#the whip is what triggered this whole thought process in the first place

[teyvats-worst-hero]

Ok I understand what people are saying about Jade’s design. Nothing new or exciting about it, just a pretty dress and all. But like.

I am NOT going to lie to you, between the whip and the disturbing context we have of her?

That hat looks like a Southern Belle/Romanticized Antebellum bat.

Look at me.

That’s a Southern Belle, Plantation-Owning-Woman’s hat. Like, the silhouette I mean.

Am I crazy? Is the fashion history brain clicking in a weird way?

[snippychicke]

Cats & Ships Chapter Four

Title: Cats & Ships

Overall Rating: Teen for now, will go into mature at a future date

Trigger warnings: Nothing beyond what's in the live-action series. I mean, Kuro's still manipulative and paranoid. It gets better tho? Slowly?

Pairings: Captain Kuro (Klahadore)/Reader; hints of Kaya/Usopp

Summary: It started out as a means to get information as Khaladore. Who would be better to provide information regarding the high seas than Syrup Village’s Harbormaster? Except, for the first time in a very long time, Kuro found himself trusting, and even liking, the young woman he shared tea with every week. 

And then the Straw Hat Pirates arrived and ruined his plans. Except fate decided his story wasn’t done there. 

Nor was yours.

Masterlist here! | Read on Ao3!

Kaya was silent on the other end of the transponder snail after you relayed your ‘adventure on the high-sea’. You couldn’t blame her; you were still trying to believe it wasn’t some kind of dream, especially now that you had made it safely to shore. (What island you had landed on, you weren’t sure considering your mind still a confused mess after everything.)

“...So, essentially," Kaya finally spoke, slowly as if she was still trying to grapple the whole situation. "Klahadore--Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates-- took you in his cabin… to make sure your cat was okay, clean your wounds and catch up?” 

“Yep,” you sighed, leaning back in the small booth of the local tavern; the only place in the small port that had public-use transponder snails. You mindlessly ripped up a piece of lettuce to feed the snail as you thought. “I-I know that the news of him still being alive is not what you wanted to hear, I just… I need to talk with somebody who understands.”

Or at least somewhat. Because hell, you were still trying to understand the emotional whirlwind. Being captured by pirates. Seeing them kick the-cat-still-unfortunately-named-Kuro so hard you were sure he was deadnor at least injured. Then the pirate was dead and you were at the feet of a man you thought you'd never see again. 

He was cold. Yet kind. How were you supposed to look at him and see Captain Kuro and not Klahadore? Especially as he took such care to look over his namesake? Or when he carefully cleaned your wounds? 

Then it was like a light had switched and the pirate captain had you by the throat. Faint bruises had already appeared on your neck where his fingers had dug in. You had been so sure you were going to die…

Only for that same grip to soften. Almost like a lover's as his hand trailed downward slowly. 

 “It's okay," Kaya's voice broke through your thought, whipping you back to reality.  "I understand. And I would want to know anyway. I’m just…having a hard time processing everything.”

You chuckled dryly. “You and me both," you sighed, rubbing your face as you noticed the time

This call was probably going to cost a pretty berry, but… "Anyways, how’s school? How’s city life treating you? Tell me everything.” 

The snail did it's best impression of Kaya's smile.  “It’s good. Being in a class with so many other people can be overwhelming at times, but it’s still nice. I have a few friends now, we help each other in class, and hang out afterwards. I still miss Usopp, and… how things used to be. But I’m becoming stronger.” 

“You’re going to be an amazing woman,” you assured her, a faint smile on your own face. “After everything you have gone through, the world will be your oyster. And I’m sure we’ll hear from Usopp sooner or later; after all, it was impossible not to back home.”

***

As it turned out, Maple Town was the name of the port you had found yourself in. It was a bit larger than Syrup Village, but not by much. Deciding you were done with being a harbormaster and wanted to try something not associated with ships and the sea, you found work at the very same tavern from where you had called Kaya weeks earlier.  

Being a barmaid paid well, or at least enough for you to live off of, and wasn’t nearly as stressful as your old job. You got to hear so many stories from the sailors that visited the sea-side tavern, and it wasn’t long until The Straw-Hat Pirates started to be mentioned in some of them.

And then fate decided to make life odd for you once more. A slow afternoon became tense as the doors of the tavern opened up, revealing a small band of familiar looking pirates, their captain trailing in slowly with a long black coat slung over his shoulders. 

To be fair, you had been working at the tavern long enough to see more than a few bands of pirates stop in for a drink and a bite, many of them rowdy but not causing enough trouble that you worried for your life. Some would pay, others wouldn’t. Some were womanizers, others weren’t. It was just roulette, really. 

But the Black Cats? Your first instinct was to rip off your apron and toss it at the cook as you stormed out. Except the cook that afternoon was Jiro-- a kid that could barely speak to you, let alone anyone else. You could hardly leave them to the mercy of the pirates. 

“A round of ale!” one of the pirates called as the group claimed one of the central tables, “And a glass of your finest red for our captain!” 

You disappeared into the back before you could catch said-captain’s eyes, still cursing to yourself and your luck as you readied the drinks. Still, it wouldn’t be absolutely correct to say your heart was beating quickly out of fear or anger. Anxiety, yes. 

Because while you remembered seeing that one pirate fall from the five blades of Captain Kuro’s claws, you could also remember him checking over Kuro-the-cat then allowing a relieved smile to grace his lips briefly. Or when he cleaned your injuries tenderly, looking so much like the Klahodore you thought you had known.  

His hand skimming down the length of your neck, brushing the collar of your shirt gently as if he wanted to go lower. 

You poured the wine last, deciding to go with a decent bottle instead of the cheapest like you had briefly thought about. (Though it would serve him right to take a swig of wine-vinegar instead.) Hefting the heavy tray was a challenge you were used to, and thankfully Jiro opened the kitchen door wide for you to pass through. 

“Just forewarning, my cook is an apprentice. The master chef won’t be on duty for another hour or so,” you explained as you started setting down the lagers. “They can make our specialty fried calamari, however, if you gentlemen want to start with that.”  

There were a few grunts of agreement as the pirates gulped down their drinks, though your attention was more on Captain Kuro as you set the glass of red before him. Judging by his narrowed eyes, he was about as happy to see you as you were to see him. 

(Except, you kinda were. But you pushed that errant thought and emotion away to the darkest part of your soul. This wasn’t your old friend. This was a pirate captain who lied and tricked you for three years.) 

His eyes glanced down to the wine, then up to you. “Take a drink.” 

You frowned, looking at the glass briefly before looking back at him. “...take a drink of your wine?” you repeated, unsure if you heard him right. 

His lips twitched in a humorless smile, “To be sure it isn’t poisoned.” 

You rolled your eyes despite yourself. You? Poison him? Oh that was rich. “I’m not in the business of poisoning others, unlike someone I know.” You ignored his quickly-darkening look and picked up the goblet and all but chugged half of it before setting it down hard, making a face as you did so. “It’s a bit dry for my tastes, but I figured that would be right up your alley.” 

Captain Kuro picked up the goblet and sipped at it, holding your gaze. You tried to ignore his damned full lips and his tongue briefly ghosting over them. "Decent, but hardly the best."

"This is a tavern, not the manor," you answered dryly. "Let me go get another round for your crew, and I'll see what else we have." 

***

Hours passed, the crew of the Black Cat Pirates were barely intelligible after several rounds as well as several servings of the fried calamari. By the time the chef came in, no one seemed to want an actual meal. Many were now spread around the tavern, and a few had taken up the rooms you had offered.

Meanwhile, Captain Kuro was nowhere near the state of his crew, just merely relaxed as he sat in his chair, watching the rest of the tavern as a few brave regulars intermixed with his crew.

Unfortunately, considering he had chosen you to be his personal poison taster for every drink he had, you were more than a little tipsy yourself. You honestly had lost count of how many glasses of wine you had shared with the pirate, but enough that even the dry red was starting to taste pretty good. 

And also enough that when someone accidentally hip-checked you while you were tasting yet another glass for him, you end up sitting in his lap somehow. By the time you realize what happened, Kuro was glaring daggers at the poor soul and his arms wrapped around you tight enough you had no fear of falling.

Yet when you tried to move, he pulled you closer still. Your head ended up resting against his shoulder as you sat sideways in his lap. It felt… it felt far too good. Far too comfortable of a position. He was warm, smelling like sea air and musk, one of his hands mindlessly petting your arm. 

"Klahadore…" you muttered after a moment, hoping it would break him of whatever thoughts he was lost in and free you. (Before you grew too comfortable and gave in to the warmth trying to overcome the cold disdain for the captain.)

"Hmmm?" He hummed slightly, his hand still slowly stroking up and down your arm.

"I think… I think we've had a bit too much," you replied honestly refusing to let your eyes close. This was a pirate, a very heinous and evil man. You should not feel comfortable or safe in his arms. 

To your dismay, his petting stopped. "Perhaps you're right." Yet… he didn't let you go. Instead he pressed his face against the crown of your hair, taking in a deep breath. "But it provides such a nice alibi. We both can blame this on the alcohol in the morning." 

The quiet purr of his voice didn't help matters any. Mother Sea, you had never heard him talk like that, and it made your body react in ways you'd rather not admit. "Was that your plan then? To get me tipsy in hopes I'd fall in bed with you?" 

You could feel as well as hear his chuckle. "Hardly. This is merely a… beneficial accident. I'm not like those other pirates who take captives to their bed unwillingly anyways. I find no pleasure in such acts."

You were not debating how unwilling you would be. You were not thinking about what it would be like to have his hands on you, or that sinful mouth. To see that little smirk of his as he lorded over you, teasing you to oblivion. 

"Then why?" You asked as you forced your mind away from the thoughts you refused to acknowledge. "Why have me test every drink of yours?"

"I told you, my dear," he whispered virtually directly into your ear. "I can't trust anyone." 

Goosebumps appeared in a wave across your body, warmth only growing in your loins. But you stubbornly ignored it all as you shifted with a frown to meet his gaze. "Do you honestly think I would poison you?" 

"I've known people swear revenge for less," he answered as if it was an obvious fact. "You lost your family's legacy because of me. Exiled to being a barmaid. Of course you'd want revenge, and poison is almost too poetic in our case." 

"Sounds like too much effort to me," You replied, leaning your head against him once more, finding that dark gaze to be too intense. As if it was a keg of pure black gun powder, just waiting for a spark.  "Besides, it’s not half bad. I never thought I would leave Syrup Village, or do anything else with my life, yet here I am. And I kinda like it." 

"You were a harbormaster, second only to that idiot mayor," he argued, his grip tightening. "You had power. Authority. Frankly, I doubt that town will survive without you." 

The fact he was quite possibly right--about the town, at least-- made your stomach twist with guilt. But like all the other things you didn't want to acknowledge, you shoved it aside with pure stubbornness. Yet at the same time, you leaned into him a little more. "They made their bed, now they have to lay in it."

"As did I. And expecting others to poison my food or drink is one such instance. A pirate has no friends, merely enemies holding an uneasy truce."

Despite everything, the sentiment did not settle well with you, and you couldn't shove that away. Even with your mind numbly reminding you of all the horrors he committed. "Not here. Not me." You looked back up to him again shifting so you could cup his face. You had definitely had too much, unable to stop yourself from acting so intimately. You avoided his gaze as instead watched your thumb brush his high cheek bone, grazing the lower rim of his glasses. Yet you could virtually feel his gaze on you, hot and intense like the noon-day sun. "Even after everything, I don't think I have it in me to do something like that." 

He licked his lips, and your mouth suddenly felt dry. "Would you bring me some tea then?" He asked after a long moment, breaking the spell. 

You were finally brave enough to meet his gaze, as heavy as it still was. "Cream, no sugar? I have some butter cookies as well."

There was that smile you had missed, crinkling the corners of his eyes. "That sounds lovely."

[head-empty-just-sigma]

Extraordinary vs Ordinary

so

i had originally intended to ramble for a while about how Dazai and Dostoy are both mega-geniuses able to make 100+ backup plans for their backup plans in case their first backup plan failed and then one of them whips out an uno reverse card to counter the other’s royal flush after one of them triggered the other’s trap card because someone played a blue-eyes white dragon against the other’s mega mewtwo EX and one of them only needs one more energy point to use keqing’s elemental burst as long as they have enough elemental dice to prevent the other from tapping enough lands to place a black lotus card

still with me? okay good

BUT i found something better to talk about thanks to some BSD Discord server members who pointed out some things from Crime & Punishment that coincide with what Dazai told Sigma in chapter 105, as well as an interesting theory that Dostoy’s ability only works on non-ability users. i’m not going to go too in-depth with the Dostoy ability theory since it’s already been done (not sure by who or where, sadly) and i don’t want to seem like i’m copying them, but it was worth mentioning before i get into my analysis

and also a little ‘side theory’ about Sigma’s involvement in the whole mess and why Dazai seems both wiling and reluctant to talk to Sigma while they’re escaping

🔺spoilers for chapters 105.5 and 105, minor spoilers for Dazai’s Entrance Exam, and very very minor spoilers Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment🔻

So what is a ‘smart’ character?

I’m just going to talk about this briefly this because Dazai’s dialogue from chapter 105 addresses one of the problems I have with his character. It’s also the only time (that I can recall) Dazai has straight up called out his own intelligence. What’s more, he admits that he’s not above an average human, he simply observes and analyses more than an average human would. I don’t honestly know how to feel about this because we already have Ranpo, who genuinely uses deduction and analysis to solve mysteries. We also get to know Ranpo’s thought process during his deductions, since we’re either given his internal dialogue or he explains his methods of coming to a conclusion to another character. This is important in developing and writing ‘smart’ characters, because we get to know why they’re ‘smart’ and how their ‘smarts’ works, for lack of a better explanation. Ranpo is an example of a well written smart character in BSD.

Dazai and Dostoy are examples of… Less well written smart characters.

Obviously I can’t say that they’re not smart, because they certainly are, but the problem is we don’t really know how or why. Dazai’s 'smarts' could be attributed to his time in the Mafia under Mori’s teaching, since we learn in chapter 30 that Mori taught Dazai about war strategies and other miscellaneous things that all good crime bosses should know about. Y’know, as one does.

One of the reasons I don’t particularly like Dazai’s character is because we could be getting a similar treatment towards his thought process like we do for Ranpo, but we just don’t because his character is supposed to be more mysterious and unknown. That’s well and good and all, and has been done before in other mangas like Classroom of the Elite with Ayanokoji or Tomodachi Game with Yuuichi, BUT with those two we still eventually get to learn the hows and whys of their ‘smartness’ after the fact. With Dazai and Dostoy for that matter we kind of just, don’t really get to know. We’re left guessing why and how he knew this or that, or why he’s doing certain things certain ways or how on earth he could possibly predict this or that, etc. With Dostoy this is slightly more forgivable considering he is an antagonist and therefore we aren't really supposed to know everything, but a least a little explanation would be nice...

Well, in chapter 105, I suppose we get a very Dazai-esque explanation of why he’s smart…

No such thing as ‘superhuman’, apparently.

I think a lot of the time, we as readers attribute Dazai and Dostoy’s intelligence as just a product of them being more than ordinary humans. They’re the only two characters who feel ostracized for being ‘too intelligent’, and neither of them can have normal conversations because they can predict what the other person will say like some kind of Oda and Gide situation but without the precognition abilities.

However, Dazai straight up denies that he’s above average. In fact, he tells Sigma that there is no such thing as ‘average’ and ‘superhuman’, as no human are truly greater or lesser than another. This quote became extremely important to me when a member of the BSD Discord pointed out something from Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment…

The main character, Raskolnikov, believes that people are divided into two categories; ‘extraordinary’ and ‘ordinary’. ‘Extraordinary’ humans were allowed to break certain laws, so long as they had a goal in mind that will benefit humanity as a whole. Raskelnikov goes on to claim that if these ‘extraordinary’ people had to sacrifice ‘ordinary’ people in order to reach their goals, that they could do so, but they couldn’t just kill randomly for no real reason.

In BSD, ‘extraordinary’ people could be equated to ability users, and ‘ordinary’ people is everyone else with no abilities. Another way of seeing it would be ‘smart’ characters and then everyone else, but there’s really only 3 or 4 ‘smart’ characters in BSD, so I think it’s more accurate to view it as ability users versus regular people.

Dostoy, similar to the main character of the novel which his ability is named after, believes that there is a such thing as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘ordinary’ humans. This is where the theory that his ability only works on non-ability users comes from, since the main character of the novel believes that ‘extraordinary’ people can kill (or sacrifice) ‘ordinary’ people, meaning ability users can kill non-ability users so long as they have a goal that will benefit humanity. Dostoy believes that ridding the world of ability users will benefit humanity, therefore legitimizing his reason to kill others. This is also doubled down on with the evidence that Dostoy has only ever killed non-ability users (Karma, and policemen) with his ability. When Nikolai touches him, nothing happens. He also manhandles the time-stopping ability user in the prison in chapter 105.5 and nothing happens, and he even goes so far as to get a gun to kill her with. This theory definitely has some solid legs to stand on.

Dazai, on the other hand, believes that this difference doesn’t exist. No human is above average, and therefore no human has the ‘privilege’ to kill others to further their goals. This is probably something he developed after he left the Mafia, for obvious reasons… i’m still sobbing a little

The fact that this is something he so readily tells Sigma, compared to how he speaks to every other character, shows that Dazai has something planned for Sigma in particular. He’s never mentioned this idea of ‘superhuman’ and ‘average human’ to anyone else in the story, especially in regards to himself. He admits that he’s just an average human, no better than Sigma or any other human in terms of ability or intelligence, he simply uses his average intelligence differently than others. I think it’s important to keep in mind that Dazai said this to Sigma, the character that’s been used and discarded by Dostoy. Sigma’s expression after Dazai tells him this is evidence of its importance. He seems almost sad or jealous, in a way that says “how could you possibly think that”, since Sigma thinks that Dazai and Dostoy are practically the same, especially in terms of intelligence. Sigma even initially believed that Dazai plans on doing the same thing to him that Dostoy has—using him for his ability and then discarding him. It’s actually exactly what he says in the next chapter, he says “I couldn’t believe that”, and tells Dazai that he is ‘superhuman’ because he defeated Dostoy.

I also think it’s interesting that Dazai calls Sigma a replacement for Kunikida.

Now, obviously Dazai doesn’t mean ‘replacement’ literally, I think he means that Sigma is replacing the motivation that Kunikida gives Dazai to do his work. Dazai even tells Sigma that he chose him to help the Agency in the long run by using Sigma’s ability to learn Dostoy’s plans. I feel like there’s really only one reason why Dazai would bring up the Agency here, and go so far as to mention that he’s on the Agency’s payroll… I think he wants to get Sigma into the Detective Agency. Why? Because he’d be protected under both the Agency’s name and its members, and the Skilled Business Permit and Fukuzawa’s ability as well, meaning Sigma would be able to use his ability as he wishes, and he wouldn’t have to worry about others using him for his ability and then getting rid of him. Dazai also becomes oddly reluctant to speak all of a sudden when Sigma asks him what the second reason for choosing him was, simply saying that Dostoy and Nikolai would’ve killed Sigma after the prison events to prevent him from talking. I think that, again, the reason why Dazai doesn’t elaborate further may be because he plans to give Sigma an entrance exam of some kind, so he doesn't want to say too much since Sigma is smart enough to figure something like that out if given the chance. I’ll talk more about this later because it took an exorbitant amount of time to read too many Bible verse analyses as a person who knows absolutely nothing about any of that stuff.

This battle of beliefs between Dazai and Dostoy will eventually come down to who is more willing to make sacrifices (go figure). Dazai was willing to sacrifice Chuuya in an attempt to kill Dostoy, which failed, possibly on purpose or possibly not. It’s hard to tell, considering Dazai should’ve definitely accounted for Chuuya being able to use gravity manipulation one way or another to escape the room. I think Dazai was trying to test how well Dostoy could utilize Chuuya, but that’s not what I’m here to theorize about. Dostoy’s sacrifice, I think, is a few different things. First, it’s Sigma considering the poor guy is currently trapped in the elevator with Dazai that’s filling with water. Secondly, Dostoy, as defined by his own beliefs as ‘extraordinary’, is allowed to kill ‘ordinary’ people so long as it benefits his goal, which benefits humanity in the long run. However, Dostoy kills an ability user, who could be considered another ‘extraordinary’ person. This prevents Dazai from communicating with Ango further. But, it doesn’t change the fact that he killed someone that wasn’t ‘ordinary’ just for the sake of stopping Dazai from communicating with the outside. However, Dazai defines himself as ‘ordinary’ because he doesn’t believe that there’s a difference, so does that technically mean Dostoy is given the right to kill him to further his own goals? Who knows.

Depending on who you ask, one might say that Dostoy’s ultimate goal of ridding the world of all ability users is more beneficial to humanity than whatever Dazai is doing. Others (and most of us readers) would argue that Dazai escaping and reuniting with the ADA would be more beneficial because they’re trying to stop the DOA from using One Order. However, there’s 2 other ‘extraordinary’ people to account for here.

Sigma and Chuuya

Chuuya is… A vampire? A human again? Under the influence of Dostoy similar to Hawthorne? Who the hell knows anymore. However, he probably doesn’t give a dick diddly fuck about whether there’s humans who are above average and others who are just average. He didn’t even consider himself as human in general for a while in the first place, so he probably has views similar to Dazai’s. But considering Dazai’s betrayal of Chuuya and soukoku’s bond of trust, I’m not too sure Chuuya is going to want to help Dazai anymore.

Sigma, however, might actually be the centerpiece around which the prison arc ends. He’s a wildcard—he no longer belongs in the DOA, his casino is gone, and the government would probably just use him for his ability like they did Mushitaro. I think Dazai is more painfully aware of this than anyone else, because not only has he both witnessed and experienced Mori use and discard mafioso (like Oda), but he also picked up Atsushi when the boy was wanted on the black market, by the government, and had gotten thrown out of the orphanage. Sigma is essentially Atsushi 2.0 in terms of circumstances, and he’s essential in Dazai’s plans for getting information on Dostoy’s and the DOA’s goals.

Going back to Dazai’s plans for Sigma, I think that Sigma is going to be responsible for either finding a way to escape the elevator, or at least a feat equal to that considering the requirements of the entrance exam to get into the Agency. I don’t think it’s going to be another Kyouka situation, since Sigma hasn’t done anything wrong and has been a victim of circumstance since he was created three years ago, but I think it’s going to be similar to either Dazai’s own entrance exam, or Atsushi entrance exam. Here’s my reasoning:

1. Sigma has to prove that he’s going to help the Agency without betraying them. His distrust of Dazai and unease about the Agency is something that Dazai is surely aware of, and knowing that, he’s probably going to put Sigma in a situation where he has to prove whether his alliances are still with Dostoy or if he’s going to try his chances with the Agency and Dazai. Or maybe Dazai might use Sigma to trick Dostoy into thinking he won, similar to how Kunikida “shot” Dazai under the pretense that he could’ve been the Azure Messenger, only to reveal that Kunikida used a gun made with his ability so the bullet would be nullified when it hit Dazai in order to trick the real Azure Messenger. Maybe Dazai is going to have Sigma do something to trick Dostoy into thinking he won?

2. Sigma currently has nowhere to go after this arc ends, really. Similar to how Atsushi has nowhere to go in the beginning of the story, Dazai mentions that he has an employment opportunity for Atsushi but doesn’t tell him where. Dazai has done the opposite with Sigma, mentioning that Dazai works for the Agency and is on its payroll even while he’s in prison, but doesn’t say anything about Sigma being allowed to join the Agency. However, Sigma does begin to contemplate what the Agency is, and the fact that Dazai isn’t using the Agency, nor is the agency using Dazai, unlike all of the experiences Sigma has had up to this point. Atsushi’s situation was similar in that he wasn’t wanted in the orphanage, and no one else seemed willing to help him because of the Tiger. But Dazai was different, and he helped Atsushi find a place to belong with the Agency. I think Dazai could be taking a similar approach with Sigma here, since he’s basically another orphan. And being on the side that protects the orphaned, is just a bit more wonderful, right? right T^T

Trial by Ordeal

Now, I’m not necessarily talking about the old trial system in 1100’s England that used trials by ordeals to figure out if someone was lying or telling the truth. I’m talking about the Christian belief that God made humans go through Trials to judge whether or not they were innocent, and if so, they were raised to heaven (since innocent people were supposed to float in water whereas guilty people sunk to the bottom). Dostoy talks about God a decent amount as a part of his character, including in this last chapter when he states that he is ‘a subordinate of God’. He calls Dazai’s trap a Trial by Flood, which is almost the same wording as the Christian Trial by Water that determined whether or not someone was innocent. Dostoy, having survived the trial, now tells Dazai he must go through the same Trial by Flood. I think this is an interesting way to look at it because we all know that both Dazai and Dostoy are guilty of a lot of heinous crimes that would definitely prevent them from being considered innocent, Chuuya as well considering he’s an executive in the Port Mafia, but what about Sigma? As far as we know, he’s never killed anyone. I’d argue he wasn’t responsible for injuring Taneda back at the beginning of the Hunting Dogs arc either, it was probably Nikolai, and Sigma just used his ability on Taneda as instructed. He is, for all intents and purposes, innocent. So, will he be able to make it through this Trial by Water? Saving Dazai, and thereby saving the Agency in the process and completing an entrance exam?

I guess we just have to wait and see.

