#is there even a point in tagging because I’m still shadowbanned

[petrichor-han]

FOR THE TWITTER FOLKS 🤍

i’ve seen a few other tumblr content creators make some PSA’s about twitter users who may not know things about tumblr and how it works, and though i’m not a “seasoned” user like some people, i know the basics since i’ve been here for a year so here’s some tips for those who are new!!

fair warning that this is a pretty long post since i explained why you should or should not do these things. but there’s a brief cut without explanation right before the read more for those of you who don’t have time.

reminder that these are not rules and you don’t have to follow them. but there’s a high chance most blogs will block you if you don’t at least change your pfp and reblog a few things—i’ll explain why down below.

[TLDR; CUSTOMIZE YOUR BLOG, NO TOXIC FAN CULTURE, NO REPOSTING, TAG THINGS CORRECTLY, MINOR SAFETY, CHECK DNI INFO, INTERACT + SUPPORT, HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS, TUMBLR IS NOT TWITTER]

1. CUSTOMIZE YOUR BLOG. if you have a blank blog (aka, no profile picture, no header image, no header, no posts or reblogs) many blogs, especially content creators, will definitely block you. this isn’t personal—it’s because blank blogs following us and only liking our posts can lead to shadowbanning or our posts not showing up in tags. tumblr will think blank blogs are bots, and will therefore associate our blogs with your “bot” accounts and then we’re all fucked. but mostly the content creators, since their creations won’t reach new audiences and half the time won’t reach their current ones with shadowbanning.

2. TOXIC FAN CULTURE DOESN’T FLY HERE. i know not all twitter fans are like this, but y’all do have a reputation. so for those who do engage in toxic streaming culture, fanwars, doxxing, hate towards certain groups or idols, etc. you’ll probably get blocked—most people don’t really fuck with unnecessary fights on tumblr. there’s definitely dark corners of the site where i’m sure people do engage in such behavior, but for the most part bigger blogs and especially content creators do not. engaging in petty fights will only get you blocked because it’s a nuisance to us and nothing more.

and one more thing here: streaming ≠ streaming culture. you can stream all you want! that’s great that you want to! but don’t force others to stream if they don’t want to. don’t call their groups “flops” just because they want to stream. no, it’s not “honesty!!!!” it’s you being a little shit and enforcing toxic fan culture. fans shouldn’t feel forced to do things they don’t want to in their safe spaces.

3. DO NOT REPOST WORK. listen: the reblog option is there and that’s what you should do. whether it’s a good fanfic or a pretty gif set, DO NOT SAVE AND REPOST IT ON YOUR OWN. reblogs are different from reposts!! reblogs support the original writer / artist / creator and give them exposure, plus tags exist and you can even compliment them pretty much directly if you want to! creators love feedback so this will basically earn you some brownie points just by saying “wow pretty.” reposting is basically stealing, even if you say something like “credit to original creator” or “credit to @—.” reposting work is a big no-no here and will definitely get you mass reported and blocked. news spreads fast among content creators here.

4. TAG THINGS APPROPRIATELY. so, tags. they’re weird and something i definitely struggled with when i first got tumblr. if you’re a content creator or plan to become one they’re extremely useful for promoting your works and gaining an audience and if you’re not, well, still very helpful. for example: a seventeen gifset might be tagged with basic things like #seventeen #jeonghan. but there will also likely be more specific tags like tracked tags and networks tags which i will explain!

tracked tags / tracking tags: a lot of content creators have their own special tag that that they make. for example, my friend rose (@sunflower-hae) tracks the tag #k-archives for the network @k-archives. what this means is that if you make gifs you can tag your gifs with this and since she tracks that tag, she will eventually see it and reblog it! it helps new creators get more attention especially if they’re struggling to do so. it’s awesome and i find so many amazing new creators through tracking tags.

network tags: i’ll get more into what a network is in the next tip, but a network tag is basically that: a tag that’s specific to a certain network. for example, i’m in a network called @kflixnet, and i tag my fanfics under #kflixnet. then my fanfic will seen by the admin and get reblogged by the network, for again, more exposure. networks are great to follow for a variety of different gif creators or fanfic writers depending on what you want to see. i’ll make a list of great cc’s i like later and i’ll link it here when i post it.

HOWEVER. please only use these tags if they’re open to the public! meaning that you need to check if it’s strictly for network members or something. #kflixnet is limited to members only, but most tracking tags are open to anyone who wants to use them, and some network tags are too. remember: just check because it’s better safe than sorry, and you don’t want to end up being blocked by a whole network or a huge cc just because you were too lazy to make sure.

people also use special tags on their blogs to organize posts. for example, i use #— rain’s rambles ☁️ when i make a post about my personal life or something that’s non kpop related. people often make them very customized rather than just “#rant” or “#vent” so that people can block these tags if they don’t want to see that. blocking tags is also great, and why things should be tagged correctly! if you don’t want to ever see something BTS related, you could block the tag #bts. or if you don’t want to see my personal posts, you could block the tag “#— rain’s rambles ☁️.”

one more thing about tags. (i know this is a lot, and don’t be afraid to send an ask or dm if anything is unclear. i’m trying to condense a lot into fewer words.) don’t clog them or incorrectly use them. don’t flood “kpop smut” with vague posts like “rec some good kpop smut” and use random tags to get it out there. that’ll get you blocked because you’re taking away exposure from actual kpop smut that people want to see. don’t use strictly non-smut hashtags for smut things, especially since minors can see that and we’re very strict about minors consuming smut / nsfw here.

5. MINOR SAFETY. now, a lot of 18+ / nsfw / smut accounts will block you if you don’t have your age in your bio or something indicating your age. i understand that lots of people aren’t comfortable with exposing their exact age and that’s okay, just put something saying that you’re over or under 18. or you could say “20s” if you’re in your twenties. anything that indicates your age is good! i personally won’t block you if you’re under 18 or if you don’t have your age specified because i’m not an nsfw blog so it doesn’t matter to me, but i know plenty of people who won’t hesitate to block, so it won’t hurt to put it in anyways.

i know that nsfw twitter is a thing, and we don’t mind nsfw here at all, but we are very strict about minors interacting with nsfw content. the thing is, we know that minors will seek out nsfw and probably read smut regardless and we can’t stop them. the issue is when minors invade 18+ spaces and want adults to answer their hard thoughts, take their smut requests, etc. it becomes very uncomfortable very fast when a 14 year old is asking you to say your thoughts on daddy namjoon and his big dick.

lots of people also simply don’t want to interact with people younger or older than a certain age which is completely valid. for example, i don’t want to be mutuals with anyone under 14 (‘07) just because of my own age. i don’t feel comfortable conversing constantly with people that young and i’m entitled to that. it’s not for any perverted reason, i just want to talk to people my own age. i know lots of younger accounts that don’t want to talk to people over 20, or over 25. and older accounts that don’t want to talk to people under 18, or under 15. check their DNI information.

6. CHECK DNI / BYF / FAQ’S! lots of acronyms, i know. i’ll assume you know what they mean though. i know this stuff is on twitter too and it’s fairly straightforward so i’ll keep it brief.

most people have either a CARRD or an ABOUT ME linked on their blog somewhere. there, they will have DNI or BYF or FAQ information, and i suggest that you abide by it. most of the time it’s pretty basic shit like “don’t be racist” “don’t be hateful” “don’t interact with me if you’re a child because i write porn” etc. so it’s nothing overly backbending for you. and even if it gets more specific you should respect that anyways because their blog is their space and they deserve to feel safe on it.

7. INTERACT WITH BLOGS! so interaction is a big thing here, it’s what the site runs on. and no, i don’t mean leaving a single like then leaving. likes are a useless function—they don’t give content creators any support. if you want to help and be a normal tumblr user, use the reblog button! it’s just as quick and that helps get creations out there more. even if you have 3 followers and none of them talk to you, reblogging something tells tumblr that hey, this is a good post! and it’ll put it higher in the tags or recommend it to people while they scroll. people also love feedback here as previously mentioned. if you read a fic or see a great gifset or artwork, why not compliment the creator? it doesn’t have to be detailed or some highly esteemed critique. you could really just say “i liked this a lot!” or “good job on this!” and we would cry tears of happiness. though we would never turn down a detailed piece of feedback either.

you could also send asks or messages (messages are private, asks are public) to people! content creators love getting asks and messages, and you could even send these to people who you just wanna become mutuals with. the anonymous option is there too if you’re shy, but don’t bother using the anon option for hate—we can block anons too.

plus, if you send constant messages on anon and you enjoy it, you could become a specific anon to that person! you might find anon lists on certain blogs, and that’s where all those precious anonymous people are listed. i had an anon that went by the name of “🧚‍♀️ anon” (most anons will claim an emoji or title to sign off as so they know who it is) though they have not interacted in a while. this is a good way to talk to creators and support them if you’re too shy to do it off anon!

8. HOW DO I MAKE FRIENDS / MUTUALS? this is an easy one! interact! a lot of content creators are definitely more picky with who they follow back / become mutuals with but they’re entitled to that. if you’re a content creator (or planning to be one) joining collabs is a way to make friends! i’m sure you know what “collab” means but it’s basically an event where you collaborate with other content creators. it could be a common theme for fanfics, an event for gifmakers, etc. now i’m only a fic writer so i can’t give you too much detail on collabs that aren’t for strictly fanfics, but i see plenty go on. for example, there’s a gift exchange for carats being hosted by my dear friend rose right now!

and if you’re not a content creator that’s fine too! make friends in reblogs of fics, talk to people about your favorite content! there’s also some discord servers that circulate around that are open to non-content creators, though the only one i can think of right now is for TXT (dm if you want the link!)

9. TUMBLR ≠ TWITTER. i’m sure this goes without saying too and this is pretty much an overarching statement but: don’t treat tumblr like some second twitter. this is a completely different site with completely different norms and people. you can’t be mad if you’re treating tumblr like twitter and your account isn’t growing, or you keep getting blocked because you don’t listen to how it works. tumblr is a great place if you know how to use it. don’t ruin it and turn it into twitter—most of us came here to escape twitter and the toxic fan culture that it homes.

10. WHAT IS ____…? now, i covered some of the basics here, but that’s not everything. and this is mainly from a kpop content creator so i can’t speak for all of tumblr or non-kpop communities though a lot of core values stay the same (reblogging, customizing your blog, and not stealing are the key ones.) but i know i probably missed a ton of stuff, so i’ll do this:

send me an ask or a DM if there’s anything you’re confused on, i’m happy to help and answer and questions you have. even if you think they’re dumb (they’re probably not.) i’m also linking some more recourses down below by other content creators including more tips for twitter users and sources to find good fan content. just a reminder though, i do ult stray kids, seventeen, and monsta x, so most if not all of the linked recs and resources on my list will be for those groups.

i will also definitely update this page if or when i feel the need to but for now that’s all! if you read through this thanks so much and if you didn’t… well that’s okay. it’s super long. but i hope you at least read the basic above or read another shorter post. it’s important stuff.

lastly, i welcome you to tumblr. if you try to understand how the site works differently from other social media, you’ll fit right in. i know it’s a lot, but we’re here to help you if you need it. 🤍

MORE RESOURCES:

- OTHER TIPS FOR TWITTER USERS

- SKZ CONTENT SOURCES / PT. 2 by @sulfurcosmos

- SKZ BLOG RECS by @chanstopher

- MY CONTENT RECS

- MY FIC REC BLOG / @rainydayrecs

[forabeatofadrum]

Hello my dears, I am posting early and kicking this whole thing off today. Or maybe I’ve already been tagged and I have no clue because it turns out Tumblr has (accidentally, I assume) shadowbanned this blog. This explains why I haven’t been able to tag people or receive notifications for mentions. Turns out that this type of shadowbanning allows people to still directly engage with this blog (by replying or sending asks etc.), but I can’t talk to people and any kind of indirect stuff (like mentions) are totally gone.

Lovely.

I sent a ticket to staff for support and now we shall wait. I’ve heard mixed news about this. Some people’s blogs get restored in a few minutes, others have to wait days. And a special thanks to @cutestkilla​ for manually checking this blog every Wednesday and Sunday (😘), since Tumblr is such a bitch about it.

Also, my chapter of the @gleefrankenfic​ has been posted. You can read all of Stage Fright on AO3 and Tumblr.

I’m focusing on aap noot mies, but I don’t have anything to share of that now. But I do have some make a fire out of this flame, even though it’s been a while since I wrote something for it. Dev, Baz and Niall as besties my beloved:

Niall Kelly (20:46)

Is it weird that I find the guy in the photo very attractive??

Baz Grimm-Pitch (20:46)

Yes

Dev Grimm (20:46)

Dude

Dev Grimm (20:47)

Altho now that I am taking a better look… Niall does have a point

Dev Grimm (20:47)

Kinda sad that that fucking fish is covering up his goods, if you get what I mean 😏

Baz Grimm-Pitch (20:47)

ANYWAY

Tagging, despite Tumblr’s shadowban: @quizasvivamos @spookyklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @takitalks @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna  @wellbelesbian @tea-brigade @cutestkilla @ivelovedhimthroughworse @moodandmist @artsyunderstudy @facewithoutheart @whogaveyoupermission @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer @martsonmars​

[zeawesomebirdie]

I hope I can still send you asks and you can answer them? Just to say that I'm trying to do the Snarry rec list but my memory is SO BAD lol there are a few I know have to go on there but otherwise? I'm going to have to reread so much fic..... Not that it's an imposition of course, but it does feel weird taking a look through my collection and realising 1) there are less fics than I thought and 2) I can't associate any summary to so many of the titles! Where has my Snarry knowledge gone!! Anyway I realise I forgot to rec you Diagnosis by MaidenMotherCrone for Tomarry fics, which is an error because I'm not sure I'd want to reread it but it's really a Whole Thing in an overall positive way. Also I never gave you the name of the absolute epic I felt weird reccing on main because there's some niche kinks in it? Obviously you don't seem like you open a 500k fic and come out of it a week later without having done anything else but read it, given what you've said about taking breaks in Pacify (which tbh fair. A lot of stuff happens there) so giving you a 800k fic series on top of all the rest seemed a lot you know :') but whenever you want, you know where to find me hehe. Anyway I'll go like brush my teeth and all, hope this sends, bye bye!!

Looks like I can still receive asks! Whether or not you’ll be notified when I answer this (and I guess, also whether or not tumblr will even allow me to post it,,,) still remains to be seen, but based on last night’s experiment with @’ing you, you won’t be notified. I’ll try to keep my reblogging to a minimum until you’ve seen this!!

For what it’s worth, I did send in another support ticket this morning, but I’ll update my pinned post with that info after I’ve answered this

There is no rush at all for the snarry rec list!! Take your time beloved!! I agree that rereading all that fic isn’t all that bad of a thing, but omg, it must be so daunting to have that list to go through, even if it’s shorter than you thought it was! I mean, I’m sitting here with 12 pages in my marked for later tab on Ao3, while entirely forgetting to read both the fic I currently have open and the books I have from the library lol, so I can def relate to having a list to read through. Just please don’t feel rushed or even obligated, you have the best recs but really it’s okay if I wait for it!

(but tbh, at this point I’ve read enough snarry that I feel like I could make an actual rec list myself, even if like 90% of my bookmarks have come from the @houseofsnarry discord. I might have to do that. No one has asked for my recs since I totally flubbed that one ask requesting my quiobi recs and I revealed that at the time I wasn’t really reading, but now I read so much more, even if it’s primarily snarry and irl books. Idk. I’ll have to think about it and also wait until I get un-shadowbanned, and also also I’ll have to read a little bit more so I can round out any list like that,,,)

Omg so Diagnosis looks like an absolutely incredible fic 👀 that summary, those tags!! No worries about not remembering anything other than the positive vibes, I’ve loved literally everything you’ve rec’d thus far and I’m sure I’ll love this too!

Feel free to drop the name of that longfic btw 👀👀👀👀 I don’t often go for fics over 150k unless they come highly recommended, but most of the time I do finish them really quickly. I got through Unrestrained by Lizzy00305 in three days, All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 in about a week and a half, and, while they’re obv not fic, I did read the first five HP books in 8 days, and then HBP and DH in about a week and a half. It depends on what’s going on irl and how into the fic I am tbch.

Rn it’s taking me forever to get through Transparency by oldesthuntress even though it’s literally my favourite fic of all time only because I have so much going on irl. My fatigue will catch up to me soon enough, and all I’ll be capable of doing (affectionate) soon will be reading and animal crossing, and even if I can’t read it for a little bit, I do have surgery right before Christmas which will mean only reading for a few weeks!

(for what it’s worth, I’m currently planning to save Pacify for after surgery, because tbch I think that’s the perfect read for when I’ll be stuck in bed for two weeks!)

But anyway! Yes please drop that link! No fic is too long if it comes highly recommended!!

All my love to you beloved, I hope the rest of your day goes well!! Thanks for stopping in!!

[gryficowa]

You know what sucks? I never know if the fundraisers will reach people, even if I use many tags, the worst thing is that the only way they could reach people is by lighting up the posts, and that would mean giving money (which I don't have anyway) to a zionist (Because tumblr is run by zionist yohoo)

So yes, there is a big problem with reaching people in tags and on tumblr itself, it doesn't help that tumblr has shadowbanned the tags about free Palestine, so the chance that it will reach even more is even smaller

In addition, you have to predict what tags will be popular in a moment, because it changes, so… It's more difficult without igniting posts :/

Now that I have your attention:

[demonfamilytherapist]

HDD Curse Rewrite Part 2

A/N: Dateables edition, no Luke because even though you could interpret these as platonic I'm not willing to expose that child to an evil MC.

