Tumgik
#i think i captured the energy accurately
doom-dreaming · 1 year
Text
Blue Team (+ Cortana) Sims
(Places four tiny Spartans and an even tinier Cortana into your hands.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Our main boy. Gap-toothed and covered in freckles. :) They're all over his shoulders, too. And his chest. And his back. It's great. He also has a secret tattoo on his shoulder.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Kellyyyyyyyyyyy. My silly rabbit. In all her blue-haired glory. Fun fact: Kelly looks different in every single reference photo I used. Thanks, Halo. All I have to go on is "rough, angular beauty" and a bunch of wildly-different renderings from a billion sources.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Linda! Everyone's favorite sniper. Turns out the birthmark options can also look like scars, so that's cool. I just think they should have more battle damage than literally every picture I've ever seen of them. You're telling me these people have been in heavy combat for over four decades and their faces are pristine? I don't buy it, no matter how good they are at keeping their helmets on.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Fred turned out much better after I spent a little more time messing with his face bones. And he doesn't look as much like he's constantly on the verge of tears like the first version. Lmao. Even got the gray (sorry, "silver") hair in there. And idk, I thought the tattoo looked cool. I do have Blue Team tattoo headcanons, but Sims doesn't really have anything close.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
She!!!!! I was trying to get her close to the Halo 2 Anniversary facial structure, since it's my favorite look for her and her face is different in literally every game. I think I did a decent job. As decent a job as one can manage in a minimally-modded Sims game.
Good news, the height slider looks great with this group. John and Fred are at max height (Kelly and Linda are close to it) and Cortana's at minimum and. it's just good. It's very good. I'm finally realizing I have a very real thing for size differences, which is technically something I always knew, but. Anyway. There they are, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! I still haven't finished their house yet.
9 notes · View notes
dewdoles · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Personality development headcanons
59 notes · View notes
angorwhosebabyisthis · 3 months
Text
watching fandaniel go is wild because he is just [vestibular stims] [vestibular stims] [vestibular stims] [vestibular stims] and yeah man that's a mood
#final fantasy xiv#ffxiv#ffxiv fandaniel#the cutscene where he's dancing and pacing in front of zenos in the armory while they talk genuinely startled me a little#with how accurately the editing and camerawork captured What That Stim Feels Like#i'm less inclined to do Large Amounts of Spinning and Bending; and the way i get my arms involved looks different#but something about the energy to it and the center of gravity and the way he Turns when he steps is just Oh Wow Yeah Same#on one hand; surface-level he's the type of Unhinged Manic Pixie Dream Boy that you'd think would be a bit on the nose for adhd headcanons#(which would be valid anyway to be clear but still)#but like. motherfucker has adhd just look at him#and honestly i like that a lot because 'surface level' is the keyword here. he Has Depth and is adhd about it#i need to find that post about how masking doesn't necessarily mean trying to pass for neurotypical#among other things; it can look like playing super hard into Look at How Megadifferent and Quirky and Weird I Am; and yeah that's him#and tbh he kind of vibes to me as having gotten into Being an Obnoxious Flamboyant Theater Kid#specifically because it's a useful cover for being his brand of ND#'those damn wacky rich gay nobles' as an explanation for your behavior is going to get you a very different niche in society#than 'that weird dude who talks strangely and can't sit still and whose social cues are A Little Off'#'and makes bizarre disruptive distracting movements with his body while he talks'#anyway diversity win etc etc i love him#ableism mention cw#ffxivtag#FF tag
9 notes · View notes
fr33sh00tr · 1 year
Text
ruining the already mediocre experience that is disney's haunted mansion (2023) for my family by sighing very loudly and rolling my eyes when the astrophysicist character is on screen
0 notes
jesskasb · 2 years
Text
playing the naruto clip on my pinned post brings me absurd amounts of joy
0 notes
p1hypen · 1 year
Text
TERRIBLE TWOS — P. SUNGHOON
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
SYNOPSIS! A rash decision on your end causes you and Sunghoon to break up. What you think is for the best turns out to be the complete opposite, actually. Cue two years later when a random encounter with your ex forces you to revisit past feelings that has never quite fully departed from either of you. PAIRING! Chairman!Sunghoon x Fem!Reader WC! 11.4k (Got carried away)
GENRE/CW! Exes getting back together, fluff, slight angst if you squint, smut (fingering, brief mentions of fem oral receiving, sunghoon has a 7 inch cock; i headcanon that, unprotected sex, missionary, creampie, lots of tongue kissing), swearing, reader is in denial just a tad bit, ft. non-idol!yunjin, reader is a struggling fine arts major, etc. MDNI
A/N: originally, i intended for this to be a simple one shot but it somehow turned out to be greater than that in the end lol. this was also my first attempt at writing smut; i've always wanted to try it but damn is it kinda hard. i feel like the title doesn't match or capture the story as good but whatever-- it used to be called 'seasons,' yet that didn't make sense either so... terrible twos it is! i hope you enjoy <3
Tumblr media
“Y/n?” 
A trace of uncertainty laces the man's voice, his mind racing with the possibility that he might have mistaken a stranger for someone from his past. Internally, he winces at the prospect of this awkward mix-up, dreading such an encounter with a random person. He clings to the hope that his intuition proves accurate.
Could it really be her? Amid the bustling crowd, she always managed to stand out, an unmistakable aura surrounding her. Her presence eclipsed even the most vibrant of settings, radiating a unique energy that outshone a field of flowers.
When he tentatively calls out her name in a hushed tone, she spins around on her heel, and for an ephemeral moment, Sunghoon feels as though he's stepped into a scene from a classic romance film.
Time stills and so does he. 
Each of your movements steals his breath away. The way your hair dances in harmony with the wind, and how your eyelashes cast the most delicate shadow upon your high cheekbones. Your gradual unveiling leaves him struggling to swallow past an inexplicable lump in his throat. 
Sunghoon notices the moment your eyes widen. Behind those enchanting orbs, he discerns a flicker of nostalgia and a touch of melancholy. During your time together, he had the uncanny ability to read those emotions hidden within the depths of your eyes.
“Sunghoon…” You say no louder than a mere whisper that could easily get lost in the summer’s wind that passes through the both of you. 
Your heart throbs in your chest. The biological response is far too overwhelming that you can feel your stomach tying itself in double knots. You think you might need to be pointed to the nearest bathroom so you can barf up the swarm of butterflies that disturb your system. No doubt, does crossing paths with an ex whom you share a long history with manage to do that to you. 
“H-how are you?” You’re the first to strike up a conversation despite that being Sunghoon’s unspoken responsibility. 
How am I? Sunghoon has to brace himself to collect his messy thoughts. 
“I’m pretty good, and yourself?”
His response is curt and short. In any other setting, he would have elaborated on his answer but he wasn’t sure how much information was too much to reveal to an ex regarding the state of his well-being. You nod at his words, not really expecting much nor having high hopes that he would give you more to work with in this conversation of playing catch-up between an ex. 
See, your relationship ended amicably, with both of you acknowledging that the spark kindled between you two had faded out. With your mind elsewhere, too focused on your academics (so you like to say), and Sunghoon preparing to inherit his family’s business, there was little room for romance in either of your daily routines. Your typical weekend dates were swapped out for meetings with major corporations and other soon-to-be-chairman-related activities so that he could fully understand what the rest of his future held for him. 
Even though you missed having your boyfriend's undivided attention, you refused to act as a temporary roadblock that prevented him from making significant progress. Despite your heart and brain being at war with each other, you made the conscious decision to slowly back down from being his lover and tucked your face in the pages of your academic textbooks.
With Sunghoon too busy to even acknowledge that his girlfriend was distancing herself from him, you were the first to come forward, bearing the news that breaking up would be the optimal solution to your and his fading presence in one another’s lives. 
That night when you bid goodbye, he felt half his heart shatter inside of him. Little did you know that you carried the other part wherever you went, but now that you were no longer capable of sheltering that missing piece, it almost made him want to die inside more than just a tad bit— a lot, actually.
He pretended to play it cool as your back turned to him and he watched you retreat to your car, feeling both helpless and defeated. With an unflinching countenance, a tightly clenched jaw, and fingers gripped at his sides, Sunghoon longed for his feet to have chased after you, preventing your departure from his life. He yearned to undo whatever had driven you away, to rewrite his mistakes and reshape your shared history.
Sadly, not even the first star in the sky he saw at night could grant him something as demanding as that.
On the contrary, had those things happened, he wouldn’t be here today on a Thursday afternoon rekindling a connection that got tossed up in the air and fell through his fingertips.
“I—“ Before you get a chance to deliver your sentence Sunghoon’s hold on your arm prompts him to draw you to his chest. 
Your breath hitches in the back of your throat, eyes simultaneously widening for the second time thanks to a certain ex. You look up at the taller one with crinkled brows. A mixture of confusion and a looming feeling in the deepest pit of your stomach that hasn’t quite left, tugging at your heartstrings. His intoxicating scent of Dior Sauvage is all too overwhelming for your nose to take in. You swear your head could start spinning any minute now. 
He’s so close to you. You’re so close to him. If someone were to come by and accidentally bump into you, you would be pressed up against his chest, breaking what limited distance is keeping you two apart. 
A bike rider disrupting pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk whizzes by, obnoxiously ringing the bell attached to their handlebar as if they aren’t to be blamed for riding on the concrete pavement, and it’s only then do you realize that Sunghoon was protecting you from getting hit. His body relaxes once he declares that it’s safe for you to comfortably stand in the open from any oncoming obstructions. 
“Sorry… acted on impulse.” His grasp on you immediately retreats to the inside of his pant pockets and you swear that his touch leaves a ghosting sensation on your skin. 
Sunghoon refuses to meet your lingering gaze, eyes averting to some random couple walking their dog across the street from where the two of you are standing. It’s almost funny how he fully believed two years ago that one day both of you would be exactly like that: dog owners who take their beloved fur baby on walks together and enjoy the simplicity of the little things that a relationship has to offer. 
“It’s okay, thank you,” You murmur, unsure of where things should go from here. 
A beat of silence comes and goes before Sunghoon has the chance to take the initiative to prove he’s different from his past self. 
The past self you witnessed throughout the duration of your shared romanticism. The past self who failed to convince you to stay because he never wanted you to leave his side. What he wanted was to work things out and to understand what he could do to change and make things better for the two of you.
Even if that meant you breaking up with him first to realize this.
“Listen, why don’t we…” He suddenly starts. Sunghoon analyzes your face and when your features evidently show that you’re all ears for what he has to say, he takes a deep breath to compose himself. “Get dinner. Together.“ 
Although the question comes out more like a demand rather than a request, you’re slightly taken aback because you were almost certain Sunghoon probably resents you for the breakup— at least that’s what you tell yourself— and that he doesn’t want any business involving you entering his life for a repeat performance. The only different thing is that you’re his ex.
Can you blame him? It was so sudden.
The concealed hurt he tried to mask but failed to do so when you told him you wanted to end things, hoping it’d be left on good terms, rambling about how much you do and will continue to care for him no matter what he does in life or who he chooses to love after you. It seems you did more talking than he got the chance to, and Sunghoon wasn’t sure if you had this all planned leading up to that moment, or if he should’ve seen it coming. 
Whatever it was, Sunghoon could never hate or repent you, but you’re no telepathic mind-reader and wouldn’t know how he feels about you now unless you asked. 
Your bottom lip is caught between your teeth as you ponder the idea of sitting in a fancy restaurant with Sunghoon and sharing a long conversation over an expensive meal that is highly overpriced for its ridiculously small portions. 
“On one condition,” You quip. Sunghoon gestures for you to keep going and you clear your throat. “No five-star Michelin places, okay? I just want a simple dinner to make up for lost time.” 
The older male chuckles, nodding his head sensibly. If there’s one thing Sunghoon learned about you is that you were never hard to please and preferred the opposite of a high-end luxury lifestyle that he naturally grew up with. 
“Tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at 8, how’s that sound?” 
“That’s perfect but um—“ you purse your lips. “Do you… Do you still remember where I live?” 
“Of course. It would take a lot more than time and distance apart from each other, for me to forget your every being.”
Sunghoon leans in to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear. The underlying intimacy hiding beneath his actions has you contemplating what the course of your relationship would have looked like for the two of you, had you not broken up with a man as sweet and thoughtful as him.
Was calling it quits between you two a mistake? Should you have stuck it out just a little longer? 
You can only shove those thoughts to the farthest point in the back of your mind and recenter your focus to the handsome ravenette. 
Sunghoon, sporting a warm grin that gradually grows into a pearly white showcase of his perfect teeth and adorable canines, makes it worth marveling if second chances are a thing that people still stand by. 
Tumblr media
The next evening, Sunghoon unexpectedly arrived at your front door 20 minutes ahead of your readiness. While you were trying to situate yourself into your cami dress that paired well with the current season, a knocking sound coming from the entrance to your studio unit startled you in its wake. You tapped on the screen of your phone to check the time and crinkled your nose when the numbers staring back at you read 7:40. 
Sunghoon’s habit of arriving for an occasion earlier than expected was not unusual for his character. The taller's mannerisms crept into other facets of his social life after years of being trained to believe that "early is on time" and "on time is late." However, 20 minutes ahead of schedule was definitely new to you, and part of you can’t help but think if this is stemming from anxiety or if that’s just you projecting your nerves onto his much early arrival. 
“Just a sec!” You struggled to reach for the zipper to your dress, stress-sweating due to the pressure of having to rush through the rest of your routine.
After what felt like a millennia you finally managed to seal yourself shut into your attire and scurried to the front door where poor Sunghoon was waiting for you to answer.
“I’m so sorry, I couldn’t get to the zipper of my dress and I don’t think me flashing you or my neighbors in semi-public is socially acceptable.” You awkwardly laugh, strands of hair sticking to the back of your neck and forehead from the accumulated sweat you managed to produce. 
Sunghoon chuckles, shaking his head at your guilty tendency to overshare too much information for the dramatics.
“No worries. I know I showed up earlier than expected. Don’t worry about me, do what you need to do.” He smiles softly and for a second it almost slips your mind that you’re no longer romantically involved with each other. 
Oh, how you wish you could leap at him and smother the dashing man with kisses all over his Greek god-like, beautiful face…
“Here,” The taller unveils a bouquet of flowers that he attempted (underline, attempted) to hide behind his back. In reality, you could already see bits of it peeking out but chose to play coy about the item he was holding back from giving you. 
You fawn at the striking arrangement of tulips that come in different shades of the prettiest of pinks. Tulips. Of course, he would remember that those are your favorite. His words from yesterday ring in your ears, and believing them, you truly start to confide that Sunghoon could never boot you out of his memory as easy as a snap of his fingers.
“The prettiest bunch of flowers for the prettiest girl.” Sunghoon cautiously says, unsure if that would be stepping a line. To be fair, there isn’t an official handbook on what you should or shouldn’t say to an ex— except for some of the more common phrases; whatever that may be.
You let out a lighthearted laugh at the bold, yet cheesy, compliment and invited Sunghoon into the safe haven of your apartment, ignoring the way your heart practically skipped a beat when he said that. 
He’s been here on plentiful occasions so he’s really no stranger to the arrangement of your flat and could probably draw out an entire floor plan if he wanted to. At one point he almost committed to the thought of moving in with you, but you were a firm believer that it would be best if he stuck to the minimalist mansion he decorated himself; it was passed down to him from none other than his father. Needless to say, Sunghoon was a pouty puppy that day.
“I’m almost ready I promise.” You say. “I just need to add some finishing touches and then I’m all yours for the night.” Immediately your hands fly to your mouth when realization dawns on you about the delivery of your words. 
Sunghoon raises an eyebrow, and luckily, you miss the faint smirk that tugs at the corner of his plump lips teasingly.
“You know what I mean!” You panic, waving off the metaphorical atmosphere that surrounds both of you.
You excuse yourself and escape to your room as the tips of your ears start to flush with embarrassment.
Once the door leading to your bedroom shuts behind you with a mellow thud, your back presses up against the surface of the entryway. A loud sigh that you weren't even aware you were repressing since Sunghoon arrived breaks out past your tinted lips. With your mind a foggy mess and your heart threatening to leap right out of your chest, you’re under the impression that you resemble the stereotypical anime school girl the way your entire demeanor changes when you’re around him. 
But that’s the thing.
It’s only Sunghoon. 
It’s just Sunghoon.
So what if you guys dated in high school and partially during college? So what if he was the first and only guy you’ve been with, and even though you have no one to compare him to, he would still be the best ex you could ever have? So what if you regret breaking up with him because you got ahead of yourself and refused to be transparent with him? 
So what if you want him back…
You pat both sides of your cheeks to wake yourself from a philosophical dilemma. you refuse to go down a rabbit hole of emotions especially when you’re about to go out to dinner. 
You shuffle through your wardrobe in search of a certain pair of Converse that a special someone gave to you as a birthday gift. When you find it neatly stored away in its original packaging and the box that it came in you’re almost too eager to slip your feet into the collar of the Chuck Taylor’s.
You halt in your steps when you reach your vanity and grab your everyday bottle of perfume, spritzing one pump, then two, then three, and four more of the floral scent, that you’re showering yourself in it at this point.
When you've deemed that you’re completely ready and satisfied with your appearance for the evening, you exit the inviting comfort of your cozy chambers. Sunghoon’s back is facing you as you ascend into the living room. You can’t make out much of what he’s doing and he’s seemingly too preoccupied to notice your footsteps stalk across the wooden paneling. His neck is craned downward looking at something on the decorative table where you have a neat arrangement of framed pictures. 
