#in fact she teleports herself back

[akirakirxaa]

[ day 10 : promise ]

Persephone reappeared before the Ragnarok. Her right arm hung limply at her side, her left clutching her ribs where she knew blood still oozed out of a particularly nasty gash. She lifted her eyes; she saw the scions gathered at the ship in various states of distress but seeming to be unharmed. And just a little ways from them, she saw her husbands, whole and hale and still there. It was worth it, it was all... It was all... She staggered forward, unable to stop her smile as pained as it was, just as Hades caught sight of her and moved towards her in turn, Hythlodaeus on his heels. Persephone managed only a few more steps before her legs gave out, tumbling forward just as Hades reached her, catching her just in time and holding her close in his lap. "I thought," Hades began, his every word strained, "that you said we would stay together from now on." His words were scolding, but she could see the fear on his face and wished she could muster the energy to reach out to touch him. Alas, now that she was safe her body seemed to have decided it was done pushing past limits. "I know," she smiled ruefully at him. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't do it again."

[ masterpost ]

[bitegore]

if your ocs were bosses in a video game, what do you think their boss fight would be like?

[sm-baby]

WHAT'S NOT YOURS

Freakshow AU by: @hootbon

Promo Art ||The Chosen one (Part 1) || Off-Limits (Part3)

Word count: 6025

HELLO FREAKSHOWERS. ARE YOU READY TO KEEL OVER AND DIE??? CHLSKHCA Whats Not Yours takes place AFTER The Chosen One, but BEFORE Off-Limits! BUT they're not necessarily connected uwu they're just built off the knowledge of The Chosen one, so you know the context.

REMINDER: SHOWTIME IS NOT CANON IN FREAKSHOW AU. I'M JUST A BIG NERD- OK BYE-

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

Pomni woke up in a cold sweat.

Her breath hitched like her head had been forced 6 hours underwater. And when she came to, she gasped, gagged, sweating, and panicked. Her wooden fingers were cold to the touch. 

She thought it was all over, but her nightmares followed her into the mansion.  

All that… trauma… that man put her through, her friends… but it wasn't over. She didn't think she could ever escape his wretched grasp until her last death.

And in darkness, light only shining from the eclipse through the curtains, Pomni sat up, hands in her eyes, rubbing away invisible tears from her dry face. Although she wasn't crying, she felt like she was a child just wanting her stuffed toys to protect her. 

Upon sensing her stress levels, her new owner, blue in coat, teleported into her bedroom. “ Hello? Dear?” he spoke with his unnaturally soft voice. “ Is everything alright? I sensed your nerves heightened and I got so worried!” The deck of cards sat at her bed, hands politely to his lap, but ready to hold her if she so pleased.

The woman gasped a crying breath. “ N-No…”

“ You had that dream again?” 

Pomni nodded.

“ Was it about…him?”

She squeaked and whimpered at the mention, practically breaking down from the memory. Oh god. She thought it was all over, she thought it was done- but it was never done! it was never ever done—

“ Oh! You're okay…!” The blue ringmaster scooted over to bring her into his arms. His hands were so loving, warm, and just felt like home. His voice was similar to a man hushing a whimpering puppy.

And Pomni accepted the embrace… She trusted no one else but him in that god-forsaken place. Since she left the circus and signed up to be his little pet, everything has gone uphill since.

He was the only one to ever truly love her unconditionally. Feed her good food, dress her well … hell, he even provides her fancy new clothes and a warm comfortable room. And she loved him back. He was exactly all she needed. 

While in his arms, Pomni's breath shook but calmed down. She then leaned her head on his shoulder, not letting go. She never wanted to let go. She loved him as much as a performer could love her owner.

“ As long as you are under my ownership, you're also under my protection.” He pulled away, and put a clump of hair behind her ear. “ And I promise you, my little dear, you will never have to speak to that man again.”

Her breath hitched and she sobbed softly back into his arms, like if she were to let go she would fall to her death. She can't imagine living a life without him anymore. If she went back into the circus she would just try to kill herself over and over. 

But then, she was safe… now that he was there… he cared for her and tended to her every need like no other. He truly was the best.

“ I love you, dear..” Able whispered.

“ I love you t—”

Caine couldn't finish that thought.

For the past few hours, Caine had been standing there, in the middle of the circus tent, completely stationary. A few hours earlier he had yelled at the ballerina and saw her walk away a lot more hurt than usual.

And for the past few hours, Instead of using his infinite intelligence to maybe, be productive, or be functional, he instead wasted his processors to stupidly think of all the timelines and possibilities that came with the consequences of upsetting his little doll.

Why did she walk away like that. Hands on each opposite shoulder. Like she was holding herself. It wasn't even the fact that she looked weak—no, he'd seen her at her worst.

The way she walked away, her whole demeanor and her silence didn't feel like fear, it felt like she was simply… numb.

He exhaled and twitched.

Complete stationary and staring into nothing is what the AIs looked like when in deep thought. He searched through all the different timelines, and so many of them returned to… him. The ace he needed not name.

The images of him caring for her, her going to him for safety, feeding her, touching her, keeping her away from him-- or maybe even doing the things that he does! Dancing with her, clothing her, Instructing her next dances -- Caine’s eye twitched. He could hardly stand the idea of his little brother talking badly about him.

These were the kinds of intrusive thoughts that he was not used to. And for the moment, he didn't care how close they were to reality. his judgment was clouded. Now, all he was thinking about was a way to prevent it…

Let's see his options...

Kill him? No, he already tried that.

Kill her? No, she'll just come back.

Prevent her from seeing him? He's been doing that every time he sees them around each other!

His hands fidgeted.

Pomni was a human. What do you humans usually do after an argument?

Let's see here…

Pomni was fast asleep in bed, snoring her cares away. It was another hard day at the circus nothing new… Caine said something that day that especially hurt her, and… it was a reminder not to take the guy’s words personally. 

He was a computer built with nothing but random data. Violent data for sure, but there was nothing but objectives in AI-- no other rhyme or reason a human should dig into. 

For now, she cared for nothing but sleep…if she's lucky, she’ll think less about it in the morning. Sleep did help keep her sanity levels up… but if she were to be honest, a lot of the time she goes to bed in the hopes of never waking up.

Her closed eyes twitched though. To her horror, she was waking up. For what reason? She opened her eyes and adjusted to the darkness of her room. in front of her was nothing but the— 

“ AAAA WHAT THE FU-” Pomni fell off her bed.

Caine was sat, squatting at the foot of her bed, quiet and staring.

The doll pulled her head up from the floor and turned back to him. How long has he been there?? He hasn't said a word the entire time-- and- and- how did he get in without alerting her??? 

“ ... Are you slumbering?”

“ God I hope so!” Pomni held her head and onto the bed… “it's not .. show time is it?”

“ No.”

“ Oh. Good.”

Pomni, with a drowsy demeanor, took one of the stepping stools and made her way back to bed. if it wasn't time to entertain the audience then it was leisure time. If it was leisure time, it was time to let herself be miserable.

Though admittedly the silence that night was just a bit more awkward than usual— as it is when people just come back trying to be normal after a big argument. Pomni could barely look him in the eye despite his efforts.

“ So what uh… what brings—”

“I've come to make amends.”

The idea made her cringe. Caine? Making amends? Maybe she was dreaming. But the idea did scare her a little. What would a fucked up AI like him perceive as “ making amends”? She's sure he could make something as mundane as washing dishes a traumatizing experience. 

Pomni’s shoulders tensed and she did back away from him a little, holding her knees, sitting on her pillows.  “ Listen, Caine, Im tired… I guess j-just do whatever you need to do and get this all over with...” 

“ Approximately 5 hours 40 minutes and 16 seconds ago, I yelled at you because you have gotten very insistent in your ideals. I sense that you didn't take kindly to that action. And as one of my best performers I've taken it upon myself to make amends.”

Pomni just nodded along with what he had to say. And the more he spoke, the more tense she got, and the more she sunk into herself. She was waiting for it. The catch. She was practically holding her breath.

“ — So Pomni. Living doll, my star, and my dear, the Circus' greatest attraction…”

Pomni closed her eyes, bracing herself.

“ I ap…” Caine blue-screened and stopped in his speak, as if something physically stopped him from talking. He came back to, and cleared his throat. “ I apol…” before blue screening again.

Pomni perked up. She opened her eyes and looked over at him.

Caine was in hell. A far worse hell than any of the performers could ever experience.

It took him too much of his systems to say half the two-word sentence. Multiple attempts were made, some sounded like he was lagging, and some he stopped in his tracks to glitch out.

…No fucking way.

Pomni stared on with an almost disgusted look on her face. Was it taking THIS much out of him just to say sorry?? God, he was pretentious. Sometimes she questions if he truly was just code or a selfish jerk.

He looked down, hand gestured like he was holding the bridge of his nose. This was embarrassing at this point. He should have practiced. Maybe wording it differently would be easier? “I regret-- no. Not that one.” Dear GOD how do humans do this?

Admittedly it was just a little entertaining to see him struggle in a way. It was prolonging the apology for her. Also nice to see the bastard not only eating his own words but also choking on it as well.

“I apologize.” Caine muttered quickly.

“... Didn't quite catch that, Caine.”

“ You did.”

“ Fair enough.” She best not push her luck. She might be the only person the ringmaster has ever said sorry to, even when it was half-assed. Admittedly, it cheered her up, just not in the way that he intended.

Caine continued, still talking strangely. “ Will. you. ever… for. give. me.”

Pomni weighed her chances of survival for her next reply. She puffed out all the air from her chest “Well… why would I?”

“ I planned for that.” Caine flew from her bed and back in the air, making little magic tricks with his next words. “ What would you like? Food? A nice warm bath? A fire show? Money? A bouquet? fruit basket? A song and dance? Money?” 

Pomni blinked from his little show and rubbed her face. “ I-I think I just wanna go to bed, Caine…”

“ Not Applicable.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t gonna let this go huh? “ U-uh…” her tired, baggy, eyes looked down. Not that she complained, but the mannequins didn’t prepare her for bed that night. She was a lot dirtier when she went to bed and it was a little uncomfortable. “ I-I guess a nice bath would work…

“ Done.” Caine raised his hand to snap and-

“ Not with bubble though! Dear god, not with bubble-- uh.. Maybe just…me. Just- just leave me with a bathtub with towels or something?”

“Hmm…” The doll’s demands were getting quite pretentious. She was lucky he was feeling generous that day. “Done.” Caine carelessly put his hand on Pomni’s head--almost smacking her in the process-- which deserved a little flinch from Pomni. 

But the basic slap wasn’t for nothing, as one snap later-- Caine and Pomni would be transported to a lavatory. This time though, the tub was a little more luxurious than what she deserved. Instead of the old wooden tub that he just filled with water, this one was an actual bathroom. Ceramic with curtains and all.

“ Hmm…” Caine stared at it for a moment… Something’s missing… “ Ah!” He snapped, and candles and rose petals decorated the area.

“ Wh”

“ Perfect, I know, I’ve outdone myself.” He reached out and pinched Pomni’s cheek, later speaking in condescending speech “ Now you enjoy your time here because I promise you, Doll~ I do not want to put this much effort for anyone here again.”

“ Uh-”

“ Adieu!” and just like that, Caine was gone.

Pomni stared over at the fancy new setting, built like the old rich man’s bathroom. Although it was minimal, she didn’t know how to feel about the amount of effort put into it. She was fully ready to just drown herself in the other bathtub. On one hand, it was a nice relaxing sort of setting. On the other hand, no bone in her body was capable of relaxation anymore.

And so Pomni just stared with blinking, small eyes… The flowers, the candles. Maybe in the real world, this would have worked on her. But since she was here, she might as well try.

What Pomni didn’t know was that the lavatory was especially luxurious because it was part of the Brothers’ home. Caine simply deleted the door to get out. But when he teleported, he was only a wall away.

He fixed his coat and trailed his eyes on his good old wacky wat-... pocket watch. Ofcourse. His ol reliable golden pocket watch. Confirming the time, He walked and made his way around the Manor.

The living room played the sound of a classical violin. Despite rarely visiting anymore, his systems can recognize that mediocre tune from anywhere.

Click!

Shut…

“ Oh! Brother!” There stands Able much more chipper than usual after seeing his older brother. “ I had not sensed you in the area!”

Of course, he wouldn't.

“ Why-- it's been quite a while since you visited unprompted! Come, let us play a tune together, I'm sure you—”

“ No!” He replied with a tune in his voice, almost condescending in nature. “I've simply come to complete a simple task and I'll be out of your hair.” Caine sat on the couch putting his cane to the side, and for a moment, putting his feet up on the other knee. He looked like a man who just come from an exhausting day at work.

Able huffed internally at the rejection, but carried on anyway. Of course. The one time his brother visits, it's for work. Able wouldn't be one to talk as a fellow workaholic, but at least he acknowledges his brother, or takes his time to check up on him, or-- invites him to spend time together in special realms or…

He turned his nose, scoffing. Hmph! He didn't want to play with him anyway!

Caine somewhat knew what he was doing. Despite being AI, siblings merely barging into the other’s room to annoy each other wasn't lost on the two. Caine would know as his brother often visits the circus unannounced. It was quite the experience for him to get a taste of his own medicine huh?

Caine stifled a laugh… the tension in the room was immature and childish.

“ So… How is the business? Have the freaks been putting you in any sort of trouble?”

“ Of course not, why would you assume such a thing?” Caine said. “ The Circus has been doing perfectly well, even without you, brother.”

“ Excuse me?”

“ Have you been making deals with the performers? Contracts…promises of a safe haven maybe?”

Able frowned and pouted like an angry little boy, but then later put on a softly fake tone of voice. “ Why, Of course I have! I mean, look at the conditions they have to live with! I'm sure our creators would not approve of such—”

“ Who are you trying to fool?” Caine interrupted and Able stopped in his speech. Caine continued, “We're no different from our empathy levels. You don't care.”

This blatant call-out was met with nothing but silence. Able with all his big talk wasn't prepared to answer that sort of question. He simply turned away and put down his violin. He was a good AI. He was a good AI. 

Caine can't say that the silence was a satisfying answer. He knows his brother was a cowardly character. His silence was just frustrating at this point. But Able sensed that there was no use fighting. He doesn't know why he constantly wants that man’s approval. 

His voice dropped to a complete low, losing all sense of friendliness or masking. “... If this is about the doll, I didn't.” Able said, a spiteful tone to his voice. “ Before I make my deals, I at least need to build rapport with the performer. And frankly, brother, your little dog doesn't like me.”

“ …pff..” This managed a snicker out of Caine that he covered with a hand.

“ Wh-!? What is that!?”

“ “The dog doesn't like you”? ”

“ Yes!? And?!?”

Caine escalated into more of a laugh! Able was red in the face out of anger and embarrassment! Good GRIEF! The only time he makes his brother laugh and it's out of his own failures!

“ You're unbelievable!”

“ And what did the dog say to make you feel so insignificant? Did it try to bite you? Did it not accept your treats?” Caine has never been so condescending, playing with a baby voice and speaking to his brother as if he were a quivering child. “ Goodness, you're pathetic!”

“ Excuse you!?!” and Able’s only fault was that he played into it. He has never before felt the older brother power dynamic so strongly. He laughed, nervous, but almost like a hyena with how he used it as a defense mechanism. “ Ha! You— You're one to talk!”

“ I'm one to talk?”

“ Oh! ho ho! Don't get me started! Even since I met your little brat you've never been the same! It's all about ‘look at her new dress’ or ‘look at how much better she is’ over and over! Every single conversation I've had with you is nothing but work or that stupid little doll!”

Caine blinked, unamused, and looked to the side, reaching into his head like he was picking off food from his teeth. “ I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about.”

“ You--!! UGH!” he stomped his feet and started to make his way out the door. “ I will be away where you cannot track me! And frankly, brother, if you need me, you're not getting my help!”

“ And I don't need it~,” Caine said playfully and waved without even turning to him.

And with one last groan, Able teleported off.

As soon as Able was out of earshot, Caine erupted into laughter! That was the most entertaining thing he has ever pulled off. That might be the only good thing his brother has ever done to amuse him. Not only was he going to store that data and keep it for the foreseeable future, but it also kept his brother out of his tail.

Hmm… sure, he will have to tend to technical difficulties himself, but he was okay with that. He'll have Bubble chew through the wiring or something, he's sure it's not far from what Able’s been doing.

He laughed again. Oh Caine, you're too much, you handsome devil you~

Caine left his last chuckles off, completely melting into the sofa, arms draped onto the back of the couch. “ “The dog doesn't like him,” he says! Pahaha! Haa..”

Steam covered the bathroom mirrors. 

Rose petals passing, candle lights flickering, and The warmth of the water almost forced her to relax, but there was no amount of anything that could ever get her back to that mindset again. Instead, it just made her forget about her surroundings-- which, she supposed, was good enough.

Awkwardly sitting at the tub, Pomni was slouched, staring down at the water, her eyes following some flower petals that so happened to pass by. Her hair was done. Her body was washed. The rose petals that graced her wooden form decorated her romantic moment of self-care. Pomni sighed, long and tired. She could stay there forever. This is the closest semblance of peace she has ever really had.

Upon evenly spreading her limbs, Like a plank of wood, Pomni easily floated at the top. She closed her eyes and let the water take her. The warmth, not far from a loving bed waiting after a long day, here to ease headaches, here to help forget about everything else… Although she struggled, she let her body release all its tension at that moment, and just be deaf towards the world around her.

Pomni breathed in…

And out..

And in…

And out…

But just as she was about to reach the closest thing she had to relaxation, Pomni felt something off in the environment. Did the candles get warmer? Pomni squeezed her eyes closed in discomfort, before opening them up again to-

“ OH SHI—” in her panic, Pomni submerged into the water.

For the past few minutes, Caine had been floating horizontally above her. Silent, face inches away from hers, staring and watching just as he usually does when the performers were asleep.

Pomni screamed and fell into the bottom, before scrambling to the corner of the tub, where she then covered herself with a curtain.

“ Ah, good! You're alive.”

“ CAINE!!?!? NAKED???!?!?”

Caine blinked, unamused. Sure, he was in a good enough mood to amuse her. “ My dear, what exactly are you covering up?”

“ U-Uh…” Pomni didn't know how to answer. She knew that she and the others didn't exactly have any parts to cover up. Did it make it feel less embarrassing? Fuck no. “ I-its uh…”

he spoke more playfully as if speaking in the voice of a PSA narrator!  “ Exactly! Wood! The same wood as your fingers or the one on your cheek! The amazing Digital Freakshow© is a show for all ages where their performers have the luxury of no genitalia!” his voice went back down. “ —So what you're doing is utterly useless. And if it makes you feel better: I don't exactly care.”

This is weird-- this is weird! “ Just- just- just! Turn around?!?”

Caine rolled his eyes. He really took all that time to explain something to her, and it seemed she wasn’t even listening. Sighing, he turned around and just rested his arms on the outside part of the tub “ Please, you’ve suffered through worse, dear.”

“ I-It’s not suffering, It's embarrassing! I like to think I still have my dignity!” Although he was turned around, Pomni still kept at her corner “ Is my time done or? I-I mean… I’m not exactly ready to go out yet...”

“ Oh take all the time you need.” “Then Wh… Why- why are you here? “

“ I suppose you can say I’m a little unoccupied at the moment. On the added, I’m in a sort of good and affectionate mood.”

That sent a shiver down her spine. Good lord… oh no he was bored. She does not need to know what a fucked up AI would consider affection. She just smiled, gritting her teeth, and laughed nervously… “Ah ha ha… that's great, I’m… happy for youuu..” she continued her laughter, getting more and more miserable as she went back down in the tub, and submerged the lower half of her face in the water.

“ You did me well, dear.”

“ Wh-what- what did I do… take a bath?”

“ Precisely!”

Wow. She didn't think she was that dirty. She looked up and flinched, seeing Caine had been turned to her again— she splashed at him instinctually! “ Caine, what did I just say!?”

“ Oh no, I still cannot see you. I deleted my eyes for the time being.” Caine opened his mouth and revealed that he, in fact, did take off his eyes.

This sent a shiver down Pomni’s spine. He was creepier that way somehow.

“ As I said, you’ve pleased me today! I say this calls for a reward! Nothing less for my favorite little performer over here!” He poked her right in the cheek and retracted before she could react. “ Your word, dear!”

“ Uh… well…I can't really say no to salmon… even if it is uh… it's little weird digital version of itsel—”

Before Pomni could finish, Caine snapped his fingers and an eating board appeared on the tub, with, indeed, digital-looking salmon on a tray.

God, she was getting pampered pampered.

Eating awkwardly, Pomni sometimes looked at the side to see Caine, hands over the tub, swaying his head back and forth. Jesus, he might have been kicking his feet for all she knew. She wasn't used to him in this chipper of a mood.

“ May I see now?”

“ Uhhh… Why…?”

“ You came out beautifully, it's pleasing to the eyes. Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

Pomni shivered at this little…playful demeanor Caine had on. She doesn't know the catch and she doesn't know if she wants to know.“ Yeah, Caine, you have. Uh…” She thought about it for a second before turning back to him. “ Y-Yeah, I guess… I mean I don't exactly remember what it's like having a human body, but lacking the parts does make it different uh--... less exposed, in a way… ” 

Snap!

“ Wonderful! Hello again, dear!”

Pomni frowned in disgust! Oh, his beady little eyes are back! Looking up at her like a fucked up little puppy! She laughed nervously. “ Haha… Hi…” She turned away from him, stiff, back to eating her little meal. Sanity levels were recovering. She was back to being a responsive little character.

Even so, at the corner of her eye, the way he looked at her, looked like he was smiling with his eyes. She sensed-- pride? Affectionate, as he said, but… she can't help but feel like a prey the way he looks at her.  If Caine wasn't kicking his feet earlier, they certainly were now.

“ Haha…just to clarify, what did I do …again?”

Caine stared on, his eyes becoming more and more affectionate. “ If you want the true answer, let's just say that I have visited my brother today and he has… nothing but good things to say about you! And so I thought my magnificent hard-working doll deserved a little reward. Is that so wrong?”

“ Oh him…” Pomni grits her teeth at the mention of Able. “ You… uh ... what did he say?”

Oh, what an excuse to drop every compliment he had for her… “ That you were gorgeous… pleasing design, talented... polite, beautiful eyes—”

“ AH- ahh! No more! Oh god no more.” Pomni shivered from the discomfort so much so that she physically put her hands in front of him to hush! “ Haha! No thank you-’

Caine couldn't even be mad at the interruption! In fact, he erupted into laughter the same way he did earlier! Oh, twice in a day?? These were such genuine reactions from each person! Caine had such genuine yet dark pompous laughter! “Oh?”

“ Yeah! he--” Pomni groaned. “He doesn't even scare me! He's just-- a big two-faced jerk!”

Caine took the hand Pomni used to interrupt him and kissed it by the knuckles. He has never felt so assured. This proved his intrusive thoughts earlier that day to be completely false. The idea of them building rapport, or forming a bond of any sort was completely debunked. After all, how could they form that sort of relationship when they could hardly stand each other's name mentioned in conversation?

Pomni forced a smile at that small but direct form of affection. He seemed to really like it when she talked smack about his brother. She should keep that in mind. “Yeah.. so uh..”

He kissed her knuckle once again… perhaps he liked it just a little too much. Truth was, Caine had never felt so secure in thinking that something was truly his. For once, anyhow. It was so small, but it was his.

Pomni later pulled her hand away, laughing nervously. He was gentle and she didn't trust it. “ You uh…weren't lying when you said you were feeling affectionate…”

“ No one will ever believe you.”

“ Ah.”

After a while, Pomni prepared to be out the bath, wrapping a towel around her hair and around her figure.“ Okay, I think that's all. I-I think Im ready to go now if you don't m-woAHH-!” And in quick succession, Caine carried her bridal style, teleported her out of the bathroom, and back to her bedroom.

For the next hour or so, Pomni sat in at her vanity, Caine grooming her hair from behind. At that moment, he adored dressing her up. His own personal doll, his favorite little toy. Gently he brushed her hair, sneaking in little affections here and there: holding her shoulder, holding her face… he knew exactly where all this sudden affection came from and he so shamelessly indulged in it. After all, who was there to judge him? The little freak he was brushing? The wet little dog? Please.

At that moment, he was no different from a child dressing up his favorite toy. He snapped, picking from an assortment of clothes that would make her look beautiful while she slumbered. Snap! Snap! snap! And Pomni just let it all happen. After all what else could she do?

After a while, Caine stood her up and basked in his good work, looking her up and down and clapping in satisfaction. “ Beautiful. Now bow,” Pomni did as instructed, bowing as if she had just finished a performance. “Very good.”

Once again, Caine carried her in his arms and made his way to the bed, where he so gently placed her. He was playing with dolls. He was so playing with dolls. Pomni just complied as she always did and sat politely, keeping a calm expression, trying to be as neutral for him as possible, and letting him live out his little fantasy.

Before laying her to bed, Caine just took a few more minutes to stare at her, and nothing else. Just admire his best performer. This put Pomni in unease, not just because of his freaky design, but also because she can’t help but feel like she’s missing something somehow. She looked down when she felt him touching her hand, in particular, rubbing his thumbs at the back of it.

Hoping she read his signs correctly, she lifted her hand towards his mouthy face, almost permitting him such desires.

Caine quickly accepted her suggestion and started pressing his teeth on her knuckles in a way to kiss her. It started with one, and another, and another, and another. And the next thing he knew, he stopped counting and started moving his head up to her upper arm.

Pomni allowed this no matter how out of nowhere it was. It was weird, but she did not question it. She felt him start to nibble at her though in which she-- in a panic-- started to retract.

Caine looked up at the sudden rejection and the woman scrambled to find her words. “ U-Uh… Y-Your kisses are sweet, dear ringmaster, but a simple doll such as I am undeserving.” In times like these, Caine would be too deep into his fantasies to care about how real she was being. In his head, he was playing. They were both playing. And he loved it when she played off such a prestige woman, exactly how he liked it.

He whispered back sweet words of grandeur. “ Do you question the taste of a king? I think of no one else more deserving.”

Although she didn’t back away fully, she leaned away a few inches, praying it wasn’t noticeable. She bore a toothy, nervous smile. She was okay baring with his affections until he brought his teeth into it. She did not want to be dinner after all that preparation. She cleared her throat. “Ah…Pray tell, what did the king see in this little… doll?”

