#torn between trying to finish as fast as possible

[chaos-coming]

Ok ive decided i hate my job (not new) and i hate the dumbass students at my university (also not new. Entire campus chock full with blond dreadlocks and lederhosen), theres no grad student culture here and im too old to be hanging out with bachelor students who dont know anything (the central european university system is trash and also only 3 years) and have seen exactly their 100km of the world (plus or minus that one trip to se asia that umbued in them such insufferable arrogance) and whose definition of activism begins and ends with throwing a solidarity party (where the donations pay first for the cost of buying booze instead of actually going to a cause)...

But i digress (read: lost my train of thought partway through ranting about these provincial snobs). What im trying to say is besides hating my university and most of the idiots in it, i think im just done with the student scene in general like im sick and tired of being at the mercy of the exam schedule, and the peter pan never wanting to face the real world mentality of everybody there. I need to be surrounded by people looking forward not trying depserately to cling to a moment that may already have passed

[i-luvsang]

lead the way, lover — jung wooyoung

pairing : wooyoung x gn!reader ➖⟢ genres : fluff, little bit of angst, comfort ➖⟢ cw : mentions of exhaustion and stress, eating+food mention, almost crying, little bit of kissing, poorly edited ➖⟢ wc : 1.3K ➖⟢ rating : pg-13

wooyoung is a lover, through and through. and he feels everything so, so strongly, his love for you especially. that’s why he’s fidgety and restless as his work day comes to an end; he’s practically desperate to get to you, probably still holed up in the corner of a campus library, digging through archives and textbooks as you prepare for your finals.

he’s got food for you in the fridge and he’s paying much more attention to thinking through the steps he’ll go through to get to you than whatever his manager is speaking about. first he’ll call a taxi on the way back to his apartment so that it’ll be ready after he’s grabbed the food. then he’ll try calling you on his way over to your school in the rare case that you pick up. he wants to double check where you are, just in case. then he’ll find you, probably at a run until he’s inside and no longer allowed to, and hug you tight like he knows you need. that’s when he’ll get you to eat, at least a little, and ask what the best thing he can do for you is. then he’ll do that and anything else you ask him.

wooyoung’s love for you makes his worry strong too, and he tries to hide it behind soft jokes and even softer kisses because he knows you don’t like for him to get anxious on your behalf. but he also knows that you need his worry, or more so, his care—the real stem of the worry—because you always melt into his hugs and your shoulders relax a little at his jokes. he tries not to worry too much, because he does everything in his power to help make your heart feel just a little lighter, your load a little easier to carry. you tell him that’s enough, and he holds onto that like it’s keeping him afloat.

you didn’t pick up the phone, so wooyoung heads to your normal spot in the library. even seeing just the back of your head makes him feel a little better as he approaches. he does his best to be gentle, as to not startle you out of your intense focus. he’s proud when it works; the noise of the plastic bag he’s holding is enough warning before he sets it beside you, and you look up at him without jumping a little like you sometimes do. he gives you the warmest, most blindingly bright smile as he swoops down to press a kiss to your lips, and he basks in the small upturn of your mouth when he moves away.

though secretly, his heart sinks a little. he thinks that you are always absolutely stunning, no matter what, but his heart clenches when he takes in just how exhausted you look. but that little bit of light that pops into your eyes at the sight of him is certainly enough to buoy his spirits.

“you brought food?” you ask, torn between tearing into the bag and staying focused on your studies.

“of course i brought food,” he smiles, sitting down and making the decision for you by taking the container out of the bag, opening it up, and handing you utensils. “eat up, baby. the better you feel, the more you can study!” he really wishes that you’d just rest for once, but he knows the best way to get you to put your textbook aside, if at least just for a bit. you take the utensils from his hands and let him push the food closer to you. the satisfaction that wooyoung feels seeing you eat is something so full and complete that it must only be possible because of just how much he loves you like no other.

he fills the air as you eat quietly, going on about his day and the silliest things that happened in practice. he reads you so fast and easy, knowing today’s a day where you can’t bear the silence, where the sound of his hushed voice is familiar and comforting in perfect contrast with the quiet you’ve been soaked in all day.

when you’re finished, you go to pull your textbook and notes back to you, but he lays a gentle hand on your arm. he’s been aching for this all night.

“can i hug you first?” he asks, all gentle and confident as he turns his chair towards you. you inhale sharply because all you want is his arms around you, but you’re wary that the utter comfort and warmth they provide might make you cry. and if you start crying he might pull you away from your studies completely, but you can’t afford that tonight.

wooyoung can practically see you overthinking it, and the tears are already there, shining in your eyes. he knows what you’re worried about, and he won’t let that stop him from giving you what you really need.

“it’s okay,” he chides gently, “just for a minute, then we’ll get back to studying. i promise.” you push away from the table just a bit, and with that simple invitation, he gathers you up in his arms with such tenderness and fervor all at once that you can’t do anything but melt into his embrace. he rubs your back as you bury your face into his neck.

“i got you,” he whispers when you sniffle. “deep breaths,” he instructs, smoothing his hand up and down your back in a slow rhythm for you to match your breathing to. “you’re gonna do just fine, baby. you’re gonna do amazing. you’re gonna kick these finals in the ass, i know you will. and whatever happens, it’s gonna be alright. i know you can do this, you’ve worked so hard.” his voice is so full of conviction that the words actually calm you down. they’re not some empty promise said just to make you feel better in the moment, no, he fully believes in each syllable he speaks and that is the real comfort. and it never hurts to hear someone else say out loud what you’re praying for. wooyoung loves the way it makes you relax further into his arms.

he lets you stay there as long as you want, but the second he can tell your mind is starting to drift back to your coursework—your shoulders tighten a bit and you start to fidget with the hem of his shirt—he voices his master plan for the night.

“i’ve got an idea,” he starts, waiting to go on until you nod, “how about we get you a treat on the way home, and i’ll read to you from the textbook while you eat it?” it’s too good to be true, so you pull away to look right at him, adoration swimming in your eyes that makes wooyoung fall deeper and deeper into what he thinks is true paradise.

all you can come up with to say is a sweet, whispered, “really?”

“really,” he nods, “you deserve it!” that’s another one of those lovely things he says that you know he really, truly means.

“you’ll find it boring,” you protest half-heartedly. he just smiles.

“you know i always want to know more about what you’re studying. you’re so cool and intelligent, i have to keep up somehow!” wooyoung just about swells in pride when that makes you smile.

“as if,” you scoff, “you’re the coolest, woo.”

“mm, is that so?” he teases, earning him a peck on the cheek.

“yes, it is,” you indulge, smiling because you’re just so grateful for his love and care. “you bring me food and offer to buy me treats and read boring textbooks to me. of course you’re cool.”

maybe another night he’d play at mock-offense, asking if that’s all you really think he’s good for, but tonight he thinks those things are too important to poke fun at. so he just shoots you another winning smile and grabs your hand, standing with you.

“i’ll buy you anything you want. just lead the way, lover.”

[kinzis-writing]

Better than Revenge | M.R [4]

It had been almost two years since Y/N and Mattheo had been best friends. Y/N had decided that it was time to face her past and deal with whatever consequences would follow.

This chapter will probably contain a lot of Soft! Mattheo, which is ooc but i hope you enjoy.

Pairing(s): Mattheo Riddle x Y/N Nettleby, Ex! Theodore Nott x Y/N Nettlby.

Warning(s): order of the phoenix spoilers (a bit), mentions of sexual activities, degrading/slight abuse by parents,

iv. “this is why we can’t have nice things, darling”

Chapter Four

*Gif not mine* *not edited or proofread*

It had been approximately four days since the Slytherin party and Y/N had tried her best to avoid Mattheo and his friends. It was easier to avoid the Slytherin friend group compared to Mattheo, as it seemed that he looked for her in every class, between every class, and at every meal. She had shaken him off every time and ignored him as much as possible, but that did little to stop him.

"Y/N!" The voice of Hermione had torn through the silence of the library. The Granger girl hurriedly making her way over to her housemate. "Lorenzo told me to come find you, Riddle is fighting Nott." she spoke fast.

Y/N shot up from her chair quickly, leaving her items and headed to where Hermione was taking her. It wasn't long before the two Gryffindor girls were stopping where their friend group was trying to break them up and other houses just watching. "Hey!" Y/N yelled as she walked towards the fight.

"Y/N." Sean warned as his sister shrugged him off and went towards the fight again since he had stopped her.

"Mattheo Riddle!" Y/N yelled breaking the boys apart as she carefully pushed them away from each other, her hand staying on the one she had called. "Stop it, both of you!" she yelled again. The Slytherin friend group cleared the hallways since the fight was under control and they didn't have to worry about their friends killing each other. "What in merlin's name happened?" she asked, looking at each one of the boys.

Mattheo stood their breathing heavy and glaring at Theo, who didn't dare look at anyone. Veronica wore a proud smile on her face, unknowingly being caught by the rest of the group. "Theo was insulting you." Enzo stated simply, not wanting to go into detail in such a public place.

"If she would put out-" Veronica started before Theodore shook his head indicating her to stop when he noticed Mattheo go to step forward, but Y/N held him back. The Nettleby girl was afraid that he would not be afraid of punching a girl right now.

"Let's go." She muttered pulling Mattheo along with her and not giving any of the Slytherin's her attention. She quietly led the boy to her dormitory and straight to the shared bathroom.

She didn't say anything as she sat him down on the toilet and started using some healing spells that she knew to heal him the best she could. Some of his wounds and marks were still there, but truth be told Theo looked worse.

"This was a bad idea." Y/N stated as she avoided Mattheo's gaze and walked out of the bathroom, him following her, once she had finished the healing spells. "This plan was rubbish, especially when it makes you and Theo fight. Merlin, you two were best friends before me." she muttered.

"He won't disrespect you s'long as i'm around." Mattheo mumbled as he took a seat on the girl's bed not knowing what to expect from her next.

Y/N shook her head as she stopped pacing and turned to face the boy that she had known very well since first year. "What was the fight even about?" she asked, knowing that it had to do with the issue between her and Theo.

"that bitch seems to have an influence on Theodore." Mattheo spoke as he eyed the girl in front of him. "Veronica started first, saying how our relationship must be draining because lack of activities, your ex then going on to say that there's better lays."

Y/N nodding, even though she didn't quite understand why her not having sex with him would be this big of an issue. Maybe it was an insecurity problem, or maybe it was the only thing he truly wanted from their relationship. Whatever the case, she knew that they were not worth her breath. Yet something had to give, because she was not finishing the next two years at school and dealing with the two wizards fighting.

"Come on," Y/N spoke as she grabbed Mattheo's hand and led him out of her dorm and made her way towards the Slytherin common room. She was going to settle this once and for all, whether it made people mad or not. "Pureblood." she spoke the the door and entered the common room as the door opened, Mattheo trailing behind her.

Just as she had suspected, the friend group had skipped class after the fight had broken out. The couple joined the group, as they caught everyone's attention. Veronica looked pissed and unhappy that they had decided to show up, when they were probably getting scolded by the friend group.

"I'll leave after I say this because I am done with how immature you two are acting," She started as she pointed to her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. "also the fact that the fights between you two," pointing at Mattheo and Theodore. "are absurd." she finished causing everyone to agree with those statements that had been made.

The girl turned to Theo before giving him a look, "You honestly want the truth? Because I have a feeling you won't want it once I started confessing." She asked the man that she used to have feelings for. When no one said anything, she looked at Mattheo to see if he had any feelings about people finding out about them. "It's true that I didn't sleep with you" She admitted to the group but kept her gaze locked on Theo's so he would know she was telling the truth. "I was going to the night you broke up with me," She admitted making Mattheo rolled his eyes and her brother look away not wanting to hear that.

"I didn't have sex with Theodore, but I wasn't a prude." Y/N looked straight in the eyes of Veronica as she spoke those words knowing that it showed who she truly was. "I lost my virginity to Mattheo the day before my birthday, 5 months before Theodore and I started dating." She told the group honestly. Sean looked sick because he didn’t want to hear that about his best friend and sister, Theo was angry and Veronica was surprised. The others not saying anything and just absorbing the information. “Besides there was other things done besides…” she trailed off before shaking her head and deciding against saying it.

Theo’s angry eyes burned right into Mattheo’s as he stood up and rushed towards the boy. Enzo pulling Y/N out of the way knowing what was coming. The Nott boys wand pressing against the neck of Mattheo. Of course, everyone thought that he wouldn’t do anything but it’s the fact that he would go that far.

“I should hex you.” Theo spoke dangerously low to his housemate and best friend.

“Now, why would you do that Nott?” Mattheo spoke calmly. Knowing nothing was going to happen and if it did that he could control the situation.

Y/N spoke up, knowing that it may make things worse but she hoped it made it better. “There’s no reason for that Theodore.” She spoke calmly, but her nerves were going wild for Mattheo. She knew he could handle his own, knowing where he came from. Still didn’t make her worry any less.

“This is rubbish, Theo.” Veronica started as she stood up and went over to rub his arm. “She isn’t worth it.”

Theodore shook her off and continued his hard glare at his best friend. “you took that from me.” He muttered causing the Riddle boy to furrow his eyebrows in confusion. “I was suppose to get that experience.”

Mattheo’s gaze darkened at what his housemate was meaning, “I didn’t take anything away from you. What experience were you wanting exactly? What claim did you think that you’d have on her?” He asked dangerously low, the patience in his voice wearing thin.

Y/N had enough of all this, she had left the common room without being noticed by Mattheo or Theodore. Who did Theo think he was, being entitled to her and what she had to give. It didn’t make any sense to the girl as to why he was acting like that. Pushing that behind her, she went back to the Gryffindor common room to hopefully have some normal time with her friends.

"Hey guys." Y/N greeted sitting her bag down beside of her and sitting down beside Hermione. Her friends greeted her back before they gave each other knowing looks. They weren't sure if their friend was aware of everything that was going on. "Are you all okay? You're acting strange..."

Hermione glanced around the group before turning her attention to the Nettleby girl, "Have you heard anything about Riddle? or has he told you anything?" she asked cautiously to not make the girl uncomfortable.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "No, why?"

"You know about everyone shunning Harry because of... his father and how his mother has escaped from Azkaban, and they haven't found her." Ginny explained to the girl trying to get her to understand their concern and everything about the situation.

Ron looked at Harry before turning his attention to the girls, "Harry said that they think his followers are planning something."

realization dawned on Y/N as her friends continued talking about the situation at hand. It was true about Bellatrix had escaped from Azkaban and she had completely forgotten to ask Mattheo how he felt about it, seeing as it made headlines. Y/N knew that his father was also back, or at least trying to make a comeback. Not only because she trusted her friends but because she could feel it. Coming from a family of death eaters allowed for this stuff to make sense.

"My parents are hosting a dinner that my brother and I have to attend." Y/N spoke making the golden trio and Ginny turn towards her. "I bet it has something to do with him." she added as she looked around her friend group.

"Please tell me you're not going." Harry begged in his own way to his friend. They all knew that Y/N's family was pureblood Slytherin's and death eaters, the Weasley's were even a bit unsure when Ron invited her over for the holidays when he found out that she refused to go home. Now it was clear that she was nothing like her family and wanted a different life, fighting for the good side of things.

Y/N shrugged, "I have to, or they will literally track me down." she mumbled as she noticed the tension in the room.

🪄

It was the time that she had dreaded for the past two weeks. The dinner that her mother had excitedly written to both of her kids about. To make matters worse for the Gryffindor girl, she knew it would be a death eaters meeting, seeing as almost everyone in Sean and Mattheo's group would be there.

"They're going to murder me." Y/N whispered to Sean as the youngest twin sat on her brother's bed as he laid out his suit. "I am a bloody Gryffindor, and everyone that's going to be here is Slytherin death eaters." The twins were still not close, but they were closer than previously due to her connection with Mattheo and after how Theo had treated her.

