#or hell go on and add them to the mix lets have a party

[hoboblaidd]

REAL TALK one of the few things Solas is not toxic about is being an ex. If Lavellan did end up involved in any kind of romance with anyone else* there wouldn't be any jealousy or 'shit i gotta up my game to get back in there.' He'd still pine obviously, because he's Solas, but he's the one that broke it off. He forsook the right to be jealous.

*except someone he hates, in which case it wouldn't be jealousy so much as 'THIS FUCKER THO???' so rook. or elgar'nan.

[rafesteddy]

𝓻𝓪𝓯𝓮𝔂𝓼𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓼

𝙽𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚒𝚜𝚝 | 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬

𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟: 𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝

𝙷𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚢!𝚁𝚊𝚏𝚎 𝚡 𝙶𝙵!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

warnings: dom!rafe, possessive!rafe, softbf!rafe, pet names, swearing, dirty talk, icky “boy talk” at the beginning (not by rafe), protective rafe, boys tease the reader when she's not there, they see a picture of her in lingerie, they start a video of rafe and the reader having sex but rafe takes it from them, ownership kink, kissing, unprotected public p in v, butt plug, praise, cum tasting, wet and messy, squirting, cockwarming

All of my asks got deleted 💕😭 so I'm not sure who requested this, but thank you! After a few drinks at a hockey party, Rafe gets teased about what a good girl you are, but Rafe knows the truth 💋

Reader's POV:

The basement of the hockey house is alive, post-game with a rowdy crowd. Cheap keg beer spills from red SOLO cups, the packed basement wall to wall with a mix of jerseys and ugly sweaters.

Rafe kicks his feet up, relaxing on the oversized couch with the boys, half-watching some hockey game as they shoot the shit. “Damn,” Alex groans, his wicked smirk glowing in the light of his phone. He zooms in on the screen, smiles, and tosses his head back.

“Jesus Christ,” Kemper hums as he looks at the message Alex got, lifting his phone to “snap” a picture of his—just givin’ Alex hell. “Get outta here,” he shoves him away with a laugh.

“She looks better in that jersey than you,” Kemper shoots back.

“No shit,” Alex pulls it up again, adjusting himself a second later. “She stole my jersey yesterday… Sent me that pic as a congratulations, I guess,” he smiles proudly.

“Where’s Max?” Kemper asks, eyes scanning your group before looking over the back of the couch into the crowd.

“Left about five minutes ago with Lexi,” Rafe adds. “He’s gone for the night.”

“Lucky bitch,” Kemper mumbles against the lip of his can before draining his beer.

“You that desperate, Kemp?” Rafe taunts, lifting an eyebrow in his direction, half-hiding his smirk with his drink.

“Fuck you, Cameron,” he clips as he crumples up his can, tossing the empty drink at JJ. “It’s his fuckin’ fault,” he gestures to Maybank, giving him the finger. “He stole her.”

“Stole her my ass. She wanted me. Not my fault either. You're a goalie, man. Maybe you could switch positions and get pussy from time to time-”

“I get pussy!” Kemper cuts JJ off, cracking another beer open.

“Sure you do,” Rafe taunts, just stoking the fire. Attention naturally falls back to him, the boys ramping up to knock him down a peg. He stretches his big arms along the back of the couch, just waiting for the shit-talking to start.

“Yo, Rafe,” Alex calls out, and Rafe snorts out a laugh, rolling his eyes at the predictability.

“Yeah, man. Get on with it,” Rafe chuckles between sips of beer.

“What about your girl? How long has it been… three, four, five months?” Alex slurs.

“Since what, bud?”

“Since what?” He barbs, mocking Rafe like he knows the first thing about you. “Since you got your dick wet. What do you mean, ‘since what’?

The group erupts in laughter, Rafe's lips curling into an amused smile. He doesn't bat an eye— not hurrying to respond, either.

"She's perfect; that's all you need to know," he replies smoothly. He takes off his cap and runs his fingers through his hair before turning it to the back.

"Come on, man," another chimes in, clearly not letting it go. "That’s it… That’s all we’re gettin’? Is it that fuckin’ bad?”

“M’sorry, Rafey,” Kemper chuckles, shooting him a crooked look.

The teasing continues, but Rafe just leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stares them down, the picture of calm confidence. “You guys have no clue what you’re talkin’ about,” he speaks, his voice calm and smug.

“Sure we don’t,” Kemper laughs. “You tuck her in after the game or what?”

“She’s around here somewhere,” Rafe smiles, glancing at his phone again before setting it on the counter. He smiles to himself, recalling how you sucked his dick on the car ride home from the game; the man fucking you five inches from your life in the shower when you got back.

As much as you loved the side he showed you when no one was watching—soft and sweet. He loved the side of you that no one else got to see as well… filthy and insatiable, your sex drive giving Rafe a run for his money. Rafe didn't need to defend you—or himself. He knows the truth.

“What are you thinkin’ about, Cameron?” JJ asks, catching Rafe smilin—your boyfriend shrugging before he takes a swig of beer.

“None of your fuckin’ business, Maybank,” Rafe laughs.

The conversation drifts back to the topic of conquests, JJ bragging about the girl he snuck on the bus on the last away game, the two fuckin’ in the backseat all the way home.

Rafe’s phone lights up, buzzing on the coffee table. The screen with your name plastered on the front of it shines like a beacon.

"Uh oh,” Kemper pipes, “lover boy's got a text?”

Rafe unlocks the screen and smiles, spreading a little wider. “What the fuck?” He clips as Alex picks the phone out of his hand.

"Let's see what kind of cute little texts your girl sends, huh?” His voice trails away as he looks at the screen, wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open as he catches you in nothing but black lace.

"What?" The others clamor, pushing towards Alex to get a better look.

”C’mon,” Alex whines as JJ plucks the phone off his hands, taking it for himself.

“Goddamn,” Maybank groans as he zooms in.

“Enough, man. What the fuck,” Rafe scoffs as he reaches for it. JJ quickly slides his finger across Rafe’s screen, skimming through the camera roll to find more.

Before Rafe can grab it, JJ lofts it to the next boy, slightly out of Rafe’s reach. Kemper flicks his fingers as well, his eyes doubling when he finds something new.

"Fuckkk, there's a video!" He responds excitedly, one hand gripping the phone, the other extended, fighting Rafe off as he tries to get the device back.

Your sweet moan rips through the phone’s speakers, sending the boys into a frenzy. Rafe's easygoing expression changes in an instant. His smile remains in place, but a razor-sharp edge of possession colors his movements as he stands up, snatching the phone back before they could play any more than a few seconds.

“You like that?” You breathe—your soft, sultry voice echoing faintly through the device before Rafe locks his phone.

The group falls silent, eating their words, struck dumb and speechless as they see a side of you they didn’t imagine existed.

"Like I said," Rafe drawls as he pops another beer, "you've got no idea what you're talkin’ about."

Before the boys can recover, a voice breaks through the haze. “Hey, baby,” you hum. All eyes shifting to you.

The group turns together, watching you step toward the party; your beautiful eyes lock on Rafe’s. He shifts slightly, extending a hand, quickly pulling you onto his lap with a smile. You drape your arm around his neck, Rafe’s arms dressing around your waist, his eyes matching yours, making your stomach flutter.

"Ready to go, baby?" You ask playfully, your intentions for the rest of the night clear in your tone.

“Always,” Rafe smiles as he wets his lip, leaning in for a kiss.

He doesn't hesitate, following you through the crowded hallway, his hand resting on the small of your back to keep you close. The two of you climb the stairs, ducking under tacky Christmas decorations and weaving around people playing beer games at the kitchen table.

Rafe grabs two Coors, popping open one for you and one for him. He sets it down and grabs you by your waist, lifting you onto the counter, moving between your thighs, tilting closer, his eyes never leaving yours.

“You’re perfect, sweetheart. You know that?” He asks, his voice low and sweet.

“So are you, baby.” You lean in, pressing a tender kiss against his lips.

“Would you kill me if I told you they saw that picture you sent me?” He asks.

“Rafey…” You laugh gently against his lips, pecking at them again. “You’re givin’ away all my secrets, baby.”

“M’sorry-”

“ I don’t care,” you smile, gently brushing your lips against his. “Let ‘em know what a slut I am for you…”

“You are, aren’t you, princess?”

“Mhmm,” you hum against his lips before sucking off the bottom, making him groan against your lips.

“… You still wearin’ it, baby?” He drawls.

“You told me to be a good girl and keep it in... What do you think?” You flirt.

“Fuckin’ love you,” he hums.

Rafe wraps his arm around you, lifting you off the counter, pulling you through the packed living room: bodies upon bodies, wall to wall, the air thick with heat and booze—music blares from the speakers, pulsing in your chest.

Rafe crashes down on his favorite chair, the two of you snuggling up in the dark corner. His big hands slide up your thighs immediately, gripping your hips as your lips meet.

“I’m the luckiest man here,” he hums as his hands shift your ass, squeezing tight. One of his hands falls lower before rising again, drifting under your skirt.

Rafe rubs his fingers over your pussy, teasing your entrance over your lace panties, soaking them thoroughly. His rough hands trace up your ass, pressing against the plug, making you whimper against his lips.

“Mmm… Good girl,” he breathes. Rafe draws back enough to meet your gaze, making chills run down your spine. "You got no clue what you do to me,” he hums.

Your fingers scratch into the hair at the nape of his neck. “Maybe you should show me.”

His eyes fall to your lips—his lusty smile spreading, matching your own. Rafe moves closer, burying himself in your neck, kissing higher and higher. His heavy breathing hits your ear, making your pussy throb. “Right here…” Rafe mumbles. “Let me put my cock in, princess.”

“You’re gonna fuck me right here?” You giggle dizzily, making him chuckle as well, pulling you in tighter.

“You gonna let me?”

“You know I will…” You coo.

“Thought so… Fuckin’ though? Maybe that's a little risky, even for us. You're just gonna keep me warm for a while…” He lies.

“That’s it?” You ask teasingly as you slip your hand between the two of you, cupping his stiff bulge, making him moan in your ear.

“What—you want more?” He taunts, giving it right back to you.

“I always want more,” you whisper. You slip out of his lap, turning around, facing the crowd, the lot lost in their own worlds. Rafe grabs your chin and turns your face, claiming your lips as he adjusts, pulling his pants down enough to release his aching cock.

His thick dick slaps against his shirt. You reach behind your back, wrapping your hand around him, stroking slowly. Rafe throws his head back on the chair, letting you work him in your fist, thumb skimming over his fat tip. You look over your shoulder, meeting his gaze as you put it between your plump lips, sucking it clean.

Rafe lifts your skirt slightly, pushing your panties to the side. You rise slightly as Rafe seizes his dick in his big hand, swirling around your soaked hole. You claw at the armrests, listening to Rafe hiss out a breath as you sink on his long cock inch by inch.

“Shit,” you whimper as you release your hands, fully sat, adjusting your skirt, feeling Rafe throb inside you.

He moves closer, wrapping strong his arms around your body, tucking himself in your neck. “Pussy’s just made for me, baby,” he breathes, hot against your neck.

You look out into the crowd, but no one is the wiser. Rafe turns your face again, pushing his lips against yours. Your clench around his cock, and he moans against your lips. His hands shift along your body, brushing over your tits, moving down your stomach, slipping just under your shirt.

He presses down on your stomach, making your thigh draw in. “M’so fuckin’ deep,” he whispers as he pushes again, making you gasp against his lips as he feels his own cock.

Rafe’s other hand moves lower, his two long fingers finding your clit over your clothes. Your eyes scan the crowd; the two of you are still in the clear as Rafe starts spiraling his fingers on your sex.

You know you should stay still, not wanting to give yourselves away, but you can help but circle your hips ever so slightly, grinding your wet cunt on Rafe’s lap with his cock buried so deep.

Rafe grabs your hips, his biceps, and forearms, flexing as he pulls you down as hard as he can, making your nails drive into his skin to keep from crying out as he splits you apart. Your head falls forward from the pressure between your thighs.

Your wetness drools from your tight hole, wetting the place between the two of you, making you both a sticky mess. He lifts your hips slightly, fucking up into your slick center, making your eyes roll back.

Rafe belts his arms around your waist, pulling you into him again as you feel your pleasure about to erupt; pussy tightening around him.

���Me too, baby. Me too,” he pants. “Do that thing you were doin’, huh? Grind f’me. Make a fuckin’ mess,” he mumbles. You roll your hips into him, panting against his lips, not caring who sees at this point, more concerned with your pleasure and his.

Your movements start to get sloppy as you lose control. Rafe grabs your hips, coaxing you to the edge. You gush around his cock, creaming and cumming with him, swallowing each other's moans between deep kisses.

The two of you breathe rapidly against each other's lips, little whimpers falling from yours in sensitivity as you feel his pulsing cock move deep in your guts, his cum and the plug making you feel incredibly full.

Rafe pulls you back on his chest, the two of you exchanging sweet kisses as you come down from your bliss. You giggle against his lips, and he smiles against yours at what the two of you just did. You’re shameless display of affection doing nothing but bringing you closer.

He helps you off his cock, buttoning up his pants before guiding you to stand. Before you can step away, he binds his arm around you, pulling you in, lips finding your neck. A sharp gasp and a throaty moan leave your mouth as you feel a loss.

“Why don’t we say goodnight to the boys and head to bed, yeah?” He asks as he tucks the butt plug in his back pocket. You feel the sensation of his warm cum slipping out of your puffy hole and your ass, dripping down your inner thigh. “I wanna be leakin’ out of you when we do, princess.”

[sp0o0kylights]

Grass is green, water is wet, and Jonathan Byers does not like Steve Harrington.

These are known facts in the universe.

Computers were going to take over the world, a “mobile” phone was being invented, and Steve Harrington had lost most of his hearing.

These were unknown facts--rumors even, if you will. Eddie had never seen even a grain of truth to support any of them. 

(Well, maybe the computer thing, but only because Grant and Dustin both had made a couple of convincing arguments.) 

So he doesn’t think about it, when his freshman gang up on him. 

Doesn’t even factor the “can’t hear well” thing in, when he was tasked (demanded, whined, bitched and moaned at) with helping them explain to Steve why going to the release party of the new D&D box set, located at a hobby store only a mere 2 hour drive away, was important.

Eddie’s not even sure how the little shits got him to agree to do it until he’s standing in the parking lot in front of the former King himself. 

“The store’s leading up to the release with a handful of one-shots.” He’s explaining, unsure whether to pull out the bored act or play up his court jester persona, and thus mixing and matching on the fly. 

He does not care if Harrington doesn’t know what a one-shot is. 

“They’re releasing the set at midnight. You have to be there to get it though, you can’t have someone else pick it up for you because they only got a certain amount in.” 

Harrington’s frowning (no surprise) but it’s not until Eddie is well into his spiel about how his van is already full with the elder members of Hellfire, and thus has no room for the freshmen, that he realizes Steve isn’t quite looking at him. 

Is in fact, looking over his shoulder.

Eddie stops. Follows Harrington’s gaze.

Parked across from Steve’s Beemer, is Jonathan Byer’s barely working clunker car. 

A handful of steps in front of it, and thus nearly right behind Eddie, is the man himself.

His hands are still moving, mouth shaping words silent as he goes, his gaze locked not on Eddie or the kids--but on Steve. 

Who turns back around as Harrington’s eyes slide right back to him. 

“And this is taking place next Friday?” He says, in that sort of annoyed but resigned way parents aim at their children. “After school?” 

“I’d like to go during  school, but the freshmen insist you wouldn’t let them ditch out.” Eddie tells him. “They had two separate arguments about it.” 

Loud ones, that had interrupted the game and given Eddie a migraine. 

Once again Steve’s eyes slide away from him, to Jonathan. 

“They’re not skipping school.” He says suddenly, a glare forming and Jonathan makes an annoyed noise. 

“They argued about skipping, they’re not going to.” He says aloud, and finally steps up so that he’s next to Eddie instead of behind him. 

“Munson slow down, I can’t sign as fast as you’re talking.” He adds, in the hang-dog grumble he’s notorious for. 

Eddie stares at him. 

“Can he seriously not hear me?” 

“No.” Steve and Jonathan answer together. 

“I can kind of still hear,” Steve adds, gaze returning to Eddie’s face. “But its more loud music or noises. I can lip read, but you’re also talking too fast for that.” 

Without pausing, he turns back to Jonathan and says; “Why can’t you take them?”

“It’s Friday.” Byers deadpans. 

Eddie’s not an expert on sign language, but his hands somehow looked deadpan too. 

He’s not sure how Jonathan did that. 

“So?” Steve snarks back. 

What follows is an argument that Eddie is not, at all involved in, mostly because he’s too busy handling the fact that Jonathan Byers has learned sign language, for Steve Harrington, apparently, and given the tone the argument is taking they still don’t even like each other.  

Eventually the argument ends, Steve throwing his hands in the air and demanding that Jonathan owes him. 

(Eventually Eddie will corner the ever so quiet Will Byers and ask why the hell his brother learned sign language for someone he clearly fucking hates.

“Oh they don’t hate each other.” Baby Byers would say, in that shy, quiet way of his. “I think they’re actually friends now?” 

“You think?”

“Well--you’ve seen them.” Will shrugs. “I think being mean to each other is kinda their thing.” 

‘What the hell.’ Eddie would think, right up until he stumbled across one of the kids sign language books. 

Byers the Elder, he decides, isn’t the only person who should learn sign language to chew out Harrington properly.

The pay off is immediate. 

Or at least, the pay off of watching Steve’s shocked face the first time Eddie signs something vulgar at him is, anyway.)

[steddieas-shegoes]

He’s not sure why he even comes to these parties anymore. He used to sell at the frat houses, made his rounds until he was out of product, made more money than any minimum wage job he could find near campus.

But he hasn’t in a while. Months, at this point.

It’s just that every time he came to one of these idiotic showing of riches and popularity, the most beautiful man he’d ever seen was sitting in the corner of the kitchen watching with a faraway look in his eyes. Sometimes he stood in a group of people in the living room, but never contributed to the conversation. Once, Eddie saw him swinging his feet back and forth in the water of the hot tub on the back patio with three different couples making out inside it, completely zoned out.

Eddie needs to keep an eye on him. Hence, he attends the stupid parties.

And it’s stupid, to go through so much trouble for a guy he doesn’t even know, who probably doesn’t even notice him back. It’s stupid, but Eddie’s never claimed to be very bright.

Which is probably why he walks up to the guy when he’s about two seconds from punching Tommy Hagan, grabs his wrists, and tugs.

“The fuck are you?” He asks Eddie, reasonably confused and angry at being interrupted by a stranger.

Eddie could feel his pulse against his fingers, swore he could feel a spark of electricity flow between them.

“Eddie. Just leave him. Whatever he did isn’t worth it,” he said through clenched teeth.

His fingers tightened around Steve’s wrists as he considered trying to pick him up, throw him over his shoulder, and walk out of this party entirely.

“How the hell do you know?” Steve wasn’t trying to pull away.

Eddie didn’t let himself think about that too much.

“I just know nothing Hagan does is ever worth trouble for you. C’mon,” Eddie tugged on his wrists again, and this time, it seemed to catch the guy off guard.

“Didn’t know you were into freaks, Harrington,” Tommy said as they took a few steps away from him. “If you’re gonna be gay, you could at least have taste.”

Eddie froze.

The guy, Harrington, tried to pull his wrists loose, but Eddie didn’t let him.

He turned to Tommy, the guy who almost got him arrested for selling at his party only a few months ago, and smirked.

If he was gonna out someone to a stranger, Eddie had no problem doing the same right now.

“And you just sucked my dick because you wanted to add it to your résumé?” Eddie grinned at Tommy, who quickly looked around to make sure no one else heard.

“As if I would-“ he tried to say, but Harrington cut him off.

“You forget you say shit when you’re high. You told me about it already. I think your exact words were, ‘he had the best dick I’ve ever seen, Steve.’ Or am I mixing that up with another dick?” Steve pulled one arm loose from Eddie’s grip, brushed hair from his face, and let it relax at his side.

Eddie could let go now, he was sure if anyone would start something at this point it would be Tommy. But Steve wasn’t trying to pull his other wrist loose and Eddie liked the warmth of him in his hand.

“Whatever man, just go. You don’t even wanna be here,” Tommy turned and left before Steve could respond.

Eddie finally let go, but he didn’t like the immediate sense of loss that filled his chest.

“You always interrupt strangers before they fight?” Steve asked him, hands shoved into his pockets.

Eddie really looked at him, inspected him. He only ever saw him at these parties, so the lighting was shit, but he’d noticed the dark shadows under his eyes a while ago. He noticed that he held himself in a way that showed he was always ready for a fight. Steve’s hair had gone flat over the last month or so, not nearly as voluminous or shiny as it had been at the start of the year.

“Are you okay?” He asked instead of answering the question.

“I’m fine, dude.”

Eddie shook his head. “You don’t seem okay.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Just seems like something is bothering you,” Eddie wouldn’t push more, not if Steve was actually gonna get mad. But something told him that nobody pushed Steve to talk enough.

Eddie had Wayne back home, and his friends in his band here, and a couple coworkers at the bar he worked at twice a week now that he could joke around with. Steve didn’t even seem to have the people he hung around with.

