#maybe they'd actually mind their own business but maybe they get Dragged into it

[nightmare-foundation]

Sighs. If I knew more about the batfam I'd absolutely write a fnaf/DC crossover. It'd be so fucking fun actually. They'd breathe in Hurricane, Utahs direction and be like "Oh this place is fucking weird. Gotham weird. What's up with that" and inevitably someone (Tim) would go snooping cause they're bored and what the fuck do you MEAN that shits Actually Haunted. Why are there killer robots constantly everywhere. Why is fazent Like That. What. Anyways I think that place is like Gotham levels of Fucking Weird and I think it'd be extremely fun if the batfam got roped into it

[cheegu3]

gangster!new - punishing you

note; original ask here, I had to make a separate post bc of tumblr again

warnings; yandere/mafia themes, unhealthy relationships, gun, slightly dub-con, sadism, drugging, smut - rough sex, non-protective, nasty but short sex lol (licking cum, spitting in mouth)

wc; 2.6k

The billboard lights had gotten blurrier the further you walked and you couldn't help but wonder if it was your mind playing tricks on you.

With the adrenaline pumping in your body and your water-soaked shoes running on the wet pavement, there was a high chance you weren’t exactly in the right state of mind now.

Maybe because of that you pushed on, even as it got so bad you almost fell into the busy traffic.

You didn't hear anything but your own heavy breaths. Occasionally, you scared yourself by thinking he was behind you; if you turned around too quickly you'd see a man in a suit and immediately you squealed '' no, no, please, '' to yourself.

It was only yesterday that you found out that your boyfriend wasn't who you thought he was.

At the end of the night out with your friends you were supposed to walk a few blocks to get a bus.

On the way there you passed by many alleyways but one in particular piqued your interest. Sounds came from far down it. Hushed voices, muffled screams, and the sound of a gun reloading.

You shouldn't have done it but your feet seemed to drag themselves forward on their own until you stood at the very end of the alley and it was already too late - they saw you.

'' Hey! Who's that? ''

You froze before your brain sensed danger and kicked in your flight instinct. Whipping around you started to run as hard as you could and sprinted for around 200 meters, then dove into a small shop when you felt your legs grow weak.

You forced your breathing to regulate, taking deep breaths while placing a hand over your chest as if to stop your pounding heart from escaping it.

The customers gave you curious looks and eyed each other questioningly. Then their gazes moved which you only noticed once you weren't panting anymore and had the energy to raise your head.

They were fixated on something behind you. In sync, their eyes moved from the left to the right until whatever was behind seemed to stop right at the door where you were standing.

You had a gut feeling that it was the guys from before. The gun and the shady business that seemed to be going down in that alley had made you come to the conclusion that they were gangsters. The city was full of them, and your boyfriend Chanhee had often told you to stay away from them at all costs. He said he knew them too well since he was a native.

Pretending like your anxiety levels hadn't skyrocketed, you went over to the back row of the shop casually and looked at something on the shelf. The bells above the door jingled, causing you to be more alert as they finally entered the shop.

You listened to their footsteps and your forehead creased. It was hard to make out how many of them there were. The loud thud of boots was always followed by several more and then a dragging sound.

You turned your head a little bit and discovered that the sound came from people moving out of the way. They were getting closer to you. It seemed like they inspected everyone in the shop before moving on to the next which meant there was no escaping the inevitable meeting you'd have with them.

A lone sandwich was the only thing you took out of the shelf. It would be too suspicious to just stand there, your back turned and not even buy anything. Maybe...just maybe they'd think you weren't the one if you actually looked like you belonged there.

But it was getting too hard to not act like the imposter. Everything about you screamed guilty. Your hands clenched around the poor sandwich to stop them from shaking violently.

Your mind kept going back to the alley. With some panic, you realized that if they saw you again, they'd recognize you right away. Although you didn't see their faces due to the darkness, you were standing right under the streetlights.

The crinkling sound brought the attention of a man who had ventured off on his own to make the search for the witness more effective.

You closed your eyes and tried to focus on something else to stop your body from sweating profusely. But it was too late. The man had already put his hand on your shoulder to turn you to him.

Glancing back, the first thing you saw was his pale hand on you. Surprisingly for a gangster, it was very pretty. Long slick fingers, not a scar, injury, or callus in sight.

You didn't mean to, but you smiled and looked up at the man. The smile fell immediately. And so did his, your boyfriend's.

For a whole minute, you just stared at each other. A range of emotions washed over both of your faces; confusion, anger, guilt, sadness, denial.

He finally spoke, and when he did so his voice came out tired. '' You weren't supposed to find out like this. ''

You didn't say anything. Your mouth felt like sandpaper. But it seemed to only agitate him. Maybe he wanted you to say the words he'd want to hear like ' it's okay, I don't care, I love you anyway '.

You couldn't say them. Not after you'd seen him like that.

'' I told you to go straight home, didn't I? '' he raised his voice which made you flinch.

You didn't miss the way he put his hands in his pockets. People don't show their hands when they feel certain emotions, such as anxiety or guilt.

He knew he was in the wrong for deceiving you but still acted now like it was somehow your fault for discovering his dark little secret.

'' You never listen to me. That's the problem with you! ''

He was getting angrier and angrier by your continued silence, taking it as an act of rebellion. As he took a step towards you, meant to intimidate, someone behind him called out, '' New, let's go. ''

New?

You stared up at him. He responded to the name and gave you one last look, tensely telling you under his breath for you to go home, and then left with the group.

The different name caught you off guard. It felt like the final punch to the gut before crashing down. Somehow it created a wall between you and Chanhee. A different name, a different persona, a different job. He'd been living a completely separate life.

You hadn't been cheated on but it almost felt like it. With a sour taste in your mouth, you went home at last and locked yourself into one of the spare bedrooms. There was no way you wanted to see your boyfriend for the rest of the day.

As you lay in bed trying to sleep, a thought popped into the forefront of your mind, something you'd never considered much before. Sure, he'd been possessive and overbearing but you could handle it.

This however? He was a bad person, a terrible one in fact, who hurt others.

'' Oh my god, '' you whispered to yourself.

Was that man dead? Had he killed him? Your sweet loving boyfriend? You felt sick. The love was rapidly disappearing, only being replaced with pure disgust. How could you have loved someone like that, or not noticed it? A psycho right in front of your eyes!

A psycho who laid his delicate hands around you at night, telling you he loved you; while those same hands were used to kill.

'' Y/n? ''

As if on cue, the devil came home and knocked softly on your door. You turned over on your side and ignored it, hoping that he'd give up and go away soon.

And he did. He tried the door and despite not getting an answer which would usually set his temper off, he just left it and went away.

You woke up the next day with an uneasiness in the pit of your stomach. There was a feeling that you needed to walk on eggshells around him now.

'' Hey. Did you sleep well? '' was the first thing he said.

It wasn't unusual for him to ask that if he got up earlier than you. Now though, he could probably see the dark circles under your eyes, as his face was laced with concern.

You only nodded and tried not to stiffen when he approached you for his morning kiss. It was awkward for both of you.

He gestured to the filled dining table before heading to the door. A glance at the clock told you it was almost 1pm; you'd slept for a very long time and likely he had waited hours for you.

'' Are you going somewhere? ''

'' Work, '' he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

Work from now on meant his mafia work, the part he'd kept hidden from you before. Your eyes narrowed. Was he going off somewhere to hurt someone again?

But you didn't say anything. After the door closed behind him, you started gathering your most important things and texted your sister that you were coming over to spend the night there.

An hour passed before you felt brave enough to leave. You brought a sandwich and a water bottle that Chanhee had put out for you which you sipped on while walking to the city.

It was a Sunday so there were barely any buses. You clenched your teeth and kept walking despite that, determined to reach your sister's house in an hour or two.

However, it would prove to be a lot more difficult than you'd originally thought. Within twenty minutes you looked back and realized you hadn't walked far at all.

Your head began throbbing for some reason and you couldn't tell if it was the pouring rain, tiredness, or something else, but your vision started getting distorted too.

How long had you been walking for now? You could see the billboards shining down on you like they always did. Yet everything surrounding it seemed to be dark.

Your steps became wobbly when you were about to pass by the spot where you had seen Chanhee just the day before. You decided to rest there against the wall until whatever had just disrupted you would go away.

You had only just sat down when your body fell down to the side with a loud thump.

*******

Lights woke you from your strange slumber. You had to blink a few times to come back to reality and make sense of your surroundings. What greeted you was no longer the alley and the darkness, but a familiar setting - your bedroom, with a familiar person, your boyfriend.

He helped you sit up. You stretched your tense muscles and tried to move to get out of bed, stomach practically screaming at you. Things hadn't fully set in yet; such as the fact that he had found you somehow and brought you back there, which must mean he knew you tried to escape.

The only thing you cared about now was food and sleep since the throbbing from before had left an awful after-effect in your head.

'' I have food, don't get up. ''

He handed you some food that you nibbled on quietly. As you washed it down with some drink, it finally hit you.

Your eyes widened but you quickly had to pretend like nothing was wrong, just in case he didn't actually know. You tried to read his impression, stoic, unamused maybe? He usually smiled when he saw you looking at him. Not now though, not at all.

Once you were done he took it away from you and didn't even bother going to put it in the kitchen, he just placed it on the nightstand. For some reason it made alarm bells ring inside your head.

'' That wasn't very smart of you, was it? ''

You shuddered at his low tone, it was one he had never really used with you before, one that very clearly painted a picture of who was the prey and who was the predator.

You backed up against the header behind but didn't get very far; he pulled you down swiftly by your leg so you were dragged closer to him. Laying there shaking, he just looked down at you.

'' You know I drugged the water, right? ''

Your mouth fell open.

'' I knew you'd try something like this just to piss me off. ''

Suddenly he started unbuttoning his suit shirt which confused you. He smirked at your puzzled look and seemed to enjoy you watching him undress.

Once the shirt was off he was satisfied, and so, he came over to hover over you. Your wrists were pinned in an almost painful grip above your head.

'' I-I was just...going for a walk. '' you licked your dry lips.

His expression didn't change and he didn't answer you. Taking a breath of relief a bit too early you gasped when he caught you off guard by flipping you onto your stomach.

You tried wriggling out of his grasp.

'' Don't pretend like you don't want it every day, '' he sounded both amused and angry, his words carrying an almost venomous edge to them.

You buried your face into the pillow in embarrassment, your body acknowledging his words by the growing wetness between your thighs.

Behind you, you heard his zipper go down and were just about to glance back when he pushed into you without warning. He didn't even bother pulling his pants off.

Both of you let out loud sounds, his of pleasure and you a cry of pain. A string of incomprehensible words left your mouth, which he ignored, picking up a long and hard thrusting rhythm instead.

Loud, wet, and filthy sounds filled the room. You felt humiliated to admit you'd never been so turned on. You didn't fight it and just let your body rock with each thrust. But you were still very aware that it was a punishment by the burning feeling, that although decreasing, was very much present.

Whimpers turned into small moans that you tried muffling. But it became very hard to do as his chest touched your back and you heard his low groans in your ear.

You couldn't hide how you felt from him. Whatever sounds you made would likely push his sadistic self over the edge if you weren't careful.

Your body gave in to him more and more as the pleasure lulled your brain and numbed the pounding head from before.

'' Chanhee, '' you whined, '' I'm gonna- ''

A sound of loud protest broke from your lips. He pulled out as soon as you spoke and you felt the warmth of him finishing on your back thigh.

You were just about to whine again and angrily question why he didn't let you finish, but his warm tongue coming in contact close to your core made your body tingle.

He flipped you over on your back again and forced your mouth open with his thumb.

'' What are you doing? ''

Leaning right over you he kept your mouth open and then spat right into it, almost making you choke from the shock. The saltiness hit your tongue and you immediately recognized the taste which you swirled around in your mouth.

'' Swallow. ''

He didn't have to tell you twice. You swallowed hard and then glared at him again. As if you were telepathic, he smiled knowingly.

'' I won't let you finish tonight, you don't deserve it. ''

You rolled your eyes and clenched your teeth in irritation. It didn't really feel like you had a say in this so you remained tight-lipped with a scowl on your face.

That was until he dove his head in between your legs and made your body turn into jelly again. This was going to be a long and torturous night, you knew him.

He'd go on for hours til you were begging for him to let you finish with tears streaming down your face.

[indestructiblelittlefuckers]

@vocesofmd (continued)

It wasn't that Edward hadn't tried. Once he felt well enough to actually move around, he tried to fix the cottage. He tried to just accept that Izzy was gone and that he would have to just move on. But how could he? It was like the grief was pulling him down, to the ground, an unbearable weight on his shoulders. It would kill him and if he wanted to be honest with himself, he wanted it to kill him. Before he dragged Stede down with him. Stede... he didn't seem to be dealing with this any better — Ed saw him, almost every night to sit by Izzy's grave and talk to him, when Ed refused to even acknowledge that he had been there at all. And when one night he came back to bed crying because probably an animal had disturbed the grave, Ed knew they couldn't stay. They couldn't just move on either.

Ricky would come back to the Republic eventually, and they had to be ready. Only the wait made Ed get lost in his head too much and for once again he found solace in drinking and drugs. He had several ideas about their revenge plans, but one day, just like that the thought was pushed away. Ed had just too many ideas about what to do with their lives to think about that. The Inn seemed boring, fishing was something he wasn't that good at, but he could make clothes, couldn't he? He made made his own leather jacket, after all, and it was fun doing that, so he could be a tailor... a leather tailor. Now that was a business idea, wasn't it? They'd open a shop with leather outfits, or at least one that matched Ed's beloved style. Blackbeard's style. Follow the trend. Merchandise. Or whatever Frenchie had called it. Frenchie! He could be of help, he was good at these things and he had to find him, so he asked the fishermen to let him know when Revenge returned to Nassau. What if they combined a outfit shop with alcohol? Mixed drinks and trying outfits, now that sounded even more fun?

Stede barely seemed to follow Ed and his ideas, but he didn't protest much. He had been drinking too, so maybe Ed's mixed drinks idea would work perfectly. He had been looking for a good rum deal at the market when he saw something... someone that made him freeze. It had been as if he had been high, dancing, having fun when suddenly he was sober. Almost as if he was in a trance, Ed walked to the man, his hand on his shoulder to make him turn around.

It was Izzy. ❝Izzy?❞ Ed grinned and let out a small sigh in relief... before reality kicked. It could not be Izzy, could it? That man had died. In his arms. They had all buried him, sobbing. Was he really losing his mind? Had he drunk too much? But why wouldn't his mind recreate the same image Ed held of him? Why give him this new look? ❝How... Are you real? ❞

[hereticaas]

Back when I was working on that danlou fic with transfem lou for the kink meme, I did actually attempt to write it as a human au too. I preferred the canon adjacent version though, so that's what I posted.

But here, have a snippet of 70s human au danlou on this fine september evening:

Daniel met Lou for the first time at a bar on McAllister Street, when she sat down next to him and asked what’s in the bag? He'd looked at her, at her pretty face and her cool gaze, her carefully applied makeup and her short leather skirt, and felt like he'd missed a step going down the stairs. 

He'd never been so immediately attracted to anyone in his entire goddamned life. 

She'd breathed out a plume of cigarette smoke and smiled a little, like she'd known it, like she knew exactly what he was thinking.

She always seemed to know what he was thinking, like those brown eyes could peer into the very soul of him, could peel back his brain and flip through it like the morning paper. It was intimidating. It was hot.

