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iblameashley · 1 year

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Market Mingle and *Tea*lights.

Civilian | Male | Gay

2,593 words

Content: None really. Pure fluff.

Follow up to The Gift of Giving.

Simon 'Ghost' Riley | Male/GN Reader

!!!SFW!!!

You happen to run into Simon at the local market and take the opportunity to spend some time with him shopping. Who can resist a little mingling and maybe a spot of tea after?

(Tea-lights is a stupid play on Delights...)

(Special shout-out to @mysticalzombiecheesecake who asked to be tagged.)

(Thanks to @loneghostwolf for permission to use this image)

What better way to spend your day than outside and at the local market? It was a little later in the day than you expected, but sleeping in is also nice. You were lucky to have a remote job and generally didn't have to deal with office life. This afforded you a lot of leeway when it came to work-life balance, but nothing was better than actual time off to get out and do things for yourself.

The market itself was a great place. Vendors were always swapping out and there were a variety of trinkets, tools, clothing, food and more up for barter. The fact that it also bordered a nearby park helped for escaping the crowded stalls at a moments notice. You hiked your bags up on your shoulder.

What you didn't expect to find at the market was Simon. But there he was, three vendors down in his usual mask, a dark hoodie and jeans, and standing taller than most everyone else around him. He seemed fixated on something you couldn't make out from your position.

Wanting to be sure it was him, and you weren't suffering some visual hallucination, you pull out your phone and send a message

You: Hey Simon! How goes today? What are you up to?

You see him reach in his pocket and pull out his phone.

Simon: It goes. I'm out right now. Simon: Are you looking to meet up again?

You smile as you read his message. Putting your phone back in your pocket, you slowly make your way over to him. You step lightly and walk slowly, hiding behind people as you closed the distance. You were sure you were going to get the drop on him, when he turned around suddenly to face you; his fist pulled back to his side.

His eyes softened as he realized it was just you and he relaxed his fist.

“Hey.” He says in his flat, gravelly voice. “Shouldn't try and sneak up on me, could get hurt.”

“Nah,” You say, waving away his warning. “You'd never hurt me.” You smile.

He looks at you with a furrowed brow.

“Mind if I join you?” You ask. “No pressure.” You add, raising your hands up.

He nods.

“Sure. Just planned to wander, so might be here a while.” He says, returning his attention to the item that had caught his attention.

You crane your head and move around to get a better view of it. Its a multi-tool. It looks old and is rusted, likely not useful for actual use, but if he's focused on it, it means something to him. You take in his interrogation of the tool as he looks it over several times.

“Gonna buy it?” You ask softly.

“Dunno.” He shrugs.

'Always giving away so little.' You think before taking position up beside him. He gives you a side eye, but stays silent.

After a few more minutes of looking over the tool and other wares, he turns and starts to walk away. You pivot on the spot and start walking with him, keeping pace to his longer stride.

Simon briefly stops at a stall selling blankets and gives them a look over, running his hands over the soft fabric and examining the colourful patterns. He looks at you again and simply says, “Not as good as my throw.”

Your heart skips a beat and your soul astral projects around the city before crashing back into your body. Your breath hitches in your throat as you take in the fact that, in his own way, he just gave you a compliment. He liked your throw, and now compared it to every other one he came across. You had no way of hiding your pleased embarrassment as the red spread across your face, but you managed to get out a low, “I'm glad you like my gift.”

“Mmm." He replies without looking at you.

He moves on to the next stall, this one selling a variety of books that must be well out of print. You can smell the earthy, musky aroma of the old pages as you both step up to the stand. Your eyes dart over the selection of old material; the vendor offering a bit of everything from manuals to romance novels to kitschy sci-fi books.

It was only by happenstance that you looked up to see the glimmer in Simon's eye as he also took in the fascinating sight of the selection before him. He reached down and picked up a particularly damaged booklet. The words on the cover were worn mostly off from age, and the spine had clearly seen better days. But you were able to make out a faint image of a series of guns and what looked like the picture of a World War II uniform. You smile warmly, it's very in line with what he seemed interested in.

“You should get it.” You say as you finger the pile of sci-fi books. You grab a few and begin reading the back.

“You think?” Simon asks genuinely.

“Yeah.” You give him an enthusiastic nod. “Would go well with the collection you already have.”

“Hmm.” He ponders the possibility of the purchase.

You can't help but chuckle at some of the synopsis of the books you have and stack them in your arms. You are definitely getting these.

Simon still seems unsure of the booklet, so you reach over and take it gently from his hands and add it to your stack. “We'll take these.” You say as you turn to the elderly woman tending the stand.

She flashes you a crooked smile and quickly tallies the books total.

“That'll be five pound twenty-five.” She says with a hoarse voice. “Need a bag, love?” She inquires as you rummage through your wallet.

“No, thank you.” You smile, handing her the exact change.

You turn back to Simon who simply stares at you as you hand the booklet back to him. “That was unnecessary.” He grunts, though still taking the booklet from your hand.

“You're welcome.” You say, ignoring his comment. You shove the books into one of the bags tucked under your arm, and see that Simon is already heading off to the next table. Though his eyes are still very much on the booklet.

Simon stops in front of a stand selling cured meats and starts placing an order, clearly having been here before. You watch as his mood shifts; he's not quite pleasant, but he's much nicer to the man currently filling several wrappers with a variety of goods.

You stand there quietly as he the friendly man hands over the meats in a bag and Simon pays. You're interest is piqued by his selections, offering a small look into the man who keeps himself well guarded.

“Having a party?” You ask with a hint of cheekiness as he notices you staring.

“Maybe.” He grunts.

“Am I invited?” You say, pressing him.

“No.” He huffs, once again making off for his next destination.

*** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + ***

After a few more stops, he makes his way to a shop that takes you by surprise; soaps and shampoos. You had to admit that he did always smell great, but he didn't seem the type to buy such things in front of people – friends – so carefree.

His eyes tactically scanned the offerings as if looking for something specific. You couldn't resist taking a look as well, picking up a bar of soap labelled 'Nomad.'

“Earthy and adventurous with a smoky note and hint of pine.” You say, reading the label. “Huh...” You take a sniff. “Smells nice!” You smile.

You set it back down and pick up another one; 'Midnight Forest.'

“Deep moss scent with cedarwood, and a touch of herbs.” Again you sniff it. You purse your lips, unconvinced.

Simon's attention is split between his search and your inquisitive exploration of the soap.

“Going to buy one?” He asks.

You shrug, picking up another one.

“Stealth.” You say.

Simon's eyes lock on the bar of soap.

“An invigorating mix of sandalwood, black peppercorn and a citrus zest.”

You see his hand twitching at his side, quickly realizing you found the one he was looking for, but he's too damn prideful to tell you. You smile, and enjoy the moment. You play with the bar of soap, examining it closely. “What do you think, Simon? Should I get this one?”

“Get what you want.” He says with annoyance. You can see he's grinding his teeth.

You look the soap over once more before deciding to put it down, instead you grab a bar of the 'Nomad,' and pay for it. Shoving it in the bag with your books.

“I'll wait for you over there.” You say, pointing to a quiet area where the market thins out.

You walk away before he can respond. As fun as it was to tease him, you decided to give him a little privacy to make his purchase. You understand its just soap to you, but to him its one more glimpse into his private life.

You look at your bag and books and chuckle at the realization you didn't get much of anything, despite the list you had in your head when you arrived. 'Oh well.' you think, you can always come back.

You see Simon make his way towards you with his usual steady, confident pace, he gives you a nod before stopping a few paces in front of you.

“Got everything I need.” He says with his gruff voice, pulling the bags up briefly to show you. “How about you?”

“No...” you admit, shaking your head, “but I can come back tomorrow, its getting late and I should be heading home.”

Simon nods, and jerks his head to the side, a silent signal that he will walk you to the other side of the market. You smile and nod back, once again walking by his side.

“It was good to see you here, Simon.” You say as you two weave through the crowd.

“Yeah.” He says. His voice is so low and soft you almost didn't hear him.

“Want to get together soon?” You inquire as you two reach your parting destination. “Its been a while.” You add.

“Yeah.” His voice still quiet and soft. “Soon.” He speaks up.

“Perfect, message me when you want me to come over. We can do a movie night or something.”

“Sounds good.” He says. He goes to walk away but stops. Simon examines the bags in his hand and then gazes back at you. He lets out a heavy breath. “You live close by, yeah?” He inquires.

You nod. “Yeah... maybe a ten minute walk?”

“Show me.” Simon commands. “Show me where you live.” His voice is low and gravelly.

“OK, wow... that was a bit threatening...” You say, jerking your head back in surprise. “Why do you want to go to my place?” You ask, furrowing your brow.

“You know where I live.” He says flatly. “You've seen my flat. I want to see yours.”

You consider his request as he stares you down. You know you both do and don't have a choice. If you told him no, he would probably respect it... but it risked bucking the relationship you two had. You take a deep breath. 'Fair is fair.' You think.

“Alright, Simon.” You agree. You motion in the direction of your flat with a wave of your hand before taking off, leaving him behind as he did to you earlier.

*** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + *** ++ *** + ***

The walk to your flat was mostly uneventful. Simon spent a majority of it taking in the sights, sounds and people; likely never having been to this part of town before. Not a big surprise to you, he likely didn't venture far from his flat on the best of days.

“Not a bad place.” Simon mumbles as you both approach the small building.

It was a pretty basic building; ten units per level over four levels. Small balconies dotting across the exterior. A typical grey-black facade blended the building into the rest along the street. Small shrubs and flowers ran the perimeter of the buildings and filled the air with fragrant scents.

You usher him toward the entrance, typing in your code to enter the building. Simon follows strangely close behind you, but you try not to give it too much attention.

As you enter the flat, you gesture to the bag in his hand. “I'll put it in the fridge until you leave.”

He hands the bag over.

“Take a look around.” you say, giving him permission to roam freely.

Simon sets about your place in a tactical manner, following a path he created in his mind the moment he crossed the threshold of your doorway. He passed the kitchen with little interest and made his way to the living room, taking in the more lived-in feeling of the place. Pictures of your family are spread over the wall between paintings of forests and lakes, and children's art. Your TV stand and bookshelves are filled with reading material and figurines and trinkets. The room is overwhelming to him, the feeling of warmth and coziness curated causes his stomach to twist. He turns quickly and makes his was slowly but steadily towards the hallway.

He disappears from view and you let out a relieved sigh that you cleaned the flat. While he explores your bedroom and office, you put the kettle on and start making some tea. You grab some biscuits from the cupboard and plate them, setting them on the table.

You place two mugs on the counter as the kettle starts to whistle. The sounds seems to stir Simon's interest and he makes his way back to the kitchen. You stand there with a mug in hand, tea bag steeping.

“Thought you might stay for a cup?” You ask softly, handing him the hot mug.

He takes the mug from your hand, briefly touching your fingers.

“Have a seat.” You say, your heart jumping a bit at his touch.

You grab you own mug from the counter and take a seat across from Simon. You take a biscuit from the plate and dip it in your tea before taking a chomp out of it. You lean back in your chair and swallow the sweet treat.

“So whats the verdict?” You ask with a bit of playfulness. Its your flat, so you don't have to give a shit about rules one or two here -or any of them really - but especially those two. Your dynamic was changing and the rules were already bending, but being in your flat still gave you a bit more control. A bit more power.

“I can see several security concerns.” Simon replies flatly, moving his mask down to sip his tea. “But I suppose for a civilian, it will do.”

Was he joking?

You raise an eyebrow.

“Homey.” He adds, not looking at you.

“Well... you're welcome to visit any time.” You say.

He lets out a guttural growl.

You just look at him warmly, knowing you're assaulting him with a lot of stimulus. His mind must be working a mile a minute, so you let him think.

You take another drink of you tea. Sometimes just sitting in silence is enough.

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mang0-after-dark · 2 years

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A Sweet Prize

PtN x Chief! Reader

Not really smut or dark, just some dumb fun with some allusion to smut.

Words: 944

Notes: I couldn’t decide on a character to have be the winner, so maybe there will be later fics for different character winning their prize. Any input on who the winner should be is welcome.

"Why did I agree to this?" You whisper to yourself, eyes scanning over the sight that stares back through the mirror. The sound of applause and cheers echo out from the stage that had been set up for the night.

A show and a small raffle, all to raise and keep morale. Some entertainment would be good for mental stability, they said. The whole thing was being run by Serpent, should have been the first clue of your imminent embarrassment, Peggy and Joan would both be performing, Kelvin prepared a wide variety of cold treats for audience enjoyment. By all accounts it would be a near flawless event within the MBCC.

"Alright, my lovely Sinners! You've all made an amazing audience for us tonight! But sadly, all good things must eventually end," Serpent speaks sadly, her voice echoing as she takes careful steps across the stage, "but since you have all made such a good audience, I do have one final little magic trick to show you all!"

It's almost time…

"I'm sure you've all been wondering what the number one, topmost, extra special mystery prize for the raffle is!" Murmurs excitedly weave through the crowd, "well wonder no more! This next trick will SHOW you!"

A pair of staff members roll a pair of large boxes onto the stage, both decorated with bright colors and swirling patterns. Serpent paces across the stage to stand next to one box.

"For this final trick, I will need an assistant, but this time, not from the audience. Tell me, lovely sinners, have you noticed someone missing out there?" Again murmurs rise in the quiet pause, "well everyone clap extra loud for my assistant in this final trick! The MBCC Chief!" She shouts excitedly, the music cue starting up in time with her words.

It's time…

You step out onto the stage to be met with the barrier of applause, all the shackled sinners that have been brought to the MBCC seated comfortably and smiling up at the revelry being displayed for them. A shy smile tugs at your lips, even if your humiliation is nigh, you need to keep the surprise safe.

It was months that this event was being planned and prepared, months that the final prize was a secret known only to you, and to Serpent who came up with the idea.

"Well Chief, just this once, I hold you'll forgive me for being the one to give orders!" Chuckles echo from the crowd, Serpent opens the large box beside her, "well, please step inside here! Wave the lovelies goodbye, Chief!" A small wave as you try to swallow your nerves, slowly sinking into the box as Serpent closes the lid over your head.

"Well with that started, I'll reveal to you all what it is I'll be doing!" Serpent starts, her heels clicking loudly as she walks away from the prop boxes, "a little trick of teleportation! You see, the Chief will disappear! And out of the other box, will be the number one raffle prize!" She explains excitedly, her own giddiness at the reveal being covered up by her normally bouncy attitude.

"Does anyone have any questions before we do this?" Serpent steps out towards the front edge of the stage.

A voice echoes slightly in the room, "what will happen to the Chief?" Nightingale's voice echoes, having been given the night off for the event.

"Oh I promise, the Chief will be just fine! She'll appear a little ways away is all!" Serpent nearly sings, "anyone else?"

Silence hangs, the air buzzing for the next, final, reveal.

Serpent clicks back to the boxes, tapping on the box you had gone into and causing the small structure to fall apart, revealing its newly emptiness. Murmurs echo as she steps across to the second box, resting her hand on its lid as she turns to face the audience.

"Now, on the count of three everyone!" She announces, inciting shouted participation from the audience.

"One!" Here it comes…

"Two!" Will there be any respect left for you?..

"Three!" Well, you guess it doesn't matter now…

Serpent lifts the lid, the box crumbling like the first did, and standing out from the remains…

The chief stands up, lifting one leg up behind them, back straight to their full height, one arm propped against their hip, the other raised in a peace sign in front of their face. All in a playboy bunny suit.

The sparkly cloth hugs skin tight, leaving not a single curve or line in your body to the imagination, the slightly too tight fishnet leggings giving your legs a squishing appearance, the stiletto high heels offering little support but add noticeable height, and the tall bunny ear headband sits over your head, one ear flopping downward from the movement of standing up.

Stunned silence is quickly stomped out by deafening applause and cheers, even from up on the stage, you can feel the burning gazes of the sinners on your body.

Serpent speaks to pull attention off you, if only slightly, "you see, Lovelies, our number one prize tonight, is a simple, but very intriguing one." She steps around to hold a hand out to the Chief, helping you step down from the box's display, "one night, no shackles, at least not for you, with the Chief! Anything you want to do, anywhere you want to go, all expenses paid by Minos! Just our lucky winner, and our lovely bunny Chief. Alone, and free to do whatever the winner wishes." Serpent practically purrs the last sentence, her own searing gaze being clear to anyone watching.

"So then, shall we start the game?"

#path to nowhere #path to nowhere x reader #Serpent #joan #peggy #Kelvin #not smut #just fun #please tell me who should win

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1ivinqdeadqir1 · 2 years

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SHADES OF COOL: Part III

Part Three: La Familia es todo

previously chapters: 1 2

finally, chapter 3 as promised!! I hope you guys enjoy, i need to actually start planning the chapters but... this one is kinda cute at points, lots of fluff... for now!!!

Word Count: 6.5k (oooof they're getting longer haha)

WARNING: Mentions of stalking, parents arguing, Hector being a weird uncle that likes to dunk his nephews underwater... the usual

Friday:

Your (first person) POV:

“Are you alright?”

My coworker, Jen, taps me on the shoulder. Her manicured nails are all I can focus on for a few seconds, yet I manage to shake it off and nod before going back to what I’d been doing- staring blankly at my shoes, cigarette between my fingers.

“Yeah, I guess, just thinking”

Just thinking. A half lie, in retrospect. Over the last few nights, I’ve been unable to sleep- someone somewhere has taken it upon themselves to call at random, going out of their way to make me panic. The idea that the calls are coming from a couple of middle schoolers crossed my mind, yet there was no way for any children to access my number. There wasn’t a pattern or reason for the silence on the other end of the call either, it seemed. I haven’t told anyone about the strange phone calls, not yet, anyway.

As a small child, teachers had told my parents that I was an ‘overthinker,’ and for a while, I figured that was a good thing. Overthinking in itself couldn’t possibly be harmful, In what world would thinking lead to any kind of misfortune? All the grown-ups told you to think about all sorts of things: maths, English, whether or not to say please and thank you. The sky was the limit, supposedly. Now, after twenty-two years I've come to terms with the fact that everything they’d ever said about overthinking being positive, was just bullshit.

“Well, seems like you’re thinking a lot, anything in particular?” Jen leans in like she’s expecting some sort of catastrophic news, something to give the day a bit of a buzz.

In New Mexican daylight, the cloud of smoke that’d left my lungs looked more like steam as I laughed, awkwardly, yet in a way I knew wouldn’t upset her, “no, it's nothing” a lie. “Just getting ahead of myself I guess”

Her lips formed an O as she nodded, eyes wide and arms now folded tight across her chest, “is it a boy?” god, ‘boys.’ why not ‘men’, Jenny? I’m only a year younger than you, for fuck sake.

“No no no no” she quirked a brow, my cheeks began to grow hot and the sun’s brilliant UV rays hadn’t helped make it any less obvious despite the lies and attempts to hide the truth.

Ever since that meal at El Michocano, we’d talked constantly - or whenever either of us was available - and it felt fantastic. Supposedly, Lalo wasn’t going to be in Albuquerque for long and was only here to ensure things ‘up north’ was running smoothly, to check whether or not Hector’s guys had the restaurant in good shape. Though whenever driving home, past the eatery, I had to hold back the urge to park up, walk in and say hi.

“Alright,” Jen hummed, stubbing out her cigarette as I did.

-------------

It’d gotten to noon, and the lukewarm coffee in my mug had barely managed to keep me sitting upright behind the front desk as I thought about all the other more interesting things I could be doing. Whoever had taken last night's shift had left me to file the doctor's notices. The ones that tell us what medications a person takes and when they should take them. The files changed whenever a medical review was conducted, which means they have to be updated semi-regularly.

I don’t mind office work, usually, if it has variety. The hours go by and feel like days, the days feel like months and months, years. Which doesn’t help.

I’d rather be on my feet doing something right now. Whenever I have a moment to myself, I drift off only to be woken again by the shuffling of papers or the ring of the phone. I want to cry out of frustration, but thankfully there are only 30 minutes left before someone else takes over.

------------

GENERAL POV:

You work for the 30, sorting through the documentation, signing visitors in, and asking how they are to be polite. Not only because the lack of conversation makes the already ear-piercing silence louder, but because you can’t help but feel a tad lonely. You’d much rather be getting the dinners ready in the kitchen with the others, yet, you were always the one left to suffer until the clock chimed.

At half twelve you get up, take your things and head to the staff room; grabbing a flask from your locker that you then fill with fresh warm coffee. Straight, black, with no creamer but a touch of sugar to rid the drink of it’s initial bitterness. As you sit on the couch, by the window, you almost feel at peace. You look out at the cloudless blue sky, hills in the distance and debate whether you should go on a walk later, once you’ve rested up.

You decide against it, instead choosing to drink your coffee and play ‘snake’ on your flip phone. Lalo hadn’t messaged you for a few days, you figured he was busy and hadn’t let the fact he was quiet phase you at all. Though, you were beginning to miss him the tiniest bit. Outside of work you’d only ever interact with a few close friends and the few family members you had left living locally. Grandma and Grandpa often invited you over for dinners, asking how everything at work had been and if there was anything interesting going on in your life; you always gave the same answer. Despite the love you had for your job, the regularity and routine were repetitive and you had actually mentioned it to the higher-ups to see if they could do anything about it. They hadn’t gotten back to you yet, a message in its own right.

Your breaks were an hour long, yet you wished for longer as without realising you’d again fallen asleep where you sat- much to the dismay of a few coworkers that stood by the countertops.

“Jesus, she looks like shit”

“Maybe she’s on something, doped up like Ms Smith was a few days ago… that’d be fuckin’ ironic, don’t you think?”

A laugh came from the side of the room, you stir, and the phone in your lap fell to the floor.

“I don't think you know what the word ‘irony’ means and how to use it… I think you just mean funny.”

By the time the break was over, and one of the workers manages to rouse you from your slumber, your coffee had been reduced to dishwater. You yawned, placing the mug down on the short-legged table a few feet away from where you sat. Straightening out your uniform, you smile faintly, remembering that fortunately, your time at the desk was up for today… no one liked desk duty unless Marjorie had organized the files overnight.

