#once Sam got his soul back i was invested

[theduckseeksduck]

The end of s6 feels like being a child of divorce except your parents are an angel having a power trip and some guy with mental issues

[abbatoirablaze]

Angels & Demons, Chapter 11

Word Count:  2.1k

Warnings: angst, implied smut, mentions of cheating?

“We’ve got a problem…”

Aria looked at her cousin in disbelief, “h-how did you find me?”

“Not important…and don’t worry.  I don’t care about Balthazar,” she told her firmly before she grabbed her arm, “what I do care about is the newest case that Sam and Dean are on.”

“Why should that affect me, Dahlia?” she asked, “I’ve been outside of that-“

“Your dad went after it too.”

Aria felt her stomach turning. 

She knew that Dahlia wasn’t talking about Death.  No, she was talking about Bobby Singer, the man who had raised her mortal soul for the first eighteen years of her life. 

“Bobby…”

“There’s a creature, and it’s taking years off of people’s lives in poker games,” she told her softly, “and your father went after it.”

She felt knots building up in her stomach, “but dads in a wheelchair.  He-he can’t hunt anymore.  He-“

“That’s why I’m telling you, Aria…”

She felt the unmistakable ‘woosh’ from behind her and she knew that Balthazar had come home and was invested in the conversation.

“You have to go, my love.”

“Bal…”

“I heard what you and your cousin were talking about,” he admitted sadly, “and I know that while you’ve all but turned your back on your old life, Bobby means something to you.  He raised you since you were born here…I know that there’s definitely a part of you that wants to protect him.”

“I-I do…”

“Then do what you must,” he said with a sad smile, “and I will be here when you get back.”

Dahlia watched from the shadows in horror. 

The man wasn’t a trickster or anything like that. 

She could feel the power that resonated from his aura. 

He was a witch.  An old one at that. 

She clung to Aria, her cousin’s powers, keeping both of them hidden from the rest of the world. 

“Well?” Aria asked.

“He’s one of mine,” she admitted slowly, “I-I don’t remember him off the top of my head though…he-he’s been alive much longer than he should have been originally.  H-his power is bound in his games.”

This time Dahlia felt her stomach turning as she looked at Sam.  He looked beyond nervous to be playing with the years of his life.  And worse, Dean’s years were at stake, as Dean too, had failed and become an old man in the process of trying to save Bobby.

“Something is happening,” Aria said nervously as she felt her ring begin to glow.  Her jaw all but dropped when she looked at it, “No…”

“What is it?”

She held up her ring, and it showed Dean’s name in a lit-up script, “Dean…he-he’s dying.”

“Aria…you have to stall it…”

“I can’t stop him from dying, Dahlia…”

“I’m not asking for you to stop it, I just need you to stall it…long enough for Sam to win!”

“I-I could maybe give him a few minutes, but there’s nothing to stop him from dying on my side, at least, there’s nothing that I can truly do, cousin.” She whined, “I-I can’t spare him from death, Dahlia.”

“I thought you loved him, huh!”

Aria’s lip wobbled, “that’s not a fair thing to say, cousin.  I care for Dean, but-“

“But what?” she taunted, “not enough to help him live?”

“I CAN’T STOP DEATH, DAHLIA!” she screamed at her cousin, “you of all people should know that.  You were a reaper once too!”

“I’m not asking you to stop his death,” she growled at her, “I just need you to go to him and slow it down.  St-“

“I CAN’T STALL IT ONCE HIS NAME SHOWS UP ON MY LIST, DAHLIA!” she sobbed, finally letting the tears fall down her cheeks, “I can’t do anything for him.  He’s already evaded death way too much, and if I intervene any further, it will be my head on the chopping block.  And I’m sorry, but if his life costs me my eternity, I won’t do it!”

Dahlia scoffed at her cousin and shook her head before disappearing, “You’re weak…you don’t deserve your place.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Patrick whispered to himself as he stared at the four fours.  He sighed and waved his hands over the chips, “looks like ya’ saved yer brother, after all.”

“We done?” Sam asked. 

Patrick nodded, “yeah…you got some company in tha corner though.  Might want to check on her.”

Sam’s brow quirked before he saw Dahlia barely peaking out over the shadows.  His breath stole away in his throat. 

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as Sam stood from his chair.  He flinched, hearing the long, dragging of the uneven wood against the floor.

“Lea…” She shrunk back into the shadows, hoping that they would swallow her up, but they offered her no such protection, “Lea, is that you?”

Patrick and his significant other, Lia, left them in the room together, and Sam covered the distance in three large steps. Before she could make her hasty escape, Sam had swept her into his arms, and held her tight.

“Sam…” she all but whimpered, “please….le-let me go…”

“No!” he argued, pressing his lips to hers. 

Dahlia melted into the much larger man, craving his touch, almost as much as that of his fathers.  But just as quickly as she had allowed herself to melt into him, she thought of John.

John.

She broke away from Sam, pushing herself back against the wall, shaking her head, “no.  Sam-we-I’m sorry.  I can’t!”

“Why not?” he growled, “why are you here if-“

And before Sam could utter another word in protest, she had disappeared. 

“So, you think this is it?” she asked softly, her eyes glancing to that of the angel her body was intertwined with. 

Cass frowned and nodded, his hand reaching out to stroke her cheek, “I think that it is going to be our last night on Earth, Caitlyn.”

“So that’s why you brought me here…”

Cas took a deep breath and the energy of his wings wrapped around them, keeping them both warm in the cool Parisian night, “I remember you were watching that television show not too long ago…and that it was your dream to see Paris…I-I wanted to be the one that made your dreams come true, Caitlyn.  I wish that I could give you more…but I can only do so much…”

“I didn’t expect you to angel poof us here for you to make love to me at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”

Cas’ chuckle warmed Caitlyn up even more.  The husky throatiness to it drew a shiver from her spine.

“Are you cold?”

She shook her head and looked up into his eyes, “no…I just-“

“You really love me, don’t you?”

Caitlyn froze. 

She and Castiel had been sneaking around when her brothers weren’t looking, sure, but she’d never talked about her feelings with the angel.  She’d never told him that she wanted anything serious.

She hadn’t even admitted it to herself that she was in love with him.

“Castiel…”

“I can see it in your eyes,” he admitted after a moment, “you don’t have to say it.  I know that you’re afraid to say the words.  Especially since where we are going to be tomorrow…but I want you to know that I feel the same.”

“Y-you do?”

He nodded, brushing a stray hair away from her face, “I knew it from the first time I laid my eyes on you.  It was like a cupid had marked me…I didn’t think that type of things could happen to angels, you know, but I think that it did happen with us.  Even when your brother hasn’t called I’m watching you with the spare time I have…because the thought of something happening to you is an unbearable one to me…”

“Yeah…”

“I love you, Caitlyn.”

“I-I love you too, Castiel.”

The angel smiled and leaned his forehead against his lovers, “I promise…tomorrow…I will protect you with every morsel of my being…”

“Cas…”

“That’s what soul mates do, Caitlyn…and this is what I was meant to do.”

Cas heard the muffled scream behind him, and he turned, nervously, noting how he was trapped in the holy fire.  He paled when he saw just who it was holding Caitlyn, her arms bound behind herself, and her mouth taped.

“Lucifer.”

“So, I take it you’re here with the Winchesters,” he mused, leading her with him while he walked around Castiel, “or at least a woman with the blood of one.”

“I came alone….I mean, we came…to get away from everyone.”

He huffed, sparing her a glance before continuing on the path, “loyalty.  Such a nice quality to see in this day and age.  Castiel.  Right?”

He nodded, his eyes glancing over to Caitlyn’s terrified ones. 

“Castiel, I’m told you came here in an automobile.”

“Yes…”

“What was that like?”

“Uhm…slow…confining…but Caitlyn doesn’t like being transported…”

“What a peculiar thing you are,” he mused, “but the things we will do for the things we love, right?  Makes sense that you are driving instead of transporting…”

With that last comment his hands grazed over her stomach, causing Castiel to nearly growl at him, “get your hands off her…”

“Touchy,” he commented with a chuckle, “But I suppose that’s common given your…situation.” 

“Situation?”

He smiled, “you don’t know…oh how delicious…not that it matters.  At least, not right now.  We have far more important things to discuss.”

“What’s wrong with your vessel?” he asked after a moment, taking in the fact that Lucifer’s vessel was breaking down.

“Yes, uhm, Nick is wearing a bit thin, I’m afraid,” he frowned, “he can’t contain me forever…so…if Sam doesn’t say yes soon, I may have to go searching elsewhere for a meat suit.  She could qualify…I suppose. She’s one of Winchester’s children.  A younger sibling…and she seems powerful enough to house someone like me…but that brings up the matter of the bastard I’d be killing if she said yes.”

Her eyes widened and Castiel nearly ran into the flames, “She’s no bast-“

“Actually, Castiel…I’m talking about the one that the two of you created!  The Nephilim inside of her,” he smirked, his hand falling to her stomach again, “I’m no expert, but it feels….oh, my.  She’s out of the first trimester.  Now that truly is a delicious sin.  What a naughty angel you have been!  Tell me, Castiel, do her brothers know that you’ve been taking dear baby sister out for romps around the globe?  Do they know that you put a disgusting little half-breed inside of her.”

His words failed him the more Lucifer talked.

“I-but-ho-how?”

“Quite simple, really…when an angel wants to procreate, he has to truly be in love with the soul…and that soul must love them back, infinitely.” He chuckled, “and it appears…that your soul and hers go hand in hand…much like mine does with Persephone.  The way that death had his daughter.  Oh, I can sense it though.  Can feel the extra little murmur hiding right under her heartbeat.  Your bastard is a strong, smart little thing.  Trying to hide behind her because it knows it’s an abomination.  You know, Dahlia did the same with her mother…I didn’t know until Persephone swelled like she swallowed a balloon…and by then…well, surprise.” 

“You’re not taking Caitlyn…” he hissed, “I won’t let you!”

“I don’t need her if Sam says yes to me.”

“I won’t let you take Sam Winchester.”

“Castiel,” he tisked, “I don’t understand why you’re fighting me.  Of all the angels.”

“You really have to ask?”

“I rebelled, I was cast out,” he pointed out, “you rebelled.  And you were cast out.  Almost all of heaven wants to see me dead.  And if they succeed, guess what…you’re their new public enemy number one.  Especially after what you and her are cooking up right now.  You’ll have a target on your back, sure, but them…they’re practically guaranteed to have everyone upstairs on them.  Your child will be an abomination…you know how much you go through trying to make sure everyone doesn’t kill them?  I went through it with Dahlia.  Death went through it with Aria.  You’re not powerful enough where they’ll just let it go, buddy.”

“I’m not your buddy!”

“We’re on the same side, like it or not, so why not just serve your own best interests?” he asked, “which in this case, just happen to be mine.  I could protect you and her and the little bastard she pushes out.  I could make sure the two of you land somewhere in the middle during the apocalypse.”

“I’ll die first!” he growled. 

He frowned and with a gentle shove, pushed her away from himself.  Caitlyn hit her head off the wall and collapsed to the floor.  Castiel’s eyes never left hers. 

“Pity…you feel that way.  It’s a shame that if it comes down to it, I can feel her soul’s answer already.  No one says no to me…not in the long run anyways…and I’d bet that she’d cave before dear big brother Sammy did,” he muttered, walking away from the couple, “you two enjoy the time you have left, Castiel.  Caitlyn, I’ll see you again soon.”

Chapter 12

[prentissluvr]

imagine sam seeing a person that feels so familiar in his being and he meets them and they’re feeling the same thing but they get to know each other and they’re hearing such familiar things about each other and it snaps in both of their heads finally that when sam was put in the cage lucifer erased their memories of each other (reader’s memories of the past few years with sam and dean being erased and replaced with fake ones) and they were dating for years and i think the concept would be so banger but i can’t write angst for the life of me so i’m just sharing thoughts </3

WAHHH HONEY I LOVE THIS

omg yeah this is so angsty... just adds a whole other layer on top of sam's already huge huge huge and incomprehensible trauma like T_T

i started blabbing SO MUCH i got really invested lol so yeah :D

i wonder how the logistics of lucifer erasing reader's memories would work.. like what if it happens before sam says yes and gets trapped in the cage like it's just lucifer messing with sam, not yet knowing what will happen. so you disappear; sam and dean look everywhere for you, but they just can't find you and they're so busy trying to stop the goddamn apocalypse that they can't put their full resources into finding you. so all they can do is hope that you're still alive and search for you tirelessly in every in between moment that they get.

and this all happens so close to sam falling into the cage that they never find you.

and IMAGINE!! that you run into sam again first while he's soulless! so there is actually little to no connection because he doesn't feel things and that small part of your heart and brain that holds onto his memory doesn't recognize him because he's not quite the sam you knew.

i also think it would kind of add to the angst if you ended up having sex together while he's soulless because the no strings attached, purely sexual aspect of it is so opposite to the abundantly emotional and multifaceted relationship that you had with him before. not the most important but certainly a thought to really lean into the angsty aspect of it all hehe <3

but then!! idk exactly what goes on in between then and sam getting his soul back; maybe you were just a random one night stand, or maybe you got tangled up with them and stuck around a little. so you either run into him again once he gets his soul back or you're still around then.

i think reader being a random one night stand that they run into again (maybe after he regains his memory but isn't struggling with hallucifer?? idk, canon timeline who?) would be almost funny lmao because you both are like.... i remember you we had really good sex.... i feel like i know you more than that though???

and whatever the situation in, whether you were a one night stand or just around for some reason, things really shift. because now you feel like you already know this sam. and that's so strange to you because your memory tells you that you met soulless sam first. and sam is confused and stressed about a million different things, but he cannot get you out of his head because you're so familiar. dean tells him it's because he met you when he was soulless (please ignore the fact that we have no idea how dean's memory of you got erased... details details who cares about dean anyways LOL). anyway! sam's like.. nah it's more than that bro

and literally the singular good thing about this all is that you almost get to fall in love with each other all over again <3

but once you regain your memories somehow, there's all of the pain and heartbreak around realizing what happened. you're stuck with grappling between two sets of memories. you know which one's are real, but you spent years wholeheartedly believing in a whole entire different lifetime that you've led up to this point. and of course, lucifer didn't give you a pleasant life in those fake memories, so you have two different lifetimes of both traumas and hardships and joys and love, one that you have to remember isn't real, isn't yours. the good moments of that one never happened, and the bad ones still feel real sometimes. and the other life you have to re-familiarize yourself with, get to know again, have to reprocess any horrible or hard things that you went through before.

and sam... god, like always he feels responsible for it. he knows better than anyone what it's like to have your memory fucked with, and he knows it only happened to you because you're close to him. yet again, you're a victim of his love. so he feels horrible and guilty and he wants to claw his heart from his chest every time you get confused or upset because of it all. and then of course there's his own memory. the brightest thing of his life, you, was stripped away from him. and knowing for sure that lucifer manipulated his at least some of his memories means that he can't trust any of them. he gets good at pretending like he isn't second guessing everything happening to him, and everything he thinks has happened to him. thinks because he's not ever sure if just remembers it, or if it really happened. sweet boy is very fucked in the head <3

um bro i'm obsessed with this... anon really just put this inbox and was like shrug i can't write angst. well first of all babe, you can do anything you want. and second, even if you feel like you can't write angst, know that you have absolute BANGER ideas ilysm kissing your brain <3

[fairy-tale-writer]

Thin Ice Chapter 1/2

Malleus Draconia x Reader

Prompt: The reader is sledding with Malleus when the ice begins to crack beneath them. MC pulls Malleus out of the danger zone but she falls in. Someone saves her and she wakes up in the Infirmary in a rather...interesting compromise 

Note: LEMON SCENTED!!! I would call it enough to be NSFW so read at your own risk. 

I am super sorry for my inconsistent posting schedule a lot of stuff has came up in my life or writer's block which makes everything difficult. Also if anyone wants to talk about TW theories with me PLEASE DM ME. I am so deep into theories and lore and I am fully invested in the time loop theory and who is supposed to be the one to betray us. 

THE TAROT CARDS THEORY THAT KINDA WORKS

As this game is such an iceberg I LOVE it. 

Anyways, this story is about 4K+ words and would be more but I split it into two before it could get way too long. 

ENJOY! 

Winter was in full swing.

The blizzard last night had frozen the air solid with below negative temperatures. Any source of water outside had become solid, slippery ice--good for the lakes and ponds, not so much the knees and hips.

The blizzard had even dumped inches of snow, which thankfully with the help of magic could easily be swept up and out of the way with ease.

You hadn't expected much to do with the snow; until you heard a knocking at the door.

"Yoooo! Prefect! Let's go sledding! We got you your own sled." Ace said when you opened the door.

Both he and Deuce had wooden sleds trailing behind them but Ace had an extra sled.

"Go sledding?" You repeated, dumbfounded.

Of course, you had heard of sledding before, but the last time you sledded was when you were little, a few times when you were babysitting your younger siblings.

"Huh? Have you never heard of sledding?" Deuce asked.

"No, no I've gone sledding before it's just...I haven't gone sledding in a very long time. Sure I'll go! I'll go see if Grimm wants to go too!"

"Hurry up!" Ace called as you shut the door.

Grimm who was curled up by the fireplace eagerly agreed and scrambled to get his little snow booties. You slipped on your fleece-lined leggings and a tank top layered under a plaid long sleeve shirt.

You put on a thick hoodie, scarf, gloves, hat, and finally your snow boots.

"Ready to go?" You asked Grimm.

The cat was laying on his back struggling to slip his last boot on. Finally, he slipped his paw on and with a heavy sigh answered, "Yep!"

Grimm scrambled after you to the door. It was still snowing, but it was slow with very light fluffy droplets. You took the sled from Ace and Grimm hopped on.

"My brother told me about this really big hill where you can go sledding! It's right next to this pond where you can go ice skating too!" Ace rambled non-stop.

You paused noticing Tsuntarou was walking out of Sam's shop with his dorm mates.

"Eyo! Tsuntarou!" You called waving your arm.

"Who's Tsuntarou?" Ace asked.

"Does she mean-" Deuce gulped.

They followed your waving to--oh shit!

Ace and Deuce stiffened seeing you were gesturing to Malleus Draconia.

And you just called him Horned Dude!

"Child of Man? What are you doing out here in the cold?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I was just about to go sledding with my friends Ace and Deuce here, you wanna come with?" You asked.

Malleus' eyes widened in surprise well Ace and Deuce felt their souls leave their bodies. It was clear you had no idea who he was if you were offering the Prince of Thrones to do such child-like playing.

Then again, he hadn't gone sledding since Silver was just a little boy.

With a grin, he said, "Alright I'll join you."

"Wakasama! You just got hot chocolate, you'll spill it all over yourself!" Sebek barked.

"Oh, hot chocolate? May I have a sip?" You asked, pointing to the plastic coffee cup in his hand.

"Of course." Malleus chuckled.

"Is it hot?" You questioned as he transferred it to you. You could feel the heat beneath the fabric of your gloves.

You brought it to your puckered lips gently blowing on the mouth hole. Once you were sure it was cool enough you took a gentle sip. Indeed the chocolate was a bit hot, but you could feel it warming you up as it traveled down your throat.

You licked your cold lips as you pulled the cup away, "That's very good hot chocolate."

"You may have the rest," The Fae smirked, "After all, humans are very weak to the cold."

"Aye!" You playfully blurted.

"May I join? This old man hasn't gone sledding in so long." Lilia added stepping forward.

"Uhh...Ace? Deuce?"

"Uh, sure." Ace said too scared to see what would happen to him if he said no.

"We are going too! We must protect Wakasama!" Sebek blurted.

"The more the merrier, right?" You sighed.

You knew Sebek meant well but dear god, he was annoying at times. At least Silver seemed the slightest peaked, he didn't look as drowsy as he usually looked.

"Oh, what about sleds?" You asked.

"We have our own, I can summon them when we arrive at our destination."

"Lucky." You mumbled.

You set off with the group walking beside Malleus. The group was heading deeper into the forest surrounding NRC following a trail. The crunch of snow beneath your feet was satisfying, but it was also a struggle to pull your feet out and pull the sleigh with Grimm.

"Allow me to pull the sled, you look like you're struggling." Malleus offered.

"It's fine, Tsuntarou." You lied between heavy, white puffs of breath.

He took the leash and you sighed and let go allowing him to pull it instead.

"How much longer until we arrive at this hill?" Grimm whined. You were tempted to strangle the fuzzy furball since he had a good time just chilling on the sled.

"We just arrived!" Ace announced.

Not even a minute more of walking and you saw you were on top of a rather large, steep hill. Down the steep slope further down was a large pond.

The sun peeking through the flurry of clouds cast a glittering shine on the layer of ice on top.

As much as you loved to see the sight, you needed to catch a breath. You sat down in the snow, leaning back on your arms.

"Prefect?" Malleus asked.

"I'm good," You huffed, "Just resting."

"Human, this is a lovely sledding area," Malleus said.

Ace shrugged trying to play cool.

"So who goes first?" You asked.

The atmosphere felt like when a teacher asked a question to the class. Everyone avoided eye contact grimacing at the slope--or sleeping in the snow.

"How about you (Name)?" Ace chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

"Seriously? What are you a bunch of chickens?" You scoffed.

"The hill is a bit scary..." Deuce muttered.

"Fine. Wimps, I'll be the guinea pig and prove that it's fine." You pulled your sled over to the curve.

The snow at the curve was dangerously glossed with a thin layer of ice making the sleds faster, but it would be easy to slip and slide all the way down.

You straddled your sled as you pulled yourself closer.

"I can push you, dearie," Lilia offered

"A push would be lovely." You answered.

Lilia knelt down and grabbed onto the edge of the sled. With a nod, he pushed you off and down.

You couldn't deny you sounded like a professional scream queen as you flew down the hill, at one point hovering over the ground before landing. The cold air whipped past your eyes and face like diamonds.

At first, your screams were of fear but halfway through they became screams of delight.

The only issue was slowing down. On the flat ground your sled skid until you put your feet down.

You stood up, your legs shaking a little as you let out a cry of excitement with your arms raised, "Whew! That was fun!"

On top of the mountain, the others were belly laughing from the hilarity. 

The only issue was making your way back up to the top of the hill. It wasn't the worst ever hill climb despite the height, but it was challenging. Halfway through your climb Ace and Deuce were skidding down the mountain in a competitive race.

Tsuntarou greeted you at the top with a big grin, "How was the ride?"

"Very fun! You should really try it!" You chuckled.

Lilia was next and he wasn't as fast due to his small figure, but he did get a lot of air time. It took a little bit of convincing and the help of Malleus to get Sebek to race down with him and Silver.

It was hilarious, but your ears hurt as the crocodile screamed the whole way down. When he arrived at the bottom his sled tipped over and he tumbled into the snow. Despite the harsh tumble, it was surprising to hear the usually uptight fae laughing.

Even Malleus was laughing the entire ride down, getting a chuckle out of it.

Lilia used his teleportation spell to move all of them back to the top.

"Hey! How come you didn't do that for me?" You asked, crossing your arms.

"You didn't ask, dearie." Lilia chuckled...

You never felt so much joy when you first arrived to Twisted Wonderland. You raced against Ace and Deuce both separately and in a three-way race. Raced against Malleus, Malleus accompanied Lilia, much to Sebek's worry.

