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dreamerstreamer · 4 years ago

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Into The Woods

Pairing: werewolf!Dream / Clay x human!gn!reader

Summary: [Werewolf!AU] It’s love at first sight when you move into a quaint, little house by the forest’s edge, but you soon find that there’s more waiting for you in the woods than you originally thought.

Word Count: 10k

A/N: my third commissioned story! this work has been altered so everyone can read it, but the plot remains the same. this story was a blast to write, and i hope you all enjoy it! <3

With a step back and a firm tug, the back door slammed shut with a satisfying click. You grinned as you turned the key in the lock. Slipping the silver keyring into your pocket, you turned on your heel, your gaze sweeping over the vast open forest that stretched out before you. Viridian green leaves loomed over the earth, standing in stark contrast to the clear, cerulean blue sky that stretched across the horizon overhead. On the ground below, the occasional wildflower sprouted up and out of the earth, their soft petals shyly unfurling and fluttering in the warm summer breeze.

For such a lovely view, you never would have guessed that you would be able to afford a place like this for so cheap.

Then again, Elmwood Ridge wasn’t a particularly notable town. Best known for its countless acres of elm forests and the large lake that laid at its centre, the town had become something of a nature reserve unto itself, despite being anything but. It was a quiet, quaint region, somewhere you had always distantly dreamed of visiting, if only because of its peaceful atmosphere. You never thought that you would end up living there, though.

It had been a split second decision made on impulse, and looking back, maybe it wasn’t the smartest move you’d ever made, but you didn’t regret one bit. Your new house was two stories tall and built with lovely stone bricks that looked like they came right out of a fairytale. The triangular sloping roof hung just over the sides of the house to provide some shelter from the rain, and the second floor had two balconies—one in the front and the back. Needless to say, you were sold in a heartbeat. Not only was the house pretty, but so was the price tag. You vaguely remembered hearing something about complaints of noisy wolves in the forest, but you weren't deterred. A little noise never killed anyone, and you were more than happy to share your space with nature.

Hopping down the back steps, you gently tread across the soft grass, careful not to step on any flowers as you walked. After moving in two days ago, you had planned to take the day off to hike and learn all that you could about your new backyard. You would head into town tomorrow and look for a job then—right now, all you wanted to do was explore and appreciate your new home.

Gazing up at the rustling elm leaves one last time, you smiled to yourself before stepping out of your lawn and into the forest.

In the distance, a faint howl rang out across the trees.

Between stretches of chestnut wood, a flash of tawny brown and golden fur dashed across the earth, powerful paws pushing off the ground with each leap. Landing atop a fallen log, the wolf raised his head, his muzzle raised toward the sky as he inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring.

Fresh. Clean. Warm. The faintest scent of flowers.

He exhaled, emerald eyes blinking as he scanned the open forest around him.

Carrying out routine morning patrols around the pack’s territory was one of the alpha’s many duties, but Clay still wasn’t quite used to it.

Stepping down from the log, he let his tongue hang out of his mouth, his ears flicking as he took in every sound. Somewhere above him, a bird flapped its wings, chirping as it took flight. Along the breeze, he could pick up the distant scent of deer coming from the south. His eyes flashed at the smell. He would have to report that to the pack when he returned—it had been a few days since they last had a large hunt. Sniffing one last time, he began weaving between the looming trunks, his entire body rapt with focus.

He had only been appointed as alpha a little less than a month ago, and although he had technically been taught the ropes, it took more than just a few lessons for a wolf to truly become alpha. He could still remember how the former alpha had pressed his nose to his side, nudging him onto the rock peak in front of his pack with an aging howl. He had been getting older, and everyone knew it—it was only a matter of time until a new leader was selected, but Clay never would have dreamt he would be the one who was chosen.

Only a few people were as surprised as he was, though. He was one of the larger wolves in the pack, and while he wasn’t the tallest in his human form—that title belonged to the young, curious Ranboo—he was by far the strongest, having led more than his fair share of hunts before. It was only natural that he ended up in his position, and he was welcomed into the upper ranks with open arms.

A glimmer of warmth washed over him at the memory, and he would have smiled if he wasn’t shifted. He had never felt such pride before, feeling everyone’s excited gazes on him as he howled up at the gleaming, full moon. The shouts that filled the starry night sky made his heart swell in his chest, and he just knew he was going to do his best to make everyone proud. He would protect them to the ends of the earth, if he had to.

Kicking away a stray branch, his eyes quickly flicked over his surroundings. He recognized this area, and he knew that he had almost completed a full circle around the pack’s perimeter, by now. There was only a tiny stretch left before he would return to the camp and fill everyone in. Raising his head, he let his jaw fall open to catch any aromas that travelled along the breeze.

All of a sudden, a new scent wafted over his nose, an unsettling sense of unfamiliarity striking deep within his core.

There was something in the woods—something that did not belong here.

In an instant, Clay’s lips were pulled back in a snark, his sharp canines bared as he sank his paws into the soil below. His claws latched onto the dirt, his grip firm and unwavering as he pressed himself closer to the ground, careful not to let his scent travel in the air.

They weren’t common, but every now and then, hunters would venture into the woods with their heads held high and guns drawn. Most of them came hunting for game, shooting down the occasional deer or elk to bring back to their own families. Clay didn’t have a problem with those hunters, but as for the ones who came in search of wolves?

Clay wasn’t sure he could be so lenient with those ones.

Prowling forward, he kept his haunches low, his tail brushing over the shrubbery as he took step after step toward the strange, new scent. Ever so slowly, he crept closer, his pupils dilated in focus. Suddenly, he stopped, freezing in place.

He could hear footsteps.

Inhaling deeply, he let his eyelids fall shut.

One, two, three...

His eyes shot wide open, and he whipped his head up, only to go stock still as a silhouette came into view.

It was a person, a regular person.

He blinked as he lifted his head, his expression growing neutral as he watched you crouch down to examine a small pile of stones stacked beside a tree, one that he vaguely remembered being made by Tommy and Tubbo when they went exploring a few weeks ago. There was no gun strapped to your body, no pack hanging off your hips as you rose back up to your feet. You didn’t seem to be a threat at all, and from the back, he couldn’t tell if you were even carrying a weapon.

Just then, you turned to the side, and he felt his breath hitch in his throat.

The world suddenly fell away, his surroundings melting into nothing more than a hazy blur as his eyes locked onto your face. His heart came to a screeching halt in his chest.

You were beautiful.

The light framing your lovely face made your cheeks seem all the more lively as you rose. He watched as you brushed your fingers delicately over the bark of a tree, your brilliant eyes meticulously tracing over the curve of every leaf as you walked past. Your feet never lingered in one place for long, constantly moving and skittering across the forest floor like a rippling stream. It was almost as though your every movement cast streaks of dappled sunlight everywhere you stepped, the marvelling spark flickering in your gaze making his head spin with wild abandon.

Clay felt something warm and tight curl against his insides, unmistakably soft and affectionate. It was almost hard to breathe with the way his lungs squeezed and shook behind his ribs. He hadn’t felt this feeling before, but he had heard enough stories to know exactly what it was.

His mate—you were his mate.

There wasn’t any one way to truly describe what a mating bond was, but the most commonly accepted one was that it was a connection that tied people’s souls together, uniting them in perfect harmony. Every werewolf had a mate, and most of the time, they would find their mate in another one of their kind. But right now, as Clay stood in the forest, his gaze glued to the most beautiful human he had ever laid eyes on, he knew that he wasn’t going to find his mate in some other shifter like everyone else had said he would.

Having a human for a mate was rare at best, and unheard of at worst. After all, not every human had a mate, and he had heard stories of shifters being rejected by their human mates. Some of the elders in the camp still refused to believe that having a human mate was even possible, but nearly all of the younger shifters had accepted it—embraced it, even. But never in his pack, at least, had someone learned that their mate was a human.

It looked like he was going to be the first.

For a few long moments, he simply stood there, watching you silently with wide eyes as you slowly made your way deeper down the path. A part of him wanted to chase after you, yearned to walk by your side for as long as his legs would let him. But as soon as he raised his paw, he quickly lowered it again, a pang of guilt shooting through him.

He couldn’t go up to you—not like this, and most certainly not now. He didn’t have nearly enough experience under his belt as an alpha yet, and bringing you to his world could just make everything even worse if he wasn’t careful about it. He swallowed, taking a single step back as you slowly slipped out of view, disappearing into the trees and carrying your lovely scent away with you.

Anxiety gnawed at the inside of his gut, and he couldn’t help but wonder if you would even return. Surely you must live around here to be hiking in these woods—maybe you would hike here again, if not even more often.

He paused, then nodded to himself before whipping around, his tail swishing behind him as he clenched his jaw.

Tomorrow. He would come back tomorrow.

A few feet deeper within the trees, the sound of a stick snapping shattered the forest’s silence.

Along the lightly-treaded path, you whirled, your head pointing toward the sharp sound. Pausing, you raised your head, your gaze darting to the forest canopy above. The sun peaked down at you between swaths of vibrant green, and you squinted, raising a hand to shield your eyes. The trees remained quiet around you, only whispering with the soft rustles of their leaves.

A moment passed in silence. A robin warbled.

You let out a long exhale and shook your head. Turning once more, you stepped over a small crack in the ground, humming as you walked further into the woods.

It was probably nothing.

Sapnap grunted as he dropped the pile of sticks onto the ground, the wood clattering at his feet in a heap. He scowled at the sight, resisting the urge to kick the pile down. He couldn’t believe Wilbur had actually tricked him into doing something as simple as collecting firewood. It wasn’t difficult or anything, but he was the beta, for crying out loud! He could have at least passed the buck to someone like Tommy, that brat.

“Sapnap.”

Sapnap blinked at the familiar voice, turning to find himself standing face to face with Clay. His dirty blond hair was disheveled atop his head, and his cheeks were flushed with heat. A smile tugged on his lips at the sight. “Oh, hey, Clay. Welcome back.” He squinted at the way Clay’s chest heaved, his breaths coming out shaky and uneven. “Um, you good, there? Did you run back here or somethi—”

“It happened,” Clay blurted.

Sapnap blinked, raising a single brow at him. “What happened?”

Clay swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I met my mate.”

Sapnap paused. “Oh. Oh.” A wide grin stretched across his face, and he reached over to clap a hand to Clay’s back. “That’s awesome, man! I’m guessing it happened on your patro—”

“My mate’s human,” Clay said suddenly.

Sapnap paused again. “Oh. Oh.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Clay’s shoulders went slack at his side as he ran a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his scalp. “I, um,” he said, his words coming out in a hazy rush. “I don’t think I’m ready to—” He stopped, feeling Sapnap’s patient gaze rest on him, then opened his mouth, again. “I can’t just reveal our world so soon. I’ve only been alpha for what?” He gestured vaguely. “A month? I’m not experienced enough, yet.” He slumped forward, a hollow, wistful look settling onto his features. “It would be too much for both of us.”

Sapnap nodded thoughtfully, understanding flooding his face. “It’s okay, Clay. Take your time.” He fell silent for a brief moment, then quietly added, “Did you reveal yourself or anything?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. I was too surprised to even move.”

Sapnap’s lips quirked up into a tiny smile. “Then there’s no rush,” he said. “You’re allowed to build up your confidence first, dude. Your confidence as a wolf. As an alpha.” His eyes flashed with soft reassurance. “As a mate.”

Clay raised his head, blinking as Sapnap gently nudged his shoulder with his. “You can do this. Plus,” he added, his tone growing more lighthearted, “I’m your beta. You know I’ve got your back.”

The chuckle that escaped Clay’s lips was low and short, but he could already feel the tension seep out his shoulders like a leaking dam. “Thanks, Sap.”

Taking a step back, Sapnap hummed, offering him a lopsided smile. “Anytime.”

Clay turned on his heel, jerking his head toward the centre of the camp. “Well, I need to organize today’s hunt, but I’ll catch you later. I trust you’ll keep things under control while I’m gone.”

He nodded. “Of course—you know me.” With a short wave and a small grin, Clay began walking off in the opposite direction. “Oh, also,” Sapnap suddenly shouted after him, “don’t forget to grab something to eat before you go hunting today, yeah? I know you missed breakfast.”

Clay didn’t look behind him as he shot a thumbs up at Sapnap from behind his back, but Sapnap could already picture the way he would roll his eyes with a smile. Shaking his head, he turned back to the firewood scattered around his feet, a new glower creeping onto his face.

He was so getting back at Wilbur for this.

Every morning after, Clay dutifully woke up early and strolled deep into the woods, shifted into his wolf form as he scented the air and patrolled the area just as any good alpha would. But time and time again, that one sweet scent never seemed to return, almost as though it had vanished from the forest entirely. At times, he thought he caught the faintest whiff of it, but some further exploration would only reveal a small patch of flowers, never you.

Needless to say, his disappointment was palpable.

It had been a full week now, and Clay was running out of hope. Maybe he was wrong—maybe you wouldn’t ever come back. His heart ached at the thought.

He had been too hasty, wasn’t he?

Hanging his head, he whimpered to himself in the quiet forest, sniffing absentmindedly as he ambled about almost aimlessly. He still had a duty to fulfill, he knew, but he couldn’t ignore the empty feeling burrowing deeper and deeper into his chest.

But right then, just as he paced another few feet forward, he heard it.

A melody.

It was soft, the singing travelling down from the west in a distant murmur, or perhaps a hum. If he hadn’t been paying attention, he surely would have missed it. He didn’t know this song, didn’t recognize it one bit, but he could already tell that it was sweeter than any thrush’s song or any loon’s call. He felt his heart flip in his chest, and just like that, he knew.

In a flash, he was racing across the earth, his paws flying out beneath him in a blur as he ducked under branches and darted past deer, missing the way they startled at his sudden approach. The song was louder now, and he could smell it—smell you.

It was only a few seconds later that he came to a stop, his paws digging into the ground as his heart leapt into his throat.

Soft hair. Bright eyes. A dazzling grin.

You were back.

You had headphones on this time, he realized, and you were humming aloud to yourself, your feet most likely moving in time to the beat of whatever song you were listening to. You were a little off-key and occasionally stumbled over the refrain as it came around, but he found himself entranced nonetheless. Even when you were doing something as simple as humming, you were stunning.

Why come back today of all days? he distantly wondered to himself. What made today so different from any other day?

He wracked his mind as he felt the sun shine down on him gently, warming his back as he crouched down a little. He rarely kept track of the days—that was Sapnap’s job—but he knew that there hadn’t been any special events or holidays going on in the human world. Pressing his ears flat against his head, he scratched his paw at the ground in confusion. Just what made today so special?

That was when the realization slammed into him.

It had been a week since he last saw you.

Once a week—you must hike here once a week.

If he could smile in this form, he already knew that he would have the biggest, stupidest grin plastered to his face. He wanted to leap for joy and howl like there was no tomorrow, but he didn’t want to alert you of his presence just yet. Again, it had only been a week, and he was still far from being a worthy mate for you.

Once a week, he thought once more, his eyes glued to you as you skipped further down the trail and out of his sight. I can wait another week.

The wind sang in his ears as a gentle breeze brushed over his tawny fur, the forest murmuring a silent lullaby into his ear as he whirled back around. As much as he wanted to stay with you forever, he had a patrol to finish and a pack to defend. He let his eyelids flutter shut for the briefest of moments, your face engraved into the rosy crevices of his heart as your humming filled his ears once more.

He couldn’t wait to see you, again.

One week later, you grumbled to yourself as you stomped through the woods, complaining about your new job under your breath. Clay wished he could comfort you, but stayed put with his claws buried in the dirt.

Two weeks later, you watched with wide eyes as a doe and her fawn drank from a nearby stream. He made sure not to hunt those two down in particular later that week.

Three weeks later, you were snapping photo after photo with the camera hanging around your neck, your eyes absolutely brimming with curiosity. He thought you were prettier than any view the forest had to offer.

As one week stumbled into the next, the months began to pass in a blur. Summer collapsed into autumn as the leaves turned gorgeous shades of crimson red and golden orange before tumbling from the sky. Shortly after that, the forest was covered in a blanket of ivory white snow, leaving the branches bare and awaiting the return of spring. The snow soon melted into rain, and puddles littered the forest floor while flowers began to bud and bloom once more. In almost a whirlwind of seasons and waiting, summer rolled around once more, marking the first anniversary of your arrival in Elmwood Ridge.

With each passing season, Clay continued to watch you from afar with a tender gaze. Some days, he would listen to you hum as you trekked along while other times, he would only manage to catch the tiniest of glimpses of you between the trees. No matter how short the instance was, every second he got was well worth the wait, and Clay could feel his affection bloom like a new spring flower. As the trees grew larger, as did his confidence. Time was the best teacher the forest had to offer, and it didn’t take much longer for Clay to grow comfortable with his duty as the alpha of his pack. But despite his newfound strength, he still didn’t feel ready enough to approach you outright, to reveal himself to you as he was. Doubt swirled in his mind like a raging storm, eating away at him like a gnat digging through mud.

He was beginning to fear he may never be ready.

Lifting his head, he sniffed the air, the now familiar scent of his mate drifting across the new summer breeze. You were taking a new path today, he noted in an instant. Perhaps you were doing some exploring.

Padding through the trees, leaves crunched beneath his feet as he leapt over logs and puddles, following after your scent as it grew stronger and stronger. It only took a few moments for him to find you standing atop an elevated rock face, your head lifted as you gazed up at the light scattered between the tree leaves. Your face almost seemed to be glowing in the pale, morning sunshine, your eyes looking like two dewdrops as they curved into tiny crescents. Clay’s heart rattled in his chest, and he resisted the urge to howl to the heavens above.

You were lovely, his mate. If only he could work up the courage to properly tell you.

Basking in the sunlight, he watched as you took a few steps forward closer to the cliff’s edge, your eyes still trained on the sky above. It wasn’t a terribly deep fall, he knew, but the fall was most certainly far enough to hurt someone if they fell at the wrong angle. He narrowed his eyes as you stopped dangerously close to the edge, halting just a few inches from the drop. Surely the stone was strong enough to support your weight, even as old as it was, right?

Apparently not.

Clay saw the cliff crumble before you did.

Terror shot through his body like a bullet as he watched the rock face collapse under your shoes, your feet tumbling out beneath you. Your hands desperately reached for the cliff face, but he could tell from the way your scream cut through the forest’s silence like a sharpened blade that you weren't going to be able to grab it in time.

There was no time for him to think—his body moved first.

In one moment, he was standing with his mouth slack and his emerald eyes blown wide with horror. In the next, he was lunging across the rock face, his jaws wide open as he reached for the lower collar of your shirt. The moment he felt his nose brush against the back of your neck, he snapped his jaws shut, careful not to pierce your skin with his sharp canines as the cloth caught between his teeth. Your weight bounced beneath him once, and the gasp that escaped your lips made his head spin dizzily.

Close—you were so close, and your scent was intoxicating.

You turned your head ever so slightly, and he felt it the moment your eyes locked onto his. You were scared, he could tell, but as you took in the sight of the wolf holding onto you, you almost seemed to relax in his grip. Planting his paws firmly against the rocky earth, he tugged his jaw up and backwards, pulling you away from the cliff face and over even ground. Your hands scrambled to latch onto the cliff edge, helping to pull yourself up until finally, he let go of you, your now torn collar resting against the back of your neck.

Heaving a sigh of relief, you let yourself collapse against the rock face, lying on your back as you gasped for breath. Your chest felt tight like a wound-up spring, and adrenaline pumped through every vein in your body, yet you felt oddly calm. After a minute or two, you slowly pushed yourself forward on your arms until you were just barely slouching forward, looking over your shoulder. A few feet away from you, the wolf stood, his eyes trained intently on your face as you swallowed.

“Um,” you breathed, your eyes desperately scanning him up and down. “Hello?”

He didn’t say anything in return, simply shuffling further away from you. He was giving you space, you realized after a brief moment, and you blinked as you scrambled to sit completely upright. His fur was a soft, golden brown, and you had half the mind to distantly think that you wanted to run your fingers through it. Something about him seemed comforting like that.

“Hi,” you whispered once you were seeing him eye-to-eye. “Ah, um, thank you for saving me.”

Maybe you were just imagining it, but you could have sworn his eyes widened in an almost human-like manner. He didn’t move from his spot a few feet away from you, and you swallowed. You thought you would be more scared than this, more terrified of the beast standing before you. But as you sat there, watching as he blinked at you, you felt as though you were anything but. An unfamiliar yet strangely comforting warmth curled around in the pit of your stomach as you tilted your head at the wolf.

He felt so... safe. So familiar, almost like you had met him before.

“Are—are you a nice wolf?” you asked after another moment, your voice faltering the tiniest bit. “I’d like to think you’re a nice wolf, since you just saved my life.”

Once again, you were greeted by silence, the only indication that he had heard you at all being the way his ears flicked. What am I doing? you suddenly thought, your mind running at a million miles a minute. I’m talking to a wolf—an animal. I’m not a Disney character.

This was weird—or at least it was supposed to be. Yet, as you stared at this wolf who simply stared back at you with these bright, stunning green eyes, you couldn’t help but feel that everything in this moment was just perfect. Like you had been waiting your entire life for this moment to happen.

“You’re really pretty,” you suddenly blurted. In an instant, you were slamming your palm over your mouth, your cheeks flooding with heat. “Oh my god, that was embarrassing,” you murmured, your voice coming out muffled. “I’m sorry.”

Your heart hammered against your ribcage like a caged bird begging to be let out, and ever so slowly, you lowered your hands from your mouth, offering the wolf a shaky, sheepish smile. “Um, thank you, again,” you said gently, honestly. Leaning forward, you pressed your hands against the cool stone to balance yourself, your fingers digging into the rock as you spoke. “I don’t really know how you knew I was there or how you knew I was going to fall, but I really appreciate it.”

The wolf blinked at you once more, then took another step back, subtly dipping his head. Your smile widened at the sight. Pushing yourself upward, you rose to your feet, brushing off the dust from your frontside before standing upright, fidgeting almost nervously.

“I—I,” you stammered, suddenly feeling awkward, “I think I’m going to go home now, but...” You swallowed, raising your hand in a small wave as heat rose in your chest. “...thank you so much, again!”

Before the warmth in your heart could burst, you whipped around, sprinting away as fast as your legs could take you. You didn’t see the way the wolf practically crumbled into a ball on the ground, whimpering to himself as you disappeared out of sight.

Bolting down the hill and past the trees, branches blew past you in a blur as you dashed between the trunks and over patches of wildflowers. Your heartbeat pounded in your ears like a beating drum, and your chest felt oddly light. You couldn’t shake the memory of how intense that wolf’s gaze had been on yours, his eyes swirling with something that made your stomach churn and your mouth go dry.

He really was pretty.

Sapnap yawned as he stretched his arm behind his back and above his head, rolling his neck as the joint popped back into place with a satisfying crack. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept in like this, but he did not regret it one bit. Clay had given him the okay, after all. One late morning wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Sapnap, you are not going to believe this.”

Sapnap yelped, whipping around with eyes as wide as saucers as he stumbled back a step. The drowsiness left his body in an instant, almost as though he had never been tired to begin with. Clay’s hand shot out to grab his arm, steadying him as he swallowed, relaxing once he realized who he was looking at.

“Holy crap, Clay,” he gasped, pressing a hand to his racing heart, “you scared me! I know you’ve gotten better at this whole stealth thing, but that was just straight up terrifyi—”

Clay’s grip on his arm tightened. “I saved them today,” he whispered.

Sapnap froze, and there was a beat of silence. “You did what, now?”

Just like that, Clay had flung his arms up and around his head, his fingers buried in his hair as he began to pace, his tone frantic and rushed. “There—there was this steeper area with this cliff but it was kind of hidden, and then it was breaking and I just knew something bad was going to happen, and I couldn’t just let that happen, so I moved without thinking and I was pulling them back and—”

A pair of hands suddenly grabbed onto his shoulders, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Breathe,” Sapnap instructed calmly. “You need to breathe, dude.” Clay opened his mouth, but Sapnap spoke before he could. “You are talking so quickly right now, and I can’t understand you when you talk like that.”

Clay closed his mouth, mulling over the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions steamrolling through his head. After a few moments, he finally spoke once more. “I still can’t believe it,” he murmured, suddenly sounding completely and utterly awestruck. “My mate actually stopped and thanked me. And called me pretty.”

Sapnap’s fingers loosened around Clay’s shoulders, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips. “Yeah?”

Clay sighed, sounding absolutely lovestruck. “Yeah.”

Pulling his arms back to cross them over his chest, Sapnap eyed him up and down, cocking his head. “So,” he began gently, “how are you feeling?” When Clay opened his mouth, Sapnap quickly added, “Slowly, please.”

Clay groaned, teasingly rolling his eyes before leaning back on his heels, rocking back and forth as he began to speak. “I only revealed myself as a wolf,” he said softly, “so I don’t know if they know about the mating bond yet. I don’t even know if humans can feel it like we can.”

He tilted his head back, gazing up at the cerulean blue sky. “But there’s something about the way we looked at each other that makes me feel like maybe, just maybe, humans can feel it,” he whispered, sounding breathless all at once. “Call it a gut feeling, I guess. I don’t know.” He cast a glance over at Sapnap, his eyebrows furrowed. “Do I sound crazy?”

A thoughtful look flickered across Sapnap’s face. Then, he grinned. “A little bit, yeah.”

Clay sighed, something he noticed he had been doing a lot more, lately. “I just…” He swallowed. “I just don’t want something like that to happen ever, ever again.”

Suddenly, he fell quiet, his lips parting as the wheels in his head began to turn. Sapnap watched as a tiny spark came to life within his focused gaze, small but oh-so vibrant.

“You got an idea there?” he prompted after a few seconds of silence.

Clay blinked once. Twice. Then, a smile stretched across his face—a smile as bright as the full moon.

“Something like that.”

It was probably a dumb idea for you to return to the forest for your weekly hike as if nothing had happened, but you couldn’t quite quench the curiosity that bubbled up inside you every time you thought about the wolf who had saved you. His gaze had been fiery, yet compassionate, and he had been purposely so gentle when tugging you away from the cliff. You weren't a fool—you knew how powerful a wolf could be. Then why did he treat you so kindly?

You had to find out.

Marching through the brush and shrubbery, you whipped your head this way and that, scanning every strip of forest you could lay your eyes on. Wolves were good at hiding, you knew that. After all, if they weren’t as stealthy as they were, they would never be able to catch a meal. But you had been hiking for almost an hour now, and you still hadn’t seen a single glimpse of the wolf. You couldn’t say you were completely surprised, since it wasn’t like you knew every inch of the forest, but you were frustrated to admit that you were at least a little disappointed. Maybe this was a lost cause.

But then, you heard it.

The sound of a stick snapping.

Freezing, you paused, turning as you glanced to the sides. Nothing out of the ordinary stood among the bushes. You stopped again, then pursed your lips.

No, something was there.

A tender curiosity sparked between your lungs, but it was coated in a thin layer of reluctance. Sucking in a deep breath, you whipped around, squinting at the seemingly empty trees around you as you opened your mouth.

“Wolf?” you called out slowly into the quiet. “Is that you?”

At first, all was quiet, and you held your breath. The leaves rustled around you almost tauntingly, and you distantly heard the caw of a crow. You were just about to give up and go home when a flash of gold caught your eye.

Standing motionless a single yard away was a wolf—your wolf.

A grin stretched across your face, joy surging through your body as you carefully took a few steps forward. Oh, this was definitely a dumb idea, but you was more than brave enough to keep going.

“Hi, there.” You shuffled your feet, a tentative look passing over your face. “You’re, um—” You gulped. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

Clay’s eyes went wide, and he took a step back. No! he thought, hoping you would be able to read his expression, even as a wolf. Never. Not in a million years.

You stared at him for a long moment, blinking slowly as you scanned his face up and down. Then, your lips quirked up into the tiniest of smiles.

“No,” you murmured in the softest of voices, and he felt his heart melt in his chest. “If you were going to do something, you would have done it by now, wouldn’t you?”

Clay nearly sank in relief, and he barked. You raised a brow at the sound, furrowing your brows slightly. “Do you want me to keep you company?” you asked, beginning to walk up to him. “Is that what you’re doing?”

You had only made it a few steps when he suddenly barked again, taking a step toward you. In an instant, you froze, watching with bated breath as he curled around to your other side and gently nudged at your leg with his nose. You shot him a curious glance, stumbling forward the tiniest bit. “Hey,” you said, “what are you...?”

You trailed off, a cut rock face suddenly catching your attention from the corner of your eye. The stony grey wall was nearly perpendicular to the ground and looked almost eerily similar to the one you had nearly fallen down the week prior. Just like that, it clicked.

There was another small cliff right there. He was trying to keep you away from it.

“Oh,” you breathed, your lips splitting into an even wider grin as you made sure to steer away from the short cliff, “you don’t want me falling again, do you?”

He snorted, and you blinked at him. That sounded far more human this time—almost too human. It almost reminded you of a dog, if anything. A triumphant smile slowly crept onto your face, and with your head held high, you turned on your heel, marching onward and away from the rock face.

“Well, wolf,” you said, a teasing arrogance seeping into your tone as you glanced over your shoulder at him, “I promise you that I’ll be much safer this time arou—woah!”

The toe of your shoe caught on a protruding stone, and with a sharp yelp, you stumbled forward, gravity pulling you downward with a harsh pull. With a flail of your arms, you only just barely caught your balance as your hand shot out to grab onto a tree and steady yourself. Your heart flipped in your chest as you planted your feet firmly against the ground, the soles of your shoes pressed flatly against the earth as your fingers curled into the bark. Your chest heaved with surprise as you stood upright, turning to look over your shoulder at the wolf. He blinked at you, and while you knew wolves couldn’t quite smile, something about his gaze almost seemed cocky—like he was laughing at you. Heat crept up your neck and onto your face, your cheeks bursting with warmth.

“Y-You did not see that,” you sputtered, coughing into your sleeve as you brushed off your pants dismissively.

Almost as if to spare you some embarrassment, he turned his head away from you, although you could see his eyes glance your way every few seconds. Pouting, you huffed, whirling on your feet as you continued to trudge down the path. Soon enough, the sound of soft footsteps trailed after you, and you couldn’t help but smile at the sound, knowing that he would follow you even if you weren't looking.

That night, you dreamt of whispering trees and a pair of bright, viridian green eyes.

What had once been a weekly ritual of watching from afar soon turned into an amicable companionship between human and wolf. You weren't afraid as you walked into the woods to see a familiar pair of eyes waiting for you, your eagerness to see him only growing with each passing week. Clay himself could hardly contain his excitement. Actually walking beside you was so much better than simply watching from the woods, hidden by the trees. He loved your company and absolutely basked in your presence, even if you sent his heart into an absolute frenzy.

“Sometimes,” you said aloud one day, “I really do think you can understand me.”

Clay stiffened, praying you wouldn’t notice the way his ears pressed flat against his head as he turned to look at you. You sat on a tree stump while he padded atop the fallen trunk it sat beside, your gleaming gaze slowly blinking at him as he silently circled around you.

“I think it’s got something to do with the way you react to some of the things I say,” you murmured. You watched the way his tail flicked behind him, the soft fur brushing gently against the low-growing plants. A second later, you sighed, waving your hand. “Ah, I’m probably just imagining things.”

Clay nearly heaved a sigh of relief, continuing to pace. You would say surprising things like that every once in a while, and it would send his heart racing. Well, you usually only said one absurd thing per week, so you probably weren’t going to say another thing like that toda—

“Can I pet you?”

His paws came to a halt. Perhaps he thought too soon.

Before he could even properly process what you had said, You were backpedaling, shaking your head with an apologetic look. “Agh, that’s a terrible question. You’re a wolf, not a dog. There’s no way you wou—”

All of a sudden, he was crawling up to you, jutting his forehead toward your hand. His muzzle was clamped shut as his eyes bore into yours, and you gaped at him, the realization beginning to dawn on you.

“Wait,” you breathed in disbelief, “you’re actually going to let me?”