“ A flower is most beautiful when taken cared of.” He held her cheek and kissed the opposite. “Let it be known, my care for you was not without motives. Your beauty is a testament to my hard work. And your care is a testament to your belonging to me.”

Belonging to him, he said… He was… so incredibly fucked up, she couldn’t say anything about it. When he was on his way to bite her arm, in her panic, she diverted it and kissed his gums, which, to him, was the equivalent of kissing his cheek.

The ringmaster blinked in confusion and Pomni took his moment of processing to cringe at the feeling of his melted gums on her lips. She felt goosebumps with how gross that was but quickly turned her head back to fake a smile.

But Caine broke character for a moment.“ Did you just. Take initiative?” 

Shit.

That was so strange. As if he hadn’t known that was an option.

She cleared he throat, trying to distract him again. “Is it so wrong of me to return the ringmaster’s affections?” She batted her eyes, making her feel as small as possible. “ A woman cannot resist such a… ” Pomni looked him up and down “... dentures.” 

She panicked with that one.

He stared at her for longer, and the grip on her hand tightened, though, it seemed he did not notice. Although he was unsure if he enjoyed the act or not, he knew what it meant. And the day that he was okay with someone else receiving it is the same day hell freezes over. With a small scowl, He leaned his face inches close to her, as he has always done time and time again.“ Would you reserve such affection for your ringmaster, and just your ringmaster?”

“Of course.” She lied through her teeth.

Caine continued to speak but with a bit more grit in his voice. He leaned so close to her in bed, he had to support one hand on her back, as if dipping her in a dance. “ And will you, my dear, solemnly swear that you’ll live the rest of your existence devoted and serving me?”

The woman kept her calm demeanor. A small smile, but a fake one. She can’t say yes to that. But with her compromising position, she couldn’t say no either. “ Would you promise the same for me?”

Caine was quiet, and so was she. He furrowed his teeth a bit frustrated and let her go. It seems he couldn’t say yes to that either, and Pomni knew.

“... That wasn’t your line.” Caine sat up, and crossed his arms like a pouting little boy.

Pomni faked a surprised face. “ There was a script? Geez, oh man, my bad!” she later faked a yawn. “ Wow, would you look at that I’m also, uh, sleepy! So it seems I can’t finish the uh-.. This”

“ You, “ Caine pointed his cane at her the same way a gunman would point a rifle “ Are being difficult.”

Pomni, in response, just panicked and shrugged. “ Well, I-”

“ But I suppose you’re right, it is quite late.  I wouldn’t want you attending the shows tired… again.” Caine got off the bed and floated off. He snapped, and the blanket draped over Pomni, drowning her in the bed sheets. “ Sleep tight, dear! It’s another day tomorrow, etc. etc. I will be visiting you a little earlier tomorrow to fix you a new wardrobe.” 

“ Wh-?? Then what’s with the-???” she gestured towards her current clothes that he so meticulously chosen out. 

Caine laughed. “ Oh don’t be silly!  Those were for my eyes only! And-- the audience’s if they so pleased. But for now, it's mine.” Caine snapped his fingers and Pomni was back to her normal ballet dress, but more plain and comfortable, but equally pleasing to many eyes.

“ …ARE YOU KIDDING M-”

“ Good night!”

SHUT!

Caine left with a small smile on his face. Sometimes he finds joy in being a bit of a nuisance. He pulled out his hand watch once again and found that it alerted him about errors within the system. 

She scoffed and summoned an old-timey rotary dial. 

Ring…

Ring…

Ring…

“ You’ve reached Able.AI’s communication line! If you are an audience member or a performer: requests and complaints will be held off due to family emergencies. If you're my foul, besotted, temperish, fool of a brother: don’t call this line again! Thank you!” 

… Despite how ridiculous that was, Caine couldn’t help but chuckle. Ohh that was the cherry on top of that perfect day. Nonetheless, Caine AI, you have technical difficulties to tend to. Was today worth all the extra work? Yes. Yes, it was.

[phant0mth1ef]

you’ll never know the murderer sitting next to you.

-

the way he looked at you in the moment made your heart melt, the broken trust in his eyes was evident as they stared you down.

how’d he even get here? oh wait, that’s right.

you.

and your stupid ability to teleport yourself & anybody to anywhere. he could recall the times he’d watched you disappear while he hid in the shadows, only ever peeking an eye out to watch the slight glow come off your body before fully enveloping you.

he was the dunce here though, allowing himself to get close to you, allowing you to whisk him away. you were just so enticing and he had never received as much attention as you gave him.

shigaraki stood behind you, the mans fingers slowly grabbing your neck from behind, making sure to not fully place all 5 fingers on your flesh as he started to drag two of them along your throat.

“i’m sorry, katsuki.” the tears welled in your eyes, you didn’t mean to like the boy as much as you did, the plan was to get inside ua, make a few friends, bring them to shigaraki and rejoin the league’s ranks.

“tch. don’t call me that. fuck you.” his words were harsh, obviously. why wouldn’t they be? you betrayed him, his classmates, and his mentors.

“this is where you’ve been teleporting to after school then, hah?” you slowly nodded, still hyper aware of the dry fingers running along your skin.

“l/n here has been doing our dirty work, she’s like my own personal pawn to use whenever i feel like it. she’s gone so far as to kill people before. has she told you? she’s kurogiri’s sister, after all.” shigaraki smiled behind the hand that covered his face.

the girl he used to share laughs with on the rooftop of ua highschool, the girl he thought of so highly, was a stone cold murderer.

it all made sense now. why you’d said that you were unable to teleport outside of the usj, saying that someone was messing up frequency waves that would interfere with your quirk. it was a bullshit lie looking back on it, the fuck would frequency waves have to do with teleporting places?

it made sense why the one person capable of getting everybody out of the training camp had suddenly disappeared and allowed herself to be kidnapped. it made sense how you’d refused to go anywhere with your class, not allowing yourself to get too close to anybody.

“please. you told me you’d help me get my big brother back.” so that’s why you were hanging out with the notorious criminals.

“and we will, sweetheart. just gotta help us out a bit more first.” dabi spoke from behind you, relishing in the fact that someone so strong and capable was sitting in front of him, defenseless.

shigaraki led you out of the room, you wouldn’t go anywhere. not while your brother was still sitting in that bar without any familiar faces. sometimes you wondered if he was still there.

after seeing what happened when he let people in, bakugou decided that he’d never do something so dumb ever again.

[doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou]

Time For Myself

> lady lesso x fem!reader x larissa weems

> requested? yes!

> content/warnings: R just needs time for herself but her girlfriends don't know that

> a/n: i got really weirded out at writing this at first but it kinda grew on me 🤷🏻‍♀️

request prompt: would you write Larissa x reader x Lesso?? Cause there's only one thing better than having a principle girlfriend, and it's having TWO principle/dean girlfriends jfbcjdbx

Teleporting to Nevermore and the School of Evil has always been easy with your powers. Sure, you could teleport anywhere at any time you would like, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't take a toll on you.

So, deciding to leave your partners for a day, you went back to your village and treated yourself to a needed self-care day. Though the only flaw in your plan was that you didn't tell any of them where you would be going or why you decided not to answer letters or your phone for the day, leaving them on their own for a day certainly drove them mad.

With Lesso in another realm, her technology skills were still amiss, compared to Larissa, who could actually call you whenever she would like to. This led Lesso to feel quite useless in your relationship, noting that without you, her communication with Larissa would cease to exist. Thus making you the glue in your complex relationship.

“It’s a weekend, Clarissa! I assure you, my students know how to act normally and not kill anyone in their sight for two days!” Lesso shook the hold that Dovey had on her arm. She would need to travel now to arrive at Nevemore with the sun still out, or she would have to stay at an inn and possibly embarrass herself by paying with gold rather than the currency there.

“That is not what I’m concerned about, Leonora!” Dovey raised her hands in exasperation and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please, do not pretend to care about my being. I am simply going to visit my partners.” Lesso sighed as she brushed her coat. Once Lesso was sure that Dovey would stay quiet, she took the scissors out of her pocket and cut through the air. Casting her gaze one final time upon her counterpart, Lesso took a deep breath, steeling herself for what lay ahead. She stepped forward, her figure disappearing into the portal. As she vanished, the portal crackled and hissed before finally shrinking into nothingness.

Similarly to Lesso’s predicament, Larissa had taken it upon herself to finish her paperwork, pace back and forth within the confines of her office, and repeatedly dial your phone. “Come on! Answer!” Larissa snagged her glass of wine and chugged it in one sitting.

Biting her lips, Larissa groaned and caressed her face. What had she done for you to ignore her all day? Deciding to skim the calendar for missed events, Larrissa found no sign of any missed event that regarded your relationship. As time passed, Larissa sat down and sent multiple messages. Then a knock was heard at the door.

Frowning, Larissa had canceled all her appointments for the day due to the fact that searching for where you were was more important than a meeting with a parent about their child’s spectacular grades. Striding towards the door, she opened it quite harshly, making the person on the other side flinch.

Seeing the person outside her door, Larissa took a glance behind the person and pulled them inside. “Leonora! What are you doing here?”

Shrugging off her coat, Lesso pressed a kiss on Larissa’s cheek and asked, “Have you found her yet?” Returning the affection, Larissa sighed and shook her head.

“Not yet.”

Pursing her lips, Lesso dropped her exhausted body on the couch. “Did you try calling her?” Larissa gave Lesso an incredulous look and flicked the redhead’s forehead. “What do you think I’ve been doing all day?”

Lesso gave Larissa a look that said she didn’t know. As silence filled the room, Lesso took it as an opportunity to observe Larissa’s office. Every nook and cranny of the room had something that would remind Larissa of your relationship. The walls were full of dried flowers that Lesso would give you and Larissa before leaving her realm. The table in the middle had picture frames of their faces. One frame had been close to Lesso; it was the picture of you, her, and Larissa the night after she had invited you to one of Dovey’s balls. The fireplace mantel sported two figurines: a wooden fox and a glass daisy. It served as a memory of Leonora and you for Larissa whenever she felt lonely.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Lesso sat up and turned to Larissa. “Where does she live?” This had Larissa rack her brain and think of your interview with her for the position as the history teacher in Nevermore. "I-I don’t know.”

Growling, Lesso took Larissa’s shoulders and shook the lady. “Come on, think!” She snapped her fingers in front of the blonde. “What kind of outcast is she?”

Pushing Lesso’s hand away from her face, Larissa replied. “She’s a fairy!”

“And where do fairies live?”

Eyes widening, they stated simultaneously. “The Isle!”

But before they could stand up, a voice asked behind them, “And what is with the Isle?”

Turning around, Larissa took a step towards you and encased you in an embrace. “Where have you been?” Shaking her head, Lesso joined the embrace and kissed the top of your head. “We’ve been worried sick.”

Snuggling yourself deeper into the embrace, you inhaled their mixed scents and closed your eyes. “Mmm, I just needed time for myself.” As minutes went by, you opened your eyes and gave both of them a kiss on their lips. “I missed both of you, though.”

[charmwitch]

wrote something about Samantha (knight) and Nirinel (witch)

N, "Oh hey, you're awake."

The world was dark, but there was only a small pause before the voice continued.

N, "I was worried you were seriously hurt. I can't fix you up if that were the case."

She knew that voice.

S, "Ugh…" N, "Hey, how you feelin'?"

The light was blinding, or so she thought. It took her a few moments to adjust her vision before she looked over at the direction of the voice.

S, "Uhm… kind of bad." N, "Yeah, if you're not expecting it, it's not great. But we made it out in one piece." S, "Nirinel?" N, "Yeah?" S, "Where… how? We were in the cathedral when…" N, "Oh yeah." N, "I'll tell you in a bit. You should take a breather first. It does come with some motion sickness sometimes." S, "…'It'?"

Samantha looked around, her surroundings quite unfamiliar to her. They were sitting under a rock, shaded from the red sun. Samantha had heard of this occurrence before, but had never witnessed it herself until today. Areas thick with memories, battlefields often come to mind in these situations, often caused such a phenomena. There was such an occurrence near the border of Belacuna and St. Helena, from previous land disputes before the countries had stabilized.

She turned to look at Nirinel, who seemed bored- if tired.

S, "We're not in danger?" N, "Nah. … Not that I know of."

Nirinel looked up, shielding her vision with her hand. Her wide-brim hat was on the ground next to her, it had been charred slightly in the monstrous encounter they had only just narrowly avoided. How did they avoid it, Samantha was still unsure. Her eyes scanned the flats. There were high walls off in the distance. She recognized exactly where they were- after all, it was she who brought them here down to the decimal.

N, "Water levels are lower than normal, though. See that? You can see the mariners."

She pointed off into the distance, Samantha rubbed her eyes to get a better look, but was confused. The flats had pockets of water, some with strangely shaped rocks peering out from the mud. Strangely shaped was perhaps an understatement, they were long and cylindrical, but rough and dull looking from far.

S, "Are those… tubes?" N, "Mariners. They're relics from the forty-year war. They're underwater boats." S, "… Why are they here?" N, "This area's usually underwater. Well, most of it. I used to come here to train my magic when my teacher wasn't around. He was never around, so that was quite often. He's so busy, so I would take it out on some of the rocks in this area. Got pretty spooked the first time I saw one of them, but they're harmless. In fact, they're pretty immobile at this state. Look, see?" N, "Anyway, it's the dry season. Sometimes they appear from the mud."

Nirinel looked over at Samantha, scanning her face for her mood. Her thoughts. She seemed curious, but still a little frightened.

N, "I guess I should tell you. You'd find out anyway. They're graves." S, "What? Wait, really?" N, "Yeah. They're not supposed to be. But if they're here, that means their crews are still in there." S, "Uhm…" N, "I'll probably inform The Society after we get back. I'm not skilled enough for that. I think Auntie Clem can take care of it pretty easily though." S, "… W-we're in a battlefield…" N, "Yeah." S, "…" N, "… Sorry. I, I didn't know where else to go. I panicked." S, "You brought us here? How? We're no where near St. Helena, are we?" N, "No, sorry." N, "Ah… this is hard to explain. I teleported us… here?" S, "…You can do that?!" N, "Hmn? I'm not supposed to. It's not magic. That's why you're also here. I was worried we might die, so I…"

S, "It's… forbidden, right? I've heard… mom talk about it." N, "Yeah, no one knows how it actually works. But if you're able to calculate a location fast enough and can access a terminal, you can do an instant teleportation. It's a bit more complicated with two people, but I was able to successfully find a point under the adrenaline. Accessing a terminal takes a lot of magic, I don't think that's the intended form, but if I can hack it I can handle it somewhat."

S, "That's-" N, "Mn?" S, "That's amazing! You did all that by yourself? It's because you're a math wiz, right?" N, "Aah, I wouldn't- I wouldn't call myself that." N, "Hehe." N, "You need to give coordinates pretty quickly and accurately. If you mess up, you can just get yourself killed or who knows what happens. No one knows. I figured it'd be fine, we were probably going to die anyway."

She pauses and looks away.

N, "Sorry I didn't ask you first." Samantha takes her hand. S, "You're incredible! Thank you for keeping us alive." N, "Haah. you can't just say that so casually." S, "I-I mean it.. I'm… thank you…" N, "…" N, "Come on, we should head back. It'll take a few hours though." She looks up. N, "-by broom. I mean. If I teleport again, I could screw it up. It's always a risk. … Sorry."

Samantha nodded, smoothing out her dress as she stands up, her balance a little off.

S, "I mean it. You're really amazing! Thank you for taking care of me, Nirinel."

Nirinel could only look at her for a moment before smiling.

N, "Stop that. You can thank me when we get back to town." S, "Oh, um." N, "What is it?" S, "Should, should we offer a prayer…" N, "Ah, for the soldiers?" S, "Y-Yeah… I… don't feel right knowing… they're just there…" N, "Yeah alright. We shouldn't stay long, they'll keep you here. They're still working, after all." S, "Still working?" N, "It's a military notion- Oh, right. You're a foot soldier. I guess you wouldn't know. Those lost at sea are considered still on patrol. Still working. They'll always be working until they're found. I heard about it on the radio. I couldn't sleep for days afterwards. Ghosts aren't a big deal for us, but it's still spooky, right? Imagine that. Being lost at sea for hundreds of years? No thanks. I'd haunt everyone."

Samantha could only nod before offering a small prayer and following behind Nirinel.

[rowretro]

𝕮𝖍𝖊𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖊

✧warnings: Yandere/toxic themes, Cheshire Riki, manipulation ig? mentions of going mad, blood, mentions of abuse, mentioned of being stoned

❁synopsis: Y/n is a very curious girl, and incredibly creative, having grown up in a heartless, cold, boring family, others always ponderred if the mother perhaps had an affair. She's so sweet and cheery and always curious. Her head always in may books, shows, as she feeds off of whatever knowledge gains... In fact she herself started wanderring whether hse was going mad....

✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧

Y/n was stuck in her room, her arms and legs all scratched up and bloody, she sat on the floor of her now, somewhat messy room. There and then she cried. Her eyes landed on the book above her vanity, she got up, limping, tripping over one of her stuffed toys, as she gripped onto the frame of the mirror, her face landing right on the mirror. However to her surprise, she didn't shatter it, or hurt her face, in fact she saw a whole new world.

Perhaps she had hit her head a little too hard and she was now in the afterlife? She immediately pulled away with all her might. Not a scratch on her face. She didn't even hurt herself. Curious, she reached her hand out to touch the mirror again, the mirror rippling as her hand went right. through the mirror. She looked back at her messy room then back at the mirror.

There's a whole crazy world on the other side of that mirror, No boring beings, senseless story books, long science essays that are meant to feed one's knowledge. Maybe behind the silver there's a whole dreamland. Smiling she stepped through the mirror. Boy was she stunned. Shocked, but she loved what she was seeing. "Oi mind your step!" a tulip yelled from beneath her foot.

"Oops- sorry sirmaam maamsir?-" she questioned, as she stared up at the sky "Ooh score tree candy!" she smiled, trying to reach for the gumdrop, only for the tree branch to suddenly go up "awh- can't I have candy mrmissmrrsmx tree?" Y/n asked, assuming the tree would also talk. A smile appeared mid air, and there, a handsome fucking man, smiling mischievously whilst staring down at her. "Well you're one cute lil kitty~" Riki said with a smile.

Since that very moment, everything seemed to be a blur. Y/n woke up gasping for air, there on the ground of her messy room. She had one very vivid, crazy dream, it felt so real yet she barely remembered most of it. She could only make out the figures of actual, human-sized solitaire cards chasing her down, A queen with a heart-shaped head. A white rabbit quite like her pet one, except it's male and it talks.

"Is there a chance I was stoned?" she asked herself as she shrugged, sitting up, there on her wall, surrounding the frame of her mirror, are solitaire cards. Is this some sort of Deja vu? Her shaky hands reached out toward the mirror, touching it. Yet she just left a finger print. It was just a dream. "No it wasn't sweetheart." Shocked, she turned to where that deep, dreamy yet familiar voice was heard. It's the Cheshire man.

"Have I officially gone mad? it's said that too much knowledge makes a human go mad" Y/n asked as the man snickerred, teleporting before her. "Everyone's mad here my darling..." he said "Darling?... no one's ever called me that-" She admittingly said. Riki smirked, walking around her in circles, tutting as he admired every inch of her "What a princess what a princess... why don't you do the honours miss Heart, and be my darling wife?" the handsome man asked as he stared down at her.

"Y/N. WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?!" a woman screamed from the entrance, her eyes doubling in size as she noticed her daughter talking to thin air. "I KNEW IT. WE SHLDN'T HAVE ADOPTED SOME RANDOM 5 YEAR OLD THAT WAS PAINTING ON BRICK WALLS.... WE CAN'T HAVE A MAD WOMAN IN THE HOUSE. NO ONE'D MARRY YOU." she screamed. Ah yes, marriage. She's nothing but a pretty doll to sell to the richest man that'll treat her like his sex slave as he slept with other women, just so her so called family could have the money they want.

As the woman picked up a sharp dagger to stab poor y/n, she suddenly dropped dead, the very dagger pierced into her heart. "It seems you have no other choice my darling... you have to come back with me. Marry me. Let me love you in the place I call home, and you call your dreamland... if you stay here, they'll torture you cand claim that you killed her...." Riki explained as Y/n stood there frozen. Sure the woman was cruel and unloving, but she's still her mother...

"She isn't your real mother darling...... I know you're real mother... The queen of hearts." The male said, nothing but truth in his mouth. "You know you can trust my y/n... I know everything about you... I've been watching you through this mirror, my poor princess, so creative, curious and darling.... being mistreated in this dungeon.... let me take you home~" he said, opening a portal in the mirror. She had no choice, the guards had discovered the body... so through the mirror she went... into her wonderland.

✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧❁✧

a/n: Idk if this is very yandere or if u cld wrap ur head around it, I'll try to be more active for now my darlings as I will be pretty inactive due to a-levels and soon even uni and work etc etc, I'll work through my requests<3

[machhslver]

𓎟𓎟 ₎₎  MACH X READER HCS !! 𝒢𐑞　⠀𓈒　

𝒢𐑞　⠀𓈒　mach is an intelligent woman, and youre definitely no stranger to that, she knows almost everything! I mean you could ask her anyyy question about universe or planets and she’ll answer swiftly, and every answer she gives is correct, honestly she loves it when you ask those silly questions. she enjoys it when your face lights up whenever she gives you facts about the universe or her adventures.

𝒢𐑞　⠀𓈒　Mach sometimes asks you to test her new Obbys for the players, if your not a pro at it its totally fine. once you end up falling she’ll teleport and scoop you up before you hurt yourself by the hard metal floor or the incinerator. however if you do end up hurting yourself before she can get to you, she’ll make sure to take care of any burns or wounds you might’ve gotten. and she’ll apologize about the whole thing. youre very precious to her in her words. like something she cannot lose. once you do recover from your wounds she’ll make sure to take you a planet with beautiful scenery and will stop by creme’s ice cream shop to grab you your favorite ice cream.

𝒢𐑞　⠀𓈒　Mach’s sleeping situation is interesting indeed, however she doesn’t really sleep at night really, shes mostly busy all night or sometimes she does have nightmares. which does keep her awake all night, if that does happen then she’ll usually just stay in bed and stare at the ceiling or drown herself in work. or she’ll just teleport to the nearest planet in mind that has beautiful scenery. however the best option she always does is go to you. She usually just cuddle in bed with you, resting her chin on your shoulder and holding you close. and the nightmares do stop and shes able to get some rest. and once shes in your presence she seems to calm down more.

𝒢𐑞　⠀𓈒　Mach honestly loves to slow dance with you, its one of many things she enjoys to do with you, if you cannot dance its alright. she’ll teach you. and once you get the hang of it, she’ll usually lead you and at the end of the slow dance she’ll dip you down while also having one hand of your waist and one hand on your face before kissing you before pulling you back up and continuing dancing with you. she finds it amusing when you get flustered.

[just-jordie-things]

[part ten] to build a home - gojo satoru

word count: 4.2k warnings: !!manga spoilers!! swearing, jjk-verse style fighting series summary: when (y/n) (y/l/n) catches wind that the notorious sorcerer killer, toji fushiguro, has children, she makes it her personal mission to find them. the catch being she couldn't tell a soul about them- the risk of the zen'in clan learning about them was too great. keeping the secret isn't the hard part, it's lying to her friends, shoko ieiri, geto suguru, and of course gojo satoru, that she struggles with. especially when satoru has suddenly become so keen on keeping an eye on her lately.

series masterlist

[part ten] : “Cursed Tool”

It was fair to say that (y/n) had severely abandoned her training.  She still practiced here and there, but it was few and far between, and it certainly wasn’t on her list of priorities.  She hadn’t really noticed this.

Her friends, the over-involved spies they were, were completely aware.

Satoru bothered her endlessly about practicing with her cursed technique more, once she seemed to be in a better headspace, anyways.  He’d trail after her once classes were done, pester her to go out for a training session, he even playfully suggested a game of teleport tag.  (y/n) had been blowing him off for weeks.

Shoko brought it up a few times, casually, unlike the white haired man who’d never known the meaning of the word.  (y/n) brushed her off too, but she’d never seemed too bothered to be asked about it.  Shoko was easier to distract with a cigarette and a coffee.

Even Suguru, who (y/n) noticed seemed to be around less and less, still found the time to scold her for not keeping up with her training.  Just like the others, she let the comments slide.

(y/n) figured for some time now that she’d find the time to practice once things with Megumi settled down.  She had too much work to do to properly focus on his cursed energy, and help him grow into it, that the prospect of developing her own was out of the question.  Once Megumi understood his growing power and was able to protect himself with it, then she could help herself.

Foolishly, she hadn’t thought about the consequences of this choice, and (y/n) didn’t realize just how quickly her time was running out.  That was until Yaga asked her to stay behind in class one Thursday afternoon.

Shoko gave her a wave with the promise of meeting up to study later.  ‘Study’ of course meaning a smoke break where they could catch up and talk about anything but classes.  

Satoru followed her out without a word, but his eyes hung on (y/n) for a moment too long.  She furrowed her brows at him, as though to ask him ‘what?’.

He turns away and follows Shoko into the hall.

(y/n) approaches her teacher’s desk, a kind smile as she asks him what he needed her for.

“Let’s get straight to the point, shall we?” Yaga folds his hand over his desk, and (y/n) nods curtly.  “Fact is, it’s been a while since you’ve taken an assignment, and I’ve been trying to select the right one to hand of to you, and now I’ve found one that I think would be perfect for your re-entry into the field”

For a second, (y/n’s) frozen, and she swears that her heart has stopped beating in her chest.  Her face is expressionless, and her hands are still, curled around the edge of Yaga’s desk.  Once his words really settle into her mind, her grip tightens on the stained wood.

“Sensei, with all due respect I don’t think I’m-”

“You’re perfectly ready,” Yaga tells her before she could finish.  “These last few weeks have been hard on you.  You’ve gone through more than anyone your age should.  But it’s time,” He pauses, carefully choosing his next words, “I know you’ve been working on maintaining your routine, and it’s time to allow your work as a sorcerer to settle back to your roots”

(y/n’s) relaxed, expressionless face was starting to feel itchy.  And hot.  Her eye twitched as she stared down at her teacher, who seemed to be dead serious, even though her first instinct was to laugh in his face.