He'd asked to interview her and she'd laughed at him and said yeah okay, sounds fun. And they'd gone back to her place, to this little apartment on Divisadero with laminate floors, and muted yellow lighting, and the original stained glass still in the upper arches of the windows. An apartment, it turned out, that she owned because apparently she had it like that, and he'd fucked her on her green floral couch, her skirt pulled up to her waist and her heels digging into the small of his back; her nails in his shoulders and her soft moans in his ear, and he'd come almost embarrassingly fast. 

She'd laughed at him for that too. He hadn't even minded.

Anyway, he doesn't know how he got lucky enough for her to let him keep coming around after that. Crazier still that, months and months later, she agreed to move into his much shittier apartment with him.

I can put the other place up for rent, turn a nice profit, she'd said easily, like it was all opportunistic convenience, a business proposition fallen perfectly into her manicured hands. But then she'd looked over her shoulder and smirked at him and he’d rolled his eyes and kissed her.

Daniel knew, could tell from the passing references she sometimes made to past relationships, that Lou didn't usually go for guys like him. Shitty kid from Modesto, a little too into hard drugs, though he’s trying to work on that; a broke boy struggling to make it as a writer. Meanwhile, Lou owned fucking property–she had to be used to better men than him. 

“Hey, what were those other guys like? Your exes?” he asked her one night, not long after they'd first started hooking up. They were over at his place, smoking in bed, him leaning on his elbow in just his boxers and her sitting up against the headboard in Daniel’s oversized Berkeley T-shirt and her underwear. Lilac and lace—the peek of them from underneath the hem of his borrowed shirt made Daniel’s mouth water.

“Oh, are we finally doing that interview?” she asked mildly, ashing her cigarette in the cheap tray on the bedside table. 

“It's just a question,” he responded, just as mild, sensing that he should tread careful. Half journalistic instinct, half a hope that he was maybe starting to get her just a little bit. He reached across her smooth brown thighs to get at the tray, ashed his own cigarette. “Maybe I just wanna know if I'm your usual type.”

“And why would you need to know that?”

“Competitive advantage?”

She huffed a little laugh. “You're not like my exes.”

"Oh." 

She took another drag on her cigarette. 

“Didn't say that was a bad thing,” she said eventually.

[fairydares]

Reminiscing on the Hard Road (A Gruvia Fic)

Rating: M

Summary: While on his way to a mission, Gray reflects on the hardships, tears, battles, and triumphs which led to him and Juvia finding their happiness together. (Or: the story of how they finally, officially got together told through memories).

AO3 Link ; FFNet Link

Words: ~8,000

Warnings: Please read with caution as this contains adult themes & situations (though nothing explicit). Also swearing and allusions to mental illness, dissociation and depression symptoms especially. Man this feels like the end of a drug commercial. Enjoy!

AN: I realized how long it'd been since I updated Chasing Tails and was feeling really bad about it. I'm so sorry, guys! I've just been really busy! I don't have time to get Chapter 5 up tonight, but I do have the time to share this Gruvia piece I wrote a while ago as a karmic sort of apology.

With that in mind, this is a bit of a rough, long one-shot. It comes from a chapter in a larger, mostly Nalu-focused fic which I may or may not ever actually finish writing. Sooo it's not even really a one-shot so much as it's, like, a segment of a chapter from one. I also barely had time to clean it up ever so slightly.

However, I thought Gruvia fans would appreciate anyway. Maybe one day, I'll write the whole thing because I honestly think it could be a story, or maybe a series of drabbles? This is all you kids get for now, though, lol. no fucks given (just kidding this will keep me up nights.)

o(O)o

Ignoring Natsu's whining about still being motion sick from beside him, Gray buried his hands in his pockets and let his eyes engage in their favorite past-time: roaming the curves of the blue-haired woman walking in front of him.

Him and Juvia had officially been together for over half a year, but his eyes still snagged on the same places they always had. The sway of her blue hair, now long enough to partly obscure the pinch of her waist and flare of her hips with each swish. The pretty, cute flush that lived on her cheeks as she listened attentively to Erza, who was chattering about a famous desert shop in the area. The way shadow and light shifted over the curve of her rear. And—forever his most favorite—the exposed skin of her legs. Long, toned, moon white...and fucking perfect.

Gray felt his cheeks heat, but couldn't find it in himself to drag his eyes away. The solidness and length of their relationship did absolutely nothing to diminish the novelty of her beauty, like he might once have feared it would. Instead, it hypnotized him more surely than ever. Noticing all the men drooling over her figure as they walked past, Gray was aware of the sting of possessiveness and annoyance which rose in his chest, but was also easily able to ignore it.

He was as comfortable as any guy with a stunning girlfriend could be in his own jealousy, these days. More shockingly, so was Juvia, a fact that was plain from the way she shot only perfunctory glares at the women eyeing him and whispering to each other as they passed.

As he stared at her back, his lips quirked ever so slightly. It had taken time, tears, and work—more work than he could ever have anticipated—to get to this point in their relationship. But work had never been more worth it.

His mind wandered to reminiscence. To where it had all started, when they had started, after the 100-Year Quest had ended and he'd finally—with Lucy, Levy, and Erza's help—managed to ask Juvia to be his girlfriend.

"Not just 'yours'," Levy had insisted, explaining that phrasing would confuse her. "Your girlfriend."

He'd actually fought them on it. Not really because he had a problem with commitment anymore (okay, it was a little embarrassing, but not too much) but because the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" felt ridiculous, considering everything they'd been through. How deeply he cared about her. For crying out loud, they'd tried to kill themselves for each other. He'd kill for her, die for her, and—most importantly—he would live for her. Beyond making his ears feel like they were going to melt off, the word "girlfriend" felt trite.

But when Lucy and Levy demanded to know if that meant he was going to propose, he'd balked. Actually, having the m-word shoved right up against his nose kind of made his soul flee his body. As ready as he was for a romantic relationship, he wanted to go through the actual experience of having one. Like, with all the steps involved. In order. He was at the point in his life that he wanted it more than anything.

More importantly, he wanted to give Juvia that experience. He was determined to do right by her.

With the girls' reality check, and the point they'd made that ambiguity might make Juvia jump to the wrong conclusion or even hurt her, they'd convinced him. He'd been committed to making his long-awaited confession as special for Juvia as possible, complete with saying any embarrassing words she wanted to hear.

Gray still hadn't felt worthy of the love she gave him. He still struggled to believe he was a man who could protect her. But after everything he'd been through during the 100-Year-Quest, seeing how much she'd missed him the whole time, and his talk with Juvina-sama, he'd understood it was completely unfair to ask Juvia to wait for him to decide he was worthy enough to love her openly. He also wasn't above admitting that Juvina-sama's suggestion that she wouldn't wait forever had disquieted some irrational part of him enough to make him antsy, impatient to make absolutely sure they were exclusive.

He'd been completely flustered throughout his confession, but known it had gone as right as it could. Lucy, Levy, and Erza—who thought they'd been slick, hiding in a nearby bush to watch him confess—had agreed. (Lucy had annoyed him to no end by teasing him over how "adorable" he'd been.)

And yet...Juvia's response hadn't been quite what Gray hoped. Lucy hadn't noticed it, but he had. He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but at some point, he'd learned to read the Water Mage like an open book. For how sincere a person she was—a trait he was all too familiar with—Juvia could also be surprising, even mysterious. As transient as water, with hidden depths you'd never know a thing about unless you were willing to dive beneath the surface.

When Gray confessed, he'd braced himself for joyous screaming. He'd planned to freeze a literal flood of tears before it could wash them both away. He'd been prepared to get a concussion from how hard she'd glomp him in the street. But while she had said yes, demurely accepted the roses, and hugged him plenty tight...her response had been subdued. In hindsight, he could see the pattern her reaction fit: the way her gaze had dropped to the street despite her happy flush, the hesitant, nervous gleam in her eyes, the limited verbal response.

The only times she'd ever acted that way had been when he actually reciprocated some of her affection. When he'd promised to give her a straight answer, after he defeated END. When he'd given her a one-armed hug and said he was glad her "body" was safe, after he'd saved her from that wood bastard.

Something had been wrong. But when the girls who'd spied on him only gushed afterwards, not seeming to have noticed anything off, he'd shrugged off his concerns, assuming it was his own lack of romantic literacy. He'd been nervous, but also really excited to learn.

But as their relationship officially began...it quickly became obvious that there was a problem, and that a one-sided approach to fixing it just wasn't going to cut it.

Juvia had always been prone to mood swings severe enough to make Gray's head spin, but as soon as they started dating, her mood seemed to sink. He'd try to ask her about it only for her to put on an obviously fake, cheery front and insist she was fine.

At first, he was sure it must be his fault. He'd had no idea what he was doing wrong. At that point, the guilt he felt for not taking Juvia's feelings seriously for so long, for abandoning her in Amefurashi Village, and for nearly letting her die in an attempt to save him had been taking a serious toll on him. The guilt had sometimes left him ragged. Every time she seemed down, he beat himself up and tried to do better. Talking, dates, spending time together (even when it meant ditching missions he really wanted to go on with the team), accepting her gifts and acting happy about them (no matter how much they creeped him out).

But the more he'd tried to make up for everything, the worse it seemed to get. He watched her frustration rise as he tried to be more openly affectionate, her denials that she was frustrated getting louder. More and more, she gave, but when he gave back, she'd look ready to explode or burst into tears.

What had made everything come to a head was the sex. A surprise in itself. For all the ways their relationship had suffered, sex had never been one of them. It'd started back in the cabin they shared in Amefurashi Village. From the first night they'd moved in together, Juvia had not-so-surprisingly tried to edge her way into Gray's bed constantly. She'd use excuses of cold weather, make puppy eyes, and sew nauseatingly pink coupley bed sheets to try to lure him (when, he still had no idea).

Meanwhile, he struggled more and more to pretend he didn't find (most of) her antics adorable. Not to mention incredibly tempting. Things escalated to where he'd feel his excitement rising towards the end of their daily training sessions, to the point his body became conditioned to react when he saw the damn sun set.

He also felt increasing dread at the notion of having to turn Juvia down—and for having to sneak out in the middle of every night to "take care" of the problem she always left him with (cold showers didn't exactly work for an Ice Wizard).

Finally, one night, she'd pouted and whined that she was sore from training and begged for a massage. Gray didn't know if it was the fact she was asking him for something instead of offering; the unbelievably cute, sparkly-eyed, hopeful glances she kept sneaking at him; or the fact he could tell she actually was sore from the way her face would pinch as she attempted to stretch provocatively in front of him, but his resolve had shattered.

Before he could think and without a word, he'd lifted his covers and held her gaze, not bothering to hide the dark promise in his eyes.

Her reaction had been priceless. He'd never forget it.

His acceptance seemed to knock the breath straight out of her. Her eyes had gone round as saucers, staring into his eyes like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her cheeks had darkened. She'd stood stunned for so long that he'd started to get nervous, wondering if she'd only been being playful all this time, not really meaning to come on to him or maybe not expecting him to ever accept. But just as he'd been trying to field the disappointment sinking his heart and trying to think of how to promise he wouldn't do anything she didn't want, she'd hesitantly approached the bed, trembling.

After giving her the massage she'd asked for, he'd rewarded her bravery three times over.

After that, for the very first time, the dynamic of their relationship shifted in one, important way—the one which would force him to finally confront his own heart:

In terms of their physical relationship, he became the more dominant one. In this one aspect of their shared life, he chased. Gray flustered Juvia. He hadn't been able to get enough. What had once been a relentless, one-sided pursuit (one where she had, admittedly, been gaining on him without his notice) became a dance which had addicted him before he knew it.

The notion of reciprocating her feelings had once had him running for the hills. So it had been a huge shock to learn just how much he liked it.

She was so obviously happy and disbelieving that first time he slipped her clothes off in the moonlit dark, cursing over her beauty. Utterly awestruck when he'd seen to her pleasure (twice, he still liked to remember proudly) before even considering his own. Sex was the first time he heard her speak in the first-person, the first time she said his name without adding "-sama" (since that battle in the rain, anyway.)

It was when he lost himself in her soft skin, her passion, and her pleasure that some part of him was able to accept the truth she'd had the grace to surrender to from the very beginning.

The shift in their sex life was also when he'd started to twig something wasn't right between them. After Alvarez was when he'd started it back up. His plan had been to wait until he was able to reciprocate her feelings verbally, like he'd promised, but almost losing her had broken him in a way some part of him would never truly recover from. Between that and his final, full acceptance of his own feelings, there'd been no restraining himself. He'd come onto her with all the subtlety of a freight train the second they were alone.

Even then, something hadn't been quite right. She hadn't been herself, quiet enough that—even as...compromised as his critical thinking skills had been, at the time, and even in his heightened emotional state—he'd noticed. He'd pulled back and asked if she was okay, but when her response had simply been to drag him back in for a kiss that made his knees weak, he'd taken it as a yes and matched her passion enthusiastically.

She kept staying quiet in bed. It bothered the hell out of him, and he badgered her about it more than once, but would ultimately let it go when she insisted she was fine. In his defense, there had been a lot of reasons she could've become subdued. They had just fought a war. They were all exhausted from fixing the town and working to build peace in Fiore.

But after the 100-Year Quest and after his confession, she got even weirder. He noticed it all the time, in every aspect of their relationship, but it was especially noticeable in bed, when they were so close to each other, both completely vulnerable.

When they'd cohabitated, he'd almost always been the one to start something. He'd enjoyed that. He'd even (hell, especially) enjoyed the way she'd flirt, pretend to be oblivious to his advances, pout and blush and make him impress her, coax him to the brink of losing his mind before finally caving to both of their desires. Those times where he went from prey to predator had balanced their entire relationship, satisfying both of them.

Gray wasn't some slimeball who needed sex, but he did need some balance in their dynamic. The private, physical side of their relationship was just where it'd happened to play out. It could've played out anywhere in their relationship, if they were off sex for a while for whatever reason.

But as soon as they became official, it became clear she'd fight tooth and nail to make sure that never happened.

She came onto him. Every. Single. Time. He'd been a little surprised, but happy enough. At first. But as he pushed her to talk to him harder and she denied louder, he'd started to guess that something was genuinely, really wrong.

She didn't speak in the first-person when they were intimate, any more. She didn't drop the "-sama." Even worse, he started to suspect she was seducing him even when she wasn't really in the mood. Almost like she felt like she had to.

It had been one such time when he finally flipped his shit. Even now, walking behind her and appreciating her curves, the memory made his mood falter a little.

He regretted how he'd handled things. It shamed him to remember how he'd all but shoved her off him and refused to do anything else with her until she was ready to tell him whatever the hell was going on inside that crazy, watery head of hers. It was an ultimatum. A cruelly-put one, at that. He hadn't realized just how hurt and angry he was until the words flew out of his mouth.

Juvia had opened up, alright.

In fact, she'd exploded.

They'd screamed at each other, horrible things Gray could hardly stand to repeat even in his own head. She'd demanded that he quit wasting both their time and leave her again, like they both knew he would. He'd asked how stupid she could be to think he'd do that, when he was obviously dedicated enough to put up with her psycho stalker gifts. She'd retorted that her "psycho stalker gifts" didn't seem to have any affect on his libido. He'd yelled that she was the one jumping his bones, ever since he'd asked her out. She'd said that was because she actually cared about his happiness, implying that was something he'd never understand.

She'd ended the black, ugly fight with four hoarse words that ripped his heart out of his chest: "This is over, Gray-sama!"

His apartment door had slammed behind her.

