#anyways i apologize for uh. not being here? recently?

[son1c]

[ambrosiagoldfish]

Can you write more Adam fics plz there so freaking good

Benefit of the Doubt PT.2

Adam x 3rd Spouse! Reader

Viewer discretion is advised

Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff to Angst to comfort, General Adam TW’s, Reader lowkey-highkey has a complex about being loved, Panic attack (I’m not even sure if this is correct term or not), Adam is afraid of heights (makes sense in story) This is set way before the show, and Gn! Reader (Y/n is once again not used lol)

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

Request Box: Open

Word count: 3136

A/N: Hi! I’d like to Thank you all for the love and support on Part 1! It means a lot that you all enjoyed it as I loved writing it! I’d also like to apologize for this being a week late, I honestly had 0 idea on how to start this one and then a bunch of stuff in my life happened, so it was a mess.

So as an apology I tried to make this one longer than the first! (I seemed to go a little overboard but it’s fine)

Anyways I hope you all enjoy part 2 to ‘Benefit of the doubt’ and as always, if you do, please tell me if want another part in replies/requests/DM’s!

Proofread but of course could have missed something

Tags: @tired-of-life-86

To think love could feel this good.

You were made for it, to give it, receive it… You’ve waited your entire existence for this love, This closeness. It doesn’t even feel real now, even as you’re walking down the golden lined streets of heaven with his arm wrapped around you, all while you’ve been showing him around. The best places to eat, entertainment, or just a nice park. You made sure to show him all of it.

He kept his wings tucked to his sides, the gold contrasting with the white of his robe. The feathers at first glance looked sharp, but now, being so close to him, you could see each of them individually and how soft they must be.

“Hey Sweetcheeks, my eyes are up here”

You jump slightly “Sorry… Adam.” You avert your eyes away from him and focus them in front of you.

Adam laughed “I didn’t say you had to fuxkin’ to stop”

His wings truly were beautiful. It was hard to keep your eyes off them. Adam had only got to heaven recently, it made you wonder if he had the chance to use them yet. You remember when you were first created, wings took forever to get used to. You crashed and fell so many times before you figured out how to use them

Properly.

“Ok seriously, you keep staring, what the fxck is up with you?”

“It’s nothing, just…. Have you tried out your wings yet?”

“Uh, yeah totally, they’re rad as hell” Adam’s voice drifted off, the LED eyes of his mask looking away from you as you both walked. Was he… lying? Why would he lie?

You quickly walked in front of Adam, leaving his warm embrace, gently you took his hands as your wings picked you off the ground. The gust of wind with each flap softly blew around you.

“Well, come on, it will be faster than walking.” Your voice was soft and airy. Slowly, so very slowly, you lifted yourself higher from the ground, Adam’s hands locked firmly in yours, as he was pulled with you in the air.

“W-Wait a- shit- Wait a- motherfuxking second“ Adam yelled strand after strand of curses as you both lifted further and further into the air. His body flailed and his legs kicked against nothing. You pull him to you, his arms quickly snake around your waist, holding on for his dear After-life.

“Adam… did you lie to me?” Your voice was still so soft, so calm, so sweet.

“Fuck- yes I lied, I’m sorry, so put me the fuck down you crazy asshole-“ Vulgar as ever, his voice had fear in it, the LED eyes were forced shut and his grip around you was getting tighter and tighter.

Your arms wrapped around Adam’s head as you laid back, letting The wind breeze from the air pull and push you along its path with your wings soaring through the clouds..

“Adam, it’s ok, I promise you’re fine, all you have to do is open your eyes.”

You pet the back of his neck trying to sooth him which seemed to work after a few seconds. Adam didn’t want to, he really didn’t want to open his eyes. But the longer he kept them close, the more you would whisper soft words of encouragement to him. Eventually, his eyes slowly but surely opened.

“See? There is nothing to be scared of. I’ve got you.”

You hold him closer in your embrace. Adam looked below, the white vastness of heaven’s clouds beneath you both felt unreal, but as amazing a sight it was, Adam’s grip on you didn’t loosen.

“So… I’m guessing you don’t know how to fly yet?” You laugh a little, rubbing a spot on his back, just between his wings comfortingly.

Adam huffed and looked away “oh! I couldn’t fxcking see that!”

You held him close to you. The embrace seemed never ending, and you loved every second of it. Feeling the warmth of his plump body next to you was like a dream come true.

“Here let me just…”

You moved your hands slowly down his arms, caressing the soft flesh as they moved to eventually be at his hands behind you. You began to leisurely undo the grip he had around you.

“What do you think you're doing-“

“Shhh, relax, just trust me, ok?”

With each finger being removed from you, the grip lessened bit by bit, until eventually his hands were fully in yours. Your face leaned closer to his,

“Come on, just give your wings a good flap, trust me.”

“Ugh…. Fine but I swear to god if you let go-“

“I won’t.” Your voice was firm, yet still remained reassuring.

Adam didn’t want to do this. He really didn’t want to. But what other choice did he have? He gruffs and extends his wings from his body. The wind brushed and tickled at his feathers. The way the light hit them caused a glare of gold to be cast from them, enveloping you both. Then, he gave two hard flaps of his wings, he lifted up slightly before quickly falling back to where he was.

“There you go! Now keep doing that.”

Adam continued, his wings slowly pushing him up and up before being sent back down when he stopped. This repeated for a few minutes until he finally got a grip on it. The entire time, you were laughing. Pure unadulterated laughs of joy.

Truly, to think love could feel this good?

“See? You're a natural!”

“Of course I am! I’m the Original Dick, obviously I’d… be good at this… flying… shit.” With all the parading he was doing he kept forgetting to use his wings causing him to fall. ‘A natural’ may have been an overstatement on your part, but hey? At least he hasn’t fallen flat on his face yet!

Gently, you led him through air, giving him reassurance every few feet you flew, never letting go. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours. Before you knew it a brisk orange sunset encased you both with its hue. That’s when you realized just how long you both had been flying.

“You must be tired with sightseeing all day… I think it’s time we go home and rest, yeah?”

“Home?” Adam’s voice sounded for a moment genuinely confused. Had he not been told he’d have a place to live in heaven? As much respect you had for Sera, you’ll have to file a complaint to avoid this with future souls.

You gripped his hand and opened your wings letting the wind lead you through the clouds and above the city. The angels below look like ants at the height you both were. It was peaceful, the flight back home. But it did seem… off? So… quiet? You couldn’t put it together, at least not at the moment, But Adam hadn’t spoken a word since you both left.

Adam, while yes, he was initially confused, it made sense to him, why wouldn’t heaven have a place for its people, a place for each of them to relax, to feel safe, happy, at home.

Home was such a weird word for Adam. Has he ever felt like a place was his ‘home’? The closest thing to it was the Garden of Eden but even that proved to be anything but a home for him. Ever since that snake entered his garden.

No. He can’t think about that now. He doesn’t want to have to think about that again. But oh-do thoughts love to worm their way back into your mind when you least want them to. He’s snaps out of his thoughts when your voice picks up

“Ok, we’re here! Just get yourself settled in and I’ll go make us something to eat. I didn't really know what food you’d like so I mainly just have junk food… I hope that's ok.”

Adam nods his head nonchalantly

You smile, waking him over to the small, plush couch in the living room and handing him a blanket and some pillows. Telling him to wait a second as you fetch some food, leaving him alone.

Adam thought your house seemed welcoming enough, ‘well… our house’ Adam thought. The living room was dark aside from a few luminous lights around the room as well as the small blue gleam from the windows from the night sky.

The couch was comfortable and the pillows just as much. And the blanket you gave him was soft and warm. This really was heaven, huh?

His thoughts are, once again, interrupted by your voice, “Ok here we go, I’ve got snacks and some soda” you say, handing him some of the many food you ravaged from your fridge and sitting beside him, wrapping yourself in the shared blanket.

Grabbing the remote lying next to you, you flick on the TV flipping through the channel before ending on a cheesy sitcom, you keep the volume low wanting to enjoy any conversation with Adam. Except… he never started one. So that’s what felt off.

The entire time you flew back home, got snacks and found something to watch. He hadn't said a word. You may not have known him long but even you had already picked up that he was an advid talker in a conversation.

“Is… everything ok Adam?” You whispered, not want to scare him with your random words.

“What kind of question is that, I’m fxcking fine… I’m fine.” His voice trailed off at the end almost getting as quiet as yours.

“Are you sure cause-“

“I said I’m fuxking fine!” His voice roared through the dark room. Gritty and callous, but you could tell it was meant to hide something. Something he didn’t want you to see.

“I’m sorry…” you paused. What did you want to say from here? What could you say? You took a deep breath and tried to continue. “I… I know I said this earlier… when Sera left.”

Adam’s LED mask looked away from you half shut eyes and a frown forming a scowl on it, but still he let you continue.

“But I’m going to say it again anyways cause… I mean it. I’m really happy to have you here. To finally have you home” you place your arm around Adam’s back rubbing it soothingly as let your head slowly lax onto him, gently cuddling close to him.

That word again… home. That’s all he could think about ever since he first heard you say it. Why? Why couldn’t he get it out of his head? His breathing was becoming unsteady with each new thought and image his brain made. Lilith and Eve, they were made to be apart of his home, for him to be apart of their homes. So why? Why did it end that way?

Suddenly Adam leap from the couch as fast as he could, the shear force knocking you to the other side of the couch, sending the food to scatter and drinks to spill to the floor.

“Adam!?” Your voice was frightened at the sudden movement. Adam looked just as frightened as you, at least from what you could tell through the LED mask. He suddenly began running, where? he didn’t know, the rooms in the house looked the same. But all he knew is that he needed to be away from you. You followed quickly behind him and pleaded for him to tell you what was wrong, but eventually he ran into a room and locked the door.

He looked around, already out of breath. He was in a bathroom. He felt his knees give out under him as he tried to slowly sit down by the tub. His breath heavy, it was hard to breathe, this stupid mask. He needed it off. But just as he went to do so,

*rattle rattle rattle*

The doorknob began to move followed by frantic knocking on the door.

“Adam! Are you ok?!” Your voice pleaded through the wood of the door.

“Fuxk- I'm fine! How many times do I have to tell you that shit” his voice cracked a few times followed by a strand of curses leaving his lips.

Home. The word repeated like a mantra in his head. Like it was mocking him. Was he not meant to have a place he called a home? To have someone to return to, who would tell him “welcome back!” Without even being told to?

Lilith hated him, Eve betrayed and hurt him like no one else before, ever. They were made to be with him, one was literally made to be his other half. The garden, his home, was taken from him because of something, someone he couldn’t control. it all comes back to him. That albino snake in the grass.

Lucifer, ‘The dreamer’… was this some sort of game to him? To toy with his emotions, treat him like some kind of plaything to mess with, to screw over? What kind of life was it? To have every opportunity and opening be broken down by him, And Adam being powerless to stop it?

“Adam! Please open the door!” Your voice was even more frantic now, knocking every few seconds before it quickly quieted down. Your body slumped against the door.

“Adam… I’m sorry if I hurt you or… or if I was going too fast… I didn't mean to… I’m so sorry…” your breath hitched with tears.

And then there was you.

You have been nothing but kind to him since you met him. You showed him around heaven, taught him how to fly and welcomed him home without having being told to. You were so different. So, so very different. Adam figure that out a while ago now. But in reality, it’s exactly why he was terrified.

To have someone who loves him so... unconditionally.

*click*

The sound of the door unlocking drew your attention and was followed by it slowly opening from Adam on the other side, still on the floor.

“Adam!” Your voice was low, already tired from crying. You crawled your way toward him before stopping in front of him, tears still falling from your face, “I’m sorry Adam, I’m sorry-“ you were cut off by a quick movement.

Warmth enveloped you, clouding your senses as a soft weight laid onto you. Arms wrapped their way around you in an embrace.

“Shit- it's not your fault, it was never your fault…” Adam’s voice was surprisingly soft, a stark contrast to his regular tone. Sincerity evident with each word. All you could do was hide into his large frame and cry at the words.

Adam was never good at comforting people. He himself was never comforted, so the concept was more than a bit foreign to him. But even still, he tried. Slowly he helped you both up from the bathroom floor and made your way back to the couch.

The floor was covered in the discarded food you both left behind. The spilled soda is now dried and sticky. Crumbs everywhere.

“Here.. let me get a mop and broom-“

“No just sit down, I’ll clean up the shit I made” you lay down on the couch and watched as Adam swept and mopped the mess from the floor. The entire time the silence hung in the air by a thread. Neither of you wanting to be the one to snap the string and speak.

Finally Adam got done cleaning the mess and made his way to the couch. He sat down and gestured for you to come closer. Crawling over to him, he wrapped the blanket around you both allowing you to snuggle into him.

“Do…” your voice barely audible “Do you want to talk about it?”

Adam looked hesitant but nodded.

“You know about everything, right? About… what all happened in Eden?

You nod against his chest content on listening.

“When… When Lilith left me, I thought I didn't care as much as I did. I thought she was a bitch and that was that. And it didn’t help that as soon as she left, I got Eve…”

He paused

“Then, when I found out about that shit between Eve and Lucifer… I didn’t care then either, but I didn’t understand why…” his voice hitched “but when I ate that damn apple… I realized how hurt I should have been. All the concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, learning all of it through that fruit, I realized one shitty truth… that the one I loved betrayed me.”

You hugged him tighter softly, your hands caressed his stomach as some form of comfort before he continued.

“For the same person- Both of them for that snake…”

“Adam… I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“And that’s why… I’m scared. Scared that I will fuxk up again and get… attached to you. Because every. single. time. He ruins it. And I don't want to see that happen with you.”

Your heart ached for him, the saddening look of his LED mask as he talked only furthered your emotions. Slowly your hands made their way to his face, he looks at you confused, your fingertips crept under the mask before his hand shot up and held your wrist slightly, carefully not holding it too tight.

“Sorry fuck- I’m.. I’m not ready.”

You smile and nod understanding “Adam. I love you… with all of my heart. And I would never do what those two done to you. “

Adam thought for a moment deciding what to say.

“Promise?” was all he could think of, his voice, mind, and body were all too tired to speak more about it.

You slowly remove your hands from his mask, instead taking one of his hands into yours.

“I promise, I would never betray you, let alone talk to that man” ever-so lightly, a soft golden glow burned between yours and Adam’s hands, the gold flame was warm and comforting to both of you as it rose and grew in strength.

From the flame, a string wrapped and warped itself around both yours and Adam’s pinky fingers. The string tightened and loosened as it moved, before finally melting away leaving only two solid gold rings behind, One on Adam’s finger and the other on yours.

“What the hell was that?” Adam’s voice was filled with bewilderment

“A deal- or I guess a promise. In this case”

“Shit, You didn’t have to do that-“ this time it was your turn to interrupt him. You bring Adam’s hand to your lips, and give a kiss on his newly formed ring before lying down and cuddling into Adam.

“I know.”

For once in his life, Adam felt at ease with love. How easy it was to fall for you.

Is this what home feels like?

[ajortga]

sweet

pairing: jenna ortega x fem reader

summary: after filming, jenna decides to relax for some coffee, not expecting to meet you and fall in love with girl that makes her knees weak.

word count: 1.9k+

part 2

Jenna can remember meeting you like it was yesterday.

At a coffee shop, not too far from the scream set in New York City.

She roamed around, it was evening, the sun was going to set soon, Jenna could tell the way the sky slightly became yellow, getting the slightest pink.

Jenna liked sunsets.

She had just finished filming for a scene, her headphones were on and she needed some fresh air. 

Her noise cancellation was on, walking the streets as she felt her stomach rumble quietly, she was hungry.

She looked around for a place to snack as she looked around, a famous pizzeria was definitely not what she needed.

She turned a corner and she saw a place that was made out of caramel bricks, plants neatly outside with vines hanging from head to toe, she could see the warm welcoming presence on the inside, lanterns hung from the ceiling.

She didn’t really like coffee.

It was so bitter the first time she tried it, of course she didn't know (till recently) that she ordered black coffee with no sugar or creme and almost choked it out.

So she stopped, if anything it added less sleep along with her insomnia.

But she went anyway, the vibe felt comforting. Plus there had to be more than just bitter coffee.

She pushed the door open, a small ding being heard.

Then she could smell the soft scent of coffee and fresh pastries lingering, she felt her hands cold, but her gaze shifts up, and she can feel her whole body warm, like a cozy fire, suddenly, she felt nothing but a daze of love shock.

Her eyes meet your figure, your hair was in a messy bun, a ruffled beige apron tucked around your body over a blouse, pouring creamer in a latte cup, a flower design being made as you traced the coffee with soft hands.

Your focused eyes shift from the cup to her, she can see a small glow in your warmth, they soften as you smile, waving. Softly, but loud enough to hear over her headphones, you saying, “Welcome!” 

She can feel her lips twitch into a smile, tucking her scarf beneath the nape of her neck, it was already warm enough here.

She looked up at the menu, so much to choose from.. And so many flavors.

She bit her lip, in thought as she was stuck, there was a lot.

But so much coffee, she may have not liked coffee the best, but coffee with this many flavors could change her mind.

She was there for a long moment, until you spoke up, you were in front of her, thinking she was going to order, she was standing in front of the cashier after all.

“Trouble choosing what you want?” You ask, tilting your head.

That took her out of her trance, taking her headphones off and wrapping them around her neck. She finally realized where she was standing, in front of the damn register.

“Oh I’m so sorry, I can be kind of clueless when I have headphones on, uh, um. Oh yes, I’m not so sure what to get, I’ve never been here.”

You give her a smile, and she can swear she feels her legs wobble, she could drown in those eyes. So pretty..

“Don’t apologize, please. Don’t worry, it’s okay not knowing what you want, to be honest I think you would like a drink. I think you would like our french vanilla or pumpkin spice latte.. With a sprinkle of cinnamon. How does that sound? This is just my recommendation, I could be wrong, but I think I can read what people should get pretty well! They end up liking it. Don’t count on me though,” You breathe with a little laugh. You sound adorable when you laugh. Your lips are perfect. Kissable.

She feels something she hasn’t felt in so long, butterflies. 

You were so sweet, something about you made her not want to tell you she didn't like caffeine or the taste. 

You just called her love, if anything the color of love was on her cheeks.

“I.. Um.. Yes, I’ll take that. Can you mix those?…”She was going to say your name but didn’t know it, looking down at your name tag, Y/N/L/N. “Uh.. Oh Y/N."