“You still have this?” He turns around revealing the photograph that he was referring to, now in his possession. There’s a distant glimmer of emotion that you can’t quite make out peeking around the curves of his irises. 
You let out a resigned sigh. 
You’ve been caught red-handed for leaving a single trace of the past out in the open. 
Of all the furniture and miscellaneous objects that collect dust on different surfaces in your flat, Sunghoon chose to go for the photograph of you and him standing under a cherry blossom tree in Ilsan Park. Your arm was hooked around his waist and his was wrapped around your shoulder. The brightest of smiles stretched across your faces as petals danced around you. It was the perfect moment captured in stillness and you wish you could leap through pictures to relive that special day. A distant memory that feels like it happened not too long ago.
“I couldn’t get rid of it. It’s— That’s one of my favorite pictures of us.” You simply explain. 
It was true, because out of all of the selfies, candid photos, and other pictures you shared together with Sunghoon, your date to Ilsan Park remained your number one core memory as a couple. 
You watch intently as Sunghoon places the photo back where it originally belonged on the console.
“I think that’s one of my favorites, too.” He says as a matter of fact. “That or the one where we went to Lotte World and wore matching uniforms together.” The taller laughs.
You giggled, the recollection of your amusement park date flashing across your mind. You dragged him to go on each and every attraction with you as he stumbled in your tracks, struggling to keep up with your social battery. You felt like two high schoolers in love at the ripe age of 20 because being with Sunghoon gave you the impression that you were your 15-year-old self again. 
“I like that one as well! I thought I looked pretty cute in that uniform.” You grin sheepishly.
Sunghoon chuckles and it causes you to whip your head to survey him. His eyes crinkle before they’re no longer crescent and back to their original doe-eyed shape. 
“You’re still cute, y’know that?” 
The comment sends your heart ablaze along with the blood that rushes to the surface of your cheeks. You can only hope that the thin layer of makeup and blush you applied is strong enough to camouflage the effect that sunghoon has on you. It’s no secret that he was always a smooth talker and still is. It makes you wonder if he’s ever used that flirtatious skill on other women he’s come across after you— or if he has. 
You tut your tongue at him and reach for your crossbody purse draped on the couch that you lazily tossed aside yesterday after coming home. 
“Ready, m’lady?” Sunghoon twists the knob and pushes the front door open, supporting the weight with his broad frame to keep it from closing in on you two when you exit. 
“Wait!” You pip, halting in your steps. You briskly retreat to your room and grab the bouquet of tulips you left on the side table next to your bed. 
You scurry over to Sunghoon, cradling the arrangement of florals like it was your baby. The haired boy opens his mouth to say something but you’re too fast to retort, 
“I wanna show it off. They’re too pretty to be left at home.” 
He nods and motions his hand for you to leave the unit first. The taller gives himself a mental pat on the back for inquiring in a floral shop before coming to retrieve you for dinner.
Tulips are a girl’s best friend, after all. For you, at least.
Tumblr media
Coincidentally dinner happens to occur at the one restaurant you frequently visited when you and Sunghoon were dating. It was a simple ma and pa spot only locals in the area knew of. They were popularly known for their cold noodles and ginseng chicken soup. You like to think of it as a secret only two of you know about and continue to gatekeep it from your friends or families from ever coming across of it. 
The owners grew familiar with both of you through your frequent visits and friendly conversations. your rapport with them resulted in a warm welcome every time you returned, often accompanied by a generous discount as a token of their appreciation. Since your last visit to their restaurant, a while has gone by, and you both have been overdue to make an appearance at the restaurant.
“Aigoo, Sunghoon-ah, it’s been so long!” Mrs. Kim exclaims, wearing the biggest and brightest smile that brings out the crinkles in her complexion when she notices two familiar faces. “And Y/n, it’s good to see you too!” She turns to you with the same mien still permanently plastered on her face. 
You bow your head. Her contagious smile has you mirroring her grin. 
“Come, come, sit.” She waves her hand for the two of you to follow in her trail as she leads both of you to your— undesignated but designated— table that you and Sunghoon would constantly sit at.
Before you even have a chance to pull out your chair, Sunghoon beats you to it with surprising swiftness. The aged wood scrapes gently against the floor as he courteously pulls the chair back for you. A warm smile tugs at your lips as you appreciate this chivalrous gesture, unable to contain a soft giggle of delight. 
Mrs. Kim watches the interaction between the two of you and smirks, completely out of the loop that you have broken up; still under the assumption that you’re both dating to this day. Who could blame her when in her eyes you were the perfect missing piece for one another in this world like you were made for each other from the start. 
“The usual?” She asks despite already knowing the answer to her question. 
“Yes please,” Sunghoon nods.
He sits after folding his blazer in half so that it can rest neatly on the chair's backrest. To add some fuel to the flame, he unbuttons the cuffs to his long sleeves and rolls them past his forearms so that they stop an inch below his elbows. The expensive watch that rests snugly on his wrist glistens, almost blinding you. You’re reminded that the man sitting across from you is responsible for an entire company under his name and capable of powerful things.
You gulp. You feel like you’re watching something you shouldn’t be and instead take an interest in the condiments that are pushed to the side of your table. 
Soy sauce, vinegar, napkins… 
When you think that you’re ready to re-center your attention onto Sunghoon once your racing heart has calmed down from its high, the taller has his eyes closed as he combs his fingers through his hair. His lips are parted ever so slightly and there’s a shine to his plush tiers.
He has to be doing this on purpose now.
You watch the way his Adam apple bobs when he swallows and you swear it should be a sin to look this effortlessly good in warm overhead lighting. 
You huff, a little too audibly for the male across from you to hear and his doe eyes flutter open. The sudden eye contact catches you off guard and you’re struggling to maintain yourself from the tension your mind is projecting. You shift around in your chair trying to find a more comfortable position.
This is going to be a long dinner.
Tumblr media
After Mrs. Kim returned with your delectable dishes, the food vanished quickly as you guys delved into stories and shared the exciting highlights of your respective journeys. You and Sunghoon spent the rest of your meal at the table reminiscing about the past two years including the many ups and downs you’ve dealt with.
You learned that a month after your breakup, Sunghoon’s father officially stepped down, handing over the reins of the company to his son as the new successor. The ravenette confided in you, revealing that even though he had been groomed for this role his whole life, the transition wasn't as smooth as he had envisioned. The weight of responsibility felt overwhelming. Taking charge of a major company brought with it a level of pressure he had never experienced before. The expectations were high, both from the company's board and the employees who had known him since he was young.
As he grappled with the complexities of his new position, Sunghoon couldn't help but reminisce about a simpler life. He missed the carefree moments he used to share with you, the laughter, and the ease of his unannounced visits when he would turn up at your door with snacks he bought from the corner store and canned beer. 
Eventually his determination and drive to persevere kept him standing strong in the face of these obstacles. With his family behind him, a supportive workforce, and you in the back of his mind, he knew he had people to look back on and make them proud. 
You praised the older for his character development, gushing at his transition from uncertainty to confidence, while sympathizing with the initial troubles he first started off with. Being a chairman at his age is bound to weigh heavily on his mental and emotional health, and you can’t help but wish that you had stayed by his side through it all in order to be that support pillar he needed at immediacy.
“So, what about you? I didn’t really get to hear your answer yesterday.” Sunghoon asks.
You blinked. “Me? Well, uhm…” 
A bubble of insecurity creeps into your stomach. Your mind races through a mental checklist of your own achievements, or rather, the lack thereof, especially when compared to Sunghoon’s impressive journey. While your lives have taken very drastically different paths, you can’t shake the feeling that at the end of the day, the two of you are worlds apart from each other. He’s the chairman of a highly respected company. And you? You’re just a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. A pursuit that feels miles away from Sunghoon’s milestones. 
During the period that he was absent from your everyday life, all you managed to build was your art portfolio, which you eagerly sent to numerous galleries in a desperate bid to gain recognition as a struggling artist. Rejection letters became an all too familiar sight, each offering the same hollow praise— impressed but not interested. Those were dark times, where self-doubt loomed large.
Thankfully, your situation started to improve when you summoned the courage to step out of your comfort zone. You took to social media, opening art accounts on Instagram and Twitter, and sharing your artistic odyssey on TikTok. Yunjin, one of your closest friends and best friend since middle school, commissioned you to paint a mural inside a cafe she was working at. “I begged my boss for this to happen!” She said enthusiastically over the phone the night she asked you for the favor. Everything to you was a leap of faith, a glimmer of hope that prompted you to fully believe in the light at the end of every tunnel. 
In spite of your situation turning out for the better, it was impossible to ignore the inescapable sense of solitude and loneliness that clung to you like a shadow. It followed you everywhere you went. A mental reminder that, no matter how bright life was starting to seem, you still felt trapped and not completely content with yourself.
You convey these exact thoughts and feelings to Sunghoon in a messy ramble, hoping that this unintentional therapy session you’ve turned dinner into won’t scare him off. You can only hope that you’re not ruining the evening with a sob story of another art kid struggling to make a name for themselves in a society, where choosing art as a career path is at a greater disadvantage in comparison to your stronger counterparts. 
When you find yourself coming to the end of your rant, a wave of silence washes over the table, and you grab the nearest cup of water to gulp from. Ignoring the condensation that sweats around the glass and soils your palms. Your eyes look everywhere, purposefully avoiding Sunghoon and the tragic visage he’s probably giving you right about now.
“Y/n, look at me.” 
You raise your head, complying to his soft demand. 
“I’m proud of you,” he begins, and in that instant, a surge of emotion that has been suppressed for far too long wells up within you. “It takes a lot of courage and willpower to continue to follow a path you’re uncertain of.” The comment makes Sunghoon chuckle dryly, closely reminded of himself, shaking his head. “But look at you, you’re doing so great.”
The warmth in his voice, the sincerity in his eyes— they combine like a gentle storm, and suddenly, tears brim your eyes, begging to spill over. Your vision is splotchy and you refuse to blink, save for ruining your mascara. You weren’t planning on being an emotional wreck tonight, especially over dinner with your ex.
“I understand how hard it must have been dealing with those struggles alone, and I wish I was there by your side to help support you when it happened.” Sunghoon continues. He pauses to take in a breath before resuming, “But I’m here now… I’m not going anywhere, and if you’d let me— I want back into your life again, Y/n.”
A solitary tear breaks free, followed by another, and then another, until suddenly your eyes unleash a torrent of waterworks like a relentless downpour from a stormy sky. You hide your face in a handful of napkins you hastily grabbed, unaware that Sunghoon got up to move from his seat and slipped into the chair next to yours. His touch catches you off guard but you immediately relax as he guides you into his embrace, allowing you to hide yourself in his arms; your face tucked away in his chest. He caresses your hair, his slender fingers thread through your styled locks as he lulls you to comfort from your shaken state.
The two of you stay rooted in that position until you confidently and mentally reassure yourself that you are okay; you’re going to be okay. Your breathing has calmed down from its high and returned to a normal, healthy rate as your tears subsided and are non-existent.
No longer conscious of your makeup— a matter far from substantial to care for anymore— you wipe away the mess around your eyes. Black clumps of mascara and some concealer transfer onto the napkin. Seeing the stains garner a weak laugh to emit from you. Sunghoon cranes his neck to survey what you’ve become engrossed with. He sees the ruined makeup and laughs lightly into your hair. 
You’re thankful that there aren’t many customers dining in tonight and that it’s just you, Sunghoon, and three other parties who are far too busy drinking, conversing, and laughing amongst themselves to acknowledge the young couple tucked away in the corner.
Tumblr media
Mrs. Kim leads both you and Sunghoon out of the restaurant with a warmth akin to a grandmother bidding her grandchildren farewell, her heartfelt wish for your safe return home evident in her loving smile.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Kim. Thank you, again, for another delicious dinner.” Sunghoon bows at a 90-degree angle and the formality stirs a boisterous laugh from the frail old lady. You mimic his actions, also expressing your gratitude for the lovely meal and free dessert she served to you guys ‘on the house.’ 
“When you guys come back I better see a wedding ring on her finger, Sunghoon-ah.” Mrs. Kim scolds lightly. You almost choke on your own saliva at the remark, coughing awkwardly to cover up your bewilderment. Sunghoon does his best to maintain his composure for the sake of the elder’s oblivion.
“You guys disappear for two years and still no diamond in sight. I was hoping some big change happened!” She clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth, crossing her arms.
Sunghoon dips his head again in an apologetic manner. “You and Mr. Kim will be the first people we come to with a wedding invitation.” 
You whack the taller’s arm giving him a what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about look, eyebrows scrunched with perplexity. The last thing you want is to continue to feed into Mrs. Kim’s false reality that the two of you are still a couple. Who’s to say that Sunghoon isn’t actually on the same page as you and everything is just a facade? I mean, sure, he’s been flirty here and there, bought you flowers, comforted you at dinner, and practically asked you to take him back… 
Your trust in Sunghoon has clearly waned, a result of your fluctuating self-confidence that leads you to confide in the pessimistic "what ifs." Your clouded judgment and self-doubt gnaw at your thoughts, casting doubt on the possibility of a reunion between the two of you. 
Sunghoon ignores the daggers slicing at the left side of his face and the buzzing pain you inflicted on him from the harsh impact of your hand. His digits dig gently into your side, drawing you closer to him. You stumble ever so slightly and flash an unconvincing awkward smile to the old lady.
Tumblr media
You situate yourselves into the driver and passenger seats of his Hyundai Ioniq. You’re quiet when you pull the seat belt over your upper half, and for the first 10 minutes, not a single word was uttered from either you or the male sitting behind the wheel. Your mind loiters as you watch the building lights illuminating the dark troposphere of Seoul whizz by at 2x speed.
You and Mr. Kim will be the first people we come to with a wedding invitation.
Yeah right… You almost roll your eyes but catch yourself prolonging the idea of a hypothetical engagement and wedding ceremony with Sunghoon as your groom. 
Would he have gone down on one knee to propose to you had both of you remained lovers? 
You shake the contemplation loose from your prefrontal cortex. 
“Is it okay if I roll the window down?” You’re the first to break the ice. Sunghoon nods, his attention still focused on the road in front of him. Without looking, his fingers find the car’s air-con button to turn it off and he gives you the ‘go’ to proceed with your desire. 
The tempered glass descends and you’re immediately greeted with the beating rush of the summertime air. You giggle and rest your arms on the weatherstrip trimming of the Hyundai, your head poking out like an excited dog who’s riding in the car with its tongue hanging from its mouth. You close your eyes, taking in the wind that messes with your hair and brushes past your skin. It’s enough to transcend you into a different headspace, almost forgetting that you’re in a moving vehicle and not on some speedboat skidding across the water in Europe.
Sunghoon looks your way, unable to suppress the natural smile that lights up his face whenever he sees you. You truly are a surge of energy he needs when he wants to uplift himself if he’s feeling down. You’re his happy pill— so much so, that he wishes he could keep a chibi version of you for him to carry in the pocket square of his suits and let you rome on the wooden surface of his office desk to help him get through the work day. It’s silly and love-sickening, but Sunghoon only knows how to act a fool with you around him. 
His fingers drum against the padding of the steering wheel, waking you from your daydream. You hadn’t realized that you’ve already made it back to the city and are soon approaching your apartment complex. Your neighborhood is only a couple of turns away from your current destination as the two of you sit at a red light. You roll the window up, at least it was fun for the duration it endured. 
When he pulls up on the side of the street in front of your building, you try to find some lame excuse to stay with him for another minute longer, not wanting to say goodnight to him. You’re scared that this evening will be a one-off event and you'll return to your old ways, enveloped once more in the arms of self-isolation that consumes you completely.
Your grip on the door handle tightens. 
“Sunghoon,” you shift your view in his direction. “You don’t mind walking me to my front door, do you?” 
The male smiles with his eyes.
“Who am I to not accompany a lady when needed.” 
Sunghoon makes quick work to unbuckle himself from the driver’s seat and rounds the front of the car to open the door for you. He holds out his hand for you to take, which you generously do so, and grants him the unspoken permission to whisk you away into the levels of your residential building. 
The elevator ride is a close resemblance to the trip back to your place, however, there’s a contrasting atmosphere waiting to burst like a champagne bottle and spill over. Sunghoon’s holding your hand the entire way and you don’t resist the notion. 
When you approach your unit at the end of the hall, you fish for your keys that are sitting at the bottom of your bag. Sunghoon’s hand slips out of your grasp and you almost whine at the loss of his warmth and touch, but you know he’s only doing it for you to use both free hands to ultimately unlock your door. The click! of the lock coming from the other side is an indication that you can push past the door once the knob is turned.
You stand there, hesitant to enter your own home. 
“I guess— this is it?” You murmur tentatively to yourself and the taller. You rock on your heels purposefully stalling time as you force both him and yourself to stare a little longer at the iron numbers detailing your front door. 
You let out a rigged breath.
“Tonight was great. The longest I’ve been out of the house in a month, really.” You cringe pathetically at the confession knowing that a month ago Yunjin was the one who pulled you out of bed to get some fresh air and sunlight because you were hiding away like a vampire. "Thank you... Sunghoon, for treating me to dinner and spending the evening with me..."
He remains stoic and unusually quiet, making it challenging to decipher what he’s thinking or feeling. You wish you could enter his mind to get a glimpse of how his brain functions. You’d hate to seem pitiful for hoping that his advances from today were, if at all, genuine.
If what he said at dinner was coming from the heart.
As you contemplate what might be your last encounter with your 'the one who got away,’ Sunghoon astounds you with yet another trick up his sleeve, when he secures your wrist in his delicate grasp. Forever one step ahead of you, his lips collide with yours in a passionate fervent. The only appropriate reaction that you can give him in response is to return the kiss with just as much fervor. The strap to your purse slides off your shoulders and lands below you with a little thud thanks to Sunghoon’s antsy hands pushing it out of the way.
