#unfortunately as much as i am dreading anything bad happening to him i am also slightly excited for the misery 101 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

photogirl894 · 9 months

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"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 25

"Final Moments"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: I hope everyone had a great Christmas! It's good to be back again 😊 Last year on Christmas, I posted the chapter where the Koriena Force returned, which was happy news for many readers! This year...well this chapter is a lot different from that 😅 I hope you all will still like it nonetheless!

Love you all! 💜

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @tech-deck , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx , @idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions

《 Chapter 24

》 Chapter 26

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: Despite the gladness of the Bad Batch and the Koriena Force reuniting with Rex, the Captain has some unfortunate news and a message to deliver...specifically to Kimber.

“How do you think it’s going in there?” Kimber asked the others. The rest of the Koriena Force and the Bad Batch had returned to the Aurora once Rina and Lex finished reporting to Cid. Now, they were waiting anxiously to see what was happening with Rex and Kida. The couple had been in Kida’s room for a little while now.

“Well, considering I don’t hear yelling or any sort of obscenities being thrown out…I’d imagine it’s going well,” Rina answered.

“Obscenities?” asked Omega.

“Fighting or cursing,” Rina informed her.

“And we’re not hearing any moaning either,” Lex added quietly in Kimber’s ear, remembering the last time the couple had been together and the girls had all walked in on them, to which Kimber grunted in agreement.

Hunter turned to Kimber and asked her, “How did Rex take the news about the kid?”

“He was shocked, at first, as is to be expected,” she said, “but he didn’t seem mad or put off by it. I think he was just more anxious about seeing Kida again.”

“I don’t blame him,” said Echo.

A few seconds later, the door to the room slid open and Kida and Rex came out together hand in hand and with Kori nestled in Rex’s other arm. They saw their friends all waiting for them and Kida smiled, tightening her grip on Rex’s hand, which made him turn and smile at her in return with a rare smile none of the others had really seen: a smile of genuine joy.

Hunter then spoke up first and asked, even though he pretty much already knew the answer, “I take it all is well, Captain?”

Rex bowed his head. “All’s well, Sergeant,” he replied, then looking down at his son.

Then Rina let out a loud sigh and declared, “I am so glad that’s over with. No offense, Kida, but you’ve really been needing your man.”

“No, you’re right,” said Kida, standing on her tip-toes to give Rex a kiss on the cheek.

“And Kori most certainly needed to meet his father,” added Tech.

“Oh, he knew who Rex was immediately,” she replied, reaching over and lightly tapping Kori’s tiny nose.

“Well, we're all together again. Nothing can ruin this day!” exclaimed Kimber.

Rex grinned in response…but once everyone's attention turned away to other discussions, his glad demeanor quickly disappeared. It was all because of what Kimber had said because, despite the merriment of the situation, he had some unfortunate news to deliver. Specifically, for Kimber. However, he didn't want to bring down the moment when everyone was enjoying each other's company, especially with him there, so he knew he couldn't say anything. Not yet, anyway. He would wait until a little later. He didn't want to tell her what he had to say, but he knew he had to. Knowing the truth would crush her, but he also knew that keeping it from her would hurt her even more.

Even though he dreaded what was to come, it had to be done.

He pushed the thought aside for the time being and then stated, “I need to know something.”

“What is it, Rex?” asked Echo.

The Captain gestured to Wrecker and Rina and then Echo and Lex. “When and how did all this happen? The four of you?” he inquired.

Both couples looked at each other and timidly grinned.

“Well, things with the big guy and I started on Toydaria after the Eradicator debacle,” answered Rina.

“Then we became an item only recently,” said Lex, motioning between her and Echo.

“Those certainly weren't developments I was entirely expecting,” said Rex.

Rina chuckled. “What can we say? We really know how to pick ‘em. Don't we, boss lady?” she asked, looking at Kimber.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

That statement from Rina warmed Wrecker's heart and he cried out, pulling her into his arms and squeezing her tight, “Aw, Rina! I love you, you're the best!”

All heads turned to look at the two of them upon realizing what he'd said. Rina's eyes were the widest and her face had turned a deep crimson. However, Wrecker just seemed like normal and was grinning from ear to ear. Judging by his lack of attention to Rina or anybody else’s reactions in the moment, it seemed like Wrecker didn't fully understand the weight of what he'd just said. Poor Rina looked like she wanted to respond, but her voice failed her.

To quickly move on from the awkward moment, Rex cleared his throat and stated, “Well, I'm glad the four of you are happy.”

“As are we,” replied Echo, “and now, you can know the same happiness we do.”

Kimber then looked to both Tech and Irys--the only ones not in a relationship--and said apologetically, “I hope this isn't making the two of you feel left out.”

Without missing a beat, Tech responded, “Not at all. I am perfectly content with the way things are already.”

“As am I,” added Irys.

“I still think the two of you should get together,” stated Kida with a teasing grin.

Irys chuckled and replied to her, “I’m aware of your thoughts regarding me and Tech, but I think our friendly rivalry is sufficient enough.” Then she looked at Tech, directing a sly grin at him.

The corner of his mouth twitched up a little. “I concur with that statement, Irys,” he said back. “Why should we romance each other when we can cordially antagonize each other instead?”

“It’s much more fun,” she said.

As they gave their answers, Kimber had watched both Tech and Irys to gauge if they were being honest. Tech, she figured right away was being honest. He wasn’t one to shy away from sharing his truths or his thoughts. Though, she wondered if maybe when it came to matters of the heart, it would be different, but it didn’t seem that way. Then Irys, she knew, was a different story. Irys wouldn't have any interest in Tech because she secretly had unrequited feelings for Lex. Even so, she seemed similar to Tech in the fact that she didn't seem particularly interested in anything regarding romance.

At that moment, Rina, who had been strangely quiet, declared she was going to go get things ready for dinner and quickly ran off to the ship's kitchen. After that, everyone either stayed to chat or dispersed to other rooms. It was then that Rex decided he had to take the plunge and deliver the news he had to Kimber.

After handing the baby off to his mother, he approached Kimber and addressed her by name, catching her attention. When she faced him, he said to her, “We need to talk.” Then he looked at Hunter standing beside her and added, “You might want to come, too, Hunter.”

Now a tad concerned at the seriousness of Rex’s tone, Kimber exchanged a curious glance with Hunter before responding, “All right. Let’s go into Kida’s room.”

The three of them were quick to duck into Kida’s room and Hunter closed the door behind them. Once they were inside, Kimber questioned, “Rex, what's going on?”

The expression on his face was a grim one; a very sudden switch from the happy and content one he’d had not moments ago. There was a sense of distress in his eyes, which only made Kimber even more nervous. Something was wrong and her stomach began to churn anxiously as she awaited his explanation.

With a heavy sigh, he said, “There's something you need to know, Kimber…and I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this.”

His head fell briefly and she kept her eyes on him. He was struggling to get out whatever it was he wanted to say, which only made her wonder even more what was going on. What was it he wanted to tell her that was so hard to say? A light sense of dread welled up inside her.

When he found his voice again, he spoke, “The crash the Empire believes I died in: my Commander and I were the only ones who survived. There were a lot of Clones on that cruiser and we buried all of them.”

His hands clenched tightly into fists as he fought his emotions. The Captain wished he didn’t have to do this. What he was about to say was going to break her, he just knew it.

“Rex?” Hunter asked apprehensively.

Rex didn’t acknowledge him and instead, kept his unwavering melancholic gaze on Kimber as he painfully released the words he didn’t want to say:

“One of the Clones…that also died in the crash…was Jesse.”

A sharp gasp escaped Kimber’s lips and her hands flew up to her mouth in complete and utter shock.

Beside her, Hunter’s eyes widened. His gaze immediately turned to Kimber as he then realized why Rex wanted him there. He knew this upsetting news would greatly affect her and she was going to need his comfort and support.

Kimber’s entire body went numb as she processed what Rex had just told her. No, surely she didn’t hear him right. There was no way he’d told her Jesse was gone. “No…no, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be true. Please, Rex, tell me you're lying! Tell me it isn't true!” she cried out, her head shaking and her voice breaking.

However, the pain now growing in her chest only increased as Rex sorrowfully shook his head and told her plainly, “I wish I could…but I buried him myself. I placed his helmet on his grave marker with my own hands. I'm sorry, Kimber…Jesse's gone.”

Her breathing went shallow and her hands clutched at her chest. “No! It can't be! He can’t be gone! Jesse…no!”

Her heart finally broke and her strength failed her as her legs gave way beneath her. Her body fell limp and she started to collapse, but Hunter was swift and caught her in his arms, carefully guiding her to the floor. Her body trembled against his as she became wracked with grief, heart wrenching sobs tearing from her throat. Hunter held her close, not saying a word to her. He’d anticipated such a reaction from her, knowing this would be hard for her to take. He locked eyes with Rex, who appeared immensely apologetic. The Sergeant could tell this was the last thing Rex wanted to do, but he understood why he had to.

Rex took a step closer and said softly to Hunter, “I hate to only add on to this…but he also sent me a transmission he recorded in his final moments…to pass on to Kimber.” He fished out a holopad and handed it to Hunter. “I only saw the beginning where Jesse requested I give this to her,” he said. Then he laid a gentle hand on Kimber’s shaking shoulder. “I really am so sorry, Kimber. I wish more than anything that I didn’t have to give you this news. I’ll leave you two alone.” Then he quickly left the room, knowing Kimber and Hunter were going to need some time.

As he moved out to the main area of the ship, the rest of the others had gathered and all turned their attention to him as he came in.

“We heard crying. Was that Kimber?” asked Lex.

“What’s wrong?” Wrecker also asked, immediately worried.

Rex informed them, “I had to give her some unfortunate news. Jesse, one of my brothers who was close to her, was killed in the cruiser crash that I escaped.”

Hearing that, Rina exclaimed, “Wait…Face is dead?”

Everyone gave her confused looks, not expecting what just came out of her mouth, as Echo questioned, “Why did you just call him ‘Face’?”

“Well…because of his face tattoo. Duh,” she replied. “I briefly met him when I met Kimber on Jakku. It seemed like the two of them were pretty tight. I can feel her grief and pain even from here. Poor Kimber.”

“And poor Jesse,” said Echo, hanging his head, and Lex laid a hand on his arm. “Another good soldier lost.”

Omega looked up at Rex and asked him, her big brown eyes full of worry, “Is she gonna be okay?”

He heaved a heavy sigh. “I…don’t know, kid. She’s going to need time. I hope she will be eventually.”

Back in Kida’s room, Kimber was still weeping in Hunter’s arms, still unable to believe that what Rex had told her was true. She couldn’t fathom the fact that she was never going to see Jesse again; that they’d never have holoshow nights again someday or that he’d never get to know the Bad Batch better. The last time she’d seen him was back on Zeffo when she was returning to her boys and she had to tell him goodbye. At the time, she didn’t believe it would be goodbye forever because they had promised each other that they would see one another again at the end of the war.

Now, that would never happen.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” she wept to Hunter. “He and I were both supposed to survive the war. We were supposed to see each other again and I had wanted all of you to get to know him so that you would be friends. He promised me he’d survive the war! He promised me…he promised…!”

Even though he wasn’t sure if it was what she wanted to hear at the moment, he smoothed her hair and told her softly, “Such promises like that never have any guarantees in times of war, sweetheart.”

All she could do was choke on another sob.

Hunter could tell that Jesse’s death was taking a tremendous toll on her, more so than he’d imagined. He knew they were friends and that Jesse meant a lot to Kimber after the time they’d spent together on Coruscant a while back, but with how intense her grief was, he began to wonder if there was more to their relationship than he supposed. She’d told him a long time ago that Jesse had developed feelings for her, but she had told him she was still loyal to Hunter. However, she had also admitted that she’d felt a bit attracted to Jesse, as well, in some moments of vulnerability. Remembering that and judging from her reaction to hearing about Jesse’s death, Hunter had a strong suspicion of how deep Kimber’s feelings actually went, even though she’d never told him as much. More than likely, she’d probably kept the truth to herself so as to not hurt or offend him, even though she’d still chosen him in the long run. It was a solid hunch, but he had to know for himself. Not only for his own sake, but for hers, as well. If what he thought was true, she couldn’t bury the truth anymore. Not if she wanted to eventually find closure dealing with this tragic loss.

He said to her, keeping his voice low and calm, “I need to ask you something…and I want the truth.”

She let out another choked cry, but then sat back, wiping away her tears as she looked at him and calmed down a little, waiting for him to continue.

Then he asked the question that was on his mind: “You loved him, didn't you?”

She answered, her voice cracking still, “Jesse was my friend. Of course, I did.”

“Kimber, you know that's not what I meant,” he replied. He gently brushed away a couple stray tears from her cheeks, looking intently into her eyes as he repeated his question with more emphasis, “You loved him…didn't you?”

In truth, Kimber knew what he had really been asking immediately, but she tried to pass off her answer more casually, thinking she still needed to deny the truth. Unfortunately, though, he knew her well and saw right through her facade. He could tell she was lying and she knew it. She'd done so well for a long time keeping her real feelings for Jesse buried and concealed from Hunter, but she realized she couldn't anymore. She didn't want to admit it out loud, but it was clear it wouldn't matter even if she didn't. Hunter already knew.

Another tear escaped her eye as her head fell forward in shame. “I…I did.”

It was just as Hunter thought. All this time, she'd hidden her secret love for Jesse while she'd been with him, even though she’d chosen to stay with him. “From how you’ve talked about him and your reaction just now, I kind of had a hunch that's how you felt,” he told her.

She began to cry again, this time out of guilt and fear of how he'd continue to react. “I'm sorry, Hunter. I never meant to--”

“Sweetheart, you don't need to keep proving your loyalty to me,” he said, cutting her off, as he cupped her cheek with his hand. His gaze softened in understanding as he went on to tell her, “Sometimes, we can't help who we love, even if we already love someone else. You were lonely when you went to Coruscant; your heart was vulnerable and he was the one who was there for you when I couldn't be.”

Kimber almost couldn't believe how calmly Hunter was taking this. “You…you’re not angry?” she asked, bewildered.

With a shake of his head, he replied, “Why would I be angry? Despite it all, you still chose to be with me, even though our relationship was at a standstill. I'd feel differently if you'd chosen otherwise, but you didn't. Even so, I've accepted that Jesse was special to you.”

For a moment, she remained astonished at his empathy, but was nevertheless grateful for it. Her eyes welled up with tears again and she sighed heavily. “I knew I could never tell him how I truly felt,” she said. “I didn't want to give him any false hopes of anything happening between us. It wouldn't have been fair to him.” More tears fell and she let out a small cry as her grief began to build again. “We were both supposed to live through the war so we could see each other again. There's so much we wanted to do once there was peace in the galaxy…and there's so much I wanted to tell him that I'll never get to. One day, when I get the chance, I want to visit the place where he's buried and say goodbye.”

“No,” Hunter said abruptly. When she gave him an almost offended glance, he went on to say, “I want you to talk to Rex in the morning and have him take you there as soon as possible. Or, if he can't, maybe the girls can.”

Now, she was even more caught off guard. “What? But…I can't. I promised I would never leave you again,” she said back.

“You're not leaving me. This is different and I know you'll come back,” he responded.

“But Hunter--”

“Jesse's death has been a huge blow to you. You need that closure or else you'll carry the burden of his loss with you wherever you go moving forward. I want you to take whatever time you need to mourn him and say your goodbyes.”

“You…you mean it?” she asked in disbelief.

Hunter gave her a sincere, comforting smile and pulled Kimber back into his arms, cradling her head against his chest and pressing a kiss into her hair. “I mean every word. I know he meant a lot to you,” he assured her. “Besides, I owe him, too, for looking after you so you could return to me and to our squad.”

Gratefully, she hugged him back. There they stayed for a moment as she let a few more tears fall from her eyes. How was she so lucky to have someone as understanding and supportive as him? There were so many times she believed she didn’t deserve his love and kindness and yet he had deemed her worthy of it countless times.

While he continued to hold her, he said, “Talk to Rex in the morning. Go visit Jesse's grave. This is what you need and I always want what's best for you.”

Her arms tightened even more around him. “I love you, Hunter. Thank you,” she said through another small cry.

“I love you, too,” he replied before kissing her brow. Seeing her in so much pain was nearly killing him inside, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do about it entirely. Overcoming her grief would be something only she could do on her own, but he thought that telling her to go visit Jesse’s grave so she could say her final farewells was the best he could do to help support his dearest love. He hated seeing her suffer. First, the Empire took Crosshair away and now, she’d lost Jesse; two people she held dear in her heart. When would fate ever be kinder to her?

After a few more moments of just staying in each other’s comforting arms, Hunter finally guided Kimber back and then held up the holopad Rex had left with him. “Rex said Jesse had sent him a message to pass onto you, one he recorded in his last moments. I know it might be a lot for you right now, so you don’t have to listen to it now if you’re not ready.”

Kimber looked down at the holopad, simultaneously wanting to see the message and dreading to see it all at once. Seeing Jesse’s face and hearing his voice right now felt like it would be too much for her to bear…but she also knew if she didn’t play the message now, then she never would.

“No…I’ll listen to it,” she said, taking the holopad from his hand. “If I don’t do it now, then I’ll never be ready.”

“I’ll leave you alone then,” he said back.

“If you don’t mind…I’m going to take this back to the Marauder,” she told him.

He leaned forward until his forehead met hers gently. “Go ahead. I’ll make sure you can leave without anyone noticing. Take your time, my love.” Then he kissed her forehead once more, kissed her tear-stained cheeks and then left her alone in the bedroom.

Kimber waited a few moments before peeking outside the room. Luckily, Hunter had managed to get everyone out of the room so she could leave the ship without anyone stopping to talk to her. While she would appreciate their support, she just didn’t want to speak to anyone else at the moment. She just needed to be alone. Swiftly and stealthily, she ran from the Aurora and went inside the Marauder nearby, making her way to her and Hunter’s bunk.

After sitting down on the cot, she held up the holopad once more, staring at it for a moment. Everything inside her was crying not to watch the message; that she couldn’t bear to see Jesse right now. She wanted to just hide the holopad away and never think about it again, leaving her memories of him on Zeffo to be her last. However, she knew there was no way she would forget about the hidden holopad and it would eat away at her, wondering what the message said. She just didn’t want her final memory of him being this recording he’d made moments before his death. She wasn’t ready...but she knew she had to be.

She activated the holopad and then there he was, a smaller holographic projection of Jesse. He was seated up against a wall, his armor scuffed up and his helmet on the ground beside him. She could see his handsome face with the Republic symbol tattoo. He looked exhausted and scared, which already tugged at her heartstrings. Then he looked up and it almost felt as though he was looking right at her; like he knew she was there.

“Hey Kimber. I don’t have much time. The cruiser I’m on is about to crash. I know Rex got off the ship, so I hope he sees this message and that it reaches you,” he began. “First, you need to know: somehow, all of us Clones had something happen to us. It was as if something or someone took over my mind and my body and was making me do things while I was conscious of it the whole time. I tried to fight it, but I wasn’t strong enough.” He turned away, his face ridden with guilt. “We opened fire on our Commander. I aimed my weapons at Rex…my Captain and my brother…and called him a traitor to the Republic. It was only moments ago that I felt my mind and my will become mine again.”

Her tears returned, cascading down her cheeks, and her hand came up over her mouth to stifle her crying. He had sounded so terrified talking about what had happened. This had to be further proof about the inhibitor chips Omega had once mentioned. She said the Kaminoans made them to modify the behavior of the Clones. From what Jesse had described in feeling like he no longer had any control over his actions, that definitely sounded like modified behavior for sure. The chips had to be real, even though the others didn’t seem too sure on it. She felt so sorry for Jesse that he had to endure such a thing.

Then his eyes lifted again to look at her. “I’m sorry, Kimber…but I don’t think I’ll be coming back from this…which means I can’t keep the promise I made you.”

Another sob broke through and her eyes squeezed tightly shut as he went on, “It hurts my heart knowing I’ll never see your beautiful face again. I know I told you after the war, I would be able to move on from you…but the truth is, I don’t think I ever could.” Her eyes opened and, through her tears, she saw the content and loving look on his face, which only made her want to weep even more. “No other woman in this world could ever compare to you and the place you have in my heart. However, despite how I feel about you…I always knew you’d never be mine, even before you told me your heart still belonged to Hunter. I could see you were happy being around me, but there was always a light that seemed to be missing from your eyes. Then I saw that light return when we were on Zeffo and you had been reunited with Hunter and your boys. I knew your place would always be with them, no matter what and I fully accepted that. I sincerely hope things between you and Hunter are back to the way they should be and that you’re truly happy.” Then he shook his head and chuckled. “I’m only moments away from the end and I’m not even thinking of myself. I can only think of you and hope that you’re well and happy wherever you are.”

Kimber’s fingers clenched even tighter around the edges of the holopad. She almost felt guilty that Jesse had only thought about her in his last moments, but she knew that wasn’t her fault. She didn’t want to keep listening, but she couldn’t bring herself to deactivate the message. She had to see it through to the end.

Jesse continued, a sad smile now on his face, “You are an amazing woman that I am grateful to have met and spent time with. I’m thankful for our friendship and I know it will transcend even death. Don’t let my death affect your happiness. Live for me. Live enough for both of us.”

The recording shook for a moment, causing Jesse to falter, and Kimber gasped in fright. The moment she dreaded was coming.

Looking back, he spoke urgently, but with no less emotion than before, “My time might be ending, but you still have so much ahead of you. You’re strong, courageous and capable and I will always believe in you. Remember everything I taught you and the memories we shared together…and I won’t ever be far from you.” A look of peace came over his face. “I love you, Kimber, always. Goodbye.”

The projection suddenly jerked, there was a brief glimpse of an explosion and then, it cut out.

“Jesse!” Kimber cried out with terror, the holopad falling from her hand.

Despite knowing it was coming, she hadn’t expected to see Jesse’s death and had hoped the message would end before it got to that point. It took her a minute to process the conclusion of the transmission before thinking back over everything he’d said. Even in the end, he still loved her and admitted he most likely would’ve never been able to move on from her. Her guilt from before grew even stronger knowing that. She’d never meant to make him fall for her and it still hurt tremendously knowing she’d never truly be able to return the affections he’d had for her. She’d wanted him to find happiness elsewhere…and now, he never would. Even in his last moments, he’d still thought of her. Enough to think of sending one final message to her before it all came to an end.

“I’m so sorry, Jesse…! I'm so sorry!” she cried before breaking down again in awful sobs of grief.

That was it. That was the last time she would ever see her dear friend, Jesse, alive.

A few hours passed and Kimber had yet to return to the Aurora. At first, no one really said anything, but after a while longer; after both Kori and Omega had been put to bed, some of the others began to get concerned.

“I hope Kimber’s all right,” said Wrecker, clear worry written all over his face.

“I’m sure she is. She just needs to be alone,” Hunter told him.

Then Rex spoke up, “Jesse was a good friend of hers. He trained her during her time on Coruscant and they became close. I’m sure his death was a lot for her to take.”

“Dealing with death is never easy,” said Lex.

While drumming her fingers on her knee, Rina added, “I know it might not mean a lot to most of you, but through the Force, no one’s ever really gone. The Force is what binds everything and everyone in the galaxy together. Fa--Jesse will still be with her.” She decided at the last second to call him by name out of respect instead of her nickname.

“Even if that is true, it will not fully dilute her grief,” said Tech.

“I know, but it might help somewhat,” Rina said back.

Hunter stood up from where he sat, declaring, “I’m going to go check on her.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Rex.

“So will I,” added Echo.

