#in some AUs she was a leash kid though

[monty-glasses-roxy]

I am SO SORRY, but every time you talk about animalisms or dogisms my brain goes right to Roxy having to be on a leash any time they go out so she doesn’t poop in a neighbor’s grass.

SHE'S NOT THAT BAD LMAO

[httpknjoon]

a summer fashion choice | jjk

plot | This summer heat got you and your friends to enjoy your day at Blaire's beach house in the ocean. While everyone suits in their swimwear, your friends wonder why Jungkook your secret boyfriend is wearing a high-neck shirt.

words | 2.7k+

genres | fluff, crack,  secret relationship au, established relationship au, friends to lovers au

pairing | jungkook x reader

note | they are just getting sloppier and sloppier atp 🥴 anyway, enjoy reading!! let me know ur thoughts 🫶

main masterlist  |  drabble series masterlist

“Look at him, all focused on his laptop and work.”

Jenny rested her elbows on the white sand while turning her head to the beach house. Specifically on its porch, where your secret boyfriend types eagerly on his keyboard while answering a call through his Airpod. His eyes were focused on his screen and you swore you could see the gears in his head turning at a rapid pace. You thought he could enjoy this weekend but he got a call after you had breakfast with everyone this morning. You sighed, shaking your head.

“I heard he is working for a possible promotion.”

“Yeah, but we are on vacation right now,” Dara replied while putting on some sunscreen on her arms.

Your two friends shifted their conversation to other things. But your gaze remained on Jungkook. You watch Blaire approach him after his call, softly patting his back. She points out to the ocean while talking to him. Jungkook chuckles and shakes his head. Blaire walked away, also shaking her head with a smile. Even though she wore dark aviator sunglasses that matched her lace cover-up, you felt like she was looking at you. You confirmed it when she sat beside you.

“That guy cannot stop working after we had breakfast. Next time that I’m bringing you all here at the beach house, I am confiscating your gadgets,” she spoke out.

“Geez! Mom, relax.” Jenny exhaled exaggeratedly like a teenager, making you and Dara giggle. “You should check on your other kid though.”

She pulled down her sunglasses and pointed her finger to the other side of the beach. Wooshik, whose body is buried underneath a large amount of sand, has been shooing Bam away, who is licking his face.

“Who the hell spread peanut butter on his face?!” Blaire laughed.

Dara raised her hand, “It was my idea. But we all smeared it on his face.”

You nodded, remembering that you were also the one who called Bam to first smell your friend’s face. The sand was too heavy on his body that Wooshik could not even raise his hand to push Bam away. By the time he was able to get off the sand, his face was already shiny clean with your dog’s drool.

“Hey!”

You all stood up to run when Wooshik threw sand directed at your area. Bam ran behind you and your friends, laughing and playing on the seashore. You don’t know who ran towards the ocean first but you, Blaire, Dara, and Jenny worked all together to splash water against Wooshik. It did not last long as your arms got tired and you asked for a truce.

“Oh, no. Bam, baby, stay there!”

You quickly ran from the salt water when you noticed your dog running in your direction. Thankfully, you met him halfway, just when he was about to take a step into the waters. That was when you decided to sit with him on the sand. You two watched your friends playing in the water. You were smiling until you remembered your boyfriend who was wasting this day with his laptop. That’s when you pick up your sheer white wrap skirt and tie it around your hips. You also attached Bam’s leash to him again, just to make sure he won’t run away from you.

“Let’s go, Bam.”

Barefoot, you strolled on the warm sand on your way. Even though it was close to the afternoon, you still find the heat endurable to enjoy the beach.

“Hey…” you softly smiled at him.

“Hey.” he was typing on his laptop when he responded.

You pulled one of the vacant seats around the small table and sat on it. You noticed a little thick compilation of papers on the table. You wondered if he planned to do his job here today since he had all of these back in his car.

“Babe…” you called him with a careful tone.

He threw a short glance at you before reading something on the paper, “Yes, princess?”

“You know that today is Saturday, right?” you told him while Bam sniffed your resting hand.

“Yes. But I forgot that I was supposed to do this last night and I didn’t because we drove here.” he reasoned. “And I need to pass this–”

“When is the deadline?” you cut him off, knowing that he is just doing this all for a reason.

“It’s…” he paused, looking back at you while biting his inner cheek. He knows that you know why he was doing this. So, he cannot tell lies even if he wants to. “It’s two weeks from now.”

You leaned back in the chair while crossing your arms, “You know what I am going to say, right?”

He nods his head, “But they will announce the promotion soon and if I pass this report earlier than others, I might–”

“You might end up really tired and overworked.” you cut him off again. This time, sounding more serious. “You have a deadline for a reason. Plus, we came here to enjoy this weekend. You still have time to do that when we get back to the city.”

“But I want to pass this report as soon as possible.” he firmly said, undeterred.

“Okay, whatever you say.” You gave up, getting up.

The moment you said that Jungkook instantly felt the shift in the air. Your back is already turned to him as you walk back to the house. His chest tightened and it’s like something is stuck in his throat. Before he can even call your name again to talk, Bam barked next to him. As if he knows his dad did something wrong.

Might as well go read a book or watch something, you thought.

Admittedly, you were annoyed that Jungkook is firm about doing that report here, especially when he said that it’s still due in the next week. Usually, you understand him being this workaholic since he has been aiming for that promotion. But it’s not like you will get to go here again next weekend.

You searched around the room for that book you brought with you. Under the bed, under the sheets, and even your luggage. Surely, you brought it with you. You remembered reading it before Jungkook sneaked into your room last night. While looking on the bed again, you heard a couple of knocks on your door.

Busy, you only said, “It’s unlocked.”

That’s when Jungkook steps into your room. He noticed your scrunched eyebrows when you looked at him after looking under a pillow. His heartbeats fastened as he slowly closed the door behind him. You were busy searching for something and he was about to ask but then your expression changed after looking under the other pillow. Finally, you looked at him, holding the book to your chest.

“Where’s Bam?”

“I left him with Blaire. She took him with her on the sand.” Jungkook took a step closer.

You acted naive, walking to the other side of the room where your luggage was left open. You began cleaning up the mess you made while looking for the book.

“Are you done with your report?” you asked without even looking at him.

“No.”

You didn’t say anything and neither did he. So after zipping up your stuff, you have already decided to leave and read outside. But you wanted to freshen up first. You looked at yourself in front of the mirror, ignoring your boyfriend who sat quietly on the bed but obviously watching you. You meet his eyes through the mirror.

“Then, what are you still doing here, Jungkook?”

No babe? Or even Kook? Jungkook frowned, getting up behind you. He wrapped his arms around your waist before resting his chin on your shoulder.

“Princess…” his tone was pleading. “I’m sorry.”

With how close his warm breath on your ear, it sends shivers all over your body. You wonder how did the temperature get high gradually, almost matching the heat outside. You tried to keep your composure, not breaking any expression on your face while you asked him again.

“For what?”

Gently, Jungkook turns you around to directly face him. His hands were still on your waist and the space between you two was almost nonexistent. You looked straight into his eyes while clenching your jaw.

“I’m sorry that I’m working during the weekends and I pissed you off when you just want me to enjoy this day,” he said, almost a whisper.

At that point, you already lost yourself. Your gaze went from his eyes down to his lips when he began speaking. After you realized what were you doing, you looked at him.

“I’ll accept that apology if you tell me you won’t be doing any work for the rest of our time here.”

He raised his left hand and stood like a true follower, “I promise that I will not do any reports while we’re here.”

Jungkook waited for you to say something but you simply ran your hands through his hair. You softly massage his scalp with your fingertips just like what you usually do when you know he’s tired or when you two shower together. You figured he was enjoying your thing when his eyes closed as his hold on your waist tightened. Your eyebrow raised before tugging on his hair, causing Jungkook to groan.

“Just… enjoy,” you mumbled.

Jungkook nods, slowly opening his eyes, and the first thing he sees is that little smirk on your lips. He smiled while wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him. You were the first one to lean in and make your lips meet. But as you were about to pull away, Jungkook held you firmer, deepening the kiss. You once again tugged on his hair. He responded with a soft moan. The kiss became more passionate. You two moved in sync, moving closer to the bed, without breaking the kiss. You straddle him. The next thing you know, your lips were tracing kisses on his jawline down to his neck. Lost in the moment, Jungkook tilts his head back. You move your hips slightly, earning another groan from him.

“Everyone’s outside?” you asked in between kisses.

“Mhm…” he hummed “Princess…”

You mindlessly began sucking the skin just below his jawline. He gasped, his hand squeezing your thigh gently.  You did it a couple of times more before you pulled away and were about to reach and untie your top from the back when you noticed the dark bruise forming on his neck.

“Oh, shit,” you murmured.

Jungkook opened his eyes, “Why?”

You look at him with a look of guilt on your face. You were trying not to smile, pursing your lips. He tried to stop you from getting up from him but you pulled him to the mirror.

“What– Fuck.” Jungkook cursed while tracing the hickeys you left on his neck. “That’s a lot, Princess.”

You were trying so hard not to laugh, “I’m sorry.”

Jungkook was about to speak when you heard knocks on your door. Your eyes widened.

“Come out, lovebirds. We’re having barbecues outside for lunch.” Blaire spoke.

You and your boyfriend looked at each other, silently asking each other what to do with the obvious bruises on his neck.

“Tell me, why the fuck is your boyfriend wearing a turtleneck in this burning weather?”

After having lunch, you and your friends went back to the beach to play volleyball. You take turns cooking the remaining barbecues and playing. You and Blaire were sitting on the side when she asked you that question. Her tone was not even asking, just genuinely curious and you understand. Because it is really weird why someone would wear a turtleneck shirt on the beach. Worse, it’s not even the swimwear type. It’s cotton material.

Unfortunately, that’s the only remedy you and Jungkook can think of earlier. You cannot really think of any answer so you were relieved when Dara sat next to you guys. You tapped Blaire, asking her to keep her lips sealed.

“I hate playing with those competitive players,” Dara said, referring to Jenny, Wooshik, and Jungkook.

You and Blaire laughed, offering her a drink instead. Jenny was playing alone against the two guys. Her competitive nature naturally takes on every time the ball is served to her side. You and the others just cheered for her on the side, chanting her name. You all cheered louder when Jenny got another win.

“See? I told you, you can’t move properly with that shirt.” Wooshik grunted at his best friend.

Jungkook fought back, “I am literally the MVP of this team. Four out of five points came from me.”

You laughed at their immatureness whenever they were together. Jenny asked for time out and you gave her a glass of iced tea. The guys followed, getting their barbecue and drink.

“Why are you even wearing that? We’re on a beach.” Dara asked.

Jungkook took a glance at you before replying, “I… I got bad insect bites.”

Wooshik, who quietly caught that, asked, “Where? On your neck?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Oh, I brought a cream for that!” Dara began searching through her beach bag. “Here!”

Jungkook awkwardly accepted the small tube Dara handed him, “Thanks.”

“You should put it now. It relieves the bite almost instantly,” she added.

“Oh, okay. I’ll put it later when I’m back in my room.” he reasoned.

“Why not now?” Wooshik squinted his eyes.

It didn’t help that your other friends also encouraged him to put it now. You remained quiet, gulping your drink until there was nothing left.. Jungkook can tell that you ran out of ideas too.

“Well, okay…”  he sighed. Fuck it.

He removed his shirt and his friends almost had the same reaction as soon as he got his shirt over his head.

“Oh… Oh.”

Dara has her eyes wide open, staring at the insect bites. Her lips were formed into a small o. Jenny was confused, lines forming between her brows as she scanned his neck. Wooshik choked on something and was coughing for a good ten seconds. Blaire was covering her lips, obviously hiding a smile on her face. And the insect herself, you, looked away when you met his eyes.

“What?” Jungkook broke the silence. “It’s bad, I know.”

Jenny cleared her throat, “What… what insect bit you again?”

“I-I don’t know. I just saw them after I finished doing my workloads earlier.” he lied.

“I’m sorry but why does it look like hickeys?” Dara giggled.

“Dara!” Blaire scolded her.

Then, Wooshik joined, asking, “But is it though?”

“It’s not!” Jungkook exclaimed. “I-It’s actually kinda itchy.”

“It looks bad…” you awkwardly commented, just to break off your personal silence.

You feel bad seeing him cornered like this but embarrassed at the same time with your artwork on his neck. Jungkook turned his head to you with his eyes narrowing.

“I know, YN. That’s what I said.”

His tone seems a little annoyed and you totally understand why. Although this isn’t the first time you gave him love bites, you managed to hide it before.

“Then, you should totally put that cream Dara gave you.” you remind him about the said cream in his hand.

“After you put that, let’s go back to playing,” Wooshik told everyone. He then turned to his best friend, “And you keep your shirt off. The hickeys– I mean, those bites are gonna be fine.”

The sun was already setting when your friends decided to go back to the house. You decided to stay for a little longer on the shore to take pictures of Bam. Jungkook got back the house too to get his camera.

“Bam, look at here!” you tried to get Bam’s attention.

You were so focused on taking pictures that you didn’t notice Wooshik returning to look for his slippers.

“Do you want me to take pictures of you and Bam?” he asked.

You turned around, “Oh, it’s fine. Just Bam.”

He nods before turning his back, “Okay, Princess.”

You paused, confused, “What did you call me?”

“Princess?” Wooshik faced you and the first thing you noticed was that stupid smile on his face. “Oh, I thought you like being called that.”

Speechless, you just shook your head. Wooshik chuckled at your answer. A mix of confusion and surprise was painted all over your face.

“Okay, don’t stay out here for too long. You might get insect bites. Just like Jungkook.” he reminded you before running back to the house.

You rolled your eyes, whispering, “He knows.”

TAGLIST (closed)

@hobiuwusunshine @alinerl @bbangtanlove95 @daydreamiies @craftymoonchaos @awseokjin @yoonabeo @luvrsofbts @bloopkook @chvngbiin @takochelle @wildarmy @cuddlysoftbear @luv-minhyun-world @shydestinyyouth @bbtsficrecs @fan-ati--c @rjsmochii @jkbabiey @hopeworldjimin @chieftoadturkeynickel @ppeachyttae @tannies-luv @loomipee @sanctify-mp3 @stuffy1985 @di0rgguk @tswisal1 @amara-mars @jksgirlhere @callmejimmeo @rapmonie2047 @daemontargaryenwhore @juju-227592

[brighteuphony]

On the way back from Tea Country with Chakra-poisoned Kakashi tryna "casually" fish for some info before Sakura comes in with the one-hit KO on accident.

So she's got some complicated feelings for Kakashi as well, though they're a lot milder than what she feels about Sasuke.

There's a moment in my AU where Sakura goes through a deep reflection ritual, in which she has to face Inner Sakura -who is representative of all the ugly truths her day-to-day self hasn't been able to face- and come to terms with who she is.

During that time, she's got to face the music.

The music:

Sasuke is the last prodigal son of a clan that was brutally butchered. He's a genius with one of the most powerful dojutsu out there (that he has no idea how to use) and is coming in hot with more baggage than an airport terminal.

Naruto is not normal. She doesn't know what he is (as in-canon, she finds out after the time-skip and the Sakura from above is right on the cusp of Shippuden), but there's nothing normal about a kid who can pull wild orange chakra and who can fight Gaara's tailed beast and come out on top. He's got the personal attention of the Hokage, but the entire village has banded against him for some reason. He's special.

Kakashi is a war veteran turned Jounin and an infamous ANBU captain (I headcanon that some ANBU names are leaked specifically to generate a healthy level of fear/caution among other villages- which is why we know of Itachi/Kakashi/Shisui very publically) and is ALSO the last prodigal son of an old noble clan.

(No way a bookworm like Sakura didn't consume every publically available scroll on Konoha clans).

It doesn't take the big brains to figure out that he got team 7 specifically to help deal with Sasuke's trauma/teach him about the Sharingan, and put a leash on Naruto (and in the future, when she finds out that Madara was able to control the Kyuubi with the Sharingan as well as the knowledge that Kakashi was Minato's student it becomes even clearer why he got the Sasuke/Naruto combo.)

And Sakura? Sakura is a civilian. No clan, no dojutsu, nothing to her name except great chakra control. She's the literal meat in the meat-grinder of the military machine of Konoha, the acceptable sacrifice in a group of otherwise invaluable shinobi. She's just a...girl. (And it doesn't help that she was obsessed with Sasuke instead of training, furthering the gulf between her and Kakashi.)

