his back were screaming at him at the top of their lungs, making him whisper a slight sorry as he trudged on.

Everytime he stepped on something sharp under the mud they nearly tumbled to the ground, especially when he stepped on a particularly sharp stick that pierced his skin. Stumbling against a tree trunk, he bit his bottom lip tightly, desperately hoping the sharp pain would subside soon.

A gentle tap on his shoulder made him follow Toshiki’s hand as he pointed at something that was surprisingly close. Squinting through the fog, his heart raced in both fear and excitement.

A gas station - it was a gas station! A tear of pure relief fell past his cheek as peeled himself from the tree, a bright hopeful smile singing on his lips. For once he didn’t fear being noticed by others, not when it mean the humans could protect them.

Pushing through the pain, he made his own path through the woods, his eyes never losing sight of the gas station that was dimly lit up alongside a dirt road. So many things impaled his feet, making him stumble here and there. But it was okay, because they were going to be okay.

There was only one car in the area he assumed was the parking lot, but he didn’t let that dampen his hopes. Taking a deep breath, he looked in the window, a smile blossoming on his face. It was small sure, yet it radiated warmth. There were a lot of memories surrounding this place. Pushing the door open, both he and Toshiki shivered as a burst of cold air came over them, followed by warm air. The child couldn’t help the moan of relief as he relaxed a bit against him, making Natsume smile a bit.

“Welcome-” a young man stopped, a noise of distress leaving his throat. “A-are you guys okay?!”

Natsume looked up, seeing a man who seemed to be in his early twenties with shaggy brown hair and light green eyes staring at them in shock behind the counter.

“We need help-” Natsume managed out, glancing over his shoulder, realizing he should stay away from the windows. “We were kidnapped, they’re probably after us.”

The man instantly grabbed a set of keys and hurried over to them. Natsume couldn’t help taking a few steps away as the man approached, a shadow of fear and doubt casting over his face. The man instantly slowed down, putting his hands up to show he meant no harm.

“I’m gonna show you guys to the back room in case they show up, okay? Follow me.” The man turned and went to the side of the store where there was a door with a sign reading ‘employees only.’ Natsume hesitated as he followed a few steps behind, not sure if he could trust the man as he unlocked the door. When it opened, it revealed a rather small cramped looking room with a sleeping bag on a rather small run-down couch. There were pizza boxes amongst others scattered around the messy room.

“Let me get you guys some bandages-”

“Do you have a phone?” Natsume interrupted, the cramped room unnerving both him and the child. There was only a very small window above the couch barely big enough to fit a pizza box through. What if this man locked the door behind them and never let them out?

The man blushed as he quickly fumbled through his many pockets. “Y-yeah, sorry one sec.” Finding it he let out a triumphant smile, instantly calling for help. “Get settled in, I’ll grab some bandages and medicine.”

Natsume glanced back at the room, hearing the other start talking to someone on the phone. “Hey hi, I’m Ryuu Wisteria and I work at the Cube Stop Gas Station right off the high way - yeah, that one. A teen and kid just showed up in really bad condition. They say they were kidnapped.” Hearing he was indeed actually talking to someone, the injured teen reluctantly went into the room, his shaky legs threatening to give out at any moment.

“Imma set you down on the couch, okay?” He forewarned. When the little one nodded, he turned his back to the couch and let go of his feet. Seconds later Toshiki’s grip around his neck disappeared. In an instant his body practically hummed in response as his vision started fading in and out. Blinking a few times, he felt those small hands on his back, shaking him a bit, his voice soft, quiet, and worried. He didn’t even realize his legs gave out, nor that he fell against the makeshift couch. His head ached where it hit the side of the couch on the way down, along with one of his already sore ribs. His chest didn’t feel right as he gasped a few times, the wind seemingly knocked out of him.

“I’m fine,” he tried to reassure, though both knew it was a natural response at this point.

“Are you okay?” He heard the man from outside ask, his footsteps coming close to them, only to stop. “Oh wow, you guys work fast! I see an officer pulling up already," he said to the person on the phone.

An officer already responded to the call? It almost seemed too good to be true. The highway must’ve been closer than they thought.

The door to the store opened just as the man’s tone of voice started to change as he pressed the phone closer to his face, seeming to grow uneasy. “Really? But his lights are flashing on his car and everything-”

“I heard the situation from the radio,” another man’s voice said, making Natsume stiffen. Something wasn’t right, he could feel it in his gut.

“The other two are injured, no? Where are they?”

Natsume quietly stood, motioning for Toshiki to hid under one of the larger boxes in the room. The child looked uneasy, his terrified brown eyes seeking comfort and protection with him - both of which he knew he couldn’t provide.

“I-I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the clerk said, as Natsume knelled at the corner of the doorway, seeing everything happen through a reflection on the ceiling. There was a police officer standing in front of the clerk with his hands on his hips, glowering at the man who seemed scared for his life.

“Are you serious? You’re on the phone with the station now!” He spat. “Hang up, the chief knows I’m here.”

“He does?” Ryuu asked, lowering the phone slowly, as if not sure. “They ran into the forest just now. They didn’t trust me and thought I was working for their kidnappers.”

The officer’s posture fell, those hands sliding off his hips. “Oh? What direction did they go?”

“Up the road,” the clerk said, pointing in the opposite direction they came.

“Thank you for the valuable information,” the police officer said, Ryuu’s eyes widening in complete disbelief. Natsume felt his heart stop in his chest, hardly able to grasp what he was seeing.

The officer had a gun pointed at the clerk’s head, the man that had been so thoughtful and protective moments ago. He barely even had a chance to take a deep breath as a shot rang out, red spraying in the reflection.

He shot him - he shot him in the head. The haunting hollow sound of Ryuu’s body hitting the floor sucked the air from his lungs, his entire body feeling heavier than lead as hopelessness settled in.

This was a police officer, they were supposed to be safe from their captures with him! Who could they turn to if they couldn’t trust the police?!

“Wow, you two got a pretty good kid killed. I couldn’t even tell if he was telling the truth or not, and I’m usually really good at reading people.” The officer’s eyes met his own through the reflective surface on the ceiling, making him blanch. “Then I saw you at the corner of my eye. Now come out, before I put a bullet through one of your limbs.”

Natsume’s said limbs were frozen in place, his mind still reeling in shock. This officer just killed their hero, what would he do once he came out?! Wouldn’t he just shoot him too?

“You have five seconds before I start shooting!!”

His body acted on it’s own as he jumped up, the adrenaline dulling the pain that wracked his body. The officer smirked upon seeing the reaction, moving his hand so his golden eyes were staring down the barrel of the gun.

Never in his life did he ever think he’d be staring down the end of the barrel with a maniac ready to end his life with a simple flinch of a finger. He’s gone up against powerful dark youkai and gods yet nothing was scarier than this moment. Even if he did what he was told, would the man shoot him anyway? Wasn’t that how humans typically did things?

“You’re turning blue, don’t forget to breath now,” the man laughed. “Now get over here before I run out of patience.”

He didn’t have a choice. Unlike youkai he didn’t stand a chance against a human. His powerful punches were useless on humans, especially against someone who was no doubt trained in hand to hand combat. If he didn’t have so much to lose, he would’ve tried finding a way to fight back, but he couldn't throw his life away anymore, and he couldn’t risk getting Toshiki shot.