Best to read at least the intro of Part 1 first. Think of this as the 'key' story line - more of an alt story than a sequel.

Warnings/Mentions: This likely takes place post-s3 at least now, but there's no real spoilers worth mentioning past s1 or maybe further along with Simeon. Once again, MC is not great in this one. Dubcon non-sexual touching, primarily in Barb’s. Some physical violence in Simeon’s. Verbal abuse/emotional manipulation in all of them.

-----

A bright light filled the room at your incantation - Solomon’s hand grazed your sleeve, Mammon called your name, Lucifer cursed - but by the time they could all see again, you were long gone. The slam of the door the only thing you left behind.

For a long moment, there was silence.

“Lucifer and Satan will work on a way to break the curse,” Diavolo took command. He could see some of the brothers still getting to their feet, Solomon still staring at his hand, and even Barbatos looked shaken. “Those of us who don’t have pacts with them will search.”

“One last thing…”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Valago. The little demon was on the floor, the magic it expended for the curse apparently too much for its body.

“You better break it before midnight. Or else you’ll never get back your sweet little human.”

Diavolo

The Devildom was his domain, so it was only natural that he found you first.

It wasn't where Diavolo expected to see you right now.

A crowded cafe, open late - as many things were in the Devildom. Your outfit drew curious glances from the patrons, but none bothered you. Even without your own magical prowess, the Devildom knew how attached the brothers were to you. Knew better than to threaten you.

You were sat in the corner, a little separate from the rest of the customers. A waiter set down tea for two before Diavolo even reached the table.

"Sit," you offered. The black smoke surrounding you was barely visible in the dim lighting of the booth.

"MC, we should really-"

"I don't want to leave until I've finished my drink."

Diavolo met your eyes and you didn't look away. That was something he liked about you - you didn't avoid his gaze or try to shrink away, you didn't try to debase yourself to please him. You treated him like an equal.

This, though... Diavolo knew a challenge when he saw one.

"I really think-"

"You don't want to make a scene now, do you, Lord Diavolo?"

The interruption made Diavolo's eye twitch, but he maintained his smile and followed your gaze through the cafe.

The other patrons were too far to hear your conversation. Still, they snuck glances over, some openly gawking at the human exchange student and the demon prince. When he turned back to you, he could only describe your expression as a smirk.

Diavolo sat.

"Just felt a sudden urge for the night air, did you?" Diavolo sipped at his own tea. He wasn't sure if you'd ordered it, or if the barista had seen him enter and prepared it especially for their prince. He considered his options as he waited for you to respond.

If he grabbed you and pulled you away, or if he left here carrying your unconscious body, people would talk. Demons could be terrible gossips. The future demon king, the head of the exchange program, kidnapping a human in public? If it got back to the Celestial Realm, that would put him in a very difficult position.

If you decided to cause a scene - screamed, cried out, begged for mercy - it would cause a similar issue.

And it wasn't just this cafe - it would be the whole walk home. Far too many witnesses.

"Your adaptability is always something I've admired about you," Diavolo continued. From the start, you had managed admirably in the Devildom, handled the chaos of the House of Lamentation, and made friends from all three realms.

Even as your cursed self, you adapted well to treating him as an enemy. If Diavolo thought too hard about it, his chest clenched uncomfortably.

"I didn't exactly have a choice."

Diavolo met your eyes. There was no longer a challenge there - instead it was undisguised anger.

That was new.

Diavolo was selfish. He knew that. He didn't like seeing you mad at him. He didn't like you bringing up things you didn't like about him.

But Diavolo was also a prince. He could handle short-term hardship for his ultimate goals.

"I have always admired your kindness and understanding." He never let his smile drop. "If getting out your feelings now will help you return to yourself, I will gladly take it."

You raised an eyebrow and looked doubtful. Diavolo didn't falter.

"My feelings on what? On how you kidnapped me and dropped me into the wolf den for a year?"

Diavolo let you speak.

"How you locked Lucifer into servitude in exchange for his sister's life?"

He took a drink.

"How your unwillingness to listen to others, how fear of your wrath, led Lucifer to lock Belphie away?"

"Now that's not entirely-"

"I died, Demon Prince."

Diavolo wasn't sure what stopped his speech.

The sheer audacity of you interrupting him.

Your sudden use of his title.

Or the reminder that you had died.

Diavolo had never seen your body. Barbatos had carefully timed it so they arrived after your other self disappeared. He'd known what had happened, known that you had died, but he'd never had to truly face that reality.

Never had you throw it in his face.

"You took me from the human world and told me I'd be safe. That you and the brothers would protect me. I could've died so many times, and then I did die." Your voice was quiet. Somehow that made it worse. The other clientele of the restaurant kept glancing at the two of you.

"I know you don't wish that you'd stayed in the human world." Diavolo's tone held no doubt. He felt no doubt - or at least, it was easy to ignore any cracks that had formed.

"I could have destroyed your exchange program by telling anyone outside of the House of Lamentation what happened."

"You would never." Diavolo, under the table, clenched and unclenched one fist. You had kept Belphegor's secret - kept your secret - from your friends, from the Devildom public, from the Celestial Realm.

You had to.

"No, I wouldn't. I was ordinary, Diavolo. I wasn't a prince or an avatar or an angel, but I had a life before this." The resentment in your tone held none of the glee which he would expect from such a curse. Merely a bitterness, like tea steeped too long. "I didn't ask for this. I never asked for the weight of three realms on my shoulders."

"I'm sorry." Diavolo wasn't sure if the words were to placate you or because he needed you to hear them, but they were sincere nonetheless.

"Who was I supposed to talk to? The brothers? Barbatos? You?"

Your voice had risen on that last word- the cafe had more or less emptied out, but Diavolo still had to stop himself from tensing at the extra attention.

"Me. You could talk to me." Diavolo had to be strong. He had to be confident. His voice could hold no doubt, he could show no cracks in his armour.

It was odd, treating you as a friend and an enemy all at once.

"I am well aware of the weight of such responsibility," Diavolo powered on. He reached over, slowly - laid one hand over yours. "I always knew my role. I am sorry you had yours placed on you without warning."

"Why."

The word felt less a question and more a command. Diavolo could no more deny you than the brothers could, not when the smoke in your eyes cleared and you saw him.

"Because I made a mistake."

Your eyes widened - a reaction so small and brief he nearly missed it. Diavolo pressed his advantage.

If this was what it took to get you home, he would do it.

"I did not know how little I understood of humans." Small and big things he'd never considered. Your need for sunlight, your fear, what pain you could hide. "I did not know how to help you when you were hurting. I didn't know..."

I didn't know how to be a good friend and a good prince.

I didn't know how badly you would be hurt.

I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know.

Too late, he noticed the way you smiled, the way your eyes dimmed with the smoke.

Your name left his lips - but Diavolo could see whatever hold he had on your true self was gone.

Cold tea splashed onto his hand. The little plastic cup had crumpled in his grip.

Your removed your hand from his.

"I'm going to walk out of here, Diavolo," you told him. Before he could even gather his thoughts to protest, you continued. "If you try and stop me, I will scream, and cry out, and fight, and I won't win. I'm nothing compared to you, after all."

Was the bitterness in your tone true, or just another way to twist the knife? Diavolo was no longer sure.

"But I will make a scene. And you know how much damage rumours can do, don't you?"

"I will inform the others of your location."

You nodded as though you expected nothing less. It didn't stop you from pushing your cold tea away.

"I'll see you later, Your Highness."

Diavolo watched you go. He didn't move - he didn't flinch, or try to follow, or put his head in his hands like he desperately wanted to.

You were right, after all.

Rumours would cause problems.

Diavolo would have to pretend to be strong a little longer.

Barbatos

The sudden downpour was concerning.

It seemed your encounter with the Young Master had left quite an impression on his emotional state.

Barbatos did not have the time to return to his room to locate you easily, but he still knew you well enough to have a few ideas.

The Young Master had reported that you had been in a nearby cafe. You were sticking to public locations, places where those not in your control couldn't cause a scene. It seemed the curse had not robbed you of any intelligence.

Thankfully, the rain was encouraging more people to head inside - so when he spotted you, it was in an empty street.

Barbatos knew you saw him, but you didn't try to run. He followed you calmly - he doubted chasing you would do any good - until you stopped, sheltered from the rain by Hell's Kitchen's patio cover.

Lacking a towel, Barbatos offered you a handkerchief to dry your face.

"Thank you." You smiled at him. Aside from the black smoke surrounding your form, you appeared normal. Your formal attire, that had been so carefully chosen for you, was now damp.

“Please allow me to escort you home. It would not do for you to get sick.” Barbatos didn’t expect you to agree with his words, and so was only mildly disappointed when you responded with a laugh. Inside Hell’s Kitchen, patrons glanced your way. Some, he saw, gestured and winked teasingly.

“They think we’re on a date,” you said with a grin.

Barbatos hummed in agreement. He had agreed to avoid looking into your future any further than absolutely necessary or to follow his prince’s orders. It was a decision he was coming to regret.

“We rarely get time to each other, do we, Barb?”

Barbatos raised an eyebrow at the nickname but did not protest. “No. I am most often with my Young Master. Or Luke joins us for baking lessons.”

“It’s too bad. I like having you all to myself for a bit.”

Despite the circumstances, Barbatos had to battle to stop his usual polite smile from turning into something more sincere.

“I must confess I enjoy your presence as well. Perhaps we can talk more at the castle?”

The House of Lamentation would be ideal, but the castle was a good second option - Lucifer and Solomon could get there quickly, or Mammon if they’d found a cure and were really running out of time.

“May I ask you a question, Barbatos?”

Barbatos knew a trap when he heard one. Millennia of experience told him something was coming, but you were certainly right that you two hadn’t gotten much time to yourselves. He didn’t know you well enough to predict how the curse would manifest against him.

“Did you know I would die?”

Barbatos was silent. If you noticed any change in his demeanour, you didn’t show it.

Barbatos could feel his smile freeze and then flatten, the hand held behind his back clenching.

He searched your gaze and found a certain manic glee he had never seen from you before. The curse, surely, making you enjoy watching him hesitate, trying to find the right words. But there was a genuine sort of curiosity to your eyes, something that Barbatos thought might be you.

“I hope this question has not weighed too heavily on your mind,” Barbatos started slowly, testing your reactions. You narrowed your eyes, unsatisfied. Tilting your head back to rest against the glass, you reminded him of the many witnesses to the scene.

“Honestly, I think about it at least once whenever we’re together.”

Barbatos nodded. He could not blame you for that. Solomon aside, few humans he had met were ready to face their own mortality. Questions around your death, the circumstances of your murder and your return, only made sense. It was likely your human mind trying to find rationality.

“What do you think of?”

It may have been playing into the curse’s hands, but Barbatos wanted to know. Perhaps he would find some way of convincing you to come back, some way through the curse’s hands.

Your reflection in the window showed the black smoke, but it was easy to mistake it for a trick of the rain reflecting on glass.

“I think… that maybe you at least knew it was possible.”

Barbatos waited a moment more, forcing himself not to nod, not to shift your attention back to him.

“I think that I understand. You serve Diavolo, and your priorities have to be his, and his priorities are this realm and the exchange program. If somehow me dying and coming back was the best possible timeline, if it was the only way for Belphie and I to coexist, then…”

What an odd thing it must be for a human, to have to grieve oneself.

The search for logic, for reason, for the world to make sense once something that had seemed vital was taken from it. And what it meant for that thing to be returned, but not quite the same.

“Your understanding and reasoning are both impressive.” Flattery wouldn’t help him, Barbatos knew, but the gentle words were all he could manage.

“So I’m right?”

“I am sorry.”

Barbatos rarely had to apologise for his actions. Certainly not to anyone who wasn’t the young master. You were unique, in that way. You were a witness to the timeline he corrected. You remembered where others would not. Your pain was not erased so easily.

So he apologised and hoped it lessened your burden.

“I understand, Barbatos. You had an entire kingdom to consider. The future of the exchange program and the three realms. What’s one human life to that?”

Your words were understanding, your voice was bitter.

It was a rare thing for Barbatos to be at a loss, but it still happened. Somethings the Young Master got ahead of him and managed to sneak out. Sometimes one of Lucifer’s brothers would cause some trouble he hadn’t prepared for. With you, Barbatos found he liked to be surprised. He found that without noticing, he had begun to trust you - that more often than not, he enjoyed when you surprised him.

“You are not the same person to us now as you were at that time,” Barbatos said. Neither of your faces were visible to the diners. Barbatos was thankful for that. He had no idea what they would read from your expression.

“So you wouldn’t make the same choice?”

“The Young Master would not allow it.”

Barbatos spoke with certainty. He met your gaze and hoped you would sense the truth in his words.

He was getting distracted - his priority should be returning you to the others. Witnesses be damned, if they ran out of time...

"What are you so worried about? You can always choose another timeline, right?"

Barbatos did not rise to the bait, merely smiled placidly.

"I would rather exhaust all other options before I would consider doing such a thing."

Ignoring the eyes watching you both, Barbatos laid a gentle hand on your elbow and drew you just a little closer.

"I have grown fond of this timeline."

I have grown fond of you.

And he knew that you understood him, heard the unspoken words. Your eyes cleared, your face softened. You opened and closed your mouth and Barbatos couldn't help but smile a bit more sincerely, seeing you at a loss for words.

"Barb..." That nickname again, this time in a wavering voice. Did you think of him so casually?

The smoke intensified and you swayed, leaning more against him for support. Barbatos steadied you, suddenly glad for his gloves - touching you did not disgust him, but the sickening magic that surrounded your body forced him to repress a shudder.

Barbatos called your name and you looked at him, scared but so trusting - Barbatos tried to move you away from the window, from prying eyes at your most vulnerable.

His timing couldn't have been better.

A single step, a sudden surge and your lips were on his, muffling his sound of surprise - his eyes widened, yours closed, and on instinct he placed one hand at the small of your back, inadvertently pulling you closer.

The kiss wasn't deep, yet it was earnest. Yours hands rested on him, one on his shoulder, one on his waist. A gentle touch, one he could easily escape.

Whether it was surprise or a foolish mistake, Barbatos' eyes closed.

You broke the kiss for a breath - and too late he heard your murmured words.

"...Create a path where there is none..."

"No-" His grip on you tightened - it was futile. You finished the incantation.

Barbatos still felt warm, but he was certain that feeling would fade soon, just as you had.

The last thing he saw were your eyes - a cruel expression of victory. His hands gripped onto nothing, your body faded away. A teleportation spell. How impressive.

Barbatos needed to inform the others, needed to resume his search, needed to check on Solomon and Lucifer's progress on breaking the curse.

He needed to, but... first, Barbatos needed some time.

Simeon

Luke was safely in Purgatory Hall, baking comfort food and preparing Celestial Realm hot chocolate.

Simeon’s DDD had pinged with updates - that you’d left the house, that you’d run into Diavolo, that you had teleported somewhere - but it had been unnervingly silent for some time.

Diavolo and Barbatos had been vague in their descriptions of their encounters with you. Simeon had come to expect that from those two - he couldn’t exactly blame them either, even though it frustrated him at times.

Simeon gathered that the curse was likely getting worse.

Still, Simeon believed that you were fighting it. You fought it off long enough to get Luke away, and you could fight it off long enough for them to save you.

But now finding you was the issue. Simeon took the long way back to the House of Lamentation. You had to be within the Devildom - Barbatos would’ve noticed the power needed to teleport between realms in your spell. And if you were conflicted while the spell went off, you likely retreated to somewhere familiar to you.

If you were back in the house… Simeon shuddered at the thought. With the pacts and you like this, the demon brothers would be vulnerable.

But if you weren’t, then perhaps somewhere you visited regularly.

The gardens were quiet, though not abandoned at this time of night. Late walkers, those returning home from parties or study dates, and demons who were more nocturnal all wandered through.

And one lone human, sitting on a park bench, staring at their DDD.

Did those around you not notice the smoke? It was less present now, less obvious. Perhaps Simeon only saw what he knew to look for.

He knew you noticed his presence before he stood in front of you, but you didn’t acknowledge him, just tapped away on the screen.

If it were any other circumstances, it would remind Simeon of one of Luke’s tantrums.

“I’m taking you home.”

"No, you're not."

Finally you looked at him. It wasn't a glare, it wasn't anger, and somehow the simple annoyance felt worse.

Simeon reached for your hand, ready to lead you back - at least if you were more apathetic, you might not fight back as hard? - but he was interrupted.

"You okay, human?"

The one who interrupted was a tall demon who Simeon recognised as a member of Beelzebub's Fangol team.

"I'll be alright, Belial," you reassured, but there was just a hint of discomfort in your voice. The demon, Belial, looked between the two of you and backed off, but Simeon could see him and others lurking nearby.

Ah. An interesting tactic.

You were far more popular in the Devildom than Simeon was. That wasn't particularly difficult to achieve - there were enough demons who remembered the war that Simeon was at a disadvantage from the start, and demons were generally more tolerant of humans than angels in the first place. Combined with your close relationship to the brothers, Simeon knew who the demons would side with in any altercation.

If he made a wrong move, he'd be in for a fight... Which might be worth it, if he had no other options left.

"This would be a lot easier if you just came home," Simeon sighed. He sat beside you - you'd chosen a bench with a nice view of a pond, the park dark enough that the water reflected the stars peeking through the clouds in little wavering lights on the surface.

"You're used to choosing the easy way out, aren't you, Simeon?"

The comment was enough to make him freeze, looking at your face as you gazed at the water. The dark and the smoke obscured your expression.

