#excuse the filters i added too much i think

[kalims]

˃ ᵕ ˂ . . "who i like? do you seriously think I'm gonna tell you that? anyways its—"

大好き

premise. someone asks who you like.. and you respond with their name—said person right beside you!

characters. all dorms and their prominent students

includes. gn reader

note. after a long wait! and the almost month this has been on my 'to be added' category it's hereeee.. fun fact.. I actually finished another work because I liked the idea of it more even though this was my prioritized.

was 20 mins late because I was fixing my posts aksbja

heartslabyul

looks at you like you're insane. I'm confident everyone can envision riddle's face like that. it's in between the verge of being flustered and being appalled by your lack of filter. heat practically steams out of riddle's ears as his movements stutters, clearly struggling to comprehend what you said. maybe you should get ready for an earful but you're pleasantly suprised when riddle sets aside his.. passionate emotions to shyly ask a confirmation. (with admitted aggression as if he's in denial)

trey's eyebrows shoot up but the action looks way more casual than it should be. I mean, surprisingly he's pretty calm on taking it into account but he ends up just being a smiling fool beside you as you continue your conversation with your friend. he's like... ‎◜◡◝ beside you as your friend looks between the two of you in a hurry before breaking into a laugh. should be be worried that you're this bold..? well, it did work in his favor so he can't say a thing.

happy go luck cater looks even more happy than you've ever seen him in your life. hanging lowly by his sides, his hands twitch and he itches to pull out his phone to basically renounce to the world that his feelings are very much reciprocated and probably lowkey shitting on the people with one sided loves because, ha! he wins!! you bet he's gonna settle for screaming in his private account and then proceeding to scream in his pillow.

before he could foster up a grin and break out of the 'calm and responsible' honor student, deuce had to keep his lower lips under his teeth lest he looks like a weirdo smiling uncontrollably tinged in flush. the whole time he was just staring at you goofily.. like he's on cloud nine, which I concur. because he is. the one who gets gaslighted (not by you) into thinking that you both now are in a relationship like.. deuce be for real you didn't even ask me on a fate. (actually both of you might think you're in a relationship because of the way you're acting like yall are)

contrary to beliefs I think ace would be on the more casual side. you know? throwing an arm around your shoulder and shattering whatever personal space criteria there was. clearly there's no need when you 'like' him so much. he's using your words as an excuse to do whatever he wants, like leaning strangely close, letting a hand linger longer than it should. whatever restraint he had before is gone now because now he's moving onto a new level of personal. you'd either hate or secretly like the change. hate because ace wtf we're in class and like because,, who wouldn't want your crush to be overly affectionate with you?

savanaclaw

you'd think leona wasn't listening at all just from the indifferent look on his face but you know better just from the way his eyes perk up, tail sticking up in dormant but still a signal of alert and attention. for once he doesn't quip a tease, or a smart-ass remark that would want you to shovel your way to the ground on embarrassment. he just.. sits there, staring seemingly into the void of thin air itself. maybe it's because he's feeling particularly sentimental or sensitive today that his heart feels like it's encased in warmth. it feels good.

a laugh too shaky for his preferences, ruggie hopes he didn't look too nervous for his sake. I mean, this is literally his suprise of the century and when I tell you that it's a big shock to him, it's an understatement. come on, if he did think you had feelings for him ruggie imagined the confession going normally. either buttering him up or going straight to the point—the latter, which he prefers but when he said to be direct he certainly didn't expect this! the hyena runs away with jitters and a skip to his steps but he comes back a few minutes later looking more relaxed than you've ever seen him.

once again. contrary to expectations which the savanclaw boys had practically shattered those, many would think jack would go all shy. from the previous savanaclaw boys you'd think I'd go against expectations again but you're.. wrong hehe. i don't know how to explain other than he wills himself to show a reaction other than fluster, maybe it's just in his pride to now show you an ounce of weakness but literally how could be when you're the weakness? he doesn't know if you making him soft is good or not.

octavinelle

if it was real and possible to actually happen without a third party force, azul's glasses would've definitely shattered the moment you said the direct confession. he's torn between wanting to excuse himself to scream like a school girl or intent to not let the fluster show. well, either way he does both. keeping his emotions hardly in check, sometimes slipping up multiple times but when the time comes where you both part ways you know he's silently smiling to himself when he turns round a corner. the twins are suspicious and curious as to why azul had been in a good mood nowadays..

either jade maintains his cool, natural closed eyed smile or he crinkles his eyes when he breaks into a large sharp toothed grin. of course both has the lingering ominous feeling around it because it's jade.. and even you have to agree that him openly cracking a grin isn't exactly a good sign of peace, rather so a harbinger of trouble. if you were bold enough to say that in his presence I wonder how that previous confidence will fare when he's practically picking at your earlier words to gouge a reaction. no jade, I only said like. not love (yet).

no one other than floyd would be more than ecstatic. he didn't hear it at first, blinking then tilting his head to the side when he pauses to register it. so when he finally processes it you bet he's giggling in his head but in real time? he's practically sweeping you off your feet to hug you in the air. figures with the strange merman strength.. you find out that floyd is quite clingy when he's immensely happy, he even refused to let you go through classes and when you insisted he just sat down next to your seat and promptly kicked out whoever sat there before! floyd atleast hide! I mean the professor would surely notice the eel that's not in supposed to be in their class.

scarabia

if there was an option where he could purchase everything in the world then giving it to you without expecting anything back kalim would surely choose it. you got him so happy to the fact that he's willing to do practically anything that you ask. he doesn't mean to be over the top but.. he just wants to make you happy, which is more than you deserve. no matter how many times you tell him that you don't need any gifts but rather him only, it seemed like it only did worse since he practically fell a hundred times harder which brings us to the conclusion that he wants to give you the world a whole lot more now..

a complete opposite of kalim. jamil merely blinks and casts you a side eye. for the record, he is a little impressed you're that bold because if it was him he would've just brushed this person away or claimed that he liked no one but here you are. completely obliterating the concept of secrets. perhaps that's why he likes you in the first place, your personality is certainly a force to reckon with.. but sometimes you just have to tone down the chaos.. *please* 😐

pomefiore

vil is no stranger to bold proclamations but he can't deny he's a little startled. well, he didn't pick you out to be that type of person. either way usually he'd plaster a quick smile, the words not hitting anything other than the skin of his heart. strangely enough he can't keep the smile wider than he'd like off his face, he's immensely pleased by your words and pomefiore has never been so happy by the obvious good mood their dorm leader had. cause he left them alone for the whole day to practice stick to your side.

his eyes immediately crinkle in joy, rook has to look away and cover the lower part of his face to shy away the flush in his cheeks that would give away his thoughts. rook wouldn't mind if you knew how he felt, but this time he feels as though he's doing this to contain the excitement off his face. you can practically hear the tremble in his voice as he giggles out. "oh tricheur ! mon coeur bat pour toi dans ma poitrine!" it looks like rook completely forgot to existence of the person right next to you. if he got madol from the amount of times he practically sang of his love for you rook would be rich.

just like any other time where you say something off handed epel quickly goes out of character and nearly screams. asking, shaking your shoulders, out of breath by the amount of times he aggressively shook you for the answer of "really?!" his voice becomes that of a boy you aren't used to, but if he's really that willing to show you the person he truly is it makes you like him more. if you do agree, admittedly with your surroundings growing distorted he yells out a happy "YESSS." then coughs and resumes to his soft persona like he wasn't the complete opposite a minute ago. (the person that asked was shook)

ignihyde

it's hard to say if idia is actually gonna be next to you since,, he's idia and do you really think he'd entertain the thought of being in a conversation with someone who he doesn't know? so let's just pretend his tablet is floating next to you, it's better than nothing you guess. you spared a glance to the electronic when you literally confessed your type, idia himself fitting the category perfectly. you swore you heard a squeak but ehh.. maybe it was a rat or something.

meanwhile. ortho comes inside idia's room expecting his elder brother to just be sitting on his bed, gaming chair or something but no. idia shroud is on the floor, with his headphones hazzardly over the floor like it fell over when he did. his hair is sprawled around the floor, heating into a concerning passionate pink as he rolls around and... squeals..? just from the headphones ortho can vaguely hear a "my type..? oh you know idia? I'd kill to have a boyfriend like him." playing on repeat.

diasomnia

he would be like: ˘ ˘ and then: ‎◜◡◝ after he hears you. if there a sound for a big, happy dragon malleus would be excluding them. when I tell you he wishes nothing but to just whisk you away on spot he's not kidding, unlike everyone else who unintentionally forgot the person who asked. this man forgets them intentionally because he can't keep his eyes off you like.. 'hey other human. me and my child of man are having a moment here. will you please leave now. did you not get the sign'

giggles but with his deep voice it sounds kinda weird, but nice to the ears nonetheless. lilia labels you as his main target now, perhaps scaring you shitless at the random times is his love languange because he does it a lot. don't worry though, he always says a half hearted apology with a smile and showers you with affection right after. how could you be mad with how he treats you? even though he cares for you after you can't help but pray that the glint you saw in the ceiling was just some shiny thing.. maybe malleus got it from him because he doesn't care for the other person too.

sebek scolds you period. not only have you mentioned his name (which he's embarrassingly torn between being disgusted and fluster) but you've also mentioned that he's your type?? but I honestly think he approves your taste. "OF COURSE I am the ideal man! I applaud you for once human. not everyone can see the value of loyalty and devotion to waka-sama!" he says but with the increasing pink in his face you know better than to think that it's for the sole reason of malleus.

with the increasing time you've both spent together, silver has practically devoted himself to following you around whenever he's awake. (sebek says something about him always needing to be by malleus' side but quickly shuts up after silver comments that sebek is more than capable to look after him) the surroundings are growing hazy when you say it but he hears it nonetheless. he's happy to say that he dreamt a pleasing dream he's ever gotten in a long time. and since you were in it, it's safe to say that he's positively infatuated now.

clarifications

translation for rook is,, "oh trickster! my heart beats for you in my chest!"

I connected ignihyde parts since I REFUSE to leave out ortho!!

I really liked how those ^ parts came out. my favorite actor cause I think it's cute for idia to be freaking out like that lolol. especially with the idea of recording of your voices to listen to cause he's that down bad

[starry-bi-sky]

okay so i was thinking of a joke earlier about how in DPDC Amity Park's slogan "a great place to live" is not only city propaganda but also the city lording it over the rest of America for being normal. But then I remembered that, despite how many DCU Cities with heroes in it there are, the amount of cities in America without heroes still far outnumber the amount of cities in America WITH heroes.

So I did a little digging so the joke would still land. Something most heroes have in common is that they operate in major cities. What makes a major city? I found that the general consensus is that the population is roughly over or around a million. THEN I looked up the populations of cities in the DCU that I thought of off the top of my head. So Gotham, Metropolis, Starling City, Central City, Jump City. All of them ranked up to millions in population (most of them were in the tens of millions).

Amity Park's wikipedia describes it as being similar to specifically Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Philadelphia's Population: 1.576 million as of 2021 Chicago's Population: 2.697 million as of 2021 San Francisco: 815,201 as of 2021

Whiiich means that Amity Park if we take that from canon, is probably a major city. There are approximately 19,000 cities in America with probably less than a hundred that are major cities. Adding the DCU major cities wouldn't skew the data too much.

Which MEANS that I can make the joke that Amity Park's "great place to live" is not only just typical city propaganda, but also its Amity Park lording it over the other major cities for being one of the only major cities that doesn't have problems bad enough to warrant a superhero or a vigilante. Cue stage left the Fentons and Phantom :)

Amity Parkers were probably SO proud that they didn't need a superhero. They didn't have to worry about things like 'world ending threats' and 'super-powered individuals' and 'staggering property damage'. And then enter Fentons.

It also could be used as an excuse for why nobody took notice to Amity Park getting ghosts if folks like me aren't huge fans of the notion of a media blackout via Tucker, Technus, or the US Government. Or if you want to keep Amity Park as its urban city self. Amity Park's news on ghosts gets drowned out in a week because there's news on more popular, well-known cities going on every other day. The shit going on in Amity Park is every other major city's regular Tuesday and it gets filtered as such.

[joeybsversion]

Drunk in Love

Joe Burrow x Reader

You and Joe celebrate a big win with the team

“That’s not fair, I always lose!” Joe shouted displeased as he grabbed the plastic cup filled with a concoction of alcohol.

You were out celebrating a Bengal win with the team and Joe had just lost another round of Kings Cup.

“Chug, Joey! You know the rules!” You teased as he slowly sipped on the drink.

“This is disgusting! I’ve already had enough.” He took one last big drink and crushed the cup.

Tee cracked open another drink and passed it down to Joe, “Here man. This is much better.”

Joe took a big swig of his drink. “I want a rematch!” He demanded and crossed his arms across his chest.

“Joe you’ve lost the last 3 rounds. Why would you win now, of all times?” Sam teased and placed another cup in the middle. Joe laughed, unable to think of an excuse. He was having too much fun with everyone.

“Maybe next game you’ll have better luck.” You teased and gave Joe a playful pat on the back. Joe let out a big pout which made everyone at the table laugh. “I think you’ve had enough.” You teased and grabbed his drink and took a sip. “Let’s share this one.” You kissed Joe on the cheek and set the drink down. ��I’ll be right back.” You said and gave Joe a reassuring smile and slipped away from the table.

“I’ll miss you!” He called after you with a big grin.

You made your way to the bar and quickly glanced over the menu. You were going to order a few appetizers for the table. Most of the table was hungry, it had been a few hours since you left the stadium with the girls and you all had talked about how hungry you were on the ride over. Plus, you knew the guys would be hungry after the game.

“Can I get a few baskets of fries, some Buffalo chicken wings, an order of nachos, and some pretzel bites please?” You folded up the menu and passed it back the bartender. After all home game wins you rented a room at the teams favorite bar to celebrate. “Oh and a round of waters please.” You added. The bartender copied everything down and let you know he’d be on his way over with the waters soon.

As you made your way back to the table you saw Joe with another plastic cup up to his mouth while the rest of the team was laughing and cheering him on.

“Did you lose again?” You laughed and took your seat next to Joe.

He wiped his mouth and looked over with a big pout “it’s not fair!” He whined. You gave him a quick kiss to cheer him up. “That makes it better.” He smiled and leaned in for another. You could taste the alcohol on his breath as he kissed you.

“Y/N, what can I get you to drink?” Sam asked as he got up from the table and made his way back to the bar to order another round.

“Surprise me!” You smiled. “And Joe is good for now.” You laughed.

Sam came back with a round of shots and drinks for everyone. Joe clinked his shot glass with yours as you both choked down the drink. The whole table was feeling pretty buzzed now and the food was making its way around. It has been such a fun night. With all the stress that comes with the games it’s nice to see everyone relax.

The drinks continued to flow until the early morning hours. Couples had slowly started to filter out as it got later. “We should probably think about going, Joey.” You slurred and grabbed his hand. “It’s getting later and I’m pretty sleepy.” You brushed your hair out of your face and leaned onto his shoulder.

“I’ll order a car.” Joe drunkenly pulled out his phone and ordered a ride. “I have a car that’ll be here n 20.” He shouted to the end of the table.

“We’ll hop in with ya!” Ja’Marr hollered back and motioned between himself and Tee. You all lived pretty close together so you rode together a lot of the time.

You all stumbled out to the sidewalk together and stood taking selfies and posting drunk Instagram stories while you waited for the car.

“There he is!” Joe hollered and flung himself into the backseat of the car, pulling you in with him.

Giggles flooded out if you as you Joe held you in his lap making jokes with the guys and drunkenly goofing off on the ride home. You clung to Joe like he was the only sense of comfort you could find. “I really like you.” Joe whispered into your ear as he pulled you closer and gave you a big hug. Your stomach did a somersault, “I really like you too, Joey.” You gave him a kiss.

“Get a room!” Tee hollered and covered his eyes.

“You’re just jealous!” Joe murmured back in between kisses. “Here’s our stop though!” He said and ducked out of the car. “Night guys!” He smiled and waved.

“Use protection! We don’t need a baby burrow running around!” Ja’Marr teased as you and Joe made your way into the house for the night.

[gretavanlace]

Poppins (Epilogue)

18+ only! Minors do not interact!

Warnings: graphic sexual content, unprotected sex, language, oral sex (f rec), dirty talk, impact play, etc, happy tears, idk

Thank you for sticking with Poppins and all the heartbreak that came with it. I hope we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief and acknowledge that this was the only ending that was right for our dear characters. I love you all and thank you for going along for the ride with me❤️ ps- I didn’t expect to post this until tomorrow so it’s very lightly edited, forgive me

Josh’s warmth is what wakes you. His weight carefully hovering over you; chest pressed against your back, mouth humming along with tiny, breathy sounds as his lips travel the curve of your jaw.

You nuzzle further into the pillow, which feels a little too warm under the muted sunlight filtering into the room for your liking. You’ve never been much of a morning person.

Slowly though, he and Lil are changing that. Their sunny dispositions mirror one another’s and feed off of shared glee as they happily greet each new day. It is nothing short of infectious.

It’s difficult to be grouchy in a home filled to the brim with their lovely early hour enthusiasm.

“Time to open your eyes, sleeping beauty.” His voice curls across the shell of your ear, low and slow. You know that voice all too well.

“Better slow your roll, Joshua,” You mumble, eyes closed, body still heavy with slumber, “She’ll be awake and climbing into bed any second.”

“She’s been awake, sweetheart.” His lips are kissing love into your hair, lungs breathing you in deeply. “We read outside on the swing, and shared an apple. I fixed her hair pretty and helped her get dressed, and then Grandma came and whisked her away for a birthday girl breakfast. It’s just you and me.”

A smile flashes on your sleepy lips, stealing his heart away, “All that without me?”

He drops down against you a little heavier, a delicious weighted blanket of a man. “We decided to let mama sleep in. You looked very peaceful.”

Mama, mommy, mom when she’s exasperated…every iteration makes your body flush with maternal devotion and pride.

It had been over a dinner of pasta and salad when she’d first called you mommy like it was the most natural thing in the world. Picking at her plate, fist clutched around her fork, shoving a cherry tomato around, she’d explained how uncle sammy had made her angry that afternoon.

“I told him I wanted to hold Rosie’s leash,” she’d lamented. “But he said I’m too small to hold it at the dog park because she tries to run. I’m not too small though, mommy, I’m not!”

Josh had soothed her with something you hadn’t really heard through the blissed out ringing in your ears, cleared his throat, and excused himself.. You’d found him leaning over the bathroom sink, blinking tears away.

“Josh, I didn’t…” you had stumbled stupidly over your pitiful explanation, “I didn’t ask her to call me that. I’d never do that. I’m sorry, I understand why you’re upset….”

He’d turned on you so quickly you’d taken a step back in surprise, “Upset? Are you kidding me? I’ve never been less upset in my life. I don’t think I can even remember the definition of the word right now.”

Words kept in whispers, lest she overhear, he had pulled you into his arms, chin hooked over your shoulder to keep you close as he spoke, “I’ve waited such a long time for my little girl to have that moment that she just had. To be able to talk to her mama about her day while pretending to eat her vegetables. You belong here, sweetheart…you always have.”

What always stands to you about that moment of tears and whispers in the bathroom, of all places - what you think will always make you smile the hardest when you remember that night, is the fact that he never once asked you how you felt about it. He never asked if it had made you uncomfortable. Never questioned your love for Lily, he knew. He knew.

And now here you lie, cozy under the covers with your beautiful Josh pestering you with adoration and kisses, while the incredible little human being who calls you mommy shares a birthday breakfast with her grandmother.

“All alone,” Josh hushes into your ear, breaking the spell of innocence clouding your head. “Just me,” he leans up on his elbow, making room for his hand to slip beneath the sheets. “And you.”

“Joshua Michael,” you scold lightly, parting for him when his fingers begin to walk up the inside of your thigh, “You’re an insatiable pervert, you realize…a deviant.”

His giggle, huffed and sultry, somehow parts your thighs even further. “I’m not the one spreading my legs like a whore. I’ve barely touched you. Naughty girl.”

A shiver shakes your spine, driven by his words and the fingers he’s now sweeping over your panties. He is sunshine and light, love and laughter, all wrapped up in a gorgeous package that can switch on a dime and drench you in filth.

“I also happen to love it when you middle name me…” he confesses, circling your clit just to listen to you sigh. “Makes me impossibly hard.”

As if to prove himself, he grinds his cock into the small of your back, smiling against your cheek when you whimper.

“Listen to you,” he sounds mockingly sympathetic, “you’re very whiny, and so soon. Why, baby? Are you wet? Is it all slick and hot right here?” He presses at your panties a touch harder, “Would my pretty girl like to cum?”

“Listen to you,” you turn the tables, reaching back to drag your nails against his scalp. “You’re being very dirty. I think you’re feeling whinier than I am. You just hide it better. Isn’t that right, Josh? You’re just eager to fuck me all filthy and nasty in this big empty house where no one can hear, aren’t you? You want it, don’t you?”

He’s rocking into the swell of your ass now, fingers sliding over you, pressing satin into your folds, tapping at your swollen clit, teasing teasing teasing.

“Yeah,” his breath pants over your cheek, hard and quick, “yeah I fucking want it…and so do you. Cotton candy cunt is just begging for me, soaking your sweet panties, crying for cock. For my cock.”

Cotton candy never fails to make you weak, he’d called it that the first time he’d made you see stars, pressed up against the door that now stands open because there is no one here but the two of you.

His fingers have sneaked into your mouth, and you can’t seem to repress a prayer of his name as you suck and lick at them.

“Shh,” he hushes, so cocksure and sexy, “don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Give it to me,” you pull away, longing for it to sound like a demand, but it slips off your tongue like the plea that it is as you reach back, trying to fight your panties down from your awkward position.

“Wanna taste you first,” he yanks your underwear down for you. “Want that beautiful pussy in my mouth, right in my fucking mouth,” with you bare enough for him to sink his fingers into the globe of your ass, he cracks a swift smack against it. “Tell me you want me to lick you. Tell me you want to cum pretty on my tongue.”

Your body is writhing now, twisting feverishly in a futile attempt to roll over and rip your nightshirt off all at once.

He’s having none of it, “I said fucking tell me,” he spanks you again, harder this time, groaning when you cry out, saturating the room with a needy, wailed moan.

“I want it, baby, please,” oh, how easily he can reduce you to a quaking, begging fool, not a thought in her head but Josh. “I want your mouth. I want to cum for you. Make me cry, Josh, make me fucking cry…make me cum.”

He growls out as his teeth drag over your cheek, and then your eyes are struggling to focus on the ceiling, head spinning from being flipped over without warning.

“Make you cum?” He’s taunting you now, kissing his way down to your breasts, making love to your nipples with his devious mouth. “Make you cry? Now why would I want to make my sweetheart cry?”

A soft bite arches your back away from the mattress, “Josh, baby….”

“Josh,” he whispers, tongue traveling the valley between your tits, “Josh, baby, don’t you sound meek? Like the prettiest wallflower who just wants to feel good…my sweet, sweet, sweetheart. I told you to fucking tell me…”

You know what he wants, and so you give it to him. “I want your mouth on me. I want you to lick me,” your hand fists in his hair, pulling him from your breast. “This, right here,” now you’re pinching at his plump, velvety bottom lip, fingertips pushing in to say hello to his warm, wet tongue “my pussy wants it so bad. Wrap these pretty lips around my clit until I make a mess.”

His face is buried between your legs so quickly you have to blink your way out of confusion. Just as quickly, you’re gripping and tugging at his curls, hips rocking up into his kiss while you beg him to stroke his dick while he devours your cunt.

“Yeah?” He mumbles, heavy and hot, into your aching flesh, “You want me to touch my cock while I eat this gorgeous pussy?”

“Yes, yes, yes…” you fall away into nothing sounds, mewling and keening into the morning light. A grunt as he shakes his face back and forth tells you he’s given you what you’ve asked for…and the sounds that chase that grunt shove you closer to the edge.

“I’m gonna cum…I’m gonna cum so hard,” it’s but a breath, you don’t know if he’s even heard you until his fervent nod answers back, save for the moans muffling from between your legs.

It is a warm wave that explodes over you as though you're the jagged, rocky shore. At the crest of it, you bolt upright, cradling his head against you as you pump your hips in time with your throbbing pulse, groaning like a jezebel until the walls drip with your sobs.

He doesn’t pull away until you’re pushing at his forehead and gasping for reprieve. When his breathtaking face resurfaces, it’s pink-cheeked and shining with your release.

“I’m fucking covered in you,” he crawls up, running the back of his hand across his mouth, mussing the soft hairs that perch above it. “Do you have any idea how fucking good you taste?”

He’s shoving and kicking his pants away as you pull his lips to yours, savoring your cunt and his need, all over them.

“Fuck me,” you’re clawing and pulling at him, hands flying about without care or thought as he bites at your collar bone.

“Yeah?” The tip slides, swollen and warm, against you, nudging at your quivering clit. “You want this? You want me to stuff your snug little cunt all full of me? Fuck you wide open?”

Your teeth are clenched and grinding though your reply, “Yes, fuck me…I want it, Josh. Give it to me, give it to your girl.”

That lazy drag against your center continues, “Think you deserve it, sweetheart? Does my baby deserve my cock this morning? Have you been a real good girl? Pout sweet, yeah? Make me want to give it to you.”

You turn your eyes soft, wide and wet, “Don’t you want to give it to me? Haven’t I been so good for you? Came pretty on your tongue just like you asked.”

A weak sound, something akin to a whimper, ripples out of his chest as he presses into you, gentle and slow. “Maybe you deserve just a little, huh? Don’t you, baby? Maybe you deserve just the tip, hmm?”

“Yes,” you lie, “Just the tip.”

He’s a liar too, and you both know it the second he slips inside.

“So fucking warm, sweetheart,” his mouth sinks into the crook of your neck, as he continues his relentless teasing, slipping just the silky soft head in and out of you “So fucking tight. Perfect, wet pussy, pretty and pink, greedy…all mine.’

“Yours,” you nod, pulling him in with your heels dug firmly into the base of his spine until you’re deliciously filled with him and rolling against his body like a glutton.

“Oh, you think you’re just gonna take what you want?” He sounds so sure of himself, but you can feel the resolve leaching from his frame, “Squeeze my cock with that needy cunt, then, sweetheart. Show me she loves it with a filthy little hug, dirty girl.”

You clench around him with a whine you wish you could say was purposeful, for as well as it works. The second it escapes your parted lips he’s pounding into you. Pressing into your lower stomach with a flattened palm and a hitching, “You feel me right here? You feel my cock right here, baby? So deep…fuck, so deep.” Fucking your body into the mattress as you claw at his shoulders, and gnash into his chest savagely.

“That’s it,” he grits out, huffing the words out between cruel snaps of his hips, “Tear into me, sweetheart. Make it fucking hurt. Harder,”

A growl, so reminiscent of a wild animal’s call, bursts forth from your heaving chest as you bite and suck at him, and it only serves to make him fuck away at you faster, deeper.

“Come on and cum for me,” his fingers are wrapped around the nape of your neck now, shoving your mouth against him. “Bite, baby, fucking bite. Hard. Do it.”

Sinking your teeth into his alabaster skin you let go, pulling away without weakening your grip, leaving a raised, purple and pink constellation in your wake as you shudder and convulse beneath his weight…calling his name, howling and shaking as those tears you’d begged for finally streak over your temples to chase each other into your tangled hair.

He’s lost it above you completely - cursing and grabbing at you wherever his wandering hands happen to land, his beautiful cock twitching frantically as it spills inside you. Filling you up, wet and dripping, as you both search for sure footing.

You haven’t all the time in the world, and surely you waste far too much of it staring at each other with his hands cupping your face - at last, he rolls to his side, curling himself around you until you feel safe and sound.

“You’re obscene, you know that?” You smile up at the ceiling, watching the fan as it swirls lazy circles above your heads.

“Oh yes, my love, I know,” he sighs, brushing a lock of hair from your face, “I make no apologies. We should shower.”

You nod, half sad to see it end, and half elated to get a move on for Lily’s big day. “Let’s shower, then I’ll run and pick up her cake. It won’t say Elizabeth this year, I can assure you. She’ll be in therapy over that for years,

Joshua.”

“Yeah, yeah…” his grip sinks into your ribs, tickling you gently. “Can you believe she’s five today? Five! I hate it.”

“I hate it too.” You nod, solemnly. “Talk to the science department on campus, tell them we need an anti-aging device or something.”

A laugh bursts out of him, dragging one out of you alongside it, “I’ll get right on that. Jake’s gonna be here around one, I told him his job is to blow up balloons. It’ll keep him quiet.”

“I bought a helium tank.” You remind him, toying with his fingers.

“He doesn’t have to know that.” His lips peck a quick line along your cheekbone. “I think he really might like this one. It’s getting kinda serious…well, as serious as Jake is capable of.”

“The girl he met in Lansing?” The jealousy that once might have lived inside your question is nonexistent. “Is he bringing her?”

“No,” his fingers tangle back around yours, “said today was Lil’s day and he wouldn’t draw focus from that. You know how he is.”

“He loves her so much,” now you’re choking up, but it’s because of Lily, not because of some errant territorial claim. Jake isn’t yours, and he never really was.

“That he does,” Josh nods and then tugs at you as he rolls off the bed and onto his feet. “C’mon now, sweetheart, shower time before the two most discerning women in our lives come back and discover us in a compromising situation.”

You follow after him, leaving the twisted sheets behind you, asking if he’ll wash your hair.

He turns around, eyebrow hooked like you should know better as he adjusts the water temperature. “Of course I’ll wash your hair, baby. I’ll take care of you. I’m always going to take care of you.”

Taglist: @gretasintrees @greta-van-chaos @celestialfauna @s0livagant @groggyvanfleet @kiszkathecook @brokenbellz @llightmyllovee @doodle417 @seventieswhore @jake-kiszkas-smirk @weightofdreams-gvf @imdepressedaf1996 @alisonwonderland29 @gretavanfleas @jakesgrapejuice @gretavangroove @sparrowofthedawn @xserenax-13 @tbagggvf @obetrolncocktails @jakeslovehandles @poofyloofy @70sgroupielovr @heatmyfleet @age-of-nyahh @sammiboo162 @gretasmokerising @spicedandicedtea @jakekiszkasleftnutsack @saoirsemaeve @mywickeddivinity @thelvnternskeeper @paintmyhouse @tripthelightfandomtastic @tripthelight-fanfic @mckenna4 @sarakay-gvf @theweightofjake @thewritingbeforesunrise @joshsmama @sammysvanfeet @rhythm-of-space @highladyofasgard @jordie-gvf-admin @calumspretty @sad1lynn @demolitionndann @gvfpal @starcatcher-jake

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Triangulum - Chapter 1- Return to the Falls

— — — — — — —

“Tree. Tree. Billboard. Gas station. Telephone pole. Tree. Billboar—hey, that one’s got a whale on it!”

The clink of metal to glass echoed through the nearly-empty bus as Mabel pressed her cellphone against the window. “I wonder why they always use whales as mascots for things like car washes?” she inquired. “It’s not like they can actually drive cars or anything! They’re too big to fit through the doors!”

Such a question drew an amused chuckle from the person on the other end of the phone. “I think the thought process there is, like…you use water to clean cars?” they guessed. “And whales live in the water? And then they figure everyone can make the rest of the connection from there.”

From the seat besides Mabel, Dipper looked up from his journal. “Whales are also filter-feeders,” he pointed out. “They filter their food through something called baleen plates, which kinda look like the flappy, hangy-down brushes and sponges in a car wash? Maybe that’s one reason.”

He pointed the tip of his pencil at Mabel. “Also, you know Dev can’t actually see the billboard over the phone, right? …Adding onto that, how are you getting a signal this far out in the woods?”

Mabel moved the phone from the window and pressed it tightly against her chest. “Through the power of love!”

“Yeah, well, I’m almost positive that the ‘power of love’ isn’t gonna make your phone magically grow a video screen and a high-quality internet connection.”

With a scowl, Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “Almost positive isn’t completely positive, Mr. Negative!”

She punctuated her remark with a raspberry, before turning her attention back to her phone. “Sorry, Dev, you know how Dipper is,” she said fondly. “The big dorkus always has to apply logic to everything.”

“He raises a good point, though,” Dev replied. “I wouldn’t’ve made the connection between baleen plates and car wash sponges on my own, so I’m glad he had all that off the top of his head.”

A laugh, before their tone grew more accusatory. “Almost as if someone’s in the middle of researching whales for a certain reason.”

Dipper shifted in his seat, his gaze suddenly and intently focused on a stain of unknown origin on the back of the seat in front of them. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“...Diiiiip, you promised we’d look into that story about those sky whales off the coast together!” Dev whined playfully. “We were gonna make a whole night of it once you guys got back, with a red yarn board and everything!”

