#i remembered to start the rice before morning chores at least

[uncultureddoubloon]

I've been feeling absolutely miserable, but I finally got off my ass and made a giant thing of stir fry (plenty of leftovers), have a kitty cat back on my lap, and am booting up Stardew Valley. Things are a little less bad now

[appleblueberry-pie]

Yandere House"wife" Satoru x Reader

Call it a happy accident, the way Satoru transitioned from being a full-time sorcerer to being the man you come home to after he does domestic chores all day. You two talked about it for a little while. There was a time when Satoru would come home late at night almost every day. And he would wind down, take a shower, crawl into the bed into your arms and just pour out his heart to you. He would say he hates his job. He hates how repetitive these days were becoming. Meetings upon meetings in the morning, and then having to exercise curses that never stood a chance for the next 6 hours. You soothed him, of course. Or at least as much as you could.

Then you proposed that maybe he starts taking days off. So you'll go to work and he'll stay home to heal his mind as much as he needs to. He would do anything for you, so of course he tries it out just to make you happy. And a few rest days turned into a few weeks. A few weeks turned into a couple of months. You don't remember the last time Satoru went to work by now, his phone blowing up every day from the people and job he kind of abandoned. He didn't care anymore.

He realized that he was happiest doing these mundane and very human tasks every day. And his motivation to keep going was just you. If he was bored, he would do the laundry that was full. I mean, the washer and dryer was just down the hall, why not? Washed the few dishes in the sink. Maybe he'll stop by the store to restock the fridge. You recognized how much of a....housewife he was being when he would retell his daily tasks to you before you two went to bed. "Oh, so I've got a little housewife now?" The neurons in his brain crackled when he heard that word escape your mouth.

Housewife

You raised your eyebrow when you watched him whisper the word underneath his breath. "You alright?" No, he wasn't. Well, he felt fantastic at the thought of his only purpose being his favorite person's provider and nothing else. But other than that, not really. He shamelessly enjoys having that title over his head. So he decides to play the part.

In the morning, he'll wake up before you, stare at your beautiful face for around 10 minutes before getting up to prepare your lunch and make you breakfast. NO, he can't cook. But he does know how to follow instructions. You wrote him some recipes you loved and he takes extra care to follow every single step to the exact measurements that you want. And when you smile at the breakfast, or make that sigh of relief, his heart jumps. Want more coffee? Do you want tea instead? He could pour you a flask of hot coffee before you go. And don't forget your lunch, either. He had fun making the panda shaped molds of rice.

And when you give your kiss goodbye and he finishes begging you to stay for a mandatory 5 minutes, he begins cleaning up the kitchen. He washes the dishes and clears the laundry if there's any. Mops the bathroom and cleans the tub, toilet bowl, and sink until they're sparkly and clean. Vacuums carpets and turns on a humidifier with your favorite scent lightly wafting throughout the place. Though he usually does this 20 minutes before you come back home so the smell is fresh in your brain when you walk in the door. He checks off the grocery list, visits a few people from his hitlist that he knows either hooked up with you in the past, broke up with you, or just tried to fuck with you in general. Sold a few organs from said people from the hitlist's bodies and goes back home to clean himself up and relax.

Relax meaning checking your location every five minutes, doing a mandatory 10 minute phone call on your lunch break to either try and persuade you to skip the rest of the work day to come back home, have phone sex(you talk him through his orgasm), or just let you talk and he'll listen. After the phone call, he'll eat his first meal of the day. He knows you don't like when he doesn't take care of himself, so he eats as much as his big heart desires. Which usually consists of your scraps of breakfast and dinner that you don't finish, so it feels like you two are bonding over the same meal(even though you aren't there). He does like eating with you and next to you, but it just feels more intimate when you two eat from the same plate. By the end of his meal, he's usually rock hard and close to tears at the fact that you won't be here to help him get off again for the next few hours.

So, he takes a cold shower(or two, if it's serious(and when I say "two" I mean he hops in, finishes, and then has to go back because it rises again with a vengeance)). And after his cold shower, he goes to the gym and does his weight resistance training. He knows you love every part of his body and his beautifully sculpted muscles(your words), so he takes good care of them. Then if he has free time, he'll watch some tv, pop up at Jujutsu Tech to piss everyone off for a few minutes, buy some sweets and desserts you two can share and then go back home to take a nap.

He wakes up about 30 minutes before you come back home so he can cook dinner. You told him you wouldn't mind having something "simple" tonight. And if he thinks carefully, this could mean anything from a boiled stew to TV dinner. Based off of your tone and how you said this sentence, he'll assume you wouldn't want something crazy to eat, so he actually buys some deli sandwiches from a shop not too far away. And when you got home, had Satoru take your coat, shoes, and jacket, you told him you were actually excited to eat. "It's been a while since we went there, huh? Oh, it's still warm!" The bread was toasted the way you liked and everything in between.

You were so lucky to have this man take care of you. You told him you loved him and if there was anything he wanted in return for his hard efforts to keep you happy, you'd do it. He shyly shook his head, a small blush overcoming his soft cheeks. He finished eating his sandwich before you and you noticed how silent he went. You softly grabbed his hand and he immediately looked up at you in question. "You alright? You're being quiet." You raise your hand from his hand to wipe a bread crumb from the corner of his mouth. "Yeah......actually, no. I just miss being able to grab your ass every second of the day, because your job doesn't allow your boyfriend into the building."

"Satoru, you know I can't take work off, I have to take care of us." Satoru flails and grabs your hand. "But babe, you know I have enough money to buy us 16 houses! You don't need to work!" You roll your eyes. "Well, I don't want to be in the house all day rotting away."

"We can rot together." "No!" He's a romantic at heart. He stands to walk off at your rejection and you grab his hand to pull him back. "Baby, you know I didn't mean it like that." "But.....you said we can't rot together...." "I know, but we can just be here right now and enjoy each other. We have all night and even some time in the morning. Right?" He sighs at your words and nod. ".........why are you hard?"

"Because you noticed I was quiet." You roll your eyes. He was also an attention seeker. How could you forget. "Really?" He nods. This time, you sigh, and you walk over to the living room couch, patting your lap. Satoru happily bounces over and plops down his weight on you. "Oof!" Sitting sideways on your lap, you caress his back with one hand and palm his hard on through his jeans with the other. His body immediately relaxes underneath your touch, and you smile up at him. "My baby has been working so hard today, hm?" He nods and stares at your hand. "I'm glad you're being productive. What did you do today, Satoru?"

"Today, I cleaned up the kitchen and did the laundry.." You unbutton his pants when he starts talking. But before you pull them down, you pause. "And what else?" He realizes what you're trying to do and swallows stressfully. He just wants you to take care of him. "And I mopped in the kitchen and the bathroom. I vacuumed, too." You pull his pants down enough to pull out his rock hard cock. It was warm and heavy in your hand, the tip straining with the blood swollen up to it. It was red and glistening with pre, threatening to drip down.

You gently wrapped your hand around him, slowly jerking him up and down, and a whimper slips out his lips. "Come on, baby, keep talking." He grabs your arm that's holding his cock and grabs at the couch with his other. "Um...I also........that's it." He cuts himself off, and his eyelids flutter shut when you put a little more pressure onto your hold, your thumb swiping over his tip.

"Hm? Are you sure?" You know he cut himself off. Which only means he's hiding something from you. He nods his head in response, and you let go of him. He whines at the cold that surrounds him now and looks at you. "Whyy???" "I don't know, baby, I think you're lying to me." You give him a look of fake concern, and your hand instead travels south to very gently fondle his sack, which immediately gets him to squirm.

"I'm not!!" You scrunch your eyebrows. "Are you??" He goes silent, and you stare him deep into his eyes. He can't reciprocate the eye contact and stares at your hand. You stop touching him, and he looks back up at you with sad, glistening puppy eyes. "I went through the list." Your eyebrows shoot up before you start scolding him. "The list??? I thought I told you to get rid of that thing? Satoru." When you first moved in with one another, you found his hit list full of people you used to talk to. He planned to kill them off one by one to have you to himself. You never truly got mad at him for it, because most of those people on the list genuinely were big pieces of shits that you wanted to burn in hell.....but technically it still wasn't okay for him to just do that behind your back.

"No, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just-" you lightly push him off of your lap, which was basically his equivalent of being shoved off of a cliff and his heart drops when you stand up. "NO! No. Wait, baby, please. Let me make it up to you. Please don't leave me like this." He trips onto his knees but still makes record speed in crawling over to you. He grabs your closest leg and hugs it tightly. You could feel his cock(which was still out) rub against your pant leg. So dramatic, you think.

You look down at him, and he stares up at you with those stupid big blue eyes. "......" He takes your silence as his que to convince you. "I can make it better, look!" He shifts in front of you, still on his knees, and begins to unbutton and pull your pants down. You lose balance and stumble back into the dining table behind you, using it for balance as Satoru yanks down down your pants, his eyes staring at the goal.

"Satoru, what the hell are you doing?" Funny enough, your words contradict your actions, and you instinctually spread your legs farther apart for him to have more space in between. He grabs your legs and places them on top of his shoulders, and you scoot back onto the dining table for more comfort, cups and silverware clinking as you clumsily push them back.

"I can help like this." He pushes his tongue as far as he can past your lips, getting a strong first taste at your pussy. A firm and slow stripe from your hole up to your clit and you hiss, gripping onto the table. Satoru moans loudly and closes his eyes to enjoy himself as much as possible. He shifts impossibly closer to you, hugging your thighs to both sides of his face to be buried deep and makes out with your sensitive bud. You could feel him occasionally exhale his warm breath onto you before firmly flicking his tongue onto you again.

You begin whining at the waves of pleasure crashing down on you. Drool and your essence cover Satoru's chin. His cock twitches endlessly against the hardwood floor, more of his pre dripping onto it the more he gets you to moan. "Get up." His eyes snap open, and he pulls away to look up at you. Your fingers dig into his scalp, and you pull him up, earning a wince from him. He knows what you want and leans in to let you taste yourself on his tongue. In the middle of the kiss, he suddenly flinches at the feeling of your hand once again grabbing his cock. You separate the kiss and his gaze trails down to your pussy.

You took his cock head and pressed it in between your lips, rubbing it up and down against your entrance. Your eyes seemed to glisten in a way he hadn't seen in a long time and you maintained eye contact, whispering to him. "You gonna be a good boy and fuck me how I taught you?" Each word that slipped out of your lips was enough to make him insane, and he was ready to do whatever you commanded. He robotically nods and you laugh at his reaction.

You press a soft kiss to his chin, letting him spread your legs on top of the table. He softly spreads your lips and makes eye contact with your hole. Heat radiates from you and he soaks up every last bit of it. All he can see, think of, and hear is you. "Beautiful." He whispers underneath his breath. You caress his arm to snap him out of his mind and he leans down closer to you, his head now pressing to your entrance gently. "Please show me." And he takes it upon himself to shower you with the affection you deserve in hopes to satisfy you again.

Did I cook????? Cuz I feel like I wrote this way too fast.

[souichioneshots]

Souichi x Farmer!Reader

Souichi goes to visit one of his oldest farmer friends for some straw. In return, he makes her a voodoo doll and things get a litttlleee steamy

ahaha idk lol

Souichi heavily breathed through his mouth as he continued to walk down the treeless path. The summer sun shining down on him was making him sweat bullets, and having a large leather satchel cling to his body was starting to make him feel sick.

“Why does she have to live so far away…” Souichi mumbled to himself as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Passing a couple more rice fields, a large Japanese-style cottage finally came into view. It was surrounded by a couple of mango trees and 2 PVC greenhouses. He could see from the outside that they were once again filled completely with strawberries and tomatoes.

As he approached the house, he realized that all of the cars were gone. He thought for a second that he came all this way for nothing, but then he heard a familiar voice echoing in the distance.

“Kuro! Way to me! Shiro! Lie down! Hairo! Lie down!!” Souichi quickly made his way to the back of the house, where the voice was coming from.

As he pushed past a large bush, he finally saw you. You had been herding a large trip of white-tan goats and your 3 dogs, Kuro, Shiro, and Hairo were also doing their best to keep the goats in place.

“Y/N!” Souichi called out from a distance, getting your attention.

“Hmm? Souichi!!” You turned around and called back, jumping slightly in the air.

Souichi laughed as the goats also turned in his direction and let out a little “meh” sound as a greeting.

“Give me a second. I’ll be done in a bit.”

Souichi watched from under the shade of a tree as you continued to order your dogs to do their job.

You and Souichi had been friends for as long as he could remember. It was actually his grandmother who introduced him to you when he was younger. She used to get straw and other ritualistic material from your family when she practiced magick, and now he was getting stuff from you as well.

Today, he had come for his usual satchel fill of straw, and anything else you would give him as a gift. You loved to give him gifts. From fresh rice, to mangos, and even white strawberries.

Everyone in the town knew your family used magick because there was no way mangos nor white strawberries could grow in the weather conditions this part of Japan had to offer.

“Sorry for the wait!” You held onto your straw hat as you ran up to the boy. “We actually built a new barn last week for the straw. It’s this way.”

Getting up from his spot, Souichi walked with you to a small open barn located on the other side of your house.

“Woah…” Souichi looked up in awe at the massive amount of straw you had stored up this season.

“Pretty impressive, right? It’s the largest haul we’ve had in years. Praise Ninigi.” Turning towards the sun, you bowed once. Souichi quickly turned with you and did the same.

You laughed a bit at his sudden action. You knew that without his grandmother around, he wasn’t sure how to act in these types of situations. So, he mostly just copied you.

Putting your hand out, you gestured for Souichi to give you his satchel.

"Do you need me to tie them up or can I just stuff it in here?" You asked as you walked over to a large pile of loose straw.

"Just like that is fine." Souichi replied.

Picking up a handful of straw, you neatly placed it inside. When it was finally full enough, you closed it up and handed it back to the boy.

Although it was a lot, it still felt surprisingly light. Hopefully, it won't go to waste this time.

Sitting on a large straw stack, you took off your hat. You shook your head side to side as your long hair flowed from inside the hat and down onto the straw you were sitting on. You had been growing your hair out since kindergarten. Never cutting it once. Just the sheer length of it made you look like a goddess yourself. Although it was a big distraction when you worked, you planned on using your ‘virgin uncut hair’ in future rituals. At least, that’s what you told Souichi.

Patting the empty space next to you, you asked Souichi to sit next down.

“Ma actually took away the voodoo doll you made me last time you came over… Think you can you make me a new one…” You said in a sad voice as you looked at the boy.

“Again?” Souichi replied, sighing loudly.

Although your family practiced black magick in order to keep the farming business alive, you were strictly forbidden from practicing curses and other types of voodoo until you turned ○○. In the meanwhile, your mother forced you to tend to the farm and learn how to be a proper worker. That’s why whenever Souichi came over, in exchange for whatever he wanted, he would teach you anything he knew about black magick in secret.

Currently, you were learning how to make straw voodoo dolls.

You didn’t really have anyone in particular that you wanted or needed to curse, but you wanted to be prepared just in case anything happened in the future.

You smiled widely as the raven-haired boy took out a pair of pruning shears and red string from the front pocket of his satchel.

Grabbing a couple handfuls of straw, you placed them on your lap for him to freely use.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re making it by yourself this time.” He sternly said.

“Eh~? But I’m tired from doing chores all morning…I’ll give ya a kilogram of rice if you make this one for me~” Souichi just shook his head no. He would need a better incentive if you wanted him to do this for you again.

“Hmmm…Aha! I’ll give you a whole box of fresh white strawberries as well!” Souichi smiled as you offered him exactly what he wanted. There was a reason your family sold their strawberries for over 20,000 yen a box. Getting them for free from you was one of the best parts of coming over.

“Fine. But this is the last time. And pay attention this time.” Humming happily, you handed him a handful of straw.

“First, make a circle with your thumb and index finger. Then place enough straw to fill it completely. When you get the right amount, you use some string to… Uhh... Hold this.”

Handing you the bundle of straw, he used the shears to cut a couple pieces of string to use.

“…Hold it up straight up…Yeah, like that. You tie up the top end around here. Next, you repeat this with another section of straw. When you finish that, you slide one section into the middle of the other. Then you just tie it up here, and here. Lastly, you part it in the middle for the leg sections… And then you tie up those ends and…Done!”

You let out a small whine as your mind failed to keep up with Souichi's speedy motions and vague explanation. You wanted to ask him to do it again, this time much slower, but you knew he would just go at the same speed again.

Cutting the extra pieces of straw that stuck out from the ends of the voodoo doll, he made it look presentable.

“So, what do you think? Pretty good, right?” Souichi proudly said as he handed it to you.

“Yeah! I think it might even be better than the one you made me last time!" You replied as you examined the doll in awe. "So, all I need in order to curse someone is their picture?” The straw crunched in your fingers as you opened up the chest section a bit.

“You can also use their hair, and at times when your hatred towards them is at its peak, you can just write down their name on a piece of paper, stuff it in the middle there, and it’ll work.”

You hummed in amusement as the boy once again explained to you the way straw voodoo dolls worked.

“Hair, huh…” You said to yourself in a voice so quiet not even Souichi could hear.

Moving closer to him, you spoke in a loving voice. “I never did thank you for the last doll you made me, did I?” Putting the doll down on the empty space next to you, you moved to place a quick kiss on the boy’s cheek. “Thank you.”

“Ah! Hehe…I-It was no problem… I can make you more anytime you want really…” Souichi turned his face away from you, trying to hide the blush that had grown on his cheeks.

You were always the affectionate type.

“Then, I should probably thank you in advance~” Bringing your hand to his face, you turned him towards you. Souichi’s body burned with embarrassment as you placed multiple kisses on his cheek again.

“You know, you can also thank me for always giving you so much straw~” You teased as you tapped your own cheek, hinting for him to give you a small kiss back.

Closing his eyes, Souichi moved to plant a kiss on your cheek. However, you also moved back to face him as well.

Souichi’s eyes shot open as you pressed your lips against his.

The remaining straw on your legs fell to the ground as you moved to straddle the blushing boy.

You were perhaps a bit too affectionate really.

But Souichi wasn’t complaining.

Souichi’s eyes fluttered closed as he melted into your kiss. Your hands caressed his face as you quickly deepened the kiss.

Souichi playfully bit your bottom lip as you tried to pull back for air, forcing you to return back to him. He liked to experiment with different ways of teasing you every time you spontaneously kissed him like this.

Slowly, your hands ran through his hair, making it messier than it was before.

"Ow!" Souichi pushed you back and yelled in pain as you suddenly pulled his hair.

Moving to sit up, you gloated.

“Haha! Now that I have your hair, you have to follow everything I say or I’ll curse you to death!” You laughed as you help up a single strand of dark hair. You were expecting Souichi to try to get it back from you, but he didn’t.

Looking back at you with an equally victorious smile, he moved his hands in front of you, showing off the contents it held.

“That makes two of us~ Kekekeke~”

Your smile dropped and your eyes widened in shock as you saw the shears in one hand and a large amount of your hair in another.

Bringing your hands up to your head, you felt the difference in hair length on each side.

“How could you…” Tears ran down your cheeks, making Souichi stop his cackling.

“I hate you!!” Pushing yourself off the boy, you got onto your feet and started to run towards your house. “I’m telling Baphomet!!”

The goats in the barn loudly cried as you mentioned the name of the deity your family religiously worshiped.

“Crap! No!! Y/N!!” Jumping off the straw-stack, Souichi threw your hair and the shears onto the ground.

“Wait!! I’m sorry!!” Souichi exclaimed as he chased after you.

Just before he could grab ahold of you, you ran into the house. You were so upset that you didn’t even bother to take off your shoes.

Souichi slipped on the grass as he tried to stop himself from going any further. He knew he couldn’t enter your house without your given permission.

Souichi felt his mind go into a panic as he saw you approach the large altar in your living room.

The goats in the barn cried even louder and banged their horns against the wooden walls as you pointed towards the boy outside your house.

Just before he could run away for safety, your three dogs surrounded him. Souichi let out a high-pitched cry of fear as the dogs barked and growled, forcing him to stay in place.

He made a big mistake messing with the daughter of the Baphomet worshiping family.

[sapphic-yearning-lesbian]

So I remember reading an ask on someone’s tumblr. I don’t exactly remember from who or when. But they wanted an insight on Raya’s struggle with reading and writing. I wrote a one-shot inspired by that question. And of course it finishes with some fluff because I couldn't help myself. 

Word Count: 1451

--

Weeks after Kumandra was reunited.

Raya was looking down at the piles of papers spread across a table. Her Ba was sitting across from her, quickly reading an article and signing it. Raya, on the other hand, was struggling. She was 12 when she stopped reading and writing. 

It's not a survival skill to read and write; it's a luxury. And she was just coming to terms with it.

"Trade…ne-go-ti-a-tions," Raya sounded out to herself. T

Raya tackled reading by sounding out each difficult word before attempting to puzzle together what it could actually mean; by reading and comparing all the terms within a document, she usually finds out what a specific word means. 

Complicated words, surrounded by descriptive words, can make them uncomplicated. 

She smiled as she realized Fang was requesting more rice in exchange for more chiles and thyme.

A negotiation was finding a medium to a situation that benefits both parties.

However, if worse comes to worst and she really couldn't figure out the meaning of a word, she would ask her Ba, who was always happy to help.

Raya yawned as she signed the document. Placing it on a pile in front of her Ba so he could double-check her work.

Lucky after doing this for months, she has never messed up a trade. Or at least that her Ba has told her about.

Raya frowned as she grabbed another document, most mornings from 5 to 6. They sit in this office and do paperwork before breakfast.

And she hates it. She could be sleeping or eating, but she's stuck in a room needing to read and sign documents.

—

It's been a year now.

"AHHHH, I still hate this," Raya stated. Things are different now. She doesn't find reading and writing that hard anymore but annoying. 

It's still a daily chore she must complete, but now she does it before bed, from 9 to 10.

Namaari was sitting on her bed reading a book. She wanted to be with her, talking, flirting, sparring, anything but reading and signing documents.

Raya looked down at the piles of paper; she now has more complex paperwork, including math. Mostly decimals and fractions. The documents are filled with numbers based on the outflow of goods and the inflow of goods.

So her chore requires more thought and patience. 

She had just gotten comfortable reading propositions on trades. Now she needs to do math with her English.

She was so overwhelmed by her own thoughts and hatred for this chore she didn't realize Namaari was behind her. "That's weird…" she said, taking a paper from Raya's desk. She was standing beside Raya, her hands leaning on the desk as her eyes skimmed the paper.

Raya tried to read her eyes. She noticed Namaari looked generally confused until her eyes filled with an understanding, and a smirk covered her face before saying. "The negotiations look legit, but these," she chuckled as she lifted a paper with math on it. "We deal with numbers, but this is not that." She threw her head back as she exploded in laughter, "I think your Ba hired someone to create homework for you. I'm assuming it's him trying to secretly help you improve your educational skills."

Raya felt her cheeks redden. It now makes sense. Usually, on Fridays, she has a mandatory meeting with her Ba, where she explains what was easy and difficult about her chores. She had never put the pieces together.

Truthfully she wasn't mad at him. How could she be! Whatever he was doing was working. She was getting better and more confident in her skills. "Well then, at least I can stop stressing that if I mess up, all our trades will be off."

Namaari stopped laughing and turned her head to look at me. I confidently held my gaze on her, her chocolate eyes shimmering in the candlelight illuminating my desk. "Give yourself more credit! You've been doing good," She chuckled, nibbling on her bottom lip. "I always double-check any Fang trade negations with Heart...just in case." 

They both burst out laughing as Raya's face turned a bright red. "I'm really trying, but I get so mad sometimes." She lifted up a paper with math problems on it. "This should be a second nature to me, and I struggle." She sighed deeply before breaking her eye contact with Namaari and looking at her wall. The clock said 10; at least she was done with that for today.

"Hey! It's normal to feel discouraged while doing things that push what we know. It doesn't make your process any less valid!" Namaari said in a stern voice to get her point across to the other. However, Raya seemed lost in her thoughts. She had her lips pressed together, and she was staring intensely at the pile of documents in front of her.

"It's easy for you to say that, Maari. You're great at everything." Raya responded in almost a whisper as she heard the other girl chuckle.

"I'm actually quite terrible at math. That was never a subject I excelled at. I did the minimum, if I'm honest." Namaari said as Raya chuckled and rolled her eyes. "The truth is, Raya, you can't be great at everything!" Namaari licked her lips as Raya turned to her locking their eyes together once again. "There will be things you struggle with while you excel in others. But no matter what, remember you are doing your best! That's what matters." Raya's coffee eyes shimmered with tears starting to pool in her eyes as a smile plastered onto her lips.

"You look so rough on the exterior but are so soft in your interior, Maari," Raya answered, smirking and raising her left eyebrow. Namaari's cheeks went red as she cupped her hand, brushing her hair behind her ear. This made Raya's heart almost combust within her chest. "Thank you; for listening to me rant and consoling me...It's hard for me to admit, but this has been difficult, learning by myself, only because I'm too proud to ask for help." Raya admitted as she read Namaari's eyes and found herself almost gasping for air when she realized the love hidden behind the other princess's following words.

"From now on, when we're together, we'll spend an hour together doing our paperwork so I can help you without you needing to ask me." Nammari excitedly answered. She hated paperwork as much as Raya did, but if paperwork included her, it couldn't be as bad. "If I notice you're struggling, I'll help you!" She unintentionally scrunched up her nose before finishing. "Plus, you won't need to thank me." 

Raya watched Namaari with so much fondness and love. She couldn't believe that this fang warrior was excited to help HER; So she searched the girl's face for any sense of hesitation or an ounce of dishonesty, but all she found was affection and love. Namaari was looking at her just as her Ba used to look at her Ma.

Namaari waited for Raya to say anything about her proposition, but she didn't. Instead, she hummed and placed her right hand on Namaari's right cheek. Her coffee eyes filled with so much happiness and desire. Namaari could feel her heartbeat accelerate as Raya's eyes found their way to her lips.

"I won't say thank you then, but I'll do this," Raya managed to say before gently rubbing her own nose against Namaari's, trying to get consent from the other before she processed. Maari soon after brought her hands up to Raya's cheeks. Raya took this as her consent and pressed her lips against the others.

The kiss was gentle at first, their lips getting familiar with each other. That lasted for a few seconds before Namaari ran her tongue against Raya's bottom lip. Which Raya didn't hesitate to part as the other's tongue quickly explored her mouth. The once warm and gentle kiss was now heated and passionate. 

Raya tasted like her peach chapstick, which made Namaari smile against her lips. She must admit that her freshly brushed teeth made the taste of their shared oral liquids taste quite odd, but nevertheless, she was kissing RAYA. 

The princesses snuck a couple breathes between kisses but had to part for air. They both opened their eyes and rested their foreheads together. 

Both their lips were swollen from all the kissing, but that was irrelevant. Raya finally got to kiss the girl she had been dreaming about kissing for years, and she kissed her back. "I could get used to that," Namaari stuttered as she was catching her breath. 

Raya smiled before answering, "I already have," following up with a wink.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Tarnished Knights (one-shot)

Summary: Edge isn't really interested in reading whatever books Stretch seemed to think he needs. He has enough problems trying to read their relationship.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Complicated Relationships, Flirtation, Budding Love, Idiots in Love

Read it on AO3

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Read it here!

~~*~~

“hey, edgelord, i found some books for you.”

Edge did not look up from the papers he had spread across the table. He was designing a new puzzle trap and hardly needed any distractions. Not that he shouldn’t have been expecting one. These days Stretch came over often when he knew Edge would be home from patrol, despite Edge’s discomfort at having him in Underfell. So long as he stayed inside the house, there should be no issues, but there was always a prickle of unease when he appeared, a brief moment where Edge resisted the urge to send him home to the safety of Underswap. Then he would remember why Stretch was visiting and that urge would vanish, tucked beneath a more visceral, and pleasurable, one.

Red tended to make himself scarce when Stretch was on a solo visit and while Edge didn’t care for him spending extra time at Grillby’s, he also didn’t blame him for his desertion. Stretch’s normal lazy behavior tended to vanish when it came to bedroom activities and instead were best described as both enthusiastic and loud.

Better that Red left, otherwise Edge might well be treated to another of his brother’s morning score reviews and the less he heard Red say things like ‘wails like a cat stuck in a beat-up aluminum trashcan at the end of an alley in downtown san francisco. gotta give ‘im 6 out of 10’, the better.

Stretch hadn’t asked before coming over, sending a text only moments before popping in as he often did. Ignoring him was always an exercise in futility, for a variety of reasons, but Edge tried. There was something to be said for anticipation, something delightful, and he intended to keep Stretch waiting as long as he could manage.

Despite his efforts, distraction still came in the form of a rumpled paper sack dropped down on table, right on top of his plans. Edge growled impatiently and shoved the bag out of his way, glaring up at his…well, that was a discussion for another day. His semi-clone from another universe would do for now, and said clone was smirking down at him with the stick of a lollipop poking out from between his teeth. Smoking in the house was verboten for both Edge and Blue, and so Stretch often found alternate means of keeping his mouth busy.

Both the innuendo in that and the sight of his tongue curling around the candy behind his teeth threatened another mental derailment and Edge hastily turned his attention to the bag at hand.

“I don’t need any books.”

Stretch made a scoffing sound and plopped down on the sofa with his legs sprawling apart, since sitting properly would have been reasonable and efficient, and Stretch was neither. “everybody needs books. books are the keys to the imagination and, buddy, you need to unlock a door.”

“There is nothing wrong with my imagination and I don’t need any more books,” Edge said. “I have my puzzle books.” And a tattered copy of ‘Peekaboo With Fluffy Bunny’ hidden away where prying eyes would not easily find it.

“oh, yeah, riveting,” Stretch snorted. He unwrapped another sucker and popped it into his mouth, the candy clacking against his teeth as he rolled it to one side. “that’ll get the ol’ imagination roaring like lions on your mind savannah.”

“I beg your pardon, are you suggesting your copy of the ‘Principles of Quantum Mechanics’ stimulates your imagination?”

“yeah, actually, but i also have a copy of this just in case that doesn’t do the trick.” He sat up and rummaged through the bag, yanked out a book to shove directly into Edge’s face. “it works some pretty good magic once you get into it.”

He leaned back enough to focus on the cover, “The Once and Future King,” Edge read aloud without enthusiasm. His experiences with kings were not something he wanted to repeat in his leisure time.

“yeah, yeah, i can feel your doubt. c’mon, you’ll like it, just give it a try. for me?” Stretch wheedled. He batted his sockets and despite the lack of eyelashes, it was not entirely ineffective.

If Edge’s interest in the book was middling, his interest in Stretch was not, lacking definition but not depth. Still, it didn’t pay to give in too easily, especially when it was someone else acquiring the debt.

“What do I get if I do?” Edge countered. From the way Stretch’s smirk widened, his sockets sinking down to hood his eye lights, he’d chosen well.

“well, all that book-learnin’ gave me a hell of an imagination.” Stretch pulled the half-eaten sucker out of his mouth and tossed it carelessly into the nearby trash bin without so much as looking at it. With the sly grace he so rarely showed, he pushed Edge back against the sofa and straddled his lap, tongue gliding over his teeth as he murmured, “bet i can think of something.”

The taste of his magic was sweeter than the candy, and coupled with that kiss, it was headily addictive. Edge forgot entirely about puzzles and kings and books, lying back and letting Stretch’s imagination sweep them away.

~~*~~

Much later that night, Stretch was curled up sleeping next to him and it was a good thing that once he was asleep, he tended to stay that way no matter what. Normally the tendency was (terrifying) annoying. He’d never have survived his childhood in Underfell.

Tonight, Edge found he was grateful for it because despite the unforeseen exercise of the past few hours, he found himself restless and unable to sleep. Normally he might get up and clean, a deep scrub of the bathroom tiles made for an excellent mindless chore, but Stretch staying over was a rare occurrence and he wanted to stay close by. If he woke and found himself alone, he might think himself unwelcome and that would go against Edge’s very much unspoken wish that he stay over more often rather than shambling off after sex with a faint limp and a laconic smile.