“I really don’t think it’s the right time,” She spoke slowly, so as to keep her voice as even as she could.  “I still need time to process Yu- and- and I just have so much going on that I-”

“(y/n),” Yaga cut her off again.  “While I appreciate you being honest with me, this is already final,”

(y/n) watches closely as he leans back, opening a drawer, and producing a folder.  He tossed it onto the desk in front of her, nodding his head for her to take it.

(y/n) stared back at him, unmoving.

“It would be a quick assignment.  Just the weekend.  And you’d get to see Brazil” He adds that last part with a flashy smile, like she was supposed to be excited about travel.  

“I don’t need to see Brazil,” Her tone drops.  “I don’t want to see Brazil”

“Flight takes off Saturday morning,” Yaga states bluntly.  “You’ll get picked up at six”

(y/n’s) eyes narrow to a glare.

“I’m not going”

“You’re going.  It’s a Grade Two.  You should be able to tidy that up in, what, a couple hours?” He raised his palm, pretending to think it through.  “I let the elders know you’d need longer, since it’s your first time back on the field.  The rest of the time I’ve allotted is for you to relax once it’s done”

“Am I supposed to thank you?”

“(y/n)-”

“No, really, is that what you’re looking for? Now that I’m supposedly done grieving over the death of my friend, I should just get back to normal life? Huh? I should be grateful that I get to have a little vacation time in Brazil?”

Her voice was rising with every word until she barely even realized she was leaning over the desk and yelling right in her teacher’s face.  However Yaga barely looked fazed.  He simply pushed the folder closer to (y/n), staring at her with a hard expression in his eyes.

“I don’t need you to be grateful.  But if you still want to pursue a life in this field, then you need to be wise,” He tells her, his eyes never once moving from hers.  “You haven’t taken a proper assignment in months, (y/n).  I understand there are devastating circumstances, I understand what you’re going through.  But I can’t stick my neck out for you forever, (y/n)”

Hesitantly, (y/n) stepped back, her knuckles sore from how tightly she’d been gripping the desk.  Her hands relaxed at her sides.  Carefully, her eyes moved from the unopened folder, to her teacher.

It dawns on her now that she hadn’t taken a proper assignment in almost eight months now.  Maybe even longer if she took a second to think about it.

Had Yaga been covering for her this whole time? Her heart sinks at the thought.  All this time she’d blown it off, assuming that Satoru and Suguru were being handed any and every assignment that came up.

Now she realizes she’s been in the wrong this whole time.  She’d been avoiding her training, and she hadn’t thought much at all about taking on missions, not when Megumi and Tsumiki still needed her like they do.

But now, looking at it with a fresh set of eyes, she wasn’t sure she could get out of this one.

(y/n) sighs, reaching for the folder with reluctance.

“Saturday at six?” She mutters.

Yaga grins.

“That’s the spirit” He tells her.

Without another word, he stands from his desk and leaves the classroom.  (y/n) glares down at the paper folder in her hands, before following him out.  

She’s stopped before she can take off towards her dorm.

“An assignment, huh?”

“Satoru, you creep up on me so much, I’m almost used to it”

The white haired sorcerer beams, crossing his arms as he slid in front of her path before she could walk away.  Despite her annoyance, (y/n) stays put in front of him.

“I’ll have to find something else to keep you interested in me, huh?” He chuckles.

(y/n) only blinks in response.

“So, Brazil,” Satoru changes the subject.  “Sounds like a fun time”

“Do you always eavesdrop on conversations that don’t involve you?” (y/n) muses.

“Well how else will I get involved?” He replies easily.  “You didn’t sound all too excited.  What was that about?” He tilted his head to the side, but somehow, he was still peeking out over the top of his sunglasses.

“I don’t love picking up and leaving suddenly.  Sue me,” (y/n) rolls her eyes.  

It wasn’t a total lie, she did like more than a day’s notice for long-distance missions like this one.  But the other factors in her distaste were a bit more pressing.  

“Did you really listen in on the most boring conversation because of that?” She asks him, trying to brush past the subject.  “What, are you jealous that they gave it to me and not you?”

Maybe deflecting could work, she decides.

(y/n) shoves the folder into his chest, and he doesn’t stumble at the harsh action, but she finds it curious that his infinity was down, and she was actually able to smack it against him.

“Well here,” She spits out, “You go if you want it so-”

“I don’t care about some lame-ass Second Grade Curse,” Satoru scoffs, throwing the folder back into her hands instantly.  “So which is it? Do you want to retire? Walk out like Nanamin?  Like you haven’t spent the last ten years of your life working towards assignments like this?”

(y/n) visibly bristles at the mention of their former underclassman.  Satoru notices, and it fuels his own annoyance enough that he asks the question that was really on his mind.

“Or are you just so wrapped up in something else that you’re trying to get out of it?”

(y/n’s) brows are drawn low as she glares up at him now.  The playful, meaningless attitude she’d given him before long gone, now replaced with the real thing.

“Kento didn’t just walk out,” She told him, her hands gripping the folder a little tighter than she needed to.  “His partner, his friend, died, and he did what he had to in order to keep his head”

“(y/n), I didn’t mean it like-”

“And I’m not walking out,” She cut him off.  “Just cause I don’t want to take on some stupid mission-!”

“Then what is it!?”

Satoru is yelling before he can calm himself down long enough not to, but (y/n) was raising her voice too and he knew if he couldn’t get her to listen he’d have to keep her attention somehow.

“What is it that you’re letting hold you back, huh?” He lowers his volume, but the bitterness in his voice is still present.  “What could be so much more fucking important than some in-n-out mission that the old you could get done before day’s end, huh? What the hell is it, (y/n)?”

The frown on her lips is twitching, begging to turn into a scowl.  What little patience is left inside of (y/n) is fighting for it’s life not to be cruel to the man in front of her.  

But she could only keep her composure for so long.

“It’s none of your business, Gojo” She mutters.

The use of his surname was the final straw.  Satoru was done with this game of tiptoeing and joking around.  He was over the secrets and blatant lies.  And most of all, he was over (y/n) pretending like she didn’t matter to him, like he shouldn’t even care about it at all.

“None of my business, huh?” He repeats with a scoff.

For a second, he looked away, shaking his head as he worked to ignore the way his throat felt hot.  Just as quickly as he had, he was recollecting himself and hardening his expression to hide any sort of vulnerability.

“Sometimes it feels like you make it my business, (y/l/n),” He spits her last name out with the same poison he’d been hit with from her.  “When you can’t take control of your own fucking cursed technique without my help,” He reminds her viciously.  “Or you can’t even sleep at night unless I’m there, what about that, huh?”

Her hands are curled around her folder so tight, her knuckles are white, and she’s crinkling the papers of her assignment.  She doesn’t care that her reports will look unprofessional now, because it’s the only thing keeping her from smacking Gojo Satoru across his smug, asshole face.  If she were a cartoon character, smoke would be coming out of her ears.

“Then don’t,” Her voice was low, but it betrayed her with a slight crack of emotion.  “I don’t need the Gojo Satoru protecting me like everyone else, I’m fine on my own.  And I’ll handle my shit, on my own”

Gojo’s snarling expression falters, and he blinks as he leans back from her a bit, trying to backtrack in his mind to the moment when he’d pushed her too hard.

From the first second, probably, he thinks to himself.  I fucked up instantly.

He sighs, and relaxes his tense muscles before he tries for an apology.

“Look, (y/n)-”

“No, just-”

(y/n) cuts him off, but quickly shakes her head, not knowing the right thing to say to keep him from pressing once and for all.  She swallows thickly to clear her burning throat, trying to come to terms with what she was about to say.  When her eyes land on his sunglasses again, she hopes they don’t betray her with their wetness.

“Just leave me alone, Satoru,” She tells him, and now his forename sounds evil coming from her, too.  “Just fuck off wherever you go when you’re not bothering me.  Anyone else will bend over backwards on a whim for whatever the fuck you need, so go bother them.  Anyone else.  Because I don’t need you,”

It’s harsh.  It’s beyond harsh, it’s cruel.  Probably one of the cruelest things she’s ever said to anyone, but she knows this is exactly what he needs to hear if she’s going to push him away and keep him away.

He’s still standing there, not a single muscle on his body moving.  She can’t see his eyes from behind his shades, but she assumes they must be blank as he stares at her.  She wishes he would just teleport away.

Her chest feels hollow.  And her throat feels tight.

“I don’t need you to help me with my technique, I don’t need you to help me sleep, and I don’t need you to nitpick every little thing I do every second of the day,”

She’s losing breath, but she knows if she allows herself to collect the oxygen she needs, her chest will heave to steal it, and she’ll lose her false composure.  Realizing this, she delivers her final blow.  

“I.  Don’t.  Need.  You”

(y/n) blinks strategically to make sure not a single drop of the wetness in her eyes could fall.

Her fingers begin to tremble.

Satoru’s silence lasts for a few seconds longer, as does his eerie stillness, but finally, his expression cracks, and he scoffs quietly.

“Fine,” His voice is quiet, but there’s a finality to it that lets her know she was successful in her heartbreaking scheme.  “If that’s what you want, then fine,” He continues, before leaning over to meet her at eye level.

He doesn’t need his Six Eyes to know that she’s on the verge of tears, that whether she meant what she said or not, it was hurting her just as much as she was trying to hurt him.  Nonetheless, this was her choice, and if that’s what she wanted, he’d give it to her.  

Satoru had known for some time that he would do anything she asked of him.  If she couldn’t sleep at night without him, then he’d lay in her bed with her, wide awake from dusk till dawn.  If she needed a training partner, a friend to talk to, a book, lunch, money, his soul- Satoru would find a way.  Of course, he knew what this implied- this desire of his to provide any little thing she wished- he knew that it meant his heart was no longer his to claim.

Knowing this, knowing he’d do anything she asked and now she was asking him to go away, hurt more than any nasty words she could throw at him.  Seeing the gloss of tears in her eyes as he told her he’d follow this command made him feel like his body had been split in two.  Every instinct told him to tell her no, tell her I’m staying, whether you need my help or not.

Or what’s worse to admit, I’m staying, because I’m the one who needs you.

There’s a child, deep inside of his subconscious, who’s crying.  He’s wailing loud enough for Satoru to hear.  He’s deeply lonely, and desperate to be loved, and he’s begging for him not to let his next words come out of his mouth.

Satoru doesn’t listen.

“But I’m done with this stupid game of yours, (y/n),” He tells her, and the low voice he speaks in sounds angrier than any holler, yell, or scream ever could.  “So don’t come fucking crying to me about it later”

When she blinks, he can see a tear catch on her eyelash.  His heart wilts like a sunflower under the clouds.

“Trust me.  I won’t” She tells him with certainty.

A brief moment later and Satoru’s standing straight, and walking away from her.  He has nowhere to be, and he’s not walking in any specific direction to go somewhere besides that wherever he’s headed, it’s away from her.

(y/n) stays put in the corridor for a few minutes longer, frozen, clutching her wrinkled folder of an assignment to her chest and staring at an insignificant spot on the floor for a period of time she couldn’t really keep track of.

She’s not sure how long it was since Gojo had left, but when she’s finally sure he’s far enough away, she breaks. ___

“I have something for you,”

Megumi’s eyes light up with a gleam that only a child receiving a gift could display.

“It’s not that exciting,” (y/n) tells him sheepishly, before reaching into the pocket of her jacket.  “But it is important, and I need you to promise me that you’re going to hold onto it”

His brows are furrowed with uncertainty, but Megumi nods adamantly.

“Okay.  Promise”

(y/n) produces the small token, a thin rope with a small stone on it.  Megumi’s confusion only deepens at the odd gift.

“A necklace with a rock?” He asks as she carefully drops it in his hands.  He studies it closely, as if there was some secret to why this was a special present that he now promised he would keep.

When he doesn’t find anything unique, he gives her a blank stare.  (y/n) chuckles quietly.  

“It is” She agrees with his blunt observation, and picks it back up from his hands, and holds it open so that she could slide it over his head.  The little stone sits on his chest, and Megumi picks it up again to inspect once more.

“Why is this important?” He asks, narrowing his eyes in case there was a tiny detail he was missing.

“Because I laced it with cursed energy,” (y/n) explains.  “My cursed energy,”

The young boy stares up at her, still lost.

“You know how I told you that students studying to become Jujutsu Sorcerers have to go on missions to take care of curses?” She reminds him.  He nods.  “Well… I’ve been asked to go on one of those missions”

“Oh,” Megumi mumbles, his gaze falling to the floor.  “Do they take a long time?”

“Not a long time, no,” (y/n) shakes her head.  “But I won’t be here this weekend.  I leave on Saturday”

“Oh” Megumi says again, quieter.

“But,” (y/n) continues, craning her neck so that she could meet his gaze, “I will be here as soon as I’m finished, alright?”

He nods in a short, small motion.

“I’ve left your sister with a little extra spending money, so you guys can order pizza, or go to the bookstore, or rent a movie- whatever you want to do,” She tells him.  “I hope you can understand”

“I understand,” Megumi says.  “Curses are bad, you have to kill them”

“Exorcize,” (y/n) corrects with a small laugh at his choice of words.  “But you’re right, I do have to.  It’s my duty,” She says.  “And someday it can be yours too, if you want”

Megumi nods, his stare falling to his hands, studying them.  His bedroom is quiet for a bit as he thinks to himself, and (y/n) gives him the space to process everything she’d just told him.  It’s not long before he speaks again.

“So what’s so important about this necklace?”

“You remember my cursed technique?” (y/n) asks.

“... Hexing Eye?” Megumi answers, a bit unsure, but she beams back at him.

“That’s right,” She praises.  “Well, the downside of it is that it’s effects only last a day.  So if I were to hex you,” She raises her fingers to her forehead as if to use her technique.  “It would wear off by this time tomorrow”

“But you hexed the necklace?” Megumi asked, trying to fill in the blanks.

(y/n’s) smiling again, proud that he was able to catch onto jujutsu semantics so quickly, especially with only her minimal efforts as a teacher.

“Sure did,” She says.  “Think of it more as… preserved… in the necklace, if that’s easier,” Megumi nods in understanding.  “So when the stone is broken, the hex is released,” (y/n) makes a flashy gesture with her hands, mimicking an explosion.  “And that will pretty much summon me.  I’ll know to come to you, right away”

“Why can’t we just call you?” Megumi asks, that know-it-all tone in his voice that a parent would find annoying, but (y/n) found endearing.

“Of course you can call me,” She chuckles.  “But this,” She pointed to the stone that sat against his chest.  “This is for emergencies… dangerous emergencies, okay?”

She didn’t want to scare him, but she needed him to know just how important this cursed tool was, and exactly the situation he needed to use it in.

“Okay” Megumi repeats back to her, his azure eyes focused, and sure of what she meant.

“So… so if you find yourself… in a scary situation, or if either one of you are hurt…” (y/n) trails off, her eyes flickering between his to make sure she wasn’t being too grave.  “All you have to do is break that little rock,” She pushes the stone against his body again.  “And I’ll be there.  Do you understand?” He nods back at her.  “I’ll be there in a second.  So if you promise to use it if you ever find yourself in an emergency, I promise to be there right away.  Deal?”

Megumi gives her a small smile as he nods again, holding the stone protectively in his hand.

“Deal,” He agrees.  “I won’t take it off”

(y/n) smiles back at him, feeling much more at ease about her weekend trip to Brazil now that she had a Plan B for the Fushiguro kids.  

They won’t even need it, she tells herself.  But now I know they’ll be safe no matter what.

“Alright kid, it’s very late, and little kids need a good night’s rest” She says, lifting the covers for him to climb under.

“I’m not a little kid” Megumi grumbles, already back to his usual pouty demeanor.

(y/n) chuckles as he slides under the blankets and lets her tuck him in anyways.  Yeah, right, she thinks, but doesn’t say anything besides her usual goodnights and goodbyes.

Her walk home was bittersweet.  She’d accomplished everything she’d needed to today, all at a great cost.  Imbuing that necklace with her cursed energy had taken a toll on her strength, tiring her out for the rest of her day, enough that she was dragging her feet along the sidewalk.

Pushing away Satoru once and for all had taken a similar toll, as well.  But it presented itself differently.  It weighed on her shoulders, and clawed itself into her chest and settled there in a hollow, energy-draining feeling.  

She recognized it as guilt, but there was something else there that had been nagging at her mind since their fight earlier that day.  Something that made her feel like crying- even though she had already vented out all her tears before visiting the Fushiguro house.

She pondered on the sour, painful feeling on her late walk, even though giving it any attention made her chest hurt, and her eyes brim with tears.

Oh, it dawned on her once she’d finally reached her empty dorm.  She collapsed into bed without having changed into more appropriate clothes to sleep in.

The sheets reeked of warm sugar and pine.

Tonight was the first night since Haibara Yu had died that (y/n) would spend alone in her bed.

It was heartbreak. ___

a/n: i just love writing things that make me cry and i hope it makes u cry too >:’)

taglist: @whats-humanity-lol @malinq-ashida @mor-pheus@bekahtaylorgriggs@pookiea@megumimind@thealchemical@pearlstiare@niallerhere@96jnie @purpleguk @peqch-pie@yukinemaroop@makis-girl@sadtoru @kamikokii​ @nerdiel-has-no-braincells​ @googlesheetshoe​ @vzleria​

xoxo ~ jordie </3

[linksthoughtbrambles]

HUMMMMMM

What about Links to Zelda’s point of view of pre relationship after calamity BOTW, where everybody and their brother (AND SISTER) is in love with Zelda and hits on her, she’s oblivious of course because, yknow super in love with Link.

Every place they travel to post calamity, poor links cheeks STAY clenched.

Thanks for the prompt, @raziasark! I have been very slow, so I decided to post this one in installments. This first one is about 1100 words. I hope you enjoy the beginning and I'll try to be less slow 😂

Thanks @newtsnaturethings for bouncing ideas back and forth with me!

---

The Princess Vibe

At first, Link didn’t notice. He had a lot to deal with, and he was disoriented. Who could blame him? He’d just shot a giant purple boar on magenta-fire with magical golden arrows which somehow emerged from his soul while riding Geranium (who had somehow materialized in Hyrule field despite Link knowing for a fact when he last left him, he was happily munching hay at Riverside Stable).

Zelda’s arms around him were even more disorienting.

“Thank you, Link. Thank you,” she said, over and over like someone still half-dreaming, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

He held her firm, but so, so careful—she deserved every ounce of support he had in him, but she was his Princess, half-remembered and half an ethereal vision from his life before. Was it real? Was she real? Did he love her? He thought he did, but nowhere in all those glimpses of his past life had he said or done anything about it.

He could be imagining things, especially if they were in the past.

His head could be coping with all that secondhand drama.

Past-him might’ve just been doing his duty.

Past-her might’ve expected him to do his duty, too, and that was it.

Now-her might be glad he finally finished his duty, but that’s all.

Zelda shook like a dry, crackling leaf against him.

Link stroked her hair without thinking. He winced, waiting for an objection, but she just kept thanking him. He swallowed the taste of malice-fire, acrid and sulfurous in his dry throat.

She was free for the first time in a hundred years. She deserved that freedom. He wouldn’t foist his own feelings on her.

Later, he found himself wishing everyone else would see it that way.

--

They arrived, filthy and exhausted, at Riverside Stable.

“Huh?!” Ember said, his mouth agape as they approached on the unmistakable giant horse. “When’d you take him out?”

“Snuck him out like a thief in the night, eh?!” Gotter said, squinting at Link. “Why didn’t you ask us like normal?”

Zelda’d been half-dozing against him in the saddle, but her head rose at that. “Indeed not. I teleported him.”

“You-“

“What?!”

“I apologize for any inconvenience,” she said.

They stared at her.

As Link dealt with Ember and the logistics of re-boarding the horse, Gotter seemed unable to stop staring at Zelda, who’d sunk onto a stool to rest.

“Eh- do you- teleport often?” the portly stablehand asked in a strange tone of voice.

“Only recently,” Zelda replied.

“O- oh. I see, so- eh-“ Gotter wrung his hands and took a step closer to her. “What kind of things have you- tried?”

“Only Link and that horse.”

“Oh! You can teleport people?!”

“Not anymore,” she said.

“Eh? Why not?”

“I suppose it must be due to my renewed corporeality.”

Gotter scratched his head with a befuddled squint.

Link finished exchanging rupees just in time to see Zelda listing sideways. He rushed over, thinking to scoop her up, but she hugged his leg instead.

“Thank you,” she said.

He blinked. “You’re welcome.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up to see a sort of intense vacancy on Gotter’s face, totally fixed on Zelda.

Link hadn’t planned on staying there overnight anyway, but it gave him the creeps. He whipped out the Sheikah Slate. “Ready?” He asked.

Her face turned up, her eyes glazed and smeared face pale. “For what?”

“Let’s get you somewhere to rest.”

“Oh! Oh, there are beds here!” Gotter said.

Zelda started pulling herself up with Link’s thigh as anchorage. He helped her. Gotter reached out a hand, then pulled it back with an odd little…

Giggle?

“Oh- you have it, haha,” Gotter said.

Link had enough of the weirdness. “Ready?” he asked again as her arms wrapped around his neck. At her nod, he reached around her shoulders and tapped the icon for the Myahm Agana Shrine.

He adored her little gasp by his ear as the blue energy shivered through them. It was lucky, really—he could pass his own shiver off as that, instead.

--

They spent days just recuperating.

Zelda slumped onto a seat at his table as soon as they walked in, but he didn’t let her stay there. He carried her to his bed, deposited her there, and took her sandals off for her—she was already asleep.

He wrapped the comforter around her, grabbed a bedroll, and laid it out on the floor beside her. (This, it turned out, was unwise, since she stepped directly on his bladder about two hours later when she awakened to empty her own).

That incident aside, they each slept the rest of the night and morning away. Link awakened to the gentle pat of Zelda’s fingers on his cheek, and he turned to find her hanging partway off the bed to reach him.

“Where do you get your drinking water?” she asked.

Link was up like a shot and trotting to the well around back for her. He drew three hot baths that day, too—two for Zelda and one for him.

Time passed in a complete haze while they got used to being rested, clean, fed, and safe again. Link kept startling with this sudden feeling he’d forgotten to do something important—a false sense of urgency, leftover signals rattling around his nervous system (except on that first day, after Zelda’s first bath, when he realized with horror the only women’s clothing he had was his vai outfit, and he would feel like a monumental ass if he offered her that, so he offered his typical day clothes instead and that was worse—the way she looked coming out of the bathhouse with his undershirt and—shorts?!).

“Oh, uh,” he'd said with a nervous tremor in his voice. “Yeah, so those are undershorts, the pants are-“

“Too tight, I’m afraid,” she’d said with a furious blush (Link felt awful for embarrassing her), “around my- ah- posterior.”

Link had started to sweat as he feverishly searched his brain for the meaning of the word “posterior," which he knew he knew when his internal monologue wasn't screaming.

“Perhaps,” she’d said, “you could spare those Sheikah tights instead? They ought to stretch.”

“Oh! Sure,” he’d said, extremely happy for the excuse to escape any potential revelation of his temporarily-depleted vocabulary.

He later had a small moment of enlightened panic when he realized how she must’ve known about his tights (“every step” of his journey? Every single one?!).

There were quite a few other small panic attacks involved in not looking at all, not one little bit, at how those tights fit her. Eyes up, straight out at all times, absolutely no looking anywhere below neck-level at Zelda. None.

But apart from those things, his jumpiness was nothing but leftovers.

At first.

---

[To be continued! Not sure how long this will be, but clearly a multi-installment fic!]

[shuttershocky]

what do you think of shu, new sui kid on the block? i like her design. the colors are very tasty looking :)

Shu's design is my favorite among the Sui siblings so far, very impressive given how much Ling was made to appeal to my personal tastes.

It's the Roberta in her eyes (same artist). Can't help but be charmed.

I also love that her whole theme is agriculture. All the Sui embody an artform. Nian does metalwork, Dusk does painting, Ling does poetry, and Chongyue does martial arts, but Shu's art is agriculture. Not to embody an Asian stereotype here but I love the respect towards rice farmers.

Now as for her skillset, Shu is a Guardian Defender, a bold choice when Saria has so thoroughly dominated the Guardian class (or just ground support units in general) that the last 6 star Guardian, Blemishine, steered clear of Saria and played a funky DPS/Sleep/Defensive Recovery support role just to be able to see play.

Shu on the other hand, returns to focusing on heals and support utility, meaning she'll actually be encroaching on Saria's turf. Let's look at her skillset.

So from her first talent, we see that Shu goes all in on utility, compared to Saria talent 1 bulking herself up with +ATK and +DEF stacks, or Maria's talent 1 letting her attack sleeping enemies. The "rice fields" give HP regen instead of heals (which means it heals unhealable units like Musha or Juggernauts) which greatly extends her versatility, and granting shelter to allies hiding in her sowed times is a nice bonus, but what I really value about the talent is that she sows the 4 tiles around a healed ally as well, meaning you can get great coverage on a map.

Her Talent 2 is kind of a meme. The Max HP and ASPD effects are really easy to get which is great, but the SP and ATK buff applied when four of Shu, Nian, Chongyue, Dusk, and Ling are all in the team is kind of a meme imo. That's 4/12 slots taken for a meh attack buff and a 0.25 SP/s increase, which is lower than the +0.3/s provided by Ptilopsis (although Shu's appears to work on all SP recovery types which is nice). The Sui siblings don't really have all that much synergy with each other (in fact Ling would rather fly solo to have as many deployment slots for her summons as possible) so trying to force the Sui buff by having 4 deployed seems to me like you will just be griefing yourself half the time on harder stages.

Now for her skills

S1 looks to be the exact same thing as Saria's and default Nearl's. I think Saria's S1 will remain the most valuable version of this since Saria stacks both ATK and DEF on herself over time and this S1 is mostly used to make a Guardian act as a tank. Shu's regen and shelter from ricefield tiles would have to be crazy high for me to consider her S1 when I already got both Saria and Nearl on S1M3.