“I swear I was going to wait!” Dipper insisted. “But, like, listen…we’re gonna be spending all summer with our great-uncles. And they’ve spent the last few months sailing around the world, hunting a bunch of cool, paranormal beings out there on the open seas.”

He pressed a hand to the back of his head. “And I thought…you know—”

“—you thought sky whales might be one of the things your uncles saw out on the ocean, and you wanted to learn as much as you could to look all cool and smart in front of them,” Dev finished for him. “Especially in front of the totally awesome, Multiverse-jumping—studier of all things weird and strange—Stanford Pines?”

A beat. “…The one you promised me you’d get an autograph from and I’m totally not using this as an excuse to remind you about that?”

This earned a laugh out of Dipper. “Subtly noted, but it’s just…they’re gonna have so many stories about the places they’ve been over the past nine months,” he elaborated. “The most exciting story I have is that Phoenix incident, and it wasn’t even a real Phoenix!”

Dev let out a groan. “Ugh, don’t remind me! Whose bright idea was it again to smuggle a chicken into Science class?”

“I guess that’s one mystery we’ll never solve,” Dipper added with a look of disgust. “But what we did learn is that burnt feathers smell like someone lighting their hair on fire in a barn.”

“No kidding, I’ll never get the smell of stale hay and dirt outta my nose.”

“This is why pigs are the superior livestock,” Mabel said, punctuating her point with an indignant harrumph. “No stinky feathers!”

Dipper nudged her with his elbow before he set his journal and pencil down on his lap. “Weren’t you complaining a month ago about how Waddles is too big to smuggle into school anymore?”

“That’s not his fault! It’s the fault of society and their inability to stop body shaming everything!” She pressed her hands, phone and all, against her cheeks. ”Especially the most adorable wittle piggy in the entire world and his fat wittle piggy tummy~!”

This earned a laugh from Dev. “They’re just jealous they can’t be him, I bet,” he agreed. “Either way, Dip, it’s no worries about the sky whales thing. Just means I’ve gotta start stocking up on new research material for when you guys get home.”

There was a light tapping sound from the other side of the phone, as if Dev were tapping the speaker with their finger. “And it means that you owe me one!” they insisted. “Which you can easily pay off by spilling all the deets about what went down up there last August!”

The twins exchanged a mirrored look. “Dev—”

“Come on, Dipping Dots, you can’t leave me hanging forever,” Dev begged. “I know it was more than just some weird weather patterns! Just…just give me a hint at least! Was it ghosts? Aliens? …Alien ghosts?”

Dipper shot his sister a look, one that she returned with an understanding nod. “Dipper, stop trying to steal my boyfriend’s attention with your nerdy-nerd talk!” she said, loud enough for Dev to hear. “I wanna get as much talking time as I can with him before we get to town!”

With a smirk, he gave her ribs another nudge with his elbow. “Hey, Dev was a part of the Paranormal/Supernatural Club before you two started going out!” he pointed out. “So technically—aha, stop!”

His words dissolved into laughter as Mabel retaliated by putting as much of her weight on him as she could. “Technically, schmechnically, you can’t do nerdy-nerd stuff with Dev if you’re flat as a pancake!” she said, her body vibrating with giggles as she smushed against him.

“Dev, help, I’m being smothered!” Dipper called to the phone, between bouts of his own laughter. “Tell Mabel she’s cute or something!”

This earned another laugh from Dev in response, one warm and full of affection. “Mabel Syrup, could you please stop trying to kill my best friend and Paranormal/Supernatural Club co-president?”

Smiling wider, Mabel straightened herself upright in the seat and held the phone in her ear. “We~ell, since you’re using that nickname, I guess I can be merciful today!”

With a dramatic gag, Dipper pointed a finger at his throat in disgust. “Ugh, I said call her cute, not break out the pet names.”

“It’s not my fault she’s as sweet as her namesake.”

“It’s not her namesake!”

“Boys, boys,” Mabel interrupted with a giggle. “As fun as it is to both flirt with my boyfriend and annoy my brother at the same time, I do think we should circle back to the point Dip made earlier about my cell reception.” 

She held the phone back up to her ear. “Since we’re almost at the Falls anyway, you wanna go ahead and hang up before the majestic oaks of Oregon do it for us?”

Dipper raised a finger. “Technically the trees around here are mostly firs and birch trees.”

“Oaks, Oregon…I wanted the words to sound all samey-samey,” Mabel pointed out. “And firs doesn’t start with an O.”

“...Neither does majestic?”

“Yeah, we can hang up for now,” Dev said. “I’m sure you guys probably wanna spend the rest of the day settling in, but if you don’t mind talking later tonight—”

“Uh, of course we can talk tonight~!” Mabel interrupted excitedly. “Not only that, I can introduce you to my Grunkles if they’re finished settling in by that point, too! And I’m sure Soos and Melody will want to say hi—ooh, and of course you can meet Candy and Grenda when we have our inevitable ‘Back In Gravity Falls’ sleepover—”

“Okay, maybe we slowly ease Dev into the weirdness that is Gravity Falls and everyone in it?” Dipper suggested. “Besides, I’d like some time to talk to them over the summer, too!”

“Hey, I take offense to that,” Dev said. “The first thing, not the second. Are you forgetting who sought you out to join your club in the first place? And brought his own research material to the very first meeting?”

Dipper gently pulled the phone towards him. “Are you forgetting who’s actually been to Gravity Falls in the first place?”

“No, but I’m also not forgetting who’s keeping all the juicy details about what happened last summer to themselves,” Dev pointed out in return.

“Okay, okay,” Mabel said, pulling the phone back. “No more nerd talk about nerd things, you’re wasting all my minutes! Use your own minutes for that!”

She returned it to her ear with a wide grin. “But we can figure out a proper talking schedule later,” she said sweetly, then paused. “...After tonight though, because you already said we could talk and no take backs!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Dev assured her. “Love you.”

“And I looooove—” Mabel wiggled her finger with a mischievous look before booping it against the screen of her phone. “—you~!”

“...Did you boop the phone?”

“Yeah-huh~!”

“Bye, Dev!” Dipper called as well. “...I know you two are having a moment, but I wanted to say bye, too!”

“Bye to both of you!” Dev replied. “Talk to you tonight!”

There was a click as the call ended and Mabel pressed the phone against her chest. “Ehehe, I love them!”

“So I’ve gathered,” Dipper said with a smile. “What’re you guys at now, seven months?”

“Seven months, and seventeen days~!” Mabel clarified, with a closing slap of her flip phone and a delighted kick of her feet. “Can you believe it? Last year I would’ve gone through at least seventy guys in that amount of time! Now look at me! Miss Lady-In-A-Serious-Relationship-With-One-Of-The-Best-Guys-In-The-World over here~!”

“You know that number’s a wild exaggeration, right?”

“You’re a wild exaggeration,” Mabel retorted, with a nudge to his shoulder. “And I like how you couldn’t even argue the ‘one of the best guys in the world’ thing, because you know it’s true! Well, he’s the best guy whenever he’s actually in guy mode, of course. Otherwise he’s just the best significant other! But right now, he’s the best guy in the world! 

With a wide grin, she snaked an arm around Dipper’s shoulder before once again smushing most of her weight against him. “Except for thiiiiis best guy in the world, of course~!” she said, words slightly muffled from how her cheek was squished against his arm. “Who knows he absolutely doesn’t count when it comes to me talking about the best guys in the world, because it already goes without saying that he’s the best guy in the world!”

She gave him a squished little smile. “He knows that, right?”

With a warm smile of his own, Dipper gently pushed her back to her side of the bus seat. “He knows that. Although ‘best guy in the world’ is starting to sound like a fake sentence.”

“Haha, yeah,” Mabel agreed with a giggle. “I used it a lot, huh?”

An oink beneath their legs turned their attention to the underside of the seat in front of them, where a fat, pink hog peered up at them with a lazy tilt of his head.

With a squeal of utter delight, Mabel reached down and scooped him up in her arms. “Aww, we can’t forget about the other best guy in the world~!” she cooed, cradling him like a baby. “Are you having fun crawling around and eating all the abandoned wrappers and gum stuck to the underside of the seats?”

Waddles let out another oink and contently buried his snout in the bend of her arm, as if he considered himself nothing more than a simple lap dog. Despite his own amusement at the sight, Dipper raised an eyebrow at his sister. “Seriously, you should probably stop letting him do that before the driver gets fed up and makes us walk the rest of the way.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Mabel insisted. “This bus is probably the cleanest its ever been! If anything, the driver should be thanking Waddles for helping him out!”

After giving Waddles’ body a shake for additional emphasis, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Isn’t that right, you big, pink angel? You even missed your chance to say hi to Dev because you were too busy being the most helpful piggy around!”

“Too bad we couldn’t use him as a distraction,” Dipper said, and reached for his journal again. “You know Dev’s as crazy about him as you are.”

Mabel’s smile fell, and she tightened her embrace around Waddles’ body. “Right…”

Dipper’s hand froze less than an inch from the journal, and he gave her a sympathetic look. “The squishing me was a nice touch,” he said with a halfhearted smile of his own. “Really took his mind off the Weirdmageddon topic…”

With a sigh, he flipped it open to the page he’d been writing on and picked up his pencil. “You know, we could just ask Mayor Tyler if we can bend the rules a little bit and we can tell our buddy back home about what happened last summer.”

Mabel leaned her body back towards the window, her head hitting the glass with a light thump. “What if he doesn’t believe us?”

“Who, Mayor Tyler? I mean, if we promised that Dev wouldn’t go blabbing it to other people and told him about how obsessed he is with the town, he’d probably understand—”

“Dev, Dipper,” Mabel clarified. “What if Dev doesn’t believe us?”

“Have you met the guy?” Dipper asked. “Out of anyone back home, I feel like he’d be the first one to believe us. I mean, are we forgetting that this is the same person who swears up and down that they've kissed an alien before?"

A pause. "Before following that claim up with ‘but I’d rather kiss Mabel before kissing a thousand aliens’ like the hopeless romantic he is?”

A small smile tugged at the corners of Mabel’s mouth, but disappeared just as quickly as it threatened to appear. “I mean, he does say that all the time. But…”

“But?”

Mabel let out an uncertain hum, but any further response was cut off by the sound of faint crackling from the bus’s loudspeaker. “Attention, passengers, we are approaching the city limits of Gravity Falls, and will be arriving within the town itself in a matter of minutes,” the driver’s voice rang out cheerfully. “Just in case anyone was interested in peering out their window as we passed by the welcome sign, for sentimental reasons.”

The twins shared a mirrored look before quickly scooting over to the window, just in time to see the familiar sign that marked the town’s border whiz past the bus.

It was a fleeting sight; one that came and went within seconds. But their silence continued for a just a bit longer after it passed, even as the endless line of trees finally began to melt into familiar homes and buildings.

Still keeping her attention fixed on the view outside, Mabel’s hand instinctively found her brother’s and gave it a light squeeze. “We’re back…”

Dipper nodded, squeezing her hand in return. “We’re back.”

They remained still, letting themselves be lost in the thrill of finally being back in that old, familiar town for just a few minutes longer, before the realization that they needed to be ready to exit the bus motivated them to finally move and start gathering up their belongings.

“Okay, since we’re now officially back in town,” Mabel began, setting Waddles aside so she could pull her bag to her lap. “What’re you looking forward to the most this summer?”

“Hmm, hard to say,” Dipper said, reaching for his own. “I mean, last year I spent most of the summer trying to uncover the mysteries behind the journal’s author, then spent the remaining time after that with the author himself!”

He unzipped the front and stuffed his journal inside. “Guess I’m just looking forward to spending more time with Grunkle Ford again, now that he doesn’t have to stay down in the basement and deal with all that Bill stuff,” he said. “I know I wanna tell him all about the stuff me and Dev have studied together, and—ooh, I really wanna introduce him to that DDnmD podcast we started listening to recently—”

“Hey, that was what I was looking forward to, too!” Mabel said delightedly. “Well, not the nerd stuff but the ‘spending time with Grunkle Ford’ stuff! You got to spend so much time with him last year, and I barely got to see him at all!”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Well, this year I’m determined to spend as much time with him as I possibly can! You know a guy who puts that much effort into his journals has to be a pro at scrapbooking!”

She reached into her bag and pulled something out with a wide grin, before holding it up for Dipper to see. “I even made him a personalized sweater, so he has another one to wear besides his red one!” she explained, pointing to a smiling picture of Ford on the front. “See? I knitted a happy little picture of him—” She moved her finger to the next one. “—and this one’s of the six-fingered hand that was on his journals—”

And finally her finger landed on the stitched writing at the bottom. “—and this part says ‘A-FORD-able! Not like ‘affordable’, but like ‘adorable with Ford!’’ …I was already halfway done when I remembered ‘affordable’ was already a word, so I just added that last part instead of undoing everything.”

While she stuffed the sweater back into her bag, Dipper added: “I think I’m also looking forward to just spending time with Grunkle Stan in general, too. I mean, sure, we got to spend a lot of time with him last year.”

He waved his hands. “But he was hiding such a big secret, one he had to deal with by himself. This year, he’s got nothing to hide!”

Mabel held up both pointer fingers. “Right! Because the something he had to hide is gonna be right there next to him! And the thing that was hiding no longer has to hide in any way!”

She smushed them together with silly little noises for emphasis. “And since Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are getting along now, it means we can all spend time together like one big happy family!” 

Satisfied with her own amateur pantomime, she dropped her hands and returned to her belongings. “Speaking of which, who did Grunkle Stan say was going to be greeting us at the bus stop?” she asked. “I know Soos and Grunkle Ford will be there, but I really hope Candy and Grenda can make it!”

She beamed widely. “Grenda said in her last letter that she’s been taking up wrestling, and that she learned a move that could possibly snap me in half! Although Candy discredited this claim with the fact that she only got a fractured disc when Grenda tried it on her, but you know what they say: practice makes perfect!”

Dipper raised an eyebrow. “You guys can’t just hug each other?”

“We can hug as she’s breaking my spine in two!”

With a shrug, Dipper slung his bag over his shoulder. “Well, to answer your original question; yeah, Ford and Soos are gonna be there. Other than that, I’m not sure. Your friends being there is something you’d know more than I would, and I can’t think of anyone else who would come.”

He tapped a hand to his chin as he thought hard for a moment. “I know Soos and Melody wanted to throw that welcome-back party for us tomorrow, though. So maybe they’ll only have a small group of people at the bus stop today. You know, to give us time to get settled in without being bombarded by a billion people?”

Mabel stuck out her lip and gave the seat in front of them a defiant slam with her fists. “Boooooo, I want to be bombarded by people! I wanna be able to give out at least three-dozen hugs before Grenda snaps me in half like a twig!”

“I once again ask why you guys can’t just hug each each other.”

“Bombardment!” Mabel chanted, slamming her fist in rhythm. “Bombardment!”

There was another crackle of the loudspeakers over their heads as the driver spoke again: “Attention, passengers; this is a follow-up to the previous announcement, but there might be a bit of a delay in getting you to the next stop.”

Dipper and Mabel exchanged a curious look, before Dipper cupped his hands around his mouth. “Why?” he called towards the front of the bus.

“Has the traffic here gotten that bad in nine months?” Mabel added.

Another crackle from the intercom. “See for yourselves, kids.”

At the driver’s suggestion, the twins scooted out of their seats and into the aisleway, remaining bags in hand and Waddles at their heels as they made their way to the front of the bus. As they came to a stop near the bus driver’s seat, their eyes grew wide at the sight that awaited them in the street below.

To the eyes of an unknown tourist, it would look like nothing more than a dozen garden gnomes stacked atop each other before a collection of golf balls spilled all over the road. 

To anyone who’d spent enough time in Gravity Falls, however—

“For the last time, Franz; either you cross the street quickly or we’re letting a car run you over.”

At the front of the collection of golfballs—or more accurately, small persons by the name of Lilliputtians who happened to strongly resemble golfballs—a blue ball crossed their arms with a sour look towards the gnome at the top of the pile. “And we’re telling you for the last time, Jeff, we’re going as fast as we can!” he argued in return. “It’s not like we can just stack ourselves on top of each other like you gnomes can!”

“You’re golf balls!” The gnome, Jeff, pointed out irritably. “You can roll!”

Franz scoffed and placed his hands on his hips. “Oh, so just because we happen to look like golf balls, you think we can roll everywhere?” he asked. “What about you gnomes, huh? Without linking up to each other, I’ll bet you couldn’t go more than a few feet without getting winded!”

Jeff crossed his own arms with a roll of his eyes. “Yeah, well, you’ve never seen Shmebulock run after six nosefuls of mushroom spores.”

His point was emphasized by an enthusiastic “Shmebulock!” from one of the gnomes at the bottom of the snack.

From the bus, the twins shared a knowing look before Mabel turned to the bus driver. “You know what? You can just let us off here, we can walk the rest of the way.”

“And we’ll see what we can do about clearing the road for you,” Dipper added.

With a shrug, the driver opened the doors to the bus and the two headed down the stairs; Mabel bounded out the door and onto the sidewalk with a delighted laugh while Dipper followed behind with more reserved steps. 

Despite their different methods of stair descension, their smiles were equally bright as they looked to the smaller beings still crowded in the middle of the road. “So, what do you think’s going on?” Dipper asked.

Mabel turned back to the bus steps and reached out to grab Waddles, who had slowly and piggishly ambled down the steps after them. “Not sure, but isn’t it wild to see both groups just…out in the middle of the street like this?”

“Right?!” Dipper said with enthusiastic agreement. “It’s like—not even five minutes back in town and we’re already getting a taste of peak Gravity Falls weirdness!”

After setting Waddles down to the sidewalk, Mabel clapped her hands together with just as much gusto. “I know, isn’t it great?”

“I’m warning you for the last time, Jeff: get out of our way before we knock your bearded butts down like rolling pins!” Franz insisted firmly. “You wanna see how fast we can actually roll? Keep pushing my buttons and you’ll find out!”

The twins exchanged a look. “Right, we should probably do the thing we got off the bus early to do,” Dipper said. “Otherwise we just made getting to the shack harder for ourselves for no reason.”

“Well, at the very least you can add ‘breaking up a fight between golf ball people and gnomes’ to the list of cool stories to tell Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford,” Mabel pointed out. “I’m almost positive they haven’t had a chance to do that yet!”

Dipper let out a laugh. “Weren’t you just saying a little bit ago that almost positive isn’t completely positive?”

With a laugh of her own, Mabel pushed a lighthearted fist to his arm before turning her gaze to the groups bickering in the road. “So how are we doing this?”

A shrug. “I mean, smartest method would just be to ask them why they’re fighting.”

“Very true!” Mabel said. “And who knows? Maybe if we know why they’re fighting, we can help them work it out peacefully.”

“Or we can at least distract them long enough to get them outta the road,” Dipper pointed out. “Then if they wanna continue the fight on the sidewalk, we just start heading for the shack.”

“That is also something we can do~!” 

She cupped her hands around her mouth and called loudly: “Hey, boys! What’s with all the commotion and bus blocking?”

“Yeah, none of you are more than two feet tall, and you should probably get out of the road before cars realize they can just run over you,” Dipper added helpfully.

From his spot in the road, Jeff let out a scoff. “Maybe on our own, but we gnomes could always just—”

He fell silent, the delayed realization of whom he was speaking to finally settling in as he looked to Dipper and Mabel with wide eyes. And he was not the only one; the attention of both gnomes and Lilliputtians alike were now focused solely on Dipper and Mabel.

“Well, shiver me timbers, amongst other pirate-y exclamations of surprise!” One of the pirates piped up. “The Saviors of the Falls be returned to us at last!”

“The Hugelings are back!” A knight Lilliputtian added excitedly.

The rest of the group (both gnome and golfball alike) let out similar exclamations of delight, their crosswalk argument momentarily forgotten as they all hurried to the sidewalk to greet the twins. 

And once the bus driver took advantage of the cleared road to continue onwards, the commotion was enough to also draw the attention of other nearby townsfolk. Townsfolk who—Dipper and Mabel observed as they got a good look around—were not quite as human as they had been the year prior.

A fair number of them were still clearly human; Tad Strange could be seen purchasing a loaf of bread through the window of a nearby store, while the man known as the ‘Free Pizza’ guy was taking a leisurely stroll just a short distance up the road.

But there was also no mistaking the mermaid in a small, mobile tank at an outside table for the nearby bistro, pulling her attention from her waterproof phone long enough to look their way.  

Or the Abominable Bro-man stepping out of a nearby Jeep, the remaining three Bro-men still seated in the vehicle and pumping their fists in the air as they chanted his name with fraternal unity. A chant that quickly melted into the twins' names when the original Bro-man pointed them out with a look of pure, righteous elation.

And there was certainly no missing the flock of Eye-Bats resting comfortably on the nearby powerlines alongside a group of ordinary woodpeckers, or the Woodpecker-peckers that had taken up residence upon the original birds’ backs. 

While the peckers and pecker-peckers showed little interest in the kids, one Eye-Bat shifted its attention down towards them with mild curiosity, before turning to the nearest Woodpecker-pecker and shooting a burst of energy from its cornea. In a flash, the miniature bird had been transformed into solid stone, the extra weight causing the powerline to sag beneath the original—but otherwise unbothered—Woodpecker.

As more townsfolk—human and supernatural alike—also turned their attention towards the kids, Dipper cast an amused look to his sister. “You still in the mood to get bombarded by a bunch of people?”

Mabel giggled in response, and carefully picked up one of the Lilliputtians for a hug. “I don’t know what point you’re trying to prove, this is awesome! It’s like our own little welcome parade!”

“Well, if this isn’t a delightful delight of a sight~!”

At the sound of another voice, both turned their attention towards a thin man approaching them from further down the sidewalk. His overall demeanor was riddled with giddiness and a cartoonish banner that read ‘Mayor’ was displayed prominently across his chest. “Dipper and Mabel Pines! I was wondering when you two would finally get back to town!”

He waggled a finger at them. “And here I thought I’d have to wait until tomorrow night to say hello to you kids again!”

“Hi, Mayor Tyler,” Mabel said, giving him a wave with the arm that wasn't wrapped around the Lilliputtian, before using it to gesture to the rest of them. “I see someone’s been having a busy nine months~!”

Dipper nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s so cool to see the gnomes and everyone else just…wandering around the town like this!”

From where the gnomes were gathered, Jeff let out a smug little chuckle. “Hear that, Franz? We got a personal shoutout and everything.”

Franz turned to glare at him. “You know he was only using you pointy-hatted jerks as an example!”

“I’ll make an example outta you, you round son of a—”

Their heated exchange from before returned in full swing as the two groups began to argue again, the Lilliputtian in Mabel’s arms leaping back down to join the fight with balled fists and a collection of gnome-targeted obscenities.

In response, Mabel’s gestured arm shifted to a pointing finger. “Oh, right, they were fighting in the middle of the street and blocked our bus.”

With a sigh, Tyler pressed a hand to his forehead. "Again?"

Near his foot, a French Lilliputtian piped up with a mighty: "Sacré bleu!"— one that likely translated out to "Again!"—before he hurled his body at the nearest gnome.

While they watched this unfold, Dipper looked back to Tyler. “So is this, like…normal for them?”

“I’m afraid so,” Tyler replied wearily. "They simply cannot stop butting heads no matter how I try to clear the air—oh, hold on, I worry they might start biting if I don’t do something—”

He moved towards the center of the combined groups, carefully tiptoeing between the small golf balls with an ease that implied he had done this countless times before, and came to a stop near both Franz and Jeff. “Now, boys, you know we’ve talked about this no less than a week ago!”

Franz pointed a finger at Jeff, eyebrows furrowed. “He was trying to rush us again—”

“—and I was pointing out how, again, they can just roll across the crosswalk!” Jeff argued in retaliation. “I just don’t understand how they’ve got the ability to move that fast, but then get mad at people for pointing out they have it!”

Franz shook a fist at him. “Oh, I’ll show you fast, with how fast I can ram my hand up your—”

“Okay, gentleman,” Tyler interrupted quickly, and took a knee so he could be closer to them. “Jeff, you know what I’ve said about antagonizing the Lilliputtians. If you and your boys can’t play nice, I might have to resort to—well, looking elsewhere for a crossing guard!”

“Wh—aw, come on!” Jeff protested. “That’ll be the fifth job we’ve lost in a month! Do you know how hard it is to nab the attention of a potential queen if we go back to being a bunch of unemployed chumps?”

Franz rolled his eyes. “Yeah, pretty sure it’s not the lack of a job they hate about you.”

“Why, you little—”

Jeff launched his entire body at Franz as the two of them began to squabble again, and Tyler reached out to grab them both by the back of their shirts. “Hey, come on now! I’m a fan of a good fight as much as the next guy, but you’re setting a bad example in front of our special guests—”

This earned a shrug from the twins. “I mean, we really don’t care,” Dipper said.

“One of them tried to kill us, the other tried to marry me,” Mabel added. “We’ve kinda already seen both of them at their worst already.”

“Need some help?”

A familiar voice from behind—followed by a massive shadow enveloping both of them in shade—turned both twins around, only for them to be greeted by the sight of a tall Manotaur towering high above them. But what really grabbed their attention was the teenager seated on his left shoulder, smile wide as she hopped down to the sidewalk in front of them. 

Her hair was much shorter than the last time they had seen her, just barely peeking out from beneath the faded hat that she had swapped with Dipper for her own. And her original green flannel shirt had been exchanged for an unbuttoned red one over a white tank top. 

Despite the differences in her appearance, however, there was no mistaking who she was—and her old hiking boots had barely touched the pavement before the twins rushed to embrace her in a joint hug. “Wendy!”

With a laugh, Wendy slunk an arm around each of their shoulders to hug them in return. “And here I thought you squirts would beat me up to the Shack,” she said, moving her hands to playfully noogie the tops of their heads. “What’re you doing all the way down here?”

Mabel gestured to the small crowd before them. “Well, our bus had to stop because—”

“Oh, for the love of—” Wendy interrupted with a sigh, before looking over to Tyler. “Are they fighting again?”

From where he stood—desperately holding the two leaders at arm’s length to prevent more blood from being drawn—Tyler’s expression melted into a look of relief. “Wendy! Thank goodness you’re here!” he said. “Uh, would you and Chutzpar mind—”

She crossed her arms with a miffed look. “You know, people are going to think it’s unprofessional that the mayor has to keep getting help from outside sources to solve the town’s issues—”

“Wendy, please?”

Wendy rolled her eyes, and looked up towards the Manotaur beside her. “Whaddaya think, Big Guy?”

“Many months ago, I would’ve encouraged the idea of using violence to solve one’s problems,” Chutzpar said stoically. “And I still would, were it not an inconvenience to Mayor Tyler.”

He held up a finger. “Punching out your feelings is not inherently a bad way to solve some issues, but there is a time and place for it,” he continued. “And right in the middle of town where people are looking to enjoy their day isn’t the right time nor the right place! So KNOCK IT OFF or I’ll knock YOU OFF!”

He punctuated the last sentence with a warning stomp of his left hoof, one strong enough to rumble the sidewalk beneath everyone’s feet. And once he was finished, he looked to Wendy hopefully—as if he were expecting her to praise him for his answer—and she gave an approving nod before looking to the crowd: “You guys chill now, or does he need to do that again?”

Thankfully the fighting had immediately ceased at Chutzpar’s warning stomp, both gnome and Lilliputtians alike trembling in shock. “H-hey, that’s a really rude way to get someone to stop doing something, you know!” Franz said irritably.

“Yeah,” Jeff piped up in agreement. “You can’t just use your Manotaur buddy to push us around like that!”

“Yeah, well, maybe next time you’ll stop fighting when Tyler asks you to stop first,” Wendy said. “Besides, it worked, didn’t it? You guys are actually agreeing on something and have chilled out a little bit, right?”

Franz and Jeff exchanged a skeptical look, before they both turned away in disgust with halfhearted mutters of “I guess so.” and “Whatever.” in unison.

“Guys...”

Jeff crossed his arms. “Fine, I guess it doesn’t really matter how long they take to get across the street," he said defeatedly. "Besides, the longer we man the cross work, the more chances we get to snag attention from potential queen candidates."

“And I guess we could speed up a bit when we walk,” Franz added. “We’ll probably have to now, if we wanna make it to the sticker store and back to the golf course before our lunch break is over.”

Tyler clasped his hands together. “There, you see? Problem-solving!” he said delightedly. “Now, let’s clear off the sidewalk and give Dipper and Mabel some breathing room, okay?”

With only a small handful of grumbling, the gnomes and Lilliputtians shuffled back towards the crosswalk. Once they had properly dispersed, Tyler stood up to full height again and clasped his hands together. “Thank you so much, Wendy, you are an angel in lumberjack’s clothing~!”

Wendy crossed her arms again, expression souring at his compliment. “I meant what I said; you’ve really gotta get a handle on doing stuff like this by yourself,” he said. “The town’s not gonna take a guy who can’t even break up a fight between some gnomes and sentient golf balls seriously.”

Tyler chuckled nervously and once again pressed a hand to his forehead. “Well, regardless, your help is always appreciated!” he said, with a look to Chutzpar. “And thank you once again for all your help, big fella. I’m actually glad I caught you, I was actually on my way over to the lumbermill to discuss Thursday’s plans with Dan—”

This earned him an annoyed scoff from Wendy, while Chutzpar simply nodded. “Yes, that is the reason we were on our way to see you—”

“I was on my way to the Mystery Shack.”

“—why we were on our way to see you, before we made our way to the Mystery Shack,” Chutzpar continued, paying no mind to Wendy’s interruption. “I come with a message from him. And a gift.”

He looked to Wendy, who gave him a nod far more halfhearted than his own, before he held out the small object he had been carrying in one of his mighty fists. 

It was a small, wood-carved animal (a bear to be specific), and it was clear that every notch in the wood had been carefully sculpted with care. A care that Tyler recognized with a look that was far less whimsical than his usual demeanor, and more of a genuine tenderness as he took the carving in his hand. “Oh, that darn man really knows how to spoil me rotten, doesn’t he?”

His smile widened as he looked back to Chutzpar. “You said he also had a message for me?”

Chutzpar nodded and reached into his pocket for a small stack of index cards. After taking a moment to shuffle them, he cleared his throat and began to read: “‘I am looking forward to Thursday. I was wondering if you would wear the panther shirt to dinner that I bought you in that two-for-one special. Panthers are powerful, and could tear a puma to—”

He casually flipped to the next index card, before gripping the entire stack tightly with both hands and ripping it in half a powerful yell of: ”—SHREDS!!!!’”

He held his stance for a moment, before slipping back into a more relaxed pose. “He specifically requested that I rip them up when I said ‘shreds’,” he explained. “It was an opportunity to be needlessly loud and violent in a healthy fashion, so I was in full support of the idea.”

“Aww, a show of force and a clever pun?” Tyler said, pressing his hands to his flushed face. “He really does know what I like~!”

He gave Chutzpar a wink. “Well, you be sure to tell Dan that I will certainly be wearing the panther shirt on Thursday!”

“Super,” Wendy said, her tone deadpan. “Can we go to the Shack now?”

“Of course, sorry for holding you up,” Tyler said with a laugh. “I suppose I should be getting back to work as well. This town’s not gonna mayor itself, after all~!”

“It might if you don’t learn how to break up fights without help,” Wendy muttered under her breath.

Tyler gave the group a little wave with the hand that held the wood carving. “Oh, and welcome back to town, Dipper and Mabel~! Can’t wait for the party tomorrow!”

With that, he turned and headed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the group, leaving Wendy to turn her attention to the twins. “So, you guys need a second to unpack everything that just happened, or are we good to continue on to the Shack?”

Dipper and Mabel shared a look, before Dipper took the initiative: “Yeah, so I have about a dozen questions—”

“What are the gnomes and Lilliputtians and all the other creatures doing walking around town?” Mabel interrupted quickly, with a wide gesture of her arms. “What’re you doing with a Manotaur? And why’s he giving Mayor Tyler gifts from your dad?!”

Dipper pointed to his sister. “Actually yeah, she covered pretty much all the questions I had,” he said, turning his full attention to her. “Except for the last part, because I feel like that’s pretty obvious, Mabel.”

Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “Duh-doy, I know it’s obvious. I just want to know when it started being a thing,” she explained. “I don’t remember hearing about it in any of the letters we got.”

Wendy made a face. “Yeah, it’s…kinda new.”

“They have been dating for four months,” Chutzpar pointed out.

“It’s new,” Wendy said flatly, before giving a shrug to the twins. “Anyway, the other stuff’s pretty easy to answer. Wanna swap stories as we head to the shack?”

“Yeah!” they answered in unison, before Dipper looked further up the road. “Kinda wish we’d asked the bus driver to stick around, though. The walk to the shack from here’s going to take forever.”

Wendy looked up at Chutzpar with a smirk, and he nodded knowingly in return. “Sounds like the two of you require a ride.”

Before either twin could question what he meant by ‘ride’, they suddenly found themselves being scooped up from the sidewalk and settled onto his muscular shoulders.

