Tumgik
#but you don’t seem to have any issue with that
nathaslosthershit · 3 days
Text
New Neighbors and Interrupted Streams [Part 1] (LN4)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Read Part 2 here! Summary: Desperate for new friends, maybe it's time to revert to the tried and true neighborly American cookie exchange.  A/N: I know Lando lives in Monaco but in this he is still in the UK. Also I really love fics that have something to do with Lando streaming and being teased the entire time.
This was stupid. This was probably so stupid. But she had to do something.
Two weeks she had been in her new apartment, in a new country. In that time, she had gotten increasingly lonelier, seemingly unable to make friends.
She had moved to the UK for work but with another month till she actually began her new job, she didn’t know how to make friends in her free time.
God, why was it so hard to make friends as an adult? 
So, after a call with her mom expressing her issues with making friends, she was reminded of a good-old US custom.
Baking cookies for your neighbor.
Usually, this was reserved for pre-existing residents to introduce themselves to the new folks moving in, but after all this time she didn’t expect her neighbors to reach out, so it seemed she had to do it herself. 
After that phone call, she tried it twice with some of her neighbors. The first time, she left them at the door with a note introducing herself to them, saying she hoped they could meet up sometime. She found the cookies still in the box, with the opened note on her doorstep later that day. 
The second time, she got so excited when she saw from down the hall that her neighbor had grabbed them, swiftly moving inside his own flat with the cookies while reading the note. But a week later and no sign of any desire from the neighbor to connect with her, she gave up. 
She had one last person she could try with, the ridiculously cute boy who lived in the apartment across from her. She hadn’t actually talked to him, just spied on him a few times from her peephole when she heard him leaving his flat. Creepy, she knew, but she was far too shy to say anything.
But she was so desperate, and she could tell he was around her age… she thinks. After sitting at her table for an hour staring at the home baked goods, she finally grabbed them and knocked on his door before she could chicken out. 
Lando was streaming with Max next to him, when he got a notification that someone was by his door. Thinking it was the takeaway he ordered, he swiftly excused himself to go grab it. What he didn’t expect was the pretty girl who had just moved across from him to be at the door.
There was a beat of silence as they both stared at each other. In all honesty, she was just going to knock, wait a few seconds, then leave the cookies. She hadn't expected him to answer the door so she was unsure what to say. 
Finally he spoke up.
“Sorry, are we being too loud? We can totally quiet down if you need to.” He said while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
She still didn’t reply, too stunned by seeing him for the first time not through a small and dirty peephole. God, he was beautiful.
Seconds of silence went by until she finally managed to get everything she wanted out.
“No, no I am so sorry. You are completely fine, that's not why I am here. I just didn’t think you'd actually answer the door. Anyway, I know this is probably strange and I don’t think they actually do this here but I just wanted to introduce myself to my neighbors, so I made cookies! Again this is probably so weird of me so it's totally fine if you don’t want them or something, the other neighbors clearly didn’t but that's okay. Anyway- Hi, I live across from you and now I am here with cookies!” She managed to get out in one breath while sticking the cookies out for him to grab.
This time, Lando took a few seconds to reply, trying to process what she said. “You’re American.” Was all he managed to get out.
She didn’t know what to reply, it wasn’t a question but felt like he needed reinforcement about that statement.
“I am.”
“I didn’t realize they actually did this, thought it was a movie thing.”
“Uh- I am sorry?”
“No. no! It's sweet, thank you for them. I really appreciate it… sorry what's your name? I’m Lando by the way” 
How she managed to not actually say her name while she spent a full minute rambling about how she wanted to introduce herself was beyond her, but after quickly introducing herself, properly this time, she finally felt the tension and awkwardness leave her body.
He took the cookies from her, promising that he was excited to eat them even though he knew his trainer wouldn’t be too happy, and took this opportunity to get her phone number. Promising to text her, he closed the door and immediately looked out his peephole, wanting to get one more look at her. He was surprised, and amused, to see she did a little celebratory dance in the hallway, before taking a breath and entering her own apartment, excited she had just made a new potential friend.
“What took you so long, Mate? And why are you so red? And why do you have cookies? Where is the food we ordered?” Max asked when Lando entered the room again, a stupid grin adorning his face.
“It wasn’t our delivery, the new neighbor just stopped by to introduce herself.”
“The cute one you kept going on about?” Max teased, earning a kick to the shin as that wasn’t information Lando wanted everyone watching the stream to know.
“Anyway- she brought cookies as a little hello. It's sweet. I've never gotten cookies made for me before.”
“She brought cookies? The hell would she do that for?”
“Like I said, to introduce herself. She’s american.”
Before Max could ask anymore questions, specifically about why Lando was smiling so much and why he was beet-red, which Max already knew the answer to, their actual takeaway came, saving Lando for the time being.
When he came back and they started eating, Lando wasn’t interrogated on the topic, at least not until he began giggling on his phone.
“Mate, what are you- Oh my god guys he is giggling and texting his new neighbor. Chat, this is unbelievable.” Max yelled as he stole Lando’s phone from his hand. Reading the messages with disgust, he added, “God, you need to work on your flirting, you sound like an absolute muppet right now.”
Lando quickly took his phone back and tried to change the topic. Throughout the rest of the stream, he tried his best to not look at the new messages she had sent in order to not be teased, as the chat seemed to still be mentioning every time he would secretly text her, trying to be stealthy as to not let Max find out.
He just hoped this whole thing stayed on the stream, and that it wouldn’t come to the press, who loved to question him on his relationships. The last thing he needed was to be asked this during media after a race.
He wouldn’t be so lucky, he soon would find out after the next race.
Read Part 2 here!
691 notes · View notes
sadomas0chist · 2 days
Text
room 609
────── nanami kento
Tumblr media
⤷ general.manager!nanami who can’t help but be seduced by your little receptionist fit and wit.
tw: age gap (20s ; 40s), kind of a slow burn to porn, masturbation (male), seductive touching,mating press, dirty talk, praise, doggy, slight riding, minor daddy kink, oral (fem) , fingering, creampie, unprotected sex, not read proof MDNI
pssst!! i missed you guys so much <3 i hope you enjoy this piece i’ve prepared for you. i’ll get to my inbox asks as soon as i can. love and kisses xoxo
“sir you booked your room b&b, which means your breakfast is included in the pricing of your room regardless if you have it or not. i can’t reimburse you.” you explained for the tenth time to the stubborn guest on the other side of the desk. you’ve already had a long day and were close to ending your shift until he came and disrupted your plans.
“is there a problem here?” he uttered, making both of your heads turn at him. nanami was standing by the reception, probably aware of the silly conflict thanks to the cameras he installed. it was a good thing that not only they showed him what was happening but he could also hear the entire discussion.
you looked down at your french nails, not saying a word as the client went out on his rant. haven’t you done that, you would’ve noticed how your superiors would casually gaze at you, unfazed by the ongoing monologue.
“how about that sir,” nanami spoke up, his eyes now fully fixated on the man. “let’s say i rented a room at your place, bed, and breakfast included, and you end up preparing one of the most exquisite breakfast only for me to reject your hospitality and ask you to pay me back that breakfast, disregarding all the care and effort you put to make me feel at home. how would that make you feel?”
silence. utter and complete awkward silence.
you were so stunned and yet nothing could match the man’s face. this was the first time you heard nanami use that tone, or even speak that much for that matter. you thought he was done until he proceeded: “you booked your room fully aware that you were paying for both the room and the breakfast. i hope there won’t be any further issues.” he adjusted the glasses on his face before stoically watching him pay his stay then check out. “hm if you can’t handle silly conflicts call me. i don’t need to be babysitting you 24/7.”
you couldn’t even reply or apologize as he turned around and left. it took you a minute to realize he undermined your skills and humiliated you. you clenched your teeth and furiously grabbed your bag. you were stomping so hard on the marble floor you were sure that the guests could hear you. “babysitting my ass,” you grunted.
you’ve been working as a receptionist for almost a year. you knew what you were doing but he always had to butt in and comment on everything you did. just to tick you. he clearly didn’t seem to care when your colleague answered a call in front of a guest and began cussing at her sister loudly. but you, whatever you'd do, there was always an aftermath about it with nanami. it wasn't like you were particularly fond of your job, it was only temporary.
you couldn’t say anything to him or complain to anyone about him since he was the general manager of the hotel but your patience was wearing thin and you were seriously considering quitting. nanami was an arrogant man. an attractive one, unfortunately. he could capture the attention of a room in seconds. always composed and well-groomed. god he smelled heavenly too. you could try to deny your tiny crush all you wanted but it was there. his praise meant a lot to you. when you first began working here, his compliments happened often, almost daily. whether it's how much of a 'fast learner you are', or how you're doing 'a good job'. you'd get high on them. having a general manager like nanami praise you was everything you needed to boost your self-esteem. however, the moment you got comfortable around him, throwing a few hand waves whenever you saw him passing by the lobby or even knocking on his door without calling his office first to check if he had time to see you, it was all gone and soon replaced with constant scolding.
you knew that nanami was a serious man. a workaholic. albeit he’d always find ways to slightly touch you, brush up against you, squeeze you into your desk to pass behind you with his hands on your hips to ‘grab some papers’ although he had copies. sometimes he’d even go as far as to reprimand you for unbuttoning the very first two buttons of your dress shirt, scolding you for showing a bad image of his hotel.
“so unprofessional,” he tutted. “this isn’t a brothel. you’re not supposed to seduce the guests.” he murmured as he fixed them for you. you were looking at him with doe eyes, your crush undeniable at that moment, your chest heavily moving as he was unbelievably close to you, his fingers lightly brushing your exposed skin. “i didn’t know that a few buttons could seduce someone.” you lowly replied, your tone lining with slyness and quip. nanami looked down at your chest one last time before humming, his phone ringing in his pocket.
nanami treatment for you was paradoxical. he got off teasing you. especially when you first came into his office to present yourself after your interview. you were wearing your black pencil skirt and loose tucked-in white shirt. as respectful as he was, he was still a man. he couldn't help his eyes that lingered on your exposed legs, up to your tight skirt and beautiful curves. he'd be lying if he didn't think about you spread on his desk, his cock buried inside you with his tie wrapped around your wrists, holding your tits together.
she is so receptive, he’d think. watching you work and obey. you were so obedient to his commands and wishes. made him wonder if you were receptive in bed too.
he saw you the next day going into the hr's office, nobara's, to receive your paycheck. his office wasn’t far and he always passed by each department to check if everything was intact. “thank you so much, oh also could i have tomorrow off?” you inquired as you got up, not sensing the presence of the tall blond man behind you.
“sure but i’d have to double check with mr- oh! there you are!” she shrieked as she saw nanami. you turned your head to catch him looking down at you. he was wearing a black shirt with black chinos. fuck me, you thought. if he didn’t call you out of your daze you’d probably have trailed too far down his body and gawked at his print.
“what do you need your off for? it’s the first of the month.” he deadpanned. truth be told it didn’t matter when you wanted to have your day off as long as your colleagues could cover your shift. moreover, he had no right to ask you why you needed your day off. it was personal and he was breaching your privacy.
“well, mr nanami,” a glimpse sparkled in his eyes at the pronunciation of his name. “i need to have a breath of fresh air. a change of environment.“ you said tilting your head a little to the side. you were holding the envelope between your fingers, waiting for his reply. “i guess if nabora granted you a day off then you should be good to go. have a nice day.”
nanami left to his office, nobara snickering behind you. you got pretty close with her throughout the year. you shared the same interests and often hung out together and tomorrow was going to be one of those days.
you’d go out to blow off some steam — get black-out drunk — and dance around like idiots. your team was amazing and you were so grateful nobara was so fun to be around. everyone was generally nice, well, almost everyone.
you’d go out every once a week. it was your thing. sometimes you’d go to each other's places and have a small gossip about some of your colleagues, sometimes you’d do both.
“god that was so nice,” nobara slurred out as you got to her apartment. your day off paid well. fresh salary got you pretty nails and a pretty meal before you went to the club and had a few shots. it was packed to the brim but you didn’t mind. it was a different atmosphere and you've been dying for some nightlife. you took off your short dress, and a few flashbacks of how you were grinding against the handsome man went through your mind.
if it weren’t for nobara pulling you away to do more shots, you’d probably have gone home with him. both of you were slurring your words, drunkenly spilling the hot gossip about every employee in the hotel.
“— and i told him that! he is just sooooo,” she trailed before proceeding, her hand on your thigh. “dumb!” she laughed, throwing her entire body back and collapsing on her bed. man, you loved work gossip. you were fully entertaining nobara, both of you in your silk pajamas.
you were slowly drifting away, your eyelids getting heavier until she dropped his name in the conversation, your body uncontrollably shooting up. “my my, don’t be so alarmed.” she snickered. “i thought you saw him at the club. i was calling you to come say hi but you were so busy grinding against that hot mess.” she nudged you with her elbow before falling back on her back.
pause. press pause now.
“nanami was there?” you could only mutter out. while you failed to spot him, he, on the other hand, most definitely saw you. your blood ran cold and you began overthinking. you knew he wasn’t your boss outside of your work environment, he couldn’t scold you. yet you kept on worrying.
“hey you good?” she asked worriedly, your face scrunching up. “god you act so weird every time i bring him up. almost as if you like him.” nobara giggled. your eyes widened. “i do not!” you almost yelled defensively.
she was quiet for a second, remembering your interactions with him. how he treated you differently than others. harsher and almost too controlling. as fun as nobara was, she was still one of the smartest people you ever worked with. she could smell it a mile away. you liked him.