“Of course I can! One french vanilla spice coming up! Anything else you would like? Our pastries just came out of the oven if you’re in the mood for that.”

You were pretty. Unlike any other stranger she'd see on the street before.

Jenna looked at the display, her hand pointing to where her eyes landed, “I’ll take one of your strawberry croissants, I never tried that.”

“You never had these? These are perfectly sweet and soft! They’re my favorite. That’ll be $8.13 please.”

She grabbed her card and swiped it, and you smiled, “Thank you Jenna, give me 5 minutes or so.” You looked at the name of her card.

You look at the names of her customers from their card, how cute. You definitely wanted her. (Or so her delusional brain thought.)

After a few minutes of sitting down and lost in her thoughts from the music, (possibly staring at you preparing her drink the whole time,) she hears you call her name in the distance.

Something about your voice had the slightest softness, she never loved someone calling her her name more than now. Y/N/L/N. Your name is pretty. It'll be even prettier when your last name is hers when you're married-

She walked up to you and you handed her a light brown tray, with her latte in a cup, the design with a pumpkin with a small heart on it, and her powdered strawberry croissant. 

“Thank you.” She whispers, taking it gently and going back.

She sits down in the corner of the room, a booth with a pumpkin decoration and vinyls hung, she could see the steam fogging in front of her and just realizes how cold it really is.

She smells cinnamon, a small whiff of it.

She likes the smell of cinnamon. It reminds her of her childhood home on Christmas when snickerdoodles were being made.

She smells vanilla too.

She likes vanilla. She likes vanilla more than chocolate.

Her hands lifts the mug to her lips and drinks.

Immediately she feels the warmth seep through her like a gentle river, she hums at the taste.

The vanilla battles the strong bitterness of the coffee, leaving the smallest trail behind.

The pumpkin spice, she can taste it in the cream, it reminds her of fall.

It tastes comforting. It tastes like the feel of a steamy creamy soup that you have when it’s pouring rain outside. 

It makes her feel soothed. Cozy. Like she’s in her own Gilmore Girls show herself. 

Her lips press to the mug for the second time, sipping it again and it tastes so good. It’s not too sweet nor bitter. It tastes perfect. It warmed her whole body up, even with the freezing temperature.

She places the mug down on the wooden coaster, she’s never had a strawberry croissant before. 

And when she has a taste, she wants to buy the whole shop. Why has she never heard of this before?

There's a sweet fluffy cream in the middle, she can feel powdered sugar coating her lips as she licks them. 

It tasted sweet. It was light and delicious, the custard complimenting the sweetened strawberry. Who knew bread could pair with such. 

“Is it okay for you?””

She turns around and sees you, it seems like the rest of the customers had to go out before the pouring rain began to crash harder.

“It was more than okay, it was so good. I need that recipe,” Jenna jokes, making you laugh.

“The croissant is my grandma’s recipe. I remember she  made it when I first started baking in the kitchen. She thought it was so good that she had to put it on this cafe’s menu. For the latte on the other hand, you just have to know balance and what tastes right.”

Jenna’s slim hands waved a 5 dollar bill in the air, in which you immediately shook your head. 

“Take it,” she giggles.

“No, it’s yours.”

"No."

"Yes."

"If you keep it I'll give you my number."

... That was tempting for you.

“I wasn’t a big fan of caffeine in general. It was always too bitter or too sweet. I think it ruined the experience for me to try anymore. Take this as a word that I’ll be coming often,” she gave you a sweet smile, giving you a piece of paper on top of the money.

You looked at her with, a small grin forming on your face as you looked up, “You win. Thank you. look forward to you being a regular. I'll make your coffee extra lovely and sweet next time," you said with a wink that made Jenna blush.

Jenna’s smile never faltered as she left the coffee shop, seeing your number on her phone as she placed it in her back pocket. But as she tried to slide it in, it seemed a bit cramped as she took out the piece of paper that was blocking it. 

A five dollar bill. The five dollar bill she gave you.

She sighed, shaking her head with a small laugh, you were a smartass sliding the money she gave you back into her pocket without her knowing.

She folded it in her hands, looking back at the coffee shop, wanting to give it back and run so you couldn’t do anything. But as she looked back she could see the fairy lights on the sign dimming, your face behind the glass. You gave her a small playful wink as you flipped the sign to closed, your breath blew on the glass, putting a small heart on the fogginess and walked away.

Something in Jenna made her heart flutter, wanting to go to the coffee shop every day. Every. Single. Day.

But why? When she goes to restaurants she doesn’t seem excited to come again.

She could feel her cheeks heating up as she realized it was because of you. She wanted to come because of you and see your face, to see you giving her that smile or calling her name, to hear your voice as you talked to her, to see your pretty eyes glance down to her lips every once a while once again.

4:25pm

maybe y/n: sweet seeing you today, hope you didn't mind some money back, this is all i need :)

4:28pm

jenna: ooh. getting sweet already? hmmm, you're sneaky! maybe i'll pay you another visit tomorrow. (you reacted with 💗)

maybe y/n: aww, for me?

jenna: i wouldn't count on ittt but maybe it's a 50/50

4:30pm

maybe y/n: i don't think a customer would ask for someones phone number as an agreement?

..

4:35pm

jenna: you got me there

maybe y/n: i know i did jen :p

maybe y/n: don't get ahold of yourself, i still have to know you better ml

jenna: then tomorrow is set.

maybe y/n: tomorrow it issss (jenna reacted with a 😗)

She covered her face and let out a small groan as she came home, her back hitting the mattress as she looked up at the ceiling. She could feel a small grin forming on her face as her eyes sparkled, her nose scrunching.

She liked the girl who lay behind the mug of coffee.

She liked you.

-

a/n: wanted to take a small break on requests, i think i should focus on thinking of my ideas instead of doing request one by one from my inboxes, if that makes sense. requests are soon!

i'm not sure if i'll take some because sometimes these requests don't have any of my ideas in mind so it's hard to write something that feels good<3. enjoy this cute long ish drabble that i made a few months back but never finished<3

[tavina-writes]

I have been pondering the recent rash of "post canon NHS and LXC would never ever reconcile bc even if NHS wanted to have Er-ge back, LXC would never ever forgive him for [insert reason of choice here]" type of posts + the "do you think NHS thinks very hard about how much Da-ge would hate him for becoming [the way that he is now] by choosing to seek vengeance" type of posts, and I think fundamentally the reason these posts do not jive with me is that we have no indication, in the show or in the book that uh, NHS gives a shit about either of these things very much anymore?

The first type of post is predicated on the assumption that LXC's forgiveness or lack thereof some some sort of either extension of mercy (which NHS obviously does not deserve <- or so assumes the post) or some form of punishment (which is obviously the correct answer) but the last scene we get with NHS both in the book and the show make no indication that this is a thing he wants? Or cares about? Book NHS has *sauntered off* with his little hat trophy and Show NHS walks off screen after saying something along the lines of "What is my responsibility I won't shirk, what isn't my responsibility I won't care about." Now, arguably, show NHS is having a worse go of it emotionally, but shows no real inclination or interest in either apologies or making up and being friends again with LWJ, LXC, WWX, or other people. Book NHS seems pretty pleased with the outcome of the events as a whole?

The second type of post is predicated on the fact that NHS finds Da-ge's judgement a horrible burden to bear at this stage in the game, which! He might! But again especially in the book we get no indication that he has any fucks left to give about what Da-ge may or may not have wanted since Da-ge is dead. In both the show and the book, NHS went about revenge taking very specific and complicated actions with the desired result of JGY dying, but he certainly took the scenic route getting there, which, he didn't need to? As I've written about before, JGY didn't see him as a threat. If he wanted JGY dead he could've arranged to poison JGY's tea like, 10 years ago and had done with it instead of his complicated Rube Goldberg life ruining scheme. If he is still sickly anxious about how Da-ge might feel about the scheming and the trouble causing and the whole everything, that's certainly possible, but he must've decided it was worth it anyway regardless of that, and I don't know that it necessarily would've changed just because he got what he wanted at the end.

Overall, I think as a fandom we think a lot about like "will and should this relationship ever be repaired or similar to how it used to be?" and "does this character deserve/not deserve the forgiveness of people they've hurt or abandoned?" which can be interesting questions! I do feel like these are often taken as "is a character morally good (deserves to be forgiven) or morally bad (deserves to rot in hell forever never forgiven ever ever)" and based entirely on if Character is the meta writer's blorbo. Under this paradigm the concept of "Character did bad things to get exactly what they wanted and were happy about that and no relationships were ever repaired and the emotional detachment of people they used to care about no longer matters to them!" is uncomfortable.

It's just that for NHS I've increasingly come to the conclusion that canonically, I don't think NHS thinks he has anything to apologize for, nor is he super interested in being forgiven! He got what he wanted the way he wanted it to happen. Which is potentially supremely unsatisfying but I think is very sexy as a narrative concept.

[eddiemunsonw]

Library visits

PART 1

Gator Tillman x fem!reader

Summary: You see a familiar face coming in your place of work (the library), and you aren't too thrilled about it at first. However, sometimes a familiar face can be full of surprises too.

CW/Disclaimer: None, I think? Mention of death, maybe that?

Author's note: I was in need of some cute shit, though this is mostly just the build up towards the cute shit

Words: 2332

You inhaled deeply, ready to sigh tiredly when a coughing fit took that opportunity away. With all the dusty books around you, it was no surprise that your lungs were in desperate need for some fresh air.

Only recently you had started to sort out the really old books to see which ones needed some slight fixing. Which meant opening them up, as well as dusting them off. It wasn’t like the library you worked at was a musky place or anything, there was just this old section that rarely got any attention. Up until now, at least.

After putting some books back on the bottom shelf for the time being, you decided to take a break and have some tea. However, the moment you got up also became the moment you fell down again. You heard a voice apologize and you sighed, brushing yourself off as you plastered on a smile before greeting the guy.

“I’m so sorry— I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s fine don’t worry ab—”

There was no way.

None other than Gator Tillman was staring you down and you felt the insufferable need to swallow. And cough some more, because of the dust that settled somewhere in your lungs. He looked pretty much the same as he had in high school, just ten years older. The most distinct difference was probably his hair, which had lost the slicked back look he used to have. Instead, it was a bit wild and messy, but in a good way. Who knew his hair could actually have this much volume if not slicked back with endless amounts of gel? As you got up, you noticed he awkwardly stuffed his hand back into his pocket, as if he had wanted to help you back up.

As if. 

You smiled politely at him with some effort, and when he returned your smile it confused you a bit until you realized. He did not remember you. Which was unsurprising, but still annoying enough to make you drop your smile instantly, much to his confusion. You had no energy for this today, none at all. Just as you decided to walk past him, he quickly spoke up.

“Uh— I’m actually uhm, looking for a book?”

His voice came out a little strained, as if asking for help physically pained him. You slowly turned back around.

“You, need a book?” The condescending tone wasn't hard to miss, and you kind of hated yourself for it but you couldn’t help it. That guy had never touched a book in his life. Apart from porn magazines and comics, maybe.

“Yeah…? Do you— do you not work at the library?”

He looked around and then back to the name card that was pinned to your chest, as if he needed to make sure he wasn’t in the wrong place or something, asking the wrong person.

He definitely asked the wrong person, regardless of the fact that you worked here.

“Yes.”

“Okay…” he breathed deeply, taking one step forward causing you to automatically take one step backwards. A twitch in his brow conveyed his slight annoyance.

“I’m looking for… Princess Ella.”

“Princess Ella?” You asked, blinking a few times.

“Do you have it?”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes at his impatience.

“Yeah… not sure if we have it on hand though.”

“Oh. Can you—”

“I’ll check.”

Gator hesitated on following you but ended up doing so anyway when he realized you were walking towards the other side of the library. His eyes followed your movements in silence as you scanned the shelves.

“Did you look here?” you asked when you spotted the book.

“Uh— no I just… asked.”

“I see. Here,” you said as you pulled the book out of the row and handed it to him. “This the one? Princess Ella is a series, this is the first.”

Gator frowned as he took the book from you and took in the cover.

“I think so…”

“What do you need it for, anyway?” It was out before you knew it. You’d normally never speak to a customer like that, however curiosity took the better of you. Gator seemed taken aback by the question and his soft expression turned sour.

“None of your business. So, do I check out? How does it work?”

“Do you have a library card?”

“No.”

“Then you’ll have to get one of those first. There are several plans, depending on how many books you want to borrow a year—”

“How the fuck would I know how many books I’m gonna borrow?”

“You take a guess.”

“Are you always this friendly to new customers?”

“I tend to be friendlier.”

“Then what did I do?”

“If only you knew, right?”

“Yeah, I’d love to know actually.”

“Shucks.”

Gator seemed ready to storm out the building. His need for the book seemed to trump that desire though.

“I’d like a library card, please. The middle plan or whatever.”

“There are actually four—”

“Just get me a goddamn card, woman!”

His patience long gone gave him more of that spicy hostility he naturally carried around him in school. Demanding he’d get what he wanted and if people didn’t want to dance to his demands, he’d make them. This persisted during his jock “career”. After his accident, he lost most of his bite. Kept to himself, struggled to graduate now that he was fully reliant on studying rather than being a good quarterback.

“Alright… I’ll just give you the second tier, then. You can always up your subscription, should you need more.”

Gator watched you as you calmly entered his name into the computer, screen turned a little so he could watch along.

“Wait… how’d you—”

“I need your date of birth, please.”

“Uh… April 2nd. 1995.”

“Alright… address?”

Dumbfounded, he gave you his home address, phone number and email. He was still looking at you, trying to figure you out.

“There you go,” you said once the card was done and you handed it to him.

“Thanks… but how?”

You shrugged.

“You introduced yourself earlier.”

“I didn’t… Did I?”

Clearly doubting himself, you decided to keep it at that. You figured it was better than explaining the alternative. There was no need. You checked out the book for him and before you knew it, he was on his way. The curiosity on why he needed this particular book lingered.

—

Two weeks later

Today had been a day of many returns. There were usually quite a few, but it felt like the amount had quadrupled this time. Somewhere behind you, you heard the familiar sound of the sliding doors opening. A person stomped in, presumably straight for the counter.

When the little bell on your desk was slammed on, you were certain.

“Hello?”

It didn’t register for you that it was him this time, the voice being too far away and muffled by the soft music you had playing in your ears. As you hurried over, you saw Gator waiting for you, book in hand.

“Hi,” you greeted him. He was wearing a scowl, as if you had done him wrong long before he even entered the building.

“They want the second part, do you have it?”

Gator pushed the book he previously checked out towards you, his library card on top.

“I’ll check.”

“Yeah, you go do that. Also, why didn’t you just say you knew who I was last time?”

“Huh?”

Gator frowned and crossed his arms. You imagined he tapped his foot impatiently.

“It took me a moment, but I remember you now. Why pretend?”

You hesitated. Did he really not know? He never outright bullied you, but he had made some snide remarks in passing. The usual stuff. Loser. Nerd. Nothing extreme, but him being a jock caused others to agree with his statements easily. And that sucked.

“I… You weren’t exactly nice to me back then, Gator.”

Gator groaned as he rubbed a hand over his face, his other arm falling to his side.

“So? It’s been what? Ten years? A lot can change in ten years.”

It was your turn to cross your arms this time. Easy for him to say. 

“A lot can also stick around for ten years.”

Gator noticed your expression and shook his head.

“Fuckin’ tell me about it. You listen to your dad calling you a waste of space, a loser, a failure all the fuckin’ time and have everyone else abandon you ‘cause they think you’re too much like the guy.”

“That’s no excuse to treat others badly though? I always thought you wanted to be just like him. Surely acted like it,” you huffed. Gator flinched, just slightly. He rested his palms upon the counter and shook his head.

“I didn’t. I mean, I don’t. I used to think becoming like him would be the only way for him to treat me… differently, I guess. When I got injured it turned me into someone I hated. But I also didn’t know who else to be… Why am I even—”

He shook his head, regret seeping in quickly at oversharing his thoughts and he pinched the bridge of his nose to shake off the overwhelming feelings. He avoided your gaze and never finished his sentence, probably hoping you’d fill the silence. You had no idea how to respond, so instead you moved away from the counter to go find the book he needed. Gator hesitantly followed, two steps only, before he spoke again.

“I’m different, is all I’m tryin’ to say, I guess.”

You turned around and found his expression to carry some desperation. As if you believing him was very important to him. Someone he didn’t even remember last time. You nodded slowly, then continued to walk.

“I guess it makes sense for you to not believe me. And uh… sorry for, uh, whatever I said. I’m sure it was… bad. It’s kind of a blur for me, but I know I wasn’t… good.”

The book was easy to find, though you took your sweet time as you tried to think of a response.

“Sorry. I’m really sorry, Y/N.”

“Gator, I—”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to accept my apology. I know. That’s— I learned I can’t expect that stuff… my therapist used to say so.”

His eyes focused on his shoes. It was impossible to look at you now. Vulnerability was still very hard for him to adjust to. Hesitantly, you grabbed his hand so you could put the book in and then held onto it a little longer.

“I do accept your apology,” you said softly, making him look up at last.

“You do?”

“Mhm. On one condition,” you added, smiling softly. “Tell me, who are the books for?”

Gator smiled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets after tucking the book under his arm. He gently kicked his own foot with his own and took a moment to reply.

“They’re for my little neighbors. Two twin girls. I sometimes babysit them when their mom is at work and apparently they were really into this series.”

“Oh, so they’ve read it before? Don’t have it at home?”

Gator shook his head.

“No, uh, they do. Have it at home. I just…” Gator scratched the back of his neck as a blush crept on his cheeks. “I wanted to… practice? I sound so monotone when I read things, so I thought, if I know it by heart then I could just tell it without really having to read it, you know? Wanted to be a better storyteller I guess. I have no idea if they’d even notice the difference but—”

“I’m sure they do. That’s so…” cute. “Sweet of you.”

“You think?” Gator’s eyes were big, almost… hopeful. When you nodded, a shy smile spread on his face.

“How old are they? The twins.”

“Six.”

“That’s a fun age.”

“They’re real menaces, I’ll tell ya that. But they’re also adorable.”

He held the book in front of him now, holding onto it with both hands. Then, he remembered. With a little “oh”, he took the library card out of his pocket and handed it to you.

“Here.”

You chuckled softly.

“I almost forgot. And that when I gave you such a hard time to get a library card last time…” you mumbled softly as you scanned his card. Gator shrugged.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t being nice either, not remembering you at first and stuff.”

