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lightlycareless · 2 years

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First, it hurts— [side story]: Hinata takes Satoru horse riding.

Depictions of brief sucession mentioned on the main story, First, it hurts—, a Naoya Zen'in x Reader fic, which you can find here! (totally recommend reading that first :>)

Summary: When Naoaki, Naoya's oldest brother, takes Y/N to feed the horses his family owns, they share fun stories and experiences relating to the equestrian activity. Y/N briefly mentions the time Satoru was screaming his heart out when Hinata, her sister, took him out for a ride. She recalls it as a somewhat funny story, but doesn't go any further than that— this is that story.

Chapter warnings: none :> except that Satoru is super annoying.

A/N: Been wanting to write this side story for a while, and finally, it's here! I've been through somewhat allot these past few weeks, but i'm slowly getting through it. I have more stories to write before I set a date on updating the main storyline, but rest assured, I'm working on it :>

Also, this idea ended up being very different from what I initially wanted (shorter, if you must haha) but I still liked how it ended nonetheless! I hope it's to your enjoyment! I really did like writing Hinata in a... different light 😏

As always, reblogs, likes and comments are always appreciated ❤❤ Happy reading!

Ao3 link.

"That sounds interesting, but ” You sigh, plunging your back towards the wall and relaxing into the feathered comfort of your pillow "I don’t feel like going, so I’ll stay here instead"

"Aw, come on Y/N!!" Hinata beseeched, attacking you with the combination of pouty lips and puppy eyes for dramatic effect "It's going to be fun!"

"I don’t doubt that" you reiterate, eyes falling down onto your pink Gameboy, the same one you couldn't stop from customizing as soon as you found someone that did such work��showing how unaffected you were by her adorable manipulation. “But I’d rather do this instead” you then nudge towards your newest distraction, waving before her a brand new copy of the game of the season: Pokémon Emerald.

It was the first time you’d be able to play after days and days of waiting to get your hands on it—an expected occurrence for the preceding games were an absolute success, meaning that it was bound to sell out as soon as it hit store shelves—and you weren’t about to waste the opportunity of playing it on your first free day of summer!

A date that would’ve arrived earlier… had the reason for your struggling not been your father.

Eiichi was the kind of father that was very supportive of his children’s lifestyle, even if he didn’t understand most of it personally.

However, his encouragement shifted when he came across an unfavorable article about the growing otaku community, one that painted them as weirdos with no bright future and were “effectively” heading towards souring the population.

A tabloid with no intention of actually understanding them, or objectively stating that there’s always a radical end to these groups and that not all of them were like that.

But given his worrisome nature towards his children, especially you, his youngest… well, let’s say that he didn’t need to read more to grow weary of your involvement with those kind of people and the danger they could entail to your persona, thus, under the pretense of your hobby becoming too distracting of your studies, he prohibited you from joining the wait line of your favorite video game store, leaving you stranded in the island of seclusion as the world basked in the newest, marvelous installment of your favorite franchise.

But where there is a will, there is a way, and it wouldn’t take long before you’d find yourself discreetly texting a close friend of yours and asking them to get you a copy of this highly sought-for game in exchange for monetary compensation plus an extra for the inconvenience.

Days later, the unsealed cartridge is in your hands.

“Why are you always so against going to the stable anyways?” Hinata ponders, as she always does whenever you reject her invitations, hoping to finally catch an explanation, for in her mind, there is no way you can’t like such a fun activity. “Is it the smell?"

"No, not really” You didn’t mean for the following statement to be a brag, but you think you’ve had worse. Curses can be quite… intolerable in the odor department.

"Then what is it?" Hinata shoots another question "You don’t even have to ride the horses if you don’t want to, just be there, yeah? Although I would really like it if you did…"

"It's because of that, that I don't like going" You sigh, laying the Gameboy down to your lap before looking up to her "I wouldn’t mind accompanying you, but I know it’s inevitable that you’d ask me to ride one. And let’s say I agree to do so, I always feel like I'm going to fall, no matter how hard I try to hold on to the horse! At the end of the day, if I’m not going to be riding… what’s the purpose of me being there?"

"It's all about the stance, the legs!" Hinata interjects, hoping to ease your worry and convince you to give it a try "You just gotta connect with the horse, you know? And it’ll only be a matter of seconds before you feel the wind!"

"That literally—I feel like I’m back at square one" You chuckle, amused by Hinata’s tendency to ramble when she’s talking about things that excite her… and how she doesn’t make any sense when doing so. Nonetheless, you’re grateful for her attempt to cheer you up, however, you delegate this matter as one of those things that only those who experienced them can understand. "Well, whatever that means... thank you, but I won't be going"

"Not even if I tell you that horse-riding amateur Gojo Satoru will be... joining us?"

You perk up your ears.

"...Satoru?" you repeat, steadily, but slowly. A gotcha smile appears on Hinata's lips.

"The one and only. I invited him over a few days ago, which ended up aligning with some political matters that he has to tend here. He’s going to stay a few days so I thought, why not show him the stable?” She explains "I'm still surprised the Gojo's don't have any horses on their property, but they do have that huge temple instead…” Hinata sighs in disappointment—mourning the missed opportunity to gallop through the impressive meadow they had under their ownership.

"Not everyone is as obsessed as you are with animals, sis" You smirk and she shoots you a sharp glance.

"I'm not obsessed, just passionate” She defends her devotion "Anyways, now that you know he's coming over, do you still want to sit this one out?"

You look down to your lap and begin to analyze her invitation.

Spending the rest of your day locked in your room to play your long awaited game is what you’d call an ideal start for your summer vacation.

However… Now that your sister approached you with the possibility of seeing the narcissistic Gojo make a fool of himself (yet again) via an activity that’s known to be of his dislike… Now that’s something that you can’t miss.

Thus, without pondering much on the pros and cons of her offer, you concede. You take the pink device from your lap and place it on the small wooden nightstand beside your bed, followed by standing up to reveal your decision.

“I’ll go then” you say, stretching your arms and legs as far as physically possible and releasing a groan of satisfaction whilst doing so “How did you get him to agree?”

“Oh, he doesn’t know” Hinata nonchalantly confides and you freeze. “Which makes it all the better, he won’t see it coming”

“What?” you blink, frowning “What do you mean he doesn’t know?”

“Let’s say it’s a surprise”

“Seems more of a the thing you’d be into, not the other way around”

“Ooh, let’s just say I wanted to try something different for a change. We always go out to do a thousand things, and while I do like spending time out in the city, why not spend it inside the estate? We have all kinds of entertainment here too! And think about it, we’d be saving money, as well as supporting the local businesses”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think your sister was trying to hide an ulterior motive behind the sunny notion of supporting one of the many villages under your family’s protection…

“Anyways, we should get going. Sumire told me that Satoru arrived a few hours ago, so he might be already done with the meeting by now” Hinata makes way towards the door and slides it open, looking back to gesture at you to step out first. You walk through the frame and wait for your sister to follow behind.

Once outside and with the door closed shut, you and Hinata start heading towards the east wing of the estate, passing by various staff members and greeting them, and onto the location of the meeting hall, where conferences tend to always take place—the public ones, at least.

“Why aren’t you there, by the way?” you curiously inquired. If Satoru’s visit were for political reasons, wouldn’t it make sense that all the authoritative figures in the family be present? Such as the heir of the L/N clan, your sister ?

Ah, if only it were that easy.

"I dunno, misogyny?” Hinata shrugs “Dad told me I wouldn't be needed today, and in the same breath, he asked me to not seek an explanation from the elders because I tend to get a bit… angry with them— but it’s not my fault they give me the dumbest excuses to kick me out of meetings, if they were a bit more creative with them then I wouldn’t be that way”

"You should stop terrorizing dad, Hinata" you banter "You know he can’t help but worry for you… however, aggressive negotiations have always been your specialty—guess he should know that by now"

"That sounds too… violent. I would rather call it a diplomatic solution" the two chuckle "But that doesn't matter, I'll get to them later, for now, let's get ready for our horse riding adventure"

"About that… If you don’t mind me asking, why horse riding? Why not something else? You know Satoru doesn't really like it, and I personally would rather do something else where I can be involved”

Hinata goes quiet, and then, she stops. Her eyes emotionlessly set on the floor as she seemingly plunges into the labyrinth of her thoughts. An eerie visage, more so when seconds continue to pass and she doesn’t respond to your question.

You’re about to repeat your inquiry, wan ting to believe that either Hinata didn’t listen to your question, or she was suddenly jolted with the remembrance of a forgotten task (anything to remove that bizarre image of your emotionless sister) but before you’re able to enunciate the first letters of your question, she suddenly glances back at you and gives you an innocent, totally-not-suspicious smile.

"Oh, for no reason. I just thought it would be nice if he did something that I liked with me once in a while, since we always end up doing what he wants, or what Suguru wants. Or Shoko… And I don't really feel like going out today, so… why not?"

“I… guess” You frown, hesitantly accepting her… seemingly fabricated response.

The way your sister can act as if she hadn’t been staring off into nothing like a complete madwoman baffles you, to say the least. It’s so different from the straightforward sister and sorcerer you knew—the one that was assertive with her actions: if anyone had an issue with her, they could deal with her directly.

There’s no doubt now in your mind that she’s hiding something… but what ? And what relationship did that have with Satoru?

It’s no secret between the three siblings that Gojo never liked horse riding. Or any outdoor activity for that matter.

Just like you, his hobbies are inclined more into the world of videogames—him being one of the main instigators of you liking them in the first place.

However, that wasn’t the only reason he disliked partaking in equestrian activities. His distaste for anything that represented an affluent life spread to it as well.

Riding horses was rich people shit, Satoru would say from time to time, and because his hatred for those at the top was immeasurable, it would be unthinkable that he would attempt to duplicate their lifestyle.

It was a wonder how he and Hinata never argued for that reason—although you can guess that the emotional significance of this activity towards your family was what kept him at bay, and eventually, removed him from being invited to partake in this hobby.

«But… that doesn’t clear why she invited me to go in the first place.»

Whatever it was that your sister had planned, whether innocent or not, it had become apparent that she wanted some kind of witness. And you were to play that role.

A witness to something to be revealed yet, an uncontrollable itch in the back of your mind that you didn’t seem to be able to pull away from. Even if you tried to focus on anything else.

Knowing well that asking her again will bring no new information to the case you’re building, you relegate yourself to quietly follow her into the original destination, hoping that time will reveal whatever she’s brewing.

Completely ignoring the glint of mischief in her eyes, for the highly anticipated punishment towards the heir of the Gojo clan is about to take place in a matter of minutes.

"Hey, Satoru!" You’re the first one to chip in as soon as the familiar batch of white hair becomes apparent in the distance. Because of this peculiar description, finding him in crowds was always an easy feat—who else would have white hair, if it wasn’t an elderly person or Satoru himself?

Upon hearing his name being called by the recognizable tune of his future sister-in–law, Satoru’s head turns.

When you and your sister expected him to replicate the same kind of greeting you gave him upon setting eyes on them, which was by energetically waving your arm, he decided to surprised the two by racing towards your direction, and with less than necessary time to react, he swiftly raises you into his arms and begins to twirl you on the spot—a gesture that immediately has you regretting making the first contact.

“Hiii Y/N-chaaaan!!” He’d shamelessly attempt to greet whilst tormenting you, as if you were able to say anything else than groans and pleads for him to stop, for you were getting dizzier by the second and you really weren’t looking forward to alleviating yourself on him.

Satoru would eventually let you down, but the damage was already done—the world was spinning around you, and you wanted it to stop by stretching your arms towards your sister and leaning on her to regain your balance.

You’d begin to feel better, unfortunately, your reaction was not enough to quench Satoru’s insatiable appetite for trouble, and would soon attempt to do the same towards your sister.

But always the one to abstain from his childish antics, Hinata manages to avoid his clutches by swift movements that remind you of her talent as a sorcerer.

“Nope” she says, moving to the right.

“Just one—”

“Nu-uh” Hinata reiterates, now moving to the left “Not a chance”

“Not even for your future husband?”

Hinata scoffs and her frown deepens.

“ No”

And with that, Gojo reluctantly accepts defeat. Hinata’s willful nature once more proves too much for him to handle. Well, it’s not like he didn’t know she was that way—besides, it’s his duty as her future husband to cherish her just the way she is, isn’t it?

Satoru was lucky Hinata wasn’t a mind reader, for she’d smack him for saying such convenient things when it's for his defense.

“Well, now that’s done… How have you two been? It’s been a while since I saw you, Y/N” Satoru, to everyone's surprise, decides to act like a decent human being and ask a courteous question towards the sisters.

“Good, boring” you respond with a shrug ” You know how life can be at the estate”

“More when you’re playing terrible games such as Pokémon Emerald” Gojo smirks, and there it is—the moment he was waiting for to strike. You feel silly for believing that Satoru could be anywhere near modest.

“Oh, Suguru told you, didn’t he?” you frown, moving on to realize there was only one way he would know of your newest acquisition… a betrayal of confidence from someone you’d never expect it.

“I ought to let you know that I was the one that bought the game, little sister” He arrogantly reveals and your mouth falls agape “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be playing that now”

“I told Suguru to keep it a secret from you!” You shrilled. “I knew you were going to make fun of me if you got to know about it!”

“He did, it’s just that he was having trouble finding it, so I jumped in to help” he explains “Don’t be too harsh on him”

“Aghh, does that mean I owe you a favor now?” you wince in disgust now that you discarded your disappointment for Suguru—it seems he didn’t openly go against your wishes, he only wanted to help you obtain what you wanted. It’s sad that he had to get obnoxious Satoru involved, but if there really was no other way…

It’s the intention that matters in the end.

“If you simply accept that Digimon’s greatness into your heart, I shall consider your debt forgiven”

“Oh my god, just because you like Digimon it doesn’t mean you have to brag about it—nor does it make Pokémon any less good!”

“You’re right. Digimon’s importance is something that needs to go unspoken for, thank you for reminding me” Satoru smirks, and you’re left dumbfounded by the talent he had for twisting your words and curving the environment to his benefit; something worthy of admiration if you must.

And now that you think about it… Very similar to your sister.

From as long as you can remember, Satoru always liked to think of himself as vastly different from her. Far more down to earth, likable, less of a teacher’s pet. And Hinata would believe the same, with the exception of the teacher's pet part, although it ended up being kind of similar, since the elders and other adults alike often doted on Satoru, whether for his prestige or good looks.

However, both fail to realize that they can be as persistent and annoying as one another, at least from your experience. Satoru with you accepting Digimon as the superior franchise, and your sister with horse riding.

«Guess they really are what people call a match made in heaven… or however the saying goes» you conclude as you look back to your sister, who couldn’t look any less amused by Satoru’s repetitive sermon «Hinata would hate me if I ever tell her that»

You smile. Even if they’re annoying as hell from time to time, you couldn’t imagine a life without them.

“Welp, we’re not here to talk about videogames, we’re here to do something far more interesting” Your sister says, clasping her hands together and the noise is enough to draw your and Satoru’s attention back to her.

She looked excited, eager, however, there was something behind the recognizable enthusiasm in her eyes—more than looking forward to spending time with her equestrian friends, she was waiting for what came afterwards, like dessert after a meal.

What could’ve irked your sister so much, to the point of wanting to plot something against Satoru?

A question that does nothing to narrow down the possibilities, when it comes to Satoru of course.

After all, it’s… him that you’re talking about. With him in the equation, it could be anything really. However, considering that it was only Satoru that got invited, and not Geto or Shoko , means that he was the only one involved.

Yet again, doing nothing to pinpoint a possible cause. Well, whatever it was that has your sister bothered, she kept it a well-guarded secret.

“What are we going to do?” Satoru queries, oblivious as you expected him to be. “Are we going to the movies? Shopping? Perhaps some fine dining on this wonderful day? I didn’t bring any fancy clothes” He begins to trail off.

“Nope” She shakes her head, a grin parting her lips. “Something far much better, something that the two of you have been pushing to the side for far too long—but not anymore”

“Oh no, I know that face” Satoru’s voice shivers “Don’t tell me… you’re planning on taking us—”

“Horse riding? Yeah” Hinata announces as she presses her eyebrows together. Sure, she might’ve been somewhat accurate with her hints but she didn’t expect Satoru to catch on to it quickly. The thought of Satoru dangerously approaching the uncovering of her intentions is enough to have her anxiety creeping through her spine, a sensation that she compares to being pushed down to a lake of ice cold water. “You guessed pretty quickly”

“I mean, you’re not a very interesting person, Hina-chan. You kind of only have like, 1 trick. Do you even like anything else?”

Hinata lets out a long sigh of relief, proceeding by rolling her eyes. Seems like her concerns were for naught, and they soon fall to into irrelevancy once she realizes that Satoru was only being his usual rude self. «At least my cover is still safe» she attempts to console herself «I must be careful with my words from now onwards»

“Yeah, whatever” Hinata dismisses him and Satoru chuckles “Anyways, just follow me into the stable, I’ll give you all the details once there”

And by the way Satoru obediently follows him, without questioning her anymore or shooting her one of his traditional jabs, it’s evident that he wholeheartedly trusts Hinata with his safety, and thus, the idea that she might be planning his demise seems nothing more than a fallacious possibility.

That, of course, is not even close to the truth.

“A quick and easy stroll, something to stretch the horse’s legs, nothing more, nothing less” Hinata says as the group arrives at the outer section of the estate, just past the north wing and into the familiar wooden door that guards the storage room—the place where all safety gear for today’s activity was to be found.

Hinata might be planning something mysterious, but that doesn’t mean she’ll do it precariously.

“Are you planning on taking Ume?” You ask, carefully observing your sister as she slides the storage door open, stepping aside to let you and Satoru in first, before going in herself and closing the door behind.

The first thing that you notice upon stepping inside is that the room had remained virtually the same since the last time you were here, and that had been years .

If anything, the more noticeable aspects would have to be the curtains of a different color, as well as the new location of the same wooden table that’s always been there, and the addition of a picture frame, carrying the portrait of your mother alongside her favorite horse, Ume . You smile at the picture before focusing back onto your conversation with Hinata “She’s… quite old”

“I was hoping you’d help me with that” Hinata smiles upon noticing your glance on your mother’s picture—she’s the one that placed it there upon noticing there was nothing of her there, considering that she was the one that actively spent most of her time tending the stable. Although she suspects this was her father’s doing, still mourning her absence. “I just need you to take her on a stroll, she might be old but she still needs to move from time to time”

“I thought that was what we’re going to do anyways?” Satoru interjects.

“ Without a rider” Hinata scorns “You’d know if you focused on anything else than just being annoying”

“How old is Ume by the way?” You step in, hoping to put a stop on this senseless bickering before it grows too big to control. They weren’t even married yet and they’re already acting like an old couple. Oh, what their future awaits…

“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe like… 17-18 years old? She’s around Ren’s age so… no, a bit older, since she was only a pony when mom received her”

“Oh, really?” you reflect on her age—had Ume really been around for that long?

“Yeah, remember what mom said? Dad got Ume for her as some kind of wedding gift, and Ren was born roughly a year after”

“Hmm, guess the math does add up” you acknowledged “Looks like Ume has been with us for far longer than I can remember”

“That’s why we have to take good care of her! She’s like a part of the family now” Hinata cheers “You’ll help me, right?”

“I… guess” you murmur, crossing your arms “I don’t… know if she’d want me though, she always looks far more comfortable with you”

“That’s because you always run away from the stables, if you’d spent more time with me, then you wouldn’t feel that way”

“I won’t do more than accompany you from time to time to feed her, if that’s what it takes for her to like me”

“Ah! That’s it!” Hinata sings as enlightenment dawns in her mind ”Maybe next time you can feed her!”

“Nope” You frivolously shake your head “What if I get my hand bitten off?”

“Gah! What is an old horse like her going to do?” Hinata replies skeptically, as if the mere question brought great offense to her “I wouldn’t ask you to do something if I thought you’d be in danger”

And with that comment, you can’t help but feel a bit guilty for the way you responded. At the end of the day, her invitations always came from a place of wanting to spend her free time with you, as little as it may be, doing what she likes before diving back into work.

From a news perspective, you conclude that you’ve secluded yourself a bit sternly from her.

“Alright” With a new purpose, you confidently walk over to the closet you rightfully assume most of the gear to be and unlock the doors, eyes scanning through the carefully organized entourage of protective gear “Do I even have things for myself anymore?”

“I don’t think so” Hinata guessed as she too heads over to the closet and glances over your shoulder “It’s been quite a while since you’ve been on the actual saddle, so maybe you’ve already outgrown whatever you had? Well, you’re not going to use them today since you’re only going to walk Ume—Satoru, on the other hand, needs at least helmet”

“Oooh, is there a special helmet just for me?” Satoru chides in, his towering height skips him the need to lean over your or your sister’s shoulder by looking over your heads instead.

“ No . Although I probably should’ve with that big head of yours…” she snickers as she reaches for the nearest helmet. A black colored one of a matte material with light scratches on the top, revealing heavy usage.

If this wasn’t enough to dictate that the helmet was hers, the peculiar sticker of a sunflower on the left side would.

“This is mine—hold it for me?” she says, handing it over to you as she reaches for the next one, this time, with less signs of wear, barely visible unless inspected with a magnifying glass, almost as if it was taken straight out of the box, but with another noticeable sticker on the left side: a lotus . “And you’ll wear this one”

“Oh, is this Ren’s?” Satoru asks upon noticing the flower “It looks quite big, are you sure he doesn’t have a bigger head?”

“ Ha!” Hinata chortled “The nerve to say that, when it’s impossible to ignore that nest of birds you have on your head”

“Hey! My hair is well groomed, must you know” he attests “It’s quite popular with the girls”

“You have no game, Satoru. I’ve seen it. You’re lucky I’m forced to marry you”

“See? It worked”

“You two already bicker like a married couple” you murmur under your breath. What you thought to be a comment for yourself ended up being heard by the couple before you, making Hinata's face twist into one of surprise and embarrassment whilst Satoru’s beams into one of a cheerful grin.

“We do not!” she cries back, face now ruby red “How can you side with Satoru, Y/N?! My own sister!”

“Hey, hey! I’m not siding with anyone!” You laugh nervously.

“Oh, you wounded me, Y/N-chan! How am I to overcome this painful betrayal, how am I to move forward with my life, knowing that my cute sister-in-law rejects my relationship with her own sister? A place in her family? What will the Gojo’s say once they learn that the L/N don’t want me anym—"

«Oh, god» It’s now your turn to feel the embarrassment «They’re both so dramatic!»

“Anyways” You cough, setting a distraction to distance yourself from this act “Is there anything else that we need to get?”

Hinata snaps out of her trance and plunges back into recollecting the rest of the stuff, zeroing on getting everything ready to continue on with her plan, almost as if she were trying to avoid the fact that she’d blushed because of Satoru…

Either way, it’s no use to dwell on what’s basically assumptions, and once everything was set, the trio make their way out of the storage room and onto the far side of the room that once opened, revealed a breathtaking landscape of a warm summer day; an ocean of green leaves and fragrant grass, all underneath a cloudless sky.

And in the distance, the presence of a small wooden barn can be seen, which is possible to be reached thanks to the connecting stone path.

It’s been so long since you’ve seen this part of the estate that you can’t help but be captivated by its natural beauty—a scenery so astonishing, you’d almost find it pitiful that it would be the stage for Hinata’s hidden motives.

Moving forward, the group follows down the designated road and onto the stable, where Hinata decides it appropriate to begin gearing up..

“Y/N had a helmet, right?” Satoru asks as he places the helmet on his head, immediately feeling that it needed adjustments—something that he took as your brother having a much bigger head, a petty remark that remained in his mind as to bring it up later and torment your sister with it. “If so, what sticker does she have?”

“I did, but I never placed a sticker on it” you respond, helping him adjust the straps on his helmet.

“We had different colored ones back in the day” Hinata explains “Mine was yellow”

“And mine was [favorite color]” you add.

“It’s easier to find more… attractive helmets when you’re gearing a younger rider, I don’t know why they turn monochromatic when it’s for bigger sizes—adults just have to make everything so dull ” Your sister complains “And custom made are so expensive, that’s why I just place a sticker on it! At least it keeps the fun, you know?” she taps at the sunflower sticker.

“I guess…?” Satoru raises an eyebrow, only boring adults like her could find fun in such a thing “Anyways, why won’t you join us today, Y/N? I’m sure you’re much better than me”

“I never liked doing this because I always felt like I was going to fall, or worse, get stomped to death. I only did this once with my mom, and I had enough” your mind goes back to the picture your father took of that fateful day your mom placed you on top of Ume, the same one you were crying your heart out for sitting on top of a huge animal.

The one that you’ve kidnapped from the family album and stored it away from any prying eyes, secured in one of the many cabinets in your room.

“Wait, what?! Stom—stomped to death?!” He replies with a cry “Don’t make me nervous Y/N! Does that mean I’m going to fall?!”

Hinata can’t help but roll her eyes at his evidently fake reaction. The cynicism of him.... It makes her wonder how the inner mind of the great Gojo heir works if he’d only started worrying about that now .

“No, you won’t. Because you’re going to ride with me” she declares, having adjusted her helmet long ago whilst Satoru was panicking.

“W-what?” Satoru stammers, and when he once felt despair, there was nothing but relief, for his savior, Hinata L/N, had come to his rescue with a suggestion that implied more than she was letting on.

A gesture that he considered so… intimate, loving, that he couldn’t stop his cheeks from burning “Oh, Hina-chan… I—I don’t know what to say… that’s so unexpected and… romantic…”

“Stop it!” Hinata shrieks, putting a halting screech to his shojo-like fantasy “I’m only doing so because I don’t trust you with the horses!”

“Sure, sure” Gojo dismisses, looking away as a pout forms on his lips “I too would be shy if I were to be close with my beloved…”

“Alright, sure, whatever you say Satoru, just put the helmet on!” Hinata huffs and heads into the stable.

All that she wants to do is leave Satoru’s antics behind and move on with his plan, and what better way to relax her than personally greeting each and every horse inside the stable, by gently patting their manes and doting on them?

And she did just that, sharing her limited amount of minutes between each and every single one, commending their good health as well as their responsive nature, which had been the same adoring one she’d given them.

She continued to do so, that is, until she came face to face with the one that held a special place in her heart, the one that she considers part of the family, her favorite, the one and only…

“Ume!” Hinata bubbled as soon as her eyes landed on the familiar figure of the brown horse came into view, carefully skipping ahead (so as to not alarm the more sensitive horses) towards her and lunging over to hug her neck once in her grasp.

“Oh, Ume, how have you been?! It’s been so long since I last saw you! I hope the caretakers have been treating you well” Hinata reflects on all the time she’s spent away due to school and overall life as a sorcerer. She likes it, but she regrets the fact that she can’t be with her family as much as before.

And it seems that the horse feels that way, because Ume responds by neighing and eagerly brushing her neck against your sister.

“I miss you too” she says, carefully placing her fingers on her mane and petting her “And guess what? We’re taking you out today! On a stroll! Are you excited?”

Ume neighs once more, seemingly understanding your sister’s words, out of excitement. It’s been so long since she was taken out, at least by one of the L/N siblings, and she can’t wait to spend this wonderful day with either of them.

“Y/N, can you pass me the bridle?” Making haste of her time, Hinata asks you as she points to a nearby depot just a few feet away from her location, where you’re able to instantly spot the requested item. “And the leather reins as well”

“Sure” you nod, heading over to complete your request and head back over to your sister.

At the closeness between you and the mare, you inevitably lock your eyes onto Ume’s.

A normal, mundane gesture that passes unnoticed by Hinata, but not for you as you suddenly feel a shift it the atmosphere, and not exactly one that you’d call ideal.

From feeling comfortable, perhaps a bit like a fish out of water for it had been so long you’ve been there, you start to feel tense…endangered.

All because your mind believes to be seeing Ume looking straight into your soul, decisively, intimidatingly wondering whether to bite your hand off or stomp you to death…

Thoughts that become ludicrous as soon as Ume stretches over to your direction, using the tip of her head to reach as far as she can, in hopes that you’d pet her too.

“Aw, look! Ume wants you to pet her” Hinata notes, and at the sudden gesture, you retract away from her. “Don’t be like that, just place your hand on the top of her head and you’ll be fine”

“Don’t push it, sis. I’m already doing too much out of my comfort zone by talking her out on a stroll…” you murmur, and Hinata sighs.

