#like reading that back was just skull emojis the whole time

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

my like. official autism screening or whatever said so many times “[redacted] is very willing to learn coping skills” which. i said i was. i was not. lowkey am still not. of the full belief i will figure it out on my own being told how to do things actually just makes it all worse for me

but LMAO like i rlly successfully lied to a therapist

[slutshamethesquirrels]

Infatuation (Part 2)

geto x fat!fem!reader

cw/tw: so much body talk, insecurity, internalized misogyny, flawed reader, minor suicidal ideation (talked about in a non serious/joking manner), bullying, very minor violence, gender heavy implications, mild obsession

It takes a bit for you to get back to a normal routine.

Most of it was your own perception, thoughts mixing and muddying together until you couldn't separate the real from the fantasy anymore. You felt Suguru's fingers on your skin in your sleep, smelled the familiar scent of him, heard his heartbeat pounding in your ears.

Then you'd wake up, alone, and the reality of the situation would buzz around in your head once more. Nothing had changed about your relationship with Suguru, except it felt like everything had. You’d allowed him to get too close, see too much of you. Both physically and otherwise. You wondered if he'd look at you with pity or disgust, and which one was worse.

You craved him like sunshine, you always had, but this had to stop now before you dug your hole any deeper. His attempt at being a good friend had only furthered your obsession. You didn't trust your hands to stay at your sides around him. The cold metal of his chain was the only thing grounding you. It felt like a noose, but you couldn't take it off.

You’d missed the last three days of school. There was no way to go to class and still avoid him, and you had no logical answer for him if he were to ask if you were okay. You didn't know. Part of you hoped the boys didn't care. You roll over in your bed and try to convince yourself they weren't concerned, but your phone buzzes with impeccable timing.

You click the screen on, squinting through the dark of your room at a screen that seemed to glow entirely too bright. Suguru.

you dead?

Boy language is laughable, but you know the sentiment behind it. You type back a reply.

yep!

You throw in a couple ghost emojis and hit the send button, almost tossing your phone back into the sheets beside you before deciding that wouldn't be good enough to get him off your case.

seriously, dude. im fine, just sick.

You’d settled back into your sheets and almost slipped back into the comfort of slumber when your phone buzzed again.

You ignored it.

Until it happened a second time, and then a third-

You snatch your phone again and read the series of messages that had been sent to you.

i don't believe you.

look i know i probably did too much the other day

i didn't mean to piss you off. i think we need to talk.

You don't reply, and roll back over. No more opened doors.

xxx

The week finishes and you’re glad to have the weekend to yourself. Slowly, you were starting to feel a little better about the way things had gone. You didn’t think it would ever fully cease, the embarrassment of the whole situation, but you’d hoped your absence had at least drilled it into Geto’s thick ass skull to take you more seriously when you said you were uncomfortable. Maybe the boys would even learn that not everything is a joke.

The only one you’d spoken to was Choso. Sweet, angel baby Cho. He was always the nicest of the group, a tender hearted individual who wore his feelings on his sleeve like a badge of honor. He didn’t fight you when you said you wouldn’t be attending the benefit, he seemed more concerned about your well being. You’d decided to buy his lunch on Monday to try and make up for it.

Reality TV was helping, reminding you that people had it rougher on the daily. For majority of the day you’d been glued to the couch, trying your best to remain immersed in the lives of rich scumbags who had nothing better to do than lie about which plastic surgeries they’d had and cheat on their partners.

Plastic Surgery.

It was a thought, honestly. If you had the funds to do so, you’re almost positive you would do the same. Tummy tucks and facial lifts and reconstruction until you are no longer what you are. You wanted more than the nepo babies of the world. More than just minor adjustments. You wanted to walk back into school on monday unrecognizable, sit and Barbie and Midge’s table with them, gossip about… whatever it was they talked about and act like you didn’t notice the wandering eyes of other people. Maybe Gojo would try and get Suguru to be his wingman. Maybe this time, Suguru would see you and-

Stop it.

You didn’t have the funds anyway, plastic surgery wasn’t and end all to feeling better, and Suguru– You didn’t want to think about Suguru anymore, or his dazzling smile, or his silken hair, or the way his hands felt wrapped around you. In fact, life would be better if you could find a way to never see him at all, at least that way you could grieve without the ghost of hope sneaking it’s way around your mind every time he stood just a little too close.

Destiny had other things in mind, it seems.

The turn of your lock has you jolting up from the couch, frozen in surprise for just a moment before your favorite dream and worst nightmare is pushing his way through your door.

He looks good. A little too good. His hair is half up, which isn't entirely uncommon but the sides are braided back out of his face, every flyaway perfectly tucked into twisting rolls of silken onyx, and the pieces left hanging look like they've been blown out in loose waves. He's carrying armfuls of bags, one from a department store you know all too well.

“What are you doing here? Did Gojo give you my spare key?”

You don't even attempt to get off the couch and help him. He can suffer.

He drops the bags in your living room and kicks the door shut behind him, huffing. He's irritated, you realize. He’d never been one to wear his emotions on his face, at least not permanently. He was always trying to pull himself back down to a state of disinterest, but Suguru was sensitive, and at times quick to anger. You’d seen it time and time before.

“Picking you up for the benefit?” He scoffs like you're stupid “Also, you should know better than to trust Satoru with anything, much less the keys to your apartment.”.

A scowl graces his face for just a fraction of a second before he's back to his stone charade, rifling through the bags which you now assumed contained things for him to get ready with. Studying him closer, you notice he's still dressed in loungewear, sweatpants and an old white t-shirt.

“He lives the closest, it makes the most sense.” You defend yourself, completely unshy about the discontentment that plays on your own face.

“I have a car. I could be here just as fast and I’m way more trustworthy.” He’s not looking at you, but from the sound alone you know the words are coming through gritted teeth. Something is really gnawing at him, and from his cold behavior you could endeavor that something is you.

“Are you mad at me right now?” You laugh humorlessly while rising to your feet, a habit of yours you know pisses him off but you can't care “You're breaking into my house because you knew I wouldn't answer the door and you're mad at me?”.

He shoots a mean glare up at you from where he’s crouched on the floor, fire blazing in his eyes before he sighs and takes a deep breath. Once he's collected himself he rises to his feet again and crosses his arms in front of him, white knuckle gripping the crooks of his elbows.

“I’m not mad.” Liar “I just don't understand why you wouldn't ask me to hold your emergency key– this is stupid. Get dressed.”.

“I already told Choso I’m not going.”

“Oh, so we can talk to Kamo. Funny, I thought you weren't answering texts this week.” He returns to the bags, reaching for the one from the department store earlier in the week “Not good enough to hold a key, not good enough to talk too. Great. Remind me again which one of those pricks is your personal chauffeur? Which one of them is it that your family takes on vacations? Was it Satoru or Kamo who bailed you out when you got pulled over with weed in your car-?”.

“Stop it.” You spit, teeth grit and shoulders tense.

The two of you didn't fight often, not really. Sure, he would spit awful jokes and you would call him a dick. He’d playfully shove you and you’d playfully pull his hair. ‘You’re an asshole’ had become layman's terms for expressions of affection over the years, but this?

He almost sounded jealous.

And he had no right to be. How many times had you watched him slink off to the bathroom with some bimbo at a party? How many times did you keep your calm while he and Gojo gossiped about their casual hookups? How many times did you stand beside him and smile politely while girl after girl hit on him?

You know it's not the same type of jealousy, which is maybe why it burns all the worse when he freezes in place and dares to look at you like he's soft and sorry. He had no idea what all he needed to be sorry for. Every night you’d cried yourself to sleep over one of his shitty jokes or complete lack of awareness when it came to you. Every way he’d rejected you but never directly. For shoving you into a fitting room and making you face every part of yourself–

“I’m sorry. I just…”

He shakes his head and rises to his feet, closing the distance between the two of you while he speaks. Every step winds you tighter, and tighter, and you can feel the temperature rising to a boiling heat–

“It doesn't matter. I brought the dress and some hair and makeup stuff so–”

He wasn't listening. He never listened. He didn't listen when you told him the first time. Or the second. Or the third.

I’m just as unimportant to him as I am to everyone else.

“I’m not. Going.” The words come out quieter and shakier than usual, dug out of the pit of your gut from somewhere deep.

Suguru furrows his brow, his eyes scanning your face and mind undeniably working overtime. You know what he's doing, looking for a de-escalation tactic. Little did he know you were far beyond that.

He reaches forward, and you can hear your heartbeat thrumming in your ears as he speaks “Yes, you are. Are you really so mad at me that you–”.

His hands meet the cloth of your tshirt on either side of your arms and you snap.

“Don’t fucking touch me!!” You voice comes out high pitched and shrill, crackling under the pressure and Suguru jumps backwards, showing you open palms in a soothing gesture, and it only serves to hurt you more. All six foot three of him, acting as if you could do any real damage. Would he startle so easily if you weighed one hundred and fifty pounds? One twenty? One ten? You doubted it. If you were anyone other than you, he'd laugh, grab your wrists, tell you how cute and silly you were being. But fat girls don't get exceptions, understanding. You're supposed to know your place and stay firmly in it.

“I’m not mad at you! I was never mad! I just can't, okay?!” You're slowly regaining control of your volume and he seems to relax a little, though whether that's due to your declining noise level or his own tendency towards self control is for him to know and for you to forever wonder.

“I just fucking can't. That dress looks ridiculous on me and I don't know what to do with my hair or my face and I just feel so fucking disgusting I–”

“Disgusting?” His question slices through the air like a blade, leaving a heavy silence in its wake “What do you mean?”.

He knows what you mean. He always knew. There was rarely a question he needed to ask you, and yet he asked them anyway. You stand tense and frozen, feeling like a cornered dog.

“Don't make me say it.”.

After a few seconds, he sighs and re-attempts approaching. Instead of touching you, he reaches out his hand for you to take, and after a brief moment of hesitation you do. Like always, he's warm, soft skin caressing your fingers with a sickening kind of sweetness, a mixture of skatole, benzaldehyde, and acetone. The kind of sugary bitter notes that make you nauseous, the ones you’ll never forget.

He sits on the coffee table in front of you, examining your fingers like he might find something incredible there, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he looked for a way forward.

Finally, finally he finds a way to sum up whatever was going on in that stupidly attractive brain of his:

“I’m sorry I don't understand. But I want to.”.

He kills you when he does that fucking thing with his eyes, pinning you in place with a piercing gaze. It makes you want to melt into him, to hide from it by coming closer, but it's off limits. It always has been. You were a recovering alcoholic staring into a locked display case. You wanted to run, before you did something stupid and shattered the glass.

“I’m fat, okay?” The admission burns your throat. You know it's true, and you know he's already aware of that fact, but hot shame sets fire to your cheeks anyway. Still, he has to get it through his thick skull.

“I’m fat, and I always have been, and it's never once been cute. That dress fucking exposes every roll and flab and pudge I have and I don't fucking like it.”

You don't understand it, but his expression softens, eyes warming up despite the pain in your voice.

“I just wanna sit here in my pajamas and watch tv and not worry about it. Is that too much to ask?”.

“Thank you for telling me.” He says, his tone honey soft and intentionally gentle, like he’s some sort of pastor, squeezing your hand reassuringly, “But you’re fucking going–”.

“Suguru, please-”

“No, y/n. You're going. And you're gonna wear the dress. Because I told you–”.

You attempt to pull your gaze away from him, turning your head to the side like a petulant child, bottom lip jutting out almost despite your own will, but he follows the movement, dipping down to stay in your line of vision, his hair swishing dramatically as he does so. When he knows he has your attention again, he smiles.

“--you look incredible in it. I meant that.”.

You can feel tears welling in your eyes. Fuck, what is with him making you cry recently? And why does it feel like you have no choice?

He squeezes your hand once more and you attempt to return his smile. You’re certain it looks painful. He switches to a flat palm against your own, and then slowly intertwines his fingers with yours, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles against your flesh, attempting to comfort you.

“You're my date to this thing and I’m so excited to have you hanging off my arm. If you need me to hold your hand the whole time, fine but I’m not letting you talk yourself out of it just because you're insecure. I'm sorry, but then again, I’m absolutely not.”

His what?

He can’t say shit like that, he has to know he can’t just casually say shit like that–

“Is that was this is to you? A date?”

Your brain is short circuiting. You can’t think about anything else. Not the way he just casually called you out, not the way his tone was one of a modern mom-fluencer explaining to her toddler why he can’t have a cookie in front of millions for clout– Your heart is racing. He can’t be serious.

“Is that not what it is to you?” His smile softens a bit, eyes narrowing as he slips into analytics mode, trying to see through your forehead directly into your mind.

Part of you thought he always could.

“I–” You start to feel lightheaded and have to remind yourself to breathe “I don’t know. Did you– do you want it to be?”.

He chuckles, more air than sound, and rolls his eyes at you, like you did exactly what he expected of you.

“Go put the dress on and meet me in the bathroom, dumbass. You’re gonna make us late.”

xxx

By the time you make it to the bathroom, Suguru has a makeshift beauty salon set up in the cramped space, makeup stacked along the cheap faux-marble of your counter, a curling iron heating on a towel. He’s waiting patiently, leaned against the wall tapping away on his phone looking bored, until he sees you.

Warmth and pride swirls in his eyes, the corner crinkling as the corners of his mouth turn up. You can only look at him for a short moment before you’re freezing in place, hands moving to cover your face with an exasperated groan. You’re flanked by your two worst enemies; the bathroom mirror and Suguru. Neither you could face. Neither you could ever see yourself eating in front of–

And then a hand is tugging at your arm, guiding you until you’re sitting on the closed toilet seat. The godforsaken dress rides up with the motion, and your hands quickly fly to correct it, gripping the fabric with white knuckles and doing your best you recover yourself, which causes an amused giggle to escape Suguru.

“How the hell am I supposed to sit in this thing?” You pout, and he shrugs.

“Very carefully.”

You could murder him.

You would be baffled by Suguru’s hair and makeup expertise if you didn’t know exactly where it came from. You remembered when he was learning.

Early Highschool hadn't been easy on Suguru, even less so with the untimely passing of his aunt, leaving two cousin-turned-sisters two look after, to feed, to nurture, to teach. Suguru's parents weren't great, but they were next of kin.

You remembered him watching makeup tutorials in the public library, studying intently and taking notes like he was a pre-med student. He wanted the girls to know how to dress, how to use things no one in their lives had taught them to use before. He read parenting books, kept up with the latest trends via instagram. Hell, at one point he'd joined a facebook group for single moms just to ask for advice from time to time. Initially, the administrators didn't want to let him in, but after a few initial messages and some award winning selfies with Nanako and Mimiko, they relented. He was, like in any other social setting, the shining star of the group. He still had about seven different middle aged white women leaving comments– no, letters of devotion on his page every time he updated his profile picture.

He's gentle, soft hums escaping him as he works on your face, little chuckles when he touches you with something cold or wet and your face scrunches up in displeasure.

You’d be lying if you said it wasn't nice though, being fussed over by him.

What was also nice was the way he kept inching closer. His knee sliding in between your own, his hair toppling forward and tickling your exposed cleavage. At one point he grabs your jaw, angling you a certain way and the pressure lights you on fucking fire. You can’t even help the way your hands fly to the front of his shirt, gripping the fabric there, knuckles scraping against the washboard abdomen beneath.

You're convinced you'll never make it out alive, and the shit he says is worse than any physical action he takes.

“You're so tense. Relax for me, y/n–” As he works on your eyes.

“Open up. Mmhmm, just like that–” As he applies something to your lips.

“Bare with me, good girl–” He purrs while he applies your mascara, cooing at you when he finally releases you and watches you blink rapidly at the new sensation.

It isn't until he steps back to assess his work that you can finally breathe again, lips parted and panting lightly as he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear, and then uses the tips of his fingers to angle your face back and forth, double checking his work.

“Perfect.” He smiles, and all you can do is nod pathetically. The air is too dense for words.

part 1

[emeritus-fuckers]

Emoji trouble with Secondo... (gn!reader)

"Where is that bastard?!"

Alpha gave you a confused look as you burst through the door. He must've just taken his robes off, scarred chest on full display. And while usually you'd make a playful comment on it, this time you only repeated your question, asking about that bastard's whereabouts. He could only guess you were talking about Secondo, but knowing you, 'that bastard' could be just about anyone.

"And which bastard are we looking for today, huh?"

Alpha grinned, putting on a Mayhem shirt that, considering it was slightly oversized, must've been Omega's.

You pretty much shoved your phone in Alpha's face. He grabbed your wrist, moving your hand away so he could look at the screen properly. It was your text messages with Secondo. You must've been spamming him for a while, considering how many messages he could see. And then... he saw Secondo's last message.

"I apologize, my beloved, I am currently rather busy, as I am preparing to 💀."

