#like how am I supposed to grasp that it’s not a problem until it’s at some level that

[goldkirk]

.

#I am struggling so hard to pinpoint where the lines are in discussions of situations like the franke and hildebrandt behaviors #because like ok #people keep being so outraged and angry and baffled that they viewed the kids as #deliberately willful and disobedient #and then transitioned into believing them to be infected with evil and or influenced or possessed by demons or under satanic influence #and that’s where everyone is like HOW COULD THEY THINK THIS HOW COULD THEY TELL THEM THAT HOW COULD THEY ETC ETC #and that’s where everyone loses me #like yeah. of course it’s wrong. of course it’s damaging and shitty. but like. what in the world is everyone so shocked and upset by #about that concept (not the physical abuse it caused obviously) #how are you shocked. how are you shocked? it’s just the logical conclusion of believing children have disobedient evil wills #like if you assume evil you’re only going to escalate from there. OBVIOUSLY #I don’t understand how it’s different #where do things cross these lines? no one explains that to me #normal life as usual while tons of kids including me spend years or decades believing we’re evil and under stubborn satanic influence #but in one of the rare situations where it rises to public awareness suddenly everyone is shitting bricks over it #I want those kids drowned in love forever and I wish it never happened to them and their situation #was definitely so so so extreme and severe and I am so glad R was so brave and desperate and got them out #but like. how is everyone so shocked #this is standard. this is common. there’s a huge subculture of people doing and believing this shit #like why is it different just because this case is so visible #so like how is it so hard for people to grasp that this is a widespread issue #I don’t understand #of COURSE it’s wrong to do to someone but like #so many parents and adults do so many of the things these two did just less #fewer hours. less intensely. not in a desert. not with handcuffs and shit. etc. #where’s the line legally? where’s the line culturally? #like how am I supposed to grasp that it’s not a problem until it’s at some level that #I know it’s all Bad but I mean in terms of when the populace starts to mass-care

[mondaymelon]

₊⊹ "𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐨, 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝…" | xiao, childe, alhaitham x gn!reader

「 "𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮!!"」

— in which you've gotten drunk... drunk enough to fail to recognize your own lover.

— silly fluff. soft xiao, had this one in the drafts for far too long and its about time i choke it out... happy white day !!

the moment your slurred words reached his ears, XIAO knew that he never should've let you get your hands on that cursed rice wine.

in a way, he supposed it could be his fault. the one time he had decided to indulge in trivial mortal matters like alcohol due to your constant insistence... well, just look at you.

red-faced, the tips of your ears and cheeks stuck in a helplessly drunken flush, you babbled incoherently with half of your face smushed against the table. xiao could only stare in contempt as you feebly reached towards the already-emptied bottle,

( xiao had taken one sip and refused any more indulgence, claiming it was bitter, when in fact, you had gone out of your way to find a sweeter drink ),

and sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose with a certain disillusionment.

"come on, you're getting to bed." the man was just about done with your hopeless actions. he grabbed your wrist and tugged, only to be met with resistance. you're pouting like a child, brows furrowed lazily as you stare upwards at him.

"nnno. m'not going with you."

"...excuse me?" what in the archons was the problem now? he tugged again, this time with a small margin of force, and was met with an even larger pull back, this time paired with a low whine. "hey, it's late, and all the wine is gone, so just comply with me won't you?"

"i already told you... i have a husband..."

your complaint met the cool night air and the adeptus' silence. his lips were slightly parted as his round eyes blinked once, then twice, in a sort of stunned stupor. "...love, i am that husband."

archons, how had he found himself such a foolish mortal to love?

