#no i didn’t need to take out a bank loan

[deadscell]

i don’t know how it was possible but i managed to find an affordable copy of kuon and i couldn’t just pass the opportunity up??? it’s mine now >:)

[goldkirk]

.

[sitkainsnow]

Desperately need a fic from a police officer’s pov and they watch SuperBat interactions bc like all the cops either hate or love Bats, but are still kinda terrified of him, but ofc Supes is all sunshine and smiles and “He’s my best friend y’all!” And they KNOW bats probably totally has kryptonite and an attitude worse than the devil.

So they end up in a situation where they’re working together and Batman in taking with the police and Superman’s standing behind him waving and smiling at everyone while Batman is giving single-word or just huffs for answers. And then Superman freezes and cocks his head and to everyone’s surprise grabs Batman by the shoulder and whispers something in his ear and then what’s more surprising is Batman doesn’t even mind as he wraps his own arm around Supes and then they’re gone in a blur of blue and Black. All the cops are just left standing there like 🧍‍♂️shocked bc Bats didn’t mind Supes touching him.

Or another instance where it’s after this big battle in Gotham and it’s with whatever villain but Superman is there too and the villain had kryptonite. Anyways so after the battle Bats is talking to the police and handing over the villain and Superman comes over after talking to the civilians, picks Bats up by the scruff mid sentence politely nods to the officers he was talking too, and moves him a couple feet away and just starts yelling at Bats abt how stupid it is for him to run around jumping in the way of heavy blows EVEN if they have kryptonite and Bats just scoffs and turns his head away and all the police on the area watch as Superman and Batman argue about how stupid it is to risk your life to save the other (they both did it) completely oblivious to their audience and the police whose POV it’s in just thinks “god they sound like a married couple. Wouldn’t it be crazy if the two of the worlds greatest hero’s were actually a couple lmao. But that’s crazy they’re just really good friends”

Gordon watched all this trying not to blow his fuse bc yes, Batman does need to be yelled at, and yes, he does need to prioritize his safety more, but NO, you don’t need to be having your lovers quarrel in front of the whole damn GCPD.

Or in another instance Batman racks up a bunch of charges on him for whatever reason and the GCPD by luck manages to arrest him and so here comes Superman trying to bail his partner(in more ways than one) out of prison and the police are like “we’re really sorry Mr. Superman sir but we can’t legally do that” and Supes goes “what the hell did he even do” and so the officer goes “Property Damage, unlawful violence, arson, punched a cop in the face and broke his nose, caught carrying weed which is illegal in the state of New Jersey, multiple -and I mean multiple- unpaid speeding tickets. Oh, and the DMV wanted us to talk to him about his unregistered Batmobile and Batbike.”and Supes is about to cry as he quietly asks “Okay, so how much is bail” And the officer looks away and mumbled “sixteen grand” and Supes gasps and cries out “I don’t get paid enough for sixteen grand!!”

However thirty minutes later Supes is back at the GCPD station shakily counting out bills bc he can’t use a check or card (obvi) sweating heavily and looking extremely pained. The cops don’t even ask where he got all those bills so quickly and just watch him and another 30minutes later Bats is out and Supes is shaking him by his shoulder shouting “so who’s gonna lag me back!! Who’s gonna reimburse me for for 16k?? Whose gonna apologize for the heart palpitations you gave me?? Whose gonna apologize for all the gray hairs this is going to give me?? You’re giving me gray hairs all the time B!! I can’t do this!!” And Batman just sighs and pats Superman on the back as they walk out of the station and Superman is mumbling about bank credit and loans and how bad he looks with wrinkle lines and gray hair sounding like he’s about to cry.

Meanwhile the police try not to loose their minds throughout this whole interaction and Gordon’s just staring at the door blankly smoking a cigar and the police whose POV it’s in looks at the cigar a little bit closer and goes “That smells like weed” and Gordon looks at her and just says “I feel for Superman a bit more than I want to”

[ickadori]

++ 𝐇𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐈

[summary] @thelocalslutof7umblr : Didn't read the manga yet but Hakari seems like the kind of guy to come over twice a week to dick me down after he just spent all of my life savings on gambling

[cws] fem reader -> chubby. unedited.

[an] thank you for the idea!! sorry if you didn’t wanna be tagged :(

“Get out of my apartment, Kinji.” You say as soon as he steps through the door, the key that you had made him (and failed to take back from him on his last visit) held between his fingers. “And give me my key back.”

“This key?” He wags it in the air, heel of his sneaker knocking back into the door so it slams shut. He doesn’t bother locking it, instead swaggering over to where you’re sat on the sofa, gaze stubbornly glued to the television as one of your shows play. “Come give me a kiss and you can have it.”

“Keep it.”

“Tch.” He tosses the key onto the coffee table, toeing his shoes off a second later and leaving him in clean, white socks. “You still mad about last time?” You cut your eyes at him, and he can’t help the amused smirk that curves onto his lips. The last time he had been here, there hadn’t been much talking going on, or rather no intelligible talking, the blissed out babbles that had spilled from your mouth as he pounded away at your sopping cunt hardly counting as words.

Hakari hardly needed an excuse to plug you with his cock —the man was practically ready to go every second of every day, and once he got his hands on that plump, soft body of yours, you were ready to go, too, for as long as he wanted you to— but on this particular day, he had been itching for a loan, that ever present ‘fever’ creeping up on him. He felt lucky that day, lucky as a goddamn leprechaun, and he didn’t need that luck running out on the way to the bank, so he had went with the next closest thing; you.

You have been hesitant at first, having been on the losing end of one his fever’s time and time again, but this was different. He had been blazing, feverish, hot to the touch, and every nerve had been on end as he crowded you against the couch and let his hands help with the talking.

“You feel it, don’t you, baby?” He had rasped against your skin. “I’m hot—on fire, baby. This is the one.” A kiss here, a squeeze there, a compliment there, and you had been dripping, pussy wet and demanding as it sucked him in and held him tight. He spent a while working you up, making you cream around his dick and getting you nice and dumb before he finally dropped the big one—

Let me hold a bit of money, gorgeous. I’ll get it back to you, promise.

He had made sure to ask it right as he ground the tip of his cock against the gummy spot inside of you, and the rest had been history. You had given him the money with a dopey smile and a hole full of cum, and he had lost it all within the first ten minutes of sitting down at the machine.

Ya win some, ya lose some.

“You’re giving me the silent treatment, now?” He drops onto the cushion beside you, legs spreading wide and arms stretching across the back of it as he leans his head back, turning so his gaze falls on you. “I wanna be mad at that, but…” He lets his eyes take you in, teeth sinking into his bottom lip at the sight of you in a tight familiar, no bra in sight as the material stretches across a pair of heavy tits and hugs a soft belly. Your legs are folded up underneath you, the little shorts you wear leaving your thighs bare. “You look too fucking good to be mad at.”

You roll your eyes but otherwise keep your attention on the tv, and Hakari feels his cock fatten up in his boxers as he tugs on a strand of your hair.

“Quit.” You bat his hand away, finally turning to face him, and he acts on impulse, crowding into your space as he smacks a kiss onto your lips. “Kinji!” You reel back, and he closes a hand around the fat of your hip.

“You’re mad at me, I know. ‘M sorry, just can’t help it with you sitting beside me looking this pretty.” He kisses you again, this time longer, and you let him, your lips eventually moving against his own as you kiss him back. He grins into the kiss before pulling back. “I made a bad bet last time, it happens, but you know I’m good for it. I’ll triple it and get you right in no time.”

He pulls you to sit on his lap, your hot little cunt seated right on top of the bulge in his pants, and his hands smooth up your sides as he gently rocks you back and forth on him, head leaned against the back of the sofa as he looks up at you. “So stop being mad and let me make you feel good, ‘kay?” He gropes at a fat breast, fingers hungrily sinking into the flesh before he’s hooking a finger into your top and tugging it down, tongue licking at his lips as he watches them drop free. “Did you miss me?”

“I guess…but I miss my money more, Kinji. That was for my Christmas shopping!” His hand makes quick work for of his sweats and boxers, pushing them down to his thighs while his other hand lifts you up by your ass.

“Aw, you don’t gotta get me a gift, baby. Just looking at you is good enough for me.” The seat of your shorts (no panties, damn) is tugged to the side, and then you’re tugged back down on his lap, cock sliding through your folds as he gets himself nice and with your slick. You gasp, hands grasping at his shoulders.

“I -ah- wasn’t. It was gonna be for my coworkers -shit, Kinji-, for t-the secret santa.”

“Santa, huh?” He guides the tip of his cock to your hole, tongue trapped between his teeth as it catches. “I’m the only Santa you’ve gotta worry about, and I got a present just for you.” His hips buck up, cock pushing in deep, and your tits bounce in his face from the force, a high moan punched from your lungs as your lashes flutter.

He sinks further down into the cushions, feet planted on the floor as his calves flex, hands holding a tit each as he fucks you with wild abandon, sweat beading at his forehead as he bounces you in his lap. “You still mad at me?”

“Mm-nn,” your nails bite through the fabric of his hoodie and leave crescent shaped moons in his bronze skin. “No.” One hand leaves your chest to come up to his mouth, and he swipes his tongue gud against his thumb before he’s mashing it up against your clit and rubbing.

“You love me?”

“Uh-huh,” your head flies back, neck bared. “Yes, Kinji, yes! So much - I love it so much.”

“I said me, dummy, not my cock.” He huffs out a laugh, head inching forward to take a hard, puffy nipple into his mouth. “Mm, missed my sweet girl, too.” He mutters around you, hands smoothing up your back, over soft handles and up to rounded shoulders. He hungrily sucks at your breast, skin heating, sweltering, and cock swelling.

You start spouting off nonsense, pussy squeezing down tight around him, and Hakari holds you by your ass, quickly swapping your positions so you’re laid back against the cushions, your thighs wrapped around his hips as he pistons in and out of you, mouth still latched to your breast.

“Kinji…KinjiKinjiKinjiKinji!” You come with a shout, cunt holding him tight, and he stills inside you, balls drawing up before he’s groaning from deep in his chest, cum coating your walls with slow, drawn out spurts. He releases your breast with a pop, mouth dragging up your skin until his tongue is sliding in your own mouth to rub along side yours.

Your hands smooth against his face, thumbs petting at the skin under his eyes, and he pulls back a bit, pecking at your lips once, twice, and thrice for good measure. You smile, and he chuckles, the sound low and gravelly.

“You still want your key back?”

“No,” you sigh. “But I do want my money back, with interest.”

[x0xomady]

Uppercut*

pt. 1

harrystyles!boxer x reader!nurse

warnings: violence • fighting • cursing • degradation • smut 18+

(it’s only oral for pt. 1 !)

summary: y/n was hired as an underground boxing nurse. she was skeptical at first, but when she saw the man she was hired to take care of, she was ready.

word count: 2.6k

harry has been fighting since he was 14. it was never legal fights, it was street fights. growing up in the sketchier parts of the area, he gained many techniques that weren’t permitted in legal boxing.

so, when he realized he could fight well, he moved to underground fighting.

the only problem with underground fights is that you get hurt more often. somebody could be completely knocked out and they wouldn’t get help.

luckily, harry was a good fighter. that meant he hardly ever got severely hurt. however, he wanted someone there just in case something did happen to him. the problem was this was he couldn’t get a doctor because this was illegal fighting.

he needed to get someone that wouldn’t tell the police.

y/n was a nursing student. being a nurse is a great job, but she couldn’t make any money until she graduated from school. that was a problem. her parents wouldn’t help her pay for it, so if she didn’t start working soon she would never be able to pay off the debt.

very quickly, y/n became anxious and depressed at the thought of all the debt that was growing in her bank account. her friends noticed it and were worried about her. y/n never wanted to go out because she was so worried about money and how much she was spending.

y/n’s best friend zayn had been there for her since they were kids. she loved him, but she knew he was involved in some shady stuff. zayn felt horrible about all the things she was going through. in his line of work he was making more than enough money to help her, but she wouldn’t accept it.

zayn was selling pain medications to people in an underground boxing ring. he was making a great amount of money. so, that’s where he heard about harry styles. harry was the most successful fighter in the area and was very well known. zayn heard that harry was asking around for a nurse he could hire.

he was nervous about asking his friend to get involved in this world, but y/n needed the money and harry would pay her well. so, he got her the job as harry’s personal nurse.

y/n was shocked to say the least. she was nervous about this job. these were dangerous people she was working with. however, when she saw that harry was willing to pay her $2,000 a night she had to agree.

if she could work this job for a couple months, she could really make a dent in all the loan payments.

tonight was the first night of her new job. she was terrified to say the least. how do you treat someone like this? what if she couldn’t help him? what do you wear to something like this?

she ended up wearing a white long sleeved tee and black leggings. it all started to get real when she got to the place. it was in the basement of a bar in the middle of London. If you didn’t know to look for it, you wouldn’t even notice the bar was there. y/n clutched her supply bag tightly and took a deep breath before walking to the door.

the bar above had hardly anyone in it. as she walked in everyone looked at her and gave her funny looks. y/n looked extremely out of place.

when she told the bartender what she was here for he guided her down the stairs to the arena. once she was down there she was immediately hit by the sound of yelling. there were hundreds of men down here betting on the fights going on in the center of the room.

y/n had no idea where to go, she didn’t even know what harry looked like. she was about to leave when a man approached her.

“are you lost?” he was a tall man that looked quite intimidating.

“i’m looking for harry styles? he hired me to be his nurse.” she swallowed and looked at the man nervously.

“ah i see harry told me to expect you. come with me.” with that he turned around and walked to the hallway. she was nervous, here she was following a strange man into a dark hallway.

they walked around the corner to a room that looked from the outside like an office. the man opened the door and beckoned her to enter. inside there was a man sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone.

“this is harry.” the man told her and left the room at that.

harry looked up from his phone to her. y/n stood next to the door awkwardly, unsure of what to do. his eyes scanned her carefully.

“are you y/n?” he watched her every move like a predator. y/n was terrified to say the least.

“yes.” she nodded.

“hm. okay i’m going out to the ring now. i need you to go out there and watch me so you’re there if i get hurt.” with that he stood up and exited the room leaving y/n shocked.

she hadn’t expected this. he was… hot.

harry had the most gorgeous green eyes he had ever seen and the thickest brown curls. he was incredibly built and had tattoos peaking out from underneath his shirt. she was scared of him but couldn’t help but check him out as he exited the room.

y/n was guided out to stand by the ring. on her way there men yelled and catcalled at her. it was an uncomfortable situation to say the least.

up on the platform there stood a man that was tall but he didn’t look as big as harry. he was pumping up the crowd and yelling taunts at him. harry seemed unbothered by it. he simply took off his shirt and got onto the stage along side the arrogant man.

the announcer stepped up to the platform and introduced the two men before allowing them to start the fight.

instantly they began. the other man swung at harry but he dodged it easily and returned the blow to his face.

the man was knocked to the ground and harry was able to get on top of him. he continued to pound the man’s face a couple more times before he was pushed off.

it was disgusting to see a fight like this. y/n had never seen anything quite this violent. usually, fights were just a couple punches and a jump in the air and then it was over, but this was grueling.

the fight continued for about fifteen minutes before harry really started to go off. he kicked the man in the knee which efficiently made him stumble to the side so harry could corner him.

harry only had a couple marks on his face along with a busted eye, but he was still fine enough to continue fighting. the other man however, looked delirious. he was stumbling around from how many times harry had hit his head and everyone knew he would go down soon.

the fight was finally ended when harry got one final uppercut on the man. he was instantly knocked out and crashed to the floor.

the crowd erupted in cheers. everyone that had bet on harry was making good money tonight. all that could be heard was the ‘harry harry harry!’ chants.

she watched him grab a towel and wipe his face. he looked around the crowd until his eyes found hers. harry smirked at her before jumping down from the platform. everyone was crowding him and patting him on the back as he walked through the crowd.

harry motioned at y/n to follow him. she obliged and followed harry through the crowd. people continued to scream cheers at him as they made their way back to his office.

he sat down on the couch as a few more people entered into the room as well. they handed him a water and another towel to wipe the sweat off. y/n walked over to him and waited until the other people had settled down to start tending to him.

harry noticed her presence still there and said, “well, come fix me up.” he had a smug look on his face as he watched her walk over and sit next to him with her bag. the other people in the room, probably his friends, continued to talk around them.

she noticed the large cuts on his knuckles and decided to start with that before tending to his face.

“it might sting when i clean the cuts.” she said shyly to harry. it was hard to talk to such an intimidating person like this.

“i like the pain sweetheart.” he smirked at her. y/n blushed lightly and applied light pressure to stop the bleeding. harry was right, he didn’t flinch once.

after she finished with his hands she moved onto his face. his friends got up and left around the same time. which left them in a room alone together.

she couldn’t help that her heart rate and nervousness were increasing when they were alone. he didn’t say anything though just leaned back and let her wipe the blood off.

“don’t have to be nervous love, i’m not doing anything.” he smugly looked at the ceiling.

“i’m not.” she lied and continued to put pressure on his cheek where was bleeding a little.

“can practically feel your heart pounding sweetheart.” he laughed a little. y/n’s blush grew as she tried not to make eye contact with him. “why are you so uptight?” he asked her casually.

“just because i’m doing a new thing i guess.” she lied. the real reason she was so nervous was because a hot guy was sitting shirtless next to her and she was trying to get worked up.

harry hummed in response. “you sure it’s not cause’ you’re horny?” he gave her a smug look and y/n’s eyes widened.

“no of course not.” she scooted away a little and tried to hide the growing blush on her neck.

“hm i don’t believe you.” he sat up and put her bag on the ground. y/n was finished anyway so she wanted to leave quickly. “i bet if i checked in your pants right now you’d be all wet.”

y/n was shocked at the abrupt and crude language he used. she didn’t often sleep around so she wasn’t used to somebody talking to her like this. y/n tried to respond to him but she was too stunned to.

“when’s the last time you were fucked love?” he leaned over to be closer to her. y/n was paralyzed she didn’t know whether to run for the hills or tackle him.

“um i don’t know.” her breath was shaky. he was close to her and she could see the outline of his him in his shorts. i guess he was right about liking the pain.

“i could make you feel so good sweetheart.” he leaned forward and whispered into her ear. “will you let me?”

y/n was absolutely stunned. should she let him? “i don’t kno-”

she was cutoff by harry pressing a kiss to her lips. her eyes widened as his soft lips pressed against hers. “is this okay love?”

y/n hesitated for a second before nodding timidly. he smirked and kissed her again hard. she was shocked at how gentle he was being until harry started picking up the pace.

he grabbed her hips and pulled her into his lap. she was blushing brightly at the new position. underneath her y/n could feel his hard cock pressing against her core. she couldn’t help the light sigh that left her mouth at the pressure against her.

“feel how hard you made me sweetheart? was watching your pretty little face the whole time i was up there.” he put a hand around the back of her neck and kissed her hard again.

y/n finally gave in and wrapped her hands into his hair. she had been dying to run her fingers through his curls all night.

“can i taste you baby?” he rubbed his hands across her hips and leaned forward to press kisses along her neck. y/n nodded and continued to run her hands through his hair. “need to hear your pretty voice beg for it baby.”

y/n was embarrassed but also horny so she did it. “please harry.”

“mm that wasn’t very good was it?” he smirked and ran his hands up her waist to rub her sides. “you can do better.”

“please harry i need it.” she was growing needier by the second with the way he was teasing his hands along her sides.

“what do you need baby?” harry asked her. y/n whimpered a bit but obliged.

“need you to taste me harry please.” she looked bashfully at him.

“there we go sweetheart.” he looked smug as he flipped them around so she was on her back. y/n was nervous but quickly shook that off when he grabbed her leggings and pealed them down.

harry threw them to the side and grabbed her thighs, pulling them apart. he smiled brightly and pressed a kiss to her clothed pussy. y/n whimpered at the feeling of his soft lips through her panties.

he nudged his nose against her clit and pulled her underwear down quickly. y/n closed her legs a little at the feeling of his strong gaze inspecting her, but harry snatched her thighs and pushed them open wide.

“don’t hide your pretty little cunt from me baby.” he growled and pressed a kiss to her clit. y/n clenched hard around nothing at that and whimpered out. he smiled and licked her. his tongue danced across her folds. y/n tried to hold in her whimpers and moans but harry wasn’t having it.