Asking for such a thing was more likely to get Stretch sprinting back to Underswap than wish fulfillment, so Edge said nothing and quietly hoped actions spoke louder than words, at least enough to either get through Stretch’s thick, brilliant skull or beneath his prickly, non-existent skin.

But none of that helped tonight. Sleep lingered out of reach and Edge rolled over again, sighing to himself as he stared out into his bedroom.

Artificial light streamed in through his barred window and landed on his desk, illuminating the contents. He’d tidied up the living room before they’d gone upstairs to finish what was started on the sofa —leaving any mess only gave Red leverage for maddening sock placement— and the bag of books was sitting on his desk, set there by Stretch as evidenced by its haphazard placement. It had fallen over and books were spilling out from the top.

Since getting up was out of the question, Edge reached out with his magic, clumsily using two bones like an oversized pair of chopsticks to grasp the book like a grain of rice. He made a mental note to work on that particular exercise again, who knew when it might come in handy, as he flicked on the small lamp on the bedside table. He’d try a page or two, if only to make Stretch happy, and then claim his reward for the attempt.

He opened the first page, already unimpressed with the first nonsensical sentence, and wondering why Stretch thought he would find this interesting. He hoped whatever reward he received for the attempt would be worth it.

Some hours later, his spine ached from hunching over the book that was gripped so tightly in his hands the pages occasionally threatened to tear. His eye sockets felt dry and gritty as he greedily scoured the last page and at the end, he stared at the final words, hardly able to believe there was no more. His mind was still awhirl with thoughts of knights and wizards, a fallible king who was worthy of following and yet still betrayed, honor earned and lost by those who were rich in virtue and brought down by their foibles.

“you liked it, huh.”

Edge startled, the book falling from his hands, and jerked around to see Stretch was watching him. He was still curled around the pillow, sunk into its soft depths with only one eye light visible from within a barely opened socket. Normally, that drowsy, inviting warmth was a temptation in itself, but this morning Edge’s thoughts were in turmoil.

Underfell was home, whether or not the people here wanted him, they certainly needed him, a tarnished knight to fight their battles, and here he would stay, stubbornly some (everyone) said, but weren’t there times he wished to escape it, if only briefly? Traveling to the other universes for a meal or for company, a chance to go somewhere else, be someone else, not the Great and Terrible Papyrus, but Edge, who was neither great nor terrible, and somehow still appreciated for it.

It never occurred to him he could leave without even stepping through his front door and bring his adventure back with him when he returned.

“Yes,” Edge admitted. “I did."

“yeah, i liked that one, too,” Stretch rolled onto his back, stretching out his long limbs beneath the blankets and letting out a satisfied groan as joints popped, “figured you might dig in.”

“Is that why you brought it?” Edge asked, curiously, “did you wonder if I would like it because you did?” When they’d first met the others, there had been some experimenting to determine the differences not only in their worlds, but in each other, down to their taste in condiments. That had dwindled off as they’d gotten to know each other, but he wouldn’t be surprised to learn Stretch still want to test a few theories.

Instead of agreeing, Stretch pushed up on an elbow in automatic protest, “no! i just—” That burst trailed off and he sank back down to the mattress, his face twisting in complex emotions.

Edge said nothing, only waited without demanding an answer. He wasn’t particularly skilled at reading others and worse when it came to Stretch, but he was slowly learning. If he didn’t press, there was a chance Stretch would give him an honest answer rather than a pun or some other deflection. It said less about himself and more Stretch’s issues when it came to any kind of emotional intimacy, but he still found himself holding his breath, almost superstitiously afraid of frightening him off.

Finally, Stretch shrugged, a certain forced carelessness in the roll of his shoulders. “i just wanted to give you something you’d like.” Then, a little softer, like a confession, “you deserve nice things.”

Edge glanced at the paper bag still sitting on his desk. He wouldn’t be able to stay up reading every night, only ones where the restlessness refused to abate, but that happened often enough and there were plenty of books still inside, more worlds to explore and adventures to be had.

Meanwhile, Stretch had been busily shoring up his defenses while Edge was distracted. His expression was closed off, set in the lines of his normal carefree easiness as he sat up, yawning deliberately. “seriously, edgelord, it’s only a damn book, don’t read too much into it. heh. anyway, i should head home so you can go on patrol.”

He should, time was creeping into late morning. Red was probably already napping at his sentry station. There was no reason for him to lean in and press his mouth to the tempting curve at the back of Stretch’s skull where it met his spine, except for the fact that he knew Stretch was sensitive there and always shivered at the lightest touch. He did now, a quiver rattling through his bones as he ducked his head to allow better access, a little groan catching in his throat.

“or not,” Stretch sighed out. He sank willingly back to the mattress with Edge following him down. His hands settled lightly on Edge’s back, fingertips drifting delicately against the scar-hewn bones with renewed promise.

At the cusp of giving in to temptation, Edge thought briefly of Arthur and Lancelot and Guinevere, their successes and mistakes, endings and the hope of new beginnings. Then he set those thoughts aside. As rich as that fantasy was, there was something to be said for reality and as he drew Stretch into his arms, Edge was content with his own.

For now.

-finis-

[namjoonchronicles]

healing | yg

↳ genre fluff, domestic, established relationship ↳ words 1.9k ↳ summary Yoongi maybe the worst in projecting his emotions, but his actions don’t lie ↳ warning suggestive content ↳ song james arthur ‘let me love the lonely’ ‘safe inside’ ‘can i be him’ ‘certain things’

“I would do anything to forget.” “And I would do anything to remember.”

The second male lead actor bore a wounded expression on his handsome face. The female lead actress was unapologetic and relentless to his heart. She swore that forgetting that she ever loved him is the only way to go on with her life. But the actor finally remembered all the love they had before he loses his memories as a result of an accident orchestrated by his step mother. He pretended to not remember just to know how she really felt about him. She said enough. Yoongi gawks at the screen. “Does that even make sense? How can he stay silent after that? How can he be okay with just that? What a load of bull--” His phone vibrates just as he is about to curse. With his wife’s picture flashing on the screen, he wipes his hand on his flannels and refastened the velcro straps of his arms to secure them back on. “Hello?”

“Hey sweetie, what are you doing?” “Watching that episode was a mistake, why would they ruin the story like that, everything was going just fine, I don’t understand…” You chuckled at your husband’s adorable whines, and “How far in were you?” “Joonsoo told Bora that he wanted to remember…Ah! I am so upset, I am not going to watch the rest of the episode… I don’t care…” “But you have to see what happens after that! A little spoiler for you…” you sang and he replied, “Ah! Ah, no. Don’t tell me what happens. No!” “She knew that Joonsoo’s memories came back, but she is doing that to follow Joonsoo’s mother's instructions…” you told him anyways. Yoongi leans back into his chair and it wobbles back and forth at his weight. He swiveled away from the screen, holding the phone close to his ear and he sighed out loud. “Why did you call me?” “I am just walking out a fried chicken hawker stall and was wondering if you’d like some but I remember your doctor saying you can’t have oily food… so that’s cancelled.” His wife is a tease. All she does is tease. Yoongi left his home studio and walked down the hallway to the living room. He then revealed to you that he found your gastric medication laying around the cabinet with several pills gone. Yoongi had always been so attentive towards things like these. Ever since he had to stay home longer than usual because of his shoulder surgery, he is policing you around with his keen eyes. He found out that you don’t really take care of yourself as well as you told him you were. There were antacids, antiemetics and all kinds of painkillers he found in the medicine cabinet that weren't his. This was alarming, at least to Yoongi. “You’re telling me that you crawled to work despite having gastric two days prior?” he scolded you with a low monotonous voice, pinky pushing the blisters away to see just how much you’ve been taking behind his back. “It’s nothing to worry about, it’ll go away soon… I learn endurance from the best,” you pushed your tongue to cheek, leisuring down the pedestrian walk area, pouting hard at your husband. “You’re talking back at me,” he scoffs, “I taught you that? I guess it's fair… Have you eaten?” You didn’t eat because you don’t have the appetite. After the gastric attack happened, you have been vomiting every time you ate, and your throat burns every time from the acid reflux. “Eating is terrifying…” you confessed. Yoongi poked his head into the refrigerator after the call ended. He took out leek, dried lavers, and whatever he could find in the fridge to start a small dinner. And he did them all with one hand. It wasn’t easy. The carrots were roughly chopped and the potatoes are barely peeled properly. It’s the best dish to take after gastric. He took a couple cups of rice and had them washed under running water. He measured the water and threw in a thumb-sized ginger so it got cooked together. He doesn’t say it out loud, but he really enjoys cooking. He was raised in a house that always belittled women's chores and because of the whole ‘boys shouldn’t cook’ agenda, he was more curious than ever in the kitchen. It comes naturally to him. He would secretly help his mom cook and prepare food to sell in school during the day. It remains one of the memories he is most fond of. He doesn’t really like telling people out loud how he feels. It was something  you both had in common. Coming together was difficult. It was like a race to the end, who will clamor up or who will fall apart faster, to you. Yoongi was determined to keep his emotions sealed in his dungeon called heart. Which was ridiculous, because everyone knows, the more you try to hide your feelings, the louder it is. He doesn’t say ‘I love you’ like normal people. His ‘I love you’s’ are scattered all around you. It was in the walls he painted and in the bookshelf he helped build. It’s in the picture of the milky way he took and in the pile of bandages he bought you when you sprained your ankle. They say, the eyes are windows to the soul. Yoongi had never looked you in the eye. It’s like he runs away from the things he wants the most. It almost made you give up. Seeing how the feelings aren’t verbally reciprocated almost made you leave. Winter, several years ago, “For Yoongi-hyung, you have to force it out of him…” Taehyung advised. “I don’t want to force him…” you sighed, “What if he does this to all his girl friends?” Taehyung stared at you dead in the eye with a cunning smile. “What does your heart tell you?” He asked. “My heart had been wrong before,” You shot back. Taehyung suddenly turned his attention to his phone, his face shone by the light from the screen and he smirked, “If he doesn’t, would he be running all the way up here at this time?” Just then, Yoongi bursted through the door. Chest heaving up and down, eyes blown wide, mouth gaping. His eyes darted to Taehyung and then to you. “You know he won’t leave his bed for anything…” Taehyung glances at you with a knowing smile, “What could this mean?” He feigned a surprised face at you and walked towards the door at Yoongi. And even then, he wouldn’t confess. “You love me, right?” you asked him. “It’s already so late…” “Please answer me…” He appeared conflicted. “Min Yoongi, you don’t love me?” “I… Let’s not do this…” “I think you do… Everyone knows you love me, everybody. Everyone, but you…” “Let’s talk in the morning…” At that time, Yoongi is afraid of commitment despite never really having problems actually committing. His past relationship didn’t go so well because he felt inadequate. And for that, he feared karma. He left the last one because he didn’t think he could be a good person for her. He was bound by depression, crippling sadness and fear so great, it left him in shambles. Being in a relationship back then made him feel like a boulder to a smooth sailing ship. He felt dragged along. He was responsible for two hearts and it felt a lot at the time. He knows just how much hurt he caused her and he knows that karma will come after him. That’s why when he fell for you, his first reaction was to be defensive. He doesn’t want the same hurt to happen to you. Because, what if he hurts you?

“And if I tell you I don’t care?”

The winter arrived on schedule this year. You shivered as you walked into your house. Yoongi is still in the kitchen, turning off the stove. “You didn’t rest like I told you to!” “How could I if you were not eating… I rested for a surgery and couldn’t cook ever since I returned, and you are already getting gastric from not eating…” You helped Yoongi carry the soup on the table. And you scooped him his rice. He was right. Your appetite went down ever since you had to cook on your own. His cooking has always been the thing you look forward to when you return home, but now, you don’t feel like eating because it’s always the same food over and over again. “Does it taste good?” He asked, lovingly. His eyes oozing fondness. “So-very good…” you said with a mouthful. “I have to shower after this… I am sweating so much,” he spoke to his bowl of rice. You unbuttoned his shirt and carefully slid the long sleeves down his arm. You keep glancing up his face to see if he is in any type of discomfort. His ears were the first to turn bright red and he had been biting his lower lip ever since you started undressing him. That wasn’t alarming. The strange thing about Yoongi is that he giggles or laughs when he is in pain. No giggles is fine. No smiles are good. By the time you took off his flannel buttoned up shirt, his face was bright red like he had been drinking whiskey. You couldn't help but smile when he gets sheepish like this. He looks like a sheep ready for the slaughter room. Next thing to come off is his trousers. The bath is ready and he climbs in. You went to the cabinet and showed him two bath bombs he could choose from. He wanted the lavender one. You always liked how it smells. Yoongi sat docile in the middle of the bath, while you swept his hair back and dabbed his face with a dampened towel. Then you move to his back and wipe along the spine, carefully avoiding harsh movements around the stitches on his shoulder. “The stitches are coming together nicely,” you spoke in whispers. Just the sound of the water dripping into the pool was heard. Yoongi let out an encouraging, “Is it…” “The skin around it is not swollen, and its closing up prettily,” you gushed, “At this rate you can start physical therapy around next month...?” “That’s nice to hear…” He hums happily, “I had been feeling rather helpless, and shackled, and unable to work at the speed I used to.” “Hence,” you started with a scolding tone, “Take care of yourself better from today onwards. Everyone frets around you, worried and bustling over you. Coddling you like a baby…when you get hurt like this, you worry everyone. Why did you keep quiet about this pain for so long…This type of perseverance is inhumanly. What are you… a saint?” He chuckles. You took off your own shirt and garments. Yoongi mashed his lips together, stealing glances on your body and when you climbed in the same tub and started washing yourself, he started to gather all the foams. “That’s why, stop hurting yourself…” you repeated your warning, unhooking your bra and throwing it on the marble floor next to your crumpled heap of blouses and trousers. Yoongi sighs. Loudly this time. “What is it now…” you blinked at him. “I want to get well faster… I missed unhooking your bras with my own hands…” 

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Copyright © January 6th, 2021 namjoonchronicles do not repost, and thank you for reading! Likes and reblogs are free!

[pototters]

Sleeping on Emotions

A/N: This is something that I’ve been working on as a thread on Twitter and I’m just transferring it here for all of you here to enjoy.

This will be posted in parts. This is part one. Transferring might be a little slow, but I’ll try to get part two up in the next couple of days. The thread itself isn’t complete, yet, so it might be some time before part three is ready.

Summary: After they’ve graduated from UA, Bakugo and Kirishima get an apartment together as roommates. Kirishima sleeps like the rock that he is, but now he’s started to sleepwalk himself into Bakugo’s bed occasionally. Bakugo has been pining since high school and this new development isn’t making things any easier on him, especially not when our favorite redhead starts to talk in his sleep, too.

Warnings: Bakugo swears a lot, no smut, mentions of arousal. More warnings for part two.

Bakugo x Kirishima

Word Count: 1,629

Crimson eyes slowly blinked open to the rising sun as Bakugo gradually woke up. He was vaguely aware of a heavy weight around his waist, and he let out a resigned sigh. How long had this been going on? It had started at least a month after he’d moved in with Kirishima to their apartment as roommates.

Once they’d graduated from U.A. nearly six months ago, Kirishima had come up with the idea to make things easier on themselves while they were starting out as new pros. Bakugo, of course, had a hard time telling his best friend ‘no’, even though he’d pretended to reject the idea. The transition had been smooth, overall, though.

They had their own rooms, and it wasn’t much different from dorm life. They even had their own bathrooms. Bakugo only occasionally had to snap at Kirishima about doing his chores, but their shared lives had been amiable, otherwise. At some point, however, something changed.

Bakugo wasn’t sure exactly what had triggered it, but the first night he had woken up to Kirishima climbing into his bed with him, he’d nearly blown his face off. That night had ended with a lot of confusion, yelling, and Kirishima crying his numerous apologies. They chalked up the whole event to Kirishima being overly exhausted and confusing Bakugo’s room with his own.

Until it happened, again.

And then again.

By the fourth time, they realized what was happening. The dumbass was sleepwalking. As far as Kirishima was aware, he’d never walked in his sleep before. So, Bakugo made him see a doctor about it. The redhead went without complaint, not wishing to cause any more inconvenience to his best friend.

A common trigger for sleepwalking was apparently stress, so Kirishima began to see a therapist and the episodes lessened. Bakugo wasn’t supposed to wake him up while he was sleepwalking, because that was dangerous, so he tried locking his bedroom door. It would have worked, except the meathead broke the damn doorknob off with his quirk, and came in, anyway.

Resigned and annoyed, Bakugo was forced to allow his best friend to sleep in his bed with him. Could he have slept on the floor, instead? Like fucking hell he was gonna have back problems because his idiot friend couldn’t stay in his own bed. Not to mention, the moment Kirishima was settled, strong arms wrapped around Bakugo’s middle and held him tightly in place.

The damn spiky haired idiot was an octopus. Bakugo had stopped complaining a while ago. Besides being useless, he found that he didn’t exactly hate the forced cuddling. No, it was worse than that. Rather than hate it, he fucking loved it.

During their first year at U.A., it had taken Bakugo some time to adjust to Kirishima touching him constantly. It wasn’t long after that Bakugo actually began to look forward to it. The notion surprised him because he couldn’t stand anyone else. He’d grown to tolerate being touched by others, but that was all he could manage. It had taken through nearly all of their second year to figure out why Kirishima was different.

Bakugo had fallen for the idiot.

He had tried his best to avoid and ignore his feelings, but it was difficult to do when he had a constant, redheaded reminder in his personal space. What a fool he had been to ever agree to be roommates.

A heavy sigh tickled the back of Bakugo’s neck, sending a shiver down his spine and awakening his arousal. If Kirishima didn’t sleep like the fucking rock he was, Bakugo would have punched him awake. How he ever woke up to his alarm, Bakugo would never know.

It was too early in the morning for this shit, and the last thing Bakugo needed was for Kirishima to wake up and figure out that he had an erection. Morning wood was bad enough, let alone getting aroused while sharing a bed with his best friend. Bakugo struggled with the covers, but they were too tangled up between the two of them, and Kirishima’s arm only tightened around him.

As he growled with frustration, he was ready to punch him awake when something new happened. “Baku...go.” Kirishima mumbled in his sleep as he groaned lightly, squeezing Bakugo back against his chest even tighter. Bakugo went still as he sucked in a sharp breath. Then the idiot snorted and laughed. “That’s a walrus, not a cookie. Dummy.”

Bakugo nearly choked. The idiot was talking in his sleep! He covered his mouth as he tried not to laugh out loud, but Kirishima kept talking. Every bit of it was nonsense, and Bakugo soon couldn’t hold his laughter back any longer. He was nearly breathless from how much he was laughing, his body shaking with it. 

“Bakugo? What’s so funny?” The laughter died in his throat as Bakugo fought to get it together. Kirishima was waking up, but hadn’t moved, his arm still tight around Bakugo’s waist.

“You were talking in your sleep, dumbass. Now, let go of me. I gotta piss.” It took several seconds before Kirishima’s arm lifted away. The redhead was always especially slow when waking up, so Bakugo tried to be patient. Truthfully, it was their day off and Bakugo would have been content to sink into Kirishima’s warmth for a couple more hours. He could never admit that, though, as he was quite sure his best friend didn’t see him that way.

Once he was free, Bakugo disentangled himself from the blankets and got up. As he stretched, he was vaguely aware of Kirishima sitting up behind him. “Did you say I was talking in my sleep?” Groggy words reached Bakugo’s ears.

“Yeah. You sure were.” Kirishima didn’t respond right away, so Bakugo went ahead and made his way to his personal bathroom to relieve himself and brush his teeth. By the time he came back out, Kirishima had already left and he heard the shower start up from the other bathroom.

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he headed into the kitchen and began making breakfast, starting with the coffee. By the time he started cooking, Kirishima came out into the kitchen as he rubbed his hair dry with a towel and wearing only a pair of running shorts that were slung low on his hips. Bakugo couldn’t stop himself from following the neat, black happy trail that disappeared under the waistband with his gaze.

He quickly refocused himself on the pan when Kirishima dropped the towel around his broad shoulders. “Smells good, man. You making some for me, too? Or should I make my own?” Kirishima grinned that easygoing smile of his and Bakugo felt something flutter in his chest.

He grumbled as he pointed to the kitchen table, trying to smother his own feelings. “Sit down. It’s almost done.” Kirishima’s grin got even bigger with his excitement.

“Awe, thanks, man! You seriously are the best.” The redhead sat down and leaned his chin in his hand as his expression faltered. “Sorry for sleepwalking into your bed, again. I know how much you hate it.” Bakugo let out a soft grunt in reply as he plated their food and came over to the table.

After handing Kirishima his plate, Bakugo sat across from him with his own, digging in with his chopsticks. “Stop beating yourself up over it. You can’t help it. Fucking punch me in your sleep, though, and then we’ll have a problem. Got it?” Bakugo growled over his rice omelet. They were Kirishima’s favorite, and Bakugo couldn’t help himself.

Kirishima gave him a wobbly smile that Bakugo was sure would turn into tears at any second. “Thanks, man. You really are the best. I mean it.” He looked down at the food and sniffled a little. “You even made my favorite, again.” So, the idiot had noticed.

Bakugo feigned an annoyed ‘tch’ and rolled his eyes even as his face warmed. “Whatever, just eat.” He watched the redhead a moment as Kirishima dug in happily, thanking Bakugo again for the food. “So, what the fuck were you even dreaming about this morning? You should have heard the shit coming from your mouth.”

With his mouth stuffed with food, Kirishima looked up from his plate with wide eyes, chewing thoughtfully before swallowing it down. “I dunno. Don’t really remember that much. Why, what was I saying?” He gave Bakugo that shark-toothed grin of his that always made Bakugo wonder what it would be like to be bitten, making a shiver run imperceptibly down his spine.

“You laughed and said a walrus wasn’t a cookie, then something about some damn kittens and losing their mittens, or some shit.” Kirishima scrunched up his nose in concentration as he listened, then shook his head with a laugh.

“Nah, doesn’t ring a bell. Sounds like one crazy dream, though!” Kirishima laughed some more then went back to eating. Bakugo watched him for a moment, contemplative as he wondered what else he might get to hear Kirishima say in his sleep. He actually found himself somewhat excited for it.

It was a long moment before he snapped himself out of his staring spell, his thoughts wandering to things much less appropriate while eating breakfast. “When we’re done eating, we’re going to the store. The fridge is looking bare, so it needs to be restocked.” Bakugo informed him before starting to eat, again. Kirishima only smiled and nodded, mouth too full to respond verbally.

As Bakugo chewed, the thought that his best friend might one day stop sleepwalking occurred to him, making him frown. He really hoped that would never happen, knowing that he could never bring himself to ask his best friend to cuddle him if it ever did.

Part 2

[yenni19]

The Great Escape pt 6

After she left her village, she traveled three days to the land of waves living in a rural town to settle down. Himawari got a one bedroom apartment while working the fields as a rice farmer

Himawari(finishing her task): here you go Mr Yoshi...the logs are up to date for the next month

Mr Yosi(receiving the log): you are an angel sweetheart...too bad your pregnancy limits your work...when you first came here you were our fastest crop farmer and collector...but who knew you knew how to log rice per capita

Himawari(smiling): thank you Mr Yoshi...well I better get home...I need to attend to my own chores

Mr Yoshi: I understand...well be careful dear

Himawari: I will Mr Yoshi

She arrives home and takes a rest...she removes her cloak covering her five month belly...she sits in the rocking chair and starts to sing to her unborn child

--‐-‐------------

It's been two months since Himawari disappeared without a trace. The whole village is devastated thinking the worst has happened to her. Hinata barely eats and is locked up in Himawari's room crying most nights. Naruto tries to participate in the search for his missing daughter while Boruto investigates the cause of her disappearance.

Boruto(knocks on kawaki's door): Hey open up.....I know you just came back from a mission last week....we need to talk

Kawaki(opening the door): If it's about your sister...I already told you....I know nothing of her wearabouts...

Boruto: I know that idiot....why didn't you tell me she broke up with you!?

Kawaki: I never told you because it wasn't your concern....!

Boruto forces himself inside, Kawaki shuts the door

Boruto: I need know....why would a love-stuck girl like my sister decide to ends things with you...and disappear two days later without saying goodbye

Kawaki: because she's selfish...arrogant and moody...I mean eveytime we went on a dinner date she would get sick as a dog if she didn't like the food...

Boruto: what did you just say?

Kawaki: when we would go out to dinner she would have the urge to go to the bathroom to puke when something didn't sit right with her as she ate...she told me it was stress but I didn't believe it...

Then Boruto remembered when he seen Himawari come out of a family clinic two weeks before her disapperance

Boruto(realizing): No she....its not possible (he grabs Kawaki and pins him to the wall) be honest with me when you two disappeared together hours before the party did you or did not have sex with Himawari

Kawaki(guilty): yes...but I didn't do it to score with her I did it because I loved her....!

Boruto knees him in the gut making Kawaki gasp for air

Boruto(angry): that's just a fraction of my anger...you will be hearing from me after this problem is solved

Kawaki: I don't understand....

Boruto(grabbing him by his collar): since you are part of the problem u are going to help me...but first we must stop by aunt Sakuras clinic to verify my suspicions

They head to Sakuras clinic, as they arrive Sarada and Inojin are there

Sarada: Boruto there's something I must show you....

Boruto: I know but we need you to hack into the computer and find my sister's name in the patient registry....

Sarada pulls out the file and gives it to him

Sarada: from April to July Himawari has been seen by my mom's nurse practitioner miss Hirosha...when my mom noticed some files missing she asked miss Hirosha but said she misplaced them....Himawari has been seen six times in this clinic in the three months of...

Boruto: I know...in the three months of her pregnancy

Sarada(walking towards kawaki): here Himawari dropped this....congrats your now a father

Kwaki(speechless): why....why would she lie to me...this is insane (he looks at the ultrasound of the baby) why go through all this just to hide a pregnancy

Boruto(glaring): because she thought you would up and disappear on her if she told you...so she took advantage of the situation and left you first

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

Back at the farming village Himawari is doing her daily errands

Himawari: what a beautiful morning

Suddenly she sees a missing poster of her and a reward of 10,000 if found alive or have any information on her

Himawari: I can't go back...not now at least

Mr Yoshi: oh miss Hakara how are you....what a beautiful morning to take a stroll...

Himawari(being genuine): oh Mr Yoshi...yes its lovely for a stroll today

Mr Yoshi(looking at the poster): what a shame it is to lose a daughter....she must of been thier pride and joy

Himawari: yeah....what a shame...hope they find peace and comfort through thier loss

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

Back at the village Boruto and the others are devising a strategy to find Himawari

Boruto: ok from what I gathered she didn't take the two train stations on either end of the village since it was obvious she would be seen through the cameras

Sarada: so she must of walked out of the village on foot and took forest paths where she can be secluded...so we need to trail her steps...

Shikadai: Himawari is too cunning...she would cover her tracks as to not be found where she's residing....also remember she probably changed her appearance too look older and unrecognizable

Boruto: correct...so it's even harder to recognize her unless we had her Chakra signature

Kawaki(interrupting): standing here to devise a plan its a waste of time...I can find her and bring her back

Boruto: yeah without a Chakra signature you won't find her...

Kawaki: I can sense her Chakra signature if I'm within one hundred yards of her....and I never miss a target

[notatallinterestingstuff]

With Love, She.