He didn’t move, lowering his eyes to the ground almost shyly as his ears curled toward you. Slowly, you raised your arm with a shaky hand and reached forward, letting your fingers gently brush over his tawny fur with a feather-light touch. You nearly gasped at the feeling, not noticing the way his legs trembled beneath him.

“Wolf,” you whispered after a few seconds, “you’re really soft.”

Clay nearly combusted on the spot. Perfect—everything about you was just perfect.

With your hand buried in his soft fur and the summer breeze ruffling your hair, You smiled, sighing with warmth lighting up your heart as the wolf at your feet melted beneath your touch.

Sapnap tapped his foot impatiently, squinting up at the glaring sun. George slept in, again. He was kind of used to it now, but even though he wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t afraid to admit that he was more than just a little ticked off.

“My mate pet me today.”

Sapnap tensed for a split second, turning to see Clay staring at him with wide eyes. Relaxing once more, he stared at him for a long, long moment before speaking. He really needed to start giving him some sort of heads up at this point.

“Dude,” he said, “I know that the last time you asked me if you sounded crazy, I said a little bit, but I feel like I might have to change my answer.”

Clay shot him a glare, and he couldn’t stop his lips from twitching in amusement. “Sapnap,” he said bluntly, “you act like you don’t talk about Karl and Alex like this.”

Sapnap looked taken aback for a moment, raising a finger, then lowering it with a defeated look. “Touché.”

As Clay walked off with his head held high and a bounce in his step, Sapnap chuckled, watching him leave with a small smile. He recognized the gleam in his eyes, the rosy hue of his cheeks.

Love—Clay really was in love, wasn’t he?

“I’ve been thinking,” you said one day, a few months later.

Clay perked up at the sound of your voice from where he lay at your feet, soaking in the first few rays of sun. It had been well over a year since he had first laid eyes on you now, and a little over a few months since you began walking together. It was only a matter of time until the leaves would turn golden brown once more as autumn descended upon them.

“I dunno,” you murmured, knocking your legs back against the stone you sat on. “I feel like I should give you a name instead of just calling you wolf all the time.” You flashed him a shy grin, your gaze darting this way and that. “It feels kind of awkward, you know?”

He cocked his head. A name? Chances were you probably weren't going to guess his actual name. He supposed he wouldn’t mind a nickname. Then again, he didn’t think he would mind anything that you might do. Lowering himself closer to the ground, he let out a quiet bark of approval.

Your lips twitched the tiniest bit at the sound, and you hummed, drumming your fingers against your thigh. “How do you feel about... Aaron?”

His emerald eyes flashed as he took a step back, ducking his head the slightest bit. Your lips pursed into a small pout, and you leaned down to rest your chin on your hand. “Alright,” you murmured, “not Aaron, then.” You chewed on the inside of your cheek for a second. “Roy?”

Clay didn’t even have to think about it for more than a second before he was whimpering, pressing his head to his paws as he dropped his haunches close to the ground. You snorted at his obvious disapproval, tapping the toes of your shoes together with a pensive look.

“Okay,” you said slowly, drawing out the vowel sound, “maybe we should try some less... human-sounding names.” You tilted your head, letting your gaze trail up the tree trunks and up at the sky above. The sun wasn’t shining directly into your eyes this time, and you blinked with surprise to see a puff of white fluff blocking out the light.

“What about,” you offered with a hum, “Cloud?”

You glanced down again, only to see the wolf staring back at you blankly. You couldn’t quite read the look in his eyes, but you had a feeling he wasn’t quite satisfied with this one, either. Lowering your chin, you puffed your cheeks, glancing this way and that across the forest around you. You couldn’t just call him something like Leaf, or Sky—those would be too obvious, too plain for a wolf as lovely as him.

Sighing, you let your eyelids flutter shut, letting the sun wash over your cheeks and warming your skin. He was... special, even if you knew you were biased in your opinion. There was some special quality about him, something that made your chest swell and your heart skip a beat, almost as if he came straight out of a—

“Dream,” you whispered at last.

Clay’s ears perked up at the new name, and he lifted his head, flicking his ears at you. Maybe it was the name itself, maybe it was the way you said it, or maybe it was just you, but something about it just felt right. He barked once, lifting his tail as he stepped toward you.

You blinked at the sight, a small smile tugging at your lips. “Dream?” you repeated. “You like the sound of Dream?”

He barked again, leaping up onto his hind legs for a moment. You grinned, giggling at the sight of such a large wolf acting almost like a dog around you. “Alright,” you murmured, reaching your hand out toward him, “Dream it is.”

Leaning closer to you, he sank into your touch as you rubbed your hand over his head, scratching behind his ears as he let out a soft whine from the back of his throat. Your eyes softened, and you curled your knees a little closer to your chest, resting your chin on them.

“It probably doesn’t matter to you since you’re a wolf and all,” you said softly, your voice almost sounding shy in the quiet of the morning, “but my name is [Y/N].”

Clay felt a tender warmth blossom in the cracks beneath his chest, heat unfurling from the depths of his soul as something inside him swelled beyond belief. Your hand continued stroking his fur all the while, not at all noticing the way he pressed his head a little closer into your soothing touch, yearning and longing for more.

“[Y/N],” his heart sang, shooting from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. “[Y/N], [Y/N], [Y/N].”

Had a name ever sounded as beautiful as yours?

Sapnap was going to wring Skeppy’s neck. Skipping out on a morning meeting was one thing, but skipping it to hang out with your mate? Not even he did that.

“[Y/N].”

Sapnap didn’t bother flinching as he turned to see Clay standing in front of him, panting like his life depended on it. This was far from the first time this had happened, and he was sure it most certainly would not be the last. “What?”

Clay shook his head, half-looking like he was about to collapse on the spot. “My mate’s name is [Y/N].”

Sapnap blinked, then his lips curled up into a smile. “Congrats for learning what it is, man,” he said honestly, patting Clay’s shoulder with his free hand. “That’s fantastic, really. You’re making progress.”

Clay swallowed, and he reached up to drag a hand down his face before letting it drop loosely at his side. “Sapnap,” he said slowly, his voice sounding quiet and raw, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

Sapnap’s eyebrows knit together, confusion rippling across his features. “What do you mean?” he asked. “You can’t keep visiting?” Something uncomfortable and cold tugged at the back of his mind. “There’s no way you’re just gonna give up like that, are you?”

Clay’s jaw dropped. “What? No! I mean that...” He paused, squeezing his fist for a moment as he sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t think I can keep showing up in only my wolf form.”

The cogs in Sapnap’s whirred to life as he took in his friend’s clenched jaw. Then, his eyes went wide. “Are you saying...?”

Clay nodded, pursing his lips as he swallowed thickly. “I’m going to reveal who I am.”

His eyes flashed with determination.

“Who I really am.”

You hummed as you twisted the key in the hole, the back door locking shut with a click you had grown used to hearing every week for the past year and a half, now. Whirling around, you could already feel the smile start to spread across your face as you leapt off the porch and ran toward the well-worn path, the forest beckoning you forward with a distant howl. You didn’t remember when exactly your weekly hikes grew to become your favourite part of the week, but you couldn’t imagine life without them, anymore.

Sucking in a deep breath, your chest swelled at the fresh air rushing into your lungs, excitement flickering through your body with every step you took. You couldn’t wait to see Dream again, as strange as it may sound. He had grown to be a greater comfort than you would have ever imagined, even if he was just a wolf. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but you knew your feelings were true—you couldn’t deny the warmth he made you feel.

Whipping around a tree trunk, you felt your heart skip a beat. You already knew Dream would be waiting for you at your rock—the one he had saved you from all those weeks ago. It had become a sort of meeting spot for them, and every week without fail, he would appear there, no matter how early or late you were.

As the shrubbery gave way to a clean, dirt trail, you lifted your head, squinting your eyes. You recognized this part of the forest, and you knew that you were getting closer. Just then, you saw it—the familiar streak of grey stone slanting up from the earth in a small cliff face. Usually, Dream would sit at the cliff base, his ears already pointed toward you. But today, your brows furrowed when you didn’t see a pair of ears facing you, but a head of hair.

Someone else was at your rock.

Slowing your pace to a walk, you paused for a moment, eyeing the figure sitting at your usual meeting spot. It was a man, you realized, and he was facing away from you. He wore a simple white shirt with jeans, and his hair was a shade of dirty blond with streaks of gold. Even if only from the back, it looked almost oddly familiar gleaming underneath the morning sun.

Taking a tentative step forward, you curled your fingers into your palm. “Hello?” you called hesitantly.

The man startled for a moment, then turned toward you, his face coming into view. As his gaze locked onto yours, he opened his mouth and uttered two simple words.

“Hi, [Y/N].”

You felt your breath hitch in your throat.

His voice was soft, gently wrapping around you like a soothing blanket. Your gaze only briefly raked over the comforting smile gracing his lips, instead focusing on the gleam in his eyes that danced with something warm and inviting.

His eyes were green—a shade of green that you had grown to know and adore.

No, you thought, your heart trembling in your chest. He couldn’t possibly be...

You took another step forward, closing the space between them by another few inches. With your eyebrows knitting together, your voice dropped to a small, curious whisper. “Dream?”

He shot you a crooked grin, chuckling softly. “That’s my name—or at least the one you gave me.” Leaning forward, he rose to his feet, the sun casting a bright streak of light across his cheeks. “My real name is Clay.”

All of a sudden, you felt as though all the air had been sucked out of your lungs. “Clay,” you repeated, your mind slowly growing murky with confusion, “but you’re also Dream. How...?”

A sheepish look skittered across his face, and he ducked his head. The way he lowered his chin was familiar, looking almost far too like a certain wolf you knew. “I—I guess you could say I live in two worlds with two forms,” he began. “Sometimes I’m a wolf, sometimes I’m a human.” He shrugged nonchalantly, but you didn’t miss the way his shoulders remained tense. “You already know one of them, but I didn’t want to keep hiding this form from you, so...” He gestured to himself with a bashful look. “...here I am.”

You blinked at him slowly, the muddled fog in your head slowly giving way to a strikingly warm clarity. But before the clouds could fully part, your lips began to move.

“You’re still pretty,” you blurted, your eyes going wide as soon as the words left your mouth.

In a flash, Clay’s cheeks flushed crimson, a haze of rosy pink dusting his freckles. “H-Huh?”

Waving your hands in front of you, you took a step back, embarrassment shooting up your spine. “I-I mean to say that you’re still pretty as a human! Because you’re pretty in both of your forms!” You stiffened, exasperation soaking your features as your knees buckled. “Wait, no, oh no, that’s also embarrassing... wait, please, um—”

Suddenly, he began to laugh. You fell quiet as you watched Clay clutch at his stomach, his lips split into a wide grin as peals of laughter tumbled from his lips. A familiar pit of warmth flared up in your stomach, one you had felt standing here with Dream so many times before.

He really was Dream, wasn’t he?

As his chuckles finally died down into silence, he stood upright once more, wiping a barely there tear from his eye. “I’m sorry for laughing,” he managed with an apologetic smile. “You must be confused about, well, everything.”

You offered him an honest, lopsided grin. “A little.”

His smile slowly melted from his features, and he cleared his throat as he turned to face you head-on. “Well, this is probably going to sound weird, but you and I...” He swallowed, his gaze flashing. “We’re mates.”

You blinked, your lips parting in surprise. Something in your chest slowly expanded. “Mates?” you repeated softly.

He nodded, his expression firm yet hesitant. “Yes, mates. It means that in one way or another, our souls are connected.” Inhaling deeply, he screwed his eyes shut before continuing. “It’s a lot to take in, I know, but I just want you to know that you don’t have to accept the mating bond.” His voice was trembling now, growing quieter by the second as he squeezed his hands into fists at his side. “You don’t owe me anything. I know this must be scary for you, and the last thing I want is for you to feel pressured because of m—”

“I’m not afraid.”

Clay’s eyes shot wide open, and he raised his head, shock etched into his features. “You aren’t?” he whispered.

The smile on your face was open and kind, and you shook your head. “No,” you murmured, sincerity lacing your every word. “Not at all. Dream, Clay... no matter what your name is, you’re still you, and I know you.” You took another step forward, your eyes never leaving his. There was hardly any space between them now, and Clay could feel his shoulders begin to shake with the sheer gravity of the moment. “I can’t explain it, but I just know I do.”

He swallowed, a whirlwind of anxiety and affection brewing just beneath the surface of his skin. “You don’t have to do this,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I know I’m just a stranger to you.”

You shook your head, again. “You’re not,” you said quietly. “Not to me.”

Before he could even register what was happening, you were reaching for his hand, clasping your palms around his fingers and holding them gently. His heart flipped in his chest at the feeling of your skin against his, and something stung at the back of his eyes.

You were so warm.

“I want to do this,” you whispered, just for him to hear and him alone, “I promise. I—” You gulped, your gaze remaining steady. “I might not know anything about your world yet, but I want to learn.”

You squeezed his hand. “I want to learn more about you.”

Clay sucked in a ragged breath. With shaky fingers and a gentle touch, he pressed his other hand to the back of yours, squeezing back ever so slightly. “I want to learn more about you, too.”

The smile you flashed him easily outshone the sun and every star that scattered across the night sky, and for a moment, he thought his heart had stopped in his chest.

“I’m glad,” you said, your eyes gleaming with delight. “I think we’ll have plenty of time to do that on our hike.”

Right then, a breeze came drifting past, the distant scent of rain filling the air. The trees murmured with rustling leaves and flapping wings as two birds landed on a hanging branch above, gazing down at the two silhouettes standing at the base of the rock face. Just for a moment, or maybe even two, the entire forest went still.

And unbeknownst to you and Clay, right between your feet, a flower began to bloom.

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wannabe-fic-writer · 4 years ago

Text

Moment In Time

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Summary: Just when you've gotten out, you’re given a reason to come back.

Warnings: Nothing for now unless I missed something.

Chapter 1

* * * * * * *

Music plays in your ears as the surrounding area blurs past you. Taking yet another lap around the overly large fountain, you feel the smallest drop of sweat trickle down the side of your head.

Running for two and a half hours seems to finally be yielding results.

You slow down some and a quiet, sarcastic, chuckle falls from your lips when another group of joggers passes by. They’d gotten here an hour ago and they were practically dripping sweat.

With a shake of your head you finish the lap in a matter of minutes, stopping afterwards and taking your headphones out. You take a few deep breaths as you look around.

The New York sky is as blue as it always is this time of year. People stroll by about a yard from where you stand, the streets and sidewalks bustling as usual, a few other runners on the same trail you just took.

A contented sigh leaves your lips.

For the first time in years, a calm peace washes over you. It’d taken you years to come to the decision to stop working, followed by a few months to mentally settle into your “retirement” as you’d been told it was.

The world doesn’t exactly need you anymore, earth’s mightiest heroes are doing all the saving and protecting now. Some of them you trust with your life while others you haven’t even met. All in all, you believe they’ve been getting the job done fairly well. Which made your retirement all the more easy.

If not working feels like this, you take another deep breath, you could get used to it.

Adjusting your headphones back into your ears, you barely jog three feet into your next lap when your phone rings. Fishing it out of your pocket, you sigh at the name displayed at the top and answer.

“Agent Y/Ln,” Fury’s voice floats into your ears,“ I need a favor.”

Just like that, you get the feeling you aren’t going to have the chance to get used to retirement.

* * * * * * *

Another uniformed guard walks by, his eyes glancing over at the two people in the cell, before he continues his leisure stroll down the hall.

The brunette archer runs his tongue across his bottom lip, eyes narrowing just barely before yet another pebble flicks across the cell and bounces off the wall right beside the ear of an already agitated ex-assassin.

“Barton, I swear to god if another rock comes within a foot of my face I will kill you before these morons even have the chance to consider it.” Natasha seethes, jaw clenching in frustration.

Clint snorts to hold in a laugh, raising his hands in surrender.“ My bad.”

Sighing heavily for the millionth time today, Natasha leans her head back against the cement wall, fingers gingerly running over the uncomfortable matching cement floor.

“You sure you don’t wanna play finger football with me?” He asks, flicking a triangular piece of paper towards his friend.

“Clint what the h-” she glares from him to the paper then back,“ where did you even get that?”

Letting his amused smile show, he answers,“ my pocket,” with a casual shrug,“ never know when you’re gonna get captured by psychotic evil German scientists.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, the red head holds in every noise of frustration and foul word in her arsenal. She already can’t believe she allowed herself to get captured, Clint’s incessantly childish behavior is only adding to her bad mood.

A mere eight hours ago she’d been on a very easy mission with her team. Infiltration and intel gathering was a form of work she was overly familiar with, having done it before and during her time with SHIELD and the Avengers.

But with a new recruit on the team, and this having been his first infiltration mission, figuratively communicative wires got crossed.

A simple “payload secure” came across as something different in Sam’s ears, what he heard she can’t even try to guess, but it led to him coming her way with a shit load of guards. Disgruntled sounds of fighting drew Clint to their location but even then the amount of enemies was overwhelming.

Distress calls were cut short and staticy through the short communication devices they had. So, being the only one with a clear and easy route out of the chaos, Sam was given the task to get out while he could and to send back up.

The seconds after he left, Natasha and Clint were taken, blinded, stripped of their weapons and comms, and brought to this cell.

While they were aware of the rescue coming for them, they still looked for a way out but found none. Especially not with the rotation of guards that patrolled by every half hour. Like clockwork, another was headed their way.

The whistling of an all too American song rang through the halls, slipping into the cell and grabbing the attention of both agents.

Clint’s eyebrows pinch together when the guard stops in front of the cell, then turns to face them. His calculating gaze trails over their body while an equally observant Natasha looks as well.

She stares at the guard, a stone cold expression masking her face as she commits your appearance to memory. Your eyes, hair, the build of your body currently clad in the same blue uniform as the other guards. Something was different though.

While the guards came off as exactly what they are, lackeys for whoever is running this show, you are much bigger. The look on your face isn’t as submissive and blank as the others.

Clint scoffs, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, eyes scanning over you,“ what’re you? A new hire?” He asks sarcastically, deciding to speak as he knows Natasha won’t say a word.“ Send you in to intimidate us?”

A silent moment passes.

“Buddy, you think I’m the bad guy?” You tilt your head with a raised eyebrow. A little chuckle leaves your lips at the confused expression he pulls and the one Natasha tries to hide.

Taking a step closer to the cage, you slip your arms between the cast iron bars and lace your fingers together.“ I’m here to save your asses. Since you went and got yourselves captured.”

For the first time Natasha speaks, a velvety soft voice flowing from the cement box into your ears,“ who sent you?”

Her green eyes look into yours and that, coupled with her voice, intrigues you even more. Seeing as you are more than aware of who Black Widow is. But you know now isn’t the time to fall into a gay panic over a gorgeous woman.

“Fury.” You answer,“ it’s not often Nick calls in a favor so I had to come. Now, let’s say we get out of here yeah?” They both watch as you grab hold of the bars, pulling one good time, arms flexing as you easily break the lock and send the door sliding open and slamming into the wall.

Clint and Natasha share a look as you step inside, walking over to Clint and breaking his chains first, then going to do the same to Natasha.

You raise an eyebrow at her expression after breaking the first chain,“ listen red, you don’t have to trust me.” She stands up and looks down at you, until you rise up and look down at her.“ But you do need to trust Fury. Got any complaints, take it up with him after you’re not surrounded by a bunch of lunatics with guns.”

With that she watches you exit the cell, looking left and right, then waving them forward as you go left down the corridor.

The two agents follow you as you silently incapacitate every guard in your path, sharing a look for the third time today.

As you’re taking down your tenth guard, Clint looks from you to Natasha.“ Are we really supposed to believe they’re on our side? Cause,” he takes a deep breath and releases it.

“They’re trusted by Fury.” Natasha looks at her friend,“ and that’s all I need to know for now.”

Stopping in front of a door, you peek through the glass, then take a step back. You square your shoulders and adjust the cap on your head, smiling dazzlingly at the two.

“Do me a favor, wait around that corner,” you point to the opposite side of them where a dark empty pocket sits in the hallway,“ and try not to get captured again.” You wink and step into the room without another word.

They stare at the door you disappeared into, long enough to hear you speak.

“Wo sind die Gefangenen in Zelle 4 hingegangen?”

Natasha understood your words perfectly fine but Clint was a little lost. The short silence followed your continued shout of,“ Finde sie! Jetzt! Eile!”

Eyes wide Natasha grabs Clint’s hand and pulls them into the dark just before a slew of guards pour out of the room and down the same way you’d all just come from.

Clint and Natasha barely have a chance to blink before the door beside them opens. Sunlight streams through the door, followed by you coming out of the room.

“Figured you might want these back,” you say as you stop in front of them and hold their confiscated weapons out to them.

Clint is quick to sling his quiver around his shoulders, extending his bow and hugging it, a quiet ‘I missed you’ muttered under his breath toward the inanimate object.

A snort of a laugh leaves your lips before Natasha takes her batons from you and holsters them at her sides.

Taking your cap off, you toss it aside and smooth your hand through your hair.“ Cover was blown about thirty seconds ago so,” you nod to the outside,“ let’s get to that fancy jet you’ve got a few miles out before the fireworks start.”

Flashing another confident smirk, you slip out the door. The two agents follow closely behind you. All three of you work almost flawlessly in taking down the guards in your path to the jet.

It comes into view and you stop to let them run ahead of you, turning to look at the building as it seemingly spontaneously combusts in three specific locations.

Satisfied with your work, you nod and turn around. Almost all eyes are on you as you jog up the ramp into the jet. A silent crunch is heard before you toss crumpled plastic and wires out of your hand.

“Can’t have them tracing that back to us.” You say, stepping fully into the jet and looking around as the door closes behind you.

Stern blue eyes stare into yours, an almost upset march carrying him to stand in front of you.“ If there’s anyone alive.” He says angrily.“ Did you stop to think how many people you may have just killed?”

Your eyebrow quirks up at his tone of voice. Trailing your eyes down his body you mentally purse your lips and nod. Admittedly you could see why Peggy was so smitten. Assuming he didn’t take this type of attitude with her.

However you can’t say you’re taken with the Captain America. His already condescending attitude wasn’t something you liked and while you know it’s a possibility he’s just this way cause you don’t know each other, it’s also possible he’s just an ass. Either way he isn’t why you’re here.

“Captain,” you nod,“ always thought our first meeting would be more pleasant than this. But aye, they say you’re never supposed to meet your idols right.” You shrug and step around him, making to head to the front of the jet.

Only his hand grips your arm and he spins you around with a glare now on his flawless looking face.

Glancing down at the offending hand on your arm, you figure he’s nonverbally demanding an explanation so you give it.“ There were charges at both entrances and the security room. I made sure to send everyone away from those areas before I blew it up. There may be some minor injuries, if that. But next time I’ll just leave and give them every opportunity to come after us, Captain.” You tell him, gripping his hand in yours and prying it from your arm.

His glare turns to a slight look of surprise. While his grip hadn’t been enough to hurt an ordinary human, yours was equal to, if not potentially stronger, than his true strength. Enough force to have broken anyone else’s hand in multiple places.

“Who are you?” He asks, maintaining his attitude.

Not one for dealing with that, you mumble your name to him and go to the front of the jet.

Your blank face morphs into a smile at the sight of the man in the pilot's seat.“ Never was one to give up control huh?” You ask teasingly as you drop your hand on his shoulder.

His gaze lands on you with a quick snap of his head towards you. The smirk on your face and the fact that it was actually you, made him snicker.

Making quick work of throwing the jet on autopilot, he moved his chair back and stood up to pull you into a hug, to the shock and surprise of every member of his team.

“Good to see you T.” You pat his back before pulling away.

A smile tugs on his lips and he nods.“ Ditto. This doesn’t count by the way.” He points a finger at you as you clap your hand on his shoulder.

“It definitely counts. A save is a save. Might not have been you exactly but-”

Waving you off he mumbles,“ yeah yeah.” Then looks at his teammates, his arm wrapping around your shoulders despite the height difference.“ I take it you met the team.” He says to which you nod.

“Can’t say they’re all that fond of me.” You chuckle softly, eyes scanning over the still agitated Captain America, a man in a modified flight suit, and the two people you just saved.“ Are they always so annoyed when they get their asses saved or is it me?”

Tony shrugs,“ Capsicle always been a little icy.” He jokes and you laugh, shaking your head and pushing him away from you.“ Nat is- well she’s Nat. I think she’s starting to warm up to me but that’s taken quite a bit of time hasn’t it Romanoff?”

His gaze directs to the redhead and you follow it. Your eyebrow raises at the mocking smile she gives Tony followed by her asking,“ who exactly is Y/n and how do you know each other?”

Both you and Tony glance at each other and you take the liberty of answering her question. Speaking to her directly gives you the chance to truly look into her green eyes, which you must admit you find very beautiful.

A range of emotions flicker over everyone’s faces as you dip your toe into your long complicated past. You simplify your back story, only telling them that you met Tony his family, that you’re a super soldier, created after Steve went into the ice, and that you’ve been a part of SHIELD for a while.

There were many questions thrown your way and you heavily debated with yourself whether or not you wanted to tell them everything. You didn’t think it’d hurt to be a little mysterious. But there’s also the thought that you won’t be seeing these people much anyway so does it truly matter if they know who you are.

Whatever decision you’d come to ceased to matter as the jet landed. The door opened and your eyes raised to read the words written across the top of the building.

“Avengers?” You mumble, glancing at your long time friend/brother. He makes that face, that “what’re you gonna do” nonchalant face Tony always makes. With a shake of your head, you follow him inside, but instead of going with him towards the hallway, you b-line for the elevators.

Tony’s voice calls out to you, effectively grabbing the attention of his teammates,“ not joinin us Y/nn?”

You look back over towards him, your eyes landing on Natasha’s green ones first then on Tony. Smiling a little you shake your head,“ debriefing isn’t for retirees, Stark.”

Natasha frowns at your words and Tony shakes his head with a breathy chuckle.

All of you turn away from each other, them heading to the meeting room and you facing the elevator as the doors slide open.

“Agent, glad you could stick around for the debrief.” Fury says, making you frown and shake your head.

“No no,” you raise a finger, essentially telling him to hold up.“ I’m not an agent. Retired, remember.”

He stops walking to look back at you. Tilting his head, he raises his eyebrow,“ that was until today. I believe you did some work, seeing as Natasha and Clint are back.”

A heavy sigh leaves your lips and you drop your head, groaning lowly,“ Nick please. You know-”

“That you’re on your way to the meeting room. Glad to hear it.” Leaving no more room to talk, he turns and walks away, breezing past the few Avengers who’d stayed behind to watch the interaction.

Grumbling under your breath, you follow after the man. Tony slaps his hand onto your shoulder, a small amused smirk on his lips as he guides you to the meeting room.

With a, in your opinion, justified glare directed at Fury, you plop down into a chair. The man snorts at the huff you let out, averting his eyes to everyone else who comes in.

To your surprise and silent pleasure, Natasha ends up occupying the chair on your other side. When her eyes land on you, you give a small smile and wiggle your fingers in a short wave.

Her eyes narrow at you and you wink. She just barely lifts a brow at the way your face morphs from one of amusement to a no nonsense expression.

You straighten up in your seat, fingers lacing together and resting on the table as your gaze focuses on Fury.

Natasha finds it a bit of a struggle to take her eyes off of you. Since the second she saw you back in Berlin she hasn’t been able to get a clear read on you.

“Romanoff, can I have your attention?” Fury tilts his head and looks directly into Natasha’s eyes.“ Or is that too much to ask?” His tone takes a sassy turn and the redhead rolls her eyes, focusing on him.

The debriefing goes exactly how everyone is used to it going. They go over the original objective of the mission, then everyone gives a run down of what happened: the part they played, how they contributed to the objective, and in this case how things went south.

“Y/Ln,” Fury says, making Natasha’s gaze snap over to you. Had you been looking at her, you would’ve seen the surprise flicker through those green orbs.

“Director,” you nod in reply before going into detail about your infiltration into the German base and the extraction of Natasha and Clint.

All while you talk, Natasha looks at you. You, Agent Y/n Y/Ln. She can’t believe she didn’t connect the dots. Fury sent you in. You’d told her your name. She should’ve seen it. Everyone at SHIELD knows who you are. A lot of people outside of SHIELD know about you as well.

Your explanation of who you were in the quinjet wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. She didn’t think this often of someone but: you are a legend.

“- things considered,” Natasha regains focus on the conversation, looking away from you to Fury as you speak,“ the mission could’ve gone off flawlessly.”

The man crosses his arms and shifts his weight,“ and what would you say the problem is Agent?”

“Underestimation sir. Or maybe misinformation.” Your response is a bit of a shock to everyone. You take their silence as an opportunity to further explain. You thought it was simple.

The mission was to grab intel from a science lab. As to be expected, the scientists and information there would be guarded. The underestimation or misinformation came in how heavily guarded the place was. Whatever surveillance or recon they had done wasn’t enough. So when they went in to collect they were overwhelmed or caught off guard which resulted in Natasha’s and Clint’s capture.

Everyone takes your words in stride, majority of them processing it and storing it for a time in which they’ll need to use it.

Shortly after that the debriefing ends with a few, what you know is meant to be taken as, encouraging words from Fury. Everyone stands after he’s left, starting to file out.

Once again as you make to leave, Tony stops you. He slaps your arm and you know he’d used as much force as he could behind the action.

Used to this from him, you sigh and shake your head, a small amused smirk on your lips as you look at him.“ What is it now Tony?”

He smiles at you,“ why don’t you hang out for a bit. Haven’t seen the tower yet.” You raise your eyebrow at him, gaze flicking to the redhead that walks past behind him, her eyes on you for a second before she looks away. Smile turning into a smirk he adds,“ you might just find a reason to stick around.”

* * * * * * *

Taglist: @owloftheshadows @natasha-danvers @yumusak-yastik

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x you #natalia romanoff #natalia romanoff x you #black widow #black widow x reader #moment in time #reader insert

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kidsnextdoorsoopersecretpage · 3 years ago

Text

KND Production Oddities 3

Ever had trouble differentiating the Moonbase Guards? Here's a quick tip!

Numbuh 92 is the one with the greenish blue colors. He has orange hair, a pointy triangular nose, a thinner ear and a more squished head in comparison to his partner and the twins. His eyes are bigger than 93's, and is shorter than him as well. He only appears in KISS, SPACE, GRADUATES, AND MEATBALL.

Numbuh 93 is taller than 92, and has a green uniform. 93 has a square nose, small eyes, rounder ears, yellow skin, and black hair. His head is also rounder.

The yellow on his uniform and helmet strap is darker than 92's, same for the baseball thingy's red stripes. He only appears in KISS and SPACE.

The 44 twins are very similar to Numbuh 93 in almost every way. The only noticeable difference is that they usually have slightly bigger eyes, and are around 92's height.

The 44 twins have slightly different hair going off this screenshot (oddly enough, one of the twins' hair seem to be based off of Numbuh 92's hair).

Otherwise, the twins are literally identical in everything but voice (it changes every time they speak in an unique episode)

In Operation GRADUATES, the 44 twins sport a unique red color scheme. I don't know why this wasn't their normal color scheme, it would've helped them be more distinguishable from Numbuh 93.

Here's the one-off oddity of the group, Numbuh 28. They seem to be modeled off of Numbuh 93 using 92's colors. Assuming the bald Moonbase Guard to the right is also them (though that one is modeled off of 92), they are presumably bald/have hair only at the top.

In Operation GRADUATES, there is an operative presumably based off of 93/44 using 92's colors, and vise-versa with Numbuh 44 in the same scene.

Man that's a lotta clones.

Let's take this last paragraph to honor the fallen 92 and 93. Rest in Space, we hardly ever knew ye.

"So, wanna run away screaming?"

"After you!"

"*Screams*"

#knd #numbuh 92 #numbuh 93 #numbuh 44 #knd talk #knd production oddities #moonbase guard

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revenant-dumpster-fire · 4 years ago

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Canine (Revenant x Reader)

Part 2 of 2 of the chapter “Styptic & Canine”. [AO3 Link to full chapter]

Theme: Revenant introduces the reader to his makeshift family as he turns up the spice level, but an unfortunate run in with a creep ruins most of the day.