He'd been too shocked and devastated to do anything but watch her go, not even managing to stagger to the door and chase after her until she was long-gone. Black curse power had swirled across his skin as he pelted to the guild, growling in frustration when he didn't find her there. Then he'd run all the way to the female dorms at Fairy Hills only to be deterred by Erza, who met him at the gate. She hadn't known anything about his and Juvia's fight, but she'd been drawn by his yelling.

His older sister figure had knocked him out "for his own good."

The next afternoon, Gray had woken up in his own bed. Not bothering to see if he was dressed (it would turn out he wasn't) he'd booked straight to the guild only to be devastated by the news that Juvia had taken a long-term S-class quest just that morning, news which was delivered by a sympathetic Mira.

Sure that it was over, that he'd ruined everything, he'd drunk himself sick—then kept drinking, swinging fists at anyone and everyone who tried to console him until, finally, in the wee hours of the next morning, Gajeel managed to knock him out of it.

The hostility, Gray had expected. Gajeel was Juvia's best friend; of course he was angry to learn that Gray had done something to upset her so much, she'd left for a Quest that could take months or even years to finish without so much as a word to Gajeel or any of their other comrades.

What did surprise Gray was the understanding Gajeel eventually showed.

Gray got his ass knocked flat by the Iron Dragon Slayer. From his back on the ground, he started to spit out what happened. With each word, the larger man had visibly calmed. After enough had come out, he'd awkwardly helped Gray to his feet (his own, gruff brand of apology.) He'd helped Gray sober up, then he'd given him a pep talk.

He'd refused to explain his own guesses as to what was going on with Juvia, insisting "who knows what goes on in that water witch's head." But he'd also insisted that whatever was going on, it for damn sure wasn't what Gray thought, which was that he'd hurt her too badly for her to love him anymore.

"She's obsessed with you," the man had said, scowling in disgust. "She's always been obsessed with you. She's way too stubborn to let it go that easy. It's annoying."

By six AM, Gajeel Redfox—of all people—had talked Gray into chasing after the love of his life. He'd even used his Iron Magic to create a lockpick which got them into the archive room, where they'd found Mira's records...and Juvia's location.

He'd barely had the time to register the irony of her quest's location before he was gone, shooting Gajeel a gruff "thanks" over his shoulder and running home to pack.

It'd been raining when he finally walked into Amefurashi Village.

He hadn't consciously known where to start looking when he arrived, but his feet—following some combination of muscle memory and the fate he'd fought for so long—had carried him to the place where the word "home" had changed for him: the cabin he and Juvia had shared. Where they'd grown together. Taken care of each other.

Where he'd left her. Hurt her. Even if most of the reason to do so was because he wanted to protect her, he couldn't stop hating himself for that.

She was standing outside the place, drenched and shivering, when he got there. As if sensing his arrival as surely as he'd known where to find her, Juvia had turned to look at Gray with eyes that were glassy above flushed cheeks. She'd wavered on her feet.

As soon as she'd whispered his name, she'd toppled. Gray's bag had landed in a puddle with a splashy thunk. He'd lunged to catch her like his life depended on it.

Shouting her name had earned him no response, but pressing the back of his hand to her forehead had been enough to convince him that she had a seriously high fever.

Strangely, as worried as he'd been about her, he hadn't even thought to bring her back to Wendy or seek a nearer healer. In hindsight, he was sure that deep down, he'd realized it would do no good; she wasn't physically ill, but heartsick, just as he was. He'd felt lower than the mud gathering around his boots.

He'd been surprised to discover that he had to break into their old home, and rapidly deduced that Juvia hadn't been staying at their old cabin even though she'd been standing outside of it, both from that fact and the fact that none of her stuff was there.

As soon as he lay her in the bed which had once been his before becoming theirs, she'd begun shivering. For the first time in his life, Gray cursed that he was an Ice Wizard instead of a Fire Wizard.

He'd run outside, grabbed his bag, then come back in—only to curse again when he unclasped the bag only to discover that all its contents were soaked. Thinking quickly, he'd stripped his wet clothes, then hers. He'd climbed into bed with her.

"'M sorry, Gray-sama..." she'd slurred her sleep. "Juvia's so sorry...Juvia had to...I just had to..."

He'd shushed her, rubbing her arms to try to warm her up. "It's okay, Juvia. I know, my love. It's okay..."

He'd kept holding her and whispering soft comfort to her until she'd finally stopped shivering, at which point his frantic worry had abated enough that he could fully admit to himself how good it felt to have her in his arms, her skin against his. How warm she was. How perfectly she fit against him. How much he missed her. She was right there, as close as another person could ever be to him. Yet with how things had been between them lately and how lost she was to fever, he'd never felt further away.

Apparently, he'd fallen asleep at some point, because when he awoke, it was to the rising sun blazing at him from the center of the cabin window. Ignoring his body's reaction to waking up in the arms of the very naked, beautiful woman he happened to be in love with, Gray had instantly dropped his hand to Juvia's forehead, sighing in relief when it became clear her fever had reduced. She wasn't better, but she was getting there.

Quickly figuring out what needed done, he'd dropped a tender kiss to her warm forehead, murmuring a threat against her sweaty hairline: "You'd better not even think of running away again, crazy woman. We are going to talk when I get back."

Gray had dressed, glanced back, and left. He'd met up with he client—a rich and unfortunately good-looking asshole about Gray's age who was way too disappointed Juvia, herself, wasn't the one who'd shown up. Through gritted teeth, Gray informed the bastard it would be a couple days before he and his partner (he was sure to emphasize those words several times) would be able to begin investigating the dark guild threatening the area, as she'd fallen ill.

It annoyed him to no end that the creep seemed genuinely concerned about this, trying to insert himself, demand to see her, and attempting to coax Gray into revealing her location (Gray couldn't help the pleasure and hope which rose in his chest, when he learned she hadn't told this guy wherever it was she was staying; obviously, she'd had no interest in sharing that information.)

The client had thrown a rich boy tantrum when Gray refused to tell him anything, but ultimately let him go when Gray promised Juvia would be there in a couple days (not bothering to mention that he would absolutely be there, too.)

He'd gone to pick up medicine and food. He'd grabbed all the ingredients he could remember for something hearty, mild, and delicious she used to make him when they lived together, a chicken stew that tasted like something he could remember from childhood. Those ingredients, medicine, ginger tea...anything he could think of that might help her feel better, he purchased, barely noting price.

Juvia had been waiting on the porch wrapped only in a blanket when he returned, flushed with both fever and anger.

They'd both been pissed at each other. While Gray locked horns with Juvia's amorous creep of a client, she had apparently been discovered by the landlord who owned their old cabin and only barely managed to talk him out of his anger, ultimately having to pay double their old monthly rent to keep him from calling the authorities—all while wrapped only in a blanket.

A brief yelling match had ensued. It ended when Juvia began coughing rather violently, Gray dropping his groceries in the mud to run to her. Even as she insisted she was fine, he'd ushered her into the cabin, forcing her to sit before he went back out to grab the food he'd bought.

Her face had gone funny when he began grouchily unloading chicken, rice, broth, veggies, and herbs. When he (somewhat defensively) asked what the hell she was staring at, she'd haltingly asked if he'd bought all of that for her. Exasperated, he'd told her of course he had, she'd had him worried sick.

The groceries had been abandoned when she burst into tears.

It had taken several minutes of heart-wrenching sobs on Juvia's part and coaxing on Gray's for the conversation to actually begin.

During their ugly fight in his apartment, she'd exploded.

Here, in the lonely home they'd once shared, she imploded.

While the groceries thawed and dripped on the kitchen counter, Juvia sobbed the whole, messy, painful truth into his chest. She told him everything. She told him how, deep down, she'd always known she wasn't worthy of having her love reciprocated by him. It had been true from the moment they'd met, when she'd been part of Phantom Lord, but remained true no matter how long she'd been at Fairy Tail. That was how she'd put it: "I always knew I wasn't worthy of Gray-sama's love." Not only because of her past, but because of how annoying she was. How gloomy. How creepy and obnoxious.

Gray hadn't even had time to express his horror at the fact she thought those things before she'd been plowing on, her tears only getting thicker and her words only making his heart sink lower.

She said knowing she didn't deserve his love had turned to knowing she didn't deserve to love him at all, when she'd killed Keyes to free Gray's father from his undead life. But even though "Gray-sama had been wonderful enough to forgive Juvia," she'd continued to hate herself, deep down.

She told him that sharing a life in the cabin they were currently in had, for her, been the sweetest kind of torture. That she'd never been so happy—and never felt more undeserving. For the first time, she told him that she'd only had one lover before Gray, some piece of shit named "Bora" who'd never cared about her or her pleasure. Gray had been nothing like him, attentive, caring, and as invested in her pleasure as he was in his own. At first, feeling so cared for had been as overwhelming as it was amazing, but by the time Gray started to pull away from her for his mission, the overwhelmed feelings had slowly begun to fade, letting her forget everything but the happiness she felt with him.

Juvia told him that the day he abandoned her to infiltrate Avatar, everything which she'd started to believe could feel right began to feel wrong, and everything which had felt wrong began to feel right. She'd never felt she deserved to be loved by Gray the way she loved him. Being left by him had, in a horrible way, made her feel like the world was how it was supposed to be.

But it had also ripped her apart.

It had destroyed any confidence she'd begun to gain in herself.

She told him that she resented being abandoned. Resented not being told about his mission to infiltrate a Dark Guild, not just because of their relationship, but because she had once been in a Dark Guild, and could potentially have helped his and Erza's Mission. She'd not only felt betrayed on a personal level, but disrespected as a Mage with no small amount of skill and experience.

It was a side to the issue which he had, shameflly, never considered.

He was mortified when she'd finally let herself chastise him for this—especially when he'd tried to defend himself by bringing up details of his mission only to be instantly struck down and ripped apart by someone who was, in fact, very obviously more knowledgeable about the inner workings of Dark Guilds than either he or Erza ever had been. Hell, Juvia could probably have run the mission almost as well as Jellal had.

For the first time, he saw just how beneficial it would have been to have her on board, despite Erza urging him not to get her involved. He should've gone against her orders, asked forgiveness instead of permission. Over the course of that one conversation, it was clear that having her on board would have shortened the length of their mission by probably several months.

But worse than the benefits they'd missed out on, in infiltrating Avatar, worse than the fact that she resented him, was her admission that she hated herself for that resentment.

She'd apologized. So many times. Too many times to count. Each apology was another crack in Gray's heart. He'd tried to ask her to stop, but they'd just kept slipping out anyway. It was like she couldn't help it.

She'd told him that over time, as she got to know the other women in Fairy Tail—Lucy, Cana, and Levy—she'd realized just how unworthy she was of the care Gray held for even just his friends. She just hadn't been forced to confront her own lacking sense of self-worth...until he openly reciprocated her feelings.

She said that the second he confessed, part of her felt wrong. Like she'd donned someone else's skin—someone who was worth being loved by Gray. Her guilt, her knowledge that she wasn't worthy of him, her bitterness, her self-hatred...all of it had come rushing to the surface.

She told him that, as unworthy as she'd felt, she'd been too selfish to reject him. Too angry at the thought of him being with someone else. Her own selfishness made her feel even worse than before. She'd been determined to be worthy of him, and so she had sought to pay every ounce of love he gave her three times over. At least.

It hadn't made her feel any better. No matter how hard she tried to be sure to pay him back, every time Gray took her on a date or made love to her, it made her skin crawl, because she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve his love, his affection, or even his attention. He deserved better, and she was nowhere close to deserving him. She never would be.

If there had been even one last, single sliver of a doubt as to how he felt about this woman, it died then and there. Nothing—not his own guilt, being screamed at, or being broken up with—nothing could hurt worse than being made aware of what a hard time she was having. Learning just how badly she'd been dissociating during all their most precious moments. How much pain she was in. How little she thought of herself. How deep her scars ran.

He'd have given anything to take her pain away. He'd have given anything to change it. Right then, he couldn't think of a single thing he wouldn't have done to make her see herself as he saw her: the energetic, caring, fierce Mage he'd come to know. The woman who always eclipsed everything else for just a second, the first time he saw her every day.

He'd wanted to tell her all that, and more. He wanted to apologize. He'd wanted to tell her how badly he missed her after he'd left her here, that this place had been home for him, too. He'd wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, that no day without her smile even felt real, but his voice had been stuck behind a lump of misery and all he'd been able to do, for a very long time, was lay in their bed and hold her while she cried the rest of it out. He wasn't too ashamed to admit he lost a couple tears in her hair, too.

Over the twilight of time it had taken for her sobs to turn hoarse, then to whimpers, then sniffles, guilt, emotional exhaustion, an anguish washed over Gray in their turn.

Until finally, he hardened all of those feelings into resolve.

"I'm really thankful that you're here. For always being beside me..."

Those were the words Gray had said to her before Alvarez, and he'd meant them. For years, Juvia had done nothing but be there for him. Even when he didn't want her there, she stayed right next to him, quietly piecing together his heart and his trust. It killed him that the woman who'd confronted him with her love, made him face down his own weakness, always thought of him, and helped him so much more than he could ever truly thank her for had been hiding so much of her own pain. He wished she would have told him any of this all the times he'd pushed and asked.

But he couldn't blame her for that. Maybe she hadn't opened up to him before then, but her mentions of her days in Phantom and of that shithead ex of hers had driven home, with stark clarity, a realization he wished he'd made a lot sooner: Juvia didn't know how to open up like Gray had tried to demand, because she hadn't grown up somewhere like Fairy Tail.

Unlike Gray and Natsu and the others, she hadn't been taught to bare her pain, hadn't always known there would be someone to listen to her, cry with her, be on her side. While Gray had been fought, teased, and accepted for exactly who he was (more often his whole self than not) Juvia had been abandoned by every single person in her life except Gajeel and those who'd wanted to use her for their own ends. Gray abandoning her had only confirmed what she'd been taught was inevitable.

But the Ice Mage wouldn't linger on that. He wouldn't give any more time to despair.

It was his turn now, he realized. His turn to stay beside her even when it was hard, and do the work. Now, he just had to figure out how. But while he'd been trying to do that, had been gathering his words, Juvia had recovered enough to speak once more.

She'd apologized again. She'd told him that she knew this was too much, that all of this was too much...that she was too much. For the times they'd shared, she thanked him quietly, eyes bright with yet more tears and refusing to meet his as she continued that she'd had to let Gray go because she wanted him to be happy, and she'd finally, finally realized she could never do that for him, not really. Then she'd tried to push him away, and as Gray had tightened his grip, he'd realized he didn't need to figure out what to do, what to say, or how to love her.

She'd been showing him all along.

After a deep breath, the words had come low, and easier than he'd thought. He told her she was right, all of this was a lot...but also that he was so, so happy she'd finally told him what was really going on. He'd been as gentle as possible when he told her he could see how difficult and scary it had been for her to open up about all this and that he was proud of how brave she'd been for doing so, but she'd started crying again anyway, so he'd had to carry on with a shakier, hoarser voice.

He'd apologized. For everything. For not taking her feelings seriously for so long, for not seeing her when she needed to be seen, for leaving her behind and hurting her so badly she'd gotten sick. He hadn't been dismissing her abilities as a Mage so much as he'd been trying to protect her, but that was no excuse. "High-handed and cruel" was a generous way to describe his behavior, and he finally saw that. He'd told her that if he could take it back, he would. But he couldn't. He could only promise to never, ever leave her like that again, and he was more than ready to make that promise. He had been for a long time, since well into the 1oo Years Quest. If she'd only give him another chance, he'd show her.