“Why does it matter to you if something is bothering me?”

That’s a fair question. Why does it matter to him?

“Maybe because I just wanted to help. That’s what people do, right?”

“Not for me, usually.”

Eddie stepped closer, barely leaving space between them. “Well, I am.”

Steve stared back at him, shoulders dropping and eyes losing that angry fire.

“Why?”

Eddie was an idiot sometimes, but he was able to read people pretty well. It’s what kept him safe for most of middle and high school, and made him friends in college.

He knew what it looked like to be lonely and depressed, and Steve had check marks next to both of those.

“You wanna get out of here?” Eddie asked, once again avoiding his question.

“And go where?”

“I’ll show you my favorite getting high spot.”

“I don’t really smoke with strangers,” Steve seemed nervous.

“You don’t have to smoke. I’m just gonna show you the place.”

He watched Steve think about it, noting the way his brows scrunched together, how he bit his bottom lip, how he looked at the ground instead of at Eddie.

“Fine. But if you murder me in the woods, my mom will have you hanged,” Steve finally said.

“Hanged? Do they even do that anymore?”

Steve giggled. “Probably not. But she’d find a way.”

“Well, I’ve got no interest in murdering you, big boy.”

The blush that filled Steve’s cheeks was stunning. A perfect pink dusting his skin, giving him a healthier glow than what he’d had for a while.

“What do you have interest in?”

Eddie could say any number of things to flirt, make his true intentions clear, maybe even go straight back to his single dorm instead of showing Steve anywhere.

But Eddie figured that’s all Steve was used to, or maybe he was always the one who had to put an effort into things.

Maybe he wasn’t used to getting treated like a human being.

“I’d like to get to know you. Parties like this aren’t really a good place to learn about someone’s favorite song or what they snack on when they wake up in the middle of the night.”

Steve seemed shocked by this answer, but his features quickly melted into a soft smile, one Eddie would want to see every single day.

“Fine. But it’s not a date,” Steve held out his hand, ready to be led.

Instead of lacing his fingers with Steve’s, or even just grabbing his hand in his palm, he wrapped his fingers around Steve’s wrist again.

“We’ll see.”

———

On graduation day, Steve and Eddie found their way back to their spot, one they’d probably never visit again.

Eddie’s fingers were curled around Steve’s wrist as they stood facing each other, close enough to feel each other’s breaths against their lips.

Nearly two years together, nearly 300 trips to this spot, and more than 500 dates that they never called dates.

And it was just the beginning.

Eddie leaned in to press his lips to Steve’s gently, keeping it soft so they wouldn’t get carried away.

They had to meet Wayne at the Italian restaurant in less than an hour and then Steve’s mom expected them back at Steve’s apartment for a wine and dessert celebration.

They wouldn’t be properly alone like this again for at least a couple days, but they didn’t have time to do much about it right now.

“I love you,” Eddie whispered as he rested his forehead against Steve’s.

“I love you, too,” Steve said back.

He didn’t have dark shadows under his eyes anymore, spending more nights sleeping in bed with Eddie than awake at parties he didn’t want to be at. His hair had most of its shine back. He’d put on a few pounds after joining the gym again, using it as an outlet for stress instead of hiding in corners at parties where he would drink just enough to get buzzed four times a week.

He made friends with Eddie’s friends, plus some of his own when he got a part time job at the coffee shop on campus.

Steve never spoke to Tommy again, at least as far as Eddie knew. He didn’t seem interested in being his friend again, and once he told Eddie more about their “friendship”, he couldn’t really blame him.

“You ready to go see Wayne?” Steve asked him, probably more excited than even Eddie was.

Wayne and Steve bonded quickly and they’d probably spend most of the lunch talking about sports and where they would go fishing this summer.

Eddie nodded, but he pulled something from his pocket before Steve could pull away and start walking back to the car they now shared.

“What’s that?” Steve asked, pointing towards the envelope in Eddie’s hand.

“It’s a gift from me to you. Well, I guess both of us, but I really got it for you.”

He handed it to Steve, who opened it quickly.

He pulled out the paper inside and Eddie watched his eyes fly across the words written there.

“Eddie.”

“Stevie.”

“You got us a trip to Italy? How the fuck did you get us a trip to Italy?” Steve was looking at him, eyes wet with tears.

“Doesn’t matter how. Wayne gave us some money for it, so did your mom. I’ve been saving for a year. Want us to have something special before we have to start working.” Eddie kissed his forehead. “Plus I want any excuse to see you in some of those see-through linen shorts.”

Steve’s lips were on his, his arms wrapped around Eddie’s neck. Eddie wrapped his arms around his waist to hold him there.

“I’ll wear them every day,” he gasped as he leaned in for another kiss.

Eddie laughed. “You won’t hear any complaints from me, sugar.”

“I can’t believe you did this. All I got you was a t-shirt.”

“You know I love t-shirts. I know you love Italy. It’s a win-win for both of us.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but kissed him again.

His eyes widened. “Oh my god. Are you gonna propose in Italy?”

Eddie snorted. “Why would I answer that question?”

“Because! I have to know!”

“Why?”

“So I can make sure I have a nice outfit for pictures, dumbass.”

“You’ll just have to wait and see. You look good in everything,” Eddie kissed the top of his head before he wrapped his fingers around Steve’s wrist and tugged on it once. “Let’s get to Wayne before he sends a search party.”

Eddie smiled to himself as they walked to the car, Steve’s rambling about what he wanted to do in Italy keeping his mind from wandering too far. He couldn’t help thinking about the ring he had stashed away in his guitar case, though.

Italy was the perfect place to propose.

[brandyllyn]

Silk from their soul (06)

The Ghoul / Cooper Howard x f!reader [no use of y/n]

Rated: Teen (series will be explicit) Words: 1.2k Summary: Sleepwalkers

Series Masterlist My Masterlist

He can see her ass.

He doesn’t bother trying not to look. There’s just the two of them in the small room, her stretched out on the bed while he sits with his back to the wall across from her. There’s no blanket to speak of and she’s lying on top of the ancient cot facing away from him. He’s still not sure what happened but she shifted a while ago and the skirt of that little sundress had ridden all the way up to her waist.

He was a saint for not touching her.

It was a few hours til morning yet, she’d let him sleep longer than he actually needed. While he was hefting himself off the bed she had yawned, stretching her arms to the ceiling and making parts of her body do some absolutely fascinating things.

No harm in looking.

His hands move as he keeps one eye on her, an ear turned towards the hallway, waiting for the inevitable footsteps. If someone doesn’t try to rob them tonight he’ll eat his hat. Fingers far too used to the work refill his shotgun shells, checking their weights and deciding if the contents are still any good with barely any input from his brain.

And those damn thighs keep calling to him.

They’re edible, is what they are. Two prime pieces of grade-A meat. Of course he’d stare, his mouth was practically watering.

“It ain’t you,” he mumbles to his cock. “You ain’t had a vote in a long fucking time, ya hear?”

It does not. It twitches in interest as she sighs in her sleep, thighs rubbing together. It’d be the work of a moment to cross to her - hell he wouldn’t even have to get off his knees - set his teeth to those perfectly rounded asscheeks and bite. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to turn those little sighs into moans.

Yeah, his cock was definitely looking to cast a vote.

He felt almost light-headed, hormones his body hadn’t made in decades suddenly swimming in his system. With a hacking cough he takes a hit of chem, hoping it might resettle his balance. It does, a little, enough that his fingers stop twitching her direction.

A floorboard creaks.

The Ghoul cracks his neck, setting his hat to the side and resting the end of the shotgun on his knee. Another creak, then the shuffling of boots outside the door. It opens slowly and he clocks three men standing there, two he recognizes.

“Well now, I was beginning to think y’all weren’t ever gonna show. D’you come to party or just watch?”

The man in front stops suddenly, single eye scanning the room. It’s nearly pitch black, barely any light coming from the hallway either. Ever one for the dramatic, the Ghoul scrapes a match across the floor, letting the flame light up his face before he sets it to the end of a cartridge.

“Now, ordinarily, I might let y’all off with a warning seeing as you’ve only made some regretful decisions thus far. But it seems to me a group of fellas like yourself could only have one reason for breaking into a lady’s bedroom in the middle of the night.” He drops the shell into the shotgun, chambering it one fluid motion. “And I cannot abide that kind of man.”

The shell is a special cocktail of his own, a mix of chemicals and tar that burns hotter than acid and sticks to everything it touches. The effect is quick - no need to burn the place down - but aggressive.

The sound of the blast is deafening in the small room, the screams of the two men the shell explodes onto nearly as bad. Next to him he hears a muffled “What?” before he rolls to his feet and places himself between the wakening woman and the door.

“Does anyone else have something they’d like to add to the conversation?”

The screaming continues, even though the fire has burned out. He can see patches of bone where the mixture ate through face, neck, and arms. Smiling to himself he takes a step forward, gently pushing the trio away and closing the door.

“Y’all should go take care of that, and stop that caterwauling.”

“What happened?”

One strap of that dress of hers has fallen and he reaches out to fix it without even thinking. He can almost hear the scrap of his leather gloves on her skin, too much rough against all that softness.

“Just a group of townies looking to make friends. I disabused them of that notion.”

She looks confused, still blinking away sleep. “You shot them?”

“Look here, when it comes to charming the locals you’ve got me beat by a mile - but when a fella needs to be reminded of his manners a bullet has a more lasting impact.”

She groans, burying her face in her hands. “I knew this would happen.”

“You knew they were gonna come up here, and yet you were sleeping there sound as a babe?”

“I knew it was a risk,” she groans again, “kind of comes with the territory.”

“And yet I found you prancing your way through the wasteland alone, looking like that.”

“I’m not alone, I have you.” He barely gets to revel in that statement before she frowns. “And what do you mean, looking like that?”

“Sweetheart, you look like a six course meal in that getup. It’s a wonder no one ain’t gobbled you up already.”

She looks down at herself and purses her lips. “It is a tradeoff.”

“For what?”

Her mouth opens for a moment like she is going to answer then clicks shut. “It’s… thank you. For protecting me.”

For a moment he considers telling her he hadn’t been. That he was just guarding his stuff. Or that it was tit for tat since she had taken the first watch. But it wasn’t true - alive and unharmed included by other people. So instead he simply grumbles, “Don’t say nothing about it.”

Sighing, she lies back on the bed, stuffing her pack under her head with her feet facing the wall. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to get back to sleep.”

“Well, if you ain’t gonna use it…” he moves to the cot, shifting her legs so he can stretch out, back propped to the wall.

She snorts, closing her eyes. “Tell me a story.”

“You looking for some once upon a time fairy tale shit?”

“No,” another one of those low laughs, “you’ve been around a while, tell me something that happened… here.”

He considers her for a moment, stretched out next to him. There’s about a dozen better ways to pass the time that he can think of offhand, but quite a few of them require him to be the kind of man he swore never to be. He didn’t have many lines in the sand, but that was one. Faded and brushed over as it was - it weren’t like he had much of a call to use it.

“You ever seen a naked mole rat fuck a Brahmin?”

That laughter would have to be enough.

☢ ☢ ☢

For updates follow and turn on notifications for @brandyllyn-writes

[snowcandyz]

Days With Your Lover: Belphegor

Summary: Spend a day with Belphie! Pairing: Belphegor/MC Genre: Fluff, hurt/comfort

Dating the seven Lords of Hell wasn’t easy; it’s even harder when you add a member of the royal family, his butler, a sorcerer and an angel into the mix. Every day is filled with surprises and joy because you can't really guess your boyfriends’ next moves. And let’s not talk about the jealousy and misunderstandings that come along with it.

The hardest part was to convince them that you love them all equally and wouldn’t want to break their heart. Some find it hard to share—especially Mammon and Leviathan—but some were willing when they heard the idea. Some were reluctant to agree, while some decided it was better to tolerate the other parties.

After all, they’re all close to each other. And to be able to date you? Who wouldn’t want that? The years you shared with each other deepened the bonds between yourselves, and by now, none of them was willing to let you go.

You are a part of them just as much as they are a part of you.

So you’ve developed a schedule where everyone gets to spend the day with you. That way, all your beloved will get their chance to be alone with you. 

-------

The clock struck midnight, and the Avatar of Sloth dragged his feet to your room. The house was quiet except for several mumblings from his third-oldest brother’s room. The light from his eldest brother’s study also suggested the demon wasn’t asleep yet.

Belphie yawned once again, eyes ready to shut themselves and just let his body fall down to this comfy-looking hallway. 

But no! He couldn’t! It’s his turn today, so by right, he should be there by your side.

No longer bothering to knock, he opened the door and shut it behind himself as softly as possible before walking in the dark to his destination. 

You were sleeping soundly on your bed, with the comfy blanket he bought for you covering your body. The temperature for the night was a bit chilly, so Belphie could imagine how comfortable you were under the blanket.

Smiling to himself, he laid down beside you with his arms wrapped around your waist.

You must have felt the bed dipped beside you because you shifted your position to face him, “–love ‘startin’ the round wit ou, Belphi...” Your words were slurring, a clear indication that you were not fully awake to greet him. Your movements were sloppy and clumsy as you draped the blanket over his figure.

Battling his own drowsiness, Belphie gave you kisses on your eyebrows, instinctively pulling you closer.

His body pillow; his natural body warmer; his love.

“I love you.” 

“Love you too, Belphie.” 

And so he slept without a care in the world, except for the presence of his beloved snuggling up close to him. Even the clanking sounds of kitchen equipment beside your room the following day didn’t bother either of you. 

But time is ticking, and as much as the others want to let Belphie control how long you two spend the time sleeping in, a little bit of sympathy reigned upon them for their dearest baby brother.

“Wake up, sleepyheads! It’s 12! Aren’t ya supposed to be somewhere later?” Mammon harshly tugged off the blanket covering your and Belphie’s body.

“Screw off!” Belphie whined before pulling you closer by the waist, hoping you could warm him.

“And what? Ya planned to spend the day in MC’s room till nighttime?”

Upon hearing Mammon’s comment, Belphie shot up from the bed, wide awake. 

“I almost forgot about that.” He slipped off your bed and told you to shower and get ready.

His sudden shift in actions made you giggle as you stretched your body and greeted Mammon good morning—or good afternoon, to be exact. 

Mammon reciprocated the greeting before planting a kiss on the crown of your head, “Breakfast is on the table. Be quick before Beel notices.” 

-------

Knowing Belphie, he won’t go too far from the House of Lamentation for your date, right? 

Wrong!

For the first time ever, Belphie invited you to a camp date near the deep forest behind R.A.D. 

“Don’t worry, Lucifer and Diavolo know where we are. I told them about this place. And we’ve checked the surroundings before Lucifer allowed me to take you here,” he explained, a smile still plastered on his face at the fact that he got to spend the whole day with you without any of your other lovers around.

At his words, you laughed, “Alright, I trust you, Belphie.”

Belphie had chosen a lowland area near a stream or river for you two to set up the tent. Around two metres from the camping site were the famous fields of glowing spider flowers. The glow from the flowers lit up the whole field, and became the source of light to see under the dark sky of Devildom. The scene was breathtaking and it’s very Devilgram-worthy.

After successfully setting up the tent together, Belphie began laying down a large mat for you two to sit on. He then looked back to see his lover taking several photos of the glowing spider flowers. 

“Do you like my surprise?”

“Very.” The sight of you beaming never failed to bring his heart into a skip.

“If you’re done taking photos, come lay down with me.”

After a few minutes, you joined him. Laying your head on his arm, Belphie brought you closer to him before giving you a quick kiss on your cheeks. 

“Did you know Devildom has its own constellations?” 

“Yes, but tell me more,” you said, snuggling up close before extending your hand to play with his hair. You massaged his scalp gently, an action you knew he loved dearly.

“Devildom’s stars weren't like the stars from the Human World. It’s there because of Lord Diavolo’s magic. He was intrigued by the stars from the Human World, so he planned to create a sky like those. You can probably guess this though, but he gave each of us brothers the privilege to have our own stars,” Belphie then pointed to the far right above the sky, “That one’s Lucifer’s. And beside him are Asmo’s.”

Belphie faced you once again with a smile before continuing, “Mine is right there, beside Beel’s. And in the middle are Mammon’s, Levi’s and Satan’s. So if we put all the stars together, it creates a constellation.”

The connected stars gave out the shape of some sort of wings.

Wings to remember that they are fallen angels.

Wings to remember that they have one another as a family.

And wings to remember that they’ll protect the star who’s aligned directly in the middle of the wing shape.

“So whose star is that in the middle, Belphie?”

“Guess.”

“Diavolo?”

Belphie chuckled instantly, “It’s you, MC.”

His statement must have surprised you, so he continued, “You see those four stars around the corner of your star? Those are Diavolo’s, Barbatos’s, Simeon’s and Solomon’s. It portrayed them as your guardians.”

“That’s… I–” tears starting forming in your eyes, “I never knew you guys loved me this much. Thank you… really…”

Belphie brought his hand closer to your cheeks to wipe those tears away. He then leaned in and gave you a kiss, wanting to hold you close. The one lying beside him held his heart dear and at the sight of you crying—even though it’s tears of joy—made him frown slightly. 

You; the human who set him free from the attic.

You; the human whom he had let anger consume his rationality.

You; the human he once killed.

You; who was kind enough to forgive him for his action.

You; who found a place in your heart to love him like he loves you.

You; the one he can’t live without.

And now he finally understood why Lilith did what she did. 

Because love is beautiful and fragile. He can never guess when it’ll end; but for sure, he will fight the hardest to get his love back.

“My star, thank you for loving me.” Belphie wasn’t one to share his emotions with anyone. In fact, you’ve never once seen him cry before. So, this sight in front of you shocked you to the core.

“Belphie–”

“Shush, it’s okay, just listen,” Belphie grabbed your hand and pulled it closer to his chest, “I know I’ve done many unforgivable things to you in the past. You were only trying to help, yet I did the worst thing to you. I’m really sorry… My actions may have questioned you further because I was quick to accept you when Diavolo told us you’re Lilith’s descendant. To be truthful, I did calm down after listening to his explanation, but not because I saw you as Lilith; no. It’s because I realised my sister lived a happy life with her love. And for once, I want to see her point of view, too.”

Belphie then took your hand from his chest to his lips, kissing it softly before continuing, “I didn’t expect to fall in love with you because… well… I did that to you… But this feeling can’t be contained anymore. And I’m starting to think you’re the crazy one for accepting me.” This earned a laugh from you.

“But in all honesty, I really am grateful to meet you, fall in love with you, and have you by my side like this.” 

Belphie took something out of his pocket, revealing a shiny silver necklace with a star pendant. He then unchained the necklace, wrapped it around your neck and chained it back, causing the charm to dangle freely above your chest. 

“My Star.”

He earned a warm hug from you and a thank you while you were sobbing on his chest. His grip on you tightened, never wanting to let you go too. 

Under the starry sky of Devildom, Belphie professed his love time and time again to the human who stole his heart.

A/N: 🍊- Me and Meowz actually wrote this and wanted to make this project as our first collaboration when we first became friends on 2021. But it's harder than we thought because we had to write 13 chapters of different characters and capturing their personality is so hard. So, to not make it as waste, I'll be uploading the chapters that 'survived', and maybe, if we have enough motivation and inspiration one day, we will finish this series. Sorry for that.

Thank you for reading! Feedbacks are highly appreciated ✨

| Masterlist |

[rainisawriter]

Stood Up – Reo (PSF #5)

Ficography

Genre: Fluff

Prompt: Have your characters share the last table at a café. (@flufftober)

Word Count: 3,157

Pairing: Reo x Reader

World: Generations

───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────

A flyer was slammed down on the counter atop the magazine you were reading, prompting you to raise a brow in question at the offending party. “I’m working, go away.”

Your older brother scoffed, looking around the empty bookstore. “Bitch, the place is empty and you’re not even paying attention.”

“What’s your point?”

Kai slapped his hand on the flyer a few times, giving you a pointed look. “You have to go with me.”

You flicked his hand so you could read it, expecting it to be a concert only to find out it was for a recently opened café. “The hell is this?”

“Can you not read? It’s clearly a flyer for a café.”

“Yeah I got that part. Why do I have to go with you?”

A streak of pink crossed his cheeks and he pouted, acting shy. “Well, you see… the barista is super cute…”

“Okay? What does that have to do with me?”

He scowled in frustration. “I obviously can’t go alone, it’ll look weird.”

“Don’t you have friends?” 

“All of them ditched me to spend time with their girlfriends. I’m the only one who’s single!” He cried out, startling the little old lady that had just entered the store.

You offered her an apologetic smile before scowling at your brother. “Maybe because you can’t act civilized for more than two minutes.”

“That’s rude,” he pouted. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“I highly doubt that. Every minute spent with you makes me lose brain cells and I don’t have many of those left.”

“You’re so rude. That’s why you’re still single.” 

“I’m single because I want to be,” you replied indignantly. “I’m already surrounded by idiots like you, I don’t need to add another one to that mix.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

You glanced to the side, seeing the elderly woman slowly making her way toward the counter. “Go away, I’m working. Shoo!”

“I’m not an insect.”

