#because here was a man sacrificing every part of himself for others

[rusquared]

man. you ever think about how anna croft, anna "i will sacrifice as many people as necessary for the greater good" croft, who was willing to betray yjh and side with the constellations if it saved the most people, REPAIRED and KEPT the ark because she knew kimcom would eventually want to use it. earth's strongest incarnations were going to abandon the world to save just one, small, inconsequential life. and she agreed. she supported them. she asked him to be the only constellation in her world that was supposed to be without any stars. like.

kim dokja, an ordinary, average, wholly unremarkable human, still changed so many lives that even anna croft wanted to save him.

[bones4thecats]

Adopting Their Fallen Enemy's Child (PT.1) ~ RoR/SnV x Child! Reader

Type of Writing: Poll Result Characters: Thor, Shiva, & Child! Reader Name: Adopting Their Fallen Enemy's Child (PT.1) Original Poll Link: Here Other Parts: (PT.2)

A/N: I actually really liked this idea on the poll I made, and I hope it turned out as good as I imagined it! Enjoy!!

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🌩️ Your father was the Lü Bu, the Flying General himself, and when you heard from the Valkyrie named Brunhilde that he was set to fight in the first match of Ragnarok, you gave him the best support he could’ve asked for

🌩️ You sat alongside his army, with his strategist, Chen Gong, sitting next to you, trying to keep you from jumping down and attacking the God of Thunder yourself

🌩️ When Chen Gong and the others sacrificed themselves, stating their loyalty to you father, you stood there in shock and tear-filled eyes as Thor looked at you, seeing a child without anyone left

🌩️ He felt guilty, but this was what they wanted, they wanted to join their lord, and while he initially wanted to just leave the area, he walked up to you and shocked the Gods and Humans as he kneeled down and hugged you

🌩️ After that day, you stayed by Thor’s side, he reminded you so much of your father it would make you cry

🌩️ Thor may not be the best person when it comes to comforting, but he tries his best when it comes to you, Lü Bu was the one person who could stand a fight against him, and because of this, he would try training you to be just as strong as your father and him

🌩️ He honors your father with you. Every day on his birthday, and on the days of each of his soldiers, including Chen Gong, you would walk into a field in the forest located in the Chinese section of Valhalla, you would both hand off flowers and lay them on the graves you and him had made

🌩️ The words he said to you when he comforted you that day are words that you will never forget

“ Your father was an honorable man, I hope you know that. And because of the honor he possessed, I will take you in as my own. I believe it is something that your father would’ve wanted. “

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🪩 He believed that Raiden was the one opponent he would remember the rest of his life, and when he saw the now-deceased rikishi stare at a young child with the two Valkyries, he froze

🪩 The man was a father, just like him

🪩 But while his child could handle loss of someone easily, you appeared to be around a young teen, this must’ve been one of the hardest things you ever had to witness

🪩 Shiva looked at you and back at the crumbling Raiden Tameemon, guilt filled his heart, which was something he hadn’t felt for such a long time, why did he feel guilty? He just won and brought honor to his pantheon!

🪩 Watching as you ran down and tried hugging the remaining pieces of your father just got him staring back at his wives and son, and when he saw how saddened their eyes were then they looked at you

🪩 The God of Destruction walked up to you and you jumped back when his one arm reached out to you, and that action made the Humans cry out for him to not hurt you

🪩 He kneeled down and since he was just on fire, the heat that radiated off of him made you hold your head away from him

“ Look at me, young one. “

🪩 You looked up at him and saw how his eyes shimmered with guilt, making you look at where your father once stood and back at the man who caused his demise

🪩 Shiva held is one arm back as you tried helping him stay standing when he slumped over in pain, after all, losing three arms doesn't exactly make anyone, including Gods, feel very good

🪩 Once you came to visit him with his wives and son, he saw how you carried yourself around him, not with resentment or fear, but with care and gentleness, making him smile

🪩 Whenever he rested, you laid next to him, you were like another child of his, and when he offered to take care of you in the Hindu Pantheon, it made you jump up and down and hug him and his wives as they agreed to taking you in as their own

“ Your father was one of the best fighters I have ever met in my thousands of years of life. And… seeing you look so painfully at where your father once stood, I just, I knew you had to have someone there for you. Would you do me, and my wives, the honor of joining our family? ”

[viennacherries]

I encroach upon ye with a request

Zevlor breeding kink with like, his long term partner who can’t get pregnant for one reason or another (whether you write them as amab or an afab person who is sterile/lacking a functional uterus is up to you)

Zevlor deserves to be really a little bit feral about his partner yk?? Let the man loose himself, it’d be good for the self-loathing imo (/hj)

hi bestie!! my first time trying to write zevlor so i hope u like it! mwah

CONCEPTION

Zevlor/Tav | NSFW | 2,898 words

Summary:

“Tav…” He can hear the grumble in his own voice, watches as it washes over her and she shivers. “Come here.” She shakes her head slowly, a teasing smirk flitting across her face. When she speaks, it's a breath. “Come and get me.” ~~~ Tav and Zevlor want a baby, but things are rarely that simple.

Read it on AO3!

How long has it been now? Several months, at least. And yet he can't give her the one thing she yearns for more than anything. The gift of motherhood. 

Zevlor is certain it’s something wrong with him, because of course it must be. Perhaps it’s a punishment from the Gods for his failures against his kin. Perhaps they’ve deemed him unworthy and made him barren as penance for his sins. Him, an oath-broken paladin who couldn't resist the call of a false deity and sacrificed his people in his hubris, and her, the Hero of Baldur’s Gate who had been ready to sacrifice everything for a whole city of people she owed nothing to. He is broken and flawed in every way she is perfect and faultless. 

And, Hells , does it hurt. Because there's nothing he wants more than to make her happy. There’s nothing he wants more than to start a family with her, to see her hold their child in her arms and to place a kiss to both of their foreheads. There’s nothing more that he wants than to be a father and navigate the turmoils of parenthood with her by his side. 

And yet he keeps failing her. 

The worst part is, he’s fucking enjoying it. Laying with her every night, pumping his seed into her while she begs him to fill her. His infernal hindbrain lavishes in hearing her plead for his spend, in holding her down and filling her repeatedly, in watching his cum spill out of her and fingering it back inside her cunt to make sure not a drop is wasted. Some nights she’ll beg him to fuck her again and again, over and over until they’re both sore and exhausted, and he fucking loves it. 

But other nights, he’ll wake while the sky is still dark to a cold bed, and hear her sobbing in the other room. He’ll reach out his hand and be met with a small damp circle in the centre of the sheets, and he’ll know her cycle has come again. He’ll rise and find her, holding her while she sobs, and wonder how much longer he can stand to see her like this. 

And then they do it all again. 

He’s training in the low sun of the afternoon when she finds him, he feels her eyes on him and catches her leaning against a post from the corner of his vision. She looks radiant as always, wearing her favourite blouse and a skirt he doesn't recognise. 

He usually trains while she runs errands. It’s nothing as intensive as when he was a Hellrider; his joints complain far more these days. A young man he is not, but he still tries to keep himself in shape. Tav can more than hold her own, but he prides himself in feeling able to protect her, needs to know he’s strong enough to keep their family safe. So, when she travels into town for groceries, or visits the children at school to teach them about the Battle for Baldur’s Gate, he takes himself to the drill field on the outskirts and sharpens his sword. 

They’ve made their home in the burgeoning community Halsin has built in the Reclaimed Lands, and she’s absolutely thriving. Retirement from the adventuring life suits her. That's not to say she’s idle, but seeing her able to relax and travel for pleasure rather than a need to outmarch death fills him with joy. 

It’s been a few days since he’s seen her, her trip to the Grove taking longer than usual on this occasion. He’s a soldier, though, so of course he finishes his set before he turns to her (plus it sends a thrill through him, knowing she’s watching him, though he won't ever mention that to her). He wipes his brow along the back of his arm, spears his sword into the earth, and opens his arms wide to her. She giggles as she throws herself into his embrace and he swings her around in circles. That’s the other benefit to keeping up his training, being able to lift and carry her and hear the elated squeals she lets out. It makes him feel a far more youthful man than he is. 

Before he can ask how her trip went, she's kissing him deeply and smiling against his lips. Yet another way being with her makes him feel young; the way her every touch sends heat through his body as though he’s a virginal adolescent. Hells, he loves her so much. 

When she pulls away she’s grinning, and he can't help but return it. “Good journey, I take it?”

She laughs, and the sound is so weightless and musical it makes his head spin. 

“ Great trip! I have something for you - for us!”

He raises an eyebrow in question. She often brings him back little trinkets and treats from the Grove but it’s rare she’s this excited to give him them. 

Scratch bounds up to her before he can ask any questions and practically clings to her, and her beautiful laugh is back again. Whatever queries he may have had are forgotten as she kneels, cackling as Scratch smothers her face in sloppy kisses.

Usually she’ll bring back a brace of rabbits or pheasants that she’s hunted on the trek back, but she tells him excitedly as she brings out the meat for dinner that she managed to snag a deer. She stopped at a small trading post, where they butchered it for her and she traded them everything that wouldn't keep. She holds the venison steaks up proudly and he applauds her as she takes a deep bow, laughing her way through it. She also foraged some fresh herbs and wild garlic, and the traders gave her some asparagus and carrots in return for the doe. 

As usual, he offers to cook, and as usual he’s swatted out of the kitchen, so instead he vows to do the dishes and takes the time to set the table. He feels so lucky to be privy to the mundanity of domestic life with her, so he takes pride in setting their cutlery and placing the table mats down. He lights a few candles, too, because he’s nothing if not a romantic. Tav deserves candlelit dinners. 

He’s still not used to the way she looks after him. A lifetime of bachelorhood and swordsmanship doesn’t prepare a man for gentle touches and lovingly cooked meals. Zevlor considers himself a reasonably talented chef, and he’s not some invalid that never learnt how to do his own laundry, and yet Tav always insists on doing these things for him. He’s quite sure he’s never known a love like it. He’s so used to being relied on, and it took a long time to wrap his head around the idea of letting Tav carry some of his burdens. They lean on each other, they give each other balance and stability. 

Still, it���s always a competition to see who notices the washing on the line is dry first, and they’re often racing one another to take it down. 

Dinner is delicious, as always. The vegetables are roasted in honey and garlic, and she’s cooked the venison in butter which has it tender and flavourful. She even pours them both a glass of wine, and it pairs beautifully. 

When they’ve both eaten, the dishes washed and the candles extinguished, she’s practically vibrating with excitement. 

“My dear,” he says at last, as he watches her shuffling from one foot to the other, “are you going to tell me what has you so agitated?”

She grins and grabs his hand, standing in front of him, and the words burst from her almost immediately.

“It’s me, Zev. I’m the problem.”

He feels his face twist in confusion and sorrow. It’s not hard to deduce what she’s talking about, but he’s not quite sure why that fills her with such glee. 

“Tav… I’m sorry, I-”

She interrupts him with a finger over his lips. “No, no you don't understand. I spoke to Nettie. She says I can have children, I just don't ovulate at regular intervals. She said the reason we've not been able to conceive is because I have a hormone imbalance, not because either of us are sterile.” 

He lets her announcement wash over him. The thought that all of their issues have been poor timing and unfortunate happenstance is… Almost unbelievable. He’d resigned himself so fully to the idea that he was the issue, finding out that isn't the case makes his heart stop in his chest. 

“How do you-”

She interrupts again, “Nettie gave me a brew when I arrived, to balance my hormones. It’s why I stayed in the Grove a few extra days, so she could test them for me. She says everything is as it should be now. She says…” A blush rises over her cheeks, though the ecstatic smile over her features doesn't falter. “She says if we try now she suspects we’ll have no problems.”

He feels his own blush rising to his face, mostly due to the fact that Nettie now knows far more about his sex-life than he’d hoped to share with anyone ever . He opens his mouth to speak but she’s talking again before he can. 

“And, just to be safe, she brewed me a concoction with Mandrake. She said it tastes foul, but that it boosts fertility.” A smirk rises on her face, and she rises on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. Her breath is warm on his ear and he shivers. “I mixed it into my wine.”

The groan he lets out is involuntary, and it resonates low in his chest like a purr. The sudden switch from confused and sad to elated and turned on has his head spinning, and as she walks him backwards towards their bed he feels his cock rush to attention. 

A single hand in the centre of his chest pushes him back and down, and he sits staring at her from the mattress. She takes two steps backwards and slowly begins unbuttoning her blouse. 

“Zev…” His name on her tongue is like honey. He’s certain she does it on purpose and it drives him wild. “I want you to breed me, darling. Want you to fill me with your babies.”

He clenches his jaw and digs his nails into his thighs. He knows exactly what game she’s playing. She loves to unravel his sensibilities until he’s squirming - until he can't help but rut into her like a wild creature. She knows just how to toy with him to bring his infernal heritage to heel til she gets exactly what she wants. 

She chuckles at his reaction, because obviously she does. “You want that, love? Want to mount me and fill me up?”

The noise he makes at that is closer to a growl than anything else, and he nods tensely. She giggles and lets her blouse drop from her shoulders, and hells, of course she isn't wearing a brassiere. The realisation that she’s been planning this, waiting for this, drives him insane. Suddenly the new skirt makes far more sense. It takes all of his restraint to stay seated where he is.  