"I'll go down with you if they try anything." Sean promised as he noticed how distraught his sister looked. "Mattheo won't let anything happen to you either."

Y/N scoffed slightly at what her older brother had said, It was true that Mattheo was far from his parents when no one was around. But how would he act when multiple of his family's allies was in the same room? He had always acted a big stuck up or cold towards the girl whenever the Netteby's hosted Christmas parties and everything. "Our parents like you more, they'll make sure you live. They'll place the unforgivable spell on me."

"You'll survive." Sean promised before shoving his sister out of his room so he could get ready.

Y/N rolled her eyes before going to her room and getting ready. To blend in with everyone that was going to be at Nettleby manor, she had decided on another green dress. Something that would make her look mature but attractive at the same time. She quickly straightened up her hair and makeup before taking a couple deep breaths and heading downstairs to meet whatever fate was waiting for her.

"Y/N, you're late." Mrs. Nettleby scolded her eyes glaring at the girl in front of her. "You don't need to be a bigger disappointment than you already are." she muttered. A few of the other death eaters laughed at the mother's comment.

Y/N held her head high and stood up straighter, "Sorry mother." she muttered before stepping around her mother and going into the kitchen in her house.

"You don't walk away until I say I am done with you!" Mrs. Nettlby spoke harshly as her heels click-clack every time she stormed towards her daughter. "You should be grateful for the life that you have with us, we would have kicked you out if we didn't have a plan for you." she spoke in her normal harsh tone.

Y/N's eyes narrowed slightly as she starred at her mother, "Plan for me?" she asked wanting to know what the group of death eaters planned to do with her.

Mrs. Nettleby gave her daughter a wicked smile before she grabbed her daughter by the shoulder and pushed her out to where the group was waiting for her. "Our daughter wants to know what her main purpose is, I think it's time we elaborate."

Sean's expression changed as he noticed the harsh grip that his mother had on his sister. He knew that his family treated her different since she was sorted into Gryffindor, but he did not understand why. He went to speak up before Lucius Malfoy stepped in front of the group of Slytherin boys. "I think it's time for you to let the adults talk." He spoke monotoned to the group of boys.

"What are you going to do to my sister?" Sean asked the father of his friend. His glare was hard as he tried to figure out what the death eaters wanted with his sister.

Lucius gave him a dark look, "that is between us and her, Mr. Nettleby." He spoke before ushering the boys out of the room.

After the boys had left everyone gathered around the table, the grip Mrs. Nettleby had on her daughter tightened as discussion started around the group of his army. "Here is what you must do."

“They wouldn’t hurt her, would they?” Sean asked nervously as he waited for the adults to break the spell on the door.

Draco scoffed, “they would.” He spoke monotonously.

Theodore had been ignored by Mattheo and Sean, but he was even look nervous now. He may have a grudge held against his best friend, but he would admit that Y/N didn’t deserve to be tortured by the groupies in the den.

Before anyone could speak up the doors opened and Mr. Nettleby threw his daughter out before closing the doors again. The girl’s shoulders were already turned slightly purple from the grip and fingernails of her mother. Her once neat hair was how messy and her makeup was smudged. A red mark shaped like a handprint laid across her right cheek.

Y/N didn’t dare say anything, all she did was take her heels off and raced to her room. Sean went to follow her but was held back by Draco who knew that Mattheo would want to follow the girl. After all, it was the boy’s father’s followers that did whatever damage to the girl.

Y/N rushed to her room and quickly got her duffle, whatever she had left at home was going back with her to Hogwarts. There was no one she could risk coming home again.

“Y/N,” Mattheo’s voice spoke softly from the doorway of the girl’s bedroom. “What’s going on?”

“I’m leaving.” She whispered hoping that they couldn’t curse him to get it out of him. She knew her parents would find her at hogwarts, which made her worried. “I can’t stay here, not with what they’re expecting me to do.”

Mattheo cautiously stepped into the bedroom that he was slightly familiar with. He didn’t want to startle the girl seeing as she was in a vulnerable state. “What did they do?” He asked carefully, he noticed the way her eyes squeezed shut and a tear fell down. “Let me help you.”

Y/N turned to him fully, so he got the full view of her. Her cheek now a slightly different color due to the impact of whoever slapped her across the face. “You can’t help me, Teo.” She whispered on the verge of breaking.

“Let me try,” he pleaded, hating seeing the girl the way that she was currently. “I’ll try to fix it.”

“I have to get out of here,” she told him. “I have to go into hiding or something.” She mumbled as her eyes finally fully met his.

Mattheo stepped forward again and carefully reached out and grabbed her hand in a comforting way. “Tell me what they want you to do.”

“They want me to spy on Harry,” she whispered. His hand gave hers a big squeeze. Knowing that she was best friends with him, sure he hated Harry. Most of it being because of his father and everything that happened. “They want me to spy on the the Weasley’s as well.” She added her heart breaking as she spoke.

“Maybe we can figure something out,” Mattheo tried to reason but they both knew better. Death Eaters showed no remorse for anyone, not even their own kids. At least, the Nettleby’s didn’t. “We can find a way for you to make them happy but keep your friends safe.”

Y/N shook her head as more tears fell down, “that’s not the worse part.” She muttered as his hand went to rest on her cheek.

“I’m sure we can get through it.” Mattheo reassured, his thumb wiping away the tears as they fell.

“They’re going to force me to become like them.” She told the guy that she cared deeply for in front of her. Mattheo paled, knowing exactly what she meant. It was exactly what his father and mother had been planning for him since the plan to get his father back. “They’re forcing me to join your fathers army.”

That sentence was enough for Mattheo to fear for the girl in front of him. It was enough to feel his own heart break. Because someone so sweet, caring, and willing to help others did not deserve to have that life that he was destined to live.

Little note: hi! It’s been longer than I hoped and I’m sorry many things got in the way but here’s an update. I hope you enjoyed and we’re getting to the juicy stuff. I did change the plot a bit since this went from a George Weasley x reader (rough draft) and I did a full switch to Mattheo Riddle x reader. I think I’m going to start adding a word count at the beginning of my chapters just so I can keep track of how many words I usually write per chapter. Next update should be out soon! I’ve started writing requests but I’ll catch up with blogmas first! 🥰

Tag list: @yoichiislovie @justhavingsomefun1 @lafrone @julesandro @prongprincessworld @bruher @mattiesgirl @itsamusical4lifee @frogtape @blueeweeb @harrysnovia @kiwi475 @wildlyobserving @devotedlycrookeddonut @oi-itse @dear-fifi @grandtheoristpeach @dory-98 @lovesanimals0000 @supernatural-lover @joekbff @ivy-34 @jasmine2105 @cmervns @jetblackpayne @b4b3tte @xmadigurlx @thecraziestcrayon @whoknowsbut

I think I added everyone! If i missed someone or I tagged the wrong account and you wanna be untagged just let me know. 🫶

[eldritch-spouse]

Bro that whole fucking thing where Admin got stuck in a wall and fucked by the staff was POGGERS!!!!!

Can we get vice versa? As in TCE staff getting wall fucked??

TW: Noncon.

In reference to this post.

You know who loves this, don't you? Santi. It's not his first time "getting stuck" in a wall, and it won't be his last. He'll readily perk up upon being touched and you can probably hear him moaning and begging from the other side. Whether you choose to stuff his ass or suck him off, Santi's having a great time and he hopes someone shows up to fuck his face too. He wants you to call others, wants to be taken advantage of viciously.

Morell is dying. Like actually dying inside. The way he tenses as soon as you feather a hand over his ass, cursing obscenities through the wall, banging on it with his fists. Oh, there'll be trouble. You may get him to quiet down and hear him moan quietly if you only choose to touch his cock, but put even just a finger up his ass and this man will try to buck you off like a rabid bull. Make sure he cums from it so Morell is forced to admit anal isn't all that bad.

Gallon can't really get stuck in a wall. What could happen is that he'll take a small eternity to wedge himself out of a tight spot. In that span of time, he can easily angle his body to avoid penetration in certain spots, but he's still likely to get fondled in general and shudder about it.

Grimbly is also another one you should be careful with. Even if he looks small and helpless, Grimbly has sharp and fast legs, you'll get something punctured if he doesn't like where things are headed. Fortunately, so long as you're moderately gentle, Grimbly's happy to mewl and lean into what's being done to him, cock leaking between his clenched legs.

Patches is hard in very little time. He shudders ans gasps at the first touch, though might very quickly turn to begging and rasped cries. Part of him hopes he's absolutely torn apart, that you'll crush his balls and slash his skin, carve little messages there. Of course, you should punish him for finishing when things barely get started too.

Nebul will despise this day for the rest of his unlife. Because lots of people want to put him in his place, most of all you probably. You'll be able to hear his threats and feel the wall rumble with the intensity of his voice, but he's helpless. The only way Nebul can resist is by keeping as quiet as possible. And he clings to that viciously.

Vinnel is deathly afraid that somehow, someway, someone might succeed in ripping his suit- Which is unlikely. People will hump and try to free his cock, but he won't let them, spending the whole time berating whoever touches him for being gross little things who would pathetically grind on him. It's the only line of defense he has while he desperately tries to keep his erection from showing too much.

Belo is panicking so hard. Everytime he's touched, he puffs up and booms threats at whoever's there. And honestly, you'd need a sturdy fucking wall to keep him in place. He squawks and tries to lean away from touched to his slit and cock, trembles when his ass is spread and hopelessly goes limp at some point, asking for forgiveness from Krulu when he starts to take pleasure from his own assault.

Fank-e can honestly just demolish most walls. But. He might not, for some reason or another, maybe to prevent anything from falling onto his visor. He can and will take most of whatever's done to him giggling, enjoying it even. Until someone figures out how to remove Fank-e's cock/robussy and runs off with it. Then he'll get mad.

Sybastian is another one who's panicking, mostly because he hates the sensation of feeling trapped. He's going to try to shift into different things you'll have difficulty fucking, but if you assure him it's just you and you're not going to do something wild, Sybastian will actually spread his legs so you can touch him better. Do get him the fuck out of here though.

There's absolutely no wall that can keep Krulu contained. And even if you could, are you ready to seal yourself into a fate worse than death?

[lukerycyja]

How to take care of your funny looking dog tutorial

Paring: zhongli x reader (platonic)

Summary: you find this funny looking dog during a hunt in the mountains and decide that you won't kill him for meat but instead take care of it.

Warnings: description of wounds, hunting, some blood, reader isn't vegetarian, female reader

@zhongrin tis one for u

The mountainside was uncharacteristically cold this year. The winds blew and snow fell few times and it was only the beginning of the autumn. You could tell, that this winter will be a challenge to survive.

Your hands hurt as your fingertips let go of the arrow. However, the pain was worth the wait.

Preparations for winter for somebody living in solitude in the mountains is never easy. There was a lot of unpleasant surprises and challenges to overcome just to survive. And since this winter wouldn't be merciful, you had to do double amount of work.

This catch would be the last of today. Since dragons already left for the winder, escaping from the cold, there was plenty of prey roaming around, getting as much food as possible. Only during early spring and autumn the vast terrain controlled by the dragons was suddenly deprived of most predators, causing a lot of animals to venture along the mountainside.

As you approach what you though was a big brown salamander that somehow could run fast on land, you stopped abruptly. It was not a salamander like one you could see in the ponds in the caves.

This lizard had small horns and dirty, glued together fur. It also had small, yellow and standing scales along its back. And of course tuft of dirty, torn of once probably yellow fur at the end of its tail. Was it some mix of one of those illuminated beasts you heard once? It looked too scrawny and small for a dragon, with longer body. Besides, they already left. Your arrow pierced its tail and lizard got stuck while running away, with arrow getting it stuck between some fallen branches.

Little guy struggled a little more but it quickly run out of energy, now breathing heavily and looking at you with wide eyes. It's trembling and quiet whines made it look more pathetic.

You could tell, that while looking chubby and soft, it was definitely underweight. It scales dull and greyish in colour almost completely with no shine. It looked so pathetic that you couldn't bring yourself to finish it. Besides, there was little to no meat on it anyways.

"Hey there bud" you said in calm, quiet voice, slowly moving towards it "I'm not going to hurt you... at least not anymore"

You tried to not look into its eyes and crouching to make yourself look smaller and less intimidating. You didn't know if it worked, but you knew that jumping onto the poor thing would only make it worse.

It only could wiggle and whine as you finally got to it.

You knew that once you freed it, it would probably run away and die.

"I know you are scared, but I can't let you run little buddy. I will have to take you and make sure you heal, okay?" You felt stupid talking to an animal, but oh well.

It's not like there was anyone in the mountains anyways. Besides, that little lizard looked more and more cute. Maybe after you healed it you could keep it as pet if it accepted you?

"Okay. Let's make a contract. I will take you home and heal you and you will get some delicious meal and a warm bed. You just don't run now, right?"

Your baby talk somehow worked. But most likely lizard just couldn't move because of exhaustion. Oh well, at least for some time you will have a company, or so you hoped.

Picking it up, it only squeaked and quietly whined, weakly wiggling against your hold. It stopped quickly and instead shook as you rolled it in your scarf. Making sure that your little buddy was safe and sound, and that the arrow wasn't able to move, you adjusted your bag with previous prey on your shoulder and started walking home.

You decided to baby talk to your companion to try and comfort it a little, or at least so it can get used to your voice. You did that with your chickens, baby goats and cats and they all seemed to like it. Hopefully lizards liked this as well, although you suspected it more soothed you than it. You still decided to take it as positive.

Yellows turned into oranges and browns, as leaves of sandbearer trees lost lively golden colour and started to die and fall. Some cuihua trees still had ripe sunsetias on their branches that crimson foxes and squirrels tried to collect. You already got more than enough of those, only waiting now for the walnuts. You were sure that you could get them in the next week or so.

And you still had to get down to the village to get that donkey that you purchased, before any snow or rain fell, as mudslides weren't to be messed with. You returned home once after rain and you could dig mud out of your hair and ears for weeks.

Shuddering at the unpleasant memory, you carefully stepped over the line bridge above the stream that in the spring turned into roaring river. You will have to remember to remake it it the spring, as you could tell that it won't make it through winter.

Your little buddy reacted to sudden swaying on the bridge, and whined, trying to bury itself further into your scarf. You could only coo at it and hold it tighter as petting it now was rather easy way to loose a finger or two.

After stepping on the solid ground again you made sure, that it's as okay as it can be, and started walking again, this time faster, as it was getting colder and darker by the second, and you did not want to be caught by the night winds. During autumn their bites were the most painful and unpredictable.

Seeing swaying light of a lone lantern that you set up today warmed your cold body. You couldn't wait to finally cook dinner and light up the fire. And warm bath was a need, considering how dirty you got during hunting and gathering.

And also taking care of your little friend. He needed your attention first.

Walking by your chickens and goats that were returning to their safe abode, you finally made it to your house. Core structure was made with geo constructs by a geo vision wielder that you paid a rather hefty sum of gold and minerals. He didn't take mountain people currency, so you had to give him most of your precious finds from the trips. But it was worth it. Rock was able to withstand the strongest of elements and you didn't have to worry about it crumbling for your entire lifetime.

Warm air and smell of various spices hit your nostrils as you finally closed the door behind you and ventured into the kitchen. Setting down the scarf cocoon you apologized to it, as you heard it's whimper at being moved even more. You quickly set fire under the fireplace and set the bag of gathered food and herbs on the counter, caking off your outside clothes at the same time. Once ready, you pulled out your handy healing bag and started to remove layers of fabric from the small lizard.

As you slowly set it on the table and uncurled it to the full length, you realized that it definitely wasn't a normal lizard but at the same time it was longer and thinner than normal dragon hatchlings. It had horns sure, but it looked as if someone stretched it too much. Regaldles of what it was, you wanted to help it as much as you could.

