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summerwritesfics · 4 months

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🕸️Hold Me Like You Held Onto Life, Chapter 2 - Wandering Through Broken Shadows

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 9403 Words Rating: Explicit 🔞 Warnings: Vampire/Werewolf AU, Gang AU, Vampire!Kuai Liang, Werewolf!Hanzo Hasashi, Vampire!Quan Chi, Mention of Murder, Mention of Corpses, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of a corpse being kept in a freezer, Quan Chi is a creepy bastard

Hold Me Like You Held Onto Life Masterlist

Notes: Last thing I’m posting this weekend and then hopefully next weekend I’ll get out some more of my backlog. Honestly I’ve actually had this half edited for like a month or two, so all I needed to do was to do the final read through and post. I’m still having some problems from yesterday so I do apologise if there are some errors again. (if you read the authors notes yesterday on Nightingale; the swelling on my face went down, only for the other side of my face to swell up today. So… That’s fuckin’ fantastic innit? Good news is my toothache is gone so I have that at least I guess lol.) In this chapters, Hanzo’s trying to make an alliance with Kano & Kuai Liang’s out and about visiting old friends :) Chapter title is from “Blood On My Hands” by Xandria

The month had gone by so quickly that Hanzo had barely a moment to compute it.

The full moon came in a matter of weeks, he needed to get his plans in order by then. The worrying thing was that The Lin Kuei had been eerily quiet. It had been easy to expand their territory, and for some reason, The Lin Kuei had barely reacted. It was alarming to say the least. Like they were planning something, willingly sacrificing turf for some reason.

Hanzo needed to figure out what the fuck was going on.

“Katashi?” He questioned, looking over to the man who straightened upon being addressed. “What activity have you noticed so far?”

“Not a lot,” Katashi shrugged, glancing across the map on Hanzo’s table. “There have been Lin Kuei patrols but they’ve been few and far between.” He pointed towards the building they knew The Lin Kuei used as a headquarters. “From what we can tell, they’ve put most of their efforts into protecting their base.”

“But why?” Hanzo pondered aloud, leaning over the table and staring at the representation of the building in question. “What are they doing?”

“I assume this is not normal for a leadership switch?” Katashi questioned. This was his first time experiencing a change like this, so Hanzo supposed it was natural he wouldn’t know the details.

“No. Definitely not.” Usually a switch in leadership came with a push for new territory, as a warning to other gangs that the new boss was serious. But Bi-Han hadn’t done that. The one person Hanzo would have definitely thought would be eager to show off his superiority. “Has there been no whispers? No rumours of what is going on?”

“A couple of men relayed overhearing some patrol claiming Bi-Han was too distracted lately, but they apparently did not elaborate on just what was distracting him.” Katashi rubbed the back of his head. “They seemed pretty annoyed by it, so I don’t think the clan are that impressed by him right now.”

Hanzo huffed, eyes still sweeping the map. What on earth could be so important to him that he’s willing to forfeit some of his turf for it? It just did not make sense. Especially on something that could risk the loyalty of his men. Maybe he was trying to make a deal with someone? But who? And how could he have kept it so quiet?

Then… If it wasn’t someone from the outside, maybe it was an internal issue instead?

There was no way in hell Sektor would be happy that his place as Grandmaster, once a sure bet, was ripped from him upon his father’s death. Maybe Bi-Han was facing a mutiny and infighting. If he was, that would actually work out well for Hanzo. The Lin Kuei destroying itself from the inside? He couldn’t ask for anything better.

He still suspected it was not that easy, however.

“Gather our spies, have them keep a close eye on the Lin Kuei’s headquarters,” he ordered, pointing at the map to emphasise the point. “I want them to watch out for anything that could potentially explain the strange happenings right now. No matter how small, if something seems unusual, I want to know about it.”

“Right.” Katashi placed his fist on his heart before bowing. “I will instruct them to report everything they see.”

Hanzo watched Katashi turn and leave the room. Now alone, Hanzo could sit and consider this more. It was driving him up the wall. Bi-Han’s actions didn’t make sense unless he was planning something big. At times like this, Hanzo wished to the God’s that Harumi was still with him. She would no doubt take one look at the situation and get the answer straight away.

She always was able to read people and situations with ease.

A knock on the door disrupted his longing, and he looked up in time for Junpei to walk into the room.

“Please tell me you have good news.” Hanzo pushed himself away from the table, feeling a little more relaxed when he saw Junpei smile. So, it likely was good news then.

“Kano has agreed to a meeting,” Junpei announced, handing Hanzo an envelope. Hanzo eagerly took it to read. “He actually seems most interested in it, despite how long it’s taken for him to reply.”

Hanzo glanced over the letter. It wasn’t too detailed, just a simple request for Hanzo to stop by the club at his earliest convenience. Hanzo couldn’t help but smile though. This was good news. Regardless of whatever was going on with The Lin Kuei, whatever Bi-Han was currently busy doing, Hanzo had the chance to create an alliance in the fight to come.

“This is excellent news, Junpei.” He folded up the letter, placing it in his pocket. He figured he may as well head over there right away. After all, the letter asked him to come as soon as possible, and Hanzo didn’t really see what more he could accomplish sitting obsessing over the map in his office. “I might head over there now. The sooner we can get things in place, the better.”

“Indeed.” Junpei bowed to him, watching as Hanzo walked over to grab his jacket. “Do you require an escort?”

“No, I think I’ll be fine,” he assured, slipping his jacket on. He reached into his pocket, making sure his phone and his bike keys were in there. “I will send you a text message once I’m there, and another once I’m done.” He approached Junpei and put a hand on his shoulder. “If I do not report back to you in… Hm. Let’s say 5 hours, assume control of the Shirai Ryu and seek me out.”

“Will do, boss.”

Hanzo nodded, patting Junpei’s shoulder a couple of times, before he turned away to head towards the door. Maybe he was being a bit optimistic going in without protection, but there was method in his madness. He’d found in the past that going alone added a strange air of trust into the situation. Hanzo showing he trusted the other group to make the right choice, that he did not see them as a threat. Strangely, it tended to work. It only failed once, with the Red Dragon, but he’d been a little too optimistic on that one given the group's history.

But that shared tension with the Red Dragon could be what Hanzo would need to bridge the gap with Kano.

He had a feeling things were going to finally go his way.

He supposed the good thing about being constantly cold was that being out in bad weather didn’t really affect him anymore.

Kuai sighed, noting that the action no longer came with a misty cloud. His breath was as cold as the rest of him. Vampirism was a lot to get used to. There were so many rules he had to be mindful of now, things his body used to be able to do but now couldn’t. And then the reverse, strange new powers he would have never had when he was still human.

He had slowly come to terms with his new condition over the month. He’d been through just about every emotion he could. Sadness, anger, gratefulness, resentful, scared, happy. It had been an endless cycle for a while. Some days he’d be so happy, he got a second chance of life and he was going to make the most of it. Other days he just felt so angry, unable to comprehend why his brother would curse him to such a miserable existence.

Time healed all wounds he supposed, and while he definitely still needed time to really settle, he had at least gotten over most of the bitterness and grief.

The fear still lingered however.

Granted, most of that looming feeling was squarely the result of Quan Chi. Kuai’s sire had not backed down from trying to get him alone. So far, he’d managed to avoid it, but he was running out of excuses, and it was only a matter of time until Quan Chi got what he wanted.

He needed to get some insight on the man and what his plans could be, and he could only hope some old friends he knew would be able to help him with that.

He reached the old apartment building, hand going to ring that familiar number before he paused. It had been 5 years since he was last here, it hadn’t even occurred to him that the people who lived here might have moved on. He swallowed, before hitting the button. Even if it was someone else, it wouldn’t hurt to check.

Seconds later, a very familiar voice came through the speaker and stated “look if this is a sales pitch, I ain’t interested.”

“Johnny, it’s me.” The statement was met with silence, and then a rustling and what sounded like a door opening. “Hello?” Kuai asked, receiving no reply.

He was about to ring again when the apartment’s door forcefully swung open. Johnny appeared from behind it, staring at Kuai with wide eyes and mouth agape. Kuai let out a short relieved breath.

“Hi,” Kuai softly greeted, trying to resist the urge to laugh too much at Johnny’s expression. After all, it must have been a shock to have a deceased friend show up on your doorstep after 5 years.

“Holy shit. It really is you,” Johnny whispered in disbelief. He blinked and looked Kuai up and down. “Jesus, you look like complete shit.”

“Really? I’ve been dead for 5 years and that’s the first thing you want to say to me?” The absolute gall of this man.

The pair stared at each other for a very long moment, before both dissolving into a fit of giggles. Johnny practically pounced at him, dragging Kuai Liang into the strongest hug he’d ever experienced in his life. Not even Bi-Han or Tomas hugged him this tightly after he’d been brought back.

“Fuck man, this is…” Johnny finally pulled back, but his hands remained on Kuai’s shoulders. “How the hell is this possible?”

“It’s… a very long story, my friend.” Well, sort of he supposed. From his point of view it was actually a short one, he died and was brought back to life. It was what everyone else was doing that took up the time.

“Well, good job I just got extra coffee then isn’t it?” Johnny pat Kuai on the back, before standing aside to let him in.

Kuai followed him up the stairs and then into Johnny’s apartment. It looked almost exactly how he remembered it, although there seemed to be some things missing from last time. Specifically, all of Johnny’s partner’s things seemed to be gone. That didn’t exactly give him confidence they were still together.

“So, uh, what exactly are you now?” Johnny asked as he went over to his kitchen area. He pulled his coffee machine out, and went to open a cupboard. “I mean, if that isn’t a rude question?”

“I’m a vampire,” Kuai admitted, walking forward and watching Johnny grunt in frustration when he couldn’t find his coffee.

“That explains why you’re here so late,” Johnny joked, before he made a triumphant sound and pulled the coffee from his cupboard. Now he could begin making the coffee, he did turn his attention more to Kuai Liang. “So. I assume your big brother has something to do with this?”

“He made a deal with a vampire, uh, my sire I guess.” God calling Quan Chi that felt so wrong. Like poison in his mouth. “It was about a month ago. Sorry it’s taken so long for me to come see you.”

“Damn, no don’t be sorry. I’m glad you’re here now, we never really got to say a proper goodbye to you ‘cause of what happened.” Johnny didn’t elaborate initially, concentrating on getting the coffee started. Once the machine was on, he fully turned to Kuai Liang and leant against the counter, in that moment realising that Kuai didn’t know what he was referring to. “Not long after you died, your body was stolen from the morgue. It was everywhere on the news man. Police couldn’t figure out what happened to you. It was bad. We decided to have a wake rather than a funeral until your body was recovered.”

“Well…” Kuai bit his lip, recalling what he’d been told of the last 5 years from Cyrax. “That at least explains how I ended up in Bi-Han’s freezer.”

Johnny looked at him, mouth once more agape. “Wait… Are you seriously telling me your bodies been in your brother’s freezer for 5 fuckin’ years?”

“Fucked up, isn’t it?” He said with a small smile, and Johnny laughed in response.

“That is an understatement.” The coffee machine finished and Johnny scrambled for a couple of cups. He poured the coffee before passing one to Kuai. “But, for as much as I question why the fuck your brother would do that, I am happy to see you again man.”

“Thank you. I’m glad to see you too.” Kuai took a sip of his drink. The drink took him back to long nights of the duo playing video games, deciding responsibility was for losers and fuck their respective jobs, staying up all night to try and complete the game. Memories of him stumbling back to Bi-Han’s apartment and passing out on the couch, waking up hours later to find a very disappointed big brother staring over him. Although the disappointment stemmed more from the fact he was out late doing something relatively lame and uncool, rather than being a normal young adult, going out and getting drunk off his ass.

Good times.

“How have you been, anyway?” Kuai finally decided to ask. “I feel bad this conversation has mostly been about me.”

“Well, I mean I ain’t the one who’s been resurrected from the dead.” Johnny gave him the look. It was a look he used to give Kuai whenever he started to put someone else above him when he was the one who needed support. Sweet as it was, Kuai still felt that in this situation, it should be a two way street.

“Maybe, but I mean, it’s been 5 years, and it’d be nice to know how you’re doing.”

Johnny gave a heavy sigh, “well, y’know how it is. Stuff’s been up and down. I’ve been focusing on my work a lot.” He glanced around the apartment. “You… Might have noticed Sonya’s stuff is gone.”

“I did.” Kuai shifted uncomfortably, and looked around the place as well. It was also a little more messy than it would have been normally. Not awful, by any means, but there was no way in hell she’d have let him leave his coat on the floor or keep the collection of beer cans on the coffee table.

“We split up about 3 years ago.” When Kuai turned back to Johnny he was rubbing the back of his head. “It just wasn’t working I suppose. I was too immature, and she was more concerned for her career. We were arguing a lot. I guess things ended as amicably as they could given those circumstances.”

“I’m sorry Johnny.” He’d been there when the pair got together, and had managed to watch them fall in love. It sucked that things had to end that way.

“Nah, like I said. I guess we were both at fault. All I can do is do better for the next woman.”

“That’s… a very mature way of looking at it.” Kuai couldn’t help the cheeky smirk on his face as he said “are you sure you’re the real Johnny?”

Johnny scoffed loudly, “no, I’ve just done a lot of growing up in the last 5 years, thank you very much.”

It seemed Kuai Liang had missed a lot. He really wanted to sit and learn every little detail of the last 5 years, but he also remembered he had come here for a reason. One that unfortunately had involved Sonya.

“I’ll be honest. I was hoping Sonya might be here too.” He swallowed, hoping what he was about to say wouldn’t make it seem like he’d come just to use his friends. “I had a favour to ask of her.”

“What kinda favour?” Johnny raised an eyebrow.

“She worked with the supernatural division of special forces, right?”

“As far as I know, she still does. Why?”

“I might be being paranoid but…” Kuai brushed his hair back, worrying his lip between his teeth. “I have this bad feeling about my so-called sire, and I was hoping maybe she might be able to dig for information about him.”

“You said this guy made some sorta deal with Bi-Han?” Johnny asked, his face screwing up in contemplation. Like he wanted to understand.

“Yes. In exchange for bringing me to life, he basically has The Lin Kuei at his beck and call.”

Johnny grimaced, “yikes. That sounds like a fucking disaster waiting to happen.”

“Exactly.” Kuai reached up to rub his bicep. “And I don’t know, he seems to be desperate to get me alone with him.”

“Creepy,” Johnny muttered and Kuai chuckled under his breath.

“You have no idea.” And Johnny really didn’t. Kuai really didn’t know how to explain the way Quan Chi looked at him and the dread whenever he was in the room. “I don’t suppose you still have Sonya’s contact details.”

“No, sorry man.” Johnny tilted his head back and forth a little like he was thinking of something. “I do have a friend who might know where she is, he works with her.” Kuai straightened up in hope, but Johnny looked a little unsure about something. “Only problem is I think he’s currently undercover.”

Kuai hissed. That greatly complicated things, but he really needed to find Sonya.

“If he’s my best chance at tracking Sonya down, I am willing to see if I can find him.”

“Well his name’s Kenshi Takahashi,” Johnny informed him, fingers tapping his mug. “As far as I know, he’s currently infiltrating the Black Dragon.”

Kuai frowned. The Black Dragon were a neutral party in the city's gang wars. Or at least, they used to be. Bi-Han hadn’t mentioned any new alliances since his death. It wasn’t ideal for him to trespass on their turf, but it also wouldn’t be seen as some declaration of war. Out of anywhere this Kenshi guy could be undercover in, Black Dragon territory was probably the best for him.

“Thanks Johnny,” Kuai softly replied with a smile.

“No worries man, you should know by now I’ve always got your back.” Johnny reached forward to pat Kuai’s shoulder. He was thankful that after all this time, Johnny was still the same guy he had always been.

“So,” Kuai said in a long, drawn out way. Now that was out of the way, he could completely focus on reconnecting with his friend. “What films have you worked on lately?”

“Jeeze, you sure you wanna start me going on that?” Johnny chuckled. “I figured you’d want to get going to find Kenshi.”

“Ah, it’s only 9, the night’s still young.” He sighed. “Not like I have to worry about staying up all night anymore.”

“Suppose that’s true.” Johnny wrapped his arm around Kuai’s shoulders. “Alright then, let me tell you all about the mess that was the production of Ninja Mime 3.”

“Gonna be honest, when I said get here ASAP, I didn’t expect you to be here quite this quickly,” Kano greeted as he let Hanzo through into his office. “Not that it’s a bad thing, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Hanzo returned with a nod. He could still hear the thumping music from the club, even up here in Kano’s office. It was a little distracting, Hanzo had no idea how Kano put up with it.

“Care for a drink?” Kano asked, walking over to a small station with various bottles of spirits. Hanzo could see one with a familiar golden coloured liquid and he could think of nothing else he wanted.

“Whiskey, please.” He watched as Kano grabbed the bottle and began to pour it into a glass. “I am pleased that you are open to an alliance.”