You reach to pick up the flip phone and head out into the common area where residents sit on either couches, loveseats or regular chairs. Most of them were doing their own thing, knitting was (of course) popular alongside reading, yet idle conversation flowed aplenty. Personally, you liked to read and watch tv, or maybe supervise the occasional card game.

“Good Afternoon, Hector” you nod in his direction, smiling as his dark eyes follow you across the room. You decide to sit with Pearl and Lola, two women that often stuck to themselves- hardly letting strangers into conversations.

“You know, Pearly, it’d be a lot easier to- ”

The old woman looks up, blue eyes wide as a grin crosses her cheeks. She motions for you to sit, and you oblige willingly. “Afternoon, ladies” you look at what they’re doing, knitting squares for a blanket of some sort, one where all the different patterns will be joined together upon completion.

“Afternoon, dear”

You nod, pulling back a chair and carefully sitting, grabbing a ball of yarn and some knitting needles from a plastic wallet. Your grandma had taught you how to knit, she’d sit with you as a child on her lap and instruct with her soft-spoken voice. The memory warmed you, you wished to go back to a time like that. When nothing really mattered and everything was trivial. Your childhood felt rushed compared to that of your peers, with your parents constantly arguing it was hard not to grow up earlier than others. Most of your classmates had normal lives, with normal parents that loved each other. Sure, they fought but from what you gathered the arguments would only last an hour or so, whereby they’d apologize and make up. In your head, you wondered why you’d never been able to have that, what you could’ve possibly done to deserve such a rough childhood. Grandma said that it hadn’t anything to do with you, though on occasion it sure felt like it.

“Sweetie, are you alright?” Pearl's hoarse voice breaks you from your memory, and you nod again.

“Yeah, just thinking is’ all… memories and all that” you smile at the old lady who returns the gesture, her hands moving quickly, knitting perfectly without even having to look down for a second to see what was going on.

------------

Simon (the man who was currently working the front desk) calls your name, and you look up at him now standing beside you. At this point, you’d managed to make a start on a decent enough scarf - One to fit a toddler perhaps- and get into a rhythm similar to that of Pearl and Lola’s.

“Yeah?” Your lips curve up sweetly at the man, now feeling more awake than you had earlier. He swallows thickly, his right hand in his pocket as the left cups the nape of his neck. A bead of sweat falls from his brow, and you subconsciously tilt your head to the side as it does.

“There’s a man here to see you, Lalo Salamanca, I think he’s related to Hector”

You scoff, “well no, Sherlock, he’s related to the other Hector Salamanca that lives here”

Pearl grimaces and Lola simply purses her lips together as if she’d just placed a sour candy in her mouth. Simon's brow furrows and his posture stiffens, he’s standing taller than he had been and his left hand had dropped to the side. You laugh, quietly, so as to not disturb anyone else in the room.

“I’m only kidding, Si’, I’ll be right out”

The man nods, still looking rather uncomfortable as he shuffles out of the room and into the lobby. Pearl and Lola chat with one another as you begin to pack everything you’ve used up. “Take care of that for me, ladies. I’ll finish it later on once I’m done outside”

Pearl acknowledged your request with a wave of her hand, Lola busying herself with a row she’d accidentally messed up.

Now halfway across the room, you stop by a window to straighten out your outfit and brush your fingers through your hair. You’d undoubtedly look more worn than the last time you’d seen him in person, probably a little older because of that. Fucking private line calls.

Just… smile, you tell yourself over and over again.

Stepping out into the hall, you clasp your hands together “Mr Salamanca, a pleasure to see you again”. You hated formalities as much as the next person, but you’d get a hit to the nose if someone were to hear you addressing a resident's family member so casually. You weren’t sure why that was a rule, perhaps because some could interpret that as special treatment, whilst others may just deem it inappropriate considering.

He opens out his arms dramatically, calling your name “been a while hm? I thought something had happened to my favourite worker.” You chuckle under your breath, nervously, as Simon awkwardly shuffles behind the desk watching your interaction.

“It has I’m afraid, I’ve been busy” that was a half lie, though you imagined he could simply infer that based on how tired you looked compared to the last time you’d spoken. “Family stuff as well, you know how it is haha…” that part was true, your mother had been visiting a lot more recently and she’d made a fuss about it, talking about your father and how he’d been drinking himself into an almost comatose state. She was being theatrical, as always. Your dad didn't drink that much, though you knew he'd been going to the local bar more frequently, you had a school friend that worked there.

Lalo nods, knowingly, as if he's aware “Aye, but it's good you're there for them” you shrug, picking at your sleeves as your cheeks grow warmer. You wished Simon would just sit and get back to work. Why did he have to stand like an idiot? “La Familia es todo, no?”

You nod, your hands now clasped at your front, it was nice to see him- he looked gorgeous, the cotton sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows. You loved how flamboyant his clothes were. “That's right”, he grins and slaps a hand on the desk countertop, making Simon jump.

“Anyway, are you on your break yet? I think we should go out somewhere right now”

You swallow and glance around, fingers running through your hair as Lalo waits for an answer. Simon shuffles again before sitting down, getting back to whatever he had been doing before lalo entered. “I- wait a second” you press a hand to his arm and usher him to a vacant hallway, far enough from the desk so Simon wouldn't hear.

“I had my break about an hour ago, aren’t you here to see your uncle?”

At your question, he laughs whilst brushing some of your hair back with his hand. His smile was so… adorable. Whenever his dark eyes slightly scrunched and his cheeks lifted you wanted to just pinch them hard. “Bebita, I visited my uncle yesterday, you must’ve been on a break then… I would’ve said hi, but..” he sighed, you couldn’t help but watch his chest as it rose and fell, “work, it’s a pain in the neck but I’m heading home soon and quite a few things have happened since we last saw each other..” he looks down at his feet for a split second, as if he were thinking. For an instant, you have the urge to reach out and take his hand in your own.

You go to open your lips to speak, but he cuts you off enthusiastically in a breath. “so, I figured I'd give myself the day off, and have Nachito man the ship for a few hours without me!”

“So… you want me to hang out with you today while you’re on your day off?”

“Exactamente, mi Amor, how long is the remainder of your shift?” he touches your shoulder, and you feel the rough texture of his palm through your linen work blouse.

“Well, I finish at 9:30 tonight… I’m taking over a friend’s shift” Jen, as always, was going partying with her boyfriend- asking, no, pleading with you to take over the few hours she’d miss.

“I’m sure you can skip this one, besides, you won’t get into trouble for leaving a shift that isn’t yours, right?”

You shrug, unsure. What he says makes sense, you really had stuck your neck out for Jennifer again- no one would notice if you left, right? You could talk to Simon about it if he had a problem, though based on how he’d acted around Lalo you doubt that he will say anything.

“I guess… I haven’t got any other clothes but these, though”

Lalo hums, “That doesn’t matter, Princesa, we’re not going anywhere special tonight”

You blush, wondering what on earth he meant by that. Did he mean there’d be other nights out? Or was he just talking generally? The silence between you is broken by him, as he begins to walk toward the exit.

“Wait, i-” you flush, straightening out your hair “can you wait for me outside? I’m gonna go grab my things from the break room”

Lalo chuckles and nods, lips pursed together tight as you pace into the staff room, making a b-line toward your locker.

You don’t have much with you- a shoulder bag and a knee-length trench coat. In your bag, you kept all the necessities, though always managed to cram a book in there for good measure. Unfortunately, the count of monte Cristo took up most of the room, though it was invigorating and despite the added strain to your shoulder you didn’t mind carrying it with you.

You slipped into your jacket, letting it swing open as you quickly combed your hair and applied strawberry-flavoured lip balm. Once ready, you checked the time on your phone and walked back out into the hallway, shoes thumping against the tiles. Simon looked up as you pulled the door, clearing his throat.

“Oh- could you sign me out at 6:30 tonight, Si? I’ll buy you breakfast on Monday if you like. eggs and bacon from Loyola’s, right?” practically out of breath, your lips curve up when you smile at him warmly, lashes fluttering as he nodded.

“Thanks a bunch!” the warmth of your cheeks leaves as you rush outside, eyes scanning the parking lot, before eventually landing on Lalo. He was leaning against the passenger side, his left arm slung across the side of the car’s roof, his right close to his front as he glanced down at his phone.

You try your best to hold back the foolish smile that’d been begging to tug at either corner of your lips for the last few seconds, and make a few quick steps toward him, hands behind your back once you meet his side.

“Hello, miss me?” you teased, poking his shoulder. He shrugged his broad shoulders and smirked, stepping aside.

“Like a desert misses the rain”

You laugh a little, clutching the worn leather strap of your bag as he opens the door, motioning for you to enter with his tattooed arm. “ after you”

Sliding inside, you roll your back against the leather seat, wishing your car was as comfortable as this. Lalo makes his way around the front once you’re buckled up, pulling himself into the driver's side. You glance his way, staring for a moment, watching as he snakes the seat belt across his body. The way his biceps contract and relax, and his shirt tightens around the muscle-

“You know, it’s rude to stare, right?”

You look away, down at your knees as he laughs, the engine purrs to life and the sound of upbeat Latin music reverberates against the metal frame, which he then turns down a tad.

“I-” you hesitate, picking at loose threads on your shirt, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

He huffs, pointedly at your discomfiture, as he begins to reverse from his spot. You redden when he places an arm against the back of your seat, pivoting his torso to look through the rearview.

“I’ll have to come back later to pick up my car, you know…”

He smiles down at you, faintly. “Don’t worry about it, you don’t work weekends, right?”

“Well, no, but I might need my car tomorrow…”

Lalo hums and you keep your eyes pinned on him, though occasionally look out past the windscreen “I’ll come with you to pick it up” he glances over your frame as you move against the seat, knees pointing in his direction as your small hands trace across the leather’s texture. “Alright, that sounds alright”

------------

The car ride is reasonably peaceful, the sound of the music drones as you perch your elbow on the window frame and lean against your palm. You tap your feet along to the music, loving the rhythmic quality. It made you want to dance.

Lalo took notice at a red light, smiling to himself as you continued to pat your foot against the interior carpet, your fingers now drumming against your leg to the beat. It looked like you were playing an invisible piano. “Like the music then, Princesa?”

You turn to face him, eyes half-lidded. The low vibration of the car had slowly been lulling you, the fatigue from earlier caught up. “Yeah, it’s nice… hey, can we go for a walk in the park and get some ice cream?” you’d been craving the sweet treat since last night, when you’d actually been in a similar position to now, driving home past a small ice cream shop you adored as a kid.

He furrowed his brows, hitting his fingers against the car wheel as you leaned in without realising; he hadn’t actually made a plan of where to take you, he didn’t really know many good places around here, only the ones Ignacio had recommended. “Sure, what park?”

“There's a nice park a few minutes from here- it has a lot of well-kept flowerbeds and a pond”

“Wow” he draws out the word, “sounds like a… pretty average park, querida”

You frown, digging through your bag to whip out your flip phone, “it's nice, you probably haven’t been there yet is all.” he stops for a moment, dark eyes meeting your own as he scoffs, playfully.

“I’m only playing, querida.” his voice is low, and his accent lingers on his words as he speaks. You love it, he’s gorgeous and you don’t think you’ve ever been in the presence of a man as perfect as him.

You scowl, brows creasing as your hands move to place your phone back in your bag, he matches your stare and your smile. Laughing, he continues to drive much to the delight of the man sitting behind his Chevy Monte Carlo.

“This almost seems too good to be true” you whisper to yourself, still leaning against the edge of the window as Lalo pulls next to the park, the green gate framing it lined with bunting and art projects kids from the local schools had made.

Back when you started working at casa tranquila you’d come here at the end of the day and take a walk around the small pond. You weren’t sure why you did, you could’ve just driven straight home, but you didn’t.

You’re pulled from the memory by Lalo when he swings the door open and steps out, the sound of gravel crunching beneath his feet leads you to unhook your belt and smile as he rounds to your side.

The older man reaches out for you to take his hand and you do with as much grace as you’re able to muster up. “Thanks, I've been a bit… tired lately”

He quirks a brow and you huff, straightening out your outfit and tucking your locks behind your ear as he pries “tired? Work got you busier than usual I’m guessing?” he places a hand against the small of your back, leading you through the entrance. You hardly notice his touch at first, thinking it’d just been the breeze, but when you do, your cheeks warm and the hairs on your arms stand to attention. “I-” you hesitate and look down at your feet as you both take slow steps around the path panelled with strands of grass along the edge. You take your lower lip between your teeth, peering up at him. He was listening, carefully, intently like he actually valued what you were about to say. Daniel hadn’t been like that, not near the end anyway.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, chica”

You nod, and he thinks you’re sweet when you stutter and are unable to find the right words. That changes when you reach the pond in the centre of the park, where a paddle of ducks surveys the waterfront, happily accepting breadcrumbs from a few children and their parents. You tell him how much you love birds, how great you think it is that they can fly away whenever shit gets too crazy. He makes a joke about how it must suck to be a chicken then, and you laugh sincerely for the first time today.

You walk quickly to a bench that overlooked the park beautifully, beckoning him over. You swear you see him roll his eyes, but he does so comically and then sits beside you, legs apart with his hands knit together between them. “You know what, I hadn’t been anticipating a trip to the park today, but its a lot nicer than what I expected… lots of kids running around and lots of,” he takes a deep breath “lots of ducks”

you tilt your head “ yeah, you haven’t seen ducks before or something?”

He snorts, shoving your knee away from him with his palm, gently. “Well obviously I have, I’m just saying, well, actually I’m making an… observation” his hands move back to where they’d been a moment ago, and you beam at him stupidly before looking back at the lake, relaxing against the wood that right now feels like the most comfortable place you’ve ever sat.

“Lalo?”

He glances over you as you shuffle around, “Yeahhh?”

“Tell me about Mexico, what’s it like? I’ve always wanted to visit” you rest your cheek against the ball of your wrist, hooded eyes set on his as he moves his torso to face your body.

“Well, like most places depends where you go, I guess”

Dissatisfied with that answer, you poke his forearm “c’mon, be real with me now, what about where you grew up?”

“Wow, I feel like I’m under interrogation here, Princesa, shouldn’t I have a lawyer present?” you laugh at his joke, and he smiles, finding it funny how you have no fucking clue what he’s been up to here, what he and Ignacio have been up to, in-fact, under everyone's unsuspecting noses.

“Well,” he sighs, gesturing with his hands as he spoke “I grew up in Michoacán, where my uncle raised me and my cousins- you know Hector well enough by now, he’s… macho,” you nod, showing him you’re listening as he talks enthusiastically about his family. It warms your heart, and he hates the way you look at him, that innocence in your eyes. He hates it but fucking loves it. “Oh god, you have no idea, Mija, you should’ve seen him when he was well,” he claps his hands together, startling you for a moment.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, oh god when we were kids, I talked back to him - I was a… cocky like that, as a kid,” you giggle, muttering a ‘yes’, egging him on to continue the story, and he does so with as much energy as before. “He dunked my head underwater, like fully in there and.. Oh god you’ll love this” he laughs at the memory, and so far you have no idea what to expect. Seeing Hector immobile in his wheelchair, it was hard to imagine him young looking after his nephews, but even harder to imagine the elder dunking a child…

“ he held me there for a minute, I thrashed around for a bit, gave him a show and then went as stiff as a board, and uncle hector he- he grabs me by my shoulders and yanks me out of the water basin,” he places his hands on your shoulders, shaking you slowly as if to imitate young Hector.

“And fully panics, absolutely craps his pants- whilst I'm there playing dead, he goes to call for help when i splash him and run off into the garden” you can’t help but laugh with him as he continues on, telling you how Hector went all red like a tomato- so embarrassed by his mistake, how he had been fooled by a 7-year-old Lalo. The way he moves his arms and gestures as he talks, the enthusiasm and performative aspect of his personality gave you butterflies, hearing him talk about his family, he really loved them. He struck you as the type of guy that’d move heaven and earth for people he cared about.

“Oh god, Lalo, your uncle and my grandpa would get along… swimmingly”

He breathes out, leaning back against the bench as you talk “yeah, maybe” he admired your optimism, how you thought someone like Hector would get along with your gramps- the naivety of your 22-year-old mind. The fact you hadn’t a clue what he did was hilarious, he wondered whether or not you were like this with all the men you went out with.

“So, tell me about your childhood then, querida”

You freeze and purse your lips together, the point of your shoes drawing loose circles in the dirt path.

“Well uh, my parents argued a lot when I was a kid, so I spent a lot of my time with my grandparents… they’re nice…pretty much raised me, honestly.” you pause again, looking at the pond remembering all the arguments you had to listen to, you understood nothing at the time but looking back on it now in retrospect was frightening. “There were good times, I think, I just can’t remember them very well…”

Lalo glances at you, his expression unreadable as he places a hand on your shoulder- patting twice. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry”

You laugh and stand up from the seat, shaking your head “no, don’t worry about it! It's fine, honestly, shit happens” you wondered why he hadn’t mentioned his own parents, but refrain from prodding that wound open.

“Well on that note, shall we head to that parlour now? I don’t know about you but ever since you mentioned it in the car…” he stands up and begins to walk around the other side of the pond, close to the railing. You take a few quick steps after him, hands in your pockets as you both make your way to the exit.

------------

The car ride from the parlour is quiet, and you shuffle your feet against the carpeted floor, knee bouncing as Lalo keeps his eyes on the road. Unfortunately, the parlour was closed. They shut early on Fridays according to the sign in the window, much to your dismay. Lalo wasn’t too bothered about the lack of ice cream, he wasn’t really a big fan though he’d been wanting to get around whilst he was here, maybe try a few new things- like rocky road, whatever the hell that was. At the change of plans, he figured he’d just drive around for a bit, maybe go and get something to eat.

You as of now rest against the window, snoring lightly. Fast asleep.

It was amusing, though made sense. You looked exhausted.

It took him 30 minutes to find your place without direction when it could’ve taken 15, yet he hadn’t a problem with driving around. besides, he had nothing better to do. Ignacio had last called him at 12, giving him some information on Fring. He’d make sense of it later, probably had something to do with Werner Zeigler and that ice box he was supposedly building.

As he parked up beside your house, your phone started to ring, loud- rousing you from your sleep. He watched as you groaned and pulled the flip from your bag. It looked a lot older from where he sat, the bag. The leather was worn and one of the metal clasps had fallen off. He saw the book popping out, how many do you have in this little house of yours, and where do you keep them?

“God, not this again…”

He tilts his head, and you whine into your palm- looking like you were going to start crying. You muttered something beneath your breath, but he couldn’t quite catch it in time.

“Everything okay?”

You shake your head, he doesn’t notice but his grip tightens on the wheel as you do. “Tell me” this obviously was what you’d been worried about, what you hadn’t wanted to mention at the park earlier.

“I-i keep getting these weird phone calls, there’s quiet beeps on the other end and nothing else- and when i wake up in the morning there’s all this…” you sniffle, eyes brimming with tears- you feel pathetic, crying in front of a man you hardly know “ weird stuff outside my house, I'm not crazy Lalo I swear I think someone’s stalking me- or after me, something like that, I've been getting this weird stuff for a while now and- and-”

You press your face into your hands, and he sits there unsure of what to do as you sob quietly. Your phone stops ringing for a moment. He goes to open his mouth to ask a question when it rings for a second time. The same private number.

“Give me that,” he takes the phone from your lap, and for a split second you want to tell him to stop, but you don’t. Because you want him to protect you.

“Hello?” when he talks this time, he doesn’t sound as sincere or friendly, actually pretty pissed off as he inhales through gritted teeth, stifles a laugh and snaps the phone shut. “Maldito cabrón… fucker hung up on me.”

Your hands fall into your lap, and you look up at him, cheeks stained with tears. He sighs and snaps the phone in half as though it were nothing. “L-Lalo what the hell?! That’s my phone, everyone I need is on that”

He shrugged and tossed both halves into the backseat.

“I’ll get you a new phone,” you go to open your mouth when he cuts you off, his rough hand pressed against the back of yours “do you have any idea who it could be?”

You shake your head again, he suspects you’re lying and gives your hand a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to be afraid”

Your eyes flicker toward him and then back down at the hands on your lap.

“My ex, Daniel, he was pretty weird- a pretty possessive guy and i- I don’t know if he’d go as far as stalking me but... I wouldn't be surprised, you know?” Lalo nods, asking if there’s anything he can do for you now. You lift your shoulders and let them fall, your eyes were swollen and cheeks flushed- still a little embarrassed from the meltdown.

“Can… you stay with me for a little while, please? Just so I can sleep a little” you sigh, sniffling as he squeezes your hand again “I don’t want to be alone, god knows what he’ll do if he knows I'm with another guy, maybe he’ll…”

“Listen to me, he won’t do anything to you.”

He steps out of the car and moves to your side, helping you out similarly to how he had at the park- though this time you handled it a lot less gracefully.

------------

It’s now 1:00 am and you’re sound asleep beside him on the sofa, you have been for a few hours, actually. He’d gotten himself comfortable and turned on this old-school black-and-white movie with cowboys and guns. The kind hector was obsessed with watching. You stir from your end of the couch, and he shifts to give you more room. The blanket draped across your frame is soft, and for a moment he finds himself running his hands across the top. Earlier in the park, he actually enjoyed your conversation, he liked when people took an outside interest in his life. People he knew, people that knew what he did would ask questions but were never really genuine about it. Their kindness was always conditional, and he sometimes wondered if he could trust anyone other than the handful of family members he had left.

He looks at his watch, 1:24, he better get going.

Lalo reaches out, lifting the blanket up to try and get to the inside pocket of your shirt- where you had put the keys to your home upon entering. Though before he could, you sat up abruptly, your head almost hitting his as he’d been half leaning over the top of you.

“Lalo, is everything okay?” you rub your eyes, appearing so small and innocent as you do. He nods his head, yes, and you smile, taking his hands in yours. You’re half asleep and have no idea what you’re doing, but he lets you hold him like that for a second before slowly pulling back and manoeuvring off the sofa. He hears a whine, which makes him chuckle, you’re funny when you’re tired. If he could stay he’d tease you about it, but now he had some other things planned, he had texted Nacho and asked him to pick up a new phone for you, and managed to find your ex-boyfriend's full name whilst you were out.