Wendy watched with a smile as they adjusted themselves. “You two chill up there?”

From the left shoulder, Dipper gave a thumbs up. “All good!”

Doubling over in a fit of giggles, Mabel reached over and grabbed hold of Chutzpar’s horn to steady herself. “Oh, this is way better than taking the bus~!”

Wendy let her gaze fall to the sidewalk below, where Waddles was staring up expectantly. “And while he’s got you, I’ll get—”

She bent down to pick him up, lifting him with just as little issue as his owner, and adjusted him until he was situated comfortably in her arms. “Woah, buddy, you feel a lot heavier than fifteen pounds this year!”

“I’ve fed him only the finest of leftover table scraps,” Mabel said proudly.

“And he used to sneak into my junk food stash at least once a week before I found a way to stop him,” Dipper said, giving Waddles a pointed look.

Waddles gave him a proud snort in response as Wendy took another quick glance at the sidewalk again. “Alright, no bags or any other random pets that you might’ve picked up since last year?”

“Bags are in our arms,” Dipper said, giving his a pat for good measure.

“And sadly no,” Mabel added in a solemn tone. “Mom said owning Waddles is like owning three pets in one. She says it as a compliment, because that just means he’s three times as lovable. But like we said before, he also just eats about as much as three animals so she don’t see any reason to get a fourth.”

This earned another proud snort from Waddles and a laugh from Wendy. “Sounds like an okay to begin walking, then.”

Chutzpar nodded, the sidewalk rumbling with every thunderous step he took as the group began their trek towards the winding trail on the edge of town.

— — — — — — —

“Mr. Pines, there’s no need to be so nervous.”

“What makes you think I’m nervous?”

From beside Soos, Grenda raised her hand. “The fact that you’re pacing in a circle so much, you’re practically digging a new bottomless pit with your feet?”

Candy turned to her, eyes bright with inspiration. “Ooh, if there are two of them, maybe they could be advertised as twin bottomless pits!” she said, holding up a finger on each hand. “Twin pits for twin pairs—“

She brought her fingers together with a smile. “—of twin Pines!”

Grenda let out a loud cackle, and gave her shoulder a hearty slap. “God, Candy, save some of that genius for when Mabel gets here!”

While Candy rubbed her now-sore shoulder with a wince, Soos gave the two of them a thumbs-up. “But I’m adding that to the list of attraction ideas when we get back to the shack. It’s a good one, dude.”

Stan looked down at the thin dent in the gravel that he’d worn down with his shoes, and crossed his arms with a gruff sigh. A sigh that was interrupted by the familiar sensation of a six-fingered hand on his shoulder.

His mouth curled into a smile as he locked eyes with the hand's owner, a near-identical set of features to his own staring back at him. “They raise a good point, Stanley,” Ford said. “Mostly about the nervousness, not the second bottomless pit idea.”

At that, he gave the girls a thumbs up. “But that is some impeccable wordplay, Candy!”

“My name gives me plenty of chances to make puns in everyday conversation,” Candy informed him with a smile. “It’s second nature to me at this point~!”

Stan tsked at that, although his smile didn’t disappear. “And who’s to say that pit-idea of theirs ain’t exactly what I’m doing?” he said. “Building some kinda new, twin-themed shack attraction with my feet?”

Candy held up another finger. “Shack-traction!”

“I said, stop! You’re gonna use up all the good ones!”

While the girls chattered on, Ford turned his gaze from them to Soos. “Actually, Soos, don’t you and the girls want to go, uh—” A pause. “—discuss that second bottomless pit idea further?”

Grenda ceased her attempt to give Candy a noogie of approval, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Why? He already said we’d—”

“Don’t worry, Dr. Pines!” Soos interrupted quickly, taking each of the girls’ hands in his own. “I’ll keep ‘em busy!”

Ford gave him an appreciative nod, one that Soos returned with a smile as he lead them away; not too far from the bus stop, but far enough to give the older men some space.

Once the three of them were at a distance that would make eavesdropping impossible, Stan playfully nudged his brother’s arm. “Real subtle there, Poindexter.”

“Wasn’t trying to be,” Ford said, as he turned back around to face him. “And even if I was, it’d be a lot more convincing than you’re trying to be about not being nervous.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Hey, I’m the King of Subtlety! Or are you forgetting the New Jersey Lil' Wise Guy Subtlety Competition of 1956, where I took first place?”

“It was 1957,” Ford corrected him. “And I distinctly remember you quite literally taking the first place medal and attempting to pawn it off to one of the customers in the shop. Which failed, because you were three.”

Stan pressed a hand to his forehead. “Was it? Could’ve sworn it was—” With a huff, he waved it away. “Whatever, so maybe I’m a little nervous about seeing my great-niece and nephew again for the first time in nine months,” he said with a halfhearted shrug. “So what?”

“As I’m sure we’ve discussed at least two dozen times on the ride back to town—”

“Three dozen.”

“—there’s no reason to be nervous about seeing Dipper and Mabel again,” Ford finished. “If all the letters they sent to the Mystery Shack are anything to go off, they’re just as excited to see us as we are them.”

Stan waved his hand again, this time with the addition of a scoff. “Oh, I’m not worried about all that,” he explained. “I know the kids love us, and I know as soon as they step off that bus, I’m gonna put on the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense Grunkle act and pretend I wouldn’t erase my own mind for ‘em again if they needed me to—”

“Don’t joke about that.”

A shared look of somberness crossed their faces for a brief instant, before Stan’s gaze fell to the ground again. “It ain’t us I’m worried about,” he repeated. “They headed outta this place only a week after we barely managed to save it from going to heck in a handbasket. Barely managed to save them…”

His gaze returned to Ford. “Just don’t want them comin’ back to a whole boatload of new things to be worried about, you know?”

The hand on Stan’s shoulder moved to Ford’s own hair, which he pushed back with a tired sigh. “Don’t I know it. I’ve had this pit in my stomach for about two weeks now, both from the excitement of getting to spend the full summer with my great-niece and nephew and—”

He paused, before letting his hand fall back to his side with a weak laugh. “Well, I guess it was inevitable that our return to town would be accompanied by some…complicated emotions.”

Forgetting his own nerves for a moment, Stan’s attention immediately snapped to his brother. The shift in Ford’s features was subtle, as it always was whenever the topic of Bill came up in passing. But the pain behind Ford’s eyes, a pain that held the weight of the past thirty-plus years, and the way his entire body tensed from the memories that Stan could only assume made up that weight—

Stan shoved his hands in his pockets with a sigh. “Psh, listen to me gettin’ all worked up over the kids, when I should’ve been asking if you were alright.”

Ford looked to him, eyebrow raised. “Wh—no, that’s not the point. The point is—”

He was cut off by Stan slinging an arm around his shoulders, his knees buckling slightly from the extra weight. “The point is we’re both stressed,” Stan said. “And if we’re both stressed, then the kids are gonna end up stressed as well and that’ll just have the opposite effect of what we want. Like that law. You know, from that one guy?”

With his free hand, he snapped his fingers thoughtfully as he racked his brain for the answer. “Somethin’, somethin’, every action’s got a reaction and it’s opposite?”

An amused smile spread across Ford’s face. “Are you referring to Sir Isaac Newton and his laws of motion?” he asked. “Those laws by that world-renowned philosopher?”

“Hey, you’re the one that finished high school, Smart Guy, you tell me!”

Satisfied with his answer, he shifted the arm around Ford’s shoulder to pull him into a proper headlock. Ford attempted to slink out from beneath his brother’s embrace with a laugh, but unfortunately the past forty years had done little to weaken Stan’s technique and kept him locked as firmly in place as it had during their childhood.

On the other hand, three decades of wandering the Multiverse had provided Ford with a few defensive maneuvers of his own. Combined with spending the past nine months on a fishing boat together, it had taken little time for him to readapt to his brother’s attempts at rough-housing—

His gaze fell to Stan’s exposed ribs, to which he delivered a light—yet firm—jab with his elbow.

—and even less time for him to find the most effective methods of countering them.

Sure enough, Stan released him with a surprised yelp, one that melted into a fit of rough laughter as Ford effortlessly slipped out of his grasp. “Cheap shot.”

“I believe you’re the last person to talk when it comes to fighting dirty, Stanley,” Ford replied with a smug grin.

“Oh, I’ll show ya dirty—”

The laughter doubled as the two of them spent another moment attempting to one-up the other in lighthearted fisticuffs, until the distant, rumbling sound of tires against asphalt pulled them back to reality. And if the sight of the approaching bus alone hadn’t been enough, Grenda’s boisterous cry of “THE BUS IS COMING!” as the rest of the group hurried back to rejoin them would’ve done the trick.

As they straightened themselves out again in preparation to greet the kids, the brothers exchanged another look. One that clearly displayed their shared nervousness that even rough-housing hadn’t completely eliminated.

It was Stan who broke the awkward silence first, mouth curling into a halfhearted smile. “Guess we’d better give that Newton chump a call, huh?”

Ford managed a weak smile in return. “You realize you’ve wildly misinterpreted the laws of motion and their relation to the situation at hand, don’t you?”

“And you realize you’re a giant nerd, right?” Stan countered.

“Well, regardless of misinterpretation, you do raise a good point,” Ford said. “If we’re both stressed, then the kids are bound to pick up on it and get stressed in turn.”

He inhaled slowly, and exhaled slower. “It’s a new summer. A chance for everyone to start over.”

“You know it,” Stan said, lightly touching his knuckles against Ford’s arm. “And hey, uh—that doesn’t stop at summer. We don’t have to do anything alone ever again, right?”

They exchanged a look, silently lingering in their shared understanding for a moment before Ford spoke again: “You’re right, Stanley. We don’t have to do anything alone. Not now, not ever again.”

The two remained still for a moment more, before Stan reached over to give him a nudge. “And y’know, if that doesn’t work, I’m pretty sure I saw some kinda zombie-summoning spell in one of those nerd books of yours.” 

He crossed his arms. “I know we chucked them down into the Bottomless Pit, but I also know for a fact that you’ve got one’a’those smart-guy photographic-memories and could probably recite it off the top of your head.”

“Are you suggesting I use necromancy to summon Sir Isaac Newton?” Ford asked, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement. “To prove his first law that you seem insistent on misinterpreting?”

“I mean, I ain’t telling you to give him a kiss on the cheek or nothin’,” Stan said.

Their smiles widened in amused unison as the bus finally slowed to a stop, the creaking of the brakes echoing loudly through the forest around them. Almost as if they were announcing the long-awaited arrival of the teenagers on board to anything within earshot.

And as the group watched, the older adults with tense shoulders while Soos and the girls all leaned into each other with excited anticipation, the doors of the bus slid open to reveal—

“Are you all looking to get on?”

—nothing more than the bus driver.

Candy blinked in confusion. “Have Dipper and Mabel turned invisible since we last saw then?”

Stan’s brow furrowed, balling one hand into a warning fist as he stared at the driver. “Yeah, pal, what gives?! Where’s our kids?”

“The ones from earlier?” the driver asked. “Oh, they got off somewhere in town. There were a buncha golfballs and gnomes in the road, said they’d take care of it and for me to just go on ahead without ‘em.”

He pressed a hand to his chin. "Good kids, though! The bus floor's practically sparkling thanks to that pet pig of theirs!"

“Did they tell you if they were going to walk the rest of the way or not?” Ford asked.

“I believe that’s what they said,” the driver said. “But seriously, is no one here going to get on?”

A varying chorus of ‘No’s earned the group a closed door, before the bus continued onwards down the road. After it eventually descended down a hill and out of sight, Grenda’s shoulders fell. “Aw, man! I was gonna pile drive Mabel into the ground as soon as she got off the bus! Now our whole ‘Welcome Back To The Falls’ greeting is ruined!”

Candy patted her arm sympathetically. “I am sure she would’ve appreciated the effort regardless.”

“Of course she would!” Grenda lamented, her loud voice booming through the nearby wood. “She’s an angel who appreciates when we go the extra mile!”

“Back in town for five minutes and they’re already getting caught up in some kind of weird shenanigans,” Ford said, swelling with pride. “They’re a couple of Pines, alright.”

Stan slapped a hand over his eyes, and dragged it down the rest of his face. “Yeah, a pair from your side of the family, maybe.” 

It was said in exasperation, but there was an undeniable fondness in his tone. One that transferred to his expression as he turned to the rest of the group. “Alright, on one hand: the kids know the way to the Shack like the backs of their own hands and they’ll probably get here just fine on foot,” he pointed out. “On the other—”

“Getting here could take a while and none of us want to wait that long to see them again, so we go and meet them halfway?” Soos guessed.

“You got it.”

From beside his brother, Ford shot a glance down the road from whence the bus had came. “Looks like halfway might be closer than we think.”

He pointed a finger for emphasis, and the rest of the group followed his gesture to the sight of an approaching Manotaur coming up the road. One that was delightfully conversing with the two thirteen-year-olds seated on each of his shoulders, and the sixteen-year-old walking beside him.

A conversation that had been clearly happening since the four of them had been back in town, Dipper and Mabel’s attention fully fixed on Wendy as she continued to speak: “—and after everyone teamed up during Weirdmageddon, the vibes of the town just kinda shifted. As if a lot of the weird stuff in town suddenly realized: ‘Hey, we’re not much of a mystery anymore so there’s not really a reason to keep hiding’, and the people in town realized they weren’t as weird and terrifying as they originally thought.”

She pressed a finger to her temple. “Combine that with the Society of the Blind Eye going belly up and leaving no one around to go blasting memories out of people’s heads—” Then pressed her hands together and laced her fingers for emphasis. “—everyone and everything just kinda started mushing together over time.”

“Manly Dan caught news of us Manotaurs when we were forced to relocate our Man Cave,” Chutzpar added. “Impressed by our manliness and feats of strength, he offered us jobs in his lumberyard. We told him we’d only accept if the toughest combatants from his family defeated us in battle.”

“And you guys lost to him?” Mabel guessed.

“Not to him.”

Chutzpar cast a gaze down at Wendy, and the twins followed suit in the hopes of further elaboration. “Originally, it was just going to be Dad and my brothers in the fight,” she explained. “Not because Dad didn’t think to ask me; I was at work at the time and happened to come home just as all of them were getting their butts handed to ‘em on a silver platter.”

“It was a mighty battle of strength and determination,” Chutzpar said in a faraway tone. “They fought well, even if their efforts were inevitably in vain.”

“Nearly in vain,” Wendy corrected. “But then I showed up and volunteered to finish the fight.”

“And they let you?”

“Of course not, the big meatheads all laughed at the idea of fighting a girl. But then I punched one of ‘em in the gut, and suplexed another into the ground, where he got stuck by his horns.”

This got a laugh out of her. “Taking down the rest wasn’t too hard, since Dad and the others had already worn most of 'em down. But even if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been difficult. Their fighting style was all punch, no technique. Even an amateur could’ve taken all of them down with a few well-placed hits.”

She shrugged with amusement. “That was also why Dad wasn’t able to win against them; he fights the exact same way. It was just lunkhead against lunkhead out there, swinging fists wildly until at least one of ‘em hit something. And unfortunately for my lunkheaded family, they didn’t have as many fists as the Manotaurs to keep swinging around. Until I showed up, at least.”

While the twins giggled at the visual image, Chutzpar gave a stoic nod. “The Manotaurs lost the battle that day, but it was a loss we hold with pride,” he said, with a shift of the arm that held Dipper. “One that taught us that—between her and the things you taught us last year, Destructor—we have plenty to learn about what it means to be men.”

He gave his chest a hearty thump. “And that sometimes that manliest men among us are actually girls!”

Dipper raised a mildly-confused eyebrow at Wendy, who shrugged in response. “Eh, they’re still a little confused but it’s better than where they were last year,” she said, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Not to mention being called the Manliest Man in Gravity Falls kinda hits in a way I’m not complaining about—”

“Kids!”

At the sound of another voice hailing them from further ahead, Dipper and Mabel turned their gazes forward to see their welcome party hurrying towards them from the opposite direction. Grenda and Candy were bringing up the rear with Soos, while Ford was keeping a steady pace in the middle. 

But at the very front of the group, Stan was charging towards them with a speed and passion that couldn’t be matched by anyone else.

Except perhaps by Mabel, who had quickly jumped down from Chutzpar’s shoulder at the sound of his voice and began to sprint towards her great-uncle at Mach speed. “Grunkle Stan!”

It was a miracle that the two of them remained standing, with how hard they crashed into one another in a bone-crushing embrace; Mabel linking her arms around Stan’s neck like a spider monkey while he spun her around with a hearty belly laugh. 

Only for that miracle to shatter when the embrace of two became three as Dipper caught up to them, and all of them tumbled to the ground in a mess of laughter. “What, are you kids tryna kill me before we even get to the Shack?” Stan asked, slinging an arm around Dipper’s body. “I don’t remember the two’a’you being this big last year.”

Mabel let out a little giggle and pressed her hands to his face. “Yeah, well, you weren’t this hairy last year!” she pointed out in return. “I mean you were still really hairy, but now you’ve got a full-grown beard!”

“Sure do!” Stan said brightly, and patted the hair covering his chin. “Ol’ Poindexter and I made a decision early on that if we were spendin’ our days as men of the sea, then we were sure as heck gonna look the part!”

Mabel pressed her own hands to her mouth, stifling a laugh. “You sound like Dipper at Hanukkah! He was soooooo excited to show Grandpa Shermie his beard~!”

The last word was said with clear amusement, and Dipper shrank a bit before slapping his hands over his face. “Mabel, come on, you don’t have to—”

“Oh, didja grow one too?” Stan asked, peering at him. “Come on, Slick, let’s see those Pines genetics at work.”

After a moment of hesitation, Dipper nervously lowered his hands and Stan leaned closer to examine the few, noticeable hairs on his chin. “I know it’s not much,” Dipper explained quickly. “But it’s more than I had last year! A-and Mom says that I’m bound to get more as I get older!”

With a proud laugh, Stan reached up to ruffle his hat. “You kidding? That’s more than I had at that age!” he said. “You be proud of those few hairs, and don’t let your sister steal ‘em for her scrapbook.”

“Too late,” Mabel said brightly. “I stole both one from the chin and one from the shin~! He has some there, too!”

Dipper gave her a pointed look, before turning back to Stan with a more confident smile. “I’d be more annoyed at her for that if she wasn’t right,” he said, and held up his leg. “Because look, I got so much on my legs, too!”

“Woa-hoh, get a load of Mister Big Man over here!” Stan said, and brought him closer for a noogie. “Those genetics really are kickin’ in early for you, huh?”

“He’s not the only one they’ve kicked in for,” Mabel added. “Or should I say—”

She kicked out one of her own legs with a cheeky grin. “—kicked~!”

There was a moment of pause, before she gave her leg another wiggle. “You get it because—”

“Mabel also got leg hair,” Dipper clarified. “If that wasn’t obvious.”

“I tried shaving it at first, but it just made my legs soooooo itchy,” Mabel said. "So now I just have built-in leg warmers!”

“I’d suggest the fire method, but it’s far more effective at removing facial hair than body hair,” a voice behind them said. “Also something tells me that your parents wouldn’t be too happy if we sent you back home with burns on your legs.”

The trio looked up to see Ford standing before them, a hand outstretched. “Room in the dirt for one more?”

A series of grins were exchanged before three hands reached for Ford’s in unison and pulled him down to the ground with them. “It’s good to see you again, Grunkle Ford!” Dipper said. 

“Especially since we actually know you exist now!” Mabel added. “This time last year, we still thought Grunkle Stan was you! And then when we did find out that you were you and he was him, we only got to spend a little bit of time with you!”

Her arms moved from around Stan’s neck to Ford's, her spider-monkey grip once again unbreakable as she hugged him tight. “But this year, we get to spend aaaaallllllll summer with both our Grunkles!”

Ford’s smile widened and he slinked an arm around her as Stan piped up with: “That’s right, Pumpkin! No more mysteries or weird demons or monsters or anything that’s gonna get in the way of me spendin’ time with you kids and my brother!”

“Well, I mean, a monster here and there’s not a bad thing—” Ford begin, just as Dipper finished with a: “I wouldn’t mind a mystery or two, honestly.”

The four of them doubled over in laughter as the remaining party from both directions finally caught up to them. “Aww, you guys are having a cuddle pile in the dirt without us?” Grenda piped up unhappily.

“Candy adds a dash of sweetness to every cuddle pile!” Candy added.

“Or did the squirts knock you down ‘cause you’re older than the dirt you’re sitting in?” Wendy chimed in, as her and Chutzpar also came to a stop.

“Watch it, Corduroy,” Stan said, pulling his arm out from around Dipper so he could point a finger at her. “Just ‘cause I’m not your boss anymore doesn’t mean I can’t ask Soos to fire you.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow in Soos’ direction. “Would you fire me if he asked?”

“Uh…” Soos shifted uncomfortably in place. “Do I really have to answer that?”

This got a disbelieving “Wow.” out of Wendy and a delighted cackle out of Stan, one that was cut short by a grunt of pain as he shifted in place. “Ow, maybe we should get up outta all this dirt and gravel,” he muttered. “I got rocks in place I don’t wanna mention in front of a bunch of impressionable teenagers, my brother, or Soos.”

Soos offered him a hand. “Maybe we can move the cuddle pile to the Shack, then? Then Melody can join us!”

With a look of disgust, Stan took his hand and pulled himself to his feet. “Pass. Last thing any of us needs is for you two to start making kissy faces at each other.”

“Keep that in mind,” Wendy muttered with a grin.

“Soos does raise an excellent point about making our way the Shack,” Ford said. “The sooner the kids get settled in, the sooner we can exchange stories.”

He emphasized the last word with a knowing look to his brother, and Stan’s mouth spread into a wide grin as he offered his own hands to the kids. “Hey, yeah! You squirts wanna hear about the time your Grunkles tore the head off a Kraken along the coast of Texas?” he asked with a wink. “‘Cause lemme tell ya: when they say everything’s bigger down there, they mean everything!”

Dipper and Mabel exchanged a unanimous “Yeah!” as they were also pulled to their feet—

“Nope! I said I was giving Mabel a proper ‘Welcome Back’ pile drive, and I’m gonna do it!”

—and Mabel was immediately brought back down to the tampered dirt path by a charging Grenda, any pain from the impact momentarily drowned in a fit of giggles as she hugged her friend. “Oh, it’s just as spine-shattering as I hoped it’d be!”

“Don’t forget Candy, for a dash of sweetness!” Candy piped up, as she flopped over the other two with a laugh. “I made that pun already, but it was so nice, I had to say it twice!”

“Agreed, it was hilarious!” Mabel agreed, arms going around both of them in a tight embrace. “Ugh, I missed you girls sooooo much! I’ve got loads to tell you since my last letter—ooh, also I’ve got a phone now!”

While Mabel attempted to fish her phone out of her pocket, Wendy cast a smirk to the adults. “Anyone wanna bet that we won’t get to the Shack until nightfall?”

Chutzpar looked down at her. “I respect a show of friendly violence, but should I intervene again?

“You know you don’t have to listen to me,” Wendy said, folding her arms. “I’m not, like, actually in charge of you guys or anything.”

“I’m aware.”

“And I don’t take any bets I know I’ll lose,” Stan said, and snapped his fingers at the girls. “Hey, come on, I know we’re all excited to be seein’ each other again.”

He pointed a finger at Grenda, which shifted between her and Candy. “But I already told you two that I need at least one night without wondering if a family of bats moved into my attic, or if you girls are tryin’ to break the sound barrier with your squeals.”

“Seconding that,” Dipper piped up quickly. “I would also like a buffer between now and the inability to sleep in my own room, please.”

The girls let out a disappointed chorus of ‘Awwwww’s as they untangled themselves and returned to their feet. “But Grunkle Staaaaan, I missed my people!” Mabel argued.

“And her people missed her!” Grenda added, squeezing her close.

“Never said you couldn’t hang out with ‘em after tonight,” Stan pointed out. “Plus there’s that party tomorrow—”

“Oh, yeah!” Grenda said excitedly. “We can catch up at the party!”

“We can catch up on stories while we tear up the dance floor!” Candy added with an excited wiggle, before she raised her fists to the air. “And remind this town who the real party animals are!”

She let her arms fall again. “Plus my parents said that I needed to come home after we said hi to you, anyway,” she explained further, then added as an afterthought: “Hi, Mabel!”

With a giggle, Mabel replied: “Hi, Candy!”

“And I got my pile drive in, so I guess I did everything I wanted to do today,” Grenda added with a shrug.

While Stan leaned close to Ford with a quiet: “I’d point out that it was more of a tackle than a pile drive, but also I don’t wanna be out here longer than we hafta be.” (earning a “Smart call.” from Ford in return), Mabel tightened her grip around the other girls. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess I can wait another day to hang out with my beeeeest friends in the whoooolllllle world~!”

Candy’s gaze moved over to Wendy and Chutzpar. “By the way, we saw that Dipper and Mabel got a Manotaur ride up here,” she said. “Is there an option to catch a Manotaur ride back to town?”

“Ooh, me too! Me too!” Grenda added. “Wendy, make him give us a ride!”

“Once again, I’m not in charge of the Manotaurs,” Wendy pointed out, with another look to Chutzpar. “It’s up to you, pal. You offering rides back to town?”

Chutzpar held out both hands for them to take. “Small girls who greet their friends with violent pile drivers are worthy of a ride,” he said, before raising an eyebrow at Wendy. “But will you be alright getting home?”

“I can always hitch a ride from someone,” Wendy assured him. “Or—”

She reached into her pocket for her phone, and glanced at the screen for a moment. “—yeah, or I can just spend the night at the Shack if I really need to.”

“Aw, what?” Grenda said unhappily from Chutzpar’s shoulder. “How come you get to spend the night and we don’t?”

“Good-bye, girls,” Stan said, and gave Wendy a pointed stare. “Tell the big guy to go.”

“I’m not—” Wendy started to say, then shrugged it off and gave Chutzpar a wave of her hand. “Go ahead.”

Chutzpar gave her a nod in return, and turned back towards the direction of the town. “Let’s make haste, small female children,” he said, and began to walk. ”I have a response from Mayor Tyler to deliver to Manly Dan about their Thursday plans.”

“We are teenagers now, you know,” Grenda pointed out with a mild huff of indignance. “Or at least I am.”

“Ooh, is the response a loooove message~?” Candy added delightedly. “Are the plans a date?”

“Oh, you know it—!”

Chutzpar’s voice echoed through the wood with amusement, the volume only matched in power by Grenda’s laughter as the trio drew further and further away from those who had stayed behind. Eventually though, even their powerful baritones could not be carried such a distance, and the forest around the group fell silent again.

Silent, until—

“So, we’re not gonna question the big man-cow thing?” Stan asked. “We’re just acting like he’s been here the entire time, then?”

Ford shrugged in response. “He was clearly a Manotaur, and one that seemed to be on good terms with Wendy and the kids,” he said. “Didn’t see any reason to question his presence.”

“He’s visited the Shack several times,” Soos chimed in as well. “Also he was staying with us in the Shack during Weirdmageddon.”

“Did he?” Stan said. “Huh, feel like I should remember that.”

“I also met him and the rest of the herd last year,” Dipper added, just as Mabel chimed in with her own: “The Manotaurs work for Wendy now, and also Manly Dan is dating Mayor Tyler!”

Wendy made a twirling motion with her finger. “What they all said, minus the ‘working for me’ thing. They’re part of my dad’s logging crew now, and even if they listen to me when I ask them to do stuff, I don’t want anything to get weird with that.”

“And the part about your dad and Mayor Tyler?” Stan asked, an eyebrow raised.

Wendy’s expression shifted for half a second, before her usual, disinterested grin took its place. “Hey, here’s something I never thought I’d hear myself say: let’s stop standing around and doing nothing, and get to the Shack so I’m not late for my shift!”

Soos raised a hand. “Uh, but Wendy, I’m your boss and it’s your day off—”

“Race you knuckleheads there~!”

Wendy took off like a shot before Soos could finish his point, taking great care to lightly plap a hand against the heads of the younger twins and deliver a loving fist to the arms of the adults as she zipped between them and ran towards the direction of the Mystery Shack.

With a laugh, the younger twins sprinted after her in a rush with cries of: “Wait for us!” and “How are you running that fast with a pig in your arms?”

The adults watched them go for a moment, before Soos turned to the Stans: “...We don’t actually have to run all the way back there, do we?”

Stan, who had been watching Wendy and the kids race ahead, pulled his attention back to Soos. “Absolutely not,” he said flatly, and pressed a hand to his back. “Especially not after the kids knocked me down like that.”

He winced as the three of them began to follow after the kids at a much slower pace. “Gonna be feeling that for at least a few days.”

“Well, at least it’s a sign that we won’t have to give Sir Isaac Newton a call,” Ford pointed out with a smile. “With the way the kids tackled you, there’s zero doubt that they’re thrilled to be back.”

Once again, Stan mirrored his smile with one of his own. “Yeah, well, if they keep on bein’ that thrilled, you’re gonna have to bust out that necromancy spell to talk to me.”

Ford’s expression tensed for a moment at his brother’s joke, but any unease passed just as quickly as it had come when the sight of the familiar old cabin peered into view ahead of them.

[riswippiesx]

Love & Care | Toji Fushiguro X Fem! Reader

🌷 Part two

•The confession and aftermath🌸 Part one(headcanons)

Theme: mild angst, fluff, slightly suggestive at the end(very mild, just some hint)

Warnings: ooc Toji, age gap(Toji is in his early 40s and reader is in her early 20s), suggestive jokes, nervousness, not proof read[I'm lazy asf😐]

Notes: Finally the part two is here. I'm sorry if Toji doesn't sound like Toji😭 I didn't want to make him a rude bratty guy here. also so sorry for the delay. This Toji has no filters and says suggestive jokes. I have portrayed Megumi's relation with Toji in a frank manner. They are like friends more than typical son and dad.

Also long stroy warning!!⚠️ I just love to write long fics! So don't mind. I hope you enjoy🦋

Oh the nervousness! It was ruling over your mind and you hated it. Once you even decided to ditch the evening meet up and put some excuses later on when Megumi would be furious at you. You could handle it, you were great at calming Megumi down all the time. It'd be piece a cake. But again, you knew you would regret in future thinking everything was already fallen in places except for one single piece, The confession.

The dilemma was draining but a faint possibility of getting together with a man whom you actually wanted, was keeping you up and thus you decided to shrug off all the thoughts of ditching the meet up and went to take a shower.

And the shower worked like charm for you. Your mind was finally working straight and you did all the routines you needed. You pampered your hairs and your body just the way it seemed right. After all, the evening might turn into something really special. Well there were chances, at least.

You dried yourself after shower and texted Megumi if the date was still on and he reassured you everything was fine. He didn't forget to warn you about the scary circumstances if you dared to back off in the last moment and the last thing you wanted was to offend determined Megumi. So you assured him that you won't back off.

You mothered Megumi, but sometimes he turned into a strict guide towards you and this time wasn't any exception. So you chose a outfit, suitable enough in your eyes. You decided to keep your look subtle. You were almost done when your phone ringed once. It was Megumi, who texted you the address of the beautiful cafe where he decided to bring his dad. You texted him back and left for an uncertain but exciting evening.

"Are you sure that you will be okay with me? I mean you said it was a hang out with your friend.. So..?", Toji asked, buttoned up with black shirt.

"Of course dad. Will you stop asking me the same question for like tenth time now?", Megumi looked at his dad's direction with a tired expression. He purposely didn't mention your name. He said that his friends wanted to meet his dad, since they thought his dad was so cool, which was quite a truth but Toji barely believed that. But Megumi somehow convinced him.

He felt like a dad, who was trying to set up two children. It was too much to deal with but if the whole thing turned out in the way he thought, it would be worthy enough. But he didn't have any plan about the opposite results at all.

He brushed off his thoughts soon after and hurried his dad, "C'mon, why are taking so long to get ready, dad? Hurry up already..or we will be late"

"Oh boy. Don't rush me up. I'm an old man. Spare me", Toji smirked at his son while fixing his waist belt. Megumi sighed in response.

"You? Old man? Yeah sure", Megumi mocked back. He wasn't as old as he claimed. After all, he was the one who was getting a girl, while Megumi barely had a talking phase with anyone. Anyway.

It took you 30 minutes to reach to that certain cafe but you were the one who reached first, actually. You stood outside and noticed the ambience inside. Being honest, it was really beautiful and eye catching. The dim lights added an extra charm to it. You smiled. Megumi did a great job in finding a proper place.

You waited for near 10 minutes when you heard a familiar voice calling for you.

"Y/n?"

Yoy looked back and found your dream man with a bouquet of your favorite flowers. And that was enough to melt your heart. Moreover, he looked extremely handsome in his all black look. His black shirt, black pants and that gorgeous black overcoat— oh he looked expensively glorious. You couldn't look away.

"T-Toji san..", a smile appeared on your lips as you stated his name.

