#god. seeing his personality completely swing in different directions

[constellation-trolls]

E R O S A N

[tinytennisskirt]

a good old fluffy/intimate friends to lovers

stanford art ringing your doorbell at like 3am in the morning, drunk, with a bloody nose and a beat-up, puffy face after a huge bar fight where he was defending you after some asshole made rude comments about u. ☹️☹️☹️ taking care of him afterwards. him literally being on the verge of passing out from both the alcohol and his throbbing face. fluff and intimacy ENSUES. i’m talking like drunken love confession and everything. art would always get vulnerable, lost and sweet when he got drunk which is exactly why he avoided getting drunk often, but you found it sweet. this time things got a little different😊

Wounds and Words

summary: as above ^^^ (with my little twists of course)

warnings: mentions of a fight, blood, wounds, bruising. drunk art absolutely smitten. soft, fluffy, sweet.

The night after finals, you could finally rest. There was no more studying to do, no more late nights. Just summer. With the intention of playing grandma, you decided that tonight you’d stay in, shower, watch a movie, and sleep early. The day was long, but the shower was nice and the movie was good. Your hair airdried perfectly, watching a movie ignoring the sounds of post-final partying on the floor above you. You didn’t mind it, you were just glad to be drinking iced tea and enjoying the lack of stress.  You were just about to turn the TV on when there was a knock at your door. It was so quiet you almost missed it. 

You, in your loose pajama pants and tank top, turned the TV off and got up, arms crossed over your chest to excuse the lack of a bra. It was completely casual the way you opened the door expecting maybe a fluke or something strange, but it was just Art. 

Art Donaldson, the first person you met at Stanford, who had in the absence of your best friend and the absence of his, became one of your best friends. He was sweet, thoughtful, the best listener, and the kind of boy who wasn’t afraid not to seem much of one. He had been susceptible to eyeliner twice just because you asked. He watched your shows with you, tried repeatedly to teach you how to swing a racket, and was always up for coffee in the evening. He was also always there for you, so maybe along the route, you might have fallen for him just a bit. Who wouldn’t?

For the first time in all of the time you’d known Art, tonight was the only night you excused yourself from plans with him. He wanted to hit the campus bar to celebrate, but understood completely when you told him you planned to do nothing, which is why, when you opened the door, the first words out his mouth were, “I’m sorry.” 

He was standing just outside your room, holding the side of his face which had endured some sort of trauma. His cheekbone was bleeding and already bruising and there was a cut above his eyebrow. His nose was also bruising and bleeding and his lip looked just a little swollen. “Oh my god,” you said, moving forward. He was in a red T-shirt, but you could see the droplets that had fallen down his chin, onto his collar and the front of his shirt. “What happened? Are you okay?” 

“I’ve been drinking,” he told you, questions aside. You could tell that he had been, it was common sense, celebrating was celebrating. You pulled him into your room, guiding him carefully so that he didn’t topple anywhere. He went with it, and moved exactly the way you directed him, just a little wobbly. 

“No, I know,” you replied, concern might as well have been written on your forehead the way you looked at him. “Are you okay? What happened? Come-” You pulled him gently to the bathroom. He was more drunk than usual- when you went out, he was usually the designated driver and when it was just the two of you in either one of your dorms, he was always just a little more sober than you. But right now he was out of it, majorly, beyond what you’d seen from him. It probably also didn’t help that he was bleeding from the face quite a bit. 

He was putty in your hands as you sat him on the closed seat of your toilet. “I’m sorry, I know you didn’t want to do anything tonight. I didn’t know I was walking here until I was here.” He said, slurring just a little. 

“Art, it’s okay,” you managed a smile as you leaned over and grabbed your basket of facecloths. The whole thing toppled over but one fell into the sink and you turned on the tap. “You’re not answering, though. Are you okay?” 

He nodded, a small movement. “Better now.” He smiled back. 

You left him just momentarily to grab a cup from the other room and bring it back, filling it with water before shutting the sink off. You looked at Art again, who had his head down, looking at his hands, which you now noticed were beaten up as well. This was the product of a fight, you presumed by the way his knuckles were messed up. Art wasn’t the fighting type, he was one of the softest people you knew. The only thing about him that revolved around impact was hitting a tennis ball. Aside from that, he was always very soft-handed. Noted from every time he moved your hair from your face for you or when he held your hair when you threw up. When he hugged you, he was never too tight with it. He braided your hair once- he watched a video on how. So how he got into a fight was beyond you. 

“Art?” You sighed, sitting on the edge of the bathtub next to him. 

He lifted his head, to him, you were spinning. “Mhm?” He was so out of it. “Hi.” 

The grin that spread up his face was sweet almost, along with his little greeting. It almost made you want to grin back. “Hi.” You smiled. “Drink this for me?” 

“Water?” 

“Water,” you nodded, handing him the cup. He took it, drank it, all of it. “I’m going to clean you up, is that okay? It might hurt.” 

He nodded back, “Mhm.” He scrunched his nose just a little as you stood to get the wet cloth. You opened your little first aid kid and rested it on your knees. He was putty again, almost limp, eyes closed. You clicked your tongue. “I’m sorry, I’m tired.” He replied. “One too many.” 

“Seems like it,” you answered. “This is going to hurt a little-” You pressed the cloth gently against the cut above his brow. He winced, scrunching his nose again. It was cute- you wished it didn’t come from pain. “I’m wondering if you’re going to tell me what happened?” 

“You’re so nice,” he cut in, opening his eyes again. They were soft, settled on you with some sort of meaning. “And you smell good.” 

You giggled just a little, moving the cloth to clean his cheekbone, keeping the pressure light. “You’re sweet. Thank you. Hold still, please.” 

He grinned again, shutting his eyes and letting you clean him up. He was still so pretty even with all the bruising and slight swelling to his face. You carefully wiped away all the excess blood and his nose stopped bleeding. You poured him another cup of water, which he drank gratefully, but it didn’t sober him up much. You tilted your head to the side and dabbed up more of the blood from the wound on his cheekbone. It hurt to see him so pained, but he took it like a champ. “You always take care of me, I feel bad.” He sighed a little as you wiped down over his chin gently. 

“You don’t need to feel bad and it’s not like it’s unequal. You take care of me too.” 

He hummed just a little, “No. Not like this. Feels unfair.”

“We’re friends, Art, it’s fair. I don’t mind at all, I just want you to be okay.” You told him patiently. His eyes gazed over your face, gently letting the cloth move over his lower lip. His eyes were set on your eyes, your eyelashes, your lips, back to your eyes. “But what would you do without me, hm?” You smiled. 

He smiled back, his head falling just a little. If he wasn’t bruising you would have seen the pink flush that took over his cheeks and nose. “I don’t know.” 

“I don’t want you to know,” you told him. His grin was boyish and endearing, sincere and oddly happy for someone who had been beaten up in such a way. “Hold still, I have to go over your forehead again. I’m going to hold pressure.” 

He held still and you leaned forward just a bit to press the cloth to his forehead. The bleeding hadn’t stopped, so you put your junior lifeguarding skills to work with the pressure to stop it. His face was just a little closer to yours. You could see his eyes up close and he was almost shameless with the way he was looking at you. Drunk, at the borderline of sleep, and major intoxication. Half-lidded, watching the way you bit your lip as you focused on him. “You’re so pretty,” he mumbled. You looked down to meet his eyes. He kept them trained on yours with laser focus and you felt your heart pick up. 

“Art, you’re drunk,” you reasoned, trying to keep in your nervous laugh. 

“I’m right.” He said, keeping eye contact. “You’re pretty. You’re really pretty, like model pretty.” 

You felt your cheeks turn pink, “Thank you. That’s really, really sweet. Nobody has ever said that to me.” You began to dig into the first aid kid for the small yellow tube of polysporin and the small vial of hydrogen peroxide to disinfect. 

“Why?” He questioned, an almost puzzled look finding its way to his face. His eyes were so soft, so innocent in asking. His eyelashes fluttered. It was a shame how bruised up he was getting. 

“I don’t know, I just… Nobody has said it before.” 

“They should.” He said, voice just a little lower. He hung his head, looking away. “Fuck, I’m so drunk. My face hurts.” 

“I know,” you smiled just a little. “Hold still again for me?” He winced as you placed a little cotton pad with hydrogen peroxide over his cuts, gently dabbing. He scrunched up his nose in pain, you inhaled sharply, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” 

“Mmm- It’s okay,” his pained voice replied. His eyes opened once the pain passed, and met yours again. Every time he looked at you, you swore he was seeing something else the way his eyes looked so full of wonder. Like he had stars in his eyes. He was pretty too, but you’d rather tell him that when he was sober. Your heart was still beating hard and on top of that, you were still just a little hung up on how this all happened. “Y/N.”

“Mhm?” You returned, dabbing again. He winced, and you cringed. He went back to looking at you the way he was. Slightly puffy lower lip hanging just the smallest bit open. You watched him swallow, looking down before he answered. 

“I should wait to tell you what happened until I’m sober, I’m afraid I’m going to slip up or… something.” He told you, the way he spoke was gentle in a way where it seemed he was trying not to hurt your feelings. “I want to tell you, I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to tell you while drunk.” He was candid. 

“That’s okay.” You nodded. “A secret.”

“You’re going to make me tell you.” His smile crept back up. “It’s so stupid. It’s so fucking stupid.” You grinned back, giggling just a little at his tone and smile- something light in a room with lots of tissues and cloths and cotton pads covered in blood. He looked at you with that wide grin of his and your heart skipped another beat. The smile fell to a straight line, “Don’t look at me like that.” His eyes fell off yours and moved onto the floor, pulling his shirt collar up to hide in, almost. He was so drunk, you giggled again.

“Like what?” You inquired, taking a break from drying his now-cleaned wounds, and moving his shirt collar down again. His eyes set on yours again. Like they were magnetic to yours like they couldn’t stray for long, evident by small glances at your lips. You caught it, “Art, you’re drunk. I should get you bandaged and to bed, get you more water, I-” You scrambled, but he stayed so still. So focused on you. 

You turned your focus to unwrapping the first bandaid. “I think you know what. But it’s… fine.” He said. “I’m saying too much, I think, I’m sorry-” He rubbed over his good eye, his hand then trailing down his opposite cheek. “I just think- I-” Once more, his eyes met yours, then looked away again. “Fuck.” 

“You don’t have to tell me,” you smiled. “It’s okay.” 

“No, it’s not.” 

“I’ll stay curious for a bit, it’s okay, I promise.” You gently smoothed a bandaid over the cut on his forehead. His eyes were trained on yours, unable to move, it seemed. Followed yours through every movement it took to place the bandage on. “I’m not upset or anything, I can’t be, you know that. I’m just glad you came here instead of bleeding out in your dorm.” 

He smiled just a bit more, “Thank you. Hey, your eyes are really beautiful.”

“You need more water.” You said, moving closer to put a bigger bandage on his cheekbone. “You are drunk drunk.”

“Drunk thoughts sober words. Other way around. I am drunk.” 

“Yeah, just a little.” 

“My face hurts,” he sighed. 

“I know, I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, “Why are you sorry?” 

“Just am,” you answered, standing up in front of him to get him more water. “I don’t like to see you this way. So much blood, I… I’m just sorry that whatever happened, happened.”

“It’s okay. Was worth it.” He turned his head shaking into a nod. “I’m so tired. Fuck. I’m going to say something stupid.”

You gave him the water, he drank it. You made sure he got every drop of water, stepping closer to collect his cup. He looked up at you as you reached for another tiny bandage. His hand gently rested itself on your leg. A cool hand on the back of your knee, softly. Your heart picked up for the tenth time. You spoke, the heart in your throat an obstacle overcome, “As if I haven’t ranted to you about the dumbest things drunk. There’s nothing you could say that could throw me.” You told him. “No judgment, I swear.”  

“It’s different,” he was dancing around something. “You’re so beautiful. I really can’t-” he was lost, his train of thoughts cut off. “Fuck.” He tried to hide his face again. 

“How many shots?” you bat it off. He was out of it, he was gone. He was so drunk. His hand slipped just a little up the back of your leg, then back down. You hoped he couldn’t feel the entirety of your body rise in temperature.

“Too many.”

You were blushing a little too hard, you looked away. “Hey- um- can you stand?” He nodded, hand moving from your leg as he stood. He stood close to you, so close to you. His cheekbone looked worse, but his eyes were still so open and pretty. “Okay, this way.” He let you guide him again but instead of making it to your bed, he sat on the couch. There was no moving him now. “Couch it is.” 

“It’s a good couch,” he sighed, eyes shut. “Your pillows smell like you.” 

You smiled just a little at that, but sat next to him. “You need to move onto your side, okay? Just so you don’t die in my dorm.”

He nodded, moving onto his side without hesitation, doing just what you asked of him. He was mumbling something you couldn’t quite hear. You gently moved his blonde curls from his face. You knew that spinning bliss and tiredness that came with laying down after drinking too much, Art had been at your side for a lot of those moments, pulling you up off the grass of someone’s lawn and making sure you got home safely. You’d woken up tucked in countless times after falling asleep in that state. You smiled at him, finally getting your turn. Aside from his beaten-up face, he looked peaceful. 

Your eyes fell on his knuckles and you quickly went back to the bathroom to get your supplies and as he lay there, softly breathing in and out, mumbling now and then, you treated his knuckles the same way you did his face. “You’re going to be so pissed when you hear about it from someone else,” his voice was only audible for a moment. It made you pause. 

“Hm?” 

“I shouldn’t tell you, it comes off bad. But I don’t want you to what it from someone else…” He said, his face slightly smushed where he was laying. He trailed off again. You slunk out of your chair and sat on the floor in front of him. He opened his eyes just a little bit. “Hi.” 

“Hi.” You replied. His hand was in your own, you dropped the cloth. The wondering what happened was eating you alive. “Art, what happened?” 

He groaned just a little, “Just assholes. Talking about the length of your tennis… skirt.” He stretched and yawned. “At the bar.” You could deduct one thing: the fight had something to do with you. You were a little taken aback, but there was nothing you could find in you to say. “Said something about doing things… with you… to you. Made a mistake and told them to shut the fuck up. But it doesn’t feel like a mistake. My face hurts.” 

“Art…” 

“Don’t tell you I told you,” he sighed, rubbing his good eye again. “I don’t fight, I don’t fight.” 

“I know,” you moved his hair again gently. 

“He swung first. I don’t fight, but the way he was talking about you-.” He mumbled. “I just didn’t…” He trailed off again, then came back slightly. “Want you to think… I fight.” 

You smiled a little more, “I know you don’t fight, Art. I know.” 

“I had to,” he replied with another yawn. “Could’ve walked away. I would’ve… if it was anything else, but it was you.” He turned back onto his back, your hand accidentally slipping down his jaw following the movement, your hand previously in his hair. “Always you.” His slightly slurred tone just sounded tired at this point. Your heart was beating a mile a minute. 

“Art… You should… You need to get some sleep.” You were too flustered to act properly. Should you leave him to rest, say something and hope he didn’t remember sober, or not say anything at all and just wallow in this new fact that his injuries are because he stood up against someone saying something against you? You started to rise from your knees, “I’ll get you some more water.” 

“Can you just stay?” He asked, his eyes opening again to meet yours. His hand reached out for the back of your leg again, softly touching. Like he wanted to touch more but everywhere else wasn’t safe. He had those morals, at least. “Please.” 

You couldn’t move. You were sure your cheeks were a shade of pink close to full-on red. He was touchy in a friends way, but somehow, his hand on the back of your knee felt more intimate than anything. His face was fucked up because he had to tell someone off for sexualizing you, that was crazy, that was…  His hand was soft and a little bit cold and as you sat back down it slipped back to resting with him, but you swore the feeling of it echoed in your body. “I’m not going anywhere.” You reassured him. “I’m sorry about everything.” 

“It’s not your fault,” he hummed, propping himself up dizzily on his elbows. His soft eyes would not leave yours, his smile was endearing, lovely, even with the puffy lip. His gaze shifted to different points on your face, and your smile never wavered in return. Once again, he rubbed his good eye, hand sliding down his cheek, teeth showing in his crooked grin. “Did I tell you that you’re pretty?” 

“You did.” 

“You’re so pretty.” He almost whispered.

“So are you,” you let slip. His grin widened, he looked like he was struggling to stay awake, to stay above the alcohol and the sleep that called to him, was pulling him under. You looked at the bandages on his face. The unhidden bruises. He was beautiful. Always was. You wished he was sober. 

He wished the same thing, “You are- I like you so much.” He spilled, slurring slightly, leaning just a little toward you like it was a secret. Your stomach did a small flip, you were sure you were reaching a shade of light red. “For so long, too, it’s been killing me, you’re so… perfect.” He blabbed. “Patrick said I don’t have a chance, says you’re too-”

“You have a chance,” you cut in. 

“I have a chance?” 

“You have a chance.” 

“Tell me that in the morning too?” His grin was now from ear to ear. You pushed your hair behind your ears. “Fuck- I told you, didn’t I? I was planning to tell you at…” He trailed off again, looking at the ceiling.

“Afraid so,” you giggled. He was forgetful, drunk, tired. You could see him fading as he lowered himself back onto his side. “I’ll pretend it didn’t happen. Tell me again soon, you get a re do.” As if his sweet drunk self was any less worth the confession. Your heart was beating against your ribs and you were doing your best to stay mature and hide it. 

“Re do sounds good. Mmm- Thank you for patching me…” He yawned. “Up. I’ll see you in the…” He yawned again. “Morning.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at all of this. His confession almost dismissed the rest of the situation, but compiled it was a lot and it was all for you. All for you. He was all for… you. He was so sweet, mostly asleep at this point. And he liked you. And maybe he meant it. You clicked your tongue, tilting your head slightly. He liked you, he had liked you, he got into a fight… and he thought you were pretty. “Goodnight, Art.” 

“Goodnight,” Art sighed, smiling. You watched him fade, long eyelashes closed to rest. You stood up, hand gently brushing over his hair before getting him one of your fluffiest soft blankets. You draped him in it, then turned off the light, setting a glass of water on the coffee table. You then went to bed thinking about everything… laying awake on your back. For twenty minutes you just tossed, thinking about the confession, the fight, everything.  He did something he would never do just for you, to defend you. You weren’t even around and he still wanted your name out of their mouths. It was so out of character but at the same time so undeniably Art. He was so sweet, he was… everything. 

So you got up out of bed. Turned the light on and grabbed a marker from off your desk. You slunk into where the couch was, where he was sleeping and on his arm, you wrote a little messily, 

‘You have a chance.’

You smiled at that, got yourself a drink of water, and sat on the end of the couch thinking some more. Before you knew it, you were getting more and more tired, and as much as you wanted to move, the end of the couch was pulling you in. So slowly, you sank onto the opposite end of the couch. You faced away from Art’s feet, but you didn’t mind it all that much as you drifted off to sleep. Your bed remained empty for the rest of the night. 

You woke with the sun, still well-rested. You were facing the back of the couch, but the light still got in your eyes. Slowly, you moved upward, to a sitting position on the arm of the couch, gathering your surroundings. Art, still peacefully asleep, his bruises set in. You sighed quietly before quietly starting a pot of coffee and setting out some painkillers. His arm was still extended, reading those four words. It was all real. Everything from the night before was real. And you’d just have to sit with that until he read his arm and decided on when to take that re do. You’d wait. 

In the meantime, he was still one of your closest friends. He was up not too long after you and you poured him some coffee and gave him the painkillers while he looked at his bandaged wounds in the mirror. “Thank you.” He said a little sheepishly like he was shy about this. Like he was embarrassed by it.

“Always,” you replied with a smile, “What do you remember?” 

He sipped the coffee, looking to the ceiling. “Last thing I remember is… Leaving the bar.” 

“Mmm, so not much,” you teased. He grinned back at you, trying to hide it with his mug. “You feel okay, though?” 

“Hurts to smile, but other than that just a headache.” He replied. “I really- You didn’t have to do all of this.” 

“There’s no reality that I wouldn’t.” You shrugged, walking over to your minifridge to see what there could be for breakfast. Nothing. You had nothing. Art leaned against the doorframe of your bathroom. With your hands on your hips, you turned to him. “Do you want to go somewhere for breakfast?” You asked. You knew he’d seen his arm. You knew you’d wait for it, but it couldn’t hurt to have a little fun with it. 

He grinned and his eyes fell bashfully on the ground. “Yeah, sure. Somewhere off campus though?” 

“And we’ll stop by your dorm so you can change out of your stuff.” You agreed, passing him as you slipped into the closed door of your bedroom from the open area. As you got dressed, Art was looking at the black marker on his arm. You have a chance. Messy as it was, he knew your writing. There wasn’t much he could put together, but he did remember in bits and pieces, the way you touched his face and hair so gently the night before. It came and went in blurry memories so in his head, there was only one form of context for the writing on his arm. 

 He grinned and stayed grinning as you hopped out of your bedroom, putting on your socks as you went. He washed the mug he used and took one last glance at his face before the two of you headed out. He could not get that grin off of his face. You agreed with yourself to wait, but with the writing on his arm, you had no idea how short of a wait it was about to be. 

[2knightt]

「 you the cutest jailbird i ever did see!」

IN WHICH—you’re literally mickey milkovich!♡ ໋֢ 👒✧

🍵ヾFT. THE GREASERS࿐ྀུ ♡

⌗ 👒 notes !𖥔༌ ᰷ ﹅ this is platonic. and if you haven’t seen shameless just imagine a modern, stinky dallas. also MARRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!

you met them while running from the cops. sure—it was completely your fault and you do deserve to be thrown into the cooler. but you just got out! can’t a person want just a few more minutes of peace?

as soon as you heard those sirens, you jumped off the guys you and your cousins were jumping and just started running. those two idiots already got caught, you just kept on running.

you heard that the curtis house doesn’t ever lock their door—stupid. you’d never do that, not when people like you run around this city!

the sirens got closer, and without thinking, you jumped their fence. as your feet touched the ground, you hoped to god that they weren’t home. or that dallas winston wasn’t there.

you rushed to the door, swinging in open before hiding beside their couch that sat in front of the window. peeking your head up, you watched as the cop car slowed down before speeding back off.

a grin grew on your face as you watched the cops go in the other direction.

“fuckin’ idiots.”

“wow, y/n getting chased by the cops. what is it, the 30th time this week?”

you’ve had unfortunate run-ins with dallas. but you thought his voice was more annoying now than when you and your cousins jumped him for trying to hit on your sister.

you’d recognize that disgusting new york accent from anywhere. you sighed, turning your head to face him as he stood above you, hands in his jean pockets.

dallas had a stupid grin on his face as who, you think is soda, comes rushing beside him. his eyes showed worry, but his grin made him look interested in you.

“shoot, what happened to you?”

“soda—this is y/n. what ain’t they done is a better question.”

you rolled your eyes, holding back from socking him in the jaw. you turned your head to face soda, standing up from your position. rubbing your neck, you hung your head low.

“tough shit, man. bunch of assholes—you know.”

suddenly, someone with cake smeared all over his fingers and who smelled like oil popped up out of nowhere. ‘steve’ was written on the chest of his ripped up work uniform.

“that can mean a lotta things. what kinda tough shit?”

‘jesus, the curtis group asks a lot of questions.’ you thought to yourself, a lip raised. dallas kicked the leg of the couch beside you, causing you to whip your head up after avoiding eye contact. sodapop smacked dallas’ shoulder, telling him off.

“answer ‘em, y/n.”

dallas demanded, saying your name is a singing tone.

“…me and my cousin’s has jumped a guy. it ain’t nothin’ bad like stabbing a kid with a blade.”

you mumbled, dusting yourself off, you heard snickers leave steve and soda’s throats. soda grinned, ear to ear as he ushered you to sit down at a table. as he did so—he kept on asking you a bunch of jumbled questions due to how fast he’s talking.

four boys sat there, staring at the situation that had just unfolded. they both looked younger than everyone else did, the two older ones standing out like sore thumbs. one was finishing his plate, the other one downing a bottle of beer.

soda sat you down, steve rushing behind the both of you. either of them sat beside you, smiles on their face.

“what’d the guy do?”

“did you beat ‘em black and blue?”

“what’d you use?”

with that, you found yourself hanging around the two of them more. sodapop and steve found your company fun. sure, you were like dallas, but different in so many ways.

you were so comforting to be around, yet you always had a scowl. they loved having you around, causing the gang to hang out with you too.

you honestly became a reoccurring person in the gang—to the point where people would ask where you were if you weren’t around them.

you’d just walk into the curtis house and make yourself comfortable. your house wasn’t exactly the definition of ‘ideal.’ the old man wasn’t the kindest to you, your sister—or anyone for that matter.

he’d frequently take his anger out on you and smack you ‘til you’re every colour under the sun after he heard you’d been foolin’ around with some chum around the block. it wasn’t even true—but your cries always fell to deaf ears when it came to that alcoholic.

it’s not like it was a secret either. every person on the east side could hear the arguing from your house—even the front door slam shut. that’s when the people would know you’d be huddled up on the curtis’ couch.

“y/n—breakfast.”

soda’d nudge you gently—talking in a hushed voice. the smell of bacon filled your nostrils, a sigh leaving your lips as it hit you that he was the one cooking. you aren’t exactly the biggest fan of his rather odd choices of how he makes his food.

but goddamnit you can fake it for him. if you can lie to the cops, you can lie to one of your greatest friends.

just like how you can lie to the investigators trying to find dallas winston.

“you know this kid?”

“never seen ‘em in my life. lay off now, assholes.”

you’d mumble, walking past them, making sure you hit their shoulders as hard as you could. you always got a kick out of hurting those pigs as you’d call ‘em.

which is what caused dallas winston goin’ MIA. you had seen dallas winston getting knocked down by the police after a long chase.

even though you can’t stand that new yorkian—you do love fighting. you tried to walk as quietly as you could up to them before making yourself known.

“hey, man!”

you shouted, causing their heads to turn. when they saw you—their eyes immediately flashed a look of hatred. they obviously knew who you were, and if they didn’t know, they’d know after you socked one in the jaw.

all attention on dallas turned to you—all of them going after you. until dallas also landed a clean hit on one. with the impact of the officer falling on the ground—your feet started moving on your own.

you cackled, hearing dallas laugh along with you, running beside you. the rush that washed over you two was indescribable—the adrenaline was great.

this isn’t the first time you’ve been on the run, and it’s not like you haven’t been caught. one time you got caught—your bail was low. but too high for you. you were offered one call and the first person that came to mind would surely rip off your head.

‘worth a shot,’ you thought to yourself, dialling the numbers with the phone to your ear, a cop hovering over you.

“hello?”

“darrel? it’s y/n.”

“goddammit, y/n. what the hell did you do this time?”

“nothin’! i-i just need you to come and bail me. it’s only 50 cents, darry.”

“you’re never gonna hear the end of it, you damned jail bird. i’ll be there soon.”

with that—you heard a click on the end of the line. you wanted to defend yourself, but hearing him call you a jail bird gave you more pride than you’ve felt in a long time.

of course, when he did bail you out, any feeling you had of pride evaporated. as soon as you entered the backseat, you could feel the rage from darry.

“what the hell did you do? it’s 11PM. ponyboy and soda’s in bed—and i was getting ready! 11PM, y/n!”

“holy fuck, darry! stop acting like i killed a guy! it was just a grab n’ run!”

“y/n—is it too hard to ask that you try to stay safe? just once, that’s all i ask!”

“oh my god, darry! you aren’t my fucking father!”

“guess what’s happening. you’re coming to my house and spending the nights there. the second i hear that you’re runnin’ from the cops i’m contesting against you in court!”

the rest of the ride was in silence, it being broken up by the occasional blinker. when he pulled onto the side of the road, parking his truck in front of the house, you sat there.

stubborn is what people thought of you—and you sure as hell were. darry got out, expecting you to follow. he stood in front of the gate, arms crossed as you stared off into space.

the door opened—darry quickly grabbing you. he carried you like a baby, against your very loud protests.

soda opened the door, snickering as he sees the situation you’re in. ponyboy was sitting on darrys chair, playing with the tab of a pepsi can. once he seen darry step in, you in arms, he shot up from where he sat.

“where were you? what happened?”

“yeah, jail bird. what happened?”

you heard the two younger brothers ask, one sounding more mocking than the other. darry placed you on the couch, swiftly throwing a blanket over you.

you’d been in this situation before, the memories flooding back to you as you felt yourself drift off into sleep.

expect you weren’t the one being carried. you had carried johnny from the lot, put him on your back. it was a few days after he’d been jumped real bad.

you were out of the loop when it came to who jumped who. you seen johnny asleep in the lot. dried blood on his jacket and face. bruises were everywhere on his body. you felt bad.

you always liked johnnycakes. he understood you in a way. as you carried him on your back—you could only thing of the similarities between you two.

you both had rough home lives, you both always found yourself trying to keep everything together. he used to be so tough but turned quiet—you had always been tough and never expected to change.

lost in your thoughts—you got to the curtis house faster than expected. you quietly walked up the stairs, opening the door, avoiding the creaky floorboards.

you placed johnny on the couch, taking a silent vow to beat whoever did this to him even worse.

and you always kept your word.

robert sheldon was the guy you and your cousins had tracked down, bats and other weapons in hand. if he can use those thick gold rings—you can use your bat. fair game, right?

you caught him, drunk on the streets, and stupidly alone. your cousins beat up ford slowed down beside him—making it a repeat of what he’d do to others.

he took notice—stumbling as he turned his head. your own small gang took notice to this, stopping the car before jumping out.

you guys had beaten him to the point where he looked just like johnny. you kept your word, and you wouldn’t let anyone ever touch johnny like that.

you always hated soc’s. you’d do anything to do annoy ‘em. even if it meant stealing their mustangs, you always liked them anyhow.

steve always talked about how he’d do anything to drive a tuff car like that. everytime he seen one, that’s all he talked about.