“Querida, I have to go now”

You huff, sit up properly, and swing your legs over the side of the couch. The metal of the keys jingle against one another in your pocket as you stand, almost falling over.

“Easy, kid” you laugh, voice hoarse with sleep as he follows you to the front door.

Your home is only on one level, there are no stairs, which for you is great. Had you been alone in a story house, you’d probably fall down the stairs or hell, maybe even fall up the stairs after seeing him to the door.

“Thank you for staying with me Lalo, you’re such a sweetheart..”

He sighs, brushing off your compliment as though he’d heard it a million times before.

“Esta Bien, my friend has gone to get you a new phone, I’ll have him bring it here tomorrow morning” he tussles your hair, you whine again and try to flatten it, still trying to make yourself look pretty for him.

“Alright, wait uh, Lalo will I…” you swallow, and he notices your hands bunch up the fabric of your shirt, “ will I see you again, before you leave?”

You sound almost sad, and he wants to just squeeze the life out of you. How adorable. You’ve talked to him twice in person, yet somehow you still manage to get upset at the idea of him leaving…

“Of course, bebita, we can arrange something soon, no?” he opens the door and walks out, you follow him in a few small steps and grab ahold of his wrist.

“Yeah, when everything is better” you stand tall and press a kiss to his cheek, lingering there for a moment. Your lips are soft, and he wants to take your face in his hands and kiss you hard- but he doesn’t. He reminds himself you’re just a girl, a woman he met a few weeks ago as you let him leave.

He sits in the car for a few minutes after you’d locked the door, staring at your home from the curbside. Once you turn the lights off, he pushes on the gas and speeds off into the night.

Daniel, who do you think you are?

ahhh thank you so much for reading i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, if you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see happen next please let me know in the comments xx

#lalo x reader #lalo salamanca x reader #eduardo ‘lalo’ salamanca x reader #eduardo 'lalo' salamanca #better call saul x reader #tony dalton x reader #better call saul #lalo salamanca

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haruwrites21 · 1 year

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Creating Beautiful Invitations for Your Navratri Celebration

Navratri, a vibrant and auspicious Indian festival, celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It honors the divine feminine and the nine avatars of Goddess Durga. The perfect Navratri celebration begins with crafting beautiful and inviting invitations to send to your loved ones. In this article, we will discuss some unique ways to create stunning invitations for your Navratri festivities.

Choose a Central Theme Before starting the design process, decide on a central theme for your Navratri invitation. This could be based on colors, patterns, or specific elements related to the festival. A central theme helps create a cohesive invitation design that reflects the essence of Navratri.

Incorporate Cultural Symbols When designing your Navratri invitation, include traditional symbols and motifs that are culturally significant. Some popular motifs for Navratri invitations are Goddess Durga, the nine avatars, lamps, traditional dance forms like Garba and Dandiya, and floral arrangements. These elements add a festive touch and instantly evoke the spirit of Navratri.

Experiment with Colors Colors play a significant role in Indian festivals, and Navratri is no exception. The colors associated with Navratri include red, yellow, green, and blue. These colors not only symbolize the different avatars of the Goddess but also signify energy, positivity, and devotion. Experiment with these colors in your invitation design to create a vibrant and striking visual appeal.

Use Typography to Your Advantage Typography is an important element of a beautiful invitation design. Different fonts convey different moods and emotions, so choose a font that complements your theme and tone. For a traditional Navratri invitation, you can opt for elegant, calligraphic fonts or scripts. If you're going for a contemporary or modern theme, sans-serif fonts are an excellent choice.

Create Balance Between Text and Visuals To create an aesthetically pleasing invitation, it is essential to strike a balance between text and visuals. Ensure that the visual elements do not overshadow the text, making it difficult to read. Use negative spaces wisely to create a harmonious balance between the different design elements.

Opt for High-Quality Images or Illustrations Using high-quality images or illustrations adds a touch of sophistication to your Navratri invitation. Make sure the images selected are of high resolution to avoid pixelation when printed. You can choose from a variety of sources such as stock image websites or hire a professional illustrator to create custom illustrations for your invitation.

Add a Personal Touch Personalized invitations leave a lasting impression on your guests, making them feel special and valued. Include a personal message, a warm quote, or a verse from a religious text to make the invitation more intimate. You can also add a photograph of your family or the venue to enhance the personal touch.

Choose the Right Format Your Navratri invitation can take various forms, such as a printed card, e-invitation, or video invitation. Carefully consider factors like your budget, the number of recipients, and the time available for preparations before choosing the format. Printed invitations offer a tangible keepsake for guests, while e-invitations and video invites are cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Proofread Your Invitation Before sending out your Navratri invitations, make sure to proofread the text thoroughly. Check for spelling and grammatical errors and ensure that the information included is accurate and complete. This will help avoid any confusion and misunderstanding for your guests.

Time Your Invitations Right Lastly, time your invitations properly to give your guests ample notice to make arrangements for attending your Navratri celebration. Ideally, send out invitations at least three weeks before the event to ensure that your loved ones can join you in the festivities.

In conclusion, creating beautiful and captivating Navratri invitations requires attention to detail, creativity, and thoughtful planning. By incorporating a central theme, experimenting with colors and typography, and adding a personal touch, you can craft inviting invitations that capture the essence of this radiant and auspicious celebration.

#durga maa #mata rani #navratri #invitation

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nicetown · 1 year

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The Magic of Thermal Curtains and How They Can Transform Your Home

Have you ever noticed how a sweltering summer day can transform your living room into a makeshift sauna? Or how your teeth start chattering in winter despite your best attempts to create a warm, snug haven indoors? That’s when you realize your windows, beautiful as they may be, are acting like thermal traitors, letting in the heat and the cold. The solution to this insidious problem? Drumroll, please… it’s thermal curtains, including insulated curtains, thermal insulated curtains, and thermal drapes!

Let’s first dive into what thermal curtains are. Imagine your windows wrapped up in a cozy blanket, and voila, you get the idea! These curtains, however, are far more technologically advanced than your average comforter. With layers of foam, a reflective film, and a good-old-fashioned dose of heavy fabric, they are the ultimate weather warriors.

On that note, let’s talk about their summer superpower — the power of reflection. Insulated curtains are like that kid at school who was so cool they could deflect anything, except instead of playground banter, these curtains reflect heat. So when the sun tries to blast your home with its scorching rays, these curtains say, “Not today, Mr. Sun,” and bounce that heat right back out the window.

Now let’s head into winter. As soon as you feel the first frosty shiver, you’ll want thermal insulated curtains on your side. They work like a thermos for your windows, keeping your hot chocolate of warmth from cooling down. That means your heater can take a well-deserved break, saving you quite a few bucks on energy bills.

Switching gears to thermal drapes — these are the heavyweight champions of the curtain world. The drama queens of insulation, if you will. These drapes take insulation to a whole new level, with an extra layer of fabric that adds an additional barrier against the weather. Plus, they’re fantastic sound absorbers. They could hush a brass band playing at full volume right outside your window!

Of course, size matters when it comes to thermal curtains. Just like your favorite superhero’s cape, the larger the curtain, the more powerful it is. A curtain that covers the entire window from top to bottom and side to side will provide the most insulation. A little tip — let them hang a bit longer and wider than your window. The more they cover, the less the weather has a chance to sneak in.

Apart from their superpowers, these curtains can also score high on the fashion front. They come in a variety of colors, patterns, and styles. So whether your room screams ‘modern minimalistic’ or whispers ‘vintage charm,’ there’s a thermal curtain out there that will fit right in.

In a nutshell, Nicetown thermal curtains are the unsung heroes of home decor. They tackle weather woes like a pro, save you money on energy bills, and look pretty darn good while doing it. Insulated curtains, thermal insulated curtains, thermal drapes — whatever you call them, they’re the secret to a cozier, comfier home. So why not give your windows a thermal makeover and enjoy the change?

#Soundproof Curtains #Insulated Curtains #Thermal Curtains #Blackout Curtains #Thermal Drapes #curtains #soundproof #window treatment #thermal

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grhamoy · 2 years

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The cushion effect | Grhamoy Online Home Furnishing Store in India

I was recently hanging out at my friend's place when I noticed something seemed different about the decor. As much as we like to undermine the essentiality of minimalism, it is often hard to ignore how much more we can do with so little. A good interior can be depicted using more than one element or lesser. The best way to understand this is to incorporate certain eye-catching essentialities in the room that will instantly stir up one's curiosity and garner attention. Cushions are one of those elements. A bright cushion cover can instantly light up a living room space without even having to do much. There are so many varieties of these available in the market that it becomes a lot easier for us to set up a certain vibe that belongs in a room. For example, having a Bohemian approach to our decor would mean picking out cushion covers having sequins or woven patterns along with lace against a bright coloured base material. Pastel coloured cushion sets can also work wonders when it comes to creating a more authentic sense of style.

When it comes to picking out cushion covers these days, most buyers are usually choosy because a good set of those can completely change the entire setting of your room. We also have kitschy sets that can simplify your choices to more of a pop-cultured centric theme. Perhaps a bit of something that has a louder and yet youthful approach towards your room. Most of these cushion covers that are a little off-beat can be found widely in stores online.

Kitsch.

Pop culture finds its importance in our world on a day-to-day basis. And especially when we are connected to social media more frequently. Kitschy cushion covers can alter the entire surroundings of your environment. A bright coloured interior usually goes well with these. But more often than not, even a mellow backdrop can highlight a good cushion set and make them the centre of attention inside your room. The biggest challenge arises when it comes to selecting the correct set of cushion covers. However, these ones usually go everywhere. They find a huge base of customers who buy these online.

Bohemian.

Have you ever walked inside a room and caught an instant vibe that screams 'gypsy'? Well, I know I have. The Bohemian theme usually consists of laces and embroidery that goes perfectly well with decor for the vagabond. I wouldn't say that cushion covers such as these are only made for Vagabonds. But at least they give off the type of vibe that would almost make you believe the same. And that's their charm.

We see tassels over here against a grey and white coloured material that gives off a more soothing and aesthetically pleasing vibe and yet comprises strong feminine aesthetics. These are the type of cushion covers that are more popularly sold these days for the beauty that they add to a decor. Customers choose to look for authentic bohemian designs at stores online.

The furry work on a white background makes the design stand out in the most delicate manner possible. There are a lot of websites from where we can purchase cushion covers online. For example, Amazon and Flipkart have their own departments for interior decor respectively. And now Myntra has also gotten into the business, honing a more popular approach for the buyers.

There is also pepperfry.com that has an incredible collection for interior decor items and by that, what we are specifically trying to imply are cushion cover sets.

Fabric Paint.

The most authentic form of decor is the ones that get artistically created. And as we know, for those who take keen interest in art will only require an excuse to paint something breathtakingly beautiful. More often than not, cushion covers widely make it to that category.

Madhubani paintings hand-painted by artisans are one of India's most authentically sold artworks. There are artists who work all around the clock to bring these paintings to life. And sometimes a few of these make it to the cushion covers adorning the home spaces and brightening them up in the most exciting manner possible.

Therefore when it comes to picking out cushion covers, the options are endless. But picking out the correct type of cushion cover that fits appropriately in your room needs a lot of research and introspection as well. Pick whichever goes best with your vibe. They're all equally endearing and aesthetically pleasing. And the most essential part about purchasing a good set of cushion covers is that they are popularly sought after on websites online.

#cushion covers online #pillow covers online #buy cushion cover online #buycushioncoveronline #cushioncoversonline #pillowcoversonline

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raayllum · 3 years

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I think the reason TDP is left out of queer rep discussions is because it's not as known as other shows with LGBTQ+ representation, which mainly advertize themselves as that while TDP tends to lean more towards adventure, comedy and drama. It could also be because, from my fandom deep dives, some call Duren's queens' death "bury your gays" trope or think the creators simply wanted to make a "woke" show. But these are just my quesses about the matter.

This might be a very cynical slant to take but: I actually think a lot of it has to do with race. Now, queer rep in live action vs animation is very different. M/M ships / pairings still dominate the live action landscape in terms of rep and in terms of fandom. Western animation is one of the only places - as far as I know of - where femslash is actually more represented. And I'm not going to get into why, because it's long and complex and I don't have all the answers there, but we're gonna put a pin in that point because it's relevant for later.

The fact of the matter is that, in spite of cartoon tumblr's insistences that they care about Intersectionality, they don't actually care about disabled or racial representation. And I know this, largely because of how the VLD and SPOP fandoms treat their disabled and darker skinned characters of colour. I was in the VLD fandom for 2.5 years as a Shiro (disabled, chronically & mentally ill queer man of colour) and Allura (Black woman) fan. For SPOP I dabbled in the fandom alone, but my favourites were always Bow, Scorpia, and Adora.

While I have mixed feelings regarding Sh*ra and adore TOH as a very fun and cute show, there are commonalities between them. Just a quick disclaimer: I don't like Catra/Adora (also never shipped Adora/Glimmer) and I think Luz/Amity is adorable. I am acknowledging my shipping preferences, but they actually have very little to do with the sort of analysis I'm doing here, which is on a structural narrative level. But just to get it out of the way, they're there.

Now, the most popular queer ships of the past 5 years have been Keith/Lance, Sokka/Zuko, Catra/Adora, and Luz/Amity. All four are (technically, in CA's case) interracial, with strong corresponding elements between each m/m and f/f pair.

Keith/Lance and Sokka/Zuko both feature a paler angstier boy who's a bit of a loner paired with a more flirtatiously written (whether that's canon for Sokka is debatable) darker skinned boy. CA and Lumity both feature a character who's mean or cruel at first due to their home life, but is eventually reformed. All four ships are rivals or enemies to lovers.

There's a few key differences between CA, Lumity, and Janaya. The first two both feature at least one protagonist (Catra would likely fall under deuteragonist, Amity is a main side character, same as Janai and Amaya; for the record Keith and Lance would have fallen under this as well). Another main difference is that Janai/Amaya is the only one where the rivalry / enemy status is truly reciprocal and completely impersonal. But I think the biggest differences, honestly, between why CA and Lumity are so much more popular than JA?

It's because CA and Luz/Amity offer more projection fodder for things that young teens in particular are going through in regards to Amity and Catra's characters being very easy to project onto, and that both ships hardcore protect White Femininity somewhat at the expense of their darker skinned ladies of colour.

For example: Amity and Adora are both the more feminine ladies in appearance and disposition in some ways, i.e. being in dresses whereas their ship half is in something more masculine leaning (or in Luz's case, a true mix). Again, put a pin this, cause we'll be back to it in a second.

As for projection, Catra and Amity both struggle with having very controlling mothers. They have hard outer shells as a coping mechanism, with the protagonist being someone who opens and softens them up. As such, the shipping content itself tends to hinge on how Catra and Amity feel, over how Luz and Adora feel. Canon reflects this; Amity blushing episodes before Luz does, catching feelings when they're only really just starting to be friends. We're supposed to believe that Catra has "always loved" Adora - in her own words - even though she brainwashed her in season two (which is what Horde Prime, endgame big bad, did to Catra in season five - and we got to see trauma there addressed, but what Catra did to Adora is never brought up ever again), and accepting their happily ever after means accepting that truth.

TOH does a better job at showing why Luz is interested in Amity, first as a friend and then as a love interest. Catra and Adora's relationship is more sloppily handled.

However, one key thing is still there: in season five, the show presents Catra as Adora's saviour: "It doesn't always have to be you! [...] What do you want, Adora?" Likewise, much of Luz and Amity's relationship hinges on Luz, by proxy, transforming Amity's life and helping to free her from her family. In spite of the way Catra is brutal to Adora in the past, her side of the relationship arc in the show with the final season in mind is ultimately about saving the more feminine, white woman she's fallen in love with. (This is also Netossa's entire character arc, btw; we never see her white wife have to fight for her, either.) Amity has very few arcs that aren't related to Luz / her gayness - whereas as Luz has plenty outside of it, which makes it so much better - but relationship wise, Amity hasn't wrought the big transformative changes out of Luz in the same capacity that Luz has created for Amity.

Now reading Catra as brown is complicated for a few different reasons (she's often specifically seen as Latina, and Catra is by far the most sexualized character in the show as well as being the angriest / more aggressive / literally animalistic), but that doesn’t mean it’s a disingenuous reading. Noelle Stevenson themselves has supported it, in fairly typical “I didn’t think through all the implications” fashion SP*P is riddled with.

Now, how does this relate to Janaya? Well for one, Amaya is significantly more masculine presenting in comparison to Janai. Neither deal with parental issues that can be projected onto; Khessa disapproves, but she arguably brings Janai and Amaya together instead, and Janai has her own authority as a political figure. Janaya has a very reciprocal relationship, both taking steps towards the other. The relationship doesn't hinge on one having strong feelings far sooner than the other to justify their redemption arc or their cruelty towards the other. Neither of them are mean, although if one is characterized as more angry or stand offish in a fic, it is often Janai, who is a darker skinned Black woman, because... fandom falls back on stereotypes, I suppose? But related to the projection, is that because Janai and Amaya have a lot of character background that isn't related to each other, they're more complex characters to write. Catra basically doesn't have a motivation outside of Adora and neither does Amity; they kinda exist, within text, to be love interests, even if their characters also have more than that going on personally.

But Janai does not Exist, narratively, just to be Amaya's love interest. Most of her motivations exist outside of Amaya (i.e. Amaya is an obstacle to protecting her people, whereas Catra fights Adora to spite Adora) and Amaya never overtakes them (which can't be said for Amity or Catra; although they're setting aside negative motivations like shame or expectations, those motivations aren't replaced by anything other than their love interests). She has her own interiority, and that makes her less appealing.

Janai and Amaya are going to change each other's lives, yes, but in smaller ways outside of changing things between elves and humans. The fics I've seen that try to give that "Janai doesn't have much of a life outside of Amaya" read (ie. that Janai didn't have many friends growing up) is baffling for a few reasons. The first is that, unlike Rayla or Ezran in canon, there's nothing in canon to support it, and it's a lazier less interesting route for a grown woman who would have camaraderie with her troops (and her two canonical siblings) if nothing else.

There's a lot of interesting think pieces on what gets popular for m/f ships and why that you can read here, but one of those overlaps is the emphasis on dynastic power and - usually the male - 'liberating' the female character from a life she's trapped in. Again: sound familiar at all? And again, is also extremely common for enemies/rivals to lovers ships.

Which is to say: TDP's ship that would've fit the format would've been Rayla/Claudia. Not only are they both white, which definitely helps shipping popularity, but Rayla is the more masculine leaning between the two, and Claudia can't be evil, because she's a quirky feminine white girl! She just needs someone to save her from her father - or, in one oneshot I stumbled upon, a very aggressive Corvus who's attacking Rayla, because making out a Black man as aggressive and violent when he's not that in canon whatsoever so your white lesbians can get together is Progressive, right? Who cares if Rayla is someone she dehumanizes in canon? They can be a power couple together.

But TDP canon didn't give a single damn thing to Rayla/Claudia, and so the ship died out.

Janaya has the dynastic power, but it is privileged to a Black woman, and so is her emotional arc. Amaya will be her queen, not the other way around. Nor are they liberating each other from anything. They are two people who already have most of their shit figured out, figuring out the rest together. It is refreshingly mature, and honestly common with a lot of TDP’s couples, even Rayllum (who has the reciprocal transformative side of things done perfectly).

So I guess the TLDR version is;

A combination of age demographic of tumblr's animation community; the tropes that Janaya don't fall into that leads to less interrelated projection; and race.

Because let's be honest, a lot of queer rep in fandom is predicated entirely on shipping, which is why bi characters in m/f relationships or interracial representation is given a backseat to Gold Star Gays.

The second thing is that TDP has a Lot going on besides shipping. Any of the main five are pretty equally popular among general fans, everyone gets multiple arcs a season. There's intensive worldbuilding, lore, and history. There's a lot of over arcing plot and platonic foundations / relationships are prioritized (i.e. friends, siblings, etc).

TOH tries to balance between a school show (both familiar) and has actual worldbuilding here and there, which I'm very grateful for. Sh*ra does worldbuilding whenever it feels like it, which is very rare, and dismantles it's emphasis on friendship by having almost literally everyone get into romantic relationships within the last two episodes. The main draws of each of the shows are shipping; TOH privileges Amity's relationship with Luz in terms of emphasized screentime over Gus and Willow, which is strange because Luz never had Friends before, and because it's only started to feel recently (i.e. s2) like she and Amity have a strong friendship outside of crush feelings. Which yeah, as an aro-spec person, is Important to me to get Invested, lmao. Shera has completely stagnant characters, sometimes for entire 6-13 episode long seasons, and the war only matters when the show wants it to, resulting in multiple, very odd and jarring tonal shifts. Both shows struggle with highlighting their men of colour and giving them individual arcs, although again, TOH does significantly better.

But fandom - especially young, queer fandom - doesn't know how to exist in fandom without shipping, and without an extreme emphasis on same sex presenting couples, and are unlearning a lot of their own western imposed whiteness and... Yeah. (That's not to say I'm not unlearning my own, but I'm probably further along than a 16 year old, and I Know I was further along at 16 than a lot of teens on twitter these days, unfortunately.)

TDP just says, "Here are our characters and the world they inhabit, and you just get to observe them." It's complete and utter normalization, for any of the intersections of representation involved. TDP makes their representation Clear and Obvious without making it Important, as an interview, marketing, or in story factor. These characters just get to Be. They get to live and die and love like anyone else. There's no attention drawn to it in the first place, it just is.

But you know, as frustrating as it can be sometimes that TDP doesn't get the credit it deserves, as it is undeniably the show that has made me and a lot of other people along different intersections than me feel the Most Seen, I'd take just getting to Be - even if it's just in a fictional universe for now - over Distinction, any day.

