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edgeray · 2 months

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Unknown anon again. I'll figure an emote soon. I guess for know I'll just say uh... ??? anon.

So in the latest dragon Arlecchino fic, reader took a nasty wound yes? And well, medical supplies are hard to come by. So reader gets an infection in the wound and Arlecchino has to find a way to take care of them?

Dragon Hunter Mother Part 3

(Arlecchino x Fem! Reader)

A/N - Part 1 | Part 2 Guys. It is what you have been waiting for, the long awaited part 3 of dragon! arle. Hope this doesn't disappoint! Okay, um, wow, hi ??? anon, 🏹 anon, and ©️ anon. Guys, why are 5 of the asks in my inbox dragon-related. 5 separate ppl wanted more dragons. 💀💀 are you guys starved of dragon content? is this what this is? Is this a cry for dragon content? You can tell how late this request is and I really apologize for that. 😭. What's that? More worldbuilding? Unfathomable. Hehe. Tell me what parts of worldbuilding you guys want me to specify / go into into the next part, because there definitely is going to be a part 4 at least. Content warnings / info - follows part 2's events immediately, arle's pov for the entire time, mentions of injury, sickness, may be medically inaccurate, 3.2k words

You promptly pass out after Arlecchino came to rescue you, the two of you not even registering the intimate gesture that Arlecchino had done in the heat of the moment.

As soon as you lose consciousness, clinging onto her form, she lays you down, checking for your injuries. Miraculously, you haven't received many injuries: just a shallow cut on your side and a deeper laceration across the length of your forearm. She tears one of your sleeves from your shirt as well as rips the bottom half of your top off to access your wounds. You’re bleeding steadily, and Arlecchino knows that stopping the bleeding is a priority.

Stripping the apparels of one of the deceased dragon hunters, she ties around the cloth around the wound on your forearm, the one bleeding more heavily, applying pressure to it. Her clawed hands tremble slightly, careful to not nick your skin as she continues her ministrations. The cloth is darkened by the red that seeps into it, and she growls, before searching for another piece of cloth, using that to secure the bleeding. Once she deems that your bleeding is no longer a pressing issue, she carefully lifts you in her arms, traversing by foot to her cave.

Although there is no difficulty in carrying your weight–her draconic strength still remains in her human form–the journey by foot takes several hours and she has to rely on memory for partway of the trip. It's no help she can not run or leap, not if she wants to risk jolting you awake and disturbing your wounds. Eventually, her children finds her. She instructs Lyney to burn the corpses so that there would be no traces, while Lynette is to search and retrieve your belongings. Freminet leads Arlecchino back to the cave by flying overhead.

Once Arlecchino finally returns, she immediately places you in the nest, bundling the wool mat around your body. Around the second week, you ventured into town, gathering the fleece of animals and placing it along the bed of branches and stones to ‘insulate’ it. While Arlecchino is not aware of what that means, she notices that it made the nest considerably warmer to lay in.

Lyney and Lynette are already in the cave when you and Arlecchino have arrived. Once she places you down, the two creep up beside you, croaking and cooing in concern as they observe your sleeping form. Lyney perches on your chest, while the other hatchlings nestle between your body and arms, pressing on each side.

Arlecchino observes the sight, her human heart pumping rapidly. Seeing her children curls around you, it's a sight that she can never imagine. She allowed a human close to her, into her home, around her children. She grew attached to a human despite her best efforts. Had it been just two moon cycles ago, she would have never considered the notion, fathom the ability of allowing such, of enjoying a human's presence.

Not since Crucabena. That despicable woman. It brings her great joy at the memory of burning her alive. She shakes the memories away, focusing back on you. After all, you aren't Crucabena–you aren't like all humans. And perhaps that is exactly why she grew a fondness for you.

How can she not, however, when you’re the first that doesn't tremble at the sight of her claws, or behave cautiously around her? Perhaps you are a fool, no, she is sure of it, you are a fool who didn't know better. But still… how could she not, when you've fed them, cared for them, protected them when you needn't?

Arlecchino sighs, raising your head tenderly so she can comfortably sit while you lay on her leg. Gingerly, her fingers make her way into your hair, caressing the top of your head. She regards you with a soft gaze.

How can she not grow attached to the one her little ones call ‘Mother?’

Ah, she is having foolish thoughts again. She looks away from you, before falling asleep herself.

Arlecchino stirs awake as she feels the sun's rays peak through the cave's entrance. She notices your still unconscious form, strange, as you must have been asleep for half a day, if not more. Then, the closer that she examines your body, she notices you tremble relentlessly while panting heavily. Concern immediately spikes through her body, and she none-too-gently shoves Lyney off of you to relieve the pressure on your chest. Lyney protests the movement and harsh awakening with a grunt before turning to your unwell person, croaking and whining pitifully. This agitates the other two hatchlings, and all four dragons surround you.

Arlecchino leans over you, scrutinizing every muscle twitch in your form. You're ill, that much is clear, but with what, the dragon isn't sure. Illness is practically nonexistent for dragons, unlike other species; there is little that can penetrate a dragon's scales. Even in human form, little harm can come hhr way. Humans, she had learned a century ago, are quite vulnerable and susceptible to nearly anything. And you, you've always seemed so frail and delicate to Arlecchino, even when she knows better compared to human standards. No matter how formidable you were in the face of the other dragon hunters, even you are human.

Freminet coos as he nudged his head against your head, rough scales against your face but still you don't wake. Arlecchino tries herself to stir you, shaking you by the shoulders, but it's unsuccessful. You don’t wake, and your body seems warmer than it usually is–then for what reason does your body tremor like it does now?

Arlecchino's heart pumps rapidly, rapid thoughts running across her head. What if you were to never wake? What if you remained this way until you perished? The vivid image of her crying children croaking for their Mother as you lay cold and still gripped her tightly, fueling her with something she hadn't felt in a long time.

“Wake up, human, wake up,” she demands with a foreign desperation, her brows knitted and her teeth clenched. Lynette nips at your arm, a futile attempt.

“Archons-damn it,” Arlecchino grunts, taking you by the shoulder again before stopping. Her clawed fingers scratch at you lightly, faint red lines across your skin before beads of red manifest from the shallow cuts. The dragon pulls away, her hands turning into fists. How can she help you? She can't, not when she is so ignorant of humans and their bodies. You're not well, and yet she cannot help you.

For a dragon, she has never felt more helpless and weak than she is now. For the first time, she finds herself wishing that she was a human. If she was a human, she would know how to help you. If she was a human, she would know more than how to hurt and destroy. If she were human, then maybe she too would know how to preserve and save life. If she was a human perhaps you wouldn't be like this. If she was human…

She needs another human’s help. The realization comes to her and she stands up immediately. It hurts her more than she would like to admit, resorting to a human's help, but… her pride as a dragon is not worth your life–it never will be.

Arlecchino tells the children to stay in the cave and watch over you, before she takes off in her dragon form, heading towards the nearby town with a bag of coins in her hand in her claws. She perches at the edge before transforming back into a human, wandering the streets with a cloak to hide her other draconic features and eventually finding the town center. There, she shouts and cries out for a doctor, flailing the bag of coins but no one approaches her. Arlecchino can feel her dignity deplete with every bellow, and her hope draining as more time passes.

Doubt begins to creep up her mind, as she ponders what it’d be like to live without you. She's already so accustomed to your presence, to wake up to your warmth everyday, your brilliant smile, your care towards her and her children. What if Arlecchino can never find help? What if you truly die, and once more her children experience another maternal figure leaving them? What will she do then? She is not ready to part with you, not just yet.

Still, despair slowly sinks into her eyes until a figure comes up to her, a small, hooded woman, with long, dark strands of pink-tipped hair, and a white ribbon over her eyes. How the human is able to see is a fleeting thought before she scrutinizes the person, suspicion and reluctance present in her expression.

“You can help my friend?” Arlecchino questions, though she is in no place to deny help.

“Of course,” the woman smiles cryptically. “What are your friend's symptoms?”

“She's breathing heavily, trembling, and feels warmer than she is usually.”

“Has she received any injury or wound recently?”

“Yes.”

“An infection then. That is easy enough to treat. Yes, I can help you. Take me to her,” the woman states, and Arlecchino obliges, as she leads the other woman to the way.

“She is outside of the village, she lives in the middle of the forest.”

“I suspected that. Guide me.”

Arlecchino takes the woman to the edge of the town, now at the edge of the forest when the woman stops her. “Well, aren't you going to start flying?”

The dragon pauses and turns to her, her brows furrowed. Did the human know that she is a dragon? If so, how? Arlecchino made sure to hide all of the signs, hence the cloak. The dragon attempts to hide the shock in her expression.

“What?” Arlecchino gruffs with a bit of edge in her voice.

“You know. Use your wings?” The human suggests, making a hand gesture to emphasize.

“You know I'm a dragon?” Arlecchino growls, raising a clawed hand to threaten her as she narrows her eyes. If she knows, then she is a danger, a threat. She can endanger her little ones if Arlecchino brings her to her home. Should she kill her? No, she can't kill her now, not when Arlecchino needs her, or needs your life more.

“Of course, I do,” she answers merely.

“Then why are you helping me? Do you want to die?”

“Dragons that's come this far are rare. I believe it's only right to help fellow dragons, no?”

“You are not human,” Arlecchino says matter-of-factly.

“No, I am not,” the woman states with a smile. A pink light emanates from her being and blinds Arlecchino, the vibrant outline morphing from that of human-shaped to something ten times larger. Arlecchino steps away, as a large dragon replacing the form of the human, nearly as large as her own dragon form. White scales crisscross her black scales like x's. But most noticeably is that she has four pairs of wings, each one faded from ink to rose color at the ends, the wing bones covered in midnight scales while the flesh of the wings are colored with a similar roseate color to its tips.

“Let me reintroduce myself,” the dragon says, fuchsia eyes glaring back at Arlecchino. “Call me Columbina. It's nice to see another dragon such as yourself. I promise no harm will come to you or your ‘friend.’ It's more beneficial to make allies with one another rather than enemies, don't you think?”

Arlecchino can practically hear the smirk from her tone, but she knows better than to reject the offer. Arlecchino may be among the most powerful of dragons, but a four-paired-wings dragon is out of her capability. Columbina outmatches her by experience as well as magical ability, and she cannot fight, not when she doesn't know how severe your condition is. What Columbina can benefit from her, she would just have to see, but you need to be treated first.

“How can I be sure you can truly help me? You may be my elder, but I will not hesitate to strike against you,” Arlecchino snarls.

“Why don't you just show me to your human companion instead of waving around these useless threats? I swear on the dragon's oath no harm will come to the human or to any of your things.”

The untransformed dragon contemplates on her words before sighing. A dragon's oath is nothing to scoff at; draconic magic binds the swearer to the oath, and if the swearer breaks it, heavy reparations are placed on the dragon. Columbina is serious about not hurting her, though helping her is still in question. Nonetheless, little can be done. Arlecchino reverts back to her dragon form. “Follow me.”

As the two dragons make their way to the cave, Arlecchino cannot help but prod the other with questions.

“How do you know how to treat humans? Why were you in the town posing as a human?”

“A dragon lifestyle can be so dull. We live so animalistically, driven by instincts and basic biology. Why must we degrade ourselves to living as we do when we have the intelligence and consciousness of a human yet none of their weakness? Humans have proven themselves to be interesting. Working as a ‘quack,’ or what the humans tend to call me, has allowed me so many intriguing insights.”

“You're studying humans?”

“Yes, don't you find such an inferior species quite fascinating?”

“They are something,” she mutters absentmindedly. Frankly, she doesn't care about the other dragon's maniacal obsession.

“Their bodies and mind is something I can toy with for years. Humans lie on such a delicate balance of relying on their animalistic features and relying on their intellect and judgment for their survival.”

Arlecchino just nods along. The two finally reach the cave, where the hatchlings greet Arlecchino, clambering over her back and arms.

“Oh, little ones? How adorable,” Columbina coos, but makes no attempt to approach them.

“Don't touch them. The human is farther inside,” Arlecchino growls and Columbina follows inside, converting back into her humanoid form. She strolls up to your sleeping form, crouching, and examining your figure. She places a hand on your forehead.

“My, my, my, what a pretty mate you have here. It is no wonder you were so protective.”

Arlecchino halts, her brain freezing as she comprehends her words. Her eyes go wide at her proclamation, and she nearly stammers out her response.“Mate? A human?”

“No? Though, I suppose I assumed wrong. She doesn't have your mark. Though, it makes no sense why you've yet killed her,” Columbina hums, unwrapping the cloth around your arm to look at your wound. “Hm, just as I thought. It's infected.”

“Is it even possible to mate with a human? We are separate species.”

“Why? Perhaps you are interested in it yourself? Then it makes sense why you are so taken by this human,” the dragon muses, and Arlecchino flushes, shaking her head.

“No, I was just questioning the plausibility of your suggestion,” the dragon quickly retorts. “Do not state such a preposterous thing.”

Columbina smiles and turns to Arlecchino. “Well, I guess you are too young to know. It is possible, in fact our ancestry says so. We all originate from the same bloodline at one point, though that is about more than a millennium ago. To put it simply, Our ancestor mated with a human blessed by the Archons, and that is why we are born with magic in our veins, and have our human forms.”

So it is possible for dragons to mate with humans… still, Arlecchino cannot fathom such a thing. Even in her humanoid form, you still are so small… she shakes her head, ridding of the notion. Mate with you? She has no place of even considering it when there's no intimacy between the two of you anyways.

Columbina pours some type of translucent liquid over the wound before dabbing some type of fabric into it. She manifests a bottle, opening it and applying the contents over her clawed finger, then rubbing it over the wound. Afterwards, she wraps a clean cloth around your forearm.

“Come here,” she gestures to Arlecchino. Arlecchino approaches you, and the other dragon passes her a roll of cotton material. “As you must know, humans are quite fragile. Hence, this human became ill because the material around her was dirty. It's important for humans to be as clean as possible, as it's quite easy for them to attract impurities that can harm them internally. Use this to reapply the wrappings every day. Keep it clean.

“Make sure the human is properly hydrated, with warm liquids if possible. Do not be overly concerned with how much she sleeps. Humans use sleep to recover their strength. Keep her in preferable conditions, and make sure she is properly warmed. Do you understand?”

Arlecchino nods. “She will be fine just like that?”

“Do you not trust your elder?”

“I am still wondering if I should trust you. But, I can do nothing else but trust you. Thank you for your assistance.”

Columbina grins, the same mysterious smile she seems awfully fond of. “Of course. I look forward to meeting you more often. I am glad there are dragons nearby. I'll be off now. I do hope your human stays alive.”

The dragon heads towards the exit, altering into her winged-form before flying off. Arlecchino sighs in relief, her attention towards you. You’ve stopped shivering, it looks like the trio thought to cover you with your jacket. Although you're still warm, your forehead was no longer burning up.

Arlecchino’s attention is steered away from you when Freminet grazes his body against her leg, before squawking, making his hunger known. Right, she completely forgot about feeding them. She tells the twins to look after you as she and Freminet goes to the nearby river, to collect fish.

The dragon, in her human form, uses the fishing net just like you taught her, easily catching enough fish for the four of them, before returning back to the cave. As the two dragons return to the cave, they're met with a surprising, but not unwelcome sight.

“Arlecchino. Freminet,” you greet with a grin, as you're sitting up right in the nest, the twins cuddling up around you as you stroke their heads. Your voice is different, strained and it clearly takes quite a bit of effort from you, but nonetheless, it makes Arlecchino's heart bound.

Freminet all but drops the bag of fish in his mouth and dashes to you, charing into your stomach as pleased grumbles reverberate through his throat. Meanwhile, Arlecchino makes no rush towards you, simply strutting towards you with a faint smile. Hidden behind her eyes is relief.

“You're okay,” is all the paternal dragon says.

You beam brighter. “I will be. I still feel pretty bad, but…” You glance at your bandaged forearm. “I'll be fine because of you.”

You gesture her closer, snaking out your arm from the hatchling's grasp and extending it out to her. Curiously, Arlecchino places her clawed hand. Intertwining your fingers with hers, you guide her hand towards your face before placing your lips on her knuckles.

“Take this as my sincere thanks, Arlecchino.”

Arlecchino does not wrench her hand away, instead, scoffing in reply before looking away. Her tail flails behind her frantically, comparable to that of an excited dog. Her cheeks are tinged with red. “Getting better can be your thanks.”

#arlecchino x reader #arlecchino x you #arlecchino #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x you #genshin x reader #genshin x you #genshin impact fanfics #genshin impact fics #genshin fanfics #genshin fics #edgeray.???anon #edgeray.🏹anon #edgeray.©️anon #edgeray.writes #edgeray.requests

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dianagj-art · 5 months

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how long does a comic page take you to draw? this is for research sorry if it’s a uncomfortable question.

It really does depends on what kind of comic page (how finished it is and how many panels change a lot the time) also I rarely sit down to do one page from start to finish, I usually grab a few pages to work on and do all the sketch, all the inks (if im doing inks), all the coloring, etc etc, so I'm working on a few pages at the same time

thankfully I have some screen recordings of some pages so I actually know how long some pages take me to do!

For that first page it took me around 3 hours to do, but the second since it has a more complicated animation took me 7 hours, but for SLAU I'm just sketching and doing some minimal coloring so most of the time I do them rather quick

right now im taking groups of 4 to 10 pages and I try to finish them in a week or two, it doesn't happen most of the time, mostly because I don't stick to a schedule

then there's also pages like these that if im remembering correctly took me like from 3 to 5 days to do all 12 pages from this comic. I dont have the process recorded so I don't know how many hours I actually spend drawing

I also don't have recordings from these pages but I know I was doing 4 pages a week for Kidnapped, and I do have these pages recorded, they took me around 15 hours to do

so yeah it really depends

#man i should start recording my process again #i entretain myself seeing speed draws of my own drawings #dg asks #dg rambles #dg comics #slau #separated leo au #kidnapped au #yiga link au

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animeomegas · 10 months

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The Quest for a Second Life - Part 6 - 50 Shades of Audacity (2)

KAKASHI x ALPHA!READER

Summary: An office scandal, the start of your gold digging arc, and a mysterious house in the countryside... It still annoyed you that you had to have a job, but honestly, it could have been worse. This was kind of exciting! GN!Dom!Alpha!Reader x Multiple

Word count: 8.7k

Warnings: N-sfw content, workplace violations, vague discussion of canon specific suicide, playful smacking, playful physical restraint. All alphas have dicks, fyi.

A/N: Hey! We're rapidly reaching the end of this story now! Only one more chapter before the epilogue, crazy! Time has flown. Happy holidays to everyone, especially @omeganronpa who is working so hard, hopefully a break is coming soon 😖 Not much porn in this one, as I'm saving it for the finale. Enjoy~

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Epilogue

Going for a Sunday drive was always a nice way to spend a morning. Well, it wasn’t Sunday and technically you weren’t driving, but the point still stood.

You had your nose basically glued to the window as the unfamiliar city sights bled into an equally unfamiliar, but timeless countryside. Fields, animals, trees, they all rushed past, familiar and new in the same breath. You were pleasantly surprised that this erotica world city didn’t have suburbs; who knew you just had to die to benefit from good city planning?

Kakashi’s fancy car was growing on you too, with its heated seats and spacious leg room, and you couldn’t deny that it was also having an impact on how much you were enjoying this drive. It even had six cupholders. Six. Kakashi didn’t even have that many friends in total, but even having the choice to have six beverages felt like a luxury experience.

Kakashi was also in his fancy car, of course, but he was considerably less interested in the view, and more interested in the paperwork he’d brought along. What a boring place to put one’s attention; you needed to rectify that immediately.

“If you could pick one of your dogs to magically learn English, who would you pick?” His pen not even slowing for a moment, Kakashi answered with no hesitation.

“Anyone but Pakkun.”

Hmm, maybe a harder question would work?

“What’s 472 + 9012?”

“9484.”

Something shocking perhaps?

“Does your pubic hair also defy gravity?”

“No comment.”

Oh, something weird would surely get his attention!

“If I were a worm, would you still love me?”

“No.”

You huffed, sinking down into your heated seat. He hadn’t even paused in the paperwork, so your plan had thoroughly failed. You wondered why Kakashi, a man you’d seen climb out of a window to avoid a work meeting once, was now diligently completing paperwork when he had a good excuse not to. Whatever, he’d probably already procrastinated on it enough that Iruka had threatened him into finishing it. No one ignored direct instructions from Iruka, even though he wasn’t technically high up enough to give instructions at all.