“You’re as annoying as one.”

“Rude!” He glanced at the woman, taking notice of her slow speed and the distance left for her to cover. He quickly leaned toward you. “I’ll pay.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you start with that?” You hissed softly, not wanting the woman to overhear you. “I’ll do it, now shoo!”

He stuck his tongue out at you, giving the woman a friendly smile when she finally reached the counter.

You shook your head at his antics before smiling at the woman. “Good morning. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I did, thank you, dear. Your boyfriend is quite cute,” she giggled, a gleam in her eye.

The thought made you feel sick to your stomach. “Ah, no. He’s my brother.”

“Oh, my, I’m so sorry!” She covered her mouth, looking embarrassed. “You look nothing alike!”

“Different dads,” you replied, making the woman click her tongue in disapproval. It was the normal reaction that you got from older folk, though she was nice enough not to go on a rant about it.

───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────

You stuffed your hands into the hoodie of your pocket when the cold autumn wind blew. The sidewalk was littered with leaves, each one a vibrant orange or brown. You even spied a couple red ones that were, in your opinion, the prettiest ones.

The café was packed, making you click your tongue in annoyance, leaning against the railing that separated the street and the sidewalk. You had arrived right on time but Kai was known to be late to everything he did so you weren’t surprised that he wasn’t there yet.

You shot him a quick message to let him know you had arrived before amusing yourself with a YouTube video. People came and went, looking at you strangely as they passed. One of the employees had taken notice of you, as well.

“Excuse me,” he called kindly, offering you a smile. “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” You glanced up at him, rubbing the back of your neck. “Ah, yeah. I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Would you like to wait inside? It’s getting pretty chilly out here.”

You glanced at the window, seeing the sea of people sitting inside. “I’m okay, thanks.”

“Sure, sorry to bother you.” He smiled, bowing at you before returning inside.

You glanced at the time again and scowled in annoyance. It had been just over thirty minutes. Where in the hell was he? You dialed his number, suppressing a shiver when the cold glass touched your ear. It rang and rang and rang before finally going to voicemail. 

You briefly wondered if maybe something had happened to him, but you knew he wasn’t a reliable person at all. He probably just forgot and he would suddenly remember, showing up out of breath and begging for forgiveness. You had decided you would guilt trip him into buying you lunch tomorrow, as well, for the trouble.

20 minutes later

You sighed, sliding down until you were squatting on the ground. The wind blew heavily, making you hug yourself for warmth. The café was still filled with people, mostly couples or families.

“I’m gonna kill him,” you muttered under your breath.

40 minutes later

“Mrow~“

You glanced to the side, seeing a black cat sitting at the edge of the alley, staring at you with wide, unblinking golden eyes. “Aww, hey there little guy. Come here.” You waved your hand at him but he didn’t budge so you stood up, shaking your legs to regain feeling in them.

“I won’t hurt you,” you promised, slowly approaching him. When you reached down, he suddenly turned feral, hissing loudly. You didn’t pull back fast enough, his claws raking across the top of your hand. “Motherfucker.”

Three red lines appeared against your skin, beads of blood rushing to the surface.

You hung your head with a sigh. “Well, at least I’m up to date on my tetanus shot…”

1 hour later

The sky was slowly darkening, dark clouds rolling in from the east. The wind had picked up, as well, and you resorted to pacing back and forth to try and keep warm. Your phone was held to your ear, seeming to be ringing without an end.

“That dirty bastard,” you muttered when it went to his voicemail for the tenth time. “You better hope you’re already dead because I’m gonna kill you!”

The sudden yell startled the man who was approaching the café’s door, making him pause and look at you with wide eyes. It was all you could see because of the cap and mask he wore.

You offered him a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of your neck as you bowed. “Sorry…”

He said nothing, simply turning and entering the café. 

You sighed, finally deciding that enough was enough. You were going home and he was going to die the second you saw him. You barely made it five steps before thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows of the café. Within seconds, the sky opened up and you scrambled for the café door, shivering as the rain soaked through your hoodie.

The man from before looked at you with a frown. “I’m so sorry, but we just gave away the last available table.”

You held back a groan, hugging yourself tightly as you glanced over your shoulder to peer outside. The rain was coming down heavily. “Great,” you muttered, running a hand through your wet hair.

He looked you up and down before glancing at the rain, taking pity on you. “Wait here a moment, okay?”

‘As if I have a choice.’ You nodded at him, assuming that he was going to grab you an umbrella but he didn’t go to the back of the café. 

The man approached the table directly to the left of the door, speaking to the man with the mask covering the lower half of his face. The two spoke for a moment before the employee pointed at you. 

Embarrassment filled you as you thought about how you must look, shivering as water dripped from your clothes. He probably already thought little of you because of your outburst, there was no way he would –

“Great news! That nice gentleman that took the last table is willing to share with you.”

Well, shit. You glanced at the rain again, wondering if the rain was really worse than the awkwardness you were sure to feel sitting with this stranger. You were already freezing, though, and you couldn’t afford to get sick so you followed the man over to the table.

“What can I get you, hun? Something to warm you up?”

“Do you have hot chocolate?”

“We sure do. Be right back,” smiled the employee, patting your shoulder.

You nodded, turning your attention to the man before bowing your head. “Thank you.”

He returned the nod but said nothing, returning his attention to the laptop that sat open in front of him.

You tugged off the wet hoodie, suppressing a shiver as you placed it against the window, not wanting to wet the floor more than you already had. You knew you shouldn’t have let Kai talk you into this. He was flaky at the best of times and this wasn’t the first time he had made plans with you only to forget or get distracted.

“Idiot,” you muttered under your breath, glaring at the window.

The man glanced over at you, his eyes falling to the long sleeved shirt you were wearing. “You like High&Low?”

Your eyes snapped to his, excitement filling you as you nodded. “Yeah, it’s my favorite series! You’ve seen in?”

“Ah, well… something like that,” he replied, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

You tilted your head to the side in confusion but before you could question what he meant, the employee set a mug of cocoa in front of you, tiny marshmallows covering the top. “Thank you.”

“Would you like something to eat, too?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“Sure thing. Can I refill your coffee?”

“Yes, please.” The masked man held out his cup so the employee could take it, then he turned back to you. “Which group is your favorite?”

“That’s a tough one,” you hummed, cupping the warm mug with both hands. “All of them are cool. It’s a close race between Daruma and the Rude Boys but I think I’ve gotta pick the Rude Boys. The way they do parkour while incorporating it into fighting is so cool!”

He chuckled, eyes lighting up with amusement. “Yes, they’re pretty awesome.”

“They make it look so easy,” you shook your head, brow furrowed. “I tried to copy this move that P did once. He made it look like child’s play but I swear I almost died. Broke my arm in three places.”

“Ouch,” he winced, folding his arms over his chest. “You should never attempt what you see in movies. They’re performed by professionals under the supervision of professionals. Doing so on your own is extremely dangerous.”

“Yes, mom,” you teased, bringing the mug to your lips.

He chuckled at the comment. “Sorry, I’m just passionate about these things.”

“I can tell. What about you? Who’s your favorite group?”

He pretended to think on it for a moment. “I’ll also choose the Rude Boys. They have a special place in my heart.”

“Yeah, I get that. Man, they really did that group dirty.” You shook your head in disapproval. “They deserved so much better. Poor Smoky. Poor Takeshi.”

He looked at you curiously, leaning forward on the table. “Why poor Takeshi?”

“Well, I mean, his best friend died and he was forced to pick up the slack left behind. Smoky is one of those one-of-a-kind characters, ya know? No matter how good someone is, no one can take his place. I imagine Takeshi must be feeling so much pressure taking over as leader, feeling as if he has to fill Smoky’s shoes but also knowing he never could. No one can.”

He looked at you in surprise, warmth filling him as a smile came to his lips, hidden behind the black mask. “Yeah… yeah, you’re right. Is he your favorite character?”

“Absolutely. He’s so brave and strong. He’s fiercely loyal to his family and will do anything to protect them. When Smoky died, he stepped up without hesitation to lead the people of Nameless City. Plus, have you seen his moves? He’s epic!” You took a sip of the hot chocolate, nodding at the warmth filling you. “Plus, he’s super cute.”

This brought a sudden laugh from the man, startling the couple sitting behind him. 

You scowled at him. “Hey, don’t judge. You know it’s true. You can’t find a single person on Earth who wouldn’t look at him and think he’s cute as hell.”

“I’m not judging,” he chuckled, waving his hand at you. “I was just surprised, is all.”

A comfortable silence settled over the two of you. You wondered if you should try to continue the conversation or not. The only people you had met that like High&Low are people online, he was the first person in real life and you didn’t want to lose that. At the same time, you didn’t want to bother him more than you already had.

“I’m sorry about your date.”

“Eh?” You looked up at him in surprise and confusion. 

He nodded his head toward the male employee who was talking animatedly with a customer across the room. “He told me that you were waiting for over an hour for your date to arrive but you got stood up. I’m assuming that’s who you wanted to kill?”

You snorted in amusement. “I definitely got stood up, but not by a date. It’s my idiot older brother that was supposed to meet me.”

“Oh,” he looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Is that why you took pity on me?”

“A little bit, yes,” he answered honestly. “I’m glad I did, though. It’s nice to find a fan of High&Low. Especially one that enjoys the Rude Boys so much. Most fans I meet choose Sannoh or Oya as their favorite group.”

“How overrated,” you snickered, bringing out a chuckle from him as well.

He glanced at his watch and cursed. “I have to get going.”

“Oh,” you replied, hoping he didn’t hear how deflated you felt. You were enjoying his company and wanted to spend more time with him. “Thank you again for letting me sit here.”

“You’re welcome.” He packed away his laptop and stood up, pausing in thought for a moment. “Can I use your phone to check something?”

“Huh? Sure.” You briefly wondered why he didn’t just use his own but figured it must be dead or something. You tugged it from your pocket, setting it against his palm. 

He used it for only a moment before handing it back to you. “Thank you. Take care.”

“Yeah, you too.” You frowned at his back as he approached the counter to pay for his coffee. You wanted so badly to go after him, to ask him to stay a little longer or ask for his number, but something held you back. ‘Damn introverted nature,’ you sighed, hanging your head.

The rain had slowed down considerably, the street lights flickering on. It was getting late, you realized, and you had to work in the morning. You still needed to find and kill your brother, too.

With another sigh, you grabbed your hoodie and approached the counter, pulling out some cash. The male employee stopped you with a smile. “No worries, hun. That nice gentleman paid for your drink.”

“He did?” You blinked in surprise, feeling warm inside when the man nodded. “That was nice of him.”

“It was! You two seemed to be hitting it off, too. I hope you got his number,” he winked at you before walking away.

You frowned, holding back a groan as you left the café. ‘Damn it, why didn’t I ask for his number? He was so sweet and fun to talk to. He had such a nice voice, too. Very calming and warm. Someone like that can’t be single…’ you shook your head. ‘All I did was save myself the embarrassment of him telling me he has a girlfriend already.’

Your phone vibrated in your pocket and you tugged it out, using your free hand to shield it from the light rain that was still falling. You scowled at the screen, angrily pressing the answer button. “Oi, asshole! Where the hell have you been?”

“I’m so sorry!” cried Kai from the other end, sounding panicked. “I was watching Kamen Rider and you know how much I love that show but then Syo-chan called. His girlfriend broke up with him and he wanted to get drunk and forget about her. There was plenty of time left before I was supposed to meet you so I said yes but then we started drinking and we got kicked out of the bar and I think we ended up in the river? That part is still kind of blurry but I lost my phone for a while only to realize it fell out of my pocket when –“

You couldn’t listen to his rambling any longer so you ended the call, pinching the bridge of your nose. “What a dumbass.”

A message came through from him, popping up at the top of the screen.

-> Hanging up on ppl is super rude ya know! >:(

You scoffed in disbelief, pulling up your messages so you could yell at him through text but something made you pause. There was a message thread below his that you hadn’t seen before. 

“Sano Reo?” you read aloud, clicking on the thread. There was only one message and it was a smiley face that had been sent from your phone to their number. Was it a friend of your brother? But the name sounded familiar to you. You scratched the back of your head, returning to your brother’s message to yell at him.

You couldn’t stop thinking about the contact, though. On a whim, you decided to plug the name into Google, not really expecting much. To your surprise, the search pulled up a lot of information.

Sano Reo was the actor who played Takeshi.

The man you had been talking to was a famous celebrity who played your favorite character in your favorite movie. And you had openly stated how cute he is to his face. Your face burned at the realization.

A new message came through on your phone from the man in question.

-> I really enjoyed our chat :) We should continue it over dinner sometime ♡

“Holy shit,” you cried out, startling the people who were walking past you. They gave you dirty looks for scaring them and for using such foul language but you didn’t care. You were on cloud fucking nine. With trembling fingers, you quickly typed out a reply.

<- Yeah, I’d like that :)

───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────

-> General Taglist: @asterhaze, @mrskenpachizaraki

[generalsmemories]

Generalsmemories have hit 1k followers !! (I DON'T KNOW HOW) Thank you very much for your endless support for this blog and overwhelming love for Jing Yuan so far - as a personal thank you for your patience and supprt, we're doing a simple event of prompt drabbles

There'll be two sections of prompts you can choose from: fluff prompts or angst prompts and all the prompts will be written out as drabbles!

the rules will be right below this announcement which details what you have to do and how much you can request!

p.s: i need a break from having to write more than 5+ characters each event i do give me some slack for the first event- if i hit another milestone in the future i'll debate adding more characters to events like these HAHA

duration for requesting: 1st September - 8th September

rules:

You're free to mix up to 3 prompts (mixing sentences and scenarios works as well!) from both sections as you desire. but you're of course welcome to only request one singular prompt.

The reader will be gender-neutral, as such please address them as such when requesting for the benefit of everyone here!

please don't try to add more details along with the prompts - takes the fun out of it for me personally to conjure something up <3

If the request doesn't follow the rules I'll simply delete it without warning.

This is once again a Jing Yuan centric blog, but a certain Vidyadhara has been occupying my mind lately along with him, as such we're adding another character to the roster exclusively for this event!

As such, please request these two characters only if you wish for me to write something!

Jing Yuan

Dan Heng (Depending on how I interpret the prompts requested, I'll choose his forms if it's not specified!)

prompts: (all prompts taken from @/novelbear)

fluff sentences:

"can you call me that again?"

"hey, sweetheart can you grab that for me?" "you're talking to me?" "who else would i be talking to?"

"no, you didn't just call me 'love' you said 'my love'. that makes a huge difference."

"is that like a friendly nickname or?" [sarcastic] "yes, i go around calling all my friends 'my dearest'." "oh, really?" "no!"

"no, i'm not going to give you a bite because i know you're not gonna like it. then you're going to ask me how the hell i like it, and i don't want to listen to that right now."

 “you’re so warm.” “i hear you, but we really need to get up, love.” 

“you know you’re stuck with me, right?” “thank god i am…”

“you’re going to get sick if you keep coddling me.” “and you’re just going to get worse if i don’t…”

"i'll choose you always. no matter what."

"something's on your finger. give me your hand, let me see.."

fluff scenarios:

making a little scrapbook of every treasured memory together and giving it to them

playing with their hair until they fall asleep

that warm feeling they get when they successfully make the other laugh out loud

not letting the sick one move an inch.

a simple scenario centered around kisses

angst sentences:

“that was probably the least sincere apology i’ve ever recieved.”

“you haven’t changed.” “…do you mean that in a good way or bad way?”

“hey, no crying…i thought we said we wouldn’t cry.”

“why do you seem upset?” “why the hell do you think…”

“everything felt so empty without you.”

“you’ve been tossing and turning for the last forty minutes. what’s up?”

 “i don’t want to go to bed angry…can we please talk about this?”

 “you told me you’d be careful!” 

"it's okay, we can fix this..."

"wait, don't go, please.."

angst scenarios:

 catching the other one crying shortly after an argument and immediately feeling an overwhelming wave of guilt crash onto you.

 pacing around while debating whether or not you should text them after they’ve left the house for a bit 

really trying not to say anything at first, but the other can tell they're upset by their mannerisms and try to find out what it is that's wrong

breaking down mid-hug because they just needed this so much

needing to go to an event after a party and having to pretend as if they aren’t angry with one another the entire time 

[mi-rae07]

Park Seonghwa : His Sunshine (Part 3/7)

Pairing : Park Seonghwa (Ateez) and named character (Lee Byeol)

___________________

Byeol : just a little higher please?

The worker brought the light banner a bit more higher against the roof as byeol gave a light clap before saying

Byeol : perfect! Thank you.

Byeol turned around to now focus on the party menu that was being planned as she added some suggestions to add onto the drinks menu. She was just about to look through the main course menu when her eyes went to seonghwa who was walking past the corridors now, deep in discussion with some of the deputies that had come from the ministry to discuss to defense matters.

Seonghwa was wearing an all black suit, his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows frowned as the deputy said something to him, another showing him some paperwork as seonghwa ran his eyes along the paper as well, focused and sharp.

Byeol suddenly forgot about the preparations for a second as she just stared at seonghwa, realizing how strikingly handsome he was. She had seen many handsome men in her life, but none of them could seem to keep their hands off byeol. Seonghwa was the only man who had respected her boundaries as a woman, no matter how rude he was to her.

And his beauty was just unmatched.

Byeol smiled as seonghwa looked over at her, her waving her hands up in the air as she motioned for him to come to her. Byeol watched seonghwa excuse himself as the deputies stared at him in utter shock and confusion, him walking up to her with a cold face as she ran up to him excitedly before saying

Byeol : hi! I was trying to find you-

Seonghwa : I've been busy.

Byeol : I can see that. Anyway, what do you like in terms of food?

Seonghwa : did you seriously call me up till here to ask that?

Byeol : well, yes. The party's in 5 days and you're the one paying for everything, I would feel bad if I don't at least add something you like to eat onto the party menu.

Seonghwa : I don't have preferences, ask my mother if you want suggestions.

Seonghwa was about to turn and walk away when byeol held him by his shirt cuff, pointing towards the decorations before asking

Byeol : how is the décor then. Look, I've mixed in emerald green for me and jet black for you. As, you know, symbolism?

Seonghwa : jet black for me?

Byeol : meh, it's the aura you give off.

Seonghwa frowned as he turned towards byeol before asking

Seonghwa : I give off jet black for you?

Byeol : what did you expect then, mauve?

Seonghwa let out a breath as he muttered

Seonghwa : whatever.

Seonghwa was once again about to turn and walk away when byeol said

Byeol : you haven't been sleeping.

Seonghwa paused on his tracks as she said

Byeol : the week before when the storm was still going on heavily you'd have your lights off by 11 max, but now it's up till 4am. Something's wrong, isn't it?

Seonghwa : is this what you do when you're supposed to be sleeping? Stare under my bedroom door?

Byeol shrugged as she said

Byeol : I'm just really attentive. And that's why the deputies are here too, right? There's some strange demon activity.

Seonghwa : what was the one thing I told you not to do while you were at my manor?

Byeol : mr park-

Seonghwa : not meddle in my work, yes? This is exactly what you're doing right now, so stop.

Byeol : I was just…concerned? If you can't sleep I have some potions that might help-

Seonghwa turned around to face byeol as he cut her off by saying

Seonghwa : do you not get the hint, miss lee? I don't want your stupid potions, I don't need your help or your concern. If I can't sleep, I cant. If there's something wrong with my work, then there is. None of that should bother you. All you have to do is mind your business, find some stupid husband soon and get the hell out of my manor and my life.

Byeol stared at seonghwa as he let out a breath before saying

Seonghwa : it's pathetic how you keep running behind people who clearly don't like your presence.

Saying that seonghwa turned and walked away to join the deputies once again, byeol letting out a sigh as she muttered under her breath

Byeol : caviar it is.

_______________________

Byeol was now quietly eating dinner opposite seonghwa, his mother having gone to sleep earlier than usual leaving them to eat alone awkwardly. At least, seonghwa was being awkward. Byeol was being as usual, unaffected and nonchalant. Nothing seemed to affect her, seonghwa thought. Not a single crack was to be seen, not a single emotion out of place.

Seonghwa : I uh…

Byeol looked up at seonghwa as he paused, gripping the spoon tighter in his hand before saying

Seonghwa : the deputies today-

Byeol : if you can’t say it you don’t have to. I’ll find out some other way anyway, it is alright.

Byeol could hear how seonghwa was struggling sharing that information, it was probably supposed to be confidential. Seonghwa sighed as he said

Seonghwa : no about what I said back there, I was just really stressed and running on an hour of sleep.

Byeol : so you’re saying you didn’t mean it?

Seonghwa did not say anything to that. Byeol chuckled as she took a bite of her food before saying

Byeol : well, I wouldn’t blame you even if you said you did mean it, mr park. Who wouldn’t want an intruder off their property?

Seonghwa : I don’t think of you as an intruder.

Byeol : then what do you think of me as?

Seonghwa stared at byeol, her emerald green eyes staring right into his black ones as if she could read through them. Seonghwa had always had the upper hand in everything, he was always the more colder and shut off person compared to the other. But with byeol it was different, she seemed to hide everything way easier than seonghwa. And she was good at fishing everything out of him when he never let anyone get in through him like that. What was she?