“Where’s the other kid?” The officer asked as he approached, Natsume’s stomach rolled as he gagged, the sight of the clerk being far too much, even for him. “Not that your trembling isn’t amusing, but the kid - where is he?!”

Ryuu didn’t deserve this, that kind hearted soul deserved life. It wasn’t just fear that had him trembling, or the pain. Most of it was anger. “The storm separated us, I don’t know where he went.” The officer glowered at his harsh tone as he walked up and pressed the gun to his forehead, the cold metal a foreign sensation to him. This did feel familiar though, like the time Houzuki realized he was posing as Fuzuki to prevent the drought. His face resembled the same stoic expression he bore then, his fear gone.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever before the officer clicked his tongue in annoyance, unable to get a read on him.

The door to the gas station opened, the officer peeling his gaze away as a smirk formed. “You’re fast, Toma.”

Toma - it couldn’t be-! Turning his head, he saw it was true, wanting to do more than scream in frustration. There was no escaping them, no matter what they tried. Not even the god could help him escape, his eyes catching sight of Shirudo whose eyes were closed and head hung low.

“I’m sorry, Takashi. I… have to reveal Toshiki too. You should tell them yourself, so… you don’t get hurt.” The rope was tightening around his head, he could see it at the corner of his eyes, only making him more frustrated.

If only he had the Book of Friends, he could cheat the god’s curse and call for help.

“Please, Takashi. I don’t… want to see you get hurt anymore.”

No - he refused. They could do whatever they wanted to him as long as he knew he didn’t sell Toshiki out. A small smile that held both sorrow and pride came to the god’s face as he flicked his wrist. The box hiding the child suddenly moved, alerting the two adults. The gun was pulled from his face and pointed to the room.

Now he had no choice.

“Don’t shoot-” he said, clenching his fists. “It’s just Toshiki.”

Toma turned to him with a deep fire burning in his eyes. He moved closer, a ripping pain across his chest making him yelp and gasp at the same time. His knees buckled, his hands instinctively going to his chest as he grew light headed. The world around him shifted back and forth as a warmth flooded over his arms.

It should hurt, but it didn’t. Even as he felt himself being dragged, he felt nothing but a deep coldness seep over him.

He blinked a few times, finding everything darker than before. His blurry vision saw a pair of panicked dark brown eyes staring into his own, his mind slowly registering that this was Toshiki. The child was being gagged, and he didn’t even fight. After what they both just witnessed, he couldn’t blame him. In fact he would’ve encouraged him to do as they said.

“You wanna dump the small one at a beach, right?” He faintly heard Toma ask, his head starting to swirl again. He heard Satoshi answer, but his words were muffled.

Sleep… he just wanted to sleep.

“I’m sorry, Natsume,” he heard the deity whisper in his ear. “If I hadn’t been so selfish, I could've ended my life, and saved yours. I’m sorry, grandson of Reiko.” Something wet fell on his brow, which he assumed was a tear from Shirudo. “The wound isn’t too deep, you’ll survive, but it’ll hurt. Since your life is tied to Satoshi, you won’t be able to die easily, not while he’s still healthy. He’ll keep you alive long enough for help to come. But… just in case someone doesn’t find you, I’ll put a second curse on you, one that’ll keep you asleep until you’re safe-”

“Takashi?” Akasaka called, making Natsume blink the horrific memory from his mind. His hands were desperately clenching the sheets as Sensei breathed against him, his red eyes staring into his own.

“You panicked, you’re fine,” Sensei gently nuzzled his hair, earning a confused sound from one of the detectives. All they could see was his hair being rustled by something that wasn’t there.

“S-sorry, I-I guess... I panicked,” he admitted, slowly looking up at them. “But my friends, they’re in danger! Those officers saw everyone, they even had access to their names and addresses! They could’ve passed the information before they were caught!”

The detective and investigator frowned, knowing they couldn’t provide an answer that would settle his nerves. “If it helps, everyone on your guest list is here except for Shuuichi Natori who went home to get some rest. We’ll talk to the others to implement extra precautions, okay?” Fear still raged in his heart, but he was relieved that these two weren’t undermining him. “Let’s take your statement so you can focus on healing, okay?”

Taking a deep breath, he told them everything. He didn’t dare meet their eyes, he just stared at the sheets as he spoke with a slight tremble in his body and voice. They were recording him, thank gods. This way they wouldn’t make him repeat what he said. Sensei even remained strangely quiet, not saying a word as he finished. Recalling everything that happened made him feel both sick to his stomach and light headed.

“Is there anything else you can remember?” Oishi asked, both seeming horribly unnerved after learning of Toshiki and Satoshi.

“No, that’s everything,” he said, making sure to leave the details of the youkai out. The last thing he needed was for them to think some of the reports from his family members were true.

“And you’re sure they didn’t mention what beach they took Toshiki?”

“I’m positive,” he reaffirmed with a deep sigh, wishing he had more information to give them. “I… think he only as a day or two left.” They nodded, understanding the grave situation.

“I remember seeing the news talk about finding someone shot at a gas station, I think it was just outside Shiro Town.” Natsume’s eyes widened, his heart stopping in his chest. Shiro Town? Were they really that close to his parent’s old home and he didn’t even realize it? “We’ll get this to Chief Tsunemori right away. She’ll know the best way to go about this.”

“Thank you,” Natsume said, frustrated with the fact that he was feeling tired again. He hated to accuse someone without evidence, but in his state it was impossible to gather any. “May I ask a favor?”

“Of course, what is it?”

“Well… I know I’m not in the best condition, but I’m so tired even after the nap. I know it could be my body trying to heal but… I don’t know, I only feel this way after the nurse comes in.” The two went silent as they glanced at each other, their expressions turning grim. Natsume felt a nervous bead of sweat start forming on the side of his face, knowing this couldn’t be good.

“She came in around ten minutes before you woke up and changed the bags.” Oishi stepped forward and looked at the bags on the IV stand, his eyes squinting.

“Odd…” he trailed off as he took his phone out and snapped a picture.

“Wh-what?” The teen nervously asked.

“The label seems as if it was peeled off then put back on.” Very delicately he held his phone in one hand recording his other hand peel the sticker away. There was nothing underneath it though, which made them all nervous. “We’ll look into it,” he reassured, putting the label back on. “I know it’s hard, but don’t ask for pain medication until we sort this out.”

Natsume wanted to say he never even asked for it in the first place, but decided to leave that out. He’d have to try to convince the others that the pain was minimal and that he didn’t need medication right now. Not like it was a big deal considering he was planning on leaving tonight anyway.

“Change of plans. Akasaka, stay here with Takashi until the approved officers get here. I’ll get this over to the Chief.” Oishi ordered, to which the other nodded. Natsume couldn’t help but feel more at ease with the decision, smiling delicately up at the investigator.

“Thank you. I’m… sorry for inconveniencing both of you.”

“You’re not,” Akasaka smiled warmly. “This is our job.”

As soon as Oishi opened the door, he could hear everyone outside go silent. “We’re done, don’t harass him too much.”