"I can't say you're wrong," Simeon admitted casually. So this was the path the curse was taking. Harming them physically was much harder for you, after all, so emotional attacks were your best bet at fulfilling the conditions of the magic. Easy for you, too, with how much of themselves they had shared with you, combined with your own observations.

That was fine. There was little you could throw at Simeon that hadn't already been said.

"You didn't fall when you had the chance."

Simeon tilted his head. He couldn't say this angle was entirely unexpected, but...

"Fear, right? You were afraid."

"I was." Simeon had little issue with confessing this now. The wounds were old, and while he couldn't say that picking at the scabs didn't hurt, it was tolerable.

"Of your Father? Of falling?"

"A little of both." Gazing at the slowly clearing sky together, the conversation felt almost light, casual. Your questions poked and prodded for weak spots, for a chink in his armor, but your tone couldn't be more calm, more idly curious. "I'd be quite willing to talk to you about this in more detail, if you like. Maybe tomorrow."

You hummed but made no move.

"Do you ever regret it?"

Simeon sighed. "You already know the answer to that."

The silence dragged on. What time was it? How close was midnight? Simeon was afraid to check, but he felt the seconds passing.

"Lilith didn't deserve it."

"She didn't," Simeon agreed.

"Where does that leave you?"

Simeon shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. A point for you.

"How do you mean?” he asked slowly, trying to calculate where you would go with this.

“You didn’t fall for Lilith.” There was a new lilt to your voice, an odd sort of coyness. Simeon had heard something similar from you before, but without the hostile edge. You bounced your DDD on your knee.

“But would you fall for me?”

Simeon’s breath hitched. Another point for you.

He remembered Michael’s expression quite clearly, the long talk he’d had back in the celestial realm. His eyes slid to your hand, resting on the back of the bench. A sliver of moonlight reflected in an unassuming ring.

“You would never ask it of me,” Simeon said, wishing his voice reflected the confidence he truly felt. You wouldn’t. You would never.

But this cursed and twisted version of you?

“Lilith’s human never asked it of her, either.” You smiled at him. Too shy, too gentle for the malice now clear in your eyes. “And you’ve already done so much for me, haven’t you? How far will you go, Simeon?”

“To the end of every realm.”

You stiffened, shock written all over your face at his blunt answer. Simeon smiled, allowing himself a moment of vindictiveness. You weren’t the only one with surprises, apparently.

You recovered faster than he would’ve liked.

“It would be such a shame, though. For you to fall.”

“I’d survive,” Simeon shrugged. It was a thought he’d entertained too often, a worn groove in his daydreams. Not enough desire for it to be a true wish, but more than a passing fancy. To live by the brothers again. To be free of the judgment of the seraphim.

“How would Luke feel, to hear you speak of damnation so calmly?”

Your DDD, still in your other hand. Simeon was not good with technology still, so it took him a moment to recognise the recording app open.

For a moment, he thought it was a call.

“You wouldn’t,” Simeon whispered, suddenly feeling less confident than before. Luke was young, Luke wouldn’t understand, Luke-

You wouldn’t hurt Luke.

And yet, Simeon could not see any hesitation in your eyes. No sign of affection, none of the protectiveness you’d shown for the little angel earlier.

“Isn’t it better to prepare him?” You leaned closer, but it wasn’t your eyes Simeon was looking at. Your DDD, your fingers moving across the screen, Luke’s photo appearing. You’d taken that photo. You’d laughed with Luke. You loved and cared for him.

“Stop this.”

“To lose someone so suddenly would be worse.”

“This isn’t you.”

It wasn’t you. It wasn’t you. You wouldn’t speak so callously about Luke, you wouldn’t use him as a weapon. You wouldn’t hurt him to hurt Simeon.

This wasn’t you. This wasn’t you. This wasn’t you.

“What do you think he’ll tell Michael?”

It wasn’t you.

“I wonder if he’d emphasise with the brothers?”

It wasn’t you.

“Learning what it’s like to have your loyalty split, I mean.”

It wasn’t you, so Simeon could do this.

Your DDD clattered to the ground.

Simeon’s hand held your wrist, bone grinding within the joint. You grinned even through your gasp of pain, your gritted teeth.

“You won’t talk to him.”

Simeon’s other hand pinned you to the bench by your shoulder, hand dangerously close to your throat.

“I won’t allow it.”

Simeon was aware of some movement around him. Lesser demons, barely worth his time. Most too young to recall the battles of the old wars.

Simeon remembered all too well.

Something behind him caught your attention.

“You would make a good demon, Simeon,” you whispered, voice watery with pained tears. Simeon squeezed tighter, earning a groan. It wasn’t you.

“Simeon.”

Simeon jolted, his grip loosening. You made no move to leave.

Solomon had approached, his pale skin flushed from - from exertion, with the run here? From anger?

Simeon felt like his mind was moving through molasses, looking between your wicked grin and Solomon’s fearful eyes. Lesser demons still observed, but kept their distance. Some seemed to trust Solomon to protect his fellow human.

Simeon opened his mouth to explain. It wasn’t you. You’d threatened Luke. He had to stop you.

But Solomon shook his head.

“I’ll take it from here.”

It took too much effort for Simeon to release his grip. Bruises already formed on your skin, swelling already visible around your wrist, the dark mark on your shoulder looking unbearably tender.

Slowly, Simeon came back to himself. It wasn’t you - but you would pay the price for whatever he did to the monster in your body.

“I-”

“Simeon, I’ll take care of it,” Solomon insisted. Simeon stood with wooden legs, eyes darting from your wrist, your shoulder, your triumphant eyes.

“Go check on Luke,” you told him. It took everything in him not to let his hand find your throat.

You’d found a way under his skin, found a way to the wrath he tried to keep hidden.

He met eyes with Solomon, trying to express without words just how far you had fallen. The lesser demons in the area visibly relaxed as Simeon stumbled back, sparing the two humans he loved most another glance before he stalked away.

He hated to admit it, but Simeon would take your advice.

You weren’t entirely wrong, after all.

If Luke lost someone tonight, he was going to need the support.

Solomon

Solomon did not have pacts with all the demons in this park, nor did he have the trust of many of them.

But as Simeon left, so did the rest of the park empty out. Whatever wrongness they sensed, whatever they thought was going on, evidently they all thought it best to leave the humans to deal with it among themselves.

You straightened your collar. Your breathing was a little heavier, you winced when you put too much weight on your wrist. It was a startling lack of reaction after you faced an angel’s wrath.

Solomon took a moment to stretch his senses to the magic in the air, surrounding you. The thick miasma of it made his stomach churn.

Solomon had a plan. It was astounding how quickly he'd forgotten his gift to you - still wrapped around your wrist, the pretty stone shining dimly.

He needed to get close enough to use it - to get the time to use it.

“Are you alright?”

Solomon had always tried to be a rock of humanity for you. He wouldn’t pretend to be ordinary - that wouldn’t help you, not in the Devildom. But he could try to remind you a bit of your home.

At first, it was mostly a sense of responsibility. While he may have found amusement in watching you learn to navigate the Devildom by causing Lucifer as many headaches as possible, you were still a fellow human, vulnerable and surrounded by demons.

Later, it was genuine affection and a hope, however dim, that amongst all the remarkable beings you called friends, he could offer you something unique. A bit of comfort. A reminder of the familiar. A special bond between the two of you. Someone you could reach out to, could rely on.

So when you didn’t respond, he asked again.

“Are you alright?”

You nodded slowly, the smoke making your bruises look darker, the shadows on your face starker.

Slowly, slowly Solomon approached, kneeling before you. You let him lace one hand in yours, examine your injuries up close. Whatever you’d said to Simeon had provoked the angel enough for him to truly lose control.

Solomon didn’t want to heal you right away, not until this curse was gone. He didn’t know how the two spells would interact.

Letting his senses reach out, Solomon immediately found another problem.

The curse thrummed within you - deep in you, in your veins. Too deep.

“Solomon…”

Solomon took your hand in his and waited for you to speak. There was still time… but not much. He had to figure out something. And while he did that, he had to keep you here.

“Solomon, I feel tired.”

You looked it. Your eyes looked sunken, your hand in his was cold. The curse took a physical toll - like your body was fighting off an infection.

“I’m sorry. We’ll fix this, alright? You’ll be just fine.”

He couldn't break the curse like this. When it was so settled in, when you were so tired, removing it could... it could hurt you. Solomon wouldn't hurt you any further.

Not unless he truly had to.

You didn’t insult or fight him. The curse was dormant - looking for an angle of attack, or consolidating its power over you?

He had a checkered past, but you’d never held that against him. You’d trusted him despite all the warnings from the demon brothers. You’d spent time with him, despite so many others fighting for your attention.

Solomon was self-aware enough to know his weak spots - but he was also aware enough of you and your feelings to know that whatever came out of your mouth likely wouldn't be the truth. Nothing you said under the effects of the curse could do any permanent damage.

Watching you sway lightly in your seat, eyes fading, Solomon realised there was one thing that could hurt him very badly.

Would the curse risk its own host in an attempt to fulfill its conditions and harm him?

Were you fighting against it enough to cause yourself pain?

Were you faking it to hurt him?

Whatever it was, your current state couldn’t last. Solomon had to do something. He had to think.

Solomon had to find a way to bring the curse to the surface. Make himself its target, not you.

“Is such a pathetic curse really causing such an issue?”

Solomon wanted to think of something better than that, but… too late. This was the quickest way. Provoke the curse. Bring it to the surface with your anger.

Break it.

Your expression twisted from something miserable to truly pained - and angry.

“Solomon, it hurts.” Your voice took on an almost whining tone - it reminded him of Asmodeus, when he was looking for sympathy. Not something he was used to hearing from you. Solomon steeled himself.

“I thought you were stronger than this. You’re my apprentice, remember? You should be able to handle more than this.”

Tears started to well in your eyes and Solomon observed you closely for any sign that the curse was responding to his words. There was wrath starting to shine through, and he held onto that. Angry was better than depressed. The more energy you had, the more the curse rose up to attack him, the easier it would break its hold on you.

“I can’t believe how much you let it control you. Simeon could’ve seriously hurt you, you know?”

You smiled, vicious, and Solomon winced. Okay, no mentioning your previous encounters. He wanted the cursed you angry, not vindicated.

“Where’s the MC that brought seven demon lords to their knees, hm? You couldn’t command Mammon to gamble right now!”

“Shut up.”

“You’re pathetic.” The words forced their way out before Solomon could think too hard about them. Whatever got a rise out of you. Anything to bring you out of that depressed, weak state. “How much time have we spent on counter-curses? On uncrossing? You should be better than this.”

Your face twisted and Solomon bit his lip. He could apologise afterwards. Right now he needed to provoke the curse to the surface, get you to hit back, so the removal wouldn’t - so to break it wouldn’t -

“I suppose I can’t blame you for this,” Solomon filled his voice with mock-sympathy. The kind of condescension he knew would drive you crazy. Already he could see your eyes narrowing, your nails digging into his skin. “It’s you, after all.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” you hissed, trying to pull away from him. He didn’t let you. Solomon tried not to aggravate the bruises left by Simeon, but you still winced in pain. He had to stop himself from doing the same.

“I mean you don’t belong here, do you? You never would’ve been able to summon a single spark of light if it weren’t for me. Your presence here is dumb luck.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said through clenched teeth, and alright, Solomon was filing that away for later because you sounded a bit too honest.

“I know exactly what I’m saying now. You’re weak.” No, you’re not. “Your pacts, your power, all of it given to you.” You’d earned everything you had. “You’re incredibly, obliviously, pathetically mortal.”

You stared at Solomon. Solomon stared at you.

His hands gripped yours too tight. It was the only way to stop them trembling.

“What the fuck, Solomon?”

He'd gotten a response. He could feel the curse pulsing under your skin, feel the magic rising to the surface.

He was so close.

He had to push forward.

“You heard me.” His voice sounded foreign to his own ears. Or was it too familiar? Solomon had said and done terrible things. Hurt so many people.

He never wanted to add you to that list.

“You’ve got another 80 years in you. Maybe 100 if you’re strong enough, which looking at you now…” Solomon trailed off. He hoped you thought he was just trying to annoy you more. He hoped you didn’t notice he just couldn’t finish that sentence.

“You lasted longer,” you spat back. Solomon grinned darkly.

I want to talk about this with you later. I don’t wish this on you. I want you to stay but I can't force you to live forever. If you asked, I couldn’t say no.

“You think you’re anything like me?”

You’re better.

“You’re weak, you’re inexperienced, you’ve gotten this far by acting cute with those demon brothers.”

They love you.

“You're going to be here for an infinitesimal fraction of their lives. You're insignificant."

You were well and truly crying now. Solomon kept his face blank, his shoulders level. If he'd had a century less experience, there was no way he would be able to hide his regret from you. If he'd seen any less tragedy, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from begging your forgiveness.

Solomon didn't expect it.

He'd known exactly what he was saying.

Even as he gripped tight to the gem, even as he felt the curse surge just underneath your skin, even as he spoke the words that would free you - Solomon could only feel the barest relief that you were safe.

But before the curse fully lifted, you managed one last grin.

"I win."

"How does that work?" Solomon asked through gritted teeth as the magic took hold, straining with the effort of drawing the curse out at this late stage.

You locked eyes with him, the last vestiges of hazy smoke still clinging on.

"Because you're never going to forgive yourself for this."

Solomon opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the curse finally shattered.

Smoke filled his lungs, causing him to hack and cough, but he couldn't let you go - what if, after his moment of weakness, he found you gone again?

When the air cleared, you collapsed against him - an incoherent mumble all you managed before you lost consciousness.

Solomon held you tight, making sure your breath was steady, your pulse strong. The curse had exhausted you, weakened you... but it would not hurt you any further. You would sleep off the worst of the effects and recover.

With your life out of danger, Solomon's shoulders slumped. His eyes slipped closed, his chin rested in your hair.

It was only then he let the tears fall.

Solomon: The curse is broken. I will be returning to the House of Lamentation soon with MC.

Barbatos: Does MC require any medical attention?

Solomon: Nothing serious. Please notify the others. I'll be there soon.

Barbatos: Are you certain you don't need any assistance?

Solomon: I'll manage, Barbatos. Thank you.

Barbatos considered insisting - but he knew his old friend well. Solomon could be remarkably stubborn. He could only inform Lucifer of Solomon's words, letting the first born inform his brothers.

The Young Master had returned there earlier, guided by Barbatos. Simeon had run past him towards - somewhere. It didn't seem to be the House of Lamentation. Barbatos had best message him as well.

How one human had come to hold so much power over some of the most powerful beings in all three realms was beyond Barbatos' understanding, even with his unique perspective. He could only hope his Young Master would permit him a glimpse into the future tonight. Barbatos needed to ensure no permanent damage had been done to this timeline.

With his lips still burning with the memory of your kiss, Barbatos walked through the streets towards the House of Lamentation.

[ridhearts]

all for show {housewardens}

!! THIS IS A REPOST !! If you see a copy of this post floating around, that was INTENTIONAL! I was shadowbanned :(

@sakurarabbit18 requested: Hi, there~! So I have this really fun idea in my head. I would like a headcannon in which the fem! reader asks the housewardens to be her pretend boyfriend. But what happens when the boys fall in love for real? Super fluff, please! Thanks

sits on hands. I LOVE fake dating hehehe I left the reason for the fake dating kinda vague because I did NOT have a reason they’d agree to ready but I still hope it’s enjoyable! Also sorry if the least two are a bit short I was both getting tired and don’t know a lot about them yet so I’m still in need of some practice ig!

(also sorry for the second tag, I hope you don’t mind!)

I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a request!

Riddle

If you watch closely, you can see Riddle go through the five stages of grief as soon as you ask him.

Denial: no way. The prefect who has stopped Overblot after Overblot is not reducing their problem solving skills to this. (They are.)

Anger: How could they?!?! Do they have no respect for the way dating is usually done?! For themselves?! (Apparently not.)

Bargaining: Well, surely it doesn’t have to be him. Ask Ace or Deuce! Just say he’s your boyfriend and don’t make him actually do anything. (It won’t work that way.)

Depression: Is….is he seriously going to do this? If anybody finds out, his reputation will be dragged through the mud! He can imagine the field day Ace and Deuce will have if you ever tell them…

Acceptance: Riddle’s made up his mind,  and he is not happy about the decision he made.

You barely have time to cheer for your victory, because before Riddle does anything, he is setting down the ground rules. Most of them start ok: hand holding was a-ok, hugs should rarely be a surprise, only short cheek kisses allowed (he turned bright red and hastily agreed to whatever you said was acceptable)… He even insisted you had to maintain a certain grade point average if he were to help you, as if you were some kind of athlete on a scholarship. Eventually the two of you settle the details, and you skip happily out of the office with a new (fake) boyfriend ready for…whatever it is you have planned.

Riddle, at first, was very…stiff. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was supposed to be doing. After all, he had little to no experience and it’s not like he was particularly invested in the relationship as anything other than a good friend and a man of his word. You’re the one initiating any affection, and the best he can do is not appear wildly uncomfortable and embarrassed when you do.

It’s not that you make him uncomfortable. It’s just…if this were real, he’d definitely opt for affairs to be more private. Making such a literal show out of something that he’d like to keep private just feels…a bit weird.

Don’t worry, though! Eventually, he falls into the act, and he is damn good at pretending to be the perfect boyfriend. It’s definitely less ‘naturally suave and charming’ and more ‘this boy has definitely memorized a syllabus (or several) for an etiquette class before’ but hey! Whatever works, right? Just hope there isn’t a pivotal moment with Ace and Deuce around because…they are weirded out by their bestie pretending to date their housewarden, and they make it known.