Seonghwa : do you never have any other emotions except…except this one? You never get angry, upset, nothing. You’re always just the same, unaffected.

Byeol : is that a bad thing?

Seonghwa : humans have emotions-

Byeol : oho, look who’s talking huh.

Seonghwa rolled his eyes as byeol smiled and said

Byeol : anger does you nothing good, it just ruins your life. Why get angry then if you already know it’s so bad for you and the people around you? Plus…

Byeol took another bite of her chicken as she said

Byeol : I heard it gives you wrinkles faster.

Seonghwa smiled, and it was the first time byeol had seen it. She felt her heart do a flip and it took everything in her to not let it show on her face. She figured why seonghwa smiled less now, it was too sweet, too precious to be seen by this cruel world.

Seonghwa : what did you decide on in terms of my favourite food then, miss lee?

Byeol : oh, caviar.

Seonghwa : caviar!

Byeol : I’ll pay for it, worry not.

Seonghwa : it’s not about the price. You think I like caviar out of all things?

Byeol : do you not?

Seonghwa : I mean…okay, yes. But it’s not my most favourite.

Byeol snorted as she said

Byeol : then what is it? Red velvet cupcakes?

Seonghwa stared at byeol with a shocked face, making her gasp as she laughed out loud

Byeol : YOU DO LIKE RED VELVET CUPCAKES!

Seonghwa's cheeks turned red as he said

Seonghwa : oh shut up.

Byeol : PARK SEONGHWA! The morally grey man loves red velvet cupcakes, I cannot!

Seonghwa : can you lower your voice-

Byeol : OH I’M SO NOT PUTTING THIS INTO THE MENU NOW!

Byeol laughed as seonghwa watched, a smile unknowingly spreading on his lips at her excited chatters. And for the first time in his life, seonghwa had enjoyed dinner.

____________________________

2 days later :

Byeol had been staring at the light coming out through seonghwa's room for an hour now, her fingers playing around the vial of sleeping potion that she had always kept at hand. She finally walked towards his door before knocking on it, seonghwa opening it a few seconds later with a frown as he eyed her before asking

Seonghwa : is something wrong?

He looked like a mess. His hair was everywhere, his eyebags more defined now, his cheeks pale. He really hadn't been sleeping well.

Byeol : okay don't start screaming, but I brought a sleeping potion.

Seonghwa just stared at byeol blankly as she sighed and said

Byeol : you're doing so much just to help me find a husband, paying for such a grand party and what not. If I can accept that, can't you really just accept a sleeping potion from me?

Seonghwa stared at the vial byeol was holding for a few seconds before rolling his eyes, leaving the door open as he walked back inside his room. Byeol smiled in victory as she walked in as well, seonghwa sitting down on his bed as he said tiredly

Seonghwa : why do you even have this potion with you in the first place?

Byeol : in case of emergencies like this?

Seonghwa : not because you can't sleep?

Byeol shrugged, putting the vial on the bedside table as she said

Byeol : I can sleep well without the potion as well.

Seonghwa : can you?

Byeol frowned as she looked at seonghwa before asking

Byeol : is that an accusation, mr park?

Seonghwa let out a breath as he unstopped the vial before gulping the liquid down, grimacing at it's taste immediately.

Seonghwa : is this poison?

Byeol : why would I poison you right now mr park? I still need you to pay for the party.

Seonghwa scoffed, of course. All of this was just so he could appear for her party and pay for it in good shape.

Seonghwa : did you see the guest list?

Byeol : yes. And they're all quite influential, powerful men as well. I just need to see if they can be a nonchalant husband as well now.

Seonghwa : nonchalant. Have you…really never dreamed of finding a good husband? A husband who can love, protect and provide?

Byeol snorted as she said

Byeol : you're talking about fairytales, not men.

Was it really possible for someone to never dream of finding love?

Seonghwa : even I've dreamed of a good wife as a young boy.

Byeol seemed intrigued at that.

Byeol : oh really? How exactly did you dream here to be then?

Seonghwa shrugged as he said the obvious

Seonghwa : kind, smart, loving, caring, a beautiful smile, long hair.

Byeol chuckled as she said

Byeol : long hair!

Seonghwa : I thought it would be cute when it was windy and the hair would fly everywhere. You know, like fairytales.

Byeol giggled, sitting down on the bed next to seonghwa as she said

Byeol : you're a very funny man, mr park. And now that you mention long hairs, I too had wanted one thing in my dream husband. Not long hair, but it was something long.

Seonghwa : UGH-

Byeol laughed as seonghwa shook his head in disgust before saying

Seonghwa : I did not expect this from such a refined young lady.

Byeol : you think I'm refined?

Seonghwa : barely.

Byeol : excuse me!

Seonghwa chuckled as byeol smiled and said

Byeol : okay tell me more then! What else did you want long in her?

Seonghwa : Jesus christ!

And for the first time that room heard laughter and chuckles that night.

____________________________

2 days later :

Byeol was now getting ready for the party, having worn an emerald green off-shoulder evening gown and emerald earrings to match with it. Her bobbed hair laid in curls against her neck, her lips dark red. All she missed was a necklace, but that she couldn't have imported due to some stupid reason. So she'd just decided to skip the necklace part.

Byeol looked up as she heard a knock on her door, sighing as she said

Byeol : come in!

Byeol watched as seonghwa stepped in, dressed in an all black suit once again. But this time it had Opal gems all over it, decorated intricately and beautifully. Done by hand, surely.

Byeol : did your mother make that blazer?

Seonghwa nodded, walking closer to byeol as he said

Seonghwa : it's her hobby, I'm surprised you didn't realize that by looking at her hand.

Byeol chuckled as she said

Byeol : I didn't really look into her hands.

Seonghwa nodded as he placed a jewelry box on the table lying in front of byeol, pressing a button as the box clicked open. Byeol gasped, staring at the most beautiful emerald necklace she had ever seen in her life.

Byeol : no, mr park-

Seonghwa : just take it, it'll help you find a husband with quality. If a man can recognize this necklace and talks to you about it, it means he has expensive taste in jewels and fashion. Probably your type, and he can buy you good jewelry for special days.

Byeol : is this necklace that special?

Seonghwa : do you perhaps know the muggle French queen Marie Antionette?

Byeol : mhmm?

Seonghwa : it was her least favorite emerald necklace, I bought it at a muggle auction.

Byeol chuckled as she shook her head and said

Byeol : you can't let me keep this.

Seonghwa : my mother won't wear things like this, and I have no other lady I know personally. I don't plan on having a wife either.

Byeol sighed, knowing seonghwa wasn’t going to take this back as she said

Byeol : okay, then hold on.

Seonghwa frowned as byeol walked over to her bedside table, opening it as she pulled out a pin that was shaped like a clover, it's leaves made of emeralds instead. Byeol walked closer to seonghwa before pinning it onto seonghwa's suit's chest pocket. She didn’t give a chance for him to retaliate.

Byeol : it belonged to my grandfather once, he got it as a wedding gift from my grandma who also, apparently likes jewels and collects them. She made this pin by hand and gifted it to him on their first wedding anniversary. He died, so then I somehow got it.

Seonghwa stared at the pin, awestruck. What he had given her was expensive, but this had meaning to it. Too much meaning for someone like him.

Seonghwa : miss lee. This is your family heirloom-

Byeol : and yet not as expensive as this necklace that you gave me. This will make us equal, mr park.

Seonghwa : I did not give you the necklace to get something in return.

Byeol smoothened the pin in as she looked up at seonghwa before asking

Byeol : then why did you?

Seonghwa stared at byeol, feeling his breathing getting shallow as he said

Seonghwa : I thought…I thought you'd look beautiful in it. I couldn't find anyone else that would ever do this beautiful necklace justice. Even Marie Antionette was shaded away by the necklace when she wore it, people only talked about the necklace, not her. Hence why it’s her least liked necklace. No one in history has ever worn this necklace, it has always worn it’s wearer instead. But you…I think you could be the first.

Byeol stared at seonghwa, feeling like she wanted to just quit this party and stay with him forever. How she wished the storm hadn't stopped.

Byeol : are you sure you don't want to give your name in for the husband's list?

Seonghwa said nothing, his heart beating faster and faster. Byeol chuckled as she patted seonghwa's chest one last time before stepping back as she said

Byeol : I was joking. Thank you for the beautiful necklace, mr park. I'll be forever grateful.

Seonghwa nodded feeling hot all of a sudden, but all he could think was this.

He wished she wasn't joking.

__________________________

[fersauce47mediatalk]

About That Handsome Devil's "The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell"

Hi Tumblr! I suppose that this is my first real post here. Hi, my name is Ferris/Lance, Whichever you like more. I came here from Bluesky to meet new people and rant without the shackles of a 300 character limit. 

Since I can yap more freely, I wanted to talk more in depth about the album I listened to earlier, That Handsome Devil’s "The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell". I like to talk about media, especially music! I have a lot to say about just about everything, yet nearly nothing at all. Hopefully you get that.

Anyway, this was That Handsome Devil’s third studio album, of which he has 6. I haven’t listened to the other albums, but if they’re as good as The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell- that’s long, let’s just call the album Heaven & Hell for short. Like I was saying, if his other albums are as good as Heaven and Hell, I would be more than happy to listen to them. 

Just about every song on this album has this feeling where I feel like it’s wrong to not put it on my playlist. My playlist is already long enough, I’ve only had it for 6 months and it’s almost 1000 songs long… hell, I’ve added about 3-4 hours to it this week. 

Speaking of my playlist, the only songs from Heaven & Hell that I didn’t add to it were One More Try, Bored, My Pen Is A Shiv, and Party’s dead. It’s a kick ass album, I highly recommend you listen to it. It has 13 songs and is 47 minutes long. 47 is my favorite number, not for any reason though. I just like it. Where was I? Right, I was talking about how good the album is. None of the songs overstay their welcome. They’re all perfect length. The longest song is One More Try at 4 minutes and 36 seconds. The shortest is Twist The Knife at 2 minutes and 57 seconds. If you ask me, that’s the perfect range.

I will admit that That Handsome Devil’s voice and style isn’t for everyone. He sounds like Elvis mixed with Lemon Demon mixed with Jack Stauber, then with a little bit of a deeper voice than you’d expect from those 3. I wouldn’t exactly call it jazzy, but Heaven & Hell does have a certain spunk to it. The vocals are bouncy and the beats are… interesting.

In case you’re stubborn and refuse to listen to a whole album, I’ll give you the top 5 that you HAVE to listen to. Take a stranger’s word for it, this is a need. 

1- Charlie’s Inferno. Hell yeah. If you haven’t heard it yet, that’s surprising. It’s That Handsome Devil’s most popular song, and for good reason. I’d say that it’s the main attraction of this album. I’d tell you what it’s about, but you should hear it for yourself.

2- Inside you. This song is funny. “She don’t have no hobbies, no sports and stuff. She don’t have no hobbies, she just likes to fuck.” I like the flow of it, most of the songs on Heaven & Hell have a slow flow like this but it works quite well here.

3- The U & I In Suicide. I was doing That Handsome Devil’s quests on Soundmap, and I got this song from a loot box. The second I saw that name I knew that it was gonna be a banger. And it is. The style did kind of surprise me at first, but once you get past the unusual sound of it, you’ll see the song for what it is: A total vibe.

4- Twist The Knife. It’s the shortest song on the album, and that sucks. I REALLY wish that it was longer. It’s one of those songs that leaves you wanting more. The flow of it has got to be my favorite on the album, only challenged by MAYBE Charlie’s Inferno. Same goes for the instrumental. The piano is utilized really well here.  

5- Karmakaze. I don’t have much to say about this one as far as specific aspects go. While you’re listening to the album sometimes you just want a break from the brain activity and want a song that sounds good without saying too much at first glance. This is that song. It’s chill.

In conclusion, Heaven & Hell has some kick ass instrumentals and flows. I feel like those two parts of the songs are what makes the album good. They’re the shit. Give the album a chance. 

Later skaters! I’m having fun on Tumblr =D

[mandalhoerian]

NO TIME TO DIE | leon kennedy x oc | 9

pairing: leon s. kennedy x oc word count: 13K~ warnings: desth of a child, suggested suicide off-screen, sewers summary: In trying to make up for a previous mistake, Vera digs herself into a deeper hole yet manages to add an FBI agent to their ever-growing party, anyway. There's something about her, though, that only Vera is privy to. author's note: dedicated to @sweet-hometea for all the love on this fic and the fanart, and to @mykobirb as well, especially for the lovely comment on ao3! and also!!!!!! to @byexbyez -- literally nobody commented on my works ever like they did, thank you so much 😭😭😭😭😭

READ ON AO3 ! ☆ NO TIME TO DIE MASTERPOST

Leon was—

He didn’t sound like himself.

Vera was unable to withhold a great deal of worry from showing itself in her face through what was essentially a crumpled discomfort like she’d just chomped down on a ripe lemon.

One didn't need months to decipher this guy’s true nature, he was the straightforward type that way; a single glance at his well-mannered, gentle demeanor spoke volumes. Leon wasn't the type to engage in psychological chess, not because he lacked intelligence or cunning, but because his character exuded honesty and sincerity — his approach to extracting information was direct, relying on trust and a genuine connection rather than manipulative tactics, after all, even when he knew she was hiding things, no on-the-nose attempt was made by him at any point to try getting her to let the cat out of the bag.

This… bargain technique didn’t suit him — and even worse, he was, frankly, terrible at it, the nonchalant charisma he should have had to support his claim was more of an anxious fight stance preparing to receive a blow because he visibly wore his heart on his sleeve, intentions transparent.

And it was none other than Vera who had steered him to this road.

Guilt washed over her in an overwhelming wave, the point where her actions, or rather, her inaction brought them to was bearing down on her with the force of a blizzard. She had let him go to great complicated and uncharacteristic lengths, navigating through the murkiness of uncertainty, all because of her own hesitation and selfishness, and the regret she had been able to push aside before suddenly became an avalanche, burying her in its suffocating embrace.

She could have saved Leon from the anguish he had put himself — was putting himself through, the desperation to uncover the answers that haunted him he was holding at bay for others’ sake. She could have spared him the emotional and mental toll it had taken.

How could she have allowed herself to play the role of the selfless protector, pretending to spare Leon and Claire from the truth, when in reality, it was her own fear and inability to confront the difficult questions that held her back? This was never about protecting their blissful ignorance, was it? She was doing this to not be hated and lose people she’d gotten attached to. It was self-preservation from the very first moment, the protection of her own feelings. Not wanting to be judged. Not wanting to be questioned. Not wanting to be perceived at all. She would have told both her companions from the start if she truly cared about them, and that was a pill she didn’t want to even look at right now, let alone attempt swallowing.

Oh, if it wasn’t the consequences of her own actions.

Of course life had thrown a whole FBI agent in the mix to laugh at her squirming to choose the least bumpy way to go about it, because how the hell was she going to set things right with a trained individual who could sniff out liars on the spot?

No point in panicking now.

It had been too long of this pretense and too much acting and misleading for her to randomly come out in what would essentially be a confessional. He would certainly resent her if she decided to disclose everything now of all the times. Because it would be personal. Because the question would be, ‘Why did you hide it from me after everything we went through together?’ and not ‘Why didn’t you do anything?’ — and somehow that was worse.

Vera didn’t know if she could take it if Leon were to look at her like Irons did. Hell, even the imagination of his features twisted in hate and disdain pointed right at her induced a whole body shudder.

God, why was this scarier than anything else they were facing?

So it was right back to the starting point. She couldn’t say anything.

Not now, anyway.

She had to stay quiet… as long as circumstances allowed it.

And if it were to be unexpectedly revealed, an excuse had to be up and ready to go with a cherry on top, and she needed to come up with one, fast.

A lie never lives to be old. Or, as they say in her homeland, the candle of someone who lies almost always burns just to midnight — and after that?

But.

But redemption of a smaller scale was still possible.

Leon could still get his questions answered and she also could delay the inevitable — all through this FBI Agent. If she were to spill the beans, then Vera wouldn’t have getting exposed to worry about for a while until they got out of RC.

This was it. Yes, fuck, good thinking.

Help Leon get the information from her, fall back on the road, get Claire and Sherry and hightail it out of here — and the following course of action?

Vera would think about it once she had a clean bed and slept like the dead and turned her brain off to everything for at least a month.

The priority was now with the obviously struggling blond and the agent.

The problem was Leon trying to play bad cop while he was clearly fit for good cop to the bone, an assist from her was necessary to swap the roles, that much was obvious from the flat reaction he’d gotten from the woman.

Her pointed, chiding pause was followed by an unmoved expression save for the amused twitch of her glossy, red-hued lips at his attempt to play the interrogator, supporting Vera’s silent hypothesis reeking from the twisted anxiety on her face shadowed by the anticipatory cringe she was trying to hold back for Leon’s sake. As an FBI agent, she must have dealt with individuals far more skilled in manipulation than a rookie police officer who didn’t even know the contents of the tape he was offering.

She wasn't about to fall for his bluff so easily.

"Let's be clear," she remarked with a touch of sarcasm, a tilt to her head. "You're not the type of individuals I would typically rely on for crucial information."

Let’s do this.

Vera put her hand on Leon’s forearm, lowering the hand he was death-gripping the tape recorder with like his life depended on it as she stepped forward, all hands on deck, preparing to take over the reins of the conversation and sending him a reassuring look as he silently questioned her. Poor guy was winded as a wire about to snap, the stress that seemed to make him sweat had waned upon her intervention, and that alone was enough to keep going. “You’re not relying on us. It’s Bertolucci. We just have his stuff. And if you’re interested, possibly more.”

Another thing that weighed on her throat and her conscience.

It was so twisted to utter the man’s name in these circumstances and use it to her own benefit, when he had perished right in front of her in the most gruesome way possible. He’d been brazen and shameless to her face, alive and breathing and talking five minutes ago. One blink and he was no more. She knew this man. She’d worked with this man, laughed with him, shared common grievances, and just like that, he was gone. They didn’t even have a chance to take in what was left of him before having to hightail it out of there for their lives. It was as if her feelings hadn’t caught up with what her brain had already comprehended.

Dying was easier than breathing in this rotting city, and getting used to it all was a silent disease as much as it was an immune system reaction.

And Vera was using the poor bastard’s name as a tool to have her way. It was a whale on her tongue.

Just keep going. Don’t think about it.

This was for Leon. (Yeah. Not herself. Leon.)

The woman made a small, judgmental noise from her nose as she slowly crossed her arms loosely over her chest, not even glancing at the ball Vera had kicked over to her side. So withdrawn.

Assessing the situation more up close and personal couldn’t go without acknowledging the government had basically caged the city in, waiting the destruction out instead of interfering, so, this sole agent’s presence here despite the raging outbreak indicated one singular objective, and Vera would carrot-and-stick it out of her, it was the least she could do for Leon.

She hoped it’d be worth it to make light of legit traumatizing events that were still fresh gaping holes in her very being.

“Spoiler alert: Emails. Journals. Documentation. Exchanges—” She purposefully stopped, as if trying to remember, squinting, and then waving her hand dismissively, but not too oblivious to raise some suspicion, adding some concern in there for flavor. “Something about some Gee-virus, its whereabouts, what it does. Some unbelievable stuff if you ask me, but graves don’t stay sacred in this city anymore and the late Mr. X over here just popped a head like a pimple in front of me.” Leon made a sound of discomfort behind her, she could hear him shift around, walk back perhaps, wary at the burning, crushed frame of the said creature buried in debris. “So shit be damned, someone really is playing Frankenstein out there somewhere. I think.”

A-ha. There it is.

A tiny flicker beneath the impenetrable ice as Vera purposefully kept on rambling. The slight raise of her prettily pointed chin, falling open of the lips, the inconspicuous shift of her gloved hands where they were snug in her crossed arms.

So, the target was G-Virus after all.

“We’ll hand over everything we have to you if you’re willing to tell us what’s going on,” Leon cut in, too impatiently eager, causing Vera to snap her head at him with a tut and throwing a look at him pointedly in a silent message to shut up and let her handle it.

He immediately got the shifty eyes of guilt.

If Leon kept bringing bargaining up out loud like that, she could hold obstruction of justice over his head for withholding information and take whatever she wanted anyway — he really was backing himself to a corner by doing that and didn’t even know it, proving once again that interrogation wasn’t his forte against a seasoned individual.

“You’re playing a game I have no patience to entertain.” Vera’s face went sour. And here we have it. This woman had to be waiting for someone to slip up to pull this card. “I guess I should inform you of Section 37A of the Federal Confidential Informant Protection Act. It’s an offense to withhold information that may hinder the progress of an investigation or put informants at risk.”

Vera held up one pointer finger in parallel to her head like she wanted permission to speak in class. “Miss. May I?”

For a split second, the agent was utterly speechless, mouth opening and closing, this was a true absurdity when all things considered they were conversing in front of a giant dead creature and a smoking, burning vehicle, bargaining like merchants, but it didn’t last long for it to be considered slipping. “What are you doing?”

Her finger went up higher. “May I?”

