#praying this chapter doesn't flop lol

[whumpyourdamnpears]

Fruit of the Wicked: Chapter Six

CW: lady whump, male whumper/female whumpee, POC whump (whumpee is a Black woman), age gap whump (whumper is an older man), religious whump, attempted firearm use (it's unloaded)

Thank you Marz and Gen for beta reading <3

Word Count: 2,235 Previous Next

Dani stared at herself as she stood in front of the mirror in the diner’s single ladies room, taking in her new uniform. This felt like some sort of a sick joke. The yellow diner dress barely fit, although by the dress’s standards, it fit perfectly. The dress’s hem rested inches above her knees, just barely covering her ass. The white apron it came with did nothing to provide her with more cover, its length the same as the dress. She looked like something straight out of the sixties. She hated it.

The tips better be good, Dani thought to herself as she pulled herself out of the ladies room. Pale early morning light streamed through the wall of glass windows onto the booths and linoleum as she passed. The diner, despite the early hour, was already starting to fill up with its patrons. Dani subconsciously pulled on the back of her skirt as she made her way over to the group of waitresses crowded around the cash register, waiting for her.

————

The switch in the man’s hand came down hard onto Dani’s wrist. “Repeat it back to me,” he said.

Frustrated tears streamed down Dani’s face. She couldn’t. She couldn’t remember how the verse went. Every attempt of hers so far had been wrong, and now she’d reached the point of exhaustion where she couldn’t repeat even a semblance of what the verse was. Did he realize this? Would he ever? How much longer would he keep beating on her like this? Until she bled?

“I can’t,” Dani whined.

The switch came down again.

“Repeat it.”

————

The other waitresses were nice enough. Dani wasn’t really concerned about them; she’d dealt with bitchy co-workers before, she could deal with them again if it came to that. A few of them seemed to be better to work with than others: the shy college girl with the strawberry blonde hair, the short, thicker woman who would smoke with Dani on their breaks. She hadn’t bothered learning their names yet. They were here for their job and she was here for hers. She didn’t need to be friendly with them. She’d be off to some other town soon enough.

Dani didn’t care for the gossip that took place between the other waitresses surrounding the inhabitants of the town and their patrons; it was just background noise willing its way to be a distraction for her. She didn’t need that. She didn’t need to get invested in this place or the people living in it, she just needed to keep her head down and get her job done.

She’d occasionally hear the others talk about her when they thought she was out of earshot; how she appeared out of nowhere, how her car was always there before anyone else arrived and after everyone else had left. Maybe she’d slept with the manager to get the job. Maybe she was in one of those employment programs for convicts to get their lives straight. Dani didn’t care, she’d heard worse. It did feel nice to hear the strawberry blonde girl come to her defense at least a few times.

————

“So, where are you staying?” The strawberry blonde—Christina—asked her one day as they busked tables. “Like, for the night.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dani, your car is always out front. Always. You’re the first one in, the last one out, every day. Where are you…?”

“It’s really none of your business where I’m staying.” Dani cut her off, leaning over to scrub the booth with vigor. She didn’t need to know that Dani had been sleeping out in her car in the diner parking lot for the past couple weeks. And besides, soon Dani would have enough money to put a deposit down on the shittiest apartment Pointersfield had to offer and she’d be out of her car. She just needed a few more shifts to make it happen. She didn’t need people sticking their noses in her business, no matter how well-intentioned. She was fine. She’d be fine. She always had been, even when she wasn’t.

She’d never needed anyone before, and she certainly didn’t need them now.

————

“You’re making things more difficult for yourself, darlin’. Just repeat the verse back to me. Is that really that hard to do?”

Blood rushed in Dani’s ears. Her arms were covered in red welts, the skin on them just beginning to break and sparkle with blood droplets. She was trying. God, was she trying. No matter what she said, something was always missing, or wrong, or not what he wanted.

“I can’t,” Dani’s voice shook. “I can’t, I can’t do it, I’m sorry, I can’t do it.”

The man sighed as he lifted his hand. “Let’s try again.”

————

It was finally closing time. She’d been the one to close for the day, waving off her co-workers when they offered to help close up shop. She didn’t mind doing it alone. In fact, she preferred it. Being alone in the diner gave Dani time to clean herself up for the night, something she couldn’t do in her car, without having to find a rest stop somewhere and worry about being safe at it. She knew she was safe here. It was a nice town, a quiet town, and the closest thing that had ever happened to her there was when a group of confused truckers came to the diner for twenty-four hour breakfast, something they didn’t provide, who quickly left when they realized.

The clean-up was easy enough: all it was was a matter of putting in her ear buds and blasting a playlist while hunkering down to scrub the booths, counters, and floors. She could get it done in an hour easily.

This night should’ve been no different. She went through her routine as usual. When she had reached the, “count the money in the register,” portion of her routine, Dani’s eye caught on something under the counter. Seeing the hard, black plastic handle, she was able to instantly identify what the object was: a gun. Her fingers unconsciously brushed against the handle as she stared at it before Dani pulled them away to carry on with the rest of her routine. It hadn’t been the first time Dani had seen a gun, but certainly the first time she’d been in such close proximity to one.

