#eye is such a nice introduction event LIKE I COULD RAMBLING ABOUT HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO MAMA like

[oddaodd]

· I Don't Go In For Sweets ·

Request: by a lovely anon "set after the events of season 3. Tommy can't handle the company, he's still grieving and he has to be there for Charlie so Polly tells him she knows a girl from a good family to get married He ends up agreeing (aunt Pol can be very persuasive) but even though he's married, this new girl isn't considered as a wife. He doesn't really make any effort but his "wife" understands, he's a widowed father who lost his first wife only a year ago. However since they are...in this, she wants to make her time as enjoyable as possible for the both of them and for Charlie too. But no matter what Tommy makes it a point of honor to not let her in, to not let her replace Grace so he ignores her, he works more, tries to spend as little as possible in the house. Reader stays patient, it will be alright and Charlie is making her quite busy anyway. One night, Tommy comes home completely drunk and maybe a bit high too, he can't even make it to his office. Thankfully Reader is still awake, she takes care of him and Tommy just...melts at how gentle Reader is, he may be able to keep his distant while sober but it's much harder in his state. He admits to her how he's been feeling and all. Ever since that night, something changed, Tommy feels some comfort, some solace being around her, she accepts him wholly, even his flaws, the bad side of his business and she tries to provide some sort of safe place for when it gets too hard." (I edited the request because it was very long, but I kept all essential parts in there)

Author’s note: I loved loved loved writing this and it ended up being SUPER long, but I’m very happy with how it turned out. As always, I hope you like it and have the loveliest of days!

Warnings: season 3 SPOILERS sort of, but not really, still read at your own risk. Arranged marriage, mentions of alcohol and drugs, angst.

·

“Thomas, you may not be able to see it, but you’re breaking apart” Polly spoke with a sigh as she lit a cigarette after everyone was dismissed from a family meeting.

Everyone had left Tommy’s office in arrow house rather gaily after receiving their fair compensations for partaking in the whole Russian ordeal, all except Polly, who remained where she sat, wishing for a word with her nephew

Tommy merely scoffed at her concern before lighting his own cigarette and taking a puff “I’ll be alright”

“And Charlie?” Pol pressed knowing Tommy’s mourning was not only affecting him, but Charlie as well. “What about him?”

“He’s fine” He said before turning around to look through the window, ignoring his Aunt’s heavy stare.

“You take too much after your mother” she sighed half angry half sad “she too loved pretending everything was alright and I don’t need to remind you where that lead her”

Tommy sighed deeply, he knew he could fool anyone. Anyone but Polly. “We’ll manage”

“Consider my offer” Polly said standing up and making her way to the door “Y/n is a good girl from a good family” she persuaded before leaving the room.

Tommy sighed at his Aunt’s words, he wasn’t ready to get married again even when he knew the woman he would be marrying was a nice one. He felt like he was spitting on Grace’s grave and he hated himself for even considering the prospect, but he knew a mother figure would be good for Charlie.

He spent the rest of the day pondering about Polly’s suggestion and remembering his own childhood in the shadow of the absent tortured presence that his mother had been. It didn’t take him long to decide he didn’t want that for Charlie, so that same night he phoned Polly.

“I’ll do it” was all he said before hanging up. There was no need for more words, Polly would know exactly what he meant.

Exactly a week later, Tom was standing in the altar of a church that was significantly smaller than the one from his first wedding. The fact that everything about this wedding was so obscenely different from his first did soothe his guilt a bit. And as he stood there he couldn’t keep his mind from traveling to the days leading up to his wedding to Grace. She had made sure everything was perfect and had made an effort to invite every single relative she could think of. She remembered her rambling on an on about fabrics, insisting that everything ought to be perfect when he in all honestly couldn’t care less, he just wanted to marry her.

All his thoughts vanished away with a poof when Y/n came into sight. And what a sight she was. She had insisted on doing her own makeup and on pinning flowers to her hair to compliment her headpiece and her elegant, yet simple white dress flowed almost mystically as her father gave her away. She had never imagined she would be marrying someone she didn’t know, but she wanted to look her best for getting married is not something people do everyday.

When she stood in the altar, she offered her to be husband a smile which he did not return, instead turning his attention to the priest before them. She mirrored his actions, her heart beating violently under her chest as the priest began speaking.

It all felt like a blur, she could swear it had only been a second since her father had given her away and yet, the priest had already uttered the dreaded “you may now kiss the bride”

Tommy barely brushed his lips against hers and soon the sound of everyone clapping invaded her ears. They had a small party afterwards in Y/n’s former house. Her parents had invited pretty much all of their acquaintances while tommy had only invited his close relatives.

When night fell Tommy was more than ready to leave “Are you ready to go?” was one of the few sentences he uttered to his now wife that night.

She again offered him a smile before saying “yeah just let me say goodbye”

The drive to arrow house was tense, although Y/n didn’t know Thomas very well she would tell he was unhappy. She wondered about what to say to him, but couldn’t come up with anything good enough and soon enough they were pulling over in front of Tommy’s stately home.

“Charlie must already be asleep, but I'll introduce you tomorrow” he said opening Y/n’s door for her.

“It’s alright” she said looking at him, not quite knowing what to do next.

“Your parents sent some of your belongings, I've already asked the maids to take them up to your-our room” he said

“Thank you, Thomas” she smiled as she walked into the big house not yet feeling close enough to him to call him Tommy.

His name falling from her lips caused an echo of bittersweet emotions to stir inside him but he masked it perfectly well as she introduced Y/n to the maids that went to the door to take their coats.

“Frances here will show you the way to the room” he said after having made introductions.

“This way, Mrs” Frances politely said.

Y/n began following her but stopped when she didn’t hear Tommy’s footsteps behind her own.

“Are you not coming?” she asked turning to look at him.

“Maybe in a bit” was all he said before he walked away down one of the many spacious hallways of the house.

After Y/n made herself comfortable in the room and changed into her nightgown she took the time to peek around the room like one always does when one is a strange place. After familiarizing herself with it she laid down in the big bed. She was nervous, she knew what happened on wedding nights. A small chuckle stopped at her lips when she recalled the stories her close already married girlfriends told her. If she hadn’t married a complete stranger she too would be looking forward to it.

Her thoughts ended up luring her to sleep after a while despite her nerves and the night went by in a ridiculously fast flash. The next morning she woke up alone and after getting ready she made her way downstairs. Tommy and Charlie were already in the dining room when she entered it.

“good morning” she said

Charlie immediately turned his attention to her, his eyes widening while his dad merely glanced at her while he muttered a “Good morning “ of his own.

Y/n sat down next to Tommy while he cleared his throat “charles, this is Y/n. We got married yesterday so she’ll be living with us from now on”

Charlie merely nodded in understanding before playing around with his food.

A tense air flooded breakfast until Tommy stood up, having barely touched his food and spoke turning to look at Y/n “I have to go now, if you need anything feel free to ask Frances”

“Alright” Y/n replied feeling a bit disappointed, she would love to get to know him, but she already knew it was going to be difficult.

“I have to go too” Charlie announced in a timid voice, interrupting Y/n’s thoughts. Despite her disappointment she understood, maybe he was just shy and his dad just reticent. They had lost a wife and a mother after all.

The first few days after that, Charlie avoided her nearly as much as his father did and Y/n remained in lonely patience until one night Charlie’s cries interrupted her focus on the book that she had just bought. She rushed to his room and called out his name as she entered not knowing if the boy would be comfortable with her or not.

“What is it?” she asked worried as she knelt by his bed.

“I miss my mum” the boy confessed looking at her with teary eyes as he clutched his blanket.

Y/n felt her heart give a small ache at his confession and in an attempt to comfort him she spoke “She’s not really gone, you know?”

“She’s dead” the boy sobbed.

“but people who die, don’t leave us. Not really anyhow” she said hesitantly rubbing his arm. “just because we cant see them doesn’t mean they are not here”

“I miss seeing her” he continued.

“Oh but you can still see her”

“how”

“before you go to bed just think about her, then she’ll visit you in your dreams” Y/n spoke as if she was telling a fairy tale.

“really?” the boy’s eyes widened.

“really” Y/n confirmed “But you have to think really really hard”

“I’ll try” Charlie said having calmed down a bit.

“very well” Y/n said as she stood up, but Charlie’s voice stopped her.

“can you stay till I fall asleep?”

After that night, Charlie hardly left Y/n’s side and she felt much better with his company for she was sure if he wasn’t there keeping her on her toes all day she would fall into a depressive chasm induced by her husband’s absence.

On the rare moments he was home she tried to strike up conversation with him over breakfast or late at night when he came home and she was burdened by insomnia. But Tommy only humored her with a few short responses before excusing himself or turning to face the other side of the bed.

It wasn’t only the fact that he avoided her as much as he could, but he also made it a priority to exclude her at all times. She was never invited into family meetings or night’s at The Garrison so she thought it was a miracle when tommy didn’t oppose to her planning Charlie’s birthday party.

She invited only Tommy’s family which instantly warmed up to her, noticing what a good influence she was and Polly wanted to slap Thomas for the way he had been acting throughout his marriage to Y/n. Almost feeling guilty for getting her into this mess.

When the party ended Tommy shut himself in his office like he often did when he was at home and though he had never given Y/n a reason to believe she was welcome in there of all places, she found herself allowing herself in after putting Charlie to bed.

Tommy looked up as she entered and let out a sigh before turning his attention back to some papers he had been reading.

“I noticed you didn’t have any” she commented not letting his sigh deflate her as she laid a plate with a slice of homemade chocolate cake on his desk. “it’s really good if I may say so myself” she mused sitting down in a chair opposite to his as she dug in with a fork in her own slice.

“I don’t go in for sweets” he stated.

“Not even chocolate?” Y/n tried, but tommy didn’t answer, instead he just shook his head.

“I still think you should try it, it’s not overly sweet, and…”

“is there anything you need?” he interrupted bluntly a bit harsher than he would’ve liked.

His tone caught her off guard and when she couldn’t come up with an answer tommy again turned his attention back to his papers.

“I wish you could let me in” She softly confessed after a few tense seconds.

“Well I wish we hadn’t married but I guess things don’t always go the way we want them to go”

Tommy knew he had crossed a line by the silence that again settled into the room. He looked up at Y/n with her parted lips and misty eyes. They exchanged glances for a second but instead of allowing him to see her like that any longer, she stood up setting her plate on his desk and walked away, only allowing a few tears to drop by when she was out of the room and his sight.

After that she stopped trying to get closer to him. He still loved his late wife and she understood, people in grief never mean what they say after all, but his words stung nonetheless.

She stopped trying to wait for him at night to see if he had gotten home alright and during breakfast she only uttered polite good mornings.

One night however, Y/n was yanked out of a peaceful sleep by a loud crash. She was on her feet in no time and after checking into Charlie’s room to see if he was alright she cautiously ventured downstairs. A few incoherent mumbles filled her ears before her husband came into sight, fumbling with his coat to get it off.

“need help?” she asked earning his attention.

“I’m fine” he said finally taking it off but as he went to take a step to begin walking the floor under him moved and he lost his balance, his knees crashing loudly against the wooden floor.

Y/n offered him a hand and helped him up. He smelled of whiskey and cigarettes, his hands were shaky, consequence of the snow, no doubt. “let’s get you upstairs”

“I can do it on me own” he slurred letting go of her hand.

“stop being so stubborn” she derided, snaking one of her arms around his waist as she helped him upstairs.

Y/n helped him into bed, tookoff his shoes and went to the bathroom to fetch a small towel and some cold water.

She dampened the towel with the cold water before dabing it gently on Tommy’s forehead. His eyes never leaving her face as she did so, making her grow a bit nervous. She continued, trying her best to ignore it until she felt his hand softly caressing her cheek.

“You are beautiful” he rasped.

“Stop it, Thomas” she said feeling her cheeks grow red when she felt a bit sad that he had to be completely drunk to compliment her.

Even in his drunken state he seemed to notice he was making her uncomfortable so he held his tongue until Y/n laid in bed next to him after turning on the lights.

“I’m sorry” he interrupted the silence “For the way I’ve been acting” the whiskey and cocaine making him more vulnerable and open “I guess I was afraid that if I let you in then she would disappear”

He didn’t expect her to answer, but then her voice came in a soft exhausted tone“ I don’t intend to replace her. You don’t need to act all defensive and secretive. Even if it’s not what you wanted, we are married.”

“I Know” was all he said.

Y/n expected him to withdraw more from her after showing himself that vulnerable to her that night but she was wrong. He began arriving home earlier, sometimes even asking if he could come along on the walks she and Charlie so much adored going on. And Y/n finally felt her marriage was going somewhere maybe it wasn’t based on love yet, but it was something.

One day she was at the stables while Charlie was taking a nap. She had always adored horses.

“I didn’t know you liked horses” came Tommy’s smooth voice causing her to jump.

“You never asked” she smiled petting a black horse as he walked closer to her.

“We could go out for a ride, I’m sure Charlie wouldn’t mind letting you borrow his horse” Tommy offered as he too began to pet the horse, his fingers brushing against Y/n’s for a brief second.

“I’d love to, but I am afraid I don’t know how to ride, Tommy” she said, panicking for a second after having called him that. But she rested assured as soon as he spoke again.

“Well that can be fixed” he said opening the door of the stall and guiding the horse outside.

“You mean now?” Y/n asked with a laugh.

“Got something better to do?” he asked walking out of the stable with the horse. Y/n observed tommy as he prepared the horse. She had never seen him so gentle and calm before and she only realized she had been staring when Tommy directed his attention to her to ask her if she was ready.

“I think so” she said going to stand next to the horse wondering how the hell to climb up. But before she had any more time to think she felt Tommy’s hands on her waist giving her a push that allowed her to pull herself up on the animal. It was a good thing she had chosen to wear slacks that day, she thought.

“Goodness this is high” she said nervously looking down at Tommy when he began guiding the horse to move in a slow walk.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall” he promised repressing a mirthful tone at her nervousness.

He guided the horse with her around the property in the crisp evening air and Y/n allowed herself to relax with every step the horse took. Tommy’s presence made her feel safe and protected and she found it increasingly harder to look away from his figure. She wondered if he could feel her eyes on him.

When the sky began turning soft shades of purple and orange the pair returned to the stables. When the time came from Y/n to come down from the horse, tommy helped her again. Y/n began to love the feeling of him touching her and when her feet touched the ground in front of Thomas, he didn’t remove his hands from her waist right away and instead fixed his blue eyes on her, not wanting to stop looking at her.

She too fixed her eyes on Tommy as she felt a silent gasp in the base of her throat. That was the way she would’ve liked him to look at her on their wedding day. Tommy then leaned in, almost as if he were asking for permission before he tenderly pressed his lips to Y/n’s.

·

@captivatedbycillianmurphy @peakyxtommy @nyotamalfoy @writeroutoftime @babylooneytoonz @slytherinicequeen @lilymurphy03

[beyondspaceandstars]

A Simple Housewife

Relationship: Mob!Bucky Barnes x Reader AU Warnings: non-graphic violence, angst Summary: Mob!AU - A new member starts getting too friendly with you one night, forcing Bucky to show a side of himself you’ve never seen before. And possibly never want to see again.  A/N: in my list of favorite AUs right under soulmate!au is mob!au........idk why i can’t explain it but I love it it’s such good content. and i realized well i can contribute to it as a genre so here I am lmao. (also, for reference, the work contains college-age peter parker - i aged him up fyi)

Masterlist

You liked how you two worked as a team. Bucky liked to hold meetings at your home, and you liked to host them. It was an unspoken agreement every time he’d come home and rattle off who was going to be around the next night.

These instances always sent you into a frenzy, but a good kind of frenzy. It gave you something to do. While a simple housewife per your husband’s request, these events meant you could fill your days planning menus, table settings, wine pairings, grocery shopping… It was therapeutic in some ways and even nicer knowing it would be appreciated.

His men loved to fawn over your perfectly cooked food or premium hand-picked wine and you simply adored it. While it sometimes rubbed Bucky the wrong way seeing you all giggly over compliments from other men, he typically let it slide. It was never very serious and certainly never went beyond sweet comments. You embraced your hosting duties while pretending to ignore the conversations that would go on in the next room after the meal, much to Bucky’s content.

The night had started like any other. Bucky came home the previous day and told you there was going to be a meeting tomorrow night and to expect to host ten of his men. That seemed like such a smaller crowd than he normally had over, so you inquired, curious.

"Only ten?" You asked, already rushing to grab your pen and paper for the planning.

Bucky nodded, leaning against the counter. "Yeah, we’ve got someone new coming on and I don’t want to overwhelm him."

"A new guy?" Your eyes lit up. "You mean someone who hasn’t tasted my lasagna?"

Your husband couldn’t hold back the chuckle at your innocent awe. Moments like these made him wonder how someone so warm could ever deal with someone like him. 

You weren’t totally clueless about his career, you knew at least a general description of what he did for a living, but, on the other hand, you hadn’t ever seen it. You roughly knew there were… multiple sides to him but those all seemed so distant, so pointless, at the time. In this home, with you, he was just Bucky. Your Bucky. Your husband. The one who showered you with love and appreciation.

"Yes, doll," your husband confirmed. "There’s someone who hasn’t had your famous lasagna."

"Wonderful!" You clapped and started writing out the menu. "Are there any requests? I certainly don’t want to mess anything up. God forbid the new guy thinks I’m a bad host or something."

You heard Bucky sigh as you continued making your notes. A hand came to your shoulder softly, halting your actions. You turned to face your husband, who was looking down at you with a soft smile, easing your worries nearly completely.

"Everything is going to be just fine," he said, placing a loving kiss on your forehead. You helplessly melted into the touch. "There’s nothing to worry about."

***

You were running around the kitchen like a mad man when Bucky came home the next night with a couple of men already following behind. He called out to greet you like some cheesy sitcom entrance. You force yourself to halt your panic, knowing it was in your best interest to go greet him and the first guests. Smoothing out your apron, you double-checked nothing would explode in flames upon your absence and made your way to the foyer.

"Hi, honey," you smiled as your eyes landed on your well-dressed, sophisticated-looking husband. For all the time spent together, he never did fail to make you swoon simply by just standing there.

"Hey, doll." Bucky matched your smile and gave you a kiss on the cheek knowing you would stress even more if he dared to smudge your lipstick.

When you two parted, your eyes wandered over your husband’s shoulder to the two men standing in front of the door. The one staring at you two exchanging welcomes you recognized right away as your husband’s right-hand-man Steve. Ever so strong and important looking.

But the boy standing next to Steve was a mystery. He was a bit smaller than them both but still had some height on you. This didn’t take away, though, from this timid look. He gazed around your home seeming so in awe of it all. He didn’t realize you were staring at him until Steve nudged him.

Bucky picked up on your curiosity and immediately jumped into introductions. Motioning towards the boy, "This is Peter. He’s the new member I was telling you about."

"Oh, of course," You smiled, outstretching your hand. Peter accepted the shake, a little on the enthusiastic side. "Very nice to meet you."

"It’s very nice to meet you too, Mrs. Barnes." The boy responded, holding slightly too much eye-contact, but you couldn’t blame him.

Your hands disconnected and you chuckled at the formalities, waving a hand in dismissal. You told him to call you by your first name. "The whole misses thing feels so serious," you insisted.

Peter just smiled, a twinkle in his eyes almost. He seemed to relax at your casualness. After the introductions, you led the men into the front room, offering up drinks and hors d’oeuvres. They helped themselves as you started to make your way back to the kitchen. For some reason, you decided to look back at the group. Your eyes met Peter’s immediately. The other men didn’t seem to notice, engrossed in some conversation as they poured their beverages. You simply smiled at the boy and headed back to the food.

It wasn’t too long after the first arrivals that the rest of the members started arriving. You didn’t have time to personally greet them all but Bucky assured you that was never necessary. You two had your own things to run, he liked to joke.

With everything places — food, silverware, centerpieces — you called the men into the dining room. They oohed and awed at the spread of lasagna, bread, veggies… All food groups were represented, you thought. As predicted, they began praising you for the meal as if it was the first time in their life that they’d ever eaten and it made you giggle. These were some of the toughest people you’d ever known and yet a simple baking dish of pasta and sauce could amaze them.

Once everyone was seated and digging in, you took your seat at the other end of the table, directly across from Bucky. As you began passing around the bread, you surprisingly found Peter sitting next to you.

"They made you sit down at this end?" You asked, handing him the breadbasket. Usually, the members dreaded sitting near the wife. While they were all so kind, in moments like these, they’d rather be at the other end looking so important.

"New guy," Peter shrugged, taking a piece of bread and moving it along.

"I thought this meeting was, like, for you," you said, cutting into the slice of lasagna one of the other men were so kind to serve you.

"No," he shook his head, beginning to eat. "At least that’s not how Mr. Barnes described it. Doesn’t matter, though. It’s just nice to be here."

You smiled, delighted by his optimism, having not seen many new members in your time with Bucky. "I hope the foods okay. I got nervous when Bucky said there’d be someone new coming around."

Peter scoffed as if finding your worry crazy which eased your mind a little. He took another bite of food. "This is easily one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time."

"Thank you, Peter," you said, taking a sip of your wine. Peter copied your motion, looking at you above the wine glass rim as he sipped.

"You did everything, yeah?" He asked, holding his wine while motioning towards the tables and surroundings. "Foods, plates, all of it?"

You nodded, probably coming off a bit more eager than you should’ve, but you couldn’t help yourself. Sure, Bucky’s guests loved to compliment your cooking but no one ever acknowledged the other pieces put into the meal.

"I try to change the table setting every season," you said, "and I like the food to be seasonal, too. There are some lovely markets around and I just adore browsing them… Oh! And the centerpieces, I got the flowers there, too…"

Your rambling died down as you caught Bucky staring at you from the other end of the table. One guy was trying to talk his ear off but he seemed interested in your conversation. Curiously, you started eying your husband back as you picked at your food. His face held an unreadable expression but, eventually, his eyes left yours and were now more focused on the one sitting next to you.

Appearing oblivious, Peter continued the conversation. "Well, I think the flowers are a nice touch," he said. "Pretty flowers picked by a pretty girl."

Your heart skipped a little at that comment. You couldn’t ignore the fact it was quite bold. While you were away of the gazes you got sometimes and the possibility you were talked about behind the scenes but to say it here? At the dinner table? With your husband just in earshot?

But at the same time, you had to consider, he was nice and probably just trying to butter you up hoping for a good word put in with the bossman. There was no doubt people thought they could get to Bucky through you but, in reality, you didn’t stick your hands in any of it. Nope, you just married into it.

Not completely sure how to respond, you simply accepted the compliment, "Well, thank you. That’s very sweet."

Peter smiled at your words, looking a bit proud of himself. You turned back to your plate and tried to eat your meal in silence.

Once everyone was finished, the group started making their way out of the dining room. You shooed them, promising to be out with coffee in a bit.

You were deep into cleaning, having finally carried all the dishes from the dining room to the kitchen when someone entered.

At first, you didn’t explicitly hear them as the faucet was running heavy from your battle of scrubbing dishes. Suddenly, you could sense a presence right behind you at the sink. Turning around, you nearly jumped out of your skin as you came face-to-face with Peter, looking almost amused at scaring you. You were surprised and also… not surprised.

"Sorry," you let out a breathy chuckle. "I didn’t hear you come in."

"That’s okay," he said and motioned towards the dirty plates lining the counter. "Do you need any help?"

"Oh," you frowned. "Shouldn’t you be in the meeting with everyone else?

He shook his head, "Mr. Barnes doesn’t want to start until he’s had coffee."

"Well, you can let him know it’s brewing away," you said, trying to keep your tone serious as you could. You turned back to the sink, praying he got the hint.

He hadn’t, you realized, as Peter came around to stand at your side, leaning against the counter. He stood, arms crossed, watching you.

It was weird — actually, this entire situation was weird. You didn’t think anyone but you or your husband had been in this kitchen before let alone actually know where it was in your home.

Despite how odd you found it, the last thing you wanted to be was rude. You didn’t want to think about what could ensue from your husband losing a guy.

"It’s kind of sad, Mrs. Barnes," Peter crossed his arms, seemingly ignoring your previous request to call you by your first name. You glanced at him, confused. "You’re so kind to do all this and none of them even offer to help you clean up."

"Oh, no, It’s okay-,"

"It’s really sad," He repeated, completely cutting off your attempt at a defense. You frowned and went back to cleaning the plates, praying your attempt to ignore him would encourage him to walk out. There was a weird feeling growing in your gut.

"Such a pretty girl shouldn’t have to do so much," Peter said, softly. "It’s not fair to you."

And that’s when you felt it. His hand slowly came up to rest on your lower back. You immediately tensed under his touch, mind spinning. What the hell had you ended up in? Should you have tried harder to get him out? Gosh, but he seemed so harmless-

His hand started inching upward and then back down, creeping a little lower each time with the motion. With your stance frozen, all you could do was focus on the soapy water in the sink, unsure of your next move. He took the hesitance as a chance to close the gap between you two. A few more shifts and he could have you fully pressed against the sink.

But before you could even ponder about his next move, the swinging kitchen door busted open. You both flinched at the sudden noise but Peter didn’t seem to move. You looked over to find it was Bucky in the doorway, gun drawn and pointed directly at Peter.

Your heart sank when you saw the weapon. Sure, you knew there was weaponry stored in the home but you had never definitely seen it. You could sometimes make out outlines of guns in suit pockets but now you were on the other end of one. While it wasn’t meant for you, with your poor positioning, a single shot and you could be taken down. And by your husband-

"What the fuck are you doing?" Bucky finally spoke, never taking his eyes off the person nearly towering over you. The gun was very steady, just like his words. But everything else about him was unlike anything you’d ever witnessed before. His eyes were dark, his features so harsh. This felt like a man you had never seen before.

"We were just talking," Peter answered. His voice was casual but you could feel a slight tremor in his hand. Or maybe that was just your body shaking uncontrollably. You couldn’t tell. "I offered to help her clean up."

Bucky cocked the gun. "Get your hands off her."

"Honey," you spoke softly, your voice slightly cracking from the tears that were beginning to form. "Please put the gun down."

"Not until he gets his hands off you, doll."

"Bucky, please." He wouldn’t look at you. He was determined to look beyond you and it scared you to death.

"You have five seconds to back away from her," Bucky took a step closer. "Or I’ll be forced to mess up my girl’s lovely kitchen."

You gasped at the sharpness in his voice, the entire darkness of it all. You started begging under your breath, hoping whoever or whatever heard the helpless prayers.

Finally, after what felt like hours to you, Peter stepped away from you. You turned to look back at the copy water where your hands were still submerged. They shook as you removed them and you let out a breath you hadn’t even realized you were holding.

Regaining some composure, you backed away from the sink and turned to your husband. Bucky still had the gun pointed at Peter, completely focused on him. Slowly, you approached him, your hands raised as if surrendering. You just needed to get the gun put away and then you could run to your room for some solitude. Fuck the other people probably oblivious, just relaxing and joking in your front room. This was typical business for them, they probably encountered your husband’s dark demeanor day in and day out, but this was going to take a toll on you.

"Honey, his hands are off of me," you whispered, slowly tiptoeing closer. "Put down the gun."

"He put his hands on you, doll," Bucky was answering you but he somehow sounded so distant, so consumed. "I let someone into this house that was going to do God knows what to you."

"No, no," you shook your head and you meant it. You didn’t think Peter was totally malicious. Just someone with a crush, high off excitement in a new place. "I really don’t think he meant harm."

"You’re too kind," Bucky scoffed. "You’re too kind, too innocent, too naive-,"

He held the gun stronger, seemingly preparing to shoot any second now. You were at the end of your rope with the realization. The waterworks were flowering uncontrollably now.

"James," you said, anger breaking through the tears. He seemed to freeze ever so slightly at your usage of his first name. "You really want to do this in front of your wife?"