“You don’t have to—”

The girl opened her palms to the side and brought them together. “At risk is a magnanimously underestimating thing to say about your informant’s condition, I mean the man’s head just got squeezed like a lemon.”

Leon’s croaking sigh resonated in her soul. Truly the spirit of a scandalized goody two shoes. “Oh my god.”

She didn’t feel great about it either. He didn’t need to sound that disappointed.

“What? Why are you making that face, I’m right.” Leon looked like he was considering their friendship momentarily there when she shrugged. No idea whatsoever it was a tactic. Which was fine. Only added to the authenticity. “And. And. We are your informants now. So. The only one doing the hindering and risking is you.”

“You’re making me regret saving your smartass.”

“Oh, snippy. No need for that, we just want to help.”

“Then do tell me how you came to possess such information?”

Vera tilted her head in what would be her dumb blonde moment in a joking manner, purposefully making it clear she was playing dumb as a joke. “Stumbled on it.”

The agent wasn’t having it at the moment, however, patience cut short by Vera’s cheekiness so far. “Stumbled on it.”

“Well, purposefully stumbled on it,” Vera said, dropping the act since her energy wasn’t matched, unhooking one strap of her backpack to search the contents so she could bring out her camera, and when it was in her hand, she shook it triumphantly at the skeptical woman. Mixing a dash of truth in there for good measure. “I’m also trying to actively record everything going on in the city, so it’s not really a coincidence. In case the public would claim the footage is too Hollywood, like, I dunno, to claim mass hysteria, I was also looking to get every file in the station documenting the events and that’s when we found something — and neither of us understood what we stumbled on, to be honest.”

Her fingers had begun tapping on her arm. “What exactly is the basis of your evidence?”

“His Chief happened to be involved in guarding something impor—”

Leon chimed in again. “The G-virus.”

“The G-virus, yes,” she sighed, deep but short, not wanting the exasperation to show on her face as she focused on the automatic garage door behind the agent, trying to ignore the covered body of her dog just in the corner. “And he was bribed for his services — apparently. We saw the proof of it in his office, and took it with us. Easy as that. Interested yet?”

A head tilt. “Maybe.” Her arm lock loosened as one of her hands rested on her hip this time, an authoritative and commanding pose. More relaxed and receptive. “After I see with my eyes what you have.”

Leon tried his chance again. “You’ll tell us, then?”

Vera saw the corner of a raised eyebrow peeking up underneath the sunglasses, clearly unimpressed by his persistence. "I'll tell you what you need to know if your claims hold true," she responded, finally giving in, steady and composed and not so much like she was at the losing end of a gambit.

Leon, sensing that the agent's interest had been piqued, took a step closer, meeting the woman’s unwavering gaze underneath the veil of her black lenses. "The evidence is right here. Please. We’re not asking for much.”

The agent's demeanor softened slightly, a glimmer of curiosity shining through her stern facade. "Very well," she acquiesced, measured. "Show me what you have."

It didn’t look like she’d take off running once they gave her what she wanted — not with those stilettos, so Vera reached into her backpack once again, carefully retrieving a stack of documents neatly resting at the very back, courtesy of Leon’s organizational skills. She handed them over to the agent, who took them with a measured caution, scanning the contents with an astute precision, skipping over the police reports and obviously searching for something specific.

As the agent perused the evidence, Leon leaned closer to Vera, his voice barely a whisper. "Do you think it's enough?" he asked, his apprehension evident.

She just hummed in return, eyes not leaving the woman, not even for a second.

It was enough. The emails made the location clear as the sewers. It was all the agent had to have needed.

Vera bit her lip, teeth nipping at one particular layer of chapped skin, gaze fixed on her reaction. She had laid all their cards on the table, hoping that the evidence would be compelling enough to elicit the truth Leon sought, and if it came down to the worst, they had the keycard anyway, she could figure something out to stick together all the way to the sewers and come up with a way to persuade the woman to reveal anything at all that’d be satisfactory enough to him for the time being.

After what felt like an eternity, the agent finally looked up from the documents, her expression a mix of contemplation and intrigue. "This... is unexpected," she admitted, clearly not in her plans today to be surprised. “I need to hear that tape as well.”

Success.

She sure didn’t seem the type to be thrown off-kilter or shaken, and that fact alone caused an inexplicable smugness to spread in Vera, taking a turn to teasing, letting out a chuckle as she retrieved the tape recorder and held it between two fingers towards the agent like a piece of evidence herself. "You sure you don't want to see the movie too? Have popcorn, sit down on the sofa? Agent...?"

Vera couldn’t help but continue with an arched eyebrow, expectant and confident, as the agent seemed to process how to deal with her after Leon simply held out his palm at the sight of Vera playfully offering up the item of importance. But it was undeniably amusing seeing how someone who carried herself with such assurance got stuck in the moment for just the shortest instant of uncertainty before she smoothly recovered to reach and take the device from Vera, who did not miss a beat to toss it over.

"Ada." The agent replied dryly as she handled the device, fiddling with it until she found the right button, and with a nod, pressed down on it, ready to absorb whatever secrets hid within it. "And take it down a notch," she warned with a serious undercurrent, before turning around and starting to walk away towards the entrance of the garage, a silent expectation for the both to follow her.

The corners of Vera's lips drew upwards, the beginnings of a smirk curling them as she nudged Leon. "Too much?" she whispered.

Leon was torn for a moment, before his eyes locked with her and he released a sigh of surrender that quickly morphed into a resigned smile, glancing behind him . "Let's just follow her before she changes her mind and leaves us to the mercy of this... thing."

The three continued towards the other side of the room, the clicking of the agent's high heels echoing ominously as they walked across the dark concrete, the tape recorder crackling into life, static cutting through the heavy silence.

Vera gazed to the side at Zeytin's covered body, spacing off at the lone paw poking out, trying hard to suppress any thoughts she might have, biting inside of her lip, and clenched her fists tight at her sides, staring ahead now.

“But that doesn’t explain the rumors about the orphanage. I-I just find it way too coincidental Umbrella’s one of the benefactors,” Ben Bertolucci pressed, obviously slipping it in there nonchalantly in the middle of some conversation, his casual attempt at digging further into the company sounding like gossip he was trying to get her to talk about with him, and Vera snorted, never tiring of the audacity this man possessed.

May he rest in peace.

Leon jogged forward, producing a keycard out of his pocket, and slid it inside the control panel, the gates rolling up to give access to the outside world, a cold, fresh whiff of night rain enveloping all their bodies, and it was so refreshing that Vera inhaled deeply through the nose while Leon didn't look away once from the agent and the tape recorder, intent to listen.

There was a pause, a few moments of silence save for the rhythmic beats of their footsteps against the ground. “You told me this interview was about the new scholarship Umbrella set up.”

Vera's ears twitched as they exited the building, listening closely, but she was focused more on the woman and trying to read her mood. So far so good as they started ascending the slope, getting a clear view of the street ahead and a hint of freedom.

“Come on, Annette. Nobody cares about that. They want to know about the G-Virus, and the—”

“Where did you hear about this?”

That made her feel strange all over, a creeping uneasiness rising inside her belly, like when someone says your name, you naturally react — like a trigger. The same happened when you heard your own name being spoken out loud in the distance, even though you didn't quite catch the rest of it, but it still hit home and you looked around, expecting to spot who it might have been.

“—and that big fucking sinkhole in the city which, by the way, rumor has it goes straight to your underground lab.”

She heard Leon murmur, "Lab?"

Vera took advantage of their walk uphill to glance back, noting they had left the doors to the underground structure open, to hide her face, mostly, and feign observation over their route. But she couldn't stop the flinching of her body when they finally stepped into the rain, droplets splattering onto her clothes, instantly cooling her overheating head, so refreshing she wanted to stay and turn her head up at the sky.

They were leaving the station behind.

Leaving her dad behind.

That somehow was harder to come to terms with than having to bury him with her own two hands.

“Now, are you going to talk to me or are you—”

“This interview is over.”

One hand slipped down from her heart to rest against the stomach that wanted to reject her half-digested food at the realization.

Was this really going to be their goodbye? Just walk away like that without so much as a proper ceremony to remember him by? A pitiful, shallow hole with no time to mourn over him?

"Bitch."

When her hand began trembling, a large, warm one touched hers, taking it off her belly and loosely holding it in comfort, and it grounded her to reality. She blinked several times rapidly at nothing, trying to quell the random hysteria from descending upon her, feeling like her limbs were detached and she was watching herself on the side.

The street they arrived at after climbing the parking garage ramp was quiet, apart from the trickle of water and the distant sounds of shuffling feet in the background, almost peaceful, if not for the unnatural, desolate feel that seemed to permeate the entire neighborhood. They stood in a rectangle of a road surrounded on all sides by narrow buildings of varying architectural styles, tall houses lined up together like little boxes, and cars littered throughout like forgotten, thrown toys, the bright light from a nearby fire flickering against the gloomy backdrop in the far right corner. Some of the windows of the buildings were shattered or boarded up; others were partially open, allowing them to see the darkness that loomed behind the glass.

All of them seemed empty, abandoned.

Despite the lights.

What an oddly organized ghost town it was, she thought absentmindedly. She spent her teen years here, yet it appeared like the architecture didn’t want to blend in with her memories, clashing instead in an eclectic showcase. Everything had this… vibe of having been lived in once, and now just completely lifeless and dormant.

An ambulance was parked awkwardly in front of a rusty metal fence to the left of the trio, its back door hanging open as if it had been hastily discarded there, the vehicle's wheels dug deep in the mud and it looked to have been abandoned for days. There was blood spattered across the paramedic uniforms that lay on the ground next to the stretcher, but thankfully, there were no signs of bodies anywhere. It was a part of a barricade of vehicles blocking the path down the main road, leading deeper into the city center, with a pair of police cars taking the lead and another ambulance as the rear guard, a seemingly hasty precautionary measure to prevent anyone from driving past, or things from coming in, which meant the only way to move forward was to the right.

Where the, uh. The sinkhole was. Leading to the sewers. What a neat coincidence.

"Does that confirm the intel?" Leon prompted the agent again when they all approached the roadblock. He stopped by the nearest police car, eyeing the hood as he spoke. The way he stood, rigid, alert, like he was ready for something bad to happen anytime—

"Surprisingly, yes." Ada was quick to respond, the low, sharp edge audible over the pitter-patter of rain around them. It was obvious she wasn’t too keen on cooperating fully. "Good job, you two."

Vera turned towards her. "Huh?" Her response came out small, choked, her face twisted in genuine confusion that bled into her voice too, but the woman paid her no attention as she simply proceeded walking. She jogged along to catch up with her, frowning. "You said you would tell us what's going on!"

The agent slowed her pace, tilting her head just slightly to address Vera over her shoulder as they crossed the blockaded area. "Will you finally get the hell out of here if I do?" she asked, her voice dripping with thinly-veiled contempt, the first sign of frustration surfacing beneath her calm demeanor.

Leon caught up in an instant. "We have friends trapped in the sewers. We won't leave without them." He was firm, leaving no room for discussion, and it was that determination that seemingly convinced Ada to drop it with a sigh, reluctantly stopping by an old brick wall, the surface marred with graffiti, posters, and dried up bloody handprints.

She glanced over at him, lips pursed as if debating whether to elaborate, then turned her head and pulled her sleeve to check the watch. "Just my luck." Her jaw visibly clenched, tense lines etched on her forehead, her annoyance apparent, and the way her gaze drifted off into the distance, lost in thought, until she straightened her back abruptly and faced them. "You might not make it out once you get down there. It's best if you forget about your friends and get yourselves to safety," she warned them matter-of-factly, dismissively, with none of her previous sarcasm, a subtle change in the pitch of her voice like a different person had taken her place, despite the jaw-dropping cruelty of her suggestion.

"One of them is a child," Leon countered, a twinge of disbelief coloring his words. It didn't escape Vera's notice, nor his wince at the way Ada tilted her head to the side in response. "We can't just..." A pregnant pause followed his words as he fought for the right ones, shoulders sagging. "You've seen what this city is like," he finished quietly. "We can't just merrily go on our way and leave her behind."

The woman hummed in response, folding her arms on her chest, and stared pointedly at Vera this time. "What about you?"

The question hit her like a bucket of ice, and her mind just blanked out. The shock must have registered on her face, because Ada just made a noise resembling a suppressed snort of amusement. "You don't seem the type to play hero like this one over here."

Ouch.

No, she definitely wasn't. That much was true. How'd Ada read her so well like that?

She wasn't selfless, heroic — she didn't do the right thing for the sake of it, like he did, no, she wasn't acting out on a moral compass, not really, she was... just selfishly sticking with him, so she could keep him safe and protect what she cared about. Nothing else. Was that wrong? She couldn't help that her instinct to preserve her own skin kicked in like that, but she refused to let him or Claire and Sherry die. She didn't want to lose any more people. For her sanity, or not. At most, she was just following his lead in hopes for a bigger payoff, and if they were able to get to them alive and healthy in one piece, it would absolutely be the biggest win she could get out of this nightmare situation, along with collecting even more evidence pertaining to Umbrella's illegal experiments, proving the company's crimes against humanity once and for all.

Everything was connected. It had to be.

But.

But she was aware it sounded bad if she had to voice any of it out loud. It was truly morally gray territory for her, but it didn't feel like a choice. Not a conscious decision. It just... was.

"It's not playing hero if I'm just returning the favor of saving my life," she murmured, crossing her arms on her chest with an exaggerated shrug, defensive, unsure where the answer came from but it sure felt true. "And what does it matter, anyway? We're all going the same way. Let's just help each other out."

Another slight head tilt. "Right," the woman said in a drawl, seeming amused and intrigued by Vera's answer. "My point still stands. I'm only trying to save you both some trouble and help you out," she added, walking ahead of them, stopping at the point where the road ended in a sinkhole, staring down at the construction site that led to the sewer below and turned her head to the left. "We'll take the long way."

Two things happened in Vera's brain at once: victory exploding in a colorful triumph of fireworks because holy shit, this whole FBI agent fucking wordlessly agreed to adding them to her party like this was some videogame, and dread crawling like an army of ants all over her body at recognizing what had Ada’s attention.

Gun Shop Kendo. Where Uncle Ken lived upstairs with his wife and daughter.

Her thoughts instantly raced on how they'd be faring and surviving in these conditions, a surge of fear pulsing through her veins like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.

Leon wasted no time and went after Ada, taking careful steps towards her side. Vera lingered at the edge of the sinkhole, eyes wide at the glowing neon sign above the shop, unable to move an inch further. The red color that flickered on and off cast a hypnotic haze to her vision, and in the midst of it, her legs moved of their own accord, propelling her towards the other end of the street without thinking too hard about it.

It was automatic. Unconscious. Like falling into a dream. Or a nightmare.

One foot after the other, picking up the pace as she advanced closer while Ada was crouching in front of the shop's door and picking the lock, her mind wandering aimlessly to those past moments of playing with Emma in the backroom of the store, Uncle Robert teaching her the ins and outs of gun care, Mrs. Kendo serving delicious, piping hot lunches that had Vera drooling just to think of, Marvin having to personally come and pick her up because she wouldn't want to go home after spending the day here with the family, learning something new and getting pampered by a woman who showed her actual motherly affection.

All those fun times replayed in her head on repeat like a nostalgia montage, but the smell of something rotten snapped her back to the present, a nauseating sensation making itself known in the pit of her stomach, threatening to revolt against her as she paused in front of the storefront, frozen on the spot, swallowing thickly as she eyed the corpse of the infected woman slumped across the shop window, blocking their path inside and to the backroom behind the counter where the stairs to the apartment were located. It had her wanting to scream at the sight of the dark, slimy substances spilling everywhere and tainting everything they touched, but she swallowed her own bile down as she gazed at the decomposing creature, barely recognizable at this point, so mangled and broken that it felt disrespectful to acknowledge it had ever been human once.

Did they all end up like that?

A wave of crippling fear swept over her, causing her whole body to tremble, sending a cold shiver down her spine, forcing herself to walk forward into the shop. As she stepped in, a soft 'click' echoed in her ears as the lights blinked on and she could see her surroundings clearly. The inside was deserted and ransacked, with all the displays lining the walls empty, tables turned, items littering the floor, and bloodstains covering every inch of the hardwood surface. The door to the display cabinet behind the counter was hanging loose from its hinges, creaking and groaning as the wind blew it back and forth, creating a ghastly rhythmic symphony to go along with the raindrops tapping against the windows.

The shelves and cabinets that were usually full with all sorts of knick-knacks and goods, now left empty, had fallen over during the attack that transpired here and were strewn about in a haphazard fashion; the register sat on top of the counter, with a trail of dried blood smeared across its screen, and a black laptop lay cracked open near the cash drawer. Vera kept going around aimlessly, not even thinking about looting whatever was still there, more preoccupied with scanning the wreckage in search of any signs of life - anything at all that would give her a glimpse of hope — but, seeing nothing promising, it suddenly seemed futile.

There wasn’t much she could do, except stare into the distance and observe the destruction around her in silence, trying to digest the scene unfolding in front of her without losing her composure and letting despair consume her soul whole.

At the very left corner of the store where the guns were on display, and shooting targets hung on the brick wall, she could see bullet holes and shattered glass everywhere, as well as pieces of shattered wooden frames lying around the area, remnants of whatever furniture might have once adorned the space. A note carefully left on top of the table pinned by a piece of wood caught her eye, and after approaching it curiously, she could clearly read the writing that was scrawled across its surface.

Kendo,

It seems like you've got your reasons for staying put, so I'll trust you to take care of yourself.

Still, if things get worse and your "other arrangements" don't work out, you know where to find me.

I'll do everything I can.

Jill Valentine

Jill! So she was okay, just fine! Relief filled her with happiness and comfort at reading it — the woman was competent and kind enough to make sure someone at this place she trusted was doing alright. That was great news. It also meant Uncle Ken was around! That cheered her up so much she actually found herself smiling for the first time since they got out of the station and it felt natural.

She was about to call for everyone when a muffled sound reached her ears, freezing her on the spot. People talking. Arguing.

She would recognize his grumpiness anywhere.

Without any further thought, Vera stumbled forward, sprinting towards the direction she thought she heard his gruff voice coming from, hoping against all odds that he was safe and sound, and turned the corner, out the door leading to the back street and into the rain again, and came face to face with Leon and Ada having their guns on Uncle Ken, who was also pointing his shotgun at them, standing in front of a barefoot Emma.

The relief she initially felt upon seeing that they were both alright gave way to sheer terror at the scene unfolding before her eyes, her brain unable to process anything other than the sight.

"Uncle Ken!"

In one second flat, she dashed forward towards the group as fast as her legs would carry her, ignoring Ada's sharp, "Stay back!" and Leon's shout of her name, and wrapped her arms around Ken's waist, pressing herself close to him, a choked sob escaping her mouth, trying to suppress another one when she took in the smell of cigarette smoke, soap, and sweat — and despite everything that happened today, the familiar scent of home engulfed her senses, easing her nerves and calming her racing heart.

He smelled like he always did after a shift, ready to cuddle up on the couch together and eat junk food while watching reruns of shows and movies they liked to critique, or have a discussion about all kinds of stuff while Emma did her homework at the dining table.

His breath left him like a gust of wind, like he couldn't believe what had happened, but still, after an exasperated huff, she could feel his solid body relaxing under her grip, and in that moment, she knew she did the right thing by reaching out for him. His free hand rested on top of her head gently, carding his fingers through her hair in an attempt to soothe her, murmuring softly in her ear, "Oh, kiddo..." And when she finally pulled away, she noticed tears forming, a tired smile appearing on his weary face as he took her in.

Vera couldn't hold it in, feeling no older than Emma, just as helpless and small as her voice shuddered, "He's gone. Dad— dad's dead."

The words made everything seem final, closing the chapter on what had transpired tonight, and she watched helplessly as his expression fell, a somber look passing over his features. He didn't say anything, didn't ask questions, just stood there in silence, absorbing everything she told him before taking another breath to compose himself, placing his hand on her arm.

"Step aside, we need to terminate her before she turns," Ada interrupted briskly, finger curling around the trigger at Emma as Uncle Ken pushed Vera behind and swiftly blocked the woman from aiming, shouting in defiance.

"Terminate her? She's my fucking daughter!"

Vera took a step back, really looking at Emma for the first time since arriving, and saw with horror that she was... uninjured. But... sick. Barely on her feet. She swayed precariously, sweat beading on her brow, white as a sheet, sleepwalking almost, unblinking, unaware. There were dark purple veins all over her neck, face, limbs, creeping slowly up to her temples as though they were trying to spread outwards and consume her flesh whole.

Oh...

She gaped, open-mouthed, at the young girl, unable to do anything else but stare dumbly, heart thumping loudly in her chest, a horrible, crushing weight settling down inside her lungs, paralyzing her muscles, rendering her speechless.

"Emmie, honey?" Her voice broke as she tried to reach out for her with trembling hands, stepping forward hesitantly. Tears stung and burned in her throat when she received no reaction whatsoever, not even acknowledging that someone was calling her name or touching her shoulder, so unlike her. Her beautiful brown eyes were almost milky, unfocused.

"Emma, sweetheart, I told you to stay put." Uncle Ken's gruff tone wavered, raw emotion leaking through his usually stern exterior, not tearing his vigilance away from guns pointed at his way either.