The three Clones then made their way from the Aurora to the Marauder. When they got inside, they didn’t see Kimber in the cockpit or the main cabin. It was eerily silent, as if there was no one on the ship at all. There were no sounds of crying or anything. Hunter and Echo exchanged apprehensive looks. This situation was reminiscent of the time they came back to find Kimber had left them. Surely, it couldn’t have happened again.

“No, this can’t be happening again. She promised she wouldn’t,” Hunter thought despairingly in his head.

He moved quickly to the back of the ship where the bunks were and activated the door to his bunk. After stepping inside, he let out an audible sigh of relief.

“She’s here,” he informed Echo and Rex behind him before moving further into the room.

Kimber was lying sound asleep on the bed, the holopad resting in one of her hands. As Hunter got closer, he could see dry remnants of tears on her cheeks and her eyes were still slightly red. Her breathing was soft and she looked peaceful for a moment, temporarily free from her pain from earlier. Hunter took the blanket on the bed and pulled it up over her to keep her warm. She slightly stirred, but didn’t wake. He ran a hand over her face and brushed a couple stray strands of her hair away, tucking them behind her ear. He at least was glad that she was still there. For a small moment, he feared she’d run away again in her grief, but he knew he should’ve known better. She had promised to never leave him again and he knew she’d keep that promise. He felt like a fool for doubting her for even a second. Then he tenderly kissed her forehead before quietly making his way back to the doorway.

“Our poor girl must’ve cried herself to sleep,” said Echo quietly.

“She deserves some rest,” added Rex.

After Hunter exited the room and closed the door, he had the thought to ask Rex on Kimber’s behalf about taking her to the crash site. He knew he’d told her to talk to Rex, but now, it just seemed like something he should do so she wouldn’t have to. She was having a hard enough time as it was.

He turned to Rex and said, “Captain, I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?” Rex asked.

“Tomorrow, would you be able to take Kimber to the crash site so she can say goodbye to Jesse?” Hunter inquired. “I know it may be a lot to ask you to go back there after everything you also had to go through and I would understand if you choose not to. It’s just...Kimber told me there are things she wished she could’ve told him and wants to say her goodbyes. I’m hoping if she goes, she’ll get the closure she needs and it can help her find peace going forward.”

Echo turned to Rex, as well. “Will you be all right with that, Rex?” he asked with concern.

Deep down, Rex already had an idea of what Kimber wanted to say to Jesse. He remembered long ago when he and Kimber had rescued Jesse on Rhen Var and he’d overheard Kimber and Jesse discuss their feelings and their relationship. He’d known about Jesse’s feelings for her and, after watching the two of them more since that time, he’d had a feeling Kimber felt more than she let on, despite telling Jesse her heart still belonged to Hunter. The poor woman probably felt a myriad of emotions over Jesse’s death and he sympathized with her greatly. She deserved the chance to say her proper farewells.

In response, he said to the Sergeant, “I’ve learned not to hold onto the grief over the losses of my brothers for too long. I’ve had my time to mourn them. Returning to the crash site won’t be a problem, so I’ll gladly take Kimber there so she too can properly mourn who she has lost.”

That response put Hunter’s mind at ease. For a minute, he thought Rex wouldn’t want to go back, but he was glad that wasn’t the case. Rex was a true friend willing to help someone in need.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Echo asked once again to be sure.

Rex nodded. “I’m sure, brother. Don’t worry about me.”

Echo laid his hand on Rex’s shoulder. “Thank you, Rex,” he said. “I know that will mean a lot to Kim and it certainly means a lot to us, too.”

“She’s important to me, too, so I want to help as much as I can, especially since I had to be the one to tell her what happened,” Rex said solemnly.

“It was better that it came from you instead of someone else…and better that she knows instead of never finding out,” Hunter assured him.

“You’re right,” Rex agreed.

Hunter glanced back at the closed door for a few seconds and then stated, “I’m going to leave her here tonight and give her some space. As much as I want to go back in there and be there for her, I get the feeling she’d rather be alone when she wakes up in the morning.”

“She’ll seek you out once she’s ready,” Echo said to him.

With a nod, Hunter then said, “Come on, let’s go back to the Aurora. We need to put the others’ worries at ease about Kimber. Then we all need some rest. Tomorrow will be a much different day than today.”

Both Echo and Rex turned to leave the ship, but Hunter lingered for a moment longer, resting a hand against the door to his room. Her presence and her lingering sorrow flooded his senses and he wished more than anything that he could take her grief away. At least, she was content for now as she slept. Tomorrow, he knew, would be different.

“Rest well, my love,” he thought in his mind before lowering his hand and following after his brothers.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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narwhalandchill · 2 months

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(soo ignition teaser thoughts ig)

hmmmm im ngl the trailer itself as a like prelude to what is coming in 5.0 intrigue and plot wise is like. compared to the region teasers that came before w lazzo and overture. its just. its kinda bad im sorry KWKJKWDJKWDJK like okay cool seeing the new cast and production value is high as always (+ music) but its such a middling teaser for the story itself?? it feels like a powerpoint presentation of the cast more than anything narratively coherent with an inherent draw and mystery

like theres mavuika speaking to the flame thingy (xbalanque that u? "one entombed in the primal fire" perhaps????) with some intrigue i suppose as well as her brief thing w capitano. ororon also appearing to be working together or aligned with capitano given theyre standing together there which could make for an interesting plot thread but beyond that its very.... eh. its not giving us a lot to grip onto ya know???? and thats rly a shame especially since i also felt that way abt the teaser in the 4.8 livestream. i wish we got more

and sure theres a tournament wahoo but like. its really Not helping to hype up that thing when half the introduced cast isnt being like "OMG the tournament!!!!1!1 this is HUGE!!!1" (or even. "oh no this is BAD!!!1" to set up basic conflict. like why would they dread it?) but instead just. "oh right... the tournament 🙄🙄" like who thought that was a good idea 😭😭 if the PEOPLE of natlan dgaf abt the big plot event happening then how am i as the viewer supposed to feel majorly invested in it . wow theyre tossing a ball around . wow nobody wants it guess ur tournament is having a bit of a PR issue in the making mavuika lmao

anyway i wouldnt even call myself a true capitano glazer despite being a fatuiHQ enjoyer on the side but like. that hmph still carried welcome capHIMpeaktano truly o7 JWDJWDJKDWJK also did yall see the. anemo-ish turquoise flare when mavuika is confronting (?) him? wonder if thats a thing with her flames or is it implying cap as anemo or sth.... i think itd fit him decent enough but ya. looking forward to HIM for sure

(+ congrats to him for losing the goofy timbs from arles animated short lmao like his design looks so fucking sick now)

character design wise uhhhh. well theres the obvious huge fucking issue here and while id say that hoyo p much already showed their true colors on the matter with sumeru that doesnt rly. make it any less disappointing and egregious wrt all the cultures and peoples theyre So willing to gather inspiration from in all possible aspects Other than the diversity of the people themselves. like its just... bad and such a shame but also not very surprising unfortunately.

(and really it just. looks especially bad given they clearly Can put melanin on people its just... enemy mobs only.)

beyond that i kind of dont have anyone that super catches my eye rn??? mainly because . well leaks moment eek but its basically official info now so basically. xilonens existence as a geo and a 5* (which like . u dont need leaks to guess she will be im sorry jdwjdw) was leaked a bit ago as well as the patch she should appear meaning. im actually in chiori rerun savings mode since its very high chance that she will be back w xilonen if anyone. so thats my plan for now kjdwjkdwjkdwjk

in terms of the actual cast i do like kinich and ororons designs v much, the design motifs of the latter especially are interesting bc those eye-like patterns are almost giving quantum symbol (= black hole imagery) to me???? and thats V interesting especially if hes actually working w capitano and the fatui. now him being a cat boy or whatever animals ears those turn out to be isnt like sth thats huge for Me personally but i do think hes valid and also W for anyone whos into that, congrats guys im happy for u ! but like fr itd be such an insane twist if hoyos Finally introducing the void quantum abyss whatever element w him (and maybe cap too.) bc that symbol Rly is looking Curious. or then hes just electro lol. for kinich its like. yeah fair he might be xiao-tighnari-gaming from minecraft ill admit that but. i do like the color scheme and his outfit a lot JKWJKDJKDWJKD so like i forgive it

w the girlies i overall find them all like. quite nice but so far without any personality + lore known its hard to settle my complete thoughts on them just yet. tho citlali being pink is super refreshing for genshin since we do have a shocking absence of it so like shes definitely one im drawn to, chasca looks interesting and like she could play a bigger part plot wise (maybe?) so that might be neat. both her and citlali being cryo is kinda surprising?? but cool. maybe ill get to unbench my shenhe and play some cryo teams again lmao freeze has been dead in abyss for so long now....

xilonen again w the kemomimi isnt sth im particularly into or not into but she looks cool, depending on personality and how her kit synergies turn out (+ assuming the chiori rerun, the fate of those pulls too), i might try for her as well? theres an Energy to her i like it. if she has proper Attitude and flair thats gonna be a massive bonus for me

mualani i think is rather bland to me, sth about her outfit and design just doesnt click for me even if the shark thing from the teaser before is neat and everything. the chibis are never sth im actively drawn to but like both do look okay, im kinda hoping kachina could be a lynette moment for 5.x and end up a free 4* since her exploration roomba looks p fun

anyway then theres. mavuika and i. well at least the design wasnt. That concept art one (ThoseWhoKnow...) . so instant massive W improvement solely on that basis holy fucking shit but ehhhhh im sorry i still dont know how to feel abt the very modern like. biker bodysuit thingy. im not a huge fan of the bodysuit type designs anyway so its not that surprising but still. her eyes + hair is absolutely stunning tho like not a question at all.

tbh in a way i kinda feel like having too many Thoughts on her design is kinda just unnecessary bc like. shes the archon. of Course the kit is going to be insane so i will get her anyway (UNLESS a pyro onfielder JKWJKJKWJKWJKWFKJ like god please no). and in terms of like is her design and energy from what this vid is giving us good enough that i wont like. Actively resent having to get her for meta and strong teams??? Absolutely. so in that sense ig its all cool lmao

but yeah. idk i just think as a teaser for the upcoming story its rly a shame how weak this felt for me???? like sure overture ended up being a bit of a misleading teaser since it gave the impression of arle as this mastermind of the fontaine AQ which didnt rly happen but it still served as a source of hype and intrigue. and yes lazzo is sth that can Never rly be beat in terms of how out of nowhere it was and how fucking insane the whole harbinger reveal went (+ elogia cinerosa existing) for lore and long term hype but its just. unfortunately those 2 are the regional teasers this natlan one is supposedly meant to parallel and it just didnt deliver anything comparable to those for me

like still looking forward to natlan and seeing the rest of its cast (like im fairly convinced the flame thingy might be xbalanque and hes gonna be a big deal ultimately or sth) and where it goes and all its environments but this trailer didnt rly. grip me the way i wouldve expected it to. which is unfortunate kdjkdwjkwjkdwj but yea thats all

#also i guess a thing i kinda feel mixed on and have seen ppl feel similarly abt in terms of the chara designs as a whole #is just the kinda. more modern design direction thing. from the biker suit to xilonens shorts being This close 2 looking like ripped denim #and other stuff. like idk its hard to pinpoint but it just feels v different from other genshin designs and while different doesnt equal ba #for now its not sth i have rly gotten used to ig #so the characters arent appealing as much as they could for now at least .#but yeah. i dont think i have like any insane hype going forward for now but im reasonably excited for sure.#and the environments are obviously guaranteed to be stunning as well as the music #genshin #rambles

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stuck-in-the-ghost-zone · 3 months

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HIII MACINTOSH i forgor 2 ask this earlier BUT. free card 2 talk about ur cauldron thoughts now that u know they r doing unethical human experimentation & also the other two members of the triumvirate etc Know About It... if u want... do u have any pepe silva redstringing going on.... eyes emoji eyes emoji.... anyway HI i would love so much 2 bother u more abt deadwood & also worm stuff i have been. thinking abt fucking nhw all day. its dire. unfortunately it is friends & extended family socialization hours for mee <333 anyway hope u had a good day!!!

OUGH THE EXTENDED FAMILY SOCIALIZATION..... you are so so so strong dude. sending u all of my remaining energy in the form of LONG FUCKING POST ABOUT WORM LETS GO.

OKAY . put that under a cut bc i know I'm gonna ramble. I have so many thoughts and none of them are coherent.

FUCK CAULDRON MAN. LIKE . THEYRE AWESOME. BUT THEY JUST FILL ME WITH SUCH A SENSE OF DREAD. they feel like. to me. they feel like the Big Bad of worm . not so much in the final boss kind of way but in the "underground corporation that is morally bankrupt enough to do unethical human experimentation seems to have its fingers in basically every single cape organization out there." maybe that's overstating their reach a bit but. THE PROTECTORATE ?!?!?!? LEGEND!??!!??! the fucking slaughterhouse nine apparently !?!?!?!?!?!?! what are u gonna tell me next, they fucking. made one or all of the endbringers or something !?!?!?!?!?!?! (<< this is my most wild theory but in my defense i don't know anything about simurgh yet and that one seems suspicious in some way. if I'm right about this I'll crawl on my roof and scream at the sky.)

ok ok ok thoughts feelings emotions yes. but also. taking a second here to lay out the facts that I think I know so far. 1) cauldron is doing human experimentation (awesome for me). pretty straightforward. 2) AT LEAST ONE of the protectorate capes are cauldron-made. We know about legend (and battery but shes not at the same level legend is if i remember correctly). it was KIND OF IMPLIED???? that eidolon might be too??????? what the fuck were they talking about injections with him. sus. and if 2/3 are cauldron capes. why would alexandria be any different. what the FUCK the implications of this are insane. 3) they have also created VILLAINS. and while they say they actively discourage it, they also admit that they cant exactly stop it from happening. and also tjeyre proven liars. they specifically told battery to let siberian and shatterbird escape. siberian's creator/real body/whatever the hell he is to her had the cauldron brand. which leads me to think that shatterbird is probably a cauldron cape too. trying to cover their tracks???? pretty disastrous if two of the SLAUGHTERHOUSE NINE show up with identical tattoos that can be traced back to the shadowy underground organization that also created some of the most revered heroes. thats a fucking timebomb waiting to happen.

wait as im typing this. i think im confusing the protectorate and the triumvirate. you know what i mean i hope. i also know what i mean but unfortunately i am Stupid and there are So Many names. anyway moving on.

UHHHHHH . FUCK. theory wise. i dont know if i have any solid theories other than the fact that i think cauldron as an organization will turn out to be the bbeg. also that thing i said about the endbringers except thats less of a theory i actually believe and more of a "wouldnt that be fucking crazy huh". i dont think i have enough information yet to guess at their MOTIVES but... i think its going to turn into a "the whole system has been corrupt from the beginning and the difference between heroes and villains is more of an act to keep the rest of the world in check than anything else." i keep going back to that thing one of the brockton bay heroes said in the first wards interlude. where one of them said something like "that would ruin the show" thats a thing that happened right????????? the fuckingggg. merchandization of the heroes drives me a little crazy. theyre like celebrities. actually no theyre more like a sports team where you root for them to beat the "bad guys" and obviously its not that simple because the villains ARE terrible and are doing awful things with their powers a lot of the time (kaiser, the s9, etc etc) but also like... you have ppl like the undersiders and faultline's crew and the travellers. who are just like.... people with a goal. BUT YOU ALSO HAVE THE HEROES. WHO. fuck!!! after this last interlude!!!!! fucking alexandria and eidolon, two of THE MOST heroes in the world!!! are aware of and ambivalent to unethical human experimentation and will continue to allow it to happen!!!! and on a smaller scale youve got armsmaster (everything about him) and miss militia ("just shoot her in the head dont worry about it") and also the entirety of the child soldier- i mean wards program. like. its all so fucked. its all SO fucked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and cauldron probably has their greasy little paws in all of the leading parties!!!!!!

god i am so NOT good at putting my thoughts about this kinda shit into words but just know i have been fucking blender microwave comboing this for HOURS now. the kitchen is a MESS. i KNOW theres something im forgetting here. augh. may reblog this with more thoughts later. i was originally also gonna tlak about nhw a little bit but GOD im jsut thinking about cauldron now.

#buPLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BOTHER ME ABOUT DEADWOOD I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT DEADWOOD.#auguurhghhghhghghghh.#thinking about worm so much that i cant even read worm. do u know what i fucking mean?????????#that makes NO SENSE but its whats HAPPENING. the situation is DIRE #also this took longer than i liked bc whiskey distracted me with genloss and i had to be a hater for a minute. sorry.#back to love time now (engaging with media that has been consuming my mind)#AUGH #reaction time #<< so future me can come back and laugh at my current predictions #asks #friends!!!#interntexts

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ecargmura · 2 years

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Buddy Daddies Episode 8 Review: Something Worth Protecting

This episode showed and told so much that it’s almost perfection in storytelling and development. I’m just dreading for what’s to come because of what was shown in the ending.

You can check out this review on my blog, but if you don't want to read it there, continue below.

The episode centers around Rei. We learn a lot more about the Suwa family as Shigeki, Rei’s father, wants Rei to return home and succeed the family business. The conflict between Rei and Shigeki is actually very interesting to watch. Shigeki only sees Rei as a tool for their dark world while Rei is a shadow that found light in Kazuki and Miri. Shigeki is unable to love while Rei is able to, albeit slowly.

The organization looks down on love and positive feelings in general, only to find them pointless. Rei’s mentor Satoru was once a man who held the organization’s ideals but found love; unfortunately, his lover was murdered. Rei is slowly walking his mentor’s path as he found something to protect as well—Kazuki and Miri. The action sequences between Rei and Satoru were amazing and well animated. I was amazed with how fluid it was, especially given that the two fight so similarly.

Throughout the show, Rei is seen as a bit aloof and lazy, but the episode shows that the laziness is from the fact that he was a barely functioning adult when he ran away from home. Meeting Kazuki changed all that. This episode also showed Rei and Kazuki’s first meeting, which lead to Kazuki going into Rei’s house and caring for him by cleaning the garbage dump of his apartment, adding in bright furniture to liven up the atmosphere, bathing him, cutting his hair and feeding him a well balanced meal. I’m sure that Kazuki’s kindness melted Rei’s cold heart and why he behaves like he does now; Rei is someone who likes to be taken care of and he probably didn’t realize this until Kazuki, someone who likes caring of others, came into his life.

The heartfelt talk that the two had towards the end of the episode cemented how much they care for each other. Rei’s not an open person, but it’s obvious that Kazuki is dear to him—he’s the reason Rei became a functioning person after all. During the conversation with Rei and Shigeki, Rei defended Kazuki by saying that his bond with Kazuki isn’t pointless. I think this is a powerful statement. Remember that in Japan, people on casual terms usually address each other by their surnames. Kazuki and Rei are on first name basis with each other, signifying a close bond; also note that Rei is three years younger than Kazuki. If he was on casual terms, he would’ve just addressed Kazuki as Kurusu or Kurusu-san, but he doesn’t and Kazuki doesn’t mind at all. It might not mean much, but the fact that Rei referred to Kazuki as “Kazuki” in front of his father shows a lot in details.

Another subplot for this episode is Kazuki and Miri preparing a surprise birthday party for Rei. I think the way they used Kazuki and Miri’s screen time to give some background on Rei is creative. Miri is quite perceptive in this episode as she laments that Rei still has some sadness inside of him; she knows this because she has seen her mother behave the same way whenever she drinks. With how Miri behaved in episode 6, we can see that Miri is a lot more mature than she lets on. I like this side of Miri. It shows that while she’s still childlike and innocent, she’s mature and is maturing.

Ryo Ogino is a very creepy villain. He is someone who likes collecting dead target’s last words. I like how there’s strong buildup of him being the final villain or the penultimate one as he’s Rei’s opposite in every way. Ogino likes “concepts” while Rei was once a “concept” but grew into an actual human being. While I am scared for what’s to come, I’m anticipating the battle between Rei and Ogino because I know for a fact that Rei will never let anything bad happen to his real family.

Buddy Daddies episodes always end on wholesome notes, but this one ended on a scary note. Kyutaro gets a picture from Ogino who is requesting information about…Kazuki and Miri. Oh shit. No. No. NO! I predict Rei will finally let go of the shackles of his past and abuse to protect the two people he loves the most. This is only episode 8. There are 13 episodes for this show. Why are we walking the angst path this early? I pray nothing bad happens to Kazuki and Miri. I am clasping my hands as I dread for next Friday to come.

#buddy daddies #review #ecargmura #anime #anime review #winter 2023 anime #kazuki kurusu #rei suwa #miri unasaka #Ryo Ogino #Shigeki suwa #Satoru kaji #arum journal

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randomreadingtimewithtsuki · 2 years

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Hello! so I just read your work about readers and Shihouin Chika. So I hope you can make one for me about the daily life of the reader with the original gotei 13, the reader is a lieutenant of the 3rd division and has a crush on two captains (Chika and Furuoki) where they both duel for the love of the reader and try to propose to the reader! i leave the end of the reader's answer to you. by the way sorry if my request is long...

Hello!

Thank you for requesting!

I am terribly sorry for the delay! Ihope this is of your liking!

Tsuki's note: I have no idea what their personality is like, so this is a wild guess!

Also also, not quite what you asked for as I don't see them actually fighting - yamamoto would strangle them for it, as well as your captain. Let's face it if a showdown of strength happened, Unohana would be the winner of your hand. Anyway! I hope you enjoy it!

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Being a lieutenant was not easy, especially when a war could break out anytime.

Your captain, Kinroku, really trusted you to do most missions on your own, but more often than not you met other squads in the battlefield. You hated the battles. So much bloodshed, couldn't everyone get along?

It hurted you badly to think of killing someone that could be your ally. The Quincy could help the shinigami. But that seemed out of question.

Even though a war is right at the corner, you could see a hint of playfulness whenever you met the second squad captain Chika.

He seemed to shield off a little too much around you whenever you crossed paths with him. It was surely amusing to see him grin at you and start some silly small talk.

On the other hand whenever you met the captain of the tenth division Furuoki you were engulfed in a sea of calm, all threats felt like little ants and the anxiety was thrown out of the window.

Thankfully you didn't meet them at the same time that often. Only during meetings and very specific missions. Why were you thankful for it? Because A silent battle usually began. They say little to nothing to each other but you could feel their gaze on you, a little competition to get your attention.

Soon enough the meeting began to be a bad place for that, as the planning and discussions got more serious.

So in the hallways the duel began. Chika would throw his arm around your shoulders and Furuoki would gently lead you by the small of your back.

Chika's grin would change from lovely and sweet to an annoyed one, Furuoki seemingly had no reaction on his face, except the slightly frown.

Slowly this silent competition began to shift and you got yourself a big shake from them - often trying to hang out with you, by inviting you to drink, stargazing, a walk around Seireitei, you name it.

Unfortunately finding a good schedule for anything was hard. They had their duties as captains and you as lieutenant. Does that mean you refused them? No. You did go for a drink and a chat with Chika and you did go stargazing with Furuoki.

They were both very charming in their own way and clearly knew the other had eyes on you.

Your captain was growing tired of seeing those two around you, so he started to shoo them away, which in Chika's case only made him sneak up. Furuoki respected the captain's boundaries, but still managed to meet you every now and then.

As the dread of having so many companions pass away right and left, Chika was the first one to confront you about this whole situation - he was afraid to loose you anytime: " So Y/N… what will it be? Should I sneak into some other room in the third division?"

His statement made you blush furiously and get a little mad at his implications. He giggled at your reaction, but he was not wrong.

Furuoki had mentioned a couple of times you wouldn't need to fight this war if you didn't wish to do so - he was willing to take the opponents for you since you dislike killing.

Adorable, you were so thankful for his thoughtfulness.

It was a rough few days of thinking and replaying the time you spent together with them.

