#we knew only how to dissolve and merge

[svbhuman]

idk man. i should be humble and whatnot but i have to defend myself

[swiftiethatlovesf1]

Back home p.11

Hii guyss, here's part 11 of the story. If you want to read more stories of mine here's my masterlist and if you missed part 10.

Your life in Monaco was idyllic, growing up alongside the Leclercs. But everything changes when you're forced to leave. Now, returning to the place you once called home, you're confronted with a dilemma: not one, but two Leclerc brothers vying for your heart. Old bonds and unresolved emotions collide-what will you do when the past and present merge in unexpected ways?

The flight to Austin has an atmosphere that feels like a secret—something intimate and quietly thrilling. Charles, seated beside you, has been nothing but attentive, noticing every detail, from making sure you’re comfortable to offering his arm when you leaned back to rest. His casual charm wraps around you, making it feel like you’re the only two people in the world on this journey.

"So," he says, turning toward you with a small smile. "Tell me what you're listening to these days."

You shrug, feeling a little shy under his gaze. "Honestly, it's a mix. I’ve been exploring a lot of different genres. And…well, I’ve been trying to sing a little myself.”

Charles raises an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised. “You sing? I never knew that about you. I’m impressed.”

You wave a hand, brushing it off. “It’s just a hobby. Nothing big.”

He chuckles softly, his eyes never leaving yours. “Well, you’re going to have to sing for me, then. I could even play the piano for you.” His tone is light, but there’s a gleam in his eyes that suggests he’s serious about wanting to hear you.

The idea of singing for Charles stirs something nervous but exciting inside you. “I… I don’t know if I could. You’re kind of a hard audience, Leclerc.”

Charles tilts his head, leaning in just a bit closer. “Hardly. I’d be the most appreciative audience you could ask for.” There’s a mischievous glint in his eyes that only makes you more aware of how close he’s getting.

The distance between you shrinks as he continues, his voice low. “You know, you’ve changed a lot since we were kids.” His gaze softens, taking in your expression with a sincerity that leaves you speechless. “More confident, more sure of yourself… It’s… really nice to see.”

You swallow, nerves catching up to you as you meet his intense gaze. “I don’t feel that different,” you say quietly, but the warmth in his expression makes you think otherwise.

The plane hums around you, yet you feel wrapped in silence, each second stretching with a gentle, almost electric tension. Your hand brushes against his as he leans a little closer, the world fading to just the two of you. You’re barely aware of how close you’ve gotten until you can feel his breath on your cheek, a soft warmth that sends your heart into a frenzy.

“Charles…” you start, your voice trailing off as your eyes meet his, neither of you moving back, just caught in a slow, inevitable pull toward each other. His gaze flickers to your lips, his own parting slightly, as if considering something he hasn’t fully allowed himself to want until now.

Then, just as his hand shifts, like he’s about to close the last bit of distance between you, a sudden ding cuts through the silence. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re beginning our descent into Austin. Please ensure your seatbelts are fastened and your seatbacks are in their upright position.”

You both jolt slightly, breaking eye contact as the moment dissolves. Charles lets out a quiet chuckle, his expression tinged with something that looks almost like regret mixed with amusement. “Seems like our timing needs work,” he murmurs, brushing a hand through his hair, still close enough that you feel the warmth radiating from him.

As he shifts back into his seat, your heart races, cheeks flushed from the near-kiss. Charles gives you one last, lingering look, his lips curving into a knowing smile as the plane begins its descent.

When you arrive at the hotel, the front desk clerk smiles, handing Charles a single key card. He furrows his brow as he glances over the reservation details on his phone, realizing the mix-up. "Um, this can’t be right. I booked two rooms,” he murmurs, looking back up with a helpless smile.

The clerk checks and apologizes, explaining that due to an overbooking error, only one room with one bed is available. You exchange a glance with Charles, both of you feeling a little awkward but trying to keep it light.

As you reach the room and step inside, the spacious but clearly single-bed setup confirms the clerk's words. Charles scratches the back of his neck, laughing a little. “Well, I guess the couch is mine,” he offers, gesturing to the sofa in the corner. “It’s only fair.”

You shake your head with a laugh. “Charles, no. You’ve got a race coming up; you need to actually sleep. I’ll take the couch.”

He raises an eyebrow, a teasing smile tugging at his lips. “Right, because being crumpled up on the sofa is definitely going to be restful for you.” There’s a playfulness in his eyes that makes your heart flutter.

After a back-and-forth that neither of you seems eager to win, you let out a sigh. “Okay, fine. We’ll both just sleep on the bed then. It’s big enough, and… we’re adults, right?”

He nods, a bit more serious now, but there’s a hint of something else in his expression that you can’t quite place. “Right. Just a bed.”

The two of you settle into a routine, each trying to keep it casual. As the night wears on, you change into comfortable clothes, and he does the same, both of you tiptoeing around each other with an odd, excited tension. When it’s finally time to settle in, you lie beside him, keeping to your side, feeling the heat radiating from him even though there’s a good amount of space between you.

After a moment, Charles turns his head slightly, his voice low. “Are you comfortable?”

You nod, though your heart’s racing. “Yeah… It’s fine.”

There’s a pause before he says, “This… sort of reminds me of old times.” His tone is soft, nostalgic, almost like he’s letting his guard down.

You smile, letting yourself relax a little. “Yeah, like when we were kids. I’d almost forgotten how much time we used to spend together.”

He chuckles, the sound warm and reassuring. “It was always easy with you.”

Silence settles over you again, this time peaceful, yet electric with unspoken words. As your eyes start to drift shut, you feel his hand barely brushing yours, lingering there like an unspoken promise. You let it stay, and somewhere in that quiet closeness, you fall asleep, feeling like everything is exactly where it should be.

Part 12

Tag list: @iamapersonwholikesunicorns, @janeh22, @victoriaholland, @abq654, @iamapersonwholikesunicorns, @anaferreira-4, @larastark3107, @itgirlofthecenturysposts, @boherahpsody, @iamkaku, @jz12, @boherahpsody, @urfavouritef1girly, @meglouise00, @charlesgirl16

[waitimcomingtoo]

hoax ~ p.p

chapter one: just a sweet, sweet fantasy

series masterlist

Despite the fact that Peter had been pining for you the last three years of college, he had never had a conversation last more than a few minutes with you. As hard as he tried, he always got flustered and ran out of things to say or just made the conversation awkward. You never noticed him the way he noticed you, even after you were paired up with Ned for a school project last semester and your friend groups merged in the process. Peter thought his luck will change now that he was running in your circle, but all it did was make it more evident to him that he didn’t have a shot with you. You only saw him as a friend, and even that was an exaggeration of your relationship.

“Hi.”

You jumped a little when you heard Peters voice and looked up from your phone. You hadn’t even noticed that he was already sitting at the table you agreed to meet your friends at. It was pretty common for you not to notice Peter, but that didn’t mean he’d ever stop trying to get your attention.

“Oh, hi Peter. Sorry, I didn’t see you there. How are you?” You asked politely.

“I’m good. You?”

“Good. Thanks for asking.” You replied. You then pulled your phone back out and started to text, making all conversation cease.

“I like your skirt.” He said after a long beat of silence. You looked up in surprise since you thought the conversation had ended.

“Aw, thanks. That’s so nice of you to say.” You smiled before going back to your phone. He sighed in defeat even though this was how your conversations, or lack there or, usually went.

“Yeah, no problem. It’s like jeans but…not.”

“Oh, yeah. I think it’s called denim.” You laughed awkwardly and didn’t know it was was socially acceptable to go back to texting.

“Right. Denim.” He nodded, and conversation ceased once again.

“I like that it’s pleated.” He said after a full minute of silence.

“What?” You asked and looked up from your phone again.

“Your skirt.” He explained while his face turned bright red. He knew he was beating the death out of the skirt topic and it was made even worse by you knowing the same thing.

“Right, my skirt. Thanks. So do I.” You smiled politely again and touched the skirt.

“Hey losers.” MJ said as she approached the table. Peter heard you sigh in relief over not having to be alone with him anymore, and he couldn’t even blame you.

“Hey. Sit with us.” You smiled and patted the table. MJ sat down and the awkward tension dissolved with the presence of a third person. Your other friends, Kate and Gwen, soon joined the table too and the dynamic of the friend group was restored. Much to his disappointment, you and Peter seemed to lie in opposite ends of the friend group. You were friendly with each other, but also couldn’t be left alone together without maximum awkwardness ensuing. You were the people that would laugh at each others jokes in a group setting but never be able to hold a one on one conversation.

“Did you do the trig homework?” MJ asked you.

“Oh yeah. You need it?” You asked and put your backpack on the table to get your homework out. Peter looked up and noticed a pin of Spider-Man’s mask on your backpack. He did a double table and looked at you in surprise to confirm the backpack belonged to you.

“Is that a Spiderman pin?” He asked you.

“Oh, yeah. You haven’t heard? He’s her latest obsession.” Gwen teased you.

“For the record, I’ve always liked him.” You insisted. “I’ve been a fan since day one. The obsession has just gotten worse as I’ve realized he’s the only man for me.”

“Wait, really? He is?” Peter asked with a surprise smile.

“Please don’t get her started.” Kate whined. You ignored her and leaned towards Peter to talk to him.

“You know when you have a celebrity you like and you just know that if you ever met, you’d be great friends?”

“Of course.” Peter shrugged. “Dylan O’Brien would be my best friend if we ever crossed paths.”

“Exactly. That’s how I feel about Spiderman. Except instead of friends, we’d be lovers.” You said simply. A blush painted Peters cheek to hear you talk about him like that.

“Sounds like you really like him.” He smiled shyly.

“I’m in love with him. I have so many videos of him saved on Tik Tok.” You laughed and pulled out your tik tok to show your friends your collection of saved videos.

“Girl. 407?” Gwen gasped. “You’ve saved 407 edits of Spiderman with sexy songs in the background?”

“Um, yeah. I watch them before I go to sleep.” You shrugged and pulled your phone back. Peter was stunned to silence to hear how deep your obsession ran.

“You need help.” MJ snorted. “You don’t even know him.”

“I feel like I do. Haven’t you ever felt that way about someone you haven’t met yet?”

“I have.” Peter spoke up, making you smile.

“See? I’m not crazy. Just a romantic.��� You sighed. The conversation changed subjects and Peter was silent as he thought about what he had heard from you. After three years of being hopelessly in love with you, he may have just found his way in.

A few days later, your group agree to meet up in the library to do homework together. Ned was still out sick with the flu, so Peter didn’t have his crutch to lean on. You arrived early to the library and saw that Peter was the first one there. You gulped and braced yourself for the awkwardness that was about to happen and sat down across from him.

“Hey, Peter.” You said politely. He looked up at you and blushed before trying to think of something cool to say.

“Hey. How’s it going? How are you?” He asked.

“Pretty good. I’m a little stressed out over this stupid paper but Gwen said she’d help me today. How are you doing?”

“Really good. And you? How’s it going for you?” He asked before realized he already asked that.

“Uh, I think we covered that.” You joked.

“Right, right. You’re still good, I’m assuming. And, uh, nice shirt by the way.” He complimented you.

“Aw, thanks. It was my moms back in the 80s.” You smiled at him and then opened your laptop, ending the convo.

“I like your hair too. Did you change it?” He asked to try to resuscitate the conversation.

“No. I haven’t washed it in a few days. It’s just greasy.” You laughed awkwardly and ran your fingers through the it.

“Oh.” He gulped. “Well, it looks good.”

“Thanks.” You smiled again just as the rest of the friend group joined you. You both seemed to relax now that everyone was there and you no longer had to limp through a conversation. Peter didn’t say much as the group talked about homework and weekend plans but snuck glances at you the entire time.

“Wait a minute. Why do you have a magazine? What year is this?” MJ laughed and pulled a magazine out of your open backpack. You gave her a playful look and snatched the magazine from her.

“Because. Look at this picture someone took of him yesterday.” You smiled cheekily and laid the magazine out for the table to show them a picture of Spiderman.

“Oh my God. Please. It’s too early for this.” Kate playfully whined and banged her textbook against her head.

“This is the most detailed photo I’ve seen of him yet. It’s so clear. I bet he’s so cute under the mask.” You sighed happily and looked at the picture again. Peter watched the way you stared at the picture in the way he’d been looking at you all these years and smiled to himself. He’d never been able to turn your head, but he was pleased to know Spiderman could.

“Or he’s 30 and has a greasy little rat face.” MJ grimaced.

“Stop it. Don’t ruin my fantasy.” You said and playfully smacked her arm. She laughed and wrapped an arm around you while you continued to stare at the picture.

“Fantasy?” Gwen smiled coyly. “Uh oh. Spill.”

“Okay, so I have this fantasy where he sees me walking home and drops down from the sky to walk me home. Just to make sure I get there safely.” You told the group with a dreamy smile.

“Oh. That’s a lot less erotic then I thought it would be.” Kate said in disappointment.

“Oh, trust me. I have plenty of those. But I’m not sharing any of them here.” You smiled coyly and drummed your fingers on the table. Peter gulped when he realized what you were talking about and turned bright red.

“What else do you fantasize about?” Gwen asked you.

“Mostly him saving me from danger. But low key danger. I don’t want to actually be in danger danger. Maybe just tripping on the sidewalk and he catches me. Or, you know, he stops a car from crushing me like in Twilight.”

“This little crush of yours is getting out of hand.” MJ laughed and shook her head. “You’re literally asking to be crushed by a car now?”

“But imagine how amazing it would be to be his girlfriend.” You gushed. “He could swing me around the city in his arms and kiss me on the top of the Brooklyn bridge. Or take me on dates on the top of the Empire State Building. I want it so bad.”

“So stand in the street until a car comes near you and wait for him to swing you to safety.” MJ said sarcastically.

“Don’t give her ideas.” Kate groaned.

“You don’t think I’ve considered that? I’d do anything for a date. Just one. I swear, I could get him to fall in love with me. I just need one chance.” You sighed and picked up your magazine to admire it.

“I bet he would.” Peter spoke up. You looked at him over the magazine and smiled.

“See? Peter supports me. At least someone’s on my side.” You said and gestured to Peter. You made eye contact with him again and this time, it didn’t feel awkward. You liked that he was being supportive, no matter how silly your argument was.

“I think you’d make a great couple.” Peter continued, making you smile once again.

“Thank you.” You told him. “Now I just need to find a way to talk to him.”

“Maybe leave a couple flies on your windowsill.” Peter suggested. All the girls looked at him in confusion and he felt embarrassed that his joke didn’t land.

“Because he’s a spider. And they eat flies.” He shamefully explained. You stared at him slack jawed for a moment before throwing you head back laughing.

“That was genius.” You laughed. “Although, I hope he doesn’t actually eat bugs. I don’t think I could kiss a guy who eats flies.”

“He doesn’t.” Peter said with such certainty that everyone looked at him in confusion again.

“I’m….I’m guessing.” He lied. You smiled at him again before going back to talking to your friends. The conversation faded to background noise as Peter constructed a plan in his head.

After class that day, Peter changed into his suit and hung out on top of a building to watch the people walking in and out of campus. If you wanted to talk to Spiderman that badly, he was gonna bring Spiderman to you. Finally, he spotted you walking to your dorm with your earbuds in as you typed away on your phone.

“Hey! How are you? I’m Spiderman!” He whispered to himself to practice what he would say to you.

“No. That’s stupid. She already knows it’s me.” He grumbled. “Hey! What’s up? It’s me, your friendly neighborhood giant fucking loser Jesus Christ this is so difficult. Okay. Just be normal. Just talk to her. Just…”

Peter trailed off when he heard the sound of an engine revving. A car was speeding down the street and heading right towards the blissfully unaware you. Peter immediately jumped down and landed between you and the car, putting his hand up to stop it right before it could hit you. The car bent against his hand and came to a halt as Peter held you close to his body. People on the street gasped and started to take picture while you gasped for air. You pulled your earbuds out and looked at Peter in disbelief.

“Hi.” He said through the mask.

“Oh my God. It’s you.” Your voice shook as you tightened your grip on him. You were shaking with adrenaline and fear so he tightened his grip around your body.

“It’s me.” He said weakly. He had almost seen you die but now had to pretend you were a stranger he had never met before.

“You just saved my life.” You told him as a smile crossed your face.

“It’s my job.” He said simply. Your smile grew and you threw your arms around him in a hug.

“Thank you.” You whispered into his ear. Peter blushed under the mask and hugged you back. People on the streets clapped and took videos, but you were unaware of any of it. The man driving the car got out just as the police arrived to take yours and Peters statements. Once you were all squared away with the police, Peter wrapped an arm around your waist.

“Let me get you somewhere safe.” Peter said before swinging you a few blocks away from the sight of the crash. You held on tight and let out a happy scream as he swung you since it was a dream of yours coming true. When he set you down, you smoothed your hair down and looked at him.

“Thank you so much for saving me. I’m such an idiot. I was so focused on my phone that I just mindlessly kept walking even when the walk sign wasn’t on.”

“You’re not the idiot. That driver was. He was going 60 miles an hour in a school zone. It wouldn’t have mattered if the wall sign was on or not. I’m just glad I could be here to stop the car.”

“Just like Twilight.” You whispered to yourself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Sorry. I’m just a little starstruck.” You admitted with a shy smile.

“Don’t be.” He shrugged. “I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.”

“I know. But I’m kinda your biggest fan.”

“Well, I’m flattered. It’s nice to have a fan.” He chuckled through the mask. For the first time, Peter actually found it easy to talk to you. Conversation was flowing and he didn’t even have to try.

“I’m seriously obsessed with you. I’ve been following you since you first started, back when I was in high school. I think what you do is amazing. And now that you stopped me from becoming street meat, I’ll love you forever.” You told him before you knew what you were saying. You felt embarrassed to be freaking out so much over him, but he didn’t seem to think it was weird.

“I’m happy to hear that.” He smiled shyly at the sound of you promising to love him forever.

“Good. And I promise, I’ll never look at my phone while walking again. I’ll be super careful from now on.”

“What were you so focused on anyway?” He wondered.

“Oh, um…” You trailed off and just showed him your phone instead of trying to explain. It turned out the thing that had distracted you so much that you almost got hit by a car was a Tik Tok of footage of Spiderman edited to the song Deep Throat by Cupcakke. You smiled in embarrassment while Peter burst out laughing.

“That’s…intense.” He said once he regained his composure.

“I’m sorry. I tried to warn you. I said I was a fan.” You laughed and relaxed a little. You felt like you were being so weird, but he seemed to enjoy it.

“Can I walk you home?” He offered, making you light up.

“Really? I mean, yeah, sure.”

Peter put a gloved hand on your back and started walking with you back to your dorm. Conversation flowed easier than it ever had before and Peter felt like you were meeting each other for the first time. Talking to you as Spiderman was the antitheses of talking to you as Peter. His jokes didn’t fall flat, there was no awkward silence, and you were the one constantly complimented him.

“You know, I’ve fantasized about this very moment a million times.” You admitted to him as you neared your dorm.