"I didn't expect you...to be that friend...?"

"....what friend?"

"The one who said that I was cool and wanted to meet me..?"

Oh so that was Megumi's excuse huh.

"Yeah..I well..actually they will arrive soon.."

"Alright...is there any other female friend?"

"No...?!"

"I see...so here...." He offered the flowers to you. "Megumi told to give these flowers to the his female friend and since no other female friend of his is coming, I hope these are meant for you..?" He smiled and you died at pretty his smile.

"..thank you...these are my favorite.."

"Oh? Great. But Megumi couldn't give it to you..sorry for that..he said he left his phone at home and he needed it contact with that certain friend..so he went back to take it and I came here....that boy is so clumsy.." He laughed.

What a great actor you are, Gumi! You praised him in your mind and smiled. "That's okay.."

"Yeah let's wait here till he arrives."

"It's fine, let's.. Go inside if you don't mind..he will join us later..? Or...well the tables might get all booked..."

Toji was silent for while before he agreed and you two entered the cafe. If it looked great from outside, it looked heavenly once you entered. The light music in the background was putting everything together.

The two of you were guided to a pre-booked table and sat there. You had plenty of topics to chat about but this evening wasn't for chitchat. You needed to get to the point but it was scary. You couldn't bare rejection, not from your dream man. Toji was speaking to you but it was hard for you to focus when so much was going on in your head.

"Y/n..you are not responding.. Are you okay? Feeling alright?", he sounded worried and you realised that you were zoning out the entire time when he spoke.

"Well..sorry I was zoning out.."

"That's fine..you are okay right?"

"Yes", you smiled. He sounded so soft and caring. Was it real? Or were you being delusional? You couldn't tell. Then you forced yourself to engage in the conversation. You needed to divert your mind before actually confessing. It was just some basic chitchat when he mentioned.

"I can say some boys checking you out"

"Oh?"

"Yeah but let's ignore them. But you..do look pretty." A nervous giggle was the only thing you could do as a response. Your heart was pounding so hard that it might come out. Even Toji might hear it. Shit. You needed to get yourself together.

"Y/n are you really okay? Are you feeling uneasy? Want to go back? We can..."

"No..it's fine..no worries."

"You look like I need to worry. Your forehead is sweaty..it's kinda chilly today..you must feel sick.."

"No I..I am totally fine trust me..."

"Are you hiding something? Or you want to say something?"

You looked away. Your heart rate never became this fast. You knew it was the right time. You had to tell him your hearts content. Megumi worked hard to bring you two this far. You won't let him down. You won't let your future self regret. But you wasn't sure how to start.

At that moment of extreme nervousness, you felt Toji's hands on yours.

"It's okay Y/n..you can tell me pretty much whatever you want. I know I don't mind much. So calm down first and then say it."

Your eyes drifted back to his and his eyes hinted some care. Care for you. He was trying to comfort you. He was trying to help you. And it actually worked. Your extreme nervousness reduced a bit. You grabbed his hands back and closed your eyes. Yours eyes were shut untill you were again in control of your nerves.

You slowly opened your eyes. The peace you were feeling in your heart was so soothing. Your dilemmas weren't that much bold anymore. Your lips parted to form a few words.

"Toji san...I...like you...not as Megumi's dad..as..you..yourself.."

Toji took a moment to process the words you stated. You liked him? You? Such a gorgeous woman liked him? Was it a joke? You eyes didn't seem like one though.

Both of you stayed quiet and took your time. Your hands were still in his hold. But he took back his hands. And that was the last thing you wanted to happen but you imagined this a thousand time in your head. Rejection. Rejected by your dream man. Rejected by Toji Fushiguro. Was he refusing your feelings? Of course he was. Why would he ever be with a younger girl like you? He wasn't that fallen to consider his son's friend as his partner.

Your heart and mind was getting bitter.

"..excuse me..for a bit..y/n..I need to go check if Megumi is coming..."

Part of you wanted to yell ans say that he won't come. This evening was meant for you and him and him only. But another part kept your lips shut together. You just nodded in approval and with that Toji left the cafe.

You were certain that he partially rejected you. He didn't like you. Megumi was wrong, so wrong. You shouldn't have listened to him. You could have faced the longing but this..this wasn't something you could bare. All the times you spent with Toji, made you fall even further for him. His laugh, his jokes..you laughed a lot. His eyes, so deep to even drown you. His noticable scar, which he stated to be sign of his daring younger life's stunts- you adored that a lot. His face even looked better with it. You loved all of it but it was all for your own self. You didn't have to confess it. Dumb! Really dumb!

You looked down. The bitterness was consuming you. You wanted to cry but some strong determination in you didn't let you embarrass yourself any further in a public place. You just sat there with you head on your both hands.

Toji quickly came out. He really hoped that you didn't notice the faint blush on his face. He couldn't recall the last time he blushed like this. It was overwhelming. He wasn't sure when things turned into something more than just some chitchat about Megumi's well being. He ignored it all untill one day, when he found himself thinking about your pretty smile while working or making dinner or taking a pleasant shower.

He was ashamed of himself when he found that he had fallen for a girl half of his age, and she was literally his son's best friend. How could he? But he did and it was hard to sallow that fact. Everytime you stopped by to chat or met up to hang out, he was mesmerized by you. You brought a ray of sunshine in his dull days. His heart was filled with so much love after many years. Your memories, smell, words lingered around him for hours after you left each time.

But he thought it just one sided. Sometimes he felt you might like him back but he scolded him for thinking that far.

It was all proven actually right when you confessed. His heart stopped, ears perked up. You felt the same as he did? How could the world be so perfect. His heart told him to accept right away but a person appeared in his mind's mirror. Megumi. His son. How would he react if he found out his dad with his best friend?

And that was when a lot came in together. He got a faint clue about Megumi's consent in all this. Almost every time you two met up cause Megumi brought you two together. You two were all in meet ups while Megumi left each time with some weird excuses. He guessed something but certainly not this far. He needed to confirm if it was all in his brain or Megumi was actually involved in this. Thus he excused himself and came out of the restaurant. He knew that it was rude of him. He noticed how your face darkened when he excused himself but he couldn't afford to make a mistake in taking his further decision where you two were linked.

He brought out his mobile and dialled Megumi's number. He didn't pick up. Toji kept on calling and in the seventh attempt, Megumi finally picked up the call.

"Yeah I just got back and grabbed my phone, dad. Don't worry i'll be..." Megumi's fake statement was cut by Toji.

"Megumi be honest with me. Did you willingly set me up with Y/n?"

Megumi went silent. He had nothing to say as a reply to that.

"Megumi, I want an answer." Toji again spoke.

"Dad..."

"Yeah I'm listening"

Megumi sighed in disappointment, "...yes...I did..sorry..."

"How many times?"

"Pretty much all the time..."

"Wow"

"Are you upset?"

Toji didn't reply to that. He couldn't. He wasn't upset bur he was confused.

"Sorry...if you are...just don't blame her-"

"I'm not..just tell me one thing. Why did you do all these? Are you okay with... Your best friend being with your...dad?"

"I am always okay. Even I want you two to date"

"Why do you say so?"

"Why? You two literally talk about each other all the time. You have no idea how Y/n just keeps praising you all the time. And then at home, you do the same about her. You two didn't know how to keep things up, so I did the favour. Now tell me one thing. Did she confess?"

"She did."

"I hope you accepted"

"I came out of the restaurant without saying much"

"Dad...you are a game spoiler..."

"How on the earth would I know that you were this intrigued about us.."

"What?"

"I thought you would creep out if you get to know about I was dating your friend-"

"No I won't. When you two go so well with each other, why would I?"

"Right...so should I ...accept..?"

"You are asking? Yes you should! Geez!"

"Alright."

"You old people are so dramatic"

"Still your best friend liked me over you", Toji grinned over the call and Megumi could heard the sarcasm in his tone.

"Yeah yeah whatever. Just go back and accept."

"Sure, thanks"

"Go!"

And the hang up. Toji was sure about his next move. He would confess as well that he liked you, he loved you. You were the woman who made him gasp from time to time. You were the woman who fluttered his heart.

Thinking about you brought a smile to his face. He took a deep breath and turned to go back inside. That was when you came out. You looked tensed and upset. He knew he screwed up. He had to fix it.

"Y/n..."

"You were right.. I am actually not feeling well. Don't worry I talked with the manager. They cancelled the booking. You can go back. Sorry for wasting your time. Also, Toji san..forget what I said. Please. It was just a....well don't mind", you forced a smile.

"Y/n no..you're getting it wrong.."

"Please don't push yourself Toji san. I totally understand."

"No you don't. Y/n listen to what I want to say"

You were silent. He took that chance and spoke.

"Y/n.. I didn't mind. Not at all. Why would I..when I felt the same.."

You looked up at him. Your eyes were slightly widened.

"Yes..I like you too..and not just as Megumi's friend. As you. Y/n you amaze me. You're an wonderful woman. I just didn't accept right away because..I wasn't sure what Megumi would think of me..if I did..."

"Gumi knows about-"

"Yes I talked to him already. Actually I came outside to call him. Didn't expect my boy to go that far" he laughed a bit. "But I'm glad he did. Because I didn't have that courage to make a move on you. It felt so wrong to think about you as my partner at this age..I thought it was one sided. But your words cleared my thoughts and I'm really so glad that you feel the same for me."

"Are you...sure?"

"One hundred percent" he stated confidently which was enough to make you chuckle. Oh how pretty you looked with a smile on your face. "So ......is the proposal still valid?"

"It is always valid." You smiled. Toji's eyes softened a bit more as he grabbed your hand and kissed it.

"Great. Now let me ask you out this time..okay?"

"On a street side?"

"For now, yes."

"The people?"

"I don't really mind"

"Well..okay"

Toji got on his knees and hold your hands close to his heart. "Y/n..will you...will you do a favour to this old man and be his girlfriend?" You giggled at his goofy confession and replied, "I'd love to" and with that he kissed your hand once again.

Since you cancelled the booking, Toji decided to take you to his favorite bakery and you tried some of the cookies and desserts, so did he. You two were like two birds in love. And it was actually pure love. The adoration was so content in your relationship that you both felt at home in each other's presence.

After hanging for a bit more, Toji stopped at a flower shop and bought your favorite flowers for you, as you left the previous bouquet at the cafe. Also he didn't buy that with the intension of giving it to you in with his consciousness. So it was needed. You were delighted, so was him.

You walked as you talked. His car wasn't there since he told Megumi to drive back to take his phone. Well he didn't know things were all planned anyway. So you two decided to walk to your home.

It was a long walk yet that felt so less. Distance never seems enough when you are with your favorite person.

"Well, we are here..", Toji spoke with a smile.

"Yes..thank you..for today..Toji san.."

"Just Toji.."

"It'll take some time to adjust", you laughed.

"No problem"

"Good night. Let's meet another day, soon"

"Sure.." Smile never left his lips. You nodded and turned to get inside of your apartment but he again called you. You looked back while he stepped closer

"Forgive me for this but..." He didn't finish his sentence when you felt his lips on yours. That heavenly feeling, which you imagined so many times, was actually happening to you. Your soul jumped and shivered. You were quick to close your eyes aa you got lost in that one kiss. It hold so many emotions. After so many days, you were finally being kissed by the man you loved and adored a lot, by YOUR man.

He, on the other hand, found the peace of the world on your lips. His heart raced yet it bought peace to him. Your lips felt soft on his and his hands cupped your face. He just couldn't let your lips go.

Finally he let your lips go and looked at your face. You looked even more gorgeous up close. He admired you. Your eyes were closed yet he could tell your eyes would speak of happiness and excitement.

His breath fell on your face as you opened your eyes again. You eyes met his and his gaze brought the very common yet sweet factor of love to you, shyness. Your gaze drifted to the ground and your lips were slightly swollen from the kiss. He just wanted to kiss you again but he had to control himself. He didn't want to over do it. So he slowly let you go but stayed close to you.

"Did I cross the limit?" He smiled.

"No.."

"Glad to know" he kissed your cheeks and your heart just almost stopped. You wanted to hide your face. His direct gaze was piercing your through your soul. So you hugged him and hid your face in his embrace. Your action made him giggle softly and he hugged you back.

"There there..did I make you shy?"

"Didn't know you were such a tease"

"Well sweetheart, there's a lot you will learn from now on"

"..looking forward to it.."

"Yeah?" He slowly pulled you back and looked at you. "Sure?" and you nodded. A mischievous grin appeared on his features. "You will learn how far my teasing can go...soon" and he winked as he grabbed your waist. Your face was burning with shyness.

"Toji san! It's getting late...you should go back now..good night !" With that you made yourself free and ran inside your apartment with your racing heart.

The whole thing made him laugh hard. His phone rang and it was his son.

"Yeah..Hello"

"How did it go..?"

"Very well. She is now my girl"

"Thankfully."

"Yeah I even kissed her.."

"Well I didn't need to know that much dad....but yeah good for you two" Megumi smiled.

"I know. Just a show off"

"Old man!"

"Hey! Don't insult me like that..your mom won't like it.."

"Huh?"

"Y/n..she would certainly not like it if you insult her boyfriend and her possible future husband"

"I would never call her mom! No way"

"Someone else will..."

"Yikes. Can you please be careful about what are you saying and whom you are talking to! You are disgusting! Y/n would be so mad if she knew that you were saying such weird stuff to me about you two"

Toji laughed in response. "Sorry sorry..just kidding. Will be careful from now on don't worry.."

"Come back soon"

"Yeah"

Well...sorry for being so late omg💀 the college works are just..anyway..anyway...I hope it was okay? Cause I typed for so long lol☠️

Also, Requests are currently closed! I'll inform when they will open again. I'm keeping my chat box open but I would just delete all the requests if I get anything from today untill I open my request box again. sorry💗

Thanks a lot for reading!

Reblogs and comments are always appreciated ♡

[standfucker]

Engravings

inspired by the following comment on my last SH fic:

Couldn't stop thinking about it, which eventually led to this.

Characters: Sanji

Reader: GN, they/them

Word Count: 6.2k

CW: Hurt/Comfort, SH, SH scars, auditory hallucinations, PTSD, mental institution-related trauma. No shipping, ace-friendly

Summary: It’s Sanji. You’re immediately, wholeheartedly certain. It’s Sanji, and he knows.

AO3 Link

"I’m listening to everything / please, tell me everything"

Nothing’s happened.

The sea is calm, the sun is shining, and the breeze is strong. All in all, a great day for sailing.

Nothing’s happened…

No recent squabbles among the crew, no surprises from sea beasts, no battles with pirates or Marines.

There’s no reason to feel the way you do. No trigger or logic to it. But you feel it anyway.

It’s like there’s an invisible filter over everything. Nothing looks different. Things sound different, though. The sounds of the waves and wind, the snapping of sailcloth and rope, the din of the crew’s voices. All of it wavers, like someone has their hand on a universal volume dial, yanking it back and forth at random. Sometimes the sounds are piercingly loud, like they’re right next to your ears, making you resist the urge to cover them. Sometimes the sounds blend into the background of everything else in a low, dull hum–so distorted that you have to focus to parse what’s being said to you.

The sound issue is your second tip-off that you’re having that kind of day. The first is the sense that the Sunny feels too small. And, crushingly, overwhelmingly, it feels like your fault. Irrational, but you can’t shake it. Really, it’s stupid: On the outside, it just looks like you’re hanging out next to your crewmates, making idle conversation. Inwardly, there’s such a deep feeling of guilt for just being there that you’re ready to throw yourself overboard.

You try to cope. You really do. You make an effort, mentally talking yourself through it.

I am allowed to take up space. I am allowed to exist.

You want to cry. You want to get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness. It doesn’t make sense, and there’s no cause you can identify. You feel like you’re going to throw up.

No one notices. How could they? Your mask is calm smiles and practiced eye contact, formed with easy jokes and interest in what the others say. Your mask is years in the making, thick with each layer you’ve added to seal in the cracks. It’s heavy and ugly, but it keeps you safe.

I am allowed to exist.

There’s no danger. You can’t explain why your fight-or-flight response is going off. There’s something wrong with you, and no one can see it because the problem is deep in the wiring. You can’t even see it. But you can feel it, and it feels so god-awful you don’t know how to endure it.

You feel yourself shaking from head to toe, so much so that it’s hard to keep your balance. But when you look down, your body is completely still. The noise around you blends together and buzzes like static, harsh on your ears. Then it gets louder.

I am allowed to exist.

You want to crawl in a hole and hide.

I am…

You excuse yourself–casually, collectedly–and head for the ship’s interior. You know what you’re going to do before you even start moving, like the decision’s already been made for you. A certainty that settles in your system, something to hold onto. The background noise grows even louder.

You stumble into the bathroom. As soon as you shut the door, all sound cuts out. 

You can’t hear anything. Not even the sea, nor the creaking wood of the ship. The room shifts, draws away from you until you have tunnel vision. Your vision warps, then focuses on the cabinet above the sink until you can see nothing else. Just like before.

It’s been a few weeks since the last time.

The background noise slowly picks up, but it’s distant, like you’re hearing it coming from a different ship. You reach for the cabinet.

What are you doing?

You open the cabinet. It’s organized so each crewmate’s stuff is clustered together, with the common items at the bottom. Your gaze passes over your deodorant, your nail clippers, your toothbrush, and settles on your straight razor.

Aren’t you too old for this?

You take your razor. From the common items, you take a bottle of alcohol. You fold up some tissue paper.

What would the crew think?

It’s hard to ignore the thoughts. But like any bully, they usually go away if you don’t give them energy. Usually.

The razor’s weight in your hand is comforting. It shouldn’t be, but it is. You unfold it, wipe down the blade with some alcohol. Then you lift up your sleeve and slide it over your shoulder.

This stretch of sea has been balmy. With the pleasant weather, you’ve worn a t-shirt, the short sleeves going just less than halfway down your arm. Underneath them, high up on your shoulder, are the scars. Faint and healed, a few shades lighter than your skin tone. Noticeable in the light, but that’s why you don’t participate in the group baths.

The background noise gets louder again. You think you hear shouting, faintly, but that’s normal for the crew. It barely registers over your heartbeat. 

Your heart is beating harder than before, dull thumps in your chest that seem to echo. Anticipating, ready.

Everything is going to be okay.

Finally. Finally. A hurt you can make sense of. Small, controlled. Yours.

There’s supposed to be a rush, you’ve heard. You don’t feel one. But there is a difference. The tunnel vision stops, the filter lifts. The world snaps back into place, the sound goes back to normal.

That’s when you really notice the shouting, no longer muffled by brain static. Something’s off. You focus. It doesn’t sound argumentative, like Zoro and Sanji. Nor is it playful, like Luffy or Franky’s might be. It’s startled and panicky, immediately grabbing your attention and making your adrenaline surge.

A second later, you hear an echoing BOOM, followed by an ear-splitting crunching of wood. It’s a sound you recognize, one you’ve heard before–a cannonball tearing into the ship.

You’re under attack.

For just a moment, you stare at your equipment, caught off guard. Then you pull yourself together–take your feelings and compartmentalize them for later dealing with–and tear out of the bathroom, dropping the tissue in the process. Your pistols are in their case, in the sleeping quarters. You need to get to them before you can join the fight…

The enemy pirates are strong–for a New World crew. Unfortunately for them, they’re completely outclassed by Luffy alone, much less the combined strength of the Straw Hats. Still, the numbers favor the enemy, and the battle is tiring enough to be distracting. Enough so that you forgot about what you were doing before it started. It’s only an hour into helping Franky patch up the ship, when you feel your shirt sleeve catch on your scabs, that you remember.

Then you realize you left your equipment out in the bathroom.

The razor. The alcohol. The bloody tissue paper.

Panic floods your system. You drop your tools and jump up as if electrocuted, all but flying to the bathroom. Has anyone used it since the fight?

Please no, please please please be wrong.

You kick the door open. It bangs harshly against the wall.

The equipment is gone. Your stomach sinks.

No no no no no.

You open the cabinet. Everything’s been returned to its place. Your straight razor has been folded and put away, as has the alcohol. The used tissue paper is gone. Not in the trash, either. Whoever it was must have discarded it in the toilet.

No no no no no!

Who? 

Who was it? You run through the possibilities in your head. Zoro? No, he wouldn’t clean up after someone else’s mess. Neither would Nami. At least, not for free. And what about the rest of the crew?

Whoever it was, would they even know what they saw? Surely they’d just think you cut yourself shaving. That was the only explanation, right? Even if the patterns on the tissue paper were distinct, the stains shaped into blurry, beaded lines–unless they had done it before, there’s no way they’d know. Right?

This time, when you shiver, it’s for real, not just a figment of your imagination. What would happen if you were found out? At best you’d be kicked out of the crew. At worst…

I’ll get locked up again.

You feel ill. Dizzy and nauseated with the prospect. You try not to spiral, try to get a grip before panic can take hold. The best you can do is to close the door behind you, sit on the floor, and take deep breaths.

You’re not sure how long you’re there–minutes, hours–but you don’t get up until someone knocks on the door.

“You almost done?” Usopp calls from the other side.

Swallowing hard, you find your voice. “Yeah. Just a sec.”

Usopp doesn’t so much as give you a second glance when you pass him. It’s not him.

You’re hypervigilant the rest of the day, scrutinizing every action, every word from your crewmates. Nothing seems different, but that only makes you more paranoid.

Nami offers you a tangerine. The simple action sets off a cascade of racing thoughts: Is she trying to make you feel better? Because she knows? Did she tell anyone? Did she tell Chopper? Luffy?

Every interaction is like that–an innocuous action that makes you flip out internally.

Franky gives you a gift: A cute little wind-up frog toy, made from scrap metal. He says it's to thank you for helping with repairs. You scan his face, but he’s only grinning proudly. Not Franky, either. 

Zoro invites you to drink with him. Brook plays a song you like. Robin hands you a book she’s just finished, saying it might suit your tastes. Nothing unusual, but enough to make you second guess everything. Each time, you cling to your mask, holding it so tightly to your face that you can barely breathe.

The next day, Sanji cooks your favorite meal for dinner. That wouldn’t be too weird, except you know for a fact that your favorite involves pricy ingredients that he prefers to save. You know this because he mentioned it, years ago, when he was teaching you how to make the dish.

You and Sanji had joined the Straw Hats at the same time. Two weeks before Luffy had shown up, you had tried and failed to dine-and-dash from Baratie. Zeff forced you to work to pay it off, plus an extra week to “teach you a lesson.” That was when you got to know Sanji. Unlike the rest of the chefs, he wasn’t mad at you for what you did. He even taught you some of the basics of cooking. As the only soft presence on the floating restaurant, you grew attached, and that feeling of reliance never really left since then. You were drawn to his air of confidence and self-assuredness, but mostly to the fact that he never hid who he was, even when who he was could be straight-up idiotic at times. But you still respected that about him.

You always liked to hang out around the cook, helping him prepare meals with what you learned at Baratie. You both fought well together, having each others’ backs in battle despite your different fighting styles. It was safe to say that he was your favorite crewmate, and though you weren’t sure what he thought of you, you viewed him as your closest friend.

So you really, really don’t want it to be Sanji.

You appraise his expression, his movement, his actions. It all seems normal, on the surface. And yet, it feels off somehow, but you can’t tell if that’s just the paranoia speaking.

“How is it?” Sanji inquires.

You stare for a second. It’s not a question he usually asks–he knows it’s your favorite and he knows you think it’s amazing. Maybe it’s just your imagination, but the smile doesn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“Delicious, as always,” you say. Your own smile lights up your face, the way you’ve carefully practiced. “What’s the occasion?”

He pauses, rubs the back of his neck. “No reason, really. I just thought that it’s been a while since we’ve had it.”

That evening, you’re alone at the port side of the ship, leaning against the railing and looking out at the night sea. Sometimes it helps with your racing thoughts. This time, it does nothing. Nothing keeps you from fixating on the situation. You feel like you’re hanging by a thread, like at any moment you’ll get kicked off the crew, and then your whole world will unravel. And it’s entirely your fault.

The questions won’t stop repeating themselves: Who was it? Did they know?

Behind you, someone clears their throat. You whirl around a bit too quickly and steady yourself with a hand on the railing. Sanji’s standing there with his hands in his pockets. Something about his posture sets alarm bells off in your head. He’s too stiff, trying too hard to appear composed.

“Hey, Y/n,” Sanji says gently, “can I talk to you about something?”

It’s Sanji. 

You’re immediately, wholeheartedly certain. It’s Sanji, and he knows.

You gape at him for a moment, then collect yourself. The mask comes back on.

“Actually, I’m pretty tired. Gonna turn in for the night. Tomorrow, okay?” you dismiss, and go to walk past him.

“Wait a second, Y/n,” he reaches to grab your wrist, but you yank it away before he can.

“Don’t!” you snap, stepping back, then quickly correct yourself. “I mean–don’t surprise me like that! We’ll talk tomorrow. I really should sleep...”

Sanji frowns, hand slowly lowering, and you make a hasty retreat.

The rest of the week is torture. You’re constantly avoiding Sanji wherever possible. He doesn’t strike up conversation when the others are around, which only makes you more certain that he knows. You ensure that you’re never alone with him, and if he does approach you by himself, you make yourself scarce. It becomes harder and harder to hide that you’re avoiding him. The crew takes notice–it’s not difficult considering you and Sanji are normally close.

Zoro’s the first to say something.

“Oi, Y/n. Did you have a fight with the cook or something?” he asks bluntly.

“No, we didn’t,” you reply.

Zoro’s eyes narrow slightly. “Well, you’re both acting weird.”

Some of the others are looking your way, now. Anxiety sours your stomach. You hold your mask steady as he continues.

“You’ve been kind of flighty lately. And he’s oddly subdued,” Zoro says, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, since he’s finally quiet for once, but it’s annoying. Would you just talk to him?”

“Uh…yeah, sure thing.”

Obviously, you don’t talk to Sanji. You keep evading him at every turn, only growing more distressed with each passing day. You know you can’t dodge the issue forever, but the moment you stop is the moment you’ll get kicked off the crew or worse, and that thought makes you want to die.

But the Sunny is only so large, and eventually, Sanji manages to corner you one night at the bow of the ship. You have your back to the figurehead, throat dry as you face him. Brook is up in the crow’s nest, keeping watch. Everyone else is asleep. It’s just you two, and you know you’ve run out of luck.

“We need to talk, Y/n,” Sanji says firmly.

Your throat goes dry. “Now?”

“Right now. No more running,” he says, taking a few steps closer. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly.”

There’s no getting out of it anymore. “...Alright.” you say. Your heart pounds harder, palms growing damp.

Sanji takes a long drag off his cigarette, then stubs it out–that’s when your adrenaline really spikes, when you know you’re in for it. He looks you in the eye.

“Should you have access to firearms?”

The question hits you like a brick, stunning you into wide-eyed silence. You open your mouth, then close it, unable to respond for a second.

“...What are you talking about?” you try.

“Given how you’ve been avoiding me,” he says coolly, “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“I’m–I’m not following.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Y/n!” he snaps, and you cringe. “Of everything you’re hiding, this is the one thing I’m going to find out. I’m not asking. You’re going to tell me or I’m going to tell Chopper. So answer me, right now: Are you safe around guns?”

You can’t take another step back, but you instinctively try anyway, your heel scraping the wood of the ship. But there’s nothing you can do. The mask crumbles, years and years of desperate crafting turning to dust in an instant.

“God, Sanji,” you respond, “what am I supposed to say to that?”

“The truth,” he says.

“And if you didn’t like my answer, what would you do? Take them away from me?”

“Yes.” His tone is unyielding, his eyes hard.

Yours start to sting at the corners. “And what after that? You’ll have me–” you bite your tongue to keep the tears from forming, “–you’ll have me kicked off the crew?”

“I never said that,” he says stiffly, “you don’t get it–”

“You don’t get it!” you bite back, voice rising. You lower it before continuing, “you don’t know anything.”

“I know you’re cutting.”

You flinch. The words sting. It’s not a pleasant sting this time. You turn your head, unable to look him in the eye.

“It’s just…” Sanji says, and there’s a touch of hurt in his voice, “after everything we’ve been through, I thought you trusted me.”

“I do,” you say automatically.

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

That stings even deeper. You shake your head. “I do, Sanji, but this is different.”

“Why?”

“It’s none of your business!” you bite. Bile rises in your throat at your venom; you hate being callous.

“My friend’s hurting themselves,” Sanji replies thinly, “that makes it my business.”

“That isn’t how this works!” you argue. “You don’t get to know everything about me just because you don’t like this!”

“Don’t I?”

“No!”

“You don’t feel safe with me.”

That one’s like a punch to the gut. You can’t tell what’s worse, the words themselves or the way he’s looking at you. That one hurts the most, because it’s true.

“...No,” you say after a moment, then steel yourself. “You’re right. I don’t. I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Sanji, please.”

“Don’t you plead now,” Sanji says, his tone hardening. “Don’t you put me in this position, Y/n.”

“I don’t have a choice, Sanji. I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Why?”

“Sanji!”

“Why?!”

“Because last time I trusted someone with this, I lost everything!” you blurt out. “I was institutionalized, okay?! Locked up! Is that what you wanted to know? Are you satisfied now?”

Your words echo in the silence that follows. He stares, jaw dropped slightly. You’re shaking, for real this time, and the words pour from you like a dam unblocked.

“You don’t know how humiliating it is, Sanji, to have the strings on all your clothes cut off, to be given only felt tip pens to write with, to not have doors, to have a scheduled bed time. To have all your choices taken away.” Your vision blurs as you continue. “I couldn’t do anything. It was like a prison. The other patients didn’t give a shit. The staff definitely didn’t give a shit. And all the while, they drained me of all my savings, until I didn’t have a single berri to my name. Then they kicked me to the curb. The one who reported me didn’t want to be associated with a crazy person. Neither did the rest of my friends. I was homeless. I had no one and nothing! That’s why I fled my home island, and that’s why I tried to dine and dash at Baratie.”

Sanji looks taken aback. He blinks quickly, then stares down at the deck. “What would you have me do, then?”

“This is supposed to be private!” You cover your face, fighting back tears. “You need–you need to keep your mouth shut and mind your business! I don't want anyone’s ‘support.’ You were never supposed to know.” You take a shaky breath and lower your hands. “If you really care, you’ll keep it to yourself, you’ll forget what you saw, and if you tell anyone…I won’t stick around to make the same mistake twice.”

Despite what you say, you already know it’s too late. There’s no going back, and now that he knows, it’s only a matter of time until you’re left behind. You bite your tongue to keep from crying at the thought, but you have to bite harder this time. The tears keep threatening to spill anyway, until you’re tasting iron.

Sanji is quiet. He pulls out his cigarettes and lights one, not speaking until after he takes a drag. “…Do you regret joining the crew?”

“Joining the Straw Hats was the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” you say honestly. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

“But you aren’t happy, are you?”

“Multiply something by zero and you get zero, right?” You look away, guilt eating at you. Experience tells you that no one wants to hear this. “I’m not trying to sound dramatic. I just… I don’t work right.”

“I don’t think you’re being dramatic.”

For some reason, that, more than anything else, breaks you. The first tears slip past your defense. You say nothing, lower lip trembling.

Sanji takes another slow drag of his cig and exhales away from your direction. “I don’t know how I missed it.”

“I do,” you say. “At the hospital, they…” the words die in your throat as the memories surge forward. “They…they…” You can’t finish, but tears begin streaming down your cheeks. You shake your head. “Let’s just say, after that, I learned not to ever give anything away. Never again.”

“They did something to you.”

You barely nod. Already you feel yourself slipping into a flashback, feel the nurses holding you down and the needle jabbing into your flesh.

“I’m sorry,” Sanji says, taking a step toward you, and then another, until he can reach out and gently touch your forearm. The touch brings you back, grounding you so that you’re back in the present. But the gentle action, and Sanji’s soft expression, only makes the tears flow faster, makes your nose run. You shrug.

“It must have been scary.”

Slowly, you nod again.

“Will you answer my question, Y/n? Please?” Sanji asks. “Please, I need to know you’re safe around guns. Will you at least tell me that much?”

You swallow the lump in your throat and wipe your face. When you answer, you look him in the eye so he knows you’re telling the truth. “Yeah. I’m… Yeah.”

Sanji sighs, his shoulders sagging with relief. “Thank goodness. Okay. Can I ask you something else?” At your nod, he goes on. “How long have you been feeling like this? Before the hospital, I mean.”

“...Since I was young,” you sniff. “I’ve been ‘coping’ on and off for years.”

Sanji sticks his hands in his pockets. “Okay. Can I see?”

“What?” The question catches you so off-guard that you stop crying. “I’m–I’m sorry?”

“You’re not going to show Chopper, right?” Sanji says. “So–”

“You’re not gonna tell him?” you cut him off, surprised.

“I haven't decided yet,” he admits. “I don’t want to go against your wishes, Y/n. But I don’t know the extent of the damage. Just… Just, let me see?”