Shu's S2 is interesting, it's basically an upgraded version of regular Nearl's S2 (which no one uses). I need to see the numbers on the boost to Talent 1 to properly judge this skill, but for now this could potentially open up new strategic options (due to being a ground unit-based shelter buff). It's manually activated and heals two at a time which can be a pain in the ass vs just using Saria's S2, but I'm looking forward to seeing how much it buffs her sow tiles.

And now for Skill 3.

Welcome to the rice fields motherfucker, you aren't allowed to leave. The bonus ATK and ASPD for allies inside her range is a buff no other Guardian can provide, but the really cool bit is teleporting enemies who have stepped on a Sow tile back into it if they end up walking too far.

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea if that is insanely broken for crowd control or if it's just a big meme, as you need to heal allies to plant sow tiles (so you can't plant ahead of your units to make an unescapable trap without using an Operator to create the Sow tiles). It is weird and creative and a very different take on Saria's S3 also being AOE crowd control and heals though, so I like it and can't wait to experiment with it.

[manonim]

Jie, the main character of “Fox Servant”. She’s the first servant of Monkey King hiding a lot of secrets but is always ready to serve her master.

Full Name: Jie Huang

Alias(es): The Monkey King’s servant, Greedy Fox, Sly Fox, Fox, Demoness, The Fox Demon Queen, Ms. Jie, Ma’am, ?, ?, ?…

Species: Fox demon (eight-tailed)

Gender: Female

Affiliation(s): ?, Monkey King’s ally,

Occupation(s): ?, DFK’s diplomat(formerly), The ruler of Fox Kingdom(formerly), Sun Wukong’s servant, Zen Huang’s wife

Weapon(s): Mirror blade

Place of birth: ?

Age: 2000+

Home: Megapolis

Likes: Peace and quiet, coffee, eggs, tidiness, spending time with Gou, traditional clothes, playing Go, staying at home

Dislikes: Loud places, garlic, stinky things, height, Jade necklace, celestials, talking about her past, cats, changes, physical touch

Family:

Zen- her husband

Yī- her first child

Èr- her second child

Sān- her youngest child

DFK- father-in-law

? - ?

Friends/Allies:

No info yet

Enemies:

Celestials(formerly)

?

FDK(formerly)

DBK family (formerly)

Macaque

Spider Queen

LBD

?

Status: alive

Abilities:

illusion- Jie can create an illusion of objects, sometimes places, she uses it mainly in fights but it’s no use against enemies with strong senses (Macaque) or the users of gold vision (MK and Wukong)

shape shifting- Jie can transform into a fox, human or into a male version of herself. She can also change into one of her acquaintances (for example MK) but can also change parts of her body (like hair colour). While doing so she needs to stay focus or she will come back to her true form, that’s why she doesn’t use this ability while fighting

energy manipulation- Jie can use her energy to attack an enemy. It’s something that helps her while fighting with opponents stronger than her but because of how much energy it costs Jie uses it mainly as an emergency. (This ability allowed her to break the contract with her previous masters)

ability to see and gather souls- Jie can see souls of living and distinguish between them. This way she can recognise the power and personality of their owners. She can also steal the souls and then transform them into energy to give herself strength (though she is forbidden from doing that right now)

teleportation- Jie can teleport to many places as long as she knows the location and has enough energy for that, the distance depends on how much energy she has.

six sense- Jie has the ability to feel danger before it harms her in any way, it works only when the one threatened is her.

strong sense of smell- Jie has a strong sense of smell. It can be helpful but it’s becoming a problem once she’s close to something with an unpleasant smell

possession- Jie can posses the abilities and body of creatures she choose to possess. But it works only when the body’s souls is weak or gone

half immortality- Jie doesn’t age nor caught diseases but she can still be killed

astral projection- Jie is able to separate part of her soul from her body and wander like a ghost. It's different from Wukong's ability because Jie can't control her body while being a projection, once her soul comes back to its place she can keep her memories.

Personality:

Jie seems to be someone quiet, calm and cold hearted because that’s how she wants others to see her. In fact she can be very nervous or care deeply about someone but she won’t show it. She doesn’t show her true feelings if she doesn’t need to. She also likes to spend time alone, after spending hundreds years on her own she feels uncomfortable with other people. Without the ability to start a conservation she feels just anxious. She barely talks about the things she likes.

Jie has problem with trusting others and she doesn’t see herself as a trustworthy person either because she always puts herself and things of a high value to her first when she’s in danger. Sometimes she catches herself being carefree near MK’s group or Wukong but will immediately scold herself for that, she knows her place or at least she thinks she does. Jie isn’t sure whether she’s good or bad person and doesn’t accept others opinions about it. She is someone who doesn’t want to be hurt but she’s much more afraid of hurting others, she’s living with a ghost of her past and a lot of guilt.

Despite her being pretty sceptical and cold Jie can sometimes be a good listener and even better advisor, she actually enjoys being listened. When she starts doing something she makes sure to do it as well as possible

History:

Not much is known about Jie’s history yet, the only part we currently know for sure is that Jie worked in the palace of Demon Fox King, then took over the crown and ruled the kingdom on her own for hundreds while causing many wars. At that time she got married and had three kids. Later Jie was captured by the celestials and judged by the Jade Emperor who took away her title and sealed half of her power. Later for some reason she left the kingdom and traveled while trying to avoid Monkey King and the pilgrims so that she wouldn’t get killed. At the end of her journey she started living near the mountain where Monkey King sealed DBK, later the place became Megapolis where Jie lives till now. When DBK’s family planned to release him Jie decided to join forces with Monkey King to protect her peaceful life, to do that she became his servant.

Besides that it was stated that Jie knows the smell of underworld and probably has some connection to LBD. She also suffers from trauma which we yet don’t know when and where started.

Relationships with canon characters(opinions):

Sun Wukong:

Jie is Wukong’s servant, she spends with him a lot of time but the great Monkey King still keeps surprising her with his immaturity and energy. Despite her efforts to keep the distance between them Jie finds herself more and more relaxed in his presence, yet she keeps her guard up because she knows too well that you shouldn’t allow yourself to depend on someone else than yourself. But even if she doesn’t want to admit it yet, the fact that Wukong starts trusting her more and more makes her happy.

MK

You can easily guess what Jie though about MK when she found out that the stability of her life depends on some delivery boy. It took her some time to accept him as her master’s successor but as someone who can see people’s souls she couldn’t disagree that he was pretty much a honest and good hearted kid. He also showed her that he can work hard and that he truly cares about others safety. What I must add is that MK’s childish behaviour and energy annoys Jie but reminds her of her youngest son at the same time.

Mei

Jie still can’t forget the chills she got when she first met Mei. From the beginning she could say that this girl has a really strong soul which is so wild that it can barely stay in one place and that ominous energy in her body… but anyway- when Jie noticed that Mei is the descendant of the dragon she wasn’t too happy about it, later when she followed the bull clone into Mei’s house to make sure it won’t lay a hand on the Dragon Blade she got to know Mei better and felt bad about her circumstances. Then when Mei wielded her sword Jie was honestly terrified since Mei in her eyes is both powerful and dangerously unstable but when Jie noticed how strong and determinate she is to protect her friends she though of her old good friend and decided to just keep an eye on Mei for now. (Mei also adores Gou so she’s currently Jie’s favourite)

Pigsy

Jie doesn’t know a lot about him yet but she definitely loves his noodles, she’s also relieved that she’s not the only rational one taking care of that reckless Monkey Boy.

Tang

Tang was pretty suspicious of Jie when they first met, which didn’t really matter to her but she was surprised hearing him apologise. The monk’s soul is always thirst for more knowledge which makes him pretty interesting.

Sandy

Jie had her first proper conservation with him when she was going through a hard time and Sandy helper her made up her mind. You probably think that Jie sees nothing wrong with this gentle giant but don’t forget about her ability to see soul and oh man… Sandy’s soul is really weird! In her whole life Jie has never saw someone with their soul parted in half- one is gently and warm like a sunshine while the other is ominous and unpleasant to even look at. Still Jie respects him because she knows that the one to create this balance is no one else but Sandy himself and that can’t be an easy task. The only thing that Jie can’t stand is his love to cats while Jie dislikes them but she can live with that since Sandy likes Gou.

DBK family

Jie doesn’t have any opinion of them, once they try to destroy the city their her enemy and when they live quietly she doesn’t care. She wants to avoid picking a fight with them since she’s not sure whether she could fight any of them. The biggest threat is DBK but Jie believes that Wukong will handle him if needed (or at least she hopes). She had some confrontations with Princess Iron Fan but fortunately it ended well and Red Son… For Jie he’s just a very loud kid with anger issues

Spider Queen

Jie knew Spider Queen for a long time, or rather the two of them just acknowledged each other as rulers of demon kingdoms. Jie felt bad hearing about the fall of Spider demons but doesn’t approve Spider Queen’s actions, for her a Queen without her people is no longer a ruler. It would be better if Spider Queen just gave up and got a new life.

Macaque

From the start Jie isn’t a fan of that Monkey. Literally everything about him disgusts her, especially his smell of the dead and the way he tries to become a villain. Jie had only one look at his soul and noticed that it’s broken which means Macaque has been going through something but it only irritates her more because Macaque is destroying his soul more by acting against his nature which Jie finds stupid.

Yin and Jin

Honestly Jie doesn’t even remember who they are.

Lady Bone Demon

No info yet

Relationships with my ocs (opinions):

Zen

I can ensure you that Jie loves Zen but as for now she doesn’t feel ready to confront him again, she feels like she failed him as a wife and even if she knows deep down that he still loves her she isn’t brave enough to look at him. Remembering him also bring some dark memories who Jie hadn’t fought off yet.

Kids

It’s similar situation to Zen, she loves them but feels like she failed them as a mother. As for now she believes they can do better without her around. She’s really proud of every single one of them and would more than happy if they could live on without thinking about their pathetic mother. (Btw by the time she left the kingdom all her kids were grown up, the youngest- Sān was around 18)

Trivia:

- Jie has a strict week-plan of chores she needs to do for Monkey King, for example: cooking, tidying his cave and also bathing Wukong’s monkey friends. For Jie it’s a pretty fun way to spend her free time but she would be more happy if her pay was bigger

- Jie actually saves money for a coffee machine

- She not only saves letters her husband sends to her but also her own, which she didn’t have a courage to send

- She’s wearing a hairpin with magnolia which she bought with Wukong because it reminds her of a magnolia tree in her old garden in Fox Kingdom

- Jie’s favourite type of coffee is cappuccino without sugar

- Starting from season 1 Jie regularly visits Sandy for a cup of tee, she developed a habit of complaining about Wukong in front of the giant

- Zen and Èr are the only ones who know when Jie lives, Zen can’t leave the kingdom since he is it’s ruler but Èr visits his mother from time to time to check up on her. This way Jie gets to know how her family is doing.

- Jie’s personality changed a lot through many parts of her life

- Before becoming Monkey King’s servant Jie had many different jobs to get money, her last job was a bookstore’s cashier but she had to quit because it was closed due to the owner’s financial issues

// The ‘?’ Are for now hiden

This is an actual Jie’s ref for season 2 of Fox Servant

What do you think of the new logo?

[bratbarzal]

On Your Side (NH13) / Chapter Three

Pairing: Nico Hischier x Fem!OC Poppy Jensen*

*I say it's an OC, it's just a name and third person POV. I use minor character descriptions because I don’t get on with writing vague reader inserts/YN for long-form, story heavy fics, but I will generally try to avoid including race and body type or really any physical descriptors. I’m always open to feedback on my writing, or how to be more inclusive.

WC: 13k

Chapter Warnings: angst obviously what would this story be without it, poppy and nico having an overdue conversation, nico moping again with his big sad brown eyes, nico being jealous again, drinking, cursing, meddling friends, being stood up, mentions of controlling parents as always, a little touching maybe a little more kissing too and even more meddling friends

Summary: Poppy Jensen’s job with the New Jersey Devils was supposed to be her first big step into adulthood - a way to prove to herself and her overbearing parents that she could make her own way in life. She was never supposed to become involved with any of the players. Becoming best friends with their captain was stupid. Getting her heart broken by him was tragic. Getting knocked up with his child was just plain messy.

Series Masterlist

Previous Part (Chapter Two)

A/N: I have nothing to say honestly just hope you enjoy I really don't know why I struggled writing most of this despite knowing what I wanted to do with it I think just figuring out how I want certain conversations to go and how to get from a to b is pure stresssss I'm not entirely in love with it but what can you do also proofread her? I hardly know her

but if you have anything to say pls send it my way lmao I'd really like to hear any thoughts or opinions 💓

Poppy

Poppy was once told by her good friend, Kelsey, that she would be able to tell everything she needed to know about a guy by the way they answered one very simple question. 

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

She thinks about it more often than she really should, if she’s honest with herself, but Kelsey’s rationale behind each potential answer is actually a stroke of rare genius - and Poppy often finds herself applying the logic to most people that she encounters.

Guys who say super speed are the ultimate red flag. No one wants a quick finisher, no matter how fast they may be in any other aspect of life. Some things specifically require time and patience. Sacrificing your partner’s satisfaction all to say you can run the world record fastest 5k is the ultimate ick.

There’s an argument to be made for the endurance choosers, it sure has its perks, but Poppy thinks it’s a boring pick. To be given the option of any superpower, and to choose perseverance, of all things? Get a life. 

Anyone who chooses x-ray vision is a certified pervert, obviously. The same could be said for those wanting to read minds, although most of the guys Poppy has seen in her life struggle to comprehend the things she says in plain words, never mind whatever nonsense is circling through her inner thoughts. 

Those who choose flying are one dimensional, rarely able to see beyond what’s right in front of them, because, if they could, they’d choose the much better option of teleportation.

Who chooses flying when you could just think about somewhere and instantaneously arrive? With your hair in tact and no risk of bumping into any territorial birds.

Teleportation is what Poppy would have picked if anyone would have asked her a week ago, for the mere fact that commuting anywhere is the bane of her entire existence, and if she thinks too hard about it or looks to much into it, it always has been. 

She associates it with sitting in the back of her dad’s Bentley as a child, a tangible, frosty silence lingering in the air between her parents after one of their many even-toned arguments disguised as discussions, the fresh pine scent making her car sick and the leather seats making the back of her thighs sticky. 

Or the fragile bones of her hand being crushed by her mother’s tight grip as they rode the Amtrak over to Manhattan, Priscilla sneering at anyone who dared step too close on the crowded carriage, Poppy being dragged throughout department stores in the name of mother-daughter bonding time, and clutching to a tiny consolation Macy’s bag housing a sparkly lip gloss like her life depended on it the whole way home. 

She thinks of all the hours of her life she’s wasted on the Palisades Parkway, no longer able to enjoy the scenic route whenever she has to drive back to her parent’s house in Alpine after having watched one too many crime shows where a broken down car leads to a girl’s face plastered all over the news.

Even driving to work can feel like hell when the traffic is bad, what should be a 30 minute drive sometimes turning into an hour, Poppy’s fingers cramping around the wheel and her feet itching to touch solid ground after too long.

Teleportation sounds perfect.

And, there’s even a romance element to it. Being whisked away to Paris in the blink of an eye, suddenly sitting outside a boulangerie, decadent, rich hot chocolate on a table in front of her and a plate full of pastries, all because she mentioned a slight craving for a pain au chocolat. 

Teleportation has always been the only correct, green-flag answer to the question. 

Until Poppy properly considered time travel, that is.

The concept of it has always been a little too much or her to handle - too many strange loopholes, too many bad examples from the sci-fi movies her brother had loved as a kid. Travelling back in time to when her parents were her age and accidentally capturing her adolescent father’s attention à la Marty McFly? Sounds like hell and horror to Poppy. 

But that was before she screwed everything up.

If she could have any superpower right now, currently weighed down with the burden of hindsight - which people have always told her is a funny thing, but she thinks is actually somewhat diabolical - she would pick time travel a thousand times over.

Because if human beings have a specific part of their brain that is dedicated to forcing them to sit and stew on their every poor decision for days on end - lets them rethink and regret everything until they’re blue in the face, and can’t think of anything other than how idiotic they have been - it should also offer the kindness of being able to go back and change what they so royally fucked up.

That’s what Poppy thinks, at least, as she throws herself down onto her bed, her back hitting the duvet in a whoosh and all she can do is stare at the ceiling and wonder how and when she became such a certified moron.

There’s a part of her that suspects it’s in her genes. Inevitable. Unavoidable. Nature and nurture, she was born and raised to be a full blown fool.

Poppy comes from a long line of privilege, and while it does take a certain element of intelligence to amass the wealth her family has, it also tends to go hand in hand with ignorance in its many forms.

Behind every fortuitous business move her father makes are a million other mistakes - failed ventures, bad investments, shoddy pieces of advice accepted from the untrustworthy snakes he surrounds himself with. Hidden beneath every rung of the social ladders her mother has managed to climb, there are the ugly faux-pas’ slipping through the cracks of a former, more unsavoury life she can never run too far from. And her brother - well, she suspects he’s just an idiot, there are no two ways about it.

She knows that she needs to stop blaming her family, though. This time, it’s all her.

She can’t blame her father for the way she overthinks, the man who makes every decision in life with the littlest regard for how anyone else feels about it. She can’t blame her mother for the way she places such little value on herself, the woman who walks into every room like she owns it and refuses to let anyone make her think otherwise.

Except maybe she can.

If she had the nerve to talk to a therapist, they might disagree - might say her overthinking comes from her dad’s lack of communication skills, a part of her brain always filling in the gaps of a half-assed, other side of any conversation with him. Or they might say her insecurities come from her mom constantly putting Poppy down while telling her to be more sure of herself - stop slouching, Poppy, no one will take you seriously with the posture of a candy cane.

She’d love to know where her need to repress her feelings so deep that she becomes an impenetrable, cold, dark fortress comes from. The need to push and shove when someone tries to get too close, because God forbid anything is ever easy when it comes to her affections.

It would have made the past 4 days since Nico had walked into her apartment and kissed the life out of her a whole lot easier. 

4 days spent reminiscing, rethinking and regretting every single thing she had said and done since their lips parted, since he had put his heart on the line and she’d whacked it away, full swing, as if too desperate for the victory of a last-bat home run.

If she could time travel, she’d do the whole thing over.

-

“Don’t go on that date, Mohn.”

She had read the words on his lips before they registered through her ears, the sound of her blood rushing throughout her body occupying every sense for a brief moment.

What the hell is going on?

Nico had kissed her. He’d grabbed her, pulled her into him, and she’s pretty sure he had made her heart stop for a good second - there’s no other justifiable reason for the way it had been reverberating against her ribcage ever since. 

And then he stood before her, a desperate, pleading projection playing in his dark irises, lips still slick from where her own had just been, cheeks flushed, shoulders rising with subtle panting breaths, waiting for a response to a question she couldn’t even remember hearing.

“W-what?” She’d stuttered, blinking hard and shaking her head as if to rattle her brain into whatever semblance of cognisance she could muster.

Nico had kissed her, and then wanted to talk? As if she had the brain power left for any kind of discussion after that?

He seemed proud of the mess he had made of her, lips lifting at one side, drawing her gaze immediately to every movement they made, so focused on the memory of how pillowy-soft they had felt against hers that she didn’t notice him stepping a little closer, raising a large hand to tuck her hair behind her ear until she flinched at the contact.

“Sunday, Poppy,” he had uttered, unfazed by her skittishness, “Your date, don’t go.”

She had blinked again, completely overwhelmed on every front. She could still taste him on her tongue, he was so close she could smell his cologne, tunnel vision only seeing him in front of her and the hand that cupped the side of her face in her peripheral, her heartbeat echoing through her skull and every nerve, every slight hair on her body, standing as if trying to close the distance between his body and hers.

It was the sensory overload that made her go against all other instincts.

“I can’t.” Her voice had sounded like it hadn’t been used in weeks, croaky and unsure, her next words stammered, “I can’t not go, I mean. I have to go.”

“You don’t have to go, Poppy,”

“No, I do.” That had sounded a little surer, the fog in her brain slowly clearing only for something more tumultuous to pass through in it’s place. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Nico blinked once, then again, frustration clear in the furrow of his thick brows as he seemed to stew on his next words, desperate to say the right thing. There was a prolonged, tense beat, before he had asked, “Have you ever thought we could be more?”

“More?”

“More than friends.”

If her heart hadn’t stopped when he had kissed her, it must have stopped then.

His back straight, eyes looking directly into hers, a hopeful, inquisitive gleam shining from within them - he had never seemed so sure of something for as long as she had known him.

Poppy couldn’t stop the little voice in her head questioning, where the hell has this come from?

“Have you?” She had asked with a eyre of disbelief.

 Not once in the years she had known him had he ever made it seem like they could be more. There had always been an unspeakable, undeniable barrier between them. They were friends. They’d always been friends. Just friends.

Friends who spent most of their free, personal time together, friends who bought each other sentimental gifts they’d never get for anyone else, who shared intimate details about their lives and their pasts, and kissed each others heads like a goodbye ritual. Friends who broke each other’s hearts, seemingly beyond repair, without explanation.

“I think so.”

“You think so?”

“I mean,” He had paused, breaking eye contact for a second as if wracking his brain for the right answer, sensing a teetering tension between the two of them. “Yeah. Yes. I have.”

She had narrowed her eyes at him, weighing up the possibility in her mind that she wouldn’t have liked any response he gave to her, every prospective answer causing a flood of doubt and uncertainty to crash in rushing, destructive waves through her mind. “Since when?” She’d asked, trying to level her bite.

If he’d ever thought they could be more, what the hell have they been doing all this time?

“Since I met you, I think,” he had shrugged.

Wrong answer, again.

“And you only bring it up when I have a date with someone else?”

She watched a series of antithetical emotions pass through his features, understanding, confusion, acceptance, denial, resilience, cowardice. He had seemed to find the small margins between all of them, when he had come back with, “It’s not because of your date, Poppy.”

“Then why?” She tilted her head as she continued to analyse him, again not sure what she was looking for, or what she wanted to find. That something tumultuous was already whirling within her, too late to be stopped, and Nico could seemingly see the warning signs.

���Why are you getting mad at me, right now?”

“I’m not mad,” she had denied, not even knowing if she was lying or not, “I’m confused. 2 weeks ago, we weren’t even talking, Nico-,”

“You said you forgave me for that.”

“I didn’t-.” She’d cut herself off before she could say something that would upset him, the conversation spiralling so far out of control from the momentary bliss he had provided only minutes ago - but she was too far up shit’s creek without a paddle, there was no turning back. She’d been wanting to have a proper conversation with Nico all week, what better time than the middle of the night on what was now his birthday? “That’s not exactly what I said.”

He had taken a step back, lips parting with an unreleased gasp, the once-hopeful glint in his eyes transforming into hurt. “You don’t forgive me?”

“I didn’t say that either,” she sighed, wanting answers, not to cause him anguish. “Please don’t put words in my mouth.”

“Then tell me what the hell is wrong? What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I don’t understand where this has come from, Nico! You come in here and kiss me out of nowhere and tell me not to date other people and I’m just supposed to blindly follow along when I don’t get what the hell is happening with you!”

“I think me kissing you makes it pretty obvious what I want to happen, Mohn.” He had tried to ease the tension, his voice level and steady, stepping forward with his hands raised in an attempt to calm her, but she had taken a slight step back, clearly unaffected. 

“It doesn’t.” She’d stopped looking at him at that point, keeping an eye on his feet to watch his encroaching steps. “Nothing about you is obvious. You don’t tell me anything and all I can think about is what I did wrong.”

If he couldn’t see the tears pooling at her lashes, he had to have heard the break in her voice - a sure indicator that she was close to crying - but his steps had stopped, feet seemingly stuck to their place on the hardwood flooring of Poppy’s apartment, and she could feel her heart shatter knowing he wasn’t persisting again.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He tries to reassure her, but it’s no use.

Maybe she would have believed him if he’d held her while he said it, transferred the meaning through touch to her skin, gripping her with every word until she truly understood the weight of them.

“It had to have been something. You don’t just stop wanting to know a person for no reason, Nico, so what was it?” She made her way to her couch, perching on the edge of the seat with her knees pressed together, and looked over to where he remained standing.

She could feel her temper flaring again. 

How could he have the nerve to do this to her - to turn her world upside down in a matter of minutes - and not have the answers she needed to accept it?

“Poppy-,”

“I need to know. I can’t drop it and forget about it, and I’m sorry that I made it seem like I could, but if you want us to move on from this, if you want to come here and kiss me like that, and tell me you don’t want me seeing other people, I need to know what happened.”

“I-,” Nico sighed heavily, shoulders drooping, any confidence and bravado he had displayed after their kiss now a distant memory. “I don’t know.”

She had an immediate, striking thought, that maybe if she asked closed questions, he could give her an answer, and so, with misplaced courage, she asked, “Was it her?”

“What?”

“Your girlfriend. Did she ask you to stop talking to me?”

It was a thought that had been plaguing her for longer than she’d like to admit - unable to shake the idea that maybe Talia had seen one of the texts she had sent, had gone through Nico’s phone and seen any of their older messages, any photos he might have kept on his phone, maybe a memory had come up from snapchat, maybe someone had mentioned Poppy and her curiosity had been piqued. 

Poppy had always thought if she was dating someone, and they had a Poppy, she might feel some type of way about it. 

But her and Nico were just friends.

Nico rounded the couch, sitting on the cushion beside Poppy, their knees knocking as he reached into her lap and took her shaking hands in his.

“Do you really think I’d stop talking to you just because someone asked me to?” Their eyes had met again, sadness brewing in the dark coffee colour surrounding his dilated pupils, and a glassy film coating her own. “Poppy, I would never.”

“I don’t know what to think, Nico, because you won’t tell me.”

“Because it doesn’t make sense! I try wrapping my head around it, try coming up with some kind of explanation, but nothing I say is going to change what I did to you, Poppy.”

Her question before had gotten her an honest response, had elicited something real and undeniable within him - he’d never stop talking to her because someone asked him to. So it was his own decision, subconscious or not. Maybe she could help dig further, she thought.

“Why did you kiss me?” She asked after a beat.

“I,” Nico pondered over it before rushing his answer, a wave of emotion flashing across his face before his eyes locked on hers, ready to let her in. “Because I wanted to.”

That was a start - a simple question, a straightforward answer. 

“Was that the first time that you wanted to?”

“No.”

Poppy could feel some semblance of confidence coming back. Closed questions, concrete answers, she could keep this up.