“Have you?” He smiled coyly.

“Yeah. I just didn’t think it was actually gonna happen.”

“I don’t mind walking a pretty girl home. Maybe it can happen more often.” He timidly suggested. You stopped walking and looked at him to see if he was serious.

“I would like that.” You grinned.

“Cool. I’m smiling back at you, by the way. Sorry, I know it’s hard to tell under this.” He joked and gestured to the mask.

“It’s okay. I actually could tell.” You told him. Peter smiled only again and felt his heart swoon for you. You got to your dorm all too soon, meaning this conversation had come to an end.

“This is me.” You smiled sadly and pointed to your building. “Can I ask you something? Before you go?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“How old are you?” You said, close to a whisper.

“21.”

“Really?” You gasped. “Me too. You have no idea how relived I am to hear that.”

“Relieved? Why?”

“Because now I know my crush is age appropriate. So I can fully indulge in the fantasy. And because now I get to laugh in my friends faces who thought you were 30 or something.”

“It’s not really a fantasy if it’s really happening, is it?” Peter said as he stepped closer to you. Your breath caught in your throat and you broke into a dreamy smile.

“Trust me. It’s definitely a fantasy.” You sighed happily.

“Well, have a good night.” Peter said and squeezed your arm.

“You too.” You replied as you touched where his gloved hand had just been. Peter looked over his shoulder to wave at you before swinging away. Once you thought he was out of earshot, you let out a happy scream and jumped up and down. But you were never out of ear shot when it came to Peter, and he heard the whole thing with a grin on his face.

🖤🕸️🖤

chapter two is out now!

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[ninhaoma-ya]

24 days of Christmas: Marmalade

Thanks to @gravitymikanheart​ on tumblr for the prompts that had to do with family! Hope you enjoy :)

rominaluchetta/Pixabay

“Ha-CHO!”

Nami fought to suppress a giggle, but as with many fights in her life, it was in vain. But who could really blame her?

Law was unfairly cute with a dusting of flour in his hair and a dollop of icing smudged on his nose. Not even the sour look he threw her way could mitigate her mirth.

“Shouldn’t you keep your eyes on your pot?” Law’s voice was acerbic as he tried to brush away some of the icing sugar.

The sudden onslaught of burnt citrus made Nami swear, put on oven mitts and snatch away the overflowing pot from the hob, resolutely ignoring Law’s snicker.

“Crap.” Nami peered at the congealed mass clinging to the sides of the pot, beautiful shades of dark brown and deepest black mingling with crunchy bits and bobs. “Oh well. Luckily, we have enough tangerines for another batch.”

“Tangerine marmalade just sounds wrong.” Law grimaced as he measured a spoonful of cardamom into his bowl, spatula clattering against the edge.

“Says the man who thinks plum pudding is the best thing since sliced bread,” Nami scoffed, peeling another tangerine, careful to separate zest from pith.

“Plum pudding is the best thing ever. Sliced bread should just cease to exist.”

“I thought you detested plums.”

Law measured out the dough in even rows, each measured to flow out a perfect amount not to merge into a single, huge tray-cookie, but rather to maximize the space use when placed in the oven. “Fermented plums. Plum pudding, on the other hand…”

“Every now and then I question your judgment. This is one of those situations.”

“And yet here you are, baking cookies with me.”

“I am making marmalade. You are baking cookies.”

“And good thing I am, after the catastrophe of your swordsman.”

“You shouldn’t have sent Zoro to do the shopping, not if you have special requests.” Nami was unsympathetic towards such rookie mistakes. “At least he got the right kind of gluten free flour the third time around.”

Law merely scoffed and bent down to put the tray of finished cookies in the oven.

Nami was not looking at his very shapely arse, straining against his jeans with the movement.

She knew he knew what she had been doing by the satisfied smirk gracing his features as he righted himself.

“Why are you making marmalade? You don’t seem like the most avid kitchener?” Law asked, starting to clean up after himself.

“I happen to be a very good cook,” said Nami, nose in the air as she stirred her pot anew.

Law raised an incredulous brow. The effect was, however, somewhat lessened by the icing still on his nose.

Nami should probably tell him about it.

At some point.

“It was me who fed this crew before Sanji turned up, you know.”

“And what a price they paid.”

“Oh, yes, they did. Zoro’s still paying it off,” Nami said with a smirk.

“You are a cold-blooded witch.”

“And that’s why you like me.”

“A reason among others,” Law agreed. “But marmalade? Seems a bit complicated, though?” Nami could tell he wouldn’t give up, the change back to their previous topic was evidence enough. And the curiosity in Law’s voice was real; Nami could feel the weight of his full focus on her.

And so she pondered the answer.

The golden concoction in her pot had thickened enough to cling to the spatula. Fragrant smells mingled around her, the earlier tones of charcoal and scorched sugar dissolved into the Sunny’s efficient kitchen fan.

She could almost hear Nojiko’s laugh woven into the rich aroma, feeling the warmth of a pair of strong arms around her when Bell-mère taught her to stir the marmalade in even arcs before the boil.

“When I was small,” she said, “we didn’t have much.”

The hadn’t had much. It was only later, when she really thought about it, that she realised how little they had actually made do with.

Nami swallowed, following a bubble rising to the top. The marmalade would soon start to boil. “But when the seasons changed, when the year neared its end, my mother always made sure we had a feast.”

The really hadn’t had much. But Bell-mère had always, always made it so much more. When they didn’t have firewood, they camped in the kitchen, building a fort out of pillows and mattresses. It was great when they got to eat pancakes and it was only latter when Nami realised how cheap the ingredients for that was. Hand-me downs were always tailored and changed and made so much more than the patched things they started out as.

But once a year, there had been a feast, with rich foods and pudding. And snacks and gingerbread and marmalade.

“And I was responsible for making the marmalade.”

It was only when she felt Law wrap his arms around her and leaned his head against her temple she realised the stinging in her eyes and wet tracks on her cheeks. The marmalade was bubbling along nicely now, the thermometer showing a steady, perfect temperature.

Nami exhaled, feeling the tension she hadn’t even noticed leave her bones. “And it’s a good thing I’ve kept it up all these years,” she continued with a tremulant smile, brushing the tears away. “Else we wouldn’t have anything to eat with your cookies.”

Law’s laugh was a pleasant rumble in her back, his arms tightening around her for a breath.

Nami leaned back in his embrace, enjoying the moment of silence.

“Cora taught me the recipe,” Law said, his voice almost a whisper. “It’s been ages since I tried to do them.”

Nami squeezed his arms, still locked around her, smiling gently up at him.

“Come on. Let’s get some tea and enjoy the fruits of our labours.”

AO3

ff.net

[atlabeth]

talking to the moon

summary: dealing with the aftermath of the worst event of your life. 

pairing: sokka x fem!reader but solely platonic. stan big brother sokka 

a/n: this became so much longer than i initially meant for lmao. it was just supposed to be sokka and y/n talking but then i. wrote the whole death scene and a whole backstory and. im sorry. i made myself sad while writing this 

wc: 4.1k 

warnings: so much angst, death, mentions of suffocation, mentions of arranged marriages, one mention of blood, one single curse i think, lots of anger and lots of sadness but some fluff at the end 

based on the song “talking to the moon” by bruno mars 

living in the northern water tribe wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. 

as a waterbender, it should’ve been a perfect haven. a renowned master to teach her how to fight and become a master herself, a constant feeling of power being around ice and water all the time, and a comfortable life as the daughter of two important councilmembers that worked alongside chief arnook. 

but the only thing y/n had come to know of this place was a complete and utter loss of freedom. 

she wasn’t allowed to learn martial waterbending simply because she was a woman. master pakku wouldn’t even give her the time of day, and when she complained to her parents they cited century-long traditions and told her that was just how things were. 

y/n felt comfortable being around water and ice all the time, but it’s not like the power of the moon helped her when she hardly knew anything in the first place. it was slightly easier to try and teach herself new techniques that she learned from watching master pakku and his students, but it still almost always ended in failure. 

and of course, her noble heritage simply meant that she would be married off once she reached the appropriate age for the benefit of her family. yippee. 

but there was one benefit that came along with being the daughter of nobles that worked closely with the chief. 

princess yue. 

she was without a doubt the nicest girl that y/n had ever known, and they quickly became each other’s closest friends. y/n thought that maybe she wouldn’t like her because yue was two years her senior, but it didn’t matter in her eyes. yue showed y/n a side that she never showed anyone else; the carefree, energetic, loving side. the side that told y/n fantastical stories while they rode together the waterways. the side that encouraged y/n to waterbend whenever she could and to try as hard as possible to get the martial techniques down because ‘i know you can do it!’ the side that was absolutely fascinated by her waterbending, the side that shrieked in surprise then dissolved into giggles every time y/n soaked her at the end of the session. 

yue was the bright light in y/n’s boring days, and y/n was a needed reprieve from yue’s duties.

the young girls didn’t know that there was so much coming for them. 

~~

team avatar visiting y/n’s home was one of the most exciting things to happen to her. it was like a breath of fresh air in the monotony of her life, and it didn’t take too long for y/n to become friends with all of them at the celebratory dinner the night they arrived. 

y/n and katara instantly struck off. as waterbenders of the same age they already had a connection, but it was only strengthened the longer they stayed. y/n had never cheered so loud when she fought against pakku. 

it was impossible not to like aang. he was even younger than y/n with an infectious positive attitude and a smile always on his face. he even offered to help teach her waterbending along with katara after learning from pakku, which was a great plan until it wasn’t. 

her association with sokka came from her association with yue. he was infatuated with the princess almost immediately — it wasn’t a surprise, y/n was sure every boy in the tribe had a crush on her in some form — but he was also very kind to y/n. as time went on, they developed more of a sibling-like bond and y/n loved it. she was an only child raised to the highest expectations, but she was allowed to let loose around sokka. it also helped to see him make a fool in front of himself every time her and yue were together. 

things were looking up for y/n. she had three new friends that all liked her best friend, and she was actually learning a little bit more about fighting with waterbending from katara. everything was perfect. 

until the fire nation attacked. 

y/n had been with yue and sokka when they saw the black snow and immediately rushed back to the tribe to warn everyone. that was how a fourteen year old noble girl who barely knew how to defend herself like y/n got involved in a fight against the fire nation. 

after rescuing aang from zuko and, at aang’s request, bringing the unconscious prince with them, they started traveling back to the spirit oasis. y/n sat in the back of the saddle with sokka and yue, a new friend and her oldest friend, when yue suddenly grabbed her head with a small groan. y/n looked around and the world around them had turned red as blood. something was very wrong.

“are you okay? sokka asked, reaching for her instinctively as if to protect her from whatever was hurting her. 

“i.. i feel faint,” she muttered.

“i feel it too,” aang added. “the moon spirit is in trouble.” 

y/n’s eyes widened as she stared back at yue, horror dancing in her eyes as she shook her head. “no, no it can’t be. yue, you know what that means—” 

it wasn’t hard to catch onto the fearful tone in her voice and katara set an amicable hand on her shoulder. “what are you talking about, y/n?” 

thankfully, yue took over. “i owe the moon spirit my life.” 

“what do you mean?” sokka’s eyes went between y/n and yue, y/n’s worried gaze trained on yue as she explained how the moon spirit had given her life as a baby. when she was done, the water tribe siblings were staring at her in disbelief. 

“if the moon spirit is in danger then we need to save it.” y/n’s voice was hardened as they got closer to the spirit oasis, stretching her fingers out to get the blood flowing again in case she needed to bend. she didn’t know very much about combat besides what katara had taught her, but hopefully it would be enough to at least aid the rest of the team. 

appa slid to a stop in the spirit oasis and aang, sokka, katara, and y/n all hopped off of his back and got into battle stances. sokka took out his boomerang, aang wielded his staff, and y/n and katara got ready to bend. 

“don’t bother,” zhao spat. he held up the bag with tui and positioned his fist next to it, posing the very obvious threat. y/n’s eyes widened and her hands fell the slightest bit. he wouldn’t. 

it turned out that he very well would. 

y/n thought that they would be safe, that yue would be safe once he released the fish after iroh’s threat, but she should’ve known a man like that would never be satisfied. just as the normal hues of the oasis had returned, zhao let out a yell and blasted the koi with fire, plunging the world into various shades of grey. 

y/n let out a strangled cry as she realized what it meant, and she wanted to unleash all of her fury on zhao. she wanted to make him hurt, make him understand just what he had done. but it seemed that general iroh already had that plan as he started firebending viciously, swiftly defeating the soldiers after zhao had gotten away. 

y/n felt like she was in a haze, following through with her movements but not actually there. the four of them rushed towards the water and yue soon joined them, all looking down at tui in horror. the moon spirit was gone, dead, killed. 

her worst fear had come true, and she stared at yue’s blue eyes, the only thing that still had color, mouth opening and closing as she tried to think of things to say. 

“there’s no hope now,” yue mourned. “it’s over now.” 

“no it’s not.” 

y/n watched in amazement as aang merged with the ocean spirit and left to defend her home, but it melted away once again when she joined the siblings, iroh, and yue at the front of the water.

“it’s too late. it’s dead.” katara stared at the dead fish when iroh placed it back into the water. it truly did seem like it was over. y/n felt none of the usual power she felt at night. if she tried to bend, she knew nothing would happen.

iroh seemed to notice yue as she stepped closer and he raised his eyebrows. “you have been touched by the moon spirit. some of its life is in you.” 

“yes, you’re right.” yue set her jaw and y/n immediately knew what she was thinking. “it gave me life. maybe i can give it back.” 

“no!” y/n and sokka cried at the same time. y/n’s voice cracked and she had to do everything she could to prevent the tears from falling. “yue, no. you don’t have to do this.” 

“it’s my duty, y/n.” her kind blue eyes, an image that would haunt y/n for years to come, glistened with unshed tears as she walked over to the oasis. this time sokka grabbed her hand to try and stop her. 

“i won’t let you! your father told me to protect you!” sokka usually guarded his emotions but this time the fear in his voice was obvious, and it hurt. he didn’t want to lose her. he couldn’t lose her. 

“i have to do this.” 

y/n wanted to scream at yue to stop, try and knock some sense into her, hold the girl that she loved back from sacrificing herself. but she just stood there, frozen, as yue hovered her hands over the dead fish. tui began to glow, and yue collapsed. 

y/n rushed over to her as sokka caught her and she fell to her knees. the tears were falling, she didn’t care, her friend was gone, she was dying. y/n felt yue’s ice cold hand on her arm and she grasped it with both of her own. her and sokka were barely holding it together as they watched the girl they both loved die in their arms. 

“y/n..” her voice was already faint, she was using up all of her strength just to talk to them in her final moments. “thank you for everything. never forget what you are fighting for. i will always cherish our friendship.” 

a choked sob escaped y/n’s lips and she gripped yue’s hand as tightly as she could, like maybe if she didn’t let go then she would come back. she couldn’t even hear what she said to sokka, all she could hear was the pounding in her head. this couldn’t be happening. 

and then she was gone. the ice cold hand in y/n’s grip was gone, the girl they were cradling was gone, and in her place was just emptiness. iroh placed the koi fish back into the water and the entire oasis filled with light, and the energy around the lake turned into yue. she was ethereal. she was a spirit. she was gone. 

yue came closer and wrapped y/n in a hug, feeling more like a gentle breeze than a real person hugging her. she then kissed sokka, and a faint smile graced her lips. “goodbye, i love you both. i will always be with you.”

and with that, she was gone. 

y/n couldn’t hold it in anymore. she started sobbing, tears wracking her body and making it hard to breathe. she wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around sokka, burying her head in the space between his shoulder and his neck, and he returned the hug. they were just two kids who had watched a girl they loved sacrifice herself. what else could they do but hold each other and hope to all the spirits that they would be okay?

~~

y/n left with aang, katara, and sokka when they decided to set course for omashu. she couldn’t stay at the northern water tribe. all it served as was a constant reminder of that fateful night, the night that she had lost her best friend. she saw yue in everything, and she knew she would lose her mind if she stayed. so she asked if she could join them on their journey, and they agreed. y/n felt a constant pit of emptiness and hoped that helping the avatar would absolve some of the guilt. 

it didn’t. 

“this is your fault, y/n.” 

the blue eyes that haunted y/n so often appeared once again, staring back at her unflinchingly. there was a certain hardness behind them, a coldness that pervaded her skin, making its way to her heart. but she couldn’t look away. 

“you should’ve been able to save me.” yue’s voice, normally soft spoken and kind, reverberated throughout the endless void y/n was trapped in. 

she looked beautiful, otherworldly. the fabric of her dress floated around her at the edges and her white hair, the ever present reminder of her connection to the moon, flowed down her back. yue appeared the same as she had when she sacrificed herself, and it was the way she would look forever. y/n’s heart ached for her friend, knowing that she would never live out the rest of her life, never get to be the ruler she was meant to be. 

she tried to talk, but her voice wouldn’t work. her throat felt like it was closing up slowly, and her limbs might as well have been cast in concrete with how heavy they all felt. yue’s icy glare disappeared from view, but her voice was still all around her. 

“you did this to me. you’re the reason i’m dead. you should’ve been able to save me.” 

the words repeated thousands of times on top of each other, becoming louder and louder that it was all she could focus on. y/n was suffocating underneath it all, she couldn’t take it. she wanted to sob out how sorry she was, tell yue that her biggest regret was not being able to save her, reach out and bring her into her world again. spirits, she wanted her best friend back so badly. 

“YOU SHOULD’VE BEEN ABLE TO SAVE ME.” the words echoed through her skull so loudly that she felt like it was going to crack from sheer force. 

y/n eyes suddenly flew open and she lurched upwards, breathing heavily, a scream on the edge of her lips that she was barely able to bite back. she clamped her hands over her mouth until she could be sure it wouldn’t come loose, and it took even longer for her breathing to get back to normal.

it didn’t look like she had disturbed the sleep of the others, but she couldn’t stay here. she got out of her sleeping bag and rushed out of their camp, making sure she stayed light on her feet so that the others could continue to rest. momo perked up as she ran past him, and y/n shook her head and raised a finger to her lips. he seemed to get the hint and went back to sleep, and with a strained smile y/n continued out. 

it was at that moment that a certain water tribe boy groggily sat up, able to catch the end of a tunic dress disappearing into the woods after he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. he thought it was katara at first but a quick glance to his side proved that his sister was still asleep. it was y/n’s spot that was empty. he immediately knew why she was gone, and he got up to follow her; there was no way he was going to leave her alone right now. sokka didn’t exactly want to be alone either.  