“let me hear you sweetheart.” he pushed his tongue into her and nudged his nose against her clit at the same time. y/n instantly let out a moan. his tongue felt so good in her and she had to grasp his hair for support.

harry moaned out at the feeling of his hair being tugged and buried his face into her farther.

he continued fucking her with his tongue for a minute before bringing his hand from her thighs to her cunt. harry pressed his middle finger in and smiled at the way she was writhing on her back.

y/n could feel his cold gold rings against her as he fucked her with his finger. even though it had only been a few minutes, she could feel her orgasm quickly approaching. harry pressed his lips to her bundle of nerves again and sucked hard.

she groaned out and pulled his hair to bring him close to her. everything was so overstimulating. y/n had a hot guy fucking her with his fingers and she was in a sketchy underground bar. what the fuck was she doing with her life?

the thoughts quickly vanished as he pushed another finger into her sopping folds. he quickened his pace for a minute as she approached her orgasm.

“gonna cum sweetheart?” he smirked before attacking her clit with his mouth again.

“yes please harry.” she whimpered out and screwed her eyes shut. y/n didn’t know whether to push his head away or pull it closer as the overstimulating pleasure overcame her. “fuck!”

she finally came as harry found her g-spot and rubbed it harshly. her legs were practically shaking as she came on harry’s face. he helped her through her high by kitten licking her clit gently.

“next fight i’m gonna fuck you.” he smiled and grabbed his stuff before leaving the room.

what the fuck?

[motelofmermaids]

anakin skywalker’s & james kelly’s reactions to seeing your scars for the first time

ok soooo this is a little different from what i usually post… and definitely PERSONAL!!! 😟 kinda in a mood & i’m mainly writing this for me… but if this is somehow comforting to other girlies out there, you’re strong & i adore you!!

cw: mentions of self harm & self harm scars

♥︎ anakin skywalker

anakin had you splayed out on his bed, his lips moving softly against yours—so much so that you were urging him for more. your fingers tangled in his long, soft curls, pulling him further down into you, as if he was your source of oxygen and belonging. “baby,” he coos against your lips, voice hushed and deep. he kissed you until your mind was hazy, and when you hear his voice, feel his lips pull away, you opened your eyes in a daze—blinking them as you smile up at him. he looks proud of you, smiling longingly as he teases the hem of your pants, a silent question of consent; without hesitation, you nod.

and as he tugged gently, pulling them off just above your knees, he suddenly stops. you follow his eyes, to the dozens of fading scars adorning your upper thigh. “oh…” it was dumb, a verbal acknowledgment as if you’d completely forgotten that they were there. when your eyes found his face again you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, your heart shattering at his expression. he looked heartbroken… angry? frustrated? his eyebrows were furrowed together tightly, his lips parted and eyes glossy. “anakin,” you croak out, your mouth suddenly dry and you need to run—to hide. it was dreadful, and when you attempted to squirm away from his piercing gaze, his big hand ever so gently gripped your calf.

“who did this to you?” and now you really wanted to laugh, because, “what… what do you mean, ani? i did.” he swallowed hard, his mouth closing as he nearly pouted at the sight before him. his hand moved, his fingers slightly curling as he hesitated, before he traced them. his featherlight touches made your heart pound violently in your chest, and your lips parted in disbelief. anakin’s eyes finally met yours, his movements stopping. “i’m sorry, baby, did i—“ your face twisted as you finally bursted into tears, covering your face with shaky hands. anakin was panicking, his hands grabbing your wrists—so gentle, as if you’d break—and pulling them away.

“i’m sorry, my love. i’m so, so sorry. i didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he mumbled, his lips pressing against your temple. you flutter your eyes shut, shaking your head. “please don’t be mad at me,” it was nearly incoherent, your breaths shaky and your sobs uncontrollable. “please don’t think ‘m ugly—“ large hands cup your face, wiping away your tears. he placed small kisses on your cheeks, your nose, your forehead. “my love,” he breathes out, pausing to kiss a tear away, “i’m not mad at you… nor would i ever, in my lifetime, think you’re ugly. i love you. i’ll always love you, and i’d do anything… anything to make sure you’re okay.”

it takes you a minute to process, but once you open your eyes, your sight blurry and your lip quivering, you know he means it. he looks so in love. and you hadn’t even realized it, but one of his hands was splayed across your scars, his thumb caressing the skin gently. “these are beautiful… they prove just how strong you are.” he says it so easily, his voice unwavering. “you’re my beautiful, strong, and precious girl. i want you to talk to me, okay? whenever you feel hurt, whenever you’re afraid or angry… i want to be with you for it all.” all you can do is nod dumbly, and he smiles—that smile he only ever gives you, so genuine and sweet.

“i love you too, ani.”

♡︎ james kelly

“ok, so… the appointment is at three.” you had scheduled an appointment for james at the bank, in hopes of getting a loan to start up his auto repair business. he was skeptical, of course, shaking his head slightly. “doll, they aren’t gonna give me a loan.” he lets out a frustrated breath, sitting at the edge of the bed, watching you take out your freshly packed clothes. this had been the first time you’ve spent the night, and he wanted to take it slow—especially after his last relationship. “you don’t know that,” you sigh, pulling down your pajama pants, mindlessly in conversation. “they could give you a loan, james! and this could be the beginning of your business!” you say with a smile, turning to him.

james had his tatted hand covering his mouth, his eyebrows knitted together as he eyed the dozens of scars littering your skin. your gaze moved between your thigh and james, biting on your bottom lip nervously. before you even had the chance to fully process it, james moved to his feet, closing the distance between the both of you. looking down at you, worry and so much adoration mixing in his expression, james parts his lips to speak. “you ok now?” he asks softly, his fingers featherlight as he strokes your cheek. “we don’t have to talk ‘bout it, doll… just wanna know if you’re doin’ better.”

you nod softly, eyes wide and truthful as you gaze into his. “‘m fine, james. it was a while ago… i know they’re not the best to look—“ he quiets you with a gentle kiss, his hands moving to grip your hips. “don’t say that, doll. you’re so fuckin’ gorgeous,” james mumbles against your mouth, pulling you closer to him. “you don’t even get it…” and it sounds so good coming from james’ lips, strained and deep—as if he wanted to devour and worship you all at once. the smile that adorns your face is shy, your cheeks flushing at his praise. the knots that were twisting and turning your stomach into a nervous state eases away, instead being replaced with a comforting warmth.

“now,” james pulls away slightly, hands still comfortably resting your hips, “let’s get to that appointment, baby… and afterwards we’re gonna go on a little date. sounds good?” and who would deny that? who would deny james? you close the distance once more, planting a sweet and lingering kiss on his lips. “thank you for not bein’ weird about it… i really, truly like you.” james’ smile was enough to make your knees wobbly—his deep, blue eyes were no help.

“yeah? well i really, truly like you, too.”

[donald-trump-official]

Ok so I know it’s really easy to think, “oh yeah the trump org conviction is just a million dollar fine, they didn’t even charge trump, it’s nothing but a slap on the wrist”. I understand why it seems that way. Not just because of the pitiful sentence they’re about to receive, but because it still seems as if Trump and his cronies will escape Justice.

But hear me out.

This is just the beginning.

This is absolutely just the beginning of the end of the trump organization.

The trump org has a lot of debt. Like. A shit ton. Donald trump has called himself “the king of debt”, because he built his empire off nothing but loans and over-inflated property as collateral for those loans. Most of the trump org’s wealth is is tied into those properties. Most of the property is tied into the loans. And most of Donald Trump’s wealth is tied into the trump org and it’s properties.

With their still hot and fresh convictions, the trump org’s biggest issue is it’s bank problem. Using fraudulent business records on a bank loan will invalidate the loan. A jury just found that the trump org filed fraudulent business records. It’s a safe bet that right now, banks are auditing their loans with them, to find out if the documents submitted on their applications were fraudulent.

Banks don’t take too kindly to their borrowers lying to them or using fraudulent records to secure a loan. If the banks find out the trump org lied on their loan applications, they’re gonna start calling in these loans. Loans the Trump Org doesn’t have the cash on hand to cover, because their wealth is tied into their assets.

Of course, he could always go out and ask for another loan from a different bank. But since the trump org was just found guilty of falsifying their business records, no bank is ever going to go near them again. Let alone loan them ANOTHER 1 billion dollars. Their credibility as a company who can be trusted with big money loans is dead and gone. They’ve been blacklisted.

Which leaves the trump org and it’s owners in a very precarious situation. They need cash to pay off these loans, but they don’t have it. So they can steal top secret documents and sell them, or they will have to liquidate their assets to garner the cash to pay the loans.

Small problem, though. The Trump Org used their property as collateral, meaning they can’t sell their properties without notifying the banks, getting their approval, and giving the banks their fair share of the final sale. And if they were to try to sell their properties, they wouldn’t be allowed to. Because the trump org overinflated the value of it’s assets to secure the loans in the first place. So the real value of its assets is *much* lower than what the banks were told it was worth, and what they were given in loans. The bank is never going to let them sell their assets for pennies on the dollar. Instead, they’re going to invalidate the loan and make them pay it in full. And if they can’t pay, they will keep the collateral.

Knowing they have shit tons of debt that is likely to be called in, AND that they can’t liquidate their assets to pay it, this leaves the trump org with only one viable option: declaring bankruptcy. A last ditch effort.

Bankruptcy could be an out for them. We’v seen it before. A company declares bankruptcy, moves their assets around, and then reforms under the guise of a different company that has, effectively, a clean slate.

Enter: the state of New York. Also the trump orgs biggest problem.

New York District Attorney Letita James has been investigating the trump org’s finances for years now, uncovering a litany of fraud and tax evasion in the process. She worked in conjunction with the Manhattan DA to bring the charges the trump org was just convicted of. She has filed a civil lawsuit against the trump org, accusing them of a years-long practice of, you guessed it: tax fraud and filing fraudulent business records.

Her lawsuit is now a complete slam dunk. She is arguing that the trump org committed tax fraud and defrauded the state by falsifying it’s business records. Not only does she have all of the trump orgs financial records and bank statements, which in itself is enough to win the lawsuit, but the trump org was just criminally charged with 17 counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Pretty strong and convincing evidence the company committed the crime, if you were a person sitting on that jury.

The lawsuit seeks to revoke the business license of the owners of the trump org in the state of New York, forcing them to relocate the business and apply for a business license in a different state. This would require submitting the company’s business records and getting approval for a business license. And since the trump orgs business records have been proven to be fraudulent, there’s a next to 0 chance they get approval for a license outside of NY. Leaving the trump org stuck in NY and at the mercy of the NYAG.

On top of that, the lawsuit also seeks $250 million in damages, which the trump org doesn’t have the cash to cover. Because their wealth is tied into assets they have used as collateral for loans. If they lose the lawsuit, which is a guarantee, and they don’t have the cash to cover the fine, they are subject to having their assets seized by the state of New York.

So unable to pay off the loans, unable to sell their assets, unable to pay the fine from the lawsuit, and unable to relocate their business to a different state, that brings us back to bankruptcy. The trump orgs last and only option to avoid all of this.

Letita James knows bankruptcy is in the future of the trump org. She knows they would attempt to avoid accountability by declaring bankruptcy and starting a new company to transfer their assets (fun fact, trump started a second company in NY called “Trump Org 2”. It was *that* obvious). So just within the past couple of months, she asked the court to appoint a monitor to oversee the trump org’s finances. And that request was granted.

The trump org now has a court ordered monitor overseeing their finances, effectively freezing them and preventing them from wiggling away. They cannot move around their assets and restructure them under the guise of a different company without the knowledge, and approval, of the court. They also cannot sell any of their assets without the knowledge and approval of both the court, and the banks. And every financial statement or transaction from here on out must be approved by the court, meaning they can no longer file false business records to secure massive loans.

(TL;DR) The trump org has been effectively backed into a corner from all sides. If the banks don’t invalidate their loans, they will default on them because the trump org doesn’t have the cash to pay them. If they do invalidate their loans, they trump org will not be able to pay them, and their assets will be seized by the banks. They cannot sell their assets, because their overinflated value was used as collateral. And they risk having their assets seized by the state of NY, which has also appointed a court ordered monitor that prevents them from declaring bankruptcy to avoid accountability.

Oh, and did I mention that Allen Weisselburg, the trump orgs chief financial officer who was given a plea deal after agreeing to testify against the trump org, testified at trial that Donald trump was personally involved in the crimes he, and the trump org, committed. So the owners of the trump org, trump, ivanka, jr, risk potential criminal prosecution and could face the same felonies as their CFO. Because they were directly implicated in the crimes the trump org was convicted of.

So yeah. On its face, the trump org convictions seem inconsequential. But if you were Donald trump, or any of the owners of the trump org, you would be pissing yourself in fear, backed into a corner from all sides awaiting the first of many death blows to land.

[unluckycactus]

Acquaint Fate bonus scene

Rosalyn, Alberu & Choi Han tell Cale about HeniRoksoo's shenanigans in the destroyed world

◇──◆──◇──◆ ✦ ◆──◇──◆──◇

After Cale busts the meetings in Beacrox's kitchen and confronts everyone, thus making HeniRoksoo no longer a taboo topic, there's this moment—

In-between their plan to drag HeniRoksoo to their world, an unlikely scenario occurs.

It’s late at night. The kids are asleep, so are most adults at the villa.

In a room far away enough to not disrupt anyone, Rosalyn, Alberu and Cale gather. They’re tipsy as fuck (we all know Cale is sober), laughing quite loudly.

Choi Han is there as well, sitting on the far end of the sofa Alberu and Cale sit at as well, looking at a spoon in his hand as if it held the meaning of life.

Rosalyn cackles madly, hitting the armrest of her individual seat as she says:

“Remember when he made the Orsena go bankrupt?"

Alberu's groan says he knows exactly what she's talking about.

"That was nasty."

Rosalyn giggles, swirling her cup of wine.

"Oh, please. You loved it."

"For political reasons, I can't deny nor confirm that statement." They lock eyes, and Alberu breaks character. “Oh, who am I kidding?”

Cale raises an eyebrow, but waits until his friends are done laughing. He knows they will fill him soon enough.

"The late Duke was into gambling." As per usual, Alberu doesn’t betray expectations.

Cale takes a sharp breath, already anticipating the outcome.

"... He did not."

"That punk faked a losing streak and lured the Duke into betting everything he had— and I mean everything, not even the clothes on the Duke's back were left to his name after Kim Rok Soo was done with him."

"Shut up." Contrary to his words, Cale’s tone carries sheer elation and the underlying message of how offended he will be if Alberu dares cut the tale short here.

"But he didn't stop at that. He gave the Duke a grace period to pay the debt and they signed a contract."

"— what did that punk ask for as collateral?"

Alberu’s smile twitched, and Rosalyn was shedding tears, so Cale leaned back expecting something great:

"The Duke's main residence."

"... he made them homeless?" Wow, now he wants to go on a looting spree with Kim Rok Soo. That guy sounded like a lot of fun.

"It gets better." Rosalyn assured.

Alberu nursed his drink and asked mirthfully:

"So, the Duke was forced to ask for a loan— Cale, whose family do you think is one of the major shareholders of the Royal Roan Bank, hm? Who do you think has enough sway to convince them of lending that amount of money in such a short notice?"

Wheeze.

"He didn't stop at that." Rosalyn interjected. "Lady Orsena, that bitch–"

"Gasp!" Cale mock-gasped.

"You know she's a bitch. Anyways, back then, she wasn't quite the successor of House of Orsena yet."

Alberu, always privy to his own kingdom’s political gossip, added on.

“Lady Orsena needed an accomplishment to prove herself in front of the vassals. Eventually, she got word of a land that was up for auction in the south; various intel sources assured it contained high-grade mana stones.”

Cale’s lips twitched.

"He spread that intel.” It wasn’t a question.

“Uh-huh.”

Kim Rok Soo, that bastard—

“... he didn’t make it a cheap investment, did he?”

Alberu threw his head back and barked out a laugh, so Rosalyn took over telling the story.

“Oh no, Rok Soo pulled a you and made Lady Orsena’s pocket bleed, until she won the auction—”

“— only to realize it was money that her family did not have.”

“The mine promised to solve all of their economic problems, but payment was due in a week, so….” Alberu and Cale locked eyes. “Lady Orsena took a loan, and became the new owner of a salt mine.”

Cale’s own eyes started to tear up. This domino-effect level of screwing someone over was just glorious.

“Then Rok Soo waltzed into their main residence a week after that, contracts in hand, and kicked the Orsena out. The Duke’s debt, his own loan and his eldest daughter’s loan had accumulated astronomical interest by then.”

Alberu sounded way too thrilled for someone whose kingdom had a whole dukedom befall into ruin.

“Their contracts had a clause stipulating that, if the Orsena failed to repay at least twenty percent of the debt in half a month, the bank would put their properties up for sale until the entire debt was paid off.”

The three bursted into laughter yet again.

The whole thing was so over-the-top and petty, and yet so satisfying.

“Wait.” Cale suddenly sobered up. “He brought Raon to the casino–?”

Raon normally helped Cale by providing information about his surroundings. He also played an important role in his scams.

Therefore, Cale kinda expected for Rok Soo to make a similar use of the little dragon.

“No, he didn’t let Raon tag along." Everyone turned towards Choi Han, who finally joined their conversation. “Rok Soo-ssi is very good at mathematics. I don’t understand, but the basics is that he kept track of the cards and calculated all the possible hands he could get; the same applied for the other games, he made his bets based on probability.”

Alberu low-whistled.

“... look at that punk go.” Snorted Cale.

“Right? Right?!” Rosalyn looked quite proud.

[rreskk]

Hellloooo

I'm curious about a scenario idea. How would Trevor react if he was the one who decided to break up with female!reader but instead of arguing (what he tried to have) she just blurts out an "okay" and walks away? Would Trevor too upset by this lack of response, stay stubborn and the relationship end or would he be stubborn for a while but go find her?

Haiii! Sorry I've been neglecting old requests. I swear I'm working on them all individually. Thank you for waiting!

Summary: He told you to leave, and you did. Yet he felt regret.

Pairings: fem!reader/Trevor Philips

“ – What do you mean I’M the reason we constantly fight?” He beckoned, eyes glaring into yours, “I ain’t no Hell walking on Earth, [y/n]. I’ve been nothing but an angel to you. I try! You know I try, but why you blaming all these fuckin’ shit at me?”

You rubbed your face in frustration.

Trevor had misplaced some cash into the wrong banks from his illegal doings. Unfortunately, you were notified earlier that day in suspicions of sudden withdrawals and intel’s. It took a painful hour to convince your accountant that there was no illegal products of your sudden (and abnormal) $40,000 income, but a loan that was due from a mismatch a few months back (is what you lied about).

When you questioned Trevor about this, he began feeling antagonised, thinking you were striking an argument for a silly cause.

“All I want, Trevor, is for you to withdrawal that $40,000 drug money into your own account! You can’t be pushing your criminality onto me. I can’t be tag tailed in a few years’ time after they caught your ongoing crime – “

“Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. I ain’t ever getting caught so calm your tits!” He snapped back.

“Just take it out of my account!”

“Stop demanding me.”

“TREVOR!” You cried out in anger.

“FUCKIN’ FINE! I’LL TAKE IT OUT! AND WE’RE DONE!”

Silence.

Trevor was breathing heavily as he choked back the urge to hit the wall. He pulled on his thin locks and grunted, walking in circles.

“What?” You sounded uncertain, almost afraid.

“We’re done,” He made eye-contact with you before throwing his hands up, “Get your shit. Get the fuck out.”

There was a sense of obnoxiousness in his words. Trevor muttered you to leave while kicking the furniture and pouting in the corner. However, you could also tell he didn’t want you to.

Because you had called him on his wrongs, Trevor needs to find an outcome that makes him the believable victim. Ordering you to get out was just a surface that covered how fragile his ego was getting.

Nevertheless, you didn’t want to compliment his dominance anymore. You simply raised an eyebrow and began packing your things. You grabbed the suitcase from his closet and began throwing all your clothes in there, not caring if it’s creased or damaged.

“Hey, uh – “ Trevor quietly said as he watched you, “Where are you… Going?”

“Out.”

“You took that seriously? I didn’t actually tell you to leave, [y/n].”

You gave him a beady glare, “Yes.”

He scoffed to himself and went to speak again, but you were already out of the door. Then the panic began hitting him. Without your presence, the trailer felt cold and lonely.

“No, no, wait!” He’d try to shout from the open window, wanting to capture your attention.

Yet you sat in the car and drove away. The dirt particles from your car wheels leaving behind a seeping trail of your anger and bitterness. Trevor was speechless. His mouth ached open, eyes burning into the distance.

How dare you?

“That… That fuckin’…”

He covered his mouth and then…

“FOR FUCKIN’ FUCKS SAKE!”

[bengiyo]

Dead Friend Forever Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Fluke pulled the gun on the rest of them, possibly shot Top, and told their help that they no longer needed it before disabling the radio. Por bled out after Top removed the tree branch from his stomach. They believe Top may have been the masked murderer based on him having the motorbike. Jin dislocated his arm and may be trapped somewhere with Phee.

