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animeomegas · 6 months

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The Quest for a Second Life - Part 7 - 50 Shades of Audacity (3)

KAKASHI X ALPHA!READER

Summary: The Autumn Company Party. It had been the centre of the storyline for reasons unknown, and now it was upon you. Whatever happened though, this was sure to be your last night in Kakashi's pocket universe, and a difficult decision was right around the corner. At least you had one final attempt to get your dick wet. GN!Dom!Alpha!Reader x Multiple

Word count: 10k

Warnings: N-sfw content, talks of collaring, alcohol consumption, Kakashi's abandonment issues. All alpha have dicks, fyi.

A/N: The final major part is done!!! Gosh, it's been such a journey and it's bittersweet to see it coming to an end. Happy holidays to everyone and I hope you enjoy this final part. @omeganronpa has a tough choice for the epilogue, which will be released on Christmas day :D Direct all arguments, begging and bribery here! May the best omega win! <3

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Epilogue

Despite your best attempts, you never did get an explanation of Kakashi’s strange behaviour during that phone call. Kakashi had remained tight-lipped in the face of every strategy you used to weasel the information out of him. You fully believed that, if you had been given the appropriate amount of time, you would have eventually extracted the information, but unfortunately, time had been something of a rarity over the last few weeks.

The Autumn Company Party had approached like a speeding train, and you had been forced against your will to do your job and aid in the planning. You had lost track of how many times the importance of the event had been explained to you at this point, mainly to justify your massive and ever-growing workload.

“Every important investor and stakeholder will be in attendance!” You didn’t care.

“The board of directors will be there!” You really didn’t care.

“This will be your debut as the CEO’s secretary, if you don’t make a good impression, you could be fired and blacklisted!” You especially didn’t care about that one. Don’t threaten people with a good time.

No, the part itself wasn’t something you particularly cared about. It was going to be a boring work party, like every other one you’d attended in your life, that would be partially saved by the fact that you got to be the one to design the menu with the catering company.

No, you cared about whatever the other ‘thing’ at the party would be. This was the climax of the story, and that was putting you on edge. Even James didn’t know what would happen, but she seemed completely convinced that something would.

And so, it was with a weird combination of foreboding, fatigue, and excitement that you were putting together the finishing touches of your outfit, ten minutes before Kakashi was scheduled to pick you up and take you to the party.

It felt weird, standing in a still unfamiliar flat, looking in an unfamiliar mirror, to see a done-up version of yourself that you didn’t recognise. Because really, that had been the only thing you had carried with you from your real life. You had always been you, in body and mind, even as reality melted and reformed around you.

And you still were you, of course, just a version of you that was wearing more expensive clothes, had styled hair, and donned with more jewellery than you normally would. It just made you feel strange.

You straightened, brushing down imaginary creases in your outfit, and pointed at your own reflection accusatorily. “Get over yourself. You’re wearing nice clothes, stop being dramatic.”

There, that should fix it. You were just nervous about the unknown ‘thing’ that would be happening tonight, and it was bleeding into everything else.

Your phone buzzed on your desk, almost certainly a text from Kakashi telling you that he was outside. With one final glance in the mirror, you left the flat, wondering vaguely if you’d be back to see it before the demo ended. If this party was indeed the climax of this story, then you might never return.

You gave the flat a little goodbye wave, just in case.

As you exited the building, the chill of the Autumn wind caught you off guard. You wrapped your arms around yourself, already regretting the decision not to bring a coat, and hurried towards the sleek, black car that was waiting for you.

Kakashi stepped out of the car as you approached and held open the door for you.

You grinned, “What a gentleman, thank you.”

“Of course.” He followed you back into the car and shut the door behind him, leaving you enclosed in the glorious warmth of Kakashi’s heated car and its heated seats. “You look beautiful.”

You knew it was a standard thing to say in a situation like this, but Kakashi just had a way of making compliments sound so genuine. Maybe because he wasn’t the type to keep his negative opinions to himself. Either way, you were flattered.

“Thanks, Kakashi, I appreciate that. And you paying for the outfit, of course.” You took a moment to study him, in turn. He was wearing a well tailored suit like he always was, but to match the celebratory feel, he’d gone for a dark green colour scheme as opposed to his usual monochrome. Although the lighting inside the car was dim, it was easy to see how well the colour suited him. “You’re looking incredibly handsome, yourself. What a pair we make.”

“A very attractive pair indeed,” Kakashi agreed, taking one of your hands in his. He gave it a squeeze, so you gave one back.

Silence fell, and for a moment, you focused on the way Kakashi’s thumb was rubbing on the back of your hand. This was the first time you’d been properly alone for a while now, and you found your mind drifting back to that weird phone call. You decided to ask him about it again now, seeing as he had nowhere to run.

“Kakashi—”

“I—”

You had both started to speak at once.

“Sorry, I didn’t—” You started to apologise.

“No, I’m sorry, what were you going to say?”

“Oh, it was nothing, you go first.”

Kakashi looked like he was going to argue, but he clearly decided against it and said what was on his mind.

“At the party, we can’t behave as we’d normally do at the office,” he said. “Our relationship isn’t compatible with our jobs, and while the people in my office are friendly and mostly discreet, stakeholders and board members have a track record for being less so.”

Kakashi looked guilty, so you gave his hand another squeeze to show that you didn’t hold this against him. It made sense that an important work party wasn’t the right place for making out, but you wondered if he thought that you thought he was ashamed of your relationship or something.

“I understand. Old, rich people are terrible at keeping their noses out of other people’s business.”

“That’s certainly putting it lightly,” Kakashi muttered. He seemed more frustrated that you’d expected for what was objectively a minor issue.

Granted, you had kind of been expecting some kind of action at this party, this being the climax of a porn universe narrative, but you’d live if it turned out that the ‘thing’ was something non-horny. Honestly, you’d be happy if you got through the night without any more spontaneous stripping.

“Hey, it’s only one night, right? We can manage.” Kakashi looked at you consideringly, before a small smile bloomed on his face.

“One night,” he repeated, voice soft. “I can do that.”

“We’re five minutes away, sir.”

You took a deep breath. No matter what this party threw at you, you could handle it!

…

Apparently, what this party was throwing at you was extreme boredom.

Admittedly, it wasn’t an entirely lost cause. The venue was dazzling and incredibly fancy, and you knew you’d never stepped foot in a hotel so expensive before. Walking through the front doors with Kakashi, dressed to perfection… well, it had felt a little like you were royalty. It was incredibly good for the old self-esteem.

Once you had actually entered the party though, it was a whole different story.

While your coworkers were quick to compliment you, which was lovely, it was clear that they were too on edge to be having fun. The music was quiet, which was better for talking and networking, but didn’t exactly encourage dancing. And whenever you did try to speak to new people, they wanted to ask about your professional qualifications and experiences working under Kakashi. The cherry on top of this awful cake was that the only alcohol offered was champagne, which wasn’t your favourite, nor did it numb the boredom of the party very well.

You had barely even seen Kakashi, bar a few quick flashes in passing as he schmoozed his way through the hall like a pro. His serious warning about not behaving like a couple seemed a bit dramatic now, seeing as you hadn’t even had the chance to make eye contact.

‘Are you sure it was just a warning, human?’

You jumped at James’ sudden interjection. You furtively glanced around you to make sure that none of your coworkers had noticed your seemingly out of place reaction. Thankfully, people seemed too busy to care.

‘What do you mean? What else could it have been?’

‘…’

‘James?’

‘Perhaps it was an explanation, human.’

‘An explanation? An explanation for what? Surely that means the same thing as a warning in this context.’

James didn’t respond. How bizarre. You didn’t much care for having a riddle added on top of your evening. Honestly, if it were just a boring party, you would have found someway to have fun, but you knew that some kind of event would be unfolding here, which was putting you on edge. Every second that ticked by completely normally felt like it was building to something big. And James’ riddles weren’t helping assuage the anxiety that sensation was creating.

Between the stress, the lack of alcohol, and the enforced networking, it was an exceptionally mid party, even if it was pretty.

The only saving grace was the buffet table, that you were slowly weaving your way back towards for probably the tenth time that night. This time, you decided to just remain lingering by the food in the hopes that it would stop people from asking questions about a degree you didn’t actually do.

You loaded up your plate was as much as you could and then found an empty section of wall to lean on. You popped one of the mac and cheese balls in your mouth and almost moaned at the flavour sensation that followed. They were heavenly, salty and creamy, and the breadcrumbs around the outside had just the right amount of crispiness. Like everything else on the buffet, it had an impressive depth of flavour. You weren’t ashamed to admit that having access to this catering company was on the pros column for staying in this world.

Consumed in your world of cheesy goodness, you almost didn’t notice when what you thought was a member of waitstaff leant against the wall next to you. He was carrying a tray of hors d’oeuvres, and you wondered if he was just taking a break or if you were somehow in his way.

“How are you holding up?” Hearing a familiar voice come from what you thought was a stranger had you doing a double take. You were met with Iruka’s charming grin. He was dressed in a standard black suit that obviously wasn’t tailored the way Kakashi’s were, but somehow, he pulled off the ‘slightly too big’ look with a level of a scampish charm.

What you had originally thought was a tray of hors d’oeuvres was in fact a plate that Iruka had stacked full of shot glasses, each one filled with a mini ramen. As he waited for your response, he grabbed one of the glasses and poured the ramen into his mouth with a satisfied hum.

Ah, you thought, amused, he’d wasted no time finding them.

“As well as can be,” you said, answering his original question. “How about you? Enjoying the food?”

Iruka, who was in the middle of eating a second ramen shot, paused for a second, his ears going slightly red. You snorted, averting your eyes for a second to allow him to finish the ramen shot in peace.

“Thanks,” he muttered, referring to your insistence that the catering team create a ramen hors d’oeuvre. “Makes this ridiculous party worth it.”

“No, thank you,” you countered, referring to his substantial help with the planning and paperwork for this event when your duties got a bit overwhelming. “I couldn’t have got everything finished without your help.”

“Too busy running around with Kakashi?” When you didn’t defend yourself, he rolled his eyes fondly. “You two are menaces. Actually, speaking of Kakashi, shouldn’t you be getting ready with him to go on stage about now?”

“What?” That was the first you’d heard about any obligation to go on stage. If this turned into a cheesy scene where you had to do something ridiculous like sing a duet with Kakashi, you were going to riot, possible retaliations from porn logic be damned. You did not sign up for High School Musical shenanigans. “Why would I have to go on stage?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Sorry, I thought Kakashi would have explained it to you.”

“Okay, fine, but he obviously didn’t, so could you please tell me why I have to go on stage?” Was this what James meant by the big ‘thing’ that would be happening at the Autumn Company Party?

“Of course.” Despite his positive response, Iruka then proceeded to eat another one of his ramen shots, and only after he was done, did he continue with the explanation. “Every year, Kakashi gives a speech around halfway through the party. Normal stuff, just summarising the last year, talking about new projects, thanking all the generation donators and stakeholders. The CIO of the company, Tsunade, stands by him for the speech, and for the first few years, his personal assistant stood behind him too. He hasn’t had one for a while, but now you’re here, you’ll need to stand behind him with Tsunade.”

You squinted your eyes suspiciously. “And I won’t have to speak?”

“Nope,” Iruka said, brightly. “You just have to stand there.”

Huh, that wasn’t so bad. It was slightly annoying that you were being taken away from the buffet table, but you would live.

‘You are being very brave, human.’

‘Thanks, James.’ Again, you had no idea if she didn’t know what the concept of sarcasm was, or she deployed it with skill on a never-before-seen scale. It was definitely either or, but which one, you would never know.

“Wait,” you said, suddenly remembering what Kakashi had told you about your interview with him. “Kakashi used to have a personal assistant? He said he didn’t want one because he worked better alone.”

Iruka hesitated. He looked left, then right, and when he saw that you were as alone as you could be, he leant in close and whispered.

“His old personal assistant is why he didn’t want a new one,” he explained. “At first, it didn’t seem like anything was wrong with him, but it turned out he had been placed there by the board to spy on Kakashi and relay information back. Kakashi fired him as soon as he found out, but he never accepted a personal assistant again, until the board forced him to hold interviews, and he hired you.”

“Seriously?” Iruka nodded, lips tight. “That’s crazy.” You wondered briefly how many of the people you were sitting with in the waiting room were plants from the board.

“We don’t talk about it, but everyone who was working there at the time this went down knows about it. That’s one of the reasons we were so surprised, not only when you were hired, but when you and Kakashi seemed to be having a personal relationship outside of work. I’m surprised he trusted you at all.”

Goodness. You leant against the wall as you considered what Iruka was saying. It was wild to think about how much resistance and betrayal Kakashi had faced from within his own company. You’d bet that they hadn’t been too happy when Kakashi turned 18 and decided he wanted to lead his company, and when they couldn’t take it from him, they kept tabs and put pressure on him as much as possible.

This information also contextualised your interview differently. Kakashi had claimed that he hired you because you were funny. You had theorised that you had awoken his submissive side, this being an erotica and all. And maybe both of those were true to some extent, but you now believed that it was far more likely that Kakashi had decided you were too rowdy, rude, and unprofessional to have been a plant from the board of directors.

It clicked his initial suspicions about your motivations into place, too. He hadn’t trusted your reasons for asking him to dinner, not at first. When you had demanded to spend time with him, you’d bet he was wandering if you were there to spy on him.

“Poor Kakashi…”

Iruka nodded solemnly, and then downed another ramen shot. You scanned the room while he did, hoping to catch Kakashi’s eye, wherever he was. It took you a moment, but then you found him, standing at the base of the stage, standing next to Tsunade. Ah fuck.

“I think I have to go, thanks for keeping me company, Iruka.”

Iruka waved his hand, “Good luck. I can look after your plate for you if you want—”

“No need.” You shoved the last handful of mac and cheese balls into your mouth, dumped the plate on the table, and then chewed furiously as you worked your way to the stage.

“There you are,” Tsunade said, two glasses of champagne in hand. She quickly downed them both and then shoved them into the hands of a poor waiter as he passed by. “Let’s get this over with.”

You tried to catch Kakashi’s eye, but he was too focused on walking to the stage. You and Tsunade followed after him, and you resolved to talk to him after the speech was finished.

Kakashi went up to the mic and you and Tsunade stood at his side, a few paces back. You spotted a few board members in the crowd, and you felt the urge to stick your tongue out at them. You just about managed to resist.

Kakashi used the knife against the champagne glass he was holding, and a sharp ting echoed through the microphone and around the room. The spotlight on the stage turned on, and suddenly you were bathed in a bright, white light. Everyone quieted and turned to face the stage.

The lights were hurting your eyes and making your skin feel hot, but at least your only job was to stand there and look pretty. You were good at that.

“Good evening, everyone,” Kakashi said, sounding effortlessly comfortable speaking in front of so many people. “Thank you all for coming tonight, and I hope you’ve been enjoying yourselves thus far.”

It was weird to hear him speak like this; he sounded very different when you two were alone. That was to be expected, you supposed, but it didn’t make it feel any less jarring.

“I won’t keep you long, but I thought it prudent to take a moment to thank everyone who has made this last year as successful as it was. To our staff, to our stake holders, and to our board members, I say thank you.” He raised his glass in a toast. “We would not have a company without you.”

This was an incredibly boring and generic speech. You had been sure that the ‘thing’ that was supposed to happen would happen now, but all that was happening was you struggling not to fall asleep in front of everyone.

“The past year has been a year of perfecting, of tweaking that which was already in place to make it perfect. Among other things, the building work on the new cafeteria was completed this year, and the debut of our first international branch went smoothly and successfully.”

Ugh, as Kakashi’s personal assistant, you knew all this stuff already. You just wanted to go back to the buffet, was that too much to ask?