Oh BOY this was a long one! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I apologize if my part about Christianity and the Trials isn’t 100% correct, I had to do a lot of googling and reading to even find information on it, and even then I didn’t really understand any of it as someone who’s definitely not religious lol. I kind of hope we do get to see Sigma get an entrance exam and be given the chance to find a new home with the Agency once all this is over, because he truly deserves it at this point. He’s suffered so much. Just give the man a break pls.

I suppose there’s also a mini theory that sits in the back of my mind sometimes about what would happen if Dazai ever touched the Book or its pages. If Dazai touched, and thereby nullified, the page that Sigma is written on, would he cease to exist…? Does Sigma exist in the Beast universe, or would he not because Dazai has touched the Book in that universe??? So many questions and no answers in sight it seems. Also, what would happen if Dazai ends up dying at the end of this prison arc, either with or without Dostoy also dying?? Would he give Chuuya the Odasaku treatment and tell him to join the Agency? Would Fukuzawa’s ability work on Corruption????? Now that’s something I really wanna know.

[sunny6677]

Eddsworld: The Literature Club.

Summary:

You're just some random person trying to survive in some random city in Britain, when out of nowhere, your best mate from childhood decides to invite you to a club he started that has a bunch of basic but somewhat decent-looking boys! Starring, your best mate (and also childhood friend) Matt! The overly deadpan and sarcastic serious guy, Tom! The trigger-happy maniac, Tord! And finally, Edd—the president who's also really addicted to cola for some reason! And.. despite them not being the best options out there, you're kind of desperate for a boyfriend, so you figure giving the club a shot won't hurt! Will you somehow manage to charm them into dating you?

Chapter 4: Now A Member!

————

Silence filled the air, and I swallowed. Shit, was that the right thing to just suddenly say?

I gulped. "..uh.. Matt—Matt just wanted me to check this place out. And I figured I would since I said I'd join a club, and.."

I looked upon all of them. Tord's smug grin had faded completely from his lips, and he blinked slowly, his gaze beginning to become dissapointed. Matt's face visibly saddened, and as did Edds own expression. Tom's face on the other hand remained completely neutral.

"Aw, what?!" Matt uttered.

"..lame." Tom blankly muttered.

"..uh.. okay. Sorry about that then." Edd replied, sheepishly looking off to the side. "We.. thought you'd be joining us."

..goddammit, what was it with these boys? They weren't even that cute-looking! In fact, they were pretty average. And.. err.. some things about them seemed kind of worrying. But—god.. I already basically had no one besides Matt to talk to. Poems wouldn't be a big deal if it meant I got to talk to these guys everyday.

I let out a sigh. "..fine. I'll join."

Their eyes slowly lit up upon processing my words. Matt was the first one to practically explode from joy. "Yay!" He pumped his fists into the air with his usual stupid grin.

"..cool." Tom mumbled.

"Oh, good! I was starting to think you'd be abandoning us there, new member." Tord grinned, scooching closer as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, in that case, it's official!" Edd smiled. He shuffled his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, and then whipped something out. Something gold and shiny and.. wait, was.. was that a gold star? It appeared to be a small sticker of some kind.

As Edd reached foward, he placed it on my chest, and I looked up at him with a mildly surprised expression.

"Welcome to the literature club!" Edd grinned. He laughed. "We'll make sure you feel right at home!"

"...uh.. heh.. thanks." I sheepishly replied, looking down at my lap while rubbing my arm.

He heaved out a sigh from his mouth, placing his hands on his hips. "Okayy.. I think we should be good to go on poems, so I want everyone to remember to write one for tonight! Besides, this.. will kind of be the first club activity we've actually done, so I'd prefer if people actually participate."

"..new member," He spoke with a cheerful smile while placing his hand gently on my other shoulder. "I look foward to seeing what you have to write!"

I blinked, and felt my face flush up in a fuzzy wave of warmth. "..hah.. thanks, man."

Geez.. I was desperate, wasn't I? Taking my overly arrogant best mate, some random maniac, some grumpy guy, and some weird friendly dude as options for a boyfriend. I hadn't even really considered my best mate as an option until now, but.. I had known him for a while, so it wasn't like he was the worst option out there.

I heaved out a sigh. I guess I'd be participating in club type stuff after all.

————

After an hour or so, the meeting was called off to an end. Tord began to retrieve the plates and took them back to the kitchen so he could empty and wash them. While Tom.. well, he didn't really do much, he just kinda stood their and drank from a flask the whole time.

And as I stood with my shoulders slumped, I was approached by the sound of a bright familiar voice, and the feeling of someone's arm wrapping around my shoulders.

"Hey, chum! What'd you think of the meeting?"

"Wa—Wah! Oh.. uh.. it was fine. Better than me contemplating the fact that I have to work again in the next 9 or so hours." I spoke with a sigh, looking down at my feet.

"Well, no need to worry about that, buddy! Why don't you let me walk you back home for tonight?"

"..oh. Uh—sure—"

"Yipee!"

I let out a yelp, feeling his grip around my shoulders tighten. I then felt my body involuntarily begin to move foward as he practically rushed toward the entrance that led to the door we had entered, and let out a sigh. With how fast this guy went, it's like he was just waiting all club meeting to ask me that. Then again, knowing him, that was probably the case.

I only let him drag me foward. After all, I knew this guy well enough to not really resist any of his antics anymore. There was pretty much no use in doing that.

————

"—and that's how I took over everything ever!"

"..you.. so—so you mean to tell me you went back in time and invented everything?"

"Yep!"

..huh. Well, he's probably just making it up, but knowing him, there'd probably be some impossible way for him to somehow be able to do that.

I groaned. "Well.. that's good, Matt. 'Bout bloody time you make yourself actually do something useful for once."

"Yeah, I—" Matt stopped, and frowned. "..heyyy.."

I playfully rolled my eyes. Yet as we walked under the cold night sky that was speckled to the brim with white glowing balls of light, my mind wondered between all of the boys who could be my potential romantic options.

Matt, my childhood mate who was obsessed with himself.

Tord, the trigger-happy maniac.

Tom, the cynical alcoholic.

Edd, the cola-obsessed president who seemed actually pretty chill.

..huh. Only one of those options sounded somewhat choosable.

I let a sigh escape my mouth, and I continued walking. Guess I'd just have to see who I'd go with when I wrote my poem tonight.

————

I leaned foward on my bed, my pen hovering above a thin sheet of paper I had placed on top of a tiny table I had scooted over to my fluffy cot of a resting place. I looked down at the sheet of paper. I admittedly wasn't that good at poetry, but when it came to cute boys or people I was crushing on, I could at least whip something up fast enough.

I let my mind wonder between all four of the boys again, doubts filling my mind as I occasionally thought about their more.. worrying aspects.

I blinked, and then a thought came to mind.

Gripping my pen, I began to write away at the paper, my mind filled with inspiration.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Okay, after I read the epilogue around for approximately thirty times (yes I am being literal) I think I have started processing:

David and Max going on road trips, oh my god, Dani I know I said a while back in an ask that I van see this being a safe place for both but IALS was definitely not the fanfic I expected them to do this on but when I tell you I screamed when I read this--

Max using email just for David is something so personal, our man's got game

David being a part of this beautiful and chaotic family my heart🥹 (I remember in one the earlier chapters when David first met Jaden's family and maybe in some way he was trying to take back what he lost with that too but of course it wasn't the same because no one does it like the Lightwood Banes)

Of course, everybody knew there was something going on with Mavid again. These two are glowing next to each other, I mean, everybody knew they're in love with each other even when they themselves didn't know

"It’s been a long time since…since he had any kind of, erm, sexual relief. After the divorce. Before Jaden. After Jaden.Even during Jaden." I don't know what that part means exactly but I like it

Arthur as the son of Apollo gets mentioned a lot and in LBAF he was mentioned as the child of Raziel and this connection my brain made worries me

Jackson and Max brotp alert ⚠️ I swear I love those two talking about David, Jackson being so done with both of them and I love the fact that even though Jackson doesn't particularly like neither Max or Jaden but he recognises how much Mavid mean to each other and how crazily in love they are but he couldn't even bother with Jaden. How did Jaden feel about the fact that he never won Jackson over ( I'm being petty I'm aware, I just really don't like that guy)

David not sharing other Max with anyone, not even Jackson, in IALS really worries me with the LBAF drama, this will hurt like a bitch I can already tell

Okay I really loved the therapy scene, it was really intense and even though those two are better when they do things together, I really feel like this is something they shouldn't do together. Because David loves Max so much that he can't focus just on himself and that's not good during this, he shouldn't worry about how Max feels during this but it's David so of course he cares. And also, we shouldn't forget that Max also has trauma and could also get triggered. I mean the man had depression and got panic attacks about Lance, I can easily see him having a panic attack with Dacid begging him to let him go. So I think them not doing this together was for the best.

What kind of sadist would write this, you're calling yourself out and I'm so here for it, self-awareness is very important😂 But also, fake dating, bed sharing, pool scene, unhinged David, you're pulling all the stops huh, can't waitt

Why hasn't Arthur told Max about Kincaid? And hasn't David mentioned something to him?

Alec giving the ring back to David, I called it! How did Max feel about David getting the ring back and where does he keep it?

Okay, in one of the earliest chapters we saw Jaden running a bath for David and making him a candle lit dinner and now we saw it with Mavid and the difference between David in those two scenes made me tear up that man really lights up around Max my Mavid heart🥹

MAX GOING ON A SAFARI WITH ARTHUR even thought when Arthur was little he said Jaden was going to take him and Max was so sad, JUSTICE WAS SERVED

Also David spending millions of dollars to take the whole Lightwood Bane family to a place he doesn't even like just to make Max happy is the best thing ever, how could we ever doubt this man's feeling, he is simply whipped

I just love the Rafael/David brotp just as much as the Max/Jackson brotp and hey the first two actually like one another, I would love to see those two talking about Max, Rafael telling David he was an idiot for ever doubting Max's love the same way Jackson did it do Max, those two know what they're about

Oh yes I have more thoughts, I told you once I'm done processing I'll spam you, you had been warned🌷

*screams in nerd* ANOTHER LIST!

When I got that ask you sent me before the epilogue I was cackling because most of what you mentioned/wanted was gonna be there so I knew you'd like it :))

I can totally imagine Jaden's parents being really nice to David and being super polite and kind and David being like 'nah, i need my in laws to be unhinged thanks'.

Jaden is no Max LB in bed. (that's why Jaden got super angry when Max made fun of it) David's standards are high. That is all, your honour.

JACKSON RIGHTS ONLY

I totally agree. The therapy is something David needs to do alone. Because it's his own way of fighting and it's ugly and it's hard and it's also his safe space. But David seemed to realize that it was something Max had to 'see for himself' to get that.

Max doesn't know about Kincaid because Arthur is worried Max wouldn't approve (especially if he finds out Arthur stayed back in a toxic school for Kincaid). Also, it's mostly to stay in the same line as lbaf, where Max has a deep hatred for the Knightstorm family - and Kincaid by extension.

Max doesn't know David has the ring now (yet!!)

Rafael and David scenes are high in serotonin

I wanted to write a whole chapter about South Africa just because I know Max and Arthur must have had the time of their lives there ahhhhh

Thank you for all the love and especially your thoughts. THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME!!!!!

[yelena-bellova]

Don't Be Afraid: Poe Dameron x Solo!Reader - Chapter Thirty One

Chapter Thirty One: Hide and Secrets

Plot: Reeling from the loss of Chewbacca, the group travels to Kijimi in hopes of retrieving a vital piece of information...

Series Masterlist

Warnings: graphic description of violence/injuries, violent intrusive thoughts, blood, language, choking, we're not here to have a good time people so lots of angst today,

Word Count: 7.2k

A/N: Even though the rest of the series is going to be brutal, this is the last episode where there's even a little bit of a breather. Related to that, we're so close to the end and I'm not sure how to process that 🥺 Hope you enjoy!!

----

When I finally dried my tears and went about summoning the same strength I had when losing Dad and my uncle, I exited the refresher. Finn and Rey stood in the main hold, Rey jumped to her feet, rubbing her typically sweaty palms against her pants.

“Y/n,” she quickly said, “I know that it will never be enough, but I-“ “Rey,” I held up two hands as I stopped in front of my distraught friend, “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know you could do that, right?” She rapidly shook her head, “No, I had no idea.” “Then,” I sadly shrugged my shoulders, “I can’t be mad at you, you’d have never meant to hurt Chewie.” The tears in her eyes still welled regardless of my forgiveness. “I really am sorry,” she whispered, her throat catching with sorrow.

I pulled her into my arms and the two of us embraced, sharing in what little comfort could be taken in the moment. The unsettling feeling of secrecy was what caused me to pull back, my hands still rested on Rey’s shoulders as I scanned her face.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” I stated, watching as her eyes became fearful before turning my gaze to Finn, “The same goes for you. What's going on?” Rey’s mouth opened and closed a couple times, whether a truth or a lie had been building on her lips was a loss to find out as Poe marched out of the cockpit. “We’ve only got eight hours left, so what are we gonna do?”

“This isn’t over,” I whispered to Rey, dropping my hands and turning to the group. “What can we do?” Finn said hopelessly, “We gotta get back to base.”

“We don’t have time to go back,” Poe argued, “We are not giving up. If we do that, Chewie died for nothing.” “Poe, Chewie had the dagger,” Finn replied.

I spoke up, “Yeah, but there has to be some other way.”

“Well, there isn’t,” Finn responded, “That was the only clue to the wayfinder thing and it’s gone.” I frustratedly rubbed my hands over my face and left them there, our problems were no easier to face in the self-inflicted darkness.

“So true,” 3PO said from the corner he stood in, “The inscription lives only in my memory now.”

I spread two of my fingers for my eyes to peek out, “Come again?" “The inscription of the dagger is stored in my memory banks,” he answered, “But the translation from a forbidden language cannot be retrieved. That is short of a complete redacted memory bypass.”

“A complete what?” Finn asked.

“It’s a terribly dangerous and sinful act performed on unwitting droids by dregs and criminals,” 3PO replied, turning away as if the whole idea was entirely out of the question.

Finn’s head whipped to Poe and I, “Let’s do that!” Determined as ever, Poe’s eyes sparked that familiar flame once again. “I know a black market droidsmith.” “Black market droidsmith?” 3PO echoed incredulously.

“But he’s on Kijimi,” Poe said, throwing his head back defeatedly. “What’s wrong with Kijimi?” I asked.

“I had a little bad luck on Kijimi,” Poe made every effort to not look any of us in the eye, “But if this mission fails, it’s all been for nothing. All we’ve done, all this time…” he finally looked up at me, nudging my arm with one of his gloved fingers, “3PO’s your and Leia’s droid, you’re the only one here that can give permission to do this.” I sighed and looked over at the droid I was so used to disappointing throughout my life. “We can’t quit now,” I said, “For Chewie.” Finn rose from his seat and nodded confidently before taking my hand, “For Chewie.”

Rey, who still looked every bit as guilty as she thought she should be, stood next and took Finn’s outstretched hand. “For Chewie.”

Poe looked down at my empty hand and back up at me, I held it out for him signaling that we weren’t currently at the odds we had been the last time we’d spoken. The warmth of his palm radiated through his leather glove and he ever so slightly squeezed, the only comfort he could provide me with in such a desperate hour. I’d take whatever I could get.

3PO shuffled over to us, taking Poe’s other hand in his in silent agreement with my decision. At the gesture, Poe visibly became uncomfortable, the list of people he was okay with being openly affectionate with began and ended with me. “Kijimi!” he announced, letting go off both our hands and heading back for the cockpit.

I wasn’t far behind, assuming the role of copilot as I sat down next to him. “You’ve never mentioned Kijimi, not even once,” I said, awaiting his answer that wasn’t going to come, “What are you hiding from me, Dameron?”

My question was enough to drag his eyes away from the controls to meet mine, a look I couldn’t decipher in them. He wasn’t fearful, he wasn’t angry, but he certainly didn’t appreciate me bringing up whatever misfortune he’d run into on Kijimi. “Thrusters a go?” he asked, ignoring my curiosity.

As I mumbled my confirmation, I settled into my chair at great unease knowing that I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets from my friends. We all were.

——

Kijimi was cold and unforgiving, much like the stormtroopers that roamed the planet’s streets.

The First Order was banging on every door and questioning every life form they could. All of us, save Poe, were hidden on one side of a building, waiting for my boyfriend to return from scouting out the territory for a safe path to wherever it was we were going. His jacketed figure finally made its way back to our group, I could see his frown even with the terrible lighting. “They’re everywhere,” he reported, “All right, I know what we should do.” “So do I,” 3PO interrupted, “We should leave.”

I placed a hand over where the droid’s mouth would be if he were human, “Now is not the time.” “Follow me,” Poe ordered, leading us down the street towards our unknown destination. Though only unknown to us, Poe navigated the way with as much ease as he did the jungle of Ajan Kloss. He’d clearly spent a lot of his time on Kijimi. “All right,” he stopped our group against another wall, “Let’s head down this way.”

A cocked blaster pressed against his head stopped any further movement.

“Heard you were spotted at Monk’s Gate,” a modulated female voice said, “Thought, ‘He’s not stupid enough to come back here.’” “Oh, you’d be surprised,” Poe replied, his voice somehow audibly displaying both nervousness and cockiness.

The blaster I kept on my hip was off its holster and in my hand with speed that even surprised me. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but it’s in your best interest to lower the gun,” I said, my voice steely as I aimed my weapon at the gold helmet the woman wore.

“What’s going on?” Finn asked, one step behind me and ready to fight if necessary for Poe’s life. “Guys, this is Zorii,” Poe awkwardly made introductions, the barrel of the blaster still against his temple, “Zorii, this is Rey and Finn and,” he blindly gestured to me, “That’s Y/n.”

“I could pull this trigger right now,” Zorii threatened. “I’ve seen you do worse,” Poe replied quickly. “For a lot less…” “Can we just…” in a bold move, Poe turned and removed his hood, sporting the smallest smirk as he cautiously eyed the woman, “Talk about this?” “I wanna see your brains in the snow…” Zorii answered, not taking kindly to his diplomacy.

“You make one move and I’ll give everybody a display of just that,” I growled, ignoring both the Jedi way and my wondering just how well Poe knew this woman, there was an ease between their back and forth that stirred an almost jealous feeling in me…

“So you’re still mad?” Poe asked, “Zorii, we could use your help. We gotta crack this droid’s head open and fast.” An indignant 3PO spoke up, “Pardon me!” Poe ignored him, “We’re trying to find Babu Frik.” “Babu? Babu only works for the crew,” Zorii answered, seemingly unthreatened by my steady hand and pointed blaster, “That’s not you anymore.”

“What crew?” Rey asked.

My eyes flicked to Poe, watching him shake his head rapidly before silently admitting defeat to the truth Zorii couldn’t be stopped from sharing. “Funny, he never mentioned it…your friend’s old job was running spice.”

“You were a spice runner?” Finn asked, almost as surprised as I was.

Poe was quick to deflect the unflattering light that was being shed on him, “You were a stormtrooper?” “Were you a spice runner?” Rey echoed the question.

“Were you a scavenger? We could do this all night.” “You don’t have all night,” Zorii said as she began to stalk around us, her blaster still trained on Poe, “You know I’m still digging out of the hole you put me in when you left to join the Resistance,” her head tilted in Rey’s direction before looking back at me, “You two. You’re the ones they’re looking for. Bounty for them might just cover us.” I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know that the two bodies that had followed Zorii were slowly making their way towards us, I met Rey’s eyes quickly and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Djak’kankah!” Zorii shouted. “Don’t djak’kankah,” Poe hurried from beside me.

In synch, Rey pulled her staff out from behind her back and I tossed my blaster to Finn to unsheathe my lightsaber. Rey knocked Zorii to the ground while I made work of fatally damaging Zorii’s comrade’s weapons. Within seconds, they’d all been taken care of and I turned to see Rey had her saber pointed at Zorii’s body with the latter aiming their gun at my fellow padawan.

“We could really use your help,” Rey said, nicer than I could have ever been in such a situation, “Please.” “Not that you care,” Zorii said, her chest heaving from the fight as she looked between the both of us, “But I think you’re alright.” “I care,” Rey replied, deactivating her blade and extending a hand to Zorii.

“Quit threatening him” I said, nodding towards a slightly stunned Poe, “And we won’t have a problem.” Zorii, in fact, proved to be anything but a problem. She led us down a back way to a trader’s den, confidently marching in as if she owned the place. For all I knew, maybe she did. I didn’t know the woman or how she knew my boyfriend, whom it seemed I also didn’t know. Poe had kept an entire chunk of his life hidden from me all the years that I’d known him and something about that hurt. However, with 3PO hooked up to a multitude of wires, I was trying my best to focus on the matters at hand. “I haven’t the faintest idea why I agree to this,” the droid said from his seated position, “I must be malfunctioning,” Babu Frik, the little alien that Poe had known once upon a time worked on one of 3PO’s wires, causing him to repeat himself, “I must be malfunctioning.”

“You agreed to this because it’s our only option,” I said from my spot next to him, “You do this and you’re a hero to the galaxy.” “Babu Frik?” Rey asked the small droid mechanic, “Can you help us with this?’ He gave an answer in a language none of us could understand, causing Rey to look elsewhere for a translation. “Zorii? Is this gonna work?” Zorii moved from her position on the steps with Poe, the two of them having warmed up to each other a little too fast for my liking. She posed a question in Babu Frik’s tongue, the creature answering back in his naturally slow manner. “He says he’s found something in your droid’s forbidden memory bank. Words translated from Sith.” “That’s it!” I exclaimed, patting 3PO’s metal shoulder. “Yeah, that’s what we need,” Finn echoed my excitement from behind Rey and I.

“Who are you hanging out with that speaks Sith?” Zorii questioned Poe, who was making his way down to stairs to come into the same space. “Babu, can you make him translate it?” he asked.

Babu answered.

“Yes,” Zorii translated, “But it will cause a complete-“ “A complete memory wipe,” 3PO finished.

My eyes widened, “A what?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Poe held up a hand, “We make him translate it, he won’t remember…anything?”

“Droid memory go blank,” Babu answered, speaking enough of our language to confirm Poe’s question, “Blank, blank.” “There must be another way!” 3PO exclaimed, I was still too in shock to form words. “Doesn’t R2 back up your memory?” Finn asked.

“Oh, please, R2’s storage units are famously unreliable.”

“No,” I finally found my voice and announced it to the room, “I’m calling it. We’re not doing this, I’m sorry, but we’re gonna have to find another way.” “Y/n…” Poe started, carefully tiptoeing around the impending explosion of emotions I was about to have. “Nope, not happening,” I continued, “I’m not losing anyone else. Babu, thank you for your time, start putting him back together.” Rey gently grasped my arm, “Y/n…” 3PO, for all his shortcomings, was one of the steadiest presences in my life. He hadn’t been just a faithful servant to me and my family, he’d been my most dependable friend. There had been too many losses in the Resistance in the past year and fresh off of Chewie’s death, I wasn’t prepared to let another piece of my family go.

And if the very fate of the galaxy didn’t depend on getting the damned inscription, I’d have allowed myself to be selfish.

Slowly turning away from Rey, I came to stand in front of where 3PO sat hooked up to Babu’s machines. “Do we have a choice in this?” I asked softly, my mouth suddenly feeling unreasonably dry.

The droid processed for a moment before rising from his seat and taking a few steps away from us. “If this mission fails, it was all for nothing. All we’ve done, all this time…” 3PO turned and faced our group, staring silently at us all.

“What are you doing there, 3PO?” Poe asked.

“Taking one last look, sir,” he answered, “At my friends.”

I shut my eyes, my wet lashes dropping a tear or two down my cheeks as the sentiment hit me. “Go ahead,” I whispered, giving Babu the authority to do what needed to be done.

Noise from outside broke the moment. “Night raids are gonna start soon,” Zorii stated, “I’ll keep lookout.”

“I’m coming with you,” Poe said, chasing after her departing figure in a surprising turn of events. I dragged my tearful eyes away from my soon to be amnesic droid to my boyfriend who wasn’t sparing any glances my way.

“You still don’t trust me?” Zorii asked.

“Did you ever trust me?” my boyfriend fired back as they climbed the staircase together.

“Nope.” My eyes remained trained on the last spot where Poe had been visible to me before he disappeared with the mystery woman. It didn’t matter, the hurt and anger I felt with Poe for leaving me as I readied myself to say goodbye to 3PO wouldn’t change with knowing their history together. But damn it all if I didn’t want to slap Poe a little for not choosing to stay with me rather than go with Zorii. I could feel Rey and Finn’s concerned eyes through the back of my head, I didn’t have to turn around to showcase my jealousy.

“It’s fine,” I lied, clenching my fists at my sides, “He can do whatever the hell he wants, we’ve got bigger concerns.” I walked back over to where 3PO was once again seated, Babu already preparing him for the procedure. “Thanks for…” I wrapped two arms around the gold droid’s neck, “Everything.”

One metal arm patted my back awkwardly, hugs weren’t exactly something we typically exchanged. “You are most welcome, Mistress Y/n. Your companionship had brought me a great many joys throughout our years together.” There was nothing more to be said, or rather there was so much more and not enough time to say it. I backed away to let Babu do his work and stepped to the side, occupying the space next to Finn and keeping a watchful eye as the creature began to operate on my droid. Bee and D-O, the abandoned droid Bee had discovered and activated on the ship, watched from the opposite side of the room as well. Minutes went by without a word, the only sound in the room was Babu’s tools picking and prodding at the inside of 3PO’s head.