You pulled out clay bowl and got some water from the bucket standing by the brick stove. You thanked your past self for getting water from the river in the morning so it wasn't freezing and got to work washing your little buddy. He didn't even flinch, and you noticed that he probably passed out from the exhaustion and pain. Poor thing.

As you scrubbed it's scales and fur, you noticed a lot more minor injuries and missing scales. What worried you were the teeth marks very similar to those of a dragon hatchling. Was your little friend bullied and that's why it was so weak?

After cleaning it and its wounds, and getting your own arrow back, you rolled him (yes, you checked it's gender and basing on the look of the scales of his lower stomach and your limited knowledge, it looked like it was male (you can check the gender of a snake by looking how its tail looks, thinker and smaller are females, but i decided to just give dragons something similar but different because why not) in some clean cloth and put him by the fireplace to warm him up.

You then decided to make a meal for yourself and something light for him to munch on so he could get his strength back. Also, you need to stop trying to call him just "him". He needs a name if you will keep him around for a few weeks. But what would even fit him?

You prepared an herb stew for yourself and some light chicken broth for your new temporary pet. You saw that after a while little cocoon started to wiggle around and you guessed that he was hungry for sure, seeing how thin he was.

Putting a small bowl near his snout you heard rustling and quiet whine. He blinked slowly and looked at you with golden eyes, pupils blown wide. It sniffed the bowl and after a short while is wiggled closer to it. You already moved backwards, to not scare it more. You smiled, seeing as it stick out it's forked tounge and dipped it in the broth. There was silence for a few seconds and then it started to slowly drink from the bowl.

You muffled your chuckle as it ate as if someone would take the meal away from him. You could name him after some food, that would be funny. But you wanted his name to be unique. Oh well you will have to try and find something in the old stone tablets that you found not so long ago in the cave.

Leaving the kitchen after making sure he was okay, you left to close the chickens and goats, as well as to finally prepare your catches for long process to make them survive the winter and not poison you.

After you finally washed your bloody hands and returned to the kitchen to get prepared buckets of water that you needed for a bath, you noticed that lizard was curled up tightly, only slightly visible from the pile of cloth and sleeping soundly. You smiled and proceeded to leave it for the night, hoping that it won't destroy your kitchen during the night.

Laying down you could only wonder on how would life change during his short stay with you.

* 1. Name him after his look in some ancient language, because it's funny *

Waking up was not easy, especially when it was only getting colder and colder outside. Knowing you have to get out and feed your animals and open the gates for them already made you feel cold. And let's not even mention getting water and breakfast ready and the dreaded journey to the Hua village. It would take you all day, and dragging that donkey back wouldn't be easy, but he would protect your animals from any stray dog or mountain dog. So it was worth it. If only that could make you move...

Stretching, you got up and reached into the bowl of water on the nightstand to wash your face. Cold water woke you up forther and you got yourself ready for the day.

As you walked into the kitchen you saw that the bundle where your little buddy was sleeping was empty. Thinking that he escaped you sighed at the site of empty pot that had the chicken broth in yesterday. It was empty and oily paw prints made you understand who made the mess. Following the trail, you turned away from the door, as it lead further into your home, into your study room.

As you entered, you were met with... interesting sight.

Lizard still in the bandages and some dust and fat around its mouth was looking at you with big eyes. It seemed as you caught it eating your collection of cor lapis.

Literal rock cor lapis.

There was a minute of silence and stillnes as you looked at eachother. You stunned and he scared.

Then he spat out some of the crushed cor lapis from his mouth.

You bursted out laughing, the scene in front of you was just so ridiculous that you couldn't keep it in you. And he just looked at you and curled up on himself, becoming basically round and you just couldn't stop your giggles. He was so adorable!

Suddenly a name popped into your head. Morax. Which in the language of the north merchant that you met long ago meant round. In other languages it didn't meant anything, but you didn't care. It sounded like a name and was funny. So Morax it is.

After you calmed down and were able to stand up again, you grabbed the little troublemaker and felt his full tummy under your fingers. You had no idea that his stomach was so big to fit so much. That was definitely gonna be a good day.

* 2. Let it steal heat from your body and feed it your best minerals. Be careful, he can bite! *

Storm blew wind in the background as you worked on sewing your new blanket. Some time passed since you welcomed Morax in your home and it didn't look like he wanted to leave you anytime soon. You made him a bed out of an old crate and some soft blankets and furs you had laying around. He loved it and apparently loved you, because he wouldn't you alone. Like ever.

He followed you outside and since it got cold and there was snow falling sometimes, he would climb on you and hide under your scarf. Also, during these five weeks together że was getting slower and sleepier. You guessed that his dragon part, since he couldn't migrate, was preparing for hibernation.

Morax was a dragon, just not a full blooded dragon.there was something else mixed there, but you weren't sure what. It didn't bother you, but you could only guess how that will impact his behaviour. Hopefully he won't be too big otherwise you will have a problem. Being part dragon made sure that he would be big, yes, but you hoped that the other parts weren't too big.

You also regularly fed him cor lapis, as he was really fond of it for some reason. Although you had to be careful, because little beast was so eager that he often bit your fingers as well, trying to eat as fast as he could. You figured that this was a result of other dragons bullying him.

He also gained weight because of your care. His scales became shiny brown and he gained weight as well as grew. Now he was as heavy as half filled bucket of water. Which was a lot for such a small animal. He was now chubby and when he sat on the edge of your table, instead of making a loop with his body, he looked round. But you didn't mind at all. He looked cute and healthy now, and you knew that dragon hatchlings had a lot of chub.

As you were just finishing the last stitch, Morax decided that he had enough of playing around with a ball of unused thread that you made for him and went back to his bed. You yawned and decided to go to sleep. Blowing the candles and making sure fire wouldn't spread from the fireplace, you petted Morax one last time and went to bed.

After laying down and making sure that you were fully covered, you finally rested after the long day. Although you couldn't even fully close your eyes before you heard a quiet mewl. Morax sometimes made this sound, so you didn't mind. But the soft and quick footsteps were unexpected. He never left bed when he went to sleep. Not until sunrise.

When you felt the bed dipping and a small huffs near your right ear, you stilled. He never did that before. Yes, he trusted you to some degree, but despite being rather cuddly and letting you pet him, he was careful.

With great difficulty he finally climbed onto your bed and made his way under the covers. After achieving that, he snuggled into your chest and neck and after positioning himself, let out a quiet huff and started purring.

You melted at his actions and let yourself fall asleep, content and happy.

* 3. He can turn into a more human baby *

Warm sunrays tickled your face, as you walked out of your house on the middle of the spring. Some villagers were travelling and asked you for directions. And as a mountain hermit you lacked human contact, so you started a conversation that was becoming longer and longer. And your little (well, now not so little anymore) buddy was becoming more and more restless after you closed him in the house so the villagers wouldn't run away.

Morax was looking though the small window as you interacted with other two legged things like you. And he didn't like it at all.

And yet he understood that you wanted to be with your kind. He understood because that was what he wanted before his own kin banished him from the nest, his parents watching as his siblings chased him away, not sparing bites and scratches.

He remembered how hard it was to survive in the wild. And he remembered how you found him and took care of him. How your food was warm and tasted strangely delicious, how you gave him his tasty rock treats, how you starched behind his ears and how you let him sleep with you. You were his real parent, his family. And he wanted to be a part of yours.

He felt his small body getting hotter and his elemental energy draining. But he had to, he had to fit in more. He didn't want you to stop loving him. He wouldn't let it happen again.

His energy finally drained and he was very sleepy. He lost consciousness as he made a weak sound, crying out to you to come to him.

You heard a sound coming out from your home, and bid goodbye to the villagers. When you returned you could only stare in shock at the small child with Morax' features sleeping next to your sink. It had small horns, pointy ears, scales along its spine and chubby tail. You also noticed that its hands and feet had dark talons and it had weird, glowing tattoos.

"Morax?" You asked weakly.

It seemed like those above gave you a child.

[mixiury]

Unspoken words — Wanderer x GN! Reader

Summary: Trying to finish your commission as fast as possible you get sick, walking to the place of the closest person you know.

A/N: Forever thankful with my friend who offered to proofread this for me <3. This was in my drafts since a long time ago and I decided to post it after getting Kabukimono cat plushie. Please enjoy!! ^^

Wanderer takes the wet towel from your forehead with his hands, submerging it into the basin of cold water next to his bed to then wring the excess water and placing it back in its original place.

He has been doing the same thing over and over for the last few hours, or maybe days? Your mind is too clouded by the fever to know how long you have been in this miserable situation, envying the people you hear through the window walking on the streets of Sumeru and going on with their day by day, ignorant of the suffering you are enduring.

His movements are monotonous but precise, almost delicate. It is as if he had done this multiple times in the past, something you wouldn't expect from someone like him. And maybe it's that silence and acceptance on his part that brings so much uneasiness to your thoughts, slowly consuming you until they simply become impossible to ignore.

"Come on, you can say it." The words fall weakly from your mouth, worsening the burning pain in your hoarse throat that feels like your vocal cords are being torn apart one by one. Still, you try your best to hide it from him, failing miserably. It would be almost impossible not to notice it when the simple act of breathing hurts so much, responding you instantly.

"Stop talking. You will make it worse." You don't know if it's because you've been too focused on your own misery to pay him any attention during all your stance, yet this is the first time you've heard him speak since you got sick, the words barely making sense in the moment that reach your ears. Yet, although for any other person in your situation the pain would be enough to listen to his words, his response does not completely satisfy you, ignoring them just as he was expecting.

"I know what you are thinking. Just say it." He sighs, already knowing where this conversation is going. "What would the point of scolding you now?" "I don't know, you are an expert on it."

Wanderer finally stops his movements and looks back to you. It's something so insignificant and small but it's enough to let you know that he is at least listening to you. However, the silence between you two after it is so loud, spreading throughout the room as you two stare at each other. You've seen that look in his eyes before, like he's analyzing every little aspect and movement of you. From your shallow breaths to the way your body keeps sending shivers from the ferver.

"It was your choice to stay late on the rain to finish your commission, not mine. I'm not responsable for your own well being."

"Then why are you taking care of me?"

"Nahida would have scolded me if I had just left you outside in the rain, but now I'm starting to wonder if letting you be on your own was the best choice."

Despite the pain, you can't contain the laughter that forms in the back of your throat, which quickly turns into a dry cough in response to your lungs desperately seeking oxygen to keep themselves functioning. This seems to bother him even more, averting his gaze again and pouring water into a glass cup. It's hard to know exactly what's going on in the deepness of his mind, this whole situation bringing up memories from the past that he had buried long ago.

"Drink this." He hands you the glass of water, helping you lean on the bed so you don't end up choking on it. It's rare to see Wanderer worried about anyone, much less caring about them. It feels wrong to depend on him this much, but you still can't help but feel the warmth of the moment spreading through your chest, selfishly basking in the attention he gives you.

While you drink the water, your eyes follow his gaze, observing the last rays of sun softly entering through the window and the wind running through the curtains. Despite everything, the world continue without waiting for anyone, everyone walking to their houses to finally end the day. All pain is temporary and it is possible that in a few weeks you will end up forgetting about this moment, so you try to get the best out of it, enjoying Wanderer's company in silence.

And when you were finally going to lie down in bed again and try to sleep your pain away, he whispers something one last time. "Just rest. You'll be fine."

It feels like the words are more for himself than for you. You still can't tell what is going through his thoughts, but you know that even if you ask him he will probably brush it off. So instead, you take a different approach to the issue, reaching his hands and holding them with your own. Your hands are still shaky and sweaty from the ferver, but when you talk the words come out strangely soft, trying to reassure him in some way.

"I will."

[heronchildlove]

Ok, so I don't have the energy for a proper fic but I can't get this idea for a "drama student moonlighting as a live model for art classes to get some extra bucks" Matthew au out of my mind and it's gonna drive me crazy if I don't share it, so here it is. Under the read more cause it got a bit long:

Thomas heard Alastair is attending that specific art class but he is too nervous to go alone so he begs James to go with him.

James is all "Tom, I can't draw a straight line, WHAT am I going to do in an art class????"

He goes anyway because Thomas is his cousin and he isn't going to let him down and just resigns himself to drawing the worst fruit bowl any human has ever seen.

Except the teacher walks in accompanied by the most beautiful guy James has ever seen instead and he barely gets to register this is a life drawing class because he is too busy gawking at the guy and omg he just winked at James and his entire brain short-circuited.

The guy's name is Matthew and he is a drama student and he is very happy to be there and be able to help and of course the guy is an actor, James thinks, he looks like a renaissance painting and sounds like an angel.

The teacher sends the guy into a back room to get ready and James tries to pull himself together and pretend he knows what he is doing as he tries to set up his paper and charcoal. He was going to ask Tom for help but he is already busy trying to start a conversation with Alastair and he doesn't want to interrupt them but it's ok he thinks he has got this.

That is, until Matthew comes back in a robe and, and on a cue from the teacher, takes off the robe and does his first pose, and James thinks he is hallucinating because it seems like he isn't wearing anything under the robe.

Oh. My god. He isn't wearing anything under the robe.

He pokes Tom and very vehemently points that out and asks what the fuck happened with the fruit bowls and Tom just looks at him like he is crazy because of course there are no fruit bowls, he had told Jamie it was a live model drawing class.

James is pretty sure Thomas DID NOT tell him that and, even if he did, how was he supposed to know that meant it would be a nude model class????

Worst thing is that aside from some initial awkward giggling no one else seems to really care there is a guy naked in the middle of the room aside from James.

And yes yes he knows the human body is natural and there is nothing wrong with being naked and it's for anatomy practice and the artistic view and all that but James is 1 very much not an artist and 2 still very much attracted to the very naked guy in the middle of the room.

In fact there is nothing about him that takes away from the impression he is the most beautiful guy James has ever seen or will ever see again in his life.

James decides he is going to be the slowest artist to ever exist and spend the whole class on Matthew's face and not look down in any way until it all finishes.

(Though Matthew makes it pretty hard when the teacher gives him a break and he decides to stretch his arms out over his head for a bit).

James has never been happier for the end of a class than when the teacher announces that's it for today and that they can go and thanks Matthew for helping them out because it means Matthew is finally putting the robe back on.

James puts all the things Thomas had lent him away as fast as he can and wants to drag Thomas by the arm so they get away from there as fast as possible but of course Thomas is stalling so he can talk with Alastair a little more and James wonders if aunt Sophie and uncle Gideon would be very mad if he strangled their only son.

But as he is starting to consider just dragging Thomas away for real he hears a "hullo" and when he looks to the side, Matthew himself is there smiling at him and he gets torn between short-circuiting again and worrying that Matthew is there because he saw James ogling him and is about to slap him for it so he immediately starts apologising.

Matthew doesn't get why he is apologising and there is no way James is explaining that so he says it's his first class like that and he felt awkward for staring (which is true).

Matthew chuckles and says he wouldn't be trying to be an actor if he minded people staring at him. Specially other beautiful people with artistic souls.

James wonders if he is crazy or if Matthew just called him beautiful. He tries to deflect by saying he is also sorry for the atrocious drawings he made of Matthew because he isn't an art student and is just there to give his cousin moral support.

Matthew says it can't be that bad and tries to get James to show the drawings to him but that is one mortification James has no intention to go through, thank you very much.

The teacher calls Matthew back to discuss something for the next class and Matthew tells James he is going to keep helping out for the next 2 weeks and he would love to see him there again.

James gives a non-committal answer and vows to himself he is absolutely never ever setting foot on that class again.

(But when Thomas asks him to go with him again next class, the fight he puts up is just for show.)