“Alright, can’t deny that” She says, looking back at the horse “My sister is a bit afraid of you, but there’s nothing to fear, right? You would never hurt her”

You looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed for how grossly sweet she was talking to Ume, leading you to land your eyes on Satoru, which you expected to see twisting his lips into a grimace of revolt or disgust, perhaps even a smirk of mockery towards your sister.

However… none of that was to be found, and instead, he remained… serious while intently looking at your sister.

There were moments where you’d forget that even with his… aggravating nature, he was still capable of being a decent human being when it came to personal matters.

Ume had remained off limits when it came to his jabs, for he knew what she represented when it came to your mother, thus, he limited himself to solely observing his surroundings.

However, that wouldn’t last long once Hinata handed you a prepared Ume and made way towards the next horse.

One that demonstrated that Ume was being anything but intimidating.

“We’re taking Dio today”

It was at this moment that you knew that Hinata was planning something serious.

“Dad’s horse? That Dio?” the way your voice frets makes the alarms in Satoru’s head go off.

“Wait, that means something?” He asks.

“No, of course not” Hinata protested, hurrying to keep her cover, which was almost revealed due to your quick observation “Y/N just… doesn’t like that horse in particular, right?”

“I mean… I’m not fond of many…?” you falter, and your act unknowingly convinces Satoru to not give your question any more attention than necessary.

“I just wanted to try something different” Hinata explains “It’s been a while since I took him out for a ride, and dad asked me to take him out so… why not?”

For a wide variety of reasons, you’d wish to say.

Of all horses… Dio was… well, peculiar, to say the least.

Ever since he arrived at the L/N estate, he had earned quite the reputation amongst habitants and caretakers alike.

Beginning with the fastest speed and strength of all horses that have ever lived in the stable, as well as being blessed with good genetics that easily earned him the possibility of entering the equivalent of a pageant .

However, his name didn’t strike you as a concern because of his supposed beauty or skills… It was his personality that made you worry.

Dio, the magnificent dark stallion that your father brought as a possible partner for Ume, from the very first day that he arrived, hated every living thing inside the stable. Whenever possible, he’d neigh and startle the caretakers by grabbing the food out of their hands and tossing it away, even attempting to bite them if they got too close!

And let’s not even talk about his failed partnership with Ume, whose gentler nature never allowed them to get along. It got to the point that Ume would run from him the moment she noticed he was near—and with that, any chances to breed foals was effectively discarded.

The only two who had been to tame the beast had been your father, and Hinata subsequently, through much hard work and dedication; his personality became tamer when around them, giving the false impression that he’d calm down, only to be struck by realization by an assassination attempt under it’s hooves.

Thus, a silent agreement came to place, reminding everyone to keep away from him, unless it was Eiichi or Hinata.

Your assumptions of Gojo doing something unthinkable gain more ground by each passing second—but she couldn’t be planning on… murdering him… right?

“Are you sure that’s ok, Hinata?” you whisper over to your sister, low enough to keep away an already nervous Satoru at bay, but loud enough to show your concern. “What are you planning?”

“Oh, nothing” she voices innocently as she proceeds to place the necessary equipment on Dio “That you need to know yet ”

You shiver, and for the second time that day, a sting of fear strikes your body upon hearing her words.

You can see it now, a side of your sister that she rarely reveals to others stepping into the picture.

The mature, always the bigger person aspect of your sister is long gone, and in return, a vengeful one takes its place. One that’s eager to serve justice towards those that wronged her and by all means necessary.

To see her act so secretly, yet evidently threatening…

For the first time in your life, you pity the unsuspecting heir of the Gojo clan.

Once both horses and jockeys are set and ready to go, Hinata takes point and leads the group onto a large, spacious area of the meadow, void of any obstacles, to seemingly take the horses into a stroll.

You’d suggested a change of scenery, like going into the trails or even visiting the nearby waterfall.

Although appreciative of your participation, Hinata declines your offer, explaining that going deeper into the nearby forest with an older horse can put them into a difficult situation if Ume got injured, thus, remaining in a somewhat plain terrain where all involved could freely act was the best way to go.

She’d also wanted to keep the majority of control of what she’s going to enact, for the forest offered too many disturbances that could bend her plan in a way that she wouldn’t want to—but she wouldn’t tell you that , of course.

“Do you even know how to get on a horse?” It’s an inquiry that feels inconsequential considering Gojo’s imposing height, but your sister nonetheless finds it necessary to ask him, perhaps out of concern for his safety or Dio’s, your father’s stallion, or to make a mockery of him.

Whatever it was, Satoru responds nonchalantly.

“Just gotta jump on it, right?”

“I hope that wasn’t serious” Hinata raises an eyebrow “Place your dominant feet on this pedal” she points to the one on the right side of the horse “and propel yourself upwards, from there, you should be able to swing your other leg over the saddle with the momentum, and that’s basically it— here, let me do it first, it’ll be easier to help you up”

And before you’re able to react, Hinata was already on top of the horse and sitting on the saddle, just to show the level of comfortability she had in this area of expertise.

Had it been you trying to get on top, you’d probably still be stuck to the ground, wondering if there was any other way to get there instead of parkouring your way to the top.

Your sister adjusts herself to sit comfortably on the saddle, and once set, looks down to Gojo.

“Here” she says, stretching her arm towards him “I’ll pull you up”

“Am I going on the front, or the back?” he responds. His hand is making way towards Hinata’s, that is, until he feels the heavy gaze of your father’s stallion on him—a piercing look that only warns him to back off. Satoru retracts his hand, and Hinata subtly smiles at the interaction, her plan evidently working.

“The back, obviously” Hinata proceeds to reach out for his hand and pulls him towards her, Satoru inadvertently forced to jump onto the horse, lest he wants to crash into it. “I’m leading the horse”

“Does that mean… I’ll be… hugging you?” Satoru murmurs, putting on the act of a blushing bride as soon as he realizes the seemingly compromising position he’ll find himself from this moment forward.

“I knew where this was going” Your sister bickers under her breath “You can hold me, or the saddle, whatever makes you comfortable”

“Do you do this often with other men? Do you let them hug you too?” Satoru suddenly asks, jealousy interlaced in his voice—but it’s nothing more than an act, as most things often go with him.

“Do you think I have time to meet other men, with all the work we gotta do?” Hinata frowns. “I wish I could afford meeting someone, maybe they won’t be as annoying as you”

“You can start with Y/N’s friends! I’m sure one of them will catch your interest” Gojo curbs the ball towards you and you flinch. You’ve been so engrossed in their conversation (and avoiding getting eaten by Ume, apparently) that you’d almost forgotten you were there in the first place.

“Hey, don’t bring me, or my friends, into your circus” you chuckle “I’d rather be in my room than here”

“And what for?” Gojo raises an eyebrow “So you can play that new game? All Pokémon games are the same, just with a different cover art”

You sigh, noticing that he was being… uncharacteristically more annoying today, almost as if he were trying to provoke either of you.

You know how bad this would sound if spoken out loud, but you really can’t wait for Hinata to show him his place.

“ Anyways, are you ready?” Hinata asks, carefully placing her hands on the horse's dark mane and petting it. Judging by her gesture, you come to the understanding that in reality the question was intended towards Dio, and not Satoru. Not that the last would’ve known or care due to the way he responds soon after.

“Yep” He grins, giving her a thumbs up “Locked and loaded, whenever you’re re—”

Hinata doesn’t even allow him to finish his sentence before she swiftly whips the leather reins against the horse, the third call for the star of the show to start its performance.

There’s no preparation, no warning, not even a second to breathe, nothing that could help Satoru cope with the fact that your sister had planned on startling him—no, scratch that, frighten him by the stallions impressive reach to stop speed in less than a second, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and your startled face as testimony of their presence.

It’s only a matter of seconds before Satoru’s shrieks become apparent, his voice traveling alongside the wind to warn each living existence of his great dislike of the equestrian activity.

You’d muffle your laugh, thinking of his reaction to be nothing more than outrageous. Who’d think that the man who always tried his hardest to look cool and dark would really let himself go like that? It’s a memory that will always be ingrained in your mind, one that you’d be able to bring in the future as blackmail, and you’re eternally grateful that Hinata brought you to witness it!

“Holy shit, Hinata!” You laugh, unsure if she’d be able to hear you but you still go on anyways “Was this your plan all along?! To scare Satoru??”

“Yes!!” Hinata chortled back, a reaction that only made Gojo scream louder “It’s been my plan ever since!!”

“Hinataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Stop!! Stop!! ” he wails, pushing his head against your sister’s back as he attempts to hold on tighter to her, seemingly feeling the speed of the stallion grow impossibly faster and faster; was this even possible, or was it the adrenaline pumping in his veins that made him believe so?!

And to make matters worse, it seemed that the horse was also enjoying making Satoru suffer from the way it would jolt and rattle from time to time, movements that would earn him an additional streak from the white-haired man, a reward likened to applause for the performer.

All of this made Satoru wonder if even the horse was on board with the plan! Did Hinata and the stallion plan this?

And by the way you laughed, were you also knowledgeable of this?! That’s why you did nothing to stop her—even though you hated it as much as him?!

But those were subjects that would remain unsolved as Hinata made hasty work of her equestrian knowledge to push Gojo onto a new level of fear, doubled down by a now revealed cause.

“This is what you get from that time in the forest!” she hisses as she continues to gallop across the meadow “You—your little prank gave me a rash that I couldn’t cure for days!!”

But Gojo, as much as he wanted to respond and explain that it was never meant to get to that level, can’t do much through his pumping heart and deafening screams but murmur prayers for all of this to end.

“And to think that Geto was behind it too! I can’t believe I trusted you both! ” She condemns “Geto was lucky to sense I was planning something when I invited him over, but you didn’t! Because at the end, even after you brag yourself to be some almighty being, the strongest... you’re really, really stupid!!” she concludes with a victorious laugh. “I win this time!!”

To say that Hinata was drunk in arrogance was an understatement, however, it was with a somewhat justifiable explanation.

Before she’d fallen into this pit of overconfidence, she was disappointed. Very disappointed. She thought that by entering jujutsu high, things would start to change—after all, everyone that enters that school knows they’re on their way to becoming professional sorcerers, thus, a level of maturity is expected… right?

But she was to be slapped across the face with the harsh reality that not everyone was to be as dedicated as her—or stuck-up, as Satoru would call her— and if anything, this was just like any other school environment, with brash and careless students that just wanted to enjoy their youth, and not worry about the future!

A statement that became evident when these two goofballs did what they did.

Nevertheless, far from harboring feelings towards the perpetrators, she held them towards herself, for thinking that these dorks would know anything about common sense and respect.

Well, she knew she couldn’t expect much from two boys that thought of themselves as men. And if that’s how they wanted to play, then that's what she’ll do.

With much reluctance, she’d lower herself to their level and prove to them that even by playing by their rules, she’s still better.

And after careful planning and rehearsal, she finally did it.

It might not have been as hazardous as the one he performed on her, but it’s sufficient enough to give him the message that she’s not going to take it anymore—and certainly not from him!

This moment might go down as a short-lived, countable victory against him, but it’s one that she’ll make the most of—Hinata will never make him forget it.

“Wait, Hina—Hinata!!” Gojo continues to yell, hands now scrambling from your sister to the saddle as they precariously searched for a beacon of stability to uphold his stance on the horse, but because the jockey had resorted to exploit a combination of bumps and speed to disturb her companion as much as possible, Satoru was left with hopelessness and a continuation of his shrieks.

“Hinata—Hinata wait!” He’d gasp, throat hoarse as he’d envisioned one of his worst fears coming true ”I think I’m going to—”

You might’ve not been close enough to hear the rest of his yells, or make out through his lips if he’d said anything else to your sister, but even at your distance and inexperience, you were still capable to distinguish that the way he was quivering on the saddle was not normal by any means.

And by the way his body was struggling to keep up with your sister’s agile friskiness, as well as him continuously failing to find a secure spot to hold on to, it was only natural that disaster would ensue.

Hinata had long crossed the limit where her prank was no longer fun, and noticing that she was too deep into her revenge to care what was happening behind her, it was decided that you needed to step in.

“Wait, Hinata!” You cry, waving your arms in the air while attempting to move somewhat closer so she could either hear or see you better, but with enough care to not let go of Ume or startle her.

Unfortunately, it seems that your mother’s prized mare was also aligned to Hinata’s intentions, for she doesn’t move more than an inch upon sensing the your harsh pull on her reins, misjudging it as an act of aggression and retaliating by pulling back against you “Not now Ume! I need to stop Hinata!— Hinata!! ”

You cry harder, but it’s too late. When your sister finally decides to turn around and tend to the reason for your call, Satoru was already leaning over to the side, and before you can warn her to help him, his body hits the ground.

The loud thud is enough to snap Hinata out of her vengeful trance, and with her quick thinking and extensive knowledge of the activity, she efficiently avoids any further damage to the young man by guiding the horse away and preparing the horse to slow down.

“Satoru!” Hinata gasps, sternly pulling on the reins “Yield!”

The majestic stallion eventually comes to a complete stop. Hinata expeditiously jumps down from the saddle and rushes towards Satoru’s crouching body, who was tightly embracing one of his arms against his chest as he wept out of pain.

“Satoru, Satoru, can you hear me?” Hinata manages to ask through the thundering noise of her heartbeat in her ears as she carefully moves closer to him “Satoru, are you ok?”

“I—Hinata…I—I think I broke my arm” He weeps and Hinata’s blood runs cold as fear instantly settles in the very fabric of her core.

Her vision blurs as the consequences of her actions begin to unfurl before her, but she doesn’t let this happening to extend more than necessary.

She needs to focus on the emergency before her, and she needs to do it now .

“Y/N! Get the doctor!!” She cries as she wipes away the sweat from her forehead—Hinata’s desperation has her wishing she could move Satoru onto the estate and get him the help he needs, but she knows best to not move the patient unless the professional allows it, thus, she’s forced to voice her frustration onto you “ Hurry!! ”

Knowing well that time is of the essence in these urgent matters, you make haste to tie Ume onto a nearby wooden post so as she wouldn’t run away (although her old age wouldn’t permit it anymore, but you weren’t to take any risks) before sprinting back into the estate, crying and demanding for the family doctor to be called immediately, giving no further explanation to members of your clan whom grew worried upon seeing your pale face, aside that you needed the professional quickly.

Sumire, your closest friend, seemingly apparated herself out of nowhere and onto your side after briefly hearing the whole commotion from just a few rooms away—and unlike the rest of the habitants, she doesn’t ask anything, she simply reaches for the phone and calls the doctor.

“What happened?!” Sumire cries as the phone begins to ring, hands trembling as a million of terrible scenarios flash across her mind “Are you ok? Is Hinata-sama ok?!”

“Yes, yes we’re fine but… Satoru… he’s not!” You whimper and the revelation of the Gojo heir suffering a deadly injury is enough for her blood to run cold as well.

Once the doctor is on the other side of the line, Sumire urges him to come as quickly as possible to tend to an emergency. Luckily, for the man who had labeled himself to be just a phone call away (also known as the nearby village), wasted no time to confirm his presence there and hung up.

It goes unsaid that the main motivator for him to not ask for any more details was that the L/N clan was one of his highest paying clients, meaning that if you or anyone from the house needed him, he’d be there in a matter of seconds, just like what happened soon after he’d received your call, making way to your home’s main entrance, where you and Sumire barely greeted him before hurrying him towards his patient, who remained on the ground loyally accompanied by your sister who tried to ease his worries by reassuring him that the doctor was on his way.

Due to his many years of experience, the doctor only needed a brief inspection of Satoru’s arm to confirm his dreadful assumption, which places the last nail on Hinata’s coffin of regret and sorrow.

However, bureaucracy was still needed to make this statement official, thus, once he declared it was safe to move Satoru into a more appropriate setup, you, your sister, and Sumire carefully transferred him into the ambulance previously called by the doctor and transferred him into the nearest hospital with utmost secrecy—as much as it was allowed—for Satoru requested this matter to be kept a secret until he decides whether to tell the elders of his clan what happened… or not.

In any other circumstances, such as pertaining to jujutsu matters like a mission or a school assignment, that would’ve been the first course of action. But because the precede of his injury had been in an informal setting, and of petty revenge… it was a matter that had to be taken care of delicately.

Thus, it was agreed between everyone present that this be to be kept a secret, at least until everything cooled down. The servants that heard of the commotion, but not witnessed it directly, were also tasked to feign ignorance.

And now that all that was set… Hinata now had to face the consequences of her actions.

“How… bad is it?” Hinata asks for the nth time during that visit. The doctor has grown rather… annoyed by her repetitive inquiries, but just as stated before, because her family is one of the best paying ones, he doesn’t show his irritation.

“If he rests, I presume he’ll heal at around 6 weeks the earliest” The doctor reiterates as he continues to set the last adjustments of Gojo’s cast—the x-ray that was performed at the hospital confirmed the status of his broken bone and it’s severity, thus, the necessity of such a procedure. Another symbol that will forever haunt Hinata for her ill decision making. “It’s very important that he doesn’t do anything that might stress the arm, for it might not heal appropriately”

Hinata swallows, succumbing deeper and deeper into the pit of her regret, which only becomes darker as the doctor continues to explain Satoru’s situation, who, in return, has kept quiet in the face of pain, and possible anxiety for not being able to live out his life as he’d done up to that point.

The only thing that keeps both of them at ease is that they won’t go back to school until roughly 6 weeks, meaning that they will be able to keep this little incident a secret from the prying eyes of Jujutsu HQ, and their friends… because if any of them got word of this, it would travel around Japan like a wildfire, and by then it would be too late to make any excuses to cover it up.

That is, of course, unless they’re assigned missions…

Anyways, Satoru really couldn’t care less about facing the elders. If anything, that’s an affair that he considers even more tiresome than having to go to the hospital, get his arm checked, and stay at the L/N estate until it heals. If anything, he could take this whole thing as a sort of vacation from his clan!

Ah, if only you and your sister could have this naïve optimism.

“He’ll be able to leave the hospital in a few hours after we get his health insurance info and invoice ready”

“Oh, um, that’s fine” Hinata says in behalf of Satoru “Since I’m his fiancée I’m entitled to have all that information, just give me a few seconds and I’ll bring them to you”

“If that’s the case, you can just mail them to me and we’ll work from there”

And with that, the days seemed to pass awfully, regretfully slow, specially for Hinata, whom upon receiving Satoru in her house, has spent most of her time actively trying to avoid facing him at all costs, shamefully reprimanding herself for allowing such childish revenge to get the best of her and subsequently get him injured.

Her predicament worsened when the truth of his actions was brought to the Gojo’s and the L/N’s attention, earning her an earful from both, which was abruptly ceased thanks to Satoru’s and Eiichi’—your father’s—intervention.

The first argued that this was none of their concern, for it was only an incident and that Hinata wasn’t acting with the set intention of hurting him, while the last defended that they were simply spending time together in order to bond, as the couple they were to become in the future, and given their expected lifestyle, it was only a matter of time before one of them got injured.

However, your father would secretly confide to you that he was somewhat pleased with Satoru’s current predicament, for he never liked how rough his future son-in-law could be with you and your sister. Maybe this would give him the understanding to control himself… and now that women should be treated gracefully, displaying how oblivious he was at the fact that your sister was the one that got him in this entanglement in the first place.

As time passed, Satoru began to notice that Hinata was trying to avoid him, and would attempt to work a cheerful way to approach her, as well as you so that neither would remain gloomy all the time. After all, who looks forward to spending the summer with a broken arm and no friends? No one, that’s who.

But it didn’t work—Hinata would continue to ignore him, sharply turning around whenever seeing him on the other side of the hall and going the opposite direction.

And you… well, you’d kept rather quiet about the whole ordeal. The only times you tried to talk to your sister and reassure her that it wasn’t her fault that this happened, she would only tell you that she shouldn’t have done anything in the first place and exit the room.

You’d continue to approach her, but it was all for naught as their relationship seemed to become more and more distant with each passing day, making you believe that perhaps the only time they’ll ever talk to one another is when they’re exchanging vows on their wedding day.

Well, just because your sister doesn’t want to talk to him anymore doesn’t mean you should do the same.

Satoru needed support in this difficult time, thus, hoping to make his day more entertaining, you decide to bring him one of the consoles you believe to be his favorite—a PlayStation 2— with a few games, and set it up in his room. Although you briefly stopped yourself from time to time, wondering if he’d be able to do much due to his cast. Well, intentions are what always mattered anyways. If not, he can see you play.

Asides from trying to make his days more distracting, you were also looking for alternative options to speed up his healing process, such as contacting Shoko.

You knew this was going against the initial agreement between Satoru and your sister, but you really couldn’t stop from feeling miserable at their obvious distancing, or the pause his life had to make, and hoping to mend things between them, you thought that getting Shoko involved would be a good option.

Maybe your sister just needed to see Satoru all healed up to finally get over that emotional blockade she’d set between the two, leading to the two of them to talk about everything that happened, and before you know it, things will be back to normal!

A plan that was never set to occur, for Shoko had informed you that she unfortunately lacked the preparation to reconstruct bones with her technique, citing “I’ll only learn how to do that in medical school, and I have yet to graduate jujutsu high so… yeah. Besides, this experience will help Satoru build character” and that’s how your conversation with her ended.

“Ah, well… it’s not good to expect Shoko to cover up for all injuries” you conclude as you walk towards Satoru’s temporary room, attempting to comfort yourself “She deserves to enjoy her holiday as well, besides, if the doctor said it’s nothing too critical, his body should be able to do the work on it’s own”

You eventually reach the familiar guest room door, and while carefully balancing the console and controller on your other hand, you proceed to slide the door open, silently to not rattle Satoru awake if resting, or just to not seem disrespectful of his privacy.

However, the sight that received you was far more extraordinary than anything you would’ve expected.

It was so shocking, that all you could do as a reaction is drop the items into the ground, the sonorous crash ringing in your ears, as you exclaim:

“SATORU?!—Wha—Wha—How…. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

How do you even begin to describe what you say?

Satoru, in all of his glory, is laying on the floor, watching some random show on the T.V. before him—which was one of the first things he requested as soon as he moved into the guest room— while eating one of the snacks you presume some of the servants have brought moments before.

By a simple glance, it was nothing uncommon. An ordinary day for the injured Satoru.

However, here’s the catch. The reason why you were so startled in the first place.

He was resting on his seemingly injured arm… without a cast.

Having been startled by the sound of the crashing console and your shrilling call of his name, the man wastes no second to hurriedly push himself up from the ground and nervously grin, the expected reaction of one being caught in the act. “Oh, hey Y/N-chan!” he calls, voice trembling as he walks towards you in an effort to explain himself, if such a thing was even possible. “It’s—It’s a miracle! My arm is cured!”

“Cut the garbage! What is going on?!” You snapped, slamming the door behind you to avoid any onlooker setting their eyes on this… undesirable scenario until you get a proper explanation, and cornering him back to his spot.

There’s no way this was a dream, for the thunderous thud of the console against the tatami floor was enough to snap you conscious. There was no possible way that he would’ve healed this fast, 2 weeks into his injury.

That is… no, did he… could it be that he developed another technique?!

What?! Of course not! And even if he did, why did he remain quiet?!

Unless…

This was all a lie to begin with?!

“Does Hinata know about this?!” You cry “Does she know you—” he abruptly silences you by placing his hands over your mouth.

“No, of course not!” He whispers. “And you must promise me she won’t know!”

“Adnh wky wl aa gre t tht?” you groan. Satoru silently mouths a small o and proceeds to remove his hands from your face.

“Oh yeah, sorry—say that again?”

“And why would I agree to that?!” You hiss, and in less than a second he attempts to push his hands over your mouth once more, but unwilling to act as his fool, you move away from him.

“Keep it down, Y/N!” he warns, seemingly wanting to discuss this secret in secrecy. “Or I won’t tell you anything”

“...Fine” you groan, begrudgingly accepting his conditions with a pout. “What the hell is going on, Satoru? And why doesn’t Hinata know about this?!”

“Because she can’t! That’s the best part if you ask me, she hasn’t figured out anything at all!” He beams, clearly proud of his… fiasco? “All according to plan”

“Huh? Wait—waitwaitwaitwait, all according to plan?” you interrupted “What do you mean according to plan?!?” “Oh yeah, right—guess the cat is out of the bag” Satoru says, going back down to the futon, patting on an empty spot before him, as if inviting you to sit down beside him. You’re hesitant to accept, but the shock of being bombarded with this new version of the truth is enough to push you down and relax. “So… where do I begin?”

“From the start!” you smack him in the arm “Was this all fake?! Were you even hurt?!”

“Ouch—Kind of!” he attempts to cover himself from your sharp blows, only to end up chuckling when he realizes they're weaker than he expected—enough motivation for you to try harder; and you accomplish so successfully “Ouch!” he releases a genuine whine followed by an attempt to cower from your attacks, which only stopped after you deem the message to have been clear. ”Ok, fine—You see… It all started a long time ago, after your sister and I went on a mission with our classmates. It was quick and easy, nothing much to worry about, that is, until the incident happened. But that doesn’t matter either! It was just a little prank, so we mo—”

“Uh, incident ?�� you cautioned skeptically “What incident? What the hell did you do to get my sister so angry in the first place??”

“Oh, she hasn’t told you? Guess that’s a story for another day” Gojo winks, and you’re more than ready to demand an explanation from him, but before you’re able to jump on his case, he continues on with this fanciful retelling of the facts. “Anyways, I moved on from the prank, we all did actually. I don’t think it was that serious, but your sister however… did not. When I noticed that she started acting weird towards me and Geto, that’s when I knew that she was planning to do something”

“And you never thought of apologizing for whatever you did, instead of assuming she was fine with it?” you frown.

“I mean—Now that you put it that way I feel kinda bad! But she went on with the prank anyways, so can you blame me for her holding onto grudges??”

“That still doesn’t explain how you knew she was going to do this ”

“I’m just that good” A confident demeanor emanates from his voice, but you’re not easily impressionable, less with the man who was torturing your poor sister with guilt, and he’s quick to catch on. “Fine, I might’ve slowly planted the idea in her mind”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew she wanted to do something to get back at me, but in order for me to still have the upper hand in this prank war I needed it to be something I could control but was alluring to her too, thus… whenever I could, I would bring up that I really disliked horse riding!”

His mind takes him back to an ordinary school day, one that saw them receiving a handful of math assignments —since jujutsu high was still expected to teach them “ normal ” classes like any other school— to finish that day.

Finding this to be his cue, Satoru proceeds by quickly browsing through the seemingly endless pages with an uninterested facade he considered very convincing, followed by an obnoxious groan that allows him to sell the part of lazy student to both the teacher before him, and your unsuspecting sister.

“Man, this sucks! Thousands of math problems to solve in less than an hour? Why do we have to do this? We’re going to be sorcerers!” Satoru would protest, tossing the papers down onto his desk “Well, at least it’s not horse riding, I'd much rather do this than that ! Talk about being boring…”

The teacher wasted no second to reprimand the young man for his frivolous reaction and unwanted commentary, a moment Hinata took to silently eye him and astonishingly wonder how he managed to make such a comparison—one thing was clearly out of the other’s league!

And while she might’ve thought of this as an unprecedented happening, Satoru was enjoying the first signs of a successful manipulation.

“Or like the other time we were classifying curses and I compared the smell of one of the curses to a horse! You should’ve seen the look on her face! If looks could kill…” Satoru sighs, like an old man remembering the golden days of his life. “When I eventually received her call inviting me over to the estate, I knew she’d taken the bait, and from there, the rest is history!”

“Uuuuhhh, I think you missed a few steps there, Satoru” you pointed towards the arm that, until a few minutes ago, you believed to still be broken. The biggest plot hole in his retelling “What about your arm? We were there when the doctor said you broke it, we saw the x-rays too!”

“All fake” he states matter-of-factly. “Everything”

“Wait, does that mean you… you somehow involved the doctor?!”

“Yep! I called him a few days before and let him know what I was planning to do, he obviously rejected my idea, but after I managed to convince him with a generous price, he agreed to it almost immediately!” Satoru beams, as if bribing a medical professional was something to brag about. “Although he did make me promise that I wouldn’t reveal his involvement in this, or he would get fired… Anyways! I wanted to bring in my own doctor, an actor actually, to avoid all that stuff, but I thought it would be more convincing if I brought along a familiar face”

“And what if I decided to call another doctor? The hospital, hm? Wouldn’t that mean your little plan was going to fail?”