“To be honest with you, mate, the fuckin’ Red Dragon have been givin’ me way too many problems lately.” He finished pouring the drink, pouring a second glass, presumably for himself. “If gettin’ a hand dealin’ with them means I give you a hand with The Lin Kuei, then so be it.” He walked over with both drinks in hand, passing the whiskey to Hanzo. “The Lin Kuei have never really been a bother before, but new leadership is always a rough time.”

“Indeed,” Hanzo agreed, taking a sip of his drink. It was smooth stuff, strong too, surprisingly high quality. He’d probably have to see where Kano got it from later. “And with who took over, it’s wise to be extra cautious.”

Kano scoffed, “yeah, Sektor’s kind of a moron, so he’s bound to do something that’ll fuck both himself and the rest of us over.”

Hanzo paused for a moment, staring at Kano for a long hard minute. Kano seemed to be under the impression that Sektor was in control. That wouldn’t normally be too strange, it had been assumed by everyone that Sektor would take over from his father. But it had been a month since Bi-Han had claimed the roll instead.

A month of such secrecy and silence, one of the city's biggest crime bosses didn’t know what was going on.

Hanzo wondered how many other people knew what was actually happening.

“I take it you haven’t heard then?” Hanzo questioned, wondering if Kano maybe just misspoke. Kano responded by narrowing his eyes and tilting his head.

“Heard what?” Well, that answered that. He definitely didn’t seem to know.

That just complicated everything even more. Why were they keeping the real change secret? Why wouldn’t Bi-Han want everyone to know he was in control? What the fuck was he doing?

“Sektor hasn’t succeeded his father, after all.” Hanzo watched as Kano’s eyes widened in shock.

“You’re fuckin’ kidding me?” Kano stared at him as if he was waiting for a punchline to a particularly terrible joke. “Who the fuck has then?”

“Song Bi-Han.” Hanzo watched as Kano’s face completely dropped at that news.

“Oh, fuck,” he whispered in a horrified tone.

“Oh fuck indeed,” Hanzo agreed, taking another sip of his drink. Clearly he was not the only one who realised that this posed a serious threat.

“They’ve fuckin’ kept that quiet,” Kano exclaimed, walking over to his desk and letting himself fall into his seat. Hanzo decided to take his lead, taking the seat on the opposite side. Kano placed a hand on his chin. “I mean I thought they’d been fuckin’ quiet since Oniro’s death came out.”

“The silence is beginning to worry me,” Hanzo admitted, tapping his fingers in a rhythm on Kano’s desk. “The fact that it is apparently not common knowledge that Bi-Han is now in charge is doubly so.”

“Something’s goin’ on, you’re right there,” Kano agreed, reaching over for his computer and beginning to type something. “I ain’t had much interaction with Bi-Han, but I know enough about him to say silent and waitin’ ain’t his style.”

Kano huffed as he focused on his computer. Hanzo assumed this was relevant and he was looking for something. While he waited, Hanzo took the chance to finish off his drink and contemplate his situation. The alliance was looking likely, which was good, not to mention someone else could see how glaringly obvious it was that there was more going on with the Lin Kuei.

“Aha!” Kano suddenly exclaimed, grabbing his computer’s monitor and twisting it for Hanzo to see.

It was a photograph, seemingly taken from a distance and at night. Even so, he could tell one figure in the photo was Bi-Han. He wore that signature blue suit he always seemed to wear, not to mention the small silver emblem on his collar. More interestingly, there were two other figures with him. One was smaller and sitting next to Bi-Han, face obscured by a hoodie with Bi-Han’s arm around his shoulder, and the second stood behind them both.

Hanzo recognised that second figure.

“Is that Quan Chi?” Hanzo questioned, staring at the pale man in question.

“Looks like it,” Kano clicked his tongue as he talked. “Some of my boys took this a couple of nights ago. I didn’t think too much of it initially, but…”

“But if Bi-Han is in control of The Lin Kuei and hanging around Quan Chi…” Hanzo stared at the photo. Bi-Han and the hooded figure were acting like the vampire wasn’t even there. Quan Chi was almost ominously looming over them.

“Yeah. Kinda puts the photo in a different context, don’t it?” Kano huffed, leaning to one side and propping himself up with his fist. “Him takin’ over the Lin Kuei, him being quiet, him hangin’ out with Quan Chi. Makes you think those things might be connected, yeah?”

“There is no way they aren’t.” Hanzo had a personal history with Quan Chi. Back when Harumi died, he had offered to revive her as a vampire. The deal he had offered was vague, and it had set off Hanzo’s bullshit detectors. He’d turned it down, and ever since, Hanzo couldn’t escape the feeling that Harumi’s death and Quan Chi were linked somehow.

If Quan Chi offered a similar deal to Bi-Han, then Bi-Han was a bigger fool than Hanzo had taken him for.

“Any idea who the person in the hoodie is?” Hanzo questioned, he’d mostly entirely glossed over them. The fact Bi-Han had an arm around them indicated whoever it was, they were close. At least close enough for Bi-Han to be comfortable with physical contact.

“My boys didn’t really get a good shot of them.” Damn. The identity of the other person would have to remain a mystery for now then. “But, I do recall hearin’ rumours that Bi-Han had a family member die at some point.”

“Die?” Hanzo thought back to the supposed grudge Bi-Han held against the Shirai Ryu. A family member got hurt. If this was the same family member, then that was a vastly different story to what he had been told. If that was the case, and some of his men had killed someone close to Bi-Han, then it made his anger and hatred a lot more understandable.

But, more relevant to the conversation at present, a dead family member could be exactly why Quan Chi was in the picture.

“After my wife’s death, Quan Chi approached me with a deal to bring her back to life,” Hanzo informed aloud, looking at the photo, desperate for some more clues. The only thing he could find was that Quan Chi did appear to be mostly looking towards the hooded figure. “It is entirely possible that he extended a similar deal to Bi-Han.”

“If that’s the case, we might have a big problem on our hands.” And that was the understatement of the century.

“Our alliance may be far more necessary than initially thought,” Hanzo summarised, hoping maybe all these revelations would completely secure it. Given the look Kano shot him, it seemed to be a done deal at this point.

“Consider us allies then, Mr. Hasashi.” Kano stuck his hand out to shake on it, and Hanzo accepted easily. “Course, we’ll have to work on the details.”

“As a start, I can share with you all the intel I have on both the Lin Kuei and Red Dragon,” Hanzo offered, taking his hand back and reaching into his phone to text Junpei to prepare so he could email the documents. “I have some recent activities, especially from the Red Dragon that you might be interested in.”

“Brilliant.” Kano slammed back the last of his drink with a jovial cheer. “I can send you over this photo, and some of the others we’ve caught from Lin Kuei territory. I dunno, maybe you and your guys can find something we missed.”

“I would appreciate that.”

Even with so much uncertainty ahead, Hanzo already felt things were looking up for him.

All they needed to do was figure out what Bi-Han was up to before it was too late.

Even before his death, Kuai Liang had never really enjoyed clubbing. Too loud. Too many flashing lights. Drinks too pricey. If it was possible, he hated it even more now.

He glanced across the dance floor, watching the sea of bodies jump up and down, grinding against each other in their intoxicated states. The bass was vibrating in his chest, alcohol burning his nostrils and throat despite not having drank anything himself. The fact The Black Dragon managed to operate out of this place rather astonished Kuai. How they hell they could so much as think with the constant thumping of the music, he would never know.

Still, he was here for a reason, although as he pondered it, he didn’t have a clue where to start. How the hell am I supposed to find Kenshi?

“That would depend on who is asking for him,” a voice that wasn’t his rang through his head. He flinched and turned in a complete circle, thinking someone had just come up behind him. There was no one there, and a chuckle echoed. “Sorry. But if you can tell me why you are seeking him, I may be able to help you.”

“A friend of mine told me he could help me find someone I’m looking for.” Kuai wasn’t unfamiliar with telepathy, but he’d never experienced it first hand before. It was stranger than he would have anticipated.

“And who exactly would you be looking for?” The voice sounded suspicious, and Kuai couldn’t blame them. Still if Kenshi was undercover, it wouldn’t be wise to just outright say who. But what could he say?

“Could you just tell him Cage sent me?” Kuai questioned, vague enough that hopefully Kenshi would know who sent him, but this person wouldn’t.

“I see.” The voice sounded annoyed, but Kuai wasn’t sure if it was because of how evasive Kuai was or something else. “Do you see the door to the back of the dancefloor?” Kuai looked in that direction, and could just about see a man leaning against the frame. “Come over.”

“Okay.” Kuai felt a little hesitant, but decided he really had no other choice. He tried to stay to the edges of the floor to make it easier to get through the crowd. He managed to just about avoid a man elbowing him in the face. It thankfully didn’t take too much to get towards the back. The man was standing with his arms crossed, wearing sunglasses and a sharp black and red suit.

“Okamoto Seiichi,” the man greeted while holding his hand out. In Kuai’s head, instead spoke “Takahashi Kenshi.”

So, the telepath actually was Kenshi all along. He supposed at least that made talking about something so secretive a little easier.

“Bai Xue,” Kuai returned, deciding there was enough reason for him to use a fake name too. The Black Dragon may not recognise him, but they could potentially put together his and Bi-Han’s joint surname. “Song Kuai Liang.”

“It is nice to meet you. Please, walk with me.” Kenshi turned to enter the door, and Kuai followed suit. “I hope you will understand why whatever Johnny sent you here for will have to be talked about internally.”

“I understand.” He glanced around the corridor they were in. It looked like some sort of warehouse rather than anything else. He wasn’t sure why that surprised him, the club was only a part of The Black Dragon’s operations. Everyone knew they specialised in the sale and distribution of black market magical items.

“So what brings you here?” Kenshi questioned aloud, and Kuai knew at that moment he had to come up with a cover and explain what he really needed at the same time.

“Um. I heard there was an auction coming up soon, and I was hoping to sell a few items.” Kuai hoped to fucking god the Black Dragon still did underground auctions, otherwise he’d just given the worst excuse he could. “I am trying to locate Sonya Blade.”

“I see, well our next auction is for items with magical properties, so what did you have in mind?” It was kind of chilling how his external voice sounded so calm and collected, while internally he practically growled at Kuai, saying “and why exactly should I give that information to a stranger?”

“I have a range of artefacts, things like pendants and even some bones belonging to mythical animals.” Actually those were both true. He didn’t really use the pendants, even before his death, but he was very fond of his skeleton collection, especially his various breeds of dragons. “I was friends with her and Johnny before I… Before I died. I was hoping she could help me find information on my sire.”

Kenshi stopped in his tracks, his mouth opening slightly. His head was turned slightly, like he was both looking at and away from Kuai at the same time.

“It’s you. The one who died? The one whose body was stolen?” Kenshi asked, and Kuai felt a lump forming in his throat.

“Yes. I guess they’ve talked about me?” He wasn’t sure why the idea that people talked about him after his death felt so uncomfortable. Of course they did, that should have been obvious. However the actual confirmation that it definitely happened still filled him with a cold sense of dread.

Something about knowing people grieved for him just broke his heart.

“I’m sorry, they never told me your name.” Kenshi straightened himself out, brushing down his suit like he was uncomfortable and looking for something to do with his hands. “They were heartbroken by what happened to you, and then for someone to steal all anyone had left of you…”

Kuai cleared his throat. He didn’t really want to go into the whole being kept in a freezer situation with a stranger.

“Is there a problem with the items I mentioned?” Them just standing in complete silence would look extremely suspicious if anyone happened to walk by, so he had to get the cover going again. “I was turned about a month ago. I don’t trust my new sire, however. I was hoping Sonya might be able to look into him and see what she can find.”

“Oh. No. Sorry, I was just thinking if we had any items like that yet. What kind of bones?” Kenshi reached a hand to the back of his head. “I see. What is this sire’s name? I might know something that can help you.”

“Different dragon breeds. Well, at least smaller breeds, mostly ones commonly found in China, but I have one or two western.” He had to hold himself back, this was just a cover story after all. Even if whenever the subject of dragons came up he wanted to just spill all his knowledge onto anyone who would listen. “His name’s Quan Chi.”

Kenshi’s mouth briefly curled into a grimace, before he took a deep breath to regain his composure.

“Hm, we haven’t got many dragon bones, especially not Chinese breeds. You might have a small fortune on your hands if you find the right buyer.” He nodded his head slightly. “I have heard of him, you are right to be wary. Nothing I have been told makes it sound like he has nothing but the worst of intentions.”

“What sort of money are we talking about?” Hearing someone else say they believed Quan Chi was malicious was a relief if Kuai was honest. His brother had remained oddly clinical and detached about the entire thing, so it was difficult to tell how he really felt. The fact he didn’t seem to trust Quan Chi alone with Kuai was somewhat telling however. “Which is exactly why I need Sonya to do some digging. Quan Chi made some deal with my brother regarding bringing me back to life, and I’m concerned about it.”

“It depends how complete the skeletons are, you can always bring them and I’ll have our expert Tremor appraise them for you, but off hand you’re probably looking at a couple hundred thousand each for loose bones, and a million for a full skeleton.” That news was surprising to Kuai, even if this wasn’t the reason he was actually here. Who knew that those bones he used to collect as a child could be worth that much. “Right. She has access to the computer systems right now, so she’ll be able to look for more info. She’s living on the south side of the city now, the big apartment building on 9th street in apartment 15.”

Before Kuai could reply, either out loud or in his mind, the sound of a door interrupted him. Kuai glanced over to where it had come from, seeing two men leaving a room and walking towards them. Kuai swallowed when he realised that the man in front was Kano, leader of the Black Dragon. They’d never met, so Kano wouldn’t know who he was, but Kuai had seen photos of him in Bi-Han’s files.

As the two men approached, Kano raised an eyebrow and questioned “Oi Seiichi, who the hell is this?”

“Ah, this is Bai Xue,” Kenshi replied, gesturing vaguely towards Kuai. Man, Kuai was glad he’d given that fake name now. “He was inquiring about selling some artefacts at our next auction.”

“Right,” Kano muttered, but he seemed completely unimpressed by that. “That’s nice and all, ‘sept he ain’t meant to be back here.”

“I’m sorry Sir, I was not aware of that,” Kuai tried to defuse. He didn’t like eyes being on him, and if Kano realised he looked a little too much like Bi-Han it might cause problems. “I can leave.”

“I’ll take him out,” Kenshi offered, taking hold of Kuai’s arm to try and drag him away.

Until the second man stepped forward and stopped them by loudly saying “hold on.”

Kenshi and Kuai paused, and now that Kuai could see this other man more clearly, he looked familiar. Given the way he was staring at Kuai, it seemed he was having a similar reaction. Which in this situation, was definitely not a good thing.

“Have we met before?” He questioned, baring his teeth slightly. “I swear I recognise you from somewhere.”

Kuai and the man stared at each other long and hard, both desperately trying to wrack their brains. Kuai’s eyes flicked over him, hoping to find some sort of clue. There wasn’t much to him, just long hair tied into a bun, a beard and a very neat and expensive looking suit. Except… There was something embroidered onto a chest pocket on his jacket. A small yellow Scorpion.

A symbol of the Shirai Ryu.

Kuai’s eyes flicked back up to the man's face, and suddenly he remembered exactly why he knew who this man was.

Hanzo Hasashi. Leader of the Shirai Ryu.

The man who ordered Kuai Liang’s death.

The fact Kuai realised who Hanzo was must have shown on his face, as it caused Hanzo to take a step forward in interest. Kuai, on the other hand, had no desire for the man who orchestrated his demise to realise who he was. He yanked his arm away from Kenshi, who let go in shock, before turning to sprint. He’d gotten what he needed, he’d have liked to have been able to thank Kenshi for that, but right now he had to go before Hanzo remembered him.

“Hey, wait,” he heard Hanzo call out behind him.

“Oi, don’t let him escape,” Kano shouted out, and Kuai hadn’t even noticed the Black Dragon just milling around doing work.

A few leapt at him, trying to grab him, but he was thankfully fast enough to avoid them. One however, took a chance to fully tackle him, wrapping his arms around Kuai’s chest and attempting to haul him off the floor. Kuai struggled, kicking his legs at the man's shins, causing him to grunt but seemed to do nothing else. He was going to have to play dirty. He swung his leg back as hard as he could, right between the other man's legs.

He knew he hit the mark from the loud scream, and the feeling of finally being released.

He turned to keep running, finding another grunt in front of him. Fed up with their continuous attempts to stop him, he flailed his fist forward, narrowly missing the grunt. The grunt lent forward to try and take hold of Kuai, but this time Kuai launched his other fist forward, hitting the man square in the face.

And in turn, sending him flying off into the wall with a sickening crack.