He cages you against the surface of the door, your back bumping into it when he forces the distance between your bodies to dissipate. Bothered by the tiny gap that prevents you from being as close as you possibly can to him. The only active barrier is now the layer of clothing he’s wearing and the tiny dress that nearly clings to your every curve. He can’t wait to impatiently rip you out of it and slip in a “I’ll buy you a new one, princess.”
Your hands find sanctuary in his soft hair. How you missed tugging at their roots when he’d go down on you in bed, on the kitchen counter, and in the shower with your one leg supporting your entire weight as Sunghoon made the other side dangle over his shoulder. Those positions are tempting, and biologically the flashbacks of your sexual activity with the male feed into the expansion of your slick that gradually soils your panties.  
You squeeze your thighs together. The pressure of your inner fat is an empty feeling of pleasure that you wish Sunghoon could replace with his tongue, fingers, cock, or all three one at a time. The male notices this cry-for-help and trails his right hand down the sides of your waist. He stops at the lace hemming of the cami dress, bunching the material to provide easy access to your mid-thigh. His fingers dance on your skin, traveling upward ever so slowly in an antagonizing fashion that almost infuriates you for his teasing manner in the heat of the moment. 
Sunghoon reluctantly breaks the kiss. The evidence of your already smudged matte lipstick has left a faint trace on his plump tiers. He buries his face in the crook of your neck, mouth ready to latch onto the sensitive area he knows best that will cloud every crevice of your mind with nothing but want and lust. At the end of this night, all that you will know is how to be his obedient cocksleeve like the good girl he’s conditioned you into.
The sound of someone clearing their throat on the opposite end of your apartment’s hallway is akin to a record player scratch. You’re grateful that the construction workers, or whoever built this place, designed the structure of your building to be a certain way so that the split-off point from the elevator wasn’t a simple corridor style where you could see both fire exits at each side. Instead, it was more so a wide V-shape. 
In other words, no one really caught you and Sunghoon in semi-public eating one another’s faces. 
You stop to share a quiet laugh with Sunghoon and ultimately enter the safe space of your flat, out of your neighbors point of view where they could have had a free, front-row seat to some juicy content. The door closes behind you, you can barely get out of your shoes and make it past the front step leading to your living room when Sunghoon’s haste to have you underneath the sheets with him in your bed has you stumbling backward. He catches you before you can register that you would have fallen onto your ass against the hardwood. His lips serve him well, contributing to the situation as a distraction that redirects your every inner thought bubble. 
Sunghoon casually kicks off his shoes, adding them to the haphazard pile alongside yours— the least of his concerns at the moment.
The kiss from outside repeats itself, and this time, Sunghoon can contently resume what he intended to do had another tenant not interrupted the mood. But the voyeurism exploration kink in him would have liked either sequence of events. 
His tongue traces a wet stripe up your neck, sending a shiver cascading down your spine. You dully bite down on your bottom lip, trying to stifle the whimper that is sanctioned at the back of your throat, trapped by a surge of lust and anticipation. Sunghoon’s mouth ghosts over the shell of your ear, and his hot breath tickles. 
“I wanna hear you, baby.” He slurs. “Don’t be shy on me now.” 
Sunghoon’s lips sheathe that sensitive spot on your neck, causing you to gasp. Your shoulders tense at the foreign feeling of his mouth on your body, and you’ve forgotten how good it was to receive a hickey. You relax under his touch when he gives the soft fat of your waist a reassuring squeeze.
His canines graze your skin while he sucks on the same patch, switching interchangeably to lap his tongue at the area when he begins to see a blossom of red and purple hues mix together, creating the prettiest bruise that would surely take more than a couple of days to fully heal. You groan when his teeth apply the right amount of force onto your flesh, leaving indents in their wake. His perverted mind relishes in the fact that only he is capable of marking you in ways that no other man could ever come close to.
He steps back to fully appreciate his canvas, that is you, and the absolute masterpiece that you are to him.
He leans in, pressing another kiss to your lips, this time with a gentler, more tender spirit, devoid of any sloppy motions. It’s delicate, a striking contrast to the heated lip-locking session the two of you were entranced with just moments ago on the other side of your apartment door. His larger palms cup your face as the pads of his thumbs caress the apples of your cheeks, making you feel loved and cared for.
Sunghoon lures your tongue into his mouth, clamping his lips around the muscle. He suckles at it, eliciting the cutest whimpers that he missed hearing from you since you’ve been gone. 
“Hnngh… Hah,” you pry yourself off of him, a string of your shared saliva connects the two of your equally moist lips. 
Your puffy lips shimmer in the moonlight streaming into your livingroom, as if the moon itself decided to play a starring role tonight. You squeeze his bicep, noticing that the muscle has doubled in size since you last touched it. You peer up at the taller through your eyelashes and Sunghoon has to conceal his primal instincts from fucking your throat with his raging hard-on. 
Your fingers graze the fabric of his long-sleeve collar, tracing delicate patterns across the black tie donned around his neck. Something about being able to witness a man up close in a suit never failed to provoke a flood of arousal from overwhelming your erogenous zone. Specifically, Sunghoon. It’s a shame— not really— that it eventually has to come off. With a deft touch, you begin to unravel the four-in-hand knot, a testament to Sunghoon’s meticulous self-preparation. The silk unravels, revealing its intricate texture beneath your fingertips. 
You assist Sunghoon in removing his suit jacket next, observing it gracefully descend to the floor. You briefly wonder why he's so nonchalant about leaving such an expensive garment on the ground, but he dismisses your concern with a wave of his hand. After all, as a chairman, he has the means and privilege to easily replace such clothing items.
You decide that it’s your turn to take the lead for once and initiate another heated session of sultry lip service. Your mouth kisses Sunghoon’s with primal hunger. Teeth clash, and you see no remorse for your hostility sponsored by pent-up sexual frustration and longing for some sort of relief that only Sunghoon can render. 
In a poor attempt to unbutton the last layer of clothing that shields Sunghoon’s upper half, your fingers fumble with the small disks that are fastened by the slits. You whine frustratedly against his lips once you realize you’re not making much progress. It is incredibly hard to multitask when your tongue is being manhandled by his.
“Here, lemme do it.“ Sunghoon mutters in a low growl. 
He tears open the placket just like he would to a bag of chips, and the buttons you were struggling to relieve him of pop off in ease, taunting you for your lack of efficiency at getting him out of his attire. He wriggles his arms free from the restraints of his sleeves and shrugs the apparel from the summit of his shoulders, allowing the ruined piece to join his suit jacket on the floor.
“Your turn, babe.” 
He twirls you around, your back fully pressed against his front as the tent in his pants pokes at your globes. The thrill of his length nestled between your ass spurs you to grind yourself on him, a staggered exhale of his hot breath fans the curvature of your trapezius, prickling your skin. The cotton material of your underwear cultivates a sticky sensation the longer you stay trapped in it.
“S-shit baby, you’re a fucking tease.” Sunghoon grabs your chin, forcing your head to turn his way so that he can seize your lips in an inconsistent kiss. Alternatively, it’s a tongue duel of him wanting to shove the muscular organ down your throat.
“A-ahh,” You moan helplessly.
He yanks the zipper of your dress. The item peels off of your bust, exposing your bare skin and naked torso simultaneously. You have to wriggle your hips past the remaining fabric in order to fully reveal your bare figure to Sunghoon— besides your damp panties that is.
“No bra today? It’s almost like you were expecting this to happen…” Sunghoon taunts.
“N-no…” You squeak, shaking your head.
“No? Use your words baby.”
You turn to face him, your perky mounds that come into his view are a sight for sore eyes. Even in the dark and scant amount of natural lighting from the celestial object in the night sky, is Sunghoon competent at reading your flustered features. How you manage to be cute yet look so lewd all at once is beyond his comprehension.
“I-I didn’t wear a bra because I thought it’d be easier to go without one.” You mumble, telling the truth.
“That’s better,” Sunghoon coos. He pecks your cheek and you smile at the reward.
“Eeek! S-Sunghoon!” You burst into a fit of shared laughter and giggles when said name scoops you into his arms, your body cradled against his chest, as your legs dangled over his one arm while the other supports your back.
“Just practicing when we’re both walking down the aisle at our future wedding.” Sunghoon jests.
Tenderness fills your eyes when you look up at him. He’s joked about the hypothetical conception of marriage twice in the night that you’re fully convinced it wouldn’t be all that bad of an idea. Given that both of you are ready and first rekindle the status of your relationship, of course.
Sunghoon grins. There’s a gentle kindness to his pearly whites, and you reach up to press a chaste kiss to his jawline.
He relocates to your bedroom. Gently, he lays you down on the bed, your body propped up on your forearms, bearing the weight of your upper half. With an unwavering gaze, you study Sunghoon closely, every detail of his expression and every nuance of his presence.
His eyebrows knit and meet in the middle, fixated on undoing his pants to escape from their restraints, followed by his underwear soon after. His stiff member rebounds off his lower abdomen, precum leaking from the mushroom tip. A satisfied exhale leaves his mouth. He stalks over to you with a sly smirk, towering your smaller frame when he crawls on top of the bed, his knees plant themselves into the mattress and his additional weight dips the space where you lay.
You whine when his length ghosts at the expanse of your inner thigh, suspense and arousal continue to bubble inside of you. Sunghoon murmurs for you to lay back. “Make yourself comfortable,” were his initial instructions before hooking the waistband of your panties with his fingers and dragging them below your legs. The undergarment was tossed to the side.
You nibble at your bottom lip and screw your eyes shut when a slender finger circles the perimeter of your labia.
“You’re so wet babe,” Sunghoon purrs.
Your breath hitches at the back of your throat when he slides his index finger through your inner lips, gathering an abundance of your slick to bring to his mouth for a taste. Both eyes flutter open in time to witness Sunghoon suck at the digit drenched with your arousal. The sight is sinfully lewd, nearly too much for you to handle. Your face reddens and you fight the inclination to hide behind your hands.
“You taste so good, too.“ He licks at his lips. “Wanna try?” Sunghoon cocks his head to the side, and you can’t find it in you to turn down his offer when he looks so innocent— yet acts like the devil himself when he’s overcome with lust. You nod your head with approval.
His duality needs to be studied at Harvard, you think in the back of your mind.
Sunghoon plunges his index finger past your hole, triggering your back to arch an inch off the bed. He chuckles lowly and watches as your hands grab desperately at the sheets beneath you to steady your sanity. The singular digit curls inside of you. Your unforeseen shock is vocalized in the form of a moan and Sunghoon repeats the motion several times.
“O-oh my god—“ You gasp.
The ravenette withdraws his finger and taps at your mouth, signaling you to open. You submit to his implicit dictation. Your lips encase his pointer, tongue swirling around it like a piece of sweet candy you’re tasting for the first time.
You bat your eyelashes prettily and moan. “Mmmh…”
“Dirty girl,” Sunghoon sniggers. He retracts his finger and you let it slip past your mouth with a ‘pop’ sound.
“Can you please give me your cock now?” You plead with a pout, doing your best impression of an endearing set of puppy eyes.
Sunghoon chuckles. “Let me at least prep you first, baby. How long has it been since you’ve had someone’s cock inside of you, anyways?”
You part your lips but close it just as quickly. To be candid, you've never been one to actively immerse yourself in the 'I'm single' scene. Your only foray into it was with Yunjin, roughly three weeks after your split with Sunghoon. The two of you ventured to a club, but it proved to be a brief endeavor. Within two hours, the fifth shot became a catalyst, turning you into an unending fountain of tears.
“Y/n?”
“Huh? Oh. Sorry…”
“I’m sorry baby. Did I overstep your boundaries?” Sunghoon cups your face with his right hand, his eyes scan yours, sincerity and concern laced in those chocolate orbs of his.
You stifle a giggle. Of all boundaries he could have crossed he draws the line at asking for your body count and not him fingering you.
“What? What’s so funny?” He asks.
“Nothing just… I think it’s ironic you ask me that now and not before we did all of this.” You motion to your bare bodies when you say ‘this.’
Sunghoon’s ears redden.
“But don’t worry, Hoonie.” You hook your arms around his neck and pull him closer to pepper his face with several reassuring kisses. “I don’t mind it all. Now can you please fuck my brains out!”
Your ex (whatever he is to you at this point) throws his head back to share a quick laugh, shortly pressing his forehead against yours.
Without warning, he buries three fingers in your pussy; your hips twitch at the sentience. They slide in and out without strain and together the two of you watch as he finger fucks your hole to “prep” for his cock. The squelching noise of your juices fill the room in addition to your moaning, and Sunghoon confronts a hurdle of his patience wearing thin, wanting to fuck you senseless.
His digits leave your hole and you whine immediately at the loss. Sunghoon uses the mass quantity of slick as a substitute for lube to lather on his angry cock. He shuffles against the bed, forcing your legs even further apart to fit himself in between them. The stretch burns your muscles but is soon forgotten when the tip of his length is rubbing your folds, occasionally bumping your swollen clit which generates a needy whine.
Sunghoon’s face screws with ecstasy when his shaft inches past your entrance. Your walls hug his length and he whimpers at the tight muscles that suffocate his erection. You squirm under him, tensed and breathing heavily. It’s hard to relax when seven inches feel like it’s splitting you in half after a long hiatus from sex. Sunghoon notices your discomfort and stills his hips from pushing further, allowing you the necessary time to adjust.
“Sorry baby, I know it’s been a while. You can take it, right? Like the good girl you are?”
You nod. He kisses your forehead, cheek, and lips to soothe your anxiety, using his lips as a distraction to keep your mind from zoning in on his cock. He seizes the opportunity to fit the rest of his length inch-by-inch, and you feel like a virgin all over again when the burn of his cock stretching you open is almost too unbearable.
“Sshh, it’ll be alright, baby.” He wipes away a loose tear. “I’m gonna move, tell me when and if it’s too much, okay?”
“O-okay, Hoonie…”
Steadily, Sunghoon recedes his hips, cock following in suit, just enough for the tip to be the only thing that your pussy clenches on. He snaps forward, your boobs jiggle at the motion and your eyes are rolling to the back of your head when he repeatedly thrusts at a steadfast pace. The pain you were once scared of is no longer a fear you have to worry about, as pleasure is the only thing you know how to feel.
“F-faster, harder, p-please Hoon.” You fight through broken moans to let your voice be heard.
“Shit—“ He curses.
Sunghoon’s fingers dig into the plush fat of your waist while his other hand presses into the space of your bed next to the side of your head. His eyebrows knit, focused entirely on increasing the speed of his thrusts. He continues to piston fuck your pussy, abusing your hole in the utmost gratifying procedure. Your thighs jiggle each time that his balls slap against your skin. Everything reminds him of an amateur homemade video he’s seen from other couples perform on Pornhub. He’ll have to ask you some other day if you’d ever be open to filming your own tapes to watch back.
“Mmh, right there, Hoonie.” You sigh dreamily, locking your legs around his waist and linking your ankles together. “You’re fucking me so good— Aah!” A high pitch squeal slips from your vocal box when his tip probes at your G-spot.
“F-fuck,” Sunghoon leans in close, relying only on one forearm to hold himself up from crushing you with his entire weight. He hides his face in your boobs, tongue flicking at the sensitive bud that hardens in response. He persistently thrusts deeper, his cockhead pressing against your sensitive bundle of nerves.
“Hnngh… Y-yes, yesyesyes!” You chant. Your fingers tangle themselves in his hair, scratching gently at his scalp and tugging whenever his mouth would suck or massage at your breasts. “You’re gonna— make me c-cum!“
Sunghoon’s unrelenting despite your warning. He can feel your walls clamping around his shaft, signaling your impending orgasm, and it taunts him to force himself deeper within your warm cavern at every jerk of his hips. Your hands fall to his biceps. Nails digging into his skin as your face distorts into extreme pleasure.
“I’m so close too, baby.” He groans. “Just.” Thrust. “A.” Thrust. “Couple.” Thrust. “M-more!”
“I’m cumming! I’m c-cumming—“ Your hips tremble with a frenzied urgency as your pussy pulsates around Sunghoon’s cock. Your mouth opens in a silent gasp and a long, impassioned moan escapes your lips. The sheer intensity of the moment leaving you incoherent and lost in ecstasy.
Sunghoon twitches inside of you. “Hah— you’re so— fuck!— s-sexy,” He grunts. Your head thrashes at the overstimulation of his length continuously pumping into you and you push at Sunghoon’s chest weakly, crying on his cock for him to slow down. You whine, whimper, plead for mercy so that your pussy can recover from the intense orgasm you just experienced not too long ago. In spite of that, he ignores your pleas and concentrates on finishing. It isn’t until white ropes of cum are shooting at your walls when his thrusts start to get sloppier and progressively come to a stop.
“Fuck.” Sunghoon exhales through gritted teeth. Both of you are a panting mess trying to catch your breaths as your chests rise and fall synchronously. The ravenette pulls out slowly and he groans when he sees his seed spill out of your hole, it closely reminds him of those hentai comics he’s read through illegal websites.
“I’ll get something to help clean you up.” Sunghoon lifts his weight from the bed but you reach for his forearm to grab him. You don’t have to say anything for him to understand that you don’t want him to leave your side. He brings a hand to yours, the pad of his thumb grazing the hills of your knuckles soothingly. “It’ll be fast, I promise.”
