#he does seem like a highly ticklish guy!

[fieldofdaisiies]

hc for our lord and savior hunt athalar plsss

+ anon: "Do you have any wing headcanons for Hunt? Both fluffy and smutty? I feel like we’re much more familiar with bat wings than angel wings 😂"

and yes, of course. I love Hunt so much, so here we go❤️❤️ w: mature

fluffy

first things first the Umbra Mortis might seem like this big bad guy but actually he often is a very fluffy teddy bear

Hunt loves morning cuddles

loves cuddling in the evening

and basically all the time

and gods, does he love embraces -> just holding in his arms you throughout the day, pulling you tightly to his chest, inhaling your scent, kissing the top of your head

it will bring him peace and comfort

Hunt is one to love long and thorough baths

he could sit in the water for hours (if it didn't turn cold), just relaxing and he loves bubble baths

Hunt is one to enjoy music and literature; he would never openly admit that but he loves to read scientific books and books on history and art

video gaming -> oh Hunt Athalar loves his video games

and he loves when you sit next to him when he plays, or lie next to him on the bed or couch, or sit on his lap

he will get a little distracted but that is fine

Hunt loves to cook

and not only simple meals, this man loves to cook four course meals and the most delicious dessert you have ever eaten

he also loves to cook with you

and he loves to gives you massages -> not only your shoulders, but he loves to massage your feet (yeah he has this feet thingy)

and lastly, his angle wings

I am a very firm believer that there is a part of these wings, right below where they are attached to the body where he is really ticklish

even the slightest brush of your fingers will make him curl up and laugh with tears in his eyes

and the wings are incredibly sensitive, not only in the way the Illyrian wings are, but you really have to be careful

it can be very painful if you plug out a feather or accidentally pull on it

smutty

lets just stay with the wings at first

Hunt loves wing play, yes they are sensitive and you have to be careful, but if you know how to work them right, this man will will melt

covered by feathers there are many veins and if they are touched it is highly arousing

one brush of your finger and his is as hard as a rock, begging you to give him more

and boy will he enjoy the wing play -> he lets himself moan, growl, groan, his head thrown back, lips parted

and to love morning sex

he normally is one to be up early and is there a better way to start his day than buried between your thighs? not for Hunt

he has gotten your consent and so he loves waking you up with the soft and tender strokes of his tongue

also Hunt is one love shower sex, he loves pushing up against the slippery shower wall while pounding into you

oh and he also would never say no to a quick but nice blow job in the shower

last but not least, after care if always given with Hunt; not matter what you two have done, he will always make sure you are fine afterwards

[kaunis-sielu]

A Payment: 9

You’re in the air within an hour of the shots. The fact that it was some weenie named Jasper who mistook your car for one of another companies is literally so infuriating that Steve has to threaten to handcuff you again to keep you on the plane. He’s not letting it go, but he does refuse to allow you to handle it on your own, which you feel is highly unfair.

Instead you fly home and after texting Daisy who promises to send you your things and to take care of Jasper for you, you attempt to relax. After all, it was one of her girls that found out so quickly who it was that had taken the shot at you.

“Darlin’?”

“What?” He gives you a little half smirk looking far too pleased with himself.

“I asked if you wanted something to eat.”

“No.“ You’re too angry to eat right now.

“What about a snack? Just something small? I know you haven’t eaten yet.”

“Fine.” You agree checking your email again to see if there’s any new news from Daisy.

“Come on.” Steve says holding out a hand for you.

“What?”

“Leave your phone, come cook with me.” You look up at him in confusion and he grins down at you. “Come on, I won’t bite unless you want me to.” You roll your eyes at him but still stand and he takes your hand leading you from the front of the plane to the back where you’re surprised to find a miniature kitchen.

“Wait, you cook?”

“What were you expecting Darlin’? That I’d bring Wanda with me wherever I go so that someone would have to cook for me?”

“Honestly, yea kind of.” You admit and he laughs, “I don’t think that my father or Grant even know the difference between a sauce pan and a frying pan.”

“I like cooking, I’ll make ya something small.”

Steve makes you a little quiche, which is far more extravagant than he needed to make but you have a feeling that he was just showing off a bit. Honestly as he should, because it’s a fantastic quiche.

You can’t seem to stop thinking about your near miss. Something about it isn’t sitting right with you, what are the chances that the one time that you’re out late, in Boston where you’ve never had any issues, someone takes a shot at you? Much like the police, you don’t believe in coincidences. You’re staring out the window, your arms hugging yourself when you feel Steve come up behind you. You don’t move as he steps closer, his chest pressing against your shoulders as he wraps his right arm around your shoulders, his left hand rests on his right wrist up by your neck, the hair of his beard is ticklish on your cheekbone but you find yourself relaxing into him.

“What are ya thinkin’ about Sweetheart?” He murmurs before pressing a kiss to your temple. He’s gotten awful handsy and you should be fighting him about it but you can’t find it in yourself to. You don’t want to tell him what you’re really thinking so you ask him something that’s been bothering you pretty much since day one.

“Why me?”

“What?”

“Why me Steve? You didn’t just pick me because my brother is a jackass and owes you money. So, why me?” You feel him tense slightly, you’re not sure why he does but you don’t want him to lie to you. “Don’t lie to me.” You warn softly and he lets out a long sigh.

“Because of your mother.”

“My mom?”

“She was best friends with my mom. Before she died she came to my mom and asked her to keep an eye on you if anything happened to her. My mom told her nothing was going to happen but she promised anyway and she made me promise that I’d get you out of there before you were sold off to someone else.”

“But why now?”

“Because of Ward, Grant, he was looking to make some quick money and one of my guys heard about it.”

“He really doesn’t care about me at all does he?” You’d held out a tiny little bit of hope that your father had cared a little about you.

“I’m so sorry Queenie.” Steve murmurs and you bite the inside of your cheek to keep from crying. Your father isn’t worth your tears, clearly to him you were just something to give away to the highest bidder. “I think I can understand why you think mob men cannot love their wives.”

“My father killed my mother.” You admit to him and you feel him tense up once again behind you.

“What?”

“In front of me. He thought that she was attempting to betray him and so he killed her.” Steve doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t relax so you continue, “He told me that was what would happen to me if I put a toe out of line. That Mob husbands don’t need disloyal or untrusting wives. When I asked him he loved her he scoffed and said that she didn’t give him better than he already had. What use was a female child to him? I left the midnight of my 18th birthday and never looked back.”

“I can understand why.” He murmurs into your ear, “I’m so sorry that was your experience.”

“It made me stronger.”

“But it also hurt you.”

“I’m fine.”

“It’s okay if you’re not Sweetheart.” He says softly, “You’ve been so strong it’s okay to break sometimes.” He’s so gentle, so soft and has proven to probably care for you more than any other man in your life, well except for Lance he’s been your constant for so long that you can’t imagine your life without him. “Sweetheart you’re shaking.” Steve mutters and suddenly you’re crying. It’s like you’re grieving everything that you’ve felt you couldn’t for so long. You turn and bury your face into his shoulder, wrapping one of your arms up around his and clutching the back of his shirt as you sob. His grip tightens on you, his fingers are gentle on the back of your neck as they make little circles in your skin.

You’re not sure how long you cry for but it’s long enough for your tears to go dry and for there to be a wet spot on Steve’s shirt. You pull away from him,

“Oh, Steve, I’m so sorry I ruined your shirt.”

“You can ruin every shirt I own and it wouldn’t bother me a bit Sweetheart.” He says cupping your face in his hands, his thumb brushes away a stray tear, “I’m yours. Okay? Whatever you need I hope you’ll come to me first.”

“I, this is all new to me.”

“What is?”

“Having someone care about me. Someone who holds power I mean.”

“I can be patient. I won’t lie to you, I want more than just this, I want all of you but I can be patient. I can go at whatever pace you need but I’m all in.” You grab the front of his shirt and pull his mouth to yours.

It might have been a moment of weakness on your part but one that was well worth it when he groans low in his throat and buries his fingers in your hair. Steve is making a thorough exploration of your mouth, consuming all of your senses.

“Aw Jesus.” A voice says and you rip your mouth from Steve’s, “This isn’t going to become a thing is it?” Bucky gripes and Steve throws his best friend a dirty look.

“Get fucking used to it jackass. If my wife wants to kiss me she can kiss me.”

“I was told to tell you that we’re about to land so everyone needs to be buckled.”

“Aright.” Steve says, he drops into a seat and pulls you down with him, then buckles you both connecting two seatbelts together.

“I don’t think that’s what the pilot meant but whatever.” Bucky says rolling his eyes at how Steve has you perched in his lap. He then goes back to the front to sit next to Lance who is watching the interaction with a small smirk on his face. You roll your eyes at Lance who laughs then turns forward.

“Sorry about him Sweetheart.”

“He’s just doing his job.” You defend Bucky, you’re more amused than annoyed than anything with him.

“And annoying the hell out of me like it’s his job.” Steve grumbles and you laugh softly before relaxing back into him.

“I’m exhausted.” You murmur from where your head is resting on his shoulder, you only got around three hours of sleep last night, which is your own fault, but still.

“Go to sleep Darlin’, I got you.” He says and you know, deep in your bones, that he does.

Tag list:

@andahugaroundtheneck @connie326 @also-fangirlinsweden @lumar014 @loving-life-my-way @pagina16ps @emdying @dumblani @valsworldofcreativity @blackwidownat2814 @sky0401 @dontbescaredtosingalong @abschaffer2 @patzammit @inkedaztec @newdaynewyearnewlife @sophham

[tickle-page]

“Being smart is a curse” ( THE RISE OF THE TMNT)!!

A/N: This is a tickle fic based off my fav turtle from ‘The Rise of The TMNT”, Donnie!! Haven’t finished yet, so no spoilers😭. It may seem like I made Donnie this really annoying nerd, but I can assure u, he’s my fav, and I’m joking😭.

Lee: Donnie

Ler(s): Leo, Mikey, Raph, brief April

With Mikey:

“And that’s how I built Sheldon,” Donnie finished talking about his dumb robot thing to Mikey who literally didn’t ask.

“Uh, huh, cool,” Mikey was on his phone during Donnie’s whole “lecture”. Replying with words that’ll make it seem like he was listening.

“And… You don’t care.” Donnie slouched in his standing position.

“Nope, but it was rlly cool talking to ya, D!” The orange turtle waved him off as he continued looking at his phone, exiting the room.

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

With Raph:

Donnie examined Raph’s fighting style on the side lines, cringing at his techniques. “Ya know, Raph, you gotta do it like this, or that way won’t be as effective while fighting the villains.” Donnie showed him a “good technique”.

Raph was kinda getting annoyed that Donatello kept telling him different ways to fight every step of the way, “I understand that, Donnie, but I like doing this better than that.”

“Hmmm,” Donnie pondered, “I still don’t see it.”

Raph sighed and face palmed, then he walked back inside from the rooftop.

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

With Leo:

Leo was casually skating doing some tricks like he always does, while Donnie was on the side watching him. Leo couldn’t focus like this, so he stopped, and asked the purple turtle why he kept staring at him.

“Only bc I feel like I can do way better at skateboarding than you.” Donnie laughed almost mocking Leonardo.

The blue ninja turtle scoffed, “As if.”

“Nah, frfr, Wanna bet?” Donnie grinned, leaning on the wall. Which keep in mind, he just wanted to be cocky bc he had no skateboarding talent whatsoever.

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

Mikey, Raph, and Leo all came together to complain abt Donnie’s cockiness within the last week.

“We need to put an end to him being a smartass.” Raph said.

“Uh huh, tottally. We need to think of something he absolutely HATES, that’ll knock him down a peg.” Leo agreed w/ Raphael.

They all thought of one thing he couldn’t stand, and that was… tickling.

“We could tickle him to make him understand.” Mikey jumped up, excited to be the first one to come up w/ an answer.

“Oh yh, remember that one time when April tickled the living crap out of Donnie, making him cry?” The blue ninja turtle drew a figment imagination in the other two turtle’s heads. Like a flashback.

“Mhm Mhm, we had to console him for hours.” Raph.

“Then we should do just that.” Leo ended the “family meeting”.

They all walked into their third youngest brother’s lair. “Hey, D!” Michelangelo nonchalantly walked to the right side of a very concentrated purple turtle.

“What’s going, Angelo?” Donnie didn’t look up to meet the orange turtle’s gaze, still focus on his witchery.

“Oh nun~”

Donatello kinda got a little nervous at Mikey’s tone, but shrugged it off.

Raph and Leo was still standing by the door way as to not get Donnie any idea abt what they were planning because, all of them standing by one smart soft shell turtle is looking for trouble.

“U still highly sensitive?~” Mikey poked Donnie’s side in a teasy tone, earning a squeak and a protest from the older turtle.

“Mikey…. Don’t touch me.” Donatello warned.

The youngest turtle motioned to his other two older brother’s, and they both took an arm and pinned the scared brother on the back of his soft shell. “AGH!! Guys!!! Get off of me, PLEASE!!”

“Not until u laugh~” Mikey poked repeatedly on Donnie’s twitching stomach.

“Ahahhahahaha, Mikey! Stop!” Donatello withered in place.

“Wow, u rlly are extremely ticklish, huh?” Leo joined in on the teasing.

“Ohhahahahah, please! We all know, youhuhuhuhuhu three will start gihihihigling too, if u wehehehehre tickled like thihihihihis, STOP!!”

“Awww he’s already begging, how cute.”

“Shut up, RAPH!!! Ahahhahahahahaah!!!”

“Hey! Be nice!” Mikey scratched his stomach harder now.

“MIKEY!!! StahAhaaoP!”

“Say ur Sry,” Mikey continued to tease his older brother.

“I’M SRY!!”

“Ur forgiven, but we’re not gonna stop yet.”

“Lucky for you, April told us where ur weak points are.” Leo cooed right by the soft shell turtles’ ear.

Donnie scrunched up his shoulder to get rid of the phantom tickles that vibrated against his ear w/ the help of his older brother. “Please, stahahaha-Stop!”

“No can do, D. We gotta teach u a lesson for always being so cocky, and out besting us.” Raph scratched the purple turtle’s exposed neck.

“Guhuhuhuhys, please! Just stohohohop it alr, I’m serious!”

“Yh, kinda hard to take u serious, Mr. Giggles.” Leonardo his collarbone, by gently tracing his finger around the sensitive bone.

“Please! Ihihihihit hurts.” Donnie lied through his teeth, trying to make it seem like it did so they would stop, but Mikey had other plans up his sleeve.

“Dw, Donatello, Mr. Delicate Touch, will make it to where it won’t hurt.” The youngest turtle pinned one of his arms above his head, and lightly traced up and down from his top ribcage to the center of his armpit. Tracing around inside, giving the center a few scratches as he teases. “Does it tickle when I ever so slightly scratch my way, starting from ur sides, all the way to ur armpits? Bet it’ll tickle so much more when I use a soft paint brush on ur delicate skin. We’ll see if ur still begging me to stop afterwards.” Ofc, Mikey didn’t have a paint brush, but just the thought of it twirling around on his exposed armpits, with Micheal’s continuous teases, made him shiver.

Donnie’s drawn on eyebrows furrowed in fear, wandering if he’ll ever get out of this soon bc he’s nearly abt to pass out from all this non stop tickle torture. Then he realized one person he could call on for help, or so to say, robot. “SEHEHEHHEEHLDON!!!!”

“Wsu, D?” Sheldon asked, almost blind as to what’s infront of him rn.

“Please! HEHHEHEHEHEHEHLP ME!”

Sheldon acted like he was thinking of what to say. Should he help him? Or not? He finally made up his mind, “No way, man. You’re on ur own.” And as if his name was Usain Bolt, he flew right out of the room.

“CURSE U, SHELDON!!” Donatello laughed, from Mikey’s continuous tickling to his armpits, Leo’s non-stop torment to his neck and ears, and Raph’s tormenting fingers on his stomach. Donnie was losing his mind.

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t protest or talk, it felt like he had a migraine, and he was losing his vision. The three turtles were obviously oblivious to there ticklish brother’s agonizing pain, so they decided to tickle one last place, that’ll get him to scream… They flipped him over on his stomach, exposing his most vulnerable area, and his most sensitive.

“Ok, listen Donnie, u gotta make sure u don’t move too much or you won’t like the outcome,” Dr. Delicate Touch warned as he took off Donnie’s battle shell.