“Oh, I just had an idea,” 3PO eventually said, “There’s something else we could try-“ We’d never know what he’d been thinking as Babu hit the correct circuit and 3PO lost power. Finn reached a hand around my back to land on my shoulder as I flinched, the sight of him switched off not by his own accord a little hard on me. Rey took the time to excuse herself and push past us, going to check on Bee and D-O.

“You don’t have to watch, y’know…” Finn said, “If it’s too much…” “No,” I shook my head, my eyes still on the droid whose loyalty I could only hope to match, “I’m staying with him.” There was a pregnant pause between the two of us before Finn took a breath, “Can I ask you a question?” “I’ll answer yours if you answer mine…” I replied.

“What’s going on with you and Poe?” I sighed and crossed my arms, taking a defensive position as if I could shield myself from the reality of the topic. “Nothing good…” I answered, “Things have been rough lately.” Taking his time to handle the weight of my answer, he couldn’t stop himself from asking a followup. “You guys are gonna be okay though, right?”

Emotions had run high all day, the moment we were in was no exception. I’d liked to have blamed the tears that stung my eyes on saying goodbye to 3PO, but I couldn’t lie to myself. Poe and I were drifting apart and that struck a deeper fear in me than I’d ever known.

I cleared my throat, the thought of admitting my feelings out loud wasn’t one I was ready to handle. “Sorry, no follow ups. My turn…What’s your secret?” I’d hit the target just as I’d intended to, though I still wasn’t sure what I was searching for. Whatever it was, I could sense that Finn was desperate to tell somebody. “I can’t…I can’t tell you here,” he finally relented from secrecy in its entirety, “Later.”

Nodding in response, I watched him leave to go find where Rey and the droids had wandered off to. I stayed silent as I watched Babu try to access whatever apart of 3PO’s circuits the inscription lay in. I decided that once we returned to our ship, I’d try to get word to Mom and give her an update. She was undoubtably worried by now and she didn’t need to wonder any longer than necessary.

The hatch at the top of the staircase opened to reveal Zorii and Poe. “There’s an incoming destroyer,” Zorii announced.

“We gotta go now, did we get it?” Poe asked.

“Wouldn’t have to ask if you’d have stayed,” I mumbled to myself, just loud enough that he could possibly hear it. “Babu?” “Yep, droid is ready!” Babu answered back, making one final adjustment to 3PO to make the droid’s eyes turn red and his torso to sit straight up. I jumped back at the unsettling sight.

“The Emperor’s wayfinder is in the Imperial vault,” a voice that definitely didn’t belong to the beloved droid informed us, “At delta 3-6, transient 9-3-6, variant 3-2 on a moon in the Endor system. From the southern shore. Only this blade tells. Only this blade tells.” With an exclaim, Babu shut 3PO off again and he fell back in his chair.

“The Endor system,” Finn said, “Where the last war ended?”

An overhead rumbling that shook the ceiling of the workshop caused us all to look up, Rey was only slightly ahead of me as we made our way up the stairs fearlessly to open the hatch. The average being wouldn’t have been able to tell the ominous Star Destroyer having in the sky apart from any other, but Rey and I weren’t average. “It’s him…” I muttered.

“Ren’s Destroyer.” “He’s here?” Poe asked from below. I was suddenly struck with an overwhelming sensation, different than the empathetic pain I felt when one was injured or the unfortunate attacks I’d been suffering from lately. This was warmth and familiarity and…family.

“Rey,” I stuck a hand out and blindly reached for her, “It’s Chewie.” Sensing the same thing I was, she repeated his name hopefully.

“What about him?” Finn asked. “He’s on the ship” I answered, my voice cracking with emotion, “He’s alive.” “What? How?” Poe asked in disbelief.

“He’s alive!” Rey exclaimed, “He must’ve been on a different transport.” “We gotta go get him,” Finn stated, as if it wasn’t what we were all thinking.

I bounded down the steps with a newfound joy, something I’d thought was impossible to find in our situation. “No time to waste, let’s pack it up!” I said, moving around Zorii towards 3PO. As soon as I landed at the droid’s side, he sat up. “Might I introduce myself,” he said, “I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations,” he looked around the room at the various faces, “And you are?” “Okay, that’s gonna be a problem,” Poe commented, pointing at the droid.

“Okay,” I rubbed my eyes out of stress before placing to hands on 3PO’s arm, “I promise I will explain everything to you but right now, we don’t have the time so I’m gonna need you to trust us. Now,” I bent down and grabbed his discarded coat, “Put this on and follow us.” “Trust you? When I don’t even know who you are? I don’t see-“ “I’m your master, okay?” I hurriedly pulled the protocol droid to his feet and started shoving his arms into the jacket, “And if you want to live, you’ll listen to me when I say we need to get the hell out of here.”

Begrudgingly, the droid followed along as our group hurried out of Babu Frik’s workshop and into the snowy streets of Kijimi. I could sense Ren’s incoming presence, causing me to urge us all to move faster.

“3PO, move your metal ass!” Poe said frustratedly as we closed in on where our ship was parked, “We’re almost there.” “How dare you,” he exclaimed, “We’ve only just met!” Rey, Finn, the droids and I rushed between two buildings before I noticed that Poe and Zorii had hung behind. I stopped and watched the two share an exchange I couldn’t make out, Zorii shoved something into Poe’s hand just before I heard the sound of a ship overhead. Ren.

“We need to go!” I shouted annoyedly, when Poe made no effort to end their conversation, I rolled my eyes and shoved Rey and Finn forward, “Go, he’ll catch up.” We made our way to the ship and loaded in, I seated myself in the pilot’s chair, taking it upon myself to get us where we needed to be. Poe eventually made his way to the cockpit just as I was making the final checks.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Dameron,” I retorted as I lifted us off the ground, “I’m sure making chit chat with old flames was more important than getting our asses off this snowy wasteland.”

Poe tossed a coin shaped token into my lap without a word, I picked it up and upon inspection identified it as a First Order captain’s medallion. It was a surefire way to get us aboard the Destoryer when there’d previously been no plan. Connecting the dots that it was Zorii who had given it to him, I decided it was in everybody’s best interest if I stopped talking.

Once we made it up to the meaning ship, a First Order officer came over the comms and asked for our identification. I slipped the medallion into the slot with Poe, Finn and Rey anxiously positioned around me. We all held our breath as we awaited confirmation that we’d been granted passage. I exhaled forcefully when the message came through, “We’re clear, hanger 12.” Together, and yet entirely separate, Poe and I navigated the ship into the designated landing zone without any problems. I jumped out of my seat and threw my snow jacket off. Ren was still on Kijimi, clearly unable to sense that we were no longer there, which would buy us time. Not much, but hopefully enough to retrieve Chewie and chart a course to Endor safely.

The four of us bounded down the ramp of the ship and fired our blasters at the stormtroopers demanding our credentials plus a few that waited from a distance. “You three, stay there!” Rey ordered the droids.

“Happily!” 3PO called back. “Which way?” Poe asked Finn, the only one of us who had a decent shot at navigating the foreign ship.

“No idea,” he disappointedly answered, “Follow me!” We obeyed his command and let him lead on, we maneuvered down a great many hallways as stealthily as we could. Eventually once we heard the marching footsteps of a group of troopers, we ducked between panels that stuck out of the wall and hid till they passed. We darted out and made our way down another hall, taking cues from Finn, until we turned around to come face to face with two stormtroopers.

“Drop your weapons!” one of them ordered. While Finn and Poe immediately held out their hands for the troopers to see, Rey took a brave step forward. “It’s okay that we’re here,” she said smoothly, waving a hand in a semi circle.

A beat of silence passed before the stormtroopers lowered their weapons obediently, “It’s okay that you’re here.” “It’s good…”

“You’re relieved that we’re here,” I added, waving my hand in a matching manner.

“Thank goodness you’re here.” “Welcome, guys.” “We’re looking for a prisoner and his belongings,” Rey continued, the supposed guards giving up the information all too willingly. We wasted no time in leaving them behind and making for where they’d said Chewie’s was. Upon finding out the specific type of cell he was being held in was meant for torture, I strode with a new urgency.

“They said Chewie’s this w-“ I started, before losing all words and clutching the wall as the familiar splitting pain entered my head.

The flames had grown closer.

The screams echoed louder.

A well known animalistic cry filled my ears.

With a blood red lightsaber in my hand extended, I turned to see Chewbacca’s body laid out on the ground, his chest rising and falling deathly slow, lightsaber wounds marking his hairy body.

“Don’t be afraid,” the deep voice of Ren came from behind me, “You know exactly what you’re capable of.” I bit down on my lip so hard that I could taste blood in an attempt to stifle the scream that was trying its hardest to escape my mouth. The pain couldn’t die fast enough once the attack ceased, Ren’s voice still echoing in my mind like it was a cavern. “Y/n,” Poe was quick to steady me as my legs went out from underneath me, “Are you okay? What the hell was that?” Another secret was what it was. I’d managed to keep my hellish conscious nightmares hidden from him over the last few months. “I’m f-fine,” I panted, shrugging off his helpful hands as I rose to my feet shakily, “Finn,” I waved my blaster towards the control panel, “The doors.” He listened to me and went to work on unlocking them, I ignored Poe’s sudden concern for me and focused on Rey, who had separated herself from us. “What is it?” I asked in between heaving breaths, my heart rate sky high as the images of my dead friend still danced in my head.

“The dagger is on this ship,” she said, “We need it.” “Why?” Poe asked as he approached her, I stayed leaned up against the wall. “A feeling,” Rey answered, “I’ll meet you back at the hanger.” “I’m coming with you,” I stated, pushing off the wall in a sad attempt to follow after her.

“Y/n, you can barely walk, you need to get back to the ship,” Poe said, catching my forearm in his hand in hopes I wouldn’t slip out of his grasp. “You’re not in charge of me, Poe,” I bit back at him a little harsher than called for as I pulled my arm out of his grip and started off in Rey’s direction, “You two go and get Chewie.” Poe frustratedly sighed, “Look, I’m just trying to help you.” “Yeah, well,” I turned and locked eyes with him, “Don’t.” Without waiting see his reaction and before I had the sense to apologize for my hurtful words, I turned away and stumbled after Rey. Eventually I caught up to her and the two of us jogged through the Destroyer. I trusted that she knew where she was going, unlike my distrust of the nightmare’s physical effects on me. It had never happened before and the worry I felt was more than justified.

Almost as soon as I regained the ability to run and feel like my legs weren’t going to fail me, the air I breathed was sucked out of my lungs and I let out a stifled cry. Someone nearby had gotten injured. “Was it one of them?” Rey asked, concern overwhelming her tone. “It must’ve been,” I replied, bracing my hands against my knees and inhaling deeply, “But they’re okay. C’mon, we gotta go.” “They’re getting worse,” she said, broaching the topic I wanted so desperately to avoid, “Your attacks.”

“We’re not talking about this right now,” I snapped, my patience slipping away quicker than I could control, “I’m fine, now let’s go.”

We made the rest of the journey in silence, if my head wasn’t in such a fog I would have felt sorry for how I’d reacted to the care Rey and Poe had tried to show me. My logic felt buried beneath my fear, my guilt over a crime I hadn’t actually committed clouding my mind. It had been so vivid, Chewie laid out on the ground with a lightsaber hole burning through his sternum. My reasoning for leaving Finn and Poe to rescue the Wookiee had been twofold, not only would Rey need my help if she’d sensed something, but I didn’t want to go near Chewie at the moment.

Rey and I stepped through a door to a pure white room, a stark contrast to the dark color scheme of the rest of the ship. Descending the steps, I scanned the room for Chewie’s belongings but found something I’d never expected to lay eyes on. Rey saw it too, both of us taking slow and curious steps towards it.

The charred remnants of Darth Vader’s helmet.

I could feel the darkness, the pain associated with the armor and was lost as to how it could possibly have survived. How could it have ended up here? Anakin’s body, as my mother had told me once, had been burned on Endor at the end of the war by Luke. It was impossible, but our lives were made up of impossible so perhaps it wasn’t so imperceivable.

Turning away from the helmet, Rey and I spotted Chewie’s bandoleer, his bowcaster and the dagger. Rey grabbed the dagger while I took the other items and slung them over my shoulder, my friend stared down at the dagger and it didn’t take Jedi skills to sense her confusion, her fear. “What is it?” I asked quietly, not wanting to startle her out of whatever daze she was in. Regardless of my efforts, she jumped with a gasp and whipped around to face the empty expanse of the room. “Rey?”

Her brown eyes were locked onto something that wasn’t there, at least not to me. “You’re hard to get rid of…” she said, her voice low.

“Excuse me?” I furrowed my brow, confused as she turned back to the task at hand of gathering Chewie’s objects, “What-“

She stayed silent except for the sound of her lightsaber activating, she faced the room once again with anger painted across her features. “You’re lying…” she seethed.

It didn’t take me long to figure out what was transpiring before me, it was the force bond Rey had told me so much about. We had researched it, pouring over the Jedi texts for any possible answer as to why her and Ren were seemingly tied to one another. We’d been unsuccessful so far and Rey had been forced to experience unexpected connections with him. It was surreal to watch it take place, some conversation taking place in a realm I couldn’t enter with the person I’d been trying to reach for months.

“I don’t want this,” Rey said through her tears before letting out a cry and wielding the saber in a battle with the air. She froze as if her weapon had hit something, possibly Ren’s blade. I wanted nothing more than to jump into the fight and aid her as she broke away from her opponent. “Stop talking,” she demanded before continuing the fight. My hands were metaphorically tied behind my back and all I could do was stand there and wait for the moment to end.

My gut twisted as I got the distinct feeling that something was wrong on the other side of the ship, Finn and Poe were in danger. I couldn’t be in both places at once helping everybody and that killed me. If Rey and Ren’s connection didn’t break soon, I’d have to make the call to run like hell through the ship and find the others.

“Rey, we need to go,” I called, loud enough to hopefully break through her concentration.

“No!” she yelled, once again not directed at me. She expertly swung her lightsaber around, accidentally driving it into the pedestal and shattering the stand that displayed Vader’s helmet. Unfortunately, the fight still didn’t come to its end and Rey and the metaphysical Ren continued their assault on one another until eventually, Rey stumbled backwards signaling that the connection had been broken.

I came to her side, “What did he say?”

“He’s coming,” Rey answered, not quite present as she absorbed whatever he had told her.

“Shit,” I breathed, it wouldn’t take him long to get from Kijimi to the ship, “We need to go.”

Carrying Chewie’s things, we retraced our steps back to the ship as fast as we could. Suddenly faced with the reality of being in Ren’s presence, I wasn’t sure how I felt. All I knew for certain was we needed to find Poe and Finn immediately and leave before I discovered my true feelings. We made it back to the hanger and found the droids surrounded by troopers interrogating them. I aimed Chewie’s bowcaster at them and took out two while Rey disposed of the rest with her own blaster.

“Oh dear, my first laser battle,” 3PO commented, astonished. Had we not been in such a rush, I made have spared a second to laugh.

“Where are the others?” Rey urgently asked.

“They haven’t come back,” he answered.

“You two stay here,” I pointed towards the spacecraft as I began to step away from them, “I’m gonna go find them.” It was wasted effort, the familiar sound of Ren’s TIE Interceptor came roaring into the hanger. I froze in my spot the short distance away from Rey and the droids, knowing that where I needed to be had been decided for me.

“Find them,” Rey said to 3PO.

He scurried over to me and I placed the bowcaster and Chewie’s bandoleer in the his care, sending him on his way to retrieve Finn and Poe with D-O and Bee at his feet. I turned my attention to the figure emerging from the Interceptor, Rey stood directly across from him while I split the difference between them. My better judgement told me not to extend my lightsaber, that it wasn’t going to be that kind of fight. I needed to wait for the right moment. Even as the battalion of stormtroopers descended into the hanger, I kept my weapon holstered. I was apprehended by two of them, the long-standing fight for my capture finally over. As they pulled me back and handcuffed my wrists, I held eye contact with Ren, or at least where his eyes lay underneath his helmet. This was the closest we’d been the one another since our fight on Crait. The sick familiarity of him was anything but comforting, and yet there was a part of me that needed to hear him speak. He’d gone dark on me for too long and I needed to know what was going on in his head.

He shifted his focus to Rey, the two of them circling one another in some sort of silent showdown. Finally, they stopped, Rey closest to the edge of the hanger where with one miscalculated step, she could meet an unfortunate end. “Why did the Emperor come for me?” she asked, succeeding in confusing me, “Why did he want to kill a child? Tell me.” “Because he saw what you would become,” Ren answered, “You don’t just have power. You have his power. You’re his granddaughter. You are a Palpatine.”

It seemed like to world stopped for a minute, everything we were fighting for and against was swept away with the wind like stray grains of sand on Tatooine. Shock wasn’t a strong enough word to describe what I was feeling, my chest constricting and my mind spinning. It couldn’t be true.

“My mother was the daughter of Vader,” Ren began.

I couldn’t stand to listen to him soil the legacy of the woman I loved most in the galaxy, “You don’t breathe a word about-“ My rage was slayed as soon as it had been born as a nearby Stormtrooper drove the butt of his blaster into my abdomen, causing me to cough and choke as oxygen was forcefully knocked from my body. I groaned at the spreading pain, clenching my eyes shut while trying to still listen to the conversation happening in front of me.

“Your father was the son of the Emperor,” Ren continued his speech, “What Palpatine doesn’t know is we’re a dyad in the Force, Rey. Two that are one. We’ll kill him together and take the throne.”

“Rey,” I breathed, fighting through the throbbing pain in my abdomen, “He’s lying, don’t listen to him.” Ren blindly reached an open hand behind him and closed off my airways, choking me from afar and effectively shutting me up. “You know what you need to do,” he said, turning back to Rey and ignoring the sounds of struggle I was making to construct any sort of breath I could.

Words couldn’t be formed but I mentally urged Rey, begged her not to listen to the utter shit Ren was feeding her. As my vision began to grow grainy, I heard the faint sounds of the Falcon, my beloved ship, and was convinced that death was calling me. But as I opened my bloodshot eyes and witnessed her make a grand arrival, I felt new life surge through me. The pilot, undoubtably Poe, backed up to the edge of the hanger and hit the thrusters, sending a wave of energy into the room that caused each Stormtrooper to slide across the floor. Ren dropped his hold on me and I took my first wheezy breath just as the two troopers holding me in position lost their grip on my body. I moved against the currents until I was parallel with Rey, Finn was standing on the Falcon’s ramp ready to rescue us. Rey was the first to jump, sending Ren one last look that I couldn’t understand before she leapt into the air and Finn pulled her in.

I turned to the Supreme Leader, my hands cuffed in front of me, and my will as strong as ever. He’d invaded my mind countless times since he’d reestablished our connection through the Force, for once we were going do things on my terms. “I want you to look in my head and tell me what you see,” I shouted over the noise of the ship, he was a little too eager to accept the invitation. Once he was in, I filled my brain with every image I had of my grandfather, stating with each and every thought that I was a Kenobi. I was now an even bigger threat to him and his regime. When I reopened my eyes, I took satisfaction in the surprise painted across his pale face. For once, Kylo Ren was speechless. I gave a breathless smirk before turning around and jumping off the edge of the platform, Rey assisted in pulling me in by way of the Force while Finn caught me. The three of us ran up the ramp and into the heart of the ship.

“Rey, don’t-“ I began, trying to preemptively pull my friend out of the blame she was inevitably going to place on herself because of her recently discovered lineage. It was of no use, she stormed off away from Finn and I as quick as she could to process the news privately. Finn was confused and I didn’t have the time or the right to explain the situation to him. “Bee, help get me out of these,” I called, the little droid speedily rolling down the hall at my command and following me to the cockpit. When I arrived, I found Poe and Chewie sending us to lightspeed. I should have wanted to throw my arms around the Wookiee, had I been able to, but after my nightmarish attack wherein I had been responsible for his gruesome death, I felt the need to keep my distance. I should have wanted to run to Poe, to take comfort in his embrace as I recounted what had happened while we were separated. All I felt when I looked at him currently was frustration.

“Are you okay?” I asked, even my anger couldn’t override my concern for his wellbeing.

“Fine,” he replied coldly, not bothering to look my way as he finished up with the controls of the Falcon, “You?” He was lying. I could see crimson red on his arm staining his cream colored shirt. He was the one I’d sensed got hurt. I wanted to help him in any way I could but I suspected he was being refusing my help in retaliation for me refusing his. I swallowed, ignored the pain from my already bruising abdomen and sat down to let Bee work on removing my cuffs, “Fine.” Oh, how badly I wanted to tell him that things were so very far from fine.

----

A/N: If you thought this was bad, just wait for the next chapter...(sorry not sorry 🙈) Let men now if you'd like to be tagged and as always, thanks for reading!!

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[ha-hatdog]

all in a day's work / daisuke kambe

somebod requested a badass reader? sorry for this very late update. online classes is kicking my butt. you wanted either a scenario or a headcanon so i decided to make both. long scenario/headcanom mashup ahead.

requsted by anon: Hii!! I just want to say first of all, that I just discovered your blog and I just fell in love with it, keep going you’re amazing❤️❤️ soo can I ask for a Headcanon or scenario (it’s up to you) where Haru has a female friend who works in modern crimes prevention and is really badass (like she knows how to fight and all that stuff), so one day she helps Daisuke and Haru in a investigation in which a fight starts and Daisuke gets impressed by her abilities and develops a crush on her (????)

UNEDITED

__

It was another mundane morning for the the Modern Crimes department. The room was oddly colder, and the civil servants occupying the compact and simple space secluded themselves with their own businesses. Mahoro Saeki sat on the couch partaking in an unhealthy snack she had shipped from a foreign country, Kamei Shinnosuke was browsing through the internet and more than once using to his advantage the global connection that comes with his access to the computer in order to satisfy his habits and indecent hobbies, Yumoto Teppei tuning in to the occuring horse race in an international channel in his device, Nakamoto Chosuke merrily bading his time reading through documents of recent illegal activities assigned to his care, Kiyomizu Yukihiro fiddling with yet another craft he made out of wood and glue, Kato Haru awaiting the telephone to sound off and have another indiviual summon him for a petty crime, and Kambe Daisuke seated far from the othere, legs crossed and chin resting on his knuckles as he appraised the tranquil area.

Haru slammed his hands on his desk and threw his head, moaning in disdain. "Why isn't the phone ringing?" Whined he as his posture was regained after a moment or so. His eyes, lit with pure frustration and impatience, glared at the telephone, as though threatening without verbalizing his objective would somehow make it ring. "Come on, ring, you stupid phone. How come you always ring whenever I don't want you to and don't when I do?"

"It's a slow day." Remarked Kamei, not takint his eyes off his computer as he regarded his colleague. "Try to enjoy it. You can have all your action some other day."

Haru leaned against his chair, back sliding against the backrest and the back of his neck hitting the edge of his leverage. "Not everyone has weird hobby to keep themselves entertained." Countered Haru, and a pout formed on the blond male's lips at the comment. "This job is what keeps me from going insane."

The offended male turned his swivel chair to face Haru, face scrunched with the same attribute he exuded, "Oi, don't say it like that. It's bad if you describe it like that."

"It's weird without even having to add the adjective." Saeki chimed in between her chewing, humming as the flavor of the chip formerly cinched in the possession of her fingers travelled to her taste buds.

Kamei whipped around to her position, shoulders tensr with the taste of truth and reality, both of which ignored in favor of living in bliss. "It's nor weird. It's perfectly normal for men to be looking at those . . . sort of inappropriate . . . videos." His words trailed off as he came to realization that his own defense betrayed him.

"I agree, but not at work." Haru simply retorted. "Would you want to see me cooking a whole feast inside the precint?"

Kamei looked up in ponder, mouth curling as his thought process stuttered before he presented his inquiry, "Do we get to taste the food you made though?"

Haru stared at the blond man with an impervious mask decorating his appearance, unimpressed with how the man broached the metaphorical event served to him. "Never mind." Shaking his head with amicable dismay, Haru turned his seat to a half circle, arms taking space upon the the armrests. His line of sight crossed over the facile yet minimalistic design of their room, the dull colors of the walls an addition to his disinterest until it landed on a brooding and well vested man.

The referred individual had boredom etched all over his striking features, the lack of events occuring in the Modern Crimes he could invest his time in had him in a bad mood although showcasing it to his colleagues was not his cup of tea. He and Haru were different, and how they handle themselves in this patience consuming day was one of them.

"I'm surprised you're still here." Haru conveyed with a vestige of astonishment. Truly the older man had no such ability that could understand the complexity of his wealthy counteepart. Most days, whenever days were a little too slow for his liking, he would up and retreat back to his home (mansion seems more of an appropriate term to refer to his household) but lately, he had been spending more time in the precinct, and Haru did not know how he should react to this development, or devolvement. His comment floated in the density formulating inside the office, and everybody present swiveled their heads to await his response. "I thought you'd be back in your house now. No cases today, it seems. No games to entertain yourself with today."

"Tell me something I have yet to know, Inspector Kato." Retorted Daisuke, and a tick mark grew on Haru's forehead, but his displeasure to his rude counter was ignored as Daisuke brought his fingers to his ear. He spoke, enough for others to hear his statements. "HEUSC, locate the nearest and most recent crimes occuring within the area."

Haru rose from his seat, alarmed. "Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

Daisuke did not respond to Haru and awaited his butler's relay of information. It did not take more than a few seconds until it has accumulated enough information to submit to his master. "A few streets away, a murder of two took place in a bar called Denyr. Investigation is in process currently."