Not even 30 seconds has gone by when he re-enters your room with a damp cloth. He wipes at the areas where a mix of your cum and his seed litter your skin with sticky residue. He discards of the ruined cloth before joining you in bed where you welcome him with open arms. He plops down next to you and you turn to lay on your side so that you can get a proper view of his handsome face in post-sex afterglow. You reach out to gently touch his moles that adorn his features. The moles you missed seeing as the first thing in the morning when you’d wake up with him by your side. He grins lazily and cranes his neck to bring his lips to your forehead.
“Sunghoon…?” Your faces are merely inches apart from one another. Though the close proximity is not a foreign situation— especially after just having sex— you speak to him with a hushed tone.
“Yes?” He inquires.
“At the restaurant, you implied that you wanted to get back together again… Is it true? Do you really mean it?” Your lips are quivering and you mentally berate yourself for being so soft hearted in these types of scenarios where emotions are high, vulnerable, and transparency is called upon.
Sunghoon breathes shakily. “I really mean it. I miss you, Y/n.” He tucks away loose strands of hair that fall on your face. “These past two years without you have been hell. The first couple of months were so bad, I almost reconsidered being the chairman for father’s company so I could fight for us. Fight for you. I’m sorry if that part of my life got in our way as a couple, and I wish I had made more of an effort to be around you.”
You sniffle, “It wasn’t just your fault. I should’ve communicated instead of thinking I know better and that I thought what I did was for the greater good— because it wasn’t. And you’re right, the two years I spent without you were awful. I never wanna go through that again.”
Sunghoon loops an arm around your waist and guides your head to bury against his chest.
“We don’t have to.”
Tumblr media
Morning rays gently infiltrate the room as Sunghoon stands before the full-length mirror in your shared master bedroom. His voice carries across the space as he greets his loving wife, 'Good morning, Mrs. Park,' while he meticulously adjusts his tie.
You stir in bed. The unwelcome intrusion of sunlight forces you awake despite the supposedly blackout curtains you requested when you first moved in with Sunghoon. You sigh in irritation. Dismissing the hope of another ten minutes of sleep, you push yourself upright, your arms stretching above your head, accompanied by a vibrant yawn. Sunghoon, amused by your morning ritual, chuckles softly.
“Still sleepy?” Your husband turns to face you after successfully finishing the Windsor knot of his tie. You blink away the fog of grogginess from your eyes and grin when you get a clear vision of your husband clad in his usual work uniform.
“Mmm… you’re so handsome.”
Sunghoon's face lights up with a genuine smile, touched by your kind words that always seem to set the perfect tone for his day. He approaches your side of the bed with a confident saunter and takes a seat beside you.
“Any plans for today, my lovely wife?”
You can't help but giggle at his endearing habit of calling you 'wife' and 'Mrs. Park.' It's become a sweet tradition between the two of you, a reminder of your loving bond that has grown since your wedding day. You twist your hand to observe the silver band that ornaments your ring finger. The diamond twinkles back at you in the bask of the light.
“I think Yunjin and I are getting brunch, then we’re going shopping right after, and later in the evening we’re gonna drink some wine and paint as we gossip about our husbands.”
Sunghoon laughs. “You’ve got a busy day ahead of yourself then.” He nudges your side playfully and you giggle. “Don’t forget to fit me into your schedule. Let’s go out for dinner tonight.”
“Cold noodles and ginseng chicken soup?”
“Where it all started.”
You envelop yourself in your husband's embrace, showering him with affectionate kisses. Starting from his moles and moving to both cheeks, his nose, forehead, and, ultimately, his irresistible lips, you express your love and absolute adoration for him with each tender peck.
“I love you, Mr. Park.” You murmur against his plush tiers.
His fingers delicately sweep aside the loose strands of hair obscuring your face, as he lovingly takes in every captivating feature, examining them with deep worship.
“I love you more, Mrs. Park.”
Two years ago you and Sunghoon sealed the knot in California. The ceremony took place at the Alila Ventana wedding venue, perched on a cliff along the rugged coast line of Big Sur. It offered a dramatic landscape, nestled amidst towering redwood trees, and a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean; the perfect picturesque backdrop for photos and videography. The outdoor spaces, gourmet dining, and coastal elegance were truly significant factors of your reception.
Sunghoon kept his promise to Mrs. Kim when the time came to send out the wedding invitations. Her excitement was beyond words as both of you entered the restaurant, radiating a newfound delight. Her gaze immediately fixated on the sparkling diamond ring on your finger— the same one she had scolded him for, which was now complete.
Come time to exchange your vows, Sunghoon's heartfelt declaration to cherish and devote himself to your love made it extremely difficult to keep your makeup in tact. Yunjin, your appointed maid of honor, had to step in to hand you tissues one after the other. The audience laughing to themselves at your showcase of emotions.
True to his words, Sunghoon carried you bridal style as he stalked down the aisle. Your families and friends cheering from their seats, their joyous applause resonating through the air. The warmth of their smiles and the happy tears in their eyes mirrored the love that enveloped you both in that moment.
Since then, life with Sunghoon after marriage was anything but dull.
2K notes · View notes
too-much-tma-stuff · 4 months
Text
Healing is Slow, but Inevitable (part 7)
Previous | Masterpost
“So, what are you?” Jason asked about a week after the meeting with Batman, a few days after Dick left again after his unscheduled weekend visit, and they hadn’t really talked about it. Danny had been flighty and tense for days afterwards so Jason hadn’t wanted to bring it up. Now that Danny seemed calm again, curled up in bed with him after a decent day and some great sex, it seemed like the best time he was going to get. 
Danny sighed and turned his head to hide his face against Jason’s shoulder for a moment, but he stayed relaxed and he wasn’t running, which were good signs. “I was kept prisoner for almost two years by the Ghost Investigation Ward, what do you think I am,” Danny muttered a little bitterly. 
“But you’re not a ghost, right? I mean you eat, and sleep and I can feel your heartbeat right now,” Jason said, pressing his hand Danny’s chest, where his heart was indeed beating, slower than most people’s but that was normal for Danny. Then, right under Jason’s hand, Danny’s heart stopped beating. 
Jason panicked and pulled back only for Danny to catch his wrist and keep his hand there, Danny pushed himself up a little and stared down at Jason. He seemed fully alive, and fine, even though his heart still wasn’t beating under Jason’s hand. Danny sighed and lay back down, the feeling of a heartbeat returning under Jason’s hand, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 
“I’m what’s called a Halfa. It’s a stupid name but I’m not going to come up with a new one. It’s not entirely accurate either, since I’m both 100% alive, and 100% dead.” He saw the lost look on Jason’s face and backed up quickly to explain more. “There’s a place called the Ghost Zone, or the Infinite Realms, it’s a world between worlds that links to every living world and contains every afterlife.” He was tracing little patterns on Jason’s chest as he talked. “Portals open to it in other worlds sometimes, natural things that form and collapse again quickly. 
“Halfas are made when one of those portals happen to open, directly on top of and into, a living person. It kills them, then because of the power of the realms their soul forms a ghost immediately, resurrects them and slams that fully formed ghost back into the living body, bonding them back together and creating a living-ish, ghost. I’m the only true halfa in existence right now, and I’m… unique, even for my kind. Because the portal that made me was the first man-made one, it was far more stable and more powerful than the natural ones, meaning that I got a double dose of energy.
“Halfas are already a powerful species, the perfect balance between life and death, a bridge between worlds partially immune to the weaknesses of both. But I’m strong even compared to other halfas, at least that’s what I’m told by the Ancients. Like I said, I’m the first one in about five thousand years, and the only one in existence right now, so I’ve never exactly met someone else like me.” 
“Holy shiit,” Jason whispered before falling silent. He started to comb his fingers through Danny’s hair so he would know Jason wasn’t upset or mad as he took a while to process all Danny had told him. “You don’t have to talk about it but if you’re that powerful then… how did the GIW manage to capture you?”
“My parents were the ones who captured me,” Danny murmured, hiding his face against Jason’s neck. Jason’t breath caught in his throat. “They were ghost hunters all my life, they built the portal but I didn’t want to hurt them. I was still trying to talk to them, to convince them I really was still their son. Then the GIW found out they had me and demanded my parents hand me over. When my parents refused and tried to defend ‘their discovery’ The GIW just… blew up the house. Because of my powers I survived, no one else did. While I was still in shock they took me.
“It broke my heart, in a literal sense. I want to show you something,” He said and sat up again, legs crossed. Jason sat up as well, mirroring Danny’s position and watching him curiously. “Humans have organs and brains and all those squishy, meaty bits. Ghosts have a core, it contains everything we are, everything else will just reform around it as long as the core is undamaged.” He pressed his hands against his own chest and after a moment, he drew something out. 
It was an orb of what looked like blue stone, but it was cracked, pretty extensively, in a similar pattern of cracking to Danny’s lightning scar. “What they did, it cracked my core,” Danny said looking down at it baleful. “Literally broke me. If I was a full ghost it would have destabilized and ended me, my humanity kept me together. Which just meant more for them to experiment on,” He said with a bitter little laugh. 
“Danny,” Jason murmured, a heartbroken little sound as he sat forward and reached towards Danny. Danny tensed, and looked fearful for just a moment, but he didn’t pull away. Instead he opened his hands and held his core, his heart, out towards Jason. With permission Jason traced the branching pattern gently with a finger, it felt cool and smooth under his fingers, energy tingling in his fingertips and the cracks rasping slightly against Jason’s calluses. Danny shuddered and gasped as all the tension bled out of him under Jason’s gentle touch, his eyes fell closed, and his expression was peaceful now.
“It’s been getting better,” Danny said, opening his eyes again after a moment and looking up at Jason adoringly. “Since I met you, you gave me purpose again and I can feel the cracks healing, it’s slow, but it was always going to be.” 
Jason pulled his hand back and Danny pressed his core back to his chest. “I’m glad you’re healing. You’ve been helping me a lot too, healing is always slow, but we’ll do it together. And you’ll tell me if I ever make it worse, or if there’s anything I can do to help won't you?” 
“Ya we will, but I think I’m well enough to face the GIW soon. I’ll start looking for them along with your people. If they’re still around I don’t think it will take me that long to find them,” Danny told Jason softly. “As for helping, just don’t leave me, and don’t die. I don’t want to think about what I could become without you to ground me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll be right there with you when we take down the GIW. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I love you,” Jason promised, pulling Danny back against his chest.
“I love you too,” Danny sighed, snuggling against Jason tiredly.
-----------
Danny hadn’t been kidding when he said he would be able to find the GIW quickly when he started to look. It turned out that the GIW were sort of using ghosts in their firewall? It made it next to impossible for regular people to find, or hack it, but made it all the easier for Danny to track down. He found five bases besides the one that he had destroyed during his escape. Which was more than Jason had expected, though none of them seemed to be that big. According to the files two had ‘specimens’, so they were going to hit those two first and free whatever free whatever poor souls were still trapped there.
Jason had yet to leave Crime Alley since his takeover of the turf, but it would have to happen eventually. They would only be gone for one, maybe two days so it was a good first test. 
They had a basic plan; break in and rely on stealth till they had located the prisoners, release them, then cause as much damage and havoc as they could on the way out. Danny would be the power house, taking the chance to really let loose in a way he hadn’t in a long time. Jason would follow and plant explosives so once they got out they would leave nothing to salvage. 
They had a bit of a discussion about when to go. During the night there would be fewer people there making it safer to break in, but the disadvantage of that was they would take out fewer GIW agents. The fewer of those assholes still walking the earth the less likely it was anyone would come for Danny. There would be no one to continue the cycle of violence if everyone else was dead. In the end they still decided to go at night. If only because they would be less likely to walk in on someone actively being tortured, which would be too much for Danny. They needed to avoid Danny having a panic attack in enemy territory if at all possible.
So Jason wrangled his people into readiness to be left alone and keep things ticking over, and told a few selected people where they were headed in the unlikely case they needed rescue. Jason had started planning a ride too, since unlike the Bats they didn’t have their own private jet. But Danny told him there was no need, just get them out of Gotham and Danny could handle the rest. Jason was curious about what he meant by that, but when he asked Danny gave him the cheeky smile that promised it was a surprise Jason would like. Jason decided to wait and see.
Once they were ready they left Gotham at Sunset, Danny on the back of Jason’s bike with his arms tight around his waist and pressed against his back. Normally when they rode like this Jason could feel Danny’s vibrating purr against his back but today Danny was still and silent, probably too tense to purr. Jason understood, no matter what they found or how well this went it was bound to be triggering as hell. Danny was walking right back into one of the facilities where he had been experimented on and tortured. Jason didn’t think there was anything he could say to make Danny feel better, so he mostly stayed quiet and let Danny think his thoughts. 
“Okay, we’re far enough away I think. Pull over please, far enough that we won’t be easily seen from the road. I haven’t done this in… more than a year, I’m not totally sure how it’s going to go,” Danny said suddenly and Jason nodded, looking for a place to pull off the road and into the woods. Finding a good place to hide his bike, and themselves for whatever Danny was planning on doing.
Jason found a place to park his bike and let Danny get off before him, once they were off he laid the bike down where it wouldn’t be easily found, and turned on his personal tracker so he would be able to find it later. “Alright, ready when you are. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve been so mysterious about,” Jason encouraged his boyfriend, taking off his motorcycle helmet to switch it for his Red Hood one.
Danny nodded and took a few steps back and took a deep breath, “I really haven’t done this in years. Not since I escaped for the first time. It made it easier for them to track me,” Danny explained before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 
As Jason watched Danny started to change, not all at once, but the appearance Jason knew started to flicker and fade in patches. It looked like he was molting, and like a computer glitching, leaving him looking… different. The shape of the costume was a lot like his Hyena get-up, but it was entirely monochrome, and this Hyena had been dead for a long time. The suit was black with start-white protruding ribs wrapped around his chest like armor, white knee and elbow pads, and a white stripe down the front of his boots added to the skeletal effect. Danny’s mask had turned from a muzzle to a Hyena skull with a tuft of white hair showing above it. When Danny opened his eyes they were pits of toxic green glowing from behind the Hyena’s empty eye sockets. 
Jason would have frozen up completely, if he hadn’t noticed Danny was swaying slightly. Jason jumped forward just in time to steady Danny before he could fall. Danny leaned against him, he felt cooler than usual and… insubstantial in an odd way. 
“That felt different then it used to,” Danny murmured, putting a hand to his forehead. He felt the mask and blinked before glancing down at himself. “Huh, I knew this form was connected to emotions and shit, but I didn’t expect it to change this much,” He murmured, running his hands over the mask and then back through his hair, pushing his hood back to show his hair was all white now, and moving like it was underwater. 
“What… is this?” Jason asked, combing his fingers through Danny’s hair which felt like the softest, unmelting, fresh fallen snow between his fingers.
“My ‘ghost form’. I told you I was as dead as I was alive, this is my dead form,” Danny said gesturing down as himself before fully gaining his footing and standing up on his own. He took off the mask (Jason was far more relieved then he’d admit that Hyena skull was a mask, he hadn’t been sure) and smiled at him. Danny still looked very much like himself, though his mouth was wider, his teeth were sharper and his skin had the very distinct deathly pallor of a frozen corpse. 
Jason gave a considering hum and cupped Danny’s face, leaning down to kiss him. His lips felt cool and there was no pulse against Jason’s lips, but they were soft and Danny kissed back with the same sweetness as always. “You look badass as hel,l Moonlight,” Jason told Danny who blushed a soft blue and smiled at him, pulling him back in for another quick kiss.
“Alright, like this I can get us to the base,” Danny said, pulling the mask back on before his feet lifted off the ground and he hovered a few feet up. “Carrying you should be no problem, we’ll be silent, and if needed I can cloak us. We just have to land a ways out because I’m sure they have ghost detectors and shields. I’ll have to change back to get through. Sounds good?”
“Sounds great,” Jason agreed easily. He’d been around the Supers for years as a kid, he was used to being carried like that.
“Great,” Danny cheered, swooping over Jason and grabbing him under the arms and lifting him up with no apparent effort. He held Jason as they took off towards base, Danny flew fast but Jason’s helmet protected his eyes from the wind so it was fine.for Danny to change back into his human form. It looked like reversed timelapse footage of a flower losing its petals. Jason watched in awe as the man he knew and loved reformed around this odd, pale being. 
When it was done Danny shook out his limbs and rolled his head on his neck like he was having to resettle himself in his body before he nodded firmly once. “Alright, let’s go,” Danny said, checking his mask one more time.
Jason nodded and made a hand sign to advance, reminding Danny from here on they wouldn’t be using words. Danny nodded and fell in just behind Jason as they approached the facility. They had found a weak point in the plans for ventilation and used that to get in. This place was clearly designed to keep things in more than out, and not with humans in mind, it was almost embarrassingly easy to sneak in. They hid as a couple of agents walked by, assholes in white coats and dark glasses, edgy as hell and obviously overly full of themselves. Jason was looking forward to ripping through them on the way back out.
As they moved through the building Jason planted bombs at strategic locations ready to be detonated once they had cleared the facility of anyone who actually deserved to live. They didn’t want to leave anything standing. The less of the information and weapons that survived to potentially fall into the wrong hands, the better.
In the labs on the lower floors they found a few ‘blob ghosts’ as Danny called them, and a bunch of equipment, a couple of which Danny helped himself to. Jason didn’t bother because he didn’t know what any of this stuff was, they’d probably do more harm than good in his hands. 
Deeper in the labs they found a few proper ghosts too, locked in cells Jason managed to hack and get open. Danny darted in and started murmuring softly to a woman he called Ember, and who called him Babypop with shock and grief before he used one of the tools he’d stolen to open some sort of portal and sent her on. He found a thing he called Shadow, but that one didn’t talk, and Jason didn’t see it though he believed Danny that it was there. Danny used the portal gun to send them on too.