The 3rd oldest brother felt a hit of cold wind on his back, that signaled him to stop them while he still has the chance. “G-guys… Please don’t touch me there. I can-can’t stand it at all, and I’m being serious rn… Please…”

Mikey, Leo, and Raph couldn’t believe what they’re hearing. Was Donnie crying? They’re whole 15 years of living together, not once did they hear their stoic, always serious, never cutting corners, brother cry. They all realized that it was time to stop, so Leo put back on his battle shell, while they gave him space. Bc they just felt like he need time for himself since he needed to cool down after the torture they put him through.

“Ummm… D? Doctor Feelings is always here if u need someone to talk to, k?” And as Mikey finished his sentence, more so question, the three ending lers left the room. Donnie composed himself w/in 5 minutes after they left, but he stayed in there a little longer, figuring out the perfect revenge he can do to get back at them, individually.

[dotster001]

May i request a Romantic TWST Match? :D. My Personality Type is ENTP and i speak multiple Languages! Im about 5"3 and im kind of the Therapist Friend who needs Therapy. I love sketching, painting and any form of art. Sleep is also highly vallued. I also have a skincare routine that i really Value. I have an Hourglass Bodytype and im a bit on the curvy side. I tend to make Jokes about my Childhood Trauma and myself. Zodiac Sign is Gemini! Im really damn affectionate and my love language is physical touch. I also have kind of an Oral Fixation and show love by randomly biting someone lmao. I can get pretty shy if flirted with, but i always jokingly Flirt with my Friends. My Pronouns are she/her and im bisexual! Ma fav bodypart of mine is probably my chest. It does give me alot of backpain. (the E cup struggle) . Stay hydrated🍵 Love youre work btw💕💕

(DD here, I feel your pain, literally 😂 also, all of you guys calling me out on my hydration habits? Uncalled for! I did drink water today, definitely because I wanted to not because you guys reminded me so I was thinking really hard about your match, and then I just got the cutest vision, like oh my gosh, I really like this match)

I match you with Epel Felmier.

First off, he's a feral gremlin, so I can totally see once you start affectionately nomming on him, he quickly starts to do it back. He's waited his entire life to learn that he can bite the people he loves. It's like a whole new world has opened for him!

He is in the first year gang so you're friends before you date. He thinks it's so cute how you used to flirt with him, and now that you're dating, if he flirts with you, you get all flustered. You're so precious, he just wants to wrap his arms around you and protect you!

You're joking about your childhood trauma, and he's joking about how he wants to kill Vil. You both are having fun, and everyone around you is concerned. It's a win win!

Literally, who needs therapy when their boyfriend owns an apple farm in the country, with his family there cooking homemade meals every day, and him there giving you love and affection? I do. I need therapy. But not the point when your stress starts to add up, that's when he takes you back home to just relax and snuggle with him. The love and air in his hometown just hits different, you know?

Epel is a boobs man. I will not be taking criticism on this matter.

You're an unstoppable duo. With your artistic skills, and his apple carvings, it was only a matter of time before you teamed up.

You sketch intricate designs, he carved them onto apples, and then you sold them at a ridiculously high price to the rich kids at NRC and RSA. It made even the great Azul Ashengrotto jealous, your little business.

On the side, Epel had been teaching you how to carve apples. Although....

"Ya keep diggin' in too hard, I'll help."

He seemed to be using this as an excuse to wrap his arms around you from behind, set his head on your shoulder, and hold your hand, guiding its movements.

"Hey, Epel," you were about to call him out on this, when he started to kiss along your neck.

"Mhm," he hummed, causing a ticklish vibration to your skin.

You were quickly losing focus, as your boyfriend pressed you closer to him, and nibbled a spot near your ear. Of course you're apple carving that Epel was "helping" with suffered from it.

"Aw, did ya mess up again?" Epel giggled, his smile pressed to your neck. "Guess we'll have to start over."

Needless to say, your affectionate boyfriend continued to help, but none of them came out quite right. Oh well, he was patient when it came to you, and can teach you again tomorrow!

[gamequeenanya]

Cheer Up Sun! - Sundrop + Glamrock Freddy

Summary: Waking up in the Daycare after the lights come back on, Sun fears Moon may have done something horrible. He goes to his friends with his fears, but only Freddy seems to listen. Will Freddy be able to ease his fears and cheer him up...? A Sun and Freddy tickle fic, cause why not?

...

Sun skipped along in the daycare. He couldn't wait to make glitter crafts and have fun today!

He went to his favourite area: the ballpit. Doing a perfect dive, he sunk deep into the pit. Then without warning, the lights went out.

In the matter of a few seconds, Moon took over his body. Leaping out of the pit, he grinned menacingly.

“Guess who’s back kids...?!” He laughed.

The children screamed and ran.

Vanessa heard the commotion and came to check things out. She ended up hiding behind the desk with the kids while Moon stalked around the daycare. Grabbing her taser, she assured the kids she'd handle the situation. That it would be alright!

Moon leapt in front of her, wiggling his fingers.

The old Moon would use this tactic to tickle naughty children who stayed up past their bedtime. This version of Moon would use it as a warning before he maimed or killed someone. This Moon was broken.

He was at least three feet taller than her. Vanessa gulped, but in one quick strike she brought the taser down on him. There was blue lightning that coursed throughout his body. Screeching, he went down.

Sighing in relief, Vanessa then went to check the fuse box. Replacing all of the fuses that had burned out, she grumbled. The lights came back on.

"Why do we even still use fuses?!" She wondered, rolling her eyes. "No wonder this place doesn't work properly!"

...

Waking up, Sun held his head. His body felt like the wiring had malfunctioned. It felt like he had heartburn. What had happened...? He walked over to the hiding kids, but they cowered away.

"Kids...?" he said, worried. He pulled away, not wanting to frighten them more.

With growing fear, he checked on the other kids, hoping they were alright. All of them seemed frightened of him. The more kids he checked on, the more he realized Moon had terrified the entire Daycare.

If he could cry, he surely would. He was supposed to watch over children, not scare them! And Moon was being more and more distant, not communicating with him at all in the past week. What had Moon done?!

Scared, Sun ran over to the Glamrocks, trying to tell them something was wrong.

"The kids are scared of me, now..." he explained, with a heavy heart. "I think I might have failed them! If anyone had gotten hurt, I'd be decommissioned, but Moon doesn't understand!!! He just wants to scare and threaten people nowadays!!"

"Who cares about those brats?" Roxy said. "It's their loss! And they can’t decommission you if you blame it on the technician!!"

"Yeah," Monty agreed, strumming his bass. "Rock and roll!"

Chica wasn't paying attention, foraging in the trash for thrown away pizza.

Sun sighed. "You understand, don't you Freddy?"

"Of course," Freddy replied. "It's your job to watch over the children and prevent them from getting hurt. But if Moon is malfunctioning, then someone could get hurt. Come on, I'll lead you to the help desk. We can write a report and get you fixed in no time!"

"You mean it?!" Sun said hopefully.

"Of course." Freddy offered a hug and Sun took it.

"Thanks, Freddy."

Leading the way, Freddy went to the help desk with Sun. He typed up a report and brought him to the repair station. After the mechanics repaired Sun, he came outside to meet with Freddy.

"Woohoo!! I feel good as new!!"

"How's Moon?" Freddy asked.

"Eh, still a little grumpy. But I'm sure he'll talk to me eventually. He probably feels awful about what happened!!"

Freddy nodded. "Yes, that makes sense... I would feel that way too."

"Anyways, time to go back to the daycare!" Sun said cheerfully, tickling Freddy's ribs playfully.

"Heheehee, hey!" he laughed. Picking up Sun, he tickled his underarms. "You're going to get it now!"

"EEEHEEEHEHEHEHEEEEE!!" he screeched. "WAITWAITWAIT!!"

"Yes?" Freddy said, pausing. Then Sun took his chance and attacked Freddy's back.

"AAHAHAHAHAAA!! WAHAHAAIT NOHOOHOO! NOT MY BACK!!"

Sun chuckled. "I'm gonna getcha!! Yes I am!!"

"HAAHAAA!! NOT IF I GET YOU FIRST!!" He targetted Sun's hips, turning the tables.

"EEEHEHEHEEEEHEHHEHEHEEEEEHEHE!" Sun screamed, wiggling around wildly. "STAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAP!"

"Do you surrender...?"

"NEVER!!!" Sun cried, trying to find an opening.

Freddy moved to his stomach area, gently scratching all over it, and getting his sides at the same time.

"YEEEEHEHEHEHEHEEHEEEEE!! ALRIHIHIHIHIHIHIIIIIIGHT!! I SURRENDER!!! AHAHAHAAHAHAAAA!!"

Letting up, Freddy smiled at Sun, allowing him to catch his breath.

"Wow, you certainly are ticklish!" Freddy teased. Sun covered his face.

"That's not fair!"

"Heh. Well, I'll see you around, Sun. Saaaay, I wonder if Moon is as ticklish as you...?"

The Daycare Attendant stiffened. Then he high-tailed it out of there, back to the daycare.

"I suppose that answers my question!" Freddy chuckled. "...Anyway, I hope he's alright now."

And things would indeed be alright.

[kankuroplease]

Can you tell us more about Katsura and her relationships with Shino? :)

Well this came out longer than expected BUT it is sectioned (not proof read, so oops). Hope you enjoy 🖤

About Katsura

For starters, she’s very aware that she’ll never be this great kunoichi. She’s not from a major clan that has special techniques, her chakra is barely above average, and her size is a disadvantage.

So to compensate for what she sees as short comings; She trains, studies, and tries to keep up with her teammates/not be a burden.

Will train with her sister even past her team training exercises.

Katsura is very logical about things. There’s always a logical explanation or way of handling things.

Loves writing and will carry a notebook to write in wherever she may go.

She also enjoys dressing up just because on her off days.

Doesn’t want anyone to look at her though. It’s annoying and uncomfortable to her when people she doesn’t know pay her too much attention.

She isn’t proud of it, but she has played dumb and showed some skin to get information on missions. It’s amazing how idiotic some people are over cleavage 💀

Very envious of civilians with soft hands and has definitely invested in creams to try and help with her callouses

She has been helping at her grandparents bakery from time to time for as long as she can remember.

Its one of the reason she bakes so much. She doesn’t want to get rusty~ the other is it seems to make her friends happy.

Never had a crush before Shino and just assumed she wasn’t capable of feeling like that. Genuinely curious how people can just develop crushes on people they don’t really know.

Gets really excited when one of the beetles she raises does well/finds a mate. Like she is so proud of her beetle-companion.

Also gets very upset if it gets flung off a branch by its competitor or mate. She will pout and try to soothe said beetle-companion.

Beyond ticklish. Tries to hide it but even the slightest playful touch of her neck will have her laughing and snorting.

Touch starved, honestly. Will never admit it but she loves hugs. They make her feel warm and fuzzy.

She doesn’t remember her mother at all because she was so young when she passed away, but she still will visit her grave to ask her to watch over her father. He’s getting old and he’s still a recluse.

Absolute morning person and likely to want to crash before 8 pm if she’s not on a mission

Poisonous~ no but fr, she’s crafted her own poison to coat her sword in

Her sword is her baby. Custom made just for her by her father. No one is allowed to handle it for the previous reason.

How It Started

When she met Shino, it was simply by chance. Her dad told she was small but strong like a beetle.

And unfortunately, the beetle he compared her too got away before she could observe it and collect information on it properly.

So she went searching for her escaped beetle and ran into Shino.

Who told her he had no seen that bug but told her where can probably find one.

She was highly insulted but her father raised her not to let her emotions take control of her actions

So she let it go (sort of) and followed his advice. Which did lead her to her first pet beetle

After that, she made a point of saying hi or waving to Shino whenever she’d see him around for helping her out.

And they built a friendship over the years and all was fine with the world. They’d go bug hunting and Shino became someone she really respected and enjoyed talking to.

She could listen to him talk about insects all day because he sort of lights up and his knowledge was pretty impressive

And his voice is nice too~

Also, she really liked his dad too. He was so kind and even accepted cookies she had baked for Shino before realizing he was on a mission.

She totally loves Shinos bugs (before she realized she loved Shino)! even asked their names. Not that she would remember all of them or even recognize one from the other, she was just very curious about these special little guys.

It took the coming of war for her to realize just how much Shino actually meant to her.

And she didn’t expect to survive the war either. So she put all her feelings in an origami beetle that she gave to Shino.

It wasn’t like anyone unfolds them anyways, so it’s safe.

But by some miracle, they both survive.

Now she’s blushing heavily whenever he’s around because ‘oh no’, yes she’s always been aware his conventionally good looking but this feeling keeps growing and now his looks are a burden on her heart and mind

She was honestly pretty embarrassed about that origami beetle he still has sitting a little too close to light for her comfort.

All it would take is for him to look at it in the light to see her confession and she’s not even supposed to be alive to face this possibility.

Tried asking her father what he liked about her mother and none of that matched her (soft figure and extroverted bubbly personality) and Aori gave her ‘the talk’ while completely red faced.

And once she told her teammates, they basically told her to stop being a chicken and just tell him how she feels.

now Katsura does find that just telling him would be the most logical thing to do… but it’s easier said than done.

What if he doesn’t feel the same? Can they still be friends?

Shino pricked up on her not so subtle changes in behavior and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

She’s standing closer, stealing glances when she thinks he’s not looking, jumping a bit when he’d call her name, blushing and losing train of thought whenever their hands accidentally brush, etc.

He’s almost certain he knows what all this means, but maybe it’s just wishful thinking?

Katsura has always smiled easily for him and never seemed to forget him no matter how long it took for them to see each other again.

Maybe it was the way she always was so proud to show him her latest beetle she nurtured from larval or how she seriously always told his beetles to take care of him for her before any missions no matter how small.

Perhaps it was the fact that she always told him she thought he was amazing

Maybe it was the way they both could comfortably enjoy each other’s company without words

Or maybe the way she fussed over the children’s novel she was writing.

The way she always made sure other acknowledged him in group settings by mentioning him or asking him questions.

Her snorting laugh that she’s so embarrassed about had grown on him too. Also made it easy to find her

But at some point he’d developed a crush of his own, so it would be great if she felt the same.

It’s not until Kiba discovers the origami beetle and ask who gave him the love letter

Shino’s like… love letter?

Kiba holding it up to the light so Shino can faintly see the writing in it.

Kiba guesses it’s probably from that mean little thing that always seems to be around Shino these days. In fact, he’s pretty sure it’s her because of the faint scent still on it.

Shino looks calm on the surface but inside, Shino.exe has stopped working. Some quite a few bugs are escaping and kiba is cackling because he f**kin’ KNEW IT!!

Now they’re both acting strangely with each other trying to figure out their timing but what better timing than during one of their forest walks?

Shino waits until they’re absolutely alone (None of his bugs spotted Katsura’s nosy teammates) and Katsura is distracted by if her beetle is ready to find a mate/leave home.

She’s humming to herself that this one doesn’t seem to want to leave when Shino murmurs he can’t blame the little guy. He wouldn’t want to leave her side either.

Queue Katsura turning red and telling him not to joke like that, because she might get the wrong idea.

He tilted his head before asking her why would joke about that? He likes her, and the rest was a blur as her heart was beating too loud to hear everything he said outside of the end of his confession.

Of course she said yes too loudly and then asked him to repeat what he said because she wants to know remember his words forever 🥰

Them as a couple

Once they become official, nothing much changes honestly

They still go on bug hunts and walks in the forest, but will to hold hands while doing these things now.

Shino isn’t into too much PDA of course, but he doesn’t mind her cuddling up to him in private. In fact he welcomes it.

Katsura is the first one to say ‘I love you’ and she’s not shy about saying it.

Will leave him notes to read each day if either one of them has a particularly long mission. (they are numbered and yes she expects him to wait and read them)

He’s also been the subject of several questionable dishes because baking is her thing, not cooking. She is very sorry, Shino.

They both decided she should to stick to cookbooks for awhile after the last random dish

Garden picnics are something they both enjoy whenever their schedules allow and Katsura actually knows how to prepare foods for such an occasion

Shino will have a few more butterflies than normal join them because he knows it will make her smile.

Took them awhile to share a passionate kiss because, they’re both patient types and were waiting on the other to take the lead

But once they did and she heard his beetles buzzing— and he sighed against her lips that was it, she practically jumped on top of him and then apologized profusely later

Shino knows she’s capable, but will still get things down from higher shelves for her.

Katsura loves tracing shapes in Shino’s palms and can/will fall asleep holding his hand. His hands are always so warm and calming to her

She knitted them matching sweaters for winter because she really liked the idea. They didn’t turn out perfect but Shino wore his anyways and made her whole day!