You sighed, turning back to the window to keep yourself amused, acknowledging that you’d lost the battle for Kakashi’s attention to his paperwork. Maybe it was the effect of the car journey, or maybe you were just sappy, but you quickly found yourself reminiscing.

Two weeks ago, you never would have imagined being here with him like this. It was almost difficult to wrap your head around how much your relationship had changed in such a short amount of time, how comfortable you’d both become with each other. Kakashi still took his role as ‘professional nuisance’ seriously of course, revelling in winding you up as what seemed like his main past time and hobby.

He was also still late to meetings, refused to do work, skipped lunch if you didn’t bring it to him… Okay, so maybe not that much had changed. But hey, you kissed frequently now, that was new! And your name was also currently the hottest topic in every break room at work.

That very first day after the tryst in Kakashi’s office had to have been your favourite in terms of gossip shockwaves. It had turned out that Kakashi did have another spare shirt for you to wear home after both your shirt and his first spare had been ruined, and the next morning, groggy and tired, you grabbed it to wear to work without thinking about what you were doing.

You had known that there was gossip about you and Kakashi leaving work together, but apparently the security guard’s version of events, that you had both come back to work together after hours, you without a shirt, and then locked yourself in his office, was in hot debate. Many refused to believe that terminal bachelor Kakashi Hatake would ever sleep with his secretary. ‘Something out of a bad porn book’, you had heard multiple times. How ironic.

So, when you walked in late, wearing Kakashi’s shirt, you corroborated the security guard’s story and confirmed the rumours all at once.

The break room fell silent the second you walked in, even though it had been filled with loud debate moments before. Everyone turned to look at you. Have you ever lifted a rock and had all the bugs underneath it suddenly freeze? It felt like that.

“Good morning,” you said, shooting everyone a hesitant smile. “Sorry I’m a bit late today.”

You watched as everyone’s eyes flickered from your face, down to your shirt, and then up to your face again. The room was uncomfortably silent.

Suddenly Asuma cheered, and chaos descended on the room. Not everyone seemed as thrilled as Asuma though. Kurenai only sighed and passed Asuma a handful of cash. Anko did the same, but with significantly more swearing and threats towards his delicate parts.

(You would find out later that Asuma had seen the security footage of your interview and had proceeded to make many, many bets that you and Kakashi would be fucking within a week. Because of Kakashi’s ‘no dating’ reputation, you were sure he had raked in a significant amount.)

Iruka’s face went bright red, and he sputtered for a moment before turning around and pretending to organise the mug cupboard. He did not succeed in hiding the small bit of blood now dripping from his nose.

In contrast to Iruka’s not so subtle hiding, Gai came right up to you and thumped you on the back, shouting about youth.

Yamato only stared at you, his already large eyes wider than normal. You weren’t sure what emotion he was embodying, but it was certainly creepy.

Maybe it was best if you just went to your desk?

Just as you turned to leave, Gai had one more final thing to say.

“I hope your love blossoms with intensity!” he said, giving you a thumbs up.

Why did that feel like he was giving you permission to fuck Kakashi?

People did slowly get used to the idea that you and Kakashi were something more than coworkers. It helped that you had lunch together most days, which gave people a chance to get used to seeing you together.

On days where your schedules didn’t align for lunch though, you made a point to grab dinner together. Your favourite by far had been dinner at his penthouse flat. Not only was that the night where you’d first called Kakashi your boyfriend, but it was also the first time you were introduced to his dogs.

It felt strange to be walking through a block of flats that was so fancy. The lobby had looked like something from a 5-star hotel, and you had had to show your ID before the front desk would let you upstairs, even though Kakashi had informed them that you’d be coming. Security reasons, they had said. You wondered what other high-profile people lived here.

Kakashi had the penthouse flat, so his was the only one on the top floor. You exited the lift and were immediately confronted with his front door. It wasn’t quite as big as the door in the library you had chosen his story from, but it was still an impressive size.

If you were being honest, it was a little intimidating.

The intimidation factor was shattered as soon as you knocked on the door however, because the second your fist made contact with the wood, a cacophony of barking sounded from the other side.

“Yes, yes, I’m going, you can stop barking.” You could faintly hear Kakashi’s voice through the door. “Bisuke! Get off there!”

The barking still continued.

“Sit, sit. All of you sit! I mean it, or you won’t be getting any treats today.”

Slowly, the barking and the sound of claws clacking ceased, and suddenly the door was pulled open. Standing there, in all his homey glory, was Kakashi.

You were used to seeing him exclusively dressed in suits, but he was wearing lounge clothes. Lounge clothes! Uptight, always ready for a fancy restaurant Kakashi, was wearing a grey tracksuit, with a long-sleeved top in dark blue, and fluffy slippers.

A smile grew on your face; perhaps you were biased, but these suited him a lot more. They still looked expensive, but they were just so much cosier than his normal get up. It made you want to hug him. You resisted for a moment before remembering what world you were in and what the point of this whole second life thing was, and then your resistance crumbled into nothing.

You threw yourself at him for a hug.

“Oof.” Kakashi floundered in surprise for a moment, but when you didn’t let go, he tentatively patted you on the back. You giggled and squeezed him harder, burying your face into his neck.

There were no scent patches! He wasn’t wearing scent patches! Giddy, you took a deep breath of his scent, letting it fill and sit in your lungs. Yes, he smelt utterly delicious.

Kakashi put his hands on your upper arms and gently tugged you away from him. His face was bright red. You could almost see steam coming out of his ears. You laughed at him but decided to show mercy and not tease him over his obvious bashfulness. You instead turned your attention to his dogs.

They were all sitting together to your right, tails wagging furiously. You could tell that if they had been any less well trained, they’d have been jumping all over you.

You opened your bag and pulled out a little something that you’d brought to make sure they liked you. When the dogs caught sight of the McDonald’s bag, their excitement obviously got too much to contain, because they all ran over to your feet, a couple jumping up at you, a couple barking, all looking eager to get their hands on the carroty goodness.

Kakashi, although you could tell he was amused, stepped in to corral his little gremlins. God, he was such a dog dad.

You had received copious wet kisses that day, mostly from the dogs, but also from a sappy Kakashi who had seemed utterly thrilled that you and his dogs got along.

You had had to make and study flash cards to remember all his dogs’ names, but Kakashi’s genuine smile as he watched you interact with them made it all worth it.

You had also met Charlie, Kakashi’s personal chef that evening.

The presence of his personal chef didn’t surprise you. What surprised you was when said chef made dinner for the dogs and then immediately left, leaving Kakashi to cook for you and him. It was exactly that abrupt, and you had laughed until you cried. Of course, he hired a personal chef just for his dogs. He spoilt them rotten.

You were sceptical as to how much skill he would have in the kitchen, but he produced a delicious meal with little trouble. It made you warm that Kakashi was so enthusiastic about cooking dinner you.

Cooking wasn’t the only way he was spoiling you though; he seemed incredibly willing to flash his cash for you, much to your delight.

“Have you considered a top hat?” you asked, picking up the worst top hat you’d ever seen and holding it up as a suggestion. Kakashi gave you a flat look. “What? If this Autumn Company Party thing is so important, you need to make an impression, and this hat would certainly make an impression!”

“I don’t want to make the kind of impression that has my board of directors attempting to oust me from the company.” He took the hat and placed it back on the rack.

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “If you didn’t want my fashion advice, why did you even bring me along to pick your outfit? I could have just waited in the car.”

The attendant that was serving you walked back into the room with a selection of ties based on Kakashi’s preferences. He laid them out on the stool for him to peruse. He had already witnessed a great deal of your banter, but if he was surprised by it, then he was too professional to let that show.

“You’re my personal assistant.”

You flicked the tie he was currently wearing up into his face. “That doesn’t mean I need to watch you pick out ties, asshole.”

Kakashi flicked you on the forehead in turn, rolling his eyes as he always did. “No, I mean that you’ll have to attend the party with me, and I figured you would need a new outfit. As you said, it’s important to make an impression, especially as this will be your debut of sorts.”

You snorted, pulling at one of the price tags of a nearby shirt. “Not in here, thanks. Just reading these numbers is making my bank account cry, I can’t imagine what buying them would do to it.”

Kakashi watched you for a moment, before he stuck his hand into his pocket. Out came his wallet.

‘James? Is what I think is happening, actually happening?’

‘I believe you are about to reach a major milestone in your goal to become a ‘gold digger’, human. My soul is warmed by your success, may it be prosperous and eternal.’

‘Thanks, James, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.’

Just as you predicted, Kakashi slipped his card out from his wallet and handed it to you. “Buy whatever you need, I can’t have my assistant looking shabby now, can I?”

You could imagine this scene in other stories, stories where you weren’t the lead. The MC would decline, either out of bashfulness or a sense of pride. Kakashi would probably then insist, and maybe MC would feel obliged to agree, but they would slip outside and purchase the outfit from a cheaper shop down the road to make a point. And then Kakashi would swoon because MC is ‘not like other alphas’.

You were the lead in this story though, so you took the card immediately, grinning from ear to ear.

“Fuck yes,” you said under your breath. Kakashi snorted, but he looked amused, not offended, by the way you were treating his money. “I’m going to dress up like royalty.”

You scurried off into your preferred section of the shop, Kakashi’s card clutched tightly in your grasp. You eagerly rifled through the racks. At several moments, you got the feeling that you were being watched, but whenever you looked back, Kakashi was fully focused on shopping. Maybe you were imagining it?

The Autumn Company Party had been coming up a lot. It was clearly the climax of the plot, but unlike Itachi’s story, you weren’t really sure what the plot was. James had no idea what would be happening at the party either, just that something would happen, and whatever that something was, it was heavily influenced by your actions. You had originally been apprehensive, but you figured that for a porn story, it couldn’t be anything too bad, so you focused on your excitement about attending such a fancy work party. You’d bet the hors d’oeuvres were going to change your life.

(You were confident because you had been the one in charge of choosing the catering company and the menu. Your job was pretty fun at times, even if your true career calling was independently wealthy.)

In between the planning for the party, your physical relationship with Kakashi had also developed over the last fortnight.

“You’re needy tonight,” you teased, curling your fingers just right. Kakashi shivered.

“On the contrary, you need to shut up.”

You tutted, “That wasn’t your best work.”

“Forgive me; I’m a little preoccupied.” You took that as an invitation to press at his prostate as hard as you could. Kakashi face screwed up in pleasure, and he made no more comments.

“Wow, who knew that you had an off switch this whole time? If I’d had known this little bundle of nerves had such an effect, my interview would have gone very differently.”

“The more time I spend with you, the less I’m surprised that you were single when we met.”

“Asshole.”

That had been during his first visit to your flat. You had the strange impression that he felt more comfortable in your home than his own, for some reason. Regardless, that night was the first time you’d gone all the way.

“Are you ready?” you asked, kissing on his collar bones to distract yourself from his tight warmth, and how much you really wanted to move.

“I was ready ten minutes ago. I’m not going to break the second you put any pressure on me, or in me, as it were.” Kakashi purposely clenched around you causing you to hiss. “Get on with it.”

You pulled away and narrowed your eyes at him. He only raised an eyebrow in response. Fine, if he wanted it rough, you’d give it to him rough.

…

“Fuck, I’m tired,” you said, flopping back onto the bed, exhausted. Kakashi looked much the same, panting hard from exertion.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he replied.

“…”

“Second round in the shower?”

“Obviously.”

Now that had been a fun night. Your activities didn’t stay exclusively in the bedroom though. You had quickly found that not only did Kakashi like it when you took control in social situations, like ordering for him at restaurants, he also liked it when you lightly teased him in public.

Nothing too extreme, of course, as there was a chance that such a thing would literally end up in the news if you were caught, but you had both made a game of seeing how many dirty messages you could hide in the other’s paperwork. You were winning, although the scores were close.

You were so glad that Kakashi’s morning meeting was being held in one of the rooms made entirely of glass. It meant that, although you weren’t in the meeting, you still had a prime view to Kakashi’s reaction when he inevitably found the note you had hidden in his folder.

You watched as Kakashi continued his speech to the board of directors, reaching for his folder to check something.

Oh, there, he was opening his folder!

The cover flipped open and Kakashi froze for only a moment, before he continued like nothing had happened.

You were impressed by his ability to keep his cool, you had to admit, but you still noticed the way his hand shook ever so slightly, as he snuck the note out of the folder and into his pocket without anyone noticing.

When the meeting finished, Kakashi walked straight back over to you, dropping the note in question on your desk.

“You’re incorrigible.” There was the slightest pink to his cheeks.

“So, you don’t want a rimjob?”

Kakashi gave you one of his signature flat looks, although the pink tinge ruined it somewhat, and wordlessly walked into his office, leaving you fruitlessly supressing your cackles.

To sum it up, you really liked him, and it was clear that he really liked you. You had seen his home, met his dogs, eaten his food, and seen flashes of the complexity bubbling just below Kakashi’s purposefully distant exterior.

In a moment of surprising seriousness, Gai had vigorously shaken your hand yesterday and told you that he’d never seen Kakashi as light and happy as he’d been these last few weeks. It was nice to hear.

You still didn’t like the fact that you had to work, but again, the job could have been a lot worse, and you were playing the long game. Technically, you were working right now, but Kakashi had asked you to accompany him on a mini road trip into the surrounding countryside. The days where Kakashi took you with him out of the office were your favourite, but today something was off. You had tired to write off Kakashi’s out of character behaviour as him just having an off day, but there was something about it that was really putting you on edge.

It was like he was trying to distract himself with the paperwork. You wondered if this meant his backstory reveal was coming up. Itachi had started behaving strangely when his worries about you rejecting him for his past were about to make themselves known. Maybe Kakashi’s backstory had something to do with where you were going.

Apparently, you were going to visit a house. Kakashi had mentioned that one of his properties (one of them, pfft, rich kid) required some maintenance. According to him, the roof had been damaged in a storm a few weeks earlier, and he needed to prepare the house for the builders to carry out repairs. Kakashi had described your tasks as mainly including clearing space for scaffolding, cleaning and packing away the breakables in the main rooms, and plugging in the fridge so the builders could store their lunches and have milk for beverages.

They didn’t seem like the kind of tasks that would cause a significant amount of stress. If he was doing things like packing away valuables and plugging in the fridge, it was probably a place he lived, rather than a rental or something. Maybe it was a summer home? You supposed that Kakashi was a very private person, so maybe he was on edge at the thought of having a load of strangers in his house without supervision.

Hmm, that sounded too simple for this universe though. You were due a backstory exposition scene, and maybe you spent too much time reading erotica, but this felt like it had ‘tragic backstory incoming’ written all over it.

“So, this place we’re going… is it a summer home? Oh! Or a summer estate? Is it a mansion? Does it have a pool, and can I use it?”

Kakashi didn’t take the obvious banter bait, he just kept his head down and continued signing documents, providing a short, factual answer.

“It’s none of those things, nor does it have a pool.”

“Aww.” You tried to play up your sadness with a pout. “I was excited.”

“Doesn’t your complex have a swimming pool?”

“I mean, yeah, technically, but this would be a private swimming pool, that’s way better.”

Kakashi chuckled, but his heart didn’t seem in it. You put a hand on his knee and squeezed. He looked surprised for a moment, before his face melted into something softer. He took the hand in his and gave it a squeeze in return.

“If it makes you feel better, the property does have a habitat for racing pigeons.”

“Wha—Really?!”

“No.”

“…”

“I hate you so much.”

…

As the car turned off the main road, you pressed your face back against the window to ooh and ahh at the sights. The road was less maintained and significantly bumpier, but you didn’t let the risk of a concussion stop you from your sightseeing.

There were bushes and flowers and pretty trees lining each edge of the road, and one more turn had you going down what looked like a private road, or dare you say it, a driveway. At this point, you were kind of expecting a mansion, no matter what Kakashi said. What other homes had long private roads? Unless it was some kind of farmhouse? You couldn’t imagine Kakashi owning a farm, but his name did mean scarecrow, so perhaps he’d purchased it as a joke? Did rich people buy property for jokes?

As the car slowly turned one last time, the house in question crept into view. It was neither a farmhouse nor a summer estate. No, it was a traditional, single story, Japanese minka house, set amongst a beautiful and equally traditional garden, framed by beautiful trees, all of which were orange and red and practically screamed Autumn.

The house was large, but not excessively so. At a glance, you would assume it had three to four bedrooms. The roof was sloped and covered in worn shingles, stretching out to shelter the sprawling engawa. Wood and stone materials were used heavily in the walls and decorations, and lamps hung from both sides of the front door. It was beautiful.

You were out of the car the second it stopped.

Now that you were walking up to it, you could see the stone pathways, the koi pond, the sliding glass door at the side, and the shutters on the windows. It was a minka house, but it had clearly been modernised.

You heard the sound of two car doors opening and closing and figured that Kakashi and his chauffeur had joined you in front of the house.

“This is completely gorgeous! I’ve never seen a modernised minka house before. If it’s not a summer home, what is it for?” There was no response, so you turned, breaking eye contact with the beautiful house to search for him. “Kakashi?”

He was standing a few paces behind you, just staring at the house in silence.

“Kakashi—”

“Let’s get everything out of the car,” he mumbled, cutting you off and turning away from the house.

“Kakashi—”

“There isn’t that much; we could probably carry it all in in one trip.”

His tone made it clear that he wasn’t interested in answering your question. You trusted that the narrative would push you into finding out what was wrong when the time was right, so for now, you broke the trance the house had on you, and helped to unpack the boot.

The supplies in the boot took the form of cleaning products, empty boxes, and a few bags of groceries and kitchen supplies. Between the three of you, it was light work, and soon everything was resting on the engawa, ready to be moved inside.

Having other duties to attend to, the chauffeur took his leave once everything was out of the car, leaving you and Kakashi standing in front of the house, side by side. You awkwardly waited for him to unlock the door, but he didn’t seem interested in moving.

You cleared your throat, “Um, should we go in?”

Kakashi jolted like a doll suddenly coming to life and fished the key out of his pocket. He unlocked it, and the door swung open, creaking all the while.

“WD-40 who? This house doesn’t know her.”

He sighed, “Just go inside.”

“Alright, spoil sport.”

Kakashi held open the door and you went inside, slipping off your shoes in the entrance.

Inside, the house was… confusing.

Your eyes darted left and right, trying to understand what you were looking at. It was traditional but modernised with new appliances, not strange considering the outside of the house, but it looked distinctly like it had been modernised at least two decades ago. It was immaculately tidy, not single object out of place, and yet the entire thing was covered in a thick layer of dust. To make things more confusing, it looked lived it, personal, with clutter and photos, but it had an overwhelming air of abandonment.

As you said, it was confusing. Vibe check thoroughly failed.

“It’s… nice?” you said, hoping you could force your voice into something sincere. “Traditional modern vintage? Troderage? Vinadern? Whatever it is, it’s interesting, and I—”

Kakashi cut you off by placing a finger on your lips. He looked amused and exasperated all at the same time. You went cross eyed trying to look at the offending finger, which only seemed to amuse him more.

“You don’t have to find something nice to say, I’m aware that it’s seen better days.”

You went to bite his finger, so he tugged it away, leaving you to snap unsatisfyingly at empty air “Hey, I’m not lying! I like it, it has potential! And potential is the more important thing for a property in my opinion. Like, sure, you could buy one of those awful modern renovated homes with no personality, but if I wanted to live in a white monastery, I’d just—”

Kakashi took one of the masks he’d brought and pressed it over your mouth and then stretched the elastic over your ears to keep it in place, effectively cutting you off once again.

“You know I can still talk through these, right?” you asked, voice slightly muffled, but still clearly understandable. He passed you a dusting cloth and a bottle of unidentified cleaning spray.

“Just… clean. I’ll carry the boxes through and start packing, okay?”

“You’re not the boss of— Oh.” That’s right, he was literally our boss. Good job this was a porn world, because you had a feeling that real world HR wouldn’t approve.

You were rewarded with another one of his eyes smiles as he snapped his own mask into place. “Chop chop, dear assistant of mine.”

Ugh, fine, whatever. Kakashi went back out to the engawa, and you decided to start by dusting the mantel place. If you dusted the photos and ornaments first, which practically covered the mantel place, Kakashi could get started with packing them up.