“you’re drunk and making things up.” your voice softened up. “he’s so mean. i don’t get why he’s so harsh with me. and all the touching…” you trailed, the alcohol not helping you think clearly. you looked beside you to find nobara asleep, her snores gradually becoming stronger. you scoffed at your friend before grabbing your phone from your purse and rewatching the stories you posted.
you noticed a new name amongst your usual views, your brows furrowing in confusion.
nanamikento
nanami was on social media? and how did he find your account? you used a fake name. knowing you won't be hearing the end of it, you decided to sleep it off and gather all the energy you could need for tomorrow.
you didn't even have time to salute the night audit as the phone rang the second you stepped into the reception area. nanami. you internally sighed and mentally prepared yourself for what you might tell him as you made your way to his office. you knocked on his door and he lowly asked you to come in and have a seat on his leather couches. you take a seat in front of him and before he even has the chance to glance at you, your tongue lets loose. "mr. nanami i know you saw my Instagram stories last night however this is none of your concern and i don’t feel like i should be called in here to be scolded for doing something that isn’t hurtful to my work environment. i'm a highly professional and punctual employee and i strongly believe that i don't need to be hearing any more scolding coming from you."
while you felt empowered by your monologue, nanami didn't seem fazed at all. he glanced up at you when you started talking, not blinking once before deadpanning: "i frankly couldn't bother to care about what you do outside this hotel therefore your personal life is no bother to me. however what does bother me indeed," he said standing up before walking around his desk and towering over you, "is the way you just spoke to me."
god, he was so close you could feel his breath lingering on your lips. it was only natural for you to feel more embarrassed and humiliated about what happened. you gulped before looking up at him, your lips hesitant to move. "mr. nanami i apologize for my rude behavior. i sincerely do. i- i just, you always seem to want to scold me whatever i do and i thought that this time-"
"are you saying i have a poor sense of judgment and scold you because i want to?" his hands were now on each side of the couch, caging you in as he leaned further down. you leaned back, breath labored. he didn't look like it but he was enjoying every second.
she's so beautiful when she's all flustered and red. squeezing her thighs together and fiddling with her pretty nails from embarrassment and i haven't touched her yet. he didn't expect you to answer his question. he was just trying to get you all worked up.
he couldn't help but be mean to you. at first, you were just another e, employee to him. needy of his praise to rise through the ranks and become better and more efficient at their job. needing and thriving for motivational words to get the job done. but the more he spoke to you and watched you get warm around him, the less control he had over himself.
"mr. nanami i printed out all the vouchers you asked for and contacted the travel agency to confirm all the guests for tomorrow's wedding. oh, and i thought i'd ask room service to bring you your lunch here. i couldn't help but notice you didn't have time to sit with us at lunch today." you smiled at him, your hands interlocked as you stood in front of his desk. he grinned at you, grabbing the papers you gently put on his desk with your soft hands. "that's very kind of you y/n. i would've asked you to join me but as you can see i'm busy."
"oh yes, definitely mr. nanami i wouldn't want to bother you anyway. if you'll excuse me i need to go back to the lobby. goodbye." you turned on your heels and exited his office leaving him and his print that was clear as day.
"fhuck," he groaned as he stroked his throbbing cock, his hand leaning against his bathroom in a fist with his head down, eyes shut as he imagined you were sucking him instead. he'd always get worked up because of you. how small and innocent you looked. so kind, so mesmerizing. so fragile compared to him. "fucking hell y/n, mhm," his hand going faster, squeezing his swollen tip. "just like that pretty," he whimpered thinking about your lips wrapped around his tip kissing and teasing his slit before he came all over his hand. nanami breathed out, ashamed that a small interaction turned him into a raging teenage boy fucking his fist secretly in the bathroom. he knew he needed more, touch you, scold you, anything to get a reaction out of you.
"mr. nanami please don't fire me. you're right i poorly acted." your voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he was glad it did or else you'd start by noticing the growing bulge in his dress pants.
he leaned back up and went back to his chair, discreetly fixing himself. "there's a group of guests coming at two in the afternoon, approximately sixty to seventy people. i need you to start working on the rooming list before they arrive to have a smooth check-in and make sure all the rooms are well cleaned." he fixed his glasses and looked at his laptop.
"but, wasn't the rooming list supposed to be done two weeks ago i don't understand." doing this on your own is suicide. it wasn't a small group. he's talking about sixty to seventy people. it's impossible.
"i called you hear for this reason. i need you to do it because unfortunately we just were recently notified due to lack of expertise and this group is going to stay over a few months, losing them would be idiotic." he muttered the last bit and kept on typing on his laptop. "you are dismissed. i trust you can get the work done."
your eyebrows arched up as your mind wondered if your ears were playing tricks on you or if he just said something nice. you decided to ignore it and go back to work. you had no time to waste and to your bad luck, today you were alone at the front desk.
"i’m actually so tired i cannot feel my fingers. i’ve been typing all day nonstop only to be rewarded with a small good job from nanami. like i literally cannot take his shit anymore, i told you what happened earlier in his office." you huffed. "i don’t understand why he acts this way with me! he’s so indifferent and i genuinely can't stand him." you dropped onto her bed lying back and looked up at the ceiling. she snickered and laughed next to you. she knows you're annoyed because of your silly crush. parts of you wanted him to be jealous of that guy you were rubbing yourself on. god knows he was.
"well," she paused as she sat next to you. "you’re gonna have to tolerate him tonight babes because we are seeing him outside of work. now before you start talking again," she exclaimed silencing you with a finger against your lips and making you pout. "we all had a tiring day today and we know we’re going to be quite busy and overwhelmed for the next few months to come so the owner decided to give some of us, well the hard workers, access to one of his private members' club to blow off some steam and award us for the general good job we’ve been doing. anyway, nanami is gonna be there so i want you to get over the crush you have on him and no don't deny it because the sooner we can get ready the better."
you glare at her. nobara was right but you were a stubborn person. "absolutely not". you interject as you stand up and throw your phone on the bed. "i am not going out to party with a man who constantly insults me. i refuse to go out with a man who looks down on me for no reason and have to pretend to enjoy my time tonight around him just so he doesn’t have any smart retort to say to me. i want to dress up however i want, i want to dance, i want to drink and I want to get black-out drunk and not have anyone reprimand me or scold me for my behavior and i’m not going to be able to do that if he’s going to be there." you put your hands on your waist and sighed when you caught nobara holding her laughter with pursed lips.
"nobara i can see that you’re going to burst." she starts laughing and falls back on her back. "oh man, i didn't know you cared about nanami kento that much. lord," she kept on laughing, her mouth wide open and arms holding her stomach. "girl fuck you." you blushed. "i'm not going and that's final." you rolled your eyes, and sat on her couch.
this was starting to become very frustrating.
"this place is amazing!" nobara yelled in your ear as you walked into the club. you ended up caving in. although you had your stand on the situation, you still wanted to see him. you wanted to look at him. you were curious to know if he dressed differently outside of work or if he acted differently. you were feeling pretty confident. you looked stunning. a black dress that wrapped beautifully around your body and matching black, red bottom heels.
his eyes landed on you the second you stepped through the door. he was sitting on one of the couches where the other invitees were, swirling his bourbon in his hand. once he noticed nobara spotting him, he stood up, downing his drink in one swing, and adjusted his clothes.
you locked eyes with him, your heart dropping instantly. he was wearing a black shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and casual pants that fit him just perfectly and tonight he wasn't wearing his glasses. he is so handsome, you thought to yourself. nobara walked up to him first, hugging him casually as if he wasn't her superior.
you, on the other hand, were too shy to do so as well. instead, you extended your hand, only for him to catch it and pull you to his chest, arm wrapping around your waist tightly while his other arm was wrapped around your shoulders to rest his hand on your head, keeping you in place. your heart was beating so fast you could hear it beat louder than the music around you.
you closed your eyes, taking into his smell as your arms unconsciously found their way around his back, the pads of your fingers lingering on the muscles. "you smell good," he whispered in your ear, your skin burning at his compliment. "you look stunning as well," he added before letting you go of his embrace, your heart sinking at the loss of his touch. "thank you, you look good yourself." you said, the tips of your ears red. you were going to explode.
and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, you saw him smile at you. a genuine ass smile. did he have too much to drink? you couldn't6 think about anything else to say as your hand was abruptly taken by nobara to drag you to the bar to do shots.
you glanced at him one last time before your view was hidden by the people in the crowd.
"i'm so fucking hammered!" nobara exclaimed while the others cheered with her, doing more shots. everyone looked so drunk. you didn't let yourself drink too much. you couldn't afford to be drunk and forget about what happened with nanami or worse, act like a drunk in front of him. that couldn't happen. you had to stay composed.
"let's dance! come on y/n show them!" nobara cheered while you shook your head, everyone else encouraging you. "come on we're all gonna dance." another coworker said.
you were dragged to the dancefloor and decided to just enjoy it. at the end of the day, you were here to blow off some steam and this is what you were about to do. you danced and swayed your hips to the music, laughing at nobara's weird dance moves. it's the first time you realize how ridiculous she looks drunk dancing.
hands on your waist made you jump, your hands over them, eager to get them off you. "it's me," nanami reassured you in your ear. you looked around only to find out that it was really him, hands on your waist, moving with you to the music, your back pressed firmly against him. your ass rubbed against him while you moved, only making him hold you tighter. "mr nanami, i don't think this is appropriate." you try to say, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea.
"they're all drunk," he turned you around, his hands dropping to your hips. "you don't mind dancing with a stranger but you do so with me?" he cocked his eyebrow, his face turning as he looked down at you.
part of you was giddy about it. so it did bother him.
"i thought you didn't care mr nanami-"
"kento." he deadpanned. "call me kento."
"kento..." you muttered, your eyes softening at him as you wrapped your arms around his neck only to drop them at his shoulders. you wanted to touch him all over.
"i lied. it enraged me. i felt jealous, i wanted to be the one to touch you like he did, better than he did." you felt dizzy. you were a smart girl though. it slowly started making sense to you. the bullying, the accidental touching. all of it.
"you want to touch me kento?" you reached to his ear to whisper, kissing his ear before tugging at his lobe. you dragged his hand down your ass, urging him to touch you. you could hear him hiss, his hand now gripping your ass. "hm." he hummed feeling the plump of your ass.
the music was so loud and everyone was acting promiscuously drunk around you. no one seemed to notice how gentle nanami’s touch was on you despite the atmosphere that would invite to a harsher and more sexual kind of touching. he was allowing his hand to go over your curves, giving himself permission to drag his fingers underneath the curve of your ass, up your hips and waist to finally caress your cleavage.
as much as he’s been dreaming about ripping off your clothes and taking you on his desk, he couldn’t bring himself to be rough with you.
you looked so beautiful so gentle. “kento?” your voice drove his eyes back to yours. “so gorgeous,” he put his hand on your cheek. “so soft,” your skin was on fire. you felt your goosebumps rise as his thumb worked his way to separate your lips.
“take me to your place.” your boldness taking him by surprise. you wrapped your hand around his bicep, pressing yourself further into him.
“i can’t, it’s not appropriate.” nanami coughed, still holding you against him, not truly convinced by his own statement.
you looked at the blond male with doe eyes, tilting your head. pushing yourself up on the tip of your toes you gave his neck a small kiss, feeling his body tense up as you did so. “please,” you begged against his skin. “please kento,” you kept on giving his skin kitten kisses, his fingers almost digging into your skin.
he looked down at your pleading eyes, then down to your cleavage that was pressing against him. “the things you do to me,”
“what things?” you whisper, your lips almost touching his. you were feeling a bit more courageous now that you’ve discovered that your crush was clearly reciprocated. “don’t you wanna show me?” you finger trailed down his chest to his pants before poking his print. he choked in some air, quickly having a sense of alert as he skimmed his surroundings, not wanting anybody to start any gossip.
“they’re all drunk nanami, it’s just you and me,” you reached out to his face, turning him so he could face you again.
without any second thought, he wrapped his big hand around yours and dragged you out of the crowded dance floor towards the exit. you couldn’t help but bite down on your smile, watching how his back muscles flexed as he made his way through the dancing bodies, carefully ever checking that you were still following him although he had your hand secured in his.
once you were outside, he asked the valet to bring up his car. his hand on your thigh the whole ride, giving you small caresses of reassurance. you couldn’t help but take notice of his tenderness, how handsome his looked while driving. you wondered if he looked that good being on top of you as well.
and he was.
“kento~” you whimpered, your legs resting on his shoulders as he bullied his fat cock inside you. you’d try to move around, get more, feel more.
“be my good girl and let daddy take care of you.” he rolled his hips into you, your warmth and wetness coating him. the nickname he had given himself already making you all wobbly.
you nodded, your eyebrows furrowed as he thrusted at an unbelievably slow aching pace, giving you long and deep stroke against your walls. “if only you knew,” he grunted, pulling back before pushing back in all that once, earning a small yelp from your beautifully parted lips. “how much i’ve been wanting to fold you like this.” nanami rested his forehead against yours, his lips capturing yours.
you moaned against his lips, your fingernails tracing shapes on his muscled back as he picked his pace up. nanami’s kisses were hungry, a real evidence of his earlier statement. he’s been wanting this for so long. “kento, you feel so good inside me,” you murmured through his lips, grabbing the back of his neck to pull him closer.
your words made him tremble, his hips slamming faster against your thighs. “i never want to get out, god i want to fill you up so badly,” he stated almost in a weak whimper. you rocked your hips with him, trying to meet him at each move. but he was unpredictable.
flipping you around and arching your back, getting a full view of your ass and swollen cunt. “so messy,” he dragged his finger across your folds making you shiver, before pushing his finger in. you moaned out, your hand reaching to hold onto the headboard.
he was having fun with you now, pushing his finger at first then adding another, before removing them both to rub on your abused clit only to stop before your climax to finger you again.
“kento please,” you whimpered trying to move yourself back and get some friction from his dick but he tutted, removing your hand away. “you’re my good girl remember? my good girl always does what she’s told isn’t that right?” he inquired, rubbing his swollen tip against your entrance.
you nodded against his scented pillow, submissively putting both hands behing your back, showing your surrender to him. “that’s it, such a good fucking girl,” he muttered, his length pushing against your folds again, this time a tad harsher accompanied with a spank on your cheeks. “so good darling, so good,”
his nicknames got you high. his praise got you high. your hips were thrown back, almost as if you were managing his thrusts. he let you, watching how you would roll your hips and guide yourself through your orgasm.
“kento…” you whimpered, tears filling your eyes as you creamed over his girth. “come for daddy sweetheart that’s it,” he encouraged you, wrapping his hand around you to toy with your clit, sending you over the edge.
“so messy,” he chuckled watching you lose control over him. nanami pulled out and before you could complain he was down on his knees and eating your cum that was leaking from your abused hole. “oh my god, fhuck yes daddy,” you rode his face, enjoying the feeling of his tongue scooping your cum, his hands firmly gripping your ass to pull your cheeks apart.
you felt yourself overstimulated, ready for another orgasm. he could feel it too by the way your thighs were jiggling.
using his middle and ring finger, nanami spread you again, curling them inside your walls to rub your spot. you were such a mess. creaming on his fingers and blabbering on his pillow.