Shino was very supportive of Katsura retiring to take a bigger role at her grandparents bakery and pursue writing. It’s something she always enjoyed and he’s ngl, the thought of them having more time together made him happy.

Katsura was also very supportive of Shino becoming a sensei! What a cute job and she could get intel of what kids may be interested

Both of them would still rather eat at home but will go with their friends. Katsura is more likely to convince Shino it’s good to socialize every once in awhile… although if he wants her to be more selfish with him, she will gladly do so~

Overall just a really sweet couple that’s over the moon about each other 🖤

[henry-and-the-seven-lords]

Do you think any of the guys are ticklish?

I think I mentioned some of them in my Ticklish MC posts.

BUT just in case, I will consolidate my thoughts here.

💙 Lucifer -

He is one of the people that says he isn't ticklish, but is.

He keeps up the facade very well, no one knows that he wants to burst with laughter when they tickle him.

💛 Mammon -

Highly ticklish. The kicking, screaming, begging you to stop type.

But when MC does stop, he will pounce on them so they have to be careful.

🧡 Leviathan -

He is pretty ticklish, but not in the "this is so nice I am going to burst", but in the "you have touched my skin for to long I need a break"

When he says stop, he usually means it. It is too much attention, or touch for him to handle and he needs to calm down for just a second.

💚 Satan -

Tickling is an art. He is a master. He is ticklish, but only in certain areas (for example, his neck).

If MC tries to tickle him, he will take this as a challenge and try to tickle them more and better.

💖 Asmodeus -

He loves being tickled. Is also very ticklish. He likes it because it always leads... to something else.

MC better be prepared to let him down easy or be ready to participate in the activities.

❤ Beelzebub -

He is a normal amount of ticklish. It isn't so much that he is wheezing when MC ticklish him, but he let's out these light airy giggles.

He just likes the smile it brings to MC's when they tickle him. So he will let them do it whenever they want to.

💜 Belphegor -

The opposite of Lucifer. He isn't ticklish at all. But acts like he is. He's gotta act like the baby somehow.

Will laugh a lot, where it is almost clear that it is fake until he start asking MC to stop... then it seems like he is ticklish...

[novum-constellatio]

Albedo for the ask meme plz :3

- albedo (ask meme)

a/n: thank you for the ask, darling <3 hope you enjoy my view of our new, genshin hottie :3

warning: none

. . . . . .

1. what spot makes them BEG for mercy?

For Albedo, I think it would most likely be a well-hidden spot because he doesn't strike me as someone who'd have all the usual tickle spots, so let's go with the back of the knees or the top of the feet! Something special for our special lad ;3

2. are wake up tickles a thing?

Wake up tickles would feel more like massages to him than anything else (especially if he really doesn't want to wake up, so he will literally be purring instead of getting up), unless you intentionally go for a killer spot and he's immediately awake, rather fast too, so he'd be out of the bed and away from the person in seconds lol

3. do they react differently to different people tickling them?

If someone he knows well is tickling him, then he'd feel a lot more carefree and engage in tickle fights more often. People don't usually tickle him because he looks like a mean ass ler. Strangers can't get near him, so they can't witness the beauty that is a laughing Albedo

4. whats their laugh like?

Continuing on from the previous question, I don't think Albedo really laughs? I feel like the best you can get out of the guy are chuckles because he doesn't seem like someone who's that ticklish to throw their head back and really laugh, so only a chuckle here and there from this guy ✌🏻

5. are they embarrassed that they’re ticklish?

Nope because hardly anyone knows about him and his few ticklish spots, so he has no worries. And, if someone were to find one, he knows they're highly unlikely to sneak up on him and tickle him, so he's not worried or embarrassed at all

6. do they seek revenge after being tickled?

Oh yes, especially if you're a good friend or lover. This one might be unexpected, but Albedo remembers everything and he will counter attack with everything he's got because he's 1) a pretty mean and skilful ler and 2) he needs a reason to "justify" his tickling lol

7. do they squirm a lot?

Hmm, except for a jerk here and there, Albedo isn't much of a squirmer - like I've mentioned previously, I headcanon him as not being that ticklish and reacts rather calmly to the tickling

8. does verbal teasing make it worse?

Hardly, unless you really hit a weak spot and start teasing him about it. Even then, it's hardly noticeable that the teasing is having any effect on him, so Albedo is almost impossible to properly tickle, so to say lol

. . . . . .

[link4eva]

Kiro’s Rhythm Date Translation [CN]

Hey, y’all! A quick note before you begin reading, I do not know any Chinese at all so Google Translate is the real MVP here. I’ve just taken the time to write down what comes out and changed some words here and there to try and make it make more sense. So apologies for the amateur translation in advance lol. This is just mainly to get the gist of the date before it eventually releases on the ENG server. Hope you enjoy it!

*Spoilers ahead for future content!*

[First Part]

After typing the last word of the report, I hit the enter key hard with my hand and then let out a cry of joy from my heart.

MC: It’s finally done!!!!!

Kiro: You’re finally done!!!!

Almost at the same time, Kiro, who was sitting on the sofa, took off his headset and threw it aside, raising his hands and cheering along with me. The next moment, his twinkling eyes looked at me.

Kiro: MC, let’s go out on a date! I thought for sure that this weekend would be spent working, but it seems that God still cares for us!

He didn’t wait for me to answer, he had already taken a few steps and sat across from me, holding the back of the chair and looking at me expectantly.

Kiro: Let’s go to the cake place that just opened up recently, I want to try it.

He held up his fingers and began to count the deliciousness of his thoughts. I cleared my throat and interrupted his daydream mercilessly.

MC: That’s it! The sunny weather is so nice, shouldn’t we go out and exercise? Savin asked me to supervise you. Recently, you’ve been slacking on your exercise regime to write songs. So... 

Kiro: ...I knew it.

He lowered his head and sighed heavily but the happy smile returned in the next second.

Kiro: Let’s just exercise. Life lies in exercise and to enjoy life is to exercise with Miss Chips!

He told me to wait in a tone of voice I had never heard before and got up to change his clothes. I also went to change into sportswear that I had left at his house when we exercised last time.

Putting on my shoes and standing in the hall, I picked up the baseball cap and put it on Kiro’s head. I helped him straighten his messed up bangs.

He led the way down the hallway, but his toes tapped the ground like a beat as if he couldn’t wait. 

MC: Make sure you don’t get recognized when we’re out later.

Kiro: Don’t worry, I promise to complete the mission!

Kiro obediently agreed. Before leaving the house, he turned his head and waved at Apple Box lying on the sofa.

Kiro: The task of housekeeping is left to you. We are going out!

I don’t know if Apple Box understood initially. To my surprise, he seemed to understand and replied with a “Woof!”.

[Second Part]

The weather outside was just right. The breeze that is blowing is warm on my face, almost as if it’s driving away the fatigue caused by the long days of work.

I followed Kiro and jogged forward aimlessly. From time to time, he slowed down and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me, humming as if he had just written a song.

Kiro: MC, are you tired?

As soon as I met his gaze, he couldn’t wait to inquire again and the thoughts in his eyes couldn’t hide.

MC: Although I am a bit tired, I can hold on for a while!

Kiro: Ah, that’s it, but-

He suddenly stopped halfway through his words and a trace of worry flashed across his face. I looked and stopped teasing him for the time being. 

MC: Actually, it’s not impossible to rest for an hour or two.

Hearing these words, his eyes lit up.

Kiro: Then let’s rest for “one or two hours”!

He grabbed my hand and walked happily in one direction. The warmth of his palm matched the warmth of his eyes.

MC: Where are we going?

As soon as I asked, after turning a corner, a familiar street appeared in front of us. Tall and lush trees stood, exquisite old-fashioned buildings scattered. There were bustling young men and women and the smell of honey and coffee permeated the air.

--Isn’t this the street that has been very popular recently?!

I immediately caught on to what he was doing. I was amused but also a little annoyed.

MC: Have you planned the route in advance?

Kiro nodded, showing a natural smile.

Kiro: SInce I’m coming with you, of course. I have to plan every step in advance! There is a shop here where you can pick the toppings to put on a chiffon cake. The most popular one is raspberry.

I don’t know whether it was affected by Kiro’s vivid appearance or by the sweet fragrance in the air, Savin’s image slowly came to mind.

MC: It sounds really delicious!

Kiro: Alright then, let’s go! I have already made a reservation!

In a few seconds, I put aside my worries and joined him among the crowds on the street, enjoying the break.

It was a perfect moment, but all of a sudden, an unexpected guest stopped in front of us.

[Third Part]

Reporter: Excuse me, both of you! We are randomly interviewing attractive couples! Can you answer a few questions? *The translation came out as “high-value” so I’m going to assume it means “attractive”.*

The moment I saw the camera, I was already in front of Kiro, looking at this fashionable, young man with vigilance.

MC: Sorry, we’re busy at the moment. You can interview other people.

Reporter: But other people don’t fit the original intention of our “Feast for the Eyes” program! Only a few minutes of your time! 

Reporter: Huh? Why does this man look a bit like…?

I had a bad feeling and I stretched out my hand to hold Kiro’s cuff. The next moment, the reporter slapped his thighs one by one--

Reporter: Yep! It’s Kiro!

His voice isn’t loud but it still draws all the eyes around us.

MC: You’ve got the wrong person! Let me trouble you!

I resolutely denied his claim before everyone could react. I immediately pulled Kiro into the crowd and quickly slipped away.

Kiro: (pouting) Why do we always encounter such things when we go out on dates? 

In addition to the loud voices behind me asking, “Where’s Kiro?”, there is also Kiro silently complaining.

[Cut to Kiro’s house]

After hurriedly “escaping” back home, my highly elevated heartbeat finally began to calm down. 

MC: Safe at last…

Kiro: I didn’t eat anything this time but I burned a lot of calories.

MC: Probably because God is standing on Savin’s side, we can do nothing but accept it!

Kiro: But I don’t want to accept it…

Kiro plopped on the sofa and hugged Apple Box and looked up at me with a sad pair of eyes.

Kiro: Alas, why can’t he make this world just for the two of us! *I had to change some of the wording here. What came out originally was kinda wonky.*

I looked at my phone and found out that what happened just now did not arouse any attention. I felt secretly relieved. Kiro saw this and looked out the window and saw the sun. He sighed.

Kiro: It’s so rare when the weather is this nice. We finally had some time together… It’s a pity not to do anything.

MC: Then let’s do something we can do at home. Perhaps watching a movie?

Kiro: Movies… Are there any good movies recently?

Although he appeared to be uninterested, he still put his head down and browsed the newly released movies with me.

Before I had a chance to look, a furry head squeezed between the two of us and pushed Kiro aside.

Kiro: Apple Box, don’t make trouble… Wait, what are you biting?! Ahh! Let go of my game controller!

Kiro swooped forward and Apple Box dodged swiftly. In the hot pursuit of Kiro chasing Apple Box, he accidentally bumped into some things. 

The screen that had just stopped at the movie interface suddenly switched and several dynamic virtual characters appeared. As if drawn to this, Apple Box blinked his beady eyes and looked straight at the TV screen.

Kiro quickly grabbed the other half of the game controller from Apple Box’s mouth and clicked it angrily. Little brains.*I don’t know what “little brains” is haha.*

Kiro: I finally caught you, bad guy!

Apple Box, whose “toy” was suddenly taken away, looked at Kiro innocently. He wiggled his ears aggrievedly. I was softened by his eyes and I reached out to rub his head.

MC: Apple Box, you must be a good boy and not be so rowdy.

Apple Box: Woof!

As if he understood, Apple Box shook his head obediently and his fluffy fur rubbed against the palm of my hand. He then turned around excitedly and wagged his tail at the TV screen.

Kiro and I looked at the dazzling picture on the screen at the same time. The characters on it also writhed in time.

Kiro: Miss Chips, let’s play a motion sensory game!

MC: Why don’t we play this? Sports and leisure combined are great!

Talking in unison, we both laughed out loud. After deciding what to do, Kiro and I sat down on the carpet in front of the TV, choosing a game that we could play for a while. He put his head on my shoulder, expressing his opinions from time to time.

Kiro: I think this game is good! It’s fun!

Kiro’s breathing on my neck was ticklish and I shrank my neck. I watched the screen being manipulated to jump up and down to escape. The character retreated into himself.

MC: This feels too difficult. Let’s look at the next one.

Kiro: It’s not that bad! I set a world record in only one attempt!

He raised the corners of his mouth as he spoke, his expression extremely proud. Although he knew that as KEY, he was skilled at all aspects in the game.

MC: Well, then this game is not challenging for you…!

As if I had seen myself in the game, I decisively switched to the next interface.

Kiro: Eh? I don’t seem to have played this game before…

I was overjoyed when I heard this and made a decision almost immediately.

MC: Then let’s play “Just Dance”! 

This is a very popular music and dance game recently. Players can choose different dancer characters to play as. Players have to imitate the people on screen and dance in order to win.

Because this game is simple and easy to use and, and has many popular songs, it has been popular all over the world after it’s release.

MC: Now both of us are novices. This is equal ground!

I gave a controller to him, nodded and said in a serious tone. Kiro raised his chin slightly with a smirk.

Kiro: So, MC, do you want to challenge my status as KEY?

MC: I won’t give up easily!

After that, the game begins.

[Fourth Part] 

If I could go back in time by just 10 minutes, I definitely would’ve said something different about the game being “equal grounds”.

MC: What! Jumping wrong again!

The movements the two of us were doing were obviously strange at first. But after a while, we became one with the dance.

MC: Why am I always slow!

Kiro: Don’t worry! Treat this as a novice level and then adapt slowly from there.

MC: Then this newbie level is too difficult for me…

I was bitter. I felt as though my hands and feet were rebelling against me.

Kiro: It’s not difficult as long as you master the basics. For example, this movement here. As long as your hand is raised to this position, you will be guaranteed to pass.

He gestured for me to do the movement that stumped me just now, and I followed suit.

MC: Like this?

Kiro: Almost.

He walked up to me, grabbed my wrist and raised my head, then tilted my head to the other side.

MC: Is this it?

I followed his instructions and turned into ten twisted poses. I found the smile on his face grew wider and wider and he couldn’t help but laugh.

Kiro: Puff hahaha, MC, you are so obedient!

MC: KIRO!

I became annoyed at once. I reached out to try and mess up his hair but he leaned back and dodged me smoothly.

Kiro: I was wrong! I was wrong! I was wrong!

MC: I won’t let you get away!

I kept tickling the sensitive skin on his waist. Kiro dodged from left to right and wrapped me in his arms. He is like a koala. He has me locked firmly in his arms, making it hard for me to move.

Kiro: Haha, so you won’t be able to tickle me!

There was a bit of pride in his laughter and his hot breath after exercising clung to my back, even in my chest. The rhythm of our heartbeats can’t be concealed. My heartbeat somehow increased.

MC: I, I won’t do what I did before again. Let go of me first, or how else can we continue playing the game?

Kiro: Well, alright.

He released his arms, looking reluctant, but turned his attention back to the game again.

Kiro: So this time we will warm up with the easier songs and then challenge each other with the more difficult ones!

I didn’t know what Kiro’s “simple difficulty” meant until the melody of a familiar foreign nursery rhyme played from the speakers. But soon I put the matter of nursery rhymes aside and danced awkwardly with the little dino on screen. 

With the cute and cheerful melody, everything becomes more fun. Compared with the previous song, Kiro danced such an overly cute dance. It was a bit strange.

He stared at the screen earnestly, making movements while humming his own jumbled lyrics to the tune of the music.

Kiro: (singing) I’m a little dinosaur~ little dinosaur~

His blonde hair puffed up by the hairband also jumped along with his movements. A sweat bead from his forehead “ticked” off and fell onto his collarbone hidden by his collar.

MC: Obviously I am the little dinosaur!

The “perfect” floating above the screen made my previously annoyed mood become more excited. The magic of the game is to make people forget all their troubles. When I’m with Kiro, these simple dances turn into the simplest happiness.

After the song ended, I watched the rating jump up to four stars. I couldn’t help but hug Kiro and cheer.

MC: Ahh, it’s four stars! Only a little bit short away from getting full stars!!

Kiro: See, that wasn’t so hard for you, was it?

MC: Sure enough, it’s not difficult to master the trick you taught me!

I confidently picked the next song to “conquer” but suddenly saw a familiar name.

MC: Huh, there is this song?

It was a song from Kiro’s latest album. I quickly turned to look at him. However, Kiro frowned slightly while staring at his song, his expression a bit solemn.

Kiro: This song was licensed to them. But I feel that it’s a bit awkward to dance to my own songs in the game.