“I’ll admit that was a little annoying of you,” you told him with a smile.

Gator suddenly barked out a soft laugh in disbelief.

“A little? You were trying to kill me with your gaze!”

“I wasn’t!”

“You were all like…” Gator mimicked your expression from last time and you gently pushed his shoulder.

“You’re being ridiculous,” you laughed, and you were surprised how easy it was to smile with him now. He seemed to have the same realization at that time as you watched his gaze soften.

“You have a nice laugh,” Gator blurted, although he had attempted to say something else. He swallowed, blinked quickly. “I mean, it’s nice no longer being on your bad side.”

“Hm. I agree,” you told him softly. “It’s nice indeed. The- The last bit.”

“The first bit too, come on.”

“Maybe… I’ll think about it,” you mused and he smiled.

It was then when other customers came in, breaking the gentle spell between the two of you. Gator held your gaze for a moment, then looked away and put his card back into his pocket.

“I should go.”

“See you when you’re ready for the next part, I suppose?” you asked softly.

Gator smiled and gave you a nod.

“Yeah. See you soon. The books aren’t that thick, so,” he attempted at a joke.

You laughed as if it was really funny. It was kind of funny. Just not that funny. But it made him beam, made his eyes squint as he smiled at you, which made it worth it.

If you enjoyed reading this, please know that comments and reblogs are highly appreciated :) Likes are lovely but sadly do nothing to spread the fics around! Help your favorite writers (not saying me - in general) out like that so you can continue to enjoy consuming the free work they put out, it's a win-win.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

i can't think of a creative title

👽 for finding later because look at him he's a little alien :D

so anyway i (15F) had this girlfriend (16F) a little bit ago. we honestly didn't do much together, even though we're both in high school. never went on a proper date and we never even kissed.

whenever i would try to set up a date or anything, she'd kinda be like "ok." and then never follow up and i wouldn't wanna do it because i have really bad self esteem issues and i didn't want her to stop liking me because i was being too clingy or anything.

we were texting like normal one day and she just sent me this text where she was like "i'm literally so selfish lmaooo i already knew i was gonna break up with you by the end of the school year but here i am still dating you and wanting to kiss you 🤪" and i just stopped texting her right there because. because what? she was literally planning to break up with me and she knew what day she was going to do it and everything? then what was the point of even getting together with me? because she knew i really liked her and still did that.

anyway, we agreed to talk during our free period/study hall at school the day after. i had totally freaked myself out and i was completely prepared to just go and apologize over and over again, even if she was in the wrong, but when i met her, she immediately started talking about how i put her on too much of a pedestal and how my self esteem was too low and how i have a tendency to say "im gonna fucking kill myself" (not in like a serious way or anything but it just became a thing i'd say sometimes, we both knew that i wasn't being serious about hurting myself but i see why that would make her uncomfortable and it's actually a habit i've been trying to stop) and these are actually all pretty valid concerns. i did have a little bit of a tendency to put her on a pedestal because of my previously mentioned terrible self esteem. so we broke up.

but then a little recently, a friend, who i'll call miku texts me and she's talking about how my ex, i'll call her uh... rin? anyway, rin texts miku and rin allegedly said that she thinks that she's more mature than all of our friend group ( we mainly have the same friend group, me and rin are still friends) and miku tells me that (also allegedly) miku wasn't really all that affected at all when we broke up or even when i randomly stopped texting her after that text. so. idk. was i the asshole? i feel bad about ghosting her, that was kinda toxic and abusive and definitely something i shouldn't have done, but it freaked me out.

[parrythisucasual]

Heyaa! How your doing? Can I request how Jax would react to his s/o being just like ENA? When she always swapping personality for being too overwhelmed whit all and then vomiting (just like that scene whit her and Moony, and if you can may add Moony being...Moony? Being mean to her)

I DID MY BEST SORRY SORRY I REALLY AM GETTING TO ALL ASKS I PROMISE!!!!!!

Jax  ENA! Reader

“Wh-where am I? What is this place?” you cry out, grabbing either side of your head in a panic. You grip your oddly-cut hair, clenching it in yur fists and tugging, “Who are you people?! I hate people! I’m allergic!!” you suddenly feel rather calm, that little outburst nothing more than an embarrassing slip of the mind, “So very sorry about that!” You smoot your hair into its original, calm state.

“Uh… wow, what an entrance,” a strange, mix-and-match creature speaks first, “that’s even weirder than half the (DINK!!) that comes out of Kinger’s mouth.” The doll steps closer to you, reaching forward to get your attention, “She’s rather divided anyways, look at her,” she hums, “two entirely different halves, down to the color and texture.”

You glance down at your hands, confused, “I am not two dif-” you stop. You were. You were two separate colors, two opposing textures. It was dizzyingly terrifying.You scream, the sorrow and fear rushing over you once more.

,”No, no! I don’t wanna be like this!” you wail, waving your hands, “I’m so hideous I could-” you retch, liquified censoring spewing from your lips. You hurl your guts at the group’s feet. “Is this a bad time?” A new voice questioned. The doll glanced up, “Oh, Caine, good! Can you do your whole… you know, introduction? It might help?”

“Or it’ll make her have even more of a crisis,” The rabbit pointed out, “I don’t know about you all, but I don’t exactly want to deal with her puking again. “HEY! You leave her alone, only I’M allowed to bully her, you wad!” A floating sphere appeared behind you. 