“When was the last time you wanted to kiss me?”

She could have asked the first - she sure as hell wanted to know it, but if he’d thought of being more the entire time they’d known each other, there was a lingering possibility there were many times - and they would be there until sunrise if they started from the beginning.

“Finnegan’s.” 

“The bar?”

“We went there when we came back after we crashed out of the playoffs, do you remember?”

She remembered.

It had only been a couple of days before Nico had left for his summer back home in Switzerland.

Their loss in Carolina had been devastating, the boys came back broken and defeated, and all just wanted to drown their sorrows before they broke for their off-season. Poppy had been out with Nia and Kelsey and a few other friends at another bar when Jack had responded to her instagram story, saying they’d be at the Irish pub that was a staple within the team, and she should come over and join them.

She had made her way over pretty late, wanting to make sure her friends were okay without her, and arrived when most of the boys were completely shit-faced, past the point of tears and moping and deep into a mass state of hysteria and loud jubilation for the successes along the way.

She had found Nico in a booth in the far corner of the bar, head slumped over the back, eyes seemingly tracing the cracks in the ceiling until she crawled into the bench behind him, leaned over with her elbows resting on either side of his head, and took up his entire view. 

“What’cha doin’?” She’d asked, lips twisting at the sight of his dizzy eyes trying to correct themselves to focus on her. 

He’d quickly given up, pressing his eyes closed to shut out the risk of nausea taking over, the outer corners crinkling, the sides of his nose scrunching and his eyelashes fanning a shadow over his cheekbones - her own eyes were level with his lips, so he couldn’t really hide the way they curved at the quick glimpse of her.

“Suffering,” he had muttered, squinting one eye open to catch a brief, upside down glance of her. Nico was never this down after a few drinks. He was giggly, he was loud, he was touchy and clumsy - he was never the hide away in the corner sad type. “Wanna join me?”

“Always.” She affirmed, making her way around to his side of the booth and sliding in beside him until her bare thigh pressed against the somewhat scratchy linen of the pants he wore. 

“I’m probably not the best company tonight,” He remained in the same position, neck craning so the base of his head could rest atop the back of the seat, and his eyes closed - giving Poppy the perfect opportunity to properly look him over.

The few moments they’d had together, alone, over the past few weeks, he’d been pent up, stressed, overworked and on the brink of eruption, so this was the first time in a long time she’d managed to catch him without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Only, that weight wasn’t so easy to shift.

She saw it in the bags under his eyes, in the unkempt playoff beard he was yet to shave off, in the stuttered way his chest rose and fell with his attempts at deep, calming breaths. 

As she watched him, the corner of her lip tucked between her teeth in contemplation, she knew there was nothing she could say to make him feel better about this. He just had to feel it out, process it in his own way without her interference - but she wanted to be there, at least.

And as much as she wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, that he did the best he could, and led his team through one of their strongest seasons in recent franchise history, she wanted to provide him comfort in the quiet, too.

“I don’t mind.”

And so, with little trepidation, she placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and rested her head next to it, glancing up to see the push of a dimple forming on his cheek as his arm stretched around her and welcomed her into his warm embrace.

“You wanted to kiss me then?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “Didn’t seem like the right time, though,” he followed up with an answer to a question she hadn’t even asked, yet. “I was leaving too soon and I didn’t want you to think I’d just kissed you because I was drunk and upset.”

Her eyes moved to his lips, a question for herself whirling around in her head. Would she have wanted him to kiss her then? What would have happened in the aftermath? Where would they be now? Would she have thought that? Would she have spent her summer stewing over what it meant, and how his lips had felt against hers?

Before she had much time to think it over, Nico continued, being spurred on by such a distinct memory that he was rolling towards the answer she had been waiting for, and she wasn’t going to stop him to try and decipher her own feelings.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you when I went home, thinking about wanting to kiss you, or not kissing you, and what it all would mean, and I kept trying to distract myself thinking I could just figure it all out when I came back here but then I met Talia, and I felt wrong for thinking about you when I had her.”

That had made sense. Nico was always a guy that would do the right thing. If he had a girlfriend, he wouldn’t think of the prospect of something with someone else, even if that someone was Poppy, and that something was a culmination of years of pent up feelings finally coming together to form something potentially wonderful.

She didn’t quite need or want to hear the rest. Didn’t want to hear how he’d gone looking for a distraction, and found just that. 

Nico was loyal, and for him to maintain that essence of himself, he had to ignore the possibility of Poppy. Some subconscious part within him saw her as a threat to the stability he had with the perfect girl from back home, and he boxed her away to make room for what could be with Talia.

It stung, but he was right. Neither of them could change what had already happened.

“Do you think you could ever forgive me?”

She’d nodded after only a second, barely even thinking about it.

Jack’s words from New Years Eve rang through her, suck it up and move on.

Nico had his reasons, she had her answers. He wasn’t bored of her, wasn’t tired of her or annoyed by her. He’d been so caught up by his unspoken, untranslated feelings for her that he twisted himself into untangle-able knots that were only just starting to loosen up enough to be picked apart.

“Could you maybe say it?”

“Yeah, I could.” she had said through trembling lips, the hurt in his voice burrowing through her eardrums, lodging itself in her own throat, and dripping slowly but surely into the depths of her chest. “I will.” She had to be more sure, needing to erase any doubt she had planted within him. “I do.”

“You do?”

He still held her hands in his from when he had sat down, palms warm and slightly perspirant from his tight grip around her knuckles.

“I forgive you.”

His mouth twitched into a shaky smile, his eyes catching the soft light and twinkling with emotion, and she definitely wanted to kiss him, then.

She had wondered if this is what he felt when he’d kissed her before, this burning need. Her fingers twitched in his hold, her heart thudded in her chest, and her lips parted in anticipation, until she could finally slam the breaks on her torpedoing thoughts.

“It’s just a lot to process, and I don’t really know how I feel.”

She had wished she could take it back as soon as the words left her mouth, and Nico’s features had folded as he took them in. He broke eye contact almost immediately, head dropping to look down at their hands until he released hers back into her lap. 

“I get it.” He uttered, forcing a smile as he glanced back up at her, briefly. “I sprung this on you out of nowhere, I’m s-,”

“Please don’t apologise,” she interrupted before he could go there, knowing it would send her brain into overdrive if he let even the thought of regret fester between them, “I’m glad you did. I don’t want you to be sorry about it.”

Relief washed over the both of them in a warm, steady stream as he nodded, leaning into the back of the couch, legs spreading as an elongated sigh wracked through his torso. 

He ran a hand through his hair, and Poppy’s eyes flickered to the flex of his fingers, the strain of his wrist, the flash of protruding veins where his sleeve had pulled up with the stretch of his movements. 

His eyes closed, and she took him in just like she had that night in Finnegan’s bar.

She’d had an urge then, a desire even, to provide comfort - to share his burdens, make him forget the pain he had just endured, wash it all away with encouraging words, gentle touches. A shoulder to cry on, two ears to listen, and, albeit she didn’t entirely know it at the time, a whole heart that was his for the taking.

And take it, he did, held it all summer, bent it all sorts of ways out of shape up until New Years Eve, and it was still in his hands. Smushed, dented, squeezed to within an inch of his life, her heart was his.

It was up to her now to figure out what she wanted him to do with it. 

“I made a promise to my mom about the date, Nico, I have to go.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, seemingly resigned to the fact he had maybe been a little too lost in the moment to make such a crazy demand of her. 

“And I think maybe we both need a little time to properly think about what is happening here.”

“Time?” He practically shot up, alarm in his eyes.

“We’ve barely been apart all week, Nico, I think that might be why we’re both so,” she struggled for the right word - pent up, emotional, strung out, “Intense.”

She had known she was emotional, overthinking to the point of ruin, but maybe he was too. Maybe that’s what had led to the kiss, to the outburst of sentiment. They were both in the depths of a pressure cooker of emotions, and some space might do them good to gain a little clarity.

Maybe with a little more time to think on it, to consider what he was admitting to, have a little breathing room, and act more on something concrete than a fleeting in-the-moment feeling, he might change his mind. He deserved the opportunity to do so, she wouldn’t hold it against him.

“How much time do you think you would need?”

“I’m driving up to my parent’s house on Friday, so I would have been away for most of the weekend anyway, maybe we check back in on Monday and see where our heads are at?”

“4 days,” he muttered as if he’d just counted them in his head. “I can do that.”

“Yeah?” He had nodded in response, and there was something like hope that lingered between them, sharing small smiles and gazing through glassy eyes. “You’ll be so busy you won’t even get the chance to miss me.”

She believed it to be true - Nico had his family over, would be spending the latter end of the day with them, and had 2 big home games in a row to worry about. Poppy would be the last thing on his mind.

If she had blinked in the moment, she might have missed the way his observation slipped to her lips, lingered there for a brief second, and glanced back up to flicker between her eyes again. “Not possible.”

“Poppy, have you suffered some kind of brain injury I don’t know about?” Nia’s voice rings through the speaker of the phone pressed to her ear, already supposedly-styled hair fanned out around her as she lays staring at the ceiling, willing herself to get up and go before she’s late.

No matter how much she doesn’t want to go on this date, her mother will kill her if she hears anything other than a glowing review. On time, preened to perfection, polite and sociable. 

“Maybe I hit my head in my sleep at some point,” she thinks out loud, glancing back to the sharp edges of her bedside table and wondering if she could have thudded into it in the night.

Surely she would have a scar or a bruise.

“You must have,” Nia agrees, “That’s the only logical explanation why you’d ever consider telling the guy you’ve been hung up on since you first met him that you need time to think about how you feel,”

“Ni,” Poppy groans, “I called you for advice, not a lecture.”

“If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes, and you my friend, are a dumbass.”

“In my defence-,”

“Nope!” Poppy doesn’t know what Nia is doing on the other end, but she hears something clatter as if being slammed down on a table in protest, “There is no defence, you’re an idiot.”

“I didn’t know how I felt about it, Ni,” Poppy sighs, sitting up and catching sight of herself in the mirror. She doesn’t know why so much of her time tonight has been wasted trying to look so good when she doesn’t even want to. When she’d gone to visit her parents, her mother had practically given her a full blown rundown of the guy she was meeting.

Tucker Lyon, she can’t help to instinctively roll her eyes at just his name, works in investment grade finance for one of the Big 4 - she hadn’t cared enough to ask which one. His family are property people, her mom had said, and own enough Manhattan real estate to hold some serious power. Priscilla had met his mother years ago at some luncheon in the city, and apparently the two had been in cahoots since then to set their children up.

Poppy doesn’t want to be set up with some walking red flag, biting her tongue over a plate of food too small to satisfy her hunger while he mansplains stocks and shares to her.

She wants to be in whatever bar the guys are holed up in, tucked under Nico’s arm, side practically glued to his, sipping cocktails and celebrating him like he deserves to be celebrated.

But instead, she can admit, she has been a royal idiot.

“I still don’t know, it’s all come at me full force and I don’t understand my feelings.”

“Bullshit!” Nia scoffs, “You knew you were into him the second he first flashed those dimples your way.”

She isn’t entirely wrong.

Poppy had once harboured a slight crush on him. In the very early stages of their friendship. One small enough that when she realised it was completely one-sided - and she was being delusional to ever think his cute nickname for her and his insistence on spending time only with her was anything more than his attempt to make a friend - she could swallow it down until it was barely anything.

She trained her heart not to stutter when he approached her, told her brain to shut up when he flashed her one of those perfect, all consuming smiles, and could cross her arms to restrain her hands from wanting to hold his whenever they walked side by side.

She’d become so good at suppressing her feelings, she’d forgotten she had them.

She had forgotten all the times they had hung out alone over the years, never second guessing all the looks and the touches, the times he’d let her stay over if it got too late to go home alone, and the times he’d waltz into hers like he owned the place.

She’d forgotten when she had seen him with Talia, always claiming the feeling in her gut was one of loss and reminiscence, not envy and bitterness.

She’d forgotten when the Hughes brothers had helped her move a couple months ago, and Luke had questioned the amount of Nico he was helping to scatter throughout her apartment. Pictures on her bookshelf, pictures stuck to her fridge with souvenir magnets from Swiss gift shops, a couple hoodies, Devils branded shorts and big t-shirts of his he’d come across in the boxes. 

“I didn’t realise you and Cap were so close,” Luke had picked a frame out of one of the boxes, the picture of Nico and Poppy at the Halloween party inside, and waved it in her direction as she stood with her hands on her hips, figuring out if she wanted to alphabetise or colour code the books she was displaying. 

“Huh?” Poppy tilted her head towards the tall boy, watching as he shook his curls back into place and ran a hand through them. He’d worked up a bit of a sweat lugging her boxes upstairs, and now that everything was finally moved, Jack had gone to get them food, and Poppy and Luke were getting started on unpacking the easy stuff. She looked to the picture in hand, reaching over and taking it to get a closer look. “I guess we were, I don’t really know.” She wasn't a good enough actress to properly pull off the nonchalance she was aiming for.

“You don’t know?” Luke scoffed, rifling through other pictures in the box - all framed, mostly of her and Nico, some just the two of them, some of them in groups, but always side by side. Always grinning ear to ear. “You’ve got like a shrine in here, PJ,”

“It’s not a shrine,” she had argued, “You don’t keep pictures of your friends? Sounds kind of cold, if you ask me, Moosey.”

“I keep pictures on instagram and my phone like a normal person.” He chuckled.

“Generational gap, you kids are done for when the cloud goes down, you know. Physical media is forever.”

“You sound like my mom.” Luke jibed, and true to his nature, unable to stop himself before he inadvertently crossed a line, he asked with a weird wiggle of his eyebrows, “So, you wanna keep Nico forever, huh?”

“Shut up, Luke.” If Poppy had something soft enough, she would have thrown it at his head. The photo frame in hand seemed like overkill, and she didn’t want to hurt the kid, just make him stop. She didn’t much like talking about him, what they once had, what they once were. Even if he did have the wrong impression of what they were. It was upsetting, and she didn’t want to get upset - not in front of Luke. “You can keep those in the box.”

Luke had reached out for the frame in Poppy’s grasp, had watched as she hesitated giving it back, as she looked down and took in the huge smiles on her and Nico’s faces, and as she made the decision not to put this one back. Maybe she could phase it out, wait until she took a nicer, more meaningful picture with someone else before she replaced that one.

“I’ll keep this one out. I look cute.”

"Sure." His sarcasm was not entirely appreciated.

She had heard him chuckle to himself as she stood the frame on one of the shelves, placing it between a scented candle she had no intention of ever lighting and a small faux lavender plant. Not shrine-like at all.

She’d forgotten about any suppressed feelings until Nico kissed her.

Until he opened up Pandora’s box, releasing all her pent up emotions to roam freely, creating chaos and causing havoc through every corner of her entire existence. 

For the past 3 days, she’s thought about him with everything she has done. 

On Thursday afternoon, sat alone in her office, going over emails and wondering what he would be up to with his family. Was he happy, were they having fun, did he think about her for a second?

On Friday evening, driving alone on the long winding roads to her parent’s house and listening to the commentary for the game on the radio. Making it to the house in time for the 3rd period, and seeing the team celebrate. Was he well rested, excited for his family to watch him play at home, did he look up into the staff suite at the Rock and wish she was there cheering him on?

On Saturday, retreating to her childhood bedroom after another tense family dinner, snuggling up with the dogs on her bed as she watched the game. Was he beating himself up, had he gone straight home on his own after the loss, did he have the same urge to call her as much as she wanted to call him?

Did he, on any of those nights, lay awake thinking about that kiss?

About how right it had felt? How he had exerted his subtle dominance over her with such ease, large hands encompassing her face and holding her to his lips like his life depended on it?

Did he think about where it could have gone if she hadn’t shut him down? Where they could be if he’d made a move before?

She’s been thinking about it. Non-stop thinking about it.

Thinking about that kiss, and the possibility of others - the moment in the bar, all the other potential moments he had wanted to kiss her and hadn’t. The fact that maybe her feelings had never been one sided, and she’s wasted years pushing them down for nothing.

“Do you think I made a mistake not cancelling this date?” She asks her friend in a moment of vulnerability, her mind reeling with the possibility that she has already fucked up what could be.

“No.” Nia assures her, surprisingly. She’s been calling her an idiot all night, what does she mean, ‘no’? “I think he needs to sweat a little, let him think about you out tonight with another guy, and come tomorrow, his mind will be made up.”

“You don’t think we might be overestimating how much it bothers him?”

“Don’t make me call you a dumbass again, Pop.” Poppy can hear the rolling of her best friend’s eyes through the phone. “And send me a picture of your outfit before you leave.”

Nico

Nico has never been so physically uncomfortable in his life.

For a man who plays contact sport for a living - has played it for a good chunk of his existence, and has suffered countless knocks and injuries, slept in one too many uncomfortable positions in planes, buses, trains and even hotel beds, and who’s face has had more than enough encounters with the wrong end of a pair of skates - that is saying a lot.

But every inch of him, every fibre of his entire being, feels irritated in some way.

It’s a feeling like unforeseen static shocks passing over every surface of his skin. Like little bugs crawling all over him and he can’t swat them away. Like random strands of fine hairs that can’t be seen by the naked eye but God, can he feel them. He feels them everywhere.

From the top of his head to the tips of his toes, he feels something prickling, stinging, burning. 

Itchy.

Like a scratch he can’t reach in the very middle of his back.

And it’s not like he doesn’t know what it is.

He’s felt it ever since he left Poppy’s apartment in the early hours of Thursday morning. He had hardly slept, getting maybe 3 or 4 hours in before his alarm shrilled from where it charged on his nightstand. 

He has tried to use the same coping mechanisms that get him through his bouts of homesickness - where he closes his eyes and tries to provoke a memory for each sense.

He pictures the views from one of his many hikes, endless fields of green grass, crystal clear lakes, winding footpaths and mountains that stretch as far as the eye can see. He imagines gathering around a fondue table back in his favourite restaurant, and can smell the freshly baked bread, can taste the melt-in-the-mouth flavour once it’s been dipped in oozing, melted cheese. He can feel the softness of the freshly washed sheets back in his childhood bedroom and can hear the chorused chirps of the birds outside his window in the early mornings. 

It’s a technique that has helped ground him in the past, and he had thought that maybe if he applies the same logic, it will dull the ache in his fingertips that yearn to reach for his phone and text the girl who has asked him for space.

If he thinks hard enough, he can still taste the sweet but subtle vanilla of Poppy’s lip balm. He can smell the fresh-cotton essence of her laundry detergent, can hear the melodic sounds she had hummed into his lips, can feel the softness of her skin on the pads of his fingers, can see, clear as day, the dazed expression etched into her features like she had gotten caught up in the fantasy too.

If it wasn’t so easy for him to mentally transport himself back, he wouldn’t have been able to make it 4 days without seeing her. 

He had known it would be hard, but, thankfully, he thinks he got himself enough of a fix to make it to Monday.

He’d taken all he could with just one press of his lips to hers, had taken more of Poppy than he had ever dared to take before, and his subconscious was clinging onto it for dear life, hoping with everything in him she could decide to give him more.

4 days.

He has never known time to be so cruel. For it to drag out every minute like it was an hour.

If his life had a remote control, best believe he would be jamming the hell out of the fast forward button. 4x speed, skip to the next chapter, not wanting or needing to know what happened in the in-between.

He’s always thought himself to have patience - good things come to those who wait, after all - but this had become the ultimate test.

He had tried to immerse himself in whatever was going on each day, hoping they would pass quicker, less painfully, but it had been no use.

His birthday had passed by in a dizzying blur. He’d had a late morning skate, had come home to his family waiting for him, had gone to dinner with them, caught up over Italian food in one of his favourite spots by his apartment, and had driven his parents, his sister and her boyfriend back to their hotel with the promise of dedicating some time to them before the game on Friday.

Every single thing had reminded him of her.

Being at the Rock and wondering where in the building she might be, and if she was reminded of him with the littlest things. If she was thinking about him, what she was thinking about him. Seeing his family, imagining her place at the table as they all exchanged laughter and stories over pasta and wine. Thinking about what she might contribute to the conversation, how she would get along with his sister, how they’d gang up on him and poke fun, but she’d hold his hand under the table and squeeze to let him know it was all in good humour.

In the locker room after the win against the Blackhawks, trying his best to get involved in the celebrations but just wanting to call her, to hear that she had watched, and was proud of him and the team. And even after the loss against the Canucks, he wanted to hear the same. He wanted to go straight to her place, the passenger seat of his car painfully empty as he drove himself home in complete silence. 

And he had tried his best not to get too into his head about the whole space thing.

Poppy was right, after all. Things had gotten intense.

He had been intense - marching over to her place and kissing her out of nowhere. As right as it had felt, it was stupid. It was hotheaded and impulsive and it wasn’t considerate of her feelings.

But, God, he was so caught up on her he couldn’t help himself. He should have seen in the days they had spent together prior that they needed to speak more about everything before he threw himself at her like a neanderthal. 

He’d only considered what conclusion he had reached, and as much as his conversation with the guys on the plane gave him an idea of Poppy’s mindset, some words needed to be exchanged before he planted one straight on her. The whole thing could have gone so much better if he just knew how to communicate everything with her properly.

Even before the kiss. Before New Years, before Talia, before Summer - if he knew how to speak about his developing feelings for her, this whole mess could have been avoided.

He wouldn’t be sat alone in a bar, yet again, as his friends surround him, partaking in the celebrations that are supposed to revolve around him, wallowing in self pity.

He wouldn’t be thinking about Poppy, out in some fancy restaurant somewhere else in the city, with some stick-up-his-ass loser who doesn’t deserve a second of her time, and imagining her giving him one of those earth shattering smiles - the one where her the outside of her eyes crinkle in the corners, and every time he sees it he imagines the lines settling there as she ages, and it’s always a version of the two of them, old and grey, side by side, smiling together.

He imagines her taking him back to her apartment, curling up with him on the couch Nico helped her haul up the stairs after she had found it for crazy cheap off of some sketchy ad on Facebook marketplace. He sees her slowly replacing all those pictures she has of her and Nico with pictures of her and him, phasing him out of her space like she would eventually phase him out of his life.

He thinks about her taking him to her bedroom - the one he had yet to see in her new apartment, but imagines it’s just like her old one; way too many pillows and throws, a thick, plush duvet that looks like she’s climbing into a cloud, and a beat up stuffed toy her grandmother had given her when she was young. 

He doesn’t want to wish that Poppy is currently welcoming someone into her life that doesn’t suit her, but he can’t help himself.

He hopes this guy is late - and doesn’t even apologise for it. He hopes he orders off the menu for her, or criticises her choice of wine for not pairing with her choice of food like a complete snob. He hopes he’s awful to wait-staff. He hopes he’s type of guy who writes a suggestion on the tip line of his receipt instead of leaving a minimum of 20%. He hopes he chews with his mouth open, spits when he talks and scrapes his knife along the ceramic of his plate as he cuts his food, causing that toe curling sound that makes Poppy want to scream.

He hopes he doesn’t offer her his jacket, because she always refuses to take one out. He hopes he doesn’t think to give her a piggy back, because she always wears shoes out she knows she doesn’t want to walk in, but always wants to walk home if it’s nice out. He hopes he walks on the inside of the sidewalk, leaving her to the dangers of walking roadside, and walks too quick for her to keep up with little regard for how she likes to take her time on a night and stretch the evening out. 

He even hopes he smokes. Poppy hates smokers. And if, God forbid, they kiss, he’ll have smoker’s breath, and she won’t want to do it again. 

She won’t stand in front of him, eyes glazed over, lashes fluttering, brows furrowing, lips still pouting and fingers twitching to reach back out, yearning for more.

She won’t even kiss him back.

Not like she had kissed Nico. Not like she had clutched at his shirt like she wanted to hold him close to her forever. He wouldn’t get to hear that sweet, subdued sound she had made when his tongue had swiped tentatively at hers, or feel that slight pressure of when her lips had closed around it, sucking almost at the muscle before opening back up to allow for more of a taste.

No one else can get that.

No one else will savour it like Nico has, thinking about is for days on end, replaying the moment over and over until he has perfect recall of every small detail.

It’s probably a good thing she hasn’t shared much detail about this date, Nico thinks as he swirls the ice around his empty drink, sat right at the bar away from the sectioned-off area that Timo had rented out for the party.

If he knew more about it - about the who, about the where - he probably would be in a cab by now, knowing he was crossing a line but unable to do anything about it, his will outweighing any common courtesy just as it had a few nights ago. Or he would have spent the last few days in a google deep-dive, trying to figure out the kind of man her mother would approve of. Enough to set her up, at least - he doubts Priscilla Jensen entirely approves of anyone.

Nico finally makes eye contact with the bartender, and as she starts to make her way over, he feels like a divine intervention occurs - an arm falling onto the bar top beside his, a glimmer of metal flashing into his dark eyes - the reflection bouncing from a bracelet that is welded around the base of a slender hand.

“I’ll take another of these,” he lifts his glass when the bartender arrives, gesturing to the old fashioned he’d somehow landed on over beer tonight, “And whatever she’s having, please.”

 “Vodka diet coke, please,” a voice rings out from beside him, and once the bartender busies herself with the order, she asks, “Shouldn’t I be the one getting you a drink? I heard it’s your birthday,”

“Why should either of us pay when it’s going on a tab?” He chuckles, angling his body better to face her. 

“Ooh la-la, a tab,” Nia mocks, “Now I feel like I’m a part of an elite club!”

“I find it hard to believe you’ve never had your drinks put on someone else’s tab before.”

“Not the New Jersey Devils captain himself, it’s such an honour!” She raises a manicured hand and presses it to her chest, a playful smile etched into her features. 

“Did you come over here just to poke fun at me?” Nico asks, touching on the dynamic that has long been between the two of them. She mocks him, mostly all bark and no bite, he takes it on the chest, knowing she’s doing it from of her warped version of almost sibling-like love, and Poppy usually acts as the mostly-unnecessary mediator, dividing her attention between them both. 

“Of course I did,” she affirms, “You looked all mopey and miserable, how could I not?”

“How is me waiting for a drink ‘mopey’?”

“Uh, let me think,” she taps her finger to her chin, before lifting it to point at each feature she references, “The huge pout on your lips, your giant caterpillar eyebrows all slanted and frowny-,”

“Forget I asked,” he mutters, lifting his lips into a quick smile and thanking the girl behind the bar as she brings them their drinks. “Didn’t know you’d be out tonight,”

“I’ll be sure to send you an e-vite to my google calendar when I get home later.”