You started at the left end and grabbed the first picture. Confusingly, it had been laying face down. You hesitated, wondering if it was something Kakashi explicitly didn’t want you to see. You felt drawn to it though. Was that just you being nosy, or was this some kind of hint from your porn logic overlords? Was it moral for you to look when—Too late you already grabbed it and flipped it over.

Philosophising took too long.

It was a photo of two people, obviously a father and son, sitting in the garden you’d just walked through. The sun was shining, and both people were covered in mud, clearly having just finished some gardening. It was a sweet picture, but more importantly you recognised the two people from your google searches.

It was a photo of a young Kakashi and his father. This was his—

A hand tugged the photo out of your hand. Kakashi.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think—”

“It’s fine.” His voice was short, but at least he didn’t sound angry.

“This was your family home, wasn’t it?” you asked softly.

Kakashi sighed, turning away from you to put the photo in one of the boxes. “In a way. Although I haven’t lived here since I was four.”

You put a comforting hand on his shoulder, wondering if this was where you were going to find out about Kakashi’s angst. The death of his father had definitely made an impact on him, but you had a suspicion that there was something more to his angst than that.

Kakashi looked as tightly coiled as a spring, though. You decided to wait until he was more relaxed before you tried coaxing his backstory out of him. Some cleaning would get his mind off things.

“Let’s start with the dusting!” you said, artificially injecting some chipperness into the conversation. You saw Kakashi’s shoulders lift as you stopped prying into his backstory. “You should be careful though.” Hook.

Kakashi looked confused. “What? Why?” Line.

“Because we won’t be able to tell if it gets in your hair, old man.” And Sinker.

Kakashi scowled and threw a dusting cloth at your face.

…

Kakashi warmed up again as you worked. It seemed to help him, having a job to focus on, and of course, you were doing your best to keep his spirits high as well.

And honestly, all the cleaning and mood management was well worth it to see his baby pictures! He didn’t have parents to show you, so you were taking it into your own hands. You avoided bringing attention to any that also contained his father, but there was still plenty to work with.

You squealed, pulling a photo of a tiny, grumpy Kakashi holding a freshly caught fish off the wall to dust. “Look how cute you were! You know how to fish? I’ll be honest, I didn’t imagine that as one of your skills.”

“Will you stop—” Kakashi said, plucking the picture from your hands and hanging back on the wall. “Do you have to put effort into being so nosy, or is it a natural born talent?”

“Completely natural.” You grinned and grabbed the photo back, giving it a quick dust and then putting it in the box of valuables, cooing all the while.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, but you could see the pink dusting his ears.

“Hey, here’s a question.”

“Can’t you just dust?”

“Why was the outside of the house so immaculate, when the inside looks like it hasn’t been touched in a decade?” you asked, taping up one box and grabbing another empty one.

“I hire a groundskeeper for the outside, but I personally clean the inside.”

Your face spoke for itself as you looked around the room, still half-covered in dust. Kakashi sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “I haven’t done it for a couple of years, I admit.”

You laughed, grabbing the next photo to dust. It was another one of just Kakashi, although this time he was sitting behind a dog-shaped birthday cake, scowling at the camera.

“Did you ever smile?” you asked, holding up the photo. “Even now you don’t seem much better at it, always stone faced or rolling your eyes, do I have to teach you?”

You slid the photo under your arm so that your hands were free to push up Kakashi’s cheeks into a faux smile. You managed to hold his cheeks in a forced smile for a second, before Kakashi smacked your hands away, scowling. You sent him a cheeky grin, but he only yanked the photo out from under your arm and bent down to pack it away in a box.

What you did next, could hardly be held against you. You mean, it was right there, in all its glory: Kakashi’s toned but ample butt.

You pinched it.

Kakashi jumped before immediately standing and whirling around to face you. Your grin froze on your face as you noticed something intense flashing in his eyes, the kind of intense that promised revenge.

Oh, fuck.

You broke into a desperate run away from Kakashi, but he immediately gave chase. You ran around the coffee table and into the kitchen, thunderous footsteps sounding behind you. Your heart pounded and some hysterical giggles escaped as you ran through the second door in the kitchen, grateful that it wasn’t a dead end.

“Stop running and accept your fate!” Kakashi called from somewhere behind you.

“You’ll never take me alive!”

You ended up back in the living room, but you managed to catch Kakashi in a stalemate, with you standing behind the couch, and him standing in front of it. Every time he darted around one way, you went the other. You both stared at each other, watching for even the slightest hint of movement.

“If you give up now, I promise the punishment won’t be so bad,” Kakashi said with an unfairly attractive lilt.

“If you think I’m going to give in, then you’re as senile as the grey hair suggests, old man.” To further make your point, you gave him the middle finger. You weren’t really sure how this was going to end, because he would inevitably catch you, even if only because you arrived in his car, but you weren’t a quitter and you certainly didn’t surrender!

Kakashi chuckled, and then in a second, his whole body shot forward and the man leapt over the sofa towards you. You shrieked and continued running. Adrenaline pumping, you automatically ran towards the front door.

Unfortunately, all it took was one moment of weakness. There, in the doorway, you suddenly realised that you weren’t wearing shoes. You hesitated for only a moment, but that was all it took for Kakashi to catch up with you.

“Hidden technique: One Thousand Years of Death!”

There, in the doorway of Kakashi’s childhood home, you let out an ungodly screech as Kakashi’s fingers jabbed you in a place that you really didn’t want to be jabbed.

Your back arched and your butt cheeks clenched.

“You bastard!” you screamed, turning around to smack Kakashi’s chest. He was dying laughing, happily taking your smacks. “That wasn’t funny!”

“It was very funny,” Kakashi disagreed, moving backwards to dodge your smacks. “Although maybe not for the local wildlife; I think they might be traumatised after that screech.”

You huffed, gingerly rubbing your backside as you followed him back into the living room. “You know, you are completely and utterly— Woah!”

Midsentence, because this world was ridiculous, you slipped on a section of wet floor that you were 100% sure you had already dried. There was a split second of relief where Kakashi managed to catch you, before he also slipped on the floor, and both of you went crashing to the ground.

Kakashi hit the ground first, laying on his back, and you quickly followed, landing on top of him. Kakashi let out an oof noise as you knocked the air from his lungs.

It was the exact same thing as had happened with Itachi, except you were the one on top this time. Porn logic was just running out of ideas you thought, bitter at having been tripped on a wet floor that you had already dried.

‘Careful human,’ James interjected. ‘You do not wish you issue a challenge to porn logic, because in my experience, it does not take kindly to such things.’

‘Wait, really? What happens if I issue porn logic a challenge?’

‘The last alpha who did that… well, let’s just say that I doubt their penis was ever the same again.’

You loved porn logic. Porn logic had zero faults and you wanted to kiss it on the mouth, marry it even. It was just perfect in every way.

‘Good save, human.’

‘Thanks, James.’

“Are you going to get off me or are you just going to continue staring into space?” Kakashi’s voice jolted you from your conversation with James and you bashfully cleared your throat.

“Right, yes, of course, but I am going to use your tits as leverage to stand, just saying.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes, which seemed to be his go to response when he was in your presence but didn’t protest your grabbing at his chest.

You put your hands down and gave his chest a little squeeze, ooh, nice and squishy. You were about to push off him and into a standing position, when you felt something that wasn’t so nice and squishy.

In the inside pocket of his jacket was something hard, almost like a small book. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been notable at all if Kakashi hadn’t reacted. You would have assumed it to be some kind of paperwork or light reading, but Kakashi froze, and you’d seen more innocent expressions on kids caught with their hands in cookie jars.

“What’s that?”

“Paperwork.” Kakashi answered far too quickly for you to believe him for even a second.

“Well, if it’s only paperwork, then you won’t mind me having a look.” You grabbed the book out of his pocket, dodging his attempts to stop you. Your weight on top of him was keeping him pinned nicely, and moments later you had the book held triumphantly above your head.

“Now, let’s see,” you hummed, giving the book a look. It was a small yellow book, with large writing ‘Icha Icha’ over the top. The 18+ logo on the front was a damning piece of evidence. This was a porn book. How hilariously ironic.

“I can explain—”

“Kakashi!” you said, in a faux scandalised voice.

“I read it for the story!”

You hummed, considering his story, like a judge. Kakashi stared up at you, trying his best to be the picture of pure innocence, pleading with you to end the interrogation.

Obviously, you had no choice but to push things further.

“Well, I can understand that!” you said, chipper as ever.

Kakashi blinked, “You can? I mean, you can. Great, so if you could just give it back—"

“If the story is as good as you say it is, then I would love to give it a look!” Any hope that had started to bloom on Kakashi’s face died as soon as he registered your words. He tried to sit up, presumably to wrestle the book from you, but you used a knee to hold his chest to the ground. “Now, now, you wouldn’t be so cruel as to deprive me from such a great story, would you? If it’s good enough for you to be carrying around at work, it must be something special.”

Kakashi made another swipe for the book, but you simply held it above his reach. “I hate you. I hate you so much.”

“No, you don’t! Now, let’s see…” You flicked to a random page. “This page looks like a good place to start.” You cleared your throat. When it became obvious that you were about to do a dramatic reading, Kakashi groaned.

“You’re ridiculous, completely ridiculous. I should sue you for assault and theft.”

You ignored him, scanning the page. A feral grin blossomed on your face; it was perfect.

“Elisabeth grinned down at Makoto, hunger and lust warring for dominance in her eyes, reflecting the real life battle that Makoto had just lost. Makoto wondered what it would be like to have her mouth on his—” you gasped, clutching imaginary pearls. “Oh my, Kakashi, what are you reading?”

“I’m reporting you to HR.”

“Oh? And this” -you shifted your hips against his, watching as Kakashi hissed at the pressure on his rapidly rising cock- “is going to end up in the report too, I presume?”

Kakashi had no comment to make, but his rosy cheeks spoke loud and clear. You took that as an invitation to carry on reading. You skipped a few paragraphs to get to the really juicy bits.

“Elisabeth wrapped her hands around Makoto’s neck in a gentle mockery of a collar. Makoto bit his lip, overwhelmed by the imagery. He wanted her to own him, mind, body, and soul. But first, he needed his punishment. A punishment? How exciting! Do you remember what punishment Elisabeth is going to give to Makoto, Kakashi?” You rolled your hips again, delighting in the pleasured grunt you forced from him. Kakashi shook his head as a negative to your question, something you didn’t believe for one moment; the book was clearly well loved and had been read many times before.

You leant down over his pink face and gave him a chaste kiss. You saw his arms move and for a moment you assumed that he was going for the book, but he merely settled his arms on your hips before pushing his crotch up into yours. You hummed and kissed him again. He was such a brat.

“Makoto was forced to kneel at her feet. It was with eagerness that he anticipated the crack of her whips against his skin. He had been bad, he knew that, so he accepted his punishment with grace and also a raging boner. Ah, I see what you’re into. And just when I didn’t think you could be more cliché, the CEO is into BDSM.”

“And how many porn books are you reading to know that it’s cliché?”

“Change the subject all you want; you were the one caught with your proverbial trousers down.” Kakashi rolled his eyes. He seemed to have recovered from the minor embarrassment, because the light dusting of pink didn’t get any worse. You guessed it took more than that to embarrass someone who apparently caried porn around in their pocket of their work clothes. “Okay, okay, one more and then we can keep cleaning.”

You flipped through the book, trying for find the right scene to end it on. Hmm… Maybe you should let porn logic choose? It would probably know exactly what page to pick. You closed your eyes.

‘Porn logic, choose the page that will get the best reaction from Kakashi please!’

You flicked through the pages until you felt the overwhelming urge to stop, at which point you clamped your thumb down. You had landed on page 154.

To your immediate confusion, it didn’t look like it had any porn on it at all. It looked like it was just a sappy conversation between Elizabeth and Makoto. You debated picking another one, but after James’ warning about pissing off the porn logic, you decided to just trust it.

“Elisabeth, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for a while, something important,” you read out loud. Kakashi let out a strangled noise as he realised what page you were on. His lightly pink face quickly deepened into an impressive red. Oh. So that’s how this was going to go.

“Fine, you win, can I have my book back now because—”

“What is it, Makoto? What could be so important that you called me here at this time?”

Kakashi whined, pressing his hands to his face. You had never seen him act like this before. You watched, fascinated, as you continued to read.

“Elisabeth… With all my heart, deeply and truly, I love you.”

Those final words were enough for Kakashi, because he easily broke out of your hold, knocking you off of him and onto the living room floor. Now free, he turned over onto his front and buried his face into his arms. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears.

It was as unexpected as it was adorable. You hoped this wonderful omega never stopped surprising you in the best way.

“Aww, Kakashi, I’m sorry,” you cooed, rubbing his back. “It’s okay to be a sap at heart, I won’t tell anyone! I want to keep this cute side of you to myself.”

Kakashi took a shaky breath before pushing himself into a sitting position. He was still bright red. “You are…”

“Are…?”

Kakashi gave you one of his eye smiles, reached out with a hand, and firmly flicked you on the forehead. “Annoying.”

It was such a weak attempt to restart the banter on a equal standing that you couldn’t hold your laughter in.

“You’re so pathetic,” you laughed, clutching at your stomach. “I love it.”

“So are you,” Kakashi said, pouting.

“I know, that’s why we’re perfect together!”

Slowly, Kakashi started to laugh too, joining your hysteria on the living room floor of his childhood home. You were leaning on each other, just completely lost in a weird joke that only you two could understand.

What a team you made. You really liked Kakashi. Honestly, you could say that you loved him at this point. He was just so fun to be around, fun to tease, fun to bite, everything. Being around him made you feel alive, and having money for everything you could ever need was only adding to how relaxed you had been feeling the whole time in this dimension.

You could see a very happy life here. You didn’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate that you saw an equally happy life with Itachi. Your laughter petered out as you considered the impossible choice you were going to have to make.

The knowledge that no other person would ever enter this universe if you didn’t stay only made you feel guiltier. Was it worse to leave Kakashi alone forever, but with his money and friends, or leave Itachi with the possibility of another great love, but an equal possibility of being forced to settle with some awful person who just happened to die early and choose him?

You sighed, trying to put such heavy thoughts out of your mind for now.

Kakashi was watching you, a soft look on his face. His mask had slipped off at some point during the chase, so you could see his face unhindered. He was just watching you in silence.

You reached out a hand to cup his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am,” he said, still staring at you like you were the centre of his world. “It’s just… it’s been a long time since there was laughter in this house.”

“I bet.” You smiled sadly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. His backstory was so sad that whenever you thought about it for too long, it hurt your heart. It had been easier to read at first, when he had just been some nebulous, kind of dickish, person on a Wikipedia page, but now he was Kakashi, your Kakashi… It hurt to imagine him suffering.

His father had committed suicide when he was only four, and then Kakashi had been raised by custodians, forced into business from a ridiculously early age, and then been betrayed by those who were supposed to look after him as soon as he came of age.

“Kakashi? Can I ask you a question?”

“You? Of course. Always.”

“Do you…” You struggled for a moment, thinking about how best to phrase the question. “Do you enjoy your work? Do you like business? Because from what I understand, you didn’t really get much of a choice.”

Kakashi seemed baffled that you would ask such a question. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“I… like my job,” he said, entirely unconvincingly.

“What do you like about it?”

He didn’t answer. That didn’t surprise you.

“Did you ever get a chance to follow your own dreams?”

Kakashi blinked at you, looking lost. He swallowed heavily. You rubbed your thumb on his cheek to try and comfort him. You understood that for someone who had never been given a choice, your question might have been quite jarring.

“What are your dreams, Kakashi?”

He stared at you and shook his head, still silent.

“You don’t know?” You pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “It’s never too late to make dreams, Kakashi, remember that.”

“If you say so,” he said, trying and failing to keep a light-hearted tone. “We need to keep cleaning, you know, we’re burning daylight.”

You allowed the heavy-handed topic change to slid by without acknowledgment. “You’re right, come on, let’s get up. You’re buying me dinner tonight, by the way, as thanks for all this cleaning.”

He rolled his eyes, standing. “Fine, but I’m picking the restaurant, and I want it delivered.”

“Sounds good to me!”

…

You yawned, gratefully climbing into bed. This MC had invested in expensive sheets, and honestly you loved them for it. There was no better way to end a tiring workday than climbing into bed.

You couldn’t wait to either reject society and run off into the woods with Itachi or have a full-time profession as Kakashi’s eccentric trophy spouse. Work sucked.

You closed your eyes, and just as you were starting to drift off, your phone started to ring. Ugh.

You forced yourself awake. Your fake family and friends hadn’t even been invented yet, and you were already being bothered. You squinted at the caller ID. Oh, it was Kakashi. That was weird; he wasn’t a phone call person.

You answered the phone. “Hello? Kakashi? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I’m sorry for calling you.” His voice sounded strange. It was softer than usual, like his head was off in the clouds.

“That’s okay.” You waited for an explanation of his call, but none came. “Did you need something?”

“Yes, I… I was thinking about the Autumn Company Party and I…”

“Yes?”

“Do you think…” He stopped talking again. Something was off.

“Kakashi, you’re freaking me out. Please tell me what’s wrong?”

There was a pause. “Nothing, I’m sorry, I’m fine. Goodnight.”

“Kakashi—” You couldn’t get any more words out before he hung up the phone.

You sat there in bed, staring down at your call log, confused.

What on Earth had that been about?

Next chapter

#the quest for a second life #kakashi #kakashi hatake #sub!kakashi #sub kakashi #omega kakashi #omega!kakashi #alpha x omega #a/b/o #omegaverse #alpha!reader #alpha reader #dom reader #dom!reader #gn reader #kakashi x reader

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fatkish · 23 hours

Text

The Hashira and their Children

——————————————————————————

(Gyomei is introducing his chubby newborn baby to the other Hashira)

Gyomei: This is Yusuke. Y/n just gave birth to him a few weeks ago.

Mitsuri: aww! He’s so cute!

Shinobu: he looks just like you

Gyomei: would you guys like to hold him?

(After everyone but Sanemi has held the baby)

Gyomei: Shinazugawa, would you like to hold Yusuke?

Sanemi: *holding Yusuke* you look like a lump of mochi

Baby Yusuke: *face contorts and he starts to cry*

Mitsuri: Sanemi, how could you? You made him cry

Tengen: nice going Sanemi

Sanemi: *grumbling as he hands Yusuke to Gyomei* I didn’t mean to make him cry

——————————————————————————

(Kyojuro and Y/n are trying to take a family picture but their 3 year old won’t stop crying)

Y/n: what are we going to do, they won’t stop crying?

Kyojuro: Just give them a box of raisins

Y/n: Seriously?

Kyojuro: *pulls out box of raisins and hands it to his child* there see

Three year old: *immediately stops crying and is waving the raisins around*

Y/n: I swear they get that from you

——————————————————————————

(Sanemi was left at home to look after his 4 year old and 1 year old alone. He was watching them but took a small nap. He wakes up to find his oldest has drawn all over his 1 year old in marker)

Sanemi: what did you do to your brother?

Four year old: *holding the marker* wasn’t me

1 year old: *laughing*

Sanemi: *mumbles to himself* help me clean your brother up now

——————————————————————————

(Conversation between Kyojuro, Sanemi and Tengen)

Tengen: I’m pretty sure my neighbor thinks I’m a terrible father

Sanemi: just ignore them

Kyojuro: you’re not a terrible father, what makes you say that?

Tengen: they saw me chasing my naked three year old twins around the front lawn. Again

Kyojuro: why were you chasing them

Sanemi: wait, what do you mean again

Tengen: they finished taking their bathes but refused to put clothes on

Tengen: then they unlocked the front door and began running around. As soon as I caught one, I’d start chasing the other, but the one in my hands would slip out as soon as I caught the other one. My neighbors saw the whole thing

——————————————————————————

Y/n: *walks into the bathroom where their five year old son is* oh my god! What did you do

Son: *smiles and looks at their mom*

Sanemi: *comes running in* what’s wrong? What happened?

Y/n: take a look at your son, notice anything missing

Sanemi: *stares for a minute* what happened to your eyebrows?

Son: I gets rid of them. Now daddy and I match

Y/n: *turns away snickering*

Sanemi: OI!

——————————————————————————

Kyojuro: *is asleep*

3 year old: Daddy wake up

Kyojuro: *continues to sleep*

3 year old: *grabs TV remote and proceeds to smack Kyojuro with it* Daddy up!

Kyojuro: ow! I’m up

——————————————————————————

(Giyuu, y/n and their 5 year old are in their backyard)

Y/n: and just what do you think you’re doing?