Seeing him acting unlike his usual self, I felt a sense of curiosity. Even though the “highly difficult” sign made me a little worried, I still pressed the confirm button decisively. 

MC: Let’s dance to this song. I want to see if the original dancer can beat the game!

Meeting his gaze, Kiro hesitated for a second and quickly gave in. 

Kiro: If you want to dance, MC, you can, but this dance is very difficult. Don’t force yourself to.

MC: Hmm!

Accompanied by the “START” character flashing, the intermingled sound of the electric guitar and keyboard sounded. Kiro held the controller and imitated the people on the screen, raising his hand to make a pose.

Boom--

The powerful drum beats go straight to the heart. Kiro’s face is very serious and every movement that he executes is in rhythm with the music and is full of power.

He stepped barefoot on the carpet, clearly wearing ordinary sportswear, but he seemed to be standing in the centre of the stage.

And in this small living room, me being the only audience, got to “exclusively” enjoy this performance. I don’t know if I should watch him wholeheartedly or if I should continue to clumsily dance with the animation.

While I was lost in thought, I accidentally tripped over my left foot with my right. Seeing that the hand that was swung out was about to hit Kiro, I withdrew it quickly. 

I was hit with an elbow

MC: Ouch!

I squatted down, clutching the area I was hit, and buried my head between my knees.

Kiro: MC? What happened?!

He squatted down worriedly in front of me with his arms open. It looked like he wanted to hug me to comfort me but was worried that it would be bad so he stopped midway.

Kiro: What’s wrong? Is your leg cramping?

MC: Just now, I…

I shook my head, thinking of the silly thing I did just now. My ears and face were beet red. Before I had time to explain, Kiro put one hand behind my back and one hand under my knees and lifted me up.

MC: Wait! I can walk by myself!

He denied my protests and placed me gently on the sofa in a few large strides. He slowly lifted up one of my feet and carefully pressed the tight muscles of my calf with the pad of his finger.

Kiro: Does it hurt? Tell me if it hurts.

I forgot to respond. Seeing that I wasn’t saying anything, he slowed his movements down again and became more gentle. The sunset shining from the outside hit the top of his head forming a very gentle glow. It gave me the urge to rub it.

MC: Kiro, I’m fine. I didn’t hurt myself by forcing myself... I was just watching you…

The more I talked, the quieter I became. The temperature of my cheeks rose. After all, it would be too embarrassing to explain that I hit myself while dancing!

It was silent for a few seconds and Kiro finally laughed out loud.

Kiro: I didn’t expect my Miss Chips to be so honest. Now, just look at me.

Kiro raised his hand in a squatting position, and I found myself looking into his gentle blue eyes. When the music hit it’s climax, the drum beat gradually grew faster and got closely intertwined into an airtight net as if the soul is enveloped in it. *Wording was a little weird here. I think it’s supposed to be a heartbeat but the kanji for heart (心) isn’t in the original text.* 

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

Like my heartbeat right now, it's so strong that it’s about to beat out of my chest. Kiro seemed to see right through me and stood up. He supported the back of the sofa with one hand and held my wrist with the other to prevent me from escaping. When his nose came up to meet mine, he rubbed it.

Kiro: MC, I’m curious…

Looking at my bewildered and embarrassed face, he suddenly gave a sly smile.

Kiro: Is the rhythm of your heartbeat the same as mine right now?

His eyes were full of warmth and gentleness. His words were like a poet writing lyrics, a sorcerer chanting a bewitching spell. 

Kiro: It is the same as mine. Everytime it beats. It only beats for you.

The breath that belonged to him slowly approached, the music continued playing in the background, and the game on screen kept showing “miss”.

The rhythm of our heartbeats has already been in sync with the beat and sweat. *This last part here was a little wonky with the wording*.

[END]

(Here is the link to his "Strawberry Invitation" call after the date!)

[enigma-im]

Hooked on a Feeling

Prompt #8

Subject: Water-based sex Monster: Merman

            First time kisses, Loving embraces, and near drowning is what makes a romantic evening.

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Since the first day, I've been captivated by him. His beautiful colors of red, purple, and orange in his scales. The hard angles of his fins. Even his strange nearly human face. It's all been so alluring and thought-provoking. I can barely rip my mind from ideas of him.

When he first showed up to the facility I was iffy. Not on him, never on him, but how he ended up here. Though he made it clear to all around that he was here of free will, I still pondered about it. He came here because of typical injuries that most aquatic species face. Some torn scales and slashed fins that made it damn near impossible to swim. Though he has long since healed, he sticks around. I have asked countless times after I gained the courage to speak with him but he has yet to give me a complete answer. In my opinion, I think he enjoys the easy life.

I wonder about this thought as I sit along the edge of his cage one night. I kick my feet in the water as I rest my elbow on my knee. He swims below in large lazy circles, the sight just barely registering as I stare into space. Why would this wonderful creature still be doing here? He is strong enough to go back out there to his home. He has to have family waiting for him so what is holding him back? Perhaps he is honestly lazy, enjoying the sweet life of luxury in a highly funded rehabilitation center. Living off the generosity that no one will force him out. As possible as the idea is it just doesn't sit well.

He emerges from the depth silently, watching me with his barely submerged head. I catch his eyes, watching him back. He swims closer, his long tail propelling him. His webbed hands grab the metal grate I'm resting on, framing my thighs with his arms.

"Hello," he smiles.

"Hi," I answer back. Though my smile is curter than his. I feel too worn today to give back his enthusiasm.

"Penny for your thoughts," he rests his head along his arm, tracing a claw over my knee. I watch him for a moment, fighting the urge to jerk my knee at the ticklish feeling.

"Just thinking about something that's been bugging me," I mumble. His finger stops tracing over a long healed cut on my thigh. He instead flattens his hand, leaning up to rest his chin on my knee.

"What would that be," he asks. His tail lazily swishes behind him. I take the moment to admire it. The fade from red to purple with blotches of orange near his waist is beautiful. Sometimes when I look at him I feel the urge to paint though I lack the talent for it.

"Nothing exciting," I grab his hand, playing with the webs between his fingers. He allows me, lingering on the sight before saying anything else.

"Humor me anyway," he flips my hand over to trace over the lines on my palm.

"Alright," I grab his hand again," I was thinking about you."

His head snaps up to me," oh? I thought you said it was nothing exciting." his smirk brings a smile to my cheeks. I shove him playfully in the shoulder.

"Specifically I was thinking about why you choose to stick around here," I clarify," like, you don't need to be here but you stay. I can't imagine this place is as appealing as the great wide ocean."

"I'd argue differently, this place has something the ocean doesn't have," he shrugs.

"yea? What would that be," I humor him. The ocean is full of such wonder and beauty while this building has gray walls and dozens of aquarium tanks. Though the view is beautiful near the cove, it's only that small window that offers a glimpse of the true view. I look over towards the open barn doors, catching the rising moon.

"Well," he hesitates," for starters, it has you." I snap my head from the view to him.

"what," I huff in amusement. I meet his flustered gaze, realizing the sincerity of his words. "You think I'm more beautiful than the ocean," I scoff," you have been in here too long."

He snorts," you clearly must be blind because I've spent my entire life in the ocean, and only you have been able to steal my breath away."

I open my mouth to dispute his claim but his warm smile and tender looks make my heart throb. I look between his eyes, lost in thought for another time this night. He doesn't allow me to stew as he grabs my arms and swims out a bit, tugging me softly.

"Why not come for a swim," he asks with a gentle smile. I roll my eyes and tug back away, a rejection on the tip of my tongue. He interrupts," please, I wish to try something with you." I stare, conflicted but mostly curious. I've swum with him before, gaining great enjoyment from it.

"Fine," I sigh. He grins in triumph, ready to tug me into the water. I yank my hand back before he could, "Let me get these clothes off first. I don't have a spare set." his setting pout switches to blushing glee. I still can't figure out what he sees in me but I will soak up the admiration while I can. It's not every day someone says you are a more beautiful view than all the sights in the ocean.

I quickly discard my clothes, keeping a makeshift bikini set of a bra and underwear on before hopping into the slightly above room temperature water. The rush of being submerged makes me kick to the surface quickly. As I push the wet hair from out my face I'm greeting with his handsome face. His flat nose and sharp pearly whites. He swiftly grabs me, leaning back and swimming further into his pool. I rest against his chest, feeling his tail wiggle near my legs. Once we are far enough out he rests, holding me close to his body as he strokes along my sides.

"Is this what you wanted to do? Come out to the middle of your pool and cuddle," I tease. He looks down at me, raising a hand to moves a wet strand behind my ear.

"No but it's a perk," he grins," what I wanted to do was this." he straightens, letting my body slide off his, before cupping my face. My heart lurches at the immediate implication. It doesn't help when his thumb pet over my cheek. Before I can ask he leans forward and brushes his lips to mine. The strange wet, bumpy, warm press of his skin to mine is startling at first. Though I was fairly warned I still wasn't ready. He is shy in his attention, just testing the waters before pulling back.

"I think we could have done that without having me get undressed," I bite back a smile.

"Just taking the opportunities when they arise," he leans back down for another kiss. I react this time, grabbing his waist to secure our bodies closer then molding my lips to his. He gasps at the more forceful attentions, letting me lead with a soft hum. Our lips fit together well enough for what we are, feeling electrical in its pleasures. I try to introduce my tongue to the mix but he startles away. He leans back, licking his lips as he regards me.

"Kissing is strange," he chuckles," I didn't know you guys use tongue as well."

I huff with a confused furrow of my brow, "does your kind not kiss?"

"No, I just saw a lot of people around here doing it and I'll admit I grew very intrigued by the idea of doing that with you," he blushes.

"You saw people kissing and thought of me," I trail my leg along his tail. I feel his muscles twitch, moving us a bit as his body flicks.

"Y-yea," he stutters, " and I will very much so like to do that again."

"With or without tongue," I poke fun. He merely rolls his eyes before pressing his mouth to mine. This go around, he is more confident in his skills, introducing his tongue first. I show him the wonders of French kissing with slides of my tongue against his and sucking his before thrusting mine into his mouth.

As the heated make-out session progresses I feel the water around us move, swooshing along my legs. His tail flicks back and forth as he bumps his pelvis into my thighs. I adjust accordingly, matching my crotch to where I assume his is. I grind on him, relishing in the groan he lets out. Very quickly a protrusion pokes against my crotch before it slides along the cleft of my thigh. I pin it between our bodies, pleasuring him while I take in his moans.

He rips away from my mouth, dropping his head back as he pants heavily. His tail swishes quickly, rubbing his scales on my skin. Though surprisingly smooth it does begin to chafe. His groans grow rampant along with the grind of his hips to the point that I worry of an impending climax. I stop my grinding and grab his head, forcing him to look at me.

"You alright," I ask. His hazy eyes finally focus on me, his fingers tightening on the back of my neck.

"Oh," he comes back to himself, "Apologies, I got very lost there for a moment. Your body is extremely tempting, I shouldn't have rushed us like that." he drops his hands from around my neck, making to depart. I dig my fingers into his hips, dragging him back and keeping him near with my legs around him.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," I purr," just got a bit worried there. You seem to be enjoying yourself a great deal."

He chokes on his laugh," yea? It's hard not to. Your kisses were too erotic, a lethal weapon truly. Though if you are so inclined, do you wish to continue?"

Instead of answering, I trail a hand down between us, grabbing at his cock. His lusty grin goes debauched as I squeeze the base of him. His tail flicks again, pumping himself into my hand.

"By the gods," he grunts," you aren't even doing much and I'm completely ready to be your slave."

I pump his shaft lazily," my slave? Making too many promises and you haven't even gotten inside me yet."

He perks up at my words, "Inside you? Is this possibly going to be the best night of my life?"

"Keep saying those mushy words and it will be, big boy," I thumb the head of his cock with an immodest grin. He groans with an all too willing roll of his hips. I pump him, all too eager to watch him fall apart because of me. His eyes don't know where to go, lost between looking at me or my hand. Soon he settles on my clothed chest, a light-catching in his eyes as he brings a hand to my straps. My hand slows as I wait for him. He pulls the strap, snapping it against my shoulder with a questioning quirk of his brow.

"Ask and you shall receive," I joke as I peel the wet clothing off. He watches with rapt attention, lighting up when I'm fully presented. Without missing a beat he cups my chest, making me laugh at his over-eagerness. He gropes with glee, pleased as all can be. I enjoy the attention but enjoy stroking him even more.

I jerk him off as he plays with my chest, tweaking my nipple when he finds my actions stutter. We both test the other's resolves while enjoying our exploration. He soon rips my hand from his cock to lean down and bring a bud into his mouth. His sharp teeth glide along the erect bud, soothing the small scratches with his tongue. I find myself slowly sinking lower in the water, his attention never wavering as he submerges.

I brush my palm over the fin protruding down the back of his head, panting with a silly smile on my face. He goes from lathering my chest to smooshing his head between them, groping while he mashing my tits against his cheek. I can't help but chuckle, pulling him up for a kiss. He impatiently delves his tongue into my mouth as his arms wrap around my waist. He pulls me in close, aligning our bodies just right that his tip prods at my folds. He grinds in short bursts between them, taking his turn to relish in my groans against his tongue.

I grow impatient at the teasing, reaching down to grab his cock. He grunts, parting from my lips. He rests his head at the crook of my neck, watching between us as I line him up. With a short buck of his tail, he nudges inside, slowly gliding in with a small bit of resistance. With every gasp and grunt from me, he pauses only to continue when I nuzzle his head. Soon he is to the hilt, panting near my ear.

"Are you ok," he sighs, baring his teeth to my jaw. I ripple along him making him seethe at the sudden squeeze.

"I'm good, how bout you," I kiss his shoulder.

"I'm good," he sucks in a deep breath," I'm going to move now."

"Alright," butterflies jump around in my stomach in anticipation. He holds me firm against his chest as his tail arches back before snapping his hips forward. This sudden thrust makes me cry out. He pauses at the sound, only repeating the action when I reassure him with a kiss to his shoulder. I rest against him as he begins to plow into me, forgoing the languid bucks for frenzied thrusts.

I feel on fire because of him, crying out into the nearly empty room. I can hear the splashing of the water between us as his hips meet mine. I tilt my head back to keep from catching the drops in my mouth. I flutter along his cock, grinding into ever meeting. My nails dig into his back, wanting him as close as possible. His cock feels like a god sent, too perfect for someone like me. As I listen to his own cries of pleasure do I understand what beauty can exist outside of the ocean. I can't help but climb so fast upon the hill of climax. He is too much- just exactly enough- for me.

As my body ripples with its nearing orgasm that he leaves from the comfort of my neck to attack my lips in a crushing kiss. His teeth scrape against my skin, perhaps ripping open the delicate layers. It's when I taste copper on his tongue do I get my answer. The taste and his rough handling nearly push me over the edge. I pull back from him, screaming out my enjoyment as he returns to the crevice of my neck.

As I begin to pulse around him we start to sink under the water. I have half a mind to take in a breath before I become completely submerged. Though the danger of the situation is but a fuzzy note in my brain I find myself transfixed by the trust I have in him as I squeeze him in a tight grip. I fight back the urge to cry out my last breath as I cum on him. His thrusts become frantic as he rides out my high, reaching his in the process. As he pulses and throbs, his teeth sink into my neck, clamping down hard as he cums. I can't fight the urge any longer, arching back and letting out a wail into the water. The bubbles rise to the top as my hair frames the last breath I have.

He stills, arched around my and buried to the helve. His teeth slowly release me but don't completely let go. The moment is too perfect though my body begins to fight the need for breath. I take in a few moments of having him buried inside me and holding me so dear before I nudge him.

He snaps away from my bleeding neck to catch my eyes. Realization dawns on him as he pulls out then swims up. As we break the surface I take in a greedy breath. He watches me with worry while I catch my breath.

"I'm fine," I pant. He doesn't take my words seriously as he pulls me closer.

"I'm so sorry," he pets my back," I didn't even think, it just happened." his worried eyes stabs at my heart. I grab his head as he flutters about me. I press a quick peck to his lips before leaning back with a smile.

"it's ok, I'm fine," I peck him again for good measure. He seems to relax before he looks down towards my shoulder. His worry ramps up again.

"Oh, I have made a right mess of your shoulder," he brushes the hair away. The sting of the action makes me wince.

"You bit me," I find myself laughing," that was unexpected." he flinches at the comment, still observing the bleeding wound. He leans down in what I assume was a closer look but was instead to lick it. I stiffen at the suddenness of having his tongue cleaning my wound. I then shiver when he does it again, ridding the area of blood. Once he is done he presses a kiss to it, soft and caring.