Clang! Blaam! Boom! The echoing sounds of the utensils falling down startled her from her trance. ‘Ughhhh, he’s going to be furious again!’, she thought to herself, picking up the plates in a hurry. It was not the best of days for her. Lunch was not yet ready; the maid has not yet come and Nirav has once again spilled rice on the floor. Arun was about to come home and he would not be pleased with this work. And yet another load on her growing and immeasurable life. She cursed her father under her breath and began trotting the 3-way road again. ‘Hey, you! I am working so hard to maintain the house and you keep a petty fight for some rice? Today, it ends! You are going to clean up the mess!’, she exclaimed with suppressed anger. But then Nirav looked back at her, gave her a mischievous grin and ran out of the house in a flurry. ‘One day, that boy is going to get it from me. But what can I do? My heart doesn’t allow it.”, she told to herself. Exhausted, she returned to her usual chores with a half-hearted attitude. Cleaning the house, doing the dishes, is that my life? Don’t I have dreams? Shouldn’t I too reach failure and then work hard to rise? As she fell into the ever-growing abyss of her thoughts, her mind reached out and grabbed a memory. ‘Daddy, when will we go to the museum?’, the little girl cried at the top of her voice. Her father, in an ever-calming voice replied,’ Don’t you worry child! As long as this elephant is with you, he will ride you to the museum, with free lollipops!”, The girl was now laughing and calm with the help of the tickles from her daddy. On the rickshaw, she asked her father, “Daddy, yesterday I heard the 5th class girls cry about life in the corridor instead of studying. Humph, what cry-babies!”. The father burst out into laughter, responding with a question,” What do you thing life is sweetie?”. “Life is when Ms. Rose doesn’t give us homework and gives us ice-cream!”, she exclaimed in an innocent voice.” But what is life daddy?”, she repeated herself, her innocent and childlike mind wanting to know everything and being restless. Her father, now in a graver voice, replied,” Look at those puppies running frantically behind their mother with utmost love and hope that she will feed them. She does feed them, but without herself eating, knowing that her children come first, even more than her life. That’s life. It is the cruelest thing in the world, but when accompanied with a certain something it makes your life meaningful.’ “Ice cream?”, she answered the question diligently. “Haha-ha! No, my precious darling! Its love!”, he told her. “And remember, no matter what life gives you, remember that love always makes it what it is, and you get to decide what’s life and what’s love”. “Then I love love so much!”, she proclaimed to everyone. She continued to lick her lollipop joyously, unbeknownst to her what life was going to make her do. TTRRRRRRIINNNGGGG! The loud ringing of the doorbell startled her, causing her to cut her own finger a little on the skin. She grimaced in pain as she ran to answer the door. “Hey, sweetheart! Today was so stressful and boring! Could I get a cup of water please? And why is rice lying on the floor? Has Ritesh done this? How can he so irresponsible? Why have you not controlled him yet?”, came in the questions as Arun stormed inside the house from work. “I’ll take care of it, I’m sorry, had a lot of work today.”, she replied trying to stop the bleeding simultaneously. “Did you just cut yourself? How can you be so careless, huh? Sometimes I feel like life is so cruel, always doing this to me!”, Arun castigated her. All she could do was give back a fake smile as Arun brought the bandages. She felt a little comfort even though the wound was stinging a lot. “Let me go buy today’s dinner from outside, you take some rest.”, Arun convinced her. As soon as Arun was gone, she was back to cleaning the dishes, wiping an invisible tear off her eye. Damn you, dad! Why did you have to leave me so early? If it wasn’t for that rickshaw accident that

day, you would have been still here, with me, not lying in a hospital bed for 20 long years, she cursed under her breath. She turned off the tap, wound still stinging, and proceeded to clean the mess on the floor. She knew her life wouldn’t be same after that accident, the sounds of the crash still ringing in her ear, even after 20 long years. She had dreamt to be an IAS officer, make a difference to her nation, but that obstacle set her back at least by a lifetime. Her mother, influenced by relatives and peer pressure, got her married off to Arun Apparkumari, a GM at an MNC. He is a good man, but sometimes doesn’t feel the way that she feels. And, 2 children later, here she is, a grown independent woman by society, but a shattered yet dreaming little girl by heart. She did what she only could do about her miserable life, weep, sometimes for long times alone, as she kept on her apparent duty of daily chores. Just a few footsteps away, a door closed, listening to the unheard sorrows. The next day early morning, she boarded the bus to meet her in-laws, for whom she was the only caretaker. As she took a seat near the window, a wave of fresh air flew through her face. This was the only part she liked about the bus ride. She could see the everchanging world in its glow, nature and man working together to create a sustainable and luxurious life. Cars swept past the bus, metros riding over, people in a hurry to do something important, most importantly women rushing to work, trying to bring about a change in the society. Her thoughts were interrupted by a girl, dressed up fashionista style, on a motorbike and smoking a cigarette speeding through the roads, hurling obscenities at other drivers. That brought back a fond memory from her twenties. It was nostalgic time again. ‘Hey Sathya! Come fast! If Mom finds out about this, they’ll throw me out of the house for sure!”, she shouted in excitement as her friend Sathya came running towards her. “Its fine da! Anyways it’s our last day meeting. Who knows what will happen after you get married and sent off? Start cleaning vessels now itself! You will have practice!”, she laughed hysterically looking at a sulking face. “Come on fast! We have no time to lose!”, she shouted as they both started on a rental bike. As the wind rushed through her face, and her skin feeling the true touch of mother nature, she rode the bike as far as the road took her. It was the happiest she had been in a while. Since her father’s accident, her whole house was in chaos as her gullible mother ignored her pleas and, with the advice of the so-called relatives, fixed her marriage. The only way to spend all her pent-up anger was today. She wouldn’t do anything to miss today’s thrill. That day lived up to its name. Playing with Sathya on the beach, teasing and laughing about the men following them, fun with the waves and finally icecream on the rocks witnessing the grandest and splendor sunset. “What is life da?”, she asked her friend, repeating the question for as long as she had known Sathya relishing her ice-cream. “According to me, it would be travelling the world with my love and enjoy doing what I do. What about you? What’s your thoughts?”, Sathya replied relishing her ice-cream too, not knowing the ripples it caused. She began to wonder about her life after marriage. She was in a deep abyss now, with no way out or no one to help her. When will I get this feeling again? What will happen to me? What about my dreams? “Hello, snap out of it! You’ve gone and dropped the ice cream, now you’ve made me go crazy!”, Sathya said sarcastically. But she ignored that and asked her, “But why only roaming around the world? Why not follow your dreams and pursue your passions? Isn’t that supposed to make you happy? Sathya with a calm mind answered her question,” My dear friend. You have confused yourself with life. Life is not always cruel. When I meant the world trip, I was not going to obviously enjoy the trip. It was the person I love that I’m going to enjoy with. That’s what makes

us all happy. Life doesn’t give us obstacles; it gives us the stairs. Now whether you run on it or trod is your choice.” That sentence was stuck in my mind for a long time. “Madam! Please wake up, the stop has arrived”, said the bus conductor carrying out his duty. Back to the stairs once again, she thought as she got off the bus. Back at home, Arun was waiting. To make a difference. She reached home early. In spite of all the things that she did for her in-laws, they never quite respected her and treated her the way she should. But, she did it for her satisfaction, the way her father told her. Anyways she got to eat some ice-cream on her own! As she opened the door, out came a deafening yell. “SURPRISE!!!!”, screamed Arun, Nirav and Ritesh at the top of their voices. “Happy life celebration day, you idiot!”, Arun screamed sarcastically. “What took you so long? Do you know how much time Nirav spent baking that cake? Even with his girlfriend he doesn’t talk this much time with!”, he joked. “DAAAAAD! IM JUST 11!”, Nirav screamed blushing, a pink color slowly rising on his cheeks. “What’s all this going on?”, she asked with genuine astonishment. “I’ll tell you later, but first have this ice-cream cake. And that too your favorite! Pan masala flavor!”, Arun exclaimed. “Papa, I was busy writing the card. That’s why I gave him the wrong flavor. Don tease me!”, Ritesh shouted feeling guilty. And then, that day, she had a blast. Singing songs, going through old photos, charades with the family and a surprise visit from mom. It was the happiest she had been in days. She wiped out the pains of the last few weeks and embraced the day with full hands. “So now that the kids have gone to sleep, tell what does this life celebration day means, Mr. Party planner?” she asked Arun as they sat near the balcony. “Before I say that, I want to say thanks!”, he replied. “For what?”. “For everything. For the days you had to go to raise those 2 kids to keeping up with my atrocities and my mood swings, taking care of the relatives, and for facing everything that life gave you. It’s going to change from now”, he replied staring at the night sky. “I still don’t get it. What are you trying to thank me for now? It’s not even my birthday!”, she replied still in shock. “It’s even more special! Its Mother’s Day. See, when life doesn’t exactly give what you want, it is up to us to make sure that we squeeze the best out of it. And mothers always do it. They have to. And they always. It’s hard, people won’t get the pain, the losses and the challenges that come with it. But what they also miss is the small tiny happy moments that comes along with it”, he replied calmly to her. And that’s when it hit her. It hit her hard. What her father said. What Sathya meant. What she was missing most of her life. Life is not the true pleasure. It is love. Her love towards her family. Her love that keeps her going every single day, making her strive to just see the smile on her children’s face, to always love her husband no matter what. Its love that makes us feel alive, not life. “Nirav heard you weeping that day. And I almost felt the pain when he said it to me. So, as a family we are going to give you the greatest gift we can think of. Or at least to us accordingly. I can’t afford a necklace or something….”. “Just say it Arun”, she laughed. “Our love and support. From now no matter what you do, when you do or how you do it, its going to be your way. Let it be opening a restaurant or trying for a job or even being lazy like me, no matter what the society or any bloody person says, we will support you. Its your life, you apply the love to it, it will reward you back. That is what today’s life celebration day was. From now, you are not just a hardworking woman. For the society, you are the mother”, he said her, meaning each and every word from his heart. And that day she made a decision. It is going to be love that will lead her, not life. That day she understood what the world tried to express to her in different ways. That day, she

understood love. That day, she became her. With all the love from the multiverse, Ragav

[itshardcandy]

Jinnuendo

Kim Seokjin x Reader

(Originally written for and posted by @letsgetitinbusan for a writing game but I chose to also post it on this blog now)

8806 Words

Genre: Fluff, Friends to lovers, Smut, Crack,

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, dirty talk, fingering, outdoor sex, unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it, kids), Jimin’s cakes

Summary: Camping with your friends was supposed to be fun- you could only agree, now that Jin had made camping even funner.

Preview: 

“Ohmygod”

You mumbled with a full mouth,

“Amazing”

You said and Jimin smiled proudly. Jin watched the interaction quietly from his seat. Damn, he thought, he should have remembered to bring some rice cakes for you. He wasn’t really jealous of Jimin and his cakes. Really, he wasn’t. He was convinced that little crush of yours was completely food related, so he didn’t really think there was anything more to it. All he wanted was for that interaction to have taken place with him and also, for you to give all your attention to him and not Jimin. That seems like a reasonable mindset, right?

“Yikes, I wouldn’t wanna be her right now”

Said the bus boy standing next to you, crossing his arms as he watched the restaurant manager approach the newest addition to the waiter team, who was currently involved in a rather heated discussion with a guest,

“It’s a shame she’s gonna have to leave, she was nice…” 

You added and both of you sighed heavily and returned to your duties while the poor girl was being fired for standing her ground. She was the third one this month alone. To be fair, your manager was not an easy man to please, so it only made sense that new additions to the tea would be examined even more closely than you and the others, who had worked here for longer. The only thing keeping you safe from the manager’s wrath was your natural ability to fake-smile for hours on end. It was a gift as much as it was a curse but it had secured your job in the customer service sector so far.

And soon you will have survived another painful day of serving bitchy, rude and entitled Karen’s and Chad’s for the sake of financing your studies. At least they tipped well if you smiled hard enough.

This was your last day of work before you could look forward to two weeks of uninterrupted relaxation time. You handed in your last paper for this semester last week, so all of the work for university was also done and nothing would interfere with your plans to sleep for three days straight and then spend the rest of the time at the beach, cooking in the sun.

 “See you guys in a few weeks”

You yelled into the kitchen after you gathered your things and clocked out for the night. A few hurried goodbyes reached your ears before you exited through the back door of the restaurant and finally breathed in the fresh air, smelling of freedom and definitely not the burger grease stench coming from the kitchen AC vent.

No, it was definitely freedom and it was glorious.

_________  

After a hot shower and big glass of wine you were slumped on your couch, ready to pass out any second now, when your phone went off and almost gave you a heart-attack.

You took a deep breath and checked the caller ID to see your friend Seokjin calling,

“What is it?”

Normally, Jin calling was a thing you were happy about, however, being interrupted while passing out after a 10-hour shift at your job, was not a happy occasion and you couldn’t mask the annoyance in your voice,

“Whoa, what’s got your panties in a twist? Did that guy at work steal your tips again?”

He asked and you breathed a heavy sigh,

“No, I think he learnt his lesson after I cut out the butt on all his work pants…

You answered, slowly sitting up and reaching for your wine glass to empty it with a last few sips before continuing the conversation

“Why are you calling so late? I was about to fall asleep…”,

“I just wanted to remind you to pack if you haven’t done it already. Which you probably haven’t. Case in point”

Pack? You creased your brows. Pack for what?

“YN? You still there?”,

“Uhh, yeah I am I just… can you remind me what I’m supposed to be packing for?”

If you weren’t so tired, you’d probably be a little more embarrassed,

“Seriously? It’s that time of the year, YN! It’s blackout week! Joon send everyone reminders months ago! And then weeks ago! And then again 2 days ago! How could you forget the most magical event of the year?”  

You needed to hold the phone at a slight distance as to not go deaf at the sound of Seokjin’s friendly reminder. He was right, though, how could you forget? Blackout Week was the one week that you and your group of friends all looked forward to collectively every year. A whole week of camping in the mountains near a beautiful lake and no one was allowed to bring any kind of electronic devices, unless it was absolutely necessary for survival. A flashlight would be an exception but other than that you guys were pretty adapt at reverting your way of life back to the good old dark ages. You were lucky that Jungkook and Hoseok had been part of a group of boy scouts or else blackout week would have ended in a disaster each time. Yeah well, maybe you had exaggerated when you said that all of you were pretty adapt at this stuff… But nevertheless, you were all very determined, which was just as important,

“Shit, you’re right, I completely forgot…”

You ran your hand across your face and sighed,

“Of course, you forgot, why am I even surprised…”

Jin sounded more upset that he actually was, you knew him by now. You just needed to work him a little bit,

“How early are we leaving tomorrow? Can I do it in the morning? I’m so tired…”

You probably sounded a little whiney but that usually did the trick with Jin,

“I told you to be ready at 5, you know how long the drive is. Ah YN, I still can’t believe it, you’re so careless sometimes…”

He already sounded a little softer,

“I’m sorry, I’ll start packing right now, ok?”,

You made sure to sound like the helpless damsel in distress you wanted Jin to believe you were and you were sure you had cracked him. You heard him sigh heavily on the other end of the line,

“Do you need help packing? I’ll come over and help you, it’ll be quicker and you can get more sleep”,

“Are you sure? It’s late already…”,

“Just stay awake for the next fifteen minutes and open the door when I knock, ok? I’ll be right there”,

“Ok…”

He hung up and you smiled to yourself. There were a few advantages to knowing how Jin’s mind worked. And knowing Jin, he would never not come and help you out and you were grateful to have such a selfless friend. He knew you were an absolute mess and he didn’t mind picking up your slack once in a while because you took care of him in turn. It wasn’t like you turned up whenever he called, like he usually did for you but you were the type of friend to think of things he forgot to do for himself. You had been friends for so long, that he had given you a key to his apartment a while back and you used it to make sure his fridge was always stocked, and his plants were taken care of. He worked a lot. Way more than you and the little things like self-care and chores sometimes got put on the back burner. Since you had a little more time on your hands you would take care of these things once in a while. Before you got up off the couch to put on some comfy pants, you stretched your tired limbs and pressed play again to let Netflix run in the background. Jin knocked right as you finished pouring two mugs of coffee, which both of you would probably need to undertake the monumental task of packing your camping bag. You opened the door and let him inside, handing him the mug right away and watching a smile creep onto his face,

“Coffee was a good idea”

He said and slurped loudly after he closed the door,

“Thought it would make me feel less dead. I have yet to see that theory proven”

You sipped on your coffee, too,

“Thank you for helping me, though, I completely forgot about the trip”

Jin waved you off,

“At this point I’d be surprised if you actually remembered to take a shower after work. I know I’m usually the busy one but this semester you’ve had so much stuff to do, that I can’t even be mad you forgot everything not related to uni”

You smiled at him. Even though Jin loved to get his Dad mode on and get all red-faced and out of breath from all the scolding, he was a softie at heart and everyone knew, no matter how hard he puffed up his chest, he never really meant any harm. He was all bark and no bite and none of your friends took anything he said seriously,

“Let’s get started then”

He said and put down the mug in your sink before waltzing off towards your bedroom and digging around in your closet until he emerged with your suitcase. You watched him zoom around the place for a second until you joined him, sitting down on the bedroom floor and grabbing some clothes to roll up and place in the case,

“You want any snacks?”

You asked Jin in case he wanted some food in addition to the great entertainment you provided with Netflix in the background, your loud combined breathing and the rustling of useless stuff around you as you moved it around to find viable things to pack,

“I’m good, thanks, though”

He said and dived head first into a pile of clothes to look for your warmer sweatshirts. The end of summer was in sight and you would be staying pretty high up the mountains, so better be prepared,

“Although… do you still have some of those mini pretzels?”,

“Yeah, sure”

You got up and got him the bag of his beloved snack and then it was time to get some real work done.

­­­­_________  

“Thank GOD we finally made it!”

Jin jumped out of the car and went to kneel down to kiss the ground but you stopped him before things could get ugly. What a baby, you thought to yourself… so what if you sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight? It’s a timeless masterpiece,

“So what if I sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight, it’s a timeless masterpiece!”

You argued and Jin’s eyes almost bulged out of his head,

“A timeless- can you even comprehend the unspeakable agony I was in? It felt like my soul left my mortal body and only the haunting of Cotton Eyed Joe remained…”

He could be such a drama queen sometimes. You rolled your eyes and sighed; deciding to be the bigger person really should be considered a virtue,

“Anyway, we made it here on time, didn’t we? You sure know how to burn some rubber when you don’t like the music I play…”

Jin pulled himself off the ground, holding onto the car door. His joints weakly cracked while he got up,

“I aged like 30 years during this trip and it’s only just starting…”

He mumbled to himself, shaking his head and making his neck crack in addition to everything else,

“What was that?”

You asked and Jin quickly went to unload the trunk,

“Nothing, nothing”

He answered, avoiding an even longer discussion about Cotton Eyed Joe.

You quickly joined him and had your bags unloaded in no time.

It seemed like you were the first ones to arrive at the camping site and when you informed Jin of that, his mood immediately shifted,

“We get to choose our spot?”

He looked at you in disbelief,

“Seems like it…”,

“Finally, we don’t have to sleep next to the dumpster!”

You never got to choose your spot because you had never been the first ones to arrive,

“Jin, there isn’t even a dumpster here, were in the middle of literal nowhere, nothing but lake, mountains and forest for miles”,

“True but somehow, the garbage always ended up being next to our tent because it was the only space left”

Ok, well, you guessed that was kinda true. You didn’t mind it though, you were a heavy sleeper,

“Ok, so let’s pick a good spot this time, hm?”

You said, clapped your hands together and looked around to assess the available spots,

“How about over there?”

You pointed to the edge of the clearing, where the trees began to grow thicker and taller. Jin squinted and pursed his lips,

“Hmmmm….”

He hummed and you guessed you wouldn’t be setting up there,

“What do you think about setting up here?”

You walked into the middle of the clearing, near the stump where the campfire would be set up later and Jin immediately pursed his lips even harder and hummed louder and you quickly suggested more,

“Ok, so near the lake then? Work with me here, Jin”

You walked down to the soft grass near the shore and presented it as appealingly as possible and Jin lips formed a smile. He nodded, finally. He walked towards you with the rolled-up tent under his arm and you planted it firmly in the ground. Not a second to soon, too because right after you set it down, another car approached and parked right beside Jin’s,

“Ah, the cavalry arrives”

You commented and just as you and Jin had planted the last fixture and the tent was stable, the car doors opened and the three Musketeers exited the vehicle in style.

Yoongi, sporting his usual urban-grandpa-couture, adjusted his tinted glasses and ran a hand through the hair that stuck out from his headband, before he casually nodded at you and Jin in greeting. Hoseok and his brother Taehyung waved at you enthusiastically in their brightly coloured jackets and each held up a bag filled with goodies that looked extremely promising,

“Woooow! You’re here early!”

Hoseok could barely believe it,

“And you even grabbed the best spot, well done guys!”

He congratulated you, genuinely surprised that you made it here before anyone else for the first time,

“be honest, did you ever expect this to happen?”

You asked him as he came over to hug you and Jin simultaneously,

“Not in a million years”,

“But we’ve been rooting for you guys ever since we started this tradition”

Tae said as he leisurely strolled over and hugged you tightly,

“Thanks, it only took us almost 10 years to get here, so we’re gonna make sure to rub it in your faces whenever possible”

Jin piped up and you chuckled to yourself,

“If you got here so early you could have prepared the fire already instead of being lazy”

Yoongi grumbled and trudged over, as well,

“Missed you too, boo bear”

You cooed at him and went to pinch his cheeks,

“Goochie goo, look at you, you put on weight”

You loved treating him like a baby. He also loved it when you did it but he would sooner die than ever admit to that,

“Ugh, don’t touch me”

He weakly tried to wiggle out of your grip on his pinchable cheeks and after they presented all the goodies, they brought with them, you helped the guys set up their tent. Then you actually did prepare the fire. The last of your friends to arrive were Namjoon, his baby cousin Jungkook and Jimin. Even more pinchable cheeks for you to victimize, you thought, rubbing your hands together evilly. When they arrived, the rest of you were sitting around the fire and you only noticed their arrival when you heard their voices approach through the trees. Apparently, they had chosen to hike here,

“I’m never listening to you again… hiking here, for fuck’s sake! I can’t believe I thought this was a good idea”

Joon said, sounding somewhat out of breath as he and Jungkook stepped into the clearing. He dropped his bags and drew in a long breath,

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad! And it’s not like you couldn’t use a little more exercise…”

Jungkook said, mumbling the last part of the sentence,

“What was that?”,

“Nothing, nothing…”

Jungkook picked up Joon’s bags in addition to his and marched on towards you guys, sitting by the fire. Jimin stepped out of the woods last and looked just as ethereal as everyone remembered. As he ran a hand through his hair, the sun immediately took a step back to let him take the place in the spotlight. A collective sigh ran through your group and a couple of awkward glances and coughs were exchanged before you all got your bearings back. He smiled when he saw you and gave a little wave that made you giggle like a little girl when you waved back. Jin could only shake his head in disbelief. Sure, Jimin was hot. Even he could admit to that; but surely you thought Jin was handsome, too, right?

“Sorry we’re late, guys!”

Jungkook said as he reached you and set the bags down,

“Don’t worry about it”

Hoseok got up first and hugged the younger boy tightly before the rest of you got up and said hi. Joon and Jimin walked over, too and the hugging continued for a little longer than usual hugging because everyone took a little more time to get an extended hug with Jimin. It was honestly ridiculous how thirsty all of you were for him. And the poor guy had no idea.

______

After all the tents had been set up, everything was prepared and all of you had settled back around the fire, you watched Yoongi and Jimin prepare dinner, while Hoseok and Taehyung played UNO and Jungkook was scribbling something in a notebook. Jin was sitting next to you and reading through the gas grill’s user manual, Jimin and Yoongi were currently trying t get to work,

“Are you sure, you’re not holding it upside down?”

You asked him and reached out to grab it from him but he held it out of your reach and sighed,

“YN, I know how to read a damn…- hold on, it’s actually upside down”,

“Wait, really?

You were only joking about the upside-down thing,

“NO, of course not! How incapable do you think I am?”

Jin slapped your shoulder with the papers and you laughed as you tried to lean away far enough,

“Very, and I’m not even sorry for it”

you said and Jin’s mouth dropped open and he coughed out a laugh,

“With a friend like you, I really don’t need any enemies”

He said and you leaned back in to look up at him and channel your cutest pout,

“This is why you love me, though”

You were right, he thought, no one could make him feel so dumb, yet so happy at the same time. Especially with an annoyingly cute pouty face like yours,

“You’re lucky, that’s true”

He continued flipping through the manual and soon, the grill was working and he saved Yoongi and Jimin from their misery. Just in time, too because Tae was getting hungry and no one wanted to deal with that.

_______

“Aw man, that was so good!”

Jungkook said, stuffing the last food from his bowl into his mouth, chewing loudly,

“You want the rest of mine?”

You asked him, holding your bowl in his direction and he nodded eagerly, big eyes getting even bigger,

“There you go, big boy”

You smiled to yourself and handed him your bowl,

“God, where is all that food even going?”

Yoongi said, as he watched Jungkook devour the additional food he had just received,

“Shhh, let him eat”

You shushed Yoongi with a pat to his leg and watched Jungkook munch happily,

“Anyone want some rice cakes?”

Jimin piped up and opened up a Tupperware filled with the juicy looking sweet treats,

“Oooooh, Jimin, they look amazing!”

You couldn’t believe your eyes; they were your favourite,

“I knew you’d like them”

Jimin said as he watched your eyes and smile grow bigger,

“Have some”

He added and held the box your way,

“Oh yes! Thank you”

You got up and tiptoed around the fire to kneel in front of him to munch on his cakes. You looked at him with glossy eyes, happy that he remembered your favourite treat. And they were good, too. So good, that you had to close your eyes as you had the first bite,

“Ohmygod”

You mumbled with a full mouth,

“Amazing”

You said and Jimin smiled proudly. Jin watched the interaction quietly from his seat. Damn, he thought, he should have remembered to bring some rice cakes for you. He wasn’t really jealous of Jimin and his cakes. Really, he wasn’t. He was convinced that little crush of yours was completely food related, so he didn’t really think there was anything more to it. All he wanted was for that interaction to have taken place with him and also, for you to give all your attention to him and not Jimin. That seems like a reasonable mindset, right? So, in conclusion, he wasn’t jealous, at all. However, when Jimin took a second rice cake out of the box and held it to your lips, time seemed to slow down for Jin and not in the good, romantic way he would have preferred it. Jimin gently placed the cake in your mouth and your lips closed around his finger for a second before he slowly pulled away. You moaned in pleasure as you started chewing and Jin had to bite down on his tongue to not lose his mind. To the others this was a completely normal and innocent thing to witness; just two friends sharing some food, what’s wrong with that? Everything, according to the way Jin was currently staring Jimin down and tried to telepathically communicate his disdain for the way he fed you food in the most erotic way possible. Ok, maybe he was a little jealous, after all. Why was this suddenly getting to him? He knows that the relationship you have with him isn’t purely based on friendship, since the both of you had had some ambiguous moments of will they, won’t they before but it was never really anything you acted upon or even talked about. Nothing to take seriously. Maybe, by watching you and Jimin flirt so innocently, he had just realized now, how precious you really were to him and that he wanted to try and incorporate a romantic aspect into your relationship. Or maybe, he just never felt threatened before. Never felt like his place in your life was about to be taken away from him by a guy with sweet, juicy and delicious cakes. Damn Jimin’s cakes! Jin got up and started collecting everyone’s dishes. He didn’t want to continue watching you basically crawling in Jimin’s lap and sucking the cakes off his fingers. Maybe he went a little too hard with the whole dish collecting thing because as he ripped Jungkook’s bowl from his hands, the younger hadn’t completely finished I and yelled after Jin, as he went down to the lake and started vigorously scrubbing everything. However, Jin didn’t know that he had absolutely nothing to be jealous of because as soon as he had left the circle, Tae, who was sat next to Jimin, made him feed him cakes, as well. Let’s just say that even someone as oblivious as you knew when some actual sexual tension was developing. You decided it was time to awkwardly retreat to your seat now, before you were sandwiched in between the two boys. Only now did you notice that Jin had left the comfort of his camping chair,

“Hey, where did he go?”

You asked Joon, who was wrapped in a thick jacket with his hands around a warm cup of tea. While someone outside of your circle might be a little confused at the sight of someone with such a warm jacket on in this warm weather, you had stopped wondering about his weird habits a while ago. He slurped his tea and pointed down to the shore where, if you squinted heavily, you could faintly recognise the outline of Jin’s body in the dark. You excused yourself from the others and walked the short distance to join Jin in washing the dishes. He was slumped over, kneeling at the shore and, apparently, hadn’t noticed you approaching. So you yelled and gripped his shoulders from behind:

“Careful!”

The high-pitched scream he let out almost burst your eardrums but it was definitely worth it to see him almost jump into the water in shock,

“What the hell, YN? Why would you do that?”

He was clearly very upset about the whole thing but you only snickered like a mean little kid and kneeled down next to him,

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist”

You said and took the knife he was scrubbing out of his hands. Safer this way. Even in the dark you could see his eyes, big as saucers and it only made you laugh more. You took his hand in yours in apology and Jin didn’t resist, he just yelled louder like he usually did,

“You’re such a brat! I volunteer to do the dishes and what do you do? Wow, the disrespect is off the charts!”

His yelling was like an affectionate pat on the back by now because you knew he would never actually yell at you in anger. He knew you loved it because you always laughed even harder when he started ranting. And when you squeezed his hand a little tighter, he was sure there was nothing he enjoyed more than making you laugh by making an ass of himself,

“I’ll stop, I promise!”

You bowed your head and clutched his hand to your chest, still smiling,

“Tsk, empty promises”

He shook his head and you looked up at him,

“I’ll make it up to you, I’ll help you with the dishes”

You said eagerly,

“And also, I snagged one of the rice cakes for you”

Jin listened up,

“I know you love these things even more than I do”

He heard some shuffling and then you held your hand up in front of his face, a tiny cake sitting in your palm,

“Open up”

You said, taking the treat between two fingers and holding it up for Jin,

“For me?”

He asked, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining this,

“Of course, for you, you genius”

 Jin slowly opened his mouth and you gently placed the treat in it, like Jimin did with you. However, Jin didn’t think of Jimin in this moment, he only thought about the way your thumb lingered on his lower lip for a few seconds before you pulled your hand back. He felt his affection for you stir in his heart again. He also felt something else stir in a different bodily region at the feeling of your fingers on his lips. He quickly turned away and swallowed the sweet cake before clearing his throat, 

“Thanks”

He managed to mumble and went right back to washing dishing and willing away the growing problem you were responsible for,    

“Move over, I’ll help”

You said and crowded his space again to help him with the dishes and then a comfortable silence set in, only interrupted by the occasional loud laughter from the rest of the guys.

_________

The last night approached quicker than all of you would have liked. After all of the days spent on the lakeshore, basking in the sun and eating smores at night around the campfire, it was finally time to return to your normal life. You and Jin had gotten used to the tent situation quickly, even though it wasn’t the most comfortable or convenient. Well, for Jin at least. After the you had gone to sleep on the first night, Jin lay awake for a while longer, not being able to get your small fingers and your gentle touch out of his mind and it didn’t help that you were right here next to him, bodies only separated by a thin sheet you used as blanket.

And it had only gotten worse.

Tonight, the silhouette of your body, illuminated by the dying light of the fire outside, made Jin especially weak. He, like you and the others, had a few drinks to celebrate your trip and commemorate your friendship and, surprisingly, alcohol didn’t do a lot to enhance his self -control. More like the opposite,

“You good? Are you comfortable?”, 

“Yeah”,

“Ok”

You and Jin had finally arranged yourselves into the bed rolls and were about to go to sleep. You were turned away from him with not a lot of distance between your bodies. It had been an especially hot day and even though it was already dark, the air and the ground hadn’t begun to cool down, yet. Jin was uncomfortable in the heat and he had already stripped down to his briefs; just being in the tent, next to you, not even a sheet over your bodies, to avoid even more heat, he felt like his body was heating up even more. He heard you shuffle around a little and then your thin top was flying over his face and you wore nothing but your underwear,

“I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable but I feel like I’m melting”

You said and fanned your face to feel even the slightest relief from the heat. Jin didn’t say anything for a few seconds, too caught up in the realisation that you were in nothing but your underwear, right next to him,

“It’s fine”

His voice betrayed him, sounding breathy and thin. He cleared his throat,

“Don’t worry about it”  

There, he sounded super manly again,

“I’m dying over here… it was nice when we were in the water but now? I’m not made for this weather”

You lamented and turned to Jin, tucking your hands under your head to be comfortable. He was glad that it was so dark because if there were even a little bit more light coming in from the outside you would have seen him staring shamelessly at your tits, pushed together between your arms,

“Yeah it’s uh… really bad”

Very smooth, Jin, managing to answer even though his briefs were getting uncomfortably tight, he thought to himself. The fire outside finally went out completely and the clinking of glasses and the sound of another tent zipper let you know that the last of your friends were about to hit the hay, as well,

“Do you mind if I open the zipper? Let some more air in?”

You asked and sat up already,

“No, go ahead, can’t be worse than this, anyway”  

You felt around for the zipper and dragged it down until the flaps of the tent opened and a slight breeze greeted you from outside,

“Well, it’s not much but I can breathe a little better”,

You fell back into the bed roll with a sigh and Jin suddenly had an idea,

“Hey, YN”,

“Hm?”,

“How about we just go down to the lake? Put our feet in the water, cool down a little, you know?”,

“Mhmh, I guess”,

“It’s probably more effective than just opening the zipper”,

“Yeah, you’re right”

You sighed again and sat up in the tent,

“Ok then, let’s go. We gotta be quiet though, I think everyone’s sleeping already” 

You said and Jin sat up, too, to crawl out of the tent and help you stand up after you crawled out, too. He grabbed your hand and slowly you navigated the dark clearing in the full moon light down to the soft grass around the lake shore until you felt the water gently lap on your feet. Both of you sat down on the grass and let the waves envelope your feet on their way up,

“Ugh, I already feel so much better”

You relaxed and lay back on the grass, stretching your overheated and tired limbs,

“Same”

Jin stretched his legs, tapping and tickling your smaller feet with his and making you giggle,

“Jin, that tickles”

You tried to wiggle away, and escape his big gorilla feet,

“Is this an unexplored fetish of yours?”  

you asked, making Jin laugh and trying to not be too loud,

“The tickling or the feet?”,

“Oh my god is it both?”,

“Are you kink-shaming me?”

“Definitely! Feet are gross”

You smiled and pushed yourself off the grass back into a sitting position,

“I don’t have a weird kink, calm down”

Jin loved riling you up, just as much as you did it to him,

“Anyway, I’m gonna go in, I think”

He announced after he was done teasing you and slowly waded into the shallow water,

“you coming?”

You looked up at him, shaking your head,

“I don’t think so, I don’t have my bathing suit. Don’t wanna sleep in wet undies”

“Suit yourself. But don’t complain about the heat”

He simply said and turned around, walking until water reached up to his ribs. It probably wouldn’t be so bad to get your underwear wet; in this heat they would be dry in no time anyway. But another thought crossed your mind and you contemplated just going commando. Even though yours and Jin’s relationship had never been anything more that friendly, except for a little flirting here and there, you felt like it could be more. There could be more to the flirting and the innocent hand touching. And times like these made you want to just cross the line. Despite Jin thinking he was pretty subtle about everything, you had noticed how, during the trip, he eyed you and Jimin curiously whenever you were talking. You had also noticed how he tried to put as much distance between you as possible in the tent as to not push his very obvious hard on anywhere near you. By now you just wanted to see if he would cross the line first. Watching him, you unclipped your bra and slipped your panties down your legs, before you also let the cool waves roll against your body. He had already made his way a little farther out and you stopped where your feet could still feel the ground and the water just reached around your clavicle,

“Guess the heat finally got to you, hm?”

Jin said, as he noticed you approaching,

“Right, the heat”

You mumbled and he swam closer, back to you,

“Not worried about the clothes anymore?”