‘you should’ve been able to save me.’ they were words that never left y/n’s mind; at this point it was a part of her conscience. the princess had never actually said the words, her last moments had been spent reassuring y/n and sokka before she faded away, but it didn’t matter. she was constantly wracked by guilt, and though sokka did a good job at hiding it, she knew he felt the same way. she wondered if he was plagued by the same nightmares she had. it was no surprise it happened tonight of all nights — today marked one month since yue died. 

no. since yue had been killed. 

she might’ve given her life for the moon spirit willingly, but y/n blamed zhao, that fire nation admiral, for her death. he was the one that killed the moon spirit, so he was the one that had killed her best friend. she had never felt as much rage as she had in the moment that he blasted tui with fire. 

she hoped he was dead. 

y/n got to the edge of the woods and stared at the night sky, the slight breeze and the ambiance around her doing little to ease her mind. she sighed and leaned back against a tree, staring at the sky in hopes it would give her some kind of answer. but all it did was make her feel even worse.

i know you’re somewhere out there somewhere far away

yue was there. the moon was there, but yue was the moon so she was there. it felt like a cruel joke, having her so close but so far away. always within her sight but never in her reach. she longed for the days when she was able to pull the princess away from her duties to engage in a snowball fight with her friends or when yue asked her to show off her waterbending with the childlike wonder she never got to show or when things were normal and her friend wasn’t the fucking moon. 

i want you back, i want you back 

y/n felt the familiar stings of tears behind her eyes and she slowly slid against the tree until she was sitting on the ground. she bit the inside of her cheek so hard she drew blood in an effort to stop the tears, but it didn’t matter, they fell anyways. 

the empty feeling she constantly carried with her got better over time, but tonight it was just coming back with full force. she was reminded of everything that she had lost and it hurt. spirits, it hurt so much. 

my neighbors think i’m crazy  but they don’t understand you’re all i have, you’re all i have 

she pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out her feelings, when she heard some branches snap. she opened her eyes and looked up, the corner of her lips quirking up when she saw who it was. 

“hi.” her voice was faint, barely noticeable, but it was all she managed to muster.

“hi.” sokka’s eyes were sympathetic as walked over to her, silently questioning if she was okay with his presence. she nodded and scooted over to make room, and sokka slid down against the tree next to her. 

they sat in comfortable silence for a while, feeling solace in the other simply being there. y/n’s eyes stayed glued to the sky, y/e/c irises reflecting the light of the stars. now that her sobbing was done, she just felt tired. traveling with the avatar was physically demanding with all the fighting and running they did, but this was mental. 

she was tired of feeling worthless. tired of feeling guilty, of feeling angry, hurt, heartbroken, regretful, helpless, weak. 

tui and la, she was so damn tired. 

at night, when the stars light up my room i sit by myself talking to the moon trying to get to you 

y/n tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at sokka. he felt the slight movement and made eye contact as well. y/n couldn’t help but think how similar his eyes were to yue’s. 

“do you talk to her too?” the question came suddenly from y/n before she even knew it, and her voice was just as soft as before. “to the moon, i mean.”

sokka’s gaze turned wistful as he watched the moon and nodded. “all the time. even if i’m just talking to myself in my head, it feels like i’m talking to her as long as the moon is out. sometimes it helps. it makes me feel like she’s still here, or like she’s watching over me. other times..”

“it makes you feel worse,” y/n finished. he nodded again and she sighed heavily. “sometimes i hate it. just looking at the moon makes me want to scream or cry or yell until i can’t anymore, because i hate it for taking her away from me. and i know she had to do it, but the irrational part of me is angry at her for leaving. and then i feel guilty for caring about myself more than her when she’s the one that’s gone, and i just—” 

her voice caught in her throat and the tears started to fall once more. it felt like she couldn’t even think about yue without crying and it made her feel even more weak than before. 

in hopes you’re on the other side talking to me too 

it hurt sokka’s heart to see her like this. yue’s death had affected both of them, spirits, it had left a hole in his heart that he was still trying to mend, but as time went on he had gotten better. but y/n had known yue for years, they had such a close bond that when sokka wanted to know advice on how to get yue to like him he came to her. and now her closest friend was gone and she had left her home and her family behind to help them on their journey.. he couldn’t imagine how she felt. but he wasn’t going to let her go through this alone. 

sokka wrapped his arm around her and though she flinched at first, y/n immediately relaxed when she realized what he was doing. he was trying to comfort her by just being there, and she appreciated it immensely. y/n leaned her head against his shoulder and the two of them sat there in silence once again, watching the sky.

or am i a fool who sits alone talking to the moon 

“you don’t have to feel guilty,” sokka murmured. “she doesn’t blame you for what happened and she doesn’t blame you for how you feel. i know that she’s watching over us right now.”

“you think?” he nodded and the smallest smile graced her lips. “she doesn’t blame you either. every time you hung out together she would come running back to me telling me how much fun she had and how she already felt so close to you, and how much you brightened up her days. she truly loved you, sokka.” 

sokka laughed humorlessly and shook his head. “i loved her too. i didn’t think it was possible to fall for someone so quickly, but she proved me wrong.”

“she was good at that. proving people wrong.” 

do you ever hear me calling? 

more silence passed. 

y/n opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to find the words.

“yue?” she started off timid, but her words gained more confidence as she went on. “i.. i don’t know if you can hear us. but if you can, i just want to let you know that i- that we miss you. not a day goes by where i don’t think of you, and i hope that you are watching down on us. because we love you. and we always will.” 

“thank you for everything you’ve done.” sokka spoke up now. “i hope you’re at peace, yue, wherever you are.”

cause every night i’m talking to the moon  still trying to get to you

y/n swore that the moon glowed a little brighter in the night sky when they finished. 

she didn’t know how time passed so quickly, but her and sokka ended up falling asleep out there, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder.

and for the first time since the siege of the north, y/n slept without nightmares. 

[phantoms-lair]

Koro-Sensei’s Awakening

What do you want to be?

The question was the first thing that pierced the darkness his mind was wrapped in. He’d been asked that before, and he’d remembered his answer then. “Weak” He’d wanted to shed his identity of The Reaper. To live in the world Aguri had lived in .

The tentacles had complied, not with his word but his intention. The ‘Super Being’ was certainly not weak. But he’d been able to connect to people, to experience their sorrows and triumphs. He only had one year to live after that day, but a better final year he couldn’t ask for.

And, as it turned out, it was only a year due to his own foolishness. He approached his goal - teaching Aguri’s class, as he would have something from his old life. Something that must be done from a position of strength. He set himself up as the monster, bringing catastrophe if they didn’t give in to his one odd demand of being a teacher.

And in the end, that was what killed him. He’d built himself up as a threat too big to ignore, ensuring he’d never find peace. It hadn’t seemed to matter that much when he was going to die soon. He’d never expected to be saved, to find out he had been saved months ago. But by then it was too late. What do you want to be?

 He knew he didn’t want to be The Reaper. Did he want to be Koro-Sensei? Yes and no. While he liked both his speed and his tentacles, he didn’t want to be the world-threatening super being again. He just wanted to exist, to learn, to teach.

What do you want to be?

“I want to be me!” he yelled into nothingness. The voice fell silent, and darkness took him once more.

~

His next bout of awareness was slow and sluggish. There was an oxygen mask on his face and he was connected to various equipment. With what little strength he had he tore them out and tried to flop out of bed. But his tentacles weren’t moving right, he had to escape!

“Easy Koro-Sensei.” The voice was comforting, familiar. It was someone he could trust. He felt himself relax. 

“Don’t want to get hooked up again.” he muttered.

“Now that you’ve awoken, you don’t have to.” The voice reassured.

“Good.” was the last thing he murmured as he fell asleep again.

~

The next time he awoke he was more cognizant, but wasn’t sure what to make of his situation. He was on a bed in what looked like a hidden room. There was medical equipment, but as promised it wasn’t hooked up to him.

But what was really perplexing him was the fact that he had legs and feet. In addition to four tentacle arms. Judging by feel his face was human and his hair...well he wasn’t sure what was going on there. 

It was tentacles, he could tell that much, but thinner strands, like the monofilament ones he’d used for the surgery that saved Kaede’s life. Yet at the same time he could feel them merging into thicker tentacle strands, which then dissolved back into thin ones.

“I have brought you breakfast,” The door opened and Koro-Sensei wondered if it was a dream. “You seemed to enjoy sweets, so I’opted for french toast, with a side of fruit.”

“Ritsu? How are you here?” He stared as what seemed to be an older version of his student, or at least the image his student projected.

“A robotic body I inhabit.” The Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery (though she seemed to have abandoned the last two parts) answered, putting the tray in front of him. “And after breakfast we can work on your cover.”

“My cover?” He asked, as his stomach gurgled, enticed by the food. “I do not know why you regenerated with a more human appearance, but it is to our benefit. Though the ‘Assassination Classroom’ incident has been marked resolved with your death, it would be troublesome if someone connected your appearance and realized you were still alive.”

Point. It had probably been years after his not-as-deadly-as-he-thought death, judging by her appearance, but no need to stir the pot. Still... “Don’t you think these might give me away?” he asked, waving his tentacles.

Ritsu merely smiled. “While you eat, let me tell you about a new phenomenon called ‘Quirks’.”

[coepiteamare]

i am your ocean (your little mermaid)

pairing: taehyung x female!reader genre: angst? warnings: angst, implied sex, lapslock, broken hearts word count: 1.8k

drabble series: things you said: things you said too quietly summary: perhaps you’re fated to love him like the little mermaid, forced to pick between a broken heart and shattered one. (alt. everything blurs into a haze of heartbreak in the presence of tears.)

the pitter patter of raindrops against your windowpane, against the floor of your balcony, picks up in speed, blurring the view outside into a haze of lights, nondescript storefronts and smudges of colour from umbrellas as people avoid the rain. you watch the rain collect on your window, reaching out for other droplets and merging into one, picking up speed before falling when the weight of water is too much to bear. 

it makes you think of the little mermaid. 

the little mermaid was always your favourite disney movie. at age 5, it’s because you believe love conquers all, because you cry tears of crystal fairytales and bleed happy endings. at age 8, it’s because you too would give up worlds and your voice for a chance to meet the person you love. they’re out there somewhere, maybe separated a world away, but they’re there and one day, you’ll break barriers between worlds to hold their hand. at age 12, it’s because her hair is as red as her passion, burning bright against the blue sea as she cries “but daddy, i love him!” at age 16, it’s because you finally come across the original tale, learn how the little mermaid never gets her happy ending because she falls in love with a man engaged—in love with another woman—and despite her life on the line, refuses to give up on the idea of love. instead, she plunges a knife into her broken heart, hears the sad eulogy in the melody of his heartbeat entwined with someone that isn’t her, throws herself into the ocean and seafoam she becomes, each faint pop of foam a whispered reminder that for some, happy endings don’t come true. at age 16, you learn that sometimes love does not save you from the waves of reality, that some fates were written to end unhappy.

it feels a little like that now as you card your fingers through his sweaty locks, dyed red like ariel’s, bright red against the blue of both your feelings. “reminds me of the little mermaid,” you tell him, fingers gently brushing against his face, down his neck, back up to his hair. the breeze from your window settles into a cool chill on your skin, so you wrap the blanket around your naked body a little tighter and cling a little closer to his body, skin warm and still slightly sweaty. 

it feels a little like love as his chuckle reverberates through the mattress and through the crevices of your bones, low and dark, void of humor. “not what i was going for, but i’ll take it.” 

his hand settles on the small of your back, his face brushed with the white glare of his screen. 

“do you want to talk about it?” you rest your chin on your arms above his chest. he momentarily shifts his gaze from his phone to you, eyes just as dark and stormy as the sky outside, and you pull your gaze away, an attempt to stop the swell of feelings you catch every time he throws a glance in your direction. you place your ear down instead, listening to the staccato of his heartbeat, just as bruised and battered as yours. 

his sigh floods the air as he taps two fingers under your chin, a silent request, and you gently push yourself up to meet his lips. 

he tastes like heartbreak and bad decisions, like half-assed texts and read receipts, but when he kisses you like this—soft and slow and sweet, all adagio against the speed of the city—the storm of your thoughts come to a halt. he makes it hard to not dive in headfirst, let the waves float with the waves away from shore. you sink into the kiss, lose yourself in the press of his tongue, distill the buzz of insecurities in the rush of your feelings. you let yourself forget that you aren’t her; instead, you submerge in the moment and feel the world dissolve on your skin as you pull him a little closer, closer, until the two of you are pressed skin against skin, space nonexistent as the kiss gains momentum. 

until he gently drags his teeth against your bottom lip and pulls away, breaks surface tension, leaves you stranded in the sea of his being, shore miles beyond reach without a life preserver to cling on to. 

you repeat the action, bite your lip between teeth to prolong the moment, drag every second to be longer. but time still slips between the cracks of your desperation like sand, filters through the fissures of your insecurities, and spirals out of your grasp faster. you’ve already lost him to the vibrations of his phone, a text message that lights up his eyes. 

you brush your thumb against the hickey on his neck and feel the sadness crash over you, a loud tidal wave of quiet resignation: you can mark him all you want, but he’s not yours. never was, never will be. 

but you, you are his. your heart is tucked behind your ribcage, but it beats for him.

because it’s so easy to love taehyung who feels things like the sea, wide and vast and open. taehyung who smiles like the sun on the horizon, warm and fuzzy and beautiful, always beautiful and always out of reach. it’s hard to not, even if the only times he comes over is when you ask, painstakingly typing over (and over and over) only to end up with the same message of, “hey can you come over?” even if he never stays long. even now, as he picks his clothes off the floor, slipping long legs through black pants and popping his head through a gray hoodie. 

“not staying?” you sit up. it’s habit to ask at this point, even though you know the answer, know the sheepish smile and shrug of his shoulders a little too well, his mannerisms pressed into the mold of your thoughts. 

“sorry,” he sounds apologetic, but you know he isn’t. 

you know you won’t be the person he searches for in the sea of people, the person he spends his heart on, even if you spend every last cent, every wish, your everything on him. you won’t be her. but you peek your hand out of the covers anyways and reach out, grabbing on to the edge of his frayed hoodie. he turns around, eyebrow raised.

you open your mouth, but the words sink into your thoughts, distort like it’s filtered through water, and everything catches in your throat. it’s quiet: the pitter patter of raindrops against the windowpane, against the balcony floor. 

stay with me.

you feel his eyes on you as you drop your gaze to the floor, to the toes peeking through the sheets your body is wrapped in, hand still gripping his hoodie. 

don’t leave me here alone. 

maybe your last page doesn’t end in happily ever after. 

do you wish i were her?  

“do you think the little mermaid was a fool for keeping her feelings to herself, not letting him know she loved him?”

he furrows his brows, mouth quirked in confusion. he mulls over it, chews on your words until the thoughts burst on his tongue. “i think she told him in the ways she knew how, in the ways she could.” he gently pries your grip off his sweater and holds your hand in his, mindlessly rubs the back of your hand with his thumb. “i think people in love are always expressing their love in one way or another. the other person may be oblivious to the intention, but i don’t think it goes unnoticed.”

“was she a fool for falling in love with someone already in love with another? for choosing them over herself?”

he chuckles softly, bemusement in every rise of his chest. you watch as he gently lets your hand go and tucks it neatly on your lap. “i think we’re all fools when it comes to love, but there’s no pause and play button, is there? we don’t really get to choose to whom we fall for or when we stop.” he squats down to eye-level as he drapes your duvet over your shoulders, fiddles with the edge, eyes never meeting yours. “but i do think she chose to do what she thought would hurt her less. she wanted to stay by his side, even if it hurt to see him with someone that isn’t her: it broke her heart, but i think it would have shattered had she stopped his. there are fates worse than death.”

the room floods with the sound of raindrops picking up in speed, pelting against the windowpane, against the balcony floor. the quiet settles around the two of you, just as thick and heavy as the duvet on your shoulders, and the two of you stay like that awhile, lost in thought. 

there’s a ghost of a hand on your shoulder, a slight squeeze, before he plods towards the door. 

you are the casualty from casual relationships, a willing prey caught in the trap of a hunter unwilling to kill. there is no pause or stop button in sight. no end to your story, no matter how many pages you turn. 

you turn your gaze to the window. the raindrops cling to the window, becoming bigger and bigger. they tremble to hold on, to stay together, before collapsing, dispersing back into tiny droplets. they then repeat the process over and over and over again, tirelessly building before breaking apart. 

“i love you” you say quietly. you let the words fall from your lips, dribble down your skin like water droplets, and dissipate in the ocean of your feelings. watch them dissolve into the seafoam of your being and sink down, down, down. 

the wind doesn’t have a chance to deliver your words, message drowned in the sound of the rain coming from your open balcony. you see his reflection through the mirror--the way he shoves his feet into his slides, sticks his hands into his pocket--and watch him close the door, never once looking back. 

everything blurs into a haze of heartbreak in the presence of tears. 

you let your body fall into your mattress, pinned down by your feelings, and curl up, wondering if this is what the weight of her knife felt like. maybe he was right in that there are fates worse than death. perhaps you’re fated to love him like the little mermaid after all, forced to pick between a broken heart and a shattered one. 

the enfilade of rain continues and pelts against the windowpane, against your balcony floor.

A/N: this took me 2 weeks to write for no reason other than i am dumb. i find it hard to write for tae: i’ve scrapped and rewritten this story thrice (it initially was supposed to be an actual little mermaid fic, then it changed to a siren fic, then it became this.) i still feel a bit iffy about it, but i’ve also looked at it for too long AND i have quite a few darlings in this one, so up it goes. idk why i’ve decided christmas/christmas eve is the time to post angst, but here it goes.

[casuallydyinginthecorner]

Nothing's Going To Hurt You- a Kiribaku Oneshot

I posted this a while ago but can't find it anywhere, so here it is again! Check tags for trigger warnings

The dream started out familiar enough. The class was in the middle of training, and Bakugo had just blown through a row of cement blocks. He shouted triumphantly. That was the fastest he’d been in a week.

Then All Might came into the room.

No, Bakugo decided. He could do better. He tried again, but instead of exploding like the previous shot, the blocks absorbed the explosions and transformed into hands.

At first, the hands came towards him in a motherly caress. Then they turned gnarled, grabbing him and forcing him into a chair and merging to form a body.

“You want to be a hero?” Shigaraki said in his mother’s voice. “Let’s see what you can do.” His grip turned to iron as the scene changed once again.

Now Bakugo was at the sports festival, his body chained to the pole, thunderous applause deafening his ears. The crowd around him faded and solidified into a person- first Half-and-Half, then Deku, then All Might. They extended a hand, the temperature rising around them.

“Let’s see what you can do.”

The heat grew from intense to suffocating, until soon enough it became so hot that the world around him contracted into a ball. No, the magician’s ball. He was trapped again, but this time Bakugo was too big to fit. Too big, yet so, so small. No matter how hard he punched and kicked and hit the walls, they only got harder, thicker, absorbing all the air. Bakugo’s face watered. If he didn’t find a way to get out now, he would die.

The walls expanded, turning into a stern hand that slapped his cheek.

“You think talking will get you what you want?” his mother scolded. “No. If you speak so quietly, cry so often, you will never get what you want. Stand up, Katsuki. Your crying is pathetic.”

But Bakugo couldn’t stop the tears from falling. It wasn’t his fault Half-and-Half didn’t try. It wasn’t his fault he got kidnapped. It wasn’t his fault Deku got chosen over him. So why was everyone in his life blaming him?