Something clicked. You could feel it, you knew it. He didn’t answer and instead slowly lowered the weapon, placing it on the counter. Your husband turned to you. Seeing his opportunity, Peter sped past you two out of the kitchen. Neither of you really registered it. You were staring at one another, watching each other even begin to realize what had happened.

Now you were actually clueless. Were you meant to talk about this? Or did you just deal with it in time? The silence was killer but all your mind could focus on was the coffee machine that had gone silent, telling you it was done brewing. It was such a stupid, random thing to even focus on but you felt like your brain would explode if gave anything else the time of day.

"The coffee is ready for your meeting," you said, pulling off your apron and throwing it on the counter. Bucky watched you as stormed out of the kitchen, looking completely stunned and equally clueless.

You sat at your vanity in the bedroom. Thankfully you were able to avoid the front room, having no desire for anyone to see you in with mascara running down your cheeks.

You furiously scrubbed off your make-up despite it already almost off from the tears. Your emotions were just all over the place at this point. You didn’t know if you were angry, surprised, sad…

Mostly, you realized, you felt dumb. You could parade around being a little housewife, pretending she lived a normal life with a normal husband who had a normal job but that just wasn’t it. That wasn’t your reality in this moment. As much as you knew what his career entailed, seeing it up close like that was a whole new level. You thought you knew. You thought you knew so much.

You were just finishing changing out of your dress when the bedroom door opened. In the mirror, your angry eyes met Bucky’s worried ones. He entered slowly, shutting the door behind him. Part of you was pleased with this situation. He chose to check on you, pausing his meeting, but at the same time, you didn’t know if you could deal with anyone right now.

"How are you doing?" He finally spoke up, voice cutting through the tension.

You scoffed, "I just saw my husband pull a gun on a person in our fucking home."

Bucky shook his head and made his way over to the bed, where he sat at the edge, facing you. He wanted to get at you for swearing but much worse things had happened tonight that he didn’t know the point in it. Bucky never wanted to bring anything like that home.

He didn’t take care of that kind of "business" in this house. The meetings were routine, typically check-ins, but any deals or assignments were handled off the premises in fear of something turning ugly. He just wanted to keep you from that ugly. His sweet, soft wife who got excited over making lasagna and picking apples at the farmer’s market was never meant to be thrown into any of this. Especially not in the kind of way that just went down.

"I didn’t mean for that to happen," Bucky said. You rolled your eyes and turned quickly in your chair to face him. He ignored your attitude. "He had his hands on you. He was practically on top of you. Do you understand that? Please tell me you understand how that would make me angry."

"God, Bucky, you pulled a gun on an unarmed person!" You exclaimed. "I understand you were upset, I completely get that, but what… What was that? Who was that?"

His head tilted, confused, questioning. You shook your head in disbelief. Did he not even realize the mode he went into? The whole other person he seemed to encompass in those few minutes?

"You… you weren’t yourself," you mumbled and averted your gaze to your fingers which were fidgeting, restless. "You were scary. Disconnected. I didn’t know that person."

Bucky didn’t say anything at first. He got up from the bed and walked over to where you were seated at your vanity. He crouched down, trying to get you to look at him. Your heart pounded furiously at his close presence.

"You shouldn’t have seen that," He said. "You shouldn’t have seen any of that, doll."

His hands came to grasp yours. You wanted to pull away but you weren’t fast enough. He gripped your hands firmly as if scared you were going to vanish. Your head was swimming with even more confusion as he avoided your questioning.

"Can you even explain yourself?" You asked, finally looking up at him. Bucky’s worry seemed to have melted away and was replaced by something you once again couldn’t put your finger on.

He shook his head. The grip on your hands got tighter. "You have to understand when things come up I must act accordingly."

You didn’t understand but you had to understand. You knew you did. He was right. While jarring, that other side of Bucky did exist out there and he was probably the reason he could be so successful. And while that was something you could work on accepting, you didn’t want to see it in your home.

But for now, you didn’t want to deal with it. Emotions for you both were running high and there was no telling what could come out of your mouth anymore. You’d come back to it and work it out. There was no way you could avoid it. You didn’t think you could ever be scrubbed clean of what you saw.

"Okay," you mumbled and felt his hold on your hands loosen. "Just… Please don’t bring your work home for the time being. We can discuss this in the morning."

Bucky nodded, running his hand from your hands to your shoulder, lovingly. He mumbled okay and you sighed in relief.

For a second you wanted to just sit there, engrossed in the comfort his touch was bringing, completely and fully enjoy that you had your Bucky back, but then your brain remembered the people downstairs.

"Oh, honey," you said, "the guys are probably waiting for you."

"No," Bucky’s head shook. "I sent them home. You’re more important."

You melted at the words. Yes. Confirmed. Your Bucky was back to you. The man you loved and gave everything. He was putting you first.

"You didn’t need to do that," you mumbled, bashfully. Bucky chuckled at your reaction.

"Of course I did," he insisted. "I was worried. I never wanted you to see that. You didn’t sign up for that."

"No, Bucky, I really didn’t," you shook your head.

He sighed, "And I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

You looked down again, suddenly worried you were putting too much guilt on him but at the same time, that felt silly to even consider. You weren’t sure anymore. The day was overwhelming as the minutes continued.

"Could we just go to bed now?"

Bucky removed his hands from your shoulders and stood, allowing you to get out of the chair and make your way to the bed, under the fluffy comforter. Your husband watched, waiting until you were comfortable.

"I’ve got a few phone calls to make but then I’ll come to bed, okay?"

You nodded, eyes shut already halfway into your dream world. You heard Bucky chuckle as he turned out the lights and shut the door quietly.

You lulled yourself to sleep, head still spinning from the earlier acts. The whiplash your husband gave you was starting to catch up but how much more could you think about it? It’d come back and you’d have to deal but for now, you could pretend. At least while you slept, you could go back to putting that distance between yourself and any side of Bucky that wasn’t husband Bucky. For just a bit, you could pretend you didn’t know so much.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

taglist note: i chose not to tag in this work b/c it is an AU and was unsure if people were comfortable with being tagged in such.

[lovely-angst]

What UA taught me

this was going good and then it wasnt

pairing: bakugou x reader

word count: 3k

genre: fluff

summary: it was the sports festival at UA, but your school gets broken into by villains

12.05.20

-

“Hello?” 

“Hey Katsuki! It’s nice to hear your voice again,” you tease with a smile as Bakugou goes silent on the other side before quickly replying, “you should be thankful I picked up your damn call,” he shoots back, but you know better. 

“Like you didn’t answer my call right away,” you giggle as you glance up at the orange sky, “but you’re right. I should be thankful thee Bakugou Katsuki has picked up my call.” 

“That’s what I thought,” he finishes, a small smile on his lips. It had been a while since he was able to joke around with you like this, and did it leave him feeling more refreshed at hearing your voice. “Sorry that we haven’t been able to call often, it’s been hectic as a second year,” Bakugou confesses, but you shake your head, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see you. 

“Don’t worry about it Katsuki, I know you’re working hard to become number one. Our phone calls can always wait,” you say gently, a small smile on your lips, “I’m just happy we were able to call today.” 

“Oh! You want to hear something funny?” you begin to tell Bakugou all sorts of stories about your new classmates and the new things you’ve been doing now that you’re no longer at UA.

Bakugou shared a few stories with you as well, keeping you up to date on your old classmates and friends. You smiled as he rambled on about Midoriya before talking about his hero internships and how they weren’t as hands on as he’d like. 

“Maybe I’ll get lucky and run into you on the streets when you’re doing work study,” your tone shifted into a hopeful one as you thought about seeing Bakugou in person, “that would be so nice.” 

“Don’t come distracting me now,” he teases, causing you to roll your eyes, “yeah right. You’re going to distract yourself. Stop putting the blame on me,” you tease back with a slight giggle before it goes silent on both sides. 

“I really miss you, you know?” you confess with a sigh. “It sucks not being able to see you every day. I can’t believe I’ve already gone two months without seeing you once.”

“Yeah, yeah, I miss you too,” he responds and you could already imagine the faint blush on his cheeks, causing you to smile. “Don’t forget to watch me on the big screen next week.” 

“How could I ever forget UA’s sports festival? It’s like the biggest event in Japan!” you cry, “My classmates and I are going to watch it together in class. I haven’t told them about you yet, so they’re in for a surprise once I tell them who I’m dating,” you giggle into the phone. 

“Damn right, those extras better know who you belong to,” rolling your eyes at his dramatic comment, you see the train station ahead, much to your dismay. 

“Oh, I’m at the station. I’ll have to end the call here, Katsuki,” standing still under the streetlights that helped light the darkening streets, you let out a sigh. “I’ll call again after the sports festival next week. Good luck! Let’s get another win this year!” you cheer, hearing Bakugou snort from the other side. 

“If I win, do I get a prize?” Bakugou asks, and you knew he wasn’t talking about some medal. “I don’t know. How about you win first, then we can talk?”

Bakugou clicks his tongue, “Come on, give me some motivation here, sweet cheeks,” he calls out, adding pet names that have you rolling your eyes, “Jeez, you’re so needy,” you joke, shaking your head with a smile. 

“Um, I’ll give you a kiss if you win,” you say, “Can’t back out now, I’m going to expect a kiss by the end of the day after my victory,” he says undoubtedly, causing you to gawk. 

“But you’re not allowed out and I’m not allowed in!” you protest, but you hear him click his tongue. “Should’ve thought of that beforehand, princess. See you later, don’t forget my prize.” 

Beep.

Pulling your phone back to see the ended phone call, you could feel your cheeks heating up from the thought of a kiss. It wasn’t like you two had never kissed, but a kiss after two months apart had you fainting at just the thought. 

Shaking away your nerves, you quickly made your way to the station before waiting for your train.

---

“It’s starting! “your classmates shouts as they quickly ran to their seats, students scrambling around quickly before quieting down to watch the television that had been rolled into class. 

One of the biggest events in Japan was just about to begin—UA’s annual sports festival. Businesses and schools alike had been shut down for the day so everyone would be able to enjoy such an anticipated event. 

Thankfully, your teacher had talked with the principal into letting your class watch the event in the classroom together and thankfully, he agreed, which resulted in where you were right now. 

Memories of your first year at UA beginning to flood your brain as you watched the familiar stage and arena in nostalgia, but now as a spectator.

“Didn’t you use to go to UA, (Name)?” a classmate asked as they turned around to face you before you gave them a nod. “So you were in the sports festival last year too?” 

You gave them another nod before they awed at you. “Whoa! Is it just as intense as it looks?” Your eyes widen with another nod, “You have no idea. It’s super competitive, but it’s definitely rewarding at times.”

“Oh, here comes the first years!”

As everyone focused back on the television, you couldn’t help the butterflies in your stomach. You felt so nervous for all of the students, but you also were so anxious to see Bakugou on television.

Of course he was going to do well, but it’s been so long since you’ve seen him, well, in action. 

Watching the first years was just as amazing as you had remembered your first year to be. You had some favorites, quirk wise and personality wise. 

Though you loved watching the new first years of UA, you couldn’t wait to get to the second years, where your old classmates were and especially your boyfriend.

It had been a few months since you’ve seen them and you couldn’t wait to see how they’ve progressed in such a short amount of time.

After Midnight had announced this year’s winner’s for the first years, the second years walked out onto the stadium, looking ready for anything heading their way.

Present Mic was already announcing the introductions to the second years, causing your heart to flutter.

The camera landed on Bakugou, with Present Mic loud commentating, “Last year’s winner, Bakugou Katsuki! Will he be able to keep his title as victor this year?”

Bakugou rolled his eyes at the camera, stuffing his hands in his pockets at the comment. 

“Also representing the second years, is Bakugou Katsuki!” 

Bakugou shot his head over at Midoriya with a glare as the poor green haired male brought his hands up in defense. “We all thought you’d be a great representative after everything that’s happened in our first year!” Mina cried as she jumped on his back playfully. 

You could see your old classmates surround him with warm and supportive smiles before Bakugou eventually gave in and walked up to the microphone beside Midnight. 

“I still will become number one,” he starts casually, “but if I somehow don’t, I know my class will come out on top.” 

Everyone in the stadium gawked at his answer. He wasn’t much different than he was a year ago, but he was definitely more fond of his classmates. You couldn’t help but smile at his answer.

Midnight let out a chuckle, “Well, you seem very certainly motivated today. What is behind that motivation?” 

Bakugou took a step forward, grabbing where the mic sat in the stand, “My girlfriend said she’d give me a kiss if I won first place,” he said smugly, glancing over at the camera. “(Name), you don’t want to let everyone down now if you don’t give me a kiss.” 

You choke upon hearing his answer as you watch him walk away like he hadn’t just exposed you to all of Japan. 

Your classmates all slowly turned their gaze on you, silently demanding an answer on why the stuck-up blonde had said your name and called you his girlfriend. 

You duck your head down sheepishly, “I was going to tell you all at the end of the day today, but I guess he already announced it to all of Japan,” you start. “That’s my boyfriend, Bakugou Katsuki,” you confirm with an awkward smile before your class erupts in chaos, missing the start of the second year’s obstacle course.

-

“And finally, this year’s first place winner is Bakugou Katsuki! For the second time in a row!” Midnight announces, as Endeavor, being the new number one hero, hands out their medals. 

You facepalm internally as you watch Bakugou with his smug smile. You knew he was just waiting for that kiss!

Once the third years walked out onto the arena, you felt your phone vibrating before Bakugou’s caller ID lit up the screen, causing your eyes to widen before some of your classmates noticed. 

“(Name) ’s boyfriend is calling her!” they teased, “he’s waiting for that kiss!” 

Pouting, you stood up before grabbing your phone and walking towards the doors, “Jeez, you don’t have to remind me!” you cry, sliding the door open before stepping out to take the call. 

Sliding the accept button, you bring the phone towards your ear, “Hello?”

“So, when am I going to get that kiss?” his low attractive voice says through your phone speakers as you scrunch up your nose, “Katsuki, I can’t believe you announced that to all of Japan,” you whine before he lets out a snort, “just making sure you don’t forget.”

Your classmates begin to cheer loudly from within the class as you peek through the door’s small window before focusing back on Bakugou. 

“First of all, congratulations on winning! Secondly, I’d love to give you a kiss, but I just don’t know how we’ll be able to see each other,” you had gone through the possible options, but they never made it far. UA becoming a boarding school made it almost impossible for the two of you to meet. 

“Well, when do you think the next time we’ll be able to see each other is?” Bakugou asked, irritated that he wouldn’t be getting his kiss anytime soon. 

“New Years?” 

Bakugou choked. “New Years? Are you fucking kidding me? You know it’s still early in the year,” he complains, but all you can do is shrug your shoulders.

“That’s how it’s gonna be, so suck it up. We only ever went home once last year and that was for New Years,” you inform, hearing him huff on the other side of the phone. “I know you really want that kiss, Katsuki. I want to kiss you just as much, but we can’t see each other because of how strict UA has become, I’m sorry.” 

Bakugou sighed, “Don’t be sorry,” he starts, earning a smile from you, “our New Year’s kiss better be fucking worth it.” You couldn’t help the giggle that falls from your lips at his words. “It will be, I promise.”

After saying quick goodbyes, you and Bakugou ended the phone call before you made your way back into class to finish watching the remainder of the sports festival with your classmates.

“What did I miss?” you ask, sliding into your chair as your eyes focused back onto the screen. “Nothing much, just the third year introductions. They just started the obstacle course.” 

Suddenly out of nowhere, a loud explosion was heard, causing you to jump from your seat. 

“What was that?” you asked nervously, your classmates alike glancing around with wide eyes. “Was that from the TV?” 

“It couldn’t have been...that sounded way too loud and too close.” a classmate responded as you stood up in your seat to walk carefully toward the door, listening for any other sounds. 

When no other explosion came, you quietly slid the door open before secretly peeking your head out, glancing around for any suspicious activity. But you couldn’t pick up on anything. 

Turning around to face your shaken up classmates, you let out a determined breath. “I’m not sure what the situation is right now, but I’m going to need you all to stay calm and cooperate with me here,” you order as they all glanced at you.

“Enna, could you use your quirk to see how many people are in the building and what they are doing right now?” she quickly nods her head before standing up and closing her eyes, activating her quirk as you all watch silently. 

Her eyes shoot open before she glances over at you in fear, “There are three people on the first floor, heading up to the second floor where we are. It looks like there might be some people surrounding the school perimeter as well,” 

You nod and thank her before turning to look at another classmate, “Miki, you have an enhanced hearing quirk, right? Could you press your ear against the door and try to listen for what they might be saying?” 

You could tell she was shaken up, but she nodded nonetheless. Walking shakily towards the door, she pressed her ear against the cold surface for a minute before turning over to you. 

“They’re looking for the UA student who transferred...” 

Your eyes widened as her words struck you—they were coming for you. 

Your heart was beating wildly in your chest even as you tried to calm yourself down. Glancing over at your classmates, they looked terrified, some bursting into tears at the thought of villains heading their way. 

You were surprised you could stay calm during such an event, but then it hit you. You’ve been through this, facing villains head on. You had been training for this and you were their only hope of staying safe. 

Putting on a determined face, you face your classmates, “Listen up and listen closely, we don’t have much time,” you start, leaning closer, “We know they’re coming for me, so we have to make sure we keep them away from us as soon as possible until help arrives.”

Their desperate eyes watch you as they nod with every word you say, clinging onto the hope you had given them. 

“Worst case scenario is that we have to fight them ourselves, but let’s do our best to keep ourselves safe,” you say with a comforting smile, “I’ve gone through enough training at UA to be able to devise a plan, but it can only do so much.” 

And so you began to create a plan with all of the quirks from your classmates.

A classmate with an animal shifting quirk would change herself into a bird and fly out of the window to find any pro hero patrolling out in the streets, while your classmates try to secretly and safely escape. 

You tried dialing Bakugou to no avail; his phone most likely turned off due to the sports festival. 

‘there are villains at my school, please come with help as soon as you see this’ 

quickly hiding your phone in your pocket before turning around to continue your escape route with your classmates.

“Here, this way, quietly,” you usher towards the window as Enna had cleared the area of any villains, making it the escape route. “They’re searching the classes right now, we need to hurry,” Miki explained as you helped the students lower themselves onto the ground with the makeshift rope. 

“There are two people around the corner, but if we use Tomoya’s quirk, we could make it out without being detected,” Enna informed as you turned towards Tomoya. 

Before you could ask for his help, he nodded at you before kneeling down, touching the ground with his fingertips before raising his hand into the air, creating an illusion of the same image of the school ground, but with the students hidden behind the illusion wall. 

“I can only keep this illusion up well for five minutes before it starts vanishing,” Tomoya explains as he continued to hold his arms up with the illusion. 

On the other side of the gate, you could see the students running away to safety while you were left with Tomoya and another student who was climbing down the ropes from the window. 

“Ah!” a scream caught your attention before you heard a thud, a student on the ground clutching her ankle. “(Name), I think I sprained my ankle!” she cried as she glanced up at you for help. 

“(Name) I can’t hold this for much longer,” Tomoya strained as you could see the illusion slowly warp away. To your dismay, the two men around the corner noticed your presence as they came rushing over. “Over here!” 

“Tomoya! Get Nina to safety!” you cried as you ran towards the two men. 

“What about you, (Name)?” he shouted, but you continue running, “Don’t worry! Go find the pros, I’ll stop them from getting to you guys!” 

As you came face to face with the two large men, you were quick enough to dodge their arms, running under them before pressing a hand on their back before activating your quirk. 

Chains began to wrap around their torsos before you pull your arms in, causing their bodies to smash together as you held them tightly against each other as long as you could. 

Your strength with holding down two people wasn’t as strong as when you held down one person, but your quirk training had prepared you for this. Curling over yourself, you held your breath as you continued to hold the two men down. 

Minutes passed before you felt yourself starting to lose consciousness from the overuse of your quirk to its full potential. 

At least all of your classmates are safe and away from danger. This is what being a hero is, right? Your vision begins to blackout, your grip on the villains loosens before you fall onto the ground with a thud. 

- 

“Congratulations on receiving first again for the second time in a row!” Sero cheers, wrapping an arm around Bakugou’s shoulder as the class returned to their dorms after an eventful day. 

Shaking the man’s arm off, he trudged forward into the common area before walking into the kitchen for some water. 

“Hurry up and turn the TV on! I need to relax now!” Mina exclaims, falling onto the couch beside Momo. As the television turned on, the news channel came on, catching everyone’s attention. 

“A group of villains broke into a high school today in search of a previous student of UA,” the newscaster announced as Bakugou’s focus shifted towards the television. 

“All students were able to escape safely thanks to their classmate, (Last Name) (Name), who devised a plan to get everyone to safety, even using her quirk to keep the villains strapped in place.”

The camera shifted to a classmate of yours, interviewing them on the terrifying event. “(Name) stayed calm even when she knew she was being targeted. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if we’d all be here safe and sound.” 

“She prioritized us over herself and made sure we were safe. She’s so brave. A true hero.” 

“(Name) was unconscious when pro heroes entered the scene and she is currently under UA’s care, suffering minor injuries due to over exhausting herself from quirk use.”

Bakugou threw his cup in the sink before digging into his pockets to find his phone, now noticing all the missed calls from you before reading your heartbreaking text. 

“Fuck!” he yelled, running out of the dorms only to crash into Aizawa around the corner. 

“Bakugou-”

“Do you know where (Name) is?” Bakugou pleaded, “please.” 

Aizawa let out a sigh before answering, “she’s in the nurse’s office with Recovery Girl. Make it back before 10 pm and I won’t give you any consequences,” Aizawa inform before Bakugou was off and running again.

As soon as he made it to the Recovery Girl’s office, he noticed you on the bed closest to the window, your eyes focused on the scenery below you.

“(Name),” Bakugou breathes as your head turns to face him, eyes widening. “Katsuki?”

Before he could think, his body moved on its own, falling into your lap as he wrapped his arms around your waist, face in your stomach. “Katsuki, are you okay?”

Pulling away, he gave you a stern look, “You fucking passed out fighting some villains, (Name).”

“It was only for about an hour or two, I’m just here for precautions,” you say, staring into his eyes before smiling. “But I’m glad I get to see you today,” 

Sighing, Bakugou hid his face in your stomach with a sigh. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me. If only I had picked up your calls or read your text you wouldn’t have ended up here,” he confessed but you shake your head.

“You had things to do, don’t worry about it. I’m safe now aren’t I?”

Bakugou reaches over to intertwine his hands with yours, “be more careful, dumbass. You’re lucky they were some low class villain that didn’t know what they hell they were doing.”

Squeezing his hand, you give him a nod, “I was just doing what I was taught at UA,” Bakugou quietly stares at you with a frown, “You sure you can’t come back?” 

Brushing your hand through his blonde locks, your smile softens at the feel of him, “I’ll ask my parents when they arrive here. Aizawa said he was going to talk to my parents about enrolling me back because it would be safer for me.”

Just as Bakugou was about to close his eyes and relax into your touch, your soft voice asked for him to sit up. 

Your hands place themselves on his cheeks before you bring him in for a kiss, heat rising to his cheeks at the sudden affection. “Congratulations on your win today,” you say cheekily before he smirks, bring you in for more. 

-

A month passed since the incident and everything was back to normal. Bakugou trudging to class so early in the morning as he plopped himself down in his desk before homeroom announcements would start. 

It wasn’t long before Aizawa walked into class, looking as bored and tired as always, causing Bakugou to glance over towards the windows. 

“Good morning, class. I have some important news today, so please listen up,” he starts as the class begins to settle down. “First off, I’d like to introduce our new student who will be joining us today. You can come on in,” Aizawa informs as the door slides open.

Bakugou peels his eyes from the windows to glance over at the door, his eyes slightly widening in shock.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself,” Aizawa asks, stepping aside as you take the podium.

“Good morning. My name is (Name) and I’ll be finishing off the school year with you all. Please continue to look after me.”

[callemreine]

Brave face, talk so lightly(hide the truth)

'All my life, I've just wanted to make things easier for them.'

Au August

Day/Prompt: Day 26 - Soulmate

Ship: Prinxiety, brief logicality, creativitwins

Word count: 3k (I'm so sorry I got carried away)

Cw: swearing / brief murder mention / implied death / crying / nightmares(?) / anxiety mention / caps / claustrophobia(?)

A/N: the prompt is your dreams are your soulmate's memories. The title is from the song "Sick of losing soulmates" by dodie. I wrote the first 1/4 of this a few days ago and the rest in one sitting and I couldn't care less about proofreading it so Im so sorry if there are any mistakes ;-;

@tsshipmonth2020

I see a girl in the distance. She has her back turned. Long chocolate-colored hair tied in a low messy bun. My hand is reaching out to her. I feel this sudden longing to be held by this woman. Craving her caring and loving words. Telling me that everything is going to be alright.

Wait. Why is she getting farther away?

She looks back at me with a sad smile. Everything gets dark. I let my eyes stray from her to look around. When was I in a hospital corridor?

"I'm sorry, Pumpkin. You're gonna have to continue our adventure without me. But, fear not, Little one. I'll always be there by you. You just gotta learn to know where I am,"

She caresses my cheek, giving me the warmest smile I have ever received.

She's gone, suddenly. I touch my cheek, still feeling the ghost of her warm touch. Along with��� something wet? Am- Am I crying?

"Roman!"

I don't move. I feel stuck. But, also free, somehow. Just unsure of what to do, I guess?

"Roman! Wake up. You idiot!

"Roman!

"Oh, thank all things unholy! I thought someone was in our room, trying to murder us! You were crying, and- and whispering stuff! And it's creeping me the fuck out! And I'm not easily creeped out, you know that" Remus exclaimed as he sat on Roman's chest, grabbing his twin’s shoulders.

"Man, you're soulmate must have some twisted memories," He continued, getting off of Roman and returning to his own bed across the room.

'Yeah. Twisted…' Roman thought.

~*~*~

"You okay there, Sweetie?" Roman heard from where his head was buried on the kitchen counter. "Yeah... Just thinking about my soulmate again," he admitted.

"Another bad dream?" His mom inquired as she sat next to Roman, patting his back. "It's not just that. It's about the move. Like, we're never really sure which of our memories they see, right? But, they've seen all my memories from this place. Like, they know where I've been my entire life…" he trailed off.

"I'm just not sure how they would feel seeing a whole new different place… They don't seem to be in a place to experience a big change right now. All my life, I've just wanted to make things easier for them. And, yeah, my dreams don't really change that much. But, I make an effort, y'know?" Roman looked up at his mom to seek at least some kind of reassurance.

"I understand what you mean, and I think that what you're doing is great. And I know that you're gonna be the bestest thing that's ever gonna happen to them. But, I'm really sorry. We don't really have any choice with this move. I know your soulmate is in a dark place right now, but you can't always do everything for them. You're also your own person," His mom hugged him.

Roman felt like he was hopeless in this situation. And, he was always hoping for the best. For his soulmate or otherwise. Maybe his mom was right about putting himself first sometimes.

~*~*~

Virgil was in his first period when someone he didn't expect to walk into his classroom… walks into his classroom… They were wearing an army green shirt, a denim jacket with neon green highlights and spikes at the bottom, ripped jeans, and platform boots with more spikes and vulgar words written on them. To say that this man was familiar was an understatement. He KNEW this man's entire life THROUGH his dreams.

Virgil felt like he was trespassing someone's life. Like, he wasn't supposed to know the man. And that, they shouldn't be in any way related. Especially to their sibling.

He wasn't really ecstatic about meeting his soulmate. IN SCHOOL NO LESS. It wasn't really an ideal 'meet-your-soulmate' place for someone like Virgil.

"Alright, students, I'm sure you've all noticed that we have a new student right here. Now, why don't you go and introduce yourself, Mister," their teacher said to the denim jacket guy.

