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justabigassnerd · 2 years

Text

Lifeline

Pairing - Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x sister!reader

Word count - 4,537

Warnings - mentions of death, injuries, hospitals, angst, fluff

Song - Lifeline by Joshua Bassett

Summary - One of the only people Rooster has left gets in an accident resulting in a very panicked Bradley

A/N - So whaddup it's another Rooster fic (I am NOT sorry). I listened to Lifeline by Joshua Bassett on the way home from work one night and it inspired this fic. I lowkey hope this didn't turn out bad bc it took me so damn long to write aha. Anyways I'll stop rambling. As per y'all, please send in requests, feedback and enjoy!!

You and your brother only had each other. You were adopted into the Bradshaw family long after Goose died and just around Bradley’s seventeenth birthday. Carole had always wanted two kids, a boy, and a girl but after Goose died, she thought her plans were gone with the wind but a family friend of hers told her about a gorgeous baby girl in the adoption agency she worked for that needed a home. Carole spoke to Bradley about it, valuing her son’s opinion and when they both went to visit you, they both fell head over heels in love with you and adopted you as quick as they possibly could.

Just as Bradley was nearing the end of college and looked at reapplying for the Navy, hoping Maverick wouldn’t pull his papers again, Carole got sick. Everyone hoped she’d shake it but as time pressed on and she got sicker everyone started to accept the harsh realities of what was happening. Some people suggested that they take you in since you were still little, and they didn’t want Bradley to put his career on hold to raise his sister but he only let some family friends take you in for a year so he could pass his training and get settled into his job before requesting he stay in California to bring you up without having to move you around all the time. After all the loss the Bradshaw family had endured, you and Bradley learnt to lean on each other. After all, it was you and him against the world.

Now you were eighteen and in the midst of your senior year of high school. Bradley was now an instructor at Top Gun and the two of you were still as close as ever. You had never been afraid to tell your brother about things that upset or bothered you and Bradley always listened, making you feel heard and did his best to help you.

“I’m off to work. Don’t be late to school, drive safe.” Rooster says as he gathers his bag and slings it over his shoulder.

“I’m always safe. What time are you home tonight?” You call from the kitchen, occupied with making your breakfast.

“Depends on when Cyclone and Mav say I can leave. I’m teaching pretty much all of today, so I’d gamble I’ll be back around dinner time.” He replies, grabbing his keys and opening the front door.

“Okay, bye!” You say, poking your head around the door so you could say goodbye to your brother properly.

“Bye y/n/n, I’ll see you later.” He says with a smile before finally leaving through the door and allowing you to finish getting ready for school. When you’ve eaten your breakfast and made sure you have all the stuff you need for school in your bag you grab your keys and leave the house, getting into your car and starting the drive to school.

Once you arrive at school you are greeted by your friends who are all immediately stressing about the college applications you had sent off just the week prior, all anxious about what places will accept them or reject them. You try to mediate the fear by keeping your friends calm telling them to just worry about right now rather than worrying about something that’s out of control. After successfully calming your friends down, you figure it’s time to head into the school building and head to your homeroom to get the school day started.

The day was long and while you were ready to head home and collapse into your bed for a nap until you could make dinner, your friend Abi invited you and the rest of your friends around to hers to hang out for a bit. Given that the group of you hadn’t been able to hang out together for a while you all accepted, going to your car so you could give everyone a lift due to the fact you were the only one with a car out of all your friends. The drive, while not long, was filled with you all scream singing songs that the radio played until you reached Abi’s house. The four of you unload and head into the house, immediately heading for the living room where you settle on the sofa and find your favourite show to watch together and press play while Abi grabs some snacks. The four of you lounge around, enjoying each other’s company and exchanging silly comments and remarks about what the characters are doing on screen. When you next check the time, you sit up straighter, pushing the blanket back and standing up.

“Sorry guys, I should probably think about heading home. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” You say, laughing as your friends groan and toss pillows at you for leaving so soon but you simply wave goodbye and head out the door, climbing into your car and beginning the drive home. As you listen to the radio quietly playing under the rumble of the engine, you started to admire the views. You were lucky you grew up in a beautiful place, so you took any opportunities to admire your surroundings. As you reached a set of traffic lights, you celebrated quietly when the light turned green upon your approach but as you went across the gridlock, a car sped from the left side of your car, driving straight into the side of your car, making your world go dark and silent within seconds.

Rooster was finishing up the lecture he was giving to a new batch of Top Gun students when his phone buzzed. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket to see who was calling and when he didn’t recognise the number, he shoved his phone back in his pocket and continued to address the pilots. Just as he was beginning to dismiss the pilots the door to the hall burst open, revealing Maverick and Cyclone on the other side. All the trainee’s stood to attention as their superiors walked towards Rooster.

“You’re all dismissed.” Cyclone says to the recruits, his voice projecting clearly and sternly to the recruits who obey without a second thought, leaving the room as Maverick and Cyclone turn to face Rooster.

“Rooster. The hospital just called me. They said y/n got in an accident.” Maverick says and in a matter of seconds, Rooster’s world came crumbling down around him. He released a shuddering breath and barged past the two men, rushing through the base to get to his car. His thoughts were running a million and one miles an hour. That phone call must’ve been the hospital calling him. He scolded himself silently. He was so stupid why didn’t he pick up the phone? He was grateful that you had both him and Maverick down as emergency contacts otherwise he probably wouldn’t have known until god knows when. He curses angrily at the traffic jam he approaches, hand slamming on the wheel in frustration as he blinks back the tears building. He still didn’t know what had happened to you other than hearing you were in an accident, so his thoughts were going crazy. What if he got there and you were already gone? He couldn’t lose another family member. You were all he had left. When the traffic begins to move smoothly again, he gets to the hospital in what he dubs as record time, parking his car and entering the hospital in a rush. He practically runs up to the front desk.

“I’m here to see y/n Bradshaw. I got told she was brought in not too long ago.” Rooster says, almost leaning entirely over the desk to address the receptionist who looks up at him for a second before turning her attention back to her computer.

“Are you family?” She asks, typing on her computer before glancing up at him expectantly.

“Yes, I’m her brother.” Rooster replies hurriedly, fighting to keep the frustration from his tone but failing miserably. The receptionist types again on her computer before looking back up at him.

“You can go and wait in the waiting room. She’s being treated right now but I’ll inform someone, and they’ll come and get you when they’re done.” The receptionist says finally after typing one last thing into her computer. She gestured in the loose direction of the waiting room, and he followed her gesture to the room filled with people waiting to be seen by doctors or family members waiting to hear about their loved ones. Rooster sat down in one of the corners of the room, avoiding looking at anyone as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, seeing a bombardment of texts from everyone from Dagger Squad. Everyone was concerned about why he was seen storming out of work. Instead of replying to each individual text, he opened the group chat they had and sent what had happened and where he was. He hit send on the message and opened the text he got from Maverick asking if he was at the hospital and if he had any updates yet.

‘I’m at the hospital but they said she’s being treated. I can’t see her until she’s out. I’m scared, Mav.’

Rooster hit send on the message and leant back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling to try and will his tears to not escape from his eyes. He takes some slow deep breaths to try and remain calm, but his heart was hammering in fear. After a matter of minutes, his phone started buzzing intensely. He retracted the phone from his pocket and saw all his friends sending messages in response to his and then he noticed another message come through from Maverick.

‘I’m on my way, kid.’

Rooster felt a small amount of comfort from that one message and glanced around the waiting room, expecting Maverick to just appear out of thin air. It took about twenty minutes until Maverick entered the waiting room, locating Rooster and crossing to him. Maverick sat next to Rooster and turned to face him.

“Bradley…” Maverick says gently, the use of Rooster's name as opposed to his callsign made the tears he’d been holding in fall down his cheeks. Maverick wasted no time pulling him into a tight hug, squeezing him close as he feels the tears landing on his shoulder. Rooster’s whole body shook with sobs as he cried, clinging to Maverick like he was a terrified little boy again.

“What if I lose her, Mav? I can’t lose anyone else.” Rooster forces out through his cries, blinking the remainder of his tears away and pulling away from Maverick’s embrace and wiping his eyes furiously, looking away in embarrassment.

“That sister of yours is tough. We have to have faith that she’ll pull through.” Maverick says calmly although he too was worried about the severity of this accident. After Rooster takes some deep breaths to compose himself, he nods at Maverick’s words knowing that as much as he hated it, everything was out of his control, and he had to just have faith that everything would be okay. The two talk about anything and everything to try and keep their minds off how slowly time is passing when suddenly they hear a group of people coming and they were shocked to see Dagger Squad coming in, walking over to the two and ignoring the glares from everyone else in the waiting room. There weren’t enough seats for all of them to sit with Rooster and Maverick, so Hangman, Coyote and Phoenix decided to remain standing with their friends rather than finding somewhere else to sit.

“Have you gotten any updates?” Payback asks, looking over at Rooster as he shakes his head solemnly, glancing down at the floor.

“She’ll be alright, Bradshaw. That kid is a fighter. She’ll be back on her feet, kicking our asses in pool in no time.” Hangman says, his tone a lot gentler than anyone was used to hearing coming from him, but it was no secret that he held a soft spot for the youngest Bradshaw. Pretty much all of Dagger Squad had adopted you as their younger sister and they cared deeply for you so you being in hospital had all of them worried for you.

“Family of y/n Bradshaw?” The voice of a nurse has Rooster, Maverick and those of Dagger Squad who were sat down shooting out of their seats.

“I think just Rooster and Mav should go. They’ll fill us in.” Phoenix says, gesturing for everyone to sit down. Rooster and Maverick cross to the nurse, greeting him when they reach him. The nurse leads the two outside and to where a doctor was waiting. The doctor greets the two before bringing them into an office to have some privacy.

“They are just finishing treating y/n. She had some severe injuries when she came in. The car hit her side of the car, so we had to remove some glass and set some broken bones. She did suffer some head trauma so until she wakes up, we won’t know just how severe it is. We’ve moved her into a room, would you like me to take you up to her?” The doctor explains, reading through the charts on her clipboard before looking up at the two. Rooster nods while Maverick glances at Rooster.

“You go. I’ll let the others know what’s going on. Text me the room number when you’re there.” He says quietly, before turning and heading out of the office and into the waiting room to talk to Dagger Squad. Rooster follows the doctor to a lift and then follows her to your room where upon entry, more tears spring to his eyes at your state. Your left arm and leg were in a cast, and you had cuts and bruises littering your face and arms. Rooster pulled a chair up alongside your bed and took your right hand in his own, being mindful of the cannula in your hand. He was vaguely aware of the doctor letting herself out, but he didn’t remove his focus from you. He managed to force himself to take his eyes off you for but a moment so he could send Maverick your room number but the second his phone was off; his focus was back on you. He watched the steady rise and fall of your chest and listened to the repeated beeping from the heart monitor.

“I need you to pull through this, y/n/n.” He whispers to you, squeezing your hand for emphasis and despite the fact he knew you weren’t going to respond, it still crushed him.

As Maverick walked the hallway towards your hospital room, he kept praying in his head that you were going to make it. Maverick wasn’t a religious man, not by any means but if there was an afterlife or whatever people wanted to call it, Maverick had only two people in his mind he was praying to watch over you instead of any heavenly figure.

“Goose… Carole… you need to make sure y/n makes it. We can’t lose her too.” He mumbles to himself as he glances at the door numbers, still trying to find your room. When he locates your room, he enters and is greeted by the sight of Rooster sitting alongside your bed.

“The doctor caught all of us trying to come up to the room and said only two visitors at a time. We’ll take turns coming up here.” Maverick says gently, trying to bring some kind of comfort to Rooster. When Rooster doesn’t respond, Maverick pulls the other chair up alongside Rooster’s to be the support he needed right now.

Over the next day, Maverick and the rest of Dagger Squad would take it in turns being in the hospital room, not only to check on you but to make sure Rooster was okay. Everyone made sure to bring something to your hospital room, either something for you or something for your brother who hadn’t left your side. Hangman brought a bunch of flowers and left them on your bedside table. Bob brought a ‘get well soon’ card he got all of Dagger Squad to sign. Fanboy brought a teddy bear that sat alongside your flowers. Payback made sure to bring water for Rooster to drink while Phoenix would bring a meal from the hospital cafeteria up to him. She had attempted to bring in food from outside, but she got caught so had to resort to the hospital food. Maverick was always there for Rooster to talk to about whatever was worrying him. And every time Maverick approached the hospital room, he whispered a prayer up to Goose and Carole, asking them to watch over you.

On that evening you woke up, it was just you and Rooster in the room. You heard the beeping of the machines and gentle snoring before you opened your eyes, wincing at the brightness of the lights and the pounding in your head. You glanced to your side and saw your brother dozing lightly, his arms folded and his chin resting on his chest. You didn’t want to disturb him. He looked exhausted so you attempted to sit up slightly but exhaled sharply at the sudden pain, causing Rooster’s eyes to fly open.

“y/n?” He questions, trying to figure out if he’s dreaming or if this is real.

“Hey, B.” You say, smiling tiredly.

“How are you feeling?” He asks, knowing it’s a stupid question but he needed to know.

“Rough. My head hurts. The light is too bright.” You grumble, squinting when you make the mistake of glancing towards the light. Without hesitation, Rooster gets up and turns the light off, plunging the room into almost complete darkness with the only light filtering in through your window being the setting sun. Just as Rooster sits down by your side, a nurse walks in.

“It’s nice to see you awake, y/n. I’m just going to check you over and see how you’re doing if that’s okay with you.” The nurse says as you nod slowly, not enjoying the pain the motion gave you.

“Is your head giving you pain?” She asks, glancing down to make a note.

“Yeah, the light hurts my eyes, and my head is just pounding.” You admit, knowing nothing good will come from lying.

“Okay, we’ll try putting you on some different pain meds. When you were being treated, your doctors didn’t find anything of concern with your head injury, but we’ll be monitoring you just to be safe. Do you have any pain anywhere else?” The nurse asks, looking back up at you.

“Only if I move.” You say, hating the way you’re forced to just lie on your back.

“Well, I can only suggest staying still.” The nurse teases lightly, bringing a small smile to your face.

“Is there any way I could sit up slightly? I hate lying on my back like this.” You ask the nurse, your eyes pleading.

“We can try and adjust your bed but if there’s any discomfort, I expect you to tell us immediately.” She says, moving to pick up the remote for your bed and easing the side your head was at up. You hold a hand up to stop her when you’re sat up enough to satisfy you. You were relieved that no pain flooded through you at the motion, and you settled further into the pillow.

“I’m just going to grab those meds for you, okay?” The nurse confirms and when she leaves, you turn your attention back to your brother.

“How are you doing, B? You look rough. And that’s saying something.” You laugh lightly, stopping when he doesn’t even crack a smile at your joke.

“Not the time for jokes, y/n. I was scared shitless.” He says, sighing slightly as he shakes his head, still reeling from the whole ordeal.