“I planned ahead for all possible outcomes, I managed to get all the contacts of other doctors that had tended your family in the past, as well as the local hospital! There was no way I would allow this to fail”

«Satoru has too much money in his hands—money that he should be using for something better!» you quietly conclude at the ridiculousness of his commitment. «And yet, it still doesn’t explain why his arm is not broken!»

“What about the fall? You couldn’t have faked that—if anything, you couldn’t gotten hurt for real”

“All planned, little sister” he gestures to his cast “Because I am someone who appreciates the genuineness of a performance, I knew I had to give a convincing act for your sister to believe she’d injured me beyond reasonable doubt! Thus, I prepared myself with all necessary methods to perform a fall without hurting myself! Or keeping it to the minimum if I do get some kind of injury.”

He proceeds to explain that he took a few horse riding classes to familiarize himself with the horse and its movements, as well as how to lessen any chances of injuries if he were to somehow fall, such as switching his body in a certain angle so as to distribute the impact of the fall throughout the protective gear.

To secure his depiction, he even called Shoko , without giving much explanations of course (for he knew she would tattle tell to Hinata) on what kind of concussions could lead to a broken arm, just so he could replicate them under a safe environment.

And as he continues to explain the intricacies of his malicious plan, you feel yourself being pushed down to the muddy waters of disbelief, still struggling to believe anything of the things Satoru had just confessed to you.

You knew Satoru Gojo to be petty, annoying, arrogant… the host to many negative qualities a man could have.

But this ?

This was on a whole ‘nother level.

He’d really gone out of his way to plan all this just to get back to your sister before she even had the chance to do so herself.

Just when you thought Satoru couldn’t be any more unpleasant, he goes ahead and shows you that he, in fact, can be worse.

“Do you even hate horse riding at all?” you dare to ask, believing that maybe his dislike was also a ruse from the very beginning.

“With every inch of my existence” Satoru admits “It was a very difficult task for me to not bore myself to death when doing all this, but I think it was worth it!” “Why did you even tell me this? What if it was someone else that walked into your room? Was that according to your plan as well?”

“You know I can sense energy, right? I knew it was you from a while ago so I had nothing to worry about—as for your other question… It's quite lonely at the top. I planned all of this in secret, not even Geto knows about it! And I couldn’t bear the thought of someone not recognizing my success, so I decided to tell you” he smiles “You and I are the only ones that know the complete truth”

“That’s awful Satoru! Do you even care for how worried my sister is?? She’s been unable to do anything because she feels guilty for hurting you! She doesn’t even want to see you, but now that all this is a lie—”

“You’re making me feel like a jerk now that you say it that way…” Satoru pouts.

“Good! You should feel bad!” You double down “… The only right thing you’ve done right is when you stepped in for my sister when your family was basically harassing her!”

“And they shouldn’t have gotten involved. Nobody can mess up with my future-wife but me” He frowns.

“…How convenient to call her your wife, as if you hadn’t done what you did” You cross your arms “And now what? I hope you’re planning on apologizing soon”

“I will, I will, but you gotta promise me to not tell anyone! Especially your dad, he’s going to kill me if he learns I’ve been messing around with one of his daughters”

“Nice way to phrase that, champ” you wince in disgust “Fine, as much as I hate your prank and everything you’ve done to my sister, I’ll keep quiet, but only if you apologize”

“Thank you, Y/N-chan! You’re the best little sister I never had!” he lunges forward to take you into his arms, but you move away from him before he can even grasp you with his fingers. He whines in dismay as a bigger pout appears on his lips.

“Get apologizing, or I might even tell Ren about it too” you cautioned.

“Oooooh no, that won’t be necessary” Gojo trembles away from you at the mention of your older brother, who, in his own merit, can just be as frightening as your dad whenever angered. It goes unsaid that of all your siblings, Ren is the one that tolerates him the least.

“I’ll do the right thing now that you’ve made me see where I’m wrong. I mean, I was planning to do so I just didn’t know how to make the grand reveal, but don’t worry about it, I’ll do it!”

You find his response to be… cheesy, to say the least, with the feeling that he was simply playing along with your requests.

But that’d be the least of your concerns now that everything was revealed (meaning that he wasn’t injured, thank god) and he got what he wanted. From this point forward, all that you needed to do with Satoru was keep a close eye on him and hold him to his word.

Thus, once you made peace with the fact that your brother-in-law was a lil piece of shit, but was planning on apologizing to your sister, you proceed to recollect the items you distraughtly dropped onto the floor after this screeching revelation and handed them over to Satoru, under the excuse that he should be able to set them up himself , now that his “broken” arm was in perfect condition, before waving him a quick goodbye and heading back to your room with the intention of resuming the match you paused in order to visit him.

However, just as Satoru had managed to fool your sister, you had managed to play the fool as well.

When you stood there, listening to him reveal all the details of his preposterous revenge plan, you slowly came to the realization that his transgression, although primarily directed to your sister, affected you as well.

This wasn’t something of a first occurrence—Satoru had gone back and forth with your sister when it came to annoying her and vice versa, however, your sister had always taken the stance of the bigger person and ignored him for most of the part, that is, until she reached her breaking point and decided to do something about it.

Something that fell in her unforeseen failure.

Nonetheless, there is one thing that they never accounted for when they were too entangled in this cat and dog pursuit.

And that was… that you’ve been witness to it all.

You’ve miraculously remained uninvolved in their affairs, allowing you to play the part of bystander, or confidant for when the moment required it, such as today with your sister, who although might’ve not given much detail of what she was planning, she uncharacteristically revealed that she was working on something, or Satoru, who gave you his complete testimony on why —although partially— he did this, and how.

You were treated like an underdog of sorts, a person they consider far out of their circle, someone who is not interested in their lifestyles, thus, not someone worthy to rope into their madness.

Acts that lead them to lowering their guards and becoming sloppy when it comes to guarding secrets around you.

And while their assumption wasn’t that farfetched, as you weren’t really that interested in playing this game of chase they have going on, (or courting, as some weird elders would often describe it as) you couldn’t deny the upper hand this whole incident has given you.

It’s the perfect opportunity to make a plan of your own to make him repay for this little insubordination he’d committed against your sister—against your family.

Nobody could ever see it coming because they often spent their time underestimating you.

A smile appears on your lips as you set your mind into your new goal.

You’ll take advantage of this unprecedented position for as long as you can, carefully observing the unwary Satoru and exploiting his weaknesses.

You’re in no rush. After all, he’s staying at your house.

And you weren’t empty handed. You had assets to exploit, unaccounted allies such as your best friend Sumire, and your older brother Ren, who you knew would jump at the first opportunity to humiliate Satoru, just as he’d done in the past, to count with.

Oh, he would never expect this from you.

You’ll teach Gojo to not mess up with the L/N clan, that is, unless he’s willing to take the heat.

#series side stories: first it hurts—#gojo satoru x oc #jujutsu kaisen oc #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen

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christiangrest · 9 months

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The Tale of 2 Very Different Revolvers

I’ve always been a revolver fan. Some of the very first wheelguns I ever laid my hands on as a young lad were single action rimfire revolvers. My father had an old nickel plated Colt Peacemaker in .22 magnum as well as an old Ruger Bearcat .22 long rifle. These were perfect handguns for a youngster to cut his teeth on and get familiar with firearms and handguns in particular. Some years later as an adult, my father actually gave me my first revolver which I still own today. It’s an ex service revolver, the Smith & Wesson Pre-Model 15 in .38 Special. I actually learned to reload on that particular revolver. Fast forward to present time and this past year brought the revolver interest in me back out to the forefront. Earlier this year I picked up a Smith & Wesson 629 Deluxe 6.5” chambered in .44 Magnum from Brownells. Just this week I picked up a second Smith & Wesson Model 629 from Brownells, but this one is something quite different than the one from earlier this year. Quite the opposite to be exact.

The 629 Deluxe came with very nice wood grips, a full lug barrel, pinned front sight and case colored wide trigger and hammer. It’s one gorgeous wheelgun in stock form. Because of how stout the .44 magnum cartridge is in a handgun, I did opt to swap out the grips for a set of Hogue grips for a more pleasurable shooting experience, for my hand at least especially when running those hotter loads. Along with the grips I changed the springs out for a set of lighter Wolff springs from Brownells in order to lighten up the double action trigger pull ever so slightly. Ever since I picked up that revolver I’ve been on the hunt for a second revolver in .44 magnum. I truly enjoy reloading and shooting this heavy hitter. So just recently Brownells got the 629 2.5” Performance Center model in stock. As soon as I saw it, I placed an order as these don’t come in stock all too often.

When the newest 629 Performance Center showed up, it’s immediately apparent that it will in fact hurt to shoot for an extended amount of time, but this revolver is made for a totally different purpose. Visually it’s different with it’s matte finish, shorter wood grips, narrower hammer spur and trigger, slab side barrel and non fluted cylinder. The 2.5” barrel will surely make for some awesome fireball as well! This revolver is truly made for a self defense or even concealed carry scenario. Maybe even an outdoor expedition where you require something much more than your standard cartridge. It’s definitely not meant to be shot a ton at any range session unless maybe you’re running the pleasant .44 Special loads through it.

Both of these revolvers are in different classes, but both have very nice craftsmanship as one would expect from the folks over at Smith & Wesson. I suspect there’s going to be some future revolvers being added into the collection as time and money allows.

#brownells #brownellsinc #bureauofpropaganda #44magnum #smith&wesson #model 629 #performance Center

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homunculusalphonse · 2 years

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The Cool Kids vs. The Crystal Gems, and Steven

This was also an old, shorter meta I wrote based on another post I made about the Cool Kids a long time ago. I never got around to it back then, and I was searching in my own drafts the other day when I found it again. So, I decided to finish this up, because I still really love the Cool Kids and their relationship with Steven.

It’s a known fact that the Cool Kids resemble the Crystal Gems. They’re not exactly subtle about it. However, like I stated in my other post, the Cool Kids still have their own thing going on. They’re human teenagers, not rebels fighting in an intergalactic war. Which is obvious on the surface, yet there’s another difference I find crucial, one that I believe to have implied in my previous post: the Cool Kids’ relationship with Steven vs. the Gems with Steven.

Quite a few people have pointed out that the Cool Kids treat Steven as an equal, and that’s very much true. While they do keep in mind that he’s a kid - especially when they stand up for him at the end of the episode -, they don’t treat him any differently due to his age. They include him in their antics, they’re friendly and supportive of him, and just want Steven to have a good time.

The gems, on the other hand… they don’t do that.

As much as the gems love Steven, they don’t treat him as an equal. Their grief for Rose is understandable, yet they have no idea how to actually recover from it without throwing all the responsibility on Steven’s back. They put him on such a pedestal that Steven constantly feels pressured to prove himself useful. While that’s already been proved in the very first episodes, I think An Indirect Kiss is one of the most notable instances where Steven is shown to be affected by their treatment of him.

Steven: Everyone expects me to be like my mom. What if I never get those powers?

Connie: Then you’ll be like me. That’s not so bad.

Steven: But if I don't have powers, then I can't hang out with Amethyst or Garnet or Pearl, and I-I can't go on missions!

He’s terrified by this possibility, and just now that I go back on it, I realize how heartbreaking it is - and how much sense Steven’s breakdown makes in Steven Universe Future. When he doesn’t meet the gems’ expectations, they leave Steven behind (whether metaphorically or literally) until he comes up with a solution - one that almost always involves destruction and life-threatening situations.

Steven: They're always leaving me behind, and... I guess I wanted to do it to them, too. (Rose’s Room)

The gems neglect Steven’s feelings all the time. That’s the whole opposite of the Cool Kids, who recognize when Steven is feeling pressured by all the things going on with him. They’re the first ones who call the gems out on their dismissive behavior, for that matter. It’s really too bad that, even after this, Steven is still neglected by the gems until it all piles up in Steven Universe Future, to the point of the kid becoming a monster.

And like I said in the other post, it’s a shame that we don’t see Steven interacting with the Cool Kids anymore after that. I firmly believe they would’ve been the first ones to go to Steven to help him out after what happened in Little Graduation. I know they didn’t seem to be as close as before since Steven spent two years in outer space to fix everything Homeworld did, but how come they don’t even console him? Lars was the only one who bothered to comfort Steven in the end, and even then, the guy still went all the way to space and never came back.

Personally, I will never forgive Future for downplaying Steven’s human relationships. It was one of the things I loved the most about the show. Feel free to disagree with me, of course, but please don’t be rude.

#captain's log #steven universe #steven universe future #meta #su meta #the cool kids #the crystal gems #steven #long post #undescribed

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the-soliloquies-of-sadists · 3 years

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#259

“Seth? Right? C’mon in. Your brother told you who I am? Good. Want a beer?... Here you go. Let’s go out to the back deck. The sun went down, and the cool evening air is starting to kick in. Have a seat…. Ok. Seth, do you know why you are here? Let me be blunt. Your brother David owes me a lot of money. A lot. He’s been doing jobs for me that I need someone I can trust to do. But that’s barely covering the interest. I told him he needs to start working down the principal. So, he offered me… you….

“That’s right he sold you to me. You are going to whore off his debt…. Shut the fuck up. The deal is set. Have some more beer; it will help you to deal with what I need to go over with you….

“Your brother probably told you that I am a powerful man. Hopefully he didn’t tell you what I did. I will share with you one part of my business that you will be a part of. I have several whore agencies across several states. They ain’t like the whorehouses in the movies. The girls never see money; they show up at a set time and do whatever the man wants. They do not say no. They get to live in city, and they show their clients the best the city has to offer. They have everything paid for and get a nice credit card too.

“A few years ago—hell it’s more like ten or so, —I was convinced to do the same but on the fag side. Now, I knew nothing about fag sex, and it disgusted me. Once I got over the visuals, the business was just like the girls. The difference I found out was that I had to have two sets of whores—fag boys like yourself, and men old enough to be your father.

“It was Frankie, one of my goons, who told me that there is a lot money to be made by men taking the dominant role. I didn’t believe it. So, he arranged for me to watch him from a distance him work over this faggot. He didn’t tell me how much he was earning. When I saw this fag hand over three hundred bucks, I knew I needed to get into this. I mean my guy did barely anything other than smack the fag around, call him names, and sit on the faggot’s face at the end. That fag ate that fat ass while pounding its pud. Frankie even went over to the fag’s wallet and took an additional hundred out of it. And wouldn’t you know, that fag boy was loving life.

“Needless to say, that was how I got into the fag whoring business. I had Frankie lead it; he even got somewhat in shape, and now he’s my most popular whore men. Wait a minute, you know him. He fucked you behind a dumpster in the alley behind that fag bar a couple weeks ago. When I saw you at David’s birthday partner at my tavern and he told me that you were his sperm burping brother, I sent Frankie to find out more about you. I know that you can take a good pounding, face slaps, rough housing. Frankie also told me that you cleaned off his cock after we was done and that you drank his piss. You even begged him for more as he walked away from you, naked covered in piss behind the dumpster. That’s all I needed to hear.

“After meeting with your brother, all I had to do was press the massive debt. I knew how self-serving he was. He sold you out so fucking fast. And now I own you. Now strip faggot….

“You do realize who I am? No one ever disobeys one of my direct commands. Now think about your next move real carefully. STRIP YOU FUCKING FAGGOT. Take your time standing up. That drug I put in your beer will make you kinda dizzy if you stand too fast. Yeah, I didn’t want you to run back to your car. Kid, when you came in that door, you were mine. That’s it. Accept your fate. Good boy.

“Yeah, after Frankie roughed up that fag, I was curious. He arranged for me to use one of his regulars who was blindfolded. It was so much fun to kick and punch that faggot only to have him crawl to me, begging for more. With each time, I got more wicked, and they wanted more. I had a few fags over the years locked up and had the best of all worlds. My wife provides me with companionship. My girlfriend offers sensual making love and snuggling. And my faggot takes all my rage filled abuse.

“Underwear needs to go too. Let’s see what you have. Not bad. Looks like you are excited about being naked in front of me. That’s a lot of pre-cum. Decent sized balls. I’d say you are about six inches long. The shaft is a bit thin, but the head is good size. Your foreskin is not too long. That’s good. If there’s going to be one sweaty stinky dick around here, it will be mine. If yours becomes a problem, we’ll get you circumcised.

“What? Faggot, you are nothing more to me than my pickup. If I want to modify you out, I sure as hell am going to. I modify all my property. Tattoos, piercing, permanent hair removal, castration, branding, and so on. But actually, I am a bit cautious. I made the mistake of castrating a fag and regretted it afterwards. He just didn’t seem right to me. The cutter I went to tried to put in fake balls, but it still didn’t seem right. I ended up replacing that fag with another.

“I am looking for my perfect fag. I’m planning on letting my girlfriend go, but sometimes I need that close touch. Not going to do that with my wife. Every day now I realize that I want to be with faggots over women. Faggots are so much easier to mold into what I want. And every now and then I might snuggle with one.

“I like what I see. I want to see your cumload. Jerk off for me. I’ll give you a few minutes to do so. When you do, shoot in your spare hand. I want to see the quantity. I’m going to get your collar; it’s probably done charging. I’m also going to take your car keys. You ain’t going anywhere. Continue jacking….

“….Did you cum? You did! Good fag. When was the last time you came? Yesterday morning? Well that’s a good load. Here, lock this collar around your neck. Ok, so here’s the deal. You can jack off as often as you like, whenever you like as long as I am not using you. If I catch you jacking off, don’t stop. If you are watching porn, continue. But know this, no matter if you haven’t cum in days or you just had a massive orgasm, should I require your use, I fully expect 100% horniness and enthusiasm.

“This remote is hooked up to your collar. With this button… you fall to the floor just like that. Hurt’s like a mother fucker hunh? That’s on low. Remember that. It is also set up to shock you should you cross a 20-foot perimeter of the house. I am notified by an app on my phone when you do something that stupid. Also, the garage and my office on the third floor are completely off limits. You will not fare well should you cross that threshold without me.

“Bring your cock over here. Is your dick head sensitive. It is! Fuck yes! As you get soft, it’s driving you crazy. Good. Good. I see a problem here. Your pubic hair is all over the place. You shouldn’t have hair down here. Look how long this hair is. There’s enough so that I can twirl a bunch around my finger. With a firm yank,… it comes out in one clump. Aww shut the fuck up. Most of the time your screams of pain will turn me on, but now it’s just annoying. Another clump on the other side, and it doesn’t even look like you lost any.

“Look at me faggot. Say ‘Thank you.’ Good fag. Open your mouth. Here eat your pubic hair. Go on chew it. Nasty? I know, now swallow. And here’s… another bunch. Swallow these…. And these… And these… You’ll be permanently shaved in the near future so you won’t have to do much pubic hair eating.

“While you finish your snack, let me take you around the place and show you your duties. This is the kitchen. David told me that you went to culinary school but then dropped out. Well, you will be doing all the cooking here. Cleaning too.

“Let’s go downstairs…. This is your room, although you really don’t have privacy. Over there is your cot. Next to it is the plug you will put into your collar every night. I am notified on my app should the power level drop below 75%. That’s equivalent for not charging for a full week. Unless I just slam you with shocks, I should never get one of those notifications.

“You have a wash basin there, and your toilet is there. There’s your douche hose over there in the shower. No, I haven’t gotten around to buying it a toilet seat; the cold porcelain is fine. And I haven’t hooked up the hot water down here.

“Let’s go up to the Master bedroom…. You never climb into my bed unless I invite you in. In fact no non-sexual furniture for you either without permission. Through that door is the master bath. You will keep this place spotless. That includes licking clean my toilet. The rimseat next to it is when I want to make you toilet paper or a full toilet.

“And here’s the playroom. It’s totally soundproofed. You are going to suffer a lot in here. Screaming is encouraged. In fact, what time is it? Seven. Well we might as well start now. Get on all fours—knees and elbows. Spread those knees wide. Every night you will present yourself in this position, as you will every morning.

“Don’t get too excited. I am going to fuck you good, long, and deep. But that won’t until the end. We got a long way to go. You see, the only people who knows my affinity for preferring the boys to the girls are Frankie, me, and now you. Your brother thinks I’m adding you to my harem of fags. This is something that cannot get out. And if it does, I will know it came from you, and I want you to know the perpetual hell that will come your way.

“Tonight is a test of what you can expect, but keep in mind, tonight’s suffering will be only five hours long, much shorter than what will be if my preference is ever widely known.

“And after the paddling your ass to a welted mess, whipping your back until it turns to bloody hamburger, kicking your balls until they are swollen to twice their size, bruising up your face, and fucking you with very little lube, I may feel the need to snuggle up with you afterwards.

“But first, there’s a lot to do before we do that. Oh look your balls are just ripe for a good old fashioned full-force kick. Every night and every morning you will get one to always remind you what you are.

“Faggot right now with this kick your hell begins.”

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bitsandbobsofwriting · 3 years

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Kilgharrah: “Kill that child, Merlin.”

Merlin (like a normal person): “No?? What the fuck???”

And with that, everything changed.

Part 2 Part 3(final part)

“You must let the boy die.”

Kilgharrah’s voice echoed incessantly through Merlin’s head for days after the Druid boy’s appearance, and subsequent disappearance.

Merlin had, of course, ignored the scaly old bastard, and hadn’t once questioned if he’d done the right thing by hiding Mordred away in his tiny bedroom.

If the boy truly had such a terrible destiny, then the best thing for Merlin to do was to keep him close, if not to steer him away from his fate, then to at least be able to see it coming if it was indeed inevitable.

Currently, Morgana was the only one aware that Mordred was still here (other than Gaius of course, who was somehow disapproving and proud at the same time). As far as everyone else was concerned, Arthur and Uther included, the boy was never found, and must have slipped out of the city somehow (going by the extra patrols in the woods, as opposed to the castle and town).

The Warlock was nervous about anyone knowing at first, but when Morgana had tearfully thanked him for saving Mordred, and proceeded to sneak in spare blankets, food, and money for clothes, Merlin was glad for the co-conspirator.

The boy was currently curled up in the corner of Merlin’s room, a pile of blankets and pillows organised like a bird’s nest around him, wearing a soft shirt and sleeping the night away.

Merlin watched him from his bed, realising with growing horror just how protective of Mordred he had already become. He was so young. How could Merlin even consider punishing a child for some stupid destiny he didn’t even know about?

He had to think of a solution quickly. He couldn’t risk sending him away, not even to the Druids, they were as much slaves to the so-called prophecies as Kilgharrah was, and Merlin had once been (”Gods. Sounds like I’ve been dealing with destiny for years. It’s been like six months. I’m too young for this shit.”). But equally... what could he do with him??

Thankfully, no one had really gotten a good look at the boy, so hopefully with a change of clothes and a haircut, he wouldn’t be recognised, at least not if Merlin came up with a convincing enough story.

To be honest... the cover story worried him far more than the prospect of someone recognising him. Uther hadn’t recognised Nimueh, the woman who had been his court sorceress for years... the man was apparently not very observant.

In the end, it was a throwaway comment by Morgana a few days later, about a week after the Druid boy had “escaped” that gave Merlin a very stupid idea. So stupid, that it might just work.

Morgana had once again snuck away from the main castle to sit with Merlin and Mordred in the servant’s room.

Gaius had said nothing as she’d entered the Physician’s chambers, enough food for four hidden away in the picnic basket she carried, just raised his eyebrow slightly, and thanked The Lady for the food offering that was definitely-not-a-bribe.

She gave him a quick wink, and the old physician rolled his eyes fondly as he set an overturned bucket in front of the door; if anyone came in, they would come in loudly.

Mordred was happy to see her, and Merlin hid a fond smile at the boy’s quiet giggles. He still didn’t speak much, so it was a relief to see him finding joy in something, even if it was clandestine visits from Uther’s ward.

She ruffled his hair slightly, resisting the urge to pull the touch averse boy into a tight hug, and set the basket on the bed. Merlin sat against the pillows, and Morgana sat down opposite him, the basket in between them as Mordred clambered up to sit just in front of Merlin.

Morgana and Merlin talked quietly as they ate, Mordred staying silent as the adults (or...as adult as they could get. Like Merlin kept thinking to himself, he was too young for this shit at sixteen, and Morgana was only two years older than him) avoided the elephant in the room.

The elephant being that they couldn’t keep this up forever. Arthur had a habit of bursting in whenever he so pleased, and it was a miracle he hadn’t done so already. Plus, it would be cruel to expect Mordred to stay cooped up in here for much longer. He was a child, he deserved to play outside and explore and do all the other things he couldn’t do in Merlin’s bedroom.

Once they finished eating, Mordred moved to his makeshift bed in the corner, tightly clutching a book that Morgana had bought him, and furrowing his brows in concentration as he read.

Morgana stared at him with a soft smile, and Merlin sighed, once again worrying about his new ward’s future.

Morgana tilts her head, as if a sudden thought had occurred to her, and looks slowly between Merlin and Mordred as the servant raises a questioning eyebrow at her.

“You know Merlin, the two of you look remarkably similar.”

Mordred is engrossed in his book, and doesn’t react at all to Morgana’s quiet comment, but Merlin’s eyebrow goes even higher as he huffs out a laugh:

“You think? I don’t see it.”

Morgana looks at him with a deadpan expression:

“Merlin, you don’t have a mirror in here. I’m fairly certain you have no concept of what you look like.-”

Merlin looks indignantly offended for all of two seconds before he sighs and nods, she’s right to be fair. He’s tall-ish, with pale skin, and he thinks he has brown hair. That’s about all he knows.

Morgana chuckles as she once again looks at Mordred:

“You both have very dark hair, bright blue eyes, pale skin. You know...-”

She looks back at him with a thoughtful frown on her face:

“-if someone told me you were brothers... I’d believe it.”

Merlin raises an eyebrow:

“Really?”

She nods decisively:

“Yeah. I mean, the more I think about it, the more I look between you, yes. You could definitely be related.”

Merlin nods his head slowly, thinking. He takes in a deep breath and tilts his head slightly:

“It could work. I haven’t really talked to anyone about my family so... we could say that... he came to live with me? Because life here is... good?”

Morgana snorts slightly, rolling her eyes before looking back at him seriously:

“You’d have to be more convincing than that. You could say that the harvest was poor in your village? That Mordred was better off coming to stay with his big brother in the big city?”

Merlin nods at her words, grimacing slightly as he mutters:

“If we’re running with the whole... brother thing, I need to write a letter to my mum, just in case. Gods she’s going to laugh so much.”

Morgana laughs at him quietly, but the noise finally catches Mordred’s attention and he looks up in confusion. Merlin moves the basket to the floor, and gestures to the boy to come over.

He walks over wordlessly, climbing up to kneel between them, biting his lip nervously.

“Is it time for me to leave, Emrys?” echoes through Merlin’s head, and he gives the boy a comforting smile, shaking his head slightly, before saying out loud:

“You’re staying with me, Mordred-”

The boy smiles slightly as he stares at Merlin in reverence, and Morgana quickly hides her questioning gaze. She could see that there was more between them than simple protectiveness over a child, and thankfulness for being saved, but she kept her thoughts to herself as Merlin continued:

“-but we can’t keep you hidden in here forever, so we’re going to tell people that you’re my younger brother, come to live with me. Is that alright?”

Mordred nods his head vigorously, and Merlin chuckles slightly as the boy’s grin grew:

“Ok. We’ll get you a haircut and tell Gaius the plan. Probably wait a few more days for things to settle down further, and then see how it goes, ok?”

Mordred nods once more, smile not leaving his face. Morgana bites her lip to stop herself from laughing at Merlin’s shocked face when the boy threw himself into the servant’s arms for a tight hug.

Merlin spends the next few days teaching Mordred all about Ealdor and his mother and Will, so that the boy could have at least a little knowledge on what was supposedly his home and family.

The next time Morgana came to visit, she brought a comb and a sharp pair of scissors, as well as a few more changes of clothes that looked less... Druid. By the time she left that evening, Mordred had much shorter hair, and a wide grin on his face at the prospect of finally being able to go outside (he was Druid after all, he needed trees and fresh air).

The letter had been sent home, and Merlin was expecting a reply any day now. The only thing left to worry about was how to hide Mordred’s Druid marking. It would be easy to cover with clothes, but Uther’s increasing paranoia meant that it would be best if they could find a more permanent solution.