“Moony!” Thank goodness, I was worried about you!” You chirp, somehow knowing she is your friend. The calmness washed over you once more as you hopped up, smiling at her. You glance at the others once more, “Apologies again, dearest chums! I entirely forgot to introduce myself! I’m (Y/N)!”

~~~~~~~~~~TIMESKIP~~~~~~~~~~~

You’ve been stuck in the circus for a few weeks now. Part of you was used to it now, you resigned yourself to the fact this is how things were now. The other side, however, was the part that kept you thinking you’d wake up, or that you could find an exit soon. It was hard, being so bipolar, but you had gotten used to it.

Recently, you’d noticed Jax had been following you around. Well, more than he used to. He used to follow you occasionally, mostly to make snide comments. That was a pastime of his. But in these recent encounters, some of them you’d never directly interacted with him. You’d just see him at a distance, and he’d look away or leave. 

“Ugh! (Y/N), get your weird, gross boyfriend!” Moony complained loudly, making an exaggerated sick face. She floated around you, now in front of you. You glance up at her, “I don’t have a boyfriend, friend Moony!” you chirp, smiling. She nods her head behind you, “Then what do you call HIM?”

You turn, noticing the lavender rabbit quite a distance behind you. You blink in confusion, squinting at him. Why was he following you? You wave at him, arm making large swipes above your head, “JAX!” -you call- “Over here!”

He makes a face at you, although he quickens his pace. He’s now awkwardly jogging, trying to catch up to you. “EW! (Y/N), no! Don’t call him over! Ugh! It was supposed to be besties night!” Your shoulders droop, suddenly awash in despair, “You’re RIGHT! I’m sorry Moony! I’m such a horrible friend! I ruined everythiiiiiiing!” She rolls her eyes, then unexpectedly perked up.

“Wait, maybe we can hang out with him! He’s a guy, but having another person would make truth or dare funner!” She grinned, looking at you mischievously. You sniffle as Jax finally catches up with the two of you. 

“Half and half, nice to see ya,” his smile was wide, but his voice suggested a casual tone. You rub at your eyes, “It can’t be! I’m no-good! I’ll make you upset!” Your shoulders roll forward suddenly as you stand upright, at a slightly inclined angle.

Jax was unfazed by the sudden change, not sparing more than a bored stare. You smile at him regardless, “Ah! Yes! Come with us! Moony’s room ahead!” He followed behind, groaning, “A weird nonbinary and girl sleepover? No thanks! But fine.” 

The group of you entered Moony’s room. She’d already gotten everything ready. Snacks piled in one corner and a pile of pillows and blankets all over the floor. You clap your hands together happily, “Oh! All set up! How lonely! Deepest gratitude!” You settle yourself on the cat pillow and relax. Moony lays herself in the beanbag chair beside you, and Jax on your other side.

Moony sighed dramatically, “In proper besties night tradition, I will now spill all the latest drama I’ve come across,” she cleared her throat, and delved into a long-winded speech. You glance at Jax midway through her dialog drop. “So! Why were you truly following us?” you question him, “I’m well aware you do it a lot. I didn’t realize others knew as well, or I’d have asked sooner.” 

His cheeks flushed very slightly, barely noticeable, “What are you talking about?” Oh, so thats the direction- playing dumb. You get a wild urge and decide to play with this a bit.

Yeah, I could have sworn I've been seeing you everywhere I go,” you raise a brow playfully, letting him know how long you’ve been aware of it. He scoffs, waving you off, “Why would I do that? You sure you’re not going crazy?”

“Yeah, maybe… why? Why would you?” You turned his denial into a genuine question. Moony’s rambling filled the air between you two for far too long, his deciding on which answer to give taking much longer than it should. He is teetering on the verge of his response, and you sigh and shake your head.

“Its not honest if it's been this long, I don’t wanna hear it. If it’s something dumb like you like me just say it!” He stopped dead, then his face became one of a man about to get his revenge. “Akright,” he agreed, “yeah. I like you. You’re pretty cool. Way cooler than the others. And youre genuine. You get it?”

You’re stunned, the confession was very obviously genuine. You stammer a moment, trying to say something even you didn’t know what it would be. Moony shouted above your thoughts, however, adding only more confusion, “Oh my god, I TOLD you, (Y/N)! He likes you!” Your face flushes, and your friend giggles at you. Your gaze snaps between an eager to watch Moony and a worried about the response Jax.

You blink, mind finally catching up to you, “Y-you do? I… Would you like to… go on a date?” you tested nervously. Jax’s shoulders dipped in relief, “Yeah. Maybe a day at the fairgrounds.” You nod your agreement, scooting closer to him.

Moony puffed up her metaphorical chest, “My plan totally worked!” You glance at her, a disbeleiving frown playing on your lips, “Oh yeah? Plan?” She grinned, “Yeah, I definitely set this up so you two would confess.” You laughed, “Sure you did, Moony.”

As you spoke, Jax set his hand on yours. You respond by tanging your fingers with his, your heart picking up slightly. You weren’t sure, exactly, how it had happened, but you were positive is wasnt Moony. Either way, you were glad it had.

[outivv]

— Sneaking in —

Synopsis: sneaking into their dorms!! For… different reasons that barely correlate to actually sneaking in :’)

Warnings: Idia being sick lol, not proofread

Characters: Sebek, azul, jamil, rook, and Idia

Pronouns for reader: gender neutral/ not mentioned

A/n: hello!! I know I have a lot of requests to finish but I couldn’t focus with this idea in my head :’). So!! I’m quickly writing this then back to requests >:O. I’ve been posting a lot of twst recently, so I do apologize for the people who follow me strictly for genshin content, I do hope you’re hanging in there OAVEJEG anyway, hope you enjoy!! And take care of yourself!!

— Sebek —

You carefully snuck through the diasomnia form hallways, the creaking of the floorboards were the only thing that could give you away. That or the loud opening of sebeks door, and his head peaking out, with a large comical scowl, and frown on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but thought against it as Lilia’s room was right across from his own, and he didn’t want to wake Lilia of all people. So he grabbed your arm, and hurried you inside his room.

“You were so loud I could hear you open the front door.” Sebek said his hand sliding down your arm, to carefully grab intertwine his hand with your own. “Nuh uh!! I was super careful!!” You protested. He scowled even harder, but despite that he was somehow very… docile this evening. He caught himself before shouting, he’s very gentle with his hold on your hand, he even asked you to sneak into his dorm, even though the curfew is 10pm and it’s currently 11pm, which all give the vibe that he’s not quite his usual self tonight.

“Sebek? Are you ok?” You squeeze his hand, which is still holding your own. He hums in response, his demeanor very… shy, and even embarrassed. You laugh a little, at how your big, half fae crocodile, loud, boyfriend is acting all… shy. It’s cute, you wouldn’t tell him that, but you know… he’s cute!! “I know you didn’t ask me to sneak in here without a reason.” You say, grabbing his other hand. He mumbles something completely incoherent as a response. “What was that?” You tease, even if it was a genuine question.

“I said… I just missed you.” His pointy ears turn pink, as his eyes meet your own. Ahh, now this makes more sense. Of course with the overblotting, and events, and etc etc, Malleus has been busy, which by extension means Sebek has been busy. Barely has any time to see you even, and he hates that, even if he doesn’t want to admit it because while he isn’t with you, he’s doing his duty and protecting Malleus. But, he can’t help himself, he misses you. You sigh, “alright c’mere.” You say, dragging him over to his bed, and laying down with him, beginning to talk about mindless things like you usually do.

— Azul —

“Thank you jade.” You say politely, as jade closes, and locks the mostro lounge doors again. “Of course.” You look over the massive box you’re holding, to try and make your way towards azul’s office. Getting close to the doors you can hear Floyd doing his agreed upon job, and distracting Azul so he’d stay in his office longer than usual. You creak open the door, and neither Floyd nor Azul could see you over the again, very very large box you were carrying.

Floyd rushes over to help place said box on the coffee table in the middle of the office. “Delivery forrrrrr… the prettiest boy in the world!! A-k-a the birthday boy!!” You say with a cheeky smile, thankfully for Azul Floyd has already left the room, saving him from the embarrassment. Well… you can’t really save completely, his face already turning red, as he bites down on his lip to stop himself from smiling. “What are you doing? I thought we were going out for dinner.” Azul says as he walks over to where you’re standing by your box.

“Well, maybe that was a lie to get you to think we were doing that when in reality…” you proceed to open said box, lifting it up to reveal a beautifully decorated cake. “We’re having cake for dinner!!” Azul think over how… unhealthy that is, but before he can get worked up ok how own thoughts you’re already sitting him down and lighting his candles. “You really got jade and Floyd in on this to help you sneak in?” Azul questioned, intertwining his pinky with yours. “Of course, as long as I give them some cake”

— Jamil —

“What are you doing?” Jamil asks as he suddenly appears right behind you. You jump away from your spot peering around the corner, your hands find their way to grasp the over the shoulder bag you were carrying. They have very valuable goods in I’ll have you know!! “uhhhhhhhhhhhh sneaking… into… your dorm?” You say it like a question. Jamil quirks an eyebrow, “really?” “Yes really!! That’s what I was doing before… you caught me” your demeanor goes to shy, and embarrassed real fast, which jamil chickened at a bit.

“You know you could have just… used the front door.” Jamil comments. You sigh, resting your hand ok your hip, and tsk at his naivety, “now now jamil. You know it’s less fun that way. Plus I wanted to surprise you!!” He crosses his arms, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, “oh? And why would that be?” Your face flushes as you suddenly remember why you came here.

“Well… I uh-“ you open up the bag you had with you, and carefully pull out a small bouquet you had with you “I actually wanted to give you this!!” You hold it out in front of you, a bright and almost innocent smile spreading on your face as you outstretched your arms. Jamil carefully holds the bouquet, looking at it confused, he’s never gotten such a thing from someone… what exactly does this mean? Do you feel the same way for him? Or is it a… friendly gesture amongst friendly friends for friends. He’s not sure. The more he stares at your gift the more your face reddens. “If… you don’t like it that’s fine, I know it’s not really a uh… what’s the word… hmm… practical? Gift?” Jamil now looks up from the flowers “No no it’s just… never mind, thank you. I appreciate it.”

— Rook —

You casually walked through the halls of Pomefiore, you were just gonna meet up with epel for some studying!! Nothing more!! And yet… “ah Mon cherie!! Were you trying to surprise me with your presence?” Rook said as he quickly revealed himself behind the corner, a sharp smile on his face. You step back and scream, obviously surprised by his appearance, rightfully so too!! “Holy sh- rook?!”

He tilts his head, and fully steps away from the corner, walking towards you, and taking your hand in his to kiss it tenderly. Your face bursts into a fit of blush, but also still shock from him startling you, “hey!! No flattery.” Rook looks at you, still with that same sharp close mouthed smile, “Hm, I do apologize for scaring you, but I just couldn’t help myself”

Rook leans against the wall next to him, “I thought you were sneaking up on me, oh how scary that would be” he fakes being dramatic, for a little added flair. “No, I’m just going to study with epel.” You tilt your head, clearly confused. “Oh now you’re even choosing epel over me, oh my!!” “What do you mean??” You respond, very clearly confused on how he keeps pulling random scenarios out of thin air “oh I can’t believe my beloved dear, is hanging out with someone other than me in my own dorm!!” You sigh and start walking to epel’s room, with rook still tailing behind you like a dramatic puppy. God this study session is gonna be obnoxious.

— Idia —

The ignihyde halls are usually very empty, as the echos of your footsteps are played over and over again. There’s not many students in ignihyde, and the ones that are here typically find themselves in their room, or on campus. Either way, meant you got to sneak into the dorms easily, well… after you notified ortho before hand (ortho is ignihyde equivalent of Cerberus prove me wrong).

Now, all you had to do was… not startle Idia, should be easy enough. You knocked on his door, and slowly opened it after hearing him groan. Upon entering you saw him huddled in a blanket, his face illuminated by the screen of his pc, and screen. “Hey.” You say, and you can hear a little squeak, and see him jump a bit in his chair. “What… are you doing here?” Idia says turning around, with a sniffle. You shrugs and say, “well I thought I should cheer you up.” You hold up a bag you were carrying, “I brought candy, that new game you’ve been wanting, and I even brought a copy for myself and my console. Oh and more tissues and medicine, cause you look all… drippy.

It’s funny how whenever Idia gets sick, it’s ortho who calls you for help. Idia was miserable this whole day so far, until you snuck in, and decided to take care of him. Idia, snuggles again, the tops of his hair turning a bright shade of pink, “thanks…” he mumbles, he is truly thankful for everything!! He just… god you make him so nervous, and so happy all at once. You walk over and hand him the box of tissues, “of course. Anytime.”

[nhasablogg]

Dungeons and tickles

Fandom: Stranger Things

Characters: Lucas/Max, Eleven, Will, Dustin, Mike

Summary: Lucas is slightly too stressed and so his friends decide he needs a distraction.

A/N: Commission for anon! I hope you like it!

Words: 2.5k

None of them really thought Lucas was cheating, because how the hell was he even supposed to do that? Buying weighted dice in Hawkins of all places was a near impossibility, and Lucas just wasn’t a good enough liar to be lying about his hit points. Besides, it made no sense to cheat in Dungeons and Dragons, a game which relied on player choices, dice rolls and the interpretation of a world through the eyes of one single creator. Not to mention Lucas’ evident respect for the game. It was simply absurd.

But it was just way too much fun to pretend that Lucas was cheating, as that agitated him more. He’d been a bit of a pain in the ass recently, tryouts for the basketball team keeping him jumpy and snappy, only for him to turn around and apologize immediately after. Still, the constant mood swings weren’t canceled out by the apologies, even though they all appreciated them. Roping him into the game, while Max and El sat on the sidelines and watched, had been hard to begin with, but his mind seemed to be wandering anyway, and so they knew he needed a proper distraction to get him out of his funk. What better way than to mess with him a bit?

“I’m not cheating,” he said for the tenth time, throwing up his hands as Dustin pointed at him and doing a good job of not bursting into laughter through his fake accusation.

“You are,” he shot back. “Tell me how you’re doing well when you’re obviously not all here.”

“Maybe I’m just that good.”

“Oh, please.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows in a way that was dangerous. “Do you have something you wanna say?”

Dustin grinned innocently at him. “No, nothing at all.”

“We can all see that you’re cheating though,” Will said, and Lucas sighed loudly.

“Not you too,” he said, rubbing at his temples. “I’m too tired for this. I give in. I’m going home.”

“Oh, come on,” Max said, grabbing his hand before he could stand up. “Don’t go. We’re having fun, right?”

“I’m being accused of cheating. That’s not fun at all.”

“So stop cheating.” Mike’s words made Lucas turn to him, annoyance evident across his face. “It’s as simple as that.”

“You know damn well I’m not a cheater.”

“Do I?”

Lucas gritted his teeth. “I’m leaving.”

Max’s grip on his hand suddenly tightened. “No.”

Everything was a blur after that; voices mixing and limbs tangling, until Lucas found himself pinned to the floor by them all, with Max most prominently straddling his waist.

“What are you doing?” he asked, suddenly aware that maybe all the accusing fingers were simply there to mess with him. He felt his annoyance melt away, being replaced by nerves instead. From the prospect of this, with Max on his waist, Will and Dusting holding his hands and Mike sitting on his legs, his body was left slightly too exposed for his liking. Eleven, who’d been quiet throughout it all, was sitting beside Max, smiling at him in a way that made him all the more nervous.

“We’re getting you back for cheating,” Max said, quickly dropping her facade. “And helping you get rid of all that excess energy you always have when you’re nervous about something.”

Lucas pulled weakly at his arms. “You can help me in other ways, you know. I don’t remember deserving whatever you’re about to do.”

“Uh, remember being rude to me at lunch today?” Dustin said.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “I said I was sorry.”

“Yeah, but you’d been rude the previous period too.”

“I’m going through a lot right now-”

“Oh, we know. This is simply just a bit of revenge.”

Lucas knew deep down what they were about to do, and so he turned toward Max, knowing if anyone would show him mercy it would be her. But Max was looking determined and Lucas realized he was doomed.

“Please don’t,” he said as she pulled up his shirt to expose his belly to the cold air of the basement.

“I’m sorry, but we have to.” She moved over to let El scoot closer beside her, the two of them sharing a look which he couldn’t interpret but which he knew meant trouble. He realized what was about to happen when they both leaned down, their faces coming close to his skin, seeming giddy like children.

Lucas screamed as they started blowing raspberries into his skin on either side of his belly, as if their lives depended on it, over and over, sending ticklish shocks through him. The initial panic merely doubled as Will suddenly started blowing raspberries into his neck as well, just beneath his chin where Lucas couldn’t shield himself. He could feel them laughing into his skin, enjoying this, and one part of him relished in their enjoyment. They’d not been kids for a long time. Maybe having to endure this was worth it just for the laughter.

Mike was going to town on his feet, holding onto his ankles for dear life lest he wanted to get his teeth knocked out. He’d grown taller, stronger over the summer, although Lucas was still stronger and probably always would be. Still, their tickle fights, rare as they were now, were no different from the ones they’d had as kids. Chaotic. Merciless. So much belly laughter they nearly couldn’t breathe. They’d not gotten Will as often as they used to after he’d gone missing and come back, but the few times they had - careful pokes, gentle smiles - had been reminders of childhood. Dusting screaming bloody murder whenever they got him. Mike running away until Lucas tackled him. Lucas having to be pinned by all three of them if they wanted to even attempt to poke him.

But Max had mellowed him out. Max had shown him it was okay to be vulnerable. Max, with her nimble fingers and teasing grin, who was beaming up at him now between raspberries. Max kept him young as the world around them tried to literally kill them. And in turn, Lucas remained gentle despite it all.

Lucas snapped out of his brief daydream (how the hell could he daydream through tickling like this?) when Mike switched spots, latching onto his hips which made them all shuffle around. He protested as they all paused their tickling for a moment, but no one was listening to him. Will simply grabbed his thighs, as if ready to squeeze at any moment, while Dustin wormed his fingers into his armpits, making him squirm from simply the contact. Max remained at his belly while El moved upward to take Will’s old spot at his neck, and suddenly Lucas wondered if he was to survive this. Max still had him straddled, but she was sitting up properly now, gently caressing his stomach as if to calm him. It tickled, but not enough to make him laugh. The only reason he was giggling now to begin with was due to the anticipation. He was pinned. He was exposed. He knew how this would end.

Did he plead? Of course not. He had a, somewhat misguided, ego to think of.

He would, though. Eventually. He knew that too.

The world was still for a moment, and then they all started at the same time, turning him into a momentarily fumbling mess of confusion, not knowing what sensation to react to first, until it all suddenly exploded simultaneously in the form of hysterical laughter. He felt Max’s hands around his belly button, squeezing around it lightly while El was curling her fingers under his chin. Those two things would be enough to have him begging for mercy, only somewhere beneath that he could feel Will squeezing his thighs, kind enough not to be gentle at the very least. He wasn’t sure if he could handle gentle scratching on his legs right now, not when Dustin was succeeding more and more in prying his arms up so that he could tickle his armpits more properly. Behind Max, somehow fitting between her and Will, Mike was still latched onto his hips, squeezing them in all his might. It was a miracle Lucas hadn’t bucked Max off in his struggle to escape, but later, when he’d been granted his much needed mercy, he would realize she probably wasn’t the only one pinning him down.

He could picture it. El and Will and Max taking turns holding his flailing arms, while Will held his legs down so that Mike could reach his spot. Or maybe it was Mike who was holding him down so that Will could tickle his thighs? Lucas didn’t know. Lucas couldn’t know from where he was lying, on his back on the floor, eyes squeezed shut as he laughed and laughed. He felt another raspberry on his belly, just beneath his navel, and he didn’t need to open his eyes to know it was Max. A raspberry to his neck told him that Eleven was following suit, not necessarily a follower as much as being unsure of what was allowed. He was glad that, in the midst of it all, none of the others started blowing raspberries on other body parts. That would’ve been crossing several lines.

“Aha!” Dustin’s exclaim was heard through his laughter, but was mostly just noise to him now, busy as he was. He could tell his shout of triumph came from Dustin finally pinning one of his arms to the side, not fully above his head but enough so that he could wiggle his fingers in the hollow of his arm with no problem, making Lucas’ focus shift to him for a moment. It was probably the worst of it; how he couldn’t focus on one torture at a time, but was bouncing between them. One moment he was with Will, who was still squeezing his thighs as if his life depended on it, moving between spots at the speed of light. The next he was with Mike, who was tickling his hips at the same spot over and over, slowly driving him insane. Before he could notice anything else about it - if he was being gentle or not, how the hell could Lucas tell like this? - he was with Max again, who wasn’t blowing raspberries anymore but was instead circling a finger around his belly button, getting ready to dive in. Lucas would’ve asked her not to, would’ve screamed and pleaded and begged, had El not switched tactics in a drastic enough way that he noticed, transferring his ever moving focus to her.

“No!” he cried, possibly his first coherent word since this started. But El didn’t listen, because how could she even tell he was speaking to her? She simply tickled both sides of his neck at the same time, just below his ears, making it impossible for him to scrunch up for defense. And maybe that would’ve been his demise had Dustin not found the spot that connected his upper ribs to his armpit…

He didn’t know how he did it, only that Max was suddenly flying off of him and his foot had accidentally knocked into the side of Mike’s head, and maybe the sight would have been funny had he been in any other position. The momentary relief simply made for a worse continuation, when he’d tasted the lovely taste of a non-ticklish existence.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he said when Max started poking him, although not straddling him again.

“You did that on purpose,” she was saying, laughing along with him.

“Where did you get your strength from anyway?” Mike asked, holding his head. “Maybe you should audition for the wrestling club or something instead.”

“Mike, they’re not called auditions.”

“You know what I meant.”

Their game of DnD was forgotten, as were the accusations of Lucas cheating. The tickling was turning into a tickle fight rather than pure torture, but Lucas was drained and had a hard time putting up a fight, and so it wasn’t hard for Mike to grab his feet again or for Max to claw at the back of his ribs when he tried to roll away. The other three stayed back this time, except for the brief poke Dustin aimed at his ribs when Lucas rolled closer to him.

“Please, mercy, oh my god-”

“You think he’s had enough?” Will asked.

“He can take a bit more, can’t you, Lucas?” Lucas managed to catch the moment Max’s face softened as she grinned down at him, maybe realizing he wasn’t able to handle much more. “But maybe we should round it off. Does anyone want one last tickle before we let him go?”

“How about another raspberry?” El said, and Lucas could only close his eyes and lie there and take it as she, Max and somewhat surprisingly Will blew raspberries on his belly for another moment. It wasn’t as bad as the rest, but being all tickled out it was enough to send ticklish shocks through his body, although he did little to stop them.

“I knew you were still ticklish,” Dustin said when they’d helped him up again, hands rough against his skin to help rub out the residual tickles that they knew lingered on him.

“Did I ever say otherwise?” Lucas didn’t have the energy to sound annoyed.

“No, but it’s been a while since we tickled you.”

“You just tickled me enough to not have to do it again for the next ten years.”

“Or maybe we just caught up on what we’d missed.”

Dustin nudged him in the ribs and Lucas could only groan. “I’m so getting you back. I know how bad your belly is.”

“Big words from someone who was just begging for mercy.”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about your knees, Wheeler. You all better watch your backs.”

They all laughed, knowing full well he wasn’t kidding.

“Are you okay?” Max asked him later, the two of them curled up on the couch when they probably should’ve gone home ages ago. “Did we go overboard?”

“Yes to both.” Lucas softened, like he always did when he could smell sleep on her. “But it’s okay. I guess I deserved it.”

“That you did.” She ran a finger over his lower ribs, not tickling him necessarily but also not staying clear off his sensitive spots. He shivered, for various reasons. “And needed it.”

He felt himself flush. “I guess.”

“You guess, huh.” She grinned and he squeezed her tighter to him.

“Don’t get cocky. I can totally get you back.”

“But you won’t.”

“Not here, no.” He kissed her temple. “But you better be very very nice to me later when we’re alone.”

“I’m always nice.”

“Of course you are.” A pause, and, “I know none of you believed I was cheating.”

Max snorted. “Of course we didn’t.”

“That, if anything, deserves its own revenge, don’t you think?”

He heard Max gulp. Revenge would be oh so sweet. If he needed tickles, he needed to hear her laughter so much more.

[rowanwithaz]

Patterns and Accidental Parallels.

I haven't made a longer post in a little while,jeez,but,uh,yeah. I've just seen a lot of drama on the official translation for this chapter and it inspired me to talk about some of the patterns I've seen and how,yes,this translation sucks ass,but it doesn't ruin the parallel. That's just how good Horikoshi's writing is,no matter how hard you try to change it,you can still find parallels and patterns to everything.

(I'm just gonna start all my posts with low quality images because I love them so much).

Translations real quick.

SO. I think we all need to remember where Izuku's at right now,how he's feeling. From what we can tell,Izuku isn't doing well.

He saw the dead body of his childhood friend,he had to fight Shigaraki right over said body,he had to stress about Black Whip,he had to remember not to cry,he's just had it really really rough here recently,so,when we have Katsuki stepping in and in fan translations,recalling back to his apology.

Official: Fan:

Now,we're obviously pissed off at the official translation,but,is it that important? And is the English version really trying it's best to interrupt Katsuki's character?

I think it's obvious Katsuki is talking about his apology,for several reasons. The first being what I said at the top,he's stepped in when Izuku was stressing and most likely going to kill himself with all that stress,kinda like when Katsuki said his speech/apology to get Izuku to come back so he didn't have to do it himself. It only makes sense that he'd be calling back to that,we know Horikoshi does this a lot anyways,so kinda weird the English translator fucked it up. Or...did they?

Is it even important? Yes. This is Katsuki's DEVELOPMENT and his relationship to Izuku being shown,and it doesn't make me a happy camper with how they translated this (I believe it was one guy,but still?) We are seeing Katsuki stay true to his word,and it just doesn't have that effect in the official translation. Or does it?

Patterns.

I'm going to go back to what I said at the top. Izuku isn't in a good place right now,and Katsuki seems to be the one to help him when he's like this,which sets it up for a talk. If this is recalling back to Katsuki's promise/apology we're going to get a talk.

BUT. Here's something i want to say,what if we're thinking too far ahead?

We see,not long before he apologies,he says this:

it looks a lot like Katsuki's expression in 405,and even what he's saying in the official translation is similar,so,this could be calling back to right BEFORE his talk with Izuku,meaning we might get an actual talk,y'know?

Look at the face Katsuki makes when he says his promise.

His expression is so soft,because he's being genuine and vulnerable with Izuku,as really pay attention to what he's saying in this scene.

"Saving people is how we win," Katsuki is admitting to save to win,show casing a TON of his development,but what is he doing with AFO? He's fighting,and we can see in the "All Might Wannabe" he has more of a fighting stance. Katsuki needs to save Izuku,he saved All Might,but not Izuku. He needs to have a talk about Black Whip with the closeted boy,and we will get it. I have faith in Horikoshi that he'll give them the heart to heart they deserve.

And now we have a pattern,now don't we?

There's some way we establish Katsuki is special to Izuku,

We have Katsuki yearn to be with/talk with him,

We then have a talk,

And,another thing, they FIND each other,ya see when Katsuki died we skipped a step, now that he's alive,we reset the cycle perfectly.

We have them fine each other,

(I'd also like to add the second user is present here,and a lot when Katsuki and Izuku work together,so I guess we can add that to the cycle pattern,it's also raining and we see the rain stop.Coincidence? I think not.)

We establish how special Katsuki is with black whip,

And do you see the looks they've been giving each other? If that's not desperate gay yearning i don't know what is. I don't think we've seen the next steps yet,but it's still there and apparent,and I'm here for it.

So,yes,I do believe the official translation isn't as good as the fan translation,but,I think it still WORKS,effectively even. Being a shipper I want him to say something really sweet and emotional to Izuku,but I just don't think it's this scene we're gonna get that from.Yeah,I think they fumbled it with the wording,but it still works to parallel the apology and Katsuki's character development and his and Izuku's relationship whether they intended to or not.

[vmartist]

Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir x Male Reader:

• surrender my heart •

Quick AN: This is part two to the loneliest time. tw:minimal editing

The song is another track from the same album. I recommend listening when you have the time anyways bye hope you enjoy xx

Your hands mess with the fabric of your pants as you sit in the chair. The bouncing of your leg isn’t easing your anxiety as you wait for your name to be called.

“Uh…” A woman with a clipboard exits and reads out your name. “(Y/n) (L/n)?”

You stand and follow her into her small office. It’s adorned with children’s books, toys, diagrams about mental health and her several degrees hanging behind her. The room is slightly dimmed and warm, with a subtle scent of vanilla.

“This is our first session together. I understand that it can be very nerve wracking.” She says while looking to your bouncing leg. “But I assure you, there’s nothing to be afraid of here. You can talk about whatever you want or not talk at all. It’s all up to you.”

You nod your head and watch as she writes something down on her clipboard. “What’s that for?” You ask pointing to her clipboard.

“This is how I log all my sessions with my patients. It’s all purely confidential and I won’t share this with anyone. Unless it’s putting your health at risk of course.” She replies.

You sit in silence for a bit before she speaks up. “Do you mind if I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable.”

“Go ahead.”

She nods and proceeds with her question. “Why is it that you wanted to seek therapy? What brought you here today?”

“I’ve got a lot going on in my life and it’s kind of…stressing me out. I don’t really have any one I can turn to for help. So…I thought maybe therapy could help.” You admit while breathing out softly.

You hear her pen scratch against the paper before she speaks again. “What exactly is going on in your life that’s causing this distress?”

“A friend of mine...We got into an argument. I said some awful things I wish I could take back and I hurt him…” Your eyes are glued to the floor, but when you look up you see her nod.

“What started the argument?” She asks, continuing writing something down.

“He kept this huge secret from me. Which normally I wouldn’t mind but, he prides himself on hating secrets. But when I think about it…it wasn’t that big of a deal…” You muttered out as you rub your arm.

She hums while nodding. “And do you like this guy?” You perk your head and think for a second.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. I stopped talking to him for a bit and we recently reconnected. And I’m pretty sure he wanted to be more than…friends.” You say before swallowing the lump in your throat.

“And how did that make you feel?” She asks looking up from her clipboard.

“Um…I don’t know? I didn’t mind, he’s a nice guy…” You mumbled while gripping your knees.

She sighs before putting her clipboard down. “Alright. I’m gonna give you some resources so you can better understand your emotions and how you feel. For our next session I want you to tell me what you learned about yourself. Can you do that?”

“Yeah I can do that…”

That night you went online and filled out several questionnaires before sighing. “This is…ridiculous.”

The next therapy session was much more productive as you were able to unpack more of your issues. For the next couple days you drafted an apology. Something quick and to the point that’ll get your message across.

You transform and sit atop a random apartment before pinging Cat Noir. Adrien looks at his glowing ring, he transforms and looks at the location that’s been marked. Once he’s there he looks around nervously.

“You actually came…” You smiled.

“I thought it was important?” He sighs and starts to extend his weapon before you stop him.

“I wanted to apologize. Please, just give a moment of your time. That’s all I ask.” You plead while looking into his eyes.

“Fine.” He sighs before sitting down beside you.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole…it wasn’t cool at all. I understand now why what I said hurt you and I don’t want you to feel like that around me any more. I shouldn’t have hurt you, but I did.” You look over to him. He’s quiet for some time.

“Thank you…I forgive you but I’m still gonna need some time away from you…I have a lot to think about…” He stands and turns to you with a weak smile. “I’ll…see you around.”

“Take your time, I’ll wait for when you’re ready.” You reply. He smiles and nods before leaving.

‘I’m forgiven…but that doesn’t mean he’ll even want to be around me any more…And that’s okay. As long as we know that we’re okay now…’ You ponder while looking into the night sky with a determined smile.

The weeks after are looking up after all. Adrien is more outgoing than usual and when he’s Cat Noir he’s more determined than ever. Yet he still hasn’t reached out to you personally, but you understand and respect his feelings.

I found myself back in therapy this time in a better spot. I sniff the subtle vanilla and smile while crossing one of my legs over the other. My therapist looks to me with a polite smile as she places her clipboard down. “You’ve made a lot of progress since our first session. I’m proud of you for putting in the work and taking initiative.” She says while adjusting her jacket. “So, what brings you in today?”

“Well at this point you’re pretty much caught up on everything that’s going on in my life. I came here today to thank you, for listening and helping me.” I stand and nod my head to her.

“But you still have an hour? All you came to say was ‘thank you’?” She asks quickly standing.

“Yep. That’s it. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to update you. But in the meantime, just accept my thanks.” I wave before leaving. She sinks in her seat and smiles to herself.

I take a stroll into Paris, taking in every view there is. The pigeons chirping, the cerulean sky, the barks and meows, the Parisians going about they’re every day and my phone buzzing. I look down and pull it from my pocket and see a text.

Adrien: Hey, meet me at my place tonight.

You re-read the message several times before typing a simple: “Okay.” Sure it was basic but it gets the point across. You pocket your phone and go about the rest of your day in peace. As nighttime approaches you feel anxiety slowly seep into every pore of your body. In an attempt to calm your nerves you begin pacing around your room, which only makes it worse.

‘I just need to go on a walk…maybe that will calm my nerves?’ You wonder as you run outside and take a walk. Your chest rises and falls quickly as you breathe through your nostrils. Eventually you remind yourself to take deep, slow breaths and calm down. Once calmed down you make your way to Adrien’s and text him. The gates open and you walk inside to see Adrien at the top of his stairs.

“Up here.” He states with a tiny smile before turning and walking up to his room. You follow behind and enter slowly while looking for him. He exits his bathroom and waves you over. You enter the bathroom and look around with confusion.

“Um…what exactly are we doing in your bathroom?” You ask while chuckling. Adrien just pats the spot beside him on the floor.

“I just need to make some peace with myself…and with you as well.” He says, looking up at you with a sullen expression.

You sit down and bring your knees close to you as you hug them and watch Adrien. All that can be heard are his soft breaths. He turns to you and makes direct eye contact.

“Before I said I couldn’t look you in the eyes and say I forgive you. And I know I’ve said it before but I just wanna make sure you understand. I genuinely forgive you.” He whispers. You grab his hand in yours and shake your head.

“You don’t owe me anything. I do.” You whispered while pushing some of his hair behind his ear. He glances down at his wrist and begins touching it. “Our friendship bracelets…I’m not sure if you still have yours but I…kinda destroyed mine.” He whispered. His eyes look up at you and he smiles nervously.

You touch his wrist and rub it gently. “That’s okay, we’ll make new ones.” You both smile as your eyes meet. His eyes trail down to your lips as he slowly leans in. You lean in but before your lips touch both your miraculous begin blinking.

“Guess we’ve gotta transform…” You murmured as you slowly stand. Adrien nods quickly before you both transform.

Soon you’re both with Ladybug. “Alright now that you’re both here I need you two to distract.” She states as she motions to the akumatized victim. Cat Noir nods and grabs your arm.

“Follow my lead, mon amour.” He whispers while winking.

You roll your eyes. “As long as you promise me no more cat puns.” You said as you run by his side.

He pretends to act offended and clutches his chest. “You’re kitten me right?”

A groan erupts from your throat as you stare at him. “Let’s just get this over with already.”

When you land, Cat Noir extends his hand. “May I have this dance?” He asks while grabbing your hand and planting a gentle kiss upon the back of your hand.

You nod. “With pleasure, kitten.” He throws you in the air, you quickly dart into the enemy and after landing the first hit you bounce back. You grab Cat’s hands and begin dancing while occasionally swatting at the monster with kicks. He leans down into you as you lift your feet in the air. “Ready for the finisher?” He whispers.

“Let’s do it.” You whispered back while grinning. As you twirl you guide your hands down to his waist as you wind up for a throw.

You spin into a throw as you launch him towards the monster. “Cataclysm!” He shouts as he reaches his arm out. He flew past and destroyed a large advertisement that collapsed onto the monster, immobilizing it in the process.

Ladybug snaps the akumatized object before capturing and releasing the butterfly. Afterwards she fixes everything with her ladybugs and turns to you two.

“Did I miss something?” She questions while pointing to your hands. You glance down and chuckle as you noticed your hands intertwined.

Cat Noir blinks and averts his eyes to the side. “Not at all M’Ladybug…”

Her eyes rest on the both of you as she sighs. “Well, I’m glad you both are okay now. Just as long as this doesn’t make either of you prey for Shadow Moth.”

You’re quick to shake your head. “No, he’d be a fool to try and come for one of us.” Suddenly everyone’s miraculous begin beeping. “Looks like we’ve gotta go. Great job as always Ladybug!” You praised before leaping away.

Ladybug nods and swings away as you and Cat Noir head back to his house. After de-transforming you sigh as you sit on the ground while feeding your kwami.

“Where’d you learn to dance like that?” Adrien asks as he feeds Plagg.

“We had to do an elective and I chose dance since it seemed fun. Trust me, not as easy as it seems. I can already feel my body cramping.” You giggle while rubbing the back of your neck. Adrien laughs with you and takes a seat next to you. He nuzzled himself into your neck while planting kisses along your skin. Then he pulls away and looks into your eyes.

“I know this probably isn’t the best time to ask, but…” He doesn’t hold eye contact for long as he looks down. “Why were you mad at me?” He mutters.

“I…I was frustrated at first that you kept such a big secret from me. Obviously I was too but I didn’t see it that way at first. Then I realized that I didn’t know you. I knew Cat Noir and you as if you both were separate people but to then suddenly merge the two together…It made me wonder about myself.” You mumbled as you stared at the ceiling.

“…” He nodded slowly before shrugging. “I didn’t put that much thought into it. Hero or not, you’re still you. And…I’d love you regardless.” He smiles softly as he rubs his thumb across your cheek.

You cheeks tint a soft rose as you cough awkwardly and avert your gaze. “…You’re so cheesy…you know that?”

A small chuckle escapes him as he nods. “So I’ve been told.”

Okay it’s done, thanks for being patient. Honestly I wish I had an excuse as to why I was gone for almost half of the year. I suppose mental health could be one? But I feel like that would sound so cheap. (Cheap coming from me specifically, not coming for anyone else😭) Anyway, hope you enjoyed! I’m not gonna promise anything soon but I do have some drafts and ideas for stuff in the future.

[mikakeya]

Lucky Wednesday

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 1,660

Warnings: Fluff

Summary: You fell for Bucky Barnes as he dined in the restaurant you work at - Izzy's. You decide to call him up to ask him out on a date as it leads to everything you've ever imagined it to be and more.

A/N: This is the Bucky apology fic that I've been writing after publishing my 'Hello, I'm Back' Announcement and Update Post. I hope you guys enjoy it because I certainly do. I love how sweet I portrayed Bucky to be and it is slightly canon to what happened in TFATWS. Here's to me wishing this can actually happen so that I can manifest shifting and have a normal relationship with James Bucky Barnes. The 'Steve Rogers Bday 4th of July' fic will have to wait, I'm so sorry but it's past 12am my time and I'm tired so I'm going to retire. Goodnight :))

"Hello, can I speak to James Barnes? O-oh, hey, how are you doing uh...I feel kinda silly doing this but uh, this is Y/N, the waitress from Izzy's. You know the one w- well the only waitress." You picked up the phone after your shift ended at 10 and called Bucky's number after saving it that one time from when he called about a delivery.

Well, that's at least what happened yesterday after you finished your shift at 10 like you always do. For some reason, you actually had the guts to pick up the phone and call him. At least that was better than telling it to him in person and embarrassing yourself knowing how red your cheeks would have gotten from the feeling of being flustered.

Ever since Bucky walked into Izzy's and you laid eyes on him, you couldn't help but feel a sort of luring attraction about him. Something was telling you that this man had gone through a lot and indeed he has since you recently came into contact with Sam Wilson - The Falcon as he entered Izzy's and asked if Bucky had entered here. One thing led to another from Sam wanting to know the whereabouts of Bucky's location to you wanting to learn everything you can about Bucky before asking him out on a date.

So that's how you knew what you needed to know about Bucky as Sam gave you a pep talk to ask him out while warning you about how he's a "grumpy and lonely staring machine".

You felt bad for the man honestly after all he's been through. Most people would probably have a hard time trying to see past the wrongs that Bucky did but you were able to accept him as he is instead of holding him accountable for what he did.

Anyways, jumping back to the present moment where you were still working and trying to pass the time by putting your head in the game as you served your customers while cleaning up the bar as well. A few hours passed before you know it and because there wasn't anyone left in Izzy's, you decided to close up early and clean up the restaurant before calling for a pizza delivery.

You headed into the back of the house restaurant passing through a 'Noren Curtain' which separates it from the rest of the restaurant where the customers dine as you changed into something presentable and did your hair up into a loose bun with your hair feelers framing your face.

You heard the bell hanging on the front door go off as you peeked your head out from behind the Noren Curtain before landing your eyes on Bucky as you smiled at him and headed out.

"Hey- wow... that's like the most adorably old-fashioned thing anyone has done." You greeted him before seeing the bouquet of flowers and chuckling softly to yourself as you made a comment about it before taking the flowers from him, "Thank you Bucky."

You smelled the flowers and placed them in a vase on the bar where Bucky would usually sit.

"Just grab a seat and I'll be done in a few. I'm just cleaning up the place and setting it for whoever's opening tomorrow." You continue to clean the tables before bringing whatever needed to be brought back behind the Noren Curtain as Bucky nodded and sat down by the bar.

Just then there was a knock on the door as you told Bucky to get it, "Bucky, do you think you can get that please?"

Bucky got up from his seat and went to the door as he opened it and collected a box of pizzas, "Hey um did you order pizzas by any chance?"

"Yep, I did, just place them on the bar." You came back out with beers in your hands before placing them on the bar as well as you opened two - one for yourself and one for Bucky before placing it in front of him.

The date went as normally as it could with you joking about how old Bucky is since you found out about it from Sam. You did tell Bucky that Sam was looking for him to which his expression turned from a smile to a frown. You apologised for ruining the mood not sure if he was trying to avoid Sam in general or just upset with him altogether.

You described the date to yourself as perfect however as it went from beers and pizzas to a game night as you kept games on the shelf for when the shifts got a little too boring.

You were both playing Battleship which is a favourite game of yours as you exchanged conversations along the way while getting to know one another. Bucky did however have to drink the remainder of the 3rd beer bottle he had as you won the game before you called it quits since it was getting pretty late already. You kept the game and cleared out the pizza box as well as the beer bottles before wiping down the bar counter.

You took your things from the room hidden behind the Noren Curtain as you came back out and found Bucky waiting for you with cash in his hand as you tilted your head unsure of what his intentions were with the cash in his hand.

"Oh it's for the pizza and the beer earlier on-" Bucky read the expression on your face and assumed what you were questioning about in your thoughts as you cut him off.

"That's fine. it's okay, really, you don't have to pay for it."

Bucky nods and walks towards you as he places the cash in your bag pocket before looking at you as your faces were close to one another, "Keep it, I insist."

You nodded and smiled at Bucky as you went to take the flowers he gave you earlier on. He left the shop first waiting outside for you as you turned off the lights and walked out of Izzy's before locking up the restaurant.

Bucky offered his hand for you to take as you wrapped an arm around his arm. He asked for your address as you told him where you lived before he proceeded to walk you back home. You both talked more about each other as giggles and chuckles were shared between the two of you.

After some time, the two of you approached your front door after taking the lift up to your level in the building. You opened your front door before turning around to face Bucky as he took your hand in his and kissed it. You smiled feeling really happy about how the date went and blushed a little.

"Thank you for tonight, Y/N. I really appreciate it. I would like to have a second date with you but it's just- everything's just uh- j-just uh..." Bucky trailed off as he felt your hand touching his arm and making its way higher up as he got distracted from what he was saying.

You nod and tried to comfort him with your touching as you explained to him, "I understand. Everything's messy right now and I would love to have that second date with you as well but if you need some time then I'm okay with that."

You smile at Bucky before tiptoeing and kissing his cheek as you balanced yourself from holding onto his arm. As you pulled back, however, he pulled you in for a gentle kiss that left you melting into it as you've been wanting to do that after your second bottle of beer seeing as your alcohol tolerance isn't that high to begin with.

You pulled away from the kiss slowly while blushing and looking flustered while slightly tipsy as you smiled sheepishly before yawning.

"Alright doll, let's get you into bed then..." Bucky chuckled as he picked you up and walked into your apartment before shutting the front door with his leg.

You held on to Bucky with your bag still slung around you and flowers still in your hands as you gently buried and nuzzled your face into his neck before closing your eyes and falling asleep.

Bucky carried you into your room before placing you down gently onto your bed as he carefully and cautiously removed your sachel without waking you up as he placed it on the ground next to your bedside table. He took the flowers still in the grasp of your palm as he went to find a vase or any holder to put it in before filling it up with water so the flowers last longer.

Bucky came back into your room to turn the fan on for you as he looked between you and the fan to see if its noise would wake you up before discovering how much of a dead sleeper you are. He smiled and chuckled softly to himself before removing your shoes and placing them on the floor as he tucked you in under your blanket which you snuggled into and held on to it while stirring slightly.

Bucky kissed your head before taking your shoes and placing them by your main door. He noticed a pair of fluffy slippers and smiled as he took the slippers and went back into your room placing them by the side of your bed for you. He took your phone from your sachel before keying his number into it and putting a cute name for himself in your contacts as he plugged it into the cable and left it on your nightstand.

Bucky kissed your head once more before leaving your apartment as he sighed. He knows that you're an ordinary civilian and you're practically too perfect for him but he'll keep to his word on calling you for that second date the moment he figures out how to solve whatever he's going through in life.

[simping4villains]

A/N: Hey y’all! Here’s another Phinks oneshot requested by one of my wattpad readers! My requests are always open, just keep in mind that it may take me awhile to get to them bc i’m working on sooo many fics rn. Anyway, hope you enjoy! <3