5 year old: *holding a giant Japanese salamander like it’s a stuffed animal* I found him, can we keep him?

Y/n: *looks at the salamander that’s as big as their child* where did you even find that

5 year old: in the river… so… can we keep him?

Y/n: *flabbergasted* where do you expect to put him?

5 year old: in the pond with the fish

Y/n: I’m sorry but that thing will eat the fish

Y/n: *looks at Giyuu* you want to say anything?

Giyuu: …. We could build a second pond for him

Y/n: *throws hands in the air* seriously

Giyuu: what’s his name?

5 year old: Mr. Flabbs

——————————————————————————

Y/n: honey, do you know where our daughter is?

Gyomei: I believe she is in the kitchen….

Y/n: *after walking into the kitchen* oh my god no! Spit that out!

3 year old: *runs out of the kitchen*

Y/n: Gyomei catch her!

Gyomei: *catches daughter and holds her up*

Y/n: spit that out right now!

3 year old: *spits out cockroach into Gyomei’s hand*

Gyomei: please tell me this isn’t what I think it is

Y/n: I wish I could

——————————————————————————

(Y/n, Sanemi and their 3 year old are at an appliance store)

Y/n: *looking at washing machines with Sanemi* what do you think of this…. Where’s our child?

Sanemi: they were right here

Y/n: *look’s around and is mortified* oh please no

Sanemi: what?

Three year old: *is sitting on one of the display toilets with their pants down singing while grunting*

Y/n: stay here while I get the wet wipes

Sanemi: *covers his face in shame*

Store attendant: *trying so hard not to laugh*

——————————————————————————

(Obanai, Mitsuri and y/n are giving their 2 and 3 year olds a bath in the tub)

Obanai: *leaves the bathroom to grab something real quick*

Y/n: how are the kids?

Obanai: just got them into the bath

Mitsuri: *getting the kid’s pajamas ready* they are just so cute

3 year old: *shouting* boat! A boat!

Y/n: did you put toys in the tub?

Obanai: no, we don’t even have any boat toys

Mitsuri: then what is…

Obanai, y/n and Mitsuri: *runs into the bathroom*

(They walk into the bathroom to see their 2 and 3 year olds in the tub with a turd floating around)

3 year old: look a boat!

Mitsuri: *covers her face*

Y/n: *scrambles to quickly remove the kids from the tub*

Obanai: *disgusted as he empties the tub and removes the turd* I’ll run another bath

Y/n: *looks to Mitsuri* still think they’re cute?

——————————————————————————

#obanai x mitsuri x reader #tengen x reader #sanemi x reader #gyomei x reader #kyojuro x reader #rengoku x reader #giyuu x reader

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y11irfilm · 2 months

Text

violet – chapter 4

qimir x f!reader | chapter 1, chapter 2 & chapter 3

summary: she had no direction. a nomad who didn't choose a side. but when a vision makes her save people, she has to face her mind in the worst way possible: on a planet made of water with the man who reminds her of her past.

content: pov qimir, reader has a nickname, mention of deaths, power bond, a kind of “chosen one”, dark past, sexual tension, dark confessions, romantic feelings developing, kisses | wc: 2300+

notes: hello, another chapter of “light and darkness” (and penultimate chapter) that has now turned only violet because i wanted to change the look and it also made more sense to this name. this time, the vision will be totally the first person of the qimir, which was a mission for me but i loved doing it. i made this vision thinking totally of the feelings of a bad guy who just wanted an acolyte but found a feeling that for me should be a mess for them. — english is not my first language!

It was barely dawn when I found her on the beach.

She was wearing her nightdress, her hair was tied up and her feet were stuck in the sand.

Her eyes were closed, her breathing was irregular and her saber was in her hands. I heard her take a deep breath and let it out, her mouth gazing for seconds at the saber. She began to move the saber in slow steps, without turning it on yet.

I'd known about her ability since the forest planet case, but watching how controlled and precise her movements were, my choice was certain.

I crossed my arms over my chest, allowing myself to continue watching her until she realized my presence, which I found difficult at the moment.

She made her movements faster and faster, walking along the beach, marking her presence in the fight and sinking her feet firmly into the sand. I could feel the confusion in her mind from last night's events. She took it out on each blow in the air. She was conflicted. I let a smile appear on my face, she was becoming more connected to her power every day and allowing herself to feel her true feelings about everything around her. That was what I wanted most, the power of the two of us together against the galaxy. Desire grew in my body.

I took a step forward, then froze. I could no longer move my body anywhere. I looked up again to see if she was all right, but she was more than all right. Her left hand was raised towards me and her eyes were still closed. She was using the Force to stop me.

"Hey, jellyfish, open your eyes. It's no fun arresting someone who's not in the fight."

Its eyes slowly opened. Red. They were a blood-red shade that surprised him. How? I not only knew, but sensed that she wasn't on the dark side yet, just small steps away from a doubt I'd planted in her head a few weeks ago. Was her father as bad as he said? After watching for a few seconds, I saw them return to the dark brown I had been watching for so long.

I felt my pressure return to my body as she lowered her hand, so I began to walk until I was a few steps away from her body. I watched as her head slowly turned to the side and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Jellyfish?"

I smiled. "You seem innocent to look at, but you have dangerous tentacles. Or I may have seen you draw one of them in the sand while on one of my walks."

"It was my father's favorite sea animal. He swam with them, felt a strong connection and taught me to love them as if they were my sisters." I could feel the good taste of recalling childhood memories, she seemed at peace. "They used to call me Medusa. I miss them." I tried to find words to continue the conversation, but my thoughts were muddled. With each new piece of her past life, I become a man desperate for more and more.

"I'm going swimming."

I heard his words in the back of my mind while still stuck in the same conflicting thoughts. When I turned my head to look at her, I knew she was shining like a fucking star. I didn't remember feeling my heartbeat like that. I felt my feet take over, water getting into my clothes and my arms moving through the water towards her. I watched her sink for a few seconds and raise her body to the surface again, her eyes going towards me with a smile lighting up her face. She turned her body towards the ocean trail, moving her arms to either side and swimming away again.

"Hold on, wait a minute." I tried to keep up with her, but her nickname was true, she was a jellyfish. Medusa was born to be swimming in the ocean. I could hear her let out a few muffled laughs over the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks near the shore.

She was several meters away from me, stopping and turning her body towards me, making me stop. "Too slow for a person who lives on a planet covered in water, I'm disappointed." I couldn't remember when a smile appeared on my lips, but she noticed. "It's beautiful, it's kind. It's you." I didn't need to think to know what that meant for her. "It's a gigantic wall inside your mind, let the dark king rest for a while." Medusa slowly swam towards me and stopped a good distance away, I could feel her gaze piercing the wall. I waited for her next move, trying to anticipate and prepare my reactions. I felt drops of water splashing onto my face. She had moved her hand and splashed water on my face. Letting out a big laugh at knowing that I really wasn't expecting it.

Medusa began to walk away again, waiting for my footsteps. I just knew I had to bring her to me. I moved my arms to start swimming towards her, watched her raise her head a little and let the big laughs come out of her throat as she ran away from me. It was a beautiful sound that I wanted to hear more often.

Thoughts of a plan were emerging in my mind, and I automatically began to put it into practice. I sank into the water, using my control to avoid being found. I moved my arms quickly towards the aura I felt of jellyfish. On the count of three, I submerged back to the surface, placing my hands on his hips and pulling him to my body. "Gotcha."

Sun star. That's how I could describe his smile at that moment. "Congratulations, king." I felt a tightening in my chest. She moved her hand to one of the loose ends of my hair and tucked it behind my left ear. I felt her fingertips lightly touch my face before her hand fell back into the water. It was like a hot day, my body was burning.

The tightness in my chest continued until it was unbearable. I put one of my hands next to my chest, leaving the fabric of the robe untouched. Then I saw his irises paint a new art, but it wasn't what I had expected to see before. A violet was filling the irises of her eyes, while her smile was lighting up my heart. With one hand still on her hip, I pulled her closer, diving into her eyes.

"Why purple?" I murmured to the ocean.

She knew exactly what I was asking. "As a child, I remember hearing from the Jedi that blue represented hope and hope was them. Red was the blood of one corrupted to the steps of the dark side." Medusa slowly raised her arms, placing them on either side of my neck. The hairs on my body stood on end. I felt conflicted again. "Purple is just the combination of them. A person who lives on both sides. That's me." She murmured the words in my ear, feeling her nose move from my ear to my cheek and her lips deposit a seal on it.

My eyebrows furrowed. "When did you find out?" I saw her smile slowly disappear, replaced by a look lost in painful memories.

"When he killed her. When, when... When I saw him spit out his own blood the countless times I let the knife be plunged into his chest."

"I took his body in my arms and carried it to the ocean, swimming to them." Medusa closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. The violet was still alive in her irises. "I did what my mother asked, I loved him until the last second. I let him die the way he always wanted to, alongside the countless medusozoa.

I let my hand rest on one of her cheeks, my thumb caressing her skin. I felt a wave pass us and continue with full force to the shore, I turned my face and watched the change in the sea. Medusa was controlling it. Looking at her again, she wasn't noticing her own change, living by recalling her melancholy memories.

I plunged back into her violet eyes, then to her eyebrows, her thin, upturned nose, the rosy apples of her cheeks and finally, her lips. Desire ignited every part of my body. I looked at her, letting my eyes linger on her lips. I longed to kiss her. No, my soul cried out to take her for myself. An animal was born in my chest, ready to take over every cell of her body.

Violet. She looked like a fucking goddess with those piercing eyes, trembling and alive.

"Medusa."

"Qimir."

The weeks of sharing moments in the cave. I opened my eyes as the days dawned, and she was my first sight. Her walks around the planet and my eyes following her as if they needed that to breathe in peace. Preparing food for us to eat in the silence of the ocean, while our gazes met, I couldn't keep the corner of my mouth from twitching into a half-smile as I noticed her trying to look away from the food. Sleepless nights I couldn't help but stare at her contemplating the tranquillity of the darkness, her dark brown eyes illuminating the cave sky with such admiration. "Home, yeah, it reminds me of there." Her words came out like a breath in the air, her gaze continuing upwards, seeming to be talking to someone. I knew who it was. Watching him train on the sandy beach, his feet wet from the water on the shore and his eyes focused on each blow in the air. I could feel his anger draining away in his blows.

Confused feelings. She turns me into a different man every day. A different one that frightened me. I shouldn't be confused, I knew every moment that made her the way she is, but they're moments that haven't made her even ten percent the way she is. I shouldn't be wishing for something like this, I shouldn't be feeling this way about her. But in our gazes, I didn't care about any feelings that were emerging. I just wanted her to look at me more and more.

"What's stopping you?" When she came so close to my face?

"It's going to destroy us, like your parents. We shouldn't be involved in this." I felt a wave form and hit us hard before continuing on to the rocks.

"For the guy who was going to make a massacre, that sounds funny coming out of your mouth." She wrapped her arms around my body, resting her chin on my left shoulder. Whispering into my shoulder: "A man once said that fear is a powerful emotion, when you allow yourself to feel it." I felt his face rise again and come within inches of my face. His violet eyes became my undoing. "You become free."

Those three significant words in their lives came out in one last breath of air from her. My hand went up to her face, my thumb sliding over her lips in immense devotion. My hand moved to her neck, pulling sharply and pressing my lips to hers. A guttural moan escaped my throat as I felt her hand move up to my neck, wrapping around a few locks of my hair and pulling them without any affection. My hand went down to her waist and squeezed the flesh with fervor. Running my tongue across the roof of my mouth as I devoured the tiny sounds emanating from her. The waves began to follow us each in a few seconds with their superhuman strength, but they seemed tiny for what we were feeling at the moment. I felt her other hand wrap around one side of my face, pressing my fingers together. Then I saw it.

Flashes of her running in my arms until she was in the sea, my eyes not leaving her sleeping face. She heard my voice, but couldn't understand the words. I felt a great anguish in my chest, growing with each flash in my mind. Until everything stopped and I was with her again. I abruptly moved a few centimeters away from her, still processing the images in my head.

"Qimir." She moved her hand to my face, but I swam back a few more centimeters. Regret grew in me as my eyes stopped on her hand raised in the air, watching the fingers slowly close and the hand fall back into the water. I stared into her eyes for a few more seconds before turning around and swimming to the shore. I felt her gaze pierce my back as I walked away from the beach, but I held back the urge to turn and look at her again.

I felt his presence next to my bed, lying down and his gaze piercing my back, but I didn't give up. Every second I thought about the torture of ignoring her presence, I remembered the flashes and the anguish in my chest screamed for help. I could feel her doubt growing every second in the few centimeters our bodies were apart.

Her fingers touched my upper arm and the hairs on my body stood on end at the touch. "Qimir." Her breathy voice brought me an ache I hadn't felt in decades. She moved a few centimeters closer until she was leaning her face against my back. It was unbearable to be with her and not be able to glimpse her illuminated eyes. "I can't breathe in peace with you like this." Her face pressed tightly together. "Please."

I couldn't anymore.

My body turning towards her, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her body to mine. I didn't care about anything else at that moment, just having them in my arms. I would prevent that vision, no matter what I did.

#fanfic #qimir #qimir fic #qimir imagine #qimir smut #qimir the acolyte #qimir x reader #qimir x you #star wars qimir #the acolyte

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idwt-money · 9 months

Text

Sleepless Nights

MDNI 18+

1.5k words, Noah Sebastian x fem!reader

CW: unprotected sex, oral sex (fem rec), slight spit play(??), tiny bit of aggression

“Fuck, Noah..” whispers were almost silent in the room. Words that wouldn’t be remembered in the morning.

It was ungodly hours in the morning and it was the first night Noah was back from tour. He would usually be dead asleep, snoring and mumbling in his sleep by now but you made this tour…especially excruciating.

You would send him pictures of yourself in new lingerie while he was away, forcing him to jerk off in a tiny tour bus bathroom. Having to be dead silent due to the, quite literal, paper-thin walls of said tour bus.

You hadn’t been able to help but giggle to yourself when this happened. He would send you texts back almost immediately. Something along the lines of “I’m going to fuck you until your head is spinning.”

You had never held him to his words as he was usually a shy boy. Although this behavior was unusual, you didn't think much of it. You figured he had gained confidence over the phone.

Once he had actually gotten home, he almost immediately pinned you against the wall of your shared home and took you like a rabid animal.

It took you by surprise, really. Usually you were the one to initiate, but this was nothing you were complaining about.

And here you are now, ass up and Noah having no mercy on your poor body.

“What baby? Didn’t think I meant what I said in those texts did you?” His words were sparse between grunts and huffs from all the pleasure his touched starved cock was receiving in the moment.

He knew you couldn’t respond, not only because your sentence would just be a string of moans and pathetic whimpers, but also due to the fact he had a fist full of your hair, pushing your face into the duvet.

God, you wished and hoped that he would turn you over so you could see how devilishly sinful he looked.

That thought lasted maybe 30 seconds when Noah slapped your ass, with much force, bringing you close to your first orgasm of the night.

You didn’t have to say anything, Noah knew your body better than you did. Your legs began to shake, your pussy tightened around him and your muffled cries and pleas were becoming louder by the second.

“Give it to me. I want it now.”

With Noah’s permission you let your orgasm rip through you like lightning bolts. It made your vision go blurry before you shut your eyes.

It dozed through you before coming to an end. You had never gone for so long without an orgasm caused by your lover.

You both were highschool sweethearts and up until the tour, you hadn’t gone even an entire 2 weeks without seeing each other, let alone fuck.

With no words shared, Noah moved you onto your back and thank god he did. He looked just as you imagined. His hair was messy and falling in his face due to the utterly unforgiving thrusts he had been fucking into you.

“There’s my pretty girl. So so good for giving yourself to me.” His voice was ridden with a tone somewhere between lust and love. He had slowed his thrusts, just long enough to give you a kiss to your lips. It was messy and unfathomably pussy throbbing. Your tongues were swirling around each other as if they were dancing to an unheard beat. Saliva was starting to pool down your chin but when he pulled away, you couldn’t be bothered to wipe it away. Noah grabbed your legs, pulled you closer and went at an unrelenting pace. You knew he was close but not this close. 3 or 4 thrusts later he was letting curse words leave his lips and he spilled his load onto your stomach.

His chest heaved and gasped for air as he milked his cock for the remains of his orgasm. The words he was growling out seemed to have come somewhere deep within his diaphragm. Almost like he was on stage screaming for thousands of people. Neither of you cared about how loud you were being or if any of the neighbors had heard you. In this very moment, it was just you two.

You had made eye contact before watching him sink to his knees, off of the bed and dive into your pussy like it was a divine meal meant for the gods. The wet noises coming from Noah’s mouth immediately sent your two hands into his hair. No matter how nasty you two fucked, he always treated your pussy like his last meal on earth, being sure to treasure every lick, slurp and gulp.

“Oh fuck, Noah” When he wrapped your lips around your already sensitive clit, it caused your body to jolt. Your thighs clenched around his head and your fingers to pull at his hair.

Grunts escaped his mouth, his now being muffled due to the position you had him trapped in. In which only caused you more pleasure. The vibrations of his now low moans made your mind foggy. You started to take it into your own hands and grind against his tongue.

Noah seemingly didn’t like the idea of you taking charge and left a hefty slap to your thigh.

“We’re doing this at the pace I want. I waited far too fuckin’ long to taste you. I am in charge. Understand?” His voice was low and husky, causing a rush of wetness straight to your pussy. You nodded, thinking it would give him satisfaction of an answer. It didn’t.

“Use your fucking words y/n” He had a look of the slightest irritation written on it.

“Yes sir.” Your words were quiet but it did the job as he went back down, taking long, thoughtful strokes to your clit. Your mouth fell open and your eyes collapsed closed, taking in nothing the warm, wet feeling of his devilish tongue.

Noah could genuinely go on forever between your legs, he, a couple times, had gone until you were crying and his jaw was sore. It was almost like he enjoyed watching you squirm and shake due to his tongue rather than actually fucking you.

Your moans had now gone high pitched, and the once slow, languid licks of his tongue were now fast and on the borderline of being dangerous.

“Baby- oh fuck! Please keep going. I’m so so so close!” You once again rested your hands in his hair as a poor excuse to try and ground yourself.

Noah didn’t say a word, instead giving you silent praise by swirling his tongue around your clit.

Another orgasm crashed into you and it was almost debilitating.

Your eyes had rolled to the back of your head, Noah brought you in closer with a grasp on your hips and you were spent.

He pulled away, licking his lips and slightly cleaning the mess your cunt had made dripping down his chin.

“You taste like heaven itself. Holy shit.” He said in disbelief.

He climbed atop of you and shared a chaste kiss with you, venturing his way down your neck. He left small bites and small hickies here and there, in some sort of proof you were his and no one else could ever have you in the way he does.

Despite what Noah had planned in his own world, you went against it and forced him to lay down, now hovering over his cock.as you sunk down onto him, his nails sunk into your hips.

You softly grinded down onto him, throwing your head back and biting your lip as an attempt to stop yourself from smiling too big.

Once you got comfortable on top of him, you situated your legs and started to bounce up and down on his cock. Noah was now being more vocal with curses, groans, huffs, grunts. Whatever his body could do to help the overpowering sensation of pleasure.

This time, you weren’t worried about achieving your own orgasm but wanted to pull one more out of Noah before you both were too tired.

“Come on handsome. I know you got it in you, give it to me.”

Noah had an undeniable thing for praise and encouragement in these situations, contrary to popular belief.

��Mhm, just like that, just like that. Shit!” His voice was worn out now, giving it more of a soft moan rather than his previous growls.

Within seconds he was unfolding in front of your eyes, his breathing became shallow and his eyes were pinched closed, focusing on getting him to topple over the edge of pure bliss. As his mouth fell open, he released everything into you. As he came, his grip on your hips dug deeper and you wouldn’t have been surprised if you had bruises the next day.

As soon as he was done with his orgasm, you toppled over onto his chest, even though you were dirtied with his previous orgasm. He softly rubbed your back as he whispered soft words of adoration to you.

Soon enough helped you clean off what mess he made in your rendezvous earlier. Once you were in bed, you made a small conversation consisting of how much you missed him while he was away from you.