Gaius suggested some sort of glamour spell fairly quickly, but Merlin was unwilling to cast one on the boy until he’d mastered it.

And THAT meant showing up to serve Arthur with ink all over his hands that he had tried and failed to cover.

Merlin had also realised with dawning horror, that he would have to tell Morgana the truth. She knew about the marking, and she was smart, there was no way that hiding it wasn’t something that had occurred to her. She would bring it up eventually, and how could Merlin explain without having to... explain??

Morgana was already risking her favour with the King, and frankly, her life, by protecting a Druid... she would do the same for Merlin, right? But Mordred hadn’t actually done any magic... BUT she’d always spoken against executions... BUT Merlin had lied and hidden it from her, his friend...

Hmm...

In the end, he’d decided he would just have to suck it up, and tell her. Fuck whatever that dragon said. After Kilgharrah’s last round of... advice, Merlin had been ignoring his calls. If there was an emergency, the cryptic bastard would tell him, and until then he could just sulk in that cave on his own.

That two weeks was also enough for Uther to become convinced that the mysterious Druid boy really was long gone, and to just forget about it. He was pissed of course, but talking about it and extending the search just highlighted that a child, barely eleven summers, had managed to evade all of his forces and that... did not cast him in a good light.

It took Merlin about two weeks to fully master the spell, which was longer than the three of them were hoping, but he was adamant that he perfect it before he cast it on Mordred, and Gaius was incredibly impressed at his ward’s determination.

Morgana was of course confused about why they kept pushing it back, she thought they were only going to wait a few days before they started introducing Mordred, but she trusted Merlin and saw no harm in waiting a little longer.

When Morgana arrived that evening, she could tell that Merlin was... anxious. They’d agreed on a specific day to make introductions but it wasn’t until the end of this week, it didn’t make any sense for Merlin to suddenly be nervous about it.

Mordred wasn’t quite as good at hiding his emotions, and didn’t even giggle like he normally did when Morgana came over, just stared at his “brother” anxiously.

Morgana rolled her eyes and huffed as she shut the door:

“Alright, Merlin. What is it? Spit it out.”

Merlin opened his mouth, about to come out with an excuse, before he snapped it shut again and took a deep breath.

It worried him, how easy, how automatic it was for him to lie, but that was a worry for another time.

Mordred reached up and took his hand, squeezing it, and Merlin looked down at him with a weak smile before sitting on the bed and gesturing that Morgana join him.

She looked at him worriedly, but settles where he gestures, and doesn’t acknowledge the way Mordred sits defensively between them.

The boy looks back at Merlin:

“Are you sure, Emrys?”

Merlin gives him another smile, and squeezes his shoulder slightly as he raises an eyebrow:

“I’m sure. And you need to get used to calling me Merlin at some point.”

Mordred pouts slightly, and Merlin ruffles his hair as he laughs, before looking back up at Morgana’s questioning stare.

He takes another deep breath, before slowly speaking:

“I... we’ve found a way to properly hide Mordred’s marking.”

Morgana looks taken aback, but relieved:

“Oh. Is that all? That’s good isn’t it? I have to admit, it was worrying me.”

Merlin gulps:

“Yeah it... it is good... it’s just, it involves... magic.”

Morgana raises her eyebrow, and nods slowly, as if it were obvious:

“I figured it would be. It’s not like it would be easy or reliable to cover it with make-up every morning, or hide it with clothes.-”

It’s Merlin’s turn to look taken aback now, and Mordred fixes her with an unreadable expression. Morgana continues:

“-The problem, lies in finding someone willing to do whatever spell it is. Someone we could trust wouldn’t share the secret, no matter what.”

Merlin grimaces slightly, more gulping, and taking yet another deep breath:

“We already have someone. Me.”

Morgana gasps slightly, and she’s vaguely aware of the brothers in front of her tensing up, but all she can focus on is the gold of Merlin’s irises.

The gold fades, and Merlin clears his throat, breaking her out of her stupor. She reaches over and punches Merlin harshly on the arm before getting up and beginning to pace, speechless.

Merlin and Mordred panic at first, but when she makes no moves towards the door in her pacing, they relax. That only lasts for a moment or two however, before she looks back to Merlin, furious:

“Are you thick Merlin? Why on earth would you learn magic in Camelot of all places?? Do you have a death wish!?”

Merlin laughs slightly, cheeks turning pink as he rubs the back of his neck:

“Actually uh... I was born with magic; I’ve always had it. My mother sent me here because she thought I would learn to control it better.”

Morgana looks incredulous as she continues to rant:

“What? With the fear of execution hanging over your head?! That’s not control, that’s terror.”

Merlin shrugs:

“It works though. My magic is mostly instinctual, the threat of torture by pyre sure as hell stops me from losing control when I’m angry or scared or whatever...”

Morgana huffs, crossing her arms and fixing him with a glare. Both Merlin and Mordred cower slightly as they are reminded of angry and disproving mothers; as if they were about to be scolded for getting their clothes dirty, or ruining their dinner with too many snacks.

She just stares at him for a minute, before she sags slightly, and begins chuckling at the boys’ fearful faces:

“You are ridiculous. But it’s far too late to persuade you to leave now. Does Arthur know?”

Merlin’s face morphs into a mournful frown, as he looks to the floor and mumbles:

“No. I wish I could tell him but... with Uther...”

Morgana sighs, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder:

“Uther won’t be here forever. We’ll just have to keep Arthur from turning into too much of a prat before he becomes King.-”

Merlin laughs at that, and looks up to give the woman a grateful smile. She returns his smile before continuing:

“-So, you can do the spell?”

Merlin winces slightly and gestures for Mordred to pull the collar of his shirt down, to reveal a blank patch of skin:

“I’ve actually already done it. It’ll stay there permanently until I take it off. Though we should keep checking, just in case.”

Morgana looks surprised, and smiles:

“What’s the problem then?-”

She rolls her eyes when Merlin looks at her incredulously:

“-Oh, come on Merlin. I’m not going to turn you in, you’re safe with me. You both are, and you always will be.”

The servant jumps up to give her a tight hug, which she quickly returns as Mordred nervously joins in. Morgana smiles to herself, and squeezes her boys tighter.

She may love Uther and Arthur, and she knew they loved her back, in their own way, but this? This was family.

The time finally came for Merlin to introduce his baby brother. Hunith had supposedly dropped him off late last night and left immediately, having to get back home quickly.

Morgana had gone to gather Gwen and Arthur whilst Merlin and Mordred waited in their room (it was definitely their room now, instead of just Merlin’s).

It was early in the morning, and to say that Arthur was grumpy at being woken by Morgana instead of Merlin, was an understatement.

But he eventually caved, and dressed himself as he grumbled, allowing Morgana to drag him to meet Gwen (who was equally confused) before the three of them made their way to the Physician’s chambers.

Gaius was suspiciously absent, and Morgana knocked on Merlin’s door, before slowly opening it and walking in, Arthur and Gwen following her quickly.

Gwen was surprised at the sight of Merlin stood behind a child, hands protectively on his shoulders, but smiled and gave Mordred a soft wave in greeting.

Arthur however, froze, and stared at the boy with a shocked expression.

Morgana moved to stand next to Mordred, and took one of his hands as Merlin began to speak:

“Gwen, Arthur, I want you to meet my baby brother, Mordred. He’s come to live with me.”

Gwen waved again, and bent over to Mordred’s height:

“Hi Mordred, I’m Guinevere, but all my friends call me Gwen. I didn’t know that Merlin had a brother, but it’s lovely to meet you.”

Mordred gave her a small smile, and Merlin suppressed a chuckle as-

“I like her, Em- Merlin.”

-echoed through his head.

Arthur’s gaze moved away from Mordred finally, up to Merlin.

Merlin stared back at him blankly, but Arthur saw the way his jaw clenched as he moved a protective hand down, to pull Mordred closer to him.

The Prince let out a deep sigh, growling slightly as Gwen looked at him in confusion, and Morgana and Merlin stared at him challengingly.

He shook his head as his shoulders sagged, and he rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands before looking back to Mordred with a strained smile:

“It’s nice to meet you, Mordred. My name’s Arthur.”

With that, Morgana smirks slightly, and Merlin relaxes. Gwen just rolls her eyes:

“Sorry about him Mordred, he doesn’t spend much time around people your age.”

Mordred gives her another smile, and Merlin glances to Gwen, before looking down at Mordred:

“Why don’t you go with Morgana and Gwen to see the city a little? Me and Arthur need to talk, I’ll catch up with you later, ok?”

Mordred turns around quickly, and grabs Merlin’s hand tightly:

“You promise??”

Gwen holds in an “awww” and Morgana hides her smile. Mordred rarely talks aloud (she’d been told of the mental link), but she’s glad to see he was feeling at least a little more comfortable.

Merlin crouches down, and pulls the boy into a tight hug, stroking his hair slightly as he stares straight at Arthur:

“I promise. I’ll never leave you for long Mordred.”

Arthur gulps at Merlin’s hard stare, but gives him an almost imperceptible nod, which Merlin returns as he stands up. Mordred gives him one more look as he takes one of Morgana’s hands, and one of Gwen’s, and follows them out of the room.

Morgana shuts the door quietly, and Arthur sighs again before looking at Merlin:

“What are you thinking Merlin?? You just thought I wouldn’t notice?”

Merlin crosses his arms, his glare still hard:

“No, I knew you would notice, I just had faith that you’re a better man than your father.”

Arthur is still deep in his “my father can do no wrong” faze, and takes great offense at that, taking a threatening step forward and growling:

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Merlin just huffs and raises an eyebrow slightly:

“I had assumed that you were not the type of man to have a child executed, just for existing.-”

Merlin copies Arthur’s step forward, raising his chin and continuing, his voice low and dangerous:

“-Did I assume correctly? Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect that kid, Arthur. Nothing.”

Arthur stares at him incredulously, only managing to hold Merlin’s surprisingly confident stare for a few moments, before nodding and stepping back:

“Of course. He’s a child, Merlin, I won’t see him hurt, if I can help it.”

Merlin nods slowly, not looking away from Arthur as he softly says:

“I’ll hold you to that.-”

He walks around The Prince, opening the door and stepping halfway through before looking over his shoulder, and quietly saying to a confused Arthur:

“-If you truly believed that all magic is evil, and always corrupted, no matter what, then you wouldn’t care that he’s a child; you’d want him dead anyway. So perhaps think about your... prejudices, a little more deeply, maybe you’ll discover you are different to Uther in other ways as well.”

Before Arthur can even really process what Merlin said, the servant is shutting the door behind him, and rushing off to find his new brother.

OK SO!!!

I really LOVED writing this, there will definitely be more parts, I just figured I should end it here before I got carried away

This series is finished!! (Links at the top <3 )

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duckprintspress · 3 years

Text

How to Edit an Over-Length Story Down to a Specific Word Count

One of the most wonderful things about writing as a hobby is that you never have to worry about the length of your story. You can be as self-indulgent as you want, make your prose the royalist of purples, include every single side story and extra thought that strikes your fancy. It’s your story, with no limits, and you can proceed with it as you wish.

When transitioning from casual writing to a more professional writing milieu, this changes. If you want to publish, odds are, you’ll need to write to a word count. If a flash fiction serial says, “1,000 words or less,” your story can’t be 1,025 and still qualify. If a website says, “we accept novellas ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 words,” your story will need to fall into that window. Even when you consider novel-length works, stories are expected to be a certain word count to fit neatly into specific genres - romance is usually around 80,000 words, young adult usually 50,000 to 80,000, debut novels usually have to be 100,000 words or less regardless of genre, etc. If you self-publish or work with a small press, you may be able to get away with breaking these “rules,” but it’s still worthwhile to learn to read your own writing critically with length in mind and learn to recognize what you do and do not need to make your story work - and then, if length isn’t an issue in your publishing setting, you can always decide after figuring out what’s non-essential to just keep everything anyway.

If you’re writing for fun? You literally never have to worry about your word count (well, except for sometimes in specific challenges that have minimum and/or maximum word counts), and as such, this post is probably not for you.

But, if you’re used to writing in the “throw in everything and the kitchen sink” way that’s common in fandom fanfiction circles, and you’re trying to transition only to be suddenly confronted with the reality that you’ve written 6,000 words for a short story project with a maximum word count of 5,000...well, we at Duck Prints Press have been there, we are in fact there right now, as we finish our stories for our upcoming anthology Add Magic to Taste and many of us wrote first drafts that were well over the maximum word count.

So, based on our experiences, here are our suggestions on approaches to help your story shorter...without losing the story you wanted to tell!

Cut weasel words (we wrote a whole post to help you learn how to do that!) such as unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, the “was ~ing” sentence structure, redundant time words such as “a moment later,” and many others.

When reviewing dialog, keep an eye out for “uh,” “er,” “I mean,” “well,” and other casual extra words. A small amount of that kind of language usage can make dialog more realistic, but a little goes a long way, and often a fair number of words can be removed by cutting these words, without negatively impacting your story at all.

Active voice almost always uses fewer words than passive voice, so try to use active voice more (but don’t forget that passive voice is important for varying up your sentence structures and keeping your story interesting, so don’t only write in active voice!).

Look for places where you can replace phrases with single words that mean the same thing. You can often save a lot of words by switching out phrases like “come back” for “return” and seeking out other places where one word can do the work of many.

Cut sentences that add atmosphere but don't forward the plot or grow your characters. (Obviously, use your judgement. Don't cut ALL the flavor, but start by going - I’ve got two sentences that are mostly flavor text - which adds more? And then delete the other, or combine them into one shorter sentence.)

Remove superfluous dialog tags. If it’s clear who’s talking, especially if it’s a conversation between only two people, you can cut all the he saids, she saids.

Look for places where you've written repetitively - at the most basic level, “ ‘hahaha,’ he laughed,” is an example, but repetition is often more subtle, like instances where you give information in once sentence, and then rephrase part or all of that sentence in the next one - it’s better to poke at the two sentences until you think of an effective, and more concise, way to make them into only one sentence. This also goes for scenes - if you’ve got two scenes that tend towards accomplishing the same plot-related goal, consider combining them into one scene.

Have a reason for every sentence, and even every sentence clause (as in, every comma insertion, every part of the sentence, every em dashed inclusion, that kind of thing). Ask yourself - what function does this serve? Have I met that function somewhere else? If it serves no function, or if it’s duplicative, consider cutting it. Or, the answer may be “none,” and you may choose to save it anyway - because it adds flavor, or is very in character for your PoV person, or any of a number of reasons. But if you’re saving it, make sure you’ve done so intentionally. It's important to be aware of what you're trying to do with your words, or else how can you recognize what to cut, and what not to cut?

Likewise, have a reason for every scene. They should all move the story along - whatever the story is, it doesn’t have to be “the end of the world,” your story can be simple and straightforward and sequential...but if you’re working to a word count, your scenes should still forward the story toward that end point. If the scene doesn’t contribute...you may not need them, or you may be able to fold it in with another scene, as suggested in item 6.

Review the worldbuilding you’ve included, and consider what you’re trying to accomplish with your story. A bit of worldbuilding outside of the bare essentials makes a story feel fleshed out, but again, a little can go a long way. If you’ve got lots of “fun” worldbuilding bits that don’t actually forward your plot and aren’t relevant to your characters, cut them. You can always put them as extras in your blog later, but they’ll just make your story clunky if you have a lot of them.

Beware of info-dumps. Often finding a more natural way to integrate that information - showing instead of telling in bits throughout the story - can help reduce word count.

Alternatively - if you over-show, and never tell, this will vastly increase your word count, so consider if there are any places in your story where you can gloss over the details in favor of a shorter more “tell-y” description. You don’t need to go into a minute description of every smile and laugh - sometimes it’s fine to just say, “she was happy” or “she frowned” without going into a long description of their reaction that makes the reader infer that they were happy. (Anyone who unconditionally says “show, don’t tell,” is giving you bad writing advice. It’s much more important to learn to recognize when showing is more appropriate, and when telling is more appropriate, because no story will function as a cohesive whole if it’s all one or all the other.)

If you’ve got long paragraphs, they’re often prime places to look for entire sentences to cut. Read them critically and consider what’s actually helping your story instead of just adding word count chonk.

Try reading some or all of the dialog out loud; if it gets boring, repetitive, or unnecessary, end your scene wherever you start to lose interest, and cut the dialog that came after. If necessary, add a sentence or two of description at the end to make sure the transition is abrupt, but honestly, you often won’t even need to do so - scenes that end at the final punchy point in a discussion often work very well.

Create a specific goal for a scene or chapter. Maybe it’s revealing a specific piece of information, or having a character discover a specific thing, or having a specific unexpected event occur, but, whatever it is, make sure you can say, “this scene/chapter is supposed to accomplish this.” Once you know what you’re trying to do, check if the scene met that goal, make any necessary changes to ensure it does, and cut things that don’t help the scene meet that goal.

Building on the previous one, you can do the same thing, but for your entire story. Starting from the beginning, re-outline the story scene-by-scene and/or chapter-by-chapter, picking out what the main “beats” and most important themes are, and then re-read your draft and make sure you’re hitting those clearly. Consider cutting out the pieces of your story that don’t contribute to those, and definitely cut the pieces that distract from those key moments (unless, of course, the distraction is the point.)

Re-read a section you think could be cut and see if any sentences snag your attention. Poke at that bit until you figure out why - often, it’s because the sentence is unnecessary, poorly worded, unclear, or otherwise superfluous. You can often rewrite the sentence to be clearer, or cut the sentence completely without negatively impacting your work.

Be prepared to cut your darlings; even if you love a sentence or dialog exchange or paragraph, if you are working to a strict word count and it doesn't add anything, it may have to go, and that's okay...even though yes, it will hurt, always, no matter how experienced a writer you are. (Tip? Save your original draft, and/or make a new word doc where you safely tuck your darlings in for the future. Second tip? If you really, really love it...find a way to save it, but understand that to do so, you’ll have to cut something else. It’s often wise to pick one or two favorites and sacrifice the rest to save the best ones. We are not saying “always cut your darlings.” That is terrible writing advice. Don’t always cut your darlings. Writing, and reading your own writing, should bring you joy, even when you’re doing it professionally.)

If you’re having trouble recognizing what in your own work CAN be cut, try implementing the above strategies in different places - cut things, and then re-read, and see how it works, and if it works at all. Sometimes, you’ll realize...you didn’t need any of what you cut. Other times, you’ll realize...it no longer feels like the story you were trying to tell. Fiddle with it until you figure out what you need for it to still feel like your story, and practice that kind of cutting until you get better at recognizing what can and can’t go without having to do as much tweaking.

Lastly...along the lines of the previous...understand that sometimes, cutting your story down to a certain word count will just be impossible. Some stories simply can’t be made very short, and others simply can’t be told at length. If you’re really struggling, it’s important to consider that your story just...isn’t going to work at that word count. And that’s okay. Go back to the drawing board, and try again - you’ll also get better at learning what stories you can tell, in your style, using your own writing voice, at different word counts. It’s not something you’ll just know how to do - that kind of estimating is a skill, just like all other writing abilities.

As with all our writing advice - there’s no one way to tackle cutting stories for length, and also, which of these strategies is most appropriate will depend on what kind of story you’re writing, how much over-length it is, what your target market is, your characters, and your personal writing style. Try different ones, and see which work for you - the most important aspect is to learn to read your own writing critically enough that you are able to recognize what you can cut, and then from that standpoint, use your expertise to decide what you should cut, which is definitely not always the same thing. Lots of details can be cut - but a story with all of the flavor and individuality removed should never be your goal.

Contributions to this post were made by @unforth, @jhoomwrites, @alecjmarsh, @shealynn88, @foxymoley, @willablythe, and @owlishintergalactic, and their input has been used with their knowledge and explicit permission. Thanks, everyone, for helping us consider different ways to shorten stories!

#writing advice #duck prints press #original content

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husbandohunter · 3 years

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Your Stardew Impact has given me a serious brainrot and I couldn’t sleep on it so here

Imagine the boys getting Isekai to Stardew and meeting their (soon-to-be) s/o a.k.a the farmer who found them in the mines and dragged them out.

It’s basically the same as the original but the reader lives in Stardew universe from the beginning.

The Outlanders who trespassed the Stars [Stardew Valley + Genshin Impact]

Synopsis: You were a simple farmer who lived a simple life before crossing paths with these outlanders. A tale of greetings and farewells tells a story that loving someone was like looking at the stars in the sky; a sense of warmth amidst darkness, where the dots connect no matter what distance it was. But just like stars, they were meant to be unobtainable.

(Basically what happens if the boys get Isekai'd)

Genre: fluff, angst (faceapalm didn't mean to)

Characters: Childe, Xiao, Zhongli

(A/n): Hi anon, haha I didn't think the Stardew Impact series would be this enjoyable. Allow me to serve your brainrot. But just for future references there is a character limit! Also it long, a pro tip to use ctrl+F and type in the name :>

======================

~Childe's Story~

The day you met Childe was perhaps during the most fortunate yet unfortunate hour of your life.

Winter comes by, your fields were left dry, what else was there to do other than mining? You were aiming to build a new Barnhouse before summer comes, fishing only made average income thus you decided to take your pickaxe and hope to run into some diamonds, gold or even better: prismatic shards. However, expensive items could only be found in the deepest parts of the mountains, where dangerous monsters lurk by.

When peeking over the abandoned minecart you so carefully shielded yourself with, you began contemplating whether you've just dug yourself a grave instead. The whole area became infested, you weren't in the best condition and on top of all that, you were out of food.

You decided to make a run for it, with the treasures and goodies at hand, you couldn't give up. However, things only got worse when purple mist began taking over your vision, signaling a lava bat wave drawing nigh. It was thanks to your greed that you ended in such a predicament but it was also your greed that brought you to him.

"W-Woah!!"

You tripped with your toe pointing downwards into a pile of wooden crates. The bats swarmed in shortly after, daunting around the area above but you couldn't afford to look. Your face was down to the ground and you could only rely on your ears regarding their whereabouts. As if Yoba heard your prayers, the lava bats could not seem to find you, confusing them to think you've escaped. And so, they flew away.

"I'm never doing that again," The sudden impact was excruciating, you were sure that your lip bled due to biting too hard. At least the floor felt somewhat soft, cotton-like and warm enough to be comforting. Yet, for some reason it was also a little…bony?

"…Mn…."

Your body jerks up like a springboard when you felt something shifting. A man, no older than his twenties, no older than you, lays sprawled out under your form. He was beginning to stir and you panicked when a pair of blue cerulean eyes pointed into your seemingly shocked ones within the close parameter.

Too close.

The man gives a cheerfully wry chuckle, you could practically feel his breath almost, "Well this is quite unexpected, didn't think I'd end up in this position," he jests, soon his expression began to tighten into a grimace, "Mind getting off me though? With all due respect miss, you're a little-…heavy."

You scrambled to the side while still kneeling, "What the hell, who are you?!"

"Hm," The man didn't answer, instead he pushed himself upright and turned his attention to examine the surroundings, "Where are we?" He paused when he noticed how the ceiling was made of rocks, "Wait, is this a cave?"

"Ninety two floors deep and surrounded by monsters," you sighed in frustration while rubbing your head with your palm, "Seriously, whoever you are you shouldn't be here, especially if you're not even carrying the necessary supplies."

"Hey, I just got here. I'm just as confused as you," he puts his hands up in a defensive gesture, "But how strange," he mutters to himself, lowering his arms ever so slightly before pinching his chin in deep thought, "I swear it was the right portal…or maybe it was the other one? Hmmm, could it be the effect of the hidden seal?"

I have so many questions. You sweatdropped nervously. Here you were, hours spent to get to the deepest parts of the earth and looking like a cavewoman while his clothes were practically untouched, nor did they seem to be a recognizable fashion. You've seen many odd events within Stardew Valley but not to this extent, "Alright you know what, let's forget about it for now. We need to get out of here before those lava bats come back for us again. Otherwise we're toast," you gestured to the lava pool, "Literally."

He gave another one of his gleeful smiles, you wondered if he was afraid at all, "Sounds like a solid plan to me. Judging by the equipment you're wearing, you seem to have been here for a while. You know your way around?"

Figures that he doesn't know, you thought, "I'll lead."

"Glad we're on the same page. Though, we've only just met and yet you're still willing to help a stranger like me," he mentions in an off-handed manner, perhaps he wasn't used to generosity ever since being recruited as a harbinger, "But not that I'm complaining. You have my thanks, comrade."

"(Y/n)," you tell him, "That's my name. I'm a farmer that resides in this town."

"I see. A town it is then," he inquires, "Call me Childe, as where I'm from, not sure how to answer that anymore."

"What do you-"

But before you were able to question him further, a hoard of lava crabs were spotted crawling it's way towards where Childe sat. He shot you a confused look and turned to the direction, amusement sparks in his eyes,

"Lava crabs? You've got to be kidding me," your arms have already grown tired long ago, at this rate, you figured it may be best to pay a visit to Harvey's doctor office and check up for any muscle strains that have occured during the process. You most likely have considered how heavy your items felt now. Partaking in another battle would only make it worse.

"Ah an opponent, to think this place wouldn't have a set of new monsters to fight. I was growing tired of beating up hilichurls all the time."

His casual reaction caused you to scrunch up your nose in disbelief, "We're being ganged up on and your first response was that???"

Childe paid no mind, instead he propelled himself back to his feet using his trained reflexes and swaggered towards the crowd, "Relax girlie," Stopping just after a few steps, he turns his head ajar over his shoulder with a floppy smirk spreading his lips, "I've got this."

You held in your breath, wondering if you could trust this man. For now all you could do was sit back and hopefully regain some of your strength while observing by the stacks of crates that were abandoned years ago. The lava crabs formed a straight line in front of him, they were smart creatures, cornering their prey in a very well strategized form so that trespassing was out of the question. Childe wasn't intimidated in the slightest, he merely looked down at them with hooded eyes, flexing his fingers for preparation.

"Lava crab…in other words you're of the pyro element," the harbinger holds out his hand in front of him, trying to cultivate the shape of his bow, "A shame. This fight would end much shorter than I anticipated."

However, when he expected his element to manifest, nothing came out. Childe was left dumbfounded.

"Don't just stand there," you screeched, "Do something!!!"

"Wait," he halts you and tries to summon his bow again. Once, twice, as the crabs grew closer still there was nothing, "My powers…they're gone?!"

"Take this," left without a choice, you pushed yourself towards him and shoved Neptune's glaive into his grasp. He examines it with curiosity, but you knew this was also your own well-being you were entrusting him, "It's really easy to use, just-"

When a crab leapt forward, you ran back to create some manageable space for Childe to move in. He delivers a powerful slice using one arm, hitting the crab's weak spot while tossing it toward the side until a dent was formed in the wall. Your mouth parts, fast, he was fast, you didn't even have the time to blink. It was as if he knew the glaive more than you did. Though, the assumption wasn't that far from the truth. Childe was well adept with swordsmanship as he was an expert with many other melee weapons. Which is precisely the reason why he chose the bow as his main, a ranged device, the challenge to keep him on his toes. Just like he was now.

"He wasn't lying when he said he could fight," you watched in mesmerization, each single blow he delivered deemed equivalent to three hits on your part. Childe was both powerful and swift. He was formidable. The way he effortlessly deflected his opponents despite not having an enchantment ring made you forget how much of an idiot he was earlier before. Soon, the lava crabs began to lessen, leaving what remained of their dusted corpse while some retreated back into the depths of the cave.

"Not bad, it was kind of fun!" Childe laughs exasperatedly, glancing at his blue reflection upon the marred blade, "It's been a while since I last used a sword, and still haven't gone rusty either," he hands you the hilt, "Thanks for letting me use it by the way. You seriously got yourself a sick weapon."

"Keep using it for now, I think I'm a little too worn out to handle it," you say regretfully and pointed your nose towards the ceiling, "The mist hasn't disappeared so there's probably gonna be more monsters we'll encounter soon."

Childe looks up as well, "Huh I was wondering what that meant."

"By the way I've never seen anyone fight like that. Exactly what kind of place are you from?" You finally ask, "You somehow ended up in a cave, without anything to defend yourself with and it's not like you know your way out either. Are you...from another world?"

"Huh didn't think you'd draw that conclusion so quick," he comments jokingly, "Guess there's no reason to hide it anymore. Indeed I am from another world, at least, that's what I can tell so far. I've never encountered these types of monsters either."