You shook your head and smiled,

“What clothes?”,

“Your under- Oh”

Jin stopped in the middle of the sentence after he had realised what you meant. His mouth fell open as his eyes took in the naked line of your shoulders, no straps in sight,

“I didn’t wanna get them wet”

You said and Jin has to swallow hard. You’re naked under the blurry sheen of the water and he doesn’t know how to handle the situation,

“Yeah, no, I get it, convenience and all that, right?”

He laughs awkwardly and tries and fails to cover up his sudden insecurity about your naked boobs just a few inches away from his face,

“Yeah, I just thought I’d let the girls breathe, you know?”

You looked down and Jin could see your hands covering your boobs right under the surface,

“Yeah, yeah, no big deal, just let the… the girls out”

He took a deep breath and tried to look anywhere but your hands encasing your tits. The trees were pretty in the dark, so out there. And their crowns looked so big and full and round in the moonlight. They were probably very soft if he were to submerge his face between them.

Yeah, trees really were something; He had always been a tree guy.

And he probably should take a step back so he wouldn’t accidentally poke you in the stomach,

“Are you ok? Am I making you uncomfortable?”

You asked, your voice sounding all soft an innocent,

“Do you want me to put it all back on?”

Jin whipped his head around at that and held his hands up,

“No! No, I mean…”

More awkward coughing,

“Don’t bother, you’re comfortable. I’m completely fine”

You giggled cutely and Jin felt his self-control pack its bags and jump out of the window,

“Are you sure? You seem kinda bothered…”

You took a step forward and Jin escaped immediately,

“I think I’m gonna go back out, it’s freezing in here, don’t you think?”

He stuttered and rushed through the water so fast that I splashed you in the face. You smiled to yourself, fully aware that Jin was definitely not unbothered by your boobs. A fact, that you would use to your advantage.

And Entertainment.

You also swam back to the shore, where Jin was already standing on the grass again, his back turned to the water. When the water wasn’t high enough to cover up your nakedness anymore you wanted to get Jin’s attention again. You slowly exited the water and walked towards Jin, who was currently picking up your underwear carefully. You noticed him stalling a moment and feeling the soft fabric of your panties between his fingers before he spoke up,

“YN, I’ll leave your stuff closer to the water, ok?”

He said, thinking you were still swimming around without a care in the world,

“No need”

You said from behind him and he jumped, dropping your things, then tripped and landed on his ass, as he tried to put some more distance between you again,  

“Ah… you scared me again

He said, sitting on the floor and covering his eyes with his fingers immediately. He was only able to see your face through the gaps between his fingers. You didn’t say anything; you just stood there for a few seconds, making Jin suffer even more,

“I uh, do you wanna go back by any chance? I’m kinda tired”

He tried to find an excuse to flee again but you weren’t having it. You knelt down and placed your self firmly in his lap, straddling him,

“I don’t wanna go back, yet”

You mumbled and gently wrapped your small fingers around the wrist of Jin’s hand, trying to get him to uncover his eyes and look at you. He resisted. Not at all cost but it was enough to give you pause and make you doubt your intentions,

“Jin, it’s ok, you can look”

You tried to soothe him a little but he didn’t relent,

“YN, please, I’m trying so hard”

He whispered, hoping you would get the message.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to look, he definitely wanted to. He was sure, the hard dick poking you in the thighs told you so very clearly. It was just that he wasn’t sure what would happen, if he gave in. Your friendship was something he treasured and was thankful for every day, no matter how annoying you could be at times,

“Would it be so bad? We’ve been friends for so long, have you never thought about it?”

Your soft voice slowly but surely worked on dismantling his determination,

“Of course, I thought about it. Multiple times, actually. Especially this week”

Jin answered and he felt you shift slightly above him,

“So, if you thought about it, does that mean… you just don’t want to?”

He thought he heard something like disappointment in your voice and he was never good at ignoring when you felt down,

“Are you kidding? You think I’d be this hard if I didn’t want to?”

He tried to lighten the mood and let his free hand move up and down your thigh,

“I’ve been wanting to do this forever, YN, I just don’t know if this is a good idea”, 

“Jin, please…”

He swallowed as he felt you move again, this time you were pushing down on him, grinding against him and he had a hard time to keep his eyes covered,

“Shit”

He cursed at the feeling of you grinding on him and you moved his hand higher from your thigh while you tried again to remove his hand from his face. He slowly let you but he kept his eyes closed,

“Jin, look at me”

You now held both of his hands in yours and you slowly moved the up your body until they cupped your breasts. You sighed and squeezed Jin’s hands around them making him moan and his head fell forward, against your shoulder,

“YN, fuck, you need to stop… I’m a weak man and your tits feel amazing”

He started squeezing on his own and slowly rubbed his thumbs on your nipples,

“Touch me, baby, please”

Your pleas were making him so weak and he knew there was no way he would stop now, that he felt your soft skin under his hands. He turned his head just a little, placing his lips against your neck and kissing you gently. He listened to your moans and let you move against him, rub yourself against his dick in his briefs and it made him so hard; shit, you just felt so good against him, warm and soft and your tits were so fucking nice he couldn’t form a coherent thought anymore. He wanted more, needed more, needed to touch more and taste more of you, so he quickly spun you around and pushed your body back into the soft grass and hovered above you,

“Kiss me”

You whine and he wants nothing more than to kiss every inch of your skin. Starting with your pretty lips; you pretty lips which were always pouting smiling, making him crazy and making him wish he knew what the felt like around his dick. He leans down and they’re so soft. So damn soft like your beautiful tits, which he went right back to squeezing and massaging, making you moan into his mouth. Then it’s wet; tongues finding each other, wet bodies grinding together and your wet pussy rubbing against him. God, you’re so wet. He even feels it through his boxer briefs. He never thought he’d be able to get you this wet. When you lift your legs and wrap them around his hips, he can’t hold back any longer,

“Shit, you feel so good, YN, so fucking soft”

He starts kissing your neck again, moving along the smooth skin down to your collarbone and then further down to suck one of your nipples into his mouth. You moaned and ran your hands through his hair, tugging slightly and running your nails along his scalp,

“Feel good, baby?”

He asked, voice rough as he switched sides,  

“So good…”

You managed to answer through your bliss-clouded mind,

“Want more”

You added and weakly grabbed one of Jin’s hands to move it lower, between your legs,

“More? Want me here? Want me to touch your pussy?”

You never would have guessed Jin would be so vocal during sex, you always thought he’d be the sweet and vanilla type of guy but you weren’t about to complain when his fingers felt so good rubbing your lower lips,

“Yes, touch me, please, want you so much”

you pulled his face back down to yours to kiss him as he let his fingers slide through your wetness and moaned into the kiss at how fucking good it felt,

“Shit, you’re so wet… so fucking warm, fuck”

He started rubbing your clit lightly and you broke the kiss to bury your face in his neck and muffle your moans,

“Ah, Jin…”,

“Like this?”,

“Fuck, yes”

He made you feel so good, you wanted to do the same. You worked your hand between your bodies, too and started rubbing Jin through the fabric of his briefs. The feeling of his hard dick in your hands made you want more and you slipped your hand inside, wrapping it around him for real and gently moving it until you felt his fingers lose their rhythm on your clit and all you could hear were the pleasured moans he failed to hold in,

“Am I doing it right?”

You knew you were doing it right but you also knew Jin loved it when you acted helpless and cute. Could only apply even more in this situation,

“Yeah, you are… So right, so good, shit”

He sucked on the skin of your neck and slid his finger from your clit down and slowly, gently slipped it inside of you, moaning at the warm wet feeling that greeted him. You couldn’t find any words that would accurately express your thoughts at this moment; you could just tighten your legs around him and try not to be so loud you’d wake the others,

“You like that, hm? Feel so tight, baby, can’t wait to fuck you”

Jin moaned in your ear and you felt a heatwave run through your body,

“Jin, fuck me, plea- Ah…”

right as you begged him, he slid in a second finger,

“That what you want? Want me to fuck you?”

He pushed his fingers in deeper and you tried to not lose the rhythm you had going on with your hand around his dick,

“Mhmmh”

You couldn’t form a decent answer at this point,

“You sure, baby? I could make you come like this and then fuck you; make you come again”

He kissed you slow and deep this time, moving his fingers in tandem with his tongue. You shook your head, tightening your legs again, pushing his fingers even deeper,

“No? You want it now? Want me to fuck that tight little pussy?”

Jesus, you thought, you never knew words could turn you on so much,

“Then you’ll get it, baby”

He pulled his fingers out slowly and you watched as he stuck them in his mouth to suck them clean,

“Mhm, fuck, I’ll eat you next time, don’t even try to stop me”

You spread your legs as he sat back on his haunches and pushed his briefs down, finally. You couldn’t make out his size in the dark but you had already felt that it was a little bigger than what you were used to.

Jin gripped himself, moving his hand along his dick and sighing,

“Can’t believe this is happening…”

He said and leaning back down, hovering over your body,

“Wanted this for so long”

He continued and you let your hand travel over his naked chest as he guided his dick to slide through your wetness. You watched him shudder and a breath hitched in his throat as his dick made contact with your wet, warm centre,

“God, feels so good already, Jin, don’t tease me”

He bent down and kissed you,

“I won’t, I just…”

He hesitated for a second and took a deep breath,

“I don’t have any condoms with me, I wasn’t really planning on this to happen”

You smiled at the sudden insecurity in his voice and gently ran a hand through his dishevelled hair,

“It’s fine, I have an IUD, you don’t have to worry”,

“I can come inside you? You sure?”,

“I want you to”,

“Fuck…”

Jin went right back to kissing and sucking on your neck,

“Please, Jin, just fuck me… want you so bad”

The way you sounded so fucking whiney and sweet; he moaned into your skin and rubbed his dick along your pussy before he slowly pushed the head inside. Unprepared for the incredible feeling of your wet, tight pussy around his dick, he pushed in even more, swallowing all your moans and pleas. Never had he felt this good before, literally never. Your pussy felt so damn good around him, he wasn’t even completely sure this was real,

“Ah, Jin!”

He could tell you tried to be quiet,

“Shit, it’s so big…”,

“You ok? Want me to go slow?”

He asked for your comfort, yet he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it because his dick was definitely pushing itself deeper inside you of its own accord. He probably couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to,

“No, I’m fine, it feels amazing”

You threw your head back into the grass and Jin bent a little to suck your nipple back into his mouth, adding to your pleasure even more. He pushed in deeper and deeper, moving his hips until they wouldn’t go any further and he was balls deep inside you. Even if you didn’t, he needed a moment to come back to reality and not finish before he had even started. You held him so tightly and he squeezed every bit of skin he could reach as your hips moved against his, stealing his breath and making him feel so fucking good,

“You feel so good, YN, so fucking good”

He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the feeling of your body against his, 

“So wet, so tight- this pussy’s made for me”

He mumbled against your skin and kissed and sucked what his lips could find. He wanted to be more in control, wanted to be more focused on your pleasure but it just felt so good. He could only hope he was making you feel as good as he possibly could,

“Jin, touch me…”

He heard you sigh and he placed one last kiss to your lips before he pushed himself up to sit back, so he could bring his fingers back to your clit,

“Like this?”

He asked as he rubbed you and immediately felt you clench around him,

“Yes, ah… like that”,

He lifted your leg onto his shoulder with his other hand, spreading you even more for him. This new angle had him hitting you deeper and Jin did his very best to hit all the right places. He already felt his end approaching and he knew he couldn’t hold it off for long,

“Jin, fuck, I’m close, don’t stop”

Your words were music to his ears. He held your leg tightly to his chest, fucking you deeper and harder, working his fingers as close to the rhythm his hips were setting as possible,

“That’s it, baby, come for me”

He ben forward slightly, wanting to be closer to you, wanting to see your face when you came,

“Come all over my dick”

His words made you feel hot all over and you felt your muscles contracting, bringing you closer to your end,

“Ahh, I’m gonna come”

Your voice was strained and you put both of your hands over your mouth, knowing this was gonna be a loud one. Jin was captivated by the pure look of pleasure on your face and devoted all of his movements to making you come, desperate to see your face and feel you clench around his dick,

“Gonna come for me? I can feel it, baby, tell me what to do”,

“Just like that, don’t stop”,

“You’re so beautiful… look so good like this; I want you so much”

He told you all the things he always wanted you to know and more until he felt your pussy tighten around him and your leg spasm in his grip while you moaned through your hands in a desperate attempt to deafen the noise as you came around him. He pushed in so deep, revelling in the feeling of your orgasm and letting his own take over. He bent down, pushing your hands out of your face and capturing your lips in a slow, deep kiss that made your toes curl like that orgasm just did. He came so deep inside you, filling you up so good and holding you so tight and close, you never wanted him to let you go. As your muscles relaxed and your breathing evened out again, just like Jin’s, he took your hands in his and kissed them before intertwining your fingers and pressing another long, deep kiss to your lips,

“Jeesus, Jin, I never would have thought you’d be so uh... vocal”

Was the first thing that came to your mind as he slipped out of you and lay down next to you. He let out a hearty laugh and ran a hand over his face,

“I don’t know what came over me”

He said and you smiled,

“I just bring out the best in you, don’t I?”

He squeezed your hand lovingly,

“My best is definitely in you, yes”

He snickered and you slapped his shoulder,

“You’re so nasty”

You both giggled as suddenly a loud voice rang through your post-orgasmic bliss,

“You’re both nasty! Fucking like horny teenagers while all your friends are trying to sleep? What are you, 16? Get a damn room next time, fuck!”

Both of you recognized Yoongi’s voice. You probably woke him up or kept him from sleeping,

“Whoops…”

You said, hiding your face in Jin’s neck,

“You should be happy it’s only happened now! Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all!”  

Jin yelled back and you laughed even harder.

He had exactly zero shame and that was probably why you worked so well together. And you continued to work well together two more times that night. And then you continued to work even better together for a lot more years to come.

[atinytokki]

Dreamer

ii. Mermaid Song 

(Just a reminder that several of Jongho’s thoughts about blame and ways of coping in this work are not healthy!!)

Jongho hated thunderstorms. Where he lived, they were common, occurring several times per week. Ever since he was small, the flash of lightning that invaded his bedroom and the following loud thunderclap that shook the house sent him diving under the blankets with his heart pounding.

But the worst part of the thunderstorm was the fact that it forced Jongho to stay inside.

He had made a horrible mistake neglecting to buy rice yesterday, and compounded with the negative mood of the soldiers’ unexpected visit, the guilt of the incident weighed heavily on him from the moment he awoke.

It was a dreamless sleep— at least if he had dreamed, he didn’t remember it. Feeling unsettled in his stomach, he lay under the blankets for a few minutes just listening to the rain hit the roof tiles and trying to go back to sleep.

The sounds of Father moving around in the kitchen reached his ears and he stayed put until he surmised breakfast was made and finished and Father had moved into the smithy to begin the day’s work.

It had been too much to hope that there would be food waiting for him, though sometimes Father did so after a punishment in a gesture of apology. Today, he must be busy making new weapons, possibly to gain the favour of the Navy this time.

Jongho simply toasted some bread and took it back with him to his bedroom, huddled under the blankets where the thunder could not touch him.

He finished his schoolwork as quickly as he could, plowing on even through the subjects that didn’t come as easily to him so that he could flip through his book of sheet music and try to decipher it.

The book was a secret purchase, one he had lied to Father about, saying it was required for school and managing to get away with it. Lessons or an instrument to put the music to use could not be so easily obtained, however, so Jongho settled for turning through the pages and doing his best to follow along, putting names to symbols and tunes to words.

“A Mermaid’s Song,” he read in a whisper when he turned to the next page for him to scan. There was a short note above the staff that he read as well, curious that an origin story should appear where usually there were only performance instructions. “Sung to me by an old pirate, long ago taken by the sea.”

Excited at the prospect of discovering what to him was nothing short of treasure, Jongho quickly went about discerning the proper key and rhythm for the song before picking out the notes from their intervals and stringing them together one by one.

He was interrupted halfway through by the sound of the front door opening and Father entering the kitchen, and hurried to stow his music away underneath his mattress and check the time.

Somehow it was noon already, midday’s light hidden behind storm clouds, and there was still no rice for lunch. Wincing at the irritated huffs he could hear from his father, Jongho went to peek out his bedroom door at the sight of him trying to throw together a meal.

He stumbled dizzily over himself and had the bottle in his hand, so Jongho swallowed thickly, hoping he hadn’t been seen, gently closing the door and pulling on his shoes.

It was still pouring rain, but it didn’t matter. Jongho couldn’t stand waiting around at home with an angry father while it was his fault there would be no food on the table.

He would just have to go out and buy the rice anyway.

Careful to remain quiet, he unlatched his window and escaped through it, shivering the moment a particularly cold stream of water ran down his back from the eaves of the house. He was a fast runner, and the market wasn’t far. He may even be back before Father finished cooking.

It would have been preferable to bring a coat with him, but instead Jongho tried to run along the cliff face, hoping some overhanging rock would shield him from the bulk of the rain.

Under the tents in town he received some respite, and, shivering, counted out his coins to pay the rice merchant with and prepared to haul the stuffed bags home with no wagon and without letting them be soaked.

“Do you think it will let up soon?” He asked the seller with a small grain of hope.

The man shook his head and pulled his own cloak closer. “My bones tell me it’ll rain all day and most of the next.”

Frowning, Jongho shouldered the bag and sprinted back out into the storm. To make up for the rice weighing him down, he picked up the pace and ran faster, a decision he regretted as soon as his foot caught on a loose rock and he came crashing down face first.

Scrubbing away pained tears, he grit his teeth and rose to his feet again, thankful that the bag had not leaked and returning to the path in the hopes of arriving soon.

He had made a decision and he’d have to live with it. There was no sneaking in through the back this time, front door thrown open and rice bag deposited in the kitchen.

Father was sitting at the table and scowled when he saw his son soaking wet and dripping rain in the entryway, but his expression eased as he took notice of what had been brought.

Wordlessly, he rose to open the bag and cook some of the rice, adding it to the meat he’d already grilled while his son was out and Jongho waited patiently for the verdict.

Father may not be speaking to him at the moment, but he would address him soon, Jongho could tell.

When Father sat himself down with a steaming bowl and finished the long awaited first bite, he finally looked up at his son, still dripping in the doorway.

“Thank you,” he said simply, and Jongho’s eyes filled with happy tears.

Hurriedly he blinked them away and bowed his head respectfully before returning to his room to look for a towel.

There weren’t any clean ones. The housekeeping lady was still visiting the archipelago until next week.

Feeling the afternoon lull take him over with a sudden warmth, Jongho dropped his soaking clothes in a pile on the floor and wrapped himself in blankets instead, holding his eyes open as long as he could but inevitably drifting into sleep as his shivers subsided.

It was nearly nightfall when he awoke from what felt like a very well earned rest. Hungry and craving some attention, Jongho dressed in dry clothes and ventured into the main room to see a sight that spiked his sleep-addled brain into full awareness.

Father was sitting at the table with a scowl again, the bottle in his hand. An empty bottle.

It was too late to reconsider, so Jongho crept forward until those darkening eyes landed on him and narrowed.

“Where have you been all afternoon?” Father snapped, motioning to a bowl of stew that sat, uneaten, on the other end of the table. “I rang the bell for supper and you did not come. Is this how you treat your Father?”

Jongho’s mouth fell open as he glanced at the bowl, and he didn’t know what to say in his defence.

He had made him supper. Father hadn’t done that in months.

“I was… asleep…”

Father scoffed.

“Asleep? I thought to be merciful and show you forgiveness but here you are dragging your feet when you should be thanking me.”

“I’m sorry,” Jongho began to apologise. “I don’t mind eating it cold, I truly am thankful—”

“No,” Father snapped, getting to his feet and snatching up the bowl only to dump it out the window, washed away in the rain. “You missed your chance. To bed without supper, and I’ll see to it you don’t sneak out.”

Father grabbed him by the arm, a sharp pressure in his skin from where he dug in his nails, and marched him back to his bedroom, locking the window and then the door behind him.

Jongho sat, stunned for a moment before falling back on his bed.

He couldn’t believe he had let such an opportunity pass him by.

It was Father’s way of showing him kindness by making him food and waiting for him to claim it, and Jongho had slept through the bell, an ungrateful child.

There was nothing to do now except wait until morning and pray for a second chance.

Jongho had a small stash of oatcakes in a bag in his top drawer saved up for emergencies, and when he’d remained still for an hour and deemed it safe, he tiptoed to the dresser and pulled them out, eating silently.

It wasn’t the first instance of being banished to his bedroom, but the first time in awhile.

Once, Father had been tired of looking at him and locked Jongho in the smithy for an entire day with nothing to eat. He had to be grateful that wasn’t the case this time, and nor was a beating and chores.

Instead, he looked around his room and brushed the crumbs away, settling in to sleep so that at least he could forget his shame.

Sometimes the room was a refuge, sometimes it was a prison. He did not cry. This was his life, after all.

Jongho awoke the next morning sniffling and with a pesky sneeze that wouldn’t go away.

Just as the man in the market said, it was raining still— though less than yesterday— and Jongho had contracted a cold as a result of running around in it.

It was a slow morning again once he arose, and Father had been in the smithy an hour at least before Jongho emerged to make himself breakfast.

Careful to check frequently for Father, he continued poking through his sheet music for the rest of the morning, too wrapped up in the mermaid song to put it aside for school.

“Come beyond the silver flash,” he read aloud in a whisper. “Fear not the grave and sunken deep. Over tide and ocean splash, dream my song and love to keep.”

It gave him chills to sing it quietly with only the silent house and the rain as witness. The song was starting to sound as it was intended, a haunting melody to lure sailors to their deaths.

The sound of the back door sent Jongho scrambling to hide the sheet music in his room, and when the coast was clear to return to the table, he saw Father had left a note for him.

“Buy bread and vegetables,” Jongho read in a pout, trying not to sigh too loudly and pocketing the money that was left alongside the message. So it was another trip to the market.

At least the rain had let up, though cloudy skies remained.

Old woman Soomi happened to be at the bakery when Jongho was, and he greeted her politely with thanks for the recipe she had offered the other day.

“My pleasure, boy,” she smiled at him gently before glancing up at the overcast sky. “Hope all this rain doesn’t force the athletic tournament to be postponed.”

“Athletic tournament?” Jongho perked up at that, mind straying to those runners he’d seen on the beach the other day. They had appeared to be running just for sport, but the thought that it had been a training exercise for an even more exciting event was a pleasing one.

“Yes, the whole town will be turning up for it,” Soomi chuckled at his excitement. “Except you and your busy father. Always holed up in the smithy, you boys.”

“Right,” Jongho remembered, biting his lip as he considered his options. Father would never let him go, it would be better to give up the idea now before he dwelt on it too much. “I suppose I won’t be coming this year.”

“Well, if you’re interested then you should go,” Soomi snorted before bidding him farewell to saunter to another stall. “Life is more than survival, you know.”

Her words stayed with him all the way home.

Perhaps that was what life ought to be, but his life was survival first and foremost. It was an endless cycle of being beaten for being useless, and continuing to be useless because he was being beaten.

Soomi had always been kind to him, ever since she found him wandering in the market, a mere six year old lost and left behind by his father when he couldn’t keep up on the walk home by the cliffs. She’d pointed him in the right direction, that day and ever since.

The confidence to ask Father for permission to participate couldn’t have come from anywhere else.

“You think she pities you for being beaten?” Father said when he finally paused his pumping of the bellows. Jongho had done his best to explain that he wanted to go, hiding behind Soomi’s recommendation in the hopes that Father wouldn’t deny them both, but didn’t know how to respond to such a question.

Father shook his head with a sly smile and continued with his business. He knew Jongho was only inclined to ask at all because he felt supported in that request.

“Old Soomi has lived much longer than you or I, she knows the way of the world. Insolent boys have been punished for generations, Jongho. I was beaten as a delinquent youth and it taught me obedience and discipline. I didn’t wail and look for pity, I took the lesson to heart and became stronger for it. If you’re going to hide behind her skirts, you had better hope she actually wants to defend you.”

It was harsh but true. Even if Soomi knew what Jongho’s life was like at home, there was no certainty she would rescue him, and Jongho had to do everything in his power not to appear in need of rescue.

“Stronger…” Jongho whispered. Father’s speech wasn’t unusual, but the suddenness of it, the way of switching tacks to another conversation, betrayed his fears about something; being judged for beating his son despite how commonplace it was in their day and age.

Jongho had a choice; play it safe and abandon his desire, or use Father’s fear against him, risking greater reward but also greater punishment.

“I do want to be stronger,” Jongho admitted. “I don’t want to be seen as the boy who’s locked in the smithy every day. Let me train and run, not to escape punishment but because I want to be part of this town. I’ll only go after everything else is done.”

Father snorted and put down his sword.

His face was unreadable, just as it almost always was when Jongho was speaking to him of his own volition.

“Very well,” he said after a moment. “Represent the family well, or there will be consequences.”

Not that any of Father’s threats were empty, but this one had much greater impact.

Gulping, Jongho thanked him profusely and went down to the beach to have a run. He had a few hours until supper time and didn’t want to push his luck, even if he was vibrating from the excitement.

There were the cliffs, still a bit slippery from the deluge of days past, but waiting for him to sprint across. He passed his little palm tree and followed the curve of the coast, deviating slightly off the path to run on the beach.

Jongho kept a rhythmic pace with the tune in his head, the mermaid song for some reason instead of one of the many work songs also found in his book.

He slowed down as he reached the very tip of the peninsula, the easternmost point of the mainland, to take a few deep breaths and rest his burning legs. Despite all the lifting of rice bags and dragging of wagons he did back and forth, he didn’t often run as fast and as far as this.

The view was spectacular, and the sound of the wind and waves battering Ulso’s cliffs was striking.

Another sound carried over the ocean to him, and he wondered at first if it was his own voice singing the mermaid song aloud instead of silently like he’d thought he was doing.

The tune was unmistakable and the words could just barely be heard, but Jongho followed along until a cloud crossed the sun and snapped him out of it.

There was no one singing but him, and it was time to turn for home.

___

A/N: What a rollercoaster ride! The chapter took a long time mostly because I took it upon myself to actually write the song for some reason. More spinoff chapters on the way in the near future but let me know what you thought in the meantime, here or on Twitter (@tiny_tokki)

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[paintedwithapalette]

Presenting a lovely commission I recently received from @wingbladeweaver1357​ of Naminé and Kairi from my Memories of You fanfic where they’re twin sisters! I’m absolutely in love with it! 

Decided to write up a quick snippet to go along with it as well that may or may not show up in the future of Memories of You itself! Enjoy! 

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

Memories of You:  Naminé and Kairi 

Word Count: 1,383

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

"Knock, knock," Kairi called. "Dinner is served."

Kairi backed into Naminé's room with her hands preoccupied with a tray of grilled meat and curry rice. Naminé sat at her desk, lost in her own world as a zest of inspiration compelled her to look over her work with a great amount of scrutiny as she scribbled into her sketchbook. 

"Thank you," Naminé replied, her eyes unmoving. "Smells great. On the bed is fine."

Kairi paused. Did she hear right? For the first time in weeks, Naminé’s voice didn't sound like it was desolate of all life and energy. "So, I suppose asking you to come downstairs and eat at the table with us like a normal family for once is out of the question?"

"What was that?" Naminé asked, not tearing her eyes away from her drawing.

"Never mind," Kairi said tiredly, complying with her sister's earlier request and set her dinner on the mattress. "Just promise me you'll at least touch your dinner this time?"

"Don't worry, I will. And I'll be at breakfast in the morning. Promise," Naminé assured her offhandedly. Kairi couldn’t claim to be convinced. She had heard it a million times before. "If I don't show up, I'll do your chores for a month."

"Deal. I’ll hold you to that, you know.” 

Before leaving, she stole a stealthy glance at Naminé and took note of her seemingly more animated posture. It was far from the first time she had seen her sister absorbed in her own world. But this time, something seemed different; whether it was the way her pencil scraped against the paper sharply, or the way she chewed her lip, or the slightest bounce etched in each of Naminé's movements. It was a subtle something that only a sister of sixteen years could pinpoint.

Kairi peered over Naminé's shoulder to get a glimpse at whatever kind of artistic spectacle was in the works. "Soooo, whatcha drawin'?"

"H-Hey! Do you mind?" Naminé was quick to press her sketchbook against her chest. "You know I don't like when people look."

Kairi raised her hands in a show of no ill will. "Sorry, are my unrefined commoner eyes tainting your latest masterpiece?" 

"Why, yes. Yes, they are. Glad you understand."

Kairi scoffed. "No need to get uppity. I was just curious because you seem a bit more excited than usual."

"Excited? What do you mean by excited?" Naminé chuckled nervously. "I'm not excited. Who's excited? Are you excited? Can I not just be immersed into the wonderful world of art without arousing baseless accusations of this so-called excitement?"

Kairi snickered at the transparent façade. "Subtle."

Naminé frowned. "Don't you think your food is getting cold or something?"

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you." Kairi giggled at the dirty look from her sister and headed for the door. "Fine. I can take a hint. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." 

When Kairi turned towards the door, Naminé gave a look of gratitude and returned her focus to her sketchbook. However, when Naminé was least expecting it, her sketchbook was quickly swiped from her work station. With eyes on the brink of popping out of her skull, Naminé looked over to find Kairi making a mad dash towards her own bedroom with a most evil cackle trailing behind her. 

“Kairi!” Naminé cried, immediately rushing out of her room to give chase. 

“Sorry, little sister, but I couldn’t resist,” Kairi called, her eyes running over her sister’s sketch as she sped walked down the hall. It was an impressively constructed piece of Roxas with an insurmountable amount of attention to detail resulting in an insanely accurate depiction of the boy in question. “Aha! Just as I suspected.” 

“Kairi,” Naminé shouted, her voice coming off more whiny than anything. As Naminé chased after her sister, she couldn’t help but remember when Roxas took her most embarrassing doodles of hers when she was little, teasing her all the while. What was with these two and their incessant need to humiliate her? “Give that back!” 

“But this is so good,” Kairi said as she entered her room. Naminé hurried inside soon after and sprinted towards her sister with the intent of tackling her to her bed, but Kairi simply raised a hand to catch Naminé’s face, ignoring her muffled moans and whines as she pathetically reached for her sketchbook. “No wonder you were so focused. It’s like... almost a photograph.” 

“Thank you very much. Now hand it over.” 

Kairi gave it one last look, a wide smile spreading, before handing it back to Naminé. The bespectacled girl held it close to her chest protectively and adjusted her glasses. 

“Look, I know I might look like a bit of a weirdo,” Naminé started, “but it really was just an excuse to practice portraits. That’s all.”

“Mmm hmmmm,” Kairi mummed in disbelief. “If that’s the case, why choose Roxas?” 

“Because, uh...” Naminé stumbled. “I-I like his hair?” 

It wasn’t a lie, anyway. 

Kairi smirked, shaking her head as she set her hands on her hips. “Little sister. Have you not learned your lesson that your lies hold no weight over me, your true evil overlord?” She gradually began to speak in a dramatic tone. 

 “Would you please stop calling me your little sister? We’re only minutes apart.” 

Kairi grabbed Naminé by the shoulders and shook her. “Your meager attempts at diverging the topic of our current discussion do not sway me, woman! I know thine heart hath a penchant for the boy who hails by the name of Roxas and your denies are futile!” 

“And stop talking like that. It’s starting to freak me out.” 

“Just admit it,” Kairi said, her voice returning to normal. “I’ve admitted to you about how I feel about Sora. The least you can do is return the favor. Don’t you trust me?” 

Naminé eyed her up and down with scrutiny. “Do you really want me to answer that question?” 

Kairi rolled her eyes. “Do you like Roxas? Yes or no?” 