Looks like we’ve begun the flashback section. This is a good choice, because I was very burnt out on the cabin section. Three hours with those boys is enough.

Well, at least we get to see Us act again.

Finally, Barcode appears. I missed baby boy.

I appreciate that we know this whole project won’t end well. I don’t have to hope these terrible boys won’t be terrible to Non.

Curious what changes to make them start calling him by his name if they’re so insistent on calling him “Greasy.”

Oof, looks like things are not going great at home for Non’s family. Seems they can’t afford to take care of themselves and an older kid.

Why did Non get upset at the mention of New? Seems like the dad and Non aren’t in a bad place.

Did he just wipe his hand on Top after touching Non? I do not feel bad for your impending death, Por.

Non is also smart.

“Make sure Barcode smiles when he’s applying the sunblock. Even if he’s character is dour as all hell, we gotta get our ad in.”

Have we figured out what medicines Non is taking?

Interesting. Tee is getting pushed around by his loan shark uncle because he needs money for his dad’s medicine.

Did the judges react to Por’s family name or something?

Are these boys really salty that the guy who wrote their goddamn pitch is here to see the result? This is worrisomely representative of how some projects get made. This is partly why so many movies suck now.

Oh ho! Por’s dad is a politician as well. His death is going to be very bad for them if any of them survive.

They’ve had the camera for less than four hours and Top already broke it.

Looking forward to these guys somehow blaming this fuck up on Non…

Well, that didn’t take long. Is Tee going to spin this around to later convince Non to unlock that bank account for him?

Who brings a $5,500 camera to school in the first damn place? If Non is the killer, these fuckers will have earned it.

Baby boy, hang in there!

I want you all to know that I despise every iQIYI app and interface. This episode has crashed on me repeatedly and now the sub timing has desynced by at least seven seconds.

There it is. Tee, I hate you.

Goddamn! I am over these boys. I gotta watch them torment this boy for multiple episodes before he vanishes or dies?

[starlightkun]

❧ word count: 11.9k

❧ warnings: cursing, mentions of death/dead people in the context of him being hades, probably more legal jargon than there should be but i tried to make it as easy to understand as possible i promise, it gets pretty existential at some points but never overtly angsty

❧ genre: fluff, getting together, greek gods/goddesses au, hades jaemin, human reader, nades au, paralegal reader, bit of a ham-fisted persephone allegory, inspired by the gods/goddesses assigned to the work it unit in 2020 for this video, appearances by bestie jeno and coworker yangyang

❧ author’s note: ahhh my first fic back after over a year hiatus!! not super accurate to the original greek myths, i was just havin fun with hades as a concept rather than a strict characterization. i also watched mike flanagan’s ‘midnight mass’ and read john milton’s ‘paradise lost’ during the time i was writing this so get ready for some slight spiritual/religious iconography and overtones. hope y’all enjoy, i had so much fun playing around with my writing in this one!!

❧ spotify playlist

⤷ sequel

The god’s—Jaemin’s—eyes continued to stare you down. It felt like he was looking into your soul. And you wanted him to.

“I didn’t summon you,” you told him cautiously. “Or at least I didn’t try to.”

“Okay, so I’m thinking she could accidentally be pushed into oncoming traffic—”

“And who exactly would be doing this accidental pushing?” You cut Jeno off with a scoff.

Currently, you were laying on your back on your bed, head hanging off the end of it and phone in hand. Your best friend, Lee Jeno, was on the other end of the line, jokingly scheming to get you a job at his workplace. Jeno somehow worked as a legal assistant at the best civil law practice in your city, and you, on the other hand, were unemployed. This was what you got for taking an extra year to get your master’s degree to become a paralegal instead of immediately jumping into the workforce after undergrad.

That was where you and Jeno had met: Intro to Philosophy on your very first day of college as two bright-eyed freshmen with surprisingly similar career goals and the same taste in 00s pop punk bands. Now you were a year and a half past graduating with your bachelor’s, and six months past your master’s. And what had that extra effort gotten you? Many, many interviews that all ended the same way: You’re “an incredible applicant,” but “too educated” for the pay of the position and/or “too inexperienced.”

Jeno, on the other hand, had declined your suggestion to further your education together and instead landed himself a legal assistant job right out of college. So now here you were, living off the remnants of your student loans and savings as you desperately hunted for a paralegal job.

Your best friend’s elaborate plans to get you a job at his firm would typically make you laugh, but this time you couldn’t even muster up a chuckle. Earlier today when you checked your bank accounts during a break from emailing out your résumé, you were confronted with the fact that your savings were running out; you didn’t have enough to even get you to the end of your lease in six months.

“God will, duh,” Jeno said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His current plan was centered around a junior partner’s paralegal dying of a myriad of mysterious causes, and apparently this time involved divine intervention too.

“Oh, right, of course,” you rolled your eyes.

“I’m serious about the fact that Yejin needs to go, though. I have no clue how she’s still employed. And you would be the perfect fit for Ms. Haseul, she kind of does a little bit of everything, but her main focus is general corporate representation. Wasn’t that what you specialized in for grad school?”

“It is, yes.”

“Then there we go!”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Jeno.”

You sighed. All this talk about a job that you’ll never have was bringing down your spirits. “Anyway, I have half a leftover pizza in the fridge calling my name right now. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye, Y/N! I’ll keep my ears peeled for any sign of dissent in the ranks so you can slip your way in!”

“Right, bye.”

Hanging up, another sigh tumbled out of your mouth as you tossed your phone somewhere further up your bed. Truthfully, you weren’t hungry in the slightest, you just wanted to get out of that conversation. You brought your hands to your face to rub circles against your temples and closed your eyes; you were getting a headache. Hanging upside down off the foot of your bed certainly wasn’t helping, but you couldn’t be fucked to move at this point.

A moment of self-pity later and you opened your eyes with all intentions to get up and take your migraine medication, but you froze when you were met by a dark shape. Squinting, it took you a second to process that the shape was someone’s legs and shoes, and you let out a yelp. Startled, you went to twist yourself around to face whoever was in your room, but just managed to fall off your bed instead. You very narrowly avoided snapping your neck, landing on your shoulder instead, eliciting yet another yelp, but this time one of pain.

Scrambling to your feet, you were now face to face with the intruder. It was a man, younger, maybe around your age, donned in all black. Black shoes, black slacks, black suit jacket, and black vest underneath that was buttoned but with a neckline cut plenty low enough to show a good expanse of his chest. He had an eerie beauty to him: his face just bordering on gaunt with pronounced cheekbones, a sharp jawline, and a hint of bags under his eyes as if he had just woken up from a night of restless sleep. But he didn’t seem to have recently awoken, very much alert and well put-together in every other aspect. His black hair was perfectly styled back from his face save for one stray lock towards the middle, and his eyes were so dark they reminded you of black holes, threatening to sweep you away forever into a cold unknown. He had more piercings than you could count in the moment, silver and the odd jewel adorning his ears. The vest showed off four or five separate silver chains around his neck.

“What the hell are you doing in my apartment?” You breathed out, desperately trying to blink away the vertigo from your sudden change in orientation.

The man was between you and the doorway, his body language not indicating that he was blocking your way out intentionally. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his pants as he cocked an eyebrow up at your question. He seemed entirely relaxed and yet the air around you still felt as if it were growing colder by the second.

“I should be asking you that. What the hell am I doing in your apartment?” He repeated your question back to you, amusement in his tone as he studied you from head to toe, then back up.

“What?”

“I was summoned by someone. I’m not summoned often, usually Eros or Aphrodite are at the beck and call of humans.”

The names made your head spin, “Eros? Aphrodite? Like, the Greek gods?”

“Yes, of course.” One of his hands left his pocket, the many rings along his fingers glistening in your ceiling fan lights as he went to push the stray lock of hair back from his face. “Humans are always wishing for love or beauty or fame. Not as often are they wishing for my gifts, or at least not with such an intensity that I’m inclined to entertain those wishes.”

Something about his candor inclined you to ask, “Who are you?”

“I’ve had a couple names. Pluto, and you probably recognize me as Hades. But you can call me Jaemin.”

His words made your heart thunder in your chest once again. You wanted to tell yourself that this guy was crazy, but he sounded so assured and calm that it gave you pause. Not mention that he had just appeared in your home out of nowhere.

“Hades? God of the Underworld? In my apartment?”

“The very same. Please, call me Jaemin. As long as I can call you Y/N.”

“Oh, you know my name already,” you stated weakly.

The god’s—Jaemin’s—eyes continued to stare you down. It felt like he was looking into your soul. And you wanted him to.

“I didn’t summon you,” you told him cautiously. “Or at least I didn’t try to.”

He took a step towards you. “And yet here I am.”

Another step. “I was brought here by a desire, your desire. So, what do you really, really want, Y/N?”

His words dripped off his tongue and wound their way through your mind. “A loved one back from the dead? The death of an enemy? To die yourself? So much money you could never spend it all in one lifetime?”

Another step.

“No, none of those,” you shook your head vigorously, feeling like every sense of yours was alight with his proximity to you. Every sound was deafening, your skin tingled, and the scent of cinnamon and citrus danced around you. One more step and he’d practically be on top of you. “I don’t want any of that.”

Another step. He was right in front of you now, his startlingly cool breath washing over your face as he asked, “Then what do you want?”

“I just—” your hands were clenched into fists at your sides, fingernails digging into your palms as you struggled to find the words. “Want to work at Kim & Moon.”

Jaemin’s head cocked to the side as he studied your face, “Why?”

“It’s the best civil law firm in the city. I know it’s where I belong, if I could just get a job there, I know I’d do well.”

“This job? Does it pay well?”

“I-I don’t know,” you confessed. “Jeno hasn’t ever told me how much he makes, but that’s only part of why I want to work there. If all I cared about was paying my bills, I would’ve taken the first job at any sleazy ambulance chaser’s office I could find. But I’d be wasted on something like that. I’m smart, well-studied, and I’ll be good at what I do. I just know it.”

He chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down your spine.

“Yeah, I like that.”

Then all at once, Jaemin was no longer in front of you, and you felt like you could breathe properly again. He dropped himself onto your bed, settling in to recline leisurely against your headboard, legs crossed at the ankle.

“Alright, I’ll grant your wish,” he declared, slipping one of his rings off to roll it along his knuckles. The silver band caught the light and nearly distracted you from his words.

Pulling yourself out of your momentary trance, you immediately said, “But I didn’t ask you to—”

“Of course you did, or I wouldn’t be here. Do we really have to go through this again?” His eyes were fixed on the ring. “Now do you want that job or not?”

“If I say yes, what do you want in return? I doubt Hades himself is in the business of charity.”

“Smart. There will be an exchange, obviously.”

“Then my answer is no, I don’t want to be selling my soul or something.”

Jaemin suddenly flicked the ring up, watching as it did one, two, three flips in the air before landing in the palm of his hand, “As lovely as I’m sure your soul is, I’m not particularly interested in taking it.”

“Well then what would you want from me?”

“A third of your life.” He said it simply, as if you two were talking about him borrowing a cup of sugar, not your life.

“Wh—”

“Let me finish,” he instructed sternly, firm gaze once again on you. “Spend two-thirds of your year here, then spend the remaining third of it with me.”

“If I take four months off work I won't be able to keep the job you get me.”

“It doesn’t have to be consecutive. Give me your nights and I’ll call it even.”

“Why? Why me? Why would you give me so much for just… hanging out with you?”

He shrugged, “I’m tired of spending all my time with dead people.”

Despite his casual tone, you swore you saw something much sadder flash across his face for a moment. It was gone as soon as you had registered it, making you wonder if you just imagined it. When you remained quiet, chewing on the inside of your cheek in thought, he stood up and crossed the room to once again stop just a mere inch or two in front of you, “Do we have a deal, Y/N?”

A chance to use your degree and skills like you’d always dreamed, just for hanging out with a god every night? It sounded... not quite too good to be true, but definitely too easy. You couldn’t remember Hades being portrayed as a tricksy sort in the myths, and everything Jaemin had done tonight—aside from appearing in your room out of the blue—made you think that you could probably trust him.

“Yeah, sure,” you agreed, looking up from where you had been twiddling your thumbs anxiously to his hauntingly beautiful face. “Do we have to do anything to make the deal official or whatever?”

“What, like a kiss?” He grinned at you mischievously. “Since you asked…”

“Jaemin!” You scoffed, feeling like he was teasing you now.

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“No I didn’t!”

“Anyway, a handshake will do just fine,” Jaemin held his right hand out in the small space between your bodies.

You took it, feeling the cold from his fingers seep into your own, and gave it one firm shake. Before you could take your hand back, he’d tightened his grip and turned it over. His other hand came up to slip a ring onto your ring finger. It was the same silver band he had been playing with before, and it magically changed size to fit your finger perfectly. Jaemin bowed slightly, bringing your hand up to press a feather-light kiss to the knuckle of the very finger he’d just put the ring on. His lips were cool like the rest of him, but you still felt warm at his actions.

“There,” he straightened back up and let go of your hand finally. “That should do it.”

You looked down at the ring he’d just put on your finger. It was a simple silver band of medium width that reminded you of your father’s wedding band.

“Goodbye for now, Y/N.”

“Yeah—” you cut yourself off when you brought your eyes up to see that Jaemin was gone. Staring at the empty space where he just was, you murmured, “Bye, Jaemin.”

That night you dreamt of a man cloaked in shadows guiding you to a tree, instructing you to pick the golden fruit that was growing on it. You gazed at the fruit, in a daze, mesmerized by their beauty. They were so inviting, the man’s voice soothing, and you lifted a hand up towards one.

You groaned against the bright sunlight streaming in through a crack between your curtains. Directly on your face. You threw your left arm over your eyes to block it out as you continued lying in bed, letting your mind and body wake up gradually.

Memories of last night’s visitor came back to you, and you sighed. Surely it was a dream. A weird, weird dream that your mind conjured up in an attempt to fulfill your wish for a job.

But when you squinted your eyes open and brought your right hand up enough to look at your fingers, the silver band that sat there let you know that it was real. You’d been visited last night, by Hades, who said he’d grant your wish for a job in exchange for a third of your life. And you said yes.

The loud sound of your phone buzzing on your nightstand prompted you to roll over and grab it to look at the caller ID. Lee Jeno.

“Yeah?” You couldn’t even muster up a proper greeting as you picked up, still bogged down by sleep.

“Y/N, great news!”

You glanced at the time on your phone before bringing it back up to your ear, “Jeno, it’s not even 9:30 a.m., why are you calling me? You can’t be on lunch.”

“I know, but as soon as I heard, I had to tell you!”

“Tell me what, exactly?”

“There’s a job opening at the firm! You have to apply!”

That woke you up.

“An opening?” You asked, shooting up into a sitting position.

“Jo Haseul, the junior partner at the firm I’ve been telling you about, her paralegal won the lottery and quit on the spot. No two weeks’ notice, they’re urgently hiring her replacement. I’ll text you the firm administrator’s email for you to send your résumé to!”

“That would be great, thank you, Jeno.”

“Of course!” He said brightly as another phone began ringing in the background. “I’ve got to go now, Ms. Kang is buzzing me.”

“Right, thank you again.”

“Bye!”

“Bye,” you brought your phone down to see he had already ended the call.

As you went to grab your laptop from the foot of your bed to begin drafting that email, your eyes got caught by the silver ring on your hand.

A week later and you were walking into your first day of work at Kim & Moon. The firm administrator, Jeong Jaehyun, was showing you around, and finally stopped his tour in an open-floor plan portion of the office where a grouping of eight desks were. A couple of them were empty, the others filled by various men and women hard at work, and also Lee Jeno.

“Y/N!” Jeno waved at you enthusiastically from where he was on the other side of all the desks, and you lifted your hand to give a small wave back.

“Oh, you know Lee Jeno?” Mr. Jeong asked as he guided you over towards your friend.

“Yes, we were in the same undergrad program.”

“Good, it should be easier to settle in with a familiar face nearby.” The administrator smiled as he gestured to the empty desk behind your friend. The one beside it was occupied by another young man incredibly focused on his screen, headphones in as his fingers flitted over his keyboard and he fervently typed out a court document.

“This is your desk, Ms. Y/L/N. Ms. Jo, your attorney, is on a call right now but she has been informed of your arrival. I’m sure she’ll meet with you when she can. In the meantime, please acquaint yourself with your workspace. Your computer is already logged in, and all of your passwords are on the paper right there. Is there anything you need at the moment?”

“No, no. Thank you so much, Mr. Jeong,” you bowed your head politely to him.

“Of course. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.” He pointed to the landline sitting on your desk next to the computer monitors, “I have a quick-dial button right next to Reception’s. Buzz me if you need something.”

“I will, thank you.”

And with that, Jeong Jaehyun took his leave of the pod that you were in. You sat in your chair, taking in the sparse supplies on your desk: two computer monitors, keyboard, mouse, a landline phone, a couple pens, and one sheet of paper laid across your keyboard. It was a list of your login credentials for your computer, work email, and the firm’s file management software, along with Mr. Jeong’s extension and quick-dial button name.

You turned back around to where you knew Jeno was already waiting for you. Your friend was practically vibrating with excitement in his own desk chair.

“This is so exciting!” Jeno exclaimed, momentarily drawing the attention of all the other employees in your vicinity before they went back to whatever they were doing. He continued on much quieter, “I told you you’d kill it at your interview.”

“Right,” you nodded, trying not to think about the silver ring on your right hand. “Thanks, Jeno, I’m excited to start.”

“I’ll give you the rundown of everyone at the firm, come here,” he scooted his chair over to make room for you to roll yours up to his desk.

His fingers quickly flitted across his keyboard and mouse to pull up the firm website. Hovering over the tab labeled ‘Our Attorneys,’ you saw a list of names drop down. He clicked on the first one, Kim Chaeyoung. It pulled up a profile, the picture showing a very determined older woman, her arms crossed over her chest as she very resolutely stared down the camera.

“This is Kim Chaeyoung, the ‘Kim’ in Kim & Moon. She’s the most senior attorney at the firm, and mostly does corporate compliance and medical malpractice law. She just stepped down from being managing partner at the end of last year.”

He clicked the next name on the list, Moon Taeil. This time a man was on your screen, a bit older than you, but not by too much. No more than ten or fifteen years for sure, quite young to be a managing partner at such a large firm. His gaze wasn’t quite as intense as Kim Chaeyoung’s, but it held an intelligence and wisdom clearly beyond his years.

“Mrs. Kim stepped down to let this man, Moon Taeil, take over as managing partner. Something about wanting younger blood in charge but…” Jeno looked around the pod before he dropped his voice to a whisper so soft you had to lean in to hear him, “The rumor is that Mrs. Kim is going to announce her retirement at the holiday party at the end of this year.”

“And what sort of law does Mr. Moon do?” You questioned.

“Mostly insurance litigation. He tends to get the nastier incidents though: shootings, stabbings, fires, the odd dog bite.”

You then went through the senior partners before getting to the first of the junior partners on the list.

“And here is Jo Haseul, your attorney. She’s the most senior of the junior partners, and rumors also say that she’s going to be made a senior partner by the end of this year.”

“You love your office gossip, don’t you?”

You studied the woman on screen. She was younger than you had expected, a fierceness in her eyes that both intimidated you and inspired you to follow her wherever she led.

“This isn’t even the juicy stuff, wait until you hear about the affair Mr. Noh supposedly had with his assistant in the 80s,” Jeno scoffed, then turned his attention back to the woman on screen. “Anyway, Ms. Haseul is Mrs. Kim’s protégé. She mostly does general corporate matters, medical malpractice, and the occasional pro bono representation for women in need. Restraining orders, child custody, divorce, whatever comes in the door. If you really want to get to know her, ask about those cases.”

“She sounds incredible.”

“I told you you’d be perfect for each other.” Your friend then pulled up the next junior partner, “This is Kim Doyoung, he’s Mrs. Kim’s son but you’d never be able to tell by how they act around each other. All business. I think he doesn’t want people to assume he only got his position because of his mother, but nobody who has actually spoken to Mrs. Kim would ever think she’d do something like that. She’s got some serious integrity.”

Jeno was about to move on to the next attorney profile, a ‘Qian Kun,’ when you heard a ringing from behind you.

“Oh, that’s you, Y/N!”

You quickly wheeled yourself back over to your desk, picking up your desk phone after the third ring, “Y/L/N Y/N speaking.”

“Ms. Y/L/N,” a woman’s voice was on the other end, and when you glanced at the caller ID, you saw ‘Jo Haseul’ across the screen. “This is Jo Haseul. Please come to my office now.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’m down the hall. Ask another assistant if you need help finding it.”

“Will do, thank you.”