They were reaching the end of the facility and Jason was glad they’d only found two sentient beings, he would have much preferred None but it could have been a lot worse. This was the largest facility so if they only had two actual ‘ghosts’ the others would probably have one at most. 
They moved through the rest of the labs quickly, staying just long enough to clear them of anyone who might be held there, but not lingering over metal tables, scalpels, lasers, and saws. Jason was trying not to think about Danny strapped down to one of those, cut open and either begging them to stop or dissociating and staring, he wasn’t sure which would be worse. 
Finally they reached the deepest room in the facility, Jason was expecting another lab, until he saw the security pad at the door. The previous labs had been in a complex, no codes or cards needed to get into each individual one once you were on the floor. What was special about this lab? The security was decent too, nowhere near as easy to get through as previous doors. 
“Keep watch Hyena, this is going to take a minute,” Jason murmured into their mic and Danny nodded, flitting to the end of the hall to keep watch while Jason worked on the security. 
It took him about fifteen minutes and thankfully no one came around, they must have hourly patrols or something. Danny glanced over at the sound of the door unlocking and Jason nodded, gesturing for him to come. He stepped inside, getting the full view of a room full of wires, monitoring equipment, and what looked like a cloning tube or stasis pod. Holy shit was the GIW somehow in league with CADMUS?
There was a girl floating in the tube, maybe fourteen or fifteen, small for her age. Her hair was black but he couldn’t see much else. He heard Danny come into the room behind him and let out a soft gasp.
“Oh god,” Danny breathed softly. Jason looked over at Danny expecting to see his own surprise reflected in Danny’s face. No, he was shocked, yes, but he looked heartbroken and horrified. There was absolutely recognition there. “Ellie.”
349 notes · View notes
sagaduwyrm · 3 months
Text
On the Grounds Where We Feel Safe
When Tim gets a letter claiming to hold his soulmate, who he's never met, hostage, he's skeptical. It turns out pretty great though. Now if he can just make sure not to make a fool of himself.
We have your soulmate , the letter claimed. It seemed ludicrous. Tim hadn’t even met his soulmate yet, and it wasn’t like Red Robin’s mark had ever been exposed. There was no way some D-list villain could have found whoever it was. Really, he should only be going to this for the chance to catch the annoying asshole.
It just seemed like a weird lie, was the thing. If they just wanted to lure him out, there had to be more believable options. Claiming to have captured one of the other members of Young Justice or another bat would have made the most sense. His teammates went no-contact for various reasons all the time, so it’s not like he could double-check.
But no. They had his soulmate, apparently. It just seemed inane.
They were more competent than expected. Tim snuck into the facility with the ease of long practice, but they must have had magic wards because he tripped some kind of alarm barely a few minutes in. He would have noticed a technological system, but his abilities with magic were more limited, like most bats. In the immortal words of Jason Todd, ‘Just set it on fire and call Zatanna if that doesn’t work.’
Tim was eighty percent sure Jason was the only bat with any real degree of familiarity with magic, but that was neither here nor there. It just made the advice more accurate.
It was kicking his ass now though. Usually he’d be doing this with a team, hopefully with at least one person who could have noticed wards, but he had drastically underestimated the size and threat of this operation.
Generic security guards dragged him through the halls, and he did his best to memorize the layout. He’d taken out the first few thugs, but frankly, he was only human, and he needed to save his energy for something more useful. In the meantime, he pressed the only emergency beacon he had that would eventually worm through the wards to call his family and examined the halls they were dragging him through. The atrocious minimalism and poor layout design were making it irritatingly difficult to keep them straight in his head.
There were four villains in the room he was brought to, three more than he was expecting. One wore a thick cloak she’d probably bought off Etsy and a cheap Eye of Horus necklace, and Tim instantly pegged her as responsible for his magic problems.
“Woooow. You assholes know how to make a Robin feel loved. What’s the occasion? Is it Christmas? You shouldn’t have.” Tim bared his teeth in a smile that had his guards leaning away from him. If he could just get them talking, this would be a lot easier.
One, the leader, threw back her head and cackled. “What’s the occasion? What’s the occasion? Didn’t you read our note? Meeting your soulmate is the chance of a lifetime! We're doing you a favor, don’t you think?” She grinned down at him. He tilted his head, bird-like.
“You know, I’m pretty sure I could swing a better meeting than this. Get some candles, jazz up the place a little bit. Your interior decorating is kind of shit.” Tim channeled the robin spirit of his predecessors and took a shot at annoying them. Instead, the woman’s demented grin grew wider.
“But your blood will look so pretty on the floors! Do you think we’ll kill him or you first? I can’t decide!” Her teeth had red in them, Tim noticed. She turned to the guards at the door. “Bring him in!”
Fuck. So they did have a hostage. Probably some poor civilian who’d got dragged into these assholes' lark and was going to need years of therapy after this. Fuck his life.
A few tense minutes later the guards walked back in carrying a black teenager maybe a little taller than Tim between them. He was struggling, doing his level best to kick at their ankles and jab at their kidneys, but the mercs didn’t even shift. Tim was grateful the hostage was a fighter at least, that could make it easier to evacuate him.
The lead villain strolled over to the civilian. Honestly, Tim wasn’t sure why the rest were here. They practically faded into the walls. She seized the boy’s chin and he tried to spit at her. She laughed. “Our little witch spent months divining for this! Ready?” She cackled and dragged his face over to meet Tim’s eyes. They both froze.
His eyes were green, Tim noticed, and lined thickly in black, like kohl. They dug into Tim's chest like his heart was moving to make room for another, two hearts beating as one. Everything felt more vibrant and alive. Tim couldn’t breathe.
The leader was still laughing, he noticed distantly. She had slumped back against the wall to keep from falling over, and her entire body shook with contortions. Her eyes were bright with bloodlust.
Tim was fucked. He was so completely fucked. Not only because this guy was stupid pretty and he could practically feel his higher brain functions turning off, leaving him a steaming pile of bisexual goo, but because his soulmate was barely five feet from a villain who practically dripped insanity, and he still had thirty seconds to go before he got his hands untied. Absolutely, completely, and totally fucked.
The other boy had stilled when their eyes met, but he tensed again as one of the other villains stalked towards him.
“I knew it,” the man snarled. “I knew it. I wonder, if I hurt you, will Red Robin bleed?”
The boy's eyes widened before hardening. Tim desperately hoped he didn’t do anything stupid. His call signal still needed more time to get through to his family. 
“Don’t damage him just yet!” the leader called out. “Start with his fingers and toes, we want this to last .” Her grin was alarmingly demented.
The other boy finally had enough. “Yeah, let’s not.” He kicked out at the ankle of the guard holding onto him, causing the man to release him. At the same time, Tim made his move. Fuck, civilians with no sense of self-preservation were the bane of any vigilante, but it being his soulmate was somehow worse. If he could just get over there in time—
A rush of sand curled up around the boy, as if from nowhere, and launched the villain near him into a wall. His eyes glowed golden, and his stance indicated some training. Not a civilian, then. 
Tim kept moving. He dumped half a dozen taser bugs on anyone in reach, leaving them keeled over on the ground, and darted forward. The guards had left the door open when they brought the other boy in. Tim grabbed him and launched out the door, practically carrying him, while the boy did something over his shoulder to hold off pursuers. The way out was blocked, but the facility was huge. They eventually managed to lose the villains, tucked up in some kind of meat locker. They curled up against the walls, catching their breath.
“You know, this was not how I expected our first meeting to go,” the other boy said.
Tim laughed, “I’ll be honest, with my luck this isn’t really a surprise.” The other boy snorted. He was beautiful when he laughed. It was an ugly sort of giggle, the kind the media would mock a person for, the kind his parents trained out of him as their heir, but it lit up his face in a way that made Tim stare. He belatedly remembered to introduce himself. “Red Robin.”
“From Gotham, right? Call me Pharaoh.”
Tim squinted at him. He was putting on a good show of confidence, but there was a tenseness to his body that couldn’t be hidden, and some of the summoned sand floating near him was curling into tight knots. “Haven’t heard that code name before. You new?”
Pharaoh waved his hand in a so-so gesture. “It’s mostly just that I stick to my hometown. We’re tiny, so we stay off the radar. And I usually manage to stay out of the news anyway.”
Tim nodded, but his eyes sharpened. Deliberately keeping out of the news wasn’t exactly a red flag, but it usually indicated something about the person in question. If you had a code name that you were clearly used to, but didn’t use for the public… There weren’t exactly any conclusions he could draw yet, but he tucked the knowledge away into the back of his brain anyway. “Do you have anyone you can call?” he asked.
The boy grimaced. “Not really. Two are out of the country, one doesn’t carry a phone, and the other is the only person back home right now and I can’t ask her to leave.”
Reasonable. The bats refuse to leave Gotham without at least one of them too. “I sent out a call, but it’s going to take a bit for it to get past the wards.”
“Can I see? I might be able to speed it up.”
Tim handed over his beacon. “You’re a magic user?” He was guessing sand-manipulating meta, but magic made sense too.
“Uh-huh. I’m not the greatest with wards, but I am a dab hand at tech,” Pharaoh said while prying open the beacon. As he held it, golden light crept from his hands into the wires, forming shapes that looked like some of the hieroglyphics his parents used to obsess over. Tim was vaguely surprised. Constantine had once mentioned that there were only a few people in the world who could do any kind of technomagic. Even the magic on his gear was secondary to the tech rather than embedded in it.
Tim got up and started looking around the room as Pharaoh worked. They couldn’t stay here for long. He moved some furniture around to block the door. It should collapse on the head of anyone who tried to get in. He shifted one of the ceiling tiles around and found there was a good amount of space between the floors. Perfect.
Pharaoh shouted in delight and Tim turned to see the connection light on the beacon turn on. Assuming there wasn’t some kind of emergency, they should have backup reasonably soon. The other boy was still grinning, “Dude, I think I’m in love with your tech. This is amazing.”
“If you like that you should see the batcomputer.”
“Can I? I do most of my stuff on a PDA I retrofitted, this is so much better it’s not even funny.”
“A PDA?” Tim blinked in confusion. How would you even—? He shook his head and gestured at the ceiling. “We need to get moving. They’ll have an easier time finding us if we stay here.”
Pharaoh nodded, still smiling from his apparent enjoyment of working with basic tech with little to no computational abilities. He clambered his way up with apparent experience. Tim wondered what kind of problems his hometown had that they needed a magic user who could do parkour.
Where Pharaoh needed a lift Tim scampered up. The sorcerer whistled quietly. “What kind of training do you even have?”
“Assasination, mostly,” Tim said as he started leading the way through the crawl space, carefully showing Pharaoh where to put his feet to make the least amount of noise.
“I thought bats didn’t kill?”
“Knowing how to kill is actually more useful in not killing people than not knowing how to kill, believe it or not.” Lady Shiva hated that.
“Huh. That sounds useful. I have to use specific spells when I want to just knock someone out, and I’m not as good at them so it’s a bit of a pain.”
“You like magic?” Data gathering, data gathering, if he was asking questions he wasn’t thinking about how nice Pharaoh’s voice was or how pretty his eyes were.
“Yeah. It’s like a puzzle, you know? There’s a lot of similarities to coding if you had to argue with the computer the whole time.”
Tim snorted.
They stilled at the sound of someone passing under them, and when they were gone Tim turned around for a second. “Hey, what do you think about picking some of these guys off?” He’d originally planned to keep them out of the fight until backup arrived, but he was getting the impression more and more that Pharaoh was competent enough to keep up for a bit.
Pharaoh grinned, and it was a sharp, unkind thing. For a moment he looked as regal as a king about to declare war, and Tim wondered if there was more to the code name than he had assumed. “I thought you’d never ask.”
+++
“Where are they?!” the leader of the villains roared. “The facility is completely locked down, they couldn’t have gotten far!”
The guards winced and opened their mouths to explain when the door slammed open and one of the other villains ran in. He was bleeding, with weeping sores up and down his arms and crush damage on his fingers. “They’re picking off the guards!”
“What? What the fuck happened to you?” The leader screamed. The witch villain, who had been melting into the wall, ran over to attempt healing magic. The others barely noticed her.
“Three-quarters of our men are unconscious, and won’t wake up. And that little ‘civilian’ soulmate tried to crush me with sand!”
The witch spoke quietly. “He must have cursed you too. This isn’t healing.” The villain looked down at his wounded arms and screamed. Golden hieroglyphs climbed their way out of the blood and up his arm, and he felt his body go numb. Within thirty seconds he had keeled over unconscious except for the occasional scream, like he was struggling with nightmares wherever his mind had gone.
“No no no no no! This was supposed to be it! Our big break! You!” The leader turned to the witch. “You said he was a civilian! This was supposed to be easy!”
Out of nowhere the ceiling above them crumbled and down came several bats and members of Young Justice. When they finally got the beacon it took them almost an hour to get to the location, leaving them tense and ready to take it out on Tim's captors.
“I hope we aren’t interrupting anything!”
The door banged open again as they finished mopping up the remaining villains and mercenaries. Red Robin and a boy in civilian clothes tumbled through the door.
“Hey! You’re late!” Tim yelled.
Robin hissed at his older brother. “You needed help to save a single civilian then?”
Tim grinned an unholy grin. “Oh, right. This is Pharaoh. He’s my soulmate.”
The room burst into yelling.
163 notes · View notes
aristia-pjoheadcanons · 8 months
Note
Hi! I wanted to ask for Percy x daughter of Apollo headcanons? Like best friends to lovers or wtv you feel like! Thank you but no worries if not 💕💕
☆Percy Jackson x Daughter of Apollo☆
Authors note: This is so sweet, i love best friends to lovers. (also, not me literally searching up what wtv means only to find out it means whatever and its not a trope lol)
Tumblr media
you're his agapitós, just so you know. maybe he will come up with a nice nickanme and a private nickname for the two of you in private.
The child of Apollo has a bit of a love/hate relationship with their godly parent. On one hand, they admire Apollo's power and grace, but on the other hand, they feel like they can never live up to him.
They often struggle to decide if they should be proud of being his child, or if they should resent him for his high expectations.
Despite this inner turmoil, they do strive to live up to Apollo's ideals and make him proud.
Their relationship with Percy is a bit tense at times, you might often feel that Percy is too overprotective and doesn't let you take risks.
Despite this friction, you both genuinely care about each other deeply.
your bond with him is strong, you are dating a guy who only has eyes for his beloved.
maybe the child of apollo has a friend who is a troublemaker, a trickster and a prankster; which is how you managed to get acquainted with Percy.
Though you might not be a child of the big three or a prodigy like Annabeth, you put on a brave face and take down your foes with your skills, whether its medicine, archery, light - any weapon at all!
perhaps you are a charming person and can convicne a bunch of people to do something, even if you dont have charmspeak.
you are known to be the mediater during fights, someone people can rely on for good input since you arent biased. Which could be useful when dealing with the constant drama of demigod life.
capture the flag is the time for you to shine.
(I had to google this);The child of Apollo has the power to harness the energy of the sun, allowing them to create destructive solar blasts, drain the power of others, or even create an aura of warmth.
So, imagine the reader just harnessing the power of a STAR to make themselves overpowered in battle, landing accurate shots with their bow or even straight up knives, becoming faster and agile - flexible, moving so fast it looks natural.
heck, this type of fighting style is for sure gonna make percy stare and admire you.
I IMAGINE that you have a warm body because of the godly power that runs throuhg you, so if you were to hold percys hand (i imagine that hes kind of cold) youre a perfect pair.
demigod life is crazy and percy keeps getting dragged on quests, what if you join him and break the "3-people maximum in a party" rule? he would not care, he wants you near him because he trusts you and your abilities.
healing properties would also be nice but dont get too stressed, percy would never out you on the spot to make you uncomfortable.
percy is a feeler, he understands people because no one took the time to understand him, other than people really close to him. if you even furrow your brow in the slightest, this guy will try to think of anything that happened that day to make you upset or annoyed, and try to think of a solution. his solution is to engage in an awkward convo and give a compliment/pat on the back, but hes so goddamn awkward its funny but you cant laugh because you kind of want percy to keep doing right?
so you start doing the same, sit next to him when hes sitting alone, make your way toward him when he's literally just standing there completely comfortable with being alone;
but no, you want him to know you're there. give him a small smile and he would see you as somebody he can tlak to about his feelings! heck!!
during the pjo-series he never really lets himself feel too much, and instead undermines his feelings to the point he starts to ignore his on needs.
luckily, you are his anchor too. keep him on his toes but not in the way annabeth or the way his mother does; but in another way that can be even seen as intimite, if thats the right word for it.
caressing his back and wiping away his tears but letting him know that "hey, im not wiping them away because I want you to stop, but i'm wiping them away to let you know you're safe and not alone".
by the way, that last line?, would definetly make percy stop and stare at you like a deer in headlights and just try to process this whole entire situation. i dont know why but its funny for me to imagine him being angry or sad and just suddenly stopping, his eyebrows shoot up and he's staring at you as if he cant believe somebody does actually care about what he feels.
percy is a feeler who wont let himself feel, but you are there to remind him that in order for him to even confront his enemies, his foes - he needs to make an ally of himself first.
"dont make yourself your own enemy"
"*again percy is at a loss for words*"
beautiful and powerful, courages but not too aggressive, sentimental and empathetic, are words to describe the reader (definetly not percys own internal thoughts about you cough cough).
you stand out on your own, not because of who your godly parent is, but because of who you are. thats powerful and enough in itself. you dont need to be someone important to the prophecy or the war, you dont need to be someone great. you hold value in your worth for being you.