[creationofacentury]

(This is a hermit!Tommy one-shot, I guess? What happened previously to this one-shot is that Tommy left Hermitcraft to start his own world, and Tommy came back to visit the hermits.)

(Summary: Grian and Tommy gets to talk. They don't address a lot of things though.)

------

Guarded, wounded and feral.

He's too young to look like that, Grian thinks. He knows that look. He knows where that slouch came from. The stance of a soldier, so ready for any kind of attack. Tommyinnit, a survivor and a warrior, barely an adult- he smiles at Grian, and Grian's startled out of his trance, hiding his grimace by waving back.

"Hey! Grian, it's been so long!"

Grian laughs. "Two years are not that long."

"Oh yeah? How do you explain our height differences then? Unless you shrunk during the past two years, big man. However, I am being polite today. So, here it goes: you look extra parrot-y today."

He looks proud, saying that. As usual, Tommy quickly stop making sense. Grian tilts his head, torn between finding this funny or taking offense. "That's not a compliment." Grian says with a laugh.

"Oh, believe me, it is." Tommy nods gravely.

Grian lets out a chuckle. Tommy does seem to have grown up a lot. The way he talks is different, it's much more patient than before, and he shoulders also broadened. Grian's almost proud, but he would never admit that out loud. Still, Tommy is a child, much too young except for those eyes that are always filled with grief and pain and absolution and-

Peace.

Grian does a double take. He's eyes widen, and his mind suddenly goes blank.

"Grian? Is something wrong?"

A hand gently touches his shoulder. Grian flinches.

"...Big man, you alright?"

"I-"

It finally hits Grian that Tommy sounds worried- why? Why would Tommy need to worry about him? He's not a child that needs to be taken care of. The only one here that needs it is- Grian frantically searches again- there's only concerns in Tommy's eyes. And in the reflection, Grian sees himself- shoulder tensed and eyebrows furrowed.

He opens his mouth to form some kind of response, but nothing comes.

"Grian?" Tommy try to shake him by his shoulder. Grian instinctively takes a step back. There's a silent panic accumulating in the back of his head but he ignores it.

"Y-yeah! Sorry, I got- I was just thinking. It's really unfair how tall you've gotten. I am just...surprised, yeah." He chuckles, but it sounds all wrong even to himself. He takes another step back.

Tommy stares for a bit, but then he exhales and grins, "Yeah, I am pretty massive, aren't I?"

Grina sees how Tommy smooths over his frown- intentionally blank and relaxed, a poker face that keeps you alive in confrontation. All Grian can say is sorry, I think I left my chicken pen opened, be right back! and fly and away as fast as possible.

Tommy doesn't shout after him. For a brief second, Grian doesn't know he should be more relieved or more disappointed.

Even after all these years, he's still not okay. He thought he had gotten better. He swallow the acid that rises in his throat and decides- no. He's fine. He's grown. Everything is okay. Everything is perfect.

It has to be.

------

(won't you look at that it's a hermit!Tommy ficlet in the last few days of 2023)

so I started this is in the middle of December but didn't finish it until now. I basically gave up at this point, just wants to get this out. sorry!

[whitexwolfxx310]

Total Eclipse of the heart

Pairing: Bucky x female reader

Summary: After an encounter where Bucky seems to not know who you are, you start to find out answers. Not one's that you were expecting either.

Warnings: Y/N, cursing, super angst.

Word Count: 4K

A/Ns: Sorry for the long pause between chapters. I had to take some time to deal with my mental health. But I am back! I finished this and will be posting the next chapter ASAP because I wrote that one already as well. If you would like to be added to my taglist, please let me know! I love hearing from y'all so please feel free!

Previous Part

Masterlist

An entire month has gone by but it feels like an eternity. Aside from the one encounter when everyone arrived home from the Soviet Union, the two of you have been kept separate from one another. Tony and Bruce had both agreed that the emotional response from Bucky when he saw you could be triggering, to us both.

It was difficult to try and go through the regular day to day motions when life seemed to have done a complete 180. Everything changed. Sections of The Compound were now 'off limits'. Anytime you asked about Bucky, no one seemed to 'know anything'. It wasn't until Nat 'accidentally' slipped that he had been taken to Wakanda for treatment did you know anything.

'Our' home turned into your home. Bucky's clothes and belongings were taken from the apartment day by day as they worked diligently on treatment. His scent gradually dissipated from the bedsheets with each passing day. Nothing of him was left except one photograph- not even Alpine was left behind.

Which is understandable...But, God I miss them both- more than I let on.

Sitting at the kitchen island, which is normally decorated with cheerful, bright sunflowers and whatever sweet concoction Bucky cooked that morning, felt so bleak and lonely. Each passing day turned one of your favorite places within the home into a very dark one.

*Ding*

The soft tone from your cell is accompanied with a text notification pops up. It's Steve.

"Hey y/n... Can you meet me in the conference room?"

Your thumbs hover over the screen, twitching slightly as each response and scenario collide with one another in your head.

"Um..." You say aloud.

"Sure. See you in a few." Is the response you decided to go with.

You're torn. Part of you wants to run as fast as you possibly can to hear what Steve has to say. The other wants to walk at a snails pace- afraid of what he's going to say. You quickly decide on the median between the two. Not too eager either way.

The walk seemed as though it took forever, like awaiting to cross the finish line of a marathon. Stepping out of the elevator, the glass enclosed conference room came into view. Standing in the corner was Steve, arms instinctively crossed over his chest. He was having what seemed like an easygoing conversation with Tony who stood opposite of him and adjacent to Bruce. Their body language seemed somewhat relaxed, which is good? I think.

Lightly knocking on the glass you catch the attention of all three men. Giving a nervous and awkward wave, Tony motions for you to come in and join them. Hesitantly, you walk in.

"Hey y/n..." Steve immediately greets, bringing his arms down to his sides to seem more relaxed.

"Hey guys..." You answer, meekly. "What's going on?"

It's impossible to force out the casual and polite 'how are you?' 'nice weather we're having today' 'how has work been?' bullshit. I need to know.

"We..." Tony lets out a deep breath as he folds one arm across his chest and the palm of his hand under his chin. "We want to discuss Barnes."

"Okay...?" You reply reluctantly as you look between the three men.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Bruce suggests, looking to Steve and Tony as he politely pulls out one of the wheeled office chairs for you.

Taking a deep breath you oblige, scooting in closer to the conference table and laying your hands flat on the cool surface. It's depressing how any iced cold touch reminds you of Bucky.

The men follow suit, sitting down as well. All four of you collected on one side of the meeting table. The air was stiff, almost as if this were an intervention and each one waited to see who would be the first to speak.

Well it's not going to be me...

"Buck's doing better. A lot better actually!" Steve says optimistically, being the one to break the silence.

"True..." Tony interjects. "But this is unknown territory. While I have all the faith in the world in T'Challa, we've been down this road before-"

"We've made huge strides, Tony." Bruce says, trying to acknowledge both men's opinions but remaining as Switzerland.

"What we're trying to say..." Steve gives you a small nod and half smile, "Is that Buck's back. And...he's asked to see you."

Everyone is looking to you for some sort of answer. But what is the proper way to handle this? There isn't any self help books for 'what to do when your boyfriend's mind resorts back to being an assassin and may not remember you'.

"He... wants to see me?" It comes out as surprised as you feel and yet the only thing you can focus on is the frigidness under your palms.

"Don't worry, it's safe. He's safe. I mean-you'll be safe." Bruce stutters over his words as he tries to sound reassuring.

"Has anyone told you that you are great at giving preparation speeches, Banner?" Tony rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Y/n..." He starts, leaning in more. "We have been working diligently with Barnes. It seems as though pretty much everything is back to normal but..."

Again with the hesitations. Just fucking spit it out already.

"There's holes." Bruce says. Steve and Tony both give him an annoyed look.

I swear he's just in here for comic relief at this point.

"Holes?" You reiterate.

"It's like..." Steve breathes out, long and heavy. "It's like Buck's got all the pieces to the puzzle but can't put them all together just yet. Certain pieces fit and some he's still trying to figure out." He says, hopeful.

"And...he asked to see me?"

After not seeing him for a month since that horrifying interaction, the idea seems so foreign. The men all nod their heads slightly in agreement.

“I can take you to see him now if you would like?” Steve offers. Always the gentleman.

Your eyes instantly drop to look at your oversized grey Iron Maiden t-shirt, black leggings and white slip on's.

“Um...” You look back up at Steve starting to feel self conscious. “Can I clean up and then we care go together?”

“Sure, y/n.” He replies, with his famous warm side smile.

What is the perfect outfit to wear to go see your boyfriend/would have been fiancé for the first time since a once thought dissipated paramilitary terrorist organization that has come back and might be an almost robotic assassin who might not entirely remember your relationship existed?

I mean, is this going to be like meeting him for the first time? Again? Is everything going to go back to the way it was before? Can that even happen?

The thoughts swirled around your mind like a confused cow in a tornado.

Stepping out of the elevator, Steve is waiting with a familiar smile.

“Come on… someone’s waiting for you.” He cordially holds out his arm for you to link onto. Faking the smile in return, you lock arms.

“Thanks, Steve.”

For so many things. For making sure Bucky came home (and not in a body bag), for supporting both of us, for everything in between and including up to this very moment where he is physically keeping you stable.

"I...really appreciate you." There was no way that you could possibly express your gratitude, even if it feels as though your stomach will drop any second.

Steve had led you to the common area; a relaxing spot with a small café. (The one with shitty coffee, according to Bucky). There is a few small tables set up, all of them empty accept for one. Bucky sits alone, his back facing you. Thanks for the dramatic affect. Giving you a small, encouraging squeeze on your shoulder, Steve let's you go.

One step at a time.

It's simple enough and yet you can't move your legs. The nervousness of now having to be on your own almost has completely taken you over. Looking down at your feet, you will them with all of your might to make a move.

One foot. Just one.

Glancing up through hooded eyes, Bucky is still in the same seat- same position. You notice that he is sitting completely upright, tense, nervous. He is as just as fearful of the situation...and you.

Being focused on him, you instinctively take a step. Just that one step turns into every single cell in your body being drawn to him. To run up, him scoop you in his arms and swing you around for the most memorable reunion. You know he'll catch you- and yet you're holding back.

But you decide to play it carefully, respectfully. He hears your faint, delicate footsteps and froze. I've never seen anyone become so suddenly still. Your heart is pounding like a monster trying to break free from it's cage; Pulse whooshing like a relentless wave refusing to ease. Within a single blink of an eye, he was standing- waiting for me.

There was a look of bewilderment on his face, one I have never seen before. Your feet come to a screeching halt, feeling as though they had abruptly encased in cement. Your eyes meet, instantaneously diving into his glacier blue eyes- An unbreakable metal cable connecting your hearts as you begin to move once more. Each step closing the distance you have felt for what felt like ages. That over encompassing feeling of being stuck in a cold, dark, black void.

His mouth opens, taking in a shallow breath as his eyes dart frantically dance between your features.

"You're..." Bucky begins, finally being able to hold his gaze steadily into your eyes. "...real." Relief spilled from the word as he breathed it out. You didn't realize that you had been holding in the air within your lungs.

He doesn't remember? To him it was all...just a dream? I have been begging, pleading with the universe to have him back. I got what I wanted, just not in the way I expected.

Your mouth goes dry- keeping the ability to swallow the large, insufferable lump in your throat.

"Um..." It was hard to keep your voice from cracking, to keep it from mirroring the shattering of your heart. "Last time I checked?" You say, managing a small, fake laugh. The anxiety lodged in your throat travels down your body, now making its appearance in the form of white knuckled fists- Which you quickly move behind your back to hide.

The awkwardness between us felt like a glass wall. You could see him, hear him- but there is a part of him tucked away again.

Bucky's gloved hands froan in the pockets of his black leather jacket he's wearing. A tall tale sign of his insecurity; the gloves a form of comfortability and protection.

His eyes flashed briefly behind your shoulder, a small smirk on his face.

"So..." The grin stayed as his eyes honed in on yours once again. "Would you want to go for a walk?" His torso twisted slightly, using his bent right elbow to point towards the door.

Frozen. Your lips part and yet nothing comes out. He's waiting for some kind of reply but still, nothing. Bucky leans in closer, the smokiness of his campfire smell completely intoxicating.

"Somewhere private?" This time he stares at something over your shoulder. Curiosity gets the better of you- looking over your shoulder, it reveals Sam and Steve huddled in a corner. They abruptly bump into one another, failing to act casual.

Turning back to meet each others gaze once again, a small laugh escapes in unison at the silliness of your eavesdropping friends.

That smile, the laugh. God, that laugh. The saying 'music to my ears' would do it such an injustice.

Nodding in agreement, you bite on the edge of your tongue. Those overwhelming, missing words are now dying to be shouted out.

"Lead the way." He says, gently.

The Compound was surrounded by lively Summer scenery. It had plush, full green trees. The birds chirping their love songs to one another- the smell of dense humidity delicately mixed with citrus and bloomed flowers.

Small white dwarf clovers swish against your feet as you walk through the grass. You'd swear you were alone if you didn't keep sneaking glances at Bucky to make sure it wasn't a dream. His stride was feline- deliberately light and practically soundless.

Stopping on a small hilltop overlooking a field of lavender, you can't bring yourself to look at him. Your body pulses with electricity over the physical closeness of his body to yours. There is only the sound of the whisp of the wind as you stare out into the abyss of purple.

The silence was aching to your soul. Thoughts are whirling around your brain, trying to find the perfect words to convey just how much he means to you. That love, our love, could defy any odds thrown our way.

You know the scene in the romance movies when one person breaks down and emotionally confesses all of their hopes and dreams? It's me, hi.

You don't have to propose, you already know what my answer would be. Let's buy a house and make it a home, just the two of us. Or not. I want Bucky babies- as many as you want. I want to wake up to their laughter ringing through the house- knowing because you wake up so early that you'll be the first thing that they see. Send you to the gas station at 2am for an ice cream and loaded cheese fries craving. The endless laughs I know we'll share as a family. I want to argue about not getting everything on the shopping list. There isn't anything in this universe or the next that could tear us-

"I don't know why this is so difficult." He starts in a soft tone.

Oh no.

"I know you. I know that I know you." He's nervous, rambling. "I feel it in my bones when I look at you. Just being in your presence is soothing to me. You're extremely important to me, y/n." He pauses.

I don't like pauses.

"But..." Bucky exhales a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. He turns to you and you mirror the movement, now facing each other. You hold the air in your lungs, hanging onto every word. "The best way that I can explain it is..." His hands move in a small circular motion as he tries to find his own words. "It's like reading a book. You can see it in your mind, but it's not physical, realistic."

A wave of cold washed over your body from head to toe, as if someone dumped a bucket of ice water over your head. Your eyes burn from the refusal to blink and let the tears fall. It still must have conveyed on your face, because Bucky's eyes search within yours- a sincere expression replacing his concern.

"Are..." Your voice cracks. Clearing your throat, you fight to get the words out. "Are you...saying that we're" You hesitate, almost choking on the word that feels like bile rising in your esophagus "...over?"

"God, no!" You can feel your eyes roll back slightly at the comfort of those words. Bucky gently takes your hand and places it over his chest; both of his hands enclosing them over his. It's hard not to stare when you can feel the accelerated beating of his heart under the scarring where skin meets metal.

"I'm just asking for us to take it slow. As long as that's okay with you?" His tone is soft but hopeful as he paired it with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course." You lie- your teeth clasped painfully down on the edges of your tongue to keep from saying anything else. His sigh of alleviation along with the instant release of tension in his shoulders shows you made the right decision.

"Thank you, y/n." Bucky whispers as he leans in, leaving behind the faintest kiss on your cheek. If your eyes weren't open to see the physical contact, you would swear it was from the tame breeze.