“What are you two looking at?” Riddle asked sharply, fighting the urge to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Ace and Deuce had been staring at him like he had grown a second head ever since you left to get your lunch, and he was beginning to fear the incoming outburst.

It was Ace who cracked first, hitting the table with one hand. “Dude, what are you doing? It’d be weird enough if you were dating them for real, but this is even weirder! It’s way weirder, right?”

Deuce nodded. “Definitely. I mean, it’s not exactly our business, but…”

“But we have to watch it from our lunch table! So I think we should get to speak our minds if it’s a daily occurrence.”

Riddle sighed, doing his best not to make a scene. “The prefect and I have everything under control, so-”

Ace’s face suddenly brightened as he got an idea. From experience, Riddle knew that was definitely not good. “Oooohh, I get it! You’re just trying to prove to them that you’d be a good boyfriend because you like them!”

Unable to hold himself back, Riddle stood from his seat and watched as the pair cowered before him. “Don’t you two know how many rules you’re breaking by delving into other people’s personal business? Another word out of you and I’ll have your heads!”

Riddle catches feelings somewhere in the middle of the act (or, if he already had them, they get worse), but he doesn’t even realize anything’s amiss until you tell him you’ll free him in a few days. Then he spends the night wondering why the thought made him feel so heavy and panicky.

He doesn’t strike me as the type to ask you out once the deal is over, though. Honestly, he’s probably still analyzing every last detail, every last emotion he had around you while also trying to figure out if you feel similarly. Did you ask him to be your fake boyfriend because you wanted him to make a move, or do you just really trust him? Were you flustered when he played his part exceptionally well because you liked him, or were you a better actor than he thought?

If YOU ask him out, he’ll stand there starstruck for a solid few seconds before clearing his throat and eventually agreeing. If you don’t, it’ll take him some time. But eventually he’ll ask for your company and begin gently prodding you under the guise of asking if he did a good job. No matter what you answer - telling him yes or teasing him for how strict he was about the whole thing - he’ll clear his throat before asking…did that make you wonder what it’d be like to date for real? He can promise that there will be less rules for this relationship…or, at the very least, more leeway.

Leona

Leona is the worst choice if you’re trying to actually accomplish something, but the best choice if this is a last-ditch attempt to see if he likes you likes you.

Very few things are worth putting in the effort, and the amount of stupid things on that already short list is 0. When you tell him your plan, the only reason Leona doesn’t condescendingly laugh in your face is because he’s pretending to be asleep (a point of pride, really, considering you wouldn’t continue your blathering if you didn’t think he could hear you.)

Whatever your reason for needing a fake boyfriend, you’re only going to convince him through bargaining. Keep in mind, putting up with you and pretending to enjoy it is a tall order. If you’re stuck skipping Crewel’s class two days a week and bringing Leona lunch so he can use you as a pillow, consider that getting off easy.

…you almost would consider yourself lucky, if Leona actually held up his end of the deal. He isn’t pretending to enjoy this at all. Hell, half the time he isn’t even with you. And when he is, he’s doing off or just as gruff as usual. You don’t have a fake boyfriend any more than you have a grumpy lion to babysit.

It’s weird, though, because now Leona is reluctant to leave your side. Before, you could push him off you and eventually have him swagger away to do something else. Now, your prodding is met with a snide grin and him asking you, “What, herbivore, isn’t this what you wanted? I seem to remember you begging and pleading me to-”

Hopefully you don’t need the fact that this is fake to be a secret because…he won’t listen. Whoops.

Honestly, you’re surprised he’s even fulfilling any part of the deal. But the moment you need someone on your defense team, it’s like he appears out of thin air,  teeth bared and bad attitude sharpened for lethal destruction.

The second years that were bothering you scrambled to their feet, not willing to go toe-to-toe with Leona when it only took one swipe of his arm to knock them both to the ground. They stammered out useless apologies, meant more to be shields and less to be peacemakers, before running back to safety.

“Tch. Young enough to get into trouble and old enough to prey on the weak,” Leona muttered, rolling his shoulders back as if to shake the irritation off. You tried to blink away your surprise before he turned around, not willing to be the subject of his ire after he nonchalantly threw twice your weight to the ground. But of course he already knew. “What’re you looking so shocked for? I barely did anything.”

“I…didn’t realize you were there,” you said simply. Leona’s ears almost imperceptibly flattened and his tail stilled in its lazy movements against the ground.

Before you could ask him about it, he scoffed. “No wonder they thought you were an easy target, then.”

Neither of you can pinpoint exactly when your arrangement became enjoyable, per se. When you started it felt like your relationship was worse than it had been before, but now Leona seemed to love nuzzling into your shoulder and he could, more often than not, be found trailing after you (as long as you promised you weren’t going far or to do something exhausting). You didn’t remember when he decided it was alright if you ran your fingers through his hair or over his ears, either.

He’s not going to be the one to take the leap and make anything official. As far as he’s concerned, if you’re enjoying yourself you’ll stick around. and if you leave, well, it couldn’t be said he wasn’t your first choice if he never gave you a choice, right? If you’re interested in labels and stuff……just tell him that you no longer need a fake boyfriend but are looking for the real deal. If you ask sweetly enough, he might just offer to fill the spot in for you.

Azul

I’M GONNA BE REAL WITH YOU. MY BOY PROBABLY HAD FEELINGS BEFORE YOU EVEN CAME UP WITH THE IDEA.

When he hears your proposition, he’s torn between two perspectives: one, that you’re certainly toying with him and about to call him a fool for even accepting, or two, that this could be an excellent investment opportunity. He’s nervous, absolutely, but he’s never sensed that sort of hostility from you. (Ignoring the fact that he’s “lowkey” thought you made the sun shine for a while now). So he accepts your proposition, with a very clear IOU from you.

(In his giddiness, he couldn’t quite figure out what to take from you out of this deal, yet he was wise enough to think not wanting anything might make him look desperate. You, in your desperation from…whatever you needed him for, didn’t care much for specifics as long as you got a yes. Perhaps you were BOTH fools.)

Azul puts on quite a show as a fake boyfriend. He’s a master at sidling up beside you when you’re walking in the halls, falling into step with you like it was nothing. His conversation is light, easy, and you find your laughter to come naturally. Azul finds himself handing you small trinkets, charms to hang off your belongings or snacks from the Mostro Lounge (because he’s seen what you put together from Ramshackle, and he describes it to you as cute, his true distaste dripping off his words.)

But there are moments he gets…shy. Like if you laugh for a moment too long he starts to think you thought he was funny for real. Or when you toy nervously with the charm hanging off your phone, or insist he share the snacks he brought for you. When Azul works up the nerve to drape his coat over your shoulders, allowing you to nap atop your assignments while he finishes paperwork, he wants to reach out and touch you, admire the shape of your face, maybe push your hair away, just a bit…

But he doesn’t. For as well as he puts on a show, Azul has never initiated any of the affection. You have, sure. You grab his arm as you walk through the halls, you lean on him when he’s sitting close to you, you’ve even been so bold as to kiss his cheek a few times. Each time, Azul has heard his own word stutter, felt his breath catch and his cheeks warm. It was easy to pretend you were interested in him the way he was interested in you. But at the back of his mind, a voice reminded him that this was pretend. There was a time limit.

As the end of your little deal approaches, Azul gets more and more distant. He stiffens more when you touch him, and sometimes he interrupts your move to kiss his cheek and instead kisses your hand. The one thing he doesn’t give up, though, is walking with you whenever he can.

One night, when he steps onto your porch and prepares to bid you goodnight (he’s never been inside, you note, not since you’ve started this whole charade),  you stop him from leaving with a gentle call of his name.

Instantly, he freezes, but he still responds in a level voice. “Yes?”

There is finality hanging in the air, heavier with each day your final date approaches. Rarely has there been a time where you felt just how important a moment was, yet here this moment was, catching you entirely unprepared.

“…what about my IOU?"

"What?” Azul jolted, forcing his glasses askew instead of pushing them up like he intended. “Oh, yes. Your end of the deal.”

Where you felt tension, Azul felt it even more, wanting nothing more than to curl up into a trembling, sniffling ball somewhere and figure out what was going on. He thought he could use this scheme as a practice run, proving to you just how capable he was and how good of a boyfriend he could be so you’d surely realize what you were missing and want him. Instead, it felt more like you were doing a victory lap, then three, then five, proving that you really had captured his heart long ago.

It’ll be up to you to offer up a real relationship. For as much as Azul tries to be the confident businessman with answers to everything, he’s still not quite to the point where he can just brazenly ask you out. Besides, asking you to date him to fulfill a deal just feels nasty and insincere. Nervous and self-conscious as he is, Azul is still greedy, and he wants your love to be genuine, should he ever earn it.

(It’ll be up to you to let him know he already has, but won’t you take the jump if you know he’s already yours?)

Kalim

Here’s the thing: Kalim missed the part where you said fake boyfriend.

As a friend, Kalim is naturally affectionate. He’s not just ‘lean on your shoulder when he’s tired’ affectionate, either. He’s a ‘lean on your shoulder all the time like it’s a wireless charger and he’s a phone at 3% battery’ affectionate. A ‘tackle you to the ground if he’s been away from you for more than an hour’ affectionate. A ‘here, let me shower you in gifts worth more than you’d see in your life otherwise’ affectionate.

So it makes sense that you’d ask him - surely, nothing would change, right? Maybe you’d hold hands a little more obviously, or make up ridiculous pet names for fun, but it couldn’t be too bad, right? Plus, Kalim didn’t leave a bad impression on anybody (mostly), so he’s an obvious choice for a good fake boyfriend.

However….the gifts start rolling in, and you’re not sure what to do.

If Kalim missed the part where you said fake, you were at fault for not following up and setting up clear rules and boundaries. Sometimes Kalim gets so excited about things, you get swept up in the whirlwind, too. But the small mountain of (real???? Almost definitely but you’re too scared to check) gold jewelry growing underneath the socks in your drawers is enough to send you into a small panic.

At first, you try to play it cool, as if this is normal and expected and not totally stressful. Aside from the gifts, things are fine! Kalim is a natural at slinging an arm around you and leaning into you like it’s nothing. He doesn’t just hug you anymore, he holds you tightly and nuzzles up to you, eager to prove you fit like complimentary puzzle pieces. And, while you aren’t familiar with the culture around dating and courting in the Scalding Sands, the garments he begins gifting you seem awfully familiar to the significant pieces he was talking about just days before you got yourself into this mess.

Whatever plot you needed a fake boyfriend for is quickly swept aside as you try to figure out what to do with your maybe-fake-maybe-accidentally-real boyfriend situation. You try to ask Jamil for help, but he only gives a flat look that screams ‘you got yourself into this mess’ and ducks away to go to basketball practice. Clearly an intervention is in order, but you feel like you’re the one that’s lost, and Kalim is a bullet train without working breaks.

“You do remember that the plan was for us to fake our relationship, right?”

There. You said it. That dreaded ‘what are we?’ that you never thought you’d actually have to say was out in the open, feeling just as heavy on your shoulders as it did in your chest. Part of you wondered if you sounded too accusatory, but you were at wit’s end trying to figure the way out of the woods you had gotten lost in.

Kalim’s smile dropped, his eyes widening as his hand flew instinctively to his chest in surprise, his arm a shield in case your words turned to daggers. For a brief second, a crestfallen expression flickered across his face, eyes unfocused and eyebrows furrowing. Just as quickly, though, he replaced it with a smile, one more hollow than before. His hand then moved to rub the back of his neck.

“I overdid it again, didn’t I?”

It’s one of the few times you’ll see Kalim embarrassed and thrown off-kilter. He laughs, but it’s hollow and uncomfortable and you immediately feel bad for being the reason he’s like this. But Kalim is an expert at rebounding, and he’s honest to boot. So he takes a deep breath and proclaims that ok, maybe he messed up the fake dating part, but if you were happy with the way things were going, why not continue where you left off…?

It’s a little strange, at first. Kalim has a little difficulty remembering that to you, you just started dating but to him, it’s been about a month. But his boundless energy swept you away in the first place, and it’ll sweep you away again if you let it. Just…maybe tell him to ease up on the gifts. You’re running out of space for everything he’s given you.

Vil

You’re going to need a very good explanation to even get him to consider this.

See, if you were anywhere but NRC, Vil would assume you were using him for fame or something. It’s not a reflection on you, it’s just that he has eyes on him all the time when he’s in public so naturally you would get some exposure. Honestly, for that reason alone he may reject your proposition, as it’s not worth any of the pain you’d go through just to have a little fun for whatever you need a fake boyfriend for.

But you are at NRC, so things are a little different. Not entirely, as he is still very busy at school and wouldn’t have time to keep the charade up for long. BUT. If you have a specific event and he deems it worthy of his attention, then…fine. He’ll be your date…if you pass his training.

(So maybe this is less 'fake dating’ and more 'you’ve made a fatal mistake asking Vil to be your date to the NRC version of the homecoming dance for revenge,’ but it gets the job done.)

No matter what you already know or have prepared, Vil is taking the reins on this project and he will NOT accept anything less than perfection. It may have been difficult to get him to agree to this, but once he’s part of the plan he is in it to win it. Do you already have an outfit? Too bad if he doesn’t like it, the two of you are an item, you will look the part and it will not look like that. Do you need to know how to dance? Well, lucky you, you’ve got yourself a personal trainer who is extremely adept at all types of dances. Vil doesn’t cut corners on anything, and to top it off he is an actor. You are going to look like the perfect couple whether you like it or not.

The first few weeks of preparations put more strain on your relationship than anything. Vil is renowned for being a vicious teacher, and you were already simply looking for an easy way out of your problem. The two of you are at each other’s throats, practically snarling at each other each time you pull each other in to practice a dance again.

Eventually it mellows down, of course, and the tense frustration simmering between you two is erased as you focus on a joint goal. Maybe you wouldn’t be taking an easy way out of your problem, but you’d have a fake boyfriend at the end of the day, which is really what you wanted. Besides, you’re starting to pick up on Vil’s sense of humor, the dry and sarcastic quips he makes while you guys are chatting through your last runthrough of the evening. If you’re trying to avoid or get back at a certain person through this plot, he’s immediately invested and on your side, meeting every frustrated sigh of yours with a comment.

Vil would be lying if he said he wasn’t sensing the changes in the atmosphere between the two of you. You’ve been spending more and more time together, so of course you’ve grown closer, but he’s finding you endlessly endearing. He rather likes how hard you’ve been working to meet his standards, and though petty drama is beneath him, he finds it rather amusing how far you’d go to purposely spite someone. Vil is rather glad he took you up on your ridiculous offer; you never fail to surpass his expectations, and he’s finding out that he rather enjoys that about you.

The day of your event rolls around, and a part of you is nervous. You realize you have no idea how you’re going to deal with the fallout - people will surely wonder why you dropped the Vil Schoenheit, how you landed him in the first place, and all of a sudden you’re certain you forgot everything you spent so much time learning. This isn’t the first time Vil’s dealt with a rookie that has a bad case of stage fright, though. However, this might be the first time he’s purposely making it worse.

“By the way,” Vil starts moments before he opens the door to lead you into the room where everybody else is already mingling. “You don’t mind if I give a few last-minute notes, do you?”

Immediately you tense, flinching aggressively as if trying to retreat into a shell. Vil, stoic as always, watches you sputter with an expertly-concealed smirk. His perfectly painted lips barely quirk up at the corners, but if you were less preoccupied, he knows you would’ve spotted it anyway.

“Of course you don’t,” he decides for you, ignoring your fragmented protests. “We are prepared to give them the most dazzling display they’ve seen yet, but it’s missing a certain authenticity. Why settle for mere costume jewelry when we can offer them something real.”

“Authenticity…” You murmur, your eyes searching his. Something almost mischievous sparks within them, and a few moments later everything finally clicks. “Wait, are you really asking me out?”

“Does it surprise you? I can’t imagine it’d be much different than what we’ve already been doing.”

“…There will probably be less dancing.”

“Hm. What a shame. I suppose we’ll have to make tonight count, then.” With that, Vil opened the doors, allowing all eyes to almost immediately fall on you. Your face grew warm and you took a side-step closer to Vil, hoping to gain a fraction of the confidence he radiated.

Idia

You are trying to kill him, aren’t you? He already said he was sorry he got the rare character you were excited for and you didn’t a thousand times, there’s no need to resort to murder!!

I don’t think Idia has it in him to do this irl. If you’re in a chat room and some people are being creeps, he can step in. But that’s kind of a one time thing.

However…he will agree to be your emergency contact.

In a car and you don’t feel safe? Talk to him the whole way and put him on speaker. Need someone to send you a barrage of texts so it looks like someone has been begging for your attention? He’s your man. After a short while, he’ll even send lazy pictures of half his face so you have something to show others like 'see? see?? I told you I have a boyfriend.’

Here’s the thing that Idia won’t tell you: He’ll pick up your calls at any time, as soon as he gets them. He’ll respond to you as quickly as he can just to hear back from you even faster. He’s not so good at letting people know how he feels or even knowing himself how he feels, and the thought of you knowing how much he values you leaves him feeling kind of itchy, but he’s happy to help you if you’re in need. Honestly, the thought soothes some of the complicated feelings he’s opened himself into. Maybe the cute selfies and messages you send are part of an act, but you genuinely trust him to be your fake boyfriend. It’s an honor all its own, if you think about it.

Except he CAN’T think about it because the more he realizes what sort of shoujo manga hijinks he agreed to and he crawls under his covers to process it.