You couldn't help but be taken aback by his honesty, "That was strangely easier than I thought...."

After escaping the cave, you introduced Childe to the wizard who lived in Cindersap forest, M. Rasmodius. He was extremely intrigued by the concept of an outlander and seemed happy to be of assistance. Since helping others was the culture of Pelican Town, you commissioned Robin to build a small cabin for him to live in temporarily. In return, Childe must accompany you back to the caves and make up for your losses. It was a mutual benefit since he had the opportunity to fight as well.

Childe befriended the townsfolk rather easily. On friday nights where everyone goes to the Saloon to enjoy their time, he would be found in the other room playing pool with the gang (Sam, Abigail and Sebastian)-- you as well when he managed to drag you along with him.

Crashes at your place when you were busy with the farm. You can bet that he would pop up suddenly midday through your window, “Can you use the door like a normal person???” But despite how much you get irritated by this habit, all bygones are bygones the moment he starts a conversation.

He sticks around as you carry your hay batches, sharing his stories. How the organization he worked in was a powerful militaristic force that had authority over many countries. But you didn't see him as a brute since he only joined for the sake of his parents, for the sake of his siblings and their dreams.

You thought of your grandfather who also once told you to pursue your dreams: live a peaceful life away from urban society. However, as long as the harbinger was with you, there wasn't much option for 'peace'.

"Tell me again why you dragged me out here? You know thatI still have a lot of work to finish back in the farm," you trekked your feet through the thick icy sheets with one hand clutching the zipper near your collarbone. It was incredibly windy in Cindersap forest and Childe happened to have convinced you to leave the comfort of your home for 'a surprise favour'. He purposely made a vague statement to draw in your curiosity but if you had refused-- well, that would have led to constant nagging on his part.

"You'll see," is what he said, it was what he told you through this whole ordeal. He lifted his chin to feel the frosty air against his face, "There's this one activity I wanted to try out. Back in Snezhnaya, I used to bring my brother to go skating out on the lakes. It's deadly freezing there so the ice is pretty thick to work on. Haven't done any of that since I joined the Fatui."

You shot him a deadpan glare, "That's why you brought me out here? Why didn't you just go by yourself?"

"Now that's cold (Y/n),” you rolled your eyes at the pun, “Can't you loosen up instead of throwing yourself in a pile of work all day?"

"It's not that I don't want to...I'm just very busy with the farm since it's the last day of the month. At least I want to do as much as I can before Spring comes."

"Haha you're right but you only live once y'know?" Childe noted happily despite your protest, "And like I said before, seize the opportunity when you see it. You never know when it will be your last."

You cocked your head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Now let's get started shall we?" As you both reach the edge of the frozen lake, Childe takes a step forward ahead of you, "Have you ever gone ice skating before?"

"Yeah but..." You glanced at the glassy surface with skepticism, suddenly struck by hesitance. The thought of drowning made you retreat your steps right away, "I don't know Childe, it doesn't seem that safe."

"That's true if you're not careful enough," he pointed out, "Luckily you have me to help you with that."

"How does that work?"

He placed one foot onto the hardened lake and parts his mouth into a grin, "Watch."

In contrast to your cautious personality, Childe was considered to be more of a wildcard if anything. He loved adventure, just like you except his side often included bloodshed and the thrill that danger carries. You weren't sure if it was worth putting up with his antics or entertaining his idea of skating on thin ice, but you complied regardless. He had a way of delivering his words through that cheery voice you couldn't deny.

Prior to meeting him, life was boring. The corporate world was boring. You moved into your grandfather's farm in order to search for some form of fulfillment that Zuzu city couldn't give and you thought you did now that you had your very own farm, but slowly you began to pile more responsibilities than you could even count.

Everything you did, you did alone.

If it weren't for Childe, you wouldn't have learned the art of surfing on ocean waters. You never would have known the taste of mixing three different ice-cream flavours together despite what strange names they all had. Or what it felt like to mingle with the townspeople rather than mingling for the sake of business. Suddenly, everything became...fun.

Childe wanted to go far and wide. He was always running, so far ahead, somewhere beyond the stars as he could conquer the world to the point you might no longer reach him.

No longer reach him, huh. Curling your fingers into your palm, you renewed your courage and took a step onto the ice.

At the sound of boots tapping behind him, Childe spins around to see you wobble in your stance, nearly tipping over. He slid across to where you were and grasped your arm before you fell.

"Gotcha."

"Thanks," You sighed in relief, "Jeez, this is harder than I thought."

"Guess this is your first time then," he commented with a bit of jest, "Don't stress yourself over it too much, you'll be okay. I got you."

He carefully led you to the center, staying close in case you were to fall sideways again. You awkwardly tried to keep your legs straight, balancing on your own yet the fact that there was still water underneath struck fear into your nerve. It caused you to tremble and eventually skittered backwards.

"Haha ice skating isn't your forte isn't it?"

"I'm just getting started!"

He takes your hand in his before you could even protest, it was one of his many aspects that you found endearing-- the fact his impulse stems from genuine intentions, feelings, not giving them a second thought. The two of you glide using the soles of your shoes, he speeds up ever so slightly and the adrenaline begins to increase until there comes a rush of excitement, freedom. The stress you once had already forgotten once taking flight upon the ice.

"Look Childe! I'm actually doing it!" You couldn't help mentioning with a bit of youthful playfulness in your voice, "It's so smooth and fast! Almost like I'm flying!"

He smiles quietly from a distance, “See? I told you that you'll be fine.”

It was clear to many that the two of you were much closer than what meets the eye.

Childe began to notice the change in your aura. You were happier and much more soulful. Before you were always on the edge, cautious in contrast to his sanguine approach, he couldn't help but be caught off guard whenever you teased him. Or the sudden honesty that causes him to be flustered. By your side, he was no longer a Fatui Harbinger rather more of a puppy, adorable almost.

But when he saw that the reason you changed was because of him, it brought fear into his bones. Why? How did things get to this point? You were lost in a wonderland, ignorant to the blossom that had sprung inside of your chest.

Maybe it was better to be ignorant. Just live in the moment while it can still last.

"You're leaving?"

Standing at the gateway between the mountain cliffside and the starry sky, you call out to the man you've known in a way that carries more than what words could say. Because he left a mark in your years that could never be erased and here he was, trying to erase his existence completely.

Childe lets out a bitter chuckle, he didn't dare to face you, "I didn't expect you to catch up so quickly. You're quick-witted, comrade."

"It's (Y/n)," you corrected, trying to steady your voice so that he couldn't tell the expression you were making, "Why didn't you say anything? What makes you think that I'll just stay silent and let you go on your own way? This isn't a joke Childe! Don't act as if none of it matters to you because it sure as hell did to me."

His lips that held his usual smirk flattens into a straight line, "Even if I did, would it make a difference?"

The world stills. You knew the answer, he knew the answer, you just refused to admit it. One by one, the stars begin to collect themselves until a bridge was formed in front of him, on another day he would be enjoying the scenery alongside you. But today they would be for you alone to witness. The man who you spent your time with had slowly, regretfully, inevitably became a stranger. He was right. It wouldn't make a difference. You were already aware since the day you met him that he belonged to another world and you willingly offered to help him find a way home.

"You know, you could come with me."

Your eyes jolt open. His voice was so free of care. As if he was commenting on something so minor on a casual Sunday afternoon while accompanying you to the beach. But when you came face to face with the harbinger, his expression lackluster, you knew that he meant every word.

"Just you and me, we can travel across the world to our heart's content. I always thought you were an adventurer just like me and you know what, the farm life just doesn't suit you," Childe slowly extends his hand as an offer, for you it was a temptation, "So what do you think? Care to join me?

Your lip quivers. What he said sounded like a sweet dream that you so desperately wanted to take a bite out of. But even so, you thought about the townsfolk, your farm, your grandfather. Their images flashed in as if holding you back, chaining you to the ground, "I can't."

The answer pained you more than it did to him.

"Figures, this is your home after all," he huffs out, " Now do you understand? I can't leave my home either. If I did, heh, I think my siblings would despise me until the very end and I just don't want that. So no hard feelings, okay?"

You didn't reply.

"Don't worry. I won't pressure you if you don't want to," Childe turns back to the bridge, it was almost time, "Do what you have to do (Y/n), hate me if it makes you feel any better. You can even forget about me," he paused, renewing his resolve, "But I know I won't."

"Childe-"

You ran to grab his scarf only to have it ghost through your hands. He was relieved that he couldn't hear your voice, as he returned to Teyvat, Childe wonders what kind of expression did you have before he left? He'll never know.

---

~Xiao's Story~

The day you met Xiao...well, you weren't in the best of the best positions.

This was probably your sixth attempt trying to make it through all levels of the cave and reach the last floor. The quest had been sitting in your drawer for months.

Of course you didn't expect things to be easy, the fortune teller channel you watched every morning had yet to inform you with any good fortune and you would often bump into obstacles that would halt your progress.

But to be fair, sometimes the colourful ore would attract your attention and before you knew it, it was time to go.

So close yet so far. You dragged your feet tiredly against the ground. What time was it? Who knows. Judging by your state, you assumed it had already struck past 12 a.m.

However, today luck seems to have taken pity on you, just...slightly.

You puffed air into your cupped hands for the nth time, huddling deeper into the touch of your coat while trudging into the cave's cold climate. A little longer, any time soon, you kept telling yourself over and over but as if time was frozen, the wait felt like an eternity. Ah how much you wish to be in the comfort of your soft, fluffy bed right now. Though, merely visualizing the image only reminded how achingly freezing it was so you decided it was best to spare yourself from the details.

"I can't do this anymore..." leaning your head against the ice covered cavern, you whimpered, "I should have stayed home."

As you were about to shut your eyelids, something flashed by your peripheral vision. You darted towards the direction it came from, the light was a bright green hue against blue, could it be, "Warmth!"

It seems you jumped to conclusions too quickly. With impatience, you swung around the corner, expecting to find a heat source, only to meet something much more horrifying.

"KYAH!"

They stared straight into your eyes, those demonic eyes tainted by black and fangs that stuck out of the mouth like tusks on an elephant.

However, when the light evaporated you were able to have a better sense of sight, slowly revealing the monster's true form and the body of a human boy. He fell onto his back with a thud and you used this chance to calm yourself from the frightful encounter.

"He's...unconscious?"

You meekly crawled to where he lay and examined closely. Aside from the mask, there were various distinct features that stood out in his attire, his tattoo being one of them, imprinted in what looked like an eagle. You then realized how unsuitable his clothes were in this current situation. At least there were no injuries so far. But was that a good thing? This man practically came out of thin air as if some sorcery had been committed. Witches never left a good impression ever since they cursed your chicken coop. You were hesitant whether to help a stranger who could potentially be one of them or a creation they cultivated. What other explanation could there be?

"I can't leave him here, it's too cold."

Your gaze suddenly falls upon his covered face. The design, although intimidating at first, upon closer look was very alluring in it’s own way. You haven't stumbled upon anything like what the merchants had to offer in Pelican Town and the mask almost looked too foreign. Was he from the east? Curiosity eventually takes over and you gingerly reach for the mask, sliding it off his face.

"Eh...?" You gasp, taken aback by his striking appearance. A part of it made you feel this was no ordinary boy but that didn't mean he should be abandoned in this environment. It would be immoral to let him die in a place like this.

Before you could even make a noise, his eyes bursted awake, grabbing your wrist in a harsh grip. He used his other hand to push against your shoulder until you were instantly pinned on your back with no opening to escape. You choked a sharp sound as you stared with wide eyes. The man was akin to a beast, he had the expression to match it, like the glaring sharp gaze of wolves that roam at the mountain cliffside near Zuzu city and the ferocity of the demonic mask he once wore. You were breath taken but in a more fearful way as he continued to grip onto you tighter with the possible intent to harm.

"Speak!” He demanded, “What have you done to my powers and where have you brought me?"

In Xiao’s case, he was thrown into another world under the circumstances of fighting against one of Liyue’s unknown beasts. He was on high alert, thinking the fight was still ongoing.

You may look human but you could still be a threat. Xiao is the type to act upon instinct in the moment when something feels out of place. Like the spear he wields, he was trained to behave like one: to strike, strike down his foes without hesitation. Don't leave an opening for them to take the advantage. Xiao is a weapon and violence was what he knew best. He couldn't afford to lower his guard even for a minute.

You could say he left a pretty strong first impression to the point you were paralyzed. As he looked at your face, petrified and tense, he wavered and began to reevaluate things. Large doe-like eyes stare into his feline ones. They didn't seem to hold any sort of malice, was it possible for you to be the one who cursed him?

"Eeeeeek! I-I have no idea what you're talking about, let me go let me go!" you cried, "Please don't hurt me!"

Perhaps he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.

Xiao feels your struggle and eventually gets off to give you some space. Your reaction was understandable, he was used to it anyways. Xiao scoffed to himself, why are mortals so weak? Their strength, if compared to the adepti, was separated by a large gap (Like it always should be). Xiao kept his gaze averted to the side as you rubbed your wrist, focusing his attention elsewhere. He glanced at the vastness of the cave in front of him.

Why was he sent here? For what reason did it serve? Ever since he sealed the contract with Rex Lapis, the guardian Yaksha had never entertained the thought of leaving his country nor did he act upon it; he was far too loyal to his god to do so. But here he was, against his own will yet free from his karmic binds, stripped of his divine powers in the return of endless questions about this new found mortal-like form.

What should I do now?

Choosing not to dwell in any longer, Xiao rises to his feet and proceeds to walk the other way.

"Ah u-uhm sir, where are you going?"

If the universe wanted to test him then he'll find his own answers.

"Wait! Please wait up!"

"Tch."

Although he intended to keep going, Xiao heard you running to his direction and slowed to a halt, some mortals surely do not know their boundaries, "Hmph there's nothing timid about you. Leave me be," he demands without turning around, "Don't forget what I'm capable of."

Stay away.

"I-I know that," you retaliate weakly. Just by hearing his tone made you want to melt away and become one with the ice. He was a scary man indeed, the same one who attacked you earlier. But even so, "That doesn't mean I want you dead! If you go that way, you might freeze to death. Aren't you cold? You don't even have a coat on."

"..." Upon the mention of his predicament, his senses started to kick in. As a yaksha, Xiao wasn't able to be affected by temperature but now he felt his hands beginning to sting, trembling from it’s impact. Ah, so this is what it feels like to be cold. Still Xiao was stubborn and continued to push you away, "What happens to me has nothing to do with you. Now leave, or else."

"I-I can't do that!"

Xiao clicks his tongue in frustration. How annoying. This is why he dislikes meddling with meddlesome humans. But quite frankly, he wasn't sure how to handle your type of forwardness since most tend to back away. And so, Xiao does what he usually does, he ignores you and continues walking, eventually you'll give up on him anyway. However he hears a loud thump and whips around to see your body laying in the snow. The hours of travelling in the cave have seemed to caught up that you inevitably collapsed from exhaustion.

Knitting his evergreen brows together, Xiao lets out an irritable sigh.

...

You wake up to find the sky above your head and your coat draped over your shoulders like a blanket. Dawn was slowly rising above the distance valley, you figured it was around 4a.m in the morning. Rubbing your eyes, you eventually noticed a figure sitting across, admiring the sunrise.

"Ah it's you!"

Xiao jolts ever so slightly, peeking over his bare shoulders until you could see the sun's light casted against his golden irises. Did he stay here while you were asleep? Then, that would also mean he was also the one who carried you all the way up from sixty floors below.

“You're awake,” he noted flatly, “If that's the case, then I have no reason to stay here."

Of course, that wouldn't be the last time you saw him.

You were a tenacious human being, always so insistent in dragging him away from his lonesome personality. He resides in the forest and camps there for the time being (similar to Linus since they’re both homeless lol). But you’d always run in, DAILY and sometimes for the most stupid and mundane reasons. It could either be giving him the snacks you snatched off the table since Xiao refused to participate in parties, or fancy seashells you found on the beach. You didn’t want him to miss out on all those things of course! Although he responds with irritation, it was as if his words went through your ear and then out the other. His efforts were futile (however, he was slowly warming up without realizing).

He learns how easily his body reacts in the presence of food purely because he was hungry. You bring an extra set of blankets and pillows to his campsite when the ones you gave him wore out (he didn’t ask by the way). Xiao needed help whether he liked it or not since he no longer has his powers, hence he couldn't run away. He somehow ends up moving in to live on the small islands near your farm.

Xiao doesn't understand humans very much. Just as he was unable to understand how human emotions work. He was the almighty yaksha, Adeptus Xiao and a formidable beast that killed thousands in thousands of years, at least that's what he used to be. Even now he still has yet to figure out what he was or who he was exactly without a weapon to define his existence. He was made for battle but nowadays, he found himself watering plants, chopping down trees and throwing seeds to the chickens living in your coop. How did everything escalate to this? It baffles him, how much his life changed so drastically.

Haha, you’re Xiao of course! The greatest farming assistant I could ever have.

But above all else, the one thing Xiao couldn't understand among those universal questions, is you.

"Why are you doing all this?" Finally he asked. The urging thought had been persisting at the back of his mind ever since.

You stopped on your tracks and turned to look at him, tilting your head with a complexion made curious, "What do you mean? Ah, did I do something to bother you?"

"I didn't say that," Xiao interrupts abruptly, he folded his arms across his chest and shot you a deep contemplating gaze, " You're...incomprehensible. All I did was drag you out of that cave yet why are you so kind to me? Don't you think you're extending yourself too much just because of one little deed?"

Because to him, saving a life was the norm. He does it unconditionally just like you helped him with those same intentions. Except, Xiao had been pursuing corrupted souls behind the scenes all this time and expected nothing in return. Experiencing someone's gratitude was rather new.

You shook your head, "It wasn't small to me," a satisfactory smile melting onto your face, "I'm here at this very moment, feeling the wind against my skin and smelling the scent that nature carries, these are just the few things I cherish. It's thanks to you that I can still watch over grandpa's farm, that's why I don't feel like I'm overextending myself in any way," suddenly you beam at him, "At first I thought you were a scary person. Haha. Time flies so fast, it's amazing how much can happen in between."

"Hn, you're a simpleton. But that's not a bad thing..." he points out curtly yet softly, "Do as you wish, I won't stop you so feel free to call my name whenever you need my help. I'll be there."

Xiao also finds you to be very clumsy. He couldn't leave your side even for a minute. But that was a lie. He just grew very attached to you.

When you tell him that you've been going into the mines for a quest, he tells you that you're far from capable. So he teaches you how to wield a weapon properly. Xiao was a strict teacher and he intends to keep it that way, he wouldn’t even allow you to set foot in the mines until he finds you capable enough.

You were a meek yet optimistic person, yet you were also strong-willed.

For a place that wasn't his home, he felt it was. And he found that it was all in your presence. Those peaceful hours hiding inside the barn while a storm rages outside, you sit beside him while hugging a sheep close to your chest. Xiao learns how to feed some of them, he even brings seeds for your hen house too. If you were ever short on materials, Xiao would travel to the enchanted forest behind the wizard's tower and get them for you, no matter how late it was. Though if you went by yourself, he'd deliberately go with you despite your protest.

The minute Xiao realized how much he was attached to you, it was devastating. As if the claws of his karmic debt had come back, pulling him into the shadows once more. He was an adeptus with a contract and bound by his duty, he must choose between his god who saved him from a nightmare and you, the girl he fell for, showed him that the world was indeed a beautiful place, he was stuck in an equilibrium and he felt that the binds may even tear him apart if he kept resisting.

But when did he ever have a choice?

"Where are you going Xiao?"

When he heard your voice calling his name, the yaksha willingly pulled himself to a halt. His sunset eyes narrowing from guilt before it shuts with a trembling sigh out of his mouth. Why is it that you always appear during the moments where he desperately needs to get away from you? He planned to sneak out the door, making sure his footsteps were unheard while you slept. And by the time you woke up, he didn't have to face you, he wouldn't have to say goodbye. He won't. Even if what he was currently doing said otherwise. He will never hear himself say those words.

"Xiao?"

Yet, he cannot refuse you. Not now, not ever. You were breathtaken to see a type of expression that you never thought was possible for him to make. The creases that once formed between his slender brows, the heaviness he always carried in his expression was replaced by a sense of sentimentality. Before you could register what was happening, Xiao took his step towards the porch of your house, not once did he tear away from your attention. He slides his hand beneath your jaw and affectionately against your cheek, the fondness evident in his gaze that you almost felt imprisoned by it.

"You never fail to appear in the most inconvenient of times," He gives a weak smile, a smile that makes your heart swell. Despite how much you could drown in his honesty, you couldn’t help but feel there was something wrong, “No matter how many times I’ve tried to push you away.”

You don't know him. You don't know his history and what things he committed in the past. But as if you've known this whole time, Xiao couldn't picture you leaving him for those reasons.

“You’re gentle but you don’t let others put you down. You’re kind but you don’t allow it to be your weakness. I sometimes wonder how it is possible for anyone to be so forgiving?”

"I-I don’t understand why you’re this Xiao. Is something happening?”

He won’t tell you. He doesn’t see the reason why you need to know.

You wince when something poked the side of your neck and you realized it was a tranquilizer. You looked at Xiao with dismay, his face becoming hazier until your vision darkened and could no longer hold your own weight. Xiao caught you around the waist with one arm as you fell unconscious.

"How can you be so stupid...?"

But he speaks as if those words were meant for him.

Pulling your body closer to him, Xiao chains you down into a desperate embrace. A silent scream of desperation. His forehead pressed against the bent of your shoulder and the other arm rested his hand at the center of your back. He will relish in the shape of your body, memorizing every curve both perfections and flaws. The way you fit into his arms and the pleasant smell of nature that you taught him to love, this was the only remnant he was allowed to take. Every detail, he will remember it as if clinging to the last moments of his whole world.

If he was allowed to have a desire, let him meet you again. He prayed to a god, any god-- even if it meant damaging his oath, he will accept his punishment. He prayed to each star in the sky and if he must he'll pray to the devil himself, whatever it is, he will do it for you.

As he painfully lets go, Xiao lets his hand slide off your body until the last thing he felt was the very tips of your fingers. He settles you down gently into your bed. You belong here in this peaceful world, not the one riddled with monsters.

---

~Zhongli's Story~

The Skull Cavern was considered to be the most dangerous mine of Stardew Valley. It wasn't your intention to run into any trouble, all you wanted was to test your cool new galaxy sword on some easy monsters and then be on your merry way. At first.

Just one more floor. You say, before catching an arm sticking out a pile of rocks.

"I-Is that a person?!!!"

You dug as fast as you could, any time soon the mummies would wake up and start attacking. Quick quick! Moving the last rock, you saw the face of a young man, he was asleep but alive! and undeniably attractive oh wow *lip bite*. But despite your attempts of shaking him awake, it was fruitless and the monsters weren't waiting.

Taking out two warp totems, you raised it to the ceiling and chanted a teleportation spell.

It wasn't everyday that you brought a man to your house.

But when you did, he wouldn't be from a cave, six floors down and buried in a place filled with monsters.

"And this small black device you say is some form of communicator? That certainly is intriguing, never in my years have I heard of something so advanced."

However you were beginning to think otherwise. That this man would have been from the prehistoric ages who you managed to unbury after his thousand year slumber. Zhongli sits on the couch across from you while examining your smartphone, a term he claimed had been completely foreign. You were contemplating whether you should bother Harvey despite being past his work hour and book an emergency appointment to see if this man had a special case of amnesia.

You brushed the idea away. There was so much going on and nothing made sense, for now, you decided to settle this on your own.

"Uhm Zhongli is it?" you asked nervously, "Maybe you can try giving the name of a relative or someone you know. I can use the phonebook to see if I can find their number."

“Number?” He parroted.

You blinked a few times, making sure if you heard him correctly, “Yes, number. You know? To communicate?”

"I appreciate your kind gesture," Zhongli acknowledges in a polite manner, "But that won't be necessary. This device doesn’t seem to be at a level where it can communicate with the people from my homeland."

If he was travelling then how the hell did he end up in THE Skull Cavern is what I wanna know!

“T-Then if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

Zhongli takes this moment to think of an answer, aware that if he blurted something out it would not have translated in the way he wanted. But you so kindly invited him to your humble household that he felt it would only be proper to owe you an explanation, "I suppose a land from afar."

You sweatdropped, "Suppose?"

"Yes. Although I won't spare you the details since this is not your burden to bear, it’s quite difficult for me to try and remember exactly what happened," Zhongli took his chin into his hand, fingers almost covering his mouth, "Perhaps I would need search for clues in order to refresh my memory."

Oh no he really does have amnesia!!

"A-Actually why don't I just call the local doctor, I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a hand," you say while taking your iPhone.

"A doctor? There's no need," dismissed Zhongli, "My condition is only a minor one and I do not think I'm in a position to afford medical assistance. Besides, you have done more than enough. May you find great fortune in your years Miss (Y/n), I shall be on my way."

He pushes himself up from the couch and you watch him cross towards the door. But just when he was about to reach the space of your carpet, Zhongli pulled to an abrupt stop.

"Ah yes,” He began as if remembering something, “ Do you happen to know where the nearest Inn is located? I would need to find a place to shelter for the time being."

"..."

This was how the former god ended up being your roommate. Like Xiao, Zhongli also takes upon a human form. He needed to eat, drink and a place to sleep. He insisted that he would take the couch as well as help you with any tasks that needed to be completed during the day.

You question if Zhongli was even aware of what situation he was currently in. Answer: HE WASN'T because Zhongli is an extremely dense man. To feel embarrassed was not part of his dictionary when living with a woman.

The type to take long showers. You always find the bathroom steaming because he doesn't turn on the fan to get rid of it (but maybe you should've taught him). So when it was your turn to use the shower, the water was either lukewarm or worst case scenario, cold.

Also he somehow finds your old kettle (that your grandfather used) to brew tea even though you told him you already had a water boiler. He stated that he liked doing things the old-fashioned way, it brings him a sense of nostalgia. You couldn't understand what he meant (unless you considered that he was older than he seemed....no that can’t be it!)

Despite it all, Zhongli was incredibly polite and considerate. Tending the farm was not an easy job and you often came home with sore muscles, fatigued from running so many errands. He's knowledgeable in terms of making the best herbal mix for a soothing remedy.

You would see a warm cup, every morning before going to work and every time you come home, it was sitting on the kitchen table (if his drink had potion effects, they would be regeneration).

Gentle he was but it wasn't good for your heart.

Ever since Zhongli moved in, it became difficult to live in your own house.

There were many situations where he caused trouble despite not intending to cause disruption to your daily routine. And when he did, the repairs came out of your own pocket. One time you opened your microwave to find thick ash and burnt cinders stuck upon the walls.The entire space was a hazard and needed to be dispensed immediately since Zhongli thought that plastic-wrapped items were allowed to be microwaved. Another incident, as bizarre as it sounded, was when your vacuum cleaner zoomed out of your house...and never came back. You remembered the awkward cough he gave when you shot him a deathly glare, hence why Zhongli was not allowed to touch your high-tech devices (if you considered them high-tech) without your permission.

Even so, you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him. It was the opposite in fact. One day, all the flaws you counted suddenly became his charms. You came to find them endearing almost.

Zhongli was a handsome man. He carried himself with a distinct aura that could only be found in the rarest geodes; revealing orestones mined from the depths of a forgotten cave, sometimes in the shape of exquisite artifacts-- a type of ancient charm. Perhaps that was why people were willing to obey his every command without hesitation. Whenever Zhongli spoke, it was full of firmness and authority yet somehow deprived of arrogance. He was polite to all and does not indulge in conflict despite how tempting gossip can be in modern society. Always patient during your temperamental moments and considerate to the point you wonder if he even had any desires. He was so kind that soon enough, you couldn't help but be flustered by his presence. Forget about having a conversation, maintaining his leveled gaze was already enough of a challenge. Like staring into the sun after the morning dew. So gentle and so very comforting. But the more you linger onto the sun, it's rays will continue to set ablaze, eventually bringing you pain.

And you feared that you have grown addicted to those feelings.

Why can't he understand?