“you’re so sensitive, i love it,” he smirked, giving your ass a small bite before licking off your cum from his fingers.
you felt his weight lie next to you, rolling your body over. “are you okay?” he carefully pushed the hair away from your face. you nodded with a smile. once you realized he was done it quickly faded.
“you haven’t came yet.” you held his arm. he chuckled. “but you did. plus you seem tired i don’t want to push myself.” he sheepishly said.
you shook your head refusing. “no,” you got up and straddled him, lining his dick to your entrance before fully sitting on him.
“holy fuck what are you doing?” nanami asked you, watching you wrap your arms around him. “gonna make you come inside me,” you sultry answered, to which he held your hips with his hands, guiding your bouncing body. his lips parted to the way your eyes rolled back. you looked so fucked out it was mesmerizing.
you tits bouncing up and down with the motions of your body followed by yelps of his name.
“come inside me daddy,” you mewled in his ear, holding onto his shoulders. you could feel him groan as he began to fuck himself up into you, soon unloading his balls inside you.
you felt dizzy to the feeling of his warm seed, grinding yourself on him to make sure to receive it all.
you rested your face in the crook of his neck before letting out a small laughter. “never thought you’d be such a dirty man mr. nanami,”
he only laughed in return. “and you haven’t even seen the beginning of it.”
327 notes · View notes
simplybakugou · 2 days
Text
Story Mode | Mystic Academia: Kirishima Eijirou's Route
Tumblr media Tumblr media
⋆ PAIRING: jpop.member!kirishima x fem!reader ⋆ WARNINGS/TAGS: kidnapping ⋆ WORD COUNT: 1020
A/N: omg the first written story mode i’ve ever done! initially i was going to make this part like the regular story modes but i realized i think it would be executed better if i wrote it out instead. for other longer story modes like this, they will also be written out in the future for kaminari, sero, bakugou, and izuku’s routes!
NOTE: the kirishima cap is from @eraserhead-transparents. this part is inspired by the reader story mode in day 10 of zen’s route.
Mystic Academia: Kirishima Eijirou's Route Masterlist
Tumblr media
Everything felt hazy the minute you opened your eyes. Your vision was blurry, only for a moment as your eyes fluttered open. Looking around you, you sighed a breath of momentary relief. You were back at the office, your new home. Perhaps everything that had happened was a dream, or a nightmare rather, and you were finally back home in your apartment.
That sentiment was immediately eradicated the minute you realized you were tied to a chair with your arms pinned back and around the chair. It was very much not a dream.
“Ah, you’re finally awake,” an unfamiliar voice greets you. A man dressed in all black walks from behind you and stands before you. He had a black face mask covering his face and the hood from his jacket covering his head. The only feature you could discern were his piercing crimson eyes. 
You could feel your whole body shivering in fear. The last thing you remembered was waiting to watch Kirishima’s conference when this Unknown person broke into Kirishima’s apartment. Who knew you’d have to have security guarding the balcony door as well…
“If you’re wondering how I brought you here, I simply used a chloroform rag to knock you out. Then I just dragged your body here.” You could hear the smile in his voice as well as on his face, despite it being half-covered, as his eyes crinkled up. He spoke so nonchalantly about doing such revolting things to you.
“What do you want?” You mustered up the courage to question him. You hated how shaken your voice was and despite wanting to seem strong, it was hard to do so when a strange man had been stalking you and finally found you only to hold you hostage in your own home. 
“Oh, I don’t want anything from you. I’m just a pawn and I will do whatever it takes to help my master carry out their dream.”
He started pacing around your room, looking around at the things you had moved in with you. You had paperwork all over your desk as the party was just two days away and you were still working on inviting guests to the event. 
“You see, you’re just a pawn, Y/N.” You shivered at his utterance of your name. “We don’t have any issues with you personally. In fact, I was ordered to lead you to this place to help take down those five imbeciles.”
Five imbeciles… He was referring to Bakugou, Mina, Sero, Kaminari, and Kirishima… He most likely left Deku out due to his absence from the group.
“Just leave them alone. What could they have possibly done to deserve anything?” You could feel yourself getting angry for your new friends. Despite only meeting them almost a week ago, you could tell they were all genuine, including Deku. I mean, who hosts events for charity if they weren’t good?
Unknown bursted out into a fit of laughter. It was an unpleasant sound. He approached you once again and if it weren’t for your being tied to a chair, you would’ve attempted to move as far away from him as physically possible. He crouched down in front of you, bringing his hand up to pat your head. “Don’t you worry. As long as you don’t fight back, everything will be fine. After all, I was ordered to bring you back alive.”
Just as you were realizing the severity of the situation, the doorbell ringing ripped you away from your fears. Several pounding knocks on the door followed.
Unknown chuckled, standing to his feet. “That must be Sero Hanta. Since he’s the only one who knows where this place is.”
“Help!” You screeched. 
Several beeps could be heard on the opposite side of the door, indicating that someone knew the password and was entering it. The door swung open and, to your surprise, revealed Kirishima, who was out of breath and his leg was free from the boot you remember he still had on that morning.
Kirishima’s scarlet eyes scanned the room briefly as they stayed focused on you. “Let Y/N go!”
Just as Kirishima attempted to move towards Unknown, he swiftly removed the rope tying you down to the chair. Unknown grabbed you by your collar, forcing you to your feet as you felt the cool metal blade of a knife to your throat. 
Kirishima stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening. “You take another step and I can’t promise you Y/N will be unharmed,” Unknown threatened in a low voice.
Kirishima’s hands balled up into fists at his sides as he felt powerless. “What the hell do you want?!”
Unknown shrugged. “I’ve just been ordered to take Y/N with me.”
“Yeah? Over my dead body will I ever let you take her away!” Kirishima’s voice was strained out of the pure rage he was feeling. You felt tears threatening to spill out as you were doing your best to keep it together. 
“Oh, don’t you worry, Kirishima Eijirou. Eventually you and the rest of MFA will go with her.” Unknown smiled sinisterly through his mask as his eyes crinkled upwards once again. “You can all have a little family reunion then! How fun!”
You were getting fed up with all of this nonsense. Who was this strange man to impose on your life and think he could do whatever he wanted in the name of following orders? Unknown’s hand was right below your chin and so you bit down as hard as you possibly could, certain that you drew blood. 
Unknown screamed out in pain, dropping the knife to your feet and recoiling back in pain as he fell backwards and held his hand to his chest. You swiftly picked the dropped knife up, spinning around and back towards Kirishima. You held the knife out in front of you, nonverbally threatening Unknown not to take another step towards you.
“You stupid girl,” Unknown grumbled, struggling to get back up to his feet.
Kirishima grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards him. He took advantage of the slight pause before he screamed, “RUN.”
Tumblr media
Join the Taglist
(Taglist will be tagged in the comments)
66 notes · View notes
autball · 5 hours
Text
Tumblr media
Part 4 of a 5 part series about the ways harmful practices can be made to sound appealing and how to spot the differences between helpful and harmful approaches.
Sensory sensitivities are a huge part of being autistic (and sometimes ADHD, too). They can range from kind of annoying but manageable to debilitating and meltdown-inducing. They can fluctuate from day to day and situation to situation. They can seem to pop up one day out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly.
Sensory differences are dynamic, which can make them unpredictable and disruptive. Not many people want to live that way, so working on sensory desensitization with someone who has a lot of sensitivities sounds like a thing that could help. Fewer meltdowns and able to do more things? Yes please!
But as you might have guessed, there’s a giant problem with that: reducing sensitivity isn’t really a thing you can do TO someone. At least, not without inducing a trauma response or two. You can certainly get someone to learn to ignore their own body signals or pretend to be fine when they’re not, but that’s not a sensory thing. That’s a dissociation thing.
“Sensory desensitization” is usually code for exposure therapy. Exposure therapy has its uses, but addressing legitimate sensory issues isn’t one of them. And it should only be done WITH someone who can fully consent and actively participate. Coercing and/or forcing someone to interact with distressing sensory input until they stop reacting is not that.
“Sensory desensitization” also operates under the assumption that people just get used to, or habituate to, the noises and sensations around them, even ones that bother them. But studies have shown that autistic people actually don’t habituate to sensory stimuli the way non-autistic people do. It may take way longer to happen, or it may never happen at all.
You know what can and does happen? Sensory sensitivities can just kinda…change. All on their own. We grow up, our hormones change, our stress levels change, our environments change, and our sensory profiles are affected by all of those things (and more!). Sensitivities can just disappear, naturally, without any intervention. And that’s about the only thing I’d ever refer to as real sensory desensitization.
But sensory sensitivities can go any which way. Maybe new ones rear their ugly heads. Or maybe something bothers us at a level 7 one day and 2 the next, then goes all the way up to 11 next week. And then there are the ones that just stay pretty much the same, all the time, forever.
I could not handle pants for a long time as a kid, but then somewhere along the way, I could. I really couldn’t tell you when it happened. There are some foods that used to make me gag that no longer do, and there are some that I still just cannot handle. I have never been okay with things that stick to my hands, and that really hasn't changed since as far back as I can remember. 
You know what all these sensory sensitivities have in common? Someone made me “tolerate” them at some point, often repeatedly. And none of them changed (or didn’t) because of repeated exposure, but because of my natural development. All I got from forced exposure was this lousy tendency to disconnect from myself.
Sensory desensitization is just not a thing we should be trying to do to people. Sensory *integration* is a real thing that can help people, but that is a whole different animal that requires more than just exposing people to stuff that bothers them. You’ll need an OT (Occupational Therapist) with the specialized training for that. Just make sure they’re not sneaking behaviorism tactics or exposure therapy in there either (yep, the words “sensory integration” can be used to misrepresent what they’re doing, too).
It is a far better thing to help someone learn about their own sensory profile and how to manage their sensory needs than to make them ignore their own body signals. Alexithymia is not #goals.
64 notes · View notes
tsams-confessions · 3 days
Note
Okay I cannot begin to explain how fucking pissed I am over this.
Sun. Has. Trauma. He. Is not. Okay.
He was physically and emotionally and mentally abused by his brother who he continued to love despite everything. The person who he loved more than anything in the world routinely harmed him and instead of owning up for his mistakes and apologizing he died.
I understand he wanted to save kill code but knowing Old Moon, he could have found another way. There HAD to be another way. He took the sore losers way out so he didn’t have to own up to what he did.
Also, are we just going to ignore the fact that Moon repeatedly blamed Sun for July 16th? Even after they found out eclipse existed? Moon knew that he left a very dangerous part of his code in his dear darling brother AND STILL BLAMED SUN FOR THOSE DEATHS. He put that on Suns hands. Moon refused to admit to what he had done. That his selfish actions harmed more people.
Sun absolutely adored moon as a brother, despite his abuse. Then, when they found out Eclipse existed, he look towards his brother for the solution. When they found out that Moon decided to leave that murderous part of him behind to forget about and not own up to(wow huh seems like old moon really liked not owning up to his shit) Sun was upset that he kept that from him but he still loved his brother, he trusted him to save them both.
Sun depended on Old Moon to save them, and when he couldn’t and Sun realized that, he wanted to kill eclipse himself.
We all know how that went, Moon physically abused Sun, trapped him in a dark bunker in an even smaller confined space right in front of a mirror. And idk about you but mirrors are one of the most easy things to start hallucinating to.
Sun was beaten and bruised, trying to help him and his brother get rid of the issue, and he was scrutinized for it, then locked away with his own thoughts for /hours/.
…The trauma that had to have caused.
Not even considering the whole BloodMoon thing.
Sun was the dumb one, every single issue was blamed on him, any solution he tried doing was immediately shut down and he was harmed.
That isn’t something that just… goes away. That’s something that lasts a lifetime.
Sun isn’t okay. He isn’t fine. Sun has trauma and it needs to be addressed.
Oh and don’t even get me started on the whole New Moon starting to act like Old Moon. Because seeing someone you know and love who PROMISED to not be like the one before regressing to be like the one before… that hurts… so, so much… that’s a broken and shallow promise that they made, and you believed it. That’s a broken and shallow heart.
Sun isn’t okay. He isn’t fine. Sun has Trauma.
.
53 notes · View notes
jamiethebee · 2 days
Text
(In which I spiral down a rabbit hole with Midoriya that has little to do with @codenamesazanka 's original post that started this (x).  FYI I sorta separated Deku/Izuku to indicate Deku as the hero and Izuku as the person outside of heroics.)
I started thinking about this post again (see the link above) and how Deku doesn’t really understand that non-perfect or sanitized victims exist AND still need to be saved and not by destruction. (The "maybe killing someone does save them" thing is a great way to assuage guilt but it's a stupid copout.)  Deku (hero) and more importantly Izuku (person) doesn’t really understand that though because he WAS a “perfect” victim.  Midoriya stayed quiet and inconspicuous and didn’t make a fuss about the bullying or discrimination he faced, he just kept his head down and hoped that something would change without any real effort on his part.  And if he had died as a result from the bullying he would’ve been hailed as an unfortunate victim (of who? or what? Don’t worry - isn’t his death so tragic? oh well now on to our next news story -), so any critique of society and the individuals who reinforce the status quo don’t actually have to do anything.  I know there’s more nuance here and lot of cultural things happening with this all but I’m not gonna dig into that right now.
Moving on!  Quite frankly the boy didn’t live long enough to get out of his childish mindset and get some “righteous" anger at the wrongdoings and failings of society.  All Might came along when he was still starry eyed and hopeful to lift Midoriya out of the trajectory of his life and Izuku never had any time to get to the point where he comes to terms with the hurt caused society’s rejection of his self and get angry about it.  As such, he can’t understand the league.  It probably doesn’t even occur to him that he's missing that understanding because for him it worked out - he got the attention and support to be able to escape the circumstances of his birth/quirklessness and to leave the box (deku) that society shoved him in. Twice and Toga never had that support – they both lived how they needed to in order to survive in a world not meant for them until they broke down.  (Maybe that's why Vigilante Deku AUs were so popular back in the day - they speedran Midoriya past the hopeful kid stage and to a point where a lot of the fanbase was in their own lives - seeing the issues in the world and wanting to affect change.)