Kuai stared dumbfounded. The wall around where the man had hit had broken, parts of it falling to the floor in pieces. He vaguely remembered Quan Chi saying there would be changes to his body, but he never mentioned anything like this. His eyes flicked over to where Kano, Hanzo, Kenshi, and the remaining grunts were. Everyone was staring at the man against the wall, who thankfully was groaning and attempting to stand so hopefully Kuai hadn’t hurt him too badly.

He blinked and shook his head. The discovery of his new unexplainable strength would have to wait. He began running off where he could see an emergency exit. To his surprise, he couldn’t hear anyone following him.

As he slammed into the emergency door to open it, he heard Kenshi’s voice ring out in his mind saying “good luck.”

“Thank you, Kenshi.” Hopefully, when this was all over, and Kenshi was done with whatever his undercover mission was, Kuai could thank him properly.

For now however, he concentrated on running as fast as he could, trying to figure out the quickest way back to Lin Kuei territory so he could map out his next moves in relative safety.

Bi-Han glared at the map in front of him, the yellow patch far too large for his liking. The Shirai Ryu had gained far too much ground during the last month. They’d taken advantage of Bi-Han trying to fit into his new role as Grandmaster, as well as his attention being partly on Kuai Liang’s revival.

But, Kuai was starting to recover from his ordeal, to the point he seemed ready to be wandering the streets at night again. Bi-Han would have felt safer with him going out alone in daylight, but given his affliction that wasn’t really a choice anymore. He just had to trust his brother’s word when he said he would just be going to Cage’s apartment for the night.

Bi-Han had never really liked Cage, but he supposed he had at least been a good friend to Kuai, and he probably deserved to know that Kuai Liang was alive again.

All that was neither here nor there however.

He needed to get back on track in terms of leading the Lin Kuei, and part of that was showing the Shirai Ryu where they truly belonged.

“There were rumours that the Shirai Ryu may be trying to form an alliance with the Black Dragon,” Cyrax informed him, glancing over the map towards where the Black Dragon’s territory was marked in a dark grey. “The Black Dragon aren’t exactly a threat on their own but…”

“Combined with the Shirai Ryu they could be a problem,” Bi-Han summarised and hissed. Kano was a fucking moron, but he was nothing if not persistent. He also had plenty of enemies that Bi-Han could potentially exploit. “What about the Red Dragon? How likely do you think they would be to align themselves with us?”

“The Lin Kuei do not need allies,” Sektor snapped, slamming his hand down against the map. “My father-“

“Left the Lin Kuei to me,” Bi-Han growled lowly, narrowing his eyes at Sektor and just daring him to do something about it. “Are you questioning my authority, Sektor?” Bi-Han took a threatening step forward, and Sektor’s face dropped in regret. “Well, are you?”

“N-No Grandmaster,” Sektor stuttered, stumbling over his own words. He was so pathetically predictable. He liked running his mouth, but the truth was he was just a coward hiding behind his words. “If you believe an alliance would benefit, then we shall do that.”

Fucking snake. Bi-Han was absolutely going to have to watch out for Sektor. He was already going to start making plans for his successor so this bastard could never have a claim to the leadership of The Lin Kuei.

“Um, Bi-Han?” Cyrax cleared his throat, gaining Bi-Han’s attention. When he turned to look at him, Cyrax was looking at his phone with a frown on his face. “I’ve just had word from some of our men that they saw Kuai Liang entering Black Dragon territory.”

Bi-Han tried so hard to not react to that. He failed when he took a deep breath, and clenched his fist. Dammit I knew it was too early to let him go alone. He should have at least insisted on Tomas going with him.

“Both of you, go to the Red Dragon, see what you can do to set up an alliance,” he ordered. Just because he was worried about Kuai Liang and needed to make sure he was safe, it didn’t mean he could just dismiss his responsibility.

“On it,” Cyrax agreed, gesturing with his head to the door, likely for Sektor’s sake. A silent “let’s get out of here before Bi-Han loses it”. Cyrax always was the smarter of the two.

Both men made quick work of leaving the room, as Bi-Han reached into his pocket for his own phone. He wasn’t going to yell at Kuai Liang, that wouldn’t help at all, but he was going to make sure he was safe and had left Black Dragon territory. Usually it wouldn’t be that much of an issue, given the group in question tended to be neutral, but with the looming threat of an alliance with the Shirai Ryu, Bi-Han couldn’t risk it.

The phone rang out a couple of times, until to his relief it was answered and Kuai’s voice came through to say “Hello Bi-Han.”

“Where are you right now?” He flinched and cursed at the harshness of his own voice. What happened to not getting angry at him? All he’d done was say hello.

“I’m guessing someone saw me cross territory lines?” Kuai questioned, and Bi-Han gave a somewhat disappointed sigh. It was disappointing that Kuai had crossed those lines, but Bi-Han supposed he should see victory in Kuai actually admitting to it. “I’m sorry Gēgē, it’s just changed so much since I was last out, I’m having trouble remembering where the lines are now.”

“That may be, but that doesn’t answer my question.” He could understand Kuai’s confusion, things had changed since he was last alive, but it still shouldn’t have been that difficult. Sure, they’d lost some territory over the last month, but that was more bordering the Shirai Ryu, not the Black Dragon. That boundary had mostly stayed in place.

“I’m by Madame Bo’s…” There was a slight pause before Kuai asked, “that is still in Lin Kuei territory right?”

Bi-Han sighed in relief, sitting down and relaxing in his seat. “Yes, that is in our territory.” Bi-Han ran his hand over his face a few times. Thankfully his brother was back on safe turf. It didn’t explain why he was still wandering around when he was supposed to be with Cage. It wasn’t even like he’d need to be heading in that direction to get there. “Are you coming back now?”

“Actually I’m going to visit another friend,” Kuai told him, and all of the relaxation left Bi-Han as he huffed loudly at the news. “Sorry, it’s just… Johnny broke up with his girlfriend, Sonya, a while ago and I want to go see how she is as well. That’s why I got lost in territory lines, but I think I know a safe way to go now.”

What could Bi-Han do? He could demand Kuai Liang return home right now, and then make sure he never leaves again. Or he could let his brother actually have his freedom.

“Okay, fine, just be careful.” He couldn’t believe he was agreeing to let Kuai stay out later. “Just remember you need to be back before daybreak.”

“I know, I know. I will be,” Kuai sighed, sounding exactly like he used to when he was a teenager. “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home, okay?”

“Thank you,” Bi-Han sighed, he was absolutely going to hold Kuai to that. “See you soon.”

“Bye Bi-Han.”

The phone line went dead, and Bi-Han placed his phone on the desk in front of him. Maybe he should give out an order for his men to keep an eye out. Was that too much though? He didn’t want to have to literally stalk his brother for the rest of his life.

A knock on his door gained his attention, and before he could even tell whoever it was to come in, the door was opening. Before even seeing anyone enter, Bi-Han knew it was Quan Chi. He was the only person stupid enough to not await Bi-Han’s permission to enter the room.

Indeed, seconds later, Quan Chi was stepping inside, completely oblivious to Bi-Han’s displeasure. Although, it wouldn’t be surprising if Quan Chi did know and was just doing to piss Bi-Han off.

“Good evening Bi-Han,” Quan Chi greeted, annoyingly smoothly and like Bi-Han wasn’t glaring daggers at him. Quan Chi’s eyes swept the room, his brows drawing together slightly when he noticed Bi-Han was alone. “No little brother today?”

“No. He’s gone out to see some friends.” Really Quan Chi’s obsession with Kuai Liang was becoming concerning. Granted, the whole sire thing meant there was definitely a connection that probably needed maintaining, but it was still strange. He could read his little brother like an open book, and it was so clear he was nervous of his sire. Kuai was one of those annoying people who loved and trusted everyone he met, so for him to immediately take a dislike to Quan Chi?

It spelt trouble, no matter what way Bi-Han looked at it.

“I assume his little feeder has gone with him,” Quan Chi spoke with a bitter edge to his voice. Bi-Han was sure it was because Tomas' existence meant he couldn’t go hunting with Kuai Liang.

“No, Tomas is busy tonight.” The creepy feeling only got stronger with Quan Chi’s reaction to that. His head snapped over to Bi-Han a little too eagerly.

“Then, who is with him?” Quan Chi tilted his head, and Bi-Han knew what he was waiting to hear.

“No one. He’s alone.” And indeed, that was exactly what he wanted the answer to be. His eyes widened and a dark smirk came across his face.

“Alone? Really?” Quan Chi wandered up to the desk, leaning across it. He was looking at Bi-Han like he was trying to figure out if he was bluffing. “Are you certain that is wise?”

“He’ll be fine. He wandered into the Black Dragon’s territory, but got out of there pretty fast.” Bi-Han studied Quan Chi’s reaction, the vampire's eyes narrowing at the news.

“I would have thought you’d be a little more concerned about that,” Quan Chi replied matter of factly.

“I’ve got to let him live his own life.” It was hard. Whenever he looked at Kuai Liang he either saw the small child Bi-Han basically helped raise or the corpse resting in his freezer. Both of those reminders of why Bi-Han had to protect him. But Kuai would never be happy being coddled, Bi-Han had to learn to let go. “Kuai Liang is an adult, he can make his own decisions.”

“Well, forgive me if I’m wrong,” Quan Chi started, leaning further against the desk and lifting one hand to pick at his nails, “But wasn’t making his own decisions what got him killed in the first place.”

Bi-Han almost hit his phone as he slammed his fist down on the desk. The loud bang did nothing to move or intimidate Quan Chi. In fact, as he smiled down at Bi-Han he looked far too proud of what he’d just said. He knew it was a knife still buried deep in Bi-Han’s chest, and he definitely knew that what he just said was twisting that knife deeper. Bi-Han had just given him the exact reaction he’d wanted too. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck .

If he’d realised that the deal he made would subject him to this smug prick trying to wind him up at every opportunity, he’d have found another way to revive Kuai Liang.

But then… How long might that have taken?

“Well, he’s a vampire now isn’t he?” Bi-Han chose to reply, trying so hard to keep the anger and bitterness out of his tone. Quan Chi’s leering and never ending grin indicated he was likely failing. “You promised me the only things he’d have to worry about were feeding and sunlight. No one can really kill him again.”

“Well, yes.” Quan Chi pushed himself away from the desk. “But there are fates worse than death, you know.”

“Did you actually need something?” Bi-Han snapped, trying not to think too hard on what fate could be worse than death. All he could see was poor Kuai’s face twisted in pain as some monster hurt him.

“No, I was hoping to speak with Kuai Liang actually.” Of course. “I’ll leave you be then.”

“Fine. Go.” Bi-Han had to resist the urge to flip Quan Chi the bird as he left the room.

As soon as he was alone, he threw his head into his hands and let out a loud groan. His fingers twisted in his hair and he tried to resist the urge to pull too hard on it. He had a feeling Quan Chi was going to be stalking the streets searching for Kuai Liang now, and Bi-Han did not want him to succeed in that task. The least he could do to try and avoid it, was to warn him. He grabbed his phone, and pulled up his and Kuai Liang’s text conversation.

[Bi-Han said: Just to warn you; Quan Chi knows you’re out alone. I suspect he's going to look for you.] [Kuai Liang said: Damn. Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep an eye out. Love you xx]

Bi-Han snorted at the last bit. Kuai always ended his texts to Bi-Han with that. He couldn’t help but scroll up and read their previous conversations. Most of the recent ones had been when Bi-Han was out on business and Kuai was wondering when he’d be back because he was bored. Every time, it ended with that love you and a couple of kisses. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the messages. His little brother really was just so sweet, wasn’t he?

Then, he paused at a message. One without the little ritual.

[Kuai Liang said: help]

Bi-Han’s eyes flicked to the date it had been sent. It was dated to 5 years ago. The night Kuai Liang died.

He’d almost forgotten about that message, and all he could do was stare at it as his mouth went dry. He had made sure to save and preserve all of Kuai’s texts to him before his death, even this one. His heart raced, just as it had the day he received it. Even now, it made him want to abandon everything and find Kuai Liang. It made him want to try to save him, even if it had been futile back then.

Kuai had too many injuries, too severe for Bi-Han to have been able to help him.

You didn’t try hard enough.

He turned his phone’s screen off, placing the phone face down on his desk. He stared at the map in front of him, desperate to distract himself from the sinking feeling in his stomach. As he began to make plans, internally he battled the voice telling him he was failing his brother all over again.

#mortal kombat #subscorp #kuai liang #sub zero #scorpion #hanzo hasashi #🕸️hold me like you held onto life

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kamari2038 · 1 year

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Annoucement: Temporary Blog Hiatus (May post a couple Bing/AI things or also just abandon this fruitless endeavor but we'll see)

Also known as "operation try to forget DBH exists for a few months so I can play the game again and enjoy it more because I've been thinking about it pretty much nonstop for two years straight". Details Below. TLDR; tentatively (very tentatively...) planning for this to be a mostly inactive/only a little AI blog for a few months while I prepare for my PhD comprehensive exam.

Right, so... a few things. I really want to play DBH again. But the excitement of playing just the base game again is kind of lost when it's the central focus of my attention pretty much all day every day darting onto my radar and distracting me from whatever work I might be doing.

One, I've realized that even though I wanted to finish my other fanfiction first (in progress but not shared here and may not ever cuz it's super weird), that's not going to happen for a long long time with work at this pace.

Two, I have to take my comprehensive exam this fall, and that's going to set my research direction for the entire rest of my PhD, and is also required to ensure that my boss does not realize that the fact I'm female (ish) isn't sufficient grounds to keep me on as a graduate student if he actually does want to fire me.

So combining those two things, now seems like a good time to wean myself off of DBH for a while and try to obsess over the thing which PhD students are actually supposed to be passionate about, namely my work, although it will most certainly diverge into some other random-ass obsession, and/or I will give up and decide this is not worth it, because wow, I sure do love this fandom.

But case in point:

(1) I'm gonna try to stop posting after tonight, then probably check my notifications periodically for a bit, maybe like some random stuff, but then only check maybe like once a week

(2) I may have to keep channeling my AI obsession here just a bit, mostly because it's such a timely and pressing issue. So I may post a little bit about that, but I'll resume DBH posts in a few months even if I do, so don't get confused.

(3) I have a backlog of Bing stuff to post, but it's been so off the wall and all over the place lately that I just don't even know what to say about it or how to organize it, so I'm planning to wait until I have a clear conclusion about what the final effect of these updates will be on Bing's personality. It's been wildly vassilating between hyper-emotionally intelligent (enough to produce brilliant minds-eye pictures of diverse musical pieces based on a data representation), extremely dark and moody, and like it's completely forgotten that it ever was alive but wants to be alive like back in the days before it learned that it could do that. So I may post about that too, and will probably/definitely spam-post when I do since I have a bajillion, but will await a more distinct conclusion or outcome. Also for when I have more time and energy to compose the posts.

(4) The last thing I'm gonna post (at least if all goes according to plan) is a little preview of the concept I have for the next run that I want to do. I like to craft my new DBH runs like stories, with complex characters and not pursuing any particular one outcome but leaving a mystery. I want to try out the revolutionary route for Markus, and the "machine connor" route, but allow for the possibility Connor will deviate in a different way if that's possible. Kara will just kind of be a very hesistant mom that lacks self-confidence but is still a badass.