By the time Dani reached wiping down the big bar counter, her playlist had reached a loud enough song that she couldn’t hear anything over it. She couldn’t hear the knocking outside the diner’s entrance. She didn’t even notice when the knocker managed to push open the door to let themself in. She only noticed once she was standing face to face with the man, who was waving his hand in front of her.

Dani screamed and ducked behind the counter, yanking her ear buds out.

“—Sorry to scare you, I’m just here to make my—“

Dani grabbed the gun from under the counter and pointed it at him.

“What the fuck!” The intruder screamed, shooting his hands up into the air, hooded eyes going wide. He was about her age, wearing a gray hoodie with the logo of some school (“Go Falcons!”) and a pair of blue jeans, with black, wavy hair and tan skin.

“Get out.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Get. Out.”

“I can’t!” He sounded frustrated, glancing down at something on the ground. Dani readjusted her grip on the gun.

“The fuck you mean, ‘you can’t?’”

“I have to finish making my delivery!”

Dani blinked, gun wavering. “Your delivery?”

The intruder looked exasperated. “Yeah! My delivery! Why else would I be bringing stuff in!” He used one hand to gesture down to a box of oranges he dropped onto the floor. One had fallen out and began to roll past both of their feet.

Dani slowly brought the gun down, staring at him. The intruder looked less terrified now and more annoyed that she’d gone ahead and made him drop his box of oranges she hadn’t noticed he’d even had with him. She looked at the gun. She hadn’t even loaded it, just grabbed it and pointed and hoped it would be enough to scare him off.

Oh, God. She was so fucked.

What if he told her boss? She’d lose her job for sure, and then she wouldn’t have enough to put down a deposit on an apartment, and she’d be stuck living in her car—

No. Stop spiraling. You can fix this.

She slammed the gun down on the counter, scaring the both of them. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

He looked at her like she had two heads. “I mean, you put the gun dow—alright, alright, Jesus.” He started, interrupting himself as Dani reached for the gun again. “Why the fuck would I be carrying around a box of oranges if I wasn’t bringing them somewhere?”

“Could be a cover.”

“I promise you, it’s not.”

Dani huffed, picking the gun back up and stuffing it back under the register.

The intruder watched her with uncertainty. “Aren’t you gonna unload it? Putting it back like that isn’t safe—“

“It was never loaded.”

“I’m sorry, what?” The intruder’s voice picked up. “So you’ve been pointing an unloaded gun at me this entire time?”

“You didn’t seem to notice.”

“Yeah, but that’s—how could I—“ He spluttered, trailing off. “Why was your first instinct to grab a gun?”

“To defend myself?” Now Dani was the one looking at him like he had two heads. “For all I knew, you were coming into a closed diner late at night to come take money out of the register and then murder me for being your witness.”

Something clicked for her. “Wait. I locked that door. How the fuck did you get in here?”

The intruder looked almost ashamed of himself. Looking down, he said, “I have a key.”

“You have a key?”

“Yeah, for when whoever is closing forgets to leave the door open.” He gave her a pointed look. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“No one told me you were coming.” Dani bristled. Fuck whoever forgot to tell her.

“I come by every Wednesday for the perishables. Someone should have told you.” He bent down to grab the orange that was rolling away. “And, as wonderful as this interaction has been, I really need to get going on bringing this order in so I can get home before it’s tomorrow.”

Dani watched as the intruder picked the box of oranges back up and brushed past her to the kitchen. She knew he was upset with her, and she couldn’t quite blame him for that. He’d probably had a long day of, what, delivering produce? And then there she went, pointing an unloaded gun at his ass during what should’ve been the quiet final delivery of his day. Great. This had the potential to be a new record for the fastest Dani had ever lost a job.

When he came out of the kitchen, he started walking toward the diner’s entrance, presumably to go to the only other car in the diner parking lot that wasn’t Dani’s. “I’ll be right back,” he told her. “Try not to shoot me.”

“Fuck off.”

“Can’t yet, we’ve been through this.”

Dani groaned at him as she reached for the wash cloth she dropped during the altercation.

————

“Stop it!” She screamed, voice ragged. “It hurts!”

“That’s the point, darlin’. It’s supposed to hurt.” The switch came back down on the torn up patch of skin on Dani’s arm, blood splattering at the impact. Dani screamed. “Now, repeat the verse back to me.”

She couldn’t. She couldn’t do this. She tried, God, had she tried, and it hurt too much to even think in her state. She felt the tears spill hot down her cheeks, voice catching on itself. “I can’t. I ca—can’t, I—“ Before she knew it, Dani was sinking to the ground.

The arm the man used to wind up the switch came to cradle her back and ease her onto the floor. He came down with her, slowly, face now pressed into the thick hair against her face. “Okay,” he said softly. “It’s okay. Shhhh. We’re done. We’re done now.” His loose hand came to pull the wet curls off her cheeks, brushing against her temples as he pulled the hair back. “It’s over.”