"Umm. Sup? I'm Remus Duke Kingsley. Nice to meet you all. And, if you see a guy that looks like me but without the mustache and wears red all the time, he’s always loud, you can’t miss him. That's my twin brother, Roman. The boring one," Remus says, yawning by the end of his introduction.

'HOLY FUCK, TWINS?!' Virgil thought. Fortunately(or unfortunately, depending on which part of Virgil's brain you're asking), Remus already gave him a vague description of who to look out for.

~*~*~

Virgil continues his day and falls into his daily routine, which mostly includes attempting to avoid being perceived by anyone. It usually succeeds if you exclude his friend, Patton, from ‘anyone.’ He only hopes that his soulmate also sees Patton in their dreams cuz, to be honest, Patton is the ray of sunshine everyone needs. Yeah, he was also friends with Logan, but he’s more like a moon if you ask him.

Virgil goes into the cafeteria and sits at their usual table, his back facing the entire cafeteria. He takes out a paper bag from his bag and grabs the sandwich he bought earlier, not waiting for his friends.

A few moments pass before Logan and Patton reach his table. “Hey, kiddo! You alright?” Patton says as he sits down. Virgil just gives them a nod and continues to eat. “I heard this morning that there were new students,” Logan inquires before Patton interrupts “Oh yeah! They’re twins! I have first period with one of them. He’s really nice. Oh! Hey! Roman! Over here!” Patton shouts and waves his arm toward a student that just entered the cafeteria. “Hope you guys don’t mind that I invited him over to sit with us,” He continues and flashes both Virgil and Logan a smile no one could say no to.

“Hey, Patton.” The guy says to Patton. “Hope you guys don’t mind me crashing your table. I’m Roman by the way,” Roman says to the other two. “Pleasure to meet you, Roman. I’m Logan. And, no, we wouldn’t mind at all,” Logan answered him back. Roman looked over to Virgil who just nodded and said his name. Roman then proceeded to sit next to Virgil but not paying him any mind.

And, though Virgil seemed to be calm about the situation, his mind is currently in flames having his anxiety and his gay panic fight over each other. Virgil is currently waiting for who would win, that's why he seems so calm on the outside. After finishing his sandwich, he was trying to think of something he could do to keep himself from leaving and be noticed. He looked over to Logan, attentively listening to Patton talking about the dog he saw this morning. Roman was silently eating his lunch, also listening to Patton, but looking around the cafeteria every once in a while.

It seems that Virgil’s anxiety won the fight because he decided that he doesn’t want to stick around with his friends and his apparent soulmate without doing anything. So, he stands up and excuses himself from the group. "Hey! Wait!" Roman calls after him. Virgil stops a few feet from the table to look back at Roman who was already jogging towards him.

"Virgil, right?" He assures.

Virgil nods. "Ok, there’s just something I wanna ask you. Are those two soulmates?" Roman throws his thumb back, pointing at the two left at the table. "Cuz, as much as how adorable they look together, I kinda don't want to be stuck as a third wheel," he continues.

"Oh. Yeah, those two are soulmates. Sometimes, I wonder if they ever do notice me every time I leave the table," Virgil elaborates, looking back at his friends with a slight smile.

"Umm. Class doesn't start for a few more minutes. I was wondering if I could join you for a while? Wherever you were going…" Roman trailed off, realizing he didn't know where the shorter male was headed.

"Uhh. Yeah, sure. I was just headed to the courtyard to pass the time,"

'Shit. Virgil, why are you doing this?! Why did you agree?! You have anxiety!' Virgil mentally scolded himself.

"Ok. Cool. I'll just go get my stuff," Roman flashed Virgil a smile before heading back to the table.

'Fuck. I am so screwed,' Virgil thought.

~*~*~

"So, what's the deal with those two? I mean, how did they deal with the soulmates thing?" Roman finally spoke a few moments after they found a bench to settle on. "Uhh, well. Logan is my childhood friend and the first day we started high school here, they both had a dream of roll call the other had that day, I guess? They both heard each other's name and boom. You got your glasses gays," Virgil discussed, reminiscing the events that happened that day.

Roman let out a chuckle at Virgil's last words, causing the other's heart to skip a beat. They remain silent for a while, watching the other students passing by.

"What about you?" Roman spoke up.

"What about me?" Virgil glances back.

"I mean, what about you? Have you met your soulmate? Do you know who they are? You just seem like an interesting individual to me, having to stick around knowing you're third-wheeling all the time yet valuing your time with them and your time with yourself all the same. Well, either that or I'm just embarrassed that I think you're uncomfortable with me here…" Roman rambled, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed.

Virgil chuckled, "Nah. I just get anxious when meeting new people. Plus, I think you're a pretty nice guy." They smiled at each other, Virgil feeling his face heat up, and looks away immediately. "And, about the soulmate thing. I think I have a clue of who they might be, I just…" he trailed off.

"What's holding you back?" Roman muttered, lowering his head, attempting to catch the other's eye. "I… I just think that my memories aren't that… for them. They're just this amazing and joyful person… I just don't think they deserve to see my bland memories every night,"

The pair fell silent, Roman feeling sympathy for the other. Virgil felt Roman shift in his seat before speaking up, "I don't think anyone's memories are ever bland."

Virgil looks up at Roman who has a far-off look with a slight smile on his lips. "I think that our dreams are what shows us what we're missing in life. What our soulmate has that we need and what we have that they need. You know, what makes you both feel complete when you're with each other," Roman smiled.

Virgil pondered on the other's statement for a while. "Is that... Is that how you feel when you're with your soulmate?" He said, being careful with his words. Roman sighed but remained smiling, "I haven't met them yet. But, what you said earlier reminded me of them. I always think they're a little different. My moms said that dreams are supposed to show my soulmate's memories. But, no one is ever sure which ones we see. Well, my dreams always have one thing in common… There's darkness every time…" Roman trailed off, looking more sad as he continued.

"Sometimes, they walk out of their house and, suddenly, everything goes dark and I see pairs of eyes staring at me as I walk. Or sometimes, they lie in bed and, suddenly, it's dark again and I'm stuck inside a box too small for me. But, there’s always this one dream that always repeats itself. Though, I'm not sure my soulmate's gonna be comfortable with me sharing," Roman finally snaps out of his trance and looks up at Virgil, looking embarrassed.

At this point, Virgil is now entirely sure that the person in front of him is his soulmate. He feels tears cloud his eyes so he looks away to play off wiping them away before looking back at Roman with pity in his expression. This is exactly what Virgil was afraid of, having his soulmate also experience the darkness that clouds him every day he wakes up.

"Wow… They- I- I don't know what to say… What are you gonna do when you meet them?" Virgil glances at Roman, pity still in his eyes. Roman let out a sigh but smiled, "I'm gonna give them the biggest hug they've ever received and reassure them that I'm always gonna be with them and that they'll never have to feel alone all the time ever again." Roman looked at Virgil with a smile. But, before he could notice the tear that fell from the other's eye, a loud shrill of their school bell rang throughout the courtyard, signaling the start of their next class.

"Talk about first impressions," Roman said with a chuckle, standing up. "Well, see you around, Virgil. I got a few more 'Hi, I'm Roman' to do," he continued, leaving Virgil on the bench.

~*~*~

I hear my converse squeak as I walk through the hallway. There are people around me, but they're all just silhouettes of the same familiar darkness. I'm walking to what seems to be the cafeteria. I sit down and grab my lunch from my bag. A few minutes pass, two figures sit in front of me. There's something familiar about them despite being two black silhouettes.

"Hey, kiddo! You alright?"

Patton?

"I heard there were new students," Logan?

Wait. Am I…

"Oh yeah! They're twins!"

Oh.

"I have first period with one of them. He's really nice. Oh! Hey! Roman! Over here!"

Before I could look over to… me…

Darkness. Again.

I hear muffled voices. Too muffled to be recognized.

I stay in darkness for what felt like hours before I get surrounded by light.

Too bright.

There's a silhouette in front of me. It doesn't have any facial features but I can feel it stare at me. Slowly, the light around me doesn't feel too bright anymore. It feels… warm and comforting. Similar to the feeling I have in my chest, along with a squeezing feeling. I feel tears cloud my eyes, but I feel happy, somehow?

I feel someone embrace me. I look up to see the silhouette. Its arms around me, like it's protecting me. I feel secure. I feel loved.

I hug back, breaking down in its arms.

"You don't have to be alone anymore"

I hear my own voice. I break down sobbing, seeking more of the silhouette's warmth.

I stopped sobbing after a while but remained in the silhouette's arms for what felt like hours.

"You gotta wake him up!" I heard a distant voice say in a hushed tone.

"No, he hasn't slept like this since who knows when… Something must've happened yesterday..."

I feel myself slowly drifting from where I was standing.

"We can just tell the school he's sick"

"On the second day?"

I feel someone caress my cheek.

"You can stay too if you want"

"Hey, sweetie," Roman opens his eyes to his mom in front of him.

"What's going on? Why are you all in our room?" Roman asks as he sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He eyes Remus standing in front of their mama. Their mom is sitting on the edge of Roman's bed, facing him.

"Well, sweetie. You see, you just had a full night's sleep," their mom explained.

"You looked so peaceful too," their mama added with a smile. Roman stopped to let the events of his dream last night come back to him.

"Roman, is everything ok?" Their mama walked over to him, tucking a few strands of his hair behind his ear. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay!" He flashed a smile to his moms, meaning what he said.

~*~*~

Roman hadn't been able to sit still ever since he got to school. 'Late', he should add. Apparently, he overslept while Remus and their moms decide whether to wake him up or not.

When they got to school in the middle of first period, they were excused because their moms were there to explain. With a slightly bent truth, of course.

Roman had to wait three(and a half) classes to talk to Virgil. They didn't have any classes together, to which Roman was bummed to find out. When the bell rang, signaling their lunch break, Roman hurriedly headed to the cafeteria. When he got there, he spotted Virgil just about to sit down at their usual table.

"Uhh. Virgil? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Roman felt awkward, to say the least.

"Uhm. Sure," Virgil replied, standing up. Roman led them under a tree in the courtyard, away from other students. They stayed silent for a while before Virgil spoke up, "So… what'd you wanted to talk about?"

Roman just stared at Virgil for a few moments, examining him, before enveloping him in a tight hug. Virgil stood frozen for a while, surprised at the gesture. He slowly placed his hands on Roman's back, still confused at the sudden affection.

"You're not alone anymore, Pumpkin," Roman said in a gentle voice, cradling the other's head. Virgil froze when he heard the nickname. His expression then softens and hugs Roman tighter, burying his face on the taller male’s shoulder.

"How did you find out?" Roman heard, slightly muffled by his jacket. "Had a dream about yesterday," Roman simply stated, not elaborating more. "What about you? You said you had a clue. Oh! That rhymed,"

They both laughed.

"I have first period with Remus and I recognized him right away," Virgil replied, his face still buried on Roman's shoulder. "Oh, I'm so sorry you have to deal with him," Roman chuckled.

"No, I'm sorry you had to deal with him your entire life,"

"Well, we're not alone anymore now, are we? Roman asked with a serious tone. Virgil parted a few inches from Roman, still holding on to him. He smiled as he looked up at Roman, "No, we're not."

This might be the last one I'll do for AU august but I'm also deciding if I should go back to the prompts I missed when I was sick hmm

I wish I included Remus more in this but it was already 3k words and thats the longest I've ever written so maybe its for the best XD

[shimmersing]

Best Intentions *COMPLETE* Masterpost | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Bonus! Soundtrack @ Spotify

“Ah, Lieutenant!” Erithon swallowed hard against the wave of apprehension that was gathering in his throat as Duke Organa flagged him down. “A most splendid representative of our allies in the Republic. Come!”

He managed not to squirm like a cadet when the Duke clapped him on the shoulder, turning him toward the ballroom’s grand stairway. It wasn’t that he didn’t like parties. This was just a few steps away from the usual military shindig: salute a few times, don’t spill anything on the dress uniform. Nobility wasn’t that far removed from the brass, right? Same kind of handshake deals that meant something a little different to each party, and something else altogether for the people under them. He shrugged inside the stiff sleeves of his jacket, not exactly uncomfortable, just… unfamiliar. It fit fine. But it didn’t feel quite right. Like this whole scene.

“Ah, excellent,” Organa drawled, slowing as a commotion drew everyone’s attention. Flashes sparkled as various holocams swarmed like killiks around the newest arrival. The duke glanced sidelong at Erithon while the soldier craned his neck to get a better view, squinting past the glare.

He knew – obviously; he wasn’t a complete nerf herder – that it would be his Jedi, the same way he knew when a blaster was about to overheat. He just knew. Was that how the Force worked? He didn’t think so, and a question like that seemed so utterly childish he almost laughed aloud. Would she, if he asked? Nah, she wouldn’t. She’d smile and offer him a gentle analogy like that morning, when he’d gathered enough nerve to ask her how he came to be sitting next to her on the transport and not in a body bag.

“Force healing is…” Aitahea had replied, their shoulders nudging companionably as the transport rumbled back toward the palace, “…hard to explain.” Her cheeks had flushed a little, the darting glance from below her lowered lashes full of shy apology. “But I’ll try.” She’d explained her method, which to him didn’t sound all that different from any other medical scanner he’d been in, only a lot more pleasant if his experience was any example.

“My sister on Brentaal is a nurse. Thought it was a little funny when we were younger. We always had medical droids to take care of everything, right?” The Jedi had bobbed her head, eager to hear his next thought. “But after I woke up in a kolto tank the first time alone, I mean, no personnel…” He’d flailed for some explanation of the isolation he’d felt, but it had been hard to recall while her shoulder had been jostling against his. He’d shrugged, grinned, and continued, “Now I think I prefer seeing someone friendly on waking.”

She’d gazed at him with a solemn wonder that had quickened his breath, had him doing everything he could to memorize the ever-so-slight parting of her lips before they curled into a smile.

Just like they did now.

Erithon was so preoccupied with following her gaze that the sudden smile blooming in his direction took his breath away. Again. Aitahea was resplendent. Gossamer enshrouded, bound hair freed from utilitarian plaits and tumbling over her bare shoulders – he throttled back a ridiculous urge to elbow Duke Organa and point out that she had shoulders, and weren’t they nice, too?

Organa smoothed his hands over his lapels, looking pleased with himself, while Erithon struggled to recall his higher vocabulary. “I expect the press will want a holo of our heroes.”

“A holo of-” he began, but she floated over to them right then, luminous and exquisite. It became quite clear who the press would want a holo of. The Jedi offered the duke a generous curtesy, and Erithon found his looming panic - particularly at the words “press” and “holo” - replaced by fascination with the way her earrings brushed against her jawline. Duke Organa caught her hands as she rose and enfolded her in a paternal embrace.

“Thank you, it’s beautiful,” Erithon heard Aitahea whisper to the duke.

“Superb timing, my dear.” The duke’s eyes crinkled merrily around an affectionate smile. He turned to nod at Erithon, adroitly pressing one of Aitahea’s hands into his, then stepped expertly into the background with a final, grand pronouncement: “Our Paladins!”

A cascade of flashes set Erithon’s vision shimmering, but training swiftly rose to meet unfamiliarity, and he managed to remain stoic even as his heart clanged wildly against his ribs. Clever fellow, that Organa, he mused, and with a smirk as bold as he could muster, he deftly hooked his arm under the Jedi’s hand and guided her away from the press. The Duke’s laughter echoed through the hall behind them, but Erithon couldn’t hear it and wouldn’t have cared anyway; he was busy memorizing the sound of her restrained giggle at his shoulder.

“That was a bold move, diplomatically speaking, Lieutenant,” she said playfully, drawing them to a stop to hold him at arm’s length. Flashes sparkled again, unnoticed by either. Her scrutiny didn’t bother him, and it did give him an opportunity to reciprocate.

“You’re… you look amazing,” he breathed, unable to push his awe aside. She could have been a daughter of any of the noble houses on Alderaan, only she couldn’t because none of them were as radiant, as otherworldly. She couldn’t, because even without her lightsaber (that he could tell, anyway), she remained a veritable force of nature. Unexplainable and irreplaceable, flushed cheeks and wide eyes and little white flowers caught up in her hair. Because when he’d said something as trite as ‘you look amazing’ her eyes lit up like she’d never heard anyone say it before this.

“Pardon me, Master Jedi? Lieutenant?” A fidgeting Haley Organa interrupted as politely as possible, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “We’re ready for you.”

Erithon blinked, overwhelmed with the sudden lurching feeling that he hadn’t studied for a test. Hadn’t he just deftly navigated them out of this nonsense? “For…us?”

Before the young page’s nervousness could escalate to panic, Aitahea intervened: “An introduction. The formal presentation. It’s mostly for the holonet, so they can put a name with your holo, and hopefully spell it correctly.” Her brows lowered, and he caught a glimpse of solemn concern behind her light tone. “It shouldn’t be unlike one of your military events.”

He inclined his head, discomfort ebbing away. He didn’t think it was a Jedi thing, not this time. “Smile, but not too much.”

“Just so,” she replied softly, reaching up to brush away some unseen particle from his collar. He straightened, willing his face back into a mask of quiet confidence. Her own features settled into practiced serenity, but her eyes, fixed on his, danced.

Just another kind of battlefield.

[BREAK HERE]

“Republic Lieutenant Erithon Zale of Havoc Squad and Master Aitahea Daviin of the Jedi Order.”

The cluster of press at the foot of the grand stair disappeared momentarily behind the coruscation of flashes. Beyond them Aitahea briefly glimpsed, through the sea of elaborate costume and outlandish headwear, the dancers at the center of the hall. Over the buzz of voices, she could hear the notes of a familiar waltz. Haley Organa gave her a relieved smile as he slipped away to his next charges, leaving the Jedi and the soldier to descend the gauntlet together. Beneath her hand, Erithon’s arm was reassuringly steady.

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes only once they reached the last stair and the press drew close again. Erithon looked down, one brow raised in a wordless plea: What now? Aitahea laughed and nudged him toward a knot of familiar faces.

“Guess we made an entrance,” he admitted, sparing a last glance toward the lingering press, and turned toward Elara Dorne and Arik Jorgan, both in military dress like their commander, and a beaming Brant Sonn. “Hey, we know them.”

They exchanged greetings; the more formal commentary was punctuated with the chatter of battlefield allies good-naturedly enjoying each other’s company. Aitahea listened to the companions, struggling to keep her eyes on the others and not so frequently on Erithon. Grasping rather tenaciously to his arm was helping but had to be forsaken well too soon for her preference when Tharan and Holliday approached, asking that the Jedi make introductions for them, it wouldn’t take but a moment.

“Of course,” Aitahea agreed, all politeness, turning back to Erithon to excuse herself. He winked at her and caught her free hand in a quick squeeze when she began to pull away. Aitahea found herself suddenly and agreeably conscious that neither of their finery required gloves. His hands were warm.

“Hurry back,” he said, eyes crinkling with mirth, and Aitahea nearly forgot to let go before being ushered away by a harassed-looking Tharan.

‘Hurry’ became three different conversations with seven different nobles from at least two houses and a science corporation headquartered on Organa lands. At last, Aitahea was finally able to withdraw from the conversation, wandering over to where dancers traded partners and minced steps rather than words or plans. It was one of her favorite court dances, learned and practiced enough in her youth that even now she felt muscles tensing for steps she hadn’t taken in years. Orderly and precise, patterns were traced and rewritten, dancers finding each other again, over and over.

“Thought I’d find you here.”

Aitahea was so entranced that she startled when Erithon spoke at her shoulder and laughed a little breathlessly. “Forgive me, I was so preoccupied with the dancers.” He offered her his arm and another charming grin, and she accepted, grateful that only she knew how an adolescent glee had settled so comfortably under her superficial calm. “I haven’t heard this since I was a girl – an initiate, in the enclave, that is.” She winced at her rambling explanation.

“Pretty.” He hadn’t seemed to notice her discomfort, occupied with carefully watching as the dancers divided, exchanged partners for a cursory bow, then returned to join hands. “Do you know the dance, too?”

She nodded. Well, if you’re going to be preposterously transparent may as well carry on, she thought vehemently, but her voice and expression remained blithe. “It’s traditional on Alderaan. Are you familiar with it?”

He grimaced at the dancers, chagrin drawing his brows low. “Um, no. But,” he offered cautiously, “I’m reasonably good at following orders. And you’ve kept me from embarrassing myself so far.”

“I’ve never… I haven’t in years, I don’t know if I can recall all…” Aitahea focused determinedly on his eyes while she tried to hold fast the wild fluttering in her chest, something delicate and precious that had lingered, and after a moment she found she liked it there simply fine. She inhaled slowly, then asked, “You’re certain?”

“I trust you.”

~

Erithon had made his mind up to ask if she wanted to dance before he’d even spotted her. He might not have any empathic sensibilities, but he’d watched her seek out the dancers even while they were walking down the grand stairs. Even he could tell she’d wanted to be out there, and if he could just manage to stay on his feet long enough to give her the chance, he’d handle any ribbing from his crew later. She deserved it.

“Listen,” she murmured over her shoulder as they waited, poised at the edge of the dance floor. “Can you hear the rhythm? One, two, three?”

“Mmhmm.” He nodded, swallowing hard when she stepped back against him. “Got it.” He shifted, hovering at her side, and hoping his heart wasn’t thumping in her ear like it felt like it had to be. “I think.”

Humming her amusement, she turned herself expertly into his arms and placed her left hand in his while she raised their right hands to her shoulder, fingers entwined. “Just start walking in time with the music.” She tapped a finger into his left palm. “Begin with your left.”

He took a breath and nodded. The dance was stately but leisurely, giving Erithon plenty of time to hear the next step whispered over Aitahea’s shoulder. She made it effortless, her body easy to follow, featherlight touches guiding his motions.

Good thing that was all he had time to focus on.

After a few minutes of mostly successful instruction, Aitahea uttered a warning about the impending partner change. Erithon swallowed hard, nodded, and next thing he knew, he was tripping over the shoes of an unfortunate noblewoman with what looked like an entire miniature thranta nest perched precariously on a tower of powdered curls. Thankfully, the exchange ended quickly and Erithon was relieved to have Aitahea guiding him once again.

“I didn’t think anyone in the whole Core was still powdering their hair,” the Jedi bubbled unexpectedly into his ear. He laughed a little too loud and swept her gratefully – though perhaps a little too enthusiastically – back into the progression. He liked this part best, he’d quickly discovered. The leader – his role apparent, though he might have disagreed technically – picked up their partner for a little lift and turn. Aitahea had warned him verbally the first time, but the second time he’d wrapped his hands around her waist he’d been too busy looking into her eyes and had missed the lift.

Erithon was determined. This round he got everything perfect: an effortless lift gave him a few moments to enjoy when her eyes widened and smile bloomed. If he put her down a second or two late, she didn’t seem to mind.

The song wasn’t quite through when Aitahea’s steps slowed, drifting out of the pattern. Erithon tensed, an arm already around her waist, and opened his mouth to ask if she was all right when she stumbled. He caught her easily; she was breathing much harder than one should be for a Jedi in fighting form – and the shadows beneath her eyes seemed suddenly more pronounced.

Alarm buzzed through him. “Are you okay?” She still had her feet under her, so he kept hold of one of her hands and curled the other arm securely around her waist. Just in case.

“Yes!” she exhaled quickly, leaning into him, and added a breathy laugh. “Perhaps we should get some air?”

“Here, come on.” Guiding her past guards in Organa livery, the terrace appeared mercifully empty while the festivities continued inside. Erithon led Aitahea to one of the benches by an elbow, easing her down first before sitting beside her, keenly aware of his now-empty arms. “Better?”

“Much, thank you,” she replied, swiping at her hairline with the back of one hand before she lifted her face to smile at him. “That was lovely. I’m so sorry it had to end that way, and so soon.”

“Me too.” He smiled, unexpectedly pleased with her response. “You learned that here, as a kid?”

She shifted, easing back against the stone. “Yes.” She glanced sidelong at him, a droll smile playing across her lips. “No doubt the Duke has already regaled with you with mortifying stories from my youth.”

“He didn’t get to that,” Erithon said with a roguish wink. “Not that I’d believe a word of it, of course.” Erithon frowned back at her, worry wrinkling his brow. “You look tired.”

She sighed noncommittally and closed her eyes, leaning back against the cool stone behind them. Underneath the surface flush, she was still pale, almost sallow. When she opened her eyes again, the glitter in them was past the dazzle of a party and looking almost feverish.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Erithon shifted uneasily as the silence stretched out, trying not to guess at her silence and just leave her some space to breathe.

“I am… carrying a burden.” She paused, twisting her fingers while she seemed to search for words. “I’m shielding several masters who were infected with a Force plague, standing between them and madness, perhaps worse. Even my own master…” She trailed off, staring into her hands, dropping them to rest open in her lap.

“Anything I can do?” He meant anything. He’d face down more Sith, however many it took to disengage her from this burden and give her some peace. Anything.

Aitahea looked at him with eyes suddenly glittering with tears; her expression nearly stopped his heart. Her voice was a whisper, her eyes dancing again. “Erithon…” Her focus shifted, gaze flickering past him just as Erithon himself caught the sound of approaching footfalls. He ground his teeth to keep from muttering the curse he caught grumbling in his throat, instead giving Aitahea a bemused grimace as he rose and offered her a hand.

The Jedi was a portrait of ethereal serenity again, eyes that only moments before had shone with desperate anguish had shuttered, hiding the woman who’d whispered his name like a plea, leaving only the Jedi, glorious as she was, incandescent but incomplete.

“Ah, Master Jedi, I’ve been hoping to track you down all evening. I’m Hallam Organa, head of House Organa’s diplomatic corps.” The broad fellow made a brief bow, then indicated his companion. “This is my younger, more handsome brother, Lew.”

Lew Organa gave his brother an indulgent look. “Please, Hallam. You do yourself an injustice.” His lips twitched. “Your age gives you a stately difference.”

“My lords, it’s an honor to make your acquaintance,” she replied, eyes crinkling with amusement, then turned to Erithon. “Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Erithon Zale of the Republic, commander of Havoc Squad.”

“Ah, the liberator of the Spears! What an opportunity, having our newest Paladins side by side, such fine company!” Hallam exclaimed, offering Erithon a deep bow that Lew also made. Erithon glanced at Aitahea, uncertain how to respond, and she inclined her head, giving him an encouraging smile. He copied the motion, appreciative but still a bit mystified by all the pomp and circumstance.

Rising, Hallam returned his attention pointedly to Aitahea. “Master Jedi, I’ve been told you’re seeking Master Sidonie Garen.”

She hovered close to Erithon’s side, her hand curled around his arm. “It’s urgent that I speak with Master Sidonie as soon as possible.”

“You just missed her, I’m afraid. She’s already left for the peace summit,” Hallam explained. “A peace summit on Alderaan! Imagine that!” He slapped his thigh, shaking his head incredulously at Lew, who nodded thoughtfully in response.

Erithon watched Aitahea’s lips thin almost imperceptibly, but the next moment she was tilting her head, tranquil and erudite. “Indeed. Can you put me in contact with her?” Erithon could feel her tensing, fingers tightening on his sleeve. Master Sidonie must be one of the infected Jedi masters she’d mentioned a few moments ago.

“I can call her, certainly.” Hallam flicked another glance at Erithon, considering. “The location of the summit is a secret for obvious reasons, but I’m sure she’d welcome your assistance. Meet us first thing tomorrow morning, diplomacy wing?”

He felt her shudder, but she nodded affirmation. “Thank you, my lord, the Council will be eager to hear any updates.”

~

Their shoulders brushed again and again as they walked, sending her heart skipping every time. He hadn’t let her go further than arm’s reach since she’d stumbled out of the dance progression, nor as they wandered back to their suites after finishing the stilted conversation with Hallam and Lew Organa.

She slowed, eyes flickering to the nearby door of his suite, then back across the hall to her own door before she turned to face him. “We’re here.”

“Right.” He caught up the hand she’d left lingering on his sleeve and offered one of those extraordinary lopsided smiles. “I’m glad we found each other again.”