“It’s not like I got in this accident just to scare you, Bradley. I don’t want to be here any more than you do.” You say, Rooster remained silent. He was always like this when he was emotional. He would choose to remain silent and stoic so no one could see that things were getting to him. He would bottle it up until he reached a breaking point and you always tried to get him to talk to you about it so he wouldn’t explode.

“Bradley?” You ask, hoping to get some sort of response from your brother. As you open your mouth to press him again, the door swings open and the nurse enters again with some meds in her arms.

“Alright, I have something that should help with those headaches of yours. I’ll just hook it up for you.” The nurse says cheerfully, oblivious to the slight awkwardness between you and Rooster.

“Thank you.” You say as she finishes hooking everything up.

“You’re welcome. You should get some rest. You should think about leaving, sir.” The nurse says, addressing you and then turning to Rooster.

“No. I’m staying. If that’s okay.” He says quickly, the nurse looked slightly taken aback by Rooster’s outburst but ultimately nodded.

“Okay, you can stay. Would you like me to set up a bed for you?” She replies but Rooster just shakes his head thanking the nurse but informing her he’ll be fine where he is.

“Well just come and get me if you change your mind. I’ll leave you two be now.” She says with a smile before leaving. When she’s gone you turn your head to look at your brother.

“I agree with the nurse. You should get some rest.” Rooster says as you nod slightly, feeling minor tiredness creeping up on you and you could only guess it was because of the meds.

“Only if you get some rest too. Something’s telling me you’ve slept a grand total of ten minutes since you got here.” You say and you could tell from his expression that you hit the nail right on the head.

“I’ll be fine, kid.” He says dismissively once he collects himself.

“But you won’t be if you don’t rest. You need to rest. So why won’t you?” You ask, the worry and confusion on your face making Rooster’s expression soften, he didn’t want to upset you.

“I’m just scared.” He admits, lowing his head in embarrassment and fixing his eyes on his lap.

“Scared of what?” You press gently, sitting up slightly, ignoring the small spark of pain that shoots through you.

“I’m scared that if I close my eyes, something might happen to you.” He manages to say, blinking the tears away and still not daring to look up at you.

“Look at me, B.” Your gentle voice encourages, wanting to do nothing more than to comfort your brother. He’d always been there for you growing up, so you wanted to return the favour.

“I’m not saying goodbye this soon. I’m going to be fine tonight. I got my big brother by my side and that’s all I need. I’ll be okay.” You say, a soft smile on your face as you grab his hand. Your smile widened when your brother finally looked up and made eye contact with you.

“I’ll be fine.” You repeat, squeezing his hand lightly as he nods carefully.

“Promise you’ll wake me up if anything happens.” He asks, and you hum in acknowledgement.

“If I wake up with even the slightest amount of pain, I’ll let you know. Promise.” You say, watching as a small smile finally graces your brother's face.

“Thank you. Now, get some rest y/n/n.” He says as you yawn and settle back on the pillows.

“You better get some rest too otherwise I’ll kick your ass.” You mumble, letting your eyes close as Rooster lets out a soft laugh.

“I promise I’ll get some rest. I love you, y/n/n.” He replies, smiling as you snuggle into the pillow.

“I love you too, B.” You mutter before allowing sleep to beckon you. Your breaths becoming slow and deep within seconds. Rooster watches you for a minute before folding his arms and resting his chin against his chest once more and allowing his tired eyes to close, welcoming sleep as it comes.

Rooster was awoken the next morning by all his friends entering and when he looked over at them confused, they were quick to explain.

“The nurse let us all come up. We must’ve bugged them so much yesterday that they just gave in this morning.” Fanboy explains, a shit-eating grin on his face that the naval aviators were able to get what they wanted.

“How’s she doing?” Phoenix asks, looking from where you were laid asleep peacefully to where Rooster was sat, handing him a granola bar to eat.

“She woke up last night. She’s doing okay.” Rooster says with a smile, feeling well rested and more optimistic. The news made everyone start chattering excitedly despite Maverick, Rooster, and Bob’s attempts to keep them quiet.

“Guys, come on she’s still asleep.” Bob pleads, feeling bad that the entire group has burst in and started making a racket.

“I was asleep until Fanboy started talking. His inside voice is any normal person’s outside voice.” Your tired voice has every head snapping to look at you as you peel your eyes open and smile.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Maverick asks, approaching your bedside and brushing a loose piece of hair away from your face.

“Feeling good, Mav.” You say, grinning up at your godfather as he smiles back, pressing a kiss to your forehead before moving away to allow the others to say hi.

“You’re one tough kid aren’t you, Bradshaw?” Hangman teases, ruffling your hair as you laugh, swatting at his hand.

“Sorry, Jake. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” You fire back as he shakes his head, chuckling before the others push him aside to talk to you. You spent time talking to all the members of Dagger Squad as Maverick and Rooster watched on with a fond smile as you asked the team to sign either the cast on your arm or leg. Both Rooster and Maverick were overjoyed that you were doing better, and they could hope that you’d be able to come home soon and that you’d be back to doing the things you love.

Bradley Bradshaw had already lost so much in his life so the time you were unconscious in the hospital bed were the most painful hours of his life. Wondering if he was about to add his little sister to the list of people he’s lost in his lifetime. He’d never been so relieved to see you awake in his life when you finally did. He vowed from that moment on that he was never going to take any moments with any of his loved ones for granted. He wanted to appreciate every moment he had with those he cared for in case something like this happened again. But for now, instead of dwelling on what could have been, he found himself smiling at the fact you’d be around to be his pain in the ass baby sister a bit longer.

#justabigassnerd #justabigassnerd writes #top gun #top gun maverick #rooster top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster x y/n #bradley bradshaw x sister!reader #x sister!reader #rooster x reader #rooster x sister!reader

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anothermarkedone · 5 months

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THERE’S LITERALLY NO RIDOC FICS AND I THINK THAT’S CRIMINAL! So thank you for being an absolute legend and taking requests for him 🙏🙏

I was thinking what about a Ridoc x reader who is Dain’s little sister but she’s the completely opposite of him. A Weasly twin style prankster who thinks rules are just suggestions. I’d love to see the shenanigans she and Ridoc get up too while also trying to keep their relationship a secret from Dain bc we all know he would freak out

Fourth wing pranksters

Word count: 834 Pairing: Ridoc x Aetos!reader A/N: I saw this request and was immediately inspired. They're head canons, I hope you don't mind nonnie.

Likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

One thing was crystal clear

Under no circumstance can Dain find out about you and Ridoc

It’s bad enough that his sweet darling little sister would start dating a guy

But Ridoc?!

The guy who’s known to be the best prankster in the entire quadrant?

Hell to the fucking no

It’s bad enough that you don’t follow the rules, no matter how much Dain and your father try

You don’t need someone to enable you and join in your behavior

Not as a classmate or as a friend and certainly not as your boyfriend

But if you play it smart, he won’t easily find out

He’s too busy drooling 🤤 over Violet, glaring daggers 😡 at Daddy Xaden 🥵 and being a stuck up rule follower

He’s literally Percy Weasley 🧑🏻‍🦰 since we’re talking about HP references

There was a silly tradition in Fourth Wing that when it’s someone's birthday🎉, they bring a snack🧁 to Battle brief

And it just so happens that Dain’s birthday was the next day

The day before his birthday, he had roped you into helping him make your grandmother's famous caramel apples

He told you that he needed your help last minute of course, so you didn’t have an excuse ready😑

The perfect opportunity for a prank, if you say so yourself🤫

When you and Dain were finally done, you wished him a happy early birthday and told him that you were going to study for a bit with Violet.

He knew that Violet was still pissed at him for reading her memories without permission, but he never expected that his sweet fragile Violet would insure that there would be retaliation

*Cue evil laughter*😈

Dain of course insisted to walk you to Violet's room, to make sure you were safe, he claimed, definitely not to maybe see Violet🤡

You walked into Violets room (or rather, Violet pulled you through the wards that 💪🏻overprotective 🥵Daddy Xaden installed)

You used your signet to see through the wall and waited until you saw Dain walk away

The second he was gone, you slipped out of Violet’s room and into Ridoc’s, who was already dead asleep😴

You climbed on top of him and settled in his lap

Of course, he’s a horny bastard and had other activity ideas🥵

You promised him whatever he wanted after he helped you🤭

He was 100% in after you explained your plan, as if he wasn’t already after your spicy promise😏

You two sneaked into the kitchens

You two went to make another batch of ‘caramel apples’ but oh no😱! there are no apples left😥!

Guess you two have to use the onions…😈

While you started making your grandmother’s caramel sauce, he went to peel the onions

It was one hell of a job to get it done before battle brief, especially since your promise didn’t do anything to lessen Ridoc’s horniness

There were a lot of steamy kisses and inappropriate touches🤤

But Ridoc’s ice signet 🥶 came in handy when the ‘apples’ were done and they had to be cool enough so that it seemed that they had cooled down during the night

You two sneaked the actual caramel apples 🍎 into your room to snack on later

Then you went to battle brief

Once you two were seated with your squad, Dain came in with the tasty onions🧅

He handed them out to professor Kaori, professor Devera and, to your slight horror, even to major Varrish

When Dain handed them out to your squad, you quickly warned them not to eat them🙊

The whole time, you and Ridoc had trouble to keep from bursting out in laughter🤣

Professor Kaori had just started battle brief, everyone’s apple temporarily forgotten in favor of taking notes, when major Varrish suddenly leaped from his chair with an angry shout🤬

Pieces of onion falling from his mouth🤮

Ridoc’s hand squeezed your inner thigh, as if that would keep him from bursting out in laughter

Varrish demanded to know who did it

Of course Dain was his first suspect, but professor Kaori pointed out that it was not something Dain would do😯

Everyone checked their own apples and found onions under the thick layer of caramel

Bodhi subtly suggested that one of the first years could have a signet that can change objects, which would make sense, since the first years had only just bonded their dragons, so they have no control over their signet🙄

And thus, Varrish’s rage turned on the first years

He ordered everyone to leave, except the first years and Dain

You shot your horrified brother a (hopefully) comforting look 😬

As soon as your squad was out of the room, Ridoc grabbed your hand

In his other hand, he held his onion and he was busy licking the caramel from the vegetable🤢

Sawyer laughed that he was disgusting, Violet was satisfied with her small petty revenge and Rhiannon was shaking her her head while mumbling how she was stuck with idiots

Ridoc gave your friends an innocent wave, before dragging you off to fulfill that promise that you made.🥵

#fourth wing #iron flame #ridoc gamlyn x reader #ridoc gamlyn #dain aetos

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andreafmn · 1 year

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12 Days of Ficmas - Day 8

Prompt (by @12-days-of-ficmas): my family is coming for christmas but i didn’t want to tell you bc i thought they’d cancel and yeah they don’t know we live together

Word Count: 719

Story Description: (Y/N)'s family is flaky at best, and expecting them to visit for Christmas was not something they were looking forward to. Until they confirmed they would be visiting them. Only problem, (Y/N)'s boyfriend Derek doesn't know them and they don't know they're living together.

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Derek Hale x NonBinary!Reader

A/N: i was gonna post yesterday on time but I was too tired and went to bed rather than finish the story so once again I'm off schedule (but at least I'm posting😬) I will try to get the other one out, but it's my birthday so I don't know when I'll have a chance.

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Just Family Things

One thing Derek Hale was adept at was not talking about his family. Which is why he never pushed the topic. Even entering a whole year with (Y/N). He was simply grateful they were by his side.

Though, there were times he felt like they were ashamed of him and that was the reason they had never introduced him to their family. Still, he didn’t feel it was his place to bring it up. They were happy enough together and he didn’t want to ruin it.

As the Christmas season started to make itself known, Derek noticed (Y/N) growing restless. They were hyper-fixated on cleaning their home, overstocking their food, and setting up their Christmas decorations perfectly. It was an obsessive behavior he had never seen before in them.

Even when hunting and fighting supernatural creatures, (Y/N) was always level headed, astute, and they never let their guard down. But as they ran from side to side, fixing things no one else would have thought were wrong, he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on behind their actions.

They were stress cleaning the bathroom with a toothbrush one morning, kneeling on the floor, sweat forming on their forehead.

“(Y/N), what are you doing?” Derek asked leaning against the doorframe. “You’ve been stressed out these past few weeks and I know it’s not because of the pack coming over on Christmas.”

“It’s nothing, babe. I just need to clean up. Make sure everything is perfect. “

“Why though?” he chuckled. “It’s not like they would honestly care.”

“Ugh!” (Y/N) yelled out. “Okay, look. My family is coming over for Christmas.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. They were gonna come on the first week of December, but I knew they were gonna flake, so I didn’t tell you.” They finally confessed. It felt like a weight had lifted from their shoulders. And now that they had started, they continued. “And they did cancel, so I just let it be. But they called me and told me they were going to be here for Christmas week. Now I gotta make sure this place is rid of anything they can criticize because they honestly will judge even the tiniest speck of dust.”

Derek was shocked. It was the first time (Y/N) had spoken about their family freely. Normally, they would avoid the topic, focusing on anything but that.

“So, I’m finally gonna meet the family,” he grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Honestly, neither did I. They don't even know we live together.”

“Did you, um… did you not want them to meet me?” he finally said, his true feeling sprouting out.

“Oh, god no,” (Y/N) was quick to respond. “I didn’t want you to meet them.”

“Why not?”

“Look, I love my family. I do,” they continued. “And though I know they mean well, they are a very – how do I put this – a quite rowdy bunch that can offend just about anyone. They can get on your nerves very quickly, and I didn’t want you to look at me differently because of them.”

With a smile on his face, he extended his arm and propped them onto their feet. He wrapped his arms around them, engulfing them tightly. He placed a kiss atop their head and chucked slightly.

“I could never judge you for who your family is. I’ve had my fair share of embarrassing family members,” he spoke against their hair. “If I had any say, you would have never met Peter. But our families don’t define us, babe. And I’ll do the best I can to help you through this week.”

“Why couldn’t they have come on thanksgiving?” (Y/N) whined against his chest, letting out a deep sigh. They were frustrated, tired, and nervous. Feelings that always arose when speaking to and about their family. “Maybe we should just say we have no space here. You think they’ll cancel again?”

“I promise I won’t let them bother you,” Derek told them before giving them a comforting kiss. “We’ll get through this Christmas together, babe. I’ll help you with your family, and you’ll help me get through a whole night with the pack here.”

“Thank you, Der. I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Maybe, just maybe that would be their best Christmas yet.

Taglist: @bellabadacadabra @winter-soldier-101 @zheezs14 @cevans-winchester @andreiaafaria @bluetreecloud20 @sunshine2894 @sunsetcurvej @sapnapsbandana @mushroomelephant @she--walks--in--moonlight 2 @Gracelynn318 @swidkid @skyesthebomb @esposadomd @blueshoelacess @then-worship-at-my-altar @six-call @Yuki254 @beckiej0073-blog @baebeepeach @cecehensonn @catgirlpwr @magimtz23 @perle-noir22 @adaydreamaway08 @hufflepuffobsessedwithmarvel @thatgirljayy @sugasthreedollarkookie @laylaskywalker @fandomonetwo @fruitylilfuck

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hotvampireadjacent · 11 months

Note

Hey, just wanted to preface this by saying that you’re a cool dude, and obviously I’m not trying to attack you or say you’re wrong or need to agree with me or anything! I just wanted to make this ask to hear your perspective and potentially show you a new perspective on Madoka Magica.