“No.” You’re shocked at his audacity. What’s he thinking? Of course you can’t do that.

“I won’t judge. I swear, I just want to know you’re okay,” Sanji says.

“You can say that, but…” you rub your arm. “Be real. You’ll never look at me the same way again.”

“It won’t change how I think of you.”

“It will!” you shout, then lower your voice. “It will, forever. There’s no going back once that line is crossed and you see me for what I really am.”

He frowns. “Which is?”

“A freak!” 

Neither of you say anything for a moment. Then you shake your head again. “I’m sorry, Sanji. But a guy like you–strong, handsome, confident–you wouldn’t understand.”

Sanji gets a weird look on his face, one you’ve never seen in all the years you’ve sailed with him. He looks to the side, then down, then up. His drags on his cigarette become long and harsh, finishing it in three breaths. He lights another, making a face. Then he nods to himself, like he’s decided something.

“Okay,” Sanji says. “There’s something I want you to see.”

You frown. When Sanji puts his hands on the hem of his pants, you frown deeper. He pauses.

“Um. Just trust me, okay? I promise I’m not doing anything weird–just wait a sec.”

He slides down his pants, and you have no idea what’s going through his head until his pale upper thighs are exposed. Then, finally, you understand, and you cover your mouth in shock.

Both of his upper thighs are covered in a myriad of scars. There must be over a hundred, clustered just above where shorts would hide them. Most of them are big, inches long and criss-crossed with each other. A few are keloid scars, thick and raised above the skin.

Your stare could burn a hole through his flesh. Slowly, you look up at him. Sanji has a faint blush on his face, looking sheepish.

“Guys like me can be freaks too,” he says simply.

You’re in complete disbelief. You keep looking back from the scars to his face. It’s too much to process–where would you even begin? Sanji, of everyone on the crew–Sanji’s like you? Brave, unwavering, gallant Sanji? Of everyone? When you don’t respond, he speaks again.

“See, Y/n? You’re not alone.”

Tears sting the corners of your eyes again. You find your voice. “Yours are old.”

“Yeah. I got lucky. Had someone’s support.” Sanji smiles slightly, in a way that he only does when thinking of…

“Zeff?”

“Yeah. He eventually found out.” Sanji laughs nervously. “At first he freaked out. Thought I was using kitchen knives. After he calmed down, he told me…he told me he wouldn’t abandon me over that, because what kind of parent would that make him?” His expression wavers like he’s trying not to cry.

You, on the other hand, start crying again the moment you hear the word “abandoned.” You realize that’s precisely how you felt back then.

Sanji grabs your shoulders so you look up at him. “You’re not getting kicked off of the crew.”

“...I’m not?” you ask, voice small and pathetic.

“No. I promise.” Sanji squeezes your shoulders reassuringly. “No one else needs to know. But, Y/n, I’m not going to leave you to deal with this alone. So, will you show me?”

“...You won’t tell anyone?”

“I won’t. I swear on my honor. This stays between us.” He lowers his arms.

You bite your lip, sniffing. You shut your eyes, mustering up your courage, and nod. Sanji waits patiently as you breathe slowly to steady yourself. You hesitate before peeling back your sleeve, exposing your upper arm.

He’s quiet as he inspects the damage. Unlike his old scars, yours have yet to finish healing, still in the scabbing stage. A ladder of thin, dark red lines decorate your upper arm and shoulder. You look between your cuts and his scars. Yours aren’t as deep as what Sanji had done, which you feel weirdly ashamed about.

Sanji’s hand comes up, hovering over your cuts like he’s going to touch them, but then he rests it on your forearm instead. Despite the clear evidence that he won’t judge you, you’re still self-conscious, so you break the silence.

“The scabs catch on my sleeves,” you say awkwardly.

Sanji nods. “I had to bandage my thigh so it wouldn’t bleed through while I was working. It always felt so…”

“Stupid,” you both say. Then you both smile at the unexpected camaraderie. 

“What’s really stupid is how long I went thinking I was the only one,” you say, “and all this time, you…” You gesture vaguely.

“Can you do something for me?” Sanji asks. “Whatever you’re using–I’m not going to take anything from you. But in exchange, I want you to talk to me. We can talk in the galley, when it’s just us two.”

“I don’t know how to talk about it.”

How could you, after what had been done to you? After everyone you used to trust turned their backs? Knowing that Sanji understood you couldn’t fix the mental scars left behind by others. You could try to rationalize it, but just thinking about discussing the past made your throat dry up.

“If I told you about mine first, would it make you more comfortable?” Sanji offers.

You balk. “You–you don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind, if it means helping you.” Sanji says earnestly. “You can tell me anything. I won’t judge. How could I? We’re the same.”

Something broken inside you changes right then. Deep engravings fill with gold like broken pottery, sealing some of the cracks in your soul. Unmasked and exposed, Sanji sees into you, and he doesn’t waver or turn. He smiles, gently and softly and lovingly. Your eyes fill with fresh tears.

Sanji holds out his pinky finger. “Freaks?”

You smile from ear to ear, even as the tears start flowing again, and lock pinkies with him. “Freaks.”

So caught up in the moment are the two of you that neither one notices when Zoro appears until it’s too late.

He’s further down the deck, but standing right under one of the ship’s lights, so you can see him smile. “Hey, you guys are–” he starts, then notices Sanji’s pants. His smile instantly turns to a look of indignation, then rage. “What the hell?!”

Sanji scrambles to pull up his pants as Zoro charges.

“What the hell are you doing to Y/n, you creep?!” Zoro yells.

You hurriedly pull down your sleeve and move in front of Sanji, holding your arms up. “Wait a sec, Zoro!” 

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” Sanji cries.

Zoro screeches to a halt right in front of you, but then stretches over your shoulder to snarl at Sanji. “You better have a good explanation for this, shitty cook!”

You grab Zoro’s arms to hold him back. Not that you could ever hope to overpower him, but you know he’s too brotherly toward you to push you out of the way. “Zoro!”

“What?” Zoro turns his focus on you, “what did he do? I’ll kick his ass for you, Y/n.”

“No, that’s–”

Sanji interjects, “I didn’t–”

“We were…”

Zoro relaxes somewhat, now frowning and looking at both of you weirdly. “What exactly were you guys doing?”

Really, being in the middle of the night, it’s not a good look. You and Sanji are both caught off guard. Fumbling hard, you both speak at once.

“I was looking at a fungal infection!” you say.

“They were removing a tick!” Sanji says at the same time.

Both of you glance at each other.

“Tick,” you correct.

“Fungal,” Sanji says.

Zoro blinks. “A fungal tick?”

You both just nod.

Zoro stares between you two, then relaxes. “Oh... Okay. Good of you to not wake Chopper.” He nods and turns, leaving the two of you to it.

So flooded with relief are you that it’s staggering. You mentally thank the stars that Zoro is a simple and straightforward type of guy.

You and Sanji watch Zoro walk away. Once he’s out of earshot, you both look at each other.

Then you both burst out laughing.

“Oh my god,” you breathe, clutching your chest.

Sanji wipes away a tear. “That was close, huh?”

The laughter dies down into giggles before you calm yourselves, grinning at each other. Then you’re both throwing your arms around the other in a tight embrace, squeezing like you’ve never been hugged before in your lives. You bury your face in Sanji’s chest, he rests his head on yours. Your fingers dig into the other’s clothing, soaking in the warmth and the comfort that you could only get from someone who truly understood. You stay like that for a few minutes, quiet, close, and held.

“Are you sure?” you whisper after a minute. “That you want to deal with this? With me? What if I never get better?”

“Nothing’s set in stone but the poneglyphs,” Sanji replies, running a hand over your head so you look up at him. “Our future hasn’t been determined.”

“Our future?”

“You and me and the rest of the crew. There’s still time to grow, and to change.” He holds the back of your head tenderly.

“When does that time run out?” you ask, uncertain.

“It doesn’t.” Sanji smiles down at you. “As long as we’re alive, there’s another chance. That opportunity is always there.”

You smile back, then press your face into his chest again. Sanji squeezes you tighter.

“Tomorrow,” you mumble into his shirt. “Let’s talk tomorrow. I’m tired.”

“I bet.”

“I never want to hide from you again.”

You feel Sanji kiss the top of your head. “And I never want to make you cry again.”

“I want to tell you everything.”

“I’ll listen.”

You both stay like that for a while longer, each second spent there healing something within yourselves.

It will take weeks to figure out how to talk about your troubles. When you’re up for it, you talk in the galley as Sanji cooks, you helping him out as usual with prep and cleanup. It’s even longer before Sanji learns everything. In the interim, you become the only Straw Hat to learn of Sanji’s past before he ever gets a wedding invite.

Like worn muscles rebuilding, like bone regrowing stronger, the scars you’ve revealed to each other, both physical and mental, strengthen your bond more than anything else ever could.

"let it out, let me in, take a hold of my hand / there's nothing like another soul that's been cut up the same" -Handwritten, The Gaslight Anthem

[sombrashe]

stupid fucking slut

this is a repost because my original blog was deleted

relationship(s) valeria x reader

content afab gender neutral reader, chubby reader, dom valeria x brat reader, cunnilingus, scissoring, fuck machines, toy usage, triple penetration, slapping, degradation, praise

note(s) I love this woman with my entire being and I want her to smack me around

Your eyes are closed as you shake like the first autumn leaf, leaving your familiarity and allowing the wind to take full control. The anticipation leaking from your prepped holes filled your flesh with goosebumps as the cool air of the underground room washed over you.

"If you make even the tiniest noise I will have you wailing on the fucking floor, do you understand me?"

Her voice is a growled hiss against the shell of your ear and you flinch at the implication.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good."

You lick your bottom lip as your mind wanders to when the sunlight filtered through the high glass windows.

She's been nothing but a tease all day, working you up in front of her men as you became a pathetic mess for her. Her fingers would work you over during meetings, you like royalty sitting pretty on her lap as she refused to allow you to cover your lower half. One hand would pull lewd sounds from your soaking cunt while the other would slam down on the desk as she argued passionately with her right hand man.

"What the fuck do you mean he's dead, you were supposed to keep him alive until I could see him."

You struggled to keep up as the heel of her palm ground into your clit while she added another finger stretching you painfully. Your head lulls back as you clench around her perfectly manicured fingers, the man trying to explain what happened which caused an insignificant member of her crew to bleed out.

"I don't want to hear your god damn excuses, Diego! ¡Mierda! Sal de mi vista y limpia tu desorden. Un inútil hijo de puta."

The slam of the door syncs with the feeling of emptiness as she practically shoved you off her leg. You crumple to the ground beside her and she scoffs at the sight.

"What? You're useless now too? Get up." You stare at her, slack jawed and eyes wide. The fog invading your mind slowly leaks out and surrounds you both before disappearing into the vents above. She leans down and wipes your slick from her fingers onto the oversized hoodie you wore for modesty, as much as you can get as she fucks you in front of the cartel. You feel embarrassed as she treats you like a burden.

"Go clean yourself up and don't even think about touching yourself. Report to me in the main room when you're finished."

With that you're left alone as the door clicks closed for a second time except this time the fog invading your senses is fury. In retaliation you rooted through the box of toys you kept hidden pushed underneath your shared bed. Finding the deep purple c-shaped vibrater hidden amongst you test it in your hands until you find a setting which won't interfere with your plan.

"Perfect."

You grin wildly as you happily slip it between your lips to settle against your g-spot, the front pulsates as it rests against your clit and you take a moment to catch your breath. Finally standing you slip a pair of plain panties on keeping the toy snug as a skirt follows suit, an unassuming piece of fabric which laid against your thighs. Your chin raised as you entered the main room, a group of dozen or so men and women filtered in and out of the room as you walked through. The buzz of your toy was muffled by your thighs. Placing a hand on the back of Valeria's bicep you're annoyed at her quick side glance before she goes back to her conversation. Not even an introduction is spared for her favorite person.

"Valeria."

Nothing. You pinch at the skin where your hand rests and she's quick to smack you away the heat of the impact ignored as your ego is wounded.

You lean in close, "I have that new toy you got me last week in, if you don't pay attention to me I'll cum in front of everyone here."

She shoulders you away your threat nothing more than a nuisance to her conversation with her head dealer from the streets. Your eyebrows knitted together in annoyance as Valeria continued to ignore your advances. Taking a deep breath you close your eyes and pay attention to the toy which massaged your nerves the perfect amount. Letting out a soft warning moan only for her to hear, you feel small half moons form on the soft of your forearm as Valeria sinks her nails into you.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

You match her eye contact, your defiance meeting the fire which burned deep in her everlong eyes. Opening your mouth the next moan is immediately cut off as she yanks you back to where you first entered. Your arm is twisted and you're forced to walk backwards for a moment to keep from falling flat on your back again.

"Go downstairs, now. I will deal with you after this meeting."

You want to argue back, explain that you wouldn't act like this is she wasn't being such a pain in your ass and denying you your hard earned release.

"Don't fuck with me right now, and do as I say!"

The memories float around your head like a cartoon. You flex your toes as you shift uncomfortably your knees hurting from the position you're forced to keep. You rest your forehead on the edge of the cot as you listen to the sounds of metal rings clinking against machinery. concupiscence fills the whole of your belly and the eagerness from before slowly invades you once again.

"Eres una maldita puta estúpida, ¿lo sabías?"

Your blistering cunt flexes around the air and Valeria's laugh cuts through you. Jumping you feel cool glass press against your weeping entrances. You hold your breath as Valeria coos, the click of the machine being turned on send shivers down the bumps of your spine. She always starts off slow allowing your body a moment to to adjust to the penetration. The steady pace of lube covered dildos has your entire body ablaze with hunger. You keep your breathing steady as per her demands, the cot giving you no relief from the burn.

"Open your eyes."

You blink and straighten yourself as you rest on your palms instead on your elbows. Looking up at her she tilts her head, your pupils were blown wide and soft as they stared into hers. She places a gentle hand on your cheek using her thumb to rub across before a crack echos throughout the tiny room. You're looking to your right and blinking back the salt which threatened to leak from your eyes. Keeping your word you give a shaky breath instead of your usual whimper.

"Look at me."

You do and she rubs at the bulge which strained against the luxury fabric of her slacks.

"Now why can't you follow directions like this normally?"

You wet your lips waiting for permission to speak. She raises her hand and gestures permission.

"I'm sorry, ma'am."

She grins at your words and you feel the eager urge to please her, say whatever it takes to feel her reward for falling in line.

"My stupid slut, say it. Tell me who you belong to."

You chew at the corner of your bottom lip as she slowly unzips her slacks.

"You, ma'am. I belong to you, only you."

"Good."

She hums as she removes and folds her slacks painstakingly slow, walking around you to click at the machine. You grunt and grip at the edge of the cot as the speed increases. The thrusts timed but the speed has you bouncing slightly against it. She stays in place watching as the faux cocks disappears in and out of your holes.

"Disgusting."

She spits out watching as you shake softly.

"God you love this shit, my disgusting little slut loves it when I degrade them."

She kneels beside you and pulls a handful of your hair. You make wavering eye contact and you nod. You're panting as you dig your nails into the rough nylon below. She licks a stripe up your cheek and you jerk as she flicks her nail bed against your nipple. Removing herself from you she takes her place back in front of you. Your mouth waters as as taps the cock against your lips.

"Be a good whore for me and open up."

You relax your jaw and stick out your tongue putting on a show just for her. She hums and rubs the length of it against your awaiting lips. Without any prep she's shoving the whole of it down your throat staying still as you gag around her. Slowly pulling out she gives you a moment to breath before repeating her actions. She continues to painfully stretch your jaw and constrict your throat as she fucks your mouth.

"You are always so much more obedient when I stuff your mouth full."

You shake as you fight against the orgasm that was slowly ebbing. She notices your commitment to doing as she says, her thrusts bruising your palate. You drag one of your hands down her exposed thigh as she cums with a whine, the cock fully covered by your saliva. When she pulls away you're dropping your head and she grins at the sight of you fighting off another orgasm.

"Did you learn your lesson?"

You look up at her confused. She normally enjoyed pushing you close and over the edge for hours. Her eyes were frantic as she calmly removed the shiny leather from her exposed hips. Your mouth feels dry at the thought of you orgasm, the soft sweet feelings of her scarred hands against your skin.

"Yes, I did. I'm sorry."

You knew she loved it when you acted like this, a brat for her to put in their place. Something you take pride in. Getting under her skin in such a way she needed to take you immediately. She doesn't seem to care if you were genuine or not. She's behind you once again. The metal sounds stop and you're left empty and twitching.

"Valeria... please."

You voice is soft and teasing as you wiggle your lower half. She shoves you over the edge and you gasp as you plant the palms of your hands on the rough concrete. The grip she has on your waist is bruising and you can feel her strength in it. She shoves her tongue into your puffy sore cunt and your toes curl against the sides of her knees. You bite your lip still being the perfect little pet. She hums into the heat she couldn't get enough of. You whimper and you feel your muscles contract against her tongue. She's pushing her face deeper into your cunt and you have to plant your palms to keep from falling over. You feel her nails scratch their way down your thighs. The sharp addicting pain finally causes you to crash as you give a sharp shout. Your orgasm washes over you like a wave and you collapse. She's yanking you back and hoisting you until you could rest on your stomach. You pant as you continue to twitch below her burning gaze.

"I'm sorry." Your voice is raspy and you don't move until you hear her voice

"God you're fucking useless. I give you simple instructions and you can't even follow them."

You nod and struggle onto your hands and knees.

"On your back. Can't fuck this one up, hopefully."

You slide onto the rough nylon and grimace at the feeling against your sweaty skin.

"Legs open."

You let them fall to the side as you watch her move to the corner of the room. She's pulling something out from a small bag she kept on her person at all times. You feel heat rush up your neck as she exposes the small black vibrater to you with a grin.

"Going to be good for me and keep your slutty hands to yourself?"

You nod eagerly and pull yourself apart for her to have access to your sensitive clit. She barks out a laugh and shakes her head. You whimper at the look in her eyes, your hips dragging themselves against the air in anticipation. She slings a leg over your waist and straddles you for the moment.

"Going to be extra good for me? A pretty little pet with good manners?"

You suck in a breath as the still vibrator jumps to life against your nipple.

"Yes, please. I will, I promise."

She tsks and shakes her head, "that's what you said last time, pretty, and look at you. Soaking the bed."

You twist your head to the side trying desperately to stay calm. You practiced so many times but no matter how hard you tried you couldn't keep your orgasm at bay with her. Panting you dig your nails into the meaty part of your palms. She giggles and pulls at your perked nipple.

"God you love this filthy shit. You're so perfect for me, so easy to tease."

She grinds herself against your abdomen and you can feel the warm slick of her cunt. You have to draw blood, taste the bitter metal to calm yourself.

"Doing so good. Being such a good little pet. Do you want to cum?"

Her lips are a hot whisper against the shell of your ear and you cringe at the whine that covers your words.

"Valeria, please. God yes, I want to cum for you so badly."

She licks the outline of your ear before pulling away from you.

"You need to keep yourself calm, can you do that for me? Wait to cum until I'm ready?"

You blink at her and nod your head, pieces of hair stick to your face and you peel your nails out of your flesh to fix them.

"The messy hair shows that I'm doing a good job."

She grins as she places the vibrator against your heated clit and your arching your back.

"Calm." Her voice is soft unlike earlier.

You know she needs this as badly as you: you can see it in the way her chest rises, how her tongue wets her lips every few seconds, the way her fingers flex against the skin of your stomach. Finally after teasing all she can take she settles herself against your cunt. You feel feverish as she rubs her clit against the vibrator. You can feel her heat radiating into yours and you roll your eyes back at the feeling. Such soft skin rubbing against yours as her moans start to pick up.

"Oh god."

Your voice is shaky. You feel your chest swell as she coos.

"You feel so good lovely, want to cum with you."

You shake your head a few times as you grind your cunts together. Your thrusts cause her to bounce and each time her clit grinds against the toy harder than the last.

"I'm close."

Her voice is nothing more than a needy whine as her shirt rides up. You grip at one if her clothed breast. She nods as her head falls forwards. Black hair obstructs your view of her face but the way her thighs twitch against yours gives you all the confirmation you need. You grip painfully at her bicep as your orgasm causes your thighs to clench and the tips of your fingers to tingle. Your name is moaned out in such sweet melody. With one last twitch your yanking her by the collar against you. She's eager against your lips and you start to wonder if she was ever going to move the vibrating toy from you.

Almost like reading your mind she clicks the toy off before tucking it into her bag. Her movement away from you leaves you cold and you want to pull her in for another warm kiss. Picking through the discarded clothing she separates your outfits. Her first move is to get you both dressed and somewhere warm so she can inspect you. Tugging her clothes on in a hurry she's moving back to your blissed out smile. With gentle hands she's helping your tired limbs tug your clothes on, you were glad you choose a skirt today.

"We really need to finish this room."

"I know lovely, but it's hard to get someone down here without a bunch of questions."

You sigh and snuggle into her side, but she's pulling you away.

"No snuggling, not until I get you upstairs and into a bath."

You frown and yawn feeling exhausted, "I just want a nap, Valeria. Cuddles and a nap first."

She frowns, she hates the idea of not taking care of you after a rough night. These moments so intimate for her however far between they may be.

"You have to eat something first then."

You groan and allow her to lead you out of the room.

"Fine, but I get to choose what. None of that crackers and water shit."

She huffs, "Fine. No crackers, but you're drinking a cup of water. No arguments."

[lebenspurpur]

Headcanons for slashers (whoever you want) finding their s/o smoking cigarettes after hiding it?

Only if you're comfortable of course, thank you :)

AN: I've added my personal thoughts whether they can roll a ciggy or not because it's hilarious.

RZ Michael Myers

Oh, he does not care. Not even for the fact that you tried to hide it.

Michael grew up in the 90s, I am pretty sure he is used to smoking.

He will however steal your cigarettes now. Not because they're bad for you, no, he just wants to smoke too.

It will be a nice little habit, though, smoking together. Gives you an excuse to cuddle into him for warmth while you're standing outside.

Michael can not roll a cigarette for the life of him, and you can't convince me otherwise. Either he rips the paper or he loses the filter. And they always look tortured.

Cig rolling ability: 1/10

(He gets one point because at least he knows how it works in theory.)

Vincent Sinclair

Vincent isn't bothered by the smoking. What worries him a little is the fact that you tried to hide it.

He tries to assure you that he doesn't mind, in order to hopefully ease your anxieties. After all, he's got a smoking brother already. You won't be much of a bother.

Vincent can roll a cigarette.

Come on, tell me someone with hands as deft as his can't roll a cigarette (Wow, I should stop talking about his hands).

Plus, I think he smoked in his youth as well.

Cig rolling ability: 9/10 (I'm subtracting one point because I refuse to believe he's this good at everything.)

Bo Sinclair

Bo is a smoker. And he'll find it absolutely hilarious that you tried to hide your habit from him.

He will never stop his teasing.

Now that he knows that you share his preference, he can pull so many moves. Bo's the type of guy to light your cigarettes as a flirting method.

He thinks it's hot, you think it's a little ridiculous.

Bo can roll a cigarette, but he applies too much pressure. They look a little squished sometimes.

Cig rolling ability: 7/10

Lester Sinclair

Don't we see Lester smoke in the movie?

I went into heavy research and yes we see him smoke in the movie. IN THE TRUCK, to be exact, which is a crime.

So yes, Lester is a smoker too.

He won't take it too hard that you hid your habit from him, but he still reassures you that he doesn't mind.

He likes smoking with you, in fact.

Please stop him from smoking in the car.

Lester can roll a decent cigarette. Sure, sometimes they lack good structure, but he makes up for it with enthusiasm.

He is the type of lover that will pre-roll cigarettes for you, and it's super sweet.

Cig rolling ability: 7.5/10

Brahms Heelshire

YOU DID WHAT??

I fully believe Brahms has never taken any drug in his life, ever. All his life was spent in the walls, and while his parents seem like expensive whiskey drinkers, he has probably never tried it.

So he's shocked to see his own significant other smoke.

"Don't you know that this can kill you, Y/N?"

He will forbid you to smoke, because he is a little shit brat.

However, he won't really do anything but sulk when you continue your custom. And after a while he gets used to it.

Brahms obviously doesn't know how to roll a cigarette. Not even in theory.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Thomas Hewitt

Thomas is surprised to see you smoking, but he doesn't mind all that much.

You're your own person, and you've got your habits.

In addition to that, he thinks it's kinda hot.

Thomas has never smoked and probably never will, but if you let him, he will try.

(I tend to think Thomas is a pretty curious, and rather experimental guy because he was denied so many things in the past. Therefor, he tries to catch up with the stuff he missed.)

Nonetheless, he does not like it.

Even so, Tommy will join you when you catch a smoke break, mostly because he wants to keep you company.

Thomas would be capable of rolling a ciggy, if he ever actually tried. I mean, come on, he sews as a hobby, and you got to have pretty skillful hands for that, too.

Cig rolling ability: 2/10

(He's only this low because he never actually tried to roll one.)

Jason Voorhees

Uh oh.

He's not a fan.

Jason will try to make you stop, most likely by finding an alternative that's actually healthy.

If it doesn't work, he'll accept it, but not without a weekly complaint.

Jason would rather die than touch tobacco. He can not roll a cigarette.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Otis Driftwood

Otis is also heavily entertained by the idea that you hid this from him.

Except from that amusement, you won't get much of a reaction, though. Otis smokes himself, why would he care if you do?

(I don't actually remember if we ever see Otis smoke, but come on, look at him and tell me this isn't canon.)

Otis can technically roll a cigarette, but they always look horrible. They're very... sloppy.

I also feel like he's the type of guy to smoke rolled cigarettes without a filter.

Cig rolling ability: 3/10

Baby Firefly

I feel like Baby is more drawn to vapes than cigarettes, mostly because those can taste sweet.

She probably owns a pink vape, and her favorite flavor is probably something like strawberry or strawberry cheesecake.

Nonetheless, she doesn't care if you smoke. And she will scold you a little for hiding this from her. Partners are supposed to trust each other, after all.

Baby can roll a cigarette, but it will fall apart in seconds.

Cig rolling ability: 2/10

Josef

Josef is a bit on the wine aunt trip, so he's opposed to everything that goes against his usual diet (smoothies, wok pans and dry red wine, ah and occasionally some dark chocolate).

Therefore, he won't appreciate the cancer sticks, but he'll stick up with them because he likes you.

Sporadically, he'll steal a hit, but that's usually when he's tipsy.

If you ask him if he can roll a cigarette, he'll say yes, but that is a fat lie.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Amanda Young

Amanda is torn between amusement and worry when she finds out about your mannerism.

She doesn't necessarily mind cigarettes, but her strong history with drugs influences her opinion a little.

Though, as long as your smoking habit stays reasonable, she won't acknowledge it that much.

Amanda can roll a pretty neat cigarette on a good day, and she will roll for you if you ask her to.

Though, sometimes her hands shake too much to hold the paper properly, and then they all look horrible.

Cig rolling ability: 6.5/10

[arminsumi]

˗ˏˋ꒰ 📖 ꒱ BOOKSTORE BOY

Armin x fem!reader

Chapter index / Chapter Ⅵ

Overview; Armin asks you on a date to the art gallery. Well, actually, he needed the help of an old best friend to make that happen.

Content; fluff, slight angst between Eren x Armin

DM in my askbox to be added to taglists! 💕

For Armin to ask you out from himself he needed an immense surge of courage. Usually he derived that from a pep talk with Connie, but he was on vacation in a foreign country.

So...

"Okay, Eren, you're Y/n and I'm... well, me. Okay? I'll ask you out and you try respond how she would." Armin instructed his friend carefully.

Eren was leaning nonchalantly against the bookshelves. "I don't know a damn thing about this girl, and you want me to imagine how she would respond?"

"Come on, just help me out here." Armin whined. "Please?"

Eren gave an exasperated grunt and reluctantly played along with him. Armin thought it was depressingly funny, how once their souls were intertwined with one another, but disconnected at one of life's unexpected crossroads.

They used to be best friends.

"Y/n, um, so th-there's this art gallery – you've probably been there before, but they've renovated it recently and – and I was thinking – if you're free – " Armin rambled.

Eren interrupted, "Get to the point." he snapped.

"Hey, Y/n wouldn't snap at me like that! She's a patient listener."

"Well I'm not." Eren said bitingly.

Armin tilted his head at the brunette sadly. Eren thinned out his lips regretfully.

"Sorry." he said earnestly.

Armin heaved a sigh to alleviate his chest. He tugged off his white knitted scarf and threw it down, taking a seat on the stack of books. His hand glided through his golden hair, then he rubbed his face, like he was trying to rub the tension out. But the tension was in the atmosphere, not inside him.

"We haven't seen each other in ages, you know." Armin said quietly.

Eren lowered his head in shame and refused to look at him.

A dim midday light filtered in through the bookstore's half-closed shutters.

Armin sat. Eren stood. Armin talked. Eren listened. All the while life and the sound of lunchtime traffic rattled the windows from outside.

It just wasn't like how it used to be between them. Why? Armin had spent countless nights trying to figure out why they drifted apart.

"You were the one that stopped calling me." Eren pointed out.

"Because I don't like using phones." Armin said, folding his arms defensively.

"That's not a good enough excuse." Eren looked at him. If anyone's eyes could rival Armin's in terms of intensity, it was Eren's.

Armin nibbled his lip and nearly cried. "Well, you also moved far away." he stated bitterly.

Such a simple statement upset the whole atmosphere in the vacant bookstore. Armin looked away tearfully, blurred vision catching the CLOSED sign dangling and swaying clumsily in the window outside the front door.

"I wanted to start my life, can you blame me for that?" Eren reasoned defensively. Though he was usually harsh, he tiptoed around Armin's emotions when he saw tears pricking his pretty eyes.

Armin considered his response.

After a short silence, he croaked with a quiet, subtly shaky voice; "No, I can't blame you for that. But I can still be upset by it. I missed you... God, Eren, I had nothing to do here after you left. I was so god damn sad. And then she — like some miracle — walked into my life and changed that. So the least you could do is help me out here... because she means a lot to me."

Eren was looking at the ground while he listened. A stiff silence engulfed the two boys.

"Okay. I've got a plan. I'll make this art gallery date happen for you."

"Thank you." Armin smiled at him. "Really, thank you."

"...since you're too much of a wimp to do it yourself." Eren muttered teasingly under his breath.

"Hey!" Armin giggled a little.

They had a brief moment of banter and teasing. It felt like old times, if only for a fleeting two minutes.

Everything ceased when there was a person tapping at the window of the store's front door.

Peering in from the other side was none other than you, the one who happened to be the sole subject of conversation for the whole morning and early noon.

"Is that her?" Eren quickly asked under his breath as Armin bounced quickly past the cashier desk to the entrance.

It was a stupid question. Of course it was you, because Armin's eyes lit up like a light show.

"Yeah, that's her." Armin smiled at you through the glass pane, and came to open the door.

He wrung it open, the bell chimed, and his face brightened at your presence. That pleasant feeling of seeing the one you love engulfed him from all angles.

You hugged him with a gentle squeeze, and so did he. "How are you! Why is the store open so late? It feels odd." you asked.

Armin's throat stuttered and staggered a small bit before replying, "My grandfather is sick at home, so I'm running the ship for a while."

"And that means the store will open when you've had the appropriate amount of coffees?" Eren mused.

His deep, smooth voice caught your ears. It was just a really good voice, no one can be blamed for being infatuated with it.

"Right." Armin nodded.

His eyes flitted between you and his old best friend. "Uh, Eren, this is Y/n, and Y/n... Eren." he introduced the two of you.

"Oh, that name sounds familiar." you commented.

Eren looked at you in surprise, "Does it?"

"Yeah, I think Armin mentioned you a few times in conversation, but I have bad memory..." you said embarrassedly.

"We grew up together." Eren said simply.

"Oh! That's right, now I remember."

Armin felt a strong jealousy bubbling inside his chest.

It grew and grew, like sharp vines under his chest. It grew stronger the longer you and Eren talked, because honestly? You two hit it off. And in the most peculiar way. Neither you nor Eren felt attraction towards each other, but Armin was convinced that there was a special feeling between you and him.

"I've got to head out." Eren said after the conversation tapered off, preparing to leave the store.

"Oh, where are you headed?" you asked him curiously.

He placed his hand on the doorframe and then, as he spoke his next words, made everything up on the spot.

"Actually... to the art gallery," he looked at Armin, "with my girlfriend – you two wanna make it a double date?" he invited.

You thought that was so friendly of him.

"Absolutely! I'd love to see the art gallery..." you responded enthusiastically. "Of course, but only if Armin is willing. Armin?" you turned to face him.

Armin's jealousy dissipated, a feeling of fondness and thankfulness replaced it.

"I'm willing." he mumbled shyly.