"(Name), can you count down for us?" Deuce had asked.

You stood between him and Ace with your hat raised high up in the air.

"Ready? Go on go! Three, two, one...Go!"

You dropped your hat and the two boys pushed themselves off and down the slope. You snatched your hat, watching as the two boys let out the most hilarious shrieks of terror.

They both tied but Deuce had gone farther causing the two to bicker about who truly won as they made their way up.

Once you started to get braver, you got a running head start going down on your belly. Ace tried following your lead but with a much terrible result. He completely missed hitting the sled and instead, he scorpioned* right into the snow.

*For those who don't know it's when you face plant so hard your feet come up and tap the back of your head

He continued to slide down the hill on his belly, keeping his limbs spread to slow himself down until he arrived at the bottom. There was the occasional pause in between all the chaos to relax and enjoy some hot cocoa.

You sat rather close to Malleus as you took a sip before offering it back to him. He gladly accepted it enjoying touching the plastic where your lips just were.

Nothing of importance happened until you decided to share a sled with Malleus.

You were upfront with the fae behind you, leaning against you. His arms were by your sides taking a hold of the leash as well.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready!" You nodded.

He pushed you off giving a good shove. Sure enough, with your both combined weights, you picked up a lot of speed. The air was like a high pitch howl as it wiped past your ears, you could feel your hat leaving your head.

You thought nothing of it until you arrived at the flat area, but you weren't slowing down at all. If anything you were going faster, heading straight to the lake.

In an attempt, you stuck out your feet but there was a very thick layer of ice over the snow, causing your feet to bounce off.

The sled spun out of control.

You could feel Malleus wrap his arms around you to shield you.

"Wakasama!" Sebek called.

"Malleus!" Lilia shrieked.

He outstretched his hand but you were too far away for him to use his magic.

"Let go!" You shrieked.

You released your hold on the leash and Malleus followed allowing you two to fly off.

Instead of soft fluffy snow, it was pure ice.

You were sure you could feel a rib or two break as you slammed onto the ice and continued to skid. Malleus let out a harsh grunt beside your ear taking the brunt of the blow.

You reached the lake at this point and were sliding on the layer of ice. His arms loosened around you sending you sliding away from him.

"Tsuntarou!" You called.

The gloves made it harder to grip the completely smooth surface until all the momentum finally ended. When you opened your eyes you scanned for Malleus calling him.

He was knocked unconscious, further in the middle of the lake having more mass than you.

Shit.

"Tsuntarou! Wake up!" You called.

You moved and heard the worst possible noise for your situation.

A crack.

You glanced down and saw the ice below you was crackling. You could hear your name being called and saw your friends were sliding down the hill, but they were still too far away.

You shifted your attention to Malleus who was still unconscious, you could see cracks beneath him.

Shit.

You had to assess the situation like an author to their story; what would cause the desired ending?

Malleus had the short end of the stick; unconscious and in the deeper end of the pond with the ice cracking faster than yours.

There was a large branch just a couple of feet away from you.

Waiting for the others wasn't an option, they were much too far away, the ice was cracking fast, and with the ice, they would be sliding all over the place.

There was no way they could help you or Malleus without risking themselves as well.

You could carefully crawl your way back to the land, the ice seemed to be thicker closer to the shallow shore, but that would mean you would leave Malleus to fall in and most likely drown.

You could take the branch and crawl to Malleus. You could wake him up with the stick without risking pooling your weight, or you could hook onto his clothing with it and pull him to safety.

It was a risk, but it was the only way you could save Malleus and yourself. You shifted your weight outstretching your arm to grab the large stick. You could feel freezing cold water on your knees.

You carefully and slowly army crawled across the ice, ignoring the other's frantic calls for you to stop. You arrived close enough to him you could see the ice sinking slowly, the water up to his knees.

"Tsuntarou! Tsuntarou!" You shrieked at the top of your lungs.

You had to be quick.

"Tsuntarou!"

You could see his face twitch before his eyes slowly opened.

"(Name)...?"

The cracking got louder.

Shit! 

"Tsuntarou! Grab onto the other end!" You called.

Malleus seemed to be dazed as his hand firmly gripped the branch.

With the adrenaline rushing through your muscles you were able to pull him completely out of the ice.

You crawled further until you were just a few feet away from him. The cracking got louder as you rose to your knees.

You grabbed onto Malleus's hood and tugged with all your strength throwing him across the ice.

"(Name)!" He cried.

He slid across until he arrived at a much more stable area near the shallows. His knights slipped and slide as they ran over to the shore calling for Malleus to crawl just further enough for them to reach him.

Ace and Deuce were calling for you to get your attention to hurry back to shore.

You smiled in relief.

A loud crack was the only warning before you felt yourself submerge.

It was cold.

The water was very, very cold.

You were struggling to swim, but your winter clothing may as well have been heavyweights tied to your ankles. You ripped off your gloves and scarf but you couldn't kick off your boots, they were tied too tight.

You managed to breach just long enough for a breath, scrambling to grab onto the ice. Your name was being screamed with urgency and panic. The ice in your grip only broke off sinking you back into the freezing hell.

You scratched at your coat undoing the velcro, scrambling to find the zipper.

You were losing oxygen fast and it was getting harder to keep your eyes open as the water stung. At last, you found the zipper and yanked it down until you could free yourself from it.

You were going numb.

There was a gloved hand that pressed itself into the water.

With one last good push, you used the last of your oxygen to push yourself to the hand. They grabbed onto your wrist and pulled...

"Quick! Pull her boots off!"

"Is she going to be okay?!"

"Her lips are blue. I don't think she's breathing!"

"I have to do CPR. Her heart has stopped."...

The last place you expected to wake up in was a bed in Night Raven's ICU.

You were expecting more like a coffin or a death bed.

Were you dead?

Your swollen eyes slowly opened feeling something hard and very warm holding you to them.

"(Name)! She's awake!" You could hear a voice call.

"Is my Minion alright?" 

Your sluggish brain failed to recognize who it was speaking to. Faces were surrounding you but they were all blurry and hazy. A hand that was gently holding a warm compress to your neck. When you glanced up you saw it was Malleus carefully holding you as if you were glass.

Through your blur, you were able to see he was smiling down at you in a calmly happy sort of way. You couldn't help but rest your head on his chest trying to absorb his inhuman amount of heat. He was so warm you felt like a chickling in an incubator.

Malleus pulled a blanket up to wrap around your shoulders from where it had pooled down at your hips with your shifting. You tensed realizing you could feel the wool of the blanket against your bare back.

Where was your top? Where were your clothes? Why was Malleus...was he naked too?

Malleus mistook it as you were cold and pressed the cooling compress to the top of your spine.

"Puppy, do you remember what happened?" A voice asked.

"Sledding," You answered hoarsely, "And...I fell through the ice."

"Good pup, good. Stay awake now," The man muttered.

It must be Mr. Crewel

"She's no longer blue, but she is still quite colorless." A voice said. 

"Why does Malleus have to be the one to hold her?" Another asked. 

"Malleus is a fae, he can produce more body heat than humans. To warm up safely, she must have shared body heat." The third voice explained. 

"(Name), do you feel warmer?" A smooth, deep voice asked above you. You could feel the vibrations of Malleus's voice through his smooth chest.

You nodded, your cheeks unable to warm enough to even send blood to blush. You felt the blanket lift and whimpered at the rush of cold air at your feet.

"Your toes are thankfully no longer a shade of purple, do you feel anything in them?" Mr. Crewel questioned. You felt him pinch your toes and you nodded.

"Just a numbness then, the frostbite isn't severe."

You felt a gloves hand and a bare hand grope around your legs.

"Can you feel my hands?"

You nodded.

"The blood is moving then, very good; you are a strong one." Divus flipped the blanket back onto your legs and feet.

A hand gently shook you awake, yet you didn't realize you had fallen asleep.

"We can't afford you falling asleep, we need to keep you awake to monitor you," Malleus said beside your ear.

You cracked open your sleepy eyes.

Lilia was sitting very close to the bed allowing you to recognize him easily. He was grinning, but the two knights behind him were displeased and uncomfortable about you cuddling their Wakasama nude. 

On the other side of the bed were Ace and Deuce with Grimm on the heart suit's lap who for once wasn't teasing you or each other. The Heartslaybul boys were uncharacteristically silent giving you worried stares chewing on your lips or fingers. Grimm was sobbing but you couldn't tell if it was from happiness you were alive or remorse from you dying for several minutes. 

Your main focus was on Ace who looked guilty, his arms tucked into his stomach, looking anywhere but you. There was a brush of gauze against your upper arm gaining your attention; Malleus's lower arm was wrapped in bandaging. 

"Malleus...you okay?" You wheezed out.

It wasn't hard to breathe, it just felt like talking took all the strength out of you.

"You do not have to worry about me, I made it back to land safely--you were the one who drowned in the ice water."

There was a clicking of shoes and your eyes traveled to Divus with clothing draped over his arm.

"There is no longer a complete need to huddle, she's warm enough to wear clothing to aid her body further," Divus announced. 

Malleus nodded and pulled you away to wrap you in the blanket like it was a shawl. He stood from the bed revealing that he did at least have boxers on—thank god. Lilia handed him his pants and he nonchalantly slipped them on then and there. Divus set the clothes down on the bed beside you

"Let's discuss outside to give her privacy," Divus ordered.

The guys nodded and Malleus gave you a worried look as he slipped on his collared shirt.

"Will you be fine dressing by yourself?" Lilia asked, politely.

"I'll be fine." You nodded.

"Do not try to stand up pup, there's a good chance you might collapse." Divus reminded.

Ace gave you a glance for the first time before leading the way out. It was hard but you managed to slither your leggings up your legs. It was like getting into skinny jeans in the morning after you just woke up but you didn't want to get out of bed. The only issue was you were shivering so much it was harder. Your cold, numb fingers weren't very nimble, and struggled with hooking the straps of your bra. 

At last, you slipped on the socks but you still felt rather chilly. You waited for a couple of minutes for them to return but soon you grew impatient from your fatigue. You wrapped the blanket around you before placing your feet on the floor. The second you applied pressure a sharp pain traveled through your toes when you pressed them to the floor, but you wanted to go see them. You avoided the pain by walking on the backs of your feet and gripping onto anything stable enough to support you.

Your legs trembled violently but you had gone so far the door was closer than your bed. At last, you arrived at the entrance where Mr. Crewel was explaining recovery plans.

"I still recommend to continue to warm them, but in gentle ways. Not direct, intense heat. Their toes are still a bit cold so they would probably experience pain walking. I would recommend soaking their feet in warm water--not hot."

The door creaked open as you stumbled out. 

"Pup! What are you doing standing?" The teacher snapped.

"I just wanted to..." You honestly didn't have a very good reason other than you were impatient. 

Malleus pulled you to him just seconds before your legs collapsed beneath you. Your breathing was shuddering along with your body from how violently shivering you were.

"Don't be so dumb--you're in no shape to wander! You will rest in bed for a couple of days--no strenuous work. This especially includes sledding," Divus ordered. 

"We will make sure she rests up!" Lilia nodded, his voice just as stern, "She should be safer at the Diasomnia Dormitories than her own." 

Divus nodded, "Make it so. Howl for me if she worsens and obeys my recommendations." 

The teacher gave you an almost empathetic gaze. "Do get well soon (Name), I cannot afford one of my puppies to become ill."

That was the most empathy anyone was going to get out of Mr. Crewel. 

Lilia beamed at you, "Bundle her up and let's get going then..." 

[marvelmusingsbyhertz]

Caught

A/N: Yup, there’s WIPS that are weeping in my folders. But I cannot for the life of me get this out of my head, and I feel like I’m excused, maybe, because it’s smut and I need to write something that can distract me from my upcoming surgery, so there’s that. Anyway, enjoy smutty goodness! Feedback feeds the soul, darlings, and requests are always open!

MASTERLIST

BUCKY BARNES MASTERLIST

ASK ME ANYTHING/REQUESTS

Pairing: Bucky x (slight)villain!Enhanced!reader

Warnings: SMUT (minors DNI), p in v, unprotected sex, fingering, breathplay/choking, slight BDSM if you squint, Bucky saying good girl (which is deffo a warning)

Wordcount: 2.791

You glared at the man in front of you, anger rolling off of you in waves; he smirked with rage in his eyes, flexing the metal fingers once, twice, before lunging.

You grunted as his body hit yours, but he didn’t topple you, and you used his own lunge to your advantage. You grabbed him by the throat by the crook of your elbow, spinning around and ending on his back, legs securely tightened around his leatherclad waist, while you tried your damnedest to choke the life out of him.

“Give up, sergeant.” You whispered, trying to soothe him with your voice. He groaned under you as your voice flowed over him – your gift wasn’t always helpful, but right now, the fact that you could toy with emotions came in quite handy. “Get fucked.” He grunted as his metal arm found yours and pulled as hard as he could – you flew from his back to the floor, and he leaned on you, his knee on your chest. “Not fair, you’ve got an advantage!” You whined. He simply raised his eyebrows at you as he clicked the cuffs on you. “And you don’t?” He mumbled, hauling you from the floor. You narrowed your eyes at him. “How did you not get affected? It used to work.” You said, actually curious to how on earth the man had managed to not topple in a heap on the floor. He chuckled darkly as he led you from the alley to a car, where he roughly shoved you inside. “After the last time, I invested in earplugs. Must suck to have a gift, that’s so easily combatted, doll.” You rolled your eyes.

To be fair, it had worked last – and first and second time – you met Bucky Barnes. You weren’t a villain per se, at least not in your eyes, but someone thought stealing a few high-powered weapons from Stark Industries made you into some vigilante. It didn’t. you were just curios. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to sell them on, but a girl had to eat. And that’s how Bucky and his flying Southern boy had found you. Sam had been taken out pretty quickly, but Bucky’s enhanced everything made it hard for you to penetrate his mind with your words, and you had ended up in somewhat of a power struggle. It was kind of hot.

When you did finally get away, you knew it wouldn’t be the last time you’d see him, because from what you gathered, Bucky hated losing.

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to find some other way to get under your skin.” You smirked from the backseat as he drove. “Sure, sweetheart.” “Where am I going?” You asked, glancing out of the window. The cold metal of the cuffs rested on your wrists and made you feel all types of ways especially with a man like Bucky in front of you, his cologne surrounding you. “Where do you think? We’re going to have to detain you and question you.” “Please, what am I supposed to know?” He sighed. “According to Sam, a whole lot.” You tutted. “If you hadn’t realized, I’m a pretty low-end villain, here, buddy. Not high on the food-chain.” “Which is exactly why we want to talk to you.”

---------------------------------

The drive was pretty quick and led you to a rural area full of large pines, a gray, concrete building standing in stark contrast to the surroundings. You cocked an eyebrow. “What are you, Mr. Grey?” you asked. He sighed. “I didn’t see that one.” He said, killing the engine. “Come on, smart-ass.” You didn’t really have a choice in the matter, his metal fingers around your cuffs – which sent another tingle down your spine – and almost dragged you to the building, through corridors and hallways until you reached what seemed like an interrogation-room, complete with a metal table, metal chairs and metal doors. You looked at him and smirked, turning your head to the side. “Why, Mr. Barnes, if you wanted me in private, all you had to do was ask.” He rolled his eyes, but you didn’t miss the way he sucked in a short breath. Ah, that would be fun. He sat you down on one of the chairs, clicking your cuffs to the bar on the table and sat down in front of you, glancing to the mirror on the wall. You turned as much as you could and smiled widely at your reflection. “Hi, random person behind the mirror!” you called out cheerily. “God, just… Focus, please.” He leaned forward and looked at you with narrowed eyes. “First, who are you?” You smiled. “Boring.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, Barnes, you must have something better than that. What about what are you? How did you get here? Why are you stealing weapons you clearly don’t have a use for, that kind of jazz?” “Well, why are you?” You grinned wickedly. “Maybe I wanted your attention.” He glared. “Fine, alright, the first time I was just curious about the making of it. Besides, I’m really, really good at demanding things.” You winked at him. “So it was pretty easy. I didn’t know that the people who bought that rocket-launcher were assholes.” “No, generally people buying rocket-launchers on the black market are perfectly good people.” He said with a sigh. “Name?” “I have one, yes.” You could see him clench his jaw. “Fucking…. Just tell me, I don’t have time for this.” “Y/N.” you finally answered and leaned forwards, resting against the bar on the table, where your wrists were locked to. “And you, Bucky Barnes, should let me go.” “Not working. Earplugs, remember?” you groaned. “Damn it. It should work, even with those. You can still hear my voice.” “Which is grating.” “Only because you find me attractive, and your moral compass isn’t doing too good with that.” You hit the nail on the head because flames fired behind his eyes, and he licked his lip.

“Whoever is behind that fucking mirror, get out.” A crackle of the intercom. “But sir….” “Out.” He growled. “Yes sir.” The crackled ceased and you looked at him in wonder. “I like a man of authority.” You grinned. “I like you when you’re quiet.” He retorted, standing up. You couldn’t help but to look at his thighs. “I’m not getting anything from you, am I?” You shrugged. “Not without giving something first, love.” He stalked to you with slow, deliberate steps, his entire demeanor changed. He leaned in, his face right in front of yours – you could almost taste him, and you felt yourself grow wet. “And what would that be, doll?” His voice was dark and low. “Try me.” You whispered back. He growled, the sound resting somewhere in the back of his throat, and you whined in response; it was enough for him.

He grabbed your face, holding it with his metal fingers, forcing your eyes on him. “Eyes. On me. The entire time.” He spat at you, and you couldn’t do more than nod once. He smirked dangerously and nudged your chair back slightly, forcing you to your feet – your hands still linked to the bar on the table, which made you stand folded slightly over the table, your ass up and head down. He chuckled and let your face go, moving behind you with heavy steps and stopped when he was right behind you. Your breathing was labored.

“Are you working for anyone?” He asked in a low voice. You shook your head but yelped as a hand came down on your clothed ass. “Words.” “No. Solo.” You whispered breathlessly. He hummed behind you, and you felt a finger tug at the tactical leggings you were wearing; he inched them down your legs, exposing you to a rush of cold air and you sucked in a sharp breath. “Damn, peach. Already hot, huh?” you heard the way his voice had changed – you weren’t the only one affected by this. “Hard not to be.” You answered in a bratty attitude. Another hard hit from his palm. “Easy, tiger.” You felt his hand caress your ass, and a finger dipped down, swiping gently over your wet folds. You whined and pushed back against him, but he removed his hand quickly, wrapping his fingers in your hair and pulled back. You winced at the sting.

“Smart-ass. Don’t get greedy with me, babygirl.” He whispered, his lips almost hitting your ear as he leaned over, his body pressed against yours. “Are you going to behave?” He asked, tugging your hair once. “Yes, sir.” You moaned. “Good girl.” He released the cuffs from the bar and turned you over, forcing your hand behind you and cuffed them straight back, so you almost sat on the table, arms behind you and him in front of you. His eyes had darkened. “Eyes on me.” He repeated, his hand going from your hair down your body stopping for a second at your nipples. He pinched and rolled them between his fingers through your shirt and you mewled, keeping eye contact with him. “She listens.” He smirked before moving his fingers down to your exposed pussy. “Now, I ask, you answer. Lie, I stop, tell the truth I’ll keep going. Clear?” You nodded and his slapped your wet pussy once, the sting causing your hips to buck. “Yes, sorry, sir, sergeant, whatever you need me to call you.” Without warning, two fingers entered you harshly and he buried them in you as you yelped and mewled. “Don’t be fucking smart with me.” “Sorry, sir.” You breathed. “Who. Are. You?” He asked, each word punctuated by another rough stroke of his fingers. “Fuck!” You moaned, trying your best to keep eye contact with the man in front of you. You felt hot and the coil in your abdomen was already tightening under his movements. “No one.” You panted, rolling your hips to meet his thrusts with his fingers. He chuckled and picked up the speed of his fingers, curling the up to hit your g-spot. You groaned at the sensation and felt another gush of wetness pool between your folds and his palm. “Why Stark?” He asked, his fingers deep in you. “For fun.” You answered breathlessly. He stilled his movements. “Do better.” “Fuck!” You whined and rolled your hips, but he refused to move. “Fucking fine, I was what they ordered! Please, just, please…” you moaned, and he moved again, this time harsher and faster – you were so fucking close. His metal fingers found your lips, his thumb stroking your bottom lip before he forced it inside of your mouth. You sucked on the cool metal as his fingers pistoned in and out of you. “Good girl.” He was breathing hard, his eyes on yours, as you felt yourself tense up around him with one, hard movement of his fingers. Your pussy was throbbing around him. “Wanna cum, doll?” He whispered, leaning in over your body. You mewled. “Please, please, please…” You moaned, bucking and writhing, your mouth and pussy full of his fingers. He grinned and pulled his fingers from your mouth. “Then cum.” He whispered as he picked up his speed impossibly and captured your lips with his.

You screamed against his lips as you came undone around him. His fingers pounded you wildly, and you bit down on his soft lip, earning you a growl in response. Heat was rushing through you, every sense in you on fire, as you rode out your orgasm on his fingers.

“Fucking shit, doll, you squirted…” He moaned at the sounds coming from your wet heat and you rolled your hips in response. “Are you going to fuck me or what?” You panted, which earned you a smack to your cheek. He grinned at your soft yelp, but undid his pants fast, letting them fall around his ankles. He had gone without underwear and his cock stood proudly, nestled in with dark curls. You gasped at the sheer size of him. “Eyes on me, you filthy whore.” He mumbled as he lined up, his angry, red tip pushing against your folds. You leaned back and moaned obscenely as he entered you, the sound echoed by him; he was gigantic and you didn’t know if you could fit all of him in you, but he was dead set on burying himself to the hilt. He moaned and grabbed you by the throat, cutting your air off – you moaned and scooted a little higher up on the table, so you could open your legs more and rest comfortably on the table. he grunted as he bottomed out and you could fucking feel him against your cervix. “Names on the guys you sold to?” He gasped. You had to admire his willpower. “Fuck, I’ll give you anything I have, just fuck me.” You moaned desperately. “My pleasure, doll.” He moved back a little, grounding himself more, before he moved his hips. The dragging of his cock against your wet walls were more than you could handle at the same time as his hand was on your throat; the metal one held on to your hip, and you were sure you’d bruise. “Fuck, you’re tight…” he mumbled breathlessly. “What the fuck are you…” You didn’t finish your plea for him to move, before he snapped his hips, and the devil took over him. He roared as he pounded you hard and fast, the table squeaking at each thrust as it moved just a little more with each one, his cock buried deeply in you. You mewled, panted and for the first time felt annoyed that your hands were stuck behind you – you wanted to rake your nails down his back, marking him. He must’ve sensed your annoyance, because he reached behind you and uncuffed you from the bar, leaving the cuffs on, and you brought them to his neck. It was better than nothing.

As he pounded you fiercely, his cock dragging against your walls and filling you completely, you ran your nails against the soft skin of his neck and he roared, his cock twitching in you. “Buck….” You moaned his name as if you were drowning and he was air. He grunted, his hand tightening around your throat and you felt the familiar sense of throbbing again; you were closing in on your orgasm and he must’ve felt it with how you tightened and released around his thick cock. You exhaled a broken moan, your air cut off, and he smirked at you. “Wanna cum again, peach?” He mumbled deviously. “Want to cum on my cock, as I’m choking the fucking life out of you?” A bead of sweat had gathered on his forehead, and you groaned, your pussy desperately clenching around him.

