#none of my friends have scarlet or violet that I know of

[i-never-forgot]

So…I know I said I would finish the comic page next, but hEAR ME OUT—

I finally bought Violet :) I’ve got Gatito the Sprigatito (original, I know), Fresa the Tarountula, and Gawain the Ralts so far as I explore the zone on the way to the academy!

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

games, m | myg

pairing(s): yoongi x reader

summary: You don't have a crush on Min Yoongi. You two are just fucking. Yup. You ignore him for two weeks because of Pokémon. Sorry. Twelve days. He's mad about it (and drunk?). Oh, shit.

warnings: rated M (18+) for language; OT6 are nosy so now it's somehow crack???? this always happens idk how; friends-with-benefits; soulmate vibes(?); ft my obsession Pokemon Scarlet / Violet; feels + smut (fem reader, penetrative sex, scratching, m-receiving oral, mutual masturbation, choking); non-idol!AU; switches between your POV and Yoongi's POV

--

“Yoongi?”

Wow, that was loud and unexpected. Knocked you right out of your very pleasant dream of stuffing your face at a buffet with thick, juicy slices of prime rib, complete with flakes of premium sea salt.

“YOONGI?!”

You could still almost taste it, but, like all dreams, the savory delight slipped away from you rapidly as you groggily blinked and realized you were resembling a croissant folded into this couch.

“You have a crush on Min Yoongi of all people?!”

Similar to the flaky buttery pastry, you had no idea what the fuck was going on. Unlike the product of a baker’s pride, sentient life required you to reorient yourself into humanity, hazily taking note of the MapleStory mushroom-printed blanket draped over you and your empty hands. Your hands had been holding your phone before you passed out. You were obsessed with mobile puzzle games recently. It was nice to have games on the go to occupy yourself instead of, bleh, socializing. It was awesome. When you figured them out too easily though, they made you sleepy.

Anyway, where the hell was your phone?

“Really?! Yoongi-hyung? Oh my gosh, he texted a human being all in his own? Wow!”

That kind of excitement could only be the voice of…

“Come on, guys, hyung’s been better about such things recently. He’s surprisingly sentimental, you know.”

And that sensible voice was none other than…

Someone snorted.

That was Kim Seokjin.

You rubbed your eyes to see a familiar man holding your very expensive Samsung smartphone with your customized Rotom phone case, poking at the screen as if he was his own.

“What kind of illegal activity are you doing over there?” you hummed as you sat up, knowing full well he did not possess access due to the fingerprint scanner. One time you snuck up on him as he tried to snoop on your phone. He had flung it, so this time you calmly stayed on the sofa as your longtime friend on the armchair jumped, thoroughly scaring himself and the lean, tan drink-of-sunshine standing behind him.

“You’re awake!” Seokjin blurted. Tall, gangly if you squinted, absolutely handsome, somehow always dancing on the edge of endearing caretaker and walking disaster, Kim Seokjin threw himself out of the plushy white armchair and shoved your phone into your face accusingly as if you were the one responsible of wrongdoing. His chestnut-brown poofy hair bounced as he relentlessly poked you in the head. “You’re texting Min Yoongi! Is that the one you have a crush on?!”

“Er, technically all hyung asked was when the group was meeting up…” Jung Hoseok squeaked, radiating apologies while Seokjin continued poking you in the head with his free hand. “I tried to tell him not to touch your phone.”

“I’m sure you did,” you replied. “I’m also sure he didn’t listen.”

“Hey. Answer me.”

“Hyung…” The concerned, deep voice was coming from the barstools in the kitchen behind you, in the don’t-annoy-her-that’s-rude-but-also-it's-not-my-place-to-scold-since-I’m-younger tone. Kim Namjoon, who was probably reading a book and drinking tea at the counter. He must have been banished there. The last time he had done the same activities in the living room, he had spilled tea all over Seokjin’s white rug. That had earned him a good yelling.

You glanced at Hoseok’s rueful expression and half-smiled, waving your hand to indicate you weren’t that bothered.

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me.”

Kim Seokjin believed he needed to know such information about you because he had been your friend since your accountant mother started dragging you to house calls to a very specific home (mansion) in hopes of child you falling in love with the dashingly handsome son of one of her clients (she told his parents that it was because she couldn’t afford daycare, but even child you knew better). Instead, Seokjin and you became inseparable hopelessly addicted gaming fanatics that could not imagine each other naked without puking.

You did end up becoming inseparable. Just not in the way your mother wanted.

Oops.

“I don’t have a crush on Min Yoongi.”

“Oh yeah?” He said it in a high-pitched, disbelieving tone. You swatted his hand and snatched your phone from him, peering at the message preview. “Why is he texting you then, huh? HUH?”

Your phone vibrated.

Sorry to bother you. I would have texted Seokjin-hyung, but he’s annoying.

“He says you’re annoying.”

“Ex-cuse ME?”

“Here’s the proof.”

“EXCUSE HIM?!”

-

“What.”

“Let me in. It’s cold out here.”

“What are you doing here?” Kim Taehyung sputtered, obediently opening his apartment door to the slightly shorter, much more imposing figure of Min Yoongi. His long black hair was wild and windblown, puffy black parka zipped all the way up, hood out but useless at the moment. Light denim jeans and black boots crusted with snow. Nothing but his serious, intense demeanor made him imposing. Yoongi carefully kicked off the white ice before stepping in, slowly raising an eyebrow at Taehyung’s askew brown locks and rumpled gray sweat set.

“You’re not leaving like that are you?”

Taehyung frowned. “I’m not, duh. Jimin’s taking ages to use the bathroom. I think he fell in the toilet.”

“Hey! I heard that! Who’s out there?”

“You won’t believe it,” Taehyung shouted back to the disembodied voice coming from inside his apartment. He pushed his hair back from his eyes like he himself couldn’t believe it, revealing his classically handsome sharp features and stunned frown. “It’s Yoongi.”

“YOONGI?!”

The Min Yoongi, of the hour it seemed, rolled his eyes.

“What are you doing back there?” he called to the voice inside from the front hallway, not moving.

“Fixing my hair!” Park Jimin yelled back several decibels louder.

“I’m surprised,” Taehyung said, looking scowling Yoongi up and down like he was some kind of unidentified foreign object. “I thought you weren’t coming. Didn’t you say you were busy?”

“I made myself unbusy,” Yoongi grumbled back, pulling out his phone.

“You don’t make yourself unbusy for no reason.” Taehyung persisted, sticking his face in between Yoongi and his phone, making those cat-like eyes above narrow in annoyance.

“There’s alcohol.”

Taehyung wiggled his dark eyebrows. “I thought you were cutting back.”

Deadpan.

“Life’s shit, man.”

The younger male broke out into his boxy smile and booming laugh, pulling his head of brown curls back to double over. It was the combination of Yoongi’s dead-inside expression and monotone reply that was making Taehyung snort, that and Yoongi’s immediate return to his phone as if nothing was happening. Yoongi still made no move to actually step further into the apartment. He simply continued standing in front of the closed front door, on the welcome mat next to the shoes thrown about because Kim Taehyung couldn’t be neat unless he was impressing someone, and those people were not his best friend Park Jimin and unexpected-guest-but-still-friend Min Yoongi.

“You’re so funny, hyung.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrows as he stared at his phone and gave Taehyung absolutely fucking nothing to work with to continue the conversation.

“I guess you intend to drink since you stopped by here,” Taehyung chattered on, bored and unbothered about Yoongi’s lack of communication. “I’m closest to the train station and in between the karaoke bar. Plus sharing a taxi with us is cheaper than paying on your own.”

Silence.

Taehyung prodded Yoongi’s arm.

“Uh huh.”

Innovative answer.

“I think everyone is going to be there then,” Taehyung continued on, smooth baritone voice calming as he listed the people. “Namjoonie-hyung, Seokjinnie-hyung, Hoseokie-hyung, Jimin, Jungkookie, you, me…”

“Where’s Jungkook?”

“He’s asleep.”

Taehyung pointed to the couch. There was a blob of gray, black and white, too much fabric and face-down into the couch pillows. A poof of wavy black hair the only indication the pile was a human and not forgotten laundry.

“What is he, a newborn infant?”

“I don’t know. He said he was tired. If we don’t let him nap now, he’ll pass out during karaoke and we’re not strong enough to carry him out. Remember last time?” Taehyung sighed.

The monochrome blob that was supposedly the man named Jeon Jungkook suddenly snored, as if on cue.

“Yeah, I don’t know what he’s is doing in the gym but he’s unmovable,” Yoongi muttered.

The phone vibrated.

“Oh, is that me?” Taehyung immediately felt around his pockets and looked around. “Ah, where did I–”

But it was not him. Yoongi looked down. Unfortunately, you’ll bear witness to my awful singing. I apologize in advance. The corner of his lips ticked as he read the message. He breathed out. One, two, three, four seconds, and typed back. That makes the two of us then. A part of him thought he shouldn’t have started this conversation. He wasn’t good at this small talk thing, but one had to make some kind of effort in getting to know someone. And, anyway, he knew himself.

Do before getting carried away.

And, yeah, he wanted to know this one.

“I knew it.”

Yoongi slowly blinked, sensing an ominous presence staring at his phone screen, most certainly reading the name there. Sigh. He pulled his arm back and put his phone in his pocket, looking up to see the grinning, scheming, falsely-angelic face of Park Jimin looming into his peripheral view.

“Oooh, Min Yoongi has a crush.”

Yoongi said nothing, because saying nothing was better than reaching over and strangling Jimin. The latter would require physical effort. Oh, and perhaps land him in jail for murder. But that was only because Taehyung was here as witness.

“Huh… I thought I got a notification,” the latter commented, emerging from his bedroom with his uncased smartphone. Yoongi often wondered how Taehyung never cracked it, but perhaps he just bought new ones when he did. Taehyung often chose aesthetics over practicality. “Oh, finally, you’re out of the bathroom. Do I have to open a window to spare myself?”

“Tae, Yoongi-hyung has a crush,” Jimin sing-songed, bouncing around the older male teasingly as Yoongi remained statuesque. “He’s texting Seokjinnie-hyung’s lady gamer friend.”

Yoongi did not confirm or deny this information as Taehyung’s brown doe eyes went wide.

“OH?”

“Hyung’s flirting.”

Yoongi felt his right eyelid twitch.

“Jungkookie! Jungkookie, wake up, I have news!”

The blob trembled, suddenly alive, shaken violently by a hyper-excited Taehyung who couldn’t believe his ears even though he did not fact-check Jimin and had zero proof if his best friend was telling the truth or not. Apparently, he was filled with too much glee to relay this sudden revelation to the youngest, sleepiest one of the soon-to-be-drunk-as-fuck-karaoke group.

“W... Wuh?”

Unsurprisingly, Jungkook was not that articulate when barely roused from the dead.

“Yoongi-hyung’s flirting!”

Those big peepers snapped open.

“He’s WHAT?!”

-

“Mmm.”

The night smelled like smoke and someone’s delicious dinner.

“I should, ah, head home now that you’re safely at your door and all that.”

The winter night framed his figure. A halo of streetlamp light caught the gloss of his wavy black hair. Long and dark and shadowy, strands curling around high cheekbones and fair skin. He caught your gaze as you turned to face him. Black-brown eyes and unreadable expression. Half-zipped parka, black sweatshirt, and blue jeans with gray paint splattered onto one knee. No scarf. Strange, because you knew this man was the kind of guy who always wore a beanie and prioritized sensibility over aesthetics, and yet.

Min Yoongi raised his hands and exhaled into his curled palms, warming his nose at the same time. He looked away from you to do so.

“Cold?”

He shrugged. “It’s winter.”

You half-smiled, lifting your ungloved left hand. “My hands are always warm. My face always gets cold first before my hands.”

He eyed your fur-lined leather jacket. A chocolatey faux fur, softness peeking out from the tougher black fabric. Then his eyeline shifted. Intently observing your face. If you were younger, you might have thought you had to react differently. Been shy like the movies or some shit.

You simply waited, keeping your touch hovering in the winter night.

Slowly, you lowered your hand.

Something fluttered in the darkness that was those eyes. You had seen it before, maybe even spied it earlier this night. It was only a get-together between friends, drinks and karaoke, neither activity you particularly enjoyed which led to your original decision of not going. One small detail changed your mind, and he was standing right in front of you. Your singing was awful, but Yoongi was still polite enough to say that you were better than he was. I’m only good at rap. Sure. You heard what he said and his singing voice proved to contradict it. So Min Yoongi was that kind of liar, huh.

You didn’t say goodbye yet.

You could see Yoongi was waiting for you to say it first. You removed your other hand from your jacket pocket. Empty, purposefully leaving your keys behind. Calmly stared into those dark eyes as he stepped forward. You could feel it. The fire beneath the waves. Felt it all night. In the stolen glances, in the way he spoke to you, polite with piqued curiosity, in the way time stopped when your eyes connected.

You smiled.

His cold fingers touched the back of your hand.

You didn’t say anything. Didn’t need the conversation to be with words. His hand on yours, chills wrapping around the warmth. Experiential. Testing the feeling between you and him. You didn’t need to wonder what he thought of you. He had reached out and touched your hand and you let him, reaching between you and him to softly rub the back of his knuckles, silently speaking to those dark eyes and parted lips through touch. His other hand raised and laid above your joined hands.

Black strands curved around his cheeks as Yoongi lowered his head.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he whispered, smokey and dusky.

Bodies closer, breath mixing. Your head tilted. Lashes lowering. Cold night air disappearing because of the fire under the water, breath to breath, hot, almost burning, the desire to break the surface rising, rising.

“Is it this?” you murmured, barely audible.

You could tell a lot from one kiss. He did not hide his hesitancy or his want. Honesty from the very beginning of his lips on yours, surprised at the way you pressed back against him and inhaled, imprinting the moment to your memory with his scent. Your grip tightened and his did too, telling you everything you needed to know, kiss after kiss, pulling him to you, away from the winter night and memories of a friendly get-together, about to change them into something…

Else.

Yeah.

Fuck it, you were already pushing his parka down his shoulders before your front door finished closing. It was dark but that didn’t matter when you remembered where everything was, flicking on low lights and bringing his face close to yours again, creating the magical moments on your own, not waiting for Yoongi for do so. He was enough magic in his breathless gasps and the way he seamlessly followed the fervor of your kiss, his shallow sighs saturated with lust. There was very little talking except the conversation of bodies. Not much to say when you collided him into the wall and slid your hands under his sweatshirt, skin to warm skin, kisses turning to hot breath and flicks of tongue against his neck, shivers under your lips, and then he flipped the situation, strong hands on your shoulders and rolling against the wall, pinning you with his body.

Hair all over his eyes.

Shaking inhale.

A hall lamp lighting the left side of his face.

“Too fast?” you asked softly.

Dark orbs flickered to yours.

“… No.”

Closer, his air becoming your air.

“I just don’t want you to think this is the reason I walked you home. I didn’t want you to get hurt. Walking at night alone isn’t safe. People are crazy.”

You half-smiled. Alright, more of a smirk. “Maybe I’m one of them.”

A light chuckle, impressed and amused at the same time. “I was trying to sober up too.” Giving excuses.

“Heard you have a high tolerance.”

“Alcohol is alcohol.”

“So, does the alcohol wanna fuck me or do you?”

No one ever called you subtle.

Yoongi closed the distance, his hair falling against your forehead. You could tell he was struggling with himself whether or not to be swept up in the waves of your fire, or maybe struggling with what was wrong and what was right, or maybe he was hesitating once he felt your relentless energy under his hands, but you could also feel something pressing against your crotch and it wasn’t one of his legs.

He was very calm once he made his decision.

“What do you like?”

Your hands in his hair, his ear between your teeth, and his moan into your pillows. Clothes all over the floor, body to body, so much heat that you both seemed to forget it was winter. His hand on your breasts, your hard nipples between his fingertips, your mouth opening and extending your tongue, teasing him, tangling your legs in his. There was some irresistible about his smile and his smirk. You chased both, running your nails over his back and ass, his hard cock pressed to your thigh and his hiss against your neck, do you have condoms, we shouldn’t, but he didn’t need to finish since you were already prepared.

“I’m not irresponsible.”

“Oh?” Yoongi cocked an eyebrow. Glanced at your rumpled sheets, his naked body as he rolled down the condom, and then at your naked body. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

You just smirked.

You were often careful after the first time, following the energy of the other person rather than your own desires. But this time, something was different. Your hand would press to his chest, fingernails curling in, and, slowly, centimeter by centimeter, his length filling you, contented sighs mixing, raking your nails down, lines of pain in your wake, listening to his hitched breath, his eyes flashing.