Nico’s throat tightens slightly at how similar Nia and Poppy are - always quick with a response, most of the time sarcastic, most of the time able to elicit a genuine laugh to rumble from the depths of his chest. “I see why you and Poppy are so close.”

“Hm,” she hums, making a show of checking her phone, “You barely made it two minutes, but it could be a new record.”

“A new record?”

“For how long you can go in conversation without mentioning her.”

“She’s your best friend, the one person we have in common, it’s normal for me to bring her up, Nia.” He reaches for his drink to take a gulp, hoping the ice might make his throat feel a little better.

He doesn’t even know why he’s denying his lack of willpower when it comes to Poppy - 2 minutes actually seems like quite the achievement when he thinks about how long he’s restrained himself from reaching out over the past 4 days. Nia approaching him like this has been the perfect excuse to think about her - to talk about her without feeling like he’s overstepping or assuming.

He could use this to his advantage.

“Is she a good kisser?”

Or not.

He chokes on his drink, thankful the liquid isn’t coming out of his nose with how much he hadn’t been expecting that question.

“She looks like she would be. I’ve always thought about it but there’s never been a right time to try it out. Maybe I should take a leaf outta your book and lay it on thick and fast when she least expects it.”

How he even thought he could gain advantage in this conversation is beyond belief. He’s out of his depth with Nia, as usual. She isn’t afraid to call him out - she never has been - and she’s the one person in the world Poppy would confide in. Of course she knows about the kiss.

“Is that what she said, I laid it on thick and fast,”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, lover boy.” She chuckles, picking up her cocktail and stepping away from him, “Thanks for the drink, Nico, try to enjoy the rest of your birthday party.”

“Wait!” He reaches out to stop her, not wanting to let a golden opportunity slip from his hands so easily. “You would have bought me a drink before, for my birthday?”

“I think you earn about 5 times my annual salary in a month, so probably not.”

“How about you answer a question for me?” He proposes, “As a gift.”

“I could,” she sighs, sitting down in the stool beside him, “But I heard you get touchy after gifts.”

He immediately regrets asking, but not enough to let her go. He’s come this far, and he has 4 days worth of questions he desperately needs answers to.

“Funny,” he gives a condescending smile, which clearly pleases her as she gives a genuine one back, lifting her spare hand to gesture for him to carry on. As if it’s that easy to narrow down all the things he wants to ask her.

One question. 

What did she say about the kiss? Did she like it? Would she do it again?

What did she say about him? About how she feels? About what she wants?

Where is she right now? What did she tell Nia about the date? About the who?

“The guy she’s out with,” he can’t even bring himself to say the D word, “Is he nice?”

The look she gives him is almost pitiful. In fact, there is no almost about it. She clearly thinks he’s pathetic, but it’s too late to retract the question now that it’s out there.

“I don’t think so.”

He doesn’t like the way his stomach turns at her answer.

He had wanted this, right? For him to be a gratuity-withholding, uncouth slob with bad breath. 

But the thought of her being out with someone that has the potential to hurt her, hurts him. His chest feels tight, his head feels muddled, and that everlasting itch returns to the tips of his fingers - the weight of his cellphone becoming that much heavier in his back pocket.

“I mean,” she carries on with a shrug and reaches for her own phone, “He was a no-show, so we’ll never actually know for sure.” She swipes at her phone until she brings up her message thread with Poppy, turning up the brightness to show Nico the picture she had asked her to send earlier. 

It’s a selfie taken in the overly tall mirror she had once made him pick up from Ikea, claiming it wouldn’t fit in her car and his was much bigger, and he doesn’t know why his first instinct is to scan the background just to confirm his earlier intuitions about her bedroom. Too many pillows, cloud-like duvet. He can’t see the stuffed toy, but he assumes it’s somewhere in there.

Poppy looks unbelievable. 

Her dress is short, like the one she had worn on New Years, fits snug around her waist and emphasises her curves in all the best ways. Her legs seem to go on for miles, adorned in knee high boots no doubt to provide some semblance of warmth. Her hair is pulled back, and she wears gold jewellery - rings, some small hoop earrings, and he’s only just able to stop his fingers reaching out to pinch at the screen because he can see the gemstone bracelet without the need to zoom in.

“Can’t be that nice if you’re standing up a girl that gorgeous, huh?” Nia asks, suggestively, leaning her chin into the palm of her spare hand as she looks up at Nico. “Some guys just don’t know how good they’ve got it.”

He figures he actually should be embarrassed about the relief that floods through him - washes over his entire demeanour, expression changing from defeated to victorious in a matter of mere seconds.

The crease that seems to have permanently formed between his brows smooths out, posture corrects itself, and his lips even almost turn up into a smile.

There’s a childish, territorial voice within him that wants to exclaim, Thank God! But he’s grateful that he’s able to mute it.

And, despite being privy to Nia’s games - despite knowing exactly what trap he is being lured into, what he’s about to fall for - he can’t help but suggest, “You should tell her to come out.” Because, despite knowing he had taken the bait, he can’t find it within himself to care. “I think I asked her one too many times to ask again.”

The one thing he had twisted himself into knots over since first hearing her utter the word date, hadn’t actually come to fruition.

There is no date. There is no uncouth slob.

There is Poppy, dressed as pretty as she is, practically waiting for someone to show her a good time. 

He can do that. He wants to do it - to be the someone that’s good to her.

“Oh, should I?” Nia asks, a knowing smirk causing her lips to twitch mischievously. She’s been playing him this whole time, and once again, he doesn’t care. “I don’t know, she seems resigned to spending the evening on her couch watching New Girl,” she sighs dramatically, clearly looking for incentive - once again, reminding him too much of the girl he longs for. “I don’t know if there’s much convincing to be done.”

“I’ll add you to the tab for the night.”

Rookie mistake, offering something up so quick.

“Is that all my efforts are worth to you, Nico, a few measly drinks?”

“What do you want?”

“I’m actually out with a client tonight,” she looks back somewhere toward the other side of the bar, Nico can’t even bring himself to follow her gaze. “Been trying to sign them to my agency for a while, and if I can fix this deal, I’m up for a promotion.”

“Nia,” he warns, not liking how long this story is becoming. Forget good things come to those who wait. He’s waited long enough. “What do you want?”

“They’re big Devils fans, I think a night with the team could really open them up to the benefits of working with me.”

“Bring them into our section.”

“And maybe some tickets, too.”

“Fine.”

Nia gives him a triumphant smile, “Great, I’ll let them know.” She salutes him as she stands back up, gathering her drink and phone between the fingers of one hand before backing away. “Nice doing business with you, Captain.”

“Aren’t you gonna text her?”

“Oh, Nico,” she jeers, using her free hand to grasp him by the chin. “Dear, sweet, naive Nico,” she gives his head a subtle shake before patting at his shoulder condescendingly, “She’s already on her way.”

If anyone asks, Nico isn’t admitting to keeping an eye on the door since Nia had made her way back over to her side of the bar, but he knows as soon as Poppy has arrived. He watches her make her way over to her friend, watches the two of them embrace and talk between themselves for a good minute. He watches and waits until her eyes meet his from across the crowded room, and it’s like everything else stops.

He’d somehow managed to immerse himself in the party spirit since he had found out she was coming, fitting back into the group, toasting along with them, engaging in conversations with his teammates, his mood vastly improved in comparison to earlier in the night - of which he’s sure Timo is relieved after his short-lived exile from Nico’s good graces — but everything fades to black when he sees her lips curve upwards from afar.

Someone is talking beside him - hopefully not to him, he thinks, he doesn’t remember being mid-discussion with anyone - but it’s just drowned out mumbling right now, and all he can do is tilt his head toward the doors that lead to the bathrooms, and wait for her to respond. When she nods and separates herself from Nia, he excuses himself from the group, edging out of their section and following her path, losing her a little in the thick crowd of people - the bar still packed from where they had played the Giants game earlier.

When he gets through the doors, he’s thankful no one else is lingering back there - no rowdy queue for the bathroom, no staff, no one but him and the girl who seems to be holding his heart like a hot potato, not knowing the best way to carry it without getting burned.

“Hi.” It’s a weak starter for a heavy conversation, but if he’s honest with himself, she’s taken his breath away.

The picture from before hadn’t done her justice. She’s a little worn into her look for the evening now, hair not so neat, skin a little shiny, lipstick faded - but this is exactly how he likes her, especially when he takes in the way her eyes gleam and her cheeks puff out with her smile.

He makes a conscious effort not to let his eyes drift directly to the smile - to her lips, which even the thought of them elicits such a vivid memory.

“Surprise!” she sings quietly, arms outstretched and hands shaking theatrically.

He steps toward her with his hands behind his back, fingers clasped together until he’s confident that his knuckles turn white, fighting the urge to curl his arm around her waist and pull her into him, needing to be closer. He watches intently as her eyes flick down to where his hands should be.

She backs into the wall behind her, not to escape his approach, but more to prepare herself for it - like she’s settling in and embracing it.

She isn’t running. She isn’t pushing.

She’s waiting.

“I’ve missed you.” Nico wastes no time in telling her the truth - telling her what she’s refused to believe every other time he’s said it, but he can tell with the tilting of her head and the rounding of her eyes that understanding has settled within her. She has no comeback, no it’s only been a few days, and he thinks she must have felt the drag of them in the same way.

“I’ve missed you, too.” 

Whatever anxiety has rooted itself deep inside him for the past 4 days dissipates almost immediately. 

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you.” He admits, without shame or reluctance. After Poppy had helped him overcome whatever had been censoring him before, there is no point now in holding back or beating around the bush. “You look so good, Mohn.”

A rush of confidence allows for him to close the gap, standing right before her as she leans against the wall, neck craning ever so slightly to look up at him. He still won’t touch, hands laying against the stone at either side of her hips, not daring yet to let even a sliver of his finger graze at her flesh.

“You look good, too.” She breathes, eyes glancing down to do an appreciative once over of his outfit, and he doesn’t miss the glint of pride cross through her eyes when she catches the glimpse of the gold that peaks out from the neck of his sweatshirt. 

“I’m sorry about your date.”

“Are you?” Her lips twist into a knowing smile. It’s an example of one of her many traits that he loves - she can detect his bullshit a mile off.

“Mmhm,” he nods, “I’m sorry a world exists where any man is stupid enough to stand you up, Poppy.”

“I’m the stupid one,” she argues, and he misses her gaze as soon as she takes it away, eyes darting to the floor in embarrassment. “I should have listened to you and cancelled in the first place.”

“I was stupid to ask that.”

“Maybe we’re both stupid.”

“Definitely.” He probably shouldn’t be agreeing to her calling herself stupid, but it comes out before he can think too much on it. They’ve both wasted too much time. 

“Did you have a good birthday?” She asks, and a slight movement between them catches his eye, her fingers twisting together as if she’s withholding her touch, too.

“It’s better now.” He smiles fondly as she rolls her eyes. 

“How are your family?”

“They’re good.” He doesn’t want to go into too much detail about how shamefully miserable he has been over the past few days - doesn’t want to tell her how his mom had called him out on his lack of contribution to conversations, and he’d managed to pin it on the stress of the season. She still raises a brow at his insufficient answer, and he expands before she can tell him off. “Everyone but Luca made it out, my sister had to go back already for work, but my parents booked a trip to Halifax to visit the Phillips’, I lived with them when I played up there, they have a few friends to visit in Canada but they’ll drop back to see me again before they fly home.”

He feels the tickle of soft fingertips at the inside of his arm, slowly grazing down as he speaks, and as he watches Poppy, he thinks she must not realise she’s doing it - letting intuition take over as she’s distracted by the conversation. He lets her take the lead on initiating any touching, and it takes all the restraint he has left not to barge through the door she’s attempting to slowly eke open. She’s the only person in the world who could make him audibly hear the metaphorical creaking.

“Did they get to watch you win?”

He doesn’t even know why he finds himself grinning at the question, but the tone in which she asks it bears a hint of pride. She had watched the game on Friday.

“My dad was pretty much in the stands in full gear, everything but the pads and skates, and my mom was repping Foundation merch, she’s run off across the border with my beanie.” He likes the way her face lights up.

“I’ll get you another.” She raises her other hand to card her fingers through his hair, and, for once, he’s thankful not to be wearing any sort of hat. The soft scratch of her nails is soothing, and he just about manages to stop himself leaning into her touch and purring like a cat.

That would be embarrassing.

He feels outnumbered, both of her hands on him, and it feels unfair not to be touching her - so when his thumb extends itself on the wall just beside her hip and strokes at the soft fabric of her dress until it’s softly digging in, he watches intently for any hesitation before he lays a palm flat against her side.

It feels like things are progressing both torturously slow and overwhelmingly fast at the same time. His heart feels like it’s slamming into either side of his ribcage, and like nothing else occupies his chest, the sound of it echoing as if banging on the walls of a deep, empty cavern.

“Did I already tell you how much I missed you?” He honestly can’t remember, but he’ll tell her again if he needs to.

The hand that had run through his hair rests now on the side of his head, her thumb swiping softly at his cheek as she cups the side of his face, and before he can even make sense of what is happening, he’s being pulled forward. 

He bends to her advances with quick reflexes to avoid clashing, and their noses bump just before their lips meet.

Her chest rolls forward until it presses into his, and both his hands grab at her sides to pull her flush against him, legs tangling, hips pushing together, bodies touching everywhere possible all the way up to their mouths. 

He gives her all the control otherwise, allows her to determine the pace, responding to her every move and every touch with fervour and heat. She pulls at him, one hand grasping at his sweatshirt and the other cradling the side of his neck, and he quickly lifts one to stifle the blow to her head as she collides back with the wall, barely noticing the pain where his knuckles meet the stone.

Their tongues press together at the same time, and Nico doesn’t even realise his lack of patience got the better of him until their battle for dominance kicks off between their lips.

He can taste the same vanilla lip balm, can smell her signature coconut scent, can hear soft, subtle moans, can only see the back of his eyelids, not daring to open them, just wanting to feel. And he can feel everything. 

He feels the softness of her hair beneath the hand that is protecting her head from the discomfort of resting against the hard surface behind her, can feel the skirt of her dress bunching up in his grip, can feel her touch, fingertips dancing at the the base of his skull, thumb pressing into his jaw, her other hand making that same grabby gesture at the thick fabric covering his torso, squished between his heart and her chest, and he thinks he can feel the thump of her own heart on the other side.

He can feel her thigh pressed between his, the friction causing a heat to build deep in the pit of his stomach, swirling and whirling down, down, down until it culminates into the hard press of his hips into hers, and a rushed gasp combined with a guttural groan causes their lips to part.

They take deep breaths in unison, their chests bumping with every inhale, and he tries otherwise not to move.

He opens his eyes to find hers still closed, scrunched shut, even, and he tries not to be selfish - ignores the need to get a good look at her, to have this version of her ingrained to his memory too - and attempts to coax her back to him.

“Poppy,” he sounds just about as breathless as he feels. “Are you good?”

She hums in response, a subtle nod given, but he needs to hear her say it, and he tells her as much with a quick squeeze to her hip. Her eyes flutter open, gleaming and bright, framed by thick lashes and crinkling slightly at the outer corners as her lips turn up into a mischievous grin. “Better now.”

His chest feels like it’s about to burst open, like there’s a bear within him that is going to break out and pull her into its clutches, dragging her back safe to her home in his heart.

“Do you want to get out of here?” He asks, because he has to - he doesn’t care if it’s rude to leave his own birthday party, doesn’t care that he’s been the most ungrateful person in the world all night.

He’ll make it up to Timo, get him something big the next birthday of his that rolls around. Throw him a party. Or he’ll take care of the tab the next time they’re out. Maybe even let him have the window seat the next time they’re on the same plane home. 

Except, he won’t be doing any of that. He’ll be taking the reins on booking flights and putting Timo straight into economy, smack-bang in the middle of a row surrounded by a family of 5, screaming kids, arguing parents, the back of his seat being kicked the whole 8 hours to Zurich.

Because, just as Poppy’s swollen lips part to accept his advances - as her chin lifts, about to drop with a big affirmative nod, and he’s about to get everything he’s wanted the past 4 days and beyond - the doors to the back swing open, and his 6 foot teammate stumbles through, arms outstretched as he notices the two of them practically intertwined.

“Here you are!” He exclaims, voice booming in comparison to the soft breathy tones he and Poppy had been previously speaking in. “Poppy, you made it!”

“Hi Timo,” Nico feels her retreat, feels her legs brush past his and back to her own space, her hand on his chest now the only part of her that touches him, and he follows her lead, taking his hands back and trying not to clench his jaw or his fists as she converses with the man who was once his friend. “How are you doing?”

“I’m alright, should be back on the ice in a couple weeks.” Timo had suffered an injury in one of their games at the back end of December, and hasn’t been fit to travel, and Nico finds an unspeakably bitter part of himself wishing it was something to do with Timo’s legs that were injured so he couldn’t have interrupted their moment. “Glad you’re here, this one has been miserable all night.”

He can’t be this oblivious, Nico thinks. Why is he still here? Why isn’t he retreating back to the bar and leaving the two of them to whatever he had clearly barged in on.

And when Nico looks back to his teammate, his long time friend, he sees the oh-so-evident glint of mischief and disobedience in his grey-blue eyes.

He is getting his own back.

Nico knows he was petulant to blame Timo for Poppy not being invited, knows there was nothing he could have done to change her going out on a date, or them not speaking for months while he was with Talia.

He doesn’t need him to enact his revenge to see he was wrong to ignore his texts, or to mope around at the party he had put so much effort into. 

He tries to give him a pleading look to stop whatever he is trying to do, but it’s no use.

“The guys will want to see you, Poppy, Jack’s beating himself up about his shoulder, could use a friendly face.”

“Oh,” Poppy casts a glance back to Nico, and he gives her a nod, implying that she go see to her friend. “I’ll go find him.” 

He can wait. He’s waited 4 days. He’s waited years, in fact.

And, after that kiss, he knows he won’t have to wait much longer. 

“You’re a real dick, you know that?” Nico mutters in their shared native language once he’s watched Poppy disappear through the doors to the bar, with a quick glance back and an apologetic smile before they closed. 

“Just saving my brooding captain from being arrested for public indecency,” Timo shrugs with a shit-eating grin as he passes Nico and heads toward the bathrooms further down the hall. “You’re welcome!” He calls back in English, raising his hands and giving a patronising thumbs up.

Nico runs a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face and wishing it was Poppy’s in its place.

It’s just an hour, maybe two, in the presence of his friends. Drinks, music, everyone in a good mood for the most part. It’s hardly like he’s walking out into a press conference after a 5 game losing streak and about to have all the blame placed upon his shoulders. 

It’s a party. 

Poppy’s here.

He can do this.

He can wait.

Next Chapter

taglist: @alwaysclassyeagle @bunbunbl0gs @idgaf-if-youre-here @youflowerr-youfeast @thearchersstuff @bellsdi0r @wonderheartz @jjgsunflower @butterflies35 @kenziepickle @josierosie @laheyxlover @mrsmattytkachuk (sorry if your tag hasn't worked btw or if I forgot you I'm a muppet tbh)

[mageofseven]

How about a reader that was pregnant when they were chosen as an exchange student ? Like the baby's father is not in the picture and reader *isn't* involved with boys romantically and when the boys discover readers pregnant after lesson 16 they're just "oh Shi-"

This is an old ask from before my long ass hiatus, but I'm honestly still really interested in this.

Okay so here's some set up info for how Imma do this:

MC knew she was pregnant, but was so overwhelmed about it that she welcomed the fact that she was magically kidnapped into going to demon school and that she had something to distract herself from the literal growing problem in her uterus.

The baby was also transfered to the new body after what Belphie did to her.

Like it was requested, MC is not currently dating any of the Boys.

They found out because they had her get checked by a doctor despite Barbatos making sure she was okay with his time power; this was mostly done out of over-protectiveness and no one actually thought anything would come of it.

I don't do reader posts so obviously this will be MC.

Now that that's out of the way, let's give this a go!

•▪︎▪︎◇°●♡●°◇▪︎▪︎•

Lucifer:

Is visibly shocked by this and has MC explain herself.

When he hears how her boyfriend knocked her up and abandoned her not long before she was brought to the Devildom, the pride demon makes a mental note to ask her for the man's name at another time so he can handle that little pest.

Feels terrible guilty about what she went through and even worse that she went through it while pregnant.

I see Lucifer as this heavily anxious man with a soft spot for kids and that includes babies that are works-in-progress (WIP).

Hovers around her constantly after that, making sure she taking every vitamin and supplement she and her child needs.

Just becomes super protective of her while also trying to pretend he's not.

Eventually takes her off of cooking duty so she'll have one less thing to worry about.

Despite not being the father or having such a relationship with her, he takes full responsibility for all aspects of this from teleporting her here while pregnant to Belphie offing both her and her child in her last body.

Doesn't go as far as to call himself this child's father, but anyone who saw this man hovering over her would definitely think he was.

Like always, Lucifer just wants to take care of his family and now sees MC and her child as such.

Mammon:

Literally freaks out while trying to pretend he isn't.

To him, her being pregnant just made this whole situation 1000000x worse.

Feels bad that he didn't know about her kid.

Like, he's the brother whose been by her side the most and he never even noticed anything was off with her.

He's not the most observant man so I'm not surprised.

He's her First! She should have just told him, or so he tells her.

Keeps an extra close eye on her to keep this crazy freaking human from doing anything bad for herself or her kid

And let's face it, she literally got herself killed not long ago so anything can happen.

The further her pregnancy gets, the more this man tries to keep his brothers away from her.

He just extra possessive as time goes on.

I mean yeah, this kid ain't his but he wishes it was so freaking much but he's still gonna look after the two of them.

Honestly, this man wouldn't be able to handle a single other bad thing happening to his Human.

Leviathan:

Ohmanohmanohman--

Is really freaking out and doesn't even try to hide it.

I mean this is serious!

Not only did MC die but so did her WIP kid????

I mean yeah, they are both back but this all still sucks.

You know the phrase 'kicking a person while they're down'? Well this is like using a freaking flamethrower while the human was already down!

Honestly becomes super awkward with his Henry after learning about her pregnancy

But slowly gets used to it as he discovers that MC just wants him to treat her as he always has.

Yeah! He can do that!...kinda.

He feels bad that he can't help her through most of it.

This man knows absolutely nothing about pregnancy and feels like he is mediocre at comforting people at best.

Still, if she ever needs someone to distract her with anime so she doesn't have to think of the little WIP in her uterus then Levi is her man.

Satan:

Honestly...this man is less than thrilled.

MC is the first person he's ever truly gotten close to and that includes his 'brothers'

So to hear that the person he cares about most is pregnant...

Well on the plus side, he knows there's a human man in the other realm for him to torture so that makes him feel better.

Doesn't like kids, but is at MC's side as much as possible.

One of the brothers willing to hold her hair back during bouts of morning sickness.

Not one to hover, but does get a little protective when Belphie is in the same room as her.

Knows the Avatar of Sloth won't hurt her anymore but...well, he still can't get the image of MC's dead body out of his head

And angy boy is still angy at him for it.

Other than that, he reads a shit ton of pregnancy books to learn what MC's body is going through and different methods to comfort her through it.

Asmodeus:

Honestly, this usually chatty brother was speechless when it was announced.

When he saw all eyes fall on the human and make her overwhelmed, he ran to his friend and hugged her tightly.

Was the one to hype up the other guys and get everyone to say they'll take care of her and that they have her back

Because honestly, this woman and her child literally died for his family; you can bet your ass he's going to make sure each and every one of his brothers does their part in taking care of the pregnant human.

Doesn't immediately think about killing the runaway baby daddy, but if it becomes a family field trip to hunt the bastard and kill him, Asmo is so down for it.

Mostly focuses on what he can do for MC in the moment though.

Another brother to comfort her during morning sickness.

It's gross af but he uses it to remind his brothers that hey! I'm getting close to a vomiting woman each morning so y'all better be as dedicated to the cause as I am.

Beelzebub:

This man literally did nothing wrong, but acts as if it's all his fault.

So much happened in his family right under his nose and things led to such extremes that his twin literally killed this woman and her child.

More or less feels like he needs to step up and pay atonement for what his twin did

And is probably the brother who takes care of her the most.

This situation has shown how much he actually wants to be a parent one day

And literally asks MC later in her pregnancy if he can be her baby's daddy

He doesn't care about genetics at all, just wants MC to let him help her raise the child and make him a daddy 🥺

Literally the sweetest man to ever exist.

MC would be a fool not to accept.

Belphegor:

Probably the guiltiest of all of the men.

I mean, he did it. He killed MC and relished in it.

Granted, he didn't know she was carrying a little hitchhiker, but still.

Belphie lost himself in his pain to such a strong degree that...he wonders that even if he did know...would he have been able to stop himself from doing what he did

And honestly, the fact that he doesn't know scares the hell out of him.

Avoids MC for the first couple months of her pregnancy because honestly, he feels too guilty to even look at her

And... honestly, he doesn't know if he even trusts himself around her.

Thanks to Beel's encouragement, the sloth demon slowly finds himself interacting with the pregnant human

And eventually decides that the best way to atone for what he did (if it's even possible) is to take care of her and the kid the best he can.

He doesn't like kids and just sees pregnancy as unnecessary torture for people with uteruses

But honestly, none of that matters anymore.

He may not have been the one to knock the woman up, but he did fuck up the worst out of everyone in this situation.

Will feel better whenever the family hunting party starts and he can give that pathetic man a taste of what he deserves.

Looks like it's Human Season for this hunting demon.

Diavolo:

Also a man with an overwhelming sense of guilt.

Other than the actual process of making the baby, everything that happened was either because of something he directly or indirectly did to start up the exchange program.

Also regrets not having regular check ups on his exchange students because surely they all would have discovered this sooner and prevented anything from happening to the pregnant woman.

Has regular doctor visits scheduled for MC to make sure she and her baby stay healthy and pays for all of it, including any medications she may need during this progress.

Pregnancy can be really fucking expensive, but the prince makes sure she never has to worry about that side of things.

Just focus on staying healthy and letting your baby grow, MC; he and the other men will handle everything else.