Being with Chika was fun, never a dull moment, he was adventurous and supported you on getting strong. He knew you disliked killing, but there is no other way it's either be killed or kill. That doesn't mean he didn't take your feelings into consideration! Is just that he thought being prepared was better.

But being with him also meant seeing recklessness on his part ( he wasn't very inclined to follow some rules, much like Yoruichi), being looked down on by his family, having to fight for respect and receiving a harsher training. All would mean you definitely would argue over responsibilities and be pushed to the limit.

Being with Furuoki was peaceful, all the troubles and worries seemed to wash away and he wanted you to feel comfortable, so he would fight for you if you didn't wish to fight. That doesn't mean you would be a damsel in distress, it just means he was ready to protect your feelings and respect your morals. He still fully supported your training and improvements.

But being with him meant being known as Furuoki's spouse as he would let you step down from bloody fights, being hard to read his emotions to full depth and having to act more polished around his family. This would lead to arguments about what exactly he meant due to the lack of expressions on his features and wanting to detach from his name a little.

Both had good sides and bad sides, as any human would have.

Your decision came down by who would you rather spend more time with, who would you like to walk side by side with you? Who would truly appreciate you? Who felt more right to be with? Who could give you the future you never imagined to yourself?

A future that, even though it was different, held such a warm and positive feeling. One that could make you feel like every obstacle could be won, even if you two argued, even if you hurt each other's feelings and apologized in tears, even if it would be cut short by the dread of the war.

Your decision had to be postponed, as the walls of Seireitei came down with a pillar of light.

They both will make it for sure. So now, it was no time to think about men, it was time to think about you and your squad.

Time to survive and fight with your captain, to protect comrades - including those two foolish men.

You couldn't help but wonder, how would their heart be fairing right now? Would they be worried about you? Or would they be confident in your ability? Maybe this could make your answer clearer right?

So, who would you choose then?

----------------------------------------------

That's it! Thank you for reading!

Ah, yes, who would you choose?

Please let me know who you would choose out of this fine gentleman!

I personally would choose Chika.

#bleach x reader #shihoin chika x reader #Furuoki x reader #bleach

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imaginesfordifferentfandoms · 3 years

Text

Secrets & Sleepovers

Click here for my masterlist.

Add yourself to my taglist.

Prompt - ‘So if you are too tired to speak, sit next to me for I too, am fluent in silence.’

Night after night Spiderman took to the streets fighting bad guys for hours on end and then had to attend school the next day on very little sleep. For the most part, he managed, the spider bite giving him all sorts of cool abilities, one of them being able to last longer without sleep than regular humans.

School was a nightmare most days. The workload was piling higher and higher as the semesters went on and on top of that he had to deal with Flash on a regular basis. The lack of sleep made him more susceptible to losing it on Flash but he somehow managed to keep it to verbal arguments lately. The last thing he needed was to accidentally expose his powers in a fight with Flash.

Peter Parker loved being Spiderman but some days it was all too much. Every little noise, the scent of the city, the feel of his clothing, his senses became overwhelmed and all he wanted to do was hide under his blanket and sleep for weeks.

Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. With exams around the corner and someone needing to look out for the little guys, Peter was overworking himself and it was only a matter of time before he crashed and burned.

You let out a loud groan as you let your head hit the textbook in front of you, missing the way Peter smirked at you.

“If I ever have to look at another math book again, I may cry.” You grumbled into the book. You and Peter were currently sitting in the library studying for an upcoming exam.

When you had first sat down, you had raised an eyebrow at Peter. He looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep judging by the dark circles under his eyes, there was also bruising around his left jaw and a small cut just below his hairline. When you had asked him about it he shrugged it off and told you he was staying up late studying and that bruise was just him being clumsy. You weren’t sure you believed it but you let it go for now.

“Considering we got to a school that specialises in that stuff, I’m not liking your chances.” Peter grinned, causing you to sit up and throw a crumpled up piece of paper at him.

“Hey!” He exclaimed with a laugh. Moments later you heard a shushing noise causing you both to quietly chuckle.

“Let’s take a break.” Peter suggested, moving to put his books in his bag. You were in desperate need of some food and a stretch so you were quick to follow.

It wasn’t long until the two of you had found a small diner and had a selection of food in front of you.

You noticed how Peter shifted and winced a few times before settling in.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” You asked again.

Peter cursed himself, he thought he was good at hiding his secret but you always managed to see through the lies he gave. It was another downside to having this mutation, the lying. He was constantly lying to you, to Aunt May, to everyone but he couldn’t risk anyone finding out. He wouldn’t risk the people he cared about getting hurt because of him.

“I’m fine,” Peter assured with a bright smile, it was hard not to smile back though the concern didn’t go away. “Trust me, after finals I’ll be good as new.” He knew that wasn’t true but he just wanted you to stop worrying about him. With all the stress right now the last thing he wanted was to add to that.

“Ok, ok, I’ll drop it but if you wanna talk about anything…”

“I know and I appreciate it, Y/N/N, I really do.” With that you finally did let the topic drop. Peter was right, everyone was stressed and overly tired right now.

The days were starting to blend into each other. Peter was struggling to get through the day, dreading the nights where he would fight crime but if he didn’t do it and somebody got hurt...that was on him.

Nobody else would feel the pain he felt, not when he could do the things he could.

Peter was sitting on the roof of a tall building, legs dangling over the edge. He’d long taken his mask off, knowing he was safe up here. Tonight had started off rough, he’d stopped a mugging but had taken a few hits from the man's knife and plenty of bruises were quickly developing on his face. Thankfully his healing speed meant that the knife wound had knitted itself together quite quickly to stop the bleeding but that only made him more exhausted.

He wouldn’t know where the bruises ended on his face and where the bags under his eyes started. He so desperately wanted to do nothing more than clasp into bed.

He was exhausted.

Shaking his head, he blinked hard against the sudden wetness in his eyes, cursing himself for becoming so emotional but he couldn’t help it. Between school and secret identities, he was stretching himself way too thin.

With a sigh Peter stood up. He had to get moving otherwise he’d end up falling asleep on some cold rooftop. He swung for what felt like hours, really it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes, before landing on a fire escape.

He hadn’t realised it but somehow he had ended up at your house. The curtains were still open and he could see the soft glow of the lamp.

Mentally he chastised himself for coming here but who could blame him? You had always had a way of making him feel safe, making him feel like everything was ok even when it was falling to pieces. When he had lost Uncle Ben you had been his rock. So who could blame him for subconsciously seeking you out when he was feeling like this.

He looked in the window and saw you sat at your desk, books and papers spread out in what looked like a chaotic mess but he knew you would know exactly where everything was.

He wanted so desperately to knock on your window, to just sit with you in silence and feel like the world wasn’t about to crumble but he knew he couldn’t.

For starters he was still in the Spiderman suit and secondly he knew if you caught a glimpse of him now, bruised and beaten, you wouldn’t stop until you found out his secret.

He stood up, ready to leave and continue swinging around for a few more hours despite the exhaustion. You however heard something outside and turned to look, from your seat at the desk you had a perfect view of the fire escape just outside your window and your eyes widened as you saw Peter.

You ran over to the window, pushing it open before Peter had a chance to move and the two of you froze, locking eyes with each other waiting for someone to break the silence.

When the silence stretched for an uncomfortable amount of time you spoke;

“You’re Spiderman.” You stated rather than asked, the evidence was clear before your eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Was Peter’s quiet reply, his eyes grew wet as he tried to hold back tears. You took in each cut and bruise on his face, wincing in sympathy. It explained a lot really but you’d seen the videos of Spiderman, you’d seen the risk he put himself in time and time again.

You didn’t like it but even without Peter’s explanation, which you would definitely be getting, you knew he wouldn’t ever give Spiderman up, knew how much responsibility he must have been putting on himself. The exhaustion made a lot of sense.

“Come in.” You said, stepping out of the way so he could climb in. Peter hesitated but did as you asked, standing awkwardly by your window as you rummaged around in your closet.

It took a few moments but eventually you found a pair of sweatpants and an old shirt you’d stolen from Peter and held them out for him, smiling as he raised an eyebrow at you.

“I think you own more of my clothes than I do.” He joked but you could still see the tension in his shoulders, giving away just how anxious he was causing you to sigh.

“Listen, I’m not angry and I’m not going to ask you to give Spiderman up or anything. Hell, I’m not even completely surprised it’s you behind the mask. Sure I wish you would’ve told me but I get why you didn’t.” You told him sincerely, stepping forward and reaching up to lightly touch his bruised cheek. “You’re so brave. I promise we can talk about it in the morning but you look exhausted.”

“I’m so tired,” He whispered, his eyes falling shut as he leaned into your touch, “God, I’m so tired.” He repeated.

You took his hand and guided him to your bed, making sure he was tucked in before climbing in yourself. Peter was quick to move from his side and rest his head on your stomach causing you to smile down at him. You let your fingers settle in his hair, gently running your finger through it causing him to cuddle closer to you.

You continued to stroke his hair long after he had fallen asleep, a warm feeling spreading inside of you with every happy sigh he gave in his sleep. You were determined to make sure Peter was well rested and looked after from now on, seeing just how bad things had gotten for him. The pressure you knew he would put on himself would be enough to make anyone crack but Peter had held himself so well.

It wasn’t long before you were falling asleep too, a smile on your face as Peter reached for your hand whilst murmuring incoherent words.

#andrew garfield imagine #andrew garfield x reader #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #the amazing spiderman #the amazing spiderman imagine #andrew garfield spiderman x reader #amazing spiderman x reader #the amazing spiderman x reader #amazing spiderman imagine #peter parker x y/n #peter parker & reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker oneshot #spiderman oneshot #marvel x reader #marvel imagines

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sukirichi · 3 years

Text

happy little accidents

— Life is a series of unfortunate events, but sometimes, there are happy little accidents.

REQUEST. (accidental pregnancy, fuck buddies au) + childhood friends to lovers + baby moments with father! megumi

CONTENT/WARNINGS. slight smut, slight exhibitionism (I think? there’s a CCTV lmao) just daddy megumi uwu

NOTES. hi anon, thank you for requesting and joining the event! I have to admit...I don’t really know how to write this and I just had to ask my mother about her experiences in pregnancy LMAO. I apologize in advance if this sucks, I’m pretty good at fluff but domestic and cute stuff with children isn’t my expertise asggkhl I’m awkward around babies and kids so anyways, I hope you like it! OH AND ALSO I HAVE A CAMEO LMAO

Megumi’s hands runs up under your shirt, bringing about a shiver forward when his cold fingers come into with your warm skin. You feel him smile onto the kiss, his grip nothing but teasing before he brushes the underside of your breast, prompting you to grip closer to his hoodie. You and him were childhood friends; having always liked one another until playing house was no longer a game a but dream, but his family was too strict and controlling – they’ve made it clear long ago this relationship could never and would never happen.

His Uncle Naoya made sure of it.

But that didn’t stop the both of you. All the way from highschool until now in your university days, you and Megumi are still stuck together by the hip, occasionally fucking whenever time allowed. Weekdays are spent staring longingly at each other in the hallways, the weekends flourishing into finally’s and hushed kisses under the sheets, completely unaware of the world you both trudged in.

Today was one of those days, and you’re nothing less of passionate as you swipe your tongue out to taste his lips, smiling when you realize he’s also grown used to wearing your mint flavoured lip balm. “Mhm, Megumi, I missed you,” you placed your legs beside his arms, a contented sigh entering his mouth as he closed his eyes.

“You miss me? I’m always around you,” he reminds you, pulling away momentarily to tug your shirt to the side where he leaves a soft patch of kisses. “Never gonna leave your side, baby.”

“You better not. I’m the best you’ll ever have.”

Megumi nods wholeheartedly in agreement, not wasting time before he pulls you closer to him. You’re almost weightless as you crash on top of him, hands tangled into the other’s hair and his large palm squeezing your breast. It produces a breathy moan from you, a thread of saliva connecting your lips when it comes again – that hellish bitter and sour bile that flows up to your throat. You push yourself off him and run to the bathroom, the content of your stomachs poured while your groans echo around the room.

He’s beside you in an instant, crouching beside you to pull your hair up and pat your back. Once you’ve finished throwing up, you clutch at the indistinguishable bloating of your stomach, leaning back into his touch while you slowly regain your composure.

Your head is throbbing uncomfortably again, one that wouldn’t go away no matter how much you press your thumbs against it.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Are you sick or something?”

You chuckle a bit from the way he frets over you, hands tilting your cheeks side to side while he pales, a sheen of worry visible on his hairline. He’s always been such a worrywart. You look behind him and see the box of condoms in your half-open medicine cabinet, the sight making your heart drop in your chest.

“Megs...when was the last time we had sex?”

“Well,” he scratches the back of his head, “We’ve both been busy from uni, so...last month, I guess? It’s been a long time.”

You swallowed audibly. You’ve recently gotten that box of condoms because if you remember correctly, last time you both skipped straight to the deed after realizing you ran out of it. Eyes flicking over his confused ones, your throat ran dry and itchy from the throw up session, your voice low as you say, “I’m three weeks late on my period, Megs.”

He looks just as shocked as you are, but he doesn’t give you the time to recover before he rushes out into your apartment. For a moment, you’re left heartbroken at the cold bathroom tiles, thinking that he left, but Megumi comes back a few minutes later, a pregnancy test kit and some chocolates inside a plastic bag. Your eyes widen when he gently ushers you to sit on the toilet, his feet tapping impatiently on the floor while you both wait for the result.

And there it is.

The timer on his phone goes off. Megumi rushes beside you, his chin resting on your shoulder as he blinks at the test kit. He turns to you and blinks in question, wondering what the hell it meant.

“’Gumi...it’s positive,” you cry out, sending him into a stagger backwards when you jump at him. Thankfully, he’s carried you too many times to count that he’s natural at hoisting you into his arms, still rendered speechless as you announce, “You’re going to be a dad!”

It’s been five whole months since you and Megumi turned into being stable fuck buddies, intent on hiding your relationship from both your families, into homeless and young parents whose fear over life and the future only increased tenfold now with the growing baby inside you.

You still remember that dreadful moment when both of you are kicked out into your family estate, Megumi’s Uncle Naoya especially enraged over the news. He doesn’t even give his nephew a chance to pack his bags before he signals the bodyguards to escort you out, then takes away all Megumi’s privileges and former luxury of being part of the Zenin Clan. You assume he’d want to strangle his pitiful Uncle for the never ending mistreatment, but your now boyfriend is nothing but happy, relieved that he’s been freed from the tight reins that always got in both your way.

Unbeknownst to the controlling Zenin Clan head, his wife is much more cunning than he is. He knows his wife always had some sorts of tricks hidden up in her sleeve, but even you were surprised when Megumi’s Aunt Suki shows up in your college dorm one day, throwing a set of keys your way with a wink before driving off back to become Naoya’s beloved trophy wife.

She lent you one of her high-estate apartments and even a humble car, silently wiring fees into your bank account since Megumi’s was already shut down.

Truly, if it wasn’t for her, you and Megumi wouldn’t be able to live this comfortably no matter how much both of you worked your ass off.

Now, none of you had to worry about not getting to make ends meet, no more worrying about putting your health at risk by working two jobs a day along with university – you and Megumi agreed to take advantage of her kindness just until the baby was born, opting to live quietly and comfortably in your shared home that would soon be filled with more memories. Well, as comfortably as you both could anyway, since pregnancy – although a beautiful experience – wasn’t always rainbows and unicorns.

Megumi comes home one day, the food you’ve always been craving from the Chinese restaurant from the other town present inside his bag. He’s tired from uni, even more so that he shares your burden of becoming new parents, but every time he comes home to you, all his exhaustion is wiped away, especially with the evident growth of your belly.

Your boyfriend runs up to you after placing the food on the counter, his arms wide open to get a hug – he’s gotten extremely touchy ever since the pregnancy – when you reel away from him, face turning green.

Your fingers come to pitch at your nose, eyes narrowed at his confused pout. “Ugh, Megumi, your deodorant stinks.”

“You were the one who got this for me, though,” his brows furrow as he lifts his sleeve up to sniff himself. He doesn’t smell bad... “You said you liked it on me,” he mumbles more to himself than you, staying still in his spot when he sees how colourless you’ve become. “Why are you looking at me like that? I showered today.”

“I can’t stand the smell of you, I can’t, gosh,” pushing past him, you rush to the toilets, the morning sickness well present all the way until sundown as you throw up. Megumi stands at the doorway, hands extended in front of him as he’s unsure whether he could help you or not. You firmly shake your head at him, lips turned into a sneer. “No, don’t get near me or I will honestly whack you with my purse, Megumi. Get rid of that deodorant and find a scent free one or something.”

Megumi is left with a slack jaw when you hop into bed afterwards, too tired and irritated to finish your papers. Seeing that he should probably do the same and pamper you instead, Megumi is silent as he crawls under the covers, only to be kicked out with a harsh kick to his thigh and a fiery, “Get out!”

“Nobara,�� he whines into the phone, too fearful to even look at the bedroom at the thought that you’d feel his gaze and get even angrier. Your instincts and senses sharpens with each passing day; he won’t risk it. “My girlfriend hates me!”

“I could see why.”

Megumi groans at his friend’s flippant tone, the sound of a nail file grazing acrylics mixed with lo-fi music playing from the other line. “I’m serious – she doesn’t even want me a foot near her! When I tried to join her on the bed, she literally woke up just to hit me with a pillow. Right in the face!”

“Let me guess, you’re banned from the bedroom and staying on the couch?”

“Yeah, I am,” he sulks on the couch, “I don’t know why she hates me. I can’t imagine what I did wrong.”

“You don’t have to do anything wrong for a pregnant woman to hate you, Fushiguro. It’s not your fault your face is just really annoying,” Megumi makes a sound of protest before slapping a hand over his lips, nervous gaze darting at your door again. He relaxes into the seat; you’ve probably fallen asleep. “But on a more serious note, I think it’s the hormones. She’s erratic right now and you can’t blame her, she’s literally growing a child inside of her, dude, are you crying?”

“She might divorce me because of my deodorant.”

“Idiot, you two aren’t even married!” Nobara bellows loud enough that Megumi pulls the phone away from his ear, waiting until she’s calmed down and continues speaking like she didn’t just burst his ear drums. “Listen, just be extra sweet and careful around her, okay? Don’t open your mouth as well unless you want to die. Now get a notepad or something, we’re going to devise the best Baby Mama Seduction Plan that is guaranteed to win her heart.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Nobara!”

“Hmph, you owe me tickets to that fashion show though. Get your rich ass uncle to pull some connections or something.”

“Nobara, you know I can’t—”

“Oh shit, is that your girl about to kick you in the face?” Megumi yelps as his body flips at the direction of your room, both hands raised in surrender with his phone pressed between his ear and shoulder. He sighs – the door is still closed – he should be safe for now. Meanwhile, Nobara snickers cockily, almost as if she could see everything. As always, Nobara was triumphant. “That’s right, we both don’t want that to happen, so stick to your end of the deal man.”

Megumi stays up the whole night to execute Nobara’s plan. It’s tiring to run back and forth in the open convenience stores just to fill the fridge up with all your favourite food, but Megumi is determined to have you accept him again, even if he knows you’re not actually rejecting him.

By the time you’ve woken up, all beautiful and glowing as you pad out your room, Megumi stands up straight to conceal his body ridden with exhaustion. He just wants to make you happy.

“What’s all this?”

“You’ve been working hard,” he starts off unsurely, a hand scratching the back of his head as he gauges for your reaction. You plop down on the dining table and don’t scowl as you take a whiff of the food, blinking for a few seconds before you dig in. It’s enough for him to take as a go-signal, and he walks beside you carefully, his voice wavering and soft. “I just wanted to surprise you – show you how much I love and admire you...all that.”

“That’s suspicious,” you mouth through a mouthful of dumpling, but smile anyways with your arms extended. “Come here, give me a kiss.”

Megumi is beyond elated as he buries himself in the warmth of your arms again, sighing when you kiss his cheeks and jaw. “Are we good?”

“Did you replace your deodorant?”

“Yes...”

“Good boy,” you kiss him on the lips this time. Megumi has the audacity to blush as if he didn’t just fuck a baby into you, making you laugh before you slap his ass, last night’s irration now replaced with a reminder that this was Megumi – your first love and everything more. There was no way you wouldn’t be ‘good’ with him; you’d go to heavens and back for him, but maybe once you’re done birthing his child. “Yeah, we’re good. Get the mint choco ice cream pint for me?” Megumi sprints to perform your commands, and you reward him by pulling him in for a deeper kiss the time, his lips so sweet and minty. You can’t help but sigh, falling for him over and over again. “You’re such a sweetheart, Megs. This is why I’m head over heels for you.”

“You didn’t want me sleeping beside you for a week straight though.”

Your nose scrunches at the memory – that slight change in your expression making Megumi step back – as you wave a spoon at him, glaring at him in warning. “Like I said, you stank.”

But...pregnancy wasn’t all that bad for the both of you. There were times you’re unable to keep your hands off him. Although unexpected and mostly occurring in the most inconvenient situations, Megumi can’t say he’s complaining, especially not when you push him towards the wall just as the elevator doors closed.

“Daddy,” you moan, guiding his hands into your already soaking wet panties. Megumi breathes sharply as he cups your drenching core, wondering how you’ve gotten this aroused without him doing anything sexual in particular.

The nickname spilling past your lips is unforeseen though, as is his growing kink for it when he hardens immediately.

“Please, please, please, I need you so much – make me feel good, will you?”

Megumi has to pin your needy, trailing hands all over his chest down to your sides, his pupils blown wide as the elevator ascends from one floor to the other. His eyes dart to the blinking red light from the cameras, his Adam’s apple bobbing when you don’t stop in the slighthest, only leaning forward to tug and nip at the skin of his neck. Megumi groans at your ministrations; you know very well that was his sensitive spot. “Y/N, we’re literally in the elevator, just wait until we get back home—”

When Megumi tries to push you away to stop your hands from palming his boner, you growl, eyes fierce and heated as you turn to him. “Do you want me to chop your dick off and prevent you from having a second child?”

“N-no.”

“Then shut up and fuck me.”

“Fuck, okay, don’t blame me if I make you sore, though.”

You roll your eyes at him, your hands moving expertly as you bunch your skirt up to your waist to show him that your bud was already swollen just for him. “Megumi, my boobs are already are its most sore point, I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

Megumi makes quick work of shoving his pants down just to his knees, gentle yet needy as he pushes your chest flat on the walls, round and perky ass puckered for him to take you already. He could cum just from the sight of you bending over for him like this, your arousal already dripping down your thighs as you wiggle your hips at him, breathless in the desire to be taken once more.

There were still fifteen floors to go before you reached your destination. Megumi’s brows pinch together in anxiety that anyone could press for the lift, but you’re also submissively bent over for him, moaning and gasping his name even when it’s only the tip of his cock sliding into you.

He sees the way your fingers hover over the buttons, clearly more prepared to shut the doors and deny others entry than he was, and he thinks fuck it to himself before he buries himself deep into you, head thrown back at the heavenly and salacious feeling of fucking you raw. You’re somehow warmer and tighter, wetter with puffier lips during your second trimester. Just as he blanches at the thought he could hurt you, he remembers the doctor’s encouragement of more sex. Being the good boyfriend he is, Megumi fucks hard into you, groaning and panting when your walls clamp down on him.

He only wants to help you.

Days of rubbing your feet and singing to your belly were gone – now replaced with laughter pouring into your house and switching from listening to Mother Mother into actually enjoying nursery rhymes playing from the stereo.

It feels just like yesterday when he rushes you to the emergency room, your hand nearly crushing his during your contractions before you gave birth to his child.