You recently reblogged a post about how Gen Urobuchi wrote a subversion of a genre without showing respect to it, and clown me if I have made the wrong assumption, but was that post about Madoka Magica?

I won’t speak on Rebellion, but Madoka as a show seemed to me like a reinforcement of the themes of the Magical Girl genre. It uses its subversions, not to disrespect magical girls, but celebrate them and their ideals. And that’s only if you consider Madoka a subversion at all, as many people make the argument that it doesn’t actually subvert the genre.

Clearandsweet has a great series on YouTube dedicated to analyzing Madoka through this lens. (The spoiler thesis is that Madoka’s character is a Magical Girl, with all the themes that entails, in a story that’s constantly trying to prevent her, and the show itself, from being one. In the end, she overcomes this the way a Magical Girl would, ultimately celebrating magical girls and their ideals. Everything that goes wrong in this show is not an edgey indictment of magical girls, but rather an exploration of how things can go wrong without them, and therefore a reinforcement of why we need Magical Girls and their themes.)

Sorry if this ask felt out of nowhere or rude! I just wanted to make this ask because the anime-bro discourse about Madoka has seriously lost the plot on what the show is even about. To the point that Madoka ripoffs (that also fail to understand Madoka) plague the genre. I was even someone who felt similarly about Gen Urobuchi and Madoka until I did a rewatch as an adult.

It’s a really well-directed show that was mired with the stupid “deconstruction” discourse of its time, so I definitely recommend watching or rewatching the show with this in mind if you’re ever bored or need something to do. Obviously this interpretation is not objectively correct or anything, but I just wanted to open this up to you because this revelation was something I really enjoyed (and something I felt cheated out of by the stupid anime-bro culture surrounding it), and maybe you’d enjoy it too. And I’d love to hear your perspective on it, too, as I love reading different interpretations of Madoka!

I’m sorry that happened to you or happy it’s 2023 I’m not reading an essay on madoka.

Did read the end tbh I haven’t watched madoka since it aired I don’t remember enough to even give a perspective. Honestly I just hate gen urobuchi bc of fate/ zero.

Anyway it’s almost my birthday and almost midnight here

Only slightly related he said some insane shit about a minor gundam characters death

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esta-elavaris · 7 months

Text

Nobody Knows

Okay, starting things off with something I wrote back in 2015 for my first creative writing class at uni. It's a short horror story, the assignment was literally just "write a short story with roughly 1.5k words" bc they were great with giving us serious freedom to write what we wanted to write, and this was what I came up with. I think it was the first 'serious' original short story I wrote, I was 18/19 at the time (so, disclaimer on that score if you're going to compare it to the stuff I'm posting now at almost-27 lolol), so the quality will probably reflect that, but it has sentimental value and a bit of other meaning to me, so I'm posting it as is. Definitely a "look at what I dredged up from the archives" kinda thing rather than a "wow isn't this great?" kinda thing.

I remember I went into that first semester, looked at the people in the class around me and just thought "oh god, I am so fucking out of my league here" -- but then, three months later, my course leader (who ended up being my personal tutor in the years that followed, and my favourite teacher across my whole degree) really enjoyed it and his very kind feedback resulted in the moment where I stopped and thought "man, maybe I actually have something going with my writing". It also ended up in my uni's Eng Lit magazine, which I still have a copy of for archival purposes ✨

Plus, if I reread it too closely to edit it to the quality I like to think I can produce now, I will end up convincing myself not to post it 💀 so here! Have some baby!writer stuff.

By the time I reached nineteen, I was scared of Nobody. That was what I called him - Nobody. My own private little joke.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Nobody.”

“Who are you staring at?”

“Nobody.”

Not a lie, but not a response that would get me thrown into the nearest mental hospital. I considered that a win/win. It also described him accurately – for he didn’t seem to have a body. All I ever saw of him was shadow. Sometimes it would be clearer, forming a silhouette, and other times he’d just be an ever-shifting mass of darkness. I’d been too young to be frightened by his appearance when I first found him in my grandmother’s attic. I’d thought my cousin’s tales of hauntings in the house had always just been made up to scare me, but regardless, Nobody didn’t scare me – not at first.

By the time he did, I’d known him for a decade, and had only resented him for two of those years. The resentment began at my seventeenth birthday party. Before then, having a negative thought about Nobody was utter blasphemy in my book. I would never allow a bad word to be said about my guardian, protector, teacher and presumed imaginary friend. Not one. My mother would suggest that I was too old for this behaviour, and that it was time for Nobody to go away, only for me to go ballistic. I learned to keep him to myself after that, but my good opinion only strengthened, if anything. What could be bad about somebody, living or not, who was so willing to protect me? Who toppled over the chairs my bullies sat in? Who snuck me the answers I needed in tests? It was absurd, but I kept my mouth shut, and as far as everybody else was concerned, my imaginary friend vanished. It meant little to me – it wasn’t like any of them could see him in the first place.

Then things changed. What was meant to be the best night of my life turned out to be the worst. No parents, no neighbours, no rules. Just lots of booze, music and fun. Or so I thought. The first hint that something was awry was when all of the alcohol became mysteriously unavailable to us. Packs of beer would end up in locked cabinets, with the keys nowhere to be found. Bottles of vodka would fling themselves towards the sink and smash there, any potential source of amusement quite literally down the drain.

Then came the issue of the music. My best friend spent the entire evening wrestling with the CD player, wondering why it would refuse to play certain songs (the ones I knew Nobody hated), or why the volume refused to go any higher than, a pretty pathetic, “six”. The final straw was when every guy at the party suddenly became dramatically ill. Every single one. Headaches, vomiting fits, fevers, or even just a sense of pure unease. They needed little motivation to leave such a pathetic party in the first place. Within an hour, the only guests left were my two best friends. My seventeenth birthday bash had been demoted to a sleepover worthy of a ten year old.

After that, Nobody became less of a trusted ally and more of a domineering parent. Where I used to look at my hungover friends with a smug smirk, happy that Nobody had prevented me from drinking enough to end up in that state, I now looked at them with envy. They were normal. They drank too much and endured the consequences. When they were too lazy to study for tests, they failed. Life was difficult and it was unfair and they complained about it relentlessly. But that was what made it fun. They had to think about their next move, take responsibility for themselves. If they forgot their keys, they’d be locked out – they didn’t have any ghost to open the door for them. Without the dark you find yourself unable to appreciate the light, and so life became unbearably boring. I knew that whatever was approaching me in life, it would be fine. Nobody would handle it, whether I wanted him to or not. I hated it, and I hated him for it. My life was no longer mine to control, but instead belonged to somebody who was dead. How twisted was that? Each day was monotonous, and I found myself learning little - if that - from the limited life experience I had. I made no attempt to have an eighteenth birthday party.

Spurred on by thoughts of my failed seventeenth birthday party, and non-existent eighteenth, I made my decision. On the night of my nineteenth I took a lighter to the living room curtains, setting the place on fire. In the grand scheme of things it seemed like a perfectly safe and reasonable thing to do in the name of distraction. By time the blaze was out and smoke stopped billowing out of the window, I was already down the street, peering out at my home from behind a wheelie bin to make sure that I wouldn’t be returning to the charred skeleton of the house at the end of the night. What I did return to, however, was a foreboding mass of shadow that I was too scared to tear my eyes away from. His presence had gone from endearing to terrifying in seconds flat.

My bedroom was trashed. Books were scattered on the floor, my clothes were strewn around any and every surface available. Even the door had a long, jagged splinter running up through the middle. Nobody made no move, no attempt at communication. Instead he stood stock-still in the corner, shadows bristling.

I didn’t sleep at all that night, instead sitting up in bed, staring at the void that was once my dearest companion with a sense of dread filling my chest. Hours later, when my drunkenness gave way to a fierce headache, all of the painkillers in the house had mysteriously vanished. I’d hoped it would end there, the same way arguments with my parents went. I’d lie, they’d be angry, eventually we’d all forget about it and move on. Nobody wasn’t the type to move on.

That’s where the decision to get rid of him came from. I couldn’t handle it. The constant hounding of my steps, the uncomfortable atmosphere, the lack of sleep. Sure, without him my life would be mundane and ordinary, but what was I with him? An adult with no decisive powers and an enforced bedtime.

When the day came, I kept up the façade marvellously. Nothing was out of the ordinary, and as far as he knew I was simply visiting a new friend at her apartment. Nobody didn’t show any sign of realising something was up until it was too late.

“That’s it?” I asked the ‘mystic’ dubiously as she finished burning incense and tracing odd symbols on my arms with the ash.

“That’s it,” she waved a hand “You may leave. He cannot follow.”

Nobody’s head shot up in clear alarm. His silhouette jerked towards me, but didn’t move. Couldn’t move. His head snapped between the old woman and I, almost like he was watching a tennis match, before it settled on me again and he unsuccessfully tried to move. The shadows around him spiked outwards.

“Oh, hush! You have no power here!” the old woman snapped impatiently.

I paid her as promised, but kept my gaze on Nobody. It was a weird feeling. Like seeing a caged tiger at a zoo. So much power, but no ability to use it. He’d gone from running my life, to being unable to take even a single step in my direction, all thanks to a bit of ash and some fancy words. For half a second, I faltered. I wanted to apologise to him. Pleasant memories surfaced – my toys putting on shows for me as a child, dancing on invisible strings, or even not having to pay to use the tube, as the ticket gates opened on their own upon my approach. But then the shadows spiked angrily again, and the regret was replaced by the more familiar fear.

When I walked out of that apartment, for the first time in ten years I was truly alone. I was truly free. Free to make my own decisions and live outside of Nobody’s grasp. It was then that life decided to catch up on all the years’ worth of lessons it had been unable to teach me until then. My freedom lasted four minutes. If I’d had Nobody with me, he’d have noticed the car that I failed to until it was too late, so used to not even having to look before I crossed the road. The last thing I saw was his dark silhouette, standing motionless in the window overlooking the street.

#esta's OG!fiction

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nehswritesstuffs · 1 year

Text

to be a captain is to be brave, to care, to love

Congrats--I’m the dumbass who posts fic for the wrong Straw Hat on another crewmate’s birthday lolol

9320 words; this hit me hard recently because, well, it just did (as in: I wrote most of this within the past few days); I have complicated emotions about Deadbeat Dad Yasopp and I guess this is my brain working through it; this does not take place in a continuity that contains Uta, mainly because I don’t really want to write her being a bratty little bully bc you know that’s what would happen; not an entire rewrite but does shift things a little bit to the left

to be a captain is to be brave, to care, to love; something very different happened on the day Banchina passed away: her son told the truth. [Usopp-centric slight AU]

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

She is dying.

That was the only thing that the doctor wrote on the paper before stuffing it in an envelope and sending it with a News Coo. That had been the week prior, and now it seemed as though the message was going to be for naught. He was sitting at the sick woman’s bedside, changing the compress on her forehead for a cool, fresh one.

“Where is Usopp?” she asked. The doctor shook his head.

“He ran off soon as I got here,” he replied, tone hiding the fact he’d told her twice already. “He’ll be back.”

“He’s such a silly boy.” She tilted her head and looked out the window at the clouds, bright and fluffy. “He has his father’s spirit.”

“Banchina…”

“No, he does; he’s going to become a wonderful person.”

The doctor sighed heavily. “I wrote to him.”

“Why…?” Her attention went back to the doctor, her eyes now sharp, all of her strength put behind them. “He was not supposed to know.”

“It doesn’t matter; he hasn’t come.”

“So you’d rather ignore the wishes of someone on their deathbed than let a free man enjoy the last moments he has at peace?” There was fire and venom in her voice, not heard by the doctor since they were young children. “It’s bad enough Usopp has had to watch me…”

“He deserves to know.”

“He deserves to be free.”

“He’s your husband; he should be here.”

“So you can torture him more?!”

“That’s not what this is and we both know it! It’s…!”

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” Usopp shouted from outside. Banchina gave one last glare before softening her face, not wanting a scowl to be how her son remembered her. “Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming up the slope!” The boy burst into the house and barreled towards his mother, tears streaming down his face. “Pirates are coming! That means that Dad’s back!”

“Usopp, sweetie, I need you to listen to me,” she said. “You’re going to have to be a good kid for me, alright? Make sure you grow into a good man, a good person, and never let them look down on you. Do you understand?”

“…but Mom…”

“I know your dad’s not there—please, don’t hate him for that. He’s very far away and can’t come back safely. It was my choice to stay here with you, and I’d do it over and over again…”

“Banchina, please…”

“I am talking to my son.” The doctor stepped towards the other side of the room at that, keeping his distance. “Please, Usopp, promise me you’re going to be brave, alright?”

“Mom…” Usopp’s tiny frame shook as he tried not to cry. “Just a little bit! Please!”

“I know what you’re doing, darling; don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“…’China…?”

Banchina froze as her eyes went towards the door, seeing Yasopp standing in the threshold, body frozen in shock. All at once he stumbled into the house, nearly tripping over himself as he went to sit on the edge of the mattress at his wife’s side. Tears began to escape his eyes as he brought her limp, cold hand in both of his.

“I told them not to tell you,” she said, looking away in pain. “I didn’t want your last memory of me to be like this.”

“No, I’m glad I could come… I’ll take seeing you one last time while sick than never see you again at all.” His voice cracked and squeaked in pain—this was never what he had planned on when he left those years ago. “I’m so sorry… you were the only one who made this place worth it for so long…”

Banchina simply hushed him and offered the strongest smile she could. Yasopp bent down and pressed their foreheads together before kissing her gently. A sob escaped him as he pulled away, confirming to the little boy in the corner precisely what he had feared.

Banchina of Syrup Village was no more.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So, how old are you, lad?”

“Uh… six…?”

“Oh… well, that’s a fucking bummer.”

Usopp stared at the red-haired man sitting at the table in the town’s only restaurant, who was currently involved in taking a large swig of beer. He didn’t want to be around his house at the moment, since his father and the village doctor were currently having a shouting match. The boy escaped the row by heading into town, where he saw the rest of the pirates his dad had come in with.

This one was apparently the captain.

“Everyone in town says that you’re the one that stole Dad from Mom and me,” Usopp said. The captain shrugged noncommittally—couldn’t refute that.

“What did your mom always say?”

“She said that ‘Dad left following his dream, the sea, his freedom’.”

“Then I think you should listen to your mom, kid.” The man adjusted the straw hat perched atop his head and took another drink. “You know, soon as your dad got news about your mom, we came straight here. I wouldn’t keep him from what he needs for anything.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s my obligation, as the captain.” He paused as the waitress returned with food for the table, which he encouraged Usopp to sit and eat. “See, when you’re a captain, you need to figure out what it is that people need and how that’s different from what they want, and make it happen. Your dad always wants to travel the seas and very often needs to, but right now, what he needs is to be here.”