“imagine drivin’ a car like that. could you imagine how fast i could go?”

you’d learn how to hot wire at a young age, rarely ever did it though. but when you seen a wine coloured mustang left unattended—you knew you had an opportunity.

it wasn’t hard to get it going, and it wasn’t hard to drive it to the DX without getting caught. steve was working in the hood of an old car outside until he heard a honk.

a grin grew on his face as he seen you in the drivers sear of the car, a smug look on your face. steve practically skipped as he rushed towards the vehicle, tapping the hood as he took a closer look.

as he was nothing less than mesmerized—you hopped out of the car. steve looked up at you from his crouched position before you threw the keys at him, walking towards the passenger seat.

steve immediately put two and two together, jumping into the car without a second thought.

you swore you ain’t never seen steve so happy when he was speeding down the road in this mustang. he never asked where you got it—and you never told him.

you and ponyboy were alright. he didn’t like being around you for long periods of time. on the other hand—you absolutely loved it.

you could tease him until the sun went down for everything and anything.

“what the hell are you wearin’, pony?”

“a shirt?”

“sure as hell don’t look like one.”

you’d ruffle his greased up hair, going against his complains. you’d mock his books and movies, mimicking what they just said in a higher voice. ponyboy always disliked this. he didn’t hate it however. a small part of him knew that’s how you showed affection.

but he never knew you could be so gentle when you felt like it—that he really, really liked. one day, when school was out and everyone was doing their own thing, ponyboy sat at home.

he was reading a book with the tv as background noise. until you barged through the door, beelining for the fridge. you got a beer, closing the door. you took a sear in darry’s chair, watching TV.

ponyboy wondered if you noticed he was even home. when he seen you enter—he felt insecure. you were the definition of a greaser—he was…just some guy that so happened to have grease in his hair.

you realized he stopped reading, his eyes everywhere but his book. sighing, you got up and sat beside him on the couch. you took one more swig of the beer before you told him to read out loud.

“read to me.”

“wh-huh?”

“the TV’s borin’. read.”

with that, he did. the longer ponyboy read, the more relaxed he became. of course—you looked like you wanted to rip your own head off—but ponyboy did like the fact you immersed yourself into the story.

“she fucking what?”

“yeah! crazy, right?”

“crazy’s an understatement, man.”

‘crazy’ is what people would call you and two-bit. people would’ve never willingly put the two of you in a room, but you two got along swimmingly.

he was loud, sometimes clingy, and always joking around. you really needed someone like him in your life. a breath of fresh air—until the two of you would compete.

“let’s see who can steal the most stuff without gettin’ caught.”

was a sentence often said between the two of you. a little fun never hurt nobody, right? two-bit seemed like the expert at stealing, and you just liked to break the law.

the longest it went on was for a week. you tot caught first and you have yet to live it down.

“so god fuckin’ help me—i will gauge your eyeballs out with this fucking fork!”

“yeah but, i’ll die knowin’ that i was able to steal without gettin’ BANNED!”

two-bit later had a bruise on his ribs.

you’ve never been one to stay in a group of people. but staying with these people—it was different in so many ways.

you knew they wanted you here, they knew you loved them and that you knew that they loved you too. and unfamiliar feeling sure—but a welcomed feeling.

you argued, fought, and even fist fought each other. but goddamnit, you all moved past it. and that’s all you could ask for in this little life. even if your life is mostly you sitting in a prison.

[merrybloomwrites]

I Hear Them Calling (Chapter 2)

Story Summary: Alpha Harry Styles and omega Y/N Y/L/N meet under less than ideal circumstances. Overtime their paths will cross and they will be drawn to one another in ways they never expected.

Chapter Summary: Y/N & Harry separately reflect on the event that brought them together and cope with the feelings it raised.

AN: It's a bit of a shorter chapter than I originally planned, guess I'm still getting back in the swing of writing after a very crazy week. This chapter is very introspective I would say. Less action than I normally include, but I thought all this was important to set up future chapters, if that makes sense.

Previous Chapters: Prologue ; Chapter 1

CW: Mentions of a previous attempted assault

Word Count: 3.2k

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

On Sunday morning you wake up in a cold sweat. You certainly hadn’t had a peaceful night of sleep. You’d been plagued with nightmares of the alpha and what he had done.

It’s early, the sun is just starting to rise, but you give up on sleep. You know that if you close your eyes, you’re just going to keep seeing that man and the paralyzing fear will come back. Distractions are the way to go.

As always, you make yourself a cup of tea to start the day. But it doesn’t sooth you the way it normally does. In fact, you’re feeling even more anxious. You’re confused why a scent you now associate with Sarah, one of the nicest alphas you’ve ever met, is causing such a negative reaction in your body.

You start to run through everything that happened the night before. It all comes back in vivid detail. Up until one point when it suddenly went dark, and your memories become fuzzy and confusing.

What the hell had even happened there? Because it wasn’t a drop. You had dropped twice before, and this was different. You’re completely unaware during a drop and have no memories after. Instead, you’re just left feeling dizzy, and so, so alone.

But this time wasn’t like that. It was hazy, sure, but you were still somewhat aware of your surroundings. You were aware that even after you practically lost consciousness, he still moved closer to your neck and tried to forcibly scent you. You remember falling, knowing you wouldn’t be able to catch yourself. But someone was there to break your fall and help you sit.

That’s when you were surrounded by the tea scent. At the time you had no idea it belonged to such a kind and gentle person. You just knew there was still an alpha touching you, and you had no clue what their intentions might be. But then you became aware of the calming pheromones they were releasing. This immediately helped you relax and made you start to trust this unknown alpha.

You had picked up on the presence of another alpha nearby. One who was releasing a bitter, angry scent before quickly switching to a calming one as well. Now you know that it was Harry, though his scent at the time was nothing like the wonderful one that permeated his dressing room.

The next memories are quite embarrassing to remember. You’re happy that Rachel had taught you about Harry’s band before the show. Because at least you could identify that the man who’s lap you were in was his guitarist, Mitch.

And then you think about how wonderful they all were. How they took care of you and made sure you were okay. Especially Harry.

You still can’t figure out what that was about. He was so protective, so worried. That alone had your omega trying to stake claim on the man. Never before had someone cared that much about you and your wellbeing. And then his scent. God, it was amazing. You’re eternally grateful you didn’t see him again after the show. You know you would have said or done something stupid. His smell would probably be more prominent after a show, sweat washing off the extra scent blockers he obviously wore in public.

Your mind starts to wander thinking about how delicious his scent probably is when it’s direct and unmasked. It’s a good thing your phone dings, pulling you back to the present before your thoughts can turn into inappropriate territory.

It’s Jada, sending you the videos she took the night before and informing you that Harry will set aside up to 6 tickets for whichever day you choose. You thank her for the videos and let her know you’ll get back to her after talking to your friends.

You’re not ready yet to talk about what happened at the show, so you hold off texting your friends for the moment. You know you’ll need to explain what happened, since you don’t want to lie about why you’re getting these tickets, but it can wait a few days.

Getting back to your distractions you spend the day deep cleaning your apartment and running errands. Anything to keep your mind busy.

You send the videos to Rachel and make plans for her to come over for lunch Saturday. You’ll tell her the truth about the concert then. Violet reaches out in the group chat, checking that you and Ameila will still be coming over for your usual Friday night hangout that week. That somehow leads to a discussion about favorite types of soup and by the time you’re all done debating broccoli cheddar versus tomato basil, it’s time for bed.

You’re exhausted from the sleepless night prior and you hope that you’re so tired you won’t have any dreams. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Of course not. No, you once again have nightmares of the alpha. Unlike the night before, when it had just been repeats of what happened, now it was what could have happened. All the worst-case scenarios.

Monday morning rolls around, and you might actually be more tired than you were before bed. You go to make your cup of tea and see hot chocolate mix on the shelf. For a moment you hesitate and then grab the container, making a mug of cocoa. It’s a bit of an odd choice, since it has zero caffeine and it’s August, but it feels like the right thing to do.

The smell of the chocolate immediately settles you, and you feel more at ease than you have in days. You have a theory why, but you try not to think too deeply about it as you continue your morning routine.

You sit at your desk to begin working for the day. You normally love that you have a completely remote job as a data analyst. But it’s a rough morning for you. You’re restless, completely unable to sit still, like there’s ants crawling under your skin.

Nothing gets done, so when it hits 1PM and you still haven’t crossed a single thing off your to-do list you decide to leave the apartment to get lunch. You pack up your laptop, thinking maybe your afternoon will be more productive with a change of scenery.

You grab a sandwich from the local deli and walk to the nearby park. You sit at a table next to some rose bushes. Their fragrance is strong, and it settles you. You sit for hours, completing all the work you wanted to accomplish that day.

It’s obvious why the roses helped you feel better. For the same reason the chocolate smell calmed you that morning. You’re embarrassed that Harry’s scent, even just reminders of it, has such an effect on you, but you lean into it.

There’s a boutique by the park that you know sells candles and other scented things, so you go in with one goal in mind. After smelling way more candles than is probably socially acceptable you find one that you think will work. It’s woodsy, and just a little floral. It’s missing the chocolate component, but you figure it’s as close to Harry’s scent as you’ll get. It also comes as a reed diffuser and a room spray, so you purchase all three.

That night before bed you set up the diffuser and have another cup of hot chocolate. You finally sleep peacefully through the night and wake up refreshed.

You follow this routine all week, switching your normal tea to hot chocolate, working outside by the rose bushes, and ensuring your home smells like Harry.

On Friday night you head over to Violet’s house.  The night starts off as usual, take out and a movie that you barely watch as you catch up and talk about your weeks.

“So, how was the concert?” Amelia asks.

For a second you nearly lie. Almost say, oh it was great and show the videos Jada took for you. But they’re your best friends, the people you can tell anything. You take a deep breath and say, “He definitely puts on a good show. But unfortunately, I didn’t really see it.”

“What do you mean?” Violet asks.

“There was this alpha in the audience,” you begin, and your friends immediately tense up, knowing where the story is likely to go.

“I noticed him the second I got there and moved to blend in with the crowd. I thought I had lost him, but I went with some girls to the bathroom and apparently he’d followed me and waited outside. When I walked out of the bathroom he used his alpha voice and made me follow him to a secluded area.”

“What a bastard!” Amelia interjects and Violet nods her head in agreement.

They see the tears welling in your eyes and move closer, each wrapping an arm around you before you continue.

“Once he got me alone he used his alpha voice again. I couldn’t move or say anything. He tried to scent me, and honestly was probably going to do a lot worse things. But I went into a half-drop or something.” You pause, taking a deep breath and they hold you even tighter to comfort you.

After calming down again you say, “And then things got weird.”

“I’m sorry, they weren’t weird already?” Amelia asks.

“Honestly, no. They were awful, but as an omega, not unexpected. What was weird, was waking up literally sitting in Mitch Rowlands lap with Sarah Jones and Harry Styles watching me from across the hall.”

“Harry Styles?” Violet says incredulously.

“Yes,” you reply.

“The Harry Styles?” Ameila adds.

“Yes, guys. The real Harry Styles.”

“Why was he there? Wouldn’t security be taking care of the situation? Not the performer?”

You realize Amelia makes a good point. Why did Harry and his band members respond to this incident? Wouldn’t it make more sense that they stay far away from potentially dangerous situations?

After thinking for a moment, you say, “He and Sarah are alphas. They probably sensed something was wrong and came to help. I wasn’t able to say anything, but I was able to send out some distress signals, so I guess they responded to that.”

“And this all happened before the show?” Violet asks.

“It was while the opener was on. And then they took me to Harry’s dressing room to talk to a police officer and have a medic check that I was ok. I was planning to go back to the crowd once they finished but Harry wouldn’t let me.”

“Wouldn’t let you? Sounds like another controlling alpha,” Violet says.

“No, no, that was bad wording. I mean, yea, he didn’t want me going back to the crowd again but not in a controlling way. He wanted to protect me. He said his alpha was still worried about me and he wouldn’t be able to perform if he didn’t know that I was safe.”

“Wow, that’s kind of intense,” Amelia says. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Mostly. I think.”

They both give you a look and you explain, “I mean, it sucked, obviously. I hate that alphas have that kind of control over me. And I keep thinking about how much worse it could have been. But nothing too bad ended up happening. Plus, I got to meet Harry Styles so that’s a win.”

“What was he really like?” Violet questions.

“Well, he’s just as kind as everyone says. Most of the time he gave me space since he’s also an alpha, but at one point he held my hand for like, a second, and it felt like it’d been burned. I literally couldn’t believe his skin had touched mine. And the way his alpha was still on edge even when the danger was gone, I still don’t know how to explain that. Plus, his scent, God-” you cut yourself off before you can embarrass yourself about your obsession.

“Oh no, you can’t stop there!” Amelia says. “What is it like?”

For some reason you want to keep the specifics to yourself, so you reply, “I dunno, but it has this warmth to it, and like, a fresh outdoorsy smell. Anyway, uhm, I watched the concert on a TV in his dressing room. He’s giving me some tickets for any of the other New York shows, and I want you two and Rachel to come so we need to pick a date.”

You guys start to look at your calendars and write down a few of the shows that will work.

“When I see Rachel tomorrow I’ll see if any of these days work for her too,” you say once you have a short list.

“Does she know what happened?” Violet asks.

“Not yet. She doesn’t even know I’m an omega. I’m going to tell her everything tomorrow.”

“Are you comfortable with that?”

“Yea, I mean I trust her. She’s a good friend. She’s just a newer friend and it takes me awhile to open up about my, you know, status.”

“If you need us, for anything at all, you call or text and we’re there okay?”

You nod and smile, knowing that you have the two best friends in the world and that everything will be alright. You guys finish the night with some ice cream, and if your friends are curious about you picking chocolate when strawberry has always been your favorite, they don’t comment on it.

Lunch with Rachel the next day is a little more nerve wracking, but by the end you feel so much better. You explain everything about yourself and what happened at the concert the week before. She’s more knowledgeable about omegas than you expected, and she explains her favorite cousin is an omega.

“Y/N, I’m sorry I encouraged you to go alone. I know how dangerous outings like that are. Seriously I think a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when my cousin officially bonded her alpha and had protection from him.”

“Rach, I’m a big girl, I chose to go alone. I thought my suppressants and scent blockers would have hidden my secret, but sometime alphas can still literally sniff us out.”

“Do you think the medicines are losing their effectiveness? Like you’ve built an immunity cause you’ve been on them so long?”

“They’re supposed to last a decade before that happens, I’ve only been on these eight years.”

“Probably couldn’t hurt to check though, right?”

You agree with her and make a mental note to at least put a call out to your doctor soon.

“And no concerts alone, got it?” You smile at her protectiveness and nod in agreement.

“Definitely not alone, but I am being given tickets for us to go to another show since I basically missed the first one.”

“Seriously? When?”

“I invited Violet and Amelia, and we have some dates that work for us. Can you do any of them too?”

You settle on September 10th and you text Jada later that day to let her know. She responds almost immediately which surprises you because you assume they’re getting ready for his show that night.

After talking to all your friends you’re feeling much better than you have all week. Plus, knowing you get to see Harry’s show soon has you excited. You don’t think you’ll get to see him again, but maybe just being in the same room will be enough to settle your omega.  And hopefully it can show your omega how truly unattainable the alpha is, and you can stop obsessing over him.

***

Harry’s pacing in his dressing room. It’s Saturday, night five of his NYC residency, and exactly one week since he met Y/N. And it’s been one week since he’s seen Y/N. And his alpha is restless.

“Harry, I’m sure she’s fine,” Mitch says firmly, ever the voice of reason.

“Then why hasn’t she texted Jada back? It’s been days!”

“She probably just hasn’t been able to coordinate with her friends yet,” Sarah says as she tries to soothe him.

Harry sits on the couch and sighs. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t know why I’m like this right now. Why I’m so worried about her.”

“Well, it’s probably because she’s an omega. And you are a good alpha. Your instinct is to take care of her. And she nearly got hurt. Here. At your show. And I’m thinking you feel like you are at least partially responsible, which is dumb, because you’re not. But you’re a good person, and you care deeply, which makes you maybe a bit emotional about things like this?”

Harry takes in Sarah’s words. She’s right. He didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he feels guilty. He’s devastated that this happened at his show, a place that he always thought was safe for his fans.

“What if it’s more than that?” Harry asks quietly.

“What do you mean?” Mitch questions.

“What if she’s not just an omega?”

Sarah and Mitch expect him to continue, so when he just sits there silently they share a confused look.

“Care to explain?” Mitch says, encouraging him to open up to them.

“I feel like maybe she’s special. I mean, my alpha has definitely taken a liking to her. I was ready to rip that other alphas throat out when I saw his hands on her. And the only way I was able to do the concert was because I knew she was basically locked away from everyone else with security outside the door. I had to know she was safe. And I hate not knowing if she’s okay now. Plus, there was a moment.”

“A moment?” Sarah presses.

 “Yea I uhm, we were alone in the room right before the show. And I held her hand. Just to like, reassure her I guess. It was only a second, but I swear to God there were sparks. I’ve never felt anything like it, especially not from just holding hands.”

“Do you feel connected to her, or is your alpha connected to her omega?” Sarah asks to clarify.

“I honestly don’t know. Normally I can separate the two, but the situation brought my alpha out more than usual.”

Before anyone can ask more questions there’s a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Harry calls out and Jada enters the room.

“Hey Harry. Y/N just texted, she and three friends are planning to come to the show on September 10th if that still works.”

“Yes, of course! Please send her four VIP tickets. In a box or somewhere sectioned off if possible. And passes to come backstage before the show, okay?”

“Got it, I’ll send her everything they’ll need.”

“Wonderful. Thank you, Jada.”

She smiles, waving to Mitch and Sarah as she walks out of the room.

“Well, there you go,” Sarah says. “She is obviously fine if she’s texting and making plans. And you’ll see her again on the 10th!”

“If your alpha can last three weeks,” Mitch says teasingly.

“Shut up,” Harry drawls out, smiling at his best friend.

Mitch may think it’s a joke, but Harry truly doesn’t know if he can go three more weeks without seeing Y/N. Maybe three weeks will be enough to calm down his alpha, and shake this obsession he has with the lovely omega.

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

AN: Thanks again for reading this story! Chapter 3 is already in the works, and I am very excited for the Harry & Y/N reunion.

Taglist: @akkatz @pandeebearstyles @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite@theekyliepage@numafarawayglxy @booberry019-blog @hillzrry@ssareidbby @gem1712 @acesofspadess@houseofdilfs@shaquille-0atmeal-1@kissitnhekitchen @amateurduck @poguestyleskye@n0vaj3an@snwells@drunk-teens-doing-drugs ; @fdl305 @creativelyeva @daphnesutton @selluequestrian @lovingfurypanda @stardream14 @tbsloneely @eversincehs1

[arachnoia]

gone ➶ . ˚ ༉‧₊˚ˑ༄ؘ | miguel o’hara

miguel o'hara x fem! reader

a/n: i think that atp, im just a miguel o’hara writer (not that im complaining but gimmie requests pls !! theyre open on my acc !!) this is also a drabble ive been wanting to write because i’ve always wanted to write angst (well tbh idk what this is?) but wasn’t sure how to? lowkey i want this to be a story that isn’t just a one shot but lmk if you guys want more of this? im just trying stuff out!

pt2 - ‘holy shock’ pt 3- ‘finally’

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“Breathe in, breathe out...”

The beautiful city stunned you as you stood on top of a random building, breathing in its modern, refreshing look.

It kind of took your breath away, contradictory to what you just told yourself a few seconds ago.

You barely finished another mission as your universe’s one and only Spider-Silk. Was it tiring? Hell yes, no doubt. But you never took a moment to actually admire Earth-928’s Nueva York, where Spider Society headquarters was located. Nueva York was also the place where you were if it wasn’t fighting crime and going to grad school in your own universe’s New York.

You usually swing to the top of a business building, a little bit far from Spider Society headquarters. It was quiet and peaceful. It was your thinking place where you could release any emotions you wanted to spill when you couldn’t anywhere else since you can’t really spill your emotions if you were to be taken seriously.

Plus, the one person who you expressed your deepest emotions, is gone.

As you simply stared into space while remembering the feeling you felt this morning.

You noticed some tears gathering at the outside corners of your eyes. Your eyelids began to droop, and you began to sob quietly as your chest hurt from, what some call “heartbreak”.

To be completely honest though, it was just melancholy and depression from what happened hours prior.

You couldn’t say that the emotion you felt for him or what you feel is loving him because it wasn’t love.

It felt like something stronger. But you knew it wasn’t reciprocated back.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“So why don’t you just kick your professor’s ass?” Miguel joked. His laugh made you feel warm inside. It was a cute laugh in your opinion.

The two of you were sitting down, at the building you like to think at, munching on sweet, baked, fig empanadas from a lady's restaurant in your universe. Doña Rosa? She was a nice lady and safe to say, Miguel would definitely come back for the empanadas.

“Please, O’Hara. I’d get simply kicked out and would have to never show my face ever again…But the bastard deserves it for ripping apart my paper on exploring different dimensions with colliders!”

He chuckled. “Right, because you have experience. Do you not? Y/l/n?”

“EXACTLY. BUT NOT EVEN GRAMMARLY HELPED ME NOT GO THROUGH HIS REIGN OF TERROR!” You felt pissed, but Miguel found it absolutely hilarious to see you worked up as you angrily took a bite out of your empanada. It was cute.

“Swear to god, that bitch is scarier than most of the stupid anomalies we fight,” You pouted and glanced at him. He looked like he was trying to not start laughing even harder than he was before. “Y/l/n. Just calm down it doesn’t matter. Plus didn’t you mention it was like 10% of your grade? You’ll be fine it’s not that bad.”

You smirked at him. “Oh, so you’re trying to say it’s still bad?”

“No…but look at me.” You turned to his direction as he placed his empanada on a napkin next to the rest of the lot and he rested his hands on your shoulders.

“Breathe in. Breathe out.” You chuckled at his direction.

“Miguel, you sound like a yoga instructor."

“No no, I’m being serious here! No dejas que esa mierda te moleste, okay?”

You raised your eyebrow and smiled playfully. “Alright, like you’re the calmest person on this Earth,” He laughed. “I’m not but you’re not like me. I don’t want that to affect you, especially because it doesn’t matter.”

“Now. Breathe in…”

You softly smiled at him, to which he returned, “And breathe out.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“It's pleasant, isn't it?” Peter replied as he began to go in your direction, breaking up your train of thought. He and Mayday gave you a sad look as they walked over to hug your shaky form.

“How-?”

“Y/n, I saw you swinging here after barely teleporting here. What’s wrong?”

You didn’t know what to say. You felt a metaphoric weight on your shoulders as you struggled to tell Peter.

“Was it perhaps…Miguel?” You felt like laughing. Here you were, crying while Peter was acting full-on dad and Mayday was playing with her Spider-Man beanie. It would be a very unusual sight to someone who was just viewing you three at a distance.

“I’m just going to take that as a yes,” Peter said as he sat down on the roof and patted to the space next to him. “Take a seat, Y/l/n.”

You followed his directions and sat down.

It was quiet and a bit windy. It gave you a sad memory and you felt like you were drowning in it.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

You felt a rush of anxiety and couldn’t breathe.

“I CAN’T. I CAN’T DO IT, O’HARA," you screeched, scratching Miguel's arm in excruciating pain.

“YES YOU CAN, Y/L/N!! CALM DOWN!”

The two of you were in a mission to stop an anomaly. You were one of the first to start attacking…and one of the first to be badly injured. Your right thigh was impaled with several medium sized pieces of glass from being thrown to a glass building and you ran out of webs to shoot. You froze and wanted to cry, feeling vulnerable.

Miguel went over to try to help you as the other Spiders went to attack said anomaly. You knew each other as friends since you were one of the first Spiders ever to be recruited to the Spider Society so you knew each other pretty well. When he saw you injured, he quickly saved some civilians and rushed to your direction.

“Yes, you can Y/l/n. Look at me. Breathe in.” Your eyes widened as you saw him grab the largest piece of glass. He had 2 pieces of cloth with him. “No, stop looking at them and look at me. Breathe in, goddamn it.”

You stared at him and he gave you a piece to bite down. You tried to calm down as he took the piece out and screamed into the cloth. “I’m going to wrap it up, okay?” He said, earning a nod from you. “Good girl. Now breathe in…”

“…Breathe out.” You said.

“That’s my girl,” He said as he smiled at you and carried you with the rest of the civilians.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“Breathe in, breathe out,” You whispered. Saying that phrase now just made your tongue feel bitter. Like eating a sour candy except it doesn’t turn out sweet at the end, but just making you frown.

Peter smiled and turned to you, “Now tell me what happened, kid. People don’t just run away before saying hi to their favorite person, therefore being me? !”

You scoffed, “Peter, no offense but why does it matter to you? You should be focusing on other things other than my well-being.”

Peter raised his eyebrow and rolled his eyes. “Listen, kid. You and the other Spiders like Gwen or Miles, matter to me.”

He covered Mayday’s ears. “Shit, even Miguel. If I see you mopey and sad and what not, of course, I’m going to be worried!”

“Really?” You were shocked. No one really has given you that fatherly attention like Peter has.

The only one who would really listen to you, was Miguel. But you can’t really rely on him now, can you?

“Yup. Now tell me what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Your breath hitched and you froze.

You then took a deep breath, sighed, and smiled bitterly.

“Miguel, he told me he wants me gone from his life,” you said as you felt a sudden pang in your chest.

Just feeling those words leave your lips made the melancholy come back even stronger.

And it hurt like fucking hell.

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

The Lord of Dunholm

Note: this is just a silly little fic, obviously the legal details are off, but who cares.

Warnings: none.

pairing: SKMD!Sihtric x modern cop!you (f)

summary: you were called in to check out a situation at Durham castle.

wordcount: 7,9k

Masterlist

You were a rookie cop, desperate to prove yourself to your peers and to eventually earn a promotion. You knew you were doing a good job, but you were often forced to take those jobs that the experienced cops didn't like or simply felt too good for. One of those jobs was dealing with so called nutcases; people who often were innocent as they were usually simply confused because of their own mind, which wasn't their fault at all. They were a slight pain to deal with but someone had to do it, and today wouldn't be any different. You sat in your police car early afternoon when your radio sounded, and you heard the voice of one of your colleagues.

'There is an, ehhhh… caucasian male swinging an… axe and a sword outside of Durham castle. He has shoulder length hair, wavy and dark, he seems well built and he's wearing a brown… eh, fur cloak. Apparently his eyes are two different colours, one brown and one blue. He also has a large scar on his forehead and a smaller scar on his right cheek. You, eh, you really can't miss him, over.'

You stared at your radio, you knew this was a task for you as it sounded like once again someone had lost their mind, but since it was at a big public castle you thought it was a joke-

'This is not a joke and he is not part of the castle, over.'

You made a face at the radio and started your car, driving over to the castle to see what the fuss was all about. As you pulled up to the castle's parking lot you were greeted by frightened people who ran for their lives, on what was supposed to be a fun day out for them. It was complete madness and some of the panicked fathers pointed you in the direction of the axe and sword swinging "lunatic". You parked your car and then you saw him, exactly as he was described over the radio, not a word had been lied. You watched the rather handsome man shout angrily at the people who hid behind the glass windows of the ticket office, and then the castle's security guard ran up to your car. You were startled when the security guard banged on your car window as you were staring at the angry man near the entrance, and you rolled your window down enough to hear the guard speak.

'Thank god, you're here,' the guard panted, 'this guy has been here for half an hour already, claiming he's the Lord of Dunholm or something and he wants his land back.'

'What?' you scoffed, 'his land back? You're serious?'

'I swear I'm not making it up. He somehow got inside the castle and I found him when he was grabbing that axe and the sword off the wall. I managed to get him outside, you know, for the safety of the guests, but that's when he really lost his mind because he wasn't allowed back inside anymore. This guy is insane. I'm… I'm out of here,' the guard said, and he followed the other people that ran far away from the castle, leaving you baffled and rather confused.

You took a deep breath and got out of your car, then walked over to the "Lord", hand on your taser as you slowly approached him. You managed to sneak around him without being noticed while he had his back turned towards the entrance, looking wild and confused at the people who filmed him with their cellphones. This wasn't your first rodeo with a violent person, but something made you a nervous wreck out of nowhere as you got a better look at him, and you tried your best to keep your voice from trembling.

'Sir!' you shouted, earning his attention, and he turned around to look at you with rage in his eyes, 'l-lower your weapons, sir,' you demanded, although not very convincing. 

'I demand entrance!' the man grunted as he raised his axe.

'Lower your weapons!' you demanded again.

'I shall do no such thing, lady! I merely want access to my home, I do not wish to fight. Now stand aside!' the Lord yelled at you, but you didn't budge.

'Sir, lower-'

'I said stand aside!' he shouted again, heated.

'Sir, if you take one more step I have to taser you,' you warned him.

'What?'

'I will have to taser you, sir! What is your name?'

'Sihtric Kjartansson!' he snarled.

'Sihtric Kjartansson?' you frowned, that was the oddest name you had ever heard in this day and age.

'Son of Kjartan the Cruel, who used to rule here. I helped kill him a while ago and this place is mine now! So let me in or I swear I will ram this gate!'

'Okay, eh,' you cleared your throat, not really sure what to do with this man, 'S-Sihtric-'

'That's Lord Sihtric!' he hissed as he stalked towards you.

You took a few steps back when the threatening man neared you, and you ordered him to drop his weapons once again, but he didn't listen.

'Sihtric, I will tase you if you take another step closer! I mean it!'

You stared at him as he ignored your last warning, and you grabbed your taser. You pointed it towards the angry and lost looking man as he came closer, and with shaking hands you pressed the button, releasing the probes. You watched the probes attach to the wild man's clothing and sparks were flying, but the man didn't freeze and fall due to the shocks he received. In fact, nothing seemed to happen, he only seemed to stop walking to look down at the probes and the several sparks that were created.

'Holy shit,' you gasped as you stared at Sihtric, who was still standing and you both stared at the useless pulses from your taser.

You wondered how much drugs this guy had taken to be completely oblivious to the shocks your weapon created, and you watched Sihtric with your jaw dropped as he threw down his sword to yank the probes off his cloak, and he threw them on the ground while they were still giving off shocks. You slightly panicked as Sihtric stepped closer, still holding his axe which he was about to raise as he got within an arm's reach from you. But then he suddenly stopped and froze, he clenched his jaw while a strangled moan sounded in his throat as his left eye twitched. You stared at him with big eyes and then realised he had stepped onto the probes with his boots, which were old and worn and apparently not thick enough to withhold the pulses of your taser, and he collapsed to his knees. He fell forward as your taser gave one last shock, which caused a few more sparks to fly, and then everything became silent.