Bakugo shoved the hand aside and started running. A laugh echoed around him as the hand melted into a new, expanding darkness, taking a new form in vague but recognizable blobs- his classmates. As he ran forward, they moved further ahead. Bakugo jumped into the air and used explosions to propel himself, but to no avail. They surpassed him, and he was left behind. No. Not like this.

He extended his arm out and grabbed one. When it turned around, its face was made of tape. Bakugo jerked his hand back. The fire in his second hand sputtered out, landing on another blob, this one pink. Another seized him from behind, this one sparking. As he got pushed into the darkness, the blob turned bright red.

No. He couldn’t take this anymore. His limbs were numb, hair matted to his face with sweat and tears. But he had to endure it. He had to get through this. He couldn’t lose; not to All Might, not to Deku, and certainly not to some dream.

The darkness became more pressured as he fell. Bits of the blobs fell with him, turning into staticy bits of memory. The pressure increased as he took them in-a glimpse of his kindergarten teacher whispering a warning to his mother: “be careful around Bakugo, his behavior lately is erratic,” one of his mother and father shutting the door to his room until he could “get over himself” after a tantrum, one of All Might, pulling him away from Deku, not saying anything, but his expression saying enough.

As Bakugo fell down, the pressure in his ears turned to humming whispers, all saying one thing: you’re worthless.

Then, as a final parting gift, the dream changed one last time. He saw the bits of static form into one large person, floating towards the almost microscopic Bakugo-different now, older, but with the same evil, chilling smile. It wasn’t until his body started crumbling into dust that he recognized it as Shigaraki’s.

“You’d make a fine villain someday.”

Even though Bakugo knew it was a dream, he could still feel the tingling of Decay working its way up his body. His lungs were constricting, filling with sand. He couldn’t breathe, no matter how hard he tried. Around him, the darkness became crushing, creating a void in his mind, threatening to suck up everything until he became an insignificant speck. But wasn’t that all he was? Katsuki Bakugo would never be a hero, never rise to the top and become number one (1). Why should he even try? If all he would amount to would be worth too little, why should anyone believe in him? It was his fault All Might chose Deku. If only he had trained faster, stronger, pushed himself harder, maybe he would have-

“Bakugo?”

The pressure eased, but the Decay didn’t stop. His lungs began to dissolve, droplets of blood filling the air. This was it.

“Bakugo, listen to me.”

Something came out of the darkness. A hand, unfurling in his direction. After what he’d seen, Bakugo should have run away as far as he could. But this hand was different. Gentle.

He felt something on his arm. A faint pressure, keeping him from fully drifting away. The hand moved closer.

“Focus on my hand. It’s warm, right?” Closer.

“It’s warm, just like the room. You’re in the common room, on the couch that faces the TV. The heater is going off, and it’s making a rumbling noise.” Closer.

The voice continued. “You’re lying down, and one of your hands is on the floor. Can you feel it?” Closer. Slowly, the darkness faded to a lighter gray.

“It’s 1:24 a.m. No one else is here. It’s just you and me.” The hand was so close that Bakugo could almost see its jagged lines. If he jumped up now, he would reach it.

“You’re fine. You’re safe. You can open your eyes and nothing’s going to hurt you.” The hand became attached to a torso, which became attached to a face. Unlike the others, he could see this one clearly.

“Nothing’s going to hurt you.”

As Bakugo jumped from the ground, the face called out. Come on!

“Nothing’s going to hurt you.” The darkness turned to white as Bakugo took the hand. The common room came into focus, and with that, someone else.

“Sh*tty Hair?”

“Yep.” He moved closer. “How do you feel?”

“Why do you care?” Bakugo sat up. Someone had set a glass of water on the coffee table in front of him.

“Drink this.” Sh*tty Hair handed him the glass. Bakugo downed it gratefully. With a start, he realized that Sh*tty Hair’s hand was still intertwined in his.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Bakugo asked, tearing his hand away. He decided to ignore the look of hurt on Sh*tty Hair’s face.

“I was getting water and saw you fell asleep. I was gonna leave you be, but you were breathing so quickly…” Sh*tty Hair trailed off. “A panic attack,” he finally said. “I get those sometimes, too. What I just did is called grounding. It helps.” His gaze went to the glass. “Oh, are you finished? I’ll get you some more water. And then,” he said, “we can talk about what happened? If you want?”

Bakugo said nothing. Why had he stepped in? His dream, or panic attack, or whatever it was, wasn’t any of his business.

Sh*tty Hair shrugged. “I don't know. It helps me to talk about it, sometimes.” He went over to the kitchen area, first grabbing another glass, then filling both with water from the sink. It wasn’t until he came back that Bakugo asked his question.

“Why did you help me?” he grumbled.

“What?”

“Why did you help me?” You’d think he told Sh*tty Hair he wanted to play chess, he was so shocked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He chuckled. “You needed help-and there’s nothing wrong with that- and I know how it feels when you’re alone and panicking, so…”

What had he said? Nothing’s going to hurt you. Tch. Like he would know. But still, if what he’d said was true…

“I need to be alone.” Luckily, Sh*tty Hair seemed to understand.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me. Door’s unlocked.” He set off towards the staircase.

Bakugo hesitated. Nothing’s going to hurt you.

“Sh*tty Hair?”

He turned around. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

A small smile spread across his face. “Anytime.”

[silver-wield]

OK, hear me out.

Remake lifestream begins the same way OG does, with Tifa in the dark hearing her own voice throw accusations at her. She let Cloud down, she didn't trust him, believe in their memories and reassure him. It's all her fault.

The scene dissolves revealing the same as OG. We get several paths blocked by versions of Cloud. Only this time they're not all adult Cloud.

Tifa has to go to the youngest one first. To properly rebuild Cloud's mind, she must start at the beginning. This Cloud is smol and angry. He hates how the other kids pick on him because he doesn't have a dad and his mom is so young. He's not strong enough to stand up to them.

Tifa crouches down and comforts him. She apologises for her friends and says she wishes she knew how tough Cloud had things. She didn't know because her friends acted like they were the victims and she was too young to know better. But, she knew Cloud was good, deep down, and that's why she kept trying to be friends with him.

She offers her hand to smol Cloud, but before he can take it, Tifa's friends appear to bully Cloud. This is the starter boss battle of the section. Tifa's not going to beat these kids up, but she needs to encourage Cloud to stand up for himself. She reminds him he has self worth and bullies only have power if you let them.

Cloud grows brave, shouts at the kids and they morph into creepy monsters representing Cloud's fears and self loathing. Tifa can fight these. She protects Cloud and together they move along the path until they reach the next memory.

They move along the path together.

Tifa's mother dying and her grief. This surprises her and she asks why. A slightly older Cloud answers that he wanted to approach her, but didn't know what to say. The scenery morphs to become the twisting path to Mt nibel, then the ground drops from under them. Tifa calls for Cloud to be careful, and sees him trying to save her as a child before she lands back in her house. Her father is yelling at Cloud, who does nothing to defend himself. Tifa tries to argue on his behalf, but nobody but Cloud can hear her. She takes full responsibility for what happened and says Cloud saved her.

This makes her father morph into the next gateway monster blocking Cloud from becoming whole. Tifa doesn't want to fight it, but she will to protect Cloud. Once the fight is over she tries hard not to cry and smol Cloud thanks her for believing in him.

With Tifa feeling just as much from this as Cloud, she suggests they continue on.

Tifa stops at the well and smiles at the familiar scenery. She turns to look at Cloud, who's now a teenager. He reveals how long he waited for Tifa that night and how important their promise is to him. Tifa admits how disappointed she was when Cloud said he was leaving. We see her in the weeks after Cloud left, depressed and already looking through newspapers even though it's impossible he'd be in them yet.

There's no boss in this part, just two kids finally seeing how important they are to each other.

It's the moment Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud arrive at Nibelheim. Tifa admits she kept the truth from Cloud. She was scared she didn't know what to do for the best. She was worried about him and felt like pushing him before he was ready would hurt him. She says he wasn't in Nibelheim here. He made it up. She's sorry.

16yr old Cloud shakes his head, and we see he's standing where the infantry man did. Tifa's shocked. She realises Cloud was there. She asks why didn't he say anything and he pulls the helmet off to admit he was ashamed he wasn't good enough for her. He didn't keep his promise. Tifa says she didn't care about him becoming SOLDIER, she just wanted to see him again. Cloud looks pleased and takes the lead through the town. We see their trek up the mountain.

There's another boss battle here, which Cloud has to lose because Zack appears to save them. They go back to town and we get the CC chat between him and Cloud. Tifa tells Cloud how disappointed she was that Cloud didn't come. We then see the lengths he went to avoid her, all the while he's chased by spectres of self doubt that Tifa has to defeat, until we reach his house.

We see the conversation with Claudia, only it's what actually happened, with Cloud in his infantry uniform. His shame morphs her into the next boss, but he can't fight her until Tifa joins him. She says he's got nothing to fear and his mom would always be proud of him, and so would she.

With the boss defeated, flames erupt through the town. Cloud gets thrown through the window and Tifa goes after him. This is the link to the OG scene of Cloud injured by Sephiroth and trying to save his mom. Tifa arrives outside and freezes. She can't do anything. She sees Sephiroth heading towards Mt nibel. Her rage and grief overtake her and she runs after him.

Tifa merges with her younger self and tries to kill Sephiroth. She's defeated and separated from her younger self. She can't do anything besides watch as Zack is defeated and then Cloud arrives. She begs him to be careful and follows him as he confronts Sephiroth.

Final boss battle and it's Sephiroth. He taunts Cloud through the entire thing, while Tifa yells encouragement, which gives Cloud the strength to fight.

It ends when Cloud's impaled, but still drops Sephiroth off the catwalk.

Tifa is heartbroken watching Cloud come back to her. She says he kept his promise. He was her hero that day and she's sorry she didn't know sooner.

There's a series of fractured images from both that reveal Zangan took Tifa out, but before he could go back for Cloud and Zack, Shinra arrived.

Now alone and looking for Cloud, Tifa follows Shinra to the mansion, where she finds the lab with adult Cloud inside the chambers. Horrified, she busts the glass and pulls Cloud to safety. As she calls his name, Cloud wakes up and says they finally meet again.

A crying Tifa hugs Cloud and calls him a jerk like in OG and the background dissolves to a white screen. They wake up on the beach in Mideel.

[prorevenge]

Bully me? Fine, but Ill start a fire as I leave.

I posted in Nuclear Revenge, but was also told to post it here! Sorry its so long, TL;DR at the end!

I worked at a fortune 500 company for almost a year and a half, I wont name names, but it was a shady company to say the least. I started in their quality department, but I was literally fired for being "too quality" for the quality department because I would report sales agents that were forcing crying retirees into making a purchase. So they moved me to the Business Verification Department, so I could instead make these customers happier with their purchase.

Im sorry to say I was far too good at this job as well. I got constant kudos from the quality department that I always hit my marks. I always verified and corrected information, followed procedure to a T, and even took on several extra projects just to help out, including preparing and sending gifts out to our higher volume customers on behalf of the sales reps. I was always on time, I was friendly with everyone, and yet I didn't quite fit in. As a matter of fact, only one person on this new team was someone I could talk to, the others were all mid to late 30s, with kids and husbands/ex husbands. Best way to describe them, its the Heathers that grew old, and hated it.

They would constantly bully me. I dont mean tease me, I mean they would joke about forcing me to work in a broom closet, they would report me for cell phone use even though cell phones were allowed, just no recording or video calling since we would verify card and address information verbally, they would deliberately leave me out of company food orders and celebrations, and even convinced the manager not to promote me, and instead promoted someone who had been there less time with worse quality, only because she 'fit in' better. Shed literally cost the company money shipping product to the wrong address multiple times, and still was promoted within the department.

They would also berate me for the state of my desk. I will say I dont keep a super clean desk, but we are not customer facing, and it was my organized chaos. It wasn't old food or trash, just a general scattering of notes and trinkets that NEVER overflowed past my desk. The real juice here though, was about 4 months into this position, I started documenting all the bullying. Every instance, every word, with a date and time and often a reference within the companies system for where to locate proof of the bullying, all on those little note pads. Well one day I come back from lunch and they had GONE THROUGH MY DESK to "clean" it, going so far as to move my trinkets and pictures around on my desk. I took everything home that day, but I know they'd actually been after my notebooks. Thankfully Id just had to buy a third one (I filled the first two up!) So it was mostly empty.

The final straw came on a fateful February afternoon. It was a Thursday. The one co-worker I got along with and I had been texting back and forth, mostly Craigslist ads for job openings and funny memes to get us through the day, because remember, phones are allowed. She goes to lunch as Im coming back, and I get called into their lawyers office. Me and my one and only friend, were being given formal write ups. Why? (Direct quote) "Your co-workers know you are texting about them and laughing, and they dont like it." So I was getting a write up... Because of an assumption that they had no proof of to begin with, and wasn't even remotely true. The topper of this was as I exited the write up, one of them was face timing her husband. Which was against the rules, but of course she wasn't even spoken to about it.

I was done. Beyond done. I put my head down, barely worked the rest of the day. When I got home, I texted my manager and let her know I was using PTO and Id be out Friday. I spent the whole weekend working on my resignation, because I wanted it to be -just right-.

You see, Id been there a year and a half at that point, and I knew a few things about how this shady company operates by now. I knew on Thursday this was going to be my first time ever to quit a job, and I wanted to do it up right. I wrote in there specific details of the bullying. Dates, times. I mentioned I had many more examples documented. I wrote how it was known behavior and even condoned by the manager. I wrote about the write up. Then, after many critiques, I saved it as a draft.

I walked in on Monday morning, 8 am on the nose. I didn't bother clocking in, and Id already cleaned out my desk remember? I sat down, printed two copies of my email, and then sent it DIRECTLY TO THE CEO.

I of course dropped a copy off with HR, and then walked out. Not a word to my manager. Only my one friend knew the plan. You see I knew theyd snuff out the fire if I said anything to them about why I quit. Sweep it under the rug, oh well, one more person who quit. By involving the CEO, I eliminated that as an option.

In 30 minutes their lawyer was calling me for an "exit interview". They were worried I would sue for a hostile working environment. In hindsight, I should've, but I was more worried about my mental health than monetary compensation.

I found out from my friend that I had in fact started that fire. The whole department was put under review for bullying, cell phones were completely banned, and the manager and her lackeys (last I heard) had been demoted. I also heard whispers that theyd dissolved it completely and merged it with the Quality team, but Im not positive on that.

Im sure it didn't fix everything, but I hope they at least keep their hands out of other peoples desks from now on.

TL;DR my entire team at a fortune 500 company and bullying and harassing me to the point of unfair write ups, so when I quit I sent an email directly to the CEO about my resignation along with the information that everything was thoroughly documented, causing them to majorly reform the department and demote people after I walked out.

(source) story by (/u/Audginator)

[chocoluckchipz]

The Other You - 21

Read it on A03, FF.net, WattPad

< Previous

Whatever alcohol was present in her system evaporated alongside Chat Noir’s mask dissolving from his face. The moment the last bit of electric green disappeared, Marinette froze. 

It couldn’t be true. 

Chat Noir…

Chat Noir was Adrien?

Her Chaton was Adrien Agreste?

She stumbled back, barely able to breathe. A shiver ran down her spine as her body moved on its own, her hands covering her mouth in disbelief. 

Because this… this didn’t make any sense!

Her eyes must be deceiving her. 

Adrien couldn’t be Chat Noir! 

Chat Noir couldn’t be Adrien Agreste!

That was impossible!

It shouldn’t…

He watched her for what felt like an eternity. Her head spun, cold spreading to her very core. Adrien looked away, turning around. She couldn’t move, her body gripped by an invisible force. He called for his transformation and walked to the balcony’s door. Marinette couldn’t utter a single sound. Chat vanished into the night, but she continued to stand in her place barely breathing. 

Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste!

Chat Freaking Noir was…

Chat…

Something pinched her cheek, the pain bringing her out of the trance.

“Are you alright?” Tikki hovered at her eye level, her eyes big and blue and filled with worry.

“No,” Marinette whispered, sinking to the floor. Her body trembling, she clutched her hands together. “Chat is Adrien. Did you see, Tikki? Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste.”

“Yes. I saw that.” 

“Chat… is Adrien…” 

Chat Noir’s words that confused the heck out of her just a few moments ago suddenly made a whole lot of sense. She couldn’t remember everything he’d let out, but there was one bit that popped right at the top of her mind.

 The truth, Marinette, is that you are the one who doesn’t love me.

 Her heart tightened, breathing shallow and quick. 

That wasn’t true! 

She loved Chat! She loved him with her whole heart. 

Adrien? Gosh! If the last few weeks could prove anything it was that Marinette was still very much unable to resist him. Falling in love with Adrien must be in her genes or something, and she wasn’t talking solely about physical attraction. She loved his soul, his character, his kind heart. She loved the person he was, not just his looks. Otherwise, there would be no need to cut him off as cruelly and unequivocally as she'd done in order to stay faithful to Chat Noir.   

Her vision blurred. Marinette swallowed the lump in her throat, her gaze falling onto the dining table. The candles burned low in the middle alongside a cheese platter, a bowl of grapes, and a bottle of wine with two glasses set by each place setting. He was a horrible cook, but he’d tried his best to prepare at least something for her when she was too busy partying to do it herself. 

Her stomach dropped, every muscle in her body numbing. He'd given her a place to live basically for free when officially they were still enemies. He’d instituted a curfew and opened a cafeteria at work to keep her alive and healthy. Marinette closed her eyes, swallowing her pride. Sooner or later she had to admit it. 

He did it solely for her.

When she wasn’t taking care of herself, Adrien used whatever power he had to keep her nourished and rested to help her recover her sanity and health… all while they were still at odds with one another.

 I should've been smarter than to help you again as soon as I saw you struggling. But, no! I just had to rush in with my help, all while you despised me so much you couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with me for more than five minutes!

 The beating of her heart echoed in her ears, images of Adrien popping in front of her eyes. 

Adrien trying his best to be friendly and help her at work. Adrien apologizing for his mistakes and going above and beyond to earn her forgiveness. Adrien smiling and laughing with her. Their easy conversations in the last few weeks. His eagerness and his sincerity in trying to win her friendship again. The comfort of his company. Subtle glances she hadn't missed. The fire they ignited in the pit of her stomach. The hurt that filled his eyes at her outburst at the after-party.

Marinette curled in on herself, wrapping her hands around her head. A pitiful moan escaped her lips. It all made sense now. 

 I’ve tried so hard for you to like me.

 Was this why he shied away after the reveal? Was this why he doubted her feelings? Was this why he refused to kiss her? Because she claimed to love him in the mask while pushing away his civilian self?

 Stupid, brainless, and pathetic because despite knowing everything, knowing you hated me and knowing you’d never forgive me… I still managed to fall in love with you. 

 Her eyes snapped open. She stood hastily, catching herself on a nearby chair when her feet fumbled underneath her. “I have to go to him.”