Idia checked his phone while the next level loads, shoulders slumping once he saw it was all game notifications and nothing from you. He thought about sending you another message, especially since some of your last messages mentioned someone giving you a bad vibe and wanting to leave, but what if he just ruined your socialization by asking about you?

Maybe you didn’t need a fake boyfriend anymore because you had found a real one.

Idia turned his volume up again in case you messaged, and started his game.

Sometimes Idia talks himself into a bad mood, one that ruins his vibe for forever both because he feels worthless and then feels more worthless for thinking about you in such a bad light. You can even notice it over text in the slightly longer response time and the suddenly accurate punctuation.

He won’t do much about his feelings, even as they continue to grow. He’s already fighting for his life out here, trying to figure out the brand new environment he threw himself into. You’ll have to take the next step - but don’t worry about him rejecting you. You seem to have a knack for roping him into your crazy ideas already.

Malleus

His first thought is oh, dear. I’ve made a grave mistake somewhere.

Similar to Azul, he’ll start to think that perhaps this is a trial period, or a courting ritual from where you’re from. Those are the only terms he’ll understand it under. Everything else confuses him - why act exactly like you’re dating and not date for real and have the benefits forever?

Still, once he wraps his head around it, he goes all in. If you want to convince people he’s your boyfriend, he is going to convince people. Malleus before had a habit of toeing the line, occasionally acting a bit intimately that might suggest he had feelings for you. Now he’s over-the-top romantic, taking advice from every  piece of courting and dating rituals and advice he’s ever perceived. (Some of it goes better than others, and yes, Lilia’s advice is 50/50)

The bad news is, since he is still Malleus, people are hardly around to see the show you’re putting on. The good news is this plan has worked wonders if you were trying to get some creep off your back.

“So, where else do you need to go today?”

The other people on the sidewalk gave you a much wider berth than normal, not wanting to approach the formidable Malleus Draconia. It would have been funny, how they avoided the man who was nothing but sweet on you, if it wasn’t sort of sad. You could see why Malleus felt so isolated all the time - you were feeling crestfallen after a few hours a day of this obvious avoidance.

“Actually, I only need to head home. Grim’s waiting on me to make dinner,” You answered, shrugging your bag higher on your shoulder. “Thanks for walking with-”

“I’ll be happy to accompany you,” He interrupted before you could urge him to part ways with you. Furrowing your eyebrows, you nodded.

“Okay…if you insist.”

If you let him know it’s about time to start winding down the act, Malleus…won’t listen. He’ll never overstep to make you uncomfortable, but having such singular attention from you for so long was kind of a dream come true. Plus, Malleus has a sinking feeling that your withdrawal won’t stop once the two of you return to being friends as you were.

If you don’t make a move, he will. The two of you will be walking at night like you used to, and it’ll be one of the most romantic things you could think of in such short notice. Please, please accept him - he isn’t sure he can lose you now, not when he’s already in this deep.

[violettelueur]

— (EX-YAKUZA!AU) NANAMI KENTO || WAY OF THE HOUSE HUSBAND 

↳ featuring : nanami kento from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of violence + grammar issues

↳ form : headcanons

↳ published : 23 may

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ request : Hello~Could I request ex-yakuza Nanami and his wife? Especially since The Way of The House Husband is coming out (ex-yakuza husband turned house husband and his working badass wife) and the VA for Nanami is voicing the husband from the show! Headcannons of their domestic life together? Nanami deserves to rest and just be a house husband （＾＿＾）☆

↳ barista’s notes : so i have begin to notice that none of my work shows up on the tags and i’m beginning to wonder if i am shadowbanned or i did something on my settings...so i shall check after posting this ʕ ᵒ ᴥ ᵒʔ other than that, i hope you enjoy your cup of classic black coffee and come back soon ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡

When you first met Nanami...let’s just say that no one knows how you both met at all except for the both of you...and no one ever brings it up when having a conversation with you both.

The grey suit with the blue shirt and leopard print yellow tie is a common sight for you to see (and you ain’t complaining at all) - add a little yellow apron on, shall I?

Nanami is a surprisingly good baker as he always makes sure to bake a loaf of bread in the morning for your lunch that he is going to prepare for you next.

If you ever forget about your lunch, he will deliver it to you in his classic bike and when he comes in, he does scare some of your co-workers since they instantly can sense the Yakuza vibe from him.

To be honest, even being married to him for how ever long you have been married, it is still very scary how clean the house is when you come home from your job...like it was clean before you left but for some reason, you can tell the difference instantly -  you always say ‘scary’ when you observe the house.

When you ever go outside to do something, you are always greeted by the older ladies within the area you are in because Nanami is well aquatinted with them from the sports activities you encouraged him to do - he did mumble something about sessions going overtime a bit too much.

When your parents come to visit the both of you, just know Nanami will go into the whole chef mood like he is in the Masterchef TV show to impress them - even though he already did when you first started dating since his gentlemen like mannerism sometimes cover the fact that he was a yakuza.

Nanami will make you stray away from housework because if you do it...what the hell is he going to do to fill his ‘househusband’ role - though he does hate work, housework is something he loves doing since it’s his way of appreciating the hard work you do that he hates (like a job)

Whenever he goes out, police do look at him in the weirdest way and do get the wrong message on what he is doing from time to time and it’s funny to you because of the way he plays it off so seriously - his glasses makes it funnier.

Even though you told him many times to quit, you can’t help but find him smoking really sexy...just the bad boy vibes you want to keep but want to take away at the same time.

You are the only person that can hit him physically without getting any repercussions because you are his wife, who dreams to be someone that no other person can be - like when he compliments you in front of someone and you get embarrassed, you can’t help but spark him in the door.

There are times when Nanami keeps his Yakuza habits to the point where you have to physically stop him like one time he had gifted you something but you already got it - if you know, you know.

When you go in public with him, people will come up to you and ask if you are okay once Nanami goes to fetch something he had forgotten and when you inform them that he is your husband...they will assume that it was some way to pay off a debt you didn’t have enough money to pay back for.

During shopping trips for him, he is always wary of your health and all the good nutrients that you have to have in a balanced diet like if you drop a bottle of Fanta, he will say you already have some and ‘stoking up’ isn’t a good excuse.

You both will lightly argue about what you need and what you don’t need when shopping because we both know that you both set up a budget that you are willing to break - always make sure to hold his loyalty card for him because sometimes he will forget.

Since he is an ex-yakuza, he is wary about your safety and what’s to make sure that wherever you are, you are okay and safe - expect a few calls here and there.

Overall, Nanami converting from a yakuza to a househusband really tells you how much he is devoted to you and how much he loves you to the point he will quit having a normal life with you - it really does warm your heart to the point where the are times when you would cry in his arms in appreciation and he will ask ‘who does he need to kill’.

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

[supernova-151]

You mentioned a few times that you'd been silently going through the violetta tag for a while before you really joined the fandom, so I was wondering, what actually motivated you to join in?

hey thanks for the question!! a really good one at that!!

well honestly the moment i got a little bit more into violetta i started wondering if there was a fandom at all and when i want to look at fandoms in their purest forms i always go to tumblr. i was very impressed by how the people interpreted this 10 year old now (jesus i’m old) show and just how fun and amazing everyone seemed to be?? at the same time i was hanging around on ao3 too and reading all the different stories on the tag (i think i read pretty much everything there is on it). the various retellings and even shorter stories really got me invested in the show even more!! i was like on episode 40 or something but i basically already knew all that happened and i just couldn’t wait to get to that part in the show.

so, fast forward a little bit and i got to season 3. at that time the only place where i shared my feelings on the show was on stories on instagram and no one really gave a shit lol. so i started making some sporadic posts on my primary tumblr blog about how i was finding certain parts of the season. however, the problem with my primary blog is that somehow my posts don’t appear on the hashtags and i can’t interact with other people’s posts (like i’m shadowbanned or something). so i kind of forgot about it and moved on.

fast forward even more, turns out i cant really move on from violetta? usually when i finish a series i just watch something else and become interested in that. and i watched a BUNCH of series after violetta but nothing really stuck. it was around the first days of january when i stumbled upon this old draft of mine of a fanfic i called “all press is good press”. i had started writing it around when i was finishing s3, and i had a lot of feelings about ludmila (and naty by proxy) that i wanted to air out. since i was having (still am) a bit of a writer’s block with my novel, i just said “fuck it” and continued writing that wip i was so sure i was just going to end up deleting. i was however very passionate about the story and just wanted to test myself with writing for fandoms (i have had many ideas for fanfics over the years but never actually wrote anything).

in the end i was surprised to see i had finished up an actual chapter! at that point, i really really wanted to get my two cents in on this show that was consuming my life more than it should’ve. i was seeing everyone so welcoming and funny and i just wanted to join in the chaos!! so with unprecedented courage (and a lot of sleep deprivation in me) i just published that first chapter!

problem was, i wasn’t sure how to get people to know it was there and that i wanted to be a part of this chaotic tumblr family. so i ended up making this secondary blog and start sponsoring my story here. i cant even describe the joy in my heart as i saw those first comments start flowing in. at the beginning of this month i was going through a very rough patch and i can safely say my mutuals and violetta saved me from falling into another depressive state. i think publishing that story was one of the best decisions i ever made because it led me to where i am now <3

tl,dr: head clogged with luty, needed outlet, love my mutuals

[sunball]

Hi💫💓. I have a confession to make. Nothing too serious tbh. This is going to be lengthy. I created a Tumblr acc a while ago but, I was never active on it. I preferred to guest browse, you know. I would lurk around in the tags and read stuff. But, I never actually interacted with the posts. Ever. One day, I was doing the same thing and, I came across your blog. I LOVED reading your posts. You came across as an authentic and outspoken person to me. Your blog's aesthetic stood out to me. I could see that it was an expression of yourself. I could see the effort you put into it. I kept coming back to your blog and ended up finding some other wonderful blogs through it. After a while, I ended up traveling. I didn't have data or WiFi access at the time so, I couldn't read any of your posts. When I returned, I couldn't find your blog for some reason. I low-key freaked out. I am not sure how to explain this to you but, I have ALWAYS struggled with communication. It made me SO anxious to the point that I couldn't even imagine being on social media. People say that interacting with others on the Internet is much easier than face-to-face communication but, to me, it's all the same. At the end of the day, I am always wondering "Was I rude?", " Did I even make any sense?", "What are they going to think of me?". It is such an irrational fear but, I can't help it. After coming across your blog, I decided to check my natal chart, and lo and behold, I have Saturn in the 3rd. After finding out that you had the same placement, it gave me some kind of hope? That may be, someday, I would be able to express my thoughts just like you do. I really respect the efforts you put into your blog. I admire you for that. I really do. Okay, let's go back to the story. I eventually ended up finding your blog. I made up my mind to finally tell you that I loved your blog. I think I send you an ask. I think. But I decided to redo it cause' I felt like the first one didn't do justice. So here I am. I don't know if you will ever actually read this. Even now, while writing this, I am freaking out! I know I am anonymous but, my anxiety doesn't give an f. I want you to know that you are doing great. There are lots of people out there who appreciate what you do, and I am one of them. I hope you rise amongst all perils and achieve all your dreams. Thank you for being yourself. 💛💛💛

Hold up, I was supposed to make a confession, right? Okay so, I used to hang around with a cockroach as a kid. Let's call it bestie. Feels weird to say it, but bestie was actually well behaved? I used to sing songs for it and stuff. Our friendship lasted for a grand total of two days. Bestie was a great roach. Best of all?? It didn't fly. Yap, that's it. I don't know if you will read this but thanks for listening.

omg anon🥺🥺 I’m speechless aahhh aakdhjdg this means SO much to me. you made my day. you made me smile and tear up wow. thank you so much for taking your time to write this. im feelin super special rn hehehe just reading your words makes me feel appreciated 😭 I’m guessing you found my blog when my URL was ilyneptune? I was shadowbanned so that’s why you couldn’t find my blog, SORRY ABOUT THATTTT! I’m glad we found eachother again though :D

I totally get what you mean about the communication part, as a child I was really quiet and did not talk to my family or my friends much. at school I was the most awkward person and was labelled as stupid because whenever I got picked on to answer questions, I would just stutter and answer something stupid 😭 just speaking makes me feel like choking even if it’s just a simple hi. I also used to not like talking online too, I would leave messages unread and ignore them for weeks and I absolutely hated calls (I still do). I also take hours to write a paragraph. saturn in 3rd house things I suppose 😔 but actually, this year my communication got so much better. I stepped out of my comfort zone and made this blog. not so sure what made me do it but I’m glad I did it anyway. now I’m arguing with people in comment sections and I’m not afraid of being wrong anymore. I guess I just accepted that I’m not perfect and that I’m bound to make mistakes and that everyone is here for the same reason - to learn. would me saying something wrong make me a fool? or would the person laughing at me for being wrong and not asking questions be the fool instead? I actually have 2 quotes on my wall, “speak your mind even if your voice shakes” and “he who asks a question is a fool for a minute, he who does not ask is a fool for life”. those quotes are very important to me and pretty much changed my life :B my dad also helped me ig, he’s kinda cold lol but he told me that people actually don’t give a fuck about your mistakes, they don’t notice the things you notice like your crooked teeth, the way you eat, how you stuttered 3 times or how you messed up your presentation. why? people have their own insecurities and their own life to think about, they’re probably thinking of the exact same thing like “omg did they notice that I accidentally spat when I talked?”. so yeah that helped me too.

I believe that you can overcome these fears! I mean, you’re already doing it by writing this to me :D (which brought me to tears lol). If an awkward bean who barely spoke at school (aka me) can do it, so can you! I believe in you anon ((: it’s okay to be anon I understand! I appreciate you writing this to me (for the 2nd time KAHDH I’m sorry I didn’t get your last ask 😭). but anywaysss I’ll still be here for the day you express your thoughts (and imma listen hehe) I’m a sucker for thaaatttt, hearing people’s thoughts and opinions. I think it’s super fascinating how people think differently and how people can come up with different ideas. makes me just wanna take a look inside their mind KAHDJDH.

okay wth a cockroach HAHSGDGD AND WHY IS THAT WEIRDLY CUTE??? why am I aww-ing at a cockroach I don’t get it AHAHAAH AND YOU SANG TO IT?? WELL BEHAVED??? I’m chuckling here 😭😭 that’s so wholesome. so cuteeee😔 bestie will forever be missed <33

thank YOU anon. I hope you are doing well! I hope to see you againnn 🥺

[bakutae]

haikyuu headcanons #1

today's menu:

a platter of sugawara koushi, drop of kei tsukishima, dash of tobio kageyama and sprinkle of tadashi yamaguchi

scenario:

taking care of you during your period

author’s note:

i hope this will be the last time i’m reposting any of my works because of tumblr shadowbanning me but i’ll try having a lot of tags which ky @hanniejji​ recommended me having

sugawara koushi

'baby do you need help?'

you're preparing meals? 'baby do you need help?'

you're trying to get out of bed? 'baby do you need help?'

even when you're on the goddamn toilet trying to give birth through your butt? 'baby do you need help?'

he just loves you too much to let you do anything alone (￣Д￣)ﾉ

he's just really really mother husband material, period or not

he would be very patient with you, through your mood swings and what not, and will never ever lose his temper when you yell at him for no reason

in fact, he'd actually find you yelling at him humorous and start laughing right there and then, which would irritate you incredibly and cause you to scream louder in frustration

it is only during your period that he will get to see so many new sides to you and he frankly loves

but if it gets too much, he just gently wraps his lean but muscular arms around you and you'll stop screaming immediately

cuddles galore!!

he'll lowkey pull you into bed with him whether you like it or not and press his body against yours and uses your body like a body pillow

snuggles into your hair and comments on how good it smells just makes you feel warm inside

he'll end up sleeping in that position so even if you aren't sleep too bad you'll have to stay in that position until he wakes up unless you have the heart to wake him up but who will

honestly, days during your period are just the more chill ones compared to your usual hectic and busy ones with him having volleyball training very often

wouldn't be surprised if he skipped a little bit of training just to spend some more quality time with you

he'll not just ask you if you need help constantly, he'll also follow you around the house cause he's afraid you'll lose too much blood and fall unconscious suddenly

he just doesn't want to find you on the floor half dead let's be real

kei tsukishima

this sadistic boy-

lowkey would tease you during the first two or so days of your period

would ignore your cries for him to cuddle you just to get a rise out of you cause he's just like that unfortunately

enjoys seeing you all flustered and needing him to be by your side

'tsukkiiii come here please i want to hug you'

you even pouted and looked at him with your best puppy eyes as an attempt to win him over

'no'

within seconds the response came that you expected but still felt disappointed regardless

okay, if he wasn't there for physical support, he'd be there for emotional support when you just suddenly burst in tears while watching a puppy getting fed on youtube

'tsukkiii don't you feel bad for the watermelon that was fed to the puppy? watermelons have feelings too!'

he'd be so done with you ngl

but he wasn't that much of an asshole cause he did, after all, love you

he'd roll his eyes, grab a pack of tissue and sit by your side while looking at you with a tiny bit of concern but then again you were crying because you felt sorry for a watermelon

finally, he would pull your head towards his chest and press it firmly against it as he gently strokes your head with affection with one hand, the other one trying to pull out a piece of tissue from the pack

when he finally did get tissue out though, your tears had already soaked his t-shirt enough to see his skin because of the thin material

he'd gently tilt your head up and try to dry your tears

the keyword was try

you started squealing under his touch, saying something about 'being an embarrassment to him right now' and resisted his touch, refusing to look him in the eye

'am i taking care of my girlfriend now or am i taking care of bokuto?'

he just pressed a soft kiss to your lips, though the kiss was mixed in with some of your tears, he didn't care

he'd leaned in for seconds, this time holding on for longer, a small 'smack' sound ending the kiss promptly

that'd do the trick

he'd look at your wide-eyed self with a smirk then proceed to dry off your tears with a gentle touch

and you don't even try to resist him again

tobio kageyama

i lowkey feel like he would be caught incredibly off guard when he sees you on the floor, numb, laughing over some joke that's not even funny

'y/n are you broken? do you need me to bring you to see a... um i don't know where to bring you to y/n please stop laughing you're scaring me'

cue the intensifying laughter

he's mildly concerned and he wouldn't know what periods were at all, despite having an older sister

so he gently pushed up against your flesh, carrying you up without any difficulty and brought you to the bed

'tobiiii, i'm on my period'

'your...what?'

so you had a thirty minute talk with him, explaining to him what a period was and how it was to release the unfertilized egg as blood

he was desperately trying to get out of the room, uncomfortably yelling out 'idiot' constantly, trying to block off your words

however, your tight grasp around his arm was preventing him from executing his great escape plan

'how do i get your period to stop then? does like massages help increase blood flow and decrease the chances of me having a heart attack like this again?'