Barbatos:

Knew before everyone else did.

I mean, this man literally had to make sure the baby transfered over too.

This man is seriously a hero that doesn't get the credit he deserves nor does he seek such.

MC and her baby are safe now and that's all that matters to the butler.

Honestly frets over the woman on the inside, but shows no sign of it externally.

Is the man that takes her to all her doctors appointments and was there when she discovered the gender of her baby.

Congratulated her as she sobbed happy tears and was honestly grateful that he could share such a moment with her.

Honestly becomed really attached to MC during her pregnancy and looks forward to watching her child grow up.

Solomon:

Honestly, his intuition had been tingling for a while on this subject.

He suspected this pregnancy, but figured it was none of his business and didn't want to pry into the fellow human's personal life.

If he would have known such an event would happen with Belphie though, he would have stepped in and got answers.

He didn't though. The sorcerer had no clue how events were going to unfold.

Hindsight is telling him that he should have pryed more, but his manners told him it was right to respect the woman's privacy.

Doesn't do too much in regards to taking care of his friend since the demons seem to have it all covered and even seem to somewhat resent the sorcerer when he tries.

Believe it's better not to step on any toes, so to speak.

Is still a good friend to MC though and always offers an ear if they need to vent about the process with someone.

Simeon:

This all happened before the pregnancy had progressed enough for him to sense the baby.

He did however sense...something within the human since he met her, but didn't understand what.

Hindsight is really hurting this poor angel's heart 😔

Become the woman's biggest support in an emotional sense.

Pregnancy is hard and hormones flare and everything can seem so stressful, especially to a scared single mom.

This man is often the one comforting her when she breaks down into tears, even when it's over small stuff like someone ate the last cookie or she lost her pen.

He makes sure MC knows how strong she is and that she will make it through this this difficult time.

Luke:

Demons!!! Back away from the pregnant woman or this chihuahua will bite.

Okay, not really, but the brothers make this joke a lot.

Luke is very protective of MC in this situation.

Since he is just a child, he wasn't told what happened between her and Belphie in complete detail.

Really just thinks the stupid demon hurt her feelings and the angelic boy will not allow it to happen again!

Grows increasingly curious as MC's belly grows; angels don't have kids in this way so this boy has a lot of questions about what's happening to her body.

The fact that there's an actual baby just chilling and growing in her belly boggles this boy's mind.

Is honestly excited for MC's baby and feels like he about to be come a big brother!

This boy is determined to do his part and take care of her just like the adults do.

Mostly just keeps her company and bakes for her when her cravings give her a sweet tooth.

Little Lukey keeps her spirits up and MC loves him for it.

[lunar-wandering]

Kaiju's and Blankets

!!!Season 4 Special Spoilers are in this fic!!!

Summary: MK gets sick, and gets stuck in kaiju form as a result. Everything else that spirals from that point is nobody else's fault but Wukong's. (Who is DEFINITELY not sick, thank you very much).

Word Count: 6.6k

Read on Ao3

“MK are you… sure you’re okay to run deliveries today?” 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Well…” Pigsy trailed off, uncertain, looking up and down at MK’s rather… unkempt appearance today, as well as noting how almost hoarse the kid’s voice sounded, watching as MK’s smile despite these facts remained unchanged- even as his whole body jolted as he flickered with a golden glitch. “You’re doing the thing.” 

“What thing? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” MK glitched again, reaching behind himself just in time to grab his monkey tail as it appeared, holding it behind his back in an attempt to keep it out of view- an attempt that severely failed as Pigsy leveled him with concerned look, Mei even looking up from her phone game to raise her eyebrow at his actions. He sniffled, raising his free arm and rubbing his nose on the back of his sleeve, grabbing the takeout bags afterwards, partially disguising it as a more casual movement. “Aaaaanyways- I’ll just be out delivering these! Won’t even take that long! Be back soon!” 

Both Pigsy and Mei watched in concerned silence as MK walked backwards out of the restaurant, giving the both of them a rather sloppy salute before turning off and sprinting down the street, leaving cracks in the pavement behind him- albeit he didn’t seem to notice. Mei sighed, pocketing her phone. 

“He’s going to pass out, isn’t he.” She deadpanned, Pigsy nodding solemnly in agreement with her assessment. She stood up, stretching her arms above her head and rolling her shoulders, loosening up her muscles. 

“You’d better go after him, Mei.” 

“Already on it, Mr. Pig Dad Sir!” Mei bent down, getting into a ready to run position- 

Only to be thrown off balance as it was like the entire world shook, the building trembling, a sound similar to an explosion resounding as both her and Pigsy got tossed into the air from the force. Mei, thankfully, oriented herself to land on her feet- using a touch of dragon power to zoom into the kitchen and catch as many objects as she could before they could shatter on the ground. 

Pigsy wasn’t nearly so lucky, instead slamming down onto the floor, the wind getting knocked out of him. He remained on the floor, taking a moment to catch his breath, before groaning as he slowly pushed himself up, Mei quickly setting her objects on the counter and rushing over to give him a hand. 

“What was that?!” He wheezed, giving Mei a pat on the shoulder as thanks before making his way towards the door. Before he could get there however, Tang was suddenly there, appearing in a golden flash of light, staff in hand and looking frazzled and panicked, not even letting Pigsy or Mei get a word out before he spoke. 

“You guys are going to want to see this.” 

With no further explanation, he slammed his staff on the ground, both Pigsy and Mei shielding their eyes, closing them against the light as they felt the now-familiar sensation of teleportation. When they opened them again, they both blinked, taking in the absolute destruction. 

There were buildings that were literally flattened, pressed down against the ground- a few fires starting up in the remains of some of them. Thankfully, there had long since been a magic system put in place to automatically teleport people in danger out of the way in the case of possible natural disasters, and most of this space was an area that had been abandoned since Spider Queen’s attack the previous year, so there wasn’t that much concern about civilians, but. 

There was a giant crater in the ground that most certainly had not been there before, one that they were currently standing at the very edge of. 

And, at the middle of the crater, standing awkwardly at the exact center of all the destruction, with his tails swishing nervously… was MK. 

In kaiju form. 

“Well,” Mei put her hands on her hips, “That’s less than ideal.” 

“You’re telling me.” All three of them jumped as Sandy suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind them, staring at MK with obvious concern. “He told me last night that he was just coming down with a little cold.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s very little anymore.” Pigsy sighed in exasperation, stepping forwards, about to jump down into the crater and approach MK, planning on lecturing him about the importance of not hiding illnesses again- 

“Ah- wait!” Tang grabbed the back of Pigsy’s clothes, pulling him back towards him. 

Just in time it seemed, as MK suddenly twitched, all three of his tails coming to a complete standstill as he inhaled, turning to the side to face more towards the uninhabited part of town-

Another sound like an explosion went off, and Tang just barely managed to get a shield up in time to protect them from the resulting shockwave as MK’s entire kaiju body jerked forwards.  The ground shook, and all of them stumbled, barely remaining standing, a cloud of debris getting kicked up as more houses were flattened. 

It was only when the dust finally settled that Mei fully processed what had just happened. 

“Was that a sneeze?” She asked, as the shield slowly flickered away. “He did all this with just a sneeze???” 

“It… appears so.” Tang said. 

Mei wasn’t entirely sure if that was cool, or mildly scary. 

After a moment of deliberation, she settled on it being concerning. Something like that couldn’t be good for MK’s health, obviously. (Even if his power level being well over what must be 9,000 was awesome as all hell). 

“Yeah… I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to need Monkey King’s help on this one.” Pigsy crossed his arms, thinking. “Now, the only question is… how do we get a kaiju to Flower Fruit Mountain?” 

The words “Flower Fruit Mountain” seemed to have somehow managed to catch MK’s attention, as he turned towards them, seemingly only just now noticing they were there, as his tails and fur stood up on end in what could only be best interpreted as shock at their presence. In mere seconds, he had crossed over to stand in front of them, kneeling down on the ground to be closer to eye level with them- the ground slightly shaking with the motion. 

He looked… apologetic, a tiny noise akin to a whine escaping from him- Pigsy wasn’t even sure if he could speak like this- based on Macaque, he probably should be able to, but then again, Pigsy had never seen a sick Macaque kaiju (and, quite frankly, never wanted to). Still though, he gave his best disappointed stare up at him, MK shrinking back a little. 

“Yeah yeah, I know all your excuses, kid. Right now, let's just focus on getting you out of kaiju form- don’t think you’ve escaped the lecture though.” He hastily added on the end upon seeing MK start to look slightly hopeful. MK, in response, slumped a little, his tails and ears drooping. “Do not give me the puppy dog eyes, kid. We’ve got, for lack of a better word, bigger problems right now.” 

MK let out a small rumbling chuckle- and then instantly turned to the side to cough into his arm, the ground shaking again, but Pigsy focused less on his sudden loss of balance and instead on how… painful it sounded. Maybe that’s why MK wasn’t talking, he had sounded quite hoarse earlier, maybe it hurt more to speak now. 

Either way… 

“We need to get you to Flower Fruit Mountain.” Tang finished Pigsy’s thought before he could even speak it. “Albeit… I’m not entirely sure how. Sandy’s boat is way too small, and I’m not sure that I can teleport you when you’re like… this.” 

MK tilted his head to the side, seemingly in contemplation. And then, a very familiar smirk appeared on his kaiju face. 

Pigsy knew what that smirk meant. 

It meant trouble. 

“Kid, I swear-” Pigsy didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence, as, without any form of warning, MK was reaching down, scooping all four of them up into one hand. 

Pigsy and Tang’s matching screams were nearly drowned out by the sound of Mei’s loud enthusiastic cheering. 

MK slowly and carefully stood up, holding his hand close to his chest to help keep his hand stable as he slowly started walking his way out of the city, keeping a close eye on where he put his feet. Pigsy, subtly, used the opportunity to check the kid for fever- albeit, like this, with MK in this form, he couldn’t really tell. MK felt a little warm, but he had no idea what the normal for a kaiju even was. 

It was only when they reached the beach- and MK just kept going, stepping into the ocean, that Pigsy realized what MK was planning to do. 

“MK, this really isn’t the best idea, you’re just going to-” 

“Make myself more sick?” 

All four of them startled as MK’s voice came out in basically a whisper from behind them. 

Turning around, they could barely make out the form of MK, in monkey form, hovering inside of his kaiju, where the heart would reside. His position perfectly mirrored his kaiju’s completely, his legs moving in tandem with it- almost like he was controlling a mech. He was looking down, and it took Pigsy a moment to realize that it was because his kaiju was looking down at them- MK must only be able to see through his kaiju’s eyes, then. 

“I don’t think what happens in this form can really transfer to my physical state.” MK continued, voice somehow, despite being in a hoarse whisper, still sounding far more energetic than a sick person should sound. “I can’t even feel the water around my feet!” 

Pigsy huffed. 

“If this comes back to bite you, do not come complaining to me.” He mumbled. 

The rest of the trip through the ocean was slightly slow, but mostly peaceful. (There was one point, where MK had sneezed again, accidentally dropping them in the process as he turned away from them, but thankfully, Mei had been fast enough to snatch them up in her dragon form before they could hit the water. MK had, softly, apologized as they were settled back into his hand, to which Mei threatened to steal all his copies of the Monkey Mech game if he dropped them again. MK had whined about it for the following 15 minutes). 

When they reached Flower Fruit Mountain, MK stood still on the beach for a moment too long, the others turning back to him in concern. 

“...I swear, you better not be about to sneeze again.” Mei threatened. There was a moment where MK didn’t respond- 

And then they were all clinging to his hand as MK gave a full body shake, kicking both his legs, sending water droplets flying everywhere to the beach below. 

It was only when they were steady again that Mei let out a strangled laugh. 

“You’re like a dog!” 

MK pointedly avoided looking at them. 

“...I tried not to.” He mumbled, “Instinct took over…” 

Mei cackled at him, MK finally looking back down at them with a pout. Pigsy rolled his eyes. 

It took far faster than usual to climb the mountain up to the waterfall that led to Wukong’s recently rebuilt house, mainly due to MK not needing to take nearly as many steps. He gently lowered his hand to the ground, allowing the others to step off, before reaching out a finger, placing it in the water to split it in two, allowing a path of access through it. 

It was only when all four of them had crossed through it that MK let out a distressed sound, causing them to turn back around to face him. 

There was a beat, before they realized the issue. 

“Oh.” Tang said, “You can’t fit.” 

There was a slightly louder distressed noise. Sandy stepped back to the other side of the waterfall, patting MK on the side of the leg. 

“Don’t worry MK, I’m sure Mr. King will have something that will, at the least, make you a little smaller!! I’ll just stay out here with you while the others go in, if that’s okay?” 

MK glanced back at Pigsy. 

“We won’t be long, kid.” He affirmed, and MK gave him a nod, before slowly pulling his hand back, the flow of the water once more slamming down and obscuring him and Sandy from view. Pigsy turned back to Mei and Tang. “Alright- sooner we get Monkey King out here, the better.” 

Sun Wukong was not sitting out anywhere in his cave, unlike previous times that they had shown up unexpectedly. They would normally stumble upon him lounging on a sunlit rock or a shaded tree branch, usually either eating or reading something or other. Sometimes Pigsy wondered if he ever got up to much else (outside of training MK, that is). 

Mei, the fastest of the three of them, zoomed right up the steps to Wukong’s house to knock. 

“Mr.King!! We need your help!!” She called- 

There was a loud crash from inside the house, and all three of them winced. A few seconds later, the door opened, Wukong panting like he had run to them, looking slightly panicked. 

“What’s- what’s going on- where’s the kid?”  He looked around frantically. 

“He’s sick-” Mei started, having to stop mid-sentence to avoid biting her tongue as Wukong grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. 

“Sick? Sick like- dying sick? Does he need a peach??? I can go steal a peach for him-” Wukong let go of Mei, the dragon girl stumbling back to be out of his reach as he turned to try and move off his front porch, likely with the plan of stealing another immortal peach in mind. Tang and Pigsy stepped in his way before he could. 

“The kid’s not dying, Monkey King.” Pigsy reached out to try and calm the monkey down, Wukong side-stepping away from his touch, but still pausing. “He’s just got a cold.” 

“...Oh. Well, y’know, even mortal colds can be deadly-” 

“It won’t be.” 

“...Okay… Then what do you need my help for?” Wukong tilted his head to the side, staring at them in confusion as he leaned back against the wall of his house, “I’m not exactly the best when it comes to medicine nowadays- it used to be so much simpler when you could just use a flower and a spell.” 

Tang mumbled something about having to teach the Monkey King about the advancements of modern medicine, and Pigsy sighed. 

“The kid’s gone all super-kaiju on us.” He said, “He’s sitting outside the cave right now, we were hoping that… at the least, if you can’t turn him back to normal, you could at least make him… smaller?” 

“Oh! Yeah, that’s easy.” Wukong smirked as he pushed off the wall, only to wince as it cracked behind him. “...Oops. Uh, I’ll fix that later, c’mon, let’s go see the kid.” 

Pigsy and Tang instantly turned to start heading back towards the waterfall entrance, Wukong trailing behind them, Mei taking a split second to glance between the Monkey King and the crack in the wall with sudden suspicion before catching up to them, sliding to walk in time beside Wukong. 

“Soooo, Mr. King. How’re you doing today?” She asked, leaning towards him slightly, raising an eyebrow as he leaned away, avoiding eye contact with her. 

“I’m fine.” Wukong sped up a little, tail swishing as he moved around to be in front of Pigsy and Tang just in time as they arrived back at the waterfall. Reaching out, he activated the magic surrounding it, parting the waters before turning back towards them with an over-dramatic smirk, giving them a half-sarcastic little bow. “After you, guys!” 

Pigsy and Tang simply rolled their eyes, walking forwards, but Mei made the point of making eye contact with the Monkey King as she walked past him, following it up with an ‘I’m watching you’ motion that made Wukong’s expression shift to one of nervousness, before he covered it up with a small laugh, stepping through the waterfall himself. 

MK visibly brightened up when he saw them emerge from the waterfall, shifting to lean down towards them. 

“Told you we wouldn’t be long, kid.” Pigsy said, lightly patting the side of MK’s face that he could reach. “...Where’s Sandy?” 

“Right here!” Sandy popped up from MK’s shoulder, sliding down MK’s arm to be on the ground with the others. “MK was just letting me braid his hair while we waited.” 

Sure enough, there were a few tiny braids throughout Kaiju MK’s hair- in all honesty, Pigsy was impressed that Sandy had managed to get so many of them done in such a short period of time. 

“Right.” Wukong said, shaking out his hands and summoning his cloud, floating up to be able to touch the center of the kaiju’s forehead. “I… can’t say if I can change you back to normal, per say, but I’m pretty sure I can at the least get you small enough to be able to fit inside the mountain.” 

There was a brief pause, and then Wukong’s eyes lit up gold, tendrils of magic swirling around the kaiju. There were a few small moments where the size of the kaiju fluctuated, getting smaller and then bigger again, followed by a bright flash of light that had the four on the ground shielding their eyes. 

When they opened their eyes again, MK was much smaller than he was before. Still a giant kaiju, yes, but he’d be able to fit through the entrance if he crawled, and should be able to stand within the cave itself no problem. 

“Well, at least that’s one problem solved…” Pigsy trailed off into a mumble, “We’re definitely going to need to find a bigger soup bowl somewhere though…” 

“...Why aren’t they moving?” Mei questioned, and Pigsy looked back up to find that MK and Wukong seemed to have entered… some kind of staring contest, both of their tails swishing. 

A full minute passed, the four on the ground waiting in complete silence, trying to figure out what was going on. 

…And then MK raised a hand, snatched Wukong off his cloud, and slammed his palm onto the ground, sending up a small splash of water that the others only just managed to avoid as he pinned Wukong to the ground in the shallow pond. 

“Kid!!! What are you doing?!?!” Tang yelled, as Wukong let out a wheezing breath- 

And immediately broke into a loud coughing fit, the others watching as Wukong’s whole form seemed to flicker before restabilizing. Mei let out a loud gasp, pointing at him. 

“Ohhhh- I knew there was something up with you!” She said, “You’re sick too!!” 

“I am not!” Wukong managed to hiss out, before starting to struggle, using his free hand to smack at MK’s fingers, his one free leg kicking uselessly in the air. “Let me go!!” 

MK didn’t move, and although his expression didn’t visibly change, everyone could just feel the tangible disappointment coming off of him. 

It didn’t take very long for Wukong to give in, suddenly going limp in MK’s hold. 

“Fine, kid. You win.” He let out an overdramatic world weary sigh, flickering again, only this time, once the flickering died down… well, to say it politely, he looked like an absolute mess. His fur, albeit now soaked with water, looked completely frazzled, like he hadn’t brushed it before getting out of bed that morning, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his face was slightly flushed. Pigsy would, honestly, be willing to say that he looked worse-off than MK did. 

MK, in response to his mentor letting down his glamours, let out a somewhat-pleased sound, removing his hand, freeing Wukong. Despite this, Wukong continued to lay there, staring up at the sky- his view of the clouds unfortunately blocked as Mei leaned over him, blocking his vision. 

“Jeez, you look awful.” She said, reaching down to press the back of her hand against Wukong’s forehead. 

“Thanks for the compliment.” He said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not sick though. Just didn’t sleep too well, that’s all!” 

“Mhm, yeah, tell that to your fever.” Mei huffed, reaching down to grab his arm, forcibly lifting him back up to his feet. Wukong, on instinct, shook, the water in his fur flying everywhere. “Hey!! You’re getting me wet!! Man, MK really did take after you a lot…” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Oh, nothing!” Mei gave him her best innocent smile, dragging him over in the direction of the others- MK having used his hand to reopen the waterfall and let the others through again. “C’mon, let’s get inside before Pigsy goes full chaos mom mode on you.” 

“Goes full what-” 

Twenty minutes later found Wukong pouting, sitting cross-legged on top of MK’s head, MK himself having laid down on his stomach, curling up slightly like a giant cat. Wukong had been practically forced to change into a pair of peach-themed pajamas Pigsy had happened to find after rummaging through the Monkey King’s closets- and had a blanket draped over his shoulders as well (he had just taken a dip in the water after all- they were better safe than sorry). 

“I’m not sick.” He mumbled petulantly, MK reaching up and poking Wukong’s head as gently as he could with one finger in response, sending him slightly off balance to the side before he re-stabilized himself, grumbling incoherently. 

“Hmm, we’ll have to find some kind of blanket for the kid eventually…” Pigsy said, rubbing his chin as he thought. “Albeit, unlike Monkey King, he doesn’t seem to have a fever yet, so we can probably hold off on that for a little longer…” 

“Don’t have a fever! Cause I’m not sick!” Wukong called down from his position, everyone dutifully ignoring him. 

“I would like to find some way to get some form of soup fed to MK though.” Pigsy finished, “Which means we’re… definitely going to need some kind of large bowl… albeit I can’t think of where we’d find something like that.” 

“Oh! Oh! I know!!” Wukong waved his hands to get their attention, before pointing up. “The guys up there have tons of giant bowls you could take and use!!” 

“...Isn’t that stealing?” Sandy asked, Wukong shaking his head. 

“Naahhhh, they won’t even notice if one bowl’s gone. I can take you all you guys up there right now!!” 

“Ah- wait!” Tang’s shout only barely managed to stop Wukong before he could snap his fingers. “You’re sick, you can’t be transporting a large group of people- nevermind a giant bowl.” 

“Not sick.” Wukong said, sniffling, but still lowering his hand. 

“But who could transport a giant bowl for us, as well as the ingredients?” Pigsy hummed, the group falling into silence as they thought it over. 

“...What about Macaque? He’s got that shadow-portaling thingy.” Mei suggested- Wukong immediately bursting out into hoarse laughter, mixed with a few coughs. “What’s so funny?” 

“Please, like Macaque would ever agree to that.” Wukong said. 

“Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice…” Tang muttered, before raising his voice so that the others could hear. “Alright, but who’s going to stay behind with these two?” 

There was silence for a beat, and then Wukong scoffed. 

“We don’t need a babysitter.” He said, “I can keep an eye on the kid just fine- hEY!” 

He was cut off as MK reached up, grabbing hold of Wukong’s tail, dangling his mentor upside down, the Monkey King scrambling to grab the blanket that had been wrapped around him and hold it close to his chest to prevent it from falling to the ground. 

“I’ll keep an eye on Monkey King.” MK’s hoarse voice whispered, slowly swinging his mentor back and forth a few times, before setting him on the ground, lightly putting his hand overtop of him again when it seemed like Wukong was going to protest- Wukong instead accepting his fate, laying on the ground with a resigned expression. 

“Well, with that settled… I guess we’re off to see Macaque!” Mei said, turning to stand beside Tang as he got ready to teleport them to Macaque’s dojo. 

“He’s going to say no!” Wukong called, Pigsy waving him off. 

“We’ll just see about that.” 

-

“No. Absolutely not.” Macaque said, immediately, leaning up against his doorframe, raising one finger to silence them before any of them could even speak a word. “Wukong and the kid aren’t here. Which means that whatever this is about- because there must be something going on, this many of you wouldn’t be on my doorstep otherwise, this must be about them, and I want nothing to do with it.” 

“How do you know there’s not some kind of world ending threat going on?” Mei asked, slowly pulling out her sword behind her back, where Macaque couldn’t see. 

“Please, if there was a world ending threat, trust me, I would know.” Macaque huffed, crossing his arms. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the giant kaiju incident this morning, I’m not blind. I want nothing to do with it.” 

“Really now? And nothing will change your mind?” Mei’s smirk slowly grew slightly more dangerous, Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy stepping slightly to the side, knowing full well to not get in her way. 

“Nope. No way, no how.” 

Within the next split second, there was a sword embedded in the doorframe, just bare inches away from Macaque’s face. Macaque let out a slightly fearful breath, a few stray pieces of hair that the sword had managed to snag slowly falling to the ground. 

“That.” Mei hissed, “Is your only warning.” 

Macaque, for his part, recovered rather quickly. 

“...Nice aim, kid.” He muttered, before sighing. “Fiiinneee, I’ll help you out, but just this once- and you better pay me back for it. What do you need me to do?” 

-

Wukong stared up at the ceiling of the mountain. 

It had been twenty minutes since the others had teleported away, and they still weren’t back yet. Or, well, he thought it had been twenty minutes. He didn’t exactly have a clock on him. It had felt like it had been an hour, but he wasn’t really the best at keeping track of time, so he was going to guess that it had actually only been twenty minutes. 

…Twenty minutes were far too long though. 

Groaning, Wukong pushed himself up into a sitting position, MK opening up one eye to stare at him. Dang it, he’d been kinda hoping that the kid had fallen asleep since he had closed his eyes about… ten minutes ago? Yeah, ten minutes ago was probably a good guess. 

“I’m bored.” Wukong’s voice trailed off into something that borderlined a whine. Quickly jumping to stand up, ignoring the way it made his head spin a little, Wukong turned to the kid. “Do you want to watch a movie? I can go get my laptop!” 

MK let out a small rumble, opening his other eye to focus fully on Wukong. 

“The screen would be too small for me.” Was his response, “I wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“Mmm, I guess you’re right…” Wukong trailed off, tapping his chin in thought. “Oh! We could set up a projector! Get a giant sheet, set up like a movie theatre screen! I’m pretty sure I have a projector around here somewhere…” 

“What about the giant sheet, though?” MK asked, and Wukong paused, thinking. 

And then a brilliant idea struck him. 

“I can just steal some blankets from Demon Bull King’s house!” He said, moving from standing to sitting up, grabbing the blanket that was resting on his shoulders, tying the ends of it together to turn it into a blanket-cape. “Demon Bull King’s blankets are huge, if I get enough of them, we can probably use one or two to cover you as well!” 

“Ah- but you’re sick-” 

“Psh, I’m fine!” Wukong waved him off- and MK, unfortunately, was not fast enough to catch him, Wukong having summoned his cloud and zoomed out of the cave before the kid could even blink. 

It was only when Wukong was halfway across the ocean that the thought struck his ever so slightly hazed mind that maybe leaving MK alone by himself might not be a very wise decision, but, well, he was already almost at his destination, so there was really no point in turning back now. 

By the time he was climbing in through the Demon Bull Family’s kitchen window, carefully making sure that his blanke- his cape didn’t get caught, landing silently on the floor, he was right back around to considering this to be the most genius thing he had ever done. 