Megumi has never really been much of an emotional person, preferring to be calm and stoic unless you’re around; the rare times he actually lets his walls down. Surrounded by a group of doctors, though, Megumi stops caring about saving face when they hand him his daughter. He isn’t the least bit embarrassed when he sobs upon seeing the tiny bundle of joy in his arms, so small and vulnerable that promised there and then – he’d do everything he can to protect his child and give them the best future.

Fushiguro Megumi is a hands-down helicopter dad. The moment you’re able to take your daughter back home, he’s already had the whole house baby proofed. Along with studying for his exams, he’s also switching back and forth to parenting guide books.

You can tell he’s taking his job as a dad very seriously. Megumi doesn’t hesitate to shoot out of the bed in the middle of the night whenever he hears his daughter cry, racing you to her crib while he rocks her back and forth and you prepare her milk. You’re both utterly tired and sleep deprived, your head resting on his shoulder as your baby calms down in his arms. Faintly, you feel him kiss the top of your head, encouraging you to go back to sleep with the assurance he can handle it.

But of course, you’re the stubborn parent, and you drag your boyfriend and daughter back to bed, making sure there was enough space to make her comfortable before falling asleep.

Being a parent – especially with the love of your life – has never felt any more magical.

Of course, it was hard and definitely not a walk in the park, but it was worth it. Every time you came home from school, Megumi would already be there, his daughter babbling nonsensically in his arms while he prepared her meals. At the sounds of the door opening, both of them would run to you, showering you with kisses while you did the same.

Both your families have still refused to accept you back – not that you both minded – but it was getting shameful to keep relying on his relative to provide for your family. Eventually, you and Megumi decided that the other stays to take care of your baby while you work after class.

You’re staggering inside your home like a zombie after a long day, muscles aching from too much work and brain barely functioning due to the lack of sleep. With a long, drawn out sigh, you plop on the couch next to your boyfriend who jolts back awake, still careful not to let his drooling daughter wake up in his arms. Upon seeing it’s just you, Megumi leans over to kiss you on the nose, smelling sweetly of floral detergent powder and baby cologne.

“Welcome home,” he murmurs at your skin, your eyes already fluttering close at the comfort and warmth of home. “Scarlet is fast asleep. She couldn’t wait for you to kiss her goodnight anymore.”

“Don’t be dramatic. Mommy will always come home to the two most precious people in the world,” Now, it’s your turn to kiss Megumi to remind him he’s also doing a great job. You know he’s working just as hard you are, and you honestly don’t think you could do this without him. “Megumi,” you begin, tracing soft circles into his wrist to feel his lulling heartbeat.

“Hmm?”

“Have I ever told you I loved you?”

“I think I know that already,” he smiles romantically at you – even after years, you’re still very much smitten with that smile, and the sight of him and your daughter alone has you relaxing back in your seat.

“Yes, but you need to hear it again,” you tell him, cupping his face into your palms. Megumi sighs as he leans closer into your warmth, his hands patting your daughter’s back to soothe her in her slumber. “You’re such a natural at this – being a father. I’m really lucky I had a family with you. It’s all I ever wanted,” Burying yourself closer into his arms and collecting the both of them into an embrace, you smile into his shoulder, feeling like you’re on cloud nine. “I don’t think life is gonna get better than this, Megs. I’m so happy right now I feel like I could die.”

“Don’t say the d-word around her,” he jokes, the two of you sharing tired and dry laughter. Once the amusement subsides, Megumi’s other hand shifts to squeeze your thigh to get your attention. “Y/N...do you ever think about...making us official?”

“What do you mean?” you mumble sleepily, “How else official could we get? We live together and we have a baby. Soon, we’re going to be employed too and then we can provide better for her and stop relying on Aunt Suki so much,” Megumi nods above you, but his lack of response is worrying that you look up to him, frowning as you see that his face is pulled deep into thought. “We’re already a family, Megs. What’s on your mind?”

“I want to marry you,” he blurts out, “I want to make you mine and mine only – I see a future and a forever with you,” Megumi looks you straight in the eye the whole time. “Marry me, Y/N. Please.”

You’re rendered speechless.

You love him so much, you really do, and nothing about that will change. After spending a lifetime with you, Megumi knows just by looking at your face that there’s a but coming afterward and he clenches his jaw, sadness swirling in his eyes that you have to stop him before his thoughts run off again. “I want that too, Megumi, believe me,” you reassure, brushing his hair back with your fingers; a gesture that always pulled him back to you. “I just don’t want to rush things, you know? We can still barely stand on our own and we have Scarlet to worry about. I think we should focus more on her future than ours.”

Megumi nods, albeit disappointed, though this doesn’t stop him from kissing you straight on the lips before he mutters, “I understand but...think about it, at least?”

“You already know my answer would be yes.”

“Scarlet! I wonder where my little princess is hiding,” Megumi announces from outside your room, your toddler giggling beside you as you both hide behind the closet hand-in-hand. Four years later, you and Megumi are married, and life’s gotten a lot easier – in addition to it being a whole lot more domestic since Megumi takes his husband title just as seriously as being a father. Right now, he’s crawling outside, his voice lowered in an attempt to be scary. “If I find her, she’s going to face the wrath of the tickle monster!”

“Tickle monster!” Scarlet gasps beside you, turning to you with wide eyes. “Mummy, I don’t want tickles!”

“Then we better be quiet so Daddy doesn’t find us!”

With your voice intentionally louder than a whisper, it doesn’t take long before Megumi opens the closet doors, carrying you both effortlessly before dropping you all down onto the bed. “I found you!” You all tickle each other and laugh, your daughter falling into panicked squeals while you chortle at the side. Megumi then hoists Scarlet up before the both of you kiss both sides of her cheeks, sending the giggling child into an utter ticklish mess.

While the two are busy tickling one another, you feign a gasp, clutching at your husband’s bicep. “Megumi!” your eyes widen, pointing deftly at the kitchen with trembling lips for effect. “Can you please check the oven – I think I left something in there and it might be burning!”

“I don’t smell anything,” is all he says, but runs there anyway. Megumi stands in front of in confusion, Scarlet safely bundled in his arms while her father opens the oven, frowning as he takes the object out and inspects it. “Mittens? But Scarlet is already—” Just then, Megumi’s jaw drops, his grin stretched wide while Scarlet keeps poking at the mittens, trying to make them fit into her slightly larger hands. “No way. Another one?”

“Another candy?”

You laugh at Megumi’s beaming face that matches his daughter’s – the two looking too much alike – but for completely opposite reasons. “We’ll get you all the candies you want, sweetheart,” you swipe a candy from the counter and hand it to your daughter’s grabby hands, pecking Megumi’s cheeks who is still beyond flustered at the announcement. “But yeah we have another one – and it’s a boy!”

#fushiguro megumi x reader #megumi x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #fusiguro megumi x reader imagines #megumi x reader imagines #fushiguro megumi x reader romance #megumi x reader romance #fushiguro megumi x reader fluff #megumi x reader fluff #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen x reader romance #megumi x you #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen smut #ngl i dont think this is my best work LMAO i suck at this im so sorry im just not a fan of kids spspss but i tried my bestttt wee woo #excuse me if the fluff is cringe IM CRYING #suki: 500 milestone event

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sassyhobbits · 3 years

Note

rowaelin with their first child and they get into that stranger anxiety phase and cry with everyone except when they're in their mothers arms and it's exhausting but also adorable but rowan sometimes feels like a bad dad because his kid doesn't want to be held by him so aelin has to reassure him and then some day this phase is finally over - prompt 😢🥺