She returned the expression with delight. “As am I. Thank you for…” She began the elaborate thank-you she’d begun contriving as they’d walked back to the guest wing, but when he reached up with his free hand, twining one of her loose curls around a finger, every word fled her all at once. The silence between her heartbeats was impossibly sustained, well more than enough time for him to notice her gaze lingering on his mouth. When he drew closer still and smoothed his thumb over the curve of her cheek, she lost track of them entirely.

“Do you think we’ll ever dream of each other again, like Taris?” he asked, low and earnest.

Some resolve she’d fashioned in the wake of their dearly-won victory, Yuon’s coy encouragement, and the bravado of familiar surroundings fractured at his innocent question. The connection that often lingered after healing blazed with unfamiliar sensations that she hadn’t the strength to unravel now. Even without the physical contact, even with all her practiced resolve and Jedi training, his emotions wound around and through her, as impossible for her to ignore or deny as a starship could the pull of a gravity well. Waiting for her answer had allowed him plenty of time to sweetly tilt her face up to his.

With an austere resolve she was distantly surprised to find intact, she pressed a hand to his chest, where not long ago she’d smoothed her palm over his bare skin in the wake of the most desperate healing she’d ever undertaken. Aitahea answered, her whisper breaking on a last fragment of jagged verity: “I never stopped.”

She closed her eyes against the onslaught of overwhelming, unshielded, achingly reciprocated need, and pushed him away. She bit down hard on the soft sound of loss that threatened to escape her throat when he jolted back, the sudden distress and regret that tolled through her – no, him – no. Through them both. She struggled to inhale a tremulous breath.

When she could bear to open her eyes again, Erithon looked physically pained, his confusion and concern shearing through her own exhausted disappointment. He’d stepped back, hands open and empty, doubt beginning to tarnish the bright threads that had encircled them. “That was out of line, I’m sorry.”

“No, I was… You – I’m not –” Aitahea pressed her lips together hard to keep them from trembling, but it couldn’t stop the stinging in her eyes, the ache in her chest. “I’m sorry.”

“No. No.” He shook his head, vehement. “Don’t be. Please.” Erithon hesitated, trying to work up a friendly grin in contrast to his stiff posture, but only managed a wan quirk of his lips. “I told you on Taris that we’d do something better.”

She exhaled in a rush and allowed a smile to flutter across her face. It didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, you did. Thank you.” Better! It was wonderful. Too wonderful. I never wanted to stop. We should have finished the song. “I should… retire for the night… if I’m to pick up Master Sidonie’s trail tomorrow.” She glanced toward her door, promising the solace of isolation and hopefully sleep. She was exhausted, utterly, but couldn’t resist one last watery smile. “Thank you, Erithon.”

His usual ebullient charm at least marginally recovered, he offered her a bow as crisp and practiced as any noble in the castle. “Goodnight, Aitahea.”

~

Aitahea waited for the door lock to engage before she sank back against it, hands over her face, about to release the pent-up sob clawing at the back of her throat.

On the suite’s balcony, Qyzen Fess shifted carefully but deliberately, his armor creaking in the silence. The door rattled noisily as she flattened against it in disbelief, reaching for a lightsaber that was not there. Of course not.

“Apologize if I startle you, Herald.”

Disquieted by her own panic, Aitahea bit back an uncharacteristically sharp retort, closing her eyes to draw a calming breath in its place. After releasing it, Aitahea raised a carefully neutral face to her friend. “I’m sorry, Qyzen, I wasn’t expecting you. Well done, you successfully snuck up on a Jedi.”

“Was not aware of such challenge.”

She sighed. “An attempt at a joke, Qyzen. A failed attempt, apparently. To add to the rest I’ve made this mission.” Aitahea sank gratefully into an overstuffed chair, letting the beautiful but unfamiliar shoes slip off her suddenly aching feet. “What changed your mind about the castle?”

“Mind not changed. Will return to ship after speaking.” Qyzen hovered near the balcony doors, clearly uncomfortable and anxious to depart. “Must see how Scorekeeper’s Herald fares.”

Aitahea tenaciously schooled her expression to serene but was unable to shake the tendrils of failure and regret that clung like shadows. “Tired, Qyzen. Thank you for checking.”

“Herald will rest.” Aitahea couldn’t decide if that was a question or suggestion, but either way, she agreed.

“Yes.”

AN: It's been such a journey to get here, to this chapter in particular that I’ve been imagining for such a long time. I’ve been stuck here since 2020; I’m so glad you’re still here with me. With us, I suppose. Enjoy. May the Force be with us all. Thank you.

Thank you to the ever-present, dependable, and brilliant Taraum for beta-reading.

Best Intentions *COMPLETE* Masterpost | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Bonus! Soundtrack @ Spotify

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[disgruntled-welshgirl]

I posted 1,373 times in 2021

108 posts created (8%)

1265 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 11.7 posts.

I added 116 tags in 2021

#welshie's ramblings - 28 posts

#sokkla - 23 posts

#hot damn - 12 posts

#asks - 11 posts

#cymraeg - 10 posts

#my writing - 8 posts

#doctor who - 7 posts

#horizon zero dawn - 6 posts

#zutara - 6 posts

#atla - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 77 characters

#and we could have known that if we'd known tecteun for more than five minutes

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I'm not much of a writer so most if not all of my entries for this thing will be rather short.

Day one, First encounters:

When their eyes first meet across the cavernous expanse of the drill's interior both are fascinated. His are pools of deepest blue she could have sworn she was drowning in, hers were an electric yellow that seemed to light up his very soul. Both only caught a fleeting glimpse but deep down they knew, they would... no. They had to see more of them.

30 notes • Posted 2021-05-01 09:00:29 GMT

#4

Sokkla for the ask game

As you may have gathered judging from my frequent posting about this pair I absolutely

SHIP IT

I can't remember what exactly caused me to ship these two but I do remember that this piece was my introduction to it

This was made by the talented Laurbits on deviantart who you can find here:

2. I really like the dynamic these two have, they're both incredibly smart which leads to many lovely conversations between them. I also love how they can support each other emotionally. Also, they're cute together, what more reason is needed?

3. Personally I'm not a fan of sokka being the only reason she improves as a person and recovers from her breakdown. It's nice if he's part of the recovery but she should also be allowed to have help from other people and her own motivation. (I don't know if this makes sense, I had to clutch at straws to think of something that I even marginally dislike about this ship)

32 notes • Posted 2021-04-17 15:18:27 GMT

#3

I feel like post war Sokka could become either ATLA's Tesla or its Elvis. No in-between.

39 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 00:42:09 GMT

#2

Horizontober 2021 Day one - Favourite machine

(I know it’s a day late but i completely forgot this event was happening)

ANYWAY, here’s what i think some characters’ favourite machines are:

Talanah - Stalker 

Talanah is actually be quite envious of Stalkers because they are arguably the perfect hunters, able to get right next to a person without them knowing. She actually once tasked an Oseram with trying to replicate the Stalker’s cloak for her. It unfortunately didn’t work.

Petra - Thunderjaw

There are two main reasons that Petra likes the Thunderjaw, the left disc launcher and the right disc launcher. Oftentimes Petra will camp within view of a Thunderjaw just in hopes to see the launchers in action and maybe, finally, figure out how they work so she can replicate them.

Erend - Ravager

Erend is of the opinion that the Ravager is the best fighter out of both man and machine. He finds it perfectly balances large size and devastating power at both close and long ranges. One day he asked Aloy to override one so he could ride it into battle just like he’d dreamed of since he was a kid back in the claim.

Nil - Corruptor

The Corruptor is deadly. That’s why Nil likes it. He finds a beauty in how intricately it moves and hopes to come across one whenever he goes wandering so he can face it and watch in awe as it weaves past his attacks; he hopes that if he is to die at a machine’s hand it would be a Corruptor’s doing.

Aloy - Glinthawk

Aloy deeply admires how free the Glinthawks are, being able to fly wherever they want whenever they want; she wishes she could do the same sometimes. One thing she always wishes is that she understood other machines as well as the Glinthawk does (i mean, they’d have to if they’re able to break them down effectively) and sees it’s knowledge as one of the final remnants of APOLLO.

48 notes • Posted 2021-10-02 19:20:27 GMT

#1

I was in Cardiff and decided to stop by and pay my respects to the greatest tea boy

79 notes • Posted 2021-08-14 13:02:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[homeformyheart]

the sunshine of life - beckett harrington x f!mc (te)

author’s note: i wanted to write a “meet the parents” type fic for beckett meeting mc’s parents but then it turned into a pend pals/holiday fic. i didn’t particularly want to use the default mc name for this fic, even though that’s what i usually do, so hopefully the name i chose here fits. also, i suck at coming up with names of characters that didn’t have one in canon. i hope you enjoy!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. series/pairing: the elementalists – beckett harrington x f!mc (celeste russell); minor f!atlas x shreya rating/warnings: 13+; kissing and fluff word count: 2.1k based on/prompt: i started working on this two months ago in anticipation of @teappreciationweek! the title is based on the phrase that “friends are the sunshine of life.” summary: celeste is excited to introduce beckett to all of her parental figures over the holidays and has a surprise in store for atlas. guess which parent makes beckett the most nervous?

the sunshine of life

celeste squeezed beckett’s hand reassuringly. her boyfriend was understandably nervous since today they were meeting her parents, definitely plural. she reached up and poked the frown lines appearing between beckett’s eyebrows, giggling as he appeared startled before softening as he looked at her.

“they’re going to love you, beckett. you have nothing to be nervous about. unlike your parents, who clearly did not like me,” celeste said, muttering the last part to herself.

she felt beckett wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close. “that wasn’t about you, i promise.”

two months ago

celeste cleared her throat nervously as she stood outside the tall, intimidating mahogany doors that led inside the harrington mansion. even though she had some idea of what the harrington name meant in the attuned world and thanks to shreya, knew how influential and wealthy some magickal families could be, she was still wholly unprepared for how unnerving it would be to feel as small as she did in that moment.

suddenly she was going over her appearance piece by piece in her mind, evaluating everything she was wearing against the unknown standards she presumed beckett’s parents would have. the blue and gold waistcoast and matching dress that seemed like a safe bet at the time given beckett had picked it out for their lunch date with katrina last year, now seemed to pale in comparison to what she imagined they expected their only son’s girlfriend to wear.

beckett wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to leave a kiss on her forehead. “it’ll be okay, celeste.” she nodded and took a deep breath before following him into the mansion.

just as expected but worse than anticipated, the evening was one awkward moment after another. her introduction included her nervous rambling about how she was raised attuneless and the shared looks between beckett’s parents made celeste want to slouch down and disappear underneath the table. dinner wasn’t any better given the conversations seemed to focus on advancements in magick technology that their company was working on as well as ground-breaking new research in the fields of elemental biology and medicinal magickal plants.

they were mildly impressed with the stories of how they defeated raife highmore, but that passed quickly once they zeroed in on the danger that beckett was in. it was clear that they were going to blame her for putting their son in danger. celeste couldn’t wait for the evening to be over.

“if you say so,” she said, glumly.

beckett lifted her chin and lowered his head to give her a sweet kiss. “i love you, celeste.” he straightened up and celeste could tell he was about to give himself a pep talk. “if you can get through dinner with my parents, i can get through an evening with yours… even if one of them is a source.”

“that’s the spirit! and well, there will be two sources, actually. nome said he’d stop by,” cadence quickly explained as beckett’s head turned so fast she thought he was going to give himself whiplash.

before he could say anything, the doors to the cottage swung open as they climbed up the short steps. celeste was immediately pulled into a hug from her adoptive parents who quickly wrapped beckett up too before he could protest. theia smiled warmly at the four of them before wrapping celeste up into a tight hug.

“i missed you sweetie. and i am so excited to meet your sweetheart!” theia exclaimed, grabbing beckett’s outstretched hand so she could pull him into hug.

“yes, i am sweetheart – wait, no, i’m harrington, um, i mean beckett. beckett harrington. it’s, uh, very nice to meet you, ms. sun source,” he said, licking his lips nervously and trying not to wipe his palms on his jacket.

she waved at him dismissively. “call me theia, you’re practically family!” she looped her arm in beckett’s and started pulling him toward the house. he turned to look back at celeste, who gave him a small supportive wave while trying really hard not to laugh.

fortunately for beckett, theia was filled with questions for her future son-in-law, as she so embarrassingly put it despite celeste’s protests. that left celeste with a few minutes alone with her adoptive parents; her father cleared his throat awkwardly in her direction and she sighed.

“how was school this semester?” john russell asked awkwardly.

celeste rolled her eyes. “school was fine.” with all the events of the last three years, including discovering and bonding with her twin, fighting for her life twice over, and being reunited with her birth mother, she hadn’t really spent much time processing the fact that her parents lied to her about her birth family, her magickal nature, and the fact that a madman was after her. all in all, it felt reasonable that she’d be pissed and her parents knew it.

anne russell cleared her throat. “how was dinner at the harringtons?”

celeste gave her mother a pointed look just shy of an outright glare. “it would’ve gone a lot better had I been raised with a working knowledge of the magickal world.”

john had the decency to look a little ashamed. “we’re really sorry, honey. we thought you’d be safer as an attuneless and when raife had seemed to all but disappear, we thought we were in the clear. but we shouldn’t have kept your true identity a secret.”

“i guess i understand since you were trying to protect me. i forgive you,” she said, wrapping both of her parents in a big hug before turning toward her boyfriend who was being grilled by her other parent.

even though she was sitting on the opposite end of the living room from beckett and theia, she could tell by his rigid posture that he was tense. the gentle, but commanding lilt of her mother’s voice carried softly across the room.

“so beckett, i’ve heard a lot about you from celeste. what i want to know is, how do i know you’re not just attracted to her magick?” theia asked. although she was smiling, celeste knew the underlying tone did not go unnoticed by beckett.

“because i love her! she’s smart, brave, beautiful, compassionate, and she feels so warm and i can tell my innate metal attunement is drawn to her,” he blurted out a little too loudly for the level of conversation in the room.

“but that makes sense since she’s a sun-att and you’re the sun source and you feel like celeste which was still surprising since she doesn’t really look like you, i mean, not that i can’t tell you’re related, it’s just—augh, sorry.” beckett’s ears and neck were flushed a bright pink.

“wow, harrington, real smooth,” atlas teased. “no book in the library to study up for this, huh?”

“atlas!” celeste said through clenched teeth.

theia chuckled. “beckett, it’s alright. just ask me the questions you have, i promise i won’t bite. i could make it miserably hot, but i won’t.”

“man, this is sooo entertaining. better than all that trashy reality tv you got me into,” atlas said, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“could you be a little more supportive, atlas?” celeste asked, annoyed.

atlas grinned cheekily. “nah, i’m good. i will make more popcorn though. hey harrington, don’t stumble over yourself until i get back.”

celeste could feel her eyebrow twitch in irritation before realizing that she could get some of the attention off beckett and get back at atlas at the same time with a single phone call.

* * * * * just a little while later, a knock on the door made everyone pause and look around at each other. since everyone that was expected was there already, except for nome, and he never knocked, it was natural for everyone to look confused.

celeste couldn’t help the mischievous smile that crept over her face. “atlas, why don’t you go see who it is?”

atlas turned to glare knowingly at celeste as she stood up. “what did you do?”

she barely had the door open before she was bombarded by the rest of the pend pals all fighting to simultaneously hug her and get out of the cold all at once.

“double trouble, double trouble’s mom source, mr. and mrs. russell, happy holidays!” zeph cheerfully shouted out, his arms full of containers of his grandmother’s cookies, which atlas grabbed from him ecstatically.

“i hope you guys didn’t have too much fun without us! and atlas, i hope you save me a spot under that magickal mistletoe,” shreya said, giving atlas a flirtatious wink.

“what? we don’t have mistletoe and why would i—” atlas’ confused thoughts were interrupted as shreya glided through the hallway, stopping briefly to give atlas a kiss on the cheek before making her way to the living room and greeting everyone properly.

atlas flushed briefly before she noticed the huge smirk on celeste’s face. “you are so going to pay for this.”

“i have no idea what you’re talking about, i just thought it would be great if all of our friends could hang out with us over the holidays,” celeste said, grinning before she went back to the living room to see if she could save beckett from further questioning.

all the lights in the house suddenly went out. almost immediately, theia snapped her fingers and the lights all flickered back on to reveal a tall man with long white hair standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by nine stunned faces.

“always with the dramatic entrances, nome,” she said, but there was a lightheartedness to her tone.

“it’s more fun that way,” nome responded, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before introducing himself to everyone.

with everyone distracted by nome’s arrival, celeste slipped her hand into beckett’s and gave him a small tug. he looked at her inquisitively as she signaled toward the staircase with a tilt of her head. a few moments later, she closed her bedroom door behind them before wrapping her arms around beckett’s neck and standing on her tiptoes so she could give him a kiss.

“thank you for coming – i’m so proud of how you handled yourself,” she murmured, looking up at him.

beckett gave her his signature smirk. “well, of course, you shouldn’t expect anything less from a harrington.”

celeste let her eyes roll lightheartedly. “you know i heard the entire conversation and can tell how nervous you were just from the back of your head?”

his smirk faded into a warm smile. “you know nothing.” before she could protest further, he bent down to capture her lips into a kiss, his hands tightening around her waist to pull her flush against him.

celeste pressed against him as much as she could, intertwining her fingers at the nape of his neck. beckett deepened the kiss, coaxing her mouth open so his tongue could play with hers.

“hey, where’d beckster and celeste go?” zeph’s voice wafted up the stairs, reminding her that their alone time was limited.

“dunno, probably doing it upstairs in her room.”

celeste pulled back at the sound of atlas’ voice and winced. she knew she could count the seconds before her mother’s voice rang out right on cue.

“celeste russell, get down here right now! no boys alone in your room!” theia’s voice boomed through the house, reverberating through the walls.

she let out an embarrassed huff as beckett chuckled. “we really should be used to atlas’ comments by now,” he said, giving her one last kiss on the lips before opening the door and holding out his arm for her to take.

as they descended down the stairs she got a full view of the living room and realized everyone she loved was under one roof. atlas and shreya were sharing the loveseat while zeph and griffin were listening to whatever crazy and embarrassing story nome was telling about theia, with theia refuting and sharing her own stories about nome; aster was showing her adoptive parents how to care for some of the trees and plants in the garden with butterball and navi playing in the snow at their feet.

she felt her eyes fill with happy tears and looked up at beckett, who was giving her a warm, knowing smile. he gave her hand a squeeze and headed out to join aster and her parents in the garden and celeste took a moment to acknowledge the gratitude she felt. even though she had gotten used to being a sun-att and feeling a strong warmth emanating from within her all the time, never had she felt warmth like this. it was gentle but all-consuming, starting in her heart and slowly spreading outward throughout her body. but she knew that if love and gratitude could be summed up in a feeling, this was it.

* * * * * taglist: @robintora; @miss-smrxtiee; @eleanorbloom; @itsjustwinter; @mm2305;

[leafs-lover]

Because Two People Got Drunk: 17

Summary: You see Connor for the first time since New Year’s. You attend the Penguins charity gala as Fred’s date.

Warnings: Smut, light daddy kink, swearing, oral sex

Word Count: 5600

Series Masterlist

Chapter 17

“What are you doing Ollie? You playing with your truck?” Fred asks over Facetime. He is on a road trip and is calling Oliver before he goes to bed. He calls Oliver every night he doesn’t have a game to catch up, sometimes reading him a story. You set your tablet up on the coffee table so Fred can see Oliver without you having to hold it the entire time.

After you put him to bed, you and Fred continue to chat for a bit. You haven’t discussed what happened over the holidays, or the confusing feelings you have been having. You don’t know if Fred feels the same way as you, or if everything is in your head. He has been on a long road trip so you haven’t seen him much to have the conversation in person since New Year’s.

You know that Connor’s flight was delayed due to weather in Minnesota, which is why he cancelled on New Year’s. You still don’t understand why he waited so long in the day to tell you about it. You have talked a little bit, but you haven’t been able to see him. But you aren’t too sure about the status of your relationship, or how you want to proceed with him

“(Y/N)?” Fred calls, you realize you zoned out and he was trying to get your attention.

“Hmm, sorry I zoned out for a bit” you explain shifting your gaze back to the screen.

“Yeah I noticed, got something on your mind?”

“No, just got distracted looking out at the snow” you lie. “What did you ask?”

“Next Wednesday, the 18th, the team has the annual charity event; the Night of Assists Gala. I was wondering if you would be my date?”

“Yeah” a large smile crosses your face “of course I will! What kind of dress do I need?”

“It’s black tie. I’m back in town Friday; maybe we can go shopping for something?”

“Sure, but new dresses come with new shoes” you exclaim.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less” he laughs.

You open the door Friday morning and Fred is standing there two coffees in hand. “Morning” you sing grabbing a coffee from him kissing his cheek. Your face immediately goes red as you head Oliver running to the door squealing “dadda.” Fred moves away from you and scoops him up in a big hug. You use that as an opportunity to back away while Fred has talks to Oliver, he is babbling away barely forming a sentence. Why did I kiss him, what was I thinking?

You walk into the kitchen, with your coffee and stand with your back facing the doorway; you hear Fred’s footsteps enter the kitchen. “How have you been (Y/N)?” he asks sitting down at your island.

You turn around and see Oliver is clinging to him; Fred is bouncing him slightly in his arm. Seeing the two of them side by side you really notice the similarities, even if Oliver had a different hair and eye colour, his bone structure and smile is the same as his fathers.

You still feel your face is slightly red and you bring your cup to your mouth taking a sip, but also trying to hide the colour. “We were good, he had a few rough patches with his teething” you start explaining.

Fred turns to Oliver “oh buddy” he says kissing his head. “Other than that everything was good?”

“Honestly no” you huff and Fred turns his attention back to you. “It was mayhem. Him teething meant he didn’t sleep well, which meant I didn’t sleep well. I ended up getting run down for a couple days.”

“Oh I’m sorry, you feeling better now?” he asks.

“Yeah but there is toys everywhere, and I’m so behind in laundry” you start rambling. You don’t even notice Fred has stood up until you feel his arm wrap around you.

“(Y/N/N) your fine. There is like 4 toys out.” He’s lying, there are easily half of Oliver’s toys scattered around the living room. “And seeing toys on the living room floor only shows me that you have a kid. But I am sorry you were alone through all this, you should have told me.”

You sigh wrapping your arm around him “I know but it wouldn’t have changed anything, you were on a road trip.”

“It still is nice to talk to someone about these things. Even if I can’t help physically, it can help to let your problems out.” Fred says as your arm tightens, as you grip his shirt in your hand. You place your head on his chest, and listen to his heartbeat through his shirt. He is right, but for some reason you weren’t sure if you should tell him, or what that would do. You don’t exactly understand your dynamic and don’t want to complicate this further.

“I know, I’m sorry” you whisper into his chest.

“You’re not alone elskede, you have me. No matter what” he says kissing your head. “I know what will make you feel better though (Y/N/N).”

You look up at him “what?” you ask. You see the bags under his eyes, indicating he didn’t sleep much on the plane but chose to come over early to spend time with both of you.

“Going shopping” he says causing you to laugh.

You walk into a local dress shop, you see rack of colourful dresses, and everything is designer. Oliver is asleep in his stroller, a blanket tightly around him while you and Fred start scanning the selection. Fred pulls out pink dress with puffy sleeves; the skirt is full of feathers. He raises an eyebrow at you and you burst out laughing “that looks like the baby of big bird and little bow peep.”

A half hour later you have picked out about 8 options. You start try the options, both of you not loving them. Each of them is missing something. You’ve been at the store so long Oliver has woken up and is beginning to fuss for lunch.

“One more and then we have to leave and feed this guy” you say. You are standing in a black strapped dress, you thought it would look amazing, but once you tried it on, it didn’t hang off your body right. It doesn’t have a good shape, and looks like a box on you.

“Well make sure it’s amazing then” he replies shooting you a smile while bouncing Oliver on his hip.

You return to the change room and try on the last dress; you purposely saved this one for last. You exit the change room in a navy blue satin backless floor length gown; the front has a deep cut. When you first emerge from the room Fred is staring at Oliver, he hears your footsteps and looks up at you with his brown eyes, his jaw instantly drops.

“Wow, mommy looks pretty eh bud, really, really pretty” he whispers in your sons ear. He walks over to you “way to save the best for last” he says putting an arm around you, kissing your temple.

“Thought you’d like this one” you chuckle. His free hand comes around to the small of your back sending a tingle down to you core. You stare up at him you see the lust in his eyes.

“How could I not? You look incredible” he places a kiss on your cheek. You turn your head slightly and look to him, your eyes locking. You feel yourself slowly moving in to him, closing the gap. Before your lips connect Oliver begins to cry, causing you to separate “go get changed and I’ll pay” he says.

You step out of the store and Fred leads you down the street to a local restaurant. As you sit down, Fred heads to the bathroom. You are getting Oliver set up in a highchair when you hear your name behind you.

You turn around “Connor” you say. He is standing there with a takeout bag in hand; wearing dark jeans with a button down shirt under his jacket. You can see his brown hair poking out from under his toque.

You walk over and hug him “hi, how are you?” you ask.

“Good, this the little man?” he asks looking over at Oliver.

“Yeah that’s him” you say.

“He’s cute” Connor says waving at him.

“Yeah I think so too” you chuckle “although I could be biased.”

“Nonsense. He’s a cutie, not surprising though considering who his mom is.” A blush comes across your face, before he continues “I’m really sorry about New Years. There was a crazy storm earlier in the day and my original flight was cancelled. I was changed to the next flight, but then that one was cancelled last minute too. I feel terrible for leaving you high and dry so late in the night.”

“Don’t worry about it, you can’t control the weather” you reply smiling. “I ended up with some last minute plans, and it ended up being pretty good.”

“That’s good” he says. “What did you get up to?” You stare at him trying to come up with a response and don’t even notice that Fred has returned from the bathroom and is beside you until you feel his left hand on the small of you back.

“Hey” he says, you all stand there for a second.

“This is Fred” you say realizing they are both waiting on an introduction. Fred holds out his right hand, Connor shakes it saying “Connor. Nice to meet you.”

After pulling his hand back he says “I should get going, nice to meet you” he says to Fred. He turns his gaze to you “(Y/N) we should grab dinner sometime soon.”

“Yeah for sure” you say before Connor walks away.

Fred raises an eyebrow at you while you move to the table to sit down “so that’s boy toy?”

You laugh at that while Fred sits beside you “he literally just told you his name.”

Fred scoffs lightly at that. “I see why you haven’t slept with him yet” he says.

“What do you mean? There is nothing wrong with him.”

Fred grins “there is one thing.” You quirk your head at him “oh and what’s that?”

“He isn’t the one sitting here with you today” he whispers in your ear.

You sit there for a minute processing what he said. Out of the corner of your eye you see a large grin on his face; he brings a hand up to your chin. He tilts your face to look at his, and you search his face for answers, his hand lightly slides up from your chin and cups your cheek. He hesitantly looks into your eyes before leaning in, bringing his lips to yours in a soft kiss.

January 18, 2023

Tonight is the charity event; you are at Fred’s getting ready. You put on the dress, and have your hair loosely curled, as you spray a little perfume on you. You just need your shoes, opting to wear the shoes Fred bought you for your birthday. They are in your bag, which is in Fred’s room.

You walk out of the bathroom and lean on the door frame between to the bedroom staring at Fred. He is in his navy 3 piece suit, has a skinny tie under his vest and is putting his cufflinks on, you sigh taking him in causing him to look up.

“Christ you look amazing” he says a smile coming across your face as you walk over to him.

You run a finger over his jacket “you don’t look too bad yourself Mr. Andersen.” You reach down and grab the cufflinks and help him put them on before reaching up to straighten his tie.