Tikki zoomed to her face. “Marinette, no. Please, don’t rush into anything. It never ends well when you do that.”

“But, Tikki, I have to. He’s my partner and he’s hurting. I hurt him. I have to go—” 

“He’s your partner who is also Adrien. And Adrien would expect you to answer his question the next time you see him. Are you ready to give him an answer now?”

“What question?”

“Can you look Adrien in the eyes and tell him that you love him without the slightest doubt? Can you trust him with your heart again?”

She was about to scream ‘Yes!’ She had forgiven him. She was certainly attracted to him. She enjoyed his company and loved the man he had become. 

Was it enough, though, for the kind of love she knew he wanted? 

Could she look at him and tell him she loved all of him with all of his faults and with their history? More importantly, could she trust him enough to open her heart and give him a chance? Because the “can’t fully trust you” bit Marinette threw at Adrien back at the after-party wasn’t as baseless as it seemed. She might have forgiven him, she might have been falling in love with him, but building back the trust they once shared required time that simply hadn’t passed yet.

Was she ready for the kind of commitment Adrien wanted and deserved?

Marinette couldn’t say. She wasn’t sure. Making that choice at this moment terrified her. 

“You have to be careful with this,” Tikki said, gently cuddling her holder’s cheek. “There’s a lot at stake. His heart is at stake. Yours too. Please. I don’t want you two getting hurt anymore. I'm not sure either of you can handle any more of the heartache, and we both know that when you act on an impulse, you tend to overreact and say or do things you don’t mean. So, please, Marinette. Don’t rush. Calm down. Think about it and, only when you’re absolutely certain in your decision, act.”

Shaking, Marinette closed her eyes, weaving her arms around her torso. “I have to talk to him, Tikki.”

“And you will. But take some time to figure out your feelings first. This might be a life-changing decision for both of you. Please, don't take it lightly. Don't act recklessly when it’s someone’s heart on the line.”

Marinette looked at Tikki, but images of others stood before her eyes. Alya. Nino. Adrien. Perhaps, even her own parents. Who knew how many more. All the times she hurt those she loved, acting impulsively, without thinking, following her temper, trying to prove herself right or achieve what she wanted, turning a blind eye to the needs and desires of others. She really had become like Gabriel Agreste, and she didn't like it. 

Unlike Gabriel, though, she still had the time and a chance to change. Innately, she was a good person and meant well; her heart was sure of it. But Tikki was right. Good intentions could and would turn horribly wrong if executed poorly. That much Marinette had learned quite well recently. And after a few insanely busy months of work, fresh off the rollercoaster of emotions that was this day and still somewhat tipsy after the party, Marinette was not in a state to think clearly right now. No matter how much she hated the idea, it would be better indeed for Marinette to resist her urge to go after him. She had to handle this carefully. This wasn’t a game.

“You need to recover, both physically and emotionally first.” Tikki continued on. “Pass your ESMOD exam. Isn’t it the day after tomorrow?”

Marinette nodded. “This Friday. I still need to read some of the material.”

“Then, focus on that for now. Afterwards, you’ll have a clear mind and the whole weekend to think before you have to see Adrien at work on Monday. That should be enough time to at least get an idea of how you want to move forward.”

“Perhaps, you’re right,” Marinette responded barely audibly, absentmindedly sitting at the table. Pulling one of the candles to herself, she cradled it in her palms. The flame fluttered on the candle’s wick, claiming her gaze and attention as the two men she now knew to be one merged together in her mind. 

It wasn’t just Adrien anymore who went behind her back and betrayed her trust, daring to compromise her biggest dream, even if with the best of intentions. 

No. 

That man was now also Chat Noir. 

But it also wasn’t just Chat Noir with whom she’d fought akumas for a decade, who comforted her when she was hurting, who was her best friend and always, always understood and supported her. It wasn’t just her Chaton anymore with whom she could trust her life without a doubt. It wasn’t just her partner anymore who had been proving his love for her daily for years. Who had died multiple times, protecting her!

It was also Adrien. 

Marinette closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. She needed time to come to terms with this, to find sense, to fully grasp the truth she wanted so badly but turned out to be more than she could handle at the moment.

“You should go to bed,” Tikki said, blowing out the candles in the middle of the table. “It’s past midnight already.”

“I should,” Marinette echoed and picked up the still lit candle in front of her. The flame flickered, dancing around. Beautiful. Warm and life-giving, yet so extremely dangerous at the same time. It called and mesmerized. Were she to answer its call, she would be burned. Was she ready to answer Adrien, knowing that her answer could burn them both should she be too careless?

She was too tired to know the answer herself. 

With a single breath, Marinette extinguished the flame and followed Tikki to her bedroom.

***

The sun peeked over the horizon. Marinette groaned under her covers, shifting onto her stomach. Hugging her pillow, she buried her face into it, hiding her eyes, red and puffy from hours upon hours of tossing and turning and quietly crying in between, from the light. None of the tricks she knew had helped her fall asleep. The blissful oblivion of a dreamland felt farther away with each passing moment as a single thought hammered at her mind relentlessly.

She had to talk to him. 

Yes, she had agreed that it was better for her to stay away until she was calmer, sober, and sure of her feelings and desires. She had to act carefully as not to hurt him again but… Wouldn't he take her silence for an answer? Wouldn't her not reaching out tell Adrien that she wanted neither him nor what they had between themselves back in her life? She didn't want him to think that. She hated the idea.

“Tikki?” Marinette murmured into the silence of her room. 

The kwami hummed and raised her head from the pillow beside her. 

“I was thinking. Maybe I can send him a message? Just to tell him that I need time to think? You know, so he isn't left in the dark and doesn't start assuming things?”

“A message?” Tikki blinked sleepily at her.

Marinette propped herself on her arms, her mind clearer than at any point of the last few days. “Yes. A key to a good relationship is communication, right? So I think we should start to communicate. I don't want him to think I’m giving up and moving on. I want him to know I’m taking this seriously, and I just need time to figure things out. Or something like that.”

Tikki’s smile was gentle and loving, as she flew closer to Marinette. “That’s a great idea. You can transform and leave him a message on his communicator. Plagg will let him know.”

A hint of hope filling her chest, Marinette cradled Tikki in her palms, nuzzling her little face. “I don't want to mess this up again. I love him.”

“Something tells me you will do just fine this time around. Now, transform and leave him a message. You’ll need to catch at least some sleep if you want to pass that exam.”

“Right.” Marinette got out of bed. The array of colours in the sky outside her window were breathtaking. A new day. Another chance. She wouldn't mess this one up. She would take into account her every mistake and do much better this time around. And she would start it with a message to her Chaton, a few words that hopefully would make him feel better.

Determination in her eyes, Marinette never turned away from the rising sun as she commanded, “Tikki, spots on!”

***

Thursday, Marinette buried herself under the reading materials needed to pass her exam. She struggled to keep her concentration, Adrien being constantly on her mind. Friday, she did a quick review in the morning and headed to ESMOD in the afternoon. The lucky charm Adrien gave her was the only object apart from a water bottle on her desk during the examination. Upon exiting the building afterwards, he was the first person she wanted to tell that it was easier than she’d expected, that after years of experience she knew her stuff, and if there were a few questions she didn’t know, Marinette doubted the holes in her fashion history knowledge would greatly impact her final marks. Unfortunately, she wasn’t ready to face him yet. She texted the next best person.

 Marinette: All done. I should know the results in a few days, but I’m feeling pretty confident about this.

Alya: Congrats, girl! I’m sure you passed with flying colours and I expect a party when you get your diploma. 

Marinette: LOL Of course. We’ll invite half of Paris and make lots of noise about it.

Alya: Don’t know about half of Paris, but Nino, me and Adrien better be there. You two did start talking again, didn’t you? And I mean not just business-related topics.

Marinette: It’s a bit complicated at the moment.

Alya: Complicated enough to exclude the man who requested and paid for your ESMOD exam?

 Marinette stilled, looking at her cell phone in confusion. Was she too exhausted after her test to read properly or were her eyes deceiving her? 

 Marinette: What are you talking about?

Marinette: Weren’t you the one to get me an exam through some of your contacts? 

Marinette: And what payment?

Alya: I did snoop around and found out that in your case only your direct supervisor could request the exam you needed under the “obtaining extra qualifications” program. There was also a hefty fee to go along. I told Nino. Nino mentioned it to Adrien. What magic Adrien performed I don’t know, but a few days later he texted me with the information to pass to you. 

 Marinette reread Alya’s messages at least three times before sitting down on a nearby bench. 

Was there anything good in her life recently that Adrien wasn’t involved in? 

Because it seemed that without him, she’d be in a whole different place right now. Her success, her promising future, her wellbeing, her health, perhaps even her very life—she owed that all to Adrien. 

��Alya: Plus, he brings the best wine and cheese. You simply must invite him!

 Marinette gripped her phone, debating. Telling Alya the truth was out of the question. Avoiding the subject it was, then.

 Marinette: Let’s wait for the results first. 

Marinette: About to go underground. Ttyl

Alya: Love you, girl. And let me know as soon as you get those results so I can start planning.

Marinette: Of course. <3

 Her cellphone back in her purse, Marinette descended into the Metro station. The trip back to the apartment didn’t take long. Adrien haunted her thoughts the whole way. 

He did so much good for her. As Chat Noir and as Adrien. And he didn’t seem to expect anything in return. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be doing it all behind her back. 

A few months ago Marinette would have assumed Adrien was helping her only because he didn’t think she could handle it herself, but she couldn’t say that anymore. Not when she knew Adrien and Chat Noir were one and the same. Marinette knew too well how much Chat respected her and her abilities. He helped her in battles, but he never did her job for her. He always acknowledged her competence, openly admitting that out of the two of them, she was the one best fitted for Ladybug’s role with all the skills and responsibility it demanded. 

Similarly, Adrien didn’t design or sew her collection for her. She did. He just hired her an assistant and made sure she was physically and mentally capable of doing the work herself. Adrien might have gotten her that exam, but she was the one who studied and took it. His help didn’t diminish her achievements and the more Marinette thought about it, the more grateful she felt, shame for the way she treated him in return overwhelming her at the same time. 

She had to make it right! And she had to find a way to do so quickly.

Entering the apartment, Marinette glanced in the kitchen’s direction in confusion. The light was on. Hesitantly, she entered the room but it was empty. Her sight fell to the table. A white envelope and two small boxes rested on its surface, accompanied by a small bag and a note. She picked up the note first, her heart quickening its pace. She knew that handwriting.

 I put some grapes for Duusu in the fridge for the first few days. He prefers the green, sweet variety in case you need to buy more.

 Marinette reached for the bag, finding nothing but good quality silk cut in pieces inside with another note indicating those were for Nooroo. Next, she opened one of the boxes. An electric orb erupted in front of her, a peacock kwami appearing in the middle. 

“Duusu?”

“At your service, My Guardian.” The kwami bowed.

Marinette reached for the second box, the butterfly kwami soon joining them.

“We missed you so much,” Tikki cried, flying in for a group hug with her long-missing friends. “I’m so happy you both are safe.”

She gave the kwamis a few moments to themselves. Once the initial emotions subsided, Marinette reached forward and pulled them all to her chest.

“Welcome back, guys,” she whispered. “We’ve missed you. Let’s get you into the Miracle Box. I’m sure all of your friends can’t wait to see you again.”

She quickly put both miraculouses into their slots in the Miracle Box, sending everyone and Tikki to the kwamis’ space to celebrate. Once alone, Marinette went back to the dining room. Her eyes focused on the only object left on the table she hadn’t touched yet—the letter. 

There was only one person who could’ve delivered Nooroo and Duusu. The letter must also be from him. She reached for it, jerking her hand back almost immediately. Marinette bit her lip, trying to touch the letter again. A shiver ran down her back. She withdrew again. A few moments and a couple of other failed attempts later, Marinette jumped to her feet and paced the room. Her breathing shallow, she tried to calm down and muster the courage.   

What was in it?

What did he write?

Did he curse her name?

Was he leaving a door open for her?

Why was she so terrified of reading it?

“You can do it. You can do it. You can do it, Marinette!” she chanted before snatching the envelope off the table and opening it before she could overthink it again.

 Good evening, Marinette.

I apologize for the intrusion. I know you said you needed time to think and I respect that and will wait no matter how long it takes. However, I promised to deliver Nooroo and Duusu to you and this was the only way I could think of doing so safely and without us meeting. There are also a few things I owe to tell you. That night, you asked me for the whole truth, but I delivered only some of it. A letter seems like the most appropriate method for the rest.

Before, though, I want to apologize for my outburst. My actions and words that night were unacceptable and I said things that I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry for hurting you, and I know I can't fix anything now, but I wanted you to know that despite what it may have sounded like, I don't blame you for anything. Shit happens. We all make mistakes. Some are just impossible to fix and I could never blame you for not trusting me because of my own actions.

Now, the whole truth you wanted. I won’t discuss my identity in depth. There is really not much to it. My name is Adrien Agreste. I received the Black Cat miraculous when I was fourteen and have been Chat Noir ever since. 

My father. I found out that he was Hawkmoth when I visited the mansion for those sketches you needed. I stumbled upon the butterfly miraculous in one of the drawers in his desk. Nooroo then told me about the peacock miraculous my father kept in his safe, and that Nathalie, my father’s assistant, used to be Mayura. I didn’t know either of those things before that evening, and I wish I’d never found out, but knowing my father, I was hardly surprised. 

Lastly, Felix. My cousin, Felix Graham de Vanily, lives in London and is a skilled designer, but he wasn’t the one who was assisting you these past few months. The truth is—I couldn’t find a qualified assistant for you in time, so I figured I could use Nooroo’s power to make up for my incompetence. Long story short, I akumatized myself into ‘Felix’ so I could use his skills to help you. I hope you can forgive me for that. I swear, if I could have found you a real assistant in the time frame I had, I would’ve, but it wasn't happening and time was pressing and I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for the mess ‘Felix’ was. Unfortunately, being an akuma, I couldn’t control my actions and words, and I know I made you uncomfortable far too many times as ‘Felix’. I’m sorry about that. ‘Felix’ won’t be returning so you don’t have to worry about him anymore. The HR department will find you a new assistant soon. 

I guess that’s it. That’s all of my secrets, the whole truth. 

I dare, though, to ask you for a favour. I know as a Guardian, it’s your duty to gather all of the miraculouses back into the Miracle Box, but I beg you to allow me to keep Plagg. He’s been by my side for most of my life. He’s my best friend, the only family I still have. I can’t give him up. Not yet. I know there will be a point in time where I’d have to, but if I may, I’d like to hold onto him for now. I can keep you updated on his whereabouts at any given time, so you’ll be able to claim him if the need ever arises, but I’d really appreciate it if you can grant us some more time together.

One more thing, I’m sorry for what happened on that terrace. I never meant to push you to cheat on your “boyfriend”. I only wanted you to like me. I wanted you to see potential in me, so that when I revealed my identity later, you wouldn't reject me straight away. I didn't plan to kiss you. I just wanted to spend some time with you and got caught up in the moment. And I’m so, so sorry for that. I just can’t seem to think straight when it comes to you. And I don’t know if this matters anymore, but for what it’s worth, I avoided kissing you as Chat Noir not because I didn’t love you, Marinette, but because I knew you’d hate to kiss Adrien. I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t let you kiss the person you hate just because he had a mask on his face. 

I’m sorry if my feelings have been too much of a nuisance. I would completely understand if you decide to move on, and if that is the case, I won’t be bothering you anymore. Adrien won’t be coming back to Gabriel. Chat Noir will vanish as well. I love you too much to keep hurting you, and it seems that’s the only thing I do every time I get close. 

Please, forgive me. I never meant any harm. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. I’ll treasure every memory with you forever.

Adrien.

P.S. Good luck with your ESMOD exam. You'll do great!

P.P.S. Just thought I’d mention that you can stay at the apartment for as long as you need. I don’t use it anyway, and I don’t think I’ll be using it any time soon. When you decide to move out, leave the keys on a table and tape a note to the window, facing the writing outside. I’ll see it eventually.

 Tears pooling in her eyes, Marinette couldn’t look away. 

That idiot!

He did what? 

Doesn’t he know how dangerous—

No! It couldn’t be true! Could it?

She rushed back to the Miracle Box and took out Nooroo’s miraculous. 

“Tell me this isn’t true,” she demanded, as soon as the kwami appeared. “Tell me Adrien didn’t akumatize himself daily for months.”

 His mouth slightly ajar, Nooroo stared at her wide-eyed for a few moments before guiltily bowing his head. “He did.” 

Marinette groaned, facepalming. “How stupid could he get? Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is? There is a reason there are always two people involved in akumatazation. He could’ve easily lost control and endangered all of us.”

“Master Adrien knew the danger,” Nooroo shyly added. “That’s why he asked Plagg to keep him in line.”

“Plagg? Plagg is a kwami. How could he keep an akuma in line?”

“Master Adrien used a very fragile object for the akuma to infect, something that Plagg could easily break when needed.”

She quirked an eyebrow. That was actually very clever. “What object?”

“Your picture.”

Marinette stilled, silently staring at Nooroo for a full half-minute before uttering, “My picture?”

The kwami nodded. “Master Adrien said that because his goal was to help you, it only made sense to use your picture. In a way, he was also counting on it to keep his akumatized self from seeking other goals which, honestly, wouldn’t be an issue anyway because Plagg could de-akumatize him at a moment’s notice if he’d strayed to something different.”

Marinette sat on her bed. "By tearing up the object, in this case, a picture, right?"

“Yes.” Nooroo smiled. “Plagg had lots of fun doing that. I suspect that’s the only reason he agreed to the whole ordeal in the first place.”

“To rip up some paper?”

“Not exactly.” Nooroo chuckled. “You see, as expected, Master Adrien as an akuma didn’t want to leave your side, trying to help you with everything he could. However, he had other responsibilities, so he couldn’t afford to do that. After a few days of failing to control his ‘help Marinette’ urges, Master Adrien allowed Plagg to do whatever it took to get him out of the room and de-akumatize him at an appointed time.” Nooroo grinned. “Plagg tried different approaches and soon discovered that Master Adrien is very ticklish. Since then, all he had to do was to start tickling him and when Master Adrien couldn’t take it anymore, he’d leave the room to get rid of the annoyance. Once in a hallway, though, Plagg would tear up the picture and Master Adrien would be de-akumatized.”

Marinette couldn’t help a snicker, a lopsided smile sneaking onto her lips. 

This. 

This actually explained so much. Like why ‘Felix’ was so overbearingly helpful with everything. Obsessively, even. Or why he would never warn her that he was leaving, instead vanishing without as much as a goodbye. Or why he seemed to always be extremely uncomfortable right before disappearing. After a while, Marinette had just assumed he had some kind of a health issue and since it wasn't her place to pry, she'd decided ‘Felix’ would tell her when and if he wanted to. The real reason behind his strange behaviour was way too hilarious for her not to laugh. 

Who would’ve thought that it wasn’t some secret disease but a pesky kwami tickling his idiot of a wielder to get him out of the room?