Alpha furrowed his brows, re-reading the text again. The whole thing managed to get Omega's attention, too, cardinal Terzo in his arms, cuddling up to their beloved ghoul.

Omega seemed about as confused as Alpha was, which did not help your already freaked out self. Neither did Terzo, who just started all but howling with laughter and mumbling something in Italian, visibly amused by the entire situation. Hell, he was laughing so hard Omega had to use both hands to hold them so he didn't fall to the floor.

"How is this funny to you?!" you questioned, Terzo's laughter making you freak out even more.

"You'll see soon." Terzo patted your shoulder a he kept giggling almost madly as this point. "Believe me, he is very much alive, if that's what you're worried about."

And with that, Terzo fell into another fit of giggles, hiding in Omega's chest as the massive ghoul just shrugged, going back to minding his business. Alpha ruffled your hair and went back to changing as you just stood there, confused out of your mind.

Eventually, Secondo came into the room, wearing a pair of casual pants and a button-up shirt with only about half of the buttons done. The bottom half, of course. That slut of a man could never pass up an opportunity to show off his chest, after all.

And most importantly, his pain was washed off. Mostly. There was still some black around his eyes, unmistakable glittery eye shadow still there, around his lashes.

"Amore? Is something the matter?"

You turned to him, ready to tear the man apart, considering just how many times you've texted and called him. And yet, he did not seem to notice just how shocked and confused you were. Hell, not even the murderous look in your eyes got the wheels in his head turning.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

You grabbed his shoulder and started shaking him, but he grabbed your wrists and kept you still, raising a brow at you, his eyes piercing you. And yet, this time, you were too annoyed with him to let him dominate you with just a look like he usually would.

"I had a Black Mass to lead, my nightingale."

"And that's why you texted me that you were preparing to die?!"

He gave you a confused look, letting go of your wrists to let you show him the screen of your phone. He let out a small 'ah' in understanding when he saw just how many times you've messaged him and called him. He checked his phone, realizing that he must've put it on Do Not Disturb on accident.

"My love, could it be you're referring to my last message?"

"What do you think I could be referring to, you bastard?! Who the fuck says shit like this?! Preparing to die?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"Amore. I meant my paint."

"... You what."

"The skull emoji. It was meant to represent my papal paints."

You blinked up at him a few times, seeing the amused spark in his eyes. Paints. He meant his goddamn papal paints. Well, that certainly explained Terzo's laughter earlier.

Still, you had full right to freak out, right? Who on earth would've guessed that was what that old bastard meant? Nobody in their right mind would use the skull emoji to talk about their goddamn stage make-up! Right?

Although his smug, amused look was starting to make you second-guess yourself. Now, naturally, you had to maintain your dignity, even in a situation like this! And so, you huffed.

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight, Emeritus."

You announced, shoving his shoulder one more time for good measure before going back to your room.

Secondo merely chuckled, sending you another text message.

"Would you like some 🐓 for dinner, and then a nice, good 🍑 cake for dessert?"

It wasn't long before he heard you yell out his name from across the Ministry. And some death threats. Mostly death threats.

You truly were adorable.

~

Written by Zenith and Nosferatu.

[spockandawe]

Now. Here's the big project! I made a test notebook for once in my life, but I've never enjoyed making notebooks and I'm always chasing that sweet, sweet dopamine. So the test notebook was like... 90% in parallel with the actual book, just rehearsing each step real quick before I did it on the real thing. And what I did was a fresh binding of 'it's about the bones 👌' by @sunderedstar. I had a typeset file ready to go, I'm in the middle of relistening to the audiobooks, it was perfect! And then I zoned out and accidentally cut a whole cover's worth of leather and not just a spine and the whole project ESCALATED 🤣

First, the k118 binding went beautifully. I really do recommend it. It can be done with an oxford hollow to give you a breakaway spine, but I... didn't do that! I stuck to the old timey examples I've seen where it's a tightbacked style and, yeah, it still opens SO far, it's an absolute doll. The style is characterized by vellum strips on the spine used to attached the cover boards and give them the security and flexibility without added bulk. I got impatient trying to differentiate between PAPER vellum and ANIMAL vellum in search engines and just said screw it and went in with the paper vellum. I still have actual vellum getting shipped to me, but truly, the paper stuff worked amazingly. I'm not sure how durable it is, in terms of years of life, but if feels REAL good now. Also. Finally had a thematic excuse to use this beautiful lacquered paper.

I also remain very proud of my typesetting for this book. Warning that you can glean HtN and NtN spoilers if you read the text closely! But scope out that hand I subbed in for the emoji in the title, that's important.

Because now that I was committed to all this leather. Something I've been procrastinating on for MONTHS is learning how to properly tool leather. I have a set of brass stylus tools that ought to be up my alley! Freehand drawing was my first creative hobby of note! This interest dates back to like, fifth grade, and it was time to GO for it. So. I modified the ninth house skull to have some sick shades, made the IX on the forehead more scrawled and scratchy, and drew a skeleton hand over the art I used for the title page. I printed my lines and traced them through printer paper with unheated tools. This was extremely rad, but I couldn't stop there. The next day, I went back over my lines with heated tools, and the level of crisp was SO delightful. I'm still very new to this, still learning how these tools and the material even handle, but oh man. I am actively antsy to find the next project to do this for, this was SO much fun, I enjoyed it so much, and I love this book to pieces!

[yuwumeniji]

Luxiem & Pickup Lines

WARNING: Please remember that I am writing about Luxiem based on their characters online and not of the people behind their vtuber avatars, thank you!

EXTRA NOTES: i just want them flustered over the cheesiest pick up lines i found on the internet lmao

GENERAL

established relationships (reader x luxiem)

both luxiem and the reader are streamers here - the reader plays along with their respective chats flirts with the boys

the reader is the one telling the boy a pick-up line

i literally got these off of one of those top (insert number here) websites lmao

you can 100% pull bitches this way (trust me)

MORE UNDER THE CUT

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧ ─────┈⊰᯽⊱

IKE EVELAND

"Can you touch my hand? I want to tell my friends that I've been touched by an angel"

Ike "rejection" eveland surprisingly gets flustered over your pick-up line

he genuinely does not expect you of all people to also play along with his chat who often spams him with ring emojis

to many, he's like an impregnable wall - quick to hit you back with a blunt quip, but not this time....

he SPUTTERS the second he heard you finish that line (you totally did not read it off of one of those sites on google... not at all)

" i- you- y-y-you??" "WAIT Y/N COULD YOU REPEAT THAT ONE MORE TIME"

he's smiling, he's giggling, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, my crops are growing and my skin is clear

he spends the rest of the stream asking you to tell him another pick-up line whenever there was a chance. he found it enjoyable that you find these funny enough to share with him

LUCA KANESHIRO

"I've lost my teddy bear! Could I sleep with you instead?"

i think the pick-up line went over his head a little bit

like, he went "oh, where'd you put it last?" before someone in his chat tells him that it was a pick up line

then it's just silence

did you completely break the impassable mafia boss? did you manage to fluster him?

but nope, he goes back to his usual POOOOG self

behind the camera, he's as red as a cherry tomato - boy did he not expect a pick-up line like this to come from you!

actually, it was very noticable that the pick-up line flustered him

he was speaking quickly, his gestures were wild and you could even hear how big the smile on his face was

he'll definitely send you a cringey couple tiktok later after stream with a "us lmao <3" after it

MYSTA RIAS

"Are those spacepants? because your ass looks out of this world!"

oh he knows he has a nice ass

he thinks the pick-up line was terrible but hearing it come from you made the whole thing feel romantic (in some way)

but hearing this from you? he's as red as a tomato (i can't think of anything else that's red... skull emoji..)

the pick-up line definitely flustered him to the point where he had to take like a 10 minute break from the game both of you were playing together.

"CHAT. LISTEN TO ME, THEY NEVER SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!"

he's sputtering too and then he goes on a whole tangent about how cringe the pick-up line was

he spends the rest of the stream together talking excitedly - he feels a little energized knowing that you like him enough to tell him such a cringe pick-up line

SHU YAMINO

"Hey, is your name Wi-fi? Because I'm feelin' a connection between you and I"

"THAT IS SO CRINGE" (cue the giggling)

he shouted??? fr???? real????

this is the loudest shu had been on a stream, and not only did it surprise his viewers, but also himself

he couldn't hold back on his laughter because he could tell that you totally searched that up on your phone while he was brb from the stream

you can see the 10 minute giggly shu compilations made from this stream alone now (tskr)

he's actually laughing so hard to the point he's gasping for air - that's when you know you definitely flustered him

he also searches for one because he wants to see you get flustered as well

you guys spend the rest of the stream telling each other cringey pick-up lines to see who could out-cringe the other

VOX AKUMA

"You know what you'd look beautiful in? My arms."

normally, vox is used to flirty comments but hearing you say that out of the blue really shocked him

like you could visibly see his shock - mid sentence he just went "-oop", followed by :0

you could really hear the windows crashing noise the second he heard you utter that line

"Y/N, could you.... could you repeat that one more time"

he's in shambles,he's crying, he even got his little "tskr" comment ready to be added to YOUR chat

he goes back to normal the moment you switch the subject, but you better believe that he starts singing your praises - in how you got better at flirting and how he's wrapped around your finger etc.

he's literally just some funny guy, c'mon

[finchers-ipad]

Can u share any Tyler hcs you never shared before :D!!!!!!!? If u have any. He’s always on my mind!!

i have a few bouncing around in my skull rn:

-he has this weird mysterious past that he doesn’t really talk about, not because he doesn’t want to necessarily he just doesn’t think about it. this would lead to really funny situations where him and the narrator are lying in bed or something and the narrator traces his fingers on a scar on Tyler’s chest and say “where did you get this, did you have surgery or something?” and tyler would nonchalantly say “nah i got stabbed by this guy” the narrator would look exactly like this emoji upon hearing that: 😧. this works in another situation like tyler walking in on the narrator reading and the narrator would be like “did you know that in Spain they have this holiday where they throw tomatoes at each other?” tyler would just be like “uh yeah i lived there for 2 years” like it was common knowledge.

- he would love to go to concerts/shows even if it’s an artist he doesn’t know. when he was younger he attended a lot of punk shows and thats kind of the environment he hung out the most. thinking about of the narrator and Tyler would both love radiohead (semi based on the fact that Brad Pitt and Ed Norton love radiohead but i do feel like radiohead is a common ground in Tyler and the narrators music tastes) and how they would go and see them live in 2003.

- i feel like he is a sentimental person but would rather die than openly show it. he keeps little rings that Marla leaves at the house, takes polaroids often and either puts them up around the house or has a pile of them, keeps little doodles that the narrator makes while he is on the phone etc.

- he’s definitely attempted to brew his own beer before in the basement of paper street just to keep himself occupied and maybe sell it. after waiting four weeks for the beer to be ready and hyping it up to the narrator, they both take a drink and immediately throw up. he learns to stick to soap making.

- this is kind of more of a soapshipping thing but this is what i have been thinking about lately. i don’t know how this would work in terms of film switching from reels to digital and how that would kind of put Tyler out of a job BUT, let’s just say he gets paid to sit on his ass in the projection booth and click play. he is forced to watch ‘twilight’ when it comes out as apart of his job and thinks it is the worst film he has ever seen.

he basically sprints home to tell the narrator about it “man i kid you not he is this old vampire dude but in the body of this young guy trying to fuck this 17 year old it’s weird” and the narrator doesn’t believe him on how bad and cringe it is so Tyler sneaks him into work to watch it, and they laugh the whole way through to the point where you can hear them both laughing IN the theatre. and they go back to watch it like 3 more times taking a drink every time something awkward happens to the point where they are blackout drunk.

[roomba-mangga]

for that ask game: 8, 17, 31 & 43 for thistle dungeon meshi ?

8. Unpopular opinion about them

Not sure I can gauge (un)popularity unless it's an extreme example so I guess *skull emoji* the age discourse? Less an opinion and more a personal interpretation of the immortal child archetype, tbh. It's a really interesting concept, super fun to try and strike that balance between ancient and tragically young, and presenting that situation through a high fantasy framework really works to emphasize and demonstrate the nuances of a split child/adult mentality, especially wrt trauma (not to mention fraught family dynamics and neurodivergence).

The tricky bit is that balancing act where you want to avoid adultifying or infantilizing the character within a narrative, which... I think with that whole age debate, people tend to lean into one or the other pitfall, and justifiably so since it's such a tightrope act. Thistle's sense of purpose and security hinges on being a guardian to people who are simultaneously much older and younger than him—essentially being expected to mature at the same rate as everyone else when that isn't physically possible, which was bad enough when Marcille was just observing aging disparity between herself and others, let alone what happened with Thistle. Neurodivergent trauma metaphor I love you.

So he's effectively been playing the role of adult guardian for so long that trying to remove that from his dynamics with others would imbalance him, while at the same time that very imposition of responsibilities is the root of trauma in the first place. It's all very complicated! Whoever cares for him post-canon needs to find a middle ground between those two states, which means any dynamic where he's involved would have a fair amount of role-fuckery going on where he's neither their kid nor their peer, but somehow both at once. And also an ageless entity of indeterminate gender. I shill for Young Old Guy Thistle.

17. Quotes, songs, poems etc. that I associate with them

Brick By Boring Brick (Paramore)

Icarus (The Crane Wives)

Age of Kings (The Mountain Goats)

Bring Her Back (Dirt Poor Robins)

Do You Want to Die Together? (Stars)

Little Soldiers (The Crane Wives)

Honorable mention that I wouldn't actually include in a playlist because he's too aggro, but it's about the principle of the thing: Strawberry Blond (Mitski)

If I had to pick songs for other dynamics besides Thistle & Delgal then...

Thistle & Falin: Community Gardens (The Scary Jokes)

Thistle & Laios: Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair (Arctic Monkeys)

Thistle & Yaad: Paper Dolls (Dirt Poor Robins)

31. If they had a tumblr what would it look like?

So there are two separate blogs with severely contrasting vibes and the first one is just a polished site dedicated to the Kingdom's state of affairs and unabashed monarchy propaganda, the crest of Melini is the banner, it has local news and dungeon updates like whatever batch of adventurers have been crushed to paste that day. The other one is his secret vent blog that's mostly pages and pages of poetry (a lot his own) and the occasional meltdown in unreadable cursive font that romanticizes his inner turmoil. Banner would be an exquisite oil painting depicting a king and his page. Reading back I think I'm implying that Thistle randomly has a Tumblr in the high fantasy universe, which is devastatingly funny to me.

43. 3 favorite foods and 3 they despise

He doesn't eat </3

Substitute answer my knowledge of medieval European/Mediterranean food starts and ends at cheese bread and fruit but, placing my bets that his preferences mirror Delgal's—adjusted to be appropriate to his station—because of course they do. He canonically is apathetic towards elven food (who isn't?) given his resentment towards his own race for abandoning him. I like to think that post-canon there's at least one kind of elven food from some loosely SEA-inspired subcontinent that grows on him so he finally has a positive connection to his homeland (... it'll be Filipino or Indian food. Not sure what specifically yet but mark my words)

[consequencesofargentdawn]

Yo, I've been casually checking out the blog from time to time since a while. So long story slightly shortened I used to be a part of the Assemblage Gnome Guild during BFA and some part of Shadowlands. See, I got nabbed up when I was a complete noobie alt-tabbing in Stormwind while waiting on a fella to hop on to RP. Well, they were busy and when I tabbed back in i was being approached lmao. Despite vague warnings of this PCU I had no real clue and didn't bother to look up what was going on. I got booted for inactivity when irl got the best of me, with Perroy himself asking me "Do you even rp anymore" or shit along those lines. Told him I was on a break and sometime later i learned i was booted when I did not spot the Discord server on my list. So can I get caught up on wtf has been going on with the Assemblage and that other Dwarf Guild i cant remember the name of? I can post my whole ass story in a follow up, either here or on discord, but I am curious what has been going on with them during their existence, even when I was not there. I was around when the guild was on it's last legs, the head honcho having quit, replaced by another character. Said new GM literally had to use an alt for the next next event's npcs. (I say next twice cuz the first one they planned literally did not get enough people to attend [skull emoji].) Also I heard about something something Perroy and gnomes. So.. yeah. Don't spare me any details 'n stuff, I wanna know it all. Also as an ending note here is a fun fact: I got scolded several times for logging off before the member count thing that was happening by the leader at the time, Ryder. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I might even ramble more sometime.

Assemblage of Uld and League of Modimus were the real main Eastern Kingdoms foothold for the PCU after the Bloody Verdict was brought down in (you guessed it) a sex pest scandal. Despite that however Gnome and Dwarf RP has always been a niche that never truly gains the same number of players as other more popular niches (Humans, Military, Elves etc).