ok i adored writing this one. dad rowan is so much fun to work with. i hope everyone enjoys!!

~~~

In his over 300 years, Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius had been awoken by many different things. Whether it was a call to battle while sleeping in a war tent, a summons from his queen late at night, or a lover trying unsuccessfully to disappear quietly before dawn. Yet, none of these manners of waking up had filled him with as much dread as he felt currently.

He was woken in the middle of the night by a shrill shriek coming from the room that adjoined the one he shared with Aelin. In the recent months, what had once been a leisure room had been converted to a nursery for their new baby girl.

It took three years after Aelin’s coronation before they decided to start trying to have a child. It took another year before they were successful. Rowan counted his blessings. He had seen plenty of Fae couples take decades before they finally conceived.

Eliora was four months old now, which meant four months of troubled sleep for both him and his mate.

Rowan was instantly on alert at the sound of his daughter’s cries. He knew that they were no more than a normal babe’s troubles, but his instincts made him tense anyways. He quickly sat up, looking down at his wife quickly to see if she had woken up. Luckily, she still slept, likely beyond exhausted from the mix of raising a child and ruling a kingdom. If Rowan was successful, she wouldn’t have to wake up at all.

He got out of bed and swiftly stepped into the nursery, coming before Eliora’s crib. Her tiny face was pinched up in dainty outrage, small limbs flailing as she cried. Rowan took a deep breath, sending a prayer up to the gods more out of habit than faith at this point, and picked his daughter from the crib. Hopefully, this would be the time he could get her to stop crying.

The little princess shrieked and protested whenever she was in anyone’s arms besides her mother’s. Rowan’s included.

“I’ve got you, my little light,” Rowan whispered to his daughter, cradling her tiny body to his bare chest and lowering himself onto the rocking chair they kept beside her crib. “Everything’s alright.”

Despite his soothing words, Eliora still continued to cry. It broke Rowan’s heart to hear, broke it even more to know that nothing he did could seem to calm her down.

“Please stop crying, love,” Rowan pleaded, threading his fingers through the fine, silvery-blonde hair growing on his daughter’s head. “Your mother is so tired and needs her sleep.”

Unfortunately, even begging didn’t seem to work.

Over the sounds of Eliora’s cries, he heard the door hinges creek, and the sound of bare feet scuffing over stone. Rowan glanced over, finding Aelin walking towards him. Exhaustion weighed down her beautiful face, but her eyes were still full of fondness at the sight of the two of them.

Rowan looked to her apologetically before his face crumpled in defeat. “I can’t get her to stop crying. I’m so sorry, Fireheart.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, love,” she whispered, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his hair. “Give her to me.”

Rowan handed the squirming bundle of blankets to his wife. Aelin situated their daughter in her arms before she lowered herself on Rowan’s lap, allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist, press a kiss to her shoulder, and begin to rock them.

Quickly, Eliora’s cries began to fade away. Her face unscrewed, looking at Aelin with those wide, Ashryver eyes that she had.

Aelin began to sing a low, Terrasenian lullaby as he continued to rock the three of them. It never ceased to amaze him how good she was with their daughter, how quickly she was able to sooth her temper. He only wished that he could do the same, that Eliora would look at him the same way she looked at Aelin and not scream and scream and scream.

Rowan’s heart was full of love as he watched Eliora’s eyes begin to droop shut at the soothing rocking motion and the sound of her mother’s voice. It wasn’t long before she was once again asleep, the night perfectly silent.

Rowan helped Aelin stand, keeping a hand against her back as she brought their daughter back to her crib and laid her down. Perfect. She truly was perfect.

A gentle hand on his arm drew his attention away from the slumbering babe. Aelin nodded her head towards their room and Rowan dutifully followed, shutting the door quietly behind them.

“I’m sorry, Fireheart,” Rowan said again, drawing Aelin into his arms and kissing her forehead. “I know you’re exhausted.”

“No more so than you.”

Rowan could only sigh, pressing his lips together tightly. His emotions were troubled, and he should have known that Aelin was going to notice. She leaned back slightly, peering up at his face.

“I know what you’re thinking, Rowan, and you’re wrong,” she said matter-of-factly.

Rowan wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t help but ask, “What am I doing wrong?”

He had faced many challenges over his years. Wars and battles and tortures. He had survived them all and came out victorious. And yet, the thing that brought him to his knees, was the fact that he couldn’t bring comfort to his own daughter when she needed it. A baby had finally defeated him.

“You know you’re not doing anything wrong,” Aelin said firmly. “The nurses said this happens sometimes. It’s not your fault.”

Rowan had heard this what felt like a thousand times. It did little to soothe his troubles.

Rowan was good at many things. He was a warrior and a general, had stepped confidently into the role of king consort. His hands could kill and heal and build, but they couldn’t get Eliora to stop crying. He couldn’t help but feel that, perhaps, being a father… wasn’t something that he was made for.

It broke his heart to think. He remembered how excited he was when they found out Aelin was finally pregnant, how they cried and kissed and clung to each other, whispering about the future. He had been ecstatic, but also terrified. He knew Aedion, who had welcomed his own son into the world a year before Aelin got pregnant, had felt the same before he was born. But, Aedion hadn’t had the troubles Rowan did. He had stepped into fatherhood gracefully, and his son loved him immensely.

“Hey,” Aelin said, a bit snappily. She put her hand on Rowan’s cheek and urged him to look at her. In those eyes was a familiar fire. “Stop that. I know what’s going through your head. You’re a wonderful father.”

Rowan sighed and hung his head, pressing Aelin’s hand more firmly against his cheek. “How can I be a good father if I have no idea what I’m doing?”

“Do you think I’m a bad mother?”

“What? Of course not.”

“Well, I don’t know what I’m doing either,” Aelin said. “Neither did Aedion or Lysandra. No new parent has any idea what they’re doing. It’s part of the job.”

She made it sound so easy. Aelin had always had a knack for that.

“I wonder if there’s some secret behind it,” Rowan mused as Aelin tucked herself back into his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso.

He felt his wife shrug. “I don’t know… but if there was, I think it would be to love them. To support them. To do everything in our power to make sure they’re happy.”

“I love Eliora more than life. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”

“I know, love.” Aelin rolled on the tips of her toes and brushed a soft kiss against Rowan’s mouth. “Now, all you need to do is have patience.”

He chuckled. “Look at you. Who would have ever guessed that Aelin Galathynius would be lecturing me on patience.”

Her grin was a slash of white in the dark. “I’ve been told I’m wise beyond my years.”

“Who the hell has ever told you that?”

“People. Now, will you come back to bed with me?”

“Of course, Fireheart.”

They climbed back under the covers, pressing their bodies close. Aelin fell back asleep almost comically quickly. Rowan wasn’t far behind, holding his wife tightly throughout the night.

…

Another month went by and little changed. Both Rowan and his wife were getting little sleep during the night, leading to some groggy mornings. He had seen Aelin taking short naps at her desk or dozing off when an advisor spoke for too long. She would, of course, deny it if Rowan ever brought it up, so he wisely stayed silent.

Eliora still abhorred being held by anyone except Aelin. The fact that it wasn’t just him brought Rowan a bit of solace. His daughter cried when held by Lysandra or Fenrys or Elide. She had a particularly nasty meltdown last time Lorcan had held her.

“I know, sweet girl,” Aelin had murmured, taking Eliora from Lorcan. “I wouldn’t want to be that close to him either.”

Still, Eliora’s reactions didn’t deter Rowan from trying to hold and soothe her, though he had not yet been victorious. Patience, Aelin had said. It was easier said than done.

The sun had set below the Staghorns hours ago. Eliora was asleep in the nursery, Aelin was treating herself to a long soak in the tub, and Rowan sat in one of the plush armchairs they kept in their room, sharpening and polishing some of his blades.

It was an easy practice to get lost in. The simple, repetitive movements were a welcome distraction. A good way to cool down before bed.

However, his hands froze when he heard a tiny whimper sound from the nursery that quickly morphed into a shrill cry. Eliora.

Rowan placed his blades down on the low table before him, pushing to his feet and quickly striding into the nursery.

Eliora was wiggling as she wailed. Rowan wished he could read her mind so he knew exactly what was bothering her and how he could help. But, all he could do was take a deep, bracing breath and scoop his daughter into his arms.

“What’s wrong, little light?” Rowan whispered, carrying her over to the rocking chair. “What is it?”

Eliora’s only response was to continue crying.

Rowan sighed, wondering how much longer he had before Aelin got out of the bath and came in to calm Eliora down. He had seen Aelin do it countless times. She would take Eliora into her arms, smile down at her, start to whisper nonsense or sing a low lullaby. She made it seem so easy.

“Everything’s alright, Eliora,” Rowan murmured, switching to the Old Language. “I’ve got you. I’ll never let anything happen to you, little love.”

And then, something amazing happened.

Slowly, Eliora’s cries began to fade away to a whimper and then, to nothing at all. Rowan held his breath, worrying that one wrong move would put her back into a fit of hysterics. His daughter slowly opened her eyes and peered up at him.

Rowan smiled down at her. “You’re just as lovely as your mother. Just as stubborn, too.”

And then, as if she understood his little joke, Eliora flashed him a gummy smile. The shift in expression floored him. She had never given him a smile before.

Rowan felt his throat tighten and his eyes begin to burn, but he smiled back at the tears welled up. A tiny laugh escaped his throat. Finally, finally, he had done it.

Eliora’s chubby arms reached up. Rowan held out a finger, letting her wrap a tiny hand around it. He always forgot just how small she was.

“I love you more than you could possibly know, Eliora.”

He was too distracted by his daughter and the little grip she had on his finger to notice that Aelin had entered the nursery until she was almost upon them. Rowan looked up at his wife, knowing that his eyes were still watery and there were likely tear tracks streaking down his cheeks. Regardless, he beamed.

“It would seem, once again, that I was right,” Aelin said with a triumphant smirk.

“As you often are, my love.”

She laughed and dropped a kiss to his forehead before draping her arms over his shoulders, leaning over and watching their daughter, who was studying them with wide eyes. Once again, Eliora smiled. Rowan would never tire of the sight.

“She looks like you when she smiles,” Aelin mused.

“You think?”

She nodded slowly, reaching out and running her knuckles along the smooth curve of Eliora’s cheek. “I still can’t believe she’s ours. She’s just so… perfect.”

“Like her mother.”

Aelin snorted. “Kiss ass.”

“Maybe a little.”

They faded into silence, simply standing there, wrapped up in their little, blossoming family. They stood there until Eliora’s eyes fluttered shut once more and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. One she enjoyed for the entirety of the night.

Rowan didn’t know what he had done to deserve such bliss, but he knew it must have been something good.

#every time i write a baby fic im like #is it obvious that i know next to nothing about babies #rowaelin #my writing #tog

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aminiatureworld · 3 years

Text

An Unexpected Rival

Characters: Childe, Scaramouche, Xiao, gn!reader

Word Count: 3,556

Warnings: Swearing

Premise: When thinking about fighting for the affections of someone, one normally imagines great declarations of love and promises of loyalty. But sometimes that’s not it. Sometimes it’s simply living with a being that hates you more than anything.

In which the reader’s pet hates their s/o

Author’s Note: I did give the pets names because I felt I couldn’t really refer to them as “your pet” the whole time. I also am not a pet owner. Still I hope you enjoy!

Going to try non bullet pointed for a bit. We’ll see how it goes!

Childe

Honestly you didn’t know what to do.

Here you were, standing in the middle of the living room of your apartment, trying desperately not to laugh at the sight of your dog sitting directly on the chest of your much beleaguered partner.

You hadn’t really considered the consequences of introducing Childe to Lacey. I mean, how badly could the interactions be between the man you were convinced was your soulmate and the nicest golden retriever that had ever existed? If there was going to be issues you’d reasoned it would be on Childe’s side. So when your partner lit up at the mention of your fluffy child, you’d assumed all would be well.

Evidently that was not the case. You knew that Lacey could be clingy on occasion, but she’d really been making an effort these past few weeks. Knocking your partner out of the way when you two walked through the door together, refusing to stop walking when you two met up at a park or on the street, refusing to answer to Childe’s attempts at affection. It was almost impressive, the lengths Lacey was willing to go to establish her position as Number One Childe Hater – especially impressive considered the well-attested competition, including but not limited to a Fatui Harbinger.

Now you sprung into action as best you could, bottling up the giggles that threatened to erupt at any moment.

“Childe!” You exclaimed, walking closer. Lacey still refused to stand up, but her tail thumped excitedly against the floor, and she let out a short whine of appreciation. Unfazed by this cry for praise you sighed. “Lacey! Get up! Honestly, you’re not being a very good testament to your intelligence right now.”

Nudging her slightly you sighed with relief as the golden retriever sprang up, attacking your hands and face with kisses as you dragged Childe up to a sitting position. Childe at least seemed unfazed by the sudden attack, letting out a mere “oof”, and smiling a slightly embarrassed smile.

“I’m really sorry about this Childe.” You said, hands still batting away Lacey’s frantic activity as she attempted to get you to focus on her.

“It’s alright. Just, wow she’s a heavier girl than I expected.”

“Hopefully no squished organs?”

“Archons no! It’ll take more than this girl to fell me, don’t you worry.” Childe attempted to give Lacey a pet, but the dog that had just before been laying all over him now scampered out of the way, instead pawing at your back.

“Lacey! Stop being so rude! Urgh, and here I was hoping that you two would be somewhat settled before I went on my trip.”

You sighed, letting your head drop into the palms of your hand, not wanting to think about what might happen during the week and a half that Childe would be required to take care of Lacey. Would she even let him in the apartment to feed her? What about walks and the like? Were you going to come home to all our warfare? Childe seemed to understand your quickly dropping mood, placing a hand on your shoulder and rubbing small circles with his thumb, even as Lacey whined and began pawing at his arm.

“I promise it’ll be alright my dear. We’ll manage while you’re gone and who knows? Maybe by the time you get back we’ll be thick as thieves, and then you’ll be the one getting sat on.”

“Who knows.” You let out a burst of laughter. But even as you two shared this moment of levity your mind continued to spin its threads, dreading the days to come and what you’d be presented with the day you got back.

“Alright, what’re we going to do.”

Childe stood in the foyer, hands on his hip, irritation in his heart. Lacey seemed to be mimicking the gesture, chest puffed out proudly as she stared the Harbinger down. They must’ve been standing like that for at least ten minutes, Childe thought to himself, ten minutes of staring and nothing yet done. It was beginning to grate on him, and were it not for the fact that you’d have to pay for damages, he was quite tempted to vault over the nearby furniture, if only so he could get to the kitchen and have this miserable showdown be over.

He didn’t dislike Lacey, no Childe didn’t think he could truly dislike any dog if he tried. He used to dream of owning a wolf pup, of flopping around in the snow with his companion, running as fast as he could and still being chased down with a crash, before being bombarded by affectionate pawing and kisses. These memories seemed quite silly when faced with the reality of caring for a dog however, and now he wanted only to bang his head against the wall, and maybe pass out from the exertion.

“I get that you love your owner.” He spoke again, how long had he been talking to this dog? “But I don’t think this is the way to win their heart.”

Lacey said nothing, simply narrowing her eyes and letting out a slightly hiss. Still Childe continued on.

“And like it or not you are going to have to eat eventually. So I suggest if you’re going to misbehave, that you should at least do it on a day when I’m not your primary caretaker.”

When there was still no movement from Lacey Childe sighed. That evening when he returned to his own apartment it was with the unfortunate knowledge that golden retriever bites hurt a lot more than he’d expected them too.

It was storming, and the city of Liyue had transformed from a glistening city to one of mud and rusted iron. Childe swore under his breath as he pulled his coat closer around him, desperately trying to keep as dry as possible. Who knew if he’d be able to make it to your bedroom and grab one of his spare shirts with Lacey acting like he was a burglar instead of well known acquaintance? The song and dance between the two of them was grating. Feeding your golden retriever being nearly impossible, not to mention the times when Childe half dragged Lacey through the most half assed of walks. Really how could such a gentle spirit turn so stubborn so quickly? Childe didn’t know, all he knew was that the sooner you came home the sooner he could stop worry about being nipped at the heels.

The sight that met Childe at the entrance to your apartment was jarring. Instead of the usual irritated dog Childe was met with utter silence, and a stillness that betrayed the fact that not only was Lacey not in the hall, but she was also avoiding the kitchen and the living room.

“Lacey?” Childe called out, getting no answer but the whipping of wind and the rumble of thunder. “I swear if you managed to run off – Lacey!”

Going further down the hall Childe finally heard the sound of muffled whimpering. Walking into your bedroom he spied Lacey under the bed, eyes filled not with disdain, but with anxiety.

“Lacey, why in Teyvat are you here?”

There was no reply, until suddenly another clap of thunder shook the walls. Lacey let out a yelp and crawled under the bed a little more, flattening her head against the floor, although there was not much room left in that department. Childe stared at this for a second letting the pieces fall into place. He just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that this was the same Lacey who so fearlessly guarded the apartment against his entrance every day.

This slight smugness was extinguished rather quickly though, instead replaced with a sense of pity, and the need to make this poor girl feel the least bit better.

“Hey, hey it’ll be alright.” Childe spoke softly. For a moment he left the room, but quickly he returned, towels and blankets in hand, praying that you wouldn’t mind that he messed up your closet a little bit.

“Let’s make a fort, shall we?”

Not waiting for any sort of acknowledgment Childe began to pile up the covers on your bed, making sure to lay down towels in case you were worried of shedding. At first Lacey did nothing much than scooch out enough to watch him, but within the next flash of lightning she was up and moving, diving under the makeshift fort and clambering around Childe, as if trying to find out if she could burrow through the Harbinger.

“I know, I know, it’s pretty scary out there, huh?” Childe ruffled Lacey’s head slightly. “But you’ll see, it’ll pass soon enough. And then we can go back to fighting, alright.”

Lacey let out a whine, but nevertheless began to settle down, lying down and once more resting her head on her paws.

“There’s a good girl.” Childe smiled softly. “You aren’t that bad you know. At least you aren’t that bad when you’re not trying to bite my leg off.”

Your surprise at the improvement in Childe-Lacey relations was somewhat immense when you returned. Though Childe refused to say what had managed to form such a bond between your disgruntled pet and him, only that he hoped you didn’t mind dog hair on your bed. Lacey, for her part, no longer tried to sit on your partner.

Even if she still pushed him out of the way when you came home.

Scaramouche

Scaramouche could deal with a lot of things. He could deal with the fact that your parrot wouldn’t let the man within three feet of the parrot’s cage without attempting to bite his hands off. He could deal with the obnoxiously loud clicking whenever he got too close to you, and he could deal with fact that your parrot was fond of yelling random phrases at him in the most aggressive tone Scaramouche had ever heard. Scaramouche could deal with all of that. What he couldn’t deal with is what your parrot insisted on calling him, no matter how much time was spent saying: “Scaramouche. I am Scaramouche!”

“Electro boy? Really?”

“I’m sorry Scara,” you let out a giggle, “I didn’t know what your name was when I first saw you.”

Oh Scaramouche was sure of that, but did that really mean that Oliver had to call him solely by that title? It didn’t help that you must’ve referred to Scaramouche an awful lot as “Electro Boy” for it to be the name that stuck in Oliver’s mind. And regardless of how many times you used the title, it was one thing for you to use the nickname. It was quite another thing for Oliver to, since, unlike in your case, Oliver’s use of “Electro Boy” could be nothing but derogatory.

Scaramouche had long given up in wooing the errant parrot over. If they were to be mortal enemies, so be it. He’d dealt with that before.

“Oh Scaramouche, you must be joking!” You’d exclaimed when he’d revealed this train of thought, cupping his face in your hand and pressing affectionate kisses to his face. He’d let you do so, let you imagine that one day there might be a reconciliation. But in his heart he knew. Unless Oliver learned to stop with the name calling, Scaramouche would never forgive him for the insult.

“I wish you would write.” You whispered.

Pain skirted through Scaramouche’s face, but still he refused the promise that you needed. You knew that Scaramouche would never be able to have a normal relationship with you, that these trips were necessary, were a part of him that you’d never be able to wrench away. Still, the least he could do was promise to write. Without his writings, well how could you even be sure he was alive?

“I’m sorry.” Scaramouche whispered. Leaning in so your foreheads were touching he let out a sigh, warming your lips with his breath. “I cannot promise I will write. I wouldn’t like to break a promise to you.”

“I know.” You whispered back, shaking your head as much as you could. “Still, I’d almost rather a broken promise.”

“You wouldn’t. I know it would drive you mad.”

“Perhaps, but better than nothing?”

You two stood there, basking in silence. A familiar cry broke the reverie.

“Electro Boy! Electro Boy!” A series of clicks accompanied the sudden shriek. There was no better way to break the spell. Almost immediately Scaramouche pulled away. Walking towards the door he paused, turning around one more time.

“I’ll miss you.”

Those words washed over you, their owner having been carried away with the wind.

Scaramouche hurried up the steps, anticipation keep his pace quick and his thoughts a jumble of fragments. The long mission he’d been sent on was finally over, and now he could think not of noisy soldiers, nor of the people who continually disappointed him, but of you. He couldn’t wait, every step on the staircase felt like an obstacle, something he must triumph against to reach you. Finally arriving at your door he barely paused, stepping this way and that as he opened the door before striding into the hallway as fast as he could.

“I’m home.” He called into the afternoon light. Almost immediately two things happened. One was that you leapt off your position on the couch, practically barreling yourself into his arms. The second was that Oliver began to screech, hopping from one foot to the other in an indecipherable dance.

“Scara, you’re home!” You cried, exclamation by the way you buried your face into his shoulder.

“Scara! Scara! Scaramouche!” Oliver echoed. The words made Scaramouche freeze up, taken aback as he was by their usage.

“What was that Oliver?” He called out, not altogether sure if the parrot would even reply to him. Scaramouche had really only referred to Oliver by name the first time he met him. After that you had to settle with “the bird” or “the noisemaker”. This time, however Scaramouche couldn’t help but use it. This was, after all, a matter of great importance.

“Scaramouche, Scaramouche, who’s a pretty bird?” Oliver tittered irreverently.

His tone was still somewhat sharp, Scaramouche never heard Oliver snap at you the way he did him, but nevertheless the words had struck a chord. Finding himself at a loss for words Scaramouche stared at you, trying to figure out what was going on.

“That’s probably my fault,” you laughed hesitantly, “I guess I was talking about you more than I thought. It’s only that, well I missed you an awful lot. And Oliver is my confidante, he always has been. So I guess I’ve just been talking a lot to him about you. I’ve really missed you…”

Scaramouche felt his heart soften. Leaning over he pressed a kiss to your forehead, much to the indignation of Oliver, who twittered away as normal. Still, it was better than it had been before. And, if Scaramouche could admit it to himself, he didn’t mind the idea of you pouring out to Oliver how much you missed him. It made him feel important, feel whole. And if your rude bird had helped at all, then Scaramouche could find it in him to respect Oliver, though only a little.

“I’m glad you thought of me.” He whispered to you. “And I’m glad you still had a confidante to talk to.”

And if the result was a parrot who no longer called him “Electro Boy”, then all the better.

Xiao

Honestly Xiao couldn’t really see the appeal of pets. Something that was only cemented when he met your cat.

“And this is Honey.” You’d said softly, picking up the orange feline and cradling her in your arms. The cat made no sounds, instead it stared straight at Xiao, eyes narrow, gaze untrusting. Xiao was equally out of depths in this matter. What was he supposed to do? Pet it, presumably. Reaching out with hesitant fingers Xiao almost immediately pulled away, dodging an onslaught of clawing.

Ever since then there seemed to have been an odd hierarchy established, at least in Honey’s mind. She never let Xiao sit next to you, oh no, that would’ve been too generous. Instead Honey squeezed into the space between you two, no matter how small and wow was it small sometimes, meowing angrily as Xiao passed his arm over her head to hold your hand. Sometimes she’d try the tactic of walking all over you, lying on your lap, wrapping herself around your shoulders, and all the time glaring at Xiao as if he’d brought some sort of catastrophe on her for daring to try and get close to you.

“Your cat hates me.”

“She does not!” You exclaimed. “Honey doesn’t hate anyone! She just needs to get used to you.”

“She hates me. She thinks I’m beneath her.”

Xiao glared up at Honey, who was looming over the conversation via the bookshelf in your bedroom. Honey’s eyes narrowed and for a moment Xiao felt as if he’d somehow spilled the cat’s secrets. It wasn’t his fault that he knew what she was thinking. After all, hadn’t Xiao been like that for a time? An ornery soul who found most interactions beneath him? Who knew he’d be on the receiving end of that relationship someday. He certainly didn’t appreciate it now.

“You just need to get used to one another.” You continued to assure Xiao. “Honey’s a little bit possessive. It’s nothing personal. She’ll get over it.”

Well it’d been four weeks since that conversation and unfortunately Honey showed exactly zero signs of “getting over it”. Though perhaps she wasn’t clawing at him anymore, maybe because you’d actually scolded her for it, the gaze never left her eyes. The fact that she meowed loudly whenever Xiao made more contact than hand holding also didn’t help her case.

Xiao sighed, staring at the sky as the sun began its descent beyond the peaks of Liyue. A cluster of trees ringed the back part of your house – trees apparently planted by your grandparents – and Xiao enjoyed perching in them to watch the sunset.

“At least here the cat will leave me alone.” He muttered.

It’d been a tiring day. Honey had been in a particularly bad mood – probably the result of Xiao staying the night – and the atmosphere in the house had become somehow so tense that Xiao figured taking a hike wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even if he found the whole exercise a bit demeaning.

“I’m losing to a cat.” Xiao called flatly out into the air. There was no reply of course, but he didn’t mind that. Imagine what his fellow adepti would think of him now, flailing around, trying to win the affections of a furball whose favorite pastime was being as irritating as possible.

Now Xiao heard a familiar yowl. Glancing down he spied Honey, hair standing on end, gripping a branch as if her life belonged to it. An old conversation rose to the front of his mind. Something about cats being able to go up trees very easily, but not so much down. What an idiotic creature, he thought to himself.

Still it’d be ill form to leave the poor idiot clutching onto the branch, so fighting his smugness as beset he could Xiao leaned over and attempted to wrench the cat from the branches. Honey let out a series of shrieks, claws digging into the bark, but eventually she relinquished and Xiao pulled her up onto his lap. Almost immediately she began pawing at his chest, meowing her indignancy.

“I know.” Xiao glared at the cat. “But they wouldn’t be very happy if you got stuck.”

As if to reply Honey narrowed her eyes, turning around to look at the skyline, rather than acknowledge the adeptus she was now laying on. Xiao hummed in response.

“You know things would be easier if you weren’t so aggressive.”

A meow in response.

“I don’t understand you. I don’t understand why you’re so territorial.”

Another meow.

“I suppose I’m like that. I also want them to myself. Things would be easier without you clawing at me. But they love you, and that’s what matters. I don’t know why but they do.”

Silence, perhaps Honey was insulted by the way Xiao spoke.

“I can’t say I’ll love you. But I’ll try to like you. As long as you try to like me.”

Silence again, but this time Xiao took it as an assent. Letting out a sigh he turned back towards the horizon, gaze drifting towards the peaks that Honey too was watching with interest. The night was alive with the soft chirps of insects, and a faint breeze ruffled Xiao hair, dancing through Honey’s fur. Xiao let out a sigh and, nemesis on his stomach, allowed himself a little rest.

You stared at the mismatched pair, a smile playing on your lips. How funny they looked, curled up together. Like two cats, one a panther, the other a tabby. And yet somehow the tabby was running the shots.

They look so peaceful, you mused to yourself, who knows what they might be like in the morning.