I feel like at some point you want percy to get out off his head for one second and look at himself the way you look at him.
it's up to you to determine what kind of person you want to be and what you want to make of your own life. and not because of some great prophecy.
Percy has always tried to do the best he can to live up to his destiny, but his own sense of self-worth and identity doesn't rely on those outside factors. percy values freedom and choice, which is why in the end he chose you because you make an impact on his life and his place in the world.
percy really isnt that difficult to get along with. if we tke a look at kane chronicles, he got to know the main character and was somewhat comfortable with him after fighting alongside him for literally 30-40minutes. the problem is that he never really opens up, maybe a result of his uppringing and unresolves trauma - you need to remind him that: control is not the same as suppression.
you would turn his world upside down for the better and his way thinking.
if its difficult through words, you write it down and make an essay about how great he is and how much more he can do with just being himself. he would read this in his room and on the ride home from long-island over and over again, at first he would be shocked - then flattered, happy and somewhat flustered.
he finds this compassionate side of you cute, that you are never really aggressive but are when it comes to letting him know that he is worth it and worth so much more.
he finds this side of you endearing, you speaking up (maybe not always but when the time is right) you stand tall with your chest full of words and you speak.
percys world would transform because of you. he cant be attracted to your light. it might seem like a normal light but it sparks full of life until it completely takes over before he can even understand whats going on.
His perspective and outlook on life would be completely altered by your compassionate and uplifting words.
He would be entranced by your light, drawn in by its brightness and energy, until it finally consumes him completely.
It's a powerful and transformative process that he might not even be able to comprehend or resist.
With you by his side, he would be transformed into something greater than he ever believed possible.
percy would in the end find his voice to speak up about his troubles, isntead of cracking a joke or making it seem like a joke.
or like the scene in HOO with Jason - just moving and and changing the subject when he sees that nobody said anythingn to comfort him (this scene makes me a tad-bit sad, he said it himself that he wasn't ok but bc they were exchausted nobody said anything so he just pretended he didnt say anything in the first place). but dont you think this is evidence that he does try to get better with speaking up, but he just needs someone to reach their hand out.
the two of you have a unique and intense connection to one another. percys sense of duty combined with your passionate nature, makes both an intriguing and powerful couple.
percy would be attached to you; your energy and he would feel inspired and motivated for bringing out a new side of himself.
at some point, percy stops looking shocked when you scold him for not caring about his feelings and while you go on a rant about how he's so important, he instead has a small smile on his face while hes looking up at you through his bangs.
reader: goes on a rant about percys emotions and how great he really is, not bc of his father but because of the way he truly and deeply cares for people and is even willing to look past past-mistakes
*literally batting his eyelashes because butterflies keep dancing in his stomach but he cant stop staring at you*
annabeth would exchange a knowing-look and smile when you make eye contact with her during one of your speeches, and you feel shy because you're realize that people are staring and PERCY IS STARING WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING so he quickly finish the speech and walk fast out of there.
percy strives to be the best partner he can be.
As Percy begins to gain more confidence and express himself in a more authentic way, he would be more honest and upfront about his feelings, including his feelings for the child of Apollo.
When given the moment to confess, he would seize the opportunity and kiss the child of Apollo with a slightly sheepish smile, perhaps even a tad embarrassed about putting himself out there so directly. However, he would also be proud of his newfound confidence and would look forward to growing and developing this relationship with you....
the type of guy to be entranced by you when you speak for multiple reasons; hes inlove and loves you, he loves the way you speak, he cant stop staring at you face light up when you talk about something you consider worth of value, he cant stop staring at your lips.
i feel like every time you lick your lips during a convo with him or in a group setting, his eyes automatically flicker downwards to stare at them for a good second.
he whips his head around when he hear your voice and turns his body to the direction you are, even when someone is trying to talk to him.
blushing around your affections. this guy would get giddy at night thinking about the fact that you just took a leaf out of his hair or straightened up his shirt.
when you are around his home turf he wants to grab your attention by any means. his favourite thing is if he's able to grab your attention when you're talkign to someone, and makes you stop mid-sentence because of whatever he's doing.
he would strut over to you and you think hes just gonna talk to you like normal but he surges ofrward and give you a peck, and he watches your reaction as when he pulls away. his insecurities are still there but hes getting better.
he likes it especially, another favourite of his, is if he makes you flustered. whether you try to ignore him or you start breathing faster (which he can tell btw) or if you have a certain habit of touching something or somewhere on your body, he likes to pay attention and be attentive to the little things about you. he needs to know everything.
okay, his ALL TIME FAVOURITE, is if you try to suppress that beautiful smile. your mouth twitches, the corners of your eyes crinkle just a tiny bit, you lick you lips and try to pretend that you're cool - but then you let your guard down and let yourself smile.
he absolutely loves it when you look at him after that. your gaze is different from usual. of course, you always look at him in a way that only lovers do, but this look in your eyes is for him and him only. that special look of love and devotion in your eyes is his.
he loves every moment of vulnerability and weakness between the two of you, he likes to savour every moment with you...
353 notes · View notes
letteredlettered · 21 days
Text
I wanted to make a separate post about this, partly because I'm feeling a lot of emotions I feel like I've never experienced, or at least don't know how to identify.
There's a lot that goes into writing a fic. You have to consider every word, weighing it against every other word. You read and you reread and you edit and you reread; you sit back and say, "How do I make sure the reader reads this as it is meant to be read; how do I make them feel the weight of the words in the right place; how do I engineer the timing such that this joke lands, this repetition lands, this echo or this feeling or this meaning lands; how do I write this dialogue in a way that allows the reader to understand the tone in which it is being said, the mood with which it is spoken, the feeling the dialogue provokes in the other character listening; how do I make phrase A resonate with phrase B so that the reader can connect the dots between the phrases in a way that produces C?"
Writing is wrangling words so that they behave in an exact way to produce an exact result. The "exact result" is for the writer, not the reader--different readers are going to interpret the meaning and characters differently. But the writer is arranging words in a precise formation to express exactly what they mean, so that the mood is produced exactly as they intend, so that the joke lands at the precise time to land the joke accurately. The reader might not get the joke; they might get the joke but not laugh at it; they might laugh but not like it. Same with tone, mood, meaning, etc. The reader cannot and will not interpret it the same way. But the writer wants to produce the exact equation that will work for them, and then they want to show it to you and hear what you think, even if you work through the equation and get a different result.
This is why writers like comments. They want to hear whether you worked through the equation and got the same result; they're interested in your different results. Like a teacher, they want you to show you're work--how and why did the different parts of the equation lead you to your result? They want this because they poured so much time, energy, thought and feeling into every single portion of that equation. They put so much of themselves into every single word that they want to know how every single word landed.
I'm writing this post because @raitala has started posting their podfic of my fic, Time Signature. And this podfic delivers every single word of this story exactly how I imagined it. Exactly how I meant it. The timing of everything is exactly how I wanted it to be read. The tone of every line of dialogue is exactly what I heard in the character's voices while writing it. Listening to it felt like writing, a feeling so extraordinary that I don't know actually how to describe the things I felt listening.
If you like my writing and have ever wondered what writing feels like for me, how I hear it in my brain, how I mean for it to be read--this is it. And if you don't like my writing, I think that you will still like this podfic, because this podfic is its own entity. I would be recommending the fuck out of it regardless of whether it was my fic, because listening to it is absolutely gripping.
Look. I'm proud of my writing. I think I'm good at it. I think I'm good at things like pacing within a scene and capturing voices in dialogue. But listening to this made me love my writing in a way I never experienced before.
This fic isn't a comedy, but the beginning is meant to be amusing. But listening to this podfic, I was fucking dying of laughter--at lines I could already recite! Because I had written them! I had written them with the intention of being a little witty, a little wry. But hearing them spoken with timing so precise, so exact, I couldn't help but feel that this is some of the funniest shit I've ever heard.
This fic is mostly porn. It's extremely filthy porn. Porn as often awkward read aloud; there are the actual mechanics of bodies moving, then all the feelings, then the moaning and if you're me, lots and lots of dirty talk. And sex scenes in audio books usually bring me a certain measure of embarrassment--this reader is trying too hard to pant and sound needy; that reader is being to clinical and removed; this reader is making it sound like a porno; that reader is failing to sound sexy. But this podfic is read so perfectly that listening to these sex scenes sounded like the experience of reading them--or at least, how I want them to be read. When you read a good sex scene, the words should fall away, and the scene itself should play out in your head, whether visually (for some) or just through cognition (for me). You should feel the emotions of it without feeling distracted by things like sentence structure. And this is how @raitala reads. Yep, it's someone saying the words "cock" and "pussy" a whole bunch, and yep, it's super hot and very explicit. But the timing and the tone are so perfect that the awkwardness of a live person reading these things falls away, and you feel like you're watching a movie.
But this fic is one other thing. It's a fic about two musicians who make music, and while not a whole lot of time is spent talking about music, that's mostly what's happening when there's not porn (and sometimes what is happening when there is porn). I'm not a musician; nor do I particularly invest time and interest in music like most people seem to. But I did a lot of research for the music in the fic, and the reason for that and the research that I did are both described in the post I did here.
What makes this podfic truly extraordinary is that @raitala not only exactly captured the timing and tone of every word, but also precisely captured the meaning and feeling of the music parts of this fic through the soundscape they provided.
I've never listened to a podfic that provided a soundscape. The soundscape in this fic is almost all music. @raitala absorbed the meaning of the music from the fic, then also paid attention to the post I did about the music for the fic, then they did their own research to find additional pieces to fit the mood and meaning of the fic, then put that music into the fic at precise moments, sometimes letting it stand alone, sometimes layering it under the words of the fic, sometimes layering several tracks on top of each other to match the description or feeling of the music described in the fic.
The choices for the music are extraordinary. The layering of the music is extraordinary. The timing of the music is extraordinary. All of it is just literal enough for it to feel a bit like an audio play, but none of it is so literal that the fic is not allowed to be a fic--since it was written as a fic and not a play. The choices made around when the music starts and stops are thoughtful and deliberate and also perfect.
There is one time when sound is used that is not music, and this sound is used to create a distinct sense of space. It occurs when the two main characters are in the car, and what is extraordinary about this use of sound is that when I was writing that time in the car, I was trying so hard to create that sense of being in a small space with one other person you have strong feelings for, the way it can feel like another world, alone on the road. And @raitala took that feeling of otherworldliness and intimate privacy I was trying so hard to create and gave it its own distinct sound to outline the boundaries of that space and that feeling, as though when they read the fic, they got what I was trying to do. They got everything I was trying to do, and made it one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
I'm making this post to rec this podfic, but I also just really needed to ...idk, express? how meaningful this is for me personally. Like on the one hand, I want to tell you all that listening to this fic felt like finally getting to watch the movie of the characters you ship so hard fucking and kissing and saying all the things you want them to say--a shocking feat in and of itself, given that these characters are Chinese and speak Chinese and this fic is in English and the podfic and spoken in English. But on the other hand, I just want to go on about the fact that listening to this made me realize wow, this is a good fic, this is a meaningful fic, and if I can make people feel this way and understand what I mean in this shockingly beautiful way, then I really have been doing meaningful things writing fanfic my whole life; it really matters; it really touches people.
It touched me, and I hope it touches you.
114 notes · View notes
louthesawgirl · 1 month
Text
What each Saw character would get as a Tesco meal deal (scientifically accurate)
Tumblr media
Hello everyone, I decided as my debut long Saw shitpost, I thought I would decide what meal deals different Saw characters would opt for if they stumbled into a Tesco and were a bit peckish after setting up a few traps.
If you’re not from the U.K. or Ireland and are not familiar with the British & Irish institutions of a meal deal, it’s basically a packaged sandwich, pasta pot, salad, bit of sushi maybe alongside a snack item and a drink for a fixed price (it used to be around £3/ €4 but the shops are taking the piss now). Meal deals are considered a treasured institution here and are an indication of your personality. People judge your character based on what you get between two slices of cheap bread.
Here’s what different Saw characters would get for a Tesco meal deal:
Tumblr media
Adam (Faulkner) Stanheight
1. Southern fried chicken chipotle mayo sub
2. Doritos cheese flavour
3. Vimto still drink
Judging on how we know Adam is quite an unorganised adult struggling to adult most days, I would assume he opts for high energy foods to keep his tastebuds happy. Cheese, spiced chicken and fruity drinks seem up his street. Plus, Vimto is a very Mancunian thing and if Saw was set in the U.K., there’s no way Adam would not be from Manchester.
Tumblr media
Dr Lawrence (Larry) Gordon
1. Eat Your Greens Feta Salad
2. Apple & Grape snack pot
3. Chilled Iced Latte
I feel like because Larry is a doctor, he prioritises convenience but also eats healthily. I also imagine him to be meat free/ vegetarian so that explains the feta & greens salad (I don’t think he’d be vegan though, he seems like he loves proper cheese too much). Larry seems like he’d always be carrying breath mints or tictacs to minimise the cheese or coffee breath- nobody needs a waft of that when being told they’ve got 6 months left to live.
Tumblr media
Amanda Young
1. BLT sandwich
2. Walkers Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations Crisps
3. Monster Energy drink (chosen based on packaging colours to match mood)
Amanda is a busy lady planning traps and building contraptions designed to almost certainly kill people. She seems like she enjoys a bit of spice along with classic comfort combinations.
Tumblr media
John Kramer
- Chicken & bacon sandwich
- Egg snack pot
- Green smoothie
John seems like he’s mindful of what he puts into his body considering he’s consistently a salt & vinegar crisp away from death with the cancer and all. He’s also a very smart man so he would know the best value for money combination with a meal deal is getting an overpriced fruit smoothie for a drink.
Tumblr media
Mark Hoffman
- All Day Breakfast sandwich (triple)
- Walkers Max Salt & Vinegar crisps
- Red Bull
Mark seems like he can’t get enough of bacon & sausage, even though it’s cold and not exactly very fresh. Maybe he’d even have a bit of HP brown sauce with it. Mark would also probably make immature jibes towards vegans and vegetarians because he’s that kind of man. Considering Mark works overtime setting up traps and evading capture, all he’d be drinking by the events of Saw 7 would be energy drinks.
Tumblr media
Jill Tuck
- Egg & Cress sandwich
- Arla strawberry protein yogurt
- Bottle of water
Jill is a bit… bland. I’m sorry but I just have to say it. Egg & cress perfectly summarises Jill’s personality as seen in movies 4-7 between two pieces of bread.
Tumblr media
Peter Strahm
- Deli style cheese & pickle sandwich
- Smoked salmon sushi pack
- Pepsi Max
Strahm made some good decisions, some regrettable ones and one very very dumb decision during his time in the Saw universe. Just like his track record with making poor decisions, I’d guess Peter would get some supermarket sushi as a snack with his meal deal- not very fresh nor authentic and will leave you wondering why you couldn’t have got a pack of reliable crisps or a chocolate bar instead.
Tumblr media
Lindsey Perez
- Feta & sundried tomato pasta
- Propercorn sweet & salty popcorn
- Fanta orange
Perez is a great character and so she would get a meal deal to reflect that. Why do I also imagine Lindsey being veggie?
Tumblr media
Eric Matthews
- Meatball marinara sub
- Walkers Monster Munch Pickled Onion crisps
- Red Bull
I feel like this choice accurately reflects Eric. It’s a combination that’s maybe reflective of an immature palette, maybe even a sort of guilty pleasure combination. I wonder if he’d put the monster munch hands (or feet) on his fingers and eat them like that.
Hope you enjoyed my incredibly British saw shitpost x
98 notes · View notes
dindjarindiaries · 1 month
Text
Broken Wings - Chapter 1
Tumblr media
summary: You meet Clone Force 99 when they fall into the same helpless situation as yourself, and you quickly find yourself getting tied up more and more with them—and their sergeant.
pairing: hunter (the bad batch) x fem!reader
rating: mature (18+)
tags: strangers to lovers, fluff & angst, emotional & physical hurt/comfort, canon-typical violence, injuries & blood, loss of limb, trauma, eventual/mild smut, eventual pregnancy, canon character death, canon compliant
note: this story will follow tbb canon events, but quotes and other details will not always be 100% accurate to maintain originality
word count: 5.468k
series masterlist ⟹ next
Tumblr media
chapter 1 ⟹
It was the sudden commotion that finally got you to lift your head from where it’d been tucked towards your chest. You reopened your eyes and focused your gaze on anything other than the leg you had stretched out in front of you as you listened closely to whatever was happening behind you.
“Wrecker, attempting to resist at this stage is not only ineffective, but also unwise.” The speaker’s voice was calm and pointed, despite the fact they were clearly a new captive of the same Zygerrians who had also taken you from the wreckage of your ship.
“I don’t care!” This voice was much rougher. Your brow furrowed as you kept listening to the exchange. “They can’t stop me from—.”
He was cut off by the sound of both crackling electricity and his own exclamation of pain. You huffed to yourself and shook your head, even as the weight of the device around your own neck grew heavier. Guess they can stop you.
“Take it easy, Wrecker.” There was another new voice, but this one was oddly familiar—though that may have been its low, smoky tone enticing you. “You need to save your energy.”
The next voice was unmistakable. “Yeah, and keep us from getting punished on your behalf.”
A clone. They’re clones.
Your eyes doubled in size, and your heart began to race inside your hollow chest. How could he have already sent a group of clone troopers after you? There was no possible way he had found you. You had made sure of it.
And, of course, the Zygerrians were taking this group of clones right over to the vacant space at your side. You closed your eyes and steadied yourself with a deep breath. Even if this was the end of your short road to freedom, you wouldn’t be letting them know how much it affected you.