He didn’t say it, but his voice was in his racing heartbeat and throbbing cock.

More.

Not quite competitiveness but more like pleasure from pushing the limit. There was a certain measure of reservedness, like how he waited patiently for you to lift your leg up onto his shoulder. First one, and then you tapped his other arm. Yoongi raised his eyebrows, but he lifted his other arm, hand back to your mattress once you were folded under him.

You lifted your hips up and rammed into his crotch.

He sucked in a growl and winced, screwing his eyes shut. Probably to avoid you seeing anything too embarrassing. You let your muscles slowly close in around him, squeezing his hardness, letting yourself feel him inside you. Appreciating. He didn’t move right away. You did, steadily fucking him from below, his chest against your thighs, keeping the smirk on your face to stay as infuriating as possible.

“Fucking… Are you enjoying this?”

Low and dangerous, sweet chills up your spine at his deep voice.

“Do you fuck without the intent of enjoying it?” you countered.

He narrowed his eyes and fucked you into your mattress. Merciless and hard and deliberate. Good rhythm, which you expected. Intensity over speed, which you did not expect. Yoongi knew what he was doing. He was not just chasing his own pleasure. There was no need to with the way that you were nearly sending him over the edge with the control of your own muscles. He slowed down for a moment, lifting a hand and tracing your jaw with his fingertips, whispers under his pants, you have nice lips, you know, the perfect shape, and you licked the air, the tongue is better.

Cocked eyebrow, open-mouthed smirk.

“I’ll have to find out next time.” He ticked his head downward. “You wanna get off with me?”

“I will if you fuck me hard enough.”

“You don’t have to pretend.”

“I’m not. You’ll feel it, trust me.”

You thrusted with him to get that depth you liked and he did, in fact, feel it.

“F-Fuck!”

You bit your lower lip and grinned, throwing your head back and feeling your moan vibrate in your chest, lengthening your high with the containment. Eyes closing, no more talking, your arms up and hands clutching the pillows, fucking him as he fucked you, his swears turning into moans as he felt your orgasm convulse around him, honey wetness sticking to your inner thighs and his, chasing a higher high, cutting off every one before the final crescendo, not letting yourself fully let go, not yet, almost there, not yet.

Saturating every second with vicious, hot pleasure.

Somehow Yoongi knew. Felt it, chased it with you, his muscles tense, rigid, holding back too, building the higher high, harder, steady, fuck, so good.

Your name tumbling from his throat, the warning, and his from yours, the moment, orgasm so intense you forgot to breathe for a second, suspended, and then the crash, gasping as you felt him twitch inside you and your walls pulse, electricity shooting through your nerves, tingling and euphoric, gripping your pillows covered in your hair as Yoongi leaned forward and covered you in his hair and hot breath, colliding kiss matching the escalating beats of racing hearts.

Yoongi stared into your eyes much later, all his clothes back on.

“What?” you asked.

“Just memorizing your eyes.”

He kissed you.

-

“Love is more circumstance than fate.”

“I always thought so, too.”

These kinds of things came up in conversation around others. These were moments that happened by happenstance. For instance, in the middle of Taehyung’s tirade about how true love was definitely fate between two beings who had a connection unique to themselves that could not be replicated, and he deliberately ignored Yoongi when he pointed out that every connection one had with another was unique because it was between two individuals.

You and Yoongi shared a look of faint amusement in the midst of Taehyung’s abrupt soapbox speech.

Hoseok blinked and repeated his question of whether or not he suited the acorn-shaped pouch that was slightly overpriced despite being on sale. Namjoon injected and said that if he has asking then it meant that he was hesitating. Seokjin told him who cares, just buy it, it’s cute. That was enough convincing for Jung Hoseok. He brought it on the spot.

You found Yoongi afterward, waiting for you around the corner.

“Oh. I thought you went home.”

He looked at you, lowering the hood of his parka.

“I thought about it, but it had been a while since I appreciated the night.”

Then there was silence, until you were close, and then those dark eyes stayed on you, tendrils of black between you and him. Your fingertips touched the button placket of his coat. His head lowered. His breath had a little sweetness to it because of the Korean liquor. You kissed him.

You closed your eyes when you did.

You didn’t say much more.

You didn’t really look at his apartment when you arrived. You were too entangled in the lip lock and pinning his wrists to the wall. Heat pressed to heat. His tongue thrusting between your lips. The cold rapidly defrosting once skin was against skin.

Your nails down his chest.

Heavy exhale, burning anticipation.

You didn’t need to ask yourself, why am I like this. People spent years wondering on their own, but those years were already behind you, in lonely nights of both your parents working overtime and you alone at the table doing homework, cooking your own meals, cleaning up after yourself. If you wanted the video games to distract your brain, you had to be a good daughter. Being a good daughter was not that hard. Do all the things you were supposed to do and take up as little mental space as possible.

Something like that.

You ran your tongue along the inside of Yoongi’s thigh and savored his shudder.

The only detail that slightly annoyed your mother was that you weren’t interested in marrying Seokjin and Seokjin was clearly not interested in marrying you. Not much she could do about that. She gave up on asking for those kinds of details after that, mostly to avoid her own disappointment.

You wrapped your tongue around hot, taut skin, controlling the pressure of your tongue and lips. Up, down, tongue moving independently along the underside of the head, so precise that you saw his fingers sink into his sheets, surprise rippling over his features. Raised an eyebrow at him, letting the amusement show.

Yoongi smirked, a look that suited him very much.

All the way down, hitting the back of your throat. Easy. Guess a lot of people could call you a whore for that but, then again, the ones who actually knew were probably too busy pining over the fact that they would never feel it once more. Didn’t help that you acted as if it never happened once you were done.

You had dedication to games, but to people?

Not really.

It was fun to figure out people. It was fun discovering Yoongi. His sounds, every sigh, the tone of his moan, the way his breath shook when you took him deep and slow. He became very hard every time you went as deep as possible, past the point of breathing. He didn’t try to push your head or interfere with your pace. It was as if he trusted your movement, which was what he should do, because you knew what you were doing.

You swirled your tongue around the head as you went down.

He sucked in a gasp and closed his eyes, visible tension over his chest.

There was a strange familiarity to his movements. That was the only way you could describe the ease of reading his body language. Sometimes you let yourself feel the extent of the pleasure and sometimes you let the pressure build in your body to wallow in the torture of the buildup, like what he was doing now. He wanted to last, so you made it last. Not too fast. Tongue all over his hard, pulsing length, slowing down at the right moment of his hips shivering, layering the intensity again, stroking his balls as you sucked him, spreading the dripping saliva all over.

You hadn’t been having sex with Yoongi for very long, but it felt like you already knew his body.

You let him consider the possibility of you not letting him cum and then you continued the intensity, pushing him over the edge.

“… F-Fuck…!”

Rammed the throbbing head down your throat and felt his thick, salty orgasm spurt into the confines, leaking over your tongue and the roof of your mouth, breathing in to push it back. His hips involuntarily jerked and you immediately reached up to grip them and shove him back down, swallowing around the harsh pulses.

You heard Yoongi moan, low and sweet and erotic.

People were like games.

Only few had replay value.

-

He thought about saying something, but there wasn’t much to say.

It was his policy to not make something out of nothing. Grander, more general things, sure, he kept those ambitions. But, day-to-day, he learned it was better to go with the flow. You didn’t have disappointments if you didn’t expect much to begin with, so Yoongi didn’t expect much and let himself feel what he wanted to feel.

Like his hands on those thighs and pressing delicious legs to his chest as he sank in.

He tended to enjoy the fucking on top simply because it was easier for him. Most of the time, he didn’t feel much need to experiment or be creative. Most of the time, they weren’t worth it. Her? He fucked her in every position he could think of. This time, he felt the urge to fuck with most of his clothes on, with her holding up his shirt as he thrust into her on the edge of the bed. Not the most optimal position for maximum pleasure, but the arousal in the unnatural movement was enough to get him off.

Her too.

He could tell by the unforgiving clenching around his cock and the sopping wetness that was sticking to his balls, which was causing him to last minutes. You would think the human body would last longer if it felt better, so the pleasure could be felt more extensively, but his dick was much more interested in the instant gratification it was getting.

Oh, well.

He would have to fuck multiple times then, to prolong the pleasure.

She was the one to ask him first. Meeting without the false alibi of just happening to be at the same gathering at the same time. He went with the flow. Their fingertips touching. Her leaning in and kissing his collarbone, lips so soft that they made his nerves spark and muscles shiver, tilting his head back as her tongue traced a thin line upwards, wet heat against his pulse, her hand falling from his hand, tracing his neck.

“Choke me,” he whispered.

Yoongi liked doing things for the sheer curiosity of it.

She sucked on his ear when she choked him and electrified his whole body with lust, his hands finding her hips and slamming them down on his crotch, moaning into her ear shamelessly.

Yoongi knew he got himself into moments like this.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault but his own.

His fingers buried into her wet, warm pussy and he inhaled, drinking in the sweet scent of her juices, in, out, so good, the feeling of power and pleasure at his fingertips, tactile and visceral and intense. Staring into those piercing eyes with one hand around his neck and the other around his hard cock, choking both until he came on her thigh and hip, but not before she came onto his fingers, pushing himself to the brink with his forearm vibrating. Ended up being sore the next day.

Worth it.

Yoongi told himself to do before getting carried away.

He was getting carried away, especially when he was alone.

His shaking breath, breathe in, breathe out, high on the bliss, their lips colliding, covered in each other, salty, sweet, sticky, closer but not, and it was nobody’s fault but his own, because he always thought about saying something, but didn’t.

There wasn’t much to say.

He looked into those eyes, and he didn’t want to say anything. Just wanted to appreciate their shape, their color, the feeling they gave him when he gazed into them, like he could live million lifetimes but recognize those eyes every time. A strange kind of familiarity that didn’t have an explanation. He had known Kim Seokjin for a while, but Seokjin was protective of his female friends, especially his most important one.

So, Yoongi stayed respectful until his brain started getting carried away because his dick wasn’t doing enough.

Well.

He tried.

-

“I gotta ask you something.”

“You can ask me after you press A, you dimwit.”

“I am pressing A. It’s lagging!” Seokjin growled, bopping you on the arm. You continued leaning against his broad shoulder as the Pokémon raid loaded up. “Are you dating Yoongi?”

“Mmm,” was your reply as you pressed the buttons in order. Battle, Swords Dance, on your Ceruledge. Had to get the setup going to do the most damage before your stats become nullified. The raids in Pokémon were meant to convince players to participate in online play, but math and logic could help you solo or duo them quite easily. You needed Seokjin there so you had one less idiot AI. In fact, Seokjin only purchased this generation of Pokémon to help you out in certain things. Raids and completing the Pokédex. He wasn’t as attached to the series as you were. He played so he could understand what you meant when referencing it, but he wasn’t that invested.

He was a good friend.

“Are you or not?”

“Don’t think it’s any of your business,” you responded absentmindedly, reaching over to command his statistically-perfect Arboliva that you gifted him for this very purpose to perform Helping Hand. You might as well have been doing this raid alone. Seokjin was basically simply a spare console accompanied by a warm body.

For now.

Kidding… unless?

Nah, he was too much fun to tease.

“It is my business. You’re my friend, he’s my friend and, if you two are dating, it’ll make the group all weird.”

“Your friend group is already all weird.”

Seokjin prodded you in the head as you selected Bitter Blade for your attack move. “Be serious.”

“Ask him.”

“I did. He said to ask you.”

“Huh.”

Silence.

“… I’ll kill him if he abandons you.”

You couldn’t pause the raid. It was timed and the raid Pokémon had to be defeated in that time, or you would get kicked out. You didn’t say anything. Just kept pressing buttons, turning automatic.

“Well, I won’t kill him. I’ll make Jungkook kill him.”

Reaching over Seokjin, who did nothing to help you. He just held the Switch as you selected the correct moves and thought about who you needed to raise next. Maybe a Gardevoir. You needed more special attackers to avoid Abilities like Cursed Body and the Burn status condition.

Seokjin was suddenly quiet.

“… You think he’d do that?” you finally said, not quite sure what you meant in asking that.

You felt a hand on your head, bringing you closer to broad shoulders and his game.

“I don’t know.”

One thing about Seokjin was that he always told the truth.

-

“Are you getting your dick wet or what?”

Yoongi blinked slowly.

“What?”

“Jimin, you can’t ask that,” Hoseok scolded, whacking Jimin’s chopsticks with his own to punish the younger male because the walking sunshine was too pure-hearted to physically strike Jimin. “Eat your food.”

Jimin thinned his plump lips and gave Yoongi the side eye instead of eating his meal like Hoseok told him to. “I think you are. I feel it.”

Yoongi made the executive decision to ignore Jimin and continue serving himself the soup, adding plenty of vegetables. “Hoseok, haven’t you been working a lot lately? You need to eat more meat. You’re getting too thin.”

“You sound like my parents, hyung,” Hoseok laughed jovially as Yoongi added extra slices of marinated beef onto his plate. “Thanks, thanks.”

“Don’t avoid the question,” Jimin continued, buzzing away like a determined bee.

“I get it wet every day. It’s called a shower.”

“You know what I mean.”

“And I answered you.”

Jimin squinted under his fluffy auburn locks. “You’re sussy.”

“Huh?” Hoseok blinked rapidly, cocking his head. “Sussy?”

“Suspicious. Taehyung taught me.”

Hoseok’s lips curled into a round ‘o’, seemingly filing away this new lingo. “Man, sometimes I feel so old around you and Taehyung even though I’m only a year older.” The bustling restaurant complimented his cheerful voice, warm smells and fragrant conversation mixing with the clinking of plates and glasses. He reached over the table, patting Yoongi on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re talking to someone though. I thought you were going to die alone.”

Those cat-like eyes shifted away.

“… Thanks.”

Nothing more.

“Uh oh, there’s trouble in paradise already.”

“Is something wrong?” Hoseok asked, frowning slightly at the older male’s reaction.

Yoongi sighed, and shook his head.

“It’s nothing. There’s not much to say about it.”

Hoseok caught on right away, nodding intently. “Right! Speaking of, Jimin, I heard you are leading a theater production all on your own.”

“A-Ah, just the choreography for the songs…” A small hand attempted to wave away Hoseok’s sudden unwavering excitement. “Really, it’s not that serious…”

“Yes, it is! A musical! With weeks and weeks of shows…!”

Yoongi avoided looking at his phone all night. He kept his eyes forward and focused on the conversation with his friends. If he didn’t, he would be stuck in his thoughts, wondering what all those nights really meant if all he had now was silence and a loveholic’s hangover he didn’t ask for.

-

“Oh, shit.”

Those were the first words you had spoken to a real, physical, in-the-flesh human being in a long time (Seokjin didn’t count). First words you had spoken all day, actually. Wait. Maybe you exclaimed out loud, you little fucker, get in the damn ball, earlier. Highly probable. No need to censor yourself when you were at home.

“You have left me on read for two weeks.”

“Oh… shit.”

After the shock had set in, the cold suddenly became apparent. It was winter, after all. Extra obvious by the snow on the ground and the big black parka the person outside your door was wearing, although the red flush around his neck and cheekbones was not from the icy breeze.

“Two weeks,” the man at your front door repeated with a growl, and he started advancing which, in most cases, would be a sign to call the police.

“Surely,” you sputtered, fumbling with your phone in your other hand, letting go of the knob because the screen was tab after open tab of various Pokédex entries of the Pokémon you were considering spending your previous in-game money on to make statistically perfect. Ahem, anyway, you hurriedly changed apps to your Messages app, your eyes widening as you saw the dates of your last messages.

Oh shit.

“Actually, it’s only been twelve days–”

“Twelve days of nothing,” he snapped, slamming closed your front door that you were honestly slightly grateful for. It was fuckin’ cold out there. “And what do I hear tonight? Just yesterday you were speaking to Jeon Jungkook on the phone.”

And, at this point, Min Yoongi got in your face.

You held your phone close to your purple sherpa pullover and stepped back as a stern, gracefully annoyed expression confronted you. Wild long black hair, furrowed eyebrows, and flashing dark eyes. Flushed pink lips twisted into irritation. Open jacket revealing his black sweater and light blue jeans, strange for such a cold night.

“Have you been drinking?” you observed, catching a whiff of his exhale.

“I’m not drunk,” Yoongi countered, backing up and scowling. “I was at Namjoon’s and then I remembered you lived nearby. So, I walked.”

“You… walked?”

“Yeah.”

You blinked slowly.

“Kim Namjoon… if you’re walking… that’s about an hour away….”