At the very least, you’d be sure to enquire about the nature of your partner’s conversation with your cat, something which had seemed very important to him.

#childe x reader #scaramouche x reader #xiao x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact fanfiction #childe #xiao #scaramouche #requested #scenarios #my writing

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dp-marvel94 · 3 years

Text

Below the Greenhouse

For Phic Phight 2021. Prompt by @ave-aria: Maddie discovers the depths of Vlad's obsessions when she stumbles upon his secret lab. Despite the shock, part of her almost isn't surprised by the stolen Fenton Tech, the ripoff ghost portal, or the eerie Holo-Maddie—but the clone she finds floating in the pod at the back of the room? That's another matter entirely.

Word Count: 7,951

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note:

Me: *sees a prompt with the word clone*

Me: Oh no.

We all know why this happened.

Maddie knew Vlad Masters was a creep. She did. And she’d known this for a while, even when she, Jack, and Vlad were in college. Before his accident, she had known he'd been preparing to profess his “love” and ask her out, even though he’d known full-well she and Jack were dating. And while, that might have been forgivable back then, when all of them were young and naive and Vlad didn’t hold such bitterness towards her husband, it wasn't now.

Now, Maddie knew Vlad was hopelessly bitter. After his accident, he’d refused to talk to them. He’d shut them out of his room when they visited the hospital and after he’d been released, he’d refused their phone calls and ignored their letters. Eventually, she and Jack gave up and they moved on with their lives.

That was, until Vlad chose to reconnect. And unfortunately, Vlad was worse than ever. More smug. More arrogant. More creepy. He ignored the fact that Maddie was happily married with children and he still insisted that she should leave the love of her life for him.

Maddie really only tolerated him for Jack’s sake. Her husband still enthusiastically loved the man who’d been his best friend in college and she couldn’t bear to crush his spirit, though the woman was increasingly doubting her choice to stay silent now.

And now, Maddie realized that Vlad was much more despicable than she thought.

It started with a series of strange phone calls. The voice was robotic, yet strangely familiar sounding. It reminded her of her mother or maybe her sister? Either way, the sound somehow tugged at her heartstrings just as much as it made her shiver anxiously.

“Please save him.” The woman’s voice asked, an oddly flat plea.

“Tell me who you are.” Maddie demanded, not for the first time.

The speaker ignored the question, continuing. “I cannot get Number 6 out myself. Please save him.”

“You keep saying that, every time you call this number.” The woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. This was the fifth time she had gotten a call like this. All from an almost emotionless, staticky voice. All begging her to save someone or something called Number 6. Something she couldn’t seem to get anymore information about. “But who is number six?” Maddie asked, trying, probably futilely to learn more.

The answer surprised her. “Number 6 is just a boy. He should be free. He does not belong in a laboratory.”

Maddie frowned, brows furrowed in confusion “A laboratory?”

“That is correct.” The robotic voice answered.

“I’m sorry, are you talking about an actual child? What is a child doing in a laboratory?” The woman wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Number 6 is physically younger than the age of majority and therefore meets the definition of a child.”

“Okay?” Maddie furrowed her brow and repeated herself more severely. “Why are you keeping a child in your laboratory?”

There was a pause. “I am not permitted to share that information.”

That made the woman’s stomach flop. “And why not?”

“My dearest has forbidden me from discussing the details of his experiments with outsiders.”

Maddie frowned again. “Then why are you talking to me?”

“You are a loophole.” The speaker said without hesitation.

That gave the ghost hunter pause. She opened her mouth to ask more when there was a mechanical whirl across the line.

The fast, choppy words cut through. “Dearest will be leaving on a trip tonight and be away for the next three days.”

“Wait, what are you-” Maddie started.

“The address is 600 North Maple Drive. Enter through the trapdoor in the greenhouse. I will be waiting.”

Across the line, a male voice called from far away. “Pull up the data from the last test, dear. And prepare the subject for sample collection.”

Maddie shivered; there was something familiar-

“Please hurry. Save him.” The robotic female voice whispered before the line cut off.

Maddie sighed, dropping the phone. She put her head in her hands. She didn’t know what to make of that. At first, she had thought these mysterious calls were pranks. Maybe even a ghost trying to trick her. Except…. That didn’t feel right. It had been a week and no ghost had acted against her or her family. No ghost would wait this long to act and no human prankster would continue this charade for this long either.

So who had been calling her and what do they really want? Could the speaker really be asking for her help? The idea made dread pool in her stomach, especially now. Now that she had more information. Now she had a location. And that was Vlad’s address. And that other voice...it had sounded like… Vlad, as if the speaker was in fact in Vlad’s mansion. Her stomach flopped. He’d been talking about data from a test and preparing a subject for sample collection. That in and of itself wasn’t necessarily that alarming. Vlad had a background in science. He could be conducting research, just like she and Jack did out of their own basement. Except…

Number 6 is just a boy. He should be free. He does not belong in a laboratory. The words rang in her head, making her feel sick.

Maddie sat for a long while, staring at the phone. So many questions clashed in her mind and she wanted answers. What was really happening here? And how would she learn the truth?

An idea started forming in her mind. A surely bad, horrible idea. She still had no idea who had been calling her. It probably was a trap. So why did she want to follow the instructions? And the prospect of sneaking onto Vlad Master’s property? She could get in serious trouble. And for what? Vlad would never do anything as immoral as what the speaker hinted at. Except...what if? Doubt grew in her mind. What if?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was how Maddie found herself pulling up to Vlad’s mansion in Amity Park. The woman sighed, putting the car into park and taking the key out of the ignition. She was really doing this, wasn’t she? The scientist could hardly believe her own actions. But it was the middle of the night and she was alone, in the small forest behind the mansion.

Silently, Maddie got out of the car and started sneaking across the yard. She hadn’t told Jack where she was going. Maybe that was a mistake but the woman somehow knew he’d try to talk her out of this. And he would have a point. Yet the woman was still driven forward despite her better judgement.

Arriving in front of the greenhouse, the ghost hunter stopped. She looked side to side, checking to see if anyone was watching. The yard was quiet and bare, only the sound of night insects cutting through the air. Maddie looked back into the building. To the left of the door was a blinking red light but other than that, inside was dark. Tentatively, Maddie jiggled the greenhouse’s door handle. It didn’t budge at first but then there was a buzz and a click. The door unlocked and the woman frowned, watching the blinking light turn from red to white. Was that a security system? And...had the door just unlocked for her?

Maddie bit her lip. She considered turning back but...she wanted answers. Instead, she pulled her ectostaff out of her belt. A blow to the head from it would be just as effective on a human attacker as it would be on a ghost.

The woman opened the door, quickly stepping though. She closed it and cautiously crossed the room. From what she could tell in the dark, this was a normal greenhouse. She breathed deeply, taking in the wet earthy smell of dirt, the soft perfume of flowers, and… She sniffed. That scent, old batteries, ozone, and citrus. That was familiar. Was that ectoplasm?

Maddie turned, eyes searching for the tell-tell glow of a ghost. Her gaze fixed on something a few rows over. The huntress continued forward, brow wrinkling at the sight. Unsurprisingly, these were plants but….a faint glow enveloped the snow white leaves, the orange and black fruits. Tentatively, she reached forward and cupped one of the fruits. Even through her gloves, she could feel the ghostly chill.

Maddie’s frown deepened. She’d never seen anything like this before. Was this some kind of ghostly plant? And in Vlad’s greenhouse of all places? Where did it come from? How did the billionaire procure it? And why hadn’t he said anything to her and Jack?

With that thought, the ghost hunters’ stomach flopped with nerves. There was actually something here, something out of the ordinary. Her mind turned back to those phone calls, the reason she was here in the first place. The speaker had said something about a trapdoor.

With that, Maddie pulled a flashlight out of her belt and flicked it on. She looked down, searching, and her eyes widened. Oh….well then. There, not three feet in front of her, was the door. The woman approached. Crouching down, she put down her staff and grasped the flashlight between her teeth. With both hands, she pulled the door up, revealing a short ladder leading to a narrow passageway.

The ghost hunter furrowed her brow, hesitating for a moment. She braced herself, forcing her shoulders to relax to dislodge some of the anxiety. Maddie stood up straight. She grabbed her staff and started lowering herself down the ladder. Once she was at the bottom, the woman turned and pointed the flashlight down the passageway. There, maybe ten feet in front of her was a metal blast door.

Dread rose in Maddie at the sight but she tried to push it down. This was probably an old cellar, or maybe even a bomb shelter. Rich people tended to have those, didn’t they? It could be…..

The woman stepped forward. Tentatively, she placed a hand on the opening mechanism. It looked like a wheel that she’d need both hands to open. She moved to return her staff to her belt but before she could, a mechanical whirl sounded. The wheel started turning. Paling Maddie rapidly stepped back. Her heart pounded in fear of being caught.

Then the door swung open with a groan. The ghost hunter registered bright light pouring through the opening. She blinked for a moment, her eyes adjusting to the change. Then she registered the translucent figure floating across the doorway.

Maddie scowled, acting on instinct. “Take that ghost.” She swung her staff but the blow never connected, instead sailing through the blue clad figure without resistance.

“I am not a ghost.” A familiar, robotic voice responded.

It was then that Maddie finally registered what she was seeing. She gasped in shock. It was herself, except floating, translucent, and...glitching around the edges? “What are you?” She breathed.

“I am the MADDIE program, an artificial intelligence meant to emulate Dr. Madeline Fenton.”

The ghost hunter stared for a long moment in confusion. She hadn’t expected a response and now her mind couldn’t catch up, barely processing what she was seeing.

The hologram floated backward, motioning into the door. “Come inside.”

Maddie blinked, registering the words. Her eyes flitted from her strange double to the interior of the room. Concrete floor, metallic walls, sturdy work tables, and….a soft green light. It looked familiar, very much like the Fentonworks lab. The woman’s heart skipped a beat. She’d already come this far….

The huntress took a few steps forward and crossed the threshold, all the while keeping her eyes on the hologram. The other figure was unmoving and silent, not even blinking. After another long moment staring, Maddie warily looked around. As she’d glimpsed, there were shiny metal work tables and shelves. A station with a microscope, centrifuge, and table top incubator. She frowned, eyes falling on glowing vials of ectoplasm.

This was a lab, obviously. A ghost research lab, based on the ectoplasm. But below Vlad’s greenhouse? Her eyes flickered to another table, this one holding familiar looking devices. Ectoguns, slim and silvery with a design Maddie knew intimately, despite the unfamiliar logo and red accents.

The woman walked forward, tentatively hefting the gun. “This looks like our model 35.” She stated seriously.

Maddie then turned, facing the source of the soft green light. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the swirling green. “That’s a portal. A ghost portal.” She muttered.

The scientist took in the design of the frame, of the ecto-filtrater and the control panel. That was her and Jack’s design as well. Her mind swam, information bouncing around senselessly as she tried to make sense of all this. This was a lab. A ghost research lab. A hidden, secret research lab in Vlad Master’s backyard, below his greenhouse. Vlad’s secret lab. But...why?

She bit her lip, her eyes falling on the Fenton Works designed weapons and the portal. Their stolen designs. Maddie could barely believe it, yet she wasn’t as surprised as she should be. Vlad still having an interest in ghosts? The creepy billionaire stealing their blueprints? Why did that seem all too plausible?

“Dr. Fenton?” A staticy voice asked behind her.

Maddie turned, frown deepening as she took in the hologram again. Her mouth felt dry. “He….Vlad...made a hologram that looks and sounds like me.” She felt sickened at the thought, at the evidence in front of her.

“Yes. I was modeled after Dr. Madeline Fenton.” The hologram replied.

The ghost hunter put a hand on her head, feeling a headache grow. It made sense, in a sick kind of way. Vlad had a fascination with her. He was not exactly subtle in his ‘affections.’ Of course he would create this creepy copy. “Why?” She groaned, in rising anger.

“I was created to serve as a digital assistance and security system.”

Maddie looked up, blinking in confusion. She hadn’t been expecting an answer. The woman then frowned, realizing something. A security system? Did that mean… “You unlocked the greenhouse door for me...and turned off the security system.”

“That is correct.” The hologram replied.

The ghost hunter wrinkled her brow. “Why?”

Somehow, almost imperceptibly, the figure’s expression softened. “You came to take Number 6 away from here.”

That gave Maddie pause, her eyes widening slightly as she took in the AI with new eyes. “You were the one calling me.”

It finally hit her. The voice on the phone, the monotone one that reminded her of her mother and sister. It was this AI, this AI which sounded very much like Maddie herself. Of course she hadn’t recognized that. Most people don’t know what they really sound like outside of their own head and Maddie herself was no exception.

“Yes, I did.” The AI confirmed. “Please save him.”

“Him?” Maddie bit her lip, feeling that familiar dread again. “Number 6? Who is this person?”

The hologram floated toward the other side of the room, towards a tall cylindrical metal tube that Maddie hadn’t noticed yet. “Come.” She motioned the ghost hunter to approach.

The huntress did so, fixing a studious gaze on the tube.

“Viewing panel opening.” The AI announced as the whirl of gears sounded throughout the room.

In front of the cylinder, metal paneling slid apart. Slowly a gap opened, making the inside of the pod visible. Maddie first registered neon green ectoplasm swirling in some kind of solution. Then her jaw dropped. There, suspended in the chamber was a lithe figure. It looked male, the form of a young teenager. For a moment, the ghost hunter registered white hair and a black and white garment. Phantom? Had Vlad managed to capture Phantom? No...that….

Her brow furrowed, stepping closer. She examined the glowing body. The figure’s appearance was shifting. Its skin was a mosaic of ghostly blue and a pale, more human color in ever changing, shifting patches. The black and white garment also shifted, seeming to grow and spread over the body before retreating, leaving bare skin. On the head was a mop of black and white hair, the patches rapidly changing color and appearing to move across the skull.

Maddie frowned. There was a resemblance to Phantom. (How? How in the world?) But this wasn’t the same being. “This is a ghost.” Her brow wrinkled in confusion, despite her confidence of the fact.

“Yes.” The MADDIE program answered plainly.

The scientist turned. “I am not letting a ghost out of here.”

The hologram frowned. “Number Six is a boy. He deserves to be free.”

Maddie pointed. “But….that is a ghost.”

“Yes.” The AI confirmed again. “But he is also a boy. Observe.” The translucent figure waved a hand over one of the computers. “Display subject’s vials.”

Instantly, readings appeared on the screen, a rhythmic beeping commencing. The ghost hunter studied the words and numbers. “Oxygen saturation, Blood Glucose, Blood pressure, Heart Rate.” Her brow furrowed. “These are vials for a human.”

“Yes. These are Number six’s vials.”

Maddie scrunched her nose in disbelief. “But...this is a ghost.”

But the sound of the heart monitor pounded in her head. She turned, facing the figure in the tube again. The readings could be fake. But why? And why did Vlad have a ghost captured in his lab? And why did it resemble Phantom? Or at least, it seemed to. Not that she’d ever been this close to Phantom before but the white hair, suit, and lithe figure were the same. She took in the shifting appearance. And what was that? An attempt at shapeshifting?

Maddie turned back to the screen, reading again. At the top, it read Clone Six, 100% stability. “Clone?” The woman questioned. “Clone of who? Of Phantom?”

“Yes.” The AI answered. In response, the ghost hunter turned sharply. The hologram continued. “Subject Six has completed the gestation period and is now viable and capable of living outside the artificial womb.”

Maddie blinked rapidly. There was a lot of information there. “Clone? Vlad cloned Phantom and...it’s ready?”

“Yes. He is stable.” The hologram turned. “Please save him. Take him away from dearest.”

“Look.” The scientist pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am not letting this ghost go.”

“He is a boy.” The AI insisted.

“You say that but-”

“And a ghost.” The hologram continued. “He is a living boy and a ghost.”

Maddie’s heart skipped a beat. “Living?”

She turned back to the chamber, something in her resonating at the word. The strands of black hair, the human colored skin, the patches that did not glow. She looked up into the face and something itched in the back of her mind. It looked familiar, not just because the ghost looked like Phantom.

Maddie took another step. She reached forward until she was touching the glass. The heart monitor steadily beeped as the figure in the chamber twitched.

The huntress shook her head, denying. “That’s just...not possible. Someone can’t be a ghost and a human.” What the AI was saying was nonsensical, completely impossible. So why did Maddie not feel certain?

“Initiate wake up sequence.” The AI declared.

Startled, Maddie’s head whipped to the side. “What are you-”

In the chamber, something thumped. The woman’s head turned to see flailing limbs. The figure’s eyes suddenly popped open, one blue and one green panickedly flickering around the room. The rate of the heart monitor increased. The being thrashed, chest spasming. A hand pounded against the glass.

“What did you do?” Maddie demanded of the AI.

There was no answer, just fearful flailing within the tube. The ghostly figure’s gaze shifted down and fell on Maddie. The eyes widened, silently begging. More pounding of hands on the inside of the glass. The beeping increased, pounding into the woman’s head. The ghost boy blinked and the eyes were blue, icy blue. The gaze, the familiar gaze stabbed Maddie in the heart.

The woman panicked, her own heart race. Her eyes ripped away from the boy. What do I do? What do I do? Her mind raced. Her gaze fell on a large button marked, Emergency release. She acted without thinking, slamming her hand down on the button.

There was hiss and a beep from the chamber. In the blink of an eye, the glass wall of the chamber parted. Maddie yelped, jumping back as water and ectoplasm poured out. The liquid soaked her anyway. Then, the boy inside the tub was falling. He tipped forward and the woman reached out to catch him on instinct.

A surprisingly heavy body fell onto the ghost hunter. Her knees threatened to buckle under the sudden impact. Instead she wobbled and wrapped one arm around the lithe body. Shakily, Maddie lowered herself to her knees, taking the ghostly figure with her.

Numbly, hardly believing what she’d just done, the woman huddled on the floor. She tensed at the being reached towards her. A part of her brain screamed that it was unsafe to be so near to a ghost, yet she didn’t move as ungloved hands weakly grabbed onto her jumpsuit and the ghost pressed into her chest, as if it was hugging her.

Maddie looked down at the being, marveling at the sight. Its appearance was still shifting. Black and white hair. Black jumpsuit and bare skin. Patches of ghostly blue and pale human skin. The woman could feel the ectoplasmic energy, the ghostly chill radiating off the being as well but..... Its glow...there was something off. The glow was dimming. It flickered like a light bulb before cutting off.

In front of her came a whine as the ghost buried its head into her shoulder. Soft cold breath caressed her check. Breathe? Maddie’s heart skipped a breath. She could feel the chest rising and falling with fast breaths, pressed against her as it was. And that beeping. Maddie glanced up at the display. The heart monitor was still keeping pace with a rapidly fluttering heart.

The scientists breath lodged in her throat. No this was...ghosts didn’t breath. They didn’t have heart beats. They didn’t…. She looked down at the shaking figure again and her world turned upside down. The black suit was receding, evaporating. It disappeared off the arms and chest, every part of the body she could see, leaving bare skin below. And that skin, it was changing. Pale peach-tinted skin was rapidly replacing the inhuman blue. A warm breath blew over her check, the ghostly chill quickly vanishing. The weight pressed into her increased, the fingers holding onto her becoming warm and solid. And on the head, black overtook white until she was staring down at the full black head of hair.

Maddie’s mind stopped unable to process. This was...she was...in front...of her...this was... She blinked rapidly, as if the sign would change but...the lack of glow, the human skin tone, the warmth, the breathing, the black hair. That..that damn heart monitor. This...this was...no...no way. The ghost hunter shakily, wrapped her arms around the now hyperventilating figure. She winced feeling the warm, solid skin under her gloves. This was impossible but….

This...this was a human. No ghost...no ghost could fake this. No shapeshifting would give a ghost human warmth and a heartbeat. And she could feel it, the rapidly fluttering heart pressed against her own.

The ghost whined again. No. no. The boy. The boy who had just been a ghost but had changed. The boy who’d just been inside that pod. Who was shaking and hyperventilating in front of her. Another whine. A tear fell onto her shoulder.

Maddie’s mind finally caught up. Her arms shifted into a more proper hug, hands reaching up to run through the black hair. “Shhh. Shh. It’s okay.” The woman whispered. “Breath with me. In.” She breathed in deliberately. “And out.” She pushed the air out of her lungs. “In and Out.”

The boy copied, his breaths following hers. In and out. In and out. His breathing slowed as did the beeping of the heart monitor. Slowly, so slowly, his shaking subsided but the boy didn’t let go of her suit.

Maddie stayed still, questions bombarding her now that the boy was calmed. This boy, who was he? Where had he come from? Why...why did Vlad have a teenager in his lab? And why did he have a ghost that could change into a human? Or was this a human who could turn into a ghost? Her mind raced, her own heart rate increasing with overwhelming confusion. How was this possible? What was this kid?

She looked down, an idea sparking. That ghost disease that all the teenagers supposedly got. The disease that gave them ghost powers. She and Jack had never seen any of the supposedly infected students. They’d dismissed the claims as absurd. Humans could not have ghost powers. Yet Jazz and Danny’s friend, Sam, had both insisted that they’d gotten sick and both had displayed a ghostly ability. And if...if that was true….. She paled, the overheard words from the last phone call hitting her. Tests, sample collection, subject, experiment. If Vlad was experimenting with that disease, experimenting with ectoplasm on...on….

“Where...where am I?” A quiet male voice asked, directly in front of her. Maddie stiffened at the words, roughly pulled out of her thoughts. “What’s happening?”

The woman’s heart stopped. That voice. That voice. Oh god. Suddenly shaking, she unwrapped her arms from the boy. Gently, so gently, she grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands off of her. The boy seemed to shrink in on himself at that, shoulders falling.

He sniffled but Maddie shushed it. “Look...look up at me.” She quietly asked. Slowly, the teenager obeyed and again, the mother felt like her world was turned on its head. Familiar, icy blue eyes met hers. The curve of that nose, the round chin, the slightly chubby cheeks. Oh god, she knew...she knew this face intimately. A trembling hand reached out to touch, cupping the boy’s cheek. “Danny?” Maddie asked, before she could really think.

The blue eyes widened, looking at her with the most pure and innocent hope she’d even seen. “Danny? Is that...is that my name?”

The woman’s expression fell, her mind catching up to the question, to what she was seeing. No, this couldn't be Danny. She had just seen him earlier that night. And on the face in front of her….The freckles….the freckles were wrong, laid out in a different pattern. And the scar above his lips, where was it? The mother glanced down, at his collar bone. The birthmark wasn’t there. And...her heart skipped a beat. No, he was too young, maybe two years younger than her son’s current age of 16.

The woman removed her hand. “No. I’m sorry. You’re not….you look like him, like Danny. So I thought….But you’re not...you’re not him.”

The boy’s shoulders fell and his eyes fixed down. The suddenly heartbroken, lonely look broke Maddie’s heart. “Oh. Then...who am I?”

The ghost hunter frowned at the question, her mind trying to form an answer. Who was this boy who looked like her Danny? Wait…. The words on his vitals display flashed in her mind. Clone number 6. Clone. “You’re a clone.” She blinked, mouth falling open. “You’re a clone of my son.”

The boy looked up, raising a brow. “What’s a clone?”

Maddie flushed at the question. It was so innocent. And his eyes, staring up at her like she had the answer to every question in the universe. “That’s...that’s complicated.” She glanced down, cheeks reddening in a sudden realization. “Let’s umm...let’s get you some clothes first.” The mother blushed for a moment. He’d been naked this whole time, while they’d been hugging and she had been comforting him.

“Clothes?” The boy tilted his head and the innocent confusion, the lack of embarrassment, just about killed Maddie. This looked like a teenager but obviously he wasn’t actually one.

The mother pushed the thought away, head surveying the room for something to cover the child with. She gaze fixed on something white hanging on one of the walls. Lab coats. Maddie started pushing herself to her feet.

The boy whimpered, grabbing her hand. “Don’t leave me.”

Maddie’s expression softened. “I’m not. I’m just going to get you something to wear.”

Shakily, she stood and walked across the lab. All the while, the woman could feel the eyes on the back of her head. But she ignored it, focusing on grabbing a coat. She pulled the white garment off the peg and quickly returned. Maddie then knelt down and held out the coat. The boy looked at it with no recognition as if he had no idea what to do with it. He probably didn’t.

“I can put it on you then. Hold out your arms.” Maddie instructed.

The boy, the clone, (this was a clone, a clone of her son. Her son. How? Why? What?). The clone did as she said and the woman dressed him as if he was a little child. (He probably was). The woman tried to smile comfortingly as she fastened the buttons. “There you go. All covered up.”

The boy looked at the sleeves curiously. They hung past his hands as the garment swallowed him. He waved his arms, watching the ends flap. The child laughed at the sight.

Maddie’s heart clenched at the child-like display. But then she turned her attention to the AI that had been silently watching the entire time. Standing, she scowled. “Is he a clone of my son?”

“Yes.” The MADDIE program replied. “Subject Number 6 is a clone of Daniel James Fenton.”

Maddie looked down again. Somehow, despite how impossible this was, that made perfect sense. The appearance was nearly identical, to perfect for strangers. And….she swallowed. Vlad had a sick fascination with her children, with Danny in particular. She knew the man fancied himself something of a godfather, with his pet names, presents, and advice. And Danny despised it, much more than any teenage boy should even if said godfather had a tendency to flirt with his mother.

The woman paled, all sorts of horrible idea coming into her head. What Vlad must want from Danny, what he must really want from her son. And to do the scientifically impossible? She shivered. Tests, experiments. She remembered the hybrid ghostly appearance, the ectoenergy flowing off of him. From some the ghostly disease? But… “Wait...you said that he was clone of Phantom earlier?”

The hologram’s response was cut off by a scream from the floor. Maddie’s eyes flicked down panickedly as the clone looked up at her. “My...my arm...it’s gone.”

The woman’s eyes just about popped out of her skull. His left sleeve with the hand and arm inside of it were gone. Maddie knelt down, reaching towards where the limb should be. Her hand hit something solid and chilly. She rapidly blinked. “It’s invisible. Your arm is invisible.” Panic rose in her. Ghostly abilities. There were ghostly abilities. He had ghost powers.

“Invisible?!” The boy shrieked.

Maddie’s heart clenched. That sounded just like Danny, her son when he was scared. The boy’s mouth was open with panic, his breath increasing. And all the woman could see was her son. Her son’s face, screwed up with panic and fear. It made her soul ache. She gently wrapped her hand around his invisible one. “It’s still there but you need to calm down. Breath with me. Like before. Okay. In and out.”

The boy copied her action once and his hand returned to visibility. He threw himself forward into her arms. Maddie returned the hug without hesitation. Then a breath later, cold swept over her. The body in her arms disappeared, turning into cold mist. Both the woman and the boy screamed as he turned intangible and fell through her.

Maddie rapidly stood, stepping back. What was happening?! On the floor, the boy returned to solidity, the slightly translucent appearance disappearing. He rolled onto his back, panting. The beeping of the monitor increased with his breathing as his face scrunched up fearfully.

Then a heartbeat later, just when Maddie thought she was done with surprises for tonight, something else stole the breath from her lungs. A white ring of light formed around the boy’s waist. It spread up and down his body and everything the light touched changed. The scientist blinked away the spots in her vision. And there, writhing on the floor with a panicked expression, was Phantom. Or...he looked like Phantom. White hair, black and white jumpsuit, panic filled green eyes.

It suddenly all hit Maddie like a tractor-trailer. He was a clone of Danny.. .and he was a clone of Phantom. Of Phantom. Danny...it clicked into place. Oh god, Danny’s accident with the portal. Him setting off all their equipment. His badly hidden injuries. Falling grades, skipping class, not sleeping. Oh god. Danny was Phantom. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. That...that was a pun, damnit. Of course her son would name himself after a pun. And… her eyes fixed on the boy on the floor. His face even stayed the same! No wonder Phantom avoided getting close to them!