From our understanding there were too many long term Dwarf guilds persisting on Argent Dawn for the standard PCU policy of infiltration, dissimulation and assimilation of others for the PCU to maintain consistent numbers and activity.

Guild leaders from League of Modimus also ended up wanting to try out and make a Dracthyr guild as Dragonflight approached and their attempts understandably backfired when it was seen that they were not just some normal RPers but actually PCU gang members trying to take over yet another niche.

League of Modimus and Assemblage of Uld ultimately merged into Forgecog Fellowship, which lasted a few months before ultimately unable to keep interest, also went the way of the dinosaur.

Your insights however have been of interest to us, and again confirm the type of person Perroy and his officers have usually been. If you would like to share more we would be happy to publicize your experiences, anonymously of course if that is desired.

[unsleepingtales]

Burrow’s End Episode Six Reactions! (And AP!)

Allow me to preface this by saying that my computer broke this week, I am doing all my schoolwork and real job work on my cellphone right now, and the following is transcribed from the reactions I wrote down in a real physical notebook while watching the episode on my phone.

If you’re wondering how I wrote emojis in my notebook. The small drawings are very bad. Onwards!

BUT SHE’S DEAD 💀

Some sort of mutation going on w/the giant thing?

Diversity Win! The threatening First Stoat uses they/them pronouns!

Bennett :D

She does tai chi 😎

Oh the twins! (So fun bc one of the main groups in my current home game is Also called the Twins)

Is this a dept head meeting or smth?

That’s. Creepy.

Ok.

OOP-

Blow up his spot lmaooo

I’m living for Brennan’s reality check analogies

Human ish teeth?

Erika Ishii I love you ❤️

Aabria the character voice you are doing for Kiran is Hot.

I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE???

I need Bennett to not be a bad guy ok? I need it.

What are you saying man

Brennan’s just Dying

That was pure Erika oh my god

Oh she’s full of it alright!

(‘Keep going’) oh Izzy <3

Y’know what if I was on the team to renter a nuclear power plant that had a reactor failure and I saw thousands of militant stoats I think I would just leave. Let them have it.

On the what, Ava?

Yeah no especially if those stoats were using the fucking nuclear power?? I’d just leave.

At least she remembers their hallway is blue.

I’m curious if everyone switching so quickly from calling it Blue to Light is a DnD/Improv/Adaptation thing or a characters assimilating thing? Maybe both? Maybe it’s conscious maybe not?

I’m still thinking about how smooth Aabria’s “Weap-Technology” was when introducing the departments

He’s not asking you to run. He’s asking you to stay.

I’m glad Aabria keeps pushing back when they read negative or nefarious intentions into things that one the face of it truly are just typical to this kind of situation and society

The family vibes are So correct.

Horrible. I hated that.

The most it’s possible to be.

Yeah, okay.

KIDS.

Oh god. Oh no.

Good GOD Tula

The SIDE EYE on that Jesus

Muahahahaha

Oh NO.

That went on for so long

I am Unnerved.

Hell Yes babe

GET HIS ASS I GUESS???

They’re like teenagers now right?

Well That was intense!

The casualness in Aabria’s asking for the stealth check while taking a sip. She does not give a fuck and I love her for it.

Check it out!

Do we not get to find out what happened to Ava with the Garage?

Oh that’s So creepy

MMHMM

I love Ava’s refusal to learn

YES THIEVES’ CANT MY BELOVED THIEVES’ CANT <3

I think what she said was “please help.” Which is different.

SIOBHAN.

Oh that’s gonna be merch.

The crack of noon is so true

THE COPPER PUN NICE ONE AABRIA

Ohohohohoho. The Dictator. Lovely.

🎶don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious🎶

Oh my GOD

Brennan of all people saying finally some action on this goddamn show

Also Brennan’s reactions to Izzy’s reactions… so funny to watch the face journeys happening at the table rn.

Love that for them

OH

A population support state 😭

Oh god oh fuck

MAP???

Oh holy fucking shit

I can’t wait to rewatch this on my computer so I can actually see and appreciate the detail. Oh my god.

Ooh the puzzle of it all is intriguing

“I’m gonna kill him.”

Jabroni <3

OOF.

Oh my god <3

That was really cool Brennan.

Ooh just noticed the dome!

Hey Brennan? That was really cool.

Everyone’s got Thoughts.

Oh yeah jump into the nuclear juice. Great.

Ava.

YES

Awwww

PUZZLE

Oh no

I need to get the build details of this map

Oh. My god.

HE WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME

Knight to C4 😭

That’s a fucking human skull.

Oh what does That mean

Huzzah.

(Most dejected/exhausted huzzah of all time)

God the comedy we do get in this season is so so gooOH

Not the wisdom saves 😭

Izzy.

Sometimes the dice fell a STORY.

Yeah okay

Oh god

Oh Jasper

Oh the stress is insane. Losing Jaysohn would break this family.

This can’t be the end of the episode?

Oh ok

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE

I love when DMs get to play DnD

DAD ARM

Nice catch!

OH I did not register that that’s the fucking radiation hazard symbol

Everyone at that table is so close to tears

AVA AND THORNNNN

Thorn himself <3

DOME.

Oh FUCK.

Preview for next week reactions:

What the FUCK.

WOLF??

I love JWC oh my god.

Adventuring Party Reactions!

Oh they’re jokingly pissed at her lmao

Woooo chipotle

Erika <3

I gUeSs I MiSsEd HiM

Aabria.

Erika takes METHOD NOTES

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who went ‘diversity win!’

Brennan Lee “Animal Facts” Mulligan strikes again

Felt so happy about seeing the human skull.

Jasper that’s such a fascinating theory oh my god

The intense NY came out

Okay but after this season… CAN we get set tours?

Yeah I am so curious about the in-world justification for the giant stone puzzle on top of the reactor.

OKAY thank you Jasper and Aabria I am Also a big reactor in games and sometimes I worry about being disruptive

I wanna go back and figure out what noise he’s talking about

Voice actor things! (Happy SAG Deal day!!)

I love actors so much. They are all FRIENDS.

[jadekitty777]

The Emotionalist: Chapter 3

I’ma be honest, I just found out that copying and pasting to tumblr is not saving my bold and italics. I’m too lazy to fix it, so uh, I recommend reading these chapters on A03 lol Particularly this one which is text heavy.

Prompt for Day 4: Sick

Rating: T

Word Count: 5K

Summary: Clover Ebi was a huntsman who, like most Atlesian soldiers, hid most of his emotions behind a mask of calm professionalism. That is, unless, one knew where to look. And Qrow looked a lot.

Or, 5 times Qrow learned to read Clover’s mood not from his face, but from his ears. [An adjacent story to Hunting Season Hunting Season; events from Qrow’s POV]

Ao3 Link: Burning like the Sun

~

Did you get the day off too?

Qrow leaned against the wall beside the Aceops office, left leg propped on the wall behind him and beating a staccato rhythm while he tapped a message back to his eldest niece. Yeah. Ol’ Jimmy has a heart after all. Got plans?

FNKI invited us out to a club. She replied. Rubes and Weiss aren’t interested but Blake and I are going. 

He arched an eyebrow, snorting. Try not to blow this one up firecracker. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

IT WAS ONE TIME! 

He could practically imagine the way Yang was fuming. 

Another ping only moments later, Anyways, what are you gonna do?

Things. He thumbed out, eyes drifting down the hall. Still empty.

He didn’t look away until another ping chimed for his attention.

…Responsible things?

He started to type out one of his typical answers, something that fit the blasé and uncaring attitude he often pulled with his niece. He had a dozen he used on any occasion, but some of his favorites were ‘Responsible people don’t have fun’ or ‘Ain’t my style’.

Then he paused and wondered at the ellipses his brash and impulsive niece never used in her texting and wondered if this question was more serious than he was used to.

He didn’t have to think hard to figure out why it was there.

Swallowing guilt, he told her a half-truth instead of an uncaring dismissal. If you must know, I have a date.

That certainly started some sort of implosion, as he saw his niece start and stop typing for several moments. 

Then, nothing except a big long pause.

Qrow realized he should be worried when a reply finally came in a burst of yellow text drawing itself along his screen:

Congratulations Old Man!

His shoulders shook to contain his laughter. I think my eyeballs just exploded. Then, with a huff, added, And don’t call me old.

You’ll survive. She quipped right back. After firing off a few annoying emojis his way, she finally said, Figured something was going on between you and Mr. Prince of the Forest.

Any amusement he had left died in his throat. 

Blood burning, he typed back aggressively, Don’t call him that Yang. Ever. That shit’s not okay.

Why are you suddenly mad at me??? Even through text, he could hear her indignation. 

He started to type rapidly, not even double-thinking his harshness  - Gods, she liked Blake for maiden’s sake! - but before he could even finish, her next reply stopped him cold.

That's what you called him!

No I didn’t, He defended back immediately. Sure he didn’t used to be the most sensitive about Faunus discrimination. There were definitely things he’d said or did in his youth that he wasn’t proud of, with his jeering tribemates egging him on. And because he was an idiot so desperate for approval, he hurt a lot of people who never deserved it - but that was a long time ago, and he’d grown up a lot since he’d left his old life behind and better people opened his eyes.

But, his niece was swiftly proving that false, pings coming back quick and short,

Um yeah. You did.

Like two days after the whole arrest bs

During breakfast

I mean you were kinda rough but 

Yeah

As the words drilled into his skull, they reached into his brain, pulling out a foggy memory. 

He hadn’t been… great when he first stopped drinking. Better than most, aura was a blessing sometimes, but he knew detoxing threw him for a loop. It was why he often preferred not to.

But with James not willing to put them onto the field until they at least settled in and the kids got their weapons fixed up - not even him - it had left Qrow with little to do but ride the waves of sicknesses and nausea.

Still, he had made an effort to join the kids for breakfast, even if he couldn’t stomach it. It was important they knew - well, that Yang and Ruby knew - that he was still trying.

Those first few days were always the worst though, leaving him sweaty and shaky and just all around in a piss-poor mood. That day in particular, he recalled having just come off from one of the worst sleeps of his life. First at the table but slumped over it and clutching his cup of undrinkable coffee like a lifeline.

Yet Ruby joined him as if it was just another Tuesday. 

And the small exchange he’d completely forgotten about surfaced like an oil spill on the ocean, black and poisonous:

“Hey, hey Uncle Qrow!” Ruby said enthusiastically, “Penny told us that when we get our weapons back, the Aceops want to take us all out on a mission together. Doesn’t that sound great?”

He scoffed, saying loud enough he knew every single person heard every single last one of his damn words, “Oh great, can’t wait for a prance through the frozen wastelands with Mr. Prince of the Forest and all his little woodland friends.”

He couldn’t recall exactly how anyone responded beyond a few uncomfortable laughs before the subject was quickly changed. 

He especially didn’t know what Blake’s had been - he had never looked up.

“Fuck.” He hissed to himself, smacking his head back on the wall. 

He… owed her an apology.

But first he had to fix something else. 

He forced his eyes back onto his scroll, his turn to rapidfire back replies.

Well I shouldn’t have.

If I ever say anything like that again, about ANY Faunus, punch me in the face. 

As hard as you can. 

I want to go through the WALL.

Got it?

He watched the little drawing quill dance as his niece started to reply but never let her get there as he asked, Why are you repeating me anyways? 

The quill didn’t come back.

His scroll went dark, then black.

“Qrow?”

He jumped, almost dropping the device. Looked up and around, to see Clover standing just a few paces away, eyebrow raised. His arms were relaxed at his sides, his own scroll held limp in his hand. But through the transparent display, he could see the polls newscast rolling, sound probably feeding directly into Clover’s communicator.

The sight of his ears, still in the near-permanent droop they’d fallen into since the start of the week, reminded Qrow why he was here.

“H-Hey!” He straightened up, corner of his lip pulling up in a half-smile. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Clover’s eyebrow only hiked higher, looking past him briefly. “At my own office?”

“Uh.” He articulated gracefully. “Yeah well. Figured you’d have the night off like everyone else.”

“I do.” Was the even reply, playfulness starting to glimmer in Clover’s eye. “Which only further doesn’t explain why you’re here though.”

Damn. 

Qrow cleared his throat, trying to save himself by appealing to the clever idiot, “Lucky guess?”

Clover’s ears twitched, raising just a smidge, mimicking the slow smile gracing his handsome face. “Is that so?”

“Of course.” He jutted out a hip, placing a hand on it. “Come on, don’t act like you’re not happy to see me Clubs.”

The slow roll of the other’s eyes on him was heated and absolutely deliberate. “I’m always happy to see you.” The husky promise sent a thrill through him. 

Yet, as fast as the flame was lit, it suddenly burnt out as something Qrow didn’t hear made Clover look down at his scroll, holding it tight enough he was surprised it didn’t break.

His ears had fallen once more.

“Anyways, I was just here to send off a few files Winter requested before I headed to the polls.” Clover’s tone was that clipped professionalism he usually reserved for the field as he walked past, opening up the door. “Did you need something?”

The change of pace took out some of his bluster, but he carried on as he trailed in after the other. “Well, I haven’t had a chance to see the sights lately. Was thinking you could give me a grand tour. Saaaay over dinner? Your choice, my treat?”

The other paused, hand hovering over the power button to his computer as he stared back at Qrow. “Not sure I’ve heard of a lot of tours that happen stationary in a restaurant.” The playfulness was back.

“Clover.” Qrow santured over, hopping onto the corner of his desk. “Come on already. We can even go to your favorite.”

This time he actually chuckled, finally booting up his computer. “I’m afraid my favorite place isn’t really your scene.” Clover glanced at him meaningfully. “Or your crowd.”

He’d guessed as much. 

It said a lot about the soldier and the way he’d been treated over the years that he so quickly was willing to shelter Qrow from experiencing his own culture. He didn’t think it had to do with a lack of pride, but rather a lack of agency in his own position. A Faunus holding such a high rank in the military, being James’ literal right hand, should be something to simply praise for the accomplishment itself. A sign of times truly changing.

But it was obvious from people like Robyn or Jacques, who would so easily use that stance against him, that all Clover could do instead was constantly mock an image of perfection and pureness to the world so that they couldn’t tear him and everything he stood for down.

He was so used to doing that, that it seemed to become almost second nature to hide anything that might come off as ‘troublesome’.

Unfortunately for him, Qrow wasn't really into all that rigamarole. He especially wasn’t when he wanted this to work so badly - the conversation they’d had two weeks ago about his insecurities over his semblance had only solidified that in his mind. What started out as just a bit of flirting and mutual attraction had turned into so much more. Clover was special and inspiring in a way he’d never met before, and he very much wanted to keep him in his life. 

“All I’m hearing is a bunch of excuses.” Qrow went in for the kill, leaning over the desk and dragging a hand through his own hair, disheveling it purposely as he put on his best smirk. “Come on Clover, take me out for a night on the town.”

Hook, line and sinker. Clover’s breath caught, eyes darting between his eyes and his lips, giving in with a simple, “I suppose dinner does sound nice. How ‘bout you meet me at the helipad docks at 6?”

Yes! Qrow did a mental victory dance, slipping off the desk. “You got it Clubs. I’ve got a few things to take care of, but I’ll see you then~”

“Yeah. I’ll be there.” Clover’s bright smile and raised ears was the last thing Qrow saw before the door closed. 

He started down the hall, already looking up locations for a good clothing and cologne store when his phone pinged.

A message from Yang.

He paused, the conversation from before Clover’s arrival coming back in a rush.

Reluctantly,  he tapped over to read it.

I dunno. I guess ‘cause you said it, I thought it was okay.

A hard knot of shame bunched in his stomach as the implications of that fully hit him.

“Shit.”

-

Six o’ clock on the dot, Clover walked into the station. 

Qrow took a mournful moment to admire him. Despite neither of them saying a word, it seemed they’d come to the universal agreement that this was a date.

Clover had dressed down for the occasion, and though he already missed the sleeveless vest, Clover filled out the dark green turtleneck rather prettily. His pants were black and framed shapely thighs. Kingfisher was still hitched to his hip and the leather belt it was attached to had a buckle with a shamrock printed on.

And, of course, completely for Qrow’s benefit, he wore a single chain drop earring in the tip of his right ear, a set of silver feathers that hung at the bottom tinging together anytime he moved.

As he drew close, Qrow could smell the cologne he wore. 

“Hey.” Clover breathed, eyes rolling over him shamelessly. “You look great.”

He glanced down, almost forgetting himself. He’d kept it simple, going for a pair of charcoal gray pants and matching it with a black dress shirt that had a red and white floral design on the inside of his collar and the rolls of the sleeves. He’d dug out his old necklace, the little cross settled over his heart.

But where he’d really gone all out was his nails - colored with a polish so dark blue it was almost black, with little silver confetti stars pressed over top with a clear coat. They caught the light nicely, little constellations twinkling along his hands.