Naminé bit her lip as her eyes moved all over Kairi’s room in an attempt to avoid that gleam of anticipation of hers. “I... maybe, okay? Maybe. Now, will you leave me alone?”

Naminé hurried towards the door, but Kairi read her like a book and swiftly stepped in front of her as she blocked her exit. “So, you admit it!” 

“I said maybe.” 

“Which basically means you want to bear his children!” 

Naminé felt a blush sneak up on her at the accusation. “W-What...?”

Kairi snaked one of her arms around Naminé’s shoulders. “Hee hee! You wanna know what I think?” she asked, her voice returning to normal. 

“After that comment you just made, not particularly.” 

“I think you should give it to Roxas as a gift.” 

“Kairi,” Naminé said plainly. 

“I’m serious. You know how much he loves your art. I’m telling you, he’d fall head over heels for you!” 

“T-That’s not really the point,” Naminé said, her eyes running over her sketch. “Isn’t it kind of creepy? Drawing somebody without their permission?” 

“Maybe if you didn’t know the person, but we’re talking about your friend, remember? Our friend. A friend who adores everything of yours he’s laid his eyes on. Also, helloooo? His birthday is coming up next week. The time is now!” 

Naminé’s look of uncertainty didn’t waver much, her eyes repeatedly switching from her sketch to her sister’s hopeful eyes. “So, you’re saying I wouldn’t look like a creep if I gave this to him?” 

“Not at all! You should give Roxas more credit. He’s not some judgemental jerkface, and you know this. He’d be thrilled. Just have a little bit of courage and I’m sure it’ll all work out.” 

Naminé still looked unsure.  

“How about this,” Kairi continued. “I’ll be right there beside you when you give it to him. If you ever get discouraged, I’ll be right there to nudge you in the right direction.” 

“I don’t know about this, Kairi...” Naminé whispered, lifting her sketchbook over the bottom half of her face to hide her quivering lips. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” 

Realizing that Naminé was beginning to warm up to the idea, Kairi noticeably brightened and clenched her fists. 

“I’m positive!” 

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

If you’re interested in seeing more of their sisterhood, feel free to check out Memories of You on ff.net! It would mean the world to me! 

[vickyvicarious]

well now I have to headcanon that Killian enjoys cooking

(Regarding this gifset.)

Anon I agree. I very much agree. To a... schmoopy amount, so prepare yourself.

.

Emma spent most of her adult life living alone, and a decent amount of her childhood essentially raising herself. She’s gained a lot of skills from those experiences - the useful but depressing stuff, like clocking liars and abusers from ten paces, how to get a good deal at a pawn shop, how to shoplift, to break into cars, how to fill the silence with music so loud you stop thinking about how lonely you are, how to fire a gun, exactly how far ten dollars can stretch if you need. Sure, she’s learned all that.

But some of the stuff is just plain useful. Emma’s known for a long time how to manage her money, how to do laundry, how to keep a house clean, how to sew up rips in your clothes to make them last longer, how to cook. Some of those skills she hasn’t needed in a long time, and others she doesn’t use much just because she doesn’t like to, and she no longer has to. Still, even if she doesn’t especially love cooking, for example, she isn’t actually forced to live on takeout. Before Storybrooke, that was more of... a choice.

(Eating alone in your own home has never been something she’s liked. At least in a bar or a restaurant, she could hear other people, watch them.)

Living with Mary-Margaret, she wound up cooking a little more often, and during her time in New York she remembers making dinner with Henry most days. He was pretty awful in the kitchen himself, could burn water, so she didn’t let him do anything too important, but it was more about the companionship. Even having him doing his homework in the kitchen while she whipped something up was just as good. Sure, there was still pretty regular order-in days, and they ate out sometimes, but for the most part they actually had real meals together. She remembers making a decision to do that when he was still small, to always set aside this time to cook and eat together and share their days. 

It was a curse memory, fake, but Emma liked that routine. Even after moving back to Storybrooke, at least once everything eventually settled, she tries to keep that going. She still doesn’t especially love cooking - it’s more about the end result for her, having that time to sit down together as a family and enjoy something you made together.

So when she and Killian started living together, she made sure to tell him. Emma wanted him to know everything that mattered to her, wanted him to be involved in it. She... also wanted to know ahead of time, if he was terrible in the kitchen and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere nearby. His other household skills were a bit of a hit-or-miss. He was really good at cleaning, but could never remember when to take the trash out. Maybe she expected him not to have any skill with plumbing or cleaning out the gutters, or using a washing machine, and to be fair he learned those all pretty quickly, but she was surprised when it turned out Killian didn’t know how to fold anything neatly. If a lightbulb went out, he usually just ignored it, lit an actual gas lantern if there wasn’t enough light. He actually had a lot of interest in how to decorate the house, but hated changing the thermostat for some reason, preferring to just wear more layers if it got cold. 

Anyway, the point was - she was pretty sure he’d be fine with the idea of family dinners, knew he’d be willing to help even if it were just via setting and clearing the table and doing the grocery shopping, but she wasn’t sure if he’d be interested in actually making the food. And more than that, she wasn’t sure he’d be any good. He had, after all, lived most of his life on ships that had actual cooks to take care of that kind of thing. It might just be something he couldn’t do.

She definitely didn’t expect the way his face lit up at the idea.

“That sounds brilliant, love,” he told her. “You’ll show me how to use everything?”

Of course she agreed, and Killian had always been a quick learner (which was why she kept finding herself surprised at the chores he never seemed to pick up). So the way she only had to explain each modern cooking implement once was not a surprise. He was good with a knife, so she put him on veggie duty, and they made a simple but tasty chicken dish. Nothing unusual, pretty much the kind of cooking she always did. Quick and easy, healthy enough, didn’t taste amazing but definitely not terrible either.

When they sat down to dinner Killian’s face did... something.

It wasn’t quite a sneer.

It also wasn’t quite not a sneer.

“Well, it’s alright,” he said.

.

Those comments became increasingly common over the next few days. Emma’s pasta sauce was “a tad runny, but not bad,” and her tacos “could use a bit more spice,” and her ribeyes were “perhaps a little too long on the stove, love?” and her Sunday morning pancakes needed “a splash more buttermilk, I suspect.” Killian wasn’t picky, he ate every bite, and he didn’t exactly nag her about her cooking. Just one or two comments, not necessarily even directed at her so much as him musing aloud about the food. But every side dish he made tasted amazing, even if it was just a simple salad, and he very clearly had opinions and it wasn’t like Emma even liked cooking all that much anyway. She’d never claimed to be a genius at it. But she’d never admitted to being bad either, and the little snubs over and over got increasingly irritating until one day she just snapped that he should be in charge of dinner then, if he cared so much.

Killian instantly looked contrite.

“I don’t want to step on your toes, love,” he said. “If you enjoy cooking - just maybe another shake of the pepper next time -”

“I don’t like cooking,” Emma snarled, “I just like eating together. Except I’m liking it a lot less when I’m constantly getting criticized!”

“Oh,” he said, a little taken aback. “Oh. Well, then.”

And then he completely took over.

It started with him making her own staple recipes, just being the one in charge of the actual meals. He told her she didn’t have to help if she didn’t want to, and Emma was pissed enough to agree that she wouldn’t. Except then the simple pan chicken she’d been making for ten years came out tasting like it never had before, and there was this sort of lemon-y sauce with it? And he’d made asparagus and some kind rice pilaf thing as well, and even though he claimed he’d just “tweaked it a little” it was so clearly a completely different meal. A better meal. Definitely.

He went through all her favorites like that, completely elevating them beyond anything Emma had ever dreamed of making herself. They took longer, of course, but unlike her he didn’t care. He’d be in there for an hour or more; she’d hear him singing sea shanties to himself as he kneaded homemade bread. Whenever she (begrudgingly, at first) complimented his cooking he’d get this very sweet smile on his face. He rarely seemed satisfied with his own efforts either, still making little comments about how it was a shame the bread had come out a little too chewy, after all -

It was ridiculous. And that was before he started trying to recreate various meals he’d eaten over the course of his long life, a wide variety of vastly different foods he cobbled together from memory and instinct alone. She started helping him out more often, definitely over her irritation at this point and dipping right into fascination. She liked to watch him think, the way he’d dip his hook into a sauce then suck on the tip with his brows knitted together, before adding a little more of some seasoning or other. Now that he was in charge and no longer holding back out of respect for her feelings - or whatever the hell he’d been doing at the start - he’d talk through his decisions. Whether that was muttering aloud about needing more garlic, or telling a long and convoluted story about the first time he’d had this particular curry in a tiny dockside tavern and then delayed leaving port until he could at least partially figure out the recipe from taste alone - thus setting off a chain of events that led directly to his first near-death experience at the hands of mermaids. When he’d come back five years later, the tavern was gone.

Their spice cabinet grew, and their fridge filled up. The pantries too, and the cooking implements, though that happened more gradually. They’d started off with a coffee machine that automatically brewed a pot every morning; five months into living together, Killian acquired a French press and, always an early riser, ground beans himself every morning as she woke up. By the time she got out of the shower and downstairs, he would hand her a cup with exactly the right temperature, flavor, and timing. This went along with the breakfast he’d made, of course.

Emma bought him a set of cookbooks for Christmas; Henry got him some kind of complicated food processor that led to a sharp increase in soups and smoothies and sauces. His repertoire increased. Instead of going to Grannies for New Year’s Eve, they had a party for their family, and Killian went all-out on making a giant feast with Emma and Henry as his hapless assistants. She tried to tell him New Year’s was really more about partying than dinner, but he insisted he didn’t care and made a roast. It was obviously delicious, everyone who hadn’t had much of Killian’s cooking yet lost their minds a little and he alternated between incredibly smug and that familiar bashful grin. Later, they had some kind of pudding for dessert, and played board games for a while until everyone had digested enough to actually move - only then did more traditional festivities commence. They drank, danced, sang, all watched the ball drop and shouted the countdown together; and Emma kissed Killian at midnight, feeling a sharp burst of joy that finally, she could have something like this. Starting a new year surrounded by those she loved, and who loved her back, laughing giddily and dancing together with her parents and her son and the man she’d fallen so so hard for.

But even that paled, honestly, to the next morning. They hadn’t bothered with attempting to clean up, just waved everyone out the door where they’d stumbled down the street in a loud, happy cluster. Emma’d sent Henry to bed, then grabbed Killian and yanked him to their bed, and they hadn’t gone to sleep right away at all. When she did eventually fall asleep, it was blissful and slow, sated in every possible way - and well into the night.

When she woke up, late, it was to an empty bed, sunlight filling up the room. Going downstairs, she heard that familiar low croon from the kitchen; stepped over the streamers still scattered on the living room floor and rounded the corner to see Henry slumped at the table, yawning over a plate of pancakes. Killian at the stove, timing his song to a flip of the newest pancake. She could see blueberries in it. Coffee and orange juice waiting for her at the table. Bacon. Three different kinds of syrup.

Emma started crying.

Henry jerked up out of his chair, rushing to her in a panic. He held her arms and called her over and over, “Mom, mom, what is it?”. Killian moved the pan off the heat so it wouldn’t burn then came over to her too, gently touching her arm. He didn’t say anything, just looked at her.

“Mom, please,” Henry said, and pulled her into a hug - and he was so tall now, so much bigger than he’d been when he found her all that time ago. “Tell us how we can help.”

She shook her head, unable to speak clearly enough to explain they already had, that absolutely nothing was wrong and it hadn’t been for a while now. She didn’t know how to tell them exactly how monumental it felt, walking in here and seeing them both calmly engaged in such a familiar routine. How she’d woken up alone and had been doing so for months and never once worried Killian was gone. She knew he was downstairs, making breakfast.

Emma didn’t know how to say this was the moment she finally realized she had made a home, found a family, and that neither was ever going to be taken away. She didn’t even know why this was that moment, after all the more significant events they’d been through. It didn’t make sense that her deepest doubts would suddenly be banished by a simple breakfast she’d had countless times before.

“You made my favorite,” she sobbed instead, hugging Henry back tightly. She pressed her cheek into his hair, reached out to catch Killian’s hand and tried to blink past her tears to meet his gaze. “I-it’s my favorite breakfast.”

So stupid. So insignificant, after everything, so small, so - so important somehow, the most important thing in the world. Killian had made her favorite breakfast. Henry was there to eat it. Emma hadn’t cooked herself or asked him to make blueberry pancakes specifically or for either of hem to share this moment with her, hadn’t done anything besides sleep in. And it didn’t matter. Here they were, and Henry was always sleepy in the mornings but affectionate still, and Killian’s cooking was delicious and he always sang during and Emma loved them both so much.

Henry held onto her tightly, swayed on the spot a little. Killian reached out to wipe away her tears. He moved his hand to Henry’s shoulder, squeezed gently until he stilled, and then touched the back of his hook gently to her cheek and leaned over Henry to kiss her. Soft and slow.

“I know, Emma,” he told her after, smiling so soft and his voice rough with emotion. Emma had no doubt that he understood exactly what she meant; that he knew just what she couldn’t say and he felt that wonder too. That same incredible contentment, somehow more stunning than the fiercest joy. “I know.”

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Platinum Cherry Blossom - Kujo Jotaro (1/2)

MULAN x STARDUST CRUSADERS & VENTO AUREO (just a tiny bit)

Cast:

Fa Mulan - Reader Li Shang - Kujo Jotaro Fa Li (Mulan’s mother) - Bruno Buccellati (You had it coming...) Fa Zhou (Mulan’s father) - Leone Abbacchio (Godamn it, me...) Little Brother (Mulan’s dog) - Ghirga Narancia (Wtf am I doing?) Grandmother Fa - Guido Mista (By this point, you can go ahead and throw me out of the window) The Matchmaker - Trish Una (Sorry, girl, I never liked you) Chi Fu (Annoying Advisor) - Enyaba The Emperor - Joseph Joestar General Li - Sadao (Jotaro’s dad that’s not busy playing the sax anymore) Shan Yu - Dio Brando Yao - Jean - Pierre Polnareff Ling - Kakyoin Noriaki Chien-Po - Avdol Muhammad  Mushu - Iggy Cricket - Sex Pistols (Mainly #5)

Oh boy, this is gonna be quite the ride... And BOY am I gonna have fun with this!

ALSO, I will make this a 2 part story because apparently it’s getting too damn long and I wouldn’t want to make a novel on a single post!

CLICK HERE FOR:

PART 2

Somewhere, far away, during a night with the full moon peeking from behind the clouds, many soldiers were walking up and down the Great Chinese Wall, making sure no threats were to befall the Kingdom...

However, this very night seemed to be rather problematic for one simple soldier, whose helmet had been stolen by a bird...But it was not just any bird, it was a hawk.

The man stared in confusion at the bird that perked itself on a spear, croaking into the night, and almost as if on cue, a grappling hook was thrown high into the sky, latching itself onto the stone wall.

As the man stepped forward to see what was going on, countless more hooks rained in the sky, grabbing onto the wall, and it was then that he realised they were under attack, which made him yell out for his comrades, telling them to light the signal, running towards the little base.

Much to his dismay, instead of his allies, huge huns came out instead, so he quickly jumped on the wooden ladder before they could chop it off, and climbing on the roof, he grabbed a lit torch, only to be met face to face with the abominable Hun leader, Dio Brando, his hawk obediently latching itself on his master’s shoulder.

The loyal shoulder realised he had no chance to win a 1 on 1 combat, so he threw his torch in the tar filled fountains, and thus, alerting all the other bases situated on the Wall, and in turn, all of them lighting up the signal.

“Now all of China knows you’re here!” the solder spoke bravely, feeling a sense of pride as he was able to at least alert the Emperor of the potential danger.

In turn, the enemy leader only smirked widely, breaking the Chinese flag and lighting it up on fire, only saying one word - “Perfect.”

His plan was going accordingly, and the little soldier that only did his duty as instructed, fell right into his master plan.

---

In the Palace, General Kujo, along with 2 of his soldier, went to alert the Emperor of the grave new befalling the Empire, and thus, kneeling and bowing in front of him, his face grave and stern.

“Your Majesty, the Huns have crossed our northern border.” Sadao informed the Emperor, but he was quickly cut off by his advisor. “Impossible! No once can get through the Great Wall!” Enyaba sneered at the general, hitting her staff on the ground. “Dio Brando is leading them. We’ll set up defenses around your palace immediately.” the general declared, but his words were denied by the wise Emperor. “No. Send your troops to protect my people.” Emperor Joestar informed. “Enyaba.” “Yes, Your Highness?” the old woman asked. “Deliver conscription notices throughout all the provinces. Call up reserves and as many new recruits as possible.”  Joseph ordered the advisor. “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I believe my troops can stop him.” the General tried to reason with his master. “I won’t take any chances, General. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat.” the Emperor explained to the man in front of him, while also giving him a gentle new lesson of life.

---

In another part of China, there was a girl that recently turned of age, and had to be sent to the Matchmaker very soon, to find a suitable husband for her - Until then, she had to revise constantly the lessons of proper etiquette and lady mannerism that have been taught to her since she was but a little babe.

“Quiet and demure. Graceful. Polite. Delicate. Refined. Poised. Punctual!” the girl sat in bed, eating rice and neatly writing the words on her arm, so she would remember them later on, when needed.

However, as soon as she spoke out the last word, the rooster sang and she quickly jolted up from the bed, calling out for her little brother, Narancia, while blowing on her skin so the ink would dry. “Narancia! Nara...! Ah, there you are!” the girl found her little brother snoring on the floor, no doubt having fallen asleep again while playing. “Aww, Nara, who’s the most adorable little brother in the world?! Come on, help me out, it’s gonna be fun!” she said, dragging her hyperactive brother out of his room. “You want me to help you with your chores, right? You’ve got it!” he grinned widely, as the girl took a bag of grains, roped it around her brother’s waist and gave him a nice treat, telling him where to run so the chickens would all get to eat.

But of course, just as he was going out of the room...He missed the door and hit himself on the wall. No worries, though, he quickly recovered and started running around the garden, trying to use up all the energy he had.

On the other hand, their father, Leone, kneeled inside the shrine of their ancestors, bowing and praying for them, knowing very well what kind of daughter he had and how she needed to be tamed, in a way.

“Damn it, Ancestors, if you truly are there, PLEASE help my daughter impress that annoying Matchmaker today. I promise I won’t drink sake for the rest of the week.” just as he said that, Narancia got in the shrine, circled his father, and left, just like that.

The grains that remained in the shrine attracted quite a lot of chickens, which only exasperated Abbacchio further.

“PLEASE help her, or at least help my headache, or I have no idea what I’m gonna do.” he groaned, facepalming.

In the meantime, Y/N had enough time to dress up nicely and brush her hair, pulling it in a neat tail in the back, as she went to the shrine, hurriedly bringing her father some tea, only to bump into him, make the cup fall and shatter.

But she was prepared, she already knew she may or may not fuck up, so she brought a spare cup, smiling in victory at her witty plan.

“Remember, the doctor said 3 cups of tea in the morning, and 3 at night. Only that will help you with the pain caused by the war against the Hun Diavolo.” she smiled, not caring that her father was constantly calling out her name so she would pay attention. “Y/N...Why aren’t you in town already? We are counting on you to-” he began saying, only to be neatly cut off by the girl. “To uphold the family honour.” she smiled at him.

In truth, Abbacchio was rather annoyed with having to constantly repeat that ‘Honour’ bullshit, almost as if he was some robot manufactured only to bring honour, but he was aware of how cruel society can be to those who don’t abide the rules, so even if he had to hurt his daughter’s feelings, in a way, by not letting her be free and do as she pleases, he’d rather her live a normal life than be hated and shunned.

“Don’t worry, papa, I won’t let you down.” the girl smiled sweetly at him as she unconsciously tugged down on her sleeve to cover the words written in ink. “Wish me luuuuck~!” she thrilled as she started skipping down the stairs. “I’m...Going to pray some more...And drink some sake...” Leone sighed, looking down at his little son as he came next to him, munching on some nice treat.

---

In town, Bruno was pacing up and down, waiting for her daughter to appear already, until some woman came out of the building, calling out to him.

“Bruno Buccellati, is your daughter here already?  The Matchmaker is not a patient woman.” she informed the worrying man as she went back inside. “Of all days to be late...I should have prayed to the ancestors for luck.” he sighed, looking up to the sky with a worried expression. “How lucky can they be? They’re all dead! Besides, I’ve got ALL the luck we’ll need! This is your chance to prove yourselves, Pistols!” grandpa Mista smirked, looking at the playful bullets in his little birdcage, wanting to do a little test of luck.

He covered his eyes with his hand, letting his lucky bullets guide his fate as he passed the street, despite Bruno’s warnings... But of course, Mista was on the other side of the road, not touched by the traffic. The same can’t be said about the traffic, however, as there was only chaos and mayhem where she stepped.

“Yep, these bullets are lucky ones! Now, as long as there’s no Number 4, Y/N won’t have to fear a thing!” Mista cheered carefree, showing off the birdcage in which the bullets were cheering as well.

As if on cue, a gorgeous black horse, ridden by none other than Y/N, came in sigh, and she quickly jumped off in front of her ‘mother’, claiming that she’s there...With an ear of wheat stuck in her hair.

“What? But, Mama, I had to -” the girl tried to reason her tardiness, but her mum had none of it. “None of your excuses. Now, let’s get you cleaned up.” Bruno cut her off, getting her inside the building.

“This is what you give me to work with Well honey, I've seen worse We're going to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse” the woman sang as she undressed Y/N and threw her in the bubbly bath.

“It’s freezing!” the poor girl shivered, hugging herself. “It would have been warm if you were here on time.” Bruno scolded her gently.

“We'll have you washed and dried Primped and polished till you glow with pride Trust my recipe for instant bride You'll bring honor to us all” the woman sang again as she started washing the girl’s hair with much pride.

“Y/N, what is this?” Bruno raised his eyebrow in confusion as he tried to scrub the girl’s arm and noticed the scribblings. “Uhhh...Notes? In case I forget something?” the girl tried to play it cool, awkwardly taking her arm back. “Hold this. We’ll need more luck than I thought.” Mista chuckled, giving Bruno the bird cage with the bullets, as the girl finished bathing and put on a simple white robe.

“Wait and see, when we're through” the first woman sang, cheerfully brushing half half of Y/N’s hair. “Boys will gladly go to war for you” the second woman sang, brushing the other half of her hair, then tying it up in an updo with a red ribbon. “With good fortune” the first woman began her verse, letting the other one continue. “And a great hairdo.” the other one said, putting the mirror in front of her and the girl. “You'll bring honor to us all” the women sang, accompanied by Bruno.

“A girl can bring her family Great honor in one way By striking a good match And this could be that day” all the women were singing outside the building as Bruno was walking Y/N to the seamstresses, and in the way, the girl stopped to ponder the best move for checkers, beating the elderly man who thought he won...Before being dragged by her mum.

“Men want girls with good taste” the seamstress dressed in green sang “Calm” the one dressed in blue chirped simply. “Obedient“ Bruno cheered, helping the women with the red sash. “Who work fast paced” the plump seamstress jumped off the stool. “With good breeding and a tiny waist” Bruno sang, throwing the other end of the sash to the blue seamstress. “You'll bring honor to us all” they both sang as they suffocated the poor girl the the sash tightly knotted, but she at least looked stunning.

“We all must serve our Emperor Who guards us from the Huns A man by bearing arms A girl by bearing sons” everyone seemed to sing this overly annoying and indoctrinated song as the poor girl was dragged to the make up artist.

“When we're through You can't fail Like a lotus blossom soft and pale How could any fellow say "no sale" You'll bring honor to us all” the make up artist caked her face with the traditional make up for soon to be brides, and the girl simply took out a strand of hair to cover her forehead, admiring herself in the mirror.

“There, you're ready.” Bruno smiled tenderly at his daughter, taking out a gorgeous lower comb and putting it in her hair, caressing her face with pride and love. “Not yet!” Mista hurried inside with a huge grin. “An apple for serenity.” he began, putting a shiny red apple in her mouth. “A pendant for balance.” he continued, putting a lucky charm in her sash. “Beads of jade for beauty.“ he trailed on, putting the necklace around her neck. “You must proudly show it!” he raised up her chin, so she’ll carry herself with pride. “Now add the Pistols, just for luck! And even you can't blow it!” Mista put the birdcage to the sash, winking at the girl and doing a playful hip-hit with the girl, urging her to join the rest of her peers.

“Ancestors, hear my plea Help me not to make a fool of me And to not uproot my family tree Keep my father standing tall!” the girl smiled up at the sky, praying and rushing after the rest of the maidens.

“Scarier than the undertaker We are meeting our matchmaker” the rest of the girl sang, as Y/N quickly caught up to them. “Destiny, guard our girls And our future as it fast unfurls Please look kindly on these cultured pearls Each a perfect porcelain doll” all the women around sang, encouraging their daughters.

“Please bring honor to us- Please bring honor to us- Please bring honor to us- Please bring honor to us- Please bring honor to us all!” the girls sang, opening their coloured sun umbrellas and kneeling in front of the Matchmaker’s house in sync...Well, almost.

“Y/N” the Matchmaker Trish took out the pen from her hairdo and phlegmatically called out her name. “Present!” Y/N raised quickly, raising her hand enthusiastically. “Speaking without permission.” Trish sneered, turning her back to the girl and walking inside. “...Oops.” Y/N muttered, facepalming, realising that she was already fucking up. “Who spit in her bean curd?” she could hear her grandpa ask Bruno, which made her giggle softly.

Inside, Matchmaker Una started severely analysing her, saying she’s too skinny, not good for bearing sons, all while one of the Pistols, specifically Number 3, managed to escape the birdcage and was jumping around like a little cricket, making the girl quietly try to catch it, only to have to put it in her mouth as the pink haired ugly lady turned around, getting annoyingly close to her face, telling her to recite the final admonition.

Taking out her fan and hiding her face behind it, she quickly spit the bullet and started reciting what she remembered from the poem she kept repeating over and over at home.

“Fulfill your duties calmly and...Respectfully. Uhm...Reflect before you snack...Act! This shall bring you honour and glory.” the girl sighed in relief as she got it right and got away with the little cheating she did, despite the Matchmaker looking to see if she had anything written on her fan. “Now, pour the tea.” Trish dragged her by the wrist to the table, and so, getting ink on her hand without realising, much to the girl’s horror. “To please your future in-laws, you must demonstrate a sense of dignity...And refinement.” Y/N didn’t even relise she was spilling the tea on the table, just next to the cup, as she was staring blankly at the beard Matchmaker Una did on her face with her fingers. “You must also be poised.” the girl quickly poised herself and poured the tea in the cup this time, only to see #3 bathing peacefully in the warm beverage. “Uhmmm, pardon me...” the girl tried to warn the magenta haired woman as she took the cup to drink, only to get scolded. “AND silent!” she glared at the beautiful girl, raising the cup, taking a sniff of it. “Could I just take that back? Just one moment.” the girl asked, crawling on the table and taking a hold of the cup...Only to spill it on the Matchmaker’s face and clothes. “WHY, you, clumsy...!”

The pink haired woman was ready to shake the girl and scold her, only to realise she had something in her clothes, that make her shake and walk backwards, hitting the immolated coals used for the tea, and falling on them, creating a hole in her clothes and for her to jump up and down, trying to put off the fire, while shrieking like a monkey.

Y/N’s brilliant idea was to fan the hole, only to make the fire grow even more, and the woman burst out of her building, yelling for someone to put the fire out, as the younger girl threw the tea at her, successfully extinguishing the fire...

And her chances of marriage.

She softly handed her the teapot back as she covered her face and started walking back to her family.

“YOU ARE A DISGRACE! You MAY look like a bride, but you will NEVER bring your family honour!” Trish Una screeched in her face, as make up and tea were smearing down her face.

Everyone on the streets left, as only Bruno and Mista stood there, quietly trying to console the girl.

In vain, though.

She rode back home, not even able to face her smiling father, as she walked her horse back to the stables, looking at herself on the water sheen, watching herself with disappointment and anger.

“Look at me I will never pass for a perfect bride...” the girl sang to herself as she exited the stables and walked by the house, only to see Bruno tell Leone what happened at the Matchmaker and their reactions crushed her. “Or a perfect daughter Can it be I'm not meant to play this part Now I see That if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart” she sighed, taking out the Pistols and letting them hang around her as she walked to the beautiful garden, on the way there jumping on the bridge rail and skipping on the posts.

“Who is that girl I see Staring straight, back at me Why is my reflection someone I don't know” she sang, watching herself in the pond before looking at the sky with a sorrowful look, before making her way to the shrine.

“Somehow I cannot hide Who I am Though I've tried When will my reflection show who I am inside When will my reflection show who I am inside” the girl continued, bowing down in front of the graves, using her sleeve to wipe away the dreadful make up and letting her hair down, before going back to the garden and sitting on the stone bench under the gorgeous Cherry tree.

Just as she sat down, she heard someone clear their throat, only to reveal the lavender haired man she called father looking at her with an expression that was much gentler than usual.

The girl couldn’t even face him, so she quickly snapped her head away, combing her hair with her fingers, looking down with her eyes closed, as the man sat down next to her.

“Huh...We have quite the nice blossoms this year...Oh, look at that. That one’s blooming rather late. I bet all the sake I have that when it blooms, it will be the most beautiful of all.” Abbacchio tried to reassure his daughter, taking the flower comb from her lap and fixing her hair, making her smile at him with a thankful expression.

They shared a tender look of love that was quickly interrupted by the sound of drums, making the man frown in confusion and dread.

He realised what was happening, as all the family went out to the gates, but while Bruno told the girl to stay inside, Mista pointed to the boxes she could use to jump on the gate to spy on them.

The Royal advisor was telling them that the huns have invaded China and that at least 1 man from every family must serve the Emperor, and unfortunately, their family was called as well.

She watched her father limp with his chin up in front of the soldiers, bowing respectfully and taking the scroll from his hand, saying how honoured he is to serve the Emperor.

“Papa, you can’t go!” the girl jumped off and went in front of him, shielding him. “Please, sir, my father has already fought bravely and he is also injured-” she tried to beg them, but the hag Advisor rode in front of them, yelling at them. “Silence! You would do well to teach your daughter to hold her tongue in a man’s presence!” the Advisor cackled, riding her horse away. “Y/N...Godamn it, you just can’t stop dishonouring me.” Leone looked away from his daughter as the grandpa gently pulled her away, feeling sad, knowing her benevolent intentions.

Abbacchio nodded at the soldier as he told him the orders and limped back in the house, not even looking at Bruno or bothering to take his cane again, all while the advisor kept saying more and more names.

Leone went back to his room, looking at the armor, taking his sword and trying to wield it, just like before when he wasn’t injured, and took out his Stand, but soon, his leg gave away and was barely able to grab on a pillar and keep himself straight, panting in pain and cursing the huns for disturbing their peace and taking him away from his loving family.

What he didn’t know was that his daughter was watching him from the hallway, crying as her heart broke seeing her father go through something like that.

Their dinner was silent, as she poured everyone tea, thunder and lightning striking outside, but every little noise pissed her off, driving her to the edge, until she slammed her cup on the table, raising and looking at her father.

“You shouldn’t have to go!” her voice was raised, but it was cracking. “Y/N...!” Bruno gasped, trying to calm her down. “There are plenty of young men to fight for China!” she tried to reason. “It is an honour to protect my country and my family.” Abbacchio looked away, reciting the words he was indoctrinated to say. “So you’ll go there to die for your stupid honour?!” she gritted her teeth in anger. “I will die doing what’s right, for goddamn once!” he retorted back. “But if -” she tried to reason again, but he got to his feet, towering over her. “I know my place! It is time you learned yours!” he spoke so harshly, like never before, it was like he was someone else, which made the girl snap her eyes wide open in shock. “If you think that a graveyard is your place, then fine, do what you want! But don’t expect China to sing you praises and don’t expect me to mourn for you!” she started crying angry tears, running away from that place, done with the whole fanaticism around.