The scowl straightened out, leaving a stoic profile as Yoongi refused to look at you.

He grunted.

You were surprised.

“I… Jeon Jungkook called me.” You felt the sudden urge to fill the space of silence as the man before you kept his gaze at a firm ninety-degrees to the wall despite your face being right there. “He was worried about Seokjin, because he kept trying to call him. Seokjin had sent him a box of grapes from his uncle’s farm and Jungkook was trying to thank him via call because his mom told him he couldn’t simply text, but Seokjin wasn’t answering the calls and then Jungkook got worried so he called me since I have Seokjin’s family number but then I reminded Jungkook that that rich guy and his family went to a luxurious mountain resort to go skiing and wouldn’t be back until next weekend,” you finished in a jumbled mess of oversharing.

Silence.

You were highly aware that your Nintendo Switch was loudly playing the classic, cheery jingle of the Pokémon Center in your bedroom, echoing the bright notes throughout your apartment as, er, your possibly-soon-to-be-past fling? current interest? situation-ship? continued staring at the wall as if the paint was the one speaking to him.

To reiterate, you were surprised.

“I… I didn’t think you cared,” you explained, looking up at Yoongi.

He turned his head.

Looking down, black hair around his cheeks. Lashes lifting, slow motion, dark brown orbs raising, then the darkness was on you, and there was no anger, no malice, the heated air of his rash imposition fizzling out once your eyes connected.

His lips parted.

Nothing came out, as if he was about to say something emotional but then stopped himself. His brows knitted together, a moment of recollection, and then.

“Namjoon said I should be honest, so I’m here to tell you that you pissed me off by ignoring me,” he mumbled.

You blinked. Slowly, once again.

“O… Oh. I apologize.”

Silence except heartbeats.

Yoongi looked away.

You could piece the entire picture together now. Your eyes shifted, side to side, to his hands shoved in his jacket pockets, to the faint tint of pink around his ears and neck, to his relaxed shoulders and that tense heart, and you were surprised because Yoongi had always held himself with a devil-may-care attitude and straightforward bluntness. Not that you didn’t think there was more, but rather it seemed as if he didn’t want to address that under any circumstances and you had no need for more when you were your own happiness, and so you asked him another question.

“Is this you or the alcohol talking?”

Yoongi clicked his tongue and frowned, flickering glare meeting you. “Alcohol doesn’t make you a different person. I’m not someone else just because I had a few bottles with Namjoon. I have a high tolerance anyway.”

You smiled.

“I know. Wanted to make sure you were thinking the same thing I was.”

That was why Yoongi and you ended up in this situation. Because he seemed to always end up thinking the same thing you were. There wasn’t much discussion or mystery. There was you and there was him in the same place at the same time. Multiple times. Overlapping interests, but not all the same. Kept things interesting. Discovering you had the same core values and then the same kind of comfortable silence that turned into his hand on yours, experimental, are you thinking what I’m thinking, bodies closer, breath mixing, heads tilting, is it this?

Playing the game.

The Pokémon Center music faded out and then picked up again, always aggressively joyous, always ready to nurse your team back to full health.

You rubbed the back of your head sheepishly. “Hah… I’ve just… been playing the new Pokémon game came out recently, so I took time off to play it… thought I said…”

“You did say,” he interrupted.

Awkward pause.

“You did say,” and this time Yoongi sighed, suddenly smacking his palm into his forehead and rubbing it, mussing up his own hair. “You did say, and I believe everyone should enjoy something with the kind of passion you exhibit for your interests. I just wanted you to involve me even though I know nothing.”

You stared at him.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why would I involve you in something you don’t care about?”

“I don’t care about it yet.”

“Why would you care about it?”

He flung his hand away from his face and scowled. “Are you an idiot?”

“Depends, are you confessing?”

Again, no one ever called you subtle.

Frigid embarrassment, and it wasn’t from you. Shocking. Suddenly your wall became irresistible to Yoongi’s eyeballs once more. You patiently waited.

“… No.”

“Ah. I see.”

You did see, straight through his bullshit.

Yoongi pursed his lips and gave you the side-eye. “I don’t want to play games.”

You shrugged. “Well, I do, because I’m a nerd, and I could make you a nerd too if you take off your shoes and come to the bedroom.” Chewed on your lip and felt that you should go back to being serious, at least for a moment. “I am sorry. I thought you would call me a kid, and I like you enough to not want you to be so ignorant, so I especially avoided speaking much about playing Pokémon. Honestly, I would rather hear you say that you don’t want to see me anymore than hear you talk shit about my cute pocket monster friends.”

Yoongi surprised you again.

He rolled his eyes.

“I don’t hate Pokémon. I used to watch the animation as a kid. I somewhat regret not being more into it, because then maybe you would have let me in a lot more if we had that common interest.”

You cocked an eyebrow.

“Putting your dick in my pussy is not letting you in a lot more?”

He raised an eyebrow back.

“You’re right. That was the alcohol talking,” he replied in a deadpan voice.

You smiled.

He smiled back. It did not seem like he wanted to and it did not seem like he could help himself either. What a predicament. You couldn’t relate.

“Do people like to tell you you’re difficult?” you asked with too much glee, unable to hide your amusement any longer.

The corner of his lips twitched. “All the fuckin’ time.”

You nodded knowingly. “Did you know we have that in common?”

He ticked his head at you, messy black hair over his cheeks and open-mouthed smirk. “Strangely enough, I seem to have learned that tonight.”

“I’m about to teach you a lot more, this time about Pokémon and not about how deep I can throat dick.”

“Consider giving me a supplemental lesson about the latter in the morning when I’m completely sober.”

“Hmm, I accept if can you listen without falling asleep.”

Yoongi eventually did fall asleep, but he did last three hours and retained most of the information in the morning despite being a drunk, ahem, not drunk (according to him) man confessing his feelings at your doorstep. In the future, once he had purchased his own game and was playing alongside you, he would insist that moment was not the one when he confessed, that he definitely confessed later (sober, mind you), and that he definitely did not purchase a Nintendo Switch and start studying the Pokédex more because of you (he had simply found the game a good way to wind down).

Games were just more fun to play now when he had a player two.

Yeah.

We know better.

--

masterpost

[austeenbootler]

His Baby Girl Pt 1

WC: 1.1 k

tw: none? (lmk if i missed any 😀) but this is just fluffy and a meet cute?

summary: two babies bringing their dads together and they start to fall in love. yea… enjoy ☺️

~~~~

Each day like clock work, Gale picked up his darling scarlett cleven from school. and each day he was so grateful for her. She always got in the car with a story ready to tell. but today she was off the wall happy. even let out a scream when the door closed, scaring gale a little bit. but he knew it was out of happiness.

“well someone’s happy today. what’s up princess.” He heard her shuffle through her sofia, the first backpack and slipped a bright pink envelope on the middle console. “look daddy look!” Once they reached a stop light he grabbed it and read it. his baby girl had been invited to a birthday party. “Oh my goodness baby!! I'm so happy for you!”

Honestly, Gale was tearing up. scarlett has been through so much at her young age. they had to move around a lot and she never had many friends. so this was big and he was so so happy for her. he then glanced at the details… This was in two days. He had to buy her a new outfit and a gift for this little girl. “Tell me about this little girl honey.”

“oh oh! Her name is violet. and her parents got divorced and then something happened to her mom and then her daddy went bye bye and now she lives with um m-mister egan. but she now calls him daddy! She's so pretty daddy and her favorite color is purple just like her name! And she likes barbie’s just like me daddy!” Gale held back a chuckle. Little kids are amazing. He felt bad for Violet though, losing a parent so young can be traumatizing. He knew what that was like though. “Well ain’t that something… what ya reckon we get her as a present baby?”

“oooh um a barbie with a purple dress daddy! oh or purple crocs. She said her mom couldn’t get her any. says her mom couldn’t get her a lot of stuff cause they didn’t have any money. but mister egan got her a pretty purple dress… but do we have money daddy?”

Gale sighed softly to himself. He approached this carefully knowing someone at her school was gonna hear this answer. “Well baby… daddy does have a decent job and we uh were comfortable.”

“okay. What are we eating for dinner? What is Sadie gonna eat?”

“fettuccine alfredo with shrimp and chicken baby. and Sadie is gonna eat her dog food.”

~~~

Friday morning after gale dropped her off he headed to the target close to the school. He went up and down every toy aisle and there was absolutely nothing Barbie and purple. “ummm okay cool no that’s fine. lego’s.” god this was a time where he wished he could call up his wife but she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. “marge!” He quickly dug his phone out and called her, hoping she was awake. “Gale, are you okay?” He smiled hearing her voice. He missed her so much. “I'm in a toddler crisis. um scarlett has a birthday party to go to tomorrow and i don’t know what to get her. She said the little girl likes purple and barbies. there’s nothing purple left. but she also said she wanted crocs. but there’s these cute little friends lego sets.” he could hear loud cackling through the phone. He should’ve expected that. “oh cleven… I would get the lego���s and the crocs. you could change that little girl's life. crocs are like the new big thing." Gale let out a breath of relief. “thank you so much marge.” “of course honey. give scarlet a hug for me.” “will do, bye.” he grabbed the legos and crocs along with a cute bag. He also remembered to grab a cute little outfit for scarlett. making sure it was trampoline park appropriate.

By the time he had gotten everything it was time to pick up scarlett. it made his head soar when he was met with the same happiness. “Hi princess! are you ready for tomorrow?” “yes yes yes!! and guess what daddy?!” “what?!” “mister egan bought our class cupcakes today since violet's birthday is on a um… no school day!” “the weekend princess. were they yummy?” “yea! I got a vanilla one and it had sprinkles!” “oooh that does sound yummy. Do we still have room for dinner?” “Can I have chicken and rice? please” “of course you can.”

~~~~~

Saturday morning gale could not tame scarlett. He understood though. It was her first birthday party but Gale was already sweating and all he did was just get her dressed. breakfast was a whole different story. he should’ve let her eat first before getting dressed but she woke him up, outfit in hand. but the angels were watching over them as she only got her face dirty and that was a quick fix. “Alright princess, it's time to go.” He had never heard this decibel of screech. He was so surprised that the glasses didn’t break. “daddy daddy let’s go let’s go!!!” she grabbed his arm and tried dragging him along. “wait a minute daddy needs his shoes and keys.” he knew he had five seconds before a slight meltdown but god bless he got it done in three and they were off to the trampoline place.

when they got inside gale was immediately met by screaming happy children and music blaring. he smiled as scarlett got antsy wanting to join the fun. but they had to check in first. “Hi, I'm here for a birthday party for violet.” the girl smiled and directed them to the party room. there were a few parents but gales eyes landed in a tall brunette man with glasses on. he didn’t know what he felt but he was absolutely enamored by him. “Hello little scarlett! i’m so glad you could make it. you must be daddy gale?” gale felt his chest cave in hearing his name come out of his mouth. “y-yea I am. pleasure to meet you… sir.” not sensing her fathers panic scarlett tugged on his pants but before she could even ask he shooed her off before turning his attention back to egan.

his heart stopped beating when he was met with a wide smile making his cheeks redden. “hey where you from gale?” “oh i’m from south dakota.” egan let out a hum. “you look like a friend from wisconsin… buck.” “buck?” “mmhm. you um, gonna stay buck? if not, the party ends at two.” “yea i'll stay. plus i'm sure she’ll be mad if i leave.” egan let out a laugh that made gales' heart skip. he was in deep trouble.

~~~

peace love and joy 🩵

[general--winter]

Hi I hope I'm not late to request anything! I was wondering if you can do any headcanons or whatever you feel like writing of arven finding out the his partner y/n had physic powers after walking in on them using their powers

author's note: Inspiration struck me with this one! I made a little mini one-shot. No, no, this absolutely isn't me displaying my Arven favoritism. But I must say, who else liked him throughout Scarlet and Violet and then began hardcore simping after the scene in Aera Zero? I know I did and I am not ashamed to admit it. Enjoy!!!

rating: general

fandom: pokemon

pairings: arven x gn!reader

word count: 535

warnings: none

summary: Arven finds out that his partner is a psychic. Now what does Mabosstiff have to say about him?

Arven thought of himself as a composed and coordinated person. Whether that is the truth is up to those who know him. What he will admit, though, was that he thought you were nuts when you claimed you and Mabosstiff were deep in conversation and that’s why he couldn’t bother you.

“Run that by me again,” he deadpanned after picking his jaw up off of the floor of his dormitory. “You’re talking. To Mabosstiff.”

“Yes,” you replied, patting the Pokemon on its head before standing up slowly to meet Arven at eye level. “We chat quite frequently, actually.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. Or his senses. His partner, the one he’d been dating for only a few months, was talking to a Pokemon? No, he figured that you just knew how to communicate with his most beloved partner Pokemon already, which was still impressive. There was just no believing the alternative. You haven’t known Mabosstiff for long enough to understand his queues, but there’s just no other way.

“How, praytell, did you manage to understand my dearest Mabosstiff so fast?” Arven shouted, pointing a finger at you with a weirdly playful look of terror across his face. “You’ve only been around him for a few months.”

Your reply was… unexpected. Completely vague and incredibly weird.

“Oh, I just talk to him. Like I would anyone else!”

“If you say that you talk in words, I’m going to have a breakdown right here and now.”

“Yes, we do. I can communicate with Pokemon through my mind.”

Arven is down for the count. You manage to scamper over and catch his head before it hits the ground, maneuvering him to lay on the rug. Mabosstiff lumbers over too to sit on the now-free lap of his partner.

“But that’s… completely unheard of. Impossible,” Arven muttered while you put a pillow under his head. “Someone would have researched this by now.”

“I was actually the subject of a study recently,” you said, fixing his hair. Arven gently swatted you away, but you kept stroking his locks.

“Has the paper come out yet? I’d love to read it.”

“No, but I’ll be the first to know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, by the way. But this was a funny way to have you find out.”

Arven laughed dryly, sitting up from his position on the floor. His hands immediately met yours on Mabosstiff, the two of you holding hands and petting the Pokemon. His butt wagged with his tail, and his true eyes were gently shut as his legs splayed out. Curiosity danced on Arven’s features as he turned to face you.

“So, although I am sure of the answer,” he began before you cut him off right away.

“You want to know what Mabosstiff says about you, yeah?” you finished with a wink.

Arven’s face dropped to horror. “You… can’t read my mind too, can you?”

“No, silly. Just Pokemon. Now, was I right?”

He nodded, glancing back down to his partner. “I’m just curious. I want to hear his words.”

“Mabosstiff always refers to you as his ‘bestest friend in the entire world’. He does want you to change his food, though. He doesn’t like it.”

[hamofjustice]

I don't want to just painstakingly copypaste my triple-layered self-QRT thread about it on Twitter and any other ones floating around but

I am very emotionally invested in seeing Penny, Arven, and (personally) especially Nemona again in the Scarlet/Violet DLC, after GF followed up the best 3 hours of Pokemon game story ever by having to abruptly cut it off the second these lonely kids finish opening up to you and say you can hang out with them anytime. Which you never do. It was some pretty painful whiplash, and I was sure the main point of the DLC was to relieve that, especially when their arcs don't seem quite complete yet. Very clever, evil marketing! But uh... well... about that...

It is very worrying that aside from a little "the story so far" montage, they have not been seen or mentioned in promotional material/footage whatsoever. Y'know, DLC for the game that's about how the real treasure was the friends you found along the way (literally, in Nemona's case), and even if your family and support systems fail you, you still have each other? Written from the heart by someone who said Arven's story is inspired by their own life? With the sappy Ed Sheeran song about reaching out for connection with others, that also seems to be named after Team Star? The game where one of the features the devs seemed most proud of was going on adventures and into boss fights with 3 of your friends? The game that ended with a fully functional and quite immersive bonding adventure with these characters you'd gotten to know and care about, that basically everyone thought was the best part of the game by a mile, and were left wishing the whole game was like that?

Yeah, I (and everyone else) have been driving around alone in that game for 8 months ever since finishing that story. 8 months of minor updates with a ton of the beloved characters functionally or literally gone, while we go around doing online stuff with nothing else to do in the world, with a single player postgame more barren than we had on Game Boy Color (thank god for mints and bottle caps though). I'm left just... wanting to go back to the way things were before I beat the game. Not to be overly dramatic, but this world I supposedly saved feels like one I failed to save. And I'm getting really frustrated. (The framerate hasn't gotten any better, either, but this isn't about that.)