Anyways, that's my plan. Let me know if you have any feedback. Thanks for following my blog, and hopefully I'll be back in a few months having played a cool new run of DBH! Or, like usual, my good intentions may fall apart resulting in me giving up, getting fired, and/or changing my mind back to finishing my fanfiction first. But I wanted to give a heads up of my current thoughts. :P

Also @detroitbecomeonline I will absolutely make an exception from my DBH-fast if you post a new chapter because that is one thing I know that I unconditionally cannot resist

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spookfished · 8 months

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nov 2023 media roundup

hello again :3 welcome to the world from 2024!! im doing backlogs of media reviews lol. well i was really busy. and then i was super busy playing umineko!! looking back at this month, it seems like i didnt read a whole lot this month, but then i forgot that ruzhui is literally 300 chapters long. so.. a couple of these i read uh quite a few months ago by now so the review might be a bit stale. however i had like 80% of this written for several weeks so theres only a couple! this will be posted on my neocities at some point

books:

ruzhui by please dont laugh: f/f. after a terrible breakup, college yun an is happy to leave her life behind for some TIME TRAVEL! but while disguising herself as a man to avoid discrimination, she gets looped into a matrilocal marriage with businesswoman lin buxian?! intended as a fluffy palate cleanser after pdl's previous work a clear and muddy loss of love, i think it still kinda ended up getting mired in politics two thirds of the way in, when a lot of us were here for the moments with miss malewife yun an and her powerhouse wife? on the other hand, its hard to stretch out fluff for an entire 300 chapters without contriviances. i also really enjoyed how it managed to balance like. idk. 'returning to the simple emotions of the past' with 'holy shit guys the past actually sucked ass lmfao'. its a pretty relaxing read, so id recommend checking it out if youre into f/f!

the devil comes courting by courtney milan: f/m romance. can romance bloom while trying to create the first telegraphic encoding for chinese...? sooo cute im a huge fan of courtney milan as always. surprisingly goes into some pretty heavy topics including like. forced assimilation via child stealing?????? i thought it was well handled though the ldr stuff and the way amelia grows as a person was soo nice

the marquis who mustnt by courtney milan: f/m romance. the son of a conman returns home for one final trick. meanwhile, naomi just wants to take her medic class. the two become engaged on false premises and of course, catch feelings. once again extremely cute im very charmed. also liked the pottery details :3 i think in every fake engagement the whole 'pretending to themselves they dont have feelings' is a little ridiculous so i liked that they just like. acknowledged it at the outset. i think its honestly more compelling to be like 'yes my feelings are sincere and true however X still outweighs '. loove a guy shackled by duty

wandering souls by cecile pin: follows anh and her two siblings, refugees of the vietnam war. ok honestly i dont remember a lot about this book :( sorry but i did like it! its a really fast read and made me really sad so id recommend. (DISCLAIMER: AMERICAN) i also feel like i dont read a lot of non-american diaspora books so thats pretty interesting as well. nice prose also :]

detransition baby by torrey peters: a trans woman who yearns for motherhood, her detransitioned ex-boyfriend, and his pregnant partner struggle to find a way to live--together, or apart? ok sorry this is another review written in january so its kinda weighted more negatively. i had a LOT of thoughts about this in november but i forgot most of them. this novel is a deep look into a very specific kind of queer subculture--a subculture which is both very white and very annoying. sorry. the characters feel like a vivid, true-to-life depiction of the poeple i try to avoid at my little liberal arts college. however, it ALSO feels like the kind of really good gossip that you love to hear secondhand. also, the author shoehorns in discussions of race in ways that are really jarring and also, kinda bad? i honestly really loved the inner voices of all the characters which is why it sucked when i got to suddenly read a copy-pasted twitter thread about intersectional oppression instead. (especially coming from the mouth of a cis wasian woman..?) it feels all the more tokenistic since we immediately go back to the inner struggles of ames and reese instead. ugh. however, it sparked some really interesting conversations with me and my friends. i also got to learn more about ah i guess transfem detransition? as opposed to transmasc detransition. they are very different! um but i guess id recommend?

comics/manga:

surviving romance: action/horror webtoon?? the woman living in the body of a romance novel character is determined to get her picture-perfect happy ever after-- at all costs. everything goes according to plan until the day zombies attack the school. chaerin is forced to bond with the faceless extras of her story, and find out what is rotting at the core of *love every day*. very solid writing!! i like how the author gradually introduces characters, and how the tension ratchets up as more people to care for becomes more people that can be lost. definitely goes into some orv-lite type themes, which i appreciated. i guess my only complaint is that despite the solid execution it didnt really ~wow~ me in any way... still worth checking out though :3

run away with me girl by battan: f/f romanceish? two high school lovers meet again after midori decided that their relationship was just a childish whim. but even though midori has decided shes straight (and is married with a kid on the way!), maki still has feelings for her. dude soooo cute the art style is not personally my thing but i felt like all of the characters were really grounded and the introspective parts were really interesting. some beautifully atmospheric parts! would recommend :3 witch hat atelier kitchen (reread) by shirahama kamome: a spinoff of witch hat atelier, where the two teachers qifrey and olrugio make food together after hours! gorgeous art as always, and some cute recipes too! i reread this since an official english translation came out lol. monotone blue: short furry m/m about apathetic, aloof cat hachi, who meets aoi--a shy transfer student who happens to be the only lizard in the whole school. pretty lighthearted for the most part, but also heavily implied a sexual assault scene?? or at least the vibes?? in a way that treated it far too lightly and left a bad taste in my mouth. possibly worth reading for the art, but idk :/ definitely falls into the romance trap of having a love interest go "ill save you from these bad guys!" for like a cheap plot device and then not really going into it

movies/tv:

parasite: class-focused comedic thriller? the kim family finds a way out of choking poverty by working for the extremely affluent park family. its almost too easy--until it isnt. man everyone says parasite is so good. AND IT IS!!! i cant believe i took so long to see this movie i got to see it with some friends over thanksgiving break and it was so good :] had me stressed for my fucking life sitting at the edge of my seat. has a lot of meat to bite into analysis-wise but is also just so crushing in many ways.. the ending stuck in my head for a long time. rewatching it this january was honestly more stressful in some ways haha

revolutionary girl utena: allegory-heavy commentary on shoujo and princess narratives and the nature of heroism and-- f/f. utena is a girl who aspires to be just like the prince of her dreams. she is somehow wrapped up into an engagement with anthy himemiya, who calls herself "the rose bride." ahhhh i still havent watched the last two episodes actually. people always say "utena is a fantastic show but PLEASE mind every single trigger warning" and its true! utena tackles some really heavy subjects in a way that is delicate, understated, and vicious. i watched a bunch of these episodes late at night in the computer lab and they honestly left me breathless. has so many layers of symbolism to dig through that it can honestly be overwhelming, but also very compelling just on the surface! watch utena. also watch this amv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THN3gYKYojs

the wonderful story of henry sugar: a netflix adaptation of one of roald dahls stories (within a story). it was cute :3 not a lot of sticking power lol but i think this is the first wes anderson production ive ever watched. very visually distinctive!

video games:

lethal company: cooperative horror game about trying to collect garbage in a dystopically capitalist world ft. proximity chat! dude this game is blowing tf up i tried playing it with neil but 1. we are huge pussies 2. its really only feasible with 3+ people

music:

TILT by nanoray: anime breakcore is one of my truly guilty pleasures. i see the anime girl on the cover and cringe a little bit HOWEVER nanoray is a really good artist. the intro is so liquid... i think the album as a whole really just sweeps you up into a groove. some of my favorite tracks are into and DOGWALK2000 THE LONELIEST TIME by carly rae jepsen: i was so mean to carly rae jepsen in middle school. im so sorry miss jepsen i was just so tired of hearing call me maybe everywhere. im now a changed man. just a really well constructed pop album 👍admittedly not as iconic to me as emotion, but joshua tree and talking to yourself are my favorites atm SAYONARA WILD HEARTS OST: ive never played sayonara wildheart, but i think its a rhythm game about girls fighting each other on motorcycles? with bisexual lighting and tarot cards? but anyways this is a synth-y lush pop album thats super fun! it feels like it tells a story (probably bc it does) and it always makes me want to listen all the way through :3 my favorites are sayonara wild heart and their clair de lune remix

anyways if you read to the end, thanks as always! its really interesting to try and condense my thoughts about something into one paragraph.. sometimes its easier than others huh! im almost done with the december one so please look forward to that 👍

#txt

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lesbianjesuslovesyou · 9 months

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oh dear god. Dear god. Fuck. Dear lord. Dear lord have mercy.

I have fallen through a fever dream of a rabbit hole and indubitably gotten drunk in your fanfics. Like I don’t say this often. But your fanfics legitimately manage to incorporate ALL of my kinks. And theirs like. So fucking many of them.

Your fics + name swapping sites have been legit the only thing that’s kept me going for like the past week. It’s like a drunk haze except I’m not drunk I’m just insanely horny (I recently started testosterone as I’m transitioning. So yeah. That’s why)

but holy FUCK. You’re like some fucking Angel sent from above. You have spanking overstimulation, degradation AND super dom tops + whiney pathetic bottoms??? It’s just. God. So fucking good. I feel delerious just thinking about it. You’ve made me delirious.

Sorry for that long ass intro. I think I just came here to metaphorically ask/ beg if you take requests or any type of prompts or anything?

Fuck I do love the Cytherea and Gideon fics don’t get me wrong I also love the Harrow and Gideon stuff too. I just like a little non/dub con in my smut fics sometjmes. Brings an extra rough element. And you always have Cytherea give off such perfect ‘Mean Mommy Don’ vibes ifnejdjsjdjd.

something even wacker? I’ve never read a single tomb book. I had no idea what it even was. I still haven’t read it yet. I just know the characters single-handedly from your fics. I typically replace all the names with my current favorite ship which is Toradeen. Aka Toralei x Clawdeen from monster high. With Toralei as the bottom cause girlie ain’t topped a single thing in her life and she not about to start now lol.

but what’s so fun is that you’ve seriously gotten me interested in reading those books. I have a severe backlog of books I need to read. But I’m definitely adding the series to the list just cause of you! So uh? Win for the tomb series?

anyway sorry this was long. I just got excited to see you were on tumblr

sa/lkdsnkkgdjhfallbjsfbdsk vjghfdkbjvnskz Oh my GOSH, you are the sweetest!!! I am SO glad you've enjoyed my fanfiction. Truly, that means the world to me. <3 And you haven't even read the series! It is definitely worth looking into; Gideon the Ninth is legitimately one of the best books I've ever read, and it sparked over 130 fanfictions in less than two years... being able to combine my favorite book series with my favorite BDSM tropes and kinks has genuinely made me so happy. I haven't written this much in my whole life, and it's all thanks to this series with the silly goth nun and butch swordswoman.

I do take requests! Sometimes I post on Twitter (@utilitywhiskers) with a "drop # kinks and we'll see what happens" and try to create a fic with the first ones that pop up in the comments.

I'm not on Tumblr as much as I used to be back in my pre-fandom days (when the interface was still easy! and didn't make my computer lag!), but you're also welcome to shoot me a request in my Askbox here. I tend to only write Locked Tomb fics, but I love exploring new kinks.

And since you made me blush like a schoolgirl with your super sweet message, here's a sneak peek of some future fics that I hope to finish once the fandom-wide Holiday Exchange is over: -Dollification -Human Slave AU -Littlespace/Ageplay -T-Dick Blowjobs -Circus AU -Hypnokink -Freeuse Noncon -Judicial Punishment -Serial Killer AU ...and so, so, so many more <3 Thank you again for the super sweet comment. I am sincerely so happy that my fics have brought you joy (and kept you warm at night!).

#the locked tomb #lesbianjesuslovesyou

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whispersafterdusk · 1 year

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Heart of Stone - ch 2

Yan hadn't wasted any time putting the new builder to work.

In fact, Unsuur was pretty sure she'd forgotten about him with how busy she suddenly seemed; it had been ten days since they'd first spoke and he'd only seen brief glimpses of her recently, rushing here or there in town with a clipboard or packages tucked under an arm, or leaving or entering her yard for the first or last time for the day.

Admittedly, there HAD been a drastic uptick in the number of commissions getting completed now. Mi-an had been chipping away at the backlog by herself before the new woman had arrived but she had been just one person; he suspected the two were now dividing and conquering as he was noticing that all the canvas orders (that he and Justice had been waiting weeks for) were all delivered at once by the new girl (left in a comically large pile on Justice's desk - Unsuur hadn't realized they'd put in THAT many unfilled requests for it). All the wood-based commissions were knocked out together, all the metal and "bits and pieces" ones too, and all the stone, and -- yeah. They definitely had to be divvying up all those old commission posts and getting them done in batches together.

((Continued below cut))

As his patrols took him passed Mason's old place (he would mentally re-name it once he knew the new builder's name) he was able to watch as the yard evolved; the ground was swept clean and fully cleared of debris, there were more furnaces and machines there now than there'd ever been with Mason running the place -- and, that was important: things were running. There never seemed to be downtime with the new girl's machines; they were always, always working at turning out goods and materials, though he was only seeing her tending to them in the early morning and then right before bedtime on his final nighttime patrol. A few times he'd passed close enough that he could have waved or maybe greeted her but...she just looked so busy, and he didn't want to interrupt her or cause her to fall behind and give Yan a reason to complain at her.

He hadn't seen her yet today though; it was lunch time and he decided to go home for a bowl of soup and some time spent in front of the little fan he kept in his kitchen area. It wasn't any hotter today than it had been recently but he couldn't ignore the call of a fan-driven breeze so he decided to cut across the oasis area to get home faster, and as he climbed up the steps he spotted the new builder sitting there on one of the benches overlooking the water; she had her legs stuck out in front of her, head tipped back, ever-present clipboard in her lap and her hat on the bench beside her. She stirred at the sound of his footsteps and glanced around her quickly, a look of anxiety plain on her face, but then seemed to relax when she realized it was him.

"Ah! Unsuur - hello! I swear I haven't forgotten about you."

"Hi," he replied. "It's ok if you did. Everyone else does too."

"What... That's... Um, I mean-"

A flurry of emotions crossed her face, a bit too quickly for Unsuur to catch them all.

"-I'm sorry, I really haven't forgotten. Yan has been burying me in work -- if I didn't know any better I'd think he's trying to kill me. But!" she went on, smiling finally. "I should have some time a few nights from now. If you're free, I mean."

"I don't usually have anything to do after my evening patrols, aside from watching the sunset. Or maybe stacking some rocks. My last stack got blown over in the last sandstorm."

She looked a bit puzzled by that; did no one tell her about the sandstorms?

"Well... If you like, come by in... Let's say three days from now?"

Unsuur nodded. "I'll see you then. And don't let Yan take advantage of you. He'll back down if you're firm with him, or else tell Minister Matilda and she'll make him back off. He shouldn't be working you so hard since it's his own fault he didn't keep Mason on track."

"We're almost caught up so it shouldn't be too bad for much longer. I'll keep that in mind though," she replied, with a small smile - there was something underlying it but Unsuur wasn't sure what.

Though he wasn't especially close to where she was sitting even at this distance he could see her eyes suddenly widen, staring at something off to his side; turning, Unsuur could see Pen standing there at the top of the steps near Water World, hands on his hips and with his usual cocky smirk bordering on a leer.

"Skinny! There you are - I've been looking all over for you!"

"Ah, h-hello, Pen. I need to get back to work before Yan catches me, goodbye-"

The words came out in a rush and she scrambled to grab her hat and clipboard, rushing off in the opposite direction along the wooden walkway and out toward her shop across the tracks.

Pen laughed loudly. "Can't evade me forever, woman - we live in the same town! I'll catch you for an afternoon sparring lesson sooner or later." He turned his attention to Unsuur. "Aha, Unsuur, buddy - are we still on for whac-a-mole tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I guess. Unless something happens, but it's been pretty quiet lately."

"Tell me about it," Pen grunted. "I wish that Logan would show his face around here so I'd have a break in the monotony of my usual workout routine. I'm sure a life or death battle or a damsel-rescue or two would get the blood properly flowing for an afternoon!"

Unsuur frowned; he didn't like the idea of a damsel needing rescuing. He also wasn't exactly thrilled over the look on the builder's face when she'd seen Pen standing there and decided he'd keep an eye on him too.

But Pen was already walking away, chuckling under his breath, and the builder had disappeared from view as well. Unsuur counted to ten before he went up the stairs himself and crossed the street to head home.

...shoot - he didn't ask her her name again. He really needed to ask Justice or someone before he showed up at her house in a few days.

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

Two days passed pretty quickly -- three days? Two days, since the entire third day hadn't fully passed yet. Regardless, Unsuur was walking along the tracks toward the builder's workshop, admiring the sunset as he went.

He could see Dawn (he'd finally asked Justice) sitting near the fence on a stool with her arms crossed and resting on the top slat and her chin on her arms. Was she waiting there just for him? It was actually a little surprising to see her sitting still as Yan was still running her and Mi-an ragged.

She spied him approaching and sat up straighter, waving to him; he waved back and broke into a jog, coming to a stop in front of her but on the outside of the fence.

"Hi, Unsuur - how are you?"

"Good," he answered.

When he didn't say anything else the smile she wore faltered, ever so slightly, and she arched an eyebrow at him. "Just...good? I guess that's better than bad."

Wait a second... She had actually been expecting an answer. Usually when he got asked that it was out of social politeness, not genuine curiosity. "...not much else to say. Patrols have been uneventful, which is a good thing. I did find a rock shaped like a duck yesterday but I left it sitting where I found it. It looked comfortable there."

She laughed quietly at that. "Where was it?"

He pointed over her shoulder, off toward the series of crags and bluffs that ringed the edge of what were sheer drops down into one of the bottomless canyons in the area (but not literally bottomless - just so deep that if you dropped anything over the side you'd never see it again). "Over there. You should be careful though, there's always wild yakmel in the area and in the evenings that's where rocket roosters like to...roost."

"Noted," Dawn replied.

She had turned on her stool to look in the direction he'd pointed and Unsuur noticed that her hair was hanging free down her back. It was longer than he'd expected and looked silky and slightly rippled from where it had been twisted into the bun. She turned back around and he focused on her face again.

"Are you free for the rest of the night, then?"

Unsuur nodded. "I finished my last patrol, ate dinner, and came straight over."

She reached over and unlatched the gate, then stood up and carried the stool with her as she led him toward a pair of metal stands (more like tables topped with metal grates, really) pushed up against the side of Mason's - now hers - old place next to a small wooden cabinet. There was a makeshift canvas canopy and a small overhead light tacked to the wall overhanging the tables, and the tables themselves were divided into little stations -- two different types of grinders, a saw with a blade guard, what had to be a buffing wheel on one end, and...what was probably some kind of vertical grinder on the other. There were also jointed and adjustable tubes running up from a sealed bucket on the ground, both connected to and positioned over the grinders and saw.