~~~~~

Warning: Sexual content

The mission was simple: break into the social club on the edge of town and steal the valuables that were said to be hidden in the safe. What the intel failed to mention was that the social club was a common hangout for the local mafia members. When the four of you broke in, you were completely swarmed. Of course, those grunts couldn't actually use nen, so it didn't pose much of a challenge, but a heads up still would have been nice.

   "What's wrong? Why are you holding back?" You asked Phinks as he snapped the neck of the last man in the most recent wave of enemies, dropping him into a heap on the ground.

   "Huh? Whachya mean, holding back?"

   "Oh sorry, I just thought you had to have some kind of intense power to be a part of the phantom troupe."

   You hadn't been with the troupe for long, so you hadn't gotten to see everyone's abilities, but you were very impressed with the few that you had seen. It made sense why they had the sort of reputation that they did.

   "The hell are you saying?"

   "Nothing, forget it. Let's just catch up with Shalnark and Feitan." The hallway ahead of you split into two paths. You weren't exactly sure which one led to the other spiders. "Uh, any idea where they went?"

   "I was a little busy when they ran off," he snapped.

   Why was he always so fucking defensive?

   "Alright, guess we'll have to split up to find them. You think you can handle yourself?"

   He rolled his eyes as he pushed past you. "Don't get too cocky, newbie."

   You both picked a hallway to follow. It became clear pretty quickly that you had chosen the right path. More blood and bodies covered the floor the further you went. Eventually, you found Feitan and Shalnark standing at the end of the hallway. Behind them was a large, metal door.

   "Oh, hey y/n!" Shalnark called when he saw you. "Perfect timing."

   "Where's Phinks?" Feitan asked impatiently.

   "He went down the other hallway to look for you guys."

   He gave an annoyed grunt as he pulled out his phone. "Will text him."

   "So, how's your first official mission going so far? You sure you still wanna be a troupe member?" Shalnark asked you.

   "It's not all that bad," you laughed. "I hadn't talked to Phinks much before this, though. What the hell is his problem?"

   "Good question," Feitan muttered as he read Phinks's immediate reply to his text.

   Shalnark laughed. "Aw, come on! Phinks is a great guy. He's just got a lot of. . ."

   "Anger issues?" Feitan offered.

   Shalnark shook his head. "No, that's not it."

   "Stupidity?"

   "Not that either."

   "Don't know what else it could be."

   Shalnark's eyes lit up. "Passion! Yeah, that's it."

   Feitan hummed, clearly thinking his answers were better.

   "We havin a party over here?" Phinks asked as he strolled up. "What the hell are you guys doing just standing around?"

   "Well, we were waiting for you to catch up," Shalnark explained.

   "Took you long enough," you teased.

   Phinks opened his mouth, likely to cuss you out for picking on him, but Shalnark cut him off.

   "So anyway, this door might give us a bit of trouble. I can try to hack the digital lock, unless you have any other ideas, Phinks?"

   Feitan snickered. "Really asking him?"

   Phinks reared on him. "Hey, listen here, you little runt, I'm as capable of coming up with solutions as anyone else!"

   "Whatever you say."

   "I don't need this," Phinks huffed before taking a few steps back. "Watch and learn."

   He activated his nen and charged at the door, preparing to throw his body into it. At the last second, it swung open, causing him to crash to the floor. You and Feitan couldn't help but laugh.

   "Whoops! Sorry, Phinks," Shalnark apologized. "I ended up being able to hack it after all."

   Phinks groaned, rolling onto his back. "It's fine, Shal. No harm done, right?"

   "Just to your ego," Feitan said. "Proved us right."

   "I dunno," you countered, "even I didn't think he could be that pathetic."