With the help of some backup you had managed to get Sihtric handcuffed and in the back of your car. He was still rather dazed from receiving the taser stun and you could tell he was not pleased as you saw he was glaring at you from the backseat whenever you looked in your mirror. He didn't speak at all, but you could tell he became more confused and frightened the more he became clear headed again, and you wondered why he looked so spooked. 

At the station you struggled to get him out of your car. You had opened the door for him but Sihtric simply refused to get out, unless he got to speak to your king. You said you couldn't possibly arrange that, but that he could speak with your superior. Sihtric refused your offer and said, 'I will not set foot out of this carriage, lady.' You once again had to ask for some help from your colleagues, who were rather amused at your catch of the day. 

When you finally had Sihtric in a holding cell, you grabbed a chair and sat across from him, as it was now your job to figure out who this guy was and what he wanted, but it turned out to be more complicated than you expected. You had searched him for any form of ID, but he had nothing on him except for a small sachet with silver coins in it, which had no value to you unless you planned on opening a medieval coin museum. After searching him you also understood why the taser didn't work when you first fired it, as he was wearing leather armour underneath his fur cloak, which raised even more questions.

'So, Sihtric,' you said, 'tell me what happened today, hm? Why were you swinging your weapons at the castle?'

'Because it is my land,' Sihtric hissed.

'Your land? Why do you believe it is your land?' you asked, confused yet mildly entertained.

'I fought for it, it is my land. I own it.'

You stared at Sihtric and exhaled sharply, realising you weren't going to get a clear answer on your first question.

'Tell me where are you from?'

'Dunholm.'

'Dunholm?'

'Yes, lady. I am the Lord of Dunholm.'

'Do you mean… Durham?' you furrowed your brow as you looked at him.

'What?'

'You are from Durham?'

'I am from Dunholm, lady,' Sihtric said, agitated, and he tugged the handcuffs you had chained to the table, 'release me. Release me at once or there will be consequences!'

'I'm… afraid I can't do that. Where did you get your weapons?'

'I bought them.'

'Where?'

'In Bebbanburg.'

'Bebban-,' you stopped and shook your head, once again confused, 'you mean Bamburgh?'

'I said Bebbanburg, lady,' Sihtric hissed again and leaned over the table, like a predator eyeing up his prey, 'do you not understand me? I have bought them but found them placed up on a wall inside the castle. I do not know how they got there, but I retrieved them.'

'And how did you get inside the castle?'

'I live there. I simply stepped through a door and suddenly… suddenly everything was the same but also very different. And then I saw my weapons, which I took, and then some man began to tell me I could not touch my weapons. I told him to make the square but instead he forced me outside,' Sihtric sighed, 'and then they would not grant me entry again.'

You weren't sure what to say. You indeed did not quite understand him, but you couldn't tell him that, he could use that to his advantage and you really didn't want to screw up the possible case you had in your hands.

'Okay, I'm going to need some prints,' you said and reached for his hands.

You were startled when Sihtric suddenly flinched and yanked his hands away from yours, hurting his wrists in the process due to the handcuffs, and when you looked into his eyes you felt your heart break. You suddenly realised that this man was not fooling around and you believed he was not lying. You could read people, it was your main talent, and Sihtric's mismatched eyes spoke the truth. He was terrified but didn't show it on his face, and he felt utterly lost and confused, you could tell, but he would never confess that to you or anyone else.

'It's okay,' you said, calmly, 'I'm not… I won't hurt you. I promise.'

Sihtric looked at you with his big eyes, which were completely fixated on you as you got up and moved your chair next to his. You could tell he was hesitant to believe you, so you tried to explain to him what you were going to do.

'I need to take your hands and press your fingers onto this ink pad, okay? And then I will press your fingers on this piece of paper,' you said and pointed towards the tools on the table.

You waited for Sihtric to take in your words, and when he slowly nodded for you to go ahead, you reached out for his hand again. This time he didn't pull away, as you approached him slowly, and he allowed you to take his hand and press each of his tattooed fingers onto the ink pad and then on the paper. You carefully collected his prints, and you felt your cheeks heat up slightly as a strange sensation rushed through your stomach each time you touched him. And Sihtric didn't seem to mind your gentle touch either, as he just stared at you with wide eyes while you both felt the air become thick inside the holding cell. You sat back after you had collected all his prints and cleared your throat, breaking the tension that lingered.

'I, eh, I will run these now. I will be back in a moment.'

You were quick to get up, and as you waited for his results to come up and expose who Sihtric really was and where he came from, your mind kept wandering off to his pretty duo-coloured eyes, the feeling of his rough hands and the sound of his warm, smooth voice. You were intrigued by him, but as he was somewhat of a problem right now, your problem to be more specific, you cursed yourself for thinking he was incredibly handsome.

'It's always the weirdos,' you sighed as you remembered your poor track record of ex-boyfriends.

You were abruptly pulled from your thoughts when the results came in, and you were confused when the screen showed you that zero matches had been found.

'Surely this guy has a record already,' you muttered and ran his prints again.

You scoffed when the results were negative again, and you grabbed a DNA swab kit on your way back to the unknown man you had tasered about an hour ago. You also brought Sihtric a plastic cup of water, as you noticed his lips were rather chapped when you sat close to him so you figured he could use some fresh water. You placed the cup in front of him, and Sihtric carefully inspected the white plastic while you prepared your DNA kit. And just as you looked up and wanted to explain how you were going to swab his DNA, you saw how Sihtric leaned in and reached for the plastic cup. When his face was almost close enough to take a sip, he grabbed the cup firmly as if it was a jug of ale, and a shocked gasp left his mouth when the cup crushed under the pressure of his grip, and the water splashed in his face, his hair and over his cloak. He looked surprised and stared at you while the water dripped down his face, and he only blinked when you desperately tried to hold your laugh. You quickly got him some tissues and helped him dry his face, his hair and his cloak while he was still handcuffed to the table.

'Thank you,' Sihtric mumbled shyly when you sat back again, 'it seems I am not aware of my own strength.'

'That must be it,' you chuckled and fought a grin.

He was the most peculiar man, and a charming one too, but it seemed he was also not the brightest, which amused you greatly.

'Anyway,' you said and moved closer to him again, 'the fingerprints were no success, so I'll have to take a DNA sample.'

'A what?' Sihtric leaned back quickly when you held up the swab stick, and he looked at the stick as if it was something foreign, 'where does that go, woman?' he asked mortified, 'what does it do?'

'I will take a sample from the inside of your cheek. It doesn't hurt, I promise.'

Sihtric gave you a confused look, and you didn't know how else to explain it to him.

'You… you just need to open your mouth for me,' you said.

'By the gods, lady,' Sihtric scoffed, 'those words have never been spoken to me before by a woman.'

'Excuse me?'

'I usually tell a lady to open their m-'

'Okay!' you quickly interrupted, 'I think we are speaking of two different things here. Just, Christ,' you groaned, 'open your mouth, please.'

Sihtric gave you a sudden cheeky grin, and he politely obeyed. Your own mouth went dry and your heart was beating with such force you heard it in your ears as you gently held his chin while you took a sample. Sihtric made a face when you were done, and he awkwardly pressed his tongue in his cheek and then licked his lips repeatedly at the odd feeling the swab stick had left him. You thanked him and hoped he didn't see your flushed face before you quickly left the room again to run his sample. 

When moments later you once again received zero results, you turned to your boss for help. You explained to him the situation and told him everything that had happened. You couldn't confirm who Sihtric was, nor where he was from or where he lived, all you knew was that he hadn't actually threatened to kill people and he hadn't harmed anyone. He just seemed… not from this time. After quite some time of discussion about what to do next, you were told you had to let Sihtric go as you couldn't charge him. Sihtric was about to be a free man again, but he just couldn't have his weapons back and he had to come back within a week to show his passport and a proof of residence.

'Will you be okay out there?' you asked while you uncuffed him, 'where will you go?'

Sihtric shrugged lightly and told you he didn't know yet, which didn't sit well with you. Regardless of your gut feeling, you released the insanely handsome "Lord" and guided him out of the police station. You watched him as he crossed the street, completely ignoring the traffic light as he continued to walk, and you held your breath when he almost got hit by a car, after which you heard him shout to the shocked driver to make the square. Whatever that meant.

Hours later when your shift was over you drove home. On your way back you passed Durham castle, and you couldn't believe your eyes when you saw Sihtric sitting almost completely in the dark, under a tree, near the closed castle entrance. You stopped your car and slowly approached him by foot while his eyes were glued to the castle.

'Sihtric?'

He jumped and looked up, his eyes telling you he felt caught.

'Lady,' he said and cleared his throat.

'What are you doing here?'

'Nothing,' Sihtric replied, a little too quick for it to be innocent.

'Sihtric,' you chuckled and looked at the castle entrance, 'surely you weren't planning on climbing the walls, were you?'

'No, I'd need a ladder for that,' Sihtric grumbled and shook his head.

You stared at each other and then both broke into soft laughter. You looked at him and his body language, and when adding it up to everything that had happened that day as well as the way he spoke and dressed, you couldn't help but feel that he had never lied to you about anything he had told you. And slowly your laugh made place for a saddened, concerned look.

'This really is your land, isn't it?'

Sihric gave you a sad nod, 'It is, yet I don't truly recognise it. Nor the people who live here now. It is the same but also… not. And I don't understand it.'

'I don't understand it either,' you gave him a compassionate look, 'but, Sihtric, you can't stay here. Soon the temperature will be below zero.'

'But this is my home, lady. I have no other place to go.'

You looked around the empty parking lot and sighed. Your next move went against everything you've learned and believed, but you couldn't just leave him like that. You hesitantly told him to get in the car, which he initially did not want to do because he thought you were going to handcuff him again. When you finally convinced him, after several long minutes, you drove him to the nearest hotel and walked up to the welcome desk.

'I would like to book one room for this man for a few nights,' you told the hotel employee.

Everything seemed fine for a moment. Sihtric was just gazing around the place while you filled in the form for his stay, but you froze when you saw that the person who paid for the stay was held responsible for the state of the room. You weren't going to stay there with him, in one room, but you also worried about leaving him alone now that everything would come down on you. He carried no more weapons but you still had no idea what he was capable of, and having to pay for a trashed hotel room was not something you wanted to do in your free weekend. And since the payment was in your name, if he would do something worse than just trash the room and perhaps harm someone, it could even cost you your job. You apologised to the hotel employee and told her that maybe it was better if he resided somewhere else, and you left. Sihtric didn't quite understand what was going on when you pulled him back to your car, but he got in regardless.

'What is this carriage?' he eventually asked as you drove him to your house.

'This is a car.'

'Car?'

'Yes.'

Sihtric looked at you but didn't say anything anymore, and then he just stared out of the window. When you finally walked him to the front door of your house, you stopped and turned to him before you opened the door.

'Look, you can stay in my house for a day or two, but there will be some rules. Don't forget that I can arrest you again if you do something weird or try anything with me, you got that?'

Sihtric nodded, not truly understanding you but he somehow had gotten to like your presence and you in general. Once inside you were greeted by your dog, Thor, an Alaskan Malamute, and Sihtric took several steps back when the dog approached out of nowhere. Sihtric watched how you knelt down and hugged your beloved pet, and he had to admit he was fascinated by the size of the animal.

'Impressive beast,' he said.

'Thank you,' you chuckled, 'he's my best friend, really.'

'How much, woman?'

'Excuse me?'

'How much for the dog?'

'Eh, he's… he's not for sale.'

'But I offer silver. I offer you twenty pieces of silver.'

'Sihtric,' you chuckled and got back up, 'he's not for sale. You can't buy him.'

'Very well,' Sihtric sniffed, 'how much for you, lady?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'I am a man,' Sihtric shrugged, 'and I have needs.'

You scoffed and your mouth fell open at the audacity of him.

'You're a pig,' you said, disgusted, 'and you should be ashamed of yourself!'

Sihtric had been rather baffled at your insult, but he had forgotten about it all when he laid down on your couch after he had stripped himself down to his breeches. You had thrown him a blanket and told him to go sleep, you'd figure things out in the morning, and you also told him he was not allowed to get into your bedroom. You had left the door slightly open, knowing your dog was sleeping right outside of your room and if the strange man on your couch would try to harm you, Thor would not hesitate to attack. And with that thought you eventually fell asleep.

It was about ten in the morning when you woke up the next day, and when you slowly opened your eyes and blinked you were frightened when you found Sihtric staring at you as he sat crouched down next to your bed. A terrified shriek left your mouth and you both jumped up while Sihtric also yelped at your reaction.

'What the fuck are you doing?!' you screamed.

'I am sorry, lady!' Sihtric yelled as he had backed himself up against your book cabinet, knocking over a few titles.

'What is wrong with you!' you huffed and quickly covered yourself up with your blankets.

'I am sorry!' he said again, 'but a strange kind of sound woke me up a while ago already. I don't know where it came from.'

You tried to understand him and it took you a few seconds to realise he was woken up by your phone, as you had set an alarm for eight and had forgotten your phone on the table next to the couch. You then apologised and explained what had woken him up, and although he didn't fully understand it, he left it at that.

'But why on earth are you in my room, Sihtric?!' you yelled when you remembered you were still in your bedroom.

'Well, I was just admiring your beauty as I couldn't sleep, my lady,' he said with a sly smile.

'Oh,' you mumbled and blushed, feeling bad for having shouted at him while also still feeling slightly freaked out. But you couldn't deny you felt flattered too, as he was possibly the most handsome man you had ever seen, despite the fact that he smelled like mud and grass, and you said he should take a wash, to which he agreed.

'Also,' Sihtric said before he left your room, 'it seems that the beast has destroyed my boots in the night. I require a new pair.'

You had managed to gather some decent clothes for Sihtric because, luckily, your next door neighbour had some shoes in his size he could borrow until you'd get him new ones today, and he also had some black sweatpants to spare, as well as a grey hoodie. After Sihtric got dressed you took his hand and pulled him to the mirror, where he stared at himself and his messy hair. At first he looked concerned, but then he grinned.

'Not bad,' he chuckled and turned to give you a wink.

You shyly agreed, and then he suddenly took your hand and pulled you flush against his body. He wrapped his arms around you while he looked at both your reflection in the mirror.

'Hey,' you chuckled, 'what… what are you doing?'

'That's us, right?'

'Yes,' you said and looked at the mirror too.

You saw Sihtric's eyes light up as he took in the sight of you in his arms.

'We look good together,' he smiled shyly, 'marry me?'

'What?' your eyes grew wide.

'Marry me? You can be my lady. We'll be the Lord and Lady of Dunholm.'

'Eh,' you laughed and felt yourself blush heavily, 'that's… a bit unusual and fast, isn't it?'

You looked up at him, and before you knew it Sihtric had cupped your cheeks and pulled you in for a firm kiss. You froze at the sudden feeling of his chapped lips onto your smooth ones, but when he didn't pull away you eagerly grabbed onto his borrowed hoodie and kissed him back. And barely even having recovered from kissing the handsome stranger, he already threw another question at you which you weren't prepared for.

'Will you stay with me?'

'What?' you paused and shook your head, 'Sihtric… I-'

'Please?' he asked, a spark of hope flickered in his eyes as he held you tight again while he stared into your eyes.

And instead of replying with words, something seemed to take over and you pulled him in for another kiss. And it seemed that ever since that moment Sihtric couldn't keep his hands off you anymore.

Sihtric clung onto your hand as you walked down the busy shopping street. Segways and electric scooters zoomed past you, to which Sihtric looked spooked and confused, and he jumped each time a car honked or a phone rang nearby.

'I don't understand,' he said, bewildered, 'there is so much noise. Why is there so much noise? And where are the horses? Why is no one riding horses?'

'Horses?' you laughed, 'horses haven't been used for transport like that for ages.'

'Ages?' Sihtric scoffed, 'lady, it has only been one day.'

You weren't sure how to respond, so you just squeezed his hand in the hope of giving him some comfort. You still didn't quite understand how he had ended up here, but that he somehow came from a different time than you was the one thing you were sure about. You continued your walk, hands locked together tightly, when suddenly you approached a market that had been set up for the weekend.

'Ah!' Sihtric smiled when he finally seemed to recognise something, 'a market!'

You strolled between the stalls, looking at the fruits, vegetables, clothing and some second hand items. Sihtric's eye caught a stall that sold shiny jewellery, and it was almost as if he had turned into a magpie. He couldn't be torn away from the stall and you looked around for a moment, while he continued to hold your hand as his eyes darted over the countless silver and golden rings.

'The town's office is around the corner,' you said and looked back at Sihtric, 'we should go there and request your passport before we get you new boots.'

Sihtric simply nodded and followed your lead, away from the market and around the corner. And there he suddenly stopped you and pulled you in, one arm around your waist while he held up a silver ring to you.

'For my lady,' he smiled with pride and a loving smile.

'W-what?' you gasped while Sihtric took your hand and placed the ring around your ring finger, 'I- wait,' you scoffed, 'where did you get this from?'

Sihtric didn't reply, he simply smiled and leaned in to kiss your cheek. You felt yourself weakened at his sweet smile and gesture, that it took you a moment to figure out he had stolen the ring from the market when you had looked away for only a few seconds.

'Sihtric!' you hissed, 'did you steal this?!' you asked and stared at him, but he once again didn't respond. 'Sihtric, you can't do that. I'm a cop… you…you can't… do this,' you swallowed hard when you stared into his eyes, getting lost in them.

'Okay,' Sihtric mumbled and shrugged.

And then he pulled you in for a kiss that made you forget and care less that he had stolen that ring just a moment ago.

It was quite the hassle to make Sihtric a registered citizen of Durham and to request a passport, but somehow it had all worked out and his passport would be ready by the end of next week. The employee thought Sihtric was an interesting and charming man, with an old soul. But she also thought he was quite strange though. Sihtric had proudly told the employee that you two were getting married soon, which you wanted to argue against but it turned out to benefit his situation, so you played along. It turned out to be awfully easy for you to pretend to be a loving partner, and it seemed that Sihtric also had no problem with it, and he kept his hands on you at all times.

After his passport was requested you finally went to get Sihtric new shoes. You felt bad that your dog had destroyed his medieval boots in the night, so you were more than willing to buy him a new pair. Well, you had to buy them for him anyway as he had no money on him, except for the little sachet with silver coins that he carried in the pocket of his sweatpants. In the shoe store it became clear once again that Sihtric was a peculiar man, as he was overwhelmed by the amount of shoes he saw and he thought they all looked quite weird, he clearly still had to get used to modern shoes. He ended up liking a pair of horrible cowboy boots, and it took you a lot of persuading to change his mind and look for some simple ankle boots. He reluctantly went with you as you pulled his hand, creating a distance between him and the cowboy boot section, to the modern looking boots,and eventually he picked out a pair of black boots to try on.

'And?' you asked, hopeful.

'They are of fine quality,' he said as he checked them out in the mirror.

'They are,' you agreed, 'and they look good on you too.'

Sihtric smiled and reached into his pocket, 'How much silver?'

'What? Oh, Sihtric,' you shook your head and laughed, 'you can't pay with that silver of yours.'

'Why not?' he asked, offended, 'I earned it. Perhaps stole some of it,' he shrugged, 'but it is of value.'

'Not here-'

'It is of value, lady. I am a wealthy man.'

You sighed and looked around the store, trying to think of a way to make him believe his silver was indeed valuable, while he stared at you intensely.

'You're right,' you smiled, 'why don't you hand me the silver, and I will pay for you?'

'Hand you my silver? You are not yet my wife,' Sihtric scoffed, 'are you after my silver only? Because I have dealt with a-'

'No, no,' you said quickly, 'I, eh, sometimes they give ladies a discount here,' you lied.

Sihtric frowned and thought about your answer, then looked almost impressed and handed you the sachet. 'Very well,' he smiled.

You grabbed the silver and told Sihtric to stay back for a moment. At the checkout you emptied the sachet in your purse and you paid for his shoes with your credit card. You walked back to him with "his" purchase, and he was shocked that the shoes had cost him all of his silver.

'Yeah,' you sighed as you walked back to your car, hand in hand, 'the economy these days is really something.'

'Economy?'

'Yeah, it's… you know what? It's better if you don't know about it,' you smiled and kissed his cheek, after which Sihtric easily dropped the brand new topic to him.

On the drive back from the city to your home you passed the castle again, and just like the first time you passed it you noticed Sihtric stared at the castle with a saddened look, and then looked down at his feet while he fidgeted with his rings, which he had already when you found him, so you were sure those weren't stolen. At least, not stolen from the market.

'Hey, maybe we can visit the castle tomorrow?' you suggested.

'Do you think they'll let me in?'

'If you behave, yes.'

You gave him a cheeky smile, which brought a smile to Sihtric's face too, and he reached for your hand.

'Yeah,' he said softly, and kissed your hand, 'I'd like to go there tomorrow with you.'

Back home, Sihtric came up behind you while you were cooking dinner, and he snuck his arms around your waist, resting his chin upon your shoulder.

'What are you brewing, my lady?'

'I am cooking pasta,' you said, feeling yourself blush again at his closeness. 

For a stranger you were already awfully attached to him. You fought the butterflies in your stomach with no luck, as you melted at the sound of his voice and the feeling of his lips grazing your ear as he spoke.

'Pasta? What is pasta?'

'It's, eh… a surprise,' you turned around and smiled at him, 'I think you will like it.'

Sihtric looked curiously at you and then back at the pan.

'Okay,' he chuckled, 'I trust you.'

'You… do?'

'Mhm,' he hummed and pulled you into his chest, 'you're staying with me, right?'

'Right,' you said after a few seconds, hiding your smile as you pressed your face into his hoodie and enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around you. And Sihtric was happy to have trusted you, because he thought that the pasta you had made him was the best food he had ever tasted in his life, and he said he'd want it for breakfast too, and lunch as well.

When it was time to go to bed you told Sihtric to hide his shoes in the hallway so the beast wouldn't destroy them again. Sihtric did as you told him and he went to lay on the couch, just like the night before. You looked at him as he pulled the blanket over his clothed body, and you suddenly felt bad for him. He was clearly still rather lost and confused, but he seemed to feel at ease when he was close to you, and you couldn't deny that you felt at ease with him too and wanted to keep him close all the same.

'Why don't you… I mean,' you stammered, 'you could- we could maybe s-share my bed?'

You didn't have to repeat yourself, as Sihtric was quick to jump up from the couch. He was rather fast to make his way into your bedroom where he took off his sweatpants, followed by his hoodie, and you gaped at his physique now that you saw it for the first time.

'My lord,' you mumbled at the sight of his muscular body, and you quickly climbed in bed next to him, hiding the blush on your cheeks.

Sihtric hadn't heard you as he was getting comfortable in your bed, and he seemed rather amazed at the soft mattress and sheets, but especially the pillows. He looked overjoyed while he explored the feeling of the fabrics and eventually laid down with a grateful smile on his face, then he turned to you. You were too shy to turn and face him, so you just stared up at your boring ceiling, completely frozen next to him. After a few long minutes of feeling just his eyes on you, Sihtric slowly brought his hand up to your face and began to trace your skin gently and slowly with his fingertips. You felt yourself blush even more, and your heart skipped a few beats while your core began to heat up quickly as he continued to explore your neck and shoulders with his fingers too.

'My lady,' he whispered and pulled you closer with one swift move.

He kissed your cheek and gently took your chin, forcing you to look at him, and then he softly nuzzled your nose and kissed your lips. You weakened at his touch and warmth, and succumbed to him within seconds when he slid his tongue in your mouth as he slowly and passionately kissed you. Soon you felt his warm, rough hands move up under your night dress, which he then took it off. Without any words spoken you pulled him back in and kissed him with a hunger you had never felt before. Your hands moved up into his loose, wavy hair, and Sihtric smoothly rolled you over on your back and positioned himself on top of you, between your parted legs.

'I don't even really know you,' you giggled, completely smitten.

'But you will,' Sihtric whispered, just as smitten as you.

The next morning you woke up with Sihtric next to you, comfortably sleeping as he had one arm wrapped around you and his legs tangled with yours. You couldn't believe you had been intimate with a man who was actually a complete stranger, but everything just felt right for some reason. And at least you weren't a full idiot and you had done everything safely, which was another thing Sihtric had to get used to, but he hadn't complained.

You fixed some breakfast while Sihtric got dressed in his new clothes, and soon you found yourself at the entrance of Durham castle, where it all had all begun for you two. Sihtric had braided his hair today and, as he was not wearing his armour, he did look like a different man than the one who had swung his sword and axe while he demanded entrance just two days ago. The security guard stared at Sihtric as you walked past him, but luckily he didn't say anything and you quickly hooked your elbow with Sihtric's, making your way inside the castle.

Sihtric looked stunned the entire time you walked through the old passages and the courtyard. He somehow knew every room and hallway, which told you he truly hadn't been lying these past few days. And as you held hands he told you more about his life. He told you about his slave mother and his father, Kjartan the Cruel, as well as stories about his half brother, Sven, and the horrors those two men had brought upon others.

'Is that why you helped kill your father?' you asked, cautiously.

'Yes,' Sihtric said curtly.

'Did it bring you peace?'

'Not quite as I had hoped,' he confessed, 'but it does not matter.'

You walked further and ended up looking at a large painting of a family tree. You saw all the names Sihtric had mentioned, and eventually you spotted his name, which left you breathless. You took a closer look at the painting while Sihtric took a few steps back to look around the great hall you stood in.

'I'll be damned,' you whispered as you read the information plaque next to the painting, which told you everything Sihtric had just told you, but less detailed.

You turned to look at Sihtric and saw he had his jaw clenched while his eyes had teared up.

'Hey,' you whispered and wrapped your arms around him, 'what's wrong?'

'I… my life,' Sihtric swallowed hard as he looked around, 'my life is… gone. As is my home, it seems, and everyone I ever knew,' he sniffled, 'and I don't understand it. I walked through that door,' he said and pointed towards the door you had just walked through, 'and I just ended up here… lost.'

'I wish I could explain it to you,' you said and fought your own tears, 'but I truly don't understand it either. Strange things happen, that is true, but I have never heard of anything like this, like what happened to you. And I am sorry, Sihtric.'

'Will you stay with me?' he asked again as he held you tightly wrapped in his arms.

'I will,' you promised, 'if you stay with me.'

'Of course,' Sihtric smiled weakly and wiped a tear, then cupped your cheeks and kissed your lips.

First it was just a peck, but then it turned into a longer kiss, and only moments later you were passionately making out in some hidden chamber Sihtric knew of. His hands roamed all over your body while you unzipped his black jacket, but then it dawned on you that you were in public, even though no one could see you in the seemingly secret room.

'Wait, wait,' you tried to catch your breath, 'we- we can't do this, not here, not in public.'

'I have often humped in public,' Sihtric chuckled and shoved his hands under your shirt and brought his lips to your neck.

'No, no,' you desperately tried to be the stronger person, 'it's not… it's not allowed. We can get a-arrested. We can't… we can't fuc- hump in public.'

'We can,' Sihtric almost growled as he smiled and pushed you up against the cold wall.

'No,' you giggled, 'Sihtric, we really can't.'

'Then where?' he asked, impatiently.

'Well, eh, at home I guess, my home I mean, but-'

'Then we shall go.'

About two hours after your visit to the castle you laid in your bed with Sihtric, both completely naked while the bed sheets covered your bare skin. You mindlessly played with the pendant around his neck while you looked at him. Sihtric smiled at you, his cheeks still rosy from the intense love making that had occurred not too long ago, like yours.

'Would you… go back if you could?' you hesitantly asked after a moment.

'In time?' Sihtric said, 'I'm not sure. I don't know how I could go back, and even if I found a way, I don't know how much time has passed there. I don't know if I would go back to where I came from and if everything would still be the same,' he paused for a moment, then asked, 'do you want me to go?'

'No,' you whispered as you played with his hair, 'I don't want you to go, not at all. But I just wonder if you can adjust here.'

'Maybe,' he shrugged lightly and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, then held your chin, 'if I have you with me, then yes, I think I could adjust. But it will take time. Everything is strange and new and… scary.'

'I can't imagine,' you said and cuddled up to him, 'just know you are safe here. No more battles for you to fight here, and no one who wants to hurt you.'

Sihtric hummed softly and smiled.

'Lady,' he whispered, to which you looked up at him, 'I was serious the other day. I wish to marry you.'

'Sihtric,' you chuckled and bit down on your lip, 'how about we first get you that passport next week and then find you a job?'

2 months later.

Sihtric smiled as he walked up to your car. He had just finished his first day at the job you had landed him at the castle. You had told the staff that Sihtric was a descendant of Kjartan the Cruel and that knew all about the castle and its history, which is why he would be perfect to give tours. After a few days of consideration, the castle's management agreed to give Sihtric a chance, under the condition that he would work the first week for free, to make up for his behaviour the first time he had set foot on the land which had led to the castle having to close for the rest of that day.

Sihtric hopped in the car and immediately leaned in to give you the sloppiest kiss you had ever received, as if you had been separated for months, while it had only been about seven hours.

'Hey,' you chuckled.

'Hey,' Sihtric smiled and kissed you again, 'I missed you.'

'I missed you too,' you said, 'how was work?'

'Great,' he said with a beaming smile, 'they want me to give the tours in armour tomorrow.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, they just don't want me near the weapons,' he sighed.

'I can see why,' you snorted, to which Sihtric gave you a death stare, but he then also chuckled as he remembered how he had endangered the visitors upon his arrival that first time.

'Anyway,' Sihtric said as he put on his seatbelt, 'how was your day, sweetling?'

'It was fine,' you said as you drove off the parking lot, 'no one swung with a sword today,' you taunted.

Sihtric laughed and knew it was better to not take the bait.

'Hey,' he then said, 'I've been thinking.'

'About what, love?'