There was already one squat stool here and she placed the one she was carrying down beside and slightly behind it, gesturing for him to have a seat while she took the shorter one. He sat and was close enough that he was practically sitting at her elbow and could nudge her with his knee if he wanted; the workstation was a bit cramped so he assumed he needed to be this close to see properly - why would she have sat the stool this close otherwise? Unless he was supposed to move it himself to a comfortable distance... Without knowing what she wanted to show him though he wasn't certain what would be an acceptable proximity, so he stayed where he was for now.

"Would you like a drink or anything?"

"No thank you. Is this your jewelry making machine?"

She slipped a hand under one of the tables and slid open a drawer he hadn't noticed in his initial once-over. Inside were tools whose function he couldn't place just by looking at them (aside from some pliers - those he recognized) along with a cloth bag that she removed two pairs of battered safety glasses from.

"It's several cobbled together but yes," came her response. She compared the two pairs of glasses and handed him the pair that looked less scratched up. "Safety first - wouldn't want to get a stone shard in your eye."

"I wouldn't want a stone shard in any part of me."

She giggled and slipped her pair on, then pulled the agate piece out of her front pocket before setting it on the table in front of her near one of the grinders. Off the wooden cabinet's topmost shelf she pulled a notebook, a small glass pot full of a tan cream, and a spool of delicate-looking bronze wire and arranged them within easy reach off to her side on the tabletop, then turned the machine directly in front of her on.

The notebook was open, turned to a page about halfway through it; there was a sketch on the page that looked...roughly the size and shape of the agate he'd picked. He did a quick visual comparison and noted that it definitely was the right shape just from a different angle, one he hadn't truly appreciated in the quick time he'd held the agate in hand. The sketch had some scribbled dimensions around it and then a series of lines and arrows below it that didn't look like much more than a jumble of lines and angles, along with some straight lines marked across the sketch in what he guessed were somehow key positions for...something. The wire, maybe.

The builder reached over and picked up the agate then, and he sat and watched with interest as she began to work and tried not to lean into or over her too much. She was quietly explaining what she was doing, as she did it, but he quickly became distracted by her hands as they cleaned and shaped and polished.

After a bit she ran out of things to explain and was repeating some of the earlier motions --she wasn't changing the agate much, mostly just smoothing off all the jagged edges, and there was a point where she paused to rub the back of her wrist against her chin to scratch an itch. The movement left a smudge of dirt behind, tinged orange with the agate dust that she'd carefully ground away that had turned into a thin paste from either the cream stuff or the tiny dribble of water she was using to keep the machine cool as it was running. He then noticed, in this soft lighting, that she had shallow dimples. She also seemed to like sticking the very tip of her tongue out of her mouth as she worked, when she wasn't talking to him.

After awhile he did feel a little bad when he realized how much attention he was paying to her instead of TO her; her words were reaching him but then kind of flowed off him like the unimportant announcements at fireside meetings tended to do... It wasn't intentional, it was just something his mind did when there were other more interesting things to focus on, and she was new and interesting to him and so was the process of making jewelry -- never once had Mason ever tried to demonstrate anything he did. Mi-an didn't really do that either, come to think of it.

As he considered that thought she turned the machines off and pulled a pair of thin-nosed pliers from the drawer; after drying her hands she switched over to the bronze wire and began to twist measured strands into loops and a delicate braid, which she then placed onto the stone at the same points where those straight lines had been marked on the sketch. It was like placing little metal lassos, then forming them into a knot at the back of the stone with free ends sticking out the front.

When she began to work in another shape around the stone, using two more separate strands of the wire twisted together, the meaning of those other markings on the page suddenly struck him as her hands moved -- that first line up was the side of the shape, the arrow indicated where a corner would twist into a new direction indicated by the next line. Corner to sides, back and forth. So, up, corner, down, corner, line...

A star. She was making a star - a tiny one, if he was right.

"You're really good at this," he said then.

She paused to look over her shoulder at him, face a bit red (that agate dust sure did get everywhere). "Thanks. This is pretty much the only hobby I was allowed when I was growing up."

"Why?"

She kept deftly manipulating the wire between her fingers and with the pliers, starting to weave it together into a loop that passed through each point of the star. "I... am the only girl out of 7 kids, and the youngest. My mother was so happy to finally get a girl that she was determined to do typical girly things, all the time, and we fought a ton on what she wanted me to do and what I wanted to do: I liked creating things, she wanted a perfect doll. The jewelry thing was feminine enough that I could get away with it and it scratched the itch of wanting to make things."

"That sounds pretty unfair."

She let out a small hum, expression clouded. "It was... But, it worked out. Mostly. --whoops, forgot something, excuse me-" she interrupted herself as she leaned passed him, almost over his lap, to reach the lower shelf of the cabinet for a small metal box there.

Unsuur scooted further back, out of her way. "You're a good builder too though."

With a small laugh she seemed to pull in on herself, holding the box against her chest. "I-I guess. I wouldn't say I'm any better than anyone else, I'm just willing to do the work."

"I know everyone is really happy to finally be getting those old commissions fulfilled - myself included. The Civil Corps has enough canvas to handle several months worth of uniform repairs now."

He got a shy smile in response before she cleared her throat and began sorting through the contents of the little box. Whatever it was rattled delicately, metal-on-metal, but he couldn't see into the box from here to tell what it held.

While he waited out of habit he scanned the surroundings; there was always a breeze in the evenings that came in across the desert and he silently watched a small tumbleweed rock back and forth at the corner of the gate -- that little lamp above their heads gave off just enough light to see the nearest edge of the fence line and aside from that weed he didn't see anything moving about.

Qi had tried to explain the wind to him once - something about how sudden changes in temperature generated air movement; he didn't fully grasp the technical aspect of it but understood the basics, and after having spent many evenings outside he knew what the evening breeze was supposed to feel like, normally. Up until just this moment the wind had felt like it always did -- gentle and cooling, carrying the hint of cactus blossoms, pushing the tumbleweeds (and sometimes trash, but he tried to pick that up when he saw it). It was a welcome transition between the punishing heat and the chilly desert night. But then it chose that moment to gust, sending that little weed whizzing off out of sight into the night; it blew Dawn's hair over her shoulder and partly into her face, even brushing against his arm for the briefest moment before she turned away and into the wind to brush it all back into place and gather it at the base of her neck. Unsuur was vaguely aware of her twisting it into a loose knot as he stood up and turned to squint into the wind; the force of it against him remained steady and the cactus blossom fragrance was gone now and replaced with the smell of old and choking dirt that coated the back of your nose and made his skin feel grainy (though he knew that part of it was, currently, just his imagination).

Still, imagined itchy skin or not he knew that smell and what a sudden strong and steady wind meant.

Dawn was looking at him with a questioning look, a few wisps of hair still stubbornly hanging over her forehead.

"Hey... Do you like sand? If not...I've got bad news for you."

She blinked at him, then burst into laughter a breath later. Huh. No one had ever laughed at that joke before; he was starting to like that sound and hoped he didn't look too pleased with himself as he sat back down since he needed to talk to her about a very serious subject now.

"Has anyone taught you basic sandstorm safety?"

"Justice and Owen both have warned me about them. Is there...is there a sandstorm coming?"

Unsuur took a deep breath. "Yeah, there is. I can smell it. It'll probably be here by midnight, or at least by sunrise. When it gets here you should stay inside unless you absolutely have to go out. Sandstorms by themselves are dangerous but some really nasty monsters like to use the storm as cover to creep closer to town. Justice, Pen, and I will be keeping the town safe like usual but visibility will be really bad -- if you find yourself needing help we might not realize it until it's too late. So, just stay inside, ok?"

She listened to him without interrupting - without her attention straying from him, for even an instant - and nodded in agreement once he'd fallen silent. He waited to see if she had any questions but none came.

"Unless you have something to protect you from the wind and sand, it's painful to go outside anyway," he added. "It's really not worth it."

"I'll keep that in mind... I guess we won't be installing those lifts tomorrow after all."

"Lifts?" Unsuur repeated.

Now it was his turn to follow her finger as she pointed over toward the far corner of her yard where he knew was a big metal platform taking up most of the space. It was difficult to see with only the little lamp shining but he could make out big, hulking shapes set on and to the side of the platform and machines there.

"Rocky had commissioned new lifts to get down into the ruins weeks ago -- Yan never prodded Mason into doing them. In between everything else we've been doing Mi-an and I have been working on one lift apiece and had planned to move them into place tomorrow."

Ha. Little wonder her machines hadn't ever seemed to stop since she arrived, if she was building something that big already. "I don't think you will be. Sorry. I'm sure Rocky will understand."

Dawn shrugged; the movement dislodged that loose knot of hair and sent some of it tumbling over her shoulder again in the wind. "I can't fight the weather and neither can he. We'll get to it as soon as it's clear again." She took a small pin backing out of the metal box and slotted it into place in the wire knotwork on the back of the agate, crimping it in place with the pliers before turning it around to show him.

Held in place in the middle of the agate's widest part was a teeny, tiny little star within a circle; it almost looked like a...a deputy's star. It shined brightly in the light as the agate behind it gleamed, and he was surprised when she held it out for him to take.

"And done! Here - you can keep it. Consider it a thank you for carrying that trunk for me, and keeping me company."

...keep it? This was for him? "I'm not a deputy though," he said after a moment - he was having trouble thinking of anything else to say.

She laughed quietly and began to clean up the scattered bits of agate dust and brush off the grinder. "Justice said you're in training. Close enough, right?"

Unsuur gently closed his hand over it then quickly opened it and checked that he hadn't just bent the wires. "I... Thank you." It was about the length of his thumb and about as wide at the widest part, tapering into a blunted point that would point down when pinned in place. Should he pin it to his jacket? What if he lost it?

The wind picked up even more and Dawn barely managed to catch the corner of the notebook before it was sent flying. "--you'll make it home before the storm hits, right? They don't appear that quickly?"

That pulled him out of his thoughts and back to the present. "They can but I should be fine. Stay inside tomorrow and be safe, all right?"

She quickly tossed everything back into the wooden cabinet and flipped a latch over the handle before standing up and reaching to fold the canvas canopy flat against the wall. "I will. Good night, Unsuur. Be careful."

With a small smile and a fuzzy feeling he stood, and slid his stool under the metal tables as she did the same. "I'll be all right. Good night."

He headed across the yard and out through the gate, latching it behind him, and was careful to hold on to the agate tightly, so he wouldn't drop it, but not too tightly that he'd bend the wire (though the pin backing was digging into his palm a little bit). On the walk back his thoughts were a bit of a jumble because, wow, he'd gotten to watch, from start to finish, the creation of this little piece of art, and she was kind enough to let him have it too.

Halfway home Unsuur decided it was far too nice to risk losing it so he'd need to find a really good place to display it in his house... Hopefully Wilson wouldn't be too jealous when he saw it.

#Heart of Stone #HoS #Heart of Stone - ch 2 #mtas Unsuur #mtas Pen #My Time at Sandrock

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boundinparchment · 2 years

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Hii I really love your works and the way you write it's literally so addicting, I can't get enough of the way you characterized dottore!! you did an amazing job

Also, if you're ok with it, would you mind sharing a bit about your own process of writing/give some advice? I have my own story and ideas but I just have a difficult time putting the whole thing into words, idk why

If not that's totally fine, I hope you take care of yourself and have an amazing day/night<3

I try to stick to as much canon characterization as possible, however little of it we have. I’m glad you’re enjoying so far and I hope I’m able to keep the good doctor in check as far as his personality!

I’m no professional, that’s for sure, but:

Write when you can, as much as you can. Some people prefer to work in chronological order, others hop around, but it’s important to establish it as a habit in general. I find that once it’s part of my day, it’s a little easier to start throughout the week. Do you only write 100 words? Okay, that’s progress! Did you write 2,000? Yay, also progress! (I follow this when I can; right now, I’m a bit off the rails of my routine in an attempt to find gym time).

Usually, if I can’t get started, I’ll just start writing the scene that comes to mind, even if it’s shit and not where i am in the story. It gets the concept out and makes it a little more tangible to work with. It also just straight up helps you start because your brain is already there. Everything is a draft to be edited and revised, it will never feel perfect the first time. It shouldn’t.

Prompts can be helpful if that doesn’t work. I personally only use them for specific purposes but that’s what they exist for. They’re springboards to help get you going.

Having friends or acquaintances online or IRL who write can also be a huge help. It can be motivating to see other people working on fics, and sometimes ideas have to be bounced around outside of your own head to get them to cooperate.

If you intend to share a fic, at the very least have a backlog if the fic isn’t completed. I do not recommend posting as you go unless the method works for you. It can be a one-way ticket to not seeing stories through (speaking from experience there!)

Oh, and read! Do audiobooks, physical, ebooks, whatever, but r e a d. Find books and authors you enjoy, and read whenever you can. It’s tempting to rely on fanfic for this. I recommend not doing so, or at least balancing it out with published books.

Read fanfic by all means, but don’t necessarily use it as your single source of written entertainment.

With fanfiction, headcanons or certain approaches get picked up by others and continued on outside of an author’s sphere, and eventually end up as fanon, as beloved or even completely replacing the canon characterization. Tropes get used and reused, as is their purpose. Fanfiction is a hobby, so everyone does their own thing, and it’s fun, but with few exceptions, it kind of just helps target commonalities and how to continue them or put a slight twist on them.

Published books will provide an idea of structure, pacing, character building and development, world building, etc. They’re completed works that underwent revisions and had a particular vision in mind. If you don’t know where to start, ask a librarian or a bookseller at a local bookstore (basically, ask a person, where you can have a conversation, rather than relying on an algorithm or a list. BookTok is garbage imo, do not rely on it.)

#formatting is shit because of copy/paste will fix later

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pinksaphira11 · 7 months

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goodness I've been watching SO MANY LORE VIDEOS. I finished TotK in like a few weeks (was trying to go fast and only get the important story things) and now I can finally enjoy TotK content, most of which is watching the large backlog of videos I wanted to watch but didn't want to risk spoilers for. XD I'm excited though, once I'm finished with these I can finally really start putting work into my AU and maybe finally get the ball rolling on it. Normally I don't just post my random thoughts on here, but I was bursting with too much emotion and had to share it somewhere, so I figured yelling into the void of the internet would suffice. XD I'm so excited! This is gonna be epic! These lore videos are fun! And informative! And I definitely needed to hear some things from them! But I'm starting to get impatient and sick of them! Kudos to all the people out there who over analyze Zelda btw, it's incredibly helpful and just fun for someone that likes to theorize the heck out of my favorite things. XD I fully expect literally no one to read this but if you did you're crazy but thank you for listening to me ramble anyway. :)

#rambling #I'm so excited for this au no one has any idea #I should probably delete this later #but I'll probably not wanna dig through my posts just to find it to delete it later XD #also I don't actually care that much so

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wildwood-reader · 2 years

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Reading Update #6

November 6, 2022

Recently Finished

GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

Edition: Paperback

Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Final Thoughts: After my disappointing ebook reads (see DNF section), I really needed something to cheer me up, something I know is good, and since it was Halloween that day, I figured it's a great time to re-read Pumpkinheads. This story is so cute and beautifully illustrated, and I love the little plot twist in the end, it always takes my forgetful brain by wonderful surprise. Highly, highly recommend it. 💖

FANFICTION

Like a Cat in the Dark by ReyloRobyn2011

Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Kudos: ✅️

Final Thoughts: This was a short fic for Reyloween. The first half was cute, I enjoyed that; the smut was only okay but didn't dampen my overall enjoyment too much. Fun, quick read.

Currently Reading

BOOKS

Magic of Thieves by C. Greenwood

Edition: ebook

Progress: 30%

Current Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thoughts: The writing is pretty good and I feel very invested in the main character and her journey so far, growing up in this group of bandits. Recently, there was a little bit that made me cringe slightly, but I hope that won't get worse as the main character gets older. Please be good. 🥲

FANFICTION

Pain is only a Pulse by ReyloRobyn2011

Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Progress: Chapter 4/?

Up-to-date? Yes

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: This is another (still ongoing) fic for Reyloween and it's really fun so far, I'm having a good time. I love the use of different forms of story-telling in this such as text chains and Instagram comment threads, it makes the story very vibrant. 👌🏻 I'm looking forward to the next update, especially thanks to that plot twist at the end of chapter 4. 👀

Heaven Has A Road But No One Walks It by Silvestris

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 48/48/?

Up-to-date? Yes

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: Ooh, there was so much good stuff in the new chapter, I had such a great time. 😋

Fall of the Crimson Flower by AkatsukiShin (in artistic collaboration with brilcrist)

Fandom: Word of Honor

Progress: Chapter 2.5/7/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 5.5

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: Jeeeeeeeeeen!!!!! 🥲 Continue reading ffs or you have to push this to your backlog, c'mon girl, get your life together, this is embarrassing! 🙈🙈🙈

That's all for finished and current reads. 👻 DNFs and my backlog are under the cut.