Daisuke removed his hand from his earpiece and looked towards a flabbergasted. "You heard HEUSC. Let's get going." Daisuke stood up from the couch, dusting himself off before making his way towards the door.

"Wait a minute," Clamored Haru, and Daisuke looked over his shoulder to gaze at him. Haru gritted his teeth, irritated. "You can't just up and go and do whatever you want! This is not your call! We weren't called so we'll just disturb everyone else who's already there."

"Aren't cops allowed to interfere in crimes or disturbance in peace whenever they want? It's their job." Said Daisuke. "And besides, you're just as eager as I am to do something other than waste the entire day waiting for the phone to ring." Then he frowned. "Unless, I'm mistaken, of course. I have no qualms leaving you here. I'm sure you'll be useful for warming up your chair for tomorrow."

Haru growled at him. "You stupid . . . " He grunted and took his jacket off his chair. "Fine! I'll go with you, just to keep you in check!"

“Wait a minute,” Exclaimed Saeki, causing Haru and Daisuke to turn just as the latter had began turning the doorknob. The pink haired female abandoned her seat in favor of giving them a standing and patronizing narrowed glower. “Haru, aren’t you forgetting something today?”

Haru looked up in thought, trying to recall what Saeki was implying. Nothing significant manifested in his line of thought and he turned to his colleague with a frown conjuring in his mien. “Uh, I don’t think I’m forgetting anything.” Answered Haru.

Daisuke grunted, displeased by the interrupting. “Then let’s get going.”

Daisuke pushed the door open and stepped outside. Haru was following suit, shrugging his jacket on when Saeki called out for them once more, particularly the older officer. She had her arms crossed, an unamused pout forming on her brims. “Haru, don’t be stupid!” Clamored she. “I can’t believe you forgot what today is!”

Haru let out an exasperated sigh. “I honestly can’t remember what makes today so important.” Said he. “What is it?”

Kamei rolled his swivel chair back, making sure to reveal himself from any obstructions blocking his form. “Eh? You of all people forgot (Your Name) is coming back?” He conveyed and whistled right after. “That’s surprising, and disappointing. I’m sure she won’t be thrilled knowing you’ll be the last one welcoming her back after her hospitalization – her best friend, her partner in crime.”

Haru’s face fell upon acquiring the information relayed to him. His mind refreshed, finally remembering the time when you took your time from resting in the hospital just to tell him you were soon to be discharged after the outcome of you recklessly electing to throw yourself in front of him when the perpetrator pulled the trigger and shot a bullet his way. You were fortunate enough to have the cylindrical metal projectile imbedded nowhere near any of your vital veins, but due to your blood loss as well as the stacking strain and stress in your body forced you to be admitted in the care of the hospital. Haru was sure you were not supposed to move when you selected to take your phone and call him because he can hear the nurse in the other line scolding you, telling you to end the connection and to rest easy for the remaining week. He could only miss you more – he knew how much you hated doing anything but police work. Haru couldn’t believe he forgot about that since he distinctly remember hardly being able to be consumed by sleep when excitement for your return filled him.

“Shit, it’s today.” Cursed Haru as his shoulders dropped. He slapped his palm against his forehead, groaning. “My God – how can I forget? I’m the worst partner ever.”

Daisuke glanced at Haru, bemused. This was the first time he had heard over this (Your Name) woman. To him, Haru was always a lone wolf who preferred to be alone in his work unless he was required to have a companion with him. Or maybe because it was loyalty to his said partner kept him from going to missions with another. Daisuke looked back at Saeki and Kamei, “Who’s (Your Name)?”

Haru wanted nothing more than to hide your existence from Daisuke. You already had so much in your plate and having a rich bastard interpolating with it was more than you can handle, especially after being hospitalized for quite a while. But it was inevitable for the two of you to meet seeing as Daisuke seemed to be taking a strong liking with playing cop and were in the same department as him. So resigning with the concept of keeping you away from Daisuke, Haru let out a deep sigh. “(Your Name) is another cop in our department. She’s my partner.”

Daisuke blinked at him. “Someone can actually put up with you?”

Haru angrily show his fist to Daisuke, irritation swathing his figure. “What was that? I should be the one saying something that! I don’t know how Suzue-san can put up with your rich ass!”

“Maybe if you’re rich, you’ll know.” Countered Daisuke.

Before Haru could grab hold of Daisuke’s collar, the latter efficiently evaded his attempt to do so and stalked off into the corridor, adjusting his pristine suit as he ventured away. “If you want to stay here and wait for your partner, fine by me. I can go alone and handle the murders all by myself.” He said without looking back to meet Haru’s hardened gaze. “I’m sure this (Your Name) person is more important than the safety of other Japanese citizens.”

“O-Oi, I haven’t even decided yet! Don’t assume I’m not going!” As much as Haru wanted to be the first person to greet you back to work, he too loved justice and cared about the people who wanted to live in peace. Clicking his tongue out of annoyance, he turned to everyone left in the room, and all of them returned his gaze with bemused expressions. “Kambe and I will be quick. We’ll just drop by the crime scene and then cime back. I’m sure I’ll be able to return here before (Your Name) can. If not, tell her I’ll be back soon.”

***

daisuke was never inclined to pursue a romantic relationship. ever since witnessing his mother died, his life had been reserved into finding the truth. but little did he know, his perspective in love and romance will change, and hary will most certainly freak the fuck out

the two police officers arrived in the crime scene in a short amount of time. with how daisuke was speeding, it was understandable they would get there fast and very understandable how haru's whole life flashed right before his eyes. daisuke was actually tempted to go even faster but opposed to it after a while as he did not want to deal more with haru's tantrum after he recovered.

of course when they arrived there, the detectives assigned to the case shooed them off because they're not part of the investigations.

daisuke knew how to deal with them, of course. he brandished stacks of yen to include them in the case and the detectives were like 👀 because you know, who doesn't want extra cash?

haru didn't bother complaning anymore and just went to work. he wanted to get back to the station as soon as possible and welcome you first. best friend efforts, get a best friend like haru.

haru: "i scout the ground floor, you go upstairs - AND NO SPENDING MONEY YOU RICH BASTARD"

daisuke:

haru:

daisuke:

haru:

daisuke:

haru:

haru: "and - "

daisuke left before haru could finish his sentence. really daisuke just stayed and didn't answer him just so he could piss haru off. it worked nonetheless and daisuke can hear haru cursing at him as he walked upstairs

but we all know whatever daisuke does pisses haru off so so it didn't matter.

daisuke went up to the second floor if the bar and he saw how thrashed the place was

overturned tables, fallen chairs, broken bottles, reeks of alcohol, smears and pools of blood but everything seemed pleasant to look at compared to the two corpses that laid out on the floor with police tapes around them. it looked like a small massacre occured in there, and thay surely was the case

head smashed, chunks of flesh scattered, broken skulls but daisuke merely stared at them blankly

he wasn't disgusted nor disturbed. seeing his own mother's corpse was enough for him to deem gore as just another normal addition to his life

like another detective, daisuke began looking for clues. he searched the entire place like the good and professional detective he is -

who am i kidding - the first thing he did once he sees the condition of the second floor was, or course, ask HEUSC for information. screw asking them from fellow detectives when daisuke has his own ai butler

ahh perks of being a kambe

daisuke: "heusc, tell me the exact number of people that attended this bar between nine am to twelve in the afternoon"

heusc: "understood"

it did not take long until heusc responded

heusc: "the exact number of people who attended genyr is twenty seven. twelve in the ground floor, twelve in the ground floor, fifteen in the second. there are two dead bodies found in the second floor - "

daisuke snapped his head to the ceiling as soon as he heard a soft creak emit from over him

daisuke stared at the ceiling for about a moment before askint heusc - "look at the footage from the surveillance cameras surrounding the the bar. how many people fled outside?"

daisuke heard another creek above him, and this time he was sure he wasn't alone

and his unknown companion would love to have him in the same state as the corpses

and heusc replied: "twenty four"

daisuke closed his eyes, "is that so?"

heusc: "one person remains inside the building"

daisuke dropped his communication with his ai and positioned himself to a clean posture, back straight and hands tucked inside his pockets

daisuke: "you can come out now. no use hiding. i know you're here"

no response

daisuke clicked his tongue, "i heard you moving around in the ceiling the entire time i'm here and it's only been two minutes. you're not as discreet as you think you are. reveal yourself now and i'd consider lessening your time in jail."

still, silence greeted him

daisuke was growing irritated by the lack of answer given to him.

daisuke: "a coworker of mine needs to be back at the station right now for a reunion with his girlfriend - " daisuke paused as he imagined haru having a girlfriend. " - so let's keep this short and simple. surrender and as i have promised earlier, i will try to get you lesser years in prison"

but daisuke was not intending to keep this promise. even he knows giving a generous offer to criminals would weaken their resolve

but again, there was no answer

but he expected this

he always does to every case he gets handed with, or forced his hands to

daisuke observed the ceiling through a blank lense before sighing "if this is how you want things to go down, then so be it"

daisuke touched his earring and deliberately increased the volume of his voice as he spoke to heusc - "heusc, purchase the bar and its neighboring buildings and set a bomb for twenty minutes. tell the others to get out of here as soon as possible" he sneered at the ceiling. "i don't mind dying inside this bar with the suspect. it's the norm for a police officer to risk theit lives in the name of justice"

he sounded like haru for a moment there

heusc responded immediately: "understood, sir. balance: unlimited"

it was after that statement did a response come to light

the ceiling above daisuke broke as a firm kick broke through the fragile material

daisuke jumped away before a slim figure of a man dropped down from the hole

before daisuke could move, the man dashed pass him and out of the room, his oustretchrd hand barely grazing the bloodied clothes he wore

daisuke didn't waste time and recovered from his stunned state before following after the perpetrator

daisuke kept losing track of the man from time to the time and when he got down to the grounr floor, he saw no sign of him

nobody was present inside the bar anymore per order of heusc and money

all except for haru of course who immediately ran out of the place he was scouring and back to the main room

daisuke knew he heard heusc's order to leave the building but

haru will always be haru

haru, upon seeing daisuke's solemn state, asked: "what happened"

daisuke: "the man - did you see him?"

*haru, confused noises*: "what man? who?"

daisuke: "the man who killed the peple upstairs - he was still here and he ran down, didn't you hear him?"

haru: "no, i didn't - " his sentence was cut off when a figure suddenly lunged at him

lo and behold the criminal who was hiding behind an overturned couch

haru and the man tumbled down to the ground, fists and feet swinging wildly. daisuke watched as haru struggled to acquire dominance over the situation

daisuke: "heusc, identity of the killer"

heusc: "sakatoshi matona, a former bouncer for genyr until he was let go without reason"

haru strung out profanities and grunts as he and the matona rolled on the floor, trying to pin the other down. with a boost of strength, matona managed to get the upper hand and he put all his weight on haru. his hands found haru's neck and began strangling him

daisuke was like aren't you cop? win you idiot in the inside and haru was like aren't you a cop? help me you bastard in the inside. just the norm for the reckless and seemingly suicidal cops

haru: "gwet hiff op opp mii"

heusc: "transalation: get him off of me"

daisuke took action after that. he pulled matona off of haru and immediately socked him on the face

matona stumbled back but daisuke underestimated the time he would tske to recover and he tumbled back as the criminal retaliated with a punch of his own

daisuke dodged the assault but in the process, temporarily losing his posture. matona took this as an opportunity to continue his line of attacks, landing a few good hits on daisuke but majority of the time, he failed

daisuke recovered from the initial shock matona has inflicted him with and returned to momentum ane he was preparing his attack when bam - haru kato

my day be so fine then boom - haru kato

daisuke's eyes widened when haru, after standing up, tried to lock matona's arms to prevent him from moving anymore but instead, his chest met with an elbow

air was taken away from him and haru staggered backwards, clutching his chest and matona seized him

daisuke cursed and shot forward to help him but stopped when matona took haru's gun away from him and pointed it towards haru

matona: "stand back or i'll shoot"

haru raised his hands in surrender but daisuke did not

and haru was: ?????!!!!! tryna get me killed????!!!!

daisuke: "i can keep my promise, you know"

matona pointed the gun at daisuke

matona: "how can you when you're just a lowly cop?"

daisuke took out his cigar and lit up

daisuke: "yes, because a lowly cop can just buy buildings with a single command from an ai"

matona growled "rich, snobby, uncaring, and a liar. you're just the same like the people i killed"

daisuke opened his mouth to reply when a feminine voice cuts in

"finally, a confession. now we can get this over with"

before anyone could react appropriately, matona felt a hand take hold of his stolen gun and tore it away from his grasp before a heel sunk into his stomach, causing him to spit out blood

daisuke saw her, a woman standing with such grace, confidence, and strength with a gun in her hand and a smirk on her brims

daisuke couldn't move not from shock, but with admiration

who was this woman?

and what was this thudding in his chest

doki doki

his face was hot, very hot

and so was the woman

"( YOUR NAME )???"

daisuke turned and saw haru gawking at you

haru: (@[]@!!)

daisuke: （－－）

also daisuke: is that really (your name)? haru's partner? haru's girlfriend?

daisuke: hmp hmp（｀ー´）

you turned to both of them and daisuke was blown away with you that he nearly fell

he thinks you're very pretty

V E R Y

doki doki

you smiled widely at them: "haru, it's so nice to see you again" and then you turned to daisuke

daisuke froze and his cigar dropped

you glanced back at haru: "you already replaced me?"

haru: "tf no! rich boy here wanted to plays cops for a while so he went to our department. you know me, i could never replace you"

daisuke glared at haru

it waa obvious he was trying hard not to upset you (though you didn't look like the type who would get easily offended)

plus he's pushing a single and narrow minded narrative about him towards you. what if you hate him?

but you didn't and merely smiled at him, ignoring the criminal trembling from the pain of your kick

you: "my name is (your name)"

daisuke.exe has stopped working

jk that won't happen to daisuke

for now at least

daisuke: "kambe daisuke"

you, smiling: "nice to meet you, kambe daisuke!"

haru: "how did you find us here?"

you: "was gon get a drink before i head to the station but then i saw police tapes and stuff"

haru looked alarmed: "YOU WERE GOING TO DRINK RIGHT AFTER YOU GOT RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL"

you turned away from them, facing matona: "you can continue scolding me after we arrest this killer, haru. sorry in advance for haru, daisuke. he can be pretty overbearing and protective"

daisuke: "i can tell"

haru was offended okay?

you were already teaming up with daisuke to tease? betrayal.

haru: "how dare you (your name) - "

you did not let haru to finish his sentence and starter beating the shit out of matona like DAMN GHORL

daisuke and haru watched from a distance as you expertly used the gun to your advantage without pulling the trigger. you used the metal to hit him in fragile parts of his body in order to limit his movement

daisuke gawked at you

he has never seen such fluid execution for an arrest

daisuke looked: O-O

haru, seeing him, smugly crossed his arms and said: "you get to see how amazing (your name) is as a cop. she's my partner"

just as he said that, you pinned the criminal down on the ground, gun discarded, your one hand straining his arm behind his back and the other pinning his other hand on the ground

you: "i just got out of the hospital. how did i still win?"

daisuke suddenly frowned

oh, right. she's haru's girlfriend.

several minutes later, you successfully managed to arrest sakatoshi matona and the other detectives came to take him. but of course, you made sure you, daisuke, and haru were getting the recognition

like hell you were letting someone else get the glory for your efforts

you returned to daisuke and haru, smiling

they were talkiny when you hugged haru from behind

you: "haru i missed youuuu. it was lonely without your annoying butt looking out after me all the time"

haru flushed red

haru: "if you didn't catch the bullet for me then - "

you: "and let you get shot instead? nu uh, no way. i would take any bullet for you. right, daisuke?"

he felt speechless when you regarded him

daisuke didn't know what else to say to you so he said: "yes, i agree"

but somehow the the thought of you getting shot angered him

haru looked at daisuke, thinking: he acting kinda sus rn

you turned to haru and the two of you began catching up, smiling and laughing

you two looked comfortable so with each other. you two were carbon copies of one another, except you were ten times better, sorry haru

you two were made for each other

no wonder you're his girlfriend

you: "how's everyone in the precinct?"

haru: "still the same. everyone missed you"

daisuke: "are you two together?"

haru: 👁👄👁

you: *long ass laughing emoji*

haru turned very red, shouting: "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT IDEA"

daisuke: "you said you were partners - "

you: "i didn't know you liked me that way, haru - "

haru: "NO I DON'T KAMBE WAS JUST BEING A DUMBASS"

you tittered and turned to daisuke: "no, we're not together, kambe-san" you tucked a lock of hair behind your ear. "sorry if i scared you"

daisuke felt relief wash over him

daisuke: "i was just wondering. you and haru seemed very close so i was just making sure i wasn't misunderstanding"

daisuke froze with wide eyes when you leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek

and you whispered to him: "gotta work on being discreet when you look at me. i can practically see you chasing after me in the future with how you were looking at me. i'm flattered you find me that fascinating"

you turned to the shook haru: "i like this one, haru. we should bring him along with our cases"

you regarded them both: "anyways, i'll be heading over to the station first. i can write up the report and have man behind bars quickly. don't worry though, i'll make all three of us have the glory. i trust that you two can finish up here without me?"

the two men wanted to say something but both of them were stunned. you just kissed daisuke on the cheek and your best friend saw it. daisuke's eyes were wide and haru had his jaw dropping down

they still didn't say anything when you bid them farewell and just watched as you went to a police car with another cop where matona was and sped off

daisuke can feel his heart hammering against his chest

what was this feeling? it was so strange and . . . it's just strange, but he was not oppossed to thie feeling

in fact, he wanted more of it. as long as it came from you, it was fine

haru, however, was not

haru looked like he had seen the most horrifying thing ever

B E T R A Y E D

his best friend and this cop wannabe?

D I S G U S T H A N G

daisuke cleared his throat and turned to haru to say something but was met with a finger pointed at his face and haru looking vexed

haru: "you - "

the bar and the buildings nearby exploded beforw haru could say anything more. everyone except for daisuke was startled and sunk down on the ground

daisuke was not though. and he remained standing. not for the reason he forgot about the bomb he instructed heusc to plant but because

- you kissed him and he was self destructing

daisuke held back the smile threatening to tear through his face

haru: "w-what was t-t-th - "

daisuke: "i forgot about the bomb, sorry"

[kenganparadise]

Hey Chief! I absolutely adore what you’ve written and if it’s not to much on you schedule. Maybe the Baki characters SO gets hurt? Maybe from being jumped or being shot and having the characters being protective or something along those lines?

This was ao much fun to write! 😤 Thank you for requesting this! I decided to add even more characters this time.

Baki boys reacting to their S/O getting hurt-

Baki-

• Once he sees his S/O get injured he’s by their side in a heartbeat. He’s instantly putting pressure on the wound and trying his very best to stop the bleeding. Even if it’s just a flesh wound and not serious.

• If it’s a serious wound, Poor baby is panicking harder than ever before. He can’t lose his S/O. They’re pretty much all he has left. There are already tears falling down his face, he sobs out their name.

• He doesn’t wait around for an ambulance, He picks them up and runs them to the nearest hospital. Once his S/O’s injury is under control and they’re stable baki doesn’t leave their side. He can’t eat, he can’t sleep. He just watches them sleep and breathe softly with tears in his eyes and their hand in his.

• Once they awaken Baki is incredibly relieved. While they’re recovering Baki goes out and hunts down whoever hurt his S/O. Baki exacts his revenge and promises to protect his S/O with his life.

Yujiro-

• Once Yujiro sees his S/O get hurt he instantly takes the life of whoever dared to harm his S/O. He then moves calmly yet swiftly to their side. He probably chastises his S/O for being not careful enough and getting injured.

• But once he sees his S/O coughing up an alarming amount of blood and noticing the wound is much deeper than anticipated, Yujiro loses his cool just a little.

• He realizes that his S/O’s life is in jeopardy and he needs to act quickly. He’s never felt this way before, he’s never worried so much about anything in his life.

• He becomes uncharacteristically on edge and becomes quiet. His eyes are wide. He doesn’t say a word to his S/O as he gets them to help and safety.

• Once in the hospital and his S/O is in stable condition he returns to his usual self. He goes back to teasing his S/O while they lay in the hospital bed wrapped in bandages.

• He hates the new feeling he’s experienced But he’s relieved that his S/O is safe. He never wants to feel that way he did again, His S/O will never be put in danger again.

Jack-

• Jack probably doesn’t see his S/O get injured, he’s probably too preoccupied with whoever he’s fighting. Looking over his shoulder and seeing his S/O on the ground injured, laying in a poor of their own blood, Jack looses it.

• He doesn’t care if they’re friend of foe, Jack goes berserk. He scrambles to their side. He expects the worst. He lifts his S/O in his arms and makes a mad dash to Kureha. He’s the only doctor he trusts.

• Once his S/O is safe, he starts blaming himself for everything. He failed at protecting his S/O. Like Baki, he can’t eat or sleep, he doesn’t leave his S/O’s side until they awaken.

• Jack’s S/O is the light in his life, without them his world would be quite a dark place. He gets a harsh reality check. He cannot lose his S/O.

• Once they awaken, Jack apologizes. He feels guilty, like it’s his fault they got injured. He’s in fear that his S/O would leave him.

• He needs some reassurance and he needs his S/O to hold him. He apologizes over and over, promising to never let them go. Jack becomes more protective then ever.

Katsumi-

• Seeing his S/O get injured, Katsumi shouts out their name. He quickly takes out whoever hurt his S/O then Katsumi is by his S/O’s side in a second. He’d cradling them in his arms.

• If it’s a deadly wound, Katsumi is panicking hard. He looks down to see his S/O’s blood pooling around them and staining his White karategi.

• An ambulance comes and picks up them up, rushing them into the emergency room. The fear of losing his S/O consumes Katsumi. He stares at his Blood covered hands with tears in his eyes. His heart is in his throat. As his S/O is in surgery, he is in the waiting room. He can’t imagine his life without his S/O.

• Once his S/O pulls through and is in stable condition, Katsumi is by their side. He holds their hand in his. He looks at their sleeping face and he can’t help but choke up. He blames no one but himself.

• while his S/O is practically comatose, Katsumi tries to act like his usual self. However there’s pain in his eyes and his smile is fake. Doppo is the only one who really sees through his disguise, he’s only one that can really get through to him.

• Once his beloved S/O awakens Katsumi is overjoyed. He holds them in his arms and gently cries into their chest. Katsumi feels like he’s dogged a bullet and now he’s never leaving his S/O’s side again.

Retsu-

• Retsu senses something is very wrong. He views his S/O as an extension of himself, he is one with his S/O. So once he sees them injured, he is in pain.

• He’s by his S/O’s side, he can hear the ambulance sirens in the distance. He’s applying pressure to his S/O’s wounds. This whole time his heart is beating out of his chest and he’s staring at his S/O’s face. He feels nauseous and sick to his stomach. His whole body burns.

• If the wound is dangerously deep, He tries his hardest not to cry but hearing his S/O’s shallow breaths and the blood and life flowing out of them he can’t quite help it.

• Once at the hospital, his S/O is rushed to surgery. Retsu collapses, he bites his lip and hopes for the best. He sits down and prays that they’re going to be okay, he hopes he gets to hold them in his arms and see their smile again.

• He stays by their side until they awaken, Retsu apologizes profusely while holding them in his arms. He helps them throughout the recovery process, and kisses their scars. He makes an oath to never put his S/O in harms way again. And He keeps this promise.

Kaoru-

• Kaoru pretty much lives in danger 24/7. That’s just his lifestyle and something his S/O knows and has to except Pretty much everyone close to him has gotten injured or worse. The thought of his S/O getting injured has crossed his mind a few times, but once it actually happens it’s much different.

• Kaoru probably hears them cry out in pain as they’re injured. His head whips around to see them clutching their wound. Seeing his S/O injured triggers something in him, something he’s never felt before. He goes on a rampage, ending whoever wounded his S/O.

• He then rushes to his S/O’s side. Noticing that the injury could potentially be deadly he begins making way to the nearest hospital. Seeing his S/O this way makes his blood boil and makes him feel sick. He’s grinding his teeth as his heart is in his throat.

• He’s watched many of his friends, loved ones, and comrades get injured or worse, but for some reason with his S/O it feels so much different.

• Once His S/O is in stable condition he is quite relieved. He feels like he can relax now. He Has to go back to his duties as boss of the Hanayama group. However once he is given the news that his S/O is awake he drops whatever he’s doing and returns to their side.

• He never what’s to feel the way he did again, he promises to protect his S/O, and that they’ll never get injured again.

Katou-

• Katou is bad In situations under pressure, he’s very impulsive and doesn’t exactly think things through. So he might be in a situation where his S/O is put in danger.

• He probably doesn’t notice at first but once he sees out of the corner of his eye, his S/O on the ground bleeding out and he scrambles to their side and babbles out incoherently sentences.

• He then turns his attention to whoever hurt his S/O. He’s absolutely filled with rage. He quickly puts the perpetrator in their place.

• If the wound is deadly then He’s falling apart. He picks his S/O up and gets them to an emergency room as quickly as possible. He tries so hard not to cry, but he’s so overcome with fear and worry that he can’t help it.

• while his S/O is recovering he’s by their side. Seeing his beloved in a hospital bed injured and clinging on to life kills him inside. Once they wake up he somewhat tries to avoid them. He feels incredibly guilty, in a way he feels like it’s his duty to protect his S/O and he failed at doing that.