Stopping at the center of the bridge, you kept your head low while letting the anger take form into your tightened fists. The town was empty with only the sound of water flowing beneath your feet, filling the heavy air. They rippled and swayed, peaceful amongst your inner turmoil. The fact that such a miniscule attribute was able to make your blood rise was hilariously pitiful. How did you stoop to a point that even nature, the very being you've tended for a living, could bring you bitterness? Were your feelings this uncontrollable? The answer was obvious. It spiraled, violently and mercilessly as if commanded by another. There was a wave of emotions filling your heart and you could almost feel yourself drowning from the inside. If only they were as tranquil as the ones you stood upon.

"I thought I would find you here."

The voice you dreaded calls from across and you fight to keep yourself from gasping. Oblivious to it all, Zhongli proceeds to close the distance until he towered over you, looking down to your bowed head, "When you hadn't returned home without a notice, I was getting worried if something had happened. But I'm glad that wasn't the case."

Your whole face clenches.

"Is something bothering you? If you would like, we can discuss it after eating dinner. Come, I have already prepared our meal while you were gone as well as turning off the rice cooker once finished. I hope it can ease your stress since I know it can be difficult maintaining a farm like this."

"Zhongli."

He blinks hard when the sound of his name falls out of your lips. Zhongli was an experienced observer and listener, he was able to catch the glimpse of frustration that dripped from the tone you used. Relaxing his poised shoulders, Zhongli carefully asked in a reserved manner, "Have I...done something to make you upset?"

A trembled breath escaped when you breathed out. Dense. He was so dense that sometimes it made you want to crack him open.

"Tell me..." you began, "Are you also like this with other women?"

The former god sets a brief sharp pause, "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm talking about the way you act, they're...giving me all these mixed signals. We've been living together for months, we even share meals together! And sometimes you would help me with the farm and when I didn't ask, you still insisted on tending to my needs when I felt sick. I just…” you trailed off, trembling ever so slightly, "It's all perfectly normal. You’re nice to everyone. I know that. I know that!"

"(Y/n)," Zhongli whispered. They sounded like a thousand needles to your heart.

"I doubt you have the intention to put me in this situation. You're a really great person Zhongli but I sometimes can't help feeling this isn't just some roommate thing you know?" closing your eyes, you thought of your past relationships, how they started and ended, "Do any of your actions mean anything to you? Do you know how it makes me feel? Or am I just overthinking this, that it was all one-sided this whole time?"

Alas the truth spills and the air stills, bringing the waves to a halt. Peace, tranquility, nothingness. That was all you wanted. That was all you heard. It was deafening.

"I see, so that's why," Zhongli mutters to himself with eyes narrowed, "There's...something I need to confess."

After several months, he tells you everything. How his memories returned, some of them were already intact. He told you about his homeland and his true identity, that he was a god that once ruled over Liyue for six centuries before giving away the gnosis.

The reason why he hadn't said anything until now was because there will be a day where Zhongli must depart and return to Teyvat. He was a god with a contract, the circumstance didn't matter, he must stay with it until the very end of time.

Through his years, Zhongli learned to cherish his finite moments. He didn't want to taint them with troubles to come. Thinking too far ahead into the future would only bring strain.

But what he didn't tell you was his true feelings. You were a sweet woman, tender and enthusiastic about agriculture, the way your feelings extend to the earth with grace whereas many others chose to trample over without hesitation, he fell deeply in love with that side of yours. You taught him many things and showed him many sides of humanity that he had never seen before. He even discovered an aspect of himself. Like breaking a geode, revealing the beauties held inside.

Zhongli couldn't look you in the eye when your expression was covered in disbelief. He thought he hid his feelings well but it seemed that he was expressing his love in subtle and subconscious ways that eventually drove you to fall for him as well. You didn't stop him when he left the bridge. He wasn't even in your house. He chose this, he chose to set you free from his heavy presence.

And as the weight started to lift from your shoulder, you sank to your knees and wept. It was cruel of him. To give you these emotions yet he could not bring himself to stay by your side. But your heart would not allow you to hate the man you love.

Things couldn't end this way. You had to say goodbye to him, see him one last time because if you didn't, these burdens will haunt you forever.

When Zhongli looked up to the sky he saw his ending drawing near.

Three days had passed since he last spoke with you and he had no plans in seeing you again. Soon, the former god will return to his rightful place. Even though he had already given his gnosis to the Cryo Archon as Liyue already began to enter a new era, it seems that his decisions weren't his to make as he was born in a world where stars ruled above the archons. Fate-- they won't allow it. He does not belong here. If there was one thing Zhongli regretted during his time in your world, it was that he couldn't leave you a good memory before taking his departure. The sight of your large glassy eyes and quivering lips when he crushed you with the truth, he sincerely believed that they would haunt him much more than it probably did to you. But perhaps things would be easier if you despised him. Because if he had stayed and you came to forgive him, he would no longer have the strength to let go.

Despite it all love was indeed a selfish creature. He couldn't help but feel resentment towards the stars for bringing you into his life in such a mockingly sweet manner. They tied him with a contract, made him vow to his own beliefs and tested them by using you-- a bystander struck between the crossfire, eventually bringing you down into the depths of his battlefield and he thought that maybe...maybe there was hope that he could bring you with him as well.

How disgraceful for a god to let the devil tempt him so.

Zhongli was thankful that you weren't beside him. Otherwise he would dance with the ugly hope of a slim chance for you to come along. This was the best choice. It was for his-- your own good.

"Zhongli!"

The arch of his lined eyes shot upwards. As if fate had decided to give him one final test, he felt your small figure crash into him from behind and your arms coming to hug around his waist, tightly and fearfully that he felt like you would be the one who would slip away instead.

"I...I made it time," you panted, burying your nose into his clothed back, "I’m so glad...I'm so glad you're still here…!"

Your cry of relief was a thunder to his ears, a reminder that he was the main cause. Zhongli, casted by solemn smile, lifts his hand to cover over yours and grasped onto them, I'm here, he wishes to say. Yet he knew they were only temporary promises, "To come all this way despite everything that has happened. You foolish girl..."

"It's your fault Zhongli, I'm a fool because I love you! It's all your fault that I have to say goodbye," You grit your teeth as the tears fell down your face until it blended into his clothes, "Take me with you. Please. Don't leave me all alone…!"

The words he wanted to say melted into a silent gasp through parted lips. Zhongli merely clenched them back together and his hand on your hand, even tighter. He won't lie to you. At the very least, let his actions speak for him where he himself could not.

Take me with you.

Don't leave me alone.

Goodbye.

If it is fated Morax...we will meet again.

"I see," letting his thoughts echo in his mind from the distant memories, the former god begins to take a new perspective upon his wisdom, "For many years, I have experienced countless farewells from the people I've come to known," Zhongli reminisced, tilting his head back with his golden eyes against night, as if searching for some sort of answer, "And yet I never thought what it must have felt like being in their position."

"Zhongli…" you trailed off, "Then don't! I may not know everything about you but it doesn't have to be this way. At least, just answer me this, will I ever see you again?"

"I'm sorry (Y/n)," he apologized and you knew the answer. He gently pries your arms off him, turning around so he could swipe the corner of your eyes dry. There was a glowing reverence in his countenance, one that he reserved for you and only you, it was the only way for him to express the feelings that run deep in his heart, "I cannot thank you enough for coming into my life. If there will be a day when I erode from your memories, I truly hope that you will find someone more suitable than I."

"That's ridiculous," defiantly, refusedly, you protest, "No one can replace you."

Zhongli laughs sadly as the white halo outlines his whole figure, signaling that there wasn't much time left. He wonders if there was anything he could do in his last moments, a small token, something, it could even be as small as a single star in the sky, "If it is fated...we will meet again."

You watch him turn transparent until he slipped from your grasp. No longer was the man, only the dust being one with the sky. They shone brilliantly but you were left in the darkness.

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comfortwriting · 3 years

Text

A Triwizard Baby Part 1 - F.W

Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Writing Prompt Masterlist,Taglist

Part 1 Fred Weasley x Fem Reader mini series

Requested/About: Best friends, Y/N and Fred Weasley share a night of passion together during the Triwizard Tournament, after that, everything changes and Fred can’t figure out why until the night of the final task. Y/N has the world on her shoulders, and Fred slowly finds himself losing everyone around him.

Want to be tagged? Let me know!

A/N: the ages/school year has been adjusted so everything is legal.

Warnings: Swearing, alcohol, intoxication, drunk and unprotected sex, losing virginity.

It all started when the more outspoken, confident twin crashed into you on the Hogwarts Express in your first year at Hogwarts. Sure, you were upset, embarrassed, and annoyed, but when you looked up and realised who had swept you off your feet, you knew it wasn’t your brain messing with you - from that moment you had fallen for him; Fred Weasley.

After your first train ride, classes, and many more along the way, over the years, you and Fred became best friends, going through thick and thin together, sharing the worlds loudest laughs, best pranks, and even the biggest tears. Your tiny crush on him blossomed into something much more, a love that couldn’t stop growing and spread out of control, but you were sure that Fred didn’t feel the same, and as you became older, reaching the end of your years in the education system, Fred discovered other girls and sex, whilst you drowned yourself in the life of parties and bottles of fire whiskey.

Fred loves the parties, he loves fire whiskey too, but he loves the other girls and the sex in a different way because they feed his ego, and it helped take his mind off you and the fact he didn’t have the guts to pursue you.

You were labelled as the party-girl which every girl wanted to be and wouldn’t challenge to a drinking game if their gold was on the table, and Fred gained the title as the play-boy, who made every lad jealous and watch in envy as he never got rejected and could flirt with any girl he wanted.

You had to hear the stories of your best friend fucking your classmates, and how much they loved it, praising him and gossiping about how skilled he was with his fingers, tongue, and cock. You were jealous, and you didn’t want to admit it, but you couldn't invent your sex life to reach Fred’s rank - you had never had sex - you were a virgin through and through.

Sitting next to Fred on the edge of his bed in the hospital wing you shook your head, laughing at the state of him and his twin, George.

“I’ve got to say, you’ve got a magnificent beard.” You laughed, the sight of George being an old man funnier than you expected.

Fred smirked despite still being pissed off with George “I never knew you were into older men” he winked.

“Well, you never asked.”

George groaned out “get a bloody room, the pair of you!”

You rolled your eyes at him and pulled Fred’s pillow from under his head, causing him to slump down, you bashed George with his pillow, sticking your tongue out at him and pulling a face.

“Y/N, don’t encourage them!” Madame Pomfrey hurried over, retrieving Fred’s pillow “Out! Out!” she shooed you.

Standing up and put your hands up in defence “Alright! I’m going!”

Fred’s smirk turned into a grin, “Watch the first task with us?” he asked.

You nodded “with pleasure, I heard Bill is going to be there.”

And you weren’t wrong, the first task came within the blink of an eye, you were honoured to meet Bill in passing - more like a “Hello!” with an awkward wave, followed by “Goodbye!” and another awkward wave, but the dragons fascinated you, and Fred spent the majority of the task watching you instead of the Hungarian Horntail, Swedish Short-Snout, Chinese Fireball, and the Common Welsh Green. George had to keep reminding Fred that their money and future business was on the line.

During the celebration party as it got later in the evening, you and everyone else surrounded Harry, clapping and cheering as he lifted the golden egg infant of him, parading it around, all of you watching and waiting eagerly, encouraging him to open it in hopes that it could liven up the party - giving everyone an excuse to stay up late and continue drinking.

Fred and George lifted Harry up, propping his legs on either of their shoulders, their arms strapping him in so he was above the large and busy crowd.

“Knew you wouldn’t die, Harry.”

“Lose a leg.”

“Or an arm.”

“Pack it in altogether.”

“Never!”

Fred and George stopped heaving Harry into the air, Seamus begging for a clue, you stared at Fred, your eyes getting lost in the strands of his long golden hair, but you weren’t the only one - the girls behind you were fixating on him, whispering about his good looks and height.

You zoned out completely, the same jealousy and bitterness spreading through your veins, you had to talk to him, tell him you loved him, but how?

Harry opened the egg, bright light of gold broke out followed by loud screeching, breaking you out of your toxic train of thoughts, Fred and George dropping Harry and flinching like you and everyone else, covering your ears and begging Harry to shut it up.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Ron interrupted.

Fred huffed and shook his head “As if this party couldn’t get any worse.” he turned around and tried to flee to his dorm room, calling it a night and encouraging everyone to get to bed.

The two girls behind you who were salivating over Fred pushed past you and called him over, blushing and batting their eyelashes at him.

“We’re throwing a party of our own” she eyed him up as if he was something to eat “tonight doesn’t have to end on a downer.”

Her plan worked, instantly gaining Fred’s attention, he grinned and nodded “Wicked, can I bring someone along?”

“George is already invited” her friend replied, smirking at George.

“Can I bring someone else too, though?” Fred asked.

The girls exchanged looks with one another cautiously, but they didn’t want to let him down or uninterested him, “Of course! Who?”

Probably his friend Lee or some girl he’s fucking.

“Y/N!” Fred called out, smiling at you “You want to join this party with me?”

The girls glared at one another, muttering and swearing under their breaths to one another.

This is your moment, Y/N, don’t mess this up, shoot your shot.

“Yeah!” You smiled back, feeling honoured and slightly shocked “Yeah, sure!”

Once everyone had cleared off, you and your new group sneaked out of the common room and into Moaning Myrtle's territory, all the professors were either partying or fast asleep, even Mr Filch and Mrs Norris grudgingly had the night off.

The dark and grubby bathroom spun around whilst you got onto your knees, the cold tile floor making you shudder when coming into contact with your warm legs. The two girls smirked and sat down too, the shorter one pulling Fred to sit down next to her, her hand continuously placing itself on his knee, ticking you off.

“Well, since Y/N decided to drink her feelings, we’ve got an empty bottle and we could do with a game to lighten up the mood.” The shorter girl spoke out, causing Fred to give her a dirty look for calling you out.

“What is it then?” George asked “Pretty shit place for a party.”

“Careful” you hiccoughed “Don’t want to make Mrytle cry.”

“We’ve decided truth or dare, but with spinning the bottle. Whoever it lands on has to answer a truth, or accept a dare from the spinner.”

You rolled your eyes “Seems very... tween like of you.”

Fred laughed.

“You weren’t invited, so feel free to leave if this party isn’t good enough for you.”

You ignored her and played along anyway.

“George” she squealed “Truth or dare?”

George hesitated for a moment “Truth”

“Does Fred keep you up at night with all the girls he brings back?”

After what felt like an eternity, the bottle finally landed back and George, and he spun the bottle, causing it to land on you.

“Y/N, truth or dare?”

I swear if you ask me anything stupid -

“D-dare.” you hiccoughed again, trying to act bigger than your boots.

George stared at the two desperate girls and looked back at you “I dare you to snog my brother.”

Okay, I really wish I went for truth, what was I thinking? Bloody hell!

“Okay then” you replied nervously, crawling in the middle of the circle, Fred crawling over to you, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

Fred’s warm, large, gentle hands cupped your face, leaning in, his lips pressed against yours shocking both of you as if a spark had ignited, whilst you kissed back, your hands tangled in his long golden hair and the two of you were suddenly hit with the realisation of how in love with one another you actually were.

More students had caught wind of the lame party and livened it up, playing music and brightening the bathroom up with colourful moving lights, bringing more fire whiskey and encouraging everyone to dance.

Everyone around you watched as you and Fred continued to snog, his tongue dancing with yours, his cock starting to support a semi, everyone cheered aside from the two girls who felt as if they had shot themselves in the foot.

“Okay!” the girl called out again, trying to pull Fred away “Times up!”

but he didn’t want to stop, and neither did you, the memories you shared playing out in front of you.

“I’m sorry for crashing into you” he frowned, sitting next to you on the train “is your head alright? I can try and make the bruising go away.”

You couldn’t stay mad at him, you chuckled and shook your head “It’s okay but thank you for offering” you smiled.

His twin brother entered the carriage, “Fred-” he stared at you “what’s happened to you?”

“I wish you were coming with us” Fred sighed, grumbling to himself.

“Oh don’t be silly, you’re going on holiday!” you beamed “just make sure you take plenty of pictures, I’ve heard Egypt is lovely!”

“I’ll write to you and I’ll send the photos through the owl post if I’ve got enough time.”

“We’re supposed to be studying for our O.W.Ls!” you hissed at Fred, hiding your answers from him as he continued to make your stationary levitate and drop onto your head.

“Please take part in this prank, Y/N” he begged “I promise I won’t ask for anything ever again.”

“But you always do, Freddie!”

He stared at you, pouting and making puppy eyes.

“Fine” you sighed, giving in “Let’s go and do it then.”

Fred punched the air and grabbed you by the hand, pulling you away from your desk, the two of you smirking and giggling with excitement.

“I didn’t realise it would be this cold” you shivered, standing outside of Honey Dukes, snow falling from the sky and sticking to the pavement.

Fred pulled off his knitted jumper “Put this on love, don’t want you freezing now do we?”

The memories snapped away as Fred fell back, his arm in the girl's hand, you were desperate for more and opened your eyes, frowning that he had been dragged away for a dance with her, you watched as she wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands rested on her waist.

Getting off your now red cold knees and standing up, you downed some more fire whiskey from the first bottle you laid eyes on and decided to copy Fred - dancing with anyone who wanted you - grinding against them, having them hold you close and breathing down your neck, you had to admit, for someone who had never done this before, you were doing a pretty good job, almost as if you had done it before.

Fred couldn’t get you, the kiss, the feeling of your lips, tongue, and the replay of memories out of his head. Breaking away from the girl, he approached you as you pulled away from the tall Hufflepuff lad, finally reuniting with the love of your life. Almost instantly, Fred’s lips collided with yours, your hands back to being tangled in his hair and his hand squeezing your behind teasingly, alcohol on your breath and his.

“I want you.” you breathed, pulling away from the kiss “I want you to fuck me like you do everyone else.”

“I want you too” Fred replied, taking your hand and fleeing from the party.

After what seemed like a marathon, you finally burst into Fred’s empty dorm room, he shut the door behind him and locked it before kissing you passionately, lowering you onto the bed and taking your clothes off.

This was it, the moment you were craving for years on end, this was it, this was how you would be losing your virginity, this would be giving yourself to your best friend entirely.

But Fred had no idea that it was your first time, in his head, you were having just as much sex as him.

Fred couldn’t get over the sight of your naked body, your breasts, your tummy, your bum, your inner thighs, your exquisite crotch - you were the definition of perfect, he had forgotten about every girl he had ever seen naked at the sight of you, you were making him feel as if this was his first time all over again.

Fred sucked on your nipples whilst he stimulated your clit with his fingers, warming you up, the sensation of his warm tongue and mouth sent shivers of pleasure down your spine, and as nervous as you were, you couldn’t stop yourself from moaning as he played with your touch starved clit.

“Are you ready, Y/N?” Fred asked, pulling away from your breasts.

“Yes,” you breathed out, slurring slightly “I’m ready Freddie.”

Fred’s head, like yours, was also spinning. He stumbled and reached for the lube, applying it onto his length and then across your tight hole. Fred felt as if he had forgotten something, but the more he wracked his own brain, the more he couldn’t remember what he needed. He laid you on your back and climbed on top, lining himself against your entrance.

Looking at you one last time to make sure, you nodded, and he slowly pushed himself inside of you, stretching you out as your walls tightened around you. You winced as you experienced an entirely new feeling, Fred slowed down and stayed still inside of you so you could adjust to his size when you were ready to continue, Fred started to trust himself inside and out of you gently, holding your hand and kissing your head as you started to feel incredible pleasure, your soft moans spilling from your lips.

Fred couldn’t believe he had gotten so lucky, he was fucking - no - he wasn’t - he was making love to the most perfect girl in the world, someone he actually cared deeply for and had feelings for, you weren't a stranger, you were special, you weren’t temporary, you were soothing his aching heart - your absence was the cause, and your love - the medicine.

You watched as Fred’s hard cock slid inside and out of you, you admired his perfect body, the way he moaned and expressed the pleasure he was feeling through his facial expressions, you gripped onto his hand tighter as he picked up his speed and throbbed inside of you, you didn’t want this to end, you wanted to live inside this moment forever.

“My- My tummy feels tight” you panted, not knowing what was happening.

“Cum for me, Y/N.” Fred panted too “Don’t hold back.”

Oh, so that’s what that feeling means?

The pressure built up until it burst, you felt yourself explode as the pleasure became more intense, you relaxed and released, creaming down Fred’s length, your walls strangling him.

“Fuck!” Fred panted, the beads of sweat spreading across his forehead and back “I’m cumming baby!”

Baby.

“Y/N!”

Fred released his sperm deep inside of you without realising he didn’t have a condom on, you didn’t know whether he had put one on or not either, you didn’t know to ask or mention it, you were on birth control up until last week, you had to come off it due to the side effects and stress you under as your N.E.W.Ts approached.

Fred slowly pulled out and collapsed in your arms, the two of you holding one another, your eyes too heavy to stay open.

As you drifted off to sleep, your life was about to change forever.

Taglist: @amourtentiaa @reeophidian @alwaysnforeverfangirl @inglourious-imagines @horrorxweasley @sebby-staan @onlyfreds @pandaxnienke @xmalfoyweasleyx

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patchofsunlight · 4 years

Text

Back to You | Zuko x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Fire Lord Zuko falls in love with one of the Kyoshi Warriors sent to protect him. Thankfully, she falls in love with him too.

WORD COUNT: 5.2k I wanted it to be shorter than Pretty Eyes and succeeded... kind of

WARNINGS: okay so there’s some kissing, some swear words, some obvious mutual pining, some frustration, and that’s it. it’s pure fluff ngl

I hope you all like it! I actually had a lot of fun writing this and I think it came out pretty nice. Also requests are open! Thank you for reading and here we go.

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

“Y/N, we’ve talked about this. You can call me Zuko, and it is a diplomatic meeting, not a date.”

“You sure? He’s wearing such nice clothes. I can do your hair real quick if you want, get you ready and cute in like five minutes.”

“No, Y/N, thank you. You can let Ambassador Gamu in.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be just outside the door if you need me.”

“Of course.”

Zuko tried to ignore the cheeky blink the Kyoshi Warrior sent his way before leaving his office, a teasing grin adorning her painted face. When Suki told him she would bring the most experienced and talented of her warriors alongside her to protect him and serve as his guards, he definitely did not think he would have to deal with someone like Y/N.

He knew she was, for sure, a strong and intelligent fighter, being Suki’s second in command and impressively skillful with every single one of her weapons. He had watched her spar with her companions more than once and seeing Y/N fight never failed to take his breath away until his lungs were filled with only admiration and pride. However, one could call her less than professional, and her treating of the Fire Lord troubled most of the palace’s staff. And yet, to be honest, Zuko found it really hard to pretend he didn’t absolutely adore her.

Y/N felt like a breath of fresh air, like sunshine on a cloudy day, like seabreeze. He loved the way she always teased him and tried to make him laugh, loved the way she seemed to brighten up every room she walked into. Somehow she managed to bring joy to the same place he always associated with sadness and anger — every corner of the palace was happier with her around. That’s why he chose to keep her as his closest guard, even after every single one of his advisors told him time and time again to send the disrespectful Kyoshi Warrior away. Zuko knew he probably should, but he was slowly learning how to accept and cherish the things that made him feel like smiling, and Y/N was undoubtedly on that list.

He refused to admit how in love he was with her. He had convinced himself it was nothing but a crush, some sort of appreciation for her amazing fighting skills, but a small part of him knew that was not true. He had it bad for her and would kill a man to keep a smile on her face any day of the week.

“It is very good to know the Earth Kingdom is so willing to tighten its relationships with the Fire Nation, Ambassador Gamu. I hope I can assist you in every way possible to guarantee a brilliant future for all nations.”

The Earth Kingdom official smiled politely, “thank you very much, Fire Lord Zuko. Nevertheless, it is crucial you are made aware that not all our citizens are happy with the new… Arrangements between our countries. I heard you have had a similar problem here, haven’t you? I truly hope the Kyoshi Warriors have been good servants and protectors, sir.”

Zuko couldn’t help the upwards movement of his lips as he gazed at Y/N’s silhouette through the door crack. “They certainly have,” he watched her look behind her, probably feeling his stare, and grinned when she shot out her tongue at him in an amusing manner, “I am extremely grateful for having them here with me.”

-----

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

He glanced up from his desk and furrowed his eyebrows at her, “it’s Zuko, and I don’t have any meetings scheduled for today.”

Y/N beamed and he was sure his heart did a somersault inside his chest, “I know! I was talking about me. I’m your date.”

He lightly blushed, “what?”

“Come on, Fire Lord, you’ve been working for hours on end. You need to take a break,” she scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment and thanked every spirit there was for the white paint hiding her reddened cheeks, “I thought we could take a walk around the palace, y’know? I’ll be beside you doing the whole protecting thing and you can rest a bit from the whole rebuilding the Fire Nation thing.”

Zuko hesitated, “I don’t know, Y/N. I really need to finish this,” he gestured to the awaiting letters and reports in front of him, “I can’t simply leave. I have obligations as Fire Lord and—”

“I’m aware of that,” she bit down on her lower lip teasingly and he couldn’t help but think about the inevitable gasps she would have earned if anyone else heard her interrupt him like that, “but you shouldn’t overwork yourself. Besides, I’m tired of standing around doing nothing. Please? It will be so fast no one will even notice you’re gone!”

He sighed, “Y/N…”

“Please, Zuko?”

It was probably the first time she had ever called him by his name. She knew how much he hated being called Fire Lord, only accepting it during important gatherings, assemblies or introductions, but insisted on calling him by that anyway. Zuko was absolutely sure she only did it to spite him and had to admit it was kind of endearing — he loved the small ways she found of constantly challenging him. However, he quickly learned he loved hearing her say his name a lot more.

He sat up suddenly, “five minutes.”

Y/N grinned so brightly he had to bit back his own smile, “fifteen!”

“This is not a negotiation. Five minutes and then I’ll come back to my duties as a leader.”

“Okay, okay. Ten minutes then.”

“What? No, I didn’t agree to that.”

“Oh? I’m sorry, Fire Lord. Fifteen it is.”

Zuko opened his mouth to oppose when he heard her chuckle in amusement before taking a hold of his arm and pulling him towards the gardens.

“We could feed the turtleducks, but I don’t really think that’s a good idea,” she chattered lightly, somewhat begrudgingly letting him walk arm in arm with her instead of keeping on dragging him around, “I already did that earlier today.”

He wrinkled his nose and stared at her with a silent question in his eyes, “why did you feed the turtleducks? We have people here to do that.”

“I know,” Y/N shrugged her shoulders, “but they are cute so I asked to feed them,” she threw him a smile, “I’m pretty sure they liked me.”

Zuko shook his head cheerfully and smiled back almost instantly, “Of course they did. How could they not?”

She turned her head to look at him so quickly he wondered how she didn’t get whiplash. The Kyoshi Warrior smirked, “are you flirting with me, Fire Lord?”

There was a tingling session going through his body as the color red creeped upon his neck, face and ears. Zuko wanted to say something smooth like “yes, I have been for a while, haven’t you noticed?” or “how could I not flirt with such a pretty lady like you?”, but he only managed to stutter, slightly panic, and then answer in a high-pitched voice, “what? No! What?”

Y/N lifted her free arm in surrender, trying not to laugh at his reaction, “alright, sorry for asking,” she smirked again before muttering, “I wouldn’t mind if you were, though.”

The Fire Lord’s eyes widened in surprise at her words, his tone now back to normal, “what do you mean?”

For some reason, his inquiry seemed to make her self-conscious of their conversation topic. Zuko wished for nothing more than to punch himself in the face. “It’s nothing. I was just joking.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Great. Look, it’s been five minutes already!” she stared at her wrist so confidently he almost didn’t notice the lack of anything to actually check the time there. “You must go back to your Fire Lord things, right, Fire Lord?”

“We can still go see the turtleducks if you want?”

“Don’t worry! We can do that another time, when you’re not busy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Hey, that’s Suki! I need to talk to her! Bye!”

“What? Y/N—”

“Bye, Fire Lord!”

Y/N was going absolutely crazy. When Suki first brought her to the Fire Nation to protect the so-called revolutionary and strong new Fire Lord, she had been skeptical. After all her years training and helping people around the nations with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors, she couldn’t care less about the damn Fire Lord — she had spent a long time locked up after Azula and her stupid gang captured them and no new or old Fire Lord had come to their rescue. In conclusion, the bitch could catch on fire himself and be an On-Fire Lord for all she cared (she had spent too long thinking about that joke but that definitely did not matter), even though Suki had told her she knew the guy and that he was a great person or whatever.