"Though I enjoy the sight of my mark on your neck I do apologies for going so overboard. Scaring you and drowning you in one go was not my intentions," he catches my eyes, sincerity written all over his face. I can't help but pull him in close and kiss him.

"All is forgiven," I lean next to his ear, "I liked it." he shivers with a groan, pulling my hips against his.

"What did you like," he asks with a cheeky grin.

I play along, "I liked having your cock buried inside me and trusting you while you had me underwater."

"You liked almost drowning," he asks in slight disbelief.

"Yea, I trust you to not let me drown. Even if you were distracted," I kiss his cheek," and what a feeling that was. You are quite a skilled lover if I do say so, but I think I can show you a few more tricks."

"yea," he asks," are you open to showing me right now?"

"Perhaps," I answer. He growls as he leans in for a kiss, swimming towards the nearest wall to press me against.

"No drowning this time," he mumbles against my jaw.

"Maybe a little," I tease. He nibbles my ear, tugging it in protest.

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I don’t know why this one is my favorite. Something about nearly drowning just gets to me i guess. One more story left for this weekend!

Complete series

Check out my Archive | Masterlist | Main Blog

[brandyllyn]

In our own image... (25)

Chapter 25

(Poe Dameron x OFC)

Other chapters... My Masterlist

Word count: 2100. Read it on AO3.

Rating: Teen & Up (PG).

"Stop that."

Finn froze, hand in the air. "Stop what?"

"Poking me."

"But you said it doesn’t hurt."

Poe turned his head, glaring at the man. "No, but it is annoying. Stop it."

Finn did it one more time. Of course he did. Pressing his fingers just under Poe’s ribs while staring at his face. "You’re telling me it doesn’t hurt at all?"

Poe leaned his head back, dropping the data pad he had been looking at with a clatter. "Do you want to see it?"

"No," Rey’s voice came from across the room.

"Yes," Finn’s eyes were wide when he nodded.

Sighing, Poe lifted the side of his shirt up to show Finn the smooth skin, not a mark on him. "Rey does good work, I highly recommend it." Finn touched the area lightly and Poe shivered, jerking away.

"You ticklish now?" Finn asked with a grin.

"He’s always been ticklish," the words floated from next to Rey and Poe glanced over at the woman who had said them. Kina’s eyes met his for a moment before she bit her lip and turned away.

Poe had woken from what felt like a dream with his head in Kina’s lap. Rey was next to them, looking exhausted. Both were lit by BB-8 who had all his new lights out and was whistling worriedly about him and something about getting shot. He hadn’t felt like he’d been shot. He’d felt pretty great actually. But he had no idea how he’d ended up on the floor of the Millennium Falcon and the looks of concerns on everyone’s faces had told him that something serious had happened.

Everything after that seemed to happen quickly. They had landed the Falcon on Garos - apparently now the closest planet - and dropped what he had been told were pirates off with the authorities, giving statements about what had happened. The local Marshall had looked like she might’ve had some questions about the state of the prisoners, so did Poe for that matter. But one look at Chewie’s face and she had just nodded, pointing out that the prisoners were wanted and thanking the group for the service of bringing them in.

Poe had insisted on going with them for that. Despite loud objections from basically everyone - including Beebs who was currently pressed to his calf and hadn’t moved in an hour. It was only when Poe had threatened to throw down with every one of them that the group had seemed to accept that he was okay.

There had been other things to do after that, of course. The pirates had messed around with some of the systems and those needed to be fixed before they could enter hyperspace. Poe had wanted to help with that too but at Rey’s insistence had taken a nap instead, crashing into the bunk with one hand resting on BB-8.

He glanced down at the droid, still by his side. He wasn’t entirely certain what had happened. The last week, it was like a drunken memory, periods of blackout and long stretches of having no clue what was going on. He’d asked, but every person gave him a slightly different answer. Rey said it was a form of mind control. Finn claimed it was seduction. Chewie said he’d been enchanted by evil sorceresses.

He hadn’t asked Kina.

Odd that. The last thing he really remembered was going to see the three Chasinian woman. As such, Kina was the most likely person to have answers but he was hesitant to talk to her. Not just because of their past - although that played a not inconsiderable part - but also because there was something about her that made his head spin, a memory right on the edge of his consciousness. And she kept giving him long, considering glances when she thought he wasn’t looking.

"Our course is laid in, everything looks good. Should be about two days back to base," Chewie announced as he walked into the commons. Poe nodded at him and the Wookie came over to put a hand on his shoulder. "It is good to have you back."

"Yeah about that," everyone in the room seemed to freeze except for Poe. "Is anyone going to tell me what happened?"

As one, everyone but him turned and looked at Kina, who still had her back to them. Rey nudged her with her elbow and Poe heard her sigh before she turned around. For just a moment it was like he was seeing two of her, but a quick shake of his head and the vision vanished.

"I’m not sure that’s a good idea," she whistled, the voice coming from the new cuff on her arm. Handy, that. He wondered if their relationship might not have imploded if she’d had it then. If it had been easier for them to talk.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It’s just," she looked at Rey as if for help but the other woman shrugged. Kina sighed. "I don’t now of anyone who has been through what you went through and… this is uncharted territory for me. I’m worried that there is a chance you might slip back."

"Back to what," Poe knew he was snappish but he was tired of them treating him like he was made of glass. "One minute I’m talking to three Chasinians, the next I’m on the Falcon and  you say I’ve been shot. The clocks say it’s been nine days. Someone tell me what happened."

Kina looked at Rey one more time. "If he calls me mistress again I’m blaming you." The whistle was low, but translated at the same volume as everything else she said.

"If I what?" Poe looked at her incredulously.

Kina walked over, sliding into the booth across from him. She touched his hand for just a moment when she sat, then jerked it back and stared at her fingers like they had offended her. She sighed, something he noted she was doing a lot today. Then she started talking and Poe felt his eyebrows climbing higher and higher into his hairline as he listened to her. The others tossed in comments every once in a while - Finn mostly - and by the end of it his eyes were wide and he felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff.

"Let me see if I have this," he glanced around the room. "I was under the thrall of these three Chasinians, until you guys came to rescue me. Then I transferred all of my… devotion to Kina. We stopped for a bit and I was taken prisoner by pirates and got shot and now I’m okay."

He saw several people exchange looks before Kina replied, "That’s the gist of it, yes."

"I mean, if we’re gonna leave out all the super awkward touching and-" Finn started but Rey smacked him across the chest.

"We are."

"Huh," Poe grunted. "Maybe it’s for the best I don’t remember anything. Did I do anything embarrassing?"

"Yes."

"No."

"So much."

"It wasn’t that bad."

Poe looked between Chewie, Rey, Finn and Kina in turn before he sighed back into his seat. "You know what? I don’t actually want to know."

"That’s probably for the best," Rey smiled at him and he smiled back. Suddenly a thought occurred.

"So wait, what broke the thrall?" he asked, eyes darting around the room.

"You saved Kina," Finn said, nodding at the woman. "True love and all of that."

Poe felt his lips part and he turned but she was shaking her head. "No, not me." Her little half-smile was wry and she looked away from him, down by his legs. "BB-8."

The droid twirled at the sound of his name, lights flashing. "Thank you for saving me Friend Poe. But you should not do that."

Poe rubbed a hand along the droid. "Nah, I always got your back buddy. Besides, who else will keep the dark away?" He looked up and met Kina’s eyes and saw she was blinking back tears.

"Wait, your true love was Beebs?" Finn’s voice broke through the moment.

Kina rolled her eyes. "It has nothing to do with 'true love'. Just… love. In that moment, Poe chose someone he loved over what the Song was telling him to do."

"Yeah, but Beebs? He’s great and all but he’s just a droid." Finn still sounded dumbfounded.

Poe answered before Kina could. "He’s not just a droid. He’s my best friend."

BB-8 spun happily, light flashing rapidly. "You are my best friend as well Friend Poe."

He thought he heard Rey muffle a small 'aw' but he wasn’t certain. He did see Kina push herself away from the table and leave, several pairs of eyes following her.

"You gonna go after her?" Finn asked after a beat.

"Should I?" Three heads nodded at him. Poe’s brow furrowed. "What haven’t you told me?"

"Go to her," Rey said instead, laying a hand on his wrist.

He found her in the cargo bay, sitting on top of a crate with her face in her hands. K-0 was near her feet, spinning in worried circles.

"Poe help," the droid said as soon as it saw him. "Poe help Kina."

"Oh am I Poe now?" He replied good naturally, focusing on the droid while Kina wiped at her eyes. He let her have the moment, crouching down and holding a hand out to K-0 who regarded it dubiously.

"What want?"

"I was just gonna give you a pat hello, if that was okay," Poe responded, hand still outstretched.

Cautiously, K-0 moved towards him until just Poe’s fingertips touched the droid. When he ran a gentle stroke over the sensor array the droid leaned into it for a moment before jolting upright and backing away. "No more."

"No more," he agreed, holding his hands up and standing. His elbow was around the top of the crate which made it easy for him to lean on it while he looked at Kina. "So, I think maybe you and I might need to talk."

"About what?" The whistle was shaky, said around a sniffle and she wiped the back of her hand across her nose.

Poe turned his back to the crate, leaning on both elbows and staring off in the same direction she was. "I don’t know. But I get the impression that having all of my devotion wasn’t the bang up experience everyone expects it to be."

Kina snorted and he smiled. "It was… an experience," she said after a moment. "But it wasn’t you."

"What do you mean?"

"It was your face and your body and your voice," Kina explained. "But it wasn’t you. I could see bits of you in there but…" She reached over and laid a hand on his forearm. "All the things I like about you weren’t there."

Like. Not liked. Poe took a deep breath and covered her hand with his, still not looking at her. "I owe you a thank you. For-"

She cut him off, squeezing his arm. "You don’t. You really don’t. I would have…" He waited while she found her words. "I would have done a lot more."

"I also think I might owe you an apology."

He felt the stir in the air when she turned and he lifted his head to look up at her. Maker she was beautiful, possibly even more so than the last time he’d seen her. "For what?"

"That day, when you tried to explain to me… about droids. I wasn’t really listening to you." Her eyebrows raised and he gave her a half smile. "I thought you wanted me to, I don’t know, set all the droids free or something."

"Maybe someday," she said with a smile. "But all I wanted right then was for you to see."

"Yeah," he nodded. "I get that now. And I do. See, that is."

Kina’s smile widened and she looked across the room where K-0 and BB-8 were in vehement conversation with each other, although their beeps and whistles were low enough that they couldn’t be heard. "I know. You were willing to die for BB-8. That’s… that’s more than I could ever have expected of you."

Poe shrugged, lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. "Well, like I said, he’s my best friend."

Kina nodded and they stayed there for a bit in silence before he felt her move, her boots hitting the ground next to him.

"I think it’s approaching dinner, we should go back."

"Hey," he caught her arm and when she turned she was close. Close enough that he could feel the heat of her body. Close enough that it would only take the smallest movement to lean in and kiss her.

He shook his head of the thought. "I’m sorry I couldn’t see in time. For us."

She bit her lip and he watched as she raised a hand to his cheek. "Me too."

Chpt 26

[sinfullytempting]

Temptations (????)

(A/N) this is going to be a really long chapter actually, Seonghwa is only here for a little but the next sin shows up later in this chapter and ill put his up as soon as he shows up!

Tag list: @needyateez /  @cafesan / @a-revolution-teez / @sailor-san​ /

San (Lust 1) / Yeosang (Gluttony 2) / Seonghwa (Greed 3) / ????? (???? 4) / Filler Chapter (5)

Flashback:

You nodded and grabbed clothes before heading into your bathroom, throwing a glance back at San who grinned at you from the chair at your table. “Go on or ill come in to help you change!” You threw a glare before slamming the door shut behind you, letting San’s laughter seep through the door.

“I hate sins…”

“Dont lie baby you love us!”

“I only tolerate some of you, aka Yeosang!”

Present:

You turned towards San once inside your room, letting Seonghwa clean up. “You, tell me more about these Guardian angels.” You cocked your head to the side as you half glared at the kitchen door. “And why sins are randomly showing up. Apart from Yeosang because I enjoy his presence so far.”

San cocked his hip out and crossed his arms, huffing as you mimicked his pose, ignoring the first part of the question. “First, the others are just curious about you, plus I know who’s probably going to be next but that’s for me to know and you to find out.” The corner of his lips quirked up in a smug smile, like he knew something you didn’t, which he did, plenty of things.

You huffed as you turned towards your dresser to pick out some pj’s, “…is Seonghwa going to stay over?” San shrugged. “I won’t let him.” You flushed before you grabbed clothes and escaped into your bathroom, passing the rapidly cleaning Seonghwa who shot you a soft smirk causing your cheeks to flush deeper, not used to having one, let alone two, highly attractive boys, even if they were demons, wandering around your flat.

You locked the door and slid down it, breathing deeply. Yeosang was the only one you could handle, you couldn’t even handle San at the moment, and you doubted you ever would be able to. and Seonghwa seemed like a whole handful along with San, and you didn’t know how much of a hassle the other sins would be. You brushed your hair back before changing into your pj’s.

“You’re not staying here.” You hear once you finish changing, leaning against the door. You hear Seonghwa scoff out a mocking laugh. “I’m not going anywhere lust. San huffs. “I am stronger than you, i will forcefully remove you.” You hear San hiss, annoyed at Seonghwa’s mocking tone then hearing the laugh that follows. “You think that matters?” Seonghwa snarks and you cautiously opened the door, thanking the day you put WD-40 to keep it from creaking as you opened it a little bit to peek out, interested in the conversation.

“It will work, I will use my powers, and you won’t be able to resist. I’m stronger than you Seonghwa, remember that.” San walked closer, stopping right in front of him, fingers itching to wrap around his neck and choke him into his place as the weaker one of the two. “Try me.” San had his hand wrapped around Seonghwa’s neck within seconds of the words slipping from his lips. His hand tightened as a faint threat, pinning Seonghwa against the wall as he leaned closer.

“You will leave.” San spoke, voice deeper, cat eyes narrowed in anger as he tightened his grip around his neck. “Do you want me to make it worse greed?” You stayed quiet, watching Seonghwa’s body relax. “Understood.” San smiled, dropping Seonghwa and stepped to the side. “Goodbye Seonghwa.” Seonghwa glared at him before his feet automatically took him to the door as he quietly cursed San’s strength, the command making the elders feet move if he liked it or not.

San turned around and you acted as if you had just finished changing, yawning as you stepped out. You werent stupid, you know San was aware of you watching. He was giving you a small show on his powers, he wanted to make sure you wouldnt step out of place and rebel against him should you feel the need.

You would be lying if you said his display of power gave you a slight jolt of fear. Seonghwa, who was taller, and older (apparently) submitted to easily to San, and for some reason it blew your mind.

“Uhm…can i ask you a question?” San hummed as he walked closer, almost guiding you towards your room. “Depends on the question.” He cooed.

Being around San made you feel like you were being hunted, cat like eyes almost always narrowed, a smirk on his lips. Like he was a predator, and technically he was, he preyed on those who made him his sin.

“You said you had 7 other brothers right?” He nodded, listening carefully. “Do you guys have an age order? Or does it go by power?” He watched you carefully as you both stopped in front of your room. You felt like you were being judged, examined like he was about to dissect you, you felt unnerved. “We do have ages.” He grinned, almost crowding you against the door. “..can i know?” He hummed, resting a hand on your hip. “Seonghwa is older, but with power i’m first. Then its me, then its Agony, then Pride, Yeosang, Sloth, Envy, and lastly is Wrath. Hes the youngest but not by much.”

He had gotten closer at that point, breathing fanning across your lips and noses almost touching. “Give me what I need.” He murmured and your eyes dropped, feeling yourself submitting but managing to open the door and stopping things from going further, your breath hitched as you caught yourself but not before San almost fell with you, catching you as well. “What the fuck?” His grip around you tightened, nails digging into your skin and you whimpered, squirming. “San please, you’re hurting me.” He narrowed his eyes before removing his nails.

This was different, you were his prey and he had caught you, and he was angry. He reminded you of a panther, unnerving stare, teeth bared slightly as he growled deep in his throat. “That wasn’t a smart idea princess.” He stood up straight, pushing you back towards your bed. “But since you don’t know your limits yet, ill let it go.” He took a deep breath to calm himself down. “Don’t anger me because you wont like the consequences. Understood?” You nodded and he smiled, mood changing before you could blink. “I even changed your sheets from all the blood that happened!”