• He’s honestly worried that his S/O would leave him. While his S/O is recovering he’s acts very timid around them. He brings his S/O flowers, teddy bears, books, and other little nicknacks as apologies. He also helps taking care of them. Depending on how severe their injuries are, he helps feed them, helps them walk, helps bathe them, he’ll anything he can do to help.

Suedo-

• Once he finds out his S/O got hurt he snaps. Suedo can be angered quite easily, very small things can set him off. however messing with his S/O is something new entirely.

• He directs his anger towards whoever hurt his beloved S/O. Like Jack, he doesn’t care if they’re friend or foe, everyone gets a taste of his rage.

• However Once ambulance arrives he halts. He’s by his S/O’s side and his mood flips from enraged to worried. He’s panicking but he knows his S/O is strong. He tells himself that they’ll pull through.

• If the injury is possibly deadly then Suedo changes. He’s not his arrogant, loud, and confident usual self. He’s stoic and quiet. He rarely speaks. he’s always got a scowl on his face and he angers quicker than usual.

• While his S/O is sleeping while recovering, he talks to them. He says all the things he could never say when they’re awake. Once they do awaken, Suedo is incredibly relieved. He felt like is world was so close to falling apart. Seeing his S/O smile makes him feel like everything will be okay.

Kureha-

• He senses something is wrong. He looks over to his S/O right before they get injured. He’s already running towards them but he’s too late. He catches his S/O before they hit the ground.

• He remains calm, assessing the wound, then applying pressure as he calls an ambulance. He can’t panic in this situation. Once at his hospital, he gets to work. He won’t let any other doctor see to his S/O. He quickly stitches up their wound and dresses it.

• If the wound is deadly and requires surgery, Kureha is taking care of it. He acts as if nothing is wrong, his fellow doctors, nurses, and colleagues think nothing is wrong with him.

• Once his S/O pulls through feel like he can finally breath again. He sits by his S/O’s bed, holding their hand. He knew that his S/O would pull through, he is over-confident in his medical abilities after all. However these was a piece of him that was in fear of losing his S/O forever.

• He’s exhausted. He probably pushes his S/O over so he can take a nap next to them in their hospital bed while cuddling them.

Doyle-

• Doyle lives a very dangerous life. It’s no doubt that his S/O would be put in harms way pretty often. However once they get injured Doyle is given a reality check.

• He wipes out whoever injured them. He tries to walk calmly to his S/O’s body on the ground, but he feels like he needs to run. He leans over and tries to get his S/O to stand. “Stand up Y/N.” He orders. He repeats this again and again, trying to pretend that their injuries aren’t as severe as he thinks they are.

• When the blood starts pooling around his S/O and their breaths get weaker and weaker he scoops them up and makes a mad dash to the nearest hospital. His face is blank but his eyes are wide and wild.

• He drops them off at the emergency room and then disappears. He doesn’t want to deal with the hospital staff or any potential law enforcement.

• He finds out where his S/O’s room is and sneaks in during the cover of night. He watches them sleep from the shadows. He experiences something he’s never felt before. Remorse and guilt fill his chest. The reality of almost losing his Darling S/O makes him feel sick to his stomach. He’s never going to put them in harms way again.

Sikorsky-

• Like Doyle, Sikorsky has an incredibly dangerous lifestyle. The thought of his S/O getting injured or worse hasn’t really crossed his mind too much. He thinks that he’ll always be there to protect them or that luck would be on his side. Like Doyle, Sikorsky receives a harsh reality check.

• He leans over his S/O as they’re bleeding out. His heart is racing but he doesn’t exactly quite know what to do. He kills whoever hurt them and then takes them to the hospital. Like Doyle, he just drops them off then dips.

• He waits for them to be expelled from the hospital with a clean bill of health, then he’ll approach his S/O. Of course he spies on them the whole time, but he didn’t make his presence known.

• He pretty much acts like nothing happened. He won’t even acknowledge that his S/O almost died. For Sikorsky, This is a defense mechanism, it takes a long time for him to except his feelings. His S/O got severely injured and could have died, he’s never felt a fear like that before.

• At night when his S/O is asleep he’ll gently run his fingers over their scars while feeling guilty. His S/O is the first thing he thinks about when in a dangerous situation again, he can’t lose them.

[jean-does-not-have-a-horseface]

Heyo! I was wondering if you could do a scenario during the uprising arc where the reader starts to realize she has feelings for Levi but at first he rejects her? Then during the night before Shiganshina he realizes about her feelings and ends up returning them knowing he doesn't want her to get hurt or die? Some angst fluff please and thank you!

Okay anon you have no idea how much I enjoyed writing this. It's super long and I love how it came to me so naturally. I hope you enjoy

Warnings: a little angst!?

Tags: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort

Promise

It all started at the sight of his wet fingertips grazing the broken rim of a teacup. A flutter, a feisty spark in your heart that seemed to drown it in full might had made its presence known to you in a very particular, unwanted moment. The flicker of a tiny flame danced before your eyes, sat at the frame of the window near the sink where you proceeded to rinse through washed dishes.

Levi's pale, chapped skin pulled on his knuckles leaving an unnatural yellowish white tone behind, indicating his involvement with excessive amounts of cleaning products. And for the first time, the sight really pulled a string in your poor heart in a way that was enough to convince you to break the dense silence in the room.

But maybe, you thought, Levi wouldn't want to talk to you.

With an unforgiving steel gaze he stared at your face, blinking in soft, yet erratical paces as you stopped plumping the water from running. In response your tongue was forced to slip inside your mouth and push any unspoken word back to its source, in the depths of your brain. All of a sudden you felt so afraid to talk, so petrified by the general idea of a three syllabus word that wouldn't ever spare the misery off of anyone.

Rejection

Captain seemed to be on the rejective side nevertheless so nothing regarding your newly discovered feelings would matter to him anyway, so in a way you blamed yourself for getting overwhelmed with this whole situation. A dark cloud of doubt shadowed your mind with the intention of interrogating your heart's intentions; perhaps you were mistaken. How on earth could you have been in love with the short man, you didn't know. There were far too many differences between the two of you, be it in appearance, mannerism or even -and more importantly- experiences. Supposing you had lived through similar occurances in battles outside the walls was enough for anyone to consider the two of you to be very alike, it was at least dishonorable to compare your childhood or teenage years to his.

"Nice hands" Of course you had managed to utter the most embarrassing choice of words to him, your mind could never cooperate with you when it came to such serious situations, something you hated so very much. The obnoxious dryness of your eyes was slowly migrating in the caves under your tongue, you could feel your mouth drying more and more by each passing second, yet you did nothing to prevent it.

Judging by Levi's puzzled expression which included his head slightly tilting forward as if to hear you better you knew he was as awestruck as you were at your own words. "I don't really understand where you're coming from but thank you, I guess." He spoke, the usual monotone tint staining his voice. You whipped your head back to a fixed position -on your hands this time- to stare down at the sink. The awkward glances you would throw at him went seemingly unnoticed and as time passed by you felt your tention overwhelming you, this time, completely.

Levi wasn't dense to any body language thrown at him and you were painfully aware. His cold eyes never spared you not even a half cornered look as he rubbed the little sponge on the soap bar next to him. His fingers danced on the ceramic plate, cleansing it in fast and very effective movements, leaving you staring in awe. Whether he was ignoring you on purpose or not you didn't know and you didn't want to seek an answer as to why but at this rate he would probably be the one to inquire why you were burning holes in his hands with your gaze. Again.

"I'm so sorry I'm fixated on your hands" Your mouth run, ignoring your mind's orders to stay shut "It's just-" Dammit think quick for once "You have nice nail beds."

There it was. The evidence that your words had actual brains and that they formed the most improper sentences on their own, just to torture you and push you deeper into piles of goowey, mushy shit. If Levi was anyone else he would have been laughing his ass of at the stupidness of your speech, you knew you would be laughing too if this wasn't as serious. Just as you were sure you heard a chuckle Levi placed the sponge on the bar of soap carefully and extended his arm, fully displaying his hand.

He seemed to study it like it was the first time he had ever even noticed it. The slick, long fingers, the oval shaped nails, his torn open knuckles. Perhaps you were kidding him for the lack of hair on the base of fingers he used to hold his blades with, those were burnt with years of being worn out by the steel triggers of the blades. He speculated this was common among most soldiers, so it didn't seem like a reason to be kidded for and in addition you never were the person to just spit senseless insults as jokes to your comrades.

"Is there even a point to talk about my hands? They're normal hands to me."

You bit your lip as your eyes widened in shock. Realisation hit you that this was probably more that absurd to Levi as it was to you, seeing you had started to talk about his hands out of nowhere. Your mind, in a state of panic, was in the midst of attempting to process every idiotic sentence you had the audacity to blurb out, but it never seemed to find an answer. Boiling with embarrassed, you wiped the water of your hands to your pants, an act that caught Levi's eye, and went to grab the first wooden chair that was in your path. You needed to sit down, to process whatever this was.

Yet, the only explanation you could find was that there was a raging wildfire in the pits of your stomach everytime your thoughts wandered on Levi. Yes, it was possible that what had started as an admiration, a tiny spec of a crush for the slender featured man had been growing on you since forever, but you had always burried it deep, in any hellhole that should accommodate such emotions as this was war and not the plot of sappy romance novel.

The air was cut down short in the room when Levi sat at a chair beside you, watching you over in such demanding manner that only he could master. He proceeded to light the only candle that stood at the middle of the table, possibly in hopes of flaring a conversation or causing a sane sequence of sentences to finally fall from your tongue. It was still unbeknownst to him what had caused you to trip over words as if you were a learning toddler and he yearned to find out, as a sole friend, not as the stern corporal he presented himself to be.

"(y/n)" His voice was tender as he spoke either much mindful to the teens who were sleeping in the next room or unwilling to let a private conversation between the two of you be heard. "If you think I can help with whatever is going on quit acting like a brat and tell me what's on your mind."

Momentarily, you wondered whether he'd stick to his words in case you spilled your heart's infatuating agony but you felt unable to think of a possible dominating scenario in the chaos of your mind. As self destructive as it sounded, you'd prefer to be the one to break your own heart rather than having to stand back and be a martyr to him tearing it off your chest and tearing it. Knowing Levi, this wasn't anything physically impossible, but you doubt that he could ever be as harsh with you.

"I'm just stressed. I have a lot on my mind."

"Erwin's trial and the future of the scouts, huh? Or is it that Hange works your ass off with those experiments?" You scoffed in denial to all of his inquiries, knowing full well that you could have used them as excuses. Levi's sharp hand began a short trip with sole purpose to land at the top of your head, through your loose locks, in an affectionate manner, a little something you had picked up he would do when he really cared for someone. Everyone knew he wasn't particularly touchy, except for some emotional moments with his closest people; a hand on a shoulder and a pat in the head were mostly what you had witnessed him indulging. His hand ruffling with your hair wasn't profound and new at all, he had done so many times after the two of you would strongly disagree over formations and orders, showing you how much he appreciated your strong wits and your clever ideas. What was new was that the lone touch burned your sculp like hot iron and made your insides twitch.

"I'll make us some tea" the screeching creak of the chair being pushed back shook of your train of thoughts enough to form a reaction to his hand that still rested on your head. Almost as if he didn't want to take it off "We can discuss your problem in a-"

"Sit down" you demanded, voice stern, masked with seriousness that caught him off guard. "Take your hand off my hair, it hurts." You pleaded with your eyes to stay as dry as they were before but you were certainly unsure of whether they'd listen. "Can't you see?"

What was there not to see really. Levi probably knew of your fondness of him way before you managed to realise, as in second thought every move you had ever made in his presence betrayed you. He would have never tried to provoke a confession just to laugh at you, that you were sure of, but he had never made a move in reciprocation either, that alone made you sure of your confessions future's end and caused your gut to spit even more fire to the rest of your insides.

Levi was not perplexed, not even for a single moment, at your words that seeked to stab like daggers, he wouldn't allow himself to be toyed by his own emotions just this once. This is an erratical reaction to his touch, a rejection of his affections towards you and he feared he knew the reason. For someone as bright and emotional as you he never would have thought that you could have hid such tormentous emotions so well inside you, only to end up at this moment of snapping.

As much as he'd like not to be hurt in the slightest by your demeanor he couldn't help but feel a tiny string of his heart being pulled. Suddenly it was evident to him why you couldn't take part in normal conversations around him or why you acted so tense in his presence, why you were so rejective of his touches and he wondered if he should have done anything besides unknownably torture you for so long. Whether his heart wanted to hear a confirmation out of your mouth to it's pained pleading for reciprocation, his mind ignored. The time would never be right and as egoistical as it seemed he couldn't bear to lose someone else that close to him, let alone a significant other. From his experience feelings of love and adoration should never be spoken out loud in this cruel world, amongst soldiers, especially. It wouldn't lead to any good.

When you proceeded to speak the pit in his stomach was already welling in frustration and denial. "Levi we've known each other for years and whatever's forcing me to much on my words should stop."

None can do, this couldn't happen here, now, while being on the run by military police as collective criminal. Levi wouldn't allow you to speak those earth shuttering words, even if wanted for them to chaste kiss his ears and echo through his head. "Not like you haven't figured anyways. I'm so pathetic. To fall for my Capt-"

"Don't you dare utter any other word of that sentence. I won't forgive you if you do." His hand reached out to grab yours by the wrist, tightly, as if he didn't know you couldn't stand the intensity of the grip. The silence that towed over the room was freezing, irrational even; it made you want to puke your intestines right onto Levi's shoes. Your heartbeat was so fast, so unrhythmic that you felt like the vital blood red organ would burst out of your chest in a massive mess.

Τhere was an excessive amount of agony emitting from your eyes, slicing through Levi's chest, searching despairately for a sign he had a heart, just to remind you that it didn't belong to you. Your mind traveled through every possible scenario to find a reason as to why you had to endure this, did his affections belong to someone you didn't know of? Hange? Erwin? Nifa seemed to be close to him lately as well. Was he heartbroken before and swore to never love again? You hated that there was not a tiny little space in his heart for you.

Just as this tense moment began, it came to an end when Sasha burst into the room, shotgun on her shoulder and chestnut eyes as sleepy as they could be. Fatigue was overpowering her whole form and it was as evident as ever before your eyes. With a quick, exhausted salute she announced her self, unsure of if you and the captain could see her face under the shadows of the night.

"It's guard change sir!" She spoke.

"I'm coming sweetheart." You got up from the chair you were sat at, breaking your wrist away from Levi's grip in a harsh manner. You didn't spare him a second look as you took another deep breath and locked it in your chest in hopes of seeming a little more mighty. "Go take some rest. You deserve it."

With increasingly fast steps you storm outside the little cottage trying your best not to look back. You wouldn't bear to check if there was still light coming from the kitchen that should indicate Levi's persistent presence. Your knees trembled at the imagery but you wouldn't let your eyes rest behind you not even for a second. He would probably be drinking his tea, unbothered, thinking of anything but you and you would be lying if you were to day that it didn't hurt you. It hurt so much that it sent you on your ass, on the stone tile pattern under your feet. Your heart forced suffocating waves of pain through your whole body only to push out of your eyes in the form of hot, salty tears. As your sobs grew louder and your heartache became unbearable to the point you though you could feel your heart break in two, you pushed the ends of your palms into your eyes sockets to squeeze the pain and itchiness of the tears away. You promised to yourself this was the first and last time you would cry for him.

____

After that night you barely speak with Levi. Aside from following his orders with the eventual 'yessir' as a reply, you have managed to successfully establish a thick barrier between him end you. Your nights of accompanying him in his late hour tea sessions, or teaching him how to knit and embroider were no more. The times you would share your food with him after you'd hear his stomach growl from the small portion he would get were also no more. You had made sure to claim your small acts of affection back to yourself, how could you move on from him if you were trying to be nice.

You would profoundly ignore his gazes, his calls for you at his office at late hours of the night by random cadets. You wouldn't answer to him if it wasn't for something military related and you intended it to keep it that way until the announcements of the feast that would take place before the attempt of retaking wall Maria.

As you passed by a narrow street heading to anywhere away from the crowd of cadets with your drink in your hand, you bumped lousy into the onyx haired male. It was the first time in days or even weeks that you had spared him a glance but your eyes averted his upon impact. You couldn't stand this. It was suffocating you. The clicking of your ankle boots colliding with the ground might have been heard as you turned on your heels to flee the scene but Levi's stern clearing of the throat overshadowed it.

He wasn't having it anymore.

"Oi, wait! Stop on your tracks, this is an order!" He spoke, eliciting a groan out of you as you turned to face him. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Captain, I seek to relax before a very hard mission, spare me with your punishments, I beg of you."

His blood boiled with your every word "Cut the damn crap (y/n) and talk to me like normal." It probably sounded more harsh than he intended but he couldn't find himself in a position to turn back time and rephrase those words. The drained look in your eyes tolled him as well. The fact that you were both so tired by this game of cat and mouse was profound and everywhere in the air around you and Levi didn't know if he could take it anymore.

At first he thought that it was for the best. If you both forgot about your feelings or found ways to distract yourselves by this distance then it would be so much easier for him to push through the upcoming events of Shiganshina, but he was surprised to know he was mistaken. Masking his feelings must have seemed easy when it came to grieve and loss; he'd spent hours in his room, with you, letting everything out and occupying himself with trying to improve his handwriting while doing paperwork, but infatuation, love, was different. Instead of fading by each passing day like anger and grief it only ever became stronger, fonder and more agressive, chewing on his insides in despair. He really did hate that he had allowed himself to feel that way but it was way too late by now. There was nothing he could do and the fact that you ignored him after almost squeezing out that much, much wanted confession was only making him feel more hollow and in pain.

But Levi knew how to control himself, he trusted his ability on that.

"What is there to talk about? Let me live my last day in peace." You barked, your eyes starting to dance towards his direction, landing on his chin, then at the curve of his unfairly full bottom lip, on his button upwards nose.

"Look." He paused, unsure of how to put his words into non hurtful sentences. "If you could just tell me why or share a few words with me. We could damn die tomorrow and I'd regret not ever talking you out of this unfair treatment you're giving me."

You wondered if you should open up your heart to him completely, without accepting any interruption from him just to cleanse your coincidence off of this weight. Upon deciding that there was truly nothing holding you back except for a silly fear of another rejection that could die with you tomorrow you opened your mouth to speak any words that came to your mind.

"Levi, I'm in pain. You rejected me. Plain and simple. I've spent so many nights wondering why I am unworthy of your affections but I can't wrap my head around you anymore."

"Is that the way you feel about me? That you're the one who's unworthy of me?"

"You always think so lowly of yourself. Makes me wonder how you trust your own abilities in battlefield. But yes. So I just want to know who is it for you? Who do you feel you're unworthy of?"

He paused for a moment, to regain any shattered piece of his heart you had thrown back to him with your statement. You didn't hate him, be always knew that, but hearing those words fall out of your mouth engulfed the matter into reality unlike before. He was ready to face it. Even if he was unsure of tomorrow he knew that if he was to stay alive while you were dead he would have torn his own brain out as to avoid overthinking this particular moment.

"You want the truth honestly, brat? I happen to think I'm the one unworthy of you. You've taught me how to write and read, you came into my office to check up on an underground scum like me to see if I was asleep. Dammit you even gave me portions of your food to help me withstand the long nights of sleeping in my chair. What have I done for you? Boss you around? Or is it my looks you're after?"

Your eyes widened at his last statement, momentarily preventing the tears that had gathered in the corners from falling. This wasn't a time to misunderstand his words and act foolish, this was the closest out of a confession you would get from the man and you were awestruck, amazed. If he wanted to know a reason you would give him one.

"I'll admit, you might have the face of an angel Levi and maybe that would initial draw anyone to you, including me but I didn't fall in love with you for that." You could tell he was taken aback by the raw nature of your words only by the small whimper that escaped his throat.

"Over the course of this relationship between us you have been there for me when I couldn't be there for myself, you've helped me improve, your hands are stained with blood and so are mine, but you've knitted with me, you've stitched my wounds, you've let me sleep in your bed when I found a giant cockroach in mine, you're so much more than what you paint yourself to be."

He stared at you with ogling, soft eyes. Had he looked at you like that before you were oblivious but there was something in those steel eyes that magnetised your own gaze, something you couldn't let go off. It was calming the knot in your chest with reassurance, bearing promises of the future but he didn't dare speak on them to ruin the moment. His head closed the distance between the two of you in sharp shiftings and now your lips were brushing his in the most suggestive manner possible. It had all happened so fast that you didn't have a chance to react.

"You realised" he whispered, voice soft as the melancholy of the theme of his words captured your breath "that if you happen to die tomorrow, I, myself will hunt you down, resecure you and then proceed to beat the living shit out of you every single day of your shitty life, right?"

He was so beautiful panting with desire under the moonlight and you would never forget. Out of all times this could have taken place it happened now, hours before a deadly expedition. The feeling of regret flooded your form, his as well for not acting upon your feelings sooner and Levi fought an internal battle as to whether he should kiss you or not. He desired to keep that kiss as a reward that you stayed alive for him but on the other hand he feared that this could well be his last chance to taste you for the first time.

"That's a weird way to say I love you" as his lips brushed closer to yours his heart felt like it would explode, he had pained to claim your lips, just once, just to know the taste of a beloved and he was sure he would be more pained to lose you.

As he pleaded that you came to him tomorrow he pressed his lips on yours, sealing the promise he demanded you to make to him. Your heart melted under the soft lights of a thousand stars.

____

As his arms wrapped around you, tears run down his eyes. That was it. You had fought to keep your promise nail and tooth. You had never managed let him down and to see that you were among the tiny amount of survivors lifted his soul to heaven. The touch of your skin, the salty taste of your neck, it all was real, you were indeed alive and safe in his arms. He wouldn't have to go insane over that fact that he would never get to look into your eyes again.

"I will always keep my promises to you." You hitched with tears running down cheeks, the shock in your core still trembling as ever.

"I know" He panted

"Besides, have you seen yourself in action, I wouldn't want you to hunt me down, oh Lord."

I am. In tears. Also I'm sorry (?) for such in depth descriptions of Levi's hands?

[hazzoranstories]

Damon Salvatore x Reader One-Shot | Emily’s House

Requested by anonymous

A/N: I don't know if this would count as a Damon one-shot, but I can't think of anything else to categorize it as. Also, sorry this sucks, but I've had a little writer's block. Last thing, would you guys like more human/past Damon or would you like present day?

________________________________________________________________________________

Includes: Blood, angst, several murders, mild language, and triggering

________________________________________________________________________________

"Y/N? Tell me, damnit!" Kol screamed at his best friend, who merely smirked it off and popped her neck. She examined the "home" Klaus designed for the Mikaelson family in Mystic Falls, with Kol trailing after her.

"You just got out of a box after a century, and you want to know about my past love life? Kinda sad, Kol, not gonna lie," Y/N snickered, and Kol ran up in front of her, stopping her from walking into the dining room. Encouraging her to continue her story. The girl sighed and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. Letting him into her memories.

~:*:~

*Mystic Falls, Virginia; 1864*

The sound of Y/N's sobs rang through the empty Salvatore house. Despite Giuseppe's earlier attempts to usher the girl out, her rage was much stronger than her sadness. She would never forgive Giuseppe for what he did. Shooting his own sons was a heinous act, even for the man who beat his eldest child. Y/N hadn't actually witnessed the murder, but she heard the gun firing. And neither Salvatore brother had returned in the last two days. She went around town to check, and once she saw Giuseppe drawing sympathy for his lost sons, she rushed back inside.

"Y/N, you must leave. Return to your family --" Giuseppe said, somewhat irritated.

"I no longer have any family, Giuseppe. You killed them in cold blood, remember?" Y/N snapped, cutting off her crying to glance behind her shoulder and notice the horrific man at the door. Giuseppe glared at his deceased son's wife and growled lowly, storming into his office. As much as he loved Damon getting married and even expecting a baby, he desperately hated Y/N. She was a nice girl, but man, did she have a temper. A temper so bad that it blinded most people about what they liked about her. But not Damon. He considered it attractive, and Giuseppe always thought that was the reason he married her. I guess he'll never know now.

The night following, Y/N escaped through her window out the house. She wanted to visit her friend Emily for comfort. The Salvatore wife was still in denial and assumed Damon or even Stefan would bust open the door any moment, but neither did. They were gone, but she didn't want to admit that to herself.

She was too lost in her thoughts to notice a figure following her in the shadows of the thick woods on the way to Emily's house. Emily lived near the Quarry, so it was a long but worthy journey. The figure had a female curve to it, but her large dress made her look thinner. In seconds a wrist was forced across Y/N's lips, with the metallic taste of blood spilling onto her tongue. Y/N tried to scream, but a thick stick was shoved into her stomach before her mouth could part. The attacker looked down at her struggling victim and chuckled darkly.

~:*:~

The bleeding light of the sun burnt through Y/N's eyelids the next morning, and she winced. It wasn't like any morning where she didn't want to get up, but it hurt her. Physically. She sat up and saw she was lying in the woods. Left for dead by whoever attacked her. But how could she be alive? A stick was plunged into her abdomen, and no one could aid her. She gazed down at her stomach, which was drowned in blood. Not just her own. Y/N's eyes widened, and a scream finally fell from her lips.

Her cries began again as her shaky hand fell onto her fully healed wound. But the blood remained stained on her dress, which was just a reminder about what happened. She stumbled up, and her first thought was how close Emily was. Her legs carried her weak build across the woods, and not much later, she reached Emily's house.