'well... i don't know about the massage part... but i do know one way to stop my period for around nine months though'

'what is it?'

'you'll have to get me pregnant'

0-0

kageyama.exe has stopped working

'i can't believe you don't know what periods are tobio, didn't you learn it in school?'

'well i couldn't possibly ask yachi to explain to me topics like human intercourse and periods can i?'

'i guess not'

you'd then smile at him, eyes tracing over his crimson cheeks as his gaze dropped to the bed, not looking at you

you threw yourself at him, finding your own comfortable spot in his neck as you pressed a brief kiss to it

'y-you idiot! w-what are you doing?'

'it's called mood swings, tobio, get used to it'

when your period was over, he was so relieved he didn't have to go through all that anymore

until he found you in the toilet, around a month later, a sheet of toilet paper in hand, howling in laughter about how the toilet paper looked like a melted snowman

tadashi yamaguchi

soft boyfriend ™

he had his suspicions that you were on your period on your first day because he noticed the little things you did different that day

he usually pays a lot of attention to you everyday so that day was no different

he noticed how you grabbed the cornflakes instead of the usual lucky charms cereal and he knew something was up

yamaguchi would be such an attentive boyfriend period

yamaguchi knew what periods were but was too shy to speak up to confirm his suspicions

'y-y/n, a-are you on your...um...'

honestly at that point in time you didn't know you had your period yet so you eyed him curiously, raising an eyebrow

he was incredibly nervous and you didn't know why; with his cheekbones colored pink and him not looking at you at all

you poured the cereal in and then reached for the milk carton next to your bowl, eyes still fixated on him

of course, like the clumsy person you were, you spilled the milk all over yourself instead

yamaguchi immediately brought a cloth and a small towel over, cloth to prevent any spillage on the floor and towel that was to be covered over your shoulders as he asked you to change out before catching a cold

pulling the warm towel against your now cold skin, you inched your way over to the bathroom, careful to not make a mess on the way there

when you were taking off your pants, you noticed a familiar faint red stain on the bottom of your grey sweatpants that you totally did not steal from yamaguchi

you cried out in agony as the most dreaded period of the month had come, which resulted in yamaguchi running after you, into the bedroom and peering over the joint bathroom within seconds

'y-y/n-'

his already colored cheeks grew ten shades darker, having seen you in your underwear and sweatpants in your hand

his gaze quickly shifted away as he whimpered

's-sorry for intruding, y/n! a-are you okay?'

a smile crept up your face quickly, staring at him, amused from his timid reaction

'yes tadashi, i'm just having my period'

'i knew it'

'hm?'

'n-nothing!'

taglist: @bnha-homeroom @shiggywiggy @sushij1ma

[catgirlxox]

This whole “doxxing” thing is being blown out of the water IMO. It’s an email. That’s it. If it’s bothering them that much change they should just change their email. Emails are super fucking easy to change. This blog has been shadowbanned to the point it doesn’t appear in the main tags or if you look up your url, it still doesn’t show up. Also want to point out that if you go to the google doc, you can see what User originally posted it, which typically shows an email. I don’t agree with you posting it, but it seems no matter what you do they still have a problem with you. I think the thing that’s bothering me is how a lot of people seem to be on this high horse when they interact with you.

Yeah. It's not even an email with any identifying information in it, either. It's just their tumblr username that everyone already knows.

And they didn't seem to have a problem with their email being known when they literally sent me the drive. I mean, they've posted similar google documents on other fandom related sites online. They don't have a problem with it until they find some kind of accusation to use as an excuse.

Which is always the case, from what I've seen.

I know that people have a problem with me because I don't back down and stand my ground, but I refuse to just "take it." Moreover, I want to know the whole story before I start taking sides.

Just recently there was this guy who departed from the fandom because other people didn't agree with his actions. I won't defend him, because I don't know the whole story, and because I've seen some things he said that he definitely should not have just in the interest of common decency.

But, lone behold, I've also seen a multiple page long Google Doc being shared around accusing him (and using his real full name, if I'm not mistaken) of almost everything under the sun, including pedophilia, racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia.

It doesn't help that he's allegedy posted proof against those accusations, too.

So, after the Google Drive about Emma, and trying to get rid of me because I'm not taking their side, it's very clear to me that these "warnings" they're spreading around to "help people" is not helping anyone at all and has only made the fandom a toxic place to be.

I've already said too much, but I as much as I don't want to speak on this any further - as I've already taken down their post to appease them - I also want the public to know what happens behind the scenes. Everything you might have seen on my blog isn't the whole story.

If you really want more information on the topic, message me privately. Otherwise, I'd like to have no further part in this witch hunt.

[merakiaes]

A FAIR EXCHANGE: LEAVE A COMMENT & GET NEW CONTENT

IF YOU’RE A FOLLOWER OF MINE WHO FREQUENTLY READS MY CONTENT, OR IF YOU’RE NEW AND PLANNING TO SEND IN A REQUEST, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS ALL THE WAY TO THE END IF YOU WANT TO HELP KEEP THIS BLOG GOING AND IF YOU WANT YOUR REQUEST TO BE WRITTEN. THANK YOU!

(Wordcount: 1417)

From now on things are gonna be a bit different around here; I won’t be writing nor posting any more requests if I don’t get comments on the one-shots I post.

I realize that it might be a bit obsessive and that I must seem desperate for attention but honestly, in my eyes leaving comments on things you read and like should be as obvious as it is to pay someone who, for example, paints you a portrait that you’ve ordered. Especially so if you’re the one who request the fic. 

I’m doing this for free, I’m taking a lot of time out of my life and I’m taking your requests and I’m writing thousand word long one-shots just for you, to make you happy. 

Although I am doing it for myself for the most part as I love to write, it’s incredibly discouraging to barely get any positive feedback; more often than not, not even from the person who requested it, which is probably one of the most disrespectful and ungrateful things there is. 

If you send in a request anonymously, you’ll still remain anonymous if you leave a comment. No one will know that you’re the one who sent the request, so please leave a comment. Some of you may already do this and in that case, I’m extremely grateful, but I know lots of you don’t because some of my requested fics don’t get any comments at all. Absolutely zero. Zilch. Nada. 

That being said, if you want your own request being written from now on, or simply if you want to see new content, do your part and leave a comment on my previous fic belonging to the fandom you want a new fic for. 

You don’t have to pay any more attention than you already have to the fics I’ve already posted up until today, October 5th, but from the moment I post my next fic for a certain fandom, I won’t be posting any more for said fandom until that piece has gotten some interaction. 

To make it a bit clearer, the next request I post for Criminal Minds, will have to get some gratitude and validation in the comment section before I post another request for that fandom. 

The next request I post for Peaky Blinders, will have to get some gratitude and validation in the comment section before I post another request for tha fandom. 

And the same goes for every other fandom I write for, starting with the next fic I post for each of them. Makes sense? If not, then all you need to understand is that I, from now on, won’t write any requests if I don’t get any interaction, and I’ll be putting that little disclaimer at the start of every fic from now on so that it’s clear. 

I know that my blog is to some extent shadowbanned; my fics turn up in the most recent posts in the tags, but they don’t show up in my followers’ news feeds or on their home pages, so I know that this plays a big part in why my blog has become so incredibly dead lately, in comparison to how lively it was at the beginning of this year and also before that. 

But my blog has a total of 4864 followers in this moment, I’ve gained 301 of said followers just this past month, and the gaps between the likes and the comments/reblogs are huge on every single one of my fics, so I know that there are a lot of people who read my content who could take a minute to leave a comment if only they cared enough to do so.

I’m not gonna ask you to reblog, even though it would be greatly appreciated as it would help my content get out there on a larger scale, because I get that some of you want to post other stuff on your blogs that aren’t fanfiction. But please, if you like a fic of mine, leave a comment. It takes no more than a few seconds and a little can go such a long way. 

I feel really dumb and extreme for being this dependent on the validation and I kinda understand if you’re a one-time reader who only likes one of my fics in passing and therefore don’t leave a comment, but I have a LOT of “regulars” who read and like most of the content I put out, including the people on my tag lists, among others. 

So please, if you’re a frequent reader of my fics, if you’re on the tag lists and especially if you’re the one reqeusting it, anon or not, leave a comment the next time I post something you like because I sadly won’t want to keep writing requests if they keep getting this little interaction.  

The comments are, in a way, the payment for me - compensation for my time and hard work, like “regular” workers get paid in money. 

They pay me back the motivation, energy and inspiration that it took from me to write the fic, and it’s just not fun nor worth it for me if I don’t get shown any gratitude for the fics I write, which is why I haven’t posted in a while again. 

An artist can’t keep painting, no matter how much they love it, if they don’t get paid for the work they do for others. Because with what money are they going to purchase new material and resources, if they don’t get any?

Just like that, I can’t keep writing requests, no matter how much I love writing, if I don’t get validated and hyped up. Because what is the point of creating stuff for other people if they don’t even show that they appreciate or like it? 

Hopefully you get my point, and if you follow me for other reasons than for reading my one-shots, or if you only followed me for a fandom that I no longer write for, don’t mind this post. This is meant for the people who still frequently read and like my content, who are on my tag lists, and who send in requests of their own. 

To those of you who make it a habit to reblog and/or comment without having to be asked to do so: there aren’t enough words in the world to describe how much I love and appreciate you, a single comment saying “I really liked this” can make my entire day and give me the biggest rush of motivation and inspiration to write more. 

I know a lot of writers here on Tumblr feel like I do, so please, as a reader, make it a habit to leave comments because even if a writing account is quiet about it, not getting any interaction is discouraging and it kills the spark. 

So to wrap it all up, to me, this seems like a more than fair exchange: 

Comments on my fics - I’ll be motivated, inspired and hyped up, the spark will remain and I will keep writing and posting requests and ENJOY doing so, and you will keep getting fresh content and getting your personal requests written. A win-win situation for all of us. 

No comments on my fics - My motivation and inspiration will be pretty much non-existent, this blog will die out, you won’t get any more fics, and as I have decided with a 110% certainty not to post if I don’t get interaction on my fics, I won’t have to keep forcing myself to write when it becomes more of a burden than a fun thing to do anymore.

Hopefully you will help me keep this blog alive, as it is one of the things I hold dearest in life and one of my biggest accomplishments. I love to write and there’s nothing I’d rather spend my days doing, but not getting any comments and/or reblogs leaves me running on an empty tank and it takes a lot out of me to force myself to write when that happens, which I hope you will understand and help me avoid. 

Thank you for reading all the way down, and thank you even further if you’re going to start leaving comments. Hopefully, we can all build this blog back up together because if it comes to life again, I’m planning to re-open requests for a lot of abandoned and closed, and also entirely new, fandoms and characters, so from a former reader’s perspective, you can really only win on this situation. 

[spookybias]

(same anon that sent the previous long ask)

I just want to clarify that i don't necessarily think shorter fics are bad, also I don't think that they always have terrible pacing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I just find that these days when I'm looking for a fic to read and it's max 1.5K words, I would read it but feel a little disappointed— maybe it's just me looking to get lost in the story for a while longer but that's ultimately how I feel. And also, I guess the length you're used to depends on from what fandom you came and when you started reading, because yes, for many years * my * fanfic experiences were 50+k words per fic (a lot of the trending fics were this long and obviously made the mold for the rest of the people who were starting out, so now I'm just used to bulky pieces of fanfic y'know?) although I'm not much older than you

I realise this is now completely off topic to your original post 🤣 I'm a content creator myself and I just plainly don't know how to get people to engage more with a creator anymore... I talk about this issue almost every day on my own blog but no one ever listens... I sometimes have people scroll through my whole blog and not reblog 1 thing and I've also had the experience of having one of my posts have not just an uneven like to reblog ratio but have 3 times the likes compared to reblogs, which is honestly just frustrating at this point...

Sorry if you didn't mean to have a whole discussion on this 😆 I just always have a lot to say it seems

oh no worries! it's okay. even if i don't have much to say, i still like hearing what's on other people's minds. i don't mind having this discussion at all. plus, i think i too strayed away from the topic lmao i feel bad, though, 'cause i think you sent this hours ago and i hadn't checked my askbox.

i agree with you. i don't think shorter stuff are bad at all, sometimes things just feel rushed. i'll admit, sometimes when i'm reading a fic that i find really entertaining and i see that it's less than 4k i get a little disappointed. i love the longer stuff because there's so much plot to take in. in fact, most of my favorite writers on here write 10k+. and 50k?? gosh. i lowkey wanna try writing something that long now 🤣

i think i've brought up the issue of uneven likes to reblogs ratios a couple of times, and so have a few friends, but we were ignored even after people spread the posts around. the only explanation at this point that i can possibly drum for as to why people just like and not reblog is that if you reblog too many things in one day tumblr might shadowban the blog or stop the tags from working for a handful of days to a handful of weeks. i've witness it happen to a few people on here and i think it's dumb that tumblr has this whole reblog feature, but if you reblog "too much" you get penalized in a way 😭 that situation is the reason why a lot of us have separate blogs to reblog other people's works or just queue the reblogs to avoid being mistaken for a bot or something. i guess people don't really want to have to make a separate blog or queue the reblogs, and no one is obligated to of course, but... it would be nice. more reblogs mean more exposure. and it's sad because when content creators see less reblogs or interactions in general, they sometimes become discouraged. there has been several times on here where i looked at the number of reblogs on my or my mutuals' bulleted reactions compared to the number of reblogs on my fully written oneshots, or i saw my mutuals who mainly write shorter stuff with like 12 anons engaging in conversation and i wanted to deactivate highkey 🤦🏻‍♀️

sometimes it does become a jealousy thing or just a disappointment to us because we know readers/viewers pick and choose who to interact with, and they usually (from my perspective) pick those who either write smut or write bulleted stuff. for the longest now i've kept my feelings about this bottled in, but i no longer care 😂 it's upsetting.

—

[tartagilicious]

checkmate (theo x reader) *repost

(thanks a lot to @cinnamon-smutcakes​ for pointing out tumblr’s shadowbanning habit lol, I wasn’t aware of it when I wrote this and never thought to go back and change the tags ^^)

checkmate bitch

genre: smut

wc: 3.6k

@pkmnmstrchf thank you for requesting, and also for your comment! this prompt is probably one of the best I got, so out of pure respect for the ideas in my head and the character, because I fuckifhj love him, this is gonna be a spicy one lol. (Because like I said, I’ll accept some~) yeah, this is gonna be a pretty explicit one since I jack up the monologuing and description so much to hide that I suck at dialogue 😘

(i’m sorry this took so long T_T)

written to miss you by gabrielle alplin and the enemy by Andrew belle

—

“Why do you insist on doing this, Theo? It would take little for you to leave me alone until the sand in the hourglass falls, yet you-“

“Because,” He interrupted sharply, his lips curling in a half-hearted frown. “You must have mush for brains, knabbeltje. Don’t you get it?”

You felt like you had made an enemy of him the moment you stepped through the mansion’s doors. Even if he hadn’t known of you until later, his annoyance and irritation had still somehow stuck to you anyway.

And it really did seem that way to you.

You bickered with him constantly, almost as if he took pleasure in seeing you squirm because of his words. You argued unironically with equally sharp tongues, and you would be lying if you said you didn’t like feeling as if you’d put him in his place. But, of course, that was only mutual. Both with fiery personalities, you each naturally yearned for nothing more than to put the other in their place.

You assumed that was what he was doing when he came to your room; doing nothing more than picking a fight, but he showed you that he was less predictable than you thought in more ways than one that night.

You narrowed your eyes as he came closer. “Obviously I don’t.”

His eyes held as much tension as your own did, and you weren’t sure how much longer you could go without cracking under the weight of it. It was clear he felt the same way, his normally stern eyes swimming with unfamiliar emotions. Predictably, he was the first one to make a move, his eyes unwavering on yours as he walked up to you.

“You’re the one that has mush for brains.” You mumble, avoiding his eyes for the sake of your wildly beating heart.

His cool eyes swept over your face before he laughed with mock concern. “You can’t come up with a better comeback than that?”

“I could,” You gave him a steady look. “But you’re not worth it.”

His lips curved up slightly into a daring smile as his fingers came out to run teasingly on your jawline.

“Is that so? Prove it.”

And, before you could so much as get a word out, his lips were on yours. He took you as if you were an aphrodisiac, his movements ardent yet gentle, and you couldn’t help but find yourself getting lost in it as his tongue began to swipe across your lips. The pleasure he gave you from a single kiss was inconceivable, and though you knew it was wrong, you let yourself continue with as much of a comprehensible thought as you could manage.