Kakashi was absolutely not built to handle her- in fact, Kakashi has NO idea how to relate who hasn't gone through a mountain's worth of trauma or someone who hasn't been ingrained in the shinobi-as-a-tool lifestyle, and even then, he's not fully equipped to handle people who have (lmao Sasuke). Not to mention the man is a prodigy- he has no idea how to teach people who have to work hard to get somewhere in life. How do you teach someone if you've never had to 'work hard' to get there yourself?

So, Sakura understands that Kakashi was put in one of the most ridiculous situations of his career- a situation he had NO idea how to handle. She can forgive him for that. BUT, she can't forgive him for not trying his best.

Sakura spent a lot of time coming to terms with the fact that she rushed into the Chidori/Rasengan combo without a single idea of what she would do, but...Kakashi was a big reason for that.

She was HIS responsibility, and he fumbled that bag. Whatever his reasoning, whether it was to 'protect' her, or whether he thought she was worthless, whatever: he should have TRIED.

Kakashi was an adult with resources aplenty. He recognized that she had stellar chakra control but never bothered to teach her genjutsu or direct her to teachers who could pick up the slack.

And after the accident, he abandoned her again. Being forgotten in lieu of Sasuke and Naruto hurt...but she could heal. Being abandoned as some kind of martyr to Kakashi's failures as a teacher? It's gonna take a while for Kakashi to make that up to her...if he can muster the courage to face her.

Sakura finally understands why he preferred the memorial stone to the living. He already failed the dead, and it's easier to wallow in self-flagellation than it is to try and step up for the living.

Sakura stopped being a coward some time ago, and when Kakashi finally does the same, she'll forgive him.

Thank you so much for sticking with this wall of text! And thank you so much anon for the question! Once again, I really appreciate all the kind words people have been throwing my way. <3 <3 <3

[sugurus-fave-monkey]

J e a l o u s y

Starring; Toji Fushiguro, Cult Leader!Geto Suguru, Gojo Satoru, Choso Kamo & Reader

Cw: Smut, MDNI/18+,Swearing, AFAB reader. Slight plot, Mean: Toji, Gojo, Geto, Dirty Talking, Rough Sex, Oral (m & f receiving), DubCon, Breedinng kink, Exhibition, Degradation, Praise, Restraints, Collar & Leash, Murder, Blood, Overstimulation, P in V, Creampie, some AU(no curse for Toji)a whole lot of filth, not proofread, written on mobile.

WC: 5800 oops

NSFW UNDER THE CUT

Toji Fushiguro:

Toji Fushiguro:

Toji knew that living with a younger woman would be a pain in the ass sometimes, but today you really had him pissed. Toji had claimed you as his girl, though not in a dating sense, more so in a fuck buddy sense, because he didn’t know if he was capable of maintaining an actual relationship. Plus the two of you lived together, so it was all the benefits of dating without having to actually date. Win-win.

Toji had been downstairs at the gym of the apartment building, when you had texted him saying that you were going to have a friend over, and apologizing in advance for being loud. Toji had thought nothing of it at the time, typical college girl stuff, having a girl friend over and being obscenely loud.

He had decided to spend a bit longer in the gym, doing a few extra sets, just to give you and your girl a bit of privacy. He thought nothing of it when some kid with weird bangs, and the rest of his hair in a bun that he had never seen before walked into the gym. The kid had asked Toji if he could spot him for a couple of sets, saying that a friend of his was visiting someone, and he didn’t want to be a third wheel. The two of them had conversed, mostly about gains, protein, and other gym bro things, before the kid asked Toji if he wanted to join him in the pool. Toji had politely declined, before excusing himself, and putting his headphones back on.

When he entered your shared apartment the gears in his brain started turning when he noticed a pair of men’s shoes beside yours. He took his headphones off and heard music coming from your room, and other noises, moans and grunts. Toji wasn’t stupid, it just took him a bit to figure out things. That kid he met was obviously friends with whoever was in your room.

Toji wanted to go back downstairs, pull that kid out of the pool by his stupid bun, and beat the shit out of him for letting his friend come and fuck his girl. But Toji also did not want an assault charge, so he cracked a beer, and sat on the couch. He could see your room, and he had patience.

A short while later he heard the music stop, and your door open. You came out of your room followed by a kid with white hair, whose appearance pissed Toji off. the kid was tall, lanky, and wearing sunglasses. Who the hell wears sunglasses inside. He wore a crooked smile as he noticed Toji.

“Oh shit, I guess your roommate’s home!” The kid smirked at you.

Your hair was dishevelled, your make up a mess as you glanced at Toji.

“Yeah. Toji this is Satoru, Satoru this is my roommate, Toji.” You mumbled.

Toji watched you say goodbye to Satoru, hugging him at the door. You tried to dart away but Toji grabbed you by the neck.

“Where d’ya think you’re going?” Toji asked.

“To shower?” You bit your lip.

“Nah, I think you need to be reminded whose girl you are.” Toji said as he started guiding you into his bedroom.

Toji pushed you down roughly onto his bed.

“Close your eyes.” he ordered.

You did so, and shortly felt the cool leather of a collar being wrapped around your neck. Toji yanked both your hands behind your back, securing them to the cuffs attached to the collar. You opened your eyes, and Toji was smirking down at you.

“So, my girl thinks she can just fuck whoever she likes huh?” Toji takes his shirt off, and you lick your lips at the sight. His beautiful muscles, glimmering under the LED lights in his room. “Better hope he stretched you out real good.”

Toji pulls his sweats down and your eyes widen. His cock was monstrous. His tip, angry and red, with precum dribbling is thick. He usually needed to make you cum at least once and use lube just to get inside you. His length was just as mean, veiny and a curve that could send you into overdrive.

Toji pushes you onto your back, and spreads your legs, palming his cock a few times before lining himself up at your entrance, and pushing slightly. It feels like you’re ripping.

“Nngh Toji! It won’t fit!” You protest.

“Tch.” Toji pulls back a little bit before leaning his head over yours. “Open your mouth.”

You do so and he gathers saliva in his mouth, before spitting it into your awaiting mouth. You feel yourself become more aroused, and swallow his spit while looking him dead in the eyes.

“Good girl.” Toji says while grabbing the bottle of lube off his dresser, before smearing it over your entrance, and around his cock.

He lines himself up once again, pushing into you. You yelp and clench your fists behind your back, sweat coating your face.

“Mmm fuck mama, you’re takin’ it so good.” Toji’s tongue is between his teeth as he slowly pushes himself into you, your walls enveloping him. “That little boy couldn’t even make you cum huh?”

The pain and pleasure of Toji stretching you out mingle together. A moan escapes your lips. Toji slaps you in the face, and wraps his fingers around your throat.

“I asked you a question, slut.” Toji asks through gritted teeth. “He didn’t make you cum did he?”

“N-no daddy! He didn’t!”

Toji slams into you, bottoming out. “Then. Why. Would. You. Bother?” Thrusting into you with every word.

Tears spill out of your eyes, your mouth is open as Toji drills into you. His thumb finds your clit and starts circling it. You thrust your hips upwards, chasing your high. Your stomach flutters, and your cheeks grow hot.

“You wanna cum huh? Such a greedy girl. Fuckin’ cum all over this cock then girl.” Toji groans out.

“F-fuuuuuck! Daaaaadddyyyy!” You practically scream out, as your orgasm racks through your body. Your muscles tighten, your vision goes white, as pleasure consumes you. Your walls clench around Toji’s dick, as he fucks you through your orgasm.

When it subsides, and you’re twitching, and panting, Toji pulls out and flips you over. He pulls your hips up, so you’re arching your back, and grabs the leash of your collar with his free hand. He gives you no time to adjust, before he’s bullying his cock back into you.

He pulls on your leash, forcing your head up, and drool spills out of your mouth. You’re so fucked out already, your eyes rolling in the back of your head, stars clouding your vision.

Toji sends his hand flying towards your ass, leaving a mark, his pace quickens.

“F-fuuuuck daddy, slow down!” You groan. “M’gonna cum.”

Instead of slowing down, Toji somehow speeds up, spearing you on his cock. “Yeah? Gonna cum again pretty girl?”

Toji’s words send you into overdrive, and you squirt all over him. Your legs are shaking, your arms are burning from being restrained, but you wish you could stay like this forever. Being fucking into oblivion by Toji’s cock. But you can tell he’s getting close to his peak. His muscles are contracting, his thrusts are getting sloppier, he’s grunting and groaning.

“Fuck mama, M’gonna cum inside you. Fill you up. Put a baby in you. Make sure everyone knows you’re mine.” Toji moans as his seed shoots into you, painting your walls and kissing your womb.

Toji pulls out, watching his cum drip out of you, before finally letting you out of your restraints. Your senses slowly start to come back to you.

“So, I’m actually your girl huh?” You ask.

“Guess so. If it means you ain’t gonna be fucking that idiot again, then you’re my girl.” Toji replies before grabbing a towel, and heading to the bathroom. “Y’gonna join me?”

“Yeah just a minute.” You call back, before pulling your phone out. You open up your texts with Satoru, and type out a message.

-Your plan worked! You’re honestly the best! And tell Suguru he’s the best boyfriend ever for letting you pretend to fuck me.-

*******

Suguru Geto:

Geto regarded all of his followers in the same manner, monkeys. But they all served a purpose, so he allowed most of them to live. Piss him off though, and he would have you killed. All of them were interchangeable, he could kill all of them, only to have a new group flock in the next day.

You, however were different. Geto had found you, sheltering yourself from a rainstorm close to his dwelling. He had offered you a deal, shelter indefinitely, so long as you were either useful, or willing to follow his principles. You had agreed, and while you got settled, Geto manifested a Surveillance Curse, sending it into your room. You had managed to incapacitate it, meaning you had cursed energy, which meant you could be of slight use to him.

Geto would never admit it, but he was enthralled by you, the way you looked at him with admiration, the way you were always the first one in when he called everyone to come listen to a speech. The way his eyes would zero in on you.

So when you were absent from his preachings for a few days in a row, he found himself growing concerned. He sent one of the monkeys to find you, and see what was wrong. When that follower reported their findings, Geto executed them on the spot.

The monkey had followed you around the facility, until he watched you enter another followers chambers. He had watched through a slight opening in the curtain, as you shed your clothes and gave yourself to that other man.

Geto was furious. After all, you should be entirely devoted to him, allowing no other to have you in that manner. He was the one in charge, and to be disrespected by someone he allowed to grovel before him, who was beneath him, almost shattered his facade. Rather than succumbing to the anger, he pushed it aside, he would have to teach you what happens when your loyalty slips.

The next day Geto ensured you would be present, by having a different monkey go to your chambers and escort you. You took your usual seat, front row, but refused to even look at Geto. You were nervous and rightfully so. When the rest of his followers piled in he addressed the crowd.

“Hello everyone.” Geto began, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Today you shall witness a special performance.” Geto stood up and pointed at you. “Would you be so kind as to come up to the stage?”

Your stomach flipped, anxiety coursing throughout your body. You gulped. “Me?” You squeaked out.

“Yes, you.” Geto dialed up the warmth in his voice. “Come onto the stage.”

Every fiber of your being is screaming at you to not go up there. But what else could you do? You knew if you ran, Geto would catch you, and kill you right then and there. Your legs shake as you stand up, time seeming to stand still as you take a step.

Geto’s lips curl as he sees the fear on your face, the sheen of sweat coating your body as you unsteadily step towards him. His eyes zeroing in on yours, like a predator, ready to pounce on their prey.

When you’re finally on the stage, Geto cups your chin with one of his large hands, forcing you to look up at him. He smiles down at you, but his eyes have malicious intent behind them. The hairs on your arm stand on end. Geto uses his hand to guide your gaze to the crowd, when you notice the man you had been sleeping with in the middle of the crowd, being held in place by two bigger men. You gasp when Geto jerks your head back towards him, and presses his lips against your ear.

“I hope you’re not shy in front of a crowd. Gotta show everyone what happens when they can’t keep control of their dicks. I’m not going to hurt you though.” Geto whispers, before pulling away and addressing his followers.

“Do I not provide for you? Have I not cured you of your ailments, your sicknesses? And yet, it seems that one of you displays no loyalty. No gratitude for what I have done for him. He must think of me as below him, inferior to him. Why else would he take what’s not his? You all serve me, you all belong to me, and you’re all mine to use as I please.” Geto’s voice is low, all the cheer drained from it.

He tosses the mic down to the floor, his body towering over yours.

“Strip.” That singular word. Your body felt like a shock ran through it. There was no way Geto was serious. This had to be some sort of joke. You couldn’t move.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” Geto warned.

Your hands shook as you began undressing yourself, the robes you wore falling into a pool at your feet. You unclasp your bra and shrug it off your shoulders, using an arm to cover your nipples. You inhale harshly as Geto pulls your arm away from your body, the cool air making your nipples erect. Your lip trembles as you pull your panties down, exposing yourself to the hungry eyes of Geto’s followers. Your thighs close on instinct, and you close your eyes, willing this to be a dream.

“Open your legs.” Geto commands, his focus solely on you. You do so, and Geto uses a finger to swipe at your entrance. “Look at you, you’re already dripping, pathetic.”

Geto pushes his finger into your mouth, never breaking eye contact with you. A shiver runs down your spine at the intrusion, but you also feel aroused. Being in front of all of these people, while Geto invaded your body, just did something to you. You decide to suck on his finger, and he smirks at you.

He pulls his finger out of your mouth and stands behind you, before slapping your ass. He snaps a finger, and two followers bring out a chair. Geto sits down, and pulls you onto his lap.

“You ready to put on a show?” Geto whispers in your ear, and you can’t help to bite your lip and nod.

Geto uses a hand to lift your hips up, while he pulls his dick out, and slowly lowers you onto it. A moan spills out of your lips as he fills you up. Fuck he’s so thick, you’re so full already and he’s not even halfway inside. His fingers snake around your throat, as he tips your head back, as he pushes the rest of his length into you.

“Mmm fuck Geto, y’so big.” You moan out. Your eyes trail over the crowd. Every single one of them has lust in their eyes, they look so hungry. The men wishing they were the ones fucking you, the women cursing you for getting what they always desired.

Geto bounces you on his dick, causing your head to reel. You had always fantasized about fucking him, touching yourself to the thoughts. You never imagined you’d actually get the opportunity, so you had settled with the first guy to pay you attention. You had needs after all, but fuck, you were sure you’d never want to fuck anyone else as long as you lived.

“Fuck you’re so tight, you’re taking me so good.” Geto grunts in your ear, before nibbling on it. Your hand shoots down to your clit, rubbing circles around it. Geto slams into you, pulling moans from your throat as you work at your bud. Your stomach begins to coil, you’re so fucking close. A sheen of sweat is coating your body, your eyes are half lidded, you’re already feeling fucked out.

“Uhnnn, G-Geto, m’gonna cum, fuck don’t stop.” You whimper, as stars cloud your vision. You clutch onto Geto’s robes as your orgasm ravages you. Your mouth is open in an O, and you fucking squirt, soaking Geto’s pants and spraying the crowd.

“Fucking good girl!” Geto squeezes your throat as he fucks you through your orgasm, feeling his own approaching. He finally got to fuck you, and put his followers in their place. Before he loses all sense a rationality he summons a cursed spirit, and targets the man who had the courage to sleep with you.

Blood splatters onto both of you. And that sends Geto into overdrive, his hips rutting into you, as his orgasm courses through him. You feel his dick pulsing as his cum shoots into you, thick ropes, coating your walls.

You haven’t even come down yet, before Geto pulls you off his dick, grabs your hair and pushes your face into the pile of your fluids.

“Clean up your mess, monkey.” And you do so, licking up both of your fluids. When you’re done, Geto snakes his arm around your waist. “You’ll be staying in my chambers now, and I’ll have you whenever I desire.”

“If anyone of you chooses to be disloyal, the same fate will await you. Dismissed.” Geto addresses the crowd one last time, before exiting the stage with you in tow.

*********

Satoru Gojo:

Satoru Gojo was very lonely, after all his girlfriend and his best friend had been assigned a mission together, and he was stuck at Jujutsu Tech by himself. There was absolutely no reason why he couldn’t have gone with the two of you, which he made sure to whine about.

“No fair, why do you two get to go out of country and I don’t.” He had groaned.

“It’s a surveying mission, Satoru. We need to be stealthy.” Suguru had explained.

“Okay, and? What’s your point?” Satoru had pouted.

“You’re not exactly the quietest, or sneakiest person. The minute we’d find our objective, you’d come barrelling in with-“ you had mimicked his hand signs. “Blue”

Both you and Suguru had started laughing your asses off right then, and Satoru couldn’t help but join in.

But now, he was bored, bored , b-o-r-e-d. And he figured that now was as good a time as any to use one of his handy techniques; teleportation. He had badgered Suguru, until he had informed him of where exactly they were going, with a “What if something happens to you two?” So he knew exactly where he was going.