She hung up, and you rushed to stand up. Grabbing one of the pens you saw earlier, you frantically scanned for a notepad to write with, but there wasn’t one on hand at your desk. You whipped around to face your friend, “Jeno, do you have a notepad I can use? Ms. Haseul wants to see me.”

“Here,” he handed you a notepad slightly bigger than your hand, spiral-bound at the top.

“Thank you!”

“The attorney offices are down that hall,” he pointed. “And Ms. Haseul’s will be on your left.”

“Got it, thanks!” You hurried in the direction he gestured.

Thankfully, everyone’s names were engraved on metal nameplates on the doors, making it easy to know when you had stopped in front of your attorney’s. Rapping your knuckles against the wood, you waited for a response.

“Come in.”

You entered already bowing, “Y/L/N Y/N, ma’am. It’s an honor to be here and I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with you.”

Jo Haseul appraised you for a moment from where she was sat behind her desk. She then nodded, “It’s nice to meet you. Now please sit, Y/L/N.”

“Yes ma’am,” you quickly sat in the armchair she had gestured to.

After brief introductions, Ms. Haseul gave you the rundown of the kinds of cases she tended to deal with—which generally lined up with what Jeno had told you earlier, her management style, workflow, and an overview of the duties you’ll be expected to fulfill as her paralegal. At the end of it, you left with pages of notes, a stack of papers in your arms, and your first tasks to do for her.

Stopping at your desk, you didn’t even sit as you organized the papers into three stacks: to correct, to file, and to copy. You picked up the last stack of things that Ms. Haseul wanted copies of, then turned to your friend, “Hey, Jeno, where’s the copier?”

The assistant sat at the desk beside yours was the one who spoke up in response, his headphones set aside now, “Oh, I’m going there right now, I’ll show you!”

“Thanks, Yangyang,” Jeno said, then nodded for you to go along with the other man.

Yangyang grabbed his own paper before leading the way out from the desks. He took off in the opposite direction from the offices down a different hallway, “It’s down this hall, first door on the right.” He then opened said door to reveal a room with four large copy machines in it.

“I’m Liu Yangyang, by the way,” your coworker introduced himself, stopping in front of one machine. “I’m Qian Kun and Dong Sicheng’s legal assistant. They’re Ms. Haseul’s associate attorneys that work under her so you and I will overlap quite a bit. Sicheng usually handles corporate matters with Ms. Haseul while Kun does the med mal portion.”

“I’m Y/L/N Y/N. It’s nice to meet you, Yangyang.”

“You too, Y/N. And I’m sure you’ll meet my attorneys at some point today. I apologize in advance, and yes, they are always like that. Kun’s a workaholic who would be here until two in the morning if somebody didn’t send him home, and Sicheng… you are allowed to say no to him, and I encourage it, actually. Booksmart but doesn’t quite get social cues. I’ve seen him accidentally sweet talk his way into having an assistant pick up his dry cleaning before.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah, I had to intervene to ensure feminism wasn’t set back fifty years,” Yangyang scoffed.

“Women everywhere commend you for your service to the cause, Yangyang,” you nodded solemnly, to which your coworker snickered.

“The dude’s wicked smart but dumber than a box of rocks. Associates, you know?” He shook his head then returned to instructing you about the machine.

After Yangyang had shown you how to use the multipurpose machine—scanning and uploading, printing, copying, faxing—he took the copies that he had made and left you there. Nobody was at the other copiers, making you the only one in the room. You took a deep breath to compose yourself after having so much information thrown at you from all sides. Right now, at this moment, all you needed to do was make a copy.

Putting the first document in where Yangyang had shown you, you’d just started tapping the touchscreen through to the copying option when a dark figure appeared at the edge of your vision. Your head snapped up to look at the man leaning against the wall beside the copy machine you were at.

You hadn’t seen Jaemin since the night you’d made your deal. You’d spent the entire next night anxiously waiting for him to appear, but he never did, and you eventually gave up and fell asleep. He didn’t come any night after that, and you kind of thought he might’ve forgotten about you, or maybe didn’t really want you to hold up your end of the deal. Realized that he could find better company than you.

But here he was, in your workplace, smirk on his face and delight in his tone, “Surprise! I came to visit you on your first day of work. I’m so proud!”

First rolling your eyes at the sarcasm in his words and the fake tear he wiped away, you then fervently glanced towards the door to the copy room, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m checking on my investment,” he answered coolly.

“What, me? You can check on me at my home tonight, not at my job on my first day of work! Somebody could walk in, how would I explain you?”

“Nobody’s coming.”

“The deal was that I would give you my nights. Sun’s still up.”

“Yes, you’re doing just fine,” he nodded as he adjusted his black tie, seeming satisfied with his ‘check in.’ “I’ll see you tonight, Y/N.”

And he was gone in the blink of an eye.

You immediately flopped down onto your couch when you got home that night. That was the most work you’d done in a while; you were tired both physically and mentally. But it was a good sort of tired. You finally had a job.

“Hi, honey, how was work?”

You shot up at the voice, knowing exactly who it was. Jaemin was poised in your armchair, half a smirk already on his lips. He was in all-black again, though a slightly different suit from last time, his slacks and suit jacket had thin dark grey pinstripes, over a black silk dress shirt with the top three buttons open.

“Oh, uh, it was good,” you said.

Silence fell over you two, and you started fidgeting uncomfortably as it dragged on. Finally, you said, “So... what do you want to do?”

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“I feel like you already know the answer to that, but no. I just got home.”

“Let’s get dinner then. Where would you like to go?”

“Uhm...” you wracked your brain for some places nearby. “There’s a ramen place down the street. Let me change out of my work clothes first, hold on.”

Re-emerging from your bedroom in more casual clothes, you saw that Jaemin had moved from his spot on your armchair and was instead standing, gazing out the window. And again, for a brief moment, you could’ve sworn he looked... lonely.

“I’m ready,” you announced yourself. It felt wrong to keep looking at him like that.

Jaemin turned around, focusing a dazzling smile on you, “Lead the way, Y/N.”

The place you were thinking of really was just a couple blocks down the street. Mumbling a thanks to Jaemin as he held the door open for you, you were immediately met with a packed restaurant. It was seat-yourself, and you managed to spot a small table for two in the very back corner, right beside the entrance to the kitchen. Guiding Jaemin over to it, you felt your face turn warm as he pulled your chair out for you.

The menu was a singular piece of laminated paper taped to the tabletop, and your eyes skimmed it. You ordered the same thing every time at this point, but it was something to look at other than the god in front of you. Speaking of, he was a god. Did he even need to eat?

“Jaemin.” You said his name as you looked up from the menu.

His eyes flicked up from where they’d also been reading the options, “Hm?”

“Do you even eat, like, normal food?”

“I can if I want to, I just don’t need it to survive like you do.”

“Oh, I see. And do you... like it?”

“Quite.”

It was then that a familiar waiter came up to your table, “Hi, Y/N! It’s been a while. Almost didn’t recognize you at a table instead of the bar.”

Typically, you would come by yourself and sit at the bartop to eat alone alongside all the other solo patrons. You rolled your eyes at the slight jab, “Thank you, Chenle, I feel so welcome.”

“Aw, you know you’re one of my favorite regulars,” the young man snickered.

“Yeah, whatever. Sorry I haven’t been by lately, I didn’t exactly have the funds to eat out.”

“That’s okay. But you’re back, does that mean that you found a job?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Congrats!” He then focused his attention on the man across from you, “Hi, I’m Zhong Chenle.”

You moved to introduce the two before Jaemin could open his mouth, afraid of what he would’ve said. “Chenle, this is Jaemin, a... friend of mine. Jaemin, this is Chenle, he’s a server here.”

“And I’ll be serving you two tonight. So, what can I get you?”

After taking your orders, Chenle took off to put them in. You shifted in your seat awkwardly. What were you and Jaemin even supposed to talk about?

“You usually sit at the bar?” Jaemin questioned.

“I’m not an alcoholic, despite how Chenle made it sound,” you scoffed. “I usually come by myself, and the bar is the quickest place to get your food and get out. And that way I don’t take up any tables that groups can use.”

“I feel honored that you brought me here, then.”

You searched his face for any hint that he was teasing you, but all you found was sincere curiosity. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, you changed the topic, “So why did you show up tonight? You didn’t come all last week.”

“Well, I had to hold up my end of the deal first.”

“Right, that... makes sense.” Realizing that you hadn’t even thanked him for whatever he’d done for you, you added, “Thank you, Jaemin. For you know, the job.”

“You’re welcome.”

Chenle returned then with a small bottle of soju for each of you, informing you that your food would be ready soon.

“So is it everything you’d dreamed of? Working at Kim & Moon?” Jaemin asked before lifting his bottle to his lips.

“Today was only my first day but... yes. I’ve already learned a lot, was listened to when I spoke, and the partner I work for seems like an incredible woman so far. It’s wonderful.”

“I hope it stays that wonderful for you, Y/N. I’d like to see your eyes light up like this often.”

Looking down at the green bottle in front of you, you twisted your ring around your finger nervously. You didn’t know what to say back, your heart fluttering around in your chest. Jaemin was charming, too charming for your own good, and you sort of felt like you really shouldn’t have expected any less from a god.

“Are you curious?”

You snapped your head up to look at your companion, not even attempting to hide your confusion at his words, “About what?”

“What I did, to get you the job.”

“I mean, I am. I assume you had something to do with Yejin winning the lottery? You’re the god of everything below the Earth, including precious gems, gold, silver. The god of riches, wealth. In the modern day that would translate to how we view wealth and riches now, since I’m not really out here buying my groceries with rubies and gold coins. Right?”

Jaemin’s obsidian eyes practically glittered as he listened to you speak, his lips curling up at one corner before he took another swig of his soju. When you were finished, he set the bottle back onto the table to answer your question, “Hit the nail on the head.”

“Honestly, I’m just glad you did that instead of killing her or something horrible.”

His head jerked back as he looked at you with bewilderment, “Now why would I do that? I’m the god of the dead, not death. If you wanted her dead you’re talking to the wrong deity.”

“I don’t want her dead, that’s my point. That’s what Jeno was joking about on the phone before you showed up; I didn’t want you to get any ideas.”

“I don’t really find it fun to just push people into traffic.”

“So you were listening to—” You cut yourself off as you saw Chenle approaching with your food. Not a conversation to be having in front of your normal human waiter.

After he had left your table again, you returned to what you were saying before, “So you were listening to our conversation.”

“Can’t help myself, I’m nosy when it comes to the humans who summon me,” Jaemin admitted.

“So what does Hades do for fun then?” You asked lightheartedly, slurping at some of your broth.

“While I don’t necessarily enjoy pushing people into traffic, I do find it much more fun to let a human become suddenly awash with money and watch what happens when they eventually lose it all. See what they spend it on, who they spend it on. Themselves mostly, sometimes others, trying to get people to be their friends or lovers simply because of what they’ll buy them. I’ll watch them do what humans do best, use and abuse the gifts that were given to them. And then once they’ve been sucked dry both in their finances and their souls, find out how they try to move on.”

“Is that what you’re doing with me?” You set your spoon down, voice wavering. “Watching and waiting for me to end up like that?”

Jaemin took a pause, shifting forward in his seat before responding, “One of my favorite things about humans is how resilient you are. Always trying to bounce back. It’s fascinating to find out your breaking point, when you have no more bounce left.”

An absolutely devilish smile played across his features as he seemed to take delight in the notion. He didn’t exactly answer your question, but the lack thereof felt like enough.

“Why?”

“Because it’s different for every person, and always further than I think it’ll be. Even after so long, knowing that humans can still surprise me, it’s refreshing. Makes me think that…”

You blinked at him, waiting for him to finish. He was definitely well aware that he had your rapt attention, basking in the drama he had created by pausing. His eyes settled on you firmly, holding eye contact as something softer entered them.

“Maybe you’ll surprise me, too.”

Jaemin came back to your apartment with you after you’d decided you were full. You hadn’t had much of an appetite after that harrowing conversation over dinner, and he’d left you with a lot of thinking to do. It wasn’t every day that you heard a god’s perspective on human lives—on toying with human lives, watching for their eventual breakdown in the aftermath of the ‘gifts’ he gave them. If that’s what it did to them all, it seemed much more like a curse to you.

And you were of course thinking about whether it would happen to you too. You hadn’t wished for riches or wealth directly, definitely not so much that it would have the same effect on your life as winning the lottery. But that didn’t mean that you weren’t worried. And the idea of Jaemin watching you every step of the way, waiting to see when you’d slip up, when you’d meet your breaking point, made you shiver instinctually.

“Are you cold?” Jaemin’s question broke the silence that had been hovering over you two since you started the walk from the restaurant back to your apartment.

“Oh, no, I—”

But he had already shrugged his suit jacket off and laid it over your shoulders. There was no residual body heat in it, but it did help block out some of the breeze blowing past you. You hadn’t noticed the temperature at all, too wrapped up in your own thoughts.

“Thanks,” you muttered, wrapping the jacket tighter around your shoulders. It smelled faintly of spiced citrus.

“No worries.”

Back in your apartment, you wanted nothing more than to lay in bed staring up at your ceiling as you gave yourself over fully to the existential crisis you were descending into. But you still had a god to entertain.

A glance at the change in time on your stovetop clock let you know that you were only a couple hours into your commitment. You hoped he didn’t expect you to stay up all night with him. Leaving Jaemin in your living room once again, you changed into pajamas in your bedroom. If he was going to be with you every night from here on out, you were at least going to be comfy for some of it.

Jaemin was back in the armchair he had appeared in at the beginning of the night, one knee crossed over the other and a book in hand. You paused behind him on your way back into the living room to peer over his shoulder, trying to read the title at the top of the page he was on.

“The Turn of the Screw?” You questioned, walking around him to plop down onto your couch.

“I found it on your shelf,” he gestured to the built-in shelves in the walls around the recess that held your TV. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Knock yourself out, I haven’t touched it since I had to read it for a ghost literature class like… four years ago.”

“Ghost literature class?” Jaemin lowered the book to rest on his leg while he regarded you with an eyebrow raised. “Did you go to school in the Underworld or something?”

“It was actually called like ‘Ghost Stories and Haunted Fiction of the 19th Century’ or something. The students just called it ghost lit. We read all these spooky stories, including The Turn of the Screw,” you explained, then looked around your living room. “I have a few more of them around here somewhere. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein— I can’t remember the full reading list, but they’re scattered around.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He raised the book back up to continue reading intently.

Since he seemed occupied for the moment, you pulled out your phone to distract yourself.

A couple hours later and you let out your first yawn of the night. You’d thought that Jaemin was so enraptured by the book that he wasn’t paying any attention to you. The chuckle he gave from across the room proved you wrong, however. There was definitely nothing funny in that story. You threw him a scowl, but he neither looked up from the book nor said anything.

Shifting in your spot to get comfy again, you returned to the article that you’d been reading on your phone and your guest was quiet once again. Another yawn split your mouth, and the words on your screen swam in your vision as your eyes teared up.

“Tired, Y/N?” Jaemin’s eyes still hadn’t left the book as he continued, “You should go to sleep, early day at work tomorrow, right?”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I thought I’d finish this book, if that’s alright with you. I’ve got about… thirty, forty pages left.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” you were surprised both that he was encouraging you to go to sleep during the time you’d agreed to forfeit to him, and that he wanted to finish the book.

Standing up from the couch, you shuffled into your kitchen to fill up a glass of water. After knocking back your nightly medication, you placed the water on your nightstand and went into your bathroom to do your nighttime routine. You found yourself hovering at the threshold between the hallway that contained your bedroom and bathroom, and the living room. It felt weird to just go to bed with someone else in your home, at least not without saying goodnight to them.

“Uhm,” you cleared your throat.

Jaemin turned to look at you from over the back of the armchair, “Yes, Y/N?”

“I just wanted to…” you felt the words catch in your throat. Pushing through your awkwardness, you twisted the ring around your finger as you forced the words out, “Goodnight, Jaemin.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He smiled at you before turning back around to face his book, “See you tomorrow.”

And with that, you retreated into your bedroom for the night, falling asleep almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.

The man of shadows was in your dreams again that night, drawing you to the tree with the golden fruit. His voice once more invited you to partake in picking the fruit, and your hand inched up, up, up, towards one. Your fingers had just wrapped around the fruit, ready to pluck it off the branch, when you woke up.

When you awoke the next morning, you went through the motions of your morning routine, strolling from your bathroom out to your kitchen, toothbrush sticking out of your mouth. You continued brushing your teeth with one hand as you grabbed the freshly popped toast from the toaster to put on a plate. As you went to lean over the kitchen sink to spit the toothpaste foam out of your mouth, your eyes got caught on something in the living room, which the sink overlooked. There was a small black pouch sitting on the coffee table, on the corner closest to the armchair.

After wiping your mouth off, you walked over to your coffee table, intrigue building as you picked up the velvet drawstring pouch. Looking around, you were only greeted by your empty apartment. This wasn’t here last night. Or at least, not before you went to sleep.

Pulling it open, you gently shook the contents out onto your palm. It was a silver bracelet, intricate filigree running along the band that was inlaid with gorgeous green and blue gems.

Jaemin’s words from dinner last night echoed in your head.

‘I do find it much more fun to let a human become suddenly awash with money and watch what happens when they eventually lose it all… It’s fascinating to find out your breaking point…’

A foreboding feeling colored your vision, and you rushed to tuck the bracelet back into the bag and throw it onto the table.

When Jaemin came that night, you were cooking dinner in your kitchen. He appeared there with you, leaning against the counter next to your sink as you were standing over the stovetop.

“Good evening, Y/N,” he greeted you.

“Hello, Jaemin.” You steeled your nerves, giving as nonchalant of a nod as you could towards the living room, “You left something here last night. It’s on the coffee table.”

The god regarded you with a tilted head, and you felt his eyes on your empty wrists, “That was for you.”

“I didn’t ask you for anything like that.”

“I know. It was a gift.”

“The job was plenty, Jaemin.”

He was silent as he continued to watch you cook. After a grueling couple of minutes of absolute silence, his eyes burning into you the whole time, you finally turned to properly look him in the face. Throwing on a smile, you informed him, “Dinner’s ready. Ravioli, would you like some?”

“Yes, please.”

You set two places at your dinner table before plating two portions of the pasta. Jaemin was still in his place next to the sink, observing your movements.

“Go ahead and sit, I’m just going to grab a couple glasses,” you gestured towards the kitchen table.

Without even waiting to see if he’d obey, you bustled over to a cabinet and took out two wine glasses, then grabbed a bottle of white wine you’d been meaning to finish off. When you turned back to the kitchen table, you were pleasantly surprised to see Jaemin waiting there patiently, fidgeting with his silverware. Setting the two glasses down, you noticed that Jaemin’s silverware was in different places than you had put them in when you hastily set the table. The fork was on the left of the plate, the knife and spoon on the right with the knife directly beside the plate and the spoon on the other side of the knife. Yours on the other hand were in the haphazard places atop the napkin that you had put them earlier.

“Apologies for the subpar fork placement,” you said, uncorking the wine to begin pouring it out first for Jaemin.

“Oh, it’s just a habit,” he explained. His tone then turned as teasing as yours had been, “My apologies for making you think your fork placement was anything other than above par.”

You then poured for yourself as you continued the banter, “Yeah, you know, I really pride myself on my utensil arranging skills. My feelings have been gravely wounded. I’ll never recover from this.”

“Then would you consider taking this,” he procured a small black pouch from his pocket, and you had a suspicion as to exactly what was in it, “as repentance, with my sincerest apologies?”

A bitter sigh came out of your mouth at him ruining the perfectly normal moment you were enjoying, “Jaemin, I told you I don’t want any more gifts from you.”

The way you spat out the word ‘gifts’ was apparently a lightbulb moment for him as he set the pouch down on the table and all playfulness dropped from his face. Disinterested in whatever he was going to say to try to convince you to take it, you picked up your fork, using the side of the tongs to cut one of your raviolis in half.

“Y/N…” he said your name almost wistfully, leaning forward towards you earnestly. “I really do just want you to have it. It’s not a test or a ruse, just… a token.”

“A token of what?” You snorted, spearing half of the ravioli that you’d just cut and bringing it up to your mouth.

“My affection?”

You choked momentarily on the pasta in your mouth, chewing and swallowing it as quickly as possible and taking a sip of your wine to wash it down. Jaemin still hadn’t touched his food, utensils undisturbed as he waited for you to collect yourself. When you searched his face for a smirk, a mischievous glint in his eyes, anything to indicate that he was being less than truthful, you found none. You were just met with deep open pools of black in his eyes, his mouth set in seriousness, and his hand once again holding the pouch back out to you.

“Your what?”

“I know you heard me.”