Izuku, for all that he claims to want to connect to the villains, hasn’t given enough thought or empathy to understand how continuing to live a life where you don’t fit in with society can be deeply hurtful as well as the emotional repercussions of having unchangeable parts about yourself be reviled.  This isn’t to say Izuku had it easy -  of course Izuku went through hardships but.... there’s a big difference between living through stuff as a kid and finding a way out of it vs living through that, growing up, maturing, and in turn looking critically at society.  But I can’t bring myself to fault Midoriya for those exact reasons because he's just a kid. He doesn’t have the perspective to see outside of himself – at least not for the villains.  Because that seems to be too far of a stretch for him?  But Todoroki was close enough to Izuku’s mindset for him to help back in the sports festival arc.  I also acknowledge that he's a teenager and IS capable of critical thinking, but from what we've seen, his schools have never actually made the students examine the world they live in - which is a different skill from quirk analysis or historical or literary analysis or the various writing exercises that students go through. 
(Believe me – you can have the brightest kid but, most of the time, unless you point out the shortcomings of their mindsets, it won’t occur to them to look further.  (Not necessarily assuming that they’re wrong, but rather that their consideration of life is not as expansive as it should be. Especially for a kid wanting to be the greatest hero and save everyone.)  For example: many abled bodied people don’t realize how inaccessible places can be until someone brings it up to them or they find themselves in that situation (like a temporary crutch or wheelchair).  It’s through no fault of the able bodied person that they weren’t aware enough to consider it in the first place, but what they do once they realize physical accessibility is an issue, is on them.)  Back to the point – hero society never calls attention to it’s own shortcomings despite the proof quite obviously existing and the people within society don’t seem to spare much thought either. The adults who have seen more of these instances are then of course more culpable in this than the kids who haven't.
So, Midoriya was also failed by society (cough all might cough) as well, but he chose the hero path - to save people. We see him starting to consider the deeper issues in his talk with Uraraka, and the few times he “tries” to talk to various villains shows that he is aware enough of underlying issues - which makes it his duty as a hero to do something about it.  In that way, he is at fault. He chose a profession to devote his life to that should require this of him.  And through his hero work, Midoriya has seen the problems in society and yet he’s chosen to turn away from them (and by problems/them I’m referring to the villains “too far gone to save” and the issues they represent). 
(Sorry Midoriya, but considering we’re nearing the end and you haven’t shown any growth in this area….. I am faulting you for metaphorically pushing your head in the sand.  I do want to be wrong though.  I really want the kid to prove me wrong.)
And he’s able to turn away from them guilt free, in part, because he’s gotten the proverbial thumbs up by his classmates that it’s ok and that they’ll just be better and be model minority heroes and that will fix the problem! Because they’re positive representation!  Or something?  If you can put your mind to it that will fix things! Just try harder! Again, very idealistic but they are kids, so it comes with the territory.  (Horikoshi didn’t have to make them unquestionably right in that approach though.  Toga and Uraraka coming together for the win! The Shoji and Spinner match up not so much.)
Overall, there’s something about how Deku still fit into society's boxes in an acceptable way and never truly faced what existing outside of "acceptability" was like.  Don’t get me wrong it’s tough to live in the mha world as a quirkless person and of course it has its problems and restrictions, but that’s still a box that society provides for, even if the society in question doesn’t like it. 
And I'm not saying that Izuku had to live through a terrible life to understand the villains!  Just that, he has the capacity to look outside himself and be empathetic, but the application of it is lacking, despite knowing there’s problems, despite having LIVED with some of those problems. Extrapolate, boy!!!! You don't need empathy to reach out to others but the whole compassionate/kind Midoriya thing has been touted since the beginning! So I want to see it!
(Not sure how much sense this will make to people, but there’s a maturity that comes about with either time or certain circumstances that can be hard to grasp unless you’ve lived through it.  And quite frankly, Midoriya hasn’t. He went from a perfect/acceptable victim to the top tier of society (heroes).)
(Basically: Midoriya never **matured in the restrictive environment he grew up in and can't emotionally connect with the league who did, because of that. Instead he seems to have internalized the "if they were better" or "if they were truly good" then there wouldn't be a problem because just look at his classmater!, so villains being villains is their own fault and no one else is culpable.)
**centers on the idea that someone starts off as hopeful in regards to their discriminated position in life and over time matures to understand how society supports that discrimination and come to terms with the hurt that it's caused them personally (and in this case to fight back against it)
also, if you made it this far, i'm just having a fun time reading codenamesazanka's posts about the latest chapters
36 notes · View notes
forest-hashira · 2 days
Text
Noble Blood - Chapter Nine
…i really have no explanation for this. i would apologize for the long wait again, but this chapter really got away from me so i had to find a place to split it. again. because the events of chs 8, 9, & now 10 were all supposed to be one chapter. but it's already 14k between chs 8 & 9 so that just means more content for you guys! i make no promises for when ch10 will be done & posted, but i hope you guys enjoy this in the meantime! 💜
fic masterlist | read on ao3 | wc: ~6.9k | cw: gender neutral reader, part 2 of reader finding their dragon, satoru's dad being a dick, minor mentions of injury & blood, satoru being a bit of a brat
Tumblr media
The demanding voice snapped you out of your near trance, and you stiffened, holding your new dragon a bit closer to your chest and looking over your shoulder at your friends, trying to gauge their levels of concern about all this. You watched as the boys shared a look, then glanced over at you. They didn’t say anything, but neither of them seemed particularly optimistic; Suguru watched the hallway anxiously as the hurried footsteps drew nearer, while Satoru looked around the stall you were all currently in, as if looking for some sort of escape route to miraculously get everyone out of the situation.
“I think if we hurry, we could climb out that window,” he suggested in a whisper, looking back down at you, his eyes wide.
“Toru, I can’t,” you whispered back, glancing down at the hatchling in your arms and then back up at him. 
He followed your gaze, and his expression fell instantly. “Shit, yeah, that’s right. Uh, maybe we can—”
“You’re really saying a lot of swear words tonight.”
“First of all, I’ve only said ‘shit’ twice—”
“Three times now.”
“And second of all, that’s really not our biggest issue right now!”
“Guys, please,” Suguru hissed, but before any of you had a chance to say anything else, the light from the lanterns reached the stall you were all in; you were well and truly cornered now.
You clutched your hatchling closer to your chest, and you could feel your heart begin to pound harder against your ribs; you had no idea what was going to happen to all of you now, but you had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good. 
“Who goes there?” a voice boomed again, and you recognized the head guard when he stepped into view. The man blinked in surprise when he saw your friends in the stall, clearly having expected intruders, but he didn’t send his men away. “Ah, Gojo-dono, Geto-san. What are you both doing here so late?”
The boys exchanged a look, not really sure what to say; apparently you still hadn’t been spotted, but it wasn’t likely that that would last long whether you willingly showed yourself or not.
“We came to see the hatchlings,” Suguru said after a beat; it wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth, either. 
The head guard’s expression pinched in confusion. “Could you not have waited until morning?” he asked. “One of my men thought you were intruders breaking in to steal the hatchlings. Surely it would have been better to be escorted here in the daylight?”
“I don’t need to be escorted anywhere on my own property,” Satoru bit out, and you blinked in shock at his tone; he’d certainly had his fair share of spoiled or bratty moments over the years, but he sounded genuinely angry as he spoke. “And no, it couldn’t have waited until morning, because we have company.”
He looked over his shoulder at you then, offering a small, encouraging nod when you hesitated. You offered a small nod in return, then carefully pushed yourself onto your feet. It took you a few moments, and it was wobbly and awkward trying to stand without using your hands, but thankfully both boys reached out to help you before you could fall and cause yourself any sort of embarrassment in front of the guards. 
Once you stood and were finally in view of the guards that had come storming in, you saw some of them exchange looks; at least some of them certainly knew who you were and knew you weren’t supposed to be there. The head guard looked especially displeased, though when he noticed the hatchling in your hands – a metallic hatchling, nonetheless – he turned bright red, then slightly purple, then some other color you weren’t sure you’d ever be able to describe.
“Put that back where you found it,” he told you, anger apparent in his tone. All you could do in response was shake your head, too scared to speak aloud.
“They will be doing no such thing,” Satoru answered for you, his own anger also clear. “That is their dragon. Suguru and I watched the bond form.”
The guard began to tremble with anger at the words, but instead of saying anything else to you, he turned to his men. “You!” he barked, gesturing to two men in the back, both of whom stood up straighter upon being addressed. “Go and fetch Gojo-sama. Tell him it’s urgent, and has to do with an intruder and the hatchlings!”
“They are not an intruder!” Satoru practically shouted, and even Suguru was beginning to look angry as the men ran off to complete their task. “They are my friend, I invited them here to meet the hatchlings. They didn’t break into the estate.”
“Gojo-sama made it very clear—”
“I don’t care what my father said!” Your friend was actually shouting now, and you could hear dragons waking up in stalls all around you because of the noise. “And besides, the incident that my father is still so upset about was over three years ago, all three of us have grown up a lot since then. So if I want to invite my friend to my home, I’m going to do that, and you aren’t going to stop me.”
Every person in the building went dead silent after that, Satoru’s words and behavior hanging heavy in the air. You stared at him in slight disbelief; you couldn’t remember ever hearing him speak to anyone that way before, even when you were much younger and he was much brattier. You glanced over at Suguru after a moment, trying to gauge his reaction to Satoru’s outburst, but he looked just as shocked as you did when he met your gaze.
The head guard looked like he wanted to argue, insist that his job was to listen to Satoru’s father, not Satoru himself, but before he could say anything that might have escalated the confrontation with your friend, you could hear three sets of footsteps making their way towards you.
“What’s going on here?”
Gojo-sama’s voice was unmistakable, and you felt your blood run cold at the sound of it. He didn’t seem to like you under the best of circumstances, so you were certain he was going to be furious when he saw you.
“Gojo-dono and Geto-san came to see the hatchlings, Gojo-sama,” the head guard explained, giving the older man a slight bow. “And they brought their friend.”
The man arched a brow slightly at the statement as he came into view, and when he turned to peer into the stall, you felt as if you might be sick. You could tell the exact moment he saw you, because his expression tightened, as if he’d bitten into something sour. “Ah,” he sighed. “That friend.”
You wished with everything you had that the floor would open up and swallow you whole right then and there. That feeling only intensified when you saw Gojo-sama’s gaze drop to the hatchling in your hands, his eyes burning with anger at the sight. 
“Put that hatchling back at once,” he commanded, glaring at you so hard you wondered if he were trying to incinerate you on the spot.
Despite your fear, you shook your head at him the same way you had the guard. The rage you saw simmering just below the surface of his face sent your whole body trembling, and your friends were quick to step fully in front of you. 
“That’s their dragon, father,” Satoru said, calmer than the way he’d shouted just a few moments before. “We were standing here the whole time watching. We saw the bond form.”
Your friend’s father narrowed his eyes at his son, then briefly turned his attention to Suguru, as if expecting him to fold and say it was a lie. Suguru did no such thing, though you knew he was always careful to keep from upsetting the clan patriarch in any way.
“It’s true, Gojo-sama,” he said quietly. 
Having clearly not gotten the response he wanted, the man turned to face the head guard. “Confiscate the hatchling and escort the child off my property. Restrain the boys if you have to.”
There were shouts of protest from your friends as the guards pushed forward to follow the order they’d just received, and you clutched your hatchling closer to your chest as the boys were pulled away from you, no match for the strength of the guards that held them even as they struggled to fight them off. Your hatchling let out a high, distressed cry as a guard grabbed your arm, and you swore you could feel her distress amplified a hundredfold in your chest, the feeling so intense it nearly sent you to your knees and drawing a cry from your own lips.
At almost the same moment, the mother dragon behind you roared, standing to her full height and stepping forward until you were beneath her, kneeling on the floor between her front legs. She snapped at the guard who had grabbed you, the man barely scrambling back in time to avoid being bitten, letting out a cry of fear as he retreated. She then set her sights on the four guards restraining your friends, growling at them angrily. You could feel her chest grow warmer above you, and you realized that she was preparing to breathe fire at them. The realization horrified you, yet it also brought you an odd sense of relief; even if it was only because you held her baby in your arms, she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt you.
Gojo-sama, who had turned away and begun to leave before the commotion started, stopped, taking in the scene curiously. He waved off the remaining guards in the stall, taking a few steps closer once they had released the boys. “How interesting…” he said, almost to himself.
As soon as they were free, your friends raced over to you, the mother dragon not even giving them a second glance as they came to kneel on either side of you, looking you over to make sure you were alright. You assured them you were fine, though you were still trembling slightly in your spot on the floor. 
“All three of you, on your feet.”
You, Satoru, and Suguru all looked up at Gojo-sama as he spoke; he was clearly speaking to all of you, but somehow it didn’t quite seem like he was.
“Come with me,” he commanded, turning and beginning to walk away again, clearly expecting all of you to follow at his heels. “There is much to be discussed.”
After exchanging uncertain looks, the boys once again helped you from the floor, and the three of you rushed to catch up. With every step, you felt your anxiety grow in the pit of your stomach; you still had your dragon in your arms, which seemed promising, but there was no telling where the Gojo clan head was taking you, or what he would do when you got there. 
Despite the late hour, there were still a fair amount of the staff up and about, and you could feel their eyes on you as you walked through the halls, doing your best to keep up with Gojo-sama’s long legs. Their gazes weighed heavily on you, and you could tell when each of them saw the hatchling you carried, their gasps of surprise and whispers between each other unmistakable; it was almost a relief when you were ushered into a private room with your friends, the door clicking shut behind you.
You stood as still as possible, barely daring to breathe as Gojo-sama circled around to stand in front of the three of you. You avoided his gaze, partially out of respect for his high rank of authority in the settlement, partially because the man terrified you more than anything else had up to this point in your life. When he said your name, you flinched, but lifted your head anyways, meeting his gaze with no small amount of anxiety.
“Yes, Gojo-sama?”
“Did you come to my estate tonight on your own?”
You shook your head, unable to find your voice again just yet.
“Who did you come here with, then?”
“S-Satoru and… and Suguru, Gojo-sama.”
“I see. Why did they bring you here?”
“To see the hatchlings, Gojo-sama.”