He figured he would surprise the two of you, maybe go out shopping, and he could even help the two of you finish the mission faster.

It didn’t take long for him to arrive at the location, which was not what he was expecting. There were a ton of dilapidated old buildings, and there was a ton of residuals, both human and curse alike. Satoru frowned before setting out to follow your residuals, and he noticed the two of you, before you noticed him.

Satoru couldn’t explain what made him duck at the side of a building and watch the two of you, but now he was pissed.

Satoru saw the two of you fending off a Cursed Spirit, you were distracting it, while Suguru had begun to manipulate it. Satoru watched as his best friend collapsed the curse into itself, making it take the shape of a ball. He watched as you cheered him on. He watched as Suguru swallowed the curse in one go, and your eyes lit up, and you gushed at how great it is he can swallow curses. He watched as Suguru put his arm over your shoulders and the two of you walked away. He could hear you still ecstatic about how great Geto was at swallowing.

Satoru put a plan in motion at that very moment, and decided to wait a few hours to enact it. He didn’t know which he was more hurt by; the blatant lie involving the mission, you swooning over his best friend, or the way Suguru just draped his arm over you.

~~~~

You had just finished in the shower, and decided to get comfy for the night, the mission for today was finished, Suguru was resting in his hotel room, and you planned to order room service. You wrapped yourself in the satin robe the hotel had provided. You were about to flop down on the bed, when you heard a knock at the door.

Figuring it was probably Suguru, you got up and unlocked the door, without even looking through the peep hole. You swung it open to be met by… your boyfriend? What was he doing here?

“Satoru?! What- how?” You babbled, eyes widening.

Satoru said nothing as he pushed the door open and stepped in, before searching your hotel room for something. You cocked an eyebrow while watching him in silence.

“What’s going on?! Is everything okay? What are you looking for?” You ask.

Satoru stands before you, glaring at you, his eyes seemingly filled with anger. He takes you in, seeing the worried expression, the way you chew your lip.

“Kneel.” Satoru commands.

“I-what? Kneel?” You sputter out, your cheeks growing hot.

Satoru grabs a fistful of your hair, pulling you down until you kneel. “I said kneel.”

You were still totally confused as to why Satoru showed up, but the way he was acting right now had you nervous, but kind of turned on. The two of you usually had sex at least once daily, and you had been on this mission for two and a half weeks now.

You looked up at Satoru through your eyelashes and he smirked at you. He took your hand in his, pulling it towards his crotch, forcing you to feel his erection. He pulled the waistband of his sweats down, freeing his cock from the confines of his pants.

“Open your mouth.” Satoru orders, and when you do, he pushes his cock into your mouth, giving you no time to adjust as he starts thrusting. “Mmm fuck, that’s my good girl, swallowing my cock.”

Satoru’s dirty talk always had you practically creaming, you squeeze your thighs together and moan around his cock, as you suck, using your tongue to increase his pleasure.

His hold on your hair tightens, keeping you in place so he is fully in control. Fuck your mouth made him practically delirious, the way you devoured him as though he was your last meal. When you bring your hand up to stroke him, he bats it away. “Nuh-uh. Just your mouth, see if you can handle swallowing all of me.”

As he says that, he pushes himself deeper, past your uvula. You gag, and your mouth waters, as his cock slides down your throat. Your eyes are watering, but you know you can take him. You look up at him to find him glaring down at you, his lip curled.

Satoru pulls out, before snapping his hips forward, fucking into your throat. He lets a groan escape, furrowing his brows. He wraps his free hand around your throat, feeling how it bulges as he throat fucks you.

He slows it down, only to bully his cock impossibly further down your throat. You’re light headed, his dick cutting off oxygen, and his hand wrapped around your throat making it even worse.

He pulls out of your throat, allowing you a moment to catch your breath, before ramming his length right back down your throat. “Mmmmmph.” You groan against his cock as tears spill out of your eyes.

“Aw what’s wrong Princess?” Satoru coos. “Thought ya liked swallowing. Or is that only when Suguru does it, hmm?”

Your blood runs cold, and your eyes widen.

“F-fuck.” Satoru moans, while continuing to abuse your throat. “Y-yeah, I saw you two. Fuckin’ lucky that y’make me feel s’good.”

You couldn’t even explain the truth. How Suguru needed you to support him after your battle. That’s the only reason he had his arm around you. How after seeing the face of disgust he made, you tried to distract him by telling him how cool it was that he could swallow curses. You tried to pull away, hoping to explain, but Satoru held you in place. Tears flowed down your face.

“You cryin’? That’s rich. Think you’re real smooth huh? Like I wouldn’t have seen it with my six eyes. Just means, I gotta f-fuck, remind you who you belong to.” Satoru growls out.

Again, your thighs grind together, you’re so desperate for stimulation. You shove your fingers between your legs, rubbing at your clit before Satoru pulls your hand away, smirking.

“Nah, you don’t deserve to touch yourself. If ya wanna cum y’better make sure to swallow all my cum.” Satoru’s thrusts become sloppy, he feels his balls clench, and he bottoms out, pushing his cock as far as it will go, before sloppily humping against your face.

“Ahn ah, fuck.” Satoru hisses as he feels his balls release. “Fuck take it all, fuckin don’t waste a single drop.”

His release fills up your throat as he pulls out, somehow spilling more into your mouth. You swallow, and instantly start coughing and sputtering. Air fills your lungs, and you inhale and exhale deeply.

Satoru stuffs his dick back into his pants, before grabbing your phone and firing off a text.

“S-Satoru, what are you doing?” You whisper, your throat to raw to properly speak.

“Told Suguru to come over. Think I need to teach him a lesson too. And see if his swallowing is worth the hype.” Satoru says as he ruffles your hair. “Maybe if you’re a good girl, I’ll let you cum.”

You feel yourself dripping, your hole clenching around nothing, as you hear a knock at the door.

*********

Choso Kamo:

Choso had wanted to help you train but the fact is: he is not good at training people. He just lacks the finesse to take what he’s doing and slow it down for you.

You were a curse user, part of Geto’s group, you had participated in the Night Parade of 100 Demons, and had found Geto shortly afterwards. You hadn’t questioned how he was still alive, assuming the stitches were from healing himself up. You met Choso right after he gained a body, and seemingly formed a bond. After Choso had exposed Geto as a fake, you immediately turned on Geto, allying yourself with Choso.

Choso glances over to where Noritoshi is guiding you, and instantly starts to feel annoyed. Surely you could move your body on your own? Why were his hands all over you? What was so funny that you were giggling over?

Choso huffs out a sigh, before turning away from you and Noritoshi, figuring he may as well train also. He was sure of his abilities but it didn’t hurt to improve them, and he could also use that as an opportunity to get his frustrations out.

After a while of training, and continuing to ruminate, he decides enough is enough. He had talked to Yuji about how you made him feel, and Yuji had told him he probably has feelings for you. Yuji had then sat Choso down and made him sit through several romance movies. After that he had directed him to Hakari, for additional knowledge, because Yuji “hasn’t really done that stuff”.

Choso made his way to the door of your quarters quickly, and knocked softly on the door. You pulled the door open, and beamed up at him before pulling him into a hug and inviting him in.

Choso could smell your perfume on you, the aroma getting to his head. He was so captivated by every part of you. You were wearing a very small pair of shorts and a crop top, both of which hugged your curves. He was almost salivating.

“What’s up Choso?” You asked him with a smile.

Choso didn’t speak, instead he snaked his arm around your waist, pulling you towards him. His lips crashed against yours, and for a brief moment you were still, before opening your mouth, allowing Choso’s tongue free rein of your mouth. You moan into his mouth, as his tongue explores. When you suck on his tongue, he groans, and his hips thrust against you, grinding his erection against your thighs.

Choso breaks the kiss, a string of saliva still connecting your lips, and trails his lips down to your neck. He’s sloppy, biting down and sucking, licking, all while whining, fucking whining, because he wants all of you, all at once, forever. He pulls up your crop top, exposing your plush breasts, and pulls away to admire them.

His mouth actually salivates. “C-can I?”

“Sure.” You giggle, your cheeks growing warm. You allow Choso to guide you to your bed, and he sinks down beside you.

Choso feels light headed as he takes a nipple into his mouth. Fuck, your skin tasted so sweet. He feels you grab onto his hair as you let out a moan when he nips gently at the bud. He can’t help but to roll his eyes back into his head, as he squeezes your other breast with his hand. He releases your nipple from his mouth and bites down on your shoulder, and when your blood enters his mouth, he loses all sense of rationality.

He pushes you down on the bed, pulling off your shorts, trailing bites all the way down from your shoulder to your waist, before sitting on his knees on the floor. He grabs your thighs, pulling your heat towards his mouth, and spreading your legs.

He slowly licks at your entrance, causing you to arch your back, and his mouth waters at the taste. He uses a hand to spread your folds open, before plunging his tongue inside of you. You both moan at the same time, Choso grinding his hips against the bed frame. He’s sloppy as he fucks you with his tongue, his saliva mixing with your slick. His free hand comes up to play with your nipple.

Your hands are wrapped in his hair, as you allow pleasure to wrack through you. “Nngh, fuck Choso, feels so good.”

The praise goes right to his head, and his dick, somehow making him even harder. He pulls his tongue out of your cunt, and brings it to your clit, licking it slowly, almost teasingly. Your moans fill the room. Choso pulls his dick out, and starts stroking it slowly.

“P-please, faster Cho.” You groan.

Choso obliges, sucking your clit into his mouth, rolling his tongue over it, swirling it around, until he presses his tongue flat against it and starts moving his head up and down, left and right.

You’re so close, your hips matching Choso’s movements as you grind on his face. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt an orgasm like this coming on.

“Oh fuck- fuckfuckfuck, Choso, fuck!” Your mind goes blank as you cum on Choso’s tongue. Your body twitches, your hole clenches around nothing, and you pull Choso by the hair. Your thighs try to close, but Choso is using his hands to keep them open. A few tears fall from your eyes due to the intensity of your orgasm.

Choso keeps eating you out, he doesn’t even need to touch himself at this point. He practically slurps down your orgasm. He takes a hand off your thighs, and bring it towards you entrance. He pushes one finger in, relishing how your warmth sucks him in. He whines again, he can’t wait to feel your walls against his aching cock. He adds a second finger, curling them inside you, hitting your g-spot. His other hand is pressed on your belly, and he can feel his fingers inside you. He loves the way your muscles clench around his fingers, as he probes you.

He pulls his face away from you, replacing his tongue with his thumb, moving it up and down, and in circles over your clit. He watches your face contort, your eyes squeeze shut, your hands now grasping onto the blanket.

“Fuck, you’re so perfect.” Choso remarks. “I need you to cum again for me.”

Choso’s hand fucks into you skillfully, pulling his fingers out a little bit, before pushing them back in and repeatedly curling them. His pace on your clit is perfect, and goosebumps prick your skin as you approach another orgasm.

“D-don’t stop.” You cry out as pure pleasure shoots through you. Your toes curl, your hips thrust upwards, your whole body spasms, your eyes roll back into your head. You feel Choso’s lips meet yours and open your mouth. You taste yourself on him as his tongue fucks in and out of your mouth.

When he pulls away, you open your eyes, and watch as he palms his cock. Your mouth waters, his dick is absolutely perfect, pale, veiny, and his tip is absolutely oozing pre cum.

Choso lines himself up, and as he pushes into you it takes everything in his being to not cum right then and there. He pulls out, and pushes back in, fucking you slowly, savouring the feeling, he bites on his lower lip, while watching himself slowly fuck you. He brings his thumb to your clit, swirling it over your bud.

“Nngh! Cho I-I can’t cum again. S’too many.” You’re so sensitive right now, overstimulation hitting you hard.

“Fuck yes, y-you can babe. N-need you to cum all over me. Please.” Choso begs, and fuck maybe you could cum again.

You allow your body to relax, your brain to shut down, but something feels weird, like a sort of pressure.

“F-feels weird Cho I-“

Choso bottoms out and fucks into you roughly, increasing the strength of his thrusts. It feels like something inside you snaps, and you squirt all over Choso. You’d never done that before, and feel slightly embarrassed but Choso is loving it.

“Oh fuck, yeah cum all over me.” Choso feels himself ready to burst. His dick contracts, and oh my god, the feeling of cumming inside you was too much. “M’cumming inside you. Oh fuck I need you, fuck I love you, fuck please please don’t ever leave me.”

You milk him for every single drop that he’s got, and when he stops thrusting you wrap your arms around him, pulling his chest over your body, and kissing him sweetly. You’re both panting as you come down. When you’re finally coherent enough to speak, you cup his face in your hands.

“I won’t ever leave you,” you whisper. “I love you too.”

[brucewaynehater101]

So one of my favorite tropes is Jason or Dick going "mine now" and adopting every bat kid to come after them, and turning Bruce into a father in legality only, a reluctant grandfather in reality

See the endnotes of both "Dynamic" by Cant_Smoke_Eggs and " bystander" by greeneyedfirework

And also the Crimelord Tim-Never-Robins AU is making me tear up rn so I'm just gonna kindly take the ideas of that AU and the Carrion Crows and and shove them all into a blender to—

☆・★・・・★・☆

Tim Drake's parents are as awful as they are in the Never-Robin verse but here he—to put things horrifically lightly—convinces himself out of it

Oh yes, what you're describing is abuse and it's wrong! What did you say about his parents? They do everything he agrees is abuse? No! You misunderstand, they aren't abusive they're . . .

When Jason dies and Tim blackmails his way into Robinhood, into making sure his last remaining light in this world lives and stays as via shining as he always sees him, he get's a proper excuse

Not that he could ever tell others of course

But it's just what he personally needed

How could my parents ever be abusive? Batman hardly ever remarks about them and sometimes he even trains me more painfully then whenever my parents are back home!

☆・★・・・★・☆

Thus goes his life until he comes across a girl and her ward

Or maybe baby brother is more appropriate

Introducing Cassandra Cain, League of Assassin's renegade extraordanaire

And who does she have with her? It's only Damian al Ghul, blood son of Talia and Brucie!

Yeah, some time during or after Jason's departure from the League, Cassandra by sheer chance got in the same room as Damian

A fucking child which horrified her, so she snatched that kid and dipped

Damian telling her stories about his father and big brother both from Gotham gave her a clear direction of where to head

☆・★・・・★・☆

Not that they tell Tim this, they've hardly met him

They tell Robin silly! Damian in particular is insistent that the vigilante introduce him to his father as he is the blood son

Tim—wanting to help Batman since his plate is full—says it will take some time but he knows someone who can give a place to stay, they can trust his verified associate

Thus is how the two move into the Drake Manor with Timothy Drake full-time

It's nice, he accommodates for their needs and teaches them whatever they don't know

Cassandra quickly clues in—and informs the latter—on Tim and Robin being one & the same

When Cassandra confronts Tim about this, he does his best to calmly (are you sure about that young boy?) justify himself

He recounts the rise of Batman, of the first Robin turned Nightwing, and the Second Robin until his death

Batman's grief would descend into him transforming his vigilantism into a suicide mission

And Gotham? Gotham may be a horrifically corrupt city now, but before Batman it was hell on earth

It was already slipping back into there, what with lifelong hospital bills, disabilities, and job loss being indiscriminately handed out left and right

Though, Batman's rogues weren't facing the brunt of his rage nearly as much as most desperate criminals he came across, just trying to survive

Thus, to keep Gotham from tumbling back into the days before Batman, and to keep the hero from killing himself (because saying 'get himself killed' is dishonest) he blackmailed himself into the Robin role to act as Bat's leash and caretaker

He realized he may have miscalculated when Cassandra's knuckles go bone white

☆・★・・・★・☆

Cassandra had several moments where she has second-thoughts about bringing Damian to his father, and now they're solidifying

She subsequently informs said baby brother that "holy shit, you're father is a monster" with stories what she learns about him, albeit mildly omitting the nastier details she doesn't want Damian to know at his young age

Doesn't help when they both notice the injuries Tim doesn't even get on patrol but training and he has to go to Agent A or himself for medical aid

☆・★・・・★・☆

Tim Drake always saw himself an exception to justice. His parent love him and he has a duty to Batman

Whe his parents come home he tells them about his new friends staying over for some time

After working it out with the two, they even have their identities legalized and nobody will bat an eye at their presence with Tim

The Drakes come home and one moment he's introducing his parents to his friends

The next he's closing an incinerator room's doors with a lockpick

How . . . ?

☆・★・・・★・☆

during Tim's blackout, Janet and Jack made some classist and other comments towards Damian and Cassandra, and since their legal identities are of orphans, and went as far as to threaten abuse knowing they'd get away with it

That caused something in Tim to break and finally do his parents in

Upon realizing what he's done, Tim is going to be pretty hysterical and grieving and when Cass ask's what's up he immediately breaks down

☆・★・・・★・☆

So yeah, Tim has to hide his parent's death and speedrun becoming secret CEO until he can become one publicly

Step number one? Get Cassandra and Damian adopted by the late Drakes and insert them into their wills

Cassandra and Damian stick with Tim because they care for him, he's also single handedly providing for them, plus they don't want to test their luck with Batman at all