There was a time not so long ago that we would have taken advantage of being alone on this hill. Laying down in the plush grass surrounded by flowers, the petals getting stuck to the sweat on our bodies. Bucky moaning your name into the crook of your neck as you intertwined and moved as one. Your entire body so sensitive to his delicate, but firm touch, to the point it was almost painful- and yet you couldn't help but beg for more.

Yet, here we are now- resorting back to elementary school hand holding. Selfishly, you wanted more, but didn't have the heart to ask for more. He just seemed... so happy with the idea.

"Well then, I guess it would be okay to resume our sessions for the time being." You say jokingly walking into your office with him closely behind. Bucky lets out a small, genuine laugh as he takes a sits on the sofa across from your desk.

"Anything noteworthy happen while I was gone?"

"Well," You start, grinning as you walk to lean back on the edge of the desk to face him. "There have been quite a bit of complaints about the coffee. I guess you aren't the only one who hates The Compounds brand of choice. I think Rocket misses you- or, at the very least, messing with you. And if I'm being honest..." You place a hand on your belly, rubbing it slightly. "I've lost a few pounds without my personal chef/baker around."

A flicker of wholesome playfulness flashes in those crystal eyes; contagious enough to for it to reach his smile. The fluttering of butterfly wings caress against the lining inside your stomach. Nothing could keep from that infectious ray of light from tugging at your very soul.

"I promise to rectify that as soon as possible, Sunshine." The emphasis of your nickname blanketed around your bones like warm honey. The giddiness made you look away- but only for a moment. You're transfixed on him; Afraid that if he wasn't in your line of sight, he would disappear.

"I know that you're too polite to ask..." Bucky starts, his expression changing. "But I want to tell you about what happened overseas."

Oh shit.

Your fingers tighten around the edge of your desk in preparation. Giving him a small, understanding nod- he continues.

"Russia was... eventful to say the least." He says, almost baffled. "To make a long story short: We got there, followed a few leads that wound up being dead ends and were getting ready to head back home." Bucky is slumped back in his seat on the couch, eyes focused on his pointer finger lazily tapping against his knee; completely zoned out at the recollection.

You now painfully sit in silence, waiting for him to tell you what happened in his own words and in his own time. Biting your tongue to not blurt out all of your questions, needing answers.

"The entire time that we thought this mission was a bust- we were being watched. Studied."

"Studied?" You repeat. "By who?"

"If a head is cut off, two more shall take it's place." He says cryptically and barely audible as he looks up from the floor.

"What?" You ask, becoming more confused. The more in depth Bucky goes, the more distant he seems to get.

"Hydra will never be gone." His tone sounds like an admission to defeat. "There are still people out there who believe in 'their cause'." This came out more as disgust. "They've...replaced me. Created a new 'me'." He's disappointed; thinking that it had just been him all along to discover that there is more.

"Steve and I got separated from the rest of the team. We had each others backs, just as we always have. But..." He sighs, hesitating before he speaks again. "As we tried to make our way out, we found ourselves in some kind of detaining room? It felt familiar." Bucky stares straight forward, looking through some unseen void. "I-... I pushed Steve back through where entered before it closed but someone else was in there with me. I don't remember if I passed out or what. But when I woke up, I had a difficult time recalling anything, anyone. As if I had amnesia."

His whole body is tense as he recalls the memory. It must be difficult for him, living his whole life trying to distinguish what is real and what's not.

"Bucky..." You take a few steps closer; hand impulsively reaching out, placing it on top of his gloved hand as you knelt on the floor in front of him.

He didn't flinch- Not in the way he used to when you first met. There was familiar hint of pain and nervousness behind his eyes.

"And all I could see, was you. Flashes of you smiling, laughing..."

Bucky leans forward, somewhat onto his knees, turning your hand over and gently holding onto it as he intensely looks in your eyes.

"But I... couldn't remember. I thought that maybe it had all been a dream. But when I saw you in person at the medical bay, I knew that it hadn’t been just a fantasy, it was actual memories. I am just so....fucked up." He says in revulsion.

He'll never forgive himself.

"We're all a little fucked up." You admit.

There is something to be said for losing yourself. Sometimes being lost is the only way to be found. You may find a strength you never knew that you had, or see others painted in a different light; will they disappear or help you find your way out of the dark? And if we get out of that darkness, does a piece come back with us?

Bucky's face suddenly hardened, solely focused on something. A switch flipped- the light had gotten ripped away from his eyes. He was staring so intensely that it was uncomfortable. Feeling self conscious, you look down- trying to seek what had exclusively had his attention. In shifting slightly, you see that he isn't concentrating on you; but something behind you.

With unintentional slowness you start to turn around, goosebumps taking over the entire top layer of your skin. Your mind is racing trying to fathom what could be in your office to have him triggered like this. But nothing was there. No person, no being, nothing out place.

Your lungs let out every last bit of air that they held onto in relief. And yet, nothing changed. There was a mysterious uneasiness gripping onto the room.

"Bucky...?" You hesitantly ask; still looking between him and whatever still had him in an almost trance.

Carefully, he moved you out of the way and in four strides, Bucky’s at the bookcase behind your desk.

Standing up, you take a step forward. “Bucky…?” You ask again.

Grabbing a framed picture that was standing in the bookshelf, he starts to look over the picture- taking in every small detail. His head whips around to look back at you, his eyes frantic as his eyes bounce between the picture and you.

“What?!” You can’t hide the urgency of needing to know any longer.

“It’s him.” Barely audible.

Taking a few steps closer, you see that Bucky is holding the picture of you with your brother, Luke. You let an exhale of relief out. But he’s still looking over the picture obviously feeling uneasy.

“You’ve seen this picture a hundred times… what’s wrong?”

“It’s him” He repeats “My replacement. The newest super soldier… is Luke.” His voice is low, exacerbated. You roll your eyes.

"C'mon, Bucky. You know that my brother has been dead for two years. That would be impossible!" I get that he's been through a lot lately, but this? Bringing my dead family member into it?

"What I'm saying is..." His eyes are intensely locked on yours, "He isn't dead. Never was. And your brother..." Bucky doesn't breathe as his expression tries convey the seriousness of his next words, "He's alive. And...he's the new face of Hydra."

Next Part

@peaches1958 @aquabrie @elsie-bells @pono-pura-vida @redbloodedgurl @almosttoopizza @beware-my-thorns @prettylittlepluviophile @annoyinglythoughtfuldestiny @calwitch @ozwriterchick @roofwitty779 @lessersole @lil-darhk @agoddoesnotplead @saranghaey @floralwsloki @erinallene @fafafalafel @mrsvxder @elizabeth916 @winterassisin84

[fuxuannie]

╭₊˚ ๑︰i hope these words reach you in the universe where you didn't leave my life.

:★: relationship : (filo & modern au) blade x g-neutral reader

:★: warnings : PANGET TAGLISH KO WWHWUWHWSH, other than that .. none!

:★: a/n : WE BACK WITH THE FILO AUS 🔥🔥 plz i would've made this on twt if it wasn't for the bonfire going awn there.. rip 🙏 (no translations for this talaga kase its honestly better for me when its written in tagalog huhu)

"Hi, Blade!

Sana pagnakita mo to, I didn't take 500 years to send it to you hehe. Or infact, di ako natakot and never sent it talaga. Sounds like something I'd do.

Anyways.. I think sobrang obvious naman na gusto kita, I mean childhood friends kami ehhh! Since grade 1 naalala kita sa buhay ko, and I really wouldn't have wished for anyone else to grow up with.

I know were gonna be super busy with college na, and I just.. nakakatakot haha. I know that you wanna move back home para you can be with your family ulit but I just.. Yoko talaga na aalis ka tas wala pa akong sinabi, di yan talaga tama sa puso ko eh. It's not right to torture my own heart with the what if's of life.

So when you read this, it's most likely nasa eroplano ka na or I ran off super dramatically kapag binagay ko to kase I don't want to know how you reacted sa talaga lang. I want to tell you and that's it, you're not obligated naman to return the feelings or ganun! Whatever your answer is, I will accept, and even if walang answer.. I'm sure I'll be okay. :) Gusto ko lang na alam mo that while you're gone, meron naman hihintay sayo hanggat babalik ka HAHAHA.

I really do hope future me gives this to you. I hope you're happy back home, and tell tita naghello ako please!

And I love you.

Ang panget mo, from : (name)."

You feel the paper in your pocket as the car ride to the airport was.. painfully silent. Not in a way that you had nothing to say, but both of you had too much to say. Not enough time as you already see the familiar building within your view, all the while still fidgeting with the paper with uneasiness.

You help Blade with his bags, seeing the dark circles under his eyes indicating he couldn't sleep until this moment. It's clear he's scared too, almost as if torn between home and home, the home he's made with you in the Philippines. "You okay..?"

Blade doesn't realize how he's just been staring at you, shaking his head and giving you what seemed to be the saddest smile you'd ever see on his face. "Wala lang."

You walk him to entrance, each step making your heart feel like it's being crushed by a hydraulic press. Blade went to grab a cart as you stood there and stared at the entrance, not being able to fathom that this was it. This was your last moments with him in person.

"So.."

He cleared his throat while you placed his bags onto the cart, looking up at him with those lost and admittedly scared eyes. Neither of you could hide the pain that came with the situation, both afraid for the future without the person you considered your other half. "I.. I just wanna say thank you, for being here and being in my life."

You chuckle, wiping away a tear as you try to smile. "I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else."

Then you remember the note, digging into your pockets and immediately recognizing its material and texture. You look back at Blade and sniffle, "I just wish there was more tim-"

But before you could finish, his arms wrap around you with such desperation. He held onto you like he didn't want to let go, which admittedly - he didn't want to.

You blink away your tears as your head rests on his shoulder, it's all going so fast. The day had long disappeared and the sky shifts to a dark blue, you hug him back as tightly as you could.

And in the moment, your heart drops at an idea.

"What if he falls inlove with someone he could actually be with?"

I mean.. the idea was possible, long distance relationships are.. hard. Certainly not for the faint of heart, and you'd both have to be ready for years of no physical contact.. not to mention being busy with college.

He could be with someone that's there for him 24/7, who can be the pillar to support him when you couldn't. Someone he deserves, and is one drive away, not on the other side of the world.

You were just about to slip the note into his pocket, but your hand stopped and you crumpled the letter in your own sadness.

"Uh.. Blade, I think it's time to go." You muttered, hesitantly pulling away even if it hurt your heart to do so. "Take care, okay?"

He smiles at those words, knowing you were his reminder to do so. "I'll do so for you."

That answer made your heart ache.

But Blade notices a piece of paper in your hands. Intrigued, he asks; "Ano yan?"

Taken aback by the fact he noticed, you tear up the paper and try to laugh it off. "Wala, just trash." But Blade rolls his eyes and takes it from your hand, despite your small gasp of surprise. "I'll throw it out."

You were.. hesitant about that, but you agree nevertheless.

You two share a little more time to talk before he realizes the time, and not wanting to be late for his flight - he decides that it's time to go.

"Thanks again, don't miss me too much." He teased to ease the tension.

You scoffed. "As if I'd miss you."

He loved it when you played along with his antics, he was really going to miss this. "Bye, (name)."

You stayed strong for these last moments, holding your tongue to stop yourself from crying out how much you loved him.. and begging him to stay.

"Goodbye, Blade."

[fantazulio]

i haven’t made a proper toh text post in a while but i was going off about this on discord and twitter so now i am bringing it here:

What the hell happened with Luz’s cape?

Just like. everything involving it. It was heavily underused in the series (Luz herself only wore it in four episodes, three of them being in Season 2A) despite its importance as a representation of Luz’s connection to Eda (and in my opinion, the demon realm as a whole), and was later passed down to King, only for it to inexplicably disappear anyways.

So under the cut, I’m gonna provide a detailed history of the cape and every instance in which it was used, to try and make any sense of what happened to it.

Starting with Agony of a Witch, Eda is first seen preparing witch’s wool to knit a cloak out of. According to her, it “repels powerful spells”, so it apparently has actual function aside from looking cool as shit. Luz wants the cloak, but Eda insists that she herself needs it to ward off the increased attacks from the Emperor’s Coven. However, later thinking of Luz’s kindness and devotion to her wellness, Eda decides to make the cloak for Luz instead, as a gift.

Next is Young Blood Old Souls, where Eda is currently captured. Finding the finished cape (I’m gonna call it a cape from now on), Luz is inspired by Eda’s gift and their bond to go on a rescue mission to get Eda back. This is the first episode where Luz herself wears the cape, but it’s also this episode where there’s a noticable flaw; the cape just looks cool.

We skip to Lilith and King getting captured and the “fight” between Luz and Belos, and he opens by teleporting behind Luz and flinging her against the wall with magic of his own. The cape seemingly does nothing to hinder this.

Here, you could probably chalk it up to Belos’ red magic being artificial (since he’s a human and all), which is why it was able to pierce through the cape that was made to counter magic. Fine. So Luz rescues Eda, King, and Lilith and that wraps up Season 1.

Fast forward to Echoes of the Past, the third episode of Season 2 and the first one of the season in which Luz wears the cape. She goes to King’s old island along with Lilith and Hooty to find out about King’s past and stuff. The biggest threat of danger they face there is Jean-Luc, who attacks not with magic, but with polymorphism by shifting into various shapes to attack. No magic involved means no chance for the cape to do its thing.

Fast forward again to our next episode, Hunting Palismans (or Palismen, whatever). In this one, Luz goes out at night in her cape and pajamas with Flapjack and later gets scooped up by Hunter along with the rest of the palismen. Once again, the wonkass red magic that Hunter also uses pierces through Luz's cape. The later fight with Kikimora (who uses actual magic) doesn't count, as Luz had put her cape away.

Fast forward yet again to our next episode: Yesterday's Lie, the last episode of Season 2A and the very last episode that features Luz wearing the cape. In this one, Luz is in no inherent danger, as she spends almost the entire episode in the Realm of Inbetween while Vee and Camila must contend with Jacob’s nonsense. Sometime during Luz’s final conversation with Camila before being pulled back, though, the cape itself gets stained and torn with several holes in it.

And such is the last time we see Luz wear the Witch’s Wool cape. It had a good run of four episodes spaced out from eachother, but you may be wondering, “What happened after this?” That is where things get… ehhhhhh.

The next appearance of the cape is about halfway through Season 2B, in Hollow Mind. Near the beginning of the episode, Luz, Eda, and King go out to the Night Market to buy some Witch’s Wool to repair the cape. Unfortunately, Prim the shopkeeper closed up to join the Oracle Coven. Oopsie poopsie.

That’s all we see from the cape this episode. Which brings us to the very last episode that the cape appears in, in the strangest situation possible: Clouds on the Horizon.

In their last moments all together for a long time, it is shown that Eda fixed up the cape herself by shortening the cape to remove the torn bits. It’s also here where the cape goes to its final owner: King. Everything looks spelled out clearly; the cape is now too short for Luz to wear ( D: ), so it goes to King. Simple right? Surely it will come up later as a plot point. King will at least be shown wearing it throughout the episode, right?

Wrong.

Not even a minute after King is given the cape, it completely, inexplicably disappears during the commercial break. When we cut to Luz, King, and Katya descending into the forest, the cape is literally nowhere to be seen. Actual video proof.

And this is the last time we ever see the cape. No seriously, it never shows up again. Not with King during his stay with the Collector. Not with Eda as she hides out with Lilith in the Archive House up in the sky. Not even four years later, when Luz is seen packing up her closest belongings as she prepares to attend the University of Wild Magic, does it even make a cameo.

I think this might be the owl house equivalent of Araki Forgot Syndrome. How the hell does one introduce a physical attribute of Luz's character that represent not only her ties to the Demon Realm, but her bond with Eda, the witch who guided her through this new world, only to severely underuse it, show nothing of its function, write it off as broken, and then have it disappear from existence. We had a good thing. We had a badass cape, it had meaning, we had everything we needed and it all ran like clockwork.