“You have a big crew—did they need to be here too?”

“No, but they wanted to come along, to support your dad, and it wasn’t anything that put a damper on their needs, so we all came along.” He watched as the boy’s face scrunched in thought. “It’s a lot to think about, I know. Don’t worry—you’re just a kid. You got time to figure it out.”

“What we don’t have time for is figuring out how this pit stop is going to impact our making it to the Grand Line without attracting too much attention,” said a tall, severe-faced man with dark hair. He took the smoldering cigarette from his lips and stubbed it out before beginning to eat. “We had a route, a plan, and none of it involved Yasopp’s hometown.”

“You can’t be so serious, Beck,” the captain chuckled. “We were planning on docking someplace for about a year anyhow… why not make it here?”

“…because I remember part of why it was so easy for him to leave to begin with.” He looked at the child currently nibbling on a fried chicken tender and sighed. “He really should have come here on his own and met up with us at the rendezvous point.”

“…and become a widow by himself…?”

“Minimize the impact on the locals—you know that.”

“Fuck…” It was then that Yasopp barged in the front door, looking fresh from a fight with a split lip and an impressive shiner. He found where his son was and blanched, going to his side immediately.

“You know better than to wander off on your own,” Yasopp gently chided. He removed the child from his seat and sat down, keeping his son in his lap. “We’re leaving soon as the captain is able to, okay?”

“Leaving…?” Usopp almost dropped the rest of his chicken tender. “Why…?”

“There are bad memories here,” Yasopp replied gravely. “I’m not going to make more by staying.”

“We can leave by nightfall,” the captain shrugged. He looked at the kid and raised his eyebrow. “Are you sure this is a good idea…?”

“If you grew up on a pirate ship, then I see no problem.” Yasopp picked up one of the neglected glasses of ice water and pressed the side against his black eye. “I’ll make sure to grab some things before we leave…”

“I’ll meet you at the house then, bye!” Usopp said. He wriggled out of his father’s grasp and ran out the door before any of the crew could snag him. Yasopp started to go after him, but was stopped by the captain.

“No,” the red-haired man said firmly. “He just learned he’s leaving. Let him make his peace with this place. Just because you never could doesn’t mean he can’t.”

Yasopp grumbled as he concentrated on the glass of water to his eye and grabbing a beer to occupy his other hand—captain’s orders sure were a bitch sometimes.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Usopp ran as fast as his tiny legs could take him. He ran through Syrup Village, dodging other residents, until he found a hole in a stone wall just big enough for him to shimmy through. On the other side was the expansive grounds of a mansion, which he rushed up to in order to knock on a very specific window. The little girl inside jumped in fright before running to open the pane.

“I’m leaving,” was all Usopp could get out, gasping for breath. The girl stared at him.

“What do you mean…?”

“My dad came… I’m leaving… today…”

“He what?! No way?!”

“Kaya, I’m scared!” The little boy began to shake terribly. “Dad came back, Mom died, and now we’re leaving and I don’t know when I’ll be here again!”

“…but why tell me…?”

“...because you’re the only one who’s nice to me!” He couldn’t bear to look at his friend, so instead he glared at a bit of wall as he cried. “I’ll come back to visit someday… I promise!”

“You gotta shake on it!” Kaya insisted. She stuck her hand out the window and waited for Usopp to take it, making direct eye contact. “You’re always talking about becoming a great warrior of the sea! Come back before you get too great, okay?”

“I promise!”

“Kaya? Sweetie? What’s going on in there…?”

“Usopp, run!” Kaya whispered. Her eyes were wide in not only fear, but excitement as well. “I’ll see you later, okay?!”

“Okay!”

The child sprinted off before his friend’s mother could investigate the room.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It had been an entire week and Yasopp wasn’t entirely sure what to do.

After making sure that his wife would get a proper burial and his son had everything he needed, he had returned to the ship with his six-year-old in-tow and the determination to do what Banchina would have wanted. Ever since they were young, she had encouraged him to find solace on the sea, to escape the glares and mumbled words of spite that came from the other villagers. She had always been too uneasy on the sea, and had insisted that she would be fine as he chased that freedom and acceptance he craved without her, and now… now she was gone and he had their kid, which was a bit more of an adjustment than he thought it was going to be.

Kids, for the most part, were messy creatures, and there wasn’t a lot of room for messes on a pirate ship. While Usopp didn’t have a lot of toys, he did have clutter that was liable to be underfoot, which wasn’t exactly a good idea. Limejuice had already fallen flat on his ass thanks to some marbles the boy was experimenting with, and Yasopp himself was already victim to a variety of mishaps involving the aforementioned marbles, a chemistry set that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and a slingshot armed with all sorts of things sticky and stinky.

“Thank fuck we’re almost at port,” the man grumbled. He watched as Usopp bounced around the galley in excitement at the prospect of somewhere new. Hongo nodded in commiseration, the pair both below deck due to particularly troublesome hangovers.

“Letting the kid run around on land would definitely be for the better,” Hongo said. “He needs to eat dirt.”

Yasopp turned slowly and stared at his crewmate. “What…?”

“You know—get dirty. Play with other kids.”

“I know you might have forgotten, but it’s not like the boy comes from a long line of kids everyone wants to play with. Banchina…”

“… was the only one to ever give you the time of day, I remember.” Hongo sipped at his water and grimaced at the sounds coming out of the kitchen. “Maybe some of her openness rubbed off on him?”

“If it did, then I hope the world is kinder to him for it,” Yasopp frowned. He was about to reach back into his memories when he heard Shanks’s voice from above, filled with both authority and excitement.

“LAND AHEAD! ALL HANDS ON DECK!”

“Oh! Did you hear that, Dad?! Land!” Usopp seemed to almost vibrate in anticipation. “An island!”

“I heard him, I heard him,” Yasopp grumbled. He and Hongo both knocked back the rest of their waters before depositing the mugs and heading above deck, with the small child all but dragging his father along.

A few minutes of the sea air rejuvenated Yasopp and soon he was helping out with the rigging, with Usopp standing by the prow in an effort to see where they were sailing. Shanks went up to the child and patted him on the head.

“That’s called Foosha,” he said. “We’re gonna stay there for a while, if the locals are amenable.”

“What’s that?”

“If they don’t mind that we’re pirates.” He saw that the boy’s eyes were still locked onto the small village at the island’s edge and smiled. “We need a place to operate out of—a base of sorts—in order to help build a name for ourselves.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. Now get ready to go! You’re coming along on the first boat!”

The boy’s eyes went wide—he got to go! Important people got to go on the first boat! This was going to be great!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As it turned out, getting to go with the initial landing party was less exciting than Usopp imagined it would be—it was actually kind of boring. He had to stand there with his dad, Shanks, and Beckmann as the captain talked with this old man about terms of their stay and what the rules were and things like that. The boy fidgeted in place, which the village elder took notice.

“How very shrewd of you to bring him along,” the old man said. “I suppose you need a place for him to stay so he doesn’t see what you get up to?”

“Possibly, but I still take responsibility for my son,” Yasopp said, giving a short bow. “I can no longer leave him with his mother.”

“Ah.” The elder nodded knowingly. “We have a child like that here. Maybe your son will be a good influence.”

“Excuse my laughter,” Shanks snickered, “but that must be some rambunctious kid you got there if a pirate’s child is the better influence.”

“You’re just upset because Gramps didn’t take me!” shouted a tiny voice. The pirates saw a small child poking angrily around a woman’s skirt. “Maybe they’ll take me with them! Then I can finally get out of here!”

“Over my dead body, you little brat!” the elder snapped. The boy stuck his tongue out at him and the old man sighed. “The whole family is an odd bunch; it’s a long story.”

“We’re pirates—what do we care?” Shanks chuckled. He then put his hand on Usopp’s back and urged him forward. “Go play while us adults talk more boring stuff. How about it?”

The boy grinned at Usopp before coming out from behind the young woman. He launched himself at Usopp happily, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Alright! A new friend!”

It might have been shrewd of Shanks, but it did work.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So, you don’t have parents?”

“Nope!”

“…and it’s just you and your grandpa?”

“Yup!”

“…and he leaves you here because he’s a Marine?”

“Pretty much!”

Usopp stared at Luffy as the other boy poked at a beetle. He had spent almost the entire day wandering around with the kid and was trying to wrap his head around him, yet couldn’t. They were almost the exact same age, and yet he was being left alone? It didn’t make sense. Even when his mom died, at least his dad was there…

“What do you think he’d do if he came to town while the crew’s docked here?”

“Probably laugh and have a drink,” Luffy shrugged. “Gramps is never working when he’s here, so he doesn’t really care who does what unless it’s really bad.”

“…but we’re pirates. We’re supposed to be bad.”

“You don’t seem that bad to me.”

“Luffy, we’re six.”

“Yeah? And?”

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Usopp frowned. He looked over his shoulder and saw that more of the crew was coming into port. Even Bonk Punch seemed small from this distance. “We’re brave warriors of the sea! We fight guys like the Marines!”

“You don’t.”

“Well, yeah, not yet… but I will!” Usopp stood atop a rock and pointed at the sky. “It’s my dream to be a proud and brave warrior of the sea one day! Just like my dad! I’ll even have a crew under my care!”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean ‘maybe’?!”

“You might be part of my crew!”

“Your crew?!”

“Yeah! If you’re gonna be like your dad, you’re gonna need a captain. You’ll need a Shanks! I can do that!”

“Then you’d have to fight your grandpa!”

“Oh, that’s just what we always do.” Luffy grinned and held up the beetle. “Isn’t this cool?!”

“It is…” Usopp agreed. The boys marveled over the bug for a moment before Makino popped her head out the back of her bar, calling them in to wash up. “Is she, like, your sister? She’s not your mom.”

“I guess? I dunno. She feeds me and makes sure I’m okay. Is that what sisters do?”

“It’s what my mom did for me, but I guess a sister can too.”

The boys piled into the back kitchen and went directly to the sink. “Makino? Are you my mom or my sister?”

“Luffy!”

“He’s alright, Usopp,” the woman laughed. “Now, are your hands clean?” Both finished washing their hands quickly and showed her for inspection. “Good, now your dinner’s at the bar.”

“Alright!” Luffy cheered. He brought Usopp into the main of the bar, where the Red Hair Pirates were already beginning to settle in for an evening of partying. Two plates of food and glasses of milk sat on the bartop, where Luffy and Usopp both sat down and began eating.

“Wow! Miss Makino’s cooking is really good!” Usopp marveled. “It’s amazing!”

“Yeah!” Luffy agreed. “She’s the best!” He then chewed the food he already had stored in his cheeks thoughtfully. “That’s someone I’m going to need for my crew: a really good cook!”

“I can cook!”

“No you can’t—you’re six.”

“Yeah, and I cooked for my mom! She showed me how to make sandwiches and boil macaroni for cheese!”

“That’s not real cooking! Real cooking needs meat!”

“Boys, boys, relax,” Shanks said, coming up to the bar to grab a bottle of grog that had been left out for him. He tossed it over to Snake, who pulled the cork out with his teeth before he began drinking. “Let’s focus on the fact that you agree the lady’s cooking is superb.”

“Flattery will not get you very far here, I’m afraid,” Makino chuckled as she came out of the kitchen. She passed Shanks two plates of food, which he took with a suggestive wink. “I should rat you out to Woop Slap.”

“I do enjoy living dangerously,” he laughed, bringing the plates out to the crew. Luffy and Usopp simply stared at each other, confused.

“Don’t worry about it,” Makino chuckled. “Now finish your dinner and you can go play upstairs, okay?”

“Okay!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The next morning, Usopp and Luffy went down the stairs to find the entirety of the Red Hair Pirates still passed out in the main area of the bar. Usopp even poked his dad, who kept on snoring—no luck.

“Come on, you,” Makino said, guiding the boy over to where she had set out food. “If you don’t eat, Luffy will finish your plate for you.”

“No! Don’t you dare!” The boy hopped onto the bar stool and began hoarking down his food, needing to smack Luffy away a couple of times in the process.

Yeah, Makino thought, this was right.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Time passed.

The Red Hair Pirates would leave Usopp in the care of Makino, returning a few weeks later with all the treasure and tales of adventure the boy and his friend could want. He would practice with his slingshot, or his chemistry set, or anything else he could while they were gone, making his dad beam with joy and pride when he told and showed him everything he accomplished.

Time passed, and the year mark crept ever-closer.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Makino let out a blood-curdling scream, the sound of which went directly into Usopp’s young bones. Both of them were standing on the edge of the harbor, watching as Shanks intimidated the Lord of the Coast with just a glare, but not after losing an arm as he went and rescued Luffy.

“Fuck! We need to get out there!” Yasopp cussed as he ran towards the pier.

“Everyone! Clean up the rest of the bandits!” Beckmann ordered. “We got this!”

“Aye, aye,” Roux said. He and the rest of the Red Hair Pirates charged at the last of Higuma’s gang, while Yasopp and Beckmann rowed out to where Shanks was treading water. This left Makino alone to sink to her knees, completely in shock, as Usopp trembled next to her.

“I told him not to make them mad…” the boy shivered. “Why didn’t he listen?!”

“I… I don’t think it would have mattered,” Makino said, her voice quiet. She looked at Usopp, her eyes glassy with tears, and held him by the shoulders. “This is not your fault.”

“…but Miss Makino, I…!”

“The only person who’s at fault is the bandit, and he’s now dead,” she insisted. She then brought him in close for a hug. “Don’t you ever think otherwise, you understand?”

“…but…!”

“I know you plan on being there for Luffy, and I need you to know that it’s not your fault, got it? Sometimes… things happen… and we can’t change it, but we can control how we act for them.”

“O… okay…”

It was then that Yasopp finished rowing back to shore, with Beckmann attempting to hold Shanks still while Luffy sobbed uncontrollably. Hongo appeared with his emergency kit, attempting to stop what was left of his captain’s arm from bleeding out right there on the dock. Yasopp threw Luffy over his shoulder and brought him to Makino, who grabbed onto him tightly.

“I thought… I thought he could…” she said unsteadily.

“He was so concentrated on saving this little guy that it was too late,” Yasopp replied. He stroked Luffy’s hair as the boy cried into Makino’s shoulder before turning his attention to his own son. Scooping up Usopp in a hug, he ignored the fact that he was currently sopping wet and covered in his captain’s blood—all he needed right now was his boy. “I’m so glad he didn’t get you too—the fact both of you are safe… it’s worth more than any treasure.”

Shanks bellowed in pain, causing all four of them to recoil. Usopp stared at the man as he writhed under Beckmann’s hold and Hongo’s attempts at treating him.

‘A captain has to know what his crew needs,’ he thought. ‘He needs to make it happen. Luffy needed to live… and he made that happen…’

There, on the little pier at the edge of the little village, the little boy in his father’s arms realized something very, very important: a captain was not a captain unless he had a crew, and once he had them, he should be prepared to do everything for them… even die for them… just like his mom died taking care of him.

A captain took care of his crew.