“However, following the stage of perfection will always be a stage of change. We must now introduce new projects that will grow and be perfected over time, like the projects that came before them. And there is one major change that will take effect going forward.”

Confused whispers spread across the hall. You noticed a few members of the board looking specifically irritated, and you’d bet that Kakashi had not informed anyone in advance of whatever this big change was.

Even Tsunade was watching him warily from the corner of her eye.

“I’m resigning,” Kakashi announced, paired with his signature eye smile.

The room was silent enough that you could have heard a pin drop.

What?

Chaos erupted. People were shouting questions, making exclamations of disbelief, and loudly assuming this was a prank that wasn’t very funny.

Kakashi ignored the noise and leant back into the mic. “I nominate Tsunade as my successor.”

Tsunade sputtered, “Eh?! Like hell you are, brat!”

He had resigned. Kakashi had resigned as CEO of the company he had been a part of his entire life. James had said that whatever happened at the party would be a direct consequence of how you had acted in this demo. So, presumably, this was your fault, but how?

Our relationship isn’t compatible with our jobs, that’s what he’d said to you in the car. You had thought he was warning you to tone things down for the evening, but James had suggested that it wasn’t a warning, but an explanation. You hadn’t understood what she’d meant, but now you did. He was explaining to you, in his own way, why he was about to resign.

The strange phone call fit, too. He had mentioned thinking about the Autumn Company Party, and whatever was on his mind had made him seek your number for comfort, but he refused to tell what he was thinking about. He was likely thinking about whether he should resign.

While you put the pieces together, the room around you was still very much in a state of chaos. Kakashi, however looked completely calm. He put the microphone back in the stand, handed his champagne and knife to a raging Tsunade, and then turned to you.

You watched as he approached you. You could feel how wide your eyes were. You thought he was going to say something, but he got closer and closer until he was right in your personal space, where he looped an arm around your waist, pulled you tight against him, and kissed you.

He was kissing you. Kakashi was kissing you in front of his whole company. You had kissed Kakashi before, many times, but there was something about this kiss that overshadowed all the others. It took a moment for your brain to catch up to what was happening and remember to how to kiss, but you eventually found your footing.

Your lips and tongues danced together serenely, driving out the chaos of the background noise until you two were the only people that mattered. You could feel and taste the longing pouring out of Kakashi, begging you to understand him and stay by his side. You wound your hands around his neck to reassure him, and in return, he squeezed your waist affectionately.

You were quickly running out of air, but you didn’t want this moment to end.

Regardless of your wishes, however, the kiss did end. As Kakashi pulled away slowly, the bubble burst and the noise from the party came rushing back in. Questions were still being shouted, and while some people were displeased by Kakashi’s display, others cheered.

You felt like you were trapped in a daze. You half expected to topple over when Kakashi let go of you to lean back to the microphone.

“We have paid for the venue until 1am, so please enjoy the rest of the party. Goodnight!”

And with that, he grabbed you by the hand and pulled you through a stage door and out of the party. You let him, still completely stunned at what had just happened.

You walked out of the venue in silence, through a back exit for somewhat obvious reasons, and Kakashi’s car was already waiting for you both. You both slid into the warmth of the car, and the second the seatbelts were on, the car pulled away from the hotel and into the city. The bright lights filtered into the car as you drove, but the outside world had never felt so far away.

“Are you… okay?” Kakashi asked, voice nervous.

You wanted to answer him properly, really you did, but your mouth and brain weren’t quite in agreement yet, so the only thing that came out was, “I was going to fill the Tupperware in my bag with more mac and cheese bites.”

Kakashi blinked at you for a moment, before he sent you nervous smile. “I’ll order you some more, as many as you want, I promise.”

Through your embarrassment at you lacking filter, you nodded, and silence fell in the car again. Unlike the normal, comfortable silence that you shared with Kakashi, the awkwardness was palpable. You wanted to break it, but you didn’t quite know how, after everything that had just happened. When your phone buzzed, you grabbed for it desperately as an escape from the weird silence. It was a text from Kurenai.

‘Sorry for not warning you in advance what Kakashi was planning. I feel pretty guilty now, Asuma too. He says the apology is from him too.’

Right, so some people did know in advance. Honestly, you were a bit annoyed that no one had warned you. You were halfway through writing a slightly snarky text back, when she sent another message.

‘We were planning on telling you, but we had to focus on convincing Kakashi out of his idea to propose to you this evening.’

You immediately forgave them both, deleted the previous message, and instead thanked them profusely for saving you from a very awkward conversation. Oh, Kakashi.

Speaking of Kakashi, he was sitting awkwardly in his seat, staring out the window. His shoulders were incredibly tense. You couldn’t just leave him sitting there.

“So, are you really resigning?”

Kakashi swallowed heavily, “Yes… I was thinking about what you said, about having my own dreams, and I still don’t know what those dreams are yet, but I know they aren’t in that company, not anymore.”

You nodded slowly. Kakashi was watching your reaction like a hawk.

“I’m not going to leave completely, I don’t think I could,” he hastened to add. “I can’t abandon my father’s company completely, but… I need time.”

“I understand, Kakashi, it’s okay.”

“You do?” He sounded so vulnerable and lost. You undid your seatbelt and slid into the middle seat instead, before clicking the belt back on. From there, you were able to wrap your arms around Kakashi.

It was slightly awkward in the car, but you didn’t let that stop you. Kakashi fell into your arms gratefully and braced his head against your shoulder.

“I do, darling. You’ve been working your entire life at that company, Kakashi, you deserve a break. I’m already tired of working, so I can’t imagine how you feel. I’ll support whatever pathway you choose to take.”

Kakashi sagged onto you, breathing harshly and clinging onto you with desperate hands. You shushed him, and gently ran your fingers through his hair.

Poor Kakashi, you thought, holding him tightly. You could tell that he was so incredibly burnt out, but he hadn’t even noticed until someone had forced him to see that other choices existed. And once you had pulled the curtain back and showed him reality, he couldn’t bare to continue the way he had been for even a second longer.

Now that the shock had subsided, you were filled with pride for him. It wasn’t easy to leave something life-defining behind, even if you wanted to. But he had done it, and now you were going to be here to make sure he could handle the emotional backlash.

You pressed a kiss to Kakashi’s gravity-defying hair and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. If you chose this world, and your fictional family became real, you were dragging Kakashi into it.

“I want to do up my childhood home properly,” he said, pulling away and rubbing at his eyes. “I want to modernise it again, fill it with new photos and unrestrained laughter. I want to walk my dogs; I don’t want to hire a dog walker anymore. And…”

“And?” you pressed your forehead against his.

“And I hope you’ll be there with me. Because that’s one thing I do know. I love you, and I want you with me wherever I go.”

“Oh, Kakashi,” you cooed softly, pecking him on the lips. “I love you too, and I’ll follow you wherever you go, my darling.”

He sighed, relieved, “And you aren’t angry at me for not telling you that I was resigning?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. I would have appreciated a heads up, I won’t lie.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. He dropped his head onto your shoulder. “Maybe… maybe you should punish me…”

It took a moment for his unexpected words to sink in, but when they did, heat rushed downwards.

Oh.

…

You had expected to end up at Kakashi’s penthouse, but his chauffeur had pulled up in front of your flat instead. It had given more credence to your theory that Kakashi preferred your flat to his. You didn’t mind, so you didn’t comment on it.

You could have done without the flat look Kakashi’s chauffeur had given you both when he said that he wouldn’t be needing a lift home until tomorrow though.

The warmth of your flat was a welcome change from the Autumn chill, but it was the hot, electric tension fizzling through air that really captured your attention. You both kicked off your shoes and put down your bags, but the second you were done, the tension snapped, and you slammed Kakashi against the door with your body, pressing your lips against his in an aggressive kiss.

Kakashi met your sudden kiss with no hesitation and just as much aggression. You could feel the clack of your teeth knocking together, but you couldn’t hear it over the door shaking in the frame. You sent a half-hearted apology to your neighbours for the kind of noises they were about to hear.

You kissed with urgency. Kakashi moaned into your mouth and his hands pawed at your waist. There weren’t any undertones of dominance or submissive yet, only passion. Your lips tangled with his as you pushed through the burning need for oxygen.

When you could hold out no longer, you pulled away and instead took the opportunity to nuzzle at Kakashi’s neck, inhaling his heady scent, and undo the buttons on Kakashi’s shirt.

“Your shirts still have too many buttons,” you panted against Kakashi’s skin. “I think we should burn them all.”

“If you want me naked, you just have to ask,” he said, chest heaving.

“Maybe I will.” You finished the last button, leaving Kakashi’s shirt to hang open. He was still wearing his tie and suit jacket, which framed the newly revealed sliver of skin. “Now that you’re not a big, fancy CEO, I can keep you as my naked butler.”

Kakashi snorted. “Of course, you’re into that.”

You pulled away from his neck and grinned, “How do you feel about cat ears?”

Kakashi didn’t seem to find your idea as amusing as you did. “You wish.”

You hummed in amusement, loosening his tie and throwing it behind you somewhere. His jacket quickly followed, crumpling on the ground at the base of the front door, leaving Kakashi in only his open shirt and trousers.

Kakashi, sensing the unfair differences in dress, attempted to liberate you from your shirt, but you caught both of his wrists in your hands and pinned them against the door.

“I can’t touch you? That’s hardly fair,” he pouted, playfully tugging at your restraint.

You slipped a knee in between his legs and ground it up against his crotch. Kakashi gave a hoarse gasp and folded forward slightly. “This isn’t supposed to be fair, Kakashi. Was it fair that you didn’t tell me of your resignation in advance? This is a punishment, darling.”

Kakashi growled lightly. You knew how much he loved to touch you, which is exactly why you denied him the honour. You growled back at him and to your delight, he immediately submitted, baring his neck. You nipped at the newly presented flesh, trying to keep yourself from getting too close to mating mark territory.

Maybe one day he would wear your mating mark, but today was not that day.

“Come on,” you said, pulling him forward by the belt. “I think it’s time we move to the bedroom before someone complains about the banging on the front door.”

“Do you have to tug me by my trousers?” Kakashi asked, although he didn’t do anything to stop you.

“Hmm, you’re right, this would be much easier with a lead, and a collar, of course.” You grinned at him with heavily lidded eyed. “Would you like me to get you your very own collar, ‘kashi?”

You were just testing the waters with that particular kink. It would be easy for him to write it off as a joke, like the cat ears, but if he liked it…

Kakashi’s pale skin lit up in a brilliant pink. Well, that answered that question.

“Figures. You’d look hot in a collar, puppy.”

“Shut up,” Kakashi mumbled weakly, still following you obediently.

On the way to the bedroom, Kakashi lost his shirt, his trousers, and his underwear, creating a trail of clothes to the bedroom like a strange R-rated version of Hansel and Gretel.

You entered your bedroom and flicked on the lights. Kakashi went to stand by the bed, seemingly waiting for your next instruction. Having a naked omega in your bedroom really was the best way to end a night.

Honestly, it was a shame you couldn’t have a naked Kakashi and naked Itachi here with you. That impossibility was far more tragic than your own untimely death.

“Now, what should I do for your punishment, Kakashi, hm?” you asked, tilting your head consideringly. “Should I replicate Makoto’s punishment? You seemed to enjoy that.”

You delicately rested your hands on his throat, teasing him with featherlight touches. Kakashi shuddered, and his eyes fluttered closed. You used both hands to complete the full collar effect around his neck, just as had been described in the Icha Icha book.

“It makes sense that you like collars, considering the amount of time you spend reading about Makoto wearing one. Is that why you like Icha Icha, Kakashi?”

“I told you, I read it for the story. It’s a masterpiece of—"

You gently applied a little more pressure to the sides of his neck and his weak argument went silent. You felt powerful watching him fold at your feet.

As much as asking him for his opinion on his punishment was a method of teasing him, you really did have to figure out what his punishment was going to be.

You hadn’t had much time to plan, and your flat was tragically empty of things like toys or bondage. You resolved to fix that if you ended up in this world, but that didn’t help you right now.

For anyone else, you might have considered just denying him pleasure while he pleasured you, but Kakashi was a service sub through and through. No, he wasn’t going to be allowed to touch you, but you weren’t going to touch him either. He needed to focus on his own pleasure, and just like that, the perfect idea sprang to mind.

“Get on the bed and present to me; I want to see that sopping hole of yours.”

You watched with rapt attention as Kakashi climbed onto your bed on all fours. He let his shoulders fall to the blanket and then, resting his weight on his shoulders, he reached behind him.

“That’s it,” you mumbled, almost drooling. “Show alpha that needy hole.”

Kakashi used his hands to bare his hole for you, holding it open for your scrutiny. And what pretty picture he made, just for you.

His hole was indeed sopping wet, glistening in the warm lighting as his fingers struggled to retain a grip on the slippery skin. His dick swung proudly downwards, framed by the A-line shape Kakashi had created with his thighs. It dribbled a few clear beads of precum onto your sheets, but the idea of having to grab a towel for your activities was quickly dismissed when you realised you couldn’t bare to take your eyes off your omega for even a second.

Kakashi’s muscles strained as he kept up the presenting position for you. Confidence practically oozed from every pore in his body, exemplified no better in the challenging grin he had on his face. Kakashi knew he was sexy, and he was willing to weaponize that against you as much as possible.

Once again, you were struck by how different he was from Itachi. Sex didn’t make Kakashi bashful, emotions did. Sex didn’t make him feel like a different person, it amplified his traits. Itachi had been the opposite in both.

Honestly, if an outsider had seen your two dimension choices, you wouldn’t have blamed them for assuming that two different people had been involved.

You sat on the edge of the bed and leant forward so that you face was eye height with his hole. It twitched under your scrutiny, and you couldn’t help but coo.

“What a pretty hole you have, omega.” You blew some cold air on it to watch it flinch. As it clenched, a drop of slick began to run down to his thighs. It was practically drooling for you, begging you to fill it with something.

Although the rest of Kakashi was very pretty indeed, his hole had to be one of his best features. Tragically, you hadn’t had much time to spend with it recently, with all the work you’d had to do. It was probably lonely without you, and that wouldn’t do.

Except… you studied it closely, noting the slight gape and softness that you didn’t expect. Maybe his hole hadn’t been as lonely as you’d thought, because he was far too stretched considering it had been more than a week.

Oh, you realised, smirking, big, bad, genius Kakashi had been touching himself. He had been lonely and horny as work kept you both apart, and he had decided to take matters into his own hands. You imagined him for a moment, splayed on the massive bed in his penthouse, one hand fucking himself and the other pressed over his mouth to keep himself from waking his dogs.

“Have you been lonely, Kakashi?” you asked, deciding to call him out on it.

“No?” You could hear the question in his voice; he didn’t know where you were going with this, and that made it sweeter.

“I only asked because, well,” -you paused for effect- “your hole is looking very ready right now. I wonder if perhaps you’ve been touching yourself without my permission.”

The pink flush crept down Kakashi’s back, and he turned to hide his face in your duvet; you’d caught him red handed.

“Ah, what a slutty puppy I have, hm?” Kakashi whined, and some more beads of pre cum splashed against the blanket. “Tell me, did you use a toy, or did you use your fingers?”

“Is that any of your business?”

“Kakashi…” you said, warning clear.

“…Fingers,” Kakashi said reluctantly, his voice muffled by your blanket. “I used my fingers.”

Perfect. “Show me.”

“What?”

“Show me how you fingered yourself, Kakashi. What position did you use? Show your alpha how you placated that slutty hole of yours.”

Hesitantly, Kakashi turned over so that he was laying on his back, legs splayed wide for your viewing pleasure. He then grabbed one of the decorative cushions and slotted it under his hips so that his hole was easier to reach. Kakashi held his lips between his teeth and brought a hand down so that his fingertips were resting on his hole.