   He lifted his head to look at you. "You wanna quit talkin shit?"

   You shrugged. "I'm just being honest"

   He scoffed in response. "That's it." Phinks pushed himself off of the ground, dusting himself off. "Fei, Shal, you think you can handle the rest of this mission?"

   They both looked at each other, clearly confused. It was Shalnark who finally answered. "Uh, sure, yeah."

   With that, Phinks stormed over to you, picked you up, and threw you over his shoulder like it was nothing.

   "Hey!" You shrieked. "Put me down!"

   "Relax, will ya? You and I are just gonna go have a chat about this fucking attitude of yours."

   "I can walk just fine on my own, though! Shalnark, will you talk some sense into this brute?"

   Shalnark waved at you as you disappeared around the corner of the hallway. "See you guys later! Remember that spiders aren't allowed to kill each other!"

   You couldn't believe his response. The other two were really just letting Phinks carry you off to god-knows-where to bitch you out. Fucking traitors.

   Phinks found an empty room—some sort of storage room judging by the piles of boxes and shelves of junk—that he decided was private enough for him to say whatever was on his mind. He locked the door behind him so that no stray mafia members would interrupt and finally set you back on your feet. As soon as he did, you punched him in the shoulder.

   "Ow! What the hell is that for?!"

   "For treating me like a god damn rag doll!"

   You went to swing again, but he caught your fist and pinned you against the wall.

   "Will you calm the fuck down?"

   "No, you're acting like a dickhead."

   "Me? You're the one firing off all the snarky comments. Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners?"

   "Oh, you're right. I forgot i'm supposed to respect my elders," you spat. "Sorry, geezer."

   He gave a wry laugh. "You know, with the way you're acting, it seems like you might be trying to hide something."

   "Oh yeah? Like what?"

   He moved one of his hands from where it kept you pinned, tilting your head so that your eyes met. "I think you've got a little crush."

   It was your turn to laugh. "You can't be serious."

   A crush? Absolutely not. Sure, when you'd first seen Phinks you couldn't help but admire him—I mean, come on, his body was stupidly gorgeous—but your interest was quickly crushed by his personality. You hated men who thought they were god's gift to humanity.

   "Don't think I haven't noticed you staring at me back at the base." He smirked. "You want me, don't you? That's why you're being such a brat—it's just to get my attention."

   You scoffed. "God, you're so fucking cocky."

   "Be honest," he leaned closer so his lips nearly brushed your ear. "Does it make you want me even more?"

   His warm breath made you shiver. It didn't go unnoticed by Phinks, who started to chuckle before you pushed him away.

   "Knock it off!"

   "Why?" He asked. "Because you know i'm right?"

   "You're not," you insisted, trying to keep your pride in-tact.

   "Oh, come on, I felt the way you reacted when I was close to you." His finger traced your ear to emphasize his point.

   You smacked his hand away. "I'm not sure what you mean."

   "Right." He ran his thumb over your bottom lip, following the action with his eyes. "So you're telling me that if I tried to kiss you right now, you'd stop me?"

   "Why don't you find out?"

   He frowned. "Are you just looking for an excuse to hit me?"

   "I don't need an excuse."

   "Guess I might as well take my chances, then."

   He wrapped his fingers in your hair and pulled you to him so that your lips met.

   You didn't punch him. Hell, you didn't even try to push him away. Your eyes just fluttered shut as the world melted around you. What the hell was wrong with you?

   You opened your eyes again when the two of you broke apart. You'd be lying if you said that you were surprised by the smug look on his face.

   "Guess I was right."

   "No, you absolutely were not!" You denied, though your voice sounded incredibly shrill and unconvincing as it left your throat.

   He crossed his arms over his chest. "Then why'd you let me kiss you?"

   "Spiders don't fight."

   It was a pathetic excuse.

   "You would've been well within your rights to slap me if you wanted. I wouldn't have held it against you."

   "I didn't know."

   "Would it really have changed the way you reacted?"

   "It might've, yeah."

   Even you didn't believe it as you said it. Really, you knew that Phinks fully expected you to slap him when he'd kissed you. Things certainly would've been a whole lot easier if you had. Now you were left questioning yourself.

   His hand found its way back into your hair. "Well, here, i'll do it again so you have the chance."

   "No, don't do that!"

   "Why not? Because you're lying? Because you know you secretly want me to?"

   Your face was starting to feel impossibly hot. "That's not it at all!"

   "Oh, really? Then what is it? You're afraid of hurting me?"

   "I. . ."

   He laughed. He knew he'd won. "You had so much to say earlier. Where'd all that sass go?"

   You pursed your lips, glaring daggers at him. "Shut up."

   "You're cute when you act tough."

   "I'll kick your ass, you know."

   He brushed his thumb over your cheek, flashing you that gorgeous, crooked smile that you could barely stomach. "Oh, I'm sure you will."

   "Don't patronize me. I fucking mean it."

   "Mhmm."

   You frowned, feeling your annoyance battling it out with the sexual tension. You weren't sure which would win.

   Ultimately, it was Phinks who threw in te towel. He untangled his fingers from your hair and stepped away from you, moving to leave the room.

   You felt breathless without his touch, without having him so close to you.

   "Where the hell are you going?" You called after him.

   He turned back to you. "I figured we were done talking. I mean, you told me that my theory was wrong, so what more is there left to say?"

   He turned again to leave. You rushed forward, grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him around. You'd been so ready to tell him off, to give him a piece of your mind, but as soon as your eyes met you froze.

   "What's this all about, huh?" he asked.

   "We don't. . . we don't have to say anything."

   "The hell do you mean by that?"

   You threw your arms around the back of his neck, pulling him into a kiss. He was caught off guard for a second, but then you felt him smile against you. He had won. He was right. Whatever.

   "So you do want me?" he teased, biting your bottom lip.

   You flipped the two of you around so that he was the one pinned up against the wall. "Please, you couldn't wait to get me alone."

   You pressed your mouth to his again, running your tongue over his bottom lip for him to grant you entrance. He dropped his jaw so that you could explore his mouth with your tongue. All the while you were working your fingers into his hair, pulling his head aside to expose his neck.

   When you sunk your teeth into his skin he let out a combination of a yelp and a moan. "Jesus christ, woman."

   "What?" You asked innocently, pressing a gentle kiss to the spot where you'd bitten him.

   He chuckled, tilting his head for you to keep going. "You just might be more than I bargained for."

   The corners of your mouth pricked up into a smirk. "I guarantee I am."

   You sucked a harsh bruise onto his neck as you unzipped his jacket, slowly pushing it off of his shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. You hadn't ever seen him without it, so you hadn't realized just how toned he really was. His muscles rippled under the loosely fitting material of his tank top. You could hardly peel your eyes away.

   "Wanna wipe up all that drool?" he teased.

   "Fuck off."

   "Nah, it's fine. You can admit you think i'm a dime."

   You wrapped your hand around his throat. "Would you shut the hell up?"

   His eyes went wide with excitement. "Yes ma'am."

   Your clothes flew off piece by piece amidst a montage of sloppy kisses and teeth grazing skin until he was sat back against a stack of crates with you straddling his lap. You gripped his shoulders as you slowly sank down on his cock, mouth agape and brows furrowed in a silent, pained moan at the feeling of him stretching you out. He felt even bigger than he'd looked.

   "You okay?" He asked, brushing your hair out of your face so he could look into your eyes as soon as your hips were resting on his.

   "Just fine," you assured him, though you were sure your face was betraying you.

   "So you'd be alright with me moving right now?" He shifted experimentally and you felt a surge of pain stemming from where the two of you were connected.

   Your hands shot to his chest to stop him. "Let me."

   You slowly raised your hips and lowered them back down on him, building up a rhythm to get yourself comfortable until you were all but bouncing on his dick. His hands held your ass, lazily guiding you up and down his shaft.

   He threw his head back in a moan. "You're so fucking hot. Shoulda done this sooner. Shoulda made a move the second I laid eyes on you."

   "I would've thought you were a jackass," you retorted.

   He gave a breathy laugh in response. "Does that mean you don't now?"

   "I'm not sure i'd say that."

   His mouth quirked into an amused smile before he pulled you into a kiss, hot and passionate and wild. When you broke apart he rested his forehead against yours, letting his hands run over your skin to soothe you.

   "Do you need me to hold back still?"

   You shook your head.

   "Then you might wanna brace yourself."

   He gripped your hips and started thrusting up into you. You buried your face into his neck, clawing at his back and tugging at his hair, trying to keep yourself grounded as he pounded into you relentlessly. He didn't slow until his tip rammed your cervix, causing you to squeal into his shoulder.

   He froze, pulling away so he could look at you. "Was that too much? Did I hurt you?"

   "I'm fine," you assured him.

   He rolled the two of you so that you were on your back. "I can slow it down for a sec," he said, rolling his hips so that he moved in long, slow strokes. With the angle he was at, he brushed all the right spots on each retreat. You were practically seeing stars.

   "God, Phinks," you breathed.

   "Yeah, babe? That feel good?"

   "Fuck, yes."

   Your hands snaked up his arms to pull him down into another kiss. Meanwhile, one of his hands moved between the two of you and settled on your clit. You gasped as his fingers started tracing circles against it and he used the opportunity to catch your bottom lip between his teeth.

   You arched against him, letting out a low whine. You appreciated how gentle he was trying to be with his slow thrusts, but it wasn't enough.

   "What is it, gorgeous?"

   "I want more."

   "More? You want me to be rough with you again?"

   "Please."

   He completely pulled out of you. The empty feeling left you ready to complain, but he cut you off when he grabbed you by the throat and said, "Get on your hands and knees."

   You quickly scrambled to do as he'd asked, nearly shaking with anticipation as he positioned himself behind you. You were expecting the sensation of his cock head teasing your entrance, but instead he landed a hard slap on your ass.

   "What the hell was that for?!" You yelped as he did it again.

   "You think you can act like a brat all night long without any consequences? You should've known you had this coming. You were practically begging for me to put you in your place."

   You didn't know how to react. You'd never had anyone treat you like that before. You were struggling to accept the fact that you kind of enjoyed it.

   He folded himself over your body so that he was speaking directly in your ear. "Now, you're gonna take every inch of me like the good little slut you are, got it?"

   You nodded, struggling to find words to respond to him.

   Once he got the go-ahead, he shoved your face down into the floor so that your back arched, making your ass stick up. He gave it one last slap before forcing the whole length of his cock into you at once.

   You cried out in pain, gritting your teeth as your walls accommodated his size.

   "You can take it," he said, pressing a kiss to your neck. "Can't you?"

   "Yes,” you whimpered.

   "Good girl.”

   His words caused a new heat to build between your legs. "Please," you begged, "fuck me."

   "Whatever you want, princess."

   He pulled back his hips and slammed them into you again, repeating the action over and over until he was was hammering into you even faster than before. You could feel that familiar coil of pleasure building once more, threatening to snap. As if Phinks could sense it, he dropped a hand down to give attention to your clit again.

   "Come for me, babe. I know you're close." He nipped at your ear. "I wanna feel you come on my cock. I wanna ride you through it until you're all fucked out. Let go for me."

   You did, letting your orgasm wash over you, carrying all of the tension in your body with it until you practically melted into Phinks. It was pure bliss.

  He groaned as he felt your walls clench around him and grabbed your hips, using them as handlebars to help him chase his own release. Within moments, you felt him stutter and a warmth spread through you, letting you know that he'd finished as well.

   Once the fog had cleared a bit from his head, he pulled out of you and rolled onto the floor, laying on his back. You collapsed beside him and watched his chest rise and fall heavily as he caught his breath.

   "You gonna be alright?" You asked. "I know senior citizens are at a higher risk for heart attacks if they overexert themselves."

   He wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you into him, tilting your chin up and slipping his thumb between your lips.

   "You sure do like to mouth off. Maybe next time we'll have to put this to better use."

   You spat his thumb out. "Next time? You've got the wrong idea. This was just a one-off thing."

   He gave a hearty chuckle, like what you said had genuinely amused him. "Sure it was, babe. Whatever you say."

[actiniumwrites]

𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃

synopsis: heizou offers you a deal to go on an investigation with him, and given that you have feelings for him, you agree. you, unfortunately, didn’t anticipate how long and emotional this investigation was actually going to turn out to be.

wc : 5.6k

characters: heizou x reader

warnings : fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, kinda slow burn ?, mutual pining, heizou is kinda mean, kinda rivals to lovers, idiots in love, written pre-heizou release (possibly ooc), lots of cussing

a/n: at the time this is released, we only have heizou’s splash art and some voice lines or little things from the game about him so i had very limited material to characterize him with. that being said, i apologize if he ends up being ooc from what he’s like in the game when he’s officially released !!

It was a rather normal, and if you were being quite honest, boring day at the Yashiro Commission today. As a detective, you’d think you would be out doing things like solving huge cases with long chases and impossible puzzles to crack, but those were the kinds of things you dreamed of as you read those fictional mystery books as a child. 

You remembered them fondly as you sat in the courtyard of the Kamisato Estate, the books you read as a child. Your brain was filled with various tales of detectives of all kinds and the adventures they went on soon made their way into your dreams at night. And those dreams at night eventually became your goals, to become a real detective- 

“Uh, y/n-” 

“Oh- Thoma!” you jumped at the sight of the Kamisato’s housekeeper. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you, I swear!” He exclaimed. 

“No, it’s okay, Thoma, really!” You waved your hands around, “I was just lost in thought.” 

“Uh anyway, I just came to check on you, you normally would’ve been out working right now so I found it a bit odd to find you sitting out here so late in the day,” he explained. 

“Today’s just been really slow, there hasn’t been much to investigate around here recently. I’m not really sure if that’s a good or bad thing now that I think about it,” you reached up to scratch behind your neck. 

But just as your nerves were beginning to calm, a guard came rushing in through the front gates, “Detective y/n, a letter has just been dropped off for you, the deliverer expressed that the sender requests you open it immediately upon receival.” 

“A letter? Strange…” You mumbled as you fiddled with the firm paper of the envelope. 

“This seems kind of urgent, I’ll see you later, y/n!” Thoma said as he entered back into the Estate’s interior. 

“Bye, Thoma!” You called out as you waved goodbye. 

Finally opening the letter, you unfolded the faded and wrinkled piece of paper inside. The handwriting seemed awfully messy and nearly impossible to read, you felt lucky to have been so experienced in handwriting analysis. 

Reading over it, the letter was anonymous, but you had a good idea of who it had been. The mysterious sender had requested you meet them down in Ritou at sunset, but since you had nothing to do, you set off early. 

—

When you arrived down in Ritou about an hour later, you weren’t shocked to see the red haired detective from the Tenryou Commission. Yet, you couldn’t lie, your heart felt as though it skipped a beat when you saw the way the light was hitting the side of his face, perfectly illuminating all his features. 

“I thought I told you to come at sunset,” Heizou spoke, not turning to face you. 

“I know, but work’s been slow today so I just came early,” You explained.

“Aw, couldn’t wait to see me?” 

“Shut up, Heizou, you’re the one that asked me to come here,” You snapped back.

It was true though, you did come here for him. Normally you would’ve been suspicious of a letter like the one he sent you. Who wouldn’t? Faded and old looking paper with a strange request to meet someone anonymous, but you knew exactly who it was from. Even though you were from rival commissions, you could never ignore him. 

“I’ll get right to the point, normally I wouldn’t ask this of someone of lesser status and value than me, but I need your help,” he spoke with a serious tone. 

You could tell he looked almost nervous. It was obvious he didn’t want to ask you for help and it was seriously damaging his pride, it almost made you want to laugh. 

“Help with what exactly?” You questioned. 

“I thought you were supposed to be smart?” He mocked, “We’re both detectives, are we not? Shouldn’t it be obvious I need your help with a case?” 

“Guess I’m just shocked you’d even ask me for help.” 

“Here’s the thing, this case is a bit different,” he began, “Here in Ritou, there’s been strange sightings of people going in and out of the docks, foreigners to be specific.” 

“What’s so strange about these foreigners? The ban was lifted a while ago so what’s the issue here?” 

“If you would actually shut up and listen, you wouldn’t have to ask such stupid questions,” he rolled his eyes at you, “As I was saying, these foreigners appear to be from Sumeru, or at least coming from Sumeru. That’s where you come in.” 

“Let me guess, you want me to help you because I studied at the academia in Sumeru and you need my knowledge?” 

“Bingo,” he said as he threw finger guns at you, “I’ll make you a deal.” 

“What kind of deal?” 

“I don’t know, we can work that out after we solve the case, “ he said as he leaned against the wall behind him, “If you help me solve the case, then I’ll do something for you. But get in my way or mess it up, then you get nothing.” 

“Fine, I’ll help you.” 

You didn’t need the deal to accept his offer. Truthfully, you’d already made up your mind to help him the moment he had asked. The thing is, you’ve had a major crush on Heizou for a long time. Even though he belonged to the Tenryou Commission, you’d always admired him. 

Sure, a lot of people in Inazuma greatly disliked him, but you? You were the outlier. 

He’d intrigued you since the day you met him. You weren’t sure if it was his odd clothes for a detective or something simpler like his red hair or bright green eyes. Perhaps it was his cocky personality that a lot of people hated, but you didn’t care. Annoying as he could be, you liked him as he was. 

Every time you were around him, your heart would beat faster, similar to the way it was beating now. You would feel a little more flustered and stutter over your words. You were shocked that for being such a great detective, he’d never noticed it. 

—

It wouldn’t be until three days later that you would be meeting back up with Heizou again. He said that he needed to get a bit more information before finally debriefing you and getting you caught up. He also called you slow but you chose to ignore that part. 

He’d told you all the details of the case: criminals appearing to have been from Sumeru, suspected to be a more elite kind of treasure hoarders, have somehow been illegally bypassing the Outlanders Affairs Agency at the docks of Ritou. The problem is, they’re using tactics from Sumeru and are suspected to have been smuggling in illegal technology. 

He explained that he needed your expertise from the academia in order to understand how they’re getting in and what kinds of tech they may be bringing in. 

“Okay, I think I understand the case now, “ You told him as you flipped through various pages of notes and documents from the case, “Hey, how long has this been going on again?” 

“About a month I think?” 

“How has this passed by for a month and no one has noticed?” you questioned. 

“I don’t know, probably because ninety-nine percent of the population of Inazuma are dumb people.” 

“Archons, Heizou. Not everyone is gonna be as smart as we are.” 