“I am nothing compared to you” he says kissing you on the corner of your lips. “You’re missing something though” he whispers in your ear. He walks away to the closet and comes back a moment later with a beige shoebox.

“I didn’t get a chance to wrap them” he says handing it to you, you immediately see the large white signature on the outside and recognize the brand.

“You didn’t have to get me these, I was going to wear the shoes you bought me for my birthday” you explain.

“Oliver bought you those” he replies smiling. “These are from me.”

You laugh at him and roll your eyes before opening the box; you first see the bright red inside lining to the box. Your eyes are next drawn to the shoes, a new pair of white Louboutin. They have a 3 inch heel, with a slender strap and a pointed toe. It has an elegant bow with a signature red bottom.

“They are beautiful” you say sliding them on. They look stunning and complete the look perfectly.

“Not nearly as beautiful as you” he says before placing a kiss lightly on your lips. He moves to  deepen the kiss but you pull away. “You’re going to smudge my lip gloss” you explain bringing your hand up to wipe some off his lips; Fred rolls his eyes at you. “Besides you don’t want to start something you can’t finish” you say smirking.

“When have I never finished?” he asks while you laugh walking out of the room.

You walk in to the event hand in hand, and head over to the table. The dinner is being served, so you are sitting in your seats enjoying time together before Fred gets pulled away into conversations with donors. Kathy has been giving you questioning glances from across the table. You are done the second course, waiting for desert to be served; Fred’s large hand is lightly resting on your thigh. His thigh remains there throughout the remainder of dinner. Throughout dinner you randomly feel Fred give your thigh a light squeeze, or he will whisper in your ear. Everything he is doing is intoxicating to you, and all you want to do is take him into a locked closet.

A little while later the boys are off in conversations with some of the donors, you and some of the wags are sitting around a table chatting. You feel hands graze your shoulder; you look up to see Fred in his form fitted three piece suit. Your breath catches in your throat, he leans down and holds his hand out, his mouth grazes your ear “dance with me” you grab his hand and are led to the dancefloor.

He places one hand on the small of your back, as you place one on his shoulder. He holds you tight as he leads you around the dancefloor, you breathing in his cologne. “I don’t know if I told you this yet, but you look stunning tonight.”

You laugh lightly “you might have mentioned it once or twice.”

“Well you are absolutely breathtaking. I can’t keep my eyes off you” he says, his lips kissing the side of your temple. You tilt your head to look at his brown eyes; you both stare at each other for a little while as you spin around the dance floor.

He slowly brings his face to yours, closing the gap between you. He lightly kisses you on the lips, your hand slides from his shoulder to the back of his neck. Fred leans in slightly further, deepening the kiss, his hand slides slightly lower resting just above your ass. You moan into the kiss, feeling a fire ignite in your core as your tongue dances in his mouth.

“Did I tell you how amazing you look tonight?” you ask pulling back slightly.

“You’ve seen me in a suit before; pretty sure you’ve seen me in this suit. I don’t get to see you like this often. I very much like this dress” he says spinning you. He pulls you in closer to himself this time and you feel his erection pressed up against your stomach “I’ve been like this since I saw 4 hours ago.”

“Fuck” you mumble causing Fred to laugh. “I will never tire of seeing you in a suit” you say lightly as his hand slides lower to just above your ass. You gulp “how much longer do we uh” you trail off as he starts placing light kisses behind your ear “have to stay?” His hand is now fully placed on your ass as he chuckles lightly “just a little bit longer” he whispers. Kathy is smirking at you from across the floor as she dances with Sidney. Your hand tangles into his hair as you lock him in a passionate kiss; Fred pulls back and whispers “don’t start something you can’t finish” he grins as he uses your words against you. You laugh and place your head on his chest and dance until the song finishes.

Shortly after Fred and some other players gets pulled on stage for a team event. You and Kathy are standing at the bar waiting for a drink “so how long has this been going on? When did you guys get together?” she asks.

“Honestly I don’t know if we are together. We haven’t talked about it. I still stay at my place a lot of the time. We sometimes hook up but we haven’t discussed what we are doing. I don’t know if this is still just sex, or what he is feeling. It’s all complicated and confusing.”

“You can’t honestly think this is just sex? You have to see how he looks at you.” She pauses for a second giving you a chance to reply, when you don’t she continues “has this ever been just sex with you?” she asks.

“I don’t know it’s all been confusing” you sigh. “He was dating Danielle and I was with Connor, and…” “And you guys were hooking up then.” she cuts you off. You stare at her for a bit “Besides him and Danielle were over a while ago, I don’t even know if they ever were really together. Are you still seeing him, Connor?”

“I don’t know. He bailed on me for New Years; then I saw him last week when the three of us were out for lunch. He said he wanted to meet up for dinner sometime soon but I haven’t talked to him since.”

“Do you want to keep seeing him?”

“Honestly” you pause and take a breath “no I don’t think so.”

“And why is that?” she asks.

“Yeah why is that?” you hear as a body presses up behind you, arm resting on the bar. You immediately recognize the cologne, your cheeks burn up “uhh” you sputter “I have to pee” you claim. You move to walk away but Fred turns you into his chest, he grins seeing the blush on your face. He kisses your cheek before whispering in your ear “I like it when you’re flustered. Want to get out of here?” You see the lust in his eyes and smile before leaning in to kiss him lightly. You nod before you make your way to get your coats.

“You have fun tonight?” he asks while sitting at a red light.

You look over at him with a smile “yeah, I really did. You?”

“Yeah. I plan on having more fun once I get you home” he says looking at you from the corner of his eye. You feel our core heat up as you shift slightly in your seat. Fred chuckles pleased with how his words are affecting you.

Instead of answering you bring your hand onto his thigh and shift it up his leg, smirking. Your pinky lightly grazes over his member, feeling his still hardened bulge underneath his dress pants.

You grin at him slightly, before palming over him a few times. You see him take a couple deep breaths before he brings a hand from the steering wheel to yours, clamping it around your wrist. He puts your hand back on your lap and returns his to the steering wheel. This doesn’t stop you, instead it encourages you. You bring your hand back over to him, directly to his bulge as you palm him. You get in a couple rubs before he grabs your wrist and returns it to your lap. He lightly taps it a few times, glaring at you from the corner of his eye.

You smile and bite your bottom lip. You sit there for a few minutes as Fred continues to drive, holding your hands in your lap. Fred eventually relaxes while driving; he pulls up to a red light and returns his right hand to the steering wheel. He drives for a few minutes before you slide your hand back to his thigh. You start palming his bulge, grinning at him as you hear him mutter a light “fuck.”

He tries to keep his eyes trained on the road, but you see him catching glances from the corner of his eye. Your hand moves up to his belt to undo it and the button on his pants. His hands grip the steering wheel tighter, knuckles going white. You palm over his pants, and see him strain, his Adam’s apple gulps.

You slip your hand in, over his boxers and palm over him feeling his erection straining in his boxers. You turn in your seat your back now against the door, you continue rubbing him, and you slide your hand up his chest under his shirt. You feel the grooves of his abs and a few beads of sweat that have dripped down him. You slide your hand down toying with the elastic of his boxers “Fuck (Y/N/N)” he mumbles.

He shifts in his seat taking clearing his throat as your hand slips inside his boxers. You slowly slide your hand to his shaft and begin stroking him, using your thumb to spread the pre-cum. You begin to push his pants and boxers down, attempting to free him and provide you more access.

He reaches down and grabs your wrist “you need to behave” he growls bringing your hand to your lap. He keeps a tight grip on your wrist and doesn’t release it until the car is parked in the garage. When he gets out of the car Fred fixes his suit and leads you to the elevator, his hand resting on the small of your back.

The elevator closes and Fred pins you against the wall, spreading your legs with his knee. He grips your hair and pulls it back exposing your neck; his mouth attaches sucking a mark. “You were bad in the car” he says “such a fucking brat.”

“What are you going to do about it?” you groan.

“So many things” he spits out biting your neck “so many things.” The elevator dings and he steps out. You enter his place you walk to his bedroom while Fred says goodbye to Christie the nanny. You go into his bedroom closet and remove your dress hanging it up in the closet. You reach into your bag and put on your black lace garter set and put your silk robe overtop. You open the door and walk into the bedroom to see Fred has removed his suit jacket, folding it over his chair.

You walk over pulling him by his vest closer to you, before pushing it off his broad shoulders. He kisses you as he unties your robe, sliding it off your shoulder revealing your lingerie. “Fuck" he mutters as he deepens the kiss bringing his hand around your back “I thought you would approve” you say kissing him. You bring your hands up his chest and undo the buttons on his dress shirt and loosen the tie around his neck.

Before you have a chance to take his shirt off he growls “hands and knees on the bed now.”

You agree feeling wetness pooling, you walk to the bed, getting into position you stick your ass out for him. He immediately rids himself of his pants, he comes behind you and grazes your ass as you shutter. He brings a hand to slap your ass “you were so bad earlier” he spits out bringing another hand to your ass. You wince slightly “such a bad girl, we could have been hurt.”

You turn your head, looking at Fred over your shoulder. He looks amazing. His dress shirt is unbuttoned, hanging on his shoulders, sweat dripping down on his abs. You can see how tight his blue boxers are, his erection straining inside the fabric waiting to be freed. “I trust you” you whisper.

He smirks at you as his hand begins stroking your ass, playing with the lacy fabric before he smacks your ass again causing you to curse loudly. “Such a fucking slut” he spews, before he smacks your ass once more. This one is harder than the others, causing a tear to catch in your eyes as a whimper leaves your mouth. You feel yourself soaking through the lingerie.

He brings his hand to slap you once more a yelp leaves your mouth. “You were so bad earlier” he strokes the fabric over ass “think you learned your lesson?”

He begins sliding his finger up the inside of your thigh, and pinches your ass when you don’t respond right away. Your voice is caught in your throat but you manage to squeak out “yes daddy.”

“Fucking hell” he mumbles running his finger over your clothed core, feeling the wetness that has collected.

Fred smirks “you need this eh” he asks, sliding your bottoms to the side and pushes two fingers inside your folds. “You have no idea” you respond while he fucks his fingers inside of you. His fingers curl inside you hitting your G-spot, he pumps them in and out of you quickly. He pulls his fingers from you and drops his boxers, his cock springing free as he sits down on the bed pulling you onto his lap.

You climb into his lap and he guides you onto him, pushing your underwear to the side. He starts a fast pace, not allowing you to fully adjust as you cry out, gripping his shoulder tightly. He picks up the pace, pushing fully inside you, bottoming out every time, the sound of your skin flapping and moans fill the room.  You move in unison, rising up and dropping down on him, your hands laced in his hair. His hands are on your hips, pulling you down onto him “Freddie” you moan loudly as your head falls onto his shoulder.

Fred places kisses on your collarbone and neck as you feel your walls begin to tighten as Fred slows the pace. You groan in disappointment at him “you were bad, you don’t get to yet” he spews in your ear. He brings a hand up to your mouth; he slips two fingers in your mouth. You bob on them, coating them in spit. He pulls them from your mouth and goes to your ass.

You bite his shoulder as he slowly slides them in your hole. He stills for a second allowing you to adjust, you suck on his neck. Fred slowly starts to thrust in and out of your hole, as you bite harder on his shoulder. You rise up and drop down on him, as he thrusts slowly into your hole. Fred allows you to set this pace, since you are being stretched in two different directions. You grip his hair tightly, rolling back further onto his fingers.

He starts increasing the pace and it has you screaming out as he keeps thrusting, each time bottoming out. You feel your walls begin to tighten your orgasm approaching you again. He keeps his pace, thrusting in both your holes as you clench around him.

“Fred I’m gonna cum” you say as your head falls back.

“No” he growls. You whimper, not sure if you can hold it in yet.

“Please daddy, let me cum” you groan.

“Not yet” he says before bringing his mouth to your nipple. He sucks and swirls on it as your head falls back. He brings his mouth up and attaches to your neck and bites hard on and keeps moving his hand in and out of your ass. You roll your hips against him “I can’t” you moan out, unsure how long you can hold back.

You are a writhing mess doing everything to hold your orgasm in. You feel Fred start to get sloppy underneath you when he finally growls “cum.”

You tighten around him as your orgasm crashes over you, it is intense and you lose control of yourself. Fred holds you steady, keeping the pace as your hands dig into his shoulder. Your eyes roll back into your head while a string of moans and curses fall from your lips, Fred is pumping erratically under you.

When you finally come back around you look at Fred, his face is strained as he is waiting for your orgasm to finish. You feel Fred’s dick twitch as he pulls you down shooting his load deep inside you. 

You sit on him as he slowly stills, you press your forehead to his, kissing his nose. Your head falls onto his shoulder for a few minutes as your breathing steadies. He gently lifts you up and pulls out of you before falling onto the bed, pulling you with him.

You lay on top of him, your head resting on his shoulder looking up at him, his strong arm wrapped around you. You gently stroke his beard; he turns to look at you. You lean up and cup his face kissing him lightly. Fred pulls you in closer, deepening the kiss. Your hand slides into his hair, you crawl up him as his hand slides onto the small of your back. You groan into the kiss as Fred rolls you over onto your back, he brings a hand to your breast pulling the fabric down. He sucks on your nipple, swirling his tongue around it.

Your head falls back onto the pillow, as he keeps sucking. You feel him grow hard again, his erection pressing into your stomach. He moves down and places a kiss on your stomach, his hand slides around to your ass, playing with the hem of your bottoms. He places a light kiss on you as you wrap a leg around his back “you have another one in ya?”

His hand is on your ass. You whimper slightly before nodding, biting your bottom lip. He kisses your neck as he mumbles into your ear “you sure, the last one was pretty intense?”

“Freddie” you groan.

He smirks as he hooks his finger through your bottoms and pulls them off you as he places soft kisses on your stomach. He slowly pushes two fingers inside you, pumping them in and out, his cum spills out in the process. He sucks on your clit, as he continues to scissor you. His thumb presses firmly into you clit, rubbing circles on your bud.

He moves his mouth and slips them inside your folds, licking up your walls. Your hands slide down to his hair, lightly tangling with it.  After several slow thrusts, he pulls his mouth away and his fingers out and pushes them in your mouth. You moan at the taste “we taste good together, eh babe?” he grins as you lick him clean. You suck his fingers clean before he pulls them out of your mouth.

“Yes” you whisper.

He slides lower, his beard rubbing against your thighs. He looks into your glistening cunt, before diving in, licking up your remaining juices. You throw your head back “so fucking good” he mumbles before returning to lick you.

He brings his fingers back down and pushes them inside you, curling them to hit your sweet spot as he nibbles your thighs. He uses his fingers to scissor you open before sliding his tongue in you. Your hips arch pushing your cunt into his face. He throws his other arm over your waist to hold you firmly in place while he pushes his tongue in and out of you.

Your hands grip the sheets firmly as you try to squirm, his pace increases, mouth and fingers moving in tandem. You feel your second orgasm quickly approaching

“Like this princess?” 

“Yes” you scream as he pushes deep in you. He thrusts inside you at a fast pace, you moan loudly. “So good. So close” you groan.

You feel him smirk from between your legs, as he pushes his head in further. His beard is scraping your legs, likely leaving a friction rash. You throw your legs over his shoulder, as he pushes his finger into your bud as his tongue licks deep inside you. Your orgasm comes over you fast and hard, you feel yourself clench around his fingers and tongue, your vision goes black for a moment.

He wraps an arm around you as he collapses pulling you onto your side. After a few minutes he carries you to the bathroom setting you on the counter. He strips your bra off and grabs a damp towel and begins to clean you. “You’re so beautiful” he says pulling a t-shirt over you, lightly kissing your forehead. He carries you back to bed and strokes your hair whispering Danish in your ear as you doze off.

 Gala Dress:

Lingerie:

Next Chapter

[ezrisdax-archive]

sweet

because @omegastation said “and now i crave a "friends & family find them so cute" fic” well here I am... (also here on ao3)

~~

“Keelah, they’re doing it again.” Tali said from where she sat in the mess hall, her helmet resting in one hand and her elbow on the table.

In front of them in the kitchen Kaidan was slicing some kind of meat, Ashley at his side laughing about something.

“Are all humans this bad?” Garrus asked, glancing over at James for some kind of confirmation.

“Nah,” James said with a shrug, “But didn’t you say that those two have been circling each other since the original Normandy.”

It was mostly only because Garrus shifted his gaze but James saw him and Tali exchange a glance.

“I don’t know if they were worse then.” Tali mused, “They weren’t together yet and it was exhausting watching them find excuses why they couldn’t be.”

“Eventually Wrex got sick of it and told them they both needed to put out and shut up. He really had a way with words.” Garrus’ mandibles shifted in what James recognized as a Turian smile.

“I think he regretted that almost immediately.” Tali said with a snicker. “Because then he had to put up with them being in love for a month before he finally left the ship.”

James grunted his agreement at the sentiment but then leaned back in his chair to cross his arms. “Guess it’s nice though. That Canadian Bacon and Stanza got together.” He watched as Ash stole a sliced vegetable from the bowl in front of them and Kaidan chided her but still leaned in to kiss her. “Gotta take all the wins we can in this war, yeah?”

Tali and Garrus didn’t refute him.

“Speaking of wins, what’s the next betting pool on them, who proposes first?”

“It’s 50 credits to get in and you’ll have to see Joker.” Tali told him.

“Hey if uh those two get married we can say they’re that poetry thing that Stanza likes right? A couplet?”

He didn’t need to see under a Quarian’s mask to tell Tali’s unimpressed stare matched Garrus’.

In the kitchen Kaidan and Ash were still kissing. Wasting valuable cooking time, shame on them, James thought.

~~

Shepard frowned as she watched Ashley go to comfort her sister; it was hard just standing there unable to really do anything concrete.

“Don’t worry, Shep, I’ve got her back.” Kaidan said from next to her but despite his steady tone Shepard the worry and concern coming from him was basically palpable.

Unbidden her lips quirked upwards, “Just her back?” Shepard couldn’t help but tease.

Kaidan’s eyes widened a little before he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, all the rest of her too.”

Shepard snickered and clapped him on his shoulder. “Nice to see you two haven’t changed.” She meant that genuinely. She hadn’t been surprised to see the both of them together on Horizon, it’d be nice her old teammates still had each other. Even nicer that now all three of them were back together again and kicking ass in the name of the Spectres. “Ever think you’ll get out of the newlywed phase?”

Kaidan reached up to pat her hand still on his shoulder, “Yeah yeah.” Kaidan grumbled but it was good naturedly.

In front of them Ashley was still hugging her sister and Kaidan shifted automatically when it looked like they were about to part.

Shepard glanced between them, shook her head, and smiled. “You’ve got this.” She said and patted his arm one last time before she left.

~~

Sarah’s vision was a little blurry from the tears as she pulled out of her sister’s embrace. It was good of Ashley to come, it meant a lot that at least she could have one sibling there.

From the corner of her eye she caught someone walking their way and squinted a little. He looked familiar.

It clicked a second later and Sarah dabbed at her eyes to save face a little before Kaidan Alenko appeared before them.

“Hey,” He said softly, his gaze mostly on Ashley but also on her. “I didn’t want to interrupt but you good?” He winced. “What am I saying of course you’re not good, sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Calm down, Kaidan.” Ashley elbowed him to stop his rambling. “We Williams women are built with sterner stuff.”

His eyes were warm along with the smile he gave Ashley and then he turned to her and cleared his throat. “Major Kaidan Alenko.” He offered her his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Next to him Ashley hid her face in her hand and Sarah for the first time that day let out a little laugh.

“Ash has mentioned you a few times.” Sarah said and shook his hand. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Wish the circumstances were better. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Sarah tried to blink back the tears in her eyes but nodded her thanks anyway.

“Come on, kiddo,” Ashley said, reaching over to take her hand. “Let’s get something to eat.” She squeezed Sarah’s hand, the ever comforting presence of her older sister made Sarah breathe a little easier.

Kaidan hesitated where he stood and Ashley rolled her eyes. “You can come too, Kaidan, if you behave.”

“When have I not?” Kaidan asked ruefully. “Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know what you’d say.”

Years ago Sarah remembered calling her sister when she was on the original Normandy, saying something about how Kaidan was cute and Ashley should go for it.

He must have really been something for her to ignore all fraternization issues.

She let go of her sisters hand to loop her arm through Kaidan’s. “You should definitely come and tell me all about what my sister’s been up to.”

“Oh no.” Ashley bemoaned from beside her and Kaidan shot her a smirk before turning his attention to Sarah.

“Do I have some stories for you.” Kaidan said and they started to walk.

It wasn’t easy, leaving the memorial behind, Sarah’s heart hurt regardless of the location she found but at least her sister was doing well.

She glanced over at Ashley who was smiling at the back of Kaidan’s head, interjecting every now and then as he told the story.

Love looked good on her sister.

She just hoped Ashley got a happier ending then she did.

~~

“That’s another one for me, Spectre Williams you’re slowing down.” Kaidan yelled out as he tossed a reave at the Cerberus soldier.

“Just giving you time to get on my level, Spectre Alenko.” Ashley shot back and Liara could tell she was grinning under her helmet.

“And here I thought you liked me under you.” Kaidan said, at least right after he said it he looked a little embarrassed.

“Is now really the time?” Liara asked, she tried to keep her voice stern but the laughter spilled into it anyway.

“Disgusting.” Javik huffed from next to her.

“Oh hush.” Liara told him. “They’ve earned it.” She threw out a biotic shield around Ashley before some shots could reach her. “Not that I’m condoning this flirting on the battlefield.”

“Every one’s a critic.” Kaidan said with a sigh.

“They can critique us after we save all their asses.” Ashley said and took out another solider with her shooting.

It took another hour for the fighting to die down and Shepard to return with James and EDI.

Garrus crawled down from the perch he’d scrambled up to to take the sniper shots he needed. Tali collapsed next to Liara, her helmet lolling on Liara’s shoulder.

Across from them Ashley was pressing a cloth against a shot Kaidan had taken that had grazed his neck. Nothing serious thankfully but Liara could see she was worried.

Kaidan’s fingers brushed Ashley’s free hand as she lectured him about dodging.

Liara shook her head. “I suppose they’ll never stop.”

“Data collected from past events suggests it unlikely.” EDI said from beside her, making Liara jump. “Apologies, my stealth protocols are still engaged.”

Liara somehow doubt that was by accident.

“No, EDI, I’ve been friends with them for a while now. They’ll never stop.”

Not that they should have to, Liara thought, but a little less flirting in the middle of a battle would be nice.

~~

Johnson couldn’t explain the huge relief it was to see his commanding officer again. Their squad had been broken up for a while now and while he’d seen a few others, Kaidan had been shipped back to Earth and then apparently swept up with Commander Shepard.

It was really by chance Johnson was on the Citadel at the same time he was.

All though he was clearly interrupting something judging by the hand of the woman Kaidan was holding at the table where he sat.

“Sir!” Johnson snapped a salute.

“Johnson!” Kaidan laughed and stood up to give him a hug. “Glad to see you’re okay. How’s everyone else doing?”

“Depends on the day.” Johnson answered truthfully, no use trying to lie during a war.

Kaidan frowned at that but nodded in understanding.

“You gonna do introductions, Kaidan?” The woman at the table asked, her mouth twitched in amusement.

“Ah, right. Johnson this is Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, Ash this is Johnson. He was a part of the biotics squad I’d mentioned.”

Ashley stood up to offer her hand. “Nice to meet you, Johnson.”

“Likewise ma’am,” Johnson began and then paused, “Wait, you’re Ash?”

Kaidan froze.

Ashley’s smile grew wider. “Something familiar about my name?” She looked over at Kaidan. “Talking about me, Alenko?”

Kaidan crossed his arms and cleared his throat. “Maybe a few times.”

Johnson’s gaze bounced between the two.

“Was it a few times?” Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“More than a few ma’am.” Johnson said with a grin of his own now that he knew where this was going.

“Johnson…” Kaidan groaned, scrubbing at his face with his hand.

“He talked about how much he missed you.”

“That’s sweet, Kaidan.” Ashley said, her voice low in a tease.

“Can we talk about something else? Anything else?” Kaidan asked.

“No no, I think we should talk about this.” Ashley snickered.

“So what?” Kaidan threw back, “You didn’t miss me in those months we were separated.”

Her gaze softened. “I did.” Ashley said easily enough. “No one else is as nice a view.”

“Which view are you looking at?” Kaidan lowered his voice and Johnson squirmed a little.

It had been funny but hearing his old boss flirting was just bizarre.

He’d still have to tell the old squad about this though. They’d be dying to hear it.

~~

“Please tell me they’re not always like this.” Miranda said, taking another sip of her glass.

“They are.” Garrus replied.

“And now you get to put up with it too.” Tali said cheerfully and Miranda couldn’t tell if it was the glee that they’d share in the suffering or the alcohol talking.

“Least someone’s getting some.” Jack commented from the bar where she was mixing yet another drink. She grinned widely. “Though I hear Jacob is too.”

“Leave me out of this.” Jacob called out from another room entirely, his hearing apparently impeccable.

“Young love is often loud.” Samara offered softly and when she had joined the conversation Miranda wasn’t certain.

Ashley knocked her head against Kaidan, whispering something to him that had him laughing from where he sat at the poker table. She pointed at one of his cards and he shook his head, leaning over to say something to her this time.

Cortez and James exchanged a glance.

Kasumi flashed briefly in front of them, “You guys are sweet but can you play already?”

“The Kasumi creature is right. I wish this to be over.” Javik said.

“This game or…?” Liara asked, her question open ended.

Javik merely stared at her.

Ashley wrapped her arms around Kaidan, her head resting on her shoulder and Miranda didn’t think it had be a comfortable position given that she was standing but Ashley didn’t seem to care.

Later that evening Miranda pretended not see the two of them stumble into on of the bedrooms, Kaidan pressing a fond kiss against Ashley’s head as they leaned against each other.

~~

“Oh no.” Wrex crossed his arms and gave his best intimidating Krogan stare. “I’m not putting up with this again.”

Around them people buzzed, Earth’s rebellion hub a collection of activity.

“Not putting up with what again?” Kaidan asked but didn’t move his arm from Ashley’s waist.

“I told you two to get your act together years ago.” Wrex scoffed. “You humans don’t live long enough to be this stupid.”

“Wrex let them do it at their own pace.” Shepard said, coming up next to him.

“And see them dodge this for the next ten years? If I hadn’t said anything those two would still be pretending the other wasn’t interested.” Wrex held back another scoff but just barely.

“You are far too invested in our love life, Wrex.” Ashley said drily.

“I’m just the wisest thing here apparently.” Wrex shot back. “So quit acting like you two aren’t doing this forever and mate or whatever it is you humans do.”

“Does he mean mate like sleep together because I think we’re long past that.” Kaidan said, his voice equally as dry as Ashley’s.

Wrex rolled his eyes. “Shepard, translate.”

“Why do I-” Shepard sighed. “I’m guessing he means marriage. But they’ll get there when they get there Wrex.”

“Yeah we don���t want to mess up Joker’s betting pool.” Kaidan said, smirking at them.

“Despite that we already have.”

Shepard paused. “What does that mean.”

Kaidan and Ashley looked at each other and started to laugh.

“Oh?” Wrex’s booming laugh joined the fray, “Guess I was wrong. You two pulled your heads out of your quads after all.”

“Wait.” Shepard said. “You mean…”

“After Horizon.” Kaidan shrugged.

“Don’t worry Shepard, we both agreed we’d redo it with everyone around after we kicked the Reaper’s ass.” Ashley said.

“Also way to read our paperwork.” Kaidan said, his voice the picture of amusement.

“Who proposed.” Shepard demanded. At least she could still win a bet.

“Neither, we just…” Kaidan trailed off.

“Sort of agreed.” Ashley continued.

“No wonder you two are still newlyweds.” Shepard shook her head. “Joker’s not going to be happy to hear about this. I don’t think anyone won then.”