The space filled with giggles, her eyes with tears, Marinette laughed. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to see the process of his de-akumatization! Adrien probably looked so adorable after being forced to release the butterfly and drop the transformation. Dishevelled, disoriented, and lost like a kitten. A moment later, he’d be sporting a kicked puppy look, glaring and pouting at his smug kwami, yet unable to do anything because he was the one to ask for it. That would’ve been quite a sight to behold.

“He’s such a dummy,” she giggled. “What was he thinking?” 

It was a rhetorical question, one Marinette didn’t expect an answer to, so when Nooroo gave her one, she froze.

“He was thinking of you. Master Adrien was always thinking of helping you, akuma or not. I just gave him the means to do what he wanted.”

Unable to look away, Marinette stared at Nooroo for a short while before dropping her eyes to her hands, clenched together in her lap. “Why? He didn’t know I was Ladybug when he started helping me. I was just a girl who hurt him. Who considered him an enemy for years and wanted nothing to do with him. Why would he go to such lengths to help me?” 

“I might have an answer to that,” Tikki said, flying closer. “Do you remember how the Black Cat’s miraculous wielder is chosen, Marinette?”

Her eyebrows knit in a frown, as Marinette tried to recall Master Fu's lessons. Ladybugs were chosen based on their ability to think outside the box and see things differently. People called it "creativity" but it was so much more than that.  

Black Cats were chosen… 

Her heart quickened its pace, eyes widening a fraction. 

Black Cats were chosen based on the purity of their hearts. It didn’t mean they were perfect and never made mistakes, but it took a really strong and immeasurably kind person to contain the destruction that Plagg embodied. 

With a groan, Marinette fell on her bed face up. She closed her eyes, letting memories flood her mind. She’d fallen in love with Adrien because of his kindness. She’d fallen for Chat because of his loyalty. The man she was getting to know these last few months was still just as kind and loyal, going beyond his abilities to help an estranged and bitter girl who had hated him for years. 

Her eyes filled with tears. How blind and stupid and completely unreasonable she was. How far gone in her resentment she must have been to doubt his intentions. She knew Adrien. She knew how kind and innocent and loving he was. Then why? What happened to her to get them here?

Most importantly, would he ever forgive her?

Because she loved that man. She loved him so much it hurt. 

“I have my answer, Tikki,” Marinette whispered into the silence of the room. 

“You do?”

“Yes. I love him, and I know I can trust him. All of him. With my life.”

“How about your heart?”

Marinette propped herself on her elbows and looked at Tikki, a smile gracing her lips. “Absolutely.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. I know it won’t be a smooth ride and we’ll need to figure stuff out and work on it, but if he’ll have me, I’m more than willing to give us another chance and will do whatever it takes to make us work.”

Tikki smiled, leaning against Marinette’s cheek and snuggling. “Good. I’m glad you’ve made a decision you’re happy with.”

“We should go see him now. He’s been waiting long enough.”

Tikki closed her eyes and concentrated on something for a few moments before smiling apologetically at Marinette. "Plagg isn't in the ring, meaning Adrien isn't transformed.”

“You can feel him? Can you tell me where to find him?”

Tikki shook her head. “I can only feel Chat Noir’s energy. That’s how you can locate him with Ladybug’s yo-yo. But unless Adrien transformed, I wouldn't be able to pick up anything. Built-in identity protection.”

“Then maybe I can…” 

Oh, crap.

She didn’t have his contact information. They exchanged neither phone numbers nor emails because at first she didn’t want anything to do with him, and later it never came up. Adrien was always available at the office should she need him. Chat visited her daily and she could contact him through their communicators when he was transformed. Marinette could probably ask Alya or Nino for his number, but she didn’t really want to involve them. Alya was sure to pry and Marinette didn’t want to answer any questions before she and Adrien had a chance to talk. Plus, talking face to face would probably be the best option in their situation. 

‘Okay, then. We can get his number from the office tomo—” Marinette groaned, closing her eyes. “It's Friday. The office is closed until next week.”

“I can let you know if I sense Chat Noir if you want.”

“Thanks, Tikki. That’ll be great. And if not then I guess, we’re getting his number on Monday.”

Tikki placed a tiny kiss on Marinette’s cheek. “I’m proud of you, Marinette. You’ve grown so much.”

Marinette snuggled the kwami close. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Of course you could have,” Tikki smiled. “After all, you’re Ladybug. You can do anything you set your mind to.”

“Only if I have my partner by my side,” Marinette added. “There’s a reason our miraculouses are the only ones that come in a pair, isn’t there, Tikki?”

The kwami let a smile split her mouth as she nodded. “There absolutely is.” 

Unlike the previous nights, today Marinette slept soundly. Her mind made up, she dreamed of how their meeting would go, what she’d say, how Adrien would react. Would he forgive her? Would he finally kiss her now that there were no more secrets between them and he knew she didn’t hate him?

***

The morning brought more pleasant surprises—an email from Sofia Tentazione, a representative for Muï Muï, a fashion house Marinette loved probably just as much as Gabriel. She’d met Sofia at Gabriel’s afterparty and they exchanged contacts, but Marinette had never expected to hear from her. And yet, now she was staring at an email in which Sofia was asking if Marinette would be available to come in for an interview with their head designer in Milan next Wednesday. At the bottom of the email, the postscript stated that as long as Marinette showed up to that interview, she was guaranteed a job at Muï Muï. Apparently, the head designer hadn’t been so impressed with someone’s work in a long time and didn’t even bother hiding his intentions to scout Marinette for himself. The interview was supposedly scheduled only to comply with the house’s hiring process.

“Tikki, am I still asleep?”

“I can check.” Tikki nonchalantly flew closer with a wide grin on her face.

Marinette jerked away, glaring at the kwami. “No, thank you. I know the way you check. I had a bruise for a week last time you checked.”

"You were definitely awake at that time."

“And I’m perfectly awake right now. No pinching required.”

“Why did you ask for it then?”

“I didn’t. I’m just shocked. I have a job offer from Muï Muï! Can you believe it?”

“That’s great,” Tikki smiled, before turning serious. “Will you take it?”

Of course! 

Why would Tikki even ask? Isn’t it why Marinette almost killed herself trying to get the collection done? To get a good job offer from someone so amazing in her situation was nothing short of a miracle.

Why wouldn’t she take it?

Yet something nagged at her. She hesitated. 

“I… I don’t know. I mean, this is a great opportunity, and this is what I wanted, but… I’d have to move to Milan.”

“And leave Adrien behind,” Tikki added.

Marinette bit her lip, every nerve ending in her body tingling. Tikki was right. Adrien wouldn’t move for her. She had no right to even ask that of him. He had a job and his father’s company to take care of in Paris. He couldn’t just abandon it all and move to a different country only to see if they could make it work. 

If he wanted to see if they could work in the first place. 

The truth hit her hard. All the happy fantasies she’d dreamt up last night disappearing, replaced by fear and guilt. Why would he even want her after the way she treated him? Adrien wasn’t a fool. Why would he risk it when all she did was hurt him? In fact, he wouldn’t. He said it himself in that letter—despite still loving her, he was willing to step away because he couldn’t bear to hurt her anymore. 

Her heart ached. Even in this, he was thinking of her first. Was he even real? She certainly didn’t deserve his love. Perhaps this job offer was her answer then. She’d move away and it’d be easier for both of them to get over each other and find happiness with someone else.

She swallowed back the lump in her throat, a low tremor running down her spine. Funny. This situation resembled their first argument so much—she had to choose between him and her career then, too. Only now that amazing job offer in Milan wasn’t nearly as appealing to her as an uncertain chance with a man who might not even want her at this point. 

“Another huge decision to make?” Tikki asked.

“Seems so.”

Tikki flew up, hovering right at Marinette's eye level. "I'm sure you'll make the right decision, Marinette. Just think what will make you happier in the long run."

Marinette chuckled sadly. “So basically, the old cliché ‘Follow Your Heart, Marinette’?”

Tikki nodded. “Yes. Old, cliché, and very true. Look deep into your heart and listen to what it has to tell you. That’s the best thing you can do.”

And that was what Marinette did. She shut her phone off, signed out of her social media and email accounts, and took long walks at the local park, thinking, reflecting, and trying to see what it was she really wanted. It took her almost two days, but Sunday evening Marinette was confident she had found her answer. She turned her laptop back on, and replied to Sofia, agreeing to the interview. 

Then, she took a sheet of paper and wrote a letter to Adrien. She wasn’t sure she could face him right now, but she had to tell him what was in her heart. A letter it was.

Monday morning, Marinette came by Adrien’s office to drop off said letter only to be told that M Agreste wouldn’t be back there any time soon if at all. Luckily, on her way out she ran into his family lawyer who let it slip that he was to meet with Adrien in a few hours at an undisclosed location. Not seeing a better choice, Marinette gave the man her letter and asked if he could pass it to Adrien. Then, she arranged a week off for herself and returned to the apartment. 

With her heart and her future at stake, there was nothing she could handle doing for the next two days but packing her belongings and waiting for Adrien’s response to her letter. 

Next >

[art-of-love-and-war]

Hello, anon here~ I wanted to ask if you'd have time to write a hideyoshi x virgin reader smut? :")) happy New year's by the way ❤

Pairing: Hideyoshi Toyotomi x Female!Reader

Rating: Mature (+18)

Word count: 2184

Warning/s: Sexual situations, first-time sex. 

Honestly, don’t read if you are not over 18.

Notes: Thank you for your request, I am really sorry it took me this long to write it. Writer’s block can be a hell of a thing sometimes :C. I hope you enjoy it. 

Like a feather, you had entered through his window and burned yourself into his heart for eternity.

NSFW UNDER THE CUT

Like a feather

You danced around his mind every minute of the day, clouding his mind with thoughts of you.

Like a feather, you had entered through his window and burned yourself into his heart for eternity.

You were his savior, you had saved his life, he needed you as he needed air and he wanted to give you more than you had given him in return for the love you had proclaimed to each other.

Your fingers, delicate and soft felt like a gentle touch of silk over his chest. It calmed him down, took all the thoughts out of his head to just focus on you.

“I love you.” You whispered against his warm skin, sending a tingle down his back.

His eyes opened wide when you moved from his side to straddle him, you were a comfortable weight over his lap, your knees pressing against his hips.

You leaned down to steal another kiss from his lips.

It had been a while; you had never been intimate beyond heated kisses and soft touches.

And he wanted you beyond what words could express, to touch you and have you like no one else before, and he hated himself for such a selfish wish.

He wanted to belong to you and you to belong to him.

When Hideyoshi held you closer, pressing your bodies together a delightful moan escaped your lips, making the heat rise between your bodies until you were burning bright like candles, not being able to stop the desire growing.

Your breath caught in your throat when his hands held your hips and product of his lust went down to the curve of your backside. You parted, looking into each other’s eyes, cloudy with desire.

Did you want this? Yes. And you were going to get it.

Nothing was going to stop you, you decided as you reached to undo the silk sash holding your sleeping robes, watching the marvel in his golden eyes.

Sitting up over him, you undid the delicate knot, letting the soft fabric slide from your body and pool around your hips, displaying your body for his eyes only.

He looked up at you with adoration clear in his eyes, and he slowly sat up, looking into your eyes for any sign of doubt or fear, but as he found none, you cherished in the sight of him biting his lower lip as he admired all of you.

He doubted as he approached, laying the palm of his hand on the curve of your hip, slowly diving in to kiss your sensitive neck.

You threw your head back, giving him more room to explore with his lips as he laid delicate and feather-like kisses down your neck to your clavicle, marking your skin with just his presence alone.

“Hideyoshi…” You gasped as his lips reached for the soft bud of your nipple, rolling his warm tongue around it and suckling slightly at it.

His hands went from your hip, sneaking it's way up to your chest and give more attention to unattended parts of your body that were yearning to be touched.

You gasped in delight, responding to his affections, urging him to keep going and make you his. To make love to you until you were too tired to move from the futon the next morning.

With determination clear in your eyes, you tugged softly at his hair to stop him from only paying attention to the sensitive parts of your chest. Instead, you rolled your hips, letting out a beautiful sound of rapture when you felt his hardness between your legs.

Hideyoshi let out a beautiful moan that only made you want to leave all foreplay behind and start the main event.

A part of your mind told you to not rush things as the reward would be greater for your patience.

And Hideyoshi, too, fought to restrain himself to just leave it all, push you down beneath him and have his way with you in the filthiest way possible until you were trembling as he took you to high heavens.

“Is there something in your mind?” You asked, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.

He looked up at you, adoration clear in his eyes. “I was just thinking about how much I love you and would like to please you tonight if you’d allow me.” His warm smile counted the tale of infinite memories of your happiness as a couple, and it shook you with emotion to your core.

That only made you realize that Hideyoshi was the one true love of your life, the only man who could make your knees weak with just his laying his eyes on you.

You smiled back at him, throwing your arms around his neck to pull him closer to you and kiss the life out of him. Hideyoshi cupped your face in his hands, drawing you closer and closer, barely pulling away just to lick your bottom lip with his tongue until you granted him entrance.

Between heated kisses, soft and loving words, and curious touches you shed each other’s clothes, leaving them forgotten and scattered around the room as you threw them mindlessly.

Excitement bubbled up in your chest when he gently rolled you over so you were lying down beneath him.

He kissed a path down your chest taking his time to reach the most sensitive part of your body, leaving a small trace of his kisses down your torso.

You shivered, feeling his lips grace at your thighs and your hips, biting down on the soft flesh as you spread your legs for him. His hand grasped around your leg, lifting it over his shoulder to have better access.

Lost and dazed, you threaded your fingers through his soft locks of hair and gave him another tug to look into your lust-clouded eyes.

You saw nothing but lust and passion over his eyes, tongue darting over his lips before leaning to lick a long, tantalizing stipe over your folds, wrapping his lips around your clit and sucking softly on the nub.

Any remaining sanity fled from your mind. The sounds coming out your mouth were loud and lewd, not caring if somebody was able to hear such noises. Against your skin, you could feel him smirk as he flicked his tongue, making you jump in your place when a sudden wave of pleasure hit you too fast.

You knew it was going to be a long, pleasant night if this man was such a splendid lover.

Your breath caught in your throat when his fingers joined the game, rubbing lightly over your clit when he parted, ripping a whine of protest out of you. His middle finger slowly made its way into you, finding you warm and incredibly aroused.

Your knees buckled, your breath caught in your throat in a silent scream. His hands wandered to your hips to help you steady your stance, pulling his mouth away and peppering kisses over your thighs when your orgasm hit you so suddenly.

Dissolving into pleasure, the trails of fire burning in your core wouldn’t leave, begging you for a greater release. You sought blindly for Hideyoshi when your vision cleared and he held your hands, lacing your fingers together as he loomed over you.

He gave you the warmest of smiles as he licked his lips clean from your slick, reaching to caress your cheek with his hand.

You wondered how he could smile at you like that, looking so loving yet so hungry to have you all for himself.

He was hesitant to kiss you again at first, but soon you both melted into it, finding excitement growing into you as you tasted yourself in his lips.

With a playful smile, you rolled over again, straddling his lap once more to cup his face between your hands and lean forward to kiss him with the same sweetness that filled your heart whenever he held your hand or patted your head.

He called your name as soon as you parted, looking into your eyes with his stern, yet caring look as he leaned to press his forehead against yours. “Do you want this? We can stop if you don’t feel-”

You silenced him with a small, chaste kiss, watching a smile appear on his face.

“Hideyoshi, I want you.” You were determined. “I want you to touch me, I want to feel you everywhere and I want you to feel me.”

The thought made you warm; picturing it sent a burning tingle down your spine. Your bodies, merging as one, at last, melting in ecstasy until the world disappeared around you and you were alone with each other.

“I want you to fuck me.”

You never thought of having enough courage to tell someone that, even with the blush on your cheeks you felt so sure of what you wanted.

And Hideyoshi could see it in the determination in your eyes, the want, and the desire.

He softly held your hips as you tried to sit down on him, slowly taking all of him inside of you at a torturing pace, feeling every inch of his shaft filling you, caressing the sensitive nerves of your walls, stretching you open deliciously.

You bit back a whimper when he was all the way inside you, letting your eyes fall closed when Hideyoshi leaned over and kissed you, holding your body against his protectively.

You felt dirty, in a delicious way. Tainted with marks of passion that you wanted to remain in your skin for everyone to see that you were Hideyoshi’s.

Hideyoshi held your hips, squeezing your backside with the tips of his fingers as he slowly guided you to rock your hips against him, and he gave you a sweet smile, watching your furrowed brow with concentration.

“Take your time,” he brushed a fallen strand of hair away from your flushed face. “I’m all yours.”

His words only made you hold onto him tighter. There was something about the way he said it that touched something deeper than you thought possible. You nodded and urged your hips down to take more of him into you, biting your lip as the discomfort slowly faded, only leaving you with the rare pressure on your belly.

You are mine… All mine.

With him guiding you, you rocked your hips back and forward. With your hands against his chest, you slowly took control over your own body, bouncing slightly over his cock and moaning deliciously at the stretch every time you rolled your hips.

You pushed him slightly, and he took the hint to lay back down on the futon and look up at you adoringly as he relinquished control of the rhythm to you.

Hideyoshi just made sure to thrust up inside you, groaning every time your walls pulsed around him, guiding his hand down between your legs to rub your swollen and neglected clit. It was just the right amount of pressure; enough to build a strange, tingling warmth that spread over your sex and made you quiver with pleasure.

Everything felt so perfect, the ecstasy he gifted you, the love you felt for him, such wonderful feelings, which brought tears to your eyes as you wanted to cry out in love as you approached the blissful feeling of an orgasm.

You leaned forward, jerking your hips up and down in quick bursts as your body could allow you. You locked your eyes with him, lips hovering over his as bliss engulfed you.

“Take me harder, Hideyoshi… Please.”

He bit his lip in concentration, gripping your waist and pushing you down hard.

You choked on your own voice as he hit a spot inside you that made your vision blur and your eyes roll back. You dug your nails into his chest, trembling violently, feeling your walls tighten around him and fireworks going off behind your eyelids as you reached heaven.

And Hideyoshi was close, so close.

He moaned your name through gritted teeth.

His pace, as hard and wild as he was in battle, continued without denying his release. He held you down, filling you completely and feeling the trails of fire run through his veins as he spent himself inside you.

Exhausted, you laid down on his chest, feeling as if your voice had left you for good. You threaded your fingers through his hair, brushing the sweaty strands of hair away from his forehead.

You pressed a feather-like kiss to his brow, smiling when he opened his eyes and smiled back at you, seeing your flushed face, feeling your bare skin against his and the warmth of your body.

“I love you.” You whispered, clinging to him for dear life as if he was going to disappear at any time.

Hideyoshi wrapped his arms around you, holding you with the same desperation. “I’m afraid I love you the most.”

A small discussion of who loved whom the most followed until you were spent from your nightly activities and fell asleep into each other’s embrace.