“Fucking cum, then.” You couldn’t not obey.

You exploded around his cock as he let your throat go, air rushing to your lungs and you were drawing him in, screaming his name at the top of your lungs; he drove deeper into you, hips snapping as he chased his own high. The sounds of your gasping and panting filled the room, only disturbed by the wet sounds of him pushing in and out of you. “Fucking hell…” He growled and stilled with a roar, shooting hot ropes of his spend into you. You mewled happily at the warm feeling of him filling you up, panting, as you both came down.

“Bud, you got… Aw, come on!” Sam’s voice filled the room and both of you snapped to the door, where Sam Wilson stood, eyes covered, and a finger pointed in your general direction. “Not a-fucking-again, Snow boy!” He yelled. “This is the third time you’ve caught her and done this, just… Goddamnit, get dressed, both of you.” Bucky grinned mischievously at you before helping you with your pants. “You’re giving up everything about your buyers?” He asked, pulling his hair back. “I promised, didn’t I?” you asked with a grin. “Well… If they’re as bad as you think they are, we might have trouble on our hands, doll.” He said, unclasping the cuffs from your wrists. “Possibly.” You answered breathlessly, your eyes trained on him.

“Then you might need some real close, personal protection.”

ASK ME ANYTHING/REQUESTS

-----------

TAGLIST:

@avengershoney @getthismoose @gloriuspurposee @sebastianstansassslaps @the-omni-princess @xcallmetaniax @the-gods-gloted-but-they-burned @calstielwinchester @janita @lover-of-bucky @marvel-whor @tfandtws @youtubersshipper @cooldreamlandsandwich

[natswritingz]

Sexting next door / Sam x Reader

Note : This is my first fic in I don’t know how long, I tried my hardest so I really hope at least someone can enjoy this lol, also might be typos!

Words : 2.4k

Warnings : Sexting, exchanging pictures, dirty dirty talking, talk of oral/penetration/dry humping, swearing, lots of stuff.

The last week had been occupied with a hunt which ended with the three of you searching the woods for an old cemetery, laying all the buried souls to rest. Working with the Winchesters made the gigs easier. You found some joy in their presence, especially around Sammy.

You guys obviously had crushed on eachother, Sammy made the most moves while you took them as innocent jokes. You just didn't want to complicate anything for anyone.

You all had just got back to the motel, while the brothers shared a room like always, you got your own right next door. Your phone sat next to you as you pried off your dirt caked boots, hidden graveyards were something else. The device chimed with Sams assigned ringtone, you grabbed it in eagerness.

"You get settled in?"

You smiled at the text, he knew how to make you feel special even if it's a simple check in. You struggled with a response that sounded natural, typing then deleting, you finally wrote one and went with it.

"Yeah, just got the boots off lol"

"Are you getting anything good on the tv?"

"Nope, nothing"

That was a lie, you haven't even looked at the tv yet, but he didn't know that. You began unbuttoning your grimy top, feeling the cool air nip at your skin while the material still hung on your shoulders. You bit your lip as you typed another text to follow your previous one.

"Finally getting out of these clothes too"

You locked your phone quickly with embarrassment, you couldn't believe what you just sent. He was your friend, but the entire day he had been constantly flirting which made the temptation even harder to resist. The phone chimed after what felt like ages.

"Me too, I was able to get the shower first"

You read the text through squinted eyes, terrified to read his response with fully opened eyes. Your mind trailed to the image of him without anything on, the warm water running down his toned body, it made your heart race.

"Just about to get in"

You nervously pulled at your lip while intently watching the screen.

"Maybe I should hop in too, hot water sounds amazing right now"

"Do it, I'll keep you company ;)"

The wink confirmed it. He was leaving an opening for you to accept or decline before pursuing anything more.

"I'm taking off my clothes right now, what are you doing?"

"Turning the shower on, already undressed"

"I wish I could see that"

He opened it and hasn't responded in a while, you completely fucked it up. You cursed at yourself before seeing the tiny text bubble come up and disappear a few times until one finally came in.

"I wish I could see you take off those jeans, I could not stop staring at your ass today. All I wanted to do was pounce on you, you've been all I could think of."

You gulped at his message, this was would be your first time sexting, you were already loving it. You felt yourself getting excited at his message, reading it over and over. You pulled your shirt off the rest of the way.

"You were looking? That's very unprofessional of you, Sammy. If only I knew, I would've been 'accidentally' grinding against you all day."

Both of your tones suddenly changed, it wasn't the laid back no-period texts you normally exchanged, it was dirty and intriguing. You couldn't wait for him to respond.

"If you had done that, I don't think I would've been able to control myself."

"What would you have done? I would've loved to feel you press against my ass, I'm clenching my thighs just thinking about it."

"I would've pulled you into the nearest room and commanded you to grind against me until you came in your pretty panties."

You groaned at the thought, Sammy made dry humping sound hot, he could probably make any sexual act sound compelling.

"How do you know what panties I wear?"

You found yourself completely wrapped in texting back and forth you forgot about your plans to shower. Deciding to get comfortable, you leaned back onto the comforter. You were invested in where this was going, a shower could wait, unlike this.

"I've done your laundry and seen you in your undergarments before. I think I pretty much know everything about you, Y/N."

"I'm imaging my lace covered pussy grinding against your bulge covered by your boxers. It would feel so good to have you rub against me. I'd be soaking through my panties you could definitely see it dampening both our cloths."

You wanted to get dirtier so you tested the water, you wrote the first thing you thought of. It may have been a little too forward but your lust clouded all rational thinking.

"Jesus. My imagination might not be doing this scenario justice, I think we'd have to try it out next time we see eachother."

The elation in you grew with each suggestion.

"And when will that be?"

"If you keep it up, soon. Have you stripped yet?"

Sam was a great dom, he wanted everything to be in his control and you couldn't help but like it. You could trust him with control.

"I've been so busy with our little daydreams, I forgot I was even going to shower. Laying in bed still partially clothed."

"Take your pants off now, then give your ass a nice spank for me. Make it sting."

You followed his orders, placing the phone to your side as you lifted your hips to remove the jeans. You held the phone again as you flipped, now laying on your stomach, you used your free hand to rub on your cheek before giving it a sharp smack.

"Both are done, I'm thinking this might leave a mark?"

You raised your phone in a rush of confidence, snapping a photo of your ass and the handprint that reddened with time, attaching it to your message, and sending it without any hesitation. The mark was not as big as Sam could do and you dearly wished it was his hand instead.

"Fucking hell Y/N, I was not expecting that. You're making me want to come over right now to fuck you senseless."

"What do I do next? Still have my panties and bra on."

"Take your bra off baby girl, play with your nipples till they're both hard. Pinch them, flick them, be rough with it."

It was easy for you to follow his words, you found yourself loving his demands and dominance, you could keep following them for hours. You held yourself up with an elbow, you pinched the tip hard between your fingertips, rolling them slightly for more stimulation. You moaned with each uncoordinated flick.

"They're feeling so sensitive now."

You attached another picture, your tits in frame with your now erect and red nipples. After his reaction with the last one, you wanted to get more from him.

"So so perfect. Picture I'm there, sucking and biting on them. My warm breath fanning your soft skin. I want to make you feel good."

"You're making me feel good right now, I can't believe we're actually doing this."

"We can stop whenever you get uncomfortable, I want you to be good with all of this."

His message made you smile through the lust, he really did care about you. It wasn't the most ideal timing, but you could easily get worked back up again with his skills.

"Sorry, never wanna stop this <3"

You shook your head with a small laugh as you flirted.

"Good, me neither. You still have your panties on like a good girl?"

"Haven't taken them off yet, you haven't told me to."

"Sounds like someone's enjoying being bossed around, huh? What if I told you to suck me off, would you do it?"

"I'd let you throat fuck me. I want to gasp for my breath when you finally pull from my mouth."

"Your lips look perfect for my cock, I want to see them wrapped around me as I thrust into your mouth."

"I want you to be as rough as you can, Sammy."

You flipped over to your back once again, your hand dipping into your undies, rubbing soft circles over your clit as you awaited another message. You wanted to invite him over that instant but you had to resist the urge, sexting was fun and a good first step for the two of you.

"I've finally entered the shower, I'm stroking myself to the pictures you sent me. Kinda hard keeping the phone dry."

You laughed a little to yourself at the end of his message.

"Your turn?"

Not that your heart hadn't been pounding the entire time, your recent text made it even faster. You bit your lip in anticipation, you couldn't lie to yourself, you've always wondered what he was packing. And just like that, you revived a picture. Your jaw clenched at his size and width, you weren't entirely sure you'd be able to fit him if you ever got to doing this stuff in person. It was hot and impressive.

"How am I going to fit all of you? I don't think any amount of wetness would prepare me for you."

"We'll make it fit princess, I wanna see your warm pussy stretch around me. Fuuuck, I want you so bad Y/N."

"I want you bad too, maybe our next session can be face to face. I can't imagine how you'll make me feel when I have your hands on me instead of my own."

"You touching yourself right now? I don't remember telling you to stop playing with your tits."

"I couldn't take it anymore, I was aching for some relief."

That was true, your pussy throbbed for attention to the point it hurt to not touch yourself. No one else had this affect over you, making you soak through your lace like nothing.

"Fine, you can touch yourself as long as you don't cum until I allow you, and take it easy, I want you to enjoy this."

"Yes, Sammy."

You slowed down, rubbing slow circles on your aroused clit. Everything was heightened and sensitive, what was he doing to you?

"I'm touching myself, paced instead of rushed. I wish this was your hand. Not gonna lie, I constantly think of how good your large hands would feel on my body."

"Where?"

His response was immediate after he quickly read your message, considering what he told you just a little ago, you knew he was getting off to your little conversation.

"On my ass, in my pussy, around my throat. Even you holding my hands above my head or behind my back sounds like a pleasure. I want you to touch and explore every part of me."

The typing bubble appeared just as it did when he responded to every other text, this time you cut off his response with another one of your own, you wanted to get him really worked up.

"For future reference, I'd probably cum instantly with your tongue on my clit and your fingers in me as deep as they'd go."

You weren't a newbie when it came to sex, you knew what you wanted in the bedroom. Being a hunter and constantly hopping town to town, you had your occasional one night stand to release the stress that came with your job.

"Oh really? You want me buried in you while tasting you all at once? I can do that for you princess, I've been wanting to taste you. I'd eat you out till you came on my tongue then I'd make you kiss me, deep."

"You already know I'd return the favor."

You referred back to your message you sent not long ago about going down on him.

"We haven't even talked about getting to the main act and you've got me almost cumming. I had to slow my pace in order to not finish."

You smirked at his reply, biting your lip with a small groan as you still touched yourself. You were hoping you had the same effect on him that he had on you.

"Let's get onto the main act then. How'd you want to fuck me?"

"I can think of a few ways... But I most definitely want to see myself slide in and out of you. I want to enjoy every bit."

"Maybe my hands holding onto the back of my thighs while laying on my back? Everything would be on display."

"I could put your legs up on my shoulders and get really deep in you. Wouldn't that feel good?"

"I'd be seeing stars. And I would not be able to walk afterwards. Feeling you brush against my cervix repeatedly with your big cock, you're gonna fill me so good."

"Y/N you're gonna make me cum. Speed up."

With his permission, you started to rub faster. You moaned loudly, forgetting about anyone else in the seedy motel.

"Fuck, keep moaning."

You blushed in embarrassment, he could hear you from their rooms bathroom which definitely meant Dean could hear you, the strangers on the opposite side didn't concern you. You allowed yourself to moan with each lap, not holding back the cries. You went on for a minute before diverting your attention back to the phone.

"Imagine how much louder I'd be with you inside me."

"I've been thinking about all the noises you'd be making the entire time. You sound so hot. Are you close?"

"Yeah Sammy, I'm almost there."

Your breathing pattern became rapid and harsh, small wines escaping your lips as you played yourself to perfection.

"Beg for permission to cum."

You groaned at his response.

"Please let me cum, please Sam, I'm not sure I can hold it."

It was hard enough holding back your release but even harder to beg with one hand.

"You can cum baby, just cause you've been so good."

Your body released the tension, the relief rolling in as you came in your panties, finally. It hit you hard, your hips shaking as you moaned louder than earlier. You couldn't deny it, you never orgasmed like that when you were doing it solo.

"I couldn't help but finish to your moans"

His response was like his usual ones, not so formal and more playful. You could get used to seeing both sides regularly.

"We should do this more often, or try it in person, either one"

"I am 100% on board with that"

If for some reason you wanna be notified when I post a new fic, leave a comment to be tagged and your username will go here!

[deceitfuldevil]

Snap Out of It!

Pietro Maximoff X Reader

Summary: You grew up with the Maximoff twins, even agreed to be experimented on at HYDRA with them. You and Pietro were clearly falling for each other the older you got, but HYDRA sent you away and told the Maximoff’s you were dead. So what happens when you show up at the Avengers compound with no memory of your past?

Warnings: a little bit of angst I think?? Mentions of bombs, HYDRA experiments, some fluff and kissing ;)

Word Count: 3.69K

You were born during the start of a terrible war in your home country, and about two months later your parents introduced you to a new set of twins who lived just a few doors down from you. Of course you don’t actually remember meeting them, but your earliest memories were all filled with the Maximoff twins. You practically grew up right alongside them, you three did everything together. Birthdays, playdates, dinner when your parents weren’t home, all of it. It was also nice to grow up alongside others who were your age, especially when your country was at such a low place; it was a good distraction.

You were 10 years old when your apartment complex was bombed, your father had just walked in the door coming home from work. He and your mom fell into the hole in the floor immediately, that was the last time you ever saw them. You sat curled up in a ball in the far left corner of what used to be your kitchen. Frozen with fear and trauma for two days, until you were rescued. You were brought down to a large police van, the doors were opened for you and you saw two other children huddled together under a blanket, both of them immediately turned to see you and screamed with joy. It was your best friends, the Maximoffs. You ran into the van and hugged them immediately, all of you breaking down into tears. You sat in the back of the van together and chatted about the bombing. The main question on your mind was “are there any survivors?” but as it turned out, not only were you and the Maximoff twins the only children that survived. You three ended up being the three lone survivors of the entire apartment complex. Newspapers printed out articles on “the miracle trio” for weeks to come.

From that day on you three jumped from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, never once being allowed to stay in once place for too long. You even agreed to volunteer for HYDRA’s experiments with Wanda and Pietro when you were all 17. You tried to stay in communication with your friends but HYDRA made that near impossible with their constant experiments and isolations. The time you did get to spend with the Maximoffs was cherished, especially your time with Pietro. You two were definitely drawn to each other as you grew into your mid teens, but you never truly allowed anything serious to happen in fear of how Wanda might react.

About a year into your experiments at HYDRA, you gained healing like abilities along with some telepathy as well. After learning and controlling these powers you were excited for when you got to see Wanda and Pietro next to see what powers they had gained. But you never got the chance. HYDRA saw more use in you than petty armed fights, and shipped you off to god knows where and gave you the improved and experimental “super-soldier” serum. HYDRA informed Wanda and Pietro that the experiments became too much for you, that you were weak and had passed on. Pietro cried for days on end, and Wanda could hear him every night from her neighboring cell. Thinking you were dead killed his spirit, his soul. He never even got to tell you how he really felt. That you were so much more than just a fling to him. Meanwhile you trained for months on end and every week and were forced to have shock therapy to erase your past memories. HYDRA was making you into nothing more than a weapon, a shell of a person. After a few successful missions, that's all you were good for. So if you weren’t out on business, you were put under cryo-sleep. This went on for years.

It wasn't until 3 weeks after the battle of Sokovia when Sam had been questioning Wanda and Pietro about their time with HYDRA, he was able to locate another one of their secret human experiment facilities. Steve was hoping they’d make a break in that missing persons case of his but to no avail. However, they did find one abandoned soldier in cryo-freeze. You.

Now, of course it took months of isolation and small bits of normal human activity and interaction to erase what HYDRA had brainwashed you into. After about 4 1/2 months Tony decided it was time to move you into the new compound, but kept you restricted to your room. Others were allowed to visit you if they’d like, it was encouraged really. Get you the human interaction you needed.

Three days and no visits later, which you didn’t mind. It was nice being isolated somewhere with TV service.

Clint walked over to the kitchen island where Wanda and Pietro were having a conversation over a snack.

“Either of you meet the newest recruit yet? I hear she’s still in isolation.”

“There’s a... new recruit?” Pietro said, his accent thick as he spoke with a questioning tone.

“Yeah, Y/N something. Found her in cryo-freeze at that HYDRA base we raided a few months ago.”

Wanda froze, immediately looking to her brother who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“Pietro... it can’t be her. You remember how she died in trials” Wanda tried to reason with her still love stricken brother after all these years.

“That’s what they told us, what if they lied? It wouldn’t be the first time.”

She just shook her head “it’s impossible, do you even think she’d still remember you?” Wanda inquired.

“There’s only one way to find out!” Pietro said, speeding off leaving a trail of blue streaks behind him.

He busted through the lab doors and stood about 5 feet from Tony, breathless. “What’s her name? Her full name.”

“Okay speedy, next time knock, yeah? And half of our team here is “her’s” so I haven’t the slightest clue who you’re talking about.” Tony spoke calmly, but frustrated that Pietro bursted in out of nowhere.

“The new recruit, Y/N.”

Tony looked over to the quick man and quirked a brow at him

“Well you’ve already got half her name down. She’s Y/N L/N, an ex HYDRA super soldier. You should go visit her actually, she just moved into the compound a few days ago. No ones even visited her y—“

“Where is she staying? what room is she in?” He asked, cutting Tony off.

“Floor 2, room 315... you know it’s impolite to cut off your—“ but before Tony could finish, Pietro had sped off again.

You sat into your room watching an old sitcom from the 2000s you felt drawn to. But before you could invest yourself any further there was a knock at your door. Something you weren’t used to. You hesitantly spoke, “come in” you said sitting up in your bed, fixing your hair a little in the process.

A silver haired man slowly walked in, he had broad shoulders and a toned body. He was attractive, no doubt. But he almost looked familiar to you. Why?

“Hello dragâ” he spoke with a Eastern Europe accent, but one not one you could exactly pinpoint. But you recognized the foreign word he spoke

“Hello... domnule. How do you know Russian... and why have you come to visit?” You questioned, swinging your legs over the side of your bed. The man at your door, he looked sad now. His face fell, but you didn’t understand why.

“You don’t remember me?” He walked closer to you, as you stood up from your bed.

“Well I don’t remember much after HYDRA brainwashed the hell out of me” you said with a slight chuckle, but he still looked disappointed.

“But maybe if you tell me your name and why I should remember you” you said with a smirk, stepping closer to the handsome man that stood in front of you.

“Can I show you instead?” He said, stepping so close that now your chests were touching. You enjoyed the human interaction but with your past training, this still left you on edge.

“Show me?” You questioned, but he took this rather as the go-ahead and snaked a hand around your waist and leaned down, placing a soft kiss on your lips. You wanted to melt into his touch but it was all too soon, and you didn’t even know his name. You pulled away abruptly and slapped him. Backing away as you sat back down on your bed and stared at your hands.

“Please leave.” You said just as quietly as you said when you allowed him to come in. When you looked up, the mysterious man was gone; your door left a crack open.

No one visited you for five more days after that. It was early into the evening and you sat alone in your room reading a book. There was a knock at your door but you didn’t answer it. The last time you agreed to let someone in they violated your boundaries. But regardless your door was still opened, but a new person you had yet to meet walked through.

She stood a bit taller than you and had long red hair, a kind smile and warm eyes.

“I hope I am not intruding.” She said, with the same accent as the man who invaded on your days before. Which again, put you on edge.

“Who are you?” You said, keeping your eyes on your book— desperately avoiding eye contact.

“Wanda Maximoff, but you can just call me Wanda.” She said sweetly

“Oh how sweet of you” you said dryly, still bitter over your last encounter with someone in the avengers compound.

“All you remember is pain” she said in an as-a-matter-of-fact kind of way. “But that’s not all you know, you just need to remember.” You now dared to look up at her. She was still at the door, keeping her distance from you.

“And how am I supposed to remember what you think I know?” You asked, and she took a step closer to your bed.

“I don’t think, I see. I can see inside your head, they did unspeakable things to you. Made you carry out violent missions that still haunt your dreams. You’ve forgotten what you know, your life before them...” Wanda paused, your eyes welled up gently with tears but you refused to let them fall. But she noticed.

“I think I can help you, if you’d let me” she took another step towards you, waiting for your reaction. But you stayed silent, fighting with yourself internally.

“We used to be friends, you know. You, my brother and I. He came to visit you a few days ago, and he knows what he did was wrong. He just missed you terribly. We have similar pasts. I want to help you, but if you don’t want my help. That is okay too. Regardless of what you choose, I still want to be your friend.”

You took a deep breath and stood up out of your bed. “How will you do it?” You asked, wanting nothing more than to feel normal again.

“A little bit of my magic, a little bit of love, and a lot of stories.” She smiled sweetly, taking your hand in hers. “I’ll be right back, okay?” You nodded quickly as Wanda left your room. You sat back down on your bed and racked your head wondering what you were about to learn about yourself. Wanda came back in with a fairly large box labeled “amintiri” which you knew meant “memories” in Romanian.

“Is everyone here Russian like me?” You questioned, giving Wanda a laugh “no, just my brother and I. Coincidentally, the only two who have visited you since you moved here.” You frowned slightly at her comment

“Why has no one else come to visit me?”

Wanda sighed “no one else knows you like my brother and I do. All they know is what you have done in your past, and that scares them.” She took the lid off the box she brought in and picked up a stack of photos that were tied together with a rubber band.

“But lucky for you, Pietro and I know more.” She said with a smile

“Pietro?” You said, quirking your head to the side a bit.

“He is my twin brother, the one who visited you last week. You two have... a history of sorts together. But we’ll get into that later.”

So with that, for some reason, you felt that everything was going to be okay.

And okay it was. Wanda showed you hundreds of pictures everyday and told the story behind every picture she pulled. Although you didn’t remember any of the memories she retold, it was still nice to hear what your life was like before HYDRA.

A week and a half later, she used her powers on you. At the time you remembered nothing, but later that night when she was showing you more pictures you pulled one picture out of the  box. It was three little kids, all surrounding a brown chest that seemed to be filled with various sitcoms on VHS tape.

“This was on your 9th birthday, your father had bought a chest full of old American sitcoms. Not only did you love comedy but our family saw it as a great way to practice your English. Your favorite was The Dick Van Dyke Show.” You immediately recalled with great memory as you picked up the picture. Wanda jumped with joy and hugged you.

“You remembered!!” You nodded happily and hugged her back. “I remembered...” you said back quietly, almost in shock of yourself.

From then on memories came back to you not only easier but also a lot quicker. Soon enough, you remembered everything HYDRA had tried to erase out of your head. Even your feelings for Pietro. But you kept those memories to yourself, afraid that he would hate you after your first encounter with him when you came to the compound.