It's like Game Freak (or whoever forced this thing out a year early, or both) never expected you to boot the game up again once you got bored of the Ace Academy Tournament, which the game acts like is the entire total of what you could want from being friends and "rivals for life" with your squad (I mean I'm the sicko that loves Tera Raids, so I'm not that bored, but still). It makes a bunch of implications that your adventure is just beginning, and then it totally just... isn't. Why is the E4 building closed? Why do you only rematch the gyms once? And most of all, for me personally: Why did we get access to our friends' rooms if there's nothing to do or talk about there? (Besides look for character study clues, which they have lots of)

All they could come up with when asked to write a newsletter email about what you can still do in S/V and why you should still be playing it was Raids. That was it. Remember when you had an endless challenge in the Tower/Maison that you could optionally take on with a bunch of story characters as your partners instead of alone, that motivated you to keep getting stronger bit by bit? Remember rematching gym leaders multiple times and watching their teams grow and evolve each time? Yeah, there's none of that here, because that would take more than a week to implement. If you want friends and you want battles, you'll have to do it yourself online now. They're not allocating any budget for that.

Your rival for life, who's so excited you're on her level now, who seems to have the passion and skill to be the your Battle Tower gameplay loop by herself if she wanted to, who battles you for hours offscreen with multiple teams, whose whole character arc is that she finally has someone she can do this with... is fully static, with one kinda mediocre team that never grows or changes. She can't keep up with you and doesn't know what items or EVs are. You have to get lucky to even see her at all. She is no more your rival than your Home Ec teacher is (no offense Saguaro, you're cool too). I think it's really, really sad.

I'm left nostalgic and pining to go back, having to cope through fanfic because my character can't spend the day with - or even so much as take a new trainer card photo with - the girl who said they might be her greatest treasure, without resetting my save, because she and the others are standing somewhere that the camera and internet features are both disabled.

Like, legitimately, I want to keep being friends with these kids the way we were before, and have the ability to do post-game stuff with them, like being able to go out and adventure together whenever in some basic, non-story capacity, or just, I don't know, maybe give them more than one line of dialogue in their rooms? I don't want a new region or new characters. Not yet, anyway.

I thought I was preordering the continuation of their story and rewarding the company for making me care about Pokemon so much again.

But, uh... I'm really worried that the people who own these characters do not care. And as I said on the trailer's comments before they turned them off (lol), I'll be pissed enough to not buy any more games if I'm right, and we're forced to abandon these poor kids. At the very least, it's some pretty garbage marketing to leave the possibility of that up in the air. If nothing else, that is a frustration that I'm going to keep talking about for a while, even if it ends up being fine.

I thought it was impossible, and I was being silly. Why not have our friends in cute new outfits as promo art when the DLC was first announced, and all they had was promo art? Seems like an easy slam dunk. Oh, they didn't yet? Well, I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

And then they weren't in the trailer either, months later. Are they trying to sell us on it or not?

The whole reason I want the DLCs. Still not a single word acknowledging them, just that little opening montage. Still no hints of how the DLCs have anything to do with Area Zero's ongoing story, either. How is a sea turtle linked with a landlocked crater?

So like... At this point I have to assume both DLCs start with you making your friends cry as they're left alone again, arbitrarily excluded from events they're more than qualified to be invited to, to make room for some new dweebs we don't need, who won't be given nearly enough time to be as compelling as Nemona, Arven, and Penny were, because that makes the trailer look more like a new game, and that's the only way they know how to advertise. More. New. Buy. Consume. Throw away. Buy. Consume. Throw away. I should assume this so that whatever we get can't be worse.

But they're probably not (self-aware enough / allowed / both) to write that. Your lonely / orphaned / anime-binging friends might just cheer you on for getting to go do something cool like being forced to train a new legendary because the story said so, then go back to being statues with as much relevance to your life as an NPC in a third story apartment that tells you what a hold item is.

Can't I just live in Paldea with my friends, in the version of the game we would have gotten if it was finished, instead of being pulled into these adventures for the sake of looking good in a trailer? (which it doesn't btw lol) It's not an unrealistic thing to want when that's what it briefly was, and I was so excited that it would keep being that I've been thinking about it this entire time.

...

I hope I'm wrong about all this, and next year I can look back on this post, happy that the DLC did actually allow us to continue to take care of these characters, conclude Area Zero's mysteries in a satisfying way, fix up some technical issues, let us relive some things that are currently once-only (including letting us see that photo album our character made but we had to screenshot ourselves), and make it fun to keep playing for years afterward, and let that be the model for games going forward, but uh...

They really are not showing me anything I care about in the game I desperately want to care about, that I saw - and wanted to defend - the heart in, despite the circumstances it was produced under, and that really worries and frustrates me. The surprisingly many great things about this game got my hopes up for an awesome postgame full of warm fuzzy feelings and cool things to do 8 months ago that just didn't deliver, and now, I'm not sure if they'll even let me pay for one, at this rate, because they're not advertising one.

Just throw us a scrap. If whoever's in charge here stops caring about this story, I won't care about the next one.

Anyone else feeling this?

[brightstarbutalsoidot]

of liars, sinners, love, and the day after tomorrow

What Aqua Hoshino used to know of love can be found in long strands of violet hair and eyes that hold the universe itself. An unfalteringly bubbly voice, a smile to charm the heavens, and a hug that told Aqua more than words just to what extent Ai Hoshino’s capacity to love could reach. Whenever she looked at him and his sister, she looked as if they were brought from paradise itself, and whenever she spoke to them, her words popped with fond softness and parental pride, and Aqua thought to himself that Ai Hoshino was an angel called from above to grace this world with her laughter and her smile and her songs and her love and her lies. Ai Hoshino, above all else, was a liar. She lied to her fans, she lied to her fellow idols, she lied to her company, and even to herself. Ai Hoshino did love. Ai loved so much, was loved so much, and that was not a lie. For all Ai says about lies being her way of expressing love, her love was completely devoid of it. True warmth, like gentle hands caressing your cheek, like a wry smile or a look of pure bliss directed at you, Ai Hoshino loved her children more than the world loved Ai of B-Komachi. 

 Aqua Hoshino has not known love since lifeless eyes that used to outshine even the galaxy itself stared unblinkingly at him. Tears flowed down his cheeks, or maybe it was her blood ( there was so much blood, so so so much, Ai, please please don’t go please ). It didn’t matter. Ai Hoshino died holding onto what she loved, free from the burden of her lies, free from the burden of this godforsaken industry, and her lies became her truth. Ai Hoshino loved her children, and that definitely was not a lie. 

 What Aqua Hoshino knows of love now is found in scarlet hair, scarlet eyes, and a smooth, melodic voice that did not hesitate to singlehandedly shove Aqua out of his walls, effortlessly tearing them down with an ease that terrified him. There’s something in the way that Kana Arima stares at him so sincerely and so warmly at times that shakes him. He doesn’t deserve it. Why? He doesn’t deserve love, not when so much hate pools in his gut and thrives in his veins, not when friends are just assets and connections, not when everything and everyone would all be just means to his end, someone like him shouldn’t be loved. This Aqua Hoshino who is so strong, who is so reliable, who is so helpful, who is so sincerely loved by Kana Arima, Aqua wished to meet him one day, because that person could never be him. 

 The Hoshino family is cursed to lie for love, and Aqua has never resented that fact before. Why start now? Lies are all he is, layer upon layer upon layer of unlovable and miserable hatred piled on top of each other like an amalgamation of sin and filth, yes, this is who Aqua Hoshino is. A liar who only knows how to act, how to manipulate, and nothing else. For all good that his knowledge as a doctor did for him, for it didn’t matter in the times he needed it most. Even if he was 4, even if his hands were pudgy and tiny and could barely grasp his mother’s hand, even if he had none of his equipment, there should have been something, anything he could have done for Ai.

 What Aqua Hoshino knows of love now is found in azure strands of hair and eyes that pierce through him again and again, eyes that stare at him with complete faith and devotion that he does not deserve but will use anyway. Aqua didn’t mean to care for Akane Kurokawa, but the queen on his chessboard is not someone he will ever force to suffer for his sake. He’s caused enough pain in both lifetimes, as a doctor who couldn’t be there for his patient, and as a son who couldn’t save his mother, he’s done enough. Better for her to be discarded than die, he tells himself, better for her to be out of my life than be someone I attend another funeral for, he tells himself. Akane Kurokawa is a sinner, and for the sake of Aqua Hoshino, she will have gladly bloodied her hands if it meant his freedom from the chains of his vengeance. The lie becomes the truth, if told often enough, if told well enough. Akane was Aqua’s first girlfriend, and maybe in a better world, a kinder time, Aqua would hold her hand and introduce her with a smile to Ai, and tell his mother that “This one, this is who I have fallen for,” but that is a lie. Aqua Hoshino does not love, not anymore, but he can’t find it in himself to stop caring. Their relationship is strange. Lovers but not quite, partners who don’t trust the other, sinners cut from the same cloth who would burn the heavens all the way to the earth if it would protect the other. Maybe that was love, even twisted and skewed and wrong and sinful, maybe Akane Kurokawa and Aqua Hoshino had love, and for a time, maybe it hadn’t been a lie.

 What Aqua Hoshino knows of love is lies. Beautiful lies, expressive lies, secretive lies, sinful lies, protective lies, truthful lies. Aqua Hoshino is a liar, clear as day, and he lies to his idol, he lies to his girlfriend, he lied to his mother, and he lies to his sister. Ruby Hoshino grew up in a world without Ai for over a decade, with only the warmth of Miyako-san and the cold love that Aqua showed her, a love written in a tapestry of lies too entangled to unravel with a single conversation. Even if he would never know, Aqua loved her then as Gorou Amamiya and Sarina Tendoji, albeit wasn’t in the way she wanted, and Aqua loves her now as his sister, as Aqua Hoshino and Ruby Hoshino, the Twin Stars of Japan. 

 Aqua Hoshino is a liar, and Ruby Hoshino is the only one who truly gives him what he deserves. He can’t help but love his sister for that even more. She hates him, truly and utterly despises him for what he’s done, for what he’s told and for what their lives have become, for disgracing Ai and for telling the world what should have stayed locked in a box and buried next to the coffin of their mother. Good, Hate me, despise me, for I am someone not worth loving. When all is said and done, Ruby will still hate him, and maybe that brings a pain that blooms in his chest that he can’t fully explain, a pain of needles stabbing at his throat and drying his voice, a pain borne from the thought that his sister of flesh and blood and someone who shared the burden of their mother’s legacy and the grief that came with it, being hated by someone like that hurt Aqua in ways he would never be comfortable with speaking or thinking of. Let Ruby hate him, let her spite him, let her gaze of happiness and warmth that now yielded a calculating gleam that Aqua saw in every mirror that taunted him pierce through him and rip this body to shreds. Ruby Hoshino utterly hates Aqua Hoshino for what he has done, and this definitely is not a lie.

 When all is said and done and Aqua is gone, he is at least glad that Ruby won’t mourn for his sake. She’s had enough grief for a lifetime. At least hated as he is, Aqua won’t make Ruby suffer even more when he’s finally gone for good. It’s better this way.

What Gorou Amamiya knew of love is in white, sterile rooms with bleak windows and a girl who would not live longer than twelve speaking to him of an idol group she loves so, so dearly, and it is a happy memory.

 If you tell a lie long enough, well enough, it will become the truth. Aqua Hoshino is someone not worth loving and Gorou Amamiya is someone not worth remembering, but maybe one day they both will. Maybe one day Aqua will go there and see flowers on his grave and know that someone loved him even then, that someone remembered who this man was, that someone  cared . Maybe one day Aqua will look beside himself and see himself surrounded with people he loves and people who love him as he is, and maybe he will smile. Maybe one day, the lies will finally become the truth.

 That day is not today, neither will it be tomorrow, but maybe, just maybe, it would be the day after that. As tomorrow bleeds into yesterday, maybe then will Aqua Hoshino finally, truly love again, free of the lies that glimmer like stars and unburdened by the weight of the heavens. That day may not be today, but it will arrive all the same.

[dannyknowscomics]

13

Hi all! WOW we’re less than 2 weeks away from our journey for the hidden treasure of area zero

Now as you all know a few bigger name poketubers were able to play the dlc a bit earlier than the rest of us and what they’ve been able to report has been interesting theory wise

So today I wanna discuss an interesting tidbit that I believe confirms a long held theory of mine

So we learn that there is a globe/sphere dohickey on the top of The Blueberry Academy that allows terastalization to occur there, but the part that interests me is in regard to

We know he founded the academy, and must have had a big hand in everything that was used to create it….

But as the players who got their hands on it earlier have said he says he doesn’t remember exactly what is used to artificially produce terastalizion

That’s odd but confirms what I’ve believed about him from the start that’s he’s not truly the brains of the operation he’s more the John Hammond/HR Wells type (I.e the ideas guy)

But then then question is who could have done this? I mean it would have to be someone who would be able to replicate the environmental effects of Area Zero from outside the location

But not like there’s some sort of device that could do that that we’ve seen before…..

That’s right you’ve heard me say it before and now for a final time you’ll hear me say it again my friends

The person who helped Cyrano build the tera-thingamabob which is in reality a giant version of the Tera Orb is none other then….

Turo in Pokémon Scarlet and Sada in Pokémon Violet, Arven’s other parent who left him to take their research one step further with the help of Cyrano’s money

Perhaps we’ll even have to battle them before they can use Terapagos’s powers for

[tellnxlies]

Pokémon Favourites!

repost, don’t reblog!

FIRST GAME: LeafGreen. I have two brothers, and each got either FireRed or LeafGreen. I played both when they got bored/finished and moved on.

FAVOURITE SPINOFF GAME: I’m going to be honest, Arceus is the only one I’ve really played. But I do thoroughly enjoy it.

FAVOURITE EVIL TEAM: I’m going to call it a tie between Rocket and Flare.

FAVOURITE TEAM LEADER: I know they’re not the leader, necessarily, but I am just so fond of the Rocket Executives. As far as a real leader goes, then I am actually going to go with Lysandre.

FAVOURITE STARTER: SQUIRTLE

FAVOURITE BOX LEGENDARY: Koraidon has my entire heart. I chose Scarlet purely for that funky lizard and I have no regrets.

FAVOURITE POKEMON: I live for the eeveelutions. As far as specifics go, I have a hard time picking an actual fave...I’ll call it a draw between Vaporeon, Umbreon, and Espeon.

FAVOURITE PROFESSOR: Professor Sycamore my beloved. But then again, Professor Willow from Pokémon GO is very endearing...

FAVOURITE RIVAL: Easily going to be Silver

FAVOURITE CHAMPION: Easily going to be Leon

FAVOURITE CHARACTER (if not already covered): Going to once again give it to the Rocket Executives, but don’t make me pick between them. There’s a reason I write both Ariana and Proton, and am always going feral for my friends writing Archer and Petrel.

FAVOURITE STORY: Scarlet/Violet’s story really got me in a way that none of the other games really...came close to, beyond maybe Arceus.

FAVOURITE MUSIC: Okay I am really sorry for this one, but I don’t usually play with the sound on, or with it on very high if I do. I...don’t hear very well, and have just gotten accustomed to not really trying.

FAVOURITE REGION OVERALL: I will forever be attached to Kanto and Johto, just for nostalgia’s sake.

[fictionkinfessions]

I'm really already so Over the fandom trying to police that Arven is "brotherly" to the poke scarlet/violet mc. I don't care that you're So Mad people are having fun. I know that my kin canon =/= True Canon, but watching people walk themselves in circles about the topic is so tiring from the outside perspective regardless of my kin bias. I know it's just the Issue Of The Week but god. None of you will never know how he truly was my Everything. We clicked instantly. We were dating before the treasure hunt. We had so many dates Before I even knew about Mabosstiff. Arven is more than just a rival or a friend Or a "brotherly figure". He was my true equal who completed me.

I also feel like in a more general sense, people Forget that. It's actually kinda Okay and sometimes Encouraged for your monogamous partner To Be your best friend. Humans aren't meant to only have One Best Friend; this isn't the sims 4. We as humans are multifaceted and much more significant than that. I hope that everyone who wants romantic attraction can find someone who you Do want to spend every single moment and every single joy with. I couldn't imagine living any other way. - pokemon mc (scarlet/violet)

]

[protokirby]

I had like the coolest dream ever

Unlike yesterday when I was simply shapeshifting into a form that looked like Drayton, this dream let me go into spectator mode and watch things through the eyes of the dream universe's Drayton. Like a ghost possession but he was in control and also had no idea I was there.

I think Crispin could detect I was around due to a change in his behavior that Drayton noticed. Of course the imaginary friend who likes hanging out with me the most can tell I'm there.