[vs-redemption]

Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (Ch.21)

Chapter Twenty-One: The New Serum (HawksxGN!Reader)

A/N: Hello readers! First of all, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who is still reading/following this story! We’re nearing the end now, and I only anticipate a few more chapters. (Famous last words) Also, I’m sorry for the lack of Hawks in this one, but hopefully you are enjoying everything happening with the mad doctor!

Plot summary: You thought your hands were full as a regular quirk geneticist, but then you meet Hawks and things get even more exciting!

Warnings:  

⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga.

⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga

Tag List: @gayforkeigo @marshmallow-witch @redflannel @toyo-shiro @elsasshole @astronomyturtle @iambashfulperson

Next Chapter : Chapter Guide

“Don’t you feel guilty helping me when your boyfriend is a hero?” Shigaraki’s piercing red glare follows you as you move around the lab underneath Jaku Hospital, constantly keeping you on edge and fearful for your life. You hadn’t anticipated having him as a regular visitor after the first encounter, but thankfully you were getting better at keeping your composure in high stress situations. Over the past few days you’d run dozens of tests and simulations using Shigaraki’s blood, and you knew you were getting closer to the day when you’d actually have to do the real procedure on the villain. You weren’t sure which possible outcome of the experiment you feared worse.

If things went well and you managed to transfer All For One’s quirk, Shigaraki would be even more powerful than before. Would there even be anybody strong enough to take him down at that point? How many people would be hurt or killed thanks to your assistance? The other scenario was if the experiment failed and Shigaraki died or his DNA became too mutated for him to function normally. That would most likely get you a target on your back with the League of Villains. But, for all you knew, they might be planning to kill you just as soon as this was all over anyway.

“I’ve hardly seen my boyfriend in weeks, except in passing,” you respond to the villain as flatly as you can while gesturing for his arm so you could take another vial of his blood. You wished Dr. Garaki would get the samples for himself, but he was currently in the second lab doing status checks on all his terrifying high end nomus. “The hero commission has kept Hawks very busy lately.”

“The hero commission, huh?” Shigaraki narrows his eyes at you before thrusting out his arm. He hated all the poking and prodding you’d been doing to his body, but knew it was the only way for him to eventually get the ultimate power he so desperately craved. That didn’t stop him from whining and complaining like a child sometimes though. “A perfect example of why I hate heroes.”

“What do you mean?” You ask as you fill up a syringe with his blood. It thankfully only took a few seconds. The less direct contact you had with the villain the better.

“They spend all their time risking their lives for other people,” Shigaraki explains as you put a bandage over the spot on his arm where you’d poked him with the needle. He started scratching at the dry, flaking skin on his neck with the chipped nails of his free hand. You’d noticed him doing this whenever he got himself agitated over something. It was a disturbing habit that you wish he’d try to control. “None of the heroes give a second thought to how they’re neglecting their families and loved ones.”

“Hmm,” you ponder over his words as you prepare a sample of the doctor’s newest concoction that he hoped would seamlessly bind Shigaraki’s DNA with All For One’s. Using the deductions of your quirk, you’d decided to start playing around with polarity of the villain’s DNA molecules. The goal was to trick the nucleotides from the two samples into bonding together more cohesively even though they were naturally non-polar.

“Perhaps there’s some truth to that,” you admit calmly, wondering if he really cared about the families of heroes when he didn’t seem to have any issue with disintegrating entire cities full of people. “And let me tell you, as a scientist, I understand your desire to want everyone to fit into perfect categories that follow the same sets of rules. There are always going to be outliers though. Some people can fit comfortably into multiple categories while others, frustratingly, seem to be in a category of their own.” You pause in your ramblings to look back at the villain who was glaring at you with enough intensity to give you chills. You force yourself to let out a small laugh before turning back to the slides you were working on. “Even though I don’t see Hawks that often right now,” you shrug, “I think he’d be there for me if I really needed him.”

“Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do,” Shigaraki had an eerie smirk on his face and it was a relief to see that it seemed he had no clue about how much you actually did know.

“There are definitely secrets about myself I’m keeping from him,” you gesture between yourself and the villain to show your meaning, even though it was a lie. “So you’re probably right about that.”

Thankfully you weren’t forced to have any more small talk with Shigaraki because the doctor finally came back through the creepy hidden tunnel, looking more or less satisfied with the progress of his nomus. You knew he wished they’d move toward completion at a faster pace, but the way he was manipulating DNA was already unstable enough without trying to rush the process.

“Did you test the new serum?” he asks once he finishes locking up the secret entrance.

“Not yet,” you tell him. “I was just about to.” He comes over and watches you push the slide with Shigaraki’s blood underneath the nearest microscope before adding a small drop of the new serum to the sample. You activate your quirk and press your face against the eyepiece to observe the results in as much detail as possible. Slowly, you watched as the two DNA samples fused together. You were used to this part by now, even though it still blew your mind sometimes. The difference this time was that the merged chromosomes looked completely normal, unlike the bulky mutated ones that made up the nomus.

“I can’t believe it,” you mumble to yourself, both out of awe and fear.

“Did it work?” Shigaraki asks impatiently.

“Wait,” you shush him more aggressively than you probably should have, but the chromosomes on the slide had suddenly begun to dissolve and break apart. Before you could deliver that bad news, the broken DNA inexplicably began to reform. “Something is happening.” You continue watching for a moment as the chromosomes break and repair themselves in a constant loop. You back away from the microscope to look at the doctor, your mind already working to figure out the secret behind the phenomenon. “It worked… sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?!” Shigaraki sounded annoyed but the doctor remained calm.

“What happened?” he asks.

“The samples blended perfectly this time,” you explain, “but it’s still unstable. The DNA is simultaneously destroying and repairing itself. Take a look.” The doctor pulls over a stool so that he can reach the microscope to peer into the lens. What he sees makes him smile and bounce on his feet with excitement. He backs away from the microscope and hops off the stool.

“I know exactly why this is happening,” Dr. Garaki was beaming. “Good news Shigaraki! I don’t think you’ll have to wait much longer now.”

As usual, you had a lot of objections, but it was pointless to try and talk him into slowing down. Shigaraki wanted his power as soon as possible, and the doctor wasn’t going to make him wait any longer than absolutely necessary. Even if it was dangerous to use the leader of the villains as the first test subject, you knew they would do it anyway.

“It’s because the DNA was able to fuse perfectly,” the doctor turns his attention to you, “All For One’s regeneration quirk must have been activated. I anticipate that this sample will continue to try and fix itself until it finds a way to stabilize.”

The mere possibility of that being true astonished you. If the doctor wasn’t a madman who planned to turn an already dangerous villain into an unstoppable force of evil, he could do so much good with the discovery you both had just made. There were so many people who suffered with self-destructive quirks that would benefit from a serum like this. You wondered if Shigaraki’s skin problems would be alleviated after the procedure.

With a regenerating serum, so many exciting possibilities had just opened up. It was just too bad that you were stuck in such a messed up situation. You’d told the doctor that you weren’t going to judge him for helping the League of Vilains with the information you gathered, but you hadn’t expected him to have you work with Shigaraki directly. It worried you that you would be forced to go through with this insane idea soon. The silver lining was that, like the nomus, Shigaraki’s procedure would probably take quite a while to complete. You had no idea exactly how long it would take for All For One’s DNA to integrate with Shigaraki’s completely, but you had to imagine rewiring someone’s genes took time. It most likely was going to be excruciating for the villain as well. You wondered if he’d even survive if his DNA was going to be destroying and repairing itself over and over again.

“What are you thinking?” Dr. Garaki’s question pulls you out of your thoughts.

“I’m thinking we can check on the progress of this sample tomorrow,” you tell him almost robotically. You couldn’t let the implications of what you were doing affect you now. You had to continue to play the morally neutral scientist. “We can try to calculate the rate of repair to see if the regeneration is even working the way you think it is. Once we know that much, we’ll probably be able to predict just how long the procedure will take to complete.”

“Good idea!” the doctor claps his hands once. “Let’s start recording as much data as we can now with your quirk so we can come up with an accurate timeline later.”

The two of you set to work while Shigaraki watches and complains about there being nothing to do. You envied him of having the luxury of his biggest concern at the moment being his boredom. There were so many worries occupying your mind at present that being bored was far from being possible. You were already dreading having to inform Hawks of everything that had happened that day. If the Hero Commission didn’t find a way to put a stop to the villains before Shigaraki’s procedure was completed, there would be no limit to the amount of destruction he’d be able to cause.

[0vorenation0]

The Island (series #4)

As I stepped outside and walked done the path. I saw the old foundations, where houses used to sit. With further exploration, I walked up to the old graveyard. It’s was destroyed by years of abuse from the elements. As I continued one the oddly familiar place, I came across a old tombstone. I read the name and it was of my grandmother. The name was the same, my grandfather used to tell me about her. It said she was a supreme fighter and warrior but was striked down by a rival clan.

That’s when I heard a branch break in the distance, I stood up and looked around. Then another break of a branch and another. I drew out my sword and waited. I listened and watched, then I saw a dark shadow walk into the light. “ Damn Saladin haha, you nearly got yourself killed. What you doing out hear, btw have you seen my guards?” I ask just know noticing there gone. “Cal I see you found the graves, and no I haven’t seen them. Listen there’s something I need to tell you, but I know your gonna freak out.” Saladin says “what are you talking about, did the werewolf escape?” I ask nervously. He looks as me and says” no he didn’t but I’m much older then I let on Cal, when I first met you I wasn’t gonna take you to the island. However when I heard your name and who u were I knew then and there your useful. I’m all about preserving ancient history and knowledge. I know your a powerful pred back at your kingdom, but hear you have no idea. Shortly after your tribe left the werewolf’s at the least the pack of ancient alpha originals were hunted down. All except for one, everyone thinks there extinct. However the last one was about to be killed when he attacked me. He bit me and his genes fused with mine, I became the first human pred werewolf hybrid. Usually not possible, but since I was a pred, I could turn. I’m gonna show you how powerful I am Cal haha. This is true power.!!!”

I stood there shocked and terrified, Saladins eyes turned yellow. He began to change and morph, he started getting massive and hair popped out everywhere. He nose grew long and his teeth became sharp and long. After that I drew my sword and went to stabb him. His hands grew claws and as I came in with my sword he swatted me up and I flew back into a tree. My sword flew and stuck in the ground and I passed out for a few seconds. When I woke up I looked around and there was nothing. I slowly got up and looked around, my arm felt like it was dislocated. I could defend myself I was helpless as I look around. Then a drop of liquid fell in my hair and I realized it wasn’t water but spit. I slowly lift my head up and there he was standing in the tree teeth put snarling at me. I panicked and ran, I picked up my sword and didn’t make it far before I fell. He jumped down and I could hear him behind me, I went to swing but he blocked my arm and it went flying away.

He got in my face and sniffed me, and then licked my face chin to hair. His breath was so hot and felt like a gush of wind. I could see his maw and I waited for the worst. His mouth was huge and could easily swallow my head. I could practically see down his throat. The beads drops of spit were scary, I felt truly helpless as he poked his maw wide and went to swallow my head but stoped as my head was in his throat. It was so slimy and gross, smelled like death, and I could feel his muscles squeezing me. I felt him pull away and my head left his mouth covered in slime and spit. I was confused, he could have easily swallowed me in one gulp. I was nothing to him but a bug that’s wouldn’t make a dent in his gut. That’s when I saw it though, it was massive and mesmerizing. His cock was huge, and that’s when I realized why he didn’t swallow me. I cleared the slime out of my eyes and felt him grab my legs. He striped me done to nothing but my underwear, and places my feet in his maw. He licked all around them and the. Finally let them go fully covered in his salvia. He grabbed the massive cock and began rubbing it, making it hard once again. It grew to and I possible 15 to 20 inches. My face was turned in horror as he grabbed my feet and slid my feet into his cock slit.

I tried to kick but his strength was ungodly, I was helpless, my arm was dislocated. So I could fight back. I could only sit and watch as his massive cock swallowed me. I used my on good arm to grab a stick. With a quick move I jerked my arm and tried to stab him but he caught my arm. He gripped it harder until I dropped the stick and he let arm go. I grabbed my thighs and pulled me more and more into his cock. I squirmed my feet and could feel the powerful muscled cock walls squeeze and pulse. With every pulse of his cock he pulled me further and deeper. His cock just didn't end, I could tell he was getting pleasure from swallowing with his member. I grabbed dirt and grass, as his cock lifted me off the ground. Gravity kicked in and I was slowly being pulled in faster, that's when I began to beg him. However nothing worked, his pred instincts kicked in and I was helpless. As the king of VoreNation, I was not about to die a bitch. So I made my peace and closed my eyes, an honorable fight I had put up. Nothing last forever, my cock and ass entered passed his cock slit. The slime made me hard and as I was pulled down. I felt myself cum, the made me descend faster and my cum dried down into his own massive balls. My feet finally enter the massive chamber that was his balls and I could feel the puddle of cum I would be descending into.

He placed his massive hand on my head and pushed me down. My time and reign had come, as I was up to my neck in his fleshy giant cock. He pushed the rest in and I was sent slowly in the dark hole that was his cock. I looked up and the light faded fast until it was nothing but dark. I tied to move around but his walls just squeezed and held me. I could feel his massive hand help push me down his urethra. Although he might have been rubbing his cock as the pleasure of swallowing his prey felt good. I began to curl into a ball and then my head finally enter his balls. His cock began to soften, and once I was fully in his balls the weight dropped them down. Saladin began to walk away and entered the lab. He sat down and rubbed his balls, this began the process of churning, I could feel the cum rising. Soon I would be nothing but a werewolf cum.

I had always wondered what it felt in to be churn to cum. Surprisingly it was quite peaceful. There was no pain, I just dissolved into thick white slimy cum. Saladin still in wolf for began rubbing his balls further this made his cock hard again. Once fully hard he began to jerk off, I could feel it hi shi balls as they were jumping and shaking all around. As he jerked out my feet and hands dissolved away, then I arms and legs. The cum balls, filled with cum and soon they shrunk and shriveled up and squeezed me tight. The rest of my body was dissolved and I passed out. Outside the balls, he knew it was close and cries out a load Awhooooo and ropes of cum went flying all over the room. A solid kitty pools worth of cum spewed out and covered the room. After he cummed his balls well saggy and cock went flaccid. He stood up and began to transform back into a human. While he transformed I regained consciousness and the puddle of cum began to reform. It went up in the shape of a human and I turned around at Saladin. He was back as a human, I was naked covered in werewolf cum. I coughed up a bunch of cum and it was all I could taste. It tastes nothing like human cum it was more gamey.

Sometime after gathering what just happened...

”what the FUCK!!! You dick, you cock vored me. I could have died if I didn't drink that serum. Why did you do that, you also we're gonna eat me? What did I not taste good enough so you shoved me up your massive cock?” I said as I walked over to him and threw him against the wall with the strength I didn't normally have. ”it worked, look how powerful you are. I'm a genius, after I got turned I realized I had power. Not just any power true power, something I call true vore. The original type of vore, it gives me complete control over it. Don’t you see I gave you the power too, well not yet. It has take. Me years to figure out of to use the skill properly. First it was powerful strength, then the ability to absorb the engage of prey and distribute it anywhere I want. Cock, muscles, ass, anything why do you think my cock is so big. I can teach you this, your actually the last one who can have this ability. Only ones with what you call the royal gene, but it’s more of an ancient blood line that only true pure bread humans can have. No body on the island but me and you have this.” He told me saying this all while I had him against the wall.

This made me think, he knew everything was going to happen. He planned it, the serum, voring me. He’s right, I do feel different the power I have. As a pred and the last one with the unique bloodline. I must learn this, but no one can know. It would be dangerous to put out knowledge like this. “ how do I learn this? What do I have to do?” I say, he looks at me and smiles, “ well the only way I’ve found is that I have to vore you multiple times. With every Vore you unlock more and more knowledge u til you have learned everything I have.” “ okay I want to learn, teach me. Not know tho I have a kingdom to run, I can’t be away for this long or they will notice. I’ll return soon and we can begin”

With that I returned over the next serveal months, each time I wa scored I u locked more and more hidden talents to Vore. The second session, I unlocked the absorb and redistribute Vore ability. I used it to make myself the ultimate pred. The third allowed me to merge with others, instead of forcing them in a hole. I could simply aboard them through my body. After the finale session it was time to leave the island once again. “Saladin, thank you for teaching me the ways of True Vore. My time here is over but if your ever in VoreNation please come by. We will terrorize the citizens hahaha. Goodbye my friend” I said as i walk away he stops me and places a necklace in my hand. “ Cal I almost forgot to give this to you, it’s a necklace made from the original alpha werewolf’s tooth. I want you to have it, keep it safe. Goodbye” I put the necklace on and boarded my boat and we set sail for VoreNation. I didn’t know but I would meet Saladin again one day. I arrive back home and is greater by Corey. “Hey Corey it’s about time I come see those changes you made to the city. Shall we!!”

(haha yes I know the pics are furry, but I thought it looked better than a regular werewolf. Hope y'all enjoyed it, more to come!!!!!)

[sou-kk]

Karma Duet (SP Void Menreiki) Event Story Transcript - Part 01

Date: August 11, 2021 (Global Server)

Part 02 | Part 03

HAKUZOSU: Argh, my head aches so much…Where am I? Why am I here?

HAKUZOSU: I’ve never been here before, yet somehow it seems familiar. What’s going on? Am I still asleep?

HAKUZOSU: These scrolls scattered on the ground. They look familiar…It’s Master Seimei’s writing!

HAKUZOSU: Huh, weird, these scrolls were supposed to go to the Onmyoji Guild. What are they doing here?

HAKUZOSU: Onmyoji Guild, Onmyoji Guild, Onmyoji Guild…Ah!

SEIMEI: Is that so…I see. I’ll go and investigate around the capital today. Thank you for reporting this.

ONMYOJI OF THE CAPITAL:     We’re counting on you, Master Seimei!

KOHAKU:                               What’s happened, Master Seimei? Why did we have visitors at such a late hour?

SEIMEI:                                   A monster has been reported roaming around the capital lately. It’s been catching people and dragging them off to a mansion, where it forces them to put on plays.

KOHAKU:                               Plays? This monster sounds like a fan of the theater.

SEIMEI:                                   We’re not talking about theater plays. They said the “participants” were forced to wear a mask and attack each other. And only the last one alive is allowed to leave.

SEIMEI:                                   That monster enjoys watching them as they slaughter each other and has been abducting others so it can continue the play of carnage.

KOHAKU:                               That’s horrible! Let’s go repel that monster!

KOHAKU:                               Wait. If there’s only been one survivor, how come everyone knows all about it?

SEIMEI:                                   Ah, I see you’ve spotted the problem.

SEIMEI:                                   You see…None of those who’ve requested help from the Onmyoji Guild had any wound of any kind on their body and yet, they were certain that they had been a part of it. Some were even able to draw maps of the mansion in great detail.

KOHAKU:                               Now I’m confused. Did they all have the same dream?

SEIMEI:                                   Anyway, I think I already have an idea as to why. Let’s go and pay that Monster a visit today, Kohaku.