The last step Wanda had for you in what she called “Becoming You Again Project” was to have dinner with the rest of the compound, and finally be properly introduced to them.

So a dinner you all had. It was casual, but still felt formal as everyone greeted you so politely. Of course Wanda kept them all updated on your status. Even though they hadn’t met you yet, with her seal of approval they all trusted you now.

The last person to greet you was a face you could never forget now. Pietro Maximoff.

“Y/n... I know you’ve met a thousand times before, but I’d like you to meet my brother, Pietro.” Wanda said, elbowing her brother to stop staring at you and shake your hand. You felt weak at the knees under his gaze, was this how he’s always made you feel?

Pietro bowed down before you like you were some kind of princess and kissed your hand sweetly.

“Hello again, dragoste mia“ you felt hot under his touch and knew you were turning a beet red. You nodded quickly and smiled at him. He looked up and winked at you, walking to his seat. Which almost dreadfully, was directly across from yours.

After that you all sat down for dinner, Pepper had made a nice pasta dish for everyone. You ate quietly as everyone went around and told you stories of all kinds. Of past missions together, of personal life stories, and so much more. Truly it was a very enjoyable time. You loved getting to know everyone more than the files you were left in your room to “get to know the avenger” as Tony called it.

The night was almost perfect, if you hadn’t felt the gaze of a very familiar Sokovian man on you all night. He never even spoke, not that he had many stories to tell that you weren’t there for. The more stories that were told, the more you tuned them out and fell victim to his gaze.

But when the room fell quiet and you realized everyone's eyes were on you, you snapped out of whatever trance Pietro held you captive in and laughed nervously.

“I’m sorry, what did I miss? My mind was... somewhere else.” A few others laughed awkwardly, it was no doubt that everyone else noticed the constant looks you and Pietro were sharing. Tony stood up abruptly taking it upon himself to avoid the awkward silence.

“It was nothing important, Y/n. Anyways I believe this dinner was long overdue and very welcomed. We will be seeing you at training tomorrow?” Tony asked, starting to clear up his place.

“She can start on Monday, Tony. Let the kid have the weekend before she officially becomes an avenger, yeah?” Steve said, also standing up. Tony looked back at you and said “Captain's orders kid, see you Monday.” He said walking off, plate in hand. The others followed suit as you said your thank you’s for the warm welcome and goodnights to everyone.

Even if you didn’t make the dinner, you insisted on cleaning up. It was a nice way for you to feel helpful and to debrief after the dinner. Wanda left you alone and you cleaned the dishes happily while F.R.I.D.A.Y played some tunes for you.

“Mind if I lend you a hand, printsessa?” You heard a thick accent call out. You turned around to see none other than Pietro standing at the kitchen island with a smirk on his face.

“You’re not afraid of me?” You asked in a playful tone, although you weren’t entirely joking.

“Hardly, you could choke the life out of me and I’d say thank you.” He said, cheekiness radiating in his voice.  You only laughed at his comment shaking your head.

“But just so you know, I used to do the choking in this relationship.” He said, daring to step closer to you. Your legs felt like jelly but you challenged him.

“Oh did you now? It’s a shame I don’t remember that.” You said teasingly

“But you remember other things? You remember me? Us? What we were?” His tone remained challenging, but his words were serious. You flirty front dropped at this, a small fear that he didn’t feel the same now coming back to eat you alive. You didn’t answer, rather turning back around to finish off the last of the dishes.

“You do remember me, and the times we shared together... no?” He said, carefully coming beside you.

“How could I forget? Of all the memories I was able to recall, those were the best” you said half-heartedly... not meaning to sound so bitter.

“But surely you’ve moved on...” you said quietly, staring at the dish you scrubbed aggressively in your hand.

“Oh dragâ mea” he said, taking a risk and placing one of his hands at the side of your face, gently forcing you to look at him.

“I never believed them when they told us you had failed your trials and passed on. I knew you were stronger than that, and the memories of what we had, kept me strong enough to escape from those bastards. I always had hope that you were still out there.”  

You smiled brightly and tears brimmed your eyes, only this time you weren’t afraid to let them fall.

“I never stopped loving you, Y/n. Even when I thought you were dead.” And there went your tears, falling down your face as you turned to fully face Pietro as you wrapped your soapy hands around his neck.

“I love you too Pietro, the memories I have with you are the best ones I’ve remembered since I came back.”

He laughed lightly and brought his forehead to yours “so glad to hear you finally snapped out it, my love.”

“How could I have been so blind? I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you when you first visited me.” You admitted shyly

“It’s okay, I waited so patiently for years. A few more weeks wasn’t going to kill me” you laughed as your noses touched. His breath was fanning over your face and you didn’t dare break your eyes away from his.

“If you can promise not to slap me... we could always try that kiss again?” He said slyly, but you only sighed happily.

“I promise.” And that was all he needed. Pietro closed the small space between the two of you and pressed his soft lips to yours. The moment was nothing but pure bliss as you inhaled his sweet scent.

You pulled away somewhat reluctantly and smiled up at the man in front of you.

“Does that mean we’re together again?” He asked kindly

“Oh yeah, and good luck getting rid of me this time speedy.” You joked, tangling your fingers in the ends of his hair at the back of his neck.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, dragosté” he said, leaning down and bringing you in for a much more passionate kiss.

—

A/N

Ahhh hi everyone!! I truly haven't gotten this many imagines out in years and it feels so good. I turned on “The Greatest Showman” and five minutes later was struck with inspiration and somehow came up with this, which is actually kind of based off the song “Snap Out of It” by the Arctic Monkeys. I’ve been so obsessed with Pietro Maximoff/Arron Taylor Johnson lately, honestly it's ridiculous. Anyways I really hope you all enjoyed this imagine and remember, feedback is always welcomed and requests are encouraged!

Much Love,

—Skyler

[maliceinborderland]

For Now [megumi.fushiguro]

Pairing: Megumi Fushiguro x fem reader

Characters: Megumi Fushiguro, Yuuji Itadori (mentioned), Nobara Kugisaki (mentioned)

Genre: angst, slice of life, College AU

Warnings: none

Word Count: 7.9K

Summary: From friends to lovers, lovers to nothing, Megumi and YN find themselves caught in the loop of life they dreaded so much in the days of their youth. Now as adults, will things be any different? How much have they both changed? Is there hope for them yet?

Soundtrack: For Now - Sam Kim & Kwon Jinah

part one part two

`` >let’s meet up at the cafe near your work. It’s been a while.

The single text had brought so much hope to you. It had been months since you last spoke to Megumi. You really didn’t think it would be easy.

Your story was the classic cliche of two best friends who everyone thought would end up dating because you were “perfect for each other”. And date you did. Each second of every minute, of every hour, of every day you had spent with him was the happiest you’d ever been.

The two of you had mutually decided to breakup, thinking that it was what the other had wanted. With the guise that your relationship has always felt like a continuation of your friendship anyway, you agreed to go back to being friends, despite the soul-tearing heartache you felt the moment you both did your secret handshake to seal the deal.

His message filled you with hope. That maybe you could talk things out. That you could finally tell him the things you had left unsaid. Hug him tightly, and never have to let go. To be his again, and his only.

For him to be yours…

You had chosen your outfit for the meet up carefully. Each piece of it was tied in some form or way to something you two shared. Your hair was styled straight. He had always said that he liked the feeling of his fingers running through your hair when it was like this. Your clothes consisted of a black oversized T-shirt of a band as a mini dress, whose concert he’d convinced you to ditch school to see, pairing it with fishnets, and the chunky black combat boots he had given you as a gift, seeing as he had his own pair to match. To top it off, was a denim jacket, littered with pins from different concerts, amusement parks, and cities you’d both visited together. The most important detail of all was the thin red ribbon around your neck. The same ribbon that had resulted in the first conversation you two had shared so many years ago… Hesitantly, you had brought the detachable lens you used on your phone. He knew how much you loved film, and you knew that he’d get giddy once he knew what you’d been investing your time into since you’d two last seen each other.

The walk to the cafe was a shaky one. The nerves kept eating at you. The same fluttering feeling of butterflies filled your stomach in the way only Megumi could do, with just the thought. But for once in a long while, there was a skip to your step. You had actually begun to return smiles at the polite strangers who walked by, having managed to keep your head up the entire time.

When you got to the cafe, it seemed like you had gotten there first and decided to take a seat at the booth you two had always taken. The corners of your mouth rugged upwards when you saw the carvings on the wooden table you and Megumi had left. A small, quite cute-looking wolf, next to a cat with a bell tied around its neck. He had always insisted that your mannerisms and features reminded him of those viral cat videos. How he found any of that cute, you’ll never understand.

“Y/N!” You looked up to see the owner of the warm, sweet voice that could only belong to Hitomi, the waitress you had grown familiar with on your many visits here with Megumi. “Oh, honey, it’s been so long since I last saw you. I was beginning to think the Earth had swallowed you.”

“Hi~ Hitomi,” you chuckled,” I’ve just had a lot on my plate, and not enough time to stop by.”

“School?” She asked.

You nodded. I mean, she was partially right.

“Yeah, I just got through my midterms myself. All I can hope is that I’ll get through my finals as well.” She laughed, bringing her pen to her lips to chew on top. “Are you ready to order or do you need more time?”

“I’ll get… an iced americano and strawberry cheesecake for me aaaand a hot chocolate with a cream-cheese streusel muffin.” Was it bold of you to order for him like you always had? Would it be too forward of you? You had done this since before you’d dated. Perhaps he’d just be used to it and not even notice.

“Ah…” Hitomi mused, writing the order in her notepad, “the usual I see. So Fushiguro will be stopping by, too~” Megumi’s last name sounded so foreign to you. He’d only ever allowed you to call him by his first name, only ever using his last name to make a point, despite everyone else knowing him as “Fushiguro.”

“Everyone else calls me Fushiguro, and you’re not ‘everyone.’” He’d insisted.

“Aw,” Hitomi manages to snap you out of your thoughts once again,” it’s been a while since I last saw the two of you together. I missed my favorite lovebirds.”

“Yeah… but we’re not exactly…” you let your voice trail off as Hitomi had begun to walk away to input your order.

You sighed, heavily. It didn’t even bother you that she had mistaken you and Megumi for still being a couple. It was the hope you kept with you after these past months. That somehow you’d have the happily ever after every girl dreamed of.

Within five minutes, Hitomi had returned with the drinks and desserts, setting them down across from each other in an almost perfectly parallel fashion. “If you need absolutely anything else, don’t hesitate to holler, alright?”

“Thank you~” you smiled. You idly tapped the sides of your drink, wettening your fingers from the condensation.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

15 minutes passed by and still no Megumi. This was starting to feel all too familiar and you felt a knot form in the pit of your stomach.

It wasn’t like he’d stand you up again like this. He would never.

Would he?

For good measure, you reached for your phone to check for any missed messages. None… You chewed your bottom lip, hesitating on whether or not to shoot him a quick text to see where he was.

“Y/N?”

A chill ran down your spine. The voice you had longed for, like music to your ears…

“Megumi, hey,” you smiled widely, looking up at him, only for your smile to twitch involuntarily for a split second.

He wasn’t alone.

A petite girl stood next to him, her arm linked with his. Right off the bat, she was gorgeous. Everything that you lacked, she had. She offered you a small smile.

“Hi,” you repeated, standing up this time to offer a small bow.

“Hey,” he gave you his trademark smile, wrinkles around his eyes and all. “Sachiko,” he turned to her, squeezing her upper arm, “this is Y/N… my best friend.” He then met your eyes, his smile becoming small. “Y/N, this is my girlfriend, Sachiko.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” she smiled. It was gorgeous, everything about her was.

“Nice to meet you, too, Sachiko.” you took her hand in yours, shaking it briefly. A wave of nausea washed over you, emanating from sharp pain in your heart, your smile still on your face. All you could do was smile, and you really hated yourself for that. You wished you could be a bitch and snub her, but you couldn’t. That wasn’t your place.

His girlfriend. How could you have been so foolish, thinking that there was still some hope left for the two of you? After all these months of foolishly dreaming, you woke up to this reality.

You’d been replaced. By someone new. Someone better.

“Uh,” you blinked a few times, gathering your thoughts all together. “Please, take a seat.” you motioned for the booth seat in front of you. “I didn’t know you were bringing someone else… I would’ve ordered more…”

“Hot White Chocolate Mocha? Cream-cheese streusel muffin? My favorite?” Megumi’s smile widened fondly as he examined the items before him.

“The usual.” you mused.

“Actually,” Sachiko began,” we’ve cut out unnecessary sugars from our diets.” She smiled apologetically at you. “It’s this new kick we’re on.” Megumi’s smile immediately faded at the sound of this.

Your eyebrows shot up, and an audible “huh” escaped past your lips. “It’s just hot cocoa and a muffin. It can’t hurt.”

“I know, but we promised that we’d help keep each other in check.” she rested her chin on Megumi’s shoulder, batting her eyelashes up at him. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

“Uh… yeah. Yeah, we did.” he nodded, shooting you an apologetic look.

“I see.” was all you could say in return.

“Sachi, I’m pretty sure they have organic smoothies on the menu. We could get that?” he offered, handing her a small menu from the napkin rack.

“Hmmm… I mean, we could..” she said, not sounding completely convinced. You could see her eyes scrolling up and down through the options. Her mouth quirked to the side, not seeming to be interested in anything on the menu, before setting it down again. “Excuse me, waitress?” she called out, raising her hand.

You saw Hitomi peek her head over the counter, not sure where the call was coming from at first, then focusing her eyes on your table. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion, before making her way to the booth.

“Hitomi~” Megumi greeted with a smile.

“Fushiguro~ it’s been a minute.” she smiled.

Sachiko turned to look at him confused. “You know each other?”

“Know each other? Fushiguro was one of my most frequent customers along with Y/N up until not too long ago.” Hitomi mused.

“Really?” Sachiko raised her eyebrow. “I thought you said we were going to a new place?” she asked Megumi.

“A place new to you.” he specified, to which Sachiko nodded.

You noticed Hitomi’s eyes zero in on the uneaten muffin and untouched coco, pursing her lips.

“What’s wrong, Fushiguro? Are you not feeling alright?” she asked, genuinely concerned.

“I feel fine. Why do you ask?”

“Because you didn’t touch any of your house favorites.”

“Oh, well…” his cheeks became pink.

“Our diet includes no sugar.” Sachiko chimed in, offering a charming smile. “ Which is why I asked you to come. Are your smoothies all-natural?”

“They’re made of blended fruit. Of course, they are.” Hitomi returned her focus on Megumi. “Since when do you say no to cocoa?”

“It’s been a few months since my last cup, actually,” he confessed. This was unheard of. Megumi Fushiguro? Without his hot cocoa? This was the man who once cried because they’d run out of milk and hat to use hot water, instead.

“Wow… your mom couldn’t even get you to stop.” You muttered. You could feel Megumi’s gaze shift towards you, but you didn’t meet it, and instead, you focused on Sachiko. “You must really have him whipped.”

Sachiko’s smile widened. “I just care about his health is all. I can’t imagine encouraging him to eat anything unhealthy.”

“Oh, totally…” You get your eyebrow twitch in discomfort. Were you really that careless about his health? You glanced at the untouched snacks you’d ordered for him, thinking about all the sugar and unhealthy things they contained. Megumi has always been a health nut… How could you force him to eat things like this?

“Can I get two pineapple smoothies, please?” Sachiko shifted her attention to Hitomi, once again.

“We can’t-” “-I don’t think that’s wise.” Hitomi and Megumi’s sentences overlapped each other Hitomi shook her head, her expression shifting to annoyance. “Am I on PUNK’D?”

“No, you’re not.” he chuckled.

“The simulation has got to be glitching.” Hitomi’s voice became slightly pitchy, in disbelief.

“Um, excuse me,” Sachiko attempted in clearing her throat,” but why wouldn’t it be wise to order the pineapple smoothies?”

“Y/N’s allergic,” they answered together.

Sachiko gasped. “Really?”

“Yeah,” you smiled, slightly embarrassed.

“How bad is it?”

“I can’t even be with five feet of the stuff.”

“Oh…” Sachiko’s eyebrows knitted together. “But, I really like pineapple…” she murmured, in disappointment, her bottom lip jutting out into a pout.

“How about mango?” Hitomi offered. “It’s our most popular smoothie.”

“You like mango…” Megumi patted Sachiko’s shoulder, comfortingly.

“Yeah…” her lips quirked upwards again. “Mango is good.”

“So… two mango smoothies?” Hitomi asked, earning a nod from them. “I’ll be right back with your order then.”

“ So, Y/N…” Sachiko inquired.

“Hm?” you raised an eyebrow at her, whilst taking a sip of your preservative-filled drink.

“How long have you two known each other?”

“Since 5th grade.” you both answered. You met each other’s gaze, sheepishly smiling at each other.

“Wow~” Sachiko tapped her chin, “so, like, 14 years? That’s a long time.”

“Indeed it is.” you agreed.

“So what was Gumi like? When he was younger?”

Gumi… Megumi… Wasn’t that… special to only you?

“He…” you began, your eyes misting over, nostalgia setting in, “ he wasn’t too different from how he is now. Yeah, he got into trouble every now and then, but his heart was always, always in the right place.”

“Boo~ I know that already~” she giggled. “ Any embarrassing stories?”

“Not that I can recall…”

“I think I know more embarrassing things about her than she does about me.” Megumi joked.

“Well, maybe you can save those stories for when we go on a double date.” Sachiko suggested. She beamed at you. They freaking sparkled, for goodness sake. “Are you seeing anyone, Y/N?”

“Um…” you wanted to say Yes. You wanted him to think that you had moved on, too. That you hadn’t spent the past few months busting yourself with absolutely anything you could to get your mind off of him. “Nothing serious. A few dates here and there.” What a liar… you couldn’t even look at, let alone think of, anyone else.

“Anyone I know?” Megumi asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, if it doesn’t work out, we should totally set her up with Itadori.” She had to be kidding.

“Itadori?” You couldn’t help but chuckle. “No.”

“Definitely not.” Megumi said, trying to suppress a laugh.

“Why not?”

“He’s had a thing for my best friend for the longest time.” You said, hoping to aid her confusion. “And she likes him back. We’d been trying to set them up for a long time, but they’re too clueless. Besides,” you sipped your coffee again,” he’s not my type.”

“Oh~” this seemed to pique Sachiko’s interest. “What is your type then?”

“Yeah, Y/N,” Megumi tilted his head to the side, also seeming interested.” I wasn’t aware you had one.”

“I just… like someone who I can be comfortable with, is all.”

“I’m going to find you someone.” Sachiko clapped her hands together. As nice as the gesture seemed, it didn’t appeal to you. You weren’t ready.

“Uh, sure. That’d be cool.” You didn’t even mean that. No one could compare to him.

The conversation continued rather slowly, with topics of school and work coming up. You couldn’t really pay attention to anything that was being said, your thoughts being filled with your disappointment and discomfort. She was just… so nice. Even if she contradicted you in anything, she reacted cutely and ladylike. Had you been in her shoes, you’d have argued and strategically try and make a point.

“Hey, babe, I’m going to head to the powder room before our order comes.”

“Sure, thing. We’ll be here.”

You smiled at her, looking at her until she’d gotten out of sight. As soon as she was gone, a huge sigh escaped your lips. “She seems nice.”

“Yeah… she is.”

You hesitated a bit before stating what had been on your mind since they arrived. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d be bringing someone?”

“Sorry,” he scratched the back of his head.” It was supposed to be me and you, but when Sachiko found out I was meeting up with you, she insisted on meeting the ‘famous best friend’ everyone had talked about.”

“Hmm… well I doubt everyone talked about me.”

“They talk about you. The boys miss you.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh,” he nodded, “Kugisaki won’t shut up about how you were supposed to help her rearrange her spring closet. And Itadori is just mad that you’re pending on taking him out to eat.”

You laughed. You really missed them, too. After all, they were your friends, too, but after the breakup, it didn’t seem right to still see the friends that were Megumi’s, to begin with. “I miss them, too.”

“I missed you, too.” The words felt heavy to hear. You wanted nothing more than to hold him tightly and declare how much you’d missed him and everything you two had shared, even if it was just your friendship.

“Back at you.” It felt like such a lame thing to say compared to all the things that flooded your mind that would have possibly been better.

“So how are you? Really?” he tilted his head to the side, trying to gauge your expression.

“Me? You know… I’ve been good.” Lie.

“Really?”

“Really.” Liar.

“Okay then,” he bit his bottom lip, briefly in thought, “what have you been up to?”

“Just writing,” you said, pointing to the tablet to your side, reminding him. “I began to attend some workshops and one of the professors really liked my writing and passed it along to this publisher he knew.” you shrugged sheepishly. “I’m getting published.”

“You finally did it!” he smiled. “See, I always told you you’d be a writer someday. You’re honestly really talented, Y/N.” his words of praise fell heavily on your heart.

He seemed so happy, you wanted to take a picture of this. Capture it and keep it with you forever.

“Yeah... It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“I know you’re going to do great.” his hand, almost instinctively took yours in his. You had missed the warmth that came with his touch. The safety you felt being his…

But that wasn’t the case anymore.

You weren’t his anymore.

A burning sensation pricked at your eyes. Taking a deep breath, you shut them tightly and pinched the corners of your eyes with your free hand.

“Y/N,” he asked concerned, “ Is everything okay? Are you okay?”

Slowly, you opened your eyes, your gaze locked with his. The smile he’d worn fell slowly, the wrinkles around his eyes smoothing out, the realization of it hitting you both. His hand left yours, slowly.

You weren’t together anymore.

He couldn’t hold your hand anymore.

He looked at his empty hand. “Sorry… I shouldn’t have-”

“She’s really pretty, Fushiguro.” Prettier than me.

“Fushi-?” his expression shifted to that of utter confusion and unfamiliarity by your use of his nickname, rather than his given name.

“She also seems really nice. And it seems like she’s been treating you well.” More than I was… Better than I ever did…

“Y/N…” he sighed, almost pained.

“From what I can see, you’re doing well.” Without me...

He attempted to say something once more, but instead nodded, defeated.

“And you seem comfortable with her.” Even more than when you were with me…

Again, he nodded, not meeting your gaze.

“And…” you began, taking a deep breath. You could feel your jaw trembling, and the tears threatening to spill.

“And?” he asked, quietly.

“I’m so happy for you.” It’s killing me… “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy.” Even if it wasn’t with me.

“I want you to be happy, too, Y/N.” He finally spoke. His eyes had become misty.” I really do.”

“You know,” you felt a tear roll down your cheek,” I’ve always loved you.” More tears began to spill, the words you’d been wanting to say for so long finally finding their way to him. “And I guess maybe we really weren’t meant to be together. So from now on,” you took a deep breath, looking into the eyes of the man whose name had been engraved in your heart for so long, his own cheeks stained with tears and you allowed yourself the selfish satisfaction of caressing his cheek one last time, wiping some tears away,” I’m going to love you the right way. As your best friend.”

“Y/N,” his voice sounded pained, and you could tell he was doing all he could to not cry himself. But why would he cry? After all, it had been his idea to break up in the first place. He must feel really sorry for me, you thought. If I were him, I’d feel sorry for me, too. “ I’m sorry.”