“Yes, and now I’m asking for clarification.”

“I find you fascinating, and not in the morbid kind of way like I described to you last night. I’ve found myself starting to become fond of you, and I wanted to show that to you with a… present.”

“What, like getting your puppy a new chew toy because they’re so darn cute?”

Jaemin chuckled, “Not quite. But still, will you please accept it, Y/N?”

You thought it over for another moment, chewing on the inside of your cheek. He was being sincere, you were sure of it. You’d caught brief glimpses of the kinder side to Jaemin just in the few times you’d met him: when he’d leant you his suit jacket walking home last night, telling you he was hoping you’d continue being in love with your job, the gentlemanly peck he’d left on your fingers the night you’d made your deal. And now, as he patiently awaited your answer.

“Alright,” you agreed, taking the small bag from him. “Thank you, Jaemin.”

“Thank you for letting me give it to you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Pulling the bracelet back out of the pouch, you saw that it had a hinge mechanism on it that you couldn’t manage one-handed, and held it out to the god sitting in front of you, “Will you help me put it on?”

“Of course,” he took it, opening the band up with ease.

You held your right hand out towards him, and he brought the open bracelet up around your wrist. But you weren’t watching the way his deft fingers put it on around your wrist, the tips of them brushing over the sensitive skin at your pulse point, leaving coolness behind. You were watching his face as he focused on the task intently, his brows furrowing in concentration then relaxing after the bracelet had clicked shut. A small but tender smile took over his face, his eyes softening as he turned your hand over palm down, thumb running up your ring finger until it reached the silver band that resided there.

Your skin buzzed in the wake of his touch, an electric cold. You could hear your heart thudding in your ears and hoped that he didn’t have supernatural god hearing or something and could hear it too. If he did, he gave no indication of such. He withdrew his hands, leaving you more dazed than you should’ve been at the minimal contact you had. Jerking your hand back to your side of the table, you turned your gaze down at your food, trying to ignore how hot your cheeks were.

A light laugh came from Jaemin, but you couldn’t force your eyes back up to him, knowing that his were already on you.

That night you dreamt once more of the man cast in darkness, leading you to the tree of golden fruit. This time when he encouraged you to pick one, you grasped at the fruit with two hands, pulling it right off the branch with a firm tug.

Just about one month into your… arrangement with Jaemin, you were rooting through your fridge for something to make for dinner when there was suddenly a cool breeze on the back of your neck. Except you were indoors.

Spinning around, you were immediately met with the god extremely close to you, and let out an exasperated sigh, “God damn, Jaemin, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“I can’t help it if I make your heart race,” he grinned, the mischievous glint in his eye making your heart pound in a different way that it had been.

“Yeah, because you jumpscared me,” you rolled your eyes, shutting the fridge doors to then lean back against the appliance. “Anyway, it’s not looking like I have anything to make for dinner. You okay with eating out tonight?”

“More than, I was actually hoping you’d let me take you somewhere tonight.”

“Where?”

“My place. You’ve been such a gracious host this whole time, it’s time I repay the favor.”

“Your place, as in... the Underworld?”

“Yeah, why not?” He shrugged nonchalantly, an enticing grin on his features. A grin that invited you to follow its owner to places you’d never been before. “I promise you’ll come back.”

“In one piece?”

“Of course.”

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t intrigued, that you hadn’t tried to picture what the Underworld looked like. All you could come up with was the standard image of hell: flames, pitchforks, eternal torture. But now you were getting an invitation to go there with Hades and come back alive.

“And I’ll be back in time to go to work in the morning?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Alright, sure,” you finally acquiesced. “I’d love to, thank you for inviting me.”

Jaemin offered his hand out to you then, and you placed your atop. He gave yours a light squeeze, “Just focus on me, Y/N. Just look in my eyes.”

“Okay?” You agreed despite your tone pitching it up into a question, unsure of why exactly he was asking you to do that.

Nevertheless, you settled your gaze on his eyes, even as he drew you in closer by the light grip on your hand. You gave him an awkward half-smile, unsure of what exactly to do as you just stared him directly in the eye. His dark eyes had a calming effect, however, as you felt your breathing even out and your heartbeat slow. This close to him, and being able to unabashedly look at him, you were entranced by the unearthly quality to his beauty. It should have been disquieting, this spectral vision in front of you, but you just found yourself drawn even closer in body and mind.

Then suddenly everything around you was darker, as if someone had dimmed your kitchen lights. The air was cooler too, and you had the suspicion that you were no longer in your kitchen. But you were still looking at Jaemin, just like you said you would.

He was looking right back at you, unflinchingly, and a fond smile crossed his lips before he announced quietly, “We’re here. You can look.”

And you finally tore your eyes from him to take in your new surroundings. It was dark, just like you’d noted before, as if it were nighttime. The room you were in had black floors, black walls, and at the very tippy top of the black vaulted ceiling, a black wrought iron chandelier with flames glowing... blue? But you couldn’t focus on the flickering up above you as Jaemin’s fingers entwined with yours and he gently tugged you towards the other side of the room.

“Come on, this way.”

It looked like you were maybe in an entrance hall of some sort. It was then that you spotted a large black throne adorned with silver detailing and embellishments at the front of the room. Jaemin kept walking right past it, though, down an adjoining hallway.

Your wide eyes that had been taking everything in turned downwards to your hand that was holding Jaemin’s. His skin was the usual coolness you had come to expect, and your fingertips brushed against the multitudes of rings on his fingers. Seeing the lone silver band on your hand, the one that he was holding, made your face hot for some reason.

You passed through another doorway into a dining room. It contained a large dining table crafted from dark walnut wood, the twelve high-back chairs around it made of the same. A deep red table runner went across the length of the tabletop, matching the upholstery of the chairs. A feast was already laid out, and place settings for two of the seats were prepared.

Jaemin let go of your hand to pull out a chair for you. You thanked him quietly as you sat down, eyes still scanning over the food options. He sat in the chair caddy-corner to yours, at the head of the table.

“Go ahead, Y/N,” Jaemin encouraged you as he reached forward to grab the bottle of wine that had been on the table as well.

“Everything looks... so good,” you said, not sure what to try first.

He uncorked the bottle, pouring the red wine into your glass first, then his. When he put the bottle down, you still hadn’t moved, too overwhelmed with all the delicious-looking choices.

“Do I need to make your plate for you?” He teased, already standing and grabbing your plate.

“This is good, you’ll probably like this one, oh you’re going to love this one, everyone likes that, mmm definitely not that,” he mumbled to himself as he loaded up your plate with food after food.

Your heart did flips as you looked up at him, the simple kindness of his actions making you feel warm despite the coolness of the Underworld.

Jaemin set your plate back down in front of you between your utensils, spoon on the far right, then the knife beside the plate, and the fork on the left. You waited for him to prepare his own plate of food, then finally be seated. When he’d finished scooting his chair up to table, he looked up from what he’d been doing, eyes catching yours, and a small, affectionate smile crossed his lips before he grabbed his wine glass. Then a wide, charismatic grin overtook his features as he held his glass out towards you, and you followed his lead, picking yours up to clink them together.

“To one month of… you and I. Thank you for agreeing to come here tonight, Y/N.”

‘You and I.’ His words both squeezed your chest and made it feel airy, like someone was inflating a balloon inside of it.

“Thank you for hosting tonight, Jaemin. And here’s to one month of…” you took a sharp inhale as you stumbled through your mind for any other word but couldn’t find one in that moment. “Us.”

You saw Jaemin’s pale lips softly, silently repeat the word before pulling into an alluring smirk.

And you each took a sip of the wine before digging into your food and kicking off the discussion. Over your month of dinners and nighttime socializing with Jaemin, you were used to your conversations meandering between the casual catching up of your workday to the serious contemplations of life and the universe. After all, if you were dining with a god, you were going to pick his brain for some philosophical inquiry. But on the days where some of the medical malpractice or domestic pro bono cases had hit you exceptionally hard and you wanted to leave well enough alone, Jaemin let you keep the topics light and surface level, keeping it at office gossip and the like.

Tonight though, with the special venue on your mind, you immediately delved into the existential, “So what are humans to you?”

“How do you mean?” Jaemin arched an eyebrow at your question.

“You’re a god. You’ve lived for thousands of years. You’ve seen millions of humans live and die. Surely, we all just kind of… blur together for you. Seem the same. Inconsequential.”

“No, not at all.”

“You’re just saying that because I’m here,” you teased before returning to your debate. “Most of us live and die without ever leaving a lasting impact on the world. Not that I think that’s necessary for having lived a meaningful or good life, I think that making even one person smile means that someone lived a good life. But in relation to you, a god, surely that makes us all indistinguishable from one another.”

“Is a play bad because it ends? Is a flower no longer beautiful because it will wilt? I think that humans and your lives are so intriguing because they’re finite.” He was as impassioned as ever when getting into your metaphysical dialogues— voice strong with resolve, leaning forward towards you earnestly, brow set just the slightest not with anger but determination, and hair falling into his onyx eyes that looked into yours without hesitation. “An incalculable but unquestionably limited amount of time, one chance, and each of you choose to live differently.”

“You still think that every human life is different from all the others?”

“Of course.” Apparently sensing that he hadn’t convinced you yet, Jaemin continued with an example, “Just look at you and your friend Jeno. Sure, the two of you converged pretty closely in college, but he made the choice to begin his career while you made the choice pursue higher education. Your two lives aren’t the same.”

“There’s also another major difference between the two of us.”

At the imploring tilt of his head, you deadpanned, “Only one of us made a deal with Hades for a third of our life.”

“An astute observation, Y/N,” Jaemin chuckled, relaxing back in his chair now that you’d changed up the tone of the conversation.

When both of your plates and glasses were empty, Jaemin took you by the hand once again to guide you from the dining room, as he apparently wanted to show you something. You emerged onto a patio of some sort, but that wasn’t what you were focused on. In front of you was a tree maybe ten or fifteen feet tall, an elegantly thin and sloping trunk, and along its many branches were round golden fruit the size of your palm. You couldn’t help the soft gasp that came from you as you took in the dazzling sight. Everything about the tree was normal from the texture of the brown bark to the dark green leaves, and even the dappling of the outer shell of the pomegranates that grew on it looked real, aside from the gilded color. It was magical, and you were happy just to know that something so beautiful existed.

“Thank you for showing me this, Jaemin,” you said, turning to look at the god who had stopped beside you.

You thought that he’d be looking at the scenery too, but his eyes were on you. He had a familiar look on his face, a small, tender smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, dark eyes holding a latent warmth like coals after a fire, and you felt tempted to get even closer to indulge in it.

But instead, you steeled your nerves to ask, “Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

Your tone wasn’t as accusatory as your words were, it was a sincerely curious question.

“Like what?” Jaemin was quick to reply with a question of his own, keeping his attitude light but genuine.

“You keep smiling at me with this soft little smile.”

“I keep doing it? When was I doing it before?”

“When we first got here, when you sat down at dinner tonight, and just now, when you brought me out here.” It had made your heart go haywire every time you noticed it, so you were able to list the instances from tonight off the top of your head. But that wasn’t all, there was a reason why it was imprinted into the back of your eyelids like a burned-out LCD screen, “It’s like… like… you want to kiss me.”

“I do,” Jaemin declared, eyes never leaving yours, voice never wavering, so damn sure of himself. Even as you were here in front of him feeling like you were nearly ready to rip your hair out from just a few little smiles from him.

He was always like this. So charming, so smooth, playfully talking around your questions. Pulling you along with him, dancing with you through your conversation. You had to meet him head on, even if it felt like you were going crazy doing so. You did it during your dinners, you could do it now too.

“Is that why you’re smiling at me like that?”

“Do you want me to? Kiss you?” He took a step towards you. For a brief moment he was all you could see, all dark hair, dark eyes, and silver earrings.

“I want to know why you look at me like that.” You stepped back from him, wrapped in the heady smell of his cologne. Cinnamon, bergamot, an earthy scent too maybe? Your head was swimming with it, but you needed to focus on the conversation at hand.

“And I want to know if you want me to kiss you or not.” Another step, once again narrowing the distance between you.

“I asked first, Jaemin,” you poked your pointer finger against his chest as a warning. “An answer for an answer.”

He stayed put, seeming to be fighting a delighted smirk from his face as he looked between your face and the finger you held up defensively between the two of you. Jaemin’s features relaxed as he clasped his hands together behind his back, looking into your eyes earnestly, “All of those times that I’ve been looking at you tonight, I was thinking to myself, ‘It feels like she’s come home.’ You just looked like you belonged here, in my home, with me. It felt like I belonged with you. And that made me want to kiss you. That’s why.”

Of all the answers you had been expecting, that hadn’t quite been one of them. Grand declarations of love were a faraway possibility, sure, you’d seen movies before. That’s not what this was, though. This was both more and less. You hadn’t anticipated for Hades’ answer to be so simple yet all-soul-encompassing as the idea of coming home. While everything tonight had definitely been new and unfamiliar to you, you hadn’t been intimidated or uncomfortable in any way. With Jaemin at your side, you’d been able to take it all in with wonder and an open mind, knowing that you had him right there watching over you.

“I believe you owe me an answer now too, Y/N.” Jaemin’s voice was quiet, low, meant only for you. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Your gaze fell to the finger you had to his chest, your right hand. It had lost all the force you started with, limp and simply resting against him. You could see the silver ring there, and lower on your arm was the bracelet he’d given you, both pieces of jewelry glinting in the hazy light afforded in the Underworld. You briefly wondered if they had come from here, from deep under the Earth; if they’d come home tonight, too. The god in front of you remained silent, waiting for your response. If there was one thing Jaemin was good at, it was waiting— after he’d given you his final push.

Then you finally looked back up at his face, into the sunken obsidian black that greeted you there. That ever-stubborn lock of raven hair was hanging between his brows, and you had a sudden and smitten urge to fix it. But you had something more important to do in that moment. After all, he’d given you his answer, now you owed him yours. And you’d made up your mind.

Your mouth had barely started forming around your answer before it was captured by Jaemin’s in a kiss that was equal parts tender and ravishing. It felt like he was trying to devour your ‘yes’ right off your tongue and keep it all to himself. Admittedly, your head had started nodding before your vocal cords could work.

If you thought you were swimming in spices and citrus before, you were drowning in them now. Cinnamon, oranges, and… cedar. Your hand that had previously been poking at his chest was now crumpling the collar of his dress shirt, the other hooking a finger in one of the belt loops at the front of his slacks to yank him closer. His own hands were doing their part, too. One cupped your cheek while the other held you by your waist. The sweetest nectar was being dripped into your veins, and you hungrily took more and more with each wanton kiss from Jaemin.

When his lips finally parted from yours, you couldn’t help but steal just one more kiss. He let out a breathy chuckle as he clasped a hand over the one you were grasping at his shirt with to gently pull it off, his thumb then rubbing slow circles into your palm. His hand that had been on your cheek dipped to gently grip your chin, and as he looked at you, you knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m home,” you promised.

The shadowy man was back in your dreams that night, and this time the golden fruit was already in your two hands. He was encouraging you to break it open, feed on its juicy flesh that he promises will taste so good.

You woke up before you could follow through on the decision you’d already made.

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[kocherry]

Illicit Affairs

Pantalone x Reader

Summary: When a debt needs to be collected shall you pay by a gamble? Or by mora? Or would rather have paid with blood? The 9th Harbinger and the Gambling Queen plays a game of cards to decide who will pay for the debt. In the midst of their gamble, the former doesn't rely on luck and let his own schemes come into play.

TW: Gambling Addiction, Suicide Implication due to playing Russian Roulette, Mentions of Mutilation there is actually some fluffiness to this onshot xD

< 3.3k words under the cut >

The Regrator smiled ominously as the sound of his footsteps filled an empty hall. He is a tall raven-haired man wearing an all-black extravagant suit that could feed a family for generations. He is always dressed up for an occasion but today is a special day because he would visit his favorite person to hate in an underground gambling den.

Beneath Liyue's striving business harbor there is hidden paradise for those who love to gamble. The atmosphere of a thriving gambling den filled the entire grand hall. The Regrator find it rather deafening to hear agonizing cries and victorious laughs. Only the continuous clinking of mora are music to his ears.

The 9th Harbinger strides forward surprising the people that were gambling. Many had owed him a debt, to which he would someday demand. The Regrator only had one irritation in mind, a particular woman that caused a massive source of bankruptcy to gamblers in Liyue Harbor. Practically speaking, the Northland Bank is being questioned by the Tianqiuan because they were quite aggressive in collecting their debts to the people.

“Lord Harbinger, to what do I owe the pleasure of having you grace our presence?”

There you were in the middle of a table surrounded by men and women from the distinguished Wang family of Liyue Harbor. They all looked like their souls had been sucked out of their body by how pale they all locked. On your hand is a gun manufactured in Snezhnaya that was bought in an illegal market. You were placing it back at the center table since your turn had just ended.

Pantalone didn’t miss the blissful look of satisfaction from the thrill of this dangerous game on your face. His eyes were close and his lips were smiling, and you could tell the smile is out of frustration. “There is no need for such formalities Miss (Y/N), I want to talk, now would you kindly end this horrific game of shooting yourselves in the head?” He asks politely sitting down across you from the table with his hands intertwined.

“Ah would you like to join us Lord Harbinger?” You ask reaching out for the pistol but Pantalone beat you to it.

He examines the pistol and when he opens the revolver, there is only a single empty bullet, no wonder the Wang family already looked so pale because one of them would die soon. “I know these pistols like the back of my hand Miss (Y/N), you would lose against me so I might not be an interesting opponent.” He dismantles the weapon with one click dropping its parts on the floor.

“There’s lots of games to play and I wouldn’t mind if I would gain another fortune from you.” You didn’t mind if he interfered with the game, after all once the Regrator actually sits in a gambling table, it would mean something interesting is going to happen.

“Very well, give us some space.” He lets the frightened people you were gambling with make themselves scarce, to think that the arrogant family who loaned from the bank could fall into grace because of one woman. “It is rather unbecoming of the Wang family to be in deep trouble that is why I shall take matters into my own hands.” Had it not been for their massive debt being investigated by the Tianqiuan and the Millelith, he wouldn’t show his face here.

Since you were the source of their debt, he would like to see you squirm across him when he would utterly give you a taste of your own medicine.

“Oh? You’re helping them? That’s rather generous of you Lord Harbinger.” You ask looking at him weirdly, he seems to be in a foul mood so it was kind of weird he would offer help.

“Generous? You’re mistaken, I’m merely letting them sort themselves out.” Well nevermind he is definitely pissed off but not at them rather at you. “Seeing the doors of death may satisfy your gambling addiction but it would be terrible if our clients died because of it.” He places his elbows on the table and leans his chin to his hands that were still intertwined.

Somehow you seem to get the gist of how much trouble you were causing him and the Fatui, you grin at this. . “They still have a pending debt to me by 312 million mora, and since they already loaned 500 million mora from the Northland Bank they can’t pay us both.” You were beginning to follow up and since th  Regrator wants you to back off, he would have to work hard for it. “So how about this, if you win against me, they surely would have a will of hope to pay you back because I’ll let go of the debt that they owe from me.” You offered, after all having a Harbinger as your opponent would be a challenge.

But besides that, you want to wipe of the shitty smile on his lips.

“Now you’re rather a generous one.” He replies with an amused hum.

“Mora isn’t a problem to me after all, it’s a rare opportunity to play against you.” You shrug brushing off the fact you could lose a fraction of your savings.

Despite having different philosophies in the pleasures of life, the 9th Harbinger didn’t build his fortune through gamble. No, he would never do that, he is an articulate and precise individual who always get what he wanted because of a meticulous plan. Unless… he wants something from you.

“I’m not a man who would let luck guide my fate, I would rather have a plan and invest rather than gain fortune through gambling. I didn’t become a successful man just so I could play like a greedy pig, however your proposal is rather amusing.” Pantalone places both of his hands off the table while pushing his glasses upwards, then he slightly opens his eyes staring at you with a venomous glare. “Do you have that much confidence in yourself Miss (Y/N)?” His tone changed from the suave yet sickly sweet into animosity.

The Wang family were absolutely frozen from their places not knowing whether to be happy or not that the Regrator is choosing to deal with the Gambling Queen.

You absolutely were shaking on your seat, not from being intimated but from excitement, an angry Pantalone is unpredictable after all. “You’re a human who built an entire fortune ever since you were a poor little babe but Lord Harbinger, I’m not like you. You may think gambling will cost you everything but even so, I still gamble. You know why?” You taunt him while pointing a finger towards his direction. “Because I enjoy the thrill of losing everything.” The sound of delight you let out made everyone in the den absolutely concluded that you were insane.