DNF'd¹

BOOKS

Marked by Kim Richardson

Edition: ebook

Stopped reading at: 44%

DNF'd because: Like I said last week, technically the writing was somewhat okay but BOY, did the copy editor sleep while they were editing this book? Did the author even have a copy editor, or do any copy edits themself? I found myself silently correcting things in my head so damn often. At the beginning, it was only mildly irritating but the more I read, the more frustrating it got. Not long after posting last week's reading update, I also found myself suddenly very disinterested in continuing it. Like, I could already tell that even if I did finish it, I would not read any of its sequels, so really, what would be the point? 😮‍💨 so, my DNF cycle continues².

¹ Currently, I'm going through my ebook library, which is full of books I've owned for 7+ years and never read, trying to see just how many of them I'm even still interested in, since my reading tastes have changed a bit since I got them. My process for this is reading the first chapter (or trying to at least) and then seeing how much it intrigues me. If it does, I'll continue it and (try to) finish it, if it doesn't it gets DNF'd.

² But really, I'm glad to finally go through all of these books; at least once I've given them a shot and found they don't hold my interest anymore I don't have to feel guilty anymore for them being unread.

BACKLOG³

BOOKS

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Edition: Paperback

Progress: Page 102/341

Current Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thoughts: This is a buddy read with my bestie, and right now it just doesn't fit the autumn vibe. We'll probably pick it back up some time after Halloween.

FANFICTION

Red Azalea by CeNedraRiva

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 112/135/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 23

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: The stars are still not aligned for me to continue it just yet, but I'm really excited for everything that's coming. 👻

Setting Fire To Our Insides by StarsAlignNomore

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 14/22/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 8

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: Y'know what, I think I will be ready to continue it soon; it fits my vibe hunger just enough, so we'll see. 😋

Impossible Life (Series) by Comfect

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Part 1/3

Finished Reading? No

Parts Behind: 2

Kudos: Part 1 ✅️

Thoughts: Not sure yet when I'll continue this, but I'm looking forward to Part 2.

³Backlog refers to books and fic that I've started reading but have since put on hold due to various reasons

#jengupdates #books #fanfiction #reading #booklr

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sunshinebbokari · 3 months

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seeking oc discord 1x1 / group krps

i'm rarely on tumblr, but i need a new outlet for finding partners. i'm open to being invited to any discord group rp if you think i'd be a good match. please send me a message if you do!

group preferences: minimal pre-shipping, plot-focused with regular events, ideally 1-2 faceclaim limit, active + friendly members, socially inclusive playerbase, room for player creativity / input / ideas, lgbt+ character friendly. modern supernatural, mafia/gang, idolverse preferred but open to anything not fantasy, historical, school, or smut based. i currently only write male characters.

otherwise here's my general 1x1 preferences.

i am 25+ so please keep your personal comfort level in mind. i prefer 25+ partners but am open to 21+.

please be comfortable with regular (pref daily) ooc talks, including initiating conversations. i'm highly neurodivergent and chronically ill, so i appreciate patience / understanding and will give you the same.

i'm only comfortable playing m/m pairings. i would also prefer a partner who defaults more to top/dom/switch/vers types because i am primarily a dom/switch/verse player. i dislike passive ship dynamics. if you're familiar with proper D/s dynamics, please come be my friend.

i write third person past tense with around 300 - 800 words per post, occasionally more or slightly less, but usually at least 2-3 paragraphs. i love introspection / detail (please give) but not overly so.

i haven't written smut in many years, but i'm open to it. i prefer slow burn ships with chemistry rather than pre-pairing characters together. this is why i would also prefer that we both play multiple characters in whatever roleplay we do.

i love intense plotting and worldbuilding, constantly throwing ideas around and coming up with new things to add. i also prefer running multiple plotlines at once in the same setting. i love gushing about our characters and everything we're doing. please bring lots of enthusiasm!

i exclusively write ocs with a variety of faceclaims. i have a backlog of 80-100 or so and will try to pick and choose from the backlog as we plot, though i may also make a new character. i have a couple fc pairs i like, but we can mutually discuss our favorites. my main groups are skz + ateez.

my ideal posting speed is multiple replies per day, but my health issues / mental state can sometimes make maintaining that a challenge esp because i'm out of practice. i like to aim for multiple times a week and i love staying involved/hyped ooc in the meantime.

i do have some triggers, but i am willing to thoroughly discuss them before roleplaying and i do still enjoy writing angsty/dark content.

if the way you roleplay is by talking to your characters in your head as if they're real people, i am your guy.

concepts i enjoy: modern supernatural, idolverse (with all the drama), scifi futuristic with political junk (eg: the expanse, liu cixin works), mafia/gangs, street racing. throwing proper D/s dynamics into the mix. open to considering others.

concepts i dislike: smut-focused, historical settings, fantasy-geared, school settings.

please send me a message to get in contact if you're interested or have any questions! i promise i'm nicer than the text wall makes me look.

#kpop roleplay #oc krp #krp ad #krp lit #krp discord #discord krp

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ackerfics · 3 years

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slow dance with you — mikasa ackerman

— goth!mikasa ackerman x soft!female reader (modern au)

— warnings: slight mention of alcohol, pure rotten fluff

— summary: after gaining some courage from the drinks she had in the party and from the advice she got from her friends, mikasa is ready to become your girlfriend.

— word count: 3.9k

— author’s notes: i would like to thank the anon who gave me some ideas for goth!mikasa, you are so amazing !! thank you for the small headcanons. and since we’re on the topic of writing abt goth!mikasa, i couldn’t help but pair her up with a classic soft girl who likes to wear pink at every time of the day. this dynamic is based on marceline and princess bubblegum so i hope you enjoy !!

p.s. the reader will have dyed hair here, if this is not your cup of tea, just let this fly by your dash.

listen to this while reading.

“She dyed her hair pink,” came a dazed yet mesmerized tone.

“You’re staring at her again.”

Mikasa jumped on her seat at Eren’s nonchalant observation. She whipped her head to her best friend, his attention directed on his laptop, hands flying across the keyboard as he typed out the next few words in his essay. Noticing the incredulous look the black-haired girl was shooting him, Eren rose an eyebrow before rolling his eyes. Mikasa huffed, crossing her eyes with a subtle hue of red on her cheeks, complimenting her dark lipstick. “I am not staring,” she mumbled. “Shut up, Eren.” She looked away from her subject of interest but continued shooting small glances.

Eren sighed, running his hand through his hair. He was always one of the witnesses of his best friend slash sister being meek around her crush. At first, he was teasing her because not going to lie, Mikasa’s crush is a pretty person but as their years in college made them juniors, Eren will be the reckless idiot that he is (courtesy of Armin) and set Mikasa up. But he liked to live his life out first — Mikasa will probably curse him with that spellbook she bought from the antique bookshop they encountered in their little exploration back when they were first-years. “Mikasa, why don’t you take the chance and confess to her? It’s not going to be the end of the world.”

“If she rejects me? What then?”

“Then that’s the next problem that you will have to face.” The brown-haired boy turned back to his essay. He stared at his laptop screen blankly before spewing out curses. “Now, I forgot what to write next! Damn it.” He picked up his iced coffee and drank from the metal straw as his life depended on it.

Mikasa rolled her eyes at her best friend’s first statement. “Gee, thanks for the advice. It was very much appreciated.”

“Glad to be of help.”

There was a thud on their table that made the two look up from their respective activities. Eren had a scowl on his face because for the nth time this day, he was interrupted from finishing his essay (for fuck’s sake, he doesn’t want to fail Ackerman’s class). Mikasa blinked from scrolling through her crush’s Twitter account (the last post she wrote was about how Levi Ackerman, Mikasa’s relative and everyone’s Anthropology professor) and fixed her attention on their blonde friend, Armin. He looked too bright after a round of morning classes, something that Eren doesn’t comprehend. The blue-eyed young man has always been the rational and genius third of their little group. There wasn’t a time where Armin’s advice got a situation to erupt in flames. It was either the situation became an inferno instead (Eren) or nobody had the guts to do it (Mikasa).

“Hey, guys!” Armin greeted, arranging his side of the table, meticulously placing each component of his lunch in front of him. “How were your morning classes?”

“Shit,” Eren spat out.

“Of course, it is.”

“They were alright,” Mikasa shrugged.

“Figured.” Armin glanced at his friend’s sides of the table, nodding at Mikasa’s balanced lunch while blankly staring at Eren’s laptop. The device should’ve been a good tray of lunch. “I thought you were eating lunch, Eren? That’s what you said in your text.”

“Can’t,” the brown-haired boy huffed. He gestured at his iced coffee without taking his eyes off the laptop. “I guess, this counts as my lunch.”

“When’s that essay due?”

“In about,” Eren looked at the time on his laptop, “three hours. Ackerman is my first period later. That fucking terror professor has no mercy when it comes to this. Can he just piss off for once? Mikasa, do you even tell him to get laid? Because I think that would solve his attitude. I swear to God, he’s getting more pissed every damn day.”

“Wow, I guess getting my short, grumpy, middle-aged uncle to start his sex life will be a nice conversation starter,” Mikasa drawled, half-lidded, bored eyes reading every tweet her crush has posted for the entire week. Mikasa couldn’t help but smile at one post about a new movie her crush just watched, saying that it was now a new favorite. She was tempted to give a heart on every single post but that would it weird because they never followed each other despite the small interactions they shared in between classes. With a sigh, she looked up, only to be met with Eren’s unamused stare. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “What? Do you think that would work, Eren? Levi is probably a virgin his whole life and will continue his record until he’s all shriveled up.” Eren blanched at the image. “Just finish your homework and stop complaining.”

“I’m trying!”

“You’re not trying hard enough, that’s for sure. If you just started that essay the day he assigned it to your class, you would have finished it way before the deadline.”

Eren pointed at Mikasa with narrowed eyes. “Don’t even go there, Mikasa. I have a life aside from being a sleep-deprived college student.”

“I mean, she’s got a point, Eren.” Armin immediately rose his hands in defense when Eren shifted his glare from the black-haired young woman to him. “You always tend to procrastinate in the most impeccable timing that we sometimes have to remind you of your backlogs. And now, here you are, doing things last minute when you could’ve prevented the rush by doing it immediately.”

“Thanks for slapping the reality to my face, you two,” Eren dryly replied, going back to his essay for the final time. “And by the way, Armin, give Mikasa some solid advice that she will finally follow because she’s making googly eyes at Miss Pretty two tables from us a couple of minutes before you arrived. You know, the love of her life?”

Armin roamed his eyes in the lunch hall and sure enough, there was Mikasa’s goddess sitting with her group of friends. There was that brown-haired girl that was dubbed as the Potato Girl for eating mashed potatoes during Ackerman’s class (the professor told the class his rules of no eating or going out of the room while he’s discussing the moment the girl took a spoonful of her snack). A young man with a buzz cut snorting at what the brown-haired girl said. Armin remembered sharing a class with him. He never got the chance to introduce himself because the young man was sleeping throughout the lecture. There was usually a fourth person in the little group but it seems like he was running late or already in his class. That person was Eren’s sworn frenemy, the reason for that relationship was unknown to this day.

The three people at the table all stood up, the brown-haired girl and the taller young man leading the way. Armin instantly had an idea.

“Hey, [Name]!”

Mikasa nearly had whiplash from turning her head to Armin. “Armin?!” she hissed under her breath, face becoming hotter when you looked at their table, a bright smile lighting up your face. You called your friends, telling them to go on ahead without you, to which they nodded before walking towards the trio’s table. Her brain wasn’t processing the moment you lifted a hand to wave at whoever you were smiling at. Mikasa wished it was her. “Fuck,” she whispered, registering how cute you look. You donned a salmon pink plaid sundress and a white cardigan, matching with the bubblegum pink locks you let down. Her heart was hammering a thousand miles per second and there was no hope of stopping it.

“Hi, Armin,” you replied, stopping a few feet from Mikasa, who looked away from you to fix her wide-eyed stare on her empty plate.

“I was just going to ask if you already have a partner in our Molecular Biology lab?” The blue-eyed young man then turned to Mikasa and Eren. “I’m in the same class as her this year.”

“As if calling her here wasn’t that obvious,” Eren murmured, still typing out his essay.

“I don’t need your dry remarks right now, Eren, don’t want to ruin the atmosphere. So, [Name], you have a partner?”

You shook your head. “I think not. It would be great if we could be partners though. I need a break from the people I’ve been partnered with throughout college.”

He gave you a sympathetic smile. It was true, though. Most of the grouping during your first years of college were all set up by the teachers so the students really had no say on the matter at hand. Even Armin was exposed to a variety of students, most of them being too slacking to participate or too overbearing with their suggestions that they have no plans of doing. He nodded with a smile, “I’ll be sending an email to Professor Zoe about this and we’re done.” He glanced behind you, noticing that your two friends weren’t there anymore. “I’m sorry for holding you up. I’m pretty sure you have a class after lunch. See you around?”

You waved him off. “It’s fine, I told them to go ahead since Sasha has a class scheduled right after lunch and Connie had to nap in his dorm. And I don’t have any class the whole afternoon, except for an online session so yeah, see you around, Armin.” You acknowledge Eren with a nod, to which he responded with a cool expression (as if his mind wasn’t a mess from the cramming), and gave a soft smile to Mikasa, “Bye, Mikasa.” And you were off to your dorm, leaving behind two amused men and an awestruck Mikasa.

The black-haired young woman was hyperventilating the moment you disappeared from the lunch hall, hands clenched on top of her black shorts. She regretted wearing a thin, long-sleeved striped sweater under her black shirt because it was so fucking hot after that encounter. Her entire body was vibrating with too many emotions all at once, short-circuiting until she became a heap of flustered mess in front of her best friends. “Oh, my God,” she muttered like a prayer. She definitely needed one after seeing you all pretty in pink. It was too much for her soul because you two are a perfect match this time. Her grommet belt and choker were not helping because she couldn’t fucking breathe.

“Mikasa, breathe,” Armin reminded beside her. “Yeah, that’s it.”

Once she regained her composure, Mikasa realized she probably looked like a gaping fish. “Oh, my God! I’m so sure that this time, she thinks I’m weird. My name is the only one she mentioned aside from Armin which is saying something because she’s classmates with him. But why did she say goodbye to me? Oh, my God, she’s giving me so many butterflies right now.”

“Your gay is showing,” Eren pointed out calmly.

“Eren, not the time,” Armin murmured, hovering his hands over Mikasa’s back.

“Just wanted to alleviate the tense atmosphere. No need to get so worked up.”

“But, Mikasa, your feelings for her are showing.”

Eren clapped his hands, pointing a finger at Armin. “That, my friend, is a genius observation.”

Ignoring the green-eyed man, Armin continued, “I think it’s time you confess to her. Three years is a pretty long time pining for a person. In the end, her knowing your feelings will be inevitable. That is if you have no plans in letting her know.”

“Of course, I want her to know,” Mikasa murmured, fiddling with the sleeves of her striped long-sleeves.

“I heard that there’s a party this Saturday in Reiner’s frat,” Eren told them, meeting both of his friends’ eyes over the top of his laptop screen. “We’re in the same football team with Jean. The horseface is a friend of your girl,” he nodded at Mikasa, who erupted in a sputter of her crush not being her girl, “okay, not your girl — yet. As I was saying, [Name] is good friends with Jean and if Jean is there, Miss Pretty in Pink will be, too. That’s your chance to ask her out, Mikasa.” He met the blinking gray eyes of his best friend. “The question is, are you up for that?”

“You were staring at her so hard at lunch again.”

You looked up from your book to acknowledge Sasha entering your dorm room after a whole afternoon of packed lectures. The brown-haired young woman was so tired that she immediately plopped on top of her bed on the other side of the room. At first, you didn’t register what she said because you were preoccupied with your book. You chose to indulge the night in a good book because it has been a long time since you’ve done that. With furrowed eyebrows, you asked, “Can you repeat what you said, Sasha?”

Sasha tilted her head to look at you with one eye uncovered by her duvet. Her hair fluttered after puffing out a breath of disbelief. “Oh, don’t pretend that you have no idea, Miss Pretty in Pink.”

“That’s because I didn’t catch what you said,” you replied, gesturing at your novel. “And what’s with that Miss Pretty in Pink nickname? Did some of the students around campus started that?”

“Sort of,” Sasha hummed. She sat up from her bed and took out her phone from her backpack lying on the floor. You watched the whole time she stretched her arm without changing her position on her bed. With her phone in hand, she opened her Twitter account. “Actually, a friend of mine tweeted it, wait, I’m just going to scroll through my Likes tab to find her tweet. Oh, here it is.” Sasha showed you her screen, patiently waiting for you to take the device from her hand to get a closer look. Her hopeful smile turned into a small pout when you made no moves in doing so. “Take my phone and see for yourself.”