"don't lie to me!" you shook your head profusely, wiggling around in his grasp relentlessly until the adeptus had no choice but to let go. "i know my husband when i see him... and he's way handsomer than you, stupid..." you stared him up and down with squinting eyes, eyeing the way his ears were beginning to turn pink, and sat heavily in thought as you pondered the man before you.

definitely not your husband.

idiot. with a huff, he easily hauled your body over his shoulder as if carrying something as trivial as a sack of potatoes. you hung loosely over, landing a couple weak punches on his back as you proceeded to prattle on, your defiance seemingly having little effect.

then, you were silent, and xiao had to look back to make sure you hadn't gotten hurt. sure, he had considered once or twice leaving you out there all passed out on the balcony, but not without reason, yet he'd decided against it. you seemed fine, mouth hung slightly ajar as you snoozed peacefully, your eyes shut and cheeks still warm from what you'd downed. the audacity to fall asleep... xiao couldn't deny that his sigh was one of fondness.

"night, this husband of yours loves you."

strange, wasn't the wine from liyue supposedly far less intense compared to the vodka CHILDE had tried back home?

that, or the people here simply were more susceptible when it came to the topic of intoxication. you were no exception — he'd taken you out drinking, his mistake, thinking it'd be an easy, splendid time.

and don't get him wrong, it was! not just, well... conversation was rather hard to make when the other person was practically unconscious. you're practically splayed across the mahogany table, eyes nearly drooped close and fire across your cheeks.

you giggled. it's a muddled sound, when you're mostly mumbling into the table. "hhhey, pour me another glass~"

childe scans your less-than-ideal state and procures an answer in a little under a second. "love, you've had too many."

you seem shocked at his words, leaning forwards a little with narrowed eyes. your figure sways as you shake your head lazily, from side to side. "wwhhhat? nnno, that can't be right..."

the man holds back an amused chuckle. it's entertaining. "and how many fingers am i holding up?" he holds up just one hand, displaying a reasonable amount of three.

there's a beat of silence. "...nineteen?" you blink a couple times, as if to shake you out of your stupor. "...nineteen," this time, with confidence.

childe claps his hands together, a sudden sound that makes you startled, and he moves to apologize immediately. "we're getting you to bed, love. clearly you've had more alcohol than you can handle."

"what, was i wrong??" there's tears forming in your eyes, and your lips tug downwards in a frown. "u-uhm, fifteen? nno, four...?"

"still incorrect, love. i'm afraid it's time for you to go to sleep. you'll wake up with a hell of a hangover tomorrow morning, but..." he sighed, thinking back to his time in shneznaya, then made a mental note to prepare you a hangover drink in the morning. his hand found its familiar place in your hand, unnaturally warm with your skin rosy from the alcohol. he smiled, turning to glance at you, but ceased when he saw you on the ground, tears now falling from your eyes, quietly sobbing as you shook your head back and forth.

panic immediately sets in. what has he done wrong?? "love, what-"

"nnnno, don't call me that..." you squinted upwards at him, looking quite displeased. "no 'love', 'kaaay? i'm not your love, mister."

he paused. wait, you didn't possibly think that... "love-" oh, old habits died hard, and the word had already left his lips before he could process what you'd said.

"i have a husband, you!!" in some sort of fit, or perhaps better worded as a tantrum, you stood, wrenching yourself from his grip and then hitting him repeatedly in the shoulders, chest, anywhere your fists could reach, really. the alcohol had surely affected your capabilities of combat — you missed half the time, and what punches did land caused no pain at all.

as your anger subsided, your step faltered, body swaying in the open air before childe reached over to catch you in his arms. he was concerned, naturally. "lov- are you alright?" his worry only grew when he heard no response, but it ebbed with a chuckle when he saw you were already fast asleep in his arms, snoozing without a care in the world.

"a husband, hm? whoever it is, he must quite be the gentleman..."

ALHAITHAM knew his night was fated to end in idiocy the moment you knocked on his door.

it didn't even strike him that you were holding wine, of all things, when you waltzed into his house like it was your own. sure, it wasn't as if these occasions weren't frequent, but really anyone would be surprised to glance up from a quiet reading session only to see their (annoying) lover pressed against the door, repeatedly calling out his name in a sing-song, satire-like voice.

like... calling a cat. it was a realization he made with not too much contentment. silently, he thanked the archons that kaveh was not home — they knew that he could not handle the both of you.

it was only when you sat down at his table, where he'd been reading up to the point when you barged in, that he noticed. green-tinted glass, a little wind motif on the front... dandelion wine from mondstadt. now, just how did you get your hands on that?