In front of her, the clone was hyperventilating again. “What’s happening to me?!” He cried, tears welling in his eyes. His legs were fused into a ghostly tail which lashed in front of him.

The mother’s brain kicked into gear, her motherly instincts taking over again. She knelt down. “Sweetie. Sweetie. Calm down. I’m here.”

She grabbed his arm, intending to pull him into a sitting position but he was so light, as light as a balloon. With the slightest tug, he was pulled into the air, floated. Maddie pulled the ghost boy into her arms. She cupped the back of his head.

“What’s...what’s happening to me?” He cried again.

“I don’t know.” Maddie answered honestly. She had only the barest idea of what all was going on. But still... “I’ll figure it out. I’ll help you. You’re safe. I’m right here.”

The boy wiggled in her hold, crying into her shoulders. “I...I don’t understand. I don’t understand. Who...who am I? Who are you? Where are we?”

Maddie didn’t know. Or rather she didn't know how to answer those questions without making him more scared. She desperately wished she did know. She’d have to have a long conversation with Danny about him being Phantom and about what is actually going on between him and Vlad but for now...she hugged the boy tighter.

A long minute later, light passed over the clone again. He became heavy and warm in Maddie’s arms. His knees wobbled for a moment before steadying as Maddie held him up. “There, you’re doing it. You can stand.” His posture strengthened and the shaking stopped. Finally, the mother asked. “Do you think you can stand on your own?”

“I...I think so?” The boy said, uncertainly.

“Alright. I’m going to step away slowly. I’ll catch you if you start to fall.” Maddie reassured.

The child nodded as the woman backed away. He wobbled, tipping forward but the ghost hunter gently grabbed him. They stood, hands on each other's forearm for a long pause, until the boy steadied himself. He looked down at his feet, lifting one before putting it down and then doing the same with the opposite. Finally, he let go of Maddie’s arms. After hesitating, the mother did the same.

The boy studied her compassionate face, brow furrowed with deep thought. “Who are you...to me?”

Maddie considered, studying his face in kind. Her son’s face. A face so like her Danny’s. He was a clone, a clone of her son. Meaning...he was her own flesh and blood. Her lips pursed in thought. More importantly...he was a child. A confused, scared child who needed her help. And before she was a ghost hunter and scientist, Maddie was and would always be a mother.

“I’m your mother.” She said without hesitation, smiling. “Your mom.”

“Mom?” The boy asked, testing out the word.

Maddie nodded, reaching forward and gently whipping one of his tears away with her thumb. “I’m your mom.”

The child smiled, his eyes lighting up like that was the most wonderful thing he had ever heard. It very well could be. “Mom.” The word rang out with so many emotions, with some much love that Maddie’s heart swelled. The boy stepped forward hugging her again.

The mother ran her finger through his hair. “Yes baby. I’m here to take you home."

“You will take him away from here, then?” A staticy voice asked, beside the pair.

Maddie turned, pulling away to look at the AI. Beside her, the clone tilted his head as he looked between the two but didn’t ask.

The scientist nodded. “Yes. I think I understand why you called me now.” Of course she did. This was an AI made to copy her, something of a digital clone. If Maddie was in her place, she would not so easily agree to whatever Vlad had planned. She would not leave a child here to be experimented on. And as the MADDIE programs 'original’, for lack of a better word, she wasn’t exactly an outsider and therefore a loophole.

The hologram nodded. “I will disable the microchip then.” A light on the monitor blinked out and the beeping of the heart monitor stopped. The AI then turned to the computer. She pointed to a flash drive plugged into one of the ports. “That contains all research data. Take it with you.”

Maddie obeyed, taking the drive. The AI winked. “Excellent. Delete all research data. Command alpha-06-gamma-58-epsilon.”

There was a loud dial tone and the computer fritzed, the monitor wavering until a blue screen reading ‘System Deletion’ in large print was displayed.

Maddie raised a brow, impressed at the AI.

Then the clone asked. “What about you? Are you coming with us?”

The program shook her head. “No dear. I am not like you. My purpose is served.” The AI turned to deliberately look at Maddie. “Number 6 has been saved.”

The boy frowned at the statement as did the mother, considering the statement and the depth of it. She didn’t know what to make of it except...it almost felt like one mother was handing off her son to another.

“Go on.” The MADDIE program encouraged. "You may go out the way you came and I will lock the doors behind you." She frowned. "I will distract dearest for as long as I can."

Maddie wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I suppose you can't just call him Vlad?"

"No." The AI almost sounded annoyed. "My programming is most inconvenient."

The ghost hunter nodded in understanding. Then she turned to face the clone. "Come on then sweetie." She wrapped one arm around the boy and started leading him towards the door. Before passing through, the women turned back to face the hologram. "Thank you."

The corner of MADDIE program's lip turned up as she offered an accepting nod. The pair then turned back towards the still open door. The clone wobbled slightly, progressing slowly as he gained more confidence. Maddie carefully stepped across the threshold with the boy still at her side. Once they were in the tunnel, a gap sounded from beside her.

"What is it?" The mother glanced to the side, eyes wide with concern.

"The ground's cold." The boy muttered.

"Oh." Maddie looked down. "You're not wearing any shoes." She'd have to get him some once they got home and some proper clothes. "Just step carefully, okay? Actually…." With her free hand, she pulled out her flashlight and shone it on the bare ground in front of them. "There."

The pair advanced carefully, Maddie helping the boy to clumsily climb up the ladder. They crossed the greenhouse and the mother pulled the boy along as he eagerly studied their surroundings.

"It smells nice in here." The clone commented, sniffing the air.

"It does." Maddie agreed.

Arriving at the door, she finally opened it and the two found themselves in the open air. The boy suddenly stopped, looking down.

He hummed in the back of his throat, pleased. "I like the grass under my feet." Maddie looked down to find the kid wiggling his toes. Then there was an awed whisper. "Wow. Are those the stars?"

The mother looked up again to find him staring up at the sky in wonder. Maddie smiled. "Yes, they are. Aren't they beautiful?"

"Yeah." He breathed.

Maddie let him look up in awe, as she herself marveled. She couldn't help but be reminded of Danny's love of the stars. But even with the resemblance, he was a different person from her Danny, wasn't he? She could already see little difference. This child-like wonder was something she hadn’t seen in her son very often now. But still she wondered. This clone seemed to know the words for things. He could speak clearly and had good coordination all things considered. How was that even remotely possible? And yet he still had the air of someone who had never seen the world before, like every was new. Because it likely was.

With that, Maddie cut off her musing. "Come on sweetie. We need to keep going."

The mother hated cutting off his exploration, especially as his expression fell. But the boy nodded anyway, taking a step forward. The pair continued, cutting across the yard, into the trees, and to the car. Maddie clicked the fob to unlock the vehicle. She guided the boy to the car, opened the passenger's side door, and helped him sit. The mother then walked around and opened the driver's side door and sat down herself.

Maddie turned to find the clone looking at his seat belt curiously. She reached over. "Here let me help you." She buckled him in.

The boy hummed, fidgeting in his seat while Maddie buckled herself in. She put the key in the ignition and started the engine. Instantly, the radio started, a song from their local eighties station broadcasting through. The clone flinched at the sudden sound before relaxing.

He turned, looking at the woman with wide eyes. "What's that?"

Maddie smiled. "It's music."

"Right. Music." The boy nodded. He tilted his head, listening to the song. After a moment, his head bobbed in time. "I think I like music." He hummed along, wiggling in his seat.

It made Maddie want to laugh so she did. She chuckled as she put the car into drive and pulled away. She turned into the road and started driving back towards Fentonworks. The song ended just as they pulled up at a red light.

The clone turned to face her. "Where are we going?"

She looked at him out the corner of her eye. "We're going home, like I said earlier."

He nodded. "Right yeah. I remember that." He hummed. "What will we do when we get there?"

Maddie paused, considering the question. "Well...we’ll talk to your dad and your….Danny and Jazz….and we’ll figure all of this out.”

She’d hesitated for a moment, thinking to refer to Danny and Jazz as his brother and sister. But Maddie had no idea how they’d take this. Hopefully well. Those two were good kids but living with a clone of yourself….Maddie could hardly imagine. At least Jack would be eager and welcoming. She knew her husband well enough to be sure….Oh boy, she really should have told him something about all of this before she’d left.

"All of this….you mean the….clone thing and…" He bit his lip. "The flashing light and the floating and disappearing and falling through things?"

"Ghost powers." Maddie said, brow furrowing. "You have ghost powers. As far as I can tell, you're some kind of ghost human hybrid? Not that I knew that was possible until less than an hour ago…." She frowned. "Nor did I know you existed."

The boy frowned, looking worried. His lips pursed. "So...you don't know what my name is then, do you?”

Maddie's heart fell. In front of them, the light turned green. The woman turned back, removing her foot off the gas. The car pulled away before the mother pulled into a parking lot.

She took a deep breath, the impossibleness of the situation hitting her. She was sitting in her car with a clone of her son. A clone that she’d found in the secret laboratory below Vlad Master’s greenhouse. A human-ghost hybrid clone of her son who was also a hybrid. She had another son now. A son who she now had to tell that she didn't know his name, because he likely didn't have one yet.

Maddie put a comforting hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.” She gently apologized. “You’re right. I don’t know. And sadly….” She took a deep breath. “And I know this will be hard to hear but...all I know is that hologram called you Number 6 and...that’s not exactly a name, is it? ”

His lip quivered, eyes starting to water. “But….that’s….”

The mother took his hands and squeezed it. “That will change. Your father and I can pick out a name for you; that’s what parents normally do for their children. Or….if you have something in mind, we’ll happily call you that.”

The clone looked down, biting his lip in consideration. “I’ll...I’ll think about it.”

Maddie’s face softened. “Alright sweetie.”

He turned his head up, blinking at her. “Sweetie? Can that be my name?”

The question was asked so innocently that Maddie couldn’t help but laugh. “No. That’s a pet name. I call all my kids that.”

“Oh.” He blushed in embarrassment. “Well that’s...at least, that means I’m one of your kids.”

The mother nodded her head. “Yes, of course. You’re my son.” It should have been surprising how much her heart swelled with love at the statement but well….Maddie had made up her mind. This was her son. Not Vlad Masters’ experiment. Not just Danny’s clone. Her son and Vlad was not taking him away from her.

They would have a lot to figure out. A name for this boy. His complete origin as a clone. How to deal with having a third child, one who’d just appeared overnight. They’d have to deal with the implications of her revelation that Danny was Phantom. And Vlad...what he’d done was horrible. He’d stolen blueprints and her son’s DNA. He’d experimented on a human or...humans. She internally frowned; he was clone number 6. Did that mean that there had been five others?

Either way, Vlad was deplorable. There, in the depth of his lab, below something as innocuous and normal as his greenhouse, Maddie had discovered that and the true depth of his obsession with her and her family. And now she knew, Vlad needed to be stopped. He needed to be punished. But what exactly to do with him, considering how taking him down would likely expose Danny’s identity as Phantom? Yes, they had a lot to deal with but….

Maddie leaned forward to kiss her new son’s forehead. “You have a family now. And a home. And everything else we’ll figure out together.”

A soft smile crept across his face. “I like how that sounds.”

“Good.” Maddie smiled. “Now...are you ready to go meet the rest of your family?”

“Yeah.” He squeezed the hand still holding hers. “I’m ready Mom.”

#Danny Phantom #Phic Phight 2021 #Phic Phight #team human #Danny clones #Danny Phantom clones #Maddie Fenton #My fic

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bitch-for-bo · 3 years

Text

"Worried I'll Replace You?", "No." (Ushijima Wakatoshi x chubby reader)

TAKES PLACE POST- TIMESKIP

Despite the fact that you and Ushijima have been dating for years, he still doesn't want to introduce you to the team. You find out that it isn't because he's embarrassed, it's for selfish reasons of his own.

ABSOLUTELY NO MINORS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY

When you had told Wakatoshi that you were going to be attending the Japan National team’s practice later that day, you didn’t expect him to react. Why would you? Toshi rarely reacted to anything you said in explicit ways, he was a stoic man. Sure, he was a stoic man that you happened to love, but a stoic man nonetheless.

You had been curling your hair in the bathroom mirror as Wakatoshi took his morning shower when you brought the fact that you’d be attending his practice up.

“I’m going to be there with Kuroo-san planning some advertising strategies.”

“Do you have to be with Kuroo?” Wakatoshi’s deep voice rumbled from behind the shower curtain.

“Why?” you asked, leaning against the counter and looking at the shower curtain through the mirror, seeing Toshi’s large outline through the light material.

“I don’t appreciate the way that Kuroo speaks to you. He isn’t your boyfriend, I am.” He replied before ducking his head beneath the showerhead to rinse the shampoo from his hair.

You smiled and rolled your eyes at Wakatoshi’s blunt statement. No matter how many times you told him that Kuroo was only kidding when he teased you, Toshi was still unnecessarily possessive of you.

Not that you minded. It was nice to feel protected by the powerful ace, even if that meant having to almost hold him back when he saw Kuroo playfully ‘flirting’ with you.

The shower turned off and the curtain was slung back, revealing a fully nude Wakatoshi. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist as your eyes followed him lustfully in the mirror, admiring how the beads of water ran down his broad, tanned back as the muscles flexed and relaxed with his movement.

“I also don’t want my teammates meeting you.” He said, walking up behind you beside you to the counter to continue his morning hygiene routine.

You scoffed lightly at that. You knew that his words held no ill intent or malice, but if Ushi would have said that sort of thing in public, and someone overheard the conversation, they would’ve thought that Ushijima was embarrassed by you. So much so that he didn’t want his team meeting you. Again, deep down you knew this wasn’t the case, but that didn’t stop the small ball of dread from making its way into your heart as you began to question if Toshi really was embarrassed by you. You knew that the only way to find out what he meant was to ask, or else you would be upset the rest of the day and lord only knows that Wakatoshi was too bad at verbal communication to ask you why you were mad at him.

“Why?” You teased, grinning at your boyfriend in the mirror despite the small pang of hurt in your chest. “Scared I’ll find someone more attractive to replace you with?”

“Why would a be scared of that? I am the most capable partner for you on the team.” He replied, turning to look at you in the eyes with an expression of slight confusion.

You couldn’t help but giggle at your big dumb boyfriend.

“Awful confident about that aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

You just laughed more, stepping towards him and craning your neck to place a small kiss on his jaw. It was mean to bully Toshi like that, especially since he took every word you said so literally, but it was too fun not to.

“How about this,” you offered, wrapping your arms around his bare hips and encouraging him to do the same to you, forming a loose hug between the two of you as you stood in the doorway of the bathroom. “I’ll go do my job with Kuroo, but you don’t have to tell the team I’m your girlfriend. We can both pretend we’re strangers.”

You weren’t gonna lie, you really wanted Wakatoshi to introduce you as his significant other to his friends, after all, you’d been dating for almost 5 years, but you understood that PDA made him uncomfortable so you could deal with your own butthurt feelings if it meant that he was more comfortable.

“Are you sure?” Wakatoshi asked, his eyes looking down at yours, seemingly into your soul.

“Yes.” You smiled, kissing his chin, “Who knows,” you added, “it might make for some hot foreplay too…”

Wakatoshi chuckled and kissed your forehead, letting his lips rest against the skin for a couple of seconds before pulling away and detaching the two of you from your ‘loose hug’.

“When do you have to go?” You asked, glancing at the bedside clock that read 5:50 AM.

“I have to be there by 6:30.” He responded. You groaned in reply, turning back to your own routine as he moved out of the bathroom to get dressed so he could go to practice.

You absolutely hated the days where Toshi had to go to practice early in the morning. He would wake up at almost 4 AM to go on his jog. And of course, being the huge oaf that he is, he’d always wake you up with him as he tried to maneuver his bulky frame out of bed. It wasn’t too much trouble though, because usually, you would just go back to sleep. The best part was when Ushijima got back from his jog and joined you in the shower for some pre-practice ‘endurance training’.

Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened today. You had to be a work kind of early too, so you had already taken your shower and done your makeup by the time Wakatoshi was back.

You were almost finished curling your hair when Wakatoshi came to wish you goodbye, wrapping his large arms around your waist as he pulled you into one of his kisses that never failed to take your breath away and leave you weak in the knees.

After he had gone, you finished getting ready in the bathroom and went to decide on something to wear.

You wanted to wear something nicer than usual to make a good impression on the team, even if Ushi wasn’t going to introduce you as his girlfriend. It was rare for Wakatoshi to see you in your work clothes, so you also wanted to wear something that would get his attention, and if you were lucky occupy his mind all day until he could rush home and fuck you.

You settled on a black lace blouse tucked into a pair of red slacks. Kuroo had told you that the two of you would get ‘bonus points’ with the bosses if your clothes matched the team’s colors. Plus you knew that Wakatoshi loved the way that the outfit looked on you. The top displayed an appropriate yet sexy amount of skin with its black velvet bodice and long lace sleeves and the high waisted slacks hugged your curvy hips and made your ass and legs look amazing.

You looked in the mirror, admiring your ability to look professional and badass at the same time. If only your highschool self could see you now. Highschool You wouldn’t have been able to see the way that the outfit complemented your plush form. She would’ve been focused on the small yet noticeable bump of your stomach underneath the slacks, or the way that the light hit the stretch marks on your arms, making them visible despite being covered in black lace.

It had taken a long time to love yourself, you’d gone through the first twenty years of your life despising how you looked. Finally, you learned to accept who you were and with the help of your friends and family, you learned that you were worth more than what YOU saw in the mirror.

You remembered the first couple of times you went out with friends after gaining your confidence. They convinced you to accompany them to a small sports bar. You remembered that night fairly clearly, you had worn a flowy maroon blouse with a pair of high waisted black jeans and a pair of 3-inch nude heels. It was one of the first times that you had looked in the mirror and liked what you saw.

You and your friends drank and watched the games on the TVs that were situated around the bar, a different sport playing on almost every one of them. You remembered that you were attracted to a volleyball game that was one. You had played volleyball a lot with your brothers when you were young and over the years, the fondness towards the sport never died. You took a seat in front of the television, sitting next to a tall, slender red-head who was nursing what smelt like a vodka cherry limeade. Your eyes were fixed on the TV, smiling as the players volleyed back and forth, admiring the strength and power it must take to perform like that.

“It’s impressive isn’t it.” The redhead next to you spoke, looking at you with wide, analytic eyes. You nodded, your eyes barely leaving the screen to give him a quick ‘hello’ smile.

“You like volleyball?” You asked, giggling a little as the man tilted his head at you.

“I used to……” He said wistfully, taking a long sip of his limeade that he happened to be drinking through a straw. “I played in high school. I quit cuz I knew that I’d never be serious enough to play like them.” He waved towards the players on the TV before continuing, “My buddy is still obsessed with it though. He’s in the bathroom right now.”

You nodded, you weren’t sure why the stranger was telling you so much, you figured that it was kind of due to the alcohol so you let him speak, plus you were enjoying the conversation.

“That’s cool.” You smiled, bringing your own drinks up to your lips as the two of you continued to watch the game in silence for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, he looked over.

“Listen,” He said, “my friend that I mentioned, the one in the bathroom…”

You nodded.

“He’s had his eyes on you the whole night.”

As soon as he said those words, your face lit up with the biggest blush you had ever had. Your mouth formed an ‘o’ before opening and closing like a fish. No one had ever looked, let alone stared! at you (to your knowledge). You had no idea how to react seeing as this was your first time anyone was so brash with you.

“I-I’m sorry- are you sure that it’s me and not one of my friends?” You asked, still in disbelief that anyone could find you attractive enough to stare.

“Of course I’m sure!” the redhead confirmed, his eyes scrunching as he looked back at you in just as much confusion as you looked at him.

He wondered if you were completely oblivious to all of the attention you’d been getting from the inhabitants of the bar. You looked gorgeous with your long legs, your thick thighs…..hell he would’ve approached you if it hadn’t been for his best friend expressing his interest in you first.

“It’s actually kind of a miracle that you sat here.” The redhead continued, “Wakatoshi isn’t very good at talking to people. Unless it’s about volleyball, which you also like!”

The blush on your face was unrelenting at the thought of a guy approaching you. A guy that you didn’t even know if they really existed. This guy you were talking to might have been a complete crazy who had gotten a little too much to drink.

“Well, I-” You started, only to be interrupted by possibly the deepest voice you’d ever heard, coming from behind you.

“Tendou, who is this in my seat?”

That’s how it all started. In those first couple of minutes, you were terrified of Ushijima. His face was so serious. Handsome, yes, but also very serious. Tendou had acted as a buffer that first night, giving you a smooth transition and kind of teaching you how to talk to Wakatoshi.

Over the next couple of months, you and Ushijima went on dates. Every week on Friday. He would pick you up at 7 pm sharp without fail. He never talked much, he much preferred to listen to you, always watching your face closely as you spoke. He made you feel safe and listened to and before long, five years had passed and the two of you were living in domestic bliss.

The sound of the phone broke you out of your little daydream, Kuroo’s caller ID flashing across the screen.

“Hello?”

“Where are you, Kitten? I’m at the gym. I see your super ace boyfriend here, but not you.”

“I’m coming” you replied, pulling a pair of black block heels on as you walked out the front door, “Also, I promised Wakatoshi that no one would tell the team that I’m his girlfriend so please behave!”

**********************

“Waaaah?? Girlfriend??” Hinata Shoyou exclaimed, leaning closer towards Bokuto who had just gathered the team while Ushijima was in the bathroom to tell them all what he had overheard from Kuroo’s phone call.

“She’ll be here today!” The owl-like hitter whisper shouted, excitement practically seeping out of his pores.

“I can’t believe Mr. Stone Solid has a girlfriend and I don’t” Miya Atsumu groaned, hiding his face in shame. As the team started to speculate about what she would look like.

“I bet she’s really pretty”

“Dumbass Hinata! Of course, she’ll be pretty! Why would Ushijima date her if she wasn’t!!” “The real question is, why would she choose Mr. no-emotion. He has the emotional range of a crayon!”

They all nodded at Atsusmu’s statement, even Iwaizumi, and Aran, who had been silent in the conversation regarding Ushiwaka’s mystery girl.

They all flinched at the sound of the gym door opening and sprang away from the huddle as they heard Ushijima coming into the gym. They all had quickly gone back to practicing as if they hadn’t just been gossiping like middle schoolers, and Ushijima being the oblivious idiot that he is, noticed nothing as he picked up a volleyball, wondering when his girlfriend would be arriving with her work partner.

Not even ten minutes later the gym doors opened again and in walked the coach, Kuroo, and you.

“Holy shit!” Atsumu whispered to Hinata, imaginary blood bursting out of his nose as he took in your figure.

The team was enraptured with you from the start, even Kageyama had stopped setting to look at you. They couldn’t stop looking at you, eyes drinking you in disbelief as to why you were with someone with Ushijima. And while you didn’t notice all of the male attention since you were currently talking to Kuroo and the coach, Wakatoshi did and a mix of possessiveness and jealousy burst into his chest.

His eyes roamed your body, fists clenching at how devilishly perfect you looked in your outfit. And even though Ushijima wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, he could figure out that you’d worn the outfit just to make him feel like this.

He looked across the faces of his teammates, even the athletic trainer’s eyes were on your body as you made your way towards the court, your heels clicking lightly on the glossy wooden floor.

No one was really listening to the coach’s words as he introduced you and Kuroo to the team. They hadn’t even heard the coach ask them to introduce themselves until Ushijima began to speak.

“Ushijima Wakatoshi.” He said, shaking Kuroo’s outstretched hand and then yours, staring deep into your eyes.

‘Just wait till tonight’ his dark eyes read, making something in you keen in arousal.

“Well you all know me, this is my associate, Y/N,” Kuroo said, causing you to break Wakatoshi’s gaze. It jarred the others out of their dazes as well.

“Hello.” You said brightly, smiling. You and Kuroo then went down the line of them, shaking all of their hands and learning their names.

“Are you a model?” Hinata asked, his eyes wide as you towered over him in your heels. You almost looked like a goddess to the short spiker.

“No, but thank you Hinata.” You laughed, shaking his hand gently. You shook your head in amusement and moved to the man standing next to him. A dark-haired man with a blush dancing across his cheeks and his mouth turned down in an attempted frown.

“Y-you are tall,” Kageyama mumbled, holding out his hand to shake. You merely nodded and responded with an ‘it’s mostly the heels. It’s nice to meet you’

You continued to greet them one by one, feeling extremely awkward as they one by one stumbled over introducing themselves. You wondered what was wrong with them, painfully ignorant of the fact that they were all in awe of you.

‘I kind of see why he didn’t want me meeting them’ you thought.

“Aright!” Kuroo exclaimed as soon as the two of you had given all of them handshakes and introductions were finished. “Y/N and I will just be casually monitoring the practice and thinking of advertising strategies. Anything to add?” He asked, looking at you expectantly.

“Sorry for the intrusion!” You said, smiling at all of them once again, “Please play like normal and do your best!”

Ushijima scowled, he could pretty much hear all of his teammates’ brains exploding.

***************

It was a long but successful day, you thought, sliding your key into the front door of your apartment. Wakatoshi was home, the team was let out at 2:30 but you and Kuroo had headed back to the office for a couple of more hours before you came home.

“Toshi?” you called out into the seemingly empty apartment. There was no smell of dinner being cooked or sounds of the shower or sink running. You wondered where he had gone. Tendou wasn’t back in town, so unless Ushijima was out with the team you hadn’t the slightest idea where he was.

You flicked on the lights.

“AHH!” You screamed, hurling your messenger bag at the figure sitting in your living room. Your hands coming up to search for something else to protect yourself with. As your eyes adjusted to the light, you sighed. “Wakatoshi what the fuck? You scared me!”

Wakatoshi said nothing, a frown painting his face while his eyebrows were angrily scrunched towards the midline of his face.

“Toshi?”

“That is why I didn’t want you to meet my team,” he said, taking you completely by surprise.

“What?” you asked, confusion prominent on your face.

“I didn’t want them looking at you like that. You’re mine.”

“Woah, Woah, Woah. Toshi, they were just being nice to me. That’s all” you replied sweetly. A small smile worming its way onto your face at your boyfriend’s childish jealousy.

“You are mine.” He repeated, a bit more assertively this time, getting up and walking towards you.

“I know Toshi.” You whispered soothingly, your arms opening up and accepting his huge form into a tight hug. He buried his face in your neck, inhaling your perfume as he sighed in content at your affection.

“I felt jealous as they looked at you. Why did you wear those clothes?”

“I wore them for you Toshi…” You whispered in his ear.

“Oh. I see.” He said, his hands slowly beginning to draw firm circles in your lower back.

“Why were you jealous Toshi?” You whispered sweetly, you couldn’t stop the sly smile from gracing your face. As mean as it was, you loved it when Wakatoshi got all possessive like this.

“They looked at you.”

“People are allowed to look at me Toshi, how would they talk to me if they weren’t?”

“They’re not allowed to look at you the way they did. Only I can. Only I own you.”

You felt your stomach twist with arousal at Toshi’s deep voice, whispering into your neck. You knew that he didn’t realize the effect that he had on you when he talked like that, but you couldn’t help the want from building in your core as your thighs pressed together.

“Show me Toshi.” You breathed out, your arms tightly wrapping around his neck, pulling his face even closer to your body, “Show me you own me.” Wakatoshi obliged, groaning lowly as his mouth began pressing bruising kisses to your neck. You tilted your head back, giving his rough lips wider access as you let him guide you into the bedroom, pressing you up against a wall.