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, Fushiguro.” The name still felt foreign to you, it felt wrong, but you’d learn and adjust to it. You looked down at your hands. “I think it’s best if I go.”

“Y/N, no, please,” he reached out hold your hand once more, but you immediately brought them onto your lap, and out of his reach.” There’s so much I want to tell you. Things that I need to say.”

“Let’s just leave it here, Fushiguro.” You heard his sharp intake of breath. Those words. That was it. There was nothing left to say.

You don’t remember how or when you managed to gather your things and walk out of that cafe. You kept your pace quick, so as to put as much space between you and Megumi, and your past, as far behind you as you physically could. This is where it would end.

[Megumi’s POV]

>let’s meet up at the cafe near your work. It’s been a while

Megumi stared at the words on his screen. He didn’t know what had possessed him to have triggered the confidence to send that.

It had been months since you’d last seen each other since you’d broken up, and he’d never been able to bring himself to talk to you again, let alone see you, despite you both having agreed to go back to being friends.

He spent every moment since that day hating himself for letting you go. But it’s for the best, he thought. It’s not like she wanted to be with me anyway.

We were just friends in a relationship. It’s not like it meant anything to her the way it did for me… She’s probably better off without me.

His phone buzzed, and he nearly felt his heart drop to his stomach.

okay..<

That was all he needed. To know that you’d be there. To at least be able to see you were better than nothing at all.

He shot you another text confirming the time, before beginning to get ready, opting to take a quick shower to clear his head a bit.

How should I act? Should I be casual? Should I act cool? Tell her that I miss her? That I can’t stop thinking about her? That I regret being stupid and saying it would be better if we were friends again? But she had agreed. It was what she had wanted, too, or at least that’s what he believed.

With each drop of water that touched his skin, a new question emerged. He really shouldn’t be dwelling on such things…

He went through the motions of washing his hair, his nose wrinkling at the smell of the new shampoo he now used, some organic brand he’d never heard of. It wasn’t something he particularly liked, but if he was going to keep up his new lifestyle, he was going to have to endure this change, too.

Megumi found himself caught in the memory of you from a few months ago. He was fresh out of the shower, dressed casually in his sweats, and had you clinging onto him like a koala.

“You just smell so good.” You snuggled your face into the crook of his neck, taking a deep breath as you inhaled his scent.

“It’s just the soaps I use, you idiot.” He chuckled, pretending to sound annoyed.

“Hmm…” you mumbled, paying no mind to his logical answer, burying your face deeper. You continued to mumble more nonsense he couldn’t quite make out other than “boyfriend smell.”

As he walked out of his bathroom, he always half expected you to be lounging on his bed, scrolling away on your phone. Back then, he knew that if he didn’t find you in one room of his apartment, he’d find you in another. Hearing you ramble about things he didn’t understand, but still somehow knew what you were talking about. The occasional yelling at the lead couple coming from his living room whenever you’d be watching a drama. It was moments like that he missed.

He began to browse through his closet, partially disappointed to find that all of his T-shirts and hoodies were all there. He settled on a simple, burgundy knit sweater and a faded pair of blue jeans. He hesitated a bit when he reached for his worn-out pair of black boots, knowing in the back of his mind that you owned a pair just like them.

Would it be too much to wear them? Would she think I’m pathetic if she saw me holding on to something she probably finds so meaningless now?

Megumi gave it another thought before ultimately deciding he shouldn’t, opting to wear a newer pair of Timbs.

“Gumi~” he heard a voice call to him. “You in here?” Shit. He’d forgotten about Sachiko.

“I’m in here,” he called out to her from his room.

Her honey brown-haired head peeked inside. “You decent?”

“You know, it doesn’t work if you ask and still peek anyway.”

“Oh…” her cheeks became bright pink. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” he chuckled.

“We going somewhere? I thought we could hang out here today…”

Megumi looked up at her pouting face. Sachiko was a freshman at the university you two attended, making her a few years younger than you, and quite a few years younger than him. He wasn’t the type to go after girls that much younger than him, but after the break up some of his friends kept insisting that he just needed to get back out there so he could finally be able to move on. He went out on a few dates, but he couldn’t find himself fitting well with anyone. But then Sachiko came along.

They had ended up being in the same sound engineering class and he’d heard the other male classmates go on about what a cutie the freshman was. She had sat next to him since the first day of school, but he had never paid much mind to her. It wasn’t until they got assigned to work on a piece together that he took much, if any, notice in her.

She didn’t seem to know much about anything she was supposed to be doing, which made him wonder why she’d even pursue something she couldn’t even handle the basics of. He even brought himself to ask her what the hell she was doing in a major she was struggling so much with, and her answer reminded him a little too much of someone he’d been trying hard to push to the back of his mind.

“I’ll never know unless I give it a try.”

After that, he began to see her differently. And he hated himself for it. Not because he was moving on, but because he found himself liking Sachiko for all the wrong reasons. He wished that he could say that it was her quirky personality, kindness, and selflessness that made him like her. But… those weren’t it. Every single thing he “liked” about Sachiko, were things that reminded him of you.

The way her eyebrows quirked whenever she didn’t quite like something. The way her mouth would flatten into a line whenever she was deep in thought. The way she’d let him choose to eat pizza whenever they went out, despite knowing they’d already eaten it several times in a row. The way she’d pat him on the back whenever she’d see he was having a hard time. It was small details that he’d find himself catching and relating to you

It wasn’t fair to Sachiko.

He was sure that she must be a great girl in her own way, and she was, but it was unfair to her for him to like her for all the reasons he loved you for. She was cute, that much he couldn’t deny, but regardless of how much he tried to wrap his head around the two of you being over, he couldn’t help but think that she just… wasn’t you.

“I’m actually meeting up with a friend today, Sachi.”

“Oh… Is it one of the boys?” she asked.

“Um… No,” he thought for a bit, unsure of whether to be honest with her or lie. Lying could cause trouble, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “I’m actually meeting up with Y/N.”

“Oh!” he saw Sachiko’s eyes widened, and a smile broke out across her small face. “Can I come along? She’s the only one of your friends I haven’t met.”

“I don’t know… I haven’t seen her in a while, and I don’t want to overwhelm her…”

“Oh, it’s just me, Gumi… Besides, everyone loves me.” she giggled. “I’ll just turn up the charm, and soon, she and I will be friends, too~”

Megumi knew there was no winning whenever Sachiko set her mind on something. She was a go-getter. Just like you. There was no doubt in his mind that you two would’ve been friends under any other circumstances. As for what the odds were right now, he didn’t know.

They ended up leaving 15 minutes later than he would’ve liked, and spent another 5 minutes trying to hail a cab before ultimately deciding to take the subway. He hated being late.

As soon as the train arrived at the platform nearest to the cafe, Megumi nearly dragged Sachiko out, as he hurriedly tried to get to where you were.

“Gumi, slow down~” he heard Sachiko whine, but he couldn’t. Millions of thoughts swarmed his brain of all the possibilities of him making you wait. *Does she think I stood her up? Not again. What if she shows up with someone else? What if I get there and a guy is chatting her up? Trying to get her number?

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. It wasn’t his place to think like that anymore.

As the neighborhood became familiar to him, his heart felt heavier and heavier. Could he really face you? All of the courage he had was long gone and he could feel his knees become weak, a feeling that only came when he knew he’d see you.

He felt his heart drop to his stomach as his hand made contact with the café’s door handle. This was it. The moment of truth.

The moment he laid eyes on you he swore he almost dropped to his knees, ready to beg you to take him back, to give what you used to have one more chance. You were as beautiful as the first time he saw you 10 years ago. His eyes zeroed in on all the details of you. Everything about you was filled with memory, from the dark hair he remembered running his fingers through countless times, the You Me At Six T-Shirt he knew very well to the matching boots he had decided against wearing today. As he got closer he took in more and more of you and his breath caught as his eyes fell upon the red ribbon around your neck.

Sachiko tugged on Megumi’s sleeve, confused. “Is that her?”

He gulped, nodding. He clenched and unclenched his fists as if trying to muster his courage before speaking.

“Y/N?”

“Megumi, hey,” her smile was like a tall, cool glass of water after a drought.

“Hi,” she repeated, standing up to bow.

“Hey,” his cheeks almost hurt from how big he smiled at you. He raised through his mind trying to find things to tell you, before Sachiko tugged on his sleeve once more. Oh… right… “Sachiko,” he turned to her, “this is Y/N… my best friend.” he felt the full weight of the words fall on his shoulders, and a wave of nausea washed over him as he prepared to say what he was about to.

“Y/N, this is my girlfriend, Sachiko.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” Sachiko greeted.

“Nice to meet you, too, Sachiko.” Of course you’d be smiling at her, there wasn’t a single ounce of malice in your gaze, no matter how much he wanted to see that you still cared about him in the same way he still did. “Please, take a seat.” you motioned for the booth seat in front of you. “I didn’t know you were bringing someone else… I would’ve ordered more…”

Megumi took note of the order before him. Your and his favorite drinks and snacks. You must have ordered these things out of habit from the old days.

A wave of nostalgia washed over him and his eyes shifted to the old carvings you two had etched onto the wood. His heart felt warm yet felt as if it were being held in a vice. It was a bittersweet realization when he found himself sitting across the girl he’d been in love with since he was a kid and a girl he’d agreed to date on a limb.

His brain seemed to go on autopilot. It was as if he were watching the whole ordeal It was so bizarre to him as to how he had managed to go so long without his cocoa. He could drink his weight in cocoa on a daily if he could. Having to let it go was something that seemed just as hard as having ended things with you. This was the man who once cried because they’d run out of milk for his cocoa and water had to be used instead, almost as hard as he’d cried after the two of you had called things off.

“Wow… your mom couldn’t even get you to quit.” He heard you mutter. Megumi’s gaze shifted towards Y/N, but it felt as if she was purposely avoiding him. “You must really have him whipped.”

“I just care about his health is all. I can’t imagine encouraging him to eat anything unhealthy.”

“Oh, totally…” Y/N’s eyebrow twitched. He recognized that gesture anywhere. He knew you were displeased about something. Pissed. He followed your gaze towards the cheesecake and coffee, knowing you were probably beating yourself up about something as stupid as his sugar and calorie intake, regardless if he chose to surpass it himself.

“Can I get two pineapple smoothies please?” Sachiko asked Hitomi.

Megumi felt his heartbeat rate rise at the mention of the damned fruit.

“We can’t-” “-I don’t think that’s wise.” Megumi and Hitomi’s answers became jumbled together, as both knew the reason as to why.

Hitomi shook her head, her expression shifting to annoyance. “Am I on PUNK’D?”

“No, you’re not.” he chuckled.

“The simulation has got to be glitching.” Hitomi’s voice became slightly pitchy, in disbelief.

“Um, excuse me,” Sachiko attempted in clearing her throat,” but why wouldn’t it be wise to order the pineapple smoothies?”

“Y/N’s allergic,” they answered together.

Sachiko gasped. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Y/N answered rather sheepishly.

“How bad is it?”

“I can’t even be with five feet of the stuff.”

“Oh…” Sachiko’s eyebrows knitted together. “I really like pineapple…” she murmured, in disappointment, her bottom lip jutting out into a pout, something she did when she wanted him to buy things for her or try to get her way in anything she’d ask for.

Megumi did all he could to not roll his eyes. He had never realized how much of a brat Sachiko could be. He knew that she wanted him to order the pineapple smoothie regardless of Y/N’s allergy just because she wanted it, and surprised him how spoiled she was.

“How about mango?” Hitomi offered. “It’s our most popular smoothie.”

“You like mango…” Megumi patted Sachiko’s shoulder, hoping she’d agree and get it over with.

“Yeah… Mango is good.”

“So… two mango smoothies?” Hitomi asked, both of them nodding. “I’ll be right back with your order then.”

“ So, Y/N…” Sachiko inquired.

“Hm?”

“How long have you two known each other?”

“Since the fifth grade.” you both answered. Chan met Y/N’s gaze, sheepishly smiling at each other.

“Wow~” Sachiko tapped her chin, “so, like, 14 years? That’s a long time.”

“Indeed it is.” Y/N agreed.

“So what was Gumi like? When he was younger?”

Chan felt his stomach churn as he saw your expression fall. Gumi… Everyone called him strictly by his last name except Y/N. Y/N had been special… Sachiko… wasn’t Y/N.

“He…” Y/N began, he could hear a slight shake to her voice, “ he wasn’t too different from how he is now. Yeah, he got into trouble every now and then, but his heart was always, always in the right place.”

“Boo~ I know that already~” Sachiko giggled. “ Any embarrassing stories?”

“Not that I can recall…”

“I think I know more embarrassing things about her, than she does about me.” he said, jokingly.

“Well, maybe you can save those stories for when we go on a double date.” Sachiko suggested. “Are you seeing anyone, Y/N?”

“Um…” he saw Y/N hesitate a bit. Had she moved on? Was she seeing anyone right now? Who were they? Did he know them? What did they have that he didn’t? How could you be with them and not him? “Nothing serious. A few dates here and there.”

“Anyone I know?” Chan asked. He could feel the blood rushing to his ears, his fists clenched under the table. He hated the idea of you being with anyone else. He absolutely hated it. The thought of it made his eyes prickle and burn, as if he’d cry out of anger.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, if it doesn’t work out, we should totally set her up with Itadori.” Any of the anger Megumi felt washed away. She had to be kidding. That had to be the funniest thing Sachiko had ever said in the entirety of time Megumi had known her.

“Itadori?” Y/N chuckled,“No.”

“Definitely not.” Megumi said, trying to suppress a laugh.

“Why not?”

“He’s had a thing for my best friend for the longest time.” Y/N explained. “And she likes him back. We’d been trying to set them up for a long time, but they’re too clueless. Besides, he’s not my type.”

“Oh~” this seemed to pique Sachiko’s interest. “What is your type then?”

“Yeah, Y/N,” Chan tilted his head to the side, also seeming interested.” I wasn’t aware you had one.”

“I just… like someone who I can be comfortable with, is all.”

“I’m going to find you someone.” Sachiko clapped her hands together. Over my dead body, Chan thought.

“Uh, sure. That’d be cool.” You didn’t even mean that. No one could compare to him.

Megumi’s mind wandered off, not really caring for the awkward exchanges between you and Sachiko. All he could do was look at you and feel the weight in his chest become heavier and heavier.

You looked great. You’d finally gotten your hair the way you had always wanted. Your face looked slimmer and he wondered if it was because you were in better shape or if you were eating enough. He wondered if you were sleeping enough… and if you still needed to hug something in order to sleep peacefully. Part of him wondered if anyone had taken his place as the one you held at night while you sleep. Did they stay awake listening to you breathe as if it were the most calming lullaby? Did you put your hand on their chest while you slept? Would they talk to you while you slept, confessing their secret? He wondered if someone else was taking you to your favorite restaurants, holding your hand while walking by your side. His heart fell to the floor as he wondered if anyone else kissed you with each hello and goodbye.

Because any man in his right mind would love you shamelessly and without fear. Any man that had the privilege of being with you should be able to treat you and honestly share their feelings with you. Any man with the privilege of having you call him yours would be the luckiest man in the world.

And he… He was an unlucky fool.

“Hey, Gumi,” Sachiko, said after a while,” I’m going to head to the powder room before our order comes.”

“Sure, thing. We’ll be here.” Megumi nodded her off, without so much as looking up in her direction.

“She seems nice.” Y/N said, as soon as Sachiko was out of sight.

“Yeah… she is.” and she was. But in Megumi’s eyes everyone paled in comparison to you.

He saw you shift in your seat, almost uncomfortably, tapping your fingers on the table before speaking.“Why didn’t you tell me you’d be bringing someone?”

“Sorry,” he scratched the back of his head. His original plan of wanting to reach out to you, to bring back some sense of normalcy into his life had fallen through. He hadn’t counted on the variable that was Sachiko.” It was supposed to be me and you, but when Sachiko found out I was meeting up with you, she insisted on meeting the ‘famous best friend’ everyone had talked about.”

“Hmm… well I doubt everyone talked about me.”

“They talk about you. The guys miss you.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh huh,” he nodded,” Kugisaki won’t shut up about how you were supposed to help her rearrange her spring closet. And Itadori is just mad that you’re pending on taking him out to eat.” He hesitated before saying what he did next. “I missed you, too.” The words were like a weight off his shoulders, and he felt like he could breathe a little better.

“Back at you.” you smiled. Such a small gesture but it meant the world to him.

“So how are you? Really?” he tried to gauge your expression, knowing very well that if there was anything you really had to say, you wouldn’t. Not if it was at the expense of someone else.

“Me? You know… I’ve been good.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay then,” he bit his bottom lip, briefly in thought, “what have you been up to?”

“Just writing.” you said, pointing to the tablet to your side, reminding him. “I began to attend some workshops and one of the professors really liked my writing and passed it along to this publisher he knew.” you shrugged sheepishly. “I’m getting published.”

“You finally did it!” he smiled. He was so happy for you. He knew how evocative your writing was, how back in the day the pen and paper were always at your disposal and what flowed out of them from you was always beautiful, and he was happy to know that you were finally on the path you wanted to be on. “See, I always told you you’d be a writer someday. You’re honestly really talented, Y/N.”

“Yeah.. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“I know you’re going to do great.” his hand, almost instinctively took yours in his. As soon as he did, his eyes met yours and it was like everything clicked.

You weren’t his anymore.

He could see tears forming in your eyes and it killed him. It really did.

“Y/N,” he asked concerned, “ is everything okay? Are you okay?”

Slowly, you opened your eyes, your gaze locking with his. The smile he’d worn fell slowly, the wrinkles around his eyes smoothing out, the realization of it hitting you both. His hand left yours, slowly. A knot formed in his throat and whatever was left of his heart broke even more.

You weren’t together anymore.

He couldn’t hold your hand anymore.

He looked at his empty hand. “Sorry… I shouldn’t have-”

“She’s really pretty, Fushiguro.”

“Fushi-?” his expression shifted to that of utter confusion and unfamiliarity by your use of his last name, rather than his given name.

“She also seems really nice. And it seems like she’s been treating you well.”

“Y/N…” he sighed, almost pained. He really wanted to void this conversation.

“From what I can see, you’re doing well.”

He attempted to say something once more, but instead nodded, defeated.

“And you seem comfortable with her.” Again, he nodded, not meeting your gaze.

“And…” you began, taking a deep breath. Watching your lip quiver and struggling to hold back tears was the last sight he ever wanted to see. This… This isn’t what he wanted.

“And?” he asked, quietly.

“I’m so happy for you. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy.” Little did you know was that for him, every moment shared with you, good or bad, laughter or tears, was his happiest.

“I want you to be happy, too, Y/N.” He finally spoke. His eyes had become misty.” I really do.”

“You know,” he saw the first tear roll down your cheek and all he could do was watch powerlessly and like a coward. “I’ve always loved you.” Fuck.That didn’t mean what he thought it did. Did it? Jesus Christ, how could he not have known? He was your best friend for fuck’s sake. “And I guess maybe we really weren’t meant to be together. So from now on,” No, he thought. He wanted you to stop talking. He didn’t want to hear the rest. Just leave it here, he begged with his eyes. “I’m going to love you the right way. As your best friend.”

“Y/N,” his voice sounded pained, and you could tell he was doing all he could to not cry himself. But why would he cry? After all, it had been his idea to break up in the first place. He must feel really sorry for me, you thought. If I were him, I’d feel sorry for me, too. “ I’m sorry.”

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, Megumi.” The name still felt foreign to you, it felt wrong, but you’d learn and adjust to it. You looked down at your hands. “I think it’s best if I go.”

“Y/N, no, please,” he reached out to hold your hand once more, but you immediately brought them onto your lap, and out of his reach. He felt beyond stupid. Had he really been that blind? To not have seen that you returned his feelings all along? To make you feel like it had been just you all along? Had he built that wall up that high? ” There’s so much I want to tell you. Things that I need to say.”

“Let’s just leave it here, Fushiguro.” He gasped, having those words engraved so crisply into his mind. The words you had said to him once before, when it had all come to an end. Did this really mean it was done and over?

Hitomi returned to the table, smoothies in hand. “Alright, I have two mango smoothies and- where’d Y/N go?”

Megumi shrugged, wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his sweater.

“Hm… should I get that cocoa out of your way?” She asked, reaching for it.

“No.” He said, almost too quickly. He idly brought the drink closer to him. “Old habits die hard.” And with that, he brought his lips to the cup, taking a sip.

[five-rivers]

Now i would like to see prompts of a curious benevolent eldritch being coming to visit Amity Park and coo at the baby eldritch (Danny) and tech him how to access his eldritch powers.

I know this is probably supposed to be about some more traditional and tentacle-y eldritch abomination, but this is essentially what I’m writing Grandfather Clocks as (not to mention assorted other oneshots and everything happening in Mortified).  I’m too invested in Lost Time to clearly imagine anyone but Clockwork in the Adult Eldritch Abomination role...  at least from a more general prompt like this one.  

... on the other hand I now have Vague Ideas (tm) about a full AU where Danny has eldritch abomination powers instead of ghost powers and all the eldritch abominations he’s ‘fighting’ are just coming to play with the baby.

WARNING this is for real written as horror, since it’s from Danny’s perspective.

.

Time seemed to congeal as the shadow in Danny’s soul stretched backwards.  This one had a name.  It skittered between the dark and the part of Danny’s mind that still resembled a human’s.  He breathed in, slowly, then out, tasting it on his tongue.  Once, it had been two.  

Finally, it coalesced into something he could actually speak.  “Skultech,” he said.  

“Relative of Skulker?” asked Tucker.  “Or Technus?”  He didn’t look at them or at Danny.  He had protections, but they weren’t perfect, and he’d already taken a step away from the light.  

“Yes,” said Danny, internally translating the vibrations of air into something with meaning and weight.  

Skulker.  The hunter, fleshless and tireless.  A pursuer of the mind more than the body.  Almost sporting in his own way.  The library with all its labyrinthine but immaterial paths was the best place to lose him.  

Technus.  A horror that lurked in the depths of the internet, luring in deep-web users and more than a few unluckly click-bait and phishing victims.  Technus didn’t kill them, did very little to them, really, but there was a reason there wasn’t a computer club at Casper High anymore.  

They had been two.  Now they were one.  Part of Danny was fascinated.  Another was thrilled, happy, as it always was when these dark things manifested themselves in Amity Park.  

His shadow stretched, whispering over his features.  He could feel curl over the texture of the ground beneath him, grasping at grass and bark and soil as if it were possessed of a thousand thousand tiny fingers.  It wanted to open up and play.

(’It,’ Danny said, as if it weren’t him, an extension of himself.)

“What do we do?” asked Sam.  She, unlike Tucker, looked directly at him, even half-shrouded in shadow as he was.  She always did, even if she averted her gaze from the likes of Skulker and Technus.  

Near the beginning, Sam had made the connection between the others, especially ones like Ember, who were as beautiful as the were dark, and cults.  She had started a joke about making one for Danny.  Over time, it had become less of a joke.  

Danny tried to ignore the pleasant buzz of his skin as he imagined a cult attempting to do something as sweet as bind him to their will.  

Because, really, he shouldn’t be thinking of something like that as ‘sweet’ at all.  