You mean the blood you caused? You snarkily commented in your head, forgetting he could read and hear your thoughts. “Yes the blood I caused, and it’ll happen again once i put finish the claim on you. It’ll look so pretty, right on your hip by your navel.” He murmured quietly, stroking the skin once he was close enough and you squirmed, not wanting to admit you were ticklish.

“Will it hurt?” He hummed, ignoring the question. “Time to sleep.” You huffed before rubbing your eyes, suddenly tired. “Did you make me tired.” At his grin you pouted but got into bed, covering up all the way. “You’re not sleeping beside me.” You turned to face the sin himself and he feigned a pout, crossing his arms. “But princess, why not?” You huffed. “Because I don’t know what you’ll try.” He shrugged. “What’s stopping me from crawling in once you fall asleep?” You twitched, half glaring and he chuckled, holding his hands up. “Alright princess i won’t.” He rose a brow, turning towards the door and leaving.

Walking down the hall and towards the window, He opened it and licked his lips, sighing quietly and he inhaled the familiar scent, soft scent of evergreen trees, exclusive only to the ever lovely Sin of Envy.

Jung Wooyoung.

San (Lust 1) / Yeosang (Gluttony 2) / Seonghwa (Greed 3) / Wooyoung (Envy 4) / Filler Chapter (5)

“Wooyoung? I can smell you.” Green smoke appeared, followed by a black haired boy, pouting as he slipped inside. “How kind of you to let me in but not let me see her. It’s not fair Seonghwa hyung and Yeosang have before me.” He pointed at San. “Plus I was so close to claiming her until you showed up.” He whined, punching San in the chest weakly.

Calming down Wooyoung looked around San, looking down the hall before standing up straight. “Yeosang told me that Felix was her possible angel? Where did he go?” Wooyoung crossed his arms, frowning. “Changbin said a while ago that Felix never just ‘disappears’ so…” Wooyoung lit up before he frowned again. “What if he left her on purpose? He basically gave her to us on a silver platter.” He moved towards the living room and plopped on the couch, crossing one leg over the other.

“San…what if this was on purpose? But why would he, the strongest guardian angel, leave her?” He crossed his arms again, sinking into the couch more, tilting his head back and humming as San walked closer, fingers sliding across the sun kissed skin of Wooyoung’s neck. “Are you pent up Sannie? Seonghwa hyung came back angry.” He chuckled as San’s nails dug into his neck carefully. “She pushed me away and didnt give me a kiss like i needed.” Wooyoung hummed, closing his eyes and letting San’s fingers explore his skin. “I forgot your thing for necks.” He whispered before San pulled away and sighed.

“I need her kiss, with consent because im not a monster-”

“Sannie you’re a demon, the devil himself-”

“Not the point Woo. Even if im the devil himself, i know what consent is.” San rose a brow and cocked his hip out. “Jung Wooyoung, you better be using consent as well.” Wooyoung rose his hands up, marking himself innocent. “I do.” San nodded before sitting down beside him, grunting quietly as Wooyoung threw his legs over his lap. “When does she wake up?” San hummed, glancing at the clock. “She has a lecture at about nine am so, about seven thirty she wakes up and showers before eating breakfast, then leaves.”

Wooyoung shot him a confused look at San’s detailed answer. “Havent you know her for less then a day?” San grinned, winking. “You see a lot when you claim someone, youve claimed plenty of people, have you never focused on them or are you envious everytime one of us claims someone? Thats not your sin, youre not to be greedy Wooyoung.” Wooyoung shrugged. “You may be lust San, but do you notice that you have a little bit of every sin inside you? You have a lot of pride in you, let alone some of envy. You have a lot of me.” Wooyoung smirked, hinting at the past. “I may but you enjoyed it so much.” San whispered, shooting Wooyoung a look. “I have plenty of you inside me.” He grinned before glancing at San.

“I’ll stay here and introduce myself once she gets ready.” Wooyoung hummed, shifting so he could curl up against San, resting his head on San’s shoulder. “You’re so clingy.” San whispered, sighing dramatically before reaching for the TV remote and lowering the volume before turning on a random movie, letting the younger sin slowly fall asleep once he covered them up with a blanket resting behind them on the back of the couch.

San sighed, letting his head fall back against the cushions, one arm wrapped around Wooyoung’s waist. “You’re like a child.” He whispered before counting the minutes go by and eventually the hours. Once it hits Seven am and the next movie out of 3 hes watched ends he picks up Wooyoung and places him on the couch before creeping towards your door. Opening it he closes the door quietly behind him and sits on the edge of your bed.

Watching carefully as he slides a hand up over your leg towards your hip. “If you wake up now ill cook for you~” He murmurs as he moves closer, dropping his hand so his fingers brush against the writing before up towards your neck, raising a brow when you lean into it. “Oh?” He whispers before he strokes the skin carefully before he moves his hand up and through your hair. “Princess wake up.” He hums.

“Dont wanna…” You mumble and he smirks. “Dont make me spank you.” He purrs, laughing as you shoot up, eyes still shut before they open the slightest bit to glare at him. “Why are you still here? Go home, go away.” You grumble. “Dont you have somewhere else to be?” He shook his head. “Now that ive claimed you, i dont have to be anywhere but where you are.” You grunt and rub your eyes, tempted to kick San out of your bed and you actually try, only for him to catch it. “Thats a no no Y/n.” He yanks your leg back, you crying out at the pinch of skin and the feeling of not properly stretching before being yanked down the bed.

He grins at your cry, humming. “If you were a good girl this wouldn’t have happened.” San shifts his body so hes sitting between your legs and you feel sharp teeth threaten the skin of your inner thigh before they pierce the skin, his grip on your legs keeping them from moving as you squirm and try to kick him but freeze at the feeling of sharp teeth in your thigh, not wanting anything to tear.

San pulls away and watches the blood trickle down, humming quietly. “Is this how i have to make you stop now? Biting you?” He purred, licking the blood off and moving to stand up. “Go get changed.” San smiled but you knew it was a warning. Getting up you glanced at the clock before grabbing an oversized hoodie and some warm leggings and glaring at San.

“Can you atleast let me change in my own room?” You mumbled, holding your clothes to your chest. San sighed dramatically before he turned on his heel and walked of the door. “I’ll be right out if you need me.” You huffed. “Good thing I wont!” You yelled as he closed the door, changing quickly before he could change his mind. You swung the door open, resisting the urge to blatantly check San out as you found him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a smirk painted on his lips again. “Hello princess.” You huffed as you walked out and down the hall and into the kitchen.

You had to hold back a scream once you noticed another male sitting on the couch, legs crossed and arms laying across the back of the couch with a blanket thrown over him. “Sannie it was rude to just up and leave me.” He pouted, turning to look at you. He took a second before he was up and in front of you. “You must me Y/n!” He grinned, green eyes sparkling. “Im Wooyoung, Envy is my sin.” He feigned a pout, crossing his arms. “Sannie claimed you before i could get to you, then im not the first person to see you after?”

“Woo give her a chance to breath, you scared the poor girl.” San spoke, coming up behind you. With San’s presence behind you it could help but make you relax a bit aside from the threat moments earlier of biting you into submission, you knew San wouldn’t do anything, despite knowing him for only a day now.

“I apologize~” You blinked a few times, noticing the others scent. “Did…Do you all have like, a special scent?” San hummed softly. “Yes. But we dont know what ourselves smell like, so love, tell me what I smell like?” You twitched in your spot as San walked closer. “…like cinnamon, alluring and addicting. A little mysterious as well.” He cooed quietly.

“Would you like to skip class and get to know Wooyoungie? He will follow you around whining if you say no…” You slide your eyes towards ‘Wooyoungie’ and bite your lip, the boy was looking at you with the purest form of puppy eyes. “I really need to go to my lecture…” You watched him physically wilt. “…but im sure i can get Min to write down notes for me…” You mumbled reluctantly but he perked up, smiling growing on his lips and you groaned, rubbing your eyes. “Can i go back to sleep then? I dont want to be awake if i dont have to be.” You narrowed your eyes. “How long have you been here.” You crossed your arms, frowning.

“Not long after Sannie left your room last night, probably moments after.” He hummed quietly and you stared at him for a moment before walking to the kitchen. “All these sins just appearing out of nowhere….” You grumbled to yourself, searching for fruit snacks in your cupboard before smiling as you found them. “There you are…” You smile widely, opening the bag and shoving some in your mouth before turning around to look at both of the boys.

“So what now?”

[mrsnazariowrites]

Breathe Underwater

The Edge of the World: Chapter 12

Perfect Match AU - Pairing: Damien x MC

Perma-note: Dames’ name is Dexter in this series.

IMPORTANT A/N: So this is a bit of a sensitive chapter with what’s about to happen. I’ve kept the writing as tame and non-graphic as possible, but I’m including some warnings just to be safe.

Content Warnings for this chapter: Psychological Warfare, Humiliation, mentions of torture, Sexual Harassment

There are feelings of humiliation and vulnerability, but no sexual acts will actually take place.

If you need to catch up, Chapters 1-11 is in my Masterlist

The supporting lyrics are from the song A Shot in the Dark, by Within Temptation

Link to the Choices Fanfic Archive version: 

http://choicesfanfic.com/content/breathe-underwater/

Summary: When Harley returns, it’s all Dexter and Maya can do not to blow their cover. But when the truth of Damien’s interrogation comes to light and Maya is presented with a cruel dilemma, everyone is pushed to their breaking point.

‘Cause your soul is on fire, a shot in the dark

What did they aim for when they missed your heart?

"This is an interesting turn of events." Harley sauntered over to them with a smug look on his face.

"Harley." Dexter tensed, shifting awkwardly. "You know, most people knock before entering a room."

"And miss out on this blockbuster moment?" He quipped. "I don't think so! I mean what a scene!" He exclaimed, looking between Dexter and Maya. "Funny thing is, I was just coming by to see what was taking our other friend so long, and what do I find?" He gestured towards Maya.  "Not only did he not show up, I find you two . . . holding hands." Harley took another step towards his partner. "Sooo? What's the scene here, buddy?"

So clearly Harley hadn't overheard everything, but that didn't mean he wasn't about to have some questions about this.

Maya immediately locked eyes with Dexter, well aware of her pounding heart. Knowing that Harley was watching them, Maya resisted the urge to shake her head and settled for biting her lip nervously and letting her eyes make her plea for her. Please don't tell him. Dexter gave her a hard look, knowing exactly what she wanted him to withhold. It was a lot to ask for sure, especially considering that Eros was going to find out about the allegiance of their latest doppelganger, one way or another.

A series of emotions flitted across his expression before it smoothed over. Then Dexter immediately faced Harley. "Who says there's a scene at all?" He asked calmly.

Harley just raised an eyebrow.

"Although, when you put it that way, I can see why you'd think that." He remained steadfast under Harley's burning stare. "But for the record, I only came here to deliver some lunch and then she . . ." He jerked his thumb back toward Maya. "Started giving me trouble. Yelling, getting all emotional . . . you know the drill by now."

Harley snorted. "Of course she did."

"Naturally I got tired of her taking shots at me all day, so I thought I’d have a go just this once." Dexter's face twisted into a smirk, deliberately enough that Maya had to wonder if it was genuine. "Pretty convincing, huh?"

"That's . . ." Harley eyed him skeptically, then Maya.

Maya looked to Alana, who subtly tilted her head in his direction, silently urging her: 'just play along'. Knowing it was all to keep Nadia and her friends safe, Maya took a deep breath and turned on Harley, glowering at him when he glanced at her. "Lying cheats, both of you." she muttered. "Just say whatever else you have to say and get out."

Then Harley looked back at Dexter until his face broke into a wide smile. "That's brilliant!" He clapped his hands on Dexter's shoulders, not noticing the flash of relief on the Match's face. "And here I was thinking you'd gone soft on me!"

"I try."

"Anywho," His earlier suspicion gone for now, Harley let him go and then beckoned towards the door.  Two guards entered carrying in a table, chairs and a small monitor. "Back to what I was really here for."

Dexter narrowed his eyes. "What's going on now?"

"What's going on is the next phase of this experiment," Harley explained. "I still don't know what happened to our other guy, but since you took care of his part, it looks like things are still going according to plan." He turned to his partner, smiling. "Good."

"Good? Why is that good?"

"Every bit of data we get on human emotion pushes Eros' technology further," He said. Then he cocked his head. "Surely you still understand that. Right?" He emphasized that last word a little more forcefully.

Dexter swallowed hard, then nodded. "Of course."

"Now while you two were busy re-enacting a romantic tragedy, Cecile and I have been getting 'acquainted' with Damien." Harley walked over to Maya, grinning snidely. "I knew you were upset at being kept apart again. Figured the least I could do was keep you updated."

After the mention of Damien, the rest of the answer had gone over her head, as Maya could only focus on what the guards were doing now. She felt her apprehension growing by the second as she watched them set up the table and then leave. She didn't even notice Harley was behind her until she felt her elbow being grabbed. "Hey, what-" He pulled her over to the chair and sat her down, facing the monitor. "What is all this?!" She demanded.

"Oh Maya, isn't it obvious? I've got something to show you." Harley pulled out a small remote and switched it on. The screen revealed Damien with his cuffed arms suspended above him. Cecile, Rowan and a guard stood in front of him, brandishing a stun gun.

"Oh my god!" Alana immediately yanked herself forward, only to be stopped by her handcuffs.

"Damien!" Maya gasped and instinctively moved to get up, but Harley's hand gripped her shoulder and forced her to sit back down.

"Keep quiet and watch," he hissed. "And you," Now he was addressing Dexter, jerking his chin towards Alana. "Stay there and watch her."

The guard pressed the stun gun into Damien's side. There was a buzz of electricity and Damien's body jolted. He squirmed against the current for a few seconds until the guard stepped back.

"Ticklish," Damien quipped. "Good for your first try, though."

"That was just the trial." The guard adjusted something on the device and then returned to address the P.I. "Hope you've saved your energy, Nazario."

Maya watched in terror as Damien arched his back, gritting his teeth. His hands were balled into fists as he visibly endeavored to breathe through the pain.

"That the best you got?"

"Not even close."

Maya couldn’t watch anymore. "Stop it." She said urgently. Harley moved to turn off the monitor, but then she grabbed at his jacket. "No, I meant stop hurting him!" Tears welled in her eyes as she looked to Dexter. "Please!"

While Cecile and Rowan pressured him with questions, the guard cranked up the voltage further before repeating the procedure. This time, Damien let out a strained groan as the electricity coursed through his body. His muscles tensed and spasmed as he writhed in agony. The guard held the device steady as he continued to shock Damien at short, regular intervals, sneering at him.

"Stop!" Maya covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. Every pained shout pierced her ears and cut through her like a dagger. Soon, his screams were drowned out by her own, echoing off the metal walls of her prison. "Don't hurt him!"

She wasn’t even aware of when the monitor was switched off and Damien's torment wasn't on camera for them to see. When she could no longer hear his voice, she looked up to find everyone staring at her.

"Now here's what's going to happen, Maya." Harley said as he sneered at her. "Should you agree to cooperate, we're willing to give Damien a little break."

Maya simply glared at him. But then his next words made her blood turn to ice.

"Now, I'm going to need you to remove your clothes."

Her anger melted into shock and her mind went blank as she stared at him in horror.

"Of course rest assured, you won't be harmed in any way."

"What?" seemed to be the only word that could come out of her mouth.

"You heard me. That's the deal," He said. "Of course, you don't have to do it but that just means we'd need to use other interrogation methods on Damien."

She tried to say something again, but couldn’t seem to make a sound. She turned to Alana, whose gaze was darting between her and Harley. Even Dexter looked appalled, his once-crossed arms now hanging stiffly at his sides.

"What does this even have to do with your experiment?" Alana asked evenly. Her expression remained composed to the point that only a highly trained professional would've picked up on the flash of outrage, simmering underneath.

"Now if I told you that, the results wouldn’t exactly be accurate, would they?"

"Right, of course. 'Results'." Alana rolled her eyes. "This is what Eros has millions of dollars to spend on? You know there are plenty of strip clubs in town if you're that starved."

"Ugh, now why'd you have to go there?" Harley wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I'm programmed to be a perfect match for specific personalities, not to go fooling around in a den full of mindless junkies. You humans and your warped priorities are really something." Then he walked around to Maya's side of the table, peering down at her. "And anyways, it's not as though we could frame the environment to decrease hostility can we?"