'We should get married at the castle,' Sihtric said and took your hand, 'where we belong, together, as Lord and Lady.'

taglist: @clairacassidy @finanmoghra @uunotheangel @hb8301 @bathedinheat @neonhairspray @anaeve @bubblyabs @travelingmypassion @sylasthegrim @andakth @succnfuccubus @willowbrookesblog @lady-targaryens-world @skyofficialxx @elle4404 @alexagirlie @sweetxime @solango @gemini-mama @cheyennep3107 @little-diable @jennifer0305 @drwstarkeyy @mrsarnasdelicious @verenahx @urmomsgirlfriend1 @foxyanon @djarinsgirl27 @sigtryggrswifey @liandav @diiickbrainn @sihtricsafin @lexwolfhale @dixie-elocin @m-a-s-h-k-a

[spadilled]

get to know the author behind the blog hehehe

BASICS.

name: nev/nejvamin/nevward/nevington/whatever u want really age: 24 whole years old pronouns: they/he/she in that order of preference gfhjghjf years of writing: uhhhh since i was in primary school really so like. 18? years? oh god... that sounds like so many years wth

REFLECTION.

why did you pick up writing? i hate to say it but it was when i read the warrior cats books for the first time. i started writing my own bits and pieces surrounding my own warrior cats literally in bed at midnight in a tiny little like a6 notepad i'd been given for a birthday or something when i was six years old and it just snowballed from there. i found a warrior cats forum to rp on when i had my own pc and then i found my way to deviantART and all of the many rp groups on there! then it was tumblr and discord and the rest is history! i've been on tumblr for a While now (either unfortunately or fortunately depending on what way you look at it) and i've since had a Lot of thoughts about trying to write my own novel but i'm still debating on that with myself lmao do you have any writing routines? honestly? none at all. it all depends on whether i have the energy or thought process to get any words down. it's a lot harder at the moment with balancing my job and a horse but i'm hoping to get back into the swing of it sooner or later when my hours drop back down at work again! the most i do is i slap a playlist (or my current brainrot song) on and i pick threads at random depending on which ones i can think of a first sentence to reply with. what's your favorite part about writing? exploring characters and their actions. i really found my stride when i started writing more introspective responses to people. the idea of being able to get into a character's head and know what they're thinking (or not thinking) about is just something that i honestly can't get enough of. another thing though is the creation of a scene as a whole? i tend to 'see' the pieces i'm writing as movie scenes i'm directing, rather than a piece of writing. it makes life hard sometimes but it's just so fun to get to put what i'm seeing down on paper

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR WRITING.

i. oh jeez.... my dialogue? i like to think that the dialogue i use fits my character's voice as well as physically possible? i have pages and pages of dialogue written out for my ocs and otherwise as a fun writing exercise so i'd like to think i'm pretty good at it by now and changing it to suit what muse i'm writing. speech habits are a fascination of mine so i'd like to think that shows through in my writing ii. i try to match my style to whoever i'm writing with? if my writing partner uses more flowery language then i try to match them and vice versa. it's a good exercise for me specifically because i tend to fall into some repetitive habits so i do my best to avoid that iii. bruh this is so hard actually. i'd like to think that i'm quite good at describing emotions? i try to make them as visceral and physical as possible and i think it adds another layer to my characterisation when you can read about how they feel their grief or their joy

A QUESTION FOR THE NEXT PERSON.

what was the first character you ever picked up to start rping? why did you gravitate to them? qr/ow bra/n/wen. i always find myself drawn towards the characters that show their affection in different ways - the tough outer shell and the soft heart. qrow was and is still fascinating to me because he's been through so much in his life and he refuses to let it get in the way of how he treats his nieces and their friends. yeah, he's rough around the edges and comes across as gruff and rude but he genuinely and completely cares about the smiles on his kids faces and that's something i just can't get enough of in a muse. i love cracking open a character and exploring who they are beneath what they show the people around them QUESTION: what keeps you coming back to tumblr rp? what do you enjoy about writing with strangers/friends on the internet?

tagged by: @forbelobog THANK UUU tagging: @finalism, @reasoncore, @vulpesly, @wingspiked. @dreamweaved, @deathsmaidens, @dreamweaved, uhhh idk who has and who hasn't done this im sowwy lmao just steal it if u want to and say i tagged you!!

[thevelria]

Electric Love (Gojo x Reader) Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pairing: Gojo x fem!reader

Summary:This is the first chapter of an AU story, some parts might be canon, but mostly not. It's going to be a love story between you and Satoru with some spice. Warning will be at the beginning of the chapters. Please read them carefully and skip if any of the listed warnings might trigger you. Otherwise have fun!

Warnings: domestic violence, abusive relationship, blood and fight.

Wordcount:3401 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spring knocked at the front door or we could say it double foot kicked itself into the life of yours. Sun was finally shining and you were more than happy after that seemingly endless long winter you had. You were not a winter person nor a sun bug, but the spring. Spring was your shit and you were more than happy. Swinging your anime themed jacket around your back, heading to work on that Monday morning. You had no idea that your life was about to change…forever. 

The counter looked like a mess and you tried your best to clean it as fast as possible. Working in a Coffeehouse wasn’t your dream job, but it paid well enough and you actually had fun. Silly colleagues and a pretty nice boss you had, so it was a win-win situation. After you left the university a few years back you tried to find yourself. Applied to several different jobs, worked at a millions places, but this time you felt like it could be something you had desire to do. Sinking into your thoughts deeply, moving your hands left and right with a cleaning cloth between your fingers, zoning out completely. When you heard the tiny door bell rang above the entrance of the shop. You turned your face to the direction, witnessing two men walking in. One with funny, spiky black hair, while the other had the whitest crystal clear hair color you have ever seen in your life. He was wearing some kind of blindfold, which confused you, but you made a fast self note “not to stare, offering help, he’s probably blind”.

You dusted your apron, rubbing your hands in the side of it, before you grabbed your notebook and pulled your biggest smile possible. 

“Good morning” you greeted the two men “I’m Y/N, how can I help you?”

“Morning” the black haired man smiled “Can we get a menu please? I’m not sure what I want to drink, yet.”

“Sure” you walked back to the counter and stepped back at the table in a few seconds, handing a menu to the man.

“And what about me?” the blindfolded man asked you “I don’t get one?”

You froze in your action, blinking fast and uneasy. “Sir, I’m really sorry, but we don’t have menu with braille”

The second he bursted out in a loud laughter made you feel even more embarrassed. 

“I’m not blind” he smiled softly “I can perfectly see.”

“Do you?” you frowned your brows, being totally confused, why would someone wear a blindfold with completely fine vision.

“Yeah, for example I can see how pretty your smile is” he smirked.

Your eyes popped wide and feeling the blush crawling up on your face you turned and rushed back to the counter for another menu.

“Thank you, sweetheart” 

After they ordered the drinks you started to prepare them, but overheard their conversation.

“Satoru, it wasn’t cool at all.”

“Oh, c’mon. What did I do? It’s not my fault she thought I couldn't see.”

“You are horrible. I swear to God!”

“Watch your mouth, kid.”

“Here you go” you placed a latte before Megumi. “And that is for you, sir.” you carefully placed the expresso before Gojo. “If you need anything else, please let me know.” you bowed slightly.

“I would like…” Gojo raised his index finger.

“Yes? What else can I get for you?”

“Your phone number, please.” His cocky smile made your blood boil. Rolling your eyes with a loud huff you spun on your heels and walked back to the counter. Murmuring “Asshole.” under your nose. You couldn’t know of course, but he heard you just clearly and fine. 

***

“Gojo” Nanami snapped at his training partner “Focus, for fuck’s sake. What’s wrong with you?”

“Huh?” he shook his head slightly, trying to focus, but the only thing he could think of was you. The way your cute apron hugged your body, your sweet smile and beautiful eyes. And the way you called him asshole made him almost chuckle. Nanami ran out of patience, he wanted to train and so did he. Punching Gojo right in the stomach, making him bend over, hands on his tummy.

“Fucking hell, Kento” he hissed. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I warned you like 5 times” he smirked, attacking again. This time Satoru dodged the hit and threw a proper punch back. They didn’t use any cursed energy, only their human strength, but still it turned into a hell of a fight. 

“Is it enough?” Nanami asked Gojo, kneeling on his chest, fist pressing hard against his cheek.

“I’ll kick your ass…” he tried to form the words. But he couldn’t, Kento almost beat the shit out of him. Bruises and cuts covered his face and it made him furious. He never loses, he’s not that type of a person. And witnessing a failure like this made him relentless. 

Standing in the shower, letting the hot water hit his tired muscles was the only way the anger slowly sank out of his mind. His palms rested against the tiles of the walls, head bending down and enjoying the water massaging his neck. He kept his eyes closed, still thinking about you. “I need to get her number.” he shook his head irritated. 

This whole thing was new to him. He would hook up here and there with some random girls, but all were meaningless. More like easing the physical needs but nothing much. But with you…he felt it was different. With only one meeting, one short conversation and you got him around your fingers. He made his decision to make you his and you had no chance against his will. 

Roughly grabbing the shampoo bottle, sighing loudly while rubbing the gel into his beautiful white hair. “What the heck is wrong with me?” he frowned. The whole shower session was filled with irritation and anger. He had never had such an angry shower before and the thought of his action made him laugh. A desperate, maniac chuckle left his plum lips while he was leaving the shower with only a fluffy towel loosely dropped around his waist. 

***

Gently turning the key in the keyhole, making as little noise as possible. You entered the house and hoped he was already sleeping. Mostly you ran two shifts in a row in the coffeehouse. And even if you always felt tired as hell, but it gave you the opportunity to save some money, plus you didn’t have to spend too much time with your boyfriend. The love once you shared was gone long ago. The sweet boy you fell for with years ago became a jealous, rude, disrespectful person. You were more than sure he was cheating on you, but you didn’t say a thing. He wouldn’t admit it anyway, probably just beat the shit out of you as usually. Leaving him was your first priority after you realized you’ve been stuck in a toxic relationship. The only reason you stayed was that you had nowhere to go, so you needed to save some money to rent a flat for yourself. “Just a few more weeks.” you told yourself every time he screamed in your face or worse.

Calmness rushed through your body, when you heard him snoring loudly from the bedroom. “Thank God” you thought as you entered the bathroom for a well deserved shower.

***

The next morning came with a rush and you were walking into the coffee shop with your typical smile on your face. No one knew the troubles you had to face at home, but it wasn’t their business anyway. Working hard made you distracted, freeing you from the burdens of your personal life.  

The little bell sang some sweet noise, when the first customer arrived. You turned your face just to notice the annoying white haired guy with the blindfold from yesterday.

“Good morning” you greeted him like you weren’t irritated by his presence.

“Morning beautiful” Gojo pulled an adorable smile.

“What can I get for you?”

“First I would like to apologize for my actions. I was an asshole, I know that. Can we just start over?”

You stood still behind the counter, looking with confused eyes. What did he expect from you? Why would he say things like that? It just didn’t make any sense.

“Sure” you shrugged “No problem. So what can I get for you?” The bored look you gave him made Gojo uneasy. He thought you would appreciate him saying sorry and shit like that. 

“Just an espresso” he forced a smile. 

He stayed for hours, ordering here and there. Trying almost all the cakes you had, drinking like five different types of coffee. You truly believed he was going to get a heart attack after the huge amount of caffeine he poured down his throat. The second you noticed he was about to order again you pinched the bridge of your nose. 

“Can I get the bill please?” he tapped his tummy, being way too full with all the sweets he killed this morning. You nodded without saying a word, spinning on your heels, when hearing him clearing his throat.

“Anything else?” you asked.

“Yeah…your number, please.” he chuckled.

“Oh for fuck’s sake” you rolled your eyes, leaving his table in an instant.

This little scene repeatedly happened on every day of the week. Gojo tried to get your number so desperately you started to feel bad for him. Everyday you talked a bit more about sweet nothings really. Like how was the weather or what you would recommend him to try from the menu. 

On Friday as he was standing in front of the counter, telling you a super old dad joke and you bursted out in a loud laughter. 

“That was a good one.” you wiped your eyes with the back of your hand. The bell rang above the door and you froze like you’ve seen a ghost. 

“What’s wrong, beautiful?” Gojo tilted his head slightly, being confused by your reaction.

“Nothing” you cleared your throat “Please get back to your table. I’ll serve your coffee in a minute.” You sounded too serious and scared, but he followed your ask and took his seat with his legs crossed. 

“Who was that guy?” Daniel asked with a raspy, irritated voice.

“He’s just a customer. What are you doing here?” you gulped big, trying to hide your nervousness.

“Why? Can’t I visit my wonderful woman, who is seemingly whoring around with her customers?” he clenched his jaw.

“Don’t make a scene! Order or go home.” 

“I heard him calling you beautiful.” he hissed “Since when are you fucking him?”

“Stop this, I’m begging you!” your voice cracked.

Satoru heard every single word clear and clean, it made him way too upset and appeared next to Daniel in a second.

“Excuse me.” Gojo pulled his typical smile, standing in front of your boyfriend.

“What do you want?” he clicked his tongue.

“Could you please talk with some more respect to this beautiful lady?”

You almost facepalmed yourself, because even if he wanted to help…he dragged you into bigger trouble.

“Mind your own business, freak!” Daniel rolled his eyes. “We’ll finish this at home…” he shot you a look which sent shivers down your spine. 

***

The scream that bursted out from your lungs echoed through the entire house. You begged, cried and swore to anything just to make him stop. But Daniel didn’t care about any of your words. He felt like Gojo humiliated him and it made his blood boil. After the first few slaps your face felt numb, the taste of your blood in your mouth made you nauseous though. Daniel was huge and strong compared to you. Of course you were no match to him and he knew that too. That even if you’d love to mop the floor with his arrogant face you couldn’t do anything in your defense. He beat you up really bad this time. “Teaching you a lesson.” as he repeated several times, while hitting your face harder and harder until your lip ripped up and your nose started to bleed. 

That night you swore to your life that the next day after work you’re going to move out. No matter where or how, but you leave this piece of trash behind once and for all.

In the morning getting ready in front of the mirror was a hard task to accomplish. Seeing your swollen, ripped lip, the bruises under your eyes, the cuts on your cheeks. You tried your best to hide them with makeup, but you already knew you were going to wear sunglasses all day long. 

Satoru walked in with a huge, cheerful smile on his face. He was truly looking forward to seeing you again. These past days made him feel excited, weird and happy at the same time. He was thinking about you all the time and today was the day he was about to ask you out. Even if he witnessed you had a boyfriend. The brief seconds he talked to him made him realize that your man was a dick, and him being more than confident he was sure you would say yes to a dinner or something like that. 

Zoning out and sinking into his thoughts he automatically took the seat at his usual table.

“Good morning” you walked up to him. “What can I get for you?”

“Morning beaut…” his word died mid sentence, when he noticed your wounds “What the fuck happened to you?” he clenched his jaw.

“Oh, uhm.. I was clumsy.” you turned your face away, pretending to look for something in the pocket of your apron.

“Y/N” Gojo frowned “Look at me, please.” his soft voice felt like honey to your ears. “Who did this?”

“As I said I was clumsy.” you cleared your throat “And now please make your order so I can get it for you.”

“It was him, wasn’t it?”

“With all due respect, sir… it’s none of your business. I don’t even know your name and you expect me to…I don’t even know.” you sighed irritated. The source of your anger wasn’t him, but everything else that happened to you last night. And him sitting here, asking you as he would know you, made you feel way too frustrated. 

“My name is Satoru Gojo” he gabbled his name “Now tell me who did this to you!”

Since it was early in the morning no other customer arrived yet. Only you and him stuck in that uneasy environment, which was slowly eating you both up. The grab on the chair’s backrest was tight and irritated, he noticed the way you pulled that chair out and hesitantly dropped yourself down, looking down at your feet.

“Daniel got mad last night.” you poked your inner cheek with your tongue.

“Why?”

“Because of you…” pulling an awkward smile, while fidgeting with your sunglasses.

“What?” he rocked back on the chair, before leaning forth again “What did I do?”

“Hmm…” you hummed with so much pain in your voice “Well, you called me beautiful in front of him. So he beat the shit out of me, just to show me where my place is…But today is the day. After work I’m gonna go home, pack my stuff and leave him once and for all.”

Gojo kept silent, slowly raising his hand and gently taking off your sunglasses. The second your bruised face got revealed in front of him his jaw clenched tight. 

“I’m so sorry” he whispered, gently placing his huge palm on your cheek and you automatically rested into it. Closing your eyes, because somehow you felt safe. You had no idea how or why, it just felt right. 

“Where does he work?” he asked out of the blue, breaking that special moment.

“4 blocks down the road. There’s a box club, he’s a coach. But why do you ask?”

“Excuse me, Y/N” Gojo pushed his chair back, standing up “I’ve something important to deal with. But here…” he grabbed a napkin from the table and a pen from his pocket, writing down his number “Please call me after you get home, okay?” 

Staring at his back as he was rushing out of the door, disappearing on the street in a few seconds. You felt confused. This barely known guy seemed so caring, but probably he just felt guilty because of what happened. 

Trying to keep his breathing even, but the anger which rushed through his body made it quite difficult for him to achieve it. “Fucking asshole” he shook his head angrily “I’m gonna rip your freaking head off” he fisted his hands, while walking to that box club. 

As the door shut open Gojo immediately noticed Daniel, standing next to the ropes, giving instructions to his students.

“Coach?” one of his students asked, when he looked at Gojo.

Daniel turned to face who interrupted their training and rolled his eyes, when he realized it was the guy from the coffee shop.

“What do you want?” he clicked his tongue, pulling a face.

“I want to train” Gojo walked closer “With you” stepping in front of Daniel.

“What?” Daniel bursted out in an arrogant, loud laughter “Do you want me to beat the shit out of you, pretty boy?”

“Well, if you can beat me I’m gonna pay your bills for a whole year. How does that sound?”

“Oh, so you are stupid and rich at the same time. That’s a total win for me!” He stepped on the ropes, waving to the kids to get out of there. 

As they stood in their fighting stance all the eyes glued on them. 

“Let’s go, coach’” one of the kids yelled.

“Yeah, beat him, coach!” another one chimed in.

Gojo smirked slightly, before waving at Daniel. “Come” he growled.

Daniel had no chance to even touch him. Gojo dodge every single attack, mostly not even using his hands, just simply stepping away from the hits. It made his opponent furious, he got so angry, he couldn’t control himself anymore. Pulling a dirty trick and trying to kick Gojo in the guts.

“How dirty!” Satoru chuckled, spinning aside from the attack, resting his back on Daniel’s. “Since your students are watching us” he whispered “I think I’m gonna show off a little.” 

Daniel's eyes widened the second he felt Gojo’s first punch. It felt like something would have squeezed his inners to make them explode. But Satoru didn’t stop and threw several similar punches at him. Blood was running down his face, his lips and brows were ripped, bruises covered his whole body. The fear in his eyes made Gojo even madder. As Daniel was laying on the ground, begging for mercy, Satoru sat on his heels next to him.

“What, brat? Are you afraid? As afraid as Y/N was last night, when you beat her up?” Daniel’s Adam’s apple bobbed, because he realized he was fucked up. 

“Listen carefully.” Gojo whispered, pulling down his blindfold to make direct eye contact. “You’re gonna head home right now, pack your stuff and leave once and for all. IF I see you around her again I’m going to end your pathetic life. Do you understand me?”

Daniel stared into his eyes. “What are you?” his voice cracked.

“Your worst nightmare.” Gojo pulled his most terrifying smirk ever, causing Daniel to get up and rush out of the place.

***

“Okay, okay, you can do this” you tried to boost yourself before opening the front door. The second you stepped in you felt something was off. He wasn’t home and as you looked around you noticed all his stuff was gone. “What the fuck?” you frowned, walking around the house to check it. All the clothes, all the belongings, everything was gone. HE was gone.

You dropped yourself down on the couch, when you found a torn piece of paper on the coffee table.

“I’m sorry for everything! Please never contact me again!”

Your hands were shaking, holding the paper and reading it again and again and again. Did he really leave? Did he seriously make this whole thing easy for you? It was nothing like him. You knew Daniel and he would have never done anything for you. “What happened to you?” you bit your inner cheeks fighting with confusion and happiness at the same time. 

[harmonie-writes]

The Hunt pt. 10

Werewolf! Wonwoo x hunter! Reader

Summary: After going in different directions to work on different cases, you receive an alarming call. Driving to a small town that has wild nightlife and strange occurrences, you begin your search for your missing hunting partner. This case you are about to take on will rival the others you’ve completed in the past. What could possibly happen as you search for your brother in arms?

Warnings: false identity, potential violence, language, depictions of gore, death, alcohol, mentions of nudity, angst, fluff. Story is purely for fictitious purposes and doesn't portray actual people.

Word count: ~1.3k

»»————-　➴　————-««

Previously on The Hunt:

The dejected sigh you let out causes Wonwoo’s heart to squeeze. The mental and emotional damage that your "job" has caused is immense. Maybe it was against his better judgment, but he reached for your hand in hopes of comforting you some. Seeing as you didn't pull away, he slowly ran his thumb in circles over the back of your hand.

Curiously, your eyes met the side of his face. It has been a while since someone had comforted you in such a gentle way: like you were made out of porcelain and glass rather than gunpowder and lead. Closing your eyes, you burrowed yourself further under the covers of the blanket, one hand still being held by Wonwoo. It didn't take long for sleep to reach you, but with the warmth radiating off the man next to you, you remained untouched by any nightmares that would normally plague your mind after horrible hunts.

»»————-　➴　————-««

Sunbeams peek through the curtains of the window to shine light over the bed as if it were the sun's personal mission to assault your face so God damn early. Scrunching your nose, you start to readjust yourself but freeze. You are alone. You are alone in Wonwoo's bed. Sitting bolt upright, you take a look around. The door is shut, and the window itself is closed, minus the few rays making their way into the room. Everything is as it was last night. Your duffel bag is still sitting by the door, and to your knowledge, there's nothing new or missing from the desk or night table.

Swinging your legs over the bed, you decide to investigate. The coolness of the floor has your toes curling, but you slowly push past the uncomfortableness in favor of peeking into the hallway. Opening the door, you're met with silence, and it's almost eerie considering how large the pack is. You figured at least one person would still be in the house.

Shutting the bedroom door, you figure you might as well get dressed so you can figure out what's actually going on. Digging through your bag, you pull out a clean flannel and some jeans to throw on, as well as your boots. You attempt to rake your fingers through your hair to remove any signs of a bird's nest that you may have gotten at some point in the night before finally making your way into the hall.

Your footsteps seem loud to you as you make your way to the stairs. Images of the warehouse flash through your mind, reminding you of the silence that seemed to linger around the old building.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, you're not surprised to find it empty. Your eyes wander across the kitchen and dining room before scanning the living room, where your eyes catch a folded note on the coffee table with your name on it.

Unfolding the note, you see that it's from Wonwoo.

Didn't want to wake you this morning. You looked like you needed some rest and looked peaceful. All of us were needed for patrol. 

Be back soon,

Wonwoo

The note is short and to the point, but you still flip the page over, hoping that there's more. And luck would have it, there is. Scrawled in different handwriting is a small note.

P.S. There's breakfast in the fridge for you. - Mingyu

You can't help but smile at how welcoming this wolf seems to be. Pocketing the note, you make your way to the fridge and pull out the bowl of fried rice that's still slightly warm.

Scooping a bite into your mouth, you wonder when they're going to get back before your eyes settle on the newspaper on the counter. Brows furrowing you grab the paper and make your way to the porch. Maybe you'd be able to see the pack when they arrive, and maybe you'd find something in the paper that seems just a little too odd for your liking.

»»————-　➴　————-««

Finally reaching the tree line, Wonwoo shook out his fur only to stop once he caught sight of you sitting on the porch steps. He pushes past some of his pack members before breaking into a jog to get to you. 

As he makes his way up the steps, he looks down his snout and sees you circling some random clippings in the paper before looking up to greet him.

"Good morning, Wonwoo." You give him a smile and a tap to his shoulder with your free hand.

He huffs a reply before nudging the newspaper in your lap with his snout.

"Oh, this? I'm just keeping up with things… y'know?" You tell him, placing the paper next to you. "You do know that you can also talk to me as a person too," you tell him, raising your brows in amusement, which promptly earns you another huff.

Your ears and eyes are greeted by the breaking, compacting, and shifting of bones, and you are once again reminded that after a shift, they'll be stark naked.

Coughing you shift your eyes to the tree line, and immediately facepalm forgetting the rest of the pack is also still out in the yard and now human. "You know, I wasn't sure what I was expecting because that shouldn't be a surprise."

You hear Wonwoo chuckle as he takes a seat next to you. "It's also going to take us time to get used to you being here, too."

You're about to answer when you realize how much heat radiates off the man sitting next to you, and you can't help but scoot closer. 

"So, what oh-so-interesting things have you found in the paper?" Wonwoo asks, leaning over to see what you've circled.

Shrugging, you hand him the stack of papers and point out a couple of things to him. "This one right here seems a little odd. Mentions of grave robbing happening a few states over, seems to be happening frequently enough to be a problem." 

Wonwoo raises an eyebrow at you.

"You know your species isn't the only thing that goes bump in the night," you give him a brief look before continuing, "sometimes grave robbing is connected to ghouls. They eat decomposing flesh of people. Some cases have even said they even take the faces of those they eat."

Wonwoo's lip curls in disgust at that little fact, but you just shrug and continue. 

"There's a couple more, but I would need to find out more and talk to some of the locals around that area."

He nods slowly at the information before handing you back the newspaper, "Do you want to go to the library and see if you can find any information?"

You're a little stunned at first, but smile after. "Yeah, it would be nice having some company."

Wonwoo stands and reaches for your hand. 

As you're about to grab it, you cough. "Jesus, I forgot you were naked."

"Right… clothes first. Then, library," Wonwoo scratches the back of his head, a small flush coating his cheeks.

Finally taking his hand, you smile, "clothes then library."

»»————-　➴　————-««

Masterlist 

Previous | Next

[thaliagrayce]

Hi mj! Number 2 "how many do you even need?" For jasico?

hi!!!! i hope you don't mind i did this in my ladybug au, i figured you might appreciate it :3 send me a number or drop a prompt in my ask box for a jasico drabble!

Jason wasn’t watching where he was going as he rounded the corner. Being Chat Noir made him clumsier in his civilian life, probably—he had gotten so used to enhanced senses telling him when he had to dodge or change directions that now he didn’t actually look where he was going. That was the excuse he had, at least, when he crashed headfirst into the person using the vending machine outside the library.

“Oh, sorry!” His books scattered everywhere and he bent down to pick them up. “I should have been paying more attention, that’s completely my fault.”

“Don’t worry about it,” came the reply, and a hand reached out to help him pick up his books. A red-and-black spotted hand. Jason looked at the person he had crashed into.

It was Ladybug. Not just some cosplayer, he could tell that this was honest-to-God Ladybug, here at the vending machine outside of the library, fully transformed. Jason hadn’t heard anything about an akuma, but maybe he had missed something.

He finished picking up the books and Ladybug turned back to the machine. He took a Euro out of a pocket in his suit (where? What pocket? Jason had never seen him use pockets before, how was this possible?) and fed it into the machine, then pushed one of the buttons. The vending machine whirred and made a ka-chunk and Ladybug reached down to grab the can of Monster energy drink. He then put it in a canvas bag by his feet that Jason hadn’t noticed before.

Inside the bag were five different colors of Monster. This new one made a sixth. Ladybug squinted at the machine and fished around in his pocket (???) again.

“So, uh,” Jason hedged, “is this official superhero business?”

Ladybug didn’t look away from punching numbers into the machine. “Uh-huh. Very important and serious stuff.”

“Is Chat Noir collecting Red Bull?”

Ladybug cut a glance to him as the machine spat out yet another Monster.

“…Yes. It’s. I need this for superhero reasons, to save Paris.” He put the energy drink in the canvas bag. Jason tried to tamp down any expression on his face. Maybe he should be more upset that Ladybug was lying to his face, but it was such a stupid lie that he didn’t care.

Ladybug brought out another Euro, half looking at Jason as he fed it into the machine.

“How many do you even need?” He was fascinated by all the cans in the bag. What was Ladybug even doing with them? Would he tell Chat later, or was this just one more quirk that Jason would never get answers about?

“Seventeen,” he answered, too fast. Jason narrowed his eyes. “Ideally. Maybe more.”

“Why.” It didn’t come out as a question. He could see some red on Ladybug’s face, and he didn’t think it was a reflection from the mask.

“Saving Paris reasons, like I said.” He dropped the can into the bag and scooped it up, ignoring the dull metal clanking from inside.

“Watch where you’re going next time. Look both ways before you cross the street.” He gave Jason a little salute before he threw his yo-yo to an adjacent building.

His swing was wobblier than Jason had ever seen it before, and he saw Ladybug basically immediately after he became a superhero. The drink bag bulged.

With a smile, he started walking. He could go home, put the books down, then go hunt down his partner again. Maybe he would bring a can of Red Bull. For saving Paris reasons, of course.

[casspurrjoybell-22]

Master - Chapter 28b

*Warning: Adult Content*  

I look back down at my own path when I feel myself descending quickly and prepare my body for landing.

One of the reasons why Vampires didn't like to use their strength to jump, beyond the fact that it left little room for coordination, was that if one didn't know how to meet the ground correctly on their descent, they would shatter a large number of bones.

By large number, I meant about all, leaving them essentially cripple until they healed or died.

The higher you went, the more difficult the landing.

There was no way to learn how to land a jump properly besides doing it until you got it.

For me, there was a year where I was particularly bored, so I was really good at it now.

As gravity pulls me down, I lock my knees and position my feet to let my heels meet the dirt first, tensing my body all over and brace myself.

"Ow," I groan as I climb out of the hole I'd made in the earth.

All my bones were in tack but that didn't stop the numbness that began throughout my body in protest, apparently, it didn't like doing that anymore.

Dusting myself off, I take a breath and look back towards the woodlands.

If I was going by the sound of many rushed footsteps and my temporary tie to the clan, I'd say that I had about three minutes before I'd have to run again.

I make a mental note to amp up my personal exercise.