Touko and Shigeru were the first ones in, followed by Nishumra, Kitamoto, Sasada, Shibata, Tanuma and then Taki. The fact that everyone was here aside from Natori completely blew him away, making him blush a little.

“Natsume!!” They all collectively cried. Tears fell down Nishimura and Sasada’s cheeks despite their best efforts, making Natsume smile warmly at them. His foster parents stayed along the wall with Akasaka, speaking to him quietly as they gave him time with his friends. This was the first time he actually got to speak to them, even to Tanuma and Taki.

“What took you so long?! We’ve been waiting for you to wake up!” Nishimura cried, not even seeming bothered that he was shedding tears in front of Taki. He was sure he’d hear all about how embarrassed he felt later; in fact he was looking forward to his scolding.

“Hey, we agreed we’d give him a break!” Sasada scolded. “How are you feeling Natsume?”

“Getting better,” he reassured. “I’m sorry to put you guys through all this.”

“Don’t start with that crap,” Shibata’s voice cut in, making Natsume look past his three normal friends to his old classmate, seeing him, Taki and Tanuma all carrying something colorful in their hands. His three normal friends turned, Sasada’s face turning red.

“N-not now-!”

“Why not now?” Tanuma asked, meeting Natsume’s eyes with a warm relieved smile.

“Natsume,” Taki said, making him slowly look at her as Nishimura and Kitamoto moved out of the way. A deep blush burned into Natsume’s face as he saw what they were holding, finding himself in disbelief. “Sasada came up with the idea to fold a thousand paper cranes, so we did, with everyone’s help.”

“I-I just came up with the idea. Everyone helped gather participants,” she blushed, looking away.

“My father, Shigeru, Touko, Ponta, and even Miss Yorie made one,” Tanuma said.

“I did too!” Shibata quickly shouted, which made Tanuma snort.

“There were even people who heard about what happened and wanted to make one for you. A lot of them said you helped them, so they wanted to return the favor,” Sasada explained as she tilted her head curiously. “You know a lot of people, Natsume. There were people of all ages! I had them write their names on the cranes because I couldn’t keep track.”

Natsume’s eyes widened in complete shock as Tanuma gently handed him one end of the paper cranes that were all stringed together. He didn’t even see half of them were still in a big box behind everyone.

“I…” he trailed off, not even knowing what to say as he looked at the first paper crane, reading the names as he went down the line:

Shigeru Fujiwara, Touko Fujiwara, Satoru Nishimura, Atsushi Kitamoto, Kaname Tanuma, Tanuma’s father, Jun Sasada, Akifumi Sugino, Shuuichi Natori, Tamiko, Tooru Taki, Katsumi Shibata, Chizu Sakanaka, Yuriko Ogata, Miyoko Aoi, Ito-san, Tsukiko Yousuke, Takuma Yousuke, Aoi, Kaoru Sonokawa, Beniko, Daisuke Yuki, Yorie Tsumura, Isamu Taki, and many, many more names of his precious friends, and even kind hearted strangers who crafted these beautiful cranes for him.

His hands trembled as tears trailed down his cheeks. So many people... most of them even lived somewhat far away, yet they traveled all the way here just to do this? How’d they even know he was hurt? Why would they use their time to make one and hand deliver it? They obviously couldn’t mail them without crushing them.

“Sasada organized search parties after the police suggested it, so word of your disappearance spread,” Tanuma said, noticing Natsume’s beyond confused expression.

Always the observant one, Natsume sniffled as he looked to Sasada, finding it hard to believe she was able to keep it together to organize all this. “Thank you, Sasada. I… honestly don’t even know what to say.”

Leaving him speechless made her blush even deeper, but smile even wider. Small tears formed in her eyes as she beamed, trying not to lose herself to her emotions. “I’m the class president, I can’t have one of my classmates disappear, let alone a good friend.”

“She was sooo bossy!!” Nishimura groaned, making Kitamoto smirk. “We couldn’t even sneeze without her yelling at us to take it more seriously. But that’s the most serious I’ve ever been!! There’s just no pleasing her!”

“You should’ve seen him Natsume,” Kitamoto laughed, nudging Nishimura with his elbow as a teasing smirk surfaced. “You wouldn’t have recognized him.”

“H-hey! I can be serious about things!” Nishimura pouted, feeling attacked as everyone laughed, even Natsume. It was cut short when he started coughing, much to his embarrassment. It felt like a lifetime since the last time he laughed so hard, even if it only lasted a few seconds.

“S-sorry, I’m fine,” he quickly reassured with that fake smile. Tanuma seemed to notice it as he frowned, looking worried.

Taki quickly grabbed a plastic cup and let Tanuma fill it with water the staff left for them, holding it out to him. “You should drink some water. Do you need help?” She asked kindly, making Natsume blush. His friends were doing so much for him… how could he ever repay everyone for their kindness?

“I think I got it,” he reassured, not wanting them to yell at him if his wrist did give out. Very carefully he moved his hand up and took the water, surprised that the effort didn’t hurt much. Not too long ago he could barely move his hand from the bed. Was this due to Sensei sleeping next to him? He’d have to thank him for lending him some of his power.

“Oh yeah, we have a bone to pick with you Natsume!” Nishimura pouted, making everyone look to him confused. Natsume unwillingly tensed, hoping it had nothing to do with his kidnapping. “Why didn’t you tell us you knew Shuuichi Natori?! He’s our favorite actor!!”

Natsume let out the breath he was holding, unable to help but genuinely smile. “When I first met him, I honestly didn’t know who he was, so we were able to talk to each other without the fame barrier.” He had practiced the answer when Natori started visiting him more often just in case one of his friends saw them together. “I felt like telling you guys who love him as an actor would be betraying him, so I didn’t.” Speaking of Natori, he knew the other didn’t go home. He probably set off to search for Toshiki and the deity, god, youkai - whatever his status technically was. Hinoe, Chobihige, the Middle Ranks, Kappa, Benio, and Misuzu were gone too. Much to Natori’s displeasure, some probably all accompanied him while others raced them there. For some reason, he was sad he didn’t get to see that.

“I guess that makes sense,” Nishimura pouted, trying to be mature with the answer as Natsume’s eyes fell a little, his body suddenly feeling very light. He smelled the ocean again, but also blood. ‘Hurry… please…’ Sensei opened one of his eyes, snapping Natsume out of his thoughts. For a moment he felt disoriented, almost forgetting where he was.

“Need to rest?” Sensei asked, to which he merely shook his head slightly, grateful for his bodyguard’s cautious watchful gaze.

“Natsume?” Shibata’s voice came next, much to Natsume’s surprise. The other was strangely quiet, probably feeling a bit uncomfortable knowing he couldn’t say anything about youkai in front of the other three. He’d have to thank him for his understanding later.

“I’m fine,” he reassured, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes this time. When he ‘disappeared’ again, he realized he’d cause them even more emotional distress. Sasada did so much to bring people together just for him, he hoped he’d be back before she could waste anymore of her time.

“You’re not going,” Sensei growled, somehow hearing his thoughts. Natsume merely smiled more, deciding to stay silent.

They’d argue about this later.

“Did you guys bring a game? I’d like to watch you play,” Natsume suggested, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. A hand gently wrapped around his own, making him go stiff.