“Why?”
You could feel yourself beginning to tremble once again, and you burned with embarrassment at his question. “Because my twelfth birthday is in a few weeks and I still hadn’t met my dragon, Gojo-sama.”
“And what makes you think that hatchling in your hands is your dragon?”
It took a moment for his words to sink in, and you blinked dumbly at him as you tried to come up with an acceptable answer. “Because… I felt it, Gojo-sama, in my chest. I know this dragon is mine.”
His expression was displeased as he looked down at you. “You think this dragon is yours just because you feel in your heart that it should be?” The tone he used dripped with condescension, and it sharpened your fear into anger.
“No, not in my heart,” you corrected. “In my chest, exactly as I was told I would when I met and bonded with my dragon. I’m not a baby trying to live out some silly daydream. I don’t want my dragon to be special. If I was going to lie and try to steal a hatchling from you, I would have chosen one that didn’t draw so much attention.” By the time you had finished speaking, your expression had darkened until you were glaring up at the man, still trembling but feeling more defiant than scared.
“Remember who you’re speaking to,” he warned, which only made you angrier.
“I couldn’t possibly forget who I’m speaking to, Gojo-sama. I know that you dislike me, that you think I’m a bad influence on Satoru, but that doesn’t mean you get to bully me into giving you something that isn’t yours just because you want it.”
When the man arched a brow, the words you’d just said fully sank in for you, but you knew there was no taking them back now. Besides that, though, you meant them, even if you were mildly horrified that you’d actually said them out loud. “Why would I need to bully you, a child, into giving me anything when I can just take it from you?” he asked.
Before you fully comprehended what was happening, Gojo-sama reached out and made to grab for your dragon, clearly meaning to take her from you for good. Thankfully, despite not even being twenty-four hours old, she was quick to realize the situation. She hissed at the man, and when that didn’t stop him, she bit down hard on the side of his hand, breaking through the skin and sending blood dripping onto the floor in seconds.
He swore loudly, tearing his hand away and glaring at the hatchling. It was silent for a moment, and you clutched your dragon closer to your chest as you stared at Gojo-sama’s hand, blood dripping slowly from the wound and onto the floor. You could feel how tense your friends were on either side of you, but none of you dared to move or speak.
“Very well then.” By the time you dared to look at Gojo-sama’s face again, he had schooled his features into as neutral of an expression as he could. “It seems you are not, in fact, lying about your bond with this hatchling, as loath as I may be to admit it.” He let out a long sigh, looking you up and down for a moment, before silently making his mind up about something. “All three of you off to bed at once. You’ll remain here for the bonding period, after that we can discuss the possibility of sending you home.”
Not daring to argue, you nodded, bowing to him and chorusing a “Yes, Gojo-sama” with Suguru, Satoru mumbling a “Yes, father,” on your right. The three of you hurried out of the room then, eager to be away from the intimidating aura of the clan head as quickly as possible.
Once the door shut behind you, you let out a long, shaky sigh. “I can’t believe he’s letting me keep her.”
“I can’t believe he’s not letting you go home,” Satoru replied, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as the three of you made your way back to the quarters he shared with Suguru.
You couldn’t help but lean into him, all your energy seemingly left in the room with your friend’s father. “My mom’s gonna kill me,” you said quietly. Almost instantly, tears blurred your vision, and you rushed to blink them away; as much as both you and Satoru had insisted that you weren’t a little kid anymore, you certainly felt like one, wanting nothing more than to run to your mother and have her hold you until you fell asleep.
“No she won’t,” Suguru assured quietly, reaching over and gently wiping away a few of your tears as you walked. “You’d be going home right now if you could. We’ll explain that to her, okay? She won’t be mad if it’s not your fault you couldn’t go back home.”
He had his soft, reassuring smile on his face when you turned to look at him, and despite everything that had happened since you’d gotten to the estate, it did make you feel a bit better. You offered a slight nod in return, which seemed to ease some of the tension in his shoulders. 
The rest of the walk to the boys’ chambers was quiet, though eventually it occurred to you that something was missing. “Wait, where did—”
Before you could finish your sentence, Suguru opened the door to the room, and you were nearly bowled over by Kenji and Niji. Thankfully Satoru steadied you before you could fall, and both boys quickly called off their companions. The dragons reluctantly obeyed the command, but they sniffed the air around you and stared intently at your hands.
After realizing they wanted to see your hatchling, you hesitated a moment, not entirely sure how they would react to another dragon in their space. You glanced at your friends, trying to see how they wanted to handle this.
“We’ll hold them,” Satoru told you, already stepping away from you a bit and calling Kenji to his side.
“It’s better if we introduce them now, anyways, before we all go to bed,” Suguru agreed, summoning Niji to him. 
“If they can’t behave, we’ll send them out for the night.”
With a silent nod, you waited until the boys had a hold on their dragons before adjusting the hatchling in your hands. She made some sort of whine at you, but when Kenji and Niji were within view, she seemed to perk up a bit, her green eyes wide as she stared.
Kenji and Niji froze as they stared at your hatchling, not even their tails twitching for several long moments. Then, completely in sync despite not even looking at each other, they slowly lowered themselves to lay on their stomachs, resting their chins on their outstretched legs, bright eyes never leaving your hatchling.
Once the display of apparent submission was done, you and the boys all exchanged bewildered looks. “That was…”
“Weird,” Satoru supplied, and you nodded in agreement.
“Do you think it’s because she’s metallic?” Suguru asked curiously.
You shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Maybe? I’m too tired to think.”
“You’re right, it’s late,” he agreed softly. “You can sleep in my bed, I don’t mind sleeping on the floor tonight.”
“Suguru, I can’t—”
“Well I’m not letting you sleep on the floor,” he insisted. “And we both know Satoru’s not going to volunteer to sleep on the floor.”
“Yeah, because none of us need to sleep on the floor,” Satoru cut in, turning his attention to you. “You take Suguru’s bed, he can share mine with me. It’s big enough for both of us.”
Suguru whipped his head around to look at Satoru, his dark eyes wide and… was he blushing? “It’s not a big deal, really, I don’t mind—”
Satoru rolled his eyes at his friend’s stammered protests, stepping over their dragons and nudging him in the direction of the actual bedroom. “You’re right, it’s not a big deal. You’ll be more comfortable in the bed and you know it, so stop trying to be all noble and selfless.” He pauses for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at you again. “Do you want something to change into for bed?”
It took you a moment to process his question, but when you looked down and saw the clothes you were wearing – comfortable enough to wear during the day, but now a bit dirty with straw stuck all over them, and definitely not something you wanted to drag into bed with you – you nodded. “Yeah, that would be nice.”
The smile he offered you was so warm you felt your face heat slightly with embarrassment, and all you could do was follow as he beckoned you into the bedroom with them. He dug through his dresser for a moment, then pulled out a long shirt and handed it to you. “Do you want pants or anything? I have some but you don’t have to wear them if you don’t want to.”
“Uh…” you weren’t really sure how to respond to the question; it felt a bit odd to sleep in someone else’s bed without any pants on, regardless of what you usually wore to bed. “Do you have any shorts?”
“I think so.” Once you accepted the shirt from him, he went back to digging through his dresser, eventually presenting you with a pair of what looked like silk shorts – something your family would never be able to afford, but you were too tired to think about arguing about wearing them.
“Thanks. I’ll, uh…” you trailed off as you looked around, trying to find somewhere to change into the borrowed clothes, somewhere you could put your hatchling down without having to worry about her too much. 
Noticing your dilemma, Suguru stepped a little closer, his arm brushing yours lightly as he spoke. “My bed is behind that divider screen,” he said quietly. “There’s space for you to get changed, and you can put her on the bed where she’ll be safe.”
“Thank you, Suguru.” Though you weren’t entirely sure what expression you had on your face when you turned to look at him, it was apparently more intense than you thought, because the slight pink tint to his cheeks you thought you’d noticed earlier deepened, and there was no mistaking it now: Suguru was definitely blushing.
The desire for sleep was ultimately what pulled you away from your friend’s side, carefully carrying the clothes Satoru had leant you and your hatchling around the divider screen that separated Suguru’s bed from the rest of the room. Once you were fully hidden from the boys, you set everything down on the bed, letting your hatchling curl up on the pillow while you got changed. Your clothes got left in a haphazard pile on the floor, exhaustion eating at you too much to figure out what to do with them in that moment. A quiet gasp escaped you as you pulled on Satoru’s clothes, for some reason not having expected them to be as soft and comfortable as they were.
Before you allowed yourself to collapse into bed for the rest of the night, you peeked around the edge of the screen just in time to see your friends pulling on their own sleep shirts. “Thank you,” you called softly to them. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Their heads shot up at the sound of your voice, both of them offering you gentle smiles. “You don't have to thank us,” Satoru assured you, Suguru nodding his assent. “We’ve got your back.”
“Goodnight,” Suguru said, his voice muffled around a yawn, hesitantly climbing into bed next to Satoru.
“Goodnight,” you hummed, turning to crawl into Suguru’s bed for the night.
Your hatchling was still curled up on the pillow waiting for you, her copper scales and emerald eyes shining even in the small amount of moonlight that filtered in through the window. You smiled tiredly at her, resting your head on the pillow beside her. 
Even as you began to drift off, you knew your new companion needed a name. You stroked the top of her head with one finger, eyes heavy as you tried to think. “Hmm,” you hummed, more to yourself than anyone else. “Emerald?”
The hatchling stared at you, unblinking.
“Guess not. What about… Lucky?”
Again, nothing but a blank stare.
“Be nice to me,” you yawned, voice heavy with exhaustion.  “I’ve never done this before, and I stopped thinking of names over a year ago.”
This time, the hatchling made a tiny little mumbling sound, though whether she was supposed to be agreeing or making fun of you, you couldn’t tell.
You fell silent for a few moments longer, still very lightly stroking the top of her head with one of your fingers. “Oh, I got it,” you murmured. “Takara.”
You weren’t expecting the little chirp your hatchling let out at the name, but it brought a grin to your tired face nonetheless, especially when she shuffled closer and bumped her nose against your forehead, right between your eyebrows.
“Takara it is, then.” You let out a small sigh of relief, finally allowing your eyes to close, sleep quickly taking over. “Goodnight, little treasure…”
Tumblr media
The next morning you were awoken by sunlight coming through the window and landing directly in your eyes. You grumbled a small protest, rolling over in hope of going back to sleep for just a little bit longer, but in the brief second you opened your eyes, you saw two familiar shapes – one white, one black – hovering at your bedside. In your half-waking state, you were beyond confused – why were your best friends’ dragons in your bedroom? – before the events of the previous night came flooding back, and you sat up with a gasp, turning to see if Takara was still on your pillow.
She was, and she seemed rather displeased at having been woken up. She lifted her head, staring up at you with narrowed eyes and making a little displeased grumbling sound.
“Sorry,” you told her, reaching out and stroking the top of her head lightly. “Last night was just… well. It was a lot. Wasn’t sure if it was all just a dream.”
Seemingly appeased by your apology, Takara pushed herself to her feet, wobbling her way into your lap and curling up once again, as if preparing to go back to sleep. Before she fully settled down, though, Kenji chuffed quietly from his spot beside the bed. When you looked over at him, he was shifting on his feet, practically vibrating, and you weren’t sure you’d ever seen him so worked up before. Niji also seemed a little on edge beside him, but he was sitting, watching Takara intently as if he were waiting for something. 
Takara, apparently in no mood for so much attention so early in the morning, flicked her tail in the direction of the other two dragons, chittering out a noise that sounded suspiciously like “go away” before turning her back on them and laying down. 
Kenji whined loudly at the greeting from your hatchling, pacing back and forth as he continued to stare at her, clearly eager for her attention. Niji, more willing to take a hint than his friend, stood from his spot and flicked his tail at Kenji to get his attention. When that didn’t work, he huffed, leaning in and nipping at the white dragon’s flank. Though it didn’t come even close to breaking the skin, Kenji was clearly unhappy about being snapped at like that. He growled, whirling around and pouncing on Niji in revenge.
In seconds, the two dragons were practically in full-on brawl, rolling around on the floor, crashing into the wall and the bed multiple times, snarling at each other all the while. All you could think to do was sit completely still, watching them with wide eyes and hoping they would stop soon, or that someone else would come and intervene; Sparrow and Spark would tussle at home sometimes, but both Kenji and Niji were about the size of Spark, possibly even bigger now, and you didn’t think you were capable of separating them on your own, and especially not without injury.
Thankfully, though, the commotion was enough to rouse Satoru and Suguru, the sound of muffled curses and hurried footsteps across the wooden floor giving you a couple of seconds’ head’s up before the boys themselves hurried around the privacy screen.
Ever the impulsive one, Satoru almost instantly threw himself into the thick of the scuffle, grabbing Kenji by the fluff on his shoulders and using all of his body weight to pull him away. At nearly the same moment, Suguru hurried over to Niji, wrapping his arms around the dragon’s scaly midsection and pulling in the opposite direction of Satoru. The dragons still growled and snapped at each other as they were pulled apart, but they didn’t fight against the boys’ holds on them as much as you might have expected. 
After a moment, as everyone caught their breath, you realized that some of the fluff that was growing in so thick around Kenji’s shoulders and neck was stuck between Niji’s teeth; it shouldn’t have been a shock, considering how hard they’d been going at each other, but it still caught you off guard, somehow. 
“Sorry,” Suguru said, looking up at you guiltily from his spot on the floor. “We didn’t mean for them to wake you up.”
“They don’t usually fight like that in the mornings, either,” Satoru chimed in, scowling down at Kenji, who was now on his back between his master’s legs, tail thumping lightly on the floor as if in apology. 
“It wasn’t the fighting that woke me up,” you told them, hoping that fact at least would reassure them a bit. “They were by the bed waiting for me to wake up. They wanted to see Takara, I think.”
“Takara?” Satoru asked, a bit confused, though his eyes lit up with realization as he looked down at the little hatchling in your lap. “Hey, I like it! Very fancy.”
“It suits her,” Suguru agreed, offering you a warm smile. “You made a good choice.”
You felt your cheeks begin to burn at the attention and praise you received from your friends, and by some miracle you were saved from having to say anything else by a knock at the door.
“I got it,” Satoru sighed, pushing himself off the floor and gesturing for Kenji to follow him.