"Stretching?" Wenquie asks with amusement as I bend my arms behind my head and look up to see him swinging upside from the branch of a nearby tree.

"You are stretching, now?"

"I didn't think to earlier," I admit, choosing in advance to ignore whatever comment about my age Wenquie would spew from his fluids mouth but to my surprise, he doesn't."

"For someone who was very opposed to Malcolm's idea, I think you're enjoying it more than he is," Wenquie comments with a devilish smile on his teasing lips.

"Impossible," I deny as I bend one leg behind my back.

"I glimpsed him moments ago, he's having a field day."

"And so are you," Wenquie sing-songs.

"You're actually enjoying this, like a lot, like a surprising amount."

With an ignorant shrug I mumble.

"It's not bad."

"Sure, because you haven't been smiling this entire time," Wequie comments which instantly makes me scowl. I open my mouth to rebuttal his accusation but he beats me to it.

“Do you want to stand here lying to yourself, or do you want to run? They're almost here."

I refocus my attention on the clan members and curse to myself when I feel them pouring in from all sides, they were surrounding me in a circle.

"I am excited to see how you're going to get out of this one," Wenquie says, his tail curling and lashing out behind him.

Tuning him out, I let my mind scan the positions they were taking as they approached from all angles.

I counted seven makeshift rings of vampires around me, made up of both newborns and elders, who were apparently working together.

In each ring, the Vampires were in different positions, strategically placed to cut me off at every angle if I tried to slip through them.

It was becoming clear how much the Anouk Clan despised losing... if only I wasn't the same they may have stood a chance.

I don't jump again or run before they can completely secure their rings, I wait and let them advance until I could see them all.

"Oh, shit. Yes. We've got him now."

"If he gets out of this, he's a God. I don't care what anyone else says."

"He’s too calm. I think we fucked up."

"Keep still. We just have to stick to the plan. Then we've got this."

"I've still got both my legs. So I'm taking tonight as a win."

The whispers disappear the moment I straighten to my full height and look around, turning slowly to swipe my gaze over them all.

They were smart, completely shuffling their positioning so that there was no one cluster of newborns without an elder who could direct them quickly.

My mental picture showed the strongest of them to fill the outer ring, their clustered power like a pulsing light in my brain.

"How long has it been Wenquie?" I ask, loud enough for each of them to hear me.

"Just over ten minutes," he replies readily.

"Ten minutes," I repeat as I stop my circling and smile.

“And not a single one of you has come close to catching me."

That was a lie because Alexander had come very close, too close if I was being honest but that was hardly important.

Not all of them knew that and it would work to my favour here.

Apparently successful, the air fills with a stream of annoyance and the need to rise to the challenge.

Those who were part of Alexander's first attempt were assumedly angered by the false claim and those who weren't were annoyed that it was true, for them.

Either way, it worked out in my favour.

"I'm going to get through this little barricade," I say with a feeble gesture of my hands.

“And then, I'm head up there," I say pointing to the top of a nearby mountain.

"If you can't stop me here, you should have better luck stopping me up there."

I wasn't the mocking type, at least I thought I wasn't but seeing how making so many of the clan enraged by my words amused me, I thought to myself that maybe I was.

"Ready, set," I say with a smirk.

"I'm going now."

[divinegrey]

ᴘᴏꜱꜱᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴ / ᴊɪɴx x ꜰ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

this was a fun one to write! as always, drop a prompt in my inbox if you have any!

prompt: Super protective/possessive Jinx for a girl she likes OR for her gf [requested by @rosevela]

words: 1648

warnings: typical jinx-related hijinks and violence

Working the bar at the Last Drop is not the best job in the world, but it pays well (mostly) and you have the inherent protection of Silco the industrialist. It comes with its perks, even if you do have to ignore the fact that he’s the leader of Zaun and the reason that the streets are flooded with Shimmer.

You just do your job. Making drinks is your specialty. Always has been. You enjoy serving people. Sometimes, you wonder what life would be like if you were a Topsider, serving the rich their champagnes and wine, instead of an underground dweller who serves drunkards their whiskey.

Wouldn’t be much different, you think. Same dickheads, different brands.

Besides, there might be one benefit that is keeping you down here as the only female bartender at the Last Drop. One would think that being near a bunch of drunk men as a somewhat attractive woman would cause problems, but it isn’t. You have one person to thank for that.

“Serve me a bourbon neat, doll,” croons the voice of a man to your left. You make a humming noise, grabbing the bottle from under the counter as well as a glass. You pour the cup just under halfway and slide it across the counter to him. “Thanks, gorgeous.”

“No problem, sir,” you say, taking the towel from your apron and wiping down a wet spot on the lacquered wood. When you’re in charge of the bar, you despise any messiness. You like to clean it up to keep the place looking nice. For the most part; you can’t speak for the rest of the Last Drop.

The man rests his arms, leaning closer. You take a step to the side away from him, scrubbing harder at a stain that just won’t quit. You know exactly what is about to happen next. God have mercy on his soul.

“Say, when do you get off? A pretty girl like you shouldn’t have to walk home alone,” he says, drumming his fingers on the surface a little too impatiently.

“I’m good,” you reply. You begin making a new drink, hoping he’ll get the message before he loses a pair of balls, but unfortunately, he just won’t shut up.

“You sure, doll? My apartment is only a few blocks down, it’s nice and quiet,” he leers at you. In return, you give him a completely unamused expression. “We could get comfy. I could show you a good time, huh? How about it?”

Three… two… one!

You put the newly made drink on the counter, and place a metal straw in it.

Click.

“Get the fuck away from her, or I’ll put another hole in your dick that you won’t be able to piss out of.”

There she is, you think to yourself, looking up to see none other than Jinx herself, hanging from a bar on the ceiling with her gun trained on the head of the man trying to hit on you (and failing miserably). He looks like he’s shat his pants.

“You— you fucking psycho!” He shouts. The bar goes quiet, eyes turning in your direction to see what the fuck is going on.

Jinx’s braids hang down, and she twirls one in her hand, swinging back and forth upside down. “I really did not want to get my cutie’s bar gross with blood tonight, but it seems like I have no choice!”

“Leave me the fuck alone!” the man spills his bourbon trying to run (what a waste!). Jinx pulls a bomb from her collection and throws it— it sticks to the back of the man. The red light beeps once and POOF! Blue sparkles erupt from the bomb. You laugh. That’ll make it a hell of a lot easier for him to get jumped by people on the street later. When he’s gone through the door, it takes a few seconds for the clamor to start up again.

“Thanks,” you say, picking up the cup you just made and offering it to Jinx. “Knew you were coming. Here’s your favorite, on me.”

“You’re too sweet to me, toots,” Jinx says, taking the cup. With the straw, she takes a sip of it, somehow managing to do it while hanging upside down and twirling her gun in her hand. She smacks her lips. “Delicious. I’ll be around. Holler if you need me!”

“I will,” you reply, giving her a wink. Jinx blushes and scuttles back up to the ceiling faster than you can say Piltover.

Somehow, someway, whenever a dickhead tries to lay their hands on you, Jinx is there. You can protect yourself— you don’t carry a knife with you for no reason— but it’s nice to have someone watching over you.

You crane your head back to the rafters. From the top, Jinx wiggles her fingers in a hello, her leg swinging back and forth. You smile widely and get back to work.

~~~~~

You heft the last chair over your head, flipping it to lay on the table so that when the janitor comes in later, he can mop the floors without anything in the way. It’s part of the closing shift duties that you find to be soothing. The bouncers have cleared everyone out and clocked out for the night, leaving you alone in the Last Drop.

Well, mostly alone.

You go behind the bar, making yourself a drink to end a successful shift. To your tired surprise, you find yourself making double the amount you usually would.

On the bar, a soft thunk draws your attention. Jinx is crouched with agile grace, her braids falling by her sides.

“Hi,” Jinx says, something of a dopey grin on her face. She plops down on the singular seat you left down for her. You had a feeling she’d be swinging by to talk to you tonight.

“Hi,” you reply. You pour your drink into two cups. “Here. Try this, let me know what you think.”

Jinx takes it, but before she can say anything, you pull a metal straw from your apron and put it into the drink. She has a preference for straws. Usually, it doesn’t work for certain drinks, but this one it does. Jinx takes a sip at the same time you do.

You let the fruity flavor roll around in your mouth. Perfect way to end the night. As you swallow, you find Jinx staring at you, her lips still wrapped around the straw and drinking. You say, “Something you need?”

“Just admirin’ someone cute,” Jinx replies.

“Oh, just because you rescued me, you think you can start schmoozing?” You lean against the counter, taking another pull from the cup. You let it go down straight, the burn on your throat minimal compared to the burst of flavors on your tongue. “You’re bold, I’ll give you that.”

“You like it,” Jinx says, pressing her hands against the counter to lean over it, coming closer to your face. “You like it when I let people know they can’t touch you.”

“Do I now?” You meet her gaze, holding it for as long as she’s willing to go. This happens way too often— this tango between the two of you. When did it start? A few months ago, probably. Some asshole tried grabbing your ass, and Jinx blew his arm clean off no less than a few seconds later. Frankly, seeing a severed arm on the floor of your bar isn’t the worst thing that’s happened inside of the Last Drop.

But it did lead to several more occasions where, whenever someone tried to make a move on you, Jinx appeared from fucking nowhere to threaten them, hurt them, or throw them out of the bar via the bouncers. Fortunately, you managed to convince Jinx to not harm your customers after the last time (she pistol-whipped a woman in the back of the skull).

You would be lying if you said you didn’t like it. You like it when Jinx watches you from the rafters, staring at you whenever you have a shift in the bar. You don’t work every day, but you can always count on her being there a majority of the time.

With a click on the hardwood, you put aside your drink. Jinx mirrors you.

“Toots, I think you like me,” Jinx whispers, a twitch in her eyebrow. She all but leaps over the counter, landing beside you. In the flash of an eye, she has you pinned against the bartop. You’re strong enough to push her off, she’s like a feather, but you entertain her for now. “Or, you just like it when I protect you from all those mean little assholes who think they can have you.”

“Have me? You think you own me?” Please say yes, please say yes.

Like she’s read your mind, Jinx smiles. “Of course I do, toots. You’re mine.”

Her eyes flicker down to your lips. It’s all the invitation you need to kiss her. She tastes like berries and the drink you made her earlier. Jinx presses her hands into your waist, a rumble coming from the back of her throat and you swallow the sound into your mouth. Thank the fucking gods she finally did something. You were getting tired of all the dancing around. Who knew you just needed one more asshat to flirt with you to make her snap?

There’s one nice thing about having someone who’s possessive like Jinx— she makes it known. Especially right now, when she’s biting your neck hard enough to leave a mark in a place where everyone will see it during your next shift tomorrow. You don’t mind. In fact, you encourage it.

You give her one in return. It’s only fair, isn’t it?

Your drinks lay forgotten on the counter. Someone else will take care of it. You’ve got other things (Jinx) to do.

~~~~~

A/N: cheers to each of us getting our jinx's to protect us from weirdos at the bars. thanks for the prompt @rosevela ! hope I did it justice <3

[angelicyoongie]

Abundance (XIV)

— summary: You never expected that you would end up adopting a hybrid, and if someone had told you that you would end up with seven? Well, you would have thought they were crazy. But here you are, with three different packs of hybrids that don't get along – but all want to stay with you. Yeah, it turns out crazy is an understatement.

— pairing: hybrid bts x human f!reader

— genre: fluff, angst, eventual smut

— warning: none

— word count: 10.5k

— tag list: here (the tag list is closed/full!)

Part: I / II / III / IV / V / VI / VII / VIII / IX / X / XI / Find the rest of the chapters here!

You groan as you roll out of bed, the shrill sound of your alarm still echoing inside your head as you drag your feet across the room. You can’t remember the last time you felt this tired, but you suppose a business trip and seven hybrids practically mauling your neck for hours on end adds up.

You wince as you roll your shoulders, the motion pulling at your tender skin. It was probably a bad idea to let all of them scent you last night, but you were just too weak to resist the desperate whines that had filled the room whenever you pulled back to catch your breath.

There’s nothing you would love more than to go back to bed considering it’s the damn weekend; but your boss requested the whole office to work through it and you know you can’t ignore that. The documents you picked up finally allows you to progress the case and track down more people that might be willing to testify alongside your client. It’s a huge step in the right direction, one you’ve been waiting for, and yet – you can’t help but mourn your social life. You have a feeling you’ll only see less and less of the boys the more testimonies and witnesses you manage to get hold of.

You rub your eyes in a futile attempt to wake yourself up, stifling a yawn as you swing open your door. You nearly walk right into the person waiting in front of it, your sight too bleary to make out much aside from their silhouette.

”Good mornin–” You sputter as you suddenly find yourself pressed against a warm chest, firm arms wrapping around your shoulders. You melt into the soft woodsy scent; a smile tugging at your lips as low purrs begins to rumble against your chest.

”Morning.” Yoongi drawls.

The cat hybrid’s tail curves around your leg as he nuzzles his face into your hair. He can still pick up your sweet undertones underneath the heavy layers of their scent, the saccharine fragrance too strong to be completely covered up.

You flinch as Yoongi’s nose bumps against your throat, an embarrassed whimper leaving your lips as you pull away from the cat hybrid’s touch.

”It’s sensitive.” You mumble, watching as Yoongi’s ears perk with interest. The cat hybrid’s eyes turn dark as they roam over your neck, and you feel yourself begin to flush under the intensity in his gaze.

”Is it bad?” You wince.

Yoongi only hums in response, a lazy smirk adorning his lips as he shamelessly drinks in the pretty colours they’ve created on your skin. Yoongi just seems so pleased you can’t help but feel a little curious.

You take a few steps back into your room, turning to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror by your door. You gasp as you take in your bruised neck, your skin littered with blooming red and purple marks. You touch your throat tentatively, careful to keep the pressure light as you map out the marks that trail all the way from your collarbones to your jaw.

”This is–” You swallow thickly as you look up to find the cat hybrid standing behind you, Yoongi’s dark eyes meeting yours through the mirror, ”–very visible.” You grimace. There’s no way you can go to work like this, they’ll probably think you actually got attacked.

You shiver as Yoongi’s breath washes over your shoulder, the cat hybrid licking his lips as he says, ”It suits you.”

God, you’re not awake enough to deal with the excitement that sparks in your body as you register Yoongi’s words, your face growing warmer and warmer under the undivided attention. You let out a strained chuckle, trying your best to play off the cat hybrid’s comment.

Surely Yoongi doesn’t it mean it like that, right? Right?

”I–I should cover this up,” You stammer, "I can’t go into the office like this.” Now would be a good time to dig out those turtlenecks you had forgotten about.

Before you can move to grab one, Yoongi leans in to press a soft kiss to your shoulder, the cat hybrid’s eyes trained on yours as he says, ”No.”

”No?” You squeak, your heart tumbling in your chest.

”You can’t cover up all of our hard work Y/n, we spent hours making sure we scented you properly.” Yoongi pouts.

Your eyebrows furrow as you process what Yoongi said, something about it not quite adding up. Their scent should still be there on your skin, so other hybrids should be able to pick it up with their heightened senses even if you wear something that covers you up more than usual. They’ve never been fussy about this before so you’re sure it must mean something, but–

”Here! This looks pretty.” You curse yourself internally for your own laziness as Yoongi hands you one of your freshly washed blouses, the shirts stacked up on your dresser. The cat hybrid isn’t wrong, it is a pretty blouse, but it won’t cover much of the bruising on your neck.

Yoongi looks at you expectantly as he nudges you in the direction of your door.

”Fine,” You sigh, ”I’ll go wash up.” The cat hybrid's satisfied grin makes your stomach flutter, and you clutch the fabric to your chest as you hurry to the bathroom.

”Shit.” You curse as you take in the bruises under the harsh lights. There's no way you can show up looking like this.

You can always go back to your room and grab something else to wear, but you have a feeling that you’ll only be met with more pouts downstairs if you do. Frankly, they’re a little too good at tugging at your heartstrings and you’re just a little too soft for them. Still, you’ll have to draw a line here. Even you know enough about hybrids to understand that it doesn’t matter whether the hickeys on your throat are visible or not. It’s not like seeing the marks will make you smell more, that’s not how it works. Scents can’t be covered up by clothing, and you don’t think even a shower would fully erase their scenting with how thoroughly they did their job yesterday. No, other hybrids will know immediately, but there are those that don’t have a heightened sense of smell, those that might need a more visual example. Those that are like you.

Human.

”Don’t be silly.” You snort, but your expression begins to falter the longer you think about it. That’s the only explanation, isn’t it? It the only way they can show both hybrids and humans that you’re taken. You know you probably shouldn’t entertain the thought that the boys want you like that - like you want them - but the more you think about it, the harder it is to ignore.

Because you’re ours.

The memory of Namjoon’s confident voice and the earnest looks you saw reflected on the other boys’ faces makes your knees go weak. You hadn’t thought much of how he rushed to correct it to roommates at the time, but looking back, you’re almost certain that’s not what he really meant.

You suck in a breath, clutching the edge of the sink as you stare at the bruises in disbelief. Has it always been like that? Did you just not .. realize?

You nearly jump out of your own skin as you suddenly hear Jimin’s voice through the door, the cat hybrid knocking rapidly at the wood as he whines, ”Y/n, I need to use the bathroom.”

”J-just a minute!” You race through your routine, nearly dropping your face cream to the floor twice as your mind unhelpfully decides to point out every minuscule thing the boys have ever said or done that might hint at something else than just friendship.

Even though Jimin sounds ready to bust down the door as you exit, the cat hybrid still pauses just long enough for his eyes to linger on your neck before he runs past you.

Your heart is pounding as you make your way back to your room, and you let out a shaky breath as the door closes behind you. You’re not going to jump to conclusions, but it seems like you might have to be a little more attentive around the boys from now on. You just need some more proof that this isn’t all in your head before you do something about it.

You throw another glimpse at the mirror as you pack up your bag, an idea sparking in your head as you make sure the documents are still securely tucked away.

You let the boys admire their marks as you leave for work, the hybrids visibly delighted at the fact that you haven’t covered them up. You tuck away their reaction in your mind, adding it to the list of 'this isn’t all in your head!’ as you bid them goodbye. Maybe you feel a little bad as you pull out the silk scarf from your bag once you arrive at your firm, but you have to at least appear somewhat professional at work. You don’t think you’ll be able to live it down if you walk in looking like, well, like you’ve been with seven people.

You try not to overthink it as you walk to your office, but you can see Soohyun practically vibrating with curiosity from her desk as she eyes your scarf.

You’ll be fine, nobody knows! It’s totally normal to wear a scarf indoors when the office is already too warm!

You internal pep talk dies the moment you see the sly grin spread on Soohyun’s face.

On second thought, maybe it’s a good idea to skip your lunch break today.

“Hey Namjoon, do you think Hoseok would be okay with this one instead?” You twist the tub of yogurt around in your hand, scanning for the ingredients. You know the dog hybrid has a particular kind that he loves, but you can’t find a trace of it in the store today. They’re probably just sold out, but you don’t want to go back home empty handed when it was the only thing he asked for.

”Namjoon?” You turn to look over your shoulder when you don’t get a response, the container almost slipping from your hands as you realize why. The wolf hybrid is posturing behind you, his back straight and chest puffed out as he lowly growls at anyone that dares to step too close. His gaze is locked on the nearest hybrid; the poor mouse looking scared out of his wits as Namjoon bares his teeth.

You have no idea what he’s doing but that is not okay.

“Stop it!” You smack his arm, sending the mouse hybrid an apologetic smile as you tug Namjoon closer. The frightened look on his face reminds you painfully of Jeongguk and Seokjin, and the prey hybrid scampers away the moment Namjoon's eyes snaps to meet yours.

”What are you doing?” You hiss. The growl in Namjoon’s throat stutters to a stop as he takes in the angry set of your mouth, your lips pressed into a tight line as you glare up at him.

”I’m sorry, it’s my instincts,” The wolf hybrid whines, his gray ears twisting back, “The need to protect you is stronger when we’re outside and it makes it difficult to suppress it." Even as Namjoon speaks, his eyes flicker over your shoulder to track the other human that’s walking down the same aisle.

You sigh, regret swirling in your chest as you notice the tension in the wolf hybrid’s body. They did say that their instincts would be heightened during the next few days, so you suppose you can’t really fault Namjoon for the added hostility. You probably shouldn’t have let the wolf hybrid come with you in the first place, but the temptation of having an extra pair of arms to help you carry all the groceries was just too good to resist. Normally you would buy food on the way home since it’s already on your way, but Soohyun’s interrogation during lunch had left you feeling flustered and scatter-brained enough that it had totally slipped your mind.

”I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” You duck your head in embarrassment. You watch Namjoon’s shoes as they move a step closer, the wolf hybrid’s fingers curling around yours as he gently takes the tub of yogurt out of your hands.

”Don’t worry about it Y/n,” You can hear the smile in his voice as he quickly reads the label, ”And yeah, I think Hobi will like this one just as much.”

Namjoon reaches around you to place the yogurt in the cart, the side of his body pressed up against yours as he puts the tub down with the other food. Your eyes fly up surprise as you feel the wolf hybrid press a chaste peck to your temple as he leans back.

Namjoon looks down at you with a wide grin as he gestures to the list clutched in your hand, tail wagging behind his back as he says, ”Let’s go, we still have a lot of stuff to find.”  

You do have a lot of groceries to buy and shopping for eight people with varying dietary needs isn’t exactly easy. You let out a frustrated huff as you eye the two different types of steaks, trying your best to remember if any of the boys have a preference. You can feel Namjoon shift impatiently beside you, glaring at anyone who tries to come close to the meat display. While it’s not exactly ideal, it’s still better than having him growl at anyone who dares to pass by you.

You startle as you suddenly feel Namjoon’s fingers dip below the collar of your coat, tugging gently at the fabric to expose more of your neck. It’s still cold enough in the evenings that bundling up in a coat isn’t seen as odd, but the wolf hybrid clearly isn’t too happy about the hidden hickeys (–which yes, that was absolutely your intention.) You let Namjoon pop the first button of your coat, the wolf hybrid pushing the fabric aside with a pleased noise as your bruised throat becomes more visible. You’ve never really been the type of show off the marks left behind on your skin, but you figure you can deal with the awkwardness of pointed looks for the duration of your shopping if it makes Namjoon happy.

You throw another glance at the steaks, figuring you might as well just go with both.

It isn’t until you’ve started walking away that you realize the wolf hybrid hasn’t followed you, Namjoon seemingly frozen in place as he stares at an approaching hybrid. You mumble out a curse as you notice the familiar ears and tail, because of course you had to run into another wolf hybrid.

You’ve gathered enough to understand that hybrids often feel more threatened by those who share the same species as them – that they learn from a young age that they have to be the best if they want to get adopted. Apparently that instinct sticks around even after the hybrids find their home, and with how your cycle has already made Namjoon overprotective, you don’t think an encounter between the two wolf hybrids will end well. You can already tell that Namjoon is starting to look agitated, and you have no intention of just standing by and letting him try to assert dominance over the other wolf hybrid in the middle of a grocery store.

You backtrack as quickly as possible, your filled cart squeaking against the polished tiles as you notice how Namjoon squares his shoulders, his gaze hardening as he scans the other hybrid top to bottom. Luckily for you, the other wolf hybrid seems lost in her own world, tapping away on the phone in her hand and completely oblivious to Namjoon’s death stare.

”Namjoon!”

His gray ears twitch as you call out for him, but his attention is zeroed in on the rapidly approaching hybrid.

You reach him just as his chest begins to rumble, grabbing his hand and yanking on it as hard as you can. The wolf hybrid is definitely bigger than you, but the suddenness of your pull seems to be just enough to catch Namjoon off guard.

He stumbles from the sudden shift in his balance, warm eyes blinking rapidly as you drag him over to your cart. The instinctual haze seems to lift as he refocuses on your face, and his tail tucks between his legs as he realizes he slipped up again. You can practically see Namjoon yelling at himself inside his own head, his lips set in a deep frown as he stares at the various items in your cart. You know he already feels bad so there’s no need for you to make him feel worse about something that’s normal for him.

You give his hand a squeeze before you bring it up to the handle of the cart, curling his fingers around it. You cover Namjoon’s hand with your own, slotting your fingers between his as you grab the handle.

”Just to make sure you stay with me and behave.” You smile, playfully bumping your hip into Namjoon’s side.

The confusion on the wolf hybrid’s face transforms into relief, the tail behind his back wagging slowly as he helps you push the cart. Grocery shopping goes much quicker with Namjoon glued to your side, and you find that the moment his attention begins to stray to someone else in the store, a quick squeeze of his hand snaps it right back to you. And yeah, maybe you find it just a little bit hot when Namjoon subtly tries to cage you in against shelves and displays to block you from view when you go to grab something.

(Just a little though.)

You find yourself back the house in no time, and despite the multiple bags Namjoon is carrying, you can see how his posture relaxes the moment he steps into the house.

”Thank you for your help,” You flash Namjoon as sweet smile as he closes the fridge, the mountain of groceries finally put away where it needs to go, ”And for spending some time with me. I know it might be difficult after what happened with Taehyung, but I really appreciate it.”

”I don’t mind helping, and I don’t mind spending time with you,” Namjoon says, the wolf hybrid inhaling deeply as he leans against the counter, “I’ve said things out of ignorance before too, things that I didn’t really mean. It doesn’t excuse what was said, but it would be hypocritical of me to not give you another chance when I’ve been in your place before. We all deserve a chance to learn and better ourselves.”

You swallow thickly, blinking away the sudden moisture in your eyes. You’re not sure what you did you deserve these boys.

”Are you sure?” You murmur.

”I’m sure.” Namjoon holds your gaze, his brown eyes flashing golden in the low light.

“Taehyung often forgives a little too easily, but this time .. I think he’s right. It’ll take some time for things to go back to how they were, but I’m willing to try. We’re–” Namjoon cuts himself off, a gentle smile spreading on his lips as he opens his arms, ”–We’re good.”

You only hesitate for a second, just long enough to register the sincerity on Namjoon’s face before you cross the room, walking straight into the wolf hybrid's embrace. ”Thank you.” You whisper.

Namjoon only hums in response, hugging you tighter.

If it wasn’t for Namjoon’s arms around your waist, you swear you would’ve collapsed to the floor with the way Taehyung suddenly bursts into the kitchen. The fox hybrid’s tail is swishing behind his back with excitement, and the smile on Taehyung’s lips only grows wider as he takes in you and Namjoon.

"Y/n! Hyung! Hobi hyung is getting the deck out, do you want to play a few rounds with us?”

A glint passes through Taehyung’s eyes at your agreement, and you can’t help but think that maybe the fox hybrid has something up his sleeve.

 “I give up.” You pout, tossing your cards down on the bed.

Just like the first time you played with the boys, Taehyung wins every round. No matter what kind of card game it is, the fox hybrid somehow manages to get the upper hand every time. You swear you saw Taehyung slip in an extra card during one of the rounds, but it happened so fast you couldn’t be sure. Honestly, seeing the fox hybrid’s boxy smile when he wins is almost worth all the consecutive losses, but even you have a limit of just how much defeat you can handle in one night. You’re not a sore loser by any means but the game loses some of its charm when you already know the outcome before you’ve even begun.

“Me too.” Hoseok sighs, flopping down on the bed next to you. Namjoon stares down at his hands with concentration, the tip of his tongue peeking out between his lips as he shuffles through his cards. The wolf hybrid doesn’t look ready to give up, but judging by the smug smile on Taehyung’s face, you doubt it’ll be long before he admits defeat.

You glance down at Hoseok as he begins to wiggle over, the dog hybrid using the opportunity of his packmates being distracted to have all of your attention on him. Hoseok doesn’t stop moving until he has his head in your lap, his tail thumping against the mattress.

”Hey.” He grins.

”Hey.” You echo back with a laugh.

You run your fingers through Hoseok’s blond locks, enjoying the silky strands between your fingers as you pet his head. All of the boys just have such soft hair, and you would be lying if you said you weren’t a little bit envious. It’s probably a mix of their genes and using the right products, but maybe Hoseok would be willing to spare you some of his conditioner to try out? You'll have to ask him later.

You lightly scratch behind his ears, making sure to not actually touch them. You should probably ask the rest of the boys if their ears are as sensitive as Jeongguk’s – but judging by the very descriptive titles of the uhm, adult hybrid films you’ve come across while trying to research, you have a feeling the answer will be yes.

You suck in a surprised breath as Hoseok turns on his side, his arm curling around your waist as he nuzzles his face into your stomach. You flush at the contented sound he makes, turning your attention back to Taehyung and Namjoon in an attempt to ignore how your chest is fluttering from how close the dog hybrid is.

You look up just in time to see Namjoon groan, the wolf hybrid throwing his cards down in defeat.

”Maybe next time, hyung.” Taehyung grins, amusement shining in his eyes as he watches his alpha collect the deck.

Namjoon grumbles in response, his gray ears pulling back. It looks like he really thought he would be able to win this time. The fox hybrid looks beyond pleased with himself as he scoops up some cards, but it only takes a few seconds before he registers Namjoon’s disappointment and his expression softens.

”You can’t be good at everything.” Taehyung still has that smug smile on his face, but his voice is far too gentle to be teasing. You might not be a sore loser, but it appears that Namjoon is.

Taehyung drapes himself over the wolf hybrid’s shoulders, rubbing his face comfortingly against Namjoon’s neck as the alpha licks his wounds. There’s something longing in the way Taehyung looks at Namjoon as he pulls back, like he wants to do something special to comfort his alpha, but can’t. You’ve seen it reflected in both Hoseok and Namjoon’s eyes before too, and you think it’s easier to name it now that you’re sure you must be looking at them in the same way. It’s pining, yearning, for something more.

The pack is obviously close, but not in the same way that Yoongi and Jimin, and Jeongguk and Seokjin are. You’ve seen the two prey hybrids peppering each other with soft kisses in the morning, and Jimin and Yoongi seem to enjoy regularly flaunting what they’ve gotten up to, but you’ve never seen anything aside from hugs and cuddles being shared between the canines. It’s clear that they all want the same thing, but something must be holding them back from taking that last step. With how the longing glances between them seem to have been increasing lately, and with how you’re fairly sure they want something more than just friendship from you, you don't think they'll be able to avoid their feelings for much longer.