"connections," you had stated. with a note of pride, he might add. what, was he supposed to congratulate you on being able to talk to other people? even he, a person who generally hated people, could do that.

ah, but he didn't hate it. your voice, that is, when you rambled on for hours on end. he didn't have the heart to interrupt you, especially when you were so heated on a topic — be it work troubles, an especially annoying sailor, or you accidentally dropping your pita pocket into the water when walking along the port, he didn't mind.

"...mmbottle. haaithammm, the bottle..." your drunk complaints reach his ears, and he his irritation is more so disrupted with inward amusement as he watches you in the predicament you've landed yourself in.

"the bottle?" he questions, raising an eyebrow. his hands are crossed over his chest; he's clearly getting a ruse out of this. "just what would you need the bottle for, love?"

your eyebrows scrunch together. he can tell your brain is working at its max capacity. "...im. thirsty?"

"you've already drunk two thirds of this bottle." he holds said bottle high above your head, hopelessly far from your reach. "if you're so thirsty, drink water."

"i don wanna."

"..."

"just... one drop?"

"hah..." he pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply, and places a hand on your shoulder. you barely react, and don't even glance at the sudden weight. "love, you're staying over. you're going to bed."

"bed...?" horror crosses your face, paired with evident irritation. "y...you, who do you think you are, to suggest such things!?" your face is bright red, and you're hugging yourself with one arm and pointing an accusing finger towards the male with the other. "i have a husband!!"

ah. "...what's his name?"

"and why do youuuu want to know?" you narrow your eyes suspiciously at him, but seem to come up with an answer to your own question, for you answer him anyhow. "haitham."

"do you love this 'haitham'?" alhaitham's enjoying himself. when he teases the sober you, all you do is retort back, but now... he can see your flustered expression on full display as you stammer out an answer.

"o-of course! a-and, if you wanted to know, he's waaaaay handsomer.. than ... you..."

just like that, you topple over and sink into the couch, knocked unconscious. a trace of a smile crosses alhaitham's lips as he looks at your sleeping form.

"fortunately for you, this 'haitham' you speak of loves you too."

(a/n) bye i was gonna add kaveh to this one too but i realized oh fuck its white day i said id post a month ago what the fuck am i doing so i just like regurgitated this out and spat it onto your dashboard. ahodfjlds

tags (id paste the aesthetic thing but i cant find it so we're just gonna roll w this):

@manager-of-the-pudding-bank, @iamdedinside, @ilyuu, @ @falors, @swivy123, @scara-is-my-wife, @lupicalbestwolf, @justyoureader,@fiannee, @aether-darling, @ceneid, @avensuersa, @solxima

#★ ˎˊ˗ mondaymelon #astronetwrk #x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin fanfic #genshin imagines #genshin x you #genshin x reader #childe #alhaitham x reader #childe x reader #tartaglia x reader #al haitham x reader #genshin impact fluff #alhaitham #xiao #xiao x reader #genshin xiao #haitham x reader #x gn reader #genshin oneshots #genshin impact x you #genshin fanfiction #genshin impact imagines #genshin headcanons #fanfiction #fanfic #reader insert #help its been so long how do i tag this again

[monicahar]

“what are you doing?”

you comically cower behind his back even further.

“hiding.”

“...why?”

“because there's a flipping lion in the room with us, JING YUAN. that's what.” you snap back angrily.

if you're wondering how you got into this predicament—it's not that far from being akin to a kidnapper leading on a child with sweets and delicacies.

under the guise of work and a few promised cuddles, he had made you follow his steps into his home—now with you glued to his body like it's your own lifeline. the snow-white lion snugly lies down by the only exit of the room you're both occupying—having just introduced herself when it came to jing yuan for a few pets, scaring the bejeebers out of you when its fur had grazed the back of your thighs all of a sudden.

the lion only shows confusion yet complies when jing yuan coaxed her to go away for a few moments. in other words—for you to take a breather.

in response to your much evident suffering and growing impatience, a mirthful laugh escapes him, craning his head to look at you over his shoulder to throw you a small mischievous grin “it's just my cat. i don't see the problem.”