“We’re real broken up about that.” Kaidan said, deadpan.

“I’d say we won.” Ashley dropped her arm around Kaidan’s shoulder.

He tilted his head down to press his forehead against hers. “Yeah, I’d say we did.”

“This is all your fault.” Shepard accused Wrex without much heat.

Wrex sighed. “I miss when I wasn’t involved with any of you.”

“No you don’t.” Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan all said at once.

“Humans.” Wrex grumbled and walked off.

“I’ll just leave you two to it. Just uh, maybe hold off on telling everyone until I can be there to see their reactions.” She turned to leave to give them some privacy but couldn’t help but glance back.

Kaidan and Ashley were once again too distracted by each other, laughing about some honeymoon joke.

Newlyweds, Shepard thought. At least she already had a wedding present, kicking the Reapers off Earth was bound to score her some points and make it the best one.

[imaginekhaos]

Look Me in the Eyes

NSFW

Pairing: Deku x Reader

Warings: unprotected sex, coercion, semi-public sex, dirty talking

Word Count: 3,911

This is my first time writing a fan fiction for BNHA and I’m really nervous. Any feedback is welcomed and I hope you enjoy. 

This is also really unedited so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. 

* * * * * * *

Izuku Midoriya was many things. He was smart, determined and very kind. A flirt, however, he was not. You had developed a crush on Midoriya sometime around sophomore year, a few months into transferring to U.A. after your family's big move to Japan. It had started out harmless, a school girl crush with the intent of staying that way. You should have known better the second you met the girls of class 1-A and their giggling ways. Things took a deeper turn one night when you were all hanging out in Momo’s room, laughing, gossiping, and eating way too much junk food for your own good. The topic had naturally ended up on boys, specifically those in class 1-A. One thing lead to another and you eventually confessed your tiny crush on a certain green haired hero-to-be. Oh how you wish it had stopped there that night, but getting a group of girls together always ends up eventful.

“So,” Mina started mischievously from beside you, “who do you think is the most… endowed… of all the boys?”

The question caused many mouths to fall open at the abruptness but pretty soon thoughtful faces coated the entire room.

Mina continued, “I wouldn’t be too surprised if it were Kiri. He’s polite, manly and cute, so if he had a big dick it would just complete the package. No pun intended.”

Laughs rang out along with a few agreements from the other girls. Eyes trailed to your form sitting next to Mina, waiting for you to spill your thoughts. Heat engulfed your face, never expecting to have to answer this question.

“What about you, [Y/N]? Any particular green-haired, freckle-faced person come to mind?” Jiro teased.

“I-I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before. Seems kinda r-rude, doesn’t it?” Stuttering your way through an explanation, hoping to diffuse the situation and detract attention from yourself.

Jiro rolled her eyes at your lame answer. Uraraka then chose to speak up in a voice barely above a whisper, “I bet he’s big… “ The blush on her cheeks was so dark that is was only outmatched by the one across your cheeks due to the thoughts that were running through your head. The rest of the night was spent laughing and spilling more secrets. It brought you all much closer as not only friends but as a new class of heroes.

Though the night went on as a festive blur, one remark in particular kept repeating in your head the next few days. Thoughts of hard muscle juxtaposed with soft skin and tufts of green hair. Thoughts of hot sweaty bodies intimately colliding. It was all too much! But, it was all in your head. No one knew the kind of lewd scenarios playing out in your mind. Especially Izuku. So, since he wasn’t much of a flirt, you weren’t surprised when he never noticed how bright your cheeks burned when his friendly touches lingered a little longer or how his eyes managed to make you feel so exposed when he studied you during training. Even if he had noticed he had been kind enough not to say something, no matter how bad you sometimes wished he would.

* * * * * * *

The last two years of high school went along without much of a hitch. As a class, you helped dismantle any trouble you came across and under the guidance of professional heros, you all managed to blossom into a promising new generation of heros. But with graduation comes separation. Many of the class broke off to find the region where they would be most helpful. Asui managed to snag a perfect placement on the coast, assisting in storm and water rescue while other students like Kaminari and Iida found agencies that had them doing all kinds of hero work. Even though you never left the area after graduation, you still found the perfect agency for you. It was small in comparison to some of the more well known ones, but they often assisted other agencies when short staffed or needed specialized help, so you couldn’t complain. Plus, all the other heroes were nice and very helpful when it came to learning on the job. It wasn’t until two years into the new job that the first real problem arose.

* * * * * * *

Slamming your fist on your desk you let out an aggravated groan. Tonight was a bust. There had been a new villain terrorizing the area around your agency for a few weeks now. They were strong, fast and impossibly hard to capture, always managing to escape their bonds before the could be truly apprehended. It made you so damn mad and made you feel like an awful hero because you couldn’t capture a single villain. You run your hands across your face and through your hair before rubbing your tired eyes. It had been too long since you had any quality sleep and it was starting to take its toll on you. With a sigh, you decided that the best course of action would be to call for some assistance. You got in contact with a local agency who agreed to send someone to help you with the problem. Thanking them, a huge weight felt lifted off your shoulders knowing that the villain would be caught within the week and you'll finally get some much needed rest.

The next day went forward rather uneventful until the evening. The extra hero was supposed to arrive early in the day for introductions and debriefing, but they had yet to show. Deep frown lines and worried creases overtook your normally cheery face. Why weren’t they here yet? Did they forget? What if they got caught by the villain, got dragged back to their layer and is currently being subjected to foregin tourture methods and no one knows where they are and- A very familiar head of green hair entered your field of vision, successfully ending the panicked mental ramblings. You had to take a second look. Surely they didn’t send him, he was much too busy to help with something this small.

Then your eyes met enrapturing green ones. They were the kind of green that spoke of lush growth in the wake of a forest fire. They were determined, fresh and held a new sense of warning that read: “I have power. I have authority. I will not start a fight, but I will end one” His eyes scanned the agency, noting every face, name and exit strategy he could retain before his eyes were caught on you. I bright smile spread across freckled cheeks, the glint in his eye gone and replaced with pure sugar. His steps quickened in your direction. Your feet were frozen as juvenile feelings came rushing back as fast as your heart was beating.  

Before you knew it, strong arms embraced you, snapping you out of your haze as you gently returned the hug. There were so many questions you wanted to ask, but your tongue was tied in a knot, filling your mouth and preventing any word from escaping.

“[Y/N]! I can’t believe it! It has been so long. How are you?” He spoke in a chipper voice, much too chipper for the feeling running through your body.

“D-Deku…?” you replied

“Yeah! Don’t tell me you already forgot about me, we were so close in school.”

“N-No I didn’t forget, I’m just surprised is all. I didn’t expect them to send their favorite hero to help out down here. Especially considering how low-profile this villain is.” you explained.

His cheeks warmed up at your statement. He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes cast downwards. “Well, I actually volunteered to come help. I saw the request form and your name on it and thought I would lend a hand. I hope that is alright?”

It was your turn to blush as his statement registered in your mind. “Y-Yeah! That’s fine, we need all the help we can get and who better to help us than the future number one?”

His hand retreated into his front pocket, eyes turning slightly cold almost as if you had offended him by bringing up the topic of being the number one hero. He gave a slightly strained smile. “Well I’m here. What can I do to help?”

* * * * * * *

Both your lungs and legs burned as you ran after the villain you had been chasing for weeks. It was finally going to happen, you were going to catch him! Bursting through the warehouse doors the villain had just ran through, your eyes scanned the room for signs of movement. Your heart stopped as you realized there were none. Carefully examining the cargo garage once more, slower as you walked around checking every corner, you found it empty. Heavy footsteps followed after you. Izuku caught up to you, panting from the exertion of chasing the villain. He took a look around the space himself, noticing it was empty.

“[Y/N], how did they get away? What happened? Are you okay?”

A low growl escaped your throat, aggravation flowing hotly through your veins. He had escaped. Again! Think, think, think! Where could he have gone? Was it his quirk that helped him escape so many times?

“[Y/N]! What’re you doing? Aren’t you going to go after him?”

Those eyes. You could still feel their effect on you from earlier and it only intensified because you could feel them on you now.. He just had such an intense way of logging your every move. Don’t get it wrong, it was exactly this kind of awareness that would make him such a successful hero one day, but it made chills run up your spine when you would catch those orbs focused on you. They ensured that any shred of focus you had on the case was dissolved. You weren’t a school-girl anymore, so why were you acting like one? Getting distracted in the middle of a chase was a rookie move and you would be kicking yourself over it for days.

Eye twitching, you whip around to face Deku. “Will you stop asking so many questions? He just escaped like he does every time! I am trying to figure out a plan and I can’t think when you’re looking at me, much less speaking! You are just too distracting and don’t need to be thinking about what you’re making me and my body feel when I’m trying to work!” Huffing, it takes a second for your outburst to register. The angry heat flowing through you immediately turned to cold as all the blood runs from your face.

Those damned green eyes bore into yours with a fire almost as hot as the blush painted across his freckled cheeks. Desire rolled off of Deku in seering waves and you could almost feel it. He took a step forward, breaking you out of your haze. Immediately you began to stutter an excuse for your outburst, “D-deku… I didn’t mean to say that. It was an accident. You weren’t ever supposed to find out!”

He took another step forward and cocked his head to the side, that cold look from earlier clouded his face making him look like a completely different person. “Keeping secrets isn’t any fun, [Y/N]. It isn’t good manners and it hurts people's feelings.” He pouted slightly, “Is that what you wanted? Hm? To hurt my feelings?”

Quickly you shake your head, but still take a step away from him as he continued to walk your direction. “No! I just… I just didn’t want you to know.”

Another step forward. Another step back. “Want me to know what? About your crush on me since high school? Bunny, I already knew. You’re a very bad liar.” Gone was the sweet and caring Izuku you thought you knew. And gone was your escape route you realized as your back hit the cool metal walls of the warehouse. “And not only are you a bad liar, your body is too. I still remember that cute little blush on your face when I would touch you, much like the blush you have now.”

His chest pressed lightly against yours, hot and electrifying. Your body slightly trembled but you weren’t sure if it was from anticipation or from shame of loving his attention. His hands came to rest on the wall by your head, successfully enclosing you two together so all you could focus on was him.

The steady ring of his phone snapped your attention away. Not breaking his eye contact with your face, he grabbed his phone and answered it. After a few nods and yes’s and a few moments of you squirming under his gaze, he hung up and put his phone away.

“They caught him.”

Shock overtook your features, momentarily forgetting the previous predicament. “What? How did they get him? He escaped!”

A smirk crawled onto Midoriya’s lips. “I had a hunch that his quirk dealt with teleportation, specifically short range considering he never leaves this area of Japan. If I were trying to escape, I would lead my enemies to the lowest floor of a building and then teleport to the top, giving me ample time to escape in any direction without leaving a clue. Since most quirks have a drawback, I made a guess that a teleportation quirk would have a cooldown time, limiting the amount of times you could teleport. I then let the local authorities know. They did the rest.”

He seemed so proud of himself. Smug in the fact that he was right. What happened to the sweet and bashful Deku you knew, and what was with that look in his eyes? His scarred hand came up to push your [Y/H/C] locks behind your ears, drawing your attention back to him. His fingers trailed across your cheek bone, down to your jaw before squeezing both cheeks between his fingers making you look at him.

“Now, where were we, bunny? I think you were about to tell me about how you want me to touch you. Right?”

Speaking was difficult with the way he was squishing your cheeks, “I-I don’t think this is a g-good idea. Let’s just go h-home for the night.”

He sighed, a small amount of disappointment flashing across his face. “Oh honey, that’s not what I wanted to hear. Don’t you want me to touch you?” He leaned forward, lips touching the sensitive shell of you ear, “I know you’ve thought about me doing… things… to you before. I can read it on your pretty little face.”

“T-That was a long time ago. H-How are you so sure I still like you?”

A deep chuckle, “I know you still like me because you’ve been distracted since I walked in the door at your agency. Your thighs have been clenching on and off for hours and you can barely look me in the eyes. Do you need me to go on?” by the end of his explanation Deku’s lips were grazing yours. Half-lidded eyes stared at his mouth, focused on its movements.

With a sudden rush of courage, you pressed your trembling lips to his. Mouths moved together in sync. They molded together like two halves of a whole, sliding and caressing each other in a steamy dance. The tip of his tongue ran across the bottom of your lip as an invitation you gladly accepted. Your tongue gilded against his equally as eager one for a moment before you both broke away for air. A string of saliva connected your lips to his. He pressed his forehead against yours, breathing heavily into your space just as you were breathing in his.

“Bunny, you know I can’t let you leave here without giving you what you want. Legs up.”

You followed his demand, jumping to wrap your legs around his waist and arms around his neck as he pressed you against the wall. His strong hands grasped your upper thighs just under the swell of your ass. He let out a breathy groan as he squeezed your plush legs, obviously aroused by their softness and their strength. Doing a balancing act, he propped you up on the wall with one arm and his knee just long enough to flip your skirt up and move your panties to the side.

As his fingers grazed your hot core, you couldn’t help but let out a gasp. His touch was electrifying. It had been too long since someone had touched you like this and every brush and every touch causes your body to react, pussy clenching in anticipation. Your underwear were unbelievably wet considering how little Deku had actually touched you. Noticing this, a sweet smile spread across Deku’s face reaching all the way to his eyes causing them to crinkle at the corners. It was such a strange expression compared to the lust raging in his eyes. He looked pleased with your reaction and for some reason you felt happy that you could please him.

Suddenly you felt something large and hot rub against your lower lips. Looking down for a brief moment, your eyes widened from the sight. A thick and veiny cock slowly rocked along your glistening folds. When had he even gotten rid of his pants? He was much larger than you had originally assumed, but not comically massive the way most people would assume. The throbbing and prominent veins created a beautiful pathway to the tuft of green hair growing at the base and trailing upwards, disappearing under the top of his hero costume.

Deku chuckled, finding humor in the way you were staring at it and how you were analyzing every inch. His hips still rocked slowly against yours, gently nudging your clit. Just that small amount of friction caused your breath to hitch in your throat and before you knew it, you were already panting. His hand came up to cup your cheek. The pad of his thumb traced gently across your bottom lip and your tongue darted out to capture it in your mouth. Deku hissed lightly through his teeth at the way you softly sucked and nibbled on his digit, your eyes half-lidded with ecstasy. Pressing his forehead against yours he spoke, slightly strained from having held back, “Are you ready, love? I can’t wait any longer. You’ll let me fuck you, right? Oh baby, I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Yore core clenched at his words, soundlessly nodding your head, releasing his thumb. “Please…” You sounded so desperate, so needy. This was a new feeling for you, arousal in its most primal form. All you knew was that you didn’t want him to stop no matter how exposed you both were and no matter how needy you sounded. In this moment, you’d let him do anything to you.

With your confirmation, he slowly began pushing his length into you. A groan left both of your lips at the same time. Inch after inch disappeared inside you and with every movement of his hips came a sound of pleasure from your lips. By the time his pelvis met yours, you were both covered in a thin layer of sweat. HIs from effort and restraint, yours from the heat of arousal.

“Fuuuck… You’re so tight, bunny. So tight for me… I have to move, love. You’re driving me mad…” His hips then withdrew from yours in a smooth and slow motion before pushing back into you a little faster than before.

“I-Izuku!” You called out, voice echoing through the empty warehouse.

“That’s right, moan my name, baby!”

He began to pick up speed, using your position against the wall to push you up and then drop you back down on his cock. He felt so big inside you, filling you up and making sure to hit all the right spots even ones you didn’t know existed. You felt you eyes begin to roll back as he kept pistoning in and out of you at a brutal pace. Hands quickly found the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling on the green strands.  It was all too much for you to handle and you could already feel the knot inside you tightening. Moans after moans were spilling from your mouth, almost incoherent in your lust-filled daze.

Deku could feel you getting tighter as he pounded into your sopping cunt. Your juices coated his cock along with your thighs. He’d never had anyone so aroused by him and he loved every second of it. Sweat dripped off of his brow and ran down his neck before disappearing behind the collar of his shirt. Your arms slipped from his neck and gripped his shoulders hard, nails leaving red crescents on his pale skin even through the fabric of his costume. The knot in your abdomen tightened even more as he rested his head on your shoulder and moaned deeply into your neck. His lips sloppily placed kisses up and down the column of your throat, tongue flicking out to taste your skin. It wasn’t long before his kisses turned to nibbles which turned to bites hard enough to leave bruises. But you weren’t complaining, if anything it only made you more turned on. Your hands threaded through his hair once more as you could feel yourself getting closer. You knew he was getting there too due to how sloppy his thrusts were becoming. He quickly looked up at you.

“You better look me in the eyes when you cum, okay? I want to see just how I make you feel. Show me that pretty face, love.”

You made eye contact with him. It was deep and sensual and way too intimate for you to handle in your current state. You remember how you felt every time you caught his eyes on you in class or training. You remember how they made you feel so exposed to him, and now that you really were exposed, it was like he could see your every want and need and he was determined to be the one to fulfill them. After a few more thrusts of his hips you could feel yourself unraveling. Stars danced in the corners of your vision as you reached your climax, body jerking against his and cunt quivering. He could feel your walls squeezing him, milking his cock and begging for his seed. Just as you were beginning to come down from your high, Deku’s hips stuttered. His hot cum painted your walls as he cursed deeply, filling you to the brim and then some.

Both of you were breathing heavily, still connected and embracing as the euphoric sensation stopped buzzing through your veins. His eyes were still searching yours, glazed over with want. Slowly he slid his softening member from your core and sat you down on your feet. You felt sore but so satisfied. Your thighs quaked from having to support your own weight again and small rivulets of mixed juices ran from your pussy and coated your thighs. You were truly exhausted.

Deku got himself dressed and situated before helping you get everything straightened out. He pulled you to his chest, lips pressing into your forehead quickly before he spoke.

“Let’s get you home, bunny. My place isn’t far from here.”

* * * * * * *

As you left the next morning after a shower and homemade breakfast, along with a promise for a real date soon, you sent a text you Uraraka with a simple message: You were right.

[twilightknight17]

So I fell asleep last night before I could make the post, but I got P5 Scramble yesterday and I’m having a blast so far. ^_^

I’m probably going to go through it the same way I did my Royal playthrough, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click through on these posts!

Before we start, I just want to mention that I don’t really know anything about the story. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid spoilers for an entire year except for a few small things.

I do know the identity of (who I assume is) Kyoto’s Jail Monarch. (Monarch is kind of a weird, formal word. I think I liked Jail King better. Or... Warden? Warden might have been the best choice.) ANYWAY, I think I know their identity, and by extension, I have a vague idea of why Shadow Joker exists. Other than that... You’re getting speculation and bullshit untainted by later plot revelations. XDDD

I did find it funny that when I booted the game up, I got a “No save data found, unable to start game” message. Like... no shit, PS4, it’s a brand new game. But the little starting tutorial fight was cool, and I liked the opening movie!

The police briefing was...interesting. It’s good to see them actually being somewhat logical? Like... considering everything that happened the year before, it makes sense that they’d assume this is the Thieves again. They have no way of knowing that there’s no way to access Palaces anymore. This isn’t really the Thieves MO, though. Except for the guy who confessed to document tampering. The author shredding his work for no reason and the guy streaking through the criminal justice headquarters don’t seem like they did anything wrong. Those seem more like psychotic breakdowns.

But... I guess we don’t know if the police ever knew anything about Black Mask, or if Shido was convicted on only real-world crimes and not the metaverse hits he ordered. I wonder if that’ll get elaborated on.

Zenkichi’s introduction was him laughing at the streaking guy in the middle of this Serious Police Meeting, so I think I’m gonna like him a lot. ^_^

Anyway, the “higher-ups” really want this case closed, according to “Commissioner Kaburagi”, who I already don’t like. If you’re the police commissioner, Makoto really would be a better choice, holy shit. She’s already prepared to go after Akira, who is the only Thief they know the identity of, so I guess that’s fair. But still. Has he not been falsely accused of enough for a lifetime?

Although... if you’re gonna look up all his life details, can you maybe... share some? Just a few things? Hometown? How are his parents? Anything?

*

Coming back to Leblanc was cute. Got some Trickster’s Maze vibes from the initial text conversation where they were talking about how people kept not responding to texts, but I think it’s all good. Love that the Sayuri is still on the wall, and that Morgana’s been home with Akira.

Naming the app “Emma” is never going to stop being hilarious to me, because reasons.

Y’know, Atlus, this would work a lot better if he could like...respond to their curiosity. At least these dialogue options seem to suggest that talking things out with his parents went well. Even “I missed you” isn’t inherently negative. He’d miss them either way.

.......so when my boyfriend gets back from his soul-searching vacation, he’ll be welcomed back with open arms, right, Ryuji? Right?

Meanwhile, for summer break plans, Yusuke wants to go to Kyoto for a month-long art tour. Unless...

Never change, dear. Never change.

Nice of Sojiro to water my plant and keep my room from drowning in dust, but he really couldn’t have replaced the bedframe with literally anything other than the plastic storage crates? XD The attic looks so empty and lonely without the shelves of trinkets and plushies, and the TV.

So my reaction to this next part was literally, “LAVENZA, IT’S BEEN LESS THAN 24 HOURS”. X’‘‘D Akira really can’t catch a break. But Lavenza’s dialogue sounded actually sad that he was being dragged into this again. And she’s promised repeatedly that she’s going to be there for him. It’s sweet, even though my room is still a prison and she’s still using torture equipment. Iron maidens, Lavenza, really??

I’m a little concerned that Igor’s not around, though. Lavenza did the dream/reality/mind/matter speech instead. Where is he? I know he’s never around for spinoffs but considering my headcanons I’m very curious now. And why didn’t he like... tell Morgana that Lavenza said ruin is coming again? Even if we don’t count thirdsem events, Morgana still knows that he’s Hope, and he still has a bond with the Velvet Room. Talk to your cat damn it.

Oh no, she’s cute and Alice-in-Wonderland themed. I’m doomed.

She called it her “EMMA keyword” and I immediately blurted “what? keyword??” and then everything went directly to Hell immediately. Keyword was the key word, I guess. X’‘‘‘DDD

And you can tell it’s been six months, considering that these nerds got caught almost immediately. And got their hands bound. And got dragged to the throne room and forced to kneel!

...I’m doomed.

Someone at Atlus looked directly at this fandom and all the fanart of the interrogation and said, “Yeah, they’d be into that.” XD Steppy steppy. At least she’s not a rapist like Kamoshida, but jeeze, we keep getting beaten up and thrown in the dungeon by royalty. All we need is a princess and we’ve got a whole royal family!

Although, I suppose the prince didn’t bother with a dungeon. XD

I think it’s interesting that apparently the guards tried to take our Desires and failed. I guess being a persona-user means your mental state is stable enough that something like that can’t manifest.

Oh no, she’s cute. I love her. Another for the collection of Joker’s baby siblings. This is number... 5? She kind of reminds me of Jose, a little. I’ll be interested to see what she is, since she’s got amnesia right now. She can’t be just a straight AI.

But if she’s Yald’s mom, I’m also going to be majorly weirded out.

I really like the gameplay? It’s so interesting to see how the characters move and fight when they’re not limited to turn-based attacks. And I like being able to jump to different points and use them to ambush enemies. I don’t fully understand all of it yet, and it’s hard for me to keep an eye on things like status ailments and my teammates because everything is so chaotic, but I’m sure I’ll get it.

I did die to a miniboss, and when I hit “return to checkpoint”, it gave me the prompt to select a language for the voice acting again. I dunno what was up with that. X’D And I’m baffled by the concept that you can just leave the metaverse and come back and it restores all your health and stuff. No penalty. Time doesn’t pass. You didn’t waste a day. Have the kids finally learned that we are capable of entering and exiting more than once on the same day? Hallelujah.

...this boy is angry that we have to deal with the Jails instead of having a BBQ feast. Never change, Yusuke.

If you go by the crepe shop in Shibuya, Morgana still doesn’t think you’re a crepe person. I’m so tired, Morgana. It’s also a bit weird and forced that Iwai and Takemi are both out of town. We couldn’t have seen at least one of them? I know we’re not gonna be able to use those shops when we’re on the road, but we could worry about that then.

(Disturbingly easy to return a gold bar that you apparently bought off the dark web. Omg. That was hilarious.)

AND THEN YOU GET UP THE NEXT DAY AND ZENKICHI IS JUST IN YOUR HOUSE? SITTING IN THAT CHAIR? That is not the “detective chair”, sir, that is my boyfriend’s chair, and you need to move. At least he likes the curry, but jesus fuck. Sir, I have unresolved trauma of adults coming into my house to snoop into my business. Get out of my house. X’D

You give me a detective sitting in my boyfriend’s chair and then immediately send me to a taping of the same show in the same studio where I first met him. God, P5S, you’re trying to kill me.

Alice clearly knows that giving out the keyword is doing something. She’s being very deliberate about this. But I don’t think she’s actually aware of the Jail. Love that she’s so arrogant that she can’t imagine that Akira just... didn’t use the keyword, and that’s why she can’t control him.

So I guess the Jail Monarchs are called such because they’re imprisoning other people’s shadows in their distortions. So these are people that want control over something to the point that it distorted their worldview. Part of me wants to go off on a ramble about how this relates to Mementos or Apathy Syndrome, but I’ll wait and do that when I have more information. I’ve got some more of the dungeon to do, and I cannot wait to see Alice’s boss fight.

I’m having so much fun. I really missed these kids; they’re grea--

.......I hate these children. X’‘‘‘‘DDDD

[fandom-trash-xl]

One-Shot: The Small and the Shiny

Timeline Placement: Age 784 (The 28th World Martial Arts Tournament!)

______

"Now, don't get into too much trouble, you two."

Today was the day of the twenty-eighth World Martial Arts Tournament and the two Saiyans, Goku and Vegeta, weren't the only ones who were ecstatic. 

Five-year-old Pan, granddaughter of Goku, was finally ready to participate in her first tournament. Due to her Saiyan genetics, she was a combat prodigy, allowing her to easily hold her own amongst adults. She had even flown around the planet in the span of minutes just that morning.

However, it would be a while before the main event would begin and Pan was dead set on perusing the various activities around the area with her grandpa.

"We won't, dad!" Pan assured her father.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Gohan! She's in good hands." Goku gave a reassuring smile.

"With you, that's debatable." Chi-Chi sighed.

“Ah, come on, Chi-Chi...” The Saiyan looked back at his wife almost pleadingly. “You’re always saying how I should bond with her, and I promise we’ll only buy a few sweets...”

She only sighed, a small smile forming across her lips, still ever amused by her husband after all of the years of worry. “Just go.”    

On that note, Goku and Pan soon took to the heart of the lanes of vendors, looking to find at least something to occupy the time before they were called back for their matches.

"Where do you want to go first, Pan?"

"Ice cream!" Pan cheered, pointing to a nearby stand.

"Great choice! I was thinking that too." Goku entered a running stance. "I'll race you!"

"You're on, grandpa!"

After a brief count of three, the pair began to rush towards the ice cream vendor. However, it didn't take long for Pan to lose her pace.

She saw something. A tail from around a corner, lazily batting about in curlicues.

"Hey, why'd you slow down, Pan?"

"Look over there!"

Pan pointed to the tail around the corner. It was rather small, a dusty rose color and striped. Dangling from it was what appeared to be a small pendant keychain with a circular charm.

"It's a puppy tail, grandpa! There's a puppy over there!"

"Well, I think that's kind of a weird color for a puppy..." Goku tried to explain, but Pan had already bolted.

"PUPPY!" She squealed as she ran towards the tail. 

"Pan, wait!" Goku tried to chase after his granddaughter, but she was already prepared to pounce on the tail. When Goku could finally see around the corner and realize that the tail's owner was in fact not a dog, Pan had already jumped and grabbed on.

"Gotcha!"