“You’re shaking,” Tanuma whispered as the others cheered and started fighting over what game to play. Natsume looked down at his hand to see Tanuma holding his, allowing the water in the cup to stop spilling from the sides. “Are you really okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, though let his eyes fall. He was lying again… he didn’t have to lie to Tanuma. “Actually, not really. It’s something I can’t involve you guys with.” Taki and Shibata leaned closer, ignoring the others who were still arguing over which game would be the funnest for Natsume to watch.

“You’re hurt, Natsume,” Tanuma glowered, gently squeezing his hand as if protectively calling him an absolute idiot. “Whatever’s going on, you don’t have to do it alone. You can’t do it alone, not this time.” The other two nodded, looking at him with intense determination.

“I know,” Natsume reassured, giving Tanuma a genuine thankful smile. They deserved to know the truth. “There’s a curse only I can lift, but I only have a day or two before it kills me.”

“Wh-what!?” Shibata quietly choked as the others went pale. They knew there was another curse, Natori explained it could be draining his life force away.

“I have to find the youkai that’s bound to the family that kidnapped me, and no one but me can find it.” “Are you sure?” Tanuma asked, a nervous bead of sweat forming on the side of his face. “What about Sensei or Natori, or even the other youkai that were here earlier?”

Natsume shook his head, hating the look of fear on their faces. “The youkai can’t be found when you deliberately search for it, just as the people who are in it’s sphere of influence can’t be found.”

“Which means… the other kids won’t be found,” Taki said, going even more pale. “Natsume, you can’t go back-”

“It’s the only way,” he said, feeling Tanuma clench his hand even tighter. “The curse allows me to find them. If one of them dies before I find them, then I die. So… I don’t have a choice.”

Nyanko Sensei stood angrily, bringing his face close to his own. “You are not going anywhere, and you are not going to die. Leave it to the others, you need to focus on healing.”

“Sensei-” he stopped though, facing his friend’s horribly pale faces so the others didn't see him talking to thin air. “I have to return their name, Sensei. You know that I’m the only one that can.”

“Return their name?” Tanuma asked, to which Natsume shook his head, not wanting to explain it.

“If I disappear again, just know I’ll be back.”

“How can you be sure you’ll come back!?” Shibata lectured, wanting to slap some sense into Natsume despite knowing it was impossible to avoid the situation.

“Because I have a lot of friends helping me right now,” he reassured. “And Sensei will be with me too.” This time Nyanko Sensei didn’t say anything, seeming almost caught off guard by the information. He was thankful when the others finally came back, Sasada holding Uno in her hands.

“We figured a card game would be easier since the others are board games,” she informed before tilting her head, noticing their pale faces. “What’s with you three? You look really pale!”

“J-just haven’t gotten enough sleep,” Taki quickly reassured. She didn’t seem to fully convince the class president, but she decided not to comment on it.

“I shuffled these last time, so everyone get seven cards!”

Tanuma slowly removed his hand from Natsume’s as he took the half empty cup from his hand and set it on the side table. “Be safe, and… let us know if we can do anything,” he whispered as he was handed some cards.

Natsume felt horrible for scaring them like this, but it was better than just disappearing again. Shibata kept glancing back at him, unsure about it, but he was sure Tanuma and Taki would reassure him everything would be fine.

Because it would be. He had too many people he cared about to carelessly throw his life away.

They didn’t even finish the first round before he was out, hoping he wouldn’t sleep too long.

----

“Do it!!” Toma’s voice aggressively hissed at Satoshi as he slammed his hand against the wooden table, making the trembling teen jump. “Do it or I’ll do it to you!”

Natsume’s head lulled to the side as he watched Satoshi stare at his bleeding strapped hand in terror. It was locked in a device that removed fingernails. Just moments ago, his father ripped one of them off, the pain temporarily blinding him. He couldn’t help the way his own body trembled, though his dulled golden eyes focused on the other teen. He was shaking and whimpering with a look of absolute horror in his eyes. Those eyes didn’t belong to a killer, let alone someone who loved to hurt others. These were the eyes of a scared lonely boy who was backed against a wall with no way out. If he didn’t do this, Toma would give the child a whole new meaning to hell.

“Do it,” Natsume managed out, surprising both his captures. “I… can take it. Do it.”

Toma let out a demonic sounding laugh, looking to his son then to him. “Isn’t that Noble of you,” he smirked, roughly grabbing his chin and forcing Natsume to look at him again. “But foolish. If you want pain, we’ll give you pain. Do it now, Satoshi. Show this trash how naive his bravery is.”

Natsume glanced over to Satoshi, their eyes meeting even for a fleeting moment as his chin was yanked harder, forcing him to look back at the father.

“Do it!!”

With a choked cry the trembling teen slammed his hand down on the lever, the blinding pain coming back, being even worse than before. This time it felt like something was impaling his finger, forcing his stern determined face to waver. A faint ringing came to his ears as he felt the hand leave his chin, Toma’s mocking laugh making him feel sick to his stomach.

“You need more strength to remove the whole nail at once. Try again!” Natsume desperately wanted to shake his head no, the pain so overwhelming he almost did. The image of that boy’s terrified face came back to him, forcing him to take a deep breath.

He could do this. Pain was only temporary. He’d slip away eventually.

Satoshi rose his hand again, earning a cheer from Toma as the blinding pain shot through his arm and down his spine, the world finally fading to black.

“...-son… grandson, are you awake?” A faint voice gently called, hardly audible above the fiery pain he felt in nearly every nerve in his trembling body and agonizing throbbing in his left hand. “Please wake up, we don’t have a lot of time before they come back!” This voice… ah, it was the youkai, wasn’t it? He could sense it even with his eyes closed, but it’s poisonous aura from earlier was gone. The difference reminded him of the guardians Gen, who was at the cusp of becoming an evil spirit, and Sui, who had been fully corrupted.

Very slowly he opened his eyes, seeing the dirty white mask with a rope around it’s head and the lone red dotted blue eye staring into his own. Relief instantly flooded through the youkai as he let out a sigh. “Thank goodness I thought… well, it doesn't matter what I thought. You don’t have to speak, I know you’re in pain but please just… listen. We don’t have a lot of time.” His voice grew shaky, as if tears were close to the surface.

Despite wanting to say he didn’t have much of a choice considering he was tied up, Natsume didn’t. There was a desperation in the youkai’s trembling voice, one he couldn’t deny.

“I was born from a shield created by a powerful and talented craftsman who wanted nothing more than to protect his family during one of the wars. However, it was one of his family members that turned on him, the shield - and me - being unable to do anything as he was betrayed. Grieving over the loss of my master, I gathered what energy I could and fled. I wanted to find a place without humans and war - I wanted to find a place of peace. During my journey, I encountered many different humans, ones with kind hearts, some corrupted, and others in between. Each human I observed slowly restored my faith, and over time I learned that whoever I was with became encased in a protective aura, one that made it impossible for others to find them. As I traveled, humans were drawn to me, as if feeling my protective shield. Youkai started following shortly after, until we found the perfect haven together in a beautiful, lush mountain.” The youkai sighed, his gaze seeming far away and clouded now. “The more people that gathered, the more they worshipped me, the stronger I became. Soon I was strong enough to extend my shield over the entire mountain, allowing those who sought safety a place to call home.”