You fall into somewhat of a routine over the next couple of days; your time being split between work and lingering touches.

(–”Today is ours.” Jimin had purred into your neck before you left for work, the cat hybrid making sure that you still smelled enough of them as he rubbed his cheek along your shoulder. Yoongi and Jimin had been miffed that so much of the day before had been spent with the canines, and so the two cat hybrids had taken it upon themselves to decide that Sunday was theirs.

In all honestly, you really didn’t want to go into the firm, but the mountain of cases stacked up on your desk didn’t leave you with much choice. At least you’re not alone about it, considering you’re pretty sure everyone – your boss included – shared the same faith as you. You could always refuse to come in, but the hefty compensation you were promised was too good to pass up. You do have eight mouths to feed after all, and a little extra money certainly doesn’t hurt. Thankfully though, working on the weekend means your hours are cut a little shorter.

Once you get home, you barely make it inside the house before Jimin grabs your hand, making you follow him upstairs

”Come to our room once you’ve changed.” The cat hybrid nudges you inside your room with a soft tut, closing the door behind you before you can ask what’s going on. You’re eager to get out of your work clothes, so you don’t waste any time changing into a far more comfortable hoodie and pair of sweatpants.

Your knuckles hardly even manage to brush against their door before it’s opened, Yoongi’s soft features greeting you.

”Bed.” He rasps, his fingers intertwining with yours as he leads you over to where Jimin is sprawled out on their mattress.

You let yourself be maneuvered down between the two cat hybrids, Yoongi pulling you to his chest while Jimin wraps himself around your back.

”What are we doing?” You hesitantly let your arm drape across Yoongi’s stomach as he pulls you closer, Jimin nudging your leg on top of his alpha's thigh to make room for his own.

”Sleeping. You’ve had a long week." Yoongi murmurs against your hair.

You can’t agree more. You can practically feel the heaviness in your bones, your eyelids already starting to flutter shut from the steady thrum against your ear.

Jimin’s leg slots between yours as he curls his arm around your waist. You can’t help the involuntary hitch in your breath as you feel his nose skim across your neck, his tail moving languidly across your thigh.

“Why?” Jimin teasingly nips your neck, his voice sultry and low as he says, ”Did you have something else in mind?”

”N–no, sleeping is good – great!” You stammer, pressing your face into the soft fabric of Yoongi's shirt to hide the flush creeping up your face. The oldest cat hybrid lets out a light chuckle, his chest moving underneath your cheek.

”Mhm, it is great.” Jimin smugly hums against your skin, pressing a soft kiss to your nape before he settles down. It doesn’t take long before you begin to feel light rumbles vibrating against your body, the boys’ purrs ebbing and flowing into the silent room like a gentle lullaby.

You spend the rest of your Sunday curled up between Jimin and Yoongi, and you can’t remember the last time you slept so well.)

 (–”Noona!” Jeongguk waves you over to the couch with a bright smile the following day. Seokjin moves to the side to make room between himself and his packmate, but you don’t get far enough to claim it. You squeak as the bunny hybrid suddenly pulls you into his lap, Jeongguk’s strong arms wrapping around your middle as he tucks his face into your neck.

”Missed you.”

You just manage to make out Jeongguk’s shy voice over the sound of the TV, your heart fluttering at the unexpected confession. The bunny hybrid has never been this bold with his affection before but you suppose it matches up with how the boys said that your ahem, situation, would make them more clingy than usual.

You catch Seokjin trying to suppress a smile as he fake yawns, the hamster hybrid’s eyes shining with fondness as he looks at you and Jeongguk.

”I missed you too.” You murmur, giving the arms around your waist a squeeze.

The bunny hybrid relaxes at the sound of your voice, sinking into the couch as he holds you close. You feel hyperaware of Jeongguk’s chest pressed against your back, but whenever you try to shift your weight forward, the bunny hybrid pulls right you back. You allow him a few minutes to scent your neck, choking down any noises that try to escape when Jeongguk’s nose brushes against the tender marks on your throat.

The bunny hybrid makes a disgruntled sound when you gently remove his arms, his big eyes looking up at in you confusion as you slide down into the spot between him and Seokjin.

”You’re still hurt Jeongguk, you shouldn’t be putting too much strain on your ribs.” You explain.

Jeongguk’s ears droop, his doe eyes looking even bigger as he tries to protest, ”But–”

”Y/n is right, bun. You can cuddle more later.” Seokjin interrupts. The tone of his voice doesn’t leave any room for arguments, and it makes Jeongguk’s foot thump harshly against the floor in response. The bunny hybrid just looks so adorable you can’t help but giggle at the childish reaction.

Jeongguk gives you an affronted look, a pout pulling at his soft lips as he decides to ignore the both you in favour of the TV.

“Hey no–I’m sorry Jeongguk, I didn’t mean to laugh. You just looked so cute.” You apologize, choking down the urge to coo as you see one of Jeongguk’s ears straighten at your words.

”Really?” He murmurs.

”Really.” You grin.

”That’s okay then.”

Seokjin snorts at how easily Jeongguk gives up on being annoyed, the bunny hybrid grabbing your hand as he cuddles up to your side. The hamster hybrid moves closer too, throwing one arm behind your back as he lets both you and Jeongguk lean into his touch. You rest your head on Seokjin’s broad shoulder as he starts carding his fingers through his packmate’s hair, the bunny hybrid practically melting from having both his hair and fingers played with.

You absentmindedly run your thumb over Jeongguk’s knuckles as you turn your attention back to the TV, losing yourself in the plot and the sporadic kisses Seokjin presses against your hair. It doesn’t take long before you can feel Jeongguk begin to nod off, his head slipping down your shoulder before he wakes up enough reposition it.

You and Seokjin whisper back and fourth about the show when something exciting happens, but the soft rise and fall of the hamster hybrid’s chest and the warmth of Jeongguk’s body pressed against yours is beginning to make you feel sleepy too.

In fact, you’re sure you must be dreaming as the end credits stop rolling, and the screen cuts to a serious looking news anchor. A grainy picture pops up on the screen, and you have to squint as you try to focus on it. There are three people in the image, and from their hunkered and tense postures it’s obvious they’re up to something they shouldn’t be doing.

You let your gaze sweep over their slightly blurry faces as the anchor talks about a hybrid trafficking syndicate and how it’s been almost impossible to track down.

You blink.

Your heart plummets to your stomach as it dawns on you that you’ve seen two of those men before. It was the same two men that stared back at you in the file Hansol handed over. They’re connected to your case. Apparently Lim Enterprises isn’t just smuggling a few hybrids here and there – it looks like they're running one of the biggest trafficking syndicates in the country.

”What’s wrong?” Jeongguk’s head suddenly springs up from your shoulder, his long ears standing straight up in alert as Seokjin turns you around, his plush lips pressed into a firm line as he stares you down. The two hybrids are still reeling from the abrupt switch in your scent, the sugary sweetness on the air suddenly bitter and suffocating.

”Y/n, what’s wrong?” Seokjin repeats.

You can’t tell them. You already knew that a case against a big enterprise wouldn’t be easy, but this is flat out dangerous. This is more than your firm can handle, than you can handle. You’ll have to convince your boss as soon as he gets back from his business trip that whatever he’s being offered for taking the case isn’t worth it. This is too much of a risk.

”N-nothing!” You stutter, feeling yourself grow pale as your gaze flickers back to the TV, ”I-I just thought I saw a mouse!”

”A mouse?!” Jeongguk pulls his legs up from the floor, his wide eyes frantically sweeping over the floor, ”Should I get Yoongi or Jimin hyung?”

Seokjin waves of the bunny hybrid’s comment, his eyes never leaving your face for second, ”Y/n, is that all it is? Are you sure?”

God, you want to break and tell them so bad, but you can’t risk it. You can’t.

”I-I’m sure,” Your smile is little more than a grimace as you take a deep breath, Seokjin’s grip still firm on your shoulders as you try again with a little more conviction, ”I’m fine.”

But you’re not. You’re so, so screwed.)

You had a routine, but that doesn’t last for long. Not when you open your front door on Tuesday to find Jihyo standing there with an excited dog hybrid peeking over her shoulder.

”Jihyo? Why are you here?” Your eyebrows furrow as you try your best to think back to the last thing you and your friend talked about. You definitely would have remembered inviting her over.

”Can’t a girl visit her best friend? I haven’t heard from you in ages!” Jihyo huffs.

You roll your eyes, not bothering to fight the smile that tugs at your lips as you say, ”We texted last night.”

”Sure we’ve texted, but I haven’t seen you for weeks.” Jihyo shoots back with a pout.

Your stomach twists as the dog hybrid standing behind Jihyo rubs her head soothingly against her shoulder, trying her best to calm her down. You didn’t realize that Jihyo was actually upset about it.

”I’m sorry, it’s just been a lot lately.” You sigh.

“I figured. I could tell something was up with you last night.” Jihyo says.

You slump against the doorframe, guilt spreading through your body as you look back at your friend. You can’t help but wonder if you’ve paid enough attention to the texts you’ve shared with Jihyo over the last three weeks. Was there something you should’ve picked up on like she did? Have you been neglecting your friend that bad?

”Don’t be sad!” A light whine pulls you out of your thoughts, and you move your gaze to the drooping white ears on top of the dog hybrid’s head.

”Can I hug you? Please, please? I don’t want you be sad.” She looks at you pleadingly, her fluffy tail tucked between her legs. You’ve briefly talked to Sana over the phone, but you haven’t actually seen the dog hybrid since that day at the shelter. She’s pretty. Really pretty. It’s not hard to see why Jihyo is so smitten with her.

You can’t resist the distraught expression on her face though and all it takes is a small nod before Sana tackles you into a hug. You have to take a step back from the force, your arms automatically wrapping around her small waist to keep the both of you upright.

”Sana, we've talked about this!” Jihyo sounds exasperated despite the fond smile on her face, ”You can’t just jump people like that, you have to–”

You freeze as you suddenly hear a deep growl behind you, the threatening sound sending a violent shiver down your spine.

Sana’s arms stiffen around your body, a low rumble building in her chest as she tugs you a step back towards the door.

You throw a look over you shoulder, eyes widening with shock as you realize that the growl came from Hoseok. The golden retriever hybrid has his eyes locked on Sana, his lips curling into a nasty snarl as he takes in how she’s slowly trying to inch you away from him. You jump as the door to the canine’s room is thrown open, the bang echoing through the house as Namjoon and Taehyung scramble out into the hallway. Namjoon’s eyes turn to steel as he stalks closer, his jaw clenched tightly as his chest begins to rumble.

”Y/n.” The deep baritone of Taehyung’s voice makes your breath hitch. The fox hybrid’s ears pull back and the cold expression that settles on his face makes a flash of fear shoot through your body. But it’s not for you you’re worried about; it’s Sana. You’ve never seen the fox hybrid look so angry before. It’s no wonder he managed to scare off three hybrids on his own if this was the way he looked at them.

You swallow thickly as you hear Jihyo’s weak voice call out your name; your eyes locked on the heated glares the boys are giving Sana.

”I’m not sad anymore, it’s okay. You should go back to Jihyo.” You reach up to give Sana’s head a comforting pat, not daring to move your gaze away from Hoseok. The dog hybrid tracks your hand as you rest it shortly in Sana’s hair, the phantom touches of your fingers carding through his locks making something uncomfortable unfurl in his stomach. You’re only supposed to touch them like that, not her.

Sana lets out a choked sound, something between a whine and a growl as she drops her hold and steps away from you. You can tell she feels unsure whether it’s the right thing to do, but Jihyo reaches out to grab her hand before she can make up her mind, pulling her back until she’s once again hidden away behind her.

”I wanted to ask you to come out with us, but I guess now’s not a good time?” Jihyo winces as Namjoon’s hard gaze flickers to her, her fingers tightening the hold around Sana’s hand.

”No, it’s–” You bite down on your lip, unsure what to say.

You know the boys have a stronger instinct to protect you right now and that going off with another hybrid probably isn’t the best thing to do. But you’ve also been neglecting Jihyo for weeks in favour for the boys and work, and you miss her. You miss your friend.

”How about the three of you hang out here instead?” Seokjin’s composed voice washes over the tense air in the hallway. You glance back from Jihyo in shock to find that the rest of the boys have somehow filed into the cramped space as well.

”I think it would be better for everyone if Y/n stays somewhere we know is safe. Our instincts are a little on edge these days.” He says. The polite smile on his face doesn't quite reach his eyes.

”Are you sure?” Jihyo doesn’t quite seem to know who she should really ask, her gaze moving between you, Seokjin and Namjoon.

”That’s a great idea, thank you, Seokjin.” You speak up before any of the boys can protest, grabbing Jihyo’s hand to usher the two of them into the living room. You hear a few low growls and hisses as the boys are forced to step back to make way, but the sounds soften as you send them a pleading look. You let Jihyo and Sana enter the room first, the dog hybrid’s tail tucked between her legs from the glowering stares. She knows she’s no match for seven hybrids, and especially not seven hybrids who seem like they all want to lay a claim on you.

”Just a couple of hours, okay? I know it’s really bad timing with everything that’s going on, but–”

Yoongi cuts you off with a light push, the cat hybrid looking like he’s trying his best not to scowl as he nudges you into the living room, “We’ll be fine, Y/n. Go have fun with your friends.”

The hostile expressions on their faces makes your stomach flip even though you know it’s not directed at you. Jimin and Jeongguk are sulking behind the others; clearly not happy about the situation or their alphas judging by the heated looks they’re sending to the backs of their heads.

Namjoon’s face is carefully blank as he says, ”Go on, it’s okay.”  

It takes a while for Jihyo and Sana to loosen up after the rather intense greeting they got, but you find yourself beginning to relax and enjoying their company soon enough. The dog hybrid had whimpered out an apology as soon as the boys had scattered back to their rooms, her ears pressed flush against her head as she pouted out a, ”I’m sorry that I hugged you! I just wanted to make you feel better."

Jihyo has kept Sana tucked against her side ever since, probably to keep the dog hybrid still, but to also offer her some comfort in a house that’s been scented to hell and back by the hybrids living there. You notice how Sana keeps bringing her sleeve up to her nose whenever she doesn’t speak, breathing in her own smell in an attempt to block out the boys.

You keep your voices a little lower than normal as you catch up. It’s not that there’s anything the boys shouldn’t hear and you don’t think they would really try to listen in, but you’re just suddenly very aware of the fact that all seven of them have exceptional hearing.

”So .. work?” Jihyo quirks an eyebrow. You slump back against the couch with a grimace, yesterday’s discovery still fresh in your mind. You still have a few days before your boss will be back, so until then you can’t do much aside from stew in your own misery.

”There has been some recent complications ..” You trail off, nervously picking at your nails.

“I see,” Jihyo pauses, her brown eyes locked yours as she mouths ‘Is it dangerous? ’. You have no idea how Jihyo always manages to read you so well, but being friends for over a decade certainly helps.

Jihyo’s mouth twists with worry as you nod.

”Are you still going to do it?” She murmurs.

”I don’t know. It’s not up to me to decide.” You might actually kill your boss if he refuses to back down, but that’s a problem for future you. Right now you still have to at least have hope that Mr. Gwan will have enough brains to realize how risky this case really is. Jihyo doesn’t bring it up any further, and you’re honestly a little relieved that you can forget about it for a while.

 It doesn’t take long before you realize that the boys aren’t doing too good.

You’re in the middle of stifling your laughter when you see Taehyung’s head poke around the wall, the fox hybrid’s eyes widening as he realizes you’re looking right at him. Taehyung immediately jerks out of sight, leaving you staring dumbly at the empty air for a second before you turn your attention back to Jihyo. Only a few minutes pass before you notice a flash of deep orange out of the corner of your eye again, but this time, Taehyung isn’t alone.

You let out an amused huff under your breath as you notice Jeongguk’s long ears sticking out over the fox hybrid’s head, the brown bunny ears twitching along to the story Jihyo is telling you. You figure you might as well let them be if keeping a closer eye (–spying) on you and Sana will help soothe their instincts. You forget about Taehyung and Jeongguk after a while, getting carried away by Sana’s descriptions of the trip they took to Jihyo’s mountain cabin.

The thing is, the hovering doesn’t stop with just Jeongguk and Taehyung; it’s how Seokjin suddenly comes into the room with drinks, the polite yet pained smile on his face never faltering as he quickly scans you up and down. It’s how Yoongi and Jimin enter the room and tells you to ”don’t mind us” as they spend five minutes looking for a charger you know is in the kitchen. It’s how Namjoon and Hoseok decide to start gardening outside the large window in the living room despite it being way too early in the year for anything to grow yet, the two hybrids definitely paying more attention to you than the cold dirt in their hands.

It’s only been a couple of hours, but you can tell they’re beginning to grow impatient. And you’re not the only one that notices.

”We should probably stop torturing them.” Jihyo snorts. She throws a little wave to Namjoon and Hoseok, grinning as they quickly duck out of sight.

”I’m sorry for all of this.” You grimace.

“I should be the one to apologize,” Jihyo shakes her head, “I knew that turning up with Sana probably wasn’t the best idea, but I just really wanted to make sure you were alright.”

”I appreciate it, you know I do,” You smile. “I promise we’ll hang out soon. Maybe we can do lunch at that new restaurant that opened downtown?”

”Of course! Just let me know when you’re free.” Jihyo keeps a tight grip on Sana as you all stand up, keeping the dog hybrid close to her side as you lead them out. You have a feeling it’s to make sure that Sana doesn’t get too excited and tackles you into another hug based on the longing gaze she sends your way.

As you wave them off with a soft grin you can feel the tight pressure you’ve had in your chest ever since yesterday loosening just a little. Even if you can’t tell Jihyo what’s really going on, it’s still nice to somewhat be able to share your troubles with someone.

You close the door with a soft click, turning around to find yourself face to face with Hoseok. The dog hybrid looks troubled, his ears pressed flat against his golden hair.

”I think we need to talk.” You say.

Hoseok nods as he rocks on his feet, his tone a bit resigned as he says, ”Yeah, we do.”

The dog hybrid’s nose scrunches as he sniffs the air, a scowl passing over his features at Sana’s lingering scent.

”Would it be better if I took a shower first?” You should have realized that Sana probably scented you earlier while she was trying to cheer you up, but there had just been too much going on. You know now though, and it’s hard to miss the way Hoseok’s shoulders sag with relief at your offer.

”Please.” He says.

”How about you bring the rest of the boys upstairs in fifteen minutes? We can talk in my room?” The dog hybrid’s tail does a half-hearted wag as he murmurs out an agreement. You peek into the living room as you pass by to see the boys rubbing off their scent on the couch Jihyo and Sana used, matching frowns on their faces as they try to cover up the new smell. Safe to say, you make sure to scrub your neck extra well in the shower.

 “So..” You clear your throat, resisting the urge to squirm under the seven pairs of eyes that are looking at you, ”I’m really sorry Jihyo and Sana came over unannounced like that, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. I, uhm, shouldn’t have let Sana hug me either – not with how things are right now.”

Taehyung huffs in response, his fingers carding through the hairs of the deep orange tail curled around his waist. The boys are taking up space where they can on your bed, forming a half-circle around you from where you’re leaning against the headrest. They had all given you a brief hug as they entered the room, making sure to cover up any trace of Sana’s scent before they sat down. Your bed is just big enough for Yoongi and Jimin to sit on your left, their bodies pressed together. Seokjin and Jeongguk are in the middle, the bunny hybrid kneeling behind his alpha as he uses Seokjin’s broad shoulders to rest his arms. The canines are to your right, Taehyung tucked between Hoseok’s legs as Namjoon sits next to them, their knees brushing.

”We’re sorry too,” Namjoon says, his gray ears twisting back as he shares a look with Yoongi and Seokjin, “We haven’t been completely honest with you, Y/n.”

A spark of panic bolts through your body at the soft whines the rest of the boys let out as they lower their eyes.

”When we said our instincts made us more affectionate and clingy it wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the full truth either. It doesn’t happen with just any female we’re close with, it’s a little more complicated than that.”

You sit up a little straighter. You’re not sure what you were expecting, but this is doesn’t sound too bad.

You give Namjoon an encouraging nod, but the wolf hybrid’s cheeks are turning a faint pink, seemingly at a loss of how to continue based on the strangled growl that rumbles low in his chest.

”Our instincts are only triggered like this if we’re around a female we consider to be our mate.” Yoongi drawls, helping the other alpha out. The cat hybrid’s tail is flicking anxiously behind his back, his fingers clasped tight around Jimin’s hand. They weren’t planning on telling you this yet, but there’s only so many lies they can spin to explain away their behaviour. Not to mention, the way they’ve been acting isn’t acceptable when you aren’t even theirs.

Mate?

You suck in a surprised breath, your gaze bouncing from hybrid to hybrid as they offer you sheepish smiles. Your heart is thundering away in your chest, the pace almost bruising against your ribs. You’re just so happy and relieved that the boys feel the same way that you could cry, but there’s something holding you back from fully embracing it. Something you need to know the answer to.

”Do all of you want to be with me .. like that?” You ask. The chorus of agreement that rings out inside the four walls of your bedroom splits you in half, one part of you elated where the other is nervous beyond belief.

”How? I mean, you’re all in different packs. I don’t understand how that’s going to work.” You murmur.

”We’ve talked about it already. We–” Yoongi awkwardly clears his throat, his dark eyes hesitantly meeting yours as he says, ”We’ve agreed to share you.”

He cringes at how it sounds, quickly following it up with, ”I know it sounds bad, but if you want to be with all of us, and will allow us to court you, we’ve come to terms with the fact that you’ll be split between our three packs. It’s not ideal, but we would much rather share you than lose you completely.”

”And you’re sure you’re all fine with this, with sharing me?” You blush, ignoring the inappropriate thoughts that are vying for your attention inside your head. You catch Taehyung's hopeful eyes, the fox hybrid giving you an enthused nod.

”We’re sure.” Seokjin confirms. The hamster hybrid offers you a reassuring smile as he notices the overwhelmed tremor in your hands, the sight tugging at his heartstrings.

”And courting? What does that entail?” You might as well ask all your questions now instead of trying to rely on the very few resources you have online.

”It’s like dating. We already spend a lot of time together, so the only difference is just that we’ll be more, hm, intimate? Our animals all have different ways of courting potential mates, but for the most part it’s just the need to be closer together.” Seokjin explains, the tops of his ears flushing pink.

Jeongguk leans down to whisper something into his alpha’s ear, the murmurs too low for you to pick up. Seokjin looks unsure, but he seems to decide to relay what the bunny hybrid told him, ”Once both parties decide that the courting is over, we officially mate. It’s similar to how humans get married, except we exchange mating bites instead of rings. There’s no limit to how many mates you can have, it just gets more difficult with each one. I’m not sure how it affects humans, but hybrids feel more closer and more in-tune with our partners after mating. For us it doesn’t matter whether a mate is human or hybrid, the bite works the same way.”

You release a shaky breath; focusing on twisting your fingers together as you try to process all the information the boys just gave you. It’s just dating, you remind yourself. You don’t have to think about mating just yet. You like them, and they like you. You just need to focus on that for now.

”We know it’s a lot, Y/n,” Jimin speaks up before you can answer, ”But there’s no pressure. Take all the time you need to think it over, and if you don’t want it, we’ll get over it.”

You see the spark of panic in Hoseok and Taehyung’s eyes at Jimin’s words, Jeongguk letting out a tiny whimper at the idea of getting rejected.

”I technically own you though, are you sure you don’t want someone else? Someone you aren’t forced to live with?” You blurt out the last thought that has been bothering you, anxiety clawing up your throat at the surprised looks the boys give each other.

Oh no, did they just realize they could do better? What if–

”You didn’t just choose us, we chose you too,” Namjoon says, a flash of gold passing through his warm eyes, “We would have never accepted the adoption if we didn’t like you. We all felt that maybe it could blossom into something more, but it was never an expectation. Just a hope.”

You swallow thickly, allowing Namjoon’s words to soothe your nerves.

”Think about it for a bit, yeah?” Yoongi pushes himself off the bed with a soft smile, dragging Jimin along with him.

”Yeah.” You murmur, watching as the rest of the boys follow after the two cat hybrids.

Do you need more time to think though? You like them, and they like you. Haven’t you thought about this enough? Wondered about this enough? You’ve already known your answer deep down for a long time, so it is really necessary to wait any longer?

”I like you all too.”

The boys stiffen as you voice carries across the room, their ears perking up so fast it almost would’ve been comical if it wasn’t for the butterflies trashing your insides, ”I want all of you to court me.”

You squeak as Taehyung dives back into your bed, the fox hybrid scrambling up the mattress until he’s kneeling in front of you.

”Really? Are you sure?” The bed moves as the rest of the boys hurriedly move to take a seat, sitting much closer now than they did before. You steel your voice, making sure there isn’t a ounce of doubt to be found as you smile and say, ”I’m sure. There’s nothing I want more.”

You swear you hear a whispered good girl under the pleased whines and purrs that erupt behind Taehyung, your heart skipping a beat at the happy grins that are sent your way.

”Y/n,” Your attention snaps back to the fox hybrid at the sound of your name, Taehyung’s eyes big and pleading as he says, ”Wanna kiss you so bad. Can I kiss you? Please?”

Your mouth suddenly dries, and you can feel your skin heating up all the way from your hairline to your toes as Taehyung inches closer, his fluffy tail swishing behind his back.

”Not so fast, brat.” Yoongi hisses as he tugs Taehyung back.

”You know it’s alphas first, pup.” Namjoon runs his fingers through the fox hybrid’s hair, quirking an eyebrow at the sullen expression on Taehyung’s face.

”I know.” Taehyung sighs.

Yoongi tenses when it looks like Taehyung is about to argue, but instead, the fox hybrid just flops back into Hoseok’s arms with a pout. The dog hybrid rolls his eyes as Namjoon huffs, the two of them clearly used to Taehyung pushing his boundaries.

Your mind is still reeling from what the fox hybrid asked you when you say, ”Alphas first?”

”The choice is yours of course, but when it comes to courting someone outside of the pack, it’s normal that it’s the alpha that does things first.” Hoseok explains.

You nod. ”Who’s first then?”

The question tumbles out before you can stop it, the boys growing visibly more excited at your eagerness.

”Me.” Seven heads turn in the direction of the calm voice that speaks up, and your breath hitches as your gaze lands on Seokjin.

”Why you? You’re–”

Yoongi's hiss is interrupted as the hamster hybrid moves up the bed, Seokjin barely sparing him a glance as he says, ”The oldest.”

He settles down in front of your crossed legs, ignoring Yoongi’s grumbles and Namjoon’s glare as he gives you a sweet smile. Seokjin grabs your hands, pulling your upper body a little closer as he murmurs, ”Is this okay?”

You let your eyes roam over the hamster hybrid’s features, your gaze getting caught on the pink shade of his plush lips as you whisper out a soft, ”Yes.”

Your blood is rushing in your ears as Seokjin reaches up to cup your cheek, tilting your head slightly to the side as he leans in. You let your eyes flutter shut as his nose gently bumps into yours, your lips parting as you feel his breath spill across your mouth. The short second Seokjin holds back almost makes you whine for him to hurry up, but then the hamster hybrid presses his lips to yours, and your mind goes blank.

Seokjin kisses you soft and slow, taking his time to map out the feel of your lips against his. You melt into his touch, and the thumb running across your cheek calms down nerves you didn’t even realize you had until they’re gone.

You make a discontent sound as Seokjin lips leave yours, the hamster hybrid holding you still as you try to chase after his lips.

”You still got six more to go.” Seokjin reminds you. You open your eyes just in time to catch the hungry glint in Seokjin’s gaze as he looks down at your lips, the hamster hybrid pressing a peck to your nose before he reluctantly pulls away.

You don’t even have time to mourn the loss of Seokjin’s lips before Yoongi takes his place, the cat hybrid’s dark tail curling around your waist as he kneels in front of you.

”Okay?” He searches your face for any hesitance as he leans down.

”Okay.” You confirm.

Yoongi doesn’t waste any time before ducking down to connect his lips with yours, one of his hands supporting the back of your head as his fingers curl into your hair. Your mouth parts with a small gasp as you feel Yoongi's tongue dart out to brush against your lips, and Yoongi uses the chance to lick into your mouth, deepening the kiss even further. You bring your hands up to his shoulders, clutching on to him for dear life as the cat hybrid nips against your lower lip, sucking slightly on the flesh before he releases it with a soft pop. Yoongi’s eyes are completely blown out as he hurriedly presses one, two, three more kisses to your glistening lips before he pulls back.

You force your lungs to suck down air as your hands slide down from Yoongi’s shoulders, the cat hybrid offering you a smirk before he lets Namjoon take his spot.

The wolf hybrid gently takes your hands in his, bringing them up behind his neck. A happy sound rumbles from Namjoon’s chest as you take his cue to bury your fingers into the long hair at his nape, his gray tail wagging behind his back. The wolf hybrid holds you gaze, his silent ”Still okay?” answered with a quick nod as you pull him closer.

You met him halfway, lips already parted as you kiss him heatedly. You can still taste Seokjin and Yoongi on your mouth, and that combined with Namjoon’s large palms settling on your waist, makes your head spin. You tug slightly on Namjoon’s hair as his lips moves hungrily against yours, and the sudden groan that drops from his mouth to yours makes a shiver bolt down your spine.

You pull back once your chest begins to tighten, your dazed eyes finding Namjoon’s as you rest your forehead against his. You find yourself growing a little proud of the rapid rise and fall of the wolf hybrid’s chest as his pants brush over your lips. You like that just something as simple as a kiss can rile him up so much.

You jerk back from Namjoon as someone clears their throat, your cheeks burning as you remember the audienceyou have.

You peek over Namjoon’s shoulder, your fingers twitching in anticipation as you’re met with the dark and hungry gazes of six other hybrids. A few of them in particular are beginning look a little desperate from where they’re squirming on the bed, their hands digging into the sheets below them to keep them seated. You untangle your fingers from Namjoon’s locks, smoothing down the hairs as he lets out a disappointed whine.