“We’ve tolerated enough of your noise,” the Zygerrian that had been leading the group sneered at them. “Now keep quiet, or else.”
The rough voice you had heard, the one they called Wrecker, spoke up again. “Or else what?”
The sound of electricity and his own pain rang out again, along with the frustrated groans of his fellow troopers. You couldn’t help chuckling to yourself, despite the circumstances. This group of clones he had sent after you couldn’t even evade capture from a rogue group of Zygerrians.
Not that you could, either, but you had been unconscious when they found you. You didn’t even have a chance to fight them.
The Zygerrian walked away, joining those who stood guard around you. Their threat didn’t keep the group of clones from speaking, though they at least lowered their voices enough to keep their conversation more private. “Well, this is great,” the clone whose voice you had immediately recognized grumbled. “What do you think are our chances of getting out of this mess, Tech?”
“Seeing as I do not have the kind of data required to make a sound conclusion… I do not know.” The first voice you heard sounded nothing more than annoyed and curious.
Maybe it was the loneliness of sitting here for stars know how long or the madness of knowing you had been caught so quickly, but either way, you were the one to offer a response. “They’re low.” You narrowed your eyes, but still refused to look in their direction. “Especially if I get my hands on you.”
There was only stunned silence for a few heartbeats, but Tech recovered quickly enough to break it. “And what exactly have we done to earn such a threat from you?”
You let out a dry laugh. “Come on. You’re clones.” At least, one of them was. The others sounded similar enough for you to conclude they all were. “I know he sent you here.”
There was no silence in response to your words this time. There was only that smoky voice from before, uttering a single word that was genuine enough to make you question every preconceived notion you had just conjured up about these men. “Who?”
With a sigh, you finally turned your head to look at them. Immediately, you were struck by how different they all were. Their armor was mostly black instead of white, and it was painted with accents of red. You could tell they were all clones, but they still looked vastly different from one another, just as their voices had been. Your stare, however, was drawn to only one of them, the one who had just spoken.
Your heart started to race for a very different reason.
He had the familiar face of the clones, but every feature was sharper and more defined. Half his face was covered by a skull tattoo, and he had grown out his dark hair enough for him to need a bandana to hold most of it back—aside from a few pieces that framed his face. His brown eyes were nearly golden in this light, sparkling with both concern and intrigue as they focused on you.
You blinked a few times. He was handsome, very handsome, and it was the last thing you needed right now.
You willed the words to come, and after a few more moments, they did. “You really don’t know who I’m talking about?”
“Not unless it’s Cid.” Wrecker’s lame attempt at a hushed tone drew your gaze over to him. He was almost double the size of his fellow troopers, and the scarred skin around his whitened eye proved that he was no stranger to battle. The deep, dramatic gasp he took was a stark contrast to his otherwise tough exterior. “Do you think she could be Muchi?”
Tech spoke before you could, his chained hands pushing his goggles further up his nose as he did so. “Considering Cid made it clear that Muchi is an adolescent, I highly doubt it. Though…” his gaze flickered upward in consideration, “I suppose Cid seems old enough to perceive anyone younger than herself as a ‘kid.’”
You frowned. “I’m not a kid, and I’m not Muchi.”
The fourth member of their group, one who looked the most like the other clones you knew, returned your grimace, his eyes narrowed. “Then who are you, and who’s after you?”
You scoffed. “As if I’d ever tell you that.”
The one with the face tattoo gave you a softer look. His eyes were full of understanding, and while it was unnerving for him to see through you like this, it was also somewhat comforting. “Is there at least something we can call you for now?”
You thought for a moment, though the nickname came quickly: your callsign from the piloting academy. “Birdie.”
He nodded, and you could have sworn there was the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Well, Birdie, we’re not after you. We’re looking for someone named Muchi.”
The regular clone snapped his head towards this one. His voice was a low warning. “Hunter…”
Hunter. So far, these names of theirs seemed to have a significance that matched up with their personalities, and the sound of this one tied a knot of thick dread within your chest. It would make sense for him to send some kind of “hunter” clone after you.
Hunter offered his fellow trooper a reassuring nod. “Echo, it’s fine.” He rattled the chain that linked them together. “We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
You tightened your jaw. “I’m not gonna help you take someone against their will.” You looked down and added the next part under your breath. “Especially on behalf of the Empire.”
“We are not affiliated with the Empire.” You looked back up after Tech spoke, your brow furrowed. He took that as an invitation to continue, though his topic shift also took you aback. “What happened to your leg?”
You didn’t look at your leg as you tucked it underneath you the best you could. You barely bit back your whimper as it reignited the fiery pain that had long since been throbbing within it from your knee down. “It’s fine.”
You caught Hunter’s eye at just the right moment, seeing him level you with a glance that was both concerned and curious. You immediately shifted your focus back onto Tech.
“What do you mean you’re not with the Empire?” You shook your head. “All the clones are.”
Echo lifted his chin. He was the only one matching your defiant energy, and you liked that. “Not us.”
You gave him a half a smile, but before you could respond, Wrecker attempted another whisper in Hunter’s direction. “Hey, Sarge.” He jerked his head towards something overhead.
Your brow raised at his title. Hunter being their leader made sense, based on his calming aura and authoritative presence alone, but you were way more curious about what you were seeing than his position within this small squad.
There was a young girl scaling some of the rock structures surrounding the Zygerrians’ base, wearing similar colors to the clones themselves. Wisps of her short blonde hair fell around her face as she paused to wave in the clones’ direction, her brown eyes lit up with determination. 
You glanced back down at the squad just as Hunter gave her a subtle shake of his head. There was a look in his eye that you had never seen someone direct towards you, something that made his aura even more oddly comforting: protectiveness.
“Who’s that?” You couldn’t keep the question to yourself. The idea of rogue clones running around the galaxy with a young girl made little sense to you.
Hunter’s voice was filled with the same protectiveness you had seen as he spoke, though there was also an unmistakable layer of warmth. “She’s one of ours.”
The smile was impossible to keep off your lips as you caught both the fondness and the concern he had for her. It was reflected in the faces of the other clones, too, but there was something about Hunter’s tone specifically that had nearly been paternal.
You were getting way too curious about this group of clones.
Hunter finally looked around his squad. “She shouldn’t be here.”
Tech tilted his head. “Well, she is currently our best option at getting out of this… situation.”
“And finding Muchi,” Wrecker added.
Your mind suddenly flooded with dozens of questions that you wanted to ask them, specifically about whoever this Muchi person was that they were looking for, but you bit your tongue. If you somehow did manage to get out of this situation, you were taking the first ship you could find and getting the hell out of there. The less you knew about these clones, the better.
The girl was still making her best stealth approach when she suddenly slid, causing a few pieces of crumbled rock to hit the ground. The Zygerrians were alert, but before their heads could fully turn and investigate the situation, Wrecker spoke in a much louder tone than before. “You better get me out of these chains right now!”
The Zygerrians’ stares fell on him, and they exchanged a few amused looks before one of them stood forward. “And why is that?”
“Because.” Wrecker’s tone was threatening, and if you hadn’t gotten a hint of who he was underneath this guise, you would honestly be terrified. “I’ll lose it if you don’t. And you don’t wanna see what happens when I lose it.”
The Zygerrian frowned and started to open their mouth, but they were cut off as a commotion broke out near one of their giant crates. You looked, and your heart sank as you saw the young girl caught in the arms of two Zygerrians. Even if you didn’t really know her, it still sickened you to think of someone like her being captured by these kinds of people.
One look at the clone troopers told you exactly how they felt about it. Every single one of their faces were hardened in hardly-concealed fury.
Especially Hunter’s.
“Let me go!” The girl’s voice was strong and defiant, as were the kicks and tugs she gave them. You smiled at her, recognizing pieces of yourself in her.
“‘Atta girl,” you mumbled underneath your breath. “Give them hell.”
That made Hunter glance in your direction. You furrowed your brow, returning his stare with confusion. There was no possible way he had heard what you said.
“This is what you get for sneaking around,” one of the Zygerrians sneered at the girl.
“I wasn’t sneaking.” The girl held up her hand, showing them what was in her palm. It was a metal rod with a curved end. “I was unlocking.”
That’s when the cage she was near suddenly flew open, and your jaw dropped as a rancor ran out of it full-force. It roared into the sky before flinging the nearest Zygerrians aside.
“All right, now I’m gonna lose it!” Wrecker yelled the warning before pulling his bound hands apart, easily snapping the cuffs that had previously been restricting him.
Echo voiced the same thought you had. “You couldn’t have done that earlier?”
Wrecker answered only after he’d torn the device off his neck. “Not without backup!”
It was pure chaos. The clone troopers were making quick work of freeing themselves and retrieving their gear while the Zygerrians were attempting to fight off the rancor, which was quickly charging away. You were trying to craft your own escape plan, but in the back of your mind, there was a hindrance that continued to eat away at you.
Your leg definitely wasn’t fine, and you had no idea how you were going to get anywhere on it.
Echo knelt down beside you and nodded. “I can get these off for you.”
Your brow shot up when he lifted an arm that had a flat-headed working tool on the end of it instead of a hand. Still, you nodded, refusing to miss an opportunity for freedom. Echo easily unlocked the chain and did the same to the device on your neck, returning your nod only once he had finished. He stood and went over to help the other captives, leaving you to figure out your leg situation on your own.
That was fine. You didn’t need people knowing about your weaknesses.
You took a deep breath and rubbed out your sore wrists before pressing your palms flat against the stone underneath you. Your uninjured leg attempted to support you on its own, but as you pushed yourself upwards, you still needed help from the injured one—and it couldn’t provide it.
You tried to disguise your gasp of pain as a simple exhale, but you clearly hadn’t done a good enough job of it. One of the clones was kneeling by your side again, and when you gave them a quick glance, you realized it was Hunter. His helmet was now concealing his face, though its soft tilt was almost as comforting as his gaze had been before.
“I know you’re hurt.” Hunter’s modulated voice was low, meant to stay between the two of you. “At least let us help you get out of here, and then you can go off on your own. Okay?”
You blinked a few times in shock, only nodding once you had recovered. Any of the words you would’ve said were lost deep inside your throat. You hadn’t realized there were people like this in the galaxy, who would offer their help without expecting anything in return.
Maybe you should’ve remained skeptical, but the chaos of the situation and the pain in your leg was making it difficult to think straight—as was Hunter’s proximity.
And his touch, which was now settling on your arm as he slung it over his armored shoulders. He took practically all your weight as he helped you to your feet, and you put on your bravest face as you attempted to straighten out your bad leg. Hunter’s visor was carefully watching your every move.
“You okay?”
You were still so stunned by him and the amount of kind concern he was showing you. Your voice was breathless when you finally found it again. “Yeah.” You nodded. “Thank you.”
Hunter returned your nod before he started to crutch you over to where the rest of his squad was waiting, including the young girl. She was giving you a delightfully curious once-over, even if her furrowed brow was telling a different story. She was quick to speak as you and Hunter approached.
“Are you okay?” The girl frowned. “Did they do something to you?”
You couldn’t help chuckling lightly at her concern. It was easy to tell she had picked up the troopers’ sense of protectiveness. “I’m fine. Just a bad leg.” You willed the strength to stand on your own as you looked over at Hunter and nodded. “Thank you for your help.”
Hunter helped you ease your arm off him. “You don’t have to thank me, and we’re not done yet.” It was difficult to stand on your own, but you did it and managed to keep any evidence of pain hidden away as the sergeant went on. “Echo, Omega, you help these people get to safety. Wrecker, Tech, and I will get Muchi.”
Your eyes widened at his words. “Wait, the rancor is Muchi?”
Echo’s helmet snapped in your direction. “That’s what I said!”
Hunter drew one of the blasters from his holster. “Let’s get going.”
You glanced down at your feet, trying not to focus on your awkward-looking leg. This was likely the last time you were going to see Hunter and the two others who were going with him, and you wouldn’t get to say goodbye.
You were getting way too lonely on the run.
Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech darted forward, leaving you with Echo, the young girl Omega, and the other former captives. You looked up to meet Echo’s stare through his helmet.
“Are you okay to walk, Birdie?” Echo asked you.
Probably not. “Yeah, I can handle it.”
“Birdie? I love that name!” Omega smiled up at you. “Nice to meet you, Birdie.”
You beamed down at her. “You too, Omega.” You gestured with your head back towards the Zygerrians’ encampment. “You’re very brave, you know.”
She grinned from ear-to-ear. “Thank you. My brothers have been teaching me a lot.”
You would’ve knelt down to her level if you trusted your body enough, but you didn’t. Instead, you tilted your head at her. “Bravery can’t be taught.”
“I hate to break up the moment,” Echo interjected, “but we’ve gotta get moving.” He nodded towards the distance. “I see some speederbikes we can get you all loaded on.”
He led the way, as did Omega beside him. You decided to hold up the rear of the pack, knowing that your slower pace with your leg would hold them up. It was manageable for a time, but not for much longer.
You had just made it to the speederbikes when the sound of commotion caught your attention. You tensed and looked where Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech had gone, your chest constricting when you realized they weren’t together anymore.
Instead, Hunter was alone with a Zygerrian. Every instinct within you cried out to help him, if only to truly thank him for his kindness. You relented.
“Echo,” you called, watching as the trooper’s helmet turned towards you. “Save a bike for me.”
“Where are you going?”
You had already started to back away. “I’ll be right back!”
With that, you were on your way over, hopping awkwardly as you tried your best to run with your leg. The adrenaline was masking the pain for now, and that’s all that mattered. The closer you got, however, the more you realized you really weren’t suited to help Hunter in this fight. You had no weapons, thanks to them all being stripped from you by the Zygerrians, and you could barely stand on your own two feet.
But if you’d learned anything about yourself, it’s that you would always find a way, no matter what.
You leaned down on your good leg and swiped up a large rock, giving it a small toss inside your hand before you reached back and slung it forward. It connected with the side of the Zygerrian’s head, making him trip over a few steps as he clutched the now-bleeding wound.
“Birdie?” Hunter’s voice caught your attention, drawing your gaze over to where he was recovering from the Zygerrians’ shock. A golden whip was still wrapped around his wrist, but what struck you—and stuck with you—was the concern in his voice as he called for you.
The protectiveness.
You weren’t given much time to relish in it. The Zygerrian had recovered quickly, and he had also taken note of the worry in Hunter’s voice. He withdrew his whip from Hunter’s wrist and shot it in your direction, and if the pain of its contact with your bad leg wasn’t enough to make you see nothing but black, the shock he sent through it certainly was.
Everything was a blur after your body hit the dirt. You didn’t regain consciousness for an alarming amount of time, but there were faint glimpses you remembered, almost dreamlike in your fragile state. You had been picked up and carried somewhere else before you were set down again. The problem was that you didn’t know who you had ended up with.
When your full awareness returned, your survival instincts made you assume the worst.
You sat up and reached for your empty holster. You cursed, remembering your lost weapons, and tried to find a nearby object to use. The action alerted the nearest silhouette, who spun around in a chair to face you.
“You’re awake.” Hunter’s voice was much calmer than it had been the last time you heard it. You kept your wide eyes focused on him, willing your heaving chest to settle. Hunter noticed, raising his hands in surrender and standing as he gave you a nod. “It’s okay, Birdie. You’re safe.”
You lifted your chin to hide the hard swallow you took and let your gaze scan the area. “Where am I?”
Hunter used one of his raised hands to gesture to the space around him. “Our ship.”
It was certainly a ship made and used for battle. This was the inside of an attack shuttle, with a cockpit at the front and a weapons station at the back—which was curiously half-closed off with a curtain and furnished with blankets. Hunter was still standing by some kind of console with a large vidscreen, which was near the bunk you had been set upon.
“It’s called the Marauder.” You looked down as Omega joined the conversation, her smile just as bright as it had been before. She stood at Hunter’s side, respecting your boundaries the same way Hunter was. “It’s our home.”
Your mouth went dry at the sound of that word. You had certainly strayed far from your own home, if all had gone according to plan. You set your attention back on Hunter and kept your tense shoulders set. “Where are you taking me?”
Hunter’s brow furrowed as he gave his head a small shake. “Nowhere. We’re just on the other side of the planet.” He ran a gloved hand over his hair. “I’m sorry we couldn’t ask you if that was okay first, but we figured you’d be heading to the spaceport, anyway.”
You relaxed at that, exhaling a relieved breath before offering him a small nod. “It’s okay. Thanks for getting me here.” With your adrenaline beginning to fade, you were starting to feel the aches and pains of the day full-force, causing you to run your fingertips along your forehead as you exhaled a heavy breath. “What happened? Did you get Muchi?”
“Yeah, Wrecker put her to sleep.” Omega was buzzing with enthusiasm as she beamed towards the ship’s open hatch. “I think she’s starting to wake up, though.”
Hunter sighed at that. His hands were set on his hips as he looked at the hatch over his shoulder. “We have to get her to Cid’s.”
Your lips tightened. “You didn’t have to wait for me.”
Hunter’s stare returned to you. He gave you a brief once-over. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”
There it was, the note of genuine concern in both his eyes and his tone that made the tips of your ears burn. You deflected the warmth it brought you with a huff as the memory of your last conscious moment rushed over you. “Yeah, I wasn’t much of a help in that fight, was I?”
Hunter’s jaw tightened at your self-deprecating words. “Actually, your sacrifice gave me the perfect window to take him out.” He nodded at you. “I should be thanking you for your help.”
You blinked a few times in surprise. The warmth of his gaze made yours fall, forcing you to encounter your injured leg. Your brow shot up when you realized it had been secured in a tight wrap.