“There were festivals, so many festivals and parties. There was no violence, just happiness. Youkai helped the humans even though they couldn’t see them, and the humans, in return, gave offerings. It was peaceful times... so… peaceful.” His one eye closed as his posture fell. “Then… someone found us by accident. They weren’t looking for me or anyone else, they just stumbled upon us. When they learned of my power…”

An exorcist, Natsume sadly realized. Of course humans couldn’t leave such a rare and beautiful utopia alone.

“He cheated the system. Knowing he’d probably never find this place again, he had the local messenger send for his friends, not telling them why he asked for them to come urgently. Since his friends held no malice against him or anyone else in my protective sphere, they were able to find us. Shortly after that, chaos broke out. The exorcists sealed away all the youkai in our home as they put a cursed rope around me that bound me to their leader’s family.” Natusme’s eyes drifted to the rope, realizing this youkai really was just like Hiiragi. “If I don’t make sure they succeed, the rope will tighten around my head until it completely crushes me, which is why I couldn’t let you escape earlier.” The teen felt himself tremble a bit in fear, finally becoming aware of the situation he was in. Not only would he have to escape from that man and son, but he also had to escape from this youkai too. Unlike the others, the youkai would hate every second of it.

“So, you want me to free you?” He managed out, his voice scratchy and hoarse, but he didn’t care, not after learning how much this youkai suffered. If that utopia still existed today, he wondered how those people would react to those who could see them. “Your home… sounds like a paradise.”

“It was,” the youkai sighed, his blue and red eye meeting his warm golden ones again. “But my request is more complicated than that.”

“Huh?” He asked, wanting to tilt his head a bit to the side, but didn’t dare risk it.

“Satoshi, Toma’s son… I want you to free him.” Natsume’s eyes widened, recalling how he froze up and silently begged his father not to make him hurt him.

“Toma wanted his son to learn all about the family business so he can become the next heir after turning fifteen, but his wife quickly found out what he did for a living and tried to flee with Satoshi. In his rage, my master killed her and dragged his son back, literally beating the teachings into him.”

As sad as the story was, Natsume wasn’t sure how this story made the youkai want to protect Satoshi, especially after becoming a tainted deity. As much as he wanted to keep the peace back then, the corruption should’ve blinded him to nearly anyone in plight. There had to be more to this story.

As if sensing his confusion, the youkai continued. “My master’s actions only made my hatred towards humans to grow, that is, until one day, a terrible thunderstorm rolled in. Satoshi was sitting on the back patio, staring blankly at a tree with an intense desire to die as he clenched a rope in his hands. I was drawn to his negative thoughts and feelings, and sat down on the patio next to him. To my surprise, the child jumped, but didn’t do anything else but stare. Even if I meant to harm him, he wanted harm to be done to him:

“It’s alluring, isn’t it?” I asked, hiding my trembling voice. It was the first time a human actually looked me right in the eyes. I saw my corpse in the reflection of his hazel eyes that held little to no light in them. Just like me, he had been torn away from his happy life and forced into one where light no longer reflected in his eyes. I couldn’t help but feel a small desire to help the child since I couldn’t help myself.

“What?” The child asked, his voice sounding so fragile.

“Ending it all,” I repeated, glancing back to the tree.

“Oh,” the child responded meekly, becoming stiff beside me. It was obvious he was uncomfortable with the fact that I could read his desires, but it didn’t seem to bother him too much as he pulled his horribly bruised and wounded legs to his chest. “Yeah… it is.”

He didn’t ask who I was or even questioned why I was there. He merely accepted me into his reality, the reality he didn’t want to be apart of anymore. Despite being thrilled that he could see me, part of me grew sad. This human was only a child, yet he already desired eternal rest. There was still so much he hadn’t experienced yet. Was it really okay for me to encourage a child of man to end it all when he had barely lived at all?

That’s when I realized something. Even if the child tried to run away to start over somewhere, I would be forced to stop him from escaping. But would that really be so bad? While he ran free, I’d do nothing but feel the rope bring me long awaited peace.

“I… don’t necessarily want to die,” the child suddenly said, surprising me. “I want to live, I-I want to be loved and cared for. I’m sick of hurting people, I’m sick of being pushed to kill. I want to create life, not take it! But... it’s useless. My father’s friends are powerful - they’re everywhere. I wouldn’t last a day without them finding me. I’d be dragged back and severely punished.” He hugged himself tighter, burying his face into his legs. “At least in death, I won’t have to hurt others, and he can’t hurt me.”

They were mirrors of each other, Natsume realized. Except one was human, and the other was a youkai. Their similarities combined with the storm probably set the perfect conditions that let them meet.

“After that, whenever a storm rolled in, we met on the porch, free to speak our minds. We learned about each other, and learned of our desires. But lately, Satoshi hasn’t talked about his dreams. He hasn’t really spoken at all. When I gathered the courage to ask him what was wrong, he said he had given up on his dreams and looked forward to eternal nothingness: ‘It’s the only thing I can control in my life.” The youkai took deep shaky breath before continuing. “Grandson of Reiko, I cannot help him, nor can I help you. But you can help each other. I know it’s wrong and cruel of me, especially after the hope Reiko gave me, but I refuse to let an innocent human soul end up like me.”

Natsume didn’t even get a chance to ask what he meant as he felt a darkness press against him, merging with his body. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as a pressure settled over every inch of his body.

“I bound your life to Satoshi’s. If he dies, you die, and vise versa.” Natsume’s eyes snapped back open in fear, looking at the youkai in anger.

“As much as I want to help, I’m just a human child, there’s nothing I can really do-”

“There is,” he said, the youkai’s one eye looking off to the side. Natsume couldn’t help but follow his gaze and froze in horror. Staring at them was Satoshi, but it was obvious he didn’t see the youkai.

“If you return my name, I will gain enough power to break the curse. After that, no one will have trouble tracking them down. If you lead the police to the general area, their dogs will pick up the scent of dead bodies and come running. But you have to do it before Satoshi loses his will to live. If he’s forced to kill Toshiki, or you for that matter, it’ll be the end of him.”

“Wh-who are you talking to?” Satoshi asked, his voice sounding so shaky and vulnerable. Natsume couldn’t help but glance over at him, offering a warm smile. It was hard, especially since the other tormented him, yet his body acted on its own.

“Someone who’s very worried about you,” he said softly. “Someone who wants to see you free-”

“Natsume-” Shirudo’s voice interrupted the dream, the images slowly rippling away. “We’re out of time you have to hurry-!!”

Natsume jolted awake, feeling his heart nearly thudding out of his chest. He was sweating, but he wasn’t hot.

‘Killer… I’m a killer!’ Satoshi’s thoughts rang as a sharp pain shot through his head.

Satoshi was hurting himself, he was starting to lose it already-!

“Sensei,” he cried, seeing his bodyguard already hovering over him. Had he been there the whole time?

“I know,” he said with a defeated tone, glancing at the door. “You were dreaming so loudly it flowed into me. I understand now.”

There was so much he wanted to ask regarding that statement, but they didn’t have the time for nonsense. “Where’s the book?” Nyanko Sensei moved his head and grabbed something from under the bed and dropped it on his lap. Natsume blinked a few times, realizing it was one of Taki’s bags.