“I did it like this…”

“I see,” you said, tilting your head at him. “And how many fingers did you use?”

“I started with one.”

You waved your hand at him to go ahead. “Show me how you did it.”

Kakashi slowly sunk his middle finger in, making an obscene squelching noise as he did. Clear fluid dripped out around his finger, and you were once again incredibly grateful for the immaculate horny imagery that the porn logic provided for you.

Idly, you wondered if he really had started with his middle finger, or if it was some kind of subtle ‘fuck you’. With Kakashi, you could never bee 100% sure.

He pumped the finger in a few times, obviously finding no resistance. His angry cock stood proudly, but Kakashi ignored it for the time being.

“But one finger didn’t satisfy you, did it? Your greedy hole needed more.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes but nodded, “I used two fingers next.” He didn’t need to be asked to show you this time, and his pointer finger soon joined his middle one.

Now he had two fingers, Kakashi picked up the pace and began periodically curling his fingers in search of that wonderful bundle of nerves. The wet noises increased, but Kakashi didn’t seem to be having much luck.

You watched as he got progressively more frustrated at his inability to find his prostate. He tried to hike his legs up further to get a better angle, but no luck. He tried switching hands, but it didn’t help at all. He even tried holding his breath at one point, just in case it had some kind of effect, but nothing.

His face scrunched up and he bared his teeth, but it wasn’t like his own body was going to somehow be intimidated into giving him what he wanted, so that didn’t work either.

You watched, baffled and slightly amused, as the wet patch underneath his hips grew larger and larger, completely soaking your decorative pillow, and yet Kakashi still couldn’t seem to get close to his orgasm.

For a moment, you wondered if something was wrong, before you realised what forces controlled the universe you were currently in. This was a punishment because Kakashi took an action without you. It only made narrative sense that he couldn’t find his own prostate and needed you to do it for him.

The lecherous grin that blossomed on your face would have likely scared more delicate omegas away.

You let him finger himself for almost ten minutes, at which point you could tell his hands were starting to cramp, and his face was bright red from exertion. His thighs were trembling, and he was sweating, but his release had escaped him the entire time.

You figured fifteen minutes of frustrating edging was enough punishment for now. You gently rested your hand on top on his, ceasing his frantic fingering. Carefully, you extracted his fingers with a wet plop. Kakashi whined, but you shushed him, putting his hand down on his stomach.

“It’s not going to happen on your own, darling, don’t you understand?” Kakashi peered up at you, panting. His eyes made it clear that he didn’t understand. “You need me to do it for you. I can make you feel so very good, but you need to learn to trust me. I know what you need, I can deliver what you need. You just” -you slipped two of your own fingers inside him- “need” -you pumped them slowly- “to trust” -you curled your fingers, immediately finding his swollen prostate with the power of porn logic- “me.” You pressed down on the bundle of nerves as hard as you could.

Kakashi gasped, his entire body lifting off the bed as he finally got a taste of the pleasure he had been desperately chasing. His cock was weeping, and you rolled his balls in your free hand, but stopped moving your fingers.

“Right there,” he panted, sounding close to tears. “Hit there again.”

You stared him down, pointedly not moving your fingers. “Why are you being punished, Kakashi?”

“What?!”

“Why are you being punished?” He glared at you, but you only raised an eyebrow at him, the same way he did to you so often when you first met.

“You’re playing this game now?” You refused to budge, and quickly, his desperation outweighed his pride. “Because I didn’t warn you that I was going to resign.”

“And why is that bad?”

Kakashi growled, “Because it concerned you and you deserved to know.”

“Apologise.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice desperate. He rocked his hips down on your fingers, muscles shaking. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, just please, get me off!”

It was hardly the most articulate or heartfelt of apologies, but you were happy to let it slide this time. You pumped your fingers in and out a few times and Kakashi relaxed. Now, you just had to curl your fingers just right, and— There!

You grinded your fingers into his prostate mercilessly. Kakashi’s eyes rolled backwards and the noise that escaped him was one of pure, toe curling, ecstasy.

“This feels better, doesn’t it, ‘kashi.” You didn’t phrase it as a question because you knew you were right. “That’s because I’m doing it. You’re so used to being the one in control, the one everyone comes to when they need help or advice, but deep down, you just want someone else to deal with everything, don’t you?”

Kakashi whined as you picked up the pace with your fingers. His prostate was so swollen that you caught it every time. When you used your other hand on his cock, his whine transitioned into an open-mouthed moan as Kakashi writhed on your bed.

You set a fast pace, but when you saw his balls tighten, you withdrew your hands completely. Kakashi thrashed in frustration, his swollen cock bobbing in the open air.

“Why’d you stop?” he asked, panting. His tongue was lolling out ever so slightly.

“Because you’re loose enough to take me now, Kakashi, why would I continue?” You maintained an innocent façade that Kakashi could obviously see through but couldn’t question. “Your punishment may be over, but my pleasure still outranks yours.”

Kakashi scoffed, but he was too far gone to successfully pretend that he was aching for your cock, so he remained quiet.

You decided it was time to strip. Your clothes were feeling a little tight in some key areas, and while the contrast between yours and Kakashi’s states of dress was sexy, you had had enough of wearing them.

Kakashi’s stare was red hot as it lingered on every piece of newly revealed skin, as your outfit was slowly shed. It was flattering how much pleasure he seemed to gain just from seeing you strip, and you couldn’t resist blowing him a little kiss as the final article of clothing fell to the floor. Like the utter dork he was, he mimed catching the kiss and then held that fist to his chest.

You crawled over him, giggling at his antics, as you settled in between his still splayed legs. You hummed, running your hands up and down his chest, your fingers catching on his pebbled nipples. “While this view is delectable, I was thinking about a slightly different position for the grand finale.”

“And what position would that be?”

With some difficultly, you pulled Kakashi up and slid yourself into his previous position, kicking the soaking cushion off the bed as you did. When you were finished, Kakashi was now the one hovering over you. You took advantage of your new position and stole a quick kiss from him.

“I think that it’s your turn to make me feel good,” you said, grabbing a hold of your cock and pumping it slowly. “How do you feel about riding me?”

You had a front row seat to the way Kakashi’s eyes dilated at your suggestion. He drew back, and his eyes flickered down to your dick. With obvious physical agreement, Kakashi straddled you, one knee either side of your hips, and replaced your hand with his own on your dick.

He sent you a sultry look, and then dragged the head of your dick back and forth against him, until the head caught of his loosened hole. Kakashi hovered there for a moment, until a drop of his slick ran down your dick.

“Tease me and I’ll edge you until you cry, Kakashi.”

He considered your challenge with a head tilt and eye smile. “If you say so.”

He slammed his hips down all at once, skin hitting skin with a wet slap. You choked at the sudden onslaught of sensations as his wet heat wrapped around you.

“Fuck, you are such a brat, you know that?”

“Me?” He put a hand against his chest in mock offence. “Never.” To emphasise his point, he drew his hips up until you almost slipped out, only to then drop his hips down all at once, again.

“Just get to it, pretty, before I go soft from boredom.” That was entirely a bluff, of course; you were incredibly hard and that wasn’t changing any time soon.

Kakashi did as you’d asked. At first, the pace of his hips was fast, but not particularly rhythmic. His thighs were incredibly muscular and had no trouble holding his weight as he bounced up and down, but you could tell that he had never done this before, so you settled your hands on his hips to help him.

“You don’t have to go all the way off every time,” you explained, holding him still. “Here, try moving your hips backwards and forwards for a bit, like you’re grinding.”

Kakashi tried what you were explaining, and you could tell immediately that it felt better for him, because his face screwed up in pleasure as his slid backwards and forwards on your hips, painting them with his slick.

From that point onwards, he alternated between powerful up and down riding, and sensual rocking. He seemed to delight in avoiding a noticeable pattern, so you could never quite predict when he was going to switch between them.

His gooey insides were your favourite place to be regardless, so you let him play how he wanted to. To retain some of your power, you took to plucking at his nipples whenever his pace flagged. While it was probably incredibly rude to compare two omegas’ nipples, you couldn’t help it. Itachi did have cuter nipples, it had to be said, but Kakashi had better pecs, so it evened out.

Again, you desperately wished James would tell you who created these drop dead gorgeous omegas, but extracting information from her was worse than pulling teeth.

As Kakashi continued to ride you, the squelching was so loud that you were certain that at least one of your neighbours was cursing you right now. Or maybe they were into it; it was a porn world.

The rhythmic slapping felt like a countdown to your impending orgasm, as something burning bubbled underneath your skin. You loved being more sensitive in porn worlds, but it did make it harder to last.

Kakashi was getting more desperate, too. Although his thighs were starting to slow from exertion, he was relentless in his riding. He moaned unabashedly as your knot started to inflate and catch on his rim.

Your instincts screamed at you to knot him. You felt delirious with pleasure, and you needed this pretty omega to take your seed. You needed to mark him, so that no one else, no clients, no colleagues, and no board members, would ever even consider touching him again.

You looked up at Kakashi as he hovered above you. His skin shined in the light, although it had nothing on the way his slick shined against your skin. “Good boy, you’re such a good boy, Kakashi, my good boy.”

Kakashi seized, and with a cry, he shot white ropes of cum all over your stomach and chest, while clear liquid forced its way past your dick and out into the open air. With each shot, Kakashi’s insides tensed and pulsed, and you couldn’t hold on any longer.

You came too, knot locking into place inside him, as you painted his insides white. You came so hard that you almost blacked out. You were more used to the increased number of cum shots now, but it still felt insanely good to ride the high of a good 50 seconds of orgasm.

Kakashi slowly fell forward, breathing harshly, until his face was resting beside yours. He was making a valiant effort to keep the majority of his weight off you, but that wasn’t what you wanted.

“Come here,” you said, tugging him down until his entire weight was resting on you. “That’s it, I’ve got you, you don’t need to worry about stuff like that, remember?”

Kakashi chuckled tiredly, “If you insist.”

You pressed a loving kiss to the side of his head, basking in the after glow as you both waited for your knot to deflate.

“Thank you,” Kakashi muttered, pressing a kiss against your shoulder.

“For what?”

“For staying with me.”

Guilt spiked inside your chest as you remembered the choice you were to have to make.

And of course, right at that moment, your vision faded out from the edges, dousing your vision in black. When light bled back in, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. James was there instead, and you were back to standing in the middle of the library. You swallowed heavily as your final moments with Kakashi swelled up inside you as grief and longing.

You felt pretty rough.

“Welcome back, human,” James said, sounding quieter than normal. Her voice wasn’t really soft, but it was what you imagined she believed that soft was.

“Thanks, James.” Wow, even your voice sounded rough.

Like last time, James reached out to tap you on the head, but unlike the relief that had followed when your emotions were supressed, this time only made you feel worse as all the emotions from Itachi’s pocket dimension came flooding back in too. It made you feel like you were wearing a head several sizes too small.

You took a deep breath and tried to compartmentalise as much of what you were feeling as you could.

“I know you must be feeling overwhelmed, human alpha, but I must remind you that you will kill us both, along with many others, if you do not make a fast decision on which pocket dimension you wish to use the rest of your life energy in.” She straightened out both books in front of you on the library table. ‘Potions and Magic and Sex, Oh My!’ was on your right, while ’50 Shades of Audacity’ sat on your left.

“Fuck, James, how am I supposed to choose?” You slumped into one of the library chairs and put your head in your hands.

“I know this must be a difficult choice human. You performed remarkably in both worlds, and I am certain that both omegas love you dearly.” Ugh, that did not make you feel any better. “However, one of them will feel right in a way that the other doesn’t. Use your instincts, human, I trust that they will not steer you wrong.”

Your instincts? It felt like they were in a mess. You felt conflicting messages flood through you as your instincts screamed at you for even considering leaving either omega. But you had to leave one of them.

You closed your eyes and allowed your instinctual reaction to guide you. It was a mess in your head, but you didn’t have time to untangle anything.

“When you’re ready, put your hand on the book that you wish to enter.”

“James?” You opened your eyes and stared down at the weird Curator that had been guiding you all this time.

“Yes, human alpha?”

“Thank you for everything,” you said earnestly, sending her a smile. “I’m going to miss you.”

James seemed taken aback, but she eventually returned your smile. “I will miss you too, human. I will request to be the Curator to meet you here after your life energy is gone, so that I may escort you onwards.”

“Thanks James.” You kind of felt like crying, but you couldn’t delay this anymore. “I think I’m ready.”

Quickly, so that you couldn’t agonise over changing your mind, you slapped your hand down on world that you wanted, and everything went dark.

Next chapter

#the quest for a second life #kakashi #kakashi hatake #reader #reader insert #kakashi x reader #a/b/o #omegaverse #omega kakashi #sub kakashi #omega!kakashi #sub!kakashi #dom reader #alpha reader #alpha!reader #dom!reader #n-sfw

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baldurs-gape · 3 months

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Worry Worms

A little shared fact about the party was that the worms were in communication with each other. Even with the Emperor's protection, the group were bound in a way, their worms connected to each other. Sometimes it was awkward, other times funny and sometimes frustrating. Yet the worst were the moments where flashes of the past and the pain it held flashed through the group.

The first signs of a shared existence were the pang of hunger. It wasn't obvious to start with, everyone migrated to the supply packs for snacks and ate with more gusto. Yet the hunger was left unsated. Bickering turned to annoyed disagreements and huffy sulks. Lae'zel refused to even look at Shadowheart over the simple fact that the berries they'd had stashed away were now mixed with nuts.

"Perhaps we ought to ask Astarion to feed?" Wyll muttered to Karlach quietly. "It's driving me insane."

"Urgh, yes. I can't eat another mouthful but I'm still starving. Is this what being a vampire is like?"

"Like what?" Astarion sauntered up to them, thumb rubbing at the corner of his mouth as though wiping away the last dribbles of blood after feeding.

An awkward silence held them all in suspense until Wyll cleared his throat. "This hunger. Is this your day to day experience?"

Of all the thing they expected, an honest laugh was not on the list. Astarion wasn't even mocking them, he was genuinely tickled by the question.

"Darling, this hunger isn't mine. It has been dogging me as much as you by the sounds of it."

Which just left one real suspect. The one who had been most graceful at handling the sudden affliction. That evening Gale sheepishly admitted to his affliction. Once he'd consumed a locket, the hunger faded from all their minds.

If only things could be as simple. For a while it seemed like it was. The weather was gorgeous, sun bright and hot. It burned fiercely as they wandered along their path. Armour was slowly stripped, so were clothes where possible. Any stream they crossed, most of them dipped into it with sighs of relief.

"It's hot as the hells themselves." Wyll was neck deep in a clear pool, eyes closed and head tipped back.

Looking around at the various states of undress and sweatiness, Karlach gnawed at her bottom lip.

"Literally. The old engine's been getting a bit too much. My bad."

"This is your doing?" Astarion whirled to look at her. "I haven't felt like this in two hundred years!" Despite not sweating like the others, his hair looked a little lacklustre and flat compared to its usual near-perfection.

"As I said-"

"Don't. I've missed this. Don't change."

Karlach's mouth snapped shut as she nodded and made a mental note to maybe linger closer to Astarion on nights where he looked more cold and alone.

Their adventures carried on. They bore the shared echoes of neck pain and head aches as Wyll got used to his new horns. Gale's mage hand was perfect to for those who preferred not to be touched and Karlach was more than happy to put her rather warm hands to good use too. Given her own horn, she was all too familiar with what muscles could cramp and hurt. Wyll was especially grateful for such knowledge.