Warnings: Graphic content, physical male dominance, threats of violence, blood, descriptions of violence, sexual references, sexual harassment, sharp objects, pain, bipolar, depression, mentions of mania, general romantic fluff.

Reader's Notes: Revenant (Apex Legends) x Reader, reader is female.

Writing Notes: This post was too big. 18K words. This is part 2 of a larger chapter that is “Styptic & Canine”. I’m posting it in halves so Tumblr doesn’t die. Also, yes, this chapter is where I start raising the heat. My intent was to boil the frog, but Tumblr made me split right where I first turn on the gas stove.

Navigation: First Chapter | Previous Part (Styptic & Canine) | Next Chapter

You regain consciousness to a mild shake, his hands around each of your cheeks and his frame vaulted over your body in a sitting position.

"Oh dear, little skinsuit, what was that about?" His voice drips with some kind of sadistic humor.

"What was what about?" The morning light was shining through the skylight. He obviously let you sleep in a bit, for which you were grateful. You couldn't remember any dreams though, it was all blank.

"Don't play stupid, you must know." He's way too into this. "I want to know if it was me."

"I really don't remember. Why, what did I do?"

He lurches back in some kind of cruel delight, pulling his hands away to cup around his own face, accentuating his joy.

"Then maybe you'll know the answer to this: who is 'daddy'?"

Your face gets hot instantly, now you know why he's so interested. He has prime material to hold over your head for days. You have one potential way out and he isn't likely to buy it.

"I never met my father, so I'm not sure..." You try.

"Oh, I guessed as much. But this wasn't that kind of daddy." He places each of his hands on the sides of your waist, making you blush harder. "Your hips were absolutely reeling. I could hear how much you were loving it. You still smell like lust. So, I must know... who is the lucky one to have the title of 'daddy'?" Your face is burning. Your attempt to get out of this has definitely and utterly failed.

"I don't know! I've never even--" You cut yourself off, realizing that saying more is only playing into his game.

"Oh please, you must tell me." He leans over to whisper in your ear, curling over you in a seductive manner. "I'll keep it a secret, I promise. I just want to know who makes you writhe like that. Clearly I could learn something." This asshole. Your face actually hurts it's so hot. You can't get out of this, and you don't even have an answer for him. You've never even called anyone that before.

"Please, can I get up?" You beg, hoping it can just be over.

"Oh no, dear," You feel yourself screaming internally as he nuzzles his mask against the side of your face, "I can't let you do that. No, no... Not until you humor me." He presses his body into you, and you audibly whimper. "Call me daddy."

You're dead. You have to be dead. This can't be real. You can't humor him, but you have to humor him. Why is he like this? If you say it really fast, maybe it'll be okay. Maybe he'll accept it.

"Can I get up...?" You choke. "...daddy..." You didn't say it fast, but you said it with zero confidence, which hopefully dampens his power trip.

He throws himself off of you, laughing something fierce. His guffaw is loud, cruel, and pure delight. He's completely overtaken by it, laying back beside you, almost twitching in hilarity. He can't control himself as he lifts his hand as if to wipe away a tear.

He shuts down again, turning limp.

You jump out of bed, giving yourself distance from his metal sarcophagus, knowing whatever comes next might not be pleasant. You make your way to the computer desk, sitting on the office chair, waiting to see what he does this time.

His chassis begins to whirr and cracks into movement, his arms grabbing at air beside him as he tests every limb in violent bends and swings. The static begins in his voice, before suddenly slipping into something audible.

"You-you moved away." His empty optics seem to stare at you from a distance as he sits up. "I wanted to hold-hold you again..." His tone was soft, but his vocals were still skipping. "Shame, daddy will get you next-next time."

His eyes come back to life, and he's aware again.

"Well, just say how you really feel then, huh?" You jab back, waiting to see how he reacts. He chuckles a little, a mere echo of the laugh that forced him to restart.

"Well, I'll make it up to you. How do you feel about making a trip to meet my little family?"

"Family? I thought--"

"Oh, not like that, of course. Just the closest thing I have." He smiles smugly at you, seeing an opportunity. "You don't need to worry, no one competes with you."

Damn blush, you're going to turn red permanently if he doesn't stop.

He vaults out of bed, making his way over to you.

"I let you sleep in, thankfully what you're wearing is ideal for the job already." He offers his hand. When you take it, he hoists you to your feet. "It should help with any sad feelings too, how are those going by the way?"

"With how things have been going, I haven't had the chance to be depressed..." You're almost embarrassed that his plan to keep throwing you off your depression is working so well.

"Good, keep showering me with all your attention then." He squeezes your hand a bit before letting go. At this rate he could make you manic again if he keeps pushing it. You're just not sure if you should let him. "I've arranged a ride for us, since I don't think you can run this far."

"Oh, alright, sure. Do I need to do anything? I feel kinda like I should take a shower..." It's very strange that you're going someplace wearing dirty clothes with no shower.

"Trust me, you'd be better off doing that after."

• • • •

Revenant can't drive, apparently. To the point in which he's actually enough of a liability that he's not allowed to drive anywhere outside of the Apex Games. He wasn't very happy with the idea of having a chauffeur, but the legal team was able to convince him to accept being driven in exchange for a vehicle that separated him from the driver. That vehicle was a limo. A giant, stretch limo. A very luxurious limo. Versus you, who is a mess: dressed in a stained shirt you slept in and you haven't washed your hair. This is embarrassing.

"This dumb thing is almost ten yards long, and you have to be right up against me, don't you?" Revenant is sitting far in the back corner, and you've wedged yourself right between him and the corner, trying your best to hide yourself from any phantom that might see you.

"I'm in a limo and I look like I belong in a garbage truck." You duck away from the windows, shoving your face up against the black leather of his waist, careful to avoid the support pistons.

"Literally no one can see you except me." He scoffs, crossing his arms. "The windows are blacked out, the driver's privacy window is closed, and nobody is here but us." His eyes glare down at you, but he seems to be moderately entertained by your distress.

"I look homeless." You pause. "Again."

Revenant laughs at that, uncurling his arms to mess up your hair in some kind of adoring but condescending gesture.

"You're fine, trust me. Nobody is going to see you." He pauses from messing with your hair. "I have a stop coming up, just stay in here and I'll be back with some supplies."

"Be fast, I need to hide behind someone and you're the only one here." You're being intentionally dramatic, but if it makes him laugh it's worth it. He sighs equally as dramatically, clearly playing along.

The vehicle hovers to a stop, and Revenant wisps out the door, closing it behind him before you even get a sense for where you are. The windows really are blacked out, you can't see anything through them.

Now alone, you shrink into the back corner of the seats going around the vehicle. There's a television and what appears to be a loaded bar, multicolored LED lights lining the whole thing, and starlights in the ceiling. The seats are all made with beautiful leather and have a triangular pattern stitched in the surface. The floor has carpeted mats that feel a bit more plush than the average car. You consider rummaging through the bar, but you're not sure if anyone is going to charge you an arm and a leg for alcohol you can get cheaper anywhere else. You sigh and lean back, shrinking further in the seat.

The door on the opposite corner as you clicks open, and Revenant crawls in, dragging a massive green bag behind him, barely managing to get it in the car.

"Is that a body bag?!" You curl up in the fetal position on your seat, recoiling away from the door.

"Yes." He gruffly huffs as he drags the apparent bagged corpse into the limo, weighing the whole vehicle down. He gets it in the middle of the floor, then drops it with a thud and throws himself down beside you. With his weight, you feel like you nearly missed being crushed. His arm rests on your opposite shoulder and you shudder, giving him a concerned stare. "Oh shush, I paid for it."

"You what?" You whimper, completely at a loss of what you're experiencing.

"It'll be fine, I can't rightly show up without any offering." He shrugs his shoulders, pulling you closer. He seems to be very pleased with himself, smugly teasing you.

"Offering?! Is this a cult?!" You whisper aloud, not necessarily expecting an answer. He laughs again, enjoying your mental wheels spinning. The limo gets moving again, handling the extra weight very easily.

"Oh, no, that's for next time." He's obviously teasing now. "I'll make sure you're in a lovely white dress to soak in the blood of our sacrifices for that occasion." He shoves you up against his chassis, growling to rattle his torso against you. "Then, when we're all done, I'll make official my new nickname."

"Oh, fuck you." You let slip under your breath, causing him to guffaw openly again. He catches his synthetic breath, rubbing his mask in the same motion a human would.

"You've gotten so comfortable with me so quickly, what happened?" His question must be rhetorical, because he doesn't leave much of a pause for an answer. He jumps right back into teasing. "I'll have to tame you by any means necessary if you're going to keep being so temptingly coy." His hands cup around your waist and you crack a sigh, turning away from him, trying to focus on anything other than how red in the face you must be.

"Do you regularly flirt in front of fresh corpses?"

"Awww..." He grabs your chin and pulls your face back to meet his, bringing his visage down close enough to feel his breath. "Are you kink-shaming me? Or are you just being a prude little tease?" He pauses before snickering to himself, losing his flirtatious composure. "You're so red, you practically match me." His loss of composure is cute enough to get to you. You giggle a little.

The car comes to a gentle stop, and Revenant immediately gets to pulling the corpse out. The body bag is way larger than makes sense, it almost looks as if it could fit someone Revenant's size. Yet the body inside still seems way too big. You're not sure what it is, but you're a bit too afraid to ask at the same time. Revenant eventually gets the bag to the edge of the vehicle before throwing it over one of his shoulders, forcing his shoulder spikes to flip downward out of the way. He nearly topples over at the shifting weight, meaning whatever is in the bag is excessively heavy.

As you crawl out of the car after him, you smell the fresh air of being nowhere near civilization. You see lots of flat lands broken up by woods with a giant abandoned warehouse in front of you. The warehouse has holes rusted throughout its sides and the door is ajar, the hinges rusted so it no longer swings. The air is fresh, and you look around, unable to find signs of other humans close by. Revenant waves away the limo. It turns around, kicking up dust off the unpaved path before zooming off into the horizon. He waits until the limo is far enough before pulling you close.

"You have to listen to everything I say, understand?" He's dead serious. You nod, suddenly concerned over his change in tone. "Don't try to protect me, I'll be okay. Scream if and only if you feel pain." You search for any joking tone in his voice, but there is none. "But above all else, listen to me. Don't play stupid, just obey." He looks to you, demanding acknowledgement. You nod, determined and concerned at this new development.

He walks over to the door, making his way inside carefully as you follow. He throws the body bag on the concrete floor of the entryway, causing a morbid slapping sound as it hits the ground. Revenant kneels down and begins ripping the bag open. You take a moment to look around.

This whole warehouse is dark beyond belief. There seems to be different rooms, but the rusted-through holes in the wall allow you to get negligible peeks into nearby rooms. The roof has not decayed at all yet, but it means no light is entering the building, making the deeper rooms be cast in an oppressive darkness. From the outside this warehouse looked massive, this room must be only one of dozens. The silence is scary, there isn't a single sound of life apart from you and Revenant, but you know better. Silence means something doesn't want to be found, and is inevitably a sign of life. Silence only happens when a hunter has scared everything else into silence. You might have learned that from Bloodhound, but you can't be sure. Either way, it's anxiety-inducing.

Revenant stands tall, pulling the scraps of the bag away from a giant bisection of a carcass. It appears to be beef, in the same state butchers will sell to grocers or restaurants. It doesn't smell bad, but it definitely smells like raw meat. Revenant grabs you around the shoulder, pulling you into a very controlling embrace. He whistles, or something like it.

"C'mere puppies!" As soon as he says it, you hear the sound of many nails skittering around the concrete flooring, making their way to the room you're in. Revenant squeezes you close as the pack comes into sight.

"Revenant! Those are not dogs!" You can't help but whisper in shock as the pack stops in your line of sight, trying to get a read on whether you're a threat or not.

Prowlers are utterly terrifying predators. They can be described as something between a wild dog and a tiger with the hide of a dinosaur. Their quadrupedal forms stand tall enough to meet you eye-to-eye at the largest, but the females and younger prowlers come up to your waist or knees instead. This subspecies has a beautiful, peacock-like furl behind their ears that stand on end when they see you, making them look as kaleidoscopic as they are scary. Their fangs could make a saber tooth tiger swoon, and their colors remind you of the legendary Birds of Paradise. Their long tails flick back and forth in concern, trying to understand who you are or if they should fight you. The largest male growls so deeply that Revenant sounds like a kitten in comparison, and it approaches both of you ahead of the rest of the pack.

"Rev..." You start to step behind him. This creature could very easily kill you in a single bite to the neck, and he was already tall enough to reach it.

"Shush, listen to me." He whispers to you, using his grip around your back to shuffle you back in place and to his side, pulling you against him in an uncomfortable grip. "Hey Six, this is mine." He addresses the massive male prowler approaching you, almost presenting you to him.

You hold your breath as Six sniffs your face, neck, and chest, trying to figure out what you are and why you're here. The other prowlers begin to enter the room, not even paying attention to the food in preference of figuring out the newcomer. Six's tail begins to rise up, flicking the tip back and forth as he finds you acceptable as a guest. You receive a lick right on the face as a final assurance, and the other prowlers swarm you to meet you.

You grab onto Revenant like your life depends on it. All of these prowlers could kill you, probably even the young ones too. It doesn't matter if they're all flicking their tails happily, or panting with smiles and tongues out, or excitedly greeting you. They can kill you and you're painfully aware of it.

"Calm down, seriously. You were fine meeting me for the first time, but a bunch of little puppies scare you?" Revenant releases his hold on you, but you don't return the favor.

"These are not puppies!" You try to whisper at him, but he might not be able to hear you over the crowd you've attracted. He pushes down on your shoulders, causing you to lose your grip on him and fall into a sitting position. Now all the prowlers can meet you eye-to-eye or tower over you. You're inundated with licks, and no amount of guarding your face with your arms will save you.

"You'll be fine. They're my pack, and they'll respect what's mine." You can barely hear him over the assault of affection.

As the excitement begins to settle, some of the larger prowlers peter off to check out the meat, leaving the younger ones to look after you. A tiny pair of kits you didn't see before bound up to your lap and hop in, cuddling against your stomach. For such scary adults, the babies are unbearably cute. You're not sure if you can touch them or not, so you simply let them roll around in your lap, slapping at each other like the siblings they are. Six comes back to you, his maw covered in blood from the beef.

"I figured he'd notice." You hear Revenant mutter as Six inspects your arm and calf, licking at the puncture wounds a little. "I guess my hypocrisy was going to catch up eventually." Six carefully sniffs the skin before shooting a glare and deep growl at Revenant. "Don't move a muscle, no matter what." He instructs you.

Six lunges at Revenant's leg, catching the metal below the knee joint in his bite. Revenant buckles and hits the ground. You jump a little and whine to yourself, but you stay as reserved as you can otherwise. The kits notice and begin pawing at you, trying to understand your reaction. Six drags Revenant a few feet from you as Revenant makes stifled sounds reminiscent of excruciating pain. You want to step in, but you obey orders. You hear the moaning of the metal in his leg beginning to bend for a few moments, before Six releases him. Revenant sits up, grappling his leg before Six chomps the opposite arm near the shoulder, causing Revenant to try to reel away in shock and pain. Again, Six growls as the metal bends beneath his bite, Revenant taking the pain as best as he can. Six releases, gives a growling bark to Revenant, and returns to you to lick your wounds more.

"Oh, now aren't you just poetic." Revenant finally makes out between what sounds like heavy breaths. "You got me in the same places." He's cradling his calf and arm, in the exact same places and sides as you were hurt. "I knew I was going to pay for that, but you didn't have to be that literary about it."

Six turns to him and makes whining sounds that mimic human speech. You've heard of Siberian Huskies making these noises, but never prowlers. Either way, it sounds sassy, and Revenant seems to relax knowing he's back in good graces.

"Yes, I know I taught you the same lesson a long time ago, but still..." He talks to them like anyone would talk to their dog. "You didn't have to be that extra about it." Six flicks his head at him before returning to your wounds, the kits now back to play-fighting each other.

"So, yeah, these are my puppies." He finally addresses you again. Most of the other prowlers are now taking turns at the carcass, seemingly following a hierarchy. You want to correct him, but you don't. He's clearly going to keep insisting that they're puppies. "This is Six, he's the sixth alpha of a pack I've helped raise over the past few decades. Zero was the first prowler that accepted me, and One was his puppy--the first alpha."

Six retires from your wounds, taking the two kits from you to go eat with their mother.

"There's no way you can be depressed around these guys. If there's any creature more aware of the emotional state of other beings, I dare them to come forward. My pack is perfect." He genuinely sounds overjoyed that you're getting to meet them all, he seems very proud. "I even raised them to respect females... Even if that did bite me back today." He huffs a bit.

"So, wait, you've been raising prowlers out here for decades?" You finally make a sound, Six and a few others look over at you for a moment, surprised by your more relaxed voice.

"Yeah, although they're fairly independent. I'm more like an elder to them, rather than directly in their hierarchy. I bring them food, not that they need me to, and they come along with me when I need company or extra help." He scoots himself close to you, letting his damaged leg drag. You get a closer look and see that the metal is both punctured and buckled on both his arm and leg. "They've been a passion project of mine ever since I first met Zero. They make me feel a bit of humanity." That last sentence is spoken with a level of reverence. You let the silence fall for a moment.

"You know, this is probably a scientific breakthrough in some field that nobody has ever managed before. You have a wild pack of prowlers that accept you and the people you bring in." He seems surprised by your lavish praise. "This could change our understanding of prowlers forever."

"Well, it helps that I'm nigh unkillable," he knocks on his metal chest, making a banging sound, "and honestly you're allowed in because as far as they're concerned, you're my mate." He wraps his arm around you possessively as the kits crawl back into your lap, now well-fed and cuddly. "That's why they don't mind you around the little ones." He sees you eyeing them as they roll around, trying to get comfortable. He picks one up, holding it in his hands like it's a precious jewel. It yips at him for attention, so he scratches behind it's tiny furls with his spare hand. "I think this one will be Seven, unless the next litter has an even bigger boy."

His adoration for these predators is absolutely identical to how so many people feel about their pets. The choice to love prowlers is a bit unconventional, but he is very much a man stuck in a metal body--humanity intact--in these moments. You are growing increasingly fond of him, seeing something beautiful beyond the cruel simulacrum assassin you once knew. He catches you staring.

"Go ahead, pick her up." He gestures to the other kit in your lap, actually looking a little jealous of her brother. At first, you tremor at the thought of picking her up wrong, but a sudden wave of confidence comes from nowhere. You scoop her up in your arms, bringing her up to your chest and cradling her. She immediately begins to squirm with delight and lick at your hand as you rub her head and chin.

"Was that all instinct?" He pauses, and you tilt your head at him, confused by the question. "You were shaking, then suddenly you weren't. Is that what maternal instinct looks like?" You're a bit shocked he saw that much.

"I'm not sure. I'm not usually around babies of any kind." You confess, but now you suspect the same thing he does. The baby female prowler reaches for your face, barely managing to touch your chin before you lower your face to meet her. She reacts with tiny licks on your nose while you tickle her belly. Revenant is the one staring now.

Revenant places the baby male in your arms next to the female, allowing them to both vie for your coveted attention. Some of the females come over and snuggle up next to you, laying on and around you, while the males and Six lie next to Revenant. Revenant leans back, eventually resting his head on the flank of one of the larger males, while another rests its head on his shoulder.

"You should lie down, let the puppies run around." He instructs you, briefly pointing to the kits in your arms. "Your body isn't heavy enough to bother anyone, just lay on whoever seems the most comfortable."

You look around, seeing a lot of intimidating warm bodies around you, so you cheat and carefully lay under Revenant's arm. You hear him audibly sigh, bothered that you're still worried but unable to chide you. The kits use you to crawl up on Revenant and slide down his metal torso to the other side, Six audibly purring when they land in his vicinity. Maybe a prowler would make a better pillow than a newly busted up metal arm and the concrete floor. You shiver a bit at the sheer power of these creatures, running your fingers over the metal holes in Revenant's arm, causing him to wince away from your touch.

"Does it hurt?" You whisper, hoping not to draw any prowler's attention.

"Yeah, it hurts a lot. My body can feel pain just like you skinsuits." He inhales in distress as you pull your fingers away from the damage. "It honestly feels like the flesh and muscle is torn off, like the bone is crushed and splintered, and like I'm bleeding out on the ground. But I know it's not real. It's never real."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know this would happen." You pull yourself into more of a ball, shuddering at the thought of that level of pain.

"It's not your fault, I instilled this level of protectiveness into them." Revenant pulls his arm away as one of the female prowlers crawls over you and lays on top of you, purring as if to comfort you. "Anyone who hurts one of the girls gets it back sevenfold." You roll onto your back, the prowler readjusting to lay on your belly, purring and licking your neck. "So you can stop being sad about it. They can sense it in you. If you don't want the attention, you can't let yourself be distressed." He sits up, looking down at you smugly while a second prowler writhes across the ground to get close enough to lick your cheek. Are these creatures really this intuitive?

Six notices Revenant sitting up to watch you and meanders over to see the small commotion. Six shoves himself between you and Revenant, apparently sensing some kind of disagreement. Six positions his paws on your neck, allowing you to feel the enormous size of his claws. One flex and you're dead. These things must be three inches of blade, all with a hypodermic tip. Six turns his head to Revenant and makes a sound somewhere between a huff and a growl before shoving his snout against your ear to purr. He bares his fangs while doing so, allowing you to feel how long and menacing they are. You wince away from him, pushing your face into the other prowler's licks, but Six just shoves his snout further to reconnect with you.

"He seems to think I should be more comforting, you're way too nervous for his liking. Good luck being depressed now." He sounds like he's enjoying this, shrugging to himself before he places his hand on your free arm. "Just calm down, they're not going to hurt you."

"I could die from a single flick of the wrist." You carefully say, feeling your vocal chords vibrate against Six's massive nails.

"That doesn't stop you from getting close to me." His hand glides up and down your arm. You don't have a response for him, so you stay quiet. "Like I said, just scream at any discomfort and someone is getting a swift dose of justice." He lies back on the same prowler as before, changing his position to avoid disrupting Six.

"I can't scream if my throat is slit."

"Give it time, you'll understand."

• • • •

Three prowlers is apparently the amount it takes to bring back a stick. It can be more if the stick is longer, but this giant branch is the maximum size you can throw. They hop together, all their jaws in a line across the branch, their fangs clutched around the wood. They carefully drop it at your feet, waiting expectantly for you to try throwing it again. You do your best to throw it, but between your injured arm and the weight of it, you struggle to get it as far as you'd like. The area behind the warehouse is a small yard with enough room for fetch, surrounded by thick forests over a few small hills.

"You throw like a child." You hear Revenant mock you, and you turn around to shoot him a glare. Six is resting in his lap and he has the mother prowler at his side, accepting the belly rubs he offers while the kits sleep. "I can throw farther than you from here, without even standing." You roll your eyes, knowing he's probably right.

Two new prowlers got in on the stick this throw, bounding back to you for another throw. You have eight prowlers all fighting to be one of the three on the stick, but they all seem to be having fun. Four of the young adults are off in the woods playing tug of war by themselves, making a total of sixteen prowlers you've now met. This pack is unusually huge from what little you know. You wonder if Revenant's meddling has something to do with it.

You pick up the branch and drag it over to Revenant, curious to see if he'll back up his claim.

"Alright, go for it." You hand him the end of the branch, and he chucks it far enough to lob over the entire yard and land somewhere in the woods. He snickers as the pack disappears in the darkness after it. You watch, hearing the branch collide with the trees, making rustling and snapping sounds as it catches in them. "So, what if you just got it stuck in a tree?"

"Oh, I thought you wanted me to show off for you." Revenant coos sarcastically. "Give them a few minutes, they can climb." You sigh and shrug, waiting for any sign of them coming back. "Do you want to go home?"

"No, not yet."

"Oh, oh!? You aren't scared of my puppies anymore?" He says between chuckles.

"Shut it." You growl at him, finally getting to use his catch-phrase against him.

"Are you sure? It's getting late." It was beginning to be late in the afternoon, coming up on when you'd normally be wanting dinner. In truth you hadn't eaten in over a day, but depression made it so you never wanted to eat anyway. You'd been playing with his prowlers for hours now, fully accepted by them. You now felt pretty confident in your safety around them, but their stature was still a bit menacing.

"At least let me see if they can bring back that stick." You hear some rustling in the woods, before the eight prowlers burst out of the brush with the original branch and a second, equally massive one. Now only two are left out of being able to hold a part of a stick. They drop both at your feet.

You try to throw the first but it only makes it a short ways, all the prowlers fighting for it. You hand the second to Revenant, and he throws it back into the woods completely out of sight. They all abandon the first stick in preference for the farthest one.

"Maybe you should be doing this." You hunch over, a bit defeated and tired.

"You're doing fine. Anyways, we should wrap up soon. You probably need that shower and I have something I need to do before tomorrow." Revenant starts to get up, prompting Six to get off of him while huffing and shaking himself awake. "Also, you need food."

You sigh, wanting to argue but knowing you can't.

"I'm calling back your ride. We need to get all these guys hidden in the warehouse as to not cause any alarm." He pulls some kind of cellular device out of his pocket on his belt and presses a few buttons. He then proceeds to shuffle you back towards the warehouse, prompting Six, the mother, and the two kits to follow. As you get to the side entrance, Revenant turns around and emits another whistling sound, inundated with his usual modulated twinge. He steps inside with you and the other twelve prowlers come flooding in behind him.

He pets each of them as they make their way in, saving Six and the kits for last. He really does love these creatures. You sheepishly and carefully pet Six as you go to leave, but only because he demands it by butting his head into your hand to make it clear.

Finally, you step outside with Revenant, going towards the dirt road that got you here.

"You look like absolute hell." Revenant jabs. You pull your hair back and try to control it a bit better, but it refuses to cooperate. It's probably stuck from all the prowler saliva all over you, hair absolutely included. Not to even mention your shirt and pants look like you got tackled and ground into the dirt by an entire rugby team. Your shirt was already stained, now it's dusty, dirty, stained, and has green grass streaks. Your shoes are probably just as bad, but they're cheap sneakers so you don't really care much.

"I know, I really need a shower. Maybe two." You give up on your hair. It's just going to be a mess.

"Take as long as you need. I'll be back soon after you. I hope you don't mind riding back alone." You've made it to the dirt road, and you can see the excessively luxurious limo in the distance, kicking up dirt.

"You're not coming?"

"No, I have one last thing to do before the match tomorrow. It'll be worth it, and I think you'll like it too." Revenant seems like he won't budge on the matter.

The limo pulls up and he opens the door for you, and you crawl in alone, making sure you stay as far in the corner as possible. You don't really like the thought of being in here alone, but you have no choice in the matter. He shuts the door and you lose sight of him through the blacked-out windows. The limo starts to move, making a sharp turn and hitting high speeds over the terrain, probably kicking up tons of dust in the meantime. You have nothing to stare at, so you just curl up to yourself and wait to make it back.

"You seem a bit meek for this kind of work, kid." You hear a masculine voice with a skeezy city accent coming from the front of the limo. The privacy window is cracked, just enough so you can hear him, but thankfully not enough so you can see each other. Why was that rolled down at all? It wasn't on the way here. You turn away, refusing to answer, hoping he will leave you be.

"Heh, exactly." You hear him chuckle. You wish you had the guts to just waltz over and roll up the window on him, but you're neither that confident nor strong enough if it ends in a spat. You just let him continue. "Heck, I didn't think robots were even into that stuff, but he seems to be the 'specially fucked-up type." Your stomach sinks like an anchor as you hear what sounds like the draw of a cigarette. "Fucker practically gets off every time he guts someone on live TV. Makes perfect sense he'd get off 'tuh victimizin' some tiny doll like you."

You get the picture, and you feel sick to your stomach for it. You can't respond, every word you want to say gets caught in your throat and you're forced to swallow it. This guy might be unhinged; a lot of people are these days. If you try to argue, he might try something. If you try to play it off... who are you kidding? You could never play this one off. It sounds so bad. Is he going to try to hurt you? Or is this all some mind game?

"Does it hurt? You sure as hell look like you've been through a meat grinder." You feel your face turn red. You turn further away from the cracked window. "Oh, I bet it does. No way 'woulda giant metal psycho like that hold back on a little thing like you."

He won't stop. He's clearly only getting started, but you hope that this is the worst of it.

"Question is: are you a hostage or does he really pay you that well? You know, sweetheart, if you're in need of money, just record whatever the hell he does to 'ya and sell it on the internet." He starts laughing as you internally beg for him to shut up. "All sorts of fucked up dudes would pay for the privilege. You could make absolute bank! Even better if you let him cut you open a bit for the cameras while you scream." He's really laughing now, clearly getting off to how much he has you cornered.

"Everyone loves a good screamin' bitch. Anyone who says they don't is a liar. But you know that, don't 'ya toots?" His use of centuries-old misogynistic slang somehow makes everything worse. You feel yourself shake a bit as you hold yourself tighter. Your stomach hurts badly from the distress now, and you feel yourself spiral internally. Where is this going? Can you outrun this guy if you need to? What if he catches you? Can you squirm out of this guy's grasp? "God, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall while that's going on. I bet your tears only make him harder."

You want to scream, but your prey instincts refuse to let you move or make a sound in hopes that he simply forgets you're there. You can't help yourself but hold your breath in intervals, hoping to be even more silent, but in turn making you more light-headed and fearful.

"I bet there's lots of filthy bastards that would pay extra to have his sloppy seconds." You're absolutely nauseated at the thought of that, but you haven't eaten, so maybe it's just a stomach ulcer forming from the extreme stress. "I bet he's modded to absolutely ruin you, isn't he? Tear your insides up and fill you until you're overflowin', right? You look like he never gives you a day off." You pray, begging God to kill you--this is worse than death.

"So, if he's draggin' 'ya all the way out into the woods to fuck 'ya, it must be pretty messed up stuff, huh?" You lay your face in your hands. "Aww, don't cry babe, I'm not going to tell anyone. I wouldn't want a hole in my chest, anyhow." You want to disappear. You hope he crashes the car and you die in a fire. You hate everything about this. "If you're ever in need of an extra kick of cash though, I wouldn't mind a taste of 'ya. Or buyin' one of those tapes."

You break internally. It feels like the essence of every muscle snaps in your body, and the tears flow without even intending to. You suddenly have the courage to move, but only to move a few inches to cower deeper in the corner of the seats.

It's not worth it. None of this is worth it. You no longer hear anything he says, even though you can still hear his voice. It sounds like you're underwater, so you can't make out the words anymore. Maybe that's a good thing. Unfortunately, you can still make out your own thoughts, and they're all cruel. It's all cruel. Everything about this situation is cruel.

You focus on the tears hitting your hands. They're cold, and they quickly flow out of your palms and down your arms before dripping off your elbows. They leave a trail of salts down your arm so thin you can barely notice it. You don't even feel compelled to make a sound as you cry; it's not that type of sorrow. It's pure humiliation, and your lungs work calmly as your eyes drown instead.

You wish you could just be swallowed by the swell of your own pain. Death is something you think about often as a potential solution to every problem, but right now it feels like a drug you're in active withdrawal from. Like you need it, right here, right now. You want to imagine the limo crashing into an embankment wall, submerging into an ocean, or being hit by a train. You don't care if the creep dies or not, all you know is you want out. The world feels cold enough to sap every degree of heat from you, and you feel as if you're freezing both literally and figuratively.

You fester in the feelings. The only saving grace in this situation is that you're too unimportant to matter to anyone as anything other than an easy squeeze. Nobody will miss you if you die. No one will look for you if you disappear. No family will mourn you. You secretly hope this pervert doesn't know that too, otherwise you might not make it out of this unscathed. You hope he believes Revenant will run him through if he tries to abduct you. You'd rather not die like that, something faster and more violent would be preferred.