“The Tanuma kid and Taki brat left and came back with this bag. Tanuma even packed some of his clothes so you don’t have to stay in a hospital robe.”

Tanuma and Taki went all the way home and back just for him? His hands gently opened the bag, seeing the clothes, his new phone, and what looked like a protective charm Taki must’ve carved. Feeling even deeper, his fingers grazed the familiar cover of the Book of Friends, making him smile in warmth.

“I’ll change once we get away from the hospital,” he said, zipping the bag back up. “I’m sure the Fujiwaras will be back any second.”

“They’re just outside the door, talking to the Police Chief or whoever,” his bodyguard confirmed, moving his head close to the bed. “Can you climb on? If not, I’ll carry you in my mouth.”

“I think… you’ll have to carry me, just until we get out of the hospital cause of the machines,” he admitted as he moved down, seeing the machines and devices still attached to him. He unhooked all of them, leaving the heart monitor to remove last. “Okay. One, two, three-”

The heart monitor flat lined. There was a huge ruckas outside, but he didn’t even get to hear it as he was surrounded by a moist warmth. He clenched the bag as tightly as he could in his hands, feeling the wind brushing against him.

‘I’m so sorry, everyone. I’ll be back soon…’

This time, everything was different. This time he had Nyanko Sensei with him and a rejuvenated spirit.

He wouldn’t be caught a second time, and he refused to let himself die. There was no way he’d bring his loved ones that kind of permanent sorrow.

#natsume yuujinchou #phage writes #natsume's book of friends #this was surprisingly a lot shorter than i thought - the whole idea #but the recovery time may take a bit i donno yet x.x orz #am i kicked out of the fandom yet-shot-

2 notes · View notes

urdbell18 · 5 years

Text

A Seed Hidden in the Heart Chapter 13: The One With the Bad Cupid

AN:I know I know it's been a while but here it is! Was it worth the wait? I don't know I'll let you guys decide. Enjoy! Also, hooray me 400th post!

By the first of February all of Baxter high became one big pink, red, white, and heart filled eyesore. Zelda had to grit her teeth and ignore it as best she could unless she goes insane. Hilda and Sabrina didn’t help, they both squealed and whispered in hushed tones like they were telling each other deep dark secrets. The pair of them were acting like teenagers, and while this behavior was perfectly acceptable for Sabrina it wasn’t for Hilda. Zelda looked at her sister like she lost her mind but deep down she recognized that Hilda was happy, the happiest that Zelda has ever seen her. It’s why she didn’t make a big fuss about it but she reserved the right to be annoyed. There was one beacon of hope and that was Mary.

Mary wasn’t very found of Valentines either. Someone, they didn’t know who and they hope they never find out, tapped a large pink heart on Mary’s office door. Mary proceed to rip it off her door then shred the paper heart before throwing it away. Zelda, who bore witness to the display because she needed some more staples and Mary said she had a box she could spare, was, yes taken back, but also amused and a bit relieved. While Zelda could never picture it she didn’t know if Valentine days would turn Mary into a glorified teenager like it did her sister or a sappy romantic like it did to the male gender. Zelda still had nightmares from when Dr. Cerberus showed up at her house with a large bouquet of roses and serenading Hilda with “(Everything I Do) I Do it For You” ruining it for Zelda forever. She never cared for it so it wasn’t a big lost. About a week until Valentine’s it became clear the Hilda was staking a claim to the house. She kept buying things that she attached notes on to not touch and buzzing around the house like a twister, collecting things here and there and stashing them in the conservatory. Zelda just looked on with no interest and immediately texted Mary to make plans. They were under no circumstances celebrating but they came up with a good plan, something nice and casual.

The plan was as followed. On Friday after Zelda picked up her daughter from school would take them to Mary’s house, far away from everyone and everything. The whole thing was going to be laid-back, Zelda wrote a reminder to herself to fill a small suitcase with things like board games, movies, and some books to keep Vida happy. Mary was convinced that they would order in, most likely pizza or chinese which ever struck their fancy. Zelda didn’t know how Mary could think that but after having a heated debate over it during lunch one day Zelda realized Mary was messing with her. While Mary’s answers were perfectly reasonable she wore this grin that was a cross between a smirk and a soft smile. It caused Zelda to stop mid sentence and she shook her head, calling Mary ‘impossibly insufferable’ but she was smiling all the same.

That WAS the plan, until this happened...

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

On Wednesday Hawthorne called an emergency staff meeting the split second after the dismissal bell finished ringing. Teachers started slowly trickling in, murmuring what was going on and what the meeting could be about. Teachers that were in charge of after school clubs were the last to join, they had to inform their club that they would be late or dismiss the club for that day. Among them was Mary and she looked pissed having been dragged away from her W.I.C.C.A. meeting, she took the seat that Zelda was saving for her with a low rumbling growl. Zelda, knowing how much Mary looked forward to her meetings, placed her hand on Mary’s knee and gave it a light squeeze, it instantly relaxed Mary though her scowl remained. Hawthorne came in when the last staff member squeezed himself between two math teachers.

“Thank you all for coming. You are probably wondering why I called you in such last minute.” Several murmurs could be heard and Mary gave a low growl that vibrated from the back of her throat. “I have gotten an email from the head of the PTA stating concern that they do not have enough volunteers to work the dance this Saturday.” Oh god the dance, Zelda groaned and cringed just thinking about it. The dance was another of Hawthorne’s ‘genius ideas to keep an eye on the rowdy teenagers’ but unlike Halloween this one appeared to be working. Several students bought tickets for the dance, Sabrina and her friends being among them. “Which is why I called you all here today to see if any of you would like to volunteer to work the dance.” There was silence. No one said anything or moved. Hawthorne’s face got redder and redder the longer the silence carried on. After five minutes Hawthrone who was starting to turn purple, huffed. “Very well I’ll volunteer you than.” Hawthorne started calling names, the teachers he called either groaned or sputtered with annoyance. Zelda tensed and squeezed Mary’s knees just a little harder. She hoped against hope the Hawthorne wouldn’t call on her, she worked Halloween so it would only be fair to not call on her. And he didn’t but just as they thought he was over he called one last person. “And Ms. Wardwell. I think that would cover the dance nicely. Meeting adjourned.” Hawthorne quickly left the meeting, most likely to save his own skin as the teaching staff went into an uproar. Mary sat there in a fuming rage. Zelda didn’t blame her nor did she chace after Mary when she abruptly got up and stormed out of the meeting. Zelda knew Mary and knew that Mary needed space to process her anger. Zelda left with the rest of the staff as they started to trickle out.

When Zelda finished her blackboards and her remaining grading for the day she still had five minutes before she normally left so she sat in her office to see if Mary would show. As she waited she sat at her desk deep in thought. Now that their not-Valentine’s plans were blown to bits Zelda had to think of something else to distract Vida and herself from the holiday. Maybe she’ll take her to the movies again, Vida seemed to like it enough to want to do it again. Or maybe a restaurant, that would be a nice treat for the both of them. But the problem with both of those ideas was not only the amount of people but they involved being out on a holiday, one that Zelda particularly hated. She gave up thinking of something five minutes before 4:40, when it was clear that Mary wasn’t going to show. Zelda didn’t mind and she packed up her stuff to leave for the day.