KOHAKU:                               You already know who it is?! I wouldn’t miss this for the world!

HAKUZOSU:                         So, then Master Seimei and I went looking for the monster…What was that monster again? It’s weird, my memory seems to be fragmented.

HAKUZOSU:                         But if I’m here, it must be that monster’s doing.

HAKUZOSU:                         I can’t just stand here and do nothing. I must find Master Seimei now. If I’m now part of the play of carnage, who knows what will happen.

HAKUZOSU: Anyway, why are there scrolls on the floor? They do look like Seimei’s scrolls…

HAKUZOSU:                         But there’s something strange about them.

Starting to feel anxious, Kohaku skimmed through the scrolls before picking them up and heading off to explore the mansion.

HAKUZOSU:                         Master Seimei! Master Seimei! Are you there?

HAKUZOSU:                         If I’m truly involved in this so-called play of carnage, then there must be someone else here.

HAKUZOSU:                         I won’t lose to anyone when it comes to fighting! Instead of trying to hide, I should make more noise to get people’s attention.

HAKUZOSU: I must get back to Master Seimei at all costs! Without Master Seimei, I feel uneasy.

HAKUZOSU: No, I can count on myself. Why would I have that idea? Argh, my head hurts…

Struck by a headache, Kohaku suppressed his rising fear and anxiety, and continued to run through the mansion, which seemed like it didn’t have an exit.

HAKUZOSU: This place is so huge, and the corridor doesn’t seem to end…

The sound of footsteps caught his attention, Kohaku discovered a girl wearing a mask behind one of the doors.

GIRL (SARU): Argh! Please! Don’t kill me!

HAKUZOSU:                         Calm down! I’m not a bad guy. I’m not going to kill you!

GIRL (SARU):                        Really? Are you really not a bad guy?

GIRL (SARU):                        Please! Save me! This place! It’s so creepy!

GIRL (SARU):                        I don’t know how I ended up here. And there’s a voice in my head, urging me to attack people!

GIRL (SARU): I don’t want to die! Take me with you. Please, protect me!

HAKUZOSU: Okay, okay, calm down first. I can protect you, as long as you stop pulling my sleeve.

HAKUZOSU: You said you don’t know how you ended up here. Were you caught by a monster?

GIRL (SARU): Hmm…

HAKUZOSU: And did you see what the monster looked like?

GIRL (SARU): No. When I opened my eyes, I found myself here. And I saw strange people attacking each other…

GIRL (SARU):                        So I escaped from the chaos…

HAKUZOSU:                         Alright, you can come with me.

HAKUZOSU:                        Wait…Have I seen you before?

GIRL (SARU): I don’t think so, I’ve never seen you before.

HAKUZOSU: Argh, my head hurts. Forget it, I must find Master Seimei now.

Anxiety and fear kept pushing Kohaku on. He quickened his pace without caring much about the girl and continued to explore the mansion.

HAKUZOSU:                         Was I here earlier? Damn it. Am I lost?

HAKUZOSU:                         I must find Master Seimei now!

GIRL (SARU):                        Are you looking for your friend? Can the one you’re looking for protect us?

GIRL (SARU):                        When you find him again, please don’t leave me behind…

HAKUZOSU:                         I won’t leave you behind! Master Seimei is kind and powerful. He’ll look after you. So don’t worry.

GIRL (SARU):                        But, what if…What if something went wrong…

HAKUZOSU:                         No buts!

GIRL (SARU):                        I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it! Please don’t be mad at me! And please don’t leave me behind!

HAKUZOSU:                         I’m not mad! No, I mean, I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.

HAKUZOSU:                         (What’s happening to me? Why am I feeling so anxious? I would never normally yell like that. Is it because this place is depressing me?)

HAKUZOSU:                        (Anyway, I must find Master Seimei as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach…)

The two of them quickly walked out of the corridor. At the corner, Kohaku saw something he couldn’t believe. There was a pool of blood on the ground, with a man lying in it, his silver hair dyed red by the blood. Then a man with the same face as the man lying on the ground turned his head and looked at Kohaku.

DARK SEIMEI:                      …

HAKUZOSU:                       Master Seimei? Master Seimei!

HAKUZOSU:                        You, what are you doing to Master Seimei?!

DARK SEIMEI:                      See for yourself.

Kohaku rushed to the Seimei on the ground and tried to help him up. But that pair of kind eyes were closed.

HAKUZOSU:                        Master Seimei? Master Seimei! Wake up, please don’t leave me here!

HAKUZOSU:                         I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time. And you promised me that you would never leave my side!

HAKUZOSU:                         How could you lie about this…

HAKUZOSU:                         Answer me, Master Seimei…

The body in Kohaku’s arms turned into dust and was blown towards the Dark Seimei next to them. As the light dimmed, the two Seimei merged into one.

  HAKUZOSU:                         Master Seimei?

SEIMEI:                                   Where am I? Who are you, little fox?

HAKUZOSU:                         It’s me Kohaku! The first shikigami you formed a pact with!

HAKUZOSU:                         Don’t you remember? Did you forget me...again?

SEIMEI:                                  …

GIRL (SARU):                        Is he the one you were looking for? So he…forgot about you?

GIRL (SARU):                        He must’ve abandoned you! I’m sure he has!

GIRL (SARU):                        You gave him everything. You formed a pact with him, offered your trust, your power, and your life, and yet, you were abandoned and betrayed.

GIRL (SARU):                        You claimed that there were no buts. But this is a but.

HAKUZOSU:                         No it’s not…

HAKUZOSU:                         I’ve not been abandoned…Have I, Master Seimei?

SEIMEI:                                  Your Demon Force is pulsing, little fox. It’s too dangerous.

HAKUZOSU:                         Master Seimei? What are you talking about? Why are you holding an amulet? Are you…going to attack me?

GIRL (SARU):                        Look, the one you’ve been protecting has now abandoned you!

HAKUZOSU:                         Shut up!

HAKUZOSU:                         My head aches…

The world started to shake as Kohaku was plunged into darkness. In the pitch-black darkness, he saw Seimei holding an illuminated amulet in his hand. Kohaku covered his head as he stubbornly looked at the man before him, as though waiting for an answer.

HAKUZOSU:                        I’ve not been abandoned by you, Master Seimei, right?

The man before him remained silent. Then suddenly, a magic circle appeared around Kohaku. Countless chains reached out and wrapped themselves around him.

GIRL (SARU):                        You bound yourself willingly, and you offered your name and your heart to him, only to receive this heartless betrayal in return.

GIRL (SARU):                        This is your destiny. You have always been alone…

HAKUZOSU:                         Master Seimei…

Kohaku lowered his head as the chains wrapped tighter. He then looked up at the man before him and waited for his attack. Then suddenly, he heard a familiar noise coming from afar…

VOICE:                                   Wake up! Don’t act like a stray dog!

HAKUZOSU:                         I’m not a dog!

HAKUZOSU:                         What?

Kohaku responded before he realized what was happening. He suddenly raised his head, and scrolls fell from his arms, and lay scattered on the ground. At that very moment, Kohaku saw a note among the scrolls. It was written in a hand that he knew too well. “Send these scrolls to the Onmyoji Guild of the Capital, Kohaku. You can get some of that fried tofu you like on your way back from town. Seimei.”

  VOICE:                                   Look closely at the things before you.

He started to hear sounds he was familiar with. These sounds smashed through his fear and panic, dissolving the chains. His world became clear again. Kohaku opened his eyes to see that the strange Seimei had disappeared, along with the chains wrapped around his body. The girl behind him disappeared, leaving only a cracked mask in her wake. It was Saru. Though cracked, the face distorted by fear was still vivid.

 HAKUZOSU:                         What’s happened to me? The strange feeling that I’d had ever since I woke up has gone!

HAKUZOSU:                         Right! Master Seimei! That was Master Seimei’s voice! He woke me up with that note!

HAKUZOSU:                         Great, I finally see you aga—

HAKUZOSU:                         Wait! Why are you here?!

DARK SEIMEI:                      …

OOTENGU:                            What’s that attitude? Master Dark Seimei just saved you from that mask’s attack!

OOTENGU:                            Plus, your Master Seimei is not here. You were stalking us alone in the streets!

HAKUZOSU:                         Streets? Stalking? Right!

Looking at the scrolls, Kohaku remembered what had happened: he had been running an errand for Master Seimei. On the halfway, he saw Dark Seimei and his shikigami. Kohaku thought it was suspicious seeing them in the capital at this time, what with the rumor about a play of carnage, so he followed them in secret.

HAKUZOSU:                         Come to think of it, I followed you all the way to Menreiki’s mansion and heard you talking about Lady Yuki Onna. And then, I passed out!

HAKUZOSU:                         When I woke up, I found myself here, in this place. And my memories were all scrambled…Argh!

HAKUZOSU:                         The play of carnage that’s been happening in the capital was the doing of you and Menreiki?!

HAKUZOSU:                         So what was that business with Master Seimei I just saw?

OOTENGU:                            No. I wouldn’t use such despicable and sick way of going about things.

Ootengu picked up the cracked mask from the ground and handed it to Kohaku. The distorted look of the mask gave Kohaku a fright.

 OOTENGU:                           You were affected by the mask.

OOTENGU:                            Saru. This one embodies fear.

HAKUZOSU:                         What? A mask? What’s this…all about?

OOTENGU:                            She’ll explain everything.

OOTENGU:                            It’s time to show yourself, you’ve been following us for long enough.

HAKUZOSU:                         Who goes there?

THE YOUNG LADY:            Me.

HAKUZOSU:                         ?!

HAKUZOSU:                        I was still sleepy and didn’t recognize you. Now, let me take a closer look, you…You’re that Menreiki, aren’t you?!

THE YOUNG LADY:           Menreiki?! I’m not that monster.

THE YOUNG LADY:            I’m just a nobody caught here and forced to perform in this play.

THE YOUNG LADY:            I’ll tell you everything. And in exchange, I hope you can eliminate the monster hidden in this mansion—

THE YOUNG LADY:            —Menreiki.

Somewhere in the mansion.

GIRL (SARU):                        Phew, that was dreadful, what happened to those people…

GIRL (SARU):                        Wahhhh!

???:                                         There’s no escape…

GIRL (SARU):                        Please, don’t kill me! Help! Save me!

A monster appeared out of a dark mist, wearing a dark mask. Crimson flowers bloomed as the wooden carving knife fell. The girl in white slowly fell to her knees.

GIRL (SARU):                        Why…does it always have to be like this… Whatever I do, ahem, it always ends up this way…

GIRL (SARU):                        Why can no one answer me and save me… I feel so cold. So cold.

The monster with a dark mask closed the eyes of the girl and sighed as she watched the body disappear.

MENREIKI:                             I’m here.

MENREIKI:                             I’ve always answered you.

MENREIKI:                             But you, you never seem to hear me.

[player-1]

Anyone who’s been in the TMA fandom (or those who understand the bare minimum of the story) know damn well that whatever was going on with Michael D. Stortion and Gabriel/Worker-of-Clay was not just a simple Avatar/Entity partnership. No, in the twisted timeline of the Spiral itself, the Armageddon arms-race pales in comparison to the romantic tragedy subplot those two had long before Jon and Martin were in the picture.

(This is also going to be a long one, and with some MAG 101 spoilers, so buckle on in...)

Here’s what I mean:

Gabriel (or in this case, Gabe) works with Neil Lagorio (Web aligned special-effects dude) in the mid 1900′s on their first movie The Labyrinth of the Minotaur. Unfortunately for him, Gabe quits in 1972 just as the movie was released. 

Not much is known of this time after 1972 up until the dreaded sculpting class in 2004. Speculation-wise, Gabriel might have been corrupted by the Flesh during his movie-making times or earlier before he came into contact with the Spiral.

Reasons: -The Spiral connects with the unraveling of reality, question one’s sanity and eventually “spiraling” into insanity. -The Flesh, in its literal sense, connects to the fear of people or animals being killed for meat; even the appearance of flesh/bone being twisted, bent, or butchered. But it can also connect on a emotional level, such as being viewed weaker than others, mostly relating to a person’s body image. That’s also the reason why the nature of his death is completely unlike the Spiral simply letting him fade out of reality. -Gabriel displays more Flesh-like qualities in his appearance and work up until the end of MAG 126. He doesn’t want people to judge him by appearance alone (even if his entire body is made up of clay) but he makes up for it with his unassuming personality and amazing talent. In a literal sense, he wants to mold himself into the kind of person that gets praised for his clay-making abilities, not just from his creations alone.  

[Enter Ｔｈｅ　Ｄｉｓｔｏｒｔｉｏｎ: Stage Left] Of course, while there’s no evidence on how, when or why the Distortion would target him specifically, but there is one thing. Compared to all the other Spiral avatars and fear-aligned creatures, they all used to be humans in the past. The Spiral by nature is to cast aside their humanity and submit to the nature of insanity. But since most of the Spiral avatars either faded out of existence or just refused to do anything ritual-wise, how was it supposed to create a new world if all they ever do is destroy? It adopts an artist, of course. There’s nothing more chaotic than the struggles of a budding sculptor such as himself. But while that may be a convincing argument for the Spiral to get Gabriel to join the Dark Side, there could be more to convince him that it’s worth following the unknowable being of delusions. Long story short, there was no reason for Gabriel to judge himself so poorly if he knew how to reshape the world to how he sees fit. it would convince him that, like the archangel he’s named after, he could show the world the coming future; twisting the laws of reality so that there’s no room to judge how something should be right or wrong, imaginary or real.  As if they were said from the Lord himself, Gabriel heard the Distortion’s tell him about a new world and finally found inspiration in them.

Then comes the sculpting class.  It’s worth noting that, even with the angel symbolism for Michael and Gabriel, it could be implied that Gabriel is also a goody-two-shoes Christian boy who regularly attends church, as evidence of Michael having knowledge about Mass in MAG 20, assisting the Flesh in driving Father Edwin to cannibalism (so the Flesh and Spiral have an interesting partnership, huh?).  Besides that, this is where Gabriel takes the spotlight. From Deborah’s point of view, he was a strange little man from the beginning; eyes always jutted out of his face, appearing right in someone’s personal space and disappearing just as fast, and of course, his works of clay. (Also a random headcanon just because: Gabriel may be afraid of water, either because his entire body being made of clay, and since you need water to help shape the material, he does not want to get it melded into his own flesh. Could also be the reason why he has short and greasy hair, cause he would practically melt into a puddle if he was unfortunate enough to get wet.) And apart from Deborah and her friends’ growing discomfort over Gabriel in general, he’s just vibing in the back of the class, trying to make a shape for the unknowable form of the Distortion. And the second Deborah inadvertently gives him a break from his artist’s block, he quite literally takes control of the class; switching over the biweekly schedule it was before into every week, and even manipulating the space of the classroom to further support his artistic needs. 

“Ray told us the lesson was ‘faces.’ I put my hand up to say that sculpting faces was probably a bit advanced for where we were in the course, but he shook his head, and said that we were… a lot more talented than we thought. He said the key was that faces were twisted. All faces were twisted on the inside, and all you had to do was reach into the deepest part of yourself and put that twisted on the outside of the clay, and as soon as you can scream you’ll have your own face staring back at you.”  (MAG 126)

This is also the key to the Spiral itself. With Gabriel’s assistance, he will be able to let the spiral to insanity move in reverse, create the physical manifestation of that fear instead of letting it collapse and destroy itself. And in that lesson as well, Gabriel finally creates a fitting image of the Distortion...A door, the physical entrance to insanity itself.

Then comes the final stretch in Sannikov Land, the nonexistent island that was said to exist between the years 2009 and 2011. And as Michael D. Stortion explains in MAG 101, was the perfect place for their ritual, The Great Twisting. After everything Gabriel had done to appease his good “friend”, The Distortion seemed extremely invested in the Worker of Clay at that point. Nevermind the fact that its telling Jon how its identity was stolen away from Michael Shelley by merging with the Distortion, but there’s more to this origin story.

“Michael was protective of the frail old woman he believed her to be. So… so delicate, so forgetful, yet gently wise. He cared for her. He trusted her. And she fed him to me. She made him to destroy our transcendence. And she did not hesitate.” “And it was me they sought to stop. Me and the others of It-Is-Not-What-It-Is. Our Great Twisting. The-Worker-of-Clay had laboured for decades on that contorted, impossible edifice of doors… and stairs… and falsehoods… and smiles. A thousand staring morsels stood, and not one of them believed themselves sane to look upon it. And in the centre, the door that would open to all the places that were never there, was me.“ “Perhaps I should have realised what was happening; seen those two lonely figures approaching me, but I cannot tell you the existential joys of truly… becoming. Of an entireness finally crossing the threshold into your self. So ecstatic was my completeness, I did not even hear my own door creak open.“ “Even sharper than the joy of becoming is the agony of being opened and remade. To have your who torn bloody from your what, and another crudely lashed into its place. To become Michael. And to do so at such a crucial point in our Twisting, in our becoming, well of course it destroyed it. The impossible altar collapsed. The-Worker-of-Clay tore out his veins to dissolve himself in crimson mud. The others of us were cast to all the places that aren’t; some have still not found their way out again...My very existence tied to my pointlessness. Wearing my failure as the very fabric of my being. Reduced once again to feeding on the unsuspecting and confused. That is who I am.“ (MAG 101)

Even if all of this was to explain how the Distortion became the being it is in the series, it’s easy to see how overjoyed it was during the ritual. All that the Spiral ever did was bring the sense of unreality and paranoia unto people for ages, only breaking down the mind until they eventually spiral into oblivion. It wanted to be something, it wanted to make something twisted and nonsensical from the world, to shape the world itself to the nature of insanity. And after all that time, no matter how many avatars it had in its control, Gabriel was the only one who began creating the ritual. Even if it was for an ulterior motive, The Distortion was pretty giddy as Gabriel worked for years on end to create the meaning of insanity; to create something that the Distortion saw as the perfect vessel for itself. And even as it was explaining it, with all these feelings of joy and ecstasy and very human thoughts and emotions, this was before it was forced to become Michael. So much for not being bound by human nature, huh? But it’s pretty ironic that, as the embodiment of delusions, insanity and lies, it never considered the idea of having an avatar that could make something out of that chaos. Even if the Distortion was explaining how Michael-not-Michael Shelley came into being, it also can be interpreted as Michael just yearning for his best Avatar so far.  So instead of “I’m going to tell you my entire backstory.”, it’s more like “I’m going to tell you how a nosy old woman and her idiotic assistant ruined my chances to be with my Avatar of the Decade who may or may not be my boyfriend.”

In conclusion, Gabriel AKA The Worker of Clay AKA Igor with an art degree became the Hands of the Spiral because the nonbinary embodiment of delusion (who is also a door) gave a miserable struggling artist a shot of self-confidence (and a shot out of the Flesh’s control), eventually becoming its #1 Boyfriend Avatar of all time, and is the only person that would make the “hates gender and existence itself” Distortion yearn for years after his tragic death.

Takes notes people, this is what peak performance looks like.