Would Revenant kill you? In any circumstance at all? He could make it quick and violent, but he might not want to at this point. He seems to like you more by the day, but now that scares you. Is he human enough to feel strongly about you? Or does he tend to fall back on his programming? Maybe he would like gutting you--then at least someone could enjoy your death. You think about it, but you cannot imagine it without there being some kind of regret thrown in on your or his end. You can only imagine goading him into it by aggressively attacking his emotional stability, which is something you'd regret. Otherwise, you cannot imagine him killing you for no reason and being regret-free afterwards. You don't want him to feel regret. You just want to be free without hurting anyone, but maybe that's unrealistic.

The vehicle comes to a gentle stop. Your brain kicks into survival mode and you immediately rush for the door, not giving the driver any chance to get out of his seat, let alone open the door for you. He is still talking but you don't care; he's only laughing at you anyway. You get the door open and thankfully you're not at some back alley motel, but the main Apex Games facility. It's the back entrance, but you'll take it. It might be a blessing anyway, since it's so close to Revenant's new room that you'll likely avoid all human contact. You get up to the door and fumble in your pocket for your ID card, finally getting it out. You hear the driver say some more heinous things, but you refuse to turn around to see his face. The card is accepted and you rush in.

• • • •

The water is as hot as you can tolerate. It burns your skin and is downright uncomfortable to wash yourself in. Even as you curl up on the shower floor, crying and tolerating the hottest water you can handle, nothing can truly wash off the overwhelming feeling of being violated. Nothing can wash off the depression, the feelings of insignificance, the intrusive suicidal ideations, or the fear of meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things while simultaneously meaning just enough to force you into living.

The floor of the shower is warm, but it's still uncomfortable to lay on. The water spray hitting your skin is the only comfort you feel, but it isn't enough to quell you. The soap slowly rinses off your body, and the lathered up shampoo slowly flows out of your hair and down the drain. You'll eventually rinse completely like this, but it will be a while longer. How long has it already been? You took a long time sitting on the shower floor to even find the energy to get the soap lathered on you, and even that process was slow. Now you've been back on the floor and letting the soap slowly come off as you sob. Revenant might be back by now, but you're not sure what his errand was exactly. Maybe it will take all night. Does it matter? Do you matter? The thoughts won't stop.

You just cry. You cry until it feels like your soul starts to leave your body. Maybe it does. Between the heat, the steam, and the exhaustion, you pass out.

• • • •

"Skinsuit!" You feel yourself being gently jostled, still on the shower floor. The water is off, but the steam is so thick you question how long it's been. Your skin is beginning to get wrinkled from all the water absorption, so it's been a while. You're facing away from him, and you don't have the energy to turn to him. You don't even have the energy to speak. You just play the corpse, hoping that faking it will cause you to make it.

Revenant withdraws, and you hear rapid shuffling behind you. It sounds like he grabs the towel you had hung for yourself, running in and out of the bathroom to grab other things. You care about how he feels--he sounds distressed--but not for yourself. Why does he care at all, though? How does he feel about all this, anyway?

"Come here, little skinsuit. Everything is fine." You feel his arms scoop under you, and your natural instinct is to resist the hard synthetics against your bare skin. You wince a little, but mostly keep your corpse-like state: eyes closed and body limp. He carries you out of the bathroom where the air is freezing, but also not inundated with enough water vapor to nearly asphyxiate you. Weirdly enough, his chest isn't cold, but actually has something like fur? You don't open your eyes, you're probably just imagining it.

He places you down on a towel on the bed, immediately throwing another equally large towel over you. You're still cold, but it's way more tolerable with something over you. You hear Revenant mumbling in some kind of panic to himself, but you still can't find the energy to console him. You hear some typing on his computer, then the chair gets shoved out from under him as he stands in a huff. You hear your duffle bag unzip and likely some of your clothes be tossed on the bed near your head.

"You better not be mad at me for this..." He sounds unsure of that himself before you feel his hands start to dry you off through the towel. It would be nice if it didn't feel so wrong. Even if it is through a towel, you're naked otherwise. The thought of what the driver said hits you, and you immediately begin to feel anxiety and shake against your will. He reacts by scooping you up and hugging you, still wrapped in a towel, trying to stop the shaking.

"Dammit, what's going on?" You hear him whisper, he doesn't seem to realize you're awake and aware.

More fur. Why is there fur? Also, why does it feel like there's something resting on your head? It's way too large to be his chin. His chest feels smaller too, and it feels like some type of plastic rather than metal. The more you feel the more questions you have, and the more you panic at the realization that you do not know this simulacrum. You reach your limit and perk up in his arms, opening your eyes, and silently gasping as you reel back from whoever the heck this is.

"Wait! Skinsuit! It's me!" He manages to hold your arms before you can fully pull away, and you meet eyesight with a chassis you do not recognize. He has a huge, artificial bovine skull with curling ram horns situated on top. Instead of his scarf, his new face is framed in a mane of deep bark-colored fur, matted into locks like a proper wild animal. The optics tucked inside his skull seem so much larger than his normal ones, and they're a brilliant blueish-white, unlike his normal yellow ones. His snout is long enough to have been what was sitting on your head. His body looks to be made much thinner, especially in the chest, and is clearly made with more plastics than metals. It looks significantly lighter. His arms are red with odd, jagged juts on them, but seem to have similar hand mechanics otherwise. His loincloth is replaced with another long patch of fur, as well as fur on his thigh plates. His legs look a lot more decorative, and his feet are scarier: detailed down to each individual talon. His feet actually look much more like the hands on his other chassis.

"Skinsuit?" You snap out of your trance at his voice. You must have been staring him up and down for a while. "Uh, here." He pulls the towels back over you, which had fallen off when you pulled away. He reaches out to touch you, but stops short in case you aren't all there yet. "It's me, I'm just in a special body for tomorrow. I didn't mean to scare you." He's speaking slowly and methodically; his fingers make contact with your hand, but don't go further. "You must have fainted in the shower. You haven't been eating enough, but don't worry, everything's okay now."

Your head starts to throb and you instinctively go to hold it, the stress of the situation is too much. Even though he's trying to be reassuring, he looks like some kind of robotic, big-horned, undead goat demon and honestly you just wanted to see a familiar face to go with the familiar voice. You're not scared now that you know it's him, but something still doesn't feel right about it. Since you don't know this new chassis, you find it hard to trust his comfort. It's weird. Any other time you'd be overjoyed to see him in something that looks so cool, but now you're looking for some semblance of normalcy.

"How do you feel?" His right hand moves again to rest on your knee, intentionally avoiding pushing any boundaries. You can't answer, you still can't speak. It gets caught in your throat despite your best intentions, and instead your words turn into a new burst of tears and sobs. Without thinking, you take his hand off your knee and pull it to your face, sobbing into it. He seems relieved at your acceptance, and tries his best to catch and wipe away the tears as they flow. He shuffles as if to hug you, but he stops, likely unsure of how you feel when you're essentially in nothing but two loosely wrapped towels.

"I'm sorry, I thought seeing my pack would help, but I should have realized you haven't been eating enough. It's not something I've had to pay attention to in centuries." Your heart hurts as he seems to take the blame himself. "I also didn't mean to scare you again... I promise I'm not planning on hurting you." You want to speak so badly, but you just cry harder instead. None of this is his fault. Literally none of it. The only reason you're so jumpy is because everything that pervert said has sent you into a spiral. You imagined Revenant hurting you for his own entertainment and pleasure, and this imaginary smoking gun has left you very gun-shy.

"I ordered food for you to be delivered to the room. I expect you to eat something, even if it's not much. I don't want you dying on me." You push his hand into your face, trying to dry the tears. "I ordered a lot. I'm not sure what you like." You nod to affirm you hear him and plan to try, even though you're too nauseous to be hungry at the moment.

He uses his free hand to grab the clothing he pulled from your bag and puts it in front of you. He probably wasn't thinking too hard when he picked things out, but an oversized tee and men's basketball shorts are as comfy as it gets, so he did fine in your book. He left out undergarments, but honestly you couldn't care less at this point. Whatever covers you is fine. You pull his hand away from your face and place it on the bed gently. You grab the shirt, and he immediately turns away to let you put it on. You're able to throw it on along with the shorts in a few seconds, and quickly retrieve his hand when done. He turns back, maintaining the boundaries he interpreted.

"Any better?" He wipes away a few trailing tears now that you've slowed down a lot. You nod, still not sure how your voice is doing.

There's a knock on the door and Revenant pulls away gently to go get it. You hear a familiar voice from the other side of the door.

"I've got enough Chinese for like, five people. Who is even in this room? Are y'all having a sleepover in the abandoned room? To be fair I'd do the sa--"

Revenant opens the door and Sherry has a long pause to look up at the recipient. She doesn't even notice you, but you see her put the bags on the floor slowly and take a step back, hands up defensively.

"Okay, so it's a demon summoning, my bad..." Her sass is ever present. "And here I made the mistake of thinking I was running into some normal kind of fun."

"Sherry!" Your voice cracks back into action and the perfect moment. She shoots a look past Revenant to see you.

"You're summoning demons now?! Did you dump the tinman and summon an incubus as a bounce back or something?!" She looks up at Revenant, still not sure who it is. "Also, do demons really like Chinese food this much?"

"Sherry, shut up! I need a hug!" The tears are coming back, and Sherry valiantly slips under Revenant's arm to run to you. Revenant seems to be in complete shock at her brazenness, but also unwilling to stop her since you invited her in. He picks up the bag of food instead and brings it in, setting it on the television stand. Sherry leaps into a hug and you accept it graciously. Sherry is the closest thing you have to a sister and you could use someone like her right now. Revenant sits in the computer chair, watching you embrace closely, but not speaking or interfering.

"Where's the Revenant guy? What happened? Did he dump you? Did you run away? Who is this guy?" She immediately starts getting to brass tacks mid-hug. Although with her the hug won't end until you stop crying anyway.

"That is Rev, Sherry. It's just a different body." You manage to get out. She shoots Revenant a discerning look before slowly recognizing the similarities.

"Oh, hey, you're right. My bad, mister murder robot... haha..." She trails off nervously, Revenant only responding with a grunt and a huff. Suddenly, she snaps back into a fiery disposition. "Wait! Did you do something to her, you doofy-lookin' Beelzebub knockoff?! You may be able to gut me, but I'll defend her honor to my grave!" Now you're hugging Sherry to hold her back from trying to start something.

"It was a complete accident. I wasn't keeping track of how much she's been eating and I didn't catch her starving herself; plus I didn't expect this body to scare her as much as it did." Revenant doesn't lose an aggressive posture, but his words are fairly soft and empathetic.

"It's not that! I promise, it's not any of that!" You hug Sherry hard enough that she winces, but sensing your desperation she holds you tighter and pulls your head into her chest with no regard for what that may look like. You're glad you don't have those kinds of feelings for Sherry, otherwise this might be a bit strange. You see Revenant cock his head to the side and his eyes sharpen at the sight.

"It was the ride back, alone. That stupid driver was--" you choke, you hate saying these words out loud, "--a perverted bastard. An absolute dog." It comes out and devolves into a half-sob, thankfully still understandable. You start to cry again, reliving the things he said, not sure how you'd ever be able to say them yourself, even just to explain what happened.

"What happened? Did he hurt you? Are you okay?!" Sherry barely contains her concerns, if at all, squeezing you as you cry.

Revenant stands very slowly and methodically out of the chair, and begins to make some kind of animalistic growl you've never heard him make in your life. He paces back and forth, slowly stifling his growl as he goes. Sherry seems a bit concerned by him, but she continues to try to comfort you, awaiting an answer.

It takes almost a full minute to catch your breath again and be able to speak again, but you do.

"He didn't touch me. He just said things that--" Back to sobbing. You thought too far ahead and started to repeat his words again to yourself.

Despite your crying, Sherry sighs in relief, significantly less tense than before. She starts to rock you in her hug and you go along with it. Revenant's intensity only seems to worsen. He paces faster for a few moments as you cry, before he calms himself down enough to approach the situation.

He sits on the edge of the bed next to you and Sherry, currently latched on to each other. He doesn't attempt to pull you apart, he simply waits patiently. He's completely calm and collected now, with no signs of previous rage apparent, but you're sure it's still there.

"What kind of things did he say?" Sherry asks kindly, no sense of urgency in her voice. She plays with your hair a bit, which might as well be one of the greatest feelings in the world. It might be just distracting enough for you to get it out.

"He said he wanted to buy tapes..." You inhale heavily trying to hold back the inevitable runny nose. "...of Revenant cutting into me and... using me." Sherry gasps through her nose in disgust, but squeezes you tighter in response.

"I'm sorry, that's terri--"

"He said I should sell myself afterwards, that people would like me better if I still had... stuff... inside me." You cut her off but you're not done. Sherry is starting to get tense, but more notably, so is a particular simulacrum only a few feet away. "He said he wanted to watch it all! And try me for himself, too." That's all you needed to say, you're back to sobbing and Sherry starts to cry with you, unable to help her empathy. You're latched on to each other trying to comfort one another, but instead both of you are just a sobbing mess.

Revenant sits, lifeless for a moment, before standing up and limping towards the door.

"Revenant!" You call out to him through tears, and he stops and turns towards you, revealing his eyes are voids. He's in reboot. "Don't kill anyone." You try to sound confident, but you're not sure how it comes out. He turns away again, and limps out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He didn't acknowledge what you said, but you hope he heard you.

Sherry perks up, wiping away her own tears and pulling away for a moment.

"Do you think he'll listen?" Sherry seems stressed.

"I hope so."

• • • •

"So, he's actually an average person, stuck in a body that drives him to be a bloodthirsty assassin via software?" Sherry asks, taking another bite of the sweet and sour chicken.

"As far as I can tell, yeah... Wait, did you not know what a simulacrum was before now?"

"I meant to look it up but I never did. I figured it was like a brand-name or something." She giggles at herself, but you sense there's a chance she may be joking. "So, you actually do really like this spindly metal guy, after all? And he's so much older! You have mature tastes." She goes straight to teasing, now that you're feeling a bit better.

"I didn't say anything about that, ma'am." You stare at the General Tso's chicken in front of you, not sure if you can eat a third piece. You still feel wrong somehow.

"You don't have to. I think he likes you too. I mean, he isn't wearing your innards as a scarf. For him, that's something." She prods.

"He's not as bad as you think, you know." You don't know how to convince her without potentially telling her something Revenant wouldn't want you to.

"Sure, he just kills people on live TV for the paycheck." She shrugs. "Oh! And maybe killing some pervert who sexually harassed you right now."

"I didn't tell him to do that!" You snap, you legitimately don't want to have even a drop of that blood on your hands. Sure, this guy was an absolute creep, but he didn't lay hands on you. That's your limit, and he didn't cross it. He isn't as bad as Forge. That guy did cross the line. He crossed a lot of lines.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset." Sherry sounds genuine. You sigh.

"It's okay, I really hope he's just running off some steam. I hope he knows most of my distress was just depression winning." You poke the chicken.

"That's not true, I would have been so scared too. I mean, you were in real danger. It's a miracle you held it together at all, I'm not sure I could have. I still can't believe--"

The door swings open and Revenant walks in, stopping all conversation in its tracks. He's hunched forward, looking somewhat disappointed.

"I hope you're happy. He'll live." He looks you dead in the eyes, waiting for your reaction.

You smile openly, glad he heeded your request.

"Everyone in his contacts now has a copy of the encrypted files on his computer, all decrypted for their viewing pleasure." He breaks eye contact with you. "At least one of them is sure to call the feds when they see their inbox tomorrow."

"Oh geeze, he was that kind of creep?" Sherry exclaims out loud, still eating chicken.

"Oh yeah, he's been collecting a lot of really rare porn. Honestly, I wish you'd have just let me kill him so I didn't have to expose myself to that." You feel a little guilty that he had to dig through it, it explains why he looks so dejected.

"I'm sorry..." You can't help yourself, you feel bad when he seems upset about anything.

"How much have you eaten?" He seems to have noticed how full your box of chicken still is.

"Two pieces of chicken, and maybe one piece of broccoli." Sherry rats you out with a cruel grin on her face.

"Snitch!" You shoot back at her. She closes her box with a mischievous smirk, hops up, and starts to leave.

"Nice to meet 'ya, you synthetic Wendigo! Have fun and be safe, you two!" She slips past Revenant quickly and is out of the door, skipping down the hallway as the door slowly shuts behind her. Revenant watches her leave with some mix of confusion and concern. You turn to reassure him.

"She's fine. She won't say anything. She--"

"Clearly is some kind of competition for me. I mean, she held you like you two were bonded for life." He's immediately free to tease you with her gone. Thank goodness Revenant seems too shy to gang up on you with her; that would be untenable. He throws himself down next to you where Sherry once was. "I want that same kind of bond." He barely touches your chin with his claws, being sure to growl the last bit out loud.

You emit a whining noise, paralyzed by the thought. You're a bit more sensitive to it all at the moment, considering the events of the day. Revenant notices your struggle and pulls back, reverting to his demanding style.

"Eat your food. I didn't intend for your girlfriend to run off with a free meal and you not eat anything." It still feels weird coming from his new body, but you're getting used to it.

"She's just a good friend, that's all. And I was just too busy talking to eat, I still don't feel great though." You poke at the food, it's lukewarm by now but that isn't your main objection to it. You just don't feel like eating.

"Oh, so we aren't close enough yet for that kind of affection? I'll fix that soon enough." His voice hums. You sigh.

"Oh please," You pet his snout and he seems to enjoy it, getting him off your case for a bit, "Not right now, harass me later. If you want me to eat anything, you can't be doing this." He really seems to enjoy the snout rubs.

"Alright, fine, you eat, I'll talk." You pull your hand away and focus more on the food. "I have quite a number of these special chassis to myself, all kinds of designs and colors and other nonsense. These are my special occasion outfits, per sé." You nod, it makes sense. "This one, as well as many others, are modded to the brim with all sorts of fun additions." He touches his snout, noting where you pet it. "I can feel every single aspect of this suit, even those that don't conform to the human shape. Even better, it's neural processors are exponentially faster, meaning everything feels much more vivid and vibrant." He pulls his fingers to the nasal cavity. "I have an entire set of cores that do nothing but olfactory processing, so I get to be the better Bloodhound while I wear it." His fingers fall to his jaw. "This luxurious suit even gets a jaw with clamping power, canine teeth to snag whatever I want, and a synthetic tongue to taste the blood I spill." He starts to snarl his words as he pulls open his jaw to show you his mouth. He points to his horns next. "These things? Silicone carbide sections with rubber impulse reducers between." You stare at him with a look of minor confusion, so he clarifies. "I can headbutt a skull into fragments without even leaving a dent in my own." You wince at the thought. "Not to even mention the use of polyethylenes instead of metals in the body with support weights in the limbs makes it so I can move faster than ever but still hit just as hard. Not to even mention all the modifications below the neck. You'll see how much I destroy in tomorrow's match. I will win, I promise you that."

"Wanna bet?" You're happy with how confident he is, but you can't help but want to start something.

"And what do I have that you could possibly want?" Revenant asks the opposite of what you expect him to. Isn't the question usually posed the opposite way? You close up your leftovers and start going over to the kitchenette to put it in the fridge.

"Well, I wouldn't mind money or just hanging out with the prowlers again. I could put money on it too, just not enough to make it worth your while. Did you have something in mind?" The fridge is nearly empty, spare for that water bottle and liquor. You throw the box down on a shelf, close the door, and plop down on the couch in a lying position.

"So, if I don't win, I have to take you to see my puppies again, or give you money. Neither of those are objectionable to me, but when I win I get to take something instead?"

"Yeah, that's how I'm framing it. The extra motivation can't hurt. I just don't know what you'd want. I have some savings, but--"

"Forget the money, I don't exactly have much need for it and I have tons anyway. What I want..." He pauses for a moment as his voice turns sinister. "...is to hear you call me 'daddy' again while I take a piece of you." He seethes with a sadistically erotic tone.

You stare into space, your face must be red again.

"C'mon skinsuit, it's not every day I'm in one of my few suits with the proper equipment for it." He's loving the look on your face, undoubtedly. He's acting like this is a cruel joke, but... How far would he take this joke, though? Better yet, how far will you force him to take it? You still feel ill at ease about the idea, but you're suddenly angry enough to buck off the shame.

"Alright, fuck you but sure." Probably the ballsiest thing you've ever said in your life.

Revenant is caught off guard for a moment, his eyes dimming until they're nearly off, freezing in a somewhat shocked motion. After a few moments, you hear him slowly return as he laughs out loud. He has trouble containing himself, and goes to rub his mask again.

"You're insane, but I love that." He finally contains his laughter. "Your friend, what's her name?"

"Sherry." Weird change in subject but okay.

"Who's her favorite?"

"Wattson."

"Oh, perfect. I'll send a special request for her to keep you company during the match. I want you both to watch. I got my assigned team not long ago." He stands up from the edge of the bed and meanders over to the couch you're on, looming over you.

"Oh, are you with Wattson?"

"And Wraith. It's perfect for what I have planned." He never did explain what his plan was that day he dragged you all over the arena. "Loba's little triumph will pale in comparison to my massacre."

"Try not to make it too--"

"It will be bloody, gory, and brutal. Sorry little skinsuit, but you used up your pardon." He chides you from above before reaching down to help you up. "Now come, I need to warm something."

You stand up, a bit confused by his request, until he pulls you into a hug and you feel how strangely warm his body is. You're a bit taken aback at first, but you slowly ease into him and the warmth he offers.

"Luxurious, isn't it?" You feel his chest rattle into a purring sound as he cradles your head against his warm chest. "I like it too." He gently pulls you away from the couch before leading you to the bed.

You don't protest, you just crawl into bed and shuffle to the middle, making plenty of room for him to follow. You see the lights flick off, then feel his warmth press up against your back, cradling you completely. His snout rests on your shoulder, breathing into your ear. It's comforting, something you really needed after today.

"Thanks, Rev." You barely manage to whisper. He huffs in your ear as affirmation before you fall asleep.

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hawksugarbaby · 4 years ago

Text

Fatgum x reader- Atlas

Fluff + Greek mythology AU.

You were nothing more than a simple human, roaming the built up world to find something new and interesting, something no one could see but you, a secret for you and the universe to hold together. You needed to find something special is what you thought, taking a break at the atlas mountains in the scorching Morroccon sun. sweat bead down your forehead and your skin was hot to the touch but the adventure and experience, the trials to find something undiscovered was worth the peeling skin on your shoulders being soothed by aloe over and over.

Your persistence to find the unknown secret may have started genuinely, you wanted to find what the universe wanted you too, but eventually it gave you a reason to travel the world. You've travelled to 28 countries in 4 years, beginning at 18 and now you're 22, you skipped uni and college, you made money from ad revenue on youtube since your vlogs became popular, and you were incredible when it came to saving money.

Of course, you were still searching, but now you felt like you had even bigger reasons. Exploring the world, drinking in fountains of culture and knowledge, that was perfection enough. But the secret was missing.

You stood up rolling your neck and started your walk up rocky paths of mud and stone to the sandy houses forming a village and your senses lead you to a vendor, golden couscous with colourful, roasted vegetables mixed through smelled amazing and glasses of fresh mint tea lined up for you to drink while eating couscous at the vendors stall. You requested a glass of the tea, sat down, and drank it too quickly, burning your tongue from the hot water. You sucked in sharply and hummed in pain. "Thank you!" you said paying for the drink and continuing to the mountains past the beige buildings with terracotta tile roofs.

You felt like if you walked between the fingers of the mountain grabbing the earth with their hands you would find something unknown. You walked around the spurs peering into the joining point of each interlocked section but none tugged you in, pulled you towards them with mystery.

Apart from one. The sun was on the opposite side so technically there should have been no light, but it seemed perfectly visible to you? Was it a trick of the light? Possibly an illusion? Either way your heart longed to investigate and so you did. You trudged forward kicking a stone out your way and looked at the joining line. "You have to be something right?" you muttered and put your hand between the drack. You drew a triangle, mimicking the shape the spurs made and as quickly as you could blink, the mountain began to shake, not violently, but it trembled like being coerced into sharing it's deepest secrets.

"Okay... mountains don't usually do that" you say with wide eye's as the seam rips apart and balls of moss and rock tumble into a pile on the floor. Was it a doorway for you? Who knew, you didn;t care, whatever it was you were finding out one way or another.

You stepped into the cavern, dripping stalagmites made your head turn in the direction of every 'plop' into the puddle and your hands brushed against the side of the wall for stability and a sense of surrounding. "These feel like bricks?" you whisper in a questioning tone as your eye's begin to adjust to the dark and you found that you were going aimlessly through a long, triangular corridor. The bricks were a muted clay colour with green moss and algae blanketing them, the grout in the walls was black and viridian unidentifiable as something anyone had ever known of.

The terracotta sparsely began to cut into black white and grey granite eventually forming a whole wall as if the bricks had never been there to begin with. The marble was just as unkempt and ruined as the bricks but the walls got wider, further and further away from each other until they opened into a wide, white cavern, glowing and inhumanely clean. In the middle was a statue of a hulking man, holding the sky. He wore no shirt and had a pair of orange shorts on and black sandals, sandals that looked real and hyper-realistic looking shorts that flowed with the draft and skin you could see the detail of every pore in. hold on... fabric made of marble should not flow in the wind and should not be such an even orange no matter how much paint.

You slowly looked up, the chest rising and falling with a huffing breath it had to take, the hands trembled and the lips quivered. The hairs on his leg and arm stuck up with the chill of the wind and his elbows dropped slightly making the sky move. Finally, you dared look at the eye's of the giant, who was looking back at you confused as a bee trying to escape through a shut window. Mustard yellow eye's with sunken bag's looked right back at you and you backed up letting out a girlish scream.

"Hey hey wait!!" he shouted, wishing he could reach out and shake your hand or reach after you to emphasise that he wanted you to stay. "Please! Please don't go. I don't have anyone to talk to, I promise I won't hurt you!" he begged, glancing at your figure backing up and starfishing against a wall like it would absorb you and push you out the other side. "Y-you you're talking! And moving! But you, you're a statue?" you shook your hands in front of you and he laughed lightly. "I'm not a statue, I'm a titan. I'm just a big God to be honest, big God doing his job" he nodded his head at his rhyming ability and you slid down the wall grazing your burnt back. "Don't do that you'll hurt yourself" he said.

You took a deep breath to calm yourself then blew out, another deep breath and blew out, another deep breath then blew out. "Okay. so... what you're like atlas or something? He was... he was a titan right and he just held up the universe forever and that looks like something important like the universe" you pointed at the sphere on his back constantly shifting and changing colours and he made a whiney voice at the back of his throat. "Sorta? I'm Taishiro, nice to meet you" he greeted with a nod and you nodded back glancing again at the exit.

Could you trust him?

One look from him and it wasn't hard to tell he was overjoyed to finally talk to someone so you stood in front of him with your hands on your hips so he could see you while he was looking down. "Should I know who taishiro is, not to sound rude but everyone's heard of atlas, who is taishiro?" you asked biting a nail and the titan nodded understandably, fair enough, you would ask valid questions.

"so like, zeus wanted to do something cool and like "oh look i'm redeemable" se he basically said hey all the titans weren't so bad and just did what dad told them to so they all got freed or whatever but someone still has to hold the sky so they gave me the job" he said in one breath which was impressive to you but he wasn't finished. "which is okay, I don't mind it here but it's boring and lonely and my arms have cramp and God I miss food. And like they just made me a titan, they just chose me off the street after work and were like yo we need a new titan and I thought, hey y'know what i'm a hero, i'd be doing good for the world but i'm bored and hungry" he finished his ramble and you giggled.

You opened a packet of pistachios and a muffin and looked at him. "Can I climb you?" you asked gripping the pistachios in your teeth and pulling the muffin in a travel cup that clipped to your belt. "Sure! Not like you're very heavy to me" he joked and you laughed quietly grabbing the threads of his sandals and pulling yourself up like a climbing wall. "Oh you're so small. It tickles" he laughed. Resisting the urge to twitch and jerk you off his leg. You climbed quickly like the ropes in gym class then when you got to the shorts you pulled yourself up until you rested on his knee, flat as a table.

"Uhh, I think this should be good" you nod and balance cautiously to sit down pulling out the muffin and tapping his knee. "Hey open your mouth" you ask and he does so without question. You throw the muffin like a shot put and he grins, savouring the sweet, chocolatey taste "sorry their human sized" you sigh and shuck the pistachios for yourself, chewing on the green nuts with hundreds of questions buzzing in your head.

"So you were a hero?" you question flicking the pistachio shell into the bowl below you where taishiro's feet stood rooted to the ground. "Mhm. BMI hero: fat gum. I was like 46th, the world thinks I retired, that's what I told them but to me i'm still being a hero" he explained and you hummed agreeingly. "It's pretty hero like to give up everything to hold the weight of the world" you smile up at him and he blushes lightly. "Aw, you sound like one of my old interns. I miss it sometimes though, and I miss talking to people so much, it gets lonely here" a breeze flew past you and he shivered, but didn't lose an ounce of balance on the sphere, it was firmly rooted above him, it could have been suspended for all you knew. "Yeah, I bet, especially since being a hero is a pretty team focused job right?"

He smiled sadly and looked up at the tiny exit. He couldn't fit through doors like that anymore, he was the height of the eiffel tower and with one step he'd crack open the crust of the earth. "Yeah. you sound like you know what your talking about" you smiled tucking your hair behind your ear and shrugged "I do. I went to shiketsu to be a hero but when I left I was like... nah, that ain't my purpose. I wanted to like, find a secret the universe had that no one else knew about so i've been travelling for 4 years and I guess you were the secret right?" you thearised and he agreed happily. "It's cool knowing the universe wanted you to find me!" "heck yeah it is!"

You stayed with taishiro for a few days before having to leave and you had never felt so sad before. It was finally over, you didn't have a reason to travel anymore, you found the secret and had solidified a friendship with him but now you were leaving? Despite the snacks and drinks and stories shared about what you'd seen. You felt guilty leaving him again but he looked overjoyed. "I'll visit soon okay!" you shouted and he nodded "I'll see ya around. Say hey to little red riot for me, and suneater!" he instructed and you saluted exiting the cavern back into the dank corridor.

You kept your eyes trained on the ground until you left the mountain. A shimmering rainbow was directly in front of you and you swiped your hand through it like a cloud of smoke you tried re-directing.

The rainbow fizzled and formed into a human with long white hair and pasty skin, a long sundress with rainbow accents and black eye's. "Hi, (y/n) (y/ln) am I right? Oh I know i'm right don't worry, i'm iris Goddess of the rainbow and a messenger for the Gods of sorts. See I'm here to offer you a fast pass from wherever you are to right here in Morocco, next to our dear friend Tai whenever you please" she said with a smile, arm around your shoulder and walking away from the entrance like a car salesman.

You crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow interested but cautious. "What will it cost me?" you ask bluntly and she laughed, slapping your back lightly. "Your hilarious kid. No it costs you nothing more than a prayer or 2 to me and my dear friend Hermes, see he's the God of travel, he's my partner in this see, and what we'll do is just zip you over here faster than you can think!" she exclaimed. You nodded and thought. A free service from 2 Gods? Were they typically that kind? No not really so...

"Oh I see. Zeus wants a fuck doesn't he" you jeered and the sky's went pale grey, like the colour your skin would go if you;d seen a ghost. Iris choked and looked up. "Um... the God of the sky does take an interest in you, yes." you rolled your eyes and stuck your tongue out at the sky. "Keep it in your pants buddy! I want the fast pass for free or I tell yo wife!!" you bargained, though it was hardly a haggle as the king God, terrified of his wifes wrath, told irish to just give you it for free.

"Thank you! I'll be sure to think of you when I see rainbows from now on, maybe we can have a chat! Oh oh or come see me and Tai some time, he says he gets lonely, you should visit him!" you grinned with a wave and said your address, being transported immediately like cargo from morocco to your home.

You crashed into your bed and huffed grabbing your limbs to make sure you were completely there. "DOES THIS WORK WITH OTHER COUNTRIES!" you shouted to no one in particular, your voice cracking while you spoke and then collapsed into bed, falling into a deep slumber.