That’s when she knew what she had to do...But she was afraid to admit it. She stood on the stone totem, letting rain soak her as she cried, and from outside, she could see her father trying to console her mother, but Bruno couldn’t even look at his husband...

And it hurt.

So much.

She was ready.

She knew what she had to do.

She went to the shrine, lighting up an incense stick, praying to the ancestors, then went to her parents’ room, taking the scroll and replacing it with her flower comb, took the armor and sword from the wardrobe, cutting her gorgeous long hair so she would resemble a man, putting it in a bun.

She put on her armor, went to the stables to her horse and so, they rode away to fulfill the role of a man in China.

Just as she left the place, Mista woke up with a gasp, as Number 5 kept crying that Y/N was gone, so he lit a lantern and went to Bruno’s and Abbacchio’s room, alerting them of what happened, which made Leone stare at the older man with horror and remorse, taking the flower comb in his hand and rushing, with his cane, to the wardrobe -

The armor and sword were gone.

He ran outside, in the rain, not caring about anything but to have his daughter back...

“Y/N! GODDAMN IT, Y/N, PLEASE COME BACK, I’M SORRY!” his voice boomed through the place, but he slipped and fell down. “Leone, you must go after her! She could be killed!” Bruno worried, helping his husband get up. “If I reveal her...She will be...” Abbacchio bit his lip so hard, trying not to cry, that blood started to go down his mouth.

Instead, all he could do was curse himself for arguing with the daughter he loved so much and try to comfort Bruno, who was crying in his shoulder, while Mista could only watch in sorrow the pair while praying to the Ancestors to have her be okay.

Somewhere in the Shrine, the ghost of Kars summoned someone named “Iggy” who awoke from a dark and fiery mist, screeching “I LIIIIIIVE!” 

Kars had to scold Iggy for his over enthusiasm, as he hit the gong, waking all the ancestors to discuss the fate of the girl. The Zeppelis and the Speedwagons were fighting between themselves, there was the whole chaos that resulted in Iggy destroying the statue of the protector, and cursing himself for having to create a plan not to die. Outside, he met with #5 and together, they went in search for the girl.

---

Somewhere in the mountains, Dio was riding his army of Stand users as the D’arby brothers found two spies and threw them in the middle of them.

As Dio jumped off the horse, Pet Shop, his hawk, perched itself on the shoulder, and the man went in front of the 2 scouts with a smirk, watching their terrified looks.

“Nice work, gentlemen. You found MY army. Dio’s army.” Dio spoke tauntingly. “Emperor Joestar will stop you!” the younger scout was brave enough to speak up. “Stop me? Haha! He invited me! By building his stupid Speedwagon wall, he challenged my strength...My authority! Well, I’m here to play his little game.” the blond man took the poor spy by his throat, taking out his Stand, before throwing the man to the ground, feigning to put The World on them. “Go! Out of my sight! Tell Joseph Joestar to send his strongest armies! I’m ready. None may challenge me.” Dio made them run away, before stroking his chin, mockingly. “How many men does it take to deliver a message, I wonder~?” he crossed his arms, waiting for The Empress to act. “One, my Lord.” she laughed as she attached her Stand to one the men’s arm, easily killing one of them.

---

Y/N, who was looking through the bamboo forest at the army camp, glanced at her horse and clearing her throat, did her best manly impersonation, only to have the horse roll on the ground, neigh-laughing at her, which only made her roll her eyes in annoyance.

What neither of them was expecting was a big fire to form behind the rocks and the silhouette of a dog, and a dark voice calling out to them.

“Did I hear someone ask for a miracle? Let me hear you say AAAARGHHH!” the voice roared, scaring the girl, screaming and hiding behind a rock along with her horse. “That’s close enough.” the being chuckled in a lighter tone. “A ghost?” the girl whispered to herself, unsure of what she was seeing. “Get ready, Y/N, your canine salvation is at hand! For I have been sent by your ancestors to guide you through your masquerade! So heed my word! ‘Cause if the army finds out you’re a girl, the penalty is DEATH!” the scary being’s rawr echoed through the place. “Who are you...?” she asked, peeking from behind the rock. “Who am I? WHO am I?! I am the guardian of lost souls! I am the powerful! The pleasurable! The indestructible Iggy!” from behind the rock, Y/N saw a small and adorable dog grinning at her with a shit-eating smirk.

The girl and her horse felt rather disappointed at the help they received, so much that the cabalin started trampling on the dog because of the fear it sent them through, only to have the girl gently push it away and pick the dog by the tail, no longer a pancake on the ground.

“Uh...My ancestors send a little puppy to help me?” she asked in disdain. “Hey, hound! Hound, not puppy! I don’t to the tail wagging.” Iggy said, only to wag his tail rapidly. “You’re, uhm...Tiny. Very tiny.” the girl looked at him weirdly. “Of course, I’m travel-size for your convenience. If I was my real size, your cow here would die of fright” Iggy boasted, as the horse tried to hit him with his hoof again. “...Down, Bessie. My powers are beyond your mortal imagination. For instance, my eyes can see straaaaight through your armor...OOH!” Iggy wagged his tail, almost lecherously, making the girl put her arm around her chest instinctively, kicking the dog away, only for him to stumble next to #5. “All right, that’s it! Dishonour! Dishonour on your whole family! Dishonour on you, dishonour on your cow-” he began, making #5 take a note of all the things she brought dishonour to.

“Okay, I know, it’s a little late for that anyway. I’m sorry, Iggy, it’s just...I’m very nervous. I’ve never done this before.” she apologised, which made Iggy start scolding and teaching her as they all walked to the camp. “Okay, now show me your man walk.” he instructed, hiding in her hood. “Shoulders back, chest high, feet apart, head up and strut.” he said, controlling her, and prancing through the camp, looking awkwardly as everyone was staring at her weirdly. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Iggy asked in amusement, as the girl started at everyone in disgust. “No, they’re disgusting.” she scrunched up her nose, seeing someone use chopsticks to get the dirt from between his toes. “No, they are men. You have to act like them, so pay attention.” Iggy instructed again.

Of course, somehow, she got in front of a man showing off her red dragon tattoo on his plump belly and chest, saying it will protect him from harm. The silver haired man punched him in the gut, making the red haired one laugh healthily, patting the silver haired on the shoulder, telling the unfortunate one that he should get his money back.

“I...Don’t think I can do this...” she looked in horror and disgust at the display in front of her. “What are ya looking at?!” the one who punched asked, looking at her with a weird look. “Punch him! It’s how men say hello!” Iggy urged her, and she complied, punching the buff silver haired man, making him stumble into the smiling black man, who patted his shoulders. “Oh, Polnareff, you’ve made a friends!” he hummed in amusement. “Good. Slap him on the butt, they like that.” Iggy told her again, and she complied without question. “WHOA WHOA WHOA! I’m gonna hit you SO hard, it’ll make your ancestors dizzy!” Polnareff took her my the neck, glaring down at her. “Polnareff, relax and chant with me.” the man took him by the shoulders and started chanting some traditional tune, trying to calm down his friend, which seemed to work. “Ayyy, you ain’t worth my time...Chicken boy.” he insulted, making Iggy get out of her hood and yell out, incredibly offended, the same insult, almost in disbelief. “Say that to my face, ya limp noodle!” Iggy cried out, making Polnareff try to hit them, but instead, she dodged and he hit the red haired boy instead, blacking his eye. “Oh. Sorry, Kakyoin.” Polnareff chuckled sheepishly.

And so, somehow, the girl tried to hide while the 3 were fighting, but Kakyoin saw her and they ran after her, only to get fooled and have to abruptly stop by the food line...

And Avdol not to be able to stop in time and to send everyone down, like Domino, while the girl was looking at them with a guilty expression.

Meanwhile, in the general tent, Sadao was explaining strategies to his son, Jotaro, telling him that he will have to stay here and train the new recruits, waiting for Enyaba’s approval to get into battle, naming him Captain Kujo, who smirked in pride and accomplishment, thanking his father.

Leaving the tent, however, he noticed the mayhem that left him jaw-dropped, and his father left, letting him to whatever he wanted as he went for the surprise attack on the Huns.

Jotaro stepped in front of them,  yelling out for them to shut the hell up, only for them all to stop and point at the poor girl, saying she started it all - Girl who was huddled on the ground in a fetal position, trying to keep herself from getting hurt.

She quickly got up from the ground, noticing the man’s aquamarine eyes glaring down at her, and dusting herself, she gulped, awaiting a good scholding.

“I don’t need anyone causing trouble in my camp.” Jotaro grunted, towering over her even while she was standing. “Sorry. Uhm...S-Sorry you had to see that...Uh..You know how it you...But you know how it is when you get those uh...Manly urges and you just gotta kill something. Fix things. Cook outdoors.” she did the best manly impression, which was extremely exaggerate, especially by the awkward punch on Jotaro’s arm, or the way she would punch her chest. “What’s your name?” the brunet man asked the girl, who started stuttering, and looking away, trying to come up with a name. “Your commanding officer just asked you a question!” Enyaba scolded her, hitting her legs with her staff. “Uh...I’ve got a name. Ha! And it’s a boy’s name, too! Uhmmm...” she trailed on, waiting for Iggy to say something. “How about Kakyoin?” he whispered softly. “His name is Kakyoin.” she answered, not realising that Jotaro was getting closer to her. “That’s not what I asked.” he grunted, glaring at her. “Ah...Ah Chu?” Iggy giggled. “Ah Chu.” the girl said, absent-minded. “...Ah Chu?” Jotaro raised his eyebrow in disbelief. “Gesundheit! Haha...I kill myself.” Iggy giggled even more at his own silliness. “Iggy...!”  she tried to warn her companion. “Iggy?” Jotaro raised his voice in annoyance. “Fugo! Say Fugo, he was my best friend-” he trailed on, making the girl shush him by quickly grabbing his mouth. “Fugo. My name is Fugo.” she finally answered. “Let me see your conscription notice.” Jotaro snatched the scroll from her sash, opening it. “Abbacchio Leone? THE Abbacchio Leone?” he asked, raising his eyebrow in surprise. “I didn’t know Abbacchio Leone had a son.” Enyaba was just as shocked. “He, uh...Doesn’t talk about me much.” she tried to play it cool, by trying to spit on the ground...And failing. “I can see why. The boy’s an absolute lunatic.” Enyaba tried to say to Jotaro, only to have everyone snigger in amusement. “Thanks to your friend, Fugo, you will all spend tonight picking up every single grain of rice. And tomorrow, the real work begins. Don’t think either of you can slack off.” Captain Kujo ordered before leaving for his tent, everyone around growling at the poor girl. “You know...We have to work on your people skills.” Iggy said, making the girl sigh.

At the end of the day, she pitched her tent away from the others, just in case, and it’s needless to say that she fell asleep within seconds.

The next day, Iggy woke Y/N up by making #5 cry, snatching her blanket, forcing food down her throat, trying to get her to look more fierce and making her get up and run, while he tried to bring her the sword, but it was too late. 

By the time she arrived, everyone was making fun of the annoying Enyaba, until Kakyoin noticed her and her tardiness, while Polnareff mocked her by asking if she was hungry.

Thankfully, she was saved from a ‘Knuckle Sandwich” by Jotaro who yelled for them to shut up and went to the wooden lances, taking off his shirt, as the girl could only whistle in her head how hot he was, not even caring what he was talking about discipline and whatever.

Of course, Polnareff had to mock him, which only resulted in everyone stepping back from the line, highlighting him, while Jotaro took a bow and arrow, making his Stand, Star Platinum, shooting it to the top of the wooden pole.

“Glad someone volunteered. Go retrieve that arrow...Without your Stand.” Jotaro smirked in amusement seeing Polnareff’s crestfallen face that quickly turned into a scowl as he cracked his knuckles, ready for action. “I’ll get that arrow, pretty boy.” he murmured, glaring at the arrow. “And I’ll do it with my shirt on.” he walked in front of the pole, readying himself to jump on it, only to get stopped by the captain once again. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked, getting 2 golden weights and wrapping them around the man’s wrists. “These represent discipline and strength. You need both to reach the arrow.” he declared, while everyone was silently chuckling, seeing the silver haired man go through such torture.

Of course, no matter how much he struggled, neither he, nor Kakyoin, Avdol or the girl could do anything else but fail.

“Yare Yare Daze...We’ve got a lot to do.” he tipped his hat, going to the wooden sticks and throwing everyone one.

Of course, the petty Polnareff had to catch Y/N’s lance and use it to hit her legs, making her fall, acting as if nothing happened.

“Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns” Jotaro sang, showing off by easily twirling the stick around, then getting the 2 vases by their handle, throwing them to the sky and easily breaking them, making everyone gasp in awe.

“Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?” he sang as everyone was supposed to replicate everything, but Kakyoin wanted to pull a prank on the girl, putting a beetle in her clothes, making her hit and knock down everyone as she attempted to get the disgusting creature away.

“You're the saddest bunch I ever met But you can bet before we're through Mister, I'll make a man out of you” he continued as he used the stick to jump into the air, doing a fancy flip and landing in front of the girl, who hit him in the gut without realising, which in turn made him take her by the shirt, glaring at her to stop her foolishness.

“Tranquil as a forest but on fire within” he tried to teach everyone how to properly shoot arrows in the bullseye while also getting an arrow, which made Iggy try to give the girl an arrow that already had an apple, but they easily got caught

“Once you find your center, you are sure to win You're a spineless, pale, pathetic lot And you haven't got a clue” this time, he had a wooden water basin on his head, using his stick to dodge or hit the rocks thrown at him by everyone else. When it was time for Y/N to replicate, the basin fell on her head, blinding her as she got hit by all rocks, and even managed to sent on his way, which he swiftly dodged, rolling his eyes at her.

“Somehow I'll make a man out of you” he showed them how to catch fish from the river, but she somehow managed to catch Polnareff’s toes instead, and had Iggy bring her a salmon.

“I'm never gonna catch my breath” poor Avdol sighed, trying to dodge the burning arrows sent his way.

“Say goodbye to those who knew me” Polnareff fell to the ground, an arrow lodging itself in his butt.

“Boy, was I a fool in school for cutting gym” Kakyoin whined, hitting his head on a stone, trying to break it, but only getting his face smashed instead. “This guy's got 'em scared to death” Iggy chuckled, as he tried to wash Y/N’s face as Jotaro blackened her eye in a hand to hand sparring. “Hope he doesn't see right through me” she thrilled, trying to get herself up, despite feeling like her horse jumped on her. “Now I really wish that I knew how to swim” Avdol cried out, as they all tried to jump on the poles in the water, only to stop, almost falling, and getting everyone to fall off instead.

“Be a man We must be swift as the coursing river Be a man With all the force of a great typhoon Be a man With all the strength of a raging fire Mysterious as the dark side of the moon” they chanted as they tried to learn how to use the firework explosives, only to somehow get Kakyoin to fool with Y/N’s dragon and make Enyaba’s tent catch fire.

At the end of the day, Jotaro was sitting on a rock far up above the camp, sighing to himself, not realising how much of a drag everything was going to be, and feeling as if he was getting nowhere with them.

“Time is racing toward us till the Huns arrive Heed my every order and you might survive” the next day they had to get water by carrying 2 buckets on a stick on their shoulders, but the poor girl really wasn’t used to such exhausting physical labour and fell on the ground, making Captain Kujo go to her, take the buckets, looking at her with disappointment, before jogging to the front of the line again.

“You're unsuited for the rage of war So pack up, go home, you're through How could I make a man out of you?” at the end of the 2nd day, he took her horse’s reigns, giving it to her, not wanting to look at her, that’s how much of a disappointment she was.

However, that only seemed to motivate her further, as she quickly knotted the weights around her wrists and started trying to climb up the pole, despite being the dead of night and needing a much deserved sleep.

“Be a man We must be swift as the coursing river Be a man With all the force of a great typhoon Be a man With all the strength of a raging fire Mysterious as the dark side of the moon” it took all night for her to be able to catch the drift of how it was done, and when the morning Sun rose and her fellow colleagues were starting to get out of their tents, she was almost there, reaching the top.

She still stumbled a bit, being drenched in sweat, but her ambition and motivation were strong enough for her to pull through, and she managed to get on the top of the pole, making everyone cheer as she weakly panted in victory.

As soon as Jotaro got out of his tent to see what the whole chaos was about, an arrow was thrown at him, as he then noticed the girl perched up on the pole, waving and smiling sheepishly at him.

It was then that he could finally feel a sense of accomplishment, seeing his worst student succeed after so much training.  It was her resolve - Unbreakable - Just as his.

“Be a man We must be swift as the coursing river Be a man With all the force of a great typhoon Be a man With all the strength of a raging fire Mysterious as the dark side of the moon”  by the end of it, everyone was able to properly shoot, the girl easily managed to knock him out in a hand to hand combat, everyone was able to get their balance on point and skip on the water poles, they could all carry the water buckets, catch fish from the river, be proper comrades and even be disciplined enough to use the stick.

Everything seemed fine to them, but they had no idea that Dio managed, with the help of Pet Shop, his hawk, to find out that the city in the pass was guarded by the imperial army, and they were going to kill those arrogant men who thought they could best him, Dio Brando!

Click here for 

PART 2!

[awkwardpsyduck]

Tummy Ache

Info: Yuga Aoyama x Implied Male reader (can be read as gender neutral), characters aged up to about 25, engaged, both pro heroes.

Warnings: Slight Nudity

When it came to days off you were not one to really sit around idly, unless you and your fiancé happened to have a day off at the same time. After seeing him off that morning you had then turned your attention to any chores that needed to be done, smiling as you found that Yuga had done the laundry the previous day when your roles had been reversed. Looking about the house you would come to the conclusion that it was as tidy as it usually was and found the only real thing that needed to be done was the grocery shopping.

Grabbing up the reusable shopping bags, list from the fridge and your wallet you would make your way out the door and to the market. Overall the trip would be uneventful really, just getting what you needed and a few treats and snacks that were on sale to surprise your love with before making your way back home once more. As you arrived and unlocked the door, however, you would realize something was off when removing your shoes. Namely that there was already a pair in the entryway and they were a little haphazardly placed.

Recognizing them as the ones Yuga had left in you would feel a frown etch onto your features and worry creep into your chest as you make sure the door was locked behind you before stepping inside. “Yuga? Babe are you home?” you call out as you make your way into the living room, shopping bags still in hand. A response soon coming from the couch, the back of it to the doorway so you could not see him, “Living room, Y/n” being what he responded and you could hear a slight whine to his tone.

Worry increasing you would set the bags down where they were for the moment before rounding the couch, finding your man laying down on the furniture, somewhat curled and holding his stomach. Crouching in front of him your hand would come to his face, brushing his hair back gently as those lovely amethyst eyes met your own, “Villain attack, I was on my own, ended up overdoing it before back up arrived” he explain and you would soften, not happy he had to do that, but relieved he was at least no more worse for wear.

It was not the first time it had happened and you knew in your heart it would not be the last, but you also knew how to help him feel better and would press a kiss to his forehead gently, “Just try to relax sweetheart, I will draw a bath” you assure, hand drifting to give his shoulder a squeeze and you were up before he could protest or agree. You knew how much he did not like moving when he felt like that, so you would have to do most the work, but you really did not mind one bit as you knew he would do the same in return if roles were reversed.

Making your way to the bathroom you would get the hot water running, filling the tub and adding chamomile and mint oils to the water. One to help with the cramping and the other to help with the queasiness that tended to accompany it. Once certain it was ready you would return to the living room and gently lift your finance into your arms, apologizing as the movement caused a muscle spasm. Returning to the bath it would take a few minutes to help get him undressed fully, eyes taking in that delicious body a moment as you couldn’t help it, before settling him into the tub and not missing the sigh as his muscles were already starting to relax.

“Y/n, I love you, thank you handsome” He would say with a small smile after a few moments and shifting slightly to be more comfortable, hand squeezing one of your own as your eyes met. Returning the squeeze and smile you would lean in, kissing him gently before his forehead, “I love you too and anytime” you assure before remembering the groceries you had left in the living room and shifting to get up as you let him know about them, “I am going to start dinner, ok? Just call for me if you need me”

Making sure he was in a position he would not drown if he fell asleep you would kiss him once again as he agreed, leaving the door open as you left just in case. Heading to the kitchen once you grabbed the bags you soon had everything put away and would start on some ginger chicken and rice, hearty but easy on the stomach as well. It was easy to put together as well and it would just be simmering when you would feel a pair of arms wrapping around you from behind and a head resting to your back, “That smells good” you hear Yuga say quietly.

You were relieved some, it must not have been as overtaxing as it seemed, or he was bouncing back quicker, because usually you would have to help him back out of the bath. Hand resting over one of his own a moment you nod, “It is just about done too, would you mind getting plates?” you ask, feeling him nod before pulling from you. Soon enough you both were settled at the table and you were smiling as he did look brighter then before, though sleepy as he wore a loose shirt and comfy pants.

The meal would be quiet, unusual for your sparkly fiancé, but he would compliment your cooking and thank you for it so you knew it was just because of his quirk. As you finish eating you would put any leftovers away and deemed the dishes fine until tomorrow as you could see Yuga beginning to nod off where he sat. Chuckling a bit you would lift him into your arms once more before he fell off the chair and took him to bed, laying him down gently and tucking him in.

About to leave, as it was still a bit early, you would feel him grab your shirt and you softened some as you saw his sleepy eyes giving that little needy look, “Please stay, Y/n” he ask and you hum softly, leaning to kiss his nose, “Just let me change babe” you relent easily, having a feeling thoughts of the day might turn to bad dreams if you didn’t and he nod letting you go once certain you agreed.

Stripping down to just your undergarments you would pull on a pair of sleep pants before returning to him, sliding under the covers before he would shift. Just about asleep his head would find your chest and you could feel him clinging to you like a teddy bear, mumbling those three words once again before he was fully out. Your fingers coming to run through his hair gently, chuckling as you kiss his temple, “I love you too”

[nexstrik]

when i see you, my voice goes (2/6)

Summary: Evelynn and Ahri had been together for as long as anyone could remember. They always thought they never needed anyone else, and then then slowly learn how wrong they were. 

Akali is a typical directionless millennial trying to get back on her feet after a nasty breakup left her depressed and downtrodden. Then a group of popstars flip her world upside down. 

A/N: Please pretend the rap is good, and also in Korean. Shout out to @reduxroyal for the song title “Foxfire”. 

Rating: EXPLICIT.

You can read this story in chronological order on my blog You can also read this story on AO3

Her nose never led her astray.

Akali followed the sharp burn of garlic and boiling stock, a late-night shop that catered to the drunks who came stumbling out after all the bars closed. She inhaled the street food, hot grease burning all the way down until it settled in her stomach like a cozy, lit coal. Then she called a taxi, stumbled into the backseat, and did her best not to pass out before she made it safely home.

The streetlights rushed over her closed eyelids. The scent of a hundred other passengers clung to the cheap leather seats, molding together into the caustic fake pine swinging from the rearview mirror. When Akali opened her eyes again, the taxi had rolled to a stop in front of her family's dojo, and the world blacked out for a second. Reality returned and she was standing in the dark kitchen, peering into the fridge and blinking at the light that poured out of the open door.

Then her uncle spoke. "Where have you been all night?"

Akali nearly blacked out again. A tower of side-dishes in plastic containers, neatly stacked, clattered onto the floor. One hand to her aching head, Akali knelt down and gathered them up and tried to put them away again. "Shit, Uncle Shen. I told you I'd be out late."

When she turned around with a glass of juice in her hand, it was to her uncle's disapproving stare. "Are you okay? You didn't answer my texts."

She nodded as she downed the glass in a few steady gulps, not pausing for air. "Mmmhmm." With a gasp, she finished and dropped the cup into the sink. Then, remembering she was raised right, she rinsed out the cup and put that away, too. "I'm fine. There was bad signal in the club."

"You said you were in a singing competition."

Akali closed her eyes. Oh boy. "It was a rap battle, Uncle Shen. I'm pretty sure I said it was a rap battle."

Akali swayed in place, blinking hard and focusing all her attention on not keeling over. For a moment her uncle seemed like he would just stand there in silence until the sun rose. By her estimation, that would be in about three hours.

Then he hummed. "Did you win?"

Relieved, Akali threw a pair of devil horns and winked. "Hell yeah I did!"

And then half the club bought her drinks, and she accepted a few too many of them. Dumb idea, probably. She was full of those. And piss and vinegar, or so her mom always said, whatever the fuck that meant.

Uncle Shen's lips pursed. She couldn't get a good read on him, as usual, and couldn't tell if he was pleased or if he disapproved. Up until now she ran on the assumption that he supported her. He let her live here rent-free after she escaped that mess she left in Busan, and he, like... well didn't not like approve. Right? Probably. He'd say something if he thought she were wasting her life on this.

Someone would say something.

(Someone did say something.)

The kitchen spun. She managed a weak smile. "I'm gonna go to bed. Sorry for making you stay up so late."

"As long as you're safe," he said, voice growing more distant as she travelled to the far side of the house, to her old bedroom.

When she collapsed onto the bed, Akali stared at the ceiling until the world settled down. Restless now, too drunk to sleep, she rolled over onto her side. A massive sprawl of posters were plastered to the far wall, overlapping. They were like the layers of the earth, her oldest obsessions covered over and replaced and clamoring for space, from the ages of thirteen to nineteen.

She'd moved out and then moved right back in a few years later.

"How long am I gonna have to keep looking at your face?" she wondered at the collection of anime characters and popstars and actresses and swimsuit models. "You're probably tired of me, too."

Covering her face with one hand, she saw nothing but stars. They spun even as she stayed still, drowning in shallow, stagnant pools of darkness.

Thankfully she was able to sleep in the next day. Classes in the dojo didn't start until late afternoon, and she didn't work her other part-time job on Saturdays. Scraping herself from her mattress, Akali took a shower and got ready to assist her uncle with any other chores that needed doing.

He greeted her with few words, as always, and was kind enough to point her to this morning's breakfast still left in the fridge.

"Hey," she said, stirring cold rice around in her bowl and wondering if she should bother microwaving it. "Sorry again for last night."

The summer light streaming in through the open windows did little to lessen the shadows around Shen's face. "Do you think you did something worth apologizing for?"

Cryptic as ever. It was a genuine question, though, she could tell. Akali wasn't sure if that made things better or worse. Shen was her only living relative, and he hadn't been equipped to handle raising a moody, rebellious teen. Still, there was something nostalgic about his cool rationale, the way he never lost his temper even when she felt he had every right to. "I guess I just got a little sloppy. I'm embarrassed."

"Well," Uncle Shen said, "Now you know for next time."

He patted the back of her hand and Akali wolfed down her very late breakfast. That should have been the most eventful thing that happened that day.

But then she got an email.

   Akali thought she might still be drunk. Standing in front of her, the three members of a band named "KDA" waited expectantly.

They'd broken down the deal in language she could understand. They told her they saw her music video, the one she recorded with her friends and her girlfriend, back when she still had both of those things.

Most of it went in one ear and right out the other. The whole time, Akali stared at Ahri as if she might vanish the next time she blinked.

It's her. It's her. It's her.

There was enough adrenaline in her system to make her heart explode. Every inch of her wanted to leap this opportunity.

She wants me. Foxy wants me to be their rapper.

But instead she wet her lips, mouth suddenly dry.

"I don't know if I can join you."

The reactions were mixed. Kai'sa visibly deflated, her shoulders dropping. Evelynn was unsurprised, her arms crossed and her expression blank.

"At least not yet," Akali clarified. "This is...a lot."

Ahri smiled sweetly, in a way that suggested she'd expected this as well.

"Of course. I'll be sending over a proper contract later tonight. Take your time reading it over," Ahri said, encouraging. She kept her hands over Akali's. The contact made her skin feel sticky, sweaty palms, hot summer air making the dojo stifling. "If you want a lawyer to go over it, too, that's totally fine."

A lawyer? Shit, she was just gonna take this to Uncle Shen and ask him what he thought. "Okay. Yeah, that's a good idea."

They said their goodbyes, apologizing for their unannounced arrival. Evelynn and Kai'sa left first, waving as they did. But Ahri lingered at the doorway, half-turned towards Akali as though something pulled her towards the other woman. Whatever that connection was, Ahri quickly severed it and then swept outside, her tightly-curled hair bouncing with every step.

Akali slid down to the floor right next to her training dummy, her hand still tingling from where Ahri touched it. Her  wooden kamas found their way into her grip instead, the grain warm on her palm. That was still the same, even if everything else around her had dramatically changed. She could still smell Ahri everywhere, lingering on her own hand like she had folded herself into Akali's skin.

So she tried to ignore the contract for another hour, training to sweat the poison out of her system.

Then she assisted Shen with the lessons, and they cleaned up together.

He didn't ask about the three strange women who had come to visit her, and she didn't offer an explanation. Instead she holed herself up in her room and pored over the contact list in her phone, wondering who she could call. Desperate for some kind of confirmation and validation, her first instinct was to call her ex-girlfriend.

Her thumb hovered over the name.

Then she snapped her phone shut, staring at the ceiling again. There were stars, there, again. Faint because the glow-in-the-dark chemicals had long since expired or faded away. This was still a child's room. It was too small for her, in every sense. It was everything she tried to leave behind when she moved south to Busan.

What's holding me back? she wondered. What could possibly be holding me back?

  It took hours to get to sleep, exhausted as she was. And so she woke up late again, stumbling downstairs to eat a cold breakfast before running to her part-time job. Then she came back home, changed her clothes, and helped Shen with lessons.

Shen had personally trained Akali, and she was qualified to teach and give lessons on her own, if she desired. But the idea of that— finding a new area to attract students, finding space to dole out those lessons,  slogging through more of the same for the rest of her life— made her so depressed she couldn't stand up straight.

It wasn't that she couldn't or didn't want to work hard. But it had to be towards something she actually liked.

So why are you avoiding the contract in your inbox?

Exhausted, she cleaned up alone. At the end of the week some of the older students would often offer to help, but most of the upkeep fell on her shoulders. Dusting, mopping, and sweeping were all a part of her post-workout routine at this point.

Except she wasn't alone.

Akali had lifted up one of the mats, nose wrinkling in distaste at a sticky mess underneath, probably a spilled sports drink that one of the younger students neglected to mention. Probably because there was a steep punishment for having food or drink near the mats.

Cursing, she let the mat drop and was about to get up to her feet and find the mop.

In front of her were a pair of smooth, long legs.

Sitting back on her heels, Akali looked up, and up, and up, to a scandalously short skirt and a manicured hand waving only with the fingertips.

"Hi," Evelynn said, finally drawing her attention higher to a pair of mirrored sunglasses. She saw her own reflection in them, on her knees, frowning tightly. "You're very focused, aren't you? I've been here for a while."

"I get lost in thought a lot." Akali stood up but that did little to lessen the distance between them. "Thank you for removing your shoes before coming inside," she grumbled, irrationally wishing she had her own boots on. They added a much-needed boost to her height and her confidence.

Evelynn's lips quirked in a smile, as if she knew what Akali was really trying to say. "Of course. I'm not an animal."

The resulting silence was horrifically awkward, but Evelynn seemed to relish in it. It didn't permeate her confident aura at all. Akali was left wondering what, if anything, could.

"If you're here for lessons, the last one ended a while ago." Akali thumbed over to the clock on the wall. "You'll have to come back tomorrow."

"Is the first hit free?" Evelynn asked. Fist on her hip, she glanced about the main floor. "I think your little dojo is just darling, so I'd be tempted to try and learn."

"I saw the video of your scrape with that photographer," Akali said, unable to resist rising to the obvious bait. She smirked. "You definitely could use some guidance."

That video and the resulting viral imagery was the first time Akali had ever heard of Evelynn, actually. Akali saw a furious, beautiful woman covered in blood and that kind of did it for her. Of course she was taking that truth to her grave. She respected Evelynn too much as an artist to ever admit she liked her for anything other than her music.