The question on why he bothered with the effort still escaped him when he was about to ruin everything.

“Not as good as you, Clubs.” He tried anyways, even though his heart wasn’t in it.

Clover picked up on it immediately, one ear raising up like an exclamation as he asked, “You alright? If you’re having second thoughts-”

“No.” He cut him off quickly, not wanting Clover to think for a second it was about that. “But you might in a minute. I just… need to come clean about something.”

“Okay?” 

Clover only seemed further confused as Qrow handed over his scroll. “Read it. Next page too.” He mumbled.

They were just screenshots of the tail end of his conversation with Yang, starting from the damning slur to her last words to him.

Clover was quiet as he read it, eyebrows twisting down somewhat as he swiped to the next picture. Swiped back and read it again. Neither his face nor his ears were giving anything away, as if he was completely frozen.

Qrow felt his anxiety fester the longer he just stood there, staring at it. Eventually it grew to be too much, and he blurted out, “I’m really sorry.” 

Clover looked up at him.

On instinct, he looked away, then forced his eyes back. Look at him damnit! 

“I-I know that doesn’t make up for it. But you had the right to know.” He explained hastily and then he waited for whatever punishment was coming.

He mostly expected a punch to the face.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Clover to just blink and hand back his scroll with a calm, “That’s it?”

Excuse him - WHAT?!

His shock must have been evident, because the other man continued, “Qrow you’re not the first person to relegate me to deer-focused idioms.”

“Doesn’t mean I shoulda fucking said it.”

A sigh. “No, you shouldn’t have. But, and take this as nicely as you can - I’m not surprised that you’re kind of a total asshole to people you first meet.”

Qrow winced, but didn’t deny it. He could sweet talk like the best of them when he needed to, but on a general day-to-day? Especially with Atlas folk? Yeah, he wasn’t exactly Mr. Nice Guy.

Still…

“Clover, don’t make excuses for me.”

“I’m not.” He insisted, placing a hand on Qrow’s shoulder. “Look, listen to me, okay? I understand that you’re human and that you probably grew up with a lot of racists throughout your life. I’m not about to hold you up on a pedestal above everyone else. This stuff is complicated and more terrifyingly systematic than even I like to think about most days.” His fingers squeezed, just slightly. “But that’s not the important thing. You want to know what is?”

Qrow thought it over, shrugging a bit. “That I... was honest?”

“No. Well yes, but no. It’s that you understand it’s wrong and are willing to change it. Most people don’t give me that kind of respect.” He insisted, pulling back to rest his hand on his hip. “You know what happened when I told my last boyfriend I didn’t like him calling me ‘Fawny’? He got mad at me, asked why I was being ‘so uptight’ about it. And when I explained, he claimed I was just being dramatic.” Clover rolled his eyes, spitting out, “Fucking asshole.”

Even though it sounded truly awful, it was odd that he actually felt lighter at hearing that - but Clover tended to have that effect on him. Somehow, he always saw the best in him.

Well. Mostly.

“Didn’t you just call me an asshole, like, two sentences ago?” Qrow teased.

He waved him away. “Yeah but you’re like a general asshole, not a calculated one.”

“And that’s better?”

“Will you let me compliment you already?”

“That was a compliment?!” He mock-cried.

To his surprise, Clover burst out laughing.

It was a really nice sound, and he couldn’t help but join in. 

As it petered out, the two of them sharing smiles, Qrow admitted cautiously, “I’m really surprised you’re not mad at me.”

“Trust me Qrow. When I’m angry, you’ll know.” That promise sounded oddly terrifying. Before he could dwell too much on it, Clover pointed to his scroll. “But I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit - again. You know you never needed to tell me this, right? That you could have hid it forever, and I probably never would have found out.” He met his gaze, sincere and kind as he said, “The fact you did despite that says a lot more about the good in your character than I think you realize.”

Qrow’s eyes widened, a flush of warmth rushing through him. He might have been swooning. He was definitely blushing. “Clover…”

The soldier just seemed pleased with himself. Then a chime from the itinerary display went off, and his ear perked up before his eyes followed it. “Our flight’s ready.” He jabbed a thumb towards the loading station, giving him a wink. “What say we get outta here?”

Utterly enchanted, there really was only one answer to that. “Lead the way Clubs.”

-

The Dog Pan was a hole in the wall kind of place, right in the center of Mantle’s lower end district. It wasn’t quite the slums, but it was clear the side of town had seen better, with broken out windows and graffiti on most walls. 

Yet, the moment they walked in, he could immediately feel the closeness and community that seemed to radiate from the very core. The windows had top curtains with little leaping dogs weaved out of yarn and privacy blinds made of bed sheets with colorful designs. They matched well with the walls where, in place of traditional pictures, were long, flowing, multi-colored tapestries with beaded ends. One of them depicted the God of Animals, another the Shallow Sea and the island of Unitas it banked. It all looked hand-woven.

The place was also packed to the brim, some of the chairs shoved against tables not matching as if they had been brought in. There was music playing but he could barely hear it over conversation, which seemed unusually loud; yet despite any eared Faunus obviously pinning their ears down, there was still a kind of comradery in the laughter and noise.

“Wow. I figured it’d be nuts but not this crazy!” Clover's own ears had dropped but he was grinning. He glanced at him. “You still sure you’re good?”

Qrow snorted. He used to frequent rave bars at an alarming rate. This was nothing. “You’re gonna have to try harder if you want to scare me off Clubs!”

“Clover!” The shout had them both looking forward, a plump and jolly looking woman weaving her way around the tables towards them. She had a skin tone that reminded him of Marrow and black dog ears that flopped over on the top of her head. As she reached them, she was quick to pull Clover into a hug. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight! You haven’t been around in ages.”

“Good to see you Maxi.” He replied, hugging her back. 

She stepped back, zeroing in on Qrow, curious and welcoming. “And who is this handsome one?”

“This is Qrow, my new field partner.” Clover chuckled, patting his shoulder. 

Taking his cue, he held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

She shook it. “You as well darling. So, just you two then? I can’t get you a table, but I do have some room at the end of the bar.”

Clover shot him a questioning look.

He knew she meant a food bar, but it still settled like an itch on his skin. Shaking it off, he assured, “Works for me.”

“Lovely! Follow me.” 

They picked their way carefully through the restaurant to get towards the back, settling into circular seats that creaked and had tears in the leather. The counter was worn and he could see words and symbols carved into the softwood. Maxi took their drink orders and, with her so close to the kitchen, was back within moments with a soda and a pot.

“Gotta say,” She said to them as she poured Qrow’s coffee. “I’m disappointed you didn’t bring my son with you.”

Wait…

“‘Fraid we couldn’t. He’s working security tonight.” Clover explained.

Maxi sighed. “Remind that boy of mine it wouldn’t kill him to see his mother now and again, would you?”

He gave her a two-fingered salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

“You just call when you're ready, dears.” She said before departing to handle some of the other tables.

Qrow leant towards Clover. “So she’s…?”

“Yeah. Marrow’s mom. This is actually how I met him. Saw him stop a whole tray from falling out of his sister’s hands when she tripped.” Clover told him. “I asked him why he wasn’t in the academy, and he told me he was. He just spent all his free time here, bussing tables and cleaning dishes. I knew ever since then that if I ever got a spot on the team, I wanted him on it.”

How exactly a spot ‘opened up’ was left unsaid.

Qrow could probably guess anyways.

“He was a good choice. Kid’s got talent, just needs more steadiness.” He said instead. “So, you’re the only one with the night off?” He knew Elm, Harriet and Vine were all working security for Jacques’ campaign. They’d been specially requested, for obvious reasons. Likewise, Robyn had asked for whoever was left. 

“Perks of being Captain.” Clover joked. “And, James wanted Winter and I on standby.”

“For what?”

“For whatever happens once the polls close. Riots are uh, likely.” His eyes flicked to a TV set in the corner, and though it was inaudible, the picture of Jacques and Robyn on screen, the gap between their percentage ratings narrowing every minute, told them all they needed to know. “Among other things.”

Qrow kinda wanted to shoot it. “Y’know, I was trying to get you away from all that tonight.”

“Oh Qrow, I was always going to look. But,” He slid his hand across the table, the sides of their hands brushing. “At least I’ve got some good company to get me through it.”

Qrow hooked their pinkies together, a silent support.

“Come on, let’s order.”

-

Qrow had never seen a menu with so many post-it notes. The effect of the embargo was clear, as many foods had become too expensive or outright impossible to obtain - but anything with a cheaply grown vegetable, like corn or rice, or an easily obtained meat, like chicken which were bred plentifully or fish which was naturally fished and farmed out of the tundra, were still in supply.

In the end, he took Clover’s suggestion to try the smothered chicken legs.

Baked in gravy and coming with a side of cornbread and mashed potatoes, it was all sinfully good and filling.

He also managed to coax Clover to let him have a bite of his - the fried pike burst with flavor, likely attributed to its freshness. It came with a side of fries. Qrow stole a few of those too, mostly being cheeky about it.

Yet, as dinner carried on, the mood of the restaurant shifted. Conversations became hushed and subdued, a worry rippling through the people. No, a fear. If he strained to listen, he could catch snippets of conversation, whispers of what would happen to families stuck in the slums, of their children in the schools, of their jobs, their very way of living. Even Maxi seemed to hold her tray heavier with every pass, her smiles more strained. More people came in. Few left. It got so crowded, Qrow only had to lean back slightly to touch another person.

Try as he might to keep him distracted, Clover kept glancing at the TV. His ears were low enough, the feathers of his earring were resting against his shoulder.

As the last of the fries disappeared between them, Qrow asked softly, “You want to stay here?”

“‘Til it’s over.”

He nodded, and as their plates were gathered, asked for a refill. Sipped black coffee in one hand while the other slipped over damaged wood to touch Clover’s again. 

After a moment, Clover reached back, nudging under Qrow’s fingers so they slipped over top of his own.

The minutes ticked on. 

The percentages between Schnee and Hill grew smaller and smaller.

47-53.

48-52.

49-51.

At the final second, it hit 50-50.

The whole restaurant had gone dead silent as the polls disappeared, reporter Oliver Sikes taking over the screen. “And there we have it! The polls have officially closed and the final tallies are coming through now. Phew, what a close race. It’ll be just a minute now folks.” He rambled on for a bit more, detailing out the last districts that were decided on and the few they were still waiting on the exact counts from. But like all things in Atlas, his prediction was precise. 

As the sixty second ended, Sikes was announcing, “Oh and here we go, I’m being told the counting is done! And it looks like…”

The polls flashed back on screen.

57-43.

“Jacques has been announced the winner!”

The declaration was like pulling the pin off a grenade, a sudden, explosive roar starting up around them as the restaurant descended into chaos. 

The hand in his had tightened into a vice.

“What the fuck!” Qrow exclaimed. There was no fucking way, with a race that close, that Jacques pulled that much ahead. That meant some of the votes had been falsified. He jerked his head around, spitting, “Clover, that’s - Clover?”

Clover didn’t so much as respond to him, his wide eyes still staring at the screen where Jacques had started his victory speech. His face was completely motionless and impassive.

It was his ears that told Qrow the real story, as they had flipped back horizontally, the entire lengths of them trembling with barely withheld rage.

Just as soon as he’d seen it, it was gone when a furious outcry from the back had them both looking over their shoulders in time to see a man with moose antlers toss his chair. It hurtled its way across the restaurant and slammed right into the TV, shattering it on impact.

Had it been up to him, Qrow would have given the guy a medal.

Clover didn’t seem quite as praising, as he slammed his hands on the counter before climbing up onto it, shouting across to the crowd. “EVERYONE CALM DOWN!” He bellowed. “This is a Faunus-friendly establishment - a piece of our own community! What are you doing wrecking it?!” 

Some people heard it, others didn’t, still arguing and trying to trash the place. 

“No-No, please don’t!” Qrow heard Maxi cry just as one of her tapestries was pulled off the wall. Another person threw a plate on the floor. 

A window cracked.

Sensing things were about to get further dangerous, he hopped the counter while Clover continued to try and appeal to the growing mob. Just as Qrow had managed to usher the sobbing woman through the kitchen door where the rest of her family was, ordering, “Get out the back!” he heard someone’s scream pierce the air that had him whirling around in horror.

“Wait, aren’t you Clover Ebi!? You voted for Schnee! Traitor!”

“Traitor! Traitor!” The mob chanted.

It was like a wave as they surged towards Clover, grabbing at his legs and trying to pull him off the bar. He yelped, grabbing onto a light fixture. It yawned worryingly.

“HEY!” Heart hammering in his chest, Qrow lunged towards Clover, trying to pull him the other way, kicking some of other Faunus back. “Let him go!”

The light fixture snapped but Qrow had just enough leeway to yank him down on the other side of the bar. 

They backed up against the wall as the mob all started to round it and climb over.

He curled a hand around Harbinger’s hilt. Was he really going to have to…?

In the corner of his eye, he saw Clover desperately flick the feathers of his earring.

A second later, an unmistakable siren pierced the air.

Grimm.

Everyone froze.

Then some started to panic, rushing out the doors. Others flung themselves under tables or into the corners. 

Sharing a look, he and Clover moved, using the sudden space to leap onto the tables around the thinning crowd and make it to the exit.

They spilled into the street and started running. The first block was for safety. 

At the second, Clover finally managed to lift his shaking hand to his earpiece, “Marrow, report.”

Qrow grabbed his shoulder, pulling them both to a stop. He could feel the tremors leaking from Clover’s skin.

“Right. Roger. We’re on our way.” Clover dropped his hand to Kingfisher, taking a deep, steadying breath as he unfurled it. “Robyn’s party was attacked. A dozen people are dead and the grimm are flocking to it.”

Qrow gave him one last check over, just to make sure he was really okay, before he unsheathed Harbinger. “Let’s go.”

[onlyshestandsthere]

Yep, that was another awesome chapter and damn I was so tense reading it. This super slow burn is wrecking me and I love every moment of it 😄

Jade is really bashing herself with guilt and to be fair, I feel like that's warranted in an indirect way. I mean, Kit had her skull cracked open!

😱 <<< this emoji is a suitable depiction of what I looked like when I read that part.

The whole blood magic stuff was very creepy and disturbing, and I thought the whole staring at the runes making Jade feel dizzy was a really interesting touch too.

And Jade being so, so soft with Kit, in amongst all that violence, makes me feel like I've been sucker punched in the heart. Things are so messy and complicated with those two to say the least but those soft moments really shine through, like a little seedling.

Yeah..... a little seedling that's in the shadow of a big ass boot because it's gonna get stomped on more with angst 😭

Totally here for it btw 😈

You had me going there for a sec when Lori was carrying Hald too! They're so comforting, I'm gonna miss reading about their characters.

But I'm interested to see how the dynamics would change now and if Kit will pull back and blame Jade at all because yikes, or will they get closer because they only have each other to rely on. Like what is it gonna take for Jade to fully snap, to no longer be one of Kit's captors so they can get to the falling in love and sexy times. I can't wait to find out!

Anyway, sorry for my rambling. That was another really enjoyable chapter, thank you!!! And also, I'm both very scared and very curious about this porridge angst too, just saying ✌️

Ramble away, I'm having a great time here!

Fun fact, I was going to have Hald die in the attack but I'm too soft so he's going home and he'll be fine! He meets a nice girl, they adopt a dog, good times all round.

I am also so excited for the falling in love and sexy times, but especially for Kit to just get a hug? Like a proper, full body, "it's gonna be alright" hug. BUT that's gonna have to wait because they are absolutely not there yet. Jade is an absolute badass, but she's also soft and gentle and so very caring.

And yeah, something is really gonna have to happen to make Jade turn on the others and risk everything to help Kit. Something so bad she couldn't live with herself if she let it continue...

We will see about the porridge angst, I'm actually writing the chapter where it will possibly happen so let's see how it works out.

[social-muffin]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day. Here are a few of those emoji's from that I wanted to ask! 🥺✨️🎯🎶🌞👀🥰💌

Okay, so... yeah. That's more than a few, lol. Have fun!!!!

Thank you for the ask my dear! I hope you're having a wonderful day too!! 💞

No readmore cause this didn't turn out that super long :3

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Oh this is a tough one cause Hurt/comfort is one of my big weaknesses. So I'm gonna just explain two interactions!

I catch the biggest feels when a more reserved character can't contain their emotions anymore and has a somewhat public breakdown. Made even better if someone cares enough to try to hide them/hug them!