"Why the art gallery?" Eren's girlfriend questioned confusedly, romantically clinging to his arm. "I thought we were going to the countryside? A picnic would have been good... this is a rare sunny day."

They observed an oil painting on the white wall.

"Because Armin wanted to take that girl on a date, but he was too shy to ask her himself." Eren explained in a hushed voice under his breath.

"I didn't know you were cupid." Mikasa teased. Eren shook his head.

You marveled around you.

Something in the atmosphere felt magical. For a long time, you and Armin wandered the corridors alone together, in utter silence. No words were necessary. Especially not when they'd disturb the beauty of the silent paintings staring down at you.

He had no idea how it happened, but he ended up holding your hand. His skin felt soft, a little cool to the touch — your warmth made him fluttery.

You stood in front of a painting with him, admiring it as if through a dream lens.

"I've never been to an art gallery before." you told him.

"Really?"

"I planned to visit this one when I first arrived here, but never seemed to make time for it. You know how it is." you said. "But this is nice." you showed him a pretty smile.

Like so many times before, it seemed like Armin was going to say something. Something big; important, emotional – something that required a lot of courage to say.

"Do you want gelato?" he blurted out. "I'll go get some."

"I – uh, yes, sure." you agreed a bit confusedly. "Gelato sounds lovely."

So Armin disappeared down the corridor and Mikasa too, but she went to the restroom to refresh herself.

You went over to where Eren stood so you wouldn't seem like you were rudely ignoring him, when he so kindly invited you to a double date.

He was observing an oil painting depicting cupid. Something about it really had his attention and you didn't know why. He seemed amused. But you couldn't be sure, because his expressions were enigmatic. Reading them was like reading a foreign language that you only know two words of.

You held small talk with him, until he said something that steered the two of you into a meaningful conversation.

"Actually, Armin wanted to ask you out to the art gallery himself. I didn't even plan to come here today." he admitted.

You gasped on purpose, "You're exposing your best friend like this!"

"We're not best friends anymore." he said.

You dropped your playful attitude a bit, "What happened?" you asked curiously.

"Nothing, just life." Eren shrugged.

And though that was the truth when cut short, you could tell there was a long story behind it. He didn't elaborate, because it would make him get emotional. And you'd anyways have to sit through the first ten chapters of his and Armin's upbringings to understand it in its fullness.

"Oh, I see..." you said.

The conversation trailed off for a moment.

"It took Armin a long time to ask me out." you said. "I visited the bookstore an uncountable amount of times before he finally said hello to me." you laughed reminiscently, "was he always a nervous boy?" you asked Eren curiously.

"Sort of." Eren replied bluntly.

"Sort of? Could you elaborate?" you laughed.

"He's always been doubtful of himself. That's why he's never had a romance before, he never let himself fall in love, because he deemed himself unworthy of having a lover. And, I guess, inadequate to be a lover himself."

You looked at the brunette, he stood tall and straight, still looking at the painting. Past him you caught sight of your favorite blond as he approached the two of you.

Such a cute and soft boy. So gentle and sincere. Anyone can understand those traits about him from a mile away. It's the way he styles his hair. It's the cream-colored cutoff sweater over his white shirt. It's his way of walking. The slight blush that never leaves his face.

"It makes me sad when I learn these things about good-hearted people." you said, "If anyone in this world deserves love, it's Armin."

Eren looked at you contemplatively for a moment. He was thinking about the inflection you used when you said Armin's name. "Sounds like you're in love." he remarked observantly.

"Huh?" you blinked at him. His comment made your cheeks heat up very quickly.

Armin reunited with you and Eren, two hands holding cups of gelato. He had such an awkward yet elegant charm, it was hard to describe. But not even a poet could have described him.

He handed you and Eren gelatos, and talked about how he nearly tripped and dropped them on the stones outside on his way back. In the back of your mind, you were thinking about what Eren had told you.

Viewing Armin there in the art gallery felt dreamy, he had such warmth radiating all around him.

Mikasa returned from the bathroom and held onto Eren tiredly, refusing the gelato at first but nibbling from his cup eventually, and she gradually finished it herself while Eren held it like a cute boyfriend.

Armin was observing how they behaved as a couple. He thought about how badly he wanted to be that close to you, but you and him still had a ways to go.

"We'll get going in a little bit." Eren said.

"Aw, okay." Armin replied. "This was nice. Thanks for inviting us to join..."

"Of course." Eren bobbed his head noddingly, a stray strand of hair slipping out of his sloppy manbun. "We should... do something together sometime again. Just you and me. No offence, ladies."

"None taken." you chuckled.

Armin felt as light as air. Everything that once made him feel heavy in the past was becoming the reason for his weightlessness.

You and Armin still planned to stay at the art gallery a little longer. As Armin said, "The paintings have a demanding beauty, we have to look at them one more time."

While Eren and Mikasa were leaving, you accidentally called Armin Loverboy in front of them.

Eren looked teasingly at Armin. "Loverboy?" he questioned with raised brows, a smirk

Armin went pink in the face, oh, really pink. It was especially noticeable because of the palette of his appearance; the white and soft brown of his clothes, the honey blond of his hair, the ocean blue of his eyes.

"You embarrassed meee!"

"Sorry... Loverboy."

He giggled. You perched yourself on the bench in the middle of the wide corridor, stretching your arms out to balance as you walked along it.

White walls displayed a stretch of impossibly beautiful artworks, contrasting to the antique heartpine flooring.

A statue of Aphrodite stood at the end of the T-junction corridor, posed with ethereal beauty; she almost felt alive. You half-expected her to start running the comb through her hair.

But the only living souls in the art gallery were you and Armin; intertwined completely, undisturbed in an envelope of your love.

When you and him stopped to admire the statue, it felt as if the goddess of love was smiling down at the two of you, uttering wordless blessings upon your romance.

"Hey, dance with me, Loverboy." you said, encouragingly tugging the fabric of his sleeve.

He looked at you like he's never looked at anyone in his life, with eyes blazing like the stars in Van Gogh's masterpiece.

"C'mon."

You offered your hands to him. He timidly took them.

And so there you and him were, haphazardly dancing down the corridors of an empty art gallery during closing hours.

Giggling, stumbling, twirling, talking, exchanging an intimacy —a connection — that can't be described, only felt or imagined by the most imaginative mind.

At the closing of the day, while you and him were waiting on the bench at the bus stop, Armin leaned over and scribbled a poem on a napkin.

Though you kept naggingly asking him what the poem was about, he blushed and refused to say.

"Have patience, love." he said, and kept writing.

You loved watching him writing. He was so simply beautiful when he was in his element. Scratching lines out, rewriting them, contemplatively pausing; you observed him like an artwork.

"But the bus is here." you said when you heard it rounding the corner.

Armin's blue eyes blinked up at the approaching bus. The brakes sighed as it came to a rolling stop, the navy blue color inspiring the final words of Armin's poem.

"Alright." Armin hopped to his feet very suddenly.

He looked so happy. No, he radiated happiness.

"So eager to leave me!" you teased him.

He smiled at you and gave you the napkin with his poem.

"Read it when you get home; I don't want to be embarrassed in front of you right now." he half-joked.

"Okay." you replied in a soft voice. "When... when will we see each other again? I mean, besides at the store."

Armin's heart beat faster.

"We... could..." he began.

He was trying, he really was. The courage was building up inside him, though it faltered and he closed his mouth again.

"We could...?" you encouraged.

"Gimme the napkin back for a moment, please." he said, and took it to write something more on the back of it.

You looked at him curiously.

There was a long moment of silence that was filled with... well, love. Just love. A very pure and sincere love, the type that isn't fully acknowledged yet, and so isn't affected by the expectations of either lover.

"There – ah, the driver is looking impatient." Armin said hurriedly and handed the napkin back to you.

You shared a shy, departing hug with him.

As he boarded the bus, he placed his hand on the bus door frame, and looked back at you.

"Bye." he said.

"Bye, see you." you smiled.

"Mmm, yes." he said and looked at you. "Bye." he said again.

"Goodbye." you giggled.

He just couldn't go.

It was one of those never-ending goodbyes, because neither you nor him really wanted to be apart.

You watched from outside as he weaved through the crowded bus and took a seat.

He waved at you through the window.

The bus rolled back into motion and headed down the street before finally rounding the corner and disappearing.

You walked back to your apartment by foot.

Every movement you made, from sticking the key into your apartment door to pouring a fresh coffee, was done with a dreamy languidness.

When you finally settled down into bed with your beverage, you looked over at your pillow, and thought of when Armin was sat there reading at your side you not long ago. The memory made you smile.

Now alone, you read his letter.

After your eyes reread each line three times over, you wished you could text him. But that boy really didn't like phones, he always lost his own, and never read any messages from anyone. Who knew where his phone was right now, probably besides the pot plant in his grandfather's back garden.

In the art gallery, you experienced his wordless love. At home, you read the words that attempted to summarize his feelings.

The way I feel with you,

Is comparable to,

The navy blue of,

The sparkling sea I saw long ago.

On the back, there was his additional note. It was scribbled very hastily.

Spring is close, why don't we have a picnic by the lake? I know the trail to take =)

🏷️; @sad-darksoul / @ringsofsaturnnnn / @underthetree845 / @oliviaissocool1 / @crisalidaseason / @koriinsan

[17isrighthere]

— what’s up guys 😭 i just wanted to share my own little two cents on some colouring trends i’ve seen lately (particularly for kpop gifs!) which includes really distorted pink/red hues for skintones or oversaturated yellows so maybe i could give some tips that also helped me in the past!!

and of course because i love to talk a lot — this is a very long and image heavy tutorial...

❓ why is it an issue? i think its a very clear given that whitewashing is wrong and problematic for a vast number of reasons (with a history steeped in colourism and racism) and how there’s no excuse for changing the skintone of a person-of-colour.

— but with that said i want to make it clear that this is not an accusatory post! i’m not jumping on any one content creator or tumblr user to call them racist or colourist or a bigot 😭 and i don’t want to accuse anyone of having bad intentions with their gifs or images that they post! i really just want this to be a helpful post for anyone who is struggling to colour their gifs properly and more of a learning step instead of a call-out! 

however pink-washing (i’m aware there is another definition for this term but i’m referring to washing out a skintone to make it red-pink) and yellow-washing are equally as wrong! and they are also easily avoidable!! 

in the past it was a commonly held (and incorrect) belief that european people (a term i’m going to use broadly for non-poc) had a ‘fair’ and ‘pink’ undertone to their skin [and it was an encouraged beauty standard to try and emulate that fair pale pink skin] while asian people (particularly east asian ethnicities) had ‘yellow’ skin (as seen in racist caricatures and a plethora of terrible and outdated race theories).

thus pink-washing and yellow-washing both embrace two extreme ends of the scale and it’s simply better and more respectful to try and maintain the skintone of the idol in your gifs! there are deeper contextual explanations of this if you would like to learn more!

❓ identifying pink/yellow gifs

let’s start with recognising what colouring is a no-go ❌ if you’re a gifmaker you’re probably fighting a battle on two fronts — against the whitewashing music shows and then the struggle to restore skin colour without turning the dial up so much that you’ve changed their entire skintone.

for this example below i found a kpop psd posted recently (in the past few months actually) and applied it to a basic bright-lighting sort of facecam. 

the original facecam has no heavy stage lighting (as stages can often have really strong red or pink lights that also darken the colours) so it’s an easy one to follow along with.

the gif on the left has only a basic curves layer while the gif on the right has the added kpop psd on it. it’s a very stark difference in jungwon’s skintone and i would definitely classify this as an unnatural skin tone.

following a selective colour layer (to subtly increase the warm tones of his skin) / a photo filter (to counter the pale blue sort of lighting) and a colour balance - we can end up with a product like this.

now of course, this is only a very simple sort of colouring. and everyone has different colouring styles so you can go bonkers with all the colour manipulation for the blues and greens and purples as you like!

but what if the stage is just naturally red? 

may i introduce you to the dreaded seventeen stages during face the sun era then 😭

as you can see there is already a very heavy sort of pink-red cast on his skin (that only gradually got worse as the stage started because of those damn lights and shadows 😭) but we can easily work around them!

so here’s our stage lighting with no adjustments 

and now even though we got rid of the pink-tone it’s been replaced with a very strong yellow. (you might think i’m exaggerating out here but there are unfortunately a mite too many gifs like this). jeonghan’s skin (not to mention the members in the back) have been dialled up to a wasp yellow.

and unfortunately (at least in my experiences) there have been quite a few of the below instances (especially for this stage) so ultimately it is all about finding the right balance between getting rid of the harsh, unsaturated lighting while also bringing back warmth to the skintone while ALSO not giving the idols a spray-tan.

❓ so what can i do?

well i’m glad you asked! let’s go back to the jeonghan example we just used. here’s the stage gif once more without any adjustments or layers.

now i’ll add a simple curves layer (to even out the general lighting) and we end up with this. it’s obviously much better. the red-brown cast has no become darker creating a greater contrast with jeonghan’s skintone versus his black and white outfit! it’s a nicer gif overall but i want to bring out his skintone ever so slightly to make up for the harsh white lights on the highlights of his face.

i added another selective colour layer (increasing the reds with the cyan slider and then the black slider while also pushing on the yellow slider as well) and a gradient map (fading from black to orange and set to soft light at a 20% opacity)! and this is my final result!

❓ tips and tricks

— colour balance is your best friend! if a gif seems too blue (and hence giving your subject a pale purple-red sort of look) bring back the slider to the yellow side. or vice versa. it often sorts out all the little hiccups that a curves layer might have provided. — create layer masks to compare skin colour. it’s always useful to just have a little circle where you can see the skintone before and afters! — don’t just rely on selective colour to bring colour back into skin. this is where i find that i often trip up to overcompensate for whitewashing. a gradient map works wonders if set at the right opacity and you can adjust the skin colours minutely afterwards! — this might seem like a reduntant theme but it’s more than okay to ask for help! even i’ve found that i struggle with colouring a gif right and it’s better to get two or three heads in the game than one 😭

there is no one method or psd that will automatically graces oneself with perfect and correct colouring but it’s a matter of practice and figuring out what methods works for you!

i’d take a look at these very helpful tutorials! how to colour east/south-east asian celebrities how to fix orange-washed characters

[foxiejun]

-ˏˋ 𝐋𝐈𝐄 ˊˎ- 𝒞.ʙɢ

𝑐.𝑏𝑔×𝑓𝑒𝑚!𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟

summary - what happens when you start to realise that beomgyu's starting to lose feelings for you and all you want him to do is lie?

wc - 737

content - angst

warning - shorter than my life. Wrote while brain dead so it's gonna be a tad bit shitty

🎵 - Lie by Sasha Alex Sloane

Don't sleep on the couch tonight. Even though you took it for the weekend.

"Are you really gonna take the couch tonight? You sure you don't want to join me?"

You found it a bit frustrating. The situation of it. Never being used to ask beomgyu to join you on the bed and now you're here. The male was sprawled upon the plush of the couch, blanket around his body. Beomgyu gave an once-over through the edge of his eyes. A exaggerated sigh leaving his parted lips.

"I think this is the zillionth fucking time I'm telling you, y/n. I'm better on the couch. The bed is too..it makes my back ache"

Your brows stitched together. Well this was something new and it made a slight pang to your heart. You could the strength of this very relationship. It was like a blunt pencil, too much pressure added and snap! It goes. The distance between you both felt that you were on the other side of the mountain. It was certain that beomgyu didn't really favor the idea of accompanying you to bed and the excuse he gave only made a temporary one.

"Fine..do have a second thought though."

And that night there was no sounds of love in the house. The empty space beside you on the bed reciprocated the emotion you were looking at that night. Missing the warmth of the male's body on yours, the dazy kisses. He had you under a spellbound. A serendipity to you.

𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲. 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Beomgyu on the other hand, was awake through the twilight. His mind racing a million thoughts. The brows eyes of his gleaming in the dark and his lips lonely. The mere silence only made his mind to go back to the first kiss shared between you. That feeling was now numb for him. He remembered vividly on how he was desperate to make you his. Doing everything in his strength. The sparkle in your eyes whenever he got your late night ice treat, the gentle stretch of your lips upon catching sight of him. The way his hands fitted perfectly with yours, his body just right for you. They were fresh in his mind. But his love for you wasn't starting to be oh so fresh now. Maybe it's the time's doing.

You wanted nothing but for him to lie. Lie that he still loves you. And push his hands on your waist. Lie right to your face. Lie that he still adores you. Lie in his touch. Lie in his kiss. Lie in the way he makes you feel. Even though you knew, his feelings for you was starting to rot, you wanted him to lie. To say that he's lucky to love you like he used to.

The music of crickets outside was like a dead sound to their ears.

You slowly crawled out of bed and out of the room, the early morning light was starting to filter in through the gaps of the curtain. you already familiar with the layout of the dorm, kept your gaze solely towards the ground, eyes glancing down as the dim lighting casted mysterious shadows on the creaking wooden floor beneath your feet.

The man was already awake making his daily dosage of a cup of morning coffee. The smell of the crushed beans wafted through the kitchen.

"Beomgyu.."

Hearing the silken voice belonging to you, he turned around and his eyes landed on you. A blank look etched onto his face. Lie. And the eyes that held a look of blossom in them was now empty as a broken wine glass. Lie. Even a gentle stroke of his hand to your cheek was more than enough. Even if it's all a lie. Your fingerbuds ran across the pores of his porcelain skin, the heat radiating off his body and eyelashes fluttering down at you was all it needed to fall for him again. And without a single thought, grabbing the curve of his nape pulling the male down into a kiss. Both your lips pressed firm against the other's. But this felt like wood to electric. There was not a hint of spark like before. Dry. And you couldn't help notice how his hands that once used to wrap tight around your body pulling you close to him was now limp. For what seemed like an eternity of expecting beomgyu to return the kiss, pull you in all ended in an utter nonsense. Pulling away from him, your eyes already trembling with tears and scrutinizing him.

"Why can't you just lie?.."

Beomgyu traced down on you. Avoiding any eye contact. Silence filled the room. His lips still stinging from the kiss.

"You know I can't"

𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒆..

a/n. First fic-so it's shitty. But plz do reblog and support me if you'd like. 😅😅😅

[littlest-nightingale]

little! 13th Doctor because I've talked ab her as a caregiver but not as a little:

 • oh my god. she is a DISASTER

 • she goes to great lengths to hide her regression/not regress. like she is FIGHTING IT

 • about... 1-3 years old? she's little little

 • i genuinely don't think she had an entirely pleasant regression the entire time she was the doctor. i actually think she was that miserable. like maybe there were some regressions that were enjoyable but i think she was lonely and upset most of the time

 • she was absolutely desperate not to let the fam know. She didn't want them to think she was weak, and she definitely didn't want them to see her when she was so helpless.

 • part of it was definitely because this regeneration was a woman! lots of people started treating her differently when she regenerated into a woman, and part of that was that people thought she was weaker or dumber or more incompetent. So she definitely didn't want people to know she regressed! she didn't want to be viewed as more incompetent than people already seemed to view her as.

 • it was also because she was running from her issues. regression takes away what little filter she does have. if she was to regress and say something about the stress she was under, the fam would definitely start pushing her to talk about it, which she very much doesn't want to do!

 • finding out about the timeless child ordeal broke her. She had an entire childhood she couldn't remember because it was taken from her! and, because we know she could remember little glimpses of it, what if regression allowed her to remember. little bits and pieces. little glimpses into tecteuns experiments. maybe even the few times she was forced to regenerate.

 • after finding out, regression wasn't safe for her! memories she wasn't even supposed to have started slipping through the cracks, and unfortunately, her regression isn't entirely voluntary.

 • it didn't help that she spent 19 years in isolation immediately afterwards. she was stuck in that cell and she would regress and she would remember and there was nobody there to help her through it.

 • and even afterwards, she didn't open up about it. ever. She pushed through, she regenerated, and that was it.

 • in terms of regression gear, she has quite a lot. that doesn't mean she uses it.

 • 10, 11, and 12 were also regressors. 10 got a metric fuckton of regression gear and that collection has been modified and added on to with each new regeneration.

 • most of this is kept in a nursery/playroom originally made for 10, which she has asked the TARDIS to hide down the longest hallway she could generate (sometimes the TARDIS pushes the room forward. 13 doesn't take that well)

 • she keeps one stuffed animal in her room. one raggedy stuffed giraffe clara had gifted 11. it is hidden under her bed next to a teether and a box of stim toys

 • given her just. general autism. and how she is. she can get away with alot. she can have stim toys. she can stop talking. she can have cute onesie pajamas. you get the idea. so at least she has that.

 • but stepping away from the absolute misery, here's some happier ones:

 • i think there were positive regression triggers, even if she suppressed it. like at Yaz's grandma's wedding, when they were doing the henna tattoos (i believe that's what they were? im not too familiar with the culture, excuse me if i am wrong and feel free to correct me) as well as the fez, and getting her new clothes!

 • She has a tamagotchi! She is very good at taking care of it, despite it all. She also has a ds with Nintendogs, which was previously used by 11. it's modded so she can have more dogs than the game allows =]

 • she has matching bracelets with her giraffe plush!

 • Shes got a blanket with stars on it, sometimes she lays on top of it with her nightlight on because. sparkly

 • she draws on herself. yes she has paper yes she could draw on a more permanent surface but it's more fun to draw on herself

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

The Things I'm Not

Series: A Study in Spite

Requested by: @heartbreakgrill and @whatsupb18

Word Count: 14,000 (But I promise it's worth it.)

Summary: Even after your parents kicked you out, you thought you would be safe with Kol. Unfortunately for you, hateful people suck and don't know when to give up. || Kol x reader || Here lies my Masterlist ||

Warnings: Oh, boy... Where do I start? This fic starts out fluffy but it does not stay that way. There's language, violence, quite a bit of blood, A-N-G-S-T, brief references to suicide, mentions of guardian figures encouraging self-harm, a sprinkling of brutality, and some not-so-healthy relationship behavior. But the request asked for psychotic and I delivered as best I could. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

🔪STORY BEGINS BELOW🔪

You were driven from your dreams by the grating sound of distant arguing. That was nothing unusual, your parents fought a lot lately. So was it really your fault if it took a solid 10 minutes for you to realize that the bickering voices didn't belong to your parents?

Come to think of it, something was off. The sheets surrounding you were much too soft to be yours and the bed beneath you was... breathing.

Your eyes snapped open.

Well... this wasn't your room.

A pair of arms held you close, one wrapped low around your waist and the other over your back. You had to crane your neck to catch a glimpse of whoever you were cuddled up to. Dark hair, sharp features, soft expression.

Kol.

The night before came rushing back and you blushed fiercely, smiling to yourself all the same. Kol had kissed you. He'd asked you to stay, carried you back, and sang softly until you fell asleep in his arms. When you had first agreed to go out with him, you hadn't thought he actually cared about you. Why would he? No one else did. So even as time had worn on, the thought never really crossed your mind.

But you realized it now. Somehow, with the early morning light filtering through the curtains and casting a soft glow on his face, it was easier to see. He looked so young and innocent so peaceful - like the eighteen-year-old boy he should have been allowed to be. The ravenous animal under his skin was caged for now and the last thousand years of heartache could lay no claim on him here, so long as he remained in his dreams. It was impossible to imagine that an original vampire might somehow care for you. But Kol as you saw him now? That didn't seem so far-fetched.

Yes, you saw it now. That boy had a lot of love to give. Kol did care about you - truly. He genuinely wanted to take care of you. He wanted you to be alright - happy even.

How extraordinary.

You smiled and laid your head on his chest again, listening to his heartbeat just the same as yours. The two of you really weren't so different. It seemed silly that you'd once believed otherwise.

Kol hummed.

"I know you're awake, darling," He mumbled, still a little groggy. His arms around you tightened as he shifted and you bit your lip, eyes widening. His voice was quiet and raspy and... really hot actually - not that you'd ever admit that out loud. "But please-" He sighed, burying his face in your hair. " -don't make me get up yet?"

You snickered, shaking your head a bit though it was mostly just an excuse to nuzzle closer to him. "What? Is Mr. Perfection not a morning person?"

"Don't say that as if you are," He joked, lightly poking you in the side. You couldn't help but giggle and you shrugged, feeling a smile on his lips as he pressed a kiss to the crown of your head. "How'd you sleep?"

Funny, he was the first person to ask you that in a while.

"Honestly?" You drew in a breath. "I haven't slept so well in two years." As soon as the words left your lips, you found yourself chuckling at the sheer absurdity of them. "And yeah, I'm well aware of just how stupid that is," You added.

"Why say that?" Kol wondered, lifting his head a little. His hand on your back took to drawing idle shapes along your shoulder blade. Those trailing fingers coaxed a shiver from your bones despite being surrounded by his pleasant warmth.

You shrugged but spoke anyway. Kol was safe - you knew now that you could tell him anything.

"Well, I've been going to counsel meetings since my freshman year of highschool," You explained quietly, playing with a strand of your hair. "I just never took them seriously until suddenly I was a senior and all these people around town - people I knew, went to school with, couples I'd baby-sat for - they all started dying. A-and I know what an animal attack looks like - I live in rural Virginia, for crying out loud!" You laughed but it quickly died off and your voice quieted further. "At council meetings, the police... they-they would show pictures o-of the bodies. They were never really very bloody, you know? So, uh... I mean, you-you could really see... inside." Memories flashed behind your eyes. Sickening, bloodless murals of mutilated muscle, tendons, skin, and bone.

Kol didn't speak. He just rubbed your back soothingly.

You shook your head minutely. "There were never any scratches," You mused. "No claws - just teeth. Mountain lions... mountain lions, or-or coyotes, they... they don't do that. So, when there was only one thing that could have... Well, I guess it was sort of like a slap to the face 'cuz these savage predators my parents had been telling me horror stories about for years were actually real and now they were right outside the door. So, I just got real scared... and I stopped sleeping."

You didn't have to see his face to know he was frowning, brows drawn together in a question.

"You... you saw?" He asked in hardly a whisper. You nodded. "And you still let me hold you?"

A wry smile tugged at your lips. "Pretty stupid, eh?"

The boy seemed to relax, he laid his head back and forced out a breath but the tension in his shoulders was far from gone. His arms tugged you closer as though he feared you might run away if he let go.

"How can you trust me if you've seen what I can do to you?" There was something very vulnerable in his voice as he asked that question. You were reminded of your conversation the night before - his own mother saw nothing good left in him, nothing worth loving.

You took a moment to answer, thinking it through.

"You made me a promise," You decided, nodding to yourself.

"I promised I'd never intentionally cause you pain," He said. "What if I slip up? It happens sometimes - I just get so hungry and I can't control it. What if I hurt you by accident?"

The words left your lips before you had time to doubt them. "I don't think you will."

"How can you be sure?" He rested his cheek against your hair, inhaling deeply. "I'm the most vile thing you've ever met."

"I know." You smiled but it was a lie. Kol was not the most vile thing you knew. That distinction took on a much more mundane form. "Though, if you're the most dangerous monster in the world, then I can sleep peacefully knowing that right next to you is the safest place I can be." You slipped your arms up around his neck, still too tired to give him a proper hug. "You'll keep all the monsters away... Even your own."

The boy huffed a laugh and before you really knew what was happening, you were lying on your back and Kol was hovering over you, grinning cheekily.

"You know, I think you're right," He said.

You smirked, stretching out a little. "Of course I am."

"You're also gorgeous." Kol brushed a strand of hair away from your face and leaned down to kiss you.

His lips were just as soft as they'd been the night before and his movements were just as sweet. That boy's kisses were like a winter champagne toast, bubbly and fun and just a little bit intoxicating, but nothing too serious. He knew you were still getting used to this - to him, and everything he was - so Kol was gentle and slow... But he was still himself. So naturally, when his champagne lips left yours, he immediately started working his way lower. Starting along your jaw and leaving a trail of achingly soft kisses as he moved down the column of your throat.

It was similar to the way he'd kissed you the night of your first date, except it was more meaningful this time - more personal. You realized that night had merely been a trial run, this was the real deal. Kol's lips found your pulse and he paused, letting go of an uncertain breath.

"Thank you for trusting me, Y/N," He murmured into your skin. Kol never said anything unless he really meant it.

You wove your fingers into the hair at the base of his neck. "Thank you for caring."

"Always," He promised.

Kol's lips parted when he attacked your pulse again and those slow, perfect kisses lost a little bit of their innocence. He was too good at this. Each one left you craving more, so you couldn't really help the moan that escaped your lips when Kol dipped his head to mouth at your collarbones. The mark he'd left on you weeks before had faded but he seemed keen to replicate his work.

His kisses grew rougher, more fervent. Warmth bloomed wherever he touched and you found yourself utterly lost in it. Blunt teeth began scraping and nipping at your skin and-

Oh... Oh, that felt good.

His lips returned to your pulse, spreading a gooey, perfect heat down your spine in thick waves and his tongue darted out to steal a taste. Your body arched up and Kol groaned.

Then those blunt teeth turned sharper than knives.

You froze. Kol's breathing ran ragged and you gasped as he pressed their needle-like points into your skin with pressure on the very knife edge of drawing blood. The boy stilled.

When he pulled away, his eyes were closed and his expression drawn. You could see black veins writhing beneath the skin under his eyes and you watched, apprehensive, as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. The predator faded from the surface a few moments later and he sighed, opening his eyes. He offered you a dry smile.

"I think it's time for breakfast," He said softly. An apology lingered in those chocolate eyes.

But you were safe. Always safe. That was what mattered.

You gave him a smile to let him know you were okay. "Lead the way then." The boy grinned down at you.

At that precise moment, the door to Kol's bedroom flew open with a bang.

He closed his eyes and cursed.

"Well good morning, little brother!" An obnoxious voice exclaimed. The figure in the doorway could not have sounded any more smug.

"Bugger off, Nik," The boy snapped.

"Why? Having a good time with your lady friend?" Klaus teased, smirking.

Kol grimaced. "I was, no thanks to you." He moved off of you and stood before scooping you into his arms in the next second. "We're going to get breakfast now. Bye!"

"Wait!" You held up a hand to stop him. Kol raised a brow. "I need my phone. Gotta know if good ole' mom and dad have put a bounty on my head yet."

The boy chuckled but swiped your phone from the nightstand and passed it to you. "My lady."

Then the world lurched and you were sitting on the counter of the kitchen island. You blinked and rubbed the sleep from your eyes. When you looked up again, Klaus had joined you as well.

He stood in front of his younger sibling, arms folded behind his back. "Come now, brother. You know I don't mind you bringing your toys home, but I really must insist on knowing exactly who resides in my house at any given time." The hybrid's tone was mostly casual but it carried a lethal edge just beneath the surface. He turned on his heel, rounding on you. You knew he wouldn't hurt you though - he'd signed that treaty with the council same as Kol. "Who might you be, love?" He asked.

"And what do you want for breakfast?" Kol tagged on.

"I'm Y/N, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be a Y/L/N," You replied, powering on your phone. You weren't sure what your parents would have to say about your little stunt, but you were positive it wouldn't be anything good. "Oh, and I saw some Pop Tarts in y'all's pantry last night and I don't mind if I do."

Klaus recognized your name though he wasn't sure from where. You gave him a moment to think and went scrolling through your texts.

"Really, darling? Pop Tarts?" Kol leveled you with a look of sheer disappointment.

"What? It's been forever since I had one of those things!" You defended.

"Why?"

You shrugged, trying to cover the twinge in your chest. "Weapons don't get junk food."

Kol blinked and his mouth pressed into a thin line. "You know what? Take as many bloody Pop Tarts as you want."

"Yay!"

Klaus' eyes darkened then and you knew he'd found his answer. "Your parents are on the Founder's Council." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yup. And that very same council is planning to gas this fine establishment with enough vervain to choke an undead horse sometime soon, so I suggest y'all start routinely checking your vents for the next couple of weeks." You sighed, looking up from reading the last of your parent's rage texts. "And before you ask: No, I don't know anything more than that because I'm not invited to their little meetings anymore."

"I'm afraid that sounds rather unlikely," A new voice chimed into the conversation. A man dressed in an expensive suit waltzed through the kitchen doorway. He looked like an older, less happy version of Kol, so you figured that must have been Elijah.

"No, I can assure you - she's been thoroughly shunned." Kol grinned as he got himself a plastic bag out of the refrigerator, the contents of which you tried not to pay attention to.

Elijah shot him a flat look. "I was referring to this supposed plot of the council. Mayor Lockwood already assured us there would be peace."

"I'm sure she did," You said. "However, Mayor Lockwood was not privy to the - what's a fancy word - formulation of this plan." You felt an odd need to step up your vocabulary in their presence.

Klaus seemed thoroughly - if not darkly - amused by your comments. He chuckled. "Sweetheart, she's the mayor."

"I'm aware of that, thanks," You deadpanned. "Problem is, an unfortunate majority of the council believes that some of its members have lost their nerve, namely Mayor Lockwood, Sheriff Forbes, and that Damon Salvatore guy."