"Daddy..?" Her little raspy, frail voice whispered. A shaky palm held up the air, her head swiveling left and right, dazed and confused, lost, wandering through darkness in search for something tangible, graspable, to keep her grounded. It was for her parents. Of course it was, who else but the most important figures in her life would she yearn for, scared and alone and probably hurting, being taken over by whatever was happening to her inside.

For a fleeting moment, Vera thought she wouldn't mind being bitten by her. To share whatever pain she was experiencing. Perishing together side by side, holding onto each other's hands, because there was nothing she'd rather be doing in this world right now.

Leon lowered his gun, an unmistakable sadness flashing across his gaze and his mouth twisting into a frown as he glanced between them with sympathy and sorrow, reaching and putting a hand on Ada's extended arm, shaking his head at her. "Ada, just let them be."

And she complied, surprisingly, sighing heavily, though she didn't seem too thrilled about it judging by her pinched expression. It was only then Uncle Ken's tense stance loosened and he released a shuddering breath, shoulders dropping along with his shotgun, but when Vera looked at him again, she couldn't help but flinch back when her gaze met those hazel eyes that normally exuded warmth, now lifeless, dull, glazed over like those of a dead man walking, devoid of anything recognizable except for pure emptiness and exhaustion.

He passed by Vera, who didn't follow his movements and just froze fixated at the place he just stood, to kneel by Emma's side and embraced her small form carefully, tenderly, burying his face in her greasy, short locks.

She didn't reciprocate the gesture, letting her father squeeze her, not blinking, not breathing, just staring blankly at somewhere ahead, as her father rocked their bodies back and forth in a soothing motion, a comfort that didn't get through to her, not anymore, never again, and he must've known it too, yet refused to acknowledge it. "Yeah, Emmie. Daddy’s here. I’m here, okay?"

The sound of strained breathing was loud in Vera's ears, ringing in harmony with her thunderous heartbeat as the situation fully sank in, weighing down heavy on her entire frame, bringing her down on her knees, clasping her mouth, muffling the loud, ugly, painful sobs that forced their way past her lips. The wet pavement beneath her legs was cold and rough against her exposed skin, the frigid air penetrating her every cell with every labored breath she took, a biting, stinging sensation spreading across her body, burning like acid eating away at her flesh and bones, corroding everything.

She couldn't do this anymore. She just couldn't do it anymore.

Emma, little Emmie, the embodiment of sunshine. Too smart, too young, too good. Had no chance against the evil that befell Raccoon City that night.

Too innocent.

"Those fuckin’ things outside… Look what they did to us," Uncle Ken cursed, anger laced within every word he spoke, seething.

"Mo-mmy..?"

"Mommy’s sleeping, honey, okay? …Emma."

All her efforts, all her sleepless nights spent hacking into databases and infiltrating buildings, collecting evidence—all for naught, because of her stupid, arrogant negligence, acting all high and mighty when she had the privilege of avoiding living in this hell, not even checking in on the Kendos for one simple reason — convenience and cowardice. All she did was play detective and waste time looking for ways for others to succeed instead of using the tools at her disposal and saving lives.

Someone — Leon, she assumed, gathered her into his arms, pulling her into a tight embrace against his chest, shielding her, offering solace, allowing her to cry freely without any judgment or shame.

"Why did this have to happen to her?" Uncle Ken murmured, his voice cracking with regret, sounding broken beyond repair. "Why my sweet little angel? Why... why is there no justice in this goddamn world?!"

He didn't receive an answer from anyone in response, but Vera wondered what answer she'd give herself if the question was directed at her.

"Why did this happen? How did this happen, huh?" he yelled, hysterical, making her squirm uncomfortably in the blond's arms. "What the fuck do your lot exist if you can't provide help when it matters? What use are you!"

Vera felt Leon flinching back, his muscles tense from being confronted. Nothing was even his fault. Hell, this was his first day. And yet, here he was, on the receiving end of all of her Uncle Ken's frustration, like someone who was getting scolded at and deserved it, with the way he tightened his jaw.

She wanted to protest, to defend him and stand up for the rookie officer. Because the same could be said about her, not him — not Leon, who was willing to put his life on the line for strangers, who took action when nobody else could, who carried other people on his back, who was gentle and compassionate and empathetic and just so genuinely good.

Vera pushed away from Leon, wiping at her face hurriedly, the tears falling nonstop despite her best efforts, and threw a pleading look at her Uncle, desperate. Don't blame him, she begged in her head, over and over like a mantra, and she hoped she conveyed the same to him through her bloodshot eyes. Please don't.

To which, the middle-aged man just bowed his head and held Emma closer, his breaths ragged. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. This was the portrait of grief: a deathless loss of a loved one.

She stood up on shaky feet, wobbled to Emma and laid a hand on her father's arm, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she peered down at Emma's lifelessness. Vera took in all the details of her pallid face, committing each curve and feature to memory, afraid to miss out on something as they walked away. It felt like she had lost the only thing tethering her to her old life, like she was floating above a vacuum and if she allowed it, would just vanish into thin air, evaporating, disappearing. But she had to stay strong - it wasn't about her.

"What can we do for you?"

A beat. Silence. Uncle Ken closed his eyes briefly, distraught, but resigned, exhausted and tired of carrying all this burden that should have never been his to begin with. After a pause, he rose to his feet and faced them. He lingered on her with meaning, searching. Whatever he wanted to convey, it was lost on her, for the time being, because she could barely maintain eye contact with him as it is, with how overwhelmed she was with sadness.

"Just go, leave us be," he ordered softly, turning his back on them, clutching Emma close and lifting her up in one swift motion. "Don't come back, Vera."

A single drop rolled down her cheek, followed by many, streaming down relentlessly as she watched him disappear into the backroom with Emmie staring right at her without seeing her. This was it. There was nothing she could do, no comfort she could bring to him or even herself. The door slammed shut, the echo resounding throughout the alley and making her shoulders jump, the click of the lock loud in the otherwise deafening silence.

Gone. Just like that. No goodbye, no closure, just finality.

Yet another door between her and the people she cared for shut before she could do anything, another bridge taken away. Another loss.

She hung her head, focusing on her boots, too weak to even cry anymore. Everything felt wrong, off somehow, disconnected and faraway like an image fading into obscurity, slipping through her fingers like dust.

The first gunshot coming from within the room rang through her ears, clear and distinct, breaking the fragile peace surrounding them, the shattering noise ripping apart the fragile threads that tied her mind together. She shut her eyes tightly, squeezing them until her eyelids ached, gritting her teeth hard and digging nails deep into her palms until it hurt enough to distract from the agony in her chest, hoping that the physical pain would offset the mental torment.

The second gunshot came soon after, and with it, another piece of herself that broke away.

Leon was suddenly by her side, standing next to her as still as a statue, fixed on the door, stricken, strangled, like all of this was his doing, his fault.

He whirled around to face Ada, who Vera had forgotten was even there, a silent bystander to the tragedy. Her impassiveness, so different compared to him, showing absolutely no remorse, made her wonder whether this kind of suffering was commonplace for her.

"This is madness," he said to her, looking around wildly in search of answers he knew weren't there. "We can't let this go on. Someone has to put a stop to this, somehow, if there's a chance—"

He was stopped abruptly, a hand pushing against his chest, Ada's voice commanding and unwavering. "I won't argue with you here, but you should realize that there's nothing you can do. The sooner you accept that, the easier it'll be." Her face softened slightly as she watched him grit his teeth in frustration, frowning and conflicted, running a hand through his hair.

Vera couldn't help but agree with her on that.

He turned back towards the source of the noise, facing his demons, whatever he believed them to be, head on, headstrong, fists balled by his sides in defiance, and then pointed a finger at the door and looking at Ada once more, his expression full of righteous rage, and underneath the surface, a simmering self-loathing. "I want to find out what’s happening here. And stop whoever’s behind it. Helping people like them… that’s why I joined the force. So please, just— tell me—us the truth, Ada." He paused for emphasis. "Where are we going? Who did this? What do they want?"

As he demanded an explanation, a shadow crossed over Ada's features and her lips curved down into a scowl, she simply exhaled deeply through her nose. "This is so much bigger than Raccoon City," she said quietly after a moment, "you have no idea." She continued to stare him down with an intensity that Vera didn't understand. "But trust me when I say, the deeper you dig into this mess, the closer you are to the grave."

If her warning was supposed to deter Leon in any way, it had the exact opposite effect - his expression darkened and a muscle jumped in his jaw. "Well," he started slowly, deliberately, enunciating every word clearly and confidently, "let's find out."

Ada smirked at him wryly before glancing around at their surroundings, "You asked for it. But once we get moving, I'll need you to listen to everything I have to say. Otherwise you're just a liability, so make up your mind - follow my lead or stay behind."

Leon nodded grimly, but Vera remained silent, lost in her own thoughts. This was suddenly about assisting an agent in her mission than going in to help Claire and find Sherry, Leon's newfound objectives aligning with Ada's perfectly.

Vera had to talk about this privately with him at some point.

She was done with this all. There was no more fire left in her for anything - least of all a covert operation led by someone she trusted about as far as she could throw them. All of the people who meant the world to her had perished, all of them taken from her one way or the other, and her will to fight back had gone out with Uncle Ken, had died like the light in Emmie's eyes. Was it that selfish of her to mourn their losses and not think of anybody else in a time of crisis? Did that make her a monster? Wanting to handpick Sherry and Claire from a roster of infected innocents and escape unscathed?

Worst of all, she couldn't find the answer, and that troubled her most of all.

She had to insist that they still focus on rescuing Sherry and leave this to Ada, someone who had professional training and experience in dealing with this kind of threat. It was not their responsibility, and they would possibly only be hindering her goal if they kept doing this. Even though she understood that Leon had to help anyone in danger, she couldn't jeopardize her chances of finding Sherry. The young girl needed their help. They couldn't just hand that over to Claire and call it a day and follow Ada.

The woman in question made a motion with her head for them to follow her, walking down the back street that would eventually lead to the entrance of metal scaffoldings leading down to the sinkhole. Her strides were measured yet quick, and the other two hurried after her without question, catching up to her in seconds, going down the stairs.

She opened with, "Ever heard of the Umbrella Corporation?" after a beat.

"Yeah," he replied, scratching behind his ear sheepishly. "They make cosmetics or something? Didn't they get sued for animal testing?"

Ada huffed a soundless laugh from her nose, pushing strands of black hair behind her left ear. "Yes... well, among other things," she replied drily, amusement out in the open. "The company's been around for decades, doing experiments behind closed doors and creating illegal viruses."

The trio came to an abrupt halt when they reached the ladder going down to the platform leading to the sewers, Vera stepped back from the rusty water she accidentally stepped into that instantly splashed around with a disgusted face while Leon shot Ada a bewildered double-take.

"Viruses?"

"C'mon," she urged, jumping down expertly to avoid having the dirty liquid reach her clean shoes and landing in a crouch, her athletic figure swinging down with practiced ease and elegance, and left the both to climb down the rungs. Vera trailed after her without hesitation, huffing at the sight, wishing she could be as graceful as the woman. Not wanting to lose sight of her, she wasted no time, not even sparing a look at Leon and just nodding at him to join, the steel creaking under her weight but holding on strong.

"This one right here." Ada explained - like whatever was done to cause this was already over with, that it had already taken root in the city. "Turning them into mindless, cannibalistic and indestructible monsters."

"Great. Did they name it the G-Virus, by the way?" Leon's sarcasm was thick, it didn't suit his soft voice. Vera chuckled weakly at it, glad that he was trying to keep the mood light by making a joke, and Ada smirked at him, one corner of her mouth lifted slightly higher than the other.

"How very observant of you."

No, wait a minute.

That wasn't right.

The virus turning people into undead wasn't called the G-Virus. It was the T-Virus.

If a normal civilian like her was able to find out there were different strains out there with her limited resources and only her skillset at her disposal, an FBI agent would definitely be informed about the whole situation beforehand. If there were any existing viruses that were known to be fatal, such as the G-Virus, the government would surely keep tabs on its creators, researchers and distributors.

So if Ada knew about the distinction between G and T, then why would she lie to Leon?

As the three made their way past the piles of cones and sandbags strewn across the area, avoiding them deftly with little trouble, Vera picked up pieces of conversation in between their dodging moves, trying her hardest to concentrate despite her racing brain.

"My mission is to take down Umbrella’s entire operation." Ada clarified further to Leon, leaping onto the large yellow pipes, climbing up one step at a time. Vera frowned. Take down an entire organization? Why couldn't they do that in court? They should've had enough evidence to sue the company for everything they've been doing to people in Raccoon City. One singular agent wouldn't be enough to singlehandedly take on a multi-million dollar conglomerate like Umbrella. This just didn't add up. What did take down mean, anyway? What would she be able to accomplish? Vera initially thought she was here to collect evidence, but Ada was being vague about everything. What else was there to do?

Unless...

Unless she was here to destroy everything.

But that would mean... getting rid of the evidence, not obtaining it.

Oh fuck. Oh, fuck. This was a federal agent. Government agents did things differently. They would want to eliminate every piece of tangible, irrefutable proof that Umbrella existed, to remove them from history, erase them completely. This could be a cover-up. To eliminate leads that connected the government with Umbrella's corruption and human experimentation and to eradicate them permanently. That would explain why Ada was here alone, in the city during the outbreak, instead of the whole team coming in with armored vehicles and equipment to evacuate citizens and cleanse the streets.

That could be why she kept urging Leon, a police officer, to turn a blind eye on all of this, so she could finish this as fast as possible without interruption.

There was one way to test her theory. She would have to try.

"Hey, Agent..." she piped up, walking alongside the other woman. "Why so late? You know, the first reports of infection came around a week ago. Why didn't the feds move in immediately?"

It didn't seem like Ada was paying attention to her, too busy watching their steps and keeping watch. For the first few moments, Vera thought the question fell on deaf ears, until Ada slowed down to fall into the same rhythm as her, keeping a steady pace at the back of their small group as Leon ran ahead.

She sighed before responding curtly, "We always seem to be late. Ironic, isn't it? Since our job is stopping evil from taking root."

That sounded way too earnest than it should have been. Vera was expecting her to be defensive, or maybe shrug it off with a dismissive one-liner. This wasn't helping her case. "I... suppose. But, uh, where is everyone else?"

Ada shrugged, still refusing to meet her eye. "Things got messy real quick."

Yeah, okay. Vera tried, but Ada was adamant about this. Fine, she could work around it. This was a professional, alright. She knew what she was doing.

They finished descending down to the entrance of the sewers as the conversation between her and the agent ended, the tunnel in the size of an alley leading deep into the heart of the labyrinth, the area was damp and dark and moist, the waft of mildew, rot, and other smells Vera had never smelled before filled her nostrils, and it was suffocating, making the air thick. She coughed harshly into her forearm to get the gunk out of her lungs.

"Based on what you said, the sewer seems fitting," Leon spoke up after they entered the passage, sniffing his nose loudly.

Ada hummed in agreement, pulling the flashlight out of her vest, shining it down the hallways, and walked forward, gesturing for them to follow her again.

Before they began to make their way deeper into the bowels of the city, Vera tugged on Leon's sleeve discreetly, drawing his attention to her.

She jerked her chin in Ada's direction. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," he nodded, casting a glance at the woman, who paid it no mind as they put some distance between them. "Is everything okay?"

When they stopped in front of a puddle of disgusting liquid Vera didn't bother naming, she lowered her voice into a hushed whisper, leaning in so only he could hear.

"Look, I know how hard this is for you. And I understand you want to do what's right for this place — help those you can save, make sure the ones responsible pay for what they've done. But the FBI agent obviously has her orders. If she wants us to tag along to get her job done faster, fine, but that doesn't mean we're obligated to stay with her." She saw his features contorting into one of apprehension, and she rushed to finish her sentence. "We really need to go for Claire and Sherry now. The longer we're out here, the greater the chance of them getting hurt and worse. There's no guarantee we'll ever make it on time even if we go straight for them."

She wanted him to agree with her.

She needed him to agree with her.

Instead, he pressed his lips together firmly in disapproval, turning his face away from her and clenching his jaw. She watched the vein on the side of his temple throb rapidly as he seemed to come to a conclusion of his own. When he faced her once again, the determination shone bright like a blazing fire, his decision set in stone. "We can do both."

Vera swallowed down the protests lodged in her throat, trying hard not to yell or break something out of frustration.

"We don't have the luxury or time for that right now. She won't do for us what you're prepared to do for her." She inhaled deeply through her nose, counting to three in her head and letting it out slowly through gritted teeth. No. The only way she'd be able to convince him to change his mind was by making him see that they would never succeed if they stuck themselves to a mission that was not meant to be theirs and was so beyond their capabilities. "There's simply no way in hell that she would assist us and prioritize a couple of random citizens above her official order, Leon. I mean, I would love for her to, but she literally told us not even an hour ago that we would only hinder her with our presence."

Her words fell on deaf ears, apparently, as he just smiled, actually fucking smiled at her. "Just you watch. Trust me on this."

With that, he patted her shoulder reassuringly and spun around to catch up with Ada, leaving Vera to glare after him in disbelief, the lights above flickering in tandem with her blinking as if to say, "Hey, you also seein' this?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. She should trust him. God, she wanted to trust him, she wanted to have faith in him so badly, because he was so eager to make things right and fix this hellscape. All because this woman had given him hope there was a possibility.

However, her gut had been screaming at her that there was something sketchy about this. But Leon was so damn hopeful, she couldn't crush it.

And who was she to take that from him?

Vera threw her arm in the air and then shoved it into the pockets of the jacket he'd given her, stomping after them, deeper into the dark tunnels, throwing yet another bait in Ada's general direction. "So, this leads right into Umbrella’s secret facility?"

But Leon, unknowingly, blocked her probing by addressing a question of his own. "Sewers are run by the city. How could they have a facility… without the authorities knowing?"

This would be the hundredth time today she'd be thinking, Bless his soul, about him. Even after finding out about Irons' corruption, he still believed. She tried not to roll her eyes out of fondness, the world from his perspective had to be so beautiful, leaders and those in power always righteous and moral, and everything bad happens without anyone meaning it to. Adorable. Vera would have preferred a world he got to stay like this, living inside a cocoon of idealism that protected his innocence rather than exposing the cruelty and coldbloodedness of the people controlling the strings behind the scenes.

Ada flashed her flashlight across the murky walls of the passage, not responding immediately as she scanned the perimeter for possible danger. "Welcome to corporate America. Umbrella’s controlled Raccoon City for years."

Leon visibly deflated, his face falling slightly as he took the news in. "Oh."

"Absolutely not. You are not jumping into sewage," Vera scowled, hands planted firmly on her hips as she stared down Leon, daring him to challenge her. This man was insane, and he would definitely jump in whatever the fuck there was in that disgusting, vile river of waterlogged garbage and waste, and die a horrible death of hepatitis and dysentery. Even a little cut could get infected down there, and a dip in that filth would be the end of him. Fuck, she was feeling a bit queasy just from the thought.

They were sitting ducks at the end of a steel catwalk ending in a drop into a tunnel nobody should take a swim in. There were no more routes for them to proceed through, and jumping into that would be suicide, there was no way in hell she was gonna allow that.

Leon frowned up at her, lifting his shoulders up to his ears, feigning innocence and acting as if he didn't see how stupid of a suggestion it was to jump down there like some sort of superhero in a B-movie.

"Unfortunately, it's the only way forward," Ada pointed out drily from behind her, sounding a bit ticked off, and then huffed impatiently. "Wouldn't even be surprised to find out that they designed this part specifically to kill whoever might be trying to sabotage the underground research lab."

The rookie officer pushed himself to his feet, dusting off invisible dirt from his trousers in a lame attempt to be nonchalant, sticking his chest out like a pufferfish. "No better way than to get to the bottom of things than headfirst."

"No, there is a better way! We can just backtrack and find another way in!" Vera exclaimed shrilly, raising her hands up incredulously, skin now damp from sweat instead of the rain, waving them around for emphasis. Leon shook his head, stepping closer to the ledge to peer down, and her heart clenched at the sight. He was actually considering it.

She jumped in front of him, cutting his vision off and poking him hard in his pectoral over his bulletproof vest, the pressure applied sending ripples into the flesh of his torso. "Stop, I'm serious. Let's look around some more— like, like—" Zeroing in on a vent grate with an opening large enough for them to fit through, she ran towards it and gave a quick tug, it rattled in her grip and slid sideways smoothly, with little noise. She turned back to him, gesturing towards the rectangular frame enthusiastically, almost bouncing on her heels in excitement. "—like this one right here, we could slip in! It has to lead somewhere!"

Ada regarded Vera with interest, tilting her head to the side at an angle in contemplation. The young PI stood still, trying not to blink in front of the agent, hoping she found this viable alternative more acceptable than diving headlong into a death trap, fingers crossed for herself.

Leon's lips stretched into a smile, softening around the edges as his expression thawed, he strode over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, patting gently in poorly concealed excitement. Her breathing stopped for a second. She forced herself to gulp in air as subtly as possible to maintain her composure and not start gasping like a fish out of water, hyper aware of the body heat seeping into her flesh from the point where his fingers touched her bare skin. She flushed from the touch, turning rigid in the span of a millisecond and standing awkwardly as if she was carved out of stone.