Along the way they collected Halsin who was more than happy to tag along on the quest. Nobody was tactless enough to mention how he and Astarion gravitated towards each other, circling in tighter and tigther circles. They all pretended to believe Halsin's reasons were purely altruistic and maybe with a small amount of desire to learn. Nor did anyone mention that Astarion's tent had a tendency to be set up and then abandoned as he spent nights in Halsin's. It was a small comfort and they all knew they needed as much of that as they could get.

Nights tended to be rather monotonous. Once dinner had been eaten, they all drifted off to their respective tents for rest. Sleep came easy enough, so did the nightmares. Flashes of pain and terror. Revulsion and depseration. Hopelessness that hollowed out everything which was only filled by fear tamped rage. Lae'zel was the first to wake, cursing Shar and all she made her followers endure. Determined to wake Shadowheart, she left her tent. Only, Shadowheart was already by the dwindling fire, haggard and scratching at her back.

"Is this not the doing of your goddess?"

"She's much more thorough in taking the memories." The disdain in Shadowheart's voice was a blanket to hide her own discomfort. While awake, the flashes from the worm were no less distressing but the light of the fire helped a little.

"So who-"

Gale stumbled out of his tent and retched as a particularly sordid kind of pain echoed through them all. They all shivered in unison at it.

"We need to wake him." Even as he spoke, the worm allowed more memories to play out in their minds. "He wouldn't want us to know this."

"I don't want to know this," Karlach's voice joined. Next to her, Wyll looked harrowed.

As one they traipsed to the edge of camp where Halsin's tent had been set up. He was dozing, curled around Astarion with a smile on his lips.

"Hush, he's finally trancing." Warm pride made Halsin's words drip with affection. "Said he'd not done it since before being turned."

"With good reason. Wake him up." Wyll winced as new pains from relieved memories curled through him.

Resisting, Halsin watched the group and pulled Astarion into a protective embrace. The broke 'please' from Gale was what did it in the end.

It didn't take much more than a gentle brush of lips to his forehead and Astarion blinked awake. His worm silenced but not before a flash of panic could be felt by all as he stared up at the gathered group.

"I know I'm in high demand, but could we keep it to one or two at a time so I can make sure you all have a good time?"

If only it had been a joke. Before it would have been taken as one. Now though, the truth of his fawning in face of fear was all too easy to see.

"We just-" Gale seemed at a loss for words.

"They wanted to wish you a good night," Halsin helped out, even though he still wasn't quite sure what was going on. "And to make sure you're okay."

Tight blankness smoothed out Astarion's expression. He knew the others saw the memories his trance he brought to life. "Was I-" breaking off, he steeled himself, "Did I make noise to wake you all?"

"You were very peaceful, little heart." Halsin smiled at him and tucked him back against his chest. "Rest some more. I'm sure the rest of this conversation can wait until the morning."

Dismissed, the others filed out of the tent. They didn't sleep easy, kept up by the nightmare fuel of what they'd seen. At least Astarion didn't trance again so no more memories bled through into their shared connection. Come morning, nobody said anything. But if they were a little more gentle with Astarion after that, that was their own business and nobody else's.

#halstarion #astarion/halsin #astarion x halsin #astarion #bg3 astarion #halsin #bg3 halsin #gale dekarios #wyll ravengard #karlach #shadowheart #baldur's gate 3 #bg3

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luminecent-sky · 3 months

Text

Ooo i just got called out by that (hook still at Lv.1 at e3)

Well, in the case of Hook, she thinks (and this is reinforced by all the adults) that the Aeon of Fate wants to keep her safe! Because the Aeon knows best, and obviously, this is one of those moments.

While some of the older followers are more saddened by this, Asta and other followers that have responsibilities are thankful that they were given the strength and use it to do their duties more easily.

Teens like Clara, Yanqing, and HuoHuo, however....

Silence falls upon the teens as they take a break from training on the Astral express, seeing the adults come back from another successful adventure with their grace, the faint feeling of divinity that enveloped the train leaving it soon after they settled in.

Yanqing looks over at the other teens in envy as they talk about the small adventures they sometimes joined their Aeon on.... Lynx looked particularly pleased as she recounted a valiant fight against a silvermane commander that she participated in.

It had only been a few hours since she became a vessel of Fate, quickly gaining power, and only a few of them could imagine of, unless you were Qingque or Pela, though the latter had confessed that her growth had been stopped as soon as a certain member of the Nameless reawakened his Vidyadhara powers.

Still, surrounded by other vessels that were younger than him, though being a teenager himself by the Xianzhou standards still stung. Was he not strong enough? Not capable enough? He knew that Sushang felt the same, but she still had something that he envied, she was at least a vessel with multiple glowing eidolons. He wasn't even chosen.

The Aeon was there when he fought the Stellaron hunters, when he fought Jingliu and he still lost, despite how their grace had done their damndest to help him triumph, guiding Pollux as she fought him under the control of that wicked woman, Kafka... were those battles, tests?

Did the others have to face such things before they became vessels? Has he failed in the eyes of Fate? Was it the will of Fate that he could never be chosen? He sat there polishing his swords as doubt continued to swirl in his mind, he has to get better, for himself, and to prove that he was worthy enough for the Aeon to look upon him as a vessel worth relying on. The deep-seeded fear of abandonment rearing its ugly head the longer he dwelled on it.

He needed to train, get his mind off of it.

—

Silver Wolf was getting bored, her games had gotten boring, and having no part in Elio's current script aside, she had to start from scratch, thanks to Herta and Screwllum* removing her accounts... along with the fact that she wasn't chosen as a vessel,

It shouldn't bother her. This was fine, even Kafka wasn't chosen, the gacha didn't roll in her favour and all that. But it did sting, especially when Blade became a vessel, one of the main vessels, always returning back to base healed and with an expression of peace, unnerving to those who hadn't spent any length of time around him.

Sending a hologram to the Astral express, she had the chance to talk to Pollux, to connect to their Aeon before the faint divinity she could feel faded away.

She could never get used to it, the feeling of something watching you from every angle, seeing you, and through you. As the 'hacker', being unable to hide behind a screen, a hologram never sat right with her... she would only show herself when she wanted to cause chaos, or something really peaked her interest.

But lately, it seemed like the world was shifting again. The way that the other vessels moved seemed to be more.... lethargic, like their god had gotten tired and bored of them, it was unnerving to see the usually chipper and smiling members of the Astral express like this.

Until she found out the reason for this development, their god had encountered a lull in interest, much of the content had become tedious, boring, and much like a chore. But it would be alright, surely this game world would expand and bring their gaze back to her.

Just need to wait for the next update.

Clara always strived to be a good kid, caring for everyone in the vagrants' camp, making sure all the machines were in working condition and such.

It was always her dream to have everyone get along, no fighting or resentment, so she was overjoyed when the Aeon set their sights on her home, maybe they could really help unite everyone, sure they fought with Mr. Svarog, but it was a misunderstanding!

And after they came to help life had been slowly improving for everyone in Belebog.

They no longer had to fight with the other miners, and they could finally see the sunlight, feeling the breeze from the overworld. As a whole new world of opportunities opened up for her and the people of the Underworld.

But as she saw the others become blessed, blessed to help, blessed to make a difference in their slowly recovering planet, she felt empty.

Why was she not allowed the same? Was she not good enough? Had her efforts to help those she cared about lacking in the eyes of their Aeon?

Even if the other vagrants and robots assured her of the contrary, that seed of doubt would stay in her heart, taking root and slowly growing.

Nourished by the passing of time, as their Aeon moved to help other worlds, akin to a wound left to fester.

She hoped that one day she would be good enough to be seen by their god.

All she could do was wait.

A/n: no u didn't see this posted last year, tnx

lmaoo it rotted for so long, i will make a part 2 to this i think

#writings from the cosmos: star rail #sahsr #sahsrau #universe: aeon of fate #honkai star rail

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bokutosmochi · 8 months

Text

kinktober day four: public sex!

BETTER THAN ICE CREAM ♡ GETO SUGURU

fem!reader x geto suguru

ingredients: somehow, someway geto manages to coax you into having some fun with him in public

what's it: smut

allergen warning/s: public sex, fingering, mentions of geto x reader x gojo, reader is principal yaga's adoptive daughter because her blood parents threw her away, dubcon (just to be safe!)

sugar level: 2.4k

regulars: @ventdavi154 @deobiforever @sugusshi @angelshub

parlor's note: hello, hi, i am suffering from geto suguru brainrot, if you couldn't tell.

bon appetit!

depending on who you asked, you either had good or bad luck. your cursed technique manifested at an abnormally early age, six months old, and on top of that, you were born to a non-sorcerer family who thought to themselves "what else are we supposed to do when our child has some supernatural ability that no one can explain?" so they abandoned you. they wrapped you in, bless them, the softest cotton blankets in the house, laid you in a cardboard box, then threw you away.

thankfully for you, though they had no idea where they dropped you off of, it was in front of tokyo jujutsu tech.

it was a hot spring day when yaga masamichi found you. he just came back from a mission in shibuya, taking solace in the school when he heard a loud wailing noise from somewhere off campus. he could recognize it was a baby, but he just assumed that the cries was because of a more normal situation so he felt no need to intervene.

he trained some more, rested some more, all the while ignoring the sounds of weeping from outside. he forced himself to not pay attention to it "the kid's parents probably have it under control. don't stick your nose in other people's business." until he couldn't anymore.

you've been crying for too long, there was definitely something seriously wrong.

he walked out of the training room, jogging to where the sound came from with more than twenty questions in his head, and that's when he found you. all of a sudden, those twenty questions in his head multiplied. he could sense the cursed energy that you exerted, how old were you? and more important than that, where were your parents?

he took you to the police after that, not quite knowing what the proper thing to do in that situation was. they tracked your parents down, only to deliver the news that they didn't want you, again, bless their heart, they didn't tell the officers the real reason why they didn't want you, instead lying and saying it was because they couldn't support you financially. after all, they did still love you. there was just too much fear in their hearts about what you are. they took the legal action against them, and left yaga two choices: he could either surrender you to the adoption system, or take you in as his own.

he was only twenty years old at the time, not at all mature enough to be a father, but at the same time, he had no idea what would happen to you if you were put into the adoption centers. you could potentially hurt someone without meaning to, and they would hurt you. they would have no idea how to properly take care of you, given the fact that they don't even know about your atypical condition. so he decided to adopt you right then and there.

being his daughter meant you were more advanced than most of your classmates. your cursed technique manifested earlier than theirs did, and your father had a knack for teaching. it also meant that he was a lot stricter than most parents, making you "less fun", as some people would say it. he brought you up as a well-functioning member of society, and your sometimes friend, sometimes pain in the ass gojo satoru would put it, "a goodie-two-shoes."

you don't mind it now. no matter what they said, or how they viewed your hobbies, you still had a lot of fun doing the things that you love, even though it might come across as boring to them.

living the sorcerer life was enough excitement and adrenaline anyway.

as jujutsu sorcerers, you barely got any moments of peace. the fight and blood and, inevitably, death, was a part of your everyday life since you were a child.

it was only in moments like this where you're able to get some semblance of the peace you will never get.

it's six in the morning, the sun is up in the sky to rain golden sunshine on you and your boyfriend, suguru. it was unusually quiet, and you blamed it on the time. it was a saturday, and you knew that most people wouldn't be out and about until three more hours. not you and suguru. he insisted on going on a small walk, and while you contemplated about rejecting his proposition, you thought about how jujutsu sorcerers' life spans are shorter than the average human being's and agreed, wanting to spend as much time with him as you can.

the birds chirp happily above you, while cherry blossoms fall all around you, the vibrant green leaves on the surrounding trees sway lightly in the wind and everything looks picture perfect, including you and suguru, holding an ice cream cone each.

was it too early for ice cream? probably. did either of you care? not really.

you deserved the treat.

"let's sit." suguru said for the first time in a while. earlier, he felt no need to fill the comfortable silence between the two of you. the way his hands, so powerful and strong, softly held yours and the way his eyes, so intense and passionate looked into yours said more than a thousand words could ever hope to do.

you plopped down as close to him as you could get on the bench, winding your arms together while you laid your head against his shoulder.

neither of you said nor did anything, just enjoying the atmosphere silently, sometimes humming the melody of a song stuck in your head before it fades away into the cold air. that was until a stripe of your ice cream drips down the cone and onto your bare lap.

in an action that suguru would describe as helpful, and nothing but demure, he runs a finger through he sticky liquid and sticks the digit into his mouth, sucking it off. "mmm, that's good ice cream." he murmured, as if frightened that if he were to talk any louder, he would shatter this moment into piles of sugar glass and he'd find himself in the heat of battle, with people who are not his priority crying out for him and his grace.

"let me taste some more."

there was no more ice cream trails on your lap, so that statement in and of itself should have already warned you that geto suguru was up to no good. your second warning came in the form of him complimenting the short tennis skirt you wore that day. "have i told you how much i love this pretty skirt of yours?"

"s-suguru, not here."

two of his fingers, his index and middle caressed further up your thigh making your breath hitch in your throat and eyes to flutter shut. "lemme just make sure i got all the ice cream, alright princess?" he puts his fingers on his tongue again. "no ice cream here."

"fuck, sug'"

"how about over here?" at this point, his large hand is under your skirt, grabbing at the fat and muscle. the motion makes your stomach churn in a familiar way and you close your eyes tighter. one of your hands grab onto his bicep and grips.

it's embarrassing how you were already so worked up, but suguru just knew you like the back of his hand. he knew how to make you bend and break to his control and he loved it.

his fingers trace indiscernible patterns on your inner thigh, so close to where you needed him, but still, you were out in the open, in a park that's frequented by people of all ages.

with your other hand, you held onto his. "suguru, not here." your head's fogged up as you say the words that deny you of pleasure. you would've loved to let him have his way with you, but not here. sure, there weren't a lot of people yet, it's just a matter of time, though. in a few more minutes, you're certain that people will come strolling through one by one until the park's in full swing.

"it's just us here, baby. you don't have to worry your pretty little head."

you have no idea what happened to his ice cream. you don't even have a smidgen of an idea what happened to yours. one second, it was in your hand, the next, what you were holding was suguru's hand.

"we're going to get caught." you try to say confidently, but your shaky resolve shows in your equally shaky voice. your hand wasn't holding its own anymore, instead, letting suguru do whatever he desires, with it a ghost on top of his. "no we won't. i promise, kay?" you feel him press a kiss to the top of your head and that makes it harder to resist than before -- and suguru's hands on you was already hard to resist in the first place; he's never broken a promise before.

he runs his warm hand over your clothed cunt sending shivers down your spine and making you clench around nothing. "d'you really think i'll let someone else see you like this?"

you swore you wanted to answer yes. he's done it before; share you. one of his filthiest fantasies was to have you and satoru at the same time and you had no problem giving him that, because that was private, confined to the four walls of your bedroom and wherever satoru runs his mouth, but the man shuts up quickly when suguru shoots him that look.

you weren't able to say anything to suguru's rhetorical question. the bastard started to rub your clit with back and forth motions with his finger before you were able to get a letter out.

it was so unfair.

you couldn't see him. though your fighting spirit was more or less nothing but a heap of quickly melting ice cream on the grass, it'd weaken even more if you were to glance up at him. he'd shoot you a half lidded look he knows always works and you'd be wrapped around his finger in no time. it was like continuing to taunt the opponent when they already have the sword to your throat; a loss, but a determination through it. you weren't willing to admit it to yourself even if you already knew it in the back of your mind.

"there's no one here, kay, sweet girl? you've been working so hard lately, lemme spoil you a bit." you recognize the way he drew hearts on your clit before running it down your slit and back up again. "you're always so tight." he chuckled. "in more ways than one. you should loosen up a bit, hmm?"

you could feel the wetness pooling in your panties, the urge to moan out his name, but if you were gonna do this, you could at the very least stay quiet, so you gave him a nod, a signal that you were answering in the affirmative.