A/n: Not gonna lie I really dont like thos chapter. It feels rushed and boring, I think I'll revisit it at somepoint. If you have any feedback feel free to comment!

#bnha #mha fanfiction #my hero academia #bnha fanfiction #boku no hero academia #wattpad #mha #boku no hero fanfic #fatgum x reader #fatgum #taishiro x reader #taishiro toyomitsu

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dumblydork · 4 years ago

Text

Dying Embers

Her hair swished wildly in the wind, as if it were leaves swaying from the onset of a cyclone- flowing down to her waist, head thrown back. Fiery red, just like the dying embers of what was formerly a warming furnace. He could hear her laughter, slow and melodic, almost as if it were empyrean. She was the love of Harry's entire being. The soul to his body, the mind to his brain. She turned around, and all Harry could glimpse was her mouth- full, and pulled into a large smile. Her eyes were a bright hazel, shining with happiness, as she ran towards Harry, fitting easily in his arms.

They had met at the ball thrown by his parents that summer, exactly so that their son could meet a suitable young woman to marry. Harry had been extremely bored with the festivities, instead wishing he were out practicing archery with his friend, Neville.

His eyes flew around the room, passing from and then returning to a young woman who had just entered the gala. She didn't seem familiar, and was chaperoned by who seemed to her brother, judging from their hair. Harry was mesmerised- her yellow dress floated around her as if it were made of the finest, lightest silk to exist, and her hair was pulled back elegantly, exposing the milky column of her neck. He walked towards the pair.

"Forgive my intrusion, but will the lovely lady here consider dancing the next waltz with me?" Harry bowed slightly, his hand pulled tightly at his back.

The girl eyed him shyly as his brother did a more open appraisal. "We would like to first make your acquaintance, sir." He finally spoke.

"Of course, forgive me. I am Lord Harry Potter, Viscount of Little Whinging." He said, an automatic confidence seeping into his voice, one which only came from being the son of a duke.

"Forgive me, my Lord, I did not know. I am Ronald Weasley, and this is my younger sister, Ginevra Weasley. Our father is the Baron Weasley of Burrows." The pair bowed deeply, something which made Harry slightly uncomfortable.

"Please, I take no offense. It is my pleasure to make an acquaintance of Lord Weasley's children. He is my father's close friend. My question, however, to Lady Ginevra here remains unanswered." Harry steered the topic back to more important things from mere formalities.

"Of course, my lord." Ginevra said softly, placing her hand in Harry's outstretched one. As they walked towards the center of the floor, Harry's eyes met the identical ones of his mother, who stood to the side, flashing her son a soft smile.

"I adore you. And so does every thread of my existence, until my breath ceases." Harry spoke, bringing himself back from the night at the ball.

"I simply reciprocate, my Lord. And shall do so until death pull us part." She spoke softly, meeting Harry's lips with her own.

At the brink of twilight, a day before their wedding, the two of them wove their lives together, sealed by golden vows.

---

"Harry? Get on up, it's time to go!" His mother, Lily's voice flitted through the room, and sunlight poured inside as well, casting a bright glow all over. Harry sat up in bed, stretching excessively, getting rid of the multitude of pulls and pains he seemed to acquire over the night.

His parents swore he did not sleepwalk and fall down the stairs.

"Harry, honey, come on. You'll be late for uni otherwise." His mother peeked inside, her reddish brown hair pulled into a knot at the top of her head, green eyes shining with motherly affection. Seeing his mother's hair, Harry was reminded of his dream- recurring dream, he should say. Even though it was simply a few minutes old, seeing the 'girl' in his dream, he felt as if it were quite some lifetimes ago.

He had been dreaming of a girl quite frequently lately, and not in the lewd way his best friend Ron seemed intent on. Harry would always simply spot her hair, the curve of her waist and as soon as she turned around, he would be jolted awake.

When he was a child, his mother used to tell him tales in which princesses would dream of faceless men, a golden bond tying the two people together. The faceless person you dreamt about was whom you shared your golden thread of life with. But those were just fantasy- woven to make a dull reality exciting. At least now, at the age of 19, was what Harry believed. He hopped out of bed, and walked off into the bathroom, getting started on his morning routine. It was half past eight when he went downstairs, his first class of the morning at 9:15. His father, James, was stood in front of the kettle, pouring himself a cup of his morning Earl Grey, and his mother was setting down the plate of pancakes on the table.

"Breakfast?" She asked, sitting down, his dad joining her to the left. "Morning Haz." His father grinned lopsidedly, a grin much like Harry's own, glasses steaming up from the hot mug. Harry recited a greeting in return and was about to refuse breakfast on the account of well, running late, when the smell of butter floated up to him and he found himself seated in front of his parents.

"Did you get sore again?" Lily asked, concern lacing her low voice.

"Yeah. I just don't seem to know how." Harry noted, voice muffled from a mouth full of pancakes.

"Slow down, you'll choke." She admonished lightly, shooting James an exasperated look when he snickered a low 'That's what she said' into his morning Daily Prophet.

"He probably needs a new mattress. Let's get one on the weekend." His mother said, earning an affirmative hum from James who was busy with his newspaper.

"I'll get going now. Bye mum, bye dad. See you in the evening." He spoke after having had his share of pancakes and a chat with his mum. He bent down for the customary top-of-the-head kiss from his mother, something she had been doing since Harry started school. And although he wouldn't admit it, he adored this little sentiment. His dad shot him another grin as he walked out of the door, putting in his earphones.

Fortunately for him, the university campus was quite a short bus ride away. However, he still found himself running across the campus from the bus stop to his lecture theatre- he forgot to factor in the fact that the hall today was all on the opposite end of campus.

"Shit," He glanced at his phone, currently glowing 9:21. It was Professor Binns' lecture, and he wasn't too fond of latecomers. Harry counted on his excellent grade in the module, hoping that would pull him through. As he ran across, his peripheral vision noted a mane of red momentarily, but before Harry could turn around and see, he was already in front of the class, digging through the bag for his ID card.

---

"How is it that Binns' lectures keep getting worse through the term?" Ron, the aforementioned best friend groaned.

"Because your attention dwindles further as term moves on." Hermione, the other best friend noted. Harry grinned between the two of them. They were so in love, those oblivious idiots.

Binns' was the only class the three of them took together, and Ron departed for his Victorian Literature module. Harry and Hermione walked to the open amphitheatre, choosing to spend their free half hour which coincided together.

"Oh right. My friend from school is joining today, I was supposed to go show her around. Fancy coming?" Hermione spoke, eyes focused on her text messages. "Sure, I have the rest of the morning free." Harry pursed his lips. Hermione simply nodded and they set off across the campus again after the brief interlude at the theatre.

"Your friend is from school?" Harry asked.

"Yeah- she's a year younger but we were quite close when I was in year 12." She replied, eyes scanning the crowd at in front of the Lifesciences Lab, which was one of the main buildings on campus. "Who are we looking for again?" He imitated the search.

"Redhead, shorter than you." Hermione did not look up from the hoard of people, before her mouth set into a wide grin.

"Ginny! Here!" Hermione waved her arms around, jumping up and down in tandem. Harry couldn't see who Hermione was waving to, but the crowd was being roughly pushed aside as someone made their way towards the pair.

"Hermione! So good to see you!" The woman said, grabbing the older girl into a tight hug and letting go, placing the three of them in a triangular formation.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot to come see you." Hermione said somewhat sheepishly, but Harry wasn't listening. He was staring- no, gaping at the newcomer. Her hair was the exact shade of red as the girl in Harry's dream, and it cascaded down her back in a half up half down style. Her waist was encased in a light yellow sundress, complimenting her red hair. All in all, she was beautiful. Not because of her hair or slender figure, but also because of how her eyes shone as she spoke to Hermione.