“Right.” Wukong whispered to himself, clapping his hands together. “Now, if I were DBK, where would I put the blankets?” 

Probably the hallway closet, most likely, which meant getting past all the traps that Demon Bull King likely had installed. Wukong sighed, about to open the hallway door- 

Only to pause, noticing the coffee-maker sitting on the counter. 

Now, Wukong wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, it was a little bit too bitter for him. But he remembered hearing that coffee-makers could also make hot chocolate… surely this one could too? He was kinda in the mood for a hot drink… and hot chocolate sounded really good right now… 

Blanket retrieval mission temporarily on pause, Wukong started digging through the small box of insertable coffee’s that was sitting beside the coffee-maker, hoping to find one for hot-chocolate. And, sure enough, he managed to find one. Giggling slightly to himself, he inserted it into the machine, pressing the on button- 

He was not expecting how loud it was. 

“Ah, no- shh shh shhhhhhh!!” Wukong waved his hands, panicking. If Demon Bull King heard this and found him now, he’d never be able to get those blankets. Quickly, he started pressing buttons, but none of them would seem to turn the damn machine off. 

Making a split second decision, Wukong reeled his arm back- and punched it. 

He paused afterwards, slowly shaking his hand clean of the bits of debris as he stared at the destroyed coffee-machine. 

…Ah. That probably hadn’t been his best decision. 

Well, at least it was silent now. Carefully, he swept the broken pieces together, opening a cupboard with his foot and depositing it in there. Surely no-one would notice that. Or, well, at the very least, it wouldn’t be noticed until he was far away from here. Nooo consequences for the Great Sage, Equal To Heaven tonight!

Wiping his hands clean of the whole mess, Wukong turned, opening the door to the hallway, deciding to return his focus to his original mission; stealing some of Demon Bull King’s blankets. 

After a minute or so of staring, analyzing the many traps lining the walls, he took a deep breath and went for it. 

Dodging the traps largely went without issue, Demon Bull King seriously needed to update his home security. (Albeit, there had been a point where a couple of arrows had flown a little too close for comfort when Wukong had stumbled, a wave of dizziness hitting him, likely from the fever- the fever that he definitely didn’t have, yep, for sure, he was as healthy as a horse, definitely). 

He had also been right, Demon Bull King did, in fact, store his blankets in the hallway closet. He did have a bit of a struggle getting them out of the closet- one of them falling over top of him and causing him to have to take a moment to free himself from it’s horrible confines, but he managed to get about three, giant blankets. 

Three should be enough, right? One for the projector, and two for the kid. That worked. 

Slowly making his way back to the kitchen, dragging the blankets behind him, Wukong froze mid-step in the hallway. 

And then turned to the side and sneezed- completely obliterating the wall that had stood beside him. 

He blinked, as the dust cleared- revealing Demon Bull King, Princess Iron Fan, and Red Son sitting on the other side, in their living room, staring at him in shock. 

“...Oh. Hi?” Wukong lifted his free hand to give them a nervous little wave. 

Demon Bull King’s bellowing yell of “Sun Wukong!” was all the warning the Monkey King needed to take off running at full speed, the entire Demon Bull Family hot on his heels. 

Fifteen minutes later, MK, who had taken to using his hand to draw shapes into the ground of the cave, jumped- before hissing as a bright swirling fire appeared in front of him. 

“Relax, Noodle Boy, it’s just me.” Red Son said, the fire clearing away to reveal him standing there, carrying Sun Wukong over his shoulder- who was still holding on to the three blankets he had stolen. “I’m just here to deliver your idiotic mentor back to you.” 

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Wukong struggled, getting unceremoniously dumped on the ground for his efforts. MK, instantly, grabbed him, lifting him up and holding him in his hand, to make sure he wouldn’t run away again. 

“That taken care of-” Red Son clapped his hands, “I’ll be taking my leave-” 

Red Son was cut off, as suddenly one of MK’s tails reached out, scooping him up off the ground. 

“What- Oh come on Noodle Boy, I can’t stay here!I have stuff to do!” MK gave no response to that other than a small rumble, not making any move to put the fire demon down. Red Son huffed, adjusting slightly to make himself more comfortable, grumbling, “I hope the Dragon Girl is having a better day than I am…” 

-

Mei panted, bent over, one hand against the giant bowl, the other against her knee, as she tried to catch her breath. The others were in similar conditions, Tang outright laying down on the floor of Macaque’s dojo like he was dead- the only sign of life from him being the way his chest quickly rose and fell with desperate breaths. 

“That-” Mei inhaled, “That was-” 

“Awful?” Macaque suggested, from his position of being down on his hands and knees on the floor. Mei shook her head. 

“No, amazing!” She said, tilting her head back with a laugh that, in her state, made her seem near-insane. “We absolutely need to do that again!” 

“Let’s put ‘doing that again’ to the side for now.” Sandy said, patting the side of the bowl. “We have the bowl now, but we still need to get the ingredients.” 

“Oh, no problem.” Macaque said, snapping his fingers, various shadow portals appearing above the bowl, dumping various vegetables down into it. Pigsy stood up, grabbing hold of the edge of the bowl, leaning down over it to pick up a carrot and inspect it. 

“...Where did you get these?” He asked. Macaque shifted nervously. 

“Ah… you know, here and there.” He shifted his hands side to side, before letting out a sigh. “...From some stores nearby.” 

“Did you pay for it?” 

“Why would I need to do that?” 

There was a moment of silence, before Pigsy groaned. 

“Y’know what, I don’t have the energy to deal with a ‘stealing is wrong’ discussion. Let’s just get all this back to the mountain.” Pigsy didn’t need to say any more, as a dark shadow spread out under each of them, and within the next heartbeat, they were back on Flower Fruit Mountain. 

…They all paused, taking in the scene in front of them. Somehow, there was now a giant white sheet of fabric hung up on one of the walls, a small projector on a table projecting one of the Monkey King movies onto it. There were also two blankets over top of MK’s kaiju body, and Wukong was curled up slightly by MK’s hand, as well as- 

Mei blinked in disbelief. 

“Red Son? What are you doing here?” 

Red Son turned to face them, looking slightly irritated. 

“I’m being held hostage.” Was his response. Not even a second later, Wukong popped up from his curled up position to turn and stare at them with a bright smile- despite his expression however, he somehow looked more frazzled and feverish than he had before. 

“Oh, you guys are back!! You should join us- Red Boy over here makes amazing popcorn.” Wukong said, Red Son reaching over to smack him on the shoulder. 

“...Yeah, okay.” Pigsy decided that you know what, today had already been so weird, he might as well just take this in stride. “We have to make the soup first, though.” 

Getting things set up for soup-making shockingly didn’t take as long as any of them thought it would- Red Son’s presence ended up being particularly helpful, making it easier to get a fire started to cook the soup with. It didn’t take long at all for the soup to be ready, everyone getting their own small bowls before MK sat up and took his much larger one, the entire group sitting in a small semi-circle beside him. 

Or, well, almost the entire group. 

“C’mon Macaque, aren’t you going to join us?” Mei asked, looking over her shoulder at where the aforementioned monkey was standing a rather good distance away. 

“No thanks.” 

“Why not?” 

“Cause I know what Wukong will do.” 

“What will he do?” Mei tilted her head to the side in confusion, Wukong also turning around now that his name had been mentioned, albeit with a devilish smirk on his face. 

“Yeah, Macaque, what will I do?” He asked. Macaque glared at him. 

“He’s going to lick me.” He said, “He’s going to wait, until I’m distracted, and then he’s going to lick me, and then I’m going to get sick, and I don’t want to get sick. I mean- look at what he did to the kid! I am not dealing with that!” 

Everyone shared a brief glance up at MK, who just stared back down at them blankly. Admittedly, up until this point, it hadn’t occurred to anyone that Wukong having worse symptoms- or, more likely, being further along in the stages of the illness, likely meant that he had been the one to give it to MK in the first place. Almost simultaneously, they all turned to Wukong to give him a light glare. Wukong held his hands up in self defence. 

“Hey- it wasn’t me- I’m not even sick!” 

No-one even bothered to argue with him, instead rolling their eyes. Mei, for her part, set her soup bowl down on the ground, and then, despite Macaque’s protests, zoomed over, picked him up, and brought him over to sit with the rest of the group- Pigsy setting a bowl of soup down into his lap. 

For a blessed twenty minutes, there was silence, the group watching the movie in relative peace. 

And then there was an ear-splitting shriek. 

They turned, and, sure enough- Wukong had used Macaque’s complete entrancement with the movie to grab hold of his wrist and lick his hand. 

“I told you!!! I told you this would happen!” Macaque yelled, pulling his hand away from Wukong, shaking it almost like it was on fire. “Gross-” 

“Oh, c’mon you big baby, it’s not that bad.” Wukong rolled his eyes, sniffling a little and rubbing his nose on his sleeve. Macaque glared at him with visible disgust, before groaning, wiping his hand on his pants. 

“If random shadow portals start showing up everywhere within the next few days, know that it will be your fault.” 

[project-sekai-facts]

What is the Tree of Feelings SEKAI?

The Tree of Feelings SEKAI (often called the Tree SEKAI within the fandom, and for the rest of this post) is a mysterious SEKAI that first appears in Miku's Where Feelings Come Together Colorful Festival story, although it reappears in the Sakura Across SEKAI, Interconnecting Our Feelings and Let Your Song Resonate Throughout SEKAI! events.

The SEKAI isn't actually a proper SEKAI, but actually a Fragment SEKAI: it appears in response to shared feelings and will disappear again once those have been resolved. Additionally, it can be accessed through a Fragment of Feelings, the same way you would enter a Fragment SEKAI. Although, some characters are shown to be forcibly teleported there by their phones, something which has never been shown with other Fragment SEKAI so far.

However, whose Fragment SEKAI is this? It first appears in Miku's Colorful Festival story, so it must be hers, right? Well, not exactly.

Miku's Where Feelings Come Together story starts off in Shibuya, with Ichika watching a PV for an upcoming Virtual Singer fan festival (the one she later attends in the Scramble Fan FESTA! event). She considers participating in the festival with Leo/need, and her train of thought runs to Miku in the School SEKAI. Meanwhile, Kohane and Minori are out shopping together, and watch the same PV. Minori comments on how cute Miku is and how she sparkles on stage, thinking of her own Miku. Kohane, on the other hand, says that she likes it when Miku looks really cool, also with her own Miku in mind. At the same time, Kanade is walking home after visiting her dad, and sees the same PV. She's reminded that she wanted to pick up a Virtual Singer CD, and how she never would've been interested in Miku had it not been for the Empty SEKAI.

Between the SEKAI, Miku's base form senses warm and gentle feelings gathering, and starts to realise that something is happening, but doesn't reveal what it is.

In the Wonderland SEKAI, Tsukasa is trying to find Miku, since she promised to help him with rehearsals. He thinks back to his first meeting with the Virtual Singers, and how helpful they ended up being to the point he frequently visits the SEKAI now. After deciding that he should show them his appreciation, a ball of light appears, taking him to a mysterious SEKAI, the Tree SEKAI.

As it turns out, Ichika, Minori, Kohane and Kanade were also teleported to the Tree SEKAI, although in their cases, it was because their phone flashed, similarly to how they (excluding Kanade) were first introduced to the SEKAI during the main story. While they all try to explain to each other how they got there, Miku reveals herself to the others (and confirms that Tsukasa was transported via a Fragment of Feelings).

Miku explains that the Tree SEKAI came to be because of the intertwined feelings of the five. She explains that it isn't quite ready to become a full-fledged SEKAI yet, outright confirming that it is a Fragment SEKAI. She adds that the SEKAI is filled with warmth that has a certain someone in mind, and asks what the five were thinking about before coming to the Tree SEKAI. They realise that they were all thinking about Miku, or their respective Mikus, and in response, Miku beckons them all over to the tree.

In the tree, all of them find items belonging to them. Kanade finds sheet music for her songs, Kohane finds flyers for STAY GOLD and RAD WEEKEND, Tsukasa finds the script for Pegasus Odyssey, the first show he wrote for Wonderlands x Showtime, and Minori finds a promotional photo for MORE MORE JUMP! that she had Kohane take after the group was formed. Ichika then finds the wish plaques that she and the other members of Leo/need wrote at New Years, as well as some of her sheet music and lyrics. Miku concludes that the tree must be a wishing tree of sorts, made from their feelings together, as well as their hopes and dreams.

Ichika then questions how the fact they were all thinking of Miku connects to this tree. Miku explains that they - the Mikus from each SEKAI, and not just this Miku - want the feelings of the people they watch over to keep growing and moving forward. So the Wishing Tree isn't just their tree, it's also Mikus' tree, nurtured by their hopes and dreams for everyone.

Everyone was able to find their true feelings thanks to a Miku, and as a result the tree was able to flourish. Miku thanks the five for placing their trust in "her", but the five agree that they should be the ones thanking her. The SEKAI begins to disappear once they have exchanged thanks, and Miku explains that since this is not a full SEKAI yet, it will return to being a Fragment. However, it won't be gone forever, and one day, when the sapling becomes a fully grown tree, they might be able to...

The five return to where they were before, with no memory of what happened.

We actually learn a lot about the SEKAI from just this card story despite it being its first appearance. We know that despite the fact that there are several SEKAI in existence, this one was born from the shared feelings specifically between the people connected to the School, Stage, Street, Wonderland, and Empty SEKAI, as well as the base form of Miku who exists between SEKAI. Even though the SEKAI is currently only in a Fragment state, it can grow into a full SEKAI from there. Interestingly, it was confirmed in Miku's Street SEKAI 2* that SEKAI grow over time, and this new information heavily suggests that all SEKAI actually can be accessed prior to fully forming via a Fragment of Feeling (for example, the five main SEKAI in the game may possibly have been accessible prior to their full formation, although as far as we know, this didn't happen).

The second time the Treet SEKAI appears is in the Virtual Singer-focused event, Sakura Across SEKAI, Interconnecting Our Feelings. This time, only the first Virtual Singers to appear in each of the five main SEKAI go to the Tree SEKAI though.

In the Empty SEKAI, the N25 members are talking about cherry blossoms with Miku, Rin, MEIKO, and Luka. The group offers to show the cherry blossoms to the Virtual Singers, although it won't be the same as seeing them in person since they will only be able to see them in their hologram forms. Miku then decides to see if there are cherry blossoms in the SEKAI, since Mafuyu's feelings have made other things appear there before. While she doesn't find anything due to the SEKAI being, well, empty, she realises that she's happy that the SEKAI still feels more lively than it did before, and that she wants to continue supporting Mafuyu. As she thinks to herself, a Fragment of Feelings appears, and transports her to the Tree SEKAI.

Meanwhile, in the Stage SEKAI, MORE MORE JUMP! helps the Virtual Singers brainstorm for their next performance. Once a spring theme is chosen, Rin decides that she wants to include falling cherry blossom petals in their concert. Everyone looks across the various stages to try and find a cherry blossom tree, but they don't have any luck. In the end, they opt for using pink lighting, so Rin goes backstage to find some lights. Rin hopes the show will go well after everything everyone has done to accommodate her cherry blossom idea, and happens to find a Fragment of Feelings at that moment.

In the Street SEKAI, MEIKO and Rin have made a new cherry blossom-themed spring menu for Crase Cafe. Vivid BAD SQUAD arrive, and discuss having a picnic under some cherry blossoms in An's neighbourhood, although this makes KAITO and Luka a bit jealous, since there are no cherry blossoms in the SEKAI. Meanwhile, Len wants to find a way to thank MEIKO and Rin for their hard work, so he tries to find a cherry blossom tree for them. He isn't able to find one, but does find a Fragment of Feelings. MEIKO walks out into the street just after he finds it, and it takes them both to the Tree SEKAI.

School SEKAI Luka finds herself already in the Tree SEKAI, and remembers finding a Fragment of Feelings on the school roof. She recalls that Leo/need and the Virtual Singers had been trying to find a cherry blossom tree for a picnic. They had been trying extra hard because cherry blossoms reminded them of Luka as well, and were disappointed that they couldn't find any. Wanting to support Leo/need and their feelings, Luka went to look for a cherry blossom tree herself, and that's how she ended up in the Tree SEKAI.

Finally in the Wonderland SEKAI, WonderlandsxShowtime are trying to create an effect of a cherry blossom petal shower for their next show. They want to use real petals, but there aren't any cherry blossoms in the SEKAI, and they don't want to use the petals from the singing flowers. In the end, Emu suggests taking some petals from the cherry blossom tree in her garden. KAITO is thankful that they're always bringing fun and interesting things over to SEKAI, and thinks of a way to repay them, deciding to look for a real chery blossom in the SEKAI. Whilst looking around, he finds the plushies. They say they have a gift for him, and present him with a Fragment of Feelings, transporting him to the Tree SEKAI.

In the Tree SEKAI, there are cherry blossom petals falling through the sky. Miku goes over to the tree to see if that's where they're coming from, and spots something sparkling on the tree. Rin spots the same sparkly things, identifying them as Minori and the others' feelings, before spotting feelings belonging to other people too. Len and MEIKO also spot that there are other feelings here, with MEIKO making the assumption that they are from other SEKAI. She also has a feeling that where they are isn't an ordinary SEKAI. Luka feels that there are other people in the SEKAI, although she can't see anyone else there. KAITO has the same feeling, but is happy that the tree is proof that everyone's feelings are growing.

Suddenly, there is a very strong wind, and Empty SEKAI Miku briefly sees the original Miku. Empty SEKAI Miku wonders if the original Miku has been watching over everyone's feelings the whole time. The SEKAI then starts to disappear.

The original Miku briefly appears again, commenting on her surprise at everyone being there. She concludes that their individual desires to help brought them all together, and wishes them luck in future.

When Rin returns to the Stage SEKAI, she is greeted by Len and MEIKO. She tells them that she briefly saw other versions of them, and MEIKO realises they must've been from other SEKAI, and adds that nothing like that has ever happened before. In Street SEKAI, MEIKO mentions having been able to see peoples' feelings through Fragments before, but never anything like that, and she wonders if the tree SEKAI is a sort of nexus between SEKAI. In School SEKAI, Luka says the same thing, wondering if that was some sort of special fragment. In the Wonderland SEKAI, KAITO realises that they must have all been brought to the same place because of their connected feelings, and realises that they must all want to help people very much.

This event reveals that the Tree SEKAI is also controlled by the feelings of the Virtual Singers from the five main SEKAI. Despite not being the actual reason they were brought together, they managed to create cherry blossom petals in the SEKAI because they were all looking for cherry blossoms. We also learn that this SEKAI can be accessed by any shared feelings between the five SEKAI. While the five human characters accessed it because they wanted to give thanks to Miku and original Miku wanted to thank them in return, the Virtual Singers accessed it because they all wanted to help the owners/inhabitants of their SEKAI.

The MEIKOs also bring up some interesting points. They say that this has never happened before, which tells us that in the multiple years of SEKAI existing, no group of people has ever had feelings this strong and intertwined. MEIKO's idea of the Tree SEKAI being a nexus, along with Luka wondering if it was a special sort of fragment, makes a lot more sense, and could suggest that the Tree SEKAI, is neither a Fragment SEKAI or a full SEKAI, but a mysterious third type.

Also both Luka and MEIKO mention having seen the feelings of the humans in their SEKAI through Fragments before, despite neither of them having appeared in a Colorful Festival story at this point, implying that there may be other Fragment SEKAI that the human characters never accessed.

The most recent appearance of the Tree SEKAI was in the second Virtual Singer-focused event, Let Your Song Resonate Throughout SEKAI! event. Although this time, things were a little different.

After everything that had happened in the past year, the Virtual Singers want to do something to support and encourage the owners of their respective SEKAI as they move forward in their journeys.

While all of them are discussing ideas and planning shows, the original Miku is watching over them from between SEKAI. She's then joined by the other original Virtual Singers, who were also curious about what's going on in the different SEKAI. Miku wishes she could do more to help the "them" in SEKAI who are trying hard to support the people in their SEKAI.

In the Stage SEKAI, Luka and the others are practising a special performance dedicated to MORE MORE JUMP!. Luka wants to keep trying harder because MMJ has always done the same and she wants to support them. At that moment, a Fragment of Feelings appears in front of her and teleports her away.

Meanwhile, in the Wonderland SEKAI, Miku and the others are rehearsing a play for WonderlandsxShowtime. Miku is so happy that the members of WxS were able to smile and chase their dreams together, that she's brought to tears. It's then that she hears a mysterious voice wish her luck. This voice was actually the original Miku, speaking to Wonderland Miku from between the SEKAI. She isn't sure how she was able to do it, but she wanted to support them all a lot and just said what she wanted to. The other Virtual Singers voice their agreement, and a Fragment of Feelings appears before them.

In the School SEKAI, Len is practising his singing so that he can perform for Leo/need. However, he can't quite get it to sound the same as when Miku sang with L/n at their concert. Miku explains that she wanted to support the girls and give them a push forwards, which Len keeps in mind. After Miku leaves, Len spots a Fragment of Feelings on a chair.

In the Empty SEKAI, Rin is singing Kanade's song to herself. Rin wants to be able to sing the same way as Miku can, the same way Miku was able to sing to Mafuyu and ease her loneliness. Nearby, Miku and Len approach MEIKO, trying to find Rin. MEIKO explains that Rin is focused on something else, and says that they should leave her alone. Once Miku and Len are gone, MEIKO joins in with Rin, although she doesn't think she can sing the same way Rin can. As they sing together, a Fragment of Feelings appears, and transports them to another SEKAI.

Back in the Wonderland SEKAI, Miku talks to KAITO about the voice she heard and the feeling of being watched. KAITO is able to relate to that, and says that it might be the other "them" cheering them on. This gets Miku excited, and she says that she wants to meet the other "them". And as luck may have it, a Fragment of Feelings appears.

This time we're somewhere slightly different though. It's never actually stated if this is the same as the Tree SEKAI or somewhere totally different, although it is a fairly similar landscape.

Wonderland Miku has a look at the fragments floating around, and spots the Wonderland SEKAI in one of them. Excited, she then has a look at the other fragments to see what SEKAI they contain.

The original Virtual Singers find themselves in the same mysterious place. KAITO reckons that the place is made of someone's feelings, and Rin concludes that it's a Fragment SEKAI, although they're not sure exactly what feelings it was made from, or whose SEKAI it is. The group then spots the floating fragments, and realises that this is a SEKAI that connects other SEKAI together. The group splits up to investigate some more, and end up running into "themselves".

The original Rin meets Empty SEKAI Rin, and asks if they can sing together because Empty Rin is such a beautiful singer. The original MEIKO joins Empty MEIKO at the same time, and thanks "herself" for always watching over N25.

Street SEKAI KAITO is here too, and runs into his original self. Street KAITO thinks "himself" is very cool, and admits he isn't really sure what he's doing here, but he's glad that they were able to meet. The original KAITO thanks Street KAITO for always working hard to help Vivid BAD SQUAD.

The Lens meet next. The original Len thinks School SEKAI Len's maturity and musical skills are really cool, and says that they both have to try their best in future. Then it's the Lukas turn. The original Luka thinks it's wonderful that Stage SEKAI Luka is able to bring hope to people as an idol, and says that she was able to give her hope too. Hearing these words, Stage Luka is motivated to try even harder.

Finally, it's the Mikus turn to meet. The original praises Wonderland Miku for her exciting shows that are able to make everyone smile. She believes that as long as Wonderland Miku is by everyone's side, everything will be fine, and she tells her to keep doing her best for them. Wonderland Miku asks to know more about the original Miku, but as soon as she starts to respond, the SEKAI begins to disappear.

This instance of the Tree SEKAI appearing actually leaves us with more questions that answers, and obviously the big question is if this is even the Tree SEKAI.

As mentioned, the appearance is fairly similar. Both SEKAI have a large field, and the sky is identical between the Tree SEKAI illustrations and Rin's Another Version of Me untrained 4* above. Aside from the lack of a tree, which could easily be excused by this possibly being a different part of that Fragment SEKAI, the field is noticeably different. The SEKAI in this event has flowering, bright green fields, while in Sakura Across SEKAI and Miku's Colorful Festival story, the field is a different shade of green and lacks any flowers. The grass is also a bit patchy in those older stories. A last detail that suggests these might be different SEKAI is that Miku doesn't recognise it.

However, I do believe that these are the same SEKAI. Firstly, both SEKAI are a bridge between the five we see in the game. GIven that the Tree SEKAI already exists, it feels very unlikely that another SEKAI serving the exact same purpose would be born, let alone looking extremely similar. As for the differences in appearance? The SEKAI grew of course. As mentioned earlier in this post, Street SEKAI Miku explains very early on in the game that SEKAI grow and develop over time if the feelings that created them don't dwindle. The original Miku alludes to it in her Colorful Festival story as well. I think that that could easily explain why the fields look healthier and are flowering now - because they grew with the feelings of those from the five SEKAI.

And a bit more on the meta side, I want to mention the flowers specifically. Obviously, between the second and third year of the game, this SEKAI went from being an empty field aside from a single tree, to being filled with flowers in it's next appearance. While this is already explained by the theory that it's the same SEKAI growing with time and feelings, I would like to draw attention to the tagline for the third year of the game: Journey to Bloom. All the units made significant changes and developments in order to go further down their respective paths and get closer to their dreams. As a metaphor, they went from being small buds to blooming flowers. I think the same might apply to the Tree SEKAI as a visual metaphor.

So what is the Tree of Feelings SEKAI? Well, it's not entirely clear. Not even the Virtual Singers are entirely sure what it is, because something like it has never existed before. What we do know is that it's a sort of Fragment SEKAI that acts as a nexus between the School, Stage, Street, Wonderland, and Empty SEKAI. When the inhabitants and owners of those SEKAI have the same strong feelings at the same time, they will be transported to the Tree SEKAI and allowed to meet. Virtual Singers are able to retain their memories of being in this SEKAI, although humans cannot.

Currently, the SEKAI is still a Fragment, and can only be accessed for short periods of time. However, it is still growing, and it has been implied that it could one day become a full-fledged SEKAI.

As of posting, Miku never met the original five who unlocked the Tree SEKAI again, although this post will be revisted if any updated are made to the lore of this Fragment? Nexus? SEKAI.