Right, you think, four more to go.

a/n: happy birthday yoongi!! i can’t believe that abundance has now officially passed 100k words, that’s just insane to me! i know i ended the chapter on a teasing note, but we’re getting closer and closer to the smut my dudes. we’re almost there! (also if there’s any mistakes, pretend you do not see them. i had to rush the editing so i’ll go over more thoroughly later!)

See you all soon, stay safe! <3 And in case you enjoy my stories and want to buy me a coffee, you can do so here! 💖

[helpimhyperfixating]

Photos and Crushes - Cowboy AU Jotaro x Reader P2

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3

Word Count: 11488

“I’m not coming here again, that is clear.” Jotaro grumbled as he dusted his jacket off. You were standing beside him, giggling a little as you watched his disgruntled look.

The sun was setting and all the children had just left, finally giving Jotaro some respite.

“Ahw.” You pouted playfully, helping him dust off his back a bit. Jotaro sighed and rolled his eyes at your fake sadness, just grabbing your wrist and starting to drag you away from the church with him as you waved back at the nun, darkness slowly starting to set in.

Jotaro soon released your wrist and the two of you were now walking side by side.

“Thank you for today.”

“Hm?” Jotaro hummed, pretending to not know what you were talking about.

“For everything you did. Putting up with the children, helping cheer them up. And especially... with those riders, of course.” You bashfully glanced at him through your eyelashes, only looking at him from the corner of your eyes.

“It’s fine.” Jotaro grunted and you almost couldn’t understand him with how heavy the grumble in his voice was.

“No, really. You saved me again.” You stopped him with a hand on his arm and Jotaro turned around to look at you with a questioning look. “How can I make it up to you? I feel like merely a drink isn’t good enough this time.” You chuckled sweetly at your own callback and Jotaro felt his throat close up a bit, wanting to clear it but not wanting to come across as awkward.

“Come riding with me tomorrow.”

It was a simple sentence but neither of you knew how flustered the other was with those mere words hanging in the air.

“Alright. I’d love to.” You spoke after a bit, finally having found your courage to answer while holding a mini panic attack and celebration inside your head and chest.

Jotaro on the other hand was having a small existential crisis.

Both of you were lost in your own heads as you continued walking and quickly, the fork in the road where you split up came. You cleared your throat and turned to him. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow then?” You questioned and Jotaro nodded.

“I’ll come by at nine.” He spoke, oozing his usual calm and stoic confidant look. You nodded a little shyly and quickly stood on your tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his cheek before taking off in the direction of your home, not looking back even once.

Jotaro swallowed heavily as he watched you run away, still feeling the phantom feeling of your lips on his cheek. And then he nearly clocked a dude right in the face when they swung an arm around his shoulder, surprising him.

Joseph screamed like a little girl as he ducked out of the way of the fist.

“Gramps!” Jotaro called out, exasperated.

“Honestly, Joseph, you need to learn how to read someone’s body language.” Caesar sighed. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere as he now stood to Jotaro’s right, Joseph righting himself and putting his arm back around his grandson from the left.

“You two are back in town?” Jotaro questioned, mostly aimed at Caesar as he pulled his grandfather’s arm off of himself and actively ignored him.

“We never left.”

“Yes we’re back.”

Caesar was quick to shut down Joseph’s attempt at a prank and the man pouted.

“How have you put up with him for all these years?” Jotaro questioned, pointing his thumb back to his grandfather.

“It honestly is a mystery to me as well.” Caesar spoke as Joseph let out an offended noise.

“Well screw you too! Here I was, just trying to be happy for my grandson for finding the love of his life, and I get this thrown at me!”

Jotaro actively tried to ignore that statement as he left the two behind and started walking the last leg to his house.

“Joseph, let me talk to your grandson for a bit.” Caesar patted Joseph’s shoulder and - while the man was pouting - he nodded and motioned Caesar to go.

Jotaro immediately noticed the Italian man walking up beside him and pulled his hat down over his eyes a bit. “You haven’t told her yet, have you?” The silence was answer enough and Caesar hummed a bit. “You know what I said before. And, if what we just saw was any indication, she returns your feelings.”

Jotaro once again didn’t say a thing and instead sped up a bit. But Caesar knew he was thinking about his words.

“Oi, Caesar! It’s my turn to talk to my grandson now!” Joseph called out from behind but Caesar was quick to shush him, pushing the older Joestar into another street to take a different route to the Kujo household and give the young man some peace of mind to think.

Tomorrow was a big day after all.

- - - -

A knocking on your door made you jump up from where you had anxiously been sitting. Nearly tripping on your way to the door, you managed to catch yourself in time and just opened the door.

There stood Jotaro, looking the same as ever and you sent him a quick smile.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.” Jotaro greeted back and he could see you excitedly bouncing, making him chuckle softly as he took a step to the side, giving you a good view of the pitch black horse that was hitched right outside your door.

“Jojo!” You exclaimed happily, running over to the gigantic animal. It was one of the biggest and strongest horses you had seen, an almost blue sheen to its black coat when the sun hit it right.

Upon hearing his name, the horse’s ears turned towards you and you walked up to stand beside it, gently petting its neck.

“Sometimes I think you like him more than me.” Jotaro joked as he walked up behind you after having closed your door that you stupidly left open in your excitement.

“I mean, he is a strong competition but no, I think you still win.” You tilted your head back to look at him and grinned, making Jotaro flick your forehead.

“Let’s go.” He spoke and placed his hands on your waist. The action surprised you and you quickly turned your head away from Jotaro so he couldn’t see your blush at the sudden close contact.

He lifted you without trouble, holding you high enough so that you could swing a leg over the large horse and sit down on the saddle.

“Scoot forward.” Jotaro instructed and you did as he asked while he untied the reins, throwing them back over the neck of the horse before taking hold of the saddle horn and back of the saddle while putting his foot in the stirrup, pulling himself up and swinging his leg over the horse’s back with grace.

Jotaro eased into the saddle, his hand that he used to grab the saddle horn now holding onto the reins, running under your arm and slightly pressed into your side.

Jotaro’s other arm suddenly snuck around your waist, pulling you back just a tiny bit so that your back was pressed into Jotaro’s chest. “Is this more comfortable?” He leaned forward a bit, softly saying that in your ear and making a shudder rack through your body, feeling his breath hit the shell of your ear. God, it was too early to get like this already.

“Y-Yeah.” You let out, clearing your throat as inconspicuously as possible afterwards.

Jotaro just hummed a bit, silently appreciating the cute little stutter in your voice while he let go of your waist, instead moving his hand so that he could hold the reins with both hands now.

Letting out two short clicking noises as he pulled the reins to the left side, Jotaro made Jojo turn, followed up by a small kick into the horse’s belly, urging the beast to start walking.

He almost immediately started up, a steady and confident stride in his steps yet perfectly in tune to the rider on his back.

You knew that Jotaro and Jojo had a good connection, the man having taken care of the animal ever since it was a foal. It still surprised you every day you saw the horse however, of how well trained he was. With its size, it could most likely trample everything in its path, yet he was the definition of a gentle giant.

It was your personal belief that the reason for that was because Jotaro had always doted on the animal. He had never admitted to it but you knew that despite the hardass, asshole attitude he had, he loved this horse.

“Relax a bit, you’re completely stiff.” Jotaro suddenly spoke up from behind you and you realised you had been lost in thought.

“Oh, sorry.” You quietly spoke, shuffling your butt a tiny bit to get a little more comfortable in the saddle. You might be a bit cramped and pushed to the front, but it was a lot better than sitting behind the saddle on the rump of the horse. Not only was there not a comfortable saddle back there, Jotaro’s massive frame also made it so that you could never properly look around. The two of you had tried that once the very first time, but after that it was always ‘you in front, Jotaro behind you’. Not that you rode with Jotaro too often. In fact, in the two years you knew him, it had only happened a handful of times. And yet, here you now sat.

“I thought I said relax.” Jotaro suddenly grumbled from behind, wrapping his arm back around your waist and pulling you back so that you were fully leaning against his chest. Instantly, you could feel yourself start to blush heavily as you began to properly sway with the movements of the horse, your back pressed against Jotaro.

“Sorry, uh, I was a bit lost in thought.” You tried to excuse yourself, the awkward smile on your face that he couldn’t see turning into surprise when Jotaro put his chin on the top of your head. In response to you he said nothing, only humming a bit, which you felt vibrate a little on your head.

You could feel Jotaro turn his head left and right as he looked both ways before crossing the street, lifting his head from yours once you reached the other side and spurring the horse into a light trot.

Jojo’s hooves pounded satisfyingly on the dirt road, the horse’s trot a comfortable ride despite his large size.

At the end of the street, Jotaro went right and you both passed the small church.

The sister just so happened to be outside, cleaning the steps and now looking up to see the two young people ride by. You noticed her as well, sending a smile and a wave while Jotaro subtly nodded, almost impossible to see for the nun who stood so far away. Yet still she smiled warmly and waved back, her look turning a bit more knowing as the horse passed by. She could almost smell what was blooming between those two from where she stood.

After a few minutes of a relaxed trot, you two were almost out of town when,

“JOTARO!”

The loud yet faraway shout made you lift your head up and look around while Jotaro gritted his teeth and pointedly refused to look anywhere but right in front of himself.

“Hey! Jotaro!”

At that, the man sitting behind you spurred his horse into a canter, holding you up against himself as he stood up in the stirrups slightly so that the animal beneath you could properly move.

Jotaro just noped the fuck out the moment he heard his grandfather’s voice. Whatever he wanted, it could wait. He had let his mother know he would most likely be gone most of the day if not all day with his horse and he was sure his mother would have told the old man as well. Right now, he was fairly certain that Joseph had seen you sitting in front and if he was allowed to talk to you, he’d definitely do everything he could to embarrass Jotaro. And no way was he letting that happen.

Running away when you were on horse and the pursuer on foot made it almost too easy and Jotaro looked back briefly, seeing the old man stand in the middle of the road, looking defeated as he became smaller and smaller while the pair on horseback left the town.

As soon as he thought you were far enough away, Jotaro slowed Jojo back into a trot and then back into a step, settling back into the saddle with you and unwrapping his left arm from your waist.

Or at least, that was the plan until his hand got snagged in your belt loop. Confused at first, he tugged just a little firmer, accidentally tugging at you while he felt something digging into the side of his hand, piercing through his skin.

“Oh!” You exclaimed in a bit of surprise when Jotaro nearly tugged you forward into the saddle.

Jotaro swallowed before he looked down over your shoulder as to what had happened, having no choice but to rest his wrist against your hipbone.

Somehow, he had trapped two of his fingers in your belt, and now the prong of your belt buckle had just straight up embedded itself into the side of the palm of his hand.

“Shit, sorry.” Jotaro quickly apologised as he tried to twist his hand out, but the prong punctured into his hand refrained him from moving without it digging painfully into his hand.

“No, it’s okay, just- here-“ Your delicate fingers wrapped around his, stopping him from squirming as you then pressed his hand flat into your stomach, using the clearer view to see how you could untangle him. “Who was that anyway?”

“My grandfather.” Jotaro answered as he felt himself blush, feeling the soft expanse of your stomach beneath his hand - even if it still was covered up with your shirt - was enough to make the boy flustered.

When you untangled his fingers, the prong still inside his hand, Jotaro couldn’t keep himself from softly squeezing your stomach. Just a small twitch of his fingers, digging the pads down just a little bit. It felt wrong to do morally but... god, he wanted to be able to keep doing that. Maybe Caesar was right. He had been doubting whether or not he should use today to confess but-

Unknowingly, in his thoughts, Jotaro squeezed again. While you hadn’t noticed the first time, you did now.

The man stopped breathing for a second, afraid he had overstepped and that you’d be mad, but you merely quietly apologised for hurting him, slowly and carefully sliding his hand off the prong, some blood dripping from the small puncture wound in his hand.

Jotaro moved his hand to the side so he wouldn’t bleed on either your clothes or his saddle, simultaneously looking away to the right to hide his raging blush as he gently pulled on the reins to make Jojo stop walking.

He got himself stuck and then impulsively touched you when you pressed his hand into your stomach, yet you were too oblivious to notice. Granted, you were the one to place his hand there, but still. Your mind was just so focused on helping him that you didn’t even notice the world around you. You were so sweet and selfless.

Of course Jotaro couldn’t have helped but fall head over heels for you.

Procuring a handkerchief from somewhere within your pocket, you grasped Jotaro’s hand again and gently wrapped it up.

The man shifted a little in the saddle behind you as you tied the knot and he cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

“No problem, uhm- oh! We stopped.” You only just now noticed and Jotaro turned his head back forward so he could look down on you. God, you really were oblivious, making his heart tighten fondly in his chest. “Anyways, why’d you run away from your grandpa?”

“Because I know him and if I stopped, we would have never left town.” Jotaro explained, and, in a way, he was not lying. For, if his grandfather had teased him and you, Jotaro might have just gotten cold feet and turned around with a ruined mood.

With a small sigh to shake that thought off, Jotaro spurred Jojo back into walking, the horse’s firm steps easily and quickly bringing them up and down the uneven terrain of the planes.

“So, where are we going?” You spoke up after a bit.

“The forest right outside the planes.”

You gasped at that and twisted your body around to look at Jotaro with a massive smile. “Really?!” He merely hummed in affirmation and an excited laugh burst from your throat, with you slinging your arms around Jotaro in a giddy hug.

“Hey, don’t be reckless, I have to ride.” Jotaro chastised you, but really it was just because he could feel his cheeks flame up, his heart beating sporadically at feeling your chest pressed against his and your arms around him.

At that you pulled back (Jotaro managing just in time to steel his expression), a sly look on your face. “Jojo is a competent enough horse, he can steer himself.”

“Tch.”

“That is a subtle way of me saying you raised him well, mister.” Your voice turned a little softer, an almost proud undertone shining through that made a small blush appear on the brooding man’s cheeks at your compliment.

“S-Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Ohhh, that was the wrong thing to say for Jotaro. His breathing became a bit laboured as he immediately thought of all the ways he could in fact shut you up while you turned to sit straight again. His hands holding the reigns squeezed hard and to make sure you wouldn’t notice, he released his left hand and instead placed it on his thigh, bunching the fabric there and squeezing tightly while his right hand that was still in your view was completely lax, just nonchalantly holding the reigns.

“If I want to compliment you I will, there’s nothing you can do about it.” You finished your statement after a second or two and Jotaro released his thigh. Of course, this was you he was talking about. Little old oblivious and innocent you who had no idea what effects simple words from you had on him.

“Compliment those who want it.” Was his gruff response but inside he wanted to kick himself. He did want your compliments, he was just shit at accepting them.

“I sure will.” You smiled slyly and suddenly leaned forward, leaving the warmth of Jotaro’s chest as you hovered your upper body over the neck of the horse you were sat on. “Jojo, you’re such a good boy! So strong and pretty! Yes you are! Yes!” You cooed at the animal, now affectionately patting and slapping the horse’s neck, getting a snort and happy turning of the ears in return.

“Don’t praise him so much, he’ll get spoiled.” Jotaro’s voice piped up from behind you, sounding a little disgruntled.

“You said to compliment those who want it. And besides, what can I say, I got a lot of love to give.” You shrugged with a small smile as you sat back up, twisting backwards in the saddle just a little so you could look at Jotaro.

“Well, put it elsewhere.”

“Like with you?” You teased and Jotaro turned his head to the side, tilting it down a little so his hat would obstruct your view of his face, though you saw the slight pout he sported.

“If it keeps you from turning my horse into a brat.” He responded, making you laugh lightly.

Now he had to accept your compliments, whether he wanted to or not.

- - - -

It took about an hour and a half of riding to cross the planes, switching between a step and a trot every now and then to speed the process up just a little bit.

The view was beautiful of course, some wild animals roaming around through nature. At one point a herd of wild horses had ran past, much to your awe and delight.

But still you were more than excited to get to the forest. You hadn’t been there in so long due to how far away it was, even on horseback, and now couldn’t wait.

Right now, Jojo was slowly climbing a small hill, huffing and snorting a bit as Jotaro needed to keep the reigns taut. It was steep and one of the few things the horse was still fussy about doing, especially now that he had two people on his back. Jotaro had to keep a firm and steady hand to keep him in check, making his arms tightly sit against your sides to do so, even squeezing a bit in order to keep the reigns steady.

You knew that was the reason for it of course, but still, you couldn’t help but blush at feeling his arms so tightly against you, caging you in and keeping you steady while his chin leaned on your shoulder, his hot breath fanning past your cheek as he looked down over you at what he was doing.

Finally, you reached the top of the hill. Jotaro let up on the tight squeeze of his arms at your sides and only now you suddenly noticed how his thighs had been squeezing as well, his knees pressed against your legs. “Sorry.” He mumbled and you cleared your throat.

“No it’s okay, you needed to.”

Jotaro hummed a bit at that and suddenly leaned forward, pressing his chest into your back and pushing you down as he gave the side of Jojo’s neck a few approving slaps for climbing the hill.

He had attempted to lean a bit around you but that proved futile as he pushed you down with him all the same.

Sitting back up together, you opened and closed your mouth like a fish, not knowing what to say, but all of those thoughts were thrown out the window when you saw the forest, the landscape having been hidden behind the hill before.

Your sudden gasp slightly scared Jotaro, afraid it was because of him pushing you down and that he fucked up, but when he saw you turn around to look at him with that giant smile and sparkle in your eye, he knew it was fine.

“Do you want to take us there?” He asked all of a sudden and you furrowed your brow in confusion.

When you didn’t get the hint because you were looking back at him, Jotaro playfully rolled his eyes and grabbed your right hand, making you snap your head forward to see his large hand enveloping yours, leading it over to the reigns he was still loosely holding in his left before wrapping your hand around the leather.

“R-Really?” You asked back at him, genuinely taken aback. You didn’t expect Jotaro to so easily give you the reigns to the horse he cared so much about. He was completely calm and relaxed, a small hint of a smile playing on his lips as he urged you to take it with your other hand as well, as if it was no big deal. He just handed you the control and trusted you with barely a word. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Just use both hands, he’s a strong horse.” Jotaro answered from behind, his voice a little more soft than you were used to and you felt yourself start to blush again.

Bringing your other hand up, you gripped the reigns with both hands, making Jotaro let go with his left as well, completely leaving you in control.

Jotaro gently nudged his heels and Jojo started stepping again.

Almost immediately after getting moving, a pair of hands landed on your waist and you looked down to see Jotaro was holding onto you like that, his hands on your waist so he wouldn’t fall.

In all honesty, you highly doubted he would fall at all, ever. But you couldn’t fault him for just wanting to hang on, so you didn’t say anything, instead just silently musing about how nice and warm and big his hands were.

Jotaro, at the same time, was musing about how small and soft you felt while he was holding you, trying to calm down his beating heart from making the bold move to hold you like this.

A curve in the road was coming up and you pulled the reigns to the right softly, only for Jojo to keep going forward, seemingly not heeding your signal at all.

You tried again, a little firmer this time, but still nothing. “He- He’s not turning.” You spoke with a small voice, feeling embarrassment wash over you. All you had been given were reigns and you couldn’t even make a simple turn to the right correctly?

Jotaro, hearing you and sensing your distress, gave your waist a small squeeze. “It’s alright.” He spoke but you felt disappointed in yourself. “Jojo’s not an easy horse.”

“Somehow I don’t believe that.” Your lips were curved down a bit and when you pulled on the reigns to try and get him to stop, Jojo wouldn’t even do that. A small noise left you and Jotaro was quick to grab hold of the reigns as well, pulling firmly with one hand and getting the horse to stop.

You let go of the reigns and buried your face in your hands while Jotaro let go as well, bringing his hand back to his side and leaning it on his leg as he looked at the back of your neck, his other hand still on your waist. “I’m sorry.” Your apology was a bit muffled but a soft look chased away the usual frown that Jotaro wore at your words.

“There’s no need to be. Jojo is stubborn and it takes practice to ride him.”

“I have not ever seen him be stubborn. He is literally the sweetest horse I know.” You said, lifting your head from your hands and looking back at Jotaro. For the first time you noticed the uncharacteristically soft look on his face and you suddenly felt a lot better already.

“That’s because you’ve only ever seen him with me.” At that you raised an eyebrow, a faint smile returning to your lips, much to Jotaro’s delight.

“Oh so he is only so sweet when you’re around, huh?” You remarked, getting a soft snort from Jotaro. “See, I told you you trained him well.” You then said softly and a warm feeling spread through the man’s chest.

“Want to try again? I’ll help.”

Nodding, you turned back around in the saddle and grabbed hold of the reins a little hesitantly.

“With Jojo it is important to keep your elbows pressed into your sides at all times.” He gently cupped your elbows and pushed them into your sides. Jojo, who had hung his head low to graze a bit at a small patch of grass, was forced to raise his head now that the reins went a little taut.

With your elbows in place, Jotaro shuffled a little bit more back before sliding you back up against him, his chest pressing against you and allowing you to feel the muscle even through the clothing in between.

Bringing his arms around yours, Jotaro grasped hold of your hands, enveloping them with his own and holding onto the reins that way. His head was leaned forward and his cheek almost pressed against yours as he looked over your shoulder.

“Be confident but don’t suddenly tug.” He explained as he showed exactly what he meant, pulling his - and by extension your - hand outward to the right, gentle but firm.

Almost immediately, Jojo started turning on his axis, Jotaro giving a small nudge in the stallion’s belly to get him to start moving again when he was pointed in the right direction.

“He knows you’re the one doing it, he just has a soft spot for you.” You remarked, but Jotaro happily noted the sweet lilt in your voice, showing you were no longer that hung up about the whole thing.

Still, he couldn’t help but want to cheer you up even more. “If we are being honest, I think he has a soft spot for you too. Not many can approach him like you do. Not even my grandfather can.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Jotaro hummed affirmatively. “He gets huffy when they do. But not with you.” He leaned sideways to the right a little bit as he said that last sentence, allowing him to turn his head left to properly look at you and bring his point home.

Your eyes were a bit wide as you looked at him before a smile split your face. Jotaro had the sudden urge to press a kiss to your temple but refrained himself, sitting straight in the saddle again and focusing back on the reins and how his hands sat over yours.

Suddenly kicking into the belly of the beast, Jotaro spurred his horse into a trot when you reached the bottom of the large hill, much to your surprise. “Try turning.” Jotaro spoke over the sound of the hooves.

His hands were still over yours, giving you some confidence but still, you tried pulling the reins left, Jotaro guiding you a bit as he helped pull firmer, showing you exactly how hard you needed to work the reins to get Jojo to turn.

In a steady trot, you started to zig-zag on the road. After the fifth turn, Jotaro was no longer helping with pulling the reins and he let go, returning his hands to holding onto your waist.

Jojo was powerfully trotting to the left and you now tried to steer him back to the middle of the path, without even the semblance of Jotaro helping doing it. And, without a fuss or huff, Jojo turned - just as smoothly as he did when Jotaro was the one in control.

A wave of pride flushed through your chest and Jotaro watched as you guided Jojo the rest of the way to the forest.

Once you were about fifteen meters away, you pulled the reins and Jojo slowed down to a step.

“Well done.” Jotaro praised you before looking around a bit. “Stop here.” He said after a few meters and you pulled the reins, bringing the horse to a stop.

Reaching his hand around you again, Jotaro grabbed hold of the saddle horn before swinging his left leg over the animal and dismounting, holding his arms up for you moments after.

You put the reins behind the horn before scooting back in the saddle and swinging your left leg over Jojo as well, only, different from Jotaro, you swung it over his neck so that you were sitting sideways in the saddle. This allowed Jotaro to grab you by the waist and lift you off, gently placing you on the ground.

Once he was sure you were steady, he stepped up to the side of Jojo and patted his neck a few times before swinging the reins over the animal’s head so that he could lead him.

Taking hold of the leather reins in his left hand, Jotaro expectantly turned back to face you and you smiled, realising what he meant.

You skipped up to beside him and stood next to him, ready to enter the forest for the first time in like three years.

Jojo had a different plan however as he suddenly stepped sideways, walking from Jotaro’s left side, over to the right, where you stood - forcing Jotaro to switch the reins behind his back from his left hand to his right - and nudging your shoulder with his head.

“Oh!” You called out in surprise as you were thrown forward a bit by the powerful nudge before turning around. Placing your hand on the nose of the animal, you gently scratched his forehead and neck, Jotaro smirking at you from the side.

“I told you he likes you.”

- - - -

Jotaro watched as you ran around the forest in awe.

Months ago, he had heard you talk about the last time you went to the forest. The sparkle and longing in your eyes as you did showed him how much you loved the collection of trees and he vowed back then to take you to one one day.

And he had to admit you were right, it was really pretty. Though, his eyes were mainly focused on you, not the forest.

With his left hand still holding onto Jojo’s lead, Jotaro followed with his horse as you frolicked through the trees, looking at every bush and plant as if it was your first time seeing green.

“Y/N, don’t stray too far!” He called out when he had to lead his horse around a closer cluster of trees that the large animal he was leading couldn’t fit through.

Walking around, Jotaro looked to where you had been, only to see you nowhere in sight. “Y/N?”

Walking forward, he looked around with furrowed brows, slight worry eating away at him in the pit of his stomach. Where did you go? He called your name once more, once again with no answer.

Suddenly, a pinecone hit him right on the nose, making him curse loudly.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I-!” Jotaro slowly raised his head up, following the sound of your voice to see you sitting in between the branches of a tree, your hand guiltily slapped in front of your mouth. Quietly muttering, “I didn’t meant to.”

“Ouch.” He pointedly spoke, holding direct eye contact with you and you quickly climbed out of the tree, jumping down the last bit by hanging off a branch and dropping a way too large drop for Jotaro’s liking before rushing over.

“I didn’t mean to hit you in the face, I just wanted to get you by surprise.” You apologised as you took his face into your hands, checking him over and gently running your thumb over the bridge of his nose where a very tiny chafe now marred the side.

“You’re shit at throwing things, you should know that by now.” Jotaro said and raised his eyebrow.

“Yeah...” You admitted with your head hung low before looking up at him through your lashes, looking a little bit like a kicked puppy. “Are you okay?”

“Y/N, I’ve been hit with a lot worse than a pinecone, especially with your weak throw.” He grabbed both your wrists, though he did not pull your hands away from his face, just simply holding you; Jojo’s leash now just hanging on his arm.

“Oi, now you’re just being mean.” You pouted and the corner of Jotaro’s mouth quirked up.

“I think I am allowed to. You assaulted me.”

“I said I was sorry!”

“But are you?”

“Yes!” You nearly shrieked out, Jotaro cocking his head a little to the side as he looked at you.

All of a sudden, you realised how close to each other you were standing, your nose mere centimeters from touching his.

Jotaro saw you visibly start as you pulled back a bit, an awkward smile on your face as you cleared your throat.

You took a step back, letting go of his face and bringing your arms down, though Jotaro was still holding your wrists.

“Well, at least you’re okay.” You smiled a bit while Jotaro looked at you, closing his eyes a second later as he released your wrists.

“You are a real problem sometimes, you know that?”

“Yeah, I think I do.” You giggled softly and Jotaro huffed in amusement.

“I’ll just have to keep an eye on you.”

With that, he grabbed hold of your left hand, pulling you to his side before starting to walk forward, having re-gripped the reins in his left so he could lead Jojo along.

Your eyes were slightly wide, a light blush on your face as you were dragged along with him.

Walking in step with the man next to you, your eyes were stuck between looking around and constantly honing back in on him. You couldn’t help it.

His hand was so confidently holding yours, a firm grip while he led you along through the forest.

Opting to just take it as it is, you went to look around again, a small blush on your cheeks while your eyes trailed up to the canopy of the trees, seeing two birds sitting side by side.

Suddenly, you tripped over a branch that got stuck between your feet, saved only by Jotaro’s hold on you as he quickly reacted and pulled your arm up, keeping you from face planting on the forest floor.

“T-Thanks.” You breathed out as you used his hand and arm to clumsily get yourself back on your feet.

Jotaro merely grunted in response but suddenly interlaced his fingers with yours, giving your hand a small squeeze. “Try not to trip again.”

You looked up at him in surprise but he was looking forward, his ears a slight red hue while most of his face was shadowed by his hat.

Opting to just stay silent, you looked around at the forest, simultaneously relishing inside your head as to how nicely Jotaro’s hand fit around yours, his fingers tightening and re-gripping your hand once.

Coming from all around, the sounds of the forest calmed your beating heart. Jojo’s hooves softly stomping on the forest floor - paired with your and Jotaro’s footsteps - birds chirping and singing to each other, the wind rushing through the canopies, rustling the leaves of the trees.

You thought that maybe you’d be disappointed when you came back here after years. That the memories you made as a younger you would have overblown and made things way more fantasised and pretty than it actually was; that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Silently, Jotaro watched you as you looked around. Your face was stuck in a constant state of awe, a happy glint in your eye that would not leave as you took in the forest around you, amazed and perplexed.

His heart was absolutely hammering in his chest as he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. He didn’t know if it was a conscious action on your part, but whenever you would see something that caught your attention, your fingers would twitch in excitement, giving his hand the gentlest of squeezes that made him way more flustered than he’d like to admit.

God, Jotaro had it down bad for you, and he didn’t know if he could keep his feelings in for much longer.

He had a hunch that you liked him back, but he wasn’t sure. And on the off chance that you didn’t like him back, was it worth the risk losing your friendship as it was now?

As he let his eyes drift to the side and away from you, he suddenly spotted something.

“Y/N.” He uttered your name as a mere whisper, making you turn your head with a questioning look as he brought his left hand to his lips, making a shushing motion.

Turning to his left, he quickly wrapped Jojo’s reins around a thick tree branch sticking out, leaving his horse tied down as he then quietly walked forward, taking you with him by the hand he was still holding you with. You got the hint to remain quiet and followed him as stealthily as possible.

Sneaking around trees, Jotaro made you crouch down low as he continued to lead you with him. Right up until you both sat down behind a fallen over log.

Once more motioning you to keep quiet, Jotaro lifted his hand and pointed a little bit to the right. You followed his arm to where he was pointing, only to see a cluster of wild deer standing there, grazing.