"Nice find," he praised warmly, beaming down at her with what seemed to be pride. If this was the reaction she got out of him with that one move, she would gladly keep finding exits and escape routes every few minutes.

He then turned his attention to Ada, hopeful to hear her agree to this arrangement, and she didn't disappoint, letting out a faint sigh in reluctant acceptance.

"Good enough," she mumbled under her breath, seemingly quizzical about it for whatever reason. "Let's move."

Vera wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but refrained from doing so, instead opting to plaster a smug grin on her face, basking in Leon's appreciative gaze.

The trio crawled through the narrow ventilation shaft, each step careful, afraid the slightest miscalculation might cause the metal to crack and cave in. It didn't occur to Vera before, but the constant danger lurking around at every turn brought their survival rate from 40% to a staggering 1%, making it a miracle that they had come this far.

All it took was a snap of the wrist, or a loose screw. They could have easily slipped from the platforms they've traversed or missed a jump or fallen into an abyss. Any moment they could all perish, or one of them would become separated from the group, or separated permanently, in a most gruesome manner. They could be eaten alive or dismembered into chunks of meat while they screamed themselves raw, nobody close enough to hear or see them dying.

Was Vera supposed to be panicking? She probably should be. However, instead of fear, a rush of adrenaline washed over her entire being and spread throughout her system, and she felt like a high school student sneaking out for a late night drive with friends who brought alcohol along for the ride.

Their progress came to a halt when the tunnel began to widen in width and height so that they could at least crouch, revealing an opening at its end, light streaming through the cracks of the metallic barrier blocking the way forward.

In perfect synchronization, Leon's hand flew to his holster, flicking the safety button open in one swift movement, index finger poised above the trigger, while Ada knelt in the corner opposite to him, gun at the ready with the barrel directed towards the source of the light, one knee supporting her weight on the ground. In silent communication, she pointed at herself and gestured towards Leon in a sequence with two fingers, the cop nodding affirmatively, understanding the message loud and clear, before proceeding to crouch lower and slither to the front of the group and flattened himself against the wall.

Ada gave a count of five with her free hand, jaw locked and firm, and when she curled her pointer finger inwards to her palm, she yanked the blockade, sliding it sideways to the end of the bar and peeked through the space, lowering her aim carefully with no signs of a threat visible to her, letting out a barely audible huff.

"Okay, all good."

After ensuring there was nothing lying in wait to ambush them as soon as the exit opened wide, Leon hopped out with a bounce in his step, brandishing his shotgun this time, scanning his surroundings for any movement and finding none, pointing the muzzle in various directions, left and right.

Vera followed closely behind with a shaky breath, shaking off her nerves before hoisting herself out of the passageway, glancing around. They had stepped into the middle of a long corridor, which was particularly well-lit compared to the places they've seen previously.

"Left or right first?" She asked the other two, since there were bloody streaks on the floor leading towards an elevator down the hall to the left, and even more construction materials piled against the walls, cones and structural steel, along with bags of cement. Another large ventilation duct was positioned above them on the ceiling, which was big enough to use as an emergency exit if they found themselves in danger.

"Right," Ada decided, jerking her head that way and striding across, checking each individual nook and cranny with care, signaling them to stick close behind her. More cement bags, and a couple metal drums later, they turned the corner out of the corridor into a catwalk, only to find themselves at the very end of presumably the same river of waste Vera wanted to avoid in the first place. The stench that hit her nose as soon as she stepped foot into the area threatened to knock her out if she stayed any longer.

She pulled the neckline of her borrowed jacket to cover her nose, trying desperately to draw in a decent lungful of air, not bothering to conceal the grimace on her face anymore, triumph overcoming her repulsion at getting to take a breather from that vile odor. "You two owe me a thanks for avoiding that shit. Literally."

Leon, being the adorable ray of sunshine that he is, responded instantly to her teasing, flashing her a cute smile, cheeks dimpled. "Thank you for saving our asses from sepsis."

And not a drop of sarcasm in there. Vera could almost picture him using his sincerity to butter up his superiors and earn a raise or a promotion. Unwittingly, of course.

"So let me get this straight: Umbrella sells the things we've seen so far to who? Our military? Somebody else’s?" Leon asked Ada, who was leaning against the opposite wall of the elevator they're in, arms crossed.

"They don’t sell the things, they sell the viruses that make them." The agent corrected, her speaking was more leveled than Leon's, easy to miss among the grating sound of the elevator descending. She shifted her stance so that one foot was planted on the wall to brace herself against it. Those heels had to be uncomfortable, right? After spending so much time on them, at least? Though Ada had not broken an ankle, let alone stumbled walking on grates and unstable walkways, so she probably knew what she was doing. "To anybody who can bid the most for it."

"Sounds like you know a lot about the buyers."

"I work for them."

Vera couldn’t help it, she snorted at the deadpan response Ada delivered, quickly covering her mouth with a hand to mask her laughter, seeking Leon's face to see his reaction. Brow crinkled in surprise, and he whipped around to gape openly at the agent bored as ever.

"My condolences," She blurted out as an afterthought, wiping off the imaginary tears threatening to escape. "Who would have thought? The U.S. government does business with bioterrorists. Sounds like a win-win situation, am I right? Everyone gets something. Until one of those outbreaks happen on your own soil. Or somebody slips the wrong thumb drive into your own computer. Then you have an apocalypse on your hands. Shit happens."

Ada was blank as a clean sheet of paper. "Indeed. That's why I'm here."

"Of course, Miss Confidential."

As if on cue, the elevator slowed down to a full stop and dinged at the same time, doors creaking open agonizingly slowly, revealing a small room leading to a lone door directly ahead. There were no other corridors, nothing else of interest in their line of vision. It looked to be a machine room of some sorts, with exposed pipes lined up next to each other running vertically and horizontally, going left and right as far as the eye could see. The door opened to a smaller room — a passage? — with one more door to go through, and Vera could only imagine the purpose of this smaller room was, and then that door opened to —

A blonde woman kneeling over a body sprawled on the floor, contemplating and inspecting, muttering to herself, and Vera caught the ending of her sentence only: "Definitely William's handiwork."

Leon stopped mid-step, aiming his shotgun towards the unknown entity, shoulders hunched forward slightly. He didn't seem to trust this new addition to their little party, but then again, she seemed harmless, and he lowered his weapon halfheartedly. The woman hadn't even noticed their arrival, and upon further scrutiny, Vera realized her focus was solely on the person laying supine. Her clothes were somewhat similar to that of a researcher, judging by her white coat, the ID badge pinned to her chest reading "Annette Birkin", her pale skin was practically glowing under the fluorescent lights illuminating her figure, and her platinum blonde hair cascaded down over her shoulder, shielding her features partially, although they were sharp and angular.

"Not much time... Need to dispose of it..." The woman — Annette, stood up, brushing the dust off her coat with her right hand, still clueless about their presence, and movement in the corner of her peripheral got Vera's attention. In the chest of the corpse she was crouching over earlier. First, she thought it was the motion of breathing, but no, something was moving inside. Then, it pulsed, the organ (liver?) inflating to twice the size, expanding like a balloon and exploding, spilling a gross mixture of blood and something blue that looked like a drug, fluid oozing out of its ruined tissue, some kind of parasite coming to life from the innards of its former host.

And that's when Annette flicked a lighter in her fingers and dropped it right onto the monster, causing it to catch fire immediately, along with the corpse.

The smell. Dear God, the fucking smell. A putrid, sickening stench of burning flesh, human flesh, mixed with chemicals assaulted her nostrils, nearly making her gag and retch in horror and disgust as the fire lapped up the thing, setting it alight and melting it to... not even ashes, just to... a sculpture of it. Its body remained intact in form, but grayed and shriveled as the black smoke drifted upwards and dissipated into the air.

Sweet hells. These Umbrella experiments sure didn't skip out on the creativity department, did they?

Leon stepped between Ada and Vera, pushing both women away from the flaming monstrosity towards the opposite wall and raised the shotgun, ready to pull the trigger at the thing if it lunged. "Ma'am, I'm Officer Leon Kennedy with RPD, please get away from that."

This time, it seemed their combined presence had caught the scientist's attention, as she spun around in shock. Vera was fairly certain she wasn't expecting visitors, especially from three strangers, let alone law enforcement.

The woman pursed her lips into a thin line, taking a deep breath as her gaze shifted rapidly from the three figures gathered together to the grotesque abomination, and then she turned on her heel without answering, leaving Leon bewildered.

"Hey!" He exclaimed indignantly, gesturing wildly to Ada and Vera to stay behind while he gave chase after her. "We don't mean any harm!"

Harm? Really? All of them were armed. Even Annette, apparently, as Vera spotted the glint of metal protruding out of her hip, she must have had a handgun there.

"We're here for Sherry!" She heard him yelling out as she struggled to keep pace with him, slipping past the burning, now-dead, corpse to join Leon's side.

And that's what got Annette to stop. She whirled around to face the pair, face pinched, boring holes into Leon's skull. "Sherry? This is the second—what do you want?"

She spoke in such a biting tone, and her demeanor changed as if someone had flipped a switch. Gone was the woman who paid no attention to their presence, who was focused on disposing of a creature. Her attention was laser-pointed at Leon, staring him down as if he had just made an accusation against her character.

"We just want to help find her," Leon responded in a placating manner.

"Find Sherry?" Annette repeated, scoffing, clearly not believing a single word coming from the rookie's mouth. "My daughter is safe at home."

Leon and Vera shared a baffled look, each searching for an answer from the other. Annette didn't know? But Claire said she met her — and that the woman was more interested in finding William rather than protecting Sherry.

"Ma'am," Leon started slowly, as if he was trying to reason with a hostile threat, stepping closer to her and trying to keep his voice low in hopes he would be able to reason with her. "Your daughter is here right now. She's in serious danger—"

Vera witnessed the moment everything clicked for the woman. It was written all over Annette's face; realization flashed like lightning across her facial muscles. Her expression went slack, lips parting into an o shape as if trying to speak, yet no words came out, only a choked, strained gasp, eyes darting around in pure panic. "William."

Without giving them a chance to react or respond, she took off once more, footsteps echoing throughout the hallway she disappeared into. Vera threw up her hands in exasperation. They were having difficulty keeping track of all the people they came across. Why could no one wait for them for one moment to finish speaking before running off?

Leon took off in a sprint behind Annette, with Vera hot on his heels, chasing after the two. When they rounded the corner, the scientist was already at the end, punching numbers on a padlock on the double doors to activate the security mechanism. With a loud click, the electronic lock gave way, and she pushed one open, slamming it shut behind her.

Vera skidded to a halt and bent over to pant, lungs burning and head spinning, the lack of sufficient oxygen making her feel like she was about to keel over and die on the spot. As she struggled for breath, Leon stepped forward and jiggled the door handles furiously, grunting in frustration.

He groaned, slamming his fist onto the metal frame in defeat. "God damn it!"

"Claire," Vera croaked, clearing her throat after swallowing some phlegm in her windpipe. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth due to dehydration. She motioned with her hands for him to take out his radio and contact Claire, and he nodded vigorously, grasping the device and flipping the switch frantically, tapping into the speakers.

"Claire, you read me?"

Her voice came through after a series of static, tinged with concern. "Hey, Leon! You guys alright?"

"We made it to the sewers," He explained, exhaling sharply, and a happy noise Claire made was caught by the radio. "Any updates on Sherry?"

A pause. "Nothing since I last told you. But we should try to regroup, if possible."

"Sounds like a plan, but there's trouble, too. We just met Annette Birkin — it seemed like she didn't know Sherry was down here."

"That can't be true, though!" Claire protested on the other end. "I talked to her earlier, that woman didn't care!"

It wasn't the time for this. "You know what, the details aren't important. Point is, we lost her. She closed the door with a code, so we can't get through right now. We have to find a way around."

"Ughh—okay. Anything else I should know?"

"We came here with an FBI Agent, she's—"

Vera and Leon turned around in tandem in the direction of where they came from, only to realize Ada was nowhere to be found. Her footsteps were completely absent, neither light nor heavy, not a trace of her whatsoever.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

Anime Filler Episode Content We Deserve as BG3 DLC:

Beach Episode

Characters take a break from their adventures for some sun, sand, and inevitably awkward swimwear moments. Shadowheart learning to swim outside of a romance, Astarion trying swimming for the first time in 200 years, Karlach figuring out she turns the lake into a hot spring just by being in it

Hot Springs Episode:

The cast finds themselves in a relaxing hot spring, providing an excuse for comedic situations and revealing conversations.

Festival /fancy ball Episode:

A local festival becomes the backdrop, offering a mix of festivities, food, and perhaps a plot twist or two. WHY COULDNT WE HAVE A FANCY BALL?? Could easily have fit into Cazador's arc, having a ball at his palace, OR into the Hells- a Demon invites the gang to a hellish courtly party where they have to ??? I don't care as long as they dress up!!!

Training Montage Episode:

Protagonists undergo intense training sessions, often with a quirky mentor, to power up for the upcoming challenges (idk how this would work but I'm imagining Laezel pulling a 'lets get down to business to defeat the Huns- I mean Illithids' moment, I almost didn't include this one but it's such an Anime Thing I had to)

Slice of Life Detour:

Characters temporarily shift from the main plot for mundane, everyday activities, showcasing their personalities in a different light. (I see this as added content, not a DLC, like expanding on Camp cut scenes during long rests etc, companion interactions on camera)

Dream Sequence Episode:

Characters experience bizarre dreams or alternate realities, allowing for creative storytelling and exploration of "what if" scenarios. We got some with the dream visitor, but may I present to you: going into your companions dreams!!! Fighting the illusions of their worst nightmares to save them!

Filler Villain Episode:

A new, often inconsequential villain emerges, giving the heroes a chance to showcase their abilities without major consequences, outside of main plot just to add more conflict for fun

[ghostjunksickness]

Here’s the Vahn breakdown!

Circumstance, Trauma and healing.

Vahns entire life is a series of things going terribly wrong and then continuing to live whether they like it or not.

What exactly Vahn was like right before the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day is a big blank space, so they can only really be analyzed from the time they met Trigger and onwards (with the exception of a handful of early childhood flashbacks).

For all the messiness of the two hunters relationship, I do think that on the whole Trigger was probably the best person to have found Vahn. He was never the best at helping Vahn emotionally, but Trigger’s decision making inadvertently kept Vahn safe from Interstellar for Five Years.

At face value, Andrew seems like he would have been the best person to have picked up Vahn. He’s already familiar with Vahn and the rest of the Avalons would have been an incredible support network for the freshly traumatized teen. However . That’s not taking into account Vahns new powers coupled with a dangerously unstable mental state.

We saw in a flashback the first time Vahns arms extended, they were having some kind of emotional breakdown and attacking Trigger. If Vahn did that to a member of the Avalon family, it could have gone much worse than a minor concussion for just Vahn. Andrew is freshly traumatized himself at this point which adds another volatile element to the mix. Even if everything worked out about as well as it did with Trigger, the greatest difference is that Andrew would have almost certainly brought up Vahns tattoos and powers to outside parties. Well intentioned no doubt but with what we know of Interstellar and especially Dr. Yaromir, any whiff of Vahns powers would have had Fiachra and her people kidnapping Vahn within the week.

Hell, within 24 hours of Trigger semi abandoning them, Vahns tattoos were photographed and sent to Yaromir at a random bar, five YEARS after everything went down. And the more I think about it, the more I’m amazed Trigger managed to not only hide them for so long, but keep Vahn in relatively good health too. Trigger happened to have just the right collection of contacts and paranoia to get Vahn medicine, wrapped up and off the wrong radars long enough to survive to this point.

Which is all the more important considering Vahns amnesia. Vahn regularly gets mistaken for a kid and does exhibit many childish qualities, but when you take into account they’re working with all of five years worth of memories? Yeah makes sense why they’re skewing a bit lower. Vahn doesn’t have access to their formative years so it’s a bit like trying to understand a book that’s had the first dozen chapters ripped out.

Blocking out painful memories seems to be Vahns way of dealing with trauma as well. Selective memory is a legitimate way people can deal with extremely traumatic experiences.

It happens at least twice, the first being when Vahn first got their tattoos and the world almost ending. And then again after being halfway murdered and assaulted by Aiden. At least the second time Vahn only lost a week. But while losing memories helped protect Vahns mind the first time, it left them in an extremely vulnerable state where they needed to relearn how to be a person.

On the whole, Trigger was decent about avoiding Vahns triggers (pun intended). They didn’t push about their past unnecessarily. Respected Vahns wishes to stay away from hospitals. Triggers overprotective treatment certainly stifled Vahn in the long run, but in the early days, I don’t think Vahn had the emotional bandwidth to take care of themselves.

(What makes me curious as well is why Trigger let Vahn stay for so long. Sure it’s the right thing to do, but Trigger could have just dropped them off at the nearest crisis center with some spare clothes and flown away still having done right by, what was essentially, a stranger.)

By the time of the comic, Vahns dependence on Trigger has curdled into over-dependence. Up until Raw Schism. Vahn always defers to Triggers direction, even when they disagree with him. Two scenes in particular really cement this: when Trigger locks Vahn in the bathroom during Rotten Hand Brothers, and when Trigger and Vahn shoplifted. Both times Vahn is verbally disagreeing with Trigger but still physically follows his directions. Where as by Raw Schism, Vahn has learned first and second hand that Trigger Can Be Wrong. Which is HUGE for Vahn, since that now forces them into the uncomfortable position of having to make decisions for themselves.

One of the reasons I really love Poco A Poco is that it’s basically Vahn speed running what every college freshman goes through their first time moving out from home. Gotta do all your own cooking, cleaning, maintenance etc. Most importantly, Vahn had Erich there to teach them that independence is not isolation.

Vahn and Triggers relationship has been unhealthily codependent for a long time, and what was good for them at the start isn’t what either of them need right. You can’t leave a cast on forever.

When I think about the worst case scenario between Vahns memory loss and the target of their powers, there could have been a very unpleasant timeline where Vahn was kidnapped by Interstellar much earlier on. What kind of person would that have created? If the main influences on Vahn had been Fiachra and Yaromir instead of Trigger?

Time heals all wounds, but with the wrong kind of treatment, not all wounds heal back Right.

The roads Vahn has had to face have never been easy, that's for sure, oh boy;;; All paths seem to lead to some level of pain and there's some less so than others (and we'd say you've made some excellent deductions hoho) but you're absolutely right that Vahn's journey has always been about deciding whether or not it's worth bearing to see another day.

Thank you for another juicy analysis, we loved reading this so much!!! We're floored and absolutely humbled!! 🙏✨

[mamamittens]

Hi! Sanji and I would like a vanilla milkshake with caramel syrup. Sprinkles and a cherry on top please. Strawberry, red bean and green tea mochi also seem really nice! I go by “Parker” and I’m short, but slightly built for my height (they/them pronouns please, AFAB) with short/half shaven blue hair that’s slightly wavy, very fair skin, and light grey/blue eyes. I’m naturally an introvert who gets anxious very easily, but when I’m comfortable I’m a lot more confident, and sometimes even flirty. I tend to hyperfocus on tasks, and ramble on when I feel extreme emotions. (I also tend to trust people too much due to a lack of true friends and ignore their red flags which doesn’t typically end well for me.)

I am SO SORRY about the delay! October really snuck up on me, ngl!

I went with a platonic/familial interpretation but it could easily be the start of something more, ya'll are both just young in this. It takes place two years before Luffy shows up, so there's time lol

Warnings: None except mild yandere vibes and possesive/protective behavior.

Word Count: 1,992

Sanji chopped the ingredients for a stew efficiently, the other staff of the Baratie working in unison to complete the orders for hungry customers. He was seventeen now, his ‘family’ years behind him. But Sanji couldn’t help the stab in his chest when he thought about them.

His poor mother, long since gone from this earth as a shell of herself. Having unintentionally instilled in him a love of cooking.

His asshole brothers and father.

His sister…

And then there was Parker. Poor Parker he had to leave behind in his desperate run for freedom. He thought about them sometimes. Wondered if they managed to survive that hellscape and if they were still so small. They worked in the kitchens and helped Sanji get ingredients—Sanji smiled remembering the dubious look Parker gave Sanji’s food but was too nervous to tell him it likely tasted like shit.

If Sanji could go back, he’d make two of the most wonderful dishes. One for his lovely mother. And one for Parker. His sweet friend that wasn’t mice in the dungeons.

But he can’t go back and Parker isn’t here, so Sanji has to just daydream about his closest friend instead. Maybe one day he’ll find a way to (safely) go back and find them. Or at least figure out where they are. Even though it would make things more difficult, Sanji hoped they got far away from his family.

Sanji blinked, startled to realize he was finished with the chopping and dicing, the ingredients neatly separated out into individual bowls.

Sighing, he got back to work. Daydreaming would only take him so far. One day, when he paid back the old man, he’d find Parker and take them to the All Blue.