“Did you sleep alright?” Suguru asked, releasing his hold on Niji once Kenji was out of sight. 
You nodded, still feeling a bit sheepish about having taken Suguru’s bed from him for the night. “I did,” you said quietly. “Did you sleep alright? I’m sorry you had to share Satoru’s bed with him because of me.”
A soft laugh tumbled from his lips at your words, and that faint hint of a blush you’d noticed the night before returned to his face. “It’s okay,” he assured you. “It wasn’t so bad. He was right, his bed is pretty big, so we weren’t squished together all night.”
“He didn’t kick you or anything?” you asked, partially teasing. “He seems like he squirms a lot in his sleep and takes up a bunch of space.”
“I do not kick in my sleep!” Satoru interjected, walking back around the privacy screen and holding a box out to you. “The servant at the door said to give this to you. From my mother.”
You blinked up at him in shock; you hadn’t seen Satoru’s mother outside of her appearances at the new year’s festivals since you and Satoru were about five years old, so you were more than a little surprised that she had apparently sent something to you. “What is it?” you asked, carefully taking the box from your friend and setting it on the bed in front of you.
Satoru just shrugged. “Not sure. Probably clothes, though. My parents won’t want you wearing your dirty stuff from last night, that much I’m sure of.”
“We’ll let you get dressed,” Suguru added, seeing how hard you were staring at the box in front of you.
You nodded without looking up from the box, only seeing the boys and their dragons step to the other side of the privacy screen out of the corner of your eye. Once you were alone again, you looked down at Takara, curled up contentedly in your lap. “Sorry friend,” you told her, carefully lifting her up and placing her back on the pillow behind you.
When she was settled again, you stood from the bed, lifting the lid from the box as if the box itself was breakable, though it was just an ordinary box. Your eyes widened a bit at the clothes that sat waiting for you, having expected maybe something of Satoru’s he had recently outgrown, but the outfit looked much nicer – and much newer – than some hand-me-downs.
The shirt was soft, made of a slightly more lightweight fabric than the shirt you’d worn to sleep, and was probably the prettiest shade of dark green you’d ever seen. The only actual color you’d ever seen Satoru wear was blue, everything else he wore was black, white, or grey, so this was certainly never his, and you couldn’t recall seeing Suguru ever wear anything that wasn’t black, so you couldn’t imagine this had ever been intended to be his. You guessed it didn’t really matter who it was for in the first place, because now it was yours, even if only for a time.
Not wanting to waste any more time, you were quick to pull your sleep shirt over your head, laying it carefully on the bed, quickly followed by the shorts you’d been allowed to borrow, wanting to make sure they were both still in good condition when you returned them to your friend. You then pulled the green shirt over your head, the fabric so light and soft that it barely felt like you were wearing anything at all, which was a pleasant surprise. Once you had the shirt on, you reached for the pants, a simple black pair that, while clearly expensive, were also made from a soft material.
As you picked up the pants, though, you noticed a pair of underwear at the bottom of the box, and it brought such an odd sense of relief you nearly laughed. You changed into those quickly, too, putting your old pair with the rest of your clothes from the previous night. You weren’t entirely sure what to do with them, so for the time being you left them tucked in the corner, not wanting to put your dirty clothes on Suguru’s bed.
You pulled the pants on quickly after that and, now fully dressed for the day, grabbed the clothes Satoru had lent you and turned to step around the privacy screen to return them. Something caught your eye about the screen, though, and you paused to give it a closer look. It was the first time you were really seeing the screen, you realized, and upon further inspection, you saw that there were dragons and rainbows hand painted around the edges of each frame, with a mountain scene spanning across all of them together. You thought you remembered Suguru saying something about his home village being near the mountains, and it made your heart clench to know he had something like this to remind him of home, even after being away for three years without being able to go back.
You were drawn back to the present when you heard Satoru call your name. “Is it okay if I come around?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
The snowy haired boy stepped around the privacy screen, his hands over his face despite your invitation. He peeked through his fingers in a very unsubtle way, then let out a dramatic sigh of relief. “Oh, good, you’re dressed.”
You rolled your eyes at him, but laughed despite yourself. “You really think I would have said you could come around if I was naked?”
“...I guess not,” he admitted after a moment, and he at least had the decency to look a little sheepish about it. You just shook your head at him and handed him back the clothes you’d slept in.
“Thanks for letting me borrow those,” you said. “They’re really comfy.” 
“I know they are,” he agreed with a grin. “Now, grab your little friend and come on, it’s time for breakfast.”
As if on cue, your stomach let out the most embarrassing gurgling sound you’d ever heard it make, and Satoru couldn’t help but laugh. You scowled at him, but you said nothing, instead turning back to the bed and lifting Takara into your arms.
You followed your friend as he led you out to the rest of the bedroom, tossing the clothes you’d worn to bed on the pile of his own dirty clothes off in one corner. Then you followed after the boys as they made their way to the dining room. Kenji and Niji kept pace with you, one on either side, neither of them watching where they were going, eyes trained on where Takara laid in your arms.
The dining room wasn’t too far from the boys’ bedroom, thankfully, but even still you could feel the way the members of the staff stared at you and Takara. You took your seat between your friends and, after a moment of hesitation, set Takara in your lap. She seemed more interested in sleeping than anything else, but that was pretty normal; most hatchlings spent the majority of the bonding week asleep with their new masters nearby.
Not long after the three of you sat down at the table, you were being served plates nearly overflowing with food, steaming bowls of miso soup and rice placed on either side of your plates. You stared at the spread wide-eyed for a moment, not quite believing all that food was for you, but you quickly got over that when your stomach growled loudly again. You started shoveling food into your mouth then, bites of eggs and rice interspersed with spoonfuls of soup and sips of the tea you were served, then followed by slices of fruit. You startled slightly when you heard a chuckle from off to your left, and you looked over at Satoru, suddenly embarrassed by your behavior.
“Are, uh… are your parents going to be joining us?” you asked quietly, after swallowing your mouthful of rice. You and your friends were the only ones currently at the dining table, but there was space for several more people to join you.
“Doubt it,” Satoru replied softly, taking a sip of his tea before he continued. “Mom joins us sometimes, but mostly she takes her meals in her room because of her headaches. My father just… doesn’t eat breakfast.”
You blinked in surprise. “Never?”
“Not as far as I can remember.” He shrugged then, using his chopsticks to get another bite of eggs.
Opting not to push the subject, you just nodded, turning back to your plate. His words about his mother seemed to fully register with you after a moment, and it made you feel a bit sad. You knew Satoru sometimes got struck with debilitating headaches, so if his mother’s were anything like his, you couldn’t imagine she spent a lot of time out and about, even on the grounds of the estate. 
Breakfast passed in a companionable silence after that, with Satoru and Suguru occasionally offering pieces of egg to Kenji and Niji, who were pointedly ignoring their own breakfasts in favor of hovering as close to you as they could, still completely entranced by Takara. You did your best to ignore them, not because you found the behavior annoying, but because the boys thought it would be the best way to get them to leave you alone. 
Occasionally you tried to offer Takara bites of your own breakfast, but she didn’t seem interested in anything except the small piece or nori you offered her, though when you offered a second she turned away and tucked her nose under her tail. You shrugged it off, not particularly worried about it; she would let you know when she was hungry, you were certain of that.
Just as the three of you were finishing up your meal, you heard what sounded like a heavy door slam a ways down the hall. That on its own would have been enough to draw your attention, but it was quickly followed by a familiar voice shouting at the staff.
“Where is he?” your mother demanded, and your eyes widened when you heard how angry she was. “I demand to know what that man has done with my child!”
Tumblr media
sorry not sorry to leave you guys on a lil cliffhanger again AHAHA. in my defense Plot Things are happening now so the chapters will probably consistently be a little longer than the first several were and the endings will be more like cliffhangers most of the time. if you hate me for it i'll cry and send kenji to steal your shoes.
taglist: @ghost-1-y @sugurei @whatthefucksatan @mitsuristoleme @lu-dao-writes 
@peachdues @here-for-the-tea-baby @staryukis @roselleviennesstuff @witchbybirth 
@marinnnnnnnnn @dr-runs-with-scissors @entirelysein-e
dividers by @/saradika-graphics
43 notes · View notes
siconetribal · 2 days
Text
Beyond the Bookshelves (3)
Pairing: Loki x Reader
Warnings: Obnoxious coworkers, what is the proper ettiquette when emailing princes, teasing Captain
Summary: You're a Resource Management Specialist at S.H.I.E.L.D. normally referred to as “The Librarian”. You've been assigned the nightmarish task of digitizing all the physical resources currently owned by the agency, with a few new computers and one extra helper.
A/N: Please comment/like/reblog. If you'd like to be tagged moving forward, please let me know!
The lovely banners used in this fic are from @cafekitsune.
If you’re new to the story, please check out the master post for the rest of the chapters.
Tumblr media
The meeting was as boring as the fallen prince expected it to be, but he hardly showed his disdain for his time being wasted. Cabinet meetings and audiences with nobility and dignitaries were expected and mandatory for royals. In his opinion, a majority of them were hardly worth the time and could be easily sorted out with logic, but politics hardly worked that way. It was fickle, changing at the whim of whomever is more powerful. And though at times it was fun to see how the spoiled nobles would squabble over the most ridiculous things, the majority of it was always dull.
To think I once found such a thing mesmerizing as a young boy, wanting to follow my father everywhere and prove myself useful to him. A moment to shine, to step out of the immense shadow casted by my brother. The corners of his lips tugged downwards at the miasma of memories that began to stir. He knew the ledge was a precarious one and a single thought could have him plummeting to the depths and ensnare him.
“Do you have any questions?” The agent looked at the members of the group one by one, hesitating and nearly jumping over Loki to avoid eye contact.
“Agent Pruyn, was it?” He watched the man who was addressing them flinch at the call of his name. “Would it not be wiser for me to be the one who distracts them? I am able to change my image to look like anyone. I would merely need some footage of the person I am to imitate to better play the role. You will also be able to monitor my movements since I will be in the banquet hall as opposed to behind the scenes searching through the office.” Minimal footage of me in questionable places is best. Who knows what someone might do as an act of vengeance. 
“No, this is the best plan of action. Hawkeye is better suited for that portion of the mission and needs support while Black Widow distracts the target.” Agent Pruyn cleared his throat. The lack of negative reaction from the others seemed to embolden him a little bit. “Also, are you implying that she can't handle it? Black Widow is the best undercover agent we have. She's successfully infiltrated hundreds of places while you've only failed at discretion.” He scoffed. 
There it was. The bias and condescending tone, the twisting of his words, and the lack of support. Such insolence made his blood boil to the point of physically punishing the fool, but he kept his reactions in check with a blank expression. Silently, he changed the way they perceived him to look identical to the infamous fiery haired operative who was sitting with them. Everyone in the room stared at him in wide eyed shock, looking at him and her to see if there was a difference. 
“Well isn't that a neat little trick.” Natasha was the first to break the silence. “Certainly beats needing to put on that holographic skin.” She leaned in closer, trying to find some flaw.
“Stare all you like, you won’t be able to tell the difference unless I let you.” He said in her voice.
“If he’s so good at keeping up an appearance, why not just swap them? Nat and I are equally able to get in and out without issues if there’s a good enough diversion.” Clint shrugged, though he was impressed at how perfectly Loki copied her.
“I don’t have an issue with that change, I’m the one who can break into the computer system they have. It’s better if I’m with Clint.” Natasha agreed, Loki shifting back to himself.
“So, we’re in agreement. I will be the one to keep the group busy and the both of you will gather the necessary information. As I stated, I’ll require footage and data on the individual I’ll be impersonating.” He turned his attention back to Agent Pruyn who seemed rather cross with the change to his plan but said nothing since the other two Avengers were agreeing with Loki.
“We’ll need to adjust the timeline of the operation then. Everything was set up for this plan, we’ll need to adjust and see if there’s another gathering we can infiltrate.” 
“You say this person of interest has possible ties to this Hydra organization, correct? Why don’t we get ourselves invited to his home or wherever you think he is housing the necessary information? Why must we wait for some large gathering outside somewhere else?” Loki questioned. 
“We can’t just waltz into his home unannounced.” Agent Pruyn scoffed. “Do you think he just calls people over for tea time? This isn’t one of your royal games, Loki.” The condescending tone was back once more with a sense of triumph. This was hardly enough to anger the prince, but he was not so lenient to let it slide for a second time.
“Who said anything about tea?” He looked at the agent with raised eyebrows. “I wasn’t aware you had the time for such frivolous plans. I must disappoint you, my plans do not allot time for such.” Agent Pruyn grit his teeth and glared at the insouciant attitude the Asgardian was speaking with to him. A few of the other members of the meeting snickered at the calm retort, looking away to avoid the ire of the presenter. “This target has questionable connections and has a proclivity to feign a charitable appearance through auctions. We need to approach him as someone equally shady who wishes to either wash their hands of some item or trade an item to someone else and obtain the money under the guise of donating to said charity. We simply need to choose someone from his connections or create someone completely new.”
“That,” Natasha was the first to speak, coincidentally cutting Pruyn off, “is an excellent idea. If we came as someone new, trying to make a name for themself, they’ll be more likely to accept us if we come with an item of great value. Loki can play the part of the client and I can easily play the part of his assistant as needed to keep up the facade. Once we’re invited in, I can get Clint inside and we can get the information we need while the auction is going on.”
“Until the auction takes place, we can build a relationship with him and others. We can record all the conversations and pick up on any codes they use to discuss the secret dealings!” A female agent chimed in soon after, realizing an extra benefit to this plan.
“This makes it a much longer plan than anticipated though, we’ll have to resubmit the plan to our lead agent and to Director Fury.” A male agent pointed out.
“Sounds like it’s a necessary delay if it’s going to be more fruitful than the original operation. I guess Thor wasn’t exaggerating when he boasted about how strategic you are.” Clint slightly nodded his head in approval. “Redraft the plan and submit it, we’ll see what Fury says before moving forward.”
“We’ll schedule our next meeting after that.” Natasha nodded, standing from her seat. The others followed her actions and the meeting came to an end with a very irate Pruyn glaring at the back of Loki’s head. A small smirk of satisfaction tugged at the Asgardians lips as he walked down the halls, feeling lighter at proving himself as worthy to be on the team.