#i really said: i'm gonna end mainstream femslash's whole career #shipping #but like none of these things are Bad #but noticing patterns and giving more variety?? are Good. please do them #thanks for asking #anonymous #fandoms #non tdp #like i'm in a same sex presenting interracial relationship #i have personal stakes in this game lmao #tdp has my favourite rep thank u very much #esp as someone who also writes high fantasy and GASP kills off queer characters sometimes #bc literally almost my entire cast is queer #i will defend the queens of duren always & forever thank u #tag ramble #spop critical #JUST IN CASE?#representation #race in fandom

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tomurasprincess · 4 years

Text

Kinktober Day 31: Sexual Slavery (Vaulted Bonds)

Day 31: Sexual Slavery Title: Vaulted Bonds Pairing: League of Villains (Shigaraki, Dabi, Spinner, Kurogiri, Muscular) x Reader Word Count: 6k Warnings: Noncon, dubcon, branding, marking, degradation, misogynist Dabi, double pentration (two cocks in one hole and two cocks in seperate holes), praise kink, soft marking and biting, cumflation, size difference, belly bulge, mist bondage, mist tentacle sex, orgasm denial, daddy kink, pet play (of the puppy variety), watersports, overstimulation, rough sex, creampies Note: Sequel to Vault 68, Kinktober Day 1 gangbang. Thank you so much for everyone’s patience while I finished this. Kinktober was an exhausting, wild, but incredibly amazing experience and I’m glad that I can say I finished it! Even if it’s in March, don’t judge. Also thank you to @tamakisbunnygirl for talking this over with me and reading it over for me!

Kinktober Masterlist

Life was so very easy lately.

No fighting for survival, no worrying about radiation, no bandits, super mutants, or anything else to avoid.

No, you simply had to please the villains you were locked up with, allow them to use whatever holes they wanted to use whenever they wanted to use them.

You were unimaginably sore for the first week, something that Spinner noticed instantly. He was always the kinder one, the one who soothed your abused cunt with various creams he found. Dabi laughed, of course. He enjoyed seeing you limp around the vault after a particularly rough session with him.

Muscular did too, although he typically bent you over with a boast of seeing how much more sore he could make you.

Kurogiri was one of the kinder ones as well, although his concern always had a mocking, manipulative flair to it. You could never quite figure the man out, and his lack of expressions on his misty form did not help you read him.

Shigaraki would whisper words about how sorry he was while tracing patterns along your skin in an attempt to soothe you., You would almost think he was acting nice, until he whispered that you still have a mouth you can use, and wasn’t he just the best for letting you use that instead of that currently useless cunt between your legs? Or that tight asshole, it hadn’t been used as much, right? He could use it instead.

Currently, you were in Dabi’s bed waiting for him to get back from grabbing food. He hadn’t touched you yet, and you’re enjoying the peace and quiet until he comes barging in. He has a cruel glint in his eyes, erection already straining against his pants and you can already tell this is going to be a rough time for you.

“Why do you have clothes on?” Dabi instantly says, looking with distaste at the long t-shirt and panties you’re currently wearing. You cringe at the tone in his voice.

“I - I got cold,” you mutter quietly, hoping that he won’t use this as an excuse to be even rougher. But you know Dabi by this point, and you know that punishment is awaiting you. “I’m sorry.”

“Not fucking sorry enough,” he growls, palms lighting up with blue flame as he advances towards you. You instinctively crawl backwards from the fire, wanting to avoid it. But he grabs your ankle and yanks you towards him.

His hand touches your shirt, catching it on fire at the same time as he rips it off your body. He tosses it to the side, pulling your panties off too. He isn’t careful with his flames, and you hiss at the pain, the smell of burning flesh rising up and hitting your nose. You glance down and see a small, singed mark on your flesh to join the rest of the bruises and burns on your body from the rest of them.

“Your skin looks so beautiful with burns, doll,” Dabi snorts, “I dunno why I haven’t covered you with them even more.” He holds you down with one hand as he unzips his pants, although holding you down isn’t necessary anymore.

You’ve already learned what happens when you resist Dabi.

He guides himself to your already wet pussy, lining up and snapping his hips to fill you with one sharp thrust. You let out a gasp, still unprepared for the Jacob’s Ladder running up his length despite how many times he’s fucked you at this point.

“You like that, whore?” He chuckles as his hands wrap around your neck. “This is all you’re good for.” He sets a fast pace, barely giving you any time to get used to him. “You’re nothing but a fucking hole for me to use.” You choke and splutter as his grip tightens around your throat, hands reaching up to claw at his arms as you try to get air into your lungs.

The Jacob’s ladder piercing grinds against your g-spot, and despite everything, you feel the tension building up inside of you as your eyes roll to the back of your head. Your lungs burn with the need for air, black spots appearing at the edge of your vision. “You look so fucking good like this,” Dabi laughs sadistically.

Just when you think you’re about to pass out, he releases your throat and you take deep gulping breaths. The lack of oxygen and the insistent grinding of the piercings against your inner walls has your orgasm even more intense as the tension inside of you snaps.

You moan as your pussy flutters and clenches around Dabi’s cock, and he snickers. “Fucking whore, getting off to me choking you.”

His hands reach up to grip your breasts, kneading the soft flesh roughly as he tweaks your nipples. They’re quickly hard and standing at attention as he continues to pound into your now dripping pussy, and you whine as you feel yourself building back up to another orgasm.

“Dabi, please - “

“Please what? You want to cum again, whore? I already gave you a freebie, so you better fucking beg like your life depends on it.”

“Please, I want to cum, please let me cum!”

“Tell me you’re a whore, that the only good thing about you are these fucking holes. You’re nothing but something for me to fuck, a cum dumpster”

You cringe at the words, knowing that he’ll punish you if you don’t do what he says. And as much as you hate it, you know you want to cum again.

“I’m a whore! I’m nothing but holes for you to fuck, Dabi!”

“Be more convincing,” he snarls as his hands heat up on your hips, causing you to scream as he singes your skin.

“I’m nothing but a whore for you to use! I’m a cumdumpster, I’m a useless whore only good for you to fuck!”

His hands heat up even more as his finger comes up to trace patterns on your skin. Tears run freely down your face as you smell burning flesh yet again. You don’t want to, but you find yourself glancing down anyway, wanting to see what he’s doing.

When you see the letter D, you know exactly what he intends to do.

You try to hold still as much as you can, not wanting to make this even worse. But the pain is so extreme, and he continues to fuck you even through what he’s doing. The conflicting feelings has your head spinning, unsure whether to feel the pain or the pleasure. Ultimately, you decide to focus on the pleasure. It’s shameful, but at least it’s not agony.

By the time he finishes his name, you’re cumming again with a choked sob as you squeeze his cock. “Fuck, you really are a little painslut aren’t you? Good, because I fucking love hurting you.”

His pace stutters, becoming uneven as he thrusts right against your cervix and shoots hot ropes of cum against it. You whimper as you feel the heat spreading through your core, body trembling from both pain and pleasure.

He pulls out abruptly, stroking himself out the rest of the way as he shoots cum on your new burn. You sob as it hits the wound, stinging like fire as you writhe around on the bed.

Dabi stands up, throwing your t-shirt at you as he points to the door. “You can get the fuck out now, whore. Don’t want you dirtying up the place any more than you already have.”

You give a nod as you stand up on shaky legs, pulling the shirt over your head as you wobble towards the door. You’re able to make it outside before you collapse on the floor. Spinner just happens to be in the hallway, and he rushes over to you.

“Oh god, are you okay?” He leans down, lifting your shirt up as he stares at the burn on your hip. “That brute,” he whispers quietly, picking you up in his arms as he carries you to his room. “Let me take care of you.”

He lays you down in the bed as he looks for one of his many soothing creams and a washcloth. He dabs at the burn as gently as he can, trying to get as much of the now dried cum off your skin as he can before applying a burn cream.

“Does that feel better?” He asks a bit shyly, only now noticing how undressed you are. He’s always been on the shy side, the one most hesitant to take advantage of you. Although that hadn’t stopped him.

“Yeah, it does. Thank you, Spinner.” He preens a bit at the praise, one of his claws tracing a light pattern down your stomach.

“Can I - “ He trails off, unable to finish the sentence as he glances away. You know exactly what he’s asking, and you give a soft sigh as you nod your head.

He blushes a bit as he lifts your shirt up, making an angry noise as he touches each of the bruises and burns Dabi left on your body. “He is so rough with you,” he admonishes the other man, “you should be cherished like the jewel you really are.”

He slides down your body until he reaches your thighs, leaning down between your legs as he tentatively licks your folds. “You taste so good,” he moans as his tongue dives into your heated flesh.

Spinner’s tongue works its way inside of you, causing you to let out a choked moan as you lay back and let take care of you. He takes the back of his knuckle as he rubs your swollen clit, careful not to touch you with claws.

His tongue fucks you like a cock would, getting far deeper than a normal man’s tongue as the tip grazes your cervix. The feeling drives you mad, and you already feel the pressure of your muscles tightening up. “Spinner, don’t stop - “

He hums against your skin as he keeps tongue fucking you, quickening the pace as he feels you clench down around his tongue. His knuckle works against your clit, only increasing the pleasure as you finally topple over the edge. He licks up your juices as you gush around his mouth like he’s starving before pulling away.

In no time at all, you hear clothes beginning to shuffle and two cocks spring up from his pants. They’re both huge, and you always have a moment of doubt that they’ll fit inside of you.

But despite how kind Spinner is, he’s always determined to make them fit. You briefly wonder if he’ll put one in your ass and one in your pussy, or if he’ll simply fill you up with both of them. You don’t know which one you prefer.

When you feel him rubbing his cocks along your slick, you instantly know what he intends to do. A secret thrill runs through you at the thought of being so completely full.

He begins to push inside of you gently, your wetness aiding him in moving. You let out a broken moan as you feel your pussy stretch to accommodate him, head thrown back as your legs shake. He gets past your tight outer ring of muscle and keeps going, the ridges and scales along his cock pressing against your walls in such an amazing way that you cum just from the feeling alone.

“Fuck, Spinner - “

“Shh, it’s okay, you’re doing so well, sweetie.” Your previous orgasms have loosened you up enough that he’s able to bottom out inside of you relatively easily, stilling for a while to allow you to adjust. “So beautiful,” he murmurs as he strokes a claw down your face. “So amazing, you feel so good around me.”

You preen at the praise, always loving how kindly he treats you.

He waits until you give him a quick nod to indicate you’re ready before he begins to move, and you let out a wail as he starts to thrust. You feel so impossibly full, so amazing that you wish you could always feel this full.

“Spinner, please, faster!”

He instantly obeys you, grabbing your hips to force you back onto his cock. His heavy balls smack against the curve of your ass with every sharp thrust, and you can hear the wet noises of your bodies joining as they fill the room.

“So damned good, so tight for me - you’re squeezing my cock so well, sweetie.”

“I’m going to - “

He moves to start rubbing your clit as soon as the words leave your mouth. “Then cum for me, I wanna see how pretty you look when you’re cumming around my cocks.”

The tension snaps as you clench down around him, gasping and moaning as your body convulses. “It - feels so good - “

Spinner groans as his teeth sink into the meat of your neck, marking you just as surely as Dabi did. Feeling you squeeze around him is more than he can handle, and he follows you into orgasm. Both cocks shoot ropes of cum into you, and you can feel it leaking out around him. Your belly bulges just a bit, a sight that leaves Spinner feral as he thrusts his way through his own orgasm.

Finally his cocks become too sensitive, and he pulls out as he collapses beside you. He pulls you into his arms, cooing sweet words at you as you curl up against his warm scales. “You did so well for me, sweetie.”

He brushes the bite mark on your neck, wanting to feel bad but loving the sign of possession that he left on you. He traces over the bite mark with a claw.

You smile at the tenderness, needing this after Dabi’s rough ministrations. You could stay like this for hours, if it weren’t for Muscular bursting through the door.

“It’s my turn with the toy,” Muscular instantly demands, and Spinner reluctantly releases you as Muscular grabs you. He throws you over his shoulder, carrying you out like a caveman dragging you into his lair.

He takes you immediately to his room, throwing you down on the bed and wasting no time unzipping his pants. “You had Spinner’s cocks shoved up there, so I don’t need to prep you, do I?” Muscular snicks as he frees his massive cock from his pants, not even bothering to get fully undressed before he’s lining himself up with your entrance.

“Wait, please go easy on - “

But it’s too late, and he’s already buried inside of you. Muscular’s singular cock is still bigger even than Spinner’s two, and you feel like you’re going to tear without preparation. He doesn’t bother to let you adjust, pounding into you instantly and drawing tears from your eyes. You feel so fucking full, almost painful in the fullness and he’s only just started.

“Such a good cunt,” he growls out as his fingers dig into the plush flesh of your thighs. He lifts you up onto his lap so that he can thrust up into you faster, getting even deeper and causing you to squeeze around him. “So fucking tight, I can barely move. But I can fix that.”

You feel his cock begin to expand inside of you, and your eyes widen in fear and terror. “Please, no!”

But it’s too late, having already activated his quirk to make his cock bigger. Your walls stretch even more, and you howl as you’re thrown into a sudden orgasm. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, body convulsing as you’re fucked ruthlessly through your orgasm. “Please, too much - “

“I’m not done with your fucking cunt yet,” he snarls as his cock shrinks just a bit, leaving more room for him to thrust even harder. “Going to fill you up so fucking well, gonna make sure you can’t walk for a fucking week.”

You don’t doubt that, having experienced this many times already. You whine and whimper as he jackhammers into you, not even bothering to touch your clit in a mad rush to cum as quickly as he can.

When he finally cums, he forces his way up to your cervix as he cums directly against it. There is so much cum that you can feel your belly begin to bulge, see the little pocket of cum that he’s filling you with. You cum one last time, screaming out your orgasm. Your fluttering walls force some of his cum out of you, causing it to make a mess of the bed underneath you and coating Muscular’s thick thighs.

He pants a bit, relaxing for a second before you can feel him begin to harden inside of you again.

“No, please, it’s too much, I can’t -”

“I fucking say when it’s too much, slut,” he growls at you as he begins to thrust again. This time, he manages to be even rougher with you, fingers digging bruises into your skin as he fucks up into your tight heat. “Wanna fill you up, see that belly bulge even more.”

You whimper as you feel him begin to twitch, relieved that he’s going to cum so quickly while also dreading what happens afterwards. He cums with a grunt, even more cum shooting from the head of his cock. The skin of your belly stretches lewdly, the bulge becoming even more noticeable as the cum is trapped inside of you, unable to leak out around his cock.

He pulls out and strokes himself off the rest of the way on your stomach where the bulge is, coating your skin with hot cum. He reaches down to press against the bulge, laughing sadistically when his cum gushes out of you and soaks his bed. He drops you almost instantly onto the wet spot, standing up and walking towards the door.

“I’m done,” he declares before simply leaving the room. You take a few minutes to recover, rolling out of the bed and collapsing to your knees, unable to hold yourself up on your legs. But you find yourself not needing to walk as a portal opens up underneath you, dropping you into the arms of Kurogiri.

“I think it’s time that you spend some time with your daddy, don’t you?” The man muses, cradling you in his arms as he lays you down on the floor. Mist springs up around you, wrapping around your arms and holding you down. It also swirls up around your legs, forcing you to spread them open and reveal yourself to his gaze.

“That was a question.” Kurogiri says in a dark voice, and you know that means he wants an answer.

“Yes daddy,” you whisper to him, face flushing at having to call him that.

“Good girl,” he praises you, and you feel warmth rise up in you at the praise. “Be good for daddy and he’ll be good to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes daddy.”

You feel one of the cold misty tendrils probing at your ass, and your eyes widen as it begins to push inside. Kurogiri chuckles as he lowers himself to the floor, hand coming down to unzip his dress pants and pull his cock out. You can never tell just how big he is because of the shadows and mist around it, but you know how big it feels inside of you.

Your legs are spread even wider as he settles himself in between them, sliding easily in because of all of the wetness down there. He bottoms out almost instantly before setting a slow but steady pace. One of the tendrils attaches itself to your clit, sucking and pulling at the sore bead and causing you to let out a broken moan.

“It feels so good - “ you moan before remembering to add, “daddy”

“You can’t cum without my permission, do you understand?”

“Yes daddy, I understand.”

But you can already feel the tension at the insistent suckling of your clit by the mist, and you squirm as you try to think of anything else but the pressure building up inside of you. You throw your head from side to side, legs shaking and quivering at the strain of trying not to cum.

“Can I cum, daddy? Please let me cum!”

“Hmm, I don’t think you’ve been a good enough girl yet. Should bad girls cum before their daddies?”

“N-n-no,” you whisper.” Your nails dig into the palms of your hands, hoping the pain will distract you from the need to cum. But it only adds to the pleasure, causing you to almost topple over the edge.

“Daddy,” you whine, “I can’t hold out - “

The wet smacking of his balls hitting the curve of your ass fill the room as he roughly fucks you, pulling almost all the way out of you before slamming back inside. “Yes you can, you’re such a good girl.”

You really want to be a good girl, and so you distract yourself as much as you can. You think of anything and everything, trying to ignore the tendril still attached to your clit. Just when you think you can’t hold out anymore, you feel him begin to throb inside of you.

“Cum now! Cum along with daddy!”

You wail as you obey his command, body shaking as you’re thrown over the edge. Your orgasm is intense and powerful, and he simply fucks you harder through it. You feel warmth spreading through you as he finishes along with you.

“You were such a good girl, daddy is going to reward you.”

You know what his rewards can be, know that sometimes they don’t feel like rewards at all. And this time won’t be any different, as you feel a tendril of mist push against your ass and worm its way inside.

“Daddy, I don’t -” You trail off, not wanting to finish your sentence. Refusing a reward would result in a punishment, something that you did not want.

“Yes? What was that?” His voice takes on a dangerous tone, and you shake your head.

“Nothing. Thank you for a reward, daddy.”

His chest rumbles with laughter. A larger tendril comes to your abused cunt, pushing inside of you as well. “Good girl, don’t fight this.”

The tendrils take turns thrusting inside of you, one pulling out while the other one thrusts inside. The rhythm has your head spinning, stomach tightening up as you near an orgasm. In a near panic, you begin to beg.

“Daddy, can I cum? Please let me cum!”

“This is a reward, little girl. You may cum.”

You breathe a sigh of relief as you’re thrown over the edge, screaming out your orgasm.

“Hey, Kurogiri, I need - “ Shigaraki pauses, laughing in amusement as he sees you cumming around Kurogiri’s mist tentacles. “Oh, I see you’re busy,” he mocks.

“No, we were almost done if you want a turn.”

“I think I do, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve had a turn with my puppy.”

You cringe at the term, knowing exactly the degrading things Shigaraki is going to force you to do.

“I actually got you something, puppy.” He laughs sadistically, pulling out a leash and collar. “Isn’t it cute?”

Your eyes widen with horror, not wanting that to go around your neck. But Shigaraki’s eyes narrow at your lack of response. “Am I going to have to punish my puppy already?”

“N-n-no, you don’t have to punish me!”

“I think I do, since you left off the master,” his voice takes on a dark tone, and you wince.

“I’m sorry, master! You don’t have to punish me, master!”

“So you’ll wear the collar like a good puppy?”

“Yes master,” you say, defeated.

“Good puppy.” Kurogiri’s mist dissolves, leaving you on the floor in a destroyed heap. Shigaraki reaches down, showing you the collar and what it says.

Shigaraki’s Puppy. If lost, please return.

Tears run down your face as he attaches the collar around your neck, locking it in place and pocketing the key.

The key? You realize instantly that it’s not something you can ever take off yourself. You’re stuck with it for as long as Shigaraki wants you to be stuck with it.

He attaches the collar to the leash, yanking you upwards with it. “Get on all fours like a puppy.”

You obey, sensing his volatile mood already and not wanting a punishment. “Now, I’m going to take you for a walk.”

“Can - can I get dressed, at least?” You hated the thought of being paraded around the vault with absolutely no clothes.

“No. Puppies don’t wear clothes.”

You sniffle a bit as you walk on all fours, feeling absolutely humiliated. You trail behind him as he leads you to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Your stomach growls, not having eaten, and he instantly hears. “Oh, that reminds me. I got you another present.”

He pushes two bowls towards you on the floor.

A food and water bowl for pets.

“If you want to eat, then you better eat like a good little puppy. You glance up at him to see him smirking at you, almost daring you to refuse. You let out a soft sob as you crawl towards the bowls, reaching to pick one up before he snaps at you.

“Puppies don’t pick up their bowls.”

More tears run down your face as you lower yourself down, beginning to eat from the bowl as best as you can. Everything you have been through so far, all of the abuses, and this was one of the worst. Your body absolutely burns with humiliation as you lean down to get water from your bowl.

Once you’re done, Shigaraki drags you up, throwing you down onto the bed and climbing onto you. “Now, I’m going to fuck you and you’re going to be a good puppy.”

You give a quick nod, glancing away as you try to mentally prepare yourself. He wastes no time after your agreement, thrusting deep inside of you with one quick snap of his hips.

You realize something instantly.

You have to pee.

“Master, I - I need to pee,” you whisper quietly, hoping against hope that he’ll stop long enough to let you go to the bathroom.

“Oh? Then fucking go. Puppies don’t use toilets.”

“I - oh no, I can’t, please don’t make me - “

“Here, I’ll even help you.” He begins to press down on your bladder, and you squeal as you feel a bit of pee leak out. You clamp your muscles down, desperately trying to hold it. But it’s no use, and you squirm to try and relieve the pressure.

“Please stop, I don’t wanna - “

“Do it, puppy. Piss all over me.” He presses down harder, and you can’t hold out anymore. You wail as your bladder releases, pissing all over Shigaraki’s cock as he fucks you through it. He thrusts your piss back inside of you, the disgusting sloshing noises of your pussy causing you to wince and want to die with embarrassment.

He reaches down to smack you across the face. “Bad puppy, messing like that in the house.”

You whine as he continues to fuck you, smacking your other cheek as well. It’s humiliating more than it hurts, only being a small sting as he puts no real force behind it. But you still feel tears prick at the corners of your eyes.