#bad omens cult #bad omens #noah sebastian #noahsebastian #badomens #bad omens band #badomenscult #nick folio #jolly karlsson #nicholas ruffilo

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nicole-timey-wimey-stuff · 5 months

Text

Pretty Little Letter’s

Dbf Negan Smith x Fem Reader

Synopsis - After finishing college you decide to on a gap year to take a breather after many years of hard work. Setting out to travel the country, you promise to write to your dad every week, what happens when his best friend Negan makes you promise to write to him too.

Warnings- No apocalypse AU, dads best friend, large age gap, feelings, love confessions, adventures, reader travelling, reader described as female, mentions of cheating, Negan is the one cheated on in this fic by ex wife, struggles with feelings, I took the John Winchester idea and made Negan a mechanic, obviously not canon at all, vague mentions of sex, but no actual smut in this chapter. There will be in later chapters though so 18+ only please.

Let me know if I’ve left anything out

Word count - 6.6K (sorry it’s a long one)

This is part one of two chapters in this mini series.

_______________________________________

Tomorrow was the day, the day you’ve been waiting for, the day you were leaving for an adventure. After 4 years of hard work and dedication, you had graduated Yale University with honours. You’d surpassed anything you felt you could accomplish, with the amazing support of your dad, who had raised you single-handedly. He has supported you throughout your life from scrapped knees and boo boos as a child, to finishing school with the grades you needed to get into Yale.

It was a dream you’d always had, even as a child. You’d pinned up pictures of the college on your wall, telling your dad ‘one day I’ll be here!’ When you received the letter you’d ripped it open with such ferocity, your dad was sure you’d shred your hands. Only to crumple to the floor in floods of tears, walking towards you he settles next to you pulling you in for a big hug, “Hey don’t worry baby girl, it’s not the end of the world we still have other letters coming, other options. No matter what I’m soo proud of you my darling girl” he cooed. You shook your head no, trying to steady your breath “No d…..ad” you stuttered “We did it, I got in, I did it dad! I got in” you continued through staggered breaths, he reached over and pulled it from your grasp reading the words carefully, his hand clamped over his mouth in shock. He started crying too, pulling you in tighter, letting his tears fall freely.

Being the amazing father he was, hours later he was on the phone with his oldest and closest friend Negan, explaining you’d got in, you’d done it, and if Negan could look for a house up there for you both, Negan lived in a small town in Connecticut not too far from Yale. He’d instantly agreed, finding you a lovely 3 bedroom home only a street away from himself. Your dad had been there behind you every step of your life, and he wasn’t about to let this one be any different.

So you packed up your life, making the lengthy trip from Virgina to Connecticut.

The experience has been amazing, you’ve loved every second of college. You came home every night excitedly animating your days to your dad, and many days to Negan too. He would be over often for dinners, you guys also going over his frequently too, the three of you spent many evenings together BBQs, football games, board game nights, you name it. You’d spent a lot of the last 4 years with Negan, he was a great friend to your dad. They’d kept in contact when he had moved from Virgina with his wife, because she wanted to be able to commute to New York easily. She took to the big corporate job like a fish to water, but she began coming home to Negan less and less, giving excuses about early starts and having to stay in some fancy hotel. Unfortunately one day when he made a trip to the city to surprise her, he’d found her rolling around the bed with her boss.

He called later that day to tell your dad what happened, your dad being the great person he is dropped everything and came up here to be with him, leaving you with your grandma for a few weeks.

After a lengthy divorce he’d stuck it out in the sleepy town, deciding he didn’t want to upheave his life once again. You hadn’t known Negan too well then, your dad called him often and you knew his voice, that deep rumbling voice, from their calls. You’d even answered the phone to him a few times, making polite small talk until your dad could take over. But he’d moved to Connecticut when you were only 2 years old, so you’d never really gotten to know him.

That all changed when you moved to start Yale, and you’d be lying if you hadn’t developed an enormous crush on the older man. Gods was he beautiful, he was funny sometimes making you actually cry from laughter. He was kind, loyal, owned his own mechanics garage, he was an all round great guy, and you had no idea why no one had snapped him up yet. Though secretly you were thankful no one had, because the mere thought stirred an ugly pit of jealousy in your stomach.

But tonight things were perfect, you were having a farewell dinner with the two men in your life, sat around the coffee table on your living room floor, eating pizza, heads thrown back in laughter as you whoop your dads ass at monopoly.

“Oh come on y/n not another hotel” your dad pleads playfully.

“I’m afraid so dad, told you the light blue were worth buying, the houses are cheap to buy, I can get as many as I want” you goad in giggles.

“She has you there man! I’d add another to Euston Road if I were you sweetheart! Finish him off” Negan jests.

“Don’t encourage her!” Your dad grumbles, causing you and Negan to roll in laughter even more.

“You know what I think I will” you reply adding another hotel.

Your dad takes his next roll landing on one of your hotel properties,

“Oh shit man! That’s you done isn’t it” Negan teases. Your dad stands then playfully tips the board over, making you gasp in mock shock before falling into giggles once again, in the moment you end up leaning your head against Negan’s shoulder.

“Right that’s it I’m done with this silly game, who wants another beer” your dad laughs.

“Me” you say, Negan nodding in unison his breath slightly shaken from your head still leaning against his shoulder, like it belongs there which in his mind it does. Man he’s dreading you leaving for a year, every time he thinks about it, there’s a constricting feeling in his heart. He brings his arm around you pulling you closer for a second, taking a moment to bask in your warmth. He gives you a quick squeeze, before moving to start packing away the game.

You watch him with a warm smile on your face, my goodness were you going to miss him. But you needed this, you needed to stand on your own two feet and experience some living. You also needed to get over this silly crush, he was 20 years older than you for Christ sake, he probably looked at you like a niece. He definitely wouldn’t return your affections, so you should go and clear your head. See some of the world, meet people and have experiences.

They always say you discover yourself while travelling alone.

You wanted to see if that was true.

But leaving these two behind would be hard, even if it wasn’t forever a year was still a long time. “So sweetheart your really leaving us tomorrow?” Negan asks, “Yup! Just like Bilbo Baggins I’m off on an adventure” you giggle, trying to make light it it, when in fact your heart is sinking at the thought. “Not gonna be the same without you here darlin’” he affirms, there’s a smile on his face but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes, and those beautiful dimples aren’t showing. For a second you wonder if he returns your feelings, but that wouldn’t make any sense so you push the idea out of your mind.

Your dad arrives back 3 beers in his hands, “I can’t believe my baby girl is going out into the world tomorrow, you promise to write to me every week yeah??” Your dad asks. “You know I can just text you? And call you right?” You answer, “Yeah you can call too, but I want hand written letters to have a part of you still coming home every week” he replies voice sounding emotional, this was a big step for him you had never been away from your dad before. Getting up you give him a big hug, “Ok dad I’ll write to you every week and I’ll send you postcards, so you can see where I’ve been!” You promise. “Yeah that sounds great baby girl” he affirms.

After your dad passes out snoring on the couch, you clean up the pizza boxes with Negan. While you’ve moved on to clearing up the kitchen he stands in the doorway watching you, “You know sweet cheeks, I’d love for some of those hand written letters too” he expresses. Looking up at him in shock, you ask “Really?”, “Yeah I want to hear everything your doing, plus it would be nice to have a part of you here with me too, like I said sweetheart it won’t be the same here without ya” he replies stepping closer, gently brushing a hair out of your face, hazel eyes bearing into you. “Ok Negan I’ll write to you too”, “Good” he sighs, leaning in he kisses your head wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug. “Gonna miss ya kid”, “Yeah I’ll miss you too” you reply.

Letting him out the door you say your goodbyes, before tucking a blanket over your dad.

This was going to be hard……

_______________________________________

You’ve been travelling a week now, slowly making your way down south to Florida. You made sure to stop for a few nights at your grandmas, you loved spending time with her, just like your dad she was a sweet soul, and you’d really enjoyed some long chats and a homemade meal.

The last morning of your stay you popped by taking a look at the house you grew up in, you always wondered if your mother had ever stopped by to see you. Missing you because you’d moved away, would she be proud that you’d made it to Yale, probably not. She’s never cared enough to call, she upped and left the day after you were born. Just left you in the hospital, for your dad to find when he came back in after some rest at home. Leaving your dad to step into both parents roles, which he took on without complaint bringing you up in a home full of love and laughter, you were beyond blessed to have been given him as your dad.

With that you tucked those thoughts away, your dad and grandma love you, are proud of you and support you. You didn’t need anyone else, well except maybe Negan.

By the end of your first week you’d made it to the Croatan National Forest, in North Carolina. You decided to stop here and see the sights, maybe do some hiking, some swimming on the coast. You found a cute little beach rental you booked for a few nights, it looked out to the river which joined the ocean. It was peaceful here, kids had all gone back to school and the soft autumn breeze was setting a chill in the air. So the beach was practically empty, with the exception of a few dog walkers.

Dark skies started settling in, greys and blacks filling the vast space, the clouds looked as if they were rolling towards you. A storm was coming which emitted some excitement in you, to sit there and watch them was one of your most favourite things to do, especially if the lightning was close and you could see it crack across the sky.

Settling in the bay of the bedroom window, you looked out at the water, pulling out your notebook you got to writing your dad his first letter. Folding it up you sealed in in an envelope, adding your home address and a stamp. Then you began to write Negan’s,

Dear Negan,

I’ve made it to North Carolina, to the Croatan National Forest. I’m staying in a really cute little beach house, which was cheap due to the holidays being over. I’m currently sat watching a storm roll in, windows open enjoying the breeze.

I stopped to see Grandma on the way down, she sends her love to Dad and you. She still hasn’t changed bless her, I also stopped by my old neighbourhood to see the house. I didn't feel as sad seeing it as I thought I would. I think that’s because you’ve made our lives so much more incredible. I miss you both it’s odd being without Dad for the first time, but it’s also strange being without you too now. You’ve ingrained yourself into my life now and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I think I’ll take a swim tomorrow if the weather allows it, I may even swim in the rain if I can. So there you go, you can picture me dancing under the storm.

Yours truly

Y/N

You sealed the letter, writing his address and placing another stamp. Maybe you poured a bit of how you feel about him in there but it felt good to let some of it out, like it was healing a small part of you.

You ran down to the post box before the rain hit, dropping the letters in and running back to your temporary home. Closing the door just as the torrential downpour started. “Phew that was close” you giggle. That evening you sat in your window watching the storm, the bright lightning cracked above illuminating the beach. Rain pouring and winds blowing, while you stayed cozy eating your soup admiring natures fierce show.

When morning came around it was still raining, though the storm had passed. You threw on your bathing suit and braved the weather, running into the water with a loud gasp as the cool liquid surrounded you. You laid back watching the rain fall from the sky, in that moment you’d never felt so free.

_______________________________________

Back home Negan received his letter a few days later, he’d been checking his post box every single day, like a man deranged. ‘Finally’ he thought tearing open the envelope before he even made in back inside. Sitting down at his dining room table he read your words, smile adorning his features, dimples pulling deep. ‘Ingrained himself into your life, and you wouldn’t change it for the world’ for the first time he allowed himself to hope, that just maybe you returned his feelings.

Was this your way of telling him so? He didn’t know but he needed to find out, he’d have to play this safe though, edge it out of you slowly, god only knows what would happen if he assumed wrong, you’d tell your Dad no doubt, he’d loose you and his best friend in one go, he couldn’t risk that.

Pulling out his phone he sent you a message,

‘Hey sweetheart,

Thank you for my little letter, I hope you had fun swimming and dancing in the storm, though I also hope you stayed safe.

You’ve also ingrained yourself into my life angel face, came into it like a spitfire but I wouldn’t have it any other way either. Enjoy your next week, just make sure you stay safe.

Negan

Xxx

He sent the text, and waited under baited breath for a response. He almost jumped out of his chair when his phone pinged.

Hi Negan

Your welcome, I can assure you I am staying safe, I’m checking my oil and water levels too, as promised. Car is running smooth still :)

‘Spitfire’? I wouldn’t say that! But I’m glad you wouldn’t have it any other way because your stuck with me now.

I’ll send you your next letter same time this week, till then ……

Y/N

Xxx

He smiles to himself once more, you most certainly are a spitfire. But you’re also the best thing to ever come into his life, he hopes one day he’ll be able to tell you so.

_______________________________________

End of your second week, it’s rushed by so fast and you can’t believe your already in Jacksonville Florida. Today your sat on the beach it’s much warmer here, no sign of any autumn breeze and the sunny weather bringing many people to the beach. Your currently writing to your dad again while listening to the soft waves crashing onto the shore. Finishing his letter you once again start writing one to Negan,

Dear Negan,

What a week I’ve had! Can you believe I’m already in Florida? Today I’m sat on Jacksonville beach watching the waves crashing. It’s much busier here and much warmer, apparently there’s a swell coming in tomorrow so I may try surfing. I’ll be sure to send you both some hilarious pictures, of me falling on my face.

I’m staying two nights here in a hotel overlooking the beach, the buildings here on the coast are like mini skyscrapers. I think they may be too tall, it ruins the feel of the place. My next move may be Orlando Disney, I’ve always wanted to go! May even get made into a Disney princess! Because hey you only live once, which one should I go for?

I’m starting to really miss you both, how’s my dad coping? I hope my boys are looking after each other,

Well I’m going to go find somewhere for dinner, speak soon.

Y/N

Xxx

Getting up you brush the gritty sand off your legs, setting out on a mission to find somewhere to post these letters. After exploring a few busy streets, you see it, Bingo! You spot the blue metal of the US postal boxes, slotting in your letters before finding a diner to eat dinner in.

Back home 48 hours later Negan received your second letter, “my boys” he reads, the thought of being yours makes his cheeks flush, and his heart quicken. He feels like a teenage boy again at 52 years old, he’d be yours in a heartbeat if you’d ask him. But he knows it’s out of the question, your his best friends kid, and what would you want with an old man? Your so beautiful and he doesn’t feel he’s got much to offer you at this point of his life. Even so he will allow himself to enjoy these letters, living in a little daydream for a while.

After pacing his kitchen for a good ten minutes he decides he has to talk to you, the words “my boys” still swirling around his head. Giving in and pulling out his phone he sends you a text,

Hey sweetheart

I remember Jacksonville well, I visited about 15 years ago now. I went to a work conference there. Your right the buildings are too tall beside the ocean, definitely not one of my favourite beaches.

Surfing? How did that turn out I’m still waiting on this photo.

“Your boys hey” I like the sound of that darlin. But yeah I’m making sure your dad cooks for himself, and I fixed his lawn mower for him, so your gardens looking a lot better now!

Make sure you continue to stay safe sweetheart, I hope you enjoy Disney, but you don’t need to dress up to be a princess you’ve always been one.

Negan

Ping

His heart is beating rapidly in his chest as he opens your reply,

Hey Negan

Actually I did ok surfing, I managed to stand up and everything lol

Ping

He opens the slightly blurry image of you standing up on a large longboard, big smile on your face. You look so beautiful and so happy.

Ping

So as you can see, not a complete disaster! I went to Disney world yesterday, it was great fun but all in all too many people about. I’ve set off west now aiming in a general direction of New Orleans, as I’ve always wanted to go. I think it may take a week or two to get there though!

And don’t worry I will be careful I promise. You’ll always be my boys

Y/n

Xxx

He smiles to himself you were going to be the death of him, he was sure of it.

Ok sweetheart

Look at you! You’re a natural! Well I’ll wait with bated breath until your next letter, I think you should send two a week I Think one a week is just too long to wait for sweet cheeks.

Negan

Ping

Ok Negan

Two it is, I’m off to bed now

Night

Y/N

He grins, two letters a week, he feels all important now. He wonders if your dad will also get two letters a week? Or if he really is special enough to be the only one.

_______________________________________

A few weeks pass in a blur, you keep your promise to Negan and write to him twice a week. Not only that you both text constantly and have started video calling frequently too. Your currently walking through the vibrant streets of New Orleans with your phone in hand, on video call to Negan as you show him the current festivities happening. “Look at the colours Negan! I’ve never seen anywhere so bright and colourful, and the musics been incredible.” You ramble off excitedly, “Yeah I can see that sweetheart, I wish I was with you right now it looks incredible” he replies.

“I wish you were with me too, it’s amazing! I’ll have to bring dad here at some point.” You gush,

“Yeah maybe we should all plan a trip” he replies and you nod along, “Yeah that sounds good!”

“So where are you off too next?” Negan asks, “Well I’ve booked to stay two weeks on this women only ranch just outside Austen Texas, so I’m going to enjoy a slower pace for a couple of weeks, I’ll get to go riding everyday and read books in the sun” you answered, “That sounds like a good plan sweetheart, you haven’t slowed down in weeks.” Negan hums, truth be told you were looking forward to slowing down for a bit, it’s been a full on couple of months, and as much as you’ve enjoyed it you’ve burnt yourself out a little.

Back at your hotel room you and Negan chat over video call for hours, you admire him as he throws his head back in laughter, while laying back on his couch. You're sat cross legged on your bed, window open so you can see and hear the ongoing festivities outside, the cheerful jazz music floating around your room.

“I can’t believe I’ve been away two months now, it’s gone so fast”, it hasn’t felt fast to Negan, it’s felt like every hour has dragged on without you home. Nights with your dad are much quieter, and your presence is constantly missed. “Yeah sweetheart” he agrees half heartedly, and you sense the change in his tone. “Everything ok?” You ask, voice laced with concern. “Of course darlin we just miss you is all” Negan admits.

“I miss you too you know, life on my own has definitely been quiet. It’s why I enjoy these video calls so much, it almost feels like your here, like it’s a normal Friday night Just without the beers and pizza” you laugh.

His heart warms at your confession, slowly over these weeks he’s noticed little things. The way you look at him, or the way your face lights up when you answer his calls, your letters have become sweeter too. He allows himself to truly hope, that maybe you return his feelings. He’s in half a mind to jump in the car and meet you on your travels, take you into his arms and lay it all out, tell you how he feels and hope you say you feel them too. But his mind always falls back to your Dad, his best friend of nearly 30 years. How would he take it, would he ever talk to him again? Would he forbid him ever seeing you again? It’s these thoughts that stop him ever taking anything further than flirty remarks, and terms of endearment, but god does he wish he could just take you in his arms, feel your skin against his own as he spends all night worshiping your body like the goddess you are.

“Negan…..Negan are you with me” your voice cuts through his daydreaming, “Yeah sorry sweetheart, must be getting tired it’s past this old man’s bedtime” he teases. You huff out a small giggle “You’re not old Negan” you reply. “I’m 52 darlin, I’m nearly at the end of middle aged” Negan groans, you shake your head in disagree “Nope I don’t agree”, “Well I’ll take that” Negan laughs, “We should get some sleep though, it’s like 1am! Night Negan”

“Night Beautiful”

As the call ends you sit there shocked, that’s new, he just called you beautiful! He’s never used that pet name before, usually it’s darlin or sweetheart. Butterflies erupt in your stomach and you can’t help the smile that tugs at your lips. You fall asleep that night with the smile never leaving, listening to the distant hum of jazz.

_______________________________________

The ranch is beautiful, picturesque like a postcard. You feel like you’ve stepped into some country and western film, you’re currently sat under a large tree watching the horses gallop about the pens. There’s a few other women staying at the ranch with you, and you’ve enjoyed getting to know them. One is a lot older than the rest of you, her name’s Frances, she’s been cooking for you all and mothering everyone.

It’s been nice, you weren’t used to a motherly woman being in your life. You’ve told her so too, told her about your life and that your dad raised you alone. She’s been a great listener, she brought up her two sons and how she couldn’t understand a mother ever leaving her children, she could never. When she asked if there was anyone special in your life, you’d bitten your lip and done your best to redirect the conversation. After much convincing you’d told her there was a man who held your affections, but he was much older than you. So it wasn’t an easy situation, but she’d told you there’s no age restrictions on love, so long as both parties involved were adults and felt the same.

It lead you to hope, that maybe you and Negan could maybe one day be something. You were starting to also hope that maybe he felt the same way you did, he had called you beautiful after all.

Taking out a pen and paper you began writing your letter’s.

Dear Negan

This ranch is beautiful, even in the sweltering heat it’s like something out of an old movie, there’s other women here too so it’s been nice to get to know them and make some friends.

I’m currently watching this black horse run through the field, he’s almost ethereal the way he moves. He looks so free, no worries in the world, and I fell like I’m witnessing his wildest joys and deepest secrets.