And. You know. Evelynn was married. That was kind of important too.

"Really now." Evelynn's brows rose, lips parting with interest. "Got any pointers?"

"Sure. Here's some free advice." She reached up and sharply tapped Evelynn right on the center of her forehead. "Don't lead with your head."

For a second she wondered if she'd crossed a line. It was hard to tell what Evelynn was thinking what with those thick sunglasses she always wore, even indoors. As if reading her mind, Evelynn took them off.

It immediately closed some of the distance between them, made Evelynn seem much more human as the corners of her eyes crinkled in mirth. "Oh, I like you."

"Could've fooled me." Akali crossed her arms tightly, thumbs tucked against her chest. "Now, can you tell me why you're here? I haven't signed the KDA contract yet."

Tucking her shades into her blouse pocket, Evelynn produced a phone from her purse. "Kai'sa sent me to invite you over for dinner," she said, tapping something out on the screen. "She wants to know if you're allergic to anything or if you're a vegetarian, et cetera, et cetera."

"No, I don't, uh. I don't have anything like that. I mean I'm lactose intolerant but that's never stopped me before." Akali hesitated as Evelynn handed her phone over, expectant. "What?"

"Your number," Evelynn explained. "I didn't get a chance to grab it last time."

A little irritated at the memory, Akali swiped the phone and started plugging in her information. "Because you were too busy begging for your teeth to be knocked in."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be swinging swords around with your headphones on at full volume. You'll ruin your hearing that way, you know."

"Well, maybe you should mind your own business."

"Sweetheart," Evelynn said, really sounding like she meant the word. "If you sign that contract, every part of your body might soon become my business."

Her thumbs paused over the keyboard as Akali looked up at her.

"If," she responded, and then hit enter.

This isn't what she expected when she made that video. She'd gotten millions of views on The Tower, and the traffic spilled over to her online store. People didn't just like her, they were spending money on her. It wasn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of the music industry of course, but she'd been able to pay off her credit card bills with that revenue alone. That was something, to Akali.

(Why wasn't it enough for her girlfriend?)

"So what's next?" Evelynn asked her, returning her to reality again. She really needed to stop spacing out when people were talking to her. "If you're so confident you decide not to sign with us."

She rolled her eyes, but Akali was smiling. Who knew someone as powerful and famous as Evelynn could be so easy to needle?

"I'm doing what I did before." Akali sensed the change in the conversation, the way she noticed when a sparring partner shifted their weight, making them easier to throw. Self-assured now, she excitedly shared her plans with Evelynn. "Making my own music and posting it online. Getting known in the local scene."

Evelynn started toying with her necklace, long and gold with a rectangular charm hanging low on her chest. "And?"

Sweat burned into her eyes, reality marching around around her. She was still grimy from practice and there were still chores to be done, but she didn't want to attend to any of them yet. Pulling up her shirt, she mopped her face with the hem, shrugging. "I'm working in a music store nearby. I don't have a lot of physical merch but they agreed to sell it there, plus I have an online store." She couldn't help but puff up a little. "We got a lot of hits after my last video!"

Evelynn's thumb rested over her lips, fingers wrapped thoughtfully around her chin. Her teeth occasionally worried the nail like she was trying very hard not to interrupt Akali. Just when it looked like she was about to burst, she licked the pad, reached out, and dragged it over Akali's bare stomach.

"Yo!" Akali slapped her hand away, jumping back a step and letting her shirt drop. "Personal space?"

Evelynn laughed. "Sorry. I needed to know if the abs were spray painted on."

"Well, they're real. I work very hard on them." Self-conscious now, she covered her stomach with both hands. "And now I'm having second thoughts about having dinner at your place."

"No you're not," Evelynn said.

She didn't say anything else. Not for a while. Not until the silence was unbearably uncomfortable.

Evelynn put her on edge again, effortlessly. The balance had shifted; Akali wasn't in control of where it went anymore. Evelynn made her feel like at any given moment she was one wrong move away from being turned into a stylish leather belt. That was alarming enough on its own, but the worst part was Akali didn't entirely dislike the sensation.

"Kai'sa is an excellent cook. It's your loss if you decide not to come." Evelynn lifted her shoulders in a shrug. Her fingers found the necklace again, thumb stroking over the flat gold charm. "I know my wife will be so disappointed, she really wanted to have a proper conversation with you."

Her wife, Foxy— Ahri. One of the biggest names in kpop, if not the biggest. Akali thought back to their first brief meeting, the way Ahri hesitated after the others left, like there was something more she wanted to say. The way the scent of her clung to Akali's hand.

What did someone like her want with someone like Akali?

It lingered in her head long after Evelynn left, long after she should have fallen asleep.

That night she lay in bed, awake, again. The stars surrounding her shone little illumination on her predicament, and her quiet cell phone had no answers, either. Even though she knew it wouldn't do her any good, she went through her photo albums. After assaulting herself with years of memories among people she didn't like anymore, she finally jumped to one she had saved on every social media so that she'd never lose it.

In the photo she is fourteen years old. Her nose red, a faint trace of blood smeared on the back of her hand. Grinning like a wild thing despite the injury, because one arm was looped around Ahri's waist and the other was throwing a peace sign.

That was eight years ago. Ahri would have been twenty one years old.

She doesn't remember me, Akali reminded herself, not with any bitterness. Just faint nostalgia, and a tinge of sadness. The vast gap between their experience, their clout, yawned up larger than ever. Of course she doesn't. Why would she?

Ahri was a god, shaping the industry since she was fourteen herself. Setting trends, selling records, making deals, shipping products, wrapping everyone around her pinkie finger. She was a force of nature and Akali was... a soundcloud rapper.

She scrolled a little bit, going over her twitter feed, and then back to her sparse contact list.

Evelynn's name was near the top.

Turning it off, she rolled onto her side and tried to fall asleep.

  When the time came for her to get ready, Akali realized she'd overlooked one very important detail: there was no guide for what to wear when dining with pop stars. She tore through her closet, tossing clothes over her shoulders. All of her stuff was decidedly casual, especially since she had to toss most of her possessions after moving out of her girlfriend's apartment. Relocating to Busan was not a simple task, and coming back had not been any easier.

The point being, she couldn't show up to a meeting with Foxy— with Ahri— with KDA in a hoodie and her ratty old jeans. But that was pretty much all she owned.

There was one solution, but it burned her to admit it. Some part of her resented the idea of asking Evelynn for any advice, but she decided to swallow her pride early rather than face embarrassment later.

should i dress up?

its just going to be us 4, right?

this isn't a fancy celebrity thing, is it?

Evelynn quickly texted her back. ahri is still in her pajamas so honestly wear whatever you want

"Oh?" Akali said, staring down at her phone. That was a relief...unless Evelynn was lying. If Akali showed up, the only person in casual clothing, she wouldn't need to worry about signing that contract. Ahri would just laugh her out of existence.

Unbidden, one of Ahri's older music videos came to mind. She doubted Ahri really wore lacy see-through lingerie to bed, nobody could be that extra 24/7. But the mental image had her blushing until she forced it down.

In a rush, she went out and bought a nicer top and new jeans, tighter and pricier than she normally went for. But after wrangling her hair into submission and putting on eyeliner, she thought she looked like a passable girl.

Soon it was time. Ahri and Evelynn had rented an entire house, it looked like, with a gate that needed to buzz her in. Walking to the front door, Akali steeled herself to knock when it flew open and that ridiculously tall, hot white lady stood in front of her. It took a moment to recognize her, because Akali distinctly remembered that she had black hair, but today it was platinum blonde.

"Akali! I'm so glad you made it," she said, speaking in surprisingly good Korean. "Come on inside, I hope it wasn't too long a trip."

"It was fine." Instinct made her throw a peace sign. "Kai'sa, right?"

"Mhmm! Don't wear it out!"

Kai'sa had an unusual gait, so light on her feet Akali thought she might float away. She led Akali further inside after letting her take off her shoes, and the scent of sizzling garlic, onion, fatty meat. Her stomach roared, and Akali found herself fidgeting with the bag in her hand.

"Aw," Kai'sa said when Akali revealed a small boxed cake. "You brought dessert?"

"Since you were making dinner..." Akali trailed off with a grin, glad she was pleased by the offering. She'd honestly been torn between this and a bottle or two of soju. But she read on some gossip sites that Evelynn didn't like to drink much after her very public struggle with substance abuse, that Ahri preferred expensive Italian wine way out of her price range, and Kai'sa...

A little guilty, Akali realized she knew next to nothing about the third member of the band.

"Well, I would've been happy to make dessert, too!" Kai'sa said, sounding so genuinely joyful at the idea, and smiling so broadly, that Akali's heart fluttered.

It figured that a potential pop star was beautiful to an unearthly degree, but Kai'sa was striking in a way Akali wasn't accustomed to. It didn't hurt that her accent was kinda cute, too.

"Noted." Akali forced herself not to stare, looking around the empty kitchen. "Did Ahri and Evelynn bail?"

Kai'sa waved the idea way with a laugh. "They're out getting the dye."

At first she thought she might have misheard. Her face must have betrayed her confusion, because Kai'sa went on. "They didn't tell you?" Thoughtful, she lifted a hand to her hair, fingering through the pale lengths. "I gave myself a few days to think about it, but...phase two begins tonight. I'm in a very blue state of mind lately and it keeps showing up in all my paintings, so I'm dyeing my hair blue to see if that'll get it out of my system."

Akali wished she'd brought a hoodie after all, because now without the cake, she didn't know what to do with her hands. She kept instinctively rolling them over her stomach, seeking the comfort of a kangaroo pouch that wasn't there. "Um. Do I have to do that, too?"

After giving Akali a careful look, a frustrated sigh escaped Kai'sa. "Evelynn did tell you this would be just a normal hang out and not an audition, right? I told her to tell you but now I'm not sure she listened."

"Isn't it, though?" When Kai'sa made a curious noise in response, Akali shrugged. "If it turns out we can't stand being in the same room together for a few hours, it's better to learn that now rather than later."

Reluctant to admit it, Kai'sa inhaled quickly like she was about to disagree. Then she paused, thinking about it, coiling a strand of blonde hair around her index finger. "I guess," she said after a moment.

Then she leaned down, all the way down to whisper into Akali's ear. A long sheet of blonde hair almost smacked her in the face, the sharp scent of citrus and sweet candy overwhelming, this close.

"But just between you and me," Kai'sa said, "I think they're already in love with you."

A million thoughts exploded like fireworks, each trailing off in wildly different directions. Primarily hhhh girl hot and she smells so good am I creepy for sniffing her? and I might actually be too gay to hang around pop stars, but most pressingly, in love with me? what, like with my music?

There was no immediate answer to any of those thoughts, because the front door swung open and Ahri launched herself inside, landing with flair. "We made it back!" she shouted in triumph, posed like a magical girl as a bunch of plastic bags swung from her arms. "The journey was long, but—"

Her knees went a weird way when she realized Kai'sa was not alone, twisting inward and bending slightly.

"Oh!" Ahri fumbled. "Akali is here. Hi, Akali!"

Akali's eyes swept over Ahri once, up and down, drinking her in. A white dress with cherry patterns on it, and a matching set of cherry-red bangles. She hadn't really expected to see Ahri in her pajamas, but the pop star very clearly wasn't wearing makeup or any product in her hair. This really was a casual hangout.

Evelynn slid in past Ahri, carrying a few more bags. She spared Akali a single glance before focusing on Kai'sa. "I told you to text us."

Straightening out, Kai'sa hid her hands behind her back, singing her response. "Sorrreeeee. But she literally just got here!"

"Well." Setting the bags down, Evelynn pulled off her sunglasses. She played with one of the legs, working it back and forth on its hinge. "That's good."

Before her brain could catch up, her smart mouth was already moving. "Worried I'd get bored waiting for you?"

"You do seem easily distracted," Evelynn shot back, going through the bags. It looked as though she and Ahri had also made a short grocery trip. She started putting things away, with Kai'sa fluttering at her side no matter which way she turned.

"Did you bring the—"

A bottle of soy sauce appeared on the counter.

"Nice! Thank you, Eve. And also did you—"

Evelynn set a green onion stalk down on the cutting board.

"Perfect! How about—"

Evelynn wordlessly produced one bottle of peach soju from her bag and set it in Kai'sa's palms.

"Eeeeeve! You're the best!" She did a happy little shimmy before throwing her arms around Evelynn's neck. It forced Evelynn a few steps back, but she quickly recovered to return the hug, squeezing her tight.

"Of course baby. I know what you need."

Slipping out of Evelynn's arms with a twirl, Kai'sa chopped up the onion and set it in a small dipping bowl with the soy sauce.

"Everyone sit!" she ordered, wiping her hands off on a hand towel and getting the rest of the ingredients together. "The grill's all set up, I have the tea brewed, and I already tried the pork and it's soooo good. I marinated it all day!"

Akali was hustled over to the personal grill and a low table that Kai'sa proceeded to completely cover in bowls of purple rice, dipping sauces, finely sliced garlic and onions, fatty pork belly, mushrooms, an entire rainbow assortment of banchan, and fresh leafy vegetables to wrap it all in. The table groaned under the weight.

"Uh..." Akali blinked, and in the next instant a shot glass of soju was in her hands. When she looked up, she saw Ahri and Evelynn were seated across from her, and Kai'sa slipped in at her right side after serving them tea. "Wow."

"Told you," Evelynn said, smiling smugly.

They served themselves. Ahri stuck mostly to vegetables, only making an exception when Evelynn wrapped a slice of pork in a perilla leaf and fed it to her so casually that this must be a common occurrence. Akali did her best not to stare, focusing all her attention on Kai'sa instead of the woman sitting across from her, the woman she'd had a crush on for most of her young adult life.

"So how long have you been living in Korea?" she asked, pouring Kai'sa another drink.

Kai'sa sat back a little, frowning. "Mmm. A few weeks? Months?" Making a few kissy noises to get Evelynn's attention, Kai'sa grinned. "Eve, how long have I been here?"

"At least four months," Evelynn said. Her hand was at her throat again, playing with her necklace. "A little bit before Ahri wanted KDA to be a thing."

As they chattered and ate, Ahri pushed aside her half-full plate and retrieved the hair dye. "Scoot," she said, and settled comfortably behind Kai'sa to start working on her hair.

"Aw, Ahri, you hardly even touched your—"

"I'm fine." Ahri didn't let her complete the sentence. "If we start now, we'll be almost done by the time you've finished dessert. And I'll eat that too. Promise."

A little exchange happened, wordless: Kai'sa hummed in suspicion. Ahri smirked, reached down, and gave Kai'sa's ear a tug. Whatever understanding occurred, Ahri got her way, and soon Kai'sa's head was entirely wrapped in tin foil.

"Ugh, that stuff stinks." Evelynn wrinkled her nose. "Do you have to do it at the dinner table? We have a guest."

"Don't mind me," Akali said, picking a mushroom and a roasted slice of garlic off the grill. "I'm not gonna complain when you keep me this well-fed."

"And just think." Kai'sa's eyes twinkled. "If you sign on with us, I'll cook for you whenever you like."

The soju had her tongue even more loose than usual. "Oh, so you're offering bribes, now. How desperately do you want me?"

Kai'sa's mouth popped open in shock. Then she laughed, reaching over and slapping Akali lightly on the shoulder. "Cockyyyy! Okay!" she said in English, before swapping back to Korean. "You know, you rap really good, but can you actually sing?"

Akali jerked a thumb towards the front entrance. "There's a noraebang fifteen minutes that way if you want to find out."

"Fuck that," Evelynn said, getting up from the table. For a second Akali again wondered if she'd crossed a line. The woman was just terrifying sometimes, everything about her so intense. Her goosebumps settled as Evelynn merely went over to the tv, and dragged a tiny black box over to it. "We've got everything we need right here."

Then a microphone was dropped into her hands.

"Sing something," Evelynn said, eyes blazing over the lens of her sunglasses.

Akali looked askance at Kai'sa. "So this is an audition."

"I guess it is, now." Kai'sa shrugged, the tinfoil in her hair wrinkling and making noise with every tilt of her head.

When she got up to her feet, the world spun a little. Such was the danger of drinking while sitting down. She and Evelynn inspected the black box, and after a quick internet search, Akali learned it was a personal noraebang machine.

(The first result put its cost at ₩3,000,000. Akali quickly banished any thoughts of getting one for her room.)

"How do you work this thing," Akali grumbled, fiddling with it in vain.

Ahri had been watching them all quietly, her arms crossed. She seemed interested in how the cards would fall, neither approving nor disapproving. But when the three of them struggled to work the machine, she decided to intervene. Sighing, Ahri shooed them away and took over, pulling up a list of songs for Akali to choose from.

"You know, you've got a surprisingly cute voice," she murmured. "It's higher than the last rapper I worked with. Very distinct."

Sharply, Akali realized this was the first thing Ahri had directly said to her since she entered the house. Not sure what to make of that, she scrolled through the list, focused intently on finding something that would make her look good. After a moment though, she landed on some older pop songs, and a devilish spirit overtook her. "How about this one?"

Ahri gasped. "No!"

"Oh, yes," Evelynn said, and hit play. Her wife wailed and covered her face with both hands as a sparkling, youthful techno beat popped out. Ahri's unmistakable voice started chirping and crooning to them.

Laughing, Akali jumped in the distinct dance for Foxfire, one of Ahri's earliest singles. Kai'sa joined in; it was almost impossible not to. Nearly every station in the world featured the video for it. If you didn't know the Foxy dance, you were a reclusive weirdo.

It helped that the chorus was... pretty easy to memorize.

I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox, I am a fox.

When the song was over, Kai'sa and Akali were both breathless with laughter, leaning heavily on each other. Even Evelynn couldn't hide her smile. Though she'd wanted a serious display of Akali's talents, she couldn't resist a little fun. Meanwhile, her wife was as red as a cherry tomato.

"Oh, she thinks she's funny," she said, voice surprisingly icy.

"No, I'm hysterical," Akali responded, finally feeling at ease.

Tutting, Evelynn drew Ahri into her arms, holding her and rubbing her nose into Ahri's hair. "Don't be mad, gumiho. It's my fault, I selected the song."

"I'm not mad, I'm embarrassed!" she said, voice muffled by Evelynn's chest. "Just because you did that, Akali has to sing one of your least favorite songs now!"

One of their phones starting beeping, a timer going off. "Hold that thought," Kai'sa said, rushing away. "I need to wash this dye out. Don't start without me! I want to hear Akali sing for real!"

Evelynn followed her movements with a smirk, eyes tracking Kai'sa until she was gone. "...Yep, you won her over."

"Well, Kai'sa has a hard time resisting a woman who can dance," Ahri mused.

Still flush from drinking and dancing, Akali's face grew even warmer. The bizarreness of this situation probably didn't help. Here she was, trying to impress a goddess of pop and a reclusive musical icon, the stars of their industry. And one very cute, very tall girl that she still knew nothing about. "She uh. She likes to dance, huh?"

"She loves to dance," Ahri corrected her, pulling out her phone. She was smiling brightly now that the subject of the conversation had changed, twisting with excitement. "Have you seen the stuff she was doing at her old studio? It's insane, watch this."

Eager and curious, Akali waited while Ahri searched for the right video. The music started, and a few other dancers from the studio gave their performances. Each of them worked slightly different choreography to the same song. Most were decidedly provocative. Akali's English was a little rusty, but the language barrier didn't matter much when the dancers made it clear what the lyrics conveyed.

Then Kai'sa slinked onto the screen, naked except for scraps of leather and flannel and thigh high heels. 

Akali spent the next solid minute screaming internally as she watched Kai'sa crawl across the floor, her teeth bared in what could have been a furious snarl or a helpless grimace of ecstasy. More than sex appeal, Kai'sa projected nothing but unbridled hunger, head clutched in her hands as she lay on her back, hips arched. Each kick of stiletto heels felt like a strike to Akali's core. Sweat was flying from Kai'sa's silver hair as she tossed it wildly, and touched her straining torso, fingers dancing over her ribs and toned stomach. It was combative, demanding, voracious, and lithe, and...

"God, I love this one," Evelynn said, longingly. "But it's not her best! This one is... blunter than Kai'sa tends to be."

"Okay," Ahri said, "So which one is her best?"

"The one that was so sad it almost made me cry?"

Ahri's eyes widened. "Oooh. Okay, well, unless you want to cry in front of Akali..."

Evelynn thought about it. She twisted the gold necklace, fiddling with the golden charm. When she made up her mind, she pulled up another video. "This one is more typical Kai'sa."

"Mmm," Akali squeaked, because she knew if she remained dead quiet they'd suspect she was about to combust. Thankfully the next video was significantly tamer. Kai'sa had black hair again, coiled up in cute buns. A familiar pop song bounced in the background while Kai'sa danced, clearly having the time of her life. 

Strutting confidently, she displayed more of the Kai'sa they had seen at dinner. Cheeky and sweet and just a little flirty. They went through a few more videos, each one increasingly impressive. Akali's personal favorite was the one that was almost entirely splits and painful-looking contortions. She didn't even know the human body could bend that way.

"Hey!" Kai'sa said when she returned. The dye had taken well; her hair shone, bright blue like cotton candy. Toweling off some excess water from her ear, she beamed at them. "Are you showing Akali my old dance stuff? Did you show her the fire-dancing one? Oh! Did you show her the really slutty one?"

"That's the first one I showed her." Ahri grinned.

Kai'sa made a fist. "Nice. That one's my favorite."

"But it's not your best!" Evelynn insisted, distressed this time.

Paying her no heed, Kai'sa strode up to Akali and pushed the microphone back into her hands. "Okay, Miss Akali," she said. "It's time. Pick a Siren song that Evelynn hates."

"That will be very difficult to find," Evelynn said, "Because I don't publish anything I don't love."

Ahri rolled her eyes, surprising Akali with a little childish mimicry. "I don't publish anything I don't love," Ahri said, opening and closing her hand like a little mouth.

"I don't," Evelynn replied coolly.

"How about Agony's Embrace ?" When Evelynn responded with just a quirked brow, Akali shrugged. "It's stuck in my head. Sue me."

She pressed play, swaying, and immediately realized her mistake. Evelynn's voice was perfectly suited for her own song, obviously... and the two of them couldn't sound more different. While Akali did her best to keep up, she croaked on one or two notes. She didn't much care to copy Evelynn, but if she was supposed to be showing off her strengths, this wasn't the song to do it with.

She made up for it by dancing, or so she hoped. As talented as she knew Kai'sa and the others to be, Akali doubted they knew any hat tricks. So she popped off her snapback, rolling it over her chest in exaggerated, locked movements. She even managed to bounce it from her knee to her foot and back again.

Whirling around, she winked at her audience, setting the cap back on her head.

Sensing the challenge, Kai'sa stepped forward and yanked Akali's hat off with her teeth. Clutching the bill, she flipped it and caught it by the bill again before letting it drop to her knee, then her foot, then she kicked it back up. The hat soared through the air, spinning over Kai'sa's head and down her back, where she hooked onto it with her toes.

Kicking back, she launched the hat into the air once more, and it landed, lopsided, on her crown.

Akali forgot all about the song.

"What!?" she screamed, clutching her own head in shock. "How did you do that?! That was incredible, oh my god! Keep the hat, just keep it! It's yours now! Take everything I own!"

"Kai'sa," Ahri and Evelynn said at the same time, with twin expressions of annoyance.

"Stop being a showoff and let Akali sing," Evelynn added.

"Sorrreeeee," she sang, not looking sorry at all.

But after that, it was impossible for Akali to get her head back in the game. "I'm not a very strong singer," she admitted. "I can carry a tune and harmonize alright, but I'm not gonna have any solos anytime soon."

"Don't be so sure of that," Ahri said. "You're very talented. And we can coach you."

Grabbing her by the arm, Kai'sa gave her a friendly little shake. "And what's really in your heart is rapping and dancing and writing lyrics, right? That's why we want you, and that's what you're good at!"

Something about the unadulterated praise made her want to provide a counterweight. She wasn't used to this much positive attention. "I mostly freestyle—"

"Then freestyle for us," Evelynn said.

The more they talked, the more real this felt. Akali was swept up in it, excitedly clutching Kai'sa's hand when it rested over hers. "...Okay!"

The song was still playing, nearing the end. And the instrumentals behind Agony's Embrace poured over her, familiar as a friend. She'd been listening to this song nonstop for weeks, actually, so she had a good sense for the beat and where she wanted to enter in.  

Except she was still a little tipsy ( Shit. Shit.) and didn't know what she was going to say and other women were all so hot and cool ( ice ) and talented ( gold ) and Foxy was so perfect ( like a diamond ), even without heavy makeup ( glitter ), maybe even especially without it ( diamonds are ice and snow glitters in the light ). Akali found herself staring at at her, too focused to worry about anything except the words bouncing in her head ( cold but I spit fire ).

...What rhymed with glitter?

She took a deep breath, running on instinct and years of writing, the rhymes forming from muscle memory, ideas linked together on the fly.

  Rhyming I'm a spitter, Til I'm winding up to hit 'er Turn her round and sit her bottom line on something mined that glitters, Diamonds, Ice bitter cold, so nice with the flow But Aka's lit, don't you know? Steel nerve, inflexible That's hard rock Louder than a gun cocked On velvet fur or soft locks That's why we need a stone fox Because she likes it on top Clapping like a beat keep it nonstop KDA gon' bring the heat BECAUSE WE GOT THIS ON LOCK!

 The song kept going, but Akali was finished. Shouting, Ahri and Kai'sa both pounced on her in an excited hug pile, praising her impromptu rap. She didn't think it was her best or even very good, and she thought Evelynn might tell her as much.

Instead, the song wound down into chatter and laughter, until Evelynn picked another song, taking her turn at the mic.

It was perfect. It was absolutely perfect.

  Akali woke up on the couch, throat a little sore and eyes glued shut. It took her a second to remember where she was, staring up at the ceiling and not seeing the glow in the dark stars. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep.

Someone had draped their jacket over her in the middle of the night. Closing her eyes again, Akali snuggled into it, inhaling deeply. It smelled distinctly like sweet wet leather, chocolate. Layered in there, bitter undertones of something sharp and woodsy, like pine. She wondered whose jacket it was. She hoped it was Ahri's.

Unexpectedly, her body ached. The thought of Ahri on her, surrounding her, holding her, sent a bolt of heat right to Akali's clit.

Damn it.

Getting up, she couldn't resist shrugging the jacket on. A glance outside the window confirmed it was still dark outside. Just as she wondered if it would be more rude to leave or stay, she heard a voice.

"I'm sorry," Ahri said, "Did I wake you?"

Spooked enough that her skin rippled with gooseflesh, Akali didn't answer at first. Deep in the shadows of the hallway, near the kitchen, Ahri was half-obscured. "No."

Ahri stepped a little closer just as the sun started rising more, the room lightening bit by bit. She was smiling, hair messily piled on top of her head, and Akali learned she was the type who wore long shirts to bed. When she reached up to stretch, the hem lifted up, revealing a flash of bright red shorts underneath.

When Akali tore her eyes away back to Ahri's face, hoping she hadn't been staring too hard, she found Ahri grinning knowingly.

"Nice jacket."

She immediately began to shrug out of it. "Sorry, it was on me when I woke up."

"No, no, no." Ahri stopped her, fingertips brushing against her bared shoulder. Again her skin prickled, flesh rising to the touch the way flowers opened to the sun rising. "It looks good on you." She thought a moment. "Keep it."

The white leather settled comfortably back around her. Akali shoved her hands into the pockets, unable to resist beaming at Ahri. "Okay, but no take-backs."

"Heh. You're cute, Akali. I wish I'd met you sooner."

You did, Akali wanted to say, but she bit it back.

Ahri stretched again, rubbing her face before she started fiddling with the coffee maker. "You drink coffee?"

Sometimes her ex had it with dessert, if it was very, very sweet. But Akali was mystified that anyone actually needed it to get their day going. "Never liked it."

"Never start. It's unhealthy." Ahri tapped out the grounds, still yawning sleepily. "The only thing it's good for is summoning wayward spirits. Do you want to see a magic trick?"

When Akali nodded, Ahri giggled and flicked on the machine. It bubbled, hissing. The bitter scent rose up, and soon enough Evelynn and Kai'sa were at the kitchen table, both of them on the verge of passing out as they waited for their wake-up juice.

"Oh," Evelynn drawled. "The meme girl is still here."

Kai'sa whacked her on the shoulder, hard enough that Evelynn actually flinched. "Be nice!"

Evelynn slumped further onto the table, rubbing her bruised skin. Then her tongue flashed as it clicked against straight white teeth, and Evelynn let loose a string of grinning Mandarin so fast and so saucy that Akali wasn't sure she wanted a translation. That suspicion was only confirmed when Kai'sa turned bright red. She unleashed a flurry of slaps to Evelynn's shoulder, snapping back an impassioned response.

"There's no need to bring my ancestors into this," Evelynn said, drawing herself up, regal and self-important.

"There's only so many ways I can curse you out, specifically," Kai'sa huffed back.

"Well that just makes you uncreative."

Their bickering became very physical, ending with Evelynn's neck trapped in the crook of Kai'sa's arm, both of them complaining loudly. Akali watched, fascinated, as Ahri just served them both a cup of coffee as if she saw this every morning.

(She probably did.)

"Come on, Akali." Ahri vanished, returning in a summer dress and a sunhat, waving for her to follow. "I'll drive you home. These two are obviously unfit for polite company right now."

"I'm not sure caffeine will help," Akali joked as she followed her.

The other two didn't even acknowledge them leaving, too wrapped up in their argument. Ahri let Akali out first, and so she had just enough view to see them still bickering. But as the door shut, Akali swore she saw Kai'sa lean in close, her long hair obscuring their faces.

Ahri locked the front door, eyes glued to her cellphone. She shot off a few quick text messages before smiling up at Akali. "You good?"

"Uh." Akali thought she might still be sleepy. Seeing things. "Yes, I'm fine. I can just take the bus."

The other woman dismissed the idea, car keys jingling. "It'll be faster if I take you." Her lips curled in a smile, and damn it, the only way to describe it was vulpine. "Besides, this way I get to spend more time with you."

Despite that, the car ride was mostly silent. Akali remained distracted by the memory of Kai'sa and Evelynn, how close they had been sitting. How comfortable Evelynn's hand was on Kai'sa's lap, and the things they had said to each other last night. She wondered what their relationship was. She wondered how she could ask.

Instead, she blurted out, "So what's the deal with you guys?"

Ahri kept her eyes on the road. "Hmm?"

"I don't know. It just seems weird, I guess. None of us are typical kpop fare."

"We're misfits," Ahri said after only a moment of deliberation.

Akali shifted uncomfortably, remembering what Evelynn had called her. "Is that why you want me?"

Beside her, Ahri let out a low, sudden breath. "Yes."

Akali glanced at her.

"I think you're a good fit for us," Ahri clarified. "Akali, I'm sorry if I was a little cagey last night, and still acting a little strange now. It's just, you make me nervous."

She made her nervous? She didn't even know the famous Foxy could be nervous. Now she knew was staring, and nothing could make her stop. But rather than be entranced by Ahri's profile, by the golden glitter of her loose hair, Akali wasn't sure who she was looking at. "That explains why you barely talked to me last night."

Ahri grimaced. "So you noticed."

"I'm smarter than I think you or your wife give me credit for, yeah." There went her mouth again, always getting her in trouble. Familiarity breeds contempt as they say, and Akali couldn't keep a respectful tone in her voice if she was comfortable with someone. Shockingly enough, it earned her few friends.

She glowered out the window, trying not to be mad at herself and failing. "Look, you don't have to be nervous around me. I'm just a nobody. And you, you're." Where could she even start with Ahri, this perfectly sculpted figure from her earliest fantasies, her most vivid dreams? She'd been chasing after Ahri's shadow her whole life. "You're a god. You don't need me."