“I’m sorry master, I’m so sorry, please - “

“I should make you lick it up,” he growls, and you panic at the thought.

“Master, please no!”

He snorts as he flips you over onto all fours, forcing your head down to the bed as he begins to slam into you. His balls hit your clit and cause you to squeeze around him, and he laughs. “You like being my puppy, don’t you?”

“Yes, master,” you say quickly, not wanting to anger him. He aims for a spot inside of you that makes you see stars, reaching around to take your clit in between two fingers as he strokes you. You whine as you push back to meet his thrusts, seeking your own orgasm. “It feels so good, master!”

“Yeah? Then cum for your master.”

You finish at the same time as he does, feeling warmth spreading through you yet again as he cums inside of you. You whimper as your body trembles, collapsing against the bed in sheer exhaustion.

“Now what do you say?” Shigaraki prods at you, seeking only one answer.

“Thank you master.”

“Good pet.” He pats your head like he would a real dog, and you’re shamed to find yourself enjoying his attention.

“Now come on,” he demands, pulling on your leash. You wince as you slide off the bed, getting on all fours as you crawl into the main area of the vault. Everyone is there, and you burn with humiliation at all of them seeing you like this.

“Now that’s how all sluts should be,” Dabi snorts at the sight of you on all fours. “Naked, with cum dripping from their filthy little cunts.”

Spinner scoffs. “You don’t have to always be so crude, Dabi.”

“I wouldn’t have to be so crude if she wasn’t such a fucking slut.”

Dabi seems to get an idea in his head as he says that, smirk coming across his face. “You know, I have an idea.”

Your heart sinks into your chest at Dabi having any sort of idea that causes that smirk to be across his face. You know you won’t like it, not one bit.

“It’s been a while since we’ve all shared her, isn’t it? I think the little slut deserves to be completely ruined.”

He walks over to you, grabbing your leash from Shigaraki who allows it, watching with deep interest. He sits down on the floor, picking you up by your waist and prodding at your still tight asshole. “I think I wanna fuck you here,” he murmurs as he lowers you down on his cock. You whimper and whine as he slides into you balls deep.

Shigaraki already has his hard cock out, pressing the tip against your mouth. “Open wide, puppy.”

You open your mouth and he instantly shoves himself in, aiming for the back of your throat immediately. You barely remember to breathe through your nose, preventing yourself from gagging around his length. To your horror, you see the rest of the League walking over to you with purpose.

Muscular gets down on the floor facing Dabi, moving you to his massive cock. “I didn’t get her pussy last time we shared her, so it’s mine this time around.” Dabi snorts as he slows his movements, allowing Muscular to line up and begin to push inside. You’re already stretched out from everything else, but the sting still hurts as he slams against your cervix.

You want to complain, ask them to go slower, but Shigaraki begins to face fuck you, balls smacking aganst your chin with every thrust. “Fuck, puppy has gotten so good at sucking cock,” he grunts out as he feels his balls tighten.

“This cunt feels pretty fucking good too,” Muscular laughs as he activates his quirk, causing your eyes to widen in alarm as you feel him begin to grow inside of you again. Your walls stretch and stretch until you think they can’t possibly stretch anymore, but finally he stops before he tears you.

“Fuck, Muscular, the fuck did you just do? She got even tighter, holy fuck,” Dabi manages to grunt out, still pounding into your aching ass. “Keep it up.”

Muscular begins to move, slamming into you with powerful thrusts that has your head spinning. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Spinner take his cocks out and begin to stroke them furiously as he watches you be ruined by the other villains.

Kurogiri also stands nearby, cock out of his pants as he fists his length roughly. “My little girl does look so good like this,” he muses out loud.

Muscular groans as he nears his end, usually the first to cum as he never bothers to savor sex, instead choosing to seek his own orgasm. “Gonna fill this little cunt,” he manages to say as he shoots ropes of cum into you that leak out around his cock. “Fuck yes, so good - “

He pulls out when it becomes too much, and Spinner eagerly takes his place. “I want this pretty little pussy,” Spinner says as he enters you easily due to how much Muscular was able to stretch you out. “Feels so good to have both cocks inside, shit!”

“This dirty ass is pretty good too, so damned tight. You were fucking made for this, little cockslut,” Dabi grunts out, his pace becoming more erratic. “Gonna cum,” he manages to say before he follows through, causing warmth to spread through your ass.

Shigaraki is close too, as you can feel him begin to twitch inside of your mouth. He pulls out however, painting your face with white as he strokes his orgasm out. “Gotta love a facial,” he chuckles as Dabi snorts.

Kurogiri nears his orgasm as well, cumming on your tits as he lets out a soft groan. Only Spinner is left inside of you, and he goes feral on your pussy as he begins to pound you. He lifts up your legs so he can penetrate you deeper, and you cum with a strangled cry as you squirt around him.

You collapse completely, unable to hold yourself up anymore. And what’s when you all hear it.

The loud, clanging sound of the vault’s locking mechanism disengaging.

“The hell?” Dabi says as he sits up, walking over to the door and swinging the vault door open. It swings easily, revealing the stairs that lead to the outside world. “Guess it’s already been a month, huh.”

Hope blooms within you. Maybe they’ll let you go now, maybe you can be free of the hell they’ve put you through.

Shigaraki must be able to read the thoughts on your face, as he speaks up. “You know, puppy...you could just stay with us. Surely you don’t want to go back outside with the raiders, super mutants, and ghouls?”

You freeze for a second. You’ve been in a bubble of safety, having almost forgotten about all the dangers of the outside world. “I don’t - I mean, I was able to protect myself before - “

Dabi scoffs. “You’re a weak little slut who was hiding out in this vault instead of protecting yourself outside.”

Kurogiri joins in. “It wasn’t so bad being with us, was it? We’d protect you if you stay with us.”

Muscular shrugs. “Seems fair enough to me. We protect her and get to use all those holes anytime we want.”

“I - I really like you,” Spinner begins shyly, “and would love for you to stay with us.”

Now that you’re finally given a choice, the first one you’ve truly had for the past month, you are paralyzed.

The choice to leave the men behind, or to tackle the outside world. The vault isn’t sealed anymore, and there’s no guarantee of safety. Raiders take over vaults all the time, after all, and who is to say that won’t happen to this one?

But really; maybe they aren’t so bad. The fact that they are willing to let you go is more than you thought possible.

When you say the words that will seal your fate, everyone is happy.

You; because you made a choice of your own free will to stay with them.

And them; because they knew their broken little toy had no choice at all.

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚❋ ❋ ❋˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Kinktober: @thewheezingwyvern, @vixen-scribbles, @hisoknen, @trafalgar-temptress, @wings-flames-and-ashes, @bakugotrashpanda, @kittycatkrissa, @reinawritesbnha, @dabilove27, @anxietyplusultra, @angmarwitch, @nereida19, @babayaga67, @fromsunnywithlove, @bakugos-cumsock, @yumeneji, @the-grimm-writer, @iwaizumi-chan, @slashersheart, @bunnyywritings, @bakarinnie, @angie-1306, @lalalemon101, @videogameboiwhowins, @f4nficbaby, @bbyspiiice, @thirstyforthem2dmen, @blissfulignorance2000, @bluecookies02-main, @aryjaa, @theodora3022, @raekah, @ineedmorefanfics, @serosmissingtoe, @deathmemeiverse, @miscellaneous-bnha

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longitudinalwaveme · 2 years

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Barry Allen Video Game Side Missions

As the title suggests, this is a list of the side/bonus missions that would be a part of my hypothetical Barry Allen video game. Descriptions after the cut.

Side Mission #1: The Prince of Darkness Is a Gentleman

Jay Garrick, the original Flash, would be the playable character for this mission. He would have a moveset generally similar to Barry’s. However, he would be a bit slower (since he’s older than Barry); he’d also have access to some moves that Barry does’t (as he has more experience). One of his signature moves for the game would be him throwing his hat at his foes. This side mission would serve as a sort of “day in the life” of the semi-retired superhero. He’d spend most of the level just doing good deeds (like helping neighbors carry groceries or paint their fences). However, throughout the level Jay would be tripped up or otherwise inconvenienced; notably, these accidents would always be preceded by the appearance of shadows. These shadows would need to be subtle enough for Jay (and the player) to write them off at first, but eventually both would realize the pattern. This discovery would eventually lead them to the boss of the level: Richard Swift, better known as the Shade. The Shade is very pleased when the Flash arrives to stop him. He’s been bored for a long time and decided to provoke a fight with his old enemy so that he could relive his glory days as a famous supervillain. He’s very courteous towards Jay (and everyone else he interacts with), but he’s still a very formidable foe. His shadow powers will allow him to temporarily blind the Flash, create shadow monsters that the Flash will have to defeat, move around the arena almost as quickly as the player, and generally put up a very tough fight. When Jay finally defeats him, the Shade will display no ill will--he’s gotten the fight that he wanted and is more than happy to accept loss at the hands of an opponent as worthy as the Flash. After defeating the Shade, Jay will go home to his wife Joan and a well-deserved nap.

Side Mission #2: The Monstrous Murders of Murmur

Barry Allen will be the main playable character for this side mission. The story will focus on Barry and Officer Fred Chyre as they are forced to work together to track down Dr. Michael Amar, who has hidden his ruthless nature behind a facade of being a benevolent surgeon. In reality, as Barry’s CSI work in the main game has uncovered, he is the serial killer responsible for the recent deaths of at least a dozen people. While Barry and Chyre have been on the police force together for a number of years and respect each other on some level, Chyre is somewhat dismissive of the mild-mannered scientist and doesn’t want to bring him along on the mission to find the murderer. “You’re good at you job, lab jockey, but you don’t belong in the field for a manhunt like this.” Barry, for his part, sometimes gets frustrated with Chyre’s short temper and rough temperament. For most of the level, the player will be controlling Barry solely as the police scientist, not as the Flash. They’ll need to use their forensics knowledge in order to figure out where Murmur is hiding. Towards the end of the level, Barry will realize that he has entered Murmur’s hideout without noticing it; he will then have to be saved from a bloody end by Chyre. But in the process of saving Barry, Chyre will be infected with a prototype of Murmur’s Frenzy Virus and Murmur will disappear from the hideout. Barry will then have to use his chemistry knowledge in order to save Chyre. This will give both men a heightened sense of respect for the other; they will be much closer friends from this point onward. Barry and Chyre then will make the arrest of Murmur together, with the player getting to control Chyre for the knockout punch. There won’t really be a big boss fight for this level; it’s mainly just CSI work so that the side missions have some variety.

Side Mission #3: Prey for the Piper

This side mission will actually take place after the events of the main story in terms of chronology; Barry Allen serves as the main playable character. This mission will begin with police scientist Barry Allen learning about the mysterious kidnapping of a promising young reporter name Marcy Dunphy from one of his coworkers. As Marcy is his wife Iris’ protege at Picture News, Barry takes a personal interest in her abduction and volunteers to do some investigation of the crime himself. The player will then get to control Barry as he investigates the scene of the young reporter’s kidnapping; they and Barry will learn that Marcy was planning to write a news story about the history of the mysterious Pied Piper, whose background and family are almost entirely unknown. Only his name, Henry Darrow, has ever been determined. Barry concludes that the Pied Piper must have had the reporter abducted to preserve his secrets. He goes on the hunt for the Rogue and manages to find him as he leaves a homeless shelter. The Pied Piper predictably goes on the offensive when he sees the Flash and the two have a fight that’s somewhat similar to Piper’s boss fight in the main game (though not quite as complex). When Barry defeats the Pied Piper, he demands to know what he’s done with Marcy...but the Pied Piper has absolutely no idea what Flash is talking about. Barry doesn’t believe his protestations of innocence at first, but eventually the Piper’s obvious bewilderment convinces him that the Rogue wasn’t responsible for Marcy’s abduction. “But I know who might be.” Piper then offers to help the Flash find the reporter, insisting that Flash will never be able to find the young woman without his help. Flash, having no other leads (Marcy isn’t wealthy and has no real enemies), reluctantly agrees to the proposal.

The Piper tells the Flash that the key to finding Marcy will be found on the Rathaway estate. Barry isn’t quite sure of whether or not he should believe the Rogue, as there is the possibility that the Pied Piper is pretending to know more than he really does so that he can set up a crime of some sort, but he does run himself and the Piper to the grounds of the estate just in case. “How do we get in? Somehow I doubt that the Rathaways will allow me to do a criminal investigation on their estate---especially with a Rogue in tow.” The Pied Piper smiles mysteriously and then reveals something of a secret passageway into the estate. The two follow it inside and it leads them into what seems to be a bedroom that has been left long unused. The room is filled with musical instruments of all sorts, the closet is full of clothes, and the bed is made, but everything is covered in a layer of dust and grime that seems very odd. The Rathaways don’t seem the type to just leave a room to decay. Curious, Barry starts to investigate. He doesn’t find anything pertaining to Marcy or her abduction, but he does find a number of papers with the name “Hartley Rathaway” on them. “Who’s Hartley Rathaway?” he asks. As far as he knows, the Rathaway family only has three members: Osgood and Rachel Rathaway and their nine-year-old daughter Geraldine. The Pied Piper jolts. “No one. He’s dead. Now let’s go. There’s nothing here that will help us find your reporter.”

Pied Piper pulls Barry out of the room and down a few hallways before stopping at a door with a plaque that reads “Osgood Rathaway”. As he starts to fiddle with the lock, Barry notices an elaborate painting of the two elder Rathaways with a young red-headed boy holding a flute. The boy looks very much like a younger version of the Pied Piper. “Is that Hartley Rathaway? You could be his twin.” Piper laughs. “I know. My mother always thought I looked like him.” Barry frowns. “Did your mother work here? Is that why you seem to know so much about the estate?” Piper nods. “Yes. She worked here.” Before Barry can ask any further questions, Piper picks the lock on the door and leads Barry into a very fancy office room. He then pulls back a Van Gogh painting on the wall to reveal a large wall safe, then uses the combination to open the safe. Note that he’s not breaking into the safe--he knows the combination. “I’ve never been more glad that he uses the same combination for everything.” After removing the safe’s false bottom, he hands Barry a handful of papers. Much to his surprise, Barry sees that the papers are in fact a contract--a famous group of professional kidnappers had given their signed agreement to abduct Marcy Dunphy in exchange for 14 million dollars. The contract states that the criminals will deposit Marcy in the gardener's cottage on the estate ground after the kidnapping so that the Rathaways can have their desired conversation with her. Barry is stunned to learn that the Pied Piper was telling him the truth and utterly bewildered as to why the wealthiest people in Central City would pay 14 million to have an unimportant young reporter abducted.

“What could the Rathaways possibly have against Marcy?”

“Simple. Marcy was investigating me, and Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway are the only people--besides myself---who would benefit from keeping my past a secret.” And with that, everything falls into place for Barry.

“You---you’re Hartley Rathaway, aren’t you? That’s why you know so much about their estate, and how you knew Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway were responsible for Marcy’s abduction. They’re your parents!”

“No. Hartley Rathaway is dead. They made that pretty clear when they disowned me. But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is rescuing that reporter.” Barry still has a lot of questions, but rescuing Marcy takes priority over his curiosity. He runs Piper over to the gardener’s cottage, where he finds the two elder Rathaways attempting to bribe Marcy to keep the story a secret.

“You know that bribery is against the law, don’t you?” The Rathaways react to the sight of the Flash with obvious alarm.

“Stay out of our business, Flash. We own this city. If you insist on interfering, we have the power to make life very difficult for you.”

“You’re guilty of having a reporter abducted and of attempted bribery. As a superhero, this is one situation where I‘m obligated to interfere.”

At this point, Mr. Rathaway calls for his guards; the player (and Barry) will make relatively short work of them and then be able to free Marcy and get her to safety. However, before he can attempt to arrest the elder Rathaways, he’ll be knocked off his feet by a sonic attack by the Pied Piper.

“Sorry, Flash, but I can’t let you do this. They may not want anything to do with me, but they’re still my parents. You want to arrest someone for the kidnappings? Arrest me. They wouldn’t have gone after her if it wasn’t for me anyway.”

“You’d sacrifice yourself for the parents who disowned you?”

“I’ve been sacrificed for their comfort and reputation for my whole life. Why should things be different now?”

“I’m not going to arrest you for a crime you didn’t commit.”

“Then just let my parents go. There’s no jury in the world that will be able to convict people as rich and as powerful as they are. Besides, having our little family secret revealed to the world is a better punishment for them than prison would ever be.”

“Pied Piper---Hartley---letting Marcy’s kidnapping go unaddressed isn’t right.”

“Neither is leaving my little sister without parents!” At this point, Marcy speaks up and says that she’s decided not to press charges. She doesn’t want to go through a horrible court battle against the Rathaway estate, and she agrees with Hartley that getting to publish her story will be much better revenge than potentially leaving a little girl without parents. Barry reluctantly concedes the point. Then the Pied Piper pulls a vanishing act via his flute.

Barry runs Marcy home at super-speed and she publishes her article. A few days later (in the game’s final cutscene) she receives a note from the Pied Piper.

“Thank you for finally bringing the skeletons out of my family’s closet. Things are better this way. Your friend, Hartley Rathaway.”

Side Mission #4: Meet Kid Flash

Basically what it sounds like. Wally West is the playable character for this level, and the story will focus on Wally learning superheroics from his uncle Barry. Wally will start out as the least powerful of the three Flashes in terms of gameplay ability (since he’s only a boy at this point); as he trains with Barry he will get gradually more competent and powerful. The main boss for this level will be Sam Scudder, the Mirror Master. Barry and Wally will fight his mirror duplicates throughout the mission; at the end of the level, Wally will have to face Sam on his own, without the help of his mentor. Sam will be cocky and overconfident facing such a young opponent; as such, he won’t use his mirror tech to the same extent he does when fighting Barry. He’ll still be a competent and dangerous boss, but since Wally’s gameplay will be deliberately hampered, most of his attacks will be simpler and less dangerous (excused in-universe by Sam not wanting to hurt a little kid too badly.) Eventually, Wally will use what he learned from Barry to defeat the Mirror Master and return him to prison. The mission will end with uncle and nephew bonding over ice cream.

Side Mission #5: The Strange Case of Dr. Alchemy and Mr. Element

The main playable characters for this side mission will be Barry Allen and Albert Desmond. The story will open with the establishment of Barry and Iris Allen’s friendship with Albert and Rita Desmond. Albert is an extremely powerful metahuman with the ability to transmute any element into any other element; unfortunately, when his powers first developed, they negatively affected his mental health. His Dissociative Identity Disorder, made unusually severe because of his metahuman physiology, manifested itself first as Mr. Element and then as Dr. Alchemy, two separate personalities that both became costumed criminals. Barry helped Albert get the mental help he needed and he reformed, marrying Rita and becoming a scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs. (The player will get to have brief fights with both Mr. Element and Dr. Alchemy in the flashback scenes establishing Albert’s history). While the two couples are enjoying dinner together at Gardner Fox Restaurant, Albert complains of a headache and heads to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Dr. Alchemy appears. The player (as the Flash) attempts to stop his attempt to rob the restaurant, but he’s overwhelmed by Dr. Alchemy’s power and Dr. Alchemy is able to escape with his ill-gotten loot. As Albert is nowhere to be found after Alchemy leaves, Barry comes to the devastating conclusion that Albert’s mental issues have resurfaced and that he has turned to a life of crime. Rita is naturally even more devastated.

Over the next few days, Dr. Alchemy commits a number of other crimes, always managing to stay just ahead of the Flash. (The player will get to control the Flash during these ill-fated battles). After the Flash is knocked out during a particularly fierce battle, Rita determines to follow her wayward husband and confront him. The player will control her as she follows Dr. Alchemy to his hideout...only for him to take his cowl off and reveal a red-headed man who isn’t Albert at all! She then sees her husband chained up and wearing a metahuman power dampener that blocks his powers. Rita is relieved to see that her husband hasn’t returned to crime but also knows that she can’t help Albert until this new Dr. Alchemy leaves the premises.

Then there’s a cutscene. The new Dr. Alchemy declares himself to be Alvin Desmond, Albert’s psychic twin. He and Albert are psychically connected by an accident of birth and they share the same metahuman powers. Further, Alvin claims that he and Albert are morally linked as well. When Albert is law-abiding, Alvin is driven to criminality, and vice-versa. “The only difference between the two of us, Brother Albert, is that I enjoy being a criminal!” Alvin tells Albert that, since the law is only aware of one Dr. Alchemy and one Al Desmond, he’s going to let Albert take the fall for his string of crimes---but only after he pulls one last job. Boasting completed, Alvin leaves to commit his last crime. After the cutscene, Rita frees her husband from his chains (and the metahuman power dampener); the player will then begin controlling Albert Desmond as he tells Rita that he’s going to stop his evil twin himself--as Mr. Element. Rita is worried about this idea, afraid that this might be too much for Albert’s mind, but Albert insists that he has to clear his name. Alvin is of course the final boss for the level; the player will actually fight and defeat him as Albert (in his Mr. Element costume). The two Als are very evenly matched in terms of power and will have very similar movesets and attacks, but eventually Albert’s greater experience will allow him to claim victory just as the Flash appears on the scene. Albert explains the whole situation to the Flash, and Barry is thrilled to learn that his friend hasn’t succumbed to his mental demons. The level ends with Barry, Iris, Albert, and Rita again eating dinner together--this time without any unpleasant interruptions.

#the flash #dc comics #barry allen #wally west #jay garrick #flash rogues #sam scudder #the shade #dr. alchemy #mr. element #murmur #hartley rathaway

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cherryatiny · 3 years

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𝐀𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲

𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑒: 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 <3

𝐺𝐼𝐹𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠

⩥ 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠

„Mmh, honey, the pasta is amazing, so yummy, you should give this recipe to Seonghwa, the boys would love this.”

You murmured and dug into your food, barely taking a bite, playing around with your fork.

„Is something wrong Y/N?” asked Hongjoong with a concerned look at your sudden behaviour change.