I also catch the feels when misunderstandings are cleared up in a shouting match. It doesn't even have to be between two people that get along. Just let people be so emotional that they forget to control their volume! 😭💜

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I'm really proud of my old writing, so this is a compliment for my new/not posted writing! It sparks a lot of joy when I read through my notes, even if I'm not ready to post anything yet. ;u;

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

I feel like yes, people have guessed major plot points before, but it's only happened a few times? And I can't recall any of the times when it did happen. It also happens a lit taht someone will suggest something happening and I fall in live with the idea and then I just. Steal ideas from comments with credit to the commenter in the next chapter. 👉👈🥺

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I do listen to things when I write! I can't write in absolute silence. But the music/video I listen to varies a lot. I mostly look for music compilation type things, so I will for sure have music for like an hour at least. Or I listen to chemistry videos while I write, though I don't know why that one works lmao

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

I can write anytime, but my most emotional writing happens at around 3 am usually. Which is not conducive to having a day job. 😔 Especially since I need 8 hours of sleep to function! 😧

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Hibari has taken over my brain and demands I write for him. For one of the up and coming fics I'll try to write is Teen!Hibari's POV of the future arc! It'll be a mega self indulgent thing with a lot of headcanons and quite a few OCs, just because. Where the hell did he go and what did he do inbetween his arrival and the end of the future arc???

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

I am so open to receiving questions I made a whole ask blog specifically about my stories!! So if you have random questions, here's the place to as them! @ask-skull-and-muffin

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?

I feel that, for a while now, I'm being a bit of a glass canon about comments. Sometimes they are super motivating and get me to write 5000 words in a day! And other times a single comment can burn out my entire passion for a whole fic... It's pretty confusing to my soul.

I also have.... A shame I want to admit to here. 😔 A year or so ago I abruptly had the worst depressive episode of my life and I couldn't make myself reply to/answer comments as they came in at all for a good few months. So now there are 450 comments in my inbox and I think that's one of my biggest issues when it comes to getting back into writing properly... 😭

I'm so sorry to all my peoples that crave comments and don't get nearly enough! I wish I could give you some of mine, I swear! Feels like comments are a little wasted on me right now...

[atticsandwitch]

Obey me characters with an MC who does reckless things because they're afraid of being a burden.

Self indulgent, comfort, angst Less headcannons, more drabbles.

First, in a group chat without MC: House of Lamentation (7) Satan: I just found MC in the kitchen, trying to open a can with a chef knife. Mammon: WHAT Mammon: Why would they wanna do something like that?? Asmo: (Wide eyed emoji) Belphie: Yea, that's stupid even for Mammon Mammon: HEY! Satan: They couldn't find the can opener, and they said they didn't want to bother anyone. Levi: That's actually kind of cute. Levi: It's just like the main character of this anime I just started watching who acts really tough and independent, but deep down is afraid to ask for help and just wants to be loved! Satan: That's not all Lucifer: it's not? Satan: Solomon saw MC yesterday climbing the bookshelves in the RAD library. Satan: Apparently they'd reached the sixth shelf before he could levitate them and the book they needed back to the ground. Beel: Are all humans like this? Lucifer: No. It seems we've found a particularly troublesome one. Levi: Actually I saw them do something similar earlier this week. Asmo: Oh no. Asmo: I bet Mammon's having a heart attack rn Mammon: (sweaty nervous emoji) Levi: They were standing on the counter trying to reach something on the top of the cabinets waaaay in the back. Belphie: That's not that bad Levi: They were also standing on an upside down pot because they were still too short. Levi: and they were wearing heels. Lucifer: Everyone, make sure to keep an eye on MC as often as possible

Lucifer

Sighs out loud reading the group chat

"And here I thought I would just have to protect MC from demon attacks"

He decides to have a talk with you once he gets a little time, and not just about safety. He has a whole lecture planned out about climbing the book cases at RAD.

Unfortunately he's swamped with paperwork and bills to go through, so he doesn't have the chance to talk to you right away.

The next day, however, you're all invited to the Demon Lord's Castle for another overnight retreat, or event of some sort.

Everyone is having fun and causing a ruckus, as usual, and at some point during the evening the group loses you.

You excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, but the palace is so huge you get lost even with directions. At a certain point you know you can find your way back and ask for help, but you can't bring yourself to, and decide to press on to try to find it yourself.

Eventually you find yourself standing in front of an ornate mirror with no reflection. You stop and ponder it for a moment, and as you're about to step away you hear a whisper. You can't make out what it says, but it compels you to step closer. In a corner of the reflected room you notice what looks like a puppet made of bone, with blackened eyes.

"~MC~..." An ethereal whisper, "...c...l...oser..." and in a blink of your eye it's closer to you, and you've stepped closer without realizing it.

Your heart is racing, but you can't stop yourself from reaching out to the mirror. Is it really a mirror...? Another blink and the bone puppet is closer. It tilts it's head at you, and outstretches an arm.

You try to pull back, but realize you can't, you're now mirroring the actions of the puppet as it steps closer, and closer.

Suddenly your vision goes black and you're pulled backwards by the waist, away from the mirror.

After a moment, Lucifer removes his gloved hand from over your eyes, and spins you to face him. He looks worried, frightened almost, but soon regains his composure.

"I thought you were going to the bathroom, MC" He says

It takes you a second to form words again, "I... I was.... I got lost" You had to really think hard about it for a moment.

Lucifer sighs, "You know the castle can be dangerous. If you weren't sure where to go, why not ask someone to show you?"

You were feeling particularly vulnerable after what had just happened, and so decided to be deeply honest, "I'm afraid of being a burden..." you mumble.

He's surprised by the admission, but pulls you close.

"Of all the burdens I've had to shoulder in this life, I promise that you are not one of them, MC" He whispers into your hair as he kisses the top of your head.

Mammon

Immediately goes to find you after he finishes reading the group chat.

He finds you doing something dangerous with a knife again, and grabs your wrist to stop you.

"Oi, human!" He only calls you that when he's angry, which is rare, "What do ya think yer doin'?"

"I'm just-" he cuts you off

"I don' wanna hear it!"

"Then why did you ask?" you're stare at him. Mammon's face reddens and he realizes he's still holding your wrist, so he gently takes the knife out of your hand and sets it down.

"I mean- What's goin' on with ya lately? Everyone says yer doin' a buncha dangerous stuff!" He put his hands on his hips and only resumes eye contact as he finishes his sentence.

"What do you-?"

"Like climbin' bookshelves, and whatever this is-!" He gestures to the knife and you look away. You're silent for a while; too long for Mammon to take, "C'mon, MC, talk to me" His voice finally softens, arms dropping to his sides. You finally meet his eyes, and the look of concern on his face is heartbreaking.

"I like doing things myself..." you can tell he's not buying it, "I... I just don't want to be a burden..." You admit quietly, voice wavering somewhat.

His eyes go wide, "...MC..." he says softly. Mammon pulls you in for a tight hug, one arm wrapping around your shoulders, and the other hand resting on the back of your head, and holds you like he'd do anything in the world to protect you, which he would.

"Listen up, 'cuz Mammon's gonna give you some free advice" you hear a sniffle, and realize he's crying.

His human was hurting like this, and he never even noticed. What kinda demon am I? He thought, but he knew this wasn't about him right now, so he held you tighter.

"You will never be a burden to me...Ya got that?"

Leviathan

Thinks its pretty adorable that you actually seem to be a little tsundere.

Because of this, and his social anxiety, he doesn't confront you about it right away. Not until the jellyfish incident anyway.

One night you're hanging out with Levi in his room, when you notice that one of his jelly fish decorations had fallen to the ground. So, you decide to string it back up for him.

You looked around, Levi absorbed in his game, and tried to judge the distance between the edge of the bed-tub and the ceiling. That should do it! you think, and climb the edge of the bed-tub. The edge was difficult to balance on, but you knew you'd be careful, and you could almost reach.

Levi turned around just in time to see you, arms stretched too far over your head and on your tip toes on the edge of the tub, and watched as you lose balance completely. He saw it, you were going to fall backwards toward the other side of the tub and crack your head!

Now, he may not be as fast as Mammon, but he is still a demon after all, and just as you felt the jolt of the fall as your foot slipped, you felt arms around your middle, pulling you forcefully forward.

Leviathan had jumped to your rescue, unconsciously changing into his demon form, discarding his controller unceremoniously to the floor, and in his panic underestimated his own strength.

The two of you ended up both landing on the floor, you on top of a very red Leviathan.

"Wh-wh-what were you doing normie?! You were about to fall and crack your skull on the tub!"

You guiltily hold up the jellyfish, "I was just trying to fix it"

"Well get a ladder next time!" It's taking everything in Levi to ignore the position your both in, because its' just like that time in- nevermind, this is more important.

"All you had to do was say something! I was sitting right there!" He still hasn't let you go. He sees the look on your face change into something he can't quite get a read on, but whatever it is, is also full of sadness. "You could have died just then, MC. Why wouldn't you just ask for some help?" His voice is softer, "I was right there" and softer still, almost desperate.

"I..." He could tell whatever you were about to say was difficult for you, "I'm just so afraid of being a burden"

He's heartbroken, "You're my best friend, my player two, my Henry th-the- the person I love" He goes red again and quickly continues as if to bury the words beneath more words, "You're a lot of things, MC, but you're not a burden"

Asmodeous

Worrying is bad for the skin. Worrying is bad for the skin. Worrying is bad for the skin. But he can't help it.

One night you get home particularly late, and none of the brothers have seen you. They were about to send out a search party when you finally came home.

When he finds out you walked home alone again, and were so late because you got lost, that's when he finally decides to confront you.

"You walked home alone again? And took WHICH street?! MC don't you know how dangerous it is for a human in the Devildom, especially one with no real magical powers? Not to mention in that area!"

How were you supposed to know? You were lost. He knows these things, but doesn't give you a chance to point them out.

"Beel saw you leave right after classes. If you were so lost why didn't you call one of us?" he asks. The worry and exasperation is plain in his voice.

"I..." you start, "I didn't want to bother anyone that's all" but he can tell there's more to it than that.

"Why are you so worried about bothering us? Don't you know we care about you?" He asks, concern slowly turning to sadness.

"I just don't want to be a burden..."

His eyes go wider than before, which you didn't think was possible. "What in the three realms would give you the idea that you're a burden? MC, you're so precious to me, and if anything were to ever happen, I-"

He begins welling up with tears and pulls you into a tight hug.

"MC, I was worried sick. We all were. Please... Come to me when you need help... I love you"

Satan

He walked in and found you trying to use a chef knife to open a can, brought you the can opener, and ultimately left; not entirely sure what to make of the situation yet.

The next time he saw you, you were climbing on top of an unsteady looking stack of books to reach something in the House's library.

Were those one of his stacks? Had you stacked them yourself? It didn't matter. What mattered was that the books all began slipping out from under you.

He rushed over, and caught you with ease as you fell, but your momentum ended up knocking you both to the ground.

He sighs, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Sorry, " you let out an embarrassed laugh, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, and you?" he asks. You nod, and he helps you up. To his confusion you immediately begin stacking the books back up.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asks, suspicious. It looks like you're about to try to climb the stack again.

"There's a book I need" He was right.

This must be how Lucifer feels. He sighs again, and grabs your hand to stop you.

"You can't keep doing stuff like this, MC. It's dangerous" He looks serious, but his cheeks are a little pink, "I'm worried about you. Why won't you ask for help?"

"I..." You start, but hesitate, averting your eyes.

"Tell me the truth, MC" Satan almost pleads, a sad look in his eyes.

"I don't want to be a burden... that's all..." You say, so quietly it's almost a sigh.

Suddenly it all made sense; the way you tried to hide when you were upset, how you always carried just a little too much, the way you always offered to help, even if there was little work to do... Why hadn't he put the pieces together before now?

"Then, I need you to do something for me" He says, after thinking a moment. He steps closer, "I need you to start asking for help,"

He pulls you close, and hugs you tightly, "I know it'll be difficult, but that's why I'll always be there for you"

He pulls away slightly, still holding you, to look into your eyes. His face is very red now, "I'll do whatever it takes to show you that you're not a burden," Kindness and determination burn in his eyes as he leans in for a kiss.

Beelzebub

He was walking down the hall when he spots you down at the other end near an open window.

The wind blew something out of your hand, so you leaned out the window to try to grab it. This is when Beel got worried, his instincts kicked in and he picked up his pace.

Your homework got caught by the wind, but stopped by some of the vines clinging to the House of Lamentation, so you leaned out the window but it was just out of reach. You knew you could get it if you could reach just a little further, so you lean out a little more... Just a little more...

Unfortunately that's when you lost balance, and felt yourself tip forward. You'd be out the window in no time flat, and then you'd be flattened on the ground.

Thankfully Beel was able to grab you by the waist and hoist you back inside to safety.

You thank him, and explain the situation but he still looks confused.

"Why wouldn't you just come get one of us? We could've easily gotten it down for you" he asks.

"I thought I'd be able to reach" you try, with an embarrassed and unconvincing smile.

"Tell me the truth, MC. Why are you so afraid to ask for help?"

"I don't want to be a burden..." You say softly, sadness written plainly on your face and in your voice.

"Oh" You look up and the sad, sympathetic look Beel gives you makes you want to cry. "I know the feeling"

"You do?" You ask, tears beginning to spill over

"You think I don't know how many problems my stomach causes for everyone?" He gives you a slightly more serious look, "But that doesn't matter" And now a reassuring, although still slightly sad smile, "Because the people who love and care about you will never think of you as a burden. And trust me, MC, there are plenty of people who love and care about you"

"Like who?" You didn't want to ask, part of your brain knew the answer, but you just had to silence those negative voices.

Beel blushed, "Like me" he says, then silently wipes the tears from your face and pulls you into the softest, safest hug you've ever felt.

Belphegor

He wasn't worried at all initially. Sure humans are fragile compared to demons, but they're not that fragile. Plus you've survived this long on your own and now you've got demons, angels, a prince, and a sorcerer all looking out for you. Not to mention the way brothers' tend to exaggerate.

He was laying outside under a large tree, intending to try out a new nap spot, when he saw you leaning out of the window.

He smiled and was about to wave when he realized something was wrong. You were leaning too far out of the window. You were going to-

He jolted upright like he'd been hit by lightning as he watched you lose your balance

He already knew there was no way he'd be able to make it to you in time, even with demonic speed.

Thankfully Beel was there. Belphie let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he saw Beel pull you back inside and got up to go make sure you're alright.

He realizes his brothers were right to be worried, and he's angry about it.

You're on your way back to your room by the time he catches up with you, but he can see that your eyes are red from crying, and his anger evaporates. He asks you what's wrong, and you explain everything.

Why you almost fell out the window, your conversation with Beel, and how you're afraid of being a burden.

"Well, Beel's right, you could never be a burden to any of us" He says, so don't even worry about it" he says, giving you an easy smile, despite how sad he felt for his human.

"That's... Easier said than done..." You reply, unconvinced.

"That's why I'll always be by your side, MC. I won't even give you the chance to worry about it!"

He pulls you into a hug and strokes your hair, starting the waterworks all over again. He'll hold you until you've calmed down again, and then pull you up to the attic where you two can make a pillow fort and nap.

He'll probably also start a tickle fight just to hear you laugh again.

Btw, who made you feel this way, MC, he just wants to murder torture talk.

Diavolo

Lucifer has shared his concerns, as he often does, so Diavolo is aware of your reckless nature. He finds it somewhat amusing, but mostly concerning.

It's during one of the events that he finally witnesses it for himself.

He always found it sweet how you tried to help everyone, and you were doing it again. You were running around helping all of the brothers with everything. He doesn't know how those seven managed without you before you came to the Devildom, and the way they rely on you is more than a little amusing.

This time you were helping Asmo with decorations, but he seemed to have disappeared somewhere, no doubt to fix his makeup, or to take a break to avoid sweating too much.

When Diavolo walked in his eyes went wide. You were using progressively taller stacks of chairs to climb the tallest stack in the room in order to hang decorations on the ceiling, and your arms were so full of supplies that there was no way you could balance properly on the already unsteady stacks.

He'd already made it to the base of the stacks when the one you were on started to wobble.

"MC!" he called out in a panic, but this seemed to startle you, and the jolt caused you, the stack of chairs, and all your decorations to come crashing down.

Diavolo caught you effortlessly, and shielded you from any flying chairs in the process.

"Mc, are you okay?" He asks, eyes still wide, "what in the Devildom were you thinking?"

"Sorry, I was just trying to help" you say

He feels anger towards the brothers creeping in the back of his mind. That they would leave you alone, with so much work, and still none of them are to be found after such a loud crash; it's unacceptable. But he pushes those thoughts back for now.

"That was dangerous, even for a demon. You could have been seriously injured just now," The look of concern on his face tugs at your heart.

"Sorry" you mumble again, "You can put me down, now... I should start cleaning up"

"Forgive me for being selfish," He smiles a little, "But I don't think I want to put you down just yet. The clean up can wait"

Your face reddens. You're not sure what to say to that, but you can't deny that it feels good to be held like this in his strong arms.