She pounded on the door, and soon it was whipped open by the witch herself. Emily noticed her friend's state and immediately got anxious. Y/N began weeping again and engulfed Emily in a hug. The black girl was shocked but closed the door and raced Y/N to the living room. "What happened, Y/N? What's wrong? Why do you have blood on you? Is this yours?" she interrogated eagerly, but Y/N kept shaking her head to try to bring him back. She couldn't lose her baby boy, too, not after losing Damon.

"I -- I think he's go -- gone. He's gone, Em- Emily," the Bennett girl knew of Y/N's pregnancy since she was in her third trimester, and people tend to point it out.

"What? What do you mean he's gone? What happened to you? Why is there blood on your dress?!" Emily panicked. Usually, she was relatively calm, but she couldn't contain herself.

"Emily? What's happening in here?" a male's voice asked as he walked in with caution. Stefan stopped once he saw his brother's wife, and both girls looked at the youngest Salvatore. Y/N gasped, and her breathing increased dramatically.

"Stefan? Stefan, how are you here right now?!"

"Y/N! You need to calm down!" Emily yelled and grabbed Y/N's face, forcing the girl to look at the witch's calming brown eyes.

"No, no, what's Stefan doing here? He died, Emily. Giuseppe shot him I --" Emily cut Y/N off with a shush, placing her hand on her stomach, which was flatter than it should be.

"Are you sure?" the Bennett questioned. Y/N nodded and sniffed. Emily stood up and ran around the house to try and find a spell to heal the possibly dead baby.

"Are you not going to explain how my husband's dead brother is here?!" Y/N shouted towards Emily, who didn't reply. The wife looked to Stefan with hopeful eyes. "Is he alive too? Is he here?" Stefan nodded and gestured outside. Y/N didn't hesitate to run out.

She saw Damon sitting near the water, tears falling from his eyes mercifully. "Damon?" Y/N cried, and the brunette whipped around, every action of his stopping. His jaw flew open, and he stood up. The Salvatores sprinted into each other's arms, both bawling. "Ho -- how are you alive? I thought --"

"I'm in transition," Damon interrupted his wife, who broke the hug.

"What?"

"Katherine, she gave me her blood before I died," he explained, but Y/N was still confused. "Are you okay? I heard a commotion going on inside and thought it was just Emily doing some witchy voodoo. I never expected you to come out that door," Damon smiled in joy, but Y/N's face fell.

"I . . . . last night someone stabbed me in the stomach," - Damon's expression became worried - "he's gone. Emily is trying to find a spell, but . . . . my attacker killed our boy in the process of trying to murder me," Y/N muttered, and Damon stepped back. A look of pain shot across his face, and he choked on the right words to say.

"Do -- do you know who --?"

"No. I don't even know how I'm alive right now, but I'll have Emily figure out that later," Damon put his face in his hands before tugging at his curly dark hair.

"He's not gone. I refuse to believe that. Emily!" the oldest Salvatore snarled and sped inside. Leaving Y/N to leer out at the flowing bay.

~:*:~

*Mystic Falls, Virginia; Present Day*

Y/N let go of Kol and huffed, snatching up a bottle of bourbon, an obsession she picked up from Damon. She strutted past Kol and into the dining room, plopping into one of the seats. She took a swig of the alcohol as her best friend came back down to Earth. "Wow. I had no idea -- "

"Yeah, I know. Only the Salvatores and my friends in 1864 knew I was pregnant. Oh, also that bitch Katherine. She was actually the one that did the deed," Y/N answered, sipping some more.

"Katherine? As in Katerina Petrova? She turned you and killed your unborn child while doing so?" Kol gawked. He had his fair share of drama, but this was a whole new ball game for him. No one, not even Klaus, would stoop that low.

"Bingo," - another drink - "would you like a special star or something?"

[inkandpen22]

Beautiful Angel of Darkness (2/?)

Pairing: Spike x Female! Reader 

Warnings: Swearing, violence, angst, mentions of death 

Word Count: 2k

Part Summary: Y/N considers Spike’s offer, but for obvious reasons she’s hesitant. However, she can’t deny the pull feels toward him. 

Masterlist

“Forever is an awfully long time,” I state quietly, torn between the options of life or living forever.

“Um yeah, that’s sort of the whole point,” the stranger retorts as he pulls out a cigarette for himself.

“aw yes, that’s the way to get a girl’s permission to bite her,” I remark sarcastically. “Sass her to death!”

“I don’t need your permission, Pet,” he so ominously reminds me.

“I suppose not, but you prefer my compliance. Am I wrong?” I challenge. 

He glares at me while lighting his cigarette. “You’re such a tease, you know that?” He mumbles bitterly.

“And you’re a hard ass,” I fire back, unfazed. He stares at me with raised brows. “Oh I’m sorry, are you the only one who can name call?”

His eyes roll dramatically with a huff of annoyance. “I couldn’t pick a mute girl to be interested in.”

“I imagine she’d bore you,” I predict, crossing my arms over my chest.

He shrugs, “you’re probably right.” Casually, he hops up onto one of the nearby headstones and sits down.

“Get used to saying that sentence frequently,” I snicker, moving to sit on the headstone across from his.

“So, you want to be vamped out?” He waves me along, growing impatient.

“Oh, so I do have a choice?” I tease, pretending to be surprised.

“Not if you keep talking,” he grumbles, taking a hit of his cigarette.

“I have family and friends I have to consider,” I state matter-of-factly.

It’s true, I have a mother, my siblings, friends from school, all of whom will wonder what happened to me. I can’t just let that go.

“They won’t be a thought once you’re mine,” he claims, smirking at me mischievously.

“Why the sudden interest?” I inquire, genuinely curious. I imagine he could have anyone in the world, why me? Why now?

“I lost someone,” he answers, avoiding my gaze as he focuses on tapping his cigarette against the tombstone. “My girl, Druscilla.”

“So I’m the rebound,” I clarify, nodding in understanding.

His head snaps up, meeting my eyes directly. Apparently, I’ve hit a trigger point. He hops down from his tombstone and rushes over to me. The man pries my legs apart and stands between them. He cups my face in his hands, making me stare into his emerald eyes. “You will be far more,” he assures me with such certainty in his voice I can’t help but believe it. “You will be my reason for existing.”

My chest rises and falls at a rapid rate as I process it all. The longer I stare into his marble-like eyes, the more convinced I become. How could I ever deny him? “Okay,” I finally grant him my answer.

An amazing glimmer appears across his features and he steps closer. “Okay, what?” He repeats as if he isn’t sure he heard me correctly.

I place my hands over his that caress my cheeks. “Make me like you, but under one condition.”

He rolls his eyes, “should’ve known this was coming,” he grumbles. “What is it?”

“Tell me your name,” I request simply.

“Spike,” he answers without hesitation.

“What’s your real name?” I clarify, almost certain that ‘Spike’ couldn’t be it. “And not just your first name either, I want to know the whole thing.”

He frowns, evidently growing frustrated with the subject. “Why does it matter?”

“Because it does!” I argue.

“But why? It’s stupid,” he dismisses sharply, removing his hands from me, but remains between my legs.

“Because if we’re going to spend forever together I’d like to know your real fucking name so just say it!” I snap at him, earning a look of surprise.

Visibly, there’s a strong debate occurring in his mind. He sighs, shaking his head as he glances around the cemetery then back at me. “William, alright? My name is William Pratt, happy now?”

“Over the moon,” I joke with a giggle, reaching up and holding his cheek in my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Will.”

“Yeah, yeah, nice to meet you too,” he pretends to be hard and disinterested in the charm of it all, but I can tell by the way he subtly leaned into my touch that he truly longs for it.

____________________________________________

Becoming a vampire is by the far the most freeing experience of my life or should I say undead life? Either way, Spike has broken me free of all torments and has opened the gates to the world. There is nothing we can’t do together. The entire world belongs to us. All we have to do is reach out and take what we want. Each night, I wake up with a strong urge to destroy and devour. I’ve never felt more powerful and entrancing.

I’ve been a vampire for a few days now, but Spike has kept me confined to the crypt for safety reasons. He claims I’m fragile in the early days until I become used to my new status. To build my strength, he brings me humans to feed on and is teaching me how to defend myself. I’m still learning how to fight in case I ever run into the Slayer or her team of misfits. Her very existence is annoying, such an inconvenience. According to him, I’ve been adjusting rather well, better than usual actually. So, to celebrate my growing strength and swift adaptions, Spike is taking me to The Bronze tonight. It’ll be the first time I’ve been outside the crypt in a week! There’ll be so many people to feed on and every opportunity to terrorize, I’m so excited!

Spike grips my hand protectively as we travel through the crowd of the club. I rarely had enough time to visit this place when I was human. Taking care of my mom and siblings all while balancing school consumed most of my days.

“Oh great,” Spike grumbles, tossing his head back.

I grip his forearm and squeeze his hand worriedly. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“The Slayer and her clan of party killers are over there,” he growls, his eyes directed sharply at a nearby table.

I purr, watching the table of oblivious teenagers hungrily. I spot the blonde Slayer as she chats with her friends naively happily. So, that’s the infamous Buffy Summers. Spike has described her to me frequently. Apparently, we go to the same high school, different grades. I never really branched out of my grade or friend group for that matter. Immersed in the idea of snapping the Slayer’s neck for myself, I move to approach her. Imagine what her friends would do if I killed her right here and now.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Spike repeats quietly in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist to stop me. “Not here, Love. Wouldn’t want to cause a scene.”

“But I thought you loved the dramatics, Darling,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on Buffy with a pout.

“I do, but we mustn’t yet.” He brushes my hair away from my neck slowly, planting a pattern of kisses on my neck. “Let’s go dance.”

I smile, spinning in his arms to face him. Spike takes my hand, leading me to the dance floor. We pass the table of goody-goodies and chatter ensues amongst them. I whip my head around and find the Slayer. Her eyes narrow at me, a confused expression across her features. I turn my attention back to Spike right as he stops in the middle of the dance floor. He brings his hands to my waist, pulling me in closer. I drape my arms over his shoulder loosely and meet his exquisite emerald eyes. God, he’s gorgeous.

Seductively, Spike and I dance as though we’re alone in the building. I see no one else but him. He stares into my eyes so deeply that I can feel it in my soulless body. I would wreck the world for him. I would do anything if it brought him pleasure. Spike is now my purpose in this undead life. My purpose is to make him happy. If we were to ever be parted, I don’t think I’d survive it.

“Get away from her, Spike,” a voice interrupts us.

Our heads whip to our side in unison. The little blonde Slayer stands with her arms crossed. A serious expression plaguing her face. Aw, why the frown Buffy?

Spike snickers, tossing his head back mockingly. “Won’t even wait five minutes, will you?”

“Get out of here,” she commands sharply to him. Then, Buffy turns to me with softness in her eyes. She grips my forearm pleadingly, “he’s not who he says he is.”  

Oh, this is funny, she thinks I’m human. She assumes I’m an innocent defenseless victim. Okay, I could work with this. This may be the opportunity Spike and I was looking for, the perfect charade.

My eyes go wide and I step back from Spike anxiously, “what... what do you mean?” I move to stand beside Buffy.

Spike frowns at me as though I’ve lost my marbles.

The Slayer takes my hand, ready to pull me away, “he’s-”

“Must we cause such a scene?” Spike rips me away from Buffy, grabbing my wrist roughly. “Come on, Y/N, let’s go,” he instructs, wrapping an arm around my waist and escorting me to the door. I interlock my hands instead of leaning into him as I usually would keep up the act. Once we’re out of hearing range of the Slayer and her team, he whispers to me harshly. “What the bloody hell was that?”

I suppress a snicker, “you’re far too simple-minded sometimes, Baby. Buffy is going to follow us and I need you to just go with it.”

As he opens the door for me leading out into the alley, he glances at me in amazement. Finally, the pieces are coming together. “You’re trying to pull one on her.”

“Precisely,” I confirm with an evil grin.

Alone in the dimly lit alley, Spike squeezes my waist and tugs me into his chest. He bites down on my lip, peering down at me with a pleased smirk. “You are by far the most miraculous woman I’ve ever met.” Eagerly, he leans down and smashes his lips to mine. My fingers comb through the back of his hair and grip the edges in a fist. He growls against my lips and it only drives me crazier. Will, it ever subside, the wanting him?

The metal door to The Bronze squeezes and I instantly shove Spike off of me with a scream. He stumbles back, still in a daze from our kiss. “Help!” I scream, “someone helps me, please!” I pretend to be distraught and soon Buffy is by my side, ushering me behind her safely.

“I’m not going to let you take her!” She yells at Spike bitterly.

“Well that’s really up to her, isn’t it?” Spike mocks with a cheeky grin on his lips.

“She’s human, Spike! She doesn’t know what you are,” she argues, acting as the big-bad defender of man.

“What is he?” I squeak, sounding all poor pitiful. Honestly, it’s kind of annoying playing the victim. I sound like such a cry baby. Plus, if I were human, I definitely wouldn’t follow a strange man into an empty alley. I’d be asking to get murdered. No, I just talk to them in empty cemeteries in the middle of the night.

Buffy turns to me urgently, doing everything she can to keep me safe, how sweet. She grips both of my forearms, leading me away from spike. “Look, Spike isn’t a good guy, okay? He’ll hurt you or worse! You need to run!” She urges, gesturing down the alley to the road.

“But-” I stutter, glancing at Spike. Then, in one swift motion, I yank my arms free of Buffy’s hold and leg sweep her. She falls to the pavement with a smack. I tower over her with a giggle. “You know, grabbing people without their permission isn’t nice. Where are your manners?”

Spike jogs over and pulls me into his chest. I rest my arms over him around my waist and he places his chin on my shoulder with a cheeky grin. “Beautifully done, My Love.”

Buffy pants, staring up at us in confusion, “what the-”

“Surprise! Didn’t see that one coming, did you?” I laugh wickedly, steadily approaching her like a snake going in for the kill.

______________________________________

Masterlist 

Tags: @currently-obsesed-with-spike​

[rodeoxqueen]

Stuck Thinking Of You-Vergil/Reader

TheLastCrusader Requested: Dante or Vergil gets immobilized in some embarrassing or inconvenient way during a job and then (Y/N) pays them company until they can be freed. How about they have a crush on (Y/N) and they don't know it is returned until the end?

Dante’s Version:https://rodeoxqueen.tumblr.com/post/638040898096201728/stuck-thinking-about-you-dantereader

Read Both Versions on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28187496

Warnings: Fluff, Romantic Comedy, Taking Care of The Twins, Vulnerability, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Characters Call Out The Writer for Her Lazy Writing

One Way To Dante's Heart Is His Stomach. For His Brother, It Is Not As Simple.

Slicing through groups of demons while twirling in the air, Vergil obliterated his enemies. He landed deftly onto the blood-soaked ground. His brother Dante had shot through another horde himself. 

After minimal time spent fighting, the infamous duo already prepared themselves to go home, a job well done. 

“You should join a circus for how much spinning and jumping you do.” Dante quipped. Vergil raised a brow. 

“With a face as hideous as yours, you would be an excellent freak show exhibit.” The elder twin snarled. 

Dante laughed, hands on his hips. 

“Oh please, I’m the prettier twin. My hairline hasn’t flinched, unlike yours.” Vergil stilled. 

“I’ll have you know-” Dante saw a demon Vergil had sliced into slowly raising its tail. It was spiked with various deadly purple needles swishing about. Disemboweled yet still alive, it hissed and whipped its tail. A whistle rang through the air as foot-long spikes flew through the air. 

“-Look out!” Dante quickly shot the demon, its head caving in like a rotten pumpkin. Vergil dodged the dart-like appendages, a mildly displeased look on his face. 

“You’re getting sloppy, Vergil.” Dante teased, shaking his coat of any poisonous darts. 

“If you weren’t so exhausting to deal with, I’d-” Vergil suddenly tensed and fell to the ground. He landed knees first before his torso and head slid onto the earth. Dante let out a breath, and then he wheezed out a laugh. 

“Oh my god, Vergil!” Vergil attempted to move from his embarrassing position, face down and rear pointed to the sky. 

“What on earth? I cannot move.” He felt numb as if he had lost control of his form. Had he missed a dart? 

Dante came around his brother’s kneeled over position. Right on his posterior, had a stray dart pierced him. 

“Poor Vergil, as if a stick up your ass wasn’t enough.” Vergil’s sounds of struggle were fruitless as his form was dumbly paralyzed. 

“Don’t you dare say it-” 

“jAcKpOt!” Dante wheezed and held onto his sword to prevent him from falling over and crying with laughter. 

“Help me at once, you oaf!” Vergil exclaimed. Dante wiped away tears of joy. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He vanished The Rebellion and gently kicked his brother to the side. Vergil landed on the dirt looking like he was in a fetal position. Dante continued laughing the whole way down the mountain, carrying Vergil over his shoulder. 

“This is incredibly undignified.” Vergil snarled. 

“Wait till (Y/N) finds out you got shot in the ass-” 

“You will do no such thing!” Vergil exclaimed. 

You were on the couch, reading a book when Dante kicked the door down. 

“Guess whaaaat!” He yelled, holding Vergil over his shoulder. He marched his way over to the beat-up sofa, gesturing for you to move over. You scooched to the end, Vergil was tossed onto the cushions. 

“Vergil, are you alright?” You asked, seeing how he refused to make eye contact with you. 

“Big brother here got jabbed by some demon. He’s not dead yet so I doubt it’s that bad.” 

Dante reached into his pocket, steadily taking out the needle that he took out of Vergil’s behind. 

He threw it like a toy dart and it landed on his desk. 

Vergil remained silent, simply biding his time before he could forget about his embarrassing ordeal. 

“Wouldn’t he be more comfortable in his room?” You asked, knowing Vergil always took to his room after a mission. Despite your many attempts to make conversation, he was quick to leave before any talk could be initiated. 

“Nah, I need you to keep an eye on him. I’m going to do whatever I want now that he can’t stop me.” 

“If you are going out and gorging yourself on those unhealthy sundaes again-” 

Dante made an evil laugh as he ran out of the shop. 

Vergil sighed. This was terrible. He watched as you examined the needle, opening your computer and a few books. 

Half an hour passed of pure silence, you flipping through books and seeing what on earth caused Vergil to stiffen up like a corpse. 

“Vergil, are you alright?” You asked again, seeing how still he was. 

“What does it look like?” He snapped. 

You raised an eyebrow at him. He sighed again. 

“My apologies. I am not very comfortable trapped in my own body.” You nodded. 

“Well, it says here that the demon that poisoned you could kill men in a second upon injection.” 

“Joy.” Vergil deadpanned. You chuckled at his expression. Vergil softened at your laughter. 

“Since you’re still alive, I’m guessing your demon side is working really hard to get all that toxic stuff out of you.” 

“The blood of Sparda will not wane to a petty demon.” He said lowly.

It wasn’t for an hour until Vergil felt his form begin to feel sensation. His hands barely twitched despite the sweat he built up from trying to move. 

Your demon side..

Vergil remembered your comment. A spark of genius hit him. If he devil triggered, he might be able to metabolize the toxins faster. He willed it within himself, grunting and trying to trigger. 

He could feel his senses slightly amplify as if his triggering process was truly forcing the poison out. Suddenly, the warm surge of his blood flowing became known to him. Yes! This was working. 

With more heaving and straining, he felt his arms slowly loosen from his sides and his legs straighten out. 

“Uhhh. Vergil?” Distracted, he felt his muscles tense again and as a final resort, his reflexes rolled him off the couch. The back of his head flared out in pain as he hit the floor.  He laid on the ground, a defeated blue devil. It was pathetic, he couldn’t even trigger his scales to come out. Grumbling, he noticed you standing near him, looking down with concern. 

“Do you need help?”

"It appears that I am stuck."

"Do you want some help?"

"I don't want your help, I’m fine."

"All right, then.”

"...."

“Are you sure you don’t want to be moved?” Vergil sighed and closed his eyes. 

"That..would be preferable.” 

You rolled up your sleeves, ready to lift him up. He smirked. 

“You should have just said so, silly!” You grin as you place your hand on his back and the pit of his knees. 

“I’m afraid I am not that light, surely lifting me would-” He stopped as you literally bridal carried him. 

“-be toiling…..” He flushed at close proximity of you. 

“How are you this strong?” He blurted. 

“The writer wanted to have a reverse damsel in distress scene. I will never exhibit this strength in future plot lines.” You said sweetly, looking at him with a smile. 

Vergil stopped, staring at your face. Although he was stone-faced as usual, his eyes drank in your wonderful features. It took him a minute to realize you had said something. 

“What did you just say?” 

“Hmm? Oh, I was asking if you wanted to be sitting up or on your side.” 

“..Sitting upright would be fine.” 

You placed him on the sofa again. 

“Is there anything you want while you’re in this situation?” Vergil tried to shrug. 

“It’s fine. I will abide by my time.” 

“You don’t have to be bored, I can play something if you want.” 

“Such as what?” You pointed to your computer. 

“I have an audiobook subscription. If you like, I can play some William Blake poetry.” Vergil raised a brow. He had never been an avid user of technology. If he were to hear any recited poetry it’d be from his own whispers. 

“You also read Blake’s works?” 

“I know you do.” Oh, you thoughtful little sparrow. 

“That would be alright with me.” You were quick to type away on your computer to find a recording. Soon, a male voice permeated the air, reading off verses robotically. 

It was a bit of an awkward moment, Vergil’s continued stone face and you observed it gravely. The recording ended shortly as you paused it. 

“You don’t seem to like it.” 

“Poetry should be spoken, not read off of like an instructions’ manual.”

“How would you do it then?” Vergil took his chance. You were not keen on working now, focused on him instead. 

“My book. It’s in my room. Retrieve it and I shall demonstrate myself.” He teased, a ghost of a grin upon his face. Damn this paralysis. 

You left, rounding up the stairs. 

You entered his room, making sure not to knock anything over. Not that you really could, the room was pristine. You easily saw the brown leather book on the dresser. The leather was well-worn and soft to the touch, a single page dog-eared. 

“So, you’re Mr. Poetry, huh?” You teased as you went down the stairs. 

“The one and only.” Vergil did not miss the old reference to Griffon, the dear bird you cried over. 

You made your way to the couch, sitting on the arm of the sofa. 

“Now which page?” You asked. Vergil stared at you.

“Just start from the beginning.” You obediently flipped to the first page. 

“So do you want to read it?” 

“How am I supposed to hold it up?” Vergil smirked at your sputters. 

“I keep forgetting!” You made your way over to him, choosing to sit on the floor by him. 

He cleared his throat. 

“I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.

And my foe beheld it shine.

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.” 

Vergil’s voice had a timber, soothing lowness to his usually raspy tone. He was in the zone, eyes blank as he had read this millions of times. 

“It’s a nice poem. It’s a bit brutal though.” You commented. 

“It is.” 

This went on for some time, Vergil reciting while you observed and turned the pages for him. You stopped between to grab yourself and Vergil some water, giving him a blue bendy straw. As the clock hands went around, soon one voice grew the soft company of another. The crest and the trough of tones had embraced, two speakers and one poem. Eventually, you met the unique page from before. 

“The Garden of Love

I went to the Garden of Love.

And saw what I never had seen:

A Chapel was built in the midst,

Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,

And Thou shalt not, writ over the door;

So I turn’d to the Garden of Love,

That so many sweet flowers bore,

And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tomb-stones where flowers should be:

And priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,

And binding with briars, my joys ; desires.” 

You tried to copy Vergil, reading off of the page, and avoiding stuttering. The observer shakily held the harp of their own vocal cords, the previous strummer lounging and watching the words take flight above his blue-eyed gaze like flittering sparrows. 

By the time you were finished with the last verse, you turned to see that Vergil’s eyes were directed at you. It’s too bad you didn’t know they were upon you for some time. You gently grazed the dog-eared page. 

“Why did you mark this page?” 

“It is a poem that reminds me of another.” You were slightly puzzled but smiled nonetheless. 

“Well, they’re very lucky to be beheld, I guess.” Vergil stared at you, his eyes bewitched to your profile. With the slope of your face, Vergil swore even the most wonderful sculptors could not capture you to your truest attractiveness. 

“I am luckier to have been in their company for the last few hours.” He rasped. You turned your face, a privilege Vergil wished he could have, to prevent from seeing a negative reaction from you. 

“Me?” You softly said. The book was forgotten, landing on Vergil’s chest. 

“I understand I do not speak to you as much as I wish. I am not as socially affable as my brother. But I do share my affections upon you, in words not of my own. In my most vulnerable, I find cherished company with you.” 

You were quiet. 

“If that’s not the case with you, I am in complete understanding. You are a kind person. You would do the same for my brother if he was in the same situation. I do not wish for this to be ill to our cooperation in this business-” 

“Say less.” You giggled, putting your finger on his lips to shush him. Vergil scrunched his nose as his ears turned red, had he said too much? Had he made a fool of himself? 

Instead, he had seen the color of pink, a shade even the finest roses could not bloom to, appear upon the apples of your cheeks. 

“I like you too, Vergil. I didn’t do all that for you to just be nice. I like getting to know you.” Despite his numbness, his heartbeat in his chest felt like the rain of an angry storm against the earth.

His chapped lips found the capacity to move. 

“Perhaps, when this wretched poison leaves my form, we may find time to do this again.” 

“I’d like that too.” Your eyes squinting with a diamond grin, Vergil made a noise of contentment. 

“It is a day I look forward to-“

“I had so much ice cream today!” Dante yelled as he walked into the shop again. 