„Well, I was thinking... you know, I'm getting old and I was thinking that I shouldn't postpone it for the child's sake. Uhm, I-I want a baby Joongie. I want to be the mom to your child.”

Hongjoong was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say to the words that came out of your mouth. His hands taking yours, keeping them warm and kissing the top of your knuckles.

„You've known my opinion, I've already told you many times that I'd be more than happy to become a dad to our baby. It's your body, honey. If you think that you're ready to become a mom, I'll be more than happy to acknowledge your decision of us becoming parents. Now, finish your pasta, you need to eat and be healthy, and you can't be under stress, so after we eat, I'll give you a good massage and we'll move to my favourite part.”

You let out small laughter at his words, pleased to know that Hongjoong isn't disapproving of you wanting a baby. After all, he could still act like a dick and tell you that he'd leave you if you got pregnant. As you finished your meal, Hongjoong wrapped you in a tight hug, showering you with kisses and love. And at that moment you knew, that your baby would have the most caring parents it could ever have.

⩥ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚

„Hwa, Hwa, what do you think of this dress, it looks good right?“ Twirling around in the changing room to see yourself from all angles, you asked your boyfriend Seonghwa for his opinion on the tight-fitting burgundy dress with a high slit on one side. You were supposed to accompany him to his company's gala, so you two went for some shopping.

„You look amazing love, we'll take them, now let's go and pay already, so we can go eat. I'm starving.“ you changed back to your clothes, folding the dress over your elbow, careful not to crease it. As you came out of the changing room, on your way to the cashier, you passed the baby section of the store, stopping to look at it. Seonghwa quickly noticed that you stopped, since his arm was wrapped around your waist, turning around to see you crumbling and melting over all those cute baby clothes, he couldn't help but frown, not understanding as to why you were checking out baby clothes.

„Uhm, what are you doing? Let's go Y/N...“ he took your hand to tug you and make you go, you not moving a step. „Seonghwa, you could wait for hours until I found the right dress, you can wait another 5 minutes. Come on, don't tell me you don't find these cute. Just look at how small it is, and all those lovely patterns“

„Okay Y/N, you found one babygrow with teddy bears on it, can we go now?“ You looked at him in disbelief, taken aback by how dry and kinda mean his answer was. „What's the attitude of yours? You don't want a kid one day?“ Crossing your arms on your chest, you looked up to meet his radiant eyes, Seonghwa without a doubt trying to come up with a diplomatic answer. „No babe, that's- that's not what I meant- Uh, let's go Y/N, I'm hungry.“

„No Seonghwa, I'm not moving from here. I want a baby, and if you don't want me to throw a tantrum and embarrass you in front of the whole shopping centre, you better tell me your opinion on us having a baby right now.“ he put on his awkward smile, rubbing his temple. „Y/N, I- the vision of us being parents to a little bundle of joy, sounds appealing, and if that's what you want, we can discuss it over lunch, okay? Now, please baby, I want to eat already.“ Seonghwa showed you the pout he knew you couldn't resist, paying for the dress you two were off to his favourite restaurant. And after finally getting to eat, it was as if Seonghwa's mind got switched, immediately joining you in your baby fever.

⩥ 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨

„Now open your mouth- waaa, you're such a good baby, eating so well anything I give you, even though the spinach porridge tastes horrible...” you cooed at the adorable child that was sitting in front of you in a baby chair.

You were at your friend's apartment, feeding her little princess while she was cooking. „Is Yunho coming to pick you up?” she asked with a curiousness in her voice. „Yeah, well, he's supposed to pick me up, but you know how packed his schedule is, and I don't want to stress him more, with constant nagging. But I think he might be here in maybe 20 minutes.”

Feeding her princess the last spoonful of spinach porridge, you wiped the baby with a towel, since green stains were everywhere, starting from her tiny fingers to the bridge of her nose. Changing her baby grow, so she's not in dirty clothes, laying her on the ground, you surrounded her with many different educational toys to play with, you breath out after taking care of the baby.

„Wah, Sora, you have my full respect after this day, who would've thought that taking care of a baby is this exhausting.“

„Hahah, thank you so much Y/N, you helped me a lot today, yeah well.. it is hard, but you get used to it after a while.“ and as you both chatted over a coffee, the doorbell rang signalising Yunho was here. Sora opened the door for Yunho, greeting him politely before letting him embrace you in a warm hug, showering you with kisses.

„I'm sorry I'm late Y/N, we had to finish one thing.“ he said as you walked over to the tiny princess who laid on the floor playing with toys.

„It's okay Yuyu, at least I had more time to play with this cutie, isn't she adorable? Yunho, let's make one too, I've been thinking about this for a long time, what do you think? Having a little me or you, we could feed with our love, play around with, go on walks together..., work has been exhausting lately and having a little bundle of joy to brighten up our days...“ Yunho's eyes widened happily at the idea, he actually wanted to bring it up a long time ago, but didn't want you to feel pressured so he let it be

„Baby, that sounds amazing, but only under one condition! It'll become a dancer like daddy!“ you laughed and nodded, pecking his nose, before bidding goodbye to your friend Sora to let her rest and as well get home as soon as possible so you can begin the process with....

⩥ 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠

„What are you doing?” you asked your boyfriend Yeosang who was sitting in the living room, his eyes glued on the screen of the TV. „Watching a variety show.”

„Variety show?” you shrugged your eyebrows and sat down on the couch next to him, wanting to see yourself since it was a rarity for your boyfriend to watch TV, less so watch some stupid variety show. Cuddling closer to Yeosang, to get warmer, you laid your head on his chest, his arms wrapping around your body. „It's about kpop idols, who have to spend their days taking care of a baby.”

You hummed in understatement and watch how the people on the screen struggled to take care of babies, failing in washing or feeding them. Unable to hold the laughter any longer at how clumsy they were, you drifted your eyes to Yeosang, finding out he probably didn't find it as funny as you did. His face focused as if he was trying to learn as many things as possible, his eyes shining softly in loveliness. „What's with that look honey?” noticing you staring at him, he took his eyes off the screen, looking at your face, curiousness hearable in your voice.

„I just liked how cute it was, the giggling of the babies and how tiny they look, with their big eyes. You just want to smother them with kisses and cuddle them all day long.” You expected everything, but definitely not this, looking at him in shock. „Oh wow, I mean, yeah, they're cute.. do you want one? I've been playing with this idea in my head for a long time, but I didn't know how to approach you with it. Do you want a kid?”

Eyes widening in excitements, he pulled you closer to him, squeezing you hard in a hug. „I thought you would've never asked. I would love to have a child oh my god Y/N, you've just made me the happiest man on this planet. We are gonna make babies!”

⩥ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐒𝐚𝐧

Me: [video attachment]

Me: oh my god Sannie, look at how cute it is when it tries to say 'mama'

San: adorable but not as adorable as you

Continuing in your previous activity of scrolling down all the baby-themed pages of Instagram, you adored all those lovely videos of newborns with their parents. Drifting your mind into your little world full of babies, you heard the front door opening, signalising your boyfriend San came back home from the work. Getting up from the couch you were sitting on, you ran to the hallway, falling into his embrace, he picked you up slightly so that you were standing on your tip-toes, eye-level with him, giving his lips a light peck. „What was with the baby videos you sent to me the whole day, darling?”

Landing you back on your feet, you took his bag from his hand and went to the kitchen, San following you. „I don't know, I just couldn't help myself, they were too cute to not send you.” Placing his bag on the dining table and sitting on the kitchen counter you poured yourself a glass of water, waiting for him to react to your words in any way, instead he just hummed in understatement. „Mhm, maybe you've caught a baby fever.” chuckling at his words you put the glass back on the counter, tilting your head and looking him deep into his dark eyes.

„Yeah I know, I want a baby San. Make me a child please.” almost choking on his water he spilt some of it on you, taking you back with his action. „Uh, I, baby? I mean, yeah they're cute and all, but having our own? Wouldn't you prefer having another kitty? Byeol must be feeling lonely...” pouting and shrugging your eyebrows, you scoffed at his words playfully. „I'm feeling lonely too, so make me a baby, we might consider buying another kitty, but first things first, I want a child, think of the idea, we could shower it with love, play with it, imagine walking it to the kindergarten every day, the idea itself is just so precious.” smiling at your words San thought about the idea as well, firstly seeing you with a swollen belly, he could peck every day and then caress it singing to the baby in the womb, then after it was born, just seeing the tiny bundle of love sleep in his arms, all those making his heart flutter, sooner or later after some serious discussions, agreeing to try for a baby.

⩥ 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢

„Isn't Seonghwa's daughter cute? Aww, she's such a cute princess, I was playing with her while you two trained and she's so polite and kind as well. Seonghwa must be an amazing father no doubt.“ coming home from his practice you accompanied him to, Mingi was so exhausted, that he just laid on your lap, listening to what you had to say. Humming in agreement to your chatter about Seonghwa and his little daughter.

„Seeing how well he manages to take care of her, despite being an idol, I realised that it's possible and I don't necessarily hold back just because of your work. I wanted to come with this idea in a few years when your schedule won't be so hard, but I just really want to have a child. I want to be here for you so I'll understand if your schedule won't allow you to have a child right now, but just think about this, okay Mingi?“ Not getting any answer you leaned down, to look at his face, seeing him already asleep. „Geeesh, you could've told me that you're asleep, now I have to overgo this conversation again in the morning.“ pouting, you lifted his head lightly to not wake him up, laying down and putting it back on your belly. Pulling a comforter over the two of you, you caressed his head as you were slowly falling asleep yourself.

As you woke up to the sound of your alarm, sitting up, you noticed that Mingi's side of the bed was empty and cold, meaning he left a long time ago „He's probably training already...“ Stretching your body to wake up properly, you went down to the kitchen to get yourself a glass of water to start the day. Instead being met with a fully served table full of your favourite breakfast meal. „If you want a baby, you have to eat proper and healthy meals, I actually heard you yesterday, so don't worry, you don't have to overgo the conversation again, I'm in. Now, come and eat before it gets cold.“

⩥ 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠

Laying in the rose-scented water with foamy bubbles, your back pressed against your boyfriend's chest, Wooyoung's hands wrapped around you, you two just laying there and enjoying the peaceful and relaxing moment with each other. „Wooyoungie, yesterday you asked me what gift I want for Christmas.“

„Mhm, yes I remember, so? Have you decided, you know, because I don't want to give you something you won't like...“ Tilting your head back to look at him, hesitantly smiling at him. „I was mulling over it carefully... and I came to the result that I want a baby.“ you could feel his grip tighten around your frame. „A baby? Why a baby when you have me? If we'll have a baby we won't have that much time for each other, I don't want to lose you. You'll abandon me for the sake of the baby. You can baby me.“ Sighing at his jealousness of your potential baby you turned your head back to its previous place, looking at the wall in front of you, trying to come up with the best response.

„Wooyoungie, what are you talking about? Are you jealous? Don't be, of course, I won't abandon you, you'll still be the number one person in my life, along with our baby. Come on, have you ever taken care of a baby? Trust me you'd love it, I could take care of you and the baby as well and shower you both with my love. I want a baby Wooyoungie, please honey, pretty please.“ Kissing your shoulders, Wooyoung nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck. „But why a baby? We could get a puppy, it's basically the same.“

⩥ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨

„Baby, baby, baby, baby!“ playfully yelling those words into Jongho's ears, knowing well the word 'baby' irritated him since yesterday's night when you confessed to him that you want a baby. „Y/N darling, please stop.“ looking at his whining face, you poked his nose, kissing his cheek. „Not until you tell me why you don't want a baby, yesterday you just told me no without any reason. I need to understand, Jong.“ Sighing at your childish demeanour, your eyes digging holes into him. „Okay, okay, but promise me to stop with this when I give you a proper explanation.“ Raising his pinky to your eye-level, intertwining yours with his.

„Remember that you just pinky-promised, so, what were you asking? Ah right, why do I not want a baby? I mean, isn't it obvious? I'm too young to have a baby! And you're too, you should stop hanging out with hyungs' partners, I'm sure they gave you this idea!“ pouting at his explanation, you crossed your arms on your chest. „Okay then I want a kitty!“ looking up at your face to see if you were serious, he realized you were. „Oh my- Y/N, why are you doing this? We don't need a baby nor a cat right now!“

„We need! You won't let me baby you and take care of you anymore since you try to act like an independent adult, that's why I want a baby or kitten I can spoil with love.“ laying his head in your lap, looking up at you. „If that's why, you can baby me, but no baby for a few years and no cat, it'll leave fur and hair everywhere. But if you insist, rather the baby than the cat.“

#ateez #ateez fluff #ateez reactions #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez headcanons #ateez x reader #ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez yunho #ateez yeosang #ateez san #ateez mingi #ateez wooyoung #ateez jongho #ateez reaction

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yeolmae-s · 3 years

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a chanbaek analysis from a veteran exo-l (part 2)

CLICK HERE TO READ PART ONE

Writing this was a bit harder in comparison to the first part, because I wanted to organize things into a neat timeline, but I ended up not having enough patience for it lol specially because both of ChanBaek's main archive blogs seem to have deleted their pages documenting each date of EXO's early years. Therefore I apologize in advance if this part is a bit more messy. Also, please don't forget that all of this is my opinion and I don't mean for any of it to be taken as truth!

I kind of want to jump from MAMA era directly into Wolf era, since we don't really have a lot of cover regarding their debut phase besides Chanyeol's overeagerness and Baekhyun's awkwardness towards it, so to sum it up, I felt as if Chanyeol was more confident and consistent on what he thought an idol should act like, while Baekhyun (sweet, innocent Baekhyun who was a trainee for less than a year!) was still unsure on how to act on camera.

On the few early variety shows/interviews EXO appeared on, the members always pointed out how funny Baekhyun was, how good he'd be at variety and at doing imitations, but he never really lived up to all the praise on camera, although off of it, he most likely was as good as his members claimed.

He was a bit stiff on his early days in comparison to what we see today, and that's normal, I guess, since he debuted really quickly, but when you compare him to Chanyeol the contrast is so interesting, because the latter was able to latch on to a persona as soon as the public gave him one, while to me, Baekhyun was still doubtful regarding what to put on display. In the end, deep inside, Baekhyun is a private person, and was even more so when he wasn't confident enough to talk to fans like he does today.

Once again, I’m sorry for not being able to upload the gifs directly into the post, so I’ll just link them like I did on my last one.

This is another one of the moments where Baek appears to tell Chanyeol to just. Hold on for a bit.

There's another one similar to this where Chanyeol does the same thing (try to whisper on Baekhyun's ear) and Baekhyun fake laughs and stares at a fan's camera right after. Then, his expression just goes blank. It's really interesting to watch because you can just see the gears spinning on Chanyeol's brain as he stares at Baekhyun for a second and clearly thinks alright, fanservice time, and leans in to whisper something: it happens so fast you just know it wasn't genuine whispering, just a playful interaction for the fans, and Baekhyun's direct stare to the camera as soon as it happens just confirms this for me.

1: Chanyeol spots his target.

2: He’s really thinking this through.

3: Baek's in a perfect position for whispering-time, so he leans in and does his thing.

4: Baekhyun laughs.

5: And stares directly at a fan's camera.

6: Immediately regrets his life choices. Chanyeol looks pleased.

It's actually better to watch the whole thing, so I'll leave it here. (starts on 0:28!)

(Random note: on this date EXO perfomed a cover of H.O.T's We Are The Future, and I feel like a lot of new EXO-Ls have not seem it and I adore this performance, so I'll link it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1-z4s3fdgo)

Now let's jump on to Wolf era, shall we?

Wolf era

I can't help but laugh when I think about how wild 2013 was for both EXO and EXO-Ls. They had their first hit song (which was Growl, not Wolf) the fandom grew considerably, shippers where just discovering the cute ISAC moments between "BaekYeol" and "HunHan"... Or at least that's how everyone remembers most of what happened during that year.

Are we forgetting the rumoured ChanBaek fight?

Considering their past interactions on airports, SMTOWN concerts, ISAC and other events, ChanBaek was now widely known to be close to each other. Baekhyun even said Chanyeol was the one who made him open up, and both of them mentioned feeling this "connection" to each other as soon as they met (although jokingly).

After Mama, the fandom was content-less for a considerable period of time, and what most people did was sharing around old performances and repeat overused memes. I think that in every fandom there is a period where fans establish their main inside jokes and basically just get together to create a collective line of thought for perceiving their idols. That being said, one of the most well established facts in the fandom was that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were close. That was a fact.But then Wolf came, and they suddenly were not.

This gif is a good example of how awkward their interactions were. Not even my delusional shipping brain in 2013 was able to come up with an explanation for it.

They simply did not acknowledge each other at all, and Chanyeol appeared to be closer to Kyungsoo (I think Baekhyun interacted a lot with Tao, but that may have been during the Growl era, not Wolf. As I said before, I'm a Chanyeol stan guys, sorry lmao).

Point is, these two boys who seemed to be best friends suddenly were clearly distant from one another.

What added fuel to the fire of the rumours was their appearance on Sukira, a radio show, where Sehun cried because the members sometimes had fights. Here's a fanacc:

[130530] EXO at Sukira

Sehun cried because the members sometimes fight.

Sehun: "Let's be loyal to each other, don't fight, and go until the end"

D.O: "We've been under a lot of stress lately because of the comeback, so I wish we won't fight in the future and do our best"

Here's a video cut of this part of their interview.

I think this ask on lets-talk-baekyeol, a popular ChanBaek analysis blog from back in the day, shows how curious a lot of fans were.

What happened back then?

There's really no answer for that. On my opinion, not even Chanyeol or Baekhyun could give us a concrete answer on it, because I don't think an actual fight happened. For me, it was most likely a personality clash, a disagreement that probably wasn't even voiced out loud, just both of them noticing how uncomfortable things got, if Baekhyun's reactions to Chanyeol's fanservice is any indication. I somehow doubt there was a specific episode that created this distance between them, specially because during Growl, they went back to being friends, although not as touchy on camera as before, as if one of them had established their limits (oh, I wonder who!), but I still have this feeling that all of this was unspoken, because unspoken things seem to be a pattern on ChanBaek's relationship (something I'll touch on later, hopefully).

But it was during Growl era that I noticed something else about Baekhyun.

Wolf era

EXO'S Showtime was a such a gift. I recommend reading lets-talk-baekyeol's blog for this. I don't really agree with everything they say they do present a lot of relevant points. I may repeat them here, since I noticed them myself as well, but credits for them nonetheless.

I remember finding the lack of ChanBaek interactions during the episodes really dissappointing, but considering the Wolf Era drought, this was better than nothing.

My 13 year old self was devastated when Baekhyun appeared so quiet during Chanyeol's birthday episode, and during a recent rewatch of it, I think realized why.

Baekhyun doesn't like superficial things. It's not that Chanyeol is insincere, but he's just better than Baekhyun is at handling people pleasing, even when he doesn't really mean what's he saying/doing. The Chanyeol birthday episode was heavily centered on Chanyeol's random admiration for Kai, which I think we can all agree that it was a little bit scripted or a really spur of the moment thing that they just ran along with and oh man. Baekhyun did not want to be part of it.

During ChanKai's hug, this is what he looked like on the background, and the poor boy even refused to eat cake. He's just in the back, which is weird, because he's such a talkative person and Chanyeol is one of his closest friends. The only moment where he seems to be genuinely comfortable is when Chanyeol blows the candle and it's really cute. To me, it seems that he was kind of embarrassed to witness so much acting from everyone else and was unable to participate because he struggles with things like this, but the moment Chanyeol blows his candles to comemorate his birthday seems sincere enough for him to fondly smile.

This ties in so well with everything from Mama Era. He's just unable to keep acting/people pleasing on the same easy way that Chanyeol does, but this time he's not as nervous about it as he was on his earlier-early days, where he probably felt pressured to actually do stuff. Now he just doesn't do **it, he just doesn't do something that he dislikes doing, and that sadly creates a distance between them on camera and probably on a deeper level in their relationship as well, because both are just realizing how different their perceptions over their jobs is.

There's also this moment that the mods on lets-talk-baekyeol pointed out.

On the Christmas episode, when the members leave the couch to go get their presents, Chanyeol stays seated while Baekhyun gets up to fetch his. This is the sitting arrangement before (almost) everyone got up:

But when Baekhyun comes back, there's free space next to Chanyeol, however he's hesitant to sit by his side. He actually hesitates and doesn't sit down. Jongdae even gives him a little push right after.

Baek just seems hesitant to do things on camera, to interact with Chanyeol in front of an audience. For this moment, I feel like he's afraid to sit next to Chanyeol and end up having to over act. It's not that Chanyeol himself makes him uncomfortable, but the image of the friendship that they ended up creating for fans demands a lot from him.

And when I say hesitant to do things on camera, I really do mean it, because when Baekhyun thinks he is not being recorded/seen, here's what he does:

Here and here.

Their relationship clearly changed, and I think the reason for it is actually simple: both of them were under the impression that they were compatible with each other when they actually were not. Their personalities are extremely different, even if the way they present themselves is sometimes similar. Wolf and Growl era was our way, as fans, of watching them navigate around each other and finding out how their relationship was supposed to work.

And you know what's nice about that? The members watched all of it unfold. Their reactions to some of ChanBaek's interaction is a gold mine when it comes to analyzing them, because they clearly know, just as we do, that their relationship is kind of complicated. But I want to talk about it on the next part.

I am sorry for cutting this off again! I don't know if the next part is going to be the last, because after Growl there's Overdose and we all know what happened on 2014 [coughs] dating scandal [coughs] god help me I don't want to talk about it [coughs] so there's a lot to uncover and I need time to organize stuff.

Thank you for reading!

#chanbaek #baekyeol #baekhyun #chanyeol #park chanyeol #byun baekhyun #exo #kpop

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andromedasstarship · 4 years

Text

are you free tomorrow?

pairing - spencer reid x gn!reader

warnings - nothing! just a sweet & cliche ‘first meeting’ story :)

summary - midterms are coming up and all the good cafes on campus are filled, maybe the sweet looking curly haired guy in the back will share his table with you?

a/n - for my valentines day oneshot series! 'every table is full, but i really need to study, is there any way we could share?'