“It’s still Skulker and Technus,” said Danny, even if he had never seen them like this.  “I think... the same type of thing should probably work.  I distract, Sam gets people out of the way, Tuck, you get the computers at the library ready and tell me when to lead them there?”

“Do you think it’ll really work when it’s both of them?” mumbled Tucker.  “I don’t know if I can even do both of the things at once...”

“The alternative is not doing anything,” said Sam, “and considering that they seem to be after Danny...”

Tucker made a face, the glow from his PDA reflecting from his glasses.  “Yeah, I know,” he said.  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t try.”

“Remember,” said Danny, “don’t give me the go-ahead until you and everyone else is out.”

“Yeah, I remember, I remember,” he said.

“Go do your thing,” said Sam.  

Danny nodded and left the shelter of their hiding place.  He did not stand up, or walk, or move.  He simply stopped being there and started being in front of Skultech.  

From a distance, he probably still looked human.  

They fought.  

It was hard to describe how they fought, exactly, in human terms, but they did.  Right up until one of Skultech’s three-fingered hands wrapped around Danny’s ankle and his shadow vanished.

He, breathing hard and falling, remembered what it was to be human.  To be vulnerable.  His shadow came back to him, flickering.  He came back to himself.  

There was a darkness that was himself, and he was so relieved.  Why?  How often had he wanted this gone?  But he was whole, and like that he was half, and-

He’d gotten distracted.  

Skultech had surrounded him, a hunting ground strobed with lightning.  This kind of fight was an oddity to both Skulker and Technus, this kind of movement, this kind of strategy.  Danny began to doubt that his earlier plan would work.  

What was a library but another kind of forest?

With only enough warning for his self to wrap around him protectively, Skultech yanked him down into the Dream.  The pale seaweed threads of human consciousness gave way to the dark and the other.  He fell to the floor of a midnight palace and rolled to his back, coughing up not-water from the idea of his lungs.

Here, said Skultech, in something that wasn’t quite language.  The True Voice.  Danny had seen people fall to their knees when the others used that.  Had seen sane men turn into blind faith worshippers.  Had heard lies that became true in the speaking, or near enough that it didn’t matter.  

He had never quite managed to speak that way himself, no matter Sam’s cajoling.  

Danny managed to open his eyes.  He did not come to the Dream often, no matter how much it called to him.  Both his halves agreed, here, where every place was also a person, it was dangerous even in the shallows.  

The ceiling was covered in layers upon layers of spiderwebs, and he did not like what that meant.  Skultech was nowhere to be seen.  

He pulled himself up and got to his feet.  

The floor beneath him was glass.  Beneath that was clockwork, but the gears were galaxies and solar systems, the springs were entropy and enthalpy, and the chains were the laws of physics themselves.  Clockwork.  It was...  It would do, as a name.  

The distant sense of amusement was disturbing.  

Danny looked around.  He needed a way out, a way back up, to where he could leave the Dream.  

Why did Skultech bring him here?

Spiderwebs and gears.  Symbols of control, of interconnectedness, of carefully laid plans.  Was he stuck in a web he couldn’t see?

He spun, slowly, trying to see if he could see any doors or other openings.  Something flashing, moving, in the distance caught his eye.  His first instinct was to move away, but...

But it was like he was being drawn in.  Like he couldn’t turn away.  It was a mirror.  A window.  

It showed him himself.  At first, a hundred paces away, just himself, as he was, but then at pace ninety-nine it changed.  Mirrors did that, in the Dream.  Everything did that, in the dream.  

Time sped up.  The mirror reflected not just light, but sound and feeling.  He could see himself, his shadow, and-

He felt it when all the little Loves that kept him tethered to his humanity snapped, the lives they were anchored to burning up as they met their deaths.  He screamed and heard it echoed back to him a thousand times over.  

He could not stop walking.  He could not stop watching.  Ninety steps away.  

His shadow in the mirror was wild.  Unbound and grieving.  Flesh and blood and bone existed, but his two part mind was unbalanced and divided from itself.  He sought aid from the only other like himself and received a knife, received Hate to replace love and at seventy-five steps he watched as what he had once been embraced Vlad and devoured him whole, eating and becoming everything that made him him.  

The shadow unfurled, hungry and seeking.  The memory Love it once had and the Love it had desired for so long driving it onward and outward, the center pulsing like a diseased star.  Seventy steps.  It had eyes like constellations.  

The mirror showed the Dream, now.  Veins of sickness wound through the garden of human thought, through the tangled vines and twisted paths.  What it found did not satisfy, and it sought more, and more, delving deeper.  Sixty steps, then fifty.  

It ate at the best of people, of others.  The singers fell silent.  The doctors could no longer heal.  The kind became cruel.  

Darkness fell.  Then war.  The shadow ruled all from its misery.  

It was not enough.  

Forty steps.  It’s eyes met Danny’s.  It knew he was here, knew he was watching.  It began to speak in its True Voice, and Danny could not cover his ears to keep it out.  

It spoke of the things it had done, of the things it would do.  Danny watched as it carried out its plans, and even more.  It spoke of how it, he, was Danny, and all this destruction, all this suffering was wrought by his own hands.  It spoke of Love Danny did not cherish sufficiently, of fragility, of how it was determined to Be rather than Be Not even though its every moment was loneliness and Hatred to the point of agony.  

Danny’s ears were bleeding.

Thirty steps.

It spoke of how it would hurt Danny, in particular.  How it would rend his shadow, wound so there was no hope for him to escape his fate, even with foreknowledge of it.  It spoke of how, with Danny watching, the mirror was a window, was a door it could reach through and Danny saw it reaching.  

Saw it reaching out and in and towards now and those that he Loved, those that he cherished and Danny would have pushed himself to run but he couldn’t stop walking.

Twenty steps.  It could make itself look like Danny, and even though it was wrong, Danny was wrong too, he was so, so, so, wrong and his wrongness was going to get them killed.  It was going to get everyone killed.  

They were looking at it, not him, speaking with it, not him.  His darkness was covered.  With it, these things were like staring at the sun.

It tore away the protections he had so painstakingly layered over those he Loved.  

Ten steps.

He saw his parents with a bomb made by their own hands, one that would devastate the Dream for miles around, killing anything that dared to imagine, the culmination of their work.  Nine steps.  He saw Mr. Lancer writing lesson plans with his own blood, each sentence less English than the last.  Eight steps.  He saw Sam with the ritual knife, her smile full of blood and sacrifice.  Seven steps.  He saw Tucker clawing out his eyes, surrounded by computer screens flaring with symbols humans were never meant to use.  Six steps.  He saw Jazz-

He saw Jazz notice.  

Five steps.

He could have wept.  

She armed herself with stories and legends and saltwater and truths that made Danny seize and the fact that this thing was not her brother.  Four steps.  

He watched her confront it.  

Three steps.   

He watched it toy with her, her machinations only delaying her doom.  

Two steps.

He watched it k-

One step.  

No!

For the first time, he screamed in his True Voice.  His fist snapped out, striking the mirror dead center.  It shattered.  

Was that enough?  Was he in time?  He- He couldn’t feel them.  He couldn’t-  They couldn’t be dead.  They couldn’t be gone.  

He dropped to his knees.  The shards of the mirror glittered up at him, calling him.  His hand shook as he reached out and picked one up.  Slowly, he raised it to his lips.  He opened his lips and as soon as the shard was even with his teeth, he bit down, the glass crunching like thunder.  

Already, he was reaching for another piece.  He swallowed.  His hands went out, nails scrabbling along the floor in his hurry.  Mirror shard after mirror shard was shoved into his mouth and choked down.  

There was something around his neck.  With one of his many hands he reached up, feeling up his chest to throat.  There was a collar there.  It felt like control, like ownership, like Love.  

Something liquid dripped from his eye.  

Even as he gagged on glass, two of his hands, his human hands, explored the circumference of the metal piece.  There were delicate fractal patterns on the surface that had double on the interior.  As his fingers pressed down on them, they in turn pressed on the skin of his neck, sending pleasant curls of thought down his limbs.  

His questing fingers found the collar’s lead.  It was at the same time, like the spider silk above and the clockwork chains below.  Flexible.  Strong.  Indelible.  It was as inevitable as gravity that he should Be Loved and Love in return.  

He licked the last powdery pieces of mirror off his fingers and his extra arms slowly evaporated back into the Dream as if they never were.  

Who would Love him like this?  Love him to the point that it manifested in the Dream like this?  The answer was all around him, was inside him, as his heart echoed back the Love as best it was able, but he could hardly believe it.  

The sound of footsteps on the hard floor jolted him out of his reverie.  He looked up and met the red eyes of Clockwork’s avatar.  

It had the appearance of a blue-skinned man wearing a cloak and festooned with symbols of time.  A few long white hairs peeked from beneath its hood, and a painful-looking scar laid over its eye.  

For a moment, Danny was stunned, because this was a true avatar, an extension of Clockwork himself, not a human hollowed out for use as a vessel.  For someone as powerful as Clockwork had to be to be so vast in the Dream to bestow such attention on Danny-

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but the only thing that rolled off his tongue was blood.  Shame crept up his cheeks.  He didn’t know if it was his use of his True Voice when destroying the mirror, or consuming all those shards afterwards, but his normal voice was gone.

Shh, soothed Clockwork’s avatar, gloved hands cupping Danny’s cheeks and forcing his lips closed.  You need not speak, child.  Those who love you will know your intent.

Danny nodded slowly, beginning to feel dazed.  He remembered the scenes in the mirror.  Remembered what the shadow-him had done.  His fingers bent around the lead- it was almost as thick as his wrist- and looked up at Clockwork’s avatar.  

Clockwork could strike him down, now, could destroy him so completely that even the merest memory of him was gone, and he would not care, because he would know it was done out of Love.  

The lead shivered against his palms and grew.  

No need, said Clockwork’s avatar.  You have devoured your destiny and become free of it.  

That sounded reasonable.  The avatar brushed a thumb across Danny’s lips and smiled.  

You have given yourself fangs.

Danny blushed again.  He hadn’t meant to.  

The avatar released Danny’s cheeks to reach for his hands, arranging them in Danny’s lap and rubbing circles into his palms.  Then the avatar gently brought Danny’s attention to the door in its chest.  

The door was glass.  Beyond the glass laid an approximation of a heart made of the same elements as what laid beneath the floor.  A metaphor for Clockwork’s heart, Danny guessed, though what laid in the avatar’s chest couldn’t be anywhere near as grand as the real thing.  

The avatar nodded, and then leveled a gloved finger at Danny’s own chest.  He looked down.  

There was a door, there, too.  

His breath caught in his throat and he tried to scramble away, some still-human part of him objecting strenuously to whatever was going to happen.  

All at once, the whole of Clockwork’s attention turned in on him, and for an infinite moment of time he was held in a perfect embrace.  His thought from earlier returned.  Anything, and he would not object, because it was done out of Love.  

His edges, usually so sharply defined, even in the Dream, went fuzzy, almost blending with his surroundings, those surroundings being Clockwork.  

The avatar reached for Danny’s door and opened it.  It hurt, but not as much as he thought it would.  Within, laid his heart. 

The surface, the shape, of it looked human enough.  The veins and arteries were all in the right places.  The atria and chambers all looked to be the proper sizes.  It beat an even rhythm.  

But inside it was as black as night and something like a star twinkled in its depth.  

It was... odd, how closely it resembled Clockwork’s galaxies while being at the same time so different.  

Clockwork’s avatar opened the door to its own chest, pinning it to his cloak, then he reached into Danny’s chest.  

There was the pain he had been expecting, radiating from his core to the very tips of his fingers and toes.  If he were not held immobile by the sheer force of Clockwork’s regard, he would have arched backwards and screamed.

Methodically, the avatar cut and tied off every one of arteries, veins, and nerves that led from the rest of Danny’s body to his heart.  Finally, the heart excised and cradled in its hands, it drew back.  

Danny should be dead.  The Dream did not follow the same rules as the reality he had been born into, but his mind would not let go of the fact that he had no heart.  He should be dead.  

The avatar inserted Danny’s heart into its chest, next to its own, and closed its door.  Slowly, the image of Danny’s heart faded into metaphor as it sunk down into the deeps to nestle next to Clockwork’s true heart.  

Danny understood, then, that from this moment on, Clockwork would decide the direction of his heart, would determine who he Loved and who he Hated.  If he should Love or Hate.  Danny rather doubted Clockwork would let Danny do anything so damaging as Hate.  

I shall keep it safe for you, said the avatar, something more profound behind its words that might have been Clockwork himself, until you are old enough to protect it on your own.

Danny understood, too, that although this promise was not a lie, he would never be old enough to reclaim his heart, no matter how much time passed or how powerful he grew.  Clockwork’s Love and protection would keep both him and it safe, young, fragile.  How could it do otherwise, when time itself would flow around him?  When Love would keep him anchored to one form?

Clockwork’s attention relaxed, then, and Danny could move again, curling around the gaping hole in his chest.  The avatar ruffled his hair and, with his other hand, held something out to Danny.  

Six paired sets of life and death glimmered against the lavender of the avatar’s glove.  Danny recognized them.  They belonged to the people he Loved.  He had not realized he Loved Mr. Lancer, but he could see now that it was true.  

Moving slowly, as if underwater, Danny held his cupped hands beneath the avatar’s.  His breath caught as the avatar tipped the lives and deaths into his hands.  

So precious.  He brought them down to his lap and, with painstaking care, began to peal the deaths away from the lives.  Each death he ate, consuming it and breaking it down into nothing.  Each life he placed in the hollow that had once housed his heart.  

Like this, they would not die, they would not leave him.  They would be with him, always, just as he would always Love them.  

Exhaustion hit him all at once, and he slumped forward to rest his head on the Avatar’s shoulder.  It laughed, lightly, and helped him close the door in his chest.  Then, it took a heart-shaped padlock from within its cloak and threaded it into the latch of Danny’s door.  The click as the padlock closed echoed off the floor and distant walls.  

With a kind of detached curiosity, Danny watched as the edges of the door, latch, padlock and all, melded into his skin and vanished as if they had never been there at all.  He knew that he would not be able to find the door again without help, and that, even then, to open the door he would need the padlock’s key.  A key he had not yet seen.

But what reason did he have to open his chest?  Others might have cause, those who wanted to hurt him, or those that he Loved.  This was another protection, another way to keep him safe.  

This time you devoured your destiny, said the avatar, petting him.  The sick futures have been cut away.  Next, we shall remove the presents where you Are Not.  After that...  The sentence trailed away in a buzz that made Danny’s thoughts go quiet.  

The avatar began to do something that could only be described as singing even though neither voice nor sound were involved.  It was a lullaby, and Danny felt himself become even heavier and softer than before.  He curled into the avatar’s side, feeling small.  The pain of his missing heart eased itself into something more bearable.  The threads of love that kept him from becoming a monster wound tighter around his limbs and sewed themselves deeper into his skin.  

His eyes drifted closed.  

When he woke, he was in his bed, in Fentonworks.  He blinked several times at his ceiling, and leapt to his feet only to be waylaid by dizziness and static across his eyes.  He brought a hand up to his neck, half expecting to feel metal.  

He didn’t.  

He shifted, pressing two fingers against an artery.  No pulse.  He switched his grip to his wrist.  Nothing.  

Right.  No heart.  

No heart but six lives and-

He stumbled out of his room and started banging wildly on her door.  Jazz threw it open and froze.  

“It’s really you?” she asked, voice quivering.  

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out.  It didn’t seem like Jazz really needed a verbal response, because she threw herself at him, enveloping him in a hug.  

“I was so scared,” she whispered.  “The- the not-you-” She sucked in a shuddering breath.  “Everyone was dying, and then- and then it was just-  It was like a dream.  Like it didn’t happen.  But you were gone.”

Danny nodded, even though she couldn’t see him.  

“I’m so glad it’s you,” she said.  “I’m so glad it’s you.”

Her love, so tenuous and slender compared to Clockwork’s, but no less genuine, wound around his wrist.  He hugged her back.  

If he had been able to speak, he would have said, Me, too.  

[aressss1]

Closure

(Past Dream x Reader)

In which you take Tommy’s place when the security breach happened in the prison.