“Only a lunatic would ever think that way. Very well since I do not enjoy backing down from a fight… I propose we bet on 800 million mora and I’ll play a game against you.” The Regrator closes his eyes again and smiles as he proposes a higher stake and from the look of pleasure in your face, he is glad you would take the bait.

“I accept, let’s gamble Lord Harbinger~!”

A random gambler is poorly picked by the Fatui since they have no involvement in both parties to make the game fair. The cards and chips were already being placed on the surface by the poor boy who kept shaking in his position. He then divided the 800 million mora into two so that he could divide the chips into 1 million mora each. Then each of you would have a total of 400 million mora worth of 400 chips each.

Both Pantalone and you would bet fractions of the declared mora divided and it is represented by a chip along with it are face-down cards. After looking at the card in secret, both of you would then receive a second card but without looking what it is as you both displayed it on your foreheads. The pair of numbers in each set will be followed by a pair of suits and one that has no match is called a pig. Gaining a pair of cards is a win and if it’s mismatched then it’s a lost.

To win the entire game, one must earn the entire half from the opponent and by the looks of the current game, the tie is about to break between the Regrator and the Gambling Queen.

“Call, twenty-two chips.” You push the chips towards the center, sweating a bit because you bet a lot of mora for this round.

“Call, thirty chips.” Pantalone is even bolder than you as he had higher stakes.

At the start the chips being betted barely reached ten but when you had bet higher than that and lost, it seems to have changed Pantalone’s hesitation to risk larger amount. Since the two of you were always tying with the amount of chips being lost and then gained, you decided to bet more chips.

“P-Proclamations have been declared please raise your cards!” The watcher squeaks.

“5 hearts, 10 hearts, a mark.” Pantalone declares confidently as he shows his cards.

“3 clubs, 7 diamonds, a pig.” You were supposed to feel frustrated but instead you were smiling at your lost as Pantalone’s subordinate collected the chips.

“610 million mora, do you plan on catching up again Miss (Y/N)?” Pantalone raised an eyebrow still smiling despite playing for almost an hour.

“Oh I do, call, one hundred and fifty chips.” You push half of them to the center causing a massive disruption from the audience who were watching.

“That’s more than half of your entire pile Miss (Y/N), are you really willing to take such a risk?” He asks, rather surprised about the stakes you were willing to cross.

“The game is getting boring for a while Lord Harbinger, it’s always a tie, so might as well change that eh?” You were trying to push his buttons to garner genuine reactions and your efforts to make him at least risk more chips are all for naught.

“Well, it would be a shame to back out from such a bold declaration.” He hums in delight through his fake smile, you lean closer as his hands went over his huge pile of chips. “Unlike you I don’t plan on losing, call, eleven chips.” He says teasingly as he throws over a really small amount causing you to groan in pain.

“P-P-Proclamations have been declared please raise your c-cards!” Somehow the watcher is even more intimidated by how heated the two of you were looking at each other.

“A shame, I have a pig, it’s six hearts and ten spades.” Pantalone calmly said.

The Wang family could feel their souls coming back because of how less of a risk taker their representative against the Gambling Queen. Everyone knows that Pantalone is provoking her to bet higher, at least that’s what they see anyway.

“Mark with two and four diamonds.” You slammed your hand onto the desk angered by the Regrator’s lack of enthusiasm and mockery. “Ugh seriously? Are you this boorish? Or are you that arrogant? Or perhaps, a coward the Lord Harbinger? I’m sure 800 million mora is nothing but a pocket money to y-”

The sound of chips clicking against each other and the pile on the center grew much bigger than the last bet. “Five-hundred and ten chips, call.” The look of surprise and utter confusion is something Pantalone would really relish this moment, your expression shifted into fear then into more confusion. “How adorable did I make the Queen of Gambling speechless? Did you honestly think I’m doing this half-heartedly? My dearest (Y/N), when mora is at stake, I don't need to take risks because I don't really believe in luck.” He is practically skipping in his words as he stands up drawing closer to you, his hands over your shoulders gently caressing them.

Suddenly everything seems to be a puzzle the moment Pantalone stepped into the gambling den, asking an audience with you, played a card game, letting most of the audience watch eagerly… letting all of the gamblers watch eagerly. You just noticed that no one is playing anymore as they were intrigued by a Harbinger and the Gambling Queen going against each other.

They started to bet on who would win and no one had even left the den.

‘No one left ever since we started playing… and then he bet on most of his chips… what is he up to?’

When you look at Pantalone his eyes were open as he leans close to your ear, lips touching your lobe, “Forgive me for this (Y/N) I promise to make it up to you later.” He looks apologetic as he steps away from the table and the Fatui soldiers brought out their weapons.

Your eyes suddenly widen as you finally had solved the puzzle! The damned Harbinger used you as a set up!

He lets go of your shoulder and said, “Go on, make your call.”

“No one is making anymore calls, arrest everyone who isn’t the Fatui.”

The Tianqiuan busted the door open, geo jade boulders floated in the air and beside her is the Yuheng who had drawn her sword imbued with electro. Then everything broke lose as the gamblers and the Wang family were being arrested by the newly arrived Millelith. No one resisted of course not when the Liyue Qixing and the Fatui had collaborated for the gambling den arrest.

“You snake! How dare you set us up like this?!” You draw a knife and pointed it at Pantalone’s neck but your blade is parred by Keqing who suddenly teleported in front of you blocking any attack that you would do to the Harbinger.

“I’m just cleaning up my business, after all the Wang family aren’t the only ones who owes the Northland Bank.”  Pantalone pushes his glasses upward, still smiling.

Ningguang approaches him as you were cuffed and taken away by Keqing, “As much as we hate to admit it, you did well Harbinger of Snezhnaya, we caught the source of the debt problem.” The Tianqiuan wasn’t quite genuine with her appreciation since there is something off about this whole operation. She then looked at you with utter dismay, “I’m disappointed in you Miss (Y/N), I’ll miss our tea sessions.”

Ignoring her is easy since you were still cussing at the one who played you, “You will pay for this Pantalone! I swear to the gods you despise so much I will kill you!” You growled angrily but the Regrator just wave a goodbye at you with such mockery you really want to break from your restraints and strangle him.

“That is enough Miss (Y/N), I don’t want to resort in using my vision against you so please come quietly and we will make sure to accommodate you properly. After all the main culprits in this are the Wang family so I suggest don’t make your punishment worse than it is.” Keqing suggested.

You nodded at her as you went along, “Fuck you Pantalone!” A middle finger is raised upwards as a last warning to him.

While you were being taken away, Pantalone is sure that your anger would soon go away once you understand his plan later when you escape your arrest.

Although later in the middle of the night, in his property just outside Liyue Harbor, he was currently sitting while writing paperworks on his desk… and he definitely had expected a knife thrown into the wall behind him almost hitting his cheek.

“PANTALONE!!!”

Usually, the sound of your voice is music to his ears but now he might go deaf. “Ah, have you come to kill me-Wait are you really mad at me, Darling?” He asks as he opens his eyes just noticing another knife flying right above his head hitting the wall behind him.

“Mad is an understatement! How do you think I felt when my own husband snitched on me to the Tianqiuan and the Yuheng?!” You stomped your feet, composure all drained because of how frustrated you are right now.

Pantalone stands up and walks towards you, his arms were around your shoulders as he leans his chin on your head. “Forgive me but I had no choice of the matter, they were already investigating gambling den. Those gamblers from Liyue Harbor were desperate enough to loan from the Northland Bank to pay their debt to the Gambling Queen.” He sighs when he could smell the scent of your hair still fresh which means you didn’t really fight your way out of your arrest.

“My subordinates have been relentless in collecting the mora they owed. Eventually the Tianqiuan caught up on why the Fatui is after them.” He pulls away from the hug because you were pointing a knife in his crotch area. “Wait Darling, you don’t want to do that.”

Now he’s getting nervous because you had an evil smile, “Does Lady Ningguang and Lady Keqing know of the Fatui's involvement in the den?” Your question strayed far from your objective in wanting to stab his dick.

Your husband backs away, even though he’s sure you wouldn’t hurt him, it’s still uncomfortable to have a knife threating to castrate him. “That is precisely why I set everyone up dearest. If I told you about the plan, you wouldn't garner such genuine frustration against us. So that the Wang family would take the blame and you... you're just the Gambling Queen in the Tianquen's eyes.” He raises his hands up in surrender because that was the best explanation he could come up with.

If it means saving the Fatui’s face in Liyue Harbor then you would understand… because after all you were working for Her Majesty as well.

“You have a point, if I knew it ahead then they would connect the dots that the Fatui is the real owner of that place.” You withdraw your knife and slump your shoulders in defeat because in all honesty, you just wanted a little warning ahead of time rather than on the spot.

Then you remembered that escaping your arrest means that you were officially banned from ever entering Liyue. Plus, it was quite an effort to escape the Yuheng’s eyes and you almost got caught if not for Pantalone’s help. “But fighting against Vision holders is difficult even for me. I barely escaped had even if you sent those treasure hoarders to disrupt the transport.” You pout while poking his chest relentlessly.

Pantalone deeply chuckles as he kisses your cheek, “I truly apologize for this incursion my dearest wife.” He then grabs your hand examining it as if to check if you were injured during your escape and much to his relief your clothes are the only ones that are a bit dirty.

“A verbal apology isn't enough.” You retracted your hand and folded your arms.

“Oh?” There is a dangerous glint in his opened eyes as he leans towards you. “Would you like to bet on that I can let you forgive me through non-verbal means?”

“I'd like to see you try.” You weren’t going to be mad at him anymore after tonight.

Pantalone removes his coat revealing his black sleeveless turtleneck, his sculpted chest and stomach is seen through the thin clothing. His arms trapped you between him and his desk, “Then you’re all mine tonight.” He leans down to capture your lips in a much-anticipated passionate kiss.

The two of you were having an illicit affair, in the eyes of the public you were both enemies to each other. You were the cause of most debts for the Northland bank and Pantalone lets you gamble happily if it means raising his fortune. The scheme you two made is only known to the both of you, having been married for a year now does help the tandem of your work relationship grow strong.

Despite being disciplined and meticulous, the Regrator found himself loving and eventually marrying a risk-taker and extemporaneous Gambling Queen.

A/N: This oneshot happened because of my convo with @pearlywritings about a secretly married trope and she suggested it would fit the Regrator the best thus... I made this fanfic ♡ If you guys want to understand the card gambling den and the card game please read here! Aaaand you guys would like to read my other works my masterlist is right here~!

[dreamwatch]

STWG daily prompt 08/10/23

Prompt: you’re shaking

****

“Eddie!”

“Jesus Chr-!”

“-the fuck dude?”

The van screeches to a stop. The girl stands right in front of the van staring at him, mouth open in a little ‘o’. Another cheerleader pulls her out of the road, and she runs off, strawberry blonde ponytail bouncing. Someone flips him the bird. Someone else calls him a freak. 

He’s still looking at Chrissy.

People are shouting at him, inside and outside of the van. Doors are being slammed shut and yanked open. He can feel someone pull his hands from the steering wheel, only now realising he’s had his fingers tightly curled round it. Voices, which he wishes would just shut up because she was right there, and if he could only hear her, they could talk and he could say sorry. He just wants to say sorry.

Eddie takes one long, heavy blink and watches as Steve Harrington takes the keys out of the van. The voices have quietened, and when he tunes back in all he hears now is Steve talking to him like he’s a frightened dog, a steady babble of words meant to soothe.

“-gonna turn the engine off, okay? Just going to grab the keys… there ya go… I’ll look after those for you, okay?… Lets get you out of there and then I’ll drive you home, how does that sound?”

Steve takes his hand, tries to guide him out of the van, but Eddie just blinks and stares at him. 

“Eddie, come on man, we need to get you home. Wayne’s going to be worried.”

And that’s the thing that snaps him back.

The cheerleader that looked like her, not stopping, Dustin and Gareth screaming at him, slamming on the brakes. He nearly hit her. Them, he nearly hit them, there were three of them but he was only looking at her. The van had stopped inches from her, close enough that he could see her name sewn on her sweater. Bethany.

Not Chrissy.

Eddie stumbles out of the van, nearly drops to the gravel but Steve catches him under his arms, holds him steady. He feels sick, starts to sweat.

“Dude, you’re shaking.” 

Eddie stares at him. “Sorry.”

Steve huffs a little laugh. “Man, you’re a fucking mess.”

They ride silently to the little house close to Forest Hills where the Munsons live now. They pull up outside, Steve cutting the engine, but they don’t move.

“Where did… Dustin, and Gareth, where did they-“

“Jeff. He was still in the parking lot, he’s dropped them home.”

Eddie just nods. “How come you were at the school?”

Steve smiles at him. “Same as you, picking up kids. There was a basketball game tonight.”

“Lucas.”

Steve nods. “What happened, man?”

“I saw Chrissy.” Pull the bandaid off all at one.

“Ed-“

Eddie cringes. “No, I know. I know. It just. At the time, you know?”

Steve looks at him in a way that suggests he doesn’t know at all, but Eddie doesn’t expect anyone else to really understand.

“Do you see her a lot?”

He sees her all the time. The checkout girl at Bradley’s Big Buy. The nurse in the outpatient clinic at the hospital. The bank teller at Hawkins Savings and Loans.

The cheerleader called Bethany.

“Sometimes,” he replies.

Wayne steps out on to the porch. No doubt there’s been a phone call, from someone to someone to someone else to Wayne. It seems to be how they operate, this new little family he’s been sucked into. No man left behind, and all that shit.

“Thanks for getting me home. And um… sorry, you know. For ruining your night. And Lucas’s.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, man. There was no way I was letting you drive after that.” Steve taps at the steering wheel. “And how can a night be ruined when I’m with Eddie Munson, huh?”

Eddie smiles at him and Steve smiles back and it feels likes something. It feels like Eddie saying ‘please don’t leave me behind’ and Steve saying ‘never, man, I got you’. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” says Steve.

Eddie scrunches his face in confusion. “What’s happening tomorrow?”

“We have to get your van back, man.” Steve grins at him. “Can’t have Eddie The Freak Munson being chauffeured around town in a BMW by the jock that peaked in high school. Would totally ruin your image, dude.” 

Eddie is fucking exhausted. Feels adrift. But he laughs. He laughs like he means it, not because it’s expected. Feels like there’s all this shit, all this horror, but he got these people from it. Got Steve from it. 

Steve pulls out of the Munsons driveway, and Eddie heads up the porch steps. Wayne takes a good hard look at him, and pulls him in to a side hug. “You okay?”

He’s not. Not really, not yet anyway. But it’s coming, right? He can feel it. 

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

It will be true eventually.

[boldlyvoid]

Family Values | Part Two

Steve Harrington x Single Mom Reader

Summary: She needs help, so she runs to Steve without a second thought

Warnings: pregnant reader, being looked down on for being a single mom, rude encounters, Steve babysits Lisa for a few hours, food mention, sharing their neglectful childhoods with each other, flirting, mutual pining, heart-to-hearts, first kiss

Word count: 5.8k

Masterlist

The alarm clock rang on her night table promptly at 7:30, waking her from what little sleep she was actually able to get. Lisa was beside her, still snoring away with most of the bed sheets, unbothered. She wasn’t used to her new room yet, Y/N couldn’t blame her for wanting to snuggle all night, it was just hard when she was growing another baby at the same time. Getting comfortable was hard enough without little baby feet poking at her sides. 

Today she had her meeting with the bank, they were interested in meeting her in person before finalizing anything for her loan. After a million and one phone calls she was finally about to make her dreams come true. 

She rolls over carefully and soothes her hand down Lisa’s back, straightening out the wrinkles her pj’s achieved in her restless sleep, “time to wake up, sweetie. We have a big day today.” 

Her head pops out of the blankets like an ostrich coming out of the sand; she blinks into the morning light with her long, luscious lashes on display. She was the most beautiful being she could’ve ever created, it made her excited to see how the next one would look, especially considering the fact they only shared half of the same DNA. 

“Morning, mama,” she smiles at her, face puffy with sleep, she stretched out her limbs with a yawn. 

“Good morning, sweet girl,” she ran her fingers through her crazy hair, “sleep good?” 

“Mhm,” she nods and sits up on her knees. She rubs her eyes with the backs of her hands, her face all scrunched up, she was just too cute when she woke up. “Where we going today?” 

“Mommy has to go to the bank for a meeting, so we have to eat breakfast and get ready really soon, okay?” 

“Okay,” she bounces a bit, “can I make breakfast?” 

She takes a deep breath and thinks it over, all the things she needed for cereal were at her height, she could probably do it. “Okay, but you call me if you need help, okay? I’ll be down in a minute.” 

“Yes!” She jumps off the bed and runs out of the room, only to come running back, “what cereal you want?” 

“Just put a bowl out for me, I’ll do the rest when I come down,” she offers, not wanting it to get soggy. And not sure if she even really wanted to eat yet. She was too nervous. 

After the shit show she’s gone through in the last year, she needed something good to finally happen to her. She needed this offer to go through and she needed the money from the bank for the remodel… so she got dressed in her most professional look that also hid her 26-week bump, she was already going in there with one kid, and they didn’t need to know about the other.

She ate a bit of cereal with Lisa, surprisingly she did a wonderful job setting up for herself, there wasn’t a mess to be found. She was rather proud of herself, and as a reward, she picked her own outfit for the day… that was the part where she let her artistic freedoms take full effect. It was a strange outfit, but she was happy and so mommy was too. 

The drive isn’t too long, there wasn’t a bank in Hawkins anymore so she had to go all the way to the next town over. She gave herself 45 minutes of leeway time, in case of an accident or delay, meaning they got to sit in the waiting room a while before it was her turn to be seen. 

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but it wouldn’t really be appropriate to bring your child into the meeting,” the receptionist looks her up and down like she’s covered in filth, like a stuck-up bitch. 

“But, I don’t have anyone to watch her right now?” 

“I’m sorry… if you’d like I can push your meeting to right before they break for lunch, so you can find some childcare?” She’s at least willing to help her out. 

She sighs, “Okay, sure, what time would that be?” 

“11:50, you have about an hour and a half,” she estimates for her. “I’ll let them know about the change.” 

“Thanks,” she picks Lisa up, “come on, pretty girl, let’s go see if Nancy can look after you for a little bit.” 

“What about the grilled cheese man? He said he’s always there if we need something?” Lisa reminds her. 

“That’s an option too,” she shrugs, “let’s go see if he can help…”

She gets Lisa back into her car seat and all buckled up, driving another 20 minutes back into Hawkins. Lisa sings along to the radio, pointing at all the interesting things on their drive while all Y/N thinks about is how hard it's going to be having a kid and no support in a new town. It wasn’t like she had much help back in Illinois, but at least she knew who was trustworthy there. 

She pulls into the parking lot at the Hawk Shop quickly and rushes with Lisa inside, “hey Steve,” she’s a little out of breath when she finds him at the back of the store, watching an order get delivered in the back room. 

“Hey, Y/N, what’s wrong?” 

“I have an appointment at the bank but they won’t let me bring Lisa in, can you watch her for like an hour?” She feels terrible just dropping in like this. 

“Sure, absolutely,” Steve reaches out for Lisa and takes her out of Y/N’s hands, to her surprise, Lisa goes quite willingly. She rests against his side with her arm slung around his neck, “I’ll call in my part-timer, he can deal with the delivery while I watch her. I’ve got some colouring books and crayons here somewhere?” 

“I can make you a picture while you’re gone, mama!” Lisa cheers, perfectly happy with him. 

“Okay, well, I trust you both to behave,” she takes a deep breath, she didn’t know him well but she didn’t have many other choices. “I love you, sweet girl, be good for me, okay? Listen to Steve, I’ll be back soon.” She cups Lisa’s face in her hands and kisses her forehead, “if I’m not back by 1 can you give her some lunch, too?” 

“Of course, good luck with your meeting,” he offers with a wave while she starts to head back out. 

“Good luck mama!” 

“Thank you!” She cheers and then she’s gone. 

—

“So,” Steve sets her down on the ground and kneels to be on her level, “I’ve gotta make a phone call and then I can get you some colouring stuff, you wanna come with me to the front desk? I can show you how the cash register works?” 

She nods quickly, like a bobblehead, and takes his finger in her small hand, holding on tight while he walks her to the front of the store and behind the front desk. 

He picks her up again and sits her on the desk, facing the wall of posters behind him. She looks scared and hides her face in his chest, thats when he realizes there’s a drawing of a Demogorgon on the poster, hand drawn by Will. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he rubs her back, “it’s not real, it’s just a drawing, it can’t hurt you. I promise I wouldn’t ever let it, even if it was.” 

“What is it?” She takes another peek at it, the 5 petaled face of death open and full of teeth made a shiver run down her spine. 