Tav brushes a thumb over each of her nipples and lets out an exaggerated keen, which has his cock twitching and straining against his trousers. 

“Tav…” He can hear the grumble in his own voice, watches as it washes over her and she shivers. “Come here.”

She shakes her head slowly, a teasing smirk flitting across her face. When she speaks, it's a breath. 

“ Come and get me .”

Every shred of control he has snaps and he’s on her in an instant, pulling her against his body in one long stride. He hikes her legs up around his waist and holds her there, drawing her as close to himself as he possibly can and bringing their lips together in a bruising kiss. She tightens her legs around him and moans into his mouth and, fuck, he wants her so badly. He spins and drops her down onto the bed, and she gasps as she lands on it. 

She looks a picture like this; skirt sitting high on her thighs with her tits hanging heavy on her chest. An image of her sitting like this, round and full with his child, fills his mind. He imagines her breasts full, imagines her body swelling with pregnancy, and Gods if it doesn't make his cock ache. 

“You…” His voice comes out strained, gravelled and thick. “Are such a tease . I try to be polite and you push…” He moves to stand closer, her head level with his stomach. “... and push…” He puts one hand on her shoulder, easing her backwards and hovering above her. Her legs fall open and he stands between them. “... and push …” He rolls his hips against her core and she throws her head backwards with a moan. “... until I can't help but fold you over, hm? Is that what you want, my love? You want me to use your body til you’re good and bred?”

Hells, she’s making so many needy noises and he’s barely touched her yet. She nods hurriedly, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to suck a bruise onto his neck, and fuck he loves when she marks him. He moans and tips his head to give her better access, and he feels Tav smile against his skin as she nibbles at him. 

He slips a hand under her skirt and moans at the realisation that she’s not wearing underclothes either. 

“Hells, Tav, you’re so needy for it. You sat there like this the whole time we ate, desperate for me, hm?”

“ Yes , Zev, Gods . Need you.” Her voice is breathy.

He wants to be teasing, wants to wind her up the way she does to him, but he’s not strong enough. Hearing her beg for him has his face full of heat and has his head swimming. “Can I taste you, love?”

She starts to give her assent, but he’s dropping to his knees before she even finishes getting the words out, lifting her skirt and burying his face in her core. The scent of her drives him wild, and the taste of her musk on his tongue as he drags it through her slick has him moaning into her. Her hands lace into his hair as he sucks her clit between his lips, teasing and tasting her until she’s writhing and keening and cumming into his mouth. 

She drags him back up, kisses him deeply, and the feeling of her tongue massaging against his is so erotic that he can't help grinding against her again. He can feel the wet heat of her cunt leaving a damp patch on the front of his trousers and he knows he can't wait any longer to have her. 

He manages to pry himself away and strips unceremoniously, letting himself languish for a moment in the heated way she stares at his body. The scars and infernal ridges littering his body have always, to him, been unattractive, but she looks at him every time like she can't bear to look away. No one has ever looked at him the way Tav does, and it lights his whole being on fire. 

There's no more conversation needed. He lays himself over her, folds her legs up towards her chest and sinks deep into her heat, and she throws her head back and whines as he fills her. With her legs pushed up like this he can fill her entirely, and the way she clenches around him has him gritting his teeth and grinding deeper into her body. 

“I’ll keep you here all night, if that's what you want, love. Fill you til you’re certain you’ll burst. Can't wait to see you full with my child.”

She tries to reply, but he chooses that moment to fill her with a deep thrust from tip to root, and her eyes roll back into her head as she frees a leg from his grip, digging a heel into his rear and pulling him deeper. With every thrust of his hips she keens, louder and louder until her cries reach a crescendo, and then she’s sobbing her way through her second orgasm and clenching her walls around his cock. 

The wet, tight squeeze of her cunt means it doesn't take long for him to reach his own end, spilling himself inside her just like she asked, kissing her lovingly through it. Every twitch of his cock makes her sigh and clench him harder, milking him of every drop of his cum until he’s laying boneless over her. 

Their heavy breaths mingle together as they share deep, meaningful kisses. When he tries to remove himself from her, she wraps her legs around him and shakes her head. 

“You said you’d keep me here all night. I hope you intend to keep that promise. I want… I want you to stay inside. I want to feel you get hard, and then I want you to fuck me full again.”

And hells, her words have his spent cock twitching valiantly, aching to take her again despite it being too soon, so he tells her yes as he leans in to kiss her again. 

[litiyerses]

calypso having an emotion-centered character and being viewed & getting treated as the ‘evil woman’ is actually a reflection of how every woman's emotions are villainized when they’re shown vividly and are a main part of their character in popular media.

in general media and riordanverse specifically, women with emotions are always looked down upon because showing emotions is regarded as a dramatic act so when a female character shows and acts on their emotiotions they get degraded and instantly despised because of it. this is done with every single female character while male characters who show emotion are treated like saints and found worthy of self redemption. this happened with annabeth when she didn’t want to believe luke was the bad guy and wanted to try bring him back because she was manipulated by him her entire life, meanwhile luke, who did batshit crimes like causing hundreds of innocent deaths, manipulating little girls by flirting with them, admitting his crush to a 16 year-old at his ripe age of 23, is remembered as a hero and considered ‘redeemed himself’ after sacrificing himself while annabeth was called insufferable when she didn’t believe he was evil in the first place. let’s not forget piper, who’s a lesbian that was forced into a relationship with a man by a goddess and thought she was in the wrong for not feeling right with jason. during the entire relationship she was experiencing a very hard comphet and couldn’t figure herself out because of the fake memories, everybody was bashing her when she was acting confused, when she was, in fact confused. i have a longer post about this specific topic, so if you guys wanna check it out it’s right here. 

 coming back to calypso, first we need to clear out the misconceptions about her curse on percy that affected annabeth. she wasn't blind nor was personally attacking annabeth, her curse was to make someone feel like how she was feeling all time and that’s why percy and annabeth couldn’t reach out to one another while being right next to each other. annabeth’s blindness came from the titan she defeated in the sea of monsters and is actually the first curse to be put by the arai on them, so it has nothing to do with calypso. the curse was affecting annabeth because she happened to be the person percy loved and was right next to him. if percy was there alone either percy would feel alone and abandoned or the curse wouldn’t affect him at all, since there’s no person he can go back to save. and the curse itself wasn’t even a death wish type of curse she just wanted to be heard, be acknowledged and wanted free off her island. not to forget the curse wasn't harming or killing any of them yet it’s still demonized more than by literally every other thing that happened in the books. nothing luke has ever done is seen as evil as her curse just because it was by her and i’m pretty positive if something like this was shown in pjo by luke it would be glossed over and romanticized in the fandom. further proof of how a male character's actions get brushed off and forgiven easily but soon a female character does something even slightly questionable they get villainized on the spot.

she is also despised because she doesn't let everyone's favorite man get away with his misogynistic stuff. calypso doesn't treat leo any worse than he treats her. whenever she starts arguing it is a response to something leo has said or done, which in the most case she's in the right but leo gets so much slack from his past and being fandom favorite to be held accountable for the way he treats people. he's always been written as a misogynist, he never treated any women with any respect. he always had some sort of disrespect for every female character he seems have some sort of closure with like piper, hazel, calypso, the list goes on, but yet calypso is always expected to be more 'tolerable and understanding' bc of his trauma, as if every single character in the series isn't written upon a single trauma they had and have their character built on it. and he always had a problem dealing with others and their emotions and instead of expecting him to be working to change that, calypso is expected to adjust his manners.

oddly enough, she's also expected to show some gratitude towards leo for saving her, when she never asked him to do so and not for a second believed that he was actually going to come back when he said he would. is she grateful that he came back and freed her? yes. should she feel any obligations to make him feel greater because of it? NO. everything leo did for calypso was his and only his choice and nobody else's. calypso is happy that he did so, but expecting her to tolarate every single thing he does solely because of that is wrong.

[hyperfixatedfandomer]

Miles Quaritch: fear of betrayal, and a lethal act of love (Stephen Lang Omaticon interview thoughts)

So! The annual Omaticon has commenced! And we got some interesting lore details from one of the guests, the legend and the moment Stephen Lang, who plays Quaritch.🫶

At one point, he talks about Quaritch’s fear of betrayal, and hearing it has definitely added even more weight to his actions, as well as actions of Spider, than ever before. Even more so than the deleted scenes.

As he says in the clip I linked, Quaritch is so desperately afraid of getting hurt, of having his trust crushed, that he refuses to get close to others and create meaningful relationships. Quaritch is afraid to love. He expects betrayal and disloyalty at every corner, and no doubt builds up walls to protect himself from potential heartbreak.

It gives us further motivation as to why Quaritch has reacted so violently to Jake refusing to take part in colonisation of Pandora. It wasn’t just pettiness. It was Miles trusting someone and getting burned, likely not for the first time, and lashing out, bringing forth whatever hurt and pain he stored for years. It’s tragic that so many innocent Na’vi and even humans got hurt as result of his emotional reaction, and 15 years later, Quartich’s clone is back at it.

Recom Q is in possession of everything that makes Quaritch — Quaritch, so he follows down the same path of vengeance, obsessively looking for Jake.

However, he unexpectedly encounters a human boy on his mission. A human boy painted in blue, who carries a bow. A boy whom Quaritch shares blood.

A boy who’s loyalty knows no bounds.

Considering the baggage that Miles apparently has when it comes to trust and loyalty, the act of Spider choosing death over ratting out his own has been no doubt extremely impressive to the man. A breath of fresh air perhaps, to see someone love so passionately they’re ready to die for the cause.

I can sit here and speculate forever on how Quaritch’s relationship with Spider developed, now that we are aware of his crippling fear of betrayal. Perhaps Miles felt an odd sense of comfort in being around Spider, as he was openly hostile and there were no hidden intentions. Socorro’s hate laid bare, so Miles had nothing to be afraid of. There was no loyalty to speak of.

But then the bond grew, and Miles must have noticed it too late. How much he came to care for a kid he met only months ago.

Or, perhaps, Miles let Spider into his heart because of the interrogation scene. He witnessed show pure the boy is, how determined, and it felt different, safe to approach him. Perhaps Miles felt like they could bond over their dedication.

Either way, the colonel has done something he was afraid of for a likely very long time. He trusted. He let someone in. Deeper into his soul than anyone has even been before.

And then, when he was faced with the ultimatum of losing that someone, he sacrificed all he believed in for him, expecting nothing in return. He held Spider’s sister at knifepoint, it was only fair the boy would celebrate his death…

And then he was alive. And Spider was there with him.

I cannot even begin to imagine the sheer shock, confusion, and love Miles feels when he looks at Socorro on that rock. After getting burned too many times, he was finally proven wrong. Someone showed him loyalty, for no reason other than love.

The new lore also provides further reasoning as to why Quaritch asked Spider to come with him. How could he possibly not? How could he not repay him ten-fold? I believe in that moment in time, Miles fully claimed Spider as his son, and genuinely wanted the kid to follow him back to Bridgehead just so they could stay together.

Spider chose to leave. He’d be crazy not to, after all the horrors he witnessed done against his beloved home, and against people he believed to be part of.

But I keep wondering, how tightly will Quaritch cling on this broken family they now have? How iron of a grip will he have on Spider? After being betrayed, being afraid of love, it’s hard to imagine a different outcome. He’s been expecting a back-stab on every corner and then got rescued by someone who had nothing to gain from it. I’m sure it’ll mess with his head to have that one person "taken away" from him (by the Sullies).

If this is the lore we’re working with, I can see why Miles will remain a villain. Still unhinged, still obsessive, but the focus of that obsession might switch from a revenge fantasy to a family delusion. Who knows really 🤷

[putaposyinyourhair]

Slowly but Also Like All at Once

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7

noah diaz x mirage (cause these bitches gay)

warnings: it’s still kind of angsty but also fluffy

“ah yes, right where i left them; flirting.”

Noah’s cardboard box of electronics is in the passenger seat, his yellow No. 2 pencil rolling around in there in tandem with the motions of Mirage’s driving.

Noah, for his part, is doing his best to keep his hands to himself.

His brain keeps trying to convince him that he’s kidding himself here. That this is all just a dream, a cruel one— probably fell asleep at his work table and is clearly fantasizing about all of this. That there’s no way Mirage is actually here with him right now.

His fingers so badly itch to reach out and caress the leather of the Porsche’s center console. If only just to ground himself in this moment.

But he doesn’t. He can’t. He doesn’t want to do anything that could possibly jeopardize this. Like any wrong move could crack the very fabric of reality and yank Mirage away from his grasp. And the alarm coursing through him must be translating into his body language because he’s tense as all hell. He’s been frozen in his seat with his arms firmly crossed since the moment he first sat down. He’s even breathing kind of shallowly.

He feels the leather of the seat underneath him warm up. Maybe as an attempt to comfort him? He can’t be sure. He doesn’t know if heated seats are standard on Porsche Carrera’s.

Mirage’s radio emits a quiet noise, startling him right out of his thoughts.