The tailed creature appeared to be a bipedal reptilian. The jewel that made up his skull was a brownish maroon shade and resembled a chestnut. The creature's species was familiar to Goku, but he couldn't place it in this rushed instance. He was clearly upset that his tail was grabbed and tears were forming.

The reptilian stumbled back as he freed his tail from Pan's eager grasp, not noticing the pendant dropping from it.  He started to bolt in the other direction, mumbling something panicked and incoherent. He didn't get very far before tripping. He picked himself up and continued to run, this time holding his tail to stop it from dragging on the ground. He finally managed to cry out a word that was understandable: a wailing cry of "Papa!"

"Pan, that wasn't very nice of you to pull on that little lizard boy's tail." Goku looked at his granddaughter with disappointment. 

"But, grandpa, I didn't know!" Pan whined.

Goku sighed. "Well, we should try to find him, so you can apologize." Noticing the fallen keychain, he retrieved it from the ground. “And we should probably return this to him too.” He grabbed Pan's hand and led her through the crowd. "Come on." 

______

Several minutes had passed and the two had no luck with finding the lizard boy. It was rather unusual. How hard was it to find a boy with a tail in a place like this?

Pan was scanning among the legs of passing people to try to spot the boy with no luck. 

Goku turned to look in the direction that Pan was searching while continuing to walk. “You see ‘im yet, Pan?” He inquired.

“No, not yet, grandpa, but...”

“What is it?”

“I think you should be paying more attention to the path!”

“Pan, it’s fine.” Goku assured his granddaughter. “I’ll be fine, I’m not going to bump into anyone!”

Just at that moment, as if jinxed by his words, Goku immediately bumped into someone. He jolted back, almost letting Pan’s hand slip out of his.

“Woah, sorry, sir. Didn’t see you there!” He apologized.

“You’d better be sorry, monkey.” A snarky and sarcastic voice responded.

The sound of the voice resonated with Goku. Only one person he knew had that certain flourish to his voice and that same person was the only one who called him by that name.

Goku’s eyes turned downward to see a familiar reptilian figure with white scales and violet jewels. Unlike the lizard’s usual attire choice, he wore a loose-fitting button-up shirt, dark enough violet to pass for black, and Force-standard spandex shorts, as well as a pair of sunglasses- somewhat feminine in design, likely not something he picked out himself- that his ruby red eyes peeked over, giving the Saiyan his signature glare of condescension. This clothing was probably to help him blend in with the surrounding crowds and avoid suspicion, but Goku felt that his tail was somewhat of a dead giveaway. 

“Frieza?” Goku looked in confusion. “I didn’t expect you to be at the tournament!”

“Well, I didn’t expect myself to be here either.” The Arcosian removed his sunglasses and folded them. “But, Vegeta’s woman insisted since it’s been almost five years since I helped you save the universe, or whatever sappy excuse she used.” He rolled his eyes. “And apparently there are no admission returns, so...”

“Yeah, Bulma’s quite the master of persuasion, isn’t she?”

“I wouldn’t call it persuasion. More like coercion.”

Meanwhile, Pan slowly glanced around her grandfather’s leg to get a better look at the figure before her. Frieza’s tail swished back and forth, almost pattern-like, but the young girl noticed something else. Flicking almost in sync with the white tail was another tail of a familiar dusty rose color. Could it be that lizard boy?

Pan eagerly tugged on the leg of Goku’s gi. “Grandpa, grandpa!”

“What is it, Pan?” Goku asked.

“This guy’s got a tail!”

“Yes, he does, Pan.” The Saiyan explained. “Mr. Frieza’s from space, so he has some body parts that humans don’t have.”

"Oh?" Frieza seemed curious about the small girl. "Who is this? Another one of your hellspawn I presume?"

"Actually, Pan's my granddaughter. She was at that post-tournament party we had, remember? She was just a baby then."

"You do remember I left before all of these festivities, right?" Frieza's eyes narrowed. "I could barely stand being on your team for forty-eight minutes, so I definitely couldn't stomach a full-out party."

“Oh, right!” Goku remembered and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Almost forgot you’re not a party person.”

Frieza gave a displeased sigh at the Saiyan’s ignorance. His tail flicked about faster and the second tail behind him seemed to be having difficulty matching the speed. This attracted Pan’s attention yet again, prompting her to give another tug.

"Grandpa, grandpa!"

"I'm afraid you'll have to advise her that this is hardly the time or place for me to explain my entire anatomy..." The Arcosian rolled his eyes.

"Pan, Mr. Frieza's right. Maybe another time-"

Pan interjected. "But, he's got two tails!"

Goku looked shocked. "He has what?!"

Frieza's eyes practically flew open. "I-I can explain, don't get too over-excited now-"

But, Goku had already started rambling. "I didn't know you could grow another tail! Can you grow three tails? Do you think Saiyans can do it too? Can-"

"Silence!" Frieza barked, ending the rant. His own tail stiffened and the second one seemed to fidget, uncertain of how to mirror the other. He sighed. "The second tail isn't mine."

"So, you ripped it off another guy and surgically attached it to yourself?"

The Arcosian was starting to lose patience more rapidly. "No, I mean that there's someone behind me, you imbecile!" He pinned his folded sunglasses to his shirt collar. "Just give me a second." Frieza turned around and bent down. His voice seemed to mellow as he near silently spoke to the small being behind him. “Come on, Kuri. Don’t be scared...”  After a brief hesitation, the pint-sized figure flinched forward into Frieza's embrace, allowing him to scoop up the tailed creature. "There we go..."

When he faced them again, he was holding a smaller lizard being. Their form seemed to be similar to Frieza's first form, but it was missing horns. Their jewel skull resembled a maroon chestnut. They donned Frieza Force-regulated battle gear. The armor seemed to be of a model similar to Vegeta's, as it lacked the shoulder pads present on Frieza's usual armor. A black silk scarf, somewhat large on them, was tied at their collar and draping along their shoulders.

"It seems that some introductions are in order." Frieza finally managed a smile for once. "This is my son, Kuriza. Born two years after my revival." 

Kuriza, clearly bewildered, briefly glanced over to Goku, then to Pan. After his analysis, he quickly averted his gaze and attempted to retreat back behind his father, who quickly stopped him. He must have been rather shy.

"Wow, never thought you had it in you, Frieza!"

Frieza hesitated for a moment. "What are you implying here, Goku...?” His eye twitched angrily. 

“Well, um... It’s just... You’re Frieza and all, and I didn’t really think you were interested in-”

Pan interjected with her own question to spare her grandfather from Frieza’s wrath. “Who’s the mum, then?”

Frieza stammered as a red color spread across his face. He refused to look either of them in the eye. “That is... none of your concern, child...”

Goku laughed a little. “Same stubborn Frieza! But, anyways, it’s nice to meet you, little guy!” He held out his hand for Kuriza to shake or, at least, grab onto. To the Saiyan’s surprise, the young lizard’s already frightened expression seemed to further sour, shortly afterward attempting to snap his small fangs at Goku’s hand.

“Kuri! Manners!” The older Arcosian scolded him through gritted teeth.  

“Woah! What the heck was that for? Did you set this up?”

Frieza seemed shocked as well. “I swear, I didn’t. I know that vengeance has been in the cards for quite some time now, but I’ve never trained him to attack you specifically.” He let out a small chuckle. “I guess it’s only natural for him to attack what he considers a threat. Just my luck that you automatically fit the bill~” 

Emerging from the brief silence, Kuriza suddenly started to mumble something. It was hard to decipher at first, but even Goku was able to deduce what he said. “He’s... with... her.” He seemed to be referring to Pan and was clearing speaking about her with fear in his tone.

“This is because of Pan?” Goku looked surprised before the emotion was quickly overshadowed by fear. Frieza was glaring at him. 

“Alright, monkey,” The Arcosian growled. “I don’t know what your little spawn did that traumatized my son, but you’d better explain... now.” 

Goku started to sweat as he tried to once again hide Pan behind his leg. “I-I honestly... don’t know what happened...”

“Sh-she...” The young lizard stuttered. He eventually gave up on trying to work out the words and grabbed the end of his dusty rose tail. He made a tugging motion lightly enough to not cause himself discomfort. Goku’s eyes widened with realization. Kuriza was the lizard boy from before!

Frieza looked to his son with a gaze of concern. “Kuri, did that girl pull your tail?” Kuriza simply nodded. “She did?” His eyes turned back to Goku and his concerned look turned to an infuriated scowl.

“Um, Frieza, I can explain!”

“What is there to explain here? This little mutt pulled on my son’s tail because she doesn’t know how to keep her paws to herself...”

“She didn’t really pull though, she was only grabbing on for a few seconds-”

“Well, the tail is very sensitive! She could have hurt him!”

“Frieza, I’m honestly very sorry for all of thi-”

Goku’s defense of his granddaughter was cut off by Pan herself stepping up, her voice reduced to whimpering. “I didn’t wanna hurt him! I thought it was a puppy tail because I like to grab puppy tails, I didn’t know. I won’t do it again, don’t hurt me, Mr. Frieza!” She was almost diminished to an emotional puddle faced with the angered emperor. 

Thankfully for the trembling quarter-Saiyan, Frieza’s temper cooled with a sigh. “I guess if you promise never to do it again, I can let it slide. Fortunately for you both, Vegeta’s woman also forced me into a ‘no violence’ agreement, so I, unfortunately, can not destroy you if the mood strikes me.”

Despite the positive news, Goku’s shoulders seemed to slump in disappointment. “Aww... So, does that mean you won’t be fightin’ in the tournament today?”

“Violence clauses or no, I am much too powerful to safely fight the normal Earthling combatants. I could quite literally tear up the competition while holding back.” The Arcosian’s expression turned into a cocky smirk. “Besides, I can’t trust any of your questionable companions to watch my darling Kuri.” At mention of his son, his scarlet eyes darted over to Kuriza, who was further attempting to bury his face by snuggling into his father's embrace, the gesture met by a brief cheek nuzzle.

"Speaking of watching over and such," Goku added with mild confusion. "How come the little guy was out and about without you? I figured you'd be watching him like a hawk with how protective you are."

Frieza sighed. “I try to stop him from wandering off, but he keeps trying to scavenge anyway. The boy has a mind of his own some days.”

“Scavenge?”

“Yes, for coins- and, before you try to give me any money, we’re fine on that front. He simply adores shiny objects like that... I even had to buy him a shiny little trinket in the hopes it would keep him occupied for a spell, but it seemed it didn’t work that well. It’s this little medallion charm from a little vendor back there.” He turned to Kuriza, who finally peeked back out of his reserved hiding. “Show them your little charm, Kuri.”

The smaller lizard looked back to his tail, only to find no such object dangling from it, letting out a small gasp. Frieza’s eyes narrowed. “Where did your charm go, Kuriza?” He was met with a mumbling response that Goku couldn’t make out but Frieza somehow could. “I told you not to put it on your tail, you know that’s how things get lost.”

“What’s the matter?” Goku inquired.

The lizard emperor sighed yet again. “It seems that Kuriza lost his little trinket while he was out scavenging. It must have slipped off his tail while he was up and about, it could be anywhere in this place. Such a shame that-”

"Shiny..." A small sad whimper came from Kuriza. He depressedly tried to slide down out of his father's arm, only for him to be scooped back up.

"Aww... Poor guy... Are you going to go look for it now?" Pan asked from behind Goku's leg.

"I'm afraid that will not be an easy thing to accomplish, little- Gkk!" Frieza was cut off by a sudden pain: a small kick from Kuriza, right in the upper ribs. The little lizard's mood had greatly soured and he was now resorting to kicking to fuel his agenda.

"Goku!" Frieza interjected, still being given small jabs in the ribs from his son's silent tantrum.

"Yes?" Goku perked up. Frieza had no snarky nickname for him, so he knew he was serious.

"By any chance, do you know someplace private I could go for a minute or so?" He spoke through pained grunts. "Preferably one nearby?"

"Wait, why?"

"Well, you know how he likes shiny things? Seeing my Golden Form helps calm him down and I don't want to attract any undue attention. So, if you would-" A single harder kick made Frieza's eyes widen mid-explanation to near the size of saucers. "Please..." He turned Kuriza around in his carrying, getting his legs to face outward and redirecting his frustrated kicks, unfortunately trying to find ways to swing backward.

"Ahh... Gotcha..." The Saiyan nodded understandingly before briefly shooting him a casual finger gun. "I think there should be bathrooms off around the outskirts- Maybe around the konpeito booth?"

"Much appreciated..." Frieza grunted through his teeth as he turned in his tracks off towards the other direction, redirecting his attention and softening his tone towards his son. "It's okay, Kuri... Papa will do the pretty shiny thing for you soon..."

However, before he could get too far, Pan suddenly chipped in, her voice still somewhat stuttering in fear of potentially upsetting the short fused emperor. "Wait... Umm, Mister Frieza?"

One iris darted back to look at the petite partial Saiyan, Frieza's default look appearing like a glare. "Yes? What do you need, little mutt?"

"Well, umm..." She hesitated. "If you tell us what it looks like, we could try to find the little charm for him..." After her initial nerves, she perked up, confidently cocky like her grandpa. "I'm good at finding things!"

The emperor was resistant to accept the offer, especially one from a five year old, but he eventually let out a begrudging sigh. "Very well, but don't get your hopes up about finding it. It's a small circle shaped pendant- Two sides to it. One has a picture of the sun, the other has a crescent of your planet's moon- and it's very shiny as you could presume." He rolled his eyes as he turned back around. "Now, if you don't mind..." He trailed off, grumbling.

Not long after Frieza had only taken a few steps ahead, all while trying to reign in the silently fussing little lizard in his arms, a thought caused Goku's shoulders to lurch up, like a jolt coursed through him to turn on the metaphorical lightbulb. He turned to Pan, fetching something from his belt as he did- the small keychain that had been dropped from earlier. Of course, it appeared a touch less shiny than hoped due to the dirt on it. "Hey... Pan, do you think this might be it?"

"Yeah!" The young quarter-Saiyan piped up. "After all, we did find it when the little guy ran off."

"Well, Mister Frieza's not too far, so do you think you could-"

Goku was barely allowed a chance to finish before his granddaughter yelped out to cross the few feet gap between her and the father-son pair of lizards. "Hey! Mister Frieza! We have it!"

The lizard emperor flinched in his tracks from the volume of her voice, pivoting back around on a dime and returning back to the two Saiyans. "What?! How the hell did you find that so fast?"

Pan briefly flinched as well, sensing hostility in his tone, but quickly recomposing herself. "Well, we think he lost it when I pulled his tail. It was on the ground where he was, so..." She held out the keychain, Frieza's eyes nearly lighting up in relief, only for his expression to remain the same typical disgruntled.

"It's all dirty, monkey..." His glare shot up to Goku, who quickly understood what Frieza meant by it, letting out a brief "oh!" before taking the keychain from Pan, hastily wiping it clean with the edge of his top, then handing it back. "That's better."

Upon seeing its glimmering beauty reflecting the light of the sunshine, the once stubborn little Kuriza's expression seemed to melt into stunned wonder, a matching glitter in his eyes. "Shiny..." He let out an awestruck whisper, his tiny hand now attempting to reach out toward it, only to be limited by the length of his arm and the hold his father, who was smiling for once, kept on him.

"Yes, yes, I see it, my little chestnut." The emperor sighed. He knelt down to a shorter level, closer to Pan's, as he set Kuriza back onto his two feet and quickly snatched the charm from the Saiyan child's hands. "Now, so you don't lose this again..." He untied the knot of the boy's scarf before quickly retying it again, this time making the knot around the looped end of the keychain. "We'll tie it here."

Kuriza almost immediately looked back down to admire it, fumbling with it in his tiny hands and flipping it between sun and moon, continuing to do so even as his father scooped him back up and rose to his feet. The smile remained on the older lizard's face even as he shot a glaring look with his eyes at Pan. "Don't expect any sort of 'thank you', mutt. You were part of the problem, after all."

"Well, she was part of the solution, to be fair."

Frieza simply scoffed. "Water under the bridge, monkey..." He shifted his son in his arms, transferring him to his backside and, no sooner after the small being had securely latched himself into his new position, his eyes progressively lowered, already tired. It was interesting to see how Frieza seemed to mellow around his son- was it parental hormones or did he actually have a sweet side?- yet his characteristic cold nature seemed to remain beneath.

"Now, if you have nothing further to contribute... I'll continue perusing this overly sappy human carnival until the main event starts." As the lizard turned around, precious cargo slumbering on his back, it wasn't long before his route forward was cut short by another voice calling out toward him, this one feminine, but not belonging to Pan.

"Hey! There you are, Frieza!" He looked with a cold glare to find that the approaching voice was tied to the woman who had roped him into this mess herself- Bulma, waving towards the group ahead on the path. Of course, she was not alone, having her clearly disgruntled Saiyan husband dragged along with her, as well as an unfamiliar pint-size presence, her hair distinctly matching Bulma's in color.

"Great... The woman..."

Alerted by this commotion, Kuriza's attempted nap was instantly halted with an alarmed squeak. His panic amplified upon seeing the approaching Briefs family and, not wishing to confront even more people, released his hold on Frieza's back, dropping to the ground and preparing to bolt away in the opposite direction. However, a stark white tail pushed him back. "No running off again!" Having no other escape option, he defensively kept a firm hug-like grip around his father's legs.

While Frieza remained aloofly looking away, Goku was all smiles to see the group approaching, waving towards Vegeta in particular. "Hey, 'Geets!" His greeting was met by the other Saiyan letting out a small grunt and simply addressing him as "Kakarot".

The emperor only rolled his eyes at this overly sappy "buddy-buddy" display, not finding any interest in whatever sort of bonding ritual the two Saiyans had to share, nor any of the human ones Bulma would force onto him. However, before he could make his discreet exit from the situation, the woman's eyes locked with him. "I thought I saw you around. Thankfully nothing in utter chaos." The smile on her lips was hesitant, even though dragging him here was her idea, and Vegeta held her back with a defensive arm, as if he were a zoo exhibit.

"Your lack of faith in me to 'behave', as you put it, is insulting, Bulma." Frieza scoffed, half-humoring her. "Anyway, thank you for the... human disguise you loaned me." He motioned to the collar of the button-up shirt, speaking of it like it was a burden forced upon him. "And, if you don't mind, I was just about to continue my rounds until you appeared." As he turned around, he unpinned the sunglasses from his shirt and covered his glaring red eyes back up with them. "Without further interruption, I must bid you ta-ta, woman~"

The lizard dismissed the group that had formed around him with a flick of a wave, but, when he tried to continue his trail through the grounds, he was halted, as his legs didn't seem to want to move. Looking down to see what was the matter, he noticed that Kuriza was still stubbornly grabbing him by the legs in defensive attachment, his grip keeping the two legs squeezed together. "Gkk! Kuri- please-"

Of course, it didn't take Bulma long to notice. "Aww... Who's that little fella you've got there?" Once the woman drew attention to the little lizard, his father let out a disgruntled sigh, his shades slightly falling and once again revealing a peek of unamused red irises.

"Oh, didn't you guys know?" Goku started answering on Frieza's behalf. "Frieza had a kiddo of his own the whole time!"

"Ah, that explains why you were asking about child admission when I got in touch with you! I just thought you were trying to pass one of your short minions off as one to get a discount or something."

Vegeta added a begrudging "Him procreating? Tch..."

The emperor continued through gritted teeth. "Yes, his name is Kuriza and he doesn't like new people, so could we just move on-"

Before he could finish, Bulma's curiosity had already overtaken her, passing Vegeta's arm barrier to her husband's dismay. She had already made her way uncomfortably close to the lizard, kneeling down to reach the further fearful Kuriza, his grip tightening and his face becoming more obscured. "That's okay. He just hasn't come out of his shell yet." Her voice became a coo. "It's okay, little guy... Miss Bulma won't hurt you!"

"Woman, please back off. He doesn't want your company." Frieza, raising his sunglasses up to his forehead, urged her, not being heard.

"Aww... Poor guy... Don't be scared!" She reached forward, further triggering the boy's fight or flight, and carefully examined the little charm tied to his scarf, flipping the token in her fingertips. "That's a cute little charm you have there, Kuriza~ Did your dad get that for you?"

"You may not want to touch that-"

"I'm not going to take it away from him, I'm just looking at it."

"Bulma!" Frieza, at the end of his rope, finally used her real name. "I really wouldn't. He-!"

He looked back down too late as the human woman let out a panicked yelp. "Oww! He bit me!" Sure enough, little Kuriza's fangs were clamped onto Bulma's finger, the other four fearfully releasing his pendant. The small creature, frightenedly unsure of how to react, was between moods, letting out a soft growl and tearing up at the same time.

"As I was trying to explain..." Frieza grumbled. "He bites when he feels threatened- and you were being quite threatening in his mind." He reached down and planted a reassuring hand on top of his son's head. "It's okay, Kuri~ Let her go now." While the younger lizard hesitated briefly, he acquiesced and allowed Bulma to withdraw her hand, shortly after transferring his hug hold by springing up onto his father's arm.

"Well, that's a lesson for later... Heh..." With a forced smile, Bulma tried to brush off the incident, rubbing at her sore finger. "I guess I'll leave you two to your business! We'll see you later at the main event!"

While both lizards were relieved in their own ways that the Briefs group was leaving, another voice, finally piping up, was not quite enthused. "Aww... But, I wanted to play with the lizard boy!" The tiny source was the small girl by Vegeta's legs, the color of her hair, tied up in a ponytail, a mix of purple and robin's egg strands.

"I know you did, Bulla, honey, but little Kuriza's not quite in the mood to play right now." While Bulma rationally explained the situation, Vegeta was taking the more protective route, trying to prod Bulla away. Perhaps it was fear of her being bitten too, or of her being 'contaminated' by an evil emperor's son.

"Okay..." Bulla disappointedly whimpered. As she was urged ahead on her way by her stubborn Saiyan father, she raised her hand to wave goodbye. "Bye-bye, then!" Her hand waving overenthusiastically at the same time rattled a small bracelet around her wrist, a few gemstone-like beads making it up- hopefully play-pretend plastic, unless they trusted a four-year-old that much. However, no matter what material it was, what mattered was its surfaces caught glimmers of light in their motions-

As well as Kuriza's attention.

The Saiyans, partial and full, and Bulma parted to one direction, while the solitary emperor and his boy went to the other. However, Kuriza, now reclaiming his prior position playing piggyback, couldn't help but look behind him as the others headed off- though the people themselves were of less interest to him than the real treasure. The bracelet continued to jangle around on its little girl owner's wrist, further tempting him with its glittering allure. "Shiny..." He near silently whispered. His movements were quiet and stealthy, taking some time before Frieza even noticed him dropping down from his back.

Bulla, past her initial disappointment of not having a new playmate, was now busily chatting with Pan, walking to the side of her. Her braceleted hand was held behind her back while her father protectively held the other one. The surrounding footsteps that formed the ambience of the tournament ground made her miss the tiny and quickly approaching patters- that was until she felt the wrist behind her being suddenly grabbed.

"Oh!" She turned around to see Kuriza attempting to take a hold on her bracelet and suddenly frozen in his tracks, realizing he had to deal with the person attached. "Hey, it's you! Hi!" The lizard wanted to draw back, but also refused to leave his prize.

Kuriza hesitated. "...Hi...?"

"It's okay. You like my bracelet, don't you?" He nodded daintily in response, just as his father worriedly approached.

"Kuri, what did I tell you about scampering off again?! That shiny thing already has a home..." The young Arcosian's attention was still diverted, continuing to be subjected to Bulla's small talk.

"My mum got me this for my birthday. It's my favorite, but I really like your little shiny thing too!" Surprisingly, Kuriza did not grow defensive of his trinket when she pointed at it, his more important goal being the new object before him. "Oh! I just remembered! You don't know my name. My name's Bulla, nice to meet'cha!"

Since the lizard's hand was already joined to her, Bulla simply grabbed his wrist in exchange to complete the handshake, causing him to slightly flinch. He knew he couldn't run away now- especially since the treasure was in close range.

Stammering, he suddenly spoke up again, his murmur making him harder to understand. "I- 'm... K-Ku-reeza... Nice to... mmm..." He mumbled, failing on the last word and looking up at his father for guidance, who simply sighed.

"Don't hurt yourself... It's an earth thing... Just say 'meet you'."

"Oh... Meet you! Nice to meet you..." He finished, suddenly triumphant but still hushed.

"Very good, Kuriza. Now come along please. This little one has other places to be- as do we." Frieza bent down to his knees to reach the young boy's level again, attempting to gently disconnect his hand from the girl's wrist. Though he was resistant to do so, Kuriza submitted to his father's grab and returned to his embrace.

"Aww, so soon...?" It wasn't the young girl who was whining, but rather her mother. "The little fella was just coming out of his shell. Didn't you see it, Frieza?"

"I did." Frieza glared. "And it was probably only because of her bracelet, so don't read too deep into it." He rose to his feet, Kuriza in tow, preparing to continue turning the other way- a simple task that he would have completed minutes ago but, with more pestering from Bulma, it became increasingly difficult.

"That's because you're not giving it a chance! Why don't you just come with us then? You'll still be able to see the grounds and the little guys can have their time together. Sounds like a win-win!"

The older lizard looked back with skepticism. "I'm not sure if he'd be... comfortable..." His vision then turned to the boy, who was trying to return to burying his face.

"It's okay!" Bulla responded with her mother's chipper and boundless enthusiasm, the arm with her bracelet raising at the same time and jangling the beads. "I'm lots of fun! I'll be his friend!"

Once shy Kuriza almost instantly popped out of his reclusion upon hearing the little beads clatter and, again captivated like a magpie to its shininess, leaned forward to get a closer look, dropping himself out of Frieza's arms in the process. He skittered over to Bulla and latched onto her braceleted wrist yet again like a magnet. "I see someone agrees!" Bulma, noticing the action, smiled.

This further hardened Frieza's glare, the action proving his argument in favor of this being the bracelet's fault and nothing else. Kuriza appeared happy, probably only because he was faced with a new shiny trinket to eye up. As he was about to make his rebuttal, surprisingly, someone else had an objection.

"Bulma, what are you trying to do?!" Vegeta's brow furrowed, trying to tug Bulla back to his side by her other hand. "Why are you setting up my-" He corrected himself. "Our princess with this little... tyrant?!"

"Vegeta, you're being ridiculous." Bulma's look equally soured. "I know he's Frieza's kid, you had some bad blood, but he's three at most." She looked down to where the children were standing, Bulla figuring out that her bracelet was like a laser pointer and moving her arm around to see if Kuriza's eyes followed- sure enough they did and his tail waggled gently. "He's not going to blow her up or anything."

"No, all I'm saying is-" The Saiyan attempted to protest further, only to be silenced by a quick peck to the cheek by Bulma, the love behind it covered by frustration.

"Just trust me, okay...?" She muttered under her breath before readopting her excitement. "Now that that's settled, shall we be on our way?" Bulma shot Frieza another sickeningly sweet smile, the lizard only folding his arms and sighing disgruntled as he followed them- skepticism in ever step.

Young Bulla seemed to be leading Kuriza along by her bracelet, making her own side of the conversation, all rather earthen topics, some of her favorite things and where to find the best snacks in the city, while he, probably not understanding most of it and playing along to remain tied to the shiny thing, let out occasional nods and mumbles of agreement. His father continued to watch the two closely to make sure they didn't get into any mischief, glaring at the girl with an air of distrust whenever she looked back up at him.

Hopefully, he wouldn't have to keep up this act for long. Soon enough, this charade would end with the passing of the tournament and he wouldn't need to set foot on this dirtball again, unless he made plans to claim its Dragon Balls- and that was a note he could relax a bit on.

Unfortunately, for him, what he didn't realize was that unfolding before him was the beginning of a long friendship that would persist for years to come.

So much for that idea...