-------

Stressed, was a simple way to explain the current state you were in. The semester had snuck up on you, moving faster than you had ever expected. As the fifth week was coming to a close, you were getting dangerously close to the storm of midterms you had waiting for you in the sixth week. And you desperately needed to study. The only thing stopping you- surprisingly not your own procrastination-, was that it seemed as if the rest of campus was also in the same predicament as you.

This was the third cafe on campus that you had entered that was absolutely filled.

Your eyes scanned around the room, hoping to catch someone in the middle of packing their things. Nope. You considered circling back through the other two cafes you’d just been in or maybe even just going off campus. Except you couldn’t justify wasting more time by circling the same few cafes over and over, nor could your college student budget justify paying for coffee when you could just use your allotted campus cash.

Just as you were about to give up and leave- begrudgingly deciding that studying in your room would have to be good enough-, you spotted a man sitting alone towards the back of the cafe. He sat at a large table with plenty of space; even though he had one of the largest stacks of papers you’d ever seen one individual possess.

You weighed your options, internally debating if it’d be worth potentially hurting your pride by asking him to share the table and getting rejected. Seeing as the other option was definitely hurting your pride by hovering the same cafes like a hungry park bird, you tightened your grip on your tote bag and started walking towards him.

Whatever he was reading must’ve been exciting, as his focus didn’t stray even for a moment nor did he notice you at all until you were right up against the chair across from him. You awkwardly cleared your throat to catch his attention, giving him a tiny wave when he looked up at you.

“Hi!”

“Hello?”

“I’m really sorry to bother you, just every table is full and I really need to study and I know it’s not the best, but could I share this table with you?” You asked anxiously, holding your breath as you waited for his answer.

As he opened his mouth to respond, you quickly added. “I swear it’ll be like I’m not even here!”

He gave you a ‘please calm down’ look and you felt some of the weight dissolve from your shoulders as he nodded his head. “Take a seat, no worry at all.” He told you, adding a kind smile as he looked back down at his stack of papers and pulled them closer; giving you more room at the table.

You let your bag fall off your shoulder and hit the ground with a thunk, relieved to no longer be carrying the physical weight around. You clasped the top of the chair in front of you, leaning towards him just so. “Thank you,” you said, giving your best gracious smile, “let me get you a coffee or something?”

He looked almost shocked- or was he flustered? you weren’t sure-, quickly shaking his head in response. “No! You don’t need to do that at all.” He assured you, but you weren’t so quick to back down.

“It’s the least I can do, please?” You pressed, giving him a very exaggerated pleaaaase look, “with all those papers you must need some serious caffeine.”

You thought he was going to continue this little back-and-forth with you, but you watched as his body relaxed ever so slightly, signs of what you hoped was him conceding. “Just a black coffee.”

"Just black?" You countered, raising your eyebrow, leaving it unsaid that he was just choosing the cheapest drink they had.

"Room for cream? I'll fix it up myself." He replied.

----

From the line, you had your first opportunity to really give this guy a look. The papers in front of him had sucked him back in as soon as you stepped away from the table; meaning you weren’t too worried about him catching you in your little…, creeping moment. The student population was large, but it was still small enough that you found yourself repeatedly seeing the same strangers. Yet, you’d never seen this man before. And you were sure you would’ve remembered this man, had you seen him before. What? He was undeniably attractive. There was something about the way his hair just perfectly curled around his face that made you just want to reach out and ruff- that’s weird. Even his little sweater-tie-button up outfit was doing it for you. Maybe today won’t be so bad.

The line moved quickly and you found yourself carrying the two drinks back over to the table in under five minutes. You set his cup by him, taking care to put it away from the massive stack of papers. You set your cup down next, sliding in the chair diagonal from him.

“You know,” you started, hefting your bag up into the chair next to you, “I never got your name?”

“Thank you,” he quickly got out, holding up his coffee as he did so. “I’m Spencer, uh…, Spencer Reid.” He told you, a faint red creeping up from under his collar.

You gave him your name in return, a bit distracted as you pulled more of your things from your bag. From the corner of your eye, you saw him hold his coffee up again, nodding his head towards the cream and sugar station before walking off to fix his drink up properly.

In his absence, you pulled out the rest of your books, debating which subject you should tackle first. You were glad you were finally towards the end of your college career, meaning the majority of your classes were specific to your interests rather than a four hundred student gen-ed; not that it made you any more excited to study for this exam.

When Spencer came back he set his coffee down with a slightly shaky hand. “Did you know coffee is actually classified as a fruit?” He asked, as he slid back into his seat against the wall.

“I didn’t know that.” You replied, shaking your head.

“The coffee bean itself grows on a bush and they’re actually the pit of a berry, which is what makes them a fruit. They come in two main varieties, green and red.” He rambled, as if reciting from some magic book stored in his brain. As soon as he was done he clamped his mouth shut, remembering how most people reacted to his ramblings.

You raised an eyebrow at him, but your face didn’t show any signs of annoyance. “Big coffee fan Spencer?”

“Big fan of facts.” He corrected, giving you a sheepish smile.

“Oh yeah? Well you seem pretty smart then, which class should I study for first?” You asked, holding up two of your textbooks.

He looked at both books curiously, trying to take a guess at what your major might’ve been. He pointed at the one in your left hand. God’s, Monsters and Mortals.

“Are you an…, English major?” He guessed, wondering if the book was some supplement for a unit on the Iliad. Not to mention the other book you held up was quite literally called ‘Literature Through The Ages’.

You shook your head, putting the book he chose down on the table while you returned the other one to your bag. “Close! Classics,” you said, giving him a sheepish grin, “I know, it’s a bit niche, kinda ridiculous, but there’s something about how we immortalized memories of ancient times through literature that are just fascinating. There’s something about the lessons of the past that I think a lot of people are ignoring today, ya know?” You replied, quickly closing your mouth before you’d go on some incredibly long tangent about your interests and studies. Didn’t you say it’d be like you weren’t even here?

“No, no!” He hurriedly said, shaking his head. “Understanding the lessons and patterns of the past and how they’ve morphed humanity today? That’s cool!” He assured you.

“Well what about you, Spencer Reid? What’s your major, you must have some horrible professors, if that stack of papers is the norm.” You joked, liking the way the corner of his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

“I’m uh…, a professor here.” He responded, his face cringing ever so slightly as he watched your mouth drop open simultaneously as your eyes nearly fell out of your head.

“You’re a…, professor?” You repeated, extremely confused as to how someone who looked only a few years older than you was somehow employed to such a degree.

“Just a visiting one!” He clarified, clearing his throat. “I’m on a sort of, uh, sabbatical from work.”

“Isn’t a sabbatical when someone gets away from academia?” You countered, smiling to show you meant no actual aggression.

“Big fan of facts, remember?” He repeated plainly, but you caught the joke in it and you smiled wider at that.

“No offense Professor, but you look a bit young to ya know, be one.” You said, hoping he’d give his age in response.

“I’m 29.” Ah, only four years older than you.

“29 and already a professor at a university like this? What, do you have like 20 Phds. or something?” You asked jokingly, laughing a bit as you said so.

“Three actually.” He replied, a mix of shyness and pride across his face.

Your mouth dropped back open again, trying to wrap your mind around the man in front of you. “What are you? A genius then?”

“By some standards, yes.”

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence after that. Him paying special attention to each paper he graded- you wished all your professors cared about student work the way he seemed to-, while you were busy deciding which parts of the taught units were the most important.

After what you imagined was nothing short of four hours you felt your head begin to throb and your eyes were starting to go fuzzy. In that time, the two of you had downed at least five coffees each, going back and forth over who paid for them. You had managed to create an individual study guide for nearly all your upcoming exams and a quick glance told you that Spencer still had a few papers left. Unbeknownst to you he could have finished those papers hours ago, even with the in depth comments he entered into the computer for each one; there was just something about you that drew him in.

He wasn’t sure whether it was the funny unfiltered comments you’d make sporadically while you worked or the way you actually seemed to be interested in every little tangent he had gone on whenever one of his students brought up a particularly good or amusing point in their papers’. His therapist had recently recommended that he engage in conversations with those not already well acquainted with him and it seemed like the world had lined up perfectly to put you in front of him so soon after.

You loudly slammed your textbook shut with a groan and let your head fall against the table. “Why does academia have to be so boring?” You asked rhetorically, bringing one hand up to pinch the bridge of your nose. “Is it some requirement to get published? Your work needs to put college kids to sleep?”

“The works that you’re reading are quite literally ancient, in their defense. The term ‘academia’ itself comes from the school of thought taught by Plato himself in ancient Athens.” Spencer explained, putting down the paper he had been grading.

“And now, all these years later I have to suffer because Plato was such a bore.” You sighed dramatically, rolling your eyes.

“You said you were studying the downfall of Icarus weren’t you?” He asked, once again unbeknownst to you, he remembered everything you had said today. “It’s one of my favorites of ancient Greek mythology. The power of the mind of man, yet how quickly that very power could be taken away if man oversteps. Really makes us wonder if we’ve overstepped as humans yet, if we use Icarus’s fall, quite literally from grace, as a lens for other devastations we’ve seen across history then-”

“Spencer, are you free tomorrow?” You asked, effectively cutting him off.

He looked a bit like a fish, the way you had stopped him mid sentence and his mouth hadn’t yet closed. His eyebrows turned up, head tilting with them. “Tomorrow? The 14th?”

“Yeah, are you free tomorrow?” You repeated, holding back your nerves.

“Oh.” He said, eyes going wide as you assumed he finally connected the dots, “Oh!”

You were about to speak again, retract your question completely before he could reject you, suddenly wondering why you decided to go out on whim like that at all. But he beat you to it.

“Yes, yes I am.”

------

happy valentines day (almost) i love yall!!

tagging a few people who asked + a few mutuals i think might like this (no pressure!!) - @hqtchner @ssahoodrathotchner @kylorendrip @feverdreamreid @homoose

permanent taglist - @sunflowersandotherthings

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid/reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid/you #vday oneshots 2021 #spencer reid #spencer #reid x reader #reid/you #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds fanfic #'stori writes #are you free tomorrow?#spencer reid x gn!reader #spencer reid/gn!reader #gn!reader

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flowerwrites06 · 4 years

Text

diamond trail I — myg

Plot: The theft of his most elusive and mystery possession leads to a web of trickery that threatens every large syndicate in the country. (alternative: Yoongis’ prized possession is stolen but he’s not the only gang leader being betrayed)

Pairing(s): Mafia Boss!Yoongi x Consigliere!Y/N

Rating: G | PG | M | R 18+

Type: Drabble | Oneshot | Two Parter | Series

Word Count: 4k+

Genre: Mafia | Marriage | Mature Themes/Fluff/Smut

Tags & Warnings: criminal activities, mentions of past abuse (outside of the pair), explicit smut (spanking and very brief anal play), mild violence, coarse language.

Authors Note: it’s here friends!! i’m still a little rusty in terms of writing fanfiction after a while so please be kind lmaoo

A huge thanks to @casuallyimagining and @aroseforyoongi for helping with the proofreads!

Gold Dust held patronage of all heads in the underworld, allowing them to orchestrate the most exclusive and grandest auctions. You and Yoongi walked through the vault doors, hands intertwined with one another as two suited guards led you down the velvet lined stairs. Your footsteps silenced amongst the beating music of the club above. Your chest relaxed as soon as the soothing violins and piano touched your ears in the underground facility. Black marble walls and pillars encased you along with the sea of Italian silk suits and satin gowns.

Yoongi huffed at the very sight of them. All of these blank slates were products of a long-running nepotism. He might’ve been the only one alive who succeeded a popular gang leader. Then again, his father lived far too long for his own good and had way too many wives to be considered human.

What annoyed him further was the organization. Only the benefactors received private booths. The non-patrons had to be squeezed in with a potential rival in order to provide more benefits for the ones funding these events.

The suited guards stopped at the front booth on the right. Yoongi bit the inside of his cheek until it almost drew blood when he saw their seating partner.

“Min! Didn’t expect to see you crawl out of your hole.” Kim Namjoon wore the smile of a champion with the attitude of a diseased rat. Since he was part of the three oldest gangs alive, there was much respect to be handed to the man. Except Yoongi had no interest giving him the satisfaction.

So Namjoon made a goal to make his life a living hell.

Namjoons’ eyes flickered over to you, smile softened but gaze sharpened. “The beloved consigliere.” He raked up and down your form. “You look a lot better without business clothes, my lady.”

Yoongis’ grip on your hand tightened as you sat down on the other end of the booth. You pat the back of his hand as a silent comfort.

“Remember why we’re here,” you whispered.

Yoongi nodded. “I know.”

Normally, Yoongi brushed past events of pure greed and showy behaviour. However their syndicate suffered from a planned robbery a week ago. Only one item taken with precision: his mothers’ diamond gun. Everything else was untouched, barely shifted. They knew what they were doing.

You managed to trace it down to Kim Taehyungs’ annual auction. It’ll be natural to assume that Taehyung was the thief but most auction presenters had nothing to do with direct theft. More often than not, they were connected to the thieves to ensure that their place in the web of connections was concealed. Or at least delayed until they could escape to a safe house.

The room darkened; a spotlight shone down the stage. Kim Taehyungs’ lean figure stood proud, adorned in a red silk shirt and his hair curled. A ruby clip glimmered on the side of his head while his rings practically danced on his fingers. “Welcome my beautiful patrons to another friendly exchange of luxuries.” A calculated smile tugged at his lips. “I must say I’ve never seen such variety in a small listing before so this will be one for the ages. The underworld is aware of our rich history, our legends and ancestors who built this country without a trace of credit.”

Taehyungs’ words silenced the crowd to a point where you had to check they were still there.

“Tonight, I have items from each of these legends. Specifically the eight who strengthened that foundation.” Taehyung held a fist up. “Are you all ready?”

An applause indicated their approval earning a satisfied grin from Taehyung.

“Our first item belonged to Don Hayoon of So Pa.” He waved his hand for an assistant to roll the stand into center stage. “A vase made from ox bone and inlaid with gold to create this beautiful marble pattern. Don Hayoon allegedly made it himself during his years of retirement.”

So Pa disbanded eleven years ago due to a police raid in majority of their warehouses but they must’ve missed a few things. Yoongi wondered whether it was taken from the police or the gang itself. The whole retirement story must’ve been a ploy. Don Hayoon had arthritis which is why he had to retire in the first place before embarrassing himself in front of rivals.

Obviously none of these idiots would know that and Taehyung was milking it for what it’s worth.

The price was called and the cards flew up. Anyone with that vase in their house would gain prestige in seconds. It’ll be talked about from all corners of the underworld. Eventually a smug woman in a red suit won the bid.

“I’m surprised you didn’t hold your hand up, Min,” Namjoon spoke. “Considering you’re probably the only person who’s met Don Hayoon.”

“I’ve met him. I’m sure that’s enough for me to go on.” Yoongi landed his hand on your thigh, soft pink chiffon under his rough palm. He squeezed for some kind of comfort and glue to stop him from losing brain cells too early in the night.

“Considering the nature of your parents, I expected you to have more style.”

Nails dents could’ve formed your skin with the way he dug into your thigh. “Darling.” You pulled off his hand.

“Sorry.” Yoongi rubbed the area to somehow soothe it.

“The second item on our list belonged to Don Chun Hei of Mal Pa.” The assistant pushed in the second stand, holding a rose gem necklace which stood on a black velvet altar. “Chun Hei was best known for working closely with the mayor. Her reforms are the very reason these auctions and many other underworld events can be held with elegance and class. This necklace was a gift from the mayor himself. The rose gem is meant to be a culmination of diamond and rose quartz. Whoever made it has long since disappeared but this necklace has carried on this wonderful legacy.”

Chun Hei was someone both you and Yoongi could respect without question. Mal Pa had no age or prestige in the time Chun Hei made a connection to the mayor. She took her simple street gang and turned it into a professional syndicate that still lasted to this day.

You wondered if her descendants knew just the impact she had to the underworld. This item caused a stir amongst the crowd, suffusing the air with an eerie atmosphere of confusion and even anger. As the prices were called out, you noticed two people constantly raising the stakes to the peak until one of them gave up when it stretched too far. Except the one who gained the artefact didn’t look happy. You discovered that the anger came from them. The diamond gun may not have been the only thing stolen.

How many gang leaders was this thief trying to anger?

The power of auctions was the need to be elegant and impressive. Despite a small portion of the crowd knowing what was going on, they couldn’t say anything. Underworld events are where no leader has ultimate power. Everyone had to stay quiet and let the auction proceed.

“The necklace would’ve looked lovely on you, my lady. Perhaps I could buy it off as a gift.” Namjoon rested his hand out on the back of the couch so his fingertips were a breath away from your hair.

“No thank you,” you stated plainly.

If Yoongi didn’t have enough fuel to kill Namjoon before, it was brimming now. Every ounce of patience layered around him so he could sit still on his chair and let the auction go smoothly. He wasn’t going to raise his voice nor his hand first.

“Our third item is a notorious one at best. The famed Sapphire Assassins’ ledger.” Murmurs of recognition spread across the crowd. “Her true name was Mishil, right hand to Don Sungho of Jwi Pa. Sungho was an ambitious gang leader who believed the country’s underworld should have an ultimate master. He anointed himself and hired a professional assassin to kill everyone off on his hit list. Mishil listed all her killings down in this very ledger.”

Excitement coursed through your body seeing the battered old ledger. The blue covers patched with black ink splotches and the pages were tinged brown. You imagined the different ways she could’ve formulated her assassinations; the connections she had to make to be successful in such an elaborate scheme.

“As most of you might be aware, Mishil succeeded in the deaths of many gang leaders. However three gangs were able to execute her and Sungho before chaos could reach its full potential. To this day, no one has ever pulled a deed this vast and destructive. Not a friend to most of our gangs but there is surely a sense of power by having her failed ledger displayed in your home.” Taehyungs’ smirk marked success as soon as he called out for the prices.

Power was a key word to this crowd. While the more hardened members like Yoongi and Namjoon knew it was just a play for sales, Taehyung didn’t relish in the shouting any less.

While your angle wasn’t for power, your fingers still twitched to raise a card. Curiosity tugged at the back of your head, wondering how Mishil managed to gain that many openings and occurrences. Her techniques would’ve been useful in future assignments. All the syndicates you could manipulate for deals and contracts. Getting out of contracts. Anything. So many pieces of information must’ve been overflowing out of that ledger, calling out to you like a siren song. With a small sigh, you calmed the adrenaline pumping through your veins. This auction wasn’t a pleasure trip. You needed to focus.

The ledger was handed off to a man in a navy suit. At best, he would display it on his study like a fool. What a waste.

Reaching into your crystal clutch, you brought out a notepad and pen. If you couldn’t get the ledger now then there is a chance something could be arranged later. The auction was reaching its halfway point which meant the most valuable items are to come now.

“This fourth item belonged to Don Daeshim of Tokki Pa. The gang leader who drove away international syndicates striving to take over the country’s underworld. A bit of a hero. Rumor has it, he took a few drops of blood from each of those international associates and filled this goblet to the top.” Taehyung waved his fingers over the goblet mouth, mesmerizing the crowd like a herd of animals.

You observed the price calling with a brutally sharp eye. It might not seem valuable in the business sense but international associates may have had families and the like. Someone who might want compensation at the right time. You scribbled the description of the one who received the goblet. Thankfully, they had a noticeable scar down their left cheek with a distinguished citrine ring that was only sold by two jewelers.

“I wonder what it’s like having to work for someone you’ve married. Must be a pain hearing requests left to right.” Namjoons’ comment caused another stir in Yoongi but you stayed calm.

“If you think a consigliere simply takes requests then I feel sorry for yours. God forbid they find out they might be worth something more.” You narrowed your gaze.

“The Lady has venom.” Namjoon chuckled. “I mean no insult, of course.”

Yoongi tried to hold in a scoff, biting the inside of his cheek.

Silence spread amongst the three of you as Taehyung announced the fifth item: a gold mask once used to suffocate the Don of Yang Pa so his son could take over quicker. The sixth item was a First Lady’s dress which held at least a kilo of cocaine, hidden in every rhinestone and gem in small portions. It was later confiscated by the police but Gold Dust always knew how to make use of their connections.

Then seventh item caused a stir in Namjoon. For the first time in the night or ever, you noticed a sense of true and pure fury twisting his features.

“Our second to last item is a jade bracelet that belonged to Don Nari of Sutal Pa. A gang as full of mysteries and tragedies as its main rival, Gae Pa. Don Nari was the default leader after a tragic fire struck the Kim family. Leaving her and her young brother the only living descendants.” Taehyung lightly pressed on the bracelet, causing sharp gold spikes to spread out of it. “This was her weapon of choice. People had the habit of grabbing her wrist when they wanted to make a point so she had this bracelet made to show that she was untouched.” He blinked slowly.

“You son of a bitch,” Namjoon whispered under his breath.

“You’re not the only one riled up, Kim. Calm down.” Yoongi glared at Namjoon both as a warning and courtesy nudge to protect himself from embarrassment. “Don’t raise your hand.”

“Fuck off,”

“Namjoon,” Yoongi warned.

Namjoon shifted on his seat, fingers itching to grab onto his gun and shoot the auctioneer right in between his brows.

For once, Yoongi shared his anger. Of all the things they could take from them, they had to target the most precious object tied to a painful memory.

You noted down the buyer immediately. Park Jimin. He was a chain restaurant owner distantly associated with Yoongi but he soon began delving into arts dealing. He should be the easiest one to track down.

Yoongi had been slightly distracted by Namjoons’ downward spiral. His heart jumped before his mind caught up at the sound of his mothers’ name.

“It’s my honor to present to you our final item. The Diamond Gun of Min Areum.”

The gun rested inside a glass case lifted by a velvet lined platform. Lined in gold, encrusted with diamonds, glimmering brighter than the stars in a country sky. Everyone in the audience murmured in excitement, eager to lift their cards for the bidding.