Damian is having an identity crisis because he was taught to take pride in his blood but his father who's been hella hyped up has brutalized his new big brother repeatedly

Maybe Tim stumbles across Stephanie and Duke, and gets them adopted too

Maybe we have a Jason with less of his screws loose and he walks up to Tim and is like "where are you parents" "they're totally alive!" "Holy shit you're an orphan actively distancing yourself from the batman because he abused you *adopts him as son*" or maybe Dick Grayson fathers instead, idk

Or maybe Jason here is still willing to pull a Titans Tower idk

My brain is melting lol

Holy hell. I love this AU. Tim adopting his other family members is near and dear to me. He has the means to and has canonically made up fake family members. He can totally throw someone into his family legally (and technically illegally).

Have you seen Damian Drake? This kind of reminds me of that fic, but with Cass in it and the Drakes dead. For this AU, it would be precious if Damian starts to take pride in Tim's last name instead. That, or they could create a new one for the 3 of them (until Dick, Jason, Duke, and others join [Steph is always weird cause she dated Tim. It's similar to how Babs isn't legally considered family/siblings, but she's still part of the family]).

Damian thus has legal to claim to both Drake Industries and Wayne Enterprises (if he ever chooses to disclose his relation to Bruce). The best part of this is that Tim is building a large family by stealing them all from Bruce (cause fuck that man).

Also, Cass and Damian should interact more in fanwork. I'm so glad that you have them as such in this. Similar to Steph and Damian, I don't see that relationship as much which is sad. They have such great sibling bonds.

Two more thoughts: One, I love the characterization of Tim stepping back into his body to find he had murdered his parents and just rolling with it (besides the mandatory breakdown). He just figures it out cause it is what it is. Two, how old is Tim in this? Does he immediately become CEO or try to pretend his parents are still alive?

I'm also imagining Tim just gathering all these people, and he's not necessarily their leader/boss, but he does provide for them. He guides them and supports them. He's like a family mafia boss, but without any command or orders. The others are free to do as they please, but they tend to run decisions against each other

[omnipresentlemon]

Avatar Modern AU Headcanons: The Early Years

Spider was adopted into the family after Neytiri found him wandering around the neighborhood as a toddler in just a t-shirt and underwear on one of the coldest days of the year. She immediately went to the police station and within a week Spider was removed from the McCoskers and was taken in by the Sullys as his foster family.

Jake and Neytiri have it ROUGH for a couple years - four kids under four? Eywa have mercy.

Listen. It is inevitable that little kids have a favorite parent, but the Sully kids are a little extreme with their hardcore Mom Favoritism™️. Neteyam can only fall asleep if Neytiri sings to him. Kiri doesn’t like Jake reading their bedtime stories because “mama does the voices better.” If Spider gets hurt he is inconsolable until Neytiri kisses it better. Lo’ak throws a tantrum for at least an hour every time Neytiri leaves them with Jake. My dude is being bullied mercilessly by kids who can’t even spell their names yet.

I fully support @be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie’s headcanon that Jake and Lo’ak are mortal enemies until Lo’ak hits about 5. But like, in a Megamind kinda way.

Whenever Lo’ak is acting up Jake pretends to call Santa and tell him to put Lo’ak on the naughty list.

Lo’ak will tell other adults the most embarrassing shit about Jake in the worst circumstances.

When Lo’ak is two and realizes his parents have names other than mama and daddy, he calls Jake by his first name only for three months. Imagine trying to discipline your two-year old and he whips out the first name.

In retaliation, Jake refers to Lo’ak as “the brat attack” until Neytiri reminds him that he’s the adult in this situation. He still does it sometimes when Neytiri isn’t around.

Neytiri has the mom reflexes of a god. No ER trips on her watch.

In fact, the first ER visit for the Sullys was when Neytiri left the kids with Jake to go shopping with Mo’at for some baby stuff while she was pregnant with Tuk. They don’t even make it down the street before Jake is frantically calling about Spider splitting his head open on the edge of the coffee table.

Spider is the most accident prone of the kids not due to clumsiness but a serious lack of survival skills and critical thinking. He used to throw himself off the top of the bunk bed he shared with Lo’ak just for fun.

Spider is technically the oldest, but due to the McCosker’s neglect he has some developmental delays and regressive behavior. Neteyam loves being able to act like a big brother for Spider even though he’s a year younger. They have a rough patch when they’re a bit older and Spider starts to assert himself more, but at the end of the day they’re Team Eldest and lean on each other a lot.

Kiri was a leash kid. Jake thought it was embarrassing but Neytiri could no take another incident of Kiri disappearing in public because she saw something interesting and wandered off to investigate.

Bluey is a staple in the Sully household. Jake and Neytiri are just happy that the chokehold Paw Patrol had on their kids seems to have gone away. Plus, now whenever they’re mean to each other, they just have to ask, “would Bluey and Bingo treat each other like this?” It results in an instant apology 99% of the time.

They talk back to their kids babble like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Neytiri has full-on soap opera plots. The kids find it hilarious.

Jake, at the end of the day, is a military dad. And that means it’s MMA every day in the Sully household, starting young. He’ll suplex them into the couch, throw them onto the bed from across the room, toss them so high in the air he sees the bottom of their feet. Neytiri at first hates it, but she sees how gentle Jake is and tries to let it go. Even if it gives her heart palpitations.

Neteyam’s first word was “dada”, Kiri’s “mama”, and Lo’ak’s “no”. Spider’s speech was severely delayed and it took half a year of speech therapy to get him where he needed to be developmentally, so there’s was hot competition between Jake and Neytiri over who would get his first word.

It’s neither of them. Spider’s first word was “Teyam”. Even when they’re older Neteyam lords it over Spider’s head (but if he thinks too much about it it’ll make him cry, he just loves his brother so much).

I def have more of these percolating in my brain, but for now, enjoy!

[thegamingcatmom]

The Miranda brainrot is real so have some random thoughts that haunt me may or may not make it to ao3 at some point:

AU where MC and Miranda are married and long for children of their own, but neither is able to. Enter Miri the Madwoman stealing a child (Rose) and proudly presenting it to MC à la "Merry Christmas" or some shit. MC is horrified, ofc she´s always known her wife is a bit...different bish is crazy af, but that just takes the fucking cake like WTF MIRI. But MC can´t help but notice how Rose is the spitting image of her wife, she´s just perfect, so beautiful...NO, get your shit together MC what are you doing ffs. YOUR WIFE´S KIDNAPPED A KID, KEEP THAT DANGER TO SOCIETY ON A LEASH PLS AND TY.

MC is the 5th Lord but instead of ending up as yet another (unwanted) "child" of Miranda, Crazy Birb Momma takes her as wife cause even Crazy Birb Mommas get lonely at some point. MC is present at meetings ofc, acting as Miranda´s little shadow while also keeping their "kids" somewhat in check. (Something Miranda finds strangely...stimulating.) Ever since MC has joined their fucked up family, Karl actually enjoys those meetings because he gets to witness Alci turn green with envy whenever Miranda´s attention is on MC. Which happens a lot because MC knows what she´s doing. MC and Karl are partners in crime, so ofc she´s got Karl´s back here. She´s got a much better pokerface though, so nobody ever assumes she´s doing all that stuff just to rile Lady Super-Sized Bish up. Oh and she´s secretly plotting her wife´s demise btw. With her best friend Karl, ofc. (This is very much MC x Miranda, but yall know my girl MC loves playing hard to get.)

MC is on vacation, touring through Europe. At some point, she finds herself in Romania (duh). Only problem: her car´s nav system is a useless mf, leading her right into the middle of fucking nowhe-oh wait, nvm. There´s tire prints, so that means there´s civilization. Thank fuck. Or not. This village is...strange. The people are strange. Dressed as if they stepped straight outta some black-and-white film. The...accommodations (if one can even call them that) match the overall feel of being plunged back into the 1900s. Srsly, what´s up with tha-AH! Fucking shit. Where tf did that Lady come from?? And why is she dressed like some saint?...And why´s she still staring? Honestly - her eyes are up here, not on her ti...belly? (For once, she wishes someone would stare at her tits cause this shit´s getting creepier by the second.) There´s also some crazy old lady who keeps inviting her for tea. Or soup. Or cake. Or to chant in unholy unison as we make our sacrifice and await the light at the end because there´s glory in life and in death. Wait what.

Yes, the last one is Miri the Tired Studhorse. :3

(Might also use it for smt else though. Cause I´m kinda digging that vacation storyline.)

[graceandtheidiotsquad]

Dumb Character Headcanons: Champion Cynthia

I am having brainrot over the queen of sinnoh ok. I love her and her crazy family so much-! I apologize for how random some of these are-some of them I got inspiration from popular ones from, some from AUs i've seen and some I just made up on the fly-Ok, enough rambling-on with the show!

- TOTAL. MOMMA. BEAR. She just-has very motherly, protective vibes and despite being one of the most generally considered TERRIFYING CHARACTERS IN THE SERIES (and I'm mildly scared of her too!) she'd probably take you out for ice cream after battling her to celebrate a job well done, win or lose.

- Speaking of ice cream, I think this is not only a popular hc i agree with but they made it CANON In the anime that she cannot, for the life of her, decide what flavor she wants and will just stand there for 15 minutes weighing all the pros and cons and unintentionally holding up the line. I mean she'll move when she realizes and apologize PROFUSELY but still- ...But would YOU tell her to hurry up and choose?? No, I don't think so.

- Her hair is usually either down most of the time or tied up in a bun. But only for when she needs it-she doesn't care how messy it gets, she just likes being wild I suppose. Sometimes you'll find her literally wrestling one of her pokemon for fun (usually Garchomp) and her hair will be full of leaves and sticks, and not a care in the world! One of her family taught her how to tie her hair back in a bun, and though she adores them-she was quite the pain to get to stand still long enough to even TRY as a child.

- You wouldn't think it, with how classy she is-...buuuuuut she was almost a leash kid. You think she gets this intimidation factor just from being so classy and dramatic alone? No, she can be fucking FERAL when she wants to be. Sometimes the Sinnoh League will have trouble finding her to get her to report to her champion duties as she's gotten distracted and wandered off to explore some ruins somewhere in the region and never told anyone where she was going. 

- She used to and still can climb trees in seconds if left unattended. This has lead to many a heart-attack for her grandmother, watching her little baby Cynthia nearly DIE falling out of said tree, only to be completely unharmed and even LAUGHING at the experience. 

- Actually is a REALLY big fan of the wrestling/battle royale circuit. She can and will burst out singing some of the intros at the top of her lungs, much to the shock of ANYONE in the room with her. 

- She also happy dances and likes to put on music when she works. She loves piano but even she can't resist a good earworm, humming along to it as she runs around the local library or (reluctantly) winds up cooped up inside doing or cleaning up paperwork. This is implied to be canon in a spinoff game (Pokemon Masters EX if you're curious) and I totally agree that she just-cannot be bothered to clean up her office and it's almost CONSTANTLY a mess because she keeps getting distracted by new things to look at or something she hadn't seen in ages (BECAUSE of the mess) like a book and just winds up reading it all day. It's a vicious cycle!

- The reason she loves piano so much is she actually knows how to play, and is VERY Good at it! A very dear member of her family taught her when she was very young and she plays to help remember him-wherever the hell he's wandered off to now. Music connects us just as much as pokemon do, in her mind-so whenever she plays, he's right beside her again-whether physically or not. 

- She has inherited the family 'way too fucking tall' gene and that does NOT help her intimidating appearance sometimes.

- Sometimes casually speaks fluent Latin/Greek just to confuse the shit outta people. Look, she isn't usually spiteful-but even the most graceful and kind people have their limits. The same person who taught her piano taught her it-probably for that express purpose. Also several swear words. (thankfully if she ever swears, it's in said language so hardly anyone will know-)

- She grew up feeling-quite isolated from others her age because of her intense focus on studying history and battling competitively. Mostly the history thing-the battling thing probably didn't help as most kids were likely TERRIFIED of how intense she got. But-...i think that's why she loved that member of her family so much. Finally, someone who understood her...! He'd even given her the egg that would hatch into her Garchomp. (It was SUPPOSED to be a togepi, that wouldn't cause much hassle aside from the occasional accident with metronome-...but NOOOOOO, he decided to let her cause havoc. Her grandma nearly smacked him.)

- Honestly if you told her you were a demon or some supernatural shit she'd probably be more fascinated and barrage you with questions than scared. Or kick ass if you were hostile-DO. NOT. FUCK. WITH THE CHAMPION OF SINNOH.

- She may or may not be guilty of spoiling hers and other people's Pokémon with treats. She can't help it! She has a WEAKNESS for puppy dog eyes, whether it be her own Pokémon, any she's babysitting (she feels like someone who would do that if asked) Or young trainers she's taken a shine to. 

- Wound up with a heavy ass, GIGANTIC hand-me-down backpack from who-knows how many generations ago and yes, she CAN lug it around with ease. She doesn't much for her league job, but it's her go-to when it comes to adventuring or exploring.  - Speaking of the backpack-she often carries her spiritomb outside of its pokeball inside while in particularly rough areas, usually hiding inside its keystone. You never know if you'll need a pokemon for backup and don't have time to reach for one of your pokeball before things get dicey, after all-and the sight of a very angry ghost and dark type pokemon erupting from an ancient backpack is more than enough to send anyone who would likely cause trouble PACKING-looking almost as if something is being summoned right behind her! (She doesn't know why she looks so terrifying that way, but at least it means no one will cause too much trouble)

- An absolute GIRLBOSS for sure-but also very, very soft when it comes to people she loves. She'll gush and gush about her family members-especially younger ones, or trainers she's mentally adopted (and she does this a lot.) as her own 'pack', so to speak. She'll try to tone it down if it makes them uncomfortable but it's so HARD-she feels so blessed to have people who love her for who she is, as strange and beautiful and intimidating and just a little bit odd as she can be that she just HAS to spread word about how amazing they are! (She's like one of those moms who shows off photos of her kids all the time, just not in an annoying way if that makes sense?? At least she tries not to be-but once she starts rambling about them or ANYTHING it is almost impossible to get her to stop!)

- Often makes hand gestures like pointing when she speaks, especially when she gets excited. She often doesn't realize she's doing it half the time-but she always does it when taking pictures. She just-feels like her hands HAVE to be doing something!

- I will not give away the massive spoiler this ties into but she OWNS the song Blood Right by Madame Macabre. JUST-IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS FOR LEGENDS ARCEUS, JUST-BE PREPARED YOU'RE IN FOR A RIDE!

[sea-owl]

@justignorethisshitshow

This just makes me picture an au that the Ton sacrifices newbies to keep the Bridgertons happy and the chaos to a minimum. A happily married and in love, Bridgerton will put themselves on a leash and less likely to cause mayhem than a free roaming Bridgerton.

Started with the Featheringtons as like the testers to see if sacrifice will keep the Bridgertons at bay. Give Violet a new friend who has a decent amount of kids to play with the Bridgerton kids. Turns out to be a success now they have a plan for when the kids start entering society.

Berbrooke was supposed to be the sacrifice for when Daphne was in her third season. The ton was getting a little nervous at her three proposal rejections but at least she was still friendly. But Daphne was uncomfortable from Berbrooke and ended up punching him out. None of them wanted to sacrifice Simon, a duke is too good of an opportunity to pass up for their daughters. Some pointed out though that Simon was best friends with Anthony so he was kinda half sacrificed as is.

When Anthony announced that he was going to marry the next season to his brothers it was in public and the rest of Ton immediately began to scramble to find a new sacrifice. The Sharma sisters were ripe for pickings. They were at a risk of financial ruin if one of the girls didn't marry well, so they wouldn't be too picky if Anthony got sent there way. If only that blasted Whistledown didn't write her edition on rakes this season! As amusing as it was they're trying to marry off the Capitol R Rake!

When Benedict was scrambling to find his lady in silver so was the rest of the ton. They saw how enamored he was her, no one knew who she was but she was gonna be the sacrifice! Most breathed a sigh of relief when Benedict got himself married off and moved to the country. They did pitty his bride though, poor girl has no idea what she's getting into.

Colin left the ton puzzled. While he does cause some of the most chaos, he also traveled frequently, and there were some seasons he was barely around or not at all. Some saw his growing interest in Penelope Featherington, but that left them wondering how do you sacrifice someone who was already sacrificed? The ton never thought about long term exposure to anything Bridgerton for the sacrifices because what do you mean they sacrificed Lady Whistledown to the Bridgertons? She was who? Was the creation of Lady Whistledown our fault?

Eloise also made the ton very nervous. They never had to deal with an unattached spinster Bridgerton before. Eloise rejected six sacrifices before, but the ton didn't worry because Penelope was there. But now she's married and what are they gonna do? The ton cried in relief when they heard Eloise got married to a single dad out in the country. No longer their problem.