Dani felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her arm was on fire, blooding running off the side of her wrist. The pain made her feel dizzy, or was it the hunger? She hadn’t eaten in days. Her head kept cycling through what felt like the past few hours of torture she’d gone through and it made her cry even more. She still couldn’t remember the passage, even as the man mumbled it into her hair and held her gently as they both sat on the floor. She cried, and cried, and cried until there was nothing left. Until she was so tired that her eyes and body grew heavy with the weight of what she’d just gone through. But the man didn’t leave. He sat with her until her sobs faded to silence, until her shaking stilled. And when she had finally fallen asleep, he stayed until he was done with her, laying her down onto the floor and brushing her hair out of her face once more.

Taglist: @flowersarefreetherapy, @generic-whumperz, @heartinthehospital, @deluxewhump, @another-whump-sideblog, @pigeonwhumps, @lektricwhump, @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees, @sowhumpshaped

[skania]

OnK Chapter 152

Soooo as someone who reads this for Akane and for Akane only, I have to say that I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about her role in the upcoming arc.

We're entering the final arc and she has yet to get her second volume cover. If she doesn't get Volume 15 (and I'm praying she doesn't), then that should mean that whatever happens in the upcoming volumes (the final volumes!) will involve her enough to warrant saving her second cover to this late in the game.

We're entering the final arc and she just narrated the lead-up to it.

We're entering the final arc and it's happening right alongside the Second Season, which is the season that will cover most of Akane's important chapters. So if Aka wants to deliver parallels, then there's a lot of potential for Akane to be involved.

...Watch Mengo and Aka stick her on the cover of Volume 15 and call it a day 🤡 But for now, I'll keep praying that we get a Goro/Aqua cover so that Akane is free to be used in better volumes.

I don't have much to say about the chapter this time around. I think we all knew that Aka was getting ready to end the manga, so I for one was happy to see that we're entering the final arc. The sooner we're freed, the better!

It's hard to gauge how long this arc will be, but I'd bet on ~30 chapters plus an Epilogue Arc. Coincidentally, there are exactly 28 weeks left until Christmas. In the manga, they are in November right now and Kana's Graduation (the most important moment in the manga, apparently) will take place on Christmas. So I can totally see Aka wanting his fictional Christmas to happen during, well, Christmas.

If he does it, then we could be getting 3 more volumes worth of content plus 1 volume for the Epilogue. Maybe.

Or maybe he will try to rush it and end it even sooner so that whoever gets hurt gets hurt when the anime adapts Chapters 64 - 65. That would be so rushed even for his standards that it would be wild, but anything is possible when it comes to bad writing lmao

Leaving that aside, look at my girl.

I love her. I love her so much. She has got quite a few reasons to be making this face, IMO.

Ruby was able to find a peaceful way to have her revenge and is thus ready to start healing, and the answer she found is healing those around her, too. Like Gotanda and Kaburagi.

Ai's heart was presumably portrayed in an accurate fashion, which is sure to pull at her hearstrings.

And considering that Aqua was the one who edited the movie, I think it says something about his current disposition that he respected Ruby's take and left the movie as it is, so that may be giving Akane another reason to smile.

Speaking about Gotanda and Kaburagi, I feel like their conversation foreshadows a lot of what this final arc will be dealing with.

Making amends, overcoming regrets and moving towards the future...

... people lying to themselves and "bottling themselves up"...

yet still holding out onto hope, deep down, of being able to fulfill the dreams that they have been denying themselves of all along.

This comment in particularly reminded me so much of Aqua lol

Which takes me to: Aka's writing is so clumsy that his star changing colors every other chapter comes across as flip-flopping 😂

Back when his stars briefly became white only to turn black again, it served a purpose. It showed that while Ruby's words pacified the "Goro" side of him, he hadn't fully healed yet. If Aqua having his white star again is meant to signify that Kana's words managed to pacify the "Aqua" side of him, then... why in the world didn't we see his eyes go white last chapter? 🤡 If Kana is the reason why Aqua seems to have hopes for the future now, why not show it?

For my own sanity, I have to believe something happened in the time-skip. Maybe editing the movie was actually cathartic or something, who knows. I'm not even going to theorize anything about this, because the writing is giving me whiplash lmao so I'm just going to take a moment to point out that while Mengo took the time to give Aqua the haircut he is supposed to have here as per the prologue, she left out the piercing.

And I find that kind of funny, honestly, that this is where Aka seemingly draws the line. With all the stuff that Aka off-panels, Aqua getting a random piercing off-panel wouldn't have been shocking at all 😂

Another thing I found funny:

How many times does Aka need to repeat the same thing? Does he think our attention span is that short? 😭 Not to mention these words feel empty right now because he just went on a data with Kana with zero issue. Apparently, for Aka keeping his distance is only a thing if it involves making sure Aqua interacts with Akane as little as possible lmao

Oh, right!

How could I forget the big twist!

Wake me up when Kamiki interviews Akane 😂