Now she was biting her own tongue and trying to keep from flirting with him. In her defense, though, Zuko was a thousand times more good-looking and a billion times nicer than she expected him to be. She couldn’t help but always look for ways to make him smile, loving all his little quirks and habits, and suddenly found herself by his side a lot more than she needed to. She constantly acted as a personal guard, waiting outside his door during private meetings and accompanying him on walks, assemblies and gatherings in a somewhat intimate manner. She didn’t need to be right beside him the whole time — she could protect him from afar and maintain her distance like the other Kyoshi Warriors had chosen to, but Y/N simply didn’t want that. The stupid feelings she was slowly building towards the Fire Lord were dangerous at worst and annoying at best, constantly distracting her from her duties and responsibilities as Suki’s second in command.

It was infuriating, since love and relationships had never been really the type of stuff Y/N liked to partake in. She was good at fighting and giving witty responses and making jokes, but not at liking someone. Specially not liking Fire Lord Zuko, who was one of the most powerful people in the world and would certainly end up marrying some rich Fire Nation girl to guarantee a great and honorable successor to the throne or something like that.

When she finally went back to her individual palace room after a long day of trying not to embarrass herself in front of Zuko anymore and just all-around avoiding talking with him, she sat down before the mirror and started to take her facepaint off. That part of her routine, alongside putting on the paint in the mornings, had always felt like a ritual of sorts, calming her down and enabling her to let go of any unimportant worries.

Y/N let out a tired sigh, stared at her bare face and grinned. She might have fallen in love with the Fire Lord, but at least living in the palace allowed her to sneak into the kitchens in the middle of the night and steal some fruit tarts. She got up from her spot in front of the mirror and exited the room as quietly as possible, strongly believing that eating something would take her mind off the Fire Lord and his beautiful golden eyes.

-----

After another full hour of fruitlessly waiting for sleep, Zuko decided to put on an old cloak and walk around his palace. Pacing had always made wonders for helping him collect his thoughts and calm down from whatever it was that troubled him that day. It was not the first time he took on that habit and it would not be the last.

He honestly didn’t notice the person creeping up on him until he was pinned to a wall, an arm to his throat not pressing hard enough to hurt him, but enough to quicken his heartbeat. Zuko stared at the one responsible for the assault with confusion shining in his eyes, unable to recognize her without her greasepaint until she blinked and stepped back.

“Fire Lord?”

He widened his eyes, “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“I was headed for the kitchens. What are you doing here? Did something happen?”

“No. I just couldn’t sleep.”

“I see,” she nodded and yawned, averting her eyes from him, “you shouldn’t be out and about without a guard, tho. You know that.”

“I’m pretty capable of protecting myself, Y/N.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

He crossed his arms in defense, “what is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you want to go grab some snacks with me?”

“I—” he stared at her, for the first time seeing her blush under his gaze, “okay.”

“Great! Let’s go, Fire Lord.”

Zuko stayed quiet while they walked through the palace. He watched Y/N greet every single night servant they met on their way, earning big smiles and excited waves. For some reason, knowing how loved she was by his workers made his heart swell with pride. She would make an excellent Fire Queen someday. Or Fire Lady. Was there an official name for the Fire Lord’s wife? He couldn’t remember.

Zuko felt all the blood in his body drop to his feet when he noticed where his thoughts had wandered to. He shouldn’t think about Y/N as his wife — she was merely a protector, the help. He was not in love with her and therefore should not deliberate such things, not even by accident.

But he had never seen her bare faced before and he couldn’t help but take note of how alluring she was. He had always considered her pretty, but now he could really see her and she was so much more than just pretty.

“Come on, Fire Lord. I’m sure they have fruit tarts.”

He smiled as she sneaked inside the door to the kitchens, following soon after. In a matter of minutes they were sat before each other on the ground, sharing a bunch of fruit tarts Y/N had found hidden inside one of the cabinets. There was a comfortable silence surrounding them and Zuko appreciated how easy it was to be near her, without expectations or curious looks. Whenever he was next to the Kyoshi Warrior, he came close to forgetting his titles and obligations, satisfied with being simply who he was.

It felt nice.

“You look good with your hair down,” she announced suddenly, unaware of the thoughtful look on his face, “I like it.”

He felt his cheeks burn, “thank you, Y/N,” the young Fire Lord inhaled deeply to gather the courage necessary to express the response that came to mind, “you look good all the time.”

She stilled her movements with a fruit tart inches from her mouth, eyes blinking in surprise. After a tense moment, she grinned and lowered her arm, “do you really think so or are you just being nice?”

“I mean it, Y/N. You are… You are absolutely beautiful.”

The pair studied each other for a few instants, eyes sparkling with a breathtaking feeling both easily recognized but were not ready just yet to deal with. Y/N beamed at him, her face pink at the compliment. Zuko could feel his heart twist and turn inside his chest, butterflies flying in his stomach. “Why, thank you, Fire Lord. For the record, I have found you beautiful since I first saw you. I was expecting some rude and cranky old guy and there you were, with your pretty eyes and nervous smile. It was pleasant in a very surprising way.”

The Fire Lord was pretty sure she could hear his heartbeat as she leaned in almost subconsciously, her smile brightening up every small spot his eyes could see of the dark kitchen.

He was, indeed, very much in love with her, and there was no use in denying it, not while she averted her gaze to his lips and seemed to get closer and closer until their noses touched. Zuko’s breath hitched inside his throat as her lips ghosted his, eyes fluttering close before a loud bang sent them jumping in opposite directions, searching the source of the noise.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

The Kyoshi Warrior scratched her neck shyly, adamantly avoiding Zuko’s stare, “yes, Izum. How are you?”

The servant walked up to her with crossed arms, “I told you to stop invading the kitchens at night! You’re gonna put an end to our fruit tart stock, young lady.”

The Fire Lord watched the interaction curiously. Y/N and Izum smirked at each other as if they were old friends. “Well, if you don’t want me to steal your fruit tarts, you should maybe stop making the best fruit tarts in the entire universe.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, honey.”

“You sure?”

“Yes! Fire Lord Zuko will be alerted about this.”

“I think he might already know.”

The young man seemed to finally notice Zuko’s presence, widening his eyes in surprise and bowing respectfully, “I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there, it’s too dark and—”

“It’s fine, Izum, don’t worry. We’ll be off your kitchens in a second. Right, Y/N?”

“Of course,” she brushed the dust off her pants and walked to stand beside the Fire Lord, ignoring her friend’s raised brows, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will,” Izum looked from her to Zuko and then back to her, a teasing smile on his face when he greeted them goodbye, “good night, Y/N. Good night, Fire Lord Zuko.”

“How do you know him?” the Fire Lord asked after they left the kitchen, some sort of discomfort growing inside him at the way the Kyoshi Warrior had interacted with the servant.

“Oh, Izum is a good friend. He regrets deeply telling me where they keep the fruit tarts, but it’s too late now. We met during my first week here.”

“I see.”

“Let me take you back to your room, Fire Lord. It is already very late.”

Despite his unacknowledged jealousy, he wasn’t fast enough to bit back his smirk, “shouldn’t I be the one leading you to your room?”

“I am the guard, Zuko. I am the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”

He chuckled, “right.”

“I can put you to bed if you want, I used to do that to my younger sibling sometimes.”

“Shut up, Y/N.”

She threw her had back in laughter and he grinned.

They didn’t ever talk about what happened (or more accurately didn’t happen) during that dark night in the kitchens. Zuko was progressively busier with meetings and peace treaties, slowly putting the Fire Nation back in good rails. Y/N would routinely force him to take a break every once in a while, be it by leading him outside his office or taking his attention away from work and starting conversation.

Spirits, he was so in love with her.

It was during one of those breaks that one of her fellow Kyoshi Warriors knocked on his workroom’s door and entered with a nervous look on her face, nodding at him in respect before turning her attention to her friend, “Y/N?”

The young warrior smiled, “hey, Naya. Is everything alright?”

“Suki wants to speak with you. Privately.”

Y/N’s expression was instantly filled with worry and concentration. She gripped her katana tightly, walking towards the girl, “I want three warriors guarding the Fire Lord at all times, we are not taking chances regarding his safety. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Y/N.”

“Good,” she turned to Zuko, her stone-cold face easing momentarily. She marched up to him with conviction before planting a kiss on his cheek that made his body burn with surprise and happiness. “Be careful, Fire Lord. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“I—I… I mean… I’m—” he kept on stuttering, unable to form an entire sentence with his feelings all over the place, “You… I—”

She smirked, walking away backwards, “see you, Zuko.”

Naya looked at him with a cheeky smile after Y/N left the room, crossing her arms and staring in a teasing manner. Zuko was still rooted into place, widened eyes and reddened cheeks watching the now closed door. “Are you alright, Fire Lord Zuko?”

“I—yeah. I am. Yes,” his tone was definitely not as certain as he wanted it to be, “of course.”

The girl giggled, “sure.”

The Fire Lord would only see his favorite guard again on the following day. She came to visit him in his office and had a gravity to her eyes that he was unfamiliar with, lips pressed together in determination.

“What happened?” he immediately asked, the letter he was working on quickly forgotten. “Are you okay?”

“There have been attacks to the warriors in Kyoshi Island,” she declared, “not everyone is happy with our new arrangements. People think Earth Kingdom fighters shouldn’t be helping the Fire Nation in any way.”

“Oh,” he managed to answer, anxiety building up inside him at her hardened expression. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Zuko,” she looked away from him, “but we can’t leave our companions to fend for themselves.”

He could feel his heartbeat pick up, “I see.”

“Suki is sending me back to Kyoshi Island,” Y/N confessed, a hint of sadness to her tone, “I’m her second in command and I should be there to help our warriors through this.”

A heavy silence fell upon the room, tension sparkling between the couple. He knew what that piece of information meant, knew what it would cause.

“You’re leaving.”

She softened almost instantly, taking a step closer to him and then hesitating, “no!” he stared and she sighed, “I mean, yes, but I’ll return when it’s over,” she looked at him with some sort of desperation, eagerly searching for something she couldn’t find, “when everything’s done and dealt with, I’ll return.”

Zuko nodded, a disheartening sting running through his chest, “I understand. Leaving is your duty as a leader.”

“I’m not leaving, Zuko,” another step, “I’ll come back. I’ll—” she hesitated, taking a final step towards him and reaching for his hand uncertainly, “I’ll come back to the Fire Nation,” she interlaced their fingers carefully, “I’ll come back to you.”

It was his turn to step closer, bringing his free hand up to her face and sighing when she leaned onto it, hopeful eyes shining at him. When he finally spoke, his voice was a whisper, “will you?”

She chuckled sadly, moving to rest her forehead on his, staining his face with the white paint and rubbing circles alongside the back of his hand with her thumb, “I will. You are not getting rid of me this easily, Fire Lord.”

“Good. I didn’t want to.”

She smiled. On that exact moment, Suki opened the door and studied the scene before her with a bittersweet gaze, “Y/N, it’s time to go.”

His chest clenched in pain and distress, glancing from Suki to Y/N with anguish, “you are going now?”

The Kyoshi Warrior distanced herself from him and Zuko could’ve sworn he felt physical pain at the space between them, “I’ll come back, Zuko. I promise.”

-----

It was like he had a constant sunshine right beside him and now it was gone. He was pretty sure every single person in the palace had noticed the liking he had taken to moping around and staring sadly at the turtleducks, missing the one he had come to love. He thought his feelings for her would subside after her departure, but, oh dear, was he wrong. The deep ache that settled in his chest was enough to constantly remind him of how much he liked her, how much he missed her. Not having her around hurt so much that it became inconvenient, making it difficult to work and complete his responsibilities when he was constantly thinking about her safety and about what could have been if she had stayed just a little longer. Zuko thought they had finally reached the start of something new but she wasn’t here anymore and he would have to wait to find out.

Suki tried to report to him what was going on at Kyoshi Island whenever she could. Y/N was working hard to calm down the conflicts while at the same time training the new and old Kyoshi Warriors as well as possible. Suki told him it would take a while until things were okay enough for Y/N to return to the Fire Nation, but it would happen eventually.

He was so desperately in love it was embarrassing. He craved her presence, her voice, her laugh, her touch. He wondered if she felt the same and concluded that no, probably not. To be honest, however, he would accept anything coming from her, even some second-hand love. He would still be happy if she decided to settle for him after being made aware of his feelings.

The Fire Lord was adamant on telling her everything he felt when she came back — and she would come back, she had promised —, because being away from Y/N made him realize how much happier he was with her and he refused to let her leave again without knowing that he just absolutely adored her.

Meanwhile, Y/N felt incredibly overwhelmed. Between helping train the Kyoshi Warriors and trying to solve any misunderstanding with the Earth Kingdom citizens in a diplomatic way, she found it hard to breathe. It was somehow good, to be honest, because it didn’t leave her with much time to think about him. And, Spirits, did she think about him when she could. She was extremely excited to finally go back to the Fire Nation and just be by his side again.

There was a part of her that worried. Even though they had had multiple moments when she truly believed he felt the same, they never really spoke about it. Zuko didn’t seem the best at communication, and Y/N generally chose to joke around and tease instead of actually voicing her emotions.

“Miss Y/N, you must understand—”

“No, Mung, you and your so-called rebels are the ones who are not understanding. Fire Lord Zuko is trying to rebuild and strengthen the ties with Earth Kingdom in a healthy way for both nations—”

“But Miss Y/N—”

“—and the Kyoshi Warriors are collaborating with that by being a part of the official guard. How, for Spirits’ sake, is you attacking my warriors a good way of achieving anything you might want to achieve?”

The man swallowed harshly while he fidgeted. Y/N had worked hard to get a meeting with the rebels on Kyoshi Island, but was pleasantly surprised to notice how unorganized they were. “The Kyoshi Warriors shouldn’t collaborate with the Fire Nation, Miss Y/N,” a young man guarding the rebel leader’s door interrupted their staring contest, “the Fire Nation has done nothing but cause destruction and suffering. We won’t have our beloved warriors being corrupted by such a horrible mindset as the Fire Nation’s.”

“I appreciate your concern, but Zuko,” she cleared her throat in embarrassment at the verbal slip, “Fire Lord Zuko is different. He cares about people and he seeks redemption for Fire Nation’s wrongdoings. Having a good relationship with him is a great deal for the Earth Kingdom, believe me.”

The two men exchanged a look before returning their gaze to her. She tried to bit back a smile when she noticed the meaningful expression on their faces, signalizing she might finally be able to go home.

She tensed at the thought. Was that what Fire Nation was now? Home?

Or was she ready to admit the real home she had been thinking of was a certain Fire Lord all along?

-----

It was a hot day in the Fire Nation and Zuko was busy with his daily amount of sulking and missing his favorite girl when he heard a commotion going on somewhere near him. He confusedly followed the sound, finding the Kyoshi Warriors gathered around and talking loudly. The Fire Lord furrowed his brows.

“Is everything okay?” his voice quieted them down and he watched while the young fighters exchanged knowing looks. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, Fire Lord, it did,” his heartbeat picked up immediately and he turned towards the voice he had fallen in love with, finding her dazzling smile. Y/N crossed her arms in a teasing manner, “told you I’d come back.”

Zuko stared at her while the other warriors scrambled towards somewhere else, aiming to leave the couple alone. He smirked, “you did tell me.”

She walked closer to him until they were chest to chest, and he wondered if she could feel his jumping heart against her, “I think I even made a promise.”

“You surely did.”

Y/N grinned, “well, then I guess—”

“I’m in love with you.”

This was not in his plans. He meant to say a lot of things about how he slowly fell for her during the months they spent together, but Zuko simply couldn’t help from blurting a confession out like a dumbass. He had craved being around her so much during these weeks apart and now she was finally there, just within reach. He couldn’t take any more dancing around each other.

She beamed, “that surely makes this less awkward.”

“Wait, what?”

Before he could wrap his head around her words, Y/N took a hold of his collar and pulled him to her, gazing at his lips as their noses touched, just like weeks ago in the kitchens. She smiled softly, eyes fluttering close, “I’m in love with you too, Fire Lord.”

“Oh, thank the fucking Spirits.”

The Kyoshi Warrior laughed against his mouth, sending a tingling sensation down his back. His hands held onto her waist, extinguishing any space between them before he kissed her deeply, relief and happiness flooding his senses all at once. His own personal sunshine was finally next to him again and he revelled from the pure warmth she provided, chasing all insecurities and fears away until only his love remained.

“I missed you,” he mumbled on her lips, so intoxicated by her presence he could have forgotten how to breathe.

He could literally feel her smile between kisses, “I missed you too, Zuko,” she moved slightly away so to be able to stare at his eyes, “but don’t you worry, Fire Lord. I’ll always come back to you.”

Zuko chuckled, “you’re so cheesy.”

“You love it. Can I be even cheesier?”

“Go ahead, pretty girl.”

“Hey, Fire Lord, your new permanent date is here, and she’s not leaving.”

“That was horrible, Y/N. But good to know.”

He attached his lips to hers again and, for the first time, Zuko didn’t have a single worry for the future or for his fate. For better or for worse, he had his favorite guard by his side, and that was enough.

ATLA taglist: @bottledcostcowater @officiallydarkgeek (for some reason I can’t tag you I’m sorry??) and @beifongsss and @azucanela I know you didn’t ask to be tagged but you didn’t seem to mind last time so here I am again?? if you don’t want to be tagged anymore just lmk!!

I hope you liked it!!

#atla #atla x reader #zuko x reader #zuko #zuko imagine #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender x reader #suki #zuko x fem!reader #zuko x f!reader #fire lord zuko #fire lord zuko x reader #suki x reader #kyoshi warriors #kyoshi warrior reader #this was kinda cute wasn't it #i'm lowkey proud of this #ngl

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celestialarchon · 4 years

Text

Celebrating 600+ Followers

i can’t believe i’m writing another celebration post less than two days after my first

this has been rotting in my head all day and might become a series in the future

Genshin Impact x F!Reader | Modernish AU | warning: it’s cute!

“I hope you don’t mind, we gave you a student teacher as well. It’s only fair since you were given the most troublesome class,” Headmistress Ping smiled at you warmly.

“Ah,” You nodded, “Thats fine.”

The elder woman patted your back, “Genshin Academy is truly lucky to have you. Your track record is impressive and you have an extremely rare vision. I think you’ll get along fairly well with Mr. Aether, he’s a good kid.”

You smiled at her, honored by her words. Genshin Academy, the elite and prestigious school, had taken you as a teacher. The education system was impressive and diverse, teaching elementary to college aged students. You were given the first year elementary school students and now a student teacher as well. No matter how troublesome the class may be, having assistance would be appreciated. If it didn’t, the extraordinary pay would make up for any issues you had.

The older woman walked you to the doors of the building and then left you to prepare yourself. Clutching your class roster, you stepped in and made your way to your classroom. When you entered your room, you were greeted by a young blonde man. He introduced himself as your assistant teacher and made some small talk before leaving you to prepare for the day. You appreciated his thoughtfulness as you tidied the room up a bit, smiling at your class pet, Dvalin.

Soon enough, the children poured in and greeted each other and you. Aether returned to the room, beaming at each child. You took attendance, ticking off each name as they all answered. Qiqi, Teucer, Klee, and Diona seemed to be the most lively of them all. They were also marked with asterisks as the worst “troublemakers” but so far things were running smoothly.

“Welcome, my name is Miss Bright,” You beamed at the children, “Let’s have a good year, okay?”

“Wow, you’re very pretty Miss Bright!” An energetic Teucer exclaimed.

Klee squealed, “I’m so excited!”

Diona scoffed and Qiqi nodded in agreement. You went through the motions, following your detailed curriculum perfectly. There were two separate general subjects, academics and control. One was simple enough, teaching the kids by the book. The other was all about assisting your students in controlling and growing their abilities as vision users.

By the end of the day you were exhausted. Soon enough the week flew by. As Friday came, you were exhausted. Most people had made these kids out to be terrible and mischievous, and in some ways they were. Yet, you had already grown very fond of all of them. They were much more tame than you had expected, save for some explosions and outbursts. Now you were stuck as some of the children were late being picked up.

“I hope my big brother gets a girlfriend like Miss Bright. She’s so nice and pretty.” You overheard Teucer whisper to the last three kids.

“Oh yeah!” Klee’s whispers weren’t whispers at all, “She’s like a princess. My brother is a prince. I wish he’d marry Miss Bright.”

“Tch,” Diona intervened, “Honestly, I wish Miss Bright had adopted me instead of that annoying man at home.”

“Qiqi thinks Xiao and Zhongli would like Miss Bright a lot.”

You giggled at their words, they were too sweet. Aether chuckled overhearing them as well and waving you off.

“Go finish up your paperwork, I’ll take care of them.” The cheerful blonde nearly pushed you out the door.

You sighed and made your way to the office up front. Paperwork was such a drag, not nearly as fun as over hearing those brats gossiping. The paperwork ended up taking up the rest of your time. By the time you were done you wanted to scream. As you left the office, a handful of coworkers approached you and invited you out. No was not an option as they insisted you let them treat you.

You were exhausted as they led you to their favorite bar. Aether followed like a lost puppy and you sighed.

“You can’t drink can you?” You questioned him.

“Ahhh,” Aether started but was interrupted.

“It’s fine! I know the owner. He doesn’t have to drink he can just babysit us.” Venti exclaimed.

Poor Aether couldn’t get out of it either. Once you entered the bar, things blurred. Immediately, your coworkers bought you many drinks. Venti was especially aggressive about drinking. The short music teacher was babbling to an extremely handsome bartender with vibrant red hair.

The scarlet haired man seemed to be a bit annoyed by the drunken chaos ensuing. Amber was giggling crazily and the school nurse, Baizhu had cornered a tall man with amber eyes, and Ganyu was petting you. Aether was awkwardly fidgeting, stone cold sober. Eventually, your poor student teacher ended up having to call a cab and carry you home. He was forced to try and navigate to your cozy apartment by unlocking your phone with your drunken face. It took way too many attempts.

You awoke the next day with a pounding headache and over a hundred notifications. The night was still a blur so you proceeded to try and take care of yourself. Aether was kind enough to go out and buy you some pain medicine and left it on your counter with your keys. It was embarrassing how you couldn’t find any memories of your adventures in liquor.

The weekend flew by until Sunday night came and your phone buzzed. You looked down and horror filled your body. Tomorrow was parent conferences. It wasn’t mandatory for parents but encouraged. Suddenly, you were tearing through your apartment trying to prepare for the upcoming doom.

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Before you knew it, parent conferences were upon you. Aether wasn’t attending because it wasn’t mandatory and you insisted he go home and rest. He had done so much for you already, you didn’t want him to suffer through it with you. You looked up as somebody knocked on your class door and opened it to see two beautiful blondes.

“Hello, is this Miss Bright’s room?” The woman’s blue eyes met yours.

“Yes,” You held your hand out, “Hello, I’m Miss Bright.”

The woman shook your hand, “I am Jean, Klee’s guardian. This is her older brother Albedo.”

The young man’s beautiful eyes bore into you as he shook your hand. You stepped aside and gestured to the tables in your room. The two took their seats and almost immediately a tall red haired man sauntered up to you.

“Hello!” His tone was cheerful, “I’m Childe, Teucer’s older brother!”

“A pleasure to meet you, Childe. I am Miss Bright.”

“Ah,” a crooked smile formed on his lips, “The pleasure is all mine. You are just as beautiful as Teucer claimed.”

You blushed and laughed nervously, but before you could answer he was shoved into your room. He turned to glare at the two dark haired men in the doorway. Huffing, he found his way to a table and sat.

“So annoying.” The shorter of the two men scowled.

The taller one sighed, “Hello, Miss Bright. My name is Zhongli, and this is my cousin Xiao. We are Qiqi’s foster family.”

Xiao stomped past you, Zhongli followed him quickly. You didn’t have time to introduce yourself to either of them before they sat down.

“How rude,” A smooth voice came from your door.

Two men stood there, a tan man with dark hair and a very familiar red head. Internally, you groaned at the sight of the bartender. It was going to be a long conference wasn’t it? You were glad you had organized your agenda so well.

“Diluc. Guardian of Diona, and this is my brother Kaeya.” The redhead said almost sternly.

He strolled through the doorway to sit at a table, all four families spread out. Kaeya winked at you and followed his brother. Now you were sure the night would be long.

No other families came, and you were left alone with the strange bunch. In the back of your mind, you were thinking of your roster and the asterisks. The irony in all of it was that the troublemaker’s parents were the only ones who showed. The room was quiet, families only talking among themselves. You cleared your throat and introduced yourself once more, starting in to your very planned speech.

A short time had passed but it felt like years to you. You felt incredibly awkward but continued on. Childe raised his hand which nearly made you laugh but you contained your amusement and paused.

“Yes?” You called out to him.

The lanky man smirked, “I’m sorry but what sort of vision do you use?”

“I will address that later on.” Your voice was kind but also stern.

This response earned several looks from the families listening. All of a sudden, their full attention was on you. The change of atmosphere had put you on edge. You tried to continue on but Childe stood abruptly.

“That’s an interesting response.” He chuckled.

“Tartaglia!” Jean intervened, “Thats enough.”

Kaeya kicked his feet up on the table, “You can’t say you’re not curious though, right? It’s only natural we want to know. This school has just as much focus on vision skills as academic skills.”

You were beginning to grow irritated. The children were more respectful than the adults. Composing yourself, you sighed. Nobody denied Kaeya’s words, although Zhongli and Jean seemed to disapprove of the attitude.

“As i said before i will-“ you were interrupted again by an arrow of water, you easily side stepped it.

Jean stood, sword in hand and glared at Childe. Diluc shoved his brother’s feet off the table and scowled. Albedo yawned while Xiao clicked his tongue. Zhongli merely observed the scene. Childe cackled at Jean which only angered her more as she dove at him.

You opened your mouth to say something but were forced to dodge a cold sword. Kaeya grinned at you but was yanked back by Zhongli. The room was in utter chaos. You gritted your teeth and once more tried to remain calm. Another arrow narrowly missed your ear and you felt yourself become enraged. Kaeya dodged Zhongli and thrust his sword at you but was stopped by a sharp pillar of light.

“That’s enough.” Your voice was cold as you used your own weapon to shove the pushy cryo wielder away from you.

As if by magic, suddenly everyone stopped to stare at you. Quickly, they sat down. Albedo’s eyes were alert now, he was suddenly interested in every word you had to say. Even Xiao seemed to have a better attitude.

You continued your speech without any further interruptions. Finally, the end was in sight.

“And to answer your earlier question,” You pushed your hair back behind your ear to reveal your vision on an earring, “I am a light wielder. I will not take any questions on it. Have a wonderful night and thank you for coming.”

You turned and exited your classroom quickly as murmurs spread across the room. Light visions were only gifted to those who were recognized by multiple gods. Light was a strange element that could mold itself and change to take shape of different elements, although it wasn’t perfect. Elemental mastery took a lot of time and the light could only bend to your will for short periods of time. Using light as anything other than itself could backfire easily. Ontop of the many complications, attaining a light vision meant going through a crisis so terrible that multiple gods had to intervene. It was a blessing and a curse.

As you headed home, shivers ran down your back. You couldn’t help but feel that you were being watched or followed. You shook it off and returned home. It was just paranoid thoughts after a rough night.

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After the conference, you seemed to be plagued by the families. Outside of work you ran into them constantly. It was nerve wracking.

“Miss Bright, Teucer loves you so much. He’d love to see you on the weekend. We could get lunch and then have a play date with him. What do ya say?” Childe grinned at you as you exited your classroom.

“Sorry, sir” An arm slid around your shoulders, “But i’m afraid she has plans for this weekend.”

You looked up to see the school librarian with a tight smile. Lisa was so kind, saving you from his shameless flirting. Although, she often seemed to flirt with you as well. You couldn’t really tell if she was being nice or flirting though.

He scowled and turned. Lisa laughed and squeezed you tighter. She escorted you out of the building, telling you about the new books the library had just received. Her eyes twinkled as you laughed at her puns and asked her questions about being a librarian.

“Excuse me,” A deep voice said “May I have a moment of Miss Bright’s time?”