“Tech helped me with that.” You looked back up at Hunter as he spoke. “We were trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I think he got it, but… well, you’d be better off asking him.” Hunter gestured with his head to the open hatch. “Researching is his hobby.”
You huffed, the corners of your mouth pulling up in a small smile. “I appreciate it.”
Your smile faltered as you watched your fingers run over the wrapping on your leg. This would be another favor you owed someone, another debt that would have to be paid, and you refused to be in that situation again. It didn’t matter how kind these clones seemed. You wouldn’t, and couldn’t, let yourself be in someone’s debt again.
Hunter took a cautious step forward, drawing your gaze up to him again. He set a hand on Omega’s shoulder, wordlessly dismissing her as she headed towards the open hatch. “Is it bothering you?” Hunter gestured to your leg before crossing his arms over his chestplate.
He was even more distractingly handsome up close.
You shook your head. “No.” You straightened your leg, still sitting on the bunk as you did so. “It feels a lot better, actually.”
Hunter nodded, though his brow furrowed at you. He shifted his weight before he spoke again. “What happened to it?”
You didn’t answer him right away. Your gaze darted around the small space in consideration, your fingers mindlessly brushing over the fresh wrap. When you gained the courage to meet his stare again, the golden flecks within his eyes convinced you to speak the truth.
“My ship crashed.” You gave your head an aimless shake. “That’s all I know. The impact knocked me out right away, and when I woke, I was with the Zygerrians.”
Hunter’s gaze softened, though he kept the rest of his body rigid as his jaw ticked. “So, you’re out a ship.”
You let out a mirthless chuckle and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Hunter’s gloved fingers tapped his upper arms rhythmically. After a long pause, he dared to ask his next question. “Did whoever’s after you make you crash?”
Your chest inflated with a breath that you held until your lungs burned. Hunter was an easy person to trust, despite his otherwise gruff persona, but even he couldn’t get this information out of you. Not now.
You finally pushed yourself off the bunk, surprising yourself with how easily you were able to stand on both your legs. Hunter seemed just as shocked, his arms lowered back to his sides as if he’d been preparing to catch you. You gestured with your head to the open hatch. “Don’t you have to go to this Cid person’s place?”
Hunter circled his jaw before nodding. “Yeah. Can’t keep her waiting long.” Still, he made no move for the hatch, instead inhaling a steady breath before adding more. “She has refreshments there, if you want to grab something before moving on.”
You crossed your arms and let your lips curl up in another smile. You traded your caution and fear for amusement and confidence as you raised your brow at him. “Is that an invitation, Sergeant?”
Hunter’s shoulders straightened as his stare met yours again. You enjoyed the faint flush that painted his cheeks, even though he tried to deflect it with a quiet chuckle. “Only if you want Tech to talk to you non-stop about your injury, and Omega to ask you a thousand questions about your life story.”
You looked towards the hatch, seeing the rest of Hunter’s crew standing outside with Muchi. Omega was laughing as Wrecker set her upon the rancor’s back, and the creature was beaming at the group that had somehow made her feel safe enough to stay calm, despite her wild nature. Maybe if the rancor could let herself feel safe with them, then you could, too.
“What the hell.” You let your arms fall back to your sides as you stepped towards the hatch. “I’m sure he won’t catch up to me in a standard hour.” You brushed past Hunter and smiled to yourself. “And even if he could, I’m too hungry to care.”
Hunter huffed at that, and you could hear him following you. You stopped, however, when you looked down at the stairs that separated you from the ship and the ground. Your leg was stronger, but this would prove to be a challenge for it, and you weren’t keen on falling down hard enough to knock yourself out for a third time today.
Then came the gentle touch on your elbow. “Go ahead, Birdie.” Hunter's low voice was calming from behind you. “I’ve got you.”
For a moment, you were overwhelmed by a rush of unprecedented warmth from head-to-toe, accompanied by an explosion of sparkling glimmers within your stomach. You took a deep breath to combat the foreign feeling and nodded to acknowledge Hunter’s reassurance before stepping down. It was easier than you thought it would be, but Hunter’s gentle grasp on your elbow still worked wonders in helping to keep you steady.
“Birdie!” Omega waved from Muchi’s back once your boots hit the hangar’s floor. “Are you coming with us?”
You laughed at her. “Only if I get a meal out of it.”
The rest of the group had already turned to you, and you found yourself stiffening out of instinct. Tech’s gaze was fixed pointedly on your leg as he pushed his goggles further up his nose, while Wrecker was laughing at your comment about food. Echo was the only other cautious one, though you couldn’t and wouldn’t blame him for that. He raised an eyebrow at you before shifting his gaze to Hunter behind you.
“It is good to see you have made a recovery,” Tech said, breaking the brief moment of tense silence. “Though your vitals were stable, I was uncertain you had enough strength to rouse so quickly.”
You set your jaw and hung your hands on your hips. “I have plenty of strength.”
Tech tilted his head. “Clearly.” He pointed at your leg. “Though we have yet to test the strength of your leg, which seems to be in poor shape. I can provide you with a more detailed briefing about it once we arrive at Cid’s.”
You just nodded, too stunned by his straightforwardness to say anything. The weight of Hunter’s stare drew your gaze over to him, and you caught his amused smile as he gestured to Tech with his head. “Told you.” He then looked at his squad and raised his voice loud enough for him to be heard by everyone. “Let’s get going.”
The squad obeyed, and you stayed close to Hunter as the group headed out of the hangar. It was strange to find yourself among them, a group of strangers who were becoming more and more familiar, but you were comfortable in their presence. Even the thought of leaving them in a standard hour’s time or so was more saddening than you thought it would be.
But a brand-new start was awaiting you, and if there was one thing you learned about this galaxy, it was to always expect the unexpected.
Tumblr media
series masterlist ⟹ next
hunter tag list: @zenrobbins0021 @cw80831 @yunggoblin @maddiedrmr @Molmcb @jellybeanstacey0519 @violetlilly2020
broken wings tag list: @dindadjarin
56 notes · View notes
ghostofthejungle · 6 months
Text
Aight, I need y’all to follow me out on this.
Inumaki’s technique’s called cursed speech, isn’t it? I mean, it's not named cursed language or cursed communication, right? Therefore, I assume nothing happens, in terms of cursed energy, when he writes instead of talking - this opinion is also reinforced by the fact he sometimes makes gestures indicating i.e. a phone call and sends sms -
Thus, having written communication as the only way of expression, I think he’d be prone to keeping a diary, using a large vocabulary to leave a clear trace of every single thing he can’t verbally express, trying to capture their essence with an accurate calligraphy, to imagine what those words would sound like coming out of his mouth.
Eventually, Yuta finds out about it and starts leaving him notes here and there, accompanied by a pen; at the beginning, it’s just random info about Yuta's day or simple yes and no questions, to put Inumaki at ease, which happens to occur way faster than Yuta would have expected; Toge actually starts not only to enjoy Okkotsu's updates about his days, but also finds himself opening up more and more.
In a matter of months, they are basically having whole ass conversations in the middle of everything and everywhere: on the bathroom mirror, the basketball, the fridge, the tables... leaflets and slips of inked paper just keep popping out of nowhere. )They also slid them into each other’s notebooks during lessons, to Gojo’s amusement).
And when Yuta decides to go to Africa, they obviously keep that habit alive: texting would have been faster and easier, but Inumaki loved imprinting his handwriting, his scent, his feelings in every single word, imagining Yuta’s long fingers carefully tracing every letter, as if to caress the graceful hand they had been written by. He could almost see Inumaki's slim figure leaning against the headboard, the ice blonde of his hair slightly warmed up by a lazy ray of sunshine, whispering melodious words to the paper.
And oh, how many injuries and commands Yuta would have endured for a blessed hint of that cursed voice softly sighing those forbidden words in his ear in a warm, desert night...
107 notes · View notes
tklpilled · 4 months
Text
iris
“i went to windrise to paint today,” albedo muses. he thinks back to earlier that day, trying to recall the details. “that big tree with a statue in front of it. it’s really quite beautiful, and you get an amazing view of mondstadt from there. i’m not sure how to explain it, but something about it feels almost spiritual.”
albedo has traveled across mondstadt, and other parts of teyvat as well, and he’s never found an area that feels quite like windrise. not only is the view unmatched, but he always feels as if someone is watching him—not to threaten him, but rather, to protect him.
“the bard was there—venti, I believe? he kept me company. his songs are incredible, and i noticed many more crystalflies than usual. i think they were drawn to his music.”
he glances over to his stand, where a painting of the area sits. while sitting under the tree would be relaxing, he wanted to capture it in the painting. so, instead, he sat facing mondstadt, and painted the tree on the side with its branches stretching across the canvas, almost blocking the sky entirely. the walls of mondstadt are in the distance, across the lake sparkling in the sun. If albedo had to judge it, he’d say that the painting is rather accurate; but of course, it can never compare to the real thing.
“i do wish you had been there, though,” he says, continuing on with his one-sided conversation. “i could use some practice painting people, but then again, i don't think i could do you justice. not even a kamera captures your beauty.”
he looks down at his lap, unable to hide his fond tone. “what do you think?”
a wail is the only response he gets.
albedo sighs, drumming his fingers impatiently. “it’s rude to ignore someone when they’re talking to you, you know.”
scaramouche lets out another squeal, his head thrown back in helpless laughter. “i c-cahahan’t!”
albedo swirls his fingertip around the center of scaramouche’s stomach, just circling the rim of his navel. it’s sending the poor puppet into hysterics—but as long as he still has the energy to kick his legs so frantically, albedo is sure he can last a little longer.
“but you’re talking to me now, aren’t you?” albedo asks, tilting his head. “i’m just trying to tell you how pretty you are, and you won’t even listen. i’m hurt.”
scaramouche bats weakly at albedo’s hand, though he’s clearly not trying hard. “shuhuhut uhup!” he squeaks, arching his back, and although his face is already red with laughter, albedo swears it gets worse.
he wishes he had his art materials with him. he’d love to paint scaramouche’s laughing face, capturing it in time for him to look at whenever. he can already imagine the colours he’d use, the pink hues contrasting so sharply with the cool, earthy background, the freckles scattered across his face, the way his eyes squint shut. the one problem is that sounds can’t be transferred to visuals—if he could, albedo would gladly paint scaramouche’s laughter onto a canvas forever. or maybe he could use scaramouche’s body itself as a surface; it’s a work of art on its own, after all. albedo often imagines himself drawing on it, creating constellations with his scars.
he’s abruptly yanked from his thoughts by a sudden loud whine. he glances down, realising the problem. his finger has dipped into scaramouche’s navel, a spot he hadn’t even known was so sensitive.
he chuckles. “i always discover new spots every time. i’m convinced you’re ticklish everywhere.”
scaramouche snorts, grabbing albedo’s wrist and holding on tightly. “sh-shuhut the fuhuhuck uhup! i swehehear, i’ll…!” whatever else he was going to say is lost to frantic giggling.
ah, well. albedo knows it wouldn’t have been a genuine threat anyway.
56 notes · View notes
creepy-friday · 1 year
Note
Hey, I loved your mansion headcanons and I felt you captured everyone very accurately! What are you regular Jeff headcanons? Thanks :)
Thank you!!!:)
Jeff Headcanons
He feels like he doesn't have any enemies,he only has bad relationships because he wants to.He wants to be in control about how people feel about him,and he knows he's a piece of shit and can't be likeable-that's why he strives to make things worse
this guy will start shit everytime he feels like life gets boring,he gotta spice it up somehow
When he's around others,like at the breakfast table,he would think of stupid things or jokes to say to make someone upset.That what makes him happy like a fucking energy sucking vampire
He self-sabotage every little good thing he has going on for himself.The only person who wouldn't leave his side is Ben,Liu gives his brother space
I can see him "renewing" his smile-like cut around the corners of his mouth everytime he feels like he gets better.He's afraid of change,he always has been more comfortable in chaos since he met Slenderman trough it
Please do not "make him a favor" and clean his room.He only knows where stuff is when everything is a mess kinda like him
BEN has a very rare audio of him drunk crying in the bathroom floor about his love life and his life in general
He would avoid crossing the line with Jane out of respect,maybe shame?He still angers her but he knows his limits.When she was new he made sure to give her enough trauma to keep her occupied for the rest of her stay in the mansion
Jeff was also an asshole to Nina.He manipulated her but couldn't use her anymore because she got the mental help she needed before being bought into the mansion.
Toxic metal head because he's a piece of shit person,not because he's a "name 3 songs" guy.
"Name 3 songs"-"sure,what album?"
376 notes · View notes
phantom-nisnow · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
NARRATIVE STORYTELLING + COMPOSITION
First thing I always think of before doing ANY drawing is: what’s the story I want to tell? What’s the mood/emotion it should give off? 
For The Visionary, I wanted to capture that feeling of seeing your hard work and creations finally come to life. It’s that satisfaction as artists, engineers, and creators we feel after seeing our hard work finally bear the fruits of our labor. It’s an exhilarating feeling and we feel a sense of pride. 
I can pick out some key words from those descriptions: pride, excitement, satisfaction. Now, how do I depict that in the illustration + what compositional tools can reinforce that feeling and therefore story?
I also knew I wanted to draw my character, Kala. To reinforce the feeling, I wanted to think of his action and, in general, what he would be thinking in the illustration. I did a few thumbnails like below and figured to have him writing in his book and depicting boats in the background, almost like he’s drawing them at the moment and they’re appearing in the background.
Action: writing in his journal, almost as if making the background come to life -> gives a sense of pride and excitement.
This forms the basis of my composition. Everything from here on out (every decision in the illustration) relates back to this.
When thinking of your own illustrations and what you want your characters to do, try this simple template (do this for each of your characters in the scene):
<character> <action> -> gives <mood/emotion> e.g. The rogue flees from the castle guards -> gives a sense of urgency. A witch backs away from her cauldron -> gives a sense of fear.
Tumblr media
Kala’s placement is important as well. I purposely made him stand on one of the fourths of the canvas at the far left to make him feel almost like one of the boats (one of his creations). You know those scenes in pirate movies (or even just Navia Genshin Impact) where the character stands next to all their soldiers or a series of cannons? Yeah, I wanted to do something similar here.
After thumbnailing, I’ll start refining the drawing and getting the structure right before doing anything else. Often, I’ll take reference photos like this and put them together in Photoshop. This helps not only get more accurate drawings but you can even put yourself in the shoes of your character. Imagine how they’re feeling in your illustration and act it out. Your pose—and therefore, your character’s pose—might change depending on how you do it which can help with your drawing.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The boats get lighter in value as they recede to the background. I fix this later on in the composition, but since Kala is the focus, I had to make sure that he had the greatest amount of contrast. So I put a hint of light near his face so that his silhouette would pop well against the darker boat behind him. I later enforce this contrast through differences in color saturation which I will show soon. 
I felt the boats weren’t grand enough + the mast shapes were too busy, and therefore didn’t support the story as strongly as I wanted to. And to further add contrast + give Kala more focus, I made the boats a bit larger, drawing them more from a low angle to further emphasize their grandiosity and the pride Kala feels in his work. It’s great when something works both compositionally well and enforces the story:
Tumblr media
General lines of action of objects for flow. The boats specifically are all angled differently, converging towards Kala, to draw the eye towards him more + not feel static. It creates a sweeping motion to draw the eye towards him, along with the placement of papers and the shape of his coat further adding to the flow. 
In general, you can strategically place objects in your drawing to follow certain lines of flow that go back to your focus. This helps guide your viewer around your piece while also giving a sense of motion and energy.
Tumblr media
Every artistic decision you make should reinforce the story in some way. Even the tiniest things like the line art style. This idea came after looking through the Across the Spiderverse concept art book, specifically reading about the art style choices of Nueva York. Constructional lines and architectural diagrams are seen throughout the city and I wanted to bring a bit of that into this piece. 
It further enforces the idea that Kala is creating the background behind him while also making the boats recede into the background due to atmospheric perspective. Depth of field is determined by how refined the boat’s sketch is, so the boat furthest away is still in pure constructional lines while the one closest to him is fully rendered. I thought that was a big brain idea and I’m glad I went with it >:)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
To add a bit of texture, I added a grid pattern off in the distance to help with the feeling of the background being drawn in. I also added sketches of engineering diagrams into Kala’s blue coat for a bit of visual interest. These further add to the fact my character is an engineer and is almost drawing the background himself. Plus, it just looks cool.
Quick breakdown of some visual choices + how they show the story: 
large value range: the values go from very dark to very light -> deeper contrast gives sense of drama and overall intensity to the image -> reinforces feelings of epicness
strong warm vs. cool color contrast: shows the sunrise lighting, gives the character more focus (red is a very intense color) -> gives of sense of pride
sketch-y depth of field: objects further away have a more sketch-y, drawn look -> helps with atmospheric perspective and shows that the character is an engineer. contrast with more refined foreground and character.
character pose: Kala is standing tall while also writing in his journal with a very satisfied look -> 
flowing papers in the foreground: intentionally placed to aid in the overall flow of the piece -> also enforces the idea that the character in question is very experienced + shows his hard work to get to where he is now
These are all my personal choices for the illustration based on my own experiences and intentions. But every choice, from the character pose, the value range, or whatnot was intentionally done to support the story I wanted to tell in the piece. You or another artist may have different choices given the same prompt, and that’s cool! It’s these kinds of intentional choices based on one’s own experience and emotions that make art awesome and inherently human.
Let me know if you like posts like this and I’ll do more, breaking down the process and my thinking in some of my other pieces!
61 notes · View notes