"Well, that's probably because Salvatore and his little brother happen to be quite dead," Kol hummed.

"As is Sheriff Forbes' daughter Caroline," Klaus chimed in. "Not to mention, her boyfriend Tyler Lockwood - my oh-so-lucky first hybrid."

You coughed, nearly choking on your Pop Tart as you glanced between them, wide-eyed.

Kol frowned. "Did you not know that?"

"I did not," You admitted slowly. "But you know what? That makes a lot of sense, actually." You shook your head, getting back on track. "Anyway, the rest of the council has decided that the Mayor's methods are far too passive. So they're taking things into their own hands. Again, that's all I know; y'all are welcome for the warning."

Klaus folded his arms over his chest, nodding. Out of the corner of your eye, you watched Kol tense. He wasn't about to let you be hurt.

"Let's say you are telling the truth, love," The hybrid began, sounding rather ominous. "What then, pray tell, are you doing here?"

You huffed a bitter laugh and Klaus' dangerous smirk dropped just a little.

"Well, if forty-seven texts, twenty-two calls, and three Emails are anything to go by, then I'm getting myself disowned," You said with a fake smile.

"Why?" He wondered, brows furrowing into an expression both curious and suspicious.

"Because metaphorically speaking, my parents are Death Eaters and I just slept with a muggle." It hurt a lot less when you were making fun of it.

It seemed Elijah was the only one to get your joke. He snickered and his brothers looked to him for an explanation.

"It's from a book series called Harry Potter. The Death Eaters in the story are blood supremacists and Muggles are the group they discriminate against," He said.

The other two nodded in vague understanding and you reminded yourself to introduce Kol to Harry Potter.

You waved a hand. "It's less funny when you explain it." Hopping up from your chair, you approached Klaus. Kol flinched, looking about ready to tackle his brother should the hybrid try anything. "Anyway, you built this place right? You said it's your house?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yes..."

You took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself. It wasn't as if you had many other options.

"Would it be too much if I asked to stay here for a while? Just a couple days - maybe a week? I'd never typically ask this of anyone but, um..." Your voice broke off as your throat closed around the words you'd been about to speak. They died on your tongue, so you shoved your phone into his hands instead, offering him a view of your parents' latest message.

His eyes skimmed over it and the expression he wore softened just slightly.

You knew what the text said.

"Your accounts have been frozen and we've terminated your scholarship. If you want to act like a purposeless whore, then you can live like one. Don't. Come. Back."

Tears welled in your eyes without your permission. You knew your parents had run out of love for you, but this? This was one step further.

This was active hatred.

Klaus frowned, glancing between you and Kol as if trying to figure something out. Just a few feet away, Kol looked like he wanted to grab you and run.

"I just don't know where else to go," You whispered, bowing your head. "A-and I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm not safe now that I've told you this. You just... you don't understand what they're willing to do. I don't even think I could explain how much they hate you! This town is cursed along with everyone in it." You were rambling but you lost your ability to care about that as the horror of your situation truly dawned on you for the first time. "You guys don't know. You don't know what they said - what they're capable of. You don't know what they told me to do!"

Kol took a step toward you and Klaus crossed his arms over his chest. Behind him, Elijah's eyes narrowed. Their expressions belied varying levels of concern.

"Darling?" Kol spoke up cautiously. "Why do I get the feeling there's something you need to tell me?"

You blinked quickly, snapping out of your panic. You'd said too much and you had to bite down on your tongue to keep the rest of it inside. You wanted to tell him, you really did. You'd wanted to tell him this exact thing the night before, but you'd deflected then too. You needed to do this, but-

"I can't."

His eyes narrowed. "Why not?"

"If I tell you, you'll kill them all."

The three brothers glanced at one another. When Kol spoke, he did so slowly - as if it pained him.

"Darling, listen. If you tell me, I'll not act without your explicit permission," He said. "Alright?"

Kol was safe. You could trust him. He wasn't going to hurt you.

You drew in a breath that rattled your lungs as you rapidly blinked tears from your eyes. You looked at your feet, ashamed, though you knew logically that none of this was your fault.

"The Council is sick with hatred," You began, trying to keep your voice even. "It's like a disease and it's infected all of them. People I thought I knew - my own parents - they want me to be a weapon."

Kol, of course, already knew that but you explained for the other two. Klaus stiffened but Elijah reached out and laid a hand on his arm. You continued, wringing your hands.

"One of them - I think it was Carter Hamilton's wife - she found out I was seeing Kol."

No matter how desperately you wanted to, you just couldn't bring yourself to look at him. It wasn't his fault but you couldn't stand to think of him the way they did - like a wild animal that couldn't control its urges.

"She-she found out, and she brought it up at one of the meetings. She talked to my parents about it - not even to me - like I wasn't even there. She said - she suggested that they stop giving me vervain." Your voice caught and the words felt like glass to try and swallow. Suddenly you felt like you weren't getting enough oxygen - the air in the kitchen felt thin.

"She thought that if... if I could, um... w-well, if I could get him to... " You breathed in and out. In and out.

"She said that if I could get Kol to-to... feed... on me just, um, just a few times without vervain, then maybe they could slip enough of it to me one day to catch him off guard. They thought that maybe if they could... They wanted to use me to weaken you, Kol... and then, um, then maybe decapitation might kill you."

"And say you had been seriously injured in such an ill-conceived attempt on my brother's life," Elijah proposed in a tone of measured neutrality. He stood hardly a few feet from you but his voice sounded strangely indistinct - almost far away. "Did any member of the council propose a feasible method for ensuring your survival?"

You shook your head, eyes stinging with unshed tears you should have felt safe enough to cry earlier.

"No," You answered, voice thinning further, poised to snap. Your whole body was trembling. "They didn't think it was important enough. Hamilton's wife said my only purpose was to make Kol weak, and that I needed to do whatever it took to do that." You sucked in a breath through your teeth clenched like a vice. If you relaxed a single muscle, you were sure you'd fall apart.

"The rest of the council agreed with her."

Finally, you mustered the courage to lift your gaze, meeting his warm chocolate eyes. Kol looked like he was gonna be sick. His hands were clenched into fists but there was more than just rage in his countenance. There was disgust and not only for the Council. No, there was guilt there too. Disgust and guilt for what he'd very nearly done hardly a few minutes before.

Upon meeting his eyes, your stomach twisted with shame for ever having associated with those people. You didn't feel or think the things they did. Kol had never been a monster to you, he'd never done anything to hurt you. So revealing what you'd been told to do wrought a foul, nauseating guilt boiling under your lungs like you'd never felt before. The more you let yourself think about it, the more deeply you realized how twisted and cruel the Council's plan for you truly was.

Intentionally encouraging Kol to indulge his curse on you? Allowing hateful people he'd not harmed in any way, to take advantage of his weaknesses in order to kill him for something he couldn't change? It was sick!

It was all so sick and your parents had been among those telling you to do it.

All you could feel was shame and hurt and you yearned to just run away from it all and hide so you wouldn't have to face him. But no. No, you had to look him in the eye now. Kol deserved to know why you'd been so terrified of him for so long. His arms were the only safe place for you now and he deserved to know why. He deserved to know everything.

And you weren't even to the worst part yet.

"They told me not to fight you," You whispered. "They said that if you - no, um, they said when - when you bit me, that I should let you. They, um, they told me to let you do anything you wanted... even if-if it h-hurt me. They said I should let you feed as much as you wanted, even if I passed out because otherwise it would ruin the plan. They told me that if I died then it was okay because I'd be dying for their stupid, miserable Cause." You spat the last words out with more venom than you'd ever spoken anything. You closed your eyes and let the tears in your eyes slip down your cheeks. You'd held them in long enough.

Before you had another moment to think, you found yourself caught up in a pair of arms. His were the only pair you'd ever really had - the only ones you could rely on. You buried yourself in them, safe from the world - safe from the Council. Kol's soft voice murmured soothing words in your ear in a language you didn't understand, while his fingers ran themselves skillfully through your hair and he just let you cry.

"They were supposed to protect me!" You sobbed into his shirt. The pain of all these thoughts you'd avoided processing crashed down on you now. So you clung to him. "They promised to keep me safe! They said I'd never have to fight - that it would never come to that! But they lied! They lied to me, Kol! They lied to me and they told me to die!" That was what they'd really told you to do, you realized. "They told me to kill myself!"

You hated them.

The boy holding you froze. He pulled away just a fraction of an inch, absorbing your revelation like a bullet to the gut. Perhaps he wanted to say something - perhaps he wanted to demand why you hadn't told him this earlier - but you didn't care to look at him. You just shook your head, fisting his shirt, and let him take the pain you could bear no longer.

His arms were around you again a second later, cradling you as close as he possibly could. Kol held onto you with the same determined ardor as he had just last night. He held you like he wouldn't let you go for the whole world - like it wouldn't mean anything without you. He held you as if he would fall to pieces if he loosed his grip but a fraction. The space between his arms was reserved just for you. Entirely yours. Safe.

Once he felt that he'd held you long enough to speak, his voice was a myriad of emotions that all lent themselves to just one feeling. It was a three-word feeling that he wasn't willing to say out loud just yet, but it was there. You could feel it too. It had been there when you'd woken up with him that morning, though you weren't ready to say it either.

"You listen to me, darling, and you listen well." Kol spoke in a growl so low you wouldn't have heard it had his lips not been at your ear. He held you tight and close. "Forget everything that Council ever told you. Forget it, right now! Because you are not their pawn to be sacrificed. You are mine. Understand that? You're mine, and I am never going to hurt you. Never. I promise."

And you knew that boy didn't promise things lightly.

"I don't wanna be like them," You whispered.

"You're not," He affirmed. "You are nothing like they are."

You sighed, and the shards of glass in your lungs seemed to fall out. They'd been there so long you'd almost forgotten what it was like to breathe easy.

"Do me a favor?"

"Yes. Of course, name it," He readily replied, grasping handfuls of your clothes and hair. "Tell me how to make it better?"

"Don't kill them?" He stiffened. "Please?"

Kol snarled, hugging you closer. "I don't know if I can promise that bit."

You shook your head, wrapping your arms around his neck to return the hug properly. "You don't have to promise. Just say you'll try?"

Kol cursed.

"I don't think you quite understand the weight of what you're asking, sweet-thing." He almost sang those words and the speed at which his tone flipped should have terrified you.

"Maybe not." You shrugged. Kol was a one thousand year old being for goodness sakes. You couldn't expect him to change on a dime. "But I'm asking."

"They don't deserve forgiveness," He spat.

"This isn't forgiveness," You maintained. "It's spite."

That was all it had ever been. All you really had from the beginning.

"Well, as delightful as this has been, I really don't think I'm up for watching the two of you explore one another for the next few hours." Klaus' voice spoke up from behind you and your face flushed. You'd forgotten he was still there. "So before I take my leave, I'd just like to say that I have no objections to you staying here, Y/N. Consider yourself an honored guest in this house as long as you may have need of it."

Kol refused to let go of you, but you turned within his arms to face his brother. Behind you, the boy took to nuzzling at your neck.

"You don't think I'm playing you?"

Klaus sighed and there was something very heavy in it. "There are things one cannot fake, love." The smile he proffered was thin but sincere. "Besides, if you can keep Kol in a good mood then you're more than worth the trouble. Stay as long as you like. Hell, move in if you want to! My little brother needs a decent babysitter."

"Shut up, Nik," The boy grumbled into your throat.

You returned his brother's fragile smile. "Thanks."

He bowed his head to you and left. Elijah moved to follow but he stopped at the door.

"Might there be anything else you need, young one? After all, I believe we were the ones to push you into this unfortunate situation," He said. Those words held an awful lot of regret.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't turn them into animals - they did that all on their own," You replied somewhat tiredly. "Though, now that you mention it, do you think you could spare a little time to help me get my belongings back? I'm kind of attached to my bean-bag chair."

Elijah cracked a smile. "Certainly."

Kol sighed. "I don't know, darling," He hummed with a tone like a knife edge. "If I go near that house again, I might have to confront the owners of said dwelling and tear them limb from limb."

His words should have scared you. But they didn't.

You hummed. "Do you think you could settle for scaring them out of their wits?"

***

When you arrived at the door to your parent's house, Kol was clinging to you like an oversized koala. That is if a koala could exude thoughts of sweet, sweet arson and murder from its very being in thick, tangible, waves. He didn't seem intent on letting go of you any time soon so you figured you'd just deal with it. Elijah, on the other hand, was fixing his cufflinks in a way that somehow came off as threatening though you weren't going to question it.

You rang the doorbell.

The door was answered by a shotgun. You went a little cross-eyed looking at it.

"We're back to this again are we?" You could hear the smirk in Kol's voice and you just grinned.

"Hi, dad!" You greeted cheerfully. You had already done all the crying you were going to do. You refused to let that man hurt you anymore.

"Get off my property!" He barked. "You're not welcome here! Any of you!"

Who exactly did he think he was talking to?

"Yeah, well we're coming in anyway." You shrugged. "My new room's missing some things."

"Right," He scoffed. "And how do you expect to get them without the original freaks? They can't get past the threshold without my saying so, and you don't live here anymore."

You hummed nodding. "Nice try, but you couldn't possibly have changed my records that quickly." You ducked under your father's gun - which Kol quickly snatched before proceeding to bend into a knot - then stepped through the door. Your mother stood a few feet inside.

She shook her head, frantic. "Don't do this, Y/N/N," She begged. "Please don't do this?"

You met her eyes. "Feel free to come in, guys," You said evenly. "Make yourselves at home."

In a split second, Kol had wrapped himself around you again, grinning wide and sharp.

Your mother scurried back, cowering against the far wall. Sure, you could have rubbed it in further, but it just didn't seem worth it.

"Elijah?"

"Yes?" He responded. He didn't break his little staring contest with your father but he did tilt his chin in your direction.

"I don't know if the vervain gas is hidden here, but by all means, poke around."

Your father's eyes could not have contained more rage.

"You told them?!" He demanded in disbelief. You just shrugged. You failed to see how he could be surprised, after the way he'd treated you. The man's lips peeled back and spittle flew from between his clenched teeth. Who was the animal here? "Why you miserable, pathetic, ungrateful, little wh-"

He didn't have time to finish that sentence because Kol had him suspended in the air by his throat. Your father coughed and gagged, writhing in midair.

"What? Not going to finish?" Kol taunted. He was enjoying this quite a lot. "Can I break him, darling?" He asked, not looking back at you.

You sighed. "Kol, we talked about this."

"Come now, he asked for it," The dark-haired boy insisted. "Just a little? I can even put him back together if you want! Who knows? Maybe a little bit of vampire blood in his system will make him less of a brute!"

At the mention of vampire blood, your father let out a strangled scream. He kicked and struggled more violently.

"No!" Your mother cried, moving as if to somehow aid her husband. Kol stopped her with a single finger jabbed in her direction.

"Ah! Did I ask for your opinion?" He shifted his gaze to her and she faltered beneath the weight of it. All objections died in her throat and even you could have sworn you felt the temperature in the room drop with that chilling glare. His next words were soft as death by hypothermia - far too pleasant to be comforting. "Your fate may lay in your daughter's hands, but I wouldn't test me if I were you."

You glanced back up at your father, still fighting and spitting in your direction.

"You know what? Have your fun, just don't go overboard. I'll be in my room." You flicked your hand in a wave and tried not to pay attention to the twist of guilt in your stomach as Kol's grin turned positively gleeful. You just turned and made your way to your room.

To your surprise, the screams didn't last very long. They died down after only about five to ten minutes and by that time, you hadn't even decided what to pack up first.

"Well, that's one thing taken care of," Kol announced as he waltzed into your room, seeming as content as he'd been when you'd woken up with him.

"Thanks," You said softly.

"Oh, it was my genuine pleasure."

You rolled your eyes. "I meant for holding back," You said. "You did hold back, right?"

The boy flopped down on your bed, fixing you with an adorable expression you couldn't seem to incite anger from, despite knowing what was behind it. "In my opinion? Absolutely, all things considered."

"What did you do?" You honestly weren't sure if you wanted to know the answer to that.

He shrugged. "Let's just say your father has a brand new tattoo he never wanted. I'd say go take a look, but it's going to take a while to really show up. That is, as long as he receives some stitches for it within the next hour and forty-five minutes."

You raised a brow. "Is that a fancy way of saying you gave him a big-ass scar?"

"Yeah, but it sounds less fun when you say it like that!" He said dismissively, waving a hand. "What we really should have done is gotten Nik over here. He's the artistic one - could have made it fancy - perhaps drawn a hog or something to go with..."

You rolled your eyes, trying to push away the part of you that was currently bombarding you with memories of a time when your parents loved you. Though the more that you thought about it, the more you realized those memories were really just of parents that didn't openly despise you.

"Kol?" You called his name softly and he was sitting by your side in a heartbeat. "This doesn't make me bad, does it?"

That dark-haired boy took your hands in his, thumbs brushing over your knuckles as he urged you to meet his milk-chocolate eyes.

"No. This doesn't make you bad," He said. "You didn't do anything today - I did."

"But I let you... wanted you to," You insisted. "What does that make me?"

"It makes you free, darling." He lifted your hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against the back of it. "Don't be sad. It's alright to just enjoy it." A smile tugged at his lips and he pulled you to your feet. "Come now, I'll help you get all this stored and we'll be done in time for lunch. You can teach me another one of your Christmas songs while you're at it."

***

December drew to a close without any major incidents and January passed by much the same, with you and Kol living out something of a crooked fairytale. While you'd originally planned to stay with the Mikaelsons only as long as you needed to find yourself an apartment, that notion was quickly tossed out the window. Kol just kept complaining that an apartment would be nothing more than a waste of time and money, seeing as you spent most of your nights in his bedroom anyway, despite having one of your own.

He wasn't wrong.

Halfway through January, you sued the ever-loving hell out of your parents, pursuing it all the way to the state level where you finally managed to get your savings and checking accounts back. With that money, you figured you would enroll in the spring semester of your chosen college with Kol along for the ride. (He needed to catch up on recent history anyway, so it worked out.)

By February, things were going pretty well and you'd even started getting back into your old hobbies.

Alright, so it was less of a hobby and more of a side gig. Despite your raging phobia of performing in front of an audience, you'd gone and joined a band in your sophomore year. You were the band's percussionist and sure, it was by no means professional, but you got actual gigs at the Grill every Wednesday night and made some decent cash. It was fun and you loved it, no matter what anyone said about it being a waste of time or unladylike.

Now, you hadn't played since the Original Family came to town, but for the past few weeks, you'd been coming back. Wednesday nights you got to do what you loved, free of fear or judgment. Not even Kol was here to watch, you reassured yourself as you sat down at your drum set and tied a familiar gray blindfold over your eyes.

Not that he would judge you, of course. You just weren't sure you were ready to share one more part of yourself with that boy. Music was the part of you that made you happiest and it had always belonged solely to you.

You fixed your blindfold and picked up your drumsticks to tell Rory - the head singer and guitarist - that you were ready. Everyone outside the band thought the blindfold was just your gimmick but really you just couldn't perform without it. The sight of any crowd drove your stage fright berserk, oftentimes making you sick.

But hey, if everyone wanted to see it as a gimmick, then more power to them. At least it went with the band name.

"Please welcome Mystic Falls's own, Daredevil Squad!"

Wow. Good ole' Matt Donovan really needed to work on his introduction voice, but that was neither here nor there. With those words, your thinking time was over. Rory gave the cue and you counted the rest in. Then, you had fun.

You played for a solid two hours which is a lot harder than it sounds. You were glad Rory had picked some really good songs for the performance, though House of the Rising Sun was definitely your favorite. You didn't sing much, just hummed in the background mostly, but that was why you played percussion - it was the beat you were in love with. More often than not, you could almost swear the drums had a mind of their own and you were just along for the ride.

Once you were finished, you tugged the blindfold off and made a beeline for the bar. You were going to die of thirst if you didn't get a glass of water right away. In your haste, you failed to take note of your surroundings or more specifically, the people in them.

"You know, I was beginning to wonder where it is you run off to every Wednesday night," A very familiar voice purred next to your ear.

You jumped and whirled around to find Kol grinning down at you, whiskey in hand. You must have flushed bright red because that cheeky grin of his grew wider.

"Kol? What-what are you doing here?" You sputtered. What were you supposed to say?

"Well, I came here intending to dull the monotony of your absence with alcohol, but I find myself pleasantly surprised," He answered, tossing you a wink.

"I... didn't know you were going to be here," You said, somewhat apologetic. It wasn't as though you could expect him to like your music. After all, no one else ever had.

His expression softened and he put his drink down, drawing you into a hug. "Relax, darling. No need to get uptight," He reassured. "You were amazing and I loved watching you."

You smiled. "Really?"

"Absolutely. I only wish you'd told me earlier." He squeezed your shoulder, smiling easily. That boy always knew how to calm your nerves. "But hey, as long as we're both here, why don't you join me for a few drinks?" He offered. At that moment, the bartender passed you your water and you snatched it from the counter, downing the whole thing in just a few seconds. Kol blinked. "Or not..."

"Sorry!" You giggled. "I gotta go put my instrument away real quick. But I'll come back, okay?"

"Sounds excellent, love," He agreed.

"Awesome." You tapped your fingers against the bar top a few times before swinging around and making your way to the Grill's tiny excuse for a backstage area. Kol watched you go up until the door swung shut behind you.

As soon as it had, you were plunged into darkness. Though it was only for a few seconds as you reached for the light switch, that was long enough. Someone lunged from behind one of the extra speakers and a cloth was shoved over your mouth and nose. You knew better than to breathe it in, but your attacker wasn't alone. A second assailant grabbed hold of your arms and locked a pair of handcuffs around your wrists with trained precision. You tried to scream for help and it was shortly after that when everything went black.

***

Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes knew what desperation looked like. Having been in this job as long as she had, Liz liked to think she'd seen just about every form a desperate soul could take.

Fate proved her wrong when Kol Mikaelson appeared in the doorway of her office. Somewhere amidst the limb-freezing, mind-numbing existential terror that shot through her veins at the sight of him, Liz recognized that he did not look well.

His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles beneath them, contrasting starkly with pale skin and dark, matted hair. He stood there, tall and proud despite it all and Liz was reminded of her daughter. Sweet little Caroline - the girl who ran herself ragged over everything. Well, Kol hardly seemed like the type to do so. Therefore, Liz figured that whatever was going on was bound to be serious.

The ancient predator strolled leisurely into the small office space and draped himself over the rickety old chair opposite Liz's desk. His eyes closed for only a moment, as though it were a relief to sit down. Seeming to her like a Jaguar lounging on a tree branch, he leveled a pair of infinitely incomprehensible eyes on her and she resisted the urge to shrink under the weight of his hard gaze.

Instead, she cleared her throat, tipping her head in his direction. "Good afternoon," She greeted. His head tilted to the side. He didn't return her pleasantries. "So to what do I owe this visit?"

This terrible being raised a brow. "You are the head of this dismal town's law enforcement, are you not?" He began, unimpressed.

Liz blinked, unsure how to reply. "Well... yes."

"And theft is still an act declared by your country's laws to be immoral, is it not?"

She nodded slowly. "Since last I checked."

The predator's eyes narrowed. "Then I do believe I'm here to requisite your expertise, Miss. Elizabeth." Each word was sharper than a surgical knife.

She bristled at her name on his lips. "It's Sheriff Forbes."

"Liz." He grinned - a flash of white teeth and flecks of red. Kol Mikaelson leaned forward, she could smell decay on his breath. "Something has been stolen from me, Lizzie - something very important and I want it back."

This thing in front of her was nothing like the vampire Liz carefully liked to consider her friend. Damon Salvatore gave off an erratic and often dangerous aura, but underneath that, there was a begrudging kindness and an even more begrudging sense of empathy. Kol Mikaelson was a different story. He radiated power in every idle movement, the kind of power that made Damon's worst day seem like a teenager with a spitball gun. Everything about him was effortless and yet very deliberate. With young, innocent features and a voice so smooth and pleasant she had to fight to keep herself from being lulled into a hypnotic trance, it was like he could compel her without even trying - vervain or no.

"You can't find whatever is missing on your own?" She asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

Kol snarled. Liz had seen mountain lions bear their teeth - the sight looked a little something like that. "Do you really think I would be here if that were the case?"

"I suppose not." She exhaled evenly. "Mr. Mikaelson-"

"Kol." His lips twitched up. "I'm not my stuffy brother, first names will do nicely."

Liz clenched her fists beneath her desk.

"Kol," She amended. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you if this is a matter of an... exotic variety." The walls of the Sheriff's office were by no means sound proof and not everyone on the force was in on the secret.

"Not to worry, Lizzie. The perpetrators of this crime are all perfectly ordinary." His pleasant smile was definitely forced.

Kol did not like that.

What human in their right mind would be shit-faced stupid enough to steal from an original vampire? Liz figured her extraordinary client probably wondered the same thing.

"I see." Sheriff Forbes retrieved a notebook from her desk drawer and picked up her pen. Perhaps she could ease her nerves in the routine that was this part of her job. She took down his name and beneath it wrote theft. "How long ago was the object taken?" She asked.

"Person," He corrected casually.

"Come again?"

"Not object - person," Kol repeated. "She was taken four days ago."

Liz closed her eyes and sighed. "So you're saying this was a kidnapping?"

"Yes."

"Then why not just say that?" She huffed.

Kol shrugged. "I don't particularly see a difference."

Liz had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes. She scratched out theft and wrote kidnapping next to the date he'd described. "Victim's last name?" She prompted.

"Y/L/N."

She stilled, hoping she was wrong. "First name?"

"I think you know."

Liz looked up and found herself staring into the abyss. The true faces of the vampires she'd seen starred in some of her worst nightmares, but it was a phenomenon she'd only ever caught in brief glimpses. She had never been so close to it nor seen those chilling black eyes on an expression so calm. Although, Kol's grip on that armrest looked pretty violent.

The Sheriff swallowed thickly. "Do you... Do you know for sure who's taken her?"

"I have a pretty good idea," He hissed, deadly fangs on full display. "Tell me where your precious Council took her."

Liz Forbes laid a hand to her gun and spoke calmly. "Kol, I had nothing to do with this."

"Oh, I know that." He leaned back. Another flash of teeth. "Hence, why you're not dead. Tell me what you do know, and you'll remain as such."

She didn't trust him to keep his word but to disobey the request would be suicide. "I don't know where they are, I can only tell you where they might be," Liz said. He waited. "If I had to guess, the old celler under Town Hall would be the first place I'd look. Nobody goes down there and the door's got a trick lock. It's not strong enough to hold a-" She caught herself. "-someone with a little extra punch, but I think it would serve to hold your average high school graduate."

The monster in a young boy's skin nodded sharply and stood. He didn't offer a word of gratitude as he moved to the door.

Sheriff Forbes stood. "Kol?"

He stopped, though he didn't turn back.

"Don't ask me to spare them," He growled. She hadn't noticed it before, but every muscle in his body was tense. His hands were shaking.

"I wasn't." No, she valued her life far too much to do that.

"Then what?" The monster snapped, impatient.

Liz couldn't pretend to understand what the missing girl saw in him, but there was something beneath that inhumane exterior. Perhaps she'd caught a glimpse of it in that ragged desperation she'd seen when he walked through her door - the sort of anger she'd just witnessed doesn't come about without first stemming from some sort of tenderness.

"I was just gonna warn you to expect an ambush," Sheriff Forbes sighed. "It appears some of my deputies think themselves above answering to the law."

Kol Mikaelson hummed and turned back to her with the most horrifying smirk she'd ever seen. "Rest assured, Miss. Forbes... They will answer to me."

***

Four days.

You had been down there for four days.

No food.

No sunlight.

Only a few sips of water each day.

You were so cold. Temperatures in the cellar dropped below freezing at night and weren't much better during the day - you knew because your only entertainment while trapped in this nightmare had been watching the same puddle of water on the ground freeze and thaw over and over. More than once you'd thought you would freeze with it - that you would fall asleep, feeling as warm as the Little Match Girl, and never wake up. The air down there was wet and smelled of mildew. Pneumonia seemed a guarantee in your future.

You were so cold, and tired.

How could you sleep in this frigid prison? You were handcuffed to a steel chair, for crying out loud! Your tailbone and thighs were so sore you didn't think you would ever be able to sit down again, and your wrists were so raw from the edges of the cuffs that every time you shifted, the metal drew blood. One wrong move and you could slit your wrists. Not to mention your kidnappers had done you the favor of forcing a gag into your mouth and it had dried your tongue and throat beyond belief. Trying to swallow felt like eating sandpaper with a side of mulch. How could you sleep like that? Both the cuffs and the chair, you recognized. They were from the police station. Sheriff Forbes couldn't have been in on this - that you were sure of. But it seemed that protecting the innocent wasn't what the rest of your hometown's police force was committed to. How could you sleep knowing the town you'd grown up in had turned its back on you?

You were so cold, tired, and hungry.

The last thing you'd eaten was a plate of the Grill's soggy nachos. As far as last meals go, that seemed like a pretty pathetic one to go out on. Sometimes you thought you could still taste the cheese but you were pretty sure you were hallucinating it. Can one's taste buds have hallucinations? You didn't know and you didn't really care. You were so hungry you'd knowingly have eaten poison if it were offered to you. If this were anything like how Kol felt on a daily basis, you couldn't blame him for giving in to temptation. You only wished you could turn off the pain as he could.

You were so cold, and tired, and hungry. And terrified out of your mind.

You'd probably dreamt of Kol coming to rescue you a thousand times, all without ever falling asleep. Yet, every time you opened your eyes, he wasn't there and you were alone. Completely alone. But he would come. You believed that. You had to believe that.

So when the gate to your prison opened and Council members started streaming through, armed with a semi-auto each, you knew you might finally be getting out of there. The iron door dragged on hinges that screeched loud enough to tear holes in your eardrums after four days of nothing but your own hysterics for auditory stimulus and the dim light of the hallway bleached your retinas having spent all that time in the dark.

"The plan's in motion," Oliver Fell-blanc said as he descended the steps, carrying a fireman's axe in his hands. He was Meredith Fell's cousin and the last one to arrive. "It's coming for her."

You nearly cried tears of joy when you heard those words. You probably would've had you been entirely convinced that this was real. None of your other fantasies had begun this way, but that didn't mean much at this point.

"How long do we have?" That sounded like Carter Hamilton's wife. You couldn't remember her name.

"I'd say about three minutes," Oliver answered. You remembered a time when the most nefarious thing that guy would do was commandeer the music at the Lockwood parties. He'd been the one to kidnap you. "If anyone here isn't committed to doing what needs to be done, this is your last chance to chicken out."

"You're sure these bullets can keep it down long enough for you to chop off the head?" Another man asked. That was Wyatt Maxwell. He used to babysit you and your brother when he was in high school. He always read bedtime stories to you and let you have two desserts on Friday nights. You hardly recognized him now. What had become of these people?

"They're laced with vervain. It'll stop the wounds from healing," Hamilton's wife stated confidently.

"Yeah, but will it be enough?" Wyatt pressed.

"Probably." Oliver grinned darkly. "But if it's not, we can always fill that thing with enough holes to make swiss cheese jealous."

The others laughed at that and something inside you shriveled.

"What you should really be worried about is whether Ollie is actually strong enough to swing that axe," Carter Hamilton added, smirking.

"Oh, I'm strong enough, old man." Oliver laughed. "I'm just disappointed I won't be able to hang that creature's head on my wall once this is over with. Hey, wait! Maybe I can pull it out around Halloween! Bet it would scare the pants off some kids!"

"Do whatever you want, man. Hell - use it as a paper weight for all I care. Just as long as you keep it far, far away from the body and me," Wyatt huffed.

So this was why you were here. Their plan for you hadn't changed, you realized. They had just changed your role in it. This was a trap and you were the bait.

Tears welled in your eyes and you clenched your teeth, biting down even harder on the gag in your mouth. You wanted to scream and cry and throw something at this disgusting man, but you were so tired and weak and your throat felt like a desert.

"You bastards," You rasped through the gag. "You're all hateful bastards!"

It mostly just sounded like a series of muffled coughs, but it was enough to draw their attention. The friendly expressions on the faces of the council melted away as they turned their focus on you. There were sixteen of them in total. Sixteen council members, fifteen guns, fifteen rounds per gun. You did the math. They had two hundred and twenty-five vervain-laced bullets. How many could Kol take and still get back up?

"Awww," Oliver sneered. "Is somebody gonna miss her special leech?"

"Don't you touch him!" You cried. "He hasn't done a thing to you! Don't you touch him!"

"What's that? I can't quite hear you. Can you speak up, sweetheart?" He taunted, putting a hand to his ear.

"I hate you." His mocking expression made you want to strangle him but all you could do was cough. "I hate all of you!"