So Michael was supposed to be the original sacrifice for Francesca when the ton heard the Stirlings were coming to London. They didn't want to give up a nice earl like John and thought the Merry Rake would fit right in with the Bridgertons. But Michael was off in battle, and others pushed to get Francesca married as quickly as possible. So marriage to John it was. When Francesca started wearing lighter colors again stating she was looking to remarry the plan was back on to sacrifice Michael. Best to keep Francesca where she's been and not have to sacrifice another family. They were right, though the Merry Rake did fit in with the Bridgertons.

[sweetbillwriting]

In The Dead of Night

Prologue

Characters: AU Eric played by Bill Skarsgård from The Crow (2024)

Setting: This story is set in A WHOLE OTHER WORLD than the movie. Shelley isn't a part of this story. Eric will be different from the movie, especially because I haven't seen it yet.

Warnings: 18+

Notes: This is really just inspired by Bill Skarsgård's looks as Eric, nothing else.

The black leather in my hand cut into my palm, and as a reflex, I pulled on it to take back control. If I had been able to decide, we would have bought a softer leash for the dog, but Robin had refused. He wanted something more sturdy.

I looked at Odin, our big black Labrador, in front of me. He was just 14 months old and thought I went too slow and that I was a snooze fest, but I tried to teach him to be a good boy, but he wasn't interested.

"Please, can you take him for a while?” I asked Robin, who walked next to me. He made a whiny sound because he used both his hands to fan his warm face. It was a high temperature for being at the end of May, and he didn't handle heat well.

“We should have just let him stay at home," he said with a grunt, taking the leash from my hand. Odin noticed at once that a new, more uncontrolled hand had taken the leash and lurched to gain more freedom, but Robin took control fast and wired Odin into his side instead of letting him walk in front of him like I did.

“I thought your mom had become afraid of dogs?” I asked carefully when Robin and Odin got along. Robin looked at me with his face red from heat but also sunburned. We had been friends for two years, and every summer he got the same shade over his forehead and nose bridge.

“I thought so too, but the nurse said she asked about him. She will probably be terrified when she meets him. He's such an asshole,” he joked, but patted Odin lovingly over the head. I laughed a little and smiled a bit to myself. We had bought Odin together, and he lived with us every other week, like he was a kid traveling between divorced parents, but Odin didn't need to worry about fighting parents because his parents, me and Robin, were the bestest of friends.

"Della?"

“Hm?” I looked up at Robin again. I had disappeared into my world of memories and dreams and hadn't heard him.

“I just want to say again, so you remember, that mom can say some weird things sometimes, and she doesn't mean anything with it and her memory-”

“I know, I know, Robin. I know.” I took his hand in mine and smiled reassuringly. “It's okay. I get it.”

I had never met Robin's mom before. She lived in a home for the elderly even though she was just sixty-five. She had a stroke two years ago, and since then, she has not been herself. It was obvious it pained Robin a lot, but he didn't want to talk about it, so I let it be. He would talk about it the day he felt ready, and this day he was ready for me to meet her. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't met anyone who had been through such a thing and was afraid she would be mean or say something strange that I didn't know how to react to.

The home looked like a smaller institution, but with red brick and apple trees around it. It was obvious it had always been used as an institutional building, but they tried to make it look more welcoming for the elderly with trees and other greenery surrounding the house. Odin started at once playing ball with a small apple and looked at Robin sourly when he kicked away the fruit from him. I thought Robin could be a bit too strict and boring with Odin, but I knew he would just call me too soft if I said something.

Robin held the door for me, and I walked in a bit nervously. I didn't know what to expect, so I looked around.

“Della?”

“Yeah?” I turned around and looked at Robin, who had said my name. He pointed to a sign by the door, with a dog crossed over with a big red cross.

“Do you want to wait out here while I talk to a nurse?”

“Yeah, sure. I walked out again but took a final look at the entrance's cheaply framed posters of colorful birds.

I sat on the ground with Odin while we waited for Robin. Just to look a bit more respectable than I normally used to do, I wore a floral dress that stopped under my knee; otherwise, I mostly dressed in a pair of sweat-shorts and a tank top, but I didn't want to look like that meeting Robin’s mom. Robin was always nicely dressed, and if I understood things right, his mom liked clothes and nice things too.

Both me and Odin looked up at Robin when he came out of the door. He was dressed in beige chino shorts and a white linen shirt. He always looked fresh.

“She's in the backyard, so we can go around the house,” he said, pointing with his thumb to the left. I nodded a little, and together we walked through the apple trees.

It was a nice backyard with several groups of wooden furniture and flowers in terracotta pots. Older men and women were spread out in the yard, together with staff dressed in light blue scrubs.

“There she is,” said Robin, and he nodded towards a woman sitting next to a nurse in her fifties. His mom was short, with chubby cheeks and blue eyeshadow. I had expected she would look a bit more beige, but she was dressed in a bright purple tunic with white culotte pants. She gave us a big smile when we walked toward her. I was dragged by Odin, who tried to run towards her. He barked loudly when we came up to her, and I could feel many worried looks on us.

“Oh wow, that's a big boy,” laughed Robin’s mom, who looked at Odin with big eyes. I couldn't say if she was afraid or not, but I held him by my leg, refusing him to say hello to her.

“Yeah, he's so much work right now…” Robin sighed and then gave his mom a hug, who had stood up with her arms spread out. The nurse gave us a little smile before walking away.

“Mom, this is Delilah, my friend.”

I smiled at her and put my hand out, even if I would have rather have held Odin’s leash with both hands.

“Girlfriend?” She said with a smile.

“No, friend. I told you that,” said Robin, a little irritated. He was probably irritated and sad over the fact that she at once started to mix things up.

She shook my hand and introduced herself as Lotti, and I smiled my sweetest smile.

“Can I say hello to Max?” She said with a smile, and I looked at her, confused. Robin took a deep breath and then took Odin's leash.

“Max was our rottweiler when I was little. This is Odin, mom.”

His mom looked up at him. She looked confused but smiled anyway, then leaned down to say hello to Odin while Robin held the leash short. It was obvious she got a bit scared, but she just laughed at her own fear.

The nurse, who had been sitting with Lotti earlier, fixed us a table to sit by and also served us all three coffees. It was nice, especially when Odin decided to lay down instead of jumping after bumblebees. Robin told his mom about the hair salon both he and I worked at and about weird customers, and he told her I was a little sister to the boss and owner. I didn't say much because I hadn't worked for several months but didn't want to talk about that with his mother; instead, I just let them talk with each other.

“How is Eric?” Asked his mom when they had come to a natural stop. I looked at Robin with a small, curious smile because I didn't know who Eric was at all. Robin gave me a quick glance. His brows had knitted together, and he sucked his lower lip the way he always did when he was upset.

“Mom… You know, I don't want to talk about that,” he said with a low gaze. His mom looked at him. It was hard to read her because she looked both confused and understanding.

“Oh yes…” she said and nodded. Robin looked at her and laid his hand over hers. When she met his eyes, it seemed like she remembered what he meant.

“He's dead…” she whispered, looking at their hands. Robin didn't say anything; he just sat with his head low. I didn't know what to say because in front of me sat two grieving people, and I wasn't prepared for it at all. After they had looked at each other for a few seconds, Robin took a deep breath and instead asked his mom what she was reading right now. Slowly, they started to talk naturally again, and I could be a part of the conversation, but it felt like something was hanging in the air over us. Even if the sun shone brightly on a blue sky, it felt like a pitch-black thunder cloud hung above us.

×××

While Lotti went to the bathroom, Robin and I sat silent by the table, watching Odin bite in the grass hysterically. He was a lot of work, and if I hadn't been on sick leave from work, I would never have had the energy with his wild behavior.

“Eric is my dad. She forgets all the time he's dead,” said Robin suddenly, and I looked up at him. He continued to look at Odin, and it told me he couldn't really look at me while talking about his father. I had understood his father was dead, but he had never mentioned it, and it wasn't my place to make him talk.

“Oh… I understand that it must be hard…” If we had been sitting closer to each other, I would have given his hand a comforting squeeze or something, but now we sat on different ends of the table.

“Yeah… He died of cancer just a year before her stroke, so I guess it's understandable.”

“It must be hard for you…”

Robin shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah… But I have my uncle; he's really close. On my mom's side.”

I gave him a little smile, even if he couldn't see. It was tragic that he didn't have any reliable parents when he was just 35 years old, and on top of that, he was an only child. I would never understand his loneliness. I had three siblings and two healthy, engaged parents.

We sat silent until Lotti came out again, carrying a floral dress on a hanger.

“I think you and I might have had the same dress size, Delilah... Robin said that you like vintage.”

I was surprised she knew that and smiled at her, then at Robin, who smiled timidly too.

“What do you think about this dress? If I had a daughter, I would have given it to her, but the most important thing to me is that it gets a new life.”

She held up the dress for me. It had thin straps and a wide skirt. It was probably from the 80s, but with its silhouette, it could have as easily been from the 50s.

“Wow, it's amazing!” I said standing up. I gave Robin a look to see if it was okay and if I had a real interest in it. Maybe he wanted to keep it for another friend, but Robin just smiled.

“Come in with me so you can try it!” Said his mother, enthusiastically, and I laughed shyly. She laid her hand on my back and gave me the hanger, but Robin stopped us before we could walk into her apartment in the elderly home.

“Maybe you can try it at home? We can't go in with Odin,” he said, nodding his head towards the dog.

I gave Lotti a little sad smile, but she looked at her son with annoyance.

“I want to see it on her! I think you can handle being alone with the dog for a moment!”

I looked between them, and Robin gave me a begging look.

“I will do it fast.” Said I to him after seeing Lotti’s hopeful look at me. I really liked the dress, and I got nervous that she wouldn't give it to me if she couldn't decide.

Robin didn't seem to know what to say, and before he had answered, Lotti had given me a friendly push towards the door to the home, and I let her lead me in.

×××

Lotti's home was a one-room apartment with a view over the same yard we had been in. It was obvious it was an interior from her previous home because it stood tight in the room, in different styles and colors. Everywhere, there were frames with art and posters, especially with Asian themes. Robin had told me he had been in Asia a lot when he was younger because his parents loved it, so it didn't surprise me. I walked around, looking at the decorations and her beauty products and jewelry spread out over a messy vanity table next to the bed. Then I looked at the big photo over her bed. There were two men, around twenty-five years old, standing next to each other in front of a viewpoint. You couldn't see much of the view, because the young men were in focus. One of them was almost a head taller than the other and had a look that made it impossible to stop staring at him. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, and almost all the skin you could see was covered in tattoos. His hair was black and stood messy up in different directions. He even had a tattoo over his eyebrow. “Lullaby.”

If I were to say that it was because of his dark look that he stood out, I would have lied because the thing I looked the most at were his eyes. His big, green eyes. They looked sad and wise, like an old man's, even if he probably wasn't over thirty in the picture. They were framed with smudged black eyeliner that made them stand out even more, especially against his clear, alabaster skin. He was beautiful. Model-handsome and at the same time otherworldly beautiful, with high cheekbones and full lips.

The young man next to him paled in comparison to him. It was Robin, dressed in a white button-down and his strawberry blonde hair styled to a perfect backslick. I gave him a fast look, but my eyes got sucked back to the other man quickly. It felt like he lured me in.

“Who is the tall guy?” I asked Lotti without letting him go with my eyes. Lotti didn't say anything while she walked up to me, and then she stared at him the same way I did.

“That's Eric. My other son.”

I turned to her, shocked, even if I could feel the green eyes on me. Lotti breathed heavily, and with a shaky, tearful voice, she said:

“He’s dead.”

×××

Green eyes.

In the dead of night.

×

[theriveroflight]

so it seems the vultures came in too full to fly

@fyeahghosttrick ghost swap contribution number 2! This one is for prompt A39: "Apocalypse AU where Kamila is lost trying to find her father and Yomiel finds her and tries to take care of her/help her"

Wordcount: 4664

Summary:

There’s a kid walking alongside the road. She’s got a dog on a leash and is carrying a backpack, so she doesn’t seem unprepared or anything, but it still strikes Yomiel as odd.

Or: at the end of the world, two people form a connection.

AO3 | Superlove

There’s a kid walking alongside the road. She’s got a dog on a leash and is carrying a backpack, so she doesn’t seem unprepared or anything, but it still strikes Yomiel as odd. Especially since the dog’s a small little toy breed.

“Sissel? What do you think?” Sissel perks up at the mention of his name, flicking his tail back and forth. Yomiel turns around and pulls over near her.

She shrinks back as he leaps out of the car. Her dog starts barking at him. “Stay back!” She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a can of pepper spray.

“Good instinct, kid,” he tells her. “Look, I’ve got more self-respect than to rob some kid.”

“I’m fourteen,” she responds flatly, as though that stops her from being a kid.

“Where are the people who are supposed to be looking after you?” he asks. She’s fourteen. There’s probably someone, even if her parents are dead now.

“Well,” she begins, “my mom died five years ago in a car accident. My sister, as far as I know, should still be alive, but she’s really busy since she’s a police officer. One of my dads died three days ago, and I’ve been looking for the other one since.”

“And what, is that dog tracking him for you?” he asks. Something about the combination of her appearance and the reference to a mom who died five years ago in a car accident sounds kind of familiar. Come to think of it…

“I can’t just leave Missile behind!” She picks the dog up, bundling him to her chest. “If…if Dad’s really gone…”

“Tell you what,” he says. “I’ve got a cat in my passenger’s seat. If he likes you both, I’ll let you come along.”

“And where are you going?”

“Fair question. The answer is anywhere but here,” he says. “Me and my cat are going literally anywhere else.”

She shifts on her feet, clearly weighing her options. “Okay,” she says at last. “What’s his name?”

He opens up the door. Sissel leaps off the seat. “This is Sissel.”

The girl sets Missile down and kneels down to pet Sissel. Missile starts barking again.

“Missile, no,” he hears her say quietly. “If you scare Sissel off, we’ll have to keep walking. You don’t want to keep walking, do you?”

Missile sits back on his haunches. Yomiel decides in that moment he’s going to give them a ride — no matter what Sissel thinks. But…he seems to have taken a liking to the little lady, and seems to at least tolerate her dog.

“Get in,” he says, opening up the back door. “No, you’re not getting shotgun. That’s Sissel’s spot.”

“Okay.” She gets in, shrugging off her backpack into the seat. Missile follows her in. “I’m Kamila, by the way.”

“Yomiel.” He looks up at the rearview mirror. She’s chosen to sit behind Sissel, so she’s easy to spot. “Where to?”

“Both my dads were together when they died,” she answers, looking down. “But…only one of their bodies was recovered. They were out hunting, and…”

Oh. Yomiel knows that shit is dangerous — even before the apocalypse isolated everyone. “So you know where they were hunting?”

“I even know where the body was found. Missile and I were heading for the woods so that we could go find him.”

“That…” Sounds like an awful plan, if he’s being honest with himself, but he’s sure as hell not gonna say that to some kid whose only family is a dog, an absent sister, and the hope for a dad that’s still alive. “Well, I’ll take you as far as this thing will let me go. After that, you’re on your own.”

A better man probably wouldn’t leave a kid like her behind, but he’s got better things to do than traipse through the woods looking for some probably-dead hunter.

“I know it’s not the brightest idea,” she admits. “But if there’s even a chance he’s alive…I have to take it. No one else is going to.”

That much is true. A lot of people have died searching in the wilderness — no doubt more than the amount of bodies recovered. People who die in the wilderness tend to…stay there. And the search parties meet the same fate more often than not.

Can he really send a kid into what’s probably certain death in good conscience? He knows what it’s like to lose someone. She’s gone now, after all, and there’s no point in trying to bring her back. This kid has some hope left when it comes to her loved ones. And she’s lost far more — her entire future, destroyed by these storms and disasters.

“Like I said…I’ll take you as far as this car will go. From there…we’ll see what happens next.” He looks up at the mirror again, but this time, he only sees himself and his sunglasses staring back.

“Yes, that’s fine. I don’t expect you to come along. I hadn’t expected to have anyone take me in the first place. I know it’s rusky. I know…I know he might be dead by now. I just need the closure. I need to see him. I need to know for sure.”

“And if you’re…lost forever out there?”

“I know Lynne will be sad. She’s done her best to look out for me since…the beginning of all this.” She gestures out the window towards the gray sky. “But we’re only kind of sisters. We don’t share any parents or anything.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Lynne’s probably the sister she mentioned earlier, after all, which means she’s about as important to this kid as the father she’s searching for.

Dammit. He’s gonna have to make sure this kid lives, isn’t he?

***

They drive as far into the woods as his car will let him go. He wrestles Sissel into an over the shoulder bag and loads his backpack with some food, first-aid, and water purification stuff.

“We should try to come back to the car for the night if we can,” he says, “just in case. I have a lot of stuff in here, and I don’t want it to get stolen. Plus we’re less likely to get mauled by bears.”

“I did bring a tent,” she says. She looks up at him and frowns. “You might be too tall for it, though.”

Clearly…

Actually, he’s not sure what her plan was for shelter. Maybe bringing a little plastic camping tent really is the best she can do.

“You said you knew where your dad was last spotted?” he asks.

“I thought you said you weren’t coming,” she replies.

“I said we would see about that. I can’t let a kid like you go out there alone. I’m not really an outdoors guy—” A massive understatement, really… “—but I’m an adult that wants to help, and it sure sounds like you need some help.”

And if this really does end with both of their deaths, then…

Sissel always believed in the afterlife. If she’s right, and he chooses to belief alongside her, they’ll be together — and Kamila can reunite with her parents, too. And if they do manage to make it out of here, he’s still going to get the hell out of this place.

But…if they do end up dying, it’d probably be pretty shitty for Kamila’s father to find the dead body of his daughter with the stranger that killed her mom five years ago in that car accident. It has to be the same woman, right? They look the same.

“I…really appreciate it. Thank you!” She smiles at him, and he sees more hope in her than ever before. She tugs once on Missile’s leash, getting the dog’s attention. “I was going to search from the location my other dad’s body was found…and then look for any signs of mine.” Her face falls. “Whether he’s dead or alive.”

“Lead the way, then,” he declares.

***

The woods were dangerous even before the solar storms took out worldwide communications and that volcano erupted and the rain started. They’re even more dangerous now that the only distress signal is to send up a flare and pray someone, anyone finds it — and finds the source before it’s too late.

It’s a massive risk — one he wouldn’t be taking if not for Kamila.

Frankly, he isn’t even sure they’ll find anything — even the body. The closure that Kamila’s looking for might be completely out of reach. But the hope for a sign has been keeping her going, so he can’t just crash it that easily.

Sissel used to tell him that it was always darkest before the dawn. Pretty ironic, considering what happened to her in the end. Maybe she just couldn’t convince herself to believe it anymore. Optimism was never either of their strong suits, after all.

But before the solar storms hit, he was a tech guy. Running away and living in the woods was never going to be his escape from the apocalypse the way some foolish people thought it would be theirs.

He can hear running water in the distance. Is there a river that comes up here?

“Dad’s body was found near the beaver pond,” Kamila explains as they walk. “Daddy’s probably not there anymore, but retracing his steps is the only lead I have, so…”

“It makes the most sense.”

She told him about her plan to retrace his steps earlier, but he can’t fault her for being nervous at a time like this. They’ve only known each other for a couple hours at most, and he’s followed her into a dangerous but important quest.

They follow the river down towards the promised beaver’s dam, silence only broken by birdsong and Missile’s barking. He thinks Sissel probably fell asleep, but he doesn’t want to check in case he wakes Sissel up in the process.

“This is where it happened?” Yomiel stops short of the dam. It looks different from the type of thing he would have pictured hearing the words ‘beaver dam’, but he can’t deny that it certainly does look the part.

“Yeah,” Kamila answers quietly. Missile, oblivious to the gravity of the emotional situation, continues sniffing in a circle with as large a radius as the leash permits him. “According to the scouts, at least.”

“What was he like?”

Kamila’s family are all strangers to him. After all, it’s not like anyone would want to hang around the man who killed the family matriarch in a car accident. But he should take the time to respect the dead — especially at a time like this, when electronic records won’t be restored for a long time and permanent memory is so much less of a guarantee.

“He…defied people’s first impressions. But he was also aware of the kind of impressions he gave off and made an effort to play into them.” She smiles. “Mom and Dad and I were some of the only ones who really got to see through it all to who he really was. He always gave me really weird stuff, but…somehow, it’d always wind up being the thing I needed at the right time in the right place. He really liked to dance, too. Him and Mom met through that. Both of my dads were police detectives, but he met Mom separately, because of dance. Apparently, there was a while where they all knew each other separately…but never realized they were a group.”

Yomiel kind of misses that sort of thing. Sissel…she was the only human being he had a real connection with, before the despair of the world ending overcame her attempts at beating back depression. He didn’t really have any true friends at work. It made it easier to leave this place behind, sure, but he’s still a human being that needs to interact socially with other human beings.

Back in college, the prospect of him and his cat against the world would’ve sounded pretty great. Now that he’s living that reality, it’s not everything it’s chalked up to be. Maybe that’s why he decided to hitch his car to this kid’s quest.

…maybe that’s kind of pathetic, too. But at least he isn’t lonely.

“I’m sorry about your mom,” he says, “while we’re bringing up the dead. I was…I was the one driving the car five years ago.”

“Huh?”

“I couldn’t tell at first,” he says, “but the timing’s right, and you…you look a lot like her. I know it was a while ago, but I don’t really…have an excuse for why it happened. It was pretty awful. And…me managing to walk away from it while she just died was a matter of luck.”

She swallows and looks down. Missile pauses and sits near her feet. “They call them car accidents for a reason, right? That means it isn’t your fault, I think. It’s been long enough that I’m okay with you. Besides…just now, you were a pretty good driver. And you didn’t do that on purpose, right?”

“Of course not!”

“Then we’re settled.” Kamila tugs on Missile’s leash, and he stands right up. “Let’s go find my dad.”

***

Missile is keeping his nose to the dirt, clearly clinging onto some kind of olfactory information. However, he’s still but a puppy, and the woods likely provide an overload of said information.

“We won’t find him before sundown,” Yomiel declares. Dusk is already upon them, and all they’ve found are some vaguely human-shaped footprints, which are probably from the search party when taken into context. And he still thinks they’re safer in the car than in Kamila’s tent, no matter how prepared she is for that. Especially considering her earlier remark about him being too tall for it. “We should head back.”

“We’re not going to get very far if we’re limited by sleeping in your car,” she points out.

“We’ll be able to cover more ground tomorrow, since we’ll be able to get started earlier,” he replies. “And I’ll rest more easily there. So will you. If it rains tonight, we’re a lot more likely to stay dry.”

She frowns and looks at her backpack, but ultimately follows him. From the crunch of leaves under her feet, he can tell she’s not really happy with him, but he doesn’t want to look back at her to find out for sure. It takes them a while to trek back to the car, but not as long as it took them to get out there in the first place. When he gets back to the car, he immediately lets Sissel out of the bag. Sissel was a stray that kept coming back before he named Sissel after her and officially adopted him, so he’s not really worried about Sissel refusing to come back. He’s immediately run off to shit, but he’s been cooped up in a bag for hours, so that’s not a huge surprise. Yomiel unlocks his car.

“You can go on ahead and set up your sleeping bag in the backseat or whatever,” he says. “I’ll figure out something for us to eat.” He spends a while staring at his trunk before deciding that they’ll try to start a fire so they can have cup ramen. He’s never really been good at that kind of thing, but he’s got a lighter, so it can’t be that hard, can it?

Kamila’s actually pretty helpful, in that regard.

“It’s easier to start with something that’s easy to burn, like these dried leaves,” she explains. “Then you move up to small sticks, and then you can start putting bigger stuff on the fire.”

Makes sense. He lights the leaves, and watches as the flames build.

“You’re pretty good at this kind of thing,” he notes.

“I like chemistry,” she says. “And physics. And that sort of stuff. I’ve always been good with science.”

“This isn’t really my field,” he says. While the water’s boiling, he gets out some food for Sissel. Kamila feeds Missile some kibble.

They’ll take things one day at a time. What he’s got won’t last forever, but it doesn’t need to.

***

Yomiel’s always been pretty sensitive to light. It’s why he’s always wearing sunglasses. It’s also why, no matter when he goes to bed, he wakes up right at dawn.

At least this time he went to bed early. It’s especially bad when he goes to bed at 3 AM and then wakes up with the sunrise at 6 because his curtains don’t keep out enough light. They wrapped up for the night earlier than he usually slept before everything happened. Plus, waking up this early will mean they have extra time to search.

He sits up first, grabbing for his glasses on the console. Then he puts his seat back up. He takes a look back at Missile and Kamila in the backseat, and then at Sissel next to him. They’re all still fast asleep — no surprises there. He honks the horn to wake them up. Even if Kamila’s not immediately awakened by it, Missile definitely will be, and his barking’s sure to be good as any alarm. True to his own thoughts, Missile starts barking, leaping up onto the console.

“Ugh…” Kamila looks out the window after sitting up. “Missile…be quiet…it’s too early for this…”

“Really?” Yomiel asks. “Because I think it’s the right time to rise and shine, little lady. We’re gonna spend a long time out on the trails, and the earlier we get out there, the longer we can spend searching. He stretches and gets out of the car, opening up the trunk and then the cooler. “You’re probably a little too young for this, but I’ve got some coffee here. Cold brew, so it’s going to be bitter. Don’t give it to Missile if you don’t like it. That stuff will kill him.”

“I know that,” she protests. “Give it to me. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all.”

He hands her the bottle without further conversation. She’s a kid, so she probably won’t like it that much, but she seems pretty desperate. And it’ll be faster than getting some more water heated up so they can use his instant coffee packets instead. Especially since it was pretty chilly last night — not cold enough for frost, but enough that it’s still a reminder of the approaching winter.

Probably another good reason they need to find her father soon. When winter comes, he’s pretty unlikely to stand a chance out here. It’s hard enough when everything’s still in bloom.

He grabs a second bottle for himself and shuts the cooler, preparing for another day of hiking.

He was supposed to be far away from here by now — far away from the past. Instead, he’s on the verge of confronting it.

***

They reach where they stopped yesterday a lot more easily now that they know the best ways to get through the woods. He lets Kamila guide the search — he sure as hell doesn’t know where her father would go. “Somewhere in the woods” can mean a lot of places.

“According to the maps,” Kamila explains, “there’s a defunct quarry a little further in. There should be some caves there or something. It’d be a good place to hide for someone who doesn’t have any other shelter, and it’d be easier than trying to build one. It’d make sense for him to go there.”

“Makes sense,” he says. “I’d rather look for a cave than build something myself, especially if I knew there might be one around here. Let’s go.”

“By the way,” she says as they walk off, “thanks for the coffee this morning. I don’t usually drink it iced or cold or whatever, so it was a little weird, but…it really helped.”

“Was the best I could do,” he answers. “Your family really lets you drink that stuff?”

“Not before the world ended,” she answers. “After that they weren’t paying as much attention. Not that I really needed it, though. I slept a lot more. Not a lot of other things I could do, considering the school was destroyed. And most of the interesting stuff in the shelters can’t be done by a kid.”

“Well, what would you be doing if all this hadn’t happened?”

“I’d probably be working on my next invention.”

Well, that explains a lot. She’s an inventor. Of course she knows a lot about the physical sciences and doesn’t mind black coffee.

“All I can really do right now is play with Missile and draw blueprints,” she continues. “I miss being able to build stuff, but we’re trying to preserve all our supplies.”

“Well, hey, if we manage to stay in touch after all this, hit me up if you need any software assistance. I was a software engineer before, well…” He waves his hand. “All the software died.” He hasn’t even thought about working again once he makes it to wherever he ends up, the city or another town or something else entirely. It’s not like the computers and power plants are really back up — he’s pretty sure the only power plants still going are nuclear, and that’s only because stopping operations might actually make things worse.

“Sure,” she says. He blinks. “I might take you up on that. I…really want to build my own CNC machine — it’s basically an automated mill, it’d be super cool to have one — but my dads said I can’t start on it until I’m sixteen, which is just silly. It’s not even a dangerous machine! It’s so much more safer than the machines I already have. And it’s not like building one will be that dangerous, either, especially compared to other stuff I’ve built before. It’ll be safer in the long run if I have one, and they’re way more expensive to buy than to build. But since they said no to the building part, I started trying to learn to code so I could at least get the software done in advance, and…I haven’t gotten very far. Even before all of this. I guess I have more time now, but…”

“Well, I’d be happy to help,” he says. The words coming out of his mouth surprise him — because he’s pretty sure he means it. Which means…staying in touch with this kid. “I’m sure you can pick it up pretty easily if you have some help learning. Trying to self-teach is…pretty difficult. Not impossible, but definitely pretty hard. And you’re starting with an awfully big project. Nobody ever show you ‘hello world’?”

“Well, sure—” She freezes in her tracks. “Do you hear that?”

Coyotes.

Missile starts barking in response to the call the coyote pack has issued. Kamila reaches downwards to shush him, but it’s too late. The pack’s already starting to encircle them. He’s not really sure what he can do, but he puts out a protective arm in front of Kamila. Missile seems more hostile than usual, growling at the coyotes, fur standing on end. When he looks at Sissel…he seems pretty nervous too.

Bang!

Was that a gunshot?

The coyote pack flees from the sound, scattering. 

From out of the woods emerges a tall, broad man wearing a green trench coat.

“Kamila!” he yells.

“Daddy!”

She runs over, Missile on her heels, and leaps into his arms.

***

Just as Kamila suspected, her father (“Jowd”, the man had introduced himself as) was in a cave created by the quarry.

“Thank you for looking out for my daughter,” he says. “And…I apologize for how I acted five years ago. Perhaps it was fate that brought us together once more — so you could bring my daughter back to me.”

“My wife was always more into that kind of thing,” he answers. Not that he doesn’t understand how they’d come to the conclusion that fate was behind all of this. “But we still lived in the same town after all of that. It’s a small world. The fact that we crossed paths again wasn’t because of some higher power — it was just because I chose to pull over for some kid I didn’t know yet.” He shrugs. “Anyone else would’ve done the same if they saw her. I wouldn’t find it easy to leave a child behind in all of this.”

“I’m not sure just anyone would’ve,” Jowd says. “A lot of people right now are just looking out for themselves.”

“If you’d asked me a few days ago, I’d say I was doing the same.”

He certainly can’t claim this was all in his own self-interest now — in fact, it was kind of in the opposite of self-interest. Dying in the woods wouldn’t be self-interest, and digging up the ghosts from five years ago wouldn’t be either. He would have rather left it all behind. But now? Now he’s not so sure about all that.

“We should get you two back to town,” he says. “And then…then I’m going to head back out again.”

“You’re still going to leave?” Kamila asks. “After all of this? You said you were going to help me!”

“Hey, it isn’t like we can do anything about that right now,” he says. “The computers are still all on the fritz because of the solar storms. Our infrastructure isn’t back up yet.”

“You promised,” she says. “You can’t leave now! Besides…Missile and Sissel are friends now. You wouldn’t break them up, would you?”

She’s giving him the puppy-dog eyes. It’s true that Missile and Sissel do seem to be hanging out together just fine, though he wouldn’t exactly call them the best of friends.

“...let’s get back to the car.”

***

He lets Kamila take the front seat. Jowd sits in the back with the pets. He seems pretty happy with Sissel and Missile, though, so it’s probably not a total loss.

“Where’d you get Missile, by the way?” he asks.

“Missile belongs to Lynne, technically,” Kamila answers, “though I’ve been taking care of him more because I have more free time than she does. He’s both of ours. How long have you had Sissel?”

“Only since…all of this started, though he was hanging around my house for much longer,” Yomiel answers. “I…named him after my late wife.”

“Oh.”

The mood is significantly lower as he drives back into town. He’s starting to get a little low on gas. He’ll have to find a place to fuel up soon.

Maybe it’s a sign.

He pulls up at the shelter where most people in the town are staying together — what was once a hotel. At least there’s enough space for everyone here, he thinks as he parks. Not a lot of cars here. A lot of people left for the city, hoping they’d have a better chance there. Yomiel was supposed to be among them.

Kamila hops out of the car. Jowd follows more slowly, and both Missile and Sissel hop out onto the pavement.

“I…do hope you choose to stay,” Jowd tells him. “In times like these, we need to stick together, not run away. No man is an island. And beyond that…I have lost many of the people I was close with. It sounds as though you, too, have suffered a great deal of loss. Neither of us must be alone.”

“Sounds nice,” Yomiel answers. “I’ll think about it.”

Kamila’s saying goodbye to Sissel, and Yomiel wonders if it’s more so long or until we meet again.

“Thank you so much,” she tells him, bundling him into a sudden hug. “I really wouldn’t have done it nearly as quickly, and it could have turned out really bad.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Of course.”

He’s glad he stopped at the side of the road for her. Maybe even glad that he has a reason to stay again. But then again — he’ll have to stick around to see if that’s really the case, won’t he?

[pu33yboi]

Itafushi AU that maki doesn’t off the zenin clan yet and Megumi is forced to marry a girl when he wants to marry Yuji.

Yuuji and Megumi were in love. They had 3 years flirting and kissing and making love and talking sweet nothing to eachother. Megumi selfishly and wordlessly takes everything yuuji gives him and more. All the love. And the kisses. All the touches. And the whispers of nothingness. All the quiet moments. All the heavy moments.

in the end Megumi is more afraid of what the clan would do to yuuji if he didn’t listen to them.

But he’s also selfish and hires yuuji, a person with potential to become as strong or stronger than gojo satoru, as his bodyguard and yuuji doesn’t think twice to say yes.

Yuuji spends every moment beside of Megumi who he has to watch be with someone else that he doesn’t love. A woman that births his child and yuuji can’t help but feel a twing of jealousy, of hatred. And he hates himself for that. He had to live without regret so instead, he babysits oftenly when Megumi is in his study room that yuuji isn’t allowed to be in.

He stands beside him with a distance, watching his surroundings. He slowly forgets what Megumi looks like because he needs to be vigilant of his surroundings, to protect him. And then, one day Megumi forces him to look at him and the breath in his lungs gets knocked out of him. His once beautiful delicate figure and slender face became so much more masculine and sharp. He wants to touch him so badly but he holds his hands back. His hands are for fighting only.

Megumi is so tired. He is so tired of the clan. Of his wife. Of his kid. All the guilt and hatred makes him hate himself more. When he’s had abit too much to drink at the clan meeting and his wife left to spend the night at a friends, Megumi feels cold and alone in his big bed made for 2.

Yuuji is outside, guarding his door so he calls out to him. Within half a heartbeat, yuuji is already inside the room and Megumi feels 10x more powerful having yuuji on this invisible leash than when he’s beaten mahorage. Megumi calls out to him again to come closer, and he complies. Always does. But it’s so irritating that he doesn’t look at him. So he calls out to Yuji and tells him to look at him. And again, he complies. Megumi gets up as he watches yuuji stare at his every move.

He places a hand on his cheek, gently. Caresses the scars in his face with sadness in his eyes. Yuuji becomes putty in his hands, having forgotten what it’s like being touched. Touched by the only person he wants, has ever wanted. Megumi slides his other hand, trailing down yuuji’s muscular arms and tickles his fingers that are gripping his wrist.

He gets in his tippy toes and whispers to yuuji to touch him, and for the first time in years, they’re young again, in the jujutsu tech dorm making love in the single bed. Heaving and begging and giggling and having hearts in their eyes. Everything they’ve ever wanted, held in this moment that they wished they could freeze forever. Break free of the clan chains.

But it’s just a fleeting night. A mistake. A moment of weakness that they never speak about even though yuuji had tried at first.

The last time they ever get to touch is when they’re fighting off an intruder, an assassin who’s killed more than half the clan so far. Maki zennin. She had told Megumi in his first year at jujutsu tech that she would do it if she could. He believed her, but as the time passed, he wasn’t sure if she was up for it anymore.

Megumi is on his knees, hunched over yuuji who has blood coming out of every limb imaginable. He was protecting his wife from the assassin but all Megumi wanted to do was yell at him to protect himself. To stay safe so that when this was all over, maybe maki would spare him since he had slowly changed the traditions of the zennin clan.

Yuuji chuckled out some blood asking why Megumi had tears running down his beautiful face, telling him he looked beautiful regardless. He whispered all his love that he had since he was 15, words Megumi never thought he’d never hear again. Hoped he wouldn’t have to unless by some miracle they would end up together in bed forever.

And Megumi doesn’t say anything as he watched the light leave his eyes, the smile become weak. He can’t say anything. He doesn’t allow himself to. Not after everything he put him through. He does, however, once again selfishly clings to his body. He weeps and weeps for hours feeling numb through his feet with his and yuuji a weight. Numb in his heart from the crying. Numb in his hands from the body slowly becoming cold.

Numb in the mind as he pushes off the cold, dead, unfamiliar body off of him. The clan is so much smaller now, but without so many wrinkled bags around. He feels relieved, realizing that the assassination was to leave all the young people of the zennin clan to build themselves anew from the ground up.

And maybe he hired maki as his new body guard, making sure that any of the elders who tried to do something to her, he’d do it back to them ten fold.

And maybe Megumi mistakenly calls out for yuuji even after years of him being gone because truly, that’s all he wanted. But maki doesn’t say anything. She does as she’s told because Megumi gave her this opportunity at helping to create a better future for the zennin.

And maybe maki also doesn’t say anything because she knew about the love that they had shared for each other during their jujutsu tech days. And the way she watched from a dark corner as he wept over his dead body. But it needed to be done so that Megumi could focus on the clan instead of dilly-dallying and walking on eggshells around yuuji.

And maybe Megumi looks over his shoulder in hopes that with a miracle, he would see yuuji instead of maki. But with time, he forgot what yuuji looked like, no matter how many times he looks at the exact spot he would be. No matter how many years he selfishly clung to the memories of their time together. And his heart aches no matter old he grows to become.

And maybe Megumi regrets not being more afraid of losing yuuji than being selfish to keep him. To fight for him. For them. Having him by his side at the head of the table, in bed, in travel, anywhere in arms reach and touch him whenever he wanted. And he knew that yuuji would do anything he says without a word going against him, moon and stars in his eyes.

Also posted on ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/58803733

[neonscandal]

So, fanfic ideas.... If JJK and BNHA characters were in No Power world, what would their job be if not become Jujutsu Sorcerer or Hero (in your opinion)? Why? Please pick your top 5 fav characters from each...

Ooooh la la, another fun one. High key, I love this question. If you end up writing anything, I'd love for you to PM me so I can read it (you can also share anonymously, whatever's clever)! Thanks for the ask, let me know your thoughts below 👇🏾

This is literally me perking up any time I get a new ask. 🥰

JUJUTSU KAISEN AU

Quite literally, all of these characters would be alive and thriving anywhere else.

Nobara Kugisaki - IG Model, easy. After not getting scouted in Tokyo like she'd always imagined, she decides to do it her mf'ing self. Her results... are lackluster. At first. But as frustration wins, she inadvertently starts letting the real her shine through (complete with bouts of scathing badassery during a live complaining about her lack of fame). People begin to find her incredibly relatable and she becomes like the Jennifer Lawrence of influencers. Never once do her travels take her close to Shibuya station.

Why: That "I-Know-I'm-The-Shit-Even-If-You-Don't" attitude has nothing to do with jujutsu. Nobara has an unwavering confidence and is delulu enough to make it happen, whatever It is for her.

Yuji Itadori - As a card carrying member of the occult club in high school, Yuji starts considering his prospects for higher education (Sasaki and Iguchi will continue to need someone to hide behind as they investigate the "supernatural"). Subsequently, he finally gives into coach's insistence to join a sports team provided it doesn't take time away from his club commitments and, of course, goes All Star in whatever sport he decides to take on. Subsequently, he gets a full ride + stipends to attend university as a college baseball player after chasing his passing interest in going to the "Summer Koshien". He happens to follow Kugisaki on Insta.

Why: Yuji's need to be needed would, in part, guide his steps. I think he'd want to be something cinema related, like a reviewer! But he'd always want to coddle the cowering forms of his peers even if they weren't particularly close. Sports is a means to an end, maybe he'll study cinematography or film theory in uni! But ultimately, he's still a kid who wants to help people.

Megumi Fushiguro - Sweet baby Megs has always had a penchant with animals. They find their way to him at parties, otherwise well behaved dogs pull against their leash to flock to him... even wild animals tend to be way too comfortable getting close. This charm he has over animals amuses him though he'd never admit it aloud (he's still just as sullen as ever). Subsequently, while he doesn't need the money, he helps out as a veterinarian technician while in high school and volunteers to walk dogs at the local humane society. He doesn't have social media but he occasionally gets posted with the animals on their SM pages when they have adoption events (which tend to be really well attended afterwards). He's posted exactly one video to YouTube to an account with no profile picture that urges idiots to stop giving baseballs to dogs and leaving them unattended as aggressive chewers may end up ingesting the innards which cause obstructions in their intestines. Yuji was the idiot in question that prompted the post. He did see the video.

Why: Megumi is gentle but more specifically to life forms that deserve it. I still think he'd break the face of anyone who breaks the golden rule of "don't hurt me [or anyone I love] and I won't hurt you [or anyone you love]" but that soft spot for vulnerable beings is still there.

Nanami Kento - Nanami Kento is still a salaryman but, without the outlet that being a sorcerer allowed him when he felt dispirited, he's forced to white knuckle it like the rest of us. That is, until he finds a cause that he can dedicate some of his time to. It starts when Haibara joins a community outreach program wherein he encourages Nanami to be a volunteer mentor. It starts out rather stiffly but, eventually, things kind of click together for him. He realizes the kid he's mentoring isn't a total delinquent and the kid realizes he's not being infantilized when Nanami just cares for his wellbeing. With this understanding, Nanami really feels like his impact is meaningful and he commits to taking on more responsibilities within the program both in a leadership role and in taking on more mentees. Ino was his first mentee, Yuji was his second (mandatory after being caught underage in a pachinko casino). He couldn't get rid of either of them after the fact.

Why: Nanami isn't so bored with being an office worker that jujutsu is the only alternative. He just wants to feel like his incredibly valuable time makes a difference. He needs a cause and Papamin deserves someone to look after (quite to his dismay).

Satoru Gojo - Satoru Gojo wants for not in any universe. Subsequently, he is just an eccentric rich guy who, in a very intentionally Jay Gatsby manner, frequently throws extremely lavish parties that are the talk of the town. They are as garrish as he is outlandish but men and women flock to them for a chance at getting a peak at the Gojo clan heir. In his youth, he'd gone to a small, private religious high school and still sends individual invitations to each of his old schoolmates with the hope that one of them in particular will come. Shoko attends every party with Utahime begrudgingly at her side. Nanami curtly replies with a written "decline" to every single invitation though Haibara is sometimes able to drag him out. Geto attends occasionally but he is quite blissfully unaware that these opulent parties are solely meant to captivate his attention. He's under the impression that whatever they had in high school is long gone. Nobara has, on occasion, tried to crash these parties but security usually bounces her because she's underage.

Why: In every universe, in every life, Satoru Gojo is a simp. Especially for the lone person he considers to be his equal. For all his money, for all his power, he is always left wanting [Suguru Geto].

My Hero Academia AU

Honestly, this gave me more of a hard time. Like, the kids are the same age as JJK but, they just seem... like kids. I can't tell if it's the depth of JJK's character development or their semi-obvious cursed techniques as they relates to employment but here's what I came up with.

Katsuki Bakugo - Katsuki Bakugo is effortlessly good at a lot of things in and out of the MHA universe. While he has a keen intellect fit for many professions, I think his obsessive-bordering-on-psychopathic dedication to be the strongest, the best is reminiscent of a dude bro bullying you into buying whey protein and lifting more. He would for sure be a personal trainer who would, begrudgingly, have a social media presence where he commodifies his otherwise flippant attitude and "beats people into being a less shitty version of themselves". He would also have a private, no face cooking account on tik tok for his curated but delicious meal planning. Midoriya, unknowingly, follows both online personalities. This does not escape Bakugo’s attention.

Why: Don't get me wrong, kid is will one day be the CEO of whatever company he wants (a lot of CEO's are also psychopathic) but, considering his age and current hobbies, he was born to call his followers extras while condescending to them about a proper workout and nutrition plan.

Izuku Midoriya - Izuku and his penchant for hyper informed rants about his special interest would see surprising success as a tiktoker. Bullies would always find something to pick on him for whether that be his absent dad, his socioeconomic background, his pitiful disposition… but even they’d be clued into and following along for his long form verbal essays on pop culture (only thing I could think of in lieu of hero culture, maybe sports would be better?). He’d cultivate a community of adoring fans turned friends and collaborate with other similarly obsessed fanatics. Bakugo would be hyperaware of his channel but act really passive when any of their old middle school classmates bring it up to talk about it.

Why: I feel like tiktok is absolutely the perfect environment where people can connect over their interests and, as an aficionado in whatever seems apropos for the AU, Midoriya’s innate charm over others would shine through and garner a following. Especially because we know he knows what he’s talking about. I’d be tuned in.

Shoto Todoroki - if Enji is still in the mix, he’s likely still going to be waging war against his own weakness (in whatever capacity) and, subsequently will be both insanely successful by other peoples’ standards and still incredibly toxic toward his children in this mission. Shoto will still bear the brunt of it but will temper it with willful rebellion. Oh, you want Shoto to take over the family investment portfolio? It’ll cost you. He will be somewhat mindful of his actions so people aren’t losing their livelihoods but he will be sinking tons of Enji’s personal money into stocks or company’s with unfavorable odds. A family owned cement company that was about to go under, paying to keep a radio station operable 24/7 with semi-hourly disparaging blind items about Enji Todoroki.. these are just a few of his dalliances. Shoto is an undercover day trader using his fathers slush fund as capital. He was absolutely a big part of what saved GameStop’s stock inexplicably. Turned him a pretty profit but he refuses to give Enji the satisfaction of knowing that he may have been right in steering him to stocks in the first place. Midoriya absolutely talked at length about the phenomenon that rejuvenated his favorite game store from his youth he used to frequent with an unnamed childhood friend. Bakugo saw the segment and, while secretly giddy, did not reach out. Did thank whatever invisible hand drove the nerd to mention it though.

Why: His nepo baby status will get him in to places where he actually wants to be, career wise, but Enji is still stonewalling him into his idea of Shoto’s life. Further, he would never want his unique legacy to be tainted with whatever grace his father’s name gives him. He has time and the means to figure out what he wants to do though. And access to so much therapy.

Shouta Aizawa - I honestly cannot see Aizawa as anything not expressly kid related. The care he has when he gets on their eye level to talk to them is top tier. TBH he rounds out the trifecta of mentors who unilaterally put kids above themselves with Nanami and, arguably, Gojo. If not a teacher, I’d say a loose cannon social worker. Earnestly, this man is willing to be in the shit of it if only to spare children who lack guidance, resources, proper decision making skills, etc. as a UA teacher. He wouldn’t be of the “quick to expel and dash dreams” type of loose cannon that his teacher persona allows. He’d be more like a Benson from Law & Order SVU type loose cannon where he’s probably bending some protocols to be a bit more domineering than he needs to be so adults know that any vulnerable kids under his charge are cared for because he’s super invested in his work and their wellbeing. Plus, the man can be a little deranged so he’s not afraid to make his subtle point more clear ✨ for people who don’t appear to be getting the message when it comes to his young stewards.

Why: If there is a society that unjustly does not protect children, then Shouta Aizawa will. I think my hope is that Shirakumo Oboro isn't a lesson in every universe.

Toshinori Yagi - This man is a politician. He runs on idyllic principles which are infectious across every demographic. He appears earnest and forthright and truly got into it for all the right reasons but the reality of politics is very different from the idea of them. He still thrives but feels more and more like he's failing his constituents, losing out to other politicians who are more corrupt, who curry favor from less than savory organizations to sway policies in their favor. He's disheartened but still believes in a future with peace and looks to the youth, his biggest support base, to take steps toward progress together which includes bolstering social programs. Aizawa thinks he's a bit of a sham until money starts hitting the programs that matter. Midoriya talks about Yagi's bold commitment to partnering with the youth on his channel frequently.

Why: It was this or a Gilderoy Lockhart-esque facade for a self-help book author. I see both as equally plausible. Selling a dream while falling apart internally? Same.

[constelationprize]

The Kayleigh Lives AU - Part Two

And now for our check in with the World's Most Normalest Exy teams

Do you know who is 100% no exception capital T Thriving in this AU? Danielle Wilds.

I mean, she's still the first female captain in the NCAA, but in this universe she has actual support from inside the ERC board due to Kayleigh's insistance through the years

It has to do something for your ego when the creator of your sport namedrops you in multiple international interviews and also sends you a gift basket when you get nominated captain.

So yeah, even though the Foxes are still a mess and didn't pass the fourth game, Dan's having the time of her life. Good for her, honestly.

Kayleigh always attends the NCAA banquets because it's an easy excuse to be close to Kevin. Also the team spirit award isn't named after her, but she is the one to announce the winner every year. The Trojans have a running gag of the captain always making the exact same silly pose so they have a wall filled with basically the same picture a dozen times with minor differences – the main one being the five stages of grief on Kayleigh's face as she realises what's going on

Kayleigh's been avoiding Wymack at these things for ages because, look, when you decide you're gonna keep your baby a secret from your ex it's not a general expectation the two of you are going to meet face-to face regurlaly and be expected to make stilted small talk where he's very likely to ask about your son. And she doesn't need any rumors about them rising up again after all her efforts to kill the Baby Daddy speculation stories. If they come back, eventually someone is going to do the math right.

Also Kayleigh's pretty sure that after enough glasses of wine she'd hit on him again and even she's self aware enough to know that would be kind of a dick move

But she has always kept an eye on the Foxes, not only because she still has a little soft spot for Wymack, but also because his ideals of giving troubled kids a second chance trough Exy aligns itself a lot more with her ideals than wathever the hell the Ravens are doing now

(she would however like them a lot more if they were actually good at the sport)

So on these things she usually alternates between schmoozing with the ERC and being plastered by Kevin's side. She never wears red or black just to mess with the color scheme but claims it's not to show favoritism. She takes blatant advantage of the fact that Kevin never had an "embaressed of your mom" phase and frequently sits herself between Kevin and Riko.

Most of the Ravens don't complain because they are taught not to question authority but most importantly because Kevin's mom is hot. So she can disturbe the vibes a little, as a treat

Kayleigh is a frequent point of tension between Riko and Tetsuji, because she is of an almost equal standing to him in hierarchy (in that weird grey area where they both are important assets to the side branch with some autonomy but, ultimately, their leash is only as slack as Tetsuji decides to allow), so he's supposed to owe her some respect, but she is also his only competition for Tetsuji's affection and Kevin's obedience. The only reason he hasn't acted out against her yet is that Riko's waiting for Kayleigh and Tetsuji to fight so he can be sure his is the side his uncle will pick.

Jean is also not her greatest fan. Mostly because he sees Kayleigh as someone who willingly put herself and her son in a position Jean would do anything to get out of, but also because she's the safest person for him to hate. Jean learned the hard way not get in the Master or Riko's bad side, and Kevin is his only support inside the Nest. But she has very little direct impact on his life besides protecting him by proxy when she watches over Kevin, just because Riko's generally not allowed to hurt ANYONE during those times. It always gets a bit worse when she leaves, however, and Riko has pent-up frustation to take off. Jean hates her a little bit for that, too.

Neither of them could get Kevin to think badly of his mother, though. His faith in Kayleigh is one of the only things the Nest never managres to beat out of him.

At the Winter Banquet, the only time she leaves the Raven table is to approach Dan. She wants to congratulate her personally on the efforts this season and maybe offer some words of encouragement and advice.

Despite her many efforts to avoid the coaches' table like the plague, however, she ends up going up to the Foxes' table right when Wymack was coming to check that they hadn't set anything on fire.

It's an extremely awkward interaction. She calls him by his first name but looks like she's swallowed a lemon the entire time. He feels like there is no safe place on her person to look and so stares slightly over her shoulder into the distance. They can't decide wether to hug or politely shake hands and end up with stilted nods. They HAVE talked before, but it always feels like it's the first time they are seeing each other since the break up. It's been twenty years and at this point both of them have given up expecting things to get lighter. It's just that it's kind of hard to get over the multiple elephants in the room.

The Foxes eat it the FUCK up.

Allison could smell the divorce like a bloodhound. Seth however doesn't believe Coach could actually pull Kayleigh Day.

The SECOND Kayleigh and Wymack awkardly turn away and flee in opposite directions, the betting pool starts

The score is as follows: Coach hit on her when they were younger and got rejected (Seth, Fifth Year Seniors) / They had a one night stand a long time ago and it was Very Bad (Nicky) / They had a one night stand a long time ago and it was Very Good (Renée, Matt) / They dated but Kayleigh ended it (Allison) / They dated but Wymack ended it (Dan)

Andrew refuses to bet. When Nicky presses the twins a bit too much, Aaron gets annoyed and decides to bet that Wymack is actually Kevin Day's biological father. No one takes him seriously.

The team sat across them tries to pretend nothing happened

Some time between the reunion and her 100th check up on Kevin, Kayleigh ends up missing a very important discussion between the ERC and Tetsuji

[spitblaze]

thoughts continue to percolate on Jobswap AU

So, as aforementioned, Therion is a surgeon apothecary who lost faith in himself and his profession after losing a patient who had some significance to him after a preventable accident and then being accosted by the family in his grief. He gave up the whole thing for several years, living in relative isolation close to Bolderfall. Until one day, when a desperate woman shows up at the door and begs for his help. She had heard he was an apothecary with knife skills, and sought him out immediately. Her younger sister, she says, has a giant growth on her neck, and if it doesn't come off soon, it's going to kill her. Other apothecaries have tried, but they all said it was impossible, that it was too difficult to remove it without damaging her wind pipe or major arteries. Or something. Idk. The point is that this situation is really dire and this kid reminds him of the patient he lost so he pulls the scalpel out 'one last time' to save her. She lives, and he remembers why he took up the mantle to start- the purpose of the apothecary. Doing this, he takes his journey.

Chapters two and three are mostly unrelated, basically chapters of Black Jack. Therion goes from town to town, sometimes charging ridiculous amounts of money for surgery, sometimes performing completely free of charge. He saves whoever he can, and those who abuse his abilities for their own gain find themselves with karmic retribution. Throughout the whole thing, though, there's the undercurrent of something worse happening. Another surgeon like him, traveling and charging ridiculous fees. He's a miracle worker, they say- he provides entire new organs when old ones fail, pulls people back from the very brink of death. But when his patients can't pay up, they mysteriously disappear...

Chapter four. Therion meets Darius. Fellow apothecary, wealthy fellow, personal doctor to the Ciannos. He has a proposal for Therion- they go into business, establish their own practice, charge out the nose and turn away all who don't pay. They both have reputations- Therion is the Beast Apothecary, a medic who works so fast and so precise it's almost inhuman, not afraid to use unorthodox methods to achieve his results. Darius is the Miracle Apothecary, a man who can seemingly bring people back from the brink of death with tools and materials nobody else has. The two of them together could do whatever they want, and who would stop them? Therion declines- he prefers the freedom of traveling where he pleases and doing as he wishes. A partnership would complicate things, and put him on more of a leash than he'd like. Besides, he's heard...rumors about what happens to his patients that don't pay up. Darius threatens him and leaves, and Therion investigates later on. Maybe follows some goons from the home of someone who hasn't paid, maybe scopes out Darius's 'hideout' by putting together information given to him by locals. Either way, he gets in, and discovers that Darius has been kidnapping the patients who don't pay up and harvesting their blood and tissue and organs. Horrifying! He fucking kills Darius. Darius tries to give him that 'you're no better than me' schtick but it doesnt work because he's regained his faith! In himself! In his profession! And I'm American so in my head it's a whole criticism of the for-profit healthcare industry!!! FUCK you Darius

Because I like it when stories cross over and it isn't actually a game trying to make sure you can complete all the stories in whatever order you want, Darius is also a major player in Alfyn's story! Alfyn lost his parents to the plague that swept through Clearbrook as a child. He survived thanks to a traveling apothecary, but he had nowhere to go after that ('but what about zeph' idk shh dont worry about it), and ended up turning to a life of petty theft after hitching a ride to Saintsbridge. He joins up with a group of thieves called the Red Hoods, as their newest and youngest member. They're all pretty cool people, somewhere between Robin Hood and Ye Olde Mutual Aid Organization. They look out for themselves and the little guy, steal from the rich, give to the poor, skim a bit off the top.

These guys are his best friends for years, he hones his skills as a thief, learned how the world works and how to help, basically everything he knows he learned from the Red Hoods. All is well until six years before present day, when Alfyn is fifteen. The Red Hoods plan a heist on the Ciannos, a crime family that's been terrorizing locals and hoarding money. Alfyn is briefly held up by helping a kid do something, look for their cat or whatever but makes it to the meeting point in time to see that they were lured into a trap. He peeks from behind a doorway, seeing a red-haired figure laugh about how gullible they were, how trusting and naive they all were for trusting each other. All of his friends are beaten and bloodied, some already dead. One sees him from the doorway and tells him to run, to get out while he still can. To keep the Red Hoods alive. Unable to act, Alfyn flees, only barely evading becoming a victim himself.

Years later he's still saddled with grief and survivor's guilt, thinking that if he had just said no to the kid who asked for help, if he had just taken a different route, if he had just been there to scout ahead, if, if, if. He's carried on the name of the Red Hoods as a one-man gang, unable to bring himself to allow anyone else into his heart that he could just lose in an instant again. He leaves calling cards after robbing the wealthy and unjust blind and redistributing it among the lower class. He does this until he happens to redistribute the wealth from the one family he shouldn't have- the Ravuses. From here it's basically Therion's story, except with Alfyn. You know how it goes. Get the Dragonstones and we'll remove the Blackmail Bracelet.

The end of his story coincides with Therion's story (also thematically appropriate bc im incapable of not giving them a slow burn romance) when they finally confront Darius. Darius comments on how the 'little coward thief' or whatever finally grew a spine, and how he can meet his end like the rest of his little friends. No longer afraid, Alfyn loudly declares that as long as he's alive, the Red Hoods will never die, and in a moment of solidarity, the rest of the party declares that they too are Red Hoods. Its very touching and inspirational and worthy of some Toby Fox music and then they beat the everloving shit out of Darius.

I am aware there are several holes in this story. And to that I say: Don't Worry About It.

[momochizoey]

Thank you for tagging me @celinou !!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

I've got 12 on my AO3! 9 ATLA/TLOK fics, and 3 Wednesday fics.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 

46,759 words in total! Most of it is one shots so that tracks tbh, though I'm actually pretty impressed with how much that actually is, especially cause it doesn't count how much I've written for WIPs.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

#1) Scrapped Scenes, a Wenclair fic, at 1,632 kudos (which is frankly insane, I hadn't realized it got that much)

#2) Crying Wolf, another Wenclair fic, at 759 kudos

#3) And Iphigenia Felt Rage, a Yuezula fic, at 225 kudos

#4) The Future Looks Brighter Together, a Sokkla fic, at 163 kudos

And at #5) Yours In Body And Soul, another Sokkla fic, at 154 kudos

I'm not surprised the two Wenclair fics are on top by such a wide margin, I wrote those when the show had only just come out so the fandom was at its peak. Very glad that many people liked what I wrote though! Since most of the other fandoms I've written for (on ao3 or here) are a lot less active, it was a new experience!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 

I usually do, but I do have to admit I've been struggling a bit with it recently 😅. I read them all, and I'm so grateful for them, but especially on fics that I had huge plans for still, and which are in no way close to progressing, I have this feeling like I should have a new chapter to offer when I do answer them. I'm blaming it on my social anxiety 😬

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooh, that's a hard one cause I definitely tend to go in a more fluffy, feel-good direction. But I'd have to say it's Keep Your Fire On A Leash (Let The Ashes Bring You Peace). It's a June/Azula oneshot, mainly focused on Azula dealing with the pyromania she developed in captivity (as a need to reclaim complete control over at least this aspect of her life). She tries to manage it a little by working in pottery, where continuous, constant temperature control is crucial to porcelain quality, but it's not perfect. It's not angsty per-se, but it's definitely more ambiguously neutral.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

Oooh, I'd say it's a toss up between two of my fics:

The first is Not Alone, a TyZula band AU fic about Azula recovering from bottom surgery. I wrote it while I myself was still recovering from bottom surgery, and I wanted to explore a facet of trans characters journeys that isn't often discussed? It's a bit more niche, and I only recently made it open to anyone, not just ao3 users, so it's one of my less popular fics for sure, but it's very hopeful portrayal of a trans experience.

And the second is Yours In Body And Soul, a Sokkla soulmates AU, where soulmates bodyswap at night when either of them has had a bad day, in order to try to cheer them up. I got the idea from a korrasami fic called Paralyzed I read a while back, and changed the mechanics a little bit to make it work. It's definitely a more traditional happy ending, romantic getting together included (up to a point, they are still kids in the timeline so just an excited hug).

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

I don't! Sometimes people disagree on one interpretation of something, but never disrespectful or anything, so I'm pretty happy!

9. Do you write smut? 

I've tried it before in private, got some good feedback. But no, never anything that I'd share.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written? 

I'm not sure if ATLA/TLOK counts😂. I've had some ideas for crossovers though, and written a few draft snippets, I think it was a TLT/ATLA one, an ATLA/Shang-Chi, and a Naruto/ATLA one that I've actually posted a few snippets from on here if I remember correctly.

That last one was a Sakura reincarnated into Azula idea, to explore some interesting anti-imperialist ideals, because that's actually a blind spot Sakura has as well with Konoha. It's easy for her to fall into the same ideological fallacies as before, especially with the significantly lower usage of child soldiers in the Fire Nation making it seem like the epitome of peace and human rights to her. Like looking at the same problem in a different font, at a slightly different angle, it gives Sakura an opportunity for growth by maybe showing her some of the issues she had been ignoring or missing in Konoha, shaking some of her loyalty.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Nope, not as far as I'm aware!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Also nope, theoretically I could translate it in Dutch, but I'm a lot better at expressing myself in English I think, and almost every Dutch person can read English (especially on ao3), so I don't think it would add much. Maybe one day though!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

I haven't, though it seems like it'd be very cool, I'd definitely be open to it!

14. What's your all time favorite ship? 

God, don't make me choose 😭😭 I guess it's probably Chasefield? I'm such a sucker for those two it's unreal. Otherwise maybe Yuezula, Maizula or Sokkla? They each have such interesting possible dynamics, in such varying ways.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? 

Again, that's a tough one cause I'm afraid I have a lot. I still have several half-written chapters of Getting Family Approval In Six Fool-Proof Steps (Cue The Fools, Sokka And Azula), as well as the start of a longer fic that continues on from And Iphigenia Felt Rage that I've fully outlined and would love to write someday but can't be sure I ever will. There's also Indelible Mark which I've been blocked on forever. As for WIPs that haven't even been partially published yet, I've got 11k for a Chasefield fic I've posted a scene or two for on here called Muse on My Mind, that I wish I could finish but I'm not confident I can manage any time soon. I've also got the start and the outline of a TLT griddlehark fic, where I'm absolutely in love with the premise and the twist I'm building it on, but which, again, I've not progressed much with in a good 6 months. There's a few others, but these are the ones I'd really like to finish at some point.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? 

I love reading it, writing it I could do Dutch or Google translate a different language, but much preferably I'd be able to check it with someone who actually speaks the language for accuracy. Best to use some of the more advanced ao3 html uses to make a translation appear when you hover over it though, unless not understanding it is an important part of the reading experience, in which case people can look it up later if they want to.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

My very first fic was actually a The 100 song fic based on an opera song, which is too embarrassing so I won't share where it is🤐 I was like 17 so it's too embarrassing.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Tbh, it's either Muse on My Mind (the chasefield fic I mentioned that isn't posted anywhere except for 1 or 2 scenes on Tumblr), which is super fun because it's playing with the perspective of a character that just straight up doesn't understand half the plot happening in the background that is hinted at for the reader who does know. Oblivious characters too caught up in their own shit to pay attention are so so so much fun to write, especially when you have fun with it, implying things but never outright confirming it!

Otherwise it's Haunted By Runaway Ghosts. That one is a Sokkla fic that explores their past through flashbacks while Zuko and Katara are both grappling with the discovery of their niece and nephew they had no idea existed (or could exist). Which, not to brag, but from a technical standpoint I really think that one is probably one of the most skilled fics I've written and published, and it was so much fun to write and puzzle it all together; the slow build up and explanations slowly coming together to form the bigger picture, the hidden ties between locations in the show and events in the story and how they fit into each other perfectly - genuinely a joy to write (and if people are interested in reading it please do, imo it's on par with And Iphigenia Felt Rage, if in a pretty different style, definitely something I'd love for more people to enjoy the way I did writing it).

Thanks again for tagging me @celinou, this was very fun to do! I see you've already tagged @sourrind, who I'd have tagged as well, so next I'll tag @dawnsiren @ly0nstea and @likeadragonfruit , and of course whoever else wants to do it!