You opened your lips to him, sighing languidly as your tongue played with his. The feelings he gave you rushed to your stomach immediately and settled there as you moved closer to him, giving up your justified senses as you silently begged him for more.

He pulled away after what felt like only a few moments, a thin string of saliva connecting you as you both breathed hard.

“___, I’m in love with you and it scares the hell out of me.”

You couldn’t help but stare at him for an instant, your mind suddenly asking you if what was happening was right. But, before you could dwell on it, your body gave into his lingering touch and his adoring words. You unconsciously reached out and pulled him close again, a content moan stumbling from his lips as your arms wrapped around his neck.

His kisses were sweet with just the right amount of intense, but, they ultimately weren’t enough.

You shakily found his hand and laced your fingers tightly with his before lifting it up your skirt to push directly over your clothed heat. You were admittedly unsure of the boldness that came with your actions, but he, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice as he stopped to ask you one last thing before you crossed the point of no return.

His whisper was rushed but gentle as he asked, “Are you sure?”

I’m never been more unsure of anything in my life.

But, you had no choice but to give into the painful arousal flaring in your stomach, putting aside your worries rather than stopping things where they stood because of them. You gave him the firmest nod you could muster, and he took to you expertly right away. His fingers pressed into you as he moved to pepper kisses down your neck, stopping sporadically and leaving marks that were sure to show well into the next day.

You moaned his name in a quiet vibrato as your fingers dived into his hair, gripping whatever you could as he continued to press into you. His fingers worked neatly, kneading you in ways that had you about melting where you stood. Your knees trembled as pleasure overcame your body, and you gripped his shoulder as a soft plea for more.

The knot in your stomach tightened as his voice came out low and raspy, his lips brushing up against your ear as he spoke.

“I’ve barely touched you and you’re already dripping, ___.”

He dragged a single digit across your clothed slit in a single slow motion that had a whimper tumbling out of your lips and colour flooding your cheeks.

“It’s because of you,” You pushed out the words with a shaky gulp. “You jerk,”

You felt him smirk at the side of your face as he pulled his hand away from you.

“Are you asking that I stop, then?”

His teasing was expressed in a haughty tone that you would normally despise, but now the sound did nothing more than add to the slick mess between your thighs.

You pulled back to stare him in the eye, your expression twisted into a pout. It didn’t take long for him to give into you, though, and with your arm still wrapped around his neck, he pulled you back in to a fiery kiss that took your breath away. He kissed you roughly, as if his life depended on it, and you responded steadfast.

He backed you into a corner with his tongue in your mouth and his hand slipping past your panties before catching you by surprise and lifting you up to sit on your desk. You let out a gasp as he hiked up your skirt and slipped the first digit into your heat without warning, grabbing onto his shoulders and trying to steady yourself. Arousal was dripping through your panties and onto the wood finish of the desk beneath you, and you couldn’t help but whine in embarrassment and pleasure at the lewd sounds that echoed throughout the room.

“Theo-“ Your eyes squeezed shut as he added another finger, and you just heard him push out a laugh as he panted.

“Didn’t think I’d ever see you come so undone, ___.”

Your grip tightened on his shoulders as he continued to pump his fingers in and out of you, and you couldn’t even find the heart to respond fully. So, you did all you could as you reached up and pulled him into a desperate kiss. Your lower stomach burned as your tongues swirled together and his fingers continued to work to a point where you could almost taste your release. But, he seemed to notice this, too, and immediately ceased all of his actions. He backed away from the kiss, and pulled his fingers clean out of you in a quick motion that had you moaning yearningly for him.

“Hondje, did you really think I was going to let you finish so quickly?” He whispered this to you as he pulled his fingers away, taking pleasure in the way you squirmed.

Your breaths were uneven but your eyes were determined as you spat out, “Fuck you,”

He smiled beratingly before responding casually. “Don’t worry your little head, that’s already well on its way.”

Reaching behind him, he grabbed the desk chair he’d pushed away and sat on it so he was almost at eye-level with your pulsing heat. But before he could go any further, he noticed that you had already sneakily slipped your hand down your panties while he was looking away. Your eyes were shut and your brows were knitted tightly, your face so wound up and delicate that he even hesitated in interrupting you for a moment.

But, seeing the look on your face as he grabbed your wrist to stop you was worth it.

“What did I just say?” He asked, his voice dangerously low as his fingers played with the waistband of your underwear. “You don’t get to cum until I say so, got it?”

Before you could respond, he had slipped your underwear clean off and thrown them on the floor. You moaned at the contact of cold air and he took the opportunity of your blindness to pull you legs down and hook them smoothly over his shoulders.

You gasped as his tongue ran slowly across your clit, your back arching easily at the quick change in position. But he did little to ease you into it, his tongue licking into any crevice and going as deep as it could almost immediately. Your moans grew so loud and desperate that you were half-worried that the other residents could hear them, but you long forgot about it as lewd slurping sounds filled the room and pleasure filled your chest.

You panted as Theo’s nose rubbed against you, and soon, with the combination of his tongue, you were seeing colours in no time. Your first release was a heavy feeling that had you groaning in pleasure as your essence was quickly lapped up by the man responsible for it. But in the moments after, he couldn’t help but cease. Everything was very sudden, and even he was having a hard time wrapping his head around what was happening.

He did all he could before catching your lips in a gentler kiss, hoping the action conveyed his thoughts well enough before he decided to hoist you up and bring you over to the bed for a more comfortable change. He dropped you on the soft mattress in one smooth motion, backing you up to the headboard. But, he took an extra second to look at you before continuing. Your skirt was still hiked up, revealing you nude beneath, and the top two buttons of your shirt had somehow come undone in the events prior. Never in a thousand years did he think that you, the strange woman who had unknowingly waltzed her way into a different time, would be lying in front of him, lips swollen and cheeks flushed. But, there you were, in the flesh.

Without wasting another second, he pressed his lips contra yours once again, reigniting the undone passion with no trouble. Your arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer as your lips worked against each other’s, equally desperate to continue where you left off. Pieces of clothing came off one by one before long- your oxford, his jacket, your skirt, his pants; until you were both bared before each other in yet another way.

Because even if you’d made temporary enemies out of each other, there was still a certain type of smile exchanged between the two of you, certain words and certain levels of trust that put both of you out there in more ways than just physical. You were one hell of an arguer, but, you were also one hell of listener, just as he was the same. Your relationship wasn’t easy to explain, so, he thought he could at least try then.

His lips made their way slowly down your body, stopping to leave generous marks on your neck and collarbone, and occasionally your stomach. He couldn’t help but indulge in the way you shook with pleasure, after all, your moans only fuelling his actions further. But as soon as he ceased for even a moment, you gathered all of your strength and flipped him over so you were straddling his lap. He moaned as you held his shoulders, your cum still gushing down your thighs and onto him.

You were breathing heavily, but you still managed to laugh. “Checkmate, Theo,”

He stared up at you and the marks all over your body and couldn’t help the words that came out of his mouth when he met your smouldering eyes.

“Ride me.”

You faltered momentarily, just blinking, and for a second, he was afraid you were going to bail. You had been very clearly enjoying yourself and had made no effort to stop him, but he couldn’t help but notice your occasional hesitation. He didn’t want to force you to do anything you didn’t want to, so he couldn’t get rid of the thought you potentially didn’t want to be doing what you were. He wanted to ask you, but before he could, you made up your mind. You shifted and sank down onto him, groaning and grabbing his hands as you positioned yourself on him. Your stomach was beating almost painfully as you began to rock your hips into a rhythm, closing your eyes as Theo gripped your hands back.

“Shit,“ He moaned, leaning his head back into the headboard as you began to lift yourself up and down. “You’re so good-“

You moaned his name as tears came to your eyes, your hips becoming sloppy as your releases both approached quickly.

“I-“ You cut yourself off with a soft whine, feeling him twitch inside of you as you squeezed your eyes shut. “I’m close,”

If you were being honest, you don’t remember what happened after that very well. You did trust Theo enough to feel okay not asking as you laid down in bed, already half asleep, but you were also just too embarrassed to admit that you’d almost blacked out for a few minutes. You wished you could have fought your exhaustion, but, after a hard day, you knew it was unavoidable no matter what. Your thoughts were like soup, and you could barely form a sensible thought as you quietly let Theo clean you up.

You were well on your way to a deep sleep, but, there was one thing that stuck out in your mind and flared in your chest above the rest of the emotions you were feeling. Pleasure, relief, and happiness pushed at your heart, but heaviest of all, regret rose to the top and overpowered the rest. You told yourself it wasn’t Theo, nor anything he’d done specifically, but no matter what, the fact that you were soon leaving the world behind stayed the same. You couldn’t afford to get close to anyone just as much as they couldn’t afford to get close to you, yet there you were.

Theo was walking over to you after disposing of the towels he’d used, but had stopped to pull his clothes on. You didn’t wait then.

“Theo, I think you need to leave,” You pushed this out in a single breath, bracing for his reaction as you internally apologised over and over again. “Before we wake up and regret what we’ve done.”

You were expecting a rash reaction from him because; he was still someone you weren’t on the best terms with. That hadn’t changed, no matter what you did with him. But, after a few long moments of silence, he just nodded quietly. You felt all kinds of things watching him force a smile and walk out, but you felt guilty that you were none the wiser about the thoughts whirring through his head.

Theo felt regretful. He mentally kicked himself for not listening to his gut and taking away concern in the way you had been hesitating, because it had come back to bite both of you. He knew it was his fault for that, and really, what could he do besides respect your decision?

The next time you saw him was in the dining room late the next morning, and you felt an unnecessary desire to avoid his gaze. Out of what, you didn’t know, and that alone was enough to frustrate you to your core. But you still kept your thoughts hidden, trying not to react to his eyes that stuck on your back as you walked.

That went on throughout the next few days, like a meaningless game. He stood next to you but you didn’t acknowledge him; you exchanged brief glances but nothing more, and it had so many things swirling in your chest you didn’t know what to do. It was almost too hard to act that way. You had gone over what to say to him in your head what must have nearly been a thousand times, yet, every time you saw him, your heartbeat picked up and you couldn’t help but look away.

Both of you were too quiet to say anything, and you knew that if you didn’t get the guts to say something, you would leave it to sit and nothing would change. So, you resolved that the next time you saw him, you would say what was on your mind. Then, you couldn’t help but repeatedly chicken out. It was like a cycle and you were tired of it; then it became clear that he was, too.

You met Theo by chance in the dining room at suppertime a few evenings later, and while you were fine in distracting yourself by talking to Arthur, who also was there, you still felt as though the issue was weighing down hard in your chest. It wasn’t much for the author to pick up on something so trivial, but he still had enough sense to not bring it up. He was his usual teasing self otherwise, but there was a kind of solid understanding swimming around in his eyes as he spoke that had you silently thanking him.

He didn’t butt in once, and merely left once he was done with his meal with quiet reassuring words and an entirely too characteristic wink of good luck.

You didn’t feel as though you’d gotten any luckier, though, because now, you were stuck in a room with the very person you needed luck regarding. You’d seen Arthur out of the room, seeing as you’d both finished your meals around the same time, and you almost felt weird about turning back to face Theo. So, you just called out a half-hearted goodbye, too deep in your thoughts to realise that he was coming up to you.

When you turned to leave, he caught your wrist in a swift motion that had your breath hitch.

“___?”

His voice was softer than you’d expected it to be, melting your heart in just the way you’d been trying to avoid. But, even you recognised what was happening; and it was far too late to do anything about it.

“…Theo.” You trailed off as you turned around to courageously meet his eye. It took all the confidence you had to speak. “What is it?”

He raised a brow. “Do you really want to play that game? You haven’t said a thing to me all week.”

You hesitated. What were you supposed to say to that?

“Sorry,” You managed, giving him a bashful smile as your cheeks flushed. “I honestly didn’t mean to ignore you, I swear - it was sort of just like an instinct after the first time.”

“I’m sorry if I, you know, did something wrong. If you weren’t comfortable I shouldn’t have forced y-“

Your brows knitted in confusion as you interrupted, “You didn’t force me to do anything! Theo, is that what you thought?”

He didn’t answer, dropping your wrist to put a hand on the back of his neck.

“You didn’t really give me a choice, did you?” he mumbled, sheepishly avoiding your eyes. Your heart did flips as you watched him, and, you finally realised the severity of what you’d gotten yourself into. No matter what you tried to convince yourself, the conclusion was clear as day. You had fallen in love with Theo, and there was no turning back now.

“I’m sorry,” You loosened up, exhaling your regrets. “it was stupid of me to do what I did. I regret it a lot, and I’m sorry I put you in such a bad spot.”

He stared at your expression before quickly grinning. “When you put it like that, ___, I have no right to be angry.”

“But also, Theo-“ You continued with a nervous smile. “I’m sorry for telling you to leave that night. You were, you know, good…”

You trailed off before covering your face as you laughed, fuelled by his laughter ringing alongside yours.

Moments later, he grabbed your hands and brought them away from your face so you could meet his eyes, and you had a hard time not blushing at how attractive he looked while smiling.

But, his smile was sly as he said, “You can tell me I’m a good f—“

You ripped your hand from his and put it over his mouth before he could take the sentence any further, adoration oozing from your gaze as you watched him laugh. Then, in sparked retaliation, he put his hands slyly around your waist but then began to relentlessly tickle your sides. So, when you had no choice but to let go of him, he took you in your arms and brought you close, your face just below his as he grinned yet again.

“Checkmate, ___.”

You smiled at the repetition of your words from the other night.

“You think you’ve already won?” You asked, smiling widely as you pulled his collar down to give him a slow kiss on the lips. The action undoubtedly completed your goal of surprising him, and with a slight murmur in-between your desperate actions, you whispered,

“Well, I win.”

[splendidlyimperfect]

discord & dragons - chapter 10 [a daring rescue]

**link to ao3 is provided in the comments since tumblr has apparently been shadowbanning anything with links 🙄**

When a magical mishap transforms Natsu, Sting and Rogue, Gray finds himself responsible for a horde of dragons.

Chapter Summary: Gray gets captured by Vengeance Soul, and Freed and the dragons attempt a rescue.  

Relationships: Rogue Cheney/Natsu Dragneel/Sting Eucliffe/Gray Fullbuster, Laxus Dreyar/Freed Justine, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox Additional Tags: Canon Universe, Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers, Magical Accidents, Spells & Enchantments, Transformation, Dragons, Fluff and Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, kind of, baby dragons are basically kittens, I make the rules here, Fluff and Humor, Cute, like super fucking cute, it’s just dumb and fluffy okay, Nonbinary Character, Freed’s enby, because i say so

-----

Freed tore through the forest, slashing away branches and leaping over logs as they moved deeper and deeper into the underbrush. Rogue and Natsu, who Freed had hastily tucked into their pockets, whined in confusion, and desperately tried to climb out. Sting squirmed in Freed’s grip, kicking at their arms and making soft, distressed sounds that increased in volume the further they got from Gray.

“It’s not safe,” Freed panted, keeping an eye on Laxus, who had barely figured out flying and was hovering awkwardly just ahead. Freed ducked around a large tree as they held Sting tighter against themself, heart pounding as they listened for sounds of being followed.

Laxus moved further away, then turned back to Freed and made a soft trilling sound. Freed could feel a slight tug in their stomach – the same feeling they got when Laxus asked them to trust him in battle. They nodded, kicking several dead branches out of the way as they followed him.

[link to chapter on ao3 in the comments]

Eventually the undergrowth opened into a small clearing, walled in on three sides by high stone walls. Freed exhaled in relief. Holding Sting under one arm, they held their hand out and quickly scribbled some runes into the air, pulling up a barrier that kept them both enclosed and invisible.

“Thank you,” Freed murmured as Laxus fluttered awkwardly down onto their shoulder, rubbing his face against their cheek and making a comforting sound. Sting squirmed out of Freed’s grip and immediately ran for the wall, pawing at it and making distressed sounds. Natsu and Rogue quickly joined him, whining and digging at the ground, then turning back around to look at Freed accusingly.

“I’m sorry,” Freed said, dropping down and leaning back against the stone wall. They ran their hands over their face, trying to catch their breath as their heart pounded in their chest. Sting scampered back over to them and hopped into their lap, standing on his hind legs and pressing his paws to their chest. “I’m sorry,” Freed said again, stroking Sting’s head as he chittered frantically. “We have to—I had to keep you safe. We’re going to rescue him, I promise.”

Natsu growled, headbutting the rune wall and scrabbling at it with his claws. He stood on his back feet, pressing both paws against the wall and staring out into the trees as if it would magically summon Gray.

“It’s okay,” Freed said as their breathing started to return to normal. Laxus made a comforting sound and cuddled closer to them, and Freed reached up to pet him as they continued to run their fingers comfortingly through Sting’s fur. “We can find him,” Freed reassured the dragons, reaching out and beckoning for the other two. Rogue slunk over reluctantly, but Natsu remained at the barrier, making soft whining sounds and pawing at it.

Freed unbuttoned their jacket and dug around in the inside pockets, eventually pulling out their communication lacrima and wiping the screen clean. They swiped their thumb across it to power it up, sighing in relief when they saw that it was still connected.

“Freed?” Levy’s voice came through, muddled by static but clearly there. “Are you all right?”

“Gray’s in trouble,” Freed said, tipping their head back against the wall. “We need to find him. Warren – his magic radar – does it still work? Can he find someone this far away?”

“It should work.” Freed winced at the way the sound warbled, and they were barely able to make out her next words. “I’ll---him, bu--take some t---call you back?”