He looks briefly around at the mess of scattered chairs and decorations that you had intended to hang and clean up by yourself, "Tell me, MC," He looks back to you, "You seem to have a hard time asking for help, why is that?"

You're surprised by the directness of the question, and look away. He notices, and feels a bit guilty, but knows that if things continue the way they are, you will definitely get hurt one day.

"I guess it's because... I'm afraid of being a burden" you answer honestly. You feel that you owe him that much.

"I see..." He hums, then smiles happily, "Then perhaps I should carry you around until you admit that you are not a burden!"

"WHAT?" the look on your face makes him laugh heartily.

"Just kidding!" He chuckles, "...Maybe"

"Diavolo that's- I-"

"You are extraordinary, MC," There's a serious look on his face now, "In fact I could describe you in a million different ways, but the word 'burden' would never be among them"

He begins walking out of the room, still carrying you in his arms.

"What are you doing? What about the decorations?"

"I think I'd like to keep you to myself for the day, if that's alright with you, my dear" Diavolo smiles down at you.

As you two walk down the hall, away from the ballroom you hear the brothers' voices as they enter, "Whoa? What the heck happened in here?" Mammon exclaims.

Barbatos

He had invited you for tea, and you offered to help Barbatos make and serve it.

You try to carry too much, and in your rush drop the entire tray, shattering the beautiful tea set and all of the plates of desserts.

"I'm so sorry!" You immediately bend down and begin tying to pick up the pieces, "I'll replace it-" You stop as you realize that you're not sure you could even afford to replace a royal tea set.

"Allow me to help" Barbatos says, bending down.

"No, no, it's fine! I can get it!" You look up and give him an unconvincing smile, and while you're not paying attention to what you're doing, you slice your hand open on one of the sharp pieces of porcelain.

Barbatos pulls a roll of gauze and bandages out of one of his pockets, "Let's get this taken care of, shall we?" he says, but you're still picking up pieces with your other hand.

"I can do it, I just-..."

"It's only a tea set," As Barbatos stills your frantic hands, he notices your tears.

"I'm sorry," You finally say after a long moment of silence, during which he begins bandaging your injured hand, "I tried to help, but I was still only a burden after all..." Barbatos is surprised by this admission, to say the least.

"You should know that It makes me very happy to be able help and take care of people. I especially enjoy the way your face lights up with a tinge of surprise whenever I do something for you that you are not expecting..." He pauses in thought, and looks as though he's realized something that makes him sad, but whatever it is, he keeps it to himself. He finishes bandaging your hand, and places his on the side of your face.

"MC, It is a pleasure, and genuinely brings me joy to be able to do things for you. Please allow me to help you more often."

He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and dries your tears.

He leads you to sit in a comfortable chair, "Please, rest until you feel better, and allow me to take complete care of you today"

He makes some tea and food for you both to share and makes sure you don't have to lift a finger for the rest of the day, leaving the broken tea set completely forgotten on the floor in the other room for the time being.

He always has kind words for you whenever you see each other, and while he enjoys your help in the kitchen, he always makes sure not to let you do too much, and he never lets you clean up.

He takes extra care of you from now on, and Diavolo finds it absolutely adorable, though he may be a tiny bit jealous.

Solomon

You might've actually given this man a heart attack.

He would've thought it was funny if it hadn't looked like the bookshelf was about to come crashing down on top of you.

"Don't worry! I'm used to climbing things; I'm careful!" You try to convince him, "That does not, in fact, make me feel any better, MC"

He dedicates time to teaching you a levitation spell or two, depending on your magical abilities, so you don't have to climb things any more.

As he's teaching you he decides to ask you about the book shelf incident.

"Something's been on my mind lately" He says, turning to you as you practice. You ask him what it is as you turn your attention to his face and notice that he looks troubled. "The other day, in the library. You knew I was there, sitting nearby... Why didn't you just ask for my help?"

"Oh, I just thought I could get the book myself" That wasn't the answer he was looking for, so he presses on.

"But surely it would've been easier to use a ladder, then. wouldn't it?"

"Well... I- uh- wasn't sure where they were" you sounded a little embarrassed, and turned your attention back to the spell.

Solomon looks a little saddened, "Hmm..." he pauses. You didn't want his help and you didn't even want to ask him a simple question? "MC, is there a reason you didn't want to ask me for help?" Watching you, he saw that the question gave you pause.

"I... have a hard time asking for help sometimes..." You admit, hoping that's the end of it. But of course, it isn't.

"Oh?" he gently prompts you to explain.

He can tell that you're only pretending to pay attention to the spell now, to avoid eye contact, "I've just always been afraid of being a burden"

His face grows sadder for a moment, but you continue to avoid his gaze. He folds his arms, and moves a closed fist to his chin in thought.

"I think that sometimes, not asking for help can be more of a burden" he says, finally catching your attention. You look up questioningly and he continues in a gentle voice, "Think about it, you're placing too much of the burden on yourself, which is making everyone around you worry. And besides that, what if you get hurt? Then you'll need more help from others than you would have in the first place"

It's your turn to look troubled. You hadn't realized that you were worrying everyone, or that you were causing them trouble.

He lets you think for a moment, before placing a comforting hand on your back.

"MC, it's okay to rely on others. People like it when you ask for help. It makes them feel special to you" He says, and when you look up he's giving you one of the kindest smiles you've ever seen on this shady magic boomer's face.

He hopes you catch his little hint, I want to feel special to you, MC

"Thank you, Solomon. I'd never thought of it that way" you smile back, "I'll try to ask for your help more often"

"I'll look forward to it!" He says with an even brighter smile.

Simeon

He noticed just in time; you had decided to walk home alone again and two suspicious looking demons were about to corner you down an alley.

You were scared, you think they had been following you for at least a couple blocks, and now you had nowhere to go. You were at a dead end.

"You two want to leave." A familiar voice, "NOW." Simeon was smiling, but he looked so intimidating in the shadow of the alley, and something ominous was also radiating off of him. Was he angry?

"C'mon it's not worth it" one of the demons said, "Killjoy" said the other. Simeon watches them leave with an intimidating expression before finally approaching you.

"MC, are you alright?" He asks, features now full of concern.

"Yea! Thanks for that, I was starting to get a little worried"

The concern on his face grows, didn't you know how much danger you'd been in just then? "Those two had been following you for a while... Why didn't you call out for help? Or call someone on your D.D.D?"

"Well... I- I just thought maybe they were walking in the same direction, so I wasn't sure..." You sounded nervous.

How could you be unsure? Simeon had never seen a more suspicious looking pair of demons in his life, and if you'd heard what they were saying they wanted to do to you, you'd understand why he was angry. He sighs.

He notices you're shaking, ever so slightly. Maybe you had overheard... You seemed to be more shaken than you were trying to let on.

In the silence he realizes that this part of town wouldn't be part of your normal route back to the House of Lamentation, "Were you lost?" You nod. "Why not ask for directions?" He asks

"Everyone was so busy when I left RAD... I didn't want to bother them. They're always taking care of me as it is... I just thought..."

So that's why you were walking home alone

"I'll walk you back then" he offers you his hand, and you want to take it, but to his surprise you can't bring yourself to.

"That's alright! You've already done so much for me. I'm sure I can find my way home now!" You try to force a smile, but Simeon can see right through you.

"MC... What's really going on?" His face is serious again but his voice is kind as he steps closer and rests a hand on your shaking arm.

You can't hold back tears any more, "I... Just don't... want to be a burden... to anyone" The quiet words break Simeon's heart.

Who could've made you feel this way?

He draws you into a strong, gentle hug, cradling the back of your head to hold you closer and stroke your hair.

"Don't ever think like that, MC" He breathes into your ear, "You are so loved"

Luke

You're going to give this smoll baby angel a heart attack, and there's not much he can even do to about it.

You were carrying too much, like you always do, and Luke noticed almost too late.

You were heading straight for the stairs, and your books and supplies were stacked too high for you to see!

"MC, LOOK OUT!" he shouts.

You stop just as your foot passes the threshold of the first stair and you feel the drop.

You drop everything you're carrying, but thanks to Luke's warning you stopped your own momentum before you could tumble down the stairs with everything else.

Relief floods through Luke as you stare at the mess, shaken and disheartened by the prospect of the clean up.

He runs to you, demanding to know that you're okay.

Of course he helps you clean up and carries as much as he can for you.

He's always offering to carry things for you now, even if all you have is a book or two.

He keeps a nervous eye on you from now on too.

Give this poor baby angel a hug.

[ptergwen]

written in the stars

w/c: 2.7k

warnings: jus (lots of) making out

summary: using your newly acquired knowledge of astrology, you test your compatibility with tom

a/n: i was planning on making this a little blurb for y’all but then i got really into it and here we are lmfhfksjks i promise you don’t have to know anything about astrology or birth charts to enjoy cuz i broke it all down + it’s not the main focus of the fic anyways! this is mostly a day in the life with tommy boy and i hope you like it as much as i do :,) also some of this might be wrong.. i’m not an expert so yeah

•┈୨♡��┈•ﾟ｡

“right, so how does this work again?” tom watches your laptop screen with curious eyes.

you’ve been getting into astrology lately, and whatever you care about, so does he. that’s why you’re currently laid across your bed in sweats while you teach him everything you know. but first, you’ll need to do his birth chart. it’s the pinnacle of everything.

“you just have to tell me what time you were born, then it does the rest for me,” you grin, typing in the name of the website. you’d had to do some research to find a reliable one. “that’s it? you don’t need, like, my birthday or something?” tom quirks an eyebrow at the chart generator.

“i already know your birthday, babes.” you laugh softly and let your head fall onto his shoulder. “you crazy gemini.” “‘m not crazy.” he smiles despite himself, leaning his head on yours. “just got a big personality, innit? charming, clever, lots of energy,” he lists off the characteristics of his sign, which you just taught him. that lights up your whole face.

“definitely not cocky,” you deadpan, tom scrunching his nose in response. “look at you, remembering all that. you really are clever.” “well, it’s interesting.” he drapes an arm around you, fingers running up and down your side. “i quite like the idea of the universe knowing me so well.”

tapping your fingers on the keys, you hum. “you’ll love your birth chart, then. tell me when you were born.” tom grimaces and squeezes at your waist. “i don’t actually know.” “how do you not know?” you flick his back playfully, making him flinch. he pokes you so you’re even. “i’ve never thought to ask. guess i’m not that clever after all.”

those are teasing words, but you press a reassuring kiss to his cheek. he gladly accepts it and gives you one on the side of your neck.

“no, your head’s gigantic. there’s gotta be something up there.” you knock on his skull for emphasis, your hand tangling in his hair. tom lets out a breathy chuckle. “hot air,” he explains as your fingers run through the messy locks. “you’re so...” you don’t even have the words. tom does. “hilarious? witty? amusing?” he tries to finish, tilting his head back to look at you.

“yeah, all of the above,” you confer and bring your hand back down to the keyboard. your lips curve into a smirk when tom whines. he’s the biggest baby, and he makes no attempt to hide it. “why don’t you text your mom and ask for your time of birth?” you suggest, tom pursing his lips in agreement. “sure, i’ll give mum a ring. i bet she loves this stuff, too.”

you roll over to lay on your back, tom still on his stomach. he pulls his phone from his pocket and opens imessage. “ah, nikki’s an astrogirl?” you wonder. tom makes a funny face at the term. “is that what you call yourselves?” “not really. well, not officially.” giggling, you loop your fingers around his wrist. “you can be an astroboy, if you want. or girl.”

tom sighs and leans over so his face hovers above yours. “god, you’re adorable. how are you so cute?” he gently pecks your lips. you’re about to kiss back, then he moves off to your cheek. after that is your forehead, chin, and finally down the bridge of your nose. it leaves you out of breath from laughter and with warm skin.

“i can’t answer that if you’re gonna launch a kiss attack on me-“

tom’s lips capture yours in a proper kiss, which you now get the chance to reciprocate. you hold him in place with your hands on his cheeks. his eyes instantly flutter closed and lashes tickle your face. the feeling draws another giggle out of you, and right into his mouth.

“absolutely gorgeous,” tom mutters against your lips. “anyone ever tell you that?” “you do, tommy. all the time.” your voice comes out gravelly, breathless, a grin painting your face. it transfers to tom. “mm, that’s right. my pretty baby.” he’s beaming down at you. he moves on top of you swiftly, his weight held up by his elbows on your sides.

you pull apart so you can go back in harder, hands situating in his curls again. tom grabs at your hips while the kiss deepens. your legs wrap around his waist clad in joggers and allow your bodies to be even closer together. the less space between you two, the needier you both get. “love,” tom parts his lips for you. “can i get a little more?” “course you can, tommy.” your fingers tug at his curls, mouth opening slightly.

his tongue skims its way across your lower lip, asking for access. you give his hair another pull to grant it. tom lets his tongue slip into your mouth, searching for your own as his hands continue to roam your body. he’s gone from gently peppering you in kisses to fully eating your face. no complaints, though. a quiet whimper escapes you when your tongues clash.

tom starts to push up your t-shirt, eyes opening to meet yours for approval. they’re completely darkened. you nod because you can’t answer with words. your tongue is preoccupied, intertwined with his. he sets his hands on your bare stomach, your nails scratching at tom’s scalp in a way that elicits a low groan.

“feels good?” your words come out muffled, barely audible. tom still understands them. “so good,” he rasps, calloused fingers dragging along your skin. they start to move up your body as you brush your lips against his. the kiss is light, and tom’s lips feel swollen as they move. his hands are nearing your chest, your legs tightening around his waist.

it earns another sinful noise from him. you want to see just how much he’s enjoying himself, so you peek up at him. what a sight that is. his faced twisted up as he focuses on kissing you, strands of hair stuck to his forehead from your playing with it. he’s so beautiful, and deserves to know. before you can tell him, you see his phone light up from the corner of your eye.

“tom,” you mumble his name. he’s too distracted by searching for your bra hook to hear. “tommy?” you’re louder this time, his mouth moving off of yours. “what is it, love?” tom exhales, hot breath hitting your face. “i think your mom texted back.” you offer a smile and run your thumb over his plumped lips. he only squints at you.

“about your time of birth,” you clarify. “for your birth chart.” “oh, that.” he kisses your thumb, nodding to himself. “forgot we were doing that.” tom tends to get a bit carried away with anything you related. making out can go on for hours and down many different paths, but it’s not the only thing. he’s a man in love, and the woman he shares that with gets all his attention at any given time. you’re so lucky to receive it.

you nod back and feel his racing heart as it beats against yours. “if you still want to, yeah.” “i definitely do. wanna hear you say more nice things about me,” tom jokes, a smug grin pulling at his lips. your eyes narrow. “who says they’ll be nice?” you challenge and earn a snicker from him.

“alright, missy. can you hand me my phone please?” he drops his head onto your chest, big brown eyes gazing up at you. “yes, sir.” you pat his cheek and grab his phone from next to you. tom’s contact name for nikki is set as ‘Ma x’, which brings a toothy smile to your face. “here you go.” you dangle his phone above his head. tom takes it from you promptly. “thanks.”

after leaving a couple of kisses on your clothed chest, he rolls to lay next to you. “let’s see, let’s see,” he murmurs, reading his mom’s messages. you scoot closer so you can look. “ooh, lots of crying emojis,” tom remarks. “i think you made her kinda nostalgic.” you pout at the screen. copying your face, he clicks on a picture nikki attached.

“she even pulled out the birth certificate.” he shows you his phone, and you zoom in to see when he was born. “big stuff here,” you say while you read. tom takes the time to get comfortable, resting his chin on your shoulder. “looks like you popped out in the middle of the night,” you conclude, giving him his phone back. he clicks his tongue at you.

“don’t say popped out.” feigning innocence, you glance over at him. “too late.” tom types out a reply thanking his mom before tossing his phone aside. “middle of the night makes sense, though.” he bites the inside of his cheek. “i’ve always been a party animal, haven’t i?” you turn onto your side and put a hand on his chest.

“it’s in your gemini nature. or really, your tom nature.” tom does an over exaggerated wink. “i like the sound of that.” he chuckles when you hit at his chest. “bring the laptop. let’s get this thing going.” you huff as you reach over him to grab it. you’ve switched positions so you’re laying horizontally on your stomach and over his legs, your laptop in front of you.

“if we find out there’s any scorpio in you...” you shutter. “hm? what’s wrong with scorpios?” tom wonders, watching you plug his birth time into the generator. “they’re literally insane, tom. like, serial killer insane. there’s statistics.” your eyes go wide as you hit enter. he leans his head back on his arms with a wince. “never mind, then.”

a small gasp leaves your lips, you squeezing tom’s knee. “it’s done.” “what does it say? share with the audience,” tom requests so you do your thing. you’re eager to get to it, turning the laptop to show him his birth chart. “ok, so.” you point at a box a few places down. “this is your rising sign, which is basically how other people see you.”

tom reads the chart, moving his own finger along the screen. “it says i’m a... taurus. what are those like?” “in one word? boring,” you summarize, tom only frowning. “kidding, kidding.” his frown fades into a small smile at that. “they’re known for being super nice and chill... also stubborn,” you tell him and prop your head in your hand.