At this point, Juvia had obviously started to twig that this conversation wasn't going to go how she planned, with Gray accepting she was too burdensome and unworthy for him and leaving her alone like everyone else had left her, because she'd started kicking up a fuss, forcing him to hold her there again.

"Let Juvia go, Gray-sama!" she'd demanded shakily, sounding like she was barely clinging to her determination. But Gray had refused. He refused to let her go like this, not until she'd heard him out.

As brief as the ensuing argument had been, it was also one of the most frustrating conversations Gray had ever taken part in (and he'd fought Natsu on basically every cock-and-bull-ass plan he'd ever come up with.)

He'd tried desperately to insist that while Juvia could be creepy and he did find rain somewhat gloomy, she was not worthless or annoying or obnoxious. He'd tried to tell her that she did make him happy. He'd tried to tell her how he felt about her.

Juvia had not responded well.

A wall had slammed up in her eyes, the same blank one he'd met on that fateful, rainy day so long ago. As she'd kept denying, and he'd kept pushing, their voices had gotten louder. Eventually, Gray had realized it was raining outside the window next to their bed again, and that was the one thing that had forced him to take a step back from his own frustration. Lucky, because if he hadn't, he might have flown off the handle and ruined everything all over again.

Looking down at her, he'd forced himself to cool off and realized he was being unfair; he was asking her to take an entire journey in one leap, to unlearn a lifetime's-worth of lessons about her own worthlessness over the course of a single conversation. No one could do that. It was an unreasonable thing to ask.

And so, when he'd finally gathered his wits and perspective enough, he'd said, "You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to agree with my feelings for you. But you have to believe that they're real...and you have to at least consider my side."

Juvia's eyes had gone wide. As they regained their sparkle, he'd refused to break eye contact. Slowly, the rain had stopped, leaving them in the silent hut.

After what felt like years, she'd shakily whispered, "O-okay."

And Gray had known that they were finally, finally getting somewhere.

Quietly and slowly, with their hands intertwined between their chests and their foreheads pressed together, they'd pieced together a fragile plan. They would stay together and be as they had been, but from now on, they were both going to make a concerted effort to be honest and rebuild trust. Gray started by admitting that missing out on Quests with his team had really started to bum him out, and while this seemed to sadden Juvia at first, she admitted after some thought that in being with Gray, she hadn't been nurturing her own friendships with her friends like Gajeel and Meredy. Lucy had also asked for help training her in Water Magic, and Juvia had declined so far even though she was interested in having someone to teach.

Gray had encouraged all of this...and he'd encouraged her to visit Porlyusica, too, when they got home. The old lady was hardly a Mental Healer, but she'd hopefully be able to help them find someone who was, someone objective and removed from the situation who Juvia could talk to openly. One thing which had sunk in fully for Gray over the course of Juvia's heartrending speech was that it was going to take a lot of time, work, and love to get Juvia to a better place. There was no way the two of them could do it alone.

They'd talked and planned until their voices were hoarse...and then they'd not talked for even longer. Juvia once again dropped the "-sama." She let him come to her. She didn't just surrender herself to him the way she had when they had each other before in their cabin, she'd given him even more—in his arms, she'd bared a small and precious part of herself Gray had never even realized she hid from him.

Over the course of the month they spent in that cabin, he'd cherished everything she gave him more than most men could've in twice the amount of time. How they'd managed to deal with that Dark Guild months and months ahead of schedule, he would never understand, because his head had never been less in the game. Neither of them had been able keep their hands off each other for more than an hour when they were alone together.

Neither had been particularly disappointed when that crotchety old landlord refused to give them back any part of their months' rent. Instead, they'd stayed till June was up breaking the place in thoroughly.

"It's payback for him being a jackass to you!" Gray had once playfully defended against her neck, pinning her against the kitchen counter and grinning as she gigglingly scolded him.

He only prayed no one ever took a UV Lacrima to the inside of that place. They'd go blind. He'd taken her on the couch, over it, against the walls, on the counters and tables, and in more positions than he'd previously known existed in that bed. When they returned home, a bunch of people had pointed out that they both looked like they'd lost weight. Gray didn't doubt it, after all the—

"...seriously, none of you know what it's like, every time we travel...OI, STRIPPER, YOU MAYBE WANNA QUIT EYE-FUCKING YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN WE'RE IN PUBLIC, YOU GODDAMN PERVERT?!"

The absolute last voice Gray wanted to hear when he was thinking about such great, intimate things yanked him out of his reflections in the most unpleasant of ways. An expression crossed between a scowl and a grimace consumed his features.

"Gray-sama!?" Juvia spluttered, craning her neck to peer at them over her shoulder with wide eyes. She looked half-scolding, half...affected as her cheeks went rose red.

Gray felt his own face grow hot as he turned to glare furiously at the pink-haired, disgusted-and-disgusting-looking bane of his existence.

"Would you keep your voice down, Dragon Boy?! I was not 'eye-fucking' Juvia!" His cheeks burned hotter as an elderly woman passing by shot him a deeply disapproving look.

"The hell you weren't!" Natsu snapped, drawing even more attention. "I could see all your gross, perverted thoughts right there in those droopy eyes of yours!"

"ARGH! So what?!" Gray just wanted this fight to be over, and figured that sort of admitting to what he'd been doing was the quickest way to make that happen. "Can't a guy even look at his girlfriend without pink-haired, flame-brained losers getting involved?!"

"THE HELL YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

"OH, SO YOU'RE DEAF AS WELL AS BRAINLESS, NOW?!"

"THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD IT! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU ICY BAS—"

"That's enough."

Uncharacteristically subdued and uninvolved though Erza's command was, it was enough to have both Natsu and Gray cringing and sweating in fear almost instantly.

"A-aye!" they squeaked, then sighed in relief as she shot them one last glare and clanked away.

"Ah, it always goes this way." Happy folded his little blue sausage arms over his chest and tsked. "If only Gray had kept his perverted eyes on himself, we wouldn't even be talking about this."

"And just how the heck is one supposed to 'keep their eyes on themselves', huh?" Gray growled up at the floating Exceed.

"By not being you, apparently!" he cackled back, Natsu soon joining him in his obnoxious guffawing.

"Why, you—! Get back here, you little shit!" Gray made a random grab at the little creep only to curse as he missed his tail by about a centimeter.

Meanwhile, Juvia clasped her still-red cheeks with her hands and donned an all-too-familiar, starry-eyed expression. "Juvia does not mind at all if Gray-sama...covets Juvia in public! How Juvia adores Gray-sama's passion!"

Gray flinched as if he'd been whipped in the back. In a second flat, he was blushing again. "O-oi, Juvia—!" he started, scrambling to find a way to get her to calm down before she came onto him in public.

(Again.)

"However," she continued before he figured out how to distract her, turning to look at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "If Gray-sama is going to covet Juvia on a public street, Juvia thinks he should at least wear clothes."

"Wha—?! CRAP!" Gray shouted as soon as he realized he'd stripped down to his boxers. "When did that happen!?"

Juvia wrinkled her nose cutely and giggled while he scrambled for his clothes. When he was finally yanking his jacket on, he shot her a playful glare only for his lips to quirk when she winked and sauntered after Erza.

That little...she'll get it later, he thought with a huff before shoving his hands in his pockets and strolling after her. He was well aware that he was full-on grinning, now, and didn't care in the slightest.

Little interactions like that...those were the fruits of all the hard work they—especially Juvia—had done when they got back from that S-Class mission. Gray had been prepared for it to be grueling and difficult, to fight. "Relationships take work" was a piece of advice he'd heard plenty, since he started asking for advice about how to love Juvia.

But what he'd never expected to find was that, while it was hard sometimes, it was work he was all too willing and capable of doing, because it was for her. For them. And what no one had told him was that, while loving someone meant their pain became yours, it also meant that their triumphs became yours, too.

Some days had been worse than others. Even though she'd been talking to a friend of Porlyusica's and made an impressive effort to spend more times with her friends, there were moments where Gray had felt like Juvia was back at square one. But he'd been there beside her, encouraging her every step of the way while she healed, learned that he wouldn't leave her again, learned that she was worth all of it. And slowly but surely, she'd healed.

That was what no one had told him: that every time she huffed at him to do his own laundry, teased him, sassed him into taking her on a real date, and even turned him down for sex, that he would feel such a huge rush of pride and triumph.

It was true that the road had been hard, but Gray had walked it with Juvia, and that had made every step worth it.

o(O)o

AN: Ah, sorry I don't have the time to edit this now and make it more cohesive! Also that I can't publish my next chapter of Chasing Tails just yet! I definitely, definitely will come back to edit this piece one day and make it better after I've done that. In the meantime, Happy Belated Gruvia Day!

P.S.: Fun Fact! I named this partly after one of my all-time favorite fics from a completely different fandom. The Hard Road by wthtonibelle, a Kacchako fic (from the My Hero Academia fandom) which is written in a similar way and has similar themes, only it's longer and better lol. check it out if you're so inclined!

[soobberries]

I want to hear your thoughts on something- ot5! voyeurism. Who do you think would be into it?

I cannot get this image out of my head: one member (bf? fwb? or maybe you're just a groupie(?)) sits behind you, his legs on top of yours to keep your legs wide open. He's got one arm around you to keep you pressed against him, while his free hand is busy stretching you out with his fingers as his four bandmates are stroking their cocks, focused on watching the way your cunt is slick, dripping with your arousal with lust-filled eyes.

One of them will prob whip out his phone and start filming to send it in the gc & rewatch later because they don't want to forget the pretty noises you make, both from your core and your lips, as well as how hot you look with a fucked out expression.

Ofc leads to a very messy sixsome. 👍

LMFAO I am soooo sorry abt the way I wrote this, I am very clearly not a smut writer, but I needed to get this out because my brain is having a meltdown 🥴🫠 accept my sincerest apologies 🤲

POHEW. Not a messy sixome >insert that thirsty emoji since I'm on my laptop and lazy to pull it out<

Please don't apologise for how you wrote this! I'm no true smut write myself so I can't say I'd do a better or worse job hehe~! Either way I'm just excited to share these ideas of course!

Hmm now let me think... I feel as though many of us are to an extent, voyeurs... I mean if you have to just think in simple terms of the consumption of porn and such. Plus if we want to give some level of validation to your scenario, we'd have to assume that they are all voyeurs, so let me discuss the scenario seperately to the general question of who I'd think is into it.

I also mentioned in a different ask that in theory someone can be really into something but in practice, not really. While I won't go into specifics like that other post, realistically, only one of them would be okay with true voyeurism...and i also don't know who it would be... Anyway being too realistic is boring so in a general sense, who's super into it?

I'd say resident weebs Soobin and Huening! Beomgyu closely after. The other two seem more possessive and while they'd be into watching you play with yourself, they don't seem to be into watching someone else play with you, get what I mean?

Now moving on, lets assign who's who in your lovely scenario hehe.

Idk my mind is so set on the person with their fingers being inside you being Taehyun lmao. We all know Taehyun is lowkey beefy so having his muscular arms and legs hold you down? sounds hot. Beomgyu is recording... It could be Kai but I just feel he'd be too focused on watching Taehyun's fingers slipping inside of you, mesmerised by how it seems to disappear so effortlessly, thinking about what it must feel like to have his own fingers inside.

I can't work out the logistics but I'd say it would make most sense to be fwb with Taehyun, and he openly shares your sexual escapades with the other members. And lets say you're friends with all of them to some extent or at least acquainted somehow... You at least have disgustingly obvious sexual tension with two of them (I'm betting on Kai and Beomgyu. Those two are just... intense.) Then of course after hearing about your sexual encounters on the occasion from Taehyun, as well as actually hearing you in the literal sense when Taehyun is fucking the living daylights outta you, the other two can't help but let their minds wonder on occasion. Perhaps one had a lewd dream about and the other secretly masturbated to your sounds one frustrating night lmao.

Either way Taehyun is definitely a little shit, enough to the extent that he'd bask in taunting the other members as well as you by playing with you in front of them.

It's easy to picture him dragging lets say Kai and Soobin (them being the most likely to take part in something like this without their pride getting in the way like Gyu and Yeonjun) to watch you since they were ever so curious. He'd ask you about the ordeal before, and ignoring the awkward glances and scoffs exchanged between you, Kai, and Soobin, unsure about what to do when actually faced with the situation, he'd order you to strip down and get on his lap.

Plus Taehyun manspread>>> ahem, anyway.

Once your situated on his lap, he pulls your legs apart, not really considering how embarrassing the whole thing would be for you, sticking his knees behind yours to secure the position, using his arms to pull you close to his chest, his lips trailing gentle kisses against your neck as he reaches down to rub circles on your clit.

Even if you were embarrassed, with the position and the way it feels to have him touch you, as well as the dazed stares of the other two, you'd be far too gone to really focus in on that feeling.

The other two, both with puzzled expressions, zoning in on your clit initially trying to get a grasp of everything, simultaneously being impressed by how well Taehyun knows your body as well as trying to explain why their pants suddenly feel so fucking tight. Taehyung would tighten one arm around your waist, leaving soft bites on your neck, and whispering all sorts of things to you "Are you extra wet because the others are watching?" "Feels like you're extra sensitive to my touch with an audience. He'd focus on you a lot more than the guys but he won't rule them out in that situation.

He'd probably call out their bulges and call them idiots if they don't plan to take this opportunity to touch themselves. Anyway I'm sure Kai is the first to pull his dick out, absolutely dazed by everything.

Then after some toying, Taehyun gets a second finger in no time,, starting to hit you're favourite spots, causing you to arch into him. Obviously hearing the ruckus the other two would get curious and even if they're taken aback by the site before them: Soobin and Kai touching themselves at the site of you crumbling against Taehyun's fingers, they'd simply lose sense of logic sooner or later, standing by the doorframe feeling themselves get turned on too.

Beomgyu, being first to pop out his camera, Yeonjun being the first to approach you directly kneeling down in front of you, ready to probably eat you out or at least ask Taehyun if he can put his fingers inside you, eager to see if he could also get you to make those same sounds you were just making.

Yeonjun's fingers and mouth busy themselves against you while Taehyun pulls you closer to him while he sucks on your neck and ruts his hips into your back, Beomgyu filming from the doorway as he rubs his bulge with his free hand. Once Soobin sees Yeonjun joining, he wills himself to move forward and attach his lips to your nipple and use his other hand to play with the other. Kai is the only one that remains dazed at the site, happily being satisfied without touching you for now.

I mean your senses at this point... how much will you truly process when there's already three men al up against you, making it their mission to just make you feel good.

it's putting a different meaning to tomorrow x together for sure...

Idk when it happens exactly but once you cum once, Taehyun for sure tells you to move so he can get rid of his pants, and when you stand this is the opportunity that Kai takes to simply come make out with you, maybe he'd take your hand and place it on his dick, hoping you'd help him. Yeonjun is experimenting with you still, basking in the way you squeeze around his fingers, and Soobin is in boob heaven so they're staying busy. Taehyun wouldn't hesitate to pull you back into his lap, shooing Yeonjun away so that he can fuck you like he wants to. Yeonjun doesn't even care much though, he's so fixated on your expressions instead, he may go help Beomgyu out if he's feeling fruity though idk... Beomgyu has been filming but he has to put the phone down at some point to focus purely on getting himself off... Then again when he sees what you look like with Taehyun's cock inside of you, he suddenly has this urge to also want to be inside of you...

Eh... I'm sure they figure out some way to take turns... He may opt to just shove his cock in your mouth though if the position allows for it.

Well as for the rest... I may have to consider actually becoming a smut writer and write the whole thing out hehe!