A crew is a captain’s greatest treasure.

The people one cared for are worth more than all the gold in the Grand Line.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It took a few days until Shanks was able to be let out of bed. Hongo and Makino took turns watching him, waiting for the fever that set in to break, hoping he hadn’t lost too much blood. Once he was up and moving, Luffy seemed to completely forget that Usopp existed, instead clinging to the man who saved his life. It made sense to the other boy, but it still didn’t mean that he wasn’t at least a bit jealous.

It was a week since what the village was officially referring to as the “Bear Incident” and the Red Hair Pirates were enjoying themselves in Party’s Bar. Usopp was sulking in a booth while eating with his father, with Monster passed out on the opposite bench seat. Yasopp looked at the pouting lad and felt his nerves messing with his stomach. Fuck… why was this so difficult? He leaned in and lowered his voice so that only his son could hear.

“Usopp…?”

“Yeah, Dad?” He put down his fork as he saw that his father’s face was sad and full of worry. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to know if you like it here.”

“I do!” the boy replied, perking up. “Makino makes good food, and the people here are really nice, and Luffy’s, like, my best friend! After Kaya of course! Why?”

“Well… because…” Yasopp exhaled heavily, not enjoying his position. “Shanks wants to move on soon.”

“Move on…? To a different island…?”

“To the Grand Line.” He scratched his son’s scalp and watched as he grew quiet. There was something criminal about the boy having his hair and complexion, but his mother’s nose. “It’s very dangerous, you know, to be on the Grand Line. It’s more dangerous than fighting the Lord of the Coast. Even people who are born and raised there can’t survive.”

“I don’t think I want to go to the Grand Line.”

“…which is why I was talking with Miss Makino earlier, and her and I think it would be better if you stayed here, in Foosha.”

“What about you…?”

Yasopp bit his lower lip and breathed in deeply, trying to keep himself composed. “I can’t stay. I’m a sailor, and the sea calls to me. It’s why I never was around before—it’s too strong for me to resist.”

“Oh… is that why everyone but Mom said bad things about you back in Syrup? Because you can’t tell the sea no?”

“Yeah… something like that.” He then let out a slight chuckle. “Besides, not only am I a sailor, but a pirate. Mister Woop Slap says pirates can’t stay here for too long, or Luffy’s grandpa might come and beat them up.”

“Luffy says that’s just what his grandpa does like normal,” Usopp deadpanned. Well, it had been worth a shot. “It’s nice when you’re gone, but it’s better when you’re here.”

“Tell you what: I’m going to let you stay here with Miss Makino, where it’s safe and you have good people around you, and in the meantime you are going to do your best to become big and strong. When you do, come to the Grand Line and find me. How does that sound?”

Usopp broke into sobs, clinging to Yasopp’s shirt. The kid was unintelligible through his tears, but his father held him in his arms and pat him on the back, soothing him best he could.

“You’re one of the best things I’ve ever done, you know that?” he crooned. “I can’t bring you to the Grand Line and let you die. Then who will I have to live for?”

“I’ll miss you so much!”

“I know… and I’ll miss you too… but you have to be brave, Usopp. Be brave for me… and be brave for your mom. Please?” His son nodded into his chest. “There’s a good lad. I’ll always be proud of you… for everything that’s happened to us in the past year, you’ve been taking it very well.”

“When are you going to leave…?”

“Tomorrow.” He offered Usopp a smile and pat his hair. “Just remember that you have to let whatever happens to you push you forward, not back.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Different people get pushed differently by the same things, so don’t compare yourself or get too worried. You’re your mother’s son—nothing is going to keep you down for long. I know it.”

Usopp wiped his nose on his arm and laughed weakly. Yeah… he guessed so.

“Until then,” Yasopp said, “let’s party! Go get some cake from Lucky Roux! Big slices! Go on!” He shoved his son from the booth and watched as he scurried across the dining area to where their large crewmate was lording over an even larger cake.

What was harder? Leaving his kind and understanding wife and a baby who didn’t know him or his son just as they were just becoming acquainted? He didn’t think he had the answer, nor did he want one.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Dawn was just beginning to break and wash Foosha Village with a lovely golden glow. The Red Hair Pirates all were asleep where they had been partying in the bar; even Usopp was curled up in his father’s side… that was… until Luffy began to shake him awake.

“Hey, Usopp! Get up!”

“What is it?” the boy asked groggily.

“I’m hungry, and no one else is awake to cook.”

“What about Miss Makino?”

“Her door’s locked.”

Usopp groaned and tried to shake his father awake—nothing. So, instead, he found a lockpick set on one of the other pirates and went up the stairs with Luffy. He worked patiently, eventually getting the door to give way. The pair went into the dark room and tugged at the blankets, rousing the sleeping adult.

“Miss Makino!” Luffy whined. “We’re hungry!”

“Oh fuck…” was the reply, except it wasn’t Makino…

“Captain…?” Usopp frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I… uh… fell asleep talking to Miss Makino. She’ll be down in a minute.”

“…but Shanks! You’re naked!”

“I know Luffy, just… fuck… go play until Miss Makino calls for you, alright?”

The boys left the room disheartened, but also very confused. Why was the Captain in Miss Makino’s room? It took until they were outside watching the bugs hum to life in the sunrise before Usopp realized what had happened, hitting him like a ton of bricks.

Luckily for him, the scream he let out was the same he made when a bug took him by surprise, so no one awake in Foosha paid him any mind.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After a tearful goodbye at the docks, the Red Hair Pirates sailed off without their youngest member. The boy and his friend watched until the ship could no longer be seen on the horizon, heading off to the forest afterwards to go play with bugs. They did that for a couple months, playing during the day and pretending to be pirates up in their rooms at night, until one morning, Usopp came down the stairs and saw that Luffy was not there.

“He’s gone?!”

“Yes; his grandpa came this morning and took him to the mountains,” Makino said. “We can go visit him in a couple weeks, if you’d like.”

“A couple weeks?!”

“We’re supposed to take food up to the Dadan Family around then—that’s who he’s staying with.”

“Th-th-the D-d-d-dadan Family?! Is Luffy going to be okay?!”

“Pretty sure; his grandpa wouldn’t take him there unless the thought it would be for the best.” She watched as Usopp sat down at his usual bar stool while seeming very conflicted. “I told him about you, by the way.”

“You did…?”

“I did. He likes that Luffy has a friend in you. For the meantime, it’s probably better you stay here, with me, in a place that’s not a bandit-infested forest.”

“True, true,” Usopp nodded. A plate of food was then placed before him, brightening his expression considerably.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Kaya,

It’s me, Usopp! I know we haven’t spoken in a long time, but I thought I’d write to you now that I know where I’m staying! There was enough left over in my allowance to get some paper and Coo fee, so here I am!

How are you doing? My dad left me in a different village, where people are nicer than the ones in Syrup. It’s called Foosha, and it’s in Goa Kingdom. I live with a lady named Makino—she’s really nice! You’d like her! She owns a bar and I help out sometimes. It’s the only one in town, so lots of people come by. Pirates, Marines, bounty hunters, bandits—we see them all! I’m saving the money I make so Luffy and I can sail to the Grand Line when we’re older! Maybe you can come along too?

Oh, yeah, that’s right: you’re my first best friend, but Luffy’s my second best friend. He used to live with Makino too, but now he lives in the mountains with his brothers Ace and Sabo. Luffy ate a Devil Fruit! He can stretch! It’s pretty cool, but not as cool as my shooting skills! I’m getting really good and some day, I’ll be better than my dad!

Okay, it’s time to wrap up now. It’s almost time for bed. I’ll send this in the morning.

Usopp

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Luffy! Luffy, where are you?!”

Usopp looked around the treehouse, trying to find his friend. While it wasn’t unusual for him to not be there, at the same time it felt as though something was off. The boy shuffled around in an attempt to find any of the hideout’s usual suspects and got nothing.

Huh.

Shifting his backpack, Usopp cautiously wandered the forest in search of his friend. It wasn’t really like Luffy to not be around during Supply Day, when he and Makino brought food and drinks and other things up to Curly Dadan and her bandit crew. He was getting pretty good at dodging the dangerous parts of the forest—the things that Luffy’s grandpa said would make him stronger—and was actually beginning to like the place.

Except, when he finally found Luffy, he and Ace were standing near a cliff, the younger sobbing as they watched the Grey Terminal smolder in the distance. A couple sticks tied together into a cross had been stabbed into the ground and something sickeningly familiar coiled in the pit of Usopp’s stomach.

“Luffy? Ace? Where is Sabo?”

Ace was the one to turn around first, his face more dour and serious than the other boy had ever seen. “The Celestial Dragons murdered him. They didn’t care that he was just a kid.”

“I hate them!” Luffy hissed. “I want Sabo back! We made a promise…!”

“That’s not gonna help!” Usopp snapped. He then gasped, shocked at his own outburst, and softened his tone. “Wanting a dead person to come back isn’t going to do anything, like when my mom died. You have to be brave…” He then looked down at his hands—chapped from experiments with his chemistry set and wiping tables at the bar—and began picking at his fingers. “You have to let it push you forward.”

“Smart,” Ace nodded. He watched as Usopp pulled some food from his backpack and offer it consolingly to Luffy. “You sure you don’t want to stay here with us? There’s an opening now and… well… Sabo did like you. He’d like you being our third.”

“I can’t replace him,” Usopp said, shaking his head. “Besides, I learn a lot in the village! I don’t want to stop learning because I’m out here fighting to survive!”

“Fair,” Ace chuckled. The smile on his face was genuine, which made Usopp feel better.

“Then you and I can go!” Luffy insisted. “Ace and Sabo were already going to leave me behind! I can be co-captains with Usopp!”

“Luffy, that’s a lot of responsibility,” Ace warned.

“Well, yeah, but I’m gonna get stronger! And stronger! And stronger! And Usopp’s gonna get smarter, and we won’t let anything beat us! We won’t let anything like what happened to Sabo happen again!”

“We’ll do our best,” Usopp agreed. “Because that’s what friends do, right?!”

“Shishishi—right!” Luffy grinned through the remainder of his tears and snack. He and Usopp clapped their hands together, sealing the deal.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was a busy afternoon in Foosha Village, with many ships at the port on their usual trade stops. In Party’s Bar, the young teenaged busboy hurried to clear tables and wipe down surfaces, moving quickly as he worked.

“I’m gonna go wash some dishes, Miss Makino,” Usopp said, presenting her with the full tub. His boss was mid-pour of some beer and nodded as she finished it off.

“Let me know when you’re done, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am!” He carried everything into the kitchen and found that the water from when he did glasses a few moments earlier was still hot. Taking advantage of that, he got right into washing dishes, not even noticing that someone else had slipped into the kitchen behind him.

“Usopp, I’m bored!” The teen nearly dropped the plate in his hands at the sound of his friend’s voice. Turning around, he saw that it was definitely his best friend and co-captain, having snuck his way in without a problem.

“Luffy, I’m working.” He put his hands on his hips and scowled. “Don’t you know what a job is?”

“Jobs are boring—let’s go have fun!”

Usopp stuck his head out the kitchen door with a scowl. “Miss Makino! Luffy’s being a bad influence!” The woman in question simply smiled as she dried a glass with an expert hand.

“You’ve been working very hard, Usopp,” she said. “I think you’ve earned a bit of time with Luffy being a bad influence. Go on.”

“…but…!”

“Go! Go!” She shooed them both out through the back, insisting she had things covered until dinner. The teens then found themselves wandering around, with Luffy eventually bringing them to sit on the cliff overlooking the harbor.

“What do you think they’re doing?” Luffy wondered, his gaze unfocused over the ocean. Usopp shrugged.

“Ace might have made it to Logue Town by now… and my dad’s in the Grand Line, so I dunno…” He looked at his friend and wondered. “Are you sure you want me to sail with you?”

“Well, yeah, of course I do,” Luffy insisted. “You’re my friend and co-captain! Like how Ace and Sabo were gonna be co-captains!”

“…except, Ace and Sabo were brothers—your brothers—and I’m just a kid who lives in town.”

“That doesn’t make it different.” Luffy then laid down, turning his face to the sky. “We’re gonna do great things once we get to the Grand Line!”

“The two of us?”

“Well, yeah, but of course we’ll have a crew first. I’m sure Shanks and your dad will laugh at us if it’s just us two in a dinghy.”

“Ha, yeah…” Usopp hugged his knees and frowned at the ocean waves. “Doesn’t mean it’s not scary.”

“Shishishi—of course it’s scary!” Luffy laughed. “That’s the whole point of adventure, isn’t it? Doing things and seeing places other people are too scared of? Being more free than anyone else out there?”

“I guess, but…”

“You worry too much, Usopp.”

“Maybe that’s because you don’t worry enough.”

“Mmm… probably. But that’s okay. We’re still the captains, and that means we’ll take care of the crew and each other. That’s what counts, right?”

“Yeah… I guess it does.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Usopp admittedly wasn’t entirely prepared for when he set out from Foosha Village with Luffy, but he didn’t think that things would be as crazy as they became.

Making a new friend while surviving a mace-wielding nutcase? Check.

Recruiting a bounty hunter to the crew so powerful he was referred to as Pirate Hunter? Check.

Letting their new friend go off to do something as insane as join the Marines?! Check.

Team up with a girl to fight against a murderous clown that could slice himself into tiny bits? There was not enough insanity Usopp could conjure to have predicted that one.

However, when the young woman said that she was a navigator, there was a single request he had for where they would go next.

“So, this is where you’re from?” Nami asked. She raised an eyebrow at the sleepy little town. Their small boats were moored by the harbor and they were now walking along the path that led into the village. “There’s not a lot to it, is there?”

“No, but it’s still important to me,” Usopp said. “Let’s go see what’s going on these days!”

“Are we going to visit Kaya?” Luffy asked. Zoro and Nami looked at each other, then Usopp.

“Who’s Kaya?” Zoro wondered.

“Oh, that’s just Usopp’s super-best friend when he lived here!” Luffy explained. Usopp began to blush, which made the other two smirk. “He only talked about her, like, all the time when we were growing up!”

“We wrote a lot after I left, so we’ve been keeping in touch.”

“Well then, let’s go meet her,” Nami grinned.

Usopp swallowed hard—that was the look of a woman on a mission, and he wasn’t entirely certain he liked said mission. The crew meeting Kaya was sort of the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. He knew it was inevitable, however, and continued to lead them into the village, where everyone stared at them with some form of curiosity or disdain.

“Some welcome wagon this is,” Zoro noted as someone closed some window shutters at the sight of them. “I’ve gotten better receptions in dive bars in my bounty hunter days.”

“Well, Dad wasn’t too popular with the village, and Mom defended him, so she wasn’t liked a lot either,” Usopp shrugged. “Before I met Luffy, I only ever had one friend…”

“…and that’s this Kaya…?” Nami finished. He shrugged—well, yeah. “Do you think she’d like to come along?”

“Probably not—she’s been sick since her parents died a couple years ago. Even if she wanted to go, she’d likely need a doctor to come along too, and I don’t think any of us are good enough at medicine for that.”