The second that she and Vida got home Zelda got an ear full of how unfair Hawthorne was being from Sabrina. Zelda let her niece carry on as she made dinner, when Sabrina was in ranting mode there was no stopping her and Zelda was too tired to try. It didn’t surprise Zelda that Sabrina knew, when Mary was angry she ranted and when she ranted nothing was held back and Sabrina was one of the few people that Mary could rant with. When they were done with dinner Sabrina and Ambrose were washing the dishes while Zelda helped Vida with her math homework.

“You know Auntie if Mary is going to be miserable at this dance thing why don’t you go and be miserable with her.”

“Ambrose that’s a great idea! Aunt Zelda you should go to the dance with Ms. Wardwell.”

“Before the two fo you lose your heads going to the dance isn’t a possibility.”

“Why not?” Zelda pointed her hand to her daughter who was currently trying as hard as she could to make her 3 as neat as she could.

“Oh.” Sabrina and Ambrose turned back to the dishes and they returned to the comfortable silence as before. By the time Sabrina and Ambrose finished the dishes Vida had completed her math homework and was working on her bear puzzle. That was Mary’s Christmas present to Vida, her very own puzzle that she worked on whenever she could. Zelda watched her from the armchair with a small glass of whisky, smiling softly at her little girl’s face sharp with focus.

“Auntie?” Zelda hummed as Ambrose, being careful of Vida and her puzzle, joined her, taking the armchair next to hers. “What if I watched Vida?”

“I don’t know Ambrose.”

“I know you don’t trust me but I promise I’ll keep a close eye on her.” Zelda took a slow draw of her whisky. She wished she could tell him he was wrong but he wasn’t. Zelda didn’t trust Ambrose with Vida because of something that he had done when he was a child. And he has proven since then that he has learned and grown pass his mistake. She’s trusted Sabrina on less so why can’t she trust him?

“Okay. But Ambrose-”

“I swear Auntie I’ll be on my best behavior and not a hair on head would be harmed.” Zelda glared at him and he, realizing what he said, ran a hand over the back of his head. “Right to far.” Zelda gave a dry chuckle and took another drink. As she continued to watch Vida as she tried to wrap her head around what she was about to. She still couldn’t believe it even as she wrote then sent an email to the person in charge of the dance. She was really doing this and when she pushed ‘send’ there was no turning back.

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

Today was such a good day! Vida couldn’t think it could get any better. To start, her Auntie Hilda made pancakes. Pancakes on a weekday! It has never happened before and she ate two happily with her face covered in strawberry jam. Vida noted that the pancakes that Aunt Hilda made were heart shaped, she didn’t know why until she arrived at school. Ooooooh, right Valentine’s day! Vida didn’t understand the importance of it completely but she knew that today was the day she could give out the cards she made. She spent a whole week working on them, making them neat and unique taking her time and great care with them. And then something happened about an hour after she arrived at school that blew away Aunt Hilda’s special heart shaped breakfast out the window. Her teacher told her that they would have an early lunch at the high school. She was going to Mommy’s and Sabrina’s school! There was only one thing that could make it better but she decided not to dwell on it.

Along with the rest of her class and teachers Vida walked to the highschool. Her fellow classmates ohhed when they arrived, it occured to Vida that none of her classmates have seen a building so big. Their excitement quickly turned to hesitation with a little touch of fear when they entered the lunchroom. Firstly, the lunchroom, or cafeteria as Sabrina called it, was huge! Their lunchroom was only half this size. And second the high schoolers, there was a lot of them and some of them they had to crane their necks up to see their faces, they were that tall! They kind of reminded Vida of the jolly green giant. Vida was the first to break away from her class, she saw Sabrina and her friends and her teacher said it was okay to join them when she pointed them out.

“Sabrina!” Her cousin paused mid laugh as she turned around to see her running to join her lunch box in hand.

“Hey squirt what are you doing here?” Harvey found a spare chair and he placed it between himself and Sabrina. After setting her lunch box on the table Vida climbed into the plastic seat. She had to sit with her legs under her so she could see over the table. Being short had so many disadvantages.

“My teacher said my class was allowed to have lunch with you guys so she brought us over.”

“That’s so cute.” Said Roz. Vida liked Roz, she was nice and smart and had really cool glasses that she let Vida try on one time. Vida opened her lunch box, she placed her cards inside it to keep them nice. Then she handed them to Sabrina and each of her friends, she had to stretch as far so she could to give her card to Susie. Susie had to meet her a little bit to take the card from her. Everyone said thank you when she gave them her cards and she talked about how she tried to make them unique. For Roz she found as much glasses decorations and drew as many as she could. For Susie she found an outline of a farm and tried her best to make it look like the one that Susie lived on though she doubts that Susie and her dad keep bears. Dr. C helped with Harvey’s, he cut up some old not valuable comic books and he glued the pieces where she wanted them. Her teacher called it a ‘collage’ but she doesn’t know what that means. For Sabrina she shaped her card into a cat, Sabrina liked cats and she ‘awed’ at the red and purple cat with a pink ribbon and uneven misshapen yellow eyes. After fawning over their cards Sabrina and her friends returned to their lunch, something that Vida would do herself but…

“Vida where’s your lunch?” Vida sunk in her chair and clunch her lunch box close to her, she took it back when she finished handing out her cards. She didn’t want to tell her cousin that she could count on one hand how many times she has actually had lunch at school. “Aunt Hilda packs you lunch right?” Vida just nods. She knows that Aunt Hilda makes her lunch. Aunt Hilda makes lunch for everyone and sometimes Vida would help her. “Vida is something wrong?” Sabrina used that soft voice that makes Vida tell her everything, she doesn’t know why or how to stop herself.

“Judas.”

“What?” Vida looks two tables over and Sabrina does the same. A boy, roughly the same age as Vida sat with some kids. He was a little on the pudgy side and was dressed in khaki pants and a crisp red polo. His black hair was slicked back and shiny with some sort of gel or mousse. He turned his head, most likely to talk to the person on his left but it was enough to spook Vida and she quickly turned back around trying to make herself even smaller in her chair. “Vida has he been bothering you?”

“He takes my lunch every day.” Vida didn’t say it any louder than a whisper, fearful that Judas might hear. She remembered the last time that she made Judas mad and she was careful to make sure she didn’t attract his attention. Sabrina looks shocked and a little mad and something settles inside Vida stomach, a bad feeling. Nothing good comes from Sabrina being mad. Sabrina starts to get up from her chair, Vida didn’t know what she was going to do but in a panic Vida yells. “No! Sabrina please don’t make it worse.” Sabrina pauses for a moment but then smiles, her sneaky smile and Vida doesn’t know if that’s better or worse.

“Just trust me.” She winks and hands Vida the last half of her turkey sandwich before walking over to where their teacher was talking. They talked for a minute and the dread that Vida feels, she doesn’t like it. Sabrina returns with a huge smile on her face.

“Wanna see your mom?” And just like that Judas is the last thing on her mind.

“Mommy!” Vida takes Sabrina’s hand and they say goodbye to Sabrina’s friends as they leave the cafeteria. It was a good walk from the cafeteria to Mommy’s office, Vida has never been there before but Sabrina knew where to take her, where to turn and what hallways to walk down and what door to knock on when they reach it. There was a pause before Sabrina opened the door.