Thanks for sharing your lovely insights~!^^

[callsign-bunnie]

You can't just tease us with Alejandro and Rudys /passionate/ Halloween night and not give details!! So im requesting it. May we please have the story of Alejandro x Rudy desperately fucking on Halloween before the second Riley house killer incident 🙏

;)

-

"Do you really think he's going to like it, Soap?" Rodolfo was twisting himself around to look in the mirror. "I feel like... like he doesn't really want me, anymore." He admitted.

Soap frowned. "What are you talking about? Ale is fucking crazy about you."

"Yeah, but he's different..." Rodolfo shook his head. "He's constantly going on those trips and I- maybe they're an excuse to get away from me..." He looked at Soap.

Soap rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, Rodolfo." He chuckled. "Watch, he's going to take one look at you and you won't even be able to leave the apartment."

Rodolfo flushed and smiled a little. "I hope you're right." He sighed, sticking the horns on his head. They were actually kind of intricate and curled around his temples. "Well? What do you think?"

Soap grinned. "He's going to have a heart attack."

Rodolfo knew that was a good thing in Soap's mind. He made sure everything was right. Not for the party, because hopefully, he wasn't going. He was planning to use this party as a way to hopefully reignite whatever fire was dying in Alejandro.

He'd drawn away from him, lately. Rodolfo missed it. Alejandro would sometimes forget to kiss him in the morning. He would text him only twenty-five times during the day, not thirty. (Yes, Rodolfo would count.)

It was really upsetting. Almost frightening. And then, of course, it felt like Alejandro was going on a trip every other week. They'd range anywhere from two days to the longest being 2 weeks. Rodolfo hated it. He just wanted Alejandro to be the same level of in love with him as before.

Rodolfo let Soap lead as they exited the bathroom. Soap wasn't planning on going to the party, so he wasn't wearing a costume. He had a date that night.

Alejandro was on the phone when Rodolfo came out, he wasn't even in his costume. Rodolfo slumped, immediately. Alejandro on the phone usually meant he was going on another trip or he had to leave temporarily or something else was going wrong.

His back was to Soap and Rodolfo, so he didn't see them go in. Rodolfo shook his head, touching Soap's arm. "He's going on another trip. Watch." He mumbled. "He's not even going to notice me."

Soap cringed. "Just... let him see you first. Come on. He's crazy about you. I doubt some business trip is going to affect that." He nudged Rodolfo forward and Rodolfo hesitated.

Soap was right... Rodolfo took a deep breath and went to Alejandro, touching his sleeve. Alejandro turned around pretty quickly and froze up, almost immediately. His eyes travelled down Rodolfo. Rodolfo watched them trace the outline of the fishnet top, the shorts which only went mid thigh, the boots, and then they came back up to the jewelry, gold, that Rodolfo was wearing.

"Janice... cancel my flight." Alejandro murmured into the phone before hanging up. Rodolfo perked up and smiled.

"You like it?" He asked, playing shy.

Alejandro didn't answer. His hands reached out and touched Rodolfo's arms before his fingers trailed to Rodolfo's sides, touching so gingerly, so gently.

Rodolfo could have melted at the adoration in Alejandro's eyes. The awe. "Well?" He prompted, wanting Alejandro to say it.

Alejandro still didn't answer. Instead, Rodolfo was lifted and dropped on the counter, Alejandro biting at his neck and dragging his hips close to his own. Rodolfo gasped and arched into him, surprised.

He'd take it, this was a good reaction. Rodolfo looked across the room at Soap, who was cringing pretty hard. He made a grossed out face and Rodolfo laughed a little before moaning as Alejandro sucked a deep mark into his skin.

Rodolfo ignored the door opening and closing and just ground his hips against Alejandro's. Alejandro growled against his neck, sending shivers down his spine. Fuck.

Alejandro was borderline animalistic in his treatment of Rodolfo's neck. Rodolfo was almost anxious he'd break the skin, but he was almost hopeful, too. "You are not going to that party."

"Why not?" Rodolfo teased, gasping when Alejandro grabbed his hips, harshly.

"You fucking know why." Alejandro reached up and then Rodolfo gasped as he heard a ripping noise, feeling Alejandro's nails graze his back.

Rodolfo should have been made but he really couldn't be. He leaned back as Alejandro tore the top in the front, too, ripping the shreds of it off Rodolfo.

Rodolfo panted as Alejandro suddenly paused, staring at him. Alejandro then was laughing, shaking his head. "You did this on purpose."

"Maybe..." Rodolfo shrugged, leaning back a little more. Alejandro chuckled and yanked his hips down the counter, dragging his shorts down.

Rodolfo lifted his hips to let him, but shockingly, Alejandro didn't pull them all the way off. Just enough to get access, he supposed. Alejandro pushed Rodolfo down to lay on the counter, placing his fingers at his entrance and then narrowing his eyes as two fingers just easily sank in.

Rodolfo still moaned a little, but he smiled, smug at Alejandro. Alejandro pumped his fingers in and out, steadily. "You did plan this."

Rodolfo shrugged again and gasped when Alejandro shoved his fingers deep inside, whimpering. Alejandro didn't finger him for too long before he was pushing in, gripping Rodolfo's hips tightly.

Rodolfo moaned and arched since it was still a bit of a stretch. He hoped Alejandro's hands would bruise.

Alejandro yanked him back up, a moment later, so he could attack his neck again, already moving his hips.

Rodolfo wrapped his arms around Alejandro's shoulder, holding on desperately and moaning as Alejandro fucked into him. "Tear me to shreds, mi Corazón..." He murmured.

"Oh, mi sol... what it does to me to hear you speak like such a whore..." Alejandro grinned and fucked into him harder, licking over the marks he'd made.

Rodolfo dug his nails into Alejandro's back, arching into him. "Fuck me, Ale. I need you to fuck me until I can't fucking stand."

"Of course you do." Alejandro groaned and bit Rodolfo's neck hard, making him cry out. "You'd never be satisfied unless I had my cock in you 24 fucking seven."

Rodolfo had to admit Alejandro might be right. He arched when Alejandro gave a sharp thrust, digging his nails in and breaking the skin of Alejandro's back. Alejandro moaned and grabbed Rodolfo's hair, yanking his head back to bite harder at his neck.

Rodolfo cried out with each bite, practically praying he'd break skin for once. He wanted a permanent reminder that he was Alejandro's. That Alejandro wanted him.

Alejandro bit particularly hard at his pulse point and grabbed Rodolfo's cock, stroking him in time with his thrusts. Rodolfo clawed at Alejandro's back, almost overwhelmed.

"Fuck," Alejandro laughed, breathlessly. "Fuck I want you to feel me all over in the morning. I want you to breathe and remember us right fucking here."

Rodolfo nodded in agreement, moaning Alejandro's name. "I belong here. Right here."

"That's right, mi sol. Look so fucking beautiful in this fucking moment." Alejandro bit his shoulder as Rodolfo felt himself tense with the need to cum and he tapped Alejandro's back, quickly.

Alejandro sped up his thrusts along with his hand and then bit harder at his shoulder and Rodolfo screamed as he came, pleasure tearing through his body, but pain ripping through his shoulder.

Alejandro's own hips stuttered as he came, thick and hot, inside of Rodolfo. Rodolfo fell back, half caught by Alejandro. His shoulder burned and he touched it, gasping at the wet feeling.

Alejandro stared at the bite mark. Rodolfo looked at the blood on his fingers and then he was just melting. He smiled up at Alejandro and held out his arms. Alejandro relaxed and took one of his hands, kissing over his arm, gently. "I'm yours..." Rodolfo murmured and Alejandro nodded, immediately.

"Always."

[dungeonmastersconsortium]

Hey so I'm trying to come up with the endgame for my PC's when they hit level 20 as the campaign closer but I don't know how to make an ending feel climactic and make a final boss that will be memorable for my players, how do you do it?

Sorry, I've been sitting on this ask for a little while, not sure how to answer it concisely and in a useful way.

The short answer: Make your big bad BIG and broken as all hell. Give a sense of urgency that increases over time to prevent TOO much prep. Then give your players ways to chip at their capabilities, as well as specific things suited to each party member (or just general tasks spread over the group) that occupy them in a final fight, rather than just toe-to-toe combat. How I did this is listed below the break.

When I set up a big bad, I have their stats pretty well hammered out way ahead of time. For my last campaign finish, I had the big bad done around level 14. It was designed so that when the party found out about it and could feasibly get to the location, they could have had a shot at taking it in combat at level 16. This was an inadvisable choice, as the best I could figure, they'd likely lose at least 2/3 of the party by doing so. Its stats were big huge, and had a lot of abilities that complicate things, including two separate "one-winged angel" forms that could activate. Even then, its defeat would be temporary, lasting a few millenia or so.

Opting NOT to smash head-first into the big bad, my party spent time researching and pursuing optional quests in order to gain the resources to chip away at the big bad's own resources. Literal research in game, magical item crafting, finding the artifacts that could help... all of it. They gathered allies to help, and prepared to fight it after being drawn out, rather than in its home turf. This DID have the side effect of a couple of invasions where a lot of people died as they took some time to prepare. However, once that happened the party wrapped up their business as quickly as possible and did what they could to confront the big bad.

The final confrontation was NOT a knock down, drag out fight that lasted hours. Two party members traveled to the astral location it was tethered to, so they could cut it off from its power source. The artificer spent time forging a blade underneath the rift it emerged from in order to create a weapon that would be more effective against it. The wizard used his concentration to force the rift to stay open to allow party members to return through it. The bard and cleric held the line against the big bad while everyone else did their thing. All of these roles had been decided on WELL in advance of this fight, and everyone was prepared.

In the end, they only lost one party member (who died in order to weaken the boss further, knowing full well that'd be the consequence to doing so), and the actual boss fight lasted less than an hour thanks to some inspired decision making. More time was spent talking about the surrounding decision making and actions taken outside the fight than actually fighting, even within the final session.

Granted, that's what works for my players. If your players are all more mechanically minded and less about the story drama, a big, mechanically complex fight is maybe the way to go. It's just not what I want to spend a final session on.

[littlelewdmable]

Continuation to this request

Ruby marked Jaune as her mate but she know that other girls could and probably will try to steal him from her. She needs to make sure that won't happend by claim him as her own.

Crimson Pack: Mine

Ruby loved Jaune. Why wouldn't she, he was her mate! So what if they'd only met two weeks ago, ever since the met they'd been inseparable.

Sure, they weren't partners, Ruby getting too distracted looking for Jaune and running into Weiss made sure of that. Instead Pyrrha was his partner. But, considering that Pyrrha was currently using Yang's boobs as a pillow, Ruby didn't have to worry about her trying to seduce Jaune.

Nora was "Rensexual" as she put it. So no need to worry about her. Weiss and Jaune didn't really like each other that much, and she didn't seem like the type to steal boyfriends anyway.

Blake however was different story...

------

Ruby and Jaune had been cuddling on Weiss' bed. Jaune not really trusting the structural integrity of their old bunk bed setup. Before they had gotten real bunk beds.

Ruby had been laying on Jaune's chest, as she'd made a habit of doing, taking in his scent. "So, are we going to do anything besides cuddling in bed today?" He said.

"Nope," She said with a popping p. But no. She did regretfully have things to do that day. Crescent Rose, her baby, needed some maintenance, and even thought she loved Jaune she wasn't going to neglect her baby to lay on him all day. "Actually, I have to do some maintenance on Crescent Rose. Do you want to come down to the forge with me an help?"

Just because she had to take care of her baby didn't mean they couldn't get some bonding time in.

"I mean if you want me to," He said with a shrug. "But I don't really know much about all that complex shifty weapon stuff. So I don't know I'll really be that much help."

"Oh no, that's okay! I'll teach you," She said. Just like her mom and Uncle Qrow had taught her. "Maybe can forge you a weapon with a little range."

"I don't know Ruby," He said with an awkward laugh, "I really want to master Crocea Mors before I try to learn to use another weapon."

"Well if you ever change you-" Ruby started before being interrupted by the bathroom door opening, and Blake walking out.

In her underwear.

A purple thong leaving little of the famous "Bellabooty" to the imagination.

"Ruby," She said flatly, "Jaune," She said with a more sultry tone. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to get a little reading done." She laid down on her bed with one of her filthy books. Laying on her stomach. Arching her back just a little to accentuate her rear end.

Ruby couldn't believe what she was seeing. Blake clearly trying to seduce her mate. Ruby could even smell the horny coming off Blake. How dare she!

Jaune for his part was just staring at the bottom of Ruby's bed. Not trying to look at the magnificent ass to his left. As difficult as that was he wasn't just going to stare at another girl in front of his girlfriend.

But Ruby had enough. "Come on Jaune. Let's go down to the forge now," She said, dragging him out of the room.

"Okay Ruby," He said. "See you later Blake."

"Bye Jaune," Blake said sultry as ever.

------

Ever since Blake made that first seduction attempt with Jaune, Ruby had been wracking her brain trying to come up with a way to get Blake to move on. Blake knew that Ruby had given Jaune a mate's mark. There's not way she couldn't smell it! So why was she so adamant about mating Jaune?

Jaune shifted in Ruby's bed. Pulling her closer to him, and that's when it hit her. What she had to do was looking her right in the face this whole time. Or more accurately rubbing against her buns this whole time.

She would have to give Jaune a lover's mark. The ultimate "Back off he's mine!" of the faunus world. But was she really ready to do something like that? She'd never really done anything like that before. And giving someone a lover's mark was serious business, and not something that could be gotten over easily if things went sour.

But they wouldn't. Not with Jaune. She would do it for Jaune!

But where? They would need somewhere private. Somewhere like an unused dorm room. It's not like the locks were hard to bypass. All she would need to do was go find an unused upper classman dorm, they had bigger beds and better soundproofing, and they would have the perfect spot.

Ruby squirmed with excitement. She had a plan. Now she just needed to put in into action.

And Jaune would be hers, and his puppies too someday!

------

Jaune really had no idea what Ruby was doing. She was dragging him through the 3rd year dorms for "Something super special" as she had said.

What exactly the was, Jaune didn't know. Ruby was many things. Predictable wasn't one of them. He'd come to appreciate that about her, but even he was at a loss for words as Ruby opened one of the doors. Dragged him into the room. Locked the door. Threw him on the bed, and jumped on top of him.

She kissed him with more passion than she ever had before. Pulling back she straddled his waist. "You're mine," She said with determination in those stunning silver eyes of hers, and something else that Jaune couldn't quite place. "My mate. And nobody is taking you away from me."

Take him away from her? Did Ruby think that he was going to leave her for another girl. "Ruby, I'm not going to leave you for anyone. You're my girl. My mate." He said with a soft smile.

That smile and those words gave Ruby a warm feeling in her chest, that soon radiated downward as a healthy blush formed on her face. "I know Jaune. You're my mate, and I want everyone to know that," She leaned down close to his face. "I want to be completely yours Jaune. Will you take me? All of me?"

All of Ruby. That didn't sound too bad really. Jaune's eyes widened as he realized what she actually meant by that. "Wait, you want to-" Jaune was cut off as Ruby pecked his lips.

"Yes. I want to... make love... with you," She said, her hot breath of his neck. Rubbing her face against his almost like a cat.

Ruby wanted to have sex with him. He almost couldn't believe it. But he could feel Ruby's heat even through both of their clothes.

"I want you Ruby." He whispered. More heat filling Ruby with those few little words. Ruby drew back from Jaune. He looked in those lust filled eyes of hers.

She loosened her corset and threw it and her blouse away. Doing the same with her skirt and boots. More delicately finding a place for her cloak on a chair.