“You can relax, Angel Face,” Mirage indicates gently, and before Noah can even think twice about the odd little pet name, his friend adds on, “I gotchu,” in a tone of voice that Noah can only describe as… devout.

Fuck, it’s… it’s a lot.

Noah knows he’s got him.

Mirage had nearly died for him.

And there’s that twisting sensation again— the bad one, right in the center of his ribcage. It feels like there’s a black hole in there that tries to suck Noah into himself every time he thinks back to that moment on that bridge.

Of lying beneath Mirage’s crouched form and watching as his friend was shot multiple times. Watching as Mirage faded right in front of him. Watching as Mirage used the last of his strength to make sure Noah could talk to his little brother one last time.

Noah wants to scream.

After all that, he’d failed at trying to fix Mirage— had only made the damage worse by accidentally tly prying one of the mech’s suit-form plates off, releasing the gush of oil that had stained his garage floor and breaking the plate in half in the process. He’d tried and immediately failed to help his friend who had literally sacrificed himself for Noah. And because of that, he’d had to watch as the other autobots took Mirage away— not even allowing Noah to say his goodbyes.

“Noah, come on, please don’t cry.”

Noah shakes himself out of it, uncrossing his arms so he can reach up and vigorously rub away the tears he hadn’t even realized he’d begun to shed.

“Sorry,” he stresses between pathetic little sniffles, still wiping furiously at his eyes— probably scrubbing his cheeks raw in the process. “I— I ain’t crying. I just— I got somethin’ in my eye, man.”

“Course you do,” Mirage concedes with a soft, amused huff.

Noah thinks he can almost feel the words physically tug at his heartstrings. It pulls the briefest of smiles out of him, despite the wetness of his tears and his shaky breaths. He clears his throat, forces his body to relax, and ignores the urge to do something incredibly stupid like lean forward and hug the Porsche’s steering wheel or something.

“Where you takin’ me anyway?” he asks, glancing out the window and watching the hazy green blur of trees as Mirage cruises by. “Feels like we been drivin’ for hours.” He reaches for the door— to roll down a window because even inside the cabin, he can smell the scent of ocean air— but Mirage does it for him, the glass sliding down smoothly and letting the warm ocean breeze waft inside.

“We’re almost there, baby, promise.”

Noah’s heart— at least he thinks it’s his heart, it doesn’t feel like it comes from the same place as the black hole this time— jumps. It’s a strange, sharp, hot sensation. But it doesn’t hurt. His forehead scrunches as he takes a moment to glance down at the autobot insignia on the steering wheel.

Okay, so he hadn’t misheard the little term of endearment from the mech earlier either.

He returns his gaze to the scenery passing by and digs his two front teeth down into his bottom lip, slightly puzzled.

Baby boy.

Angel Face.

Baby.

That was definitely a new thing.

Mirage hadn’t addressed him as anything but Noah before, or by the more informal man’s, bro’s, and dude’s.

This was… different. Odd. Noah isn’t—

“And here we are!” Mirage’s voice calls out in sing-song as they pull into a dark parking lot shadowed by a looming lighthouse, its beacon lit and shining in the direction of the water for passing ships to see.

The driver side door swings open and Noah steps out, only belatedly remembering his box after Mirage has already begun to split and shift.

“Wait, what about my—” he trails off as Mirage stands to his full height, servos reaching high into the air as if he’s stretching.

“Damn, that feels good,” Mirage groans, tilting his helm from side to side for a second, before he looks down and notices the pout tugging at Noah’s lips.

“Relax, I won’t crush your gizmos,” he says, waving a servo through the air as if he’s offended by the very idea. “Spy’s honor.”

He turns and starts heading across the parking lot and Noah’s thankful it’s really late because he’s sure the sight of an enormous alien robot casually strolling along would send everyone around into a panic had the lighthouse been packed with visitors during daytime hours.

Noah takes another look up at the lighthouse, and after a moment he recognizes the building and its tower from pictures he’d once seen in one of those touristy travel books Señora Castillo sells down at the bodega at the end of the block. It’s the Montauk Point Light.

“Wait, you brought me to Long Island, man? Seriously?”

He scurries after Mirage, who ambles up the hill towards the lighthouse before he takes a sharp right turn and hikes down to a boardwalk stairway that leads right onto the sandy beach. The sound of the waves lapping gently against the shores and the windy ocean breeze ruffling Noah’s curls induces a strange immediate calming effect on Noah.

He watches as Mirage stops and lowers himself gingerly onto the sand, groaning quietly as he pulls a face that Noah can only guess reads as disgust.

One side of Noah’s lips tugs up into a soft smirk as he watches the bot scowl down at the sand.

“Alright, so if you don’t like sand, why bring me here?” he queries, wandering closer to his friend and dropping onto the sand himself, right beside the mech, and peering up at his friend inquisitively.

“What, you’re not impressed?” Mirage boasts, stretching his arms out as if to point at the scenery. “It’s the lack of flowers, isn’t it? I knew I shoulda got you that bouquet of yellow roses.”

Noah can’t help the sharp laugh the quip pulls right out of him.

“Ah, there it is!” Mirage exclaims, reaching back to bury both servos into the sand behind him and leaning back on them as he grins down at Noah, his bright optics pulsing. “Knew I’d get a real smile outta you at some point tonight, babe!”

Fuck.

Noah stills, his cheeks flooding with a confusing rush of heat. His heart does that burning twinging thing again. It’s kind of overwhelming. He forces himself to roll his eyes so he can use the motion to look away and hide his flushed face.

Okay, so there’s another one to add to the list; Babe.

He’s not sure why Mirage keeps using all these little pet names on him but it’s throwing him way the hell off and he’s not quite sure how to feel about it— aside from hot and squirmy as fuck.

“Did— did they wire you back up wrong or somethin’?” he coughs out a little awkwardly, fixing his eyes on the shimmering stars in the night sky above.

He can feel Mirage’s gaze on the back of his head.

“Hmm?” the bot hums kind of lazily. “What do you mean?”

Noah sucks in a quiet breath and gathers the courage to look back up at him.

And Mirage is staring down at him with a nigh on angelic look on his face, like the mech honest to god doesn’t understand what Noah’s asking him.

Oh. Okay.

“Oh, uh…” Noah trails off, unsure what to say. “N-nothing, man. Never mind.” Maybe it’s best to just let sleeping dogs lie. After all, it’s not that weird. Right?

Exhaling softly, Noah shuffles over and leans against his friend’s side, relaxing into the warm thrum of Mirage’s plates.

Nah, it’s not weird. It’s just… them.

[amaesama]

Eyeless Jack SFW and NSFW HC’s

Lmao guess who’s back after… idk… a year? I’ve left college now so I have a couple of months before Uni to write shit. Idk what spurred me to make this, I think the boredom is setting in. The reader is written with no gender in mind, there are AMAB and AFAB parts in the nsfw section. Enjoy yourselves you horny mf’s.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

SFW

So let’s start of with his physical appearance.

Mans is TAALLL.

I don’t think ridiculously so, though, he absolutely taller than the humans in the manor (I’m a firm believer in the slendermansion, idk if it’s not practical), but not as tall as Laughing Jack, Candy Pop, or anyone like that.

He was a human once, and as his height was pretty average, maybe a tad taller than average, like maybe 6’0, I think the whole possession thing definitely added to his height. I’m thinking something like 6’5 or 6’7.

His skin is dark grey, and as he’s kinda self conscious about his appearance I think he tries his best to hide this by always wearing his mask.

His eyes are always something that confused me; like yeah he had them scooped out and then his eye sockets had tar poured in them, but did he regain them after he was possessed?

In my opinion, I think his eyes have a similar shape to that of a normal persons eyes, except they’re matte black cuz of the whole tar thing, and when he cries (which isn’t often) it’s this weird black substance, not exactly tar but definitely not normal tears.

Has like two tongues. I’ll elaborate on that in a bit 👀

Pointy teeth, gotta rip through that flesh ya know.

Speaking of eating flesh, he can eat any part of the human body, but he doesn’t find the actual flesh that tasty. He probably killed a guy and tried every part in their body until he found the part he liked the most. No reward if you figure out what that is.

He can eat normal food, but it tastes bad to him and it doesn’t actually quench his hunger, it’s like consuming air to him. Or very bad tasting air. Miasma air, if you will.

Ok on to how he’s like with a partner.

Now considering he’s a cannibalistic demon-man thing who was sacrificed to some weird devil-thing in college you wouldn’t particularly expect him to be a sweetie pie.

But he is.

Granted that’s only when he’s with you (mostly because the others would make fun of him if they saw him being nice *COUGH* Jeff *COUGH*), as he trusts you enough to not judge him.

My boy has a lot of pent up issues; he did have his life taken from him, he never wanted to become what he is. Because of this there are many times late at night where you’ll hear a knock on your door and when you open it there’s a 6’something demon man in your doorframe.

Side note - I don’t think he has much room presence, which is weird considering how big he is. I very much think he likes to keep to himself and prefers not to be noticed. This is very much evident is this case as he feels small. He’s hunched over and his body language is very defensive.

I realise that this SFW section is getting pretty long so I’ll just make a few more points before getting on to what I know you’re all here for.

I think he’s very caring and he’s always looking out for you. In a mansion filled with some of the most evil and foul beings in existence he is very protective of you - he doesn’t want you to get hurt.

You make him feel human, and he often invites you to your room or to the infirmary to study with him - which is something he does to try and get that feeling of normalcy back.

At first he wasn’t a big fan of touching; he felt like he could snap you in half just by looking at you. Of course after a while and after a lot of systematic desensitisation (OOOO look at my psychology A-Level SHINE) he learns that it IS ok to hold your hand and that hugging you won’t crush every bone in your body.

I mean it totally will but he makes sure to be gentle.

His kisses are super sweet and gentle because he’s self conscious of his tongues and his teethies.

Gives GREAT hugs. Ya know, cuz he’s so tall and lanky.

Yes he’s lanky, he studied medicine so he probably didn’t have time to go to the gym, he only started gaining muscle mass after he was sacrificed and he joined the mansion - living with actual psychotic assholes who refuse to sit down and get treated after they get a massive gash in their leg forced him to get better at restraining people.

Ok that’s if for SFW cuz I think I may have written a tad too much. Onto the fun part 😈

NSFW

YEAH SO REMEMBER WHEN I SAID HE HAS LIKE TWO TONGUES??

BOYYYYYY

He knows how to use them.

Whether your AMAB or AFAB he KNOWS what to do and how to put his *cough* appendages to good use.

They’re super long as well and as he probably studied anatomy he knows just how far and where they should go to really make you squirm. He will usually start by using them to tease the outside of your hole and slowly inch them in bit by bit.

On a normal day he’ll go at a normal pace - alternating the thrusting of his tongues and keeping at a regular or slow pace (he ADORES your squirming - probably due to his animalistic urge of watching his prey writhe). But if someone was being an ass in the infirmary?? Oooo that’s a whole other story.

It’s like his tongues have a mind of their own - their pace will absolutely not be regulated and they’ll go so far inside of you to the point where your vision is white with pleasure. He doesn’t care about keeping your moans regulated and the whole mansion can and will hear you.

If you’re lucky he’ll assign each tongue a particular role:

If you’re amab he’ll have one mercilessly fuck and tease your ass and the other curl around your dick - giving very little attention to the head bc he absolutely adores that look of pained pleasure to the point where you can’t even find your voice to beg him to fuck you. It is absolutely necessary to make sure your ass is prepared for the dick down of a lifetime so he makes sure his saliva has absolutely coated your hole and you’re nice and stretched for him - he’s a big boy after all/

If you’re afab? He’ll be either use both tongues to fuck your hole and stretch it out cuz remember this is only foreplay - he needs to prepare you for the main event. Sometimes one of his tongues will stretch you and the other will dive in and go to town, and sometimes he’ll press them against your walls and entrance and fuck your like that. OR, if you’re comfortable with it, he’ll have one tongue at your pussy and one at your ass and go to town that way. I think his tongues are a little thinner than the average penis so you get that gorgeous feeling of being full but not too full.

He often leaves bites on your thighs, ass, whatever he can get you those teeth in. It’s times like these where he lets that demon part of him go wild, so he has that demonic cannibalistic urge to mark and devour you. He won’t actually though, he loves you far too much.

When he’s like this he’s WAY more comfortable and confident in his kisses, he’ll nip at your neck and lips and let me tell you right now omg. You ever made out with a demon? Neither have I but with those tongues (idk why I’m so obsessed with his tongues) BOYY it’s like enough to make you cum on the spot. There’s so much passion and heat in those kisses like holy fuck

Ok main event now.

He was pretty average as a human - I’m thinking that because he was also slightly above average height he was also slightly about average in length, nothing too special, I’m thinking like 5.6/5.7 inches. I think he was of average girth but his slight added length made up for it. Not that he knew how to use it lol. He was a massive med student virg (not saying med students are all virgins, I just think that he was so hard working and dedicated to his studies that he just didn’t have the time to go out and get laid).

But NOW??? Oh my… as I said before he’s a BIG BOY. He’s got the length AND the girth.