He reached out as if he was going to touch her cheek, but stopped halfway, smirking at her. "I did say I wouldn’t touch you, Maya." He gestured to his hand, which was a good few feet away from her. "See? I can keep my word. In addition," he pointed at Alana. "You even have the benefit of a female being present to ease your mind."

"N-no." Maya choked out, scooting back in her chair instinctively. She took a deep, shaky breath and struggled to compose herself. "No," she spoke out more clearly. "You can't make me do this!" Then she turned to Dexter, who was watching her with narrowed eyes. "Dexter, you can't seriously be okay with this!" she pleaded. "I know you're not Damien, but you do have his personality! This is not something he'd want for anyone!"

Dexter said nothing. Only the storm of uncertainty in his eyes spoke for him as he processed that.

"Please," she begged. "You don't have to do this!"

"I'm sorry," Harley was looking between them, before he watched Maya incredulously. "Are you seriously appealing to him?"

"I-"

"Well this is intriguing," He placed his hands on the table and bent forward to scrutinize her. "One change in appearance and you've developed this much trust in him."

"What?! What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that in spite of everything he's done so far, you still believe he's going to help you. All because he looks exactly like your boyfriend."

"No, I-"

"That personality you're referring to? All information uploaded from Damien's file." He gestured to Dexter, smirking. "It must have felt so real to you when he pulled off his little masquerade at the Louvre, didn’t it Maya?"

"Eros may have distorted it to fit their own ends," Maya said sharply. "But that doesn’t mean they can change the real thing!" Her voice became a little more steady as she faced him defiantly. "Human or not, Damien would never hurt me! He would protect me at all costs!"

Harley didn’t even flinch. "You're right," he said sadly. "Damien's an honorable man. Courageous, strong and clever. He knows how to find his way out of situations like this, wouldn’t he? But this time with you around, he's holding back. Why would he endure so much unnecessary pain, if not to protect you?" He leaned forward, his eyebrows arched in sympathy. "Surely you don't want to be the reason for his pain? Just cooperate and you could help him for once."

Maya was at a loss for words. "But . . ." She looked around her helplessly, struggling to figure a way out of this; to keep Damien safe without having to suffer humiliation, without giving Eros the satisfaction of being able to manipulate her.

There was no way this stunt was going to let Damien off the hook. This was just one of many sick mind games they had in store for them and she wasn’t naïve enough to think that things weren't going to get worse from here on out. But what else could she do at the moment? Damien was alone. Alana was restrained and she herself was at the mercy of two androids tasked with collecting 'data' from her. Sloane and the others were still miles away; unless they got here soon or Damien or Alana managed to free themselves, no one could help her.

Harley observed her in silence for a little longer as she continued to sift through her thoughts. Then he sighed and pulled out his comm, his eyes never leaving hers. "Set it to maximum."

Maya's eyes widened and she shot out of her seat, every logical thought going out the window. "No, don't!" Then she could hear Damien's tortured screams again from over the intercom, louder than ever. Her heart felt as though it would tear into pieces and she gripped the edge of the table. "Stop!" She wailed. "I'll do it, okay? Just please stop it!"

Harley muttered a quick command into the device and just like that, the deafening noise stopped. Maya collapsed back into her chair, sobbing. He crossed his arms, watching her expectantly. "Now are you gonna cooperate?"

Maya's sniffling started to quiet, but she managed a quick nod. She stood up from her chair, still shaking.

"Whenever you're ready."

She could hear the rattling of metal against the wall as Alana pulled at her cuffs, frustrated. "Maya . . . no-"

"I have to, Alana." she wept. "I'm sorry. I can't watch them . . ." Keeping her gaze on the floor, she wiped her face and then took a deep breath. Though tears continued to spill from her eyes, she willed herself not to lose her composure again.

Maya had to focus her efforts to get her arms to work as she pulled her shawl off from around her neck, not looking at where she tossed it aside. She heard a shift of movement, but kept her eyes on herself, therefore not noticing when Dexter turned his head away to hide his pained expression.

Her fingers trembled as she unbuttoned her shirt, reluctantly sliding it off. The cold air hit her skin and she instinctively hugged herself. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Alana averting her gaze; her sleek brown hair covering her face.

"Keep going." she could hear the amusement in Harley's voice. Maya wasn’t sure if anything . . . else was going through his mind at the moment, but she didn’t dare look at him to find out. Her mind went numb and she swallowed hard, unfastening the button of her jeans and removing them. Now in only her undergarments, Maya stepped away, hugging her shoulders again, allowing her long violet hair to fall forward, covering as much of her as it could.

"Harley please, this is more than enough-" She could barely speak above a whisper. Her muscles were stiff as she fought to keep her balance. "I've done what you asked. Let me at least keep these on."

Harley seemed to consider that, then Dexter spoke up. "I think that's enough, Harley. You've already achieved the purpose."

"All right, fair enough," He replied. "Now that wasn’t so hard was it?"

"Go to hell." Maya snapped.

"Ooh you seem touchy." Harley sneered. "Anyway, a deal's a deal and I appreciate your cooperation, Maya." Maya knelt down to take back her clothes, only for him to swipe them out of her reach. "I'll be holding onto these if you don't mind."

She pressed her lips together, fighting to maintain self-control. Then she glanced at Alana, who was glaring at Harley with a cold fury in her eyes that Maya hadn't seen before; her fingers whitened from clenching her fists.

"Ready to go see Damien?"

Maya bit back a gasp as the true intent behind this finally made sense. Oh god, what have I done? She'd expected this the second he'd made that unreasonable demand in the first place, but hearing it was so much worse as she realized what was about to go down. How was she supposed to face Damien in such a state?

Not too long ago, she'd wanted nothing more than to see him again. But now . . .

No, I don't want to go. Not like this.

"You're fine now, Maya. No one's gonna hurt you."

Nothing had happened. Harley had surprisingly kept true to his word and hadn't laid a hand on her, yet she still felt so violated.

She watched as Harley opened the door and stood outside, waiting. Taking a deep breath, still covering her chest, Maya walked forward numbly. Just as she reached the door, there was a sudden movement and Alana brushed past her, moving to stand between her and Harley.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?"

"Coming with you, of course," she said point-blank. "I'm the additional 'female presence' you used for your experiment, remember?" she challenged. "You wouldn't want to compromise your data at this point."

"She has a point," Dexter said softly.

Harley frowned. "We don't even need her for this-"

"Hey!" Alana snapped. "Haven’t you done enough?!" Then she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You might have me in handcuffs now and threatened to kill me numerous times, but don’t think for a damn second that I'm standing around because I'm intimidated by you." She stepped forward. "You do not wanna leave me to my own devices. One way or another, there's no way in hell I'm leaving her alone with you after this."

They locked eyes in a deadly stare for several moments until Harley waved his hand dismissively. "Fine," he spat. "Don't try anything funny though."

"I won't if you won't."

Harley was about to react to that but then Dexter stepped between them, clearing his throat. "Harley, I'll take care of this. Why don't you go on ahead?" When he was met with a skeptical look, he managed to force a convincing smirk on his face. "Let me handle this while you give Damien the good news . . ."

His partner's surprised expression immediately changed to that of pride. "That's a perfect idea." He placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding approvingly. "I'll go ahead then. Don't take too long."

Maya was watching this whole interaction, momentarily taken aback by Dexter's sudden change. He'd gone from being completely conflicted over this whole thing to complying with everything Harley was doing - and at this point, she'd just about lost any hope she'd had for him. The rational part of her told her Dexter couldn't have interfered without throwing himself and everyone else under the bus, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

But then just like that, here he was again, keeping Harley away from them.

What the hell is going on?!

Suddenly, she felt something brush against her arm and she jumped fearfully, hugging herself more tightly.

"Easy, Maya. You're okay." Alana held her hands up slightly. Her handcuffs were dangling off one of her wrists while the other held Maya's discarded shawl. "I just thought you might need this," she whispered. "I hid it behind me when Harley wasn't looking."

"Alana . . ." Maya watched, astonished, as Alana draped the shawl around her shoulders in an unusually gentle way. "Thank you." She cracked a small, grateful smile as she held the ends together, notably relieved at how it provided an extra covering for her. "But Harley said- and Dexter-"

"Won't do anything about this." The agent spoke with confidence as she eyed the wary Match standing at the doorway.

Maya's eyes darted in that direction where she noticed that Harley was already gone. Only Dexter stood there, his body taut with tension. He was pointedly looking away, and at the same time, placing himself in front of the opening as if in a futile attempt to shield them from sight. "You're probably right, Alana." There was a tinge of bitterness in her voice, but no defiance this time. "We're way past that point now."

Dexter flinched. "Maya, I-"

"Save it. I know." Letting out a resigned sigh, she braced herself and walked past him; following closely behind Alana. Though they were now out in the open, it was fortunately the middle of the night; which meant there was hardly anyone around. Still, Alana seemed to make it a point to shield her at every turn.

As they made their way to the other cargo container where Damien was, she involuntarily slowed her movement and almost collided with Dexter. She locked her teary eyes with his and he stepped back. His gaze swept over her before quickly fixating on the ground and they continued walking.

Maya hadn't looked at him for too long, but it had still been enough to pick up on something else in his eyes. She was half convinced that she was imagining the emotion in there that she hadn't seen clearly enough or even expected from him.

At least not until now.

Guilt.

But what Maya hadn't picked up on was the anger bubbling underneath; the little beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead, the slight trembling in his hands - little manifestations barely concealing the rising tide from within as that faraway look in his eyes from before returned . . .

"I hated the person I was back then. I never want to be that man again. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. I worked undercover, never knowing who I could trust, lying to good people who didn’t deserve it."

"But you did it to help them. You protected those people."

". . . I couldn’t protect everyone."

I breathe underwater, it’s all in my hands,

What can I do, don’t let it fall apart . . .

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

@lizeboredom @simplyaiden-blog @damienazarios @scalpeljockeybrycelahela @walkerduchess @mfackenthal @choiceslife @walkerismychoice @gardeningourmet @rainbowsinthestorm @itsraleighcarrera @eileendannie @mysteli @flowerpowell @the-everlasting-dream @aworldoffandoms @musicalnerd98 @thecordoniandiaries @brightpinkpeppercorn @lady-kato @kinda-iconic @universallypizzataco @sawyeroakleyscowboyhat @jlpplays1 @desiree-0816 @cynicalworlds @darley1101 @odetomars @moonlightgem7 @h3llostrang3r @stillafictosexual @mrsnazariowalker @indiacater @burnsoslow @ab1901 @dcbbw @client-327​

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Hello. I'm Dasha from ao3. As you say, you opened reguests, so i ask a Lion King (first and second cartoons) for Lotor's movies might. Thank you.

Movie Time With TSL Lotor: The Lion King I (1994) and II (1998)Edition

“And this,” Lotor was saying, leaning his elbows against thepillow in his lap, “is another Disney movie, yes?”

Pidge sat on the floor beside the couch, flanked by both Hunkand Lance. “Yep.” The image of the movie’s cover flashed onto the main screen,revealing an image of a hand-drawn lion and the title The Lion King.

Lotor’s white brow quirked. “Strange,” he murmured. “Are youcertain we did not already watch this? What was that children’s programming youintroduced me to earlier…” He snapped his fingers a few times to jog hismemory. “The White Lion, with Kimba.”

“A separate cartoon, but uh, yeah. Lions, man.” Hunk laughednervously. “They’re everywhere.”

Lotor hummed. “I am beginning to think so as well.” Heleaned his cheek in his hand curiously, narrowing his eyes. “Regardless, knowingthat this is Disney, I can assume with a particular level of certainty that theprotagonist is a young one whose parent or parents are in a tragedy of sorts. Thestory will undoubtably pull my heartstrings in some way, regale me with song,and then round back to a message of hope or self-discovery. Does that aboutcover it?”

The three young paladins paused and looked at each other.Lance scratched his chin and said, “Yeah, that’s about right. Way to spoil it,dude.”

The prince shrugged in a light humor. “I enjoy sensiblepatterns.”

But as the movie began, an inspiring call of song rosethroughout the hall. Lotor’s brows raised in interest of the sound, which wasdifferent from the other music he had so far heard from the planet Earth.

Pidge then turned to Lance and whispered, “Ten bucks saysAllura’s gonna fly through that door any second.”

Lotor’s ear flicked, caught between listening to the wondrousmusic and the paladins’ whispering.

Lance whispered back, “I’m so not taking that bet. She’sprobably already in the hall. I give her like, five seconds.”

“I give her three.”

Just then, Allura slammed open the door, eyes wide in a franticexcitement. “Lions!” she called. “Oh, this is The Lion King, how dare you all watch something about lions withoutme. Honestly, the nerve. You know I love lions.”

All four sets of eyes stared up at her—with Lotor’s beingthe widest.

Allura swept in, her regal dress and perfectly set curlsflaring behind her. And then she, with an upmost lack of regality, flopped ontothe couch opposite Lotor. She dared to stretch her slippered feet out, to theprince’s surprise. He stared down in shock, face flushing, as he realized thatshe had propped her feet right into his lap as if such things were perfectly ordinary.

“I…was sittinghere, princess,” he strangled out lightly.

The tips of her slippers wiggled in excitement, the goldthreads catching the light upon the pillow. “And now I am too. I cannot say noto The Lion King.”

Lotor swallowed hard as he gazed upon her excited face.

Hunk broke his maddening race to think of something to say.

“You’ve seen this, like, four times,” Hunk called to Allura.“So we kinda figured maybe you’d be bored or something.”

The princess gasped, raising a hand to her chest. “Never.This movie is precious. And it has talking lions.  I could not ask for more.”

Lotor hesitantly leaned his arms over Allura’s calves insearch of a comfortable position. He had seen the paladins flop over oneanother often—with Pidge falling asleep on top of Lance, Hunk leaning his headagainst Keith’s shoulder, and even Shiro dog-piling on top of them all once in thename of claiming the couch. Such actions were, Lotor believed, signs of deepcamaraderie.

He wondered if Allura’s candid movements were a sign ofincreased trust. He felt a rising sun in his chest at the thought, and theglimmer of stars bursting in his lungs when she did not move away but wiggled abit in all her finery to get comfortable for the rest of the movie.

He could feel her warmth through the fabric of theirclothes.

“If you all must know,” she declared airily, “Nala is my favoritecharacter.”

Lance deadpanned, voice light, “Would have never guessed.”

“Oh, hush, you. Your favorite characters are the laughinghyenas.”

“Hey, those hyenas are legit,alright?”

Lotor’s lips twitched, knowing at a certain point that thepaladins were growing careless in their discussions of spoilers.

——

As the movie progressed, Lotor’s merry smile turned to a suspended,thoughtful expression. The character of Simba was such a curious thing. Like him.But not like him.

The relationship he had with his father was something thatLotor almost felt envious of.

“You are more thanwhat you have become,” said the cosmic Mufasa. “You must take your place in the circle of life.”

Simba returned helplessly, “How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.”

“Remember who you are.You are my son, and the one true king.”

Lotor felt chills down his body in an odd way, and for a time,he completely disengaged from the movie at the statement.

You are my son, andthe one true king.

He looked down at his emaciated hands. Despite eating enoughfor three people, he was still struggling to regain who he had once been. Helooked up.

“Going back means I’llhave to face my past,” Simba was saying to Rafiki on the screen.

“You can either runfrom it, or learn from it.” And then the baboon took a swipe at Simba withhis staff, and the young lion avoided the strike.

Lotor’s eyes widened in surprise, his previous thoughts fading to the back of his mind. “Ah, I know this tactic.How familiar and strange to see it here. Friends, this is the Galran way of the palen-bol.Learning from pain so that you may avoid it.“

Hunk’s eyes slid to his.  “Ah, yeah, I’ve heard about palen-bol.Interesting stuff.” He laughed nervously.

The prince raised his chin in a quiet delight, to seehimself—somehow, a merrier version of his own people—in the movie.

—-

As it turned out, one movie about lions merged into two, the story continuing with Simba ruling over Pride Rock. Lotor was leaningforward now, brows furrowed in increased interest. So far, he had never seen asequel to a movie. He had not known that humans continued their stories onoccasion.

Now that Simba had ascended and claimed the throne of hisfather, what else was there to his story?

And then, after a short time, Lotor’s furrowed brows relaxed. “Ah, I see wherethe plot is going. This is a romance, with a forbidden element per Scar beingoutcast in the first movie.”

Lance waved his hand. “Romeo and Juliet style, with a lil’lion razzle dazzle thrown in for fun.”

Pidge cut in then. “Except they don’t die in the end.”

Hunk waved his hand and deadpanned, “I mean, nobody’s that heartless with a kid’s show, right? You can totally tell this is going somewhere good.” 