There’s a lovely lady here called Frances, she’s been like the mother hen to everyone. I’ve had many chats with her, especially about mum. She couldn’t understand how she just left me, said she never could leave her children. I do wonder if she ever thinks about me at all? Maybe she does, or maybe she just moved on with her life and never looked back.

I talked about you too, how important you are in my life too. I’ve been thinking a lot recently. Anyways I’ll send another letter soon.

With Love

Y/N

Xxx

After sealing the letter you wondered if you should send it, had you made things too obvious? Maybe you needed too to see if there was something there? With a deep breath you dropped it in the postal box, placing it to the back of your mind for now, before joining the rest of the girls for the activities for the day.

_______________________________________

Just two days later Negan received your letter, reading the words he felt incredibly sad. You were hurting he could tell, he doesn’t understand how your mother left you either, she’d never know how incredible the girl she brought into the world turned out to be.

Because you were, you’re incredible. So kind, loyal, brave with a determination he’s never witnessed before, and you were so beautiful beyond compare. So yeah she was the one who had missed out, missed watching that baby girl become the most amazing woman. Something himself and your Dad had never taken for granted, even only really getting to know you these last four years, he’s seen you change and thrive becoming the amazing person you are today.

He’s glad you’re making friends along the way though, he was worried you were starting to get a bit lonely being alone for so long. Still the thought of coming to the ranch himself and holding you in his arms was so compelling right now, you were sad and he felt such a great need to make you smile, or hold you as you cried. You deserve the world, he hopes he can show you that someday.

His heart lurches at the thought of you talking about him, and thinking about him? Thinking how? Is that a confession? Or just you missing home? He would call you later, see what he can coax out of you.

You were sat on the porch watching the sunset, the sunsets down south were the most beautiful you’d ever seen, the oranges and yellows shine over the whole landscape, painting the buildings and your skin in a warm orange glow. As you were admiring the skies your phone started buzzing, removing it from your jeans pocket you smile seeing Negan's name flash up.

“Hey Negan, how are you? Sorry it’s been a little while since we’ve called, I’ve noticed only certain areas get signal” you explain as you answer the video call.

Smiling at you “That’s ok sweetheart, I understand, you’re out in the sticks no one gets phone signal there. How are you doing darlin? I got your letter today and I thought I’d call you”

“Yeah I’m ok, I felt sad for a little while thinking about mum, but I’ve realised how lucky I am to have the people I do in my life. I have people who love me and some people don’t have that.” You admit.

“It’s ok to feel sad though sweetheart, what she did to you wasn’t right and it’s ok to be hurt by that, but yeah you are loved, sometimes I don’t think you know how much your loved sweet girl, your dad, your grandma, myself, we adore you, you’re not alone not ever and I hope you know that.” Negan assures.

Tears well up in your eyes, you swallow a large gulp before answering him “Thanks Negan I needed to hear that” you admit.

“Anytime baby girl”

A small creak behind alerts you of someone’s presence, “Sorry love I just came to tell you dinners ready, if you’d like to join us” Frances explains.

“Oh yeah please, I’ll just be a moment” you answer, she nods walking back into the barn.

“Well it looks like I have dinner to attend” you laugh, “Ok beautiful, enjoy your dinner I’ll speak to you soon” “Yeah speak soon” you smile, hanging up the phone you stand up and dust yourself off before heading inside.

Frances meets you at the doors with a knowing smile, “Was that him?” She asks, blushing you look downwards, “Yeah that’s him” you admit. She nods before saying “Marry that man girl, if he looks at you like that, and speaks to you like that, you’d be a fool not too”. You gasp “How much did you hear?” She gives a gentle laugh, “Enough. Now come on in and eat” she guides you inside, but your whole stomachs fluttering now, and you don’t know how much you will actually be able to eat.

_______________________________________

It was the morning you were leaving the ranch, you felt sad to be going. It had been such a positive experience being here with these women, you’d made some friends and you have exchanged numbers with Frances, who would love to stay in contact. Hugging everyone goodbye you waved your last farewell as you entered your car, today you’d be starting your trip to Los Angeles. Although you didn’t think you’d want to visit Hollywood, you had mapped out some lovely vineyards and beaches.

Starting the engine you made your way off the ranch and onto your next adventure. Driving down the highway you turned you music up, opening the windows letting the wind whip at your hair, singing along to your favourite song. Determined to enjoy every aspect of your road-trip, including the tedious highways.

You made it as far as the Texas/ New Mexico boarder before pulling into a motel for the night. Once you were settled in your room you pulled your phone out and called your dad, “Hey baby girl! Long time no speak, where have you been! Only one letter in two weeks and no phone calls! I’ve been worried!” Your dad stresses.

“I’m so sorry Dad the ranch had nearly no signal, Negan managed to call once while I was there, I think I found a fluke spot that evening, because I couldn’t get through to either of you again” you explain.

“That’s alright honey, I just worry, you know I do! How have you been? I didn’t know you spoke to Negan, do you call each other often?” He asks, and you can tell the confusion in his tone.

“Umm yeah we talk a couple of times a week I guess, same as you and I talk. I think he likes to know what I’m up too. I’m good yeah thanks dad been super busy though, but yeah I’m having a great time, how have you been doing?” You answer.

“Yeah no complaints here, I miss you though. House is too quiet without you kiddo, and it’s ok I just didn’t know the two of you were talking, he’s never said anything to me. Other then the fact you send him the occasional letter too” your dad explains.

“Yeah I write to you both, as per requested” you laugh before adding “I hope your looking after yourself though dad, and actually cooking? Not ordering take out every night. I do worry about you both when I’m not there, you don’t have the best eating habits” you giggle.

“Hey we are doing just fine! I did a BBQ the other day we even had salad!” You dad defends.

Laughing out loud now you reply “Oh some salad too! Well I don’t know why I was worrying then”

“Oi little miss, I do just fine! I managed to cook for you ok growing up!” He argues playfully.

“Yeah I know dad I know, I’m just teasing, well I’m glad you doing good, I’m going to head to bed it’s been a long day, lots of driving” you admit.

“Ok kiddo sleep tight”

“Will do night dad”

Ending the call you lay back on the bed and sigh, your dad seemed so confused about you talking to Negan, you hope you didn’t give your feelings about the man away? Nah he was probably just surprised. It will be fine, you think.

After getting ready for bed your phone starts buzzing again, you glance at it sat on the bedside table. ‘Video call from Negan’ grinning you answer the call “Hey!”, “Hey beautiful, how is your journey going?” You admire him for a second, dimples showing as he grins through the phone at you, why does he have to be so beautiful, “Yeah it’s going well I’m on the Texas/ New Mexico boarder, in a small town called Eunice I think. I’m in a small motel, I’ll be carrying on towards Los Angeles in the morning” you answer.

He’s walking about his kitchen, tidying up and nodding as you speak. You love the domestic feel to it, you wish you were there with him, just doing ordinary household chores. “That’s good! You’re making great time sweetheart. And at least now you have signal” he laughs, “Yeah there’s great service here, so what have you been up too?” You ask, “Not much darlin, just work. Some poor guy came in last week with a blown head gasket, it’s taking a lot of time to fix it. So I’ve been at the garage long hours this week. Other than that not a lot, Bill is trying to set me up on some date with his wife’s friend, but I’m not too sure” he admits.

Your stomach sinks at that, a date, no don’t go on a date you think, especially not when I’m thousands of miles across the country and can’t do anything to help stop it. Your heart is pounding in your chest, but you try to keep yourself together. “Yeah?” You ask, voice sounding way more strained than you hoped. “Yeah, you ok sweetheart?” He asks looking at you full of concern. “Yeah I need to umm go get some sleep it’s late and I’m exhausted” you blurt out in haste.

“Yeah ok darlin, goodnight”, “Night” you answer before quickly hanging up. Tears sting your eyes as you lay back on the bed, harshly rubbing the tears away you sit up, sod this I’m going for a drink, you determine. Pulling some jeans and a jacket on, you cross over the road to the local bar.

Entering the building the smell of stale beer and smoke hits you, wrinkling your nose in slight disgust you sit at the bar, “A beer please” you ask the bartender, who nods at you placing a bottle in front of you.

Across the country Negan can’t get your reaction out of his head. He was thinking maybe the date would be a good way to move on. Because you probably didn’t feel the same as him, he was delusional right? Thinking he saw signs that you wanted him. But you went from cheerful to distressed in seconds, now he doesn’t know, he could always ask you, he knows this. But he also knows he couldn’t deal with rejection, not from you. He sits down on his couch placing his head in his hands as he tries to make sense of it all.

You on the other hand have just stumbled back into your room after a few drinks, and you feel in your drunken state that your heads so much clearer. With the new found confidence the alcohol has given you, you pull out your phone and send Negan a text before passing out on your bed.

Don’t go on that date Negan, please don’t …I love you

The buzzing of his phone he’s pulled out of his thoughts, reading your message he’s sat in shock. You love him? Gods you love him! That’s it he needs to see you. Jumping up he rushes to pack a bag, throwing as much as he can fit in the duffle. Moving to grab his keys, phone, charger and passport. A flight to you will be the quickest way!

Leaving the house he sends you a message back,

Don’t go anywhere sweetheart, I’m on my way! Xx

#negan smith #Dbf Negan #negan x reader #twd negan #negan x you #the walking dead negan #negan fanfiction #negan x female reader #dads best friend #Dbf x reader

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thebellearchives · 1 year

Text

𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍

~ solomon ; obey me

✧˚ · . S Y N O P S I S : it’s been a year since Solomon gifted you your most precious possession and now you want to return the gesture

‧₊˚ c o n t e n t s : fem!mc, fluff

‧₊˚ a / n : alternatively: a romantic coffee shop date with Solomon in London ~ this is set between season 3 and 4, the passage of time may not be accurate?? anyways, enjoy ✨

As the time passed and the clock’s second hand clicked endlessly, you leaned into the jewelry’s counter and checked your old text messages once again.

Solomon:

Hello Mc

Quick question, do you ever wear anklets?

You:

Not really

I do like bracelets though!

Solomon:

Oh, well, you see

Leviathan just taught me how to make them

Apparently it’s the hobby of an idol named Zaramela

"A true otaku takes an interest in his favorite idol's hobbies!"

Or so Leviathan said, anyway. He had all the materials laid out on his desk.

Listening to him ramble, I decided to try it as well.

But while I was working, my thoughts turned to you, and I ended up making one that I think will suit you.

Maybe I could adjust it as a bracelet, would you like that?

You:

Yes! Id love that, thank you!

The bracelet Solomon had made for you about a year ago suddenly blinged with the dimming sunlight streaming from the window. It was a delicate golden chain with a sun charm and four cloud charms around it. So much had happened since then, you had been his apprentice for some time, now in the human world you had acquired your sorcerer license and the brothers had gone back to the devildom two weeks ago. Solomon probably didn’t even remember the date he gifted you your precious bracelet, which you never took off, but you did. And considering the feelings that had made a home in your chest since that day… you wanted to make this date special.

“Here it is miss, silver plated just like you asked” the jeweler’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

Inside a small rectangular box, the chain you had made just some days ago looked beautiful. A smile widened your lips.

“It’s perfect, thank you.”

So you picked up the gift, paid and then headed outside. The wind welcomed you softly, the sun was setting and it painted the clear sky, the elegant buildings and busy people in a beautiful pastel pink colour. A fluttering feeling filled your chest as you made your way through the Londoner streets, the animated chatter of people and the sound of cars passing by accompanying your thoughts as background noise. You weren’t sure if it was just your hopeful mood or everything genuinely was perfect that afternoon, because just a quick glance around made you feel like you were seeing the world through rose tinted glasses. The smell of coffee and pastries filled your senses once you were close to the coffee shop where you had asked Solomon to meet you. He had asked why you wanted to meet here instead of the Angel’s Halo, but you wanted to make sure you were alone with him this time. So when you stepped inside of the cozy cafeteria and you spotted him at the back, you weren’t sure if your heart stopped or if it had just started beating so fast you could not perceive it. With heated cheeks you watched as his long pale fingers flipped the pages of an old book, his white eyelashes blinked in fascinated interest, he licked his lower lip and tilted his head to the side, squinting.

“Afternoon miss, may I get you a seat?” a cheery freckled girl startled you out of your lovesick state.

“Uhm, I was just looking for him” you pointed at Solomon with a nod.

“Oh, you're with him?” her blue eyes widened “you’re a lucky gal.”

Now it was your turn to widen your eyes.

“Not like th-”

“Come with me” the girl didn’t even hear you out, instead happily walked over to Solomon’s table.

With a nervous sigh, you chewed your lower lip and followed in silence.

“Here” the girl made your presence known.

Solomon’s attention then settled on you and he immediately smiled tenderly.

“Mc, you’re here”

“Yes, sorry for the wait” you offered him an apologetic smile back.

“No worries” with a chuckle, he closed the book and set it aside.

“You’re ready to order now, sir?“ a nice menu was placed in front of you.

“Oh no, I’ll order when she’s ready” Solomon didn’t tear his gaze away from you, you tried to focus on the menu instead of his hovering eyes.

“Alright, I’ll be back soon then”

When the girl left, you inspected the menu as much as you could, even when you felt him staring at you.

“Is everything okay?” you asked curiously.

“Yeah” he giggled and relaxed his posture, his back hitting the back of his seat again “you just look lovely today, more than usual I mean”

“Thanks” you sighed with a shy smile, glad that you had taken your time to pick a nice outfit and accessories.

“I brought some of the books you said you wanted to take a look at, but I have a feeling we won’t be studying today?”

Surprised, your eyes abandoned the menu to look back at him. How was he able to read you so well?

“I…” you couldn’t find the words, he raised his brows expectantly with a cheeky grin “…yeah, can we just have some coffee and chat?”

“Yeah, I’d like that” the sorcerer’s frisky expression was then replaced by a heart-stopping smile.

Smiling too, you went back to looking for a nice drink. Solomon made small talk with you in the meantime. The same girl from before came a couple of minutes after that, you ended up ordering the usual thing you ordered in every cafe, and Solomon just ordered a black coffee. The time spent with your magic teacher flowed in between your fingers quickly and naturally like spring water. Your beverages were placed in front of you at some point, and soon stories, jokes, laughs, flirty comments, quick remarks and witty retorts built a whole different world around you two. Unconsciously, both of you were leaning over the table closer to one another, the lights of the coffee shop were now turned on, making his soft silvery hair shine. The passage of time was easy to forget when you had such a beautiful smile to look at, and that charming laugh to listen to. When you had the chance to just casually brush the soft skin of the back of his hand, or the opportunity to study the subtle ring of amber tint around his pupils, hidden in between the silver pools of his irises. But then his smile faded away, his lips turning into a fine line.

“What is it?” you raised your brows, worry filling your chest, had you said something you shouldn’t?

“I’m just wondering, is there something you want to tell me?”

You blinked twice, cluelessly.

“Like what?”

He just chuckled.

“I don’t know, I just had a feeling you had something on your mind when you first arrived, since you looked kind of restless”

Oh, that’s right, the bracelet!

You licked your lip, suddenly nervous again.

“Right yes…” taking a deep breath, your hands went looking for the deep blue box in you bag, and then placed it in the table before you.

Solomon’s curious grey eyes flickered between the box and your face. An anxious feeling washed over your stomach, but you tried to dismiss it in order to start talking.

“I’m sure you don’t remember, since you’re bad at remembering dates and everything, but it’s been a year since you first gifted me this bracelet” you held you wrist at eye level, he nodded slightly “and you’ve been such an amazing teacher, and- I mean, just an amazing person overall, you know? I just wanted to do something nice for you in return, to thank you for everything you’ve done and continue to do for me”

Pressing your lips into a fine line, you slid the box over to him. He seemed surprised for a second, but then a fond smile softened his expression.

“Love, you didn’t have to”

The sudden pet name caught you off guard, you face was quickly tinted a shade of pink and a giddy feeling rushed through your body.

“I wanted to”

Solomon opened the box delicately, and then picked up the chain you dedicatedly made for him.

“It’s silver plated, you know, because of your hair and eyes. The moon charm is meant to symbolize that too, and also because the moon is mysterious and alluring. And the star charms stand for the constellation pattern in your cloak.” he stared at it in awe, and then looked back at you, you extended your arm over the table to show off your bracelet “and now we’re matching!”

The sorcerer giggled in amusement.

“How’d you know?!”

A confused frown appeared in your face while he locked the bracelet around his wrist. You tried to ask, but he grabbed you hand with his and laced his fingers between yours.

“You’re golden to me Mc, that’s why your bracelet is gold plated. The sun charm is because you’re warm and bright, you shine in my eyes, you light up every single room with your presence.”

With widened eyes and flushed cheeks, you inhaled to try and calm dow your heart rate, but the air got stuck in your throat. You tried to swallow it down.

“Solomon…”

“I’ll tell you what, why don’t we give them our own personal twist?” with a wink, Solomon placed his other hand over the bracelets, a sudden glow making them shine momentarily.

“Charmed bracelets?”

“If you ever need me, just touch your bracelet and call for me, I’ll come for you whenever you want me to. How’s that?”

“Yes, that’s perfect. Thank you.” your other hand found a comforting place over his, and you offered him the most genuine smile you could.

He chuckled.

“You’re the one giving me a gift, why are you thanking me? Thank you, Mc, this is my favourite present ever, by far.”

“I’ll be taking this, is that alright?” the waitress’ voice suddenly bursted your bubble, grabbing your empty coffee cups.

“Yeah, sure” Solomon cleared his throat “thank you”

“You’re welcome” her eyes lingered over your matching bracelets, and then she glanced at you with a proud smile and a complicit wink before waking away.

Solomon smiled.

“I think she knows something”

You couldn’t help but laugh.

#; fluffy belle #obey me shall we date #obey me swd #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me nb #obey me solomon #solomon obey me #om solomon #solomon x mc #solomon x reader #solomon x you #solomon x y/n #obey me x reader

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k-kamostarr · 2 months

Text

𝚅𝙰𝙽𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙰.

choso x blk!reader

wc: 800

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘:

After I entered my apartment, I set down all my belongings and called in some takeout. While I wait, I decide to start my nighttime routine. I pull out my phone to record a "get unready with me" video. After finishing the video and posting it, I take a quick shower. When I check my phone after the shower, I see that my food was left at my door. I also noticed that Choso messaged me back. I quickly respond to his message, put on my robe, and run to get my food. I grab the food and set it on my counter while I change into some more comfy clothes.

While I change I continue messaging Choso, I get settled with my food and laptop. Choso wanted to call since he's not good with texting. I open my laptop to start editing and studying for my test on Monday. My phone starts to ring and I see that it's him.

“Hi there!’ I say while stuffing a dumpling in my mouth.

He laughs looking at me stuffing my face. “Hey! If I knew you were eating I wouldn't have disturbed you.”

“Oh no, you're fine I’m always eating something plus I wanted to continue talking to you.” We laugh in unison.

“Would you like to watch this show with me I cannot eat without watching something?” I ask. He nods.

We decided to watch the first episode of Blue Exorcist. “You know I would've never guessed this to be the type of anime you liked.” He says. I gasp. “What? What kind do I look like I like?” I laugh. “I took you as a romance or slice-of-life type of girl.” He smiles. “I mean I do like those too but I love me a good action anime.” I smile.

Halfway through the second episode, I start getting full so I put my leftovers in the fridge. “I’m back!” I say. “Welcome back!” He exclaims. “Let's finish this episode then do something else,” I say. “Deal.” Once the episode finishes he cuts the screenshare. “I got questions for you.” He says. “Okay go ahead.” I smile.

“So how do you juggle college and doing content?” He asked. “Well it's not easy but it's not too bad, I do all my big content stuff on the weekends like YouTube videos and events but like TikTok videos, I do whenever because you know its a 15-second video,” I say truthfully. He nods. “Plus I only have two classes that are in person all the rest are online!” I exclaim. “I see I just think it's so cool to see you doing both because I know so many influencers that were in college and once they got big they left school to pursue content creation you know.” He says. “Yeah, I know that social media isn't forever so even if I lose my fame I know I will have my degree to fall back on.” I nod. He nods. “Well, now I have a question for you.” “What's up?” He asks.

“How do you handle being the sole provider for your brother while also doing content?” I inquire. He sighs. “Well he’s 16 and has his little job now so it's not much to handle now really but before he got a job it was a lot because I had to leave school to take care of him and any person would be pissed about that but I wasn’t I knew what I had to do as the oldest.” He says honestly. “You're a good person Choso I hope you know that.” She says softly. He smiles. “I try to be a person Yuji can be proud of.” He smiles. “You’re doing a great job so far if I was him I would brag about my big brother being the best.” I smile. He laughs. “I love how down to earth you are with the field we’re in a lot of people we meet are fucking posers.” He laughs. “Oh most definitely.” She laughs along with him.