One day…

A dream he’d built up in his heart for years now and would stay there for many years to come, he just knew it. After all, how could he ever repay Zeff for his sacrifice? Sanji’s eye flickered across the busy kitchen to where Zeff was working on a stew. Peg leg tapping along the floor as he shuffled to add a new ingredient.

How indeed…

Sanji’s resolution reaffirmed, he got back to work and—temporarily—put Parker and the All Blue, out of his mind.

Something he found difficult when he was ordered to take out dishes to a large traveling merchant party. The usual waitress having to go home early.

Sanji sighed in distain at the large party of men but dutifully delivered the dishes. A soup deposited in front of a small, familiar person.

“Parker?!”

“Sanji?!”

They both yelped in surprise, Sanji startled to find his arms suddenly full. Parker was different but not. That familiar floral scent mixed with herbs still present, blue waves like the sea half shaved. Parker felt strong but still so breathtakingly small in his arms. He didn’t want to let go, not ever. Suddenly halfway to his most precious dreams.

“Sanji, boy?! What the hell are you doing?!” Zeff bolted out of the kitchen. Sanji lifted his head from Parker’s hair and half turned, beaming as he lifted up Parker a little more. Parker hid their face in his chest and he let them, aware that the momentary bravery was likely followed by embarrassment.

“It’s Parker, Zeff!” Sanji grinned, resting his cheek on top of their head. The merchants Parker had apparently been traveling with laughing.

“Oh, poor thing, you’re red to your roots ain’cha?” One of them cried with a harsh laugh.

“Sweetest thang I’ve seen all my years a’ sailin’! Nevah gets old!” Another one cheered. Sanji felt a horrible twist in his chest. An impulse to drive his heel into their sternums and snap them in half, but found it died shortly as a small sniffle was muffled into his chest.

“…missed you.” Sanji felt in his heart more than he heard it.

“Well, that’s… That’s sweet and all, but are you going to let them eat or not? They look so small.” Zeff commented and Sanji acknowledged that he was right.

While nowhere near as small as they used to be, Sanji couldn’t help but worry a little. Life at sea was rough—Sanji knew from experience. They may not be skin and bones but who knew when their last filling meal was? Sanji glanced at the soup and deemed it… adequate. It was Zeff’s, he could tell, but Sanji would personally make the next one just to be sure.

Reluctantly, Sanji gave one last reassuring squeeze before letting them down.

“It’s so good to see you, Parker. How’ve you been?” Sanji asked softly, barely aware that he was cradling their face to run his thumbs over their cheeks. Checking for more subtle signs of malnourishment. Parker was blushing hard, not quite looking at him. It was an endearing as it was frustrating. He wanted those sweet, stormy blue eyes to look at him. Not somewhere over his shoulder.

“Good… left a few years after you when I got fired. Been traveling since. Hoped I’d run into you again.” Parker commented, hedging around his family. Ever mindful that he’d certainly not want it public knowledge who exactly he was related to. Sweet as always.

“We’ll catch up later. Enjoy your meal, Parker.” Sanji reluctantly conceded before Zeff started teasing him. The merchants grumbled but welcomed Parker back at the table.

“Tha’s Sanji? Who knew he’d be such a handsome fellah, huh?” One whispered to Parker, causing them to almost choke on their soup. Sanji nearly kicked him through the wall but held back, not wanting to ruin the meal or frighten Parker.

He was different from the little boy with a cage on his head, after all. Young Sanji never would have fought back or struck someone. Too timid and sweet—it was almost nostalgic to see how little the years apart had changed Parker. Meanwhile Sanji had grown.

It felt like fate that Sanji had changed so much from a little boy needing protection to someone capable of protecting others.

Sanji went back to the kitchens with a resolution in his bones.

He’d protect Parker like they protected his heart. And the first step was ensuring they stayed with him.

Sanji looked round the kitchen for his next task and could already imagine Parker at work beside Zeff as the old man personally made sure they were up to snuff. Which they would be. It’s Parker, after all. If Parker lacked skill anywhere it would be defending themselves. But that was alright. Sanji had that covered just fine.

Gladly, in fact.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. Sanji taking every opportunity to check up on Parker’s table or just look out into the restaurant. Just to make sure nothing was wrong. Parker seemed reasonably close with the merchants, which… was nice. Sanji would be pissed if they abused Parker or otherwise mistreated them. But if Parker was too close to them… would they even want to leave?

What would Sanji do if they were happy as they were? He didn’t think he could handle it if Parker left him even if it was fair play since Sanji left first. He had to leave, he knew that. It didn’t make it hurt any less but the thought of Parker leaving Sanji behind by choice made him want to cry.

At closing, Sanji made a beeline for the merchant ship. Desperate to know if his fears were real or unfounded.

The first thing that greeted him was laughter and the clear sound of booze being passed around. The merchants cheering around Parker who was blushing furiously with a bag in their arms.

Hopeful and elated, Sanji nevertheless waited.

“Sad to see you go, kiddo! You’re a great helper round the kitchens!”

“Can’t believe your old friend works here, that’s no small feat!”

“You’re going to be an amazing chef—assuming they take you on!”

“Ya kiddin’?! Did ya see tha look on tha owner’s face? And the boyo, Sanji? Ah’m surprised Pah’ker was allowed ta leave af’tah the bill was settled! Boyo looked fit to bundle ah’p Pah’ker and keep em!” Another refuted with a laugh. “Learn well, wee thang, and write ta us! Ah wanna hear it all~!” The crew cheered and Sanji nearly screamed.

He was such an idiot! Of course Parker wouldn’t leave him!

Sanji let his steps fall heavy on the boardwalk and several inebriated crewmembers looked back. He didn’t even mind—much—the pats on his shoulders as he passed by. He’d prefer not to be touched by men at all, but in the spirit of the occasion, he’d allow it. For Parker.

Clearly, they’d cared for Parker when Sanji couldn’t. And he wouldn’t—couldn’t—hate them for that. At least Parker was cared for.

Now it was Sanji’s turn.

Sanji stopped in front of Parker, a dopey smile on his face that Zeff and the others would have teased him mercilessly for.

“Does this mean what I think it does?” Sanji asked. Parker, still flushed, nodded.

“It’s hard work, but Zeff won’t say no to a little extra help around the kitchens. You’ve said goodbye, right?” Sanji asked, fingers twitching to pull them into an embrace. Just to see if this was real.

“Y-Yeah. They’ve been teasing me for hours now. I’m ready to leave.” Parker whined, triggering a round of laughter from the crew.

“Only outta love, kiddo! Now scram, get settled in—and you take care of them, Sanji! I don’t care who Zeff is or was, I hear little Parker’s gotten hurt I’ll take it out of your hide, ya hear!” The captain declared. Sanji paused, considering the old man for a moment.

Maybe he was jealous that they’d been caring for Parker for some time. At how close they were with them. But this? This he could respect.

“No need, old man. If Parker get’s hurt—I’m cold and dead with nothing left.” Sanji swore. An agreement was reached between them as Parker looked on, utterly baffled.

It was a gentleman’s agreement. One that Parker didn’t need to worry about.

“Uh… alright. What kind of trouble are you expecting all the way out here, Sanji?” Parker asked nervously. Sanji laughed, curling his arm around their shoulders and leading them back to the Baratie to get settled. Zeff would agree, he knew, so it was scarcely worth bothering to ask.

“Nothing I can’t handle. Anything happens, you call for me, alright? We get some rough pirates out here every so often.” Sanji complained, scowling as he could already hear Zeff whining about a new hole in the wall. Sanji paused in the doorway with a smile, squeezing Parker closer. “It’s good to have you back, Parker. This time, I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” Sanji swore.

Parker smiled back with wide, confused eyes that softened. Their arm reaching around his chest to return the gesture.

“…I never stopped hoping you made it out alive. I just thought I’d n-never know, you know?” Parker admitted.

“I did. And it’s all thanks to you. Your memory kept me going… and I guess Zeff helped too.” Sanji teased as the old man poked his head out of the kitchen with a sly grin.

“Hey, greenie! Parker, was it? Welcome to the Baratie! Any friend of my s—Sanji is welcome!” Zeff declared and Sanji blinked in surprise, his chest tightening as Zeff quickly corrected himself. Parker looked between them for a moment, gaze intense as they considered something before smiling.

“Well, the bar was on the floor frankly, but I’m glad you’ve got a nice dad now.” Sanji and Zeff choked on air, the two gasping and grasping at denials.

Despite that, Sanji couldn’t help but grin to himself. It was true. And now his family was whole. All that was left was to find the All Blue once he repaid Zeff for his sacrifice and kindness.

[pentagonieslut]

bunny boy dongil and puppy echan invading my thoughts grrr

-🍧

“french fries motherfucker.”

at first you didn’t know the boys were hybrids right? it wasn’t until you whooped dongil’s ass for constantly escaping and eating a hole through your patio screen. you smacked his butt and his head as soon as you caught him, and pressed on his nose roughly. he was only so misbehaved because you hadn’t gone to the store for his fruit cookies he loved and it was irritating you since you had a lot to catch up on. “i told you that after this i’ll go get some! let me send these emails out!” you yelled at him as you put him back in his hut.

as soon as you turned around to go back to the desk, you heard a movement and saw his head sticking out the hut and you quickly smacked him again. “no.”

he jumped out and fell to the ground, you grabbing him again and spanking his butt. “how many times are you wanting to get your ass whooped?!” you shrieked as you have him one final smack that caused him to roar and he became human. “you asshole that hurt!” he yelled back as he fell onto the ground with a thud and rubbed his forehead and butt. your eye twitched as you saw red and leaned closer, smacking his nose instantly and cussing him out. “asshole? that hurt?” you asked in a menacing voice as you continued to smack him and got him to turn around as you continued to whoop his ass until he screamed.

hearing the commotion, changmin ran outside, already in his human form, knowing that he wouldn’t be any use if he was a dog. “oi. dongil!” he said as he got you off of the poor lionhead-flemish giant and held you back. “calm down, master. he didn’t mean it.” changmin said calmly, rubbing your back gently and smiling to himself once he felt you relax.

you looked back at the male and the pained dongil. “get your ass inside. i don’t want the neighbors to come ask so many fucking questions.” you hissed, red slowly fading away.

as soon as you were inside, that’s when it hit you. you blinked as the two males locked the door and stood in front of it in case you decided to kick their asses and try to make them drown outside.

“oh shit. what the hell..y-you’re human..” you breathed as dongil and changmin glanced at each other quickly. “yes we are.” changmin replied as you walked away and sat on the couch.

a few weeks had passed and the two were pretty much living a human lifestyle. you had given up at this point especially after you almost killed the both of them a day after discovery for fucking the house up because they were sick of the shit you bought them. of course, they went back to it. they just mixed it and had accidentally combined both of their foods with yours.

“master. are you sure you’re not hungry?” dongil asked as you nodded. “yeah..” you had replied as you walked past the two and went into your room. you loved the possessive sides of the both of them but sometimes you wanted to have fun without getting interrogated. you had told your friends that your ‘boyfriends’ were overprotective and wouldn’t let you be out for long.

so when the boys said they were going to be watching tv and playing games, you took that opportunity to get yourself ready to hop out the window when it was time.

you slipped your heels on and checked your outfit once more to make sure nothing ripped. your outfit was already extremely spicy and you didn’t want to have it ripped before you showed off in it. you saw the text and opened your window silently, climbing out and shutting it again before running to your friends who had parked a little bit away like you said.

and with that, you were partying and dancing the night away.

by the time you got home, it was 5 and the sun was peeking up in the tiniest way. you smiled to yourself at the success you had as you entered through your window and put your bag down. you weren��t even going to bother. you’d just tell them you were practicing a dance to add to your catalogue. i mean when they were in their animal form, they saw you dance plenty of times and even knew then you were a stripper.

you went into the kitchen and pulled out the orange juice, not caring that your heels clicked against the floor as you walked. “oh so good.” you mumbled as you took a large sip and sighed.

you hadn’t noticed the dog behind you, being in your own world and smiling about the events of last night. you had so much fun you hadn’t bothered to check your phone or post on Instagram. until now. “shit.” you whispered as you saw how many calls and messages the boys had sent.

you felt hands snake around your waist and a heartbeat next to your head. “checking now, hm?” you stilled as you heard the voice speak. you knew he wasn’t wearing anything since he never sleeps with anything— and you could also feel him press up against you. “changmin..” you trailed off. you could never beat the Great Dane, Doberman, rottie mix.

you turned around to be met with one of the biggest of the house and gulped. you’ve never seen him angry and we’re only used to his scary barking and size since he was well, part Great Dane. “h-hi bub. did you need me to go get more treats or something?” you spoke out, picturing his dog form instead of the two burning eyes looking at you.

he picked you up and placed you on the counter, nose moving quickly as he sniffed you and growled. “you went to party. you don’t smell like me or dongil anymore.” he said as you looked away and slowly moved back, trying to escape.

“oh..she doesn’t does she?” dongil said in amusement, causing you to scream. where did he come from?

you cursed yourself. only you would want crossbreeds and large animals. god forbid if one was a tiger. you’d definitely be fucked. “i’ll go shower and wear your clothes, boys. don’t worry.” you said as you tried to keep your cool and started to walk away that turned into a run. you hadn’t liked the way the situation was going nor did you know where the tough side of you went. you had always kicked their ass. animals or human.

as soon as you stripped out of the clothes and buried it deep under one of changmin’s sweatshirts and dongil’s shirt, you breathed in and out. you saw your hand shake and decided to shower to clear your head.

you knew the boys were already in your room and guarding it, as you looked in the bathroom mirror at the door that connect to your room. that’s how it’s been.

you turned the shower on and heard shuffling outside. they moved so they wouldn’t feel like they were invading your bathroom time. “changmin!” you had yelled as you climbed onto the counter and pretended to look scared.

the two males looked at each other and back at the door, as they heard you yell again. “i can guard myself. i’ll be fine.” he said as he nodded to the older; referencing the training they went through.

changmin got up and knocked on the door, slipping inside. he covered his eyes and stared intensely at the floor. “yes. what do you need?” he asked as you pointed to a random spot on the floor. “get the roach!” you said as he moved to look around. he laughed and grabbed a small bunch of toilet paper. of course that’s the only reason why you’d scream for them when you’re preparing to shower. or so he thought.

as soon as he was near the toilet, you spun him around and sat him down, climbing on top of him and straddling. he was surprised as he looked at you, eyebrow raised. “keep quiet. i don’t want dongil to know yet. changmin! the roach is right there!” you had yelled the last part as you sat in his lap and kissed him. his hand found your waist immediately as he got hard and you smiled.

“dongil! bring a towel! hurry up!” you had yelled once again, counting up to ten before the door was opened and the brown headed rabbit had a towel in his hand. he blinked as he saw changmin a bit dazed and you leaning against the counter.

you yanked him in and threw the towel on the empty hook next to the other two, locking the door before slamming him against it and kissing his lips too. you palmed him and licked his jawline, feeling him harden immediately too. you got in the shower and closed the door, giving them a show as the cold water touched your body.

you purposely made it seductive and laughed at the reaction of the two dazed men. you were continuously teasing, eventually stopping and turning around, ass facing them as you pulled out the butt plug you had in you.

you heard the groans and grinned even more. “aren’t you two coming in?” you asked as you blinked and saw dongil in front and changmin behind.

getting on your knees, you took both of their cocks and pumped them before alternating on putting your mouth around them and then both at the same time. you went through your shower routine as you continuously pumped them and even swallowed the first load from them, licking your lips right after. how sweet.

once the three of you got out, you grabbed the jacket one of the rando guys at the club gave you, after drying your body off and leaving your hair to air dry.

the two looked at each other from behind you, annoyance growing on their faces as you exited and snuggled into it. this time they knew you were doing it on purpose and it was making their eyes twitch.

dongil went up to you and yanked your legs, hanging you off the side of the bed. “come here.” he mumbled as he shoved a finger in you immediately, causing you to gasp and moan out loud. “oh— fuck.” you let out as changmin appeared instantaneously and leaned over your face to kiss you before shoving his cock inside your mouth. for a second, you had forgotten the three of you just got out the shower a few minutes ago.

dongil had four digits knuckle deep in you as he moved his tongue up and down and sucked on your clit. changmin was playing with your breasts and cooing softly in your ear how much he loved your face.

the two switched and you were already shaking from all the work they had done in so little time. “don’t cum yet mama. we haven’t even gotten to fuck those aching holes.” dongil said as your eyes widened at him. how could the most innocent looking animal on this earth be so fucking lewd?

you couldn’t hold it in and came as soon as dongil shoved his fingers in with changmin’s. you heard a tiny chorus of “tsks” as you tried to push them away before you realized you wouldn’t be making it to work tonight.

in the flash of an eye, you were flipped around, ass up, dongil underneath, and changmin in the back. you weren’t prepared for how large the two would actually be as you were stretched and both bottomed out. your moans got higher pitched with each push they did to bottom out. oh how they loved it.

dongil started moving and you gripped onto his biceps for support before you collapsed and wouldn’t be able to lift your hips or hold your head up. changmin grabbed your arms and lifted you up, hands around your throat as the two started moving in sync. “don’t look down. you either look at me or him.” he commanded as your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you felt another wave of pleasure hit you from one of their hands rubbing your clit.

you couldn’t focus anymore as you blacked out from all the bliss and only paid attention when they switched positions before taking you one on one.

you cried and shook violently, feeling one’s mouth and another’s finger as they played with you again. you were covered in cum and could barely focus as you felt your legs being held open despite the shaking.

both of them spoke at the same time. “cum.”

you let loose the final whine you had in you as the boys had their mouths on you, collecting everything before laughing. “look at our doll. she’s such a mess.” changmin said before you went black.

you sat up, blinking quickly. you looked around and noticed the torn apart jacket. you also noticed how you were wearing dongil’s favourite shirt and changmin’s boxers.

falling out of the bed, you struggled to get up and walk out for something to eat as you grabbed and clung to the wall. your legs were shaking and you knew you were definitely bruised.

“changmin.” you said gently to the male who was watching tv in his dog form. the sight made you laugh. he padded over and sat in front of you. “that’s not one of my men.” you teased as you struggled past him and placed a hand on his head.

you immediately felt a hand on your arm as you were helped to the couch and you grinned cheekily. “that’s one of them.” he only laughed and went to get you a drink just as dongil hopped in. they really acted like two peas in a pod. “changmin, babe. where’s dongil?” you asked as you stared at the flemish giant in front of you. his nose moved furiously as you laughed again. “i’m sorry. i don’t speak to bad rabbits. why are you out of your hut? did you eat through it again? changmin. fix the hut for me will you?” you teased as he hopped over quickly and his fingers appeared to poke you in the nose.

“there goes my second man.” you grinned as the two rolled their eyes playfully and sat down on the floor in front of you, looking for a movie to watch.

“changmin. dongil.” the two turned back to look at you as you had a slight twinkle in your eye. “why don’t you two just go piece back the jacket that’s on the floor and we can film our own movie? for that poor tiger’s jacket didn’t do anything wrong.” you said as the two snapped to look at each other then back at you.

“you knew?” of course you did. you could tell that he had given a couple other girls the same jacket since they were at the club with you and it had lipstick marks or phone numbers. it was the same way these two did— except they would alternate between their shirts and sweatshirts with you.

you ignored them. “i mean i was going to film a movie with him and this pitbull..” you trailed off as you laughed out loud at how fast you were squished and placed on top of the two’s laps. “okay okay. my legs hurt so either you both morph and i lay on you both, both get cockwarmed, or you both sit on the floor and i get back my precious couch.”

i’m pretty sure you can guess what they chose.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Hello, Tanco! :D hope that you're having a good time at your parents!

I've read all your shigadabihawks fics and I just love your dynamic for them ♡♡ and now I'm trying to write my own fksnskfns

Idk why but everytime that I try to add Hawks to the mix, my Shiggy and my Dabi just wanna be mean to Birdy :( so my kinda of technical question is how do you manage their power dynamics? Idk if that would be the word lol idk if I'm making any sense

Anyway thank you so much for your stories, they are amazing ♡♡

Hi! Hell yeah to working on your own fics, may writer's block never dog your steps!

As far as dealing with character/power dynamics, I tend to think focus on what each character wants to get out of the exchange. Like even if we look at canon Dabi and Hawks after the High-End fight, Dabi still has to call up Hawks and somewhat make amends to keep using him and Hawks knows he's doing that and lets him so he can use Dabi right back. By keeping in mind the goals each character has for the relationship (romantic or otherwise), it can help inform how the characters are gonna act towards each other. There's a limit most people have on how much rudeness and what type that they're willing to put up with before they decide the interactions aren't worth it. If all of the involved parties want something from each other, then they need to be aware of how they're going to get what they want and what actions might make achieving that goal more difficult, if not impossible.

Your Shigaraki and Dabi might be mean to Hawks, but do they have the emotional intelligence and social awareness to know to watch out for what might actively push Hawks away from them? If they do, then that should be a conscious thing that they make a choice about during their interactions with him. How much bullying is your Hawks willing to put up with before he stops thinking their interactions are worth his time? Keeping that in mind can help set soft limits in how their interactions can play out, and pushing those limits can be a great way of creating additional conflict and tension!

But this is just what works for me and I hope that it helped a little! Happy writing!