And it was hyped up, too. The original poster for Season 2 of the show had Luz front and center wearing the cape, and it was even included in the brand new animation provided for the same season's opening sequence.

Alas, the show has been over for a long time now, so there's not a lot that can happen now. We can only hope that in some post-canon spinoff/continuation or another Reddit AMA the whereabouts of this marvelous piece of fabric are addressed, because I will continue to rag about this at any given chance. Be thankful that I don't use the rest of this post to rag about what happened to any part of Luz's original outfit to begin with.

[savventeen]

carmen cygni

latin, meaning 'swan song' a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement

pairing: seungcheol x gn!reader rating: M wc: 1.7k prompt: @caratober day 20 - zombie summary: while out searching for supplies, you get bit trying to escape a small hoard of zombies. seungcheol is forced to do the unthinkable. warnings: angst, seriously so much angst, all hurt no comfort, major character death (you), blood, guns, mercy killing, mentions of suicide, brief suicidal ideation tags: zombie au, seriously this is just pain guys i'm warning you, non-linear narrative, flashbacks, some mild religious talks a/n: this was originally a vmin fic i posted to ao3 (on valentine's day of all things holy shit was i okay) and decided to repost here for caratober. i am so sorry. (also fun fact it was the first time i'd ever cried while writing a fic :') this song is 98% to blame for this

five.

"Seungcheol."

It's the way you say his name that tells him something is very, very wrong. The syllables are weighted, heavy, resigned — two stones dropped in the ocean, sinking fast into a suffocating oblivion.

You say his name like the world is ending all over again.

Seungcheol finishes barricading the door from the pack of roamers outside, goosebumps rising on his skin through his sweat as dread courses through him in an icy wave, and he turns.

The first thing he sees is the blood. It's coated your hand where you have it pressed to your right side, just above the hip.

"Fuck, y/n—" His mind is immediately sent spiraling into an anxious overdrive, wondering when and how and where you could have gotten hurt, whether the basic supplies you have between the two of you will be enough until the roamers leave and you can make it back to camp, if—

And then you lift your hand, revealing the wound. It's messy, flesh torn and bleeding steadily — but despite all of that, it's impossible to miss the distinct impression of a set of human teeth.

You've been bit.

You've been bit, and the world drops out from beneath Seungcheol's feet.

"No." He stumbles closer, trembling fingers reaching out and stopping just shy of the wound, before looking into your watery eyes. "No."

It's a command if he's ever given one — because with all of the things the both of you have had to suffer through, had to see and hear and experience these last few years, this had never been a possibility. Never.

Never like this. Never you.

The hand not covering your bite comes up and fists into the front of his shirt. "Cheol."

A million things go unsaid with that single syllable, but Seungcheol can hear them all, can see each one etched into your devastated expression. And because he will always, always, put your needs above his own, he shoves all the crumbling pieces of his own heart down and down and away, instead making room for you to step into his arms and cry against his chest — a mourning for something that has yet to be lost.

You grieve, and Seungcheol refuses to shed a single tear.

four.

"Y/n? What's the matter— why are you crying?"

You giggled, angelic as always, even through the tears. "I'm just... really happy, Cheollie."

"You are?"

"Yeah, just..." You bit your lip, and without thinking, Seungcheol reached out to smooth his thumb over it. You sighed into a smile and leaned into his touch.

"We've all lost so much, you know?" you continued. "But we were still able to find each other — able to find all the others and make a family. And now we have a relatively safe place to live, and I just—"

You beamed at him, laughing, even as tears continued to trickle down your cheeks. Seungcheol wiped them away as gently as he could, and you brought up the little wildflower you'd been holding, one you must've plucked from between the dozens of others that grew in the abandoned courtyard of your new home.

You continued with a nostalgic grin. "Did you know, the first thing you ever gave me was a handful of these?"

Seungcheol blinked down at the flower. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'd just saved you from the homicidal goose that was lurking on the campus quad, and you ripped out a bunch of these right out of the ground and gave them to me as thanks, and then you said—"

"My knight in ripped denim armor," he continued for you, the memory coming back to him with a smile, "can I take you out on a date?"

You beamed at him, eyes turning into crescents, and Seungcheol thought that the world had never felt more beautiful.

three.

You look dead.

"Y/n, hey," Seungcheol whispers, carefully nudging your bare shoulder. Your skin has lost most, if not all, of its color, and you're drenched in sweat. For a moment, your eyes remain closed, unresponsive, and his stomach swoops in fear, but then your eyes flutter open and he breathes out a shaky sigh.

"There you are," he murmurs, cradling your jaw with one hand. "Drink some water for me, yeah?" You nod, and he brings the nearly empty water bottle to your lips, tilting it slowly so you can take little sips. After a few mouthfuls, you hum to indicate you've had enough, and he sets it back down before gently pulling you to lean against him once more.

You let your head loll against his shoulder, groaning quietly; you start to reach out a shaky hand between the two of you, and he takes it immediately, twining your fingers together. You sigh, content.

For a moment, Seungcheol almost forgets.

"You're gonna need to do it soon, Cheollie," you mumble.

Almost.

His fingers twitch in your hold. He swallows.

A part of him wants to play dumb, wants to put off thinking of the horror of the inevitable as long as possible, but that would be the selfish thing to do, he thinks. So he squeezes your hand and whispers, "I know."

You squeeze back. "And you're not allowed to follow me, okay?"

Seungcheol stills. "What?"

"I know you, Choi Seungcheol, and I know what you're gonna wanna do after— after. But you have to promise me that you won't, okay?"

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Something's encased his lungs in a vice grip.

You continue, "I need you to be strong for me, and I need you to get back to the group, and I need you to survive, okay?" Your eyes, redrimmed and glossy as they are, are wide and pleading, desperate in a way he's not sure he's ever seen before.

Seungcheol hadn't known that his heart could break any more than it already has. "Y/n."

"I know you won't want to live at first," you forge on, holding onto his hand like a lifeline, "I wouldn't either. But Shua and Hannie need you, Cheol. Channie needs you. They'll all need you, and you'll need them."

You're the one they need, he doesn't say — bites back behind clenched teeth, you're the one I need, the one I've always needed, the one I won't ever stop needing.

He closes his eyes, your name falling past his lips in a plea or a prayer.

Suddenly, he's being yanked toward you by the collar, coming nose to nose with your fiery, bloodshot gaze. "I need you to promise me."

And for the first time in his life, Seungcheol hates the fact that he's never been able to deny you anything. "Fuck you, y/n," he chokes out past a sob, reaching out to cradle your pallid face and press a trembling kiss to your lips.

"Seungcheol."

"Okay," he croaks, stealing one more kiss before bringing your sweaty foreheads together. "Okay, I promise."

Anything for you. Even this. Even this.

two.

"Lay with me for a bit, Cheollie?"

His smile was soft as he easily agreed, "Of course." He made himself comfortable in the grass next to you, making sure the two of you were connected shoulder to hip.

You both lost track of how long you spent staring at the stars in silence together, but eventually Seungcheol broke the quiet with a murmur. "What're we looking for?"

You hummed. "The way to heaven."

"Heaven?"

"Yeah." Your hand snuck its way into his and gently squeezed. "My aunt believed in capital 'G' God — used to point out all the different constellations to me and then tell me that when Jesus came back for everyone that he'd take us all up into heaven through the stars."

"Hmm." He chanced a glance at your profile. "Is that what you believe?"

You sighed. "I don't know if I believe in anything, anymore."

"Yeah." He squeezed your hand.

A few minutes passed in peaceful quiet.

"Cheollie?"

"Hmm?"

"Promise me something?"

Another squeeze of your hand. "Anything."

You swallowed. "Stay with me forever?"

Seungcheol rolled over onto his side so that he could look down at you, the love of his life, and tilted your face towards him with a gentle finger crooked under your chin. Voice full of a devout sort of conviction, he whispered, "There's not a single place I'd rather be than right by your side, forever and always."

"Forever and always?"

The kiss, soft and chaste and a universe all on its own, was answer enough.

one.

"Seungcheol."

Your voice is so quiet now, barely a rasp of air, that he almost doesn't hear you even as he cradles you against his chest. "Cheol, it's time."

He wonders if this is what drowning feels like.

He takes a deep, shuddering breath and swallows the lump clogging his throat. "Okay, love. Tell me what you need."

"Sing for me?"

Anything for you — even if it breaks me. "Yeah," Seungcheol's voice cracks, and he futilely clears his throat. "Yeah, of course. What song?"

I might not die, but this is going to kill me. You're killing me.

"S-Something pretty. Please."

Don't make me do this. Please, God, anyone, don't make me have to do this.

"Okay. A pretty song for my pretty baby." With one arm he pulls you impossibly closer to him, and with the other, he slowly reaches for the pistol strapped to his thigh.

He can barely get the notes out past his tears, but he does his best to carry the tune of your favorite lullaby, gently swaying you both in time with imaginary instruments. The gun feels impossibly heavy in his hold, and it only grows heavier as he slowly brings it up behind your head.

For a moment, he considers changing the angle just a bit — just enough.

But he made a promise. He made a promise, and even if it means living the rest of his life as something less than human — not a roamer in body and mind, but in spirit and soul — he'll keep his promise.

For you, he'll do anything.

(zero.)

He pulls the trigger.

And for the second and final time, Choi Seungcheol's entire world comes to an end.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

I am torn between telling myself I can write a novella version of "Tattercoats" so I can fit in all the character and setting details that could make this a full-fledged retelling that does full honor to this fairy tale that I love more and more with every passing day, and just writing the short story version as fast as possible so I can stop worrying about all the possibilities.

I love this fairy tale so much, guys. I'm loving it more every time I reread it. It's so good that I sometimes wonder if I should even bother retelling it, because it's so satisfying as a short fairy tale that making it longer just dilutes the impact. But that makes retelling it so difficult, because I want to make this my ideal retelling that lives up to what I love about the original. Lots of pressure.

I'm writing a straightforward, traditional retelling, keeping as many details as possible from the original tale. Sounds easy, right? But there is so much backstory here. The story doesn't really begin until the king sends out invitations for the ball. But to understand why this matters, you have to establish that Tattercoats' mother died in childbirth, that her grandfather refused to look at her, that all the servants abuse her, that she's called Tattercoats, that the nurse has tried to help her but has been severely limited, and that the gooseherd is her friend. And then I also have to set up her history with the prince, because this is one Cinderella variant where a retelling has to have them know each other beforehand, because the story jumps so quickly to marriage that there's no space to fit in a more realistic "getting to know each other" period anywhere else in the story. And then I have to figure out POV. Do I throw all this info into a first-person info dump? Do I try for past-tense to make this feel more "real", or do I want the immediacy of first-person-present, despite the difficulties this presents for fitting in backstory? I have tried to rewrite this story's opening at least five times and I have loved it, but I would also like to finish it, you know? This is going to be my Four Loves Fairy Tale entry, so I need to finish it quickly. The trouble is figuring out a way to do that while also winding up with a satisfying retelling.

[bemuseing]

@remotespontaneouscombustion; in response to this post, because we just love pain here I guess

Black shoes ran over the ground, swiftly, surely, unerringly.

He had started moving the moment that the voice on the phone broke off. There was no need for any further details; no need to ask questions. It wasn't difficult to figure out where he was needed, even without directions. The sight of the smoke in the sky was more than enough of a marker.

Things might have turned out different if Akutagawa had been further away when he received the call; but, mercifully, the distance between here and Maki's location wasn't so great. He ran now like he couldn't remember running in years. Since he was Maki's own age, maybe.

A small, broken voice, begging for his help, dragged up memories that he'd thought were long buried beneath years past.

He was at the building, as soon as he could be. The smoke... the half-dead flames, the twisted ice formations all told a clear story. Akutagawa plunged inside and up the stairs, the contaminated air burning his lungs, ignoring the toxic sensation in his chest until he reached the upper floor.

Eyes as black as the starless sky looked into the shattered room. They saw the small frame of a fallen child, as well as the figure of a man just nearby — like a wild dog with its newly-downed prey.

Detestable.

Not a word, not a bark of warning came before a black lance of fabric shot forward from the broken doorway. It was telling of Maki's attacker's skill that he managed to detect the bloodlust and throw himself out of the way, not unscathed — the blonde man's blood now joined Maki's on the floor — but not skewered through the middle as Akutagawa had been aiming. The blonde man's eyes met the newcomer, identifying him in an instant.

The black-fanged hellhound of the Port Mafia.

A child is one thing, even a child with an explosive ability, especially if the opponent is also gifted, as well as an experienced member of an enemy organisation; as appeared to be the case of Maki's attacker. This new figure who arrived swathed in shadows was an entirely different story. A black coat, murder that struck like lightning out of the dark... "Akutagawa" was a name that sparked terror in many for good reason. Brutal commander of the Port Mafia's combat forces. What was he doing here?

Maki's bloodstained, broken phone lay on floor.

The agent's target was down; there was no need for him to hang around. Rather, now his primary objective would be getting out from here as fast as possible. Lingering may have been a mistake.

Akutagawa could see the jagged ice protruding from Maki's body; pray that the boy could hold on a little longer. He needed medical assistance as soon as possible. He pulled his own phone from his pocket.

The enemy agent took the chance to move. In response, another attack from Akutagawa's ability rushed after him, ripping through a wall that was already unstable from the explosions earlier. Rubble rained down, more blood splattering the ground with it, but the dust cleared to reveal no sign of the enemy. Only the wall, torn open. Akutagawa finished his phone call.

Fleeing like a cowardly animal.

He took another glance at Maki's body, then moved to the broken wall. He didn't expect the blonde man to have stayed, but caution demanded he check, in case there was danger of a counterattack. A suppressed cough finally rose in his chest, heaving out as he looked down from the upper story of the building. Sure enough, though, he could see a trail of blood marking the path the enemy had used to escape. Covering that up would have been difficult when fleeing with such haste. Akutagawa at least had to dryly acknowledge how the blonde man had managed to clear from the premises so quickly, despite the injuries that he'd been marked with.

A shame that the man was still able to run.

The older mafioso now approached Maki, dropping down to one knee on the floor beside the unconscious boy. Still breathing. Trying to move him would be unwise, so unless the dying fires on the lower floors spread and demanded it, he contented himself with standing guard in the slim chance that more danger showed up. The medics would be here soon.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 3: Finishing Tinker Tailor

I finished Tinker Tailor today, finally. I'd been hoping to finish it this week, partly because events move so fast at the end that it seems like it should be read quickly, party because I did want to read the ending, and partly because I have a growing (immediate) TBR and I want to get to something I haven't read before.

But now that it's over I feel a bit bereft.

I finished it, I did cry (the usual), and then I just sort of set it aside and continued with my evening and that felt wrong.

My biggest takeaways from this re-read, in no particular order:

1--I love Jim Prideaux so much. I can't remember if I loved him so hard last time but he just really got to me this time. I kind of wanted to read a whole novel that was just the Thursgood's stuff tbh. I was also particularly struck by the moment, in Jim's conversation with Smiley, where he defends Bill's affair with Ann, the "artists have totally different standards" bit. I felt like that was a lot of emotion coming through by his standards and also... very loose-lipped. Like maybe he didn't even realize how much of himself he was revealing. Also, most of Jim and Bill's relationship is revealed through other people talking about them: we never see or hear them together, and Bill never talks about Jim except very obliquely in his final interrogation. There it's more about what he doesn't say. So really this is the most direct glimpse of what they are like together.

But really just everything about Jim: the combination of his brutality and gentleness, his loneliness, his bravery, his almost happy ending. And on the same wavelength, everything about Bill Roach.

Because I was so emotional about Jim, I was extra emotional about Bill's betrayal, of him specifically. I forgot just how surely he not only knew Jim was being sent to a trap but specifically set the trap for Jim. It's hard to imagine a colder or more evil act.