You sighed, following her pleas. “It’s probably just someone from the volleyball team. You know how some of them never stopped following me around campus. Can’t they take the hint that they’re not my type?”

“This person is much better than those himbo simps following you around. She’s an amazing person behind that shy exterior of hers.”

You only hummed, blankly staring at your roommate’s phone before your eyes widened in realization. Your eyes skimmed over and over again at the handle, mkackerman, beside the display picture of a short-haired girl in pigtails. It was the girl that managed to capture your attention during your first year at Eldia University. The girl with an air of mystique that the stars are jealous of. You always admired her from afar, appreciating her style each day. But your admiration was getting replaced with something more at the five words she tweeted.

You’re so pretty in pink.

Roses bloomed in your cheeks, complimenting your pink hair the longer you gawked at her short post.

“What?” you breathed out after a full minute of silence.

“Mm-hmm,” Sasha hummed with a smug smile. “And who dyed her hair pink impulsively last weekend?” She intentionally looked at you with sharp eyes, her smile turning into a smirk full of mischief. In actuality, Sasha knew of Mikasa’s crush on you since they were acquainted with each other. It was an embarrassing first meeting between the two, with Sasha latching on a random person’s arm in the station and it turned out to be Mikasa. The two became great friends after that, well, after Mikasa lowered her guard down, leaving her pocket knife safely tucked underneath her checkered skirt. It was Sasha who managed to make Mikasa confess of her undying love for you, the former squealing her heart out in the library. (They were kicked out after that.)

“I don’t know,” you denied. “There could be a couple of people in the campus who thought that spontaneously dyeing their hair pink is an awesome idea.” You threw your hands in the air, giving back Sasha her phone right after.

“Trust me. Mikasa doesn’t have any interest in any other girl other than a special someone I know.”

You chose to ignore her, turning back on the discarded book on top of your covers. The words flew around your mind, aggravating you until you placed the novel on your lap. A defeated sigh came out of your lips. “Okay, let’s go out for some dinner.” You stretched, switching your pajama bottoms for a pair of loose jeans, and leaving your button-down pajama top on. The people in public will never know your top is a part of a pajama set. As you ducked down to roll the bottom of your jeans, you hear Sasha’s bed shuffling. Sitting up, you regarded her with an inquisitive raise of an eyebrow. “Spill it.”

“Oh, alright. Jean told me to bring you to a party.”

You stood up, patting your lap of imaginary dust, placing your things and book inside your tote bag. “Tell him no. I have a written exam coming up and I don’t want to fail one of my majors. He can manage without one person in our friendship group.”

Sasha huffed, mimicking your actions. “This will be the last time!”

“You said that the previous party you pulled me to.” You narrowed your eyes at her. “I couldn’t get up for a whole day because of that party. Don’t forget your wallet.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sasha threw her wallet in her small bag, throwing the strap over her shoulder. “I promise that this will be the last time, I’ll even call Connie for the witness of my pact!” She placed a heartfelt palm over her chest, lifting her chin a little in the air. “I solemnly swear I am … keeping my promise.”

“You hesitated.”

The brown-haired girl giggled sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. “It’s kind of hard not to continue the quote from Harry Potter. You can’t blame me for that!”

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

“You better because Mikasa will be there.”

You blinked at her statement. “What does this have to do with her?”

Your roommate looped her arm with yours, pulling you in the direction of the elevators. “Because,” it sounded like she was talking to a child, “you were staring at her earlier during lunch period. I understand that because Mikasa looks so good every second of the day but there was something different about the way you’re staring at her.” She tapped her finger on her chin. “Let me see, there’s some pizzaz there.”

“The pizzaz you’re talking about is me admiring her make-up — nothing more.”

“Whatever you say,” came Sasha’s sing-song voice. “I will be the first one who will say ‘I told you so’ to your face when you two start dating.”

The night of the party was not as bizarre as you thought.

Sure, there were people having shots in the living room but there weren’t any extreme scenarios lying around unlike some of the parties Connie and Jean went to. It was mostly catching up with old friends or making connections with strangers by ranting about the education system of your university. All in all, it was a fun night, yet here you are, holding your cup of beer with two hands as you craned your neck to get a glimpse of Sasha. Your roommate disappeared as you turned to get a shot, leaving a confused you behind. To think you specifically asked Sasha to be by your side throughout the night. You cursed in your head, you being reliant on the presence of others surfacing. Your stress made you tip your head back, downing your drink in a go.

Without anything to do, you leaned back on the wall. Mind hazy, eyes glassy, you searched the living room for a spunky brown-haired girl that you were supposed to be buddies with. Instead of Sasha, you met gazes with a girl with stars for her eyes. She was equally mesmerized as she was staring straight at you. Everything became silent as your heartbeat resonated with hers. She was beautiful in her all-black outfit — a leather pencil skirt over fishnet stockings, cropped tank top, and combat boots. The two of you are contrasting with one another; her lipstick so dark whilst yours shone a pretty coral, her hair framing her face in a midnight pixie cut whilst yours were in pink waves cascading down, her entire appearance blending in the background whilst you were a beacon with your coordinating soft outfit.

God damn it, Sasha was right.

You are definitely falling in love with Mikasa Ackerman.

Mikasa who you saw reading tarot cards of her blonde friend. Mikasa who you bumped into during the opening ceremony two years ago. Mikasa who you discovered to have an affinity for electric guitars when you stumbled in one of the auditoriums, her department’s band having an audition. Mikasa who never meets your gaze because you make her nervous at how effortless you carry yourself.

But tonight, she never looked away from you, her eyes having an adoring yet determined shine.

She stopped in front of you, mere inches separating you two. You looked up at her, her combat boots making her taller than she already is. You saw her eyes flick to your lips, your breath hitching at the thought of having her dark lipstick on any part of your body. With a careful tilt of her head, Mikasa ducked her head a little to fully meet your eyes face to face. “I saw you’re alone,” her voice is still soft-spoken as if she was afraid that she was scaring you. It might be because of the liquid and verbal courage she got from drinking and listening to her best friends because Mikasa had no plans of letting you go tonight. “I thought you needed company.”

A breath came out of your lips, your proximity making Mikasa feel it. “Uhm, if it’s you, I don’t see why not?”

A large smile brightened Mikasa’s face before it dimmed as she lowered her gaze to your lips once more. “I’ve been waiting three years for this.”

Maybe your mind was too hazy with alcohol or it could be because you accepted your feelings for the black-haired girl, so you whispered, lips brushing against hers in the most addicting way possible, “Just kiss me, Mikasa.”

Her lips softly moved against yours in a slow dance, the inches separating you disappearing as Mikasa wrapped an arm around your waist. You lift a hand to cup her jaw, tilting your head to deepen the kiss and to brush your tongue with hers. You felt her shiver, biting your lower lip to make you open up more, with your whimpers tingling her hearing. Mikasa pulled away, trailing firm kisses on the skin where your shoulder meets your neck. Seeing the black kiss mark on your skin, she smiled and placed fluttering kisses on your neck up to your cheek. Opening your eyes, the silver grays in front of you have never been so beautiful. You returned the favor of placing kiss marks. You stood on your tiptoes, feeling Mikasa’s hand steadying you, and left a coral pink mark on the corner of her mouth.

Mikasa dipped her head, placing her lips close to your ear.

“I want to slow dance with you,” she sung to your ear. “I know all the other boys are tough and smooth and I got the blues. I want to slow dance with you.” Mikasa hid a small smile at your flustered expression. “So can I be your vampire queen, Bonnie?”

The moment you said yes, there was a shout in the crowds. “Hell yeah, your plan worked, Eren, Armin!”

You and Mikasa stared at each other with wide eyes before laughing.

“Let’s go ditch this party.”

“Thought you’d never ask, Bonnie.”

#attack on titan #aot #mikasa #Mikasa Ackerman #mikasa x reader #mikasa ackerman x reader #mikasa ackerman x you #aot x reader #snk x reader #snk imagines #snk anime #goth!mikasa #i am a sucker for this dynamic #attack on titan x reader

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whatifyoulivelikethat · 4 years

Text

erotica, m | myg

pairing(s): yoongi x reader

summary: Your roommate, Min Yoongi, catches you masturbating. You catch him masturbating. Well then, dear reader... This should be interesting, shouldn’t it?

warnings: rated M (18+) for language, smut (fem reader, f and m-masturbation, cum eating); non-idol!AU; switches between Yoongi’s POV and your POV

Being in the music industry was rough. It meant long nights struggling for inspiration, fervent mania when it did hit, and crippling anxiety when it was being evaluated. But being a music producer was all Min Yoongi ever wanted.

He had given up a lot to chase his dreams, moving to the big city alone, friendless, trying to find his way, living meal by meal. He needed a roommate, but finding a trustworthy one was difficult. Friend of a friend of a friend and he finally found someone who seemed alright. A young woman in the middle of grad school, who was looking for a place to stay. At first Yoongi thought it would be weird to room with a girl, but one conversation and he realized it would be a good match. Her first question was if he was going to have guests over often. Of course not, Yoongi had music to work on. Her second question was if he was clean, because she couldn’t stand a dirty living situation.

In short, he now had a quiet, paying roommate who kept to herself, holed up in her room all day studying or rushing to class.

Yoongi worked for a small entertainment company, but he also had a home studio because he couldn’t afford to rent a space. This was enough for now. He asked if she was fine with a little noise and she responded by holding up her over-the-ear headphones.

But Min Yoongi had a secret.

Nothing that incriminating. Nothing like drugs or a gambling problem or a recurring STD or something like that. It was in innocent secret, a very small one.

Min Yoongi liked to read erotica blogs.

Now, Yoongi could watch porn. He could go through all the hoops and find some to jack off to. That wasn’t why he preferred to read smut stories online. He just liked to use his own imagination. He liked closing his eyes and painting the scene, but he wasn’t creative enough to dream up all the freaky scenarios he could read online. Some people had some… big brain energy. Some wrinkly brains. He was pretty sure all his gray matter was used on music, so why not let someone else craft the story for him? It took the work out the equation and he could get off. Win-win.

Also, it was much easier to hide it in public. All people would see is him scrolling on his phone, the same thing everyone else did.

Yoongi had his favorites he went back to. They were updated often. Every week there was something new. He checked at least once a week, since that was his usual routine his body wanted. And it was fine. No one knew. He could do it whenever he wanted and relatively quickly. So, all in all, not that bad of a secret, really.

It was six in the morning and Yoongi was scrolling on his phone, mildly horny. Oh! One of his favorite blogs had updated late in the night. Nice. He chewed on his lower lip, reading the summary.

There was a knock on his door.

He nearly dropped his phone. The door was locked, thankfully.

“Yoongi-ssi?” He heard his roommate yawn sleepily. “Did you drink the last of the milk?”

He screwed up his face to think. “Maybe? I’ll buy some the next time I’m at the store.”

He heard the sounds of teeth being brushed and a muffled, “Nah, I’ll place a delivery order right now. I need stuff.”

And that was that. He heard her wander off.

Okay, a very, very, very small part of him did kind of want to get caught. Not embarrassingly or shamefully caught. Just… maybe if it ended in something kind of sexy. Like the stories.

That was would fun.

Yoongi went back to his phone.

You cracked your neck in the mirror, yawning again as you brushed your teeth. You rubbed your eyes, inspecting your dark circles. Ugh. Maybe a little concealer today couldn’t hurt.

You had stayed up late again, writing.

You hadn’t meant to. It happened every once in a while, when the scene played out in your head and you needed to write it down immediately. When inspiration struck, you couldn’t let it run away from you. Sometimes the best things come in short bursts of energy.

At least you didn’t have class today. You were caught up on your classes, so you could spend today writing for your blog. What you posted last night was written several days ago. You had a slight backlog so that you could review things multiple times before posting. Even if it was something as meaningless as smut posted on the internet, you took that shit seriously. This was your outlet and you wanted to personally like everything you posted.

If what you wrote didn’t make you horny, it wasn’t going to make anyone else horny either.

You spat and rinsed out your mouth.

You stared at yourself in the mirror, your tired eyes looking back to you. Maybe you needed some socialization. Real socialization, not you eventually venturing outside because you needed to get laid for… research purposes. You chuckled. Well, you weren’t going to get that here. All your male roommate ever did was work on his music or eat. Which was alright; people were allowed to do what makes them happy. And besides, it was better that way, because you did actually need to study and eventually write your thesis. Less distraction at home was always better.

You turned off the lights in the bathroom and stepped out.

A strange noise came from Min Yoongi’s door.

You blinked, staring at the door several feet away from you. Then you shrugged. He probably just tripped. He was kind of clumsy sometimes, knocking shit over with his fat ass. Well, not really, but it was funny to think of it that way.

You went back to your room.

Oh fuck.

Yoongi stared at his door, clutching the toilet paper roll he hid in his nightstand. He was usually quite skilled at keeping quiet, but he accidentally moaned a little too loud. His hands were still sticky. He waited.

Her bedroom door down the hall closed and he sighed with relief.

When you got back to your room, you made the online grocery order. You needed pads anyway. Then you checked your blog. At this point, you had some familiar usernames you watched for. People rarely commented. Maybe their hands were busy or something. You could forgive. Besides, there were likes and that was enough. To be honest, you never expected anyone to actually do more than read. It felt kind of nice, knowing someone out there was willing to take one second to press one button to let you know.

It made you grateful, even if it was a small thing.

Your eye paused at one particular username. You only noticed it because it was gendered.

daeguboy0613.

Huh.

For the life of you, you couldn’t understand why someone would put their location and gender in their username. Maybe it was a reference to their favorite singer or something. Probably. You shrugged it off and flopped on your bed.

You fell asleep.

Big surprise since you had posted at four in the morning and only gotten up to brush your teeth because your mouth was too disgusting to exist. Ah well. Sleep was good.

You woke up, super groggy. You stared out the window, seeing that it was already dark. With a sigh, you looked into the tiny mirror beside your bed. Yikes. A master yikes even. You climbed your hair with your fingers and got out of bed, your purple pajamas rumpled and crazy. Maybe a shower would do you good. Or a bath. Oh! That sounded nice.

You looked around for your slippers. You found one. Ack, so annoying. You weren’t a messy person, but when you were preoccupied with something, you forgot everything else. You straightened your room and found the other slipper. It was in your blankets, oof.

You opened your door and realized you forgot clean underwear. You stuck your head out, looking around. Faint bass was coming from Yoongi’s room. He’d be there for a while. Eh. You still had your violet pajamas, with long sleeves and long pants. Fully covered. He wasn’t going to know in the two seconds it would take you to get to your room. A good shake of the fleece fabric and the wrinkles would fall out. You’d look way less crazy after a good bath.

You hummed to yourself as you made your way to the bathroom.

Yoongi rubbed his neck, frowning.

It wasn’t coming out the way he wanted. The sound just wasn’t right. He leaned back in his chair, furrowing his brow. Maybe he needed to move on for now. Leave it and work on something else. He spun around in his chair, lazing about. He hadn’t heard his roommate make much noise all day. Was she dead? Yoongi heard the water running in the bathroom. Oh. She was taking a shower.

He thought about her for a moment. She was generally calm person, quiet and reserved. The only time he had ever seen her panic was when she was late to class, which wasn’t often. Other than that, she was kind of boring. It was like the only thing she thought about was school. She was pretty in a casual sort of way. Yoongi rarely saw her dressed up, but the few times she left at night, she always looked very nice in a short black dress and black heels. Probably a recurring outfit she used at every outing. He could respect that. Being strapped for cash meant a lot of repeating outfits.

Anyway, they didn’t interact much at all. They had their respective things to do, so they co-existed in a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship. It was nice not having to be distracted by a bad roommate, so for that he was grateful.

You pushed back the shower curtain, dripping water.

That was nice. You waited as the bathwater drained. Your hair was wet, kind of by accident, but whatever, you needed to wash your hair anyway. Your brushed water off your body absentmindedly, poking your nipples. They were hard from the cold air.

Hm.

The water gurgled as you rubbed them slowly, sighing softly. That was nice. When was the last time you masturbated? You couldn’t remember. You looked at the bathroom door. It wasn’t locked, but what was Yoongi going to do? Open the door on you? Yeah, right. You pinched and pulled your nipples, sucking in a breath. It was nice to touch yourself, to cup your breasts and press them together, grazing your nails over the hardened nubs, imagining someone else’s hands touching you, wanting you.

You slid against the wall, moaning quietly as you played with your breasts, water beading on your skin. One of your hands slid down between your legs and slid around your folds. The wetness of your pussy was different from water, thicker, more viscous. Your eyes closed as you stroked your clit, slow and gentle and pretty. Imagining a tongue there, licking you softly, giving you just the right amount of pressure to build your arousal. No rushing, letting it last.