So here's where the dream really pulls out the "hol up is this a dream or actual dimension travel?" stuff it sometimes has. This time was a lot more wild than usual too how cool is that? The. Dream. World. Had. Lore.

Uh so anyhoo there was another universe allied with the universe the dream took place in. That other universe was run entirely by one queen. Though they always chose their next queen based on if a pair of a specific magic ring and a specific magic gemstone glowed in contact with a person. So if the queen had children, none of them would become the next leader unless that magic jewelry stuff glowed on contact. It was a group of wise elders who kept up with the magic items.

But that other universe just lost their queen and the magic items were directing the elders to the universe the dream takes place in. And then it directed them to the school Drayton was attending- which didn't really look a whole lot like blueberry academy from what I could tell but whatever. The elders were given permission to go around the school letting all the teachers and students touch the magic items. They would be allowed to get a new queen from among anyone the magic items chose. If it would be a student, they'd be allowed to finish their studies first but they'd also get special attention and the elders would return to guide them in what the ruler must know for the eventual move to the other universe.

Anyways they reached the room where Drayton and the entire rest of the scarlet and violet dlc characters were. I was looking around the room as Drayton was and I was expecting it to choose Lacey.

You know how normally if you expect something to happen in a dream, it happens? Well it went out of expectations. Big time.

That mess started glowing in contact with Drayton.

The elders were all talking amongst themselves about how it's always only ever chosen a girl/woman before and they were surprised at the sight of something so new or whatever. "We've never been ruled by a king before. How will that go?"

Drayton proceeds to be funny and he says: "Looks like I'm gonna be a queen." and he gets up and says "I'm gonna have to go learn how to run a country".(he says in complete unawareness that it's not gonna just be a country but a whole other universe)

Word spread quickly of Drayton being selected to become royalty.

I watch from Drayton's vision as he goes to an actual classroom and sits down at a desk. The desks were positioned that there was always two next to each other but every duo of desks were spaced kind of far from the next duo. Drayton made an effort to find a pair of desks that there wasn't already another person in. Wanted his personal space I guess. I would have done the same and probably gotten really annoyed if someone came and sat next to me--aaand Crispin gets up from his seat in the opposite end of the classroom and comes to sit on the other desk next to Drayton. This is fine actually.

Then Crispin did this:(low effort recreation of what took place)(I can't draw desks apparently cjhgcjhckhb)

I'm not sure how Drayton himself felt about this other than being surprised, but. I'm so touch-starved irl and yet also hate the touch of anyone irl. Hugs and snuggles from fictional characters in dreams seems to be my only source of touch-starvation relief.

So at that point I took control of Drayton like a ghost possession and returned Crispin's gestures of affection. Hug and snuggle time. Very comfy.

I wonder what causes dreams to replicate the sense of touch so well anyway? Feels nice though.

I don't remember what happened after all that

[crypt1dcorv1dae]

Honestly I think my biggest gripe with scarlet and violet gameplay wise is probably how some aspects are way too easy, like how the ability to just auto-battle to level up makes it so you really dont feel like actually battling for real, since theres a much easier option! But then. Nobody tells you that the auto-battle don't give you any EVs, which means while your Pokemon ARE getting stronger, they could be MUCH MUCH STRONGER THAN THAT if you actually battled properly...

And then other aspects are super difficult or confusing and just never really explained, like the evolution method of so many Pokemon!!! Like it took me forever to evolve my ceruledge cus I just had NO CLUE HOW, and apparently the only way is to talk to ONE RANDOM PERSON in the entire game to get the evolution item!!!! And that is far from the only confusing evolution method in the game!!! Like how the hell was I supposed to know that to evolve this stupid fucking dung beetle I had to RUN AROUND WITH IT FOR LIKE 1000 STEPS like????? I would have never assumed that!!!!

Hell, maybe they teach you these things if you take some of the classes at the school, but who the HELL wants to play Pokemon just to.... Go to school again? Like why would I do that? I never even went back to that school until I spawned back in there after becoming champion it was absolutely nowhere in my brain to do that. So who knows!!! Maybe there are ways of learning these things!!! But none of it is... Natural or organic feeling at all. Also some of the Pokemon are locked behind the wall of HAVING FRIENDS TO PLAY WITH, not to mention paying for the damn Nintendo online subscription (I detest this fucking function so much)

Plus like the game runs so slow already why would I risk playing with more people and crashing my damn game 😞

I say gameplay wise specifically cus my ultimate gripe is how clearly unpolished the game STILL is because they were so rushed to finish it, and just the graphic style in general??? I really hate most of the textures on Pokemon with fur/hair... There's just too much detail that does not need to be there, and then to compare, all the reptilian and fish-like Pokemon have too LITTLE texture, they all look like plastic toys...

The only textures I like are like. The rock/metal/wood textures, like I love the texture on ceruledge armorouge cus you wouldn't EXPECT that level of detail, idk

[sullina]

As someone who has a switch... there are a handful of games that make ot worth it. Totk, the og BOTW, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (altho base rise is on console too), and Splatoon 3. Some ppl probly like Smash Bros and Animal Crossing and Mario Kart too but those are the main ones I was interested in. Oh and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and Legends Arceus

I already have botw on the wiiu (don't judge me), that monster hunter sounds interesting, and i did like the smash game for the wii, mainly the story mode.

I got the first splatoon a few years ago and didn't reay like it at all, mario kart isn't really fun unless you play with friends (which i don't have a lot of irl), I'm really a fan of animal crossing and with the pokemon games in recent years, i feel like they're just getting worse and worse :/

I like the older zelda games, because of the puzzles throughout the worlds and because of the unique items you got in each temple that would unlock new secrets and places, and of course the big temples. Botw had pretty much none of these things, and no, 900 korok seeds don't count, because they don't do anything once you maxed out your bag space.

One of the first zelda games i played was twilight princess, which i loved. That reminds me, one of the things that botw also lacked was a companion character, which for me is a pretty big part of the game actually. And there's usually always some kind of central mechanic that the games are more or less built around. In twilight princess, it was the fact that you could turn into a wolf at will (though admittedly a bit later in the game i think), in skyward sword it was the flying and (admittedly very limited) interaction between the surface and sky.

But the central mechanic in botw was just... climbing. Which gets old really fast. Like, sure, you have an open world game, but getting around isn't really fun since you can only climb, walk/ride and glide. And the gliding is kinda fun, but eventually it just gets old, same with climbing. I would've preferred it if instead of giving us 100 outfits, there were items instead to enhance the basic abilities, because items can be taken on and off at will with a single button press without having to go into the menu for every single thing.

I also wasn't a fan of the shrines tbh. I felt the puzzles were too obvious and short most of the time and the reward was always the same, and trading the orbs in for heart or stamina containers was a bit annoying.

Also, this one's just a personl pet peeve, but i don't really like how links typical/default outfit color was changed from green to blue. Don't get me wrong, he looks good in blue, but like... nothing was wrong with green, you know?

One thing i also REALLY didn't like was the fact that you got all your runes at the start of the game and then that was it, there were no new mechanics throughout the entirety of the game. Which may appeal to some people, but for me that just made the whole game feel really same-y, like there were no new things. And I'm including the weapons, because sure there's tons of different weapons, but only three movesets, and the weapons were way too fragile, though i know I'm not alone in this point.

I could keep talking, but it's 3am, so I'll sum up what i wanted to say, which is that while botw wasn't a bad game, it wasn't really much of a zelda game and i didn't like it all that much, not enough to shell out more than 300€ for the sequel that seems to have all the same problems from what I've seen so far. But maybe I'll change my opinion, idk. If you want more of my ramblings on botw, you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

[womburt]

Hellooooooooooooo my friend Wom! Now if your requests are open (and if you want to write it) soooooo

I don't know if it was obvious or not but like, my favorite hermit is Gem (wow what a suprise i don't encorporate ger on my fics every chance i get). Anyways I sorta want like a burnt out Gem after her sea temple and BAM the reader is there. Although I don't know her boundaries so its like no implied relationship or like platonic (if you can I don't wanna force you)

ALSO DRINK WATER AND DID YOU EAT????

A Friend in Need; Platonic! C. Geminitay x Reader

Boop my friend!!! :-D

I have been hydrating and eating! I hope the same for you! 

Sorry this took so long to get out but I hope you enjoy regardless! Gem is great <3

------

Y/n had never really liked being in the Nether.

They grit their teeth as they stepped out into the scarlet wasteland, tugging their golden helmet just a little bit tighter on their head. In the distance grunting from some Piglins could be heard, but thankfully no weeping. It sounded like the coast was clear. Without the quiet crying of any nearby ghasts, Y/n gulped down their fear and began their search.

Netherrack crunched beneath their boots as they walked between the makeshift corridors of portals. All were labeled with little maps, most of which hadn’t been updated in months. Y/n looked in between the portals, noting purple passageways to Scar’s tree, Keralis’ modern house, even the End dimension. None were what they were looking for.

Off to the side stood a very narrow tunnel. Y/n stepped in front of it, peering inside. It got darker further in, seeming to go on forever, but Y/n knew better than to believe that. They’d been down this tunnel twice before, ages ago. At the end of it, they knew they’d find a portal to Gem and Stress’ ocean monument. 

Lighting a torch with some coal they’d thought to bring with them, Y/n began their trek into the tunnel. They had to duck every now and then due to the low ceiling. Somewhere in the back of their mind, Y/n cursed the constructor of the passageway. Impulse, their dwarven friend, had apparently not assumed anyone else would be taking his tunnel, or else he may have thought to make it a bit taller. Y/n supposed that wasn’t really his responsibility, however. Afterall, Impulse probably hadn’t expected anyone to mooch off his tunnel for their own project. 

Holding their torch steady before them, Y/n continued onward. Humming a tune to themself quietly, the adventurer thought about what they’d say to Gem when they found her. 

If they found her.

Y/n frowned and tried to keep negative thoughts out of their mind. They hadn't seen Gem in a week. It was unnatural! Gem was such a constant for Y/n. They could hardly remember what the Hermitcraft server had been like before her. It seemed whenever Y/n was lonely, Gem was just around the corner with plenty of spare time and a bright smile. When they couldn’t get the coloring on a build quite right, Gem was always around to suggest new block combinations. 

Sure they didn't see her every day, but they couldn’t remember the last time they'd been apart from her, and no less for a week! Y/n had begun to worry. 

They pulled their communicator out of their pocket, glancing over the messages they’d sent her prior to their decision to find the redhead. 

Y/n whispers to Geminitay: hey! haven’t seen you in a lil bit, watcha been up to? :-)

Y/n whispers to Geminitay: just checkin in, are you doin ok? :-)

Y/n whispers to Geminitay: gem?

Biting their lip, Y/n stuffed the device back into its fabric-y cavern. The messages had been sent over the span of a few days, but still, they wondered if they’d annoyed their friend by sending her so many in a row. Deep down Y/n knew Gem wouldn’t be bothered by silly things like triple-texting, but her lack of response had left their mind to wander…

Y/n kept up with their quiet humming, picking up their pace when the violet swirls of their destination finally came into view. The portal stood intimidatingly before them, tucked into the walls of the tunnel, just a few yards off from a twin, which Y/n assumed would lead to Impulse’s raid farm. They ignored the further, carefully stepping through the one in front of them.

In an instant, Y/n found themself surrounded by tall, magenta-stained walls of glass. Fish and seagrass moved back and forth on the other side, giving Y/n the impression that they were standing in the middle of the world’s largest aquarium, only they were the one stuck in a tank. Shaking their head at the idea, Y/n moved to the other side of the portal.

A massive structure stood before them, two funnels of glass leading down to an underground storage system. Guardians plummeted within the tubes, screeching as they met their demise. Y/n winced and looked away from them.

Curiously, their eyes traveled upwards. At the top of the glass funnels stood a small platform built of the same material. Just barely, Y/n could make out a pale figure and a pair of brown overalls. Breathing a sigh of relief at having finally located their missing friend, Y/n launched themself off of the floor with a rocket.

They spread their wings quickly, using the force of the explosive to propel themself into the air. They soared upward until they were above the platform, altering their path to float gracefully onto the glassy floor. Y/n looked down at Gem, tilting their head when the girl didn't acknowledge their presence. Kneeling down to get a closer look, Y/n noticed Gem’s eyes were closed, and her breathing was steady with sleep. 

Making an “o” shape with their mouth, Y/n lifted a hand to Gem’s shoulder. Surely it wasn't good for her to be sleeping on a tiny platform this high in the sky. A bed on ground level would be much safer. 

They shook her as gently as they could, at ease when the ginger began to slowly blink her eyes open. 

“Y/n?” she asked with a yawn, covering her mouth with a trembling hand. Y/n frowned at her shakiness, taking note of the dark bags under Gem’s eyes. “What are you doing out here?”

“The real question,” Y/n spoke softly in an attempt not to disturb their friend any further. “-is what are you doing up here? You shouldn’t be asleep in such a dangerous spot!” They asked their friend with large eyes, unable to contain their concern.

Gem smiled apologetically at them, and Y/n’s heart plummeted. They hadn't meant to make it sound like they were upset with her. Before Gem could respond, Y/n spoke up again. 

“I just want you to be safe.”

Gem nodded her head slowly, sleep still clearly on her mind. Y/n squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, making a move to stand back up. They held their hand out to Gem, looking down with gentle eyes. 

“Now come on, let’s get you home.”

Gem accepted Y/n’s hand soon after, allowing herself to be pulled up onto her feet. The redhead couldn’t help but lean into Y/n for support, too tired to stand up on her own. Y/n was happy to help Gem down the scaffolding that led up to her platform, eventually prompting their friend to just climb onto their back. 

Gem did so without a second thought, wrapping her arms over Y/n’s shoulders and around their neck, like some kind of baby sloth. Y/n bit back their giggle at the idea, focusing instead on reaching the ground. 

When the bottoms of their shoes touched the floor, Y/n walked the both of them back to the portal. Quietly, they heard Gem mumble something about ‘not being finished.’ They shook their head at the notion. 

“How do you expect to get anything else done when you’re falling asleep as we speak?” They teased, not missing the humph their friend made at their assessment of the situation. If Y/n could see her face right now, they’d bet Gem was pouting. 

A weight appeared on the back of Y/n’s head, and they realized that Gem had slumped against them, making herself even more comfortable. Y/n smiled to themself, walking the both of them through the portal. 

“You didn't answer any of my messages,” they announced, unsure if Gem was even awake enough to have heard them. They were surprised to hear a small sigh from the girl on their back. 

“I meant to, but I kept getting distracted. I’m sorry.”

Ducking down to avoid the sporadically low ceilings, Y/n shook their head at Gem. 

“Don’t be! I was just worried about you,” Y/n reassured, patting Gem’s knee from where it was draped over their hand. They heard Gem mumble something behind them, though they were unable to determine exactly what she said. 

“You don’t have to push yourself so hard, you know.” Y/n said quietly, side stepping a misplaced block. Gem hummed into their back. Y/n was preparing themself for the rest of the walk home to be in silence when she replied. 

“It’s just such a big project. I feel like if I don't get it done now, it’s never going to be finished.” 

Y/n mulled her sentences over in their head, trying to think of the best way to approach her confession. The stress of big projects and imaginary deadlines was nothing new to Y/n. It plagued every hermit. Anxieties about the large builds they made, wanting to get stuff done as quickly as possible so they could move on to their next big thing - it was far too common on the Hermitcraft server. 

“Projects take time, but taking care of yourself is more important than any farm.” Y/n began, choosing their words carefully, looking up to the scarlet roof above them as though the right thing to say would be written on the ceiling. 

“And you know I’m always around to help when things start to get overwhelming. I’d rather build a guardian farm with you for the rest of the season than never see you again because you’re too busy overworking yourself.” They finished, patting her knee reassuringly. 

They could feel Gem bury herself further into the back of their neck, her quiet breaths tickling the back of their neck. 

“Thank you,” she mumbled into their skin, voice heavy with sleep. Y/n nodded their head, understanding that Gem needed the rest. Having completed their mission of locating their missing friend, Y/n allowed themself to feel at peace, walking them both the rest of the way home with a languid smile. 

[nagipops]

SWEET NOTHINGS, BITTER ENDINGS PART II.

SUMMARY: in which your precious life is ended through a cruel twist of fate by your beloved brother.

WARNINGS: blood, profanity + SPOILERS for KNY chapter 115

A/N: link to part one.

He heard a deafening roar cry out from a distance away as crows frantically flapped out of the trees and into the sky above.

A demon?

Sheathing his blade, the hashira began to sprint to the source of the noise coming from the east.

The first scent he picked up on was blood. It was faint, but it was there. But it wasn’t demon blood.