"ah, ah, ah," he breathed out right next to your ear. his finger on you slowed down to a cruel, teasing pace, just putting enough pressure to have you lowly mewling at his side, but not enough to give you proper satisfaction. his words was just as teasing "i wanna hear words."

you gritted your teeth, both in annoyance and focus so you wouldn't end up moaning instead. "f-fuck you, suguru."

his chest vibrated as he laughed heartily, shaking you with it. "that's not a stop or a keep touching me, suguru." he punctuated the sentence with a soft pinch to your clit through the fabric making you yelp and your upper body to hunch forward.

your reaction only made him laugh harder.

as each second passes, your brain gets foggier and foggier. it was harder to speak now than it was seconds ago; harder for your head to think of the words that'll grant you pleasure, and harder for your mouth to cooperate with your head. your hips had a mind of its own now, mindlessly grinding against his hand, spreading the wetness that have already seeped through your skirt all over the park bench.

"k-keep touching me, suguru, fuck, pl-please." you panted.

thankfully, with those six words, suguru decided to grant you mercy.

his fingers slipped under your panties, and went straight on your clit, making you go limp against the bench and your boyfriend's side.

"there you go, sweet girl." he murmured softly, gazing at the look on your face; your eyes closed in utter bliss, though scrunched up at the corners - it crumpled deeper in time with your thighs twitching - your mouth in a relaxed O, only to close whenever you gulped. "just relax onto me, yeah?"

it didn't take much more for you to get close. after all, the knot in your abdomen has been coiling since the moment he first put his hands on you.

suguru knew that too; knew you wouldn't last much longer if he continued to touch you like that.

the last straw was when he nudged the hood of your clit with his index finger while his middle and ring continued to thrust in and out of your wet cunt.

you came harder than you have in a long time. you don't know what exactly it was that made it so, whether it was the excitement of being in public, or whether it was the edging, but whatever it is, to some extent, you're glad it's there.

you saw bright white flashes behind your eyelids, and miraculously, you were able to keep quiet - at least as quiet as you can be - biting your lip as you came.

you were busy gathering yourself when suguru spoke again. "hmm, this may not be ice cream but it's just as delicious." when you meet his eyes with a glare, he smiles his crescent moon eyed smile at you. "actually, i think i prefer this one over the ice cream." he finished licking your arousal from his fingers.

"you know you're gonna pay for this, right?" you quirked an eyebrow at him, arms crossed on your chest. it didn't intimidate him one bit though. "sure thing, sweetheart. i'll be looking forward to it."

i get: reblog

you get: finger lickin good ice cream

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slocumjoe · 1 year

Note

Companions reactions when Sole finds an abandoned baby and is like, “Welp! No parents, your mine now!” And wants to take them back with them?

Cait; ...okay...she understands that there is something of an obligation to not leave a baby to die, but...does Sole really have to keep it? Surely there's someone else that would like a baby, like a gay couple somewhere. Maybe those lesbians in the DC science center. Or the Ms. Nanny and teacher dude that got married, also in Diamond City. Like...Sole already has a bab—oh. Right.

Codsworth; Gotcha, what are they naming it? He'll sort out the feeding situation while they figure it out, go check shops for baby things.

Curie; Ms. Nanny protocol remnants + Curie naturally having a strong sense of justice = Sole will finally hear Curie say naughty words. They won't understand it if they don't speak French, but Curie is spitting pissed off. If Sole wants that baby, they might have to wrestle it out of her hands. Becomes very mama bear. Fusses over it in incessantly. Will relax once it is in a safe environment, and then Sole can claim it for themselves.

Danse; Goes fucking Terminator levels of bodyguard until the kid is in safe hands, like Curie. If a leaf on a tree moves, he's shooting it. Twitchy and on high alert until they get to a settlement. Sole is already planning on putting a baby room in their house. Very worried. Sole has a lot on their plate, much of it involving travel. Sole is not going to travel with a baby in their arms, fuck no. Pre-BB, suggests taking it straight to the Prydwen. After...surprisingly open to keeping it.

Deacon; Thinks they're straight-up joking. Makes a joke in response. Sole keeps joking, he keeps joking, Sole holds up a baby, Deacon has an aneurysm. Plays 5d chess in his head, planning the safest routes back to a town. Hyperventilating the whole time. Babies are loud. Loud is bad. Sole says they want it. Also bad. Sole. You are a spy. Spies don't have kids. You can't keep it, he's sorry, he knows what it's like, but that kid is safer somewhere else.

Gage; The deepest sigh man has ever achieved. Could have inflated a blimp with it. Okay, yeah, sure. Don't use crotchgoblins as bearbait. He's a raider, but there's...no, no there isn't honor amongst raiders. There is with Gage, though, he has, like, some coupons he can cash in whenever the ol' moral compass stops pointing at money. But...no. No, Sole...no. You don't have to put it back, but you can't keep it. And if they're Overboss? What the fuck are you thinking? What, like Mags is gonna babysit or some shi–why are they looking at him like that.

Hancock; A pendulum of 'chill with it' and 'unchill.' On one hand, SOMEONE GET THE BABY AN ADULT. On the other, WAIT NO NOT HIM, A CAPABLE ADULT. Doesn't matter what relationship he has with Sole. Hancock is getting babysitting duty. Hancock always gets babysitting duty. For some reason, he gets stuck watching kids way too fucking much. It's not that he hates them, it's that he breathes more Jet than air and has a penchant for throwing knives at things when bored. Please for the love of God, keep it if you want, but understand Hancock himself is baby and is not suitable for watching another baby.

MacCready; He's from Little Lamplight. As if he's even gonna blink. Hops on board quicker than Codsworth.

Piper; Sole's probably still in that phase after having their own child, where the hormones go all crazy with kids in general...losing their kid isn't helping matters, either, huh? Regardless of the circumstances, Piper is just going to shrug and do what she can to help. Whoever the parents are, they're either dead or don't deserve it, so...

Nick; Will not rest until he finds parents, dead or alive. If they are alive, has some stern fucking words for them. It'll take a damn good reason for him to take the kid from Sole and give it back to the parents. Will also suggest giving it to a couple who wants kids, but can't have them. Knows quite a few people who'd appreciate it. But not against Sole keeping it. Hope they like Uncle Nick back-seat parenting, though. Like a crusty grandpa at Thanksgiving who makes a face when your five year old has an iPad.

That grandpa is right, by the way.

Preston; Also doesn't flinch. Baby alone in the Commonwealth, you take the baby. This isn't a moral conundrum, it's basic common sense. Sole wants to keep the baby? Chill. Preston is not a useless potato sack of a person, like some people. Baby get, baby take care of. Hey, they're Minutemen, too, so they should have access to resources you need for childrearing. Third fastest to hop aboard the This Is My Baby Now train.

X6-88;

#fo4 #fallout 4 #paladin danse #preston garvey #piper wright #nick valentine #companions react #robert joseph maccready #x6-88 #porter gage #Codsworth

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ystrike1 · 9 months

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The Devil Raises a Lady - By CHT (8/10)

Will being loved by a Devil make you great? Strong? Beautiful? Immortal? No. In this setting being adored by a monster makes you a toy. Someone who cannot die, because entertaining a Devil is more important than death or life. Our heroine must change her awful future, with an eternal shadow behind her. Can she kill him?

Lady Ayana has been hunting revenge for 13 long years. She failed. She ends up in a cell, to be executed at dawn. Before her dying day she worries about her loyal bodyguard. Her true love. The man she pined for when she was trapped in an abusive marriage. The man she could not forget, even after she gave birth to her only child. The man she ran away with.

Her bodyguard.

Diabel.

He is so brave. So loyal. Her family died brutally in their own dining room, assassinated by a powerful rival. She survived that day thanks to Diabel. She owes everything to Diabel. When she became a fallen noble woman, with little power, he stayed by her side. When she married an abusive man he begged her to run away with him. She abandoned her child to do that, even though she knew that same evil family would attack her. That abusive relationship was her last shield. The only reason why she did not get captured by her rivals.

Diabel convinced her and she got caught and she fought more and she raged and she attempted to destroy the bastards who had taken her family. Diabel took down dozens of men for her, but she surrenderd because she feared for his life.

She loved him.

He cut such a heroic figure, by her side. The one man who knew the truth. Who knew that her loving family was killed. It was no accident. It was all corruption. He reassured her. He said it was ok for her to be angry. He encouraged her rage. He cried for her. He swore loyalty to her, and yet they never confirmed their love. How tragic. She was a noble lady. He could only be with her as a Knight. Surely, that's the only reason why he allowed her to suffer with a hateful man.....right?

Diabel, her partner in life, tells her he will give her another chance. She will be executed, but he can send her back to the beginning of the story. She must make a contract with him though. She's confused. Hurt. She thinks she's crazy, but then he kisses her hand.

He feels different.

She believes it. It's like he's a different man.

He is a Devil.

She wakes up a spoiled and ignorant daughter once more, with a brand on her chest. Coincidentally, she cannot marry again with such a mark on her body. She questions reality, and her relationship with....everyone.

She has one month.

Only one month, before the Rozel Family sends their assassins. Ayana was an idiot girl obsessed with her handsome fiance back then. The Knights do not respect her. No one will believe her. She has to use Diabel...again.

The illusion shatters completely. Diabel never loved her the human way. He is a huge fan of her. He never wants to separate from her. He's willing to be her servant. He is willing to kill. To corrupt. To destroy...but he will never love her that way. That was all a lie. When she was in pain he didn't really care. He just thought it was interesting.

Ayana decides that she wants him dead, with the Rozel Family.

She is happy. Her siblings are alive. She has her loving father. She is safe for now, and she is motivated. She doesn't need rage. She has love. She won't let it go. Her family gave her real love. They don't make her perform tricks the way Diabel does.

She will save them.

She's very brutal.

First, she asks Diabel to summon a demon army. She wants to slaughter the whole Rozel Family. No drama. No duels. Just death. That would be boring, so Diabel says no. He will become the best Knight for her again, but he will not use his Devil power. She must use her knowledge to stop the incoming assassins.

Her main rival is Erez, but things are not what they seem. The Devil is in love with entertainment, and Erez did not want to kill Ayana in the past.

I hope this goes hard. It needs to be dark to work.

#The Devil Raises a Lady #yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon #otome games #otome isekai

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raineandsky · 2 months

Note

hey i just recently discovered your acc and I'm honestly in love with your work! I don't know if you do requests but just in case you do,could you maybe do a snippet of supervillain capturing hero and torturing for months until they suddenly got bored of them and ordered villain to get rid of them for good. Basically villain doesn't know that it was hero they were ordered to kill by supervillain and when they entered the cell where hero was to kill them,they suddenly recognize hero and become extremely suprised by what they saw. Villain for some reason can't bring themselves to kill hero and just stands there for who knows how long whilst trying to decide what they should do as hero just layed there slightly unconcious full of bruises,wounds,cuts, burns and dried up blood all over their body. Sorry if this was long hehe,feel free to continue it (if you want to of course) :)

welcome to the gang, glad to have you here!! thank you for the request, i hope you like it :D

A curse tumbles from the villain’s mouth before they can stop it.

Of all the people the supervillain has caught, has been bragging about catching, why was it hero? The hero should know better. The villain knows they know better.

The villain’s never seen them so… defeated. They’ve thrown their fair share of punches, of course, but they’ve never quite managed to have them half-conscious on the floor like this. Crimson paints their skin in crazed patches, black circles smudged underneath them, rope digging violently into their already reddened wrists. The hero lets out some half-hearted noise as the villain nudges their clothes back to survey the damage better.

Bad. Very bad. It’s a miracle the hero’s still alive, but that’s what they do, isn’t it? Survive despite the odds. The villain gets back to their feet with a scowl. Where the hell did the supervillain find them? Why would the hero let this happen? Probably to protect some random civilian, the villain knows that, but still.

The hero’s eyes open, kind of, unfocused and glazed over. They get a front seat view of the villain’s shoes and, for whatever mindless reason, weakly reach their bound hands out towards them.

The villain takes a half step back, more on instinct than anything, and despite the lack of… well, anything in the hero’s expression, they can somehow still see the slight distressed crumple of their face.

Fuck. Their heart stings, even though it knows better.

No, they think sourly. You’re here to get rid of them. Don’t show weakness. Show [Supervillain] what you are.

The villain’s dagger is inside their coat. It’d be so easy. Nothing more than a shallow, red line across the hero’s throat. Easy. Kind. Merciful.

They step forwards again, ever-so-slightly, and bend back down to the hero’s level. Their hands are where they left them, abandoned in their desperate attempt at connection, and the villain nudges their foot between their fingers in potentially the biggest show of compassion they've ever have.

It’s a kindness, right? The hero would appreciate it. It would be the nicest thing the villain’s ever done for them.

But it wouldn’t, even the villain knows that. The hero doesn’t want to die any more than they do.

Every passing second is throwing more doubts over what they’re doing here. They need to make a choice before the supervillain decides they’ve been down here too long. They need to act before they can change their mind.

The villain pulls their blade from inside their coat,

and cuts the rope at the hero’s wrists.

#creative writing #writblr #writers on tumblr #writing #writing community #heroes and villains #hero x villain #requests #im glad you like my stuff thank you for the compliment!!!!!#honestly imposter syndrome is a b i t c h and sometimes yall come in with the simplest lil comments and it literally makes my day #thank you anon #you got me goin. i edited that bitchass scene in my novel ridin this high. ily

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circyexistforcontent · 1 year

Text

SAGAU SCARAMOUCHE RATES YOUR TASTE IN GENSHIN MEN...

❀ synopsis: you introduce your friend/unofficial sibling to your lover. What could possibly go wrong? everything... pt.2 is here!

❀ pronouns: they/them

Traveler/Aether: 7/10

Enjoy that passing score because that will be your only passing score from here on out. While he does respect the traveler, he wouldn't hesitate to threaten him with another battle if he ever raises his hand on you. Though the threats would be told in private since Scaramouche is what you can call a Tsundere, initially he despises you when the two of you first met and wasn't scared to show it.

You were persistent in at least being his acquaintance, which he thought was foolish for a god like you. Aren't you supposed to be all-knowing? You would know by now that it's hopeless to be his friend. And you would know the reasons why.

But surely enough, you grew to be a stigma in his everyday life. Now he can't go through the day without at least seeing you once. And he loathes that fact. But what can he do? His emotions got the better of him again, he can't bare the thought of losing you and he'd be damned if some blonde with a dull blade is going to hurt you when he's around.

But out of everyone in Teyvat, he tolerates Traveler the most despite being on rocky terms with him. Because he is your first host, and through the traveler, you two met. And that will be the only thing he will thank the traveler for. Every time you greet him with a hug he will be there in the background with arms crossed boring his eyes on the back of their skull. Ahem, excuse me (Y/N), where is his hug? He's here too y'know...

Venti/Barbatos: 3/10

Hopefully, you don't tell the secret of Venti being one of the archons because he despises them. But even with Venti's disguise he still wouldn't like him, why are you dating an alcoholic bard? Don't you know you can do better than this? (It's not like he will approve of it even if you bring a girl/boy straight out of a fairytale) Just like with Aether, he threatens Venti with what will happen if he ever breaks your heart. Venti just laughs off his threats, reassuring him that he wouldn't dream of it.

Scaramouche sulks and mumbles curses under his breath every time he witnesses Venti serenading you in public. His jealousy flares whenever he sees Venti clinging to your arm as he tries to persuade you to move into Monstadt, he would sometimes invade your conversation to tell him that you're already happy living in Sumeru (living with him) and that you won't move in Monstadt.