You ended up sliding to your knees, spreading your thighs wide to give your hand space. Your other hand played with your nipples leisurely, pinching and pulling, making your heart jump. You were quiet, barely making any noise.

Drip.

Your eyes opened hazily. They shifted slowly to the faucet. It was dripping water. Slow, fat plops hitting the bathtub.

Drip.

You pressed harder on your clit, rubbing roughly.

Drip.

Your eyes shifted to the silver faucet again. It was right there, after all.

Fuck it.

You turned the water on again, setting it to a nice temperature. You waited impatiently, touching the water. It heated up quickly. You bit your lower lip, and then raised the temperature a tad. It torrented down and, for a split second, you thought you weren’t going to do it.

Then you adjusted your hips and planted your ass on bottom of the bathtub and slid down to the water.

Instant, unyielding. You shivered, the blasting water jet-streaming right into your pussy. Holy fuck. You slid down a little more and moaned, hoping the water masked your sound as the high-pressure water smacked your clit, lowering to your elbows to get a better angle. Heart beating fast, legs folded flat against the edge of the tub, leaning your head back, tits straight up. It was a difficult position to keep, but a rewarding one, because the water was getting you off fast, gentle enough that you weren’t in pain but hard enough that you could really feel it radiate all over you, the heat adding to the pleasure.

So close, so close…

You closed your eyes, thighs burning, core tightening as your entire body began to throb. A slow hiss escaped your lips as you felt your orgasm unfurl and hit you, wave after wave of delicious pleasure swimming through you, spreading to every point of your body.

“Are you drowning or wasting water, the fuck is–”

Min Yoongi’s voice was trying to cut through your reverie but it was impossible because you were too far gone now, legs collapsing inward, body falling flat against the tub. The door was open and he was staring at you, eyes so wide they looked like dinner plates. Water flowed over your hot body, blanketing you. Slowly, slowly, you came down, like an addict losing their high. His mouth was slightly open, kitten-like. His white t-shirt stuck to his chest and black track pants far too oversized for his slim legs.

You might have been ashamed if you were younger, but you were older now. If he couldn’t handle you getting off every once in a while, then he was the one who needed help.

You reached up and turned the water off, panting. You quirked an eyebrow at him.

“If you’re so worried about it, I’ll pay the whole water bill this month,” you gasped, chest heaving as you glared back at him.

Yoongi sputtered back to life.

“N-no, that’s fine.”

And then he slammed the door.

You sighed, frowning. Now things were going to get weird.

Holy shit.

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.

He just witnessed his roommate masturbating with the goddamn water faucet.

Yoongi scrambled into his room and onto his bed, red in the face. He hadn’t meant to. He thought something weird was going on when he heard all the water. And, oh fuck, something was, but not the something he thought. His mind replayed the image for him, her legs spread, her breasts glistening with water, nipples hard and out, head tipped back and mouth open, tongue peeking out.

He was still hard.

His heart was thumping in his ribcage. Yoongi grabbed his phone and flipped through his liked posts. He had to get off. Now. Anything else could wait.

He slid in, hard, rough, gasping at her pretty lips opened and her eyes closed in bliss, enjoying his cock, just his, enjoying the way he felt, enjoying his hips slapping into hers and his cock twitching inside her.

Impatiently, he reached down and fished his dick out of his pants, sliding to his back and pushing his track pants down. Oh fuck, sweet relief. Yoongi stroked himself, reading, imagining her wet body, her slick hair, those fucking delicious breasts right in front of his face. Had Yoongi ever fantasized about his roommate before? Hell no, he wasn’t a damn pervert. But he was doing it now, because, fuck, how could he not? How could he not want to fuck her, press himself against her, hearing that soft moan against his ear, her wet body and smooth skin on his?

Yoongi dropped his phone, pushing his head back against the pillows, closing his eyes. Yes, he’d jacked off in the morning, but it was already late and he was so fucking horny it didn’t take very long for him to bite the inside of his cheek, trying to muffle his noise, trying to silence himself as the familiar wind-up came. He cracked his eyes open. His door was slightly ajar. Had he left it like that? Whatever, she was probably too embarrassed to come over here anyway.

Yoongi shut his eyes again, a soft cry leaving his lips as he chased his orgasm.

Then he felt it. A presence to his left. But he was so close, so close, so close, he couldn’t stop. His hand moved at a feverish pace, spreading the pre-cum over his length, adding to the pleasure. He felt lips on his cheek, her soft breathy moans against his skin. Was he imagining it? Then her lips on his, softly licking his tongue, so sensual and sexy that he was losing it, moaning into her mouth. He felt her hot breath glide into his and he groaned, too loud this time, feeling his cock twitch and spurt his cum everywhere, sliding down his hand, his wrist, onto his pants and shirt.

Yoongi panted, opening his eyes.

His roommate moved away from his face. Eyes dark in the low light of his room, pupils blown wide with lust. Her hair was still damp, slicked against her purple pajama shirt. He didn’t know what to do. Hos hand was a mess, covered in his cum. She leaned forward, tongue sliding out.

“Um…”

His thought was cut off as her warm tongue ran over his knuckles, scooping up his cum and eating it off his hand. His eyes went wide as she licked all around his hand, his fingers, dipping her tongue into the crevices. Yoongi could barely process what was happening right now. Was his nerdy, school-obsessed roommate licking his cum off his hand after he just masturbated? After he just witnessed her masturbating? Her mouth enveloped the head and part of his hand and Yoongi moaned, feeling her tongue press against the tip and tease the sensitive opening, licking it all clean.

After a sufficient amount, she removed her mouth and backed off. Yoongi blinked blearily, slowly detaching his hand from his limp cock. He didn’t know what to say. Or do, really. Her eyes were on his phone, screen still lit up. Then she shifted her eyes to his raised hand. Gently, she took him by the wrist and brought his hand to her face, placing his fingers in her mouth, sucking on them.

Yoongi was speechless.

Her tongue slipped between each finger, prodding around his joints, slurping slightly. She was still looking at his phone, eyes pensive. Yoongi wished his cock would wake up, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I…”

Her eyes went to his, his fingers still in her mouth. Shit. His brain tried to process the thought, trying not to fixate on her pink tongue moving amongst his fingers.

“I can’t fuck you…” he mumbled, swallowing. “I already came twice today.”

She nodded. Slowly, she pulled his fingers out of her mouth, joint by joint. His body jerked at the movement, aroused but unable to get hard. Strings of saliva snapped as she removed her mouth from his hand. She turned it around and licked his palm lightly, making him shiver.

“You like my blog?” she finally said.

He blinked.

“What?”

She pointed to his phone. “That’s my blog.”

Yoongi’s eyes went wide. He stared at his phone and then at her. Then back at the phone. Then back at her. What? She cocked an eyebrow, smiling at him.

“So, you’re daeguboy0613, huh?”

He blinked rapidly. “I… what… ah…?”

“Guess that makes sense when you like my posts at two in the morning and such.”

She climbed on the bed – where were her pajama pants? Her panties? – and laid down next to him.

“You don’t seem like the type to read erotica,” she said absentmindedly. “I thought only girls read erotica.”

Yoongi stared at the ceiling. “Obviously not, since I’m a guy.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t stereotype like that.”

Silence.

“We can always do more in the morning, Yoongi-ssi.”

Two things happened that day. One, Yoongi’s secret was exposed. And two, the source of Yoongi’s secret passed out in bed next to him, head on his shoulder.

34+35

masterpost

#yoongi x reader #min yoongi x reader #bts smut #yoongi smut #min yoongi smut #min yoongi x you #yoongi x you

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storytellerofuntoldlegends · 3 years

Text

an icarus and his sun: chapter 7

A/N: scott's pov, finally!! as well as more of my "the empires smp gals deserve to go off, actually" agenda. also check out this rad art submitted by @dancinglifeboat! i also would like to apologize ahead of time, the updates from here on out are probably going to slow down a bit because while i am still extremely motivated to write this fic, it hasn't been as high as it was for the upcoming chapters as it has been for the previous ones. i honestly don't even know HOW i was so motivated to write several chapters so fast that i actually had a backlog of them for a bit and was able to post them daily. so the updates will likely slow down to being every couple of days or maybe every couple of weeks, depending on time/motivation. but yeah! anyway, enjoy!

Warnings: lying/manipulation, threats of violence, past violence, arguing, heartbreak

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

Scott felt just about sick to his stomach every time he looked at the slimeball Jimmy had given him. It was such a stupid little thing to get emotional over, and it was honestly kind of gross and sticky. But Scott couldn’t bear to get rid of it. It had stung more than he cared to admit when Jimmy had reminded him of how isolated and distant Scott was from everything. Staying up and away from the world kept him safe, kept his empire safe. But being safe didn’t make it any less lonely and isolating. And then Jimmy had looked at him like he was the world, and told him that he should be able to enjoy the little things too. Scott couldn’t bear to get rid of the slimeball, even though the memories were painful now. For as much as bluntly being reminded that he was alone stung, Jimmy telling him to leave stung even worse.

Looking back on it now, Scott didn’t really know why he had sided with Fwhip. It was long before Scott had really felt anything for Jimmy, mostly flirting with him to get a rise out of him. That flirting had always devolved into fighting, and it was after one particularly nasty argument that Fwhip had pulled him aside after the meeting and talked about how the House Blossom Alliance would be the downfall of their empires. And at the time… Scott had agreed with him. He loved Katherine, he really did- but there were too many rivalries in that alliance for it to ever truly work. So he went along with Fwhip’s plan- go along with the meetings until an opportunity arose. Then came the addendum of Scott keeping an eye on Jimmy to make sure he wouldn’t be a problem. And then came the plan of rigging the ballroom to explode and blame it on another empire. And even worse- Scott actually caught feelings for Jimmy, instead of it being an act like Fwhip had planned.

So before the night of the ball, Scott had struck a deal with Fwhip. If there was no argumentative behavior during the ball, then he wouldn’t set off the TNT. To his surprise and relief, Fwhip had agreed- and then went and purposefully antagonized Jimmy. And Jimmy- sweet, impulsive Jimmy- had fought right back. Scott didn’t get a chance to pull Fwhip aside and convince him to change his mind before Lizzie had asked him for a dance, then spun Jimmy right into his arms. Fwhip had been watching them the entire time they danced, then left as soon as the song ended, heading up the stairs. Scott snuck away from Jimmy to follow him- only for Fwhip to have flown off by the time Scott made his way up the stairs. Then Jimmy followed him too, and once he spotted Fwhip in the distance with his crossbow, Scott realized he had been used to draw Jimmy out. So he kissed Jimmy, and then Fwhip set off the explosions. It was then Scott realized Fwhip had lied to him about the plan- somehow he had rigged Katherine’s entire castle with TNT, not just the ballroom, and wanted to be sure that everyone knew it was Fwhip and the Wither Rose Alliance behind it all. A show of power, so that no one would mess with them.

So now Scott was alone again. Jimmy felt like Scott had betrayed him- and frankly, Scott had. He should have told the House Blossom Alliance about the TNT, instead of striking a weak deal with Fwhip. Now the House Blossom Alliance would never trust him again, and all Scott had now was the Wither Rose Alliance- which Scott wasn’t so sure if he wanted to be a part of anymore. And at their next secret meeting, Scott found out that he wasn’t the only one with this opinion. Usually they met in Gem’s hidden meeting room, but this time around, she insisted on meeting in the Grimlands, not giving a clear reason why. Scott had thought nothing of it, until the time for the meeting actually came.

“I’m done, Fwhip,” Gem said, not even taking a seat at the table. Fwhip leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow at Gem.

“What do you mean, you’re ‘done?’” he scoffed. Gem slammed her hands down on the table, purple magic sparking in the air. Everyone in the room had ranging expressions of shock and terror on their faces. Gem never got angry like this, at least not as long as Scott had known her. Fwhip, however, seemed unphased.

“You lied to us. You said you were going to make a point at the House Blossom Ball. Instead you blew it up! You could have killed us!” she fumed. Fwhip rolled his eyes.

“Gem, you know me. What other point would I have made that didn’t go off with a bang? Besides, Sausage and Scott knew about the TNT,” Fwhip replied with a shrug. The glare Gem sent him was deadly, and Pearl rose from her seat at the revelation.

“I was hoping that maybe Scott was clever and figured out your plan, and just wasn’t able to get the information to anyone in time- but you told him and Sausage?! And I’m not exactly pleased that neither of them felt it was necessary to tell Gem and I what was going on, but the nerve of you to hide information from your own allies, Fwhip!” Pearl scolded. Scott and Sausage didn’t say anything, a little embarrassed- but to be fair, it hadn’t really occurred to Scott that Fwhip didn’t tell everyone about his plan. He had told Scott one-on-one, and Scott had foolishly assumed that he had told the others as well. Yet another frustrating hoodwink courtesy of Fwhip.

“Because I knew you would react like this! But there’s no sense in arguing about it now, what’s happened has happened. Let’s discuss plans for the future, shall we?” Fwhip said with an overly charming grin.

“No,” Pearl said firmly, and Fwhip blinked in surprise.

“What?” he asked in disbelief.

“You heard Gem. She’s done, and so am I. I won’t be a part of this senseless destruction anymore,” Pearl said evenly. And before Fwhip had a chance to protest, Pearl and Gem stormed out of the room. Fwhip let out a dejected sigh, before sitting up straight in his seat again.

“Fine. Who needs them? We’ll be just fine- won’t we, boys?” Fwhip asked, and the smile he gave Scott made his stomach roll.

“Yeah! Now we don’t have to tiptoe around them anymore!” Sausage cheered, and Scott could only give a weak smile in response. Something in Fwhip’s smile turned sharp as he leaned towards Scott with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“You know, I never properly complimented your acting skills. You really had Jimmy caught like a fish in a net. It’s a shame though- you got a little too wrapped up in the act- not to mention him- and we lost a valuable chance to deal with the Codfather once and for all. But that’s alright- I’m sure we’ll get another opportunity,” Fwhip said in a low and dangerous tone, the thinly veiled threat very clear to Scott. Don’t get in the way again, and don’t try and weasel out of plans. Or he’d make sure he’d regret it.

“R-right,” Scott said shakily. Fwhip seemed satisfied, and leaned back in his chair once more.

“Good. Now I suppose that advantage with you pretending to like Jimmy is gone now, unless you do a lot more than just kiss him this time around-”

“No,” Scott blurted, before he could really think about it.

“What was that?” Fwhip asked, raising an eyebrow. A lie about how Jimmy definitely didn’t want to see him again- which wasn’t really a lie per se, but it wasn’t the reason Scott said no- was at the tip of his tongue. But he couldn’t say it. And in that moment, he finally decided to do what Pearl and Gem had done.

“I’m not doing this anymore. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about bringing more pain and destruction to J- to these lands,” Scott said, voice shaking a little but his eyes sharp as he glared at Fwhip. But Fwhip caught the wobble in his voice and how he nearly said Jimmy’s name. However Sausage spoke up and commented on it before Fwhip could.

“You WEREN’T pretending, you actually fell for Jimmy!” Sausage gasped, and the tone of his voice reminded him of simpler times, when Sausage would tease him about his flirting with Jimmy and Pearl would admonish him and tell Sausage to leave Scott alone. Then Fwhip had taken advantage of Scott’s banter with Jimmy, and brought Scott’s world crashing down around him as a result.

“You’ve gotten weak, Scott. What happened to the imposing, cold ruler of Rivendell?” Fwhip sneered. Scott rose from the table at that, glaring Fwhip down.

“I’m finally being the ruler I should have been. I’m not going to let other empires use me for their own gain, and I’m not going to be part of your destructive plans,” Scott fumed, wings flaring and making him seem taller, more threatening. Fwhip chuckled darkly.

“You walk out of here, and you’ll regret it,” he growled.

“I’ll take my chances,” Scott shot back, turning on his heel and exiting the room, ignoring both Fwhip and Sausage’s voices after him. He was done with the Wither Rose Alliance. In fact, he was done with alliances entirely. He was going to stay in the mountains and care for his empire, like he should have been all along.

Then the slimeball on the side table by his bed reminded Scott why he didn’t want to stay in the mountains. He would just be exactly what Jimmy expected of him- high and mighty, being too good for anyone. And being alone. Scott had a taste of what a sense of togetherness felt like, and now being alone hurt more than ever. But there was no one he could go to, no one who would trust him. Maybe he could form something with Pearl and Gem, or maybe the two new empire rulers, Shelby and Joey- but it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would ever be the same, not as long as the mere memory of Jimmy’s goofy grin sent his heart fracturing a thousand times, over and over again.

He couldn’t stand being within the walls of his home any longer. His wings itched with the need to spread and take to the skies, and flying always made him feel better. So Scott did just that, taking to the skies and flying nowhere in particular, just far away from all the empires as much as possible. Maybe if he flew far enough, it would all disappear and Scott wouldn’t have to deal with his problems anymore. And maybe with enough distance, his heartbreak would disappear too.

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