[chimtaera]

imagine model namjoon.

ok let’s not kid ourselves

boy’s already a model

he’s got the body.

got the looks.

what can i say, he’s no super model (too clumsy), but he get’s around with the more diverse castings yanno

probably got started on instagram,

with his #kimdaily outfits

which are sometimes just chill, pretty, sporty, casual, cool

and other times completely wacky and just ??? how did you even think to wear those ??? at the same time?? together ???

he always looks good tho

but some looks will give you whiplash. ur warned.

but that’s part of his appeal tbh

hhhh probably gains a lot of popularity when one of those more ‘out there’ outfits circulates on twitter or reddit and people are like “hOW does he make that work??? why does it look good??? is he just that hot??”

the answer is yes.

from there he builds a solid following.

for his great looks, great fashion sense, and his 4am instagram stories that are just a black pic with like a three paragraph text about how rain might feel if it had feelings.

also, solid music recommendations omg 

you probably make ur own spotify playlist with just his recommendations.

ok ok so you best bELIEVE when this boy finally gets cast for a show he’s gonna fall on his ass and go viral

claim to fame baby

probably becomes a meme and rolls with it tbh

like he’ll share the memes in his story, so as not to ruin the ・ﾟ:*aesthetic*:・ﾟand react to them and shit

but then also get on live and talk at length about how faceplanting on the catwalk impacts your self-esteem, how he’s habit he could benefit positively from such an embarrassing moment, and how there’s a lesson for everyone here, and that he hopes all our embarrassing moments may in some way benefit us one day.

he’s such a sweetheart im-

so you might be a stylist?

a hair stylist?

makeup artist?

fellow model?

whatever you’re comfortable with.

you definitely see him on instagram first tho

you came for the memes but are super impressed with his profile and end up staying for the music.

...... and him.

he’s hot, come on.

also 90% of networking is done on instagram these days let us be real.

okay so oNE DAY, or like late evening, who cares

he post a music recommendation and you’re like !!!!!!!!

it’s that low key indie band with like only one EP out that you found on some obscure spotify playlist and you’ve been jamming to since october

and apparently namjoon has too because they’ve released a new single and you didn’t even know ????

and you’re so excited your fingers slip and oopsie you’ve sent a short but rambling message explaining exactly that into his DM’s

instant regret.

then the anxiety bubbles up in you.

and then you calm yourself and convince yourself that he gets a LOT of messages he probably won’t even see yours, so it’s fine it’s fine it’s-

next morning you have a reply

a new follow

and a mcfUCKING LIKE ON A PICTURE OF YOU FROM TWO WEEKS AGO

yikes, you didn’t even have time to give your feed a spring cleaning

you just like his short “ikr!!!!”, too mortified to reply.

alas, the regrets!

but also

the butterflies.

then you see him at an event one time.

it’s fashion week, you’re hecking busy and about to leave because it’s like midnight and you’ve got places to be tomorrow

but it’s always so strange to see people from insta irl like ??? all those dimensions??? you really be lookign like that ??? damn.

once you’ve stared long enough to be certain that’s actually what he looks like (so handome!!! so tall!!!! wtf!!!! who allowed this??) you turn to leave just as he glances up and cetches your eye for like the tiniest fraction of a second

and you hightail it outta there and hope to heaven he doesn’t know you were staring.

but he likes your pic from the party the next morning and you almost choke on your coffee and the lump in your throat stays there all day

and you’re like, am i?? catching feelings ??? for the catwalk faceplant guy??? you’ve never even talked to the man smh

he’s fucking hot tho.

so, fashion week ends and with it comes another party

you can finally relax, celebrate, wind down from the long week.

yA THOUGHT lmao

you’re talking to some designer about their next project and they’re going on about this instagram dude who’s already on board when they start waving someone over like “hey hey, there he is, y/n have you met kim namjoon yet?”

you turn around you’re like !!!!! fuck. he’s so much taller up close.

“hey, no, yeah, no, but i’ve seen you on, uh, on instagram. i think.” smooth, y/n.

after introductions, the designer gets pulled along into some other conversation and you and namjoon are kinda awkward for a minute.

you just sip your drink like ‘fuck fuck fuckfuck fuck aaaaaaa’

but then he asks you easy questions about what you do and what you’ve been working on this week and it’s the same thing you’ve been talking about with everyone you’ve met this week so it goes pretty smoothly

he makes it easy for you, like he’s very attentive, nods along enthusiastically asking follow-up questions and seems genuinely interested in your work it’s so nice! he’s so nice!

and you ask him the same things you’ve asked everyone else this week like you haven’t seen everything on his instagram already.

actually you’ve missed a few things since you’ve been so busy and your interest is genuine, before you know it the two of you are at a table and getting along like a house on fire, showing each other pics from the week.

he asks you send him a pic from one of the shows he didn’t get to see and when he do he’s sees your old messages and is like ?? oh !!

i mean, he totally knew it was you, but he had forgotten the part about that obscure indie band and the new single, so he shows you!

you’ve been following them even closer since then so you know they’re playing a gig in like two weeks and you tell him.

turns out he’s missed this info because of fashion week and he’s super excited!! you guys have to go together!!!¨

“i mean, we don’t have to- it’s just, i don’t know anyone else who listens to them, i could probably go alone, but, you know, it would be cool-”

and of course you’ll go with him, so you two exchange numbers and end up texting the next two weeks.

at first you’re just making tentative plans to meet and go to to the gig, but then there’s a gallery opening the same day, and you know this realy good thrift shop nearby that he should check out, and you guys should get dinner before because namjoon knows this really cool place and-

and it’s a date.

namjoon has every intention to kiss you that night after the gig, but he wants to ask you first and he’s not sure exactly how so he’s just like “um ??? can i ??? uhhh ?? do you ??? uh”

and ur like, “hey, namjoon, i really want u to kiss me, please?”

the rest is history.

you two are too cute, with your instagram aesthetic and lowkey couple outfits, and highkey couple pics, i’d follow.

you two would be gOALS, and it does wonders for both your careers tbh

omg imagine all the cool collaborations you two could do.

and eventually namjoon would go viral again when the paparazzi captures him spilling his coffee and your cute reaction.

but the best thing about dating model namjoon is he makes you your very own playlist.

and you get your very own story highlight with all the aesthetic pics he snaps of you just like buying milk and stealing his fries, and exploring the city on sundays afternoons, going vintage shopping and reading in the park, titled: “bae.” with every colour heart.

hyping each other in the comments always.

and the thirst omg

anyway, nsfw under the cut.

so you take it kinda slow at first because turns out namjoon has a huge crush on you and he lowkey can’t keep his hands off you but also wants to “date you properly”, whatever that means.

props to you if you get impatient with him and tease him a little, a thirst trap here, a netflix and chill there, sending a sexy song his way, or even better post it on your story for him to see.

if it doesn’t provoke him to action it’ll at least get him hard flustered, which is cute.

in the end joon is a soft boy and you can sit up all night talking, so you end up talking about sex long before having it.

and that just makes it all the more special tbh

and when it does happen, it’s like everything else the two of you do, a little awkward at first, a little clumsy, fumbly, but a lot of fun, and it’s namjoon, and you love namjoon. so, so much.

like it doesn’t matter if he accidentally bumps your nose, because he’ll apologise and the two of you will just giggle and continue. 

and he might pull your hair on accident, but that way you can admit to him that it’s.. kinda hot.

and when your teeth collide when you kiss it’s only because any amount of distance between you quickly becomes unbearable, and you both need each other so, so much.

imagine slow, lazy sunday morning snuggle fuck with namjoon.

and then later when you’re on a blanket in the park reading both your books he’ll get distracted, thinking about it, lean in close and tell you something ridiculous like he wishes you would wake him up by sitting on his face.

and imagine backstage heavy petting after a show, leaving the afterparty early, because you’re both buzzing with unrelieved tension and namjoon is very hard in his pants, pressing himself against you as you try to have a polite conversation with some influencer.

love, love, loooooves, watching you ride.

and he’ll go down on you for hours if you let him, honestly.

anytime, anywhere tbh

how did you get so lucky?

[absoluteindulgence]

Drunk Passion (Server Collab Prompt)

A/N: Hey y'all, I just barely made it lol. I'm moderately happy with this fic, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Pairing: Mirio Togata X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Drinking/Alcohol Mention

Word Count: 1.8K

5 hours earlier, you stood in your room, giving yourself once overs in your full body mirror, complimenting yourself for choosing the right dress. Only to receive a call from your date who had to cancel due to "unforeseen circumstances." It was an understatement to be frustrated, and doubtlessly, you took it as a sign of them calling you ugly and blowing you off on purpose.

Your roommate, Mina, watched as you paced the living room rethinking your plans for the night. She reminded you of her third annual valentine's day party. This gathering initially started after the horrific event of her date happening on the love day, and trying to propose to her in broad daylight. From there on, she promised herself that she'd never be that naive again and dedicate the day to enjoy with friends.

Usually, you were away from home during this time of the year and briefly knew of the function. She always tried to invite you, but to no avail, you weren't around. Mina, the charismatic matchmaker, created a space for the people who hated, loved, or felt indifferent to the holiday, labeling it as the "Who Needs Love?" Party. You thought it would be a complete disaster, but it turns out, her parties equate to finding your "soulmate." Without plans to roam the city with a date, you were now a secondary host to the love fest.

The apartment you shared with Mina had a decent size and came with a balcony. There was a time where neither of you could afford to live on campus, and so you had to find a roommate to manage to stay enrolled, or else the work you wanted to do would be spoiled by a mere living situation. Moving into this luxury apartment was less than luxury, hence why it was so cheap. With Mina being a fashion designer and your skills being a moderate decorator, you created a space where you two loved the teamwork and effort put into it.

Looking way too good for no particular reason, you became a hit on every guy's list. A lot of the faces you saw weren't recognizable as you haven't met Mina's friend group from high school, but she made sure to introduce you to them. During the introductions, she seemed the fondest of the guy with the spiky red hair, favoring a porcupine. A twinkle in her eyes as she said his name with a discreet smirk directed your way. You were a great hostess making sure to check on the hordes of mixed emotions.

Passing through the warm atmosphere, you were grabbed by your forearm. Turning around, your eyes met with a tall, blonde-haired hottie. His eyes were piercingly blue as the grin was brightly targeted at you.

"Hey, I'm sorry to grab you, but I had been trying to get your attention for a while." His smile was faintly smug, but his tone was smooth like honey. He gently loosened his hold on your arm as he saw your immediate reaction of disgust, wondering who would dare lay hands on you. A chuckle came from his lips as he apologized instantly, "I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted to know where I could get some air?"

He held onto a cup,  on the other hand, probably full of booze awaiting your answer. As you were about to tell him, he thought you had already started speaking and moved in closer. He leaned ear first into your right shoulder, the heat from his breath, warming the back of your neck and shoulder. "I'm sorry, beautiful, I couldn't hear you."

The shocks running through your body, halted you from speaking. The blondie was so close you could see his jawline intensify and gather a hint of citrus and lime from the cologne he wore, even catching signs of his broad chest thanks to his button-down shirt being open below his collarbone. You quickly answered him, maybe too loud for comfort as he winced and smiled back after you pointed in the direction of your balcony. Bejeweled with gratitude, he nods, fading back into the crowd.

You try to peek over to see where he goes briefly talking to the red porcupine, with an indigo-haired guy and a periwinkle-haired girl close to his sides. The three seemed to be good friends laughing at your witty roommate's jokes as her crush, Kirishima, casually wrapped his arm around her shoulder. It looks as if only you caught how pink her face was as she snuggled closer to him. The buff blondie waves off from the couple and makes their way to the balcony.

Before he can leave your area of vision, you lock eyes. His azure sights peer into yours with a knowing, warm smile. A winking motion is made as he grins wide, heading out with his friends. The indigo guy was very antsy about leaving the crowded room, wanting more air than conversation. 

You turn to leave the living room and head into the kitchen, bringing out more snacks and to acquire a drink for yourself. Placing pocky, shrimp chips, and gummy candy all throughout the coffee table between your long black couches. Being cautious of how you bend, not trying to give anyone a free show. Heading back into the kitchen, you pour some light liquor into a shot glass, wanting to feel a small buzz.

Just one for now while I make my rounds.

As you finish the shot and place it back on the marble counter, the blondie glides in with the same cup, but it's now empty. You stare up at the buff blondie, catching your breath as you get to take him in; hair down bang almost tickling his eyelashes as the rest of his mane rests at his brawny shoulders. Seeing him up close made your heart flutter as you didn't understand how attractive one man could be. His eyes wandered to your attire, and you blushed under his gaze. The kitchen area felt small now that he's sharing the same air as you.

As you were about to ask him for a drink, the periwinkle haired girl came in. She went into a ramble about the drinking game that was about to start until she saw your face, "You are so pretty, what's your name?"

You told her your name, and her eyes twinkled, "Ah, so your Mina's roommate, that's so cool! I'm surprised we haven't met before."

"I'm usually away during this time of the year, but I had no plans, and so I'm here, hosting tonight."

"That's great, I came to look for Mirio and found you too so please, play with us!"

You could see the intensity in this girl that had introduced her friend before herself. Her personality seemed overbearing but good-natured, she noticed your small smile and took that as non-verbal agreement. Taking your hand, along with her athletic friend. You took a quick glance at the blondie as he apologized, "Sorry about this, Nejire-chan likes making new friends. And yeah, I'm Mirio."

Reaching the central area wasn't an easy task since there seemed to be more people that came during the time you were taking a shot. Examining the room, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was a heap of smiles, blushed faces, and laughter roaring through. Reaching the couches, Nejire sat next to you as Mirio was on the other side of her. Across from you, was Mina, with a big grin talking to Kirishima and a couple of her other friends from high school.

An angry-looking guy with spikey ash-blond hair stood up from his spot on the couch, "Okay, so if you're sitting, we're gonna play a game of Mafia!"

Another guy chimed in, his hair yellow with black stripes on one side, "Mafia isn't a drinking game!"

"It is now if you don't figure out who the hitmen are!"

The banter continued, and Nejire took her time to remind you who everyone was. She didn't just tell you who was playing; she made it her mission to remind you of each soul in the room. The process is too reminiscent of speed-dating as she told their jobs and personalities like stats. Made for a one-sided conversation until she got to Mirio, the blonde hunk.

"And this is Mirio-" 

"I know you told me, maybe he wants to introduce himself to me?" You stare at him with pleading eyes to keep Nejire quiet for more than a millisecond.

He catches your signal and automatically laughs, he reaches out to give you a handshake with a pleasant grin as he greets you. "Don't worry, Hado-chan, I can say my own stats." Her mouth gets a little puffy as he briefly apologizes to her.

Bakugou brought us back to attention, "Alright, so let's go over how to play, and we'll start."

______

Four grand rounds, and you could officially say you were drunk. You hadn't drunk this much since new years and worried this would result in alcohol poisoning. With the shuffling to and from couches, to make the game more interesting, Mirio had finally been seated near you. At times when it was time to discuss who was plucking off the civilians, you shared small details with each other, getting scolded by Bakugou at times.

Mirio looked at your giggly, flustered form and smiled warmly. He was happy to see you enjoy yourself and him being the reason. The game resulted in good friends with exquisite poker faces. Sero asked for another round since he hadn't gotten the chance to play God, and Bakugou refused. 

"Hey, do you want to get some fresh air?" Mirio leaned over into your ear, "You look like you're ready to sleep for a thousand years."

You giggled with a nod. You raised your hand for Mirio to guide you and informed Tamaki that he was taking you to the balcony. You didn't notice, but the room was clearing out little by little. Assuming that the lovebirds were happy with their choice of the night, you smiled, realizing that maybe the same is happening to you.

Leaving the living room into the balcony was a change in atmosphere, you felt the chill air of midwinter hit your skin like a cool kiss, which was comforting from the sauna of an apartment. Mirio nicely placed you onto one of the outdoor chairs you owned as he positioned himself next to you with the other.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm happy," You smile, "I didn't realize how much fun her parties were."

"Me neither, this is actually my first time coming. I'm usually at work, so Nejire would try to drag Tamaki and end up coming by herself."

You share a laugh and stare at him. You look down at his hands and then back at his eyes, overfull of sparkles as they gaze into yours. He rubs the back of your hand with his thumb, and the night continues on as you share innocent rambles of your plans to see each other more in a drunken passion.

[jootsmcgoots]

MBC Selfshipping Prompts #1: First Dates (Risotto Nero)

WOO BOY so Haley started a weekly Selfship Prompt event over at MBC, and I wanted to write it out! And so I did. 

Mind you, this uses my self-insert, Niko, so it’s going to be using that name and female pronouns. This work got away from me, so it ended up being 2422 words (even when I meant for this to be less than 2k words......lmaooo...)

I will get around to posting my reader inserts soon, but not yet LOL I’ll get around to it when I get around to it. This blog is still very much a WIP because I still need to re-reblog a LOT of content from the old blog.

But for now, this is what I’m writing and I wanted to post it up. I may write another for Mista, but we’ll see (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

So as the title implies, this is the first of the prompts, and it’s “First Dates”.

Niko let out a yawn as she sleepily looked out at the busy street. Her eyes scanned the droves of people walking around, trying to scope out her target. Dark eyes blinked as she studied the faces of men nearing her, trying to determine if they were the one she was looking for. When they passed by her, she shrugged internally.

Her phone’s clock read 10:47 AM. She knew they agreed to meet around 11, but it never hurt to be early. “And anyways, better to be early than late, right? Right.” She still couldn’t help getting bored easily, and the anxiety and tension building in her chest continued to rise as the seconds passed.

“Calm down, calm down,” she thought to herself, “It’s just a date; you’ve been on dates before! Just treat it like you’re just hanging out with a friend.” Niko let out the breath she was holding and took her phone out, idly browsing it in order to distract herself. “Plus, it’s Mimi’s brother. There’s no way he’d be the bad kind of sort. She wouldn’t set us up if she thought we weren’t going to get along.”

Still, she had to admit she was surprised when her friend made the suggestion and arrangements. Niko recalled as her friend more or less pushed the aquarium tickets into her hand and snatched her phone to punch in her brother’s contact info.

“It’ll be nice, I promise! He’s a really great guy, and I think you two will hit it off!” Mimi flashed the smaller woman a grin. “Plus, he needs to get out more often.”

Niko’s mouth formed a slight line as she remembered how she had asked her friend for a photo of her date, but Mimi’s grin only grew with amusement.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! You’ll know when you see him.”

A noise of annoyance escaped Niko’s throat. “Dude, what does that even mean?” Her brow creased as she tried to think on what that could have meant, but quickly gave up, deciding it was too much effort. Her eyes absentmindedly left her phone screen to scope out her surroundings again.

Except her eyes bugged out as they fell on a large, foreboding man in dark clothing who towered over most if not all of the other people walking along. Whether by his size or presence, people seemed to naturally get out of his way as he continued making his way down the street. Everything about him exuded a quiet kind of power, from the way he walked, his stern expression, his hulking, muscular frame…

Though she remained completely stock-still, Niko shook her head inwardly. “No, no, maybe it’s not him! Maybe it’s just your regular, big, muscular, scary-lookin’ dude with fucking black sclera and red eyes, just walkin’ down the street for a stroll! All decked out in black and has the kinda expression that says, ‘hey so if you piss me off, I’m going to rip your limbs off’! Totally normal! Yeah! Hahaha!”

However, despite the thousands of thoughts going through her head at miles a minute, Niko knew. Now she understood what Mimi had meant by “You’ll know.” When the man stopped in front of her, it was undeniable that this man was indeed her date.

She could feel red eyes roving over her, studying her. If looks could kill, Niko felt like she would have been smote where she stood from the intensity of his stare alone.

Risotto’s unblinking crimson stare studied the woman before him. She certainly matched the picture and profile his sister had given him. Petite and girlish stature, short black hair that swept to the right, glasses, gold studs in her lobes, everything matched. He noted how she was sporting a mint green frog backpack, just like she’d specified she would so that he could recognize her easier. How thoughtful of her to suggest that in the first place. He couldn’t deny that he appreciated the consideration.

He was an observant man and was well-aware of his perception skills. After all, it was an invaluable skill in his line of work. However even without his sharp senses, there was no missing the look of surprise, awe, and slight fear in his date’s flabbergasted visage. Her eyes were wide, brows raised to the sky and jaw slack, lips seeming to form the beginnings of “Oh my god.”

Risotto let out a nearly imperceptible huff of amusement. His sister was right; this woman’s face hid nothing. He couldn’t help but smile a little at that candidness.

Introductions were short and awkward, but they served their purposes. Once acquainted, the pair could proceed with their date. Their itinerary was rather basic, just go to an aquarium and get some food together. Simple enough.

However, conversation was rather sparse as they made their way to their destination. Without any prior knowledge or known common ground, Niko was unsure of what to talk about, and Risotto was a taciturn individual by nature.

He didn’t dislike the small talk that she was trying to make, asking him things like what he did, what his hobbies were, but it required him to think carefully about his responses. It wasn’t exactly appropriate to vent about how little you were being paid to kill people on a first date.

What were you even supposed to talk about on a first meeting like this anyways? It had been far too long since he had tried connecting with someone new, let alone someone not affiliated with Passione. Though Risotto’s face remained as placid as ever, worry and nerves began bubbling beneath the surface as he picked up on the traces of worry and discomfort on his date’s face, and he wracked his brain for more to say.

He wasn’t alone, though; Niko hardly ever met people like this, usually having some common ground with new conversational partners. Here, she had absolutely no idea. Inwardly, she cursed Mimi for putting them in this awkward situation, wishing a thousand poxes on her friend’s house.

=====

“Eh? You set them up on a date?”

“Yup!” Mimi replied cheerily.

“And it’s a blind date, you said? And she doesn’t know what he looks like?”

Mimi hummed an affirmative as she snuggled up against her boyfriend’s shoulder, black nails clacking against her phone screen as she browsed. Though Kakyoin’s eyes hadn’t left the screen and he had continued dutifully chaining combos, his brows raised in surprise as he made a considering noise.

“Oh dear. She’s in for quite the surprise then.” As the victory logo flashed on screen, he leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled warmly at Mimi.

“That’s evil. I love it.”

=====

Arriving to the aquarium was a relief and a salvation to Niko. At least now they could busy themselves with an activity, and that would give them something to do together. Slowly, their conversation became less stiff and stilted, as Niko began prattling off about the various exhibits they toured together. Bit by bit, she continued to come out of her shell as she pulled him from room to room, and by noontime she was babbling nonstop about the penguin feeding exhibit they had just been at.

“…and god, they were just so damned cute!” Her eyes glittered at the memory. “Fun fact, did you know that there was this one penguin that fell in love with an anime character? I’m not kidding!” Niko nodded as Risotto tilted his head at that statement. “Yeah, yeah! His name was Grape-kun and he uh…” Her words petered out, and her expression turned sheepish.

Risotto raised a brow, unsure of why she stopped. “Is something wrong?”

Niko fidgeted in silence for a moment before answering. “I…I just kinda realized that I’ve been dragging you from place to place, and I’ve just been rambling non-stop. It’s – it’s not that…it’s okay if you’re just not one for talking. I totally get that!” she said, waving her hands in front of her before wringing them worriedly. “I just wanna make sure you’re having fun too. Like, I just hope I’m not talking over you or only doing the things I wanna do, y’know?”

She looked up at him to meet his stare. Embarrassment was racking up by the second, and as she was going to open her mouth, he spoke.

“I’ve been enjoying myself.”

Relief flooded her senses. Niko smiled at him as she registered his words, her expression relaxing into something much brighter. He couldn’t help but mirror the expression, even though the corners of his mouth had barely turned upwards.

She clapped her hands together as a thought seemed to dawn on her.

“I know! Was there anything in particular that you wanted to do? Anything here that you were looking forward to?”

At that, Risotto’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit, but Niko had caught it. “There is, isn’t there?” she probed with a mischievous grin. “C’mon, tell me! I’m sure it’ll be nice.”

He averted his eyes, and she chuckled good-naturedly at his sudden shyness. “C’mooon, tell me! We already came all the way out here, so if there was something you wanted to do, let’s go and do it!”

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t turn away from her expression, bright and shining like the sun, with no escape. Risotto let out a mumble, still unable to look her directly in the eye.

“Mm? What was that?” Niko tilted her ear towards him.

“…the manta rays.” He repeated himself, barely louder.

She made the connection in seconds. “Oh! The petting pool with the manta rays!” Niko threw him a grin as he nodded. “Yeah, I gotcha! Let’s go!” And at that, she immediately set off before stopping short and looking behind her, waiting for him. “Come on! It gets really crowded, so let’s head on over.”

The petting pool was a popular exhibit, and it was already full of people, children and adults alike, all fawning over the adorable manta rays that practically jumped out of the water for a petting. Though his face remained as stony as ever, the sparkles in Risotto’s eyes exposed his excitement as the sounds of splashing drew nearer and nearer.

Niko let out a giggle. How cute.

However, he just stood there, staring out at the pool that was so close yet so far. Maybe he felt put off by the number of people there.

Taking matters into her own hands, Niko tried to lead them closer to the pool, but found that the droves of people who were already there difficult to navigate. She managed to bypass a few of them, but soon found it hard to actually get near the exhibit. Her lips curled to the side in annoyance as she tried to think about how to get to the exhibit.

Then, she felt someone take her hand. Niko looked up in surprise to see Risotto by her side, taking her hand gently as he began to wade through the crowd with her in tow, people parting as a hulking 6’8” man strode over to the manta ray pool. No one there decided that it was worth getting in his way, especially as he occasionally let out quiet, polite “excuse me, pardon me”s as he made his way over.

As Niko followed him through the crowd, she had a thought. Throughout the date, he hadn’t tried to make contact with her at all. Now that she thought about it, he had kept a respectful distance from her the entire time.

She let that fact wash over her as they approached the pool. Manta rays were swimming serenely through the clear water, occasionally breaking the surface of the water, excited for more pets.

Risotto had already dipped his hands into the cold water, gently stroking the creature as it passed by. A soft smile graced his features, dimples forming on his cheeks.

The sight was something Niko wanted to commit to memory.

Noticing that she had yet to join him, he removed his hand from the pool to look at his date. What he was met with was a soft, nearly reverent look on her face, dust blushing her cheeks. Upon realizing that he was looking directly at her, Niko gave him an awkward grin, hastily kneeling down with him to start babbling about how cute the rays were.

“…sorry.”

That cut her ramble short. “Huh? About what?”

“I should have asked first.”

His heart was thrumming in his chest as he searched her expression for any change. She looked confused for the barest of seconds before realization lit her features.

“Oh. Oh! That!” Niko quickly took her hand out of the pool, but thought better of shaking her hands in front of her like she usually did. “No, no – don’t worry about that!” She laughed, the sound causing a tentative warmth to blossom in his chest. “I really didn’t mind. It was…it was nice.” She emphasized her point with a shy but honest smile that caused the warmth in his chest to go into full bloom.

His eyes softened at her gentle expression, the soft look on her face looking like the most natural thing in the world. Risotto grunted an affirmative, finding words to be difficult.

As they walked away from the petting pool and dried off their hands, Niko spoke up.

“You know…to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about this. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone on a date, and this was my first blind date. I was ready to kill Mimi!” she admitted with a laugh, miming strangling motions. “No offense.”

“None taken.” His chuckle was nearly inaudible, but she didn’t miss the amusement in his voice.

Her smile grew wide, toothy and easy. “But this was nice. Real nice.”

“It was.” Risotto returned the smile, however subtle the change in his expression was. “I’ll admit this was…an experience. But I enjoyed it.”

At that, Niko laughed lightly and reached out to take his hand. Risotto noted the hesitation in her actions, the pause lasting no longer than a second. But in the end, he could feel his hand in hers, warm and comforting, like that was where it belonged.

He smiled at the feeling.

“Let’s go get lunch?” she asked, tilting her head at him.

His hand tightened around hers, just so.

“Let’s.”

As they walked towards their destination, they discussed restaurants, going over their options and bantering all the way there, the sound of her laughter echoing down the street.