CW// Angst, verbal fighting

~~~~~~

You had woken with a start, your heart pounding in your chest. You were still safe in Techno’s home. Recalling the events of your nightmare you clutch at the blankets that pooled in your lap as you sat up. Ranboo and Phil were in their homes probably fast asleep. You didn’t want to bother Techno either… Your nightmares about Dream had only progressively gotten worse since he was imprisoned. You didn’t know if you just needed closure or if Dream was some supernatural being calling you to him. You just wanted it to stop.

 You wanted it to stop when he was with you. Going through the wars, doing every horrible thing he could think of… You wanted to stand by his side. But you couldn’t… You just couldn’t. When you showed up among the group against Dream, the day that he was imprisoned you could see the bitterness in his eyes. He spat at you as he walked by you. You doubted he wanted to see you. But… To hell with what he wanted, you knew he couldn’t hurt you in that prison. Sam would get you out if there was a problem. You trusted Sam.

You looked around searching for some paper. You wanted to leave the boys a note, telling them where you were, and when you found what you were looking for, you scribbled a quick note. This couldn’t wait anymore. Techno, Phil and Ranboo probably wouldn’t know you were gone… It was still early in the night and you estimated you would be back at least by dawn. These guys were your family, they supported you like one. You would be back for them.

 Once you had gotten done writing your note you threw on some clothes and got ready. Setting your note on the crafting table of Techno’s home you open his front door and step outside gently closing it behind you. Not wanting to wake Techno, you started on your journey to the portal. The cold of the tundra was quickly melted by the heat of the Nether as you trudged on. Eventually you found yourself in front of Sam’s prison.

 With nowhere left to go you hesitantly push on the button, signaling for Sam’s help.

 “Yeah?” Sam’s voice came through a speaker that you couldn’t see in the tiny room.

 “It’s me… I need to see Dream.” You used all the courage you could muster. Sam was quiet for a second.

 “You know you need an appointment, right?” His voice took on that sternness you only heard out of him a few times. You felt your heart ache, you couldn’t wait.

 “I know Sam… Please I just… Need to see him.” You pleaded your soul out to him. “It really can’t wait.” When all you heard was silence on the other end of that speaker, your stomach started to churn.

 “You owe me.” His words caused a wave of relief to crash over you. “Step into the portal.” With those words you allowed yourself to disappear into the purple light of the portal. Sam took through the whole process, starting off with waivers, then putting your items into a chest and soon you were being searched for anything that you may have brought with you. When Sam walked with you, you could see how tired he was, and you felt a pang of guilt that you were contributing to his exhaustion.

 When the lava was lowering and you were instructed to keep your eyes forward, you started to feel that anxiety that Dream always had given you when he had invested himself in his wars. At first, he was very loving, and he was great with you. But something in him had changed and you couldn’t take it anymore. You needed this closure, maybe both of you did.

 Your breath caught in your throat when your eyes met his, and Sam had instructed you on how to get over to the obsidian landing. You took every bit of his instructions. You really didn’t want to burn in that lava. You felt Dreams eyes never leave you as the lava had refilled the chamber, and the netherite blocks lowered so you weren’t cut off from him anymore.

 “Why are you here?” His face looked worn, and his eyes were narrowed at you. “Come to torment me more?”

 “You speak about torment so lightly.” You spat out. “If this is torment to you, then what is everything that you have done, considered?”

 “Everything I did, I did it all for us.” He retorts, “All you had to do was wait for me, and I would have made sure everything would be fine. Why did you join them?” He flails his arm out as if motioning to someone in the room.

 “Because a line had to be drawn Dream.” Tears started welling in your eyes.

 “You’re going to wish that you never drew that line in the first place.” He stepped closer to you almost like a predator stalking its prey. “I’m going to personally make sure you lose everything you love. Yes, Techno, Ranboo, and Phil. They’ll be fucking gone,” His tone made you step back, and you felt the heat of the lava at your back. “Careful, you wouldn’t want to lose a life now would you.” He taunted, “Either way, I would bring you back. I know you’re on your last life.” If looks could kill, Dream would have been long dead.

 “I died both times for you,” your bitter words rang through the obsidian walls. “I don’t want to hear your lies. The others might believe your stories of bringing back the dead, but I don’t. I wished that they had just killed you. So, save it. I just came here to get you out of my life for good.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by the room shaking. Explosions from above rang through your ears, causing a high pitch ringing. You fell to your knees, your hands rising to cover your ears. When the room stopped shaking, and the explosions were no more, you looked up to see Dreams shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

 “This is absolutely perfect!” His laughter never subsided as he spoke. “You can’t leave for seven days now.” Your heart pounded in your ears and you shifted to where you were facing the lava, screaming for Sam to get you, for him to answer you. Your screams for help were left unheard, and it spurred Dream into more laughter. Your eyes widened and your tears spilled down your cheeks. “Enjoy it, you’re going to be here for a while.” Dream’s voice filled your still ringing ears and the thud of something hitting the floor next to you knocked you from your trance. He had thrown a potato right next to you. His next words causing you to shudder.

 “We have a lot to talk about.”

 --

 Techno had called a meeting when he had found your note. Phil and Ranboo were standing in Techno’s living room, Ranboo reading the note over Phil’s shoulder.

 “Why wouldn’t they just come get one of us?” Ranboo questioned.

 “I think they didn’t want to bother us; I knew they were having some issues with nightmares but… I didn’t think it would be this bad.” Phil handed the note back to Techno.

 “I’m going to go find them, this doesn’t sit right with me… They said they would be back by dawn and its noon.” Techno set the note back down on the crafting table.

 “I’ll go with you.” Ranboo declared and the two of them looked at Phil who shrugged.

 “I’ll stay here in case they come back, which is perfect because we can use the stasis chamber so you two can come back if you hit any trouble.” The three of them nodded happy with their plans.

 ~~

 When they approached the outside of prison Sam had seen them and immediately stopped them, using his trident to fly to their position.

 “I’m going to have to ask you both to leave.” Sam’s eyes lingered on Techno’s blade. “There’s been a security breach and I am rather busy with that.” Techno shifted his weight onto one leg as he crossed his arms.

 “Where are they.” His monotone voice a warning to Sam. Ranboo watched from the side.

 “As I said before, there was a security breach, it happened while they were in there. I can’t let them out until I have solved it or until seven days from now.” Ranboo visibly cringed, and Techno in a split second looked pissed.

 “HEH?” He stepped toward Sam with malice. “Are you serious right now?” Techno’s hand itched for his sword. He had never even seen the inside of that prison, let alone knew how it worked fully. Ranboo had at least a little knowledge of what the waivers said.

 “I know, you’re aggravated right now Techno.” Sam put his hands up in surrender. “But every second I am not trying to fix this is another second they have to spend with Dream.”

 “You know what they have gone through Sam, and you can’t leave them for seven whole days in that cell.” Ranboo tried cutting in.

 “At least put them in another cell.” Techno’s blood boiled, “Don’t put them through that torture.” Sam shook his head.

 “That would be risking the prisoner escaping and I can’t have that.” Techno didn’t want to hear another word of Sam’s bullshit. Techno pulled his sword on Sam, and in a flash, Sam had blocked with his trident. “Techno,” Sam started, “You do not want to start with me. Just walk away.” Sam warned.

 “Techno come on; we both need to be here when they get out.” Ranboo tried calming the hybrid down. Techno thought it over, he grit his teeth and with a flick of his wrist he had knocked the trident out of Sam’s hands with his sword. He raised the tip to Sam’s throat.

 “If I don’t see them in between now and the seventh day, I will take your lives myself.” With that Techno sheathed his sword and walked away. Nothing but dread in both Ranboo’s and Techno’s chests. When Phil had triggered the stasis chamber, they were instantly back near the house that seemed empty without you there. When they told Phil what had happened, he was devastated for you. The three of them planned for anything.

 You had to come back at some point.

[radiosandrecordings]

God what I wouldn’t give for a version of TMA where Prentiss is the protagonist. Not Archivist!Prentiss because that wouldn’t work, she’s not that person

But just... More of her. Seeing things from her perspective. So much of S4 was telling us that actually, she and Jon aren’t that different. We just fear her and love Jon because he’s the narrator and we’ve grown fond of him, and she put him in danger. Jon said it best himself, “Then again, I suppose I’m hardly in the best position to judge. Perhaps to anyone listening to these tapes I sound remarkably similar to Hezekiah. Or to Manuela. Or to Jane.”

And we don’t. We don’t see that in the moment because we, the audience, have sat through countless episodes with Jon and we have become invested in not just his horror story but him himself. Even if he’s a monster, he has been humanised for us. Prentiss didn’t get that chance, too brief her chance to speak to us in her own words. It hurts on a relisten when you keep this in mind and pick up on all the little details you didn’t get the first time. She had hopes and dreams and fears and hobbies and a life before she gave in to that little part of her, that bit that sits behind your heart and says ‘It would be horrible if you did this thing. But you still have the option to do it.’. That piece of your soul that the entites prey on that was in her, and is in Jon, and is in every avatar in the show and is in pretty much everyone listening. 

When you take a step back, they are the same. I think a quote from The Worms can sum it up well actually. The whole of Jon’s initial fear of her, because he does not understand that some day he will be the same as her. He is afraid of the woman who stood and knocked at Martin’s door, unaware that soon he will be the thing that stands and watches in people’s nightmares. “Poor Sam has no way to know his neighbor’s name is Richard, that he once struggled in a life as hard and desperate as his own. That his dreams of the light and painful screaming climb towards it is just as keen and grueling.”

In another world, in another context, in another story, Prentiss could be our tragic hero, succumbing to the call of that which says it loves her. If we’d just got there slightly earlier, just had a little more information, a little time to hear from her and form that bond. Jon comments on this, too, “I’ve been thinking a lot about Jane. She was the first, you know. The first I actually encountered like… like us. She seemed so… inhuman. Like everything she used to be was stripped away. ... I wonder how much of her was still in there. How much did she choose to be what she was? I read her statement, she was… She was scared. I assumed she’d been possessed completely against her will, but now I’m not even sure that’s possible.” 

Jon knows, now, that they’re the same. For better and worse. Knows that she was just an innocent as he is. Knows he is just as guilty as she is. That they’re the same. But he, and we, never understood her when it counted. Instead, off the bat, we were told she was scary, and horrifying and dangerous. And she was at that stage. But she wasn’t always. TMA would be a very different story if episode one started in season four, and our protagonist, our character through which we view the world, was a man working on a boat. We would fear the terrifying creature of so many eyes that dragged his secrets from him. 

TMA’s framing of morality is all about context. Who do we empathise with? Who’s sins are we willing to forgive because the narrative had us form a bond with them, gave them a motivation and friends and a heart and soul that we can project our own desires and fears upon? It works so well because I love Jon. I love that character so much, I see so much of myself in him, I took my fucking middle name after him! But it does go to show that in another story, he is the monster. And in another story, we love and mourn Jane Prentiss. 

[malereader-inserts]

Greetings from the Avengers’ Base

Fandom: Avengers Pairing: Avengers & Male!Reader Summary: How you got close to the original six Avengers Word Count:  1,291 Request:  I saw ur post & thought... maybe how the reader got to know each avenger and how they became friends / a team. Some fluffy friendship shorts :3 Love ur writing, bo <3 A/n: FUCK CANON TIMELINE, WE’RE MAKING OUR OWN.

Being an orphan teenager with nothing better in your life going for you, it’s hard.

It’s strange when you’re a superhero and currently living at Avengers, under the parental care of Nicholas Fury, who has expressed that does not mean you can call him dad. Not that you wanted to anyway. You’ve been an Avenger since you were fourteen, when the first time the Avengers got together, you were part of the original group. 

At first, it was daunting, no one understood why you were there and there were times you wondered why you were there too. You were too young and especially fighting for the world. You proved yourself, immensely, to the team. One by one they took turns to get to know you. They didn’t want to overwhelm you.

Tony took you under his wing, seeing a bright young man with a bright future ahead of him. He helped you with school work, he acted like a father to you. Just because the constant thought that ran through Tony’s mind was that he would be a better father than his father will ever be. He would drop anything, press meetings, conference, anything if you asked him to come play catch with him. 

You looked up to Tony, you saw a side of him not many people see. You enjoyed hanging around his tower, you were fascinated with JARVIS. You watched how Tony would ramble with his robots, you got friendly with Dum-E. 

You would always see Tony as your dad, in fact, Tony has been fighting for your custody, to finally adopt you. It shocked Pepper and Rhodey that he wanted to do this in his own accord.

“I’m gonna make you a Stark, one day kid.”

You smiled, leaning against his lab desk, “Good luck on that, papers are hard to convince even if you’re a billionaire.”

“A challenge worth defeating.”

Steve was the one the came around next, whilst he heavily disapprove you being part of the team, he started to get close to you when you were asking his time back in his era. You were heavily invested in your history class and when the 30s came as a topic, you knew who to ask about the times. It was nice to Steve, it allowed him to think about his days. 

He likes the modern times, but he misses when times were simpler. It’s still hard for him to grasp new concepts. Then, you started to gush about his drawing that you begged him to teach you, you were a blast to be with. Whilst he taught you how to draw, you taught him the new stuff. You kept him young and never left him confused, for that he was eternally grateful for you. In fact, to this day you were still helping him out.

“So, what is tumblr?”

“Hell.”

“Wha-?”

“Just don’t touch it, Steve.”

Bruce was easy to get along when Tony was busy and you needed help on your science homework, Bruce was the next best thing. Whilst you were above average in intelligence, sometimes Bruce can lose you at times. But, once Bruce got over his fear of accidentally hulking out on you, he would talk non stop.

He’s actually a funny guy.

He can help you with Biology and Chemistry, even if you just wanted additional readings to get ahead of your peers, but when you come bouncing into the labs asking about Physics, you’ve never seen Bruce light up brighter than a Christmas tree. He gets way into it, it makes you laugh because, after a long rant - where has most definitely lost you, he looks at you asking if you got that.

To which you blankly stare at him and say no.

“Really?”

“Yeah, sorry, Bruce,” You apologised as he waves you off.

“It’s okay, I’ll go slower this time...”

“Oh god.”

Thor was confused to why a baby is on the team, after all, age is different between the two realms. You had to explain that you weren’t a babe, that you were a pre-teen and that you’re actually grown to an extent. Nevertheless, Thor had to adjust to Midgard life for a bit, that means you would experiment cooking on the poor God. You were alright at cooking at least for someone at your age. 

But, there are days you feel devious where you would cook something that would be horrendous and make Thor taste it, sometimes it backfires on you and you would put together a really delicious meal, other times it becomes successful and you would see Thor’s nice exterior crumble a little bit before nicely saying it tastes good.

“How is it?”

“It’s something...” Thor says before smiling with food in his mouth, “It’s really good, (Y/n)!”

“Thanks!” Turning your back to giggle to yourself as Thor spits it in a napkin, only to give you a thumbs up when you turn back to look at him.

Clint and Natasha were different, they were constantly busy with work that they barely got to know you until they got stuck babysitting you. You had loudly got on the wrong side of Fury causing him to ground you and the two spies to look after you. It was their punishment went a mission almost went wrong. 

You were pissy with them, like any other teenager going through teenage angst. You got on both the spies’ nerves, until one day you sat down and it seems like you calm down, you were easy for Clint and Natasha to handle until you heard swears and shouting coming from Nick’s office. You grin to yourself as you grabbed both the wrist of each spy and bucked it out of the room you were occupying.

Turns out, in your protest of being grounded, you decided to prank Nick. And because you couldn’t alone at the SHIELD base, you dragged both spies around with you. It got to the point that the spies were showing you hiding spaces and even helping you prank their superior. 

At the end of the day, when Nick finds you in the room, he asked what you’ve been doing. You show him that you’ve been doing homework and drawing for Steve. Fury can’t prove you wrong as the two spies back you up.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong, Boss,” Clint says, forcing his mischievous smile to be concealed.

“It’s been a brat, but he’s been doing what we’ve told him to do,” Natasha backs it up.

You looked at him angelic like, “I’ve been good today.”

Nick looked annoyed, “Sure you have.”

So, as the years continued, more people joining the team, no one has gotten close to than the original six of seven members of the team. You’ve made friends with Vision, Sam, Bucky, Wanda, Peter, Rhodey, but no one got as close to you as the six of them did. 

So, here you stood with a party hat on your head, smiling to your family. You were living in the new Avengers’ base, it wasn’t the tower anymore, but it’s better to have somewhere to live. There are banners hanging about, saying happy birthday. Confetti and balloons sprawled on the floor, the lights are dimmed down and strobe lights flashing.

There’s a pile of presents, one that contains official adoption papers. Tony is holding the cake, it’s lit up with candles, the team is standing around or behind Tony, facing the celebrant, the kid who was heart and soul of the team.

“Happy Birthday (Y/n)!” They exclaimed.

You’re now eighteen, it’s been four years with the team, nothing can ruin your family, nothing can go any better than his. You’re happy, so they’re happy too.

“Make a wish!”

And so you did.

[wh6res]

taeil — part of the my bloody valentine collection.

prompt. soulmates are connected by a red string.

synopsis. taeil thinks the whole system is bullshit. he needs to take matters into his own hands.

warnings. tread cautiously. swearing, mentions of death, blood, mentions of kidnapping, violence, turning a 'lil dubcon near the end, severe stockholm syndrome, manipulation 

disclaimer. a friendly reminder that i do not, under any circumstance, condone or support any acts like this. this is not love and this is not how a normal relationship should be like. the things i write are all fiction and should be treated as such and if you don’t like it, please do not read it and waste your time hating on it. the 9 members of nct 127 do not act like this in real life and shouldn’t act like this in real life. 

thank you to. sexeh sam @yukwonghei, cutie charlie @dundun-baby, and baby rina @greenish-taro for beta-reading!

since he was a kid, he’s fantasized about meeting his soulmate. creating scenario after scenario of how he’d meet ‘the one’ as he had cheesily addressed and had absolutely freaked when he finally saw the red string tied around his right wrist on his 20th birthday—courtesy of the soulmate rules of the universe, where one will finally be able to see the string tied around their body once they’ve come of age. 

for years before he met that other soul who’s destined to be with him, taeil would stare at the red thread lying across the floor, disappearing under the gap of his door and out to the world unknown. he’d be so distracted, so aloof and in his own world as he anticipates the long-awaited day until his professor calls him out—“moon! do yourself a favor and stop daydreaming!”

until his friends snap him out of it—“thinking of them again? really?”

until his parents shake him out of his thoughts—“don’t worry, i bet they’ll love you!”

sometimes he just loved staring at the string, it was something so measly as a bunch of threads intricately woven together yet it held such a symbol in today’s world. call him lovesick or stupid but was it really wrong to feel excited? taeil’s even betting the person on the other side of this string is just as excited as he was, if not more. 

in the man’s eyes, the strings are a symbol of something more than love—it symbolized the person the universe has created especially for him and no one else. 

taeil can’t even imagine a world without these strings. how difficult it would be, to love and invest in someone who will only end up breaking your heart? no, the strings also meant reassurance. 

assurance that he won’t get hurt. 

an assurance of faithfulness. 

he had only been a wide-eyed fresh grad looking for some place to intern when it happened. like a scene right out of a cheesy romance movie—he felt the persistent tugs of the string before finally meeting his soulmate. well, using the word meet to describe the whole ordeal is a huge stretch because it was more of a holy shit, is that my soulmate? rather than a hi, i'm your soulmate, taeil!

he merely saw the back of her poised figure but taeil’s heart felt like it wanted to explode, his emotions a mess and feeling everything to the extremes. nervous. scared. anxiety. happiness. excitement—it was all coming at him like bullets. 

as taeil stared at her back, walking away, johnny kept shoving him forward, encouraging him to finally approach the person he’s been waiting for ever since that soulmate string appeared around his pinky. 

but he couldn’t—not because he was so anxious he’d accidentally vomit the 4-cheese whopper he had for lunch but due to the line of people trailing behind his soulmate like a bunch of baby ducks to their mom. the thought of coming up to his soulmate and introducing himself in front of all those people?

romantic, maybe, but taeil doesn’t have the stomach to do that. 

he remembers how much johnny had wolf whistled, unbelieving of the fact his friend managed to snag the possible heir to the company they’re attending an interview in as his soulmate. 

“lucky little asshole,” johnny muttered. 

taeil had been experiencing the post-effects of seeing his soulmate that he just weakly punched johnny’s arm for the heck of it. he probably didn’t even hear the name his younger friend had called him. taeil’s mind is clouding over, no thoughts in his head but the white polo shirt she wore, sleeves neatly rolled up, and the black pencil skirt hugging her legs and making her ass look so plump. 

focus. he needs to focus on the interview right now or else he won’t even have the chance to work here and officially meet her. everything the interviewer asked passed through his head like paper planes in a classroom, shamelessly asking the woman sitting before him to repeat the question, too busy reveling about how their soulmate story would be the cliché office-love. not that taeil minds, he’d love going to work together—

two weeks later, johnny receives an email of acceptance. taeil doesn’t.

the man nearly threw his laptop away out of sheer disbelief and anger. okay, sure, maybe he could’ve done better in the interview but he graduated with latin honors in college! and from a prestigious college at that. he shouldn’t even be applying as a mere intern with the skill set he had yet he went with it because he’d always dreamed of working there. 

and now knowing his soulmate is possibly someone who holds a high position in the company? everything just kept getting better and better for moon taeil. 

except for that fucking email—pft, or lack thereof. how can they not accept him when he’s more capable than johnny, anyway? for fuck’s sake! taeil doesn’t even ask that guy for rent and he’s so thick-skinned that he stayed up to this day and freeloaded off taeil’s food and shelter. 

the absolute unfairness of the situation makes taeil’s blood reach a fever point. he’s completely lossed it, leading him to spit “get the fuck out!” to the other male occupant in the apartment with eyes glaring and lips pulled into a nasty sneer. 

johnny’s never seen taeil this upset before and decided that he’d be better off abiding by the older man’s wishes instead of contradicting it. 

no. no. no. this can’t be happening. if taeil doesn’t work there, with her, all his sweet fantasies won’t come true and god forbid she ends up falling for another person in the company. 

anyone would be naturally drawn to taeil’s soulmate. in his eyes, she’s a goddess in the flesh. taeil doesn’t even need to see her face, from the few seconds he saw a glimpse of her, her presence and allure in itself is already eye-catching. the way her low ponytail swished from side to side as she walked, her back straight and head held high. 

taeil needs to see her again. maybe if she finds out he’s her soulmate she’ll put a good word in and he’ll get hired. 

yeah. yeah, that’s a good plan. 

“please get out of my office or i’ll call security.”

or not.

“no, wait. but i just said i’m your soulmate!” to further prove his point, he even raises up his pinky and sure enough the other end of the string is tied around hers. the incessant pull is there and if not for her sharp cold eyes anchoring him to the ground, taeil would’ve long been soaring high in cloud nine. 

“and i said i don’t care,” she snaps just as her fingers sneakily pressed a button in her phone. “i have a fiancé. the whole soulmate bullshit doesn’t apply to rich people. so for the fucking last time, get out of my office.”

“but—”

the double doors of the vice president’s office bounces off the walls when two burly guards barge in. dressed in a white long sleeves and those heavy tinted shades of glasses that taeil hates. the two men waste no time in hooking their arms underneath the smaller, frail man as he thrashes against their arms. 

“how can you not care about your soulmate?!” taeil can feel the beginning licks of the flames eating up his whole world as everything comes crashing down before his very eyes. “i’ve been—i’ve been waiting my whole life for you and this is how you treat me?!” 

he doesn’t know what hurts more, the scratch in his throat as he screamed with all his might or the stoic look written on her face as the guards haul him away. 

when johnny heard the news he’d never felt so sorry for his friend. rumors that initially circulated only between the executive board members had spread and trickled down to the common folk on the lower levels. johnny making it a mission to find out, had extracted himself from his usual cheery and extroverted self to blend in with the background. taeil has yet to talk to him after he got kicked out, so asking his friend—or ex-friend?—about what happened is out of the question. 

but like any other breed of rumor, the tale of their vice president’s soulmate barging in her office is ever changing through each mouth that tells the story. johnny doesn't know what to believe in. he’s been trying to put off a meeting with the older man ever since he started crashing in taeyong’s apartment instead. not that taeil himself even tried reaching out to johnny, anyway. 

so why should he, when he doesn’t even know what he did wrong?

but there’s a nagging voice at the back of johnny’s head. his conscience isn’t too loud but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s there and it doesn’t need excessive volumes to be heard. all it takes is a second of distraction from the paperwork he does, attention straying from the task at hand, and his body will automatically be wracked with guilt. 

knowing how much taeil had waited for his soulmate to come to his life, knowing how taeil can readily give everything up for his soulmate without even meeting them yet… and now knowing taeil just got the worst ever rejection in his entire life?

johnny can’t possibly imagine the pain he’s going through. is he really going to choose now out of all times to be petty because taeil kicked him out when he didn’t even bother asking johnny for anything in return during his stay in the apartment?

so when taeil finally contacted him, the sketchyness of what he had asked for flew right over johnny’s head. rational thoughts flying out the window because taeil needs him, he should his friend after everything taeil did for him—

“hey, uhm… i need insider’s information, can you do that for me?”

you shook your head at the long story johnny told you. tuffs of your hair have escaped the intricate pigtails taeil has put your hair up in earlier before he left for work. he’s always hated having your hair messy, but at the moment you couldn’t find yourself to care. 

“i wouldn’t put it past taeil’s original soulmate…” you think aloud, mouth speaking before you can stop yourself as you stare disdainfully at the dulled string wrapped around your pinky—it lost its divine red glow after your captor had cut it off on the same day he whisked you away.

ironic, how easy it was to destroy something so important.

you backtracked, realizing the gravity of what you said before looking up at your captor’s friend. johnny doesn’t look all too impressed and he sighs at the pleading look in your eyes. please, don’t tell him.

“i guess you’re somewhat right…” he gives in, coursing his fingers through his hair. “taeil had been… very passionate on finding his soulmate. but i mean, come on, why’d you even marry someone who isn’t your soulmate? i don’t blame taeil for doing what he did to them.”

johnny ignores the way your breath hitches and your body halts all movement. “what—what did he do?”

“paid them a ‘lil visit after gathering enough resources from someone on the inside,” his face stoic, voice monotone. johnny doesn’t like talking about this one. “he studied their schedules, where they live, where they work, how they get to work, what time they sleep, what time they wake. then just one day…” 

he drags a finger across his neck.

“oh.” 

pathetically, it was all you can say. why did you even bother to ask, anyway? if taeil had been willing to exert force just to keep you in line, then he has the stomach for whatever gruesome deaths he subjected his soulmate and her fiancé to.

you nibble on your lip as you stare at the knot of thread lying on the floor. you don’t see the need to wear the collar wrapped around your neck when that knot is good enough a reminder that you’re now bound to taeil. that he’s fucked around with your destiny and decided he’ll have you out of all people. 

its hard to believe taeil once almost worshipped the soulmate bonds, not when all he’s ever done is look at it like it's the bane of his existence and calling it a curse to humanity.

“do you know that you’re—”