Tumblr media
Y/N stared at the screen of her computer, willing it to fill the empty body of the email that was addressed to the two Avengers she was allowed to work with. Glancing at the time, she groaned audibly and turned her chair around so her back was to the screen.
Three hours, I’ve been staring at this blasted computer screen for three hours! Why do I need to message them!? Wasn’t Agent Hill supposed to coordinate this? Why is everything suddenly dumped on me from start to finish? This is ridiculous! Next they’ll want me to manage their schedules and make sure they have time to complete their missions and assist in my never ending task! I am not some over glorified secretary, I am the head of the Resource Management department, the director of it! I attend all the ridiculous morning meetings, check-ins, and any other waste of time meeting that could have easily been an email instead while managing all centers that contain our resources, digital and physical! She pushed herself out of the chair and paced in the space she had behind the desk. “When am I supposed to even meet with them when both are due to be deployed this week!” She threw her hands in the air as she shouted into the empty office. Defeated, she slumped back into her seat and turned to face the computer once more. 
She did not want to wait until their return, she needed it done now so that while they were gone she could have the computers and scanners set up and be ready to start as soon as they returned. Straightening up her posture, she pulled the keyboard forward and quickly began to type a brief email stating she was approached by Agent Hill and wanted to set up a short meeting in person to introduce herself and better understand how to properly utilize their assistance and time. She also added that the both of them are available tomorrow after lunch for a brief period of time. Rereading her email over and over again, she made sure there was no error before finally hitting the send. Now she had to wait for a response. Thankfully, the chime signaling the door opening was a great distraction, letting her escape the panic while waiting for a response.
“Good afternoon, how may I help you?” She happily greeted the person as she stepped out of her office. “Oh, Captain Rogers, how are you?”
“Good afternoon Y/N, I’m doing well. How are you doing?” He smiled, giving her a slight nod.
“Could do with less work, but that’s not going to change anytime soon.” She tiredly chuckled.
“I don’t know how you handle your work at all. I wouldn’t know the first thing to do with a fourth of what’s here. They’ve got the right gal for the job here.” He patted her on the back. “Which is an expertise I’ll be needing at the moment. I’ll be going out on a mission with Thor and Tony to a fairly remote area with indigenous people. Thor will be a great asset with his AllSpeak, but I’d like to get some insight on the culture.”
“Oh, so no “An American Girl” books this time around? Or  the “Hardy Boys”?” She curled her lips inward to keep from laughing as she watched the famous Captain America clear his throat and turn away to hide the hints of a blush that were creeping up onto his cheeks.
“No, not this time. But maybe when I come back you can suggest something for me to read?”
“I would love to, I’ll think up a small list and let you see which you’d like to start with. So, back to your mission, where are you going and do you know the group you’ll be interacting with?” She clapped and rubbed her hands together, eager to be of assistance. “Let’s head to the front desk while you tell me so I can pull up what we have for you.” Nodding his head, he delved into the details of the mission that were necessary, Y/N never asking for more information than necessary as she pulled up anything relevant and jotted it down on a sheet of paper. “Ok, follow me!” She walked back around just as the chime signaled someone else coming in. “Good afternoon, if you need my assistance I will be with you shortly. Please wait at the desk.” She turned to smile at the newcomer only to see the raven haired prince. Oh, good thing I put the book on the table already. “Follow me, Captain Rogers.”
“Y/N, you can just call me Steve. I think we’ve known each other long enough to drop formalities.”
“Captain Rogers, so bold and scandalous!” She gasped. “What would your fangirls think?!”
“Please don’t remind me of those.” He sighed heavily and gave her a stern look. “And I insist you call me Steve, we’re friends.” He flashed her that famous hero smile.
“Alright, alright, Steve it is.” She turned into an aisle and began to skim the codes, pulling out books which were taken from her by the gentleman super soldier beside her. Once everything was pulled, the two went to the nearest table.
“This is great, thank you, Y/N.”
“Anytime Capt-,” she stopped at the pointed look he gave her. “Steve. If you need anything, just give a holler. I’ll come help you.”
“We’re in the library, I don’t think hollering is a good idea.” He chuckled.
“Who’s going to stop us, the librarian? Oh wait, that’s me!” She grinned, earning an eye roll from him before he turned his attention to the books he had as she made her way back to the front desk.
Tumblr media
Tags: @vbecker10 @huntress-artemiss@softestqueeen @thegodofnotknowing @princess-ofthe-pages @firedrakegirl@rcailleachcola @cabingrlandrandomcrap @lotrefcp @lwtannie
37 notes · View notes
garbinge · 1 day
Text
Thanksgiving
Richie Jerimovich x Platonic!Reader mention of Carmy Berzatto x Platonic!Reader
30 Day Fic Challenge (15/30)
A/N: Patiently waiting for June 27th lololol
Word Count: 3k
Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Light angst, shit talking, cursing (lots), family problems, daddy issues. Mentions of someone losing their life from alcoholism, homelessness, hitting rock bottom.
The Bear Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics @quixscentsposts @dadbodfanatic-x @adorable-punk-superheroes @lodeddiperrodrick @isalver @captainweasleybarnes @musicwithteeth @fancyvoidtragedy @shinebright2000 @knight4xmas @gills-lounge @navs-bhat @cosmicak @kmc1989 Other fics from this universe
Tumblr media
The knock on your door wasn’t what you were expecting at 11:30 on Thanksgiving night. You weren’t exactly dressed for company in your pajamas, but the knocking was insistent so there wasn’t a way to ignore it or have time to change. 
“Jesus Christ, I’m coming!” You called out as you made your way to the entrance and opened the door. 
“You don’t look through the peephole before answering the door? I coulda been a murderer.” Richie was standing at the door of your apartment in one of his few nice sweaters with a tote bag in his hand. 
“You here to murder me, Rich?” You stepped back and welcomed him in with a sway of your arm. 
“I’m here to feed you, you weren’t at Thanksgiving.” He didn’t waste any time from when you invited him in and was already in the kitchen placing the bag down. “Why weren’t you at Thanksgiving?” 
You took a deep breath and let out a harsh exhale, this wasn’t something you were expecting to talk about at this moment. 
“Um, I’ve had my fair share of unstable parents lately.” You brought your hand up to your head as the past few conversations with your father flashed through your mind quickly. 
Richie stopped pulling things out of the tote bag and looked up at you. “Your dad call you again? What was he lookin’ for before? Baseball cards right? You should hook ‘em up with the Faks, they got that baseball card scheme runnin’, the stupid fucks.” He let out a laugh and continued to pull stuff out of the bag. 
Any other day, you’d join him in the banter. Any other day you’d enjoy it, but today wasn’t any other day. 
“Richie.” You said his name so solemnly and he looked up at you immediately. It broke you seeing his face drop from a smile to a straight mouthed expression but you didn’t have much left in you to take it back. The next best thing you could do was explain. “Uh, Thanksgiving is just–” you paused for a minute as your brain searched for the right word. “It’s a day for me, alright.” You felt yourself get tense, the emotions that you didn’t want to think about, feel, or simply acknowledge were rising to the surface and it was making you angry. Your eyes closed out of instinct, an exercise to push the rage back down, and after taking a deep breath you re-opened them and stared at Richie. 
Richie’s face didn’t change, it was still as heartbreaking as before even though it would have been described as neutral. 
“How was Donna tonight?” You changed the topic quick and moved over to look at what Richie had in the tupperware containers. 
“How do you think?” It was said like the conversation prior didn’t even happen. 
“Yea, I figured.” You let out a snort. “She make the cannolis?” Your eyes were scanning around the containers looking for them. 
“They’re somewhere in here, let me start putting this shit away and I’ll find ‘em.” He was turning around to face your fridge now. As the door to the cooler swung open, he froze. It went unnoticed by you as you continued to bury your emotions down so you didn’t start a misguided fight. 
“What the fuck is this?” Richie was pointing inside the fridge and then at the container on the stovetop. Despite the cursing, he didn’t seem mad or pointed, just confused. 
As your eyebrows raised and you turned around to see what he was talking about, you answered quickly. 
“Oh, Carmy dropped off food for me last night.” 
“Carmy knew you weren’t coming to Thanksgiving?” Now that statement held a little hurt in it, but you acted like you couldn’t tell. 
“Carmy knows I never come to Thanksgiving.” You added a shrug to the statement to help make it seem nonchalant. 
“I didn’t know you never come to Thanksgiving.” It was mumbled, like he was embarrassed. 
“Why would you?” Another shrug left your shoulders and you moved to help him move a couple things in the fridge. 
“Because I notice when you’re around.” It was such a soft statement that any other time it would have melted you to your core. But you could tell for him it was also like he was defending himself behind this sweet statement. 
The bantering part of you wanted to retort that statement with a ‘clearly not.’ since you hadn’t been at a Berzatto Thanksgiving in over a decade, but with how Richie was talking and where you were at mentally tonight, you knew it wasn’t going to be good for either of you. 
“It’s the first year that we’re–,” you stopped yourself at that statement because you didn’t know what you were and this was not the night you wanted to take the time to define it. “It’s the first year you’d actually notice, it’s not a big deal.” 
“I guess I just missed you, and feel like something important is happening and everyone knows but me.” 
Shocked would have been an understatement. Did Richie Jerimovich just express how he was feeling? 
“You been reading that book?” You frowned, a smile forming slightly on your face as you stared up him. 
“Fuck you, yea I been reading that book.” The self-consciousness flooding his senses at your look. 
“Everyone doesn’t know. Just Carmy.” If you knew the weight the last two words would leave on him, you probably wouldn’t have said them but it was too late, the words were already hanging in the air. 
“And the reason Carmy knows is because he’s known since 10 years or whatever ago.” You hoped that would offer up enough explanation to hold him over a bit. 
“So what did Carmy bring you?” Richie was moving past you to look into the fridge again. 
“Not cannolis.” Moving in the opposite direction you started searching in the bag. 
“I brought too much shit, your fridge is stocked, shit’s gonna go bad.” 
“What did Pete bring this time?” The clicking of the to-go container muffled your question but it was worth it as you pulled out one of 5 cannolis. 
“A fuckin’ pie.” Annoyance was dripping off his tone. He leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. 
Your head snapped at him, your mouth full of pistachio cannoli, surprise written all over your face. 
“That sounds good.” 
“It was fuckin’ rhubarb.” Richie spit out, his arms still crossed and eyebrows frowning as he remembered the pie. 
“God, who the fuck likes rhubarb.” Your face twisted in disgust, the shock fully faded now as the realization that Pete didn’t succeed yet again in his gracious hosting gifts this holiday. 
“That’s what I fuckin’ said. It’s a god damn vegetable.” 
You let out a laugh at that as you took another bite of the cannoli. 
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for him.” Now you were just making conversation. 
“Never was for you.” Richie shrugged as he recalled what rotation of items you’d bring to different Berzatto gatherings. “Hot chocolate, olive oil, those toffee chocolate things, one year you brought those stuffed olives.” 
The shock came back and became very apparent on your face again as you turned to look at him for an answer.
“I told you I notice.” His hands lifted in innocence. “Plus your hot chocolate is the fuckin’ best, hard to forget.” 
“There’s some in the pot.” You pointed to the stove but then went to grab two mugs. 
The two of you melted into a comfortable silence, the tapping of your wooden spoon as it stirred in the pot of hot chocolate, the metal spoons clinking in the mugs as the liquid poured into them. The TV was at a lulled volume in the background, the slight sounds of Steve Harvey’s voice as family feud reruns ran. 
As the two of you were on the last legs of your hot chocolate, Richie spoke up. 
“You watchin’ The Game Show Network?” There was humor behind the question mixed with true curiosity as he heard the old school game show mumbling in the background.
“It’s relaxing.” There was no defense in your voice as you said it, mug close to your face. “And it makes me laugh.” 
“Relaxing and laughing on Thanksgiving. Not sure I’ve seen that combination in a while.” He was opening your dishwasher to drop the empty mug into it. 
You raised your eyebrows at that knowing exactly what he meant and knowing it was 100% true. 
“Hey, you wanna go with me somewhere?” Your eyes were looking at the time and seeing it was just a little past 12. 
“Where? Everywhere’s closed?” 
You had already moved to the other side of oyur kitchen island and were grabbing your coat off the back of the bar chair. 
“Can you pack up like 6 containers from Carmy and like 3 of the containers you brought?” It took Richie a minute to understand what you said since you had been bent down slipping into your shoes. 
Although confused, Richie did what you said, making sure the cannolis weren’t any of the containers he packed in the tote he had brought over. As you re-entered the kitchen, you peaked in the bag and nodded. Quickly you pulled out a ziploc and took one of the cannolis out and dropped it into the plastic before carefully placing it in the tote. 
As the two of you hit the Chicago streets, there were a couple flurries of snow falling, nothing substantial that would stick, but it set a tone. Your one arm was holding onto the the tote back as your hand hid from the cold in your jacket pocket but your other hand moved to wrap around Richie’s arm. 
The gesture made him get out of his head and turn to look down at you. 
“You wanna tell me where we’re going?” He brought his arm in tighter against yours. 
“You’ll see.” 
It was all you were willing to give up as you began walking towards Millenium Park. 
“Millenium Park after 12AM, sounds like a great time.” Richie was taking his free hand and reaching to grab his pack of cigarettes. 
“It actually is.” You spoke with such conviction that it actually shocked Richie. You were so upset earlier and now you were speaking with a hint of hope in your voice. 
The music you started to hear as you approached the infamous Chicago Bean filled your face with a smile. You lived in Chicago most of your life so hitting tourist spots like this wasn’t exactly a common occurrence but this was a tradition you kept for yourself and now were bringing Richie into it. 
There was a street performer about 20 feet from them, the violin was loud and the acoustics were incredible as it echoed off the landmarks around them. The smile on the man’s face as he played was enough to tell a million stories. He was having fun, despite the cold, the snow, the fact it was a holiday and he was here performing, he was genuinely enjoying this. 
“That’s Morgan.” You whispered to Richie like it was a high class secret. “He’s incredible.” You brought your other hand up to rest on his arm that was still holding your other one. 
“He brings a crowd.” He was looking around at all the people that were standing around him. 
“There’s more people every year.” You said it like a proud parent. 
“Every year?” Richie asked, not taking his eyes off the performance. 