His hands were gripping your soft hips, pulling you closer to him as his hips rolled against you. You could feel the hard outline of his cock through the thin sweatpants he had on, making your mouth water.

“Shit Toshi…” you moaned, your arms trying desperately to pull his body against you. You reached down between the two of you to feel him through his sweats. As you pressed your palm to it, his hands came down and caught both of your wrists before bringing them above your head.

“Did I say you could touch me?” He growled, his tone changing from the usually even, calm tone, to one of domination.

“Please Toshi….” You keened, a light whine of frustration slipping out of your lips.

Wakastoshi didn’t move, his eyes roaming down your body, taking in your heaving chest practically begging to be bitten and sucked, your thighs pressed together around his muscular leg that had forced its way between your soft ones. He couldn’t’ stop the surge of incredible pride that swelled in his chest as he looked down at you, hunger evident in his eyes. Your pupils were wide and blown out, lips parted and gasping for breath.

‘All mine’ he thought, slowly and firmly taking your mouth with his, demanding that you submit to him. He loved how pliant and submissive your body was beneath him. He loved how you trusted him with your pleasure. He knew he wouldn’t disappoint.

“Fuck!” you gasped as he pulled off of you, allowing your lungs to breathe in deeply, relishing at the feeling of air. Your panties were sopping wet, and you were afraid that if you didn’t take them off soon, your slacks would be in the same boat.

“Please……” You begged, your hips bucking pitifully against Wakatoshi’s firm grip. You needed relief, your brain was beyond clouded with want and the only end in sight was Wakatoshi fucking you hard and deep against the wall.

“What do you want Love?” He asked, his baritone voice invading your brain, making you involuntarily arch your back towards him, a breathy plea slipping from your lips.

“Fuck me Toshi…”

Without a word, Wakatoshi tore your blouse down the front. A small surprised shriek leaving your mouth.

“Toshi! Yo-”

“I will buy you a new one. Their filthy eyes ruined this one.” He growled before reaching down and doing the same to your slacks. You couldn’t even be mad at the incredibly hot strength of your boyfriend. Your shredded clothing fell to the floor as the super ace yanked down your soaked panties, his fingers sliding through the wet folds as he groaned softly against your ear.

“Open your legs.” He commanded, gently yet firmly grasping your thighs as he guided them apart. His fingers glided over the outside of your pussy, dipping in and pressing against your clit while his other hand fondled your breasts, pinching at the nipples.

“Toshi….” you whimpered, yearning for the feeling of his thick fingers inside of you and his mouth on your chest. He seemingly understood your pleas as his fingers slowly thrust into you, stretching you out with two straight of the bat.

“Fuck!” you squeaked, not expecting the brutally fast pace that followed.

“I will not be gentle tonight. When you see the team tomorrow, they will know you belong to me.” He growled, mercilessly finger fucking you with two fingers, using a third to draw small circles around your clit.

You were gasping for air as your head tossed back against the wall. There were no words to express how you felt, even if there were you wouldn’t be able to say them with how Wakatoshi was fucking every breath out of your body.

He didn’t let up, not until you were almost to climax, your nails digging into the meat of his bare shoulders. One of your legs was wrapped around his waist as three of his fingers pressed in and out of your g-spot at lightning speed. You could feel both of your thighs shaking under your body weight, and you weren’t sure how much longer you’d be able to hold your one thigh up around him.

“Wakatoshi....please….” you cried, raking your fingers down his shoulder blades, reveling in the way that they flexed against your grip. “I’m so close!”

“Do you want me to fuck you now?” he asked, taking his fingers out of you and turning you around before pushing your top half down against your vanity in the corner of the room. You could feel your dripping pussy exposed at a new angle as Wakatoshi quickly kicked off his own pants, stroking his thick cock in his hand before stepping up behind you and rubbing it against your slit, wetting it with your juices.

“Yes, please!. Pleasepleaseplease!” you babbled, the feeling of the head of his cock rubbing up and down your pussy becoming too much to bear.

With a single thrust, Wakatoshi was completely inside of you, ripping a scream from your lungs as his cock split you in half. Usually, he took his time, but you could tell that tonight he wanted to show you that you truly belonged to him.

“Fuck.” He groaned, thrusting his hips into you at an intermediate pace. He wanted to teach you who you belonged to, but he didn’t want to hospitalize you by going full speed right away.

“Mmmm….” you moaned, “love the feeling of your cock baby.” you tried to bring your hips back to meet his thrusts but were immediately stopped by his big hands pressing them into the wood of the vanity.

He continued his onslaught, snapping his hips and thrusting in and out of you, quickly building up to a seemingly inhuman pace. He wove his finger through your hair and pulled your head up to look at him through the mirror of the vanity.

“Tell me who you belong to.” He demanded. You opened your mouth in a silent moan as your eyes were met with the sight of him fucking you into the piece of furniture. Your face was red with exertion, your hair sticking with sweat. It wasn’t a superficially erotic sight (at least in your opinion) but the fucked out expression on your face was a dead give-away of how badly you enjoyed Wakatoshi dominating you like this.

Wakatoshi groaned, the feeling of his cock pushing in and out of your tight hole as he brutally fucked you was glorious. His eyes never left your form in the mirror as he stared at the way your pretty tits and stomach bounced with each push of his hips.

Fucking you in the mirror was his favorite was to take you, the ability to watch your face, your tits/stomach, and your ass/thighs all at the same time was quite possibly his favorite thing in the world. He felt himself getting close as his eyes continued to watch your blissed-out face through the glass.

One of his hands reached down and his fingers began to circle your clit again, making your eyes, that you hadn’t even realized were closed, spring open and another cry slip from your lips.

“Ooooooh…. Toshi…:” you panted. “I’m close…”

“Tell me who you belong to.” He growled, his free hand coming up and wrapping around your neck as his lips pressed against your rapid pulse. You could feel yourself beginning to lose yourself, you were so close to orgasm that tears began to run down your face.

“You! Toshi- only you!”

“Are you sure?” he asked meanly, flicking his thumb out maliciously over the oversensitive bud of your clit.

“F-fuck YES! Fuck yes Toshi….. p-please....let me cum!”

“Cum.”

Your body began to practically convulse as your orgasm ripped through your body, leaving your vision white as you shook with pleasure, you could feel yourself clenching around Wakatoshi’s cock as he moaned deeply and began to cum inside of you, letting himself be milked by your walls.

You cried as you came down from your high, your legs feeling like jelly as Ushijima’s strong arms wrapped around your body, supporting you and making sure you didn’t drop to the floor from exhaustion.

He gently pulled out of you and carried you to the bathroom. He set you down on the counter as he went to turn on the shower, the sight of his broad back covered in scratch marks making you bask in the glow of your orgasm even more.

“Did I hurt you?” He asked guiltily, concerned eyes sweeping your body worriedly. You let out a half giggle/ half hiccup and shook your head.

“I love you Toshi.” You whispered, opening your arms so he could pick you up and carry you to the shower with him, which he contently did, his thick biceps flexing against your back as he held your body against him under the hot stream of water.

“I love you too. You are mine.” He said as he lathered shampoo into your hair. You smiled, shivering at the feeling of his fingers against your scalp and his words of love in your mind.

“I’m yours.” You said sweetly, before turning in his grasp to return the favor.

#haikyuu smut #haikyuu x chubby reader #haikyuuxreader #haikyuu 18+#ushijima x reader #ushijima smut #ushijima

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thefanficmonster · 4 years

Text

Unlucky

Part 2: ‘Lucky Me’

Corpse Husband x Reader

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Corpse decides to email back a person who has sent him quite a few creepy stories. She never seems to run out of scary encounters of both sorts: paranormal and stranger-danger. He gets suspicious that the stories are all made up so she can grab his attention, but he’s in for a surprise.

U/N - username

Requested: No

Corpse’s POV

I’m looking through my most recent emails from fans. They are all of scary encounters they’ve allegedly experienced. By now, I’ve read so many, it’s easy to decipher which are real and which are just made up nonsense. Some, I must admit, give me chills. Big props to the people who write those, especially if they are made up. If you can make someone’s skin crawl with your twisted, frightening imagination, you have one, for lack of a better term and in the most positive way, fucked up mind.

My cursor lands on the familiar username I see almost every other week. U/N. They have been sending stories consistently for about three years now. They, and I’m saying they cause you can never be sure who’s hiding behind the username, are either the most unlucky person to walk the planet or the one with most twisted imagination and story telling skills. I’ll admit, sometimes I narrate a story just because it’s well written. Believability is not the only thing I go by, I also reward creativity. And this person, U/N, has had their spot in many of my videos in the last three years. I’m honestly hoping they are made up, or at least some of them, because not only are there too many of them, but none of them fail to give me that eerie paranoia after I read them or the chills while I read them.

Once again, they have submitted a downright terrifying story. It would be a shame if I didn’t narrate it.

It would be a shame if I....

If I never actually meet them.

This many run-ins with people with malicious intent, always getting away by some miracle, what if they one day don’t make it out alive to tell it.

My heart sinks a little at the thought. I feel like I know this person, like we’ve known each other for three years now. They know the things the whole internet knows about me, and I, along with my regular watchers, know their stories. That’s by no means enough, now that I think about it.

My next action is really out of character for me. I decide to reach out to them. My fingers fly over the buttons on my keyboard too fast for my rational side to try and stop them. Deep down, I know I’m doing the rightest wrong thing I’ve ever done. My previously sunk heart is now in its assigned spot again, beating quickly.

You don’t know what you’re doing

I maybe don’t, but knowing isn’t what’s important right now. I just wanna do it.

~ Hey, this is probably, what, your twentieth story so far. I’m just curious, how many of these are made up? By the way, your stories are amazing and I’ll probably keep narrating them even if they aren’t real. They’re just that good.

I send the email before I can talk myself out of it. I get up from my chair immediately afterwards, putting as much distance between me and the computer as possible, silently promising myself I won’t be checking my mail every five minutes.

Y/N’s POV

I anxiously refresh and refresh my email inbox, waiting for the dreaded email back from my professor. Being halfway through the college experience, I know how tough this professor’s class is and how much I suck at it. I sent him my completed assignment last night, barely making the deadline mind you, so now I’m sweating hardcore, staring my computer screen down.

After refreshing for the millionth time, I’m met with a new email which makes my heart stop for a second or two, my stomach dropping. Then I take the time to read the sender’s name, the subject and the first sentence of the email, and all the previous changes in me reverse. My heartbeat picks up speed, going faster than a galloping horse and my stomach turns, making me feel the sensation everyone calls ‘butterflies’.

Nah, man. This shit ain’t real. It can’t be.

But then again, what if it is. What if I’m about to full-on ignore my favorite youtuber because of my paranoia. Well, it’s not exactly unsupported. My life has been a shit show of unfortunate event and situations I’ve literally had to claw my way out of in order to stay alive. Now, when something of the sort happens, it’s just another weekday. However, I still wanna share these encounters. Not only because they are proof of the dangers girls have to deal with on a daily basis, but they also get narrated by one of my favorite people ever. What more can a girl ask for?

~ Listen, I’m really not looking forward to getting catfished. Please leave me alone

It’s short, not sweet, and to the point. It’s easy to understand, and it clearly states that I’m not falling for it if it’s a scam, but if it’s real....someone call 911 cause I think I’ll faint.

~ I get it, you have trust issues. But that’s understandable. From the creepy guy messaging you on all your social media. To the stalker you had from you high school, or even that teacher that turned out to not be a teacher at all and just a pedo, I see where the lack of trust is coming from. But I assure you, they only thing I wanna do is chat.

The shock and happiness overwhelm me when the reply arrives not even ten minutes later.

Holy shit, this is him.

I start typing and then erase the typed half-sentence at least three times before receiving another email from him. From Corpse Husband. Corpse freaking Husband. How the fuck am I supposed to compose myself enough to reply to him, let alone sound cool and leave a good impression.

My hand shakes as I click the newly received email.

~ You probably don’t know what to say. Either that or you just don’t wanna talk to me. If you’re just baffled and surprised, reply with your name. If you want me to fuck off, ignore this email completely.

The smile I didn’t realize was there grows into a grin as small bursts of laughter escape me. Laughter caused by disbelief and shock. The type of laugh you let out when you score a good mark on the test you thought you completely fucked up.

~ Y/N. My name’s Y/N.

PS: The stories are all 100% real. All happened. In the order I sent them too. And before you ask, I guess I’m just unlucky, but you are proving me wrong right now.

I don’t know where that confidence at the end came from, but I don’t care really. All that matters is that this might just actually be happening and it might be the best thing to ever happen to me.

~ Man, you’ve had it rough. Tell me, is there an easier way to access you than email. Like Insta DMs? I feel we have a lot to talk about and email is not the most convenient.

At this point, it feel so much like a fever dream that I decide to treat it as though it is. I just go with the flow.

~ Yeah, but first.....am I really not being catfished right now?

The email I receive as a reply to this message is empty of text but there’s a file attached. Not gonna lie, I am a bit hesitant to open it, but I decide that if this turns bad, I’ll just have to deal with it. In the meantime, I’ll believe it’s not a scam.

It’s an audio file: “No, Y/N, you are not being catfished.”

That voice. That god damn voice. It could convince me of anything.

And now it’s convinced me into believing him. And finally letting out that squeal I was holding back before sending him my Instagram username.

#corpse #corpse husband #corpse husband fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #x reader #reader #requests open #request #husband #corpse simp #love #romance #among us

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theflyingfeeling · 3 years

Note

Hi, if I'm not late to throw this idea at you: Aleksi and Olli aren't dating yet, but they both want to make a move at the Valentines day. So we have an incredibly long day at studio, two nervous (idiots) boys in love and others who either try to help or observe the whole show with some popcorn

Again, right up my alley! 💞

Also, you were not late, but I am, horribly so 😂

(long(ish) text alert!)

Aleksi stared at the road ahead of him, sucking his lips as he tried to find the right opener to present his reuqest to Niko.

“Hey, umm,” he began and ran his fingers through his hair, “can I ask you a favour?”

Niko looked up from his phone. “What is it?”

“Well, umm…” It was laughable how nervous he was about the whole situation. “Actually, never mind,” he sighed after a moment.

It’s not like he’d ever actually have the courage to do something about it; getting together with Olli was just a daydream, nothing more, and whether Niko helped him out or not made little to no difference.

But oh, what a daydream it was! How lovely were the butterflies that fluttered around inside his stomach whenever Olli smiled at him, sometimes bashfully, other times knowing exactly what he did to Aleksi. How devastating was it when he looked away, indifferent or insecure, Aleksi could only guess, yet it broke his heart a little each time. Combined with all the small touches, the lingering hugs, and the way he occasionally straight up crawled next to Aleksi in his bed on tour or on the sofa at their training studio and snuggled against him when he was tired or drunk enough, it was all but simple trying to figure out how Olli felt about him. Even still, he really, really wanted to believe the crush was requited. Unfortunately, you just couldn’t be completely sure when it came to Olli Matela, who on his best (or worst, depending on how you looked at it) days could behave like he lived off kisses and cuddles as much as Porko did.

As if Niko had been reading his mind, he asked: “Is it about Olli?”

And if there was one thing Aleksi had learnt over the years spent with his violent pop boys, it was that there was no use lying to Niko about anything. He’d dig out the truth eventually, one way or another; hiding the truth from him would only slow him down, if even that.

“Yeah,” Aleksi said quietly, not even bothering to ask what had given him away.

“He likes you too, bro,” Niko stated, proceeding to browse his phone. “In case you were wondering.”

Ironically, that information did not help Aleksi’s despair in the slightest.

“I like him so bad,” Aleksi groaned, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, “and I was gonna do...something about it today, but… ugh, I don’t know.”

“Well, what did you have in mind?” Seemingly realising the conversation was not over, Niko pocketed his phone and turned on his seat for a better view at Aleksi.

Aleksi felt his cheeks warming and he groaned again, feeling like a clueless teenager crushing on his classmate.

“Aww, did you wanna kiss him? Ask him to be your Valentine?” Niko chirped. Aleksi didn’t need to look at him to know the kind of smile Niko was wearing.

Suddenly he regretted not having consulted Tommi instead.

“I just want to… be with him.”

“Lucky for you buddy, I have good reason to believe the bassist will be at the studio as well. I mean, he damn better be, if he wants to have his bass lines finished today.”

“But you all will be there too,” Aleksi muttered, already dreading the chaos awaiting them at the studio. Nothing in particular needed to even happen; when Blind Channel assembled, it was sure to end in pure mayhem, often sooner rather than later.

“Why, that minor obstacle is easily dealt with,” Niko assured him. Aleksi just barely dared to take a glance at Niko, only to see an annoyingly smug smile stuck on his lips. “Trust me.”

Niko boosted his word by lightly nudging Aleksi’s shoulder with his fist.

Aleksi did not trust him, not even a little bit, but he supposed it was the best shot he got.

Olli was not surprised to find the terror twins already at work by the time he arrived at the studio with Tommi.

“Is Aleksi here yet?” Olli asked as he stepped in the room.

Joel shook his head, never lifting his gaze from his guitar, but Joonas immediately looked up, eyebrows risen. Then he began wiggling them while smiling widely at Olli, not missing a beat as he kept plucking on his six-string.

“Ooh, so will this finally be the day?” he asked, tapping Olli’s foot with his as Olli sat next to him on the sofa.

“I don’t knooooooooow,” Olli growled and slid against the back rest. He slammed his palms on his cheeks and lightly pressed his eyes with his fingers.

It was so unlike him to spend half the night awake imagining all the thrilling, hand-trembling, and sometimes even absurd scenarios in which he would finally make a move on Aleksi, or at least a more obvious move than what he had done thus far. He had tossed and turned in his bed, his mind unwilling to let him rest from thoughts of taking Aleksi’s hand in his, looking him in the eyes for as long as his patience would allow before stepping in closer, maybe sliding his other hand to Aleksi’s smooth neck and leaning in for a kiss. Perhaps Aleksi would meet him half way; that’s what Olli allowed himself to hope anyway. Although Olli infamously had a history of failing at putting together the clues when someone was crushing on him, he was fairly certain he had been reading Aleksi’s non-verbal cues correctly. Only fairly certain, however, because of course Aleksi could have been moaning Olli’s name in his sleep that one night on tour as a friend, too. And how was Olli supposed to know whether the heart next to his name in Aleksi’s WhatsApp contacts Olli had seen when he had been looking over Aleksi’s shoulder as he browsed his phone meant anything at all?

There was a chance it all was just foolishly wishful thinking and he could very possibly turn their whole relationship incredibly awkward if his gut feeling had misled him. But how much longer would he stay sane, not knowing for sure?

He knew his bandmates would argue he wasn’t all that sane to begin with, which is why he generally avoided asking their advice regarding matters like this, if only he could help it. Thus, turning to Joonas only showed just how desperate he was.

“What should I do?” he whined and leaned his head on Joonas’ shoulder. “I don’t think I can handle this anymore.”

“Handle what?” Joel finally looked at Olli, wearing a slight frown on his face.

Joonas was kind enough to provide an answer. “He can’t handle the fact he wants to handle Aleksi.”

“Ah. Sure,” Joel shrugged and turned his focus back to his guitar.

Olli rolled his eyes but stayed put against his friend. “Thanks, Porko, that’s exactly how I would have put it myself.”

“Tell me I’m wrong, though,” Joonas patted Olli’s thigh. “But honestly speaking, I don’t understand why you two still keep playing cat and mouse. Even my mom wondered the other day why you’re not already official.”

“Oh god, is that why my mom texted me the other day asking if I have something to tell her? Porko, what the fuck, argh!” Olli whined, hiding his face with his hands again.

“I didn’t tell her anything, I swear, I can’t help she’s nosy!”

“Wait, is that why my mom texted me the other day complaining how she’s always the last one to know about everything? She seemed proper pissed,” Tommi frowned, causing Olli to groan some more.

“If it helps at all, my mom’s not interested in your marital status whatsoever,” Joel commented. “Although she did ask me when you’ll be moving to Helsinki. Didn’t really understand what she was on about so I told her to ask you.”

“Wonderful, so now all your mothers are after me? Has anyone called Niko’s mom yet?” Olli sat up and spread his arms, exasperated.

“Called my mom about what?” Niko peeked his head from behind the studio door, making the four of them jump. Less of a surprise were Joonas’ quick wits that came up with a comeback not a second later.

“About his son being a fine piece of ass. Someone ought to let her know,” Joonas said and puckered his lips to make kissy sounds at Niko’s direction. Niko walked over and ruffled Joonas’ already messy hair, Aleksi following right at his heels, looking at everything and everyone except Olli before finding his seat by the mixing table. If Olli wasn’t tormented by all the anticipation and uncertainty before, he was now so deep in damnation that even the ruler of the Underworld would have taken pity on his sorry soul.

A moment later, his misery was relieved a little when Aleksi’s eyes finally found his from behind his black hair when Olli stood up to grab his bass and go to the recording room. It was just the briefest of glances, fortified with a tiny smile, but in that moment it meant the world to Olli, giving him just the right kind of inspiration to put his everything to his final tracks.

Aleksi could not stop marveling at what an amazing job Olli had done with his instrument. His parts neared perfection, and this time he had almost remembered to unmute the thing on his first try which, by Olli’s standards, was a definite advancement. However, Aleksi would lie if the mishap hadn’t made the man only more lovable in his eyes; the embarrassed smile and the slight blush looked sinfully good on him. Similarly, Aleksi had nothing to complain about when half an hour after Olli had successfully wrapped his part, he was still chuckling to himself and hiding his face on the front of Aleksi’s hoodie, mumbling about what a dumbass he was.

“You’re not a dumbass,” Aleksi consoled him, petting his soft hair. They had spread themselves on the sofa, which was enough intimacy for Aleksi to consciously having to keep his mind from wandering to irrelevant details, such as Olli’s lower stomach pressed against his crotch or Olli’s hands moving slowly on Aleksi’s chest, frustratingly so.

“He’s a little bit of a dumbass,” Joonas remarked from the squeaky office chair, spinning on it back and forth.

“You heard him!”, Olli revealed his face to Aleksi as he set his chin on Aleksi’s chest. All of a sudden his face was only a few inches from Aleksi’s, and the view made Aleksi hold his breath.

What’s worse, he could feel it having the same effect on Olli, his body going completely still against Aleksi’s own.

Then, Niko’s suspiciously loud voice broke the tension that had suddenly settled in the room.

“So, umm, that problem with your car, Tommi, did you wanna go us have a look at it now?”

“What prob– ow!” Tommi cried when Niko elbowed him.

“You know, the problem with the, umm,” Niko said, pausing to nod towards Aleksi and Olli, and not particularly discreetly, “the...umm, the…”

“Cylinder,” Joonas whispered to him, even less subtle in his efforts.

“Yes, the cylinder!”

“Ooohh, that problem,” Tommi nodded. Had Aleksi’s hands not been so comfortable buried in Olli’s hair, he would have facepalmed himself, for Niko’s “mastermind plan”, as he had called it in the car, was an even more transparent scheme than he had expected. He could not imagine a less convincing excuse to go outside than helping Tommi with a car issue; if you were to ever go near the hood of Tommi’s beloved Peugeot, you were either extremely brave, extremely stupid, or downright suicidal.

“We better go at once, and Joel should come too, in case we need to tow it to the carage,” Joonas contributed. Joel said nothing, but the raise of his eyebrow indicated he wasn’t completely following. Still, Aleksi appreciated it when he, too, put down his guitar and followed the others outside.

Once the loud chatter disappeared behind the door, Aleksi looked at Olli, whose face was as puzzled and amused as Aleksi’s own probably was. Then they burst into giggles, Olli burying his face against Aleksi’s chest again. He could feel the vibrations of Olli’s body, the body Aleksi was desperate to feel closer to his, even though Olli wasliterally lying on top of him.

When the laughter died, Olli shuffled further up and tilted his head so that his cheek was on Aleksi’s collarbone, his nose blowing calm breaths on his neck. Olli’s fingers travelled up Aleksi’s chest again, stopping right by the neckline and poking at the drawstrings of his hood.

“You’re cute,” Aleksi blurted out as he looked down at Olli, who was seemingly preoccupied with his important task of fumbling with the details of Aleksi’s sweater.

The unscheduled announcement made Olli abandon his work and lift his head. His mouth was partly open and his eyes blinking softly, and Aleksi found it incredibly hard to restrain himself from giving in at last and kissing him.

“You’re cute too,” Olli said and bit his lip, as if just his smile wasn’t enough to send Aleksi to nirvana. Aleksi could barely hearhis own thoughts from the thumping inside his chest, each beat voicing a rhythmic Olli, Olli, Olli, but miraculously he managed to persuade his brain to form intelligible words.

“Do you wanna go out?”

Olli blinked at him a couple of times. Mentally, Aleksi slapped himself.

Thanks, brain, knew I could count on you.

“Like… to look at Tommi’s car or–“

“With me,” Aleksi cut him short. “Do you wanna go out with me?”

Olli kept blinking his long lashes, mouth shaping a small O.

“As in, on a date,” Aleksi elaborated, just to make sure Olli wouldn’t think he was asking Olli to join him on the balcony to get some fresh air and wonder about the weather.

There were a few more soft blinks before Olli burst into a series of quiet giggles against Aleksi’s chest. Having collected himself relatively soon, he touched Aleksi’s neck with his hand and brought his face so close that Aleksi thought he was gonna pass out from the sheer beauty of Olli’s eyes, staring right into Aleksi’s soul that humbly wished it had found its counterpart.

“Yes,” Olli answered. On some level, Aleksi had known he would, but still the relief of finally hearing itwashed over him like a tornado, fast and thoroughly.

“But just so you know, I don’t kiss on the first date,” Olli said, and suddenly Aleksi felt like the whirlwind of emotions had taken everything with it.

“Oh,” hemanaged to say. “That’s–“

“Which is why I suggest we do it now, so that I won’t have to give up my principles.”

The addition made Aleksi exhale and chuckle silently. He wondered how he had ever fallenfor this absolutedoofus of a man, but at the same time, he couldn’t name a single reason why he shouldn’t have.

“Well, I’d hate for you to loosen your morals.”

Aleksi heard a few warm giggles before Olli closed the gap between their mouths.

The sensation was everything Aleksi had imagined in his lovelorn daydreams, yet nothing like he could ever have expected. Their lips and tongues worked together so seamlessly that it was hard to believe they were sharing their very first kiss. In Aleksi’s mind they had, of course, done this multiple times in a range of scenarios, but now that Olli was finally kissing him for real, all of that seemed like a huge waste of time; dream-Olli sure was lovely, but he did not even begin to compare to the one sucking on Aleksi’s bottom lip right now, grinding his body against Aleksi’s.

Aleksi could not stop himself, nor did Olli for that matter, when his hands slid under Olli’s shirt, stroking his back muscles while Olli’s hands roamed Aleksi’s chest. Heat started building up in Aleksi’s lower stomach as their movements grew more erratic, their kisses more sloppy, and breathing seemed like a secondary chore that had to make room for shaky laughs and barely audible moans.

How far they would have gone, they’d never know, as the opening of the door make them drop what they were about to do and bolt up from the sofa.

“Oh, shit, sorry, we thought you’d be done by now.” Joonas’ head appeared from behind the door. “Carry on,” he winked and closed the door again.

Laughing at the absurdity of it all, Aleksi and Olli fell into another embrace, one that was a little less lustful than the one they had shared on the sofa, although their hearts were still racing and their cheeks coloured by a healthy shade of red.

Aleksi stole another kiss, reveling in the fact he could nowdo so whenever he wanted. Sighing into the kiss, he let his lips stay on Olli’s for as long as it felt comfortable, which would have easily been for the whole eternity.

#blind channel #blind channel rpf #blind channel fanfiction #olli/aleksi #valentine's day fluff by theflyingfeeling #can you tell i've never set foot in a music studio before lol pls be nice 🙈#it's called fanFICTION for a reason #also. lots of car issues in these ficlets recently? 😅 don't ask me why lol it was just convenient #ollixallu

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