“No, I guess not,” Nami said. She then noticed that they had walked past the last house, continuing on the path. “Uh… Usopp? Where does your friend live?”

“Right outside the village,” he said. “It’s how we became friends—we both didn’t live in the main part of the village, so we were practically neighbors!”

Except the crew didn’t expect his “neighbor” to live in a literal mansion, where the door was answered by a tall butler with slicked-back black hair and eyeglasses.

“Miss Kaya is too ill to visit with the likes of you; now go away.”

“Who the hell are you, telling me Kaya’s not doing well?!” Usopp fired back. He glared at the man standing in the doorway to Kaya’s house, unsure of the aura he was giving off. “I’m the Dread Captain Usopp, and I’ve been Kaya’s best friend since we were kids!”

“I’ve never seen you before,” the man sneered. He looked over Usopp’s shoulder at the rest of the crew, who were standing a few paces back. “Now you hooligans better leave before I call the police!”

“Klahadore! Don’t!” It was then that Kaya appeared at his side, looking rather cross. She also looked extremely frail, which was a distinct change from the girl who Usopp used to climb trees and play tag with. “This is the friend I’m always writing to! It’s him!”

“Miss Kaya! You should not be up!”

“My friend is back! That’s reason enough!”

“This is a charlatan, not your friend; besides, you are in no state to receive visitors.”

“Huh…” Nami muttered. “This is more interesting than I thought.”

“I’ll say,” Zoro agreed. He glanced over at Luffy, seeing that the captain’s fist was clenched. “Oi. Let Usopp fight his own battles.”

“This guy pisses me off,” Luffy said. “Usopp lies, but not about important stuff. Kaya’s one of his most important people.”

“I don’t know if that’s up for us to determine,” Nami added.

“We’ve been writing to each other to years! I’m her friend!”

“Miss Kaya has been corresponding with a young man from the city with prospects and standing,” the butler sneered. “You look like someone with neither.”

“That’s what Mother and Father told you so that you wouldn’t worry!” Kaya said. “We knew your ship was sunk by pirates, and that’s what Usopp’s dad is, but he’s a good guy!”

“Pirates are nothing but cowards and scoundrels.”

“Mother always said that his father was unjustly blamed and his mother brave for loving him! She hated having to stand by and watch, but she remembered! They were brave and loving people!”

Usopp sucked in a breath—he never heard anyone describe his parents in such a way. If that was what Kaya was always told, then maybe… was his dad wrong about this place?

“I cannot let us waste more time with these degenerates,” the butler said.

“Klahadore, that is enough! I command you—!”

Everyone went quiet as the butler slapped Kaya across the cheek. She stared at him, eyes wide and mouth ajar. Usopp froze in shock, unable to move. Luffy made a motion to hit the guy back, but Zoro put a hand on his shoulder. Not yet.

“Now look at what you made me do,” the butler hissed. “Your parents left your care to me, and now…” He looked at his own hand in irritation, which he then turned to Usopp. “You four are not welcome here. Do not attempt to contact Miss Kaya any further. Good day.”

The door closed in Usopp’s face and the teen—still in shock—could only gape.

“What the fuck…?” he breathed. “Kaya…?” He pounded both fists on the door and screamed her name at the top of his lungs.

“Come on,” Nami said, gently pulling him from the door. “We’ll figure something out.”

“…but…!”

“She’s right; let’s go,” Luffy frowned.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was the dead of night as Usopp snuck onto the grounds of Kaya’s mansion, heading directly over to where he remembered her room was. He knocked gently on the windowpane and stepped back, waiting for her to get out of bed. Soon as she opened the window, he hugged her tightly, an act which she returned.

“I can’t believe he did that,” he whispered. He then held her at arm’s length and tried not to gasp at the sight of her in the moonlight. “Has he ever done that before?”

“No… and he’s been apologizing since,” she replied. “I… I should have told you sooner…”

“Come with us,” Usopp blurted out. “We can get you out of here, see the world…”

“You know I can’t…!”

“We’ll just get a doctor on the way; it’s a priority anyhow,” he said. Seas… had Kaya always been this pretty? “Please…”

“I’m too fragile…”

“…from staying in this room! Come with us! Let me take care of you! Don’t tell me after all you wrote that you don’t want to see what’s out there?”

“Usopp, you know I do, but…!” She was cut off by the sound of someone else in the house, just outside her door. “Quick! Hide!” Usopp was just out of sight when the butler entered the room. “Oh! Klahadore! You didn’t need to come in!”

“You didn’t answer and I was worried,” he said. “Why is the window open?”

“I was a bit warm,” she lied. “Besides, I’m a bit restless.”

“Are you thinking about that boy again?”

“My friend, even if you don’t believe me.”

“Your parents left you in my care—it would be a great dishonor to their memory if I didn’t question the boy and his intentions regarding you.”

“His intentions…? Klahadore, his intentions involve going out to sea and becoming a proud warrior. He made a promise to visit me before he did, and he tried, and you ruined it.”

“A pirate’s child turning pirate is worse than both those things put together. His blood is poisoned…”

“…only because you don’t know him. Goodnight, Klahadore. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Despondent, the butler left the room and closed the door behind him, his charge waiting to hear his footsteps down the corridor before she flung herself back at the window, seeing Usopp hugging the wall in terror.

“Give me three days,” she said. “That’s when I’ll have the opportunity to get out of here.”

The grins they shared were brighter than the moon and stars combined.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I still don’t know why we’ve got to wait,” Zoro grumbled. He and the others were sitting up inside Usopp’s house he used to share with his mom, the night after he talked to Kaya. The co-captain poked his head out the window, checking to make sure no one else was around.

“That asshole butler of hers takes a weekly trip to the next town over to get certain groceries,” he said. “We’ll help her sneak out then and leave notes with another butler and the village leader to kick Klahadore out while she’s gone. Then the five of us can head to the Grand Line.”

“No offense, Usopp,” Nami said, “but what can she do other than weigh us down?”

“She won’t!”

“The witch has a point,” Zoro grunted. “She’s practically an invalid; you can’t take someone like that to the Grand Line and expect everything to turn out okay. Maybe if we already had a doctor…”

“Luffy, can you back me on this?” Usopp groaned. He looked over at the other teen, who had his nose in a book. “Luff, come on…”

“I was just looking at this book—it’s got pictures from before we met!” he said. Luffy brought the book over to the table and set it down, showing a photo of Yasopp, Banchina, and a baby Usopp. “That’s your mom, right?”

“Yeah,” Usopp nodded. Something tugged at his heart—it was the first time he’d seen a photo of his mom in a long while. He turned the page and found one of him and her together, from right before she got sick. “You know, I never thought about her being the brave one until Kaya said it earlier.”

“She risked begin shunned by the village by being with your dad, from what it sounded like,” Zoro shrugged. “That, if anything, takes guts.”

“It really does,” Usopp agreed. He tensed up and stared at the door—someone was coming. The four all readied themselves, only for three kids to burst into the house.

“Pirates!” they cried.

“Uh… yeah…” Nami grimaced. This was going to be tedious, wasn’t it? “We’re pirates.”

“No, not you pirates!” the kid with the glasses panicked. “You’ve not done pirate stuff!”

“Well, we’re gonna do pirate stuff if I’m gonna be King of the Pirates,” Luffy said plainly.

“No, you don’t get it: there’s pirates at the slopes!” the one with the green hat explained. “And they’re talking about killing Miss Kaya!”

“Her creepy butler is with them, and he says he wants to kill her himself!” Glasses said.

“We think they want to blame you for it!” the third boy said. “You’re pirates too, but you’re not mean! Doesn’t Miss Kaya like you?!”

“She does,” Nami said. She looked over at Usopp, who seemed absolutely terrified. “So, Co-Captain, what do you plan on doing?”

“We’re going to save Kaya!” he said, entire body shaking in nerves. Luffy and Zoro both grinned, as they knew that this meant they were going to be able to finally pick a fight.

It was on.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

When all was said and done, Usopp was sure he didn’t like cats to begin with anyhow. Adding the fact that Kaya’s asshole butler was a famous pirate captain that supposedly had been captured and executed years earlier and planned on killing her in order to get her money and retire? Definitely not one of the things he had expected when he set off from Foosha.

The butler crumpled to the ground unconscious, knocked out cold from Usopp’s Ten Ton Hammer. Kaya had been underneath him, making it so she had to avoid him falling on her. She looked up at her best friend and nearly cried.

“Usopp, I…!” Kaya gasped as he lifted her up to her feet. They looked at each other and giggled awkwardly. “Thank you.”

“A captain takes care of his crew,” he said. He then swallowed hard at the realization of what he just implied. “I mean, a pirate’s crew is their friends, and… you’ve always been my friend, and…”

With a smile, Kaya placed her finger on Usopp’s lips, silencing him. They then both leaned in and kissed one another, chastely yet by no means less exhilarating. The only thing that stopped them was hearing gagging noises—the Pintsized Pirate Patrol had found them.

“Oh, and what are you three going on about?” Usopp frowned. “Wait until you see someone so pretty you have no choice but to kiss them!”

“Adults are so gross!” Green Hat scowled.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Usopp deadpanned. He felt Kaya’s arms warp around his middle and he sighed, his arm going around her waist. “Now where’s the rope? We need to tie this creep up before he wakes up and tries to kill us all again!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Are you sure you can’t come along?” Usopp asked. He was sitting with Kaya on the beach, watching as Luffy, Zoro, and Nami got a tour of the Going Merry. They were getting the caravel as a gift for saving the town from the Black Cat Pirates, which honestly took the entire village by surprise. The only reason they even believed the teens was the fact that Merry backed them at all, so it was his honor to present them with their reward.

“I’ve got to get better first, but I think I’m going to do something else,” she said. “I want to be a doctor.”

“That’s… very different from sailing with us,” he acknowledged. “I’m just curious… why?”

“…because one day you’re going to be dragging yourself back here and someone is going to need to patch you up,” she giggled.

“Ouch, okay, fair.” They both laughed before he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “As long as you’re going forward.”

“Yeah.” She saw how much fun the others were having with Merry and she nodded to gesture in their direction. “Come on—a captain needs to take care of his crew, right?”

“Right.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Miss Kaya, the newspaper.”

Months had gone by in Syrup Village, with Kaya making considerable improvement with both her condition and her studies. She was reading a chapter on phlebotomy over breakfast when Merry brought in the paper.

“Oh, thank you!” She took it from him appreciatively. “There’s so much happening that it’s difficult to keep up, isn’t it?”

“It can be,” he agreed. Merry watched as her brow furrowed at the front page. “What is it?”

“Usopp…” She went to the bounty poster inserts and pulled out a small pile dedicated to the Straw Hat Pirates. There was Luffy, Zoro, Nami… ah… wait… Sogeking?! “They all have bounties now.”

“Well, would you look at that; you’re right!” Merry laughed. “Declaring war on the World Government? Oh, he is going to need to get patched up next time you see him!”

Declaring war on the World Government in order to save his crewmate… he really was a brave captain after all.

#One Piece #fan fiction #Usopp #Yasopp #Banchina #Monkey D. Luffy #Red Hair Shanks #Makino #also contains #Yasopp x Banchina #Shanks x Makino #and #Usopp x Kaya #if the U in ASUL was Usopp that would be so fcking insane

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mothers-and-fuckers-of-the-jury · 6 months

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stupid vent

this is so entitled i know. but i’m just a little upset i didn’t get anything i actually asked for for christmas. i handmade a lot and put thought into gifts for my family but i just didn’t get the same thought back and it’s making me upset.

my parents big gift to me was a kitten, and i love her to bits and she’s adorable but. i work nights. i sleep over at my boyfriends a lot. i wanted a cat, but had been putting off getting one for a reason.

then of course everyone’s gifts to me were for the cat and if it was for me, it didn’t feel particularly thoughtful. i got fleece lined cargo pants that aren’t even my size, a ramen noodle blanket, and some bestseller books i’ve never heard of bc i’m a librarian.

even my boyfriend just got me a single skein of yarn, a sudoku book, and a board game. he’s thinking about my interests but i can’t do a lot with one skein of yarn & im not the biggest board game person.

i know it’s stupid to complain about people giving me gifts but when my mom asked what i wanted, i gave her a list and literally said i’d rather have one thing from the list than fifteen things not from it, and i got the latter. i think i’m just gonna save up some have have a half birthday for myself in January where i get things for myself i actually wanted.

#bean speaks #beanie speaks

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fin-the-fissssssh · 6 months

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yo hatchetfield oc post time :P (1st pic is a picrew, 2nd and 3rd are my art)

Harper Kimura

Pronouns: she/they

Age: 19

Height: 5’2”

Birthday: February 5th

Gender: Cis Female (gnc as fuck tho lmao)

Sexuality: Omnisexual

Parents: Yuto and Ren Kimura

Significant Other: Phoebe Brooks (another hf oc, i’ll make a post abt her one day when i have more lore figured out)

i stg one day i’ll make an updated ref of them with color sobs

fun facts/lore

voice claim is kimiko glenn (bc comedy)

japanese-american 3/4 japanese, 1/4 white)

they have an emotional support doggo (fuckin big ol grey akita ouppy) named mochi :D

harper and phoebe live together! they have an apartment

they’re kinda flatchested but tbh they couldn’t give less of a fuck

they have a lotus flower tattoo in memory of their parents on their shoulder blade (like. back shoulder. idk anatomy lmfao) :((

they do actually have living relatives! harper’s grandparents on her dad’s side are both alive, just out of state, and her grandma on her mom’s side lives in clivesdale (only to stay away from the starry children, she fucking hates clivesdale still), tho her maternal gpa is dead unfortunately :((

one of the few things she kept from childhood was the necklace with the blue crystal pendant from her mom, she was given it the night before her parents died

harp actually has a nice singing voice, but they REFUSE to sing bc of pokey, the most they do is hum or vary rarely sing along to the radio

so harper’s connected to pokey.

think like,,, venom parasite minus the transformation stuff. harper was forced to be a vessel for pokey in a ritual by the starry children, but the ritual never got to finish. harp’s still kinda tethered to pokey and a bit infected. they wanna be a pilot one day and leave hatchetfield with phoebe but *god* it’s hard when there’s an eldritch horror who sometimes pops into their thoughts or dreams to fuck with em.

backstory (subject to change bc i’m indecisive as fuck <3)

Harper used to be a happy kid, until the Starry Children came for her family, both to claim harper to eventually be a temporary vessel for pokey, and because they had a grudge against her parents since they witnessed some of the shit the cult was up to. Harp was hidden away the night her parents died, and suddenly the Starry Children came in pretending to be her rescuers and that they couldn’t save her parents in time. The last thing from home they saw before the door closed were their parents’ bodies :(( and they didn’t even know that their ‘rescuers’ were the fuckers that ruined their life for a ritual until years later. Early on, Harper was forced to act formal and “perfect” in order to suit Pokey, and eventually the ritual happened, but it went pretty badly since Harper was still young and fought back against the literal parasite trying to invade. It left her with a giant, crack-like scar across her chest tho and permanent blue eyes. I’d like to think that early on, Harp doesn’t actually understand Pokey’s the one fucking with her head/the cause of the infection, and instead she thinks he’s some imaginary friend for a bit. The Starry Children completely isolated her from any family she had, including her grandma, who thought she died with her parents. The cult paid for Harp's education and stuff, but they grew up a really lonely and timid kid.