2--I was really struck by how badly Le Carre hated Kim Philby. And, like, fair: this man betrayed him specifically. I think the last time I read I didn't know the real life basis for the book. It's not that I know a bunch now but...yeah, enough. I'm torn between feeling like there are parts where Le Carre tries to hide his intense derision for this man, but they just don't work (for me at least), and feeling like the thinness of the defenses of Bill are on purpose, because we are supposed to feel as little sympathy with him as possible. Maybe it's that I find it hard to comprehend the context in which all this occurred, or maybe it's because excuses like 'he was sad that England isn't an Empire anymore, poor colonialist' are like the least sympathetic things I could hear, but I found basically any page about Bill's possible or likely or self-stated rationales to be very hard to parse. To identify with or get on an instinctive level. I'm not sure if that's on purpose, or just Le Carre trying earnestly to round him out and make the situation complex while being himself fully unsympathetic.

I know some people genuinely like Bill a lot but I found him annoying from the first. Again, I don't know if he's supposed to be charismatic and charming and fun, and you're supposed to like him and then be betrayed, or if his whole characterization is just another jab at Philby. But in my opinion he was insufferable.

I did really like Le Carre's portrayal of the awkward intersection of personal beliefs or morality with personal relationships. That both Guillam and Smiley are angry in the hypothetical but when faced with Haydon they just feel awkward, or "shy," or they default to their old feelings about him and sort of separate those entirely from the things they objectively know about him now. Part of Guillam's anger is that his worldview is shaken by this betrayal. But then when he's actually just faced with Bill, he finds he still likes him, and so in a sense, maybe less was disturbed than he thought. I especially liked the lines "He had thrown away his gun and was hurling Haydon from side to side, shaking him, and shouting. Then suddenly there seemed no point. After all, it was only Bill and they had done a lot together." He wanted to beat up Haydon the mole. But he can't escape that this man is "Bill, and they had done a lot together." I'm really into the way the vocabulary and sentence structure works to create the emotion of this transition.

3--Maybe it's just because I'm so familiar with the major plot points of the narrative, but I have a theory that the identity of the mole is never really a secret, and it's pretty easily guessable, even intended to be guessable, from the start. It's not really the 'who' it's the 'how'--and eventually the 'how will he be caught'--that drives the story forward. In particular, the mole can really only be Haydon. If it were anyone else, would the story be satisfying? Haydon is the one fucking Smiley's wife, the one the main character has the most connection with. He's the one who is "best friends" with Prideaux/Ellis, and so there is the most emotion and irony and tragedy in him being behind the shooting with which the novel, in a sense, opens. If at the end of the day it was Toby Esterhase who was a Russian spy, it would be extremely disappointing. And by the time we get to the ambush at the safe house, we've already learned that it's not Esterhase, and Smiley is fairly sure it's not Alleline. AND his reasoning as to why it's not basically points the finger at Haydon. So by then we're down to two candidates and does anyone REALLY think it's going to be Roy Bland? If the mystery is really WHO is the spy, I think the candidates would be described in more detail and given more equal page time. And Smiley wouldn't say in so many words "well we all knew it was Bill, really" when he's caught. But I'd be curious to know what someone reading the book spoiler-free would think.

4--The whole thing is great but I really think Part 3 is a masterpiece. Finally getting the Operation Testify story that we've been teased with since page 1, and from Jim himself, and then following that with a swift rush to the end--and all of this in the context, imo, that we already know or should know or could easily have figured out the answer to the novel's alleged central question already, and yet there's still so much tension to it--the use of all the characters, the spy work involved in flipping the safe house, the shadowy figure of Jim recurring and recurring and recurring, the pacing, the extended confrontation between Bill and Smiley that allows them and the book to ruminate on the unanswerable why, the hints of a greater confrontation that we will never know in its details, and finally Jim being nursed back to health by Roach, and the loaded gun that Jim never used was only a dream... So fucking perfect in every respect.

It's really a book that rewards you intellectually, by providing a 'perfect knot' to be untangled but also admired, and emotionally (yes I am talking about Jim again). And I could definitely close read many passages for their pacing and vocabulary choices but... I am also tired, and that would take a while.

[iyumeu]

spirit guardian

You call forth spirits to protect you. They flit around you to a distance of 15 feet for the duration. If you are good or neutral, their spectral form appears angelic or fey (your choice). If you are evil, they appear fiendish.

summary: you've been trying to keep things under wraps but when the bullying escalated and you find your life in danger, your demon finds out and the results are... not pretty. warnings: gore, blood, violence, body horror, self-mutilation, the boys are a little dark in this one, i would say hints of yandere, im not that good of a gore writer though so like if you're super into gore please dont expect much, but please read the warnings before each segment thank you.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━✿ᏊㅇꈊㅇᏊ✿━━━━━━━━☆⭒

You didn't want to admit it, but you were being bullied.

You had always known that the demon brothers had their own responsibilities to deal with and couldn't be with you all the time. The sentiment stretched over to your problems as well. They definitely had better things to concern themselves with and you weren't about to bother them with your insignificant issues, especially petty issues that surfaced from demons' general dislike of humans.

It wasn't anything you couldn't handle, really; acidic words spat at you in whispers, torn books here and there, a subtle exclusion from classroom activities... Small, inconsequential things that made you amused on a good day and irritated on a bad one. Harmless.

Or so you thought.

When the foot swung into your stomach, you swore you heard a sickening crack and you were flung into the wall behind you. Blood gurgled in your mouth and you spat it out on the ground in front of you.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. After spending an entire year in the Devildom and making a pact with all of the demon brothers, you had gotten complacent. Believing your bullies to be merely harmless schoolyard types, you had followed them to a shady and secluded part of the R.A.D. because they wanted to "talk".

You had paid dearly for carelessness, completely caught off guard when one of them pierced you with a sharp jab of their arm. You remember feeling nothing but winded at first, shock numbing your nerves until you saw red trailing down their hand, dripping off the sharpened claws of their nails.

It was then that a scorching pain spread out from the gored out hole in your abdomen, spreading out to the rest of your body.

In hindsight, everything happened so fast. Before you knew it, you were slumped over on the floor and bleeding out. Even through your blurry vision the demons' malicious glee was clear as day.

"Not so proud now, are you?" one of them spat out. "Always looking down on us just because you were hanging off the arms of the Lords of Hell. Guess we're the ones looking down on you now!"

You were starting to shiver from the cold as blood soaked through your clothes, watching the demons advance while wondering if you were really going to die from as something as petty as this.

And then, one of your pact marks flared to life.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━✿Ꮚ´•̥̥̥ ‸ •̥̥̥Ꮚ✿━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Lucifer

cw: body horror

A single black feather slowly drifted down onto the ground before you. The rest of the world turned hazy as your gaze focused onto the feather, long and elegant and delicate, watching as it fell into a pool of your blood. A pair of polished black shoes entered your line of sight before their owner crouched down in front of you, uncaring of the blood seeping into and staining his clothes.

A gloved hand reached out to cup your cheek, a gentle touch against your skin, and you sluggishly moved your gaze up to Lucifer's face.

"MC," he sighed. His eyes were dark, a complete contrast to the tender look on his face. "Whatever shall I do with you?"

His wings stretched out behind him, a dark expanse of feathers that curled around the both of you, separating you from the world... and the world from you.

"Lucifer," you began, but he was quick to press his thumb against your bottom lip, halting your words.

"This isn't a one-off, I assume?" he asked despite already knowing the answer. You avert your gaze and he sighs again. "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to bother you," you said.

"I see." Lucifer's hand moved to pull out a black silk handkerchief, using it to clean the blood off your face. "Then it seems that I have failed you, if you believe that relying on me was not an option at all."

"That's not true...!" You were interrupted by Lucifer gathering you in his arms, while he took care to avoid your wounds as much as possible. With a gentle hand, he guided you to rest your head against his shoulder as he slowly shifted to a standing position, ready to bring you back to the House of Lamentations. His arms were warm around you, a comforting presence that made you feel safe and secure. You felt that, if you were by his side, you would never run into harm again.

It was then that you finally remembered your bullies, the ones who had put you in this state in the first place. Had they left the area, running off at the sight of Lucifer? That was most likely the case, you thought, but you still couldn't help but peer over Lucifer's shoulder and through the gaps of his wings, to check.

Your breath caught in your throat. Lucifer immediately placed a hand over your eyes.

"Shhh," he said. "Don't dirty your eyes with such a disgusting sight."

It was now that you were finally aware of a strange and disturbing cracking sound coming from behind Lucifer. A brand new chill settled down upon you, your body seizing up with fear. Suddenly, you wanted nothing but to put space between Lucifer and yourself.

As if he were aware of your thoughts, Lucifer shifted his hand from your eye to the back of your head, cradling you close to his body as he started to walk away from the scene. His wings were properly positioned this time and you were unable to peer through them.

Lucifer Morningstar. The First-Born. One of the strongest Lords of Hell. These titles hadn't meant anything to you before, but now they were are the forefront of your mind. The glimpse you had stolen before Lucifer turned your gaze away was now burnt into your retinas.

Your bullies' bodies hovered in the air with their limbs stretched impossibly long, curled up and tangled around their twisted bodies like a grotesque ball of yarn. Their mouths were torn open, jaws dislodged and handing horrible from their skull, eyes wide as they screamed silently for someone, anyone to put them out of their misery.

You knew that they would not die, not until someone found them and decided to kill them. And, considering the area they were in, it would take an extremely long time before someone were to chance upon them.

They had planned to use the remoteness of the location against you. They never could have thought that it would be used against them in the same way. This was something Lucifer had definitely taken into consideration.

Lucifer's arms were a cage around you; what was once comforting now felt suffocating.

"Lucifer," you managed to force out. You felt him lean down and press a kiss against your hair.

"It seems that I have to teach you how to be more reliant on me," Lucifer said in a tone as if he were speaking about the weather. "It wouldn't do for something like this to happen again."

"It won't," you were quick to say. "It won't happen again, I promise."

Lucifer looked down at you. You were the only thing reflected in his eyes as he gave a small, gentle smile that gave you a sense of dread that went down to your very bones.

"Don't worry, little lamb. For you, I will be a very forgiving master."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━[ᓀ˵◇˵ᓂ]━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Mammon

cw: violence and a lil bit of gore

The sudden caw of a crow drew the attention of your bullies. You tried to take the chance to stand up and run but merely shifting in place caused the pain in your abdomen to flare up, white hot and blinding. You hiss through your teeth, swallowing your yelp of pain.

There is a second caw. You look up and see at least a dozen crows perched up on windowsills and tree branches, their heads tilted in the direction of your bullies and their dark eyes glinting with something that invoked a sense of unease within you.

"Why are y'all distracted by a bunch of birds?" the lead demon barked out. They were not doing a good job of masking their apprehension. "We're here to teach this pathetic human a lesson, not gawk at crows!"

"But aren't those..." another student began.

The flutter of wings echo all around. More crows land on nearby fixtures; ten, fifteen, twenty. You slowly look up and see more black shapes flying in the sky above, circling the area like vultures to their prey. You hear the sound of wings flapping once again, closer this time, and Mammon lands in front of you, wings spread and in his demon form.

"...aren't those Lord Mammon's crows?" the student finished weakly. The demons were looking pale now, realizing just what they had done. You paid their expression no notice, filled with relief now that your guardian demon is here. Mammon, who despite his reputation, was always your reliable protector. Mammon, who always went out of his way to ensure your safety in the Devildom. Mammon, who... who was holding one of the demons up by their skull, uncaring of their struggles and pleas as their hands scramble against Mammon's, their toes skimming the ground. The other two demons were already running off, uncaring of their companion but Mammon didn't seem to notice, his attention on the demon in front of him.

In the back of your mind, you noticed that the demon was the one who had stabbed you with their hand.

"Mammon?" your voice came out in a whisper. The demon's pleas turn into screams of agony as Mammon tightened his grip. "Mammon!"

Mammon turned to you, eyes bright and feverish.

"Don't worry, MC," Mammon chirped. "I'll be quick!"

Mammon didn't lie. Immediately after his words, there was a frenzy of feathers and caws and screams. Just as quickly as it happened, the crows dispersed and the body dropped to the ground with a sickening thump, an unrecognizable, bloodied version of itself.

Mammon was holding something in his hands and, after he made his way back to you, he placed it in your lap. The blood-soaked wallet seemed to weigh a ton, its blood further staining your uniform. Mammon was beaming, standing in front of you like a dog waiting to be praised.

"That's compensation!" he said in his usual, nonchalant tone. "You deserve it after what they put ya through!"

Another caw sounded out and you couldn't help but flinch violently. Mammon was immediately kneeling beside you, soothing you with his bloodied hands. The sickening smell of bloodrust grew stronger with his proximity and you fought the urge to lean away.

A few crows hopped towards you, dropping more bloodied items onto the ground beside you. Staring blankly at those items, you recognize them as the necklace one of the other demons had on, a ring one of the demons who had fled the scene had worn, a earring, a tooth, bits of gold-tipped fingernails...

You lurched to the side, uncaring of the pain that bloomed in your abdomen, and started heaving. Mammon gently pat your back, trying to comfort you. It only made you more nauseous, the scent of blood overwhelming your senses once again.

For the first time since you arrived in Devildom, Mammon's presence invoked a sense of fear within you.

"I should've stayed by your side," you heard Mammon mutter. "Shouldn't have allowed those bastards to get to ya."

"Mammon..." You could predict the trajectory of his thoughts and desperately wished you were wrong. "It's not your fault," you choked out. Please, please, please—

"But it was!" Mammon argued. "If I were always by your side, they wouldn't have had the chance to even touch you!"

"It was my fault," you begged. "I didn't want to bother you so I didn't say anything!"

Mammon frowned. "I didn't think you needed protecting even from yourself."

oh. oh no.

Mammon carefully scooped you up into his arms. This time you could not help your flinch, but Mammon didn't seem to notice.

"It's okay!" Mammon said cheerfully. "If you can't take care of yourself, I'll take care of ya! I'm your guardian demon, after all!"

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━⸜₍๑•⌔•๑ ₎⸝━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Leviathan

cw: drowning, but u watch it happen. doesn't happen to u

The demon suddenly froze in their step, their hands coming up to grab their throat. They curled over and started coughing, started heaving, out long and stringy bits of black and green matter.

No matter how much the demon vomited out it never seemed to end and soon it was strewn all over the ground, accompanied with the pungent scent of rotten fish and the salty tang of the sea.

You blink and Leviathan was suddenly standing beside you, sharp teeth bared in a snarl and long black tail whipping around in agitation.

"Levi...?" you spoke slowly. You had never seen him this agitated before

"They hurt you," Leviathan said. His voice was low with an eerie quality to it; it was like a reverb, an echo, and it brought to your mind stories of hallucinatory voices sailors often heard at sea, beckoning them overboard.

The demons were frozen in place as Leviathan stalked towards them, slowly circling around them like a shark around prey. Then, another demon started choking, doubling over and throwing up the same black and green mess the first one did. The smell of fish and the sea grew stronger and you suddenly realize that they were vomiting out seaweed.

"I was wondering what was so important to you that you forgot that we were going to talk home together but I see now."

The third demon fell to their knees, clawing at their throat as they started throwing up seaweed as well.

"All this time I thought that you finally realized that I was just a no-good loser otaku... but that wasn't the case, was it?"

Levithan's voice was smooth, calm, and still retaining that ethereal quality to it. It felt like it was being spoken directly into your head rather than coming from in front of you. It made goosebumps rise up on your skin.

"Levi—" you tried again but you were interrupted.

"I should have known better!" Leviathan laughed. "My Henry wouldn't do that to me! No, the fault lies with these interlopers, trying to take you away! Trying to kill you!"