Soon she was wearing nothing but a matching pair of red bra and panties with black accents, and her stockings. She pulled Jaune's hoodie over his head and soon he was shirtless.

Ruby still sat on him. Her, now clearly, damp panties touching his stomach as she ran his fingers down his chest. He touched the soft skin of her thighs. Earning a small gasp from his mate.

She reached behind herself to unhook her bra. Tossing it among the pile of other clothes.

Jaune stared up at her perky breasts. "Do you like them?" She asked bashfully, "I know they're not as big as- Oh!" She gasped as Jaune cupped her breasts in his hands.

"I think they're amazing," He said teasing her nipple with his thumb as Ruby moaned from the sensation. "I think you're amazing."

Ruby gasped and moaned as he continued to play with her breasts. It was so much better than when she'd done it herself. But she couldn't let herself get lost in the pleasure of his soft and strong hands.

No! She had an even better prize waiting for her. So, regretfully, she had to pull Jaune's hands off her breasts. "Did you not like that?" He asked, worry clearly in his voice.

"No, I loved it," She said moving down from his chest and sitting in between his legs. "But I need to make your feel good too." She began unzipping his pants.

Jaune's cock was pitching quite the tent in his underwear. She pulled it free from it's cloth prison and took in it's full majesty.

Jaune wasn't small. Far from it. Ruby wondered for a moment how exactly that was suppose to fit inside her, but all worries vanished from her mind as she took in his intoxicating aroma.

From the second she caught that smell, there was not turning back.

She grabbed his cock with small and surprisingly soft hands. Giving it a small lick. Just a small taste test, and Jaune's cock immediately replaced strawberries as her favorite food.

She kissed and licked her way up his shaft. As Jaune made sweet little sounds of pleasure. She finally made her way up to his cock head as little streams of precum began to leak from his tip. Once again Ruby took a taste and a bolt of electricity filled her body as she tasted his cum for the first time.

And far from the last time.

Silver eyes look into Azure blue as she began sucking on his tip. Trying to milk every last drop of cum from her mate. Her own fluids flowing down her thighs as her heat continued to grow.

Jaune was so close to cumming when Ruby pulled away. Panting. Her ears twitching and her tail wagging. She looked into his eyes again before turning around. Sticking her butt in the air and laying her head at the foot of the bed. She pulled down her soaked panties. Revealing her sopping wet pussy.

Jaune simply stared for several long seconds. Not knowing what exactly to do. Ruby whined. "Please Jaune. Make me yours," sending the message loud and clear.

Jaune moved behind Ruby. Grabbing onto her bubbly ass. The best ass he'd ever seen. And lined himself up with her soft petals. He began to push himself inside, but stopped as Ruby whimpered in pain.

"Are you okay, Ruby" He said as Ruby lost her patience and slammed herself against his cock. Sheathing it completely inside her. Jaune gasped at the sudden movement. As Ruby laid her head against the bed with a wide smile. Panting happily as her tail wagged wildly behind her.

Jaune groaned as he buried his fingers into the soft flesh of her ass. Ruby's tight pussy clenching down on his cock. As both of their bodies shook from the newly discovered pleasure.

Jaune slowly began to move his hips and Ruby's pussy clenched down harder. Begging him not to leave. Before slamming back into her. He began repeating this motion. Thrusting into his mate as the sounds of their hips slamming together and the bed creaking filled the room.

Ruby added her own sweet sounds. Amazing little moans. Her panting. And the occasional gasp of "Jaune!" as he continued to fuck her into a quivering mess.

Soon Jaune found himself reaching his limit. "Ruby I'm about to-"

Cum. And Ruby did. Hard. As her already tight pussy clasped down on him with even more power. Trying to milk him dry as she howled with pleasure into the empty room.

And she succeeded.

Jaune shot rope after rope of thick cum into Ruby's eager womb.

He finally managed to pull himself out of Ruby's pussy. Immediately missing her warmth. He sat back down on the bed and watched his newly deposited seed leek from Ruby. Soon her legs gave way and she collapsed down on the bed. Panting hard.

Jaune looked at Ruby. Petting her head softly and picking her up. laying back down with her in his arms. Laying on his chest as she loved to do. Listening to his still racing heart.

"Mine," She whispered as the pair fell asleep.

He was her mate and she was his mate.

Nothing would change that.

[wanderingmind867]

I went to create my own Reinterpretation of Solomon Grundy (for reasons I don't even remember now), and instead it somehow turns into some sort of family drama by the end? I don't know how I got there, either:

Cyrus Gold was rich and famous in the late 19th century. Owner of several successful factories, Mr. Gold was a minor robber baron. He wasn't as wealthy as Carnegie or Rockefeller, but he was decently successful and famous. He had a few parks named after him and even a couple minor statues or buildings in his honor.

Cyrus was also awful to his workers, however. He always payed them cheaply, refused to let them unionize and was all around a perfect example of the tyranny of the wealthy. Although him, his wife and his two kids lived luxuriously, all of his workers hated his guts. They began planning revenge and retribution, and one day soon they'd get their wish.

In 1894, Cyrus Gold came to Gotham City on a business trip (leaving his wife and kids at home in NYC). Late at night, he went out and got drunk. Then, while he was wandering the streets drunkenly, a group of bitter ex-employees ambushed him. They tied him up and dragged him to Slaughter Swamp, a horrible fetid bog on the outskirts of Gotham. There they shot him three times through the heart, and left his body to rot.

Cyrus Gold was 45 years old. Many people thought he had just disappeared, and life went on (including the lives of his wife and kids). This was the end of Cyrus Gold… Or so everyone thought.

50 years after death (in 1944), Cyrus Gold rose from the dead. His corpse had decayed and rotted, mingling with the algae and waters of the swamp. For years his body stayed there rotting and decaying. Until suddenly one dark october night, when strange and supernatural forces conspired to bring Cyrus Gold back from the dead.

Little more than a walking corpse, his mind was blank. He wandered into town and found his way to a homeless shelter. There, he was nicknamed "Solomon Grundy" by the other homeless folks, primarily because he remembered about his past life was that he was "born on a monday".

After the crisis (which happened around 1985 or so), Grundy's life begins to change, yet again. Grundy doesn't really remember the crisis, but the cataclysmic events of the crisis jostled the memories of his old self, Cyrus Gold. This leads to Grundy actually rekindling the small spark of humanity within him, as he tries to learn more about Cyrus Gold.

Sadly, Cyrus Gold was not a good person. As mentioned before, he was a cruel man, with an insatiable greed and a love only for his own family. Grundy hates Cyrus Gold, but still wants to try and reach out to his descendants.

Now for a brief history of the Gold family. When Cyrus Gold died in slaughter swamp back in 1894, the family fortune began to dwindle. For most of the early 20th century, the gold's still had some amount of wealth. But when the great depression hit, they lost everything. Nowadays the family is pretty much just like everyone else.

When Solomon Grundy goes to find one of his descendants, he finds a middle class single mother with her young son. Her great grandfather was the last member of the family to really remember the golden age of the Gold clan. But Marianne Gold? She's never known the good fortune her ancestors knew. Her life has always been middle class and hard. She's just a single mother desperately trying to raise her young and highly precocious son in upstate new york somewhere.

Strangely enough, when Solomon Grundy walks up to her house and tries to introduce himself to her, her son isn't remotely scared of him. She's terrified of this giant, shambling monster, but her son isn't scared. Maybe her son can sense the real goodness in Solomon Grundy's heart. In any case, Solomon Grundy has finally found a home again. Cyrus Gold may be dead, but Solomon Grundy will be a better man then Cyrus Gold would ever be.

[ridiasfangirlings]

A strain turned some of the cast members into little kids! It's only temporary and they'd be back after a day or two. Since regular people aren't allowed to know about the slate powers and stuff, no one but the clans are aware that these little kids aren't actually kids and so those affected can and were allowed to do little kid stuff like play outside. Some of them didn't have a normal childhood and so this is the one time they could have the fun they missed out on and with friends!

Scepter 4 kindergarten, open for business :D Imagine this as like Everybody Lives post-ROK and this Strain has been running wild and manages to get several different members of various clans, like Shiro shows up at S4 hoping to get some assistance with a tiny Kuroh and Neko clinging to him, only to find Munakata and Awashima busy wrangling their own group of alphabetical toddlers, Munakata is carrying tiny Fushimi around like a proud parent. They end up getting a call from Homra and soon a very harried Yata shows up with Anna calmly helping him handle all the Homra toddlers plus Kusanagi, Totsuka and Mikoto (Anna is holding Mikoto’s hand while he yawns, Yata meanwhile is dealing with all the rest and looks about to scream). 

Munakata decides perhaps it would be best to let everyone get their energy out and he arranges a whole field trip to the park, imagine him packing everyone little bento lunches and Yata has to step in and help him because why are you packing uncooked noodles in there (also imagine Yata making sure that tiny Fushimi’s box has some vegetables, maybe if someone had made Saru eat his veggies as a kid they wouldn’t have such trouble now). Little Totsuka sneaks into the kitchen and starts playing with the stove and ‘making lunch,’ grabbing whatever ingredients he can reach until Yata realizes that something smells like it’s burning and spots him. Yata’s maternal instincts kick in and he’s like get away from the stove, scooping Totsuka up while Totsuka just laughs and offers Yata some of the food he made. Yata stares at the messy burnt pile of random ingredients and then at Totsuka’s hopeful face, Munakata notes that it wouldn’t do to disappoint a child and Yata’s like you shut up nobody asked you.

They finally get to the park and imagine everyone getting to just run around and be friends happily while Munakata looks over them like a proud papa. Shiro starts making flower crowns with Kuroh and Neko (and gently stopping Neko from eating the flowers). Totsuka sees this and decides he wants in, dragging Kusanagi over to bury a napping Mikoto in flowers. Munakata is torn between encouraging shy little Fushimi to go play and wanting to keep Fushimi all to himself, except then what ends up happening is Fushimi starts tagging along after Yata and Yata finds himself in full big brother mode, pushing Fushimi on the swings and playing games with him. Later little Akiyama comes over and asks Fushimi to come play with them, Yata nudges him forward and soon Fushimi has joined the tiny alphabet squad in sparring with large sticks (Fushimi defeats them all and gets a flower crown as the winner). Eventually everyone is tired out and napping, imagine the only one who has energy all of a sudden is Mikoto. Soon Yata, Anna, Awashima and Shiro are all watching as Munakata plays a possibly rather rough game of soccer with a little kid, like please keep in mind he’s a child Munakata.

[ox1-lovesick]

if your mutuals were to debut in a kpop group, which one would they debut in and what would their positions be?

omg more games 🤭🤭 l e t apostrophe s g o

✧ @yv17 : ive

nora's the only reason ive are beating the co-worker allegations LMAO she'd probably be main or lead dancer with a sub vocal or rapping position, always being praised for her dancing skills cause she eats every performance wbk 🙏 the most chaotic member she's like a 3 year old on a sugar high. laughs at everything and can never take anything seriously 💀 THE STAR OF VARIETY SHOWS the hosts are begging to have her on the show because 1. she's hysterical 2. their views always go up by millions when she's on air. tells fans EVERYTHING they know what time she shits. complains to them about work and school and comes up with plans to escape the country, move to a rainforest and live as tarzan with them. constantly in dating scandals cause she's ogling a new idol every week 💀 there's compilations and everything "nora and her endless crushes pt528" one of those idols who goes "i wish" when addressing dating rumours she's so unserious 💀💀

✧ @haknom : fromis_9

K JUST FITS FROMIS PERFECTLY?? she'd eat DM era up. all of the fromis girls are such sweethearts and so is kayla, they'd all have the greatest chemistry, the most wholesome group to exist. i think k would have a lead vocal/lead dancer position and maybe a sub rapper 🫶 k gives such saerom and jhoon vibes ngl. the sweetest sweetie on earth has those yt complications of her just being her adorable self 💔

✧ @blurredplatform : mamamoo

lirin would go so well with mamamoo's concept, i can just envision it perfectly 🤭 lead vocal!! has those heavenly adlibs that make you ascend. great stage presence too, is often the thumbnails for performances and events 😩 everyone loves her cause she's the biggest sweetie!! the entire fandom loves lirin and her personality. queen of variety shows the hosts and everyone else are rolling on the floor at the end of it 😭

✧ @lov3niki : enhypen / aespa

kim and niki are in a dating scandal every 2 business days it's actually ludicrous. definitely main rapper or dancer, the only reason people watch aespa stages 💀 also has great flow and enunciation, her raps are always catchy and go viral within minutes. i see kim being similar to idols like shuhua or keeho 😭 all her posts on twt are tagged #wap and fans lose their minds every time. TROLLS SO MUCH will go on vlive in a hazmat suit and hyperventilate everytime you can see a strand of her hair to make people think she dyed it only for it to be the same colour as the last comeback. probably spoils the entire album and mv before the comeback is even announced 💀👎 tells the members "jou ma se poes" means "i love you" and then laughs at them 💀 has a kurt darren playlist prepared for every live the group has and forces everyone to sing along 😍

✧ @itssmila-fics : lesserafim

the yeonjun of lesserafim, hands are groping 24/7. probably a lead rapper and dancer! she has a really good flow and enunciation that everyone loves and always gets praised for her verses. i can also see mila as a producer! writing her own lyrics for some of ssera's tracks and maybe for other groups too. the most unserious person ever sometimes you wonder if she needs a visit to the psych ward. get's along especially well with yunjin and kazuha! the most iconic trio they're so funny and have a sense of humour that everyone loves! says the most out of pocket things and shares everything with fans.

✧ @tzyuki : red velvet

ej belongs in rv, argue with the wall. the way she'd eat bad boy era??? drags in all the stans from across the globe she's so iconic. definitely a vocalist! heavenly vocals that make you levitate, gives nothing but her 100% every single performance, one of rv's best performers along with seulgi and wendy!! the most aesthetic, pleasing to the eyeballs instagram ever. ej's blog is so pretty my eyes start sweating. a very comforting idol, her lives are always so therapeutic. one of those idols who has deep talks with fans and luvies adore her for it. very encouraging as well! kind of like yeonjun in that aspect, she's a sweetheart and must be protected </3

✧ @deeznutsriki : bts

NOW HEAR ME OUT sree gives MAJOR hobi vibes they'd be such a good pair!! sree, jin & hobi are always cracking dad jokes and laughing while the others just watch in disbelief. definitely a main vocal, it's the desi genes 🫶 literally flawless on stage, hits high notes like it's nothing, dances effortlessly, stage presence galore like there's nothing she can't do. army's are inlove with sree and protect her with their life.