I’m thinking that after that demonic possession he went from a 5.6/7 to like 7.5. And that’s when he’s SOFT. When hard I’m thinking he’s easily like 9/9.5 inches. He can and will rearrange your insides.

As for girth? I’m thinking like the girth of a monster can, maybe a bit thinner. If he’s your first time then you’ll absolutely need that foreplay cuz that is… yeah that’s quite a lot to take.

His dick is a similar colour to the rest of his skin - a dark grey with a darker, almost pitch black, tip. It ever so slightly arches up and I honestly can’t decide if his veins are pitch black and very prominent or are very subtle and ever so slightly glow. Idk I’ll leave it up to you.

If he’s the one deflowering you then it really does ignite something in him when he first goes in and he see’s that ring of blood on his dick. Of course he’ll go super slow, he does in fact hate seeing you in pain and he wants to make this a pleasant experience for you, so it may take a while until he’s fully inside you. The whole time he’ll be asking if you’re ok and reminding you that you can take a break or try again at a different time because he RESPECTS YOU and YOUR SAFETY AND COMFORT COMES FIRST.

Anyway, once he’s fully in and you’re comfortable he will start off slow, no matter how prepared or experienced you are at the end of the day he will be a bit of a struggle to accommodate at first. He will eventually speed up and he absolutely RELISHES in the look and feeling of your little hole clinging to him and dragging him in, seeing your delicate skin chase after his cock as if it has a mind of its own is like a drug to him. It makes him feel like you need him and only him; only he can make you feel like this.

Obviously with his length he goes so deep inside of you, if you’re amab or afab you will absolutely have that delicious stomach bulge and he adores that he can see himself poking through your insides. He will absolutely press down on it with his large hands, and sometimes he will lean down and lick the bulge in your stomach. Jesus that’s so hot.

On a normal day he doesn’t like going to fast or rough, even if you say it’s ok. He knows that even though your mind is clouded in lust and you’re not exactly thinking straight (with a monster dick like that inside you idk if you’ll even be able to think holy-) there is absolutely NO WAY that through all the pleasure there isn’t a bit of pain. Whether you like that pain or not is up to you, he will always listen to you and if you want to stop for a bit or stop entirely he will 100% of the time so as your say.

When he’s in one of his moods he is much easier to convince. If you say you’re ok with it and you WANT him to destroy and abuse your hole then he will be happy to oblige.

He will absolutely RAVAGE you, he’s got that demon speed so he will be pistoning into you like there’s no tomorrow.

You know that phrase? ‘Fuck like rabbits’ or something like that? Yeah for him it’s more like ‘fuck like a demonic overlord.’ Ok that phrase kinda sucks but you get my point.

He goes so fast and deep inside of you that you can only just lay there with your tongue out and taking shallow breaths and long whiney moans. If you have more energy then you’ll have your back arched up so your chest is flush against him.

He will either be concentrating on your face or at the foamy ring of cum around his dick that has formed due to the speed in which he’s going in and out of you. He loves how there are spiders webs of cum connecting the two of you and the messy squelches every time he’s fully sheathed, it’s so foul and so dirty.

He likes missionary because he thinks you’re so ethereal with that dumbed out, fucked out expression on your face. As well as that it means he gets to see that stomach bulge.

He isn’t a big fan of doggy but that’s probably his second go-to position. He either likes to admire your ass hitting his pelvis or he likes to lean over so his chest is against your back and whisper words of praise in your ear. You’re doing a great job after all, taking him is no easy task and he needs to let you know how good you are.

If you’re amab then he will absolutely jerk you of, if it’s a normal day it’ll just be at a normal pace. Sometimes he’ll just play with the head of your dick with his palm or thumb. He’s not a big fan of sucking you off, he doesn’t think you’re gross or anything but he just doesn’t like it. If he’s in a mood then he’ll jack you off so fast and hard to the point where he’s basically milking you. Although he’s not a massive fan of you riding him as he likes to be in control (purely because he can make sure he doesn’t hurt you) there’s something about seeing your dick flap up and down and hitting against his and your chest that’s just so hot to him.

If you’re afab then he’ll hold onto your breasts or he’ll hold onto your thighs as they wrap around his waist. Sometimes he’ll do both, one hand on your breast and one steadying you by holding your thigh down. He doesn’t see the need to play with your clit, his dick does an amazing job at pleasuring you already after all. But if you ask him he will. If you’re going doggy then he’ll reach under you and hold your breasts, if he’s really lost in pleasure then he’ll be throwing his head back with one hand steadying himself on the bed and the other one on your waist, sometimes caressing your ass and giving it very soft little slaps. He won’t do that thing where his thumb is in your ass and he’s guiding you back cuz he’s got sharp nails and that means you’ll be in pain and we can’t have that, can we?

King of aftercare. He knows he’s a lot so he’ll make sure you’re nice and cleaned up and if there’s any areas of your body that are aching he’ll massage it or put a cold towel on it so help sooth it. Most of the time you’ll both go to sleep so he’ll hold onto you and whisper words of praise like how well you’ve done as you fall asleep.

Don’t forget to look after him as well! Offer to have a bath with him and give him lots of snuggles and kisses. Tell him how pretty he is and that you love him so much, make sure he knows that he has also done a great job and you had a great time, and that you’re not hurt.

He loves you so much and he needs to know that you’re ok and that he did well.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

DAMN I REALLY WENT ALL OUT HUH.

I’ve been in the creepypasta fandom for maybe 7 years now and now that I’ve finished college this stupid phase has come back to take over my life. I love Jack so much so it’s only fitting that I write for him first. I’m thinking of opening my asks (if I figure out how to do that lol) so if you wanna ask me to write anything in particular then nows your time ig. I’ll make a list about what I will and won’t write at some point.

[pmitchell]

we’ve got time. | pete “maverick” mitchell x reader

warnings: NSFW! (If you’re a minor, DO NOT interact), oral sex (female receiving), unprotected sex, a slight daddy kink (i don’t even need to explain myself for this), a little Top Gun: Maverick spoilers, and a little bit of angst sprinkled here and there.

pairings: Pete “Maverick” Mitchell x reader

word count: 1,940 words (7 minutes reading time)

author’s notes: This one got away from me, I didn’t mean for it to be this long lol. Let me know if I should write another part, though, because I do have one in mind 👀 smut is contained between dividers, so skip it if you want!

EDIT: part two is here!

The Hard Deck will always be your favorite place to wind down after a long day. You had just walked in and found a seat at the bar when Penny spotted a cellphone placed on the bar by the person next to you. She rang the bell and the bar erupted with cheers as the man groaned in exasperation.

“I’ll have a beer, please, Penny,” you chuckled.

“You got it, (Y/N),” she said, handing you a bottle of cold beer 

“Thanks,” you said to the man, lifting your beer up. He laughed and pulls his wallet, eager to close his tab before anyone can order more drinks.

You sipped your beer and looked around the room, the energy of the bar lifting up after Penny rang her bell just like it always does. That was when you spot Pete in his white uniform in your peripheral. 

“Hey! You’re looking fine,” You greeted him, slightly flirtatiously as you look at him donned in a crisp white uniform you have never seen him wear. Pete took slow steps to get to you and that was when you notice the sullen look on his face. “Everything okay?” You asked, walking to meet him halfway.

The chaos at the bar became distant echoes as he leaned closer to your ear, speaking just loud enough for you to hear amidst the loud ambience. Your breath caught in your throat as he pulled away to look at you.

He was called to do the mission. 

The dangerous mission he was not allowed to tell you much about, but you knew the severity of. You knew he’d be gone for a while, and you knew that there is a chance he might not be back at all.

You looked at him intently, the loud volume of the jukebox and the chatter of the patrons disappeared, as if someone had pressed mute on the remote control. He took your hand and led you out back. The sun was setting, a melancholic setup by nature to make your goodbyes even harder.

“First time I ever see you in this uniform and you come to tell me you’re going away,” you chuckled ironically as you cross your arms in front of your chest to keep out the cold as you kept your eyes at the waves crashing on the shore.

Pete took his hat off to look at you properly as you tried your best to keep all emotions at bay. “Come here,” he tugged your arm gently.

You faced him and he enveloped you in a long hug. You desperately wanted him to promise to come home, but you knew better than to do that. Not only can he not promise you, you also knew he would not think twice about sacrificing himself for the other pilots. You knew that asking that of him will only make things harder, so you pulled away and smile.

He swept a few strands of your hair away from your face and pulled you by the waist for a kiss. He kissed you slow as if to savor every second and study your every detail.

“Do you have to leave now?” You asked when he rested his forehead on yours.

He looked at his watch. He did not have to report until dawn, and the night is still fairly young. “We’ve got time,” he said.

Back at your place, the two of you did not even make it to the bedroom before he started kissing you urgently. His hand found the hem of your shirt and pulled it off. He then hoisted you up and carried you to the bedroom. He laid you down on the bed and began to unbutton his uniform jacket, making a point to give you an entire show. You bit your lower lip as you watched, his face temporarily disappearing from view as he pulled the white t-shirt underneath his uniform off.

Before you knew it, he was hovering on top of you. He dove in for a kiss on your lips and then trailed kisses along your cheek, your jaw, and down to your neck. One hand took off your bra and palmed your breast as he continued to leave bite marks on your neck. You could feel your body heating up from the anticipation.

He moved down and took your other breast into his mouth, sucking and gently biting the tender skin, making you whimper. He left kisses on your skin as he made his way down, hands unbuttoned your pants and pulling them off your legs. His finger toyed with your clit through your underwear and you gasped and closed your legs in reflex, as if he knew which button to press.

Pete chuckled, “Open up, baby,” he said as he took your underwear off. 

As soon as you part your legs, he wasted no time in devouring your slick pussy. He hummed in satisfaction, sending small vibrations on your sensitive nub.

“Ah...fuck!” You gasped, hand gripping the sheet underneath you. 

His tongue traced your sopping wet hole while his thumb took over your clit, varying the pressure as you buck your hips up, wanting more.

“You gonna cum for me?” He taunted, his lips returned to your clit to suck it while he inserted a finger into your tight core.

“Pete, please...” you begged.

He added another finger into your pussy and massaged your walls with them while his lapped at your clit. You trembled with pleasure, muscles tightened around his digits as you felt yourself getting closer and closer.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he urged you on, fingers moving faster on your pussy. “Let go.”

You moan out his name as he watched you come undone, your breathing erratic and your toes curled as he left kisses on your thigh while you rode out your climax. He undid his pants, kicked them off and used his fingers wet from your arousal to pump his own hard member, hovering over you once again while you tried to regain your breath.

“You okay?” He asked, grinning proudly at what he just did.

“Wonderful,” you sighed. You watched him pump his own cock and you could feel your pussy aching to be filled up with it. Your hand trailed down his body and you took his cock in your hand, pumping it and rubbing the tip against your slick pussy. 

He let out a grunt, trying to keep himself together. It was your turn to leave kisses on his neck; he rested his hand on the side of your head, gently caressing you with his thumb as his other hand gripped you tight on your hips. 

Impatient, his hand left your hips and seized your hand from his member, intertwining his fingers with yours above your head. “You ready for me?”

“Yes, Captain,” you whispered in his ear, desperate to feel him inside you. 

Pete growled at your words, lifted your thigh, and spanked your ass, causing you to giggle. He wanted to start slow, but hearing you call him that drove him crazy, so he lined his tip with your entrance and thrusts into you halfway with one quick motion, as if to give you a taste of your own medicine. 

You yelped and closed your eyes, throwing your head back while he smiled, trying his best to suppress his own groans at the feeling of your tight cunt wrapped around his cock. He pulled out just slightly before thrusting in again, almost all the way in this time.

“You’re so fucking tight,” he said under his breath.

“Hmm,” you hummed, tightening your muscles around him even more.

“Fuck,” he grunted, hanging his head low while you chuckle, loving the way you drive him crazy.

He kissed your lips, allowing you to adjust to his size before slowly thrusting in and out of your wet pussy. This time, you can no longer hold back your moans. You closed your eyes and squeezed his hand as you felt him stretching you with every thrust.

Your legs wrapped around his waist and he ground his pelvis with your clit every time he bottomed out inside you. The sensation drove you crazy. 

“Harder,” you gasped and he wasted no time in obliging. 

He angled his hips and thrusted into you, hitting your g-spot and sending sparks through your body. “There it is,” he smiled, hitting the spot again and again while you scream out his name. 

He decided to rub your clit with his fingers this time, focusing his thrusts so that he could feel every inch of you. 

Your muscles tightened around him when you felt his fingers on your clit. “Ah! Daddy!” you whimpered while he grunted at the sensation of your cunt squeezing him.

“I know, baby,” he spoke through his own heavy breathing. 

“I’m cumming,” you managed to say in between your moans.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” Pete said. “I want you to cum with me,” he added, moving faster this time. 

You moaned louder at his speed, your fingernails carving into the skin on his back. You tried to hold yourself back, but the feeling of his cock ramming inside you was not exactly helping. “Daddy, I can’t,” you hissed, your moans escaping you involuntarily now as you felt the coils deep inside you winding tight. 

“Yes, you can,” he urged. “Come on, sweetheart, just a little more,” he said, grunting in your ear as his own climax approached. 