“so, that makes no sense. those are complete opposites,” tom comments, slipping out from under you. he settles by your side. “i don’t get how i can be a gemini and a taurus, either.” “weird, right?” you sigh in content as his hand comes to stay on the small of your back. “very strange. do you think it could be wrong?”

“are you questioning the universe’s plan?” you tease, tom drumming his fingers on you. “yes, i am.” “see, you’re stubborn! taurus things.” you scroll down to his moon sign before he can protest. tom sticks out his tongue and tries to lick your cheek, which you stop by putting your hand in his face. “next is your moon sign,” you laugh out, ignoring his boyish behavior.

“that controls your emotions and private thoughts,” you elaborate and look presently surprised when you see what tom’s is. “yours is sagittarius. that’s a cool one.” “is it? how come?” tom sneaks a few kisses down the shell of your ear. “you guys are really open-minded and into things that challenge you.” he nods, signaling for you to go on. you turn onto your back so you’re looking up at him.

“you’re all about your freedom, though. it’s hard to hold you down for too long.” grinning, tom brings his face into your line of vision. “that must mean you’re a real force because i’m not going anywhere.” he nudges your nose with his, lips ghosting over yours. you return the smile and meet him halfway for your lips to connect. “anytime soon,” tom adds on in a whisper, kissing back easily.

this one doesn’t last long, but it doesn’t need to. it’s just one of those kisses that makes you feel each other’s love, no matter how you go about it. they’re essentially your own made up love language.

you’re still smiling when your lips detach, fingers combing through tom’s tussled locks. “now that we’ve done the big three...” you preface. “androids, aliens, and wizards?” tom jokes, you breathing out a laugh. you’d thought he had a soft spot for sam and bucky. your suspicions were correct.

“cute, but no. your sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign,” you explain to him. “sure, sure. what about them?” tom toys with the hem of your shirt while you think. a mischievous glint in your eyes, you suddenly sit up. “since you know yours, and i know mine, how about we test our compatibility?”

tom is well aware of what that means, and he isn’t so sure he’d like to do it. he’s someone who believes in cliches like soulmates and fate, so he’ll take your results seriously. after the lessons on astrology you gave him, especially.

his heart will always hold a special place for you and you only. nothing will change that. but, what if the universe says you can’t be together? where do you go from there?

“um,” tom presses his lips into an uncertain line. you’re already getting your laptop. “i mean, do we want to know? what if we’re not...” you come back over to him with both eyebrows furrowed. “compatible?” “yeah” he hesitates before answering, which tells you he’s nervous.

“it’s just for fun, tommy,” you assure him and press a quick kiss to his lips. “besides, if anyone could defy the odds, it would be us.” tom perks up a bit, sitting up next to you. “you think we’re that strong, huh?” “absolutely. do you?” you’re already sure what he’s going to say. he pulls you into his lap, kissing at your hair and letting it linger. “one hundred percent. i’ll do it.”

you put your laptop in your own lap with a grin. tom’s arms hold you by your middle. “ok, here we go,” you mutter, searching for a good compatibility calculator. it doesn’t take long to find one. “remember, this all a bunch of theories. our love goes beyond what a stupid website tells us, okay?” you remind him, his arms tightening around you.

“okay. i love you,” tom speaks into your hair. “you’re so good at saying exactly what i need to hear. how do you do it?” “i love you too, and that’s a secret i’ll never tell.” you take one of his hands and bring it to your lips. tom’s leg bounces while you plug your three signs and his into the calculator. before hitting the calculate option, you look at him over your shoulder.

“ready?” your finger hovers over the cursor. you know how much these things mean to him, so you want to be positive that he is. “can we do it together?” tom asks shyly, which is highly uncharacteristic of him. “sure, baby. on the count of three.” you wait for him to place his hand over yours. he grips it tight, then you start to count. “one... two... three.”

the two of you click calculate at the same time, your results taking a few seconds to load. “love, i’m so nervous. i can’t look.” tom dips his head down so yours is blocking his view. you lightheartedly roll your eyes. “it’s fine, tom. i’m sure we’ll-“ the screen changes to display your compatibility rating, you cutting yourself off. he slowly creeps out from behind you.

“oh, god. are they in? what’s it say?” tom grabs onto your waist, feeling vibrations from you giggling. you shake your head at the website. “it’s really good... almost a perfect match. told you we’re meant to be.” he joins in your laughter, an endless amount of kisses going down the side of your head. “now, it’s written in the stars. we’re untouchable!”

he’s flipping you over so he lays above you, lips colliding messily with yours for the millionth time today. you don’t mind, though. you could do this a million more. “a power couple,” you continue for him between another peck of his lips. “always have been,” tom corrects and shuts you up again with his mouth on yours.

your hand reaches up for him, but doesn’t make it as the passionate kiss he’s giving you takes your breath away. he locks your fingers together instead, whispering one last thing.

“always will be.”

[bouncyballcitadel]

One Infinite Moment - A Short Snippet

Based off of the commission:

Enjoy below the cut!

Eli has always been there for you. Ever since the two of you met, she’s always had your back. Exams. Hospital rotations. And, now, residency. You’ve always prided yourself as an independent person—and, with Eli, you still are. But, she’s your safety net. If you’re feeling sappy, you might even call her home. 

The vice versa is true. You’ve known Eli for over five years now, know all of her little tells. That sparkle that she gets in her eyes when she’s excited. That furrow between her eyebrows when she’s contemplating something. You don’t even need to look at her face anymore, to be honest, to tell how she’s feeling. Even through text, you can read her like an open book. 

So, when Eli doesn’t text you for the whole day, you know something’s wrong. She’s on her ICU rotation, where they’re working her like a dog, but still—she’s always managed to send over a meme or two, or at least a skull and crossbones emoji. But, today…nothing. By the time you get back from your shift, you come home to an empty apartment and zero messages from Eli on your phone. 

She comes in at almost ten. You hear the door unlock, and you jump up to greet her, ready to tell her that you have dinner waiting for her (and dessert), but the words die in your mouth when you see her. Her hair a mess, her scrubs rumpled. The way she just drops her backpack onto the ground, kicks off her shoes. She doesn’t meet your eyes as you come to her, gently guide her over to the table. You don’t need to see her eyes to know that she’s been crying. 

You spoon her favorite onto a plate and set it in front of her. She doesn’t move, doesn’t even pick up the fork. You see the corner of her lip tremble, a muscle in her jaw tighten. She doesn’t want to talk about it, not yet. Trying to compose herself, crush the pain down until it’s manageable enough to voice.

You’ve been there. You’ve all been there. 

You spoon up some of the macaroni and cheese and offer it to her. For a long second, nothing happens. Then, she leans in and takes a bite. And another. And another. 

You spoon, and she eats. At one point, she starts crying without a sound—just tears running down her face—but you don’t comment on it. She doesn’t want you to, and you know this is something she has to do at her own pace. 

She finishes dinner. And dessert. And, while you’re going to put the dishes in the dishwasher, you feel her arms around you, her face pressed between your shoulder blades. You hold her hands against you, gently stroke her skin with your thumb. The two of you stay like that for one infinite moment. 

Then, she’s gone. 

[magpie-scribbles]

Ahhh I’m bit late but here is my part of the BNHarem ~*Collab*~

Title: Call Me

Pairing: F!reader X Maijima Higari (Power Loader)

Rating: E

Word Count: 5.8k

Warnings: Smut, sex work, older man younger woman 

Higari sighs, his metal tipped fingers tapping on his work table 11pm, 11 pm and he still had so much to do. Normally he relished having work to do, rather being a busy bee than not, but lately the stress had been catching up to him. The academic year was in full swing, and with more villain activity than usual he was beginning to wear...A lot of his projects (pet projects) were starting to fall behind because frankly he was too stressed and found himself getting upset with himself when he made mistakes or miscalculations, which seemed to be happening a lot in his overall raised tension.

Realizing he wasn't going to make any progress aside from going in circles. He slumps, plunking down onto the stool next him, thumping his head against the metal of the workbench and just...sitting there allowing himself to cool off...or perhaps it was wallow…

Bzzzzz bzzzzzzz he feels it as much as he hears it as an incoming text reverberates through his skull. He tilts his head, just enough to glare at his cellphone on the far end of the workbench; he could ignore it, he could...but he doesn't. With a groan he sits up leaning over to swipe the phone up to see the notification.

Oh...Nemuri.

"Heeeyyyyy, how you doing???" She follows up with a few heart emoji.

To someone on the outside looking in it might seem like she’s flirting, or that they had something going on. But he and Nemuri had been good friends for so long that he doubts he could ever see her as anything but.

"Fine" He types out simply, not in the mood for banter, he hopes she's not putting together a last minute bar hop.

"Ooooo"

"That rough huh?" 

"Stressed?"

The texts come in rapid succession. He sighs.

"I'm fine" He repeats; though it's nice to have someone that worries about you from time to time.

It takes her a moment to respond, he can see the little typing indicator, bounce along the bottom off his screen and then stop and then start again.

"Did you call her yet?? 👀👀👀" Her response finally comes and he groans.

He had a feeling she was going to bring this up sooner or later.

"No I haven't called her yet" He replies, grumbling to himself as he hits send harder than he needs to.

"You should, she could really help you relax 😌" He can practically hear he voice through the illuminated text on his screen, goading him.

He can feel his face heat up, he wasn't a prude...this was just...he wasn't a prude!

"Kayama" now beginning to wish he never picked up the phone.

"It's not just about sex Maijima, where's your head??😏😏😏" now she was just being cruel, he shakes his phone in his gripe blowing out a puff of air, wishing he could berate her.

"In all seriousness tho, she can help you out, it's her job, she's really nice!" She adds.

He sighs, deflating a bit, mulling over the idea for a while...he thinks he still has the card Nemuri gave him. 

Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans he pulls out a crinkled card, oh, yeah he had definitely washed these pants a few times. Luckily the card had been printed on heavy sleek looking cardstock. And even with the edges slightly worn and the the paper somewhat crinkled, no expenses were obviously spared as the elegant type face remained readable even after a few trips through the wash...which was good for him because if it hadn't then he'd have to ask Nemuri for the details and that's something he would not want to live through. 

He sighs, looking from the card to his phone, weighing his options...he was very stressed and Nemuri said it didn't have to be about sex...not that he didn't like that! ...Damnit…

Suckling on his teeth he slowly punches in the number printed in embossed gold.

___________

You settle down into the pillows and blankets of your freshly laundered bed, wondering if you even want to try and read the next chapter in your book that sat on your nightstand. The sheets were still warm from the dryer and damn, it was tempting to just nestle in and go straight to bed.

BBBZZZZ BBBZZZ

Your brow furrows, the sudden sound brings you out of your very important and very difficult decision. For a moment the sound eludes you as you listen for it again.

BBBZZZZ BBBZZZ

Oh fuck that was your phone, your head whips to the nightstand again; the illuminated screen blocked by the book you had just been considering as the device vibrates beneath it.

You grumble, you know it could be a client but most of them had the decency to not call this late…well most of them did. 

Grabbing your phone you gaze down to the screen, cocking your head when you see a string of numbers you've never seen before, hmmm.

Reclining back into the comfort of your pillow pile you answer.

"Hello this is L/N F/N speaking." You say, all business; not one to ever come off as unprofessional even if it was a spam call.

There was a long pause; you almost repeat yourself when you hear someone clear their throat.

"Miss L/N, this is Maijima Higari....uhhh, Kayama Nemuri said I should contact you." His voice is soft baritone with a bit of gravel to it, he seems very uncertain, but you know who he is right away.

To be honest you had been quite curious about him since Nemuri had told you about her fellow hero and coworker.

You worked a lot with heroes, some high profile ones too, but you've never had a client that was also a support specialist, or as Nemuri had put it, a keen inventor. You were intrigued.

"Ah Mr. Maijima, Kayama mentioned you-" you begin.

"She did?" He interrupts and you can hear him shifting away from the phone "motherfucker"  you hear the breathy hiss, and you have to keep yourself under control because you did not want your first conversation with the man you had been interested in hearing from, to be you laughing at him.

He must have realized you can hear him because there's more scrambling on the other end of the line.

"Sorry 'bout that...Nemuri...likes to talk." He sighs.

You chuckle warmly; she had mentioned he was somewhat proud and what she called "aggressively" shy.

"She definitely can be quite the gossip." You reply and you hear him groan. "Though I assure you, it's all good things Mr. Maijima."

"Somehow that doesn't put me at ease at all…" he huffs, and you can't help but let out a small laugh.

There is a pause again, and you decide to gently encourage him.

"So what can I do for you Mr. Maijima?" You ask gently.

There's shifting on the other end of the line again and then a small cough.

"I've...I've been stressed lately, like...more than usual and Kayama said that you might be able to help with that." You can tell he's a bit uncertain on how to ask for your services.

"Of course, I'd be more than happy to help, just tell me what you need and I'll set up an appointment. " You recline further into your pillows.

"Uh well...fuck I've never done this before…" he sighs.

"That's perfectly alright." You reply, waiting for him to continue.

"...I-I don't know?" He says finally and you smile, you like when they're honest; not trying to show-off.

"Of course, we can figure everything out along the way." You hum and you hear him sigh in relief.

"Alright, yeah." 

"How about I put you in for this Friday at 8pm, I'll make sure that we have the whole night free to get you settled." You make a mental note to put that in your planner (not that you could forget, you were surprisingly eager to meet him.)

"Today's Wednesday." He says in reply.

"Yes?"

"So you mean in two days? The Friday in two days?" You suppress a chuckle; definitely needed to relieve some stress.

"If that's an issue I'd be happy to-"

"NO!...No it's fine, just surprised is all." His voice trails off and he clears his throat. "Sooooo so how do I do this?"

You pause for a moment considering. There are a few luxury hotels and venues you've preferred to use in the past...but...you decide to throw caution to the wind.

"Let me give you my address." You reply, a very rare option you give to only your most trusted clients; but he was good friends with Nemuri and you trusted her judgement whole heartedly.

"Oh!...are you sure you're okay with that? I understand if you don't want to do that, safety and all, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable" You smile, he was already quite the charmer even if he didn't know it yet.

"No need to worry, I wouldn't give it to you if I didn't want to." 

"Okay, if you're okay with it." He replies warily and you smile to yourself.

"I'll send you a follow up text with my address and a reminder of the time; is this an okay number to send that to?"

"Oh yeah, sure."

"Perfect, well Mr. Maijima, I'll let you go and I'll send you my info."

"Yeah, sure...uh thanks for this Miss L/N." He replies.

"It's my pleasure." You reply.

He gives you a quick goodbye and then the line goes quiet; chuckling to yourself you scoot down further into your blankets and quickly add Maijima Higari to your schedule. Before opening Maijima's number and adding it to your contact list.

Nemuri definitely seems to have good taste in friends (well you're one of them.) He has certainly caught your attention...in a good way.

_______

Higari groans, while body deflating as his muscles relax somewhat...that was one of the most nerve-racking calls he'd ever made.

God he probably sounded like an idiot. 

Huffing, he looks back at his phone and opens up his chat with Nemuri.

"I called her" he writes before getting up from his workbench with a groan, back popping as he stretches.

His phone buzzes a moment later.

“Maijime it’s like 11:30 at night!” Nemuri’s text reads; he pales and looks at the time on his phone. 

Fuck....now he felt like an ass. He goes to respond, not even sure if he should defend himself or brush it off when another text comes in from a new number. Cocking his head he swipes it open.

“Hello Mr. Maijime, it was a pleasure speaking with you tonight, I have you all booked for Friday at 8pm and I look forward to spending time with you.” he swallows thickly, reading over the message a few more times, taking note of the little hearts on the end.

“This is her job, this is her job, she’s just being nice…”  he mentally berates himself.

Reading over the message one more time he responds.

“Thank you Miss L/N.” he pauses and then adds “Sorry ‘bout calling you so late, lost track of the time.” he hits send before he can chicken out, and shoves his phone in his front pocket; out of sight out of mind 

It’s only a few seconds before he hears the buzz of his phone again and he scrabbles to get it, not even sure why he put it away in the first place.

“Nothing to worry about sweetie, I’ll see you Friday.”

Higari decides he needs a very cold shower and then promptly after needs to put himself to bed...he’d deal with Nemuri tomorrow.

_______

You decide against the silk robe after some debate, donning luxurious Egyptian cotton instead. You'd rather not scare him off or look too presumptuous, after all he might be satisfied with your other talents, though Nemuri had said he could do with a good Fuck. You had of course laughed at her crassness, but you couldn't help but feel a spark of warmth in your belly, it surprised you, it had been awhile since you had, let alone for a potential client. 