“She was the First Lady of the oldest syndicate alive, Gae Pa. Her life as the wife of Don Min wasn’t pretty and filled with troubles. One day, she took her son to a mysterious jeweler and gave away all her diamond and gold jewelry. See this jeweler specialized in beautifying weapons and he made this priceless work of art. The same gun, Min Areum to shoot down Don Min and take over as Don herself.”

Yoongi could’ve sworn that Taehyung directed a smirk at him. Mocking him of the fact that he had such a prize in his midst. Flailing it right in front of him as a form of public humiliation.

Cards practically flew up to the ceiling in their sheer speed. Prices thrown from the left to right giving Yoongi a headache. He could hear his mothers’ voice, the small purple bruise on left eye as she took him to the jewelry shop every week. It was their only time of peace.

You reached out and touched his thigh, bringing his attention back.

Then a familiar voice brought you both to a still.

“Sold to Kim Namjoon!” Taehyung announced while the crowd huffed and cheered.

Yoongi glared at the man.

“What? You never said I couldn’t buy your shit.” Namjoon relaxed back on the couch, unrelenting in his own glare.

As the auction concluded, Taehyung announced that an afterparty will be held at the top level of Gold Dust. You noticed most of them were ready to jump off their chairs and kill him but he’d already disappeared backstage. Most likely straight to his vehicle so there was no time for anyone to act.

Yoongis’ body radiated a thick air of heat and the glares shared between the two leaders were sharp.

“We’ll settle this where there’s less people, gentlemen. Calm yourselves.” You glanced around at all the patrons and attendees either excitedly murmuring or harshly whispering. It was a strange atmosphere tonight. One can only wish there won’t be any bloodshed.

***

“Are you fucking serious? You know fully well it was stolen from me!” Yoongi growled. Both gang leaders were toe to toe in a dark corner of the club. Others were mingling on their own problems and issues with the auction and some were close to losing their inside voices.

“And I bought it fair and square. Don’t you think it’s a little childish that you’re simply asking me for it?” Namjoon spoke through gritted teeth. “Now get the fuck out of my way. I have business to deal with.”

Yoongi pressed a hand on his chest. “I could give Jimin one word and you’ll never find that bracelet even if it was up your own damn ass. So stay put.”

“I’m the last person you can scare with status, Min. You know this. I’ll snap my fingers—” he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. “—and your wife will be on her knees for me.”

Yoongi pulled out a small silver blade and pressed to Namjoons’ neck. Eyes darkened in fury. Hungry for a taste of his blood staining the floor, for that face to twist in despair.

“Stop it. Both of you.” Your voice struck firm as you pushed them apart. “Don’t you understand why this auction took place?”

Yoongi and Namjoon stared at you in confusion. You sighed in annoyance.

“Someone is trying to play with your minds. Causing you to drop blood so they don’t have to get their hands dirty. Why do you think all those artefacts were dumped into one auction? Where almost all the gangs of this country were attending?” Your eyes flickered from Yoongi to Namjoon. “Doesn’t that sound a little strange? From the naked eye, you’d think they were just silly but clearly—” You gestured at the both of them. “—whatever they’re trying is working. No one knows who the thief is. That causes suspicion and rumors.”

“We start blaming each other for spilling information,” Yoongi continued.

You nodded, relieved that some understanding spread through their faces. “We need to regroup in a neutral zone. Gold Dust isn’t that anymore. Once we find a place and time, we’ll figure what needs to be done. For now, separate.”

The leaders shared another sharp glare at each other before Namjoon walked away. Some of the heads that were turned to them now moved back and Yoongi hid his blade.

“Where’s the fucking restroom?” Yoongi hissed. You took his hand and led him over to the left side of the room, slithering through the crowd.

Two guards were already situated at the doors as Yoongi kept a grip on your hand when you walked into the restroom. The bright lights made him groan in annoyance.

Anyone who saw them enter immediately rushed out. The tension in the auction was so high that nobody wanted to be found near an angry gang leader.

Yoongi leaned forward on the marble sink, breathing ragged and his limbs shaking from anger. The last memory of his mother now rested in someone elses’ hands. Why couldn’t she come up with something less physical? Something that couldn’t be stolen. Namjoon was holding it now. I’ll snap my fingers. He was right. He had the power. There was no ultimate leader to call the shots. Just however reached the flag first. And if he reached first—no. He shook his head. Namjoon wasn’t the problem right now.

He let the water run, wanting the sound to drown any visions or thoughts that made bile reach up to his throat.

“Yoongi,” you muttered, rubbing his arm. “You okay?”

“I tried—I kept my cool but—when you mentioned you—” he rubbed his face roughly. “I—fuck—I could’ve killed him. I could’ve killed him.”

“But you didn’t.” You caressed the back of his head. “It’ll be okay. I know it feels like all the strings that surfaced are jumbled but they’ll come together. We’ve been through much worse than this, okay?”

Yoongi sighed. “I remembered her for the first time in years.” He chuckled sadly. “I thought I lost those memories a long time ago.”

You felt your eyes burn at his voice cracking. Yoongi never talked about his mother. There were only vulnerable moments in the dead of night when Yoongi couldn’t sleep. That was the first time he ever mentioned her. The first time she saw tears in his eyes. “We’ll get it back. No matter what, I promise.” That promise engraved in your mind.

***

The next morning, you rose in nothing but your champagne silk robe and sat at your study. Handwriting letters until your fountain pen emptied of ink and the steaming black coffee turned tepid. Park Jimin held the Kim familys’ prized jade bracelet and Namjoon held the Min Familys’ diamond gun. Clearly, the scandal spread further than the two gangs but your current priority is ensuring a war won’t break out between Namjoon and Yoongi.

Jimins’ death would also result in only chaos.

Gold sunlight gleamed through the white transparent curtains, beaming rays reflecting against the dark mahogany of the study table. Despite the mess in your brain, the morning itself was peaceful. You made sure Yoongi slept a few hours longer than normal so his daily alarm had been temporarily disabled.

Everytime he drowned in his emotions, Yoongi worked himself to the bone as if to make up for his vulnerability. You knew that would only taint the progress they had so far on the investigation.

You sent the letters out through different messengers. They will be followed through an underground trail until it finally reached the two gang leaders. Cupping your now hot cup of coffee, you let out a deep breath, emptying your lungs of the stress as you looked out the painted window of your study.

There was still time left to relax before they started work. Giving the empty cup to a maid, you walked back up to your bedroom.

Yoongi stirred underneath the white, cotton sheets. Bars of gold light shining down his pale skin through the blinds and a cool air kissed your flesh.

Door locked, you padded closer and gently climbed onto the bed. Yoongi draped a tattooed arm over your waist with a drawling hum under his breath.

“Where’d you go?” His voice vibrated through the fabric of the bed, cheek pressed against the pillow and raven hair covered his eyes.

“I sent letters out to the leaders for a meeting.” You kept your voice soft, caressing the dog silhouette on his arm.

Yoongi groaned in annoyance. “I really don’t wanna talk to that asshole. Can’t we do it another time?”

“The most important thing in the world to you has been taken. This is the meeting that’s going to help you get it and you’re going to back down?”

Yoongi rubbed his face before staring at you. “The most important thing in the world to me is lying down right here.”

You smiled, fingers tracing his chest. “The second most important then.”

“That’ll be our dogs.”

You chuckled. “Darling, you know you want it back. This is also going to prevent any brawl between Jimin and Namjoon.”

Yoongi hummed in agreement. In the moment of silence, he reached out and cupped your cheek. You leaned down and kissed him. You moved down, peppering kisses on his jawline and neck.

Yoongi let out a shaky sigh as your lips grazed his chest, gentle brushes against the tender skin where his prior wounds used to be. Trailing your tongue down his torso, the blanket slid off the edges of the bed.

Your hand reached down and gently cupped his crotch, earning a hiss from the man. Yoongi grabbed onto your hair, breaking the kiss so he could look at you. You graced him with a smile. Biting down your lips, you descended down his stomach. Slow pecks down his torso as your fingers hooked the hem of his boxers.

Pulling down the soft material, the tightening member sprung up, blushing at the tip. With another smile, you wrapped your lips around the tip and swallowed the length until it disappeared into your mouth. You closed your throat around his tip before pulling back. Yoongi hummed. Heat exuded from his body blocking out the cool breeze of the air conditioner, adrenaline seeping through his exhaustion.

Spit dribbled down your chin as you took his length again, bobbing you head. Your free hand wrapped around the base, squeezing until you heard a whine. Yoongi fisted the sheets and the other hand buried in your hair. Madness clouded his mind watching your head bouncing on him, drooling at the edges of your mouth and tears glossing your eyes.

Fire burning in the pit of his belly, he held onto both sides of your head and thrusted into your mouth. The tip hit the back of your throat making you whimper. He felt the tightness of his release just hearing the sound of your gagging. The way you obediently stayed still as he fucked your throat. Your panties felt heavy and hot with your arousal, desperately needing to be touched. One hand snuck under your robe, rubbing the soggy material.

Yoongi pulled his length out, enjoying the way you tried to catch your breath before staring up at him in tears. Pulling you back up, he flipped you both around until your body was bent over the soft bed, cheek pressed against the sheets. Pushing up your robe and pulling down your panties down to your knees, he positioned himself at your dripped entrance. Without another warning, he pushed himself in. The sheer squelch and stretch could’ve had you unraveling in seconds.

Vulnerabilities of the early morning had you dripping and softened to the slightest touch of ecstasy. Yoongi shared the same impatience as he fucked into you. Barely any remorse, arousal splattering at every thrust. Nectar dripped through the expensive sheets as the bed shifted from his movements. He grabbed your shoulder to push in deeper until the soft walls of your cervix hugged his tip.

Your moans and his heavy breathing melded together in a melody that reverberated throughout the bedroom. He nudged a thumb through your rim, pushing and hooking before pounding into you again. You fell full and overwhelmed, wanting to explode and fall apart.

You gripped onto the sheets until her nails dug into her own palms. Yoongi pushed your dress up further, caressing your back before smacking your bottom. Another whimper left your lips. He smacked it again.

Yoongi turned you around, lifting you onto his lap. Your back rested on the wood headboard as your arms wrapped around his neck. Sleeves of your robe drooped down your shoulders, barely hanging onto your body. Arousal squirted out of you making both of you laugh. Yoongi let out a blissful sigh as he quickened his pace. The headboard could’ve cracked from the pressure, breathing short and rapid like the speed of his thrusts. Lips latched on the curve of your neck as the pleasure trembled through you.

Before he could mutter anything, you felt the warm liquid burst inside you. Filling your womb until it spilled through the sheets. Yoongi snuck his hand between your legs, pushing you to the edge as your lips barely brushed against each other.

Bliss burst at the seams, ricocheting through every limb until your legs trembled, clasping tight around his hips. Yoongi kissed your jawline and your temple. “Fine.” He breathed out. “One meeting.”

You giggled as your breathing tried to catch up. “Good.”

next chap >>

#yoongi #thebtswritersclub #yoongi imagines #bts imagines #yoongi fanfic #bts fanfic #yoongi fanfiction #bts fanfiction #yoongi mafia au #bts mafia au

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shatouto · 4 years

Note

YOUR BABY VADER IS SO GOOD I NEED TO GIVE HIM ALL THE HUGS. please tell me he gets like. a weighted blanket or soft clothes. or! or! or! anakin and obi-wan go to the market because nobody knows that anakin was vader, and anakin gets some nice clothes in pretty colors and theyre very soft and he gets some ingredients for cooking and droid parts to play with and everything is nice and good for him

GOSH thank you!!! aww i love that idea sO MUCH just reading your prompt makes me feel warm fuzzy inside. im not sure which baby vader you’re referring to (because there are so many of them in my wips and i love it) but i’ll assume this is the au ive been writing with @obiwanobi. so pls enjoy this near 2k of tooth-rotting fluff; i took some liberties

who likes sweet things

The clinic smells like bacta, as clinics do. But instead of sterile durasteel walls, the floors are carpeted and the walls are painted and the windows are curtained and everything is multicolored and joyful. Across from Anakin sits a healer - a kindly woman, very small in stature, with large, gentle eyes, wispy hair and pointed ears. She chats happily with Obi-Wan while working in tandem with the medical droid to secure the prosthetic to Anakin’s elbow.

“...disheartening, isn’t it?” She chirps, her three-fingered hands deftly fastening bolts around the cap and manipulating the droid to screw down the simple plating. “I can’t count the number of innocent civilians who have come here to fit a new limb. Just last week, I constructed an entire exoskeleton for this young lady. Poor girl, so young.”

“That is so good of you. I am glad for the young lady to find you. She came to the right place.” Obi-Wan smiles. “Those of us who have some sense all know Healer Saada’s prostheses are of the highest quality in all of Coruscant.”

“Ah, young man. Flattery gets you nowhere. Have you learned nothing as a youngling?” Saada shakes her head at the Jedi, then turns her great eyes to Anakin, ears perking. “And you. You’re a rather quiet boy, aren’t you?”

Anakin presses his lips into a tight, blanched line. This woman may not be a Jedi any longer, but she is not Force-blind. He glances to Obi-Wan, breaths bated.

Obi-Wan rests a hand on his shoulder. “He’s quite shy, Healer Saada. Please do not worry.”

“Oh, poor thing.” The healer hops onto a moving droid. It rolls towards the counter, where she sorts out some bottles while asking, seemingly in an absent-minded manner, “Where did he come from?”

Anakin catches his gaze the moment Obi-Wan looks at him. Obi-Wan parts his lips, as if ready to lie.

“Tatooine,” Anakin mutters.

Astonishment freezes across Obi-Wan’s face, and Anakin turns away. The admission isn’t for her, though he supposes he doesn’t mind her knowing. She’s just a person. She doesn’t even know his name, or what he has done, or what the dead Sith Lord has made Anakin do to earn his demise. Obi-Wan does.

“So far away!” the healer comments lightly, turning around with a soft smile. “What a great trip you must have made.”

“Indeed he did. He lives here now,” Obi-Wan clarifies. Anakin opens his hand, and the healer places a stretchy ball in it. She instructs him to practice squeezing it to get used to the new artificial limb, before sending them off.

They exit the clinic and out under a vast starlit sky. Gentle winds whirl overhead as they climb into their speeder, heading for the usual park where Anakin takes his walk. The night has gotten cold, yet the darkness is unusually diluted. As they pass by downtown, music wafts up alongside the scent of butter and frying oil. Anakin looks down to see a sea of lights over a town square, and colorful awnings draped over kiosks of all sorts. There seem to be many people there, eating, laughing, hand in hand. He eyes them closely, fingers tightening on the side door of the speeder.

“It’s a celebration, Anakin,” Obi-Wan supplies, as they come to a stoplight. Anakin turns around, and his heartbeat ratchets up when Obi-Wan reaches over to brush a lock of hair from his forehead.

“What are they celebrating?”

“Harvest season. It’s an old tradition, I’ll give you that. Coruscant barely has a greenhouse on it, let alone agricultural land.” Obi-Wan chuckles, then quiets down into a thoughtful smile. “Though I suppose the election result is as good of an occasion to celebrate as any.”

“Election?” Anakin asks, just as they pass by a great billboard with the face of a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman in a night-purple cape. The speeder is going slow enough for him to decipher the words written beneath it. Obi-Wan keeps saying he’s a fast learner, so he tries to read at every turn. “Chancellor… A-Ame…” He frowns. “Amidala?”

“Very good, Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s eyes crinkle at him for a second before returning to the path ahead. “Padmé Amidala is the new Chancellor now. It was a rather close call. She is well-loved by many people, but not quite so in the Senate.”

Half of those words mean almost nothing to Anakin. “Why?”

“Well,” Obi-Wan hums. “One could say the Senate hasn’t been loving its people so much, in a while.”

Obi-Wan grows pensive, as he oft does. The faint, warm light from below and the cool starlight from beyond color him in an otherworldly tint. His profile is startlingly delicate, from the slope of his nose to the soft fluff of his whiskers and beard. Even the flutter of his lashes is graceful. Then Anakin remembers he shouldn’t stare. His eyes strays towards the bright lights and jovial music beneath.

“...But I am hardly brave enough for politics,” Obi-Wan muses, after a stretch of silence. When he looks Anakin’s way it is with some tiredness in his small smile. “Say, Anakin. How would you like to stop by the night market, for a change?”

They lower their altitude as soon as Anakin nods his agreement. Obi-Wan parks their speeder, draws up Anakin’s hood, and takes his right hand. Anakin’s synthetic nerves light up, even though it’s only enough transmission for him to feel touch and not warmth, it being a very standard model of prosthetic. His face warms up under the hood of his cloak. He’s glad Obi-Wan doesn’t notice.

They let themselves be carried by the stream of the crowd, of parents jogging after excitable children toddling about with sweetmeats in their hands, sugar on their cheeks; of young couples, one’s arm around the other’s waist, sharing bites of fluffy sweet bread or sips of mulled wine. Light shines golden and amber through bottles of syrup and jars of honey, glitters on the crystal sugar and drizzled glaze on heaps of candies in open boxes. The smell is divine whenever they pass by a warm stall with steam bannering overhead.

Anakin shivers lightly, even though the crowd blocks most of the winds. Obi-Wan tugs at his hand. “Let’s get you something warm.”

He follows Obi-Wan. A paper cup is pressed into his hand, ample and warm against his skin. The drink smells and tastes sweet with a note of toasted bitterness, the texture creamy and rich on his tongue. There are floating white chunks of some sort of confectionery in there.

“What’s this?”

“Hot chocolate.” Obi-Wan raises his identical cup and touches it to Anakin’s. “Do you like it?”

”Yes,” Anakin says, and Obi-Wan’s smile warms his belly more than any hot drink.

They continue on their path, still a straight line from one end of the market to another. Anakin’s wide eyes travel from stand to stand: here a string of patchwork puppets, there a counter of carved wooden figures; and perfume vials, colorful figures (“It’s artisan soap, Anakin”), bouquets of everlasting tissue flowers tied in silk ribbons. There are clothes: soft robes in various colors, touted as “warm in winter and breezy in summer,” per the merchants; tunics with blossoming patterns embroidered at the collars or sleeve hems. There are kiosks of datatapes, illustrated by sparkling holograms of a High Republic castle, or a great speeder model, or even some holodrama character whose name Anakin can’t remember.

And then a booth takes his breath away. Glimmering under the light are shelves after shelves of mini household droids, custom-made transmitters, and a variety of artfully wired core processors. Replacement parts bathe in the blue glow of holograms depicting the corresponding droid models; and below all of this is a row of toolboxes of gleaming silver and shiny ivory, even iridescent inlays of mother-of-pearl. The booth seems to be one of a kind in the vast entirety of the market.

Anakin stands, transfixed. His fingers itch, and one of the tools begins to quiver and lift into the air, unbeknownst to the seller who has his back to it. He wants it. The thing will be his.

“Anakin? Anakin!” Obi-Wan’s hushed voice rustles by his ear, jolting him back to his senses.

The tool drops down with a small clang, barely audible in the noises of the festivity. Fear bursts coldly in Anakin’s chest - he shouldn’t, he knows he shouldn’t, his Master would be very unhappy if he found out his young foolish apprentice had tried to waste his time playing with droids again. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles, bowing his head, even as Obi-Wan squeezes his hand.

“Do you want that?” Obi-Wan asks, softly.

Anakin peeks up. The empty paper cup is still slightly warm in his hand, and he crushes it absentmindedly, tightening and loosening his fingers just to have something to do. “I, uh…”

Obi-Wan’s hand covers his own, gently prying the crushed paper cup out from the curl of his fingers. “I would love to get it for you, if you want it. It’s the toolbox on the bottom shelf, second from the left, isn’t it?”

The light on Obi-Wan’s smile is a honeyed gold, pooling stars into his eyes, and Anakin is transfixed again, not quite by the tinkering booth this time. He looks down as his face warms and his heart still pounds hard, and slowly he nods.

—

They come back to Obi-Wan’s quarters with a small armful: a new set of robes in muted, ashen pink; a box of tools with carved handles that are probably more fancy than they need to be, but still practical enough; a new array of spices and condiments; and a great tin of “absolutely decadent powder for drinking chocolate, Anakin, I can’t believe I let you persuade me into buying this.”

“You are the one who likes sweet things,” Anakin counters, arranging the new addition into their pantry. Obi-Wan laughs aloud by his side.

“Now how could you possibly know that?”

“I cook. I know that.” Anakin shrugs, and admits, “...and Ahsoka said so.”

Obi-Wan’s brows shoot up. He’s quiet for a few seconds, but the wide smile that follows only seems all the more brighter for it. “Best friends now, aren’t you?”

“No,” Anakin huffs and closes the pantry door. He doesn’t say more. Ahsoka gave him her old voicebook plug-in and lent him her comics; in exchange, he would pack her this spicy meat stew whenever she needed to leave for some time. They struck a fair deal, is all.

Obi-Wan doesn’t say more, either. They settle on the couch, Anakin almost rushing to fish out the toolbox from its paper bag. Finally having two hands to work with again, he examines it with zeal. It’s a good set of tools, he knows it; he hasn’t been allowed to touch these things for years, but he still knows. It’s in his blood. He can still wire standard circuit boards for protocol droids (the slightly outdated type) with his eyes closed; can definitely assemble a cleaning-type mouse droid from scratch if he’s allowed to scavenge for parts. He smiles down at the lacquered handles and the durasteel glint, picking up and balancing each microscrew, each hexagonal wrench, each tiny plier.

“...I hope it was enjoyable for you,” Obi-Wan speaks up, all of a sudden.

Anakin turns to him, not bothering to wipe off his smile. “It was.” He chews on the inside of his cheeks. “I’ve never had so many things. Thank you.”

Obi-Wan studies him for a long moment, more intent than he ever did. By the look on his face, Anakin expects him to say many things, but he doesn’t. He just pats Anakin’s elbow, where the prosthetic is joined, and murmurs, “You’re welcome.” His eyes have a moist sheen to them, smiling though he is.

#raised as sith anakin #always a sith anakin #obikin #shatou writes #anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #obi wan kenobi #it was fun writing this #i cant believe i wrote this in one go

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