He continued to thrust into you and just as he felt himself about to cum, he brushed his hand on your face. “Look at me,” he said and you opened your eyes to look into his green eyes that looked slightly a darker grey in this light. “Cum with me, baby.”

Your legs trembled as you came, head spinning from one of the best climax you have ever felt. The feeling of his cock shooting ropes of warm cum inside you made you cum just that much harder. Pete buried his head into your neck as he came, his hips thrusting short hard thrusts inside you while you squeezed him tight.

Tired and spent, he collapsed on top of you. The two of you refusing to move as he stayed inside you, leaving gentle kisses on your neck as you both try to regain your breathing. Pete looked into your eyes and your hand moved to brush his short hair out of his forehead.

Promise me you’ll come home, you wanted to say. But you held yourself back again. Instead you just kissed him once again.

The two of you spent the rest of the night talking and ordering pizza for dinner. As the conversation slowly withered and the night grew, you realized you were going to have to let him go soon. You turned your eyes to the clock. 11.30pm.

“You should get some sleep,” you said. 

He took a glance at the clock and sighed. Turning off the lamp, he then pulled you close to him. You didn’t realize that sleep had taken over you. In your head, you were still talking to him, feeling his arms wrap around you and his fingers gently brushing your skin. 

In reality, Pete had gotten up at three in the morning and got dressed in his uniform once again. He watched you sleep for a little bit before pressing a long kiss on your forehead.

“Bye, sweetheart,” he whispered.

When you woke up in the morning, he was gone. A note left on your nightstand.

We’ve got time. - Maverick

taglist: @flyinlove

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my future Top Gun fics!

[joyish-little-boy]

One Backstory to Rule them All

Anyone else think about how Sanji's backstory parallels every other Strawhat's backstory?

1. Luffy - Luffy is the most obvious, as they quite literally flashback to Shanks losing his arm right after Sanji explains how Zeff sacrificed his leg for Sanji. It's interesting the parallel here - because Shanks sacrifice is what took Luffy a step further in his dreams and made him determined to be the captain of his own pirate crew rather than simply joining Shank's crew, which is what he wanted to do previously. Now, for Sanji, Zeff's sacrifice had the opposite effect and Sanji chained himself to Zeff and what remained of Zeff's dreams rather than being pushed forward by it.

2. Zoro - I find it interesting that all of the Monster Trio parallel each other in their backstories in that all of them constantly lost when they were kids. Zoro lost 2001 times to Kuina, Luffy lost 50 fights to Ace and 50 to Sabo every day, and Sanji was constantly being beaten by his siblings. Each were called weak by those beating them, and each grew past that. What's also interesting to me is that there's the specific method of losing in Sanji's losing montage that's a direct callback to Zoro's backstory, as Oda includes multiple scenes of Sanji being beat at fights with wooden swords.

The difference being that Kuina is a decent human being and doesn't abuse Zoro. She calls him weak, but ultimately respects him as a rival and Zoro respects her in turn. Luffy also eventually earns that respect, though Sanji never does which leads to a noticeable difference in how Zoro and Sanji see themselves and their places on the crew - Thriller Bark I think being a perfect example of how Sanji believes that he's replaceable in a way that Zoro doesn't.

3. Nami - Nami and Sanji were both kids that found themselves in abusive situations, though at different ages. For both of them, their abuse centered around a man who's belief in their own superiority led them to a sense of entitlement to what was theirs. Arlong believed in his own biological superiority and Judge believed in the superiority of the Vinsmoke name, as well as genetic superiority which led him to experiment on his own children. Arlong values the lives of fishmen, the lives of the rest of his crew over the lives of Nami and the rest of her village. Judge values the lives of his other children over Sanji, seeing him as a failure for the way he was born (although it's also mentioned he blames Sanji for what happened with Sora). I think another very interesting parallel in their stories is the role of their respective older sisters. Nojiko and Reiju both privately support their younger sibling but both cannot stand up to the abusive figure in their lives. Nojiko gets tattoos to match Nami's to help her feel less alone, she listens to Nami, and does her best to try and support her through the 8 years of hell (8 years being another parallel to other members of the crew including Sanji). Reiju for her part laughs along with her brothers, but never lays a hand against Sanji and does her best to patch him up after everyone is gone. Their actions are indirect and discreet, save for the final fights, and that muted care is a very interesting part of each of their characters and it's why, I think neither of them felt it was their place to accompany their siblings on their journey. When Nami leaves, Nojiko lets her go, like she's always let her go. And Reiju pushes Sanji to leave, just as she pushed before. That regret of not being able to help more will stick with them forever.

4. Usopp - Usopp's backstory is all of 5 seconds long and still manages to parallel Sanji's somehow??? If I had a nickel for each strawhat who's mom was sick and died from illness when they were young, I'd have 2 nickels-

5. Chopper - HOO boy the parallel of your biological family hating you for the way that you were born and neglecting/abusing you for it hits right on Chopper's blue nose. Now, it's not all bad for either of them, though - considering they each had someone that accepted them for who they were. Chopper had Hiraluk and Sanji had Sora. Hiraluk inspired Chopper to be a doctor, emphasizing he had the most important qualification - a big heart. Sora meanwhile cried about how kind Sanji was to Reiju and her nurse, when he told her to "get better soon", calling him the "sweetest boy in the world". That kindness - that caring nature, is something that Hiraluk and Sora would do anything to protect and it's so evident that these two cared deeply for their kids. It's why Hiraluk ate that poisoned mushroom and encouraged Chopper to become a doctor and Sora ate the ruined food despite her fragile constitution and asked Sanji to cook for her again! This is love, baby!

These two kids were willing to risk so much to bring nourishment and care to the ones they loved, BOTH standing up to their biological families - Chopper fighting through his old herd of reindeer to get the mushroom, and Sanji sneaking out risking his father's wrath and braving the storm and wild dogs to deliver the food. Hiraluk and Sora are Chopper's and Sanji's source of encouragement which kick start each of their passions. And both of them tragically die which is honestly just heartbreaking. But all hope isn't lost, and both Chopper and Sanji find a new mentor, ones who are strict - but do care a lot for each of them, and help them develop the discipline they need to learn their respective crafts. Kurehara and Zeff are interesting parallels, both tough older mentors who are sharp of tongue and strict with their new apprentices. They can be this way without discouraging Chopper and Sanji, because the passion has already been ignited and so it's easy to see how they're good fits for helping these two live up to their full potential.

6. Robin - the big parallel with these two boils down to these two scenes and I sob about both of them.

Saul and Reiju, telling them to set out to sea, placing faith in the vastness of the world, knowing that they've done everything they can for now and planting that seed of hope that someday Robin and Sanji will meet people that can give them what they deserve is just such a touching moment. While this parallel is interesting, what's also interesting is the ways in which these two characters differ. The danger that Robin runs from is something that chases her, whereas the danger that Sanji runs from is his family and once he's made it onto the boat he's free. Robin thought she would never be safe, Sanji thought he was safe up until the wedding fiasco. And precisely the thing that hurts Sanji - the fact that his family wanted him gone - is so different from what's hurting Robin - the fact that she'll never be left alone by the government. Robin is wanted for the skills she and only she has, her story is (wo)man vs world, her bounty set at 79,000,000 which is the literal value on her head. Sanji is unwanted for the skills he, and he alone (in his family) lacks. There's no bounty, no one goes after him. His story is man vs self and undoing the damage that was done to his psyche as a child. It's so fascinating to me the way that both of these characters are saved by the crew in similar but such different ways, the way that each of them wanted to die, but for different reasons. Robin wanted to sacrifice herself because she's been betrayed and hurt by the world so many times that she couldn't trust in the strawhats' love. She loved them too much to risk being hurt like that again. Sanji wanted to sacrifice himself because he'd rather die than inconvenience the crew. Rather than not believing in their love, he doesn't believe he's worth that love, preferring to solve his problems on his own. And I think that it's so fitting the way that both of their stories intersect in Wano, with Robin being able to protect Sanji and Sanji finally believing in his own worth enough to ask for help. They're such different characters, with Sanji wearing his heart on his sleeves and Robin holding her's close to her chest and such interesting mirrors of each other.

7. Franky - they're cyborgs, what else can I say? The difference here is clear - Sanji's body was modified without his consent, whereas Franky modified himself. They're also both unwanted children, with Franky's parents abandoning him on Water 7 whereas Sanji's father was happy when Sanji left.

8. Brook - the parallel here is in the loneliness that both of them experienced, and really Sanji just got a taste of what Brook went through. Sanji and Brook were both parts of different crews before they were on the strawhats, albeit Sanji as a child and for a very short time, whereas Brook was with the Rumbar pirates for a longer time as an adult journeying very similarly to how the strawhats are now. Both were the sole survivors of their respective crews after being attacked, and though Sanji had Zeff on the rock, neither of them communicated with each other for the first 70 days after their initial agreement. Sanji felt a taste of the 50 years that Brook had to go through, with no food or water or way to escape off his abandoned pirate ship.

9. Jimbei - honestly I don't really have a good comparison for these two, other than they're both people who when confronted with the cruelty of others chose irrational kindness. Jimbe eventually learned how to live with and respect humans, and Sanji wouldn't let his family die, even after everything they put him through. They're both people who derived their codes of honor from others - Jimbei from Fisher Tiger and Queen Otohime and Sanji from Zeff. Idk maybe there's more there, but i don't really have too much to say about these two

Anyways, idk i just think they're neat 👉👈 and the way that Oda threw in parallels to all the other character's when completing Sanji's backstroy is so fascinating to me

[tsukimefuku]

Colleagues in arms

Nanami and Higuruma are dispatched on a mission together, having to conciliate their personal issues in order to get the job done.

tags: Jujutsu Kaisen, these two are a well coordinated duo, canon-typical violence.

wc: 3.7K

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". A sequence of short stories and random drabbles related to Nanami x Reader x Higuruma. To see the ever-growing list of one-shots and short stories, please visit my masterlist :) This is especially preceded by "Right, wrong and the in-between epilogue" here, and "Team Fighting", here.

Disclaimer: these stories are NOT written and posted in chronological order of events. To see where this story fits in the timeline, please check the masterlist mentioned above.

There had been reports of a curse inside a government office used for safeguarding documents. The sheer bureaucracy to evacuate the few workers they had was enough of a hassle, delaying Nanami's and Higuruma's entrance.

That alone had rendered Nanami in a foul mood, given they'd only have around an hour and a half to exorcize this curse without incurring in overtime. 

He found that highly unlikely to happen.

"You should be aware that I will not be sacrificing myself or taking any damage in order to save your life, so be mindful when in battle" Nanami said, while he and Higuruma made their way inside the building, and Ijichi lowered a veil over them. Nanami was referring to all the occasions that you saved Higuruma to your own detriment, and the supposedly main reason he still held  resentment against the former lawyer.

To be fair, Nanami already questioned his luck when assigned this mission to shepherd on Higuruma, considering all the available options to accompany the former curse user other than himself.

Higuruma looked at him, and replied indifferently, "same to you, so perhaps we both shouldn't put ourselves in harm's way." 

Nanami sighed and looked at his wristwatch. One hour and 26 minutes remaining for the end of his shift. 

"So, this is common for jujutsu sorcerers? Having to exorcize curses inside government run buildings?" Higuruma asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I couldn't say. I don't pay much mind to that, specifically."

"Hm. And how often the work of a jujutsu sorcerer is related exclusively to exorcizing a curse, not involving curse users or other cursed energy related events?"

"I'd say about 90% of the times we're dispatched for a mission, it ensues solely exorcizing a cursed spirit" Nanami noted.

Higuruma huffed, seemingly amused with something, and began speaking again. "From what I've been told, curses just keep spawning as long as there is cursed energy leaking from non-sorcerers, right?"

"That is correct."

"So, are we Sisyphus?" Higuruma finally asked.

Slightly entertained by the commentary, Nanami decided to indulge it. "Constantly pushing the same boulder uphill, just to have it fall over and push it up again the next day? Yes, one could say that we are doing Sisyphus deeds."

"And all that while risking our death or the death or of our colleagues every time there is a curse to be exorcized?"

"Yes."

"Ah, this is idiotic work. Jujutsu sorcerers are idiots" the former lawyer replied, absentmindedly.

Nanami looked at him as he said that, nearly forgetting his distaste for the man for a moment.

"Interestingly enough, I've been saying the same thing for years."

***

“They’re what now?” You asked again, as Shoko slid her fingers on her phone’s screen, completely unbothered.

“They went together on a mission today. Since it was in a particularly important building that definitely should not withstand a lot of damage, Yaga didn’t want to send you to shepherd on Higuruma, because, I mean, you know” Shoko said, motioning an explosion with her hands right after, alluding to your cursed technique. "So you're stuck with me for the day."

“Oh, damn” you sighed to yourself, picking up your phone to text both men. From your last accidental joint mission, you remembered Nanami had a distaste for Higuruma. The situation had been like this ever since you got severely injured due to the former lawyer’s irresponsibility on the battlefield, and the 7:3 sorcerer certainly knew how to hold a grudge. 

"What?” Shoko asked.

“I mean, Nanami hates Higuruma ever since the poisoning debacle.”