“Yes,” Freed said, sighing and sending out a desperate plea to the universe. “Yes, I’ll wait for your call.”

~

The sound of people arguing dragged Gray from unconsciousness. He blinked slowly awake, wincing at the throbbing in his temples.

“We need to do it soon,” a voice said. It echoed, as if coming from far away, and Gray shook his head to try and clear his blurry vision and figure out where he was. The ground underneath him was jagged and uncomfortable, and when he pushed himself up, he felt cool rock beneath his fingertips. Gray stumbled to his feet, swaying and steadying himself against the wall. A faint green light shimmered nearby, and it took him a second to realize that it was some sort of moss, bioluminescent and lending a faint green light to the darkness of the room.

“He’ll wake up soon,” another voice said. It was deep and lightly accented, and Gray immediately recognized it as the man who had hunted them down last month – Siedge. A chill ran through Gray and he rubbed at the scar on his wrist.

The first voice sounded closer as it replied, “He should be out for a few more hours – the sleep magic is strong.”

“He’s stronger.”

The voices were now joined by footsteps and the sound of something jingling. Gray’s vision slowly adjusted to the dim light of the room, and he could just make out the shape of a door across from him. He stumbled over and pressed himself to the wall behind it, taking slow, even breaths and trying to push away the nausea that blurred his vision.

“Just bring him to the room,” Siedge said, and then there was the sound of keys in a lock as the door started to swing open. Gray curled his hands into fists, ready to summon his magic, and he was so surprised when it didn’t respond that he was taken aback by someone reaching out and grabbing his arm.

“Lemme… stop it,” he mumbled, bringing his hands up and scrabbling weakly at the person’s grip. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, and the place inside him where his magic usually lived was like a void.

“Come with me,” the person said, dragging Gray forward and into the hallway. They were tall and beautiful in a cold, frightening way, and the Vengeance Soul guild mark took up half of their face.

“Where…” Gray tripped over his own feet, nearly falling into the mage.

“I told you.” Siedge’s deep voice was accompanied by a large, terrifyingly familiar man with long blond hair pulled into a braid. He grinned at Gray, showing off sharp teeth. “He’s strong.” He grabbed Gray’s chin, tipping his head up. Gray growled weakly and tried to struggle against the grip, but everything in his body felt like it was being pulled down into the earth.

“Fuck you,” he spat. “You almost killed Sting.”

Siedge laughed. “You escaped me last time, I have to give you credit for that,” he said, letting go of Gray and reaching up to touch the scar on his own neck from Natsu’s flames. “But you don’t have your dragon slayers to save you this time. They’re not quite as ferocious now, are they?” Gray glared at him. “I’ll admit, when Laka here suggested the spell, I didn’t think much of it, but it’s been surprisingly effective. And in your haste to discover its origin, you walked right into my trap.”

Laka tugged Gray backward by his arm and he stumbled after them, nearly tripping and falling to his knees. Whatever they’d used to put him to sleep still made everything hazy – and apparently blocked his access to his magic. The empty feeling in his chest expanded as he tried to awaken it again.

“Don’t bother,” Laka said, shaking their head. “Nobody can lift those runes except me.”

Gray frowned, then looked down at his chest. A mark was etched just over his heart – an unfamiliar rune that looked like it had been burned into his skin. It didn’t hurt, but he could feel the magic emanating from it.

The haze and confusion slowly receded as they made their way down a long, dark hallway – Laka in front, pulling Gray along by his bicep, and Siedge following behind. By the time they arrived at their destination, Gray’s head felt clearer and he was strong enough to walk without stumbling.

“Get him set up,” Siedge said, pointing to a chair in the center of the room. Magic bonding runes glowed around the arms and legs and Gray’s heart jumped as Laka shoved him toward it. He pulled weakly away from them, but the little strength that had returned to him wasn’t enough to break their grip on his arm.

“Why?” he asked as Laka shoved him down into the chair. “This is stupid. You can’t just take someone else’s magic.”

“Actually,” Siedge said, moving away from the chair and picking up a book from the desk along one wall, “I can.” The cover of the book shimmered faintly, and it took Gray a minute to realize that it was patterned exactly like the devil slayer marks. The faint hum of fear that had been coursing through him since he woke up solidified and he tugged harder against the restraints.

“Where did you get that?” he demanded, swallowing against the nausea that was starting to rise in his throat. The pattern on the book shifted in a sharp, uncomfortable way that made Gray’s vision blur. It was wrong – deeply, horribly wrong – and he couldn’t breathe.

“Irrelevant,” Siedge said, flipping the book open. A sharp flash of pain spiked through Gray’s temples and he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. The ache quickly spread, racing down his nerves until the marks on his arms felt like they were on fire. It hurt worse than any burn Natsu had accidentally given him – the searing pain was bone-deep, eating him up from the inside, clawing its way out of him and taking the magic with it.

“S-stop,” he managed, shuddering and trying desperately to slip his wrists free of the bindings. He couldn’t feel his hands. Someone was talking, and then something touched Gray’s forehead, and he was sure he was going to die, and then—

—then the pain stopped abruptly as something exploded.

Gray gasped as the devil-slaying magic returned to him, searing across his skin and slamming into his chest so hard that he could barely breathe. Siedge stumbled forward, cursing and dropping the book face-down on the stone floor.

“Gray!” Freed’s voice quickly followed the explosion, and Gray looked up to see them standing in the ruins of the wall with runes sketched in the air around them. Their right eye glowed purple, swirling with magic that made Gray’s markings pulse and ache.

“Freed, don’t—”

“I thought you said your barriers were impenetrable!” Siedge growled, whirling around to look at Laka. They were staring at Freed, who glared right back, rapier moving quickly in front of them to create more runes in the air.

“They should be,” Laka said, stepping forward and waving their hand in an attempt to dismiss Freed’s magic. Nothing happened, and before Laka could write any more runes, a burst of lighting sparked through the air and singed off a lock of their hair.

“What the—”

A flash of gold was the only thing Gray saw before Laka shouted in pain and started flailing, trying desperately to remove an angry Laxus, who was clinging to their arm and had his teeth sunk into their neck. Siedge moved to help Laka but was quickly stopped by a burst of fire that raced across the ground and hit him in the shins.

“Natsu,” Gray gasped as the tiny red dragon appeared between Freed’s legs, snarling at Siedge before darting across the floor. He scrambled up onto Gray’s lap and immediately started chittering as he pawed at the magic restraints. “Get out of here,” Gray hissed, tugging at the bonds again. “You’re gonna get hurt.” Natsu growled in disagreement and bit at the magic, hissing when it started to spark.

The ache from earlier still tingled under Gray’s skin, but it was quickly being overwhelmed by a protective fear for the dragons. He could see the other two out of the corner of his eye – a dart of black and a flash of white that came at Siedge from both sides.

“He’s too strong,” Gray said, trying to shift his legs so Natsu would jump down. Natsu glowered at him and clung to him stubbornly, digging in his claws. “Please, I can’t watch any of you get hurt again.”

A cry of pain filled the room as Laka fell to their knees, bleeding heavily from their neck. Laxus scrambled backward, spreading his wings and growling at them as electricity crackled around him. Siedge moved toward him but was blocked by a blast of magic that swirled together in black and white, hitting him in the chest hard enough to knock him onto his back. As soon as he hit the ground, Freed was standing over him, rapier pointed at his throat.

“Don’t,” Freed said as the tip of the sword moved quickly, creating a rune that hung over Siedge’s chest. He snarled at Freed, struggling against the magic that appeared to have paralyzed him. Sting and Rogue, who had been sitting near the door, scampered over to Siedge and growled at him, both of them humming with magic power.

“Are you all right?” Freed asked, glancing over at Gray as Sting clambered onto Siedge’s chest and bared his teeth. Laxus growled at Laka, who was still holding their wounded neck and glaring at Freed.

“Fine,” Gray said, exhaling in relief. “Just...” He nodded down at the bonds around his wrists that Natsu was still attempting to chew through. Freed made a quick gesture and the bindings dissolved, immediately lifting the pressure on Gray’s wrists and ankles. Another flick of Freed’s wrist dismissed the rune on Gray’s chest, and he exhaled in relief as the familiar cool sensation of his ice magic tingled across his skin.

“Thanks.” Natsu made a soft chirping sound and scrambled up onto Gray’s shoulder, rubbing his face against Gray’s cheek and purring happily. “I’m okay,” Gray murmured, kissing the top of Natsu’s head and pushing himself unsteadily to his feet. Frost covered up the devil slayer marks that quickly started to spread across his body, reacting to the heady demonic magic that emanated from Freed.

“You have to stop.” He squeezed his hands into fists as the magic tried to pull him forward, whispering, destroy it, destroy them, destroy the demon. “I can’t control it,” he gasped, trying to step away. Natsu made a concerned sound and nipped at his ear, and Gray tried to focus on that instead of the angry insistence of his magic.

Then Freed’s magic shifted, and their eye returned to its natural blue. The tense pulse of the magic in Gray’s arms quickly disappeared, and he fell to his knees, suddenly exhausted.

“Don’t even think about it,” Freed said, turning their gaze to Laka, who had lifted their hand into the air. Laxus snarled at them and darted forward, teeth bared and ready to pounce. Freed gave Laka one more disdainful look, then drew a quick rune and flicked it toward them. They fell unconscious almost instantly, slumping backward onto the floor. Siedge followed quickly afterward. Sting, who was still sitting on his chest, growled at him once last time, then looked over at Gray.

“C’mere,” Gray said, holding out his arms. Sting immediately darted over, followed closely by Rogue, and they stood on their hind legs, pressing their paws against his chest. Their distressed sounds quickly turned to affectionate purrs as Gray petted them. “I’m okay,” he reassured them, feeling the warm, familiar sense of calm flood through him at their presence. “It’s okay.”

Sting whined and wriggled up onto Gray’s other shoulder, anxiously nuzzling his hair, while Rogue clambered into Gray’s arms and continued purring so hard he was nearly vibrating. Gray sighed in relief, holding the three of them close.

“Thank you,” he said again to Freed, who was holding a smug-looking Laxus, still crackling with electricity. “He was—they were after the magic. Again.” Gray gestured to the book, which was still face-down on the ground where Siedge had dropped it. Looking at the marks on it made Gray feel nauseous again and he quickly looked away.

“I’ll take that,” Freed said. They leaned down and grabbed the book, studying it for a moment before sliding it into their jacket. “I’ll call the Council,” they said, pulling the lacrima out of their pocket. “It’s time to put these two away where they belong.”

[alloveroliver]

Author Interview

I was tagged by @peacheat and @dear-mrs-otome THANK YOU GUYS!!! (I also added more Qs if you want to answer those as well *sweats*)

Name: Ash Knight

Fandoms: Now: MLQC, Ikemen Revolution, Ikemen Vampire, Ikemen Sengoku, Mystic Messenger, annnnnd one or two other otomes I like lol.  Want to do in the future: Obey Me (Currently playing) Ikemen Genjiden (translating got to be too much but its GOOD!) Tokyo Debunkers (when it comes out in April!!!)

Where You Post: Mostly Tumblr but also Ao3!

Most Popular One-Shot:  By far Victor x MC “In This Moment.” I’m glad cuz I spent a lot of time on this one and I love the concept of Victor stopping time because he know’s he’s going to miss MC <3

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: Mmm, I don’t have any muli fics yet BUT I do have 10 chapters of my blood thirsty fics!  they are all oneshots though. 

Favorite Story You Wrote: Its actually my first Oliver fic I posted around Aug of 2018 (Omg have I been doing this for that long???) It needs to be rewritten BUT heres the link. Oliver x MC “Giving Up Control” I still think about this fic often lmfao. Femdoming Oliver is 🤤👌

Story You Were Nervous to Post: Ooof, a recent Oliver fic. Only because it had alcohol themes and smoliver asking her on a date. Just due to his curse and things I didn't want to change too much but it was all consensual with adult Oliver. I was just nervous some people would read into it and take it the wrong way :( Oliver x MC “In A Perfect World You’re Happy With Me” (Looking back at it, it actually got a good response! I am surprised cuz I posted it then tried to put it out of my mind lol. #thanksanxiety

How You Choose Your Titles: First thing that comes to mind. Song lyrics, one word that sticks out in the fic. Or if its a common word or a word/title I’ve used before I put it into One Look Reverse Dictionary and find a similar word that means the sameish thing. I don’t dwell on titles too much tbh. 

Completed: Last I counted, I had over 500 short stories under my belt. You can read them all on my blog but not everything was put into my masterlist. This was just due to the tumblr purge we had and I had to make a new masterlist since a lot of my fics got shadowbanned due to the tagging system back then. I didnt wanna repost them all lol

Incomplete: I have an entire spreadsheet that I plop all my ideas on... and it is FULL. I organize it by fandom, suitor, and fluff vs. smut. Ummmmmm.... See below: Coming soon lol. 

Do You Outline? I usually start writing when I have an idea and if I need to step away from my computer I will do a quick outline. AKA just some quick bullet points of what I was thinking would happen next lol. If I ever take the time to properly do a full outline, I 100% go off the rails and do my own thing away from the outline. I am what is called a ‘discovery writer’ lol. I discoverer my own story as i write it then go back and edit it and act like I knew what I was doing all along lmfao.

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: I have 3 substantial WIPS (like 2-3k words) I bounce between that I’m working on. Victor x Mc, Vincent x MC and Faust x MC. 

A plan to do part 2 of Gavin x MC’ s ”Distortion” . 

I also have an long running AU fic with Gavin x MC (8k currently) but that is far away from being done lol. 

There is also an 11 chapter fic I am planning. I have 2 chapters written but I cant seem to figure out one major plot detail and its keeping me from getting it done anytime soon :( 

There is a chapter fic im writing for a cradle born MC, however its a mesh of our MC and my OC and its kinda complicated. Also its fluff and I’m less interested in writing that BUT I really want to share this story <3

Valentines day is actually prob going to be the next thing yall see from me tbh and that is TBD

Do You Accept Prompts? I used to every once in a while but I have so many WIPS and no personal computer at home rn. (SOON THOUGH!) So I don’t have the chance to write as much in my free time as I used to. I’ll take prompts but I let them sit in my ask box until I am able to write them <3. I am not the person to ask people to stop sending them, cuz I like to see what yall want me to write and take that into consideration for sure. I like taking asks for Thirsty Thursday (even if its not thurs, I will hold onto them until then) and answer them 😍 I love those because more people are involved other than me and I like being a part of something bigger than myself 🤗

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: My Victor x MC story. Its UMMMMM........ ITS SLOW BURN YALL. LIKE WHO AM I?! lmfao. 

*(I am going to personally add a few questions to this tag that I am interested in knowing about others as well lol)*

What do you use to edit?: I pay for Grammarly (its AMAZING even the free version is super worth it) 

For word meanings, synonyms, and better wording I use OneLook Reverse Dictionary ALL THE TIME for every single fic. (and like I said before, to help with titles)

When I feel like something is off and grammarly doesn’t quite know and I don’t know, I put the fic through Hemmingway Editor. It tells you HOW readable a sentence is. If its hard to read I rewrite it and make things a bit simpler for the eyes. Its free in the browser. 

Writing setup: Ideally, the sun is coming in through the window, It’s cool inside, I’m wearing a fuzzy sweater, I have hot coffee or tea, and my head phones are in. 

I listen to lofi music station on youtube but If its distracting I put on lofi without lyrics. I love THIS playlist. (this is live so it’ll prob break but here’s an alt link to their offline playlist) If I am in an upbeat mood I like “Electropose” music. Or I listen to the ‘setting’ a fic is in. Like if its raining in the story, I put on rain ambiance and things like that. 

Do you use a beta reader? No 😬, not really. Anytime I have someone beta read and they comment on the content and not the editing I get way too nervous to post the fic and suddenly it get sick to my stomach laskjdlsdj. I trust a couple gals to beta read in an editing mind set but I don’t bother them all the time. I like to go balls to the walls and trust grammarly, post the damn thing, and bite my nails hoping for the best. 

Where do you get your writing inspo?: Bruh, #1 READING! Reading books, reading fics, reading summaries for things. Also, reading the routes in otomes, watching anime, and letting my mind wonder lol. I also like to chat with people on discord and let the stories unfold. Inspo has also come from a lot of my dreams tbh. My dreams are hella vivid and I try to write them down when I wake up if they are interesting lol. 

Can we get a quote from an upcoming WIP?: 

[     Without cars and crowds, the evening wind picked up nothing but serene sounds. Crickets gently chirped and leafs quietly brushed one another. The branches rustled together, making an organic symphony that the wind carried up to the balcony you leaned on. 

*****’s warm hands ran up and down your forearms, warming your chilled skin. From behind, he bent forward and nipped at the shell of your ear. 

“Is that better?” His silky hands moved faster, creating heated friction. 

“Mmm,” You relished in the sensation. “Much better.”

His gentle chuckle against your pulse made you wiggle into him. ***** pressed his solid chest against your back and sighed. “Maybe if you were wearing more than just my shirt, you wouldn’t be so chilly.” 

“I just want to be out here for a moment. The fresh air is nice.” You pressed your lips together into a small smile and angled your face up to him. “Don’t you agree?”  ]

tagging: @somethinglacking @pseudofaux @tarralin @steph-writing @kiarigirl @otonymous @jennacat84 @xathia-89 @toloveawarlord @moonlit--river @thequeenshuntress @thirstyforbishiesimagines <3 Honestly I want to tag more people but I don’t wanna be annoying SO if you do this feel free to tag me cuz I am soooooo curious about other writers! Lets be friendsssss <3