“Whoops, you guys look like you were having a nice moment.” Dante winked at Vergil, who growled. 

“Oh hey, Dante!” 

Dante waved at you. 

“I got you guys some dinner since I know (Y/N)’s tired of dealing with shithead here. Vergil couldn’t cook for shit even when he was able-bodied.” 

“I can boil an egg.” Vergil bit back. Dante handed you some Asian takeout, still warm. 

“Don’t worry Verg, I’ll blend yours so you can drink it.” 

“It’s fine, I can help him.” You winked at Dante who waggled his eyebrows. 

The evening ended fairly well. You fed Vergil bits of vegetables and noodles while Dante read his questionable magazines. It was much too late to be going back home, so Dante threw you some blankets and pillows to stay the night. 

Although Vergil offered you his room to rest in, you shook your head. 

“Who’s going to keep you company?” Dante wolf-whistled before retreating to his room upstairs. 

“Leave us!” Vergil exclaimed. You laughed again. 

You turned off the lights and dodged random objects lying around in the dark. You found the familiar softness of pillows and your makeshift bed. 

Vergil fell asleep, feeling wanted. It was a warm sensation that spread to even his fingers, soft and supple. 

He didn’t even notice his hand had come loose and drifted to trace your cheek in both your slumbers. 

[isuspectyouhavefantheories]

The Crossroads to the Sun 🌞

Takemura/Female V

Rated: M for mature themes and explicit content NSFW 18s only

Trigger Warnings: Themes of death, suicide, gallows humour

Part 1 of ???? “The Sun Series”

Link to part two :

https://isuspectyouhavefantheories.tumblr.com/post/641314624666468353/search-for-the-sun

Will eventually be posted on my AO3 account when I get this beta’d. 🤟

———

She had decided she wanted to be away from night city when she pulled the plug. If anything, she wanted it to end under the blanket of the starry skies, part of her hoping they would guide her into the next world safely. Driving through the neon jungle felt like a technicolor funeral procession. Or perhaps a walk to the gallows? She was thankful she still had most of her senses as she pulled herself from her morbid reverie just in time to avoid a badly placed bollard on a sharp turn straight down the road heading towards the city limits. She swore under her breath but continued. The pain was dull, but festering in her mind, less so than before, but enough to keep reminding her of the internal ticking clock that was getting louder with each passing hour as it neared to zero. She breathed deeply though her nose and steeled herself. But more doubts began to drift through her, like a slick fog encircling her mind she thought of all the people she would be leaving behind and hoped they wouldn’t hate her after tonight.

Goro’s name flashed up on her biomon and it took her a minute to register. She nearly rear ended a truck at a traffic light before finally answering.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?” His voice was gruff, demanding and her eyebrow crinkled in irritation.

“What’s it to you?”

“Let me help you V. Just take the deal with Hanako, we make this right and you get back your life. If I were you, I would not waste the chance.”

“You mean you get back your life.” She spat, Takemura went quiet on the other end for a moment, his eyes flinching at her tone. “Don’t try and pretend this is concern for my well-being and as far as making this right goes... You really still think you and Arasaka can fix this? Goro I know when I’m beat. Nobody can fix this. I’m done for and it’s time I just fucking faced facts and made my peace. I’m done. I’m calling it.” She hadn’t realised how hard she was gripping the steering wheel until she felt the alloy begin to crunch lightly under her guerrilla cybernetics.

There was a long pause and she thought for a moment he had hung up until she heard the shuffling of erratic, hurried movement on the other end.

“Where are you V?” He demanded, his voice was direct, to the point, no room for nonsense, no room for anything but answers.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve left a data chip with Misty. It contains all the relevant evidence, via brain dance, you need to get the vindication you so desperately require.”

“V, tell me where you are right now. ” It was sharp this time.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help more. Goodbye, Goro. It was a pleasure to have known you.” She hung up and looked down at her phone, closing her eyes a moment only to be jolted by Takemura calling again. She took a deep breath before turning it off and throwing it in the passenger seat and popping into third gear as she trolled though the gates past the city limits to security. She was quickly flagged through with little bother from security. They seemed more interested in what was coming into the city that what was going out.

It took her an hour to get to where she needed to go. The edge of the badlands. The final touch stone before she headed further in, back to all she ever knew. Just another busted down prewar gas station covered in sand, nature already claiming back its land. She parked her car outside and managed to pry open the front door after digging some accumulated sand from the way.

—————

She woke to the whistling of the desert storm on the shutters, the dilapidated old outpost rocked shakily. She almost felt as if she was in the belly of a ship at sea being pulverised, to and fro, by an onslaught or roaring waves.

She sat up, listening to them a while, until eventually the weather died down to a gentle lulling breeze. She stepped outside for a moment and thanked whatever powers that were out there that the sky was clear enough to see the moon and a dim scattering of stars. She climbed from her make shift cot and stepped outside.

“Still think you made the right call? Those Saka assholes might have fixed you up all nice.” Johnny flashed back into her peripheral vision, sitting on a bench under a busted canopy with his guitar slung across his lap.

“I dunno. I guess we’ll see.”

“Val.”

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

“They were just going to extract you and dump me the moment it suited them. What, you think I was just gonna put my head in a hungry lions mouth and just hope everything would just sort itself out? For all I know they would have just cut me open the minute they got me up there. I’d rather die out here, on some dusty ass terra firma in the wastes than lose my mind up in some space prison.” She flipped out Evelyn’s cigarette case, only three left in place making her sigh before pulling out one and lighting it up.

Johnny groaned at the sensation of the nicotine flooding her system from her first drag. It had been a while since she’d allowed herself such little pleasures, but for the first time in months she wasn’t on deaths door, bringing death so someone else’s door or trying to kidnap an heiress, so exceptions can be made.

“Weather out here huh? Never notice it in the city but, fuck. Mother nature sure is a feisty broad.”

“You have no idea.” She chuckled.

“Pretty good we got here before the worst of of the storm hit earlier. I would not want to be the sorry sack of shit that had to drive through that.” Johnny chuckled.

—————————

It was about 5am, sun already shining and blistering the ground, she had scavenged a few things from the outpost to keep her and Johnny going long enough to get to the Aldecaldos

Or just long enough. The thought of kicking it just before saying goodbye to Panam and Saul and the others churned uncomfortably down into the pit of her stomach but she attempted to occupy her mind, busying herself with prep work and repairs on her gear. She was going to try at least.

Before she could think of the next task, Johnny materialised again, already on edge.

“Someone’s coming.”

“Raffen? Cops? Arasaka?”

“Can’t be sure. I’d get ready if I were you.” He was gone again, and all she could think to do was get back to the gas station and ready herself for the visitors.

A Herra Outlaw that looked as if the chemical desert had taken a shit on it, genuinely one of the most out of place thing she had ever seen in the badlands and that was saying something, pulled up with a soft screech as the brakes engaged and the engine shuttered off. The pop of the car door made her grip her baseball bat tighter as she edged closer to the door, so as to be on the hidden side when it opened.

The door flung open, nearly ramming her in the face had she not hugged the wall so closely, she held her breath as a darkened figure entered the room, but the rasping baritone that filled the air made her freeze.

“V?” Takemura’s voice cut through her and all she could do was stare in disbelief.

“What the fuck?”

He whipped around like lightening, his wild searching gaze landed on her and his eyebrows all but flew up into his hairline and his eyes widened in disbelief but seemed to relax after a moment, a wave of relief washing over his features as of up until this moment he had been in a panic.

It was all a blur, he pulled the rusted metal door closed, nearly wrenching the door off its screeching hinges before his arms suddenly reached for her. He pulled her forcefully into his chest into an embrace that should have shattered her spine with the implants this man had. The newly back online ones, she noted.

She scrunched her eyebrows incredulously at him when he pulled away, his fingers tracing down the length of her arms until they still rested on her shoulders as he continued to look at her as if he was afraid the moment he took his eyes off her she would disappear into thin air.

“What are you doing here?” She breathed, still struggling for air after the uncharacteristic ribsplitting hug.

He looked down now, almost sheepish in his manner but he did not waiver when he returned his gaze to her.

“Stopping you from making a foolish choice.”

She sighed deeply.

“And since when do you have any right to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“I do not. But I can try at least to make you see reason.” He wasn’t budging, she wasn’t budging.

“Goro...” she pinched the bridge of her nose and temple in an attempt to quell the newly forming tension migraine.

“You could have your life back. You would be good as new, Arasaka would ensure it if you testify at the board meeting. Arasaka always rewards loyalty.”

“I know that’s some rhetoric you’ve been spoonfed your whole life but unfortunately I have a very different opinion on the subject of ‘who Arasaka serves’ and it most certainly isn’t people who have a history of stealing from them.” She dead panned, making Goro groan.

“If you would just listen to me you would know that is not the case. Hanako-sama has extended this life like to you V do not waste it.”

“I’ve been listening. And watching. From the very start. I’ve seen them from an angle you have yet to even comprehend and part of me fears even then you wouldn’t see the truth.”

“They are-.”

“Only in this for themselves. I won’t argue with you about this, there is nothing you can say that will change my mind. I’m not selling my souls to the fucking devil, man, I’m sorry but that’s how this situation feels to me. I know there is nothing anyone can do for me, not you, not Arasaka, not Hellman, not even Alt fucking Cunningham’s AI ghost from beyond the Blackwall knows how to undo this so fuck this. I refuse to spend the last days of my life scrambling for answers only to whither away to nothin and die anyway. I’m leaving this hellhole on my own fucking terms. So just let it go. Just forget about me and go back to your cushty little life as Arasaka’s cheerleader or body guard or whatever the fuck it is you do.”

She couldn’t remember how, but during the course of their verbal spat, he had pushed her against the adjacent wall from the door and upon hearing her retorts he snarled in frustration and slammed his hand into the wall beside her head, denting the already disintegrating plaster, sending a cloud of dust in the air around them. The pluming cloud fluttered and caught the small rays of morning light seeping through the crags and cracks in the windows and walls of the abandoned gas station. She managed to push him off with a forceful shove only to have him lunge back to her. His martial arts clashed with her own brand of badlands fist fighting. She was flexible, contorting her body out of his reach before rounding on him with a left hook followed by a hasty jab aimed for his face. Unfortunately, he had reach, countering her wild strikes with a wave of his arm and tugging her to him. She lifted her knee between them to vault herself from his grasp but lost her footing at the end and it took only a single low sweeping kick to her other leg that sent her off kilter, but Goro followed her to the ground where he pinned again, this time on the floor with both her hands above her in each of his. She struggled against his vice grip, twisting and squirming beneath him to roll him off but he refused to be moved barely even flinching as she thrashed beneath him, awaiting her to finally stop. She roared in frustration but refused to give up. If she couldn’t knock him with her strength then she could knock him with her words.

“Hanako knew!” She spat at him, the intensity of her glare ripping though him.

“Knew what?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

“She knew it was Yorinobu who murdered her father. She knew you were telling the truth, that you were being framed and she still let you go down. Then guess what the kicker here is?” She laughed bitterly. “Saburo’s not even dead. He’s being kept as an engram, he’s been planning something with Hanako this whole time and they were going to let you go down regardless!! They were going to discard you, who served them faithfully your whole life, for their own fucking agenda. So tell me, why you think for one fucking second that they will actually help me?” Takemura was quiet, his hold on her waining enough for her to flip them, her hands balled into his shirt begging him to look at her but it was as if something had been shattered in him. They both were panting from their verbal and martial exchange, but they were far from done.

He suddenly reached up, his hand cupping her cheek gently, tracing the cybernetics of her face with the tips of his fingers before pulling her down to him without warning, his lips finally met hers in a heated kiss.

She gasped into his mouth, giving him the chance to shove his tongue in to explore her. He didn’t know when he would get the chance, if he ever would again after this. But she had yet to bite his face off so he took that as a good sign. In fact she had nearly gone limp from the shock of his sudden advance. He pulled away slowly, his face still inches from hers but his eyes bored into hers with a renewed intensity.

She pulled her hand from his now loosened grip and reached down gently and placed a delicate hand on his cheek, only for him to lean into it with closed eyes. He pressed his own hand over hers and took a deep calming breath.

“Goro, look at me.”

His eyes opened again, staring down at her with so much hope yet one word from her could shatter him into a thousand shards. And fate was a cruel mistress.

“I’m going home.” He looked down at that, his brow tugged in an unreadable expression but she chased after his gaze and held his chin so he had no choice but to stare wordlessly at her.

“I’m going home. To the people I love. To say goodbye. And maybe... maybe, for once in my life just try to do some good in this world, not for eddies or cred or some fucking illusion of grandeur, but just to do something worthwhile. I want have something real. Before I... before I can’t anymore.” She stroked his cheekbone with the back of her knuckle. “I don’t expect you to understand. But it isn’t up for debate.” Not what he had wanted to hear, but the finality in her words left him no room to argue. And so he was then left to stare down the inevitable horribleness of a world with no V.

He rested his face in the crook of her neck, her soft sun kissed skin, slick with sweat from the desert heat.

“Then let me have this at least.” He whispered against her, causing her to shiver under the weight of his words.

He returned his lips to hers, an even more energised passion driving his need and to his surprise she returned it, hands cupping his face gently. She then pushed him back down on his back and dove back to his lips. He began unbuttoning and loosening her clothes as fast as his hands could allow him. He pulled off her tank top and stopped a moment to admire her perky little breasts before pulling her back to him and lavishing her chest adoringly with bites and kisses that made her mewl against him.

“You have been taunting me since the day we met. Not wearing anything but that tight blue netrunner suit.” He growled against her chest, biting at the underside of her breast, his eyes primal and burning hers with an unspoken need to be closer.

“I’m a net runner you gonk, ah-!” He bit a little harsher around her nipple at the comment but lapped at it gently afterwards. “I-it was for practicality’s sake.” She shivered against him.

“It was to torture me.” He chuckled.

He lifted them suddenly, his hands under her thighs again as he deposited her on a near by countertop, her legs wrapping around his hips as he ground himself desperately into her while trailing his lips from her ear lobe to her jugular and back before biting then tugging sharply causing her to yelp softly.

“Maybe a little.” She gasped, casting him a delighted grin which elicited a growl from deep within his chest. He leisurely ran his hands along the hem of her jeans, tugging at them slightly before slipping his hand down underneath to grab a handful of her ass, squeezing it appreciatively before moaning at how soft and pliant her skin was under the extra sensitive touch of his cybernetic hands. He allowed himself to become lost in her for a moment. Mapping her every contour in his mind, committing each breathless sound that fell from her lips to memory, savouring her sweet breath on his tongue and wondering if he would ever again taste something so perfect as her. He felt her pull away lightly, a few centimetres from his face to gasp for a breath and still his lips chased hers. It was as if she could read his mind sometimes, she was looking at him with those confounding purple eyes, her smile faltering as if she could see how banefully torn he was.

“This won’t change anything.” She whispered sadly against his lips .

His brow creased under the weight of his anguish, another growl, not so carnal as before but instead a roar of frustration and he attacked her body with a new found, punishing fervour. He pulled her up effortlessly once again and threw her into the cot, her body’s weight caused the springs to groan and he had managed to discard his shirt fully, then turned to her. She was now only in her underwear, her golden skin glistened in the low orange morning haze. Her body was lithe yet athletic, her skin tantalisingly smooth to the touch yet disturbed by stray scars scattered about her person. Her years of fighting for her survival in this hellscape had shaped her and moulded her into this picturesque model of strength and beauty. He kneeled before her, nipping his way down her navel to the hem of her panties that he then quickly slid off in one fluid motion. He dove between her legs, basking in the sweet gasps she made as he drove her wild with his tongue. Her hands twisted and twined themselves into his ebony and silver locks, pulling his bun loose to let his hair cascade down his shoulders, grazing her nails over his scalp delicately. He introduced a single finger to her and pumped deeply inside her yet at a controlled pace, eliciting another quivering gasp that made him smile against her.

“Goro...” the way her breathless lips formed around his name drove something in him. She was able to bring out the strangest and most wonderful of feelings in him.

He was sure from her cries she was nearing her climax and before she could taste the sweet precipice of her release, he rose up to kiss her. Her taste on his lips had a lewd yet arousing effect on her, but her climax, once so tantalisingly close was now receding and the heat biting and curling in her abdomen made her squirm against him. She pulled away after a moment and gasped a quick breath.

“You ass.” He pressed his face into her neck again and she felt the rumble of his chuckling. He continued to kiss her neck and his hands pinched and rolled her nipples in a torturously teasing manner. She writhed under him, a mewling mess.

“Stop teasing me.” She pleaded, her own hands cupping either side of his face to pull him from his ministrations on her neck that she was almost certain would be bruised to absolute fuck in the morning.

He nudged her legs to open and she obliged eagarly.

He teased her entrance lightly running his tip up and down coating himself in her essence before sliding steadily inside of her. He had to stop half way and swallowed a guttural moan. She was so tight. Like a warm vice pulling him further inside her and dragging him impossibly closer to her. Her legs had wrapped around his hips, her thighs quivering around his girth. He took another moment to make some experimental, shallow thrusts and groaned once more at how deliciously slick she was.

“Oh... V...” his forehead pressed against hers and his grip around her hips tightened.

“Don’t.... stop...” she was barely above a whisper, which made Goro want nothing more than for her to be louder.

He took this as his moment to flip her onto her stomach against the cot.

His right hand held both her arms behind her back, folded and solidly trapped there. His left hand was holding her hip, dragging down to guide her over his girth once again. He rather enjoyed the view of her at this angle, he was so lost in the way she bounced against him, the feeling of her walls rubbing so exquisitely against his length, that he was sure he wouldn’t last long. The thought of having their tryst cut so short however did not appeal to him, the feeling of being fully encased by her was so unequivocally amazing he never wanted it to stop, so he forced himself to slow down to a languid yet laborious pace, favouring drawn out leisurely strokes.

“Jesus Christ...” she gasped, arching her back in a way that made him want to go back to pounding her within an inch of her life but he was controlled, no foolish young man driven by a cardinal need, but a mature and tentative lover who wanted to make his partner see the stars before this was over.

He reached around, dragging his hands from the underside of her bellybutton to glide along her ribs, up and over her breast, giving it an appreciative squeeze before cradling her throat gently and turning her head to look back at him as much as she could in the position which granted wasn’t much. He leaned forward, still thrusting inside her at a restrained pace, and ravaged her neck, suckling the flesh at the junction of her shoulder and neck before trailing his bites to the underside of her jaw, then to her ear where he nibbled her lobe gently.

“Tell me what you want.” He breathed against her, the lewd sound of their bodies meeting in their primal dance and the soft gushes of wind rattling the shutters were all she could hear above their own crescendo of panting and haggard moans.

“Don’t... be a dick...” she gasped, earning her a sharp smack on her ass cheek.

“Tell me.” He thrust inside her, harder but not hard enough to satisfy her fully, leaving her trembling for more.

“Ah... fuck! Please...” she breathed, trying to shove her own hips back into his for more friction but his hand migrated back to her hips, a solid anchor, preventing her from getting her way.

“That’s not what I asked you.” She could hear the underlying cockiness in his tone and it pissed her off almost immediately.

How could this man illicit such polarising reactions from her, she thought. One moment she wanted him to bend her over a desk, the next she wanted to snap him in two. But the sentiment remained, she wanted him.

“Please... Goro... fuck me... harder...” he hummed in satisfaction and released her arms from his vice grip.

“Then I suggest you hold onto something.” He had leaned forward his lips against her ear, the vibrations of his bassy timbre tickled her in an irresistibly tantalising way.

But her inward musings came to a hault when he began his unforgiving pace, she could feel him hitting her cervix with every thrust and she cried out, hands barely holding on to the edge of the cot as her body rocked against the force of his hips.

His hand came down to tease her slit, circling her sensitive nub in a maddeningly delicious way that caused more mewls to erupt from her lips.

Goro stared down at her, enraptured by every twist and twitch she made. Her arching back defining her musculature and he’d be lying if he was doing any better than her right now. He was holding on for dear life, dragging this out for as long as he possibly could. But eventually, the warmth and curling in his abdomen could not be ignored and he quickened his circling around her clit to drive her to her end. She screamed softly into her hand as her release rolled over her in wave after wave, his continuing thrusts helping her ride out her climax to its fullest. He followed her soon after, nearly collapsing on her, his forehead resting between her shoulder blades as he struggled to regain his breathing. She recovered before Goro and pulled him further onto the cot where they crumbled into it. He curled around her, his arms pulling her flush against him as he savoured the feeling of her skin on his. He pressed his nose and lips to the top of her head, inhaling her scent deeply, attempting to sear these details into his mind for a later date. He tried his best to keep his eyes open, but she began to stroke his chest in a soothing circle, and before he knew it he was out like a light.

——————

He woke with a jolt, the room now completely darkened by the night and a sudden anxiety disquieted his mind. He reached for where V had been but his hand grabbed nothing but empty space.

“V?” He called, sitting up and listening for anything, then scanning the area. He could see from his thermal scan she had been gone from his side for nearly two hours.

He pulled himself up, dressing quickly and wrenching the front door open to see that her Thorton was gone, whatever tracks that were left had been swallowed by the desert wind and he stood in silence.

“This isn’t going to change anything.” Her words echoed in his mind and he clenched his hands into fists, a slight shake evident from his barely controlled emotions on the cusp of breaking through to the surface.

“They were going to discard you, who served them faithfully your whole life, for their own fucking agenda.”

He tried to quell his anger, his hurt, his inescapable feeling of betrayal. He fought to keep his composure but the memory of her touch was seared into his mind and body yet it did nothing but only make him ache to have her back in his arms. He would never feel that again, never experience that intense, intrinsic connection to another human being. The thought did nothing to disquiet his mind. Eventually he broke and turned to punch his hand nearly completely though the wall of the garage as he breathed in ragged and strangled chokes. Unshed tears burned in his eyes and he wrenched his arm back to completely break through the wall altogether with the force of his strike. He didn’t stop. He pummelled the wall until his cybernetics were scuffed and cracked. Warning signs flashed in his peripheral vision but he ignored them, slumping to the ground he cradled his head in his hands and roared in futility. He stayed there a moment, still, quiet and thoughtful. He raised his head with a thud against the nearly dilapidated wall and he looked off into the distance. On one path, the further reaches of the badlands, down another was the fluorescent and blinding lights of Night City, beaconing him back with a curled finger.

And not just night city, but the ominous red looming glow of Arasaka Headquarters illuminating the night and further banishing the stars. The only life he had ever known was within Arasaka’s ranks. All he had ever been was a vassal, a loyal one at that. Traded his life and limbs for them. Let them carve him into an instrument of their empire from the moment they had deigned to elevate him from the slums, only after he had skinned his fingers to the near bone scrubbing his clothes in the chemical sickened canals. He had given Arasaka his life.

Yet Hanako knew he was innocent. Not only her but Saburo, his lord tono, his idol. He had known. It stung him to his nucleus, like nothing ever had. He was stilled, inaction gripping him to his core. He found his gaze always defecting back to the badlands. To her lands. He didn’t make a choice so much as follow an instinct.

He rose from his seated position and opened the door to his car, looking back at Night City one last time, not saying goodbye to the city, but farewell to all the possibilities it held. They were not meant for him. A defiant grin stretched over his lips before a determination set in his eyes, looking back to the badlands. He dove into the front seat and revved the engine before backing out to the edge of the main road and quickly pivoting into position then tearing out onto the dusty highway, sending a plume of dust in his wake as he made for the badlands, his spirit lightened and rejuvenated. He undid his top shirt buttons, ripping off the front Arasaka logo to his cybernetic neck plates and throwing it with a quick flick out the car window, then looking down at the Arasaka patch logo on his arm which he also tore from his jacket then sent it too flying out the window. With each metre he put between him and the city, the younger he felt.

“I’m coming V.” He whispered under his breath as he pressed harder on the gas.

[pricemarshfield]

for candia

Written for Day 1 of @acocweek​: Fluff + Theobald. Read on AO3 here.

Theobald, as always, is the first awake.

Things are different than they used to be, of course. He wakes up with a marauder curled into his side murmuring violent nothings in her sleep and a licorice snake biting his hand affectionately, rather than alone. The guards are made up of a mix of Tartguard and North-Gumbian Knights and Saccharina's collection of nobodies that Theo has yet to corral into training. Saccharina lets him sit at her side during every meeting--encourages it, actually, wonders aloud about round tables and councils and more democratic processes of enacting law in front of visiting dignitaries who stare at her staff with wonderment and fear.

There's also still a tangible air of mourning around the place, too. One of the Tartguard started wailing when he saw Princess for the first time, and they'll be repairing the damage to the castle for years.

But what a job to supervise all of this!

"Limey," Theo says with a nod to his new second-in-command, who salutes. "What news do we have for the day?"

"Nothing much, sir," says Limey. "Her Majesty the Queen Saccharina continues to insist we don't need to salute her, but we've maintained proper etiquette anyway."

"Fantastic," Theo says. "Continue on."

"There is one thing," Limey says, and his tone is more confused than nervous, so he doesn't reach for the battle pop. "All of the left shoes in the barracks disappeared overnight."

"...what?"

"All of the left shoes in the barracks disappeared overnight, sir," Limey says. "No one saw anything, and while that's not an especially expensive thing to replace, it is worrying that someone was able to slip past our defenses."

Ordinarily, Theo would be incredibly worried about someone who could sneak into the barracks and out without being spotted, especially carrying what must have been dozens of shoes. But he hears a familiar snort from somewhere above him. When he looks up, no one's there, but that's to be expected. She's good.