[sabrina-valerie]

Almost Kiss and Post-Kiss Catatonia for Kamek! :D

Thanks for the ask! And that's cool of you to pick ones with synergy! I got carried away and wrote the whooole scene, lmao (^_^;)7

[Ask Game link]

Almost Kiss: What was your first kiss with your F/O like? Post-Kiss Catatonia: How did you and your F/O react to your first kiss together? (+ a little bit of Aborted Declaration of Love as a bonus)

~~~

Since Sabrina was going to move into the castle more permanently, she’d had to travel back home for a while to gather her things, split duties with her sisters, and otherwise tie up loose ends. One of those loose ends was metaphorically burning a hole in her pocket at the moment, actually, meant to be tied up tonight. 

For now, though, her friends had sent her back with gifts for Kamek, as, despite how he felt about it, they had grown fond enough of him to call him a friend. She had them spread out, sitting on the floor of his quarters, and he sat behind her on the bed, peering over her shoulder.

But Kamek was hardly paying attention to the trinkets and gifts she was showing him, too busy staring at Sabrina’s face. It might have been from him not seeing her in person for weeks, or maybe from how everyone else in the castle had been bullying him about doing something about these feelings of his during that time, or maybe it was just the way her smile looked in the candlelight at that exact moment, but the next time Sabrina turned to say something to him, Kamek interrupted her to ask if he could kiss her.

Sabrina blinked, face slack with surprise. Watching her process what he’d said, Kamek suddenly regretted opening his mouth at all, already anticipating her face screwing up in displeasure (or disgust, even). Except before he could start backpedaling, her face bloomed pink. Kamek marveled at it. He’d never seen her blush like that before…

Sabrina glanced up at him through her lashes. I mean…you can if…if you want, I guess, she mumbled, looking more nervous than he’d ever seen her.

Kamek blushed in turn; if he was being honest, he didn't think he’d get this far. But now was his chance, and, heart pounding, he bent forward haltingly to kiss her. It was an awkward, hesitant thing, lasting both mere seconds and a lifetime, sending their nerves alight with all it felt like a dream.

Sabrina was the first to regain her voice, a shy smile overtaking her face. You can…do that again if you want, she squeaked.

Can I? Kamek responded, the barest hints of a mischievous look cutting through the dazed look in his eye.

Sabrina huffed a laugh and put a hand on his cheek to draw his face closer.

~~~

They pulled away next to the tune of light laughter, from Sabrina, and embarrassed chuckles, from Kamek.

So…Sabrina ventured, hand shifting from his cheek to his shoulder to resting atop his own. To be honest, the first thought that crossed her mind now that they were staring at each other was that oh, you know friends kiss sometimes so…this cant mean what I want it to mean, right?  The next scene her mind conjured up was the memory of her friends laughing at her and citing every clue her oblivious self missed when it came to Kamek and his feelings about her. The third thought was that Kamek's hand was warm, and the way he was hesitantly curling his fingers around hers was oh so endearing. In the end, Sabrina politely asked her thoughts to shut up for a minute or two, because Kamek was about to say something.

I, Kamek started, and then stopped. Sabrina squeezed his hand. I might…have feelings for you, he says, sounding like he was dragging the confession kicking and screaming from his the depths of his heart out into the space between them.

Might? Sabrina’s lips quirked, soft and small and fond.

Kamek sighed. Do. I do. He wasn't looking at her, instead staring at their joined hands like he couldn’t believe they were real (despite this being far from the first time they'd held hands).

Okay. Sabrina breathed in, then out. It was one thing for everyone to swear up and down that Kamek had a crush on her, but it was another to hear it from the source (even if said source had literally just kissed her). That's good.

That’s good?

‘Cause I have feelings for you too! Sabrina tap-tap-tapped her feet on the stone floor, excitement rising in her chest.

Kamek's face was bright red. …What kind of feelings?

Sabrina laughed, reaching into her pocket to pull out a thin box, whose contents she’d been busy working on for her entire trip away. She handed it to Kamek, bidding him to open it.

Kamek did so curiously, revealing an oversized bracer, gleaming silver and with a half-a-dozen colorful gemstones inlaid into the metal. Kamek traced the inscribed runes with a claw, momentarily distracted with trying to read them. Did you make this? he asked, and Sabrina nodded rapidly, watching him tilt the box around to catch the light on the trim. It’s a bit early for my birthday, isn't it? Kamek mused.

Oh, I guess it could be an early birthday present. She didn't even think of that. It's supposed to be a courting gift, though.

…W-what?

Sabrina took a deep breath, sitting up straight and stiff. Please do me the honor of letting me court you, she said all in one breath, willing her voice not to shake.

Kamek gaped at her, and for a moment Sabrina thought he’d refuse. He looked down at the bracer. He looked back up at her. His face scrunched up, and as the beginnings of tears gathered in his eyes Sabrina was now definitely sure he’d refuse.

She sat up onto the bed, and her hands fluttered around him, unsure if he wanted her to touch him or not but still wanting to give comfort. Um, she stuttered, trying not to cry herself, if you don't want to that's fine I - 

Her hands drifted too close to the box, and Kamek drew it to his chest, cradling it protectively with a scowl. He even scooted away from her a bit, as silly as the effort was, and even though she had no intention of taking her gift back the message was crystal clear and she wanted to cry for a different reason, now. 

Kamek hastily wiped his eyes; Sabrina waved off his apologies for the show of emotion before they even begin. It’s just, Kamek said, I’ve never…been courted before. Or even asked to — his voice faltered, wondering and shy as it was, and Sabrina couldn't help reaching over to wipe the last of the tear tracks from his face. He looked down at their hands, still joined together, and smiled up at her, small and tremulous. I suppose…I wouldn't mind it.

Sabrina beamed, a rush of giddy energy speeding through her head to toe. Her arms inched to wave around and move, and she balled one fist into her lap, the other still holding Kamek's. Ah, she needed to do something else with her hands before she ruined the mood…! Do you wanna wear it? Sabrina asked, and Kamek handed her the box. She took it and Kamek's left arm, wrapping the bracer around it and clicking it shut. It’s dwarfed his thin arm, and Kamek said as much. But when Sabrina took her hand away, the bracer glowed; Kamek shuddered as his magic acclimated to it, and it shrunk to fit perfectly to his wrist. Sabrina’s eyes sparkled. Seeing Kamek wearing something she made for him…! The idea had her floating a little higher, and she pressed the sole of her foot into the floor, tapping her fingers against her other leg, trying to contain the airy, bubbling joy she felt suffused with. 

As if a spell was broken, Kamek looked up from blushing at the bracer, to her face, to her hands, brow furrowed in bemusement. Why aren't you…?

Sabrina tilted her head, waiting for him to elaborate. Kamek picked up their joined hands and waves them around haphazardly and — oh.

Sabrina wasn't sure what embarrassed noise she made, but without thinking she took over the rhythm of their hands swinging back and forth. Kamek looked some flavor of satisfied. Sabrina would have covered her face in embarrassment, but one hand was still in Kamek’s and the other hand was busy creating a small breeze, so she was out of luck, on that front.

Though while she was busy stimming, she could tell Kamek about how she made the bracer, and how hard it was to get the metal, and how long it took to shape, and where she got the gemstones, and how she attuned them to Kamek’s magic without him, and spells she preloaded them with, and the little instruction manual she drew, and — 

This is a lot of effort just for me...

You deserve it though, Sabrina replied, and Kamek ducked his head. 

Of course I do, he mumbled to save face, and Sabrina gave him a peck on the cheek for the attempt. He rubbed the spot bashfully.

They talked about the bracer for a while, Kamek quite interested in the miniature magical marvel. Their conversation then ended up drifting back to their feelings for each other, sharing silly moments that really should have clued them in that they'd been pining over each other for far too long. Before they knew it, it had gotten late. Sabrina needed to go to bed.

At the door, though, they stared at each other, hands still intertwined, reluctant to part.

See you tomorrow? Sabrina asked, squeezing his hand.

Of course, Kamek answered, squeezing back. Neither of them let go, half-content to stare at into each other's eyes and dither until the sun rose again.

Finally, Sabrina broke the spell with a huff, bending at the waist and bringing Kamek’s hand up to press it against her lips for a long moment. She glanced up at him as she straightened, a smirk slipping onto her face at his dazed expression. With a cheeky wave, she backed out the door and closed it behind her before he could even begin to recover.

She made it a few steps from the door before her walk turned into a little dance of joy. Skipping around the corner, she ran into a group of guards that had definitely seen her come out of Kamek’s rooms. They cheered quietly at Sabrina’s double thumbs up, one of them even clapping her on the back. Sabrina exchanged high-fives with them before scurrying away, wanting the privacy of her room to lose her mind about this latest development.

(Meanwhile, Kamek was still in his entryway, kneeling on the floor with his hands over his flaming red face with an equally silly grin. It was minutes before his blush faded enough to get up to press his face into a pillow, instead.)

(Both of their minds were spinning too much to get any proper sleep tonight.)

[gaoau]

you can't reinvent the laughter

theory of the two demons warnings — none word count — 2.8k

prev. — next.

a month or so of training under their new mentor has gone by—[Name] can't keep up anymore with the passage of time. they seem to be busier now than they ever were with Dazai; their shoulders feel heavier now than they ever did with Dazai looking them right in the eye. they can sense him like a looming curse clinging to their back and waiting to strike. he's been lurking around, [Name] can tell, keeping tabs on them and their progress. it's slow, but it's progress, and [Name] has become another testament to Dazai's efficiency and why he should be made an executive before Chuuya.

although they hate knowing this, [Name] keeps their mouth shut and their head bowed down. they work on their own improvement outside of Dazai's brownie points—they didn't join this hell of an organization to help Dazai climb the ranks; this is for their friends and family. so they endure the torturous training, the one that has turned out to be a billion times more excruciatingly exhausting than their previous mentor's. molten lava injected directly into their veins, occasional concussions when they slip up, a four-day long coma, bruises that won't fade. they'd rather have this over the sneer of a lonely boy holding back his tears.

they've come to learn that Verlaine's ability is so much stronger than Chuuya's. they're taking their sweet fucking time in getting used to the influx of energy. it burns them from underneath their skin and flings them into a wall every time they try to convert the energy into power. apart from that repeated failure, their martial arts and stealth skills have improved greatly.

[Name] has killed a total of twenty-three people since they earned their title as a proper Port Mafia assassin.

they wonder how worth it this all is, when their muscles ache with every breath they take as they rest. (resting feels criminal lately.) the infirmary has become a second bedroom so they can pretend it's consequences and not tiredness. they keep their eyes peeled, making sure not to doze off for a moment. the ceiling doesn't flicker and neither does it blind them. it's within reach and painted a pleasant cream color, reflecting against the natural sunlight pouring in from the window. [Name] knows their new mentor couldn't care less about whether they bleed out on the ground or not, but he's conscious enough to have people fetch them after they pass out with mangled limbs.

they think this is worth it; they think this is what the Port Mafia actually has to offer. 

nothing is broken today. nothing has been broken for weeks. there's only bruises—maybe a little disorientation—and constant pain, but things would be so much worse with Dazai.

(Dazai is busy with someone else, though.)

a knock sounds on the door, startling [Name] out of their agonies. they call into the quiet of the room, "come in," only for the knocking to become incessant. "come in," [Name] tries again, a little louder, a little more irritated. the knocking doesn't cease, instead picking up speed, more and more rapid, pressing, insistent. c'mon, hey, hurry up, let's go, it says and [Name] squeezes a sigh from between their teeth. they groan and curse as they drag themself out of bed.

with every step, they can hear their bones grind like rusted hinges, echoing in their brain with notes of strain. but when they open the door, it all washes away. they're surprised to find Q rocking back and forth on their feet, a bright beam spread across their face. their worn doll is tucked under their right arm and their left hand hangs in the air in a fist. [Name] blinks. there doesn't seem to be any blood or bruises at a first glance, but they know the damage only grows the more time passes. (Dazai holds a knife to any peace of mind [Name] could ever muster.)

they grin down at Q and instinctively reach their hand to ruffle their hair up. Q closes their eyes and grins back, welcoming the affectionate touches from an older sibling they do not have. "hey, kiddo," [Name] greets with a chirp in their tone, "what're you doing here?"

"Dazai-san's busy today!" Q exclaims, stars in their eyes. their voice sounds nearly like a melody to rival the silence ringing in [Name]'s ears. they can't help but feel wary. Q snakes their fingers into [Name]'s hand and tugs. "let's go play!"

[Name]'s smile deforms into a guilt-ridden grimace. with the scorching ache coursing through their every nerve, they ca—but Q is gazing up at them so expectantly, pulling on their arm, teeming with anticipation to lead the way because they know [Name] will follow. because [Name] knows they will follow. because [Name] wanted someone who would follow, too.

they ignore the pain threatening to burst like needles from underneath their skin, have them bleed out on the ground for Q to watch. with trembling knees, they scoop Q into their arms and hold them against their hip. "do you feel up for a change of scenery?"

"sure!"

"let's ask Mori-san, what do you say?"

Q giggles mirthfully and nearly strangles [Name]'s neck in a tight hug. they press against a glowing bruise beneath their shirt. [Name] winces quietly so Q can keep smiling. they feel free.

[Name] didn't grow up in Yokohama—or in any other city in the world. there was a park they used to frequent with the other kids at the orphanage, but it must be too many train rides away at this point. they've memorized a few important routes in Yokohama by now (courtesy of the Port Mafia's assassination jobs), which isn't much, but it's all they need to escort Q to the nearest park.

they watch from a bench as Q exhausts their energy, running and jumping around in glee. Q is just a kid. sticks are swords and rocks are grenades and a scratch on their arm is hallucinations that drive anyone insane. but Q is nothing more than just a kid. [Name] calls out, "careful, there!" while Q attempts to climb a tree. they remember that's how kentarou chipped off the corner of his front tooth and how much he cried.

the sun starts to set when [Name]'s phone rings in their pocket. they need to head back now.

Q doesn't complain when [Name] offers them their hand, cheeks rosy and smudged with dirt for all the right reasons. "that was fun!" they exclaim with a giggle. they hold tightly onto [Name]'s hand as they cross the street.

and it rings in [Name]'s head, bouncing around the corners of their mind, reverberating in dissonance. let's go play! and it hurts! sounding at the same time; overflowing excitement and excruciating pain echoing from the same voice of a kid who loathes their own existence. a kid whose hand is small and warm. a kid who knows nothing but chaos despite how much they hate it. a kid with dreams in a name they don't want to use anymore.

[Name] glances down at this kid. neglected innocence they feel compelled to protect. "what if we read yume as mu?"

Q cranes their neck up to find [Name]'s gentle simper. "for… my name?" they frown. [Name] tugs them out of the way so they don't bump into other people.

"yeah. mukyuu?"

"i don't care anymore…" Q mumbles. Q has realized.

but [Name] doesn't care. they see Q's defeated pout as they face forward again. "you didn't like yu-chan, did you?" they chuckle. "how 'bout mu-chan, then?" Q stops walking as they gaze up at [Name], mouth agape and an endearing brightness lighting up their eyes. [Name] grins at them. "oh! Mucchan!"

the corners of Q's mouth lift into their cheeks. they laugh from the core of their chest and squeeze [Name]'s hand. "i'm Mucchan!"

"yeah, you're Mucchan!" [Name] squeezes back.

[Name] is sorry.

Yumeno Kyuusaku is just a kid.

it burns. the moment they first held Q's hand, [Name] knew it would burn. even if they die here, even if it kills them, this hell will follow them to their grave. despite the clear warnings, they grabbed the plate while it was still too hot to take. (but it was always going to stay hot.) Q doesn't deserve any of this. Q simply couldn't take it anymore—they were just throwing a tantrum, manic cackles echoing through the Port Mafia's headquarters, laughing at the chaos they were causing because they've never been taught otherwise. Q is not innocent, [Name] understands that much, but they're just a kid.

Q is unconscious.

[Name], however, stirs awake. they don't know how long it's been. through bleary eyes, they see Q passed out and locked behind bars. it's cold in here. they can hardly believe Q will have to live in confinement indefinitely just because they're a child. Dazai called them a walking catastrophe and what else could they do but live up to his claims? Q is not at fault. 

with quivering and aching arms, [Name] pushes themself off the floor. they crawl closer to the cell bars, their right leg dragging behind them, snapped in half. the cell door rattles through the silence when they grasp it for support. the lighting is so dim that they can barely tell if Q is breathing anymore. for a moment, it seems like they aren't. then they see their chest rise and fall, slowly. sighing in relief, [Name] turns and leans against the bars. their hand brushes over a puddle of blood. they don't know if it's theirs or Q's.