You turned to see Zhongli, one of the only reasonable guardians you’d met. So far you’d not seen him after the meeting so you felt safer around him. Even Jean had appeared before you several times, though it didn’t seem intentional. You weren’t entirely sure but you’d swore you’d even seen Xiao lurking around when you were out.

“Of course,” You waved Lisa off.

She frowned and kissed your cheek before sauntering off. Zhongli raised his eyebrows as you laughed, clearly embarrassed. The nerve of that woman sometimes.

“Sorry, she’s a friend but she’s very affectionate,” you apologized quickly.

“Hm,” Zhongli nodded and stared at you intently, “I’m sorry to bother you but is there a way I could schedule another meeting with you? I would like to hear about Qiqi’s progress.”

Your heart nearly melted. He was so kind and it was refreshing.

“Of course! How about this weekend?” You beamed at him.

The two of you scheduled a conference lunch and parted ways. From afar, Diluc grimaced. He was curious about Diona’s behavior in school. She was a very moody child. Furthermore, he was curious about you. Kaeya had also pestered you for a date so the scarlet haired man was trying to find the right time to ask you. He didn’t want to come off the way he was sure Kaeya did.

“I would also like to attend the meeting.” Xiao announced to Zhongli once he got into the car.

“Too bad,” Zhongli chuckled “It’s one on one, you’ll have to schedule your own.”

Xiao huffed at his words. He disliked the idea of the two of you doing anything one on one. He couldn’t decide whether he was jealous of you or Zhongli. He decided it was you, since both Qiqi and Zhongli seemed to be infatuated with you. He clicked his tongue, Zhongli merely smiled, and Qiqi demanded coco goat milk.

“Does she like science?” Albedo questioned Klee.

“Miss Bright likes a lot of things I think.” Klee said, ice cream smeared on her face.

“I want to know more.” Albedo stated.

Klee grinned, “More ice cream?”

Albedo nodded, only hoping Jean wouldn’t catch them.

This new job had many opportunities open up for you. With so many people in pursuit of you, who would you choose?

#genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #genshin x reader #xiao x reader #genshin impact imagines #albedo x reader #jean x reader #genshin impact zhongli #zhongli x reader #master diluc #diluc x reader #kaeya x reader #genshin lisa #genshin liyue #genshin mondstadt

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magnoliabloomfield · 3 years

Text

Possession

Chapter 1: The Princess Arrives

Structure. Maybe it was because he was a builder that he liked that word so much. He built structures, he knew how make four walls and a roof that wouldn’t come down on anyone’s head, he knew how to build a seat that wouldn’t give out under anyone’s weight, and he knew how to maintain it all and make it last. The small world he lived in demanded order and structure for everyone’s well being. Without it they would be sleeping on the ground, starving, and losing their minds. And if one cog in that machine didn’t turn as it should it affected every other part. Yes, the Glade had to be a well oiled machine functioning everyday as it should.

Thankfully there were no outside forces that tried to thwart that. The doors opened in the morning, they closed at night, and the box came every month. You could tell time by the Glade and its unchanging rhythm. After three years Gally knew it like his own heartbeat. He knew the answer to every problem that could crop up in his bit of the machine. He was good enough to be the Keeper of the builders at least. Maybe that’s why it hit him hardest of all.

Box day came like all the others before it, predictable and precise. But then the heart of the Glade skipped a beat and Gally’s own did too for the first time. Because in that box was something they would never recover from.

A girl.

That was the worst thing that ever could have come up in the box. The boys would lose their minds, they’d become distracted and competitive and the machine of the Glade would come to a rusty, grinding halt. Gally could see the writing on the walls: this was going to be bad.

She wasn’t awake, she was laying there almost peacefully and all the gladers remained eerily and unexpectedly silent, like they were waiting for someone to jump out and say it was all a joke and take her away, or if they stared at her long enough the mirage would fizzle out and it actually would be a boy like it was supposed to be. Alby and Newt carefully lowered themselves into the box so they wouldn’t startle her and Newt hesitantly checked for a pulse, letting out a breath as he nodded to say she was alive. Gally ran a hand over his mouth, feeling anxious but not wanting to look it.

She woke up slowly from a sleep she didn’t know she’d fallen into. Her eyes stared straight up at the sky before they started to focus on things like Newt and Alby and a whole crowd of boys looming above her. Gally waited for the scream, for the crying, shuck, even boys had screamed and cried when they came up. But she didn’t. She tried to sit up and winced, placing her palm over her eye and rubbing like her head hurt.

“You’re okay,” Newt said to her from where he knelt beside her.

“Do you remem-“ Alby started to ask her but was silenced by her holding up one finger.

“Just… give me a minute,” she requested as she pressed both palms to her forehead and brought her knees up toward her chest.

“Sure, no rush,” Newt assured her softly, earning a small glare from Alby who was more impatient and less coddling than him.

“Enough gawking, if you’re not a keeper get back to work,” Alby ordered the boys standing around whispering to each other and stifling giggles behind their fists.

Gally narrowed his eyes and shook his head at them. Weak willed hormonal morons. They were all shucking doomed. Slowly the boys began to shuffle off, the ones catching Gally’s glare wiping the smirks from their faces and moving even faster. He sighed to himself knowing their work was going to suck if it got done at all.

Gally stood around with the other keepers, his arms crossed as they all waited for whatever would happen next. The girls hands came away from her face and she held one out in front of her, seeing the tremors running through it and making it shake before she clutched her knees and took a deep breath.

“Okay… now, what?” she sighed, looking up at Newt and Alby, her eyes squinting in the sun.

She was cute, of course she was cute, she couldn’t ruin their lives if she wasn’t cute, Gally thought to himself as he looked away from her.

“Do you remember anything?” Newt asked her nicely.

She zoned out on the middle ground ahead of her and let a breath out through her lips. “Water is wet, the sky is blue, that kind of stuff. I can’t even remember my name,” She said, her shaking hands pushing her hair back from her face as that realization set in.

“It’s ok, it’s alright,” Newt did a good job of keeping her calm. “That happens to everyone who comes here. Sad to say that’s normal. Most of us eventually remember our names at some point though, so don’t worry too much.”

“So if I were to ask you where we are and why we’re here you wouldn’t even know?” she asked as she turned to him, causing him to rock back on his heels a little bit.

“Unfortunately that is correct,” Alby spoke up, earning her attention. “But we will tell you everything we do know, starting with the fact that… you’re the very first girl to come here in three years. So we kind of have a lot to talk about.”

She squinted up at him for a beat before asking “Am I dreaming?”

“I bet you would think being the only girl in a crowd of boys would be a dream,” one of the other keepers said, drawing those eyes of hers to him.

“Nightmares are dreams too,” she pointed out.

Gally felt the corner of his mouth twitch like he might have chuckled at that.

She got out of the box on her own, climbing onto a drum of drinking water and then the rest of the way. Alby and Newt took a hand to get out and Gally figured the girl wasn’t keen on being touched just yet if ever. They let her have her way. They set off for the gathering room, the girl carefully encircled by the keepers to either keep her from running off or keep anyone from running up to her. Alby yelled for someone to go unload the rest of the box and the girl flinched.

She wasn’t as short as Gally expected a girl would be, but of course she was a lot shorter than him. At least not all the boys were that much taller than her which might tip things in her favor slightly if anything were to happen. Gally would have to pay attention to how intimidating he was now. It was never an issue with the boys, it was quite essential in fact. If they weren’t a little scared of someone then nothing would get done. But just looking at her he could tell that he absolutely could overpower her without breaking a sweat, and she would most definitely put that together too, so he had to make sure he never gave her a reason to think he actually would.

They started the gathering with the basic Greenie intro to the Glade. This was usually handled by one person who took the greenie on a tour around the Glade, but this was not the usual greenie. Gally was actually glad she was out of sight of the boys who were supposed to be working.

He rested his elbows on his knees to keep his leg from jumping nervously as Alby and Newt explained the basics and each keeper explained what they did. Gally kept his eyes down, unintentionally staring through the spot where her feet were. As the builder he was running through all the work he would have to do, he’d have to build a safe place for her to sleep and wash up, how exactly was he going to do that, he’d never had to do that before. When Alby called his name he was almost startled. He looked around and found everyone looking back at him, including the girl. It must be his turn.

“I’m in charge of the builders. Pretty self explanatory,” he stated, holding her gaze for as long as he could manage. It wasn’t long.

“You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Gally,” Newt pointed out, looking at him curiously.

Gally didn’t like the attention. “Well, I am the one who has to do the most about this situation,” he pointed out. “Yes, she needs her introduction to this place, but while you’re telling it to her I’m sitting here thinking of how I’m going to build a safe place for her to sleep and to wash up. I’m thinking up the plans now so I can get to work first light and just maybe she’ll have a place to sleep by sundown tomorrow. So what are we going to do for her tonight?”

Alby pinched the bridge of his nose as his face scrunched up, realizing that they had lot of work ahead of them. When Gally had finished his rant he thought the girl was sitting a little smaller in her seat.

“The gardening shed,” Newt blurted. “Remember the time the rakes fell over? We couldn’t get in, you had to take the door off. There’s no windows either. It’s not the best accommodations but on short notice at least it’s a place where no one can get in.”

Gally had started nodding, remembering exactly what Newt was talking about and it was a good idea, at least for one night. “We’ll move out some of the tools and put a cot in,” Gally thought aloud.

“She can take mine,” Minho volunteered.

“Are you sure? Aren’t you running tomorrow?” Newt pointed out.

“Yeah,” Minho shrugged. “Maybe one of the other runners will let me use his cot, but I can’t volunteer anyone else’s but my own. Besides, it’ll be one night, two tops with Gally working on it.”

Gally was surprised to hear him say something vaguely nice about him. But most of all he was planning, drawing blueprints in his mind of the safest, most anti-boy structure he could possibly make. He was going to put the Princess in the tower.

@poulterholland @anniemylennox @crazysheeplyca @thesuitkovian @Poulterjonas @gladerscake @carp3d1em @neilox

If any of you don't actually want to be tagged in the future just let me know, I was just trying to remember the ones who were really interested in the last short Gally series I wrote.

Possession Masterlist

#gally #tmr #tmr gally #tmr gally imagine #gally imagine #gally fanfic #tmr fanfic #tmr gally fanfic #maze runner #maze runner gally #gally maze runner #maze runner fan fic #will poulter #will poulter protection squad

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multific · 3 years

Text

The Maid (Part 2/3)

Bruce Wayne x Reader

Summary: Bruce didn’t really like the idea of getting a maid. He thought Alfred was more than enough, but not even he could deny the fact that Alfred was getting old and the amount of work he does is tiring. And that is how you got hired.

A/N: This is a shorter part since the last one will be a bit longer, hope you enjoy it!

Previously

And surely enough, you found yourself in a cave.

You wandered around the equipment and wondered why was it here? It obviously had to do with Bruce's company but this was hidden.

You were about to leave when you noticed an object on the desk. It was very distinctive, it was Batman's Batarang. You stared at the object, frozen.

You were so occupied with the object you didn't even notice the figure standing behind you.

Now

You were so fascinated. A real Batarang.

You touched it, then picked it up, it was heavier than you thought. Although you were in such a place, your mind was blank.

"What are you doing here?"

The angry voice scared you, making you drop the item as you looked at the dark, tall figure standing in the dark.

You instantly recognized him. How could you not? Everyone knew how Batman looked like.

A dark shadow in the night who will catch you if you don't know how to behave. Suddenly, you felt your mind restart and you realized where you were and what were you doing.

"I-I'm sorry." you quickly ran past him, going upstairs and into your room as quickly as you could.

It all felt like a dream, everything happened so fast.

But it all made sense now.

Bruce Wayne, your boss, was Batman.

Now you understood why he suddenly kept disappearing from his room at night. Why he slept for so long in the mornings, and why he often had ugly bruises.

You could barely sleep that night.

Thoughts running in your mind. A dark side of you even imagined what it would be like to be married to the Batman. There was something sexy in him, and it wasn't his secret identity, not anymore. It was his eyes, his voice, his everything.

But you were only a maid. And you knew where your place was.

The next morning, Alfred arrived back from his short vacation. You offered him a kind smile as you continued with your daily duties.

"How was the vacation, Alfred?" you asked.

"Wonderful, I should do it more often. I half expected this place to be up in flames, if I'm honest."

"Oh, not at all. I-" suddenly the events of last night flashed in your mind. "I managed everything just fine, thank you."

Alfred gave you a suspicious look but said nothing as he went along with his day.

You were out in the garden, watering the rose bushes when Alfred called you.

"Master Bruce would like to speak with you."

Your heart jumped to your throat. Suddenly everything that happened yesterday came down on you like a cold shower. You were scared, you felt that Bruce was about to fire you.

So, you smoothed your clothes to look presentable and headed into the mansion, right to his office.

"Mr Wayne? You wanted to see me." you entered his office and found him sitting at the table. As you entered he looked up at you, offering you a smile and pointing at the chair across from him.

"I wanted to talk about last night. What you saw...what you found-"

"Oh, Mr Wayne, please don't fire me!" you interrupted him, trying to save your job or perhaps even future. "It was an accident, I brought your dinner up and I found a door open, I didn't mean to. I-I can keep secrets. I won't tell a soul, I promise! I really need this job, please, Mr Wayne!"

"I wasn't going to fire you." Bruce said as he finally got a chance to respond. "I just wanted to ask you to not tell anyone about what you saw yesterday," he explained.

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. Thank you for coming in. Do you have any questions?"

"No. I will keep your secret safe. Thank you again. Also...Thank you for saving this city." you said as you stood up and left to go back to the roses.

On your way, you saw Alfred as you two smiled at one another. He knew, of course he did.

You were so happy.

Happy to keep your job, happy to know this secret and happy that you will get to stay close to Bruce.

---

The next couple of days went by rather quickly.

It was always you who brought breakfast for Bruce, most of the time he was still asleep but you did catch him up a few times. During those times, you two exchanged small talk, mainly about the mansion and your life. You never brought the topic of Batman up neither did he.

You were over the moon. Alfred seemed to notice that as he even pointed it out more than once. He said you were always smiling.

Alfred secretly hoped that with him leaving for a vacation, you and Bruce would get closer. However, he never expected you to find out who Bruce is. Alfred knew he needed a new way of getting the two of you together.

Something more dramatic perhaps to spark the flame into action.

And he knew just the right thing.

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tossawary · 3 years

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I need to know more about “SVSSS - Baby Brother Liu Qingge” bc I love tiny and very deadly baby LQG

I have a 3k-ish Shang Qinghua POV that was supposed to be the introduction to this fic concept! So... ah... baby Liu Qingge does not appear in this, but you can see the setup for how an 8yo-ish Liu Qingge was supposed to be introduced. My hope is that this will someday become a "Shang Qinghua and Shen Jiu go on a mission with Baby Brother Liu Qingge" one shot.

-cut-

Shang Qinghua didn't really have the words to describe what it was like having Proud Immortal Demon Way's characters finally come into his second life.

He didn't have the words to describe a lot of his transmigration experience, honestly! His words had described a lot of this world already, haha, hadn't they? Sometimes a person just had to put up with it and keep going.

And then excuse himself later to go scream into a pillow! Many times!

At first, life was just him in a body that didn't fit and strange memories that slipped between his fingers like sand. His memories of a past life had settled eventually, the System finally came fully online, and his relationship with his second family was fully fucked forever. That was fine, though! That was fine! With some unsolicited prodding from his System, he left to go seek his fortune soon enough and he never had to talk to his character's birth parents or siblings again.

But Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky had never said much of anything about Shang Qinghua’s family or home village, besides saying that the man had dreamed of more than his mediocre origins, so everything had been unfamiliar and original and real. Getting to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, which he had described in great detail, was a real headfuck. There were no words for the experience of recognizing things that he’d written in another life.

He saw the glistening rainbow bridge and the intimidating sect entrance and the majestic meeting hall on Qiong Ding, and he nearly screamed. He definitely squawked. His vision got really fuzzy for a minute there and he had to sit down on the ground before he fell over. What the fuck?! What the fuck?! He’d made a world! The System had really made a world out of his web-novel! He was really stuck in Proud Immortal Demon Way!

There were upsides and downsides to joining Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. Downsides included: the hard training, the harder workload, the dangerous missions, the disrespect towards An Ding Peak, and being surrounded by arrogant and foolish teenagers looking to look down on someone. It was really something else to look some of them in the eye and think, "Bro, I don’t know your name, but you kind of owe your existence to me. Could you stop being such a fucking asshole about leaving your chores for me to do?! Respect your father!"

Upsides included: actually becoming a cultivator (pretty cool, even though the work of cultivation sucked more often than not), better living accommodations and food, and actually getting to see some of the cooler places, plants, monsters, and magic that were a part of his world. Sure, carting a monster corpse brought in by Bai Zhan Peak to Xi Jiao Peak for butchering was smelly and heavy and altogether miserable, but seeing an impossible animal was still kind of incredible. If this unwilling Shang Qinghua could stop being pushed around and stepped on long enough to appreciate the upsides, he’d really appreciate it!

It was interesting and infuriating to log the differences between what he’d imagined, what he’d written, and what the System had created. What sort of author described every single object in every single room? Who had time for that? Who wanted to read that? The System had filled in all the living details of An Ding Peak - the Leisure Houses, the training grounds, the storehouses, the warehouses, the kitchens, the lesson halls, the leisure gardens, the farming fields, the livestock fields, the stables, the cart lot, the water supply, the sewage systems, and so on - so that people could actually live here. Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky as an author had done many things worthy of complaint and criticism, but wasting his readers’ time with sewage systems was not one of them!

The System had also filled in all the little details and decorations - the paintings on the walls of sect history, the detailing on the rooftops supposedly offering protections from dream demons, the chipped and faded paint of old storehouses that disciples would be tasked with replacing, the statues in the fields to scare off scavengers, the carvings on the doors meant to reduce resentful energy, the childish etchings of bored students the surface of the lesson hall desks, the old bench where the An Ding Peak Lord liked to sit and eat flatcakes - so that it really seemed like people had built this place and maintained it and added to it for generations.

Shang Qinghua had his quibbles here and there. Sometimes the System had made choices that he objected to! He would have done it differently if it had asked him, the author, to contribute. He really felt as though the System should have asked him to clarify the plot holes and the gaps in detail, instead of choosing precedence randomly or building off random implications taken way too literally.

Sometimes he found out that the System had built things out of throwaway lines that Shang Qinghua himself had completely forgotten about. It turned out that Ku Xing Peak made a lot of purification tools and containment vessels because Airplane had offhandedly mentioned that this was their specialty, and now Shang Qinghua had to cart around delicate ceramics to be sold to city merchants or other cultivation sects. He never would have dared to write that if he’d known that it would one day in another life be his job to do things like take inventory and chase down signatures for successful deliveries.

Places, items, and creatures were one thing, but logging the differences between the people he met and the characters he’d created was something else. At first it was okay, because he was surrounded by nameless An Ding Peak nobodies - his fellow disciples, their teachers, the hardworking managers and merchants, even the peak lord - none of them had ever mattered in Proud Immortal Demon Way. If Airplane had been the one to name any of them, he didn’t recognize the names or remember them.

Then he met Yue Qingyuan.

Wow, it was a worse headfuck than first arriving at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, when Shang Qinghua finally realized that this was the young version of one of his actual characters. It took him a minute. As a lowly outer disciple, Shang Qinghua hadn’t received “Qinghua” as a name yet (his name was Houhua, not that anyone ever used it) and the future Yue Qingyuan was still called Yue Qi.

Shang Qinghua was fourteen at the time. Yue Qingyuan must have been around the same age, so he didn’t strike the tall and handsome figure of the sect leader Airplane had described. The boy was broad, but actually a little short. He had freckles. He had acne.

But he also had a warm smile that seemed to go all the way to his eyes when he offered to give Shang Qinghua directions to the right office on Qiong Ding. He had a steady hand when he helped Shang Qinghua up, after the An Ding disciple had suddenly tripped over nothing upon being introduced. Yue Qingyuan - Yue Qi - walked him to the right office and did his best to make small talk, friendly and kind even though Shang Qinghua was having difficulty stringing more than a few words together in his shock.

Even then, it was obvious that the boy was developing the calm surety and the social charm that would make him a greatly admired sect leader someday! It was all Shang Qinghua could do not to blurt out: “Holy shit, you’re REAL?!” Which would be closely followed by: “Hey, is Shen Qingqiu really real too?!” And then maybe closely followed by: “FUCK!!!”

As the years went by, Shang Qinghua met more of Proud Immortal Demon Way’s characters, and it was weird every time. None of them were exactly like he was expecting. He kept expecting… well… he kept expecting them to look like the fanart, like flawless character models, more or less. Instead, he kept getting… people.

Wei Qingwei, head disciple of the sword-focused Wan Jian Peak, was also shorter than he was expecting, kind of stout, with a wide face and a wider smile. Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky had apparently had the man crack a few jokes upon his rare appearances in the web-novel, usually during tense situations, as he was reminded by the System upon thinking to himself: “Why is this guy LIKE THIS?!” So, because of just a few lines, the real Wei Qingwei had a relentless sense of humor and loved telling jokes.

Upon their first meeting, when Shang Qinghua was fifteen and had been sent over to help renovate some Wan Jian dormitories, fifteen-year-old Wei Qingwei had pretended to fumble a sword and, using a packet of dye and a sleight of hand, made it look like he’d accidentally cut off his own hand at the wrist. Of course Shang Qinghua had screamed and panicked! Anyone would panic! But Wei Qingwei had laughed at him and said, “Got you! Shang-Shidi, the sword wasn’t even unsheathed!” Asshole!

Qi Qingqi, the head disciple of Xian Shu Peak, was much taller than he was expecting. Apparently Airplane had once described a group of some of the peak lords by saying something like: “Each one of them was like a giant to young Luo Binghe.” That group had included Qi Qingqi. The System apparently had taken that to mean that Qi Qingqi was of a height with the likes of Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu. Shang Qinghua discovered this adaptational choice when he was almost sixteen, when this giraffe-like girl came to An Ding Peak to complain about an order someone along the pipeline had dropped completely, and he accidentally found himself (still waiting on a really good growth spurt) eye-level with Qi Qingqi’s chest.

Airplane had apparently once said in Proud Immortal Demon Way that Qian Cao Peak Lord Mu Qingfang appeared a little older than his colleagues, by which he’d probably meant that the man was just tired or something, but this head disciple Mu Qingfang appeared to have ten years on all the other head disciples. Which was good! Shang Qinghua approved of their future head healer not being a teenager and having more training!

On the bad side of things, Airplane had also once said in Proud Immortal Demon Way that the Zui Xian Peak Lord Zhang Qingyan liked his drink too much. This was the peak specializing in alcohol, so it had seemed to make sense! It was supposed to be funny, if anything! Well, at sixteen, Shang Qinghua found out that the System had focused too much on the “too much” part of that statement and now the head disciple of Zui Xian Peak was pretty clearly a budding alcoholic. (Sometimes a cultivator’s constitution and ability to “cure” themselves just… made a person drink more. A lot more.) Which was… not good.

At seventeen, Shang Qinghua met Mobei-Jun.

He didn’t know where to get started with Mobei-Jun.

Somehow he’d… forgotten that Mobei-Jun had been originally based on Airplane’s idea of “the perfect man” and not the super pretty, muscular but slim-waisted protagonist type? The real Mobei-Jun was… tall… and big… and thick. Mobei-Jun’s intimidating features were… more striking than pretty. The first time Shang Qinghua had come back to his Leisure House and found this spoiled brat of an ice demon napping shirtless on his bed, and gotten an eyeful of all that heavy muscle and chest hair, he’d nearly knocked himself out on the doorframe trying to turn away before he had a heart attack.

Mobei-Jun really was going to be the death of him, holy shit.

Especially because this ice demon really was a spoiled brat! Airplane had described this character as being arrogant and apathetic, so now Shang Qinghua had to deal with a Mobei-Jun who took long baths and then carelessly dripped water all over the floor and all over fresh sheets! Who ate all of Shang Qinghua’s cooking and ungratefully only demanded more food, sprawled over furniture not really fit for someone of his size, and then watched Shang Qinghua like a fat tiger! Ahhh, this demon really was lucky he was handsome!

Mobei-Jun was also kind of violent, and mean, which was… well, it sucked.

Back to the sect that Shang Qinghua was now actively betraying, however, as far as he could see, there was still one future peak lord missing.

It wasn’t Shen Qingqiu, who Shang Qinghua had thought would be the last one to show up. Shen Qingqiu had shown up and had been advancing through the ranks of Qing Jing Peak before Shang Qinghua had even met Mobei-Jun, which meant that Yue Qingyuan had finally stopped looking like someone had torn out his soul. (Shang Qinghua had been forced to grit his teeth every time that someone mentioned how privileged that Yue Qingyuan was to have been granted that year of secluded cultivation in the Lingxi Caves at such a young age.)

No, of all the peak lords, it was Liu Qingge who Shang Qinghua had yet to meet.

After meeting Mobei-Jun and becoming an inner disciple, the System had given Shang Qinghua three years to make it to head disciple, probably because the deadline for a new generation of peak lords to ascend was fast approaching. He was working hard to achieve that! Not only did he have to sabotage the current favorite, but he had to make sure all his own training, missions, work, and research were as close to flawless as he could get it! All while keeping an intruding ice demon happy! He wasn’t totally sure that he was going to make it at this rate, even though he’d been here for years.

So it was a little concerning that Liu Qingge hadn't shown up yet. There was so much left to do. A world-state that had yet to be established. Liu Qingge had work to do here!

Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu still had to develop a hatred for each other as disciples that would extend to everyone believing that Shen Qingqiu had murdered Liu Qingge as peak lords, after all. Granted, all Liu Qingge really had to do was beat everyone else on Bai Zhan Peak up to obtain the position, and it wasn’t exactly hard to get Shen Qingqiu to develop a lifelong grudge, but the guy was still cutting it pretty close.

It was possible that Liu Qingge was already on Bai Zhan Peak and making good progress, but that he was just so solitary and focused on searching out the next big battle that Shang Qinghua had just never had the opportunity to meet him. Shang Qinghua did his best to avoid Bai Zhan Peak most of the time, honestly! He was curious about where Liu Qingge was, about what the man looked like, but he didn’t let himself sweat at not seeing the future war god, when he already had so many things to sweat about. The System had taken care of bringing in everyone else, so Shang Qinghua was sure that Liu Qingge would follow sooner or later.

Shang Qinghua’s first sign that something was wrong was that, on the day that Liu Qingge finally announced his existence by beating up everyone on Bai Zhan Peak, everyone was saying things like, “I can’t believe some kid managed to topple all of Bai Zhan like that!”

He… may or may not have ignored this sign.

To be fair to this poor writer-turned-disciple, though, he’d been up all night finishing some paperwork catastrophe the An Ding Peak Lord had thrown at him to fix, as some kind of “test” of his logistics skills. Upon hearing the latest gossip, Shang Qinghua thought, “Oh, finally?” And then his overtired brain collapsed from the effort of thinking two words together in a sentence, and all he could manage from there was to feel the intense need to go to bed at a maximum, static-y volume. No words. No more thinky thoughts. Just the need for speedy sleep.

He stumbled through the rest of his day and then passed out for 18 hours straight. In hindsight, this would have been the time when the gossip was at its hottest. He missed all of it.

When he woke up, everyone was still dealing with the aftermath of what had happened on Bai Zhan Peak, but the conversation had shifted more towards replacing Qian Cao Peak’s depleted supplies and the repairs to Bai Zhan’s training grounds. Liu Qingge was the name on everyone’s lips, still, but everyone knew the basic information now. Now, everyone was just exclaiming over and over again how unbelievably young (and pretty) he was to have bested every other disciple on the sect battle-focused peak. This didn't seem too strange.

The System probably would have based the War God's appearance on his sister, Liu Mingyan, a strong contender for the most beautiful woman in all of Proud Immortal Demon Way. Liu Qingge apparently being a very pretty boy fell neatly into line with all the other character design surprises that Shang Qinghua had gotten smacked with so far.

If Airplane had known that he'd be transmigrating into his novel, maybe there would have been even more handsome men! And everyone would have lived happily ever after and nothing bad would have happened ever, probably, but also there might be more sexy guys too.

TBC

#timetomakeanewwish #tossawary updates #tossawary svsss #shang qinghua #unrealistically young prodigy liu qingge au #ask tossawary

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