"Nope, still can't hear her." Oliver shrugged and turned back to the other extremists. "You know, the mayor and Sheriff Forbes think the kids in this town are too young to know the truth. Well, I say different!" He pointed an accusing finger in your direction. "You see what happens when kids aren't taught what's right? I say these kids deserve to know about what they're up against! I think we need to make it clear to them what they can and cannot do in this town, and I say we start by making this one an example! This is what you get when you sleep with a bloodsucker!"

The others cheered for his little speech and you couldn't help fearing for your sweet little brother. What would become of him if they got their way? Oliver turned back to you, scowling as he knelt down by your side. You flinched away from him but he snatched a handful of your hair and forced your gaze into the direction of the door.

"You know, sweetheart, you're gonna be that last thing that bloodsucker sees after it walks through that door." He said. "You always did lack conviction, but I'm sure it's gonna suck to live knowing that what happens here today was entirely your fault. I just hope it teaches you better than to be a miserable, kinky, whore."

He kicked your chair and ordered the extremists to take up their positions around the room, calling for total silence. Their heartbeats would be covered by the racket made by the old A/C unit upstairs and they spread out so Kol wouldn't be able to take them all out at once.

All you could do was sit there and curse your ancestors.

It wasn't after too much longer, that you heard footsteps on their way down to the basement. You heard Kol's voice calling your name.

You took a breath.

"Don't come down here!" You screamed as loud as you could. You tried to speak from the back of your throat so the words wouldn't be as muffled through the gag, though you didn't think it did much. "Don't come down here! It's a trap! They have guns! Don't come down!"

Kol didn't listen.

He appeared in the doorway with a relieved smile and started towards you.

"Watch out!"

The Council members opened fire. Fifteen sets of gunshots rang out all at once, echoing around the cavernous stone space and through your brain. It was so loud, too loud. Warmth pooled in your ears and you felt them begin to bleed. Gunshots kept going off but the sounds grew dimmer and dimmer, further and further away. But you weren't concerned about yourself.

Most of the bullets found their mark. Some hit Kol in the chest, others in the stomach, shoulders, and back. He stumbled backward and you watched more than heard him gasp in pain. His eyes were wide as the gunshots finally stopped. He looked down at his chest, almost confused, and then back up to you. The boy coughed and blood spilled from between his lips. Then he fell to his knees, swayed, and collapsed sideways onto the ground.

You screamed again.

Someone asked a question but it was drowned by the ringing in your ears. Another voice shouted something.

Oliver stepped forward, axe in hand, grinning like a maniac. He raised the weapon over his head and you couldn't bear to watch. You squeezed your eyes shut.

Blood, hot and thick, sprayed across your face.

This time, you didn't scream.

But everyone else in the room did.

Your eyes snapped open and in front of you stood Kol; he was holding Oliver's axe. Beside him, sprawled on the polished marble floor, was Oliver's headless corpse. The missing part rolled across the floor to your right. When it came to a stop, its inanimate eyes were wide open. They landed on you.

You shrieked.

After all, you'd seen death before in photos. But this was all too real.

"Hey. Hey!" The words were muffled and dull. "Y/N, look at me! Look at me, darling." You couldn't tear your eyes away from the disembodied head. A gentle hand touched your cheek, guiding you to look into a pair of chocolate eyes. "There. That's it, see? You're alright, Y/N/N. It's alright. This will all be over soon," Kol promised.

On your left, Wyatt raised his gun again. Kol scowled and turned away from you. He spoke, but you couldn't quite pick out what was said as he twirled the axe around and around his hand. The boy shrugged once. Then, moving in a blur, he stood beside Wyatt - axe raised to his throat.

"I SAID DROP THEM!" He roared.

The council members all dropped their guns. In the next second, Kol had swept around the room and gathered all the cast-off weapons before reappearing at the top of the stairs where he left them. He strolled back into the room and pulled the iron door shut with a bang. You watched him weave the steel handle of the fireman's axe through the bars in the door before bending it around the lock.

No one was getting out of this room without his say-so.

Kol returned to you and knelt down, effortlessly snapping the cuffs around your ankles that kept you trapped in that chair, followed by the restraints on your wrists. No longer held against the back of the chair by the cuffs, your body slumped forward, too weak to remain upright. Kol caught you, guiding you down to sit on the floor between his legs with your back leaning against his chest. He tugged the gag from your mouth next, though he didn't bother to untie it completely.

Your ears were ringing and they hurt but Kol was warm and you were a lot more comfortable than you had been. You were so tired, your eyes and limbs felt heavy. Kol would keep you safe. You could fall asleep here.

"No! No, no, darling! Wake up!" He shook you and you groaned. His voice was blurry. You were tired. "Don't go to sleep, love. Not yet! Open your eyes!"

Knowing him, he probably wouldn't leave you alone about it. Probably best to see what he wanted. You forced your eyes open and let your head roll back. Kol's fangs extended and he bit his wrist, then held it out in front of you. That was gross.

You grimaced. "Ew."

"Just drink it," He demanded. You shook your head. "Come on, darling. Please? It'll make you feel better, just drink it."

"No," You groaned. Kol sighed and forced his wrist between your lips anyway. His blood flowed into your mouth and you gaged, squirming in his hold. You thought you'd been desperate enough to swallow anything but apparently, your body still had standards. You whimpered and tried to get away, but the boy's arm around your waist might as well have been a steel bar.

Kol shushed your protests, rocking back and forth in an attempt to comfort you.

"I know, darling. I know you don't want to swallow it, but you have too. It'll make you feel better, I promise. Just swallow it." His voice was sweet and soothing and you were far too tired to fight anymore. You stopped struggling and did as you were told.

Blood, you discovered, tasted just about as nasty as you thought it would. The stuff was hot and thick and it tasted like pennies...

Until it didn't.

You swallowed just a little bit and then a little bit more and suddenly it wasn't so bad. The coppery taste turned sort of sweet, and then very sweet, and then excellent. The pain and ringing in your ears faded and you felt strangely warm.

Kol was talking to you, muttering soft encouragements into your ear. "That's it, yes that's it. That's a good girl. Drink up, my sweet. See, it's not so bad, is it? You're alright now. Just a little more." The pain and sickness faded away. You felt warm, and stronger now - not as strong as you were normally, but strong enough to sit and stand on your own. After a few more moments, Kol pressed a kiss to your temple and pulled his wrist away. You almost made a move to take it back, but he grabbed your hands gently. "Sorry, love. You can have more later, if you still want it, but too much now will make you sick."

You did want more because if anything, you felt more hungry now than you did before and you were more than a little disturbed by that, but you nodded anyway, licking the excess from your lips. "Okay."

"Good," He said. He took a deep breath, inhaling your scent. "Can you stay right here for me, sweet-thing? I have to finish this."

You frowned but didn't move. What was he talking about? What was there to finish?

Kol got up and cast his eyes around the room.

"Now, what am I going to do about you lot?" He wondered, lips twisting into a vindictive smirk. He gestured toward you. "She wants me to let all of you live, but I'm afraid I just can't do that. See, I do have a reputation to uphold and it so happens that I've slaughtered entire towns for a lot less than what you've done here. I think you all know the extent of your guilt, but why don't we recap just for fun, eh?" 

"Alright, let's see..." He started counting off on his fingers. 

"You've broken the treaty which you made and signed... plotted against my family... kidnapped the only person in your midst who might have gifted you some mercy... and then you just tried to kill me. I think I'll have to give you a B+ on that last one - not the best or most creative attempt I've seen, though I can give you high marks for enthusiasm." He sighed, shrugging his shoulders in an exaggerated movement.

"Unfortunately, that's four strikes against you and the rules clearly say that it's three strikes and you're out."

Kol grinned and you knew you weren't going to like whatever was coming next.

"So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to play a little game."

From inside his jacket pocket, Kol drew forth a pearl-handled pistol. It was intricate - pretty. But that couldn't disguise its true purpose. It was a gun. It was made to kill things.

"I'm assuming you all know what this is?" He said, raising the piece for all sixteen - fifteen - Council members to see. A few of them nodded, eyes flickering with barely concealed horror. Kol watched them and his tongue darted out to wet his lips in a way that belied excitement. He continued. "Now, contained within this... quaint little trinket is exactly one bullet. It's not wooden - just plain old lead - and one of you is going to be the lucky winner who gets to fire it into their skull!"

"No..." Your breath caught in your throat and something in your stomach twisted violently. This was wrong. This was horrid and vile and you felt sick. You shook your head, struggling to stand on legs that hadn't seen use in days. "No. No, no, no. Kol, don't-"

He cut you off with a hum and a finger raised in your direction, his expression grim. He'd never looked at you that way. Anyone else, yes. But never, ever, you. Those eyes sent a blast of liquid nitrogen through your veins. You froze in your tracks. His eyes slid back to the fifteen others.

"Say, where was I again?" He mused, scratching the back of his head with the barrel of that very loaded gun. The boy grinned. "Ah, that's right - suicide. Quite poetic, don't you think? Only fitting for what you've done. Anyway, over the course of the next few minutes, I'm going to eat the rest of you - all but one." Someone screamed - a woman, probably married into this insanity, just going along with her lover's fear. Kol gasped mockingly and turned her with a cruel smirk, stalking closer.

"It'll be a slow, painful, and graphic death, I assure you." He spoke so softly, so soothingly. "You'll die screaming and begging. But-" He paused, drinking in their rapt, horrified attention. "-There is a way out..."

Please, please, please don't do this. Just walk away, you pleaded silently. He didn't stop.

"The bullet in this chamber is your only escape. If you want to die peacefully, painlessly, and instantly... then you're going to have to fight each other for it."

The vampire grinned pleasantly and, with a flick of his wrist, slid the weapon across the marbled floor where it skidded to a stop in the middle of the room.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

You were shaking. No, no, no... Anything but this.

"Go on then, you savage animals..." Kol entreated, spreading his hands. "Entertain me."

This was wrong. You couldn't just stand here!

"Kol, no!" You rasped. He whipped around, glaring at you with eyes like smoldering ice. This wasn't your friend. You didn't know what he was. "What are you doing?"

He ground his teeth. "Getting retribution, darling," He snarled, lips curling. It was the expression of a predator. "I think it's best you stay quiet and not get involved with this."

You ignored him. "Kol, you can't! This isn't right and you know it!"

"I can do whatever I wish," He snapped. "I've already stayed my hand far too long on your account. It's time the cattle be put back in their place."

His words were shards of glass permeating your heart and you could feel them with every beat.

You clenched your jaw and stood your ground. "So is that all I am to you?"

His expression softened just the slightest fraction - not enough for anyone else to notice, but you knew him. He didn't break your gaze as he drew a deep breath and his mouth pressed into a thin line. "Just... stay still," He ordered. "Please don't test my patience."

"What?" Who the hell did he think he was talking to? "Kol, snap out of this! It's me!"

His hands curled into fists, knuckles white. "You need to stop talking."

"Or what?" You challenged, blinking back the sting of your tears. "You'll hurt me?"

"I don't want to," He said, narrowing his eyes. "But I'm one step short of ravenous at the moment, not to mention royally irritated, and highly likely to do something I'll regret. This is a warning - don't push it."

That wasn't a warning. That was a threat.

You shook your head, lips pressed into a thin line. "I trusted you," You hissed. "I gave up everything for you. How dare you talk to me like that?"

Kol sighed.

Then he was standing directly in front of you. Faster than lightning, his hand shot out and wrapped around the base of your throat. His other hand grasped your hip and then the cool stone wall of the cellar was pressed against your back. You gasped and coughed, reaching up to claw his hand off your airway. He was choking you! You were choking! You were-

Wait...

No, you weren't choking. Kol wasn't hurting you, he was holding your neck. There was no pressure being applied.

You looked up, into his eyes. They weren't cold at all. They were flooded with too many emotions to name, roiling and frothing like a forest of reeds in a windstorm. Blackness ebbed and flowed in them, clashing like well-matched opponents. You recognized them both - the sweet boy you knew, and the monster inside him grappled in front of you, fighting for control. He was fighting. Kol was trying.

You reached up to touch his cheek. "Kol, please?"

For a split second, you caught sight of him. Your Kol - the boy you'd given everything to, the boy you lo-, the one who cared about you - for a moment, he surfaced. He fought off the beast inside him and his eyes, free of bloodlust, met yours with a pleading. Kol's hands shifted. Taking a gentle grasp of your wrists, he pinned them up against the wall behind you. Then he surged forward and captured your mouth with his. Pressing his whole body against yours, he licked at the seam of your lips in a kiss so soft and ardent it could only mean "I'm sorry."

He hesitated to pull away. "Please," He whispered against your lips. "Please don't hate me for this?"

If there was ever a time to admit what you'd been ignoring for months - this was it. If there was ever a time to spit the words that flickered like flames in your chest every time he kissed you - it was now. If there was ever a time to say I love you-

You opened your mouth.

Kol ripped the gag off your neck and, with eyes full of misery, forced it between your lips again, tying it up tight behind your head. Your eyes flew wide and you screamed against the fabric, but he just stepped back. Blackness filled Kol's eyes once more and he turned away from you.

The gun remained on the cold marble floor - pristine and untouched. He gestured toward it, humming.

"No takers then, I see? Funny, I even gave you a head start." He shrugged. "Well, no matter. More for me, I suppose!"

The name of Carter Hamilton's wife, you remembered, was Eliza.

Kol went for her first.

He grabbed her by the hair, twisting, and tore his dagger-like teeth into her slim throat. You shrieked and sobbed against the gag but the monster wouldn't stop. He didn't just bite her - he ripped her flesh apart and he did it right in front of her husband. Eliza's corpse landed in a very lifeless heap when he finally wrenched his teeth from her mutilated neck. You could see her spine amidst the carnage and it was just like those pictures you'd never wanted to see again.

No one in the room moved.

"Little sour that one," He observed, looking Carter in the eyes as he licked his wife's blood from his fingers. "Your turn."

When Kol sank his teeth into his next victim, you screamed again. Tears streamed down your face as, in a state of chilled, suspended horror, you witnessed the other Council members play Kol's game. All twelve of them made a break for the gun on the floor, fighting over it like the savage animals he'd claimed they were. They scrabbled and kicked, scraping at eyes and twisting back limbs as they brutalized one another, seeking a chance to kill themselves.

You couldn't watch.

Curling yourself up against the wall, you squeezed your eyes shut, wishing the stone would just swallow you whole. You could cover your ears but you couldn't block out the screams as Kol feasted.

There was no use in screaming, but you just wanted this butchery to stop. You just wanted the monster under Kol's skin to release the boy you'd fallen for. You just wanted him to come back to you. The boy who'd kissed you so softly mere moments before wasn't - couldn't - be this appalling monster, bathed in red.

But he was.

Your parents hadn't been right about him, but they hadn't been wrong either. He liked the killing and he liked the death and that wasn't going to change just because you let him kiss you. It wasn't his fault. This had been made of him and Kol couldn't change his nature. Yet no matter how hard you wished it, he would never need you more than he needed the slaughter. He wasn't going to change just because you asked.

But you were scared and hungry, and cold, and terrified, so that was all you could really do. Ask. So for each lifeless shell that hit the ground, a slurry of jumbled pleas spewed from your lips.

Thirteen

"Kol, please stop? I wanna go home now," You muttered to yourself, scraping at the stone wall as if you might crawl inside.

Twelve

"I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna see any of this. Kol, please stop? Just stop an-and we can leave? We can run away - we can go anywhere you want. Kol, please?"

Eleven

"Please. Please, just stop? You don't have to. I know you can't help it. If you're hungry, I -I trust you. Please, just let them go?"

Ten

A Gunshot - Nine.

Eight

"Kol, I'm scared. You're scaring me. Please stop, you're scaring me."

Seven

"Kol, you're breaking your promise. You promised me - you said I didn't have to be afraid of you. Please, stop breaking your promise?"

Six

"I love you, Kol. Please stop?"

And, like the flip of a switch, the killing ceased.

You couldn't move - couldn't stop babbling. It was as if every muscle in your body was frozen except for your tongue.

"I love you, Kol Mikaelson," You wept quietly against the gag in your mouth. The words would have been muffled beyond recognition to anyone else, but not to him. "IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou. Please, stop so I can tell you for real?"

The basement was silent for a moment. Then that boy's voice pierced through the low light.

"You love me?" The question was so soft you were sure you'd imagined it.

Your throat felt like sandpaper and you couldn't stop shaking, but perhaps you could pretend like the monster wasn't here, so you nodded anyway, too tired to keep talking through the fabric in your mouth. Footsteps approached slowly and someone knelt down in front of you. It was probably the monster wearing his skin, but you could pretend it wasn't. He reached around your head and untied the knot, lifting the course material away from your face. You gasped, desperate for a real lungful of air as your whole body shook from fear and exhaustion.

"Say that again," He said. It wasn't an order but it wasn't exactly a request either. Your throat felt like sandpaper and you couldn't stop shaking, but you spoke through it.

"I love you Kol Mikaelson."

Kol's breath hitched, though he tried not to let it show. He brushed the back of his fingers along your forearm. His hand was too warm - something like ninety-eight degrees - but at least it wasn't slick with blood. At least he'd tried to wipe it off, which you appreciated even though you flinched away.

He sighed heavily. It sounded broken.

"You really shouldn't," He said eventually.

"I know," You whispered. You shook your head and shrugged haplessly. "I know, but I can't help it."

"Darling..." His voice entreated, warm and soft like honey and silk. "Y/N, can you look at me?"

Regaining your breath, or at least some of it, you shook your head, pushing yourself impossibly closer to the wall. "I miss you."

"I'm right here," He said soothingly. You were grateful he didn't try to touch you again. "Darling, I'm right here."

"You're here, but you're not mine," You replied. "You hate them too much."

He didn't deny it. No, he didn't deny it because he promised he'd never lie to you. His breaths were deep but he couldn't hold onto them for long. Perhaps, his chest - like yours - hurt too much when he tried. "I can't fix this, can I?" He spoke softly though there was still something bitter in it. It was enough to make you flinch again when he rested his hand on your knee, but this time he didn't draw away. You relaxed as much as you could.

"No." You answered. He cursed quietly and traced invisible patterns onto your jeans and his voice sounded like what tornados leave behind - like devastation.

"Have I broken you?"

There. There was the sweet boy you'd fallen in love with. No trace of the monster now. You looked up, studying his face. He should have looked more like a monster. After all, Kol was drenched in crimson - his mouth most especially. Yet, oddly enough, the sight didn't twist your stomach. You supposed you couldn't feel any more ill than you did already, but that wasn't really it.

He hesitated to lift his head - hesitated to meet your gaze, but when he did, you saw longing and sorrow. That boy's eyes simply weren't those of a monster.

A smile, thin as a crumpled note, found its way to your lips. "Yes," You told him. "You've broken me."

But, damn it all - you didn't want it to end like this.

As awful as it was, as twisted as it deemed your soul - you still loved him. It wasn't something you could just turn off. You loved the boy who laughed at your jokes and braided your hair when you asked. You loved the boy who took you to mountain tops for coffee and twirled you around the living room for absolutely no reason at all. You adored the boy who watched classic movies with you, even though he always ended up watching your face instead of the screen. You cherished the boy who bought you ice cream when you were sad and took you on late-night walks when you couldn't sleep - who told you stories when you didn't want to. You loved the boy who kissed and held you so gently every night because he cared enough to do so.

Now, here that boy knelt in front of you, having massacred people you'd known all your life, yet still, you could not hate him. It wasn't his fault he'd been made into this. So, perhaps it made you downright evil, but you could love a bloodthirsty monster if it meant keeping the rest of him.

After all, this just wasn't his fault.

And you realized then, that it wasn't yours either. It couldn't be, because you hadn't done anything wrong. Refusing to hate or hunt the supernatural wasn't wrong. Choosing the life you wanted wasn't wrong. Agreeing to go on a date with Kol - falling in love with him despite it all - none of that was wrong!

Yet, every single human in that damp, frigid seller had chosen to be there. You had done nothing wrong, and yet they still chose to hurt you. They had no excuse - no curse inflicting a hunger they couldn't control. They were just bad, hateful people who had no real reason to be that way.

That made each one of them more vile a monster than Kol could ever be.

Kol bowed his head, hiding his face from you but his shoulders shook. You didn't want it to end this way.

You placed your hand over the one he'd rested on your knee and guided him to move it higher, onto your thigh. Kol froze and lifted his head, eyeing you with curiosity far too weary to be labeled as hope.

"You've broken me," You repeated. Your chest didn't hurt when you drew in another breath. You felt certain of this somehow. "But I still love you... and I think that maybe sometimes we need to break things to make sure we fixed all the cracks."

Kol's eyes were rimmed with red, but not the frightening kind. He looked away, blinking rapidly as he distracted himself by trying to wipe the blood from his lips. His sleeve turned red. You'd have to make sure he bought a new one.

Finally, he met your eyes again. "I didn't mean for this to happen," He apologized. The regret in his tone was as thick as blood. "I wasn't thinking. I just- I needed to hurt them and I never meant for you to be there when I did. I should be able to control this by now. I-I thought I could, but I don't care about anyone as much as I care about you and I just wasn't expecting to hate them so much once I saw what they did." He shook his head, blinking rapidly. "But I never meant to hurt you, and I don't want you to be afraid of me. It was supposed to be everyone else, you see? Everyone but you."

You nodded. "I think I can forgive you."

He smiled but it really wasn't happy. "It would be better if you didn't," He said. "I'm not good for you, darling," His voice was surprisingly even.

"I know."

"I'm not human. I'm not good for anyone. I'm nothing you deserve. "

You shook your head. "I don't care." You realized it as you said it and it was an awful thing to say, but that couldn't make it any less true. "I don't care about the things you're not because I've already got my hands full with all that you are."

"I am a bit of a handful, aren't I?" He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah." You shrugged. "But you're my handful."

"Your handful." His chocolate eyes twinkled with something very, very happy. You'd never seen it so clearly in him. Hope. He moved in closer and leaned in to rest his forehead against yours, lightly brushing noses in that familiar Inuit Kiss. "Would you be frightened if I said I love you?"

"Do you?"

He smirked. "How about I take you home and show you?" Kol purred. His eyes flicked down to where his hand rested on your leg and then back up. He hesitated for a moment before tentatively squeezing your thigh. Your eyes fluttered shut. Perhaps you should have been more worried after everything you'd just seen him do, but you weren't. You couldn't help but love the way he touched you. For hands that maimed and tortured were gentle just for you.

In spite of everything you'd been through - the exhaustion, the starvation, and the sheer freaking horror show you'd just witnessed - you couldn't help but laugh. "Kol, sweetheart... I really don't think now's the time!"

"Oh, please! I'm kidding!"

Tagging: @yn-ymn-yln @r13mar @rootbeerfaygo @iiskittles16ii @fandomrulesall-blog @dark-night-sky-99 @railingsofsorrow @apolloroid @thatweirdoleigh @misswe03 @eat-cake @felinegrate @trikigirl271 @cute-freak27 @fayeatheart @archangelslollipop @slaypussypop-21 @aonungs-tsahik @sleepneverheardofher @princess-charming-01

[drabbles-mc]

At Your Service

Andrea Nuñez x F!Reader

For @narcosfandomdiscord's Day of Women Who Will Step On You For Free: f/f centric fanwork

Warnings: 18+, thirsting over Andrea in the most desperate way possible

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: Have I ever written Andrea before??? No. Has that stopped me from being in love with her and wanting her to rail me??? No.

NMX Taglist: @ashlingnarcos @garbinge @hausofmamadas @narcolini @proceduralpassion @artemiseamoon @cositapreciosa (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

You watched Adrian swing and miss as he tried to chat up the woman on the other side of the bar. You couldn’t blame him, of course. If you had been the one working that end of the bar when she walked up you would’ve done the same thing. You also had the nagging suspicion that you would’ve had a little more success—maybe not as much success as you would’ve wanted, but more than Adrian.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort on his part, but he clearly wasn’t who or what she was looking for. With the way she easily filtered back and forth to the bar, to him, you had to think that she wasn’t really there looking to be picked up by anyone. You understood that, respected it, but you wouldn’t go so far as to lie and say that you weren’t a little disappointed about it.

You also wished that it wasn’t so goddamn busy so that you could try and slip out from behind the bar and try to find some excuse to talk to her. It didn’t look like that was in the cards for you—most nights were busy but tonight seemed like there was no end in sight to the line of people coming up and placing orders. And, if Adrian kept trying to hit on everyone he thought was cute rather than filling their drink orders, the line was only going to keep getting longer.

The concept of time was completely lost on you by the time someone showed up to relieve you. You were going to be stuck there until close, but at least an extra body meant that you could step outside for ten minutes to breathe in air that wasn’t heavy with sweat and alcohol. That was as good of a break as any.

You leaned back against the wall behind you, one foot planted against the wall, one on the ground. Shutting your eyes for a few moments, you took in a few deep breaths. You instantly felt a little lighter, a little more clear-headed. You could still hear the music, feel the slight vibration of the bass through the wall, but it wasn’t drowning out all of your other thoughts out here the way that it was inside.

You didn’t hear the footsteps until they were too close for comfort. Your eyes snapped open, heart pounding for a moment as you looked to see who it was that was in the alley with you. Your fear subsided when you saw who it was, although a new brand of panic went through you when you saw the woman from the bar standing in front of you. You’d lost sight of her along the way and you just assumed that she’d left. Apparently not.

It was impossible to do anything besides watch her as she looked you over. You wanted to have something, anything to say, but you came up short. At least inside you could blame your jumbled thoughts on the noise and the chaos. Out here you just had to admit to yourself that it was her.

She didn’t seem to share your jitters. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes, flipping the top open and placing one between her lips before tilting the pack towards you. Grabbing a smoke was on your list of things to do for the brief break that you got out here, so you took one and mirrored her actions. Before you could reach into your pocket for your own lighter, she pulled one of those out too.

You didn’t have it in you to be embarrassed about how closely you were watching her hands, her fingers as she flicked and sparked the lighter. She didn’t even give you the chance to ask for the light before leaning in close so she could bring the flame to the end of your cigarette as well. Any mental clarity you’d gotten from stepping outside the club was gone now as you studied her face, the way she looked through the tendrils of smoke that crept up from her cigarette and between her lips. Too soon your cigarette was lit and she was pulling away from you. Not that she went far.

You knew one of you was going to have to say something first, and you felt for some reason that it should be you. Pulling a drag off your cigarette you took it from between your lips. You let the smoke fall out of you as you finally willed yourself to speak. “I don’t know anything more than Adrian, you know. About the Arellano’s.”

She shrugged, the tiniest bit of a lift to the end of her mouth. “I didn’t ask.”

“I know. I just…” you trailed off. You had the feeling you both knew how the sentence was going to end anyway so you didn’t waste the breath. “Still at your service, though,” you said before you could stop yourself, bringing the cigarette back to your lips like taking the inhale off of that would take away the panic you’d just jolted through yourself.

Her smile grew a little wider as she tapped the ashes off the end of her cigarette. “That’s good to know.”

You had said so little and yet you still felt like you were out of things to say already. Her eyes had hardly drifted from your face at all. It felt like it took actual physical effort to not buckle underneath the weight of her stare. In that moment you couldn’t fathom how Adrian didn’t combust on the spot when she dismissed him and walked away from him.

It happened without you noticing, really. It seemed like suddenly she was grinding out the last of her cigarette beneath her shoe, nudging yours in the process. When had she gotten so close again? She looked up from the ground, eyes settling back on yours again with the same intense focus.

Whether your cigarette fell from your hand accidentally or you purposely let it drop to put it out, you had no idea. Either way, it was out of your hand now and resting on the ground a few inches away from your boot. You let out one breath, the nerves, the unsteadiness of it covered only slightly by the last of the smoke that flowed out from between your lips.

She either saw it in your eyes that you were going to try and come up with something to say, or she noticed the way you sucked in a breath. Regardless, she took pity on you and didn’t put you through the ordeal of it. Before you could fumble your way through it, she closed the rest of the distance. She kissed you, bodies suddenly flush and pinning you back to the wall in the process, one of her legs easily slotted between yours. Even with your eyes closed you felt the light wisp of air as her hand moved past your face so that she could flatten her palm against the wall beside your head, give herself extra leverage. She could cage you in and consume you whole and you’d make no move to stop her.

Her other hand started on your hip before it slowly snaked its way up your torso. Up your stomach and over your chest until it was on the side of your neck, her thumb pressed beneath your chin like she was keeping you from being able to tilt and break away from her. Like you’d ever dream of it. Your hands fell to her waist, fingertips just barely hooking into the waistband of her pants, trying to pull her closer even though there was no room left between you anyway. You couldn’t think clearly about much of anything besides her in that moment, but you knew enough to know that your break was going to be much longer than ten minutes.

[ourdramaqueen]

In Vivo | Fan fic | Wednesday Addams x Tyler Galpin

Rating: General Audiences Fandom: Wednesday Pairing: Wednesday Addams/Tyler Galpin Summary: “Well, I may have done a little digging on you after reading the rumors on Enid’s vlog.” Notes: Written for Weyler Writing Week Day 2: Tyler Attends Nevermore

“Yo, Enid! You’re not gonna believe the dirt I heard about your new roommate. She eats human flesh. Totally chowed down on that kid she murdered. You better watch your back.”

Enid stepped aside to reveal Wednesday to the foolish boy who had clearly not seen her stand behind her taller roommate, and she simply couldn’t let this occasion go. “Quite the contrary. I actually filet the bodies of my victims, then feed them to my menagerie of pets.”

He was left gaping, and Enid said in a gratingly exaggerated sweet tone, “Ajax, this is my new roommate, Wednesday.”

Ajax stared at her as she turned to face him. “Whoa. You’re in black and white. Like a living Instagram filter.”

“Ignore him. Gorgons spend way too much time getting stoned,” Enid said, clearly uncomfortable, then added, “Excuse me for a minute, I’ll be right back!” all the while shoving Ajax ahead of herself.

Wednesday heard a chuckle from behind her. “Do you think he’d be more or less afraid of you if he knew that you didn’t murder anyone but you put piranhas in a swimming pool instead?” 

Wednesday whirled to face the boy who had spoken. He was slouched against the wall next to the closed doors she and Enid had been standing in front of. Tall and lean, he had caramel curls and hazel eyes, his conventionally handsome face still showing his amusement at the exchange he had just witnessed.

At her surprised look, he shrugged and added with a tiny smirk, “Well, I may have done a little digging on you after reading the rumors on Enid’s vlog.”

“And how come you found out about the piranhas, but the author of the ‘number one source of Nevermore gossip’ didn’t?”

“Well for one, she spelled your last name with one d instead of two. And my dad being the Sheriff does have one advantage.” She detected a hint of anger in his voice underneath the casual tone. Bad blood between father and son? Clearly this boy was an outcast, but was his father, too? It would be unusual to find an outcast Sheriff. His mother, then? Intermarriages between normies and outcasts were not unheard of, but still rare. Interesting.

Wednesday filed that thought away for now and raised an eyebrow. “You hacked the police database? Impressive.”

“Don’t give me too much credit. It’s not hacking when you know where he’s written down the username and password.”

Wednesday hummed. “You know who I am, but you haven’t told me your name yet.”

“Tyler. Tyler Galpin.”

She tilted her head as she studied him more closely. He seemed relaxed, but there was a subtle air of danger about him, of power that could be unleashed within a moment’s notice. Students who walked past them took a wide berth around them through the open area with the picnic tables at the center of the quad. At first Wednesday had attributed it to her reputation based on Enid’s vlog, but now she thought maybe it was him. “You don’t belong to one of the main cliques.”

“No. And I’d rather not tell you quite yet what I am, because I actually enjoy having a conversation without the other party reeking of fear for once.” He frowned, studying her in his turn. “Then again, you’re not like anybody else here, either.”

“No. I’m not. And I don’t scare easily.”

There was a pause as they looked at each other, and Tyler seemed to come to a conclusion as he straightened up from his slouch. “Have you ever heard of a Hyde?”

Her eyes widened. “Actually, I have. They’re exceedingly rare. My uncle Fester met one once, during his stay at the Zurich Institute for the Criminally Insane. I am pretty certain that they had a... fling.” She scrunched her nose, then looked him up and down. “So you’re a Hyde? Tyler Galpin, you might just be the only remotely interesting thing at this school.”

His face broke out into a bright grin that took up his whole face, almost making her blink at the transformation. “I could say the same about you, Wednesday Addams.” He sobered when his eyes briefly flicked over her shoulder. “Your roommate is coming back; I better go,” he said wryly. “Will I see you around?”

“Probably.”

“Definitely.”

With a final smirk, Tyler turned away and walked the way she and Enid had come from earlier, just in time to avoid Enid’s scandalized voice demanding to know what she was doing talking to Tyler Galpin. It was easy enough to tune her out.

For the first time since learning that she would be forcibly enrolled at Nevermore Academy, Wednesday thought that maybe she should reconsider her escape plans. After all, this might be the only chance she would ever get to study a Hyde in vivo.