"Have I seen you before?" Tumbled out of Harry's mouth before he could stop (or reason), and a pair of bright hazel eyes bore into his own moss green, before glittering again. Ginny simply smiled.

~~~~

And here it is, another AU! I definitely did not plan for this to be a multiple lifetime AU, but Regency!Hinny seemed too good to pass up on. I apologise for what is probably a very poorly written Regency era conversation, my knowledge of it is simply from Bridgerton and Google haha. I decided to keep the end open, just so that you guys can envision your own romance for them! Also, can I just say how I loved writing Lily and James?? It's their little debut in my one-shots yay!

Also, you can find my Ao3 here, where I post quite fluffy Wolfstar one-shots, if that's your thing!

I hope you enjoyed this as usual! Please interact with my pinned TAGLIST post on my account if you wish to be notified of whenever I post Hinny one-shots! Thank you for reading, and big hugs to everyone who loves what I write! Please keep going, it truly makes my day (or week??) xxxx

TAGLIST: @amy-herondale-chase // @purplepygmypuffskein // @ginnypxtter // @alwaysmagica1 // @norakelly // @coffee-fandoms-and-chaos //

#ginny weasley #harry x ginny #harry potter #regency!au #multiple lifetimes #hinny au #hinny fluff #one shot #author #alternate universes #hermione #uni au #open ending #okay out of tags

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ragrottend0ll · 4 years ago

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School Crush (Vinira Fanfic)

(In december I posted this little idea and now I decided to started it, hope you enjoy and forgive the misspelling, english isn’t my first lenguage)

Chapter one:

‘‘I like girls’’. Emira started.

‘‘I like girls, too’’. Amity seconded after a few seconds of silence.

‘‘Ok...’‘. Alador responded a little shook. ‘‘I-- Wow, yeah, ok.’’

‘‘Is that all you are gonna say, dad? Really?’’. Asked Emira. She didn’t spend seven years in the closet for just to get an ok.

Alador shruged a little. ‘’Congratulations...?’’

‘‘Fine, that’s better’‘.

The Blight siblings and Alador were hanging out. This was something that have been happening some time ago. At first it started as a sisters’ night, just for Amity and Emira, but then Edric discovered this and was begging, crying and basically annoying his sisters for let him ‘’in’’.

He finally achived it.

So, every friday night, while their parents were in important meetings or fancy restaurants, the three would reunited in Emiras’s room and just talk. Sometimes they watched a series or practice some makeup. Even tried on clothes from either Edric or Emira. Sometimes they would sing a karaoke or just talk about their day, their friends, Luz, and throw bullshit of their parents.

They didn’t need to worry about the mansion’s staff. They all like them and have never said something bad of them to their parents. Plus, some have sewn up mouths so... Anyway.

What they did not expected was that, one night, their father would return early.

Alador was honestly tired. He have been awake for three days straight and needed some sleep. Even when his lovely wife, Odalia, told/demanded him to stay awake and attend another important meeting, he denied. Alador was sure that, if he stayed awake for another hour, his body will just collapse.

When he arrive to the mansion, the buttler (he never can remember his name, really) was there and took his coat. Alador didn’t wait more and went upstairs. The Bight manor was splendant, huge and, now that he was walking alone through the corridors full of old portraits in the middle of the night, he would consider it spooky.

The portraits gave him chills in his back. He felt like the eyes of his wife’s ancestors were following him in every step he took.

‘‘I wouldn’t be surprise’‘, Alador tought. ‘‘They may be haunted for real’’.

‘‘I should probably ask Odalia about it’’.

Alador walked to his bedroom’s door, and when he was about to open it he heard something.

It was a scream.

‘‘The kids’’. He tought.

Alador ran as fast as his tiredness allow him to the wast wing, where the children’s bedroom were. The screams kept going, ‘’Where is the staff?’’ Alador asked himself mentally. His kids could be diying and non of the guards he hired were even near.

The screams were coming from Emira’s room. But the shouting didn’t sounded like Emira.

He looked at Amity’s and Edric’s doors. They haven’t come out and their doors were closed. Alador was tempted to open the other two door, but decided not to. If his children were being kidnaped, he’ll deal with the kidnapper in Emira’s room first.

Alador took a deep breath and casted a spell, ready to attack if he needed to. He opened the door, fast and hard. What he saw let him speechless.

There was no kidnapper. There was no danger.

But, he really didn’t know what to think about the scene that was display infront of him.

Emira’s room was a disaster. There were snacks in the ground, Alador wonder if Odalia would be mad about it, he answered himself almost inmediatelly with a yes. The room was dark, except for the karaoke that, Alador supposed, one of the twins bought.

Edric was lying in the floor with a microphone in his left hand, while his right hand where finger-brushing his hair. Oh, and he was using Emira’s lastest grom dress and a twelve centimeters tall heels.

Amity was sitting in the little sofa that Em buy two years ago. Her face had some very excentric makeup, specially her eyes. A wildly combination of pink, glitter and black. With red-sparkled lip gloss. Her triangular earings were replaced with a pair of Emira’s expensive earings that were only used for important meeting or fancy parties. She was wearing her regular pajamas, with the slight difference that, over her pants, she was wearing a puffy skirt. And that her feet were covered with long cowboy boots.

Emira was sitting in her bed, face was covered in some kind of skin care treatment. A phosphorescent green skin care treatment. Even with that, she was the most normal looking of the three. All her makeup was in the bed, (probably the responsable of Amity’s face) and her hand was grabbing her scroll, that was recording Edric’s performance, before he opened the door, at least. The scroll was still recording, by the way. Em didn’t have time to stop it before his father abruptely came in the room.

The Blight siblings were looking at him like deers flashed by a light. Each of them praying in their heads that if they don’t move Alador wouldn’t be able to see them, like some of the animal in the isles.

‘‘You... uhm,... arrived early’‘. Edric stated the obvious, crearly nervous. But, can you blame him? Not everyday your dad found you wearing a dress and using heels . Actually that never really hapened to him.

The music of the karaoke was still playing. Alador connected the dots and figured out that his son was the responsable of the screams.

‘‘Yes, I did’‘ Alador responded. He never had been a man of words, but in this moment he didn’t know what would be the correct way to react.

Should he scold them for being up at one in the morning making a fuss? Or He should just close the door and pretend that none of it happened?

He was definitely going to ask the servants if this was something that happened often and why they had not reported those... meetings that their children did.

‘‘Mom’s here, too?’‘ Amity asked. Her face now was now also covered with a strong blush of embarasment, that reached even her neck.

‘‘No, she is still in the meetong with the Hogson’s’‘ Alador answered.

‘‘Do you want to talk this now, or would you preffer to wait until the sun comes out?’‘ Alador asked. He wan’t sure if this was the right thing to do, but the words came out of his mouth even before he could think about it. That was something that didn’t happened to him since high school.

The kids glare at eachother and said a ‘’now’’ at the same time. If they waited for the sun, Odalia was probably going to arrive and they didn’t wanted to have that conversation with their mother.

None conversation, actually.

‘‘Alright’‘ their father said ‘‘Clean your faces and put on presentable clothes’‘

And with that he leave the room.

‘‘That could have been worse, right?’’ Edric said. He finally stoped doing the pose with his hand trought his hair.

‘‘Yeah...’’ Emira answered him ‘‘Mom could have catch us’’

‘‘Titan forbid’’ Amity said.

Once they cleaned their faces and put on their pijamas, the three siblings made their way to Alador’s office, who has completely forgot how tired he was.

They were nervous, Edric, specially. And were honestly surprised when the scolding was more about how they broke the curfew than about all the mess they did.

And after that, things evolved rapidly. The kids felt better in Alador’s pressence than ever before. They trusted their father even more because he didn’t said a thing to Odalia, and even gave the order to the servants to keep those meetings as a secret.

Two months later, Alador found himself spending the family-bonding-time, as Edric renamed it, with his children. The bonding-time had to be moved to saturday’s night, because Alador had the obligation to go to the meeting on friday. But the kids weren’t mad at all.

‘‘Dad?’’, Edric called for him. It has been five minutes since Emira and Amity’s comming out and Alador haven’t said anything esle since the congratulations. ‘‘Girls, I think you shouldn't have done it at the same time; now you’ve killed him’’.

‘‘We didn’t!’’ Amity shouted inmediately.

‘‘No, I think we actually did it, Mittens’’ Emira seconded.

‘‘I’m fine’’ Alador said some time later. The twins were disscussing if they should call an ambulance or just leave their dad there. Emira was drafting in her mind all the possible ways to hide Alador’s corpse in the manor, too. You have to be careful, right?

Alador sit up straight in the couch were she was lying. Before his both daughters come out to him some minutes ago, they were all watching a movie. If Alador had to be honest, he wasn’t really paying attention. He was falling asleep. This week has been rough, but for no reasom he would cancel the saturdaynight bonding time™.

‘‘None of my kids are straight, huh?’’ Alador thought.

Ok, to be fair, Edric haven’t come out to him (yet), but Alador prectically confirm his son’s orientation when he founded him performing when he discovered that friday sisters’ night. No straight, cis, man would use a dress and heels. Not even walk on them in the propper way Edric managed to do.

‘‘So, uhm, are you... mad or...?’’ Amity began.

‘‘Oh, no. No!’’ Alador answered, with a little laught that lately the siblings were more used to hear ‘‘I’m actually kind of relive.’’

‘‘Relieve?’‘ Edric asked, genuinely curious.

‘‘Indeed. I don’t have to worry about any potencial boyfriend and the concecuences that would imply-’’

‘‘Shut!’’ Amity and Emira shouted at the same time. ‘‘The school already teach us that. No need to repeated.’’ Emira continued.

‘‘I was talking about a heartbroken, but yes, sexual education is very important too.’’ Alador said. And, tho he seemed serious, he was teasing his daughters.

‘‘So, you are ok with this?’’

‘‘Yes, Amity.’’

Actually, I’m kind of a pansexual, myself. Alador tought, but keep shut.

The movie was paused. Probably since some time ago but Alador didn’t notice. He glare at Emira’s wall clock. 12:05, it marked.

It was early, Odalia wouldn’t be back until three in the morning. Anyway he open his scroll to verify that his wife haven’t texted him or something.

There was nothing, as expected. Only Odalia’s last message where she told him that she was going to leave the party at 1:45 and was expecting been home around 3:00 a.m.

‘‘So,’‘ Alador started ‘‘any particular reason to tell me your orientation?’’

Yes, it was sweet, but Alador did knew his daughter a little and can almost tell that, at least Emira had something else to say.

‘‘No, no reason.’’ Amity answered. ‘‘Just to tell you with Em.’’

Alador look at his older daugher, waiting for her answer.

Yes, they were closer than bever before, but the sad truth was that even if his children did trusted in him, he didn’t think that they trusted him that much.

It was reasonable, not less hurting, but understandable.

‘‘Well... You see, er. Ok, so. I actually wanted to tell you because, uhm....’’

Alright, now this was new. Alador never in his life had heard Emira stutter.

All his children were raise to be the embodinment of perfection, as Odalia describe it. The three took classes of everything. From music to etiquette, and diction was not left behind.

Now, Alador was sincerely curious.

‘‘There’s this girl in the school, and well-’’

‘‘Emira has a big crush on her.’’ Edric interrupted.

‘‘But Emira can be around her without being a red mess.’‘

‘‘You are one to talk, huh, Mittens.’’ Emira asked. Her cheeks were already a little blushy.

Amity looked away and Emira continue: ‘’My point is, that, her dad is kinda, a little... short budget. And-’’

‘‘Emira, I love you, but if that girl is using you for your money-’’

‘‘No! She isn’t! Sh doesn’t even know that I liked her’’

‘‘Well that’s debatable’’ Edric said ‘‘It’s really obvious and Viney it’s not as oblivious as Luz, plus-’’

‘‘Who’s Luz?’‘ Alador asked.

‘‘It doesn’t matter right now’’ Emira stated. ‘‘The point is, dad, that she didn’t even tell me his dad was in a little hurry. I was walking towards her and she was talking to her friends about it and I just heard a little. When I told her I could give her some snails she declined and actually was pretty mad about it, until last week, when I apologized. But I really want to do something about it.’’ Em talked fast, but Alador, as the good listener he had always been, didn’t missed anything.

‘‘And how can I help?’’ Alador asked.

‘‘Well, you can make him get a job? Maybe here in the manor or somewhere else. Her dad is in the construction coven, I think he is like, the right hand of the leader.’’

Alador hummed. Contruction coven right hand? He was a right hand once, before he was level up to coven leader. And he knew very well the salary of the seconds on board. It was a great amount of snails.

‘‘And before you say something like ‘she’s scamming you’, I want you to know that her family is really big. She has like, twelve siblings, not including her.’’

Alador sigh.

‘‘She really is a good person, dad. And if I can help her, I will.’’

‘‘She’s one of the noblest people we’ve met. There’s no danger’’ Edric said in favor of Emira’s propose.

Alador looked to Amity, who haven’t said much, and asked her with his eyes for her opinion.

‘‘I don’t hang out with her a lot, but she’s indeed good.’’

‘‘Well, I guess I have no other option, do I?’’

‘‘Thank you, dad!’’ Emira shouted and jump to her dad’s lap to trap him in her arms in a tigh hug.

‘‘I don't promise anything, but I'm going to see what I can do.’‘ Alador responded and hug Emira back.

He looked at Edric and Amity and with a head movement he invited both of them to join the hug.

Edric took Amity’s hand and join to it.

Well, Alador thought, I guess I have some work to do now.

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minxystories · 4 years ago

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It’s the middle of the night right now and yours truly is back with her crazy ideas!

This time, it involves a new Fairy Knight and my sheer and utter boredom. So, a bit of context of where this all came from. I was watching some translations for the sixth Lostbelt and noticed that there’s a certain lack of a Fairy Knight Mordred, even though he’s such an important part of the Arthurian legend. Then I remembered that I can just create a character to fill that role!

So let me show you some things about Fairy Knight Mordred, or rather, the dragon Norton.

@grievouslyxorvia @panyum

Fairy Knight “Mordred” – Berserker

A “fairy” from non of the six clans, who claims to be the Fairy Knight Mordred, even though she doesn’t fight for the Queen. In a twist of irony, Mordred swears loyalty to Artoria and fights for the child of prophecy.

Mordred is a tall, but ultimately ordinary woman. Her hair is auburn and her eyes are a soft green. Her cheeks are rosy and round, but those who know of her true nature can see past that facade and see her rotting body. She always wears a coat that covers her left half and nearly no one knows why. The coat she is a warm brown with lighter triangular patterns and multiple pockets. Underneath it she wears a short dress and black pants. On her right arm, the sleeves reach her elbow, but there is no sleeve on her left arm. In her second ascension, her coat is gone and you can see her arm, as well as the rest of her face. Her left arm is a bit longer than the other one and covered in green/brownish scales and claws. Her left eye is more like that of a reptile and that side of her face is covered in the same scales as her arm. On her head is also a horn, but it is broken off. In her third ascension both of her eyes resemble those of reptiles and the bones of a wing can be seen on her back. She now also has a dragon tail, but halfway to the tip the flesh starts to rot and only the bones are left.

At first glance Mordred seems to be rather distant and cold, but it is quickly revealed that she’s actually rather kind and just suffers from RB face. In more lighthearted situations she’s often the one who makes jokes and laughs. But when things take a turn for the worse, Mordred is almost unnaturally silent. She might be able to make others relax easily, but she can’t really read the room and just stays quiet until she is certain that the tension is gone.

When summoned she doesn’t really act different. But in this scenario it’s blatantly obvious that she has no sense of gravity and is always the first one to stumble over something. She partially blames this on the extra weight of her left arm.

Like I already mentioned, she fights for Castoria in LB 6 and tries to help the group wherever she can. But at one point she quickly changes for the worst. Over the coarse of the story she slowly seems to loose any energy she previously had and at one point she is so devoid of anything that she nearly looks like a walking corpse.

And in reality, she is exactly that. Her true name is Norton. In PHH, she is known as the Dragon of Norton Fitzwarren, a dragon created from the dead. In the Lostbelt, she just woke up between the bodies of different fairies that seemed to have killed each other. At that point, the rotting of her body wasn’t really obvious. Actually, the only thing that really hinted at her being a dragon was the broken horn on her head.

Going back to the present, after another battle, Mordred suddenly fell to her knees, overwhelmed by pain. Her sanity was nearly gone and her true nature as a ghoulish dragon was slowly shining through. In the end, the player has to kill her after she turned into a full dragon. But before she fully lost her sanity, she begged the group to kill her so she won’t hurt them when she transformed.

Alright, it is now 4 in the morning, I’m tired and I should sleep. Maybe I write more about her tomorrow, we’ll see!

#Fairy Knight Mordred #Norton #fanservant

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sapphirestarxx · 4 years ago

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Testing the Waters

Find it on AO3!

This is a birthday fic for the wonderful @neutronstarchild!! The Inuyasha fandom is so lucky to have someone like her. She’s a joy to talk to, so supportive, and full of incredible ideas!! She requested MirSan from me and I did my best to deliver. Thanks to @fawn-eyed-girl for being awesome and beta reading for me!

SUMMARY: Miroku likes Sango. Sango is unconvinced. Sometimes it takes a wardrobe malfunction at a waterpark to bring two people together.

Pairings: MirSan, minor InuKag

***

The day had started with so much potential, but Sango was now less than optimistic.

She sighed, putting her purse and clothes away into a locker in the women’s changing room. They had just arrived at the waterpark about ten minutes ago, but she already wanted to leave. She straightened the strings on her bikini, regretting wearing something so revealing. Although, she acknowledged, it was modest compared to some of the things the other girls around her were wearing. Maybe if she wasn’t so self-conscious about some of her more...generous attributes, she wouldn’t care as much.

And maybe if a certain someone wasn’t there too.

Pink triangular cups covered her breasts in a halter style, coming to tie around her neck and back. Rather than a traditional bikini cut for the bottoms, the ones she wore resembled boy shorts, something she was much more comfortable in. She knew her bottom half was a bit on the heftier side and she liked the extra coverage it provided.

“You ready yet, Kagome?” she called, trying to keep the annoyance from her tone.

“Just a second!” Kagome called back.

Kagome had invited her to go swimming but neglected to mention that Kagome’s boyfriend, and more importantly, his best friend, would be joining them. She had nothing against Inuyasha, but Miroku was a different story.

When Kagome had started dating Inuyasha several months ago, it wasn’t long until she had started trying to make half of their hangouts a group event, mostly in an effort to get Sango to know her boyfriend better. Sango also suspected she was trying to play matchmaker. Because the flipside was that Inuyasha often brought his own friend Miroku with him, supposedly to allow the flirt to get to know Kagome better too, since things were getting so serious between them.

However, Miroku had been more interested in familiarizing himself with Sango.

Because he was a flirt, constantly finding new and inventive ways to ask her out. He’d at least had the courtesy to wait until their third meeting before attempting to make a move. And maybe if Sango had thought he was serious about her she’d have considered giving him a chance-- although she was reluctant to admit it, she couldn’t deny her own attraction to him. But she was convinced he was just flirting with her for kicks. His charm had been a little too calculated, a little too insincere, for her to truly believe it.

Even if part of her wanted to.

“Why the frown?” Kagome asked cheerfully, coming up beside Sango to loop their arms together. She led them out into the sunshine where the men were waiting. Sango followed unenthusiastically.

“You know why,” Sango replied, refusing to be swayed by her best friend’s bright smile.

“Oh, come on, don’t be mad at me.”

“You never mentioned the guys were going to be coming, too.”

“Why is that a problem?” Kagome asked innocently.

Sango wasn't fooled. “He’s not serious about it and I don’t want to spend the whole day fending off his one-liners, Kagome.”

“Miroku hasn’t even flirted with you that much recently.”

“It’s still enough to be annoying.”

It was true, Miroku had eased up on the flirting, although it hadn't completely stopped. His words used to have a practiced smoothness that made her roll her eyes, but now she was starting to see a more genuine side to him. A side that actually made her like him, despite her best efforts not to. It almost made her question if she had been wrong about him, but she never allowed herself to pursue that train of thought. She was just his favorite game to play and she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of winning. Victory would taste sweet to him, but feel far too hollow to her when he inevitably grew bored of his prize.

Sango valued herself more than that.

No matter how she actually felt about him. Which was, perhaps, the real reason she disliked being around him so much. Sooner or later she would slip and he would know.

Kagome shook her head, seeming to read Sango’s mind with her next words. “Miroku likes you. And I mean likes you. Inuyasha says he’s never seen him this into someone before, you know. I wish you wouldn’t be so stubborn, because I’m pretty sure you like him too.”

“Then maybe he should try something new,” Sango retorted.

“He could go about it in a better way,” Kagome agreed with a slight wince.

Sango didn't reply as they walked through the crowd of people and approached the two men who had already claimed a set of reclining chairs. Instead, she gently extricated herself from Kagome's grasp and double-checked the high ponytail she'd pulled her long, dark brown hair into, making sure it was secure. As Inuyasha and Miroku turned their eyes upon them, Sango shifted the towel in her arms in an effort to hide as much of herself from view as possible.

As if that could save her modesty.

Inuyasha’s golden eyes turned heated at the sight of Kagome in her own jade green bikini, complete with ruffled bottoms. Kagome smiled sweetly in return, the black waves of her hair fluttering gently in a warm breeze. All around them came the sound of conversation, water splashing, and loud calls of excitement, but for those two it was like the rest of the world had fallen away.

Sango felt a slight twinge of jealousy, envious of what they had found in each other.

"Sorry to make you wait!" Kagome chirped brightly, and Inuyasha's default surly expression transformed into a loving smile.

"Keh. Took ya long enough," he grumbled, but the affection in his voice was unmistakable.

While both guys were dressed in swim trunks and cut an attractive figure, Sango couldn’t seem to keep her gaze from wandering to Miroku. Her heart started to beat faster as her eyes took him in, feeling a tightening in her stomach. It was impossible not to note, or appreciate, how defined and toned every muscle on his lean body was. Swallowing, she managed to drag her eyes back to his face, the amusement in his indigo eyes making her blush and scowl.

"Sango, my dear. Like what you see?" He teased.

"Not particularly," she lied.

His answering grin was all the proof she needed to know that he saw right through her. It was frustrating.

Giving Sango a playful nudge with her elbow, Kagome set her poolside bag down and dug through it for a moment, unearthing a bottle of sunscreen. She handed it to Inuyasha and turned her back to him, gathering her hair around a fist and lifting it up.

“Do my back, please,” she requested.

“Yeah, yeah. Shit, this reeks of coconut.” Inuyasha scrunched up his nose, taking the bottle from her without further complaint and setting to work. Despite his gruffness, he clearly didn’t consider his task a chore, if the softness in his eyes or gentle way he kneaded the sunscreen into Kagome’s back was anything to go by.

“It smells amazing,” Kagome insisted.

“You smell better,” Inuyasha said.

Sango looked away from them, taking the opportunity to set her own stuff down, all the while refusing to meet Miroku’s eyes. She was nervous to see the way he would undoubtedly drink her in with his gaze, and could already feel his eyes on her back. It made her feel self-conscious, but in a strangely gratifying way. Her suspicions were confirmed when she turned back around, but she still wasn’t quite prepared for the appreciative way his eyes traveled up her body, or his slightly open-mouthed stare.

"Wow," he said.

"Stop staring at me like that," she snapped, feeling herself flush as butterflies stirred to life in her belly at the look in his eyes. She liked it a little too much, and that wasn’t good at all. It made her feel off balance and out of sorts, something that was dangerous around a guy like him, mostly because it might push her into giving in.

"It's only fair, isn't it? After all, you checked me out. Double standards," Miroku pointed out with an easy smile.

"I did not!"

"It's okay, I don't mind if you objectify me," he winked. "In fact, I insist upon it."

"Oh, shut up." A stunning comeback.

“No need to be shy about it,” Miroku laughed. “Want me to apply some sunscreen to your back too? It would be a shame to let that lovely body of yours burn.”

“Not necessary,” Sango said quickly. “I already put some on.”

“She’s lying,” Kagome told him. “Please put some on her, Miroku.”

“Kagome!” Sango yelped. That traitor. She had planned to have Kagome do it, but clearly her friend had other ideas. Like using this as an opportunity to push her and Miroku together. She knew Kagome meant well, but that didn’t ease the sting of annoyance.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, choosing not to comment. He knew his girlfriend was up to something, but as long as it didn’t directly affect him then he was keeping his nose out of it. Plus, she had probably already informed him of her little scheme and bribed him to go along with it.

“It’s just sunscreen, Sango. Don’t be so stubborn.” Kagome let her hair fall back down as Inuyasha finished and handed the sunscreen off to Miroku. She gave Sango a bright smile. “Inuyasha and I are going to go get some drinks. We’ll be right back.”

“Wait, but--” Sango cut off with a sigh as they walked off, leaving her alone with Miroku. She glanced over at him and he raised the sunscreen bottle with a smile, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“What will it be? Come on, I’m not so bad,” he coaxed.

“Fine. But watch where you put your hands,” she conceded, shooting him a warning glare before turning her back to him.

“I’ll behave myself,” he assured her, grinning.

Sango was acutely aware of his presence as he came to stand behind her. She reached back to drape her ponytail over her shoulder to keep it out of the way. The pop of the sunscreen bottle opening almost made her jump and she tensed in anticipation. Despite her protests, she wanted his hands on her more than she was willing to admit.

Then his hands were on her and she exhaled in a rush, releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. As his fingers pressed into her shoulders she couldn’t suppress a shiver.

“Sorry, I know it’s cold,” he apologized, misinterpreting the reason for her very physical reaction to him.

“It’s okay,” she managed, her voice coming out a little breathless.

He hummed in acknowledgement, gradually working his way from her shoulders to the middle of her back. He took his time, palms slowly smoothing over her and rubbing the sunscreen into her skin with firm strokes. Her heart skipped a beat when his fingers gently slipped themselves under the strings of her bikini so as not to miss a spot. It sparked a warm glow that settled in her chest, creating a pleasant tingle everywhere his hands passed over. Between the heat of the sun and the heat growing inside of her, a sense of languor washed through her and she couldn’t help but relax against him. It just felt so...nice.

“I like that color on you,” Miroku said conversationally.

“I...what?” Sango blinked.

“Your swimsuit,” he clarified, sounding amused at his obvious effect on her. “It suits you. It’s strong but feminine. Like you.”

The compliment warmed her and she wanted to believe that he meant it. It sounded like he did. His voice was low and close to her ear, almost intimate. She swallowed. Words. She needed to say words. But the way his hands felt on her skin was distracting and made thinking difficult, which was probably why the next thing out of her mouth wasn't a cutting reply.

“Thank you...I think.”

“You think?”

“I…” Sango trailed off as his hands moved to her sides and caressed their way down to her waist, his fingers rubbing circles and making her feel things she wasn’t supposed to feel for him. He continued kneading the lotion into her, his palms coming to rest at the small of her back and dangerously close to her ass. She held her breath, her veins thick with the pleasure spreading through her. Her heart pounded and she closed her eyes, leaning back against him.

Then snapped them open when she realized what she was doing. Oh God.

She jumped away and her cheeks flamed crimson.

Miroku looked surprised for a moment then smirked, letting out a chuckle. She cursed herself-- she couldn’t have been more obvious. It was getting harder to hide what he did to her and for a moment she considered being honest. But no matter what Kagome said, there was no guarantee that Miroku’s feelings for her were genuine, and she wasn’t ready to take that chance just yet.

“That’s good enough,” she said, looking away from his knowing gaze.

“Hmm. You’re already looking a little red,” he observed teasingly.

“I’m just hot. You’re imagining it,” she mumbled.

“I couldn’t agree more-- you absolutely are hot. I would even go so far as to say stunning. And I can assure you, I am not imagining that.”

His words broke the spell his touch had invoked and she rolled her eyes.

“Save the smooth words for someone who cares.”

“So you think I’m smooth.” He was as undeterred as ever.

“That’s not what I meant!”

Miroku just grinned, then held out the bottle of sunscreen to her. “Care to return the favor?”

Sango sighed, pursing her lips. “Turn around.”

It was going to be a long day.

****

An hour or so later, Sango was actually enjoying herself (for the most part). Inuyasha and Kagome had returned shortly after, bottles of water in hand, along with a giant cup of banana split Dippin Dots and four spoons. After that, they headed into the water, Kagome voting to hit up the lazy river first. Miroku had looked at Sango with a secret little smile the whole time and Sango had done her best to ignore it and everything it meant. Which was why she had claimed the spot by Kagome’s side in an effort to avoid him as much as possible, something that only made the looks he aimed her way even worse.

He could get under her skin like no one else.

Inuyasha had scoffed that the lazy river was boring, but Sango was pretty sure that was just because he was stuck with Miroku. Kagome had archly replied that he and Miroku could find something else to do in the meantime if he disliked it so much, but “the girls” were going to get some sun and relax.

Now, she and Kagome were in line to go down the biggest waterslide the waterpark had to offer. Kagome was bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement and Sango smiled, shifting the giant two-person raft in her arms as they waited their turn. Inuyasha and Miroku had already gone down a few people ahead of them and were waiting for them at the bottom.

“Something happened with Miroku, didn’t it.” Kagome didn’t even make it a question.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sango knew what was coming and decided to play dumb.

“I saw the way you were blushing earlier when Inuyasha and I came back from leaving you two alone. And the way he was looking at you.”

“Nothing happened. He just put sunscreen on my back and I put some on his.”

“Mhmm,” Kagome said, unconvinced. “If you say so.

“Why are you so bent on pushing us together?”

Kagome sighed and looked into Sango’s eyes, her expression earnest. “Because, Sango, I know you like him. You may think you’re good at hiding it, but I can tell you have some feelings for him, and he likes you too. And when two people like each other, it’s incredibly dumb for them to not just be together when there’s no good reason they shouldn’t.

“Also, I’ve seen the way you look at me and Inuyasha when you think I’m not paying attention, the wistful expression you get on your face. And I want you to be happy too, and be able to share that kind of happiness with someone else.”

Sango bit her lip, moved by Kagome’s honesty but also a little frustrated. “What’s the point, Kagome? I’m just a challenge to Miroku. You’re right; I like him. A lot. Which is why I get so annoyed with him, since I’m mostly just annoyed at myself for being so into him. Because I’m smart enough to know how it will end.”

“You don’t know it will,” Kagome shot back.

“You don’t know it won’t.”

“Why are you so convinced he doesn’t mean it? I mean I can kind of understand thinking that in the beginning, but now?”

“I don’t know,” Sango said honestly. Her reasons had always seemed so valid to her, but now she was wondering if it was just an excuse. Or maybe the heat of the sun was just getting to her. Still… “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Kagome beamed.

Sango didn’t reply because they were up next. The sound of rushing water from the slide permeated the air and would have drowned out any words she had to say anyways. She tuned out the practiced spiel of instructions the person manning the waterslide was rattling off as she set their float down and Kagome situated herself in the back with Sango taking the front.

“Okay ladies. Have fun!” The person finished, then gave them a push and they were off.

Kagome let out a shriek of excitement and Sango grinned in spite of herself as the raft was carried away by the currents of water, propelling them down the slide at high velocity. The raft swayed, riding up onto the sides of the waterslide at each fast turn, making Sango feel exhilarated. Kagome grabbed onto her from behind, giggling as they rushed towards the bottom.

“This is so fun!!” She cheered.

Sango agreed, letting out a whoop as the end approached.

Then they were crashing back into the pool with so much force Sango found herself submerged for a moment. When she broke the surface of the water, it took a second for her to regain her bearings. Once her senses returned, she heard Kagome’s excited chatter to Inuyasha over to the side, where they all stood in the pool, out of the way of people still coming down the slide. She waded towards them, a sudden gust of wind raising goosebumps on her wet skin. Kagome turned her way, a radiant smile on her face, before her expression became frozen. Miroku was also staring at her, looking dumbfounded, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

That was when Sango realized her bikini top had gone missing.

"Oh shit," Inuyasha said, turning red and looking away.

Sango let out an embarrassed yelp, her arms coming up in an effort to cover herself as she lowered herself back into the water. Oh God, oh God, oh God. A flush heated her cheeks, making them burn so hot it almost felt like her face was on fire. Maybe if she was lucky she would spontaneously combust and be spared from the rest of this nightmare. And that’s what it was, because this was not happening. She stared fixedly downwards, as if her feet were the most fascinating thing in the world.

She heard voices around her, some of them male, and her self-consciousness intensified.

“Dude, did you see that?”

“Damn look at that girl over there.”

“Holy shit!”

Sango tried to tune them out, almost paralyzed in her mortification. And then Miroku was there in front of her, pulling her up and against him. She was so surprised she didn’t have it in her to resist as he crushed her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the eyes of all the onlookers.

“Oh my God,” she whispered against his neck. Embarrassed didn’t even begin to cover it.

“It’s alright, I won’t let anyone else see,” he murmured.

An obstinate part of her wanted to pull away because of the intimacy of it all. She was half naked and pressed up against his naked chest, and his arms felt entirely too good around her. But that was silly, especially when he clearly had good intentions. And to be honest, she hadn’t expected such a move from him, which was probably a bit unfair of her. Then again, maybe she had been unfair in a lot of things she’d thought about him. She breathed deep, attempting to calm her racing heart, and found reassurance in his presence.

The nervousness she felt now was for an entirely different reason.

“Let’s just go over here where there are less people,” Miroku suggested, his voice sounding a bit strained. Sango wondered at that, but then Kagome was beside them.

“Oh my God. Sango, hey. I’m gonna look for your top, and Inuyasha is gonna try and keep people away until I find it,” her best friend informed her, sounding concerned.

Sango nodded against Miroku’s chest, refusing to look up and see the reactions of everyone around them. Despite her reluctance, she couldn’t help but be curious as to what expression Miroku was wearing now. Or if it matched the way his voice had sounded. She rested her forehead on his shoulder, reminded again of how tall he was, and how warm his skin felt against hers. Everything she tried so hard to not notice about him was suddenly impossible to ignore.

“Sounds good,” she managed.

Miroku drifted to the side, entering a deeper part of the pool that gave them more privacy, and Sango allowed herself to be led along. Their toes still touched the bottom, but the water now came up to her shoulders, which somehow made her feel more secure. She vaguely heard Inuyasha snarling at some people to stay away, and that would have made her smile if she wasn’t still so on edge over feeling her naked chest rubbing against Miroku’s and oh God she was never going to get past that detail.

When Miroku stopped she finally chanced a glance, peering up at him through her eyelashes. She tried to be as discreet as possible, not daring to separate herself from him too much lest she expose herself to him again-- one time was too many, thank you very much. Although he likely knew exactly what she was doing, he was polite enough to pretend not to notice. And if his arms tightened around her and slid down her back just a little more, then...that was fine, too.

It was hard to tell, but his face looked like it might be a bit flushed, and she wondered if it was really possible that she had such an effect on him. And that if the things he said to her, however ridiculous at times, were words he actually meant . It made something inside of her soften, even as another part of her twisted in anxiety. Her feelings were all in knots where he was concerned and she didn't like it.

"I bet you're enjoying this."

The words came out with more bite than Sango had intended, making her cringe. He was being nice, protective even, and she was being abrasive. Ugh, what was wrong with her? She heard him sigh, felt it in the way his chest expanded and contracted against her body.

"When you came out of the water, dripping and looking like some beautiful siren from the sea coming to lure me to my death...well, I'd have gone willingly and died a happy man," he confessed. "I'm sorry you're in such an embarrassing situation, but I'm not sorry to be the one who gets to help you. In fact, I find myself very grateful."

"Oh," she said. Then, before she could stop herself, “So you definitely saw, then.”

Not that there had been any doubt.

Miroku chuckled and she could hear the timbre of it wash over her, feel the vibrations of it in his chest, making her own tingle appreciatively. It made her breathing hitch for a moment before she sternly told herself to get it together. But it was hard, with all his skin pressed up against hers, and all her pent up feelings for him slipping past the barriers she had carefully erected.

“Oh, I definitely did. And you, my dear, are glorious,” Miroku said unapologetically.

Sango wanted to be offended, but somehow all she could feel was... flattered at his honesty, despite the painful awkwardness of it all. Then one of his hands was reaching up to gently pull the elastic from her ponytail, letting her hair hang free down her back. His fingers worked themselves into the wet mass of her hair, stroking through the tangles and making her shiver at how good it felt.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she sputtered, tensing because she wasn’t prepared for the things it was doing to her.

“Relax. With your hair down it won’t be as obvious to anyone looking that you’ve lost your top,” he replied, sounding amused.

“That...actually makes sense,” she admitted, grateful for his smart thinking.

His hand continued to brush through her hair and she felt hot in a way that had nothing to do with the sun beating down on them. Despite everything, she found herself actually relaxing against him, lulled into a sense of calm by his touch. She closed her eyes for a moment, drinking it in. Slowly, she released her grip on herself and let her arms come around him instead, feeling the muscles of his back under her fingertips. The motion made her inadvertently rub herself against him and he let out a choked groan.

“S-Sango?”

She didn’t reply, the words she wanted to say catching in her throat, so she laid her head against his chest, leaning into him. It allowed her to hear the rhythm of his heart, and how fast it was beating. It was so uncharacteristic of how she usually thought of him-- cool, calm, collected. That he was capable of being flustered too, somehow it thrilled her and made her own heart start to pound. She began to shift in his embrace when suddenly his arms around her tightened, keeping her in place.

“Sango...please stop moving,” Miroku said, his voice sounding strangled.

She froze, confused by his request, her mind still in a haze. “Are you really going to complain about me hugging you?”

He took a shuddering breath. “It’s not that. I’m thrilled but... another part of me is thrilled, too.”

Oh. Oh.

“M-Miroku!”

She flushed at the implication, her nipples tightening at the thought of... that. A wave of embarrassment crashed into her, and with it came the urge to move and squirm. She resisted the impulse, knowing it would undoubtedly only make things worse. Where the hell is Kagome? she thought a little wildly. Because as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t fault Miroku for the very physical way he was reacting to her; he was only human and their position was rather...compromising.

“I’d have to be a saint to remain unaffected by all of this.” Miroku’s voice was husky, his desire for her unmistakable.

She was suddenly acutely aware of the hardness of his erection pressing into her and heat shot through her, lighting every nerve ending on fire with want. Oh no. Oh no. She should say something, anything, because oh God this was too much. “I--I’m sorry, it’s just--”

As if waiting for such a moment, a wave flowed through the water and pushed into her, causing her to sway into him. And into the evidence of how much he wanted her. She couldn’t stop herself from shifting in his arms this time, biting her lip against a gasp as the motion rubbed their skin together and her nipples tingled appreciatively. An answering ache, soft as a whisper, pulsed at her core.

This was bad.

Miroku groaned, one of his hands dipping below the water to land on her thigh, squeezing. Before Sango could voice any outrage over the uninvited touch, he used his grip to gently push her away, attempting to reestablish some distance between them. Allowing herself to be nudged back the slightest bit, she peeked up at him. His face was composed but there was a slight flush over his cheekbones and a firm set to his mouth, his eyes looking straight ahead rather than down at her.

He was trying so hard to be respectful.

And that made her like him so much more. Want him so much more.

“Fuck,” he breathed, closing his eyes in an obvious effort to get himself back under control. “Seeing you basically naked, feeling your chest against mine, it isn’t exactly something I can ignore, you know. Especially when I’m so crazy about you.”

“I know. And thank you,” she said softly. “For...I don’t know. Swooping in to save me. Being surprisingly considerate. Being you. ”

He let out a laugh. “That’s surprising, since you act like you don’t like me very much.”