Venti would catch on quickly that Scaramouche was jealous, and would sometimes find amusement in provoking the child (Because in Venti's eyes, he is one) by kissing you on the cheek when he knows Scaramouche is looking. When the two are alone, Venti would tease him. Saying how he's planning to propose to you and that the both of them should try to get along since he will be your future husband. At those times Scaramouche wanted to murder him right then and there.

Despite the teasing, Venti does try to gain Scaramouche's approval since you and Scaramouche have a bond like siblings. Though I don't see him fully liking Venti, he would learn to tolerate him more as time passes. Scaramouche is protective (possessive even) with you, and has certified abandonment issues. He can never learn to accept that you have other people in your life. Because you're the only person he has left in his life.

Kamisato Ayato: 5/10

He didn't like him before and he doesn't like him now, knowing that he is loyal to Ei. The only thing he likes about him is that he's not always with you, which gives the both of you some time together. But when he is with you he can't help but eyeball him from a distance, observing how he acts towards you.

He knows Ayato is a cunning and unpredictable man, so whenever he approaches you Scaramouche would linger in the background. Though he knows Ayato is a gentleman and wouldn't sink low enough to hit you. So he gives him that. Doesn't mean he won't get jealous though.

On the occasion when Ayato does have time with you, he would stalk and follow the both of you to make sure nothing suspicious happens. Whenever the two of you kiss he has to stop himself from gagging, especially if it's a long and slow kind of kiss. The moment the date is done and Ayato leaves he acts like a 5-year-old wanting to spend time with their oldest sibling.

"You spend more time with him than me..." He would tell you while leaning on your shoulder. Scaramouche, sweetie, they just spoke with you this morning for 5 hours straight what do you mean they spend more time with Ayato-

Tartaglia/Childe: -1/10

He has warned the Fatui to not go make contact with you by any means necessary. And if they did then they would be severely punished. Not only has Childe talked to you, but has the audacity to court you, and you accepted! Don't you know how dangerous he is? He's part of the Fatui!

So is he? W-well he's different ok?! (he's not like other Fatui members✨) At least Scaramouche didn't pretend to be your friend, and he protects you now! So does Childe? He's better than Childe! You don't need him when he's already here with you!

His envy skyrockets after this discovery. What does Tartaglia have that he doesn't? The thought lingers in his head as he surmises what could be the reason for you accepting Childe's love.

But he couldn't find one. He doesn't understand, how can you love him? He scrutinizes Childe every time he approaches you with a bouquet of your favorite flowers, he scoffs at Childe's attempts to get closer to him and ignores him whenever he asks Scaramouche if he can take you out on a date. He will never trust Tartaglia with you. He doesn't care how many times you tell him that you love him. The moment Childe turns his back on you, he wouldn't hold back.

"I'm the clingy one? Pfft! Yeah right, if anything you're the one who- hey! When did I tell you to stop holding my hand?"

#🍒sagau #genshin cult au #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin self aware #self aware genshin impact #self aware genshin #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche x you #sagau scaramouche #childe x reader #childe x you #tartaglia x reader #sagau childe #venti x reader #sagau venti #sagau ayato #ayato x reader #aether x reader

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 2 months

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deathly hallows is so weird. i remember even when i first read it at 12 being kinda like ???? because really? this? this was supposed to be the big hyped up grand finale?

obviously book 7 isn't the only book with plotholes but there are so many more than in the others ones and they were really obvious things that just felt so lazy. like suddenly people can be their own secret keepers? meaning that the plot device that kicked off the entire series now doesn't make sense? or jkr forgetting harry canonically knows how to cook. just basic stuff like that that felt so sloppy. or harry and co breaking into the ministry to steal something that umbridge might just as easily have left at home in a drawer in her house. ?? or they somehow don't have food when they're camping even tho they can do magic and can duplicate food so they could just take a ton of stuff from a grocery story and copy it forever?

plus the pacing. it has some really good moments towards the end but omg a lot of it has no sense of urgency. or i remember as a kid after reading book 6 being super hyped to see the other cool and difficult to defeat enchantments guarding the horcruxes like we saw in book 6. but nah. in book 7 they're just lying around anywhere.

it's like jkr set up this whole horcrux hunt thing and then got bored with it and wanted to get thru it as fast as possible. and then added a bunch of poorly thought out wand stuff that contradicts prior canon. there were a ton of cool things that could've been done with book 7 and instead most of it feels so rushed.

It seems we all have secret trauma revolving Deathly Hallows.

The beautiful thing about the being your own secret keeper, of course, now means that if that was the case then someone didn't tell the Potters this or they were dissuaded from this path for some reason makes Dumbledore look very suspect.

Though I personally love the idiotic plan to bust into the Ministry to get the Horcrux rather than try to find out where Umbridge lives or trying to get a hold of her when she does her shopping in the country's one shopping district of Diagon Alley. It's just so dumb.

Or the fact that the gang suddenly survives only on mysterious mushrooms they gather deep in the wilderness of Great Britain or the time they look for blackberries in the middle of winter. Ron knows there aren't going to be blackberries, tells Harry as much, but since he's come back from abandoning this very stupid mission he now believes that Dumbledore must have had a plan.

Dumbledore had a plan.

Right?

Dumbledore?

DUMBLEDORE?!

WHY DID YOU TELL US NOTHING DUMBLEDORE?! WHAT IS THIS BOOK OF FAIRYTALES EVEN SUPPOSED TO--

(But yes, anon, it's just a bad book filled with beautiful stupidity that felt like it should have been a video game and was oddly written as if it was a video game where most of the chapters are boring cut scenes you want to skip and the game play is things like "raid gringotts" or "fetch the sword from the bottom of a pond to destroy the horcrux".)

#harry potter #harry potter meta #deathly hallows #anti deathly hallows #opinion #meta

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 3 months

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This one guy I talked to on AO3 said that Emilie shouldn't be brought back because Adrien has already moved on from her death, but I'm not so sure about that. Other people think she should be revived so she can be her own character and not just someone else's sad backstory, and so Adrien has one good parent, of course. What do you think?

I think that it depends on the story you want to tell. There are cases to be made for bringing her back and cases to be made for letting her die. In the context of canon, I find not bringing her back to be fing stupid because it makes everything feel pointless. We obviously don't know the wish yet, but why let Gabe make the wish at all if he's not going to restore Emilie? Making a different wish isn't him being a good guy at the end. It's still him playing god, he's just now using his god powers to abandon his son for no logical reason. What loving father happily leaves his son an orphan???

Yeah, Gabriel saved Nathalie. I don't care. Nathalie chose to use the peacock to support Gabriel in his plan to terrorize Paris. That wasn't some noble sacrifice on her part! She didn't deserve to be saved any more than Gabriel did. Of the three dying/dead parental figures (I really don't know Emilie's status) Emilie is the only one who was never tempted by the dark side if we ignore the uncomfortable implications of how they got the peacock in the first place/Adrien's childhood isolation and just embrace the canon narrative that Emilie was a good and loving mother who was Too Pure For This World.

Meanwhile, Nathalie was a terrible mother figure! She supported Gabriel's awful treatment of Adrien for four seasons and then spent all of season five gently prodding Gabriel to change/tell Adrien the truth while leaving Adrien completely in the dark to everything that was happening. If Gabriel hasn't won, then Adrien would have lost both his father and Nathalie who knew that they were dying, but never gave Adrien a chance to say goodbye because Nathalie never stopped putting Gabriel first in almost every way that mattered. Adrien still doesn't know that he could have been allowed say goodbye to his father because Gabriel's death was entirely predictable.

Along similar lines, I don't think that Nathalie was wrong to undo Gabriel's senticommands, but it is deeply messed up that she was happily doing it in secret and never once considered giving Adrien a chance to consent. A loving parent should find the idea of controlling their child deeply upsetting. She should have been tempted to tell Adrien the truth, especially since she knew that she was dying, but we never see her consider that.

She also does nothing to get Adrien's slave collar away from Gabriel or to stop Gabriel from terrorizing Paris even though we have a scene where she literally pins Gabriel to a table. Her turn to "good" did nothing but maintain the status quo because she continued to support Gabriel in all the ways that truly matter. She never really protects Adrien. She does not deserve to be Adrien's new mother. #BringEmilieBack!!!

All of that is assuming that Gabriel's wish saved Nathalie while sacrificing himself and Emilie. If so, then that is literally the most boring way to go about letting the wish happen. You could have just as easily had Gabriel lose and have Ladybug know a way to save Nathalie via Guardian magic. The end result would have been the same.

If Gabriel had chosen to give up on the wish entirely? Then Emilie not coming back would be a satisfying ending. I personally really like Gabriel being defeated and the heroes then bringing Emilie back. Very much a spite move for me, plus it's a nice way to lessen the sting of Gabriel's defeat. Adrien losing his father, but gaining his mother feels really satisfying to me, especially if Emilie gets to serve Gabriel divorce papers. Got your wish, old man. Now suffer for it.

No matter the case, saying that Emilie shouldn't be brought back because Adrien has moved on is bad logic as it implies that Emilie is only worth bringing back if Adrien say he wants her back, as if she's a beloved childhood toy that someone broke long ago. It also implies that Adrien wouldn't want her back just because he's accepted her loss. Those are two very different things. Imo, one of the show's failings is the fact that Adrien is denied the right to grieve as if that makes him a better person. A better show would show healthy grief vs unhealthy grief (Adrien vs Gabe). She's been gone less than a year when the story starts. Everyone processes grief different, but that's really fast to move on from the death of a parent.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml season 5 salt

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cookierunauprompts · 4 months

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omg can you do the opposite of the one flustered jester idea? where the reader is the one flustered and let’s switch things up a bit by making reader a beast too she was also sealed cause well.. I mean girlbosses are always villains so, (reader is the weakest beast sadly, she’s weaker than sm) anyway so what if they’re ALREADY into eachother but they’re goddamn slow burn ass yk AGH and so bcz shadow milk knows she’s flustered and she can well flirt back but like bros already red so.. shadow milk has the upper hand here in terms of teasing / flirting YKYK sorry brain rot.. since this is a little more suggestive bcz well you’re flirting I believe that’s suggestive / a little spicy? hope this doesn’t break your rules I’m not quite sure if this counts as super bad.. if it is i swear it’s not intentional I LOVE YOUR WORK ❤️❤️

ohoho anon, you don't realize the power you've given me. Also, i may have changed it a bit to make Reader more of a Warden within the seal that... kinda sucks at her job at keeping the Beasts in the seal and detering them from escaping just to spite the witches. She's still a bit of a girlboss girlfail though.

Requested Prompts #42 - 💓

The five Beasts, five fallen heroes formerly revered now sealed away for their crimes against cookiekind. Everyone knows that Elder Faerie Cookie is the guardian of the seal, but what about the Warden? Yes, the warden of the seal. The Cookie placed within it by the witches to be the equivalent of a squeaky toy for ensure that the beasts stay within the seal from the inside. And, to put things rather simply... you didn't like your job. In fact, you hated the fact that the witches decided that you were apparently fit for the job. So, instead of doing your job, you got to know the beasts instead. Hell, you may have even caught feelings for one of them. And now, with all this information in mind, it brings us to now. " Oh little warden~" You could hear the beast of deceit purr, causing you to stop yourself in your tracks to look over at the (currently) contained beast. You noticed that he'd shrunken down to be around your height, though not small enough to slip through the bars like you could. " Seems you finally decided to pay me a visit again! I was getting so bored trying to entertain myself!" He reached through the bars of his prison, beckoning you inside. You, of course, obliged in his request. " Well, I have duties to attend to within the seal. If the Witches knew I was slacking off then they'd crumble me for sure." You said to yourself with a chuckle, as if the witches would even bother to care after basically abandoning you here all those years ago. " Oh hush, you and I both know very well that they can't possibly know what goes on in here. You can blame it on that Foolish King if something ever happens." Shadow Milk Cookie hummed, holding your face in his hands. " Besides, who would believe a Fool King like him? Nobody, and I mean nobody, knows just what happens here, little warden." There it is again, there's a certain lit to his voice that seemed to worm it's way into your heart to make it beat faster. You couldn't exactly tell if he was actually flirting with you or not, but there was a certain quality to it that tipped your thoughts towards the more flirty side of things. " Still," You begin, looking away to prevent yourself from staring into his gaze. " It's the only thing I can really do here, y'know?" Your reasoning seems to go in one of the beast's ears and our the other, even though neither of your technically have ears. " Hm... but you could be having a little bit of... fun with your favorite trickster, hm?" He suggested, and that may have been what broke your composure the slightest bit, letting the slightest hint of red creep onto your face. You certainly didn't trust that 'fun' meant exactly what you thought, it was probably another one of his petty puppet shows and he was doing all of this to rile you up and get a reaction out of you. " And what exactly do you mean by... 'fun'?" you question him, your composure breaking further as he let out a low chuckle. " Oh little warden... You're so cute whenever you act so clueless." He purred in this new, low voice of his. Since when could he do this? You knew he was an actor but what???? the fuck??? You could see that he was getting bigger as well, more or less of a good sign. " ... It makes me want to just gobble you up~" hoo boy, hoo fucking boy. You could feel the back of one of his claws rest at your leg. " Starting from your toes all the way to your itty bitty silly little head~ I wonder just what you'd taste like...? I could probably just eat you up in one bite~!" He purred, you could see his tongue poke out from between his lips, licking them in a rather teasing manner that got your heart working overtime. You couldn't tell if it was beating so fast out of fear or embarrassment because maybe this actually flustered you a lot and- by the witches he was fucking huge now. Holy fuck he could probably actually do it. He leaned down close, his wide grin inches away from your face.

" Oh you're oh so teeny tiny... i really could just eat you up in one bite~" He hummed as his hand wrapped around your body. You were pretty sure that your brain is going to short-circuit soon just from the way he's looking at you.

----

this may be the spiciest thing i've ever written, what the heck.i only stopped here cause I couldn't write any more without getting too embarrassed.