There were a few minutes of silence as you debated how you were going to answer his question. 
“I come here every year. One thanksgiving, I was out here looking for something and ended up coming across Morgan. I come here every year now. The crowd used to be like 5 people and look now.” 
“That what the food is for?” Richie was smiling now understanding what the girl was up to. 
Just as he spoke the words, the violin sound was cut and the crowd began clapping loudly. “I’m going to take a short break, be back in 5 minutes.” He waved and placed his violin down to take a sip of the water jug he had next to his stuff. 
You approached the man and before you could even say anything, he was bellowing a deep hello to you. Following his hug he looked down at the food and shook his head. “You’re always over feeding me, kid.” 
“Who doesn’t like leftovers?” You crossed your arms and stepped back slightly bumping into Richie. “Oh, Morgan this is Richie.” You grabbed Richie’s arm and stepped behind him slightly to introduce him. 
“Nice to meet you, Richie.” Morgan spoke curiously.
‘Back at you man, you got a real talent, truly incredible.” He turned on that typical Richie charm.
“You humble me, dude. I’m just a Chicago kid tryna enjoy the holiday.” He waved him off. 
“Did you get to see Sandra this year?” You spoke with hope in your tone. 
“She had me over earlier today.” Morgan was grinning. 
“Morgan, that's incredible! From just coffee last year, to thanksgiving this year!” You leaned forward and tapped his arm. “Guess you don’t need my food.” You teased him and went to jokingly grab the bag back but not before he leaned down and blocked you from it. 
“Hey now, this is top of the line fine dining food you give me.” 
“And I packed a homemade cannoli in there for you.” Richie was smirking at the whole interaction. 
“See the man packed little ol me a homemade cannoli, don’t strip a man of a thanksgiving cannoli, now.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” With a step back you wrapped your arm around Richie’s. 
Morgan looked down at it and back at the both of you with a wider smile now. “Hope y’all had a lovely Thanksgiving.” 
“Think it just got a lot better.” Richie nodded at him and then looked down at you. 
“We’ll let you finish your break, but I’m so happy about Sandra, seriously Morgan, that’s great news.” You went to give him one last hug. 
“Happy to see you out here with someone this year, seems like you finally found what you were looking for.” He was talking at a volume only you could hear as he hugged you. 
“Funny enough, Morgan. I wasn’t looking for it at all. Just happened.” You whispered back.
“The best things do.” He was clearly talking about your friendship, how it came to be out of a time where you weren’t expecting or looking for it all. “Happy Thanksgiving, kid.” 
As you moved back into the crowd with Richie, he took the opportunity to link your arms back together as he asked you a question. 
“Whose Sandra?”
“The woman who has his wife’s heart.” 
The sentence was so heavy, the more thought you put into it, every scenario that it could have been felt more heartbreaking than the last. 
His head snapped to you and you nodded. “His wife died from liver disease and she was an organ donor, so her heart went to Sandra. He’d been trying to find her for a while, finally did, at first they wrote letters, last year she met him for coffee, and this year she had him over.” 
“That’s incredible.” Richie was in shock. “Why Thanksgiving? Or just because?” He was genuinely invested in the story now. 
“Thanksgiving is the night his wife lost her life, but the night Sandra kept hers.” You explained the situation to Richie. 
“Holy shit.” He brought his hand up to his face and wiped it down as the weight of it all sunk in. 
“What’s he doing out here?” Richie frowned trying to piece that part of it together. 
“He kind of lost everything when he lost his wife, his place, his job, his will to live I’d even go far enough to say.” You thought back on the earlier years of meeting Morgan, he was your father’s age, and clearly had experienced loss in his life. That was what bonded you, because while you were going through the biggest loss of your short teenage life at that time, you came across someone who knew what losing someone to alcohol felt like. 
“That’s rough.” Richie nodded and before the conversation could really continue, the sound of the music filled the space again and the crowd moved in tighter. Richie and you stayed near the back and despite everything being fine between you two, you felt the tension from earlier coming back. 
It was hard for you to talk about it, but Morgan’s words about finding what you were looking for were in your head and it made you realize, maybe you could open up a bit about it all. 
One thanksgiving, I was out here looking for something and ended up coming across Morgan. I come here every year now. 
That one thanksgiving, you were out here looking for your Dad, your drunken dad, you later found him at the bus stop across from The Beef. He didn’t see you, but you saw him, fully packed, despite his inebriated state, he had thought through leaving enough that he packed bags. 
With a sigh, your arm squeezed tighter around Richie’s and you said 5 words that you hoped would be enough to explain to Richie why today was so hard for you without having to dive into so much detail. 
“My dad left on Thanksgiving.” 
20 notes · View notes
wolfofcelestia · 1 day
Text
29 weirdly specific questions I answered as Zayne because I just wanted to yap about him
chipotle order?
Burrito bowl. Brown rice, black beans, everything else with guacamole and whatever protein I’m in the mood for.
thoughts on veganism?
If carefully monitored to ensure that you are getting all the nutrients you need, I don’t see a problem with it. It’s best to work with a nutritionist when you’re switching to a specific diet.
a specific color that gives you the ick?
Why would a colour make me feel disgusted?
mythical creature you think/believe is real?
She seems hopeful that intelligent lifeforms from other planets will contact humanity soon, so for her sake, I want to believe they are real.
favorite form of potato?
Mashed. Although, maybe I’ve grown accustomed to what they serve at the hospital.
do you use a watch?
While I’m working.
what animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium?
Penguins.
do you change into specific clothes for the house when you get home?
I take off my work clothes and take a shower as soon as I get home to wash off the scent of antiseptic and ensure minimal spread of bacteria.
do you have a skincare routine (and how many steps is it)?
It’s nothing special.
on a plane, do you ask for apple or orange juice?
Whatever I’m in the mood for. Usually apple juice. Somehow it tastes sweeter in the air.
anything from your childhood you’ve held on to?
Memories. Hope.
brand of haircare/bodycare/skincare that you trust 100%?
Are you asking for my professional opinion? If you don’t have an appointment with me, I suggest you see a dermatologist for recommendations specific to your skin type.
first thing you’re doing in the purge?
Making sure she’s safe.
do you think you’re dehydrated?
Yes, to be honest.
rank the methods of death: freezing, burning, drowning
I can prevent two of them. The other one, well…
thoughts on mint chocolate chip?
An odd combination but the cooling sensation mixed with the sweetness of the chocolate isn’t bad.
an anxious compulsion you do everyday?
I don’t have one. (He rubs his wrist when he’s anxious.)
your boba/tea order?
Traditional milk teas are always good but I like to try different flavours at least once.
the veggie you dislike the most?
Carrots. Irredeemable…
favorite disney princess movie?
I’ve never seen any.
a number that weirds you out?
I don’t hold any significance to numbers.
do you have an emotional support water bottle?
…Would you like me to refer you to a psychiatrist?
do you wear jewelry?
Rings, sometimes. She seems to like them.
which do you find yourself using, american or british english?
American English for any internationally published research papers. Neither for everyday communications.
would you say you have good taste in music?
Whatever is good for concentrating is enough for me. I don’t usually listen to music recreationally.
how’s your spice tolerance?
I don’t enjoy inducing gastrointestinal issues in myself.
what’s your favorite or go-to outfit?
Simple black shirt, black pants, and sunglasses.
last meal on earth?
With her.
preferred pasta noodle?
Rotini. It caries sauce well and has a fun shape.
15 notes · View notes
bloomvalyria · 2 days
Note
I wanted to comment on Ao3, but I don't have an account yet and I'm still waiting for the invite, so I guess I'm gonna do it here 😄
I'm super hooked and it's only been one chapter! I can't get the last line out of my mind! "He’ll simply have to kill her again."!?!?!?
Was Bloom reincarnated?! Or does he mean an ancestor of Bloom?! If Bloom is a reincarnation, does this mean they knew eachother before and already fell for eachother?! So many questions.....
I'm super excited to see where this story is heading and thank you for sharing it with us!
(Sorry for any errors, english is not my first language)
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I only have registered users able to leave comments because it seems every time I turn around, there’s an issue with the anon comments being spammed with bots. But since things have seemed to calm down with that, I’ll try to remember to switch it off before I post the next chapter —which, fingers crossed, will hopefully be this weekend!
Thank you so much for your kind words!! I’m so glad everyone seems to like it so much; I honestly was not anticipating this kind of reaction. And I hope that excitement continues into the rest of the fic once I reveal where we’re heading (so far no one has guessed it, which I’m very shocked about).
I wish I could answer all of your questions right now, but I’ll be honest I’m having way too much fun with all the secrecy. So I’m gonna leave the suspicion around Bloom a mystery for now! But, don’t worry, I promise this next chapter will be very … eye-opening.
15 notes · View notes
labyrynth · 2 years
Text
lowkey tempted to just start spamming the “canon jiang cheng” tag with just like. every single quote in the book that tangentially references him. how’s that for canon huh. just dumping screenshots frame by frame. using the biggest font size to drop single lines one at a time. it’s all canon so you have nothing to complain about.
literally just use the “anti” tag like any other respectful fandom participant and this would be a non-issue
#mdzs talk#salt is salt#if canon jiang cheng is homophobic then why have i said the same shit to my sister about her husband#is it heterophobia?? or am i being homophobic to a m/f couple??? or perhaps?? it’s a sibling thing#or maybe you just don’t fucking like pda goddamn imagine that#like jfc you don’t see people making posts detailing wwx’s brazen disrespect and penchant for pettiness and cruelty#and going ‘but it’s canon!!!’#you don’t see any posts about how he could have tried to help jc’s relationship w jfm or how wwx inherited jfm’s placating tendencies#you don’t see posts about how wwx’s fate was ultimately of his own creation due to his sheer arrogance and inflated ego#these are all really unfavorable and negative interpretations of things that WERE present#but are an egregiously bad faith interpretation#and that’s the point!! that’s what y’all do to jc!!!#wwx is disrespectful and arrogant and combatitive and irresponsible and selfish#but you don’t have any problem with that#also btw wwx has CANONICALLY tortured minimum hundreds of people to death (most likely including civilians)#but you don’t seem to have any issue with that#terminal protagonism#some annoying ass loser picked a fight on a post from months ago#abt how no subordinate is not a derogatory term and the basis of a large chunk of their arguments falls apart#because being someone’s subordinate literally just means ‘you work for them’#and they were like ‘um if not violently classist and hate wwx then why not falling over himself to worship wwx?’#again: my post was about ‘this word is not derogatory an in context is actually a good thing. pls stop acting like it’s a bad thing.’#i’m just so fed up with these fucking losers who think they’re the goddamn chosen ones or some shit#like newsflash: if you were actually right about your interpretation being canon#your opinion would be the majority#but instead we all just think you’re annoying and self aggrandizing#imagine why that might be.#think about if it has to do with the fact that you tag everything with ‘i do not interpret; i am the authority and my word is law.’#just think about why that might draw some ridicule.
68 notes · View notes
rotzaprachim · 3 months
Text
I say this as someone who obviously opposes the Vietnam war, the war in Afghanistan, and the current war in I/p, but I think a lot of Americans including one I was just talking to haven’t got a lot of comprehension that it sure took the uS a lot longer than five months for public opinion to shift strongly away from supporting any of the above, but furthermore - we dont fucking KNOW what the us gov or us public would do or support if they had a hostage crisis with hundreds of us civilians being held by the viet cong or taliban or Sinaloa cartel for months on end, with significant evidence of that group committing sexual assault, within kilometers of where Americans lived. This is not an equivalent thing thing that has ever happened to the us and for the sake of world peace we can be glad it never has, but it’s truly beyond our comprehension what the US (or uk or Canada and such) might do
59 notes · View notes
thestobingirlie · 11 months
Text
i don’t get the visceral hatred for stancy… i can’t want nancy to kiss a hot boy? i can’t want steve to kiss a hot girl?
sorry you don’t appreciate the messiness. the drama. the angst.
i’m a feminist. let nancy sleep with her ex-boyfriend if she wants to.
111 notes · View notes
callixton · 1 year
Text
hey remember when people got mad at red white and royal blue, an adult romance, for fetishizing gay men by having gay sex scenes. in the adult romance novel.
26 notes · View notes
brookheimer · 1 year
Text
……starting to think a lot of you do not know what the word empathetic means
#i have a lot to say about this but it is going to have to wait a few days until i’m no longer up to my ears in work#but here’s a little thing to tide you over: empathy does not a good person make#a capacity for empathy is in no way a capacity let alone willingness for good#empathy and intense horrendous cruelty are not mutually exclusive#if you think that evil comes in a single form if you think evil is just pure callousness coldness spot-it-a-mile-away inability to love#then no fucking wonder people keep doing evil terrible things like in real life and your response is always ?! W hat ?!#shocking: terrible evil people are still people. they are not robots of pure malice. they were once babies with coloring books#that’s not saying we should feel bad for them or anything at all!!! just that you guys seem allergic to acknowledging that it doesn’t take a#category 5 sociopath to commit an atrocity#everyone go read arendt’s banality of evil and go watch act of killing by joshua oppenheimer#no wonder trump keeps winning. y’all don’t view his supporters as people with any qualities other than Racism#like i know this is a fictional character but the response here is so indicative of this much broader issue that makes me want to scream#i get it. you’ve lived in a bubble your whole life and never interacted with people vastly different from yourself and had to acknowledge#their personhood as much as their viewpoints disgusted you. talk to a conservative once in your life it might be mind blowing#not bc you’ll be like WOAH :o THEYRE NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL! no!!!!! because they ARE that bad and they are also regular normal people!!!!!#you are all so incapable of viewing anyone you dislike as having internal lives! christ!#this is how trump won! how do you not see this!#seriously go watch act of killing go watch anwar who murdered hundreds of people in cold blood warmly scold his grandchild for poking a duck#too hard. like the most horrifying part of horrible ppl who commit atrocities is that they aren’t caricatures of evil#we wish they were it would make it easier to understand#agh i’m rambling i’ll shut up#god watch ppl be like Uh why are you defending trump/genocide/fascists etc#dumb fucks i’m telling you the most terrifying part about those people is that they are actually people that’s what makes it so hard to#comprehend bc atrocities are so much easier to swallow when you can pretend a force of pure evil is behind it#okokokok good night lol
32 notes · View notes