“that i’m the 5th? yeah, i know. i saw all the knots on his string.” you defeatedly say, a vivid image of the knots spaced across his string like tophies. “taeil doesn’t like me staring at them, though.”

and you yourself didn’t like staring at them. you never thought something so small and insignificant can mean something so sinister. the knots on his string acting like a body counter. will he get sick of you one day and you’ll just be another knot on his string?

“you’re nothing like his soulmate—i’m not insulting you or anything, i’m just saying the truth. the past girls all had at least something in common with her but you… nothing. not even your hair shines like hers, and that’s even after taeil has taken good care of you.”

this doesn’t soothe you in any sense and before you can open your mouth to retort, the familiar beeping of the code getting punched into the keypad cuts you off. 

taeil stood in the entrance as he shrugged off his coat, his polo crinkled at some areas and pieces of his hair had escaped that slicked back hairstyle. 

“you’re home early…”

your blood runs cold when he doesn’t even offer you a glance, skipping you out and immediately addressing johnny. “i thought i told you to go home already after delivering the food.”

you admire the way johnny’s eyes roll. must be nice not to be so fucking terrified of the man. “yeah, but your current sweetheart here was lonely and practically begged me to stay.”

the sting of betrayal never grows familiar. 

“i never said anything—”

“you did, have you forgotten already?” you hate the show of lust clouding in johnny’s eyes as he stares you down. this can’t be happening right now. “have you forgotten how you even came unto me? whined like a bitch about how taeil doesn’t even fuck you hard enough and you had to fake orgasms all the time?”

“that’s not true!” your frustration manifests as tears. they sting your eyes as you look at taeil. “i never said anything—”

but you pale when you realize they’re not even listening to you, the two guys fist bumping in the foyer and exchanging a few words like “thanks for telling me,” and “no problem, bro,” were heard before taeil is heatedly storming up to you. 

you feel numb as you look over taeil’s shoulder at the little smirk johnny shoots at you. have fun, he mouths mockingly and then he’s out the door, extracting himself from the mess he created. 

when taeil wordlessly drags you across the hallway, you thought he’ll make a right turn and into the bedroom but imagine your surprise when he pulls you instead towards the bathroom. he wastes no time throwing you against the cold hard tiles as he tells you only one thing. 

“strip.”

“taeil…”

“you don’t want to be replaced.” it doesn’t take a genius to know taeil had hit the nail on the head. all your movements come to a halt, looking up at him with an unreadable look in your face. “that’s your fear, isn’t it? that if you die, if i kill you, i can just look for another girl and you’d be forgotten at the snap of a finger. i’m right, aren’t i?”

you gulp, his words stinging even if he didn’t mean for it to sting. or maybe he did. taeil takes a step closer to you, studying your appearance as he brings a hand up to caress your tear-stained face. 

spots in your clothes are wet due to the splashes of water on the tiles, and the clips in your hair that once looked neat and perfect are now hanging in disarray, falling off in some places. 

“i’m sorry,” you sob. “i’m sorry, john—johnny’s lying. you—you have to—to believe me. please don’t replace me… i’ll be good, i promise…”

truly, there’s no better motivator than fear. and there’s no better way to mess with someone’s head than using their weakness against them. 

“you say you’ll be good but i tell you to strip and you couldn’t even do that?” 

taeil could never imagine replacing you. he finds it stupid, whatever that brought in this fear of yours, but it doesn’t mean he won’t be extracting every little bit he can get out of this.

he can only stare in awe when you start wiggling your way out of your pretty pink clothes, eyes drinking every bit of your skin slowly being exposed to him as he reaches behind you to open the running water, slowly filling the bathtub.

“get in,” he instructs and you waste no time. 

as he sheds his own clothes, he can practically feel the want radiating off you. he knew johnny’s lying, but he humored his friend still. there’s no way you can fake the noises you always make. plus, taeil has seen one too many times the cum dribbling out of your cunt after he’s fucked you into oblivion. he scoffs. harder? then he’ll be breaking you in half already. 

taeil swats your hand away as it reaches for his cock and he hopes you don’t notice it twitching before you when you let out a cute whine. 

“you want it?”

you nod urgently, salavitating at the thought. taeil was more of a giver to his partners, it’s rare for him to take his pleasure first but you’re far from complaining. 

“oh, i don’t know…” he pouts, fisting himself in front of you before giving it a few testing pumps. he swallows the hiss threatening to spill from his lips, chuckling instead at the intense look in your eyes as it follows his hand movements. 

you were by far the most compliant girl he’s ever had, someone who’d rather stay than escape. his methods of forcing someone into submission worked extremely well with you. so really, how can he let go of his glorified little pet?

“you’re not lying to me, aren’t you? i got hurt, you know, with what johnny said… i guess i was doing something wrong.”

“no!” your reply is immediate. “no, that’s not true—”

hands wrap around your throat like a vice. “how about you prove it to me, love? tell me everything i want to hear.”

now, this is easy. you’ve practically memorized everything you need to tell him to boost his ego. it doesn’t even take much of an effort. 

“i love your cock so much that my body hurts. it hits all the right places inside of me and i will never even dream of wanting another man because they won’t be able to fuck me like you do.”

you feel giddy when he smiles that satisfied smile, your toes curling in anticipation as he leans in to give his obedient darling a kiss—

until he shoves your face down the water. 

it doesn’t take much effort to wrestle your limbs down and insert himself into you, groaning at the feeling of your lush and moist walls sucking him in. you’re always so damn wet when he fucks you, oh how much he loves it. loves how tighter your cunt wraps around him as you squirm and fight him to get to the surface of the half-filled tub.

it was only after a few deep thrusts did he relent and pull you up, the few hair clips in your hair floating in the water around as you gasp greedy amounts of air. one look at taeil’s face pulled in ecstasy is enough for you to know it was well worth it.

maybe being rejected by his soulmate was a blessing in disguise. maybe the disobedience of every girl he took before you had been deliberately well-planned. or else he’d never would’ve met you. 

taeil was right. all the soulmate and soulmark shit is utterly useless and stupid. because you are by no means his soulmate, but fuck he’ll never let you go.

not when your destiny is to lay there underneath him, taking whatever it is that he gave you like a good little whore. 

[dystopiandilfs]

I find it interesting how each Feral boy is with DreamSMP lore and how they approach it if they do. This is also some ideas and improvements. This is all my opinion and you don't have to agree or disagree.

Disclaimer this will be me using comparisons as it makes it easier to explain. This isn't me saying one person is better than another. Some might be negative points, some will be positive so no critical tags sorry. Even with me once again expressing my strong negative opinions on Tales. The idea is good the execution is not.

This is based off of multiple things; Character story, Character traits, Lore?, Plot holes, Fan theories, General enjoyment, Viewer impact, Clear goals etc

Dream seems to enjoy it the most as he offers to join everyone's lore as well as helping when he can and also trying to include others into "main" lore He also has managed to create a character with a full storyline without not once streaming from his perspective. He's very good at doing things that may seem small at the time but ends up having a huge impact. He manages to have a full storyline and a complete character but still leaves room for theories and headcanons for people to add on (Dreamon my beloved 💕). Because we don't see his perspective we don't know his intentions or goals so he's made his character detailed but mysterious which is actually quite difficult as he's the main character (Sorry Ranboo but it's true)

When it comes to acting he's very good at staying in character even when things get a bit scuffed obviously there's a few moments of breaking character but they're not him trying to get others to break character with jokes and voices they're genuine fuck ups (Accidentally blowing himself up and breaking character to both clear up confusion about it being canon and to switch from a tense atmosphere to give the audience a break for a bit and breaking character to say his Twitch handle after accidentally breaking TOS so George didn't get banned)

Dream said he's got a storyline from his perspective and it's all prerecorded which I'm excited for as I think it's going to be a bunch of flashbacks which could expand both character backstory but also create more storylines for people to bounce off of. For example if he did a flashback with some of the OG members they could build from that. It could give more of an explanation of why he changed. Essentially Dream's lore could be a bunch of behind the scene clips giving more lore for characters like him discussing the egg or prison with Sam, him and Punz talking more about the deal, him and Techno , him and Puffy, him and Ranboo. Dream is the main character because literally ever other character can do a flashback scene with him and build a whole storyline from it. For example Dreamon Hunters can be bought back in which already was linked to the Egg by Fundy. To sum it up Dream's lore from his perspective can not only made way for multiple new theories and headcanons but also is the easiest way for other characters to have more dimension even with a 20 second clip. And it gives more context to Dream as a character. Disclaimer this isn't me saying people can only be dimensional characters because of Dream I'm saying that Dream is the easiest way for someone to start a storyline that they can then work on if they want.

Quackity can do lore if he puts his mind to it. However it also has to rely on multiple things. Who the lore is with?, How serious is it? And What's the vibe? Basically if Quackity is with people who don't do serious lore or people who crack jokes often then his lore won't have that good quality lore I know it can be. For example Quackity's lore with Sam and Dream couldn't be replicated with most other people on the server. I can't even imagine if Karl and George were trying to do the prison lore. Even in Quackity's big stream you can see this difference Schlatt's bit dragged on and often got derailed because whilst they were both interested in the lore they weren't invested. The bit with BBH was a bit all over the place because they were both talking over each other and you could sort of tell it had little to no script or end goal but this was also partly down to them both being very into lore. They both tried to stick to their pre-existing character traits which clash Vs the Prison which had a clear script even if it was vague. Go to prison, convince Sam to bring weapons, Go torture Dream. Sam, Dream and Quackity are 3 of the most mysterious characters who have no clear plans, you can't predict their moves which is why any lore with them is good because they don't have a character personality that they have to stick to. For example Dream is known to adapt for each person so he could be nice one minute and demon child next.

Once Quackity has broken character he used to completely lose it. The vibe was gone however I was highly impressed with how he and Sam managed to keep the vibe when the prison broke. Previously Quackity would have lost his shit and derailed everything. I do think Quackity's strongest lore point is going with other strong lore members or just being on his own.

George and Sapnap I'm going to sort of link together. They both seen to be a bit meh on lore. I think it genuinely depends on what mood they're in. I also think that they'll both be much more comfortable doing lore that's prefilmed Vs live on stream.

Sapnap is very good at bouncing off of people so I think he'd be really good at lore with most people. I think Sapnap could definitely capitalise on the angst of being the abandoned one who is loyal to death but doesn't have the same in return. Like Dream both Sapnap and George are good at voice manipulation meaning if they want sad angst they can sound upset. Sapnap seems more tempted to do on the spot lore so he can't back out so that's another option. Like Sapnap has multiple headcanons handed to him and I know this bitch can act his little yeehaw soul out. Even if it's short clips talking to people like Punz or Sam who he seems closest to.

George has this strange ability to kickstart ideas for lore and then let's others build from it. (Also his ability for all of his lore to have a LGBTQ subtext like pack it up Dean Winchester) I genuinely don't think it's intentional however I think with a bit of thought he can have a general well rounded character. I know he did that lore the other day and has started to build up a character background however I think he's better with less serious lore people as I don't think he can do serious mood streams like Dream or Ranboo but can potentially hold it long enough for a bit like Techno or Phil. I think George's weakness is he'd rather someone else guide him through lore instead of doing it himself. Man really doesn't like being the main character.

Karl seems to want to do lore but doesn't have the ability to create it. He has all these ideas but can't form a proper story about it. I used to have this issue where I had all these cool bullet point ideas but I could never form a cool idea with them and I think Karl has the same issue. In my opinion if Karl does want to continue with Tales and bullet point ideas I think he needs help formulating a bit more of a story. Once again like Sapnap and George I think he excels in prerecorded lore however it's also either heavily scripted or he's having his hand held through it. Which is fine but that's why a lot of people can't connect Tales to DreamSMP as his streams are the only ones that are heavily scripted and it gives off a different vibe. Karl is also too bubbly to crack down on serious lore which is fine not all lore needs to be serious and angsty however he tries to make it deep. I personally think that Karl should capitalise on this uwu soft boy persona he has. No deep lore. Obviously choosing memory loss time travel involves serious moments but I think he needs to split it more between dark angst and wholesome Karlnapity moments. What I mean is that Karl on DreamSMP and Tales Karl seem like 2 completely different characters that just so happen to share a name. I think the prerecorded bit at the end needs to begin to add his DreamSMP personality a bit more.

TLDR: Dream is strongest lore, Quackity works best with serious lore with people invested or on his own with a bit of direction, Sapnap and George will probably be better off doing prerecorded lore as it seems more comfortable for them, Karl struggles to put his ideas into a storyline and would benefit from doing less heavily scripted pre recorded lore to make his storyline cohesive Vs a bunch of one shots.

To sum it up Dream is Hot and should bring back Dreamons, Quackity needs to work more with serious lore people, Sapnap should Capitalise on his loyalty trait and constant abandonment for maximum angst, George should cry on command more, Karl needs spend more time writing instead of paying for builds.

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

[diredove]

Curious Fool

My first time attempting to write anything longer than headcanons, please note I’m going off of this AU! I’m in love with Crowley so I see this as an x reader story, but it can easily be interpreted as something else!

Warnings: Very Mild cursing, Crowley being scary (as in, threatening and a hand squeezing a throat), Me grasping at straws to make Potentially Evil!Dire make sense! Gender Neutral Reader as well!

You wondered about Dire Crowley more than you would like to admit. He was an enigma that your brain for some reason was terribly invested in solving. It started small, maybe because you were holding back your suspicion out of guilt, the man had given you a roof over your head and food to eat in this strange new world, surely he deserved better than you concocting conspiracy theories about him? But gratitude should not inspire stupidity in someone, and it didn't inspire in you.

Why exactly was he being so gracious? For all the pretty words he spoke to you, he certainly didn't act guilty. Every sympathy he offered to your plight felt like it was meant to silence you, "Shush, no more of that." he seemed to whisper between the lines. Yes, it was all too bad you were stuck in a world not your own and that poor, poor Crowley was working himself to the bone to find a way back for you to no avail, but what would you have him do? He's already being so kind.

And that was another thing, wasn't it? He wasn't all that kind at all, or if he was it was only in a backhanded way. Wasn't he just the sweetest thing alive for giving you a place to stay? As if you weren't breaking your damn back every single night sleeping on the couch of the teacher's lounge and waking to the racket of your dearest headmaster starting up that monstrous coffee maker at the crack of dawn each morning! Well, what about the food you were provided every single meal time? Quite generous, he'd say. And you would beg to differ because you had a diet of convenience store sandwiches and children's snacks and sodas! Everything you ate was from Sam's shop and didn't cost that old crow a dime!

And maybe, just maybe, you would have been more understanding and grateful for it given your circumstances, if Dire Crowley wasn't absolutely loaded. He could easily afford to buy you actual meals, put you up some place that wasn't a glorified common room, pay you! But for all his guilt and graciousness, he didn't. It felt like he was trying to trick into being grateful to him when he hadn't actually done anything for you to be grateful for, in the grand scheme of things.

But that's not all. If that had been it then you could have convinced yourself you were being dramatic and gone on with your topsy turvy little life. But no, Dire Crowley simply would not let you rest (on a proper bed or otherwise).

Why did he act like that? You were not someone to turn your nose up at an odd personality, considering how well you were handling being in a potential alternate universe, one might say you have one yourself. But there was just something... off about him. He always seemed a bit too happy, he laughed just a tad too hard, his stares were too intense, he went silent after whatever spiel he'd been on so quick you'd think he had a switch inside him. Alone, those were just the quirks of being human (though you didn't even know enough to call him that either), but they stacked up quickly.

And you had really fought with yourself on this, worried you were being prejudice against him out of paranoia, but then you saw him get angry.

Everyone gets angry, everyone yells sometimes, it's a fact of life and you're an adult who can accept that. But seeing the headmaster shift from harmless eccentric man to inflicting backbreaking labor on teenagers who didn't get to explain themselves at all was rather... jarring to say the least. He yelled in his oddly charming accent and his mask hid whatever anger would have shown on his face, and maybe you were being overprotective of the young ones and forgetting that that type of punishment was far more manageable in a world of magic. But you couldn't shake the feeling that he was holding back, like he was seconds away from sounding like a different person beneath the quirky act. Like a parent putting on a goofy voice to scold their child to keep themselves from letting their frustration show.

But, and maybe you're just dense from here on, all that did was make you squint a little. There was just as much of a chance of him putting up a front as there was of you misunderstanding things and reaching too far. But the seed had been planted, and now you were curious.

So, instead of coming up with crazy ideas you had no backing for, you thought: "Let's just ask."

Not Dire, of course, as if he would tell you the truth or appreciate you prodding him. Thankfully though, there were people close to him that you could interrogate instead.

And then you started hitting walls, thick ones.

"What's Dire's deal?" Seemed like a pretty clear question, so why was every single answer you got so convoluted?

Sam had tried to act unbothered, but you saw how his hand froze as he stocked the shelves of the Mystery Shop. He looked at you with his bright smile and waved his free had dismissively.

"He's something alright, I'll give him that! He's an odd one, I guess you could say! What's with the interest, Starlight?" He answered, though a question for a question hardly satisfied you.

Crewel had outright ignored you, even after you had repeated your question several times he kept maneuvering around you and acting like he was busy. He absolutely wasn't, he had moved the same four beakers back and forth between lab tables three times. Once he realized you weren't going to take his hint and scram, he looked down his nose at you as if you had ruined his entire week.

"You know, puppies that never stop yapping are troublesome. But do you know what's even more troublesome, Little Scamp? Puppies that sniff around where they don't belong. You'd do well to train yourself out of that habit, and quickly." He'd told you coldly, which shocked you into a stupor because you had thought him overzealous but friendly just moments before.

You had hoped Trein, with his unflappability and no nonsense policy, wouldn't beat around the bush and would be the one to change your luck so far. Instead, he averted his eyes and cleared his throat uncomfortably. He seemed to be taking extra care to choose his words, as though they were fragile as glass slippers. Even Lucius looked still in his arms.

"He is a man, as am I, nothing more and nothing less. It is best to leave it at that, My Dear." He implored you gently, you couldn't help but feel this was as close to a plea as the stoic man would ever get. Lucius stared at you unblinkingly, as if trying to determine your answer through your eyes alone.

You hoped the cat couldn't actually tell, because your answer was no.

You still had one more shot. Vargas was loud and a bit much at times, but his love of his own voice would work in your favor. However, you had learned from your mistakes and decided getting straight to the point wasn't in your best interest. If everyone wanted to play with you, it was only right to join the game.

"Please, tell me more about your school days, Ashton! Were you really the star of the Magic Shift team?" You asked in an awed tone, eyes wide.

The coach was eating it up like it was his last meal, you had been stroking the man's ego for over two hours already and if he tells you about the goal that turned the playoffs around one more time you think you'll snap. But his defenses are down, and his lips are loose, so you'll grin and bare just a little longer.

"That's right! I was king of NRC, undisputed! There wasn't a soul on campus who didn't want to be mine!" The man boasted, "Well, except for Beth. She wasn't all there though, not that I cared! She wasn't all that, I'm not bitter about it!"

He's definitely bitter about it, but you don't have time to unpack that when your opening is right in front of you.

"Right right, I totally get it. Hey, speaking of the past, when did you meet Crowley?"

Okay, you lied. There wasn't an opening at all, you burst in with a sledgehammer. But your cutesy act was getting hard to keep up!

Vargas takes the sloppy bait though, " Oh, that guy? He just kinda popped up and offered me a job to be honest. The pays good, so I deal with the old coot being a weirdo."

You have to stop yourself from lighting up, "Weirdo?" You question dumbly, finger on your chin and all.

Vargas looks both ways and then gestures for you to come closer, you can't tell if he's being playful or not with that glint in his eyes.

"Look, don't tell anyone I told you this, okay Dolly? Crowley's got some crazy going on around here, I swear. I don't know details but I've got suspicions." The coach whispers, you nod eagerly for him to continue.

"There's this... room. I don't know what's in it, it's always locked and not even the staff master key opens it. He goes in there every Friday, and I don't see him come out, he just appears again Monday morning. There's this bright light that shines under the door whenever he goes in, and after a few seconds, it stops." Ashton explains, and it's more than you had hoped for.

Creepy locked room, disappearing act, unexplained happenings? This is exactly the dirt you've been looking for!

"He thinks he's being sneaky about it, but I caught on, see? I was following him to ask about a some paperwork and I saw it. I know somethings up, Crowley is up to no good and I don't care how crazy I sound." Ashton stresses, as he goes on he seems more serious, you can't take time to be happy about your findings because he looks so pale.

"Vargas, are you oka-"

"Listen Dolly, I know you're curious, but you don't want nothing to do with this and neither do I. Freaky shit is going down, and if you're smart like me you'll act like you don't know a thing."

You stare at him. H-Had he been on to you the whole time?

"I'm trying to help you, stay away from the west wing and don't-" He stops. His eyes are on something behind you.

"V-Vargas?" You call, shakily.

"I've said enough. Stay outta the west wing, Doll. For your own good."

You don't stay out of the west wing.

In fact, you deliberately seek it out. Ace gives you a funny look when you ask him, but he points you in the right direction anyway. You wish you were more embarrassed about being a member of staff asking students for directions, but you've got bigger fish to fry.

You know this isn't smart, no matter how harmless the headmaster may seem, no one likes being found out. But your life is in his golden-clawed hands and you'd feel even less smart following him blindly and hoping you're safe with him.

The west wing isn't what you expected (though to be fair you had been expecting a torture chamber), it's an entirely normal hall like all the others in school. It's so mundane your face falls. There's also no way to tell if anything is amiss from a glance alone, so you'll have to use less tact than you were hoping to. Making your way down the hall you turn each knob one by one to see which won't turn.

After about twenty or so doors, curse the long hallways in this college, you see one that's quite out of place. It's at the very end of the hall, how cliché, and while it is the same size and color as all the others, it's surrounded with a ridiculous number of portraits. There are big ones above the doorframe and little ones squeezed into the narrow spaces along the sides of it, and if that wasn't enough, the ones that wouldn't fit in either spot were enchanted to float nearby. And the portraits themselves are nothing like the silly but sweet ones that gossip as they watch over everyone who passes in the main building, these are painted with snarls and angered eyes. Both human and nonhuman beings are depicted, each one staring straight at whomever would stand in front of the door. Their eyes seem to be looking in every direction at once even though their pupils are painted straight ahead, it feels like they can see everything without shifting their gaze. You can't even tell if they're alive like the others, they're so... cold.

You take a deep breath, that must be it. You've come to this far, and you'd planned everything so carefully there was no reason to be afraid. The students were having Magift practice today, so that meant Vargas was busy, but it also meant that Crowley was doing his rounds and would stop to "give the players some good old fashioned encouragement ". He would go on forever, there was plenty of time for you to investigate and cover your tracks before he ever even wondered where you were.

You could admit the only person you were convincing was yourself, but it helped you forced your legs to move toward the end of the hall. Even as you walked closer, you knew you shouldn't, the air around you seemed like it was trying to force you back, oppressively pushing you with every step you took towards that door. You wouldn't be able to open it, Ashton had told you already, what exactly were you gaining, being stared down by the lifelike yet lifeless portraits as you neared the door? Nothing, and yet your hand grabbed the knob impulsively, you hadn't realized you'd been holding your breath until it left your lungs in a rush at the touch of icy cold iron in your clammy grip.

You shouldn't have touched it, you shouldn't have, now what? Your plan was to turn back after your curiosity was sated, but you couldn't. The force that was pushing back against you before was now pulling you forward, beckoning you. The portraits no longer looked like a warning, but an invitation. You've come so far, now come a little closer, something that wasn't a voice nor a thought breathed around you.

You twist the doorknob, like a fool.

It turns.

Your heart leaps with excitement and fear, and you feel a surge of adrenaline run through your body. You can go in, you can go farther!

You feel yourself smiling widely even though you're sure you're not happy, you go to push the door open just a little further.

You stop as four pinpricks upon your throat flare with pain, your eyes go wide like a deer and you freeze.

"Crewel was right, you're truly nothing but trouble."

The voice sounds familiar, and yet nothing like the person it belongs to. But you'd know those gold-tipped fingers anywhere.

"I really am getting on in years, to make such a mistake." Dire sighs, his voice does not lilt and his tone is low. He sounds like an actor who's given up on staying in character.

You catch a whimper in your throat when the hand upon it slides up the front of your neck to grip under your chin and rear you head back at a terrible angle. You meet the dead-eyed gaze of Crowley's mask as he looks straight down at you.

"But you've made an even bigger mistake, Youngling, by testing me."

You want to apologize, or plead for your safety, because the man looming over you is not the one you've grown reluctantly fond of. But because we have established that you are a fool, you say instead:

"Your vest is a mistake. There's sequins on it." You snark weakly, you sound pathetic, half because of the grade school insult and half because you're gasping for breath.

Dire stares down at you blankly. Then he grins, not his usual one full of jolly cheer, but a wide toothy one that is just a few degrees off from a sneer.

"Oh, you really think you're just the cutest little thing under the sun, don't you?" He asks, he chuckles halfway through but it's dry and dark.

Why are you so foolish, why do you speak?

Abruptly, the pressure points on your neck are released and you fall to your knees, gulping sweet sweet air.

"Well you're right! You're just adorable, thinking you could catch me out!" Dire shouts cheerfully, hands on his hips and accent back in full swing. His façade is back in place like it was never gone.

You stare in disbelief.

"You know, anyone else would have to be put under a curse of eternal silence for snooping around like you did." He continues, "But I am so very kind, I'm going to let you walk out of here without laying a finger on you."

You shakily get to your feet, leaning against the wall for support and as something to curl in on to cower from the overly happy man before you.

He stares at you smiling for many moments too long, you know he's trying to scare you and you're angry at yourself for being so. Abruptly, he nods.

"I'll be off then, I'm sure you get the message? Of course you do! Make your way back to your room then, off you get! Goodbye!"

The man walks away quickly, waving his hand in farewell.

He left you without a fight, with the door left unlocked and you still in position to reveal what was on the other side. You balk at the obvious show of his power over you.

He knew you were too terrified now, he knew you would obey him like a dog told to stay, the smug bastard.

You bite your lip in frustration and confused tears fill your eyes. You just want to know what's going on, you just want to go home! Nothing makes sense.

You look at the door that's slightly ajar.

Then at the exit of the west wing across the long hall.

You can no longer hear Crowley's footsteps.

And because you are a fool, and because you are defiant, and because you want some semblance of control, you make a mad dash through the door before you can change your mind.