And that was true. In an effort to keep herself from getting caught up in something that had the potential to hurt her, she’d just pushed him away when all she really wanted was to pull him close. No matter how annoying he could be at times. The words that didn’t want to come earlier were now spilling past her lips before she could think about it.

“That’s not true. That’s not true at all. In fact, it’s the opposite. At first, I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I--”

Kagome chose that moment to reappear.

“Finally!! Took me forever cuz some kid found it and decided it was his new favorite toy, then I had to go find his mother and...” Kagome paused, as if sensing she had stumbled upon a private moment. “I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Miroku replied without hesitation, making Sango shoot him a glare he couldn’t see. “But,” he went on in a pleasant voice, “it’s fine. We can continue this conversation afterwards. Right, Sango?”

“R-right,” she agreed. She turned her head, looking away from Miroku’s chest to meet Kagome’s very knowing stare. Kagome was grinning, her cinnamon eyes sparkling in delight. That wasn't surprising; this was exactly what she’d wanted. Sango sighed and held out a hand for her top. “Thank you, Kagome.”

“Of course. I’m just gonna go wait over there with Inuyasha.” Kagome gave her a wink, handing the article of clothing off before swimming away.

Then they were alone again. Sango swallowed, her nervousness returning.

“Go ahead and put it back on,” Miroku said with a slight smile. “Don’t worry, as much as I'd love to look I’ll keep my eyes closed until you tell me to open them again.”

“You better,” Sango mumbled back with a scowl. “I mean it.”

He sighed, as if he was misunderstood. Sango didn't buy it for an instant.

She pulled away, taking a moment to make sure his eyes were indeed closed. True to his word, they remained firmly shut, and the corners of his mouth curved into a smirk, as if he knew she was double checking. Giving a slight huff of annoyance, she moved quickly, looping her bikini top over her head until the back tie was snug around her middle. Although she trusted him to keep his word, her eyes kept flitting back to his face as she fitted the cups securely over her breasts. The tie around her neck had come undone and she struggled for a moment with all her hair in the way.

When she was all done she glanced back at him again, unable to keep a wry smile from her face at his good behavior. Gliding through the water, she stopped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. His smile widened but he still didn’t open his eyes, waiting for her permission. That didn’t stop his arms from wrapping back around her or one of his hands from resting low on her back, his thumb drawing a line along the hem of her swimsuit bottoms.

As her eyes traced the lines of his face they inevitably landed on the curve of his lips. Her heart started to pound as her stomach filled with butterflies. This was crazy. But somehow, it felt right.

And she felt ready to take a chance on him.

Sango leaned in and kissed him.

Miroku inhaled sharply, his hands tightening their hold on her as he kissed her back. It was soft and gentle, and his lips were supple and warm beneath hers. Warmth bloomed inside her at the taste of him, making her feel like she was floating. His mouth moved against hers slowly, taking his time, demanding nothing but leaving her with a promise for more. It was perfect.

When she pulled back a blush colored her cheeks as she braced herself for the words she was about to say. Somehow this was easier with his eyes closed.

“I do like you, Miroku. You annoy me, you’re ridiculous and a little perverted, a shameless flirt. But...you also make me smile and you’re sweet and charming and supportive and...I like you. I like you so much it’s irritating. And not as a friend, but as...something more.”

Miroku's smile grew with each word she spoke until he was grinning widely. “Can I open my eyes now?”

“Um, yes. It’s okay now.”

“Good,” he said, opening his eyes, “because I want to look at you when I say this.”

Miroku’s indigo eyes gleamed at her in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Sango licked her lips, nervous and excited.

“Say what?”

“That I adore you, Sango. You constantly keep me on my toes and keep me in check. You’re strong. Independent. Beautiful beyond comparison.” His hand came up to cup her cheek as he spoke, the touch grounding her as her feelings for him threatened to carry her away.

“You really mean that,” she said, feeling his sincerity. There was something about the honesty of his words that made her appreciate his confession so much more than any of his previous, more practiced attempts. It might not have been as smooth but it was more heartfelt.

“I really do,” he confirmed, a tender note in his voice.

“Ask me again,” she said suddenly.

He blinked, his confusion apparent. “Ask you what?”

“The question you always ask me. Ask me again.”

Understanding dawned and he laughed. “Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” she smiled, her body humming with happiness. “I’d love to.”

****

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#Inuyasha fanfiction #Inuyasha fanfic #MirSan fanfic #MirSan #Miroku x Sango #Testing the Waters #Kagome loves to play matchmaker #Miroku wants Sango #Sango is annoyed but secretly wants him too

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uwua3 · 5 years ago

Text

price of being a dad.

🍁💸 furuichi sakyo

summary: you may not have a birth father, but you do have a family.

warnings: abandonment issues, abuse (mentions), angst with happy ending, birthday, daddy/parental issues, food

author’s note: for everyone who grew up with no father figure in their life, a dad who didn’t do shit, or a man who never loved them, this is for you ♡ sakyo loves you! (reminder this is a completely platonic/fatherly figure one shot)

word count: 2,859

music: since the day i was born – lostcrowboy

You wished your father loved you.

Maybe, you stay up late into the night, staring up at the ceiling, wondering why he left. Why did he selfishly pack up and go forever? How come he didn’t want to play the role of your father anymore when you needed him most, sobbing and begging for a second chance even if it wasn’t your fault? Or on the other hand, you may be hiding away in your bedroom, shaking and asking why he stayed. Why would he abuse the entire family with his violent, aggressive presence? How did he have the nerve to put a picture–perfect front in the public with the sting of his hits burning into your cheek?

Did he say he’d come back for you one day? You couldn’t remember anything—not his words or what he looked like. Your dad was gone, it didn’t matter how, he left you. He gave up, he was a quitter.

You said you hated your dad, but you knew, you’d take his love back in a heartbeat if you could.

Especially today, since it was your birthday.

It was another day in your calendar, another day to be alone and angry over something you couldn’t control. You would never admit it, but you wanted a happy birthday for goddamn once. The ridiculously cheesy triangular hats strapped on your head, a store–bought ice cream cake with your name in icing on top, a crowd of your friends and family singing the traditional song off-tune with big smiles. It would’ve been something you wished for, if only you had the appropriate amount of candles.

As you woke up to nothing, you couldn’t help but bear the weight of immense disappointment you experienced every year. For some unknown reason, a small, childish part of you wanted to wake up to a “Happy Birthday!” from your loved ones. It wasn’t their fault, though. You did everything possible to make sure no one knew it was your birthday so you wouldn’t be let down again.

First thing in the morning, and your thoughts already trailed back to your deadbeat father. How nice. You sighed, not exactly having the energy to wake up and face your own fears before a harsh knock sounded at your door. Did one of the boys need help setting up for the latest play or something? You hurriedly rushed to open the door, about to ask what was wrong before you stopped, meeting face to face with a familiar pair of black, square glasses and a blank expression.

It was Sakyo, infamous yakuza with a glare that could kill. He stood before you in his usual black turtleneck and grey suit, his arms across his chest with his foot tapping against the ground, a sign he was growing impatient. Before you could slam the door closed and run the hell away, Sakyo seemed to notice and stuck his foot right between the opening, pinching his nose bridge with a frustrated groan. Of course, the yakuza had quick reflexes for his old age.

“Rookie, learn some proper manners for once!” Sakyo barked, prying open the door against your very insistent will. You eventually let the door slam against the wall, knowing it was a losing battle because once Furuichi Sakyo put his mind to something, he’d always win. With something akin to satisfaction, Sakyo met your eye with a huff, pushing back a strand of blonde hair covering his vivid purple eyes.

“Good. You’re awake, I would’ve had to kill you if you were still sleeping.” Sakyo cursed casually, blinking at your sudden flinch from his words. He paused, before adding a “Nevermind that... Anyways, get dressed”, closing your door quickly and disappearing down the hallway. You took a moment to process what he just said, before quickly preparing for the day with a million questions running through your head.

Why would Sakyo need you for anything? He was more than capable of ordering Mankai, nevertheless Autumn Troupe, to do the dirty work around the dormitory. After all, no one wanted to deal with the backlash of Sakyo’s (unfortunately correct) criticism about how twenty plus boys couldn’t just live like they were all teenagers. So, why you? You grabbed all your proper necessities for an outing, knowing damn well a job done with Sakyo wasn’t just a short trip.

Reaching the main lobby, you noticed Sakyo pass a list of some sorts to Izumi, who glanced over it and nodded. She was about to say something before her eyes landed on you, sending you a bright smile and waving good morning. You couldn’t help but notice how much they looked like parents sending their children off to school, the observation causing a deep sense of sadness to settle as you looked away uncomfortably.

You missed the way Sakyo’s hand hovered over your shoulder for a moment before dropping it to his side, clearing his throat to get your attention. You turned to him, seeing the car keys already in hand and an itinerary written in his planner. Oh no...

“You’re here quick, good job.” Sakyo mentioned offhandedly, pushing his glasses up with his free hand as he reviewed his own list. You didn’t know why, but you almost felt overwhelmed with being praised by Sakyo so early in the day. A warm sensation of pride filled your chest, replacing the previous melancholy from before. You tried not to make your smile obvious, but Sakyo narrowed his eyes at you.

“What are you laughing at, rookie?”

“Nothing, nothing!”

“That’s what I thought... kids these days.”

(You weren’t the only one who tried to hold in your laugh, though some did better than others. Luckily, you weren’t at the receiving end of a harsh threat from Sakyo.)

Sakyo was only thirty (30) years old, but sometimes, he acted like an old man despite his impressive agility and athleticism that challenged the teens. You admired this as Sakyo ordered for the car keys from Sakoda, catching them smoothly with his hands gripping them without fail. You were certain you would never witness Sakyo drop anything in this lifetime, and dutifully followed him to his car, saying your goodbyes to the rest of the company.

Weirdly enough, Sakoda didn’t follow, but stayed behind with the group who was oddly awake already. You didn’t have the guts to question it, as you moved to sit in the back of the car. Sakyo was about to start the engine before he stopped, looking in the mirror with an almost confused glint to his eyes.

“Why are you in the back?” Sakyo asked, to which you blinked as if it was most obvious thing in the world.

“I don’t deserve to sit in the front.” You retorted immediately and Sakyo frowned, a deep furrow to his eyebrows as you wondered why he reacted the way he did.

“Who taught you that?” You didn’t respond to the question, so Sakyo just exited the car, opening your door with the same displeased look. Yet, it wasn’t aimed at you, it seemed to be distant and cold.

“Get in the passenger side, sit anywhere you want.” Sakyo demanded and who were you to refuse? You slid into the seat beside him and Sakyo drove off, the Veludo Way scenery passing by you. You glanced at the dashboard and of course, he was driving at the safe speed limit. A yakuza who obeyed the law, how uncommon.

Ten (10) minutes must’ve passed before you shifted in your seat, fidgeting with your fingers. Sakyo sighed tiredly, as if he hadn’t slept at all as he slowed down to a stoplight.

“You know, you don’t have to be so uncomfortable around me, rookie.” Sakyo said calmly, tapping his fingers on the wheel with his eyes trained on the lights.

You were constantly being taken by surprise today, all because of Sakyo Furuichi. Before this, you hadn’t shared more than a few sentences at a time with Sakyo. The most you’ve said to him was during a financial budget meeting for the staff, mostly to halfheartedly support Yuki & Tsuzuru’s demands of a larger budget. Yet, here Sakyo was, acting as if you both were... family.

You swallowed down the bitterness from the thought of your actual family, before looking over at Sakyo. Sakyo was already looking at you and attempted some sort of smile. Even though you wanted to laugh at how hard he was trying to appear normal, you appreciated the effort. Sakyo naturally had a dad–like smile, how fitting.

Sakyo’s smile grew genuine at the sight of yours and before he said anything, a car horn cut off his thoughts. You didn’t know when the light turned green, but Sakyo quickly drove off while muttering a curse at the impatient line of cars behind them.

“Sakyo, where are we going?” You asked after you realized the roads were leading directly to the shops. Sakyo pulled into a parking spot carefully, but with the ease of someone who’s driven a thousand times and more. How did he just parallel park like that? You tried to hide it, but you were always impressed by Sakyo.

“Where does it look like?” Sakyo opened his door and slipped out, looking out of place during the daytime. You watched him before snapping out of it, hurriedly clambering after him as he barely looked over his shoulder. Sakyo was already halfway down the sidewalk before you caught up, knowing he must’ve been running on a tight schedule doing god knows what.

“What are you shopping for?” You questioned, trying to maintain your breathing. Sakyo finally looked down at you, furrowing his eyebrows before relaxing his face, noticing your worried expression immediately. You easily read the smallest signals from people, and it wasn’t hard to wonder why.

“We,” Sakyo emphasized, making a point to include you as he stopped, nearly making you bump straight into him. “are going to every store in this place. I need help buying... a gift, for someone. You pick, got it?”

You couldn’t help but imagine a father buying a gift for their child. This was the closest you would ever get to that dream—that dream of being loved in such a parental way. You just nodded, knowing if you spoke, your voice would crack. Sakyo didn’t ask, but his eyes lingered on you for a moment before searching the random assortment of stores.

“They’re like you. I’m sure they’ll like whatever you choose.” Sakyo tried to comfort you, but his tone fell flat and he seemed out of his element. Before the silence got too awkward, Sakyo gestured towards the food court. “Forgot breakfast this morning. Let’s go.”

Who were you to argue with Furuichi Sakyo? You followed him, even if he was a bit lost. Sakyo must’ve avoided the mall for its crowds of people, because he did a full 360 as he read each menu.

“... What place do you like?” Sakyo finally asked, peering down at you to catch the smallest movement. You barely glanced at some breakfast display before he made his way over, ordering for you. For some reason, you were flattered at how Sakyo actually knew your favorite breakfast option. You didn’t even have to correct him, he just knew.

When you both sat down at a table (after Sakyo embarrassingly demanding a wipe to decontaminate the dirty spaces malls offered), Sakyo glanced up every once in a while to make sure you were eating a full meal. Sure, mall food was less than ideal, but you seemed so content that he didn’t mind the overpriced options, surprisingly.

“Thank you for the food, Sakyo.” When you thanked him for the meal quietly, Sakyo felt a pain in his heart from how nervous it was. Sakyo just waved his hand as if to say it was nothing, looking away. Why did Sakyo suddenly feel so proud all of a sudden?

As you stood before all of the stores, not knowing where to start, you heard a sentence you never thought possible from Sakyo.

“Today, price doesn’t matter. Go choose whatever you think is best.”

In fact, today was possibly the worst day to be shopping with Sakyo. Anytime you picked something up, he would attempt to buy it without you looking, thinking mere observation was interest. You had to explain to him that just because you complimented something, didn’t mean you wanted it to be the choice.

“How many gifts are you planning on getting this person?” You laughed, a part of you jealous of this mystery person. Sakyo must’ve really cared about them. Sakyo just shrugged, putting back a shirt you thought was fashionable. Sakyo was truly unfamiliar in this new territory. Sakyo really wasn’t a person who spent money, so being inside a mall was enough to make him on edge at all times. But... Sakyo contentedly watched you as he made sure no one was following. Sakyo would never get used to a mall, but it wasn’t so bad today.

Sakyo breathed a sigh of relief when you finally chose something, most likely fed up with the number of people at any given place. You were surprised that Sakyo didn’t even check the price and swiped his card. Yakuza money must’ve been a different lifestyle, you thought. At the register, the cashier checked the item out and looked up, politely making small talk.

“Are you shopping with your father today?”

You looked around and realized they were asking you. The cashier thought Sakyo was your father. You both froze, shocked at the simple question. You failed to recover, attempting to adamantly deny the conversation with a nervous laugh.

“N–No! Um... he’s—” “Yes, I am their dad. It’s our special hang out this month.” Sakyo replied smoothly, seemingly unbothered by your reaction. The cashier seemed touched by the fact you two went out monthly, sending you both their congratulations. Sakyo took back the credit card and purchase, thanking the cashier for their service as he escorted you to the front of the store.

You were still in shock by the time Sakyo made you sit down on a bench. You couldn’t process the words even if you kept hearing them in your head. Sakyo confirmed he was your father, and although you knew it was a lie, you felt proud. Why did it make you so happy to hear Sakyo say that? Why did Sakyo even say that? Was this what being someone’s child felt like? You couldn’t even remember the last time your father was publicly proud of being related to you. Suddenly, you felt a hand on your head.

Sakyo was... patting your head? Sakyo seemed caught off guard, even if he moved to do so. It must’ve been subconscious because Sakyo took a moment before ruffling your hair, the action unfamiliar to both of you.

“Don’t blank in a public space. It’s not safe.” Sakyo said firmly, looking at his hand. On the same hand, he was wearing a watch. Reading the time, Sakyo’s eyes slightly widened before he stood up, quickly mentioning something about being late to an event. You nodded as Sakyo scrolled through his phone, the buzzing consistent as some sort of group chat was blowing up his device.

“Okay. Let’s go home.” Sakyo casually mentioned but you experienced a warm sensation of pride once more. Home... you hadn’t had a place like that in so long. You followed Sakyo to the car, noticing he checked to make sure you were following this time.

On the way home, Sakyo properly made sure all roads were safe (Sakyo let you turn on the radio this time). When Sakyo pulled in and stopped the car, he pulled the bag from the back of the car and shoved it into your hands. Even though Sakyo pretended it wasn’t a big deal, you saw his embarrassment on his face. Sakyo didn’t give gifts often, but when he did, it meant something.

“This is for you. Keep this, okay?” Sakyo pulled at his collar when you finally smiled, unable to deny it when it was a token of your time spent together. Before Sakyo could leave the car, you pulled Sakyo into a hug with a big grin.

“Thanks, dad.” You accidentally let slip out, but Sakyo awkwardly patted your back. “Of course, rookie. I’ll see you next month for our hang out.”

That was the start of hanging out with Sakyo every month, and it all started on your birthday. When you walked into the pitch-black dorms, all you heard was a “Happy birthday!” from every person in the company. While everyone began singing, You noticed Omi and Izumi carry out a homemade cake with the right amount of candles, the flames dancing in front of you. You blew them out ceremoniously, smiling as Mankai cheered.

(For once, you didn’t wish for anything. You had everything you needed, right here.)

When you spun around, you saw Sakyo wearing a dumb party hat and that’s when you knew: Your home was with your second family, Mankai.

You didn’t have your birth dad, but you did have a family.

#furuichi sakyo #sakyo furuichi #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! one shots #act! addict! actors! one shots #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! sakyo #a3 sakyo

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smol-and-trashy · 5 years ago

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Botched Rescue (BnHA vore fic) 5/5

A/N: Honestly, I only posted this because I hate leaving fics unfinished, so now I can finally say, I finished a fic! I’ll probably work on the prey!Dimi fic in the next couple of weeks, so be on the look-out for that! (and then I gotta finish my remaining WIPs... this is why i don’t do multi-chapter stuff, I lose interest way too fast ~sobs~) tw for vomit.

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Shit shit shit. Hawks' brain immediately went to worst-case scenario. He shoved his fingers back in his throat, gagging and dry heaving, but this time nothing came out. Brown flecked eyes shot open; this couldn't be happening. Okay, calm down, gotta go to plan B: find an emetic. He straightened up and ran to the bathroom. Rummaging through his cabinets, sharp eyes scanning various medications and bottles until he finally laid eyes on what he was looking for, bingo!

He unscrewed the cap and didn't even bother to correctly measure the medication as he gulped down the syrup until his stomach began to toss and turn. Grabbing hold of the bowl once again, his stomach twisted, and almost automatically, he thew up. Hawks scanned the vomit-covered bowl for any signs of anything living and finally made contact with three multi-color heads of hair. Letting out a sigh he didn't know he was holding, he fishes them out of the bowl, one-by-one. They're limp and barely unconscious, but he can feel their breaths to know that they're alive. Coughing, the green-haired boy, Midoriya, Hawks reminds himself, stumbles a bit before gazing up at the blond and freezes. Never had he seen someone's life deflate from their body so quickly, and if he weren't the one causing the distress, he'd find it a touch amusing. The kids were staring wide-eyed at him as if he were some kind of monster; he didn't care. Right now, relief swept over him, they were alive, and that was the only thing that mattered right now. "Let's get you guys cleaned up." he murmurs, throat raw and scratchy as he gets up to run a clean bowl under water. The students in his free hand stay dead-still; even the loud one wasn't making a single move. Had he scarred them this much? If he was honest with himself, this wasn't the most preferable of outcomes, but he could work with it. He had to. He brings the water-filled bowl back into the bathroom and brings the kids to the lukewarm water. The water was relatively shallow, and he trusted them enough to bathe themselves without drowning. The boys stayed limp in the bowl for a solid minute, shell-shocked over what they just went through, before slowly scrubbing the gunk off their clothes and hair. They looked so stiff, only going through the motions of what was necessary before finally stopping once they deemed themselves 'clean.' Hawks felt a pang of guilt in his chest as he watched, knowing that he'd fucked up. Even though all of this was for the greater good, he had just traumatized three teenagers for the betterment of hero society. Was all of this really worth it? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Izuku stared way up at the giant, fear overwhelming him. Why would Hawks let them out? To toy with them further? His heart thumped heavily in his chest while the winged man loomed over them. To put it simply, the hero looked terrible. Strands of blond hair clung to Hawks' sweaty forehead while he had heavy bags under his triangular ducts. A hand hovered over them before trunk-sized fingers seemed to pause before wrapping themselves around Bakugou; the fiery teen squirmed in Hawks' grasp, yelling obscurities at the man holding him while being moved away from the bowl. Hawks slumped down on the wall, pushing his hair back, and gazed up at the blank ceiling. "Haah, thank god you guys are alive. Thought I miscalculated or something!" he tiredly laughed. "Put me down! You reek!" Bakugou wriggled in the man's grasp, biting and kicking at the fingers enclosed on him. The winged pro hero looked down, yet Bakugou remained undaunted by those sharp eyes, he had no idea what the hero was thinking, but if he was planning on eating them again, he's got another thing coming. Instead of raising him back into the damp maw, nimble fingers worked at the quirk suppressor bracelet on his leg, prying it open with just his thumb and index finger, until a small pop was heard, and they snapped off. "There ya go!" Bakugou stared at the man, for the first time since this ordeal, he was entirely dumbstruck. The birdbrain actually helped him? He couldn't believe it. Before he knew it, he was carefully dropped down into the bowl, and Hawks did the same to Deku and Icy-Hot, their bracelets snapping off with relative ease. Bakugou silently watched from afar, confident that the same thought was nesting in the other students' heads: What the hell? xxxxxxxxxxx There wasn't much discourse between Hawks and the students. Guilt gnawed in his gut; he knew that he did the right thing, but was that really enough? Going by the Midoriya's instinctive shudders with each inflicting touch, he had his answer. No, this is what I trained to do, what I'm supposed to do. Keep civilians and provisional heroes safe, I did my job, completed the mission—yet why do I feel so… hollow? Hawks swallowed down these feelings and moved on, scooping the students and softly pocketing them in the largest bag he could find. He had to focus on getting them back to regular size; that was his primary goal, that had been his goal from the first time he saw them in the Liberation Front's base. Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, he left his apartment and took off to the Commission's headquarters, taking in warm breeze rafting through messy blond tufts, trying to fly as smoothly as possible, careful not to jostle the U.A. students too much inside the bag. He made a landing in front of the main building, and after punching in his security card, he barged into the President of Public Safety Commission's office, "Got the students. Do you have the re-sizing villain?" The President narrowed her eyes, "Next time knock, Hawks," she said cooly, before sighing, "Of course, he's in the detainment room. Come with me." Hawks whistled, "Yes, ma'am!" and held the bag a bit closer; he wasn't sure what kind of man the self-proclaimed 'Size Maestro' was, but going by his villain name, his expectations were already low. He was promptly lead into an elevator and then down a long hallway, finally stopping at a room with a brick-headed man staring dully at his cuffs. There he was. The Commission President shoots Hawks a pointed look that easily told him, you're just here to interrogate him and get the kids back to normal, you got that? Hawks shot her an easygoing grin back and turned his attention back to the man; this was going to be a cinch. He opened the door and swiftly brought the students out of the satchel. The slight widening of the man's eyes in alarm was all he needed to know, but still, he persevered with the questioning. "Do you recognize these kids?" he asked, pulling up a chair, so he can be at eye-level with the man. "'Course not. Never seen them kids before in my life." Hawks quirked a brow, "Really? Well, let me just run a lil confirmation with them," he looked down at the students. "Was this the guy who shrunk you?" As expected, Midoriya and Shoto both nodded while he had to shield Bakugou with a free hand so that he wouldn't end up lunging his tiny body at the man. "Seems they recognize you, so how about we try this again," his eyes pierced into the man, pupils narrowing into slits, "do you recognize these kids?" After what felt like minutes of sitting in pure silence, the man swallowed, and finally broke. "Fine! I was the one who shrunk the brats! But only under the orders of the Liberation, they tells me that I had to, that it brought us a step closer to the Liberation of quirks," his eyes widened at this slip, and he quickly put a hand over his mouth before squinting at Hawks. "Wait, aren't ya…" Seeing the gears turn in the other man's head, the hero wasted no time; with a key in one hand, he unlocked the villain's handcuffs before pressing a sharp feather under the man's chin. "Turn them back, and then you and I will talk." Nodding, the Size Maestro prodded the students, and one-by-one, they quickly grew back to their original sizes. He looked up at Hawks, expectingly, "So you are a dirty spy that thinks he can—-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence before Hawks knocked him out with a feather blade and locked his cuffs back on. "There we go," he states, satisfied as he turns his attention back to the heroes-in-training, they were unconscious in the interrogation room, exhausted from the re-growth process, but with the aid of a few Commission employees, he brought them back into the Commission President's office. "So, what do you wanna tell their teacher and Endeavor?" The President's lips straightened in a pale line, "Must they know the truth, Hawks?" The hero shrugged, "Could just say they got captured by the League?" Her grim expression softened, pleased with his response, "Good. It would put hero society in turmoil if they were to find out about your mission and more about the Liberation Front than what has already been disclosed. For now, this ordeal will be between us." He smirked, about to retort back, but a buzzing on his headset shifted his attention, pausing for a second, he listened. Armed robbery in Kurume, some kind of electrical quirk. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, not really wanting to leave the kids until they were fully conscious so he could have more time to explain himself properly, but from the frantic squawks of his sidekick, it seemed urgent. His expression shifted, and he turned his attention back to the President. "Duty calls, tell the kids I'm really sorry about everything." She nodded, and giving one last look a the students, he closed the door. His expression darkening slightly as he left the building, he was going to have to cook up an alibi on his way back to Fukuoka for the Liberation Front. xxxxxxxx Deku shifted in his sleep, finding himself in an awful nightmare of being captured by the League and ending up getting eaten and digested by Hawks. His eyes fly open, and he finds himself in a too-bright room, with Bakugou and Todoroki still passed out. Memories flood his head, that awful dream was his reality, yet--why was he alive? He vaguely remembered Hawks releasing them, his words remained fuzzy in the green haired teen’s mind as he tried shifting through recent memories. Sighing, Deku shifts his head to the side, finally noticing the Head of Safety Commission standing over him with her hands behind her back, but that wasn't what surprised him the most, no, it was that he was back to normal again. He… he really did save us. "H-Hawks!" he turns to thank the winged pro, but he was nowhere to be found. Deku sighed; the man really was too fast for his own good.

#bnha vore #my hero academia vore #pred!Hawks #soft vore #safe vore

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yashimolala · 4 years ago

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⎡ where are you now? ⎦fushiguro t. & m.

★ part two of ⎡ can you hear me now? ⎦ ☆

❀ pairing: fushiguro megumi & fushiguro toji (familial)

❀ word count: 1,494 words

❀ genre: fluff/angst

❀ author’s notes: this is not incestuous in any manner.

❀ tags: character study, fushiguro toji-centric, introspection, purple prose, somewhat canon-compliant (?)

❀ description: the moments that were left at the back of the father and son’s minds, and the places where they could’ve been.

。·:*:·ﾟ★,。·:*:·ﾟ☆　　。·:*:·ﾟ★,。·:*:·ﾟ☆

Sunflowers.

Megumi’s eyes flutter to the sight of a delightful scar.

He knows this is a dream, but it was a real memory flashing in his eyes, one that he’s never been able to recall before.

The scar was graceful, stretching to its’ full beauty on a smile. It was straight, adorning the left side of the person’s mouth.

Slightly-chapped lips, rosy hues on glowing cheeks, and large, rough hands reaching out for him. And his safety in a delicate body is entrusted to their palms as he’s wrapped in strong, built arms.

He could not see the upper half of their face. It was a rather blurry vision he had.

But he could tell… they were joyous. Delighted. Glad. Genuinely happy. They smiled like it was the most beautiful moment of their life. Like his very existence was a miracle.

Tenderly cradling his small, fragile body; gently rocking him to a soft tune. He doesn’t know the song itself, but he loves the comfort it brings. The small humming is imprinted in his memory, a precious memento to cross at his heart.

Megumi then closes his eyes, drifting to a deep slumber, all the while listening to the serene sound.

He lets the darkness wash him over to a new dream.

Interlude.

Your smile rivals the vibrance of a sunflower, Ever brilliant and happy, Blooming with a vivid yellow power, That I can never exude.

Shining brighter than the glaring star in a summer night. Fiery blooms of beauty captivating me in its splendor, Always facing the direction of its Creator Like a lost sailor in search for a ray of light.

- Yashi

Aloë.

Megumi remembers getting ice cream in the mall when he was a child.

He was observing the strange tubs of bizarre flavors illustrated in posters; he seemed like he wanted to try them out.

His father was watching him from afar, hands shoved into his pants’ pockets. The man then sighs, “Stay in the bench over there.”

Megumi nods, sitting himself on the vacant furniture, unknowing of what he was planning.

The older male disappears from Megumi’s sight into the flood of crowds, not even uttering another word before leaving.

Minutes of swinging his legs back and forth were spent as he waited. Person after person passed by him, never sparing a glance but he felt like the eyes lurking from the shadows are on him, but at the same time, he feels like he’s within a void of empty crowds.

Just as he was to hop off and set out to search for his father, the man was right before him, handing down a triangular-looking biscuit with a building swirl of soft white.

The child looked astonished, wrapping his small hands around the cone, green eyes sparkling with the smooth, glistening frozen treat.

Toji just sits beside him, seemingly uninterested with legs spread wide, in comparison to the kid’s knees that were almost closed in a timid manner.

Megumi blinks once, before glancing down the ice cream, bringing the pointed tip of coldness to his lips, taking a small bite.

Chilled velvety mush melted into sweetness as he savors the flavor.

It’s a classic vanilla that his father could only afford.

The father glances to his side at once, watching a small smile stretch on the kid’s usually stoic expression.

“Is it good?”

“Anything that father gets me is the best.”

Toji then closes his eyes with a contented smile, clearing out the chatter of the crowds in the mall and etched Megumi’s smiling face into the back of his head.

Aster.

Toji sees the color of the skies on Megumi.

He could never forget the beady gaze of his child, often glimmering with curiosity that he could never unravel.

They glow with a glint of excitement and interest, with every thing it explores, may it be the old bookstore down the street, the trashed alleyways in their neighborhood, or the stray puppy that he saw in the park.

Toji sees the only blessing in his life.

Toji sees Megumi making his own blessings out of the world.

A small smile pulls on his lips as the child’s hand holds onto his larger one for reassurance, relishing in the sound of his laughter.

Megumi has his mother’s eyes, but he also has his own soul in those pair of sapphires. It was somewhat funny because everyday when Toji looked into the mirror, all he can see are soulless orbs of dread.

But now that he can see the life in his blessing’s eyes, he’s more than satisfied.

Azalea.

The first time Toji went out with Megumi’s mother, they eloped to the beach, where the color of their eyes can be found, symbolic of their persona as well.

When he takes the boy to the ocean, his eyes gleamed with excitement as he starts talking about the sea creatures he’s read about, like the starfish, the crabs, the seahorse and more.

His blue gaze was a living memory of his mother, reminding him of the calm ocean waves that came crashing on the grains of gold and the clear skies that rolled across the earth.

He notices his mussed hair that was disheveled by the salt water that soaked into their skin and takes a photo of the footsteps they’ve left on the shore before it’s washed away by the sweep of shallow water.

When he feels delicate fingers graze on his knuckles, his chest surges with euphoria upon seeing Megumi who held onto his hand with his small digits, lips stretching with a smile and wet lashes framing his face.

He wants to wake up every day to this shade of blue, the voice of his son filling his ears, to live in a moment that will last until the end of his time.

Interlude.

‘You look just like your mother.’

The man remarks as he glances at the shape of his hair — same black, same spike, same curl that framed over his features that was a tad softer than Toji’s.

‘I guess I do carry her tenderness well.’ Megumi brings up a hand to the expanse of his neck, averting his focus away, refusing to make eye contact with his father.

This does not go unnoticed by Toji, as his emerald gaze catches on Megumi’s ocean ones. They were a deep shade of blue, drowning in the abysmal depths of the sea, accompanied by the shadows.

He speaks again. You both have the same eyes.

‘Cause we are both exhausted.’ The younger male responds almost immediately, but it never came out in an exasperated manner. It escaped his lips as a gentle sigh.

Toji’s eyes travel down to explore more what he shared with his mother, halting by the slim phalanges that he wore.

‘And the hands.’ He adds.

‘We share the same wilting fingers.’ Megumi wearily says, demonstrating by shifting his digits into a hand gesture that he does not recognize, only familiar with the lines and curves that shaped his wrist.

‘But that rage, your mother doesn’t wear that anger.’

‘You’re right.’ His expression that was once serene contorts into one of madness, bathed in blood and the laughter that cascades from his lips is almost maniacal. ‘This rage is the one thing I get from my father.’

Sweet Pea.

Fushiguro Toji was not expecting to have the latter half of his plans ruined by the Gojo kid who went berserk after rising from death.

All he felt was unease, unease, utter unease.

Just when he thought he had thrown his feelings away, it all comes back to him with an excruciating ache to his chest, tugging painfully on his heartstrings.

All he remembers is clinging onto his wife’s back like a helpless beast, the joy he had when Megumi was born, raising him up until he was five and fuck, he wishes he could have seen him grow up more — deal with his teenage phase, watch him graduate, have a peaceful story of his own.

He longs for a life where he could hear about Megumi’s dreams, where they talk about what happens in his everyday life over dinner, where they could live as a small and happy family with Tsumiki.

But he can’t go back to that life, can’t return to where he left off, can’t have what he want anymore so what’s the point?

He looks into the long path that was stretched out on the other way, disappearing into forever. He’s afraid to say this is the end he’s reached, but deep inside, he knows that he’s already lost, deep in the restraint of his own pride, in the choice of path that he chose and in this battle.

So when he chooses his last words, he tells them to the white-haired teen in hopes that his child will at least be able to live a better life than he did.

He just hopes that his only blessing is okay.

。·:*:·ﾟ★,。·:*:·ﾟ☆　　。·:*:·ﾟ★,。·:*:·ﾟ☆

The language of flowers:

❀ Sunflower = “The sunshine in your smile”/Radiance ❀ Aloe = Affection and grief ❀ Aster = Love and daintiness/Remembrance ❀ Azalea = Family ❀ Sweet Pea = Goodbye

Oh and please do keep in mind that, in the second interlude, the dialogues that are in italics belong to Rupi Kaur’s ‘Milk and Honey’.

additional notes: i said i’d write more of this so i did.

#fushiguro toji #fushiguro megumi #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #character study #introspection #angst #jjk megumi #jujutsu kaisen megumi #jjk angst #jjk toji #fsgr

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spooky-z · 6 years ago

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Mom? Dad? Chaos.

First, I would like to thank you all! Really. And I'm not talking about the followers (which reached the 500), no. I'm talking about your reception for my stories. You guys are awesome!

Second, Marinette is a little... dark in this story. Maybe because she fought Hawkmoth for a long time or Batfam influence, I don't know. She defends herself and defends her friends against Lila. So, don't be surprised, please.

(finally managing to edit the post f- u tumblr) 6K of salt, sailors.

Lightly based on Wayne Travelers by @multishipper1needshalp Maribat by @ozmav

The day had started normal.

Marinette getting up late for class and getting ready in a hurry while Tikki helped the girl as best she could, her parents setting the table for breakfast together and Damian sitting, waiting for his girlfriend to go to school together. Adrien still asleep after staying up all night with Jonathan on the phone.

That had become Marinette's morning routine for the past two years, with Damian going to Paris to study economics with the best education that money could afford and her finishing high school in Dupont with Adrien.

And as said before, the day had started normal.

They ate breakfast with her parents, Marinette kicking Adrien out of bed and walked together to Dupont's entrance, where their paths parted.

She had kissed Damian good-bye and he whispered a “see you later” before getting in the car parked on the sidewalk. The driver politely waving to Marinette.

Adrien grimacing in the background, like a child watching his parents kiss.

It had been normal the way the class wrinkled their noses as she passed them; how everyone was in their proper place when Lila began to tell the latest nonsense lie; when Adrien came right behind her and was forced to sit next to the Italian (face completely twisted in pained expression); Chloe walking to the back of the room and placing a tender kiss on Marinette's cheek before sitting next to her; the two whispering the news to each other while Adrien sent a wistful look to his friends; their kwamis together in the boy's bag (since it was the largest of the three there).

Ms. Bustier leaving and leaving them with free time to do whatever they want.

This was normal. This was the routine after Hawkmoth had given up on terrorizing Paris and returned the butterfly and peacock Miraculous. After Gabriel Agreste had been arrested.

What was not normal now was that portal opening beside Ms. Bustier's desk and five people passing by.

The whole class frozen in shock.

The first out was obviously the oldest. In his 19 years, probably.

Black hair - in the sunlight there was a bluish illumination - trapped in a bun at the top of his head, the eyes were a cold and sharp gray, his skin was a beautiful olive tone, a strong jaw and the body showed that he was very more than just physically active.

The second person to go through the portal was a girl, who was about 15/16 years old.

They couldn't see the color of her hair, as she wore a hijab, but the eyes were a vivid and bright green, her skin was paler, small face, pink lips in a cupid bow and she also seemed to exercise a lot too.

The first two seemed to be siblings and that at least one of the parents was Asian.

The third was a blonde girl. She was the same age as the first girl, not much older than 16. While she didn't seem to have a more defined body, just the fact that she wasn't touching the floor when she left the portal said a lot about her.

The blond hair - exactly the color of Chloe and Adrien's hair - was long and loose, the curls unruly. The eyes were blue, a radiant blue and not very common, the triangular face, the doll's lips.

The fourth person was actually a little boy, who must have been at most 3 years old and was in the blonde girl's arms.

His hair was black and unruly, eyes were the same bright blue as the girl, round face with rosy cheeks, pale skin and he was sucking his thumb.

The last person to pass through the portal had been a girl with a much stronger Asian heritage than the first two.

Her cherry-red dyed hair reaching her shoulders, body far more defined than the girl with the hijab - her biceps pronounced by the shirt – the eyes were amber and dangerous, thin lips, her skin was tanned from spending too much time in the sun, oval face.

They stared silently at the class as the portal closed behind them.

"Okay... Who's going to tell this to our parents?" The blonde girl asks, breaking the silence and the red-haired girl looks at her, a murderous expression on her face.

“That was your fault! You're the one to tell!” Growls.