He laughed, “Don’t flatter yourself, you know you’re not as smart as I am.” 

You didn’t return his laugh, instead choosing to stare down at the file you were holding to tune out his insults, “C’mon, let’s just get to working on this case.” 

“You’re no fun, but fine, we’ll stake out at 1:00 am tonight down at the docks. Be late and I’ll make sure you lose your job.” 

“Heizou!” 

— 

The next day you were exhausted, though there hadn’t been much going on with work recently, you felt all the exhaustion from previous cases beginning to settle in. And staying up all night watching for the suspects was not making things any better for you. 

“Morning, sunshine,” a voice from behind you called out. 

“Why are you up so early, Heizou?” You groaned as you took another sip of your coffee before resting your head back down on the courtyard table.

“Well, I was gonna go to sleep but then I figured we should probably get back on this case so I can stop having to hang around you.” 

“Can’t you ever say something remotely nice?” 

He put his hands up in surrender before joining you at your table, “I’m just being honest.” 

He set his files down and began spreading them out in front of the two of you while you quickly finished your coffee and called one of the staff members over to take the cup back inside for you. 

“Do you have the photos from your kamera?” he asked, nodding toward your bag. 

“Uh yeah, let me go grab them really quickly, they’re inside,” You said standing up from the table. 

Turning around to walk back into the Estate, you nearly tripped out of embarrassment. You cursed Heizou in your head for showing up so early. 

As you got inside, you walked around the corner before grabbing the photos you had placed in an envelope and bin for safe keeping. You counted them to make sure they were all there before gently sliding them back in their envelope and heading toward the door. You didn’t, of course, forget to check how you looked in the mirror before heading back out. 

“Archons, how long does it take you to grab some photos?” Heizou yelled out to you. 

“Sorry,” You mumbled, though in reality, you had only been gone for around 3 minutes. Heizou was just impatient. 

Spreading out the photos, you organized them by people, objects, and anything else that may be suspicious. 

“Hey, does this symbol look familiar to you at all?” Heizou questioned while holding up the photo directly in your face. Rolling your eyes at his brashness, you pushed it back a bit before inspecting it for yourself

The photo was a picture of a crate and it appeared to have a strange symbol on its lid. 

“Yeah, actually it does,” You squinted your eyes trying to get a better look at the rather low quality photograph, “We studied a lot of symbols at the academia, but that’s not a Sumeru symbol, it’s from Fontaine.” 

“Fontaine, huh?” He glanced at the photo before cocking his head to look at you like a curious child, “You think these guys are from Fontaine?” 

“Looking at the other photos, I think it’s likely,” you said before meeting his bright green eyes, “The symbol on the crate belongs to a manufacturing company based in Fontaine. While that may not seem important, that company actually doesn’t source its products to other nations.” 

“How do you know it then?” He interrogated as he rested his head on one of his hands while leaning closer to your face and squinting his eyes. 

“We got lucky that someone had donated them to the academia. They lived in Fontaine before moving to Sumeru, they actually taught us a lot about Fontaine’s inventions and high-tech manufacturing equipment. The stuff in these photos actually looks very similar to that equipment.” 

“Interesting,” He mumbled while sliding back against his chair and away from you, “So they’re criminals from Fontaine, not Sumeru. That makes a lot more sense.” 

“Still, these guys are obviously using Sumeru academia tactics in order to bypass the Outlanders Affairs Agency and smuggle their stuff in,” you commented, “there’s also the fact that we still don’t know what they’re bringing in.” 

“Alright, then it’s settled,” Heizou announced as he jumped up from his chair and messily grabbed his things, carelessly shoving them into his bag, “We’ll go back to the docks early tomorrow morning before the sun rises and see if we can get a hold of one of their crates.” 

— 

You could barely see where you were walking as you and Heizou carefully approached the docks. It was around 4 am and not a single person was in sight. You lightly shivered as the wind picked up a bit and you noted how empty it seemed to be. 

“Heizou,” you whispered out, “It’s really empty around here, do you think they moved everything?” 

“No, there’s no way.” 

You didn’t get much time to actually have a look around before Heizou was pulling you down by the arm. You nearly crashed into his chest as you both sat with your backs against one of the wooden stalls that were stationed near the front of the docks and closer to Ritou’s entrance. 

You stared at him with wide eyes trying to telepathically ask what was wrong. He held up a single finger to his lips in response, signaling for you to be quiet. Then, he pointed to his left with a smirk. 

You craned your head up as an attempt to see what was going on. You squinted your eyes trying to get a better look at what appeared to be two men talking in a hushed tone, flashlights searching through the parked boats. 

As you observed them, you noticed their expensive looking outfits, ones that seemed far more modern than any other nation. ‘Definitely Fontaine,’ you thought to yourself. 

“Should we leave?” you whispered to Heizou as you turned back to him. 

“Not yet, we need to see what they’re doing,” he said eagerly. 

The two of you carefully shuffled your position so you both could remain hidden but also giving you the viewpoint to observe the men. They appeared to be picking up the crates and moving them onto some sort of metal cart. A third man appeared every so often to take the filled cart with the crates and then bring it back empty. It was repetitive, but they were clearly taking things to another location. 

With that you had your next clue to solving this case, now you just needed to find out where the criminals were taking the goods. 

– 

The following few days were a lot less exciting, the two of you had just spent all your time reviewing photos, files, documents, interviews with witnesses, etc. The only change of pace you got was that you were now working at an outdoor table at the Tenryou Commission headquarters instead of an outdoor table at the Yashiro Commission headquarters. 

It felt like things were becoming slow. You could tell Heizou was becoming antsy too, more so than he normally was. You just needed a breakthrough. 

“Why is it so goddamn hard to find this stupid ass warehouse?” Heizou spat out as he stood abruptly from the table, slamming his hands down. 

“Careful!” you grabbed the files from under his hands, “You can’t damage our evidence just because you’re upset over the case.” 

“I can do what I want, thanks.”

“Not really, this is our evidence and quite literally the only things we have for this case. How are we supposed to solve it if you ruin all of it?” 

Heizou crossed his arms, “I don’t know, you can figure that out for yourself.”

“What, are you leaving me to work on this case all by myself now?” you joked. 

“Maybe I will.” 

“You wouldn’t.” 

“I would.” 

“Heizou.” 

“Y/n.” 

A third voice joined in, “Break it up you two, this is rather unprofessional of the two of you.” 

The two of you jumped back, you hadn’t realized how close you had gotten to his face. Too focused on not breaking the staring contest. So focused, you also missed the faint shade of red that now painted Heizou’s face. 

“Ah, Kujou Sara.” 

“Heizou.” the general greeted back, “How’s the case coming along? I’d hope the two of you are making good progress seeing how long this is taking.” 

“It’s been a little slow recently, things were really coming together in the start but now we’re just stuck,” you answered. 

“How so?” 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Heizou cut you off, “This is our case, Madame Kujou. You can know the details when we’re done with it.” 

“That is no way to speak to someone of higher power than you, Mr. Shikanoin,” Sara snapped back, “I’ll have you know that I can have your position as ‘detective’ revoked shall I see fit.” 

“Whatever, you guys need me and you know it,” he shot back rather arrogantly. 

You held a hand to your face to hide the small laugh that nearly left your lips, you had found it quite amusing to see him put in his place. Though you had quickly regained your composure once she glanced at you.

“I apologize, Madame Kujou,” you spoke hesitantly, still wary around anyone from the Tenryou Commission, “We really do need to get back to this case though.” 

“Alright, I’ll be taking my leave then,” she turned around but stopped in her tracks, not bothering to turn around to face you, “Please keep Heizou in check, the last thing this commission needs is him screwing up even more that he already has.” 

“I’ll try my best,” you called out to her. 

As she left, the two of you got back to viewing the evidence. And though only an hour and a half had passed, it felt like it had been hours. Your head was practically slipping out of your hands as your eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier by the second while Heizou looked like he was about to pass out on the table. 

“Can’t we just call it a night?” Heizou yawned as he complained. 

As tired as you felt, you ignored him as you looked closer at the photo in front of you, “What the hell?” 

“What?” Heizou leaned back up in his chair suddenly feeling more awake, arms now crossed and leaning forward as he got up to stand over your sitting form. 

You felt a little flustered at the action but kept your composure nevertheless, “Um- I think,” 

“Why the hell are you stuttering?” He cut you off. 

“I’m not,” you couldn’t even look him in the eye, “just- look at this photo.” 

You handed him the photo and he examined it carefully before tossing it back on to the table, “I don’t see anything special about it.” 

“Don’t you recognize that symbol right there?” you pointed. 

“Yeah, it’s the Kanjou Commission’s symbol, what’s so special about that?” 

“Heizou, this whole thing has been happening down in Ritou where the Kanjou Commission is stationed. If their symbol is on all of the crates and the strange building in this photo, then do you know what that means?” You said as you smiled at him, excited to finally have made a breakthrough. 

“That the warehouse they’re storing everything at belongs to the Kanjou Commission. How else would everything be getting past unnoticed? Dammit it’s been right in front of us the whole time!,” He answered quickly, a cocky smile now plastered on his face, “We’ve gotta get down there.” 

“Wait, Heizou,” you grabbed his hand as he got up, “Shouldn’t we come up with a plan or something?” 

He looked down at your hand holding onto his for a brief moment before dropping it, however he felt about your hand holding onto his, he wasn’t showing it. 

“We don’t have time to sit around and wait, we’ve been stuck on this for days, who knows how far they’ve already gotten?” He stated, “Besides, we can come up with a plan once we get there!” 

“Archons, I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this,” you muttered as you picked everything up off the table. 

Heizou had already begun leaving though and before you knew it, you were off to Ritou to visit that very building that belonged to the Kanjou Commission. 

– 

When you arrived back in Ritou about an hour later, you and Heizou had begun looking for the warehouse. Ritou was small, but wherever this warehouse was, it was hidden pretty damn well.

“We’ve nearly searched the whole island, where the hell is this damn warehouse?” Heizou groaned rather dramatically. 

“Well we know it has to be here somewhere because it belongs to the Kanjou Commission’s headquarters which is stationed here.” 

“Yeah, no shit,” he snapped back. 

The exhaustion from 2 hours ago was beginning to set in again. Not being able to find the warehouse was bringing down the both of your guys’ adrenaline rushes from finally making progress in the case. Now you both were just crashing. 

“What if we just come back tomorrow when it’s actually bright outside? Then we can come back later tomorrow night and check it out,” you suggested. 

He was quick to shut you down though, “No, we’re not doing that. You heard that stupid general, we have to speed this case up.” 

“Didn’t think you were one to follow rules.” 

“I’m not, you should know that by now,” he was getting really snarky with you now, “I’m not trying to lose my job, if you want to go back, go ahead. I can do this without you.” 

“So you really invited me to help you with this case and now you’re throwing me out?” you retorted back, “and when did you start caring about the Tenryou Commission so much anyway?”

“Woah woah woah, I did not ‘invite’ you to this case, I was practically forced to because I don’t know shit about Sumeru!” 

“So what, you were just using me then? I thought we had a deal, Heizou?” 

“If that’s how you see it, then yeah, I guess I was just using you, not like you provided much help anyway,” his voice was rising louder and louder with each word.

“I haven’t provided you any help?!” You exclaimed, now frustrated with him, “Which one of us knew about the equipment? Which one of us knows what systems they’re using? And which one of us realized where this goddamn warehouse is actually located and who it belongs to?” 

“All of that is practically useless! Don’t you understand, y/n? We haven’t found shit, all you’ve given me was information I probably could’ve found in books or from people on the island. And we haven’t even found this stupid ass warehouse, you just figured out the Kanjou Commission is involved because of their logo!” 

You were silent as he kept yelling. 

“Do you even realize how stupid you are? I mean really, I don’t think you even deserved to study at the academia in Sumeru.” 

Just as you thought he would stop, he just kept going, “You don’t deserve your position as a detective, you know that? Archons, I can’t even believe I even asked for your help. What a waste of time.” 

Not being able to look him in the eye, all you could do was stare down at the floor at your feet. His words felt like a dagger piercing through your heart and it hurt, so much so that you began to feel hot tears pooling in your eyes. 

You wanted to say something, anything. You wanted to tell him he was wrong, that you were helpful and that you did deserve to be a detective, but no words would leave your mouth. 

His face was filled with shock as you finally tilted your head back up to look at him, but he quickly recovered his uncaring facade and spoke one last thing to you that night:

“Just go home.” 

— 

The next morning you didn’t go into work. You were too paranoid you might run into Heizou or Kujou Sara or anyone else that may question you about the case. All you could think of were the words Heizou screamed at you last night and you suddenly felt insecure again. 

Every time they would ring out in your head you felt like crying again. Small tears would start to form in your eyes and your stomach would begin to ache all over again, just like the way it did last night. 

You hated that you felt like this, but even more, you hated that you still held feelings for him. And because of that, you blamed yourself. 

Was he really right about all the things he said? 

That very question just kept echoing over and over again in your head until you began to believe everything he had told you. 

It was ironic, you thought as you sat on the small steps outside your home, the clouds outside were a dark and gloomy gray. It was like you were out of one of those silly books you read as a kid. Like one of those scenes where the main character cries on their porch because someone upset them or their day went everything but right. Your inner child couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that it was now you sitting on the porch instead of some fictional character. 

And you hadn’t realized it, but the past two weeks you had spent working on this case with Heizou had provided you with a lot of adrenaline, it sparked something inside you. 

It was different from your other cases. As much as he liked to trash on you, you never really got upset about it. Working with him was exhilarating and you were happy to even be spending time around him. It never felt awkward, and as weird as your dynamic may have been, it felt natural being around him. 

But that was just one more thing to add to the list of things that now made you upset. You thought that you may never see him again, that the two of you will probably part ways and avoid each other for a long time. 

All that thought did was just bring more tears to your eyes as you once again rested your head on your knees outside below the now darkening sky, brainstorming all the ways you could fix what had happened between you two. 

– 

Walking down to the Tenryou Commission, you nearly bumped into a lot of people. 

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” 

“Sorry!” You apologized. 

You looked rather disheveled and you knew Ayato would probably get on you for it later once he heard about all the citizens who complained about an ‘emotional looking detective running through the streets of Inazuma City’. 

You stopped at the gates once you arrived and suddenly you felt more nervous than you ever had in your life. So nervous you even contemplated going home and just wrapping back up in your blankets and crying again. 

“Detective Y/n?” 

Shit! you thought as you turned around slowly. 

“Detective, are you alright?” 

“Madame Kujou! I uh- I’m fine,” you practically stuttered out, “Is um- is Heizou here?” 

Sara tilted her head to the side in confusion as she looked at you strangely, “Mr. Shikanoin is here, yes. I thought you should know that, didn’t you guys finish the case together early this morning?” 

Huh? Finished the case? 

“Uh-I was just double checking something! We have to wrap up some reports, you know how it is!” you quickly made up an excuse, “Is it okay if I go in and talk to him?” 

“Of course, just let the guards know I said to let you in,” she said as she walked off, still confused at the sight of you but stoic nevertheless. 

You walked into the building practically shaking from all your built up nerves. 

“Y/n?” A voice you knew all too well called out.

Your stomach dropped and you felt as though you had lost any confidence you had as his voice rang out, but nevertheless, you turned to your left to meet his eyes. 

“Heizou, I um…” you started, “I’m really sorry.” 

You looked down at the floor, cursing yourself as your hands started shaking. 

Though you were barely holding your composure, you continued while still staring down at your shoes, “You were right and I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to get in your way and I know that I’m not that smart! And you were right that I probably didn’t deserve to study at the academia and I don’t even deserve to call myself a detec-” 

You were cut off by two arms suddenly embracing you with such force that nearly caused you to fall over. 

“Don’t say those things about yourself, you shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” Heizou spoke gently, contrasting his normal arrogant tone, his voice muffled by his head being tucked into your neck. He hated how dejected you looked right now, but hated himself even more because he knew he was the one to blame for all of this.

You stayed quiet, but sniffled softly, arms now wrapped around him too as he continued, “You never got in my way and I don’t regret asking you to help me with this case. And if we’re going to be honest here, I never actually needed your help with this case. I asked you out of selfish personal reasons.” 

“What?” You breathed out with a whisper. 

“Why do you think I kept coming back early to help with the case?” 

“I thought you said you wanted to get it over with so you wouldn’t have to see me again?” you said as you leaned back to look him in the eyes while still holding onto him. 

He felt a pang in his chest as he looked at your now tear stained face, “I was lying, I kept showing up early because I wanted to spend more time on the case with you.” 

Now it was his turn to look down at the floor as he released you from his arms, it took a lot out of him to bite his own pride and admit all of this to you.

“Why did you say all those things to me then?” 

“I never wanted to hurt you, I swear. But I also didn’t want you to figure out that I liked you,” he admitted. 

“And what about the things you said last night?” 

“I was exhausted, we both were. I was also just frustrated that we couldn’t find anything and that Sara was getting on our asses about the case. Believe me when I say that I didn’t mean any of that.” 

“One more question, Sara said that we completed the case, what did she mean by that?” 

“After I told you to leave last night, I finished the case. I found the warehouse and I was able to successfully obtain one of the crates and bring it back before sunrise. Turns out it belonged to one of the Kanjou Commission guards just like you suspected. He was providing all the information to the criminals.” 

He paused before continuing, “It also turns out that that dumbass guard had previously studied books on the academia and even spent some time in Sumeru. It’s how he helped them implement their Sumeru and Fontaine tactics to bypass all the enforcers down at the docks. They made the arrest and raided the warehouse this morning.” 

“What are we gonna do now?” You asked him. Truthfully, you didn’t want it to be over just yet and you were hoping he felt the same. 

“Well we had a deal right?” he gently smiled at you. 

“Huh? I thought you called that off since you told me I didn’t help you?” 

“I also told you not to take anything I said seriously, so the deal is still on and you get whatever you want.” 

You stared at him nervously, it was a lot of pressure. You could ask for anything, and your silence was only making him nervous too. 

“I know we’re from different Commissions and all, but I like to think that we worked pretty well together,” You spoke hesitantly, scared he would decline what you were about to suggest, “That being said, Heizou, do you think we could be partners more often?” 

He was shocked, but you kept going, “If I’m being honest, I don’t want this to be over. I’ve had a lot of fun this past week and I don’t want to see it end. But only if that’s okay with you, of course!” 