Human blood?

As he continued to travel east, heart racing, he heard crashing up ahead and quickly dove into a nearby bush to scout out the intruder. Narrowing his eyes, he spotted a flash of pink and green. Mitsuri?

He cautiously searched the area for any signs of demons before following after the pink haired girl.

“Kanroji!” he barked as the girl’s head perked up at the sound of her name. She whipped around, her green eyes lighting with relief.

“Sanemi!” She bounded over to him, grasping his shoulders tightly with shaking arms. "Sanemi, where did (Y/N) go? Did you meet up with her?"

His veins turned to ice. The human blood he smelled. The spine-chilling roar he heard.

Sanemi opened his mouth to speak, but all he could manage was a petrified shake of his head.

The light green eyes facing him widened with fear. "Oh, god... oh god oh god oh god..." She snapped out of her horrified trance as another pained howl pierced through the midnight air and her eyes locked with the wind hashira's once more. Steeling their gazes, the two pillars sped off to the direction of the noise.

If there was one thing Sanemi wished to erase from his memory forever, it would be the sight of his mother, a feral demon ripping her own children to shreds with her own fangs and claws.

If there was another thing Sanemi wished to erase from his memory forever, it would be the horrific scene splayed out in front of him.

Thick ash billowing into the air. The rancid stench of rotten flesh and blood.

The sight of his little sister crouching on the ground.

With pearly white skin.

With raking, hooked claws.

With red, watery eyes.

With glinting ivory fangs.

With the scent of a demon flowing from her body, her limbs, her breaths,

Her blood.

The wind hashira stood paralyzed to the ground, mortified at what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

His little sister.

A demon.

This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

“S-sanemi...” a soft whisper sounded from his right. He slowly turned his head to find the love hashira’s horrified gaze locked onto the demon in front of her. “She’s— she...”

Mitsuri began to collapse to the ground, but not before Sanemi could wrap his arms around her frail, trembling body, his mouth still agape.

“What do we do?” she whimpered weakly, still staring in shock at her sister— no, the demon in front of her. “Sanemi, what do we—”

“I don’t know!” he snarled, vengeance and frustration bubbling within his body. Not again. This was not happening to him again. Setting down the girl onto her feet, shuddering hands moved to the sheath of his blade. “She’s— she’s a demon. We... we have to.”

“No!” Mitsuri cried, tackling him to the ground. “Stop! She’s our sister!”

Sanemi clenched his teeth with such resentment that you could hear them scraping against each other. “You think I don’t know that?!” he shouted at his comrade, his harsh voice breaking in his throat. “You think I want to do this?!”

Tears spilled from the green eyes hovering over him, but no words escaped her lips. Her head shook softly, unable to grasp the fact that this was reality. This was real. This wasn’t some cruel nightmare. Her sister was a demon.

Mitsuri fell to the ground as the white-haired pillar shoved past her shoulder, drawing his blade as he stared down the growling demon in front of him.

“(Y-Y/N)...” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the handle of his sword, gritting his teeth. “You idiot...”

Just then, a flash of purple materialized in front of him and the scent of flora clouded his senses.

“Shinazugawa-san,” the lilting voice warned. “Please step back.”

Sanemi growled, his furious eyes clouding with the urge to shove away the small girl in front of him.

An iron grip suddenly clutched at the sleeve of his haori.

“Stop.” The wind hashira heard the voice he loathed so much speak resolutely into his ear.

“Piss off!” he barked, snapping his arm to release it from the water pillar’s grip. But it was no use, as the hashira’s hold stayed firm. “I’m the only one who can do this! None of you have had to kill your own family members before!”

Giyuu’s eyebrows furrowed with bitterness as he pinned his comrade’s arms behind his back. “That’s enough. We’re taking her back to headquarters to consult with Ubuyashiki. The mission is over.”

The rest of the hashira stared down at the demon in front of them in horror.

The determined eyes, the confident smile, the warm aura of a little sister...

It was all gone.

“A demon...” the stone pillar wept, clasping his hands together and sending a silent prayer to the heavens for their lost sister.

The youngest pillar narrowed his eyes at the demon. “She’s not human at all any more, is she?”

Giyuu pulled on the rope restraining her, shaking his head. “She was... she was trying to speak while we brought her here,” he said softly, recalling how painful it was for the hashira to hear her pained screams and cries as they carried her home. “It seems like... she isn’t able to fully speak yet.”

The demon with the rope around her neck thrashed and snarled, baring her sharp white fangs and clawing at the hashira standing around her. Her catlike pupils dilating, she lunged forward at the flame pillar with a roar. “Rrrahh! He— hckk...” Giyuu tugged on the rope once more, stopping her just a few inches from Rengoku’s chest as she went limp.

“Rengoku-san!” Mitsuri cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. None of the hashira knew what to do with their sister. This monster in front of them.

How were they, the pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, whose duty is to slay all demons, going to kill their own sister?

Did they have to?

“H-he-lp...”

All heads whipped to their sister crawling on the ground, her mouth agape and her red eyes watering.

“H-hel-p... end... m—”

Something shifted in her eyes. As if she was finally able to see clearly for the first time.

Her crimson orbs widened, her claws reaching to her pale face as though she was making sure she was real. She sat there, knees folded underneath her, touching and patting her demonic body with wonder.

The hashira locked eyes with each other in concern.

Has she regained consciousness? Would she turn malicious? Will she recognize who we are? Does she know we’re her siblings?

A broken sob pierced through the air as all of the pillars turned to the center of the circle once again.

One gnarly claw sat over her heart, the other covering her pale mouth. A steady flow of tears poured from her glistening scarlet eyes as she kept her gaze trained on the ground in front of her.

“I-I’m...”

Giyuu gazed at her with sorrow. Shinobu’s eyes filled with sympathy. Mitsuri clasped her hands over her mouth, letting out a sob. Obanai lightly touched her shoulder. Gyomei’s tears began to flow faster. Sanemi stood paralyzed with shock.

“A... de... mon...”

The wind hashira raised a shaking finger, pointing at his sister kneeling on the ground. “O-oi...” he started, his voice trembling. “She can— she can talk...”

Moving to crouch in front of the demon was the insect pillar who tentatively reached a cautious arm onto her bony white shoulder. “My little butterfly... Can you hear me?”

Crimson eyes slowly slid over to meet violet ones, tears still trickling out of them. Her head nodded at an excruciating pace, seemingly sapping all of her energy.

“Good. I am your older sister, Shinobu, and these are all of your siblings, you see?” Her soft, kind voice unwavered, as though she had comforted demons like this countless times during her life. She turned and swept one arm out to the hashira standing before her, the other trained firmly on the younger girl’s back.

Staring before you were the nine pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps. Your nine older siblings locked their grief-stricken eyes with yours. You could barely hear your sister's voice over the thumping sound of blood rushing through your body.

You were so thirsty. You were so tired. You just wanted to sleep. Forever.

“... friends, okay?” the soft voice carried you out of your thoughts. “(Y/N)? Are you still with us?”

You felt your lips part, but no sound came out. Panic rose throughout your body as you tried and failed, and tried and failed again to speak.

The hashira before you looked at each other in concern before the one behind you piped up. “Use your body to speak if you can,” the calm voice spoke. “I’ll keep her on the rope just in case.”

Your stinging eyes moved to meet with pained dark blue ones as his pale hands wrapped firmly around the rope your frail body was attached to.

Nodding slowly— gods, it was so painful— you reached a hand over to one side of your rope-bruised neck and dragged it over to your other side, making a cutting motion.

The hashira gaped at you in horror.

“You... you want us t-to kill you?” The white-haired male yelled, the pulsing veins in his blank eyes straining as they peered into yours.

They were red.

Blood.

You needed blood. You craved it so, so badly. You could feel it bubbling in your gut and spreading from the tips of your clawed toes to your pale white skull. You couldn’t live without blood.

Human blood.

It was everywhere. In a quarter of a millisecond, it was everywhere.

Blood.

Gushing out from a white haori-covered shoulder.

Right underneath your glinting fangs.

Oh, it was delicious.

Terrified screams and the clink of metal cried out from all around you.

But all you could focus on was the taste of blood.

Human blood.

A crack.

You were thrown onto your back. A rope pulled tautly around your neck. The butt of a sword staked right onto your chest.

You cheeks were wet. Why were they wet?

Your eyes stung so badly. Why did they sting?

A strained noise escaped from your throat against your will. “Do— it!”

The voice wasn’t your own.

This body wasn’t your own.

Who were you?

"DO IT!" a voice shrieked from inside you. "DO IT! KILL ME!"

Who... who was saying that?

Nine horrified pairs of eyes stared down at you. Who were they again?

"Please!" the voice was hoarse now. "Please, before I hurt you again!"

The handle of the sword pushing into your chest trembled. You turned to meet the wide eyes of the man with the white hair...

Who was he again?

Oh right, he had the most delicious blood...

But there was something else about him...

Your vision grew red as you remembered the pure ecstasy of drinking in his blood, quenching your never-ending thirst for just a moment...

You craved it again.

Thrashing your body about underneath the sword, you lunged forward, clawing at the man's pale neck.

Petrified gasps sounded from all around you.

A searing pain flooded through your entire body.

There, piercing right through your neck, was a nichirin blade.

And directly in front of your eyes was the green sword hilt of the wind pillar.

Wind pillar.

Your eyes widened in realization as all of your memories of your human life came flooding back into your head.

Shinobu teaching you how to concoct various antidotes and poisons. Mitsuri helping you fit your official Demon Slayer Corps uniform. Rengoku helping you up after a difficult sparring session. Giyuu patting your head before sending you off to the Final Selection. Himejima giving you charms of luck before your first mission.

Sanemi, who had supposedly died to the demon who turned you, in front of you now, with his sword buried into your throat.

“N-nemi—” you managed to croak out, your vision growing dark. All you could focus on was the horrified gaze staring back at you.

"Fuck, (Y/N)!" Sanemi barked. "Why the fuck did you go and do that and kill yourself! Shit! You're gonna fucking die now!" You could see tears on his scarred cheeks.

A tiny, sorrowful smile spread across your face. "Don't cry, Sanemi..." All of your energy poured into this one smile, this one smile to say your goodbyes. "Hey— Nemi... remember, you always said... humans... always get the last laugh, huh?"

The last thing you saw before your vision went black was Sanemi’s frightened eyes.

if you enjoyed this post, likes and reblogs are much appreciated. feel free to request here, and make sure to read the rules first! thank you <3

[dancingthesambaa]

Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 15

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black furred monkey put out a hand towards him

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 15: Plotting Revenge is a Good Bonding Activity

“And then you showed up and, well you know the rest,” Red Son exhaled as the three of them sat down on the swings at the park. It had taken a week before he eventually had the courage, and while making sure his father was rested, to face his friends once more.

“So you're the one who took the skeleton key,” MK said.

“Yeah,” the prince nodded and braced himself for the accusations.

“Oh thank god, I really thought I lost it on accident,” MK sighed in relief as he sagged on the swings.

“Still kinda lost it,” she pointed out.

“But at least it wasn’t through me just forgetting it somewhere!” He pumped his fists in the air, promptly forgetting he was on a swing and was now flailing his arms trying to not fall off.

“…okay you're both taking this a little too easily,” the prince deadpanned as he stopped himself from tugging on his hair, “why aren’t you both mad at me?”

“For?” They both turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“For? For?!? I stole from you and didn’t say a word until everything blew up in all of our faces and had a crisis that almost destroyed the city-AGAIN!” He had to jump off the swing as he paced in front of them. “Why aren’t you both pissed off at me?!”

“Well for one, the key was cool and all, but it didn’t have, like, any real sentimental value,” MK shrugged, “I mean I had it for like a day.”

“Two, it just opens locks, which is pretty bad with certain things like banks and homes, but at least it’s not a weapon of mass destruction,” Mei finger gunned him.

“And three, most importantly, it’s you,” MK finished.

Red Son looked at him with the most dumbfounded look.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well you like to call yourself a villain, but I have never actually seen you do any hardcore villainy stuff,” he pointed out.

“I once saw you make fire animals to a group of children because they complimented you on your flame head,” she grinned.

“They have good taste,” he averted his eyes away from the both of them as a small flush appeared on his cheeks.

“But my point is,” MK stepped off the swing and put a hand on his shoulder, “you have been with us to know long enough that what you say isn’t what you do. You have a very soft and squishy heart underneath all those flames.”

“No! I do not!” He instantly denied, ignoring how his face brightened.

“Yes you do,” both humans said as MK confined, “and I like to think that while it has only been a few months, I know you wouldn’t steal something of ours unless you were forced to.”

Red Son said nothing as he clenched his fists, but that was all the confirmation that the two needed.

“Exactly my point, so I was hurt at first, but it turned out alright in the end, so don’t be too upset about it okay. I have already forgiven you,” he gave a big hug to the demon.

“It’s in the past nightlight, all is already good between us,” Mei joined in on the hug and grinned, “but I wouldn’t mind some ice cream after this.”

The demon Prince froze in their warm embrace as he slowly relaxed and lifted both his arms around his friends. “We’re going to the good one, not the rip off that tries to scam up for a mint chocolate chip, only for it to be vanilla and fucking peppermint candy inside.”

“Agreed,” both humans instantly said, that was the most disappointing I’ve cream joint they have ever been to and they saw ones where they can even mess up vanilla ice cream.

“We so need to catch up,” Mei said as she laid her head on Red shoulder, “there have been so much that you missed, and learning that the Monkey King and pops have a thing for each other is a whole nother ball game that needs to be discussed.”

“I’m sorry WHAT?!” He held them both out as his hair slightly flicker in shock at that abrupt news.

“Ohh boy,” MK sighed as he slumped down. “I need some mind numbing ice cream before we even go into this.”

“Ice cream,” Mei echoed.

“…fucking ice cream,” the demon eye twitched. This was going to be one hell of a conversation.

“They like each other?!” He slammed his spoon down.

“Not so loud,” MK groaned as he put his head to the table.

“But yeah,” Mei continued with a spoon in her mouth, “they have a total thing for each and the real kicker is that both sides are dense enough to not realize that.”

“Your fucking with me,” he deadpans.

“There is no fucks to be seen.”

“Unless they do it with each other.”

“Mei!/Why’d you put that image in my head,” Red yelled as MK groaned.

“What?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just saying, besides I still don’t like the half priced knock off Monkey god trying to hook up with pops,” she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh,” the prince was a bit surprised by this, “I thought you idolized him, what changed?”

“Well first, never really idolized him, that’s all on MK.”

“I feel no shame,” he crossed his arms.

“Got really disillusioned by him with all of Makkie’s stories. And secondly, I hands down don’t believe that the great almighty Monkey King is good enough for him,” she bluntly stated.

“I mean you're not wrong, but explain,” the bull demon leaned in. He has known the Six Eared Macaque for a very long time, the monkey healer has taught and shown him many things throughout their lives, and has saved it just as many, if not more. So it’s needless to say that he sees the monkey as an uncle for a very long time.

“I mean other than fighting pops and almost trying to kill him over his fuck up-”

“WHAT!/He wasn’t trying to kill him!”

“He can’t just expect to walk in and pretend everything is all fine and good between them after he made pops blind and severed their friendship for five hundred years. Pops had mourned for him and self deprecated himself during his bad days, he feels the guilt and shame that had overcome him and he emotionally understood his wrongdoings but has been trying-no he has turned over a new leaf. He had changed and has learned better from the immature monkey he once was, but the same can’t be said for the Monkey King. Cause instead of talking about it, what does he do? He fucking yells and attacks him!” She slammed her fist on the table. “He attacked him and when MK stepped in between the two, which is still so very fucking stupid by the way.”

“You did what?” Red looked towards the sheepish human.

“I had to stop them somehow!”

“Not with your life!”

“Well, now I know for next time.”

“There better not be a next time!”

“It was still MK who had to stop the dumbass from fighting,” Mei growled out. “And he still had the audacity to question pops about trying to use MK like the fuck?! Who the fuck does he think he is to think that he has any parental right over him other than Pops. None! Zilch! Fucking zero! He has nothing except that pretty little staff that MK somehow is able to lift, which by the way we really need to figure out how that is possible.”

“Oh believe me, I’ve been trying so hard to figure that part out as well,” MK sighed.

“But my point to all of this is, I know he is a good monkey, him saving the city and mentoring MK and all that, but he is absolute garbage when it comes to actually acknowledging the fact that things don’t stay the same, everything has changed.” She let out a huff and proceeded to finish her melting ice cream.

“Wow…you really have thought about this,” the demon said as he watched her.