They talk into the early morning without even noticing. “Oh damn, it's almost 4 am I didn't even realize.” He yawns. “Oh my gosh really?” I say surprised. “Hey when are you free this week so I can see you, we can go get some food or something?” He asked which causes you to smile. “If you want to go get something later today we can,” I say. “That's perfect!” He smiles. “Okay then it's settled we can go around 3 so we can both get enough sleep,” I say. “Perfect, well I'm going to get off the phone now have a good sleep.” He yawns. “You as well!” I yawn. We end the call and I instantly fall asleep on the couch.

#choso kamo #jjk #jjk choso #jjk fanfic #choso x reader #kamo choso #cho #choso x black!reader #aot x black reader #aot x black y/n #jjk fluff #choso fluff

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heartbreak-sandwich · 1 year

Text

ANIMAL MAGNETISM ~ Part 2 ~ Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader - SFW, slight angst, building tension, Lifeguard Billy x Lifeguard Reader, bossy boss Billy 💖

A/N: This is a continuation of a previous blurb you can find here! This was a request from a lovely follower, but I can't answer the ask on this blog, so I'll have this post linked to the ask on my main. Thank you to all who have enjoyed my work so far! You inspire me to keep writing, and I love you dearly 🥰

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

XXXXX

Clang! The cage to the front entrance of the Hawkins Pool was open, and the line of eager children waiting to take their plunge and cool off started to file in quickly. You had a long shift ahead of you opening and closing, and you knew the first half of your shift would run smoothly with Heather’s help. You hopped up and swung your legs over the front counter, making your way to the clipboards covering the wall in the office to see who you’d be closing with.

“Shit,” you said to yourself, eyes closing in disappointment. Billy Hargrove – of course it was. Your cheeks glowed pink with embarrassment at the thought of the last closing shift the two of you shared.

You had been able to avoid speaking directly to him since then, but you always caught him looking at you with that smug smirk permanently painted just above his sharp jawline, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t take an extra second to breathe in his intoxicating aroma each time you passed him in the staff area – mint, chlorine, and Paco Rabanne pour homme. You knew you would spend the entirety of your shift mentally preparing to defend yourself against whatever hold he seemed to have on you, and you would not let him win this time.

Tossing your whistle around your neck, you made your way out into the blistering sun and took your place atop the chair tower opposite Heather’s to wait out the day and reinforce your mental fortress. You weren’t easy like the other girls Billy had wrapped around his finger, and you were going to make sure he was aware of that.

XXXXX

“Looks like we’re closing up shop tonight, princess.” Billy spoke to you for the first time in almost two weeks, and there it was again – the nickname. It surprised you, but after overthinking all through your shift, you were ready for anything he might try.

“Don’t sound so excited. People might get the wrong idea,” you fired back, keeping your sunglasses on and your nose in today’s paper. Of course he showed up to start his shift just as you were taking your break.

“Or the right idea.” Billy’s voice turned to suede and melted honey, and you felt his tone start a fire in your belly. His eyes stuck to you as he unwrapped a piece of gum and hesitated just before it touched his tongue. You still weren’t looking at him, but you could feel him staring daggers at you. “Hey,” he pestered sharply. The change in mood made you jump in your seat, and you finally looked up at him. “That’s better.” Billy took his gum into his mouth, an obnoxious smacking sound competing with the soft playing of the radio in the staff area.

He closed the gap between the two of you, towering over you where you sat, and you could tell his intimidation tactics were kicking in again. He bent over at the waist, his face just inches away from yours, his fingers coming up to meet with both sides of your sunglasses, and he slowly pulled them off, staring directly into your unprotected eyes.

“You look at me when I’m talking to you.” The gravelly drawl turned your inner fire into an eruption, the heat reaching all the way up your body to your cheeks, and you knew he noticed. He dropped your sunglasses, letting them clatter onto the table in front of you.

Walking away towards the staff entrance to the pool, Billy crinkled up his gum wrapper and threw it behind him, completely missing the garbage can. “Pick it up, princess,” he called over his shoulder, never looking back at where you were still completely frozen in place. You could feel the heat coming off of your face as you, once again, did as you were told, picking up the discarded gum wrapper and throwing it into the trash can.

“What was that?” You were oblivious to Heather’s presence throughout that interaction, and you cracked under the embarrassment of knowing she had witnessed the whole thing.

“N-nothing! Not a single thing at all. God, he’s such an asshole, right?” You stuttered and fidgeted with your sunglasses while you spoke, and it was obvious Heather didn’t believe a word you were trying to say to her.

“If you say so,” she replied with a skeptical smile.

“Whatever. My break’s over; I’ll see you out there.” You folded the paper up, put your sunglasses back on, and squared up your shoulders as you marched back out to your chair tower. You wouldn’t let him get to you like that – not again.

Part 3 ❤️‍🔥

#Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove x fem reader #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove fanfic #stranger things fanfic #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove angst #oc #billy hargrove oc #sfw billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove blurb #oc request

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meganwritesfanfics · 1 year

Text

I Hope You Know Somebody Loves You

Jamie Tarttx Reader

Jamie is upset because the baby seems to stop kicking every time he goes to feel them

Check out Part 1, Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Y/N groaned as she shifted uncomfortably in bed. Her whole second trimester she had been lacking sleep, she couldn’t seem to find a position to get herself comfortable. It also didn’t help that Jamie was getting up at 4 am every morning, but she wouldn’t tell him that.

“Baby,” Jamie groaned sleepily. “Are you ok?”

“Your son is playing football with my internal organs.”

Jamie immediately sat up, “He’s kicking?” He asked and reached his hand over placing it on Y/N’s stomach. The minute his hand landed on her stomach the kicking stopped.

“Fuck,” Jamie said under his breath disappointed.

“Oh Jamie,” Y/N sighed as she ran her fingers through his hair. “I know you want to feel the baby kick, but I can’t tell what a relief it is every time this kid stops kicking me.”

“Well then,” Jamie replied as he pulled her into him placing both of his hands on her stomach. “I will try to bring you some relief.”

“God I love you Jamie Tartt.” Y/N sighed as he held onto his hands tightly finally getting some sleep.

It felt like only an hour before he felt Jamie shift trying his best not to wake her as he kissed her forehead.

“I love you baby,” He said and then he rubbed her stomach, “And I love you baby.”

Y/N would never let Jamie know that she was awake every time he did this, because she was afraid he would stop doing it.

After he left Y/N attempted to go back to sleep, but the baby had started kicking again and she knew that was impossible. So instead she got up and started decorating the nursery. This had become her routine for the past couple weeks, Jamie and her had just recently agreed on what they wanted the nursery to look like.

It wasn’t long before she was curled up on the floor asleep holding a stuffed animal they had bought for the baby.

Before finding out about the baby, Jamie usually didn’t make it home until after final practice, but now he took ever chance he could to be home with Y/N.

“Baby!” He called as he walked through the door, dropping his bag. When he didn’t get a response, he knew exactly where she was. He sighed with a smile as he made his way up the stairs to the nursery. He found Y/N asleep on the floor and instantly scooped her up and carried her back to their bedroom.

He laid her down on the bed and crawled in next to her, leaning down so that his head was next to her stomach.

“Hiya baby,” He whispered. “You know you got to take it easy on your mommy, she already has to put up with me. And I am quite the handful.” He smiled placing his hand on her stomach. “Why won’t you kick for me, I know you have got to have a killer right foot.”

“I know that I didn’t seem as excited as I should have been when I found out about you. But that was just because I was scared. I was afraid that I would mess up your life. But I’m here, and I’m fully in this kid. I’m not going to go anywhere. And hey, I’ll support ya no matter what, even if you don’t like football.”

“With how much he kicks me he is going to come out of me ready for the premier league.” Y/N smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“How long have you been awake?” He asked looking up at her.

“I like hearing you talk to our baby.” She beamed.

“Well I’m afraid this kid isn’t going to like me.”

“What?” Y/n gasped as she sat up. “Why would you say that?”

“He won’t kick for me.”

“Jamie, just because the baby won’t kick for you does not mean they aren’t going to like you. They don’t even know who you are yet.”

“I know but it just feels like a bad omen.”

“Baby,” Y/n sighed. “Come here,” She pulled him up to her and pulled him in for a long kiss. “I love you, and this baby loves you. How about this, I will be better about telling you when I feel the baby kick.”

“Thank you.” Jamie snuggled up into her.

They laid for a moment together, Jamie tracing patterns over the exposed skin on Y/N’s stomach.

“Are you coming to the game tomorrow?”

“Of course I wouldn’t miss it for the world, plus Rebecca said I can ride on the team bus with you.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? It’s not going to be very comfortable for you.” He asked concerned.

“I will have you by my side. That is the best comfort I could ask for.”

*****

Jamie had been right, the ride was extremely uncomfortable, not that she would say anything. She did so love the time she got to spend with the team. They were like the brothers she never had, and they were just as excited about the baby as she and Jamie were.

“Oh!” Y/N gasped smacking Jamie awake from his nap.

“What? What is it are you ok?” Jamie asked.

“The baby is kicking.” She said grabbing his hand and smacking it onto her stomach, but once again the minute he touched her the kicking stopped. “Damn, sorry baby.”

Jamie pouted, “I told you he hates me.”

Y/N laughed. “Oh honey.”

When they got off the bus, before they split ways Jamie grabbed her and pulled her aside.

“If the baby starts kicking, call down the reff and we can halt the game.”

“Jamie I will not, now don’t you worry about me. You just worry about winning.” Y/N gave him a big kiss. “I will be the one cheering the loudest.”

He kissed her again, pulling her coat tightly around her. Ever since she had started showing, both of them had done their best to hide the pregnancy from the public. With Jamie being a public figure it was common for them to constantly have their photos taken, and this news was something they wanted to keep their own.

“Y/N are you coming?” Rebecca called and Y/N took off after her.

*****

Nearing the end of the match, Richmond was winning, and Y/N was sitting uncomfortably in her seat.

“I swear this kid can tell when Jamie scores and start kicking up a storm.” Y/N groaned.

“So he’s going to be just like his dad is he? Oh babe you are going to have it rough.” Keeley teased.

“Oh don’t I know it.” Y/N laughed and as she did so Jamie scored another goal securing the win for Richmond.

“Let’s head downstairs to congratulate everyone.” Rebecca said.

As they made their way down to the lockerroom, the baby stopped kicking, and Y/N couldn’t help but smirking, of course he would stop the minute she started to get close to Jamie.

She walked in and found the locker room roaring with celebration.

“Y/N!” Everyone screamed when they saw her.

“Boys you did amazing.” Y/N smiled.

Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her and she turned to see Jamie standing behind her.

“I heard you cheering baby.” He beamed.

“I was cheering for two up there, your son was insanly excited. He kicked every time you scored a goal.

“See I knew he would love football, he loves it already and I…” Jamie started when suddenly Y/N felt the familar flutter in her stomach of the baby kicking. “Was that?” Jamie gasped and he quickly ran around so he was facing Y/N, his hands still on her stomach. The baby kicked again. “Oh my…” He gasped tears in his eyes again. “God I love you.”

He pulled her in for a giant kiss one hand staying on her stomach.

“My son has the strongest kick ever!” Jamie screamed. “Everyone come here and feel my son’s kicks. Oh wait, is that alright babe?”

Y/N laughed. “Of course.”

Soon all of the team was huddled around her with their hands on her stomach feeling the baby kick.

#jamie tartt x reader #ted lasso #series #fanfic

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bigfathoe4you · 4 months

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Preface:

My zombies are not dead, they are infected with a disease which makes them hungry, they are not decomposing or mindless, they are driven insane by the pain of hunger and the things they’ve done so in a sense they die. They are loosely based on a book called ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, a very good angsty zombie book with very little romance.

This fic is set in the north west of England, to make it plausible for the MC to stumble upon the 141. Being Scottish myself I would love to make the MC Scottish and move the fic to the highlands, but I want some feedback on that.

TW: Death of a friend/sister, skinny reader (she fattens up), a lot of gross descriptions of zombies and death, angst lots, smut in later chapters.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from living 6 years in a zombie apocalypse it’s “waste not, want not.” That was the thought that kept me from gagging at the smell of the jacket that I shook rotten skin off of. Rising I looked down at the skinny, pale ‘woman’ I’d pried it from. had she done the same? How many people have died in this jacket? Would I die in the cold, spend years wandering, Killing others, feeling a deep painful unending hunger?

I looked down at her failing body, before the fall of humanity these jeans would have been 2 sizes too small, the shirt about 3 or 4. I’d lost all shape, hadn’t had a period in years, my skin looked a shade darker thanks to the many layers of dirt that clung to me. I once took pride in my appearance, now my crowning achievement was surviving for this long by myself.

Taking one last sweep of the shop I found a grey eyed boy, looked about 19, his cheeks sagged and the bags under his eyes were bulging, purply red. His pale cheeks were littered with peach fuzz and tear stained, his nose a pudgy red from his quiet sobs. He groaned in pain as he pulled a skinny rat apart, sucking on the small bones. He looked up at me from his crouched position and growled, his primitive brain deciding if he should run with his meal or if he could take me. He twitched his way to his feet dropping the rat at his feet.

Before his skinny legs could take him to me I’d pulled the gun from my waistband and shot a few small holes through his chest. He let out some muffled whimpers as he crumpled to the floor, I followed him to the floor. I had grown to feel very little but when they looked so young it hurt. I stroked his thinning hair and shushed him whilst he hacked up blood and shook.

The trek back to base was long but quiet, the marshy ground of the north west sucked my feet deep into the ground, the ‘suctiony’ sound that emitted from dragging my feet drowned out my own thoughts. As the base came into view my steps hurried, eager to get inside, it was tuesday (possibly) which meant it was my allotted bath day, due to the difficulty of moving the water from the various rain collectors and the calories it cost, I allowed myself a bath every two weeks.

The hard metal door bit at my reddening fingers as I fumbled with the keys, reminding me I needed to organise them somehow. I huffed at the effort it took to pull the second interior door open and closed, it had been ripped off its hinges and now scratched across the cold linoleum as I dragged it about. When I finally got inside I relocked every door I walked through to get to the innermost rooms of the base. Whilst people were rare- some zombies in the early stages retained the ability to open and close doors.

I went to the woodburner and warmed the deer from the outdoor freezer. Most livestock like cattle and sheep were almost hunted to extinction by the zombies but some animals like deer and rabbits remained too fast for zombies. But not me and my gun. I cooked the whole leg, I’d refreeze the tougher bits and keep them for on the go.

Whilst the deer cooked I used my pot to boil some water for my bath. It was more of a sponge bath really, getting fully naked and into a slippery tub was inviting trouble. I used some watered down fairy liquid and an old PT (psychical training, yeah I did cadets so I’m qualified to tell you all about it) shirt to scrub at my skin, one limb at a time.

I pulled one leg out of my jeans leaving the boot and jeans scrunched so I could haul them back up if I needed to. And it was a good thing I did as I was picking dirt out of my scabby skinned knee, I heard a scrapping. My blood ran cold and I almost wept at the sound.

Scrambling to put my jeans and boots back on. With each creak of a door opening and closing and the low raspy voices of men my hands shook more.

And when I heard the noise that I knew to be the particularly squeezy door to the room I’d claimed as my own, I almost turned the gun on myself. There were at least 2 men and they knew there was a woman living here.

Steeling myself and setting my footing I readied myself in the middle of the room, no hiding the only power I have is I am pointing my gun at the single door to this room.

The kitchen door moved to open easily and a silhouetted figure pulled every shadow from the room and they pooled at this man's feet, he stood easily a foot taller than myself. The imposing figure took up almost the entire doorway. Although there were no shadows, it was only him, he dressed all in black, tactical gear and a dark balaclava covered his entire being. This man may be death itself.

“Fuck off.” A man wriggled around ‘death’ “Nae way!” barreling towards me a man not as tall as ‘Death’ but just as large wrapped strong arms around me.

My plans crumbled and I lost any ability to remain calm or strong were lost to me. “Please! Please there are guns, ammo, food! If you leave me alone I- I’ll tell you where” the words were choked out of me and my sweaty hands shook looking for my gun.

The man pulled back but I couldn’t see through the tears that blinded me “It’s- It’s me Johnny” the voice and name were familiar. Strong hands snaked up my arms and held me at my shoulders “oh, darlin’ we’d never hurt you” he put a hand on my cheek and slowly brought my eyes to him. I almost gagged on my tears looking at him, my best friend's older brother, I looked at him and saw her. Alex, my other half, our whole lives attached at the hip, her death had hurt more than any of the rest.

“Oh Johnny, I’m so sorry” his excitement at seeing me faded to the most hollow I’d ever seen a man. We sank to our knees together, forgetting the man in the doorway. I pushed our brows together “It was quick, I did it” I whispered to him, as I saw the small tears slip down his cheek.

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Tags:

@audie-writes

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my-heart-beat-for-anime · 11 months

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Jann Mardenborough x reader pt.5

Pt.1,Pt.2, Pt.3, Pt.4, Pt.5,Pt.6

The flight to Japan had already taken a long time, but I didn't want to complain and spoil Jann's joy. He finally got the licence, so we were on our way so that Jann could sign a contract with Nissan and instigate the creators of Gran Turismo. We had been flying for several hours and my eyelids began to close and my head slowly began to fall on Jann's shoulder.

Danny pov: I saw two young people in front of me huddling in their sleep. They were so in love and sweet it made my teeth rot. I saw how she was helping him and I never once doubted that I asked her to act as a medic in our team. With a smile on my face, I also closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Y/N pov: I was woken up by a caress on my face and even without opening my eyes I knew it was Jann. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled at him, "Good morning baby," I said in a slightly hoarse voice. Jann returned the greeting and reached in for his first kiss of the morning. "Ah save it for when you're alone." Jack grunted next to us. We just laughed and in about half an hour we finally landed in Japan.

We looked out of the car window with amazed eyes and admired everything around us. Finally the car stopped and we went to the building where we were welcomed by the creator of Gran Turismo himself, and then we went to the contract signing ceremony where there were cameras and journalists. I stood quietly at the back of the room and watched the whole event. I was so proud of him and happy for him too. After signing the contract, Jann and I tried to leave the building, but journalists blocked our way. Despite the endless barrage of questions and inquiries and the endless crowd of reporters, we felt trapped. In the end, however, Danny freed us and told us to go explore the city. We happily set off and wandered through Tokyo. We went to several restaurants and enjoyed the food to our heart's content. We laughed and enjoyed crazy photo booths, endless streams of anime and the smell of delicious food. At one point, Jann stopped unexpectedly, looking into an electronics store. At first I didn't understand what he was focusing on, but then I realized that he was looking at the music player. One eye contact was all it took and I realized why he wanted to buy it. I just smiled and dragged him into the store.

A few weeks later we were preparing for a race in Germany. As always, I encouraged Jann and checked his health, it seemed that he had already fully got used to the life of a racer, he no longer had such nervousness before races as he used to. The last kiss took place and Jann got into the car and drove off towards the start. The whole race went perfectly and Jann even overtook Capa. Now Jann was riding in second place when he hit a straight bumpy section. However, suddenly just before the bend, his car flipped backwards and Jann lost control. His car overturned several times and crashed into the fence where the spectators were standing. It was like someone had taken my breath away. My head was completely empty, but my body, as if acting on some invisible command, ran from the depot. I didn't wait for Jack or Danny and ignored their calls. Fortunately, I managed to catch the ambulance outside, which was just leaving for Jann. I quickly showed them my medical registration and luckily they had no problem taking me with them. When we arrived at the scene of the accident, a few people managed to open the car door together with the other medics, and I managed to pull Jann out of the car. I immediately started checking his condition, he had a broken collarbone and maybe some broken ribs but the worst part was that his heart was not beating. I immediately started resuscitating him and continued even when he was being carried on a stretcher to the helicopter. Halfway to the hospital, we managed to restart Jann's heart and as soon as the helicopter landed on the roof of the hospital, Jann was taken over by local doctors. And only then did a voice reach me and I felt someone shake my shoulder. It was as if I came out of a trance, I looked down at my hands and my heart sank when I saw they were covered in blood, his blood. That is when what kept me going vanished and I collapsed into Jack's arms. I think I screamed because my throat hurt and all I remember was Jack's voice soothing me.