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run au #crk #cr kingdom #shadow milk cookie #cookie run au prompts #shadow milk cookie x reader #beast yeast #hey did burning spice show up or is it just hot in here #I'll do a proper formatting later #warden!reader prompts

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mana-jjk · 5 months

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thinking really hard about a college au because i enjoy them a lot more than high school aus.

yuuta - pre-med, in school to become a doctor

toge - divided between computer science and dropping out of college to pursue opening his own café with a garden.

maki - pre-law, in school to become a lawyer

panda - zoology

yuuji - business degree that he’s just doing for his grandfather, will graduate but goes on to be a firefighter.

megumi - animal sciences, going on to enter veterinarian school to become a vet.

nobara - fashion design/marketing degree

gojo - a sadistic physics professor with multiple degrees, both through education and honorary, because he got bored. sometimes he picks students out to give full-ride scholarships, because he self-proclaims having too much money.

getou - philosophy professor that enjoys playing the devils advocate and watching his students squirm.

shoko - oversees the university hospital and occasionally recruits for the pre-med program

nanami - graduated with a business degree, agreed to give yuuji an internship

ijichi - gojo’s overworked TA

i just think maki and yuuta would struggle through graduate school together. their cabinets would be full of instant ramen, cabbage, junk food, and ungodly amounts of coffee. the only real food they get is because toge cooks for them and gives them the stink eye every time he opens their cabinet.

toge doesn’t really have room to talk though, he overworks himself and ends up going far too long without sleep. hours on assignments that make him miserable, burned out from the moment every semester starts. too often does yuuta find him dissociating, something he’s all too familiar with. yuuta himself suffers from insomnia, so it’s not uncommon for him to settle on the couch and run his fingers through toge’s hair until his eyes close.

toge probably had a really difficult time getting the courage to either drop out or just really not use his degree as intended. i can’t picture him genuinely enjoying higher education. even in this happy, no one dies world, his family is with the second years for a reason. computer science was appeasing enough, but the unhappiness is so draining that everyday getting up and going to class feels so impossible. he feels his happiest at the gardening club, cooking for his friends, not sitting in a lecture hall with a preview to what awaits him. but ultimately, i think the independence and knowledge that he wasn’t alone or abandoned was enough to push him into the decision. luckily enough he was a scholarship winner (gojo lol) so he wasn’t in debt, and gojo even offered to fund him through culinary school with the promise of free sweets forever.

with yuuta, i think his history of being hospitalized and the accident with rika (who is not dead here !! but she was paralyzed and had to move with a different family member who was able to support her) definitely pushed him to medical degrees. he was probably stuck between being a physical therapist, nurse, and full-fledged doctor. he still keeps in contact with rika, who is one of his biggest supporters when it comes to his goal, but he has a mental breakdown every week thinking about getting a medical degree. shoko definitely takes notice of his talent, and has extended opportunities to intern with her. gojo also found that they were distantly related, and not only paid for his entire education, but also the apartment he rents with maki and toge. he tried refuting, but gojo kept insisting that he was tapping into the family inheritance that technically belonged to both of them.

toge is more than a little devastated when yuuta decides to study abroad in their undergraduate, i actually think that’s when the fully misery of college hits him. not having an unhealthy classmate and friend to look after forced him to focus on himself, his least favorite pastime. having the first years helped, but it also forces him to reflect how much he cared about yuuta past being a friend too.

anyway, i have so many ideas for this au so um please ask me so i can word vomit everywhere. also normalize more college aus so people like me can still relate lol <3

#inumaki toge #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #yuuta okkotsu #inuokko #ottoge #jjk panda #maki zenin #megumi fushiguro #itadori yuuji #nobara kugisaki #gojo satoru #getou suguru #shoko ieiri #nanami kento #college au

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oddlykilledghosts · 2 years

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I Want You To Like Me - Rafe Cameron x reader (Part Two)

Summary: You're a pogue by choice, kook from birth. The friendship that you have with the other pogues is undeniable, no one questions their loyalty for you or your loyalty to them. So when a certain King of the Kooks takes interest in you, it's only right to turn him down. Right?

Such a long part and so little Rafe…in the next parts I swear I will write more for just him, but it’s been so fun to be a part of the pogue friend group for now (but seriously next part will focus heavily on solely Rafe don’t worry) Very ‘domestic’ (loose way to use the word) view of the pogues this chapter, you get to see the ins and outs of their friendship a little more with reader

Word Count: 6.5k

Pairings: Rafe Cameron x reader, John B x Sarah Cameron, platonic!Pogues x reader

The Chateau was quiet when you walked in. You hadn’t expected the other Pogues to be there, but a part of you hoped Kiara had left the party at Tannyhill and would be waiting for you on the couch on the screened-in porch with that look on her face that said she knew what you had been up to. You kind of wanted her to scold you for taking that ride home. For kissing the eldest Cameron. You wanted Kiara to kick your logic back into its rightful place where it had abandoned it’s station back at the party (and in Rafe’s car) and agree with her that even the thought of fraternizing with him was wrong. Even if it meant she would be angry with you.

The thought of your best friend lingered in your mind as you stood aimlessly in the front door of the Chateau. Frozen, you could picture her different reactions. Mostly the angry ones. And then the nicer ones. Your eyes flickered to the chairs in front of you as dreamy images of Kiara floated into your view. Her face changed as you imagined the various scenarios, none of them ending up well whether nice or angry. Desperately you wanted to confide in the girl, to have someone to talk this through with. But you knew that the anger that came with it would not help you work through what were beginning to be some very confusing feelings. For some reason you bargained with yourself, saying that the anger would be better. That it would give you a better sense of reality than this idea of Rafe could.

But then you looked around the screened-in porch and sighed, picking up a bandana that had been left on the chair nearest to the door. Of course you wouldn’t tell her. And you hated yourself for it. You wanted to hate yourself for liking Rafe as well. For liking the conversation you had with him in his car and for kissing him because you wanted to. But somehow you only hated how you didn’t hate yourself. You twirled the bandana between your fingers, thinking about how Rafe probably didn’t mean any of what he said. You figured he was bored and made it all up (although you doubted he would lie about Wheezie). You also doubted he was going to brag about a measly drunken kiss to any of his friends. It would be more likely he would never want to talk about fraternizing with a pogue ever again. If he did talk, he would say offhandedly that it was a mistake and that you were wrong about the whole situation. There was no worry this was going to escape Rafe’s lips and spread to the likes of the other Kooks of the Outer Banks. So really, the harm in telling Kie would have no benefit. It’s not like you were actually “in love” with Rafe Cameron now. It was a kiss. A crush from over a year ago. And it didn’t mean anything. Yes, you nodded to yourself as you held the bandana, wringing it in your hands. You were right, Rafe is an asshole, and pretending he’s not just for a night isn’t going to change his behavior. He’s going to keep being Rafe Cameron and wishing that he’d miraculously evolve into a better person won’t change that. There aren’t enough shooting stars in the world.

“Okay,” You breathed in, talking to yourself even though no one was around to hear (especially because no one was around to hear). “No Kie. Got it.” You looked down at the bandana in your hands and started smoothing it out against your thigh, and then folded and tied it into a headband. You figured it was JB’s and knew he wouldn’t mind if you borrowed it. Maybe you just needed to borrow John B’s assuredness for a day or so. Just as you did with JJ’s hat. JJ was right, maybe the feelings can transfer. You reached up to your head ready to retrieve your friend’s accessory and patted the top of your head. Shit.

JJ’s hat was gone. Of course it was gone. By JJ’s logic, the hat held all the power. And all of his dumbassery. And you had been wearing it at the party. Then in the car. Where you kissed Rafe. Maybe the wrong trait was transferred? Is that possible? This is JJ logic that is being discussed here.

You needed to get that hat back.

Slipping the bandana over your head - because if there was anything to do when you need guidance was to follow JJ logic (please do not ever do this) - you pushed yourself into the kitchen hoping the bandana was leeching John B of all of his good qualities and in turn giving them to you. Sorry JB.

__________________

The search for your phone was the first thing on your agenda. You liked to think that your friend, JJ, would remember to tell the other pogues that you had left the party. However, in his state, you doubted that he would be able to relay the message to your other friends. This would cause a problem if you weren’t able to reassure the worried pogues (once you found your phone) that you had not in fact been murdered on your way home and that you were as fine as you had ever been (leaving out the parts that weren’t convenient to your case). The hope was to find the phone before they even realized you were gone. The second, more inconvenient hope, was that you would be able to contact Rafe before anyone else found a certain Pogue’s infamous red and gray hat on the floor of his passenger seat.

You tried your hand between cushions and between spaces on the bookshelves. Then you even dared to look through some places in the messy kitchen, which no one had thought to clean up since the last misadventure in cooking. While you looked, you tried to clean up as best you could - being a good house guest and all - but it was mostly a lost cause (and technically some kind of torture).

You usually tended to leave your phone in odd and awkward places, especially when hanging out with the Pogues…but this was crossing a line. You truly wanted to believe that it was somewhere obvious and you were just being stupid. For all you knew, it had fallen into the marsh from earlier in the day.

Walking across the kitchen, you were finally ready to call it quits and sink yourself back onto the pull out couch in the next room when you heard it. You were hoping it had been your phone. But then more noise. Shuffling feet. What seemed like some very loud attempts at whispers. Sinking into the wall, blending in with the old wood as best you could, as if you were an intruder in the house, your hand instinctively went out to the table where misplaced cutlery were scattered and dirty (from what you assumed had been an attempt to make mac and cheese that had gone wrong). Pulling your hand back to your chest after successfully snatching one of the items, you felt a little calmer with a makeshift weapon. To fend off an intruder or drunk teenagers? Maybe both? You were easily on edge anyways.

So maybe you were drunker than you thought. You kept checking back in your head, how many drinks did you have? You couldn’t have thought it was that many, could you? Partier or not, drinking with JJ always loosened you up a bit. There was that game you two always played. What was it? Something about keeping track of drinks while betting to do more…you shook your head in defiance, he had made that up ages ago, it wasn’t an actual game set with actual rules. No way to be sure. But this did mean, if you were drunk, that you could blame the Rafe of it all on the alcohol.

“What are you doing?”

“AHHHHHHHhhhhh!” A scream jolted through your veins and through your mouth as you were disrupted from your scheme of blaming your “affliction” on your inability to hold your alcohol. Your weapon, now jutted out from your body towards the direction of the voice, suddenly looked weak as you realized it was a spatula. You looked up at where the sound came from and your eyes fell upon a familiar face. “Oh.” You said, suddenly disappointed you weren’t going to save The Chateau from uncertain death. “Hi, John B.”

Another face rounded the corner and entered the room, wiping at her hands with one of those souvenir towels JJ had stolen from the country club (don’t tell anyone). “Who was screaming?” Her face first found John B and then just as easily landed on you, with your spatula and her boyfriend’s bandana in your hair. You just hoped you didn’t look as suspicious as you felt you looked.

The girl, who you hadn’t seen at Tannyhill, had her signature gold necklaces on and they gleamed softly even in the overhead lights of the kitchen. Her presence shook you a bit, as unexpected as it was to see an old friend you barely talk to arrive in the house of your new friend. It also surprised you to find she was wearing a shirt the two of you had picked out a couple years before. Yellow always looked so good on her, and you could tell she had barely been drinking as her skin faintly glowed with that morning’s tan.

It was a clear contrast to John B, who was in his signature pogue attire. His gray bandana hung loosely around his next and a button up hung on his shoulders with most of the top buttons undone. He looked so familiar and so comforting and so different than how the girl now felt to you. Which was foreign.

“And Sarah. Hey.” You looked between them wondering whether to be angry or glad they skipped the rest of the party and ended up at The Chateau with you. It crept into your mind that Kie would want you to be mad. Inviting Sarah into the pogues’ space, whether it be John B’s house or not, was almost sacrilege. It was making it real. But then, like a pang in your lower rib cage, Rafe entered your mind. That kiss. You weren’t allowed to be angry. You were doing the same, if not worse, to the pogues by getting in that car with Rafe. This was the time to be understanding. Maybe Kie wouldn’t understand at first, but you had to. You put down your spatula and leaned against the table where it had first been. “I was looking for my phone.” When the couple looked confused, you continued, “To answer your question, JB.”

John B held back a little laugh, slowly realizing that you weren’t going to pummel him for having Sarah Cameron with him, “With a spatula?”

“I thought you were an intruder!”

“Yeah you were really gonna get me.” He let out a light laugh. He had been drinking too, but not enough to get shit-faced. He was in his happy little buzzed bubble and it definitely had something to do with the other girl in the room.

You could tell Sarah eased at her boyfriend’s laughter and the tension in the air shifted into something more comfortable as she spoke, “Why are none of the lights on? We thought no one was home.”

“I was conserving electricity! The kitchen light is on. Don’t act like your electricity bill it’s a worry of yours, Routledge.” You paused and then added, “I’m drunk, don’t expect me to have clear logic.”

John B stepped forward and made a show of feeling your forehead with the back of his hand, as if this would show definite proof, and said after he made a big shrug, “Results inconclusive. Drunk? Maybe. Stupid? Definitely.” You eyed him suspiciously, you knew John B well enough to know when his words were laced with something more. He was smart enough to keep whatever it was to himself with Sarah in the room, pogue business and all. That was a line you wouldn’t be able to let him cross. At least seeing as you didn’t cross it first.

Absentmindedly, you pulled at your crop top as an anxious tick and then you poked an eye at Sarah quickly and changed the subject back to your phone, “Can you guys help me look while you’re here? I need to find it.”

John B muttered under his breath a short laugh that sounded like, “I’m sure you do.” While Sarah spoke up again, pulling out your phone from her back pocket, “We already did. Although, it is dead. I would think to be suspicious of you and John B, seeing we found this in his backpack but-”

You cut the girl off, practically leaping into her arms, but you stopped yourself a few feet short and accepted the phone back like a normal person. You don’t usually leap into the arms of ex-friends unprompted. “Thanks, Sarah. Seriously.”

Sarah smiled but said, “Don’t thank me, JB totally saved the day. He grabbed your phone by mistake. It was in something called a ‘Twinkie’?”

You silently cursed JJ for doubting you. Of course you had dropped it in the Twinkie; who goes anywhere without their phone these days?

“Well…” Sarah and John B started at the same time. And then it hit you. They left the party to come here thinking no one was home. Crap. You couldn’t just leave. Sure, you had your phone now but you also had at least some lecturing to do on Kie’s behalf. But your house on Figure Eight was far away on the other side of the island. You wouldn’t make it without being maimed.

“Seems like I totally foiled your devious plans. That’s too bad.” You looked around awkwardly, trying to signal to John B that either he find somewhere else to snuggle up with Sarah or she hit the road. “Wait, how did you get here?” If they took the Twinkie, they’d have to circle back for the other pogues anyway. Win-win.

“I drove.” Sarah answered. You internally groaned.

Sarah looked between you and the pogue leader. When she locked eyes with the boy there seemed to pass over them quickly, a silent understanding only a pogue would be able to pick up from watching the back of John B’s head. “But I have to get back anyway, Ward is going to be home tomorrow and I don’t want Wheezie to be the only one left cleaning up at Tannyhill.” You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and wished you could give Sarah a hug. She was being too kind to you, but you’re sure John B had already prepped her on all of his friends (and to be kind to all of them - overtly so). She was being a good girlfriend, and a part of you wished you had been a better friend.

She hesitated before kissing John B lightly on the cheek and then she was gone. Her presence in The Chateau, only lingering by the smell of citrus and floral perfume.

Which left you alone with John B. Who didn’t look happy now that your buffer and his girlfriend had left the premises. And yet, you had only found out they were dating hours ago. Very normal, Y/N. Act cool.

________________________

John B spoke first after running his fingers through his hair. Not once. Twice. His voice was stern as he spoke, but it came out more as a whisper than actual words. “Your phone isn’t dead, by the way.” His words sounded heavy, more tired than mad.

You looked at the glass brick in your hands, turning it over and holding the power button until the light on the screen flashed white and stayed that way. Heart beating in your chest, you chose to stay silent.

“When I found it,” John B started again, “We were already on the way home and it was going off like crazy.” You looked at him quizzically as he put his weight against the wall opposite you, leaning against the frame casually with his arms now crossed. “A lot were from JJ, just trying to make sure you had found your phone and that you had gotten home safe.” He paused and looked past you onto the ground where there was an old beer stain on the floor boards. “But another-”

“Was from Rafe.” You finished for him.

“Yeah.” He said, his lips in a straight line of disapproval. “I turned it off and told Sarah it had died before-”

“She could see.” You let out a little hum of defiance and turned your gaze as well to the beer stain near your feet. It looked like when Plankton from Spongebob got squished, eye and everything, and you wished you could smile at it. But here you were, caught and guilty before your only friend who would probably understand. And yet, the air felt stiff. As if the words that were being said hung in the air and made no room for anything else. You spoke again, feeling even worse at your choice of selfish words, “What did it say?”

John B let out his own huff and took in a deep breath, “What did you want it to say, Y/N?”

When you had looked up both your eyes met. His were lost and confused and yours were so similar. And yet the intention behind the feelings were so much different. You threw your hands up in defeat, “I don’t know John B. I don’t. I think I left JJ’s hat in his car so maybe-”

“You did what?” His eyes bulged, obviously surprised at your confession, then he shook his head slowly, “Let me backup. You were in his car?”

“You were in Sarah’s car.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Sarah doesn’t torment pogues.”

You skipped over his statement and asked, “How did you think I got here?”