[Name] wonders if Q wants to die, too. if the confinement will have them finding anything to end their life with. if Dazai will come in at the right moment to stop them and keep them alive for the Port Mafia's benefit.

but it wasn't Dazai the one coming to sew [Name]'s arms shut when they tried to kill themself again. and it's not them the one lying on the ground out cold. there was nothing they could do—through the years and earlier today. they argued, they stood up to Dazai, and they failed. Q is confined and this is history repeating for them, only this time they can only watch from the outside in.

they pull their knees up to their chest, wincing at their broken leg. just in time, the door to the underground cells creaks open. [Name] chooses to hide and make themself smaller rather than confirm it's Dazai coming to taunt them. their shoulders tremble as they listen to him get closer with every echoing step. fists and teeth clenched, they know they can't fight him. they want to, though. they want to strike back right here, right now. they want to kill him.

although [Name] hides their face in their knees in the middle of the dark, their anger is bigger than them. there's no way Dazai could possibly miss them; Dazai knows the shadows like the back of his hand. this is just as much as he can expect from someone like [Name]. he chuckles. it resonates, bouncing off the walls. it makes [Name] shift slightly, lifting their head enough to glower at him so scornfully.

"come on," he starts, voice airy and light, dancing with notes of laughter, "don't look at me like that." their anger will slice him up if he so much as takes a step closer. at least, it will try, but there's not much rabid emotions can do against someone like him. "i get you're upset, but they had it coming. do you have any idea how many people died?"

"what do you know, Dazai-san? your ability blessed you, Mucchan is just a child."

something flashes in his eyes briefly. he brushes it off just as quick. "Q is just a child?" he repeats their words back at them. it's synthetic, the way the word blessed rings next to his identity. he tries his best to fit among normal people with a face no one else sees. "or do you mean you were just a child when they experimented on you?"

[Name]'s glare sharpens. they tense their muscles to keep themself from pouncing on him impulsively. they let the silence last longer than Dazai would normally allow. he isn't very patient, [Name] knows. he waits months and even years to see his plans come to fruition. they can't win against him. no matter how much they want to snap his neck and bash his skull in and have him feel everything they are feeling, there's nothing they can do. they're so much less than he is.

it burns.

it burns. it burns. it burns and it will never stop burning.

quietly, they speak up, "you say there's no point in living…" and lose their train of thought immediately. despite their twitching fingers, they keep their voice steadily soft. Q is still behind them, passed out or not.

"what? you don't agree?"

"i… do." it burns. "i just wonder why you're still here."

Dazai hums, hands in his pockets, leisurely. "what about you? you're also here." he looks down at and on [Name]. they glare back. he thinks they could kill him if he weren't careful.

"i have things i can't leave unfinished. i'll be gone once they're done."

"ah, is that so?" it hangs in the air. weightless, carefree. it pierces into [Name]'s ears mockingly. Dazai shrugs. "guess you can say the same for me."

"no."

the frown soiling Dazai's face is involuntary. he isn't laughing anymore.

"i'm not like you."

he's laughing again. "really? i know you hate me, but it's true we see eye to eye here. surely you understand that."

"you're not like me, Dazai-san."

Dazai blinks at [Name] for a moment. he spares them another uninterested glance, assessing the damage he caused to their body. the normal thoughts they share are not a product of his actions. only a coincidence. only a mirror. only a scheme he's still unaware of. when he looks past them and at Q's unconscious body, [Name] jostles, ready to ignore the clear disadvantage and attack.

then he sighs, "you still have training today. don't keep Verlaine-san waiting, yeah?" he's rather surprised to watch as [Name] hides their face in their knees again. it's quiet. "yeah?" he repeats, but they don't answer. with a childish scoff, he leaves them to handle themself.

[Name] is so sorry.

isshin namiyo finds her boss' ability to be unsettling. she remembers the [Name] of a few months ago, with less scars on their skin and a less brooding disposition. back then, all they could do was kill at Mori's order, but it's horrific to see a kid this young weaken people twice their size by just touching them for a few seconds. although she doesn't know the logistics of Mirror Mirage, namiyo can tell it fits right in the Port Mafia.

[Name]'s skills have improved greatly overtime. now there's fifteen men on the verge of death, all waiting for Dazai to show up so he can interrogate them. they're the enemy, sure, but namiyo pities them. the real devil to fear is among her allies, she has come to realize. she wonders why [Name] even needs their unit if they do all the work by themself.

but namiyo doesn't say anything, tightening the restraints on one of the goons. her coworkers do the same and idly stand by. [Name] hasn't said a word to them in a long while. they sleep through the night and wake up in the morning as usual, but it's all practiced repetition. it's like they suddenly realized something; like they have access to something that will protect them if they don't speak.

then Dazai's voice, soft and calm, echoes through the room, "great job, [Name], you're really making use of your ability."

namiyo bows, and so does the rest of [Name]'s unit. [Name] doesn't. they turn towards him, the demon prodigy, and glare through narrowed eyes. 

Dazai sighs, exasperated, "you're still not talking? it's been almost a month."

[Name] spares namiyo a nod. she finds this extremely unsettling. nonetheless, she understands they're leaving her to work with Dazai. promptly, they head out the door.

"say hi to Q for me!" Dazai calls, waving his arm with childish excitement.

before the door closes, namiyo sees how [Name]'s fingers twitch. but she doesn't say anything, watching two children pick at each other's minds. the world may as well laugh at her cowardice from the bottom of its heart.

[Name] is so, so sorry.

note — so mucchan 🤲🏻 i love q with my entire heart. i fucking love children with more power than they know what to do with and q is such a great example of that. i wasnt particularly interested in reaching into their brain, cause really theyre just a kid left at a hospital that mori got his hands on, so its not that hard to understand whats going on. but since i had mc in the mix this time, i wanted to give q more of a shot at being a child. it was always meant to be short lived though cause, at the end of the day, dazai ends up confining them and they stay there until the guild arc so speaking of, the way dazai views q is so odd to me. dazai in general is very odd, cause he confined them after they killed however many people, but the window of time in which he could have done that is very short and q was less than ten years old in every scenario. (not to mention dazai only becomes an executive when hes around eighteen) i took it more as q throwing a tantrum over having to harm themself than them being intentionally evil. dazai put them away because of the damage they caused, but ill never understand if he was genuinely angry so many people died in vain or he was just being cautious. it really depends on when in the timeline it happened, and i chose to put it before odasaku this is, unfortunately, the end of the q arc (and im so sad theres no gender neutral nee/nii-chan cause i desperately wanted q to address mc like that). theres only so much i could do with a pretty simple character, but it works out in the end when the line between mc caring about q and just using them to heal themself from past abuse is very blurred. ill hold qs hand to cross the street any day of the week thanks for reading, drink water have day

[throughtheglasswalls]

🕯️

send me 🕯️to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character.

She's just trying to sort all of her books and movies from newest addition to oldest edition. Sorting in alphabetical order never worked with her very well when it came to books. While she's sorting her books and movies on her brand new self, she was also having thoughts on what to do when she's free.

"I kind of want to go to that holiday craft fair to support our fellow local small business artists. I wonder if Pip would want to go. I'm sure there will be a lot of wonderful things there too! Hmmmm...."

"Or maybe he doesn't want to... I should try to make other friends..."

"Oh wait! Tricia! Maybe Tricia will want to go!"

"Oh wait she has work... I wonder if Kenneth or Leopold would want to go. But wait... Leopold has plans with his parents. I wouldn't want to interfere with that. Not going to lie, his parents sort of give me the shivers."

After sorting her books and movies, she couldn't help but just be in her own thoughts on whether she should just go to the craft fair by herself or try to bring someone with her. Her closest friend was Tricia, but she has work and wasn't able to get off. Meanwhile Butters has has plans to go down to Los Angeles with his parents to visit his other relatives for the holidays.

Kenny was actually with her in their home, but as much as she loved her brother and looked up to him, she didn't want to keep clinging onto him forever and drag him to go to places with her. Not that Kenny minded a whole lot or so she claimed since sometimes he didn't even want to be around his own friends, but Karen thought maybe Kenny could use a little bit of a break from her. Although she tended to worry about him often since he also often disappeared.

Karen sighed and plopped herself onto the couch, trying to get comfortable, still wondering if anybody wanted to go to the craft fair with her. Aside from being close to Tricia, Karen was starting to feel a bit close to Pip too but she didn't want to cause him any trouble. Not to mention, she feared if she were to have another friend or family close to her, she'd lose them. They'd leave her whether it be from death or betrayal.

"What if me and Pip become good friends and then he dies? Or just leaves me? What if I'm just a burden? He doesn't seem like the type who would ever leave anybody like a complete jerk though..."

"Okay. Since everybody is busy, maybe I'll ask him and nothing will go wrong!"

Ding dong!

Karen shrieked and perked herself up from the couch, part of her hoping it would be Pip at the door, or a package for her. If it was a package for her, she hoped that it didn't have any sort of booby trap in there.

Once she got up from her couch and opened the door...

"PIPLUP, DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR WITH ME?" she asks out loud, only to see that it was only the mailman at the door and not Pip.

.................

Awkward. Very awkward...

Oh, and the package being delivered to her is for her brother. Not her.

Now she's disappointed and feels as if she made a fool of herself.

If Pip was around somewhere, she hoped he and no one else did not just see that or hear her.

[softquietsteadylove]

Hey!!! Big fan of your works!!! So I had this idea where everything turns around. I have no talent in making this to a story but here's the idea/plot. Gilgamesh is a cold CEO/Mafia and Thena a very joyful secretary of his. Thena doesn't know that Gil is a mafia, all she knows is she just works with a very serious CEO. And then as expected Gilgamesh had fallen in love with her. And one day someone kidnapped Thena. The group that kidnapped her called him and they want to have a conversation with Gilgamesh about something, he heard Thena cry at the background of the phone call. Gilgamesh just wanted to get Thena back and safe so he agreed to whatever that group wants. Everything went well not until he asked where Thena is, they brought Thena to him and has bruises on her cheeks and that made him furious and attacked every people around that room. And then happily ever aftah! If you want to add more, just go. I would very much love it. THANK YOU!!! (Idk i just see Gil as someone who would kill if he sees Thena get some li'l bruise or sum'n heheh).

Thena waits, sitting in front of his desk, like she has plenty of times before. Of course, those times, she thought he owned a shipping company--not that he was a rather significant figure in Korean organised crime.

Maybe she'd suspected...something. From the secretiveness, to the very private phone calls, to the accounts that never quite added up until his personal accountant handled them.

She'd been asked countless times: why did she work for him? Gilgamesh wasn't known for being a particularly warm or kind man to work for--work with. But Thena had come to know a different story.

At first, she liked that he was tight-lipped, even cold. So was she. She was happy to be his rather quiet personal receptionist, only speaking when necessary, and only about work when it was.

But Gilgamesh had a...softer side to him.

It started with the car service home. All she'd mentioned was that she'd started taking a different route home. He'd asked why. She said it was because her previous route took her down a street lined with bars and she kept getting harassed and propositioned.

The next day, a car was waiting for her - and only her - outside the office.

Then there was the meal delivery. She had never been good in the kitchen, even back home. But convenience stores had cheap food, even if it wasn't always the most nutrient dense (or fresh). One day, Gilgamesh noticed that all she ate for lunch was onigiri and protein drinks.

Next thing she knew, there was a hot meal delivered to her every night from what she knows is his favourite restaurant.

Maybe what cemented things for her was the Kro incident.

She didn't like sharing her reason for taking the first job she could get as far from home as possible. It was cliche, it was no one's business but her own. But it seemed her obsessive ex-boyfriend really would travel to the ends of the earth for her.

After a very public confrontation that ended with security being called, Gilgamesh had asked her what it was all about.

She told him everything--about Kro, about how possessive he became, about how she'd moved just to escape him, hoping she could move back home after he'd given up on her. Gilgamesh didn't seem too happy about any of it. He told her he'd take care of it, and that was that. She didn't really know what that entailed, but Kro was removed from the premises, and Gil said 'he won't bother you anymore'.

That still wasn't it, though.

What cemented in her mind that she could consider consider working for him forever was after all that. After her ex had come and made a scene at her workplace, dragging her personal life into the spotlight and making her question half her life choices.

After all that, Gil was there, holding an umbrella, wanting to walk her home--to dinner, actually.

He walked with her, talking more easily and lightly than she'd ever seen him do before. They'd gone to one of her favourite spots. He walked her home, still holding that umbrella over both of them.

"Thena," he said, under the rainfall. "I hope...I hope you feel like you can still work here...with me."

Gil is sweet.

Far too sweet to be some kind of mob boss, or whatever they call what he does here.

She had leaned up and kissed his cheek that night. She shouldn't have, and not just because he's her boss. But she'd already known by that point that he had her loyalty unquestionably.

If whomever had taken her hostage had seen that, then they'd seen the whole date too. And as silly as it was, all she could think was that she'd never had the chance to even ask if it was a date or not.

They'd tied her up - like barbarians - and called Gil, presenting her to him like a fish they'd caught. She wasn't sure what they thought they were accomplishing by taking her. But Gil had seemed in control of himself at the time.

Then she told him not to worry about her. Then they backhanded her across the face. Then she bit them. And Gil said something she could never forget: "You touch her again, I'll break your skull."

She thinks that's the translation--she had other things on her mind.

Now they're back at his office. Whatever it was over is being handled, and she realises that neither side wants the police involved. She doesn't particularly care what this is all about anyway.

Thena looks up as he comes back into the room. He has a cool cloth laid over his hand. She can remember the sound of it--when his fist collided with the face of her assailant. Gil has some bleeding, but his bones have been conditioned (martial arts, he says). Her attacker's cheekbone is not nearly as in tact.

Thena stays quiet as he presses the cloth to the bruise on her cheek.

He takes in a very heavy breath. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." And it's the truth. For all she's been through, she's relatively unharmed. Gil is the one who stormed into the place and personally laid into everyone present.

"You're not-" he cuts himself off. He lowers the cloth and his fingertips replace it on her cheek. He's so gentle. "You should never have been put in danger like that."

She just shrugs. She can't say it's not his fault. But that doesn't mean she wants him to blame himself either. "Everything's fine now, isn't it?"

He sighs, but he accepts her acceptance of it. He trails his fingers over her cheek, as if they're reluctant to leave her.

She scolds herself for getting the flutters over it.

"I won't blame you if you want to go home," he finally says, standing up and dusting off his suit. He won't look at her. "If just me walking you home is going to endanger you..."

"Gil," she stands, and that gets his attention. She does call him Gil, but it's only in her most private thoughts. "If I wanted to leave, I would have long ago."

"So, why stay?"

She was hoping he wouldn't ask her that.

"Thena, obviously my business isn't...the most legitimate," he skirts around what it really is as he fiddles with his cuff links. "I might have to...lie low for a while."

If they know she's a useable weakness of his, it only puts them both in danger, he means.

"Have you ever been to London?"

The words are out before she can stop them.

"London?"

Now she starts fidgeting, feeling those deep dark brown eyes on her unrelentingly. "I was living there with my cousin, Sersi--before coming here. She's my only contact there anyway."

"Hm," now he smiles, and she's always liked his smile. "I've never been there in person."

"Could be nice," Thena shrugs, hoping he can't tell how hard her heart is beating as he comes closer. "Good place to lie low."

Her lashes flutter as his lips touch her cheek.

"I'll book our tickets."