I'm sorry that I haven't published a chapter in a long time, you know, school and such. I also tried to draw fanart for this series of mine and it didn't work out. If any of you would like to draw something for this series, I would be very grateful.

#jann mardenborough #gran turismo #jannmardenboroughxreader #racing #cars #archie madekwe #fanfic #david harbour #jacksalter #nicholascapa

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sailorgundam308 · 11 months

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On Karlach-gate

I’m gonna talk a little bit (lol, lie, a LOT) about Karlach’s endings and her companion storyline in Baldur’s Gate 3.

This feels like opening a can of worms, and it took me a while to gather the courage to do so. Not because of other people, but because of how many thoughts and feelings I’d have to face to put my opinion into words. BUT before I go full steam ahead, a few disclaimers are in order.

First, this is spoilerland. It is full of it, all around you, and there’s no escape. So if you’re not into reading about every single Karlach related spoilery thing I can think of in the game, don’t read this. (There are spoilers of Final Fantasy 16 too, so beware)

Second, I shouldn’t have to say it, but this is merely my opinion. Granted, I enjoy having my opinions corroborated by evidence - to a problematic degree -, so this is gonna be a long and painful text. Still, an opinion is neither wrong nor right (though it can be shitty or nice lol).

And third: I loved the game. I still do. But not as much as I thought I would have based on the first half of my experience with it. Currently I have - and I shit you not - 762 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3 - 500 of which are just in my first playthrough. I bought the game in the pre-sale (I played Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 when I was a kid/teen, so I squealed and jumped into it when I heard there was a 3). Two weeks after I’d started playing it, I bought 4 extra copies of the game to give to my best friends so they could enjoy it too. I can’t compare the game to others because I am not a proper gamer. But I am comparing the game to ITSELF (and perhaps that is the problem). That is to say: I enjoy BG3 and support Larian and everyone who worked on the game - thanks to them I put (lost) 700h of my life in the Forgotten Realms (and I fucking love me some Forgotten Realms).

Unfortunately, the quality of the main story and the companion’s personal stories are not consistent throughout the game. While I might not be an experienced vidya gamer, I can at the very least attest to my satisfaction in relation to the way the narrative was implemented/delivered in the game - or wasn’t.

Which is where the issues begin, and so does this long rant.

My comments are about Karlach and her story, because she and Astarion are my favorite companions and I am generally satisfied with how we experience Astarion’s story in the game. But I don’t feel the same towards Karlach’s.

In regards to the main story, Act 1 - and even Act 2 to a lesser degree - have consistent storytelling, cohesive and interesting narrative moments, with twists and turns. But Act 3… We know it, right? It feels like being in an electronics shop on a Black Friday. Compared to Act 1, Act 3 is a free for all, rushed, disconnected and random festival of “wait, wtf?”

The companion’s personal quests also have issues, but in a different way.

Something that bothered me a lot is that there is no consistent narrative care and quality among the implementation of the companion’s personal storylines. Essentially, some companions have their personal stories aptly and extensively implemented and integrated into the progression of the game, while others don’t - to very different degrees.

For example, you have characters who seem to get priority attention put into their (implemented) writing, questlines, dungeons, dialogues, animations, and insights into their past. Most notably is Shadowheart. She has the only cinematic flashback, 2 fucking huge dungeons and several key personal closure moments throughout the span of the game - Shar, Nightsong, Viconia, parents, her tief friend, cemetery is what I remember off the top of my head (so if you think she still got the short straw I WILL strangle you). And, then, you have severely neglected characters like Karlach.

When I say neglected, it’s not a matter of Karlach’s story being less interesting than the others’ (I think it’s def MUCH cooler than SH’s, for example), but that there is so little of it seamlessly and carefully implemented in the game we get to play. If you don’t believe me, just open the quest journal after your endgame and read through every single companion’s personal quest journals, then read Karlach’s again. There it is. Nothing I say will compare to just looking at it with your own eyes. It’s kinda crazy, honestly. It’s hard to deny that something there went wrong and still argue Karlach is supposed to have the same level of “origin companion” importance.

Unlike many people I communicated with, I am not that opposed to the current Karlach endings we get in the game - but I am not "okay with it" either. Let me explain.

The current endings are not ANYWHERE near good (in the sense of satisfying). In fact, if you compare Karlach’s ending to ALL other companion’s endings (yes, even Astarion’s), her possible outcomes become pretty bad pretty fast. When side by side, the others’ ‘bittersweet’ endings quickly start to seem mild or even happy in comparison. Karlach definitely drew the short straw (or the writers put the short straw in her hands - so short in fact that there were moments when I wondered if someone in Larian had something against Karlach).

All that said, I diverge from some people in that I don’t wish for a happy ending for Karlach - I don’t think it suits her, nor does it suit the game. Even a full resolution would not fit, I think. But there seems to be an entire spectrum between “absolute worst” (death and becoming a mind flayer, which is essentially the same shit), “lame and unfulfilling” (no hope of changing her situation, just going back to Avernus to be forever stuck in a warzone - but alive), and something we DON’T get for her, which is “bittersweet”. There are levels of bad endings, and Karlach’s endings are on the worst bit of the spectrum. Though I don’t personally wish for a happy ending for Karlach, I wish we had a ‘happier’ one.

For context: By the time I finished my first (Tav) run, Patch 2 had been released (because I'd stalled and refused to finish with the launch ending for her). Still, I did not get the Avernus epilogue scene for some reason (perhaps because I had not romanced her), so first I watched her die, and it was horrible. Then I redid the save, and decided to go with her to Avernus.

In either case, I got just a black screen and then a cinematic of the city and the narrator telling me how epic, heroic and FULFILLED I should be feeling (even though Tav was never a hero and I never gave a fuck about being heroic in my play) - which sounded like insult to injury as I had basically JUST watched Karlach die and couldn’t care LESS if the people of Baldur’s Gate were saved. Fuck’em. What the fuck do I care about the city or strangers when one of my most beloved companions just burned alive in front of me?

Fuck off, Larian. <- That’s how I felt then (ok, kinda how I still feel when I think about it). Insulted and empty. I felt like the game was trying to railroad me to feeling some sort of epic fulfillment that wasn’t there. That seems worse than regular railroading… Like, railroading my feelings? No, thanks.

For me, there was no ‘epicness’, there was just numbness and a bad taste left in my mouth - a feeling that all my effort and time put into the story turned meaningless in the end. And let me tell you, that is NOT a feeling you want people to feel at the end of a story you tell (esp when some of us sick fucks spent 500+ hours in game).

Since I did not get the cinematic epilogue with Karlach in my Tav ending (just the fade to black) I was left with nothing to hang onto. I had nothing in the game that gave me a sliver of hope of something - anything - else happening after the credits rolled (I have since heard from one of my friends that this might have changed a bit).

But, if I don’t want a happy-happy ending for Karlach, and I don’t particularly care for her endings as they currently are, wtf do I want?

Well. I’m not entirely sure, but my best guess is two things.

First, the “easier” one:

If you finished Astarion’s story with him as a romanced partner and as a spawn, you get a conversation with him about the future. Granted, this scene is underwhelming (and he feels quite OOC), but it does have something that I consider very important for us players who cared about him and dedicated hours of play to help him in game. We have the option to say we will try to find a way for him to stand in the sun again. That is not a guarantee that we can do it, nor is it a scene clearly showing us in the future doing so. What it is, though, is a seed of hope, in canon, that lets us believe that there might be a way. So we can use our beautiful headcanons to imagine what the future of our Tav and Astarion could become, based on something canon. It creates the important feeling that the story will go on, and, moreover, that things that are currently shitty for him (losing his ability to move freely under the sun - among other things), might have a workaround. For me, this is crazy important in order to feel fulfilled - and it is one of the reasons I said before that I am generally satisfied with Astarion’s story arc and how it ends. I don’t need the game to spell it for me, just to give me that glimmer. The rest I can do it myself in my own head.

Which takes me back to Karlach and the biggest issue I have with her Avernus ending, and the first thing I wished we had in the game - a sliver of hope for her. At the VERY LEAST, I wanted to have something in game - a dialogue option tweak, or any lazy indication - that hinted that even though we are returning to the Hells with her, it might not be forever. That there might be some secret hidden in Avernus that could still help Karlach become free - or free-er, at least. We might not ever be able to get her heart back, in the same way we might not ever be able to cure Astarion’s vampirism, but if the game gave me a fucking tiny hint that going to Avernus might lead us to fixing/changing her engine to the point she might be able to see the Material Plane again without immediately burning to death… (just a vacation in Faerun, whatever).

Just that would make her Avernus ending less miserable, and minimally fulfilling. My head canon building abilities would still be doing most of the heavy lifting in that one - for SURE - but it would at least be something. The shittiest and tiniest improvement from her underwhelming and terrible ‘best scenario’ ending.

(Just let me add that a friend told me that now she has a dialogue option where Tav can say they’d still look for a cure in Avernus, which might be new. I haven’t checked if it’s a new dialogue tweak or if it’s just the delusional/in denial Tav dialogue options repeating “no, you’ll be fine!” even when Karlach is literally dying in front of them.)

Now, what would I REALLY want for Karlach? (oh boy, watch out for the burst of anger >>)

What do I think would be fair for me (and everyone), as a consumer and a player, who is really into Karlach as a character, who loves her, cheered for her, went around the game always paying attention to anything that might remotely relate to her story and problem?

I want her STORYLINE to be rich. As rich as fucking Shadowheart’s. I want to have to fucking scroll down Karlach’s personal quest page, like I have the other companions’, because there’s so many twists and turns there, because it was written carefully. I want her quest updates to be more than “fetch infernal iron/ bring infernal iron to Dammon/ hold onto the infernal iron and wait/ NOW bring infernal iron to Dammon/ the end.”

I want her fucking quest to not LITERALLY END AT THE BEGINNING OF ACT 2. Because it fucking DOES.

You get a second upgrade as soon as you reach Act 2 and the Last Light Inn if you want (you can walk right up to Dammon). And you also learn Karlach will die and that’s that. And good luck to you, player, to manage to find motivation to go through the rest of the game and finish it already knowing that there’s no helping your favorite companion.

Even though Karlach’s quest does not read as complete then, it IS, for all effects and purposes, over. What is left is for her to be taken to Gortash - and not to KILL HIM herself, mind you - freak the fuck out because now she just gotta wait for death, and bam. Companion personal storyline complete. Enjoy the rest of the game (insert BG3 giving you a big middle finger right here).

That is the part that really, honestly, does not go down with me. I cannot swallow it. Karlach has the background story to have richly written interactions with Tav/NPCs and more twists and turns to her questline. SO much more. But she barely gets anything.

The game puts Gortash as her big nemesis (Zariel, her actual enslaver, is whatever, apparently), and you still can simply skip taking Karlach with you in the fight. Even if you care enough to have her in your party when you do, she gets no big wow moment with Gortash (like Astarion gets with Cazador, SH gets with Shar AND Viconia, Lae’zel gets with Vlaakith, the lot). You, Tav (or any other character for that matter) can be the one to finish Gortash. Doesn’t change anything, even though the game clearly puts him as Karlach’s evil guy.

Fun fact, you actually have to kill him anyway regardless of Karlach for the main quest - with or without Karlach. It doesn’t really matter. Karlach doesn’t really matter for this bit of the story. It is NOT really her moment. She has NO real moment of her own (except when she dies - oh, wow, thank you I guess). And I hate it.

We do get the best and most heartbreaking monologue in the game after Gortash’s death (if Karlach is there AND you care to talk to her). Karlach then has the first real meltdown, the first time she lets her truth connect, and feels the feelings she has kept bottled up inside. And it fucking HURTS.

In my first run, this was the moment when I dropped the game for more than a month. Because I realized there was nothing the player could do for Karlach. Not because I, the player, did not want it, but because the game does not let us. The game railroads us into simply dropping her quest.

To boot, we realize when we reach the endgame, that even if you had NEVER cared for Karlach, never upgraded her engine or did her questline’s shallow fetch quests, her ending would be EXACTLY the same. She would not die faster because you did not upgrade her. She would still last until the final fight, then immediately ‘start to die’ afterwards.

There is no REAL influence from the player in Karlach’s destiny. In this sense, she feels like a random NPC that is just there as a companion because fans liked her in EA (or so I heard). Though most ironically, even some NPCs have their outcomes changed drastically by our actions and choices in game. (And if you come to me saying Karlach’s outcome IS influenced in the game because you can kill her or not in the beginning, well, go suck a fuck. Any companion can be killed, and you know that’s not the point)

In other words, what really, REALLY bothers me in the whole Karlach’s situation is not the outcome options she has at the end - at least that is not what MOST bothers me.

What bother’s me is that, even if she is the companion I want to know more about, the one I want to run around the map for, have one, two, six fucking humongous dungeons to clear JUST for her, hear about her past for hours on end, meet her friends, her enemies, have her story be told with as much care and detail as all the others are… Even though I want all that - and I should have it, because everyone else gets it - I can't have it.

I just get the basic, shallow and (infuriatingly) ultimately USELESS fetch quests. The fetch quest only ‘truly matters’ if you romance her and want to have sex with her. If you want to help her as a friend, or if you just have her occupying space at camp - it makes NO difference.

You will still end your game with 6 or 7 lines of one-sentence quest journal entries and Karlach’s fate being decided by a 1 and a half minute dialogue (with not even a lazy persuasion dice roll) in the epilogue.

THAT is what seals Karlach’s fate. A dialogue box, once, in the final minutes of the game.

(Watch out, my turn to rage)

The excess infernal iron you found and kept? The ENHANCED infernal iron you got from the Steel Watchers? The WHOLE Steel Watch thing, including the mention that Karlach was a prototype for them - and they are doing just fine in the Material Plane? The FUCKING Gondians? The Ironhands? Them BOTH? Even some random Ice Metal pieces you get in the underdark and shit? The mentions of the House of Wonders? Gale’s scroll of True Ressurection? Vlaakith’s Wish spell? Gale ascended to godhood??!

NO. Fuck you in particular, for even remotely thinking ANY of these things could help your little hellion companion. You dumb hopeful FUCK.

The game was just trying to trick you, giving you all these possibilities and hope, to then pretend they don’t exist and railroad you to the dialogue at the pier - because THAT is what truly matters.

Oh, and do not forget how you should feel the epicness of that ending cinematic all the same, feel fulfilled that you are the “savior of Baldur’s Gate” or whatever shit the narrator tries to tell you with a voice that sounds like they’re smiling and you should be too. You should be thankful, little player, that there is even the chance to get Karlach back to Avernus - because THAT is the bittersweet ending that puts her story in equal standing to the other origin companions’ stories (<- irony right here).

...

Man. I CAN’T. I can’t even continue. I got into a rage typing spree here that no shit gave me a headache. It’s just all so ridiculous that it turns offensive.

Explains why I don’t usually go deeper into this subject, because it doesn’t feel good at all, just frustrates me to no end. I got NO JOY out of my endgame, NO fulfillment. And as I felt it sink in that THAT was it, the narrator talking to me as if I should be glad came across as condescending and insulting to an absurd degree.

That is to say... I wasn’t happy. But being sad about the ending of a game is not always a bad thing. Having a beloved character die in a game is not always empty and unfulfilling.

I am reminded of a previous launch this year, FFXVI, and my favorite character in that game: Dion Lesage. Granted, the style of game is completely different, but I will use Dion’s death as an example nonetheless. Dion dies in that game (boo, spoiler, I warned you). His death cannot be avoided because FF has a linear story - his outcome is not supposed to be avoided, whereas BG3 is a choice-based game where the player should be able to influence the narrative with their choices.

Well, in FFXVI my favorite character dies. It IS sad as fuck, it made me tear up and feel melancholic for a while and all that shit. But what it DIDN’T do was make me feel numb, empty and unfulfilled. I didn’t feel his death was UNFAIR. Because the story of Dion until his death was meaningful. It was well crafted, interwoven into the game’s main narrative, and told with the importance it should have. His death also was not meaningless, he died and the story of the game could not have continued on as it had without him. He was an integral part of the narrative, and so was his death. It was SAD, yes, but it was MEANINGFUL. It was important. He didn’t die alone or just dropped dead in a corner after the game was over just because. People cared that he died. He mattered.

I did not feel any of this about Karlach’s death. And I strongly suspect it is because her journey until her death was not as rich, not carefully crafted AND implemented, not meaningful enough (or at least not presented to us as such)… It was not delivered in the way that she deserved. Especially for the companion who will certainly die among the lot. She should have had a journey as deep and layered as the others (if not even more) if the plan was to have her die either way.

Gale also has death looming over him most of the game, doesn’t he? But his death is the one that might have an impact in the grand narrative, be the game changer. And EVEN THEN, he has a way out. He has a True Resurrection scroll in his little secret pouch. He has Mystra throw a deus-ex at the last moment. But Karlach… well, fuck her in particular?!

I can’t claim I know much about how Karlach came to be an origin character. I never played EA, and just read about it. Yes, it might have been the case that she was the last added origin companion, that she had to be squeezed into the already almost-ready game somehow. But, excuse me, that is sloppy. And if that was truly the only thing that happened (which we can't know), I doubt no one at Larian was concerned about her becoming one of the most popular companions (cause she already seemed to have been in EA), and people noticing how poor her story progression was.

This might be unpopular but, sometimes I think they should have left her as an NPC, or a secondary companion option like Halsin, Jaheira or Minsc. (Ok, that might be me being extreme and angry due to my frustration, but I still wonder.) If I could not deliver the same level of quality, carefully crafted and integrated character into a story, would I still half-ass it? ...I know. Calling it “half-assing” isn’t fair (I am comparing BG3 to itself and that is a HIGH bar, because when BG3 gets it right, it knocks it right out of the park).

I’ll also be the first to admit that, if she was so 'poorly presented in game', no one, me included, would be so fucking mad about her circumstances at all. The fact I care so much to let this issue ruin my game experience - if anything - attests to the capacity BG3 has to immerse players in its world.

But I also know I am not complaining for nothing.

The way I feel has pretty solid grounds - so much it was one of the first things Larian patched. But it was a feeble attempt, in my eyes, because the real blatant issue with Karlach is not in the last 3 minutes of the game - it is in the span of all 3 acts. It is her personal questline in its entirety, the development of her story in game and the level of influence and interaction we as players truly have throughout it all. It is the fact she does not stand at the same level of the other companions (not out of merit as a character, let me be clear, but due to execution and implementation of her story in the launched version of the game), nor do her quests or her (lack of) dungeons and truly meaningful unique crafted content.

She is a charming, beloved character and, even if Larian really truly wants to die on the hill of “Karlach is a tragic character who must die”, they could do so and still make (some of) the players feel fulfilled by having the journey with Karlach, from Act 1 through Act 3 and that damn pier, be rich, intricate, layered, funny, badass, bloody, sad, painful, relatable, sweet… Just like she is.

So that is what I wanted:

Not necessarily have her be 'cured', marry and have kids or whatever shit is happily ever after - I think it doesn’t suit her (it might have, in an alternative universe, but not in the one presented in game, with THE Karlach we get in game).

But have her story receive the highlights it deserves, including locations, NPCs and interactions - so even if we just get the 3 outcomes for her we currently have - Avernus, death or death by mindflayer - we could feel some level of closure.

Or, even better: have her journey be richer, AND give us the sliver of hope for the Avernus ending. Make Dammon say that there is something somewhere in Avernus - a blueprint, a special crafting material, a DUDE, or Mizora imply there's a chance to bargain with Zariel (whatever!) - and that we might, perhaps, just MAYBE, be able to finally actually DO SOMETHING.

And then just leave us, the players, to let our minds wander on, imagining how that would go.

That, honestly, could be the thing able to redeem the terrible ending experience I had in my first playthrough. A fully implemented story progression befitting Karlach and just a hint of hope to hang onto.

It doesn’t seem absurd, does it? Though the implementation of a richer story (perhaps a dungeon or a sneak peek of Zariel) of course would involve a lot of new work and re-work. But for a game that turned out so big and successful - and a character so cherished - it doesn’t seem out of the question.

Too bad I’m not Swen so I can’t do it myself.

Instead, I write long rage posts on an almost anon account on tumblr. Thank you, tumblr. >>

PS: I got really angry up there, didn’t I? LOL. I’m as easy to get heated as Karlach, it seems. Oops.

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