“Well I had some time to think and I still stand by Monkey King not being good enough for pops.”

“No one is good enough for dad,” MK muttered, making his two friends a bit surprised.

“I’m a bit shocked, I would have thought you would have been all for letting the Monkey King and Macaque court each other,” he tilted his head. “Why the change of heart?”

“No change, it’s just that-well” he began to fiddle with the ends of his violet headband, “I know the Monkey King and I know he is an amazing mentor, always includes me when the tribe comes around, loves to feed me, and he is just a good person. I grew up on the stories about him and what he has accomplished. I can’t help but idolize him and want to stay by his side through thick and thin. It’s just that-that…” he trailed off and hesitated with his next words.

“But not as much as pops,” Mei saw what he was getting at.

“…yeah, not as much as pops. As much as that seems mean, he has been with me for so long that I can’t imagine my life without him…Have I ever told you guys how I met dad?” He suddenly said as both human and demon shook their heads.

“All I know is that he found you in an alley one day and you’ve been with him since then,” the pigtail girl stated. “But I have a feeling there’s a lot more to it than that.”

“Yes and no,” MK pushed away his bowl, “he did find me in an alley and took me in for the night, fed me, treated my injuries, and comforted me, but that was supposed to be my only stay there.”

“So what changed?” Red softly asked.

“My former parents weren’t good people,” he breathed out. It took a long time before he could finally admit to himself that his sperm donors were selfish, good for nothing, assholes that only cared about two things, their nonexistent reputation and money. That night might have set a world record on how long he hugged his pops as he just wouldn’t let go even when the morning came.

Both human and demon knew exactly what he meant without any unneeded details as both their eyes glowed an ominous scarlet and viridian.

“Where are they?” The Bull and Dragon successor echoed as a small burst of energy flickered off them.

‘Should really be glad that today is a Monday and no one is around,’ MK winced as he took a glance around outdoors. “Guys, calm down. I’m fine, it’s been over ten years since I last saw them and I doubt I will ever see them again.”

The two begrudgingly settled down like a petulant child and slouched in their seats.

“Look dork, all I need is an address and I can promise you that I can make their lives a living hell,” Mei leaned in with a malicious smile. “They will regret even wanting to breathe by the time I’m done with them.”

“A name would suffice as well, it’s always prudent to know who the enemy might be in case there are no longer using the same location,” Red added as well.

“I am not giving you a name nor an address,” he sternly told them, “It’s been a long time since I saw them and I haven’t thought about them since,” which may be a teensy lie as they do pop up from time to time in his head during his not so good days, but it’s best not to tell them that.

“Besides, while I don’t exactly remember what happened that night I last saw them, I do know that they were terrified of Dad, whatever he said to them thoroughly shook them to their core.” He let a bit of vicious delight show on his face, he may not be a cruel person, but even he will happily admit that it was a bit cathartic to think back on that night and watch the emotional journey they went through that night as the life drain out their face the longer Dad spoke to them. It’s a bit messed up yes, but can you really blame him, he had to put up with their shit.

“Like he would do anything less for his child,” Mei smirked, “I guess I’ll let them off this time.”

“Good,” MK smiled as he got up to throw away all of their trash.

“We’re so getting it off of Mac,” Mei whispered to Red.

“Undoubtedly,” he subtly nodded, “they will feel pain.”

“When I’m done with them not even the morticians would want to come near them,” both shared a devilish smile, but quickly widened it when MK came back.

“Anyways,” he sat down with a huff, “before I got into all of that, what I was trying to say is that yes I respect the Monkey King, but I will always hold Dad to my heart first before anyone else.”

“Hear hear,” she pointed in the air, “so, does that mean you don’t want the great and powerful Monkey King to date pops.”

“Not really,” he winced at how bad that sounded. “I mean don’t get me wrong, but they just got back to being friends and I don’t think that it would be a good idea to jump into any type of romantic relationship so soon.”

“Sounds like an excuse but I don’t care, preach it!” She laughed and threw a fist in the air.

“It’s not an excuse,” well maybe a little, “it’s just that Dad said that he swore off dating for a long time after his last partner.”

“By the gods, we don’t talk about his previous partners, especially lemur bitch,” Red groaned as he knocked his head on the table, hoping that this would be the blow that would finally free his mind of those atrocious memories.

“Yeah I’ve been hearing that a lot, but what exactly did he do?!” Mei turned to look at the groaning prince.

“You really don’t want to know.”

“Heard that a lot as well and I still say, yes I really do,” the monkey successor added.

“I’m not-”

“Pleassseee!” Both humans begged with a puppy dog look in their eyes.

“All I’m willing to say is do not eat anything that he gives you and don’t show signs of high intelligence,” he pushed their faces back.

“Well I don’t have to worry about the second one,” MK grinned.

“Same!” Mei high fived him.

Red Son just looked at the two humans, one who was trying to earn his doctoral degree in Medicine and the other who almost finished with her bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. He blinked once, then twice, opened his mouth, then promptly closed it and instead pinched his nose.

“But about that first thing,” Mei turned her attention back to the demon, “is his cooking really that bad or is there a little extra something he puts in there.”

“The second one, I don’t know exactly what happened, and I thank everyone for that, but I do know that Macaque was unconscious for a few days and when he awoke he felt an underlying desire to grovel at Shun’s feet and adore him and only him.”

“He made a love potion?!”

“More like a love poison,” he shuddered. While he had never ingested one before, there have been times where he was sent food laced with these poisons. Luckily he had never taken a bite of it before, but the first time it had happened, he swore that he had never seen both his parents so furious before. “They make the user attracted to the designated target and they will forever obey their every whim and command while under this spell, or at least until the spell wears off. The more potent and permanent ones have either been destroyed or kept under a watchful eye of a higher deity or demon.”

“That sounds fucking horrible,” MK grimaced.

“Yeah, like a 50/10 of no fucking thank you,” Mei scrunched up her nose.

“Exactly, so this is one of the reasons why Macaque decided best to get the fuck out of that and break up with him.”

“One of the reasons?”

“One of the reasons,” Red didn’t exactly know how to tell him that Shun had an unhealthy obsession with the simian, always stalking him, getting overly possessive, and those were just the blatant things. Yeah, it’s best to just let it be and forget that creepy ass fucker, it’s not like he’ll ever show his face again after his beat down courtesy of Macaque.

“And that just further emphasized my point!” The teen said, “he wants nothing to do with a romantic relationship of any kind, so he and Monkey King getting together would just be bad all around.”

“And I totally agree, so if Monkey ass tries to hurt Pops at any time, I already have Operation Sticky Surprise all bundled up and ready to go,” the dragon successor gave an evil looking grin.

“Sticky Surprise?”

“Mei has been making plans on plans on how to make the Monkey King life a living hell aside from outright killing him,” MK deadpanned.

“Killing is boring, humiliation is a lot more fun and it comes with the added bonus of there being so many different ways to do it! I also have Operation Inkblot, Stink Butt, Bug Devastation, Hangman Riot, Gossip Thrill, Paranoia Pandemonium, Faeries Laughters-”

“You got the Faeries involved in this?” Both boys looked horrified. “Why?!”

“I asked and they were more than happy to agree. In fact, I got a lot more creatures to help me out as well, I have an entire file just for the forest!” She eagerly held out her phone and showed them the numerous folders in the file that was labeled ‘Dragon Revenge: Forest Edition.’ “Want to hear about it?”

“…yes,” he leaned in closer. He had to admit that he is morbidly curious on what exactly some of the plans may entail.

“Well, I have Operation Ní Chorus, Qilin Stampede, BaBa Appetite, Macaque Monkeys Mania, Kappa War, and so much more. I even have another file that contains the one Daiyu and the rest of them made.”

“Even Ahmed?”

“Even Ahmed,” MK nodded. He should know as he was there that day when they were coming up with all of these elaborate plans. He felt he shouldn’t have been so surprised when the lion demon came up with some gruesome one, involving a bag of blood and some nasty curses, but that has nothing on Minsheng and their ideas. Who knew glitter can be used that way.

“You're just trying to humiliate him and possibly injure him in the process?” The demon asked.

“He’s an immortal monkey that has been through a lot of shit, he can take whatever we throw at him,” she bluntly stated.

“Have you thought of using a vast amount of flour then igniting it? I know from experience that using the two would make an unexpected explosion,” the first time he cooked he burned down the whole kitchen while holding the bag of flour in his hands.

“No, I did not,” Mei raised her phone and opened a new document, “tell me more.”

“Nail polish is another flammable object, which is why I have never worn it until you forced it upon me, powdered sugar, Ping Pong balls, oranges-”

“Why do you know this,” MK asked with a bit of horror in his tone.

“Well after I set my Pomelo on fire inside a safe house that we don’t use often, I decided it would be best to look up what else in a regular home is fucking flammable and not so surprising, a lot of things are. But on the upside,” he matched Mei’s sinister grin, “it’s not common knowledge and I don’t think the impulsive Monkey King would look up something like this if you know what I mean.”

“Oh I know exactly what you’re getting at,” she grinned even wider, “it would be a damn shame if someone were to perhaps spill some sugar on him, and there just happens to be a flame.”

“Or maybe if someone wanted to try something daring with a Ping Pong ball only to ‘accidentally’ hit it in the wrong direction,” he ominously said.

“Oh that would be bad.”

“Very bad.”

“Annoyingly bad,” Mei leaned in, “Tell me more.”

“With pleasure.”

“I feel like I should stop them,” he pondered to himself as he watched his two friends plot his mentor not-demise. “…nahh, I’m sure it will be fine.”

“We can dump sodium medals in the water to really make an explosion!”

“Yeah I’m good,” MK deadpanned as he leaned back, “Monkey King can handle it himself.”

“What are you bozos doing here,” Mei huffed as she saw Yin and Gin at the arcade.

“We may be elite demons with awesome powers and the everlasting hunger for a worthy fight,” Jin dramatically said.

“But even we can get bored sometimes and MK mentioned this place before,” Yin finished as he concentrated on shooting the zombies. “Speaking of, where is he? I usually see the two of you together.”

“I will mention the creepy stalking if I didn’t do that myself,” she muttered, “but couldn’t make it, he’s currently doing his online courses right now.”

“Oh right he did mention something about wanting to be a…healer I think was the word.”

“No dumbass, he is trying to be a physician. Healer is so Ming Dynasty bro,” Jin corrected his blue twin.

“Hey I’m the social one, you're the one who has their nose all up in the books,” he shrugged then pumped his fist in the air. “Hell yeah, new level!”

“I’m still pissed off at the both of you for the stunt you did at the race track,” she said as she leaned on the racing game next to theirs.

“To be fair, we knew we wouldn’t win,” the orange demon said.

“Yeah, it was mostly for fun.”

“Well that ‘fun’ almost cost me the medal and you really pissed off a lot of racers that day,” she stretched and hopped onto the bike. “Side note, if you ever meet a girl with purple hair, bright green eyes, and utterly jacked, you might want to scram. She was one of the competitors and she’s the least bit happy with either one of you.”

“Is that so?” Jin hummed as he hopped on the bike next to her.

“Yeah she wants to use your corpses as a gaudy rug for her front porch.”

“It be like that sometimes,” both twins said.

“You both seem way too chill about that,” she raised her eyebrow.

“We have seen people, demons, deities, and creatures alike much scarier,” Yin started as he continued to shoot the zombies down.

“We had masters who threaten to crush our bones, people using scrolls to torture our minds, deities making us relieve the worst days of our life over and over, demons stabbing us in the heart over and over, and the sheer presence of Macaque bearing down on the both of us,” Jin casually said.

Mei blinked a few times, “Okay that seems like a lot, but understandable. You met pops before?”

“You know the Six Eared Macaque,” the blue demon turned his head to her, “of course you do, cause why not.”

“We met him a few times after the whole Calabash incident and he is much scarier than the rumors made him out to be.”

“But demon knows how to put on a good play.”

“Yeah, his shadow play is a real banger,” Jin gave a toothy grin.

“So you guys met him at the theater,” she deadpanned.

“Yup,” both said.

“Why am I not surprised,” she sighed and began the game, “well I’m gonna smoke your ass on this.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Jin grinned as he revved his engine.

“Children, both of them,” Yin rolled his eyes, but he gave a loud shout as he noticed he finished the level. “Hell Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”

“I refuse to believe that you managed to make peaches taste sour,” Wukong scrunched up his nose as he disdainfully eyed the peach dried chips. “This has to be some mockery or imitation, cause ain’t no way in hell are those actual peaches.”

“Hate to break it to ya,” Mac smirked as he took a chip in his mouth, “but they are.”

“You heathen,” he hissed out.

“Payback for the tainted Mango,” he smirked.

“Oh come on! That was centuries ago!”

“And I hated every last bite of that disgusting piece of fruit that dared touch my tongue!” He barked back.

The sage threw up his arms and marched to the kitchen, “I am raiding your kitchen! I need to wash put that nasty taste and hope that it doesn’t taste like a cup of lemon juice has just been freshly squeezed into my mouth.”

“You big baby, it’s not even that sour,” he snorted as he took another handful of chips. He knew that Wukong hated the taste of anything sour, revenge never tasted so good.

“No, no, no, why do you even have this,” he asked as he held up a bottle of Olive juice.

“Blame MK, last time he brought home an Aloe Vera milk which I didn’t realize was even a thing,” and the sad thing was that it didn’t taste bad, just extremely weird.

“Course he did,” was all he said as he continued to scrimmage through the kitchen. “Aha! Here we…go?” He paused as he moved over the soda and spotted a large jug. “What are you?” He opened it up and the familiar smell hit his nose as he never forgets that smell. “You mangy monkey!”

“Hmm?” Mac raised his brow as Wukong leaped over him with a familiar jar in hand, “No, you are not about to drink wine right now. I can’t deal with your alcohol self, you are too fucking clingy and a hundred times more impulsive.”

“I won’t, but how did you manage to sneak this away,” he grinned and swished the half full jug in hand.

“Huh? What are you babbling on about?”

“How did you get the Immortality wine, I know they have it locked up nice and tight after my little fiasco,” he held it up for further emphasis.

“The what wine?!” He stalked over to him and snatched the jug out of his hands, “Is that what this is?!”

“You drank it without even knowing what it is?” He shot the black simian an incredulous look, he knows that he is the one who is the most suspicious of getting anything from anyone, let alone something he doesn’t know.

“Don’t look at me like that!” He barked, “It’s from a friend who stops by once and a while. When-how-what the fuck Shen?”

“You know someone who can just give you immortality wine,” he couldn’t help but find a bit of amusement from his friend's expression.

“Apparently, he comes by every once in a while and that fucker never told me what this shit is,” he growled that last part.

“How do you know him?”

“He was a friend of Ping!” He threw his hands in the air and marched back to the kitchen and put back the jug of very rare and sought after wine…on second thought it would probably be better if he found a better spot to put this.

“Ping? The same Ping who taught you medicine and helped grow the forest Ping,” he stated as his tail swished behind him. He really wanted to just shake him and ask what the human was to him, but (for once) he kept down his impulsive thoughts and gently prodded him.

“Yess,” he rubbed his neck out of a bout of nerves, “but technically I made the forest, he said it would be a good way to plant a seed and take care of it to vent my frustration. Which is weird, but oh well and the next thing I know there is a forest.”

“So you just forgot that seeds grow and made an entire ass forest without you even noticing,” Wukong smirked.

“I’m not that fucking blind that I didn’t see an entire damn forest, it just didn’t…occur to me that I made it,” he winced at how dumb that sounded. He rolled his eyes when he heard the first snort then a full blown laughter coming from the brown furred monkey. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up.

“Don’t worry,” he said in between breaths, “I will! Pffftttt! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He gave a petulant huff and went back to his warm tea with a laughing monkey following close behind. Eventually, the laughter subsided and all that was left was a smirking monkey leaning on a simian dead set on ignoring him.

“Only you moonshine,” he smirked as he watched his friend turn his face away with a faint red blush. He knows that calling him cutesy nicknames doesn’t get on his nerves no matter how many times he says so, but he secretly likes them. It’s how he got away with some of the things he did, but now he has a new goal in mind as he casually stretched his arms behind Mac and gently let his fingers rest on his long fur.

‘Soft. So soft. I don’t think I ever felt his fur ever be this soft before,’ he eyed the tantalizing fur curled in between his fingers. Just taunting him and begging him to please thread your fingers throughout the fluffy locks. ‘I really want to groom his fur,’ his hands twitched as he watched to see if Macaque would stop him, but he saw his eyes closed and leaning back. He almost let out a purr at the sight of his friend's trust and really wanted to just put his whole body on him for cuddles, but managed to keep it down in time and instead readied himself to put his other hand to his fur, a door slamming open stopped him.