“Aunt Zelda I have a surprise for you.”

“What is it Sabrina?” Sabrina moved more into the room so that she could enter.

“Mommy!” Vida ran into her mother’s office. Her mom was sitting behind her desk and her face showed a combination of shock and joy at seeing her in her office. Vida ran straight to her and Zelda scooped her up, hugging her close and kissing her cheek.

“Vida. What are you doing here?”

“Her class is having lunch at the cafeteria. I asked her teacher if it was okay to bring her to you and she said it was okay so long as I bring her back at the end of lunch.” Vida pouted into her mother’s shoulder. She didn’t have much time with her mom and she had to go back to school after. So unfair!

“Well then, you better make your time count baby bear.” Vida lifted her head from the soft warmth of her mother’s shoulder to see Mary sitting in a seat across from her mother with her feet on the edge of the desk. She winks at Vida when she noticed her looking at her.

“I made cards!” Vida pulled out two of her four remaining cards. One was for Ambrose and the other for Aunt Hilda and Dr. C, she made them one big card that she left at school because it was too big to fit in her lunch box. She held out Mary’s card and Mary had to get up from her seat when it became clear that Vida wasn’t going to leave Zelda’s lap until she was forced to. Mary took the card with a smirk and a raspberry to her cheek. Mary’s card was shaped like a kite, she made it out of green construction paper and the blue yarn that she made the tail from had letters tied to it that spelled ‘WICCA’. Zelda’s card was in the shape of a house, it looked like a combination of their own house and Vida trying to replicate the Addams Family house. Inside was in stick figure forms Vida, Zelda, and Mary in Vida’s best attempts at drawing them as the Addams Family characters they were at halloween.

“Thank you Vida I love it.” Vida beamed as Zelda kissed her cheek and gave her another tight hug. From there Vida told her mother about making her cards and the pancakes that Aunt Hilda made. All too soon Sabrina said she had to take her back, Vida pouted but hugged her mother and Mary goodbye. Sabrina returned her to her teacher and the rest of her classmates just as the bell rang, Sabrina waved goodbye before leaving. As they walked back to her own school Vida couldn’t help the big smile on her face. Definitely the best day ever!

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

Zelda spent the first half of Saturday making sure that the preparations she made for that night were set and the second half getting ready for the dance. She ignored Hilda who seemed to be going for some recond on how many things she could make heart shaped. When she left at 5 Hilda and Dr. C were holed away in the conservatory and Ambrose and Vida were in the parlor watching a movie. Vida’s Mary Poppins obsession was still going strong and Zelda kissed her goodbye during ‘Jolly Holiday with Mary’.

By the time that Zelda got to the school the dance was in full swing. The space that wasn’t being used for the refreshments and tables for people to rest at that lined the wall was taken up by dancing teenagers. The whole gym was packed to the brim with large pink and red heart shaped decorations, streamers, and balloons, one popped under her heel attracting the people closest to her. Lights and the music made it hard to take in anything not in three feet which was why she didn’t see Sabrina and her friends come up to her until they were right in front of her.

“Aunt Zelda you made it!” Sabrina’s friends murmured a greeting to her, she still intimidated them but that was okay by her. “Last I saw Ms. Wardwell she was sulking by the punch bowl.” Sabrina indicated over her shoulder to the corner across the gym, it was a quite dark corner with not that much foot traffic, it was perfect for Mary.

“Thank you Sabrina. Enjoy yourself but be smart, understood?” Zelda gave her niece a sharp look and Sabrina bristled a little.

“Understood Auntie.” And just like that Sabrina and her friends left to be lost in a sea of dancing bodies. Zelda didn’t waste any time making her way over to Mary. Mary was sulking in a corner with a glare that clearly spoke not to bother her but Zelda dared. She didn’t hesitate to join Mary and the second that she was in visible eyesight Mary’s scowl changed to a look of shock.

“What are you doing here?”

“Being miserable with you.”

“You know out of context someone could take that the wrong way.”

“And do you know that I don’t technically have to be here and could leave at any moment?”

“You wouldn’t dare. You’re not that cruel.”

“Oh?” Zelda rose and eyebrow and smirked. She took two teasing steps backward to make it seem like she was serious about leaving. Before she could take another step Mary growled and pounced wrapping her arms around her waist to bring her back and close against Mary. In the very back of her mind Zelda realized that this was inappropriate that they, two teachers, shouldn’t be pressed against each other the way they were when surrounded by their students. But they weren’t working, not officially, and there was nothing wrong with them, two consenting adults, being together. It was a romance holiday for crying out loud, it meant that she was allowed this, to be with Mary. Doubt would imply that she cared about strangers opinion and that was the furthest thing from the truth. Zelda only cared about her own opinion and Vida’s. That’s why she didn’t care who saw as she started to slowly kiss Mary and Mary slowly kissing her back. There were a few wolf whistles but the second they glared at the small crowd watching them they scrambled away. They weren’t bothered again for the rest of the night and when the dance was over Zelda went home with Mary.

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

When Zelda came into work the following Monday she and Mary were the number one topic of discussion by the students. Zelda was constantly picking up whispered conversations when she walked the halls. She ignored it at first, gossip was beneath her and uninteresting, but when her class starts whispering every time she turns her back she had enough.

“Is there something you all would like to say?” Her second period Russian class paled and a few students even sank into their seats. “Very well then you all are prepared for the test-”

“It’s about you and Ms. Wardell!” A girl, one of her few juniors spoke out in a rush that took Zelda back. Katie was always so soft spoken.

“What about me and Ms. Wardwell?”

“There are rumors that… the two of you… are… well… dating.”

“And?”

“We just wanted to know if it was true.”

“What Ms. Wardwell and I do in our spare time is our own business and what we do is no concern to you.”

“But-”

“But nothing. Do I pry into your life? No, I’m here to teach, you’re here to learn. If you want to engage in gossip I suggest you go elsewhere. Now if that’s all I would like to continue.” Her class fell silent and they continued class without further interruption.

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

“It appears that we are ‘out of the closet’.”

“I beg your pardon?” Zelda looked at Mary confused, she wasn’t familiar with that expression or how it applied to her and Mary. When Mary joined her for lunch like normal she didn’t say anything, just took her usual seat with a kiss to Zelda’s head and started to eat her lunch. Mary lifted her lunch tray and handed Zelda a single piece of paper. It was a print out of the school blog with a headline big and bold that said ‘Ms. Spellman and Ms. Wardwell: just friends or more?’ along with a picture of them at the dance. Someone had taken a picture of the when they were at the punch bowl, they were holding hands. Zelda placed the paper down and looked at Mary, she shrugged her shoulders as to say ‘so’.

“You’re not bothered.” It was said as a statement not a question and Zelda looked Mary dead in the eye to say.

“No. Are you?”

“Not at all.”

“Good.” Mary smirked and when lunch was over she kissed Zelda’s cheek goodbye. So that was that, they were ‘out’ as Mary called it. Zelda oddly didn’t care, her relationship with Mary didn’t change and she would be damned if she let anyone change it.

#Madam Satan #Zelda Spellman #madam spellman

15 notes · View notes