The blonde girl looks sincerely sorry.

"How would I know this was a time machine?!"

The redhead approaches her, her fists clenched ready to pounce, but the oldest of the five holds her in place.

"Rie, Emilie, please. Now is not the time to fight." His voice comes up like a blade. Sharp. "Especially with Clark among you."

They move away from each other. Rie walks closer to the classroom door, Emilie floats toward the window. Both with serious faces.

"It's not wanting to cut your drama, but we're not alone." The hijab girl says, drawing their attention to her. “We have audience, (哥哥) gēge.” She points to the still very frozen class.

He turns, his eyes scanning the students, before locking in the back of the room. In Marinette and Chloe. His eyes close in a pained expression.

“Fuck.” Curses without shame. "Dad will kill us."

"Absolutely." She replies, not looking any little upset at the situation.

In fact, her eyes were shining. She seemed very excited about everything.

The bell rings and it seems to wake everyone up from the shock, the students frenzied.

Everyone talking at the same time, they approach; Alya with the phone in hand; Marinette talking quickly on the phone, looking worried; Chloe was looking critically at the newcomers, the familiar feeling poking at her head; Adrien looked downright in love with the little boy in Emilie's arms.

Lila was... Wanting to take advantage of the situation to do something.

Rie begins to fuss over and over with the noise of the class, the pitch of the sound seemed to be hurting Clark's sensitive ears. The situation gets worse until she screams, anger clear in her tone.

“どけ! (Doke!)” Everyone shuts up but doesn't understand what she says. "I said get away, NOW!"

They are frightened by the girl's ferocity and move away.

“Okay, now one at a time.” When everyone moves to talk together again, she raises her hand in a stop signal. "Raise your hands and I'll choose who speaks."

They quickly raise their hands, waving violently. Max was jumping in his seat.

"You." Rie points to Rose and the girl stands up happily.

"What is the name of you all?" Questions.

Rie raises an eyebrow, disbelieving that this was the most important question the girl had to ask, but said nothing. Who answers is Emilie.

"I'm Emilie, this little one is Clark, the scary one is (理恵) Rie, the handsome guy over there is (健) Jiàn and the hijab girl is Aria-" She turns sideways to point at the girl, just to find the empty spot. “Where's Aria?” She asks the two beside her and Rie just points to the back of the room.

And they all turned just in time to see Marinette being hugged her life away by the girl.

“妈妈 (māmā) you are so cute!” Both Adrien and Chloe gasp, eyes wide. Marinette gets paler and paler.

That moment makes both Rie and Clark notice the blondes in the room and Clark begins to cry, writhing in Emilie's arms and trying to reach Adrien.

“Papa! Papa!” The little boy sniffles until Emilie releases him and lets him fly to Adrien.

The class shouts at the demonstration of power.

The blonde catches him reflexively, hugging the small body in his arms and the boy sinks, melting in the warmth. He looks shocked at Emilie, wanting an explanation and the girl just shrugs, a bland smile on her face.

"Hi Dad."

Adrien chokes, his eyes filling with water, thrilled. He smiles back in disbelief.

"Hi?"

Chloe rises from her seat indignantly.

"Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” Shouts. “Why do you two get visits from your future kids, but not me?!” She stomps her foot in a tantrum.

It seemed just another bout of Chloe's futility, but Marinette - who was still being held by Aria - felt her heart ache at the hurt look on her best friend's face.

“Chlo-”

"What am I? Invisible?” Rie responds rudely. “You should recognize your children, 母 (haha).” Her cheeks were rosy despite her serious face.

Chloe is speechless before going downstairs and throwing herself into Rie's arms. She could scarcely believe that she had built a family in the future, that apparently her best friends continued together years and years into the future.

“And you must be my son!” Lila's voice cuts the happy mood. "Handsome like that, you're just like my Damian."

Chloe turns away from Rie, Marinette comes down the stairs with Aria and Adrien stays in his seat, with Clark in his lap and Emilie sitting at his desk, stroking the blond boy's hair.

The seven looks at Lila standing in front of Jiàn, who seemed disgusted with the thought of being her son.

"Yes, many say I look a lot like my father," He replies. And although the expression is not the best, his voice contains no emotion. "But I have my grandmother's eyes."

Lila seems especially excited about the boy's response.

Alya still recording everything and the class in an eternal pause.

“Oh! Now I see! You really look like my mother. She's very beautiful, looks like a model.” Lila says, glancing quickly at Alya, probably making sure the girl was recording everything.

Jiàn wrinkles his nose in disgust and turns away from the greedy hands of the Italian.

“You're not my mother.” Lila is surprised by the hatred in the boy's tone. "My mother has decency and honor, something you obviously lack."

The class seems to stop breathing.

"Oh, that hurt." Emilie muttered, chin resting on Adrien's head.

She had left Adrien's desk and was sitting at Alya's desk, which was behind the boy, so that she could hug him like a koala. Clark was dozing in his arms.

Alya snorted offended.

"Hey, this is no way to talk to her!" She moved, the phone still clenched in her fist.

"I speak the way I want." Jiàn answers. "Criminals and liars don't deserve my respect."

The class starts talking on top of each other, confused.

“What do you mean?” Alix's voice sticks out.

Jiàn tilts his head, but straightens again. An expression on his face as if he had just unraveled the mystery of the century.

"Oh, you haven't found out yet..."

"Or rather, they haven't opened their eyes yet." Aria comments.

Kim gets up, his face rock hard.

"Explain."

The newcomers exchange glances with each other. Aria raises her eyebrow, Emilie shrugs, Jiàn sighs and Rie looks at everyone.

"I think aunt Mari already told you about the sausage being a liar." She pats Chloe's arm affectionately. “Lila Rossi, in 2046, is under arrest for terrorism, extortion, sexual harassment, blackmail and best of all: murder.” Rie smiles darkly as she watches the students' pale faces.

Alya's phone recording every second of everything. Live. On Ladyblog.

Lila feels panic bubbling in her chest, her hands shaking and a sudden weakness in her legs. This could not be happening!

She glances at everyone in the class, noting the expressions between disbelief and fear, only Alya still holding the angry expression on her face.

Adrien, Chloe, and Marinette did not seem surprised by what the boy said, nor angry. She would use that to her advantage.

Lila's eyes widen in the most pitiful expression possible. The fake tears already running down her cheeks. She didn't forget to sniff before she spoke.

“Why are you guys doing this to me?” That catches everyone's attention, Kim being the first to come to the rescue. She uses the boy for support. “Is it some kind of horrible plan Marinette came up with? I know she hates me, but I didn't think she would do something so wicked to bring me down.”

Alya, Alix and Mylene are quick to reach both of them to comfort Lila. Which left Ivan, Nathaniel, Max, Rose, Juleka and Nino to defend the honor of the Italian.

“Look what you did!” The DJ pointed out. "Lila is crying because of you!"

"It had to be Chloe's daughter." Max says, adjusting his prescription glasses to his face. "Only a snake would give birth to another snake."

Emilie sighs offended, as does Aria and Jiàn.

Max barely has time to blink before feeling the sharp edge of Rie's katana in his throat. He swallows, the eyes wide.

She had left Chloe in the same spot before jumping over the tables and reaching Max. The katana that had been her belt, taking shape in her hands just in time to reach the target.

"Call my mother snake again and I'll cut your head off." She says coldly.

Nathaniel runs away, Rose and Juleka accompany him. Even Lila swallows the fake cry feeling the fear run down her spine.

"You wouldn't have the guts-" Ivan begins, but quickly shuts up when he sees Max leaning as far away from the sword as the red thread of blood trickles down his throat.

"Do you doubt...?" Rie says quietly. "Are you sure?"

Marinette reacts with that, ready to separate the girl from her classmate.

“Wait-

“Rie Tsurugi Bourgeois!” Aria calls, voice like steel. "Let him go."

Rie doesn't move, doesn't even blink.

“Now.” Aria raises her voice. Adrien and Marinette are able to see her eyes turn a radioactive shade of green (which resembles Chat Noir's eyes very much) and her round pupils narrow like those of a reptile.

Rie grits her teeth, smoke escaping between them. She squeezes the katana a little deeper into the boy's throat before moving back toward Chloe.

The blade becomes malleable in her hands and she fastens around her waist again, sparing no glance at the rest of the class. Not at all sorry.

Marinette breathes a sigh of relief, but soon becomes serious. She needed to fix that mess.

"Okay." Says it out of nowhere and catches everyone's attention. Aria once again hung around her neck. “This day was too weird in just a few minutes, so I need everyone to collaborate.”

Her gaze points mainly to Rie and Alya, who turn their head into a tantrum.

“First, I want an explanation for that.” Hands shake in the air. “What are you doing here in 2022 and who are you?”

Jiàn smiles quietly before getting serious again.

“Our names have already been said, so I'll tell you where we came from.” He takes the liberty to sit on Ms. Bustier's desk, as if he owns the place. “First, we are from the future, as you have already understood. Secondly, we are children of three students in this class.”

The young man turns to Rie, beckoning her to proceed.

"I'm Rie Tsurugi Bourgeois, I have a twin sister named Alice." She turns to Chloe. “We are your daughters with Kagami Tsurugi. I think you two became something last year, 2021, right?” And the blonde nods emphatically. "Three years from now you get married and after five years Alice and I are born."

Chloe hugs the girl, wild feelings in her chest.

“My turn!” Emilie shook herself on the table, Clark, still sleeping, shifted uncomfortably. "My name is Emilie Lois Agreste-Kent and this cute sleeping is my brother, Clark Auguste Agreste-Kent." She notices Marinette's horrified look and sighs in agreement. "I know I know. Our names are one thing... horrible, but they wanted to honor our grandparents...”

The class makes a confused sound and Nathaniel is the fastest to speak up.

“I don't understand.” The voice loud enough just for a quiet room to hear. "Adrien's mother's name is Emilie, Lois may be his mother-in-law's name and Clark the father-in-law's name..." He pauses thoughtfully. “Why Auguste? Shouldn't it be Gabriel?”

At the sound of the name, newcomers, Chloe, Marinette and even Adrien himself react negatively, leaving no doubt of the dislike of the designer.

"Because Gabriel never was and never will be a father to uncle Adrien." Aria replies.

Nino nods in agreement with the girl.

“… Ok, I understand where you come from. But who is Auguste?” He asks. “I don't remember anyone with that name Adrien commented on.”

The blonde gives a bland laugh before looking at the DJ.

"It's because I never speak his name, but you know him... the gorilla."

Nino widens his eyes at the news, but soon understanding dawns on his face. It made sense. The man cared more for Adrien than his own father, who could only look at his belly button.

"Wait!" Alya calls. “Gorilla's name is Auguste?” Adrien nods and she presses her palm over her face. “Oh my god, this is cursed! He doesn't look like an Auguste!”

Emilie releases Adrien to fly over his head.

"I know! I once told him that and he laughed at me!” Her hand movements were wild.

It makes Alya pale.

"He laughed. Adrien's bodyguard laughed. Oh my God."

Lila gets fed up with the situation and decides to return the conversation to where it mattered. She needed to know who Adrien's future wife was, just so she could make sure they never met. With Gabriel's help, of course.

He might have been arrested, but he still had... powers over Adrien.

“We already understood that part, but you never told us who your mother was.”

Emilie freezes in the air, the cheerful, happy air slipping into an empty shell. She sits back behind Adrien, her gaze hard on the Italian.

“Because I don't have a mother.” She responds and Lila had to control the happy smile that wanted to escape. “I have two dads. Adrien Agreste and Jonathan Samuel Kent.”

The air in the room becomes cold after she finishes speaking. Lila never felt as much hatred as she did then.

Adrien was hers. Just hers. Knowing he was married to a man in the future was too much for the girl.

“B-but how? I thought Adrien was straight. We all know he dated Kagami.” Mylene asks.

Adrien frowns at the girl. Not a bit happy.

"I never said I was straight or that Kagami and I were dating." His voice was dry. “Kagami and Chloe have been together since last year, Jon and I have been dating since I was fifteen. Four years ago."

Alya gives Marinette unhappy glances, as if pitying the girl for the news. But in the end, she notices that the brunette was not at all surprised or shaken.

"And about you? Who is your father?” She points to Aria, who raises an eyebrow at her. The mockery in all body expression. "We know you're Marinette's daughter because we heard you call her mother, but you didn't say who your father was."

Aria rolls her eyes and sighs, completely tired of having to deal with these people. They were very ignorant.

"Aria Dupain-Cheng Wayne-" Surprised sighs are heard.

“And Jiàn Dupain-Cheng Wayne. We are children of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Damian Al-Ghul Wayne. There is Thomas too, but he was with Alfred and the Couffaine siblings when we... traveled back in time.” Jiàn cuts his sister, making a sardonic bow toward Alya.

Marinette was choking as she tried to hold back a scream.

Those were her children! There were three! She and Damian had been together for many, many years! Her heart was beating so fast that she feared everyone in the room would be able to hear.

“… Damian Wayne. Isn't that the name of your boyfriend, Lila?” Juleka says suddenly and everyone looks at the Italian trying to sneak out of the classroom.

She stops, knowing everyone was keeping an eye on her and turning around, her eyes full of tears.

It was time to put on a show.

"M-Marinette!" She sniffs. “How can you go so low stealing my Damiboo from me?! I thought you were better!” The hands cover her face and shoulders begin to shake, as if she’s crying.

"WHA-"

“My God, girl!” Alya shouts angrily as she approaches Lila once more. Alix, Mylene, and Kim did not move from the scene. “Stealing Lila's boyfriend? As if it wasn't enough to be an envious slut-

Jiàn turns the face so fast that Rie can hear the young man's bones crack. The face contorted into a murderous expression.

“I suggest you not finish this sentence, otherwise I will be forced to do something my parents wouldn't approve of.”

Lila pulls her hands away from her face looking at the boy in defiance.

"What? But it's true! First Adrien, now my Damiboo. Your mother is a bitc-” Before Lila could finish the sentence, Jiàn was in front of her. Alya pushed aside, along with the phone that fell to the floor.

His right hand goes straight to Lila's face, squeezing her chin as he forces her to face him. He didn't need to look at the look of horror on her face to know that anger and disgust were clear in his eyes.

“You're an unpleasant person, Lila Rossi.” He says. “Even though you know you have nowhere to run, that you only have those futile idiots to control, you still try to play the wronged good girl.”

Adrien gets up from the chair, Marinette approaches and Chloe too.

“Jiàn, I think-”

Aria puts her hand on Marinette's shoulder, drawing the girl's attention back to her. "No. He won't hurt her... physically.”

“But-” Adrien protests.

“Dad, please. In the future you regret not stopping her before. Let Jiàn do it.” Emilie says seriously. The most serious she had been until that moment.

When Marinette and Adrien steps back, the class sees this as allowing newcomers to do whatever they want, so they run to Lila's rescue. Alya quickly rising from the floor, the phone forgotten.

"Let her go now!" Kim shouts. He tries to hit Jiàn with a punch, but Rie is quick to stop him.

"And why would i do that? Ms. Volpina here, did much worse things helping Hawkmoth.” Lila widens her eyes, the panic clear in her face.

"I-I"

“What was that little fox? No more lies to tell us? Are you afraid because you can no longer use akumas to get rid of difficult situations?” The sarcasm in Jiàn's voice was clear, as was the acidity.

Everyone saw the way Lila stopped trying to defend herself and her gaze became sharp. Malicious. Jiàn took this to get away from the girl. She took the time to straighten her hair and caress her jaw before a blatant smile took over her expression.

Alya felt the ice run down her spine, discomfort rolling in her stomach. She stepped back, trying to create distance.

The class reacting precisely the same.

“Oh? Do you really think I need some old man and cursed butterflies to get what I want?” Rose choked on the way Lila spoke. “Look at what we have here. Come on, look!” She shakes her hands, signaling around them.

“I managed to fool these people for years. YEARS! No one doubting a word of what I was saying. Even with the most trusted person in the class trying to warn of my tricks, they just ignored it. They treated her like trash, they threw her into a corner... They humiliated her.” Mylene cried and Ivan tried to comfort her.

“And I didn't even have to do anything much, just say what they wanted to hear.” There was a victorious smile on the Italian's face. “Hawkmoth was just a tool. I never needed him to get where I got.” She nodded dismissively.

“So, you lied to us all this time?” Alix growls, Kim having to hold her so she doesn't hit Lila.

The Italian raised an eyebrow, smiling as if nothing was wrong.

"Alix, Alix ... You guys were so naive." Lila sighs theatrically. “I mean, dumb. Ignorant. Easy. Fools. I think you were by far the easiest people to manipulate.” She shrugs.

“You… are the worst! I don't believe-” Nathaniel stops and shakes his head violently, trying to deal with the situation.

“Ow, poor thing.” Lila sneers. “Okay, I was a little harsh with my words. It was not entirely your fault. Caline Bustier played a huge part in all this, since without her passivity, I would probably have been discovered much earlier.”

Marinette cringes at the teacher's name.

Caline had gone from being Marinette's favorite teacher to the less pleasant one. The woman's pacifism gave the brunette knots in her stomach. Each time she heard the phrase “be an example to others,” the discomfort washed over her body and all Marinette could think about was running home and sleeping for an entire week.

She knew that Lila's era of terror in her life would not have stretched so long had it not been for Caline Bustier's incompetence. Just with the teacher checking Lila's medical notes to know that everything the girl said she suffered was true would suffice. Then all the other lies would be uncovered, like a crumbling house of cards.

But she never did. Not even when Marinette explicitly expressed her concerns. When Adrien took the courage to confess that he felt bad about Lila being overly sticky. Or when Sabrina wept on the teacher's shoulder that Lila had made mean comments about her mother. And also, when Chloe denounced the Italian for homophobia.

Caline Bustier had been complacent. Never moving a finger to help students. Thus, Lila Rossi's greatest facilitator in Dupont.

“Ms. Bustier has nothing to do with it!” Juleka shouts in distress.

It was the first time they had seen her like that.

Lila rolls her eyes.

"Of course she have! Or do you really think that an adult woman with a master's degree, teacher, who deals with children and teens daily for years, would believe everything you say?” Her voice was annoying. “Please, you deify totally wrong people. Where's the critical sense? No one here can see the world without the pink lenses?!”

As soon as Lila finishes speaking, the room was silent. Rose and Juleka had twin expressions of disbelief, Alya cried silently, Nino tried to find support in Nathaniel who was unsure what to do, Kim along with Alix and Max had angry expressions on their faces, Mylene and Ivan hugged tightly to each other.

Aria with her arms around Marinette, both with expressions of pure boredom. Chloe and Rie had sat at Adrien's desk throughout the confrontation, tired of Lila's villain speech. Jian, already away from the Italian, was arms crossed and raised eyebrow. Adrien was the only one in the second group who was minimally disturbed by Lila's words. Clark slept despite all the confusion and Emilie had stolen the model's phone to play while flying around the room.

Lila had a victorious expression on her face as if the speech had solved all her problems.

Oh man. If only she knew.

"Did you get everything?" Marinette says in the silence of the class and everyone looks at her.

“What-” Lila begins.

"I'm not talking to you." The girl cuts her off, her expression disinterested and voice like steel. “I'm talking to him.” Marinette picks up the phone (which has never left her hands since newcomers showed up in the classroom) and shakes it, showing a video call in progress.

“Of course, حبيبتي (habibat).” The person in the video call answers. A youngster. "We are on our way. Don't let her run away.” The call is cut off and Marinette puts the phone in her hoodie pocket.

She stares at Lila. The cold, deadly eyes. Like a predator about to pounce.

“Of course I won't let it. Not anymore.” There was a dangerous smile on her lips. “It's my time to go after you, Li-la! Change our dynamics. Threatening me in the dark corners of the school is getting outdated, so it's time for prey to become a predator, don't you think?”

Lila senses the danger in the girl's words and steps back without thinking. She keeps a brave expression.

“And what do you think you are going to do? Tell your little friend?” She forces a mocking laugh. “Please, Dupain-Cheng. You know you can't against me. Never could.”

Aria lets go of Marinette and the girl slowly makes her way to the Italian, without breaking eye contact for a second. She was waiting for an opening to be able to make her move.

“Are you sure about that, Lila Agnola Rossi?” Lila doesn't hold her breath at the full name. “Because I have a lot of material against you. Your mother helped us a lot. A nice woman, despite working so hard. She needs to rest, don't you think?”

Marinette stops, less than a foot from the Italian, before leaning further. Warm breath hitting Lila's face with how close they were.

“And she said everything, you know? About how you lied about school being closed by akuma attacks, about being bullied and how your boyfriend Adrien Agreste-“ The boy and Emilie make sounds of disgust. "Are considering asking you to marry at graduation!"

Chloe sneers in the background. Aria, Jiàn and Rie laughing at what she said.

“When you-” Lila's lips were pale and her eyes wide.

Marinette leaps away. A smile bordering the maniac on her face.

“You don't know how surprised she was when we said the school was never closed!” She spins, arms raised to the ceiling. "Or that Adrien Agreste has a boyfriend."

“YOU DID WHAT?!” Lila shouted, advancing on Marinette, only to be held back by the hard look the girl sent toward her.

“Imagine the other surprise she had to learn that her little girl was a compulsive and abusive liar? That the only child she gave birth was lying as she breathed? Lila, Lila. Lying about Jagged was your first mistake, Prince Ali the second. The third was about Ladybug.” Marinette lifts a finger at Alya who reacted to the heroine's name. The girl stops. "Ladybug was not at all happy to hear her name was being dragged through the mud by someone as dirty as you."

Lila swallows hard.

“And sweetie? She wants you to pay. Pay for all the times you helped Hawkmoth and endangered innocent people or badmouthed her kitten.” Chloe laughs at Adrien's red face. “She's a very protective bug, you know? Revengeful too.”

"Is this a threat? Is that it? Ladybug sent you to threaten me?” Lila questions.

Marinette crosses her arms, a dark shadow taking over her blueberry eyes.

"Lila, I don't need Ladybug to take you down." She sighs bored. “Who do you think ended Gabriel Agreste?” The students are surprised. The newcomers sat watching like it was a very good movie. Adrien with the biggest smile ever.

“… You're lying!” Lila shouts. “Gabriel was caught by a… anonymous… report… you?!” The voice trailed off until all that was left was a whisper.

"Me." Marinette smiles.

There was a fire burning in Lila's eyes, her teeth showing, a growl deep in her throat.

"How could you?!" She bites. “You destroyed Adrien's life! How could you do this for the boy you love?!”

"Hey! She didn't destroy my life!” Adrien protests in the background, but no one listens to him.

“Ah, please! You're only annoyed because you learned that it was me who destroyed the collar Adrien was kept on and forced to wear. Or do you really believe we didn't know you and Gabriel had a deal about controlling Adrien?” Lila shivers as if she's been shocked. “We know everything. Everything."

“And you went there and put the only family he had in prison. Congratulations Marinette. You have reached a new low level.”

No one blinks for the next scene.

Marinette stretches her left hand straight to Lila's neck, pulling the girl closer to her.

"You don't open that dirty mouth to talk about family." She growls. “That man was nothing more than a piece of shit. Trash to be thrown away. He was never a father or a decent man. Being arrested was the easiest way out for him, because if I could have the opportunity to get my hands on him, you can be sure that today Adrien would have both parents buried.”

Her voice was piercing. Ice spread through the room. Everyone felt the honesty in the girl's words, no hesitation. Lila clamped her hands on Marinette's wrist, trying in vain to pull away.

She was beginning to be terrified of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Let me go." She gasped as she felt the tightness in her neck tighten.

“Adrien hasn't lost a family.” Marinette ignores the girl. Adrien puts Clark in Aria's arms before getting up. He needed to stop that.

“Just now he got one. My parents are keen to make clear what family love really means; Auguste continues to work with him even though he no longer needs it; I taught him what a toxic and abusive relationship was like, how to have siblings and people to support him; Chloe accompanied him for weekly therapy; Kagami and Luka distracted him from panic attacks; Sabrina helped him understand what sexual harassment was. We were all there when he spent weeks locked in his room crying thinking he had no one else. We introduce him to what a family is. And surprise, he's much happier now.” Marinette lets go of Lila's throat and the girl swallowed huge amounts of air.

"He's much better off living in a bakery than in a ghost-filled mansion and empty rooms with people who only knew how to exploit him."

As soon as Marinette finishes talking, Adrien hugs the girl and then the door opens.

“We're here, Minette!” Sabrina's cheerful voice tears the oppressive silence of the room. "And I brought company."

Everyone turned to look at Sabrina and found a lot more people at the door than they thought.

“Dad, Damian, Jon and Kagami have come! Lu and Bruce are there at the office talking to the Director and Ms. Rossi.”

As soon as the five enter the room, Aria rushes into Damian's arms. “بابا! (baba!) You're cuter than 妈妈 (māmā) at this age!”

“… You two are grounded.” It's the only thing Damian says, pointing to Jiàn who was approaching.

“Dad!” Emilie squeals at Jonathan, who just smiles in confusion. “Oh my god, he's so cute! Did you see, papa ?!” She yells at Adrien who hides the red face on Marinette's shoulder.

The girl laughs at him patting his back.

"ママ (mama)." Rie says respectfully as Kagami looks at her and Chloe sitting at the table.

"... I'm feeling a headache coming." Roger mutters before putting Agent Raincomprix's face and looking at Lila. “Ms. Rossi, I need you to come with me. We have some questions to ask.”

Lila shakes her head in refusal.

"No. I have nothing to talk to you about. Nothing."

Roger sighs. “If you do not come for good, you will come for bad. I really don't want to use force with you.”

"I do not care! I won't go with you!” Lila’s voice rose two octaves. She was starting to get hysterical.

“Ms. Rossi.”

"No! I'm not—” Lila rolls her eyes closed before falling hard to the floor. Marinette stood behind her, the hand with fingers pressed together and the thumb bent. Like a knife.

She relaxes her posture and smiles innocently.

“To avoid more drama.”

Damian sighs. “حبيبتي (habibat).”

She continues to smile innocently.

First Hawkmoth, then Gabriel and now Lila. That was a great way to close a chapter in Marinette's life.

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thiswasinevitableid · 4 years ago

Note

if you're in the mood for requests i would absolutely LOVE something from the hidebehind au? (maybe including blindfold sex??)

Here you go! I decided to do this for monster march. We’ll figure this counts as prompt 18: claws.

All things considered, Duck is lucky. He’s employed which, given when the newspapers are calling the great depression raging across the country, is a blessing. His days are spent among the mighty trees of the Pacific Coast, he has a small cabin all to himself, and a cat to keep the mice away.

He just wishes he wasn’t working for a fucking logging company hundreds of miles away from anyone he’s ever known.

Winthrop Logging needed someone with an arborist or botanists training to make sure the woods stayed healthy before they were chopped down. So they pay Duck a fine sum to make sure diseases or pests don’t send their prospects toppling like dominos. As he traverses his usual route between the trees, he wonders if there will ever be a way to convince them to preserve some of the land rather than profit from it.

He stops, studying a pine. There it is again, the feeling that someone, or something, is behind him. Watching. Waiting.

It started three weeks ago, when he was deeper in the woods than usual, humming to himself and occasionally talking to the trees. The skin on his neck prickled, all his senses forcing him from his thoughts and into the present moment; something was there, tracking him as he moved. Not a bear, our a cougar, as the birds still called and the insects chorused. Whatever it was stood directly behind him, yet when he turned to look, there was nothing but the path.

For the first few days he tried to spot it, never got more than a flicker in the corner of his eye. He came home exhausted, the day spent on high alert as the primal part of his mind demanded he remain on guard for the moment his hunter decided to strike.

The moment hasn’t come, and Duck is growing used to the gaze crawling up his spine. He decided to ignore it, pretend it was just his imagination and some days that worked.

Today, there’s no getting around the fact that something is peering over his shoulder. Twice now he’s felt fingers millimeters from his neck. When he feels them again, he reaches his arm back, eyes firmly on his notes, and grabs hold of his stalker.

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

Humans are not known for their speed. Indrid’s foresight showed this one as no exception, so when the man is fast enough to grab his leg, he chirps in surprise.

“Fuckin knew it, there is someone back there.” Warm fingers smooth across the short down of his leg.

Indrid appreciates being called a someone instead of a thing, but not the position of Duck’s hand.

“Please let go. That is my thigh you are grabbing. My upper thigh.”

The hand stays put, “Anyone ever tell you it’s mighty rude to stand right behind a fella when he’s tryin to work?”

“I cannot stand anywhere else, though the proximity is due to-”

“Uh huh, sure, just like you can’t help but play and hide and seek whenever I try to figure out what’s goin on. Lemme guess, you’re one of the other fellas from the loggin camp playin tricks on the new guy?”

“I am nothing of the kind.” Indrid contemplates moving the hand himself, but it feels so very nice.

“One of the locals then? I keep tellin you, I’m a country boy, I’m not gonna get scared by campfire tales or weird noises in the woods. Try that government fella instead.”

“What about the part of me you are touching suggests I am human?”

“Probably a left-over monkey suit or somethin’ from Halloween.”

“I am not a costume, I am a Hidebehind.”

The human pauses, then shakes his head, “No such thing.”

“You are literally touching one.” Indrid stamps his foot, frustrated by the turn this is taking and the fact that futures do not show the human believing him any time soon.

“Don’t believe I am.” The human turns his head. Indrid’s body whips sideways, keeping him from view. The human holds on, tries again from the opposite direction, only for Indrid to be wrenched back the way he came.

“Stop movin!”

“Stop trying to look at me!” He’s twisted to the side once more, wrenching the humans arm in the process.

“Ow!” The grip on him tightens, “quit this fuckin game right now. You don’t lemme see you, I’ll drag you right back to camp with me.”

“I can’t!” Indrid chirps, panicked, the noise continuing into a wail of alarm at what might happen if he’s surrounded with nowhere to hide.

His fear must register as genuine, as the human releases him with a sigh. After a moment he removes his hat, running his fingers through his hair but not turning around.

“You still there?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you even followin me in the first place?”

A peek at the futures says the truth will be most effective, though almost all timelines end with the human telling him to “get gone.”

“I find you intriguing. You do not chop or hack at my home, you study it. You speak to the trees when you think you are alone. You look soft to touch, especially the fur on your head. I like looking at you and being near you. That was why I stood so close.”

“...You been followin me because you’re sweet on me?” The drawl, as soothing as movement of water through plant limbs, seems confused.

“I do not find you sweet. I could only do that if I ate you. Which I do not want to do.

A chuckle, “Not quite what I meant. You been hangin around me because you think I’m swell and wanna get to know me. Guess I can’t fault you for that, I'm a decent fella to know if I do say so myself. You got a name?”

“Indrid.” This is an unexpected turn of the timelines.

“Nice to meet you, Indrid. I’m-”

“-Duck” Indrid says along with him, “apologies, I can see the future and am thus a bit ahead in conversations.”

“Huh. Well, I gotta head back to town. If you wanna talk again, I won’t mind. Just tell me you want to instead of lurkin, you hear?”

Indrid grins, “Yes. I hear you perfectly.”

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

“Fuck” Duck picks himself up from the dirt where he fell, brushing pine needles from his coat. He’d been angling for a better look at a set of roots and tripped over a different set in the process.

“Are you alright?” A now familiar voice asks from behind a tree to his left.

“Depends. You see me make a fool of myself by fallin on my face?”

“Yes.”

“Then my body is fine but my dignity is real wounded.”

A laugh like spring breeze through new leaves, “I suspect it will recover. You do have quite a deal of leaves in your hair. May I help you with them?”

Duck nods. Slender fingers pluck at his hair.

“Ohhh, it is just as soft as I thought it would be.” Indrid murmurs, “does it feel nice?”

“Don’t feel like much--oh, uh, fuck, that does though. Feels damn good.” Duck groans as claws scritch his scalp. The first time he felt them on his shoulder when Indrid was talking, he tensed; The hidebehind isn’t small, and the claws suggest he could shred Duck to bits and scatter him across the woods. But after weeks of keeping him company, Duck knows the worst Indrid might do to him is steal too much of his lunch.

The hidebehind, endlessly fascinated by Duck’s job, will sit out of sight as he works. Duck asked him if he only watched Duck the entire time. It turns out the creature draws as well, and Duck now recognizes the sound of a pencil under the rustle of leaves and calls of wildlife. Indrid also spares Duck dangerous climbs into the trees, offering to look at marks or discoloration and describe them if they’re too high for the human to see.

Turns out he also gives a mean rubdown, his claws moving from Duck’s head to his neck, banishing the knot that’s been bothering him all morning.

“I like touching you.” Indrid chirps. Duck hasn’t forgotten their first meeting; if a man had come to him with such flattering shyness in his voice and an interest in Ducks body, he’d have been in Duck’s bed by the end of the night.

He’s not ready to take a hidebehind home, but he’s ready to tease one.

“Seems mighty unfair that you get to touch and I don’t.”

“You would have to close your eyes to so much as shake my hand. My form does not care how little of me you would see, it will pull me into hiding regardless.”

“Then I’ll close my eyes.” Duck does just that, tips his head back so Indrid can see it’s safe. One hand continues massaging his head, while a spindly arm reaches around his chest.

“Bring your arms up, towards you a bit more, yes, there we are.”

Duck runs his hands over the limb; it reminds him of Manzanita bark he saw in the Sierra Nevadas, smooth but unmistakably of the woods. Towards the elbow the texture changes to soft, short feathers, like the ones on Indrids leg.

The hidebehind tightens his hold, pulling Duck to his torso. More feathers prickle the back of his neck and the creature shudders.

“You alright back there?”

“I...it has been so very long since anyone or anything touched me. I foresaw my body being sensitive to it but the intensity is, is-” he lets go so suddenly Duck stumbles, “I am sorry, it was too much and yet I wanted, wanted more.”

Images of Indrid surrounding him, chirping and purring as Duck touches him all over, flood his mind. The embarrassment in his voice keeps the arborist from acting on them.

“You, uh, gonna show me that Saw-Whet Owl nest?”

“Of course, sweet human. Take the right fork of that deer trail just ahead, and we shall go from there.”

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

“I have something for you. Close your eyes.”

Duck, still perching on the stump he was using as a lunch chair, does as instructed. Indrid sets a piece of paper in his right hand.

“You may now look.”

An illustration fills the entire page. It shows a being with stick-like arms and legs leading to a narrow body covered in short, leaf shaped feathers in mottled browns and greens. The face is angular, shaded to suggest it’s dusted with fuzz, and leads to several stick-shaped horns. The eyes are wide and black, the claws long, and there are short, triangular shapes behind its shoulders.

“Holy fuck, you’ve got wings?”

“Indeed. I do not use them much. I believe they help my kind migrate when our habitats dwindle.”

Duck traces the face on the paper, “How long did it take you to make this?”

“Two days, as the lakes I use to study my reflection tend to attract townspeople and loggers looking to take a break from their toil.”

“You did all this just ‘cause I said I wished I knew what you looked like.”

“Not solely. I...I wanted to show you it as well. So you might know the face of the one who, ah, whose days you brighten.”

Carefully, Duck folds the portrait and tucks it into the inside pocket of his coat, “Find I like my work even better with your company too, ‘Drid. Would you, uh, be okay if I tried to match what you showed me to what I can feel?”

An intrigued chirr floats through the air as Duck shuts his eyes and waves to the ground in front of him. A scuff and rustle of dirt and leaves, and then he feels Indrid in front of him. Cool hands guide his own onto the multicolored feathers.

“Shoulders?”

“Correct.” Indrid moves their joined hands upwards, stopping on velvet-dusted cheeks, “oh, oh goodness, I have always wanted to be held like this.”

“Yeah?” Duck’s heartbeat is in his fingertips, “what else have you always wanted?”

“To, to be touched, to be known, toMMMphohh” a rough tongue laps at his lips as he pulls Indrid into an awkward, bowed kiss.

“How’s that, darlin?” Duck kisses along what he thinks is Indrids’ jaw, “that the kind of knowin’ you in the mood for?”

“Yes, oh my sweet human you spoil me, oh” claws grab his shoulders, “I, do you really wish this, with me? This was in so few timelines I assumedAH” he squirms adorably as Duck gropes the feathers of his chest.

“You better believe it, sugar. It’s the weirdest goddamn thing I ever wanted and I want it, want you, more than I’ve wanted anything in a long fuckin time.” Curious and eager to fill every one of his senses with Indrid, he buries his face against his upper chest, finds skin beneath all the camouflage and bites down. The hidebehind keens, pulling Duck from his seat into his lap. Duck laughs, bites down once more and gets a nose full of fluff.

“AhCHOO!” His eyes pop open on reflex after he sneezes, sending the hidebehind out of view and Duck flat on the ground.

“Blasted physiology” Indrid chirrs, frustrated.

Duck sits up, Indrid’s cries of pleasure ringing in his ears and giving him all kinds of reckless ideas.

“Don’t worry, darlin. If my hidebehind wants to romancin’, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

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

He takes to wearing a kerchief around his neck at work. The loggers and company pencil pushers assume it’s an affectation, not a tool for covering his eyes for some uninterrupted kisses while deep in the woods. Today, he’s not sure kisses will be enough.

Duck woke up hard, dream of Indrid looming above him in bed fading into the morning sun. His hidebehind has yet to show himself, so the humans mind has nothing but his fantasies to distract him on his trek through the woods.

He’s ahead on his tasks for the day. He’s five miles deep in the woods. And he’s got an idea.

After rinsing his hands with water from his canteen, he leans back against a tree and undoes his suspenders, followed by his fly. Closing his eyes, he slips his fingers into his underwear, teasing himself and sending soft moans into the air. It doesn’t take long before he’s wet enough to push two up into himself with ease.

“‘Drid” he gasps, letting his head loll back, “‘Drid, fuck, that feels so fuckin good.”

A single leaf crunches in front of him, and his kerchief slowly slides up his face to shield his eyes.

“It is about to feel much better, dear one.” Indrid kisses the top of his head, “Shall I take this shameless display as evidence that you wish for me to, ah, fuck you?”

“That it does. And I’ll have you know I got plenty of shaAAmeWHoah.” Duck flails as his pants fall down and his body flies up in one smooth motion. Indrids claws prick his thighs as he spreads them open, holding him against the trunk with ease.

“So very polite of my sweet one to prepare himself for me. It makes this all the easier.” A round, bumpy cock teases his folds, pressing in with a stretch that makes Duck twist in his lovers hold.

“Fuck, fuck, that’s so fucking good but holy fuck, are you packin a fuckin pine tree down thereOH, ohfuckdarlin, that’s, that’s as far as it’s gonna go.”

“Half of it? My, who knew my human could take so much? Wait, it is not too much, correct?”

“N-nope, just the right amount” the bumps rub every inch inside him, one on the shaft catching his cock as Indrid thrusts and wiggles his hips.

“Wonderful” Indrid purrs, “I have dreamed of this all dayAHnnncareful” he chides after Duck bites the part of his arm he’s able to reach, “or I shall take you so roughly your back will wear imprints of bark for days.”

Duck whimpers excitedly, very aware of thick pre-cum dripping into him, “Yeah lets do that.”

He can hear the grin.

“If you insist.”

“FUCKohfuckohfuck” his hands scrabble at the tree and at Indrid’s arms, “that’s it darlin, that’s it, fuck, gonna give you the best goddamn rub-down after this, touch you until your body forgets what it’s like to be without my fuckin hands on it.” Leaves scatter in his hair and down the back of his shirt as Indrids fucking turns frantic.

“I, I shall hold you to that AHhnn, sweet one, you are so tight, so deliciously slick and inviting, I, I am not going to last long, you are too perfect, just touching you makes me burn like wildfire” His thrusts sharpen, never pushing too deep but making Duck feel like a log split beneath an axe of ecstasy, “Duck, sweetheart, yes, yesyesyes” Indrid spills into him, cum running out of Ducks body and back down his shaft.

For a minute, Duck is nothing more than a pinned specimen, spread eagle on the tree as Indrid shudders, purrs, and drags fuzzy kisses along his throat. Then his shirt rides up as he slips down the tree, but Indrid doesn’t put him down. Instead, a rough tongue glides up one thigh and then the other. The human gasps, gripping Indrid’s horns for balance as Indrid buries his face between his legs.

“Ohhhhhh, oh I do so love tasting how we mingle together.” Indrid’s breath is ragged and hot against his dick, “I am going to do this every day.”

“Please” Duck squeezes his horns, his orgasm painfully close, “please ‘Drid, wanna cum on your tongue, want you holdin me up while I, I-ohfuck.” His legs kick weakly as Indrid sucks him off, tongue lavishing his cock with so much friction he goes hoarse from moaning. The fact he cannot see makes it all the better, makes his world nothing more than Indrids mouth, his claws, his desire that wraps around Duck like vines.

He cums, arching his hips into the “thank yous” Indrid presses to his legs.

When his boots touch the ground, deft claws begin pulling his clothes into order, Indrid kissing and caressing him as he does.

“Y’know, I can get my own britches up.” Duck ruffles a nearby patch of feathers.

“I know, but I wish to take care of you. Hidebehinds are attentive to our mates, and while I cannot build you a nest, and I can least clean you up after you let me do something so wonderful with you.”

Duck wraps his arms around the cryptid, resting his cheek against him, “Would you wanna do this, uh, wonderful somethin again?”

“Of course.”

The human smiles, reaches his hand up to stroke Indrids cheek. This means he feels the hidebehind smile when Duck says, “Glad to hear it. But I’ll have you know, one of these days I’m gonna expect a nest.”

#Indruck #indrid cold/duck newton #monster march #reader request #trans duck newton

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