You needed to be professional.

Giving yourself a once over in the mirror you found your attire agreeable. Your robe was a little longer than the ones you usually wore for your clients, coming to brush against your knees. But it was your favorite, plush and warm and while a bit promiscuous it was also classic. 

Your hair and makeup was in place and you gazed down to your phone

7:45pm

You hadn't received and cancelation call or text so at this point all you could do was wait.

Padding through your apartment on your way to the lounge you make a few quick mental notes.

Did you have both red and white wine as well as a few stiffer drinks just in case ready? Check.

Bottled water on ice as well and had you tea kettle ready with an assortment of teas just in case? Check and check

A few hors d'oeuvres, nothing too over the top? Check.

You come to settle on your favorite chaise as you finish your little check off; yes you believe you had everything ready…

Your intercom pings, and you quickly get to your feet and shuffle over, pressing the talk button.

"Yes?"

"Miss L/N, there is a Mr. Maijima here to see you." The doorman's voice responds.

"Yes of course please have him come up." 

"Of course ma'am."

To be honest no matter how long you had done this you could never quite figure out what to do with yourself while you wanted for a client to come up to meet you. Nothing ever seemed natural or smooth... it irked you. You wondered what other consorts did, maybe you should ask a few of your colleagues next time you go out for drinks-

There's a firm knock on your door, jarring you out of your thoughts. 

Giving yourself a quick once over you, smooth down your robe and slap on a warm smile before opening the door.

"Mr. Maijima, I'm so glad you came." You move out of the way, opening the door further to allow him in.

"Uh thanks, yeah me too." He lets out a nervous laugh as he shuffles inside. 

He was quite charming. Nemuri had shown you pictures but pictures can never do enough justice to some people. 

He was dressed in a bomber jacket, dark pull over and well worn jeans and boots. He looked comfortable, the perfect amount of dressed down; he looked like himself, not trying to put on airs like some of your clients. 

"Let me take your jacket while you get your shoes." You say warmly and he gingerly shrugs out of the fabric.

"Thanks." He replies as he leans down to untie his boots.

"Nice place you have here." He replies as he looks around from his lowered position. 

"Oh thank you!" You tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear as you look around your place fondly. "The main foyer is a bit much though." You add with a chuckle thinking to the decadence of the building's main entrance.

"Was pretty swanky." He replies nearly finished with his second boot.

"I assure you I'm much more down to earth." You reply and he perks up at that, you eye him curiously.

"Hehe, earth." He laughs and it takes you a moment to remember he's the Excavation hero and you let out a laugh, surprised by his humor.

"I wouldn’t have guessed you'd also be a man with a good taste in jokes." You reply and extend you hand out to him as he tucks his boots away. You have always been a fan of so-called bad jokes.

He seems to like that and puffs up with a smile, slipping his large hand into yours. Oh it was warm and rough; Nemuri did say he was good with his hands. 

"How about we settle in." You say nodding your head towards the lounge.

He nods and swallows thickly, still visibly unsure, but obviously not willing to back down.

You smile at him and gently lead him out of the entryway. 

As you lead him further into your apartment you had taken note that while he was untying his boots he could have very easily looked up your robe, but instead all of his attention was on you, his sharp grey eyes peeking out from a thick fringe of fiery hair. He was watching and listening to you not ogling you, it made your heart warm.

Yes, you had decided that he was certainly a catch.

You lead him into the lounge motioning for him to sit anywhere and he takes his place in one of the plush armchairs across from you chaise. You wish he would have opted for a closer seat but you want him to be comfortable first and foremost.

"Can I get you anything? Wine? Something stronger? Water, tea?" You ask.

"Uh water's fine right now, thanks." He replies and you crack open one of the water bottles and pour it into a crystal tumbler.

You hand it to him and leave the water bottle close to him on the coffee table.

"Thank you L/N." He replies and takes a sip.

"Please call me F/N." You say as you settle on your chaise, he pauses for a moment, mouth full before swallowing

"F/N…" he parrots, voice surprisingly gravelly despite the water he just drank.

You smile and nod your head.

He fiddles with the empty glass in his hands before looking up at you with genuineness; your heart flutters and you’re once again surprised by your feelings.

"Call me Higari."

_______

Higari slowly begins to relax as you talk, his posture loosening and his voice becoming less tense and formal. When he finally laughs fully at one of your jokes, you feel warmth wash over you in a pleasant wave of contentment. 

Despite his obvious relaxation you can’t help but notice he shifts every so often, adjusting his back or subtly rolling his neck. Small ques that make you realize that he wasn't only mentally stressed but physically as well. 

"Higari." You catch his attention as he excitedly tells you about a project he's working on. "Sorry to interrupt but is your back bothering you?" You ask softy and he blinks at you in surprise.

"Oh sorry, that noticeable?" He chuckles. "'S probably from hunching over a workbench all day." He's trying to wave it off, not make you worry.

"Would you mind if I used my quirk on you?" You ask gently, not wanting him to feel pressured. 

"Uuhhh, you haven't already?" He looks a bit confused and you can't help but let out a hearty laugh.

"Of course not, I would never use my quirk without your permission." You smile and you watch as his cheeks turn ruddy with blush. "Might I ask what you thought my quirk was doing all this time?"

He leans back a bit huffing softly to himself, trying to control his embarrassment. 

"Make me relax I guess?" He mutters under his breath and you smile fondly, happy that he truly was relaxed around you.

"You’re sweet, while my quirk does help people relax, I wasn't using it on you." You reply sitting up and gently patting the space next to you on the chaise. " could I show you, I'll stop if you don't feel comfortable."

He observes you for a moment, mulling over the idea or trying to pump himself up you're not exactly sure; but then he slowly gets to his feet and walks over to you.

"Never done this before…" he says softly as he looks down at you, trying hard to be open and honest.

It's one of the sweetest things you've ever had happen with a client and you gently take his hands and pull him down to sit next to you.

"That's perfectly alright, whatever you are comfortable with, whatever you want Higari." You say gently and give his hands a reassuring squeeze.

He looks down, his hands are so large in yours; turning them over in his he brushes the metal tips of his thumbs against your palms reverently, and you swoon a little bit. 

"Show me you quirk." 

You feel pride well in your chest.

"I would love to." You smile before adjusting a bit. "Lay down on your stomach, there should be enough room for you to lay down fully." 

He complies, seemingly throwing caution to the wind, but you can see the tremble in his arms as he lowers himself to the plush cushion of the chaise.

"I'm going to sit on your thighs is that alright?" You question.

It takes him a moment to respond and when he does it's a breathy "yes" and you're glad he's facing away from you so he doesn't catch the shiver that runs up your spine at the tone of his voice.

Slowly you crawl up his body, careful to let him feel every move, to let him know your position until you are sitting comfortably on his muscled thighs, your legs tucked on either side of him. He lets out a shaky sigh as you reach out and run your hands from his shoulder blades down to the small of his back.

"My quirk works best with skin to skin contact, you are certainly welcome to leave your shirt on or remove it." You begin your typical overview of your quirk when he moves beneath you suddenly, almost setting you off balance as he reaches behind his head. Fisting the fabric at his back and rucking it up over his head, fluffing up his hair as he does before letting the article of clothing crumple to the floor.

You're too surprised to move from his sudden boldness as he settles back down, neatly crossing his arms beneath his chin. 

After a few moments you manage to pull yourself together and you slowly, gently lay your hands back on his now bare shoulder blades and oh! Beneath your palms he is trembling; now you desperately wanted to sooth his frayed nerves.

"My quirk allows me to admit frequency through my skin, that I can channel into vibrations." You tell him gently as you smooth down his back again, slowly activating your quirk.

He tenses for a moment and then begins to relax into your touch.

"It can help muscle relaxation and promote blood flow." You continue as you knead a knot along his lat. 

"It ah- sounds like your quirk is definitely a benefit." His voice is breathy, almost sighing as he falls further into your touch.

"I like to think so too." You say fondly, you were really starting to enjoy his company and his kindness. "You were talking about one of your inventions earlier when I interrupted, I would very much like to hear more about it." And it was the honest to God truth.

He hums in contentment and from his position on his folded arms you can see a genuine smile grace his lips.

He quickly eases back into his explanation and his ideas as you allow you quirk to sink into his skin while you massage his tense muscles. Honestly you could listen to him talk for hours, even if you didn't quite understand some of it; it was fascinating and his passion and enthusiasm was a pleasant warmth that enveloped you.

Slowly his muscles begin to ease up under your ministrations and his voice begins to get more husky and more lax. You’re not exactly sure when he stopped talking but you suddenly notice the silence and the absence of his pleasant voice.

"F/N?" You blink, gazing up from you hands, to find Higari staring lazily up at you through the fringe of his hair. His stare is hypnotizing

"Yes?" Your voice is breathier than you would have liked.

For a moment he doesn't say anything and then he shifts, starting to roll on his side and you gingerly move to sit beside him, you barely have anytime to take in his sudden change when his large hand comes up, fingers brushing against your jaw tentatively.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks softly and you definitely swoon, you hand coming up to press his touch closer.

"I would like that very much." You hum, your blood singing at the thought of his lips on yours.

Slowly he rises up and you can feel him moving against you and as he does you feel his lower half brush against your hip and the strangest combination of pride and desire fills your chest as you feel the hardness straining against his jeans.

Everything seems to still for a brief moment and then his nose brushes against yours and you suck in a shaking breath as his lips press against yours.

It's like firecrackers, zipping along you skin, you feel your toes curl and you lean into him. He groans against you and slings his arm around your shoulders pressing you to him, your chest flush with his bare one. 

You sigh against him and he takes a moment to adjust, tilting his head, teeth clacking against yours as he slots himself against you.

You feel as though you are made of feathers, your whole body alight as you kiss him back feverishly. It's been awhile since you felt this and you can't get enough.

Letting out a small whine you smooth your hands down his ribs bringing them around to rest on his lower stomach; you feel the muscles jump against your fingertips and then he trembles against you letting out a wonderfully gravelly moan that reverberates in his chest. 

Then he's slowly pulling you back with him, laying back down against the chaise, tugging you on top of him. He pauses moving away to catch his breath, a hand coming up to smooth over your hair. Your breath hitches as you take him in; he's beautiful… his cheeks stained with blush, his grey eyes gazing up at you half lidded and hazy, pupils blown so wide the irises are halos of near silver.

"Can we…? Is this okay?" He asks hesitantly and you have to stop yourself from squealing in delight.

"It's more than okay Higari, I would love to." And you mean every word of it. 

He groans, lips parting to wet them before he cups your face in his hands and pulls you back down into a fiery kiss.

It's almost feral the way you move against each other, palming and smoothing down every inch of skin that you can. He slowly pushes your robe from your shoulders, the belt the only thing keeping it from coming free completely, and he lets out a strangled sound when he realizes you're wearing nothing underneath.

You quickly grab one of his hands and press his large palm to your breast and he quakes beneath you as he begins to knead the soft flesh. You instantly melt into him, moaning and moving against him in your excitement, his metal tipped thumb coming to press against your pebbled nipple. 

He's wonderful beneath you, shedding his shyness as his lips move from yours, coming to place open mouthed kisses against your jaw and neck. 

Your hands continue to roam across the wonderfully compact muscles of his torso, fingers pausing to flick at his nipples before moving to dig into his sides before sliding down to rest on his belt buckle.

You pull away and he lets out a whine as you sit up, gazing down at him, watching as his chest heaves. You wet your lips, thumbing his buckle to get his attention and his gaze darts down to where your hands rest, just above the straining tent in his jeans. Slowly his gaze drags up your body and then…

"Please…" It's breathy and needy, and you can help but let out a small moan as you nod and get to work.

You quickly divest him of both his pants, boxers and socks, leaving him wonderfully naked and needy beneath you, and oh is he a sight to see. 

Taut muscles tensing against soft skin, a smattering of coppery hair on his chest that tapers down his belly to a thatch of curly short hairs framing his perfectly sized cock that now lays dribbling against his stomach.

"Oh Higari, you’re beautiful." You purr, running your hands down his chest.

"Got nothing on you…" he grunts arching into your touch, practically begging you to go lower.

"Such a charmer." You reply with your finger sliding teasingly over his weeping head.

He arches, pale column of his throat on display for you as he lets out a moan.

"Y-you're perfect." He husks and you feel your chest swell with pride.

You pull back for a moment, much to his displeasure, but that quickly changes as he realizes you're removing your robe.

You quickly take the condom out of your pocket before discarding the clothing to the floor in a heap. Laying the rubber next to your calf for easy access. 

Straightening up you perch on his upper thighs and then slowly move your hips.

"Can you feel me Higari?" You hush knowing full well you’re dripping all over him. "Can you feel how wet I am?"

He lets out a needy moan and his hands come to clamp down on your hips as he rolls his hip, cock thrusting up into the cool air of your apartment. 

"Please, please, F/N...please." His words are soft and airy and you absolutely live for them as you roll your hips again, hand smoothing down his aching length.

"Anything you want love." You hush him and grab the condom, he's already so far gone he doesn't even perk up at the sound of the foil tearing.

You need him to pay attention. Tapping his hip bone he slowly comes to focus on you.

"Watch me Higari." You say and you slowly roll the condom onto his straining length.

You want to absolutely pamper him as he makes small little hiccups as you smooth the rubber down him before gently grabbing his base, moving up onto your knees hovering just over him.

"Watch me Higari…" you repeat and he's enraptured as you slowly sink down onto him, bottoming out on him completely in one go.

"Ha-ah!" He arches hands pushing you impossibly closer as he thrusts up into you though there is no more room left to fill.

Oh he's perfect, filling you to the brim, stretching you deliciously as he becomes an unabashed mess beneath you.

You try to move, but his grip is bruising, abdominal muscles tensing as he tries to keep himself in control.

"Higari." You sooth and he looks up at you, lips parted and eyes holding so much adoration it nearly knocks you over.

He lets up his hold after a moment and you lean forward, placing your hands and his chest to steady yourself. You give him an affectionate stare before you rise up, keeping just the tip of him inside before swiftly curling your hips and spearing yourself on his length.

He practically howls and throws his head back, and oh you want to see more of this, want to see him come undone.

You begin a rhythmic deep pace, making sure to swallow him whole on each downward roll of your hips. Higari is already a mess beneath you, now completely out of his shell on full display. In the back of your mind you briefly think he could have been a porn star if he put his mind to it.

He pushes you out of your thoughts as he grips your hips once more and tries to aid you in your movement, you can't help bit smile.

"Relax Higari, this is about you, I'll take care of everything…" you breath and he swallows thickly.

"Wanna help." He slurs "ha! You're so good, soso good." 

"Next time." You're even a bit surprised by how sure there will be a next time and Higari seems to take note of that as well as you watch his gaze unfocus and refocus.

You continue your pace, though your thighs begin to ache, it's too delicious to even think about slowing down; the way your positioned has your clit rubbing against his pubic bone with each roll of your hips.

You can tell he's getting close, the way he trembles and the way he tries to jerk up ever so often out of sync with you. His gaze catches you and for a moment you feel like your drowning. It's then you feel the pad of his thumb press against your clit; you gasp and look down to watch his metal tipped finger swirl around your delicate bundle of nerves, cock disappearing lewdly inside of you with each roll of your hips.

"Gonna, cum, wan' you to cum with me." He husks, bringing your attention back to him and suddenly you're on the cusp, the precipice. 

"Oh, yes, yes...Higari." your head lolls as you allow him to help, his hips thrusting up to meet yours.

And then he's curling, body tensing as he lets out a breathless moan, mouth slack and eyes fluttering closed as he starts to cum. 

That's what pushes you over the edge, his debauched display. And as you tumble over the edge, stars bursting behind your eyes, and toes curling you briefly wished you could feel him pumping you full.

It takes you a moment to come down from your brief jaunt in paradise, sagging against him, panting. You feel his grip on your hip loosen and he brings his other hand to your thigh, thumb coming to sooth over your skin.

You sit in silence as he softens inside of you and you know you should get up and tidy up a bit, but you're basking in the afterglow and you can't find it in you to care that much.

Higari lets out a pleased sigh and he looks completely and utterly satiated and relaxed; it warms your heart.

The next words that come out of your mouth surprise you.

"Stay the night." You whisper almost shyly and it quickly catches his attention.

He cocks his head observing for a moment.

"Do most of your clients stay? I don't want to intrude."  

You honestly are afraid to answer because the answer is no, they don't, and you suddenly feel so raw and exposed it almost scares you.

He must pick up on your nervousness because he gently cups the side of your jaw, brushing some of your sweat damp hair away from your face.

"I'd love to." He says and you feel your heart soar as you nuzzle into his touch.