Lotor leaned forward, lightly squishing against Allura’slegs as he grabbed for one of the rolls Hunk had so kindly grabbed from thekitchen. The princess herself had fallen asleep at some point toward the end ofthe first movie—her acts of diplomacy across the Coaltion often exhausted her—andshe grumped lightly at his movements.

Lotor stilled for a moment before hooking his claws into aroll, carefully leaning back. “At least,” he murmured, “a benefit of spoilersis knowing what I’m getting into. I can feel the themes of prejudice in thisstory. I should hate for it to end poorly.”

It was around then that Keith walked in, somewhat dead-eyedfrom a nap. He took one look at the movie screen and groaned. “Seriously, guys?This movie again?”

Lance raised his nose. “It’s a totally valid movie, Keef.”

“It’s so cliché,” the older boy moaned. “Just a dumbromance.” He turned to Lotor and added, “Seriously, if you ever wanna watchreal movies again, just—”  

Lotor lightly set his roll aside and leaned down to clap hishands over Pidge’s ears. “—Best not to speak such criticism before the children,”he called merrily. “They are impressionable.” Pidge squawked. The movements wokeup a bleary-eyed Princess Allura, who found herself staring at the side-profileof a Lotor who was smiling without reservation, his lips wide.  

The princess blinked several times at the image.

Her heart skipped, the sleep wearing away from her as sherealized that Lotor had her feet quite pinned between his lap and his chest.

Lotor seemed to sense her waking state. “Apologies, princess,”he murmured to her, still holding his hands strong to Pidge’s ears while Keithcomplained about the movie. “I believe we are all engaging in…play of somekind.”

Allura rubbed her eyes and giggled a bit. “It sounds likeit.” Her sleep-rough voice softened. “It is such a merry sound, though.”

And on the screen, one Kiara and Kovu stared at each otherin close proximity, awkwardly brushing off their increasing attraction.

Lotor turned to her, a quizzical arch in his brow despitehis merriment. “You would speak so highly of our chaos?”

“Always,” she said softly. And then she teasingly poked her slipperedtoe against his side.  

The prince’s eyes widened as a noise escaped him. For a second,he grew very still. Then he slipped his hands away from Pidge’s ears to graspfor Allura’s foot. “Princess,” he said, voice strained. “You should know I amticklish.”

“I’m not sure you should admit to that around here,” shesaid merrily, still a bit sleepy in her eyes with a lazy smile stretching herfull lips.

He could not help himself.

Without warning, he ran his finger up the flat of her foot.

She squealed, eyes widening as she jerked her feet closer toher, her skirts slipping up her calves. “Oh, what a dirty trick!”

“On the contrary,” he said lightly. “Now I know you areticklish as well.”

Allura forced herself to sit up, her face flushing brightlyas she hid her feet well beneath the long length of her skirts, giving him adirty glare. “Well. At least I know we are evenly matched.”

A glimmer of a smile danced in his eyes. “For all ourdifferences, princess, I fear I must agree with you.”

And back on the floor, Hunk whispered to Pidge and Lance,jerking his thumb up, “You guys getting Kiara and Kovu vibes from these two orwhat.”

“Oh, man. Totally.”

“Not even a question.” Pidge rubbed her ear where Lotor hadlightly muffled her hearing with his hands. “But I worry about what that makesus.”

[ticklish-sparks-blog]

Buzzing Little Bee || Bumblebee

My first fic, so sorry if it sucks.

Charlie could still hardly believe it. She had an alien in her garage, after all! In the days following her discovery, she’d been slowly gaining the trust of her new friend. Whatever he was, it was clear he’d been through a lot. He flinched at the sight of her tools, despite knowing she would not hurt him, and had panicked upon hearing a helicopter for the first time. That wasn’t even mentioning his physical injuries. Pieces would fall off of him often, exposing gaping holes and lose wires. There had even been a few times where a piece would fall off while they were driving down the road.

Charlie glances over at Bumblebee, who had his eyes transfixed on the television. He found the television fascinating, for some odd reason. You would think a highly advanced robot would find something as simple as a television primitive. Not Bumblebee; he stared at the screen with wide, curious eyes. He’d been slowly picking up on earth culture and so far the television had been a good teacher. Every now and then Charlie answered a question, but that was it. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar humming sound. She blinked, refocusing her attention on Bumblebee. His head was tilted slightly, as if confused, and his eyes were still locked on the television screen. He reached up, gently tapping the screen and looking at Charlie expectantly. Confused, she walked over to see what he was pointing at. On the screen a couple was at the park. The guy dug his fingers into the girls sides, causing her to burst into laughter. Bumblebee pointed at the screen again, then looked back at Charlie. The girl frowned. “You don’t know what tickling is?”

Bumblebee shook his head slowly. He’d never heard of such a thing before. From the looks of it, it seemed pleasant enough. The female was laughing, so it must be pleasant. The Autobot stared patiently at Charlie, waiting for an explanation. “Tickling is when you touch someone in a sensitive spot and it makes them laugh. I don’t know why it happens, it just does.” Bumblebee nodded, though still confused. How can merely touching someone lead to laughter. He pointed to himself, head tilting once more. It took Charlie a moment to realize what he was asking.

“Are you ticklish?” Charlie asked incredulously. This was getting weirder by the moment, but she couldn’t help but find the robot’s innocence endearing. “Well, I don’t know. Can robots even be ticklish?” Bumblebee reached out, gently taking her small hand and guiding it to his midsection. He allowed it to slip under his armor, giving her access to the sensitive wiring underneath. The Autobot’s eagerness caused Charlie to laugh herself. This was too weird. “Are you sure?” She asked, earning a nod from her yellow friend. “Alright, here goes nothing...”

Bumblebee flinched, feeling her small fingers begin to wiggle against his wiring. It was an odd feeling, to say the least. Her touch was soft and gentle; so drastically different from the rough contact he was used to. Her tiny hands were able to access wires that hadn’t been touched in ages. As her fingers danced across his cables, a strange feeling began creeping up his midsection. It felt like tiny sparks were running through his wires. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling; quite the opposite. 

Charlie watched Bumblebee closely for any signs of pain. She got a few flinches from the bot, but he never pushed her away. Encouraged by this, Charlie sped up her movements. Her fingers began gently tugging at the wires; not enough to damage him, of course. Her eyes widened when her friend let out a loud whirling sound, followed by something akin to buzzing. She grinned; that must be how he laughed. He really did sound like a bee now.

At one point she must have hit a particularly sensitive wire because he erupted into louder, more frantic buzzing. His squirming had picked up as well. The human continued for a few minutes before finally stopping. Bumblebee relaxed, slumping gently onto his back. His form was shuttering slightly, still feeling the ghostly tingles. Charlie grinned, shaking her head with amusement. “You like that Bee?” The robots eyes seemed to brighten as he nodded. “Well then, we’ll have to do that again sometime.”

[hoodoo12]

Patience head canons

A few things came to me regarding my favorite of @dorklyevil‘s Virtue Ricks: Patience. I combined them with my favorite writing challenge, which is a list of random words you need to use in a sentence. I’m tagging @porkchop-ao3 too because she is stellar at brainstorming.

Be forewarned that these aren’t worth much. Some do have further explanations, and need further exploration. Some are dumb. Some are nothing. But character building is like that . . .

SFW. Patience Rick/reader. Snippets of thoughts, which means not everything is explicitly explained (although if you’re curious, please ask!).

⁂

Veganism “A double cheeseburger, please.”

You did a double-take, which he took in stride.

“You eat meat?”

“Yes. Is that a problem? Are you a vegan?”

“No, no--I thought you were!”

Patience shook his head. “No. I like steak and char sui bao and cedar-grilled salmon. I’m not a vegan. Never have been.”

You filed that away under things that surprised you about him.

Stuttering “Most Ricks,” he explained quietly, “allow their minds to shatter with thought, speeding in a hundred different directions all at the same time. I, however, try to focus and be more deliberate, which is why I rarely stutter or trip over my words. Not that it can’t happen, to be sure, in the heat of a moment . . .”

What does he wear under those robes? You laughed in surprised delight one night, early in your relationship, when you discovered Patience wearing nothing under his yukata. You made a joke about him “being ready for action!” and didn’t think anything more about it because other, more physical things demanded your attention.

It wasn’t until the next time, and the time after that, and again, that you realized he routinely didn’t wear undergarments.

He laughed at your shocked reaction to this revelation.

Scar “Are you ever going to tell me what happened? How you got that scar?”

Patience smiled down at you. “Maybe someday . . .” he teased.

“Come on!” you needled and he laughed, then said,

“You should’ve seen the other guy.”

Your insistent teasing faltered as the meaning of his answer seeped into your comprehension. He sounded like he was joking, what he said was what guys typically said, but you couldn’t help but ask, “You . . . you got it fighting?”

“Finishing a fight,” he corrected.

You tried to wrap your head around this information. This was Patience. He was calm and composed and more likely to wait until the oceans dried up before resorting to physical violence--

He lifted an eyebrow at the expression on your face. “That surprises you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does!”

“Just because I strive to live life slowly doesn’t mean that everyone else is kind and gentle with me, or that I am incapable of defending myself. Or . . .”

He paused and his brow furrowed. His hand went to the very scar you were talking about; the one that when it happened must have split open his forehead and left him blinded by the blood that poured from it. More quietly, more ruefully, he added,

“It doesn’t mean I haven’t made mistakes or gone against my nature. Or that I’ve always been as you see me now.”

It was still difficult for you to fit this information into the puzzle of his life. He saw your continued confusion and gave you a smile. “Is it so odd that occasionally we aren’t ourselves? Wrath’s volatile nature has been tempered somewhat, when he is accompanied by Kindness. No one thinks that is a bad thing. My only fault is that my lapse . . . ended like this.”

He briefly touched his scar again. His smile was melancholy, you realized, because what he called his ‘misstep’ would be considered a grievous mistake, while Wrath’s would be lauded.

Tea “I drink all flavors tea. Black, green, oolong, white, pu-erh. I like kombucha as well. There is a delightful milk oolong that I purchase sometimes, and a cream Earl Grey that is a special treat. I will also occasionally imbibe with what they call herbal teas--”

Boring “--which are not technically teas at all! They should more correctly be called tisanes. Only one plant, Camelia sinesis, produces all the aforementioned flavors of tea; what differs and creates the varying flavors is the processing after the tea leaf is harvested. Black is the most heavily oxidized. White teas are the least, and everything else is in between. To get the highly prized bright green color and intense flavor of matcha, the leaves are shaded so their chorophyll is concentrated, and once collected and dried, they are ground to a powder. Gyokuro are those same leaves, unground, and they are delicious to eat, after the tea they’ve made has been consumed.

“Regarding the herbal tisanes, most any plant can be used, but depending on which part of the plant--leaves versus roots, for example--perhaps an infusion would be a better descriptor for the process. I am partial to a chamomile tisane sweetened with lavender honey before I retire for the evening. Herbals don’t have the caffeine like tea does, and yerba mate is an excellent choice if you wish to avoid the stimulant.

“I have several books on the subject and have taken classes with fellow tea aficionados. I also have a wide variety of loose leaf teas; would you like to try them? I can set up a tasting and explain each one, including the process by which it is made, the correct temperature at which the water should be to brew it correctly . . . I could even set up different types of the same tea--green, for example, and we could explore Japanese versus Chinese, single estate versus something more commercially produced.

“And did you know that some teas are better after their second or third brewing? There is a specific oolong that is best brewed five or six times! There is so much to explore regarding teas and tisanes and I could go on for a very long time about it--”

Feet Patience’s feet weren’t ticklish. He rarely wore shoes, and his soles were calloused and less sensitive than someone who did. Even through the streets of the Citadel, he went barefoot.

“I would rather walk,” he replied with a shrug, when you suggested a portal gun would get the two of you to your destination more quickly. “Portalling is convenient, but then we miss out on so much along the way.”

Fog It made you nervous, so you clutched at his hand and tried to match his long strides. He, sensing your unease, slowed his steps for you. He also shook his hand out of your grip and slipped his arm around your waist. You’d have a hard time explaining your fear, walking in this fog--you’d be loathe to admit it was because you had played too many survival horror video games!--but luckily, he simply understood and didn’t question it or mock you.

Believe “Believe me, he would put my vow to the test ,” Patience chuckled quietly, with a nod to the Wrath, who was simultaneously ranting about something and brushing Kindness’s locks. “‘Ness has some special power, I think.”

Tradition “I may prefer to wear a yukata or kimono, and it may be tradition, but I am not wearing a fundoshi!”

Snow “Look at the snow! It’s really coming down out there.”

“It’s up to your knees out there . . .”

“I guess I should start getting home.”

“Baby, it’s cold outside . . .”

“ . . . you do know those aren’t the lyrics to that song, right?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe just a half a drink more?”

You snorted your laughter at him as you nodded your head.

Adorable He had several thousand hair ties. On very rare occasions he wore one with a tiny bell attached to it, which you found ridiculously adorable.

Pattern “Walk with me?” he asked, so you did.

It was a winding path, with sharp cut backs and turns. It looped around and around on itself; if you closed your eyes and let him lead you by holding your hand, you grew dizzy. Sometimes he made an observation, sometimes you did. At one point it felt right to go up on your tiptoes and walk with your arms stretched outward, like you were balancing on a tightrope.

There were no walls on this path. It was marked by bricks in the ground, and at the very center of it was a small bench. Anyone who didn’t know the path was there would have thought you looked like fools traipsing back and forth, instead of just walking to the bench and sitting down.

But labyrinths were made with twists and turns in a very specific pattern, Patience explained as he sat next to you. They lead into a center, and then back out again. They were a mediation tool, and he hoped you liked it.

Sun You’d walked a labyrinth with him, and let the sun warm you gently while he continued to explain, “Mazes are for getting lost. Labyrinths are for finding.”

Red Patience had several, and of course he had some that he preferred over others, but your favorite yukata that he owned was monochromatic in red, with a very subtle dragon and phoenix motif woven into it.

White His robes may have been different colors, but his belt was always white.

Watch “You never wear a watch.”

“And you always do,” he countered.

Walk Your paces were different—yours brisk and businesslike, his deliberate by habit—but eventually walking together felt natural.

Run “—go!  Put your head down and just go!” The deadly serious tone in Patience’s voice scared you more than anything yet tonight, until you looked in his face and saw the same severe, alarming expression there too.  It was a look more at home on Wrath’s face, not Patience’s.  He grabbed your upper arms in a grip that was so tight it pinched and gave you a push.  “Run!  Don’t stop, don’t look back—just run!”

Formal The fact that Patience kept a formal, neatly attended miniature Zen garden in his room did not surprise you.

Short Patience was tall and you were short, but the height difference never seemed to be a concern or a hindrance.

Horizon Habitually he was up before the dawn, and habitually you wanted to sleep late. But occasionally, Patience would gather you up—swaddled in blankets and all—and carry you out to the porch steps so you could watch the sun creep above the horizon together.

War Those who knew him bought him books on feudal Japan and war; those who really knew him bought him books on Japanese art.

Sarcasm He didn’t use it often—he thought it was rude and he should be above it—but when Patience resorted to sarcasm, it was worth it.

Speed “Nope, never tried anything—not pot or speed or coke.”

Coffee You never saw him drink it, although it didn’t surprise you he had the talent for making some of the best French press coffee you’d ever had.

Oil A sharp, astringent odor assaulted your nose. It took a second, but when you untangled your fingers from his and raised your hand to your face, the smell wafted more strongly to you.

Patience saw the disgusted and perplexed expression on your face and he immediately got up and left the room to go to the kitchen. Over the sounds of running of water in the sink and hands being scrubbed he called out an apology.

“I’m sorry, dearest. I neglected to wash my hands of the gun oil.”

You had gotten up to follow him, to wash your hands too, but stopped short at his explanation. Gun oil? Gun oil? You knew what it was, but couldn’t make it stick anywhere with anything; those two words and Patience didn’t match. Your heart was suddenly in your throat, and you were chilled out of the blue by a cold spike of fear.

Hands His fingers were long. He kept his nails neatly trimmed, and his fingertips were very lightly calloused. He had a faded scar at the base of the third finger on his left hand. The mark was very small, running perpendicular to his digit. He never told you what it was from, but your suspicion was it made by a ring that had cut him when it had been pushed too far back on his finger. He didn’t wear a ring now, and you weren’t sure how to ask about it. So you didn’t, but you wondered a lot.

Laugh Patience’s laugh was full and deep, and unlike some men, he wasn’t shy about it.