“We call it a Demogorgon, it’s a bad guy in a game that my friends play,” he explains. “It’s called dungeons and dragons, you can pretend to be a wizard or a fairy and use powers to defeat evil and save the town.” 

“Is it hard?” She’s genuinely curious. 

“I’m not sure,” he shrugs. “But when Dustin comes in I’m sure he can tell you more, I’ve never played it before.” 

“Oh,” she just nods and sits there, looking around at the other things he had there, settling on a basket of pins. “What’s this?” 

“That says ‘I saw the Hawkins crack,” he explains, trying his hardest not to laugh, thinking she wouldn’t get it, but she laughs too. 

“Like butt crack.” 

“Exactly,” he lets a giggle slip out. 

He picks up his phone then, still smiling at Lisa as she kept giggling and playing with the button. He dials Dustin's number and lets the line ring a few times before anyone picks up. 

“Henderson residence,” Susie answers with her sweet voice. 

“Hey, suz, is Dustin home? I need some help with the delivery.” 

“He’s on his way over already, something about a new shirt being in this order?” 

“Oh yeah,” he remembers, “Robin's new design came in. Thanks, susie.” 

“Yep,” she responds quickly and hangs back up, probably wanting to use the line to get on the internet. 

“Who’s Robin?” She asks. 

“My best friend in the whole world,” he exaggerates for her. “She’s really cool, she’s at school right now but she’s coming home tomorrow night, maybe you can meet her soon.” 

“My mommy is my best friend,” she smiles, “she says I’m hers too, but if you wanted to be her friend I wouldn’t mind.” 

“You wouldn’t?” He can’t help but smile, “does your mommy not have a lot of friends?” 

“No,” she shakes her head. “She did have a friend named David for a while and he’d sleep in her bed sometimes but he wasn’t very nice.” 

“Oh no,” he tries to keep a calm face when in reality that small detail made him furious. “I’m sorry, is your mommy happier without him being mean?” 

She nods, “when she’s not sick she’s really happy, and then we moved here and she’s happiest.”

“I’m so glad,” he copies her cute little smile. “I see you’ve been having grilled cheese’s your smile is so bright!” He pretends to cover his eyes, squinting at the brightness he imagined coming from her pearly whites. 

She was a fit of giggles, beaming a smile at him over and over to make him cover his face with a fake cry of pain, “ah, oh my goodness, you’re blinding me over here, Lisa!” 

She was scream-giggling, the kind that only little kids did when they were really having a good time, it made his heart so incredibly full. He almost didn’t even hear the door chime as Dustin walked in with a smile, “what’s goin’ on here?” 

It was still so strange for Steve to see him so grown up. In his mind, Dustin should still be 12 and missing his teeth, hopping in his car so they could go find the thing that killed his cat… he thanked god that part of his life was over, but he missed his kids. 

“Dustin, this is Lisa, her mom and her just moved into the house beside Nancy,” Steve explains, still smiling from how hard they were laughing. “Y/N had a meeting and couldn’t take her, so she’s here with me for a bit, could you do the delivery?” 

“Yeah, totally,” he smiles and walks around the counter so he can meet the little girl. “Hi, Lisa, I’m Dustin.” 

She gives him a wave, “hi, can I see the shirts?” She asks, remembering what Steve said on the phone. 

“What?” He turns to Steve. 

“Oh, I called your place and Susie said you were coming to see robins new designs,” he explains, “I was showing Lisa this drawing of the totally not real bad guy from your game, dungeons and dragons.” 

“Oh yeah, they’re a piece of cake monster to get rid of,” he shrugs it off like it’s nothing.  

“Really?” Her eyes light up. 

“Yep, me and Steve have fought a few of the smaller versions of them before, they’re called demo-dogs,” Dustin explains but Lisa’s expression falls. 

She turns her head to Steve, “I thought you said you didn’t play the game?” 

“It wasn’t the real game it was like a side quest that he was helping me finish,” Dustin lies quickly, making sure she didn’t panic and get scared of the thing again, seeing as the store was full of pictures of scary things. “He was helping me raise my charisma points… yeah. He’s really charismatic?” His voice doesn’t sound so sure but Lisa believes him. 

“Charismatic?” She repeats the word with almost perfect pronunciation. 

“You see how easy it was for him to make you laugh? That’s because he’s kind and charming, like a prince, he has charisma, so he’s charismatic.” 

“Oh,” she smiles again. “You kinda look like prince charming.” 

“So I’ve been told,” he brags, flicking his hair out of his face dramatically. 

“I can tell you that the shirt Robin made isn’t as scary as the Demogorgon,” Dustin gives her a little smile and starts walking back towards the storage room, “I’ll go get you one, hold on.” 

“Get a really small one, she can keep it,” Steve calls to him. “You can have anything you like, do you want me to put a pin on your shirt?” 

She nods, “please?!” 

“Of course! Anyone under 5 who comes in here gets free things,” he’s telling the god's honest truth. He was always giving away things to kids who came in, trying to make their day better. 

“I’m this many,” she holds up 4 fingers and then shows him all 5 digits, “I’ll be 5 soon.” 

“Really? When?” 

She shrugs, “I dunno.” 

“Okay,” he can’t help but laugh. Talking to kids was always like that, they just said things for the sake of saying it, she probably wasn’t anywhere close to 5, she just wanted to say it. 

“Do you make colouring books?” She asks. 

“No,” he shakes his head, but thinking about it was cool. “We could probably make some, though? Would you want to colour in a Demogorgon?” 

She nods, “yeah!” 

“We also have demo-dogs, demo-bats, those one’s can fly and they have really sharp tails,” he explains, remembering just how much they hurt. “What else should we put in it?” 

“You,” she suggests. “Or the store!” 

“Yeah, we could also put the front sign in there,” he suggests, she had no problem with that. “You know, I actually made a baseball bat like the one on the sign.” 

“With the spikes?” She refers to the nails sticking out of it. 

He nods, “yeah, it was for a Halloween costume,” he lies. She didn’t need to know anything else, she still thought he was cool. 

“Here you go!” Dustin cheers as he comes running back into the room. “One small floating girl t-shirt,” he holds it out in front of her, the art was of Max and her Walkman, floating in the air with the lyrics to Running Up That Hill in the background. It wasn’t something anyone but their group would understand, but he was going to sell it and all the proceeds were going to go towards Max’s new wheelchair. 

“That’s pretty neat,” she takes it from him, tracing her finger over the image that was transferred onto the shirt, “how’d you make it?” 

“Our friend drew it up and then we sent it to a company who printed it out for us, they put it on special paper and then use heat to get it to stick to the shirt,” he explains it softly. “We used to make our own shirts with a shirt press, Eddie taught us how, but it was a lot of work.” 

“Eddie?” 

“Oh, you haven’t met him or his daughter yet, she’s also 4 and her dad, Eddie, runs the shop next door,” he points, “he can teach you how to play guitar and he has a band.” 

“Wow,” she whispers. “Do you know the whole town?” 

He nods and Dustin laughs, “yeah, he does, people want him to run for Mayor.” 

“I don’t want to,” he reminds Dustin, he wasn’t interested in politics. “Plus, we all know Nancy would do the best job.” 

“Neighbour Nancy?” Lisa’s brows raised with curiosity. 

Steve nods, “you know, she was my first real girlfriend.” 

“Do you have one now?” 

He shakes his head, “nope. Do you?” 

She laughs, “no!! That’s silly. I don’t even have a boyfriend.” 

“Good,” Steve points at her, “boyfriends are stupid, you don’t need one.” 

“That’s what my mom says,” she complains, making Steve chuckle again. 

“She’s a smart lady…”

“Is she?” Dustin looks at him, knowingly. “Is she really?” 

“She is,” Lisa gets feisty, kicking his arm from her spot on the desk, “my mommy is the smartest!” 

“Ouch!” He holds his elbow, “okay, I believe you.” 

“Don’t mess with Lisa,” Steve warns him. 

“Yeah,” she giggles, it’s music to Steve's ears, he already loved this little girl like she was a part of their large, weird, adoptive family. 

—

When Y/N comes back into the store, Lisa is wearing a new shirt with a button on it, sitting in a little chair at a tiny table, colouring away with some crayons on blank paper. There’s an empty plate by her, covered in crumbs, she ate every bit of the lunch Steve made her… She was so into her drawing that she didn’t even look up at who walked into the store. 

Steve, on the other hand, walks around the desk to talk to her, “hey, mama.” 

“Hey, there,” she’s in a wonderful mood. “You’ll never guess what happened.” 

“What?” 

“So someone reached out to the Historical Society and put in a good word for me and left a decent cheque for whoever was willing to restore the Motel and bring more people to Hawkins and the bank saw that as a good sign that this is going to work out and gave me everything I asked for!” She can’t help but shout a bit at the end of her story, overjoyed with everything and alerting Lisa to her presence in the store. 

She comes running over to her and hugs her legs, “you got it, mommy!” 

She picks her right up and snuggles her in close, “I did!” 

“Congratulations,” Steve smiles, glad he got to help. 

“Did you want to come over for a celebratory dinner?” She offers and Lisa’s eyes light up. 

“Please, Steve!” Lisa begs. 

“I’d love to come,” he assures her. “I’ll have Dustin close up tonight, what time should I be there?” 

“6?” 

“Okay,” he smiles, “I’ll bring a desert, don’t worry about that.” 

“You don’t have—

“I want to,” he cuts her off. “We had a lot of fun today, it’ll be nice to see you again.” 

“What did you get up to?” She asks Lisa more than Steve. 

“He told me about Demogorgons!” 

“What?” She looks at Steve, worried. 

He just points at the posters on the wall, “fictional creatures that I’m really good at hunting down.” 

“He’s like prince charming, but with a spike-y bat instead of a sword,” Lisa explains further as if that made any more sense. 

“Alright, then…” 

“And she was drawing up some new shirt designs,” Steve points at her little table, “what did you come up with?” 

“It’s a secret,” she struggles out of her mom's grip and back to the floor, she runs to the table and picks up her drawings, holding them close to her chest. “I’m not done.” 

“I’m excited to see them when you are,” he encourages her with a smile and turns his attention back to her mom. “But I’ll see you tonight?” 

She feels her heart skip a beat but she nods, “can’t wait.” 

—

When she gets home, she tells Lisa to go play in her room and quickly runs next door to see Nancy, her car was in the driveway so she must be home. She knocks with haste, hearing someone call that they’re coming, someone, she’s never met before. 

“Hey,” a boy with dark black hair answers, “you’re the neighbour?” 

She nods, “I am, is Nancy home?” 

“Uh, I think? Hold on,” he holds up his pointer finger and walks back towards the kitchen, “Nance? Someone's at the door for you.” 

“Oh,” she hears Nancy’s sweet voice in the background first, “who is it?” 

“The neighbour Steve has a crush on,” he replies, making Y/N’s eyes light up but she has to play it cool.

She bites her lips, trying not to smile when Nancy shows up in the doorway, “hey, are you busy?” 

“Nope,” Nancy wipes her hands off on her jeans, “I just finished putting away some groceries, what’s up?” 

“I’m having Steve over for dinner and I wanted to know if you knew his favourite meals. I really want to impress him?” She’s completely honest, “he’s a nice guy, right? I’m not wasting my time?” 

“He’s the sweetest,” Nancy swoons. “We dated a bit in high school, but don’t worry that’s long gone for both of us, I’m very happy with Jonathan and Steve’s very smitten with you already.” 

“Was it him who put in the good word for me with the Historical Society?” 

She nods, unable to hold back her smile, “yeah, he’s wanted to invest in the Motel for a while and then his dream woman comes marching into town with the same idea? You don’t have to do much more to impress him.” 

“Really?” Her eyes light up, “he said that?” 

“Not in those exact words, but I know for a fact his dream is to have a big family to love and take care of, he’s such a caretaker, so for you to come to town with a child—

“Two,” she whispers. “I don’t know if he’s realized I’m pregnant?” 

“I suggested it to him and he didn’t even flinch, I think it made him like you more,” Nancy shakes her head with a tiny bit of disgust in her tone. “He wants 5 or 6 kids, so if you already have 2, it’s only 4 more he has to collect.” 

“Collect,” she repeats with a laugh, “he was very sweet with Lisa today, he babysat her for me.” 

“He loves to babysit, he’s been doing it for years,” Nancy shares, “mostly with like 9 to 13-year-olds, but that was just because I left my brother and his friends with him a lot to go report on the crazy shit that happened when we were in high school.”

“It’s like over now though, right?” She worries, “cause the houses were cheap here and I kinda bit the bullet on moving here without considering the fact that the earth could just open up like that again?” 

“It’s over,” she assures her, placing a hand on Y/N’s arm. “Maybe Steve will tell you more one day, but you don’t have to worry… and he really likes KFC.” 

It makes her laugh, “really?” 

Nancy nods, “he goes crazy for it.” 

And so that’s how she finds herself making homemade fried chicken and mashed potatoes with Lisa at the kitchen table, colouring away. She was apparently making some new shirt designs for Steve, scribbling all her crayons on the paper in a way that made no sense to Y/N but Lisa had a vision. 

When he knocks on the door, it’s Lisa who gets up and runs to answer it. She was basically vibrating with excitement, she already thought of him as a best friend, more than she ever liked David. 

She leads him through the front room and into the kitchen, talking his ear off about what he missed in the short time they didn’t see each other. She held onto his free hand, his other was balancing a cake ever so carefully while he talked to Lisa with almost all his attention. Y/N ran over and took the cake from him in the doorway, “hey…” 

“Hi,” Steve smiles at her, “it smells delicious in here!”

“A little birdie told me you liked KFC so I thought I’d show you some real homemade fried chicken,” she announces with a proud smirk, he already looked impressed, she was relishing in it. 

Lisa, still holding his hand, is upset that her mom interrupted her talking, she tugs on him, “Steve!” 

“Yes, m’lady?” He kneels down to be on her level. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” 

“I’m not done my drawing yet,” she lets go of his hand and places both her palms on his chest, looking up at him with sad little eyes. 

“That’s okay, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all the time, you can bring me drawings whenever you want, yeah?” He pats her back gently, “don’t worry about it.” 

She hugs him, completely unprompted, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck, she holds him tight. He carefully holds her back, glancing up at Y/N who has a hand over her heart, mid-swoon. He stands up with her in his arms, resting her against his side, she clings to him like a baby koala, head resting on his shoulder. 

“She missed her nap today…” she remembers, “oh honey, are you so sleepy-tired?” 

She nods, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “Okay, can you stay awake long enough to have dinner with me and Steve?” 

Lisa nods, “can I have some cake?” 

“Cake first would wake her up,” Steve agrees, playing devil's advocate. 

Y/N just laughs, “sure, let me get some plates.” 

—

After dinner, Y/N takes Lisa upstairs for her nightly routine. She tells Steve that he can stick around, he could go watch TV in the sitting room if he wanted… all she had was local free channels right now, but she wanted him to stay, he could tell. He stays, but he doesn’t just stand around, no.

He cleans the kitchen like a good husband would. He drapes a dish towel over his shoulder, he cleans off every plate and loads them into the sink before filling it with water and organizing one plate full of leftovers. He finds her cling wrap in the cupboard, sets it in the fridge for her for later and even starts scrubbing the pots and pans by the time Y/N’s coming back down the stairs. 

“what are you doing?” She laughs, keeping her voice down. “You didn’t have to do all this?” 

“No, but I wanted to,” he assures her, peeling his hands out of the wet yellow gloves, he sets them besides the sink and turns to her. His shirt was wet around the tummy, where he was pressed up against the sink, splashing himself as he scrubbed away. “Did she go down okay?” 

“No, she’s still awake, she wants you to come to say goodnight… if that’s not weird?” She worries, “she’s not used to having nice guys in her life, I think she enjoys pretending to have a normal family.” 

“It’s not weird, believe me,” he waves it off. “When I was dating Nancy I used to come eat with her family because they actually sat at the dinner table together, her parents were actually home by 6… if she wants to get tucked in by me, it’s the least I can do to make sure she feels more loved than I did— sorry that was a lot, wasn’t it?” 

She shakes her head, “no, it was really real, I get it.” 

He sighs, “okay good… lead the way?” 

“Yeah,” she heads back out of the kitchen, leading him to the staircase and up towards Lisa’s room where she was all tucked into her big girl bed with a million stuffed animals. “Oh wow, this is a princess’s room if I’ve ever seen one.” 

“You like it?” She sits right up, overjoyed to see him in her room. 

He looks around quickly, unable to help himself from smiling. He remembers being little and crafting his perfect room, this was going to be the place Lisa grew up, it would change over the years, but it was perfect for her. It had just enough space for her to fill it with character. 

“I love it,” he takes a seat on the edge of her bed. “But I heard you won’t go to bed for your mommy?” 

“Read me a story?” She pouts with a perfected puppy dog face. “Please?” 

“Okay,” he gives in quite easily, “what one?” 

She hands him a book, the princess and the pea… “I know this one, I never understood how she could feel the pea?” 

She just laughs, “I like how tall her bed is by the end.”

He gives her a sweet smile, “get comfortable, get all tucked in.” 

Y/N helps her back under the covers and kisses her head lightly while Steve starts to read. It doesn’t take long for Lisa’s eyes to feel heavy, she tries so hard to pay attention but she keeps nodding off, catching herself and blinking at him a few times before she finally conks out. 

“Finally,” Y/N whispers, taking the book from Steve's hands and motioning for him to get up quietly. She turns out the lights, closes the door and then lets out a sigh. “Thank you.” 

“No problem,” he heads towards the stairs. 

With Lisa in bed and the kitchen clean, he thinks it’s his time to go, he walks down the stairs with her and starts making his way to the front door when she frowns. “Don’t go yet, we haven’t had a chance to really talk?” 

“Okay,” he beams a marvellous smile at her, all teeth, it makes his eyes glisten like a cartoon character. He was too handsome for his own good. 

“Do you want something to drink or anything?” 

He shakes his head, “no, I’m good… did you want to go sit down?” 

“Yeah,” she leads him into the living room, flicking on a single lamp before taking a seat on a couch, he sits right beside her. “I’m sorry I’m not fully settled in yet,” she references to the emptiness of it all.

“It’s okay,” he keeps his voice low, his eyes tracing all her features, “you’re enough for me.” 

She can’t help but stare back at him for a moment, taking in all his features, all his freckles and scars, especially his scars. He had one around his neck, cuts on his arms and what looked like a healed broken nose… he’s been through a lot, but that didn’t stop him from being the most handsome man in town. 

“You know, you kinda look like him,” she whispers to him, even with Lisa out of the room, all the way upstairs in her bed where she wouldn’t hear a thing. 

“Who?” 

“The guy responsible for Lisa,” she admits with a solemn smile, “it’s where she gets her great hair from.” 

He manages to laugh, but his eyes get caught on her lips for a moment, “so what I’m hearing is you have a type?” 

“Only you would hear it like that,” she gives him a tiny shove. “It's probably why she likes you so much, it’s like an animal instinct, if you look like family then I’m probably safe with you type mentality…” 

“She is,” he looks at her with the kindest eyes she’s ever seen. “You can ask anyone, I spent most of my Senior year and well into my 20’s watching a group of pre-teens, like 6 hormonal idiots, it wasn’t too awful, but I’m really good with kids now, it’s like the one thing I’m good at.” 

“You are,” she gives him that, and a smile. “Did you not have any siblings?” 

He shakes his head, “Nah, and so when my parents died in the earthquake I turned my friend group into my family. They’re the only people who really loved me anyway…” 

“I know what thats like,” she scoffs. “Not the dead part, but when I told them that I was pregnant in my senior year they raised hell, it was worse when I said I wouldn’t marry the guy… partially because he wanted nothing t do with us.” 

“He’s an idiot,” Steve added, just for good measure. “I don’t know how he was able to do that.”

He rests his arm on the back of the couch, moving in just a little closer to her all while staring at her lips. She looks back at him, heart beating out of her chest, her breathing picked up, she was sure he was going to kiss her when she heard herself talking. 

“I have this problem, you see, I think it’s my parents' fault but basically I overthink and I plan my whole life with the idea of someone and I kinda already did that with you and I’m sure you’re really wonderful but I can’t bring another man into Lisa’s life and have him leave us,” she lets it all out in what felt like one breath. 

“I do that too,” he chuckles. “It’s nice to imagine a life with someone who really likes you… loves you, really.” 

“Yeah,” she feels herself being pulled into him even more, “Steve…” 

“Mhm,” he hums, closer enough to brush his nose against hers, he places his hand on her cheek, holding her there while she looks into his eyes. 

“I’m pregnant,” she whispers. 