“By being responsible?” This time he was the one that held up his hands in defeat. “But clearly I was wrong.” He retorted, letting out a small and angry scoff. You didn’t drink and drive. You didn’t walk. You had been responsible. Heat boiled in your cheeks, and your arms shook a bit as you stood there so mad, no, angry, that he could break the rules and you couldn’t. That he could be angry with you, when you had shown understanding just minutes before. When you had agreed they would go to Tannyhill for him.

“I’m not allowed to kiss kooks but you are?!” Your hand went up to your mouth as John B’s eyes glared at you, burning tiny little holes into your own retinas. His scowl spoke more than enough words as you let out a soft, and sad, sentence, “What did the message say, John B?’

Your phone was heavy in your hand, but you wanted to hear the words come from the mouth of the pogue in front of you. You wanted to hear him say whatever made him despise your actions so much.

Then it rang. High School Lover by Cayucas started bleating from your phone, playing mindlessly as the silence rang out between you and your friend, signaling that someone was calling you.

Despite John B’s heavy protesting look, you picked it up and answered, “Hello?” You sighed and then smiled at the receiver. JJ. He had somewhat recovered from his moldy bread fiasco and was checking up on you. “Yes, J, I’m fine. I’m with JB. I got home safe. No stay as long as you want. Seriously. We’re good. How’s Kie? Okay, good. Bye.” At least, that’s all that John B could hear of the conversation. You hung up the phone and looked at him pointedly, “What? Thought it was going to be Rafe?”

He held back a relieved smile with leftover crumbs of anger and said, “Yeah. A little.” Then as if he was lifting a weight from the room, John B stood up straight and walked over to the fridge, grabbing a case of beers and motioning you to the living room.

The call from JJ had changed the atmosphere. It had changed John B’s mind. Maybe it reminded him of something. Of what, you didn’t know, and clearly weren’t willing to ask and disrupt the soft and fragile balance of things. But something in him switched, and decided to possibly side with you. Did he sense the same shift in you when he arrived with Sarah? When you didn’t mention to JJ that Sarah had been here, as you would’ve if she was any other girl?

JJ had sent an unknowing olive branch between you and John B, and the world screamed at you to take it.

You stood still for a moment, watching him walk away with the peace offering. For a second you wanted to just drift off to sleep and to steep in your feelings as long as possible before having to actually deal with them. But then you thought better of yourself, you knew something deep down was dragging towards making a bad decision. A decision that would lead you towards the ‘King of the Kooks’, Rafe Cameron. And it was better to have an ally if life was going to go down that road. And some part of you already knew (deep deep deeeeep down) what you were going to choose. So you followed him into the living room, ready to sit down and have a ‘peace offering’ beer.

When you plopped yourself next to John B on the worn out couch, you smiled (a bit as your own peace offering) and chided him about the beers, “I don’t think drinking more will help us solve this.” The couch already smelled heavily of weed and had a few beer stains of its own. And yet it felt so much like home you wanted to wrap yourself in it. You were a pogue through and through. You could live on this couch, and you had in the past. It was something you had to get to know to love.

“I didn’t think you wanted to solve this.” He laughed a bit with a hint of sharpness to it, although the tension in his shoulders from earlier dissipating as he took a sip from the bottle.With ease, he relaxed into the couch and knit his eyebrows with his next comment, “What do you even see in him?”

Sighing, you fiddled with John B’s bandana which had remained on your head, “Ugh. Maybe nothing? Who knows. I don’t want to be one of those people that is all gushy over how ‘he’s really nice to me’ even if he’s a dick to everyone else.”

The boy reached over to the top of your head, pushed your fidgeting hands away and put the bandana back in its place. Instead of looking gentle, as the small gesture would have implied, he looked cocky with a small grin eating away at the corners of his mouth. “But that’s true, so…”

You punched John B hard on the arm, hoping it would knock some sensitivity into him for this conversation. “Yeah, okay? He’s attractive, that helps. But he’s also so, I don’t know…protective-”

“You mean possessive-” John B stopped you as you held up your fist again in a silent warning. “Hey, that first one hurt.”

“There’s a lot of things. He’s not easy. But maybe I don’t want ‘easy’. It’s not like we’re getting married. It was one kiss-” You didn’t want to confide too much in the boy. Especially not that you had thought about kissing Rafe many times before. You’d thought about how he needs someone to listen to him. Someone to care. You knew what that felt like.

The brunette across from you was now practically choking on his beverage while laughing, a pathetic excuse for karma. When he regained his wits, he said, “One? Here you had me thinking you guys had been hooking up for awhile-”

You felt your eyebrows furrow. Now that John B didn’t seem so openly vexed it was easier to be clear about your feelings. “What made you think that?”

“His message?” John B looked your clear confusion in the face and then grabbed your phone from your lap as if in a big show of victory. Unfortunately, he knew your password (all the pogues did at one point or another) and let himself into your phone. Then, as he turned the screen to show you there it was. Plain and simple.

Rafe:

Can we meet tomorrow? Need to see you

Then below it:

I liked talking to you tonight

You snatched the phone from the boy’s hand and closed it in an act of simple humiliation. The first message clearly did sound like a hook up text, and yet you protested aloud, “That could mean anything.” The second message however, seemed foreign coming from its messenger. Too vulnerable. It seemed like something he thought you wanted to hear rather than something he would actually say. But the last few hours had warped your view of him somehow, and it felt more genuine than you would’ve liked to believe. You could feel yourself putting hope into this (whatever it was), and even you (pogue opinions aside) could tell that that wouldn’t be good. Guilt surged over you, for the fact that John B had read it when it was just meant for you. There was one thing you knew for a fact and that was that Rafe wouldn’t have said that if he knew he had an audience.

“Not when I know for a fact you don’t text Rafe Cameron. Ever.”

“You didn’t even know it was reciprocated.”

John B smiled smugly, “I do now.”

You hit him again (just for good measure) and grabbed yourself a beer.

______________________

Waking up the next morning was not what you had expected. You didn’t remember much after finally coming to a standstill with John B the night before but you did know you had one hell of a hangover. Your head pounded as if hammers lived excitedly in your brain. The first thing you noticed was that your futile attempts of covering the room with sweet perfumes had already been overtaken by the smell of weed. When you finally got up the energy to look around the room you found Pope was in bed with you, still clothed and probably as hungover as you were, snoring noisily. It looked like he had crashed here without thinking and still had an empty solo cup duct-taped to his left hand. Smiling, you watched as he slept for a moment watching his chest go up and down with his breath. He looked so peaceful sleeping there, totally passed out from drinking. This guy was going to change the academic world. You knew it.

Then you groaned loudly as you tried to sit up, the bed creaky wildly underneath you (which led you wondering how JJ had gotten away with so many discreet hook-ups in this room), and still made an effort to not wake your sleeping friend.

When you got to the doorway, and it too creaked deeply as you opened it, you stole one last glance at the peaceful Pope. “Sleep tight.” You whispered, and closed the door. “Don’t let the admissions office bite.” Ha ha. Scholarship joke.

“What are you doing?” A voice sounded behind you.

Kie.

Turning around swiftly, you flew into the arms of your best friend and hugged her tightly both as a term of endearment and second to keep you from plummeting immediately to the floor after such a quick movement. Muffled into your hair, you heard her mumble, “Someone’s friendly today?” close to your ear.

While still keeping your hands on your friend’s shoulders, you pulled yourself away from the girl and steadied yourself from becoming woozy. The bathroom was too far to make it in time. “Just missed you. A lot happened.” Kie was wearing another one of her signature chokers and looked ready for the day. Her hair was put up into a messy bun and you could tell she had already been up for hours, which made you envious but mostly just because you felt so awful and already wanted to go back to sleep.

Her eyebrows raised, “Did it? I heard you left early. Get lucky? Score some free weed from a kook?”

Almost like a match being lit, you felt your eyes widen at your mistake. “No. I meant not a lot happened. It was very boring. All too much of the same. Little of this. Little of that.”

Kiara chuckled good-naturedly and pushed what was in her hands to your eyeline, ignoring your blubbering words. “Drink, Y/N/N.” She held up a very green mason jar you figured she had whipped up that morning. You liked green smoothies. You liked kale juice. All very good for you, and while it depended on the other ingredients, it usually tasted alright. This was not alright. And it was not a green smoothie or kale juice. When Kie opened the lid, the smell attacked your nostrils as if it were on a mission. Is this what Kie makes the boys drink after a party? Apparently you had never been drunk enough to need to go through with her little concoction. You were always very happy to let them drink their magic juice after downing too many plastic cups the night before and get on with the day’s activities.

You could tell Kie had noticed your disgusted look because she added, “Seriously, drink up. It’s not as bad as it smells.”

She lied.

However, Kie was kind enough to help you change out of last night’s clothes and get ready for the day before JJ got back from early morning surfing. The sad thing was, she was actually able to make you look cute and presentable. You kept on the choker you had borrowed from her the day before and played with it on your neck as you struggled to keep down breakfast. “I think I’m dying.” You managed to croak out in between bites of cereal. You felt guilty just sitting there, letting her help you. Hopefully to Kie, it was just another day of picking up after the pogues, and she wouldn’t notice your additional Rafe induced moping.

At this moment, John B walked in freshly showered but still somehow smelling of beer, and said, “You look like it.” He still worked for the Cameron’s in the mornings and was already dressed and ready to make his way over there, Kiara hadn’t said anything about this arrangement, though she was probably thinking of something snarky.

You stuck your tongue at him and feigned shock, “And you don’t, surprisingly.” You were about to mention how maybe Sarah Cameron had this effect on him, but kept your mouth shut as Kie closed the fridge.

“Neither of you do, my magic is working.” Kie retorted.

“And yet, the feeling has yet to go away.” Another groan from you.

This time, Kie and John B answered at the same time, “It will.”

John B made his way over to you while Kie was busy making another magic drink for Pope, when he finally awakened. “So, Y/N, are you going to pick up that important package today?” He coughed at the end as if to hide the words that had escaped his lips. Convincing John B, very convincing.

At first, you were foggy, with sleep and the hangover you thought John B was being stupid. If you sent a package anywhere, it would be to your house in Figure Eight. The pogues would just rip it apart here, and to go pick it up someplace would just be a lot of work in the long run. “What are you talking about?” You spat back at the boy, still carelessly eating your cereal.

“The hat.” John B spoke through his clenched jaw and teeth.

“Oh.” You said plainly, thinking back and shifting through your hazy memories of the night before.

“So are you?”

The magic juice suddenly did seem to be working as you shrugged and said, “I didn’t really think about it.” And yet your heart raced under your ribs as you silently panicked. See Rafe? Today? After a hangover like that? You scooped another dollop of cereal into your mouth before you could say more.

“It’s important to-” He stole a glance at Kie who was still busy, “get it back before he notices. And he’ll notice when he’s done surfing.”

He was right. That was JJ’s lucky hat. It went everywhere. It had been on his head for years. It couldn’t just be claimed to be lost. It was important. JJ wouldn’t just let it be tossed aside. He would be crushed. That hat held JJ logic, JJ confidence, and JJ magic. You had to get it back.

Unfortunately, Rafe probably already torched it as a way to rid his car of anything ‘pogue’ that lingered.

“Clear my dishes, Routledge, I’ve got a call to make.” Just to be sure, you took one last bite of cereal before rushing off to the backyard where you could at least have the wind from the harbor offer you some privacy.

“This isn’t a movie, Y/N/N, stop with trying to be cool.”

“Shut up.”

You heard Kiara ask where you were going as you exited, but John B backed you up with some bullshit story. It wasn’t good to lie, but it felt good to be a team. Anyway, it wasn’t unusual for the pogues to be bouncing around The Chateau like ping pong balls.

_____________________

John B’s backyard always felt more like home to you than your own home on Figure Eight. The wind always blew just right through your air, bringing with it the smell of the ocean. And now, as you stood outside fumbling with your phone the air sobered you while still throwing your hair a bit wildly around your head. Your favorite spot, in what was probably the whole world, was that old striped hammock. You watched it sway in the wind, left to right, as you dialed up Rafe’s contact.

Ring. Ring.

Your phone pressed against your ear, you waited for Rafe to pick up the phone. Doubt stirred within you about whether he would actually answer your call (depended on whether last night was a fluke), but you had loose threads of hope. After getting outside, you had checked your phone and been reminded immediately of the texts Rafe had sent you the next before. He wanted to see you today, right? That meant answering his phone would likely be in the cards.

He picked up on the fifth ring, right before it went to voicemail.

“Yeah?” The voice on the other end sounded preoccupied, and the thought of hanging up and fleeing back to Kiara and John B in The Chateau flit through your mind. Voices could be heard, muffled, in the background and the familiar gust of wind you were experiencing was also hitting his phone.

“Hey, it’s Y/N.”

Cautiously you waited for Rafe’s response on his side. You could hear he was saying something to someone on his side while covering the receiver of his phone, but it sounded a lot like, “Give me a minute, okay?” Then after a couple quick seconds he put the phone back up to his ear and did the best at showing emotion as the boy could with a plain, “Hey.”

Holding back an instinct to apologize, you simply asked instead, “Are you busy?” Feelings of vulnerability felt much more real and much more easily felt as the sun beat down on you in the open air.

“No,” He answered quickly. And then, “I’m at the range with Top and Kelce.” A pause. “You never texted me back.” You could tell he felt it too. The vulnerability in the daylight. Although probably less so than you. But it was there in the way he talked. Gentle, and foreign to him. Last night had changed something between the two of you. Less angry and more…wanting.

“I wanted to talk about that actually.” This time you paused. An uncertainty surrounded the both of you, connected through a phone on different sides of the island. “Plus, I left something important in your car and I definitely need it back.”

Rafe scoffed, “You mean Maybank’s hat? That’s important?”

Suddenly, a wave of protective instinct flooded over you and you held your ground, “So you know what I’m talking about. Good. Glad we’re on the same page.”

“And what about the date?” Rafe’s voice was quieter when he said this, hoarse and a little bit of harshness hid his sensitivity.

“What date?”

“The one I texted you about.”

A laugh naturally came out of your mouth as he said this, “Is that what that was?”

A stern, “Yes.” He was now holding his ground.

“I didn’t realize you were so bad at this, Cameron.”

“And I didn’t realize you were so annoying, Y/L/N.”

“No no keep going, this is really giving you points.” You meant to sound at least half as menacing as he did, but it came out with a laugh. A giggle. Anyone else listening could’ve sworn you were twirling your hair on the other end of the phone.

You heard him shake his head through the phone and held back another smile. “I can’t just ask you out in those plain words, don’t forget who our friends are, Y/N.” Your smile loosened. He was right. John B had already seen the texts. Now imagine Topper. Or Kelce. Or Kie. JB had just assumed the two of you were hooking up, which was one thing altogether. But dating. It’s too intimate, no matter how far it’s gone.

“Are you ashamed of me?” You made sure to let out a laugh with the question to keep it light-hearted, but you genuinely wanted to know his answer. Although, you doubted he would tell you the truth. This could all be a well thought out ruse for all you knew. You pictured the kooks laughing at you. The fact that you thought Rafe was genuinely interested.

“A little.” Rafe held back a smile at this. “You?”

“Oh, ashamed of you? Definitely.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“Rafe-”

“Yeah.” Not a question.

“This isn’t a good idea.” There was a part of you that needed to say this. That needed to scream from the rooftops. That needed to get the sense knocked into your head because here you were having a playful conversation with Rafe Cameron.

He let a laugh out of his nose, careful not to alert his friends. “Yeah, okay. Meet me at Tannyhill at noon.” Then, before you could say anything. “Don’t worry, Sarah won’t be home so she won’t be able to tell anyone.”

Then he hung up.

Shit.

Major shit.

Were you going to go? Of course you were.

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