A small quiet gasp left you as you saw them and you turned to look at Jotaro, a giant smile on your face that made his heart skip a beat. He squeezed your hand in response and you tightly gripped his’ back while you looked at the animals again.

Just feeling you so tightly hold on, your shoulder touching his as you were crouched behind the fallen over log, there was nowhere else that Jotaro would rather be.

“Did you know fawns do not have a detectable smell? That way predators cannot smell and find them.” Jotaro quietly spoke up, having leaned a bit more into you to whisper that into your ear so that the deer would not get alerted by your presences.

“Really?” You questioned, almost with childlike wonder, and Jotaro nodded, the corners of his mouth quirking up ever so slightly, showing how content he was. “What else?” You questioned, hoping he knew more.

“Well, some deer have been seen eating infant birds, which is uncanny since deer are primarily herbivores.” Jotaro said that with a little hesitancy. He just said the first thing that came to mind, realising only once he said it how gruesome what he actually said was. But you were quick to put him at ease.

“Oh that’s nasty. I thought they were the nice animals.” You joked a bit as you turned back to watching the deer.

Reassured by your words, Jotaro continued. “Some mothers digest their foetuses if times are hard and she is malnourished.” By now, he was not looking at the deer at all anymore. Just watching your expressions as you looked at the animals and your reactions to the information he gave you. Wanting to see you react to his words, to him.

“How hard would surviving have to be if you need to resort to... that.” Jotaro watched as your brows furrowed a bit, your lips turning downwards some as you showed compassion for those deer that you most likely would never even cross paths with. “What else?” Your whisper was barely audible but Jotaro did hear and swallowed a bit nervously. Oh god, why was he nervous?

“Well, deer practice both polygamy as well as monogamy.” His eyes drifted down to your hands still entwined together, drifting back up after to see your reaction.

“Huh, I thought the bucks would just... get whatever female they can have.” You spoke, still looking entranced by the animals further ahead.

“No. Some- some mate for life.”

His words were accompanied by a soft squeeze of your hand and with that, you finally turned back to look at Jotaro. And right then and there he decided that; yes, it was worth it.

“Y/N.” He started as he turned to his right, now fully facing you, making you turn your body slightly toward him as well while he had his head tilted down, burning holes into the log to his left as he questioned himself. Was he really just gonna do it?

“Jotaro?” You questioned after a minute of silence.

Jotaro looked at the forest floor for a second longer before abruptly raising his head. “I’m in love with you.”

Blinking twice, it took a second before you recoiled a bit in shock, Jotaro looking right into your eyes as he said that, looking the most serious he could and only then did the words he spoke actually sink in. “...What?” You questioned with a breathless voice, your eyes wide.

“You heard me. I don’t want to say it again.” Jotaro leaned forward and grabbed your other hand as well, his eyes darting down to it and back up to your eyes.

He gently tugged you towards himself, placing your hand on his side before letting go and putting his left hand on the side of your face, his right still entwined with yours. Slowly, he started leaning in, searching your eyes to see what you were thinking.

“Jotaro?” You whispered softly, an unsure tone in your voice.

“Stop me if you don’t want it.” He quietly said back before leaning in fully, softly connecting his lips with yours as he closed his eyes.

Your eyes were wide as your brain tried to catch up with what was happening. But then, your eyes just fluttered closed and tentatively, you leaned into him, kissing back.

Feeling you kiss back, a massive weight got lifted from Jotaro’s shoulders and he wasted no time, eagerly sliding his hand from your jaw to the back of your head so he could pull you closer, deepening the kiss sweetly as he tilted his head a bit.

He had waited so long for this, and it was everything he had imagined it would be so many times. It was addicting. You were addicting. But this was one addiction he did not want to stop.

Your lips were just so soft and warm and the feeling of kissing you after all this time made that nervous flutter in his chest into a fire. With his hand still holding yours he squeezed softly, his lips continuing to move with yours before you squeezed back, making Jotaro hum a bit.

Slowly, the two of you broke apart, Jotaro returning his hand back to cupping your cheek, very gently running his thumb over your cheekbone as he took in your flushed face.

For the first time ever, a deep red blush was visible to you on his face as well, and just the thought of him blushing so much over you caused your own blush to burn even brighter.

The two of you just looked at each other in silence for a bit, stunned and letting sink in what actually just happened.

“Did you ever realise I was sweet on you?” Jotaro questioned after a bit and you shook your head, though your heart skipped a beat at his words. “You really are oblivious then.” He spoke but there was a small smile on his face, his thumb still rubbing back and forth. “Everyone else seemed to see it, even the brats you teach. But I guess it worked out for the best.” With that he lifted his right hand, turning it so that the back of your hand was facing him as he brought it up to his mouth. He didn’t outright press a kiss to it, just simply holding it there against his lips, but you felt butterflies crashing around in your stomach at the action.

“I-I’m sorry then.” You apologised but Jotaro clicked his tongue, bringing your hands down and finally untangling them as he instead brought it up to cradle your head, his eyes piercing into yours.

“Don’t ever apologise. I don’t want you to change, you don’t have to. Understood?”

You nodded a small nod, lost in his eyes as he wouldn’t look away.

“Good.” He fell into a small silence as his face shifted to appear a little warmer again. “Can- I kiss you again?”

“Yeah.” You smiled shyly and Jotaro’s gaze drifted down to your lips, slowly leaning forward-

Several thumps echoed through the forest and both your heads shot up to see the entire herd of deer suddenly springing and running away, rapidly moving in the direction of you and Jotaro before rushing past to the right, huffing and grunting slightly as they ran.

“W-Why did they do that?” You asked, having a hunch you did not like as the both of you quickly got up onto your feet properly.

“Something must have spooked them.” Jotaro remarked, scanning the tree line and you looked up at him with worry. “Let’s go, come on.”

You were about to start moving when harsh barks and growls echoed from behind you two, further into the forest.

Your eyes widened in fear but Jotaro wasted no time in grabbing your hand as he started running through the forest, back to where he left Jojo.

More barks sounded, getting louder as you ran and Jotaro whistled loudly, warning Jojo to get ready as the two of you ran towards the horse.

As soon as you reached the large animal, a howl sounded behind yourself and you gasped, starting to look behind you but not getting the chance to as Jotaro picked you up by your hips and lifted you onto the saddle.

Having a good view and vantage point now, you easily saw the pack of wolves running through the trees towards you while Jotaro quickly untangled the reins, throwing them over his horse’s neck before putting his foot into the stirrup.

“Jojo, go!” Jotaro shouted out, his left leg barely over the animal’s back as he pulled the reins to the right, the horse immediately reacting as all his muscles - that had been tensed in preparation - were now being utilised, the animal shooting forward as if an arrow out of a bow while Jotaro only still hung on the side.

And right on time, as the wolves reached you the moment Jojo began running, leaving them going in pursuit while Jotaro finished slinging his leg over the saddle, jamming his other foot into the stirrup.

The man behind you immediately stood up in the stirrups as Jojo accelerated into a gallop in just a few seconds. With his right arm around your waist, Jotaro lifted you up with him as well, holding you pressed firmly against his chest since you didn’t have the stirrups to stand in.

Leaning forward over the neck of the horse, you could feel Jotaro’s breath against your ear, the man’s warm chest pressed firmly against your back as he held you up and simultaneously tilted forward, providing as little air resistance as possible to run.

Horse hooves galloped over the dirt, the sounds heavy and thundering as Jojo ran at full speed through the forest, dodging trees left and right, branches breaking as the horse barrelled through underbrush.

The wolves growled and barked hard, nipping at the larger animal’s side when they could. “Come on, Jojo!” Jotaro shouted, the horse pushing just a bit harder and gaining on the canines.

Bursting through even more bushes, a thick fallen over tree suddenly blocked the way. Without missing a beat, Jojo vaulted over it, all the noise momentarily seemed to cease as you flew through the air, right up until the stallion crashed back onto the forest floor. Immediately, Jojo rushed on, sprinting ahead while the wolves jumped over the log as well, still in pursuit.

Wind rushed past, trees still being dodged left and right by the horse right up until he reached the edge of the forest, breaking through brush and running out, back onto the plains, the loud barks and growls of the wolves going in pursuit slowly dwindling and decreasing the farther away from the forest you got - the canines no longer finding it worth it to waste their energy by going in pursuit.

Jotaro chanced a glance behind as you continued to gallop away, seeing the wolves slow down and stop, just watching as you all ran away, becoming smaller and smaller with each second.

- - - -

After what felt like forever, Jotaro finally pulled on the reins, slowing Jojo into a canter before going into a trot and then a step, sitting back down in the saddle, bringing you down with him as well and finally letting go of his arm around your waist.

His breathing was slightly heavy as he pulled once more, coming to a complete stop.

Slightly turning around in the saddle and looking behind himself once more, there was no sign of the wolves and Jotaro let out a deep sigh, turning forward again and lifting his hat from his head to run a hand through his hair before putting it back on.

Putting one hand on your waist, Jotaro leaned forward and patted Jojo’s neck, calming the animal down as he praised it.

“That was, uh- that was- yeah, that was.” You concluded, just shortly laughing at the end, more to get rid of the nerves and adrenalin that had been shooting through your body than anything else.

“It was.” Jotaro chuckled softly as you looked back at him, just huffing a laugh of your own as you turned to look forward again, instead slumping back into Jotaro, leaning against him as you let out a deep sigh; Jotaro automatically placing his hands on your hips to hold you.

“It could’ve gone quite wrong had you and Jojo not been as fast as you were.” You took in a deep breath before sitting up straight again, figuring to not put all your weight on the man behind you. “I forgot that was the reason why my dad always carried a massive rifle when we used to go there.” You said but heard Jotaro ‘tch’ behind you as he let you go.

A disagreeing rumble sounded from in his chest. “There’s no need to shoot innocent animals just because they are hungry or feel threatened.”

“Thinking like that will easily get you into trouble, partner.” A new voice said, making you and Jotaro snap to attention, seeing a man with another rider behind him - both of them carrying rifles - walking up from behind, putting you both on high alert.

A snarl developed on Jotaro’s face as he crossed eyes with the man up front. “You. What do you want?”

Your eyes were slightly wide as you recognised him. He was the leader of the group of riders who had come to rob the church yesterday...

The man’s eyes glided from Jotaro, down to you, and back up while he circled around, and Jotaro didn’t like it one bit, snaking his right arm around your waist and discreetly yet protectively pulling you closer.

Looking behind himself from the corner of his eye, Jotaro took note of the other rider - he had hung back and was now walking his horse to stand behind Jojo - though his main focus remained on the man from yesterday.

“Well what kind of greeting is that? I see you still haven’t learnt some manners, boy. But then again, why would you?” The man from before grinned and Jotaro narrowed his eyes. While his friend was just a few meters behind, this outlaw was standing about seven meters away in front. “Do you have any guesses as to why we’re here?”

“...”

Jotaro didn’t say anything as he sized the other man up, a dangerous glare on his face, borderline scowl.

Seeing as Jotaro wasn’t answering, the man took it upon himself to do so, a suddenly dangerous aura around him, masked by mock politeness. “Let me get straight to the point then. You know what you did with your little stunt yesterday?” He cocked his head, trying to incite a physical response though he got none. “You humiliated me. Hurt my pride.” He placed his hand on his chest as if in hurt, looking down for a second before snapping his eyes open and staring into Jotaro’s eyes with an almost deranged look. “And I care about my pride. So I think I’ll hurt something you care about.”

Your eyes widened as the world seemed to slow down, the man pulling his revolver up and pointing it at straight you, the sound of a gun cocking behind yourselves as well.

Yet Jotaro was faster, signaling Jojo and making the horse spring into action on the command.

The giant black stallion bucked backward and slammed his hind legs into the rider standing behind himself, causing the man to be roughly kicked out of the saddle, instantly taken out of the fight by the harsh impact of the giant animal’s hooves on his temple and torso, his horse scaring and sprinting away simultaneously.

A gunshot sounded at the same time, a bullet whizzing just over your and Jotaro’s heads.

The leader had aimed for your head but due to Jojo bucking, you and Jotaro had leaned down, the bullet shooting past where your heads had just been.

Jojo landed back on all four of his legs and Jotaro kicked his belly, urging him to go, but the outlaw was quicker than Jotaro expected, him having already reloaded before the horse could even start to run.

You felt Jotaro’s hand on your waist tighten as he yanked you aside to the right just when a gunshot sounded.

Attempting to shield himself with his left arm, Jotaro let out a short shout in pain as the bullet seared through his flesh, shooting straight through the middle of his forearm and embedding itself right underneath his left clavicle.

“Jotaro!!” You called out in fear and Jotaro gritted his teeth, growling slightly as he let go of your waist after pulling you back up, yanking the reins to the left to make Jojo turn while he grabbed his gun from behind his back, aiming it at the man.

Said man had his gun pointed at Jotaro in a similar fashion, once more resulting in a stand off between the two.

“What’re you gonna do now that there ain’t no sheriff to come to your aid?” The outlaw smirked but Jotaro calmly stared down the barrel of the gun.

“Don’t need one.”

With that, he fired his gun while simultaneously making Jojo prance up, confusing the gang member enough to make his bullet go wide, only for the man to yelp as Jotaro’s bullet shot into his gun, making him drop the thing.

You fell back into Jotaro when the stallion suddenly got up on his hind legs, the young man letting out a pained grunt as you did, right before Jojo fell back down on all fours.

Jotaro wasted no time in slinging his right arm around your waist again to hold you, kicking his heels to make Jojo storm forward where Jotaro gave a signal for his horse to turn left with his foot, yanking his right leg out of the stirrup to instead harshly kick the outlaw out of his saddle.

Yelling in anger and pain as he fell, he was abruptly silenced as he got the wind knocked out of him by landing on the ground, his horse panicking and running away quick and fast.

With a groan he tilted his head up, seeing his gun lay on the ground not far from him and he quickly made a lunge for it, grabbing it with both hands yet freezing as he heard the heavy hoof-falls behind him step once, twice, before stopping. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Jotaro high atop his horse, a threatening image with the man’s only reassurance being the iron in his hands.

Jotaro, calm as could be, just simply drifted his eyes to the gun, acknowledging it before looking back into the eyes of the outlaw with a cold look.

“Try it. Let’s see who’s the fastest gun.”

The man’s breath hitched. There was no doubt or hesitation in Jotaro, his threatening glare pointed down as he challenged him

Everything seemed to quiet down and freeze for a second, the stare off between the two feeling like an eternity yet lasting no more than two seconds. But with nothing to lose, the outlaw suddenly hardened his stare and abruptly rolled onto his back, providing a dodging movement as he simultaneously brought his gun up, ready to fire haphazardly.

Yet Jotaro was two steps ahead of him, his gun already brought up, aimed, and the trigger pulled before the outlaw had even the chance to put his finger on it.

Jotaro’s bullet immediately shot through both of the man’s hands at the same time, since he was still holding his gun with both hands. His scream of pain echoed over the plains as he dropped his gun, unable to hold it any longer. Blood started bubbling from the wounds and he shakily brought his hands up to his face, stifled yells and pained noises leaving him as he snapped his head up with a venomous glare.

The glare dissipated into eyes widened in fear the moment Jotaro walked Jojo up next to the outlaw and stared directly down at him. There was a cold rage in his eyes that made the man’s breath hitch. “Never threaten her again.”

With that, Jotaro pointed his gun down and shot twice, one in each foot, not a single speck of remorse in him as the man screamed in pain before passing out from it.

- - - -

Jotaro was sitting on the ground with you in front of him.

“You’re so stupid.” You choked out, tears in your eyes as you slammed the bloodied cloth in your hand onto the dried grass.

“Y/N-“

“No!”

Jotaro shut up at that. He couldn’t recall if you had ever raised your voice at him, and now he just stared into your eyes, the tears you were holding back making them glassy while his eyebrows creased in worry, feeling as if he had to say at least something.

“...I can’t see you getting hurt.” He softly said, attempting to grab your hand, but that set you off.

“Oh, so that means I have to see you getting hurt?!” You called out and Jotaro stopped himself.

You were starting to get more and more upset and he needed to calm you down. Doing just that, Jotaro - not thinking clearly due to the pain and not knowing what else to do - just grabbed you by the back of your head with his right hand and pulled you towards himself, slamming his lips against yours, shutting you up.

Tears were now streaming down your face as he kissed you, a small sob leaving you and muffled by his mouth as you placed your left hand on his neck, feeling his warm skin under your palm as you just gave in.

Feeling you do that, Jotaro tentatively broke the kiss, pulling back only slightly before he placed his forehead to yours, you now trying to stifle your crying.

“Hey.” He softly spoke to try and get your attention and you opened your eyes, looking up to look into his. “I’m alright. The bullet didn’t even fully go into my chest, you know that, you pulled it out.”

“I-It was only halfway in.” You sniffled out with a nasally voice, Jotaro petting the back of your hair as he nodded briefly, the feeling a bit strange as he still held his forehead to yours.

“Exactly. So you don’t have to worry.”

“But your arm-!”

“-Will heal.” Jotaro finished for you, finally leaning back. “Right now let’s just get home.”

You sniffled once more and wiped the tears from your face with the fabric of your sleeve, your hands and wrists too stained with blood to use for that. “Once we’re back in town you’re going to a doctor.” You spoke out with a bit of a hoarse voice and Jotaro snorted softly in amusement, a slight smile on his face as he used his thumb to wipe away a last tear that you missed.

“I figured.”

You took a deep breath to reign in and steel your emotions, releasing it again as you focused back on his arm. His trenchcoat was partly off and you had rolled up his sleeve of the shirt he wore underneath it, still unnerved by the see-through hole that you knew sat underneath the improvised bandage, blood staining it from the profusely bleeding wound in his arm. “Don’t ever get into a fight on my behalf again.” You spoke as you picked up the cloth you had thrown into the grass earlier, starting to try and wipe away the blood you had accidentally got onto his neck.

‘It’s one of the only reasons I ever get into a fight.’ He thought to himself but instead shook his head slightly. “No promises.”

- - - -

With only slight effort Jotaro had gotten back into the saddle, you climbing into it yourself for the first time ever now that Jotaro wasn’t there to lift you before you could. He managed to get on behind you with one arm, grabbing hold of your hip afterwards given how you had already taken the reins.

Neither of you spoke much the entire ride back, yet every now and then, Jotaro would softly squeeze the hand on your hip. Comforting you even in silence.

Riding back into town, you immediately made way for the doctor’s, Jotaro rolling his eyes behind you at your stubbornness. If you had your eyes set on helping people, there really was no changing your mind.

“Y/N, you go to the sheriff’s and report what happened like we discussed.” Jotaro said to you as he carefully dismounted, making sure not to use his left side too much.

“What? No, I wanna go in with you.” You protested, looking a little hurt and Jotaro reached his good hand up to grab yours still on the reins.

“I’ll be fine. Those guys won’t stay there knocked out forever and you know it. You can come back after you’ve gone and reported it.” He said before slapping his horse’s neck twice. “C’mon, Jojo, go.”

With that, the horse started gently trotting and you looked back at Jotaro as you went further down the street. Concerned for the man as his figure got smaller and smaller before you saw it enter the doctor’s office.

Unfortunately, the sheriff’s was almost on the other side of town, so it might take a lot longer to come back than you would have liked.

- - - -

“Hello sheriff Miller.” You smiled a small awkward smile while the sheriff shot up from his seat, his eyebrows raised.

“What happened, darling? You’re covered in blood!” He walked forward, taking hold of your upper arm as he looked you over.

“Uhm, well you see, me and Jotaro- uh, Kujo, Jotaro Kujo, I mean - we were out riding when that gang from yesterday approached us. Two of them at least. And, well- let’s just say things got ugly...”

“Are you both alright?” The sheriff immediately asked and you swallowed.

“Sort of. Jotaro got shot.” You teared up a bit but shook your head when the sheriff placed his hand on your shoulder. “But he’s at the doctor now and I came here to say that the two men who attacked us are knocked out on the road to the forest to the north of here. Almost directly next to the forest.”

“They’re knocked out?” At that the sheriff raised his eyebrows and you nodded.

“One got kicked by a horse, the other got shot.” You said but quickly held your hand up when the sheriff furrowed his eyebrows. “U-Uh, but only in his hands and feet! Jotaro didn’t kill him! It was all in self defence! Really!” You frantically called out while sheriff Miller straightened up, looking down at you with a stern expression.

- - - -

“The guy and the gang he was a part of apparently have a bounty on their heads, so you won’t see any consequences for shooting a man.”

You were walking side by side with Jotaro, you on his left, and Jojo having to be on his right so he could lead his horse with his good hand.

Jotaro hummed in response to you as you walked the road back to your home, Jotaro insisting that he escort you there.

His arm was now in a sling, the wounds nicely and cleanly stitched and wrapped up and you felt a lot better seeing that - even though he lost quite some blood - he was walking as if totally fine.

You just wished things could have gone differently. This day took a nosedive from being one of the best in your life, over to one of the worst, with someone you care deeply about being shot. Oh god, you confessed to Jotaro. And he confessed to you. You totally forgot in all the chaos. What if-

“What are you thinking about?”

“Eh?” You snapped out of your thoughts, looking to your right to see Jotaro looking down at you curiously. “Oh, just... today.”

“Mhm.” He hummed, looking forward again, as if contemplating it.

“I just... I’m sorry.” You whispered and Jotaro turned to you with a raised eyebrow.

“Why are you apologising?”

“Because you got hurt and-“

“Is it your fault I got shot?”

“W-Well, no, not exactly I guess-“

Jotaro stopped walking and instead turned to you, taking hold of your chin and turning your head towards himself. “Exactly.” Your eyes were so innocent and you looked like you felt so guilty despite what he said, making Jotaro slowly blink and sigh as he closed his eyes briefly.

A quick glance into the street showed it was rather empty, and Jotaro snaked his good arm around your waist, pulling you into himself.

“Y/N-“

Just deciding ‘fuck it’, Jotaro wasted no more time with idle talk and slotted his lips over yours.

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3

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

@stingray-sins

[reidsnose]

Young and Beautiful

overview: spencer and reader spend the day together and feel like little kids again

genre: fluff

a/n: ok i think this concept is so cute but i feel like i wrote it dumb LMAO but its fine i'm excited tho lmk if y'all like it at all :)

masterlist

-

the setting sun peaked through the trees as you and Spencer walked around aimlessly. it wasn't often that you had days off, let alone enough to spend together. and the city was curiously empty, the usual bustle of the day having died down by evening. most people are itching to go home on a random Wednesday night.

"i really don't like the look of those clouds y/n." Spencer warned, pointing towards a large, dark gray cloud.

"i already told you i checked the weather and they said no rain!" you countered, though you had to admit the cloud looked pretty hefty. "it will probably just pass us over."

he hummed a hesitant agreement and carried on with the conversation you two were having. you looked around as the two of you talked, taking in the peace of the moment. the light breeze, the the hum of distant cars as you neared a park, the way the sunlight sparkled in Spencer's eyes as he talked, a golden tint covering the world around you.

he watched you soaking up the beauty around you, wondering if you ever saw your own. you were truly the most beautiful person alive. inside and out. he smiled to himself as your eyes lingering on the empty playground.

"you wanna go to the playground?" he asked, your eyes lighting up.

"is that weird? like were fully adults why is that twisty slide calling my name?" you giggled.

in a surge of confidence, he grabbed your hand and started running towards the playground with you, the rouge on your cheeks masked by the flush of a quick run. when he was around you, he felt like a kid again. you did too.

you tried not to think about how your hand tingled from holding his. it was only a couple of seconds and probably meant nothing, but you couldn't shed that wonderful feeling.

you guys raced to the slide, giggling like a bunch of school kids at recess. he beat you to the twisty slide, climbing quickly to the top and sliding down head first right off the end. you followed immediately after, arms stretched in front of you like superman and landing on the floor next to him.

"God, this reminds me of making a 'best friend' every time i went to the playground as a kid," you laughed, standing up and offering him a hand.

"cant say i relate to that," he chuckled, grabbing your outstretched hand and hoisting himself off the ground, sending a surge of electricity through his veins.

"oh come on! you never met another kid at the park and you two swore to be best friends forever and then never saw each other again?"

"nope," he replied, popping the p, "i didn't go to the playground much when i was little, nor was i the most sociable kid."

"hmm..." you hummed, "well i think you need to experience that."

he chuckled, but this time it was your turn to grab his hand and lead him somewhere. you two ran to get under the jungle gym, his long legs struggling to fit underneath.

"what are we doing under here?" he laughed, grunting as he pulled on his legs so he could sit criss cross.

"you're making your first ever playground best friend." you answered simply, sticking out your pinky. "do you...state your full name.."

"Spencer Walter Reid." he laughed, looping his pinky with yours.

"do you Spencer Walter Reid pinky promise that we will be best friends forever and ever?" you asked, trying hard to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

"i do." he answered, shaking your intertwined pinkies up and down after he was met with silence.

"ok now ask me," you whispered.

"do you...state your full name.." he echoed.

"y/f/n." you giggled.

"do you y/f/n pinky promise that we will be best friends forever and ever?" he asked, stifling a smile.

"i do." you answered, pinkies still linked in front of you.

"ok now what?" he whispered.

"by the power vested in me by this playground, i now pronounce us best friends forever. we may now kiss our thumbs." you announced.

he laughed confused and you both leaned in, pecking your own thumbs on the pinky promise hand, only the distance of your linked hands between your lips.

he blurted a fact on the history of kissing, how it was used in the olden days to seal the deal. he also mentioned how all the pinky promises he's ever done never involved him kissing his thumb, you laughed and said that it must be a Vegas thing.

you two used just about every piece of playground equipment, truly feeling like little kids again. giggling and screaming and being immature, your inner children completely taking over.

a clap of thunder interrupted you two while taking turns jumping off of the swings. your eyes grew wide as you looked at each other, recalling how you swore it wasn't going to rain.

just as you opened your mouth to say it still might not rain, it started absolutely pouring. the both of you were drenched in seconds, grabbing haphazardly onto eachothers hands and breaking out into a sprint, running as fast as both of you could in the direction of Spencer's apartment (which was much closer than yours).

but he did not have the long distance endurance, and to be honest neither did you and after a few minutes of running, you guys were still about half a mile away, huffing and puffing and soaking wet.

Spencer wasn't sure if most of his breath was lost from running, or from holding onto you this long. maybe a mix of both?

"lets just walk! were soaked already so who cares!" he shouted over the pitter patter of the storm, still hand and hand with you.

"who are you and what have you done with Spencer," you laughed, lifting your joined hands above you and twirling underneath.

he only chuckled a response, this time he lifted your intertwined hands allowing you to twirl again, humming a classical piece horribly off key.

the two of you started dancing down the sidewalk, spinning and jumping and swaying and leaping and laughing til you could barely stand. his lanky limbs flying left and right as you took turns humming different styles of music, even opting for an Irish jig at one point. and all in the pouring rain.

this was arguably the most fun either of you had ever had and we all know what happens to time when you're enjoying yourself. before you knew it you guys had arrived at his apartment.

water dripped from the both of you as you ran up the stairs, slipping and sliding all over the place.

"let me give you some of my clothes to change into so you don't have to drive home all soaked," he offered, unlocking the door and beckoning you to come inside.

"thanks bestie," you giggled, suppressing a shiver as you stepped inside.

he grabbed two towels, handing you one as you followed him into his room and watched him searching his dresser for something to give you.

he gave you a pair of sweatpants and told you to pick any sweater you wanted, causing you both to turn a deep shade of red as you realized you were sharing clothes.

he grabbed some clothes for himself and went to go change in the bathroom, letting you use his bedroom for more privacy. it was always the little things he did for you that made your heart burst.

you pulled his sweater over your head, taking in the smell of him that lingered on it. you smiled to yourself as you did, realizing you're already close enough with him to recognize it.

you finished changing and walked out of his room, seeing him reading on his couch, lounging in comfy clothes.

the sight of you in his clothes left him speechless, he imagined if you two were dating this might be a common occurrence. he shook his head of the thought and stood up as you offered him a smile, grabbing your keys off of the counter.

"thank you for today Spencer, it was.." you looked up at him trying not to get lost in his eyes, "..so much fun."

"thank you for making me feel like a kid again, there aren't many people who can do that. i don't know what i would do without you" he smiled, stepping slightly closer to you.

you couldn't believe your ears, or what was about to come toppling out of your mouth. he was just being so sweet and sentimental, your brain short circuited.

"love you forever." you blurted, feeling heat rise to your cheeks.

to your surprise (and delight), he stuck out his pinky, which you gladly looped with your own.

"love you more." he professed, leaning in to kiss his thumb.

him admitting this gave you an incredible rush of confidence and as you both went in to seal the deal of the pinky promise, you tightened your pinky with his and pulled your hands down, pecking his lips with your own.

it was a quick kiss but you still felt like you were on top of the world.

Spencer barely had time to process what had happened before it was already over. he couldn't believe it. the perfect kiss with the most perfect girl and he nearly missed it.

he pulled you back for one more, slightly longer kiss, just to make sure. you both smiled into it, floating around on cloud nine.

you pulled away and smiled widely at his lovesick face before giving a small wave and walking out the door, scampering down the stairs and out to your parked car.

he snapped out of his daze and ran to the window, waving goodbye to you with the worlds dopiest smile on his face. it dropped suddenly as he realized he never truly asked you out on a date.

"y/n!" he called from the window. you looked back up at him and waved, "do you wanna go out this weekend?"

you laughed before calling back at him, "its a date!"

-

-

ultra mega super cool taglist

@mac99martin @imhreid @spencersmagic @hollydaisy23 @raelady1184 @a-broken-pact @padfootswife @hey-there-angels @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos @sonnydoesrandomshit @averyhotchner @laurakirsten0502 @reidyoulikeabook @rem-ariiana @spencerreid9 @vampire-overlord @takeyourleap-of-faith @spenxerslut @violetspoetic @aperrywilliams @b-a-utiful @eevee0722 @srhxpci @reidemandweep @imdefinitelyfloating @random-human-person @gurkiloni @luvspence @calm-and-doctor @ssavanessa22 @singularityjc @sydnee-kom-spacekru

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels