hoshigray · 5 months ago
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Can i request toji doing this to reader 👉👈
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𝐚. 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: YEEEEEESSSS!!! I mean–ahem–yes, you may request this delicious prompt ٩(ˊᗜˋ )و
⊹ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Toji x afab! reader - explicit content; minors DNI - kissing/making out - fingering (f! receiving) - clitoral play (presses and swiping) - Daddy kink - missionary position - praises - unprotected sex (no release on Toji's part, tho) - pet names (baby, mama, sweet thing, sweetie) - voice kink - Toji being a teaseing bastard, lawl - implied prior masturbation.
⊹ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.3k
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“Haaah…Toji—Mmmm!“
“Shhh, I’m right here, sweetie…Did’ya sleep well?”
It’s not unusual for you to be asleep when Toji returns home from work, especially when he’s been away for more than three nights. 
But, fuck, when he returns home, all he can think about is having your soft frame in his starved grasp.
You lay so peacefully on his bed, your man watching the rise and fall of your figure and listening to your snore while he quietly enters the room. Once he drops his stuff down, he’ll crawl up to be atop you, emerald eyes scanning every feature of your beautiful face he wants to kiss so badly. 
And the truth is that you’re just as touch starved as he is, left here to await his return while he’s doing God-knows-what (you’re unaware of his assassin gig) and worrying about his absence. But when you awake to the smooth sensation of your lips being pressed on, you don’t scream or holler; far from that. Instead, you kiss back and open your sleepy eyes to see the grown man above you. 
“To…ji?” Your voice is strained with exhaustion yet curious. 
The dark-haired man shushes you with his lips onto yours, moaning with you while his hands spread your legs for him to lay comfortably between. “Missed ya, mama,” his gruff voice so low that your stomach immediately flips at the erotical tone. 
“I missed you, too,” you admit in between smooches, and you melt when he cups your cheeks to keep your face with his. “Missed you so…Hmmm…”
More kisses have you relax, his scarred mouth trailing down to suck on the skin of your neck to listen to more of your sweet gasps. “Yeah? My baby missed me?” You chew your lips as he whispers in your ear, and your hips instinctively move at the motion of his hand, palming the groin of your shorts. “Been thinkin’ ‘bout me while I was gone? ‘Cuz I sure was.” 
“Yesss,” your answer slurred by the lick and kiss to your helix. “Yes, I ha—Aaah!”
His hand sneaks inside the hem of your shorts, not surprised to meet your bare cunt with his fingers. Your wetness instantly coats the rough pads of his fingertips as he nestles between your labia. “Thinkin’ ‘bout me so much that y’re all wet like this?” You can practically hear the grin uplifting the scar on his lips. “Hmm? Ya miss Daddy so much that you touch y’rself while I’m gone, huh?”
Your eyes are sewn shut at the sensation of your folds being fingered, and your lips ajar once Toji inserts his middle finger. Wiggling the digit around, scratching your walls with the blunt of his fingertips, it has you wail softly. “Yessss, missed you—Oooh! S..So much, Daddy…”
“Heh, dirty lil’ thing,” Toji’s finger goes faster, and the raven-haired man enjoying your shrieks gets a little louder, and your breath halts at his ring finger teasing your entrance. “Tell Daddy how much ya missed me.”
You arch your back at the insert of the other digit; your fatigue vanishes with every graze of the two fingers. “Haaah…Miss how you kiss me—Ahh!” He toys with your clit with the brush of his thumb. “H-How good you–Mmnn!–make me feel…” He kisses your forehead; the gentleness contrasting with the salacious squelches from your shorts causes a haze.
“Yeah? Ya like when I make ya feel good?” His fingers go faster, and the presses on your clitoris go frequently. “Just like?”
“Mmnoooh,” Toji kisses you again, this time more passionately with tongue exploring your mouth; you twitch around his digits as they curl and rub. “I…Love it!”
Toji chuckles. “That’s what I wanna hear, sweet thing,” and he removes his hand from your shorts to lick your fluids clean. “‘Cuz I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout makin’ you feel good on my way here.”
He discards your bottoms to the bedroom floor seconds before he unzips his pants and brings them down with his boxer briefs. Toji has his dick free for you to marvel at, the nether limb not yet fully erected, yet the quick pulse of it has your mouth water. He slaps the tip onto your leaky chasm; the sight makes your vagina throb. So much so that you clamp tighter as he pushes the soft tip into you. “Relax fr’ me, mama,” he coaxes you through, gradually pushing every inch of him inside. “Daddy’s gotcha, ‘kay?”
You howl inaudibly, furrowed brows as the base of his cock kisses your folds. And when he grinds his pelvis down? Jesus, you grip the sheets to serve as reins; contracts around his girth are inevitable. 
“Fuck,” he curses above you. “So warm and tight like always…”
When he begins to move, it’s at a slow pace. The feeling of his dick pushing into and pulling out of you so sensually is so erotic to your senses, especially witnessing the thing burrowing inside your warmth with your own eyes. Oh, my God, you can feel it getting stiffer, making your excitement dial-up.
The member goes firmer with every stroke, and every sensation differs from the last. His shaft stands solid inch by inch, your eyes shooting up as you become fuller by the second. One pull and push has you whimper. Another push and pull, and your toes curl at the stretch of him becoming greater. Another slow push, and you're calling for him with a shaky breath as the tip of his now solid limb lightly jabs your cervix. 
And Toji adores the view under his bow, your body reacting to his erect cock scraping your insides to the point of broken cries. “How ya feelin’, baby?” His sultry voice pulls you in as he increases the speed scarcely. 
“Daahh, s-so full,” the snicker to your ear makes you clamp on him harder. “So good…Nnoohh!! Daddy, st–Ooop! D-Don’t thrust so—” 
“Hmm? What’s up?” You don’t have to open your eyelids to see that the older man above you has a mischievous look after suddenly sneaking a quick rut to your entrance. “What; don’t like it when I go like…this?” Toji’s hips go erratically, the motion making it easy to rub on your inner walls and sweet spots to the point of shrilled shrieks leaving your lips. “Or…this?” He sluggishly pulls himself back where it’s only the tip of his shaft that’s nestled inside you, only for him to snap his hips back in a rushed second. It takes a moment for you to process and let out a scream as the cockhead pokes your delicate cervix with precision. 
Your hands frantically find his shoulders to grip his shirt, “Daddyyy, please, sl–Oooh–Slow down…! If you keep goin’, I’ll cu—….Mmmm!!” Your pleas don’t stop him; they fuel him to keep pounding into you. Balls deep for him to keep probing you with hits to the narrow end again, and your legs wrap around his waist without you thinking. How could you think? Your head kept pounding along with the climb of your orgasm, trembles climbing up your spine. 
“What’re ya holdin' it fr’, huh?” All it takes is Toji to bend to your ear once more, kissing your cheek as his pelvis slams into your aching slit. “Cum, mama. Lemme know how good y’re feelin’.” 
As if on command, your climax hits you hard, like a wave crashing down on your poor form, drowning your senses with euphoria like no other. Your cunt squeezes around Toji’s girth, your nerves spiking to a sensitive high that has you winded and cold for a moment. And the man above you hisses at the flutter of your walls; his rocking cadence slows down to relish the feeling.
You wail in ecstasy; a tiny sharp gasp leaves you from the gentle kiss he places on your forehead. 
“There ya go, sweetie,” he coos with a kiss to the chin before straightening himself. You observe him remove his shirt to dump it onto the floor, and your face becomes hotter when Toji ventures down, where his face gets closer to your wet entrance. “ All wet and ready fr’ me…”
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© 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐲2024 – reblogs and comments are appreciated wholeheartedly ✩ dividers by @/benkeibear.
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she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 2 years ago
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The Crows are to the Grishaverse as the Guardians of the Galaxy are to Marvel. Like all the avengers and shadow and bone characters are like “ahh the weight of world is on our shoulders” but all the crows and the guardians just want their goddamn money
I have too much time on my hands and I wanted to prove my point, so enjoy these guardians quotes replaced by the crows characters
Van Eck: [insert long villain monologue here]
Kaz: yeah, blah blah blah but WE’D LIKE TO GET PAID
Inej: The contact is making me wait.
Kaz: That’s just a negotiation tactic - trust me, this is my speciality. Whereas yours is more… stab, stab, stab
Nina: I have no need of the money
Kaz: Well great, more money for the rest of us!
Jesper: What’s that?
Wylan: Don’t touch that, it’s a bomb
Jesper: AND YOU JUST LEAVE IT LYING AROUND!???
Wylan: … well I was gonna put it in a box
Matthias: I’m a warrior, an assassin. I don’t dance.
Nina: Really? Well, in my country we have a legend about people like you. It’s called Footloose. And a great hero, named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city of people with sticks up their butts that, dancing, well it’s the greatest thing there is.
Matthias: Who put the sticks up their butts? That is cruel.
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thatonejumbledmess · 11 months ago
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So I got this random ass DCxDP Idea out of nowhere, so just hear me out for a second.
Vlad steals the infimap again, tells it to take him to his future, he ends up on this random ass mountainside in what seems to be the middle of the Himalayas. Danny gets sent by Clockwork to go retrieve the infimap. By this time, Vlad has discovered an odd pool of ectoplasm just through one of the caves in the mountain he'd landed on. It seems different from usual, but doesn't have enough time to inspect it before Danny shows up and re-claims the infimap and leaves Vlad there, he'd been oddly more violent, especially after seen Vlad with the pool of ecto.
Noting the location of the odd pool of ectoplasm, Vlad attempts to return to Illinois, only to find that he's several hundred years in the past, rather than just somewhere in the Himalayas in current time like he'd thought. He's now stranded here with no way of getting back to his own time, as the technology to even attempt to do so wouldn't exist until at least the 1980s. So, he returns to the pool of ecto to try and figure out what to do.
Eventually, he decides to gain power for himself in this time, he changed his name, starts a cult surrounding himself and the pool, gathers resources using his powers, and has his new subordinates build a tenple for him around the pool. His subordinates need to be able to defend him, so he hires a master swordsman to teach them how to weild weapons, he ends up following alongside the lessons either from afar, invisibly, or both, so he can claim to have known this skill all along. Slowly, the group expands, and someone attempts to kill Vlad. He sicks his now assassin level subordinates on the attacker, and thus, the League of Assassins is born.
All is well as Vlad waits patiently to catch up with Time. He'd found out early on that the pool he'd dubbed the Lazarus Pit could heal the sick and kill the healthy, so he used this as an excuse for his ghostly immortality. He ends up having a couple of paramors and a couple of children, which makes his core sing. Then, oddly enough, a young man shows up to request training from the group, he almost looked enough like Danny that Vlad had to take a second to realize that it was several years to early for the boy to have even been born; let alone a young adult.
Turns out, the young man was Bruce Wayne. This was certainly an odd turn of events, as it turned out Brucie Wayne was Batman. This revilation didn't bother him for long, and Talia had taken a liking to the man, so he instructed her to keep an eye on him.
Things were going well, Talia had been doing well keeping track of the fine detective. And had even coerced him into a relationship with herself, that might prove rathar useful down the line. Danny was due to be born the upcoming year. And Vlad was making preparations. While he couldn't take the boy just after his birth, that would mean he'd never become a halfa, he could bide his time and become a part of the boy's life earlier on, and take him under his wing after the accident.
He wasn't expecting Talia to come to him and tell him she was pregnant. He tried not to think too much on it. He knew of Damian Wayne's existence, and this child was likely that same boy. However, what he couldn't get put of his head was the sudden revalation to how similar the youngest Wayne and Daniel looked. They were even the same age. He decided to put it out of his mind, but the thoughts were wrenched back to the forefront of his mind when he found out Talia was pregnant with twins. He didn't like this, Damian had been an only child as far as he knew, so why had things changed?
He became further concerned when he tracked down Maddie and Jack to attempt to re-insert himself in their lives, only to find Maddie wasn't pregnant. Something had changed, and Vlad was panicked. Somehow, Damian Wayne would now be a part of a set of twins, and Danny would either be born later than last time or not at all.
Vlad tried to look into when and where the change had occurred, but without complete knowledge of how the timeline had occurred before his presence changed it, he had no idea what could have happened.
That was until the birth of twin boys, Damian came out perfectly healthy. The second boy had been very sick, but Vlad would recognize those blue eyes anywhere. It was Danny. He immediately ordered for the infant to be placed into the pits to heal and promptly secluded himself to his chambers to have a mental breakdown.
This didn't make any sense! Daniel was Jack and Maddie's son! Not Bruce Wayne's! But this made all too much sense: why there hadn't been any photos of Daniel before age 8 in the Fenton household, how Danny looked just slightly different than his parents, but in a way that could have feasibly been explained by latent genes. But it wasn't latent genes, Daniel Fenton wasn't Jack and Maddie's biological son, was he? Then, the final nail in the coffin, Vlad was reminded of his and Danny's first meeting, the boy had immediately tensed uppon seeing him, and had muttered something under his breath, something Vlad had brushed off as an insult. But now he thought about it, his tone had been questioning, almost scared. Danial had called him Grandfather.
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scintillyyy · 1 month ago
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the thing about tim being a 90s kid, and not just that, a 90s robin who had to serve as an example on top of being an extremely sociable kid....is that funnily enough he's far more likely to go to a trusted adult for help when he's in over his head, for all fanon likes to cast him as the one who will internally suffer silently so not to get anyone (read: his parents) in trouble.
and like. tim *can* be kind of. listen he's going to do it himself, especially if he thinks it's something he should he able to do as robin (i would argue that he's more likely to avoid asking bruce for help than anyone, and that's post-knightfall only where tim is more likely to think that bruce wants him to be able to handle something on his own & even then he does still go to bruce as needed), but in general--tim does a really good job at recognizing he's out of his depth and asks for and accepts help as needed for both professional and personal reasons. he does it with dick a lot, he does it with alfred, he does it with babs, he does it with his dad (i mean. is the guns school psa good? no. but it does show tim does actually feel comfortable asking for advice from his dad), hell he does it with the league of assassins for a bit in red robin (before going back to dick)
anyways. i guess what i'm saying is that even if the drakes were like. comically neglectful and leaving their five year old alone in cold drake manor because business came up in the republic of <insert country without an extradition agreement here>, five year old tim would, in fact, take the bus down to haly's circus, help dick catch a murderer, and then go on an extremely long exposition about how his parents leave him alone for extremely long periods of time and neglect them, pause for the psa checklist of signs of abuse to look out for, then dick can finally respond with "sorry, what is happening right now. who are you and what is your name." and tim's like "is that important? anyways, batman needs your help."
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jojossillywalk · 11 months ago
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wow. SO. here are some language distinctions that can be a little mixed in translation!
disclaimer that actual talking is very very different from the vocal performance that shows up in anime.
first and foremost, english (the dub more than sub) can sometimes miss the fact that there is a very distinct difference in how avdol and polnareff speak!
it's no joke when i say that polnareff has a "bro-y" way of speaking. he uses "俺" (ore) which is very informal, can be considered rude, and is conventionally considered to be masculine. he speaks a lot more casually/informally in general, he and jotaro are sort of even (polnareff just talks more).
also polnareff's speech is generally just much more rude than either the dub or sub really convey. this man is crass.
avdol uses "私" (watashi), which is used in formal settings, it's also like a polite default- that said, he's distinct in using that pronoun among the crusaders! among close friends (for guys), it's like. got a stiff/stuffy vibe. casually, it's got feminine connotations, but by and large it's formal (kakyoin uses "僕" (boku), which is just a Younger Guy way to identify yourself)
when jotaro is talking about how avdol seems like he "thinks highly of himself" (the phrase jotaro uses is straightforward telling someone that they come off as arrogant), avdol's speech lends to the image of him seeming smugly intelligent.
the one time that we hear him use "ore," he adds "kono" before it- there's really no good way to translate that in english, it's like "i, myself, etc etc."
this is not the only time avdol puts "kono." this actually lends more weight to jotaro saying that avdol comes off as self important. "kono [insert personal pronoun/name]" has an implication of distinction- "me (and explicitly only me)." so "a stand i, avdol, have not heard of."
when avdol says "i've heard of [this stand]," he often uses "噂" (uwasa). however, he uses "見かけた" to describe his experiences with the illness- ie, he's seen people with the stand sickness, but more often than not, he's heard of the assassins (devo being an exception).
when he's stopping polnareff, the sub says something like "you're getting wool to come back shorn"/"tough talk for a man digging his own grave," both are localizations! his direct phrasing is more like "this one's going to steal mummies when he'll become one."
another note is that avdol uses formal pronouns to refer to himself, but the pronouns he uses to refer to others are less formal (joseph being an exception). he speaks formally, but like someone with seniority!
this is because, in this situation, he's literally someone with seniority.
that said, polnareff is a) very vocally independent, b) has an ego taking up 5/6 of the known universe, but more importantly, the comment that makes avdol try to punch him isn't "holier than thou," it's "go keep pretending to be more of an adult/above it all like always."
there's already jotaro's comment about avdol coming off as arrogant, but polnareff is accusing avdol of putting up a front/acting like someone he's not (the verb is "otonabutte").
there are more but here's some for now
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forasecondtherewedwon · 4 months ago
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It's Enough, It's Enough - chapter five
Fandom: My Lady Jane Pairing: Jane x Guildford Rating: E Chapter: 5 / 6
Summary: Five times Jane and Guildford pretend to have sex, and one time it’s for real.
read on tumblr: one | two | three | four
She's been reading all along. Guildford doesn't know that. She didn't want him to think she wasn't prioritizing the texts on curing Ethianism, and she never wanted him to know that, despite their conversation about marital obligations on the first night of their honeymoon, she's been contemplating the idea of fucking him this whole time. And not just contemplating it, reading about it—which, for Jane Grey, is about as serious as you can get.
Every time she starts to surrender to what her body wants and Guildford stops her, it's embarrassing. Her own fault, of course; even if the eager way she leans in whenever his face comes near totally contradicts them, her words have communicated things like “As if” and “I want a divorce.” Despite her actions, it seems that he heard her from the start and decided to listen. He's not confused. Clearly, Guildford lives in a world where people say a thing and follow through, set their own rules and then abide by them. And Jane lives in a world where her spine dissolves like wet sugar when Guildford stands just a little too close to her. Or smirks at her. Or does anything with his hands, really. Or refers to her as his wife. That gets her too.
The books on sex are as unromantic as Jane imagines is possible. This is maddening, and also probably the reason she doesn't feel like they're helping. She wants to understand, but not like that, or that, or that—flipping through pages on anatomy (she's seen a diagram of a member before) and diseases of the genitalia and their proposed treatments (her eyes widen in horror at repeated suggestions to place plants she knows to be poisonous in extremely delicate areas). It's all just too clinical, and she usually loves clinical! She loves when books present things unemotionally, letting the facts speak for themselves! But that doesn't work for her here. As much as Jane reads about blood and stiffening and insertion, she feels as though she's seeing less than half of the picture. Nothing like the way she feels around Guildford is captured in these pages. Because of that, they're almost no good to her at all.
Getting attempted-murdered in broad moonlight is an unwelcome yet extremely effective distraction. Oh yes, she's considered scenarios that would lead to her waking up on her back in the warm grass, but it was always Guildford who had something to do with that, not Mary. It takes Jane some time before she's able to figure out why she can hardly breathe: the result of Mary's thumbs mashing her windpipe, or fear that someone with stronger thumbs (or maybe a sword) was sent after Guildford to dispatch him too?
But Guildford is alive. For now. Lately, Jane feels as though everything has only been “for now.” She is continually wrong-footed in a world of impermanence. They gain access to the rest of Mary and Seymour's letters, Mary steals them back. Jane awakens from failed assassination-induced unconsciousness, ready to tell Guildford what happened (or maybe that she's starting to understand that thing he sensed she didn't yet the last time they kissed), and he's already a horse. Nothing is certain!
Guildford's father counsels her towards certainty, but it's a certainty of his own desiring, not hers. Neither giving birth to a son nor naming Guildford King (though that's not the order Lord Dudley has in mind) could be easily undone—yet the possibility exists, with so many would-be killers darting about the palace. Regardless, neither action is one she wants to take. Except for maybe the bit about making the son. In this political climate though? Jane doesn't like the idea of using a baby as a tool, even if that is the gig, part and parcel of being a monarch. Again, it's too clinical, making her think of those books with their dispassionate descriptions of the marital act. Does everything in her life need a motive? Must she always pretend to be anticipating something five steps ahead? Will she forever be expected to enjoy scheming as much as the people around her? Why is certainty synonymous with power and never happiness? Can she not fucking live?
Even the project that gives meaning to her marriage, if not her life, is revealed to be pointless; Susannah visits and assures Jane there is no cure to Ethianism. Not being able to disclose to Susannah exactly why that's such bad news makes Jane ache. She needs a friend. She needs Susannah to ask how she is, like she did after Jane's father died. Jane has no clue how to impart this information to Guildford. Is there a way, if she wants to be kind? Can he care for her if she stops being his means to a cure? If she's just a person, full of flaws, letting him down? Is there anything real left between them without their deal? They've done so much pretending. They've built a version of themselves on the lies they've told, and Jane doesn't know whether there is another version.
Leave it to her mother to force the issue. With her usual disregard for what the consequences will be for anyone other than herself, she makes two statements: Guildford is a horse, and Jane is in love with him. Though Jane manages to storm out of the room, her thoughts lack the same decisiveness. It feels to her as if her mother has thrown a knife that skewered the fundamental truth about each of them, Guildford and Jane. He is a horse, and his identity obsesses him, steers him, rides him; everything he values is valued because of its potential to either cure his Ethianism or dull his suffering while he endures the condition that is consumingly hateful to him. She loves him, and the feeling makes her ignore trial, ignore failure; his need for what she is supposed to be able to offer sustains them both. Will he want her if he doesn't need her? Will she stop being afraid long enough to let him?
There are no answers to these questions that she could find in books. There are only her rushing feet—along stone corridors, and then shushing across the lawn. Jane doesn't know how to stop Mary trying to kill her, and she doesn't know how to get justice for Edward, and she doesn't know if Susannah is right about Ethianism or simply angry at what appeared to be Jane's dismissal of their right to exist as themselves. Night has come on and the grass is damp as her dress drags across it. With all Jane's unknowns, at last, she has her certainty: she does not want a divorce. She wants Guildford to stay with her, to be with her, and to be with him, and to let him see that she is afraid, but that she will stay, if he will have her.
It's all circling around her head, so that, when she finds her husband standing at the back of the stables, she isn't sure she even says hello to him before putting a nix on divorce and demanding he kiss her.
She doesn't say she loves him. She doesn't want to talk, she isn't ready. But she's here. Jane's presence is her grand declaration. After all her hesitation, all her needless care, she can't undress him fast enough—can't make him undress her fast enough. She always thought the decision to give in would be difficult, but it's easy, easy, easy. Guildford's mouth on hers is heavy like ripe fruit. His fingers trip over the fastenings that do her up, keep her together, but once he steadies himself, this seems easy too; she wonders if he's pictured it all before: studied her clothing in moments when she was distracted and imagined what it would be like to dismantle his queen's lace and brocade armour. Has he been reading her while she read books?
This, by the way, is what the books couldn't get right: the swoop in her stomach when Guildford pulls her onto his lap, the overwhelming affection in her when she feels him smiling against her lips. Suddenly, Jane registers sympathy for those poor authors. How could they have put this on paper? How could anyone? For all the things that are meant to be read and studied and learned, what's happening between Jane and Guildford, here, now, is only meant to be felt. To transcribe would be to dilute.
She isn't ashamed to be naked before him, and there's nothing clinical about the heat of his member pressed to her thigh when he lies down on top of her in this bed he's maintained in the stables. It smells like him, even here, where the scents of hay and wood and animal are strong. The scent of the bed is exhaustion and resignation, but also refuge. This is where Guildford is both selves, the one he wants and the one he doesn't. He comes here every night when he leaves her. This bed has held her husband when he deemed it unsafe for Jane to do the same. She has a sudden urge to find out what sleep smells like on him, when his body relaxes into the bed that cradles her now. How does he look entirely disarmed? Does being here now mean he'll let her spend the night? She doesn't say she loves him, but she strokes his back while he kisses her hotly and imagines stroking it again while he sleeps.
When the time has nearly come, Jane can tell. She panics. She admits it. And Guildford, who she has seen snide, self-assured, sarcastic, and short-tempered in daily life (or... nightly life), could not be more tender, more sweet. Jane wishes their wedding could have been like this, but in a way, this is a union, and one of their own choosing. He'll show her, no condescension. She'll let him, no injured pride.
He's barely hovering over her as his fingers trace up her thigh. Guildford's touch is so light it almost tickles like his leg hair does—a sensation she's surprised to find comforting, but it reminds her of their first bedding ceremony, his clever deception that spared them both some humiliation. She has always been a consideration for him. His pledge of thoughtfulness is there in his fingertips, in the parting of her, in the caress of the place the arousing fact of his body on hers has made damp. Jane grips his shoulders. Her hands flutter like confused butterflies up to the back of his neck as she trusts him and trusts him and trusts him. She writhes beneath him so much as he runs his careful fingers over and through and into her that he makes as if to climb off her, to give her room. Alight with a pleasure that feels like ringing the rim of a glass, Jane doesn't want room. She wants her husband right here, pressing her down, working her up. She winds her legs around the back of Guildford's calves and holds fast.
His tongue is in her mouth when she finds release in his bed for the first time. Though he drags his sopping fingers out of her, he continues touching her gently while they kiss. On her end, the kisses are nearly formless in the aftermath of the nervous burst that cascaded through her body, and yet Guildford's mouth is patient and forgiving. He grins when her lips meet his teeth, and licks at her, teasingly, when she attempts to slip her tongue into his mouth. Between her thighs, she feels his wedding ring. The smooth metal band bumps over her clitoris, scattering sparks which threaten to start fires; Jane bites her husband's lip to get his attention, then makes him watch her eyes as she rubs herself against the ring that says they are bound before God and England. There will be no divorce, her eyes insist. You were given to me as much as they gave me to you. When he's apparently unable to endure any more, Guildford grasps the base of Jane's skull and devours her mouth. She comes again when he sucks the tip of her tongue. At this rate, he's going to swallow everything her body can't contain.
If she's annoyed to realize she's unwittingly following her mother's advice—mouth closed, legs open—it's a distant annoyance, and it passes. Jane reaches a hand down between them, brushing warm skin on both sides. Their mouths slide apart until Guildford's lips rest against her cheek, not quite kissing. She stops to explore the hirsute path below his navel with her fingertips, lightly scratching her nails forward and back against the texture of his hair. On top of her, Guildford's breathing changes, rough and hitching, wanting her fingers right where they are, but also elsewhere. It's not dissimilar to intoxication, Jane thinks: this warm, loose feeling within her, the way her worries and reticence have left without conscious shedding. She reaches a bit farther (Hold anything firm firmly, and anything soft softly.) and wraps her fingers around his girth.
Her husband is patient, still—if tense—while Jane keeps his member lightly encircled in her grasp as she shuffles her legs apart. The cool sheet under her warm thighs is a relief that won't last. Smoothing her other hand over Guildford's hip, she guides him into the space she's made for him. She gasps when the blunt, wet end of him prods her. When he kisses her, she doesn't know if it's supposed to distract her, but his hand closes over hers and she feels everything.
Instinctually, Jane tilts her hips as he begins to insert himself. Her eyes go wide with surprise at the sensation it was impossible to prepare herself for (not that any of the male authors of those books even thought of soliciting a female perspective on the acts they describe). She can't help laughing at the strangeness. Guildford's (knife-slinging tavern lust-object) member (thick, rigid, twitching against her abdomen while they kissed) is inside her body! They're joined together! And it doesn't even hurt! Logically, Jane understands that this has more than a little to do with Guildford's unhurried fingers preparing her, but it's tempting to surrender herself to the illogical, to romance: it doesn't hurt because he never would, never could, hurt her. Gradually, Guildford sinks deeper. Breathing shakily, Jane bends her knees to hold his hips between her thighs, and then he's fully inside her.
But the end of that part is just the beginning of so much more. Jane loops her arms around Guildford's waist, spreads her hands on his back, feels his muscles go taut as he starts the slow, rhythmic process of consummation. This is their bodies in conversation. It's another way to know one another, and a transformation of them both; Jane can tell by his face, which hovers over hers, his eyes looking down at her with something he doesn't seem able to voice either. But it's there. It's there with them in this bed, in this stable, on this night when nobody told them what to do, or how, or why. Jane hears the soft grunts huffing past her own lips. Latin, Greek, Italian—now she speaks this. It's their own language, and apparently, she's fluent.
In a moment that passes before she can catch it, the sensation of Guildford thrusting within her evolves from feeling strange but good to very, very good. She can feel how wet she is, how steadily he's gliding through, and yet there's suddenly this friction. Her grunts crack open and become breathy cries. It's because she's squeezing him, from within. She's been kneading the muscles of his back, but her own muscles, there inside her, are at least as powerful. They have the power to make Guildford pant like an animal, his hips jerking shallowly against hers until she stops clenching. She offers a slack smile in return for his stunned expression, and then they surge together, grabbing each other's face as they kiss, fingers catching on chins and ears and hair already unkempt from one another's caresses.
Guildford begins rolling his hips into hers harder—not fast, but less restrained. Jane can tell there's so much more he'll show her, something raw she won't see this first time, suppressed so he can give her no more than what she's ready to receive. But it's thrilling to feel him letting go. Her back arches as she tries to meet him in his thrusts, and his curves, his forehead pressed somewhere around her collarbone. He exhales against her skin, hot gusts of air. When he widens his legs, braced up on his knees, it pushes hers farther apart too. There's nothing coy or secret now; her body is held wide for him, and she welcomes it. She digs her fingers into his hair and closes them in a fist. Guildford's lips rub against her skin as he cries out. With quick, mindless snaps of his hips, he finishes inside her.
Feeling as if she's just been awoken from the dead (but no, that was this morning), Jane's heart beats at a rapid pace. Her thighs are shaking uncontrollably. She's overwhelmed. She wants to both crush Guildford against her and shove him away so she can order her thoughts. This is what it feels like, then, to experience someone else's pleasure so close at hand and not achieve her own end. It'll be fine in a minute—he brought her off twice before—but right now, she feels insane.
But Guildford sees it—of course he does. He lifts his head and the hazy bliss in his dark eyes sharpens as he notes the state she's in. He grips himself on withdrawal, and Jane nearly has a fit at the thought of his fingers remaining down there, massaging between her legs again (oh, she wants it, but it might be more than her overstimulated sex can bear). He doesn't do that though. Her husband holds himself heavily on top of her and starts kissing her everywhere but her mouth. He presses his thigh between hers, just presses, and makes his meandering way down her neck, lips below her jaw, lips on her throat, lips where her hair's stuck to her skin with sweat, lips where her body has surely taken on the scent of his. He explores her chest. His mouth skims the breadth of it before going lower. When he gets to her breasts, there's tongue. Guildford licks her—the underside curve, the nipples stiff with sensation—and his thin necklaces hang against her ribs, catching the candlelight when she looks. Between his curious tongue and the pressure of his thigh, Jane shuts her eyes and shudders to quiet release.
She comes back to herself with Guildford stroking her hair.
They lie side by side for a while, not speaking. She wonders if he reads much at night, or if these hours are always kept for silent contemplation. She wonders if he feels as alone here as she does up in the palace.
The bed cools, but their legs are intertwined, and Guildford runs hot. Jane has just learned that, having never lain beside him before, except for the bedding ceremony, which shouldn't count. Anyway, they weren't naked then, and they are now. She feels a bit shy, but mostly, it's nice. He touches her just because, hand sliding down her arm. He touches her like it's the only important thing. Does he love her? She wants him to love her. She wants him to love her whether or not there's a cure.
They kiss when they think they're falling asleep, but the kissing wakes them back up. Their breathing grows rough and their mouths meet with increasing need. They grab at each other, pulling themselves into greater contact. Jane's aroused like she always is when they kiss, but the familiar throb is gone, replaced by the larger, more distinct ache that says her body knows exactly what it's missing—knows Guildford's size and shape.
Very softly, he asks, “Are you too sore?”
Jane shakes her head firmly.
She is kind of sore, but a strained-muscle soreness, a blunt, tired twinge. She knows pain of all varieties. She knows the difference between pains that will hurt more and less the next morning. Tomorrow, what she's feeling now might feel worse, but this is a special circumstance. Guildford is a special circumstance.
So, Jane hooks her thigh over her husband's hip. He groans to re-enter her. He's tired and pliant and starving for her after the time they've spent wanting and not having; he pours all this feeling into her, thrusts breaking against her like deep currents churned up into waves. She rocks with him. Her limbs fold him close to her, but his thrusts get wilder, and she pulls him over her again. There is no separation, she decides. No line between what is the human world and what the natural. She wants to know everything her husband is, especially when he takes her like this—taking her with him, it feels like, wherever he plans for them to go. Good, Jane thinks. You decide.
She likes being here. She puts herself in his hands.
Author's Note:
I'm doing the 5 + 1 out of order (this chapter is the + 1). Though Jane and Guildford have now had sex for real, there is one more instance of pretending in their future. It ain't over yet!
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lives-in-midgard · 9 months ago
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Do You Remember?
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Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader
Summary: After Steve almost lost you during a mission he needs to tell you about his feelings for you.
Word Count: 1220
Warnings: light angst, them being on a mission, let me know if I missed anything!
A/N: Hey everyone!💗 This is my submission to the @secretswiftymarvelfan I Love You 3000 writing Bonanza. I hope you and everyone else like how it turned out!
Prompts: Steve Rogers | friends to lovers| "Do you remember that night in [insert place]?"
Masterlist
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When you joined the Avengers a few years ago, you never thought you’d get this close to them. Especially not that you would be this close to Steve. Steve is your best friend and you are his. But there is also something else between you two. A few months ago, you started having feelings for him but were too afraid to tell him. Now you get butterflies every time he puts his arm around your shoulder and pulls you closer to him while you watch movies together or when he gives you a pet name and gives you that smile you love so much.
What you didn’t know was that Steve felt the exact same way about you. There were so many moments where Steve wanted to confess how he felt, but then he got too nervous and told himself that he would tell you the next time he had the chance. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell you until today.
You were currently on a mission with the other Avengers. The goal of the mission was to take down a HYDRA base and bring important information from the computer there. Everything was planned and everyone knew what to do when they left the compound that day.
In the quinjet you could feel Steve’s gaze on you. As your best friend, he was almost always worried about you on missions, especially when it involved HYDRA. Of course, Steve knows that you’re a good assassin and that you can protect yourself, but as your best friend and because he loves you so much, he can’t stop worrying that something might happen to you. Steve always tries to look out for you and help whenever he sees you having problems.
The quinjet landed near the HYDRA base and everything went according to the plan. You all went in, took down the Agents and Natasha was about to get the information you needed.
“I have everything.” Natasha said over the headphones.
“Okay, then let’s get out of here.” Steve commanded and everyone agreed. Everyone made their way out of the building. You were almost outside when you suddenly heard an explosion not far away from you. You flinched and looked back to where it came from. A few seconds later there was a second explosion and the building started to burn.
You have to get out of there as soon as possible or you’ll never see Steve again. The next thought that came to your mind was that you’ll never be able to tell him how you really feel.
Outside of the building:
“Shit Buck, where is y/n?” Steve said as he nervously paced around.
“She’ll probably be out in a few seconds.” Bucky said and Steve hoped that he was right. They all looked at the building and waited a few more minutes until suddenly a second explosion occurred and the building began to burn.
“Shit, where is she?” Steve said again and the others started to worry as well.
“Y/n, can you hear me? Sweetheart?” Steve said over the headphones, hoping you would say something, but you didn’t.
“Y/n honey?” He tried again but got no response from you. Steve looked at Bucky worriedly. Bucky placed a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder.
“Buck I- I never got to tell her how much I love her.” Steve said with a tear rolling down his cheek.
“Steve, she knows.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“I have to go and find her.” Steve confirmed, turning around and running towards the building.
“Steve!” Bucky shouted, but Steve didn’t want to turn around. He had to find you and make sure you were safe.
Steve was about to go into the building when you came running out. When you saw Steve, you jumped into his arms. He was so relieved that you were safe now. Steve wrapped his arms around you and held you tight. He kissed your forehead and then asked.
“Are you hurt?” You looked into his beautiful eyes and noticed how worried and sad he looked.
“I’m okay.” You mumbled, laying your head back on his chest. Steve kissed your forehead and then picked you up and carried you to the quinjet. Steve gently placed you on a chair, knelt down and began checking to see if you had any injuries. You sat there in silence, still in shock at what just happened.
Steve softly pulled up your shirt and found a wound on your left arm. He looked at you worriedly and then said, “I’ll put a bandage over it, okay?”
You nodded and Steve asked Bucky to bring everything he needed. Steve treated your wound gently, then put a bandage over it and then looked at your face. He pushed a strand of hair behind your ear and tried to smile at you. You smiled back and reached for his hand.
“Thank you, Steve.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart, but you should still go to a doctor and get checked out.”
“Only if you come with me.” You said and Steve smiled.
“Of course, I’m coming with you.” He paused for a moment and then said more.
“I’m so glad you’re safe. I was so scared and for a second I really thought I had lost you.” Steve said, having that sad look in his eyes again.
“Oh, Stevie, I promise you that you won’t lose me.” You said and now put your hand on his cheek.
“When I first heard the explosion, I thought about how I could never tell you that … I love you. I love you so much more than you think. And I know I should have told you sooner, but I wasn’t sure what you -” Steve wanted to say more but you interrupted him.
“Steve, I love you too. A few months ago, I realized that you mean so much more to me than just a friend.” You confirmed and Steve’s smile began to grow and so did yours.
„Do you remember that night in Paris?” Steve asked and you nodded. He was referring to the night when the Avengers were invited to an important gala event. You and Steve danced that night and talked all night while watching the sunset together.
“That was the night I realized I love you.” Steve said and you could feel the butterflies in your stomach as he smiled at you.
“Oh, Steve I’m so glad we feel the same way.”
“Me too.” He said and then moved closer to you. Steve pushed a strand of hair behind your ear and placed his hand on your cheek. You made the last inch between the two of you and kissed him. The kiss was soft but didn’t last long because you both remembered that the others were there as well. When you turned away you smiled at each other. Steve stood up, sat next to you and took your hand in his. You rested your head on his shoulder and enjoyed the flight back to the compound. When you landed at the compound, Steve made sure you went to a doctor and got taken care of.
You and Steve were so happy to finally know that you have the same feelings for each other and you were so excited to go on your first date with Steve.
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Taglist:
@marvelogic | @rogersbarber | @eviebuggg | @nicoline1998enilocin | @nekoannie-chan | @kandis-mom | @sergeantbarnessdoll | @noellez-best-life23 | @sgtgarricks | @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 | @cutedisneygrl | @mrsbuckybarnes1917
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teecupangel · 5 months ago
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Hi teecup, I hope ur having a great day/noon/night!
Forgive me if the things i'm about to say don't make much sense. It's been a vey, very, very, difficult time for me and my countrymen here, and my ability to make coherent sentences have declined drastically. So, yeah... BUT! That doesn't matter haha.
Anyways, I had a thought. And i'm not even sure how or why i got it but.... hear me out now...
Our boy, Desmond, gets thrown back in time as usual, same old same old, right? Exept, this time he doesn't end up in the Big Three™'s time-line. He ends up in Al-Mualim's time. *insert mind-blown emoji here cuz i can't find it rn*
And ik that i'm not a certified AC Expert like u and many others, and i haven't really finished any of the AC games yet (i've only seen bits of AC III and have only started AC 2, I also haven't finished AC 1)
But I do know that he wasn't really that creepy and evil in his youth/ b4 he became The Old Man of the Moutain, so i was thinking maybe Desmond ends up in that era of Al Mualim or is it Rashid al-Din Sinan? I know that he's based on a real historical figure but i'm not so sure if he's called that in-game?
And knowing Desmond, he'd probably get the urge to kill Rashid (i hope i'm using the name correctly) the time he figures shit out and connect that dots. But he would end up not doing that, cuz u know, it might fuck up the time-line and Altaïr might end up not being born, creating a domino-effect.
I want Desmond to meet Rashid before he starts to becom the Al Mualim we know today, so that Desmond can see how he was b4 the evants of AC 1.
Maybe Rashid's an arrogant ass, or a nerdy loser, or a popular assassin- who knows! The possibilites are endless!! (or maybe he's an obsessive bastard who gets obsessed with Desmond cuz he's just full of mysteries and wonders :Dc )
And blah blah blah, plot here, plot there, Isu-bullshit this, time shenanigans that, and BOOM they meet.
And romance ensues? :3 (romace wil absolutely ensue :}}} )
NOW, BEFORE- BEFORE YOU TIE ME TO A STAKE AND BURN ME ALIVE FOR THIS- i think it'd be a cute idea, and who knows? maybe Rashid was hot in his prime *insert lenny face cuz even after all these years i still don't know how to type it and is too lazy to cop paste it* and maybe he liked to solve mysteries and had a thing for the unexplainable. And Desmond is the most unexplainable, most bizarre thing to have graced the earth :33333.
Now that i've got this idea out of my system i'm gonna go pray for the down fall of my coutry's shit for brain, good for nothing military government/hj.
bye! *evaporates*
I hope you’re doing alright and I’m sorry that it took two months before I could answer your ask TTATT
As far as I know, he was only called Al Mualim because of legal reasons but Rashid ad-Din Sinan was the leader of the Assassins in Masyaf during 1191 so it’s safe to assume Al Mualim is AC’s version of Rashid (historically he died in 1193, not 1191.
.
Okay. We can make this work.
We put Desmond at around the same time he’s the recruit and we make it hard for him to realize he’s Al Mualim until it’s too late by doing one simple thing:
Desmond doesn’t know Al Mualim’s real name.
He always knew it as Al Mualim. As far as he knew, Al Mualim was his actual name.
Then he remembered that Al Mualim can mean mentor and bangs his head on the nearest flat surface.
His mission has been clear from the start.
Become an Assassin, take out Al Mualim before he does shit, find Umar and adopt him then play matchmaker so Altaïr would be born.
And no.
Desmond wasn’t going to think about the whole “can you truly be sure that the person who will be born will be Altaïr if you change the circumstances of his conception?”
Yeah.
His head hurts just thinking about it so he won’t.
For now, he’ll focus on his training while keeping a look out for anyone who gives of Al Mualim vibes.
What’s the Al Mualim vibes?
Manipulative old man vibes.
The problem is…
Rashid is one of the recruits in the same batch as Desmond and he becomes Desmond’s closest friend.
And there was no way Desmond would ever be friends with a future power hungry asshole like Al Mualim.
No way.
.
The way their relationship becomes romantic really depends on the kind of personality young Rashid would have.
A nerdy loser who starts making a name for himself because of his intelligence and tactical mind would start off as the kid Desmond sorta looks after. When he starts to show that his strength lies in making plans and quick judgments, he becomes the man whispering on Desmond’s ear. Providing plans and suggestions while giving Desmond a heads up on the less savory words people say about him. Desmond would never think this Rashid is Al Mualim because he’s nice and truly do want to help Desmond. This is also how Rashid would show his love for Desmond and, really, Desmond would think they’re bros and when he realizes that Rashid actually loves him, he’d think “oh, I am Ezio’s descendant”
An arrogant ass Rashid would butt heads with Desmond but Desmond would find himself fond of the man because he reminds him of AC1 Altaïr. This is the Rashid who would definitely be counted as a tsundere and their relationship would start when Rashid just flatout tells Desmond that he wants to do unspeakable things to him while they’re arguing. Desmond is offended because “tugging on my pigtails doesn’t work in real life, dumbass!” and Rashid is just “???” because what the fuck are pigtails??? Lots of awkwardness until Desmond realize that butting heads with Rashid is really how they flirt.
Now. Popular Assassin Rashid is more on the side of polite but is absolutely Desmond’s rival. Whatever it is, the two of them are always competing. Unlike the arrogant ass version, this Rashid is always nice to Desmond. The whole “no hard feelings” and pure competitiveness are what drives their relationship. This is the one where the two of them spar privately one time and things happen. They would try to distant themselves from one another for a bit until they finally talk it out. Rashid honestly didn’t think he loved Desmond until the whole ‘after-sparring’ thing.
Whichever you pick as Rashid’s background, he will become obsessed with Desmond but it’s more on the side of “I will do everything to make Desmond happy” which is good for Desmond but not really good for anyone against him.
.
Desmond is the one who adopts Umar in this one and Umar imprints on him like a baby duckling to a mama duckling. Everyone actually assumed Umar is his bastard son. Desmond ignores it even though he’s only like… a decade and a half older than Umar.
Rashid definitely treats him like Desmond’s son. He’s Umar’s favorite of all of Desmond’s friends.
And really, Desmond should have seen that as a hint of Rashid’s ‘future’.
Speaking of the future.
He’s been looking for Al Mualim this entire time and he has his suspects (Rashid, however, is not on the list) but honestly?
He’s just waiting for the person who would be picked as the one to lead the expansion to Masyaf since that would be Al Mualim.
Desmond has, unfortunately, fucked up the timeline so badly that the person chosen to lead the expansion?
It was Desmond.
.
Sidebar: Faheem would be that cute younger brother who turns grumpy when he grows up. Desmond will forever grieve the lost of little cute Faheem. Faheem is always embarrassed when Desmond talked about his ‘past’.
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stealingyourbones · 1 year ago
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Submitted Prompts #136
So we all know the typical “Danny and Damian are the demon twins” with Danny dying/running away from the League and ending up with the Fentons. How about a little twist?
Danny has been enjoying his life as simply “Danny Fenton, the screwup of Casper High” instead of “Danyal Al Ghul.” Then the GIW start getting much more threatening. So far they haven’t managed to capture any ghosts more complicated/sentient than a blob ghost/ectopus, but their terrible aim and general lack of care for the safety of bystanders has led to a couple of civilian deaths. He only finds out about this when someone mentions that the death of (insert throwaway character here) is the tenth death caused by the GIW.
This cannot stand.
Danny decides the best way to protect Amity Park and ghosts in the realms is to fall back on his League training. The first time he tries to resurrect Danyal, they almost catch him when he goes to get rid of some of the members, and Danny has to think of a new strategy. Insert the Fenton Dreamcatcher thing (I forgot the name, the separation device), and now he’s undetectable. He sticks his ghost half in a thermos to prevent anyone from getting their hands on it, and proceeds to take down important members of the GIW.
After all, they expect attacks from ghosts, they do not expect a very human assassin. Danny keeps track of who he should target next in a little black book he stores in his chest when not in use. All the writing is in Arabic, so anyone who could get their hands on it would struggle to read it, especially if it’s a cipher only used by the League.
Danny, of course, does not tell anyone about this. He’s doing this as Danyal, not Danny, and as such, does not see any reason to let anyone know. Why should they? After all, Danny is the person who couldn’t kill a fly, let alone a human. He’s safe from suspicion, and he never lets anyone know otherwise.
______________________
Aka let him go Feral to protect those he loves. He was born and raised an assassin, no matter how much time has passed between the League and his adoption with the Fentons, he still has a kill count that is very high. And now he has more targets, and satisfies his obsession (protection) in a way that cannot be even remotely traced back to him.
Apologies for any formatting errors, I’m on mobile
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wannab-urs · 9 months ago
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Outtakes - Long ass fics
AO3 | Kofi | Main Masterlist | The Spreadsheet Masterlist
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Howdy folks!
Here's a list of fics I've read that are either over 100k words or have 20+ chapters.
Summaries and tags are, in most cases, provided by the author - please be sure to read them as some of these fics may have content you do not wish to read.
Pedro boys currently included are: Din Djarin, Frankie Morales, Javier Peña, Joel Miller, Dave York, Dieter Bravo, Oberyn Martell, Jack Daniels, and Pedro Across the Street + a Din x Joel fic (no reader insert)
updated 7/22/2024
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Din Djarin
Starlight by LovelessDagger | 300k
Summary: Nothing ever truly dies. Not the Empire, not the dark, not her. The Mandalorian should know this, and somewhere deep down he does. Whether he cares is a different story. Consequences and the whole of them be damned.
Tags: Assassins & Hitmen, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Blood and Violence, Explicit Language. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Morally Ambiguous Character, OFC, Trauma, Found Family, Betrayal, Secrets, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Filled with existential dread, Sexual Tension, Heavy symbolism, two idiots with family issues form a family, Past Child Abuse, Mutual Pining, Angst, Eventual Smut, Clones, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Sith, Imperial Inquisitors, Secret Past, No one tells the truth, Metaphorical Addiction
I Only See Daylight by @millersdjarin | 141.6k
Summary: You’ve stayed in one place all this time, knowing that any move to leave could lead them to find you. When a Mandalorian and his child crash land on your home planet, you can't turn them away for help.
Tags: Smut, slow burn, post-canon, trauma, past emotional/physical abuse, relgious trauma, scars, negative self-image, found family, injury, heavy angst, fluff and love
A Fresh Start by @theidiotwhowritesthings | 140k
Summary: When you made plans for your future they never involved being hired by a Mandalorian to baby-sit his adorable, green gremlin of a child. However, after your life fell apart in the span of one disastrous night, you found it to be the only feasible option you had left. Nevarro was a far cry from Coruscant, but the thriving community turned out to be exactly what you needed. Every day you spend in Nevarro you fall more and more in love with your new life, but when your past rears its ugly head you find that perhaps peace wasn’t meant for everyone.
Tags: use of fake name, reader is hiding from a shady past, depressive symptoms, jealousy, pining, angst, hurt/comfort, medical trauma, nightmares, blood, injury, traumatic past, scars, slow burn, shooting training, sick child, fear and panic, canon typical violence, blackmailing, anxiety, self doubt, sexual tension, heavy petting, panic attack, male masturbation, arguing, mentions of alcohol and a bit of binge drinking, angst, people getting drunk, non descriptive torture, murder, fluff, mentions of death, non consensual groping of reader by a stranger, smut, oral f receiving
Stitches by @djarinsbeskar | 190k
Summary: What is a former combat medic to do when an injured Mandalorian stumbles upon her clinic one night on Klatooine?
Tags: Smut, action, fluff, angst, canon-typical violence
Beskar Doll by @justagalwhowrites | 232.4k
Summary: You have a knack for finding trouble, be it in the midst of Galactic Civil War or when trying to live the quiet life after getting out of the game. So when you're stuck fleeing your new home planet after pissing off the wrong people - again - there's only one person willing to take you: the Mandalorian. But after years of fighting faceless men, you're not the trusting type toward someone always wearing a helmet and the Mandalorian quickly suspects there's more to you than he knows.
Tags: Slow Burn, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Canon-Typical Violence, Pre-Canon, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Dry Humping, Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Mando'a Language (Star Wars), Protective Din Djarin, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Din Djarin Removes the Helmet, Past Domestic Violence, Brat Tamer Din Djarin, Vaginal Fingering, Soft Din Djarin, POV Din Djarin, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Angst, Mandalorian Culture (Star Wars), Mutual Masturbation, Masturbation, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, PIV, Unsafe Sex, Consent King Din Djarin, Din Djarin's Helmet Stays on During Sex, Vaginal Sex, Din Djarin talks you through it, Making Love, Pregnancy
Best Kept Secret by @lincolndjarin | 188k
Summary: Married off to a prince on a planet that you hate? New husband doesn't know you, and doesn't want to know you? New husband gifts you a personal Mandalorian body guard as a wedding present? Mandalorian is a wiseass who won't leave you alone? Lucky you.
Tags: no y/n, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Princess!Reader, Arranged Marriage, bodyguard!din, Smut, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Glove Kink, Light Dom/sub, Switch Din Djarin, Switch Reader, Body Worship, Din Djarin Has a Breeding Kink, Hate Sex, Creampie, Sex Toys, Anal Play, Overstimulation, Multiple Orgasms, eventual pregnancy (right at the end)
Be-All and Endor by @djarins-cyare | 400k
Summary: Languishing in a dull and lonely existence on the forest moon of Endor after travelling there to help salvage Death Star wreckage, a nearly fatal encounter with a mysterious bounty hunter out in the forest heralds an opportunity to utilise long-forgotten skills and develop something more profound than you ever thought possible.
Tags: Slow Burn, Slow Build, Romance, Love, Sexual Tension, Eventual Smut, Smut, Sex, Sexual Content, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Relationships, Healthy Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Injury, Dark Past, Additional Warnings In Author's Notes, Bounty Hunter Din Djarin, Soft Din Djarin, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Smart Din Djarin, Soft Dominant Din Djarin, Ewok Species, Mandalorian Culture, Mando'a Language, New Razor Crest, Thoroughly Researched, Worldbuilding, No use of y/n.
A Place of Safety by The_InvisibleWoman (AO3) | 178k
Summary: Persuaded into picking up one last quarry on his way home, an exhausted Mandalorian is in no mood for you, but he slowly begins to think that things are not as they should be. You’ve been on the run for so long and you don’t even know who from, but when you are captured by the bounty hunter, you think it’s all over.
Tags: Smut, slow burn, protective!Din, touch starvation, Din Djarin's point of view, fluff, angst, mutual pining, enemies to friends to lovers, rescue, falling in love, flirting, close proximity, gentle kissing, gentle sex, cuddling, threats of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, self harm, tickling, noncon
Wrest Pin by BalletOrchard (AO3) | 366k
Summary: “I can help you escape the planet,” Mando said sharply, “But I want information in return.” She looked up at him through the small hairs on her face and she whispered, sounding almost lost…As if she didn’t know what else to say… “I have no information.” Something Mando did not believe.
Tags: panic attacks, force sensitive!reader, unprotected PinV sex, smut, mando is a dick, angst, slow burn (romantically), touch starved!din, bickering, arguing, post season 1, fluff, ofc!evangeline, she like doesn’t get off the first time they fuck which i feel like is worth noting, feelings of regret, minor character death (evangeline’s whole fam), follows canon, mando lowkey keeping evangeline against her will but like she’s hiding from the empire so, near death experience(s), the helmet comes off, oral f receiving, blindfolding, shower sex
Somewhere Beautiful by @peetiespetals | 235k
Summary: You have been working as a slave since the demise of your people and destruction of your planet. A stranger passes through your life and you make a bid for freedom, thwarted by the very man who inspired you to reach for it. In a twist of fate, the two of you are thrown together and must learn how to live with each other as the lines between slave and master begin to blur. Can you really tell the difference between duty and devtion?
Tags: smut, fluff and smut, angst, rough sex, bdsm, abandonment, neglect, physical abuse, love stories, shower sex, mutual masturbation, dom/sub undertones, oral sex, shameless smut, praise kink, bondage, biting, slow burn, spanking, orgasm control, orgasm delay/denial, cock warming, master/slave, vaginal fingering, deep throating, breast worship, pussy spanking, ball play, public creampie, edging, anal sex, foot jobs, handcuffs, cock bondage, panties in mouth, aftercare, jealous din djarin, hurt/comfort, overstimulation, strong female characters, hurt no comfort, porn with plot, sexual tension, porn with feelings, canon typical violence, slow romance, fluff and angst, anxiety, manhandling, pov second person, vaginal sex, nipple play, dirty talk, hair pulling
I Think of You by @prolix-yuy | 107k
Summary: A Mandalorian and a woman spend a night together, neither expecting the other to return. But the galaxy works in mysterious ways and many years later, despite a mission and a Creed and the cruelty of their lives, they find each other again and begin a journey of their own.
Tags: graphic smut, drinking, smoking, dirty talk, The Helmet Stays On, safe PiV sex, drinking, suggestive language, canonical-typical violence. mentions of past sexual experiences, angst and yearning, female masturbation, grinding, descriptions of male and female bodies, illness (not graphic), fingering (f receiving), male masturbation, sexy massage, hand kink, mutual masturbation, fingers in mouths, semi-unprotected PiV sex, descriptions of injuries, blood, and medical-ish procedures, allusions to sexual acts, hurt/comfort
Tied by @radiowallet | 26 chapters
Summary: Dr. Din Djarin is the top cardiothoracic surgeon in his field. His work is meticulous, his judgment unquestionable. And then he get’s a new first assist, who couldn’t give two shits about anyone’s reputation.
Tags: Smut, Cursing, Graphic violence, some questionable power dynamics.
Take Me to Church by @frannyzooey | 31 chapters
Summary: Set in a brothel in the late 1800’s in the Wild West, you’ve only been working there for a month when Din Djarin shows up. A bounty hunter who makes stops into town between jobs, he is known at the inn for his generous appetite and demanding preferences. Asking for you one night, he is pleased to learn you are well suited for him: your sweet nature soothing to his gruff temperament and surprising him with your ability to handle his rougher tastes. Demanding that you be made available to him every time he is in town, neither one of you is ready for where this request leads.
Tags: MFF, oral sex (female/male receiving), vaginal sex, dirty talk, mentions of murder, rope play, mutual masturbation, idk man lots of smut
Losing My Religion by @oonajaeadira | 108k
Summary: A Mandalorian comes looking for you with an assignment from an old friend, sending you on a mission and a union that you both need.
Tags: Smut, canon-typical violence, post-season two canon, reader is force sensitive, alternating point of view, angst, fluff, yearning, mind control, injuries, mourning a lost spouse, alcohol, feelings of betrayal, touch starvation, implied masturbation, kissing, bounty hunter kink, grinding and fingering, Mando'a language
A Shade That's New by FallenFern (AO3) | 111k
Summary: After Mando and Grogu part he goes back to bounty hunting. But its not enough. Desperate to feel again Mando accepts a more dangerous line of work. He joins your small crew on a new job, putting you in close proximity wether you like it or not. Wary of anyone, especially Mandalorians, you try to keep him at arms length. After all, anyone and everyone could be an enemy and you were going to treat him like one.Yeah, thats lasts long…
Tags: OFC!Shade, described as smaller than Mando, curly or wavy hair, able bodied, can blush/flush, Alternating 2nd Person POV. Smut, making shit up, not canon, after grogu and AU, emotional pain, plot with porn, enemies to lovers, slow burn, trauma, sexual tension, action and romance, blood and injury, blood kink, the helmet stays on, but it also comes off, blindfold, light bondage, sexual assualt, threats of rape (not by Mando), praise kink, begging, semi public sex, blaster kink, cock warming, daddy mando, oral sex (f and m receiving), smut marathon, I’ll kill anyone that touches you trope, demanding mando, comfort sex, minor character death, betrayal, mando to the rescue, revenge, reunion sex, say my name trope, edge play, rough sex, throat grabbing but not exactly choking
Scars and All by plaidamoosette (AO3) | 123k
Summary: Hidden away in the desert land of Jakku, you are slowly chipping away at the debt that you and your mother had accumulated following the death of your father to the horrible Denga Niima. But, after the recent passing of your mother, the debt has fallen on your shoulders. Using your skills as a mechanical engineer, you accumulate wealth for your slave master in the hopes that one day you will be free. Free to explore and live as your parents had always wished for you. But things change when you meet a certain bounty hunter when he comes to you to repair his ship. But, nothing is as it seems, and as the lies that were built around your life begin to crumble, you find yourself sucked into a journey of truth, betrayal, and... love.
Tags: Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst, Drama, Deceased Parents, Indentured Servitude, Soft Din Djarin, Soft Dominant Din Djarin, POV Alternating, Din Djarin Removes the Helmet, Protective Din Djarin, Intimidation, Male Masturbation, Touch-Starved, Loss of Virginity, MC doesn't know how to take care of herself, Female Masturbation, Burried Trauma, Readers knows how to fight back, Mandalorians (Star Wars), Mandalorian Culture & Customs (Star Wars), Some Canon material, A whole lot of other made up stuff
Back to You by @kyberblade | 231k
Summary: You’ve been friends with Mando for years, and he drops by your hole in the wall bar from time to time to catch up. This time, however, he’s carrying an extra little green passenger with him. They are on the run, which is unsettling because Mando doesn’t run from things. Things run from him. A tracking fob, a dead body, and a confession later, all three of you set out to help the child find it’s kind. (Aka: a really typical Din x Force Sensitive reader plot, but instead of the going from stiff scary Mando to friendly Mando it’s gonna kinda go the opposite way. Not in a bad way but she’s gonna finally get to see what exactly he was running from all those times he came back to see her.)
Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Angst, Humor, Friends to Lovers, Introspection, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Romantic Friendship, Emotions, Grogu | Baby Yoda Being a Little Shit, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Protective Din Djarin, Good Parent Din Djarin, Soft Din Djarin, Force-Sensitive Reader, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Spicy thoughts, but no smut
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Frankie Morales
Between the Raindrops by Jazzelsaur (AO3) | 148k
Summary: Two lives fall apart, then together. A journey told in parts and pieces. Frankie’s life is coming apart at the seams, when Ellie, a widow facing her own share of struggles, moves in next door. Together they find friendship, healing, and something more.
Tags: Widowed reader, divorced frankie, neighbors to friends to lovers, grief, mourning, angst, masturbation, pining, allusions to sex, eventual smut, slow burn, past drug use, alcohol, infertility, miscarriage mention, ptsd, handjobs, oral sex, smut, food, strained friendships, healing, allusions to verbal abuse, angst with a happy ending, idiots in lovedivorced!Frankie, widow!OC/reader, no one has kids, slow burn with great spicy scenes, smut! with plot
Sex Worker!Frankie AU by @prolix-yuy | 21 chapters
Summary: You’d never thought you’d be sitting on a hotel room bed, phone to your ear as you waited for someone on the other end to pick up. After a messy divorce you wanted something to ease the pain of loneliness. That something just happens to be the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen, even if you had to pay for him.
Tags: Sex Worker!Frankie, implied other Triple Frontier Boys!Sex Workers, watch me make up shit about sex work, descriptions of male and female bodies, oral sex (F receiving), like super descriptive oral (there might be over 2500 words dedicated to Frankie’s talents), female masturbation, fingering (f receiving), safe PiV sex, a touch of Feral Frankie, one ass slap, fingers in mouths, some angst and feelings sprinkled in there for flavor.
Frankie Morales Box Set by @frannyzooey | 20 chapters
Summary: A series of one shots in which Frankie Morales shows you just how much he likes movie night.
Tags: oral, PIV, cum eating, hand job, cockwarming, mutual masturbation, dirty talk, thigh riding, dry humping, lots of other shit
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Javier Peña
Lie to Me by @iamskyereads | 151.8k
Summary: A recent transfer to the DEA from the FBI makes you a target of hazing from your co-workers. Choosing to forget your bad first day at a bar puts you on a path towards meeting a new acquaintance. An expert on deception and psychological profiling, you are adept at catching liars. What happens when an increasingly stressful work environment begins to test the limits of your personal life and the one man at the center of it all, Javier Peña? Afterall, everybody lies about something. But how many are you keeping from yourself?
Tags: An AU of Season 3 of Narcos.Language, Alcohol/Drinking, Smoking, POV Switches, assholery, office pranks/hazing, hatin on the FBI and the DEA too, but we all hate on the CIA the most, Praise Kink, Dirty Talk, thigh grinding, PIV sex, soft Javi, Pining, Sexual Frustration, Use of A Sex Toy, Edging, Oral Sex, Canon-Typical Violence, Guns, police raids, Parallel plots to the show, Smut, sloppy blowjobs, Shower Sex, Social Anxiety, Nightmares, Rough Sex, spitting, Semi-Public Sex, Office Sex, Love in an Elevator, death of background characters, kidnapping of background characters, Shootouts, Masturbation, Breeding Kink, discussions of fertility, kink negotiations, Spanking, Brat behavior, Mild D/s vibes, Creampie, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Sex in a Church, Unprotected Sex, TacVest!Javi, Orgasm Denial, Angst with a Happy Ending, Period-Typical Sexism, Hospital, scar, accident of background characters, historical classism/sexism/racism, Grief/Mourning, Body Insecurities, Cockwarming, threats of kidnapping reader, light teasing, Flirting
Learning to Live by @wheresarizona | 382k
Summary: While grocery shopping, you happen across a handsome man confused by some produce. Coming to his aid leads to an invitation for drinks, and next thing you know, you’re falling head over heels for Javier Peña—a good man who has trouble believing he is. Sparks fly when you meet and ignite an insatiable need that you both try to fight for the sake of taking things slow; Javi determined to do things right by you. The problem is, the two of you only have so much self-control.
Tags: Post-Colombia and Narcos S3, Story Starts in June 1998.POV Alternating, Soft Javier Peña, Meet-Cute, First Dates, Javier Peña Needs a Hug, Whirlwind Romance, Javier Getting the Love and Happiness He Deserves, Javier Is Stubborn At First, Javier Peña in Love, Javier Being a Consent King, Multiple Orgasms, Vaginal Fingering, Dirty Talk, Praise Kink, Hand Jobs, Come Eating, Phone Sex, Mutual Masturbation, Vaginal Sex, Creampie, Cunnilingus, Blow Jobs, Edgeplay, Body Worship, Shower Sex, Biting Javis Butt, Deepthroating, Biting, Javier Coming So Hard His Soul Leaves His Body, Spanking, Car Sex, Dry Humping, Public Thigh Riding, Face-Sitting, Dirty Dancing, Post-Sex Smoking, Aftercare, Feelings, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Slow Dancing, Protective Javier Peña, Jealous Javier Peña, Getting Tipsy With Javier, Javier In Grey Sweatpants, Alcohol, Small Towns, Food, Road Trips, Post-Canon, Face-Fucking, Breeding, Rimming, Anal Play, Romantic Comedy, Cockwarming, Grief/Mourning, past relationship trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Horseback Riding, Love Confessions, Miscommunication, Arguing, Angst with a Happy Ending, Period-Typical Sexism, Canon Typical Drug Talk, Nude Photos, Overstimulation, Dysfunctional Family
Just Dumb Enough to Try by @whatsnewalycat | 108k
Summary: In 1993, you met Javier Peña in San Antonio. You made an emotional and physical connection with him. Now it’s 1998 and you’re starting a new chapter of life in Laredo with your fiancé. And who else walks back into the picture, but the man who left you high and dry five years ago.
Tags: alcohol use, Binge Drinking, Swearing, Recreational Drug Use, Cigarettes, Voyeurism, Smut, Bisexual main character, Touch-Starved, Female Masturbation, Vaginal Sex, Unprotected Sex, Dirty Talk, Teasing, Flirting, Mutual Pining, Cheating, Infidelity, Sexual Tension, Attempt at Humor, Soft Javier Peña, Movie Nerd Shit, use of daddy in a sexual context, Vulnerable Javier Peña, Angst and Feels, Family Issues, Mostly Post Season 3, Existential Crisis, Banter, Mental Health Issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, friends to lovers to friends to lovers, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff and Humor, Oral Sex, Slow Burn, No beta idk I just got here, Fluff and Smut, Not Canon Compliant, Impact Play, Pain Kink, Domestic Violence, Praise Kink, Unplanned Pregnancy, Breeding Kink, Blood and Violence, Mild Gore, Kidnapping
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Joel Miller
Feelings on Fire by @joelscruff | 110k
Summary: Back from school for the summer and staying with your devout Catholic parents, you ask Joel Miller to teach you guitar as an act of rebellion. Turns out, there's a lot more that he wants to teach you too...
Tags: Smut, age gap (reader is in her 20s, Joel is in his mid 50s), inexperienced/virgin reader, loss of virginity, corruption, mentions of religion/Catholicism, praise kink, pet names (babygirl, sweetheart, darling), dirty talk, masturbation, unprotected penetrative vaginal sex, creampies, cumplay, oral sex (female and male receiving), exhibitionism, size kink
Lavender by @justagalwhowrites | 253k
Summary: You're a college student in Austin, Texas, who gets a summer job nannying Sarah Miller. It's not long before her dad sees you as more than a babysitter - or more than a friend. But life - and an apocalypse - have other plans.
Tags: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Pre-Canon, Friends to Lovers, Protective Joel, Parent Joel, Joel is Bad at Feelings, Soft Joel, Fluff and Smut, Fluff, Angst, Smut, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Loss of Virginity, Miscarriage, Sexual Coercion
Closer by @beardedjoel | 193k
Summary: you are staying with your parents, helping them move into their new house in austin. what happens when joel miller, the attractive neighbor you've been eyeing obsessively starts to show you some much wanted attention?
Tags: smut, age difference (joel is 42 and reader is 25), porn with some plot, inexperienced reader, soft!dom joel, boyfriend! joel, possessive! joel, mutual masturbation, rough sex, spanking, creampie, unprotected piv, oral (m + f receiving), dirty talk, overstimulation kink, praise kink, so many pet names it’s not even funny, consensual somnophilia, cockwarming
Yearling by @justagalwhowrites | 186k (as of ch 27)
Summary: After years of surviving in the wilds of Wyoming after the cordyceps outbreak, you find yourself in Jackson. It's a town filled with friendly faces and the kind of world you hardly remember, let alone can connect with or understand. But one man - Joel Miller, another loner, like you - makes you think that trying to find your place in society again might be worth it.
Tags: Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Joel, Parent Joel, Angst, Soft Joel, Smut, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Past Sexual Abuse, Friends to Lovers
Hot and Heavy by @tieronecrush | 130k
Summary: Over the course of three summers, Joel Miller has become woven into the fabric of your life. You nanny his daughter, sneaking around in an illicit love affair. You keep coming home, and he keeps coming back to you. The last summer, you're home with no plans of leaving—and Joel seeks you out again. What chances do you have?
Tags: Neighbor!Joel, age gap, canon-divergence, no outbreak, alcohol consumption, mentions of food, pet names (sweetheart), familial and self pressure, reader is in college, nanny!reader, smut
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Dave York
Notes on Tutoring by @honestly-shite | 189.9k
Summary: Mr. York becomes your new classical guitar tutor in your final year at music college. A dark, mysterious man, you struggle to get a read on him but that doesn’t stop you from finding many ways to push his buttons.
Tags: Smut, alternate universe, music college, age gap, teacher/student relationship, slow burn, PiV sex, power dynamics, angst, pining, alcohol and drinking
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Dieter Bravo
Recovery Road by @chronically-ghosted | 108k
Summary: Dieter Bravo is on his last chance. Six months out of a two year stint in rehab, his marriage on the rocks, and his starlight fading, he reunites with an old director friend on a project that might save his career and his personal life in a single go. Enter Natalie Lorraine, his new enigmatic co-star. Together, they go on to lead a film that comes to define a generation – and are both mysteriously absent the night the film receives an Oscar for Best Picture. Their reasons for missing such a landmark event are their own.
Tags: Smut, age gap (Dieter is 35, reader is 22), drug usage, alcohol, smoking, infidelity, discussions of addiction and withdrawal, toxic relationships, masturbation, pining, angst, anxiety and anxiety attacks, mental illness, bad coping mechanisms, named reader, descriptions of reader's hair, bi!Dieter
Psychomanteum by @whatsnewalycat | 132.7k
Summary: You’ve recently taken on the customer-facing responsibilities of the small-scale cannabis bakery you and your late husband ran out of your apartment, which introduces you to occasional customer, Dieter Bravo. A friendship is sparked when you realize you have something in common: you’ve both died. What Dieter doesn’t tell you about his near-death experience, though, is that it foretold his life with you.
Tags: Smut (including - alternating power dynamics, consensual unprotected sex, penetrative vaginal sex, oral sex, anal sex), gried, alternating point of view, physical descriptions of OFC (including - tattoos, scars, being lifted by Dieter), drug use (including - smoking cannabis and consuming edibles, dropping acid, drinking alcohol, cocaine and morphine use), substance abuse, addiction, fame & paparazzi, canon divergent, suicidal thoughts and planning, divorce, near-death experiences, Bi4Bi romance, supernatural elements, ghosts and psychomanteums, spirituality, drag performance, long-distance relationship, friends to lovers dynamic, OFC is infertile, familial and relationship trauma - please refer to chapters for all warnings.
For the Love of Horror by @coulsons-fullmetal-cellist | 80 chapters
Summary: Dieter meets and falls in love with someone who absolutely loves horror films. The problem is, he's a big scaredy cat!
Tags: loose fit series, series of one shots and drabbles, tags on each chapter
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Oberyn Martell
In Name Only by @forever-rogue | 21 chapters
Summary: Reader, the only daughter of late Lord and Lady Beesbury, is sent off to be married to Prince Oberyn Martell. After having been parted from her first love by her horrid mother, she refuses to marry a man she does not know or love and be pushed into a life of misery. But after threat of being cut off from everything she knew and loved, she finds herself leaving her home in Honeyholt and arriving in Sunspear, married to the Prince. Being the charming and kind Prince he is, Oberyn promises her that it does not have to be a true marriage, it can be a marriage in name only. Little does the newly anointed Lady Martell know, that being married to the Prince is so much more than she bargained for.
Tags: Smut, language, fluff, kissing, period-typical misogyny, angst, sensual touching, mentions of violence and injury, discussions of pregnancy, mentions of death
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Jack "Whiskey" Daniels
Down the Rabbit-Hole by @absurdthirst, @wardenparker | 208k
Summary: When Jack accidentally shoots a civilian on a mission he takes on not only the guilt of the man’s death, but inherits his soulmate as well. To you, it’s a dream job with more perks than you can imagine - but for Jack it’s a nightmarish complication. Even more so when he starts to develop feelings.
Tags: mentions of deceased spouse, a lot of food and alcohol consumption, family recipes, age gap, cursing, Canon typical violence, Death, gun use, angst, Jack has a temper and Tequila has a dumb first name, Making Out, a bit of groping, heavy flirting, sexy shower time, a whole truck load of anger, Fisticuffs, a bunch of angry people being upset with each other, Kidnapping, Torture, burning victim with cigarettes, Broken Bones, a whole lot of gun pointing and talk about murder, medicine by injection, oral sex (f and m receiving), Outdoor Sex, Public Sex, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Cream Pie, Cum Play, Anxiety, Accidental Hurt, panic attack (symptoms based on my own personal experiences), intrusive/racing thoughts, physical symptoms of anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Guilt, Possible Unwanted Pregnancy, Lies, Nausea/Illness, Talk of Abortion, canon typical injuries, Family Planning, Mentions of Sex Toys, Lingerie, Spanking, rough sex, Flirty and somewhat explicit banter, Pregnancy, Discussion of symptoms, Mood Swings, cemetery/deceased loved ones, speaking to deceased loved ones
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Pedro Across The Street (Calls)
Good. Things. Take. Time. by @oonajaeadira | 22 chapters
Summary: PATS is a massage therapist with special services. Or so he claims. He gives you a three-hour session you’re both going to enjoy.
Tags: Explicit marathon wall to wall smut, masseuse!PATS, sex worker!PATS.
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Din Djarin x Joel Miller
Cosmic Oddities by fromthewhales (AO3) | 106k
Summary: Turning a clan of two into a clan of four and asking the very important, albeit unhinged question: What if space dad and apocalypse dad were Weird About Each Other?
Tags: parental bonding, parallels, angst, everyone has issues, everyone needs a hug, touch starved din djarin, injuries, strangers to ??? to lovers, smashing the space western and the zombie western together like 2 ken dolls, trauma, crack-fic adjacent at times, hurt/comfort, soft not super explicit smut, self harm, found family, din djarin eventually removes the helmet, blindfold, long distance relationship, survivors guilt, angst with a happy ending, non sexual intimacy, it gets worse before it gets better, alcohol mention, game II canon divergent — but boy does it come close, canon typical violence, minor character death, major character injury, bi!din djarin, bi!joel miller
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Various
The Infinity Cube by @littlemisspascal | 20 chapters
Summary: When you play with a strange cube, you’re transported out of your current reality with your boyfriend Marcus into brand new ones starring alternate versions of your boyfriend who look and act entirely different every time. With each encounter, you start to wonder if you’ll ever make it back to your real universe?
Tags: language, fluff, angst
171 notes · View notes
cannedpickledpeaches · 7 months ago
Text
Insert Your Name (6)
Mafia!Jade Leech x Mafia!Reader
Link to series masterlist!
Notes and TW: Here's how they met, and also some other stuff. This series will have mentions of blood, violence, crime (kidnapping, attempted assassination, extortion), and harassment, as one might expect from a mafia AU. Please enjoy!
Tags: @guava-writes @itszzmoon @twstsandturns @myteacupisempty @rou-luxe @chikitasmol
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Things feel a little different between you and Jade nowadays. You can’t say you’ve gotten closer. But tentatively, you’re starting to let your guard down around him. You told him what you thought about trusting him.
“The only people who’d trust you,” you explained your theory, “are naïve fools, desperate people, or wary ones who have leverage on you or something to gain.”
He smiled enigmatically. “What category do you believe you fall under?”
“Naïve fool,” you answered without hesitation.
His chuckles in your ear felt like silk. “The fact that you can say that means you are not.”
A part of you still worries, but you’ve decided to give it a chance. No developments can be made if you refuse to take risks. Besides, you don’t have the brainspace to linger on this. The other mystery from his phone call that morning still hasn’t been addressed.
Why did (Y/N) forget you? Is it linked to the spell shielding Barry Moore’s memories from Shock the Heart? After some tests, Azul concluded that it’s not a defensive spell. Instead, it is a high-level spell locking specific memories. Only experienced mages can pull that off, even if it is someone’s Signature Spell. If it’s the same spell, why would (Y/N)’s memories specific to you be blocked off? Does it have to do with how you’re an extra in the book? By that logic, why were Moore’s memories locked, and not yours?
There is one path that has opened up. Jade consolidated a list of mages in the Carpenter Mafia. You’ve spent the past two weeks splitting the investigation into every mage between the two of you. Meanwhile, Jade has continued with advancing the plot. The story says he should be in love with (Y/N) by this point, but he still denies it to you. You have decided to take his word for it.
Your iced coffee tastes like frustration. You fiddle with the straw while observing a barrel-chested man across the street. He browses a luxury watch shop. You’ve been tailing him for a good few days, and you’ve already seen a few glimpses of his magic. His spells are crude and broad. Nowhere near the precision needed to lock specific memories. Maybe he’s acting, too cautious to show his magical prowess. You find it unlikely.
He is the last on your half of the list. Jade is done his half as well, save for someone who is a missing person the last time you checked. Not unusual for a mafia. You still think you should look into it when you return home. Other than that, did you not investigate thoroughly enough? Nobody matches the level of magical skill needed for that spell. You are starting to wonder if you are the one who is making a mistake. Maybe the one responsible is not a mage in the Carpenter Mafia. If not, who is it? The same person who wrote that manuscript in the first place?
Unanswered questions buzz around you like flies. You feel as though the more you investigate into this whole ordeal, the more questions you have. The man leaves the watch shop and you cannot find it in you to leave your corner of the café. It would be a waste of time to follow him.
Even if this investigation fails, not all hope is lost. According to Jade, (Y/N) recently won a raffle that allowed her on a certain movie set. The men you’ve planted amongst the staff reported that Vil Schoenheit took an interest in her natural beauty. The story is flowing onward without a hitch, so if all else fails, you can rely on her doe eyes. She should be able to tug on Vil’s heartstrings until he agrees to cure Jade and Floyd’s parents.
There’s no point in fantasizing about hypotheticals. If the story says it is so, it probably is. Things are easier this way. With that matter put to rest in your mind, your thoughts wander to home. With some free time in your schedule, you could make brunch for your mother. She might be sleeping in today.
Maybe you should take her back to your hometown sometime soon. Right now, you’re both living in your house in the capital of the Queendom of Roses, but you grew up elsewhere. Your hometown is on an isle on the far reaches of the Queendom’s territory, right next to the Coral Sea. That is where you met the twins, and later, Azul.
The memory of your first meeting is still vivid in your mind. You had been strolling along the beach that day on your way home from school. An odd shape caught your eye. Something distinctly green and long, half hidden behind the grey rocks of the cliffside. Loud voices of children your age filled the air. Middle schoolers, all boys. You figured it couldn’t be anything other than trouble.
But then you saw what caught their attention. And just like that, you were rooted to the spot. A long green tail with dark stripes and thin fins thrashed on the sand. Where you might have expected a fish or a sea monster’s head, you instead saw a boy’s upper body. Green, slimy, and snarling with gnashed, saw-like teeth and mismatched eyes, but a boy nonetheless. A boy who was trying his best to appear threatening while human boys stood around him in a circle.
As a child, you weren’t particularly righteous. You didn’t—and still don’t—care much about the livelihoods of people who aren’t close to you. The typical reaction for you would have been to walk away.
In fact, you were just about to turn around when you realized why his tail seemed familiar to you. Your favourite shops by the shore were owned by moray eel merfolk. When you asked your mother about them, she mentioned that moray merfolk weren’t too common. You surmised that whoever this unfortunate kid was, he was probably somewhat related to those rich business owners, and that meant you had something to gain if you helped.
It’s all very flimsy logic, now that you think back. You can forgive yourself for it. At the time, you were twelve years old. And without this incident, you wouldn’t be employed at this very well-paying job in the present day.
So you decided to chase away the boys surrounding the mer. They weren’t doing much other than talking out of curiosity, but they weren’t helping him get back in the water, either. Warning them should have been enough, but you lacked the factor of intimidation. When you yelled at them, they sneered back at you, telling you they wouldn’t listen to what a girl had to say.
In your defense, you were quick to anger as a child. Not that it excuses the five noses you broke under your fists that afternoon.
You stood next to that mer, hands dripping red with blood onto the thin layer of snow over coarse sand. The human boys threatened to tell on you or beat you up or whatever else they could think of, but after you threatened to break their arms too, they ran off. Once the coast was clear, you looked down at the boy beached on the sand. His skin was becoming dull.
“Thank you,” he said, his inhuman mismatched eyes peering up at you. “Can you help me back into the water? It’s a bit hard for me, and my skin is drying out.”
You squatted down a safe distance away from him so that you could see him at eye level. He sounded just like a normal boy. If you ignored the green skin, fins, markings, sharp teeth, and tail, he looked like a normal boy, too—although that was quite a lot to ignore. Well, a boy who looked normal could still be rich.
“Pay me.” You reached out a bloody hand expectantly. He looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
“You’ll be disappointed. I don’t have money on me.”
He wasn’t carrying any bags. But his hand clutched something shiny and blue. Before he could react, you snatched it away from him and held it up to the rays of the setting sun.
They looked like jewels, almost. But too thin, and the texture didn’t feel like any jewel you had ever held. Not that you’d held many. You could have been fooled into thinking it was something valuable based on how the boy bared his teeth at you.
“Give that back. You will regret it if you do not.”
“What is this?”
He held his hand out the way you did when you asked him for money. “Sturgeon scales. Return them.”
They were just scales, it seemed. Not particularly expensive. And your mother always told you it was bad to steal things.
She never explicitly said it was bad to extort people.
“I’ll give them back to you tomorrow if you come here at sunset to give me one hundred thaumarks.” You pocketed the scales. “I’ll push you into the water, but I’m not giving them back until you pay me.”
Begrudgingly, he accepted your help getting back to the embrace of the waves. A mer who looked exactly like him greeted him with a loud, cheerful voice. He even called out to you, asking you to come into the water and fight him, too. That was more trouble than it was worth, so you ignored him and went home with three sturgeon scales in your pocket.
The next day, you waited at the same spot after school. As promised, he arrived with a hundred-thaumark bill. As you exchanged items, he asked why you didn’t ask for more while you had the chance.
You blinked slowly. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“Ya shoulda asked for way more!” A second, identical green head popped out of the water, startling you. You didn’t even know when he arrived. “A hundred thaumarks’s chump change.”
“Must be nice thinking that way.” You crouched by the shore, staring at the money in your hands. Your mother would surely ask where you got it from. You wondered what excuse you would give her this time.
“What do you need money for?” The first twin rested his hand on his chin, his torso propped up on a rock.
You fidgeted with the bill. “My mom needs to buy medicine. She isn’t dying or anything, but it would make her life more comfortable. I can’t earn money, but I want to help.”
“And ya extorted Jade for that?” The more boisterous one laughed. You thought it was a laugh, at least. You had never heard something so similar to crunching glass. “Ya got guts, Red Handfish!”
“Red Handfish?”
“Think of it as a term of endearment.” The first twin—Jade—flicked his tail lightly. “Anyway, if you need money, I have a proposal. If you bring us things that only exist on land, I’ll keep paying you.”
It didn’t seem like a bad deal. Little did you know that it would entangle your lives until the present day.
You’re still contemplating your good? Bad? Fortune of meeting the Leech twins when your phone buzzes, pulling you back to reality. A text from Jade that says: Come to my home office. I have something to discuss with you.
You didn’t think much of it until you arrived at his front gates. Unease flickers in your gut. The mansion is quiet, the courtyard empty. Where are the security guards who should be stationed at the front? It is noon. They can’t all be off work.
You enter the front yard. No movement except for swaying branches from the trees Floyd likes to climb. The sound of the doorbell meets dead silence. Your eyes rove over the massive glass windows on the double doors. The midday sun lights up the neighbourhood behind you, which casts a reflection of your silhouette on the glass. In that reflection, you catch a glimpse of a shadow behind you.
Instincts kick in before your rational mind. Your Signature Spell envelops your body like chainmail. The knife thrusted towards you crashes into invisible armour around your skin. With a flick of a wrist and a punch to the jaw, you disarm your assailant and knock him out. Fluidly, you transition into a kick, the sole of your shoe meeting the throat of another one. More jump out at you. Your body falls into a quick, effortless flow of movements as you knock them unconscious one-by-one. A strike to the temple. Throat. Jaw. Solar plexus. Heart. Groin. Repeat. You would kill them if you had a weapon, but you’re barehanded and doing it that way takes too long. Something is very wrong here. Assassins? Where is Jade? Was that message even from Jade to begin with?
You unlock the door and rush inside, heading straight for his office. It could be a trap. No matter. You are confident you can take care of yourself. Within seconds, you fling open his office door and step inside.
Nothing seems amiss here. In fact, Jade himself sits calmly in his chair. On your side of his desk, a woman stands in the uniform of the security under his employ. Jade gives you a smile.
“You seem out of breath. Would you like a cup of tea?”
You shake your head, confused. “A hot drink is the last thing I need right now. What is going on? Why’d I get attacked?”
Jade shoots a pointed smile at the woman. You’ve known his expressions well enough to tell it is a threat. She chuckles and extends a hand.
“Sorry about that. I told my men not to let anyone enter.”
You shake her hand warily, your Signature Spell still active. “Your men?”
“Yes. Pleasure to meet you. You may call me Walrus. I have been working undercover in the Leech brothers’ residence for . . . Oh, about a month.”
“Walrus” sounds familiar. You wrack your memory. It dawns on you—it was a name in the list of mages working for the Carpenter Mafia. The one who turned out to be a missing person. Was that fake? Your shoulders stiffen. If she’s from a rival mafia, then she’s in the middle of enemy territory.
“Isn’t espionage a little outdated?”
“Not at all. Especially when my Signature Spell is so well suited for it.”
You connect the dots quickly. “You’re the one who locked Barry Moore’s memories?”
“That’s me. He’s under me. I didn’t expect him to be so careless, so I cleaned up after his mistake.” Walrus beams like a teacher congratulating a student. She turns to Jade, talking as though you are not in the room. “She’s quick. And strong enough to incapacitate all my men. Won’t you please lend her to me?”
Jade’s smile borders on dangerous. “She is an essential member of my group. I would be quite burdened if she suddenly left.”
“Please think about it a little more.”
“My decision will not change.”
You hold out your hands. “Hold on. Just give me a second. What is going on?”
Jade’s facial muscles relax imperceptibly. He gestures for you to stand beside him, so you indulge him. Only when you are properly by his side does he answer your question.
“Walrus is not truly part of the Carpenter Mafia, just like how she was not truly part of my security team. Her true allegiance lies with a smaller group in the Queendom that aims to take over the Carpenter Mafia.”
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bunthebreadboy · 5 months ago
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i saw a fanart on pinterest when i decided to change my entire phone theme and i can’t get it out of my head.
the art was just after the zuko and ozai agni kai. zuko was knocked out, iroh was getting ready to take him and leave, and azula just came in and said “i took care of it”. if anyone knows what i’m talking about and has it saved or knows the og artist pls lmk!!
anyways. it got me thinking about an expansion of this au (that i will never write because i have neither the patience nor the time to do that) that (unsurprisingly) results in disasterlesbian!azula
so hear me out on this one. there would need to be an entire plot. like. what’s aang going to do??
azula killed ozai by electrocuting him. it’s the first time she discovers her lightning bending. it looks like he had a heart attack in his sleep. (don’t get too wrapped up in the details. azula’s a prodigy she can be overpowered for a bit)
why did she kill her dad? she’ll swear up and down that it was because “he really should have picked on someone with a better fighting ability than zuzu. honestly, it’s stupid he didn’t lose his honor after frying my pathetic firebender of a brother to a crisp.” it’s actually because she kind of sort of loves zuko. she will NEVER admit that.
iroh becomes fire lord, albeit a bit reluctantly. he spends the next three years attempting to end the war, stop the spread of propaganda in the fire nation, and deal with his niece and nephew bickering all the time.
so aang comes out of the iceberg. meets katara and sokka. katara convinces him to take her to the north pole because he’s the avatar, he still should probably master all four elements war or not. all of the traveling is the same (except zuko chasing them) until they get to omashu and king bumi is like “what’s up my dude, welcome back. we’re recovering from a war, so you should probably learn politics and how to not offend anyone while you master the elements!!”
(“there was a WAR?!?!!!” -aang, probably)
so now aang does a deep dive into all of the nation’s politics while also training. katara doesn’t really attend his meetings, but sokka’s a total nerd and is sat for every single one. first is waterbending at the north pole. insert canon things but add in a meeting with arnook.
this is where we introduce the REAL enemy, because the enemy can’t be the gaang attempting to learn international law at 12, 14, and 15 years old. during the full moon someone assassinates the moon spirit! (sorry yue, i love you but you still die in this au…)
so after mastering waterbending the gaang heads to the earth kingdom. they meet toph and she joins. they head to ba sing se, which, after trying to talk politics with the king, they realize is still completely unaware of the war. while in the earth kingdom, we get a name for the big bad. the dai li. after realizing that ba sing se is basically a military dictatorship, the gaang escapes and head to the fire nation.
that’s where zuko, azula, and iroh get reintroduced. aang and sokka consistently come back from meetings with the royals complaining about “oh my god, the princess is such a bitch. seriously, how is she allowed to help run this country??”
katara eventually goes with the boys to a meeting to get them to shut up. toph makes fun of her for being a people pleaser, but katara will do literally anything to get her brother and best friend to stop yapping about the same topic at her every. single. day.
azula (disaster lesbian) doesn’t say a single word throughout the entire meeting. sokka and aang walk out feeling like they were in the twilight zone. katara shows up to more and more meetings. why? definitely not cause the princess is sort of kind of somewhat cute intriguing.
insert azula’s gay awakening crisis here. she eventually starts talking at the meetings, but she’s only ever nice to katara lmao. katara does realize that azula’s an actual genius, though. she decides that the two of them could probably like, take over the entirety of ba sing se in a day if they tried hard enough. but of course that is purely hypothetical.
so one day a meeting gets interrupted by a literal dai li assassin trying to kill aang. he barely escapes the resulting fight.
so the dai li send more assassins. and even more assassins. until finally zuko gets fed up and is just like “alright i’m tired of dealing with these guys. can we please go kick their leader’s ass??”
that is how azula and zuko end up joining the gaang. and how azula can eventually lay siege over ba sing se (even if she reluctantly gives it back when katara tells her to).
other misc key points:
- azula and katara get together right before they fight with long feng. it happens cause katara notices that azula is nervous (nobody else would be able to tell) and so she’s like “zula. you’ve got this. we’ve got this” and kisses her lmao
- toph and azula are best friends, to katara’s obvious dismay
- the second azula calls zuko “zuzu” in front of sokka he immediately starts rolling on the floor and laughing. katara has to make sure his lungs are okay afterwards
- zuko: “im literally not gay??” sokka: “yeah, and toph can see”
- toph regularly comes back to wherever the gaang is staying with bags of money. she knows how to find every single illegal fighting ring in the world.
- this is a loooooong term plot. since there’s no reason to worry about the comet it can take place over many years. which also means that katara and azula literally pine for each other until they’re like 20 and everyone around them, especially (and surprisingly) aang, is like “oh my god make it stop”
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valkyrieromanoff · 19 days ago
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🕸️LIBRARY SHADOWS : PADAWAN! ANAKIN  X YOU (day 13 of 31)
synopsis:  Anakin drags you to the Temple library to research spooky legends after you claim not to believe in Halloween.
warning: none, urban legends, scare padawans
 a/n: Hello there, I don't know why but horror stories and the padawan Anakin getting scared is so fun to write, I made a personalized one in the myths of the blonde in the bathroom and the chupacabra,  hope you like it💖
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ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ
ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇᴠɪʟ'ꜱ ʟᴜʀᴋɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ
ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴʟɪɢʜᴛ
ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴀ ꜱɪɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ꜱᴛᴏᴘꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ
"Anakin..." You drawled out his name, mumbling dramatically as he pulled you through the shadows of the Jedi Temple, guiding you to the library. Curfew had long since passed, and the heavy silence of the night enveloped the room. You walked carefully, trying not to attract the attention of any masters or security droids.
"I heard Madame Jocasta sleeps there," you joked, your voice echoing softly in the silent hallway.
Anakin looked at you with a confused expression. "Of course not. It's a library, not a tavern."
You passed through the large doors of the Jedi Temple library, the absolute silence surrounding you as you entered. The gigantic bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling, forming labyrinthine rows. Soft moonlight filtered in through the arched windows, casting long, distorted shadows across the hallways, creating an unsettling atmosphere. Each step you took echoed faintly on the polished floor.
"You know if we get caught here, we're in trouble, right?" you whispered, though it was clear the excitement of the adventure was also contagious.
"Relax," Anakin replied, a mischievous smile on his lips. "We're here for a legitimate reason."
"Oh, sure. Is telling scary legends one of the Jedi's missions?" you teased, but you couldn't help but smile slightly as you followed Anakin deeper into the library.
He led you to the Jedi legends section, a forgotten and rarely visited part of the library. The air there seemed thicker, and the silence was so deep that any sound seemed forbidden. You settled at a table hidden between the shelves, and Anakin pulled out some old files. He inserted the first disk into the terminal, and the screen flashed before revealing ancient text.
"Let's see what we find," he whispered, moving closer to read the file.
"Deep in the abandoned halls of a forgotten Jedi Temple on Coruscant..." Anakin began to read in a low voice, his tone deliberately somber. "They say that during the fall of the Jedi, a Sith apprentice named Darae Vyyl infiltrated the temple, disguised as a healer. With her white hair and red eyes, she lured Jedi into secret, forbidden rooms. No one who entered with her ever returned." 
The story seemed to drift through the room, as if the words had come to life. The soft sound of bookshelves creaking in the distance made your heart race, but you tried to hide your nervousness with a laugh.
"She was probably just an assassin," you suggested, trying to keep your tone light. "These stories are clearly made up to scare Padawans who wander outside their dormitories at night." 
Anakin continued, unfazed by your disbelief. "Some say that late at night, when the Force is disturbed, a ghostly figure appears in the dark meditation chambers... her hair white and flowing, her skin pale, and if you meet her red eyes... you are cursed." He whispered the last word, and suddenly the library felt colder, as if an invisible breeze had passed through the room. 
You involuntarily moved closer to the screen, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that ran down your spine. "These stories... they're just to keep us in line," you murmured, trying to sound casual. 
But you couldn't deny the shiver that ran through your body.  You glanced around suspiciously, noticing that the shadows on the shelves seemed to move strangely, as if something was lurking between the books.
"If that's all you think," Anakin said, switching the disc with a defiant smile, "let's see this next legend." The moonlight streaming through the large windows wavered slightly, causing the shadows to lengthen grotesquely across the bookshelves. The eerie atmosphere seemed to grow louder, making every sound and movement more noticeable.
"On a desolate planet called Dantoria," Anakin began again, "there exists a creature known as the Ack'raa Hunter. Created through Sith alchemy and genetic manipulation, it hunts Jedi and other life forms, draining their life energy."
You looked at the screen, where a horrific image of the monster appeared. It was a reptilian creature, with spines running down its spine, leathery wings, and glowing eyes that seemed to burn in the darkness. For a moment, you forgot your attempt to remain calm. The creature was terrifyingly realistic.
"It was created during the High Republic," Anakin continued, "as a biological weapon, designed to feed on the Force. Many farmers found their animals drained of blood, their bodies dried out, and no Jedi was able to destroy it."
Anakin paused, but before you could respond, a sudden noise interrupted the silence. A tree branch slammed against one of the windows, the sound echoing through the library and making you jump from your chair.
Your heart raced, and Anakin quickly stood up, he looked around, as if expecting to see the creature of legend emerging from the shadows.
“Did you hear that?” he asked, his voice low but tense.
You just nodded, feeling panic rising. Your eyes darted around the room, trying to find a logical explanation. The wind, perhaps? But something felt off, as if the library itself was… alive.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the aisle of books to the right, and you clutched Anakin’s hand, your heart racing.
“Be quiet,” he whispered, pulling you into one of the study chambers, where you huddled in a corner, hidden in the shadows. The library was strangely alive now, each shelf creaking as if something was moving among the books. The silence was overwhelming, except for the sound of those footsteps, now clearly closer.
You peeked through the crack in the door. A huge shadow loomed on the floor, elongated and distorted, like the figure of a creature with sharp claws and spikes all over its body. Your heart leapt into your throat, and you closed your eyes, holding your breath.
The sound of footsteps stopped abruptly. The silence that followed was even more terrifying. You could feel the heat of Anakin's body next to yours, both of you frozen in fear. The distant sound of leaves rustling outside the library only intensified the growing terror.
"Anakin..." you whispered almost inaudibly. But before he could answer, the door to the chamber was pushed open slightly, just enough for you to see the shadowy figure pass through the entrance.
But it wasn't a creature.
It was Jedi Master Ima-Gun Di.
The Kajain'sa'Nikto calmly passed between the shelves, seemingly oblivious to the terror he had caused. He was searching for a specific file on the plains of Ryloth, his expression serene, completely unconcerned. Seeing the files on ancient Jedi legends spread across the table, he frowned slightly before patiently gathering everything up.
"These padawans..." he muttered to himself, shaking his head with a slight smile on his lips, unaware of the fright he had given them.
As soon as Ima-Gun Di left the library, you both let out your breath in unison, still shaking. The dread you felt quickly gave way to a mix of relief and disbelief.
"You were scared," Anakin whispered, a mischievous smile appearing on his face as he tried to disguise his own nervousness.
"Don't even come," you replied, laughing nervously. "But seriously, let's get out of here before anything really happens."
You stood up quickly, leaving the chamber and crossing the library with hurried steps, still feeling the weight of what you had just experienced. The moon shone softly through the windows, and the library returned to its ghostly silence. The fear was still there, somewhere in the shadows, but the experience had also created a new connection between you.
As you walked back to the dorms, the terror that had once filled the air seemed to dissipate, transforming into a strange, shared adventure.
After all, some legends are just stories. Or are they?
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thebunnednun · 7 months ago
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New profile pic!! Oh and updates 4/14/2024 (Master list too)
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Finally, something that looks like me!
Oh, btw the names Angellica or Angie for short. I don't mind being called BUNNEDNUN either babes.
My wifey: @elarakive
My sister friend: @thealtofvalleyxdoodles My girl: @orange-milky
WE ASLO HAVE A COMMUNITY LINK NOW!!:
Now let's get down to business,
An updated schedule will be as follows:
Mundane Monday: The beginning of the week is always dreadful so let's make it fun with some crack fics. Memes, Memes, MEMES galore!
Tearful Tuesdays: Angst posts will be the main thing on here. I'm thinking of some hurt and comfort fics. I'm already working on a Buggy fic for this. I'm not opposed to happy endings but in general, think of an onion cutting itself for these. They don't all have to be romantic and I'm creating something for Trafalgar Law here.
Wonderful Wednesdays: I will update two of the current fan series on this day maybe three if I have the time. So far the list includes:
*Enchanted meeting (Buggy The Clown x Straw-hat reader)
*Shadows of the Blade (Dracule Mihawk x Assassin reader)
*Capturing hearts (Iñaki Godoy x Photographer reader)
*Please Don't Hate Me! (Juan Ruiz x Imperfect reader
*Whispers of the heart (Dracule Mihawk x Maid (Pirate Queen) reader)
*Love Sick (Buggy the Clown x Straw-hat reader)
*Bound by Justice (Sabo x Marine! Reader)
*Carnival Confessions (Portgas D. Ace x Straw-Hat! Reader)
*If you only knew how much I love you (Sabo x Straw-hat! Reader x Ace)
*Make you mine!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Cheeky~ Crewmate! Reader)
*Throw Me Overboard! (Buggy the Clown x Fm! Reader)
*Gone Fishing! (Sabo x Sea creature Straw-Hat! Reader)
*Good neighbors (Farmer! Bakugou Katsuki x Gardener! Reader)
*Dancing Under the Stars (Red-Haired Shanks X Bar/ DanceClub Owner! Reader)
*In the Arms of a Stranger (Charlotte Katakuri x Bride! Reader)
*Unexpected Dinner Guests! (Koby x Straw-Hat! Reader)
*Tempted to touch! One piece Men x Fm! Reader (Multi fic)
*Shadows in the Night! (Trafalgar D. Water Law x Ethereal spirit! Reader)
*Sweet dreams!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Hot Doctor Wife! Reader (Modern Au))
*Golden afternoon (Monkey D. Luffy x Crew mate! Reader) *LOYALTY (Katsuki Bakugou x Sugar Baby! Reader)
*You're my Coffee (Shouta Aizawa x Pro Hero/Teacher! Reader)
*Overworked (Katsuki Bakugou x Stressed! gf! Reader)
*Build a Boyfriend (Mirio Togata x Pastel Goth! Reader)
*The One That Got Away (Katsuki Bakugou x Girlfriend! Reader)
Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Ace, Law, Robin, Boa, Chopper, and Zoro will be loading soon. I have many, many, MANY, ideas but no time right now.
Thoughtful Thursdays: Just some random conversations and ideas thrown out there. I'll try to host polls so you guys can vote on what you want next. Basically a rest day for me though because there's just no way I could write everything in one shot. (/@ ~@)/~* I've tried and it ends with me updating around 3AM or sum.
Follower Fridays: Requests from followers are posted. If you have a story request or anything you want to ask go ahead and do so on this day. Just make sure you send them in early so I can get to it in time. If you send something the day of I might be able to make it happen.
Sexy Saturdays: Send me your best Saturday night requests: ie dancing, funny adventures, or crazy antis with the one-piece crew or another fandom. I'm very familiar with Naruto and MHA (and any other anime honestly I doubt there's anything you could request that I don't know.)
It's all about having fun and having those Saturday night vibes babe!~
Sweet Sundays: Romantic One-shot posts! Any character of age and as long as it's not a child. I would be open to doing a reader insert where they are a parent or parental figure though. I find them to be very endearing.
As always your requests are welcomed and comments are very much appreciated. Sorry again for being gone for so long. I want to pick up my serious especially and make the chapters juicy again.
I also have a spring tee shop for merch related to all the stories!!
Every little bit helps me to pay for my tuition! <33
Thank you guys again for your patience and understanding.<<333
Don't forget to check out my a03 account of the same name!!
My new goals are to keep up with the schedule and get 50 followers by the end of the month! I wanna keep growing our family. :3
Most of all, remember that you are safe here and loved.
Until next time my loves!~
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mintharabaenrelore · 13 days ago
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Minthara & Orin
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(Well-done, beautifully colored Minthara & Orin art by @ravysu, NOT by me!)
Before you continue, please read this! I do not ship this, but I'm not saying you can't do so.
Ketheric Thorm sent a True Soul and 2 novices to Menzoberranzan, 'preaching a message of togetherness'. Minthara killed them. She then used a 'simple act of necromancy'- likely Speak to the Dead, but as I said in my timeline, corpses don't speak to their killer, so I don't know how she did this. They informed her where to strke, and so she went to Moonrise Towers with a retinue of warriors and assassins. As she referred to them as 'her men', I believe they were all male.
She met Ketheric at a feast, he proposed an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan. During all of this, Orin was at the foot of the table, and Minthara notes she should have been more wary of her- the 'pale woman'. Then, Orin spoke for the first time. Minthara caught only her name. Orin then climbed across the table, 'a dagger in each hand', skipped toward her, 'slicing' the throats of her men as she passed by them. Ketheric held Minthara still, a hand on her shoulder, 'the grip tight enough to crack bone'.
Orin stood before her and touched a dagger to her eye, 'drawing out a tear of blood'. Why did she do this? Potentially preparation for the tadpole to be inserted, but knowing Orin, I think it's just that she enjoys stabbing people's eyes- that's what she does to whoever she kidnaps, after all. Anyways, Orin said, in these exact words, "I want this one." This is where things get vague.
What did "I want this one" mean in this context? I think Orin viewed Minthara as a plaything, and this was her way of saying so. Ketheric gave her permission, and Minthara never forgave him for 'handing' her to Orin. In fact, she says "For that, I hope Myrkul hollows out his bones and lets them be dust." Minthara was then taken 'below'- by Orin herself, I believe. (Whether that means she was dragged to the colony or injured already or some other method, I don't know.)
Why did Orin demand to 'have' Minthara? A childish, twisted curiosity or even obsession. I've seen many comparisons between Minthara and the Dark Urge- both having led lives of violence, tormented by Orin, their minds tampered with- and one thing I theorize is that Orin's fascination with Minthara came from this. Perhaps she thought she was similar to Durge... a replacement, even.
Remember, Orin wasn't supposed to kill Minthara's fellow drow. Here is the note found in Ketheric's room that references Minthara's "recruitment"-
“Sweeping up individual drow renegades is not giving us the cadre of Lolth-trained veterans I want for our staff and officer corps; we must be more ambitious. Agent Xilvre, True Soul 113, will be commanded to infiltrate Menzoberranzan itself, ideally House Baenre, ostensibly to proselytise on the behalf of the divine Absolute. I think Xilvre will be convincing in this role.
This intrusion will excite outrage among the Baenre matrons, who can be counted upon to send a warband to exterminate whoever was so rash as to promote anti-Lolth apostasy in their home. Xilvre will have left a clear trail back here to Moonrise Towers, where the warband will find, not a circle of ragtag heretics, but an army in the making. I will parley with the drow leader, but as we negotiate her warband will be ambushed, and every drow warrior we capture will be tadpoled. This accomplished, the warband leader will meet the same fate, and thus we shall acquire our cadre of hardened Underdark warriors. And all it will cost us is the life of loyal Agent Xilvre, but he is, truth be told, a tedious enthusiast and I will not miss him."
Continuing on- what happened in the colony?
Minthara was kept for days in the mind flayer colony by Orin personally. She was forced to watch as her men were processed as food and thralls. When Orin kidnaps someone, she appears to use a paralysis of some sort, so I theorize that's how Minthara was 'forced to watch'. Unsurprisingly, Minthara has 'grim' memories of the place.
Two contrasting statements are made about exactly how Minthara was tadpoled, but both directly involve Orin. Either Orin placed a tadpole in Minthara's eye herself, or she 'held' her down in a 'cocoon of flesh' (which may or may not mean a mind flayer pod; Minthara is familiar enough with mind flayers by this point that I think she would say so if it was) and 'laughed' at her fear as a mind flayer forced a parasite into her brain.
From that point on, Minthara was brainwashed and believed in the Absolute. Orin was the Absolute's Chosen, who she believed to be speaking for her, and so Minthara says "I worshipped that woman." She says, "Orin was by my side. She told me that the Absolute had chosen me to be a True Soul. Blessed and adored. Now I know those memories are lies." Whether she is saying Orin lied or that these memories were altered, I'm not certain. I know that the memory of her indoctrination was obscured, as as during banter with Shadowheart, Minthara notes "I am glad my memories of the infection are not so clear."
Fortunately, Minthara didn't stay in the mind flayer colony for long. She says, "My indoctrination - my infection - took place at Moonrise, but I did not stay here for long. […] Ketheric recognized me as a soldier, and took me into his army immediately." Less fortunately, this doesn't mean she wasn't still seeing Orin from time to time.
So, there's the information. But what do I think happened, exactly?
It's confirmed Orin physically harmed Minthara- "I have faced Orin before and she left scars on me that will never heal. She will enjoy adding to them" and "I will dissect her for laying her blade on me again" (this confirms that Orin used Bloodthirst on her, as this is Minthara's line when she is Orin's victim and is freed during the battle) are two examples. "[...] Her father is murder incarnate, and she is a devoted daughter. To please Bhaal she would butcher the world. She has the scent of our blood, and she will tease and toy with us until she tires of the hunt. Then she will obliterate us without a second thought," another statement by Minthara, is particularly telling.
And it's suggested that there was romance.
When you ask Minthara "An old flame?" about Orin, she replies, "Jealous? You needn't be- when Orin is in my hands, her agony will nourish me." She also says "During my time in the cult, I came to know one of his"- Ketheric's- "co-conspirators all too well- Bhaal's blood-letter, Orin." And, of course, "I worshipped that woman" is noteworthy. With her own mind, Minthara fears and hates Orin- "I find her. I will murder her. And I will smile."
Orin's statements about Minthara during the love test, disguised as the dryad, are also notable. Example- "Minthara- a mask of ice hides a heart of pure fire- you do well to call her close."
One thing that could be interpreted in many ways is Orin's comments that Minthara relayed- telling her the Absolute had chosen her to be a True Soul, blessed and adored- and that Minthara viewed the Absolute as pure love and total power. If Minthara viewed Orin as speaking for the Absolute, or even the Absolute itself, what does that imply?
"I want this one" could also be viewed as a romantic statement. A disgusting one, but nevertheless.
Orin clearly understands Minthara's trust issues, as if Orin is impersonating her at the camp after kidnapping her, she speaks about that a lot. She also says "When we met, I was beholden to a cult dedicated to a false god that controlled me through a parasite in my brain," reinforcing the fact that Orin knew all of this, the whole time. If the PC threatens to kill Minthara, Orin says "You could stick me through the heart. Stick her through the heart. Cut us to bits."
If she kidnaps her and mimics her in the sewers, she says, "I cut her- I cut her and cut her and cut her, but the more she bled, the harder she fought." It's interesting to speculate whether this echoes their actual interactions. Anyways, while imitating Minthara, she refers to herself as "Bhaal's bitch", which is weird. She claims "Minthara murdered her way out of the womb", which suggests 1. she knows her quite well and 2. wait, what? She also says of Minthara, "her skin will make a pretty-pretty tapestry", which matches Minthara's imitation of Orin- "Pretty little flesh thing".
After Orin is dead, Minthara says "It is hard to believe she is dead, after all that she did to me."
The odd thing is, had Orin not brainwashed Minthara, I could see them getting along. Minthara canonically has a thing for Bhaalspawn; Orin is desperate for someone to be loyal to her and love her unconditionally, and Minthara is VERY devoted. But that's not what happened.
So, do I think they were more than platonic? Probably. But we need to remember, this isn't some cutesy murder wives scenario, as Minthara was under mind control and Orin was well aware of it. That's not consent. That's taking advantage of someone.
And whether or not there was romance, their relationship is horrible, traumatic, and generally terrible. Comparable to Astarion and Cazador, except Minthara wasn't even aware of the situation until much later. She was a brainwashed plaything. That doesn't mean there aren't other aspects- for example, Minthara sees herself in Orin, a mirror that shows her what could have happened had the PC not saved her.
PS: It's possible, but unlikely, that Orin visited her while in the goblin camp, as one of the goblins states the "Moonrise types" rarely see Priestess Gut or Dror Ragzlin, so the PC- if said goblin is under the impression that the PC is from Moonrise- should see Minthara.
PPS: I've seen it suggested that Orin was personally controlling Minthara at moments, which is possible, but a more compelling theory- to me- is about how each of the goblin leaders' personalities are influenced by their Chosen, hence why Minthara is so bloodthirsty and half-mad, described by a guard at Moonrise as "fierce and erratic".
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"We were both born of trauma"-Minthara Baenre on Orin the Red
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m1ckeyb3rry · 3 months ago
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Series Synopsis: The story of how you, the bastard daughter of the Hiiragi clan, gain power in a country at constant war — and how, just as quickly, you lose it, too.
Chapter Synopsis: The morning after your encounter, you meet a strange gardener with an even stranger name. That night, you strike a risky deal with the ninja.
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Series Masterlist
Pairing(s): Otoya x Reader
Chapter Word Count: 6.0k
Content Warnings: sengoku period au, character death, angst, sad ending, implied abuse, lots of political content, violence and war, the characters will probably be ooc a bit (as is to be expected when you put a bunch of soccer freaks into the warring states period), they are all morally questionable AT BEST, i promise i don’t hate your fav if they act heinous it’s just that someone has to, the prose here is so purple you might confuse it for reo mikage, i may or may not include original characters, i do try and do a bit of research but this is a bllk reader insert fanfic so please keep your expectations for historical accuracy and whatnot at a minimum, possibly a bit suggestive eventually
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A/N: hello eita nation i hope you all are doing well on this fine day!! as i am sure you will be able to tell by this chapter i was born to be w karasu and forced to be w otoya 😩💔 JKJK dw guys there will be no second lead nonsense going on here trust 🤞🏻
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When you next awoke, it was to a sore back and a rough feeling in your mouth — a dehydrated and papery sensation to your tongue, which lay heavy against your palate. You sat with your elbows digging into your thighs, your cheeks warm against your palms, your nightclothes clinging to your body in a film of sweat.
Last night had been the worst of them all, though it had begun so wonderfully. How had your mind thought of such horrible circumstances, in which you had promised Reiji’s life in exchange for your own? That assassin, or ninja, or whatever he had called himself…why had you dreamt of him? What did any of it mean? This was the first terror which had not culminated in your mother’s death. Were they evolving in nature? Would it now be your own demise which you saw?
Staggering to your feet, you began to ready yourself, clinging to the daily routine as a sort of stability. It hadn’t been real. The assassin, Yukimiya’s betrayal, none of it had been real. It had only been a dream. He would awaken soon, that Mister Kenyu Yukimiya, and he would be as kind and gentle as you had remembered, and once the negotiations were completed, he would marry you and take you to his manor and you would finally be freed of the names L/N and Hiiragi alike.
Dipping your fingers into a pot of herbal treatment, you swiped them across your face and waited for it to soothe your frayed nerves and inflamed skin. The treatment was a rare luxury that you had been given by your father — he spared no expense when it came to your beauty, for your face was a man’s first greeting and last farewell, and if an alliance was to be made, then both needed to be pleasant. After waiting for the prescribed time, you soaked a clean rag in water and dabbed it away, careful to ensure that you did not rub too harshly and undo the effects entirely.
During this process, you saw that there was something unsightly on your neck. Furrowing your brow, you leaned closer to your mirror, angling your chin away from the mark and rubbing a finger against it, hissing at the contact, which stung more than you had anticipated.
It was a shallow wound, so ugly and precise that it could only have been made by a blade. Falling backwards, you scrambled away from your dressing table, looking wildly around the room, searching for any signs of disturbance.
There was nothing. Of course, if he had been hired by a clan as high-profile as the Yukimiyas, and for such a delicate undertaking, then it stood to reason that he would not – that he would not have left anything behind. Anything but the fright which curled over your heart like a fist and the laceration on your neck, which had almost spelled your death.
Despite your efforts to convince yourself otherwise, you were now faced with the fact that it had not been a nightmare. You really had almost been killed. You really had promised your half-brother’s life away to that person — your half-brother! How could you have done that? You were the one who had killed a star, the one who was a bastard, the one who was unwanted. If Reiji died, then the Hiiragis would be lost, left without an heir, at a time when your father was far too old to produce another. And you — you were nothing. If you were to die, then what? It would not matter to anyone.
You could only stare at your reflection in the mirror, at the scarlet stroke against your neck, and wonder at the grave evil you had committed. You had to tell someone. At the earliest convenience, you had to warn your half-brother and father about this plot against your family. If they knew, then they could increase their defenses, protect the manor until the Yukimiyas and their retainers were dealt with, until that ninja was found and brought to task.
Reiji cared not for the propriety of knocking nor announcing his presence, not when he was in a fury, as he was today. He stormed into your room while you were lost in your thoughts, stopping with his hands very near to your throat, as if he had considered choking you but found no merit in it at the last moment.
“What did you do?” he said.
“I know not of what you speak,” you said.
“Yukimiya,” he spat, the name falling from his lips like the venom of a snake. Well, Hiiragis were serpents, weren’t they? You understood that comparison better than anyone. “He has vanished in the night. What did you do to him? How did you chase him away?”
“You believe that it was my doing?” you said. “That I, whether out of malice or ineptitude, drove him away?”
“What else could it be?” he said. “The cursed daughter of the Hiiragi…do you know what they call you in the village? The laughingstock you are? Perhaps it is that he came to know of your vile nature and was duly terrified. For that I cannot blame him, though it was a cowardly act to flee without warning. Now, an alliance is all but impossible, and it is your fault.”
“I cannot claim to even understand the affairs of the daimyos,” you said. “So how could I have meddled with them?”
He was blaming you. His own would-be murderer had been foiled, wholly thanks to your actions, yet he was accusing you of a crime, of dooming an alliance which had only ever been a farce. You wanted to tell him these things, tell them to him well, but something made you pause before the words could come.
“Insolent witch,” he said, and then his eyes zeroed in on the column of your neck. “You have been injured?”
You wished that he was asking out of concern, but in fact it was nothing but an appraisal. Were you, his father’s precious asset, damaged in some way? Or was this injury some clue towards Mister Yukimiya’s flight from the estate? These questions flickered across the pale seas of his irises, and you pursed your lips.
You could say it now. You could tell him what had happened, the truth of it, and you sensed that he might believe you. Reluctantly, unwillingly, and perhaps not entirely, but he might believe you enough that he would take the threat seriously. The manor would be fortified within the hour. An army would be amassed and sent to the Yukimiyas before the moon’s cycle was complete. You had that power. You could save your half-brother, save him as well as yourself.
Though, would it be fast enough? The ninja could be anywhere. He could even be in the manor already, and you were certain that your betrayal would not go unnoticed if that was the case. You’d be dead as soon as you tried to warn him, and Reiji’s end would inevitably follow.
Something coiled in your stomach, something like a pit of serpents which writhed in a frenzy as you came to a sure conclusion. It was not an attractive one, but you were so certain of it that, in that moment, it became an unavoidable truth.
No matter what you did, Reiji would die. It was written, was set in stone, and you could not change it even if you wanted to. Your choice, then, wasn’t between saving him or not saving him — he was no longer a person that could be saved. The one who still could be, the one whose life hung in the balance — it was you.
“I rolled onto a stone,” you said. “I have since cast it from the window. I am saddened to hear of what happened with Mister Yukimiya, but I swear to you on my life that I had no involvement in it.”
“What good is your life?” he said. “Swear on something of a greater value.”
“Then I swear it on yours,” you said. “I am telling you the truth.”
“I shall have you banished if I find you are lying,” he said. “Banished or executed. To make such a claim on my honor...you are shameless to say the least, Y/N.”
He left with a flourish, his robes billowing behind him, the painted screen obscuring his figure as he stalked away. You swallowed as you watched him leave, your cut burning with the sin of the lie.
The manor was in a disarray after Kenyu Yukimiya’s disappearance, and it was all you could do to sneak some food from the kitchens and then tiptoe outside to the gardens to eat. Reiji’s anger would be pale in comparison to your father’s, and though your father was less likely to turn his ire upon you, he was not the sort of person that one preferred to be around when he was in such a mood.
Sitting on a bench swing, hidden from the path by a grove of ginkgo trees, you pushed off with your feet so that you could sway gently as you ate. The rocking motion must’ve been something like being on a boat, you believed, though you could not know for yourself. You had never left the manor, were not allowed to, and so the ocean remained a mystery, albeit a beautiful one.
Still exhausted from the previous night, you closed your eyes once you were finished with your semblance of a breakfast, folding your hands in your lap, though you did not allow your head to loll back as you longed to. You could not sleep in such a place, but this dignified form of repose would be acceptable even if you were caught by Reiji or your father.
“Are you asleep, lady?”
What felt like only moments later, you were startled to consciousness by a voice which was as tentative as it was foreign. Your eyelashes fluttered open, slowly and then all at once as you realized a man your age stood before you.
“Ah, who are you?” you said, still blinking the grogginess from your vision. He was dressed in the garb of a gardener, and true to form there was mud flecking his uniform, but for some reason he held a wooden sword at his side. When he realized you had noticed it, his face reddened, and he bowed his head in surrender.
“You may punish me as you see fit, Miss Hiiragi,” he said.
“Excuse me?” you said, genuinely confused. “I was only asking your name because I found you unfamiliar…and do you mean to mock me with that address? Miss Hiiragi?”
He had an open and honest tone, with a twang of a simpler accent than the one which you had grown up around. His features were fine, still unweathered from the sun and wind, angular in a way which belied his true youth, and both his hair and his eyes were dark, though they had an iridescence to them — like crow-feathers or beetle-wings. It was impossible to describe the effect, for when you listed these attributes in your mind, it felt as though you were speaking about someone quite plain, but all in all he actually had a pleasant appearance. One might even consider him handsome, if they were so inclined.
“Mock you?” he said, his knuckles white against the grip of the training weapon. “I did not. Is it — is it that you are the Lady Hiiragi? I beg your pardon for the offense. ”
You narrowed your eyes at him. “You’re new, are you not? When did you get here, and from where are you from?”
“I am,” he said. “I came this week, from a village nearer to the river. My father is — was a foot soldier in the employ of a samurai, but he was killed in a skirmish, and so I was sent to study in a temple.”
“This is not a temple,” you pointed out. He gave you a wry grin.