“Oh, he does?” Shoko asked, looking at you and smiling, something else behind it beyond simple amusement. “It figures.”

“Huh? Figures? Why?” 

“Never mind” she said, brushing you off. "But why are you worried, anyway? It's not like they'll fail this just because they don't like each other. Nanami is a great sorcerer, and the lawyer guy seems to be at least a decent one."

"They'll probably headbutt their way through this" you sighed.

"Why are you so insistent that they get along, anyway?" She inquired.

"Well, first of all, Nanami is a close friend. Beyond that, Higuruma is also becoming a good friend, and I like the people I consider important in my life to get along. They'd be good friends if they got over their differences, that's all."

"'Close friend', huh?" She asked, grinning.

"Shoko, leave me alone" you replied, looking at her with a sour face, while you stepped out of the room, phone still in hand.

***

Nanami and Higuruma felt their phones vibrating at the same time.

Higuruma pulled it from his pocket to check it out, and saw a text message from you that said 'I hope your mission goes well today, try making new friends other than me'. He smiled and put it away.

"It is not advisable to check our phones when on duty, it can be a problematic distraction" Nanami pointed out, while they took the stairs to investigate each floor, one at a time. It would take some time, though, considering there were five floors, and they were still on the second.

"I believe I heard your phone, too" Higuruma replied.

"My phone did receive a message, yes" the other sorcerer replied.

"Well, I guess it's something you'll want to read, that's all."

Higuruma suspected you'd be up to antics like these, and he particularly knew how to poke curiosity into people, even the most stoic of them. Those such as his current mission partner.

Nanami held the urge to roll his eyes at himself, realizing the bait had worked on him. He pulled his phone quickly from his pocket, only to see a message from you. Upon reading it, the message just said 'please, be nice'. The man sighed heavily, and could hear Higuruma huff an almost chuckle.

"It's her, isn't it?" He inquired.

"It is" the ratio sorcerer answered, putting his phone away. "What did she send you?"

"She wished me a good day and told me to try 'making new friends'. And you?"

"She told me to be nice" Nanami replied as he involuntarily sighed, yet again, feeling his chest flattening.

"I have a deal, if it would interest you" Higuruma told Nanami, "given that it is evident she wants us to get along, and you still don't like me. It will take her off our backs."

Getting reeled in and completely aware of that, Nanami asked, "and what would that deal entail?"

"You tell me why you dislike me, I get a chance to make a statement myself, and if we still don't get along, we might just pretend we do just to get her off our case. I'd appreciate that a lot." 

Higuruma knew full well that Nanami disliked him, and the ratio sorcerer, on the other hand, made no effort whatsoever to actually conceal his dislike for him. However, ever since the conversation the three of you shared about how important the Jujutsu Society potentially was, as flawed as it had always been, he'd grown to at least respect Nanami.

"Would you?" Nanami pretended to ponder for a second. "How unfortunate, then."

Higuruma sighed. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised."

They were both engulfed in silence until stepping up the metal stairs towards the third floor.

"I'll just probe you, then" the former lawyer stated, completely out of the blue, having Nanami grunt lowly in discontentment. He realized the 7:3 sorcerer was someone he'd be able to derive answers from by eliciting in Nanami the urge to correct anything he deemed to be a wrong statement.

Nanami entertained the idea of losing Higuruma inside the building and exorcizing the curse on his own, if even for a moment.

"Well, first of all, I believe you dislike me because I'm a former curse user" Higuruma began. Nanami stayed silent, so he proceeded, "and I also think your dislike stems from the occasion she was poisoned after our third mission, you two seem like close friends."

"She was poisoned due to your irresponsibility, you should add."

"Due to my irresponsibility, yes. But since then, I've apologized and improved. Also, there's a piece of information that I've learned from Shoko."

They were rounding the last corner on the third floor before proceeding to take the stairs again.

"And what would that be?" Nanami asked him, pushing his glasses into place.

"This wasn't the first time she was bedridden for aiding someone on the field. The same thing happened before, and from what I've been told, she was protecting you in that instance."

That definitely got under Nanami's skin, even if his impassive facade remained unwavering.

"Is that so?" He began. "You must've learned, also, that it wasn't due to recklessness on my end, but due to unforeseen circumstances during our mission that made her sacrifice the best alternative in place."

"If you could have stopped her, even considering her decision was the best at that moment, would you have done so?" Higuruma asked, looking directly at the other sorcerer.

Nanami stayed silent for a few moments. "Yes, I would."

"Me too. I'd prefer taking the hit."

Nanami looked at Higuruma, slightly caught off guard. The other continued to speak. 

"Unfortunately, that woman does what she wants, and we're left to deal with it" Higuruma answered, looking forwards. "We are in a more similar situation than you'd like to admit, so my current hypothesis is that's precisely the reason you dislike me. Am I remembering you about your own guilt from that event?"

Nanami chose to be silent, as he was having flashbacks from you probing him like a relentless little devil. He felt a small surge of nostalgia and annoyance at that, simultaneously.

Maybe Higuruma was more akin to you, after all.

They rose through the stairs towards the third floor, and still no sign of the curse, or remnants from cursed energy that could be used as leads. Nanami noticed it, given he knew how unusual that was.

"So, is this normal? Not bumping into anything throughout the entire vicinity, or most of it, when looking for a curse?" Higuruma asked the ratio sorcerer, almost as if reading his mind.

"No, it definitely is not. We should be on high alert from now" Nanami replied, pulling his blunt blade from his back. Following suit, Higuruma manifested his gavel on his hand, having it being around the size of a katana.

Rounding the last corner and walking down the hall towards the stairs, they finally felt the cursed energy emanating from the fifth floor. 

"Go ahead, I'll follow your lead" Higuruma said to Nanami, much to the latter's surprise. Apparently, you had been training Higuruma on coordinating with other sorcerers when in joint missions, and he clearly learned some things.

Nanami nodded and proceeded to go upstairs, just to be met by a passage closed with vines. Their cursed energy, though, was very faint, what would explain why neither him nor Higuruma had sensed the cursed spirit's presence. It felt almost like a non-cursed entity.

Using his blunt blade, Nanami struck a 7:3 critical hit on the vines, tearing them apart completely. On the last floor, the walls, floor, and ceiling were all completely covered in leaves, flowers and branches, and the flowery humid smell was overpowering.

Both sorcerers stepped inside, and the vines behind them closed the path back down again.

Nanami began walking in front of Higuruma, and stopped every thirty to forty steps or so in order to make a cursed energy marking over the vines where the walls should be. 

Remembering Higuruma was still somewhat new to this job, he thought it would be a good idea to explain what he was doing, if only for the man to learn something.

"I'm currently leaving breadcrumbs as we walk" Nanami began, "because this curse has covered the entire floor. Curses and cursed techniques are able to, sometimes, bend time or space, so-"

"So you're making sure this one isn't putting us in some sort of spatial loop, or has broken physics." Higuruma interjected. "Making cursed energy markings is the best way to do so, since these vines regenerate and would easily cover any other thing, like an object, for instance. The cursed energy markings leave remnants that we can feel in case they get covered up."

Nanami was pleasantly surprised at how quickly Higuruma was able to grasp the workings of jujutsu sorcery and curse exorcising.

"I see you have been dedicating some time to learn about the work of jujutsu sorcerers."

"Of course. This is the way forced on me to atone for my crimes. I should at least try to be the best I can be at it."

***

They had been trying to cut the curse down to shreds for at least thirty minutes. However, every time they did, the curse instantly grew back, covering every area on the fifth floor.

The cursed energy markings, however, had not disappeared or shifted places, proving that neither of them was stuck inside a spatial loop, just dealing with a very annoying curse.

Even though there was a desire to preserve the integrity of the building's internal structure, which stopped Nanami from using his collapse technique, the sorcerer asked himself if it wasn't better to just have you called instead of him and Higuruma. Your cursed technique would be a much better fit for this, especially when using the corrosive type of grenades.

"They should've called her, she'd melt these things in no time" Higuruma said, sitting on the ground to rest a little before coming up with another plan other than trying to blunt force all the vines away.

"Hm, I was just thinking the same thing" Nanami replied, "but apparently they couldn't, because this is a place used by the government to keep records of some sort. They couldn't risk having it destroyed."

"So, let's take some time to come up with a plan?" Higuruma asked. Nanami checked and about forty minutes had passed, to which he sighed.

"Why do you keep checking your watch?"

"Because my shift should be over by 6 PM, and I loathe having to work overtime."

Higuruma sighed, scratching his forehead. "You're probably right."

They were both silent for a moment, before Nanami began speaking again.

"How does your domain expansion work?" This was the first time that Nanami actually spared some time to ask Higuruma about his cursed techniques, and the former lawyer was a little surprised his colleague actually asked him about it.

"Well, it was the first thing I ever manifested. My domain expansion is an extension from what I used to work with before becoming a curse user, and later on a jujutsu sorcerer. My shikigami puts my opponent on trial. The target gets to make a statement, I do a rebuttal, and then Judgeman issues its sentencing. The options are absolution, confiscation and death penalty. The last one turns my gavel into a sword that can kill or exorcize anything upon immediate contact. But the tried one has to be sentient, so I don't think I could do it against this curse, it barely resembles a curse." 

"Your domain was the first thing you manifested?" Nanami asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes. Is that uncommon?"

"Very. I don't have a domain expansion, just like most sorcerers."

"Oh, I didn't know" Higuruma admitted.

Nanami sighed for a moment, knowing they'd be stranded there for a while, before asking, "how did it happen?"

He had finally become curious about his colleague, after realizing the man wasn't such a bad sorcerer after all, and found that conversing with him was actually interesting. They had to take a break after all, to come up with some plan in order to exorcize this pest of a curse.

"Well, I had a client that was innocent. The evidence in his favor was abundant. He got a favorable verdict the first time around, but then, after the prosecution appealed, his innocence verdict was overturned, basically because neither judge nor prosecutor were actually trying to administer justice. They simply wanted to appease the media. I was so incredulous and angry that my cursed technique manifested in the Courtroom, and-"

Higuruma took a breather.

"And I killed them both of them out of my own volition. That's all. Then I just went around Morioka exorcizing curses until she found me and brought me to Tokyo." He sighed. "Did you know Japan has a 99% conviction rate? It's... It was hard, trying to fight a loosing war. By the end, it also felt like pushing a boulder uphill over and over again, except I rarely reached the peak of the mountain."

Nanami could sympathize, having been someone chewed by jujutsu sorcery and, for some time, corporate cogs himself.

"What about you? You left jujutsu sorcery for a while, from what I could understand."

Nanami sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose before continuing. "I did. I worked for a an over-the-counter brokerage house as soon as I left Jujutsu High."

"Really? Which one?"

After Nanami answered the name, Higuruma scoffed.

"When I was in law school, they plucked students out of the classroom like weeds in a field."

"Is that so?" Nanami inquired.

Higuruma nodded. "The ones that went there were basically the people that went to law school for money." 

Nanami let out an almost chuckle at that. He wasn't the only one on that sprint, after all.

Higuruma was silent for a moment, before proceeding. "Why did you come back?"

"Because even though I thought jujutsu sorcery was idiotic when I left, and still do, I discovered that a 9 to 5 job is just as idiotic. Out of the two idiotic things I could do, I chose the one I'm better at."

"Hm" Higuruma hummed, tilting his head as he looked at Nanami.

"What?" The ratio sorcerer asked.

"Doesn't ring very true, no offense. You don't seem like the utilitarian type to that degree" the former lawyer answered.

"What do you mean?"

"You look like you actually care" Higuruma replied.

"Hm, interesting. You're the second person to tell me that."

***

After chatting for a while, Nanami and Higuruma had come to the conclusion that the curse would probably have a main core from where the vines stemmed from, and began following them to find the source. 

The vines were all leading towards an office right in the middle of that floor, which was completely closed from the outside by a considerably thick wall of branches. Nanami quickly opened their passage way, striking a hit with his blunt blade, and both sorcerers darted inside the room before the vines closed off once again.

Now inside, they could see right in the middle of the office a towering silhouette from where all the vines were probably stemming from. 

Right after they entered, some vines lifted from the ground, and began whipping in their direction.

Nanami fended off most of the blows that came at him with his blunt sword, meanwhile Higuruma did the same with his gavel, now turned into a blade to sever the ends of the tendrils as he did so. Both sorcerers were back to back with each other, and made their way slowly towards the curse's core.

Unexpectedly, one vine wrapped around Nanami's foot, knocking him down on the ground. Higuruma was quick to notice, and swiftly cut the tendril, freeing his colleague. Upon reaching his arm to help Nanami up, a new vine darted towards the ratio sorcerer as he rose, being instantly cut by Higuruma's free hand before it could ever reach the other sorcerer. 

"Are you okay?" The former lawyer asked, resuming their back to back stance. 

"Yes. Thank you" Nanami answered. He was fairly impressed as to how Higuruma was carrying himself in the field, being attentive to his partner in battle, and reaching out when needed. "Did you train fighting alongside other sorcerers recently?" 

"No, I danced!" Higuruma answered, smiling, as he saw an opening dashed towards the core.

What? Nanami didn't understand what Higuruma was referencing, and followed him to finish exorcizing this curse. 