BOOM!

“Guess who's back and is hearing an obnoxious ringing noise in their ears!” A loud voice shouted out which made the two separate from each other, much to the ire of a brown furred simian.

“Who the-” he began to mutter.

“And what have I told you about keeping your voice down inside?” Macaque yelled back.

“Too many times to count,” Bohai sighed.

Minsheng chuckled as they walked in and noticed that his friend wasn’t quite alone. “Well what do we have here?”

“Hey there, you might know me, I’m the-” he was cut off by the lion demon.

“The Monkey King, I have seen images of you before,” Ahmed then gave a slight nod, “I’m Ahmed, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Right back at you.”

“The name is Daiyu chimp,” she gave a very harsh slap on his shoulder and sat on the edge of the couch.

“I mean not really a chimp-”

“I’m Bohai,” the jellyfish demon said with a glow, “we’ve heard many things about you.”

“What kind? I mean there are a lot of stories-” he was cut off once more.

“And I’m Minsheng,” they said as he sat in between the two monkeys, “and I would introduce you to Yanyu, but she’s at work right now.”

“Yanyu?”

“His student,” Bohai commented as he watched the monkey demon sit the vulture down and is currently examining her ears.

“You had a student?”

“What can I say, I have that charm,” he deadpanned then shot Daiyu a glare, “how many times have I told you not to fuck with strange magical plants unless you know what it is!”

“Again, too many times to count,” the jellyfish reiterated.

“She heard the rumors about him and just went to the forest and forced him to teach her. But secretly, we all know Mac attack has a soft spot for the kiddos,” the bunny grinned as he saw that Mac was now purposefully tuning them out.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he gave a sweet smile as he remembered all his interactions with both of his children.

All the demons not preoccupied silently blinked at Wukong’s words and expressions and it was all at once did it click for them. And they all shared a knowing look to one another.

“It’s nothing too bad,” Macaque concluded after he checked both her ears, medians, and body. “You should be fine after some rest and water, which you will do even if I have to strap you down to that damn bed.”

“You got it doc!” She saluted him and walked off.

He rolled her eyes at her antics and didn’t even flinch when Ahmed sat down beside him. “Please don’t tell me you got injured in some way as well.”

“Don’t worry, I did not,” he gave a deep chuckle.

“Thank fuck,” he sighed and felt the lion began to come closer to him and began to nuzzle the top of his head. He knew exactly what was happening, “Going through one of those moods again?”

“Yeah, sorry bout this” he murmured.

“Eh, it’s fine. Just do what you want,” he flippantly said and felt a purr of appreciation as he felt his fur getting licked.

And if the nuzzles didn’t catch Wukong’s attention then the lion demon currently licking his longtime crush did as he had to hold back a screech of displeasure at the sight, but that didn’t stop his whole body from twitching.

“Yeah, Ahmed does that sometimes,” Min smirked as they watched the brown monkey's eyes twitch. “Apparently lions do this for some social bonding and whatnot, but he especially likes to do this with Mac.”

“Oh does he,” Wukong let a small hiss out.

“Mmmhmm, sometimes hours would go by and he would still be at it,” Daiyu added and watched as his fingers dug into the cushion. Ohohoho she knows that look, it is the same look her sister gave to another male when he was trying to court the same chick as her, needless to say he can never land the same again, especially since he’s missing a foot and all.

“Hours then they're rather…close then,” he had to put on a wide grin, but he couldn’t help but bare a few teeth.

“Oh yeah, we might have known Doc and Med first before they met each other, but when the two met, it was like a perfect match.” Bohai drew out. He knows exactly what his friends were trying to do and he finds no shame in joining in. Even without the stories of the two monkeys' relations, it was too easy to see the fondness that was coming off from the both of them.

“Like a puzzle piece fit together,” Sheng emphasized. They know that the Monkey Pleb had quite the temper on him, not even counting his impulsiveness, and they couldn’t help but taunt the ever-loving fuck out of him. Life threatening, perhaps with all the killing he does, but fun, it is starting to look so much fun. Besides they already had their fun teasing Mac about this, now it’s the dumbass monkey's turn for his time in the spotlight.

He said nothing as he watched the two demons curl closer together.

‘A perfect match? Fit together?! Like hell they are! I’ll show you-no calm down and breathe,’ he took a deep breath and relaxed. ‘It’s okay. Moonshine trusts him and is okay with the…grooming the lion is doing. They have known each other for quite some time, so of course he wouldn’t mind.’ He glanced back at the scene, watched Mac's content face and he further relaxed. ‘I’m really glad that he had people watching out for him and besides it’s not like there is any bigger reason behind this than bonding.’

Then Wukong’s eyes caught Ahmed and as the monkey was about to smile wider in his direction the lion gave a little smirk and nuzzled his face a little bit harder into the long black fur and let out a content purr. Ahmed may not have any romantic feelings towards the smaller demon, but that doesn’t mean that he will willingly let go of him that easily. Macaque is a part of his pack and he is known for being…violently protective over each and every member of his small pack.

The Sage Monkey froze and barely stopped the growl coming out of his throat as he gritted his teeth while his eyes glinted a faint golden glow. ‘I’m gonna skin that overgrown cat!’

The rest of the demons subtly gave a thumbs up to the lion as they held back their laughter. Oh yes, they were all going to have so much fun with this.

A pack of fossa laid still in the grass as they quietly stalked their prey from behind. They followed the figure for some time waiting for the opportunity to strike as the prey continued a steady walk. The leader could almost feel the tender meat upon his teeth as he gazed upon their oversized prey. They have been only getting the small rabbits and birds and that wasn’t enough, it’s never enough to fill them so they're quite…hungry.

Then the prey stopped and so did they.

“I know you're there,” they all stilled as a soft voice called out. “I know you’ve been following me for quite some time.”

They all glanced towards the leader for guidance on their next approach, so he hunched down low and began to crawl closer in preparation to pounce on him.

“Ah ah ah,” the voice tutted, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Though I am talking to mindless beasts, so perhaps I should speak in their language.”

Before any even had the chance to feel offended by the words, they all smell a strange odor before-

EYES. THEY WATCH WATCH WATCH WATCH ALL

SEE THEY SEE SEE SEE EVERY LITTLE

STEP

STEP

NO ESCAPE

STEP

STEP

CAN’T RUN

STEP

STEP

CAN'T HIDE

STEP

STEP

FIGHT NEED TO FIGHT FIGHT CANT FIGHT

WIDE WIDE WHY SO WIDE

TEETH TEETH SO MANY TEETH WHY WHY WHYWHYWHYWHYWH

They’re brought back to the field, their back with their bodies, back with their heads with no teeth about to snap it right off-

“I’m in a good mood, so I’ll let you off easy okay,” they all flinched at the soft voice. “Well, what are you waiting for? Run.”

And they did, they ran and ran and ran so far that not even the growl in their stomach bothered them. They just needed to run away fast, it was no wonder they didn’t spot any other prey on the way here, they all must have sensed the predator. The terrifying predator with the teeth, why teeth, why so many teeth.

And they kept running.

“Well that’s enough excitement for one night,” the voice sighed as he continued back on his path and threw out in the distance the illuminating sight of a city. “I am almost there, I’ll see you soon my love.”

While there was a moon high in the sky there was still vast darkness upon the path as not a single critter chirped nor a single rustle of leaves as he walked upon the path. The animals all cowered away from the frightening presence and hoped that the predator wouldn’t look at them. But there were a few that were brave enough to slightly peek out from under their leaf or quietly look a smidge over their hole and get a glance at the predator retreating figure. All that they could see as it got farther and farther away was a black and white striped tail swishing softly behind him.

[secretbondsandloveconfessions]

All Bastards Are Brothers

Just a series of kinda fluffy, kinda angsty one-shots about the brotherly bond between Rhys, Cassian, and Azriel. Stories are not connected.

Ao3:

Part 1: Knowin’ My Fate Is To Be With You

Azriel shows up to dinner one night with a hickey, leaving the Inner Circle full of questions. Rhys and Azriel have a heart to heart.

“Az, what's that?"

Mor asked. He traced her glance back to the crook of his neck where, after a moment of thought, he remembered the dark purple bruise given to him only a few hours before. He quickly covered it up with a wisp of shadow and feigned innocence.

"What's what?"

"On your neck there." She pointed at the shadow. "Was that a bruise?"

"There's nothing there."

"Bullshit, move your shadows."

"I don't think I need to, there's nothing there."

"What's going on down here?" Cassian turned to face them. This could only go downhill from here.

"Azriel has a hickey," Mor said, her voice chipper and mocking.

"I do not."

"Then why won't you show me your neck?"

"Why won't you believe me?" He shot back. He was always ready to accept a challenge, and as Mor stuck her tongue out at him, he did the same.

Cassian watched the two curiously before clearing his throat. "You know, Az, before you go all defensive, you should know you're blushing." Shit. That wasn't good. He could feel his face heat up faster than he anticipated. He didn't dare look at Elain, but he felt her heavy gaze. Her very own blush was likely brushing down her pale skin as she watched him get berated for the mark that she left.

"Fine." Azriel removed his shadows and hissed. "It's a hickey."

"I knew it!" Mor cheered loudly, gaining the rest of the attention of the table. He faced Cassian again, who had a feline smirk. "Who?"

He kept his mouth shut. Any name would be a lie—one that Mor would be able to sense—and he wasn't about to bring Elain down with him.

"Second one this week," Cassian said. "I think Azriel has a side piece."

"Second one?" Mor raised an eyebrow at him, and Azriel wanted to cringe at the memory of the training earlier this week. His face felt hot. If he had blushing before, he had to be scarlet by now, especially after Cassian walked over and pointed to the place between Azriel's wings, causing Mor to squeal with delight.

Azriel had chugged the rest of his wine by the time Cassian sat down again and cursed the Mother for his luck.

"Neck and the wings? I didn't know you had it in you, Azzie," Cassian teased. Azriel weaved the shadows around him further, wondering if he should just winnow away at this point.

"How long has this been going on? Do we know her?" Mor asked. "OH! Is it the female who hit on you at Rita's?"

Azriel kept silent, refusing to answer either of his friends' remarks. Though that only seemed to spur them on more.

"Azzie, she was a hot one, no wonder you kept her for yourself," Cassian followed, and Azriel braced himself as the blonde opened her mouth again, but it never came.

"Alright, leave him alone," Rhys intervened. "He's one snigger away from disappearing into the shadows forever."

Cassian and Mor protested, but he only raised another hand.

"You never stop them from mocking me," Cassian mumbled. "That's all I'm saying."

"You make yourself a target, boy." Amren chimed in.

Mor laughed loudly at that, before pouring both of them another glass. Azriel was thankful for the subconscious reaction and the change of subject.

However, he only got a few moments of peace before he felt Rhys's warm presence ask to enter his mind, and despite his better judgment, Azriel let him in.

I'm impressed. Rhys purred into his brain from the other side of the table.

Fuck you.

More like fuck you if we're going with the evidence.

What do you want?

Let's chat tonight. Rhys vacated his mind, though not without leaving in his mind a picture of Azriel's own face, thoroughly red and sheepish, and a mocking laugh. He knew Rhys wouldn't be his savior tonight.

———

Azriel would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous, so as he knocked on the open door of the study, he pressed his lips together and grimaced.

"You wanted to talk?" Azriel asked.

Rhys nodded, leaning against his desk. "I did, and I do."

Feyre sat next to him, absorbed in a pile of paperwork, and if Azriel was about to have the conversation he thought he was going to have, then he definitely didn't want her there. He sent a pleading look to Rhysand, who, much to his credit, understood. "We'll go out to the balcony."

With a kiss to Feyre's head, his High Lord led him out to the private deck, and the anxiety in Azriel's stomach soared, his shadows swirling around him.

"I'm assuming this is about earlier."

"You're seeing someone," He stated, watching as Azriel nodded. "And I had no idea. You didn't tell any of us, which makes me think that Amren's assessment was true."

"What did Amren say?"

"She muttered something to me about you being the only male she can stand because you hide every aspect of your romances. She was wrong, Az. You've kept them out of the spotlight, but you've never lied about being with them, not like you did tonight. It made me wonder, what makes this one different?" Azriel remained silent, unwilling to answer his brother's question. Luckily, Rhys answered it for him. "I can only think of three reasons why you'd keep the identity of your lover secret."

"I see you've put a lot of thought into this."

"It's not often that you take extra measures with a lover." A valid point. "I want you to be happy, brother, truly, so please don't hide yourself from me—you have a record of doing that, you know. Will you promise me that you won't lie about anything?"

"Will you promise not to tell the others?" Azriel asked him, quietly. "You can tell Feyre, I wouldn't ask you to keep something like this from your mate."

"I swear it on the graves of my mother and sister."

"I won't lie to you then." A fond smile crossed Rhys's face.

"Good, well, I want to make sure this person is worth it, so I'll start by asking, is this secret lover worth putting the strain forward?"

"Yes," was all he could think to say. He didn't trust himself to say anymore. Rhysand's smile got bigger, spilling over into his violet eyes, and Azriel felt himself blush a little once more. Rhys was always the most sentimental out of the three.

"Good. I'm glad they're worth it. Now, I have questions. Number one, you're ashamed of this person."

Azriel looked up in alarm. "Why would I be ashamed?" Cauldron, he would scream it to the entire Night Court that he loved Elain Archeron. The entirety of Prythian if he had to.

"I thought that maybe you had gotten tangled up with someone you shouldn't, like a Spring Court Lady, or a human, or I thought for a long moment, that maybe she wasn't a she after all..." Azriel raised his eyebrow at the last one.

"What?"

"Well, it occurred to me that I didn't know if you took males in bed, and then I started thinking, that if you really hadn't wanted us to know, you could and would hide it very well. I'm not here to judge, but if you say yes, then I feel like this chat will get a little more heartfelt than intended." Rhys rambled on, scratching the back of his neck. Azriel almost pitied him.

"I've never taken a man to bed, Rhys, and I do not plan too."

"Okay, good because I was lousy at talking to Mor about that."

"...and she's not lesser fae either."

"All right then, number two: is this a protective 'She's my mate' scenario?"

"No, I don't think we're mates."

"Are you sure?"

"Most people don't find their mates, Rhys," Azriel reminded him, masking the annoyance in his voice. Just because both he and Cassian found their mates didn't mean they all would.

"True. Number three: she's someone we know. In that case, my only question is how sweet, flower growing Elain is able to bruise an Illyrian."

Azriel gaped at him, demanding. "How?"

"The only person redder than you at dinner, which, by the way, was the highlight of this decade, was dear sweet Elain. Feyre told me that she thought Elain too innocent to hear it. I didn't quite think so."

"Are you going to have this little chat with her also?"

"Oh, I think she'll suffer enough from her own embarrassment than to have me do it again. Besides, you're more fun to torture."

"Can't you go tease Cassian?"

"We both know why I can't do that..." Rhys said candidly, and Azriel didn't dare to be hopeful that Rhys would drop the subject. Rhys's small frown turned into another smile soon after, and Azriel swallowed. "You hardly ever have anything for me to talk about anyway. I need to utilize this situation to its full potential. In fact, after you inform my mate of my win, I'm going to ask her to paint your lovely face...you remember the one?"

Rhys sent the same picture of Azriel's blushed face. Azriel rolled his eyes and spoke. "Shut it, Rhys."

To his surprise, Rhys did, choosing instead to turn towards the railing and look over the glittering lights of Velaris. Azriel did the same and took another sip of his wine.

"When do you think you'll tell everyone else?" Rhys said after a moment.

"Oh, I don't know, I'd rather have tonight fade from their minds before I say anything, though I suppose that's rather optimistic of me."

"I don't think Cassian and Mor will let that go, brother, but you can deal with them."

"Well, then there's always Nesta...And I'd rather not have my cock ripped off of my body."

Rhys cringed. "She's going to be a hard one to convince, my sympathies lie with you."

"My only hope is that she and Cassian can distract each other."

"Again, optimistic."

"True," he said cordially before quickly adding, "But I suppose it's up to Elain, really. She's much more conservative in these matters."

Rhys scoffed, "The irony in that statement. You two are made for each other."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't bullshit me. You do the same exact thing."

"I do not," Azriel insisted, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"Az, when's the last time you had a quick fuck?"

"Wh—?" Azriel sputtered. "That's none of your concern."

Rhysand gave him a long look before he turned it into a sickening grin. Azriel wanted to slap it off his face. "You were saying?"

"Go fuck yourself," he laughed.