“It wasn’t a life I found suitable,” he said. “I left as soon as I could, and I have been in search of work ever since — whether as a foot soldier like my father, or an even less glamorous occupation, it mattered little to me. Lord Hiiragi was the first to hire me despite my name.”
“Your name?” you said.
“Tabito Karasu,” he said.
“The traveling crow?” you repeated. When he nodded, you could not stop yourself from snorting. “Is that really it? It cannot be. Surely you jest!”
“It is a title as much as it is a moniker,” he admitted. “I was only ever known as Karasu before my father died, as he was before me. It was after I escaped the temple that people began to call me Tabito. The traveler. The crow without a home.”
“You tell a good story,” you said. “Though I fear I cannot take you at your word quite yet, Tabito Karasu.”
How could you trust him? Karasu, whose arrival coincided exactly with the Yukimiyas’ plot and the ninja’s threat, who held a sword in his hands despite his status as a gardener. He was not your assailant from the previous night — you would not forget that voice so soon, and anyways you believed the ninja had been slenderer than Karasu, leaner and of a smaller frame, at least based on the way his body had felt against your own. Yet it was not an impossibility that they were in league, that Karasu was meant to observe your actions and report back to the ninja, so it would be folly for you to lower your guard.
“Because of the sword,” he said. “And my error in addressing you. I apologize for both, Lady Hiiragi.”
“Lady Hiiragi is dead,” you said. “The mother of my half-brother. He tore his way out of her womb and left her a lifeless husk. You are lucky my father was not around to hear you call me that; he’d have your head for the assumption. You were closer when you referred to me as Miss Hiiragi, though not exactly on the mark. Have the other servants truly not warned you about me?”
“They shun me,” Karasu said. “I could not tell you the reason why. Perhaps it is that they have not warmed to me yet. Perhaps they never will.”
“Servants take after their masters,” you said, taking pity on him. “Those in the Hiiragis’ service will not accept you, an outsider, until you have proven yourself to be one of them. If that is the extent of your ambition, then I should advise you to keep out of trouble — if it is possible for a person like you, traveling crow.”
You gestured at the sword. His fingers twitched, but he did not relinquish his hold on it. You were not sure whether he was embarrassed or angry; regardless of which he felt, he straightened his back, standing with the pride of a samurai, which was incongruous with his humble background.
“You were surprised that I had not been warned about you,” he said. “Yet I cannot see anything about you which would merit warning.”
“Supposedly, I am cursed,” you said. “Y/N L/N, the daughter of a servant, whose birth was marked by the death of a star. The laughingstock of the village and the manor alike, I am told. But Lady Hiiragi died before she could give my father a legitimate daughter, so I have in some sense adopted that role.”
“I see,” Karasu said. “Will you be consoled if I tell you that I have in fact heard some whispers in the kitchens about you? However, they painted you in a far more monstrous light. I was expecting the infamous Miss L/N to be an altogether hideous beast, but you are entirely a normal girl.”
“It is good to hear that my notoriety has not faded any,” you said bitterly. “Enough about myself, though. What are you doing in these gardens with one of the samurai’s swords? Is your work not of a tamer nature? There are no enemies to slay amongst the flowers, I am sure.”
“In this season, gardening is an easy task, so I have an excess of free time. I spend it training, for it is as you said — this is not the extent of my ambitions,” he said.
“That sword is not yours,” you said. You waited for him to deny it furiously, but to your surprise, he shrugged and then nodded.
“It is not,” he affirmed. “That is why I told you you can punish me as you see fit. I have stolen from the Hiiragis for my own personal gain, and I do not even feel guilt for my actions. It will be better for my constitution if you make me regret it; I am certain I will not without your intervention, and indeed I shall continue in the manner I have been should you leave me be, so I shall take whatever punishment you dole out with gratitude.”
You let out a delighted laugh. He was a brazen man, this Tabito Karasu, though he hid his boldness under a guise of duty and deference. Uncrossing your ankles, you stood and smiled at him, not out of submission but in recognition. He eyed you warily, but you swept past him, continuing on the path back towards the manor, though not without looking over your shoulder at him one final time.
“Consider yourself lucky that it was me you stumbled upon and not Reiji,” you said. “Verily, I remain unassuaged as to the truth of your identity and motives in coming here, but whatever the case may be, I have no desire to see you bloodied and beaten. Continue as you have been, then, though I implore you to be more and more careful. A snake never lets a bird out of its jaws once it has it there; you’d do well to remember that you are one such bird, Tabito Karasu, and you have found yourself in a nest of serpents with eager mouths.”
He might’ve thanked you, fallen to his feet and groveled, even, but you did not give him the chance to, and neither did you think it to be in his character. You left him standing by the ginkgos, the wooden sword balanced expertly in his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face as he swung it against the trunk of one of those ancient trees, over and over until you were well out of sight.
“Miss L/N!” Anri said, as soon as you re-entered the manor. “There you are! Lord Hiiragi has summoned you to his study. I have turned the estate upside down searching for you!”
“I was having breakfast in the gardens,” you said, omitting your conversation with Karasu. “And then I suppose at some point I fell asleep. It is harder to have nightmares in the sunlight, so it was a peaceful rest, which I have not had in some time. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
You both walked at a brisk pace towards the study, which was at the heart of the manor due to its importance to the lord. Anri’s face was flushed, though she had no reason to be worried; were it anyone else who had been summoned, she’d have been blamed for the tardiness, but it was you, and if there was anything the Hiiragis enjoyed, it was finding fault in any and all of your actions.
Your father sat cross-legged on the floor at his desk, a brush stained with ink in his right hand, the damp bristles wavering over a piece of rice paper. He was not writing, however, and as you watched, a droplet of ink splashed onto the pale expanse of the blank sheet, blooming into a black mark the size of your thumb. He scowled and returned the brush to its holder, balling up the ruined paper and tossing it in the wastebasket.
“Lord Hiiragi,” Anri said. “I have brought Miss L/N.”
His gaze snapped up to meet yours. “At long last. What was the cause of your delay, daughter?”
“I thought you would be far too preoccupied with other matters to care for my whereabouts, so I entertained myself in the gardens. I see now that it was a misguided assumption,” you said, kneeling on the floor across from him.
“Has Reiji informed you, then?” he said.
“Of Mister Yukimiya’s disappearance? Yes, he told me this morning,” you said. “What shall we do now?”
“I have sent a carrier pigeon to the Yukimiya estate demanding an explanation,” your father said. “Until then, we do nothing but wait.”
“An explanation? Have you not the slightest clue what might’ve driven their decision?” you said incredulously.
“It would be unwise of me to jump to conclusions,” he said. “An alliance is our end goal. If we move too hastily, then we risk losing that.”
The Hiiragis were a great clan, and their power was coveted by many simply due to the sheer amount they had. Should your father command it, the Hiiragi army could bring even the Yukimiyas to their knees, though it might take a toll on their forces. Yet it remained not to be an impossibility, and you could not understand why your father did not see the need to act at once.
“We ought to make a show of strength,” you said quietly, softly, knowing that, as always, your father would dismiss your suggestion in turn. “What the Yukimiyas have done is a grave insult to the Hiiragis, even if it was not intentional. Should we not, then, remind them of who they parley with?”
It was your attempt at warning your father. You could not call him to arms and tell him that the Yukimiyas had all but declared war upon your family, not with the ninja’s threat looming over you, yet neither could you stand by idly and watch the destruction of the Hiiragi clan — a clan which had never treated you well but was yours nevertheless.
“The relationships between daimyos are too complicated for you to understand,” your father said. “You are thinking entirely too simplistically. We cannot bare our fangs at every ruffled feather; we’d exhaust our resources before doing anything of significance. It is just as likely that Kenyu Yukimiya grew frightened of his future bride as it is that the clan has some or another scheme up their sleeves. Our duty is to rule out any other explanation before we ready ourselves for war.”
Of course he would say that — to him, Mister Yukimiya’s disappearance was still a mystery. An abnormality. He didn’t know what you did, that the entire purpose of the visit had only been to assassinate Reiji, your father’s only heir. If he had that knowledge, then he would surely take your side, but how could you give it to him in a way that did not invite further questioning?
“Can we not make preparations in the meantime?” you said. “The worst is that we will have to dismiss the army, but it’d be better if we are ready, should the Yukimiyas prove traitorous.”
“Were it that simple, I’d already have done it,” your father said coldly, in a voice which meant that he would not entertain further discussion on the matter. “Every single movement that the daimyos make is subject to scrutiny. Gathering forces in earnest will not escape unnoticed by the peasants, and from there, word will spread. The conflict will grow far more than it needs to.”
You wanted to tell him. You wished that you had the ability, that you could lean over that desk and shake him by the shoulders. You are a Hiiragi, you would shout if you could, behave as a Hiiragi must. His forebears would not have been so cautious, so cowardly — your father’s insistence on peace, on alliance, would’ve been admirable in another time, one that was more conducive to such goals, but now it bordered on witless. Of course he did not know the extent of the situation, but even then, as a daimyo, and the head of the Hiiragi clan besides, he was supposed to be ready to take action at any moment. He was supposed to give up anything for the honor and justice of his family.
“Very well, father,” you said. “I apologize for meddling. It was not my place.”
What else could you do? It was your week of terrors, after all. Even if you could say something, even if you did not live in fear of that ninja and his kunai, you doubted your father would believe you. What man would summon an army at the word of his ill-fated daughter? Perhaps the witless one was you, for thinking that speaking to him would’ve had any effect on what was to come.
“Correct,” he said. “Focus on your own shortcomings — of which there are many. Leave the work of the clan to Reiji and I, who are doubly well-suited to it.”
“Yes, father,” you said, standing and bowing. “By your leave.”
“Study today,” he said, a command, not a request. “If your body and face are not enough to keep a husband, then your mind and conversation must make up for them. Do not take lunch; study until supper, and then go straight to bed, so that you do not appear haggard when the next suitor comes.”
“As you wish, father,” you said, bowing at him one more time and then exiting the study, your nails digging into your palms so hard you were shocked that they did not come back bloody.
After the third hour of study, the characters swam before your eyes, endless blurs which you could not hope to decipher. You spent more time gazing out at the gardens, admiring the butterflies and wondering if that strange boy was still practicing his illicit swordsmanship, than you did actually working. It was not to your detriment; you were already far better-read than most your age. It had not been a lack of education which drove Kenyu Yukimiya away, and furthering your knowledge of history and the arts would not by any means change what had occurred or prevent its repetition.
The sight of Anri made you faint and queasy, but in a grateful way, for she in that moment represented a liberation from your torment. You were glad, too, that it had been her sent to fetch you and not your half-brother, who surely would’ve jeered at you in a manner you did not at present have the wherewithal to face with decorum.
Dinner was terse and strained, beginning and ending without conversation. Your father and half-brother both exchanged glances frequently, as if they were in on some private secret that you could never comprehend even if you were to hear it. There was a camaraderie between them, a relationship you could not hope to have with either, so you supposed it wasn’t out of the question, but this time, you did not feel as put-out as you once might’ve. You, too, had secrets of your own now, secrets which were far riskier to hold than anything they could’ve kept from you. It vindicated you to think that, in some sense, you had something over them both, despite their superiority.
“There will be more suitors,” your father said when you got up to return to your chambers. “The Yukimiyas are not the only clan in the area, and far from the most powerful. Another man will come for your hand soon enough, daughter, and when he does, you must ensure that he does not run with his tail tucked as Kenyu Yukimiya did.”
From what you knew of him, Kenyu Yukimiya had never tucked his tail a day in his life. He didn’t seem the type. You wagered he had pranced all of the way back to his estate with his head and spirits high at the success of his clan’s half-baked plot.
“Yes, father,” you said, sounding like a lost bird which could only repeat one mournful note. Yes, father, yes, father. When you were with him, it was all you could say. He huffed and then waved his hand at you obliquely, a clear dismissal that you would be hard-pressed to refuse.
Scurrying back to your room before Reiji or your father could call you back and place more inane demands on you, you readied yourself for the night, watching your window in fear all the while. What if you had not done enough? What if, in attempting to warn your father, you had revealed too much? What if this was your final night alive? Your heart pounded like drums in your ears, so fast and harsh it felt as though it might leap out of your throat.
Crawling under your blanket with trepidation, you lay on your back with your eyes closed, though sleep did not come readily. This was not a surprise — no person could rest in such conditions, when every breath they took had the chance of being their last.
“Don’t open your eyes.”
The voice was the same, and before you knew it, a familiar kunai was pressing against your neck. This time, though, it was the flat of the blade which he held to your pulse, so that it was more a reminder meant to intimidate than anything.
“It’s you,” you said.
“Hello,” he said, oddly cheerily. “Are you surprised?”
“No,” you said.
“I am,” he confessed. “I thought you would’ve run to your half-brother as soon as the sun rose into the sky, bawled to him all about your terrible experience and used the cut on your neck as proof. Yet you didn’t; in fact, when he approached you about it, you lied.”
“I suspected you remained in the manor, or nearby. The moment I told Reiji anything, you’d have killed us both,” you said. “No matter how swiftly my father raised his forces, it would not be enough to save us. Save me.”
“What a sad business it all is,” he said. He seemed unnecessarily amused, though then again, he had been like that last night, hadn’t he? Your plight was nothing but a pastime for him. Spiderwebs crisscrossed the back of your eyelids as you cursed him internally. “Your father, I mean. Ignoring his poor daughter like that…I’m sure he’ll come to regret it one day. It’s admirable that you tried for as long as you did.”
“My father — did you follow me the whole day?” you said.
“That gardener boy is handsome,” he said instead of answering the question. “Do you fancy him? It seemed like you did.”
“How did I not notice you? The entire day, and yet I had hardly a clue that you were there at all,” you said, your skin crawling at the thought that he had kept such a close eye on you without you noticing. He hummed thoughtfully.
“It’s my trade,” he said. “Why would I tell you my secrets? Suffice to say you will never know when I am there and when I am not; neither will you ever realize just who is willing to betray you for a few coins.”
“Do you mean to kill my half-brother tonight?” you said.
“Not particularly,” he said.
“Why do you prolong this?” you said. “Won’t the Yukimiyas be upset with you?”
“They’re the ones who erred first, so they can’t be,” he said. Though you could not see, it felt like he must be shrugging flippantly when he said that. “The Yukimiyas know better than anyone the value of patience. They’d wait for years if that was what it took for me to complete the job in the way they specified.”
“But you could complete it at this very moment, should you so please,” you said.
“Of course, I could do many things,” he said. “Yet I have found some diversion in this manor, and as I am so rarely excited by anything nowadays, I have decided to indulge myself in this new interest for as long as it keeps my attention.”
“And what might that diversion be?” you said. He poked you in the forehead.
“How far will you go, I wonder?” he said. “Most of the highborn, especially those altruistic ladies, are willing to give up their lives at the slightest provocation. I have never met any noble so reluctant to part with their existence as you. To think you would even give up your own half-brother, bastard as you are, for it! It’s interesting. It’s definitely interesting, that you add nothing of value to this world, and yet you are the one so determined to remain a part of it.”
“That’s all?” you said. “My life and how I lead it is nothing but an experiment to you?”
“An experiment, or a game, or a gamble,” he said. “Whatever you want to call it.”
“Yet games and gambles are better played with pairs,” you said, an idea forming in the back of your mind, one based solely on his curious personality, your last effort at salvaging something of this mess you were in. “There is no equality in things as they are.”
“Do you have a proposition?” he said, voice ticking up with intrigue. You swallowed, your throat bobbing against the metal of the kunai.
“If, within a moon’s cycle, I can find you, then you must change your allegiance and become mine,” you said.
“Yours?” he said. “Not the Hiiragis’?”
“Mine,” you repeated. “I have nothing to my name. Can I not at least claim your loyalty if I manage such an arduous task?”
He scoffed. “Very well. And what if you do not succeed?”
“It will be as we initially agreed,” you said. “I will give you leave to kill my half-brother, and then I shall help you escape this estate unharmed.”
“Alright,” he said, not even taking a moment to mull it over. “This game is even more exciting than the one I conceived of. I have a stipulation, though.”
“What is it?” you said.
“You cannot search for me in the night,” he said. “Once the moon rises, you must keep your eyes closed until daylight.”
“Do you mean to continue visiting me, then?” you said.
“It’s lonely, living in a place where no one can know you exist. Speaking to you is the only method I have of staving off that isolation,” he said.
“I accept your stipulation,” you said after a moment of consideration. It was a relatively harmless request, wasn’t it? You had no plans of running around the manor in the middle of the night, anyways.
“Try your hardest, Miss L/N,” he said, removing his kunai. “Though you must know that I only allowed this because I am assured of your failure.”
You exhaled. To some, this might have seemed a dangerous proposal, but in your mind, it was the only thing you could do. Besides, if you failed, then was there even a consequence? None that you were not already prepared to handle. Your half-brother’s death was something that, only hours ago, you had decided was inexorable. You had grieved it already, so it mattered little to you if you saved him or not.
That wasn’t why you were doing it, anyways. It was for yourself more than anything; you could not bear the paranoia of knowing that he was your enemy and was ever-present, ever-waiting with that kunai of his. You wanted him on your side. You wanted this ninja to belong to you, for you had this inkling that you would be a different kind of invincible if you had him, a kind of invincible that you could never dream of being otherwise. With him, you could reach the status which your father and half-brother enjoyed by virtue of their birth alone.
“I won’t fail,” you said, though you were unsure if he was gone by this point or not. “I cannot.”
There was a soft sound, but you could not tell if it was a chuckle or the wind blowing against the window. Either way, after that it was silent, and you knew he had finally left you alone.
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