“Okay,” he doesn’t mind. “That’s just another person for me to grow to love…” 

“You mean that?” All she wants is the truth, and at this point, she thinks she can tell when someone means what they say. She’s heard too many harsh words in her life to not take what people say at face value. 

He nods, “I know what it’s like, to think you found someone and then they leave and you’re left thinking about the possibilities… and then every person you meet after them you think if I’m just the best version of myself maybe they won’t leave me this time and so you try and you try but they still leave and so eventually you stop trying, and you just spend your days at work, staring out the window, thinking about a life where you have someone to come home to who wants you there, and kids who know you love them…” 

“Yeah,” she’s breathless as she listens, falling more and more in love with him as the seconds pass. “I want that too.” 

She lunges for his lips, holding his face in her hands, she throws a leg over him and straddles his hips. He’s shocked at first, but then his arms wrap around her back as he breathes her in, holding her in the kiss as long as possible. 

@live-the-fangirl-life @k-k0129 @hcloangcls @mrs-dr-reid @cosplayergirl2 @lottie-2023 @stevesmunsons @babyminghao @bobawh0re @dear-diariess @sandrayaret @manuosorioh @keeryjoekeery

[basement-writings]

~ Debt repaid in full ~

Yan!Childe x Weapon!Y/n 

Note: I’m trying to explore my SoulEaterXGenshin AU with this headcanon/fic. Sorry that it got kinda sloppy at the end!! I’ll probably publish my overview of the au sometime but I keep on adding to it with many big-brain ideas. I’ll be opening requests for the au or just suggestions or questions about it! The next character I’ll be exploring will be Zhongli because I’ve been basing all my Archon headcanons with him, so it’ll be the easiest to write for! Also, I wrote this with Y/N being a chain spear weapon but it’s only brought up once, so g/n weapon? 

Word Count: 1k

Warnings: semi-detailed gore (mostly just blood), nonmajor character death, unhealthy dynamic, and relationship, Mentions of heavy violence, Childe just being a menace <;/3

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The tales from the few delusion weapons that have worked with Childe tell of the many bloodbaths they’ve witnessed. Stories ranging from how he laughed as an enemy begged for mercy before reveling in the final blow to the wet sounds of the blood splashing underneath his shoes following where ever he went. But you could never guess that the man who killed hundreds of Meisters and weapons with only his vision and delusion was the same with the ever-so-charming laugh and showed the utmost kindness to his family. The complete 180 in personality from a cold-blooded murderer to a charming young man could give anyone whiplash. Childe has never sought to make a contract with a weapon himself, only ever using his vision, which changed upon meeting you. 

He first took an interest in you when he was stationed in Lyiue, helping to collect debtors who had been causing issues for the Fatui. This client has been failing to repay the loan they took from the Northland Bank for a few months, so it was up to him to step in where his lackeys failed. But what he didn’t expect was for you to step between him and your friend. You’ve known of Fatui’s methods of collecting a debt; many people ‘suddenly go missing’ after getting behind on their payments. So when you saw your meister being cornered by one of them, you couldn’t just stand aside. Pleading, begging almost, that you would get the money to repay them, you just needed more time. 

He admired your will to be able to stand up to a harbinger. The wildfire that lit up your eyes caused his pulse to skip a beat, like the adrenaline rush from battle. That was the day your ‘love’ story began. 

His interest in you only grew the longer he watched you. How do you take up various jobs around Liuye to help your friend with their due debts? He was thrilled beyond belief when he watched you help clear out some hillcurlers bothering an elderly couple on the outskirts of town. The question of if he would ever make a contract with a weapon came back to him as he saw your arm shift into a chain spear. You moved akin to a dance, moving your body to the rhythm of your attacks, doing quick work of the hillcurlers. He was so fixated on you that he didn’t even notice how he had started to shake in anticipation and a growing beaming smile that uncannily stretched his face. 

After his little watching session, he researched everything about you that he could find, memorizing the tiniest details from your favorite flower to your preferred sleeping position. He even went as far as to show up unexpectedly by you, revealing how your body went stiff. He’d try his charms on you, mixing flirtatious remarks with the ever-so-present time limit until the debt was due. He was quickly becoming somewhat of an acquaintance, much to your disappointment. But what he didn’t think of (or want) was finding out that the friend he initially came to get debt from was your meister. He’d show at night when your returning from a job, taking advantage of your worn-out self to try and plant seeds of doubt in your mind about how you are so much better than your current meister. It didn’t matter whatever relationship you had with this person; the only thing that mattered was that they were in his way of making you his.

The cool night air served as a sort of tranquility that you could lose yourself in any day. That is if there wasn’t a menace walking beside you, serving as a walking reminder of the approaching due date for the mora. You had lost interest in whatever he was talking about, being too exhausted from clearing out monsters for the past few hours to care. You didn’t need to be nagged and taunted by some harbinger who took it upon himself to annoy you daily. 

Your autopilot walking was interrupted when the ginger abruptly stepped in front of you, leaning down to be at eye level with you. “I don’t get it, really,” he began, staring at you as if he could look into your soul for an answer, “ Why do you even stay with that meister? You’re practically being held back by them. You need someone more...experienced than them!” He chuckled, seeing you glare at him, trying to sidestep around him, but he got in front of you again. Being so close to his face, you could see his eyes' hollowness that you didn’t notice before. “Someone like me.” With how quickly he changed, he returned to the annoying carefree Childe you were used to—laughing at how you looked like you saw a ghost. 

The rest of the walk had a heavy air as his words echoed in your head.

When the extended time limit came, you and your meister brought the exact amount to the Northland bank where childe was uncharacteristically quiet when the sack of mora was laid out in front of him. You can feel as if time had stopped when Childe presents that while you had gotten the payment for the loan, it had increased in the extended time he gave you. But he is not anything but generous and offers a compromise, saying he’ll erase all of your meisters debt if you agree to unify your contract with them and, in return, make one with him♡.

You’re both stunned and bewildered by his proposal. However, from how a sly smile creeps up on his face, you know he means every word. The audacity of the man in front of you. He so casually dehumanized you into a simple object that could be traded in a contract. Thankfully you and your meister both rejected his proposal, asking if there was anything else. 

He pretended to ponder the idea before stating that there was a way to settle this fairly, practically eating up your full undivided attention on him. He would challenge your meister to a duel, hardly hiding the fact that this was his plan. The vision at his hip pulsing to life as your meister begrudgingly accepted. You could only watch as the gruesome match began. You wanted to look away so many times as the screams of your now late meister rang through the air.

You didn’t even notice the tears streaming down your face as Childe walked to you, his prize. Staring down at you with those soulless eyes looked down at your crouched figure. He took off his bloodied glove and brushed your tears off as he cradled your cheek. Tilting your face upwards to meet his gaze, “I look forward to our newly formed contract (first)!” beaming a smile that didn’t match his void-like eyes. 

Childe would make you his right hand in the Fatui, taking you away from Lyiue to his home in Snezhnaya. He doesn’t need to chain you down when your contract does it for him, detailing your obedience to stay by his side. He takes pride in wielding your weapon form, proving that he is better than your old partner. That you should be thankful, he decided to help bring out your true potential, only under him, of course. You’ve taken to just trying to block out all the cries and screams of the people victim to the harbinger, though you haven’t been able to wash the iron smell from you for months now. 

New rumors of the infamous 11th Harbinger started circling through the low-ranking members and weapons in the Fatui. Tales of how where ever he fought, there would only be him and his weapon standing victor in the end. Dancing in a blood-filled ballroom, the red floor reflecting the sinful dance like a mirror—capturing how his hands tighten around your hand and waist, pulling you along to his rhythm—a mere victim to the beat of his war drum.

[thelittlearanarathatcould]

Don’t Touch What Isn’t Yours

Childe X female reader

Warnings -> Pre-relationship, mild spice, protective Childe, violence, reader has a bruised wrist, drunk man flirts with reader

Lifeless blue eyes stared into your soul, the air around him thick with danger and dominance. You should have known he was capable of making such a lethal expression; how else would he be as powerful as he is if not for such bloodlust? Still, a year of working with the man has muddled your image of him into someone more light and playful, not the hostile figure standing before you now.

“It’s your call, girlie. What do you want me to do?”

~~~ Earlier ~~~

Northland Bank seemed to echo in the last few moments of the day. The light in the lobby was dimmer, as if the entire building was getting ready to sleep for the night. The last remaining staff were wrapping up the last of their duties, and as soon as the clock struck six, Andrei locked the grand front doors.

“Closing time, guys. Get out of here.” He said, waving everyone a farewell on his way towards the back room.

Ekaterina, who had just finished checking the vault’s security mechanisms were functioning, glided over and leaned against the tall filing cabinet you were digging through. “Mister Qi, Vlad and I are going out for dinner before hitting up a tavern. Wanna come with?”

You looked up and flashed her an apologetic smile. “Wish I could, but I have some things to take care of first.”

She rolled her eyes, but her smile was friendly. “Must be hard, being a Harbinger’s personal errand girl. Well, if you change your mind, we’ll be at Wanmin Restaurant.”

With that, Ekaterina spun on her heel and followed the others out the back door. In all honesty, you wanted to accept the offer, but your dedication to your job came first. Being a secretary wasn’t the most complicated job, and you could very well come in earlier tomorrow morning and finish these tasks instead of tonight, but your boss was good to you and paid you more then this position probably deserved. The least you could do is have things ready so he can grab what he needed and go.

It didn’t take you long to find the documents you needed, and once they were in your hands, you headed down the hall and entered the furthest office on the left. You set the stack of papers down and split it into two piles: one that contained the information of clients who’s debts were officially overdue, and one for clients who’s loan deadlines were coming up next month. He didn’t need to worry about the second pile - you’ll go through it tomorrow and write the reminder letters yourself.

“Should I start paying you overtime?”

You yelped and jumped a foot in the air. Whirling around, you caught sight of a familiar man standing beneath the doorframe with his arms crossed and a light smile on his lips.

Letting out a heavy exhale, you placed a hand over your racing heart. “When did you get back? I didn’t see you return.”

Childe shrugged and walked towards the desk. “Not surprised, you have tunnel vision when you’re working. What are these?”

“This month’s overdue loans. I know it’s not your favourite job, but it needs to be done. You can leave the notices for next month to me.”

The man sighed and shook his head. “All my skill, and this is what I’ve been reduced to. A lousy debt collector.”

You rolled your eyes and patted his back. “You’ll survive.”

A year ago, if anyone had told you a day would come where you comfortably worked beneath the direction of a Fatui Harbinger, you would have told them to jump off a boat and wrestle Osial with their bare hands. Sure, you lived under a rock sometimes but even you knew the Fatui was bad news. Still, you were desperate - the business you used to work for closed due to bankruptcy, the rent had gone up and although other places interviewed you, no one hired you. The secretary position at Northland Bank was your last hope, and honestly, it hasn’t been that bad. Naturally, you walked on eggshells for the first couple months but after that, work was just work and Childe was just Childe.

“Hey.” You snapped out of your thoughts when the man standing next to you suddenly took hold of your wrist. “What happened here?”

As he gently turned your wrist over in his hands, you remembered what happened that afternoon. “Oh, that? It’s not a big deal. A man came in screaming about being screwed over and grabbed me. Vlad dealt with him, don’t worry about it.”

Childe’s eyes, which already were naturally dull, darkened. “Who?”

You shrugged, missing the venom that laced his voice. “No idea, but it doesn’t matter. Andrei banned him from the property so he shouldn’t be coming back.” You smiled and pulled your wrist free. “Childe, really, I’m okay. I can handle a bruise.”

Ekaterina’s offer rolled around in your head again. It’s been a while since you’ve gone out with friends, and if you hurried you should still be able to catch them at the restaurant.

“Childe?” Your mouth moved before your brain could keep up. “I’m planning to hang out with the others tonight. Do you want to come along?”

It was too late to take it back. It’s not that you didn’t want to invite him along, but was it appropriate to ask your boss to hang out with you? He is around your age, and when was the last time he went out and did something with friends?

Childe crossed his arms. “I have something I need to take care of, but thanks for the offer. Maybe next time?”

“Oh, sure.” Your own disappointment surprised you. “I’m going to head out, then. Goodnight.”

He smiled and gave a light nod. “Goodnight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You managed to snag the others just as they were leaving the restaurant. You weren’t feeling super hungry so instead of making them hang around the restaurant even longer, you decided to just order some bar food with your drink. Not long after arrival, Vlad and Mister Qi jumped into a game of beer pong, leaving you and Ekaterina to hold down the table.

“So~” She sang, wiggling her eyebrows. “How did it go after we all left?”

Her question confused you. “Fine? I just laid out tomorrow’s paperwork, said goodnight to Childe, and left.”

“Really?” She didn’t sound convinced, but what was there to convince her of? “I thought for sure you were going to ditch us to go on a date with him.”

You had lifted your glass to your lips, and upon hearing that, you choked. Slamming the glass onto the table, you covered your mouth and coughed as if sand had just been thrown into your lungs. “Wh-What?!”

Ekaterina rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You expect me to believe there’s nothing going on between you two?”

You stared at her, dumbfounded. “There’s nothing going on between us. He’s my boss, Eka.”

“So? Office romances happen all the time. Besides, if you saw the way you look at him, or noticed the way he looks at you, you’d believe it, too.”

There’s no way. There’s just no way. You don’t see Childe as anything more then a sometimes serious boss, and please, the possibility of him seeing you as anything but a workaholic secretary is laughable. You don’t know him outside the office, and he doesn’t know you.

Still, Ekaterina’s statement shook you, much so that you claimed to need some water and hastily ran from the table. By the time you reached the bar counter, you felt sick to your stomach. What if you have been making heart eyes at Childe? What if he lied about having something to do as a means of escaping you? Were you making him uncomfortable? No, that can’t be it. If you were really fawning over him, he would have teased you about it by now.

Yeah… you’re in the clear.

…But you did invite him out on a whim and rationalized it to yourself that you were worried about him.

…And you did enjoy bantering with him throughout the day.

…And you treated his wounds whenever he was being too stubborn to see a doctor.

…And you saved him some snacks from the break room whenever someone brought in a bulk for everyone to share.

Your heart beat faster whenever he smiled at you and praised you for your work.

You liked standing near him because his cologne smelled good - a cologne you bought him as a gift over the holidays.

With a shake of your head, you waved to catch the bartender’s attention. The bracelet hanging from your wrist caught your attention, a dainty silver one that you never took off unless it was time for bed. A bracelet Childe gave you the same holiday you gifted him the cologne.

Oh no, no, no, no, no, no!

“Heyyyy, I- *hic* I recognize youuuu.” The man sitting next to you, very clearly drunk, snapped you out of the abyss you were spiralling into.

Turning your head to look at him, you tensed and wrinkled your nose. He reeked of alcohol, but that wasn’t what put you on edge. You recognized this man’s face, and for a moment, the bruise on your wrist throbbed. This was the same man who threw a fit in the middle of the bank.

“Hello.” You said, being polite but firm and dismissive, hoping he would take your tone as a sign to leave you be.

Either he didn’t care, or he was too drunk to notice. “You’re the woman from the bank! Ya know, *hic* I-I’m really sorry about gra-grabbin’ ya’ like that. Not v-very gentlemanly. *hic*”

“It’s alright, forget about it.” Archons, please let him stop talking.

He planted an elbow on the counter and leaned his cheek into his palm. “Y-You’re real pretty, little miss. *hic* L-Lemme buy you a drink to show ya’ how- *hic* how sorry I am.”

Now, you felt very uncomfortable. “No, thank you. Goodbye, now.”

“H-Hey!”

You turned, failing to notice the way the man reached out to grab your arm. Someone else did, though.

Like the waves of an undertow, Childe’s rage crashed onto shore and his self control was pulled out to sea. This man - no, this living, breathing scrap of garbage laid a hand on you once and now he dared to do it again.

Childe’s hands are covered in blood. He’s killed, he’s tortured, he’s manipulated, but the one thing he’s never done is leave a mark on your skin. That makes him infinitely more innocent then the scum who stared you down as if you were made to be preyed upon.

And that, he will not allow.

A loud ‘thud’ nearly had you jumping out of your skin. Gasps and confused shouts exploded throughout the tavern, and every person you looked at had their eyes fixated on something behind you.

“What the hell, man?!” That was the drunken man’s voice.

You whipped around. The drunkard was still sitting on the stool, but his upper half was bent over the counter with a hand on the back of his neck forcing his head against the wood. One of his arms, the one closest to you, was pinned behind his back and twisted at a nauseating angle. If it wasn’t already broken, it very easily could be.

“I advise you to be careful while you struggle. Move the wrong way, and something might snap or pop out of place.”

Your tongue felt like sandpaper, each beat of your heart like thunder in your ears. “Ch-Childe, what are you…?”

The harbinger looked up and for a moment, you didn’t recognize him. His ocean eyes were as dark as the deepest depths of the sea, threatening to swallow someone and drown them in his anger. The shape of his face was sharper then ever, his expression dangerous enough to stop a raging Lawachurl in its tracks. The position he held over the man was dominate and unyielding, like a predator playing with its prey before delivering the final blow.

A small breath of air escaped you. This is what Childe looked like as a harbinger.

“I-I didn’t do anything! Wh-What’s your problem?!” The man sounded more afraid then he did angry, his face noticeably paler. Beads of sweat where gathering on his forehead.

“Oh, you didn’t? I could have sworn you were about to touch this woman without her consent. That just won’t do.” Childe sounded like he was teasing, but something sinister underlined his tone. “I think an apology is in order, wouldn’t you agree?”

The man’s face twisted in agony as the hand on his neck tightened its grip. “I-I’m sorry, Miss! I really, really am!”

You were about to call out to Childe, but he looked up and spoke first. “It’s your call, girlie. What do you want me to do?”

Your breath hitched. All this power he has, the strength he wields, and he’s asking you how you want this to end? He looked as sincere as he did vicious, not leaving any room for doubt. Whatever you chose of this man’s fate, he would see it through.

All eyes in the tavern were on you. Swallowing your nerves, you looked him in the eyes. “I want you to let him go.”

There was an intense pause, but true to his word, Childe let him go. The man tumbled off the stool, scrambled to his feet and bolted from the tavern. Everyone else averted their eyes and feigned minding their own business, reigniting the chatter and boisterous atmosphere from before.

“Are you hurt?” Childe asked as if nothing had happened.

Still stunned, you shook your head. You suddenly felt suffocated, and it would probably be best to get him out of here before the Milileth showed up. Unable to find words, you ducked your head, grabbed his hand and dragged him outside.

A gorgeous full moon hung in the sky, turning the surface of the ocean silver. The cool air felt nice on your heated skin, and though you would normally take a few minutes to appreciate the beauty of Liyue Harbor at night, you were too anxious to do it now.

As soon as the tavern’s door swung closed behind you, you released the harbinger’s hand and wrapped your arms around yourself. You couldn’t find the courage to turn and and face him, so you slowly started to walk in a random direction. His quiet footfalls was enough evidence that he was following.

“I thought there was something you needed to take care of?” You asked, staring at the ground so you wouldn’t trip over anything.

“There was. I just did.” He didn’t sound as hostile now, but he seemed… cautious. Unsure, and that was strange because Childe was the most confident man you knew.

“So, what? You’ve been tracking his whereabouts this entire time?” Hearing shouts in the distance, you turned down a narrow alley. “I didn’t think someone throwing a tantrum in the bank would offend you so badly.”

When it took too long for him to respond, you finally turned to face him. It’s only when he’s standing this close that you remember how much he towers over you. Even if the height isn’t that bad, his sheer presence alone left you the size of a mouse.

“No, you’ve got it wrong.” Childe took a step forward, and you took one back. This dance only lasted two strides before your back hit a wall and there was no where else to escape to. He planted his hands on the bricks, caging you between his arms. Shadows fell over his form, but a streak of moonlight made his eyes glow. “Want to guess again?”

The answer was clear as day, but part of you was still in denial. “What else could have bothered you so badly?”

He searched your face. Was it just you, or was he leaning in closer? “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“You shouldn’t answer a question with a question.” Your eyes kept darting back and forth between his eyes and his mouth.

Your knees started to shake as he ran his tongue over his lips. “Fine. I’ll show you, then.”

He kissed you, softly at first and when you didn’t push him away, he came back with the vigor of a man who’s been waiting too long. You squeaked into his kiss as he lifted you, hands supporting you beneath your thighs as he held you against the wall. You wrapped your legs around his waist, arms looping around the back of his neck and shoulders, hands losing themselves in the orange locks of his messy hair. You weren’t sure if it was Childe or the drinks, but something had drawn a boldness from you and you didn’t dare shy away now.

Childe broke the kiss when the shouts you heard earlier came again, sounding a lot closer this time. “How do you feel about continuing this elsewhere?”

Breathless, all you could do was nod and hold on.