"I'll retrieve those shoes posthaste, Limey," Theobald says. "Tell the men not to worry."

"They're not, mostly," Limey says, but Theo's already wandered off, holding his arm out so Princess can keep an eye out, too. She doesn't seem to be especially invested, snoozing on his arm and hissing when he tries to lower it.

"Ruby," Theo calls. "I know you're nearby. Come on."

No response, no sound of footsteps, no flickering shadows. This'll take the big guns.

---

"Ruby did what?" Saccharina says, lounging on her throne, and bursts into a fit of giggles.

"My Queen," Theo says, a familiar headache already forming behind his eyes. "This is serious."

"Sure, yeah," Saccharina says. "All the left shoes in the barracks? Even Jon Bon's? Oh, that's gross. Wait, is everyone just hopping around? Also, just call me Saccharina."

"My Queen Saccharina," he says, and she frowns at him, fiddling with a small magical trinket she'd found somewhere in the castle. "The morale of the men is important. We were able to take the castle without heavy losses, but not without losses entirely."

"Hm." The Queen stands up, shakes her head when he automatically moves to kneel. "She is the Imperial Princess now, and I don't think pranks are gonna hurt morale. Tell whoever's in charge of it that I authorize new shoes to be bought. I've got this whole treasury now, anyway, what else would I do with it?"

Theo takes a deep breath. "I think--" Saccharina waits, raising a brow at Theo's pause. He doesn't normally get this far. "I think that Ruby should probably apologize. And return the shoes."

Saccharina's mischievous smile looks a lot like her sister's. "Sure. And you can tell her that if you can find her."

There's a sudden laugh from behind him, and when Theo swings his head around, he sees only the back of the throne room.

He sighs. In for a long day, apparently.

---

The Imperial Princess Ruby of House Rocks doesn't have tutors here. She's on vacation, officially and in practice. Well-deserved after the war, of course, even if Theo doesn't understand the appeal of a week or month or two without structure. He'd have thought, after everything, that pranks were beneath her, that perhaps she'd even take an active role in governance!

Instead, Ruby seems to have decided Saccharina's challenge for Theo to find her cannot go unmet.

He hasn't seen her all day, even though the Bulb is high in the sky, but the impact of her actions is everywhere. Frosting along the floors that he slipped on, causing a Tartguard pile-up. Little bursts of sparks set to trigger when he opens doors and windows that startle him enough that Princess bites him. The worst offender is when he turns down a hallway only to see piles and piles of shoes, because when he gets back, they're all gone. The other Knights of North-Gumbia, to their credit, are completely understanding.

"The princesses were always fond of japes, weren't they, sir?" Limey asks. Princess hisses and curls around his neck in what he thinks is an affectionate gesture.

"They were," Theo says. Once, he'd woken up, sat up, and stretched only to get a tray of whipped cream directly to the face. Jet and Ruby hadn't been half as good at stealthing away as Ruby is now, but it'd taken him long enough to wipe it off his face that he'd only seen Jet glance back and snort with laughter.

Nothing had happened. Caramelinda had been visiting House Meringue for a family wedding and Amethar had found it hysterical. They had apologized in their own way, after--no escape attempts for an entire fortnight.

He shakes himself of his nostalgia with the help of Princess biting his ear, and as he gently untangles her from his helmet, he says, "Right. Well, keep the search up. She can't hide from us forever."

---

Two days, six hours, and roughly thirty minutes after he makes that statement, he's not so sure. No one's admitted to seeing Ruby, though Saccharina's eyes had sparkled with mirth and kept glancing up to a corner behind him as if daring him to break court etiquette and check. He's checked the secret passages he knows, he's enlisted the help of the marauders (Swifty had only threatened to stab him once during the conversation, so he thinks they're genuinely looking), he's used every spell he knows and considered looking up new ones.

New pranks pop up around the castle, of course. A few meeps let loose in the hallways, frightening a visiting dignitary. Flooding one of the kitchens with cola. Cushions that make it sound like you're farting on every chair except the throne.

"Ruby seems to be sparing you from her onslaught," Theo says to the Queen, watching as Annabelle Cheddar stares at herself in one of the room's mirrors, hair turned a bright Candian purple.

"Yeah," Saccharina says with a wide smile. "She is! It's really cool! I've never had anyone comfortable enough around me who cared me enough to do pranks without me being the target!"

Theo, not knowing how to respond to that, is incredibly thankful for the sixth prank of the day: an explosion of scraps of paper that covers every inch of the room. The paper seems to be mostly made up of old letters from the other nations. They're important, and them being destroyed is terrible, and they will have words about it later, but he can't bring himself to mind too much right now.

Because with all the paper everywhere, he sees the little breeze she makes in her escape, and the direction she runs in after.

---

If he chases after her now, he'll lose her, and who knows if he'll ever get another lucky break like that again. So he waits. Endures waking up covered in Fructeran vino, deals with diplomats' outrage at not being greeted by the Imperial Princess herself, keeps checking secret passages in entirely different parts of the castle just to throw her off the trail. He doesn't say anything to anyone about it, because he's not especially good at deception.

The final prank: a veritable army of chocolate frogs released while Saccharina holds court. It explains why she's been holding back laughter the entire time, but that's a problem for later. For now, he sprints across the room, vaulting over one of the Tartguard, and heads in the direction he'd seen her run before.

There's a few secret passageways this way, but he's checked those. When he reaches a dead end, he looks around, thinks--casts knock on the wall. Sure enough, it pushes open, and on the other side is Ruby Rocks, mouth open in shock.

"Ruby!" Theo calls.

"Damn it," she says. "How'd you even--it doesn't matter."

"You have many things to apologize for, your Imperial Highness," Theo says, walking over to try and pick her up and carry her back to the throne room. She could escape, probably, but it's at least a start.

"That's not true!" Ruby says. "I've been helping a ton of people."

"What, people who needed specifically left shoes? Annabelle secretly asked you to dye her hair purple?" Ruby snorts. "See! Come on, Princess."

"No, seriously," Ruby says. "Look, I did this because it's funny, but it's bringing the mood up around here! Morale!"

Theo blinks at her. "What? Stealing people's things? Ruining their day?"

"Pranks," Ruby says with a nod. "Look. Pay attention to the way people are acting and talking about all of it. I'll be back here in a few hours if you still wanna try and get me grounded."

"Your sister's not going to ground you," Theo says, and Ruby grins up at him.

It's definitely a trick. He's fallen for similar tricks before. He shouldn't this time.

"If you're not back here," Theo says, and Ruby laughs, half-tackles him in a hug, runs past him, and jumps out a window. He doesn't hear a thud or yelp of pain, so he assumes it's probably fine.

He hadn't even thought to check outside, had he? Hopefully, she'll keep her word and he won't have to. Not much else to do now that she's already escaped.

---

When he walks back to the throne room, Saccharina's holding a chocolate frog with a look of fascination and disgust, Primsy's already got one in a box that she's attempting to feed sugar-grass, and Liam is visibly holding himself back from target practice, hands twitching towards his crossbow.

"I must say," he overhears one of the Tartguard say as he takes his place by Saccharina's left side. (Gooey's at the right, still. Had very, very easily won that argument.) "While these pranks are quite improper, you can't deny they're incredibly humorous!"

"Good sir!" says another Tartguard, and one of the marauders behind him rolls her eyes, but has a smile on her face too. "I have to say, I agree. It was nice to have a bit of liveliness around here!"

One of the Fructeran diplomats is upset, but soothed easily after his partner reminds him that he can tell this story before the Imperial Court, always so focused on adventures. The Dairy Islanders seem more excited to avoid courtly talk than anything. One Meatlander is holding a chocolate frog with a look that can only be described as adoring, even as it shits in his hand.

All-in-all, the atmosphere of the room is rather...jovial. Not at all like the quiet mournfulness of the first week of their reign. There's still the holes in some of the walls from their siege, and there's still the palpable loss of the chancellor and the princess, but people seem happy. People are laughing.

When he goes back to the secret passageway--opened apparently by twisting a statue of Sapphria so that she's facing the window--Ruby's there, shifting on her feet.

"You do have to return the shoes," Theo says, and Ruby's shoulders slump. "But--"

"Yes!" Ruby says. "I knew you'd get it. Well, I hoped you'd get it. Gooey's mellowed you out."

"I--that's--we're not talking about Gooey," Theo blusters. "The shoes need to go back."

Ruby snorts. "I did that so we'd get new shoes. Dad told me all about trench foot."

"What?" Theo says. "That's not even a little bit of an appropriate topic for conversation. Especially at court. If you'd just go to your lessons--"

"I don't even have lessons here," Ruby says, and he's so distracted by responding to that with an emphatic 'you should' that he doesn't notice the tray of whipped cream until it's already in his face.

"Bye, Theo!" Ruby calls, already dashing away from him.

He sighs. "Bye, Ruby."

[thenickelportrust]

Scene Practice 2

The second of my scene practices! This one is experimenting a bit more with Ricky as he starts to question his sexuality with a non-female MC.

Specifically, in the space between a friendship and a relationship, where everything is in a bit of a grey area already!

This one is less of a specific scene-that-will-appear-in-game and is more of my practicing the idea and vibes of that time in the MC and his relationship!

Enjoy!

_______

“Okay, so I’m here.” You fold your arms across your chest, staring across the dark wooden desk to the man who, despite being the one who asked you here, keeps his blue eyes trained on the paper in front of him.

Ricky Dempsey doesn’t move to talk at first, which is the whole reason you spoke up first, but fine. With a sigh, you pull out one of the chairs from across his desk and plop yourself down into it.

Well, if you’re going to be bored…

“Guess you asked me here just to stare at your pretty face then?”

… You might as well try to find a way to entertain yourself. And entertained you are. It’s taken quite a while to figure out what makes the stiff-upper-lipped politician tick, and to be entirely frank you’re still not entirely sure what it is that gets a reaction from him… But you’ve gotten better at it. At least, you’ve gotten better at eliciting more than a sharp glare and the whip-like snap of his silver tongue, so quick on the trigger to insult. Sometimes, although this is a rare sometimes, but still, sometimes, you’ve even gotten him to blush.

Small triumphs.

Small triumphs that you’re not privy to now, as despite your not-quite-best efforts Ricky Dempsey turns away from his papers to pass you his usual narrow-eyed glare. “Are you truly that incapable of sitting there patiently for a mere moment?”

“Yeah, I am.” You grin in the face of his minor irritation. It’s more than a shit-eating grin, and it’s one that Ricky meets with a sigh and, miracle of miracles, places his pen to the side. Victory achieved!

“So,” You drawl, rubbing your hands together as you sit forward on your chair, “What’s up? Why’d you ask me here anyway?”

He remains silent-- victory substantially less achieved-- but he’s still looking at you, not the papers. Victory partially achieved?

Ricky stares at you for a long while, long enough that it even starts to make you uncomfortable. You can’t read his expression, and you’re not even sure he’s trying to read yours. Hell, you’re not sure he’s even really looking at you. He’s more just… looking in your direction. But he’s not spaced out, his gaze is as sharp and attentive as ever. He’s just… thinking. “You, uh, okay…?”

He blinks, and Ricky reaches for his pen for a moment, before his hand pauses, halfway between himself and the pen, and slowly falls back to his side. “Yes. I am fine.”

“You sure? You seem a bit… unusual.”

“Unusual?” He repeats, his chair turning slightly to the side as his head swivels with it, looking out the back window to his view. The corporate heart of Nickelport. You see smoke in the distance, a small stream of it, and something in the back of your mind-- the Rust instinct drilled into you over your four years of working for them-- thinks that there must be a fight going on. One just starting. It thinks that maybe you should be there to see it.

Living in Nickelport, and working for the Rust, it must have worn down your survival instinct.

“Yeah.” You force your gaze back to the politician’s profile. His jaw is set tight, his eyes locked somewhere unspecific on the horizon, maybe he’s looking at the smoke too. What’s his instinctual reaction to it? It’s probably different from yours. Probably. “Unusual.”

“I wasn’t aware unusual was a state of being. Perhaps unsure, or unlike myself, but unusual is more of a personality descriptor, or perhaps a physical description, I’m not so sure one could go from usual to unusual. You could also say I am unusually something, but you didn’t,” He turns his chair back around to you now, “At least, you would most likely have to say unlike my usual self, which I’m sure is what you meant to imply, but it is not what you said.”

“Yeah well then you’re being unusually deflective, and an ass at the same time, but that’s usual for you.” Still grinning.

Ricky doesn’t smile. “I have a request for you.”

Ah, and there was the meat of the meeting. “Oh? What’s up?”

“I…” He trails off, his gaze breaking, looking down, looking away and-- the tips of his ears seem red? Is he… blushing? But you haven’t said or done anything to make him flush and…

You lean forward, concerned, and reach for his hand, “Hey, Ricky, what’s wrong?”

His hand, which snaps back the moment your fingers make contact, “Nothing is wrong, do not assume.”

“I’m inferring, cause like we’ve established, this really isn’t like you.” Your voice is gentle now, sincere, and sincerely concerned.

Ricky Dempsey holds his hand as if it had been burned, unable to look you in the eyes. “I…” he swallows heavily, “I have a request.”

“Right,” You nod along slowly, “What do you need?”

“I need nothing,” He corrects, ever so specific.

“Fine, then what do you want?”

Somehow, that word seems worse to him, and again Ricky falls to one of his prolonged silences. It’s only broken by a small curse leaving his lips as he drags a hand up and through his hair. “I’d… my request is that, should you be willing, that you… kiss me.”

Now it’s your turn to blink, “What?”

The red on his ears begins to creep slowly towards his cheeks, “Is that such an unreasonable request?”

You don’t respond, your brain is still processing what Ricky “I reject any offer of friendship even if it's so much as implied” Dempsey has just asked you to kiss him. “What?”

The red has claimed his nose now, too, and is starting it’s charge down his neck, too. He grabs his pen with the violence of a knight drawing a sword to go into battle. “Nevermind.”

Your hand instinctively snaps out, grabbing his wrist before he can drown his mind in the distraction of his work. “I--” Your brain starts to catch up to the present again, slowly resetting, “I’m sorry-- but-- really-- what? Why?”

He doesn’t pull away this time, but his skin is burning under your palm, and he still won’t look you in the eyes. “Do I need a reason?”

“I mean it’d help, yeah.”

Ricky clears his throat again, squeezing the pen. “I… have been… having… thoughts… or-- no-- that doesn’t sound…” He takes a deep breath, his chest rising, stopping, and falling slowly as he exhales in a measured count. “Recently, I have been questioning some… assumptions I have made about myself. I have also been questioning… assumptions I’ve made about our… interactions. And my… interpretations of them. So, I thought, perhaps, when it comes to a hypothesis as… otherwise unfounded as the one I’ve been coming to-- to see, well, perhaps, a bit of experimentation was not-- is not… unwarranted.”

You try to translate from his work-around words to something more logical. “Ricky, do you have feelings for me?”

He jolts in his chair, finally pulling his hand away. “My entire life--” He answers lamely, softly, “My entire life I have believed myself to be one thing. I have not-- every person I have been with has been-- I have not ever questioned whether or not certain truths of  myself were not so true after all. It is not an… easy revelation to come to. Please do not ask me anything else. If you are incapable or unwilling of fulfilling my request then that is fine. I apologize for taking up your time.”

He’s apologizing. For Ricky, that is never a good sign.

“Hey,” You try to keep your voice gentle again, “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize, and-- I mean-- I can’t say I’d be unwilling,”

He looks up, a small spark in the back of his blue eyes. But you hold up a hand,

“But,” You add on, “You don’t seem like you’re wholly on board with it yourself, yeah? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t seem very comfortable right now.”

His lips press tightly together, a small, hesitant nod bobbing his chin.

You smile, not your shit-eating grin but something small, “Hey, that’s okay. And it’s okay to be questioning, too, it’s not a bad thing.” You reach out, but stop halfway. Ricky seems to pull his hand back, so you pull yours back, too, and let it lie in your lap instead. “Take some time, okay? If you wanna ask me again, when you’re really comfortable with the idea, I’ll be here. Until then, no rush, yeah?”

Another silent nod, some of the red has drained from his face. Strands of his hair have fallen unnoticed onto his forehead, Normally, he would never have let even a single thing out of place-- not even a wrinkle on his suit or a hair from his head. But now the put-together Ricky Dempsey seems to be… shaken. And you lean back in your chair, “Do you wanna grab something to eat, instead?”

He looks up at you, meeting your gaze once again, finally, and that lets you see just how unsteady in his own skin he is right now. “Eat…?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m here, I haven’t had lunch, I’d put money on the idea that you haven’t, either,” And you don’t want to push the subject right now. “I’ve been trying to try this cool-lookin’ Thai place around the corner but it’s way out of my budget. But lucky for me I have this rich politician friend who, yknow, could out of the kindness buried deep, deep, deep--”

He sighs, settling back into himself as he brushes his hair back into place and rolls his eyes, “Of course. I should have expected you to have an ulterior motive.”

“You know me.” Back to your grin, back to normalcy as he finds his feet and stands once again.

“Very well,” Dempsey straightens his tie, “But you owe me.”

You hop up as well, clapping your hands together. “Sounds great! Let’s get going then, I dunno about you but I’m starved.”

[hisbluejeanbaby]

"Oh, I Plan To"

This is my first ever Tarlos fic and first time writing in 3 years so bear with me

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

It should be illegal.

That's TK's first thought when he looks across the gym to where his achingly gorgeous boyfriend is dead-lifting. He can't help watching the way his muscles gleam with sweat under the fluorescent lighting of the studio.

TK bites his bottom lip subconsciously, unaware he's doing it until he feels a sting a couple seconds later.

"Shit," he hisses, putting his hand up against his lip to feel for any blood. When his finger comes away clean, he sneaks another glance at his boyfriend, who's just finishing up his last rep.

Carlos gently places the bar down at his feet, lifting up the bottom of his shirt to wipe his forehead. TK's eyes almost fall out of his head as they land on the sculpted eight pack in his direct line of sight. He's seen his boyfriend's body a hundred times but the rush he feels every time never eases. TK is constantly in awe of this man's physical perfection, almost as much as he is constantly amazed at how he's able to call such a caring and intelligent man his.

Carlos chooses that minute to direct his attention over to TK's corner of the gym. He immediately notices a pair of bright green eyes, which quickly divert back to the machine their owner is currently sat at when he realises he's been caught staring.

Carlos smirks at TK as he hurriedly tries to look busy. But that smirk quickly falls when Carlos starts noticing how his partner looks working against the machine. How is he so lucky to have landed such an incredible man, emotionally and physically? The way his arms move back and forth have Carlos sweating even more than he already is.

TK is purposely trying to focus on a spot on the carpet, knowing full well he's been caught in the act of admiring his God-like boyfriend. But he can't shake the fact that Carlos is still looking his way. He spares a glance up, expecting his boyfriend to have moved onto another station in the room, and instead locks onto a pair of piercing brown eyes. They simply stare each other down for a few seconds, neither one moving, before Carlos slowly begins to smirk again, this time in acknowledgement of being the one caught looking over appreciatively.

TK knows the effect he's having on his significant other, because Carlos himself is having the exact same effect over him. Even after 6 months of dating, the honeymoon period well behind them, they still have a burning passion for each other that they both know isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Laughing under his breath and without breaking eye contact, TK pushes himself back into position and begins on the chest press again, his arms flexing back and forth, sweat trickling down his arms. Carlos is stood stationary, the bar long forgotten at his feet as he watches his boyfriend, his eyes hazing over.

TK winks over teasingly, causing Carlos to subconsciously swallow, all of a sudden feeling nervous, and increasingly exhilarated.

TK sees the sudden glint in Carlos' eyes, not fully knowing what he has just gotten himself into.

With a last appreciative glance, Carlos picks up the weights and bar on the floor, hastily putting them back in their proper spot. He then takes a quick survey around the gym, trying to decide which machine will serve his purpose. He then decides on the tricep pull. It's one of the only machines free at the moment and conveniently is in TK's direct eye line.

Carlos struts over to the machine, making sure to put extra emphasis in his hips as he can feel TK's prying eyes on his body.

With his back to TK, Carlos laughs lightly, loving the fact his boyfriend can't look away from him.

He quickly preps the machine, locking in the weight and adjusting the length of the ropes. He then begins pulling the two small ropes towards his hips, going even more painstakingly slow than usual. He makes sure to flex his upper arms as much as possible in the process, while doing his personal best to not sneak a peek over at TK.

TK immediately understands what's going on once Carlos begins on the machine. If he wants to start a war, then a war he's got.

TK stands up from the chest press, hastily wiping it down before scanning the nearby machines for one that will fit his purpose. He immediately locks onto the pull up bar, knowing it will drive the other man crazy.

With a final (and albeit longing) gaze over at his boyfriend on the tricep machine, he quickly shakes his head clear before making a beeline for the pull up bar. He can't afford to get even more distracted by the gorgeous man in the corner.

He jumps up onto the bar, which is stationed only two metres away from where Carlos is currently training. He is purposely staring out the window trying to avoid looking over at him, TK notices with a smirk on his face.

"Maybe try fixing your attention on something else," TK calls over, cheekily trying to draw Carlos' attention. It definitely works as Carlos seems to whip his head in TK's direction at record speed. Before TK can lose his newfound audience, he begins continuously pulling himself up over the bar, feeling his boyfriend's appreciative eyes on him the whole time.

TK completes fifteen reps before dropping down to give his arms a rest. He's panting lightly by the time he looks over to gauge Carlos' reaction. And judging by the other man's face, TK's done the job. Carlos has stopped pulling against the tricep machine, his arms hanging limply at his sides while he hungrily drinks TK in, raking his eyes up and down his body.

TK's breathing gets even shallower upon noticing the glint in Carlos' eyes. But this isn't over yet and he knows it.

Carlos chooses that moment to slowly approach TK, prowling as if he were stalking his prey, neither man daring to break eye contact.

Just as TK thinks Carlos is going to reach out and grab him, he brushes past TK, his voice dropping an octave as he quietly replies in TK's ear, "oh, I plan to," before making his way onto the nearest treadmill, never once breaking eye contact.

Carlos starts up the treadmill, immediately starting into a light jog. They're both coming to the end of their sessions and TK knows he has one more chance to make a lasting impression on his other half.

TK breaks the eye contact with Carlos, knowing full well the man is keeping to his promise in not taking his eyes off his form.

TK walks over to the dumbbells, picking up a set and facing the mirror at the back of the room. The treadmills all face the mirror so TK is able to immediately lock his eyes back on Carlos in the reflection.

But TK almost drops the weights at this point.

In those few seconds between walking over and grabbing the weights, Carlos has stripped his shirt and is now running at a firm jog, with beads of sweat running down his bare upper chest.

TK's eyes rake over his entire body until they come back up to meet Carlos' own gleaming brown ones. Carlos knows the effect this is having on TK and he can't help the small laugh that escapes him as he watches TK in the mirror.

TK faces the mirror and begins aggressively curling the weights, his face shifting into a stone cold mask as he stares Carlos down, not wanting to give anything away. Carlos' eyes slip down to his boyfriend's frame, watching appreciatively from behind as TK works his upper arms.

After another minute of sneakily raking their eyes over each other's bodies, TK can't take it anymore. He's bursting at the seam with lust and he can't wait a second longer.

TK slams down the weights on the shelf, spinning around to face his boyfriend. It seems Carlos has the same idea as he steps off the treadmill at the same moment.

Both men start pacing towards each other, unable to deny their want any longer. But they know they're in a public place, unable to act too heavily on their overwhelming desires.

When they're both within a few feet of each other, TK drops his voice so that only Carlos can hear.

"No fair, you stripping down like that," he chides, faking annoyance.

Carlos sneaks a glance at his partner's lips before moving his eyes back up to TK's. He can see desire circling rapidly in the other man's green orbs and knows his own can't be far off.

"Well, I had to get your attention somehow," he responds, pushing as much lust into his words as possible. TK licks his bottom lip, Carlos tracking the brief movement and using it as a greenlight to take a small step forward. They're now almost chest to chest.

The gym has cleared significantly by now but there are still a few people milling around on various machines. Though none of them are paying any attention to the two men who are almost fully hidden behind one of the central pillars in the large studio.

"I don't know if you noticed, but you've had my attention for some time now," TK whispers back, angling his head so that his mouth is almost against Carlos' ear.

Carlos closes his eyes and lets out a low breath, itching to reach out and push TK so that he's trapped between himself and the wall.

"Likewise."

This word seems to trigger something in both men. TK growls lowly and immediately pulls his head back to look directly into Carlos' eyes.

"Show me then," TK breathes. And that's all it takes for Carlos to immediately reach his hands out and grab TK's hips, pulling them against his own.

A gasp escapes TK's mouth but it's smothered by Carlos' own. He hungrily pushes his lips against TK's, letting the desire that's been pooling over the last hour finally come crashing down over them.

TK's hands immediately grip onto Carlos' biceps, palming at the toned muscle. He can't drink him in fast enough, pulling Carlos as close as physically possible.

Carlos stumbles slightly and pushes TK roughly against the pillar, their lips never once breaking.

The two of them are all lips and hands, running greedily over each other's bodies, slick with sweat and desire. It was amazing how after all this time, both men still had the same fire for each other as they did when they first met.

After a few more seconds of rough kisses and panting breaths, Carlos reluctantly pulls back, leaning his forehead against TK's.

"I think we should head home," he mumbles, his voice husky and thick with want.

"Two workouts in one day?" TK laughs quietly, "I should distract you at the gym more often."