“I don’t want it to be over either, so yeah, I’ll be your partner,” he spoke but not before meeting your eyes with that mischievous smile of his, “On one condition, though!” 

“Heizou!” 

He shushed you quickly before walking closer to you and leaning in to meet your eyes, “You have to go on a date with me.” 

You smiled softly as you gazed into his eyes, “Of course I’ll go on a date with you. Didn’t you know I have feelings for you?” 

His smile dropped, “You have feelings for me?!” 

“You didn’t know! I thought you were some great detective?” 

The two of you stared at each other for a brief moment before bursting out laughing together, nearly falling to the floor as you clutched your stomachs at how stupid you both were, especially for having the reputation of the two best detectives in all of Inazuma. 

Slowing down his laughter, he returned your soft smile from earlier with one of his own, “All jokes aside, are you free on Friday?” 

“I do believe I am,” you spoke with a jokingly proper accent, “So Mr. Shikanoin, where do you plan to take me?” 

“You can find that out on Friday,” he rolled his eyes yet a smile remained plastered on his face. 

“Then I guess I’ll see you Friday.” 

Needless to say, neither of you could stop smiling after that, eager for Friday to come sooner.

[hum-suffer]

We'll say hello again (nevermind the chasm between us) 9

Gauri smiles serenely as she walks the stable. Danger has always been a footnote in her life— surrounded by competent fighters as well as becoming a competent fighter herself. She knows nothing and no one short of absolute cold planned deceit will kill her, especially now that Bhairavrath is trailing behind her, armed to teeth.

She finds it honourable that he cares so much and doesn't call out his worry as paranoia.

Bahu would be totally worse— he wouldn't have let her deal with this by herself. Bhalla, well, he'd probably string up a storm if he noticed that Gauri was trying to deal with some conspiracy by herself.

He knows she bailed out of her history lessons with a lie, and she knows he will later hound her in her room to tell him just why she has disappeared, but for now, she rather thinks that he needs to focus on his diplomacy better.

(She will never lie to her brother, of course, but him getting grey hair at fifteen because he worries too much for her is less than ideal.)

She slows down when she sees an elderly man tending quietly to one of the younger mares. She looks behind her at Bhairavrath and he nods in confirmation.

"Satyaveer ji?"

The man in question looks up, as if startled by her presence as well as her voice. He straightens up with a surprising rush and bows. "Princess Gauraangi. How may I serve you?"

"Please, relax," she says, managing not flinch at her full name. How long has it been since someone called her by her full name? "You take care of my horse, Ratan, yes?"

Satyaveer nods, wrinkles at the base of his throat tightening. "Yes, yes. He's a feisty horse, that one. Always in a mood. I have experience with horses for more than 17 years, that's the reason i can tame the beast."

She instantly doesn't like the way he is talking about Ratan but Gauri keeps that to herself, her tight lipped smile widening with her increasing discomfort.

"I just wanted to say thank you for taking such good care of my horse." She says, clasping her hands in front of her in the picture of a docile little girl. "However, he has been the reason for my recent accident. As much as it pains me to think so, I must know if Ratan is stable to continue serving me or must I wish him a necessary but upsetting farewell."

They all know what she means with her words and Satyaveer doesn't know just how false she's being as she politely asks if Ratan needs to be put down.

She would never.

(Amrendra says Gauri has a bad habit of getting attached with things she has no business caring for beyond her agendas. Gauri doesn't listen to him anyway, because he's a hypocrite and he, too, cares far too much to be healthy for him.

However, when Bhalla says the same thing to Gauri in contempt, he doesn't let her ignore him until he's yelling at her that she will only hurt herself if she cares and that's a stupid form of masochism. Bhalla made her cry when he first said and apologised with a new pair of armbands for her. He says it often these days, but his apologies have turned to words—lest he empty the treasury in the name of Gauri's forgiveness.)

Satyaveer looks down and licks his lips as he thinks of an answer to her question. Gauri holds her breath. This answer will define just how suspicious she will be of him.

"Truth be told, princess, that horse has descended from a stallion that your father was gifted with by some lord. I've been here exactly since that beast's youngling days and he's always been as unstable as this. I would recommend it if you just accepted fate and said farewell to the horse."

Gauri works to reign in her rage at the man talking about her horse like that and never using his designated name but she ends up smiling at him. "Why didn't you say so before? You were there when I chose him to be mine, weren't you?"

Satyaveer swallows and licks his lips again, stuttering out,"I was— I am, I mean, I am a mere servant. I can't give you any advice without, uh, without being asked. Princess."

Her title leaves his mouth in an almost afterthought and it's laced with annoyance. Gauri nods.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Satyaveer ji."

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Gauri paces in her dance practice room— the only one she knows will be completely neglected for a couple of days since her teacher is sick and has cancelled the classes for the day.

Bhairavrath stands in a corner while she paces.

Gauri gestures with her hands in the air as if she's holding tangible pieces of information as she speaks. "Satyaveer claimed that he's been around since Ratan's young days but Ratan is barely six years old. Which means he must have done some other palace work before becoming a stable boy."

It is a rule of hierarchy, any servant of the palace either comes from a disaster that needs employment to dissolve or they are recommended as a good servant by someone already employed by the crown.

"The vet said that Ratan had eaten something that choked his food pipe," she recounts,"and he also said that Ratan is a behaved horse, at least during the quarterly check ups— the last of which happened a month ago. My accident happened three weeks ago. So, Ratan had one week to be jeopardized."

"If I may, my princess?" Bhairavrath asks. She nods encouragingly, stopping her pacing to give him all her attention. "The facts aside, we must note that if Ratan was indeed jeopardized, which he was, someone made an assassination attempt on you. There must be a motive for such an act."

Gauri nods. "I don't think there can be many people with such motives. I haven't interacted with anyone outside of the circle that you already know. I'm not in line for the throne—due to my gender of all things," and she is still bitter about being unequal to her brothers,"who would even want to waste their coin in assassination of someone who is basically inconsequential in the bigger picture?"

"You're absolutely not inconsequential, my princess!" He says vehemently, eyes wide and lips in pout at his passionate insistence. "You are perhaps the smartest person in the palace, pardon my unintended offenses. You are already working towards becoming a minister of the state someday, which requires immense knowledge and also gives you immeasurable power—second only to the ruling royalty. Someone wants to stop your power from rising, my princess."

Gauri suppresses her giddy smile at the praise and nods,"We must find out who knows about my future plans, as that is the most probable cause of motive."

Bhairavrath nods and before he can say anything else, a conch sounds, indicating dinner time.

Gauri rushes out of the room after seeing if someone is in the corridor and takes a pair of ghunghroos in her arms— to have an excuse if someone sees her flitting around the dance room without reason.

As he is closing the door behind him, Gauri turns to give him a smile.

"Thank you for your praise, Bhairav."

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Amrendra hounds her as soon as they're done with dinner. Katappa looks at the two of them in surprise but falls in step beside Bhairav, trailing them till Bahu's rooms and standing guard outside.

"Where did you and Bhairavrath run off to?"

Gauri opens and closes her mouth as she tries to think of something that won't make him yell.

"I don't know how to start this correctly, so I will give you the basic fact: I think someone sabotaged my horse in a potential assassination attempt. And I tried to interrogate a suspect today."

"What?" Amrendra yells.

(Okay, that idea failed.)

Gauri shushes him. He continues, in a softer but still furious tone,"And why on earth did you not tell me about your suspicions earlier? Or are you waiting for another attempt? Or maybe you're waiting until you're dead so you can come back and haunt me as a ghost?"

She doesn't defend herself right away. She knows she deserves this.

Finally, she grabs his hand. "I'm sorry for not informing you of my suspicions earlier, Bahu. And I'm sorry that I didn't take you with me today. I just needed to confirm my theory before worrying you, in case it was useless, you know?"

Amrendra sighs and pulls her by their joined hands and engulfs her in a hug. "You should tell me these things, Gauri. Who will trust you uselessly, if not me, sister? Who will follow you blindly, if not me? Who will wage a war for you, if not me? It's I who can do unimaginable things for your well being, sister. I daresay, it is my right to worry for you."

"I know," she says, her voice muffled and nose pressed in his collar bone,"I just wanted to keep your peace. Ignorance is a bliss, and all that. I'm sorry. I'm extremely very sorry."

"I don't forgive you, Gauri," he says but he tightens his arms around her and drops a kiss on her head. "I understand why you did it and I would have likely done the same, but I don't forgive you."

Gauri nods, she's ready to take whatever she can get. And she will earn his forgiveness back sooner or later, she knows. Bahu is her other half.

"I love you." She tells him, relaxing and melting into his body, pulled into that sense of warmth. Sleep overwhelms her and she suppresses her yawn.

"I love you, too." Amrendra says, sighing into her hair. "Now, tell me everything you know or suspect."

Gauri groans at the thought of her sleep being delayed but doesn't protest— she knows she's tested Amar's patience at a damn high level, keeping this thing from him.

When she's finished talking, he hums. "Satyaveer..." He shakes his head dismissively and says,"I think I've heard of him, I'll look into him. Don't you think we should inform Maa if someone really made an assassination attempt on you?"

(The instant change from "you" to "we" makes her heart irrationally warm. She shouldn't be feeling so giddy at the thought that her twin loves her and they share everything— especially problems. It is obvious and shouldn't be surprising, he's probably not even aware of the change. But it makes her happy all the same.)

It's a suggestion and Gauri is extremely grateful for that. He knows Gauri requires autonomy in her life, he knows she likes to do things her way and that she's always been impertinent. Bahu knows Gauri definitely hates anyone poking their noses in what's supposed to be her business.

He's right, they should involve an adult— especially Maa.

"We should, you're right." She sighs, twisting down on his bed that they had migrated to while she was speaking,"But Diwali is coming up. Maa is already busy in the preparations for it and if word goes out that someone tried to kill the only princess of Mahishamati right before Diwali, the general public will be in pandemonium. They will panic and fear for their own lives— what's stopping someone from killing them if just anyone can make a swipe at the princess' life? Maa will also surely put a stop to the upcoming festivities and it will stagger the economy. You know the Diwali celebrations of Mahishamati bring enormous opportunities of export and tourism— cancelling all that will imbalance the year's economy and will also affect upcoming years."

Bahu sighs, pushing his head down onto the mattress because he knows she's saying the truth. "I don't think Maa will care for the economy above you."

"I know. But she will face extreme backlash and it will all circle back to her being a woman who cares about her children too much to remain objective in her actions. I'm not insulting her, I'm just saying what will actually happen." She adds the last part because of the incredulous look on Bahu's face and also punches his shoulder for ever thinking that she'd insult Maa like that.

Bahu hums. "So, you, me and Bhairavrath know about this?"

Gauri nods, spreading on her brother's bed like an X. The stretch on her back feels delicious and her already cramping leg feels relief. She mentally tries to remember when her periods will return, the only happiness she can have is that they'd get away before Diwali.

Gauri has no wishes to spend her Diwali, writhing on her bed and crying because of severe stomach cramps.

Sometimes she wishes she were a boy too, at least she wouldn't have to relive that pain every month. But she also knows she's a princess— if she had been a prince, she'd be a contender for the throne and the idea of competing with either of her brothers and becoming bitter since these early days doesn't sound appealing.

Look at Uncle Bijjaldev, she thinks, look at what the lust for the throne did to him, his relationship with Gauri's father, and even his own marriage. His lust for the throne will someday spread onto Bhalla, Gauri knows this. She's tried to keep Bhalla with them, being subtle to try to limit his time alone with his father but she knows Bhalla loves his father and it's morally incorrect to separate a parent and a child in any condition, unless they are harming each other.

"Gauri, go to your room and sleep."

She knows he's being correct but the sentence brings back the memories of the days when she fought to remain close to him and he didn't. It's almost forgotten, that slight, hidden away and healed by his promise to never make her feel unloved again.

So she takes his words in good humour. She gets up, promising,"I'll say the same to you when you come to my room to sleep when you're tired." She says, knowing she wouldn't.

"Yeah, yeah. Good night, get out, sleep." He's already closed his eyes and has his arms out to find that pillow he's stolen from Gauri. She shakes her head and removes his rings and kada from his hands, loosens his cummerband and removes his layered necklace.

It's therapeutic. It takes her back to the days they shared a room and he would fall asleep while Gauri read her books to him outloud.

He's almost half asleep. Gauri runs her hand through his hair, it's shorter these days, and kisses his head. "Good night, brother. I love you."

"I love you, too, Gauri," he mumbles, opening one eye. "Please stay safe, sister."

"I have you, don't I? I'm always safe with you around."

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Gauri wakes up at midnight, when Bahu crawls in her bed and embraces her tightly.

"Amar?" She grumbles, still disoriented,"what's wrong, beta?"

She feels him shake his head behind her. "I couldn't sleep, knowing that you might not be safe. Go to sleep, I won't disturb you."

Gauri rubs her hand over his arm that almost has her in a chokehold and nods. She hums a tune she doesn't remember the origin of and tries to sleep, caressing his hand until she feels him completely relax behind her.

Tears prick her eyes and all she can think about is just how much she loves her darling brother. She can't imagine being even alive without his words to hear, without his face to see and without his petulant whining as he gets sleepier and sleepier.

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Two days go by in a blur.

Gauri gets her periods the next afternoon after she confessed to Bahu and she can't even command enough energy to stand most of the time, let alone go and interrogate the vet.

Bhairav does his magic and goes in her stead—infinitely stealthier and smoother than her.

He tells her that the vet diagnosed that Ratan was fed something that caused him to choke on it and also caused him to vomit several times. Something, that induced a fever in her poor horse.

Gauri deduces that it must have been fed to Ratan either just before the trip or during the trip, when they had all settled down to tie the boar up and Gauri and her brothers were talking with the soldiers over the fate of the boar.

"My princess!" Bhairav says on the evening of the second day, when Gauri insists on going to the arena to practice sword fighting. "You should rest, you don't feel well already!"

Gauri grits her teeth, already at her wits end with just about anyone who breathes in her direction. "I am on my periods, Bhairav, not dying." He opens his mouth to say something but Gauri beats him to it,"Besides, the enemies won't stop and delay an assault just because I'm on my periods, right?"

Bhalla side eyes the two of them when they enter the arena and she can feel his watchful gaze on her back as she spars against Bhairav and absolutely fails. It's a good way to let out her frustrations, sparring, but it ends up making her want to be foolish in hitting something solid, if only to let out her anger again.

She feels too hot in her own body and even the hair sticking to the nape of her neck is irritating her and the feel of her saree isn't right at all and she can't stand the idea of sitting down somewhere in the fear she may leave a stain behind.

"Mahadev should have made me a man." She growls to herself as they put away the laathis they had been sparring with.

Bhalla laughs,"Cheer up, sister. The pain is only temporary. You being a boy would have meant that you'd be always annoying, rather than only sometimes."

Gauri doesn't care for the yelp he makes when she kicks his calf rather forcefully.

____________________________________________________

Hello darlings!!! So, the next chapter will mark the 10th one and I'm thinking that i should make it an interlude in the boys' pov (yes that includes our baby Bhairav obv). What do you think?

Publishing this chapter early in the honor of the birthday of King Kohli and his 49th century. GOAT.

Tagging: @vijayasena @alhad-si-simran @o-merebholebalam @satanicallysatanicchild

[elsfairy]

i’m saurrr glad you put your anons back on, because i had the best idea a few days ago involving our favorite dangerous middle aged woman silly girl 🥰:

sevika with a gf who is rlly into ballet. now i don’t know much abt it but recently i’ve been trying to get into it and i can see her dating someone who does it professionally.

her coming to every. single. recital. her going to the local library to read up on the history of ballet and very famous plays just to show you that she’s supportive of your career. her trying to coach you and help you practice/stretch and being a little harsh (but it’s all out of love ofc) just because she loves watching you succeed. almost crying with you if you ever get any lead roles. her being amazed by how flexible you are and using it to her own advantage…ifykwim…

just some thoughts!!

Hi baby. I also have no knowledge about ballet, so if there is anything in here that’s wrong no one attack me. I only know from watching tv shows & movies. I hope it goes well for you though & you have fun! <3 I’m lowkey sorry if this answers or gives you nothing, i haven’t written for Sevika in a while. I apologize.

I feel like Sevika would for sure be the kind of person to tell everyone at each show that you’re the lead dancer, and will proudly show you off without hesitation to every single person who is watching you. She loves to see you doing something you so very much love, and if she has all the time & chance in the world to show everyone how much she cares, treasures and supports you? girl is gonna be talking about you constantly until their ears fall off. She’s a proud woman, and she’s always proud of you for doing the things you enjoy. Every show you do, and even in practise, Sevika will always bring you flowers. Personally, after big shows she brings you a bigger bunch because its the moment of your life. Practise, its a small bunch of maybe tulips because she knows your a little busy, but either way it always makes you happy because she never misses any of them. They are important to you, but they are so much more important to her. 

For learning, i feel like you’d teach her a lot of stuff. Maybe to do with some new move you had shown her, and she wasn’t entirely sure what it was. She loved that you were willing to take time out of your practicing to show or teach her your very (as she puts it) sexy moves. Of course, it would take a few tries for her to even keep up with you though. (i have now realized i read that part wrong, you said ballet history.. my bad) but yes! I think anything involving you, she would be so keen to learn more about everything you do. can imagine her literally studying & spending hours at the library or even staying up past 3am while you’re either fast asleep beside her or getting in a little more practice to learn more about which ballet shows were your favorite, which ones inspired you the most etc. 

Crying if you get lead roles?! Uh yes? The conversation with probably go something like “Vika.. they called me today and they told me that they wanted me to be the l-” and before you could even finish your sentence, she’s bawling her fucking eyes out, picking you up and damn near suffocating you with her hugs telling you how proud of you she is, and how much she loves you. (me sobbing because i miss writing for sevika.. anyway)

Helping you stretch… now listen, im all for Sevika helping ME stretch but i damn near think she would combust seeing just how flexible you are… like imagine you’re doing the splits.. and she’s just staring at your ass the whole time, or the way your back is slightly arched. she is gonna be on the verge of breaking a bone with how tight her grip is on her own thigh, or she’s gonna pass out because you just look so good in that position. like who let you? so as far as helping you stretch… of course, she’s gonna help, but i think her hormones will act up and get the best of her… and it’ll somehow end with you, a pretty mess under her, your legs over her shoulders while she pretty much fucks you into the mattress, and actually praising your flexibility “fuck.. I didn’t know your legs could actually go that far, shit..”