Both sorcerers hit the core at the same time, destroying most of it.

The remainder of the core, as well as the vines, began dissipating slowly, and after a short while, there was no trace of the cursed left spirit behind. 

Upon checking his watch, right after getting into the car with Higuruma, Nanami saw that there were 5 minutes left to 6 PM, and felt incredibly pleased.

"So, no overtime?" Higuruma asked, half jest, as he smiled.

"No overtime" Nanami answered, smiling discreetly.

"So, where are you two headed now?"

"I think I could use something to eat. Not dinner, but maybe a snack" Higuruma answered, absentmindedly. He then asked Ijichi to drop him off at an address that Nanami found to be familiar.

"There's a bakery there" he noted, looking at Higuruma.

Higuruma nodded, "yes. I really like their coffee, but the best thing they sell is the ciabatta with pesto and cured ham."

"I know that bakery. That really is their best sandwich. It's the perfect fit for salty and bitter when eaten with coffee" Nanami stated. 

"I know, right? It's my usual when I go there."

Nanami seemed to ponder for a moment.

"I believe I might join you before heading home" the ratio sorcerer said, looking at his watch. "After all, it's still early, thankfully."

Higuruma's phone vibrated, and he picked it up.

There was a message from you, asking how was your mission? Did you make new friends?

"Is it her?" Nanami inquired.

"Yes. She asked me if I made new friends" he retorted, amused. "So, did I?" Higuruma then questioned, looking at Nanami.

Nanami looked back at him for a moment, before answering, "a colleague".

"Fine, then" the former lawyer concluded, before putting his phone back in his pocket, and extending his hand to Nanami. "Colleagues in arms?"

Nanami looked at him for a second, before acquiescing to the handshake. "Colleagues in arms."

[fondofcowboys]

here's my very all over the place feelings on certain aspects of baldur's gate 3 as a romani immigrant. warnings for spoilers of course. mind you i have not finished the game yet!

1. i really can't believe there aren't more people talking about the very blatant racism in astarion's questline. im quite sure it's because the game already touches on it, even giving you the choice to call astarion a racist, and also because everytime we roma talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable we're immediately shunned and "well actually!"'d.

the problem is that it feels Extra icky because the man who was the inspiration for the original dracula, Vlad the Impaler, kept romani slaves. this is the ONLY part of vampire history that, no matter how different the media, will always stay relevant for some reason.

castlevania has the seekers, a nomadic group of magic users who pass their history down orally. while they are *mostly* treated well, the first arc of the show literally shows them being hunted out of town for the simple act of existing.

vampire the masquerade... well.. that's an entire other can of racism worms.

curse of strahd has the "vistani", a nomadic group of people who are treated like third class citizens everywhere they go, and are of course, most known for being tarot readers and drunkards.

the vampire diaries have the "travellers", who get called "gypsies" explicitly as a derogatory word by other vampires.

i want you to take any vampire media you enjoy and ask yourself, "is there anti-roma racism in this?". i guarantee you, if you look for it, you're going to find it. for SOME reason, the only thing that stays consistent with all these different vampire IPs, is that romani people are hated and scrutinized at every moment of their lives.

i MORE than understand that astarion's racial insensitivity is part of him. it's part of what makes him malleable by the player. you can help him understand why he's wrong, or you can lead him down a worse path.

i still reserve the right to feel some sort of way about astarion sacrificing fantasy-romani children for power, willingly. don't get me wrong, he's my favourite character, right up there with halsin. which is why i obviously have so many feelings about this.

(yes, the Gur were written inspired by romani people, if you were not aware)

2. the anti-immigrant sentiment is such an inherent part of the story that i did not think was going to stick around for SO long. i dont really have much to say about this, i think i should've expected it. as a fan of dragon age (i know, tragic) i'm quite used to unnecessary fantasy racism everywhere i go, i just hoped it wouldn't be part of the main crucial story.

3. larian studios i am so so so thankful for the halsin romance. eternally. forever and ever. he's my pookie bear and i'm so grateful some extra time was made to create a romance for him.

can i ask you why the hell does halsin want to LEAVE. At The End. i've noticed how much he contradicts himself throughout his questline and i just... I don't know. i've seen some other people complaining about how non-chalantly he talks about being a sex slave and i understand too, but i think it's part of his character to not take the horrible things that happened to him seriously like he does with others. that, or someone at larian took an unknown substance that led them to make halsin Very inconsistent.

with the poly situation, some people are strictly polyamorous! some people are strictly non-monogamous and do not feel comfortable being in a monogamous relationship. i understand the frustration everyone, but that's how halsin is. i dont know if that was the writers' intention, but that's certainly what he comes across as to me; strictly non-monogamous.

what i DONT understand is why he says he only wants you, calls you "my heart", is so fondly and lovingly attached to you, and then he just.... Dips? Whatever. I'm ignoring that part forever. it's not canon to ME!

anyways. yeah. feel free to Engage in some Friendly conversation. emphasis on friendly, for the love of g-d

[luka-couffaine-ship-tournament]

Final

CAMPAIGN

Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-They‘re just so good for each other. Luka is such a calming presence in Marinette‘s chaotic life and helps her relax when she feels anxious and unsure of herself, always willing to be there for her and offer a helping hand during tough times. Marinette has a deep appreciation not only for Luka‘s ability to play music but also hear heart songs, as if she understood immediately what he meant after listening to him play for the first time. They feed off each other‘s creative energy and are just generally so wholesome together. I could talk about them forever, they make me so happy!!

-Luka is the best boy, and deserves love from the girl he adores

-Luka/Marinette had 3900 works on AO3

-I just woke up and am too lazy to think of words for my favorite couple so here's some gifs as propaganda

Gif de gifs-misc

Gif de bizarrelovesquare

Gif de notasiren21

Gif de ouiladybug

Gif de kochengnoir

Gif de jeldraximo14

Gif de notasiren21

-

Oh my god

They are literal soulmates

in every regard

You cannot change my mind

And not only because Luka is best boy and goes above and beyond for Marinette and gives her the most beautiful love confession in the entire show

It is because they literally have the most special and unique connection from every couple in the show, not only romantic but also platonic

It starts off with captain hardrock, the first time they meet, they‘re a little awkward at first, until he invites her to sit and Luka plays out Marinette‘s heart

And she doesn‘t judge him or thinks he‘s weird or is confused. She gives him a look of curiousness and of genuine admiration and asks „how do you do that?“

She immediately realized Luka is special for his gift of hearing people‘s hearts. And I can easily imagine that people would see Luka as weird and cringe (like parts of the fandom did), so imagine what it must‘ve been like to get appreciation for something like that. She‘s impressed and wants to learn more.

They interacted for about two minutes at this point and they‘re already smitten by each other.They already have a wholesome dynamic that feels so realistic for two teenagers who are attracted to each other. Again, after two minutes of meeting.

And it goes on through the episode, speaking highly about each other and Luka basically self-sacrificing himself so Marinette can escape

(I‘m certain he knew Marinette would come back for everyone one way or another. And she did)

An amazing set up for an amazing couple🩷💙

From there on every time we see them together when they‘re (not to be salty) not undermined by another ship they keep being there for each other through hard ships

Their both artistic kids and respect and admire the other for it (See Silencer, the best episode of the whole show)

It also just shows that Luka isn‘t the center of Marinette‘s life. Instead she‘s a girl with ambition who just happens to have a crush on a guy. Silencer is her being the best version of herself and Luka doesn‘t actively try to change her. He‘s literally just existing around her. For show‘s standards that‘s incredible. It takes away the one thing people don‘t like about her, what more could you want?

And then when their music gets stolen, Marinette literally starts beef with Bob Roth, a super influential man in the industry who could destroy them both, just to save Luka‘s music from getting stolen! She’s not even afraid or second guesses herself, she just goes all in and threathens him to reveal everything on live tv.

Wife material through and through.

Which leads to the most wholesome confession in the entire show. Not only as an akuma

BUT LATER AS REGULAR LUKA

AND MARINETTE IS SO TOUCHED BY IT

And by the end of season 3, they give the relationship a shot. Without Mari pretending she‘s over Adrien, but with full honesty about her feelings. And that‘s really the most fair way they could‘ve gone about it. They don‘t promise each other wedding rings and kids, they‘re just two people in love who wanna create art and have them be muses for each other and just like each other without any pressure from outside. It really those silent moments where it‘s just them where Marinette is her best self and Luka is his best self.

They are so so SO GOOD for each other.

„But Blueberry, Marinette broke up with him and lied to Luka!“

RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME RIGHT PERSON WRONG TIME

The problems these two had ultimately were never intrinsic problems that they fundamentally don‘t work together as people, it‘s really outside forces keeping them apart. Had Marinette not been LB, they would‘ve literally had no reason for a break up and crushes on other people are things people can get over.

Plus, even as exes they keep being there for each other, having a wholesome and healthy friendship. That‘s a big deal! Nice hard feeling or anything, they just want what‘s best for each other, even if they aren’t a couple anymore.

And yet still look at each other like this

And just overall being super touchy with each other

And put the safety over the other above their own values, even though it means they have to lie about what they know. It hurts both of them but you know how it is, nothing hurts like true love. And yet they forgive each other because they never wanted to intentionally hurt each other

They‘re still SO in love with each other argue with a wall.

(Also it‘s this episode when Mari says „you always find the right words“ even though in Luka‘s introduction he says he‘s not good with words. I bet 1000000€ Marinette was the one which helped Luka be a better communicator with words. The support for each other always went both ways I know it they told me)

But even just as platonic buddies, look me in the eye and tell me that these two will not have each other in their lives forever, I dare you. If one of them jumps into danger, the other jumps after them. If one of them has troubles of any sort, the other will listen, because they know nobody will understand them as good as each other.

They‘re ride or die forever and I think that‘s fucking beautiful. So yeah folks, show the blueberries some love because they deserve the recognition just like they deserve each other🫐🩷💙

Thanks for coming to my propaganda ted talk

Luka Couffaine/Therapy

-Therapy... so much therapy

-As much as I ship Lukadrinette and all its sides, Luka/Therapy should 100% win, lol

-So many of the propagandas for other ships (outside of two or three) were about what Luka could do for the other person, not how they were the best match for him! That means our boy needs to go get some professional help (therapy) so he doesn't become everyone's personal 'fix-it' guy/partner!

TAG:

Luka/Marinette: @mikoriin

Luka - Twitter @Karma_sensei_

@lukacouffaineappreciation

[gojooooo]

yuuji’s flashback of wasuke telling him to help others since he’s strong at the beginning of ep17 cutting to sukuna is so good AGHHHH. first of all because sukuna getting glimpses of yuji’s life before him is. certainly something <3 and then because the idea that sukuna was seeing that flashback… and he looked so pensive because he was like “ha so that’s why the brat is so stubborn with his altruism” and that was the moment he fully understood that yuuji could never have been the perfect vessel with those pathetic human emotions holding him back/making it harder for sukuna to emotionally take over (he already knew he had them, but he understood why and how dearly he clings to them). his strong attachment to his ideals is the perfect opposite to sukuna’s own determination, but his goal was to take over his vessel completely, and yin and yang don’t mix. we see characters have fun while fighting against villains or against the strongest, summoning powerful shikigami, finding out just how strong they can be during battle etc. which can be seen as a selfish trait, because what they’re feeling is self satisfaction which is a human trait, part of human’s nature but not the ideal of humanity (kind of like the seven deathly sins? am i making sense here?) and i think that yuuji represents that ideal which is what sukuna and every other ancient sorcerer consider to be limiting. yuuji doesn’t have fun while fighting, he’s always wearing his pain on his face and his fists. he fights to defend, to protect, to avenge… basically he’s always fighting for others. out of love (another big theme) but love for others, never self love. he never indulges in self satisfaction. and i think that sukuna wants him to let go and have a laugh while fighting, to say fuck it, life sucks, but i’m literally so strong and it’s euphoric; but there’s only pain. because if you think about it when they initially sparred in sukuna’s domain yuuji was annoyed but playful and sukuna was always smirking and having fun but at the time yuuji was also too weak to be interesting because he was only starting to learn about jujutsu so he was boring and predictable to sukuna, though the potential was there and sukuna saw it. right now instead yuuji is stronger and could be entertaining if he fought in the right state of mind but he’s blinded by his feelings and can’t free himself from that burden and fight without a heavy heart. and to circle back to the beginning of my rant and shibuya [putting my shipping lens on here] there have been attempts from sukuna to tone down the altruism that yuuji feels compelled to take to the extreme to avoid yuuji ending up sacrificing himself for others (because now that he set him free he also can’t protect and heal him if anything happens to him. love is bittersweet!) idk man idk. in conclusion i want them to learn from each other but without ever changing who they are because that’s what two pieces of a puzzle that fit together are baby! and i want a fight where they’re both grinning so wide we mistake it for their first dance at their wedding

[general-cyno]