When they finally turned 16, the cult planned to try the ritual again. Overhearing that, she made a plan to escape and before the ritual started, they managed to get out. not without losing an eye to a cult member tho. They made it to the HFPD and with the funds they still had left, Harp did their best to keep living and go to hf high. They were able to finally reunite their grandma, and with her help was able to graduate. (Even tho her gma lives in clivesdale, Harper refused to become a clivesdale chemist. fuck no. They would rather drive all the way to hf high) Post-high school, she developed a more snarky, grumpy persona after the trauma she endured, but in reality, she’s still just scared of ever encountering the cult again. They could get her any time she wanted to in her mind, but in reality the cult gave up after Pokey demanded a different vessel instead. They’re in a relatively better place now, living peacefully with Phoebe, who they treasure above all else, and they’re still really close with their gma :D

#harper tag #hatchetfield oc #hatchetfield #fishscreams #fisharts

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lux-scriptum · 4 months

Note

“Are you for real?” from the Betrayal prompts just bc it made me laugh. Like be sooo for real rn.

“Shut the fuck up,” Amara crowed, leaning past Aalis to peer at Cadoc. Her dark hair swung forward in a curtain, but she just tucked it away again. “Are you fucking for real? Valentine's Day? You are the gift that keeps on giving, Cada.”

“Don’t call me that,” Cadoc grouched. That was Aalis’ nickname for him. No one else’s. “I was born long before Valentine’s Day was a thing.”

“Imagine if you got the day you were born wrong. What if it isn’t even Valentine's Day?”

“I know what day I was born.” That came out far more pointed than he intended, but Amara just laughed like he wasn’t even on her radar of things she should be concerned about. Rather than let her sour his mood any further, he stood from the table. If he was going to spend the evening with these two he needed a drink. Bad enough Dante had a class and wouldn’t be joining them until later.

“Hey, get me a whiskey,” Amara called after him. “I’ll pay you back.”

No she wouldn’t. He knew that. He waved his middle finger over his shoulder and sidestepped a drunken patron. The bartender seemed busy, so he leaned on the counter and waited. When it was turn, all he said was, “Two whiskeys. On the rocks.” Only when he had the drinks in hand did it occur to him. “Oh, can I get one of those little umbrellas please?” The bartender lifted an eyebrow, but she plopped one down in the nearest glass as requested. Cadoc slid an extra fifty across the bar in thanks. Might as well. Hell could provide more cash if he needed.

Cadoc wove his way back to their little table. He slid the umbrella-less whiskey to Amara.

“Hey, no fair! Where’s my umbrella?” Amara complained.

“It’s my birthday.” Cadoc took a sip. He hadn’t eaten for hours, but he didn’t give a shit. Human whiskey didn’t have shit on demonic liquor. It’d barely take the edge off of his irritation.

Amara was still whining at Aalis, who was laughing at the hybrid’s complaints like it was her own comedy special. It almost made the company worth it. Almost.

“You’re brooding, ghiacciolo.” Familiar arms wound around him from behind before he had the chance to sit down. Cadoc started, twisting to look at the round face grinning at him. “Happy birthday, love.”

“I thought...”

“My last student canceled on me. I thought I’d surprise you.” Dante kissed his nose. “Did I make the right decision?”

Cadoc kissed him proper. “Yeah,” he said roughly. “I was about point five seconds away from strangling Amara over there.”

“Rude!”

Dante just laughed. “Of course you were. We wouldn’t want that.” He bumped Cadoc with his hip until Cadoc was seated across from Amara. “Bad luck to murder someone on your own birthday. Or something.”

#cadoc #dante #aalis #amara #my writing #happy birthday cadoc

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jadedrrose · 9 months

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Actually the more I think about it… I think I’d rather do mini asks for Law’s birthday? It just sounds like it would be easier, bc I’m gonna be working that day and I’ll be getting up early and then immediately taking a nap when I’m home so it would just work out better yknow?

(And by mini asks I mean like “what do you think the crew would do for Law’s birthday” or “how would Law react to reader getting him (thing) for his birthday?”)

So I guess… send some in? Just keep them simple please lol

#law #law x reader

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sof-writes · 2 years

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secrets ; choi jisu

content warning: nsfw! profanity, alcohol use, smut, fingering, grinding, cheating (no aftermath though so not necessarily angsty), needy and slightly desperate homewrecker!lia vibes lmao

word count: 2935

a/n: shin yuna I’d never cheat on you!!! pinky promise!!! I can just kinda see her being a jealous gf? as the ending indicates, this might get a (little spicier) part 2 if you all like it! maybe jisu is into some stuff :))) I didn't proofread this bc I'm in a bit of a hurry, but I hope it came out okay.

You had a beautiful girlfriend. Incredibly elegant, charming and funny with a body to die for: she had it all. But above all, she was jealous. So damn jealous.

Tonight was no different. When you told her you were invited to a party, she had immediately started acting up again.

[yuna ♡ at 22:04] well, if it’s that important, do it. go to that fucking party of yours.

That’s what her last text read. You received it around six hours ago and while you sent her a dozen of messages promising her she wouldn’t have to worry, even telling her you could leave early to come by her apartment and say hi, she ignored all of them.

Yet you were on your way to her place. You were kinda shitfaced and your legs seemed to drag you there, so you just gave in. If this would only make things worse, then that’d be something sober you had to deal with tomorrow.

You passed the apartment buildings, they all look similar. Yet, you had no trouble finding hers even in the state you were in. It was like muscle memory.

Standing in front of the building you contemplated ringing the bell, but that’d probably wake up her flatmate, who was way less of a deep sleeper than your girlfriend. So instead, you invited yourself in. 6849. A slight buzz could be heard after you pressed the code on the touch screen, indicating that the door was now unlocked.

You tried to sober up during your elevator ride to the 16th floor, but after checking yourself out in the mirrored elevator wall, you quickly realised you were hopeless. A deep sigh escaped your mouth as the doors slid open and you made your way to the first and only door on the right side of the hallway.

You knocked thrice, just out of a habit, but you obviously didn’t get a reaction. It was well after 4PM after all. So you swiftly moved the back of your hand over the touchpad that was connected to the door handle, causing it to light up right away. 0721. Her flatmate’s, whose parents were the owner of the rather expensive apartment, birthday.

You expected your eyes to be met by a pitch black hall, but much to your surprise the lights were still on. You kicked off your heels and left them in the designated shoe-area. What a relief.

“Hello?” a familiar voice, barely over a whisper, broke the silence. “Jisu, it’s me” you replied, not wanting to scare her at this hour of the day. You shuffled towards the living area, where your eyes found Jisu peeking from behind the balcony door.

“You came to talk things out? At this hour of the day? Wow… That’s… A terrible idea, you know?” she chuckled, still keeping her voice low. You just shrugged. Deep down inside you kinda knew it was, but you just couldn’t care less right now.

She opened the balcony door a little further in order to invite you to join her there. As you got closer you noticed two bottles of wine, of which one empty, as well as an empty glass standing on the balcony table. Jisu was holding a glass similar to the one on the table. It made her look somewhat elegant, despite being dressed in oversized black Adidas joggers and a white cropped t-shirt that exposed her slim waistline.

“Seems like your liver worked hard” you remarked dryly as you closed the balcony door behind you. You flopped down on the chair opposite to the one Jisu was sitting in.

She chuckled lightly “Judging by the look on your face, it doesn’t seem like my liver was the only one with a hard night” she took another sip of her wine “Plus Yuna was responsible for most of this” she added, vaguely motioning her hand over the messy table “But she made it seem like you were the one to blame for her sudden alcoholic behaviour. I just sat here listening to her ranting all night, at least have some empathy instead of calling me out on my alcohol consumption”

You didn’t know whether you should scoff or laugh. You knew your girlfriend, so you immediately believed her roommate’s words.

“Want some?” Jisu said, a little more cheerful as she held up the green bottle “It’d be a shame to throw it out”

You nodded, putting your fingers on the base of the glass in front of you and shoving it in her direction so she could pour the wine more easily. Yuna’s lipstick stains still visible on the brim of the glass. Using your index finger and thumb, you tried to remove the stains from the glass, causing Jisu to scoff.

“Oh come on” she said, dragging the words out in an annoyed way “It’s not like you haven’t tasted her before” her eyes shot up to look at you, hands steady as she slowly filled your glass with white wine. “And judging by the sounds coming from the bathroom every now and then, that isn’t the only set of lips she let you taste” it came out casually, but there was a slight hint of playfulness in her voice. Almost as if she was teasing you.

“What the– Jisu” you shook your head after her sudden remark. Not knowing how to behave or where to look, you took a big sip of your wine. You weren’t a big fan of Chardonnay, but the fact that you were already intoxicated made it bearable.

“What? Apparently you’re quite good with your mouth, nothing to be ashamed of” if you wouldn’t have swallowed your wine immediately, you would’ve definitely had chocked. What the hell had gotten into Choi Jisu.

You directed your eyes back at her, which turned out to be the worst idea since… Since deciding to come here in the first place. She was staring at you intensely, slightly raising her left eyebrow. Delicate fingers pushed her wine glass a little more towards you, giving her space to lean forward a bit. The movement causing her cleavage to become visible.

While not necessarily your type, Choi Jisu was undeniably attractive. You had to think straight though, because as far as you were concerned that’s what Jisu was too, straight.

“I guess” you replied, mouth feeling dry all of a sudden. You shifted in your seat as you felt Jisu’s leg brushing yours, her gaze still fixed on you.

“Don’t you get tired of her jealous behaviour? Why are you two still together anyway? Is the sex that good?” a sudden stab at Yuna. Jisu once again proving that there was a clear line between friends and flatmates. You kinda wanted to get mad, but truthfully, it was tiring.

Her words hung in the air for a bit, causing the atmosphere to tense up. Some questions are better unanswered, this was definitely one of them.

Jisu got up from her chair, her waistline fully exposed as soon as she straightened her back. She never broke the intense eye contact. Slowly but confidently she got closer to you, until she was standing right in front of your chair.

"You know why Yuna always tells me everything instead of her friends?" her voice was barely over a whisper again as she placed her hands on both of the armrests of your chair, leaning forward until your faces were just centimeters apart "I'm really good at keeping secrets"

The word 'intoxication' just got a whole new meaning. You weren't just tipsy. You were drunk on Choi Jisu. The dark look in her eyes, the smell of coconut shampoo filling the air every time she moved, her low voice... But most of all, the thrill of it all.

Deep inside you knew that you should push her away and leave, but you simply couldn't. It was as if you were under a spell. Dizzy from holding your breath.

Just when you were about to give in to the temptation she moved her head, perfectly aligning her lips with your left ear.

"Please fuck me" lips grazing your sensitive ear with each syllable she whispered. It was so insanely messed up how much these three words aroused you.

You wanted to crash your lips together, but Jisu didn't give you the chance to. Instead, she retracted her face and straightened her back again. It threw you off a little, but when she quietly opened the balcony door to make her way inside, you quickly realised what she was up to.

You just followed, as if possessed. Not a single second was spent thinking about your own girlfriend sleeping on the other end of the hallway. Your eyes fixed on her hips that were moving in such an hypnotising manner it could make you drool on the spot.

As soon as Jisu locked the door to her rather spacious bedroom behind the two of you, you wrapped your hands around her bare waist. Her skin felt cold due to the chilly midnight breeze, but the moment itself felt electric.

Slender fingers in your neck as lips finally touched. It was urgent, feverish, but most of all, breathtaking. Jisu's lips were awfully soft and soon, you felt her tongue over your bottom lip, asking for permission.

The kiss deepened, tongues messily fighting for dominance as she lightly scratched her nails over the back of your neck. Neither of you thinking about what the possible consequences of scratches could be.

You tightened the grip on her waist. Lips never leaving hers, sucking, biting, tugging. Her fingers had already found the zipper of your party dress, the clumsy attempt to zip it down with shaking hands making you smile into the kiss.

"So impatient" you breathed out, finally breaking the kiss as your hands made their way up under her crop top.

"Yes, I'm so, so fucking impatient" she confirmed shamelessly, her voice filled with need as she pushed your hands away to take care of the undressing part herself. Crop top quickly discarded and messily thrown on the floor just to be joined by her simple, white bra soon after.

For a moment you just stood there in awe, but then you quickly got to work as well, reaching behind your back to unzip your dress, letting it slip to the floor.

Your eyes remained fixed on Jisu's body while you removed your bra. Her Adidas joggers and black panties sliding down smooth legs in one fluid move. The sight of her cleanly shaven, deliciously pink pussy and slightly glistening lips made your mouth feel dry.

With an equally shift movement you discarded your own panties, finally freeing yourself from the uncomfortable wetness that had formed around the crotch of it.

Jisu wasted no time pushing you towards the kingsize bed, forcing you to sit down when the insides of your knees hit the edge of the soft mattress. Your hands grabbing her hips for support, pulling her on top of you, one of her knees positioned between yours and the other one just next to your right hip.

You felt her hands on your shoulders, eyes looking straight into yours as she lowered herself. Then, finally, contact. With only one simple movement back and forth, your thigh was covered in her undoubtedly delicious wetness.

“Fuck” she breathed shakily, speeding up her movements as her head fell back.

You tightened your grip, pushing her against yourself harder, guiding her. She looked so sexy getting herself off like this, long neck exposed for you to attack.

You leaned forward, attaching your lips to the skin right above her collarbone. It tasted slightly salty, but made her moan oh so prettily. You sucked, bit and licked while she kept on grinding as if her life depended on it.

“Don’t–“ she moaned, trying to keep her voice down “No marks”

You just hummed in response, the vibration against her skin making her shiver.

Feeling how this obviously did things to her, you let your right hand leave her hip and traced it up towards her left breast. Her nipples already hard from the arousal. It turned out her breast perfectly fit the palm of your hand, making it easy for you to knead the soft flesh, applying varying amounts of pressure to see how much of a reaction you could get out of her until you finally found a sweet spot.

An inconsistent stream of the most erotic moans you had ever heard coming from her mouth as she sped up her movements. The amount of juices that now coated your thigh almost inhumane, as if Choi Jisu hadn’t been touched in months.

“Jisu” you whispered, her name almost coming out as a moan due to your own desperation “Fuck Jisu, cum for me”

A frown formed in her forehead from how tightly she was shutting her eyes. There was no doubt she was incredibly close to her release.

You took her hard nipple between your thumb and index finger, playing with it it ever so lightly. That was it, her breaking point. One of her hands shot up to her mouth just in time and she let out a long, muffled moan.

You placed your hand on her hip again, forcing her to continue her movements, dragging out her orgasm for as long as she could take. She whined, desperately trying to lift her hips as her lips looked for yours again.