The first demon's face was turning pale. They tried to gasp for air but a strange froth poured out of their mouth instead, followed by water, copious amounts of seawater splashing violently onto the floor.

"But it's okay!" Leviathan turned to you, smiling brightly. It was the same smile he gave when he got a new high score on the game and was eagerly awaiting your reaction, it was the same smile he gave when he ran up to you with a drink in hand while you were queuing for him in C.S., it was the same smile he gave when he managed to get two tickets to an event and brought you along as his plus one. "I'll protect you! And I'll get revenge for you too, just like the Lord of Shadows does for Henry! Like in Volume 17, when Henry was kidnapped by the Lord of Lechery's jealous ex-paramours, the Lord of Shadows showed up and summoned his familiar to rip them apart..."

Leviathan glanced back at the demons for a moment. All three of them were coughing out seawater now and turning shades of blue. Long, red gashes left behind by desperate nails ran down their necks as they tried, in vain, to claw for air. Seawater was also dripping from this nostrils, bubbling from the horrible breaths of air they were trying to take. There was a sneer on Leviathan's face but it was quick to disappear when he looked back at you. When he stepped closer, you noticed that the pupils of his eyes had turned to sharp slits.

"I can't summon Lotan here to punish them; Lucifer would be mad and more importantly you might get hurt! So I did the next best thing! I know that drowning is a very slow and painful way to die, especially if you fight against it, so I thought that it would be a suitable alternative for a punishment!"

He looked so pleased with himself. It was like killing people for revenge was on the same level of enjoyment for him as getting merch of a character he liked.

Without a care for the demons behind him, Leviathan quickly made his way up to you, making sure to be careful as he picked you up off the ground.

"See?" he grumbled, "this is why I say that staying in my room is so much better." He paused. "Ah, do you want to see them drown the entire way?" You quickly shook your head no. "Yeah, you're right. That'll take too much time. I'll bring you to Satan to get you wounds healed. Afterwards, don't think of even taking a step out of my room, alright! You've already seen how dangerous the outside world is!"

With that last sentence, he carried you away. You desperately hope that Leviathan was joking about it but something about the way his tail curled possessively around your ankle made you think otherwise.

In your periphery vision, you notice the demons lying on the floor, some of them twitching and some of them writhing around. You close your eyes, and look away.

⭒☆━━━━━━～>º˵)ニニニニ>━━━━━━☆⭒

Satan

cw: just. loads of violence and gore

There was a large, gaping hole in one of the demon's abdomens, directly mirroring yours. Except it was larger, more brutal, and much more horrible than the one they inflicted on you.

Satan removed his hand from the demon's abdomen with a loud, wet shlick. The demon fell to their knees, clutching at their open abdomen. Satan smiled a bright, close-eyed smile. For once his spiked tail wasn't curled around his leg, instead gently swaying back and forth as he reached forward to yank the demon's intestines from the hole.

Perhaps it was due to the manner of the wound or the force Satan used but it didn't take long for the intestine to snap and for Satan to hurl it to the side in annoyance.

"Can't even do one thing right," he sneered. He raised his foot only to harshly stomp down on the demon's back. It landed with a sickening crack and the demon collapsed onto the floor, spine bent at an irregular angle. They were still screaming in pain. They were still alive.

Your voice was trapped in your chest, your eyes wide open and unable to be torn from the horrific scene happening in front of you.

Satan moved onto the next demon, grabbing them by the hair and pulling sharply to the side. When the third demon tried to scramble away, Satan froze them in place with a simple flick of his fingers and an uttered spell.

With his attention now turned back to the demon in his grasp, Satan used his other hand to hold the demon's head in place as he slowly pulled at their hair until it started peeling off, a thin layer of skin attached to the base of the strands and holding them together. That wasn't enough for Satan, though, and he inserted his long fingernails into the demon's eyes, scooping them out with barely contained glee.

"This is what you get for thinking that you can even look at MC," Satan told the demon. He then dropped that one onto the ground as well, kicking them in the stomach and sending them skidding across the rough earth.

It was at this moment that you realized that this was the demon who had kicked you into the wall... and the earlier demon was the one who had stabbed you with their nails. The last demon, the one Satan was dragging towards you now, was the one who had called you out in the first place. The one who had put the entire bullying thing into motion.

Satan kicked the back of their legs, making them drop onto their knees in front of you. Now that you had a much closer, unwanted look at them, you notice that their lips had been stapled shut, the dull metal gleaming slightly in the limited light.

"Sorry for taking so long, kitten," Satan apologized to you in his usual, gentlemanly tone. "I might have gone a little bit overboard." When he directed his words to the demon trembling in front of you, he was much harsher. "What are you waiting for? Not going to apologize?!"

The demon made some muffled cries, completely unintelligible from behind his cruel gag. A nasty smile spread across Satan's face. "Oh, I forgot. You can't speak, can you? Well, it seems like you'll have to apologize in another manner."

Satan reached around and ran a finger down from the center of the demon's collarbone to their sternum. From this close you could see the sweat dripping down the demon's face, hear the whimpers from their throat, feel their agony as Satan peeled off the left side of the demon's skin, revealing their rib cage and organs.

"You can still apologize with your heart," Satan told the demon. "Can't you?"

"S... Satan." Somehow, you managed to muster up the willpower to speak. "Satan, I can't do this."

Satan's green eyes were on you now. He was confused for a moment before clarity entered them. You waited for him to move the demon away, but he never did. Instead, he dug his fingers into the demon's rib cage and pulled it out, like one would with a closet door.

The demon screamed from behind his gag.

"Of course, silly me. You wouldn't be able to reach his heart due to his rib being in the way! Well it should be easier now, yes?"

You were going to be sick.

"I don't... I don't want this, Satan," you forced out through gritted teeth. Satan frowned, but it was directed to the demon.

"Hear that? MC doesn't accept your apology." He discarded the demon to the side before kneeling down in front of you, offering blood-soaked hand for you to take. "I'd love to torture them for you some more, MC," he said gently, "but I don't think now's a good time. You need to get your wounds cleaned and healed."

You closed your eyes and looked away. Even though you were trying your best to block it out, the scent of blood was still strong in the air.

You heard Satan chuckle in front of you. "I know," he said in an indulgent tone, "but I'm serious. I read that humans are a lot more fragile than demons so I need to disinfect your wounds at the very least. We can always come back later; it's not like they'll be running away any time soon."

You tried to tell Satan that there was nothing more you wanted than to never see this sight again, but you couldn't open your mouth without throwing up.

"If you don't stop throwing a tantrum, I'll get angry," despite his words, his voice was more amused than anything. You forced yourself to speak.

"It... hurts," you ground out. "I can't... move."

"Oh." His voice was deeper now. Your eyes flew open to see him trembling with rage as he glared towards one of the nearby demons. "I see. It appears that I've been too lenient with them." His gaze went back to you and softened. "Don't worry, I'll make them pay their dues. Now, this might hurt but I'll try my best to be gentle."

Without giving you a chance to react, Satan scooped you up into his arms taking care not to aggravate any of your wounds.

"We'll return to the House of Lamentations first," Satan told you. "When I'm sure you're fine, I'll bring demons to you instead. How does that sound?"

Instead of answering, you leaned your head against his chest and pretended to sleep. You hoped the demons died before Satan came back to get them... for their sake.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━(=🝦 ༝ 🝦=)━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

sorry things are short from here on out. im tire. d

Asmodeus

cw: suicide

You hear Asmodeus gasp before he quickly placed himself between you and the demons. Relief flooded you at the sight of your friend.

"Darling! What happened to you?!" he bemoaned, reaching forward to wipe a smear of blood off of your face. You smile weakly at him.

"I just got a little hurt, that's all. Can you bring me home?" you asked. Behind him, you can see the demons backing away.

"Hurt...?" Asmodeus's eyes trailed down and landed on the horrid wound in your abdomen. You blink and suddenly found him in his demon form, wings twitching with agitation.

"Asmo...?"

Asmodeus abruptly stood up and turned to face the demons. You see them freeze in place and an eerie blankness washed over their faces.

"My darling is hurt," he whined. "Do you know who was the one who did it?"

The demons pointed at each other, neither of them willing to take the blame. You see Asmodeus cock his hip and rest his cheek against the palm of his hand.

"There's so many conflicting answers that I'm soo confused. Ah! I just had a great idea! I want you to kill that horrible, horrible person who harmed by darling. You can do that, right?"

In a blink of an eye, the demons turned on each other, ripping each other to shreds with the utmost of ferocity. Meanwhile, Asmodeus stood in front of them, calmly watching them tear each other apart whilst humming a cheerful melody. Soon, only one demon was left, bloodied and bruised, and they collapsed in front of Asmodeus.

"Wow!" Asmodeus cheered superficially. "Now, I want you to kill yourself!"

The demon faltered. Asmodeus grabbed them by the chin, long nails leaving angry red lines on their skin as he forced them to look into his eyes.

"I want you," he repeated slowly, "to kill yourself."

The demon's expression was completely blank and open as they nodded at Asmodeus before placing their hands around their neck and squeezing.

Asmodeus stepped back to stand by your side as the demon slowly suffocated themselves to death.

"Isn't it great!" Asmodeus asked you. You turned to look at him and noticed that his eyes were bright and feverish. "How obedient they are! They all do what I want them to do without question..." Asmodeus trailed off, disdain in his eyes as he watched the demon die in front of him.

"No it isn't!"

Asmodeus blinked. Confusion was clear in his eyes. "Why not?" he questioned. "I didn't have to dirty my hands, you didn't have to dirty your hands, and they all got what they deserved!"

"Death? Was death what they deserved?" You searched his eyes for any signs of remorse but you found none. Asmodeus was one of the gentlest demons you knew... you supposed that the keyword there that you had been ignoring the entire time was 'demon'.

"They hurt you, my dear. They sullied your beautiful form with their ugly selves, of course they deserved death! If I weren't worried about getting blood on my outfit, I'd have them draw it out, too!"

"This is wrong," you muttered to yourself. "This isn't right."

"Wrong? Not right? Honey, you're in the Devildom," Asmodeus cooed. He gently carded his fingers through your hair as he spoke. "Unfortunately, might is right here."

You shiver and curl into yourself. A frown graced Asmodeus' features and he was quick to try and comfort you.

"You'll get used to it soon," he said. "And even if you don't, you shouldn't worry! I won't let it happen again. How could I allow those tear stains on your pretty little face?"

His eyes were glowing eerily.

"Just... introduce all of the people you meet to me, alright? Then you'll never have to worry about anyone hurting you ever again♡"

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━₍ᐢ ̥ ̞ ̥ᐢ₎ ━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Beelzebub

cw: you know that thing in the mummy (1999) where the scarab beetles crawl under the person's skin and then eat them from the inside out? yeah.

You had never seen Beelzebub so furious before.

He held you in his arms as the demons before you paled at the sight of the sixth Lord of Hell.

"MC, you're hurt," he said slowly. His grip on you tightened for a brief moment before they loosened, Beelzebub clearly trying his best to control his strength so that you wouldn't get hurt.

There was a strange buzzing sound in the air. You assumed that it was coming from Beelzebub's wings.

"I'll be fine Beel," you try to comfort him. "It's just a flesh wound."

Beelzebub shook his head. "You're not fine," he insisted. "They tried to hurt you. They hurt you."

The buzzing was getting louder now. You touched Beelzebub's cheek and a warm fuzziness made itself known in your chest as Beelzebub leaned into your touch. "I'll be fine," you repeated. "I just need to get to the hospital, or a demon equivalent of it, and then rest up."

"I'll bring you to Satan," Beelzebub said. "But first, you need to see."

"See what, Beel?"

"Punishment," he said solemnly, directing your gaze towards the demons who were busy clawing at themselves. At first you couldn't tell what was going on but you soon managed to discern small little bumps moving around under the demons' skin.

The buzzing sound was louder, now.

One of the demons finally opened their mouth to scream and, to your absolutely disgust and horror, small black beetles crawled out of their mouth. As if it were a signal, insects started crawling out of the other demons' orifices as well, centipedes and ants and little white larvae, wiggling their way out before burrowing themselves into the demon's flesh once again.

The few seconds it took for the insects to eat away the demons felt like a lifetime, your eyes fixed onto the absolutely hellish sight in front of you. When the bones of the demons fell onto the ground, most of the insects scattered but some still dug into the bones, feasting on the bone marrow. You slapped your hand over your mouth, trying your hardest not to throw up while you were still being carried by Beelzebub.

"They hurt you," Beelzebub said. His voice felt so far away. "So I hurt them back."

You squeezed your eyes shut. The buzzing hum of insects did not allow itself to be tuned out.

"So... you have to tell me if people want to hurt you, okay? I'll protect you."

Beelzebub was no longer in his demon form, but the buzzing sound did not go away for a long, long time.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━ᙙᙖ━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Belphegor

cw: just violence i guess

The demon froze in their tracks, eyes staring straight ahead at something you could not see.

"What's wrong?" one of the other demons asked. They didn't seem to hear them as fear dawned on their face and they started backing away.

"Get away from me!" the demon screamed. They tripped over themselves and fell flat onto the floor, but they did not pause in their attempts to scramble away. "Get away from me! No! No! No!!"

"What's going on? Why're you acting like..." Another demon suddenly stared down at their feet for a moment before they started to heave. The last demon had a moment of sanity before they, too, suddenly started looking around them in fear.

"Ahhh! It's on me, it's in me, get it off, get it out!" they screamed, violently scratching at their skin. The first demon had stopped moving back and instead started waving their arms above them, fighting off an unseen assailant while the second demon was attempting to shove their entire hand down their throat. The third demon was scratching at their eyes, uncaring of how blood was now running down their body.

The first demon started clawing at themselves. The second demon slit open their stomach. The third demon clawed out their eyes.

Before you could see any more, a pair of cold hands wrapped around your shoulders, effectively drawing your attention away from the scene in front of you. A tail brushed against your face, blocking your vision entirely as Belphegor snuggled up to you from behind, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

"MC... Are you okay?" he asked.

"I... I'm fine, but those demons, they—"

"—hurt you, right? That's why they're getting punished right now." You felt his self-satisfied grin against your neck and realized that whatever they were going through right now was the work of the demon behind you.

"Belphie, what did you do?!"

"It's nothing much, really." He was proud of what he did. "I just gave him some nightmares. Or hallucinations, as some people call it."

You opened your mouth, to plead, to beg, you didn't know, but Belphie interrupted you before you could speak.

"Anyway, they're not important. You need to go to Satan, right? He has some healing spells that would be of use..." Belphegor slowly untangled himself from you. "Can you walk on your own? Or do you need my help?"

You didn't want his help but, when you tried to stand up, the pain rendered you immobile. Belphegor caught sight of the wound in your abdomen and flattened his lips. For a moment, you were transported back to the entrance of the attic, Belphegor looking down at you with loathing and rage in his eyes, but the moment quickly vanished and Belphegor reached out to pick you up.

"I'm normally the one being carried but I can make an exception for you," he said in a faux, lighthearted tone.

The demons' screams became louder. More terrified.

"You'll have to make it up to me, though," Belphegor continued, already walking towards the House of Lamentations. "When you recover, I expect lots of cuddles. I won't accept any rejections~"

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━ʕ -ᴥ-ʔ━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

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hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this thing got away from me. well as the tags say i want to do a follow up to this but idk what sort of follow up it'll be. def yandere though. speaking of yandere, watch this space for the next yandere thing that gets churned out, because i like yandere a lot, anyway it's going to be yandere brothers x mc. all of them, at the same time. will mc survive? probably! will they be happy they did? probably not. :) anyway i hope to be able to do more yandere content in the future

edit: SORRY I FORGOT THE CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THE FIRST 3

edit2: inserted one (1) instance of satan calling u kitten for a friend