All too soon they arrived at Akali's place. The dojo, and Shen's home attached to it. Turning to her, Ahri's smile and casual demeanor dropped entirely. For once, she was deadly serious. "When I was growing up there were a hundred girls who could have eagerly taken my place, and fucked the producer for the opportunity."

Startled by her blunt words, Akali leaned in to let Ahri know she was listening.

"I work very hard, but the truth is I am also just extraordinarily lucky." Ahri waited, taking care with how she chose her words. "More of this industry boils down to chance than anyone wants to admit."

The car idled, a low rumble. Akali wasn't sure what she should say, or if Ahri was even done talking. Ahri didn't seem sure either, struggling with something Akali couldn't begin to understand, and then she sighed.

"What I'm trying to say is, I'm not perfect, and you're not a nobody," Ahri said. "I don't want you to join KDA if you think that. And if this is about need, then we need you a hell of a lot more than you need us."

"Me?" Akali repeated the only part she could clearly understand.

"Yes, Akali. You. Everything about you. You're real. You're hungry for what you haven't had a taste of yet." But Ahri was the one who seemed ravenous just then, something almost desperate trying to claw its way out of her stoic expression. The distance between them shrank, the brim of Ahri's hat knocking on Akali's forehead. "We've been too well-fed for too long."

I don't want you to join KDA if you think that.

Want.

She didn't know if she wanted to join KDA. Or if there was even anything she wanted, anymore. Akali had been floating aimlessly for months now, and suddenly there were too many paths and she wasn't prepared for any of them.

Want.

Ahri's eyes dropped down to Akali's mouth, and she licked her lips.

She knew exactly what she wanted.

There wasn't any resistance, and barely any space left between them when they kissed. She wasn't even sure which of them had broken the air with that final movement. Ahri slipped her hat off, getting it out of the way, her hand shifting from the wheel to Akali's lap. She didn't know when that had happened, either. The only thing she knew was a pleasure so keen it could almost be called agony. It burned white hot over the split in her brain, no right or left hemisphere, all animal instinct, a hungry little reptile wriggling towards the heat of the sun.

Sparks flew, just like all the songs said they would. She saw nothing but blazing light behind her closed eyelids, disbelief making her body numb until Ahri touched her and brought her to life again.

Her hand immediately went for Ahri's breast, palming her over her dress and then under it. She'd always been fast, liked to go for the kill. Akali didn't care about the car motor still running or the broad daylight outside or that anyone could see them. She wanted flesh in her hands and she wasn't going to wait. Nimble fingers found Ahri's nipple, rolling it greedily until it was stiff enough to pinch.

"Oh, god," Ahri whimpered, sounding tormented, confused.

Akali pulled back sharply, hand over her mouth. It was still warm. It still smelled like Ahri.

She finally got a good grasp on what that was: roses thick on the back of her throat, heavy florals, and something base, something animal and thick as blood on her tongue.

On the other side of the car, pressed against the driver door, Ahri didn't fix the strap on her dress or her half-exposed chest, pink nipple still pert and swollen like it wanted more attention. Ahri's cheeks flushed, with embarrassment and with the heat still dripping from her gaze.

Then clarity returned to her eyes. Then panic.

"Akali," she started, covering herself up, but Akali was already gone. She slammed the car door shut behind her, heart pounding in her head as she stiffly walked back inside her home.

Retreating to her room, she slammed that door too, slumping down to the floor with her head in her hands, all her thoughts replaced with wordless screams.

  It only took a few days for her to come to a decision. There was no other choice she could make, not with everything she was feeling, with everything she knew was right.

She turned them down, politely, via email. She hit send.

Not even an hour later, Evelynn was blowing up her phone.

Ahri was too nice to say it but you'll never get an opportunity like this again in your life

With Evelynn, at least, she didn't feel so bad about her naturally grouchy disposition.

oh so youre goign to throw a tantrum bc i dont want to deal with you???? thats cute

She tapped out furiously, hands shaking.

i bet getting rejected stings a lot to people like you

who never have to hear 'no'

Briefly she thought of what Ahri said, about fucking the producer for the position. She didn't think that was what almost happened, but at the same time they had crossed a line. They had crossed every line. And she was here yelling at her wife.

well too bad you can just get over it

you dont even like me

is this because of me? is it something I did?

I do like you, Akali. I told you I liked you.

fuck

A very long pause. She thought that might be the last she ever heard from KDA, from Evelynn, from Kai'sa, from her idol, Ahri, Foxy, her goddess.

Then an hour later, one mournful text.

I like you so much

  She knew, more or less, when Ahri told Evelynn what happened in the car.

Because the next text message was all alone, almost sinister.

maybe its best you didnt join us

Definitely bait. Akali had returned to making music, doing good on her promise. Taking heart from what Ahri said, that she didn't need them. Akali felt it must be true. She didn't need anyone. Hadn't life already proved that? After she gave up everything for one person, and that person hadn't ever even properly supported her, had told her she was wasting her life.

She didn't need people like that anymore. She didn't need anyone, she didn't need to share with anyone and she didn't want to share.

what does that mean

Akali took the bait anyway. She was bad at ignoring provocation, always ready to fight.

Ahri doesnt fuck bandmates

The words were like taking a dip in ice water after a workout. All the burning rage left her body, replaced with shame. Irrationally she wanted to set the phone on the ground and bow to it, like that could somehow get across her embarrassment, her almost-sin.

but if you're lucky

Evelynn texted,

she might just fuck a groupie

and Akali went red-hot again, out of anger, and lust, and confusion.

  The stars in her room didn't shine any brighter, but she got over that, too.

On one of her rare days off, she locked herself inside with her new computer and a set of noise-cancelling headphones. Swiveling from side to side in her chair, she leaned back and closed her eyes, nodding along to the beat. It wasn't much more than snare drums and a synth but she thought it sounded pretty good.

Akali did not lack in confidence, usually.

Maybe in the aftermath of a wretched breakup she had gotten a little weak. She couldn't blame anybody but herself for that.

Restarting the track, she sat forward and opened up her editing software, wanting to play around with it some more, when she heard a knock.

"I'm busy, Uncle Shen," she called back.

A lengthy pause, and then a softer knock. Rolling her eyes, Akali stalked over and swung open the door, ready to be confrontational.

"Hi," Ahri said, and in a panic Akali almost slammed the door shut in her face.

It was a close thing. She clung to the door handle with both palms, crouching like she was ready to bolt. "Oh, shit!"

Ahri started laughing. "Oh, shit? Is that how you greet me?"

"Yes. I mean no!" She took a few steps back, rubbing her eyes. They burned from staring at the computer screen. "I mean... shit. You're still in town? I thought you'd left by now."

Getting a better look at her, Akali found her body posture oddly cute, hands hidden behind her back like she had a secret. "Mm. Nope. Kai'sa finds the mountains very inspiring, so she wants to stay here a little longer."

The other woman very clearly wanted to be annoyed, but all she could muster was fond amusement. She probably loved it that Kai'sa was being such a little artiste. It seemed like she and Evelynn both enjoyed indulging her when they could.

Awkwardness burned between them. So Akali did what she did best and bustled on through it. "So what do you want? I already told you no. And I'm sure Evelynn will be really happy nobody is gunning for her wife anymore, unless you have other girls you've been making out with."

Taken aback, Ahri pressed her lips firmly together. "Evelynn likes your music. She likes you. Kai'sa does too. We..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Now you're gonna tell me you're not predatory like everyone else in the industry and you're cute and nice so that means I should trust you."

"Most idols don't even make any money for their first few years." Ahri's voice took on a harder edge now, annoyed. Akali found it refreshing from that unending sweetness, that carefully controlled politeness, the sugar over the ice. "Eve and I are backing this almost entirely by ourselves. That means no debt for the living arrangements, for feeding you, for filming you, for training you—"

"Ahhh. So now you're saying I have to sign on with you."

"No!" Those soft brown eyes were focused on her, burning with a heat that had nothing to do with the summer sun outside. "I mean I— didn't want to coerce you into this decision, but yes, it's true. I'm giving you something you'd be crazy to throw away!"

Ahri rubbed her forehead, suddenly exhausted.

"...I didn't come here to snipe at you," Ahri said at last. "I'm sorry. I know I muddled things up. You have every right to reject my offer."

"Uh, yeah," Akali said. "I'd say so."

Taking a moment to collect herself, Ahri inhaled deeply and then dropped her head in a deep bow.

"I'm sorry," she said again, eyes hidden by a curtain of blonde hair. "I just wanted to see you again, and apologize properly. That's all."

"Mhm," Akali said, not impressed in the slightest. "I remember what happened the last time you 'just' wanted to spend more time with me."

A wine red blush spread over Ahri's cheeks as she glancing up from her bow to pout at Akali. "Okay, yeah. I know that wasn't right of me. What do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Some of her steel started to droop, sadness taking over. "And if that's why you decided not to join..."

Akali couldn't take any more apologies. "Stop."

Waiting patiently for an explanation, Ahri slowly realized none was forthcoming. "Okay."

That should have been the end of it. There wasn't anything left to do except say goodbye. She couldn't be with Ahri, not the way she wanted. Being in the same band as her would only hammer in all the things she could never have, until pining turned into bitterness. Akali didn't want to fight for Ahri's attention. And the cold hard truth was she had to share her. Not just with her wife, but with the whole world.

She needed to come to grips with the fact that she wasn't the only person who loved Ahri...though she probably never really loved her at all. Heck, she didn't even know her. Just like any other fan, she loved a version of Ahri she had built in her head.

"Your wife is the one you should be apologizing to, anyway," she finally said.

Ahri's bark of laughter made her blink. "Don't worry about Eve. She's just jealous I got to you first."

She what?

A curious light entered her eyes, voice edging closer to suspicion. "Come on, Akali. It's an open secret that Eve and I aren't monogamous. Is that why you freaked out?"

Akali refused to answer that. "So how much of you asking me to join was just because you two wanted to fuck me?" Akali accused her instead.

But instead Ahri just smiled, shameless for once. "Uh. About twenty percent? I thought I kept a good lid on it until you kissed me."

"You kissed me."

Ahri shrugged. "Either way I was being selfish."

"Because you don't fuck bandmates." She tried for anger again, for something pointed. In truth she said it because she wanted Ahri to hurt. Apologies weren't cutting it, not for all the conflicted feelings Ahri was responsible for.

"...I don't," Ahri said, studying her hard.

Instead, that lingering sexual tension ramped up to an unfathomable degree.

"I never have," she went on, "Unless you count Eve. And Akali, there's only so much my ego can take. So if we're done here please tell me. Otherwise I'm going to need you to lock the door."

Akali's pulse pounded, like the abandoned beat still bumping from her discarded headphones. 

Grabbing Ahri by the forearm, she dragged her further into the room, shutting the door and pinning her against it with a kiss. Ahri wound her arms around Akali's neck, mouth already open, tonguing her roughly like she wanted to hurt her too, but was just as bad at it.

"Is this what you were really after?" she asked, shoving her harder against the door when Ahri started to push back. Ahri let her, submitting, head rolling as Akali kissed down her neck. Both hands cupped her breasts, filled and overflowing as she squeezed and kneaded.

"N-no," she said, offering some token resistance before Akali bit her bare shoulder. She hissed, squirming. " —yes, fuck, fuck, yes."

She stood between Ahri's legs, hiking up her dress and getting just a taste of soft thighs before she stroked right over her underwear, as gently as possible. Ahri pushed her hips forward, seeking friction, and Akali met her pace, working two fingers over damp fabric until Ahri was cursing under her breath.

Then Ahri started shaking with helpless giggles. Pulling back, Akali frowned at her until she remembered what was right behind her, plastered to the wall. Just to confirm, like she didn't already know what she'd see, Akali glanced over her shoulder to glare at a life-sized poster of Ahri on her bedroom wall.

Akali closed her eyes, wanting to sink into the floor. "Pretend you didn't see that."

"That's a dinosaur of a print," Ahri said, trying and failing to muffle her giggles. "I recognize that limited edition sticker! How long have you had it?"

There was no way she was going to answer that. But while she was distracted, Ahri took over. She had a way of manipulating the people around her without effort, in her career and evidently in her love life, too. Their position swapped so fast that Akali didn't know when or how it happened. When she tensed to step away, her back hit the wall, and moving any direction meant some part of her touching Ahri.

"Did you want an autograph?" Ahri whispered, lips brushing over her neck.

Yes. "No."

She got chills, body throbbing as Ahri worked open her belt with both hands, roughly yanking, demanding more. "Do you want this?"

Definitely yes. "Only if you aren't too busy, I guess."

Ahri sealed her lips on a patch of Akali's neck, hard enough to leave a mark. Then she changed gears and blew a loud raspberry, shocking a laugh out of Akali. She squirmed, shrieking in laughter and rubbing her neck with one hand.

"Kai'sa was right," she teased her. "You are cocky."

Once she got ahold of herself again, Akali was flush with embarrassment. She hadn't expected Ahri to be so silly; some part of her still wanted a fight.

"Yeah." She grabbed Ahri by the wrists, stopping her when she tried to slip her hands down Akali's pants. Hefting her up over one shoulder, she smiled when Ahri squeaked. It was a short trip to the bed, dropping her hard enough that she bounced. "Well you won't be complaining when I'm knuckle-deep inside you."

A look of genuine distress crossed over Ahri's face then. She sat up, crossing her arms over her chest in an X. "Whoa! Pause! Being totally serious here for a moment: don't do that. I don't like penetration."

Some of the heat of the moment fizzled out, leaving Akali to awkwardly reassure her. "Oh. Um, that's okay. I'm not too crazy about it either, to be honest."

"Neat." Another big grin from Ahri. Then she wiggled out of her dress, tossing it aside and looking up at Akali expectantly. "It's kind of nerve-wracking, isn't it? Learning how to make love to someone new."

Akali agreed, but couldn't say as much. Her eyes were glued to the gold necklace around Ahri's pale neck, the chain draped over the sharp angle of her collarbone. It perfectly matched the one Evelynn was always fiddling with; Ahri just didn't often wear a neckline low enough to display it.

She shrugged out of her shirt but not her pants, carefully taking a seat next to Ahri on the mattress. There was still time for one or both of them to change their mind; this felt more permanent than any contract Ahri might ever throw at her. They couldn't go back, not from this.

But it was hard to be scared of that idea when Ahri had that proud smirk on her face, eyes bright with devilish intent. She leapt onto Akali's lap, wriggling closer as she reached behind herself to unclasp her own bra. "So how thin are these walls?"

Her palms framed Ahri's waist, tracing the way it blossomed out into full hips. Akali reached further down, grabbing Ahri's ass with one hand and kneading it possessively. "Very."

Ahri let the bra drop, grinning even sharper now as she fluffed up her hair with one hand, pushing it back from her face. "Then I guess we'd better keep your mouth occupied."

Two hands coiled into her hair, working her ponytail loose before gently massaging her scalp. Akali closed her eyes, hot and relaxed at the same time. Those hands guided her down, along with a murmured request. "Play with my breasts a little."

"Okay." She took as much of Ahri into her mouth as she could, sucking and licking her nipples until Ahri was grinding on her lap. Ahri didn't keep her hands to herself, stroking down the back of Akali's neck and passing over her shoulders, soft noises of approval humming low in her throat.

Then Akali stopped, sitting back and putting both hands flat on the mattress. "But only a little."

Ahri complained, pushing her back against the mattress, knees straddling her waist. "More than a little!"

"Shh," Akali reminded her, free arm around Ahri's waist and pressing one finger to her mouth for silence.

She ran her thumb over Ahri's lips, pleasantly surprised when Ahri instinctively opened her mouth to let her inside. Breathless with excitement, she watched, fascinated, as Ahri took her thumb up to the knuckle. Her tongue flicked over it once, lips tight as she dragged it free and took Akali's index and middle finger instead, moaning softly around them.

"You can do better than fucking a groupie on a twin-sized mattress," she said, in a whisper.

Her fingers dropped from Ahri's mouth, tracing a wet trail down her chin before dipping below her waistband. She found her, stroking her clit, and was immediately rewarded with another noise of pleasure.

"Oh my god, Akali." Ahri's gasping words barely made it past the sound of Akali's pounding heart. Her clit twitched every time Ahri said her name like that, already soaking wet and she hadn't even been touched yet. "You still don't get it, do you?"

Ahri held her tight, rocking onto her hand, breathing heavily. She was unbelievably soft, skin ghostly pale against Akali's tanned hand. This close to her, Akali couldn't resist leaving bruises wherever her mouth could reach, spilling drops of red and purple paint all over the canvas. With every stuttering twitch of her hips, Ahri came so close to coming that Akali could almost taste it.

But just before she did, Ahri stopped her. A breathless exchange ended with her kneeling over Akali's shoulders, digging into the mattress on either side of her head.

"You're not just a fan to me." She stroked her head, fondness swimming in her eyes. Akali looked up at her, feeling defenseless even though Ahri was the one stripped bare. "You're the competition."

She did taste her then, completely overwhelmed by the thighs pillowing her face and Ahri's bare sex rutting against her tongue. Ahri was incredibly gentle, careful where she rested her weight. She took Akali's hands, folding them with hers and pinning them against the mattress. Every inch of her burned, sweat and sex making her thighs sticky when she desperately pressed them together, trying to find relief.

Briefly she entertained the idea of drawing this out, but she didn't get to tease Ahri for long before both hands were on her head again.

"Like this, Akali," she said.

Hearing Ahri tell her exactly how to get her off was enough to have her fumbling open the top button of her pants, hands shaking as she touched her own slit.

"Good girl, Akali." She twisted onto Akali's tongue, gasping. "Oh, good girl."

She'd never been with someone like this before, so in tune with her own desires and so unafraid of asking for more. Locking her lips around Ahri's clit, she narrowed her eyes and remembered to breathe, licking Ahri until her jaw hurt. Her own orgasm was on the precipice, so close but not enough, and she couldn't focus on getting both of them off at the same time.

Ahri came on her face, messily, shaking, quiet. The world shrank away, all her concentration on drawing out what she could until Ahri lowered herself down back to lie alongside Akali. Her intense gaze wavered slightly from exhaustion, like a guttering candle flame.

"Can I touch you?" she asked, and when Akali nodded she traced her sex over her pants. She was wet enough to have soaked through her underwear, a cool, damp spot pressing between her legs as Ahri found her pants ruined too. "God, you're wet."

Ignoring that for the moment, Ahri openly admired Akali's abs. She kissed them, tongue stroking over them and down the sharp furrow of her hips. Impatient, Akali pulled her pants and underwear down past her hips. Ahri returned to her face, kissing kissing Akali as she stroked over slick, dark curls.

"Please." Her throat was almost too tight to squeeze it out.

Ahri's serene smile returned. She pressed a little harder, framing Akali's stiff clit between her fingers. "Please what?"

"Please," was all Akali could say.

Ahri kept up indirect contact, petting and stroking just around where Akali wanted until she buckled.

"Please touch me." The words spilled from her lips, not held back by embarrassment or pride any longer. "Please make me come. Please, I'm so close."

"Look at me." It wasn't an order, not exactly, but it was impossible to disobey. Locked together with her arms around Ahri's neck, she struggled to keep quiet, to keep her eyes open.

Ahri watched her fall, anchored her as the world went blank, and when it was over, stroked her hair as she trembled furiously.

Her first instinct was to move away and get some breathing room, but that almost toppled her over the edge of the bed. Instead she wound together even tighter with Ahri, who snuggled up against her, face to Akali's chest.

"That was fun," she said, thumb tracing a slow circle over Akali's hip. "I should have done that the moment I met you."

Akali propped her chin on top of Ahri's head, still reeling a little bit, but also strangely underwhelmed by how normal this part still was, just like with any other girl she'd ever touched. "You would be in jail."

Ahri huffed. "Excuse me?"

Slapping a hand around on her bedside table, Akali found her phone. She held it up, scrolling through albums until she found the picture. Maybe it was embarrassing, but she'd just come in less than a minute from Ahri's delicate fingers stroking her off, there wasn't anything she could do that was more vulnerable than that.

"Here." She showed Ahri the picture they took together when Akali was fourteen. "You probably don't remember, but there was this private event in the next town over. I scaled the wall to get in, cause I didn't have a ticket. When I fell flat on my face in front of you onstage, you—"

"Oh my god!" Ahri bolted upright, gasping in shock. "Nosebleed Girl?! That was you? I tell people that story all the time!"

Akali sat up too, cheeks warming. "...I'm not sure if this is better or worse than you not knowing me at all. Thanks for the photo, by the way."

"Awww, Akali." Ahri reached out, pinching both of her cheeks. "You were a baby, how could I have said no?"

She couldn't help but scowl at the memory. "Yet you still had security escort me out."

"Sweetheart, you broke in. Keeping you wouldn't have been fair to the fans who paid."

Keep me, a little voice inside her said. Keep me now. Want me.

She wrestled the urge down, firmly slamming a door shut over it and locking it shut. "Would've been nice to get an autograph, too."

Ahri's smile turned devious. "Thought you didn't want one."

She could have insisted that she didn't. It wasn't too late. But instead her face kept warming up until she knew she must be bright red, and Ahri started laughing. Flopping back against the bed, Akali pulled a pillow over her head. "Shut up."

The mattress shifted as Ahri got up. Akali waited, hearing fabric rustling, and assumed that the other woman must be getting dressed. It was bittersweet. She hadn't expected Ahri to stick around, but she wasn't ready to say goodbye yet, either.

Then a warm weight dipped over her, Ahri's naked body pressed against hers. Akali lifted the pillow to see Ahri straddling her hips again, a black marker in her hands. She uncapped it, the stringent scent of alcohol hitting her as she slowly dragged the tip over Akali's bare chest. By the time Akali caught on to what she was doing, Ahri was already done.

She couldn't read it at this angle, but Ahri had written what looked like an entire screed all over her breasts, long and large enough that it sprawled down Akali's sternum.

It would have made sense to be angry, or amused, at the expression of smug satisfaction on Ahri's face. Like they were playing a game, and Ahri had won, somehow.

Akali's hands curled into fists at her side, arousal pooling up between her legs again. "Are you done, or did you want to add your manifesto, too?"

"Oh. You're right, I did forget to add something."

Ahri shifted lower, and this time Akali could clearly read property of Foxy over her thigh, bordered with hearts and flowers. Ahri capped the marker again. She tossed it aside, kissing just under her handwriting.

A low hiss escaped Akali, fists gripping the sheets now as Ahri kissed her way up between Akali's thighs. "Open your legs for me, Akali."

Akali realized she must be getting off on this. Ahri had to be getting off on this, the knowledge that every time Ahri said her name she clenched with need. The fact that Akali loved her with that unique fannish desperation people give to idols. It could have made her angry if it were anyone else. It should have made her angry.

Instead she sank into the sensation of Ahri's mouth cleaning the sticky come on her thighs, her hands spreading her lips open to gently kiss her entrance, thumb rubbing eager circles over her clit. She used her fingers and her mouth, more communicative than any other partner she'd had before.

Is this okay? Is this too deep? Is this how you like it?

"That's it, Akali," she said as Akali started to fall apart underneath her again. An appreciative hand stroked over her stomach, coveting the divots of her abdomen, tracing every hard-earned muscle. "One more time, just for me."

Tears pricked at her eyes from the struggle to keep from shouting. She saw stars even when she closed her eyes, bright lights spinning in her head until she came down with a whimper. Ahri's tongue was a firm presence against her clit, pressed hard to her but not moving, not until she stopped twitching. Only once Akali had calmed down did she start again, a slow, torturous drag.

This time Akali thrashed, fists tangled in Ahri's hair, thinking, I can't, I can't, I can't, I couldn't, I shouldn't, except she could and she did, coming like a frazzled broken wire, sparks shooting off erratically, just on the edge of pain.

Taking Akali's hand, Ahri and guided it between her own legs. Eager to take back some measure of control, Akali explored with her hand what her tongue had already known. Akali thought she couldn't come, not again, not until she felt Ahri twist on her palm and cry out loud.

She came so fast.

The sound of her, of wet flesh and sharp breathing, and the smell of her, overwhelming.

"One more, Akali, one more for me," Ahri encouraged her, the force of her own climax leaving her sounding tormented.

And she couldn't tell Ahri no.

Ahri worked her slowly, as if she knew this one needed to be savored. Or maybe she was being merciful, knowing at this point Akali was sensitive to the point of pain. Her last orgasm shocked her, seized her up, and she forgot herself entirely as her back arched up off the bed, and she shouted yes!, or maybe she just thought it so loud she imagined Ahri could hear it. Surely it was etched out over every inch of her body, like the ink running down her wet skin.

"Stop!" she finally gasped when Ahri's breath huffed against her overheated flesh, since Ahri was evidently going to keep at it until she begged her not to. "Stop, stop."

She drifted in and out for a solid minute, chest heaving. Akali was vaguely aware she was drenched in sweat, the writing on her body probably smudged to the point of being illegible.

Ahri's cool hand touched her cheek, face fading into her vision. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, too winded to speak. This time when Ahri slipped from the bed, she really did get dressed. The dress straps slipped back over her shoulders, brazenly marked with Akali's own signature. The bite marks had blossomed out nicely, every inch of her exposed neck and chest clearly bruised, unmistakable for anything except what it was.

Ahri noticed too, a wry smile on her face. "Can I borrow a scarf?"

She gave Ahri one of her jackets, pulling the hood up over her head and tugging the strings. "What are you going to tell Evelynn?"

"I'll tell her we had sex. And it was very good."

That firm hand gripped her chin, guiding her in close for another lingering kiss.

"She won't be mad?" Akali couldn't help but whisper, feeling ashamed again and wishing she didn't.

Thankfully, Ahri was fine reassuring her some more. "With how much she flirts with Kai'sa, I have a feeling we'll need to re-establish some boundaries soon. But no, she won't be mad."

She frowned deeply. "Is this band just a front for you two to pick up chicks?"

"It's not." Ahri blushed a little. "I really wanted you to join KDA."

Akali eyed her, still wary. "If you say so."

A soft sigh. Ahri zipped up her jacket, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. "The contract is still valid for a good long while," she told her. "If you ever change your mind, Akali, you know how to reach us."

One last shiver as she said her name, but less intense than before. The fever had passed, and neither of them said goodbye as Ahri walked out of her room, and shut the door behind her.

  The next few days passed like a dream. She spaced out mid-conversation, staring out the windows or brooding on the roof where Shen couldn't find her. Her music still waited, everything she wanted to share with the world still in-progress.

When she had washed off Ahri's words from her body, she could just faintly make out a word or two. All my love, and to my biggest fan, and hugs and kisses. She'd really gone all out with it.

A week later, a thin cardboard tube arrived with her name on it. Even without a name attached, even before opening it she had a feeling she knew what was inside.

Cautious, Akali unrolled the poster. It wasn't from any photoshoot she recognized, and as a Foxy superfan, she knew about most every single one. Despite herself, she was impressed. Foxy had been working on rebranding her image for years, and here was a final proof of concept. Ahri was posed on a plush chair, wearing form-fitting black and white with a long blonde fox tail draped over her lap. It was elegant. It was sexy. No more bubblegum pop. Three business cards and a letter also fell from the poster, and Akali bent to pick them up.

This is from a top secret project, Ahri's handwriting said, more flowers and hearts and smiley faces scribbled on all the margins. The pre-orders go live tomorrow, no one else has them yet. So if you leak it sooner, remember, I know where you live.

Akali's voice was dry as she spoke to the air. "I'd like to see you try to take me on."

Examining the business cards now, Akali couldn't fight a smile. They were KDA's professional contact information, and the name of their agent. A note from Ahri explained further.

Even if you're striking out on your own, you'll still need friends. KDA will always be here to support you and share the stage.

Damn it.

Akali wanted to be mad still, but it was hard when Ahri was being so damn cute. Rolling up the poster, she set it down beside her chair.

"I don't want to share," she said, to no one.

The last person I shared with hurt me, so, so bad.

Sitting back in her chair, Akali stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling.

Then she scrambled out of her bedroom, pulling a hat on and hopping into her shoes at the doorway.

She ran nearly every single day. She ran to build stamina and to keep her physique and to get away from the house and a million other reasons.

So she was only mildly out of breath when she reached the house Ahri and the others were renting. Spotting Evelynn's car outside, she nodded to herself and quickly scaled the fence. It was easy; she dropped down on their lawn and jogged right up to the front door and banged on it with a balled-up fist.

"Hey! Open up!" she said. "Is anyone home?"

She heard faint movement inside, then the door lock clicking. When it swung open, Evelynn stood there, an absolutely poisonous glare on her face.

"Miss Akali," Evelynn said, "Do you know what time it is?"

Oh. Akali glanced at her phone, grimacing at the early hour. "Uh. Sorry. It couldn't wait. I mean I have your number but I didn't want to call. I mean this is important! I need to do this in person!"

As she babbled, some of the ice melted from Evelynn, replaced with concern. "Slow down. Is everything okay? Are you in trouble or something?"

"No!" Akali took a deep breath. "No."

Then she yanked the contract from her backpack, freshly printed with her name signed at the bottom. Holding it in both hands, she extended it to Evelynn, bowing politely.

"I want to join KDA."

The resulting silence burned, weighing her down until she finally dared to look up at Evelynn.

The other woman had a hand tight over her mouth, eyes shining with barely constrained laughter.

"Oh my god," Evelynn said in between careful, deep breaths. "Ohhh, this is gonna be good."

"Evelynn?"

She stepped forward, closing the door shut behind her as she forced Akali back a few steps.

"Tell me honestly," Evelynn said, and after a moment Akali realized she needed to stand her ground eventually or Evelynn would chase her right to the front gate. So she stood still, forcing herself to not back off when Evelynn was right there, close enough to touch, chest to chest. "Did you change your mind just because Ahri fucked you?"

She knows. Of course she knew, Ahri said she'd tell her. Ahri probably told Evelynn she'd try to make a move before it even happened.

"And you'd better tell me the truth," Evelynn added, "Or I won't let you inside."

Because I want to share. Akali stood firm, even if she couldn't help but crane back a bit, leaning away from Evelynn. Some small part of her wanted to run away even now, wanted to hide somewhere she didn't have to take any risks, or let anyone near her, or let anyone close enough to hurt her ever again. Admit it. Say it. Even if I make it big somehow it'd all be meaningless if I didn't have someone to share it with.

Then she hung her head, knowing she wore her heart on the sleeve and knowing Evelynn was probably shrewd enough to see she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Because I'd— I'd—I'm—" Akali stammered.

Spit it out, stop being a coward, be the firespitter, spit it out, admit it!

"I'm—" she took a deep breath. "—Lonely. I'm so lonely. And I c-can't take it anymore."

I'd rather die than spend one more day as lonely as I feel right now.

Evelynn stroked her necklace thoughtfully, eyeing her over.

"I see."

That was all she said. At first.

Until she reached out, gently pulling the contract from Akali's hands.

"Let's take a look at this over breakfast," she suggested, moving so that she had one arm over Akali's shoulders. Akali was swept up in that familiar scent again, sweet leather and chocolate and bitter pine. Belatedly, she realized that jacket, the one Ahri let her keep. It must have been Evelynn's. The other woman guided Akali back to the house, opening the front door for Akali. "Kai'sa can make enough for four."

Too thrilled to be stunned, Akali let a huge grin take over her face. "Yeah?"

"Yes." Evelynn casually pinched her cheek. "And then you and I are going to talk about exactly what you expect from my wife."

Her stomach plummeted, nerves making her want to backflip right over the fence she'd just scaled. But before she could lose her nerve and dig her heels in, they were inside the house and she'd slipped her shoes off.

"Honey," Evelynn called out, an amused smirk on her face. "Are you up? You're going to want to see this."

She gave Akali a sidelong glance.

"I brought a surprise."

    bittersweet, undefeated creature – against you there is no defence

— from Anne Carson’s translation of Sappho’s fragments, entitled If Not, Winter