Sitting here thinking about Luffy's blind faith in Zoro. I can tell a thousand reasons why Zoro's devotion makes even more sense, I mean, it's not like Luffy doesn't spend every moment unintentionally proving that Zoro was right to trust him. But Luffy's faith? Is it entirely based on the strength of Zoro's spirit? And I find that amazing. Crazy. Insane. Because Luffy canonically has no interest in those who don't have dreams but the only thing Zoro had when Luffy met him was his own dream and the conviction to hold on to it? And that was what struck Luffy the most, even before he knew that Zoro was actually a good person? And that Zoro is, for Luffy, probably the definition of invincible. Because he never gives up on his dream, because his way of joining the Straw Hats or sacrificing himself is to never give up on his dream but to make other dreams (Luffy's dream) part of his? I-

sorry for the late-ish reply anon! and hmmm. it may sound like I'm arguing semantics here but I don't really think luffy's faith in zoro (or anyone, for that matter) is blind per se. huge? heartfelt? intense? yeah, just not necessarily blind. for all that he's very trusting and prone to falling for tricks/underhanded methods, luffy is usually a very good judge of character and if he ever extends his trust or faith to someone it's bc he's got a reason for it or simply believes in their potential. if they fail to meet his expectations, it's their loss, not luffy's. he can take care of himself, and even if he's in danger he relies on his crew to back him up.

now curiously enough I've seen the "it doesn't make sense" argument for both zoro and luffy wrt each other, also that their relationship isn't very reciprocal from luffy's side and it's not something I really agree with. while their relationship does rely on more subtlety than people would think at first glance, I'd argue that as early as zoro's recruitment into the crew we can see why luffy trusts and believes in him as much he does. it's not solely about strength (mental or physical) because as interested as he may have been in zoro's reputation, luffy himself said he'd only ask zoro to join him if he turned out to be a good guy. though zoro had a cool dream, luffy wasn't exactly happy about how dismissive he seemed to be about pirates at first. ultimately, what persuaded him was witnessing first hand that zoro's the kind of person who'd eat dirt if it meant repaying someone's kindness, that he places great value in honor and is a man of his word even if those around him (like helmeppo back then) don't give him the same courtesy or mock him behind his back.

a dreamer just like luffy, someone who stays true to what he promises, who protected luffy, called him captain, became his first crewmate and long lasting companion, regarded him as his friend right away, pledged his dream to luffy's etc etc, how could luffy not have faith in him? not to mention zoro proved to be on luffy's crazy wavelength (to the point he understands luffy's reasoning and motivations to do xy without having to voice them out loud) and that he's as much of a dork too, on top of all that. if luffy's demonstrated why he's earned zoro's trust with his actions, either towards zoro or in general, zoro's also shown why luffy's had plenty of reasons from the beginning to have that much faith in him in turn, and those have only fortified with time, sometimes without luffy being aware of it (ie thriller bark). I've also mentioned it before and this kind of applies to his overall relationship with each member of the crew, but luffy's belief in zoro's strength, dream and so on is a reflection of zoro's in him. it's one of the many reasons I don't really see their mutual respect/devotion/loyalty as blind in either case. I love that about these two so much! everything about their relationship is so intentional, built brick by brick, sprinkled all over the story and their characters. so good.

[alagaesia-headcanons]

*rubs my grubby little hands together* alright here we go~ stick with me for a minute, this Does come around to murtagh and eragon's relationship i promise

-

I find it ironic that the circumstances of Murtagh’s life that went so awry- his capture by the Empire, his and Thorn’s enslavement using their true names, and them being forced to fight against the Varden- can paint him in a particularly selfish light. Eragon’s perspective reveals some of this, like the way he calls Murtagh’s oaths to Galbatorix a betrayal, one that favors his own wellbeing over Eragon and the Varden, or how he feels like Murtagh takes satisfaction in his new power and in lashing out at the world. And the fact that these things can be seen as self-serving specifically is ironic because it directly contradicts the actual quality of his character. Every time we see Murtagh acting of his own volition, over and over it proves that, more than anything, he is deeply devoted to the people he cares about- to a self sacrificing extent- and that he has an innate desire to help others.

Repeatedly, Murtagh puts protecting his loved ones above his own safety, and that’s true even in the act Eragon calls a betrayal. When they talk in Uru’baen, Murtagh admits to Nasuada that he willingly chose to swear loyalty to Galbatorix, but also reveals that he only did so after Thorn hatched. Murtagh himself had already suffered savage torture without relenting, yet solely for the sake of Thorn, to keep his hatchling partner from suffering as well, only then does Murtagh swear loyalty. And this is a self sacrifice. This undermines what he tried to make of his life before being recaptured- striking back against the Empire, aiding Eragon and Saphira, and proving his good will to the Varden. He had to give up all these things about himself and submit to slavery under a man he loathes, but Murtagh was willing to do that to protect Thorn.

And yet, while still trapped so hopelessly under Galbatorix’s thumb, Murtagh also goes out of his way to help Nasuada too. He convinces the king to capture her in the first place, instead of simply killing her, and whether or not this was his place, it demonstrates how he genuinely doesn’t want her to be harmed. He goes out of his way to help Nasuada by healing her pain, warning her about illusions, and promising to help her escape. And he makes good on that. From what he tells Eragon in their last duel, he had a plan to free her the next day. Murtagh goes to great lengths that put him at great risk. Galbatorix could have just as well discovered his interference and then nothing would have saved him from violent punishment. Freeing her would have guaranteed that. There’s nothing for him to gain, yet he still does these things for Nasuada time and time again.

The care Murtagh gives to Thorn and Nasuada proves that his selfless protectiveness toward his loved ones is a persistent part of his nature, but it’s never more clear than it is in his relationship with Eragon in the first book.

In Inheritance, Murtagh tells Nasuada that his initial motivation for going out to track the Ra’zac was to hurt the Empire and to prove himself as more than his father’s son. Nevertheless, from the time that he saved Eragon from the Ra’zac onwards, he demonstrates a desire to help that goes beyond a personal gain. On the contrary, I feel like his constant willingness to help while he personally strives to be recognized as his own person indicates that his helpfulness is a genuine part of his nature that shapes his desires and actions. And that nature shows itself repeatedly. Murtagh rescues Eragon a second time when he’s captured in Gil’ead, planning with Saphira and sneaking his way in to free him. When Eragon later thanks him for it, his response is, “‘I’m just glad I could help. It...’ Murtagh faltered and rubbed his face.”

After going to great lengths and knowingly risking his life to free Eragon from Gil’ead, Murtagh's instinctual response to his gratitude is that he simply wanted to help his friend. And this comes up again. When they fight in the Hadarac Desert, Eragon tells Murtagh he never had to travel with him or rescue him. “‘I haven’t forced you to do anything.’” Murtagh’s response is always funny to me because he’s irritable, afraid, and angry and so he’s deliberately trying to be mean and act like he doesn’t care about Eragon, and yet his reply is, “‘Oh, not openly, no. What else could I do but help you with the Ra’zac? And then later, at Gil’ead, how could I have left with a clear conscience? The problem with you...is that you’re so totally helpless that you force everyone to take care of you!’”

It does nothing except prove how much he cares about Eragon and wants to help him! “‘What else could I do but help you with the Ra’zac?’” is especially funny because the glaringly obvious answer is to just. not help. But then that makes it clear that Murtagh so genuinely and inherently believes he should help that he doesn’t see not helping as a real option. And even though he phrases it insultingly in his frustration, what he ultimately says about Gil’ead is that he couldn’t have made himself abandon Eragon when he couldn’t defend himself. He would have felt too guilty because he considers saving him the right thing to do.

I feel like a large part of this springs from Murtagh’s core morality and desire to do good, but there is also an element rooted in his relationship with Eragon specifically. They get along; Murtagh likes him and he trusts him and that matters when the help he gives him puts him at such risk. Murtagh is self sacrificing in the way he protects and looks after Eragon. Sneaking in to Gil’ead to rescue him could have cost him his life- Eragon himself acknowledges that when he thanks him for it.  And the risks he takes for him aren’t just overblown or inconsequential. When Murtagh enters Gil’ead beforehand, in Eragon’s stead, to find out the Varden’s location, he’s recognized and has to flee. When he stays with Eragon as they run from the Urgal army, it forces him to the Varden where he’s imprisoned.

And yet those repercussions don’t undermine Murtagh’s devotion to Eragon. Even when they reach the Varden, the one place Murtagh did not want to go and will rob him of his freedom, his heartfelt care for Eragon doesn’t falter. After Eragon’s mind is searched by one of the Twins who then tries to do the same to Murtagh, they have this exchange:

“‘Eragon has been declared trustworthy, so you cannot threaten to kill him to influence me. Since you can’t do that, nothing you say or do will convince me to open my mind.’ Sneering, the bald man cocked what would have been an eyebrow, if he had any. ‘What of your own life? I can still threaten that.’ ‘It won’t do any good,’ said Murtagh stonily and with such conviction that it was impossible to doubt his word.”

Murtagh’s statement is striking to me because the blatant, undeniable meaning behind it is that, if they’d tried to test Murtagh first and threatened to kill Eragon if he didn’t comply, he would have done it. Murtagh would have let the Twin examine his mind to save Eragon’s life. And the privacy and sanctity of his mind is of paramount importance to him. He says as much to Ajihad when he also tries to convince him to be examined. He declares as much right here! Murtagh explicitly states that protecting Eragon’s life is the singular thing that could make him yield. He would give up his own life before exposing his mind. This has even more gravity for Murtagh specifically. He’s self sacrificing, but not reckless in the same way several of the other main characters are. He’s not one to toss his life aside; he fights hard to survive. So his willingness to die to guard his mind hammers home how important that is to him.

Because of that, even though such a situation never came to pass, Murtagh’s admission that he would give that up to protect Eragon’s life is the most salient proof of his devotion to me. And that’s considering he also fights the Ra’zac and infiltrates Gil’ead for him! I honestly don’t have another word for it- Murtagh holds a truly profound devotion to Eragon that is built upon his desire to help others and to fervently protect the people he cares for. These aspects are so integral to him that they determine his most significant choices.

[whirlybirbs]

Ghost x reader for da people (the people is me)

; — controlled burn | simon "ghost" riley

summary: he isn't used to communing with ghosts. pairing: simon "ghost" riley / gender neutral!reader tags: no warnings, but may i offer spiteful ex-lovers anyone? a/n: 1.) lee i am sorry this is bad. 2.) everyone it's been a moment since i have written so i owe you all the biggest sowwies. anyways, who knew in 2022 everything would come full circle with me writing for the first man i ever really wrote fanfiction for, i love this ghost daddy hype moment

Laswell isn't expecting you to say yes, but favors owed are thicker than blood when it comes to this line of work. 

I don't do contract work anymore, Kate, you'd told her adamantly in the quiet of your office, I never liked living in the grey.

And yet, you're here; you're sat beside her in the heli as the bird dips low on the horizon line and begins to kick up plumes of dust in the night air. Sand whips around the spotlights illuminating the landing strip, and as the shroud parts, Kate can see there are gathered men ready to welcome the two of them. 

Your eyes flick across the tarmac. Even here — in the chopper, as you yank your headset free and gather your bag — you can feel eyes pinning you in place. Like a lone rabbit spotted by a waiting wolf. Eyes are watching in the darkness. Something stalks in your peripherals. 

And as eerie as it is, it's familiar. Like coming home.

A dust devil passes as touch down settles, and in the calm stillness of that single moment, you see him:

Ghost.  

You never did like living in the grey — and Simon knew damn well his whole life was bleeding out in shades of it. He's no longer sharply forged in the fires of morality; maybe one day he was, one day when he was younger. When there was less gilded, war-dazzled weight to his dress uniform's breast. When there was less grey in the unruly blonde buzz beneath his balaclava, when he had fewer starlight scars commemorating brutality etched into his skin. 

His righteousness is dulled now; but still efficient, still violent, still lethal. Simon sacrificed morality long ago when he fled that forge in favor of getting the fucking job done. Sacrifices had to be made. Every action had an equal and opposite reaction. 

He knows he isn't a good man.

You always did deserve good. 

Honest. 

Those owlish, dark eyes watch you greet Price. Gaz is excitable, Soap is impressed. He unwavers, hand on his holstered pistol and the other picking the skin of his thumb. 

Behind the balaclava, there's tension. But, when you turn and slip your eyes along the chipped skull face-plate, the hardness slips away. He catches it. Like a moment where Simon is back and he isn't the man in the mask. 

"Good to see you," he says in a voice quieter than a whisper.

You only nod.

In the debrief room, he continues his quiet watching. Ghost watches you listen, and he watches you pick at your bottom lip like you always do when you concentrate. 

Across the room, Soap slides him a subtle, questioning look. Ghost doesn't even flinch. The hardness stays. 

Pay attention, says his volleyed glare. 

Simon tries to forget the way you always did favor peppermint lip balm. 

When you finally speak, in that dimly lit room, the sound of your voice reminds Simon of the sting of a bullet graze. It's like the ricochet of a searing hot caliber biting soft flesh. 

Suddenly, Simon is twenty-seven again and in love. 

He fucking hates himself for it.

He's trying to kick his smoke habit — bad on the lungs. 

But, tonight he doesn't give a damn because the nicotine isn’t the only thing making his hands shake and letting the flame lick his fingers feels fine. A controlled burn. 

He isn't used to communing with old ghosts.

But, you're back in the grey.