“Fuck me” she moaned into your mouth “Fuck–” her breath was ragged “Fuck me” she kept on grinding while she repeated it like a mantra, 5 times, 6 times, 7 times, each time sounding a little more desperate than the previous.

You loosened your grip on her hips before pushing her down on the bed, giving her time to recover and to get into a more comfortable position and soon, you were hovering in top of her. Taking in the beautiful sight of her swollen lips, chest heaving and the slightly pink trail that was visible on the pale skin of her neck.

You leaned on one arm, navigating your free hand to her thighs, softly scratching the insides of them. It made her squirm, even after she had her first release, she was still desperate.

“Fuck me” she whined again, voice a little louder this time, begging for your touch.

You covered her mound with your hand, dragging your middle finger between her wet, swollen lips with ease, just to end up with your finger drawing slow circles on her clit.

Her body jerked at the touch, but it was a different feeling she was craving for. “Fill my wet pussy with your fingers” her head was moving around on the sheets like she didn’t know what to do with herself anymore.

Looking at her struggle, you decided to give in, aligning two fingers with her entrance and slowly pushing them inside. It felt warm, quite tight and very wet. Her walls wrapped around your fingers perfectly as you started moving them. In and out, over and over again, curling them in search for the spot that drove her crazy.

“Don’t stop” she moaned, as if that was something you would even consider at that moment. The squelching wetness mixed with Jisu’s sounds had something vulgar to it, but you couldn’t get enough. Her juices were dripping down your fingers as you sped up your movements.

The look on her face screamed ‘sex’, her mouth hung open and every now and then she covered her mouth in order to keep her volume to a minimum. Oh how you wish you could hear her screaming, moaning and begging for more.

When you curled your fingers once more, finding her soft patch, her eyes shot open. She looked straight at you. Intensely. You took this as a sign to keep going, fingers deep inside of her as you kept hitting her spot just right.

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She didn’t blink, not even once. Jisu balled her fist, brought it up to her mouth and bit down on it, hard. There is no way to describe the sounds that came out of her mouth. They drove you insane. You wanted to hear her more.

Your hand started to cramp right at the moment her legs started shaking for the second time that night, more uncontrollably now. Her walls tightened around your fingers like they’d never ever let you go.

You could see her teeth sinking further into the skin of her hand as she came undone. Her moans probably exceeding the unspoken volume limit. Pussy endlessly convulsing around your fingers, making it seem like her orgasm would never end.

“So good” she breathless moaned past her fist that was marked by her full set of teeth “So damn good”

Her hot walls slowly but surely relaxed, making it possible for you to take your fingers out of her warm cunt.

You just sighed as you laid down on your back, right next to her. Only now you could feel the pain in your shoulder from leaning on one arm while you were fucking her, but it was so worth it.

After somewhat catching her breath, Jisu broke the silence that hung in the air. “So that’s what Yuna’s getting, huh? Kinda… Safe, but so– so damn good” she breathed, putting a rather strange emphasis on the word ‘safe’ before continuing “Next time the two of you fight, I could introduce you to some new things”

And that’s when it finally hit you. Right, Yuna. Your girlfriend... Shin Yuna.

#itzy smut #lia smut #choi jisu #girl group imagines #itzy imagines

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zhongrin · 1 year

Text

yuan yang

— a submission for 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐘 collab hosted by @haithamuse!

◇ characters ◇ zhongli ft. al haitham

◇ tags ◇ selfship coded, be respectful; don’t like don’t read, lil blurb at the end written from zhongli’s pov (third person), zhongli x meirin (@/zhongrin), al haitham x esther (@/haithamuse), fluff, married couple shenanigans, academic rivals / enemies-to-lovers shenanigans, writing centered around the teahouse!au

◇ a/n ◇ so... a little background (or more like a mini story here lol)... i first discovered yuan yang (which is basically coffee mixed with tea + milk) when i first studied abroad. no idea if that was even the correct pinyin but that's what i saw on the menu so i'm going with it lol absolutely did not like it at first bc it tasted weird. but then i got a second cup… then a third… then a fourth…….. this is how addiction starts kids

while it’s not my absolute favorite and i don’t normally go for it unless i'm specifically craving for it, i thought it was a fitting title for these teahouse-related shenanigans and the 'implication' that coffee (me) and tea (zhongli) make a good drink when mixed somehow hahah

lastly, i had so much fun with this, esther!!! thank you for hosting this lovely collab therefore allowing me to have an excuse to write about my selfships more yay ALSO happy birthday!!! 🎂🎉 i hope you enjoyed reading this silly self-indulgent chonker of a writing and liked the little 🎁 i included at the very end <3

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 ⬙ 𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡

❦ 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 ❦

zhongli learns to brew coffee from me and i learn to brew tea from him. it’s as much of a fruitful exchange as our regular bonding activity (read: him telling me stories and traditions of olden liyue and the art of tea making as i stare dreamily at the way his lips move and the soothing lilt of his voi- ok i'll stop now-).

i might have watched a little too intensively as zhongli tamps the coffee grounds because??? the veins on his hands???? they pop even more????? hskdjskdjlsdjldfhdkshd

oh that note, as he watched me try to measure the tea leaves to brew for the first time, he realized that i have a small mole at the base of my pinky. it has since then become one of his favorite spots to kiss.

zhongli mostly dresses in hanfu whenever tending to the teashop because i said i love seeing him in them it matches the aesthetic of the traditional-esque place. his hair is either down or braided with a few fresh flowers slipped in (courtesy of me hehe).

that being said, he still helps out in the funeral parlor from time to time! the parlor does need its best consultant and hu tao is practically one of our many granddaughters at this point…

if the patrons hear a loud “NAINAI YOUR FAVORITE GRANDDAUGHTER HAS ARRIVED!” they know the tea house is about the get rowdy lol

“director hu, kindly refrain from saying such things outloud, there has been a misunderstanding spreading in liyue saying about us being secretly adepti couple whose descendants are living all around the harbor-” “now now, yeye, is that how you talk to your loveliest, adorable-est granddaughter?” “……….. *sigh*”

xiao drops by every now and then because zhongli insists, and i know he obeyed because it’s the one and only rex lapis’ request, but i hope someday he does it of his own volition - that is, because he actually enjoys visiting us.

ever since we got married, he also adores selecting traditional dresses for me to wear (seems like menogias taught him a thing or two, bless him), adding them to my wardrobe collection wordlessly and only smiling when i confront him about it while wearing said new clothes. he knows my fashion sense is lacking that 80% of the time i’d rather spend my energy doing something else than clothes shopping so he takes that matter into his own hands!

lowkey also because people who know him would take one glance at the geometric patterns and color schemes of said clothes and immediately go ‘wait those patterns and accessories look familiar… oh, of course, that’s unmistakably zhongli xiansheng’s wife-’

scarves aren’t really a popular fashion choice in liyue but whenever the weather gets a little too cold, i would happily ‘bundle up’ with a self-heating, occasionally purring, golden-brown colored ‘scarf’ with a scale-like pattern around my neck.

(no, you most certainly did not see it move. move along now.)

vortex vanquisher is mounted behind the reception desk’s wall as a decoration. you know. just in case. :)

the teahouse has a few private rooms which were built over time as we were able to expand out/up. they all have different themes and we have names for (almost) all of them; ranging from liyue’s local specialties to subtle references of zhongli’s adepti friends. some popular ones include:

═ 𝑐𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑠 room

orange/gold themed. a geologist’s dream. has a massive display case of a collection of raw cor lapis rocks along with some pretty pebbles. the pieces of furniture inside the room are made of charred sandbearer wood, the darkened brown making it a perfect complement to the bright and shiny cor lapis decors and embellishments. i think this is probably our most expensive room from the patrons’ view… (actually it isn’t, since zhongli found and mined those ‘expensive’ gems himself...)

═ 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑧𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑦 room

soft blue/grey themed. the cozy room couples as a homage to guizhong. the bell used to call a waiter/waitress is a close replica of the cleansing bell. we also have a guzheng on display. madam ping loves this room and would help to take care of the guzheng and even play the instrument for us sometimes.

═ 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒 room

white/sky blue themed. there’s a huge crane art piece hung at the center of the back of the room’s walls. it's filled with a number of amusing contraptions and blueprints that to normal people's eyes, look like some kind of abstract painting. a room heavily inspired by cloud retainer’s aesthetics. most of the adepti who visit us would use this room (much to its original muse’s annoyance) because it’s located the furthest from the public seating area.

═ the 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 / first private room

aka the ‘confession room’. we have no idea how that label got there….... actually. no, we do. one time, a regular patron asked us to book the room so he can propose to his lover. since they’re a close friend of ours, we agreed to help him plan and decorate the whole thing…. and it made headlines in the local papers somehow. rumors then begin to spread that if you go to that specific room to propose you’ll definitely be accepted and your marriage will be blessed…

honestly, there’s nothing too special about the room. it was our very first private room that we intended to use for our private break room, so it was built smaller than the others. the decorations lean towards simple and sophisticated, and we had some of our favorite trinkets scattered all around the little area.

legend says that sometimes when the shop isn’t busy, lucky patrons would be able to hear a beautiful duet of a flute and an erhu coming from the room. though they’re not at a level of a professional musician, the melody brings peace and warmth to the wary hearts…

❦ 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 ❦

“mei, my beloved, i’m here!!!!”

zhongli looks up from his cup of tea, blinking slowly as he tries to register the foreign-sounding voice and the words in the loud greeting. while the endearment was a familiar title attached to his wife (her close friends tend to be rather forward and affectionate, from what he observed), it didn’t sit right with him when it came from a stranger. who on earth are this lady and her companion?

as if registering his alertness, a specific 'decoration' lightly vibrates from its spot on the wall. yet it stilled the moment he heard a familiar gasp and cry of happiness from his side.

“esther!!!”

hugs, pleasantries, and excited arrows of questions are swiftly exchanged. zhongli watches the two with a soft smile before glancing at the woman’s companion, who gave him a stiff nod. their two guests seemed to be about the same age... perhaps they were lovers? no, they seemed a little too distant for that. but there was something between them - that, he could at least tell.

mei seems to have just noticed the extra company too, for she was slightly taken aback and quietly relayed the question to the woman with a confused expression and a timid, “and this is…?”

“oh, he’s just, you know, some guy.”

“’some guy’?” his wife tilts her head in question, eyes observing the man’s attire (momentarily he feels like berating the young man for dressing up so provocatively - that is until he remembered his beloved’s remarks the other day about his choice in his archon-wear), “….. oh! is he the ‘al haitham’ you’ve been writing to me in our letters-”

“MEI.”

“hm?” the silvery green strand of hair on top of said male’s head twitches as if it was a whole being by itself, “what’s this? you write about me to your friend? i’m most flattered.”

with a pair of fiery eyes and both hands on her hips, this ‘esther’ girl turned towards her friend(?), “oh, you’re most welcome. i told her about how aggravating and insufferable you are, mr.i-have-perfect-scores-on-all-my-subjects.”

“truly? and if i am so aggravating and insufferable as you say, then pray tell, what stopped you from ditching me back in sumeru city?”

“because, unfortunately, the stupid archaic liyuean language’s professor paired me up with you of all people for this project!! and there’s no way in hell i’m letting you sit idle while i do most of the work! mind you, i can definitely achieve a perfect score by myself, but the entire rainforest section of sumeru will burn to the ground before i wilfully let you coattail my achievements!”

“based on the most recent test, i doubt you could. unless your definition of a ‘perfect score’ is a mere 99.8%, to which i would have to refute, seeing as i managed to achieve a 100%.”

“oh my god i’m about to pop a blood vessel- then what about the previous test before that, huh? did you forget who got a 100% AND an extra credit for that, you arrogant little-”

“ahem. dear, why don’t you escort your guests to the glaze lily room? i’ll bring you some tea shortly,” zhongli effortlessly moves to stand behind his wife, hand comfortingly placed on her back as he smiles politely at the two. there is nothing but warmth in his gestures, but they both had clammed up, suddenly feeling like misbehaving grandchildren who were being scolded by their grandfather.

his beloved, on the other hand, appears to have found this scene amusing, despite not being one to be comfortable with conflicts in general.

“yeah, good idea- by the way, this is my husband, zhongli,” had he was in his adeptus form, his tail would’ve thumped against the floor at the proud tone in her introduction. instead, he settled with a gentle nod in this mortal body, “’li, this is esther - the one from sumeru - if you remember me talking about her-”

“of course i do. i remember everything you tell me.”

“that you do,” she softened, hand coming up to caress his jaw lightly, and he resisted the urge to follow the warmth as it retreated, touch too fleeting and brief to his liking, “i’ll wait for you in the room, then?”

“take as long as you need to catch up with your friend. i can watch the store.”

“that’s alright, we can close the shop for a bit. i want you to get acquainted with her and this… friend of hers. besides, didn’t you two say you’re here for... what, some liyuean language project? i’m quite sure my very knowledgeable husband would have some valuable input on that.”

mirth fills her expression, and the playful nudge of her elbow onto his sides made him chuckle. way to take a jab at his age, he mused.

“i am in no way as knowledgeable as the esteemed students of the sumeru akademiya, but-”

“is that true? you know this language?”

the former archon raises his eyebrows as the two men exchanged glances. though people might mistake the sudden challenge as arrogance, he can clearly see the thirst for knowledge in the clear green-red tinted eyes.

a man defined by and attracted to competency.

… ah, so that’s how it is.

“i may be a little rusty, you must understand. they are rarely used nowadays, so i am quite out of practice.”

the fingers seeking out a smaller set beside him moves in an unconscious motion, but the way the daintier appendages curl around his almost reflexively made a genuine smile bloom on his expression, “if what little of my knowledge can help, then i will gladly extend my assistance, especially to my darling wife’s treasured friends.”

“oh you,” she snorts and rubbed his arm with her free hand, “he’s being humble. you’ll see.”

“you flatter me, dear.”

esther’s grin only widened at the interaction. she gives her friend a wink and an abstract motion with her fingers, “handsome, humble, and smart? you better keep a leash on this one.”

zhongli sneaked a glance at the geo choker on her wife’s neck before moving to her dark-colored eyes. redness colors the softness of her cheek as their gaze met, and the corner of his lips twitch threateningly. she bashfully runs from his gaze to roll her eyes at her friend, before grabbing her shoulders to steer them both towards the inner hallway of the private rooms.

“hush, you. come on now, off we go!”

as the two girls launched into an excited series of chatters, zhongli exchanged one last respectful nod with the other akademiya student and silently watched as he trailed behind the two. he doesn't miss the way al haitham's tense posture lessened, the edges of his sharp eyes softening as he specifically observed his friend. it’s a familiar look. one that he’s seen several times throughout the course of his long life.

zhongli chuckles as he starts preparing the osmanthus tea for their guests, all the while thinking about the matching clothes they would have to get tailored for in the future, when the invitation to attend the older version of those akademiya students’ matrimony event inevitably reaches their mailbox.

....

he’ll give it a few years. they seemed like a rather stubborn pair.

#genshin impact #rin selfships #zhongli #zhongrin #al haitham

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