“that's fully grown lion, you scoundrel!” you hit his back weakly, whisper-yelling as if said lion would attack you if you spoke any louder. “a-ah...it's looking at me weirdly. it's definitely thinking of how delicious i am!”

“mimi is very gentle. i doubt she's thinking of such a thing.”

you sink further in his shadow when the lion catches your wary gaze with a tilt of its head. “jing, please. it may like you, but i doubt that a territorial species would enjoy having a stranger around its person bubble.”

“you're free to leave anytime, darling. i'm not forcing you to stay.” he says coyly.

“with how your adorable little mimi is standing right by the door—i doubt i can leave of my own accord.”

“so you think she's adorable? good to hear that.” oh, now he has selective hearing?

“jing yuan. please.” you kneel down and tug on his robes pleadingly, catching him off guard to the point he has now decided to fully turn towards you in mild surprise. “i really don't know how to deal with this! i don't dislike her or anything, i'm just super scared that she won't like me and would—”

“calm down.” your lover couches down before you, hand raising to pat your head. “she doesn't bite. i promise.”

“how are you so sure?” you question incredulously, ignoring the way your heartbeat quickens at his actions. “even if she's domesticated, she's still an animal that thrives on her own survival instincts.”

“dearest, would i really have taken in a pet if it was openly feral?”

“yep. you would.” you reply in a heartbeat.

his eye twitches in return.“ahem—okay, so as i was saying,” standing up to his full height, he stretches out a hand towards you, staring at you softly as he does so. “we both know i adore delicate and gentle things, [name]. mimi is exactly that—hence why i didn't mind taking her in and burdened you with meeting her.”

you raise a brow. he shrugs, opting to resign upon your obvious reluctance on the matter.

“truthfully, i wished to see my two favourite companions to bond and get along with my own two eyes,” he heaves an apologetic huff, a tad bit disappointed whilst you only stare in surprise, “but if you're really uncomfortable with it then i suppose i shouldn't force you.”

he helps you up with ease when you finally put your hand on his, hastily padding off the dust that was caught in your clothes upon kneeling down.

grasping your hand comfortingly to calm your nerves, you hate that it work flawlessly upon his touch.

“let's go?”

you were about to nod—until your gaze catches the lion's once more.

...pretty eyes.

snowmoon.

your heart clenches at the realisation.

“on second thought...” you trail off, watching as the mammal sits up in anticipation at your eye contact. jing yuan raises a brow at you, “i think i'll try interacting with her.”

he huffs out a deep chuckle, “really, you don't have to—”

“mimi?” you call out, leaning sideways to look past behind your lover's tall figure. he does the same, turning his head over his shoulder to look at the same direction you're fixated on.

the lion perks up, and starts walking towards you. you grin, but not before whispering back to jing yuan,

“if she actually bites me, we're breaking up.”

“no promises.”

you finally pat the lion's head after about an hour of excessive whining it'll bite you, finally havin found the courage to actually see it as a mere domesticated cat whilst glaring daggers at the owner.

“mimi...attack that bad guy.” you point at him, face still looking smug as ever.

“she won't listen to y—” said lion pounces on him.

idek what this is fiakehwjbsksbw i cant write no more man,,,,*/proceeds to make another jingyuan drabble in google doc

#jing yuan x reader #jingyuan x reader #honkai star rail x reader #hsr x reader #star rail x reader #honkai star rail #jing yuan #har❗fiction

[hihhasotherfixations]

Kinktober Day 12: Hate/Angry sex - Price x Reader

Kinktober Masterlist

CW: fem!reader, rough sex, oral (m!receiving), unprotected p in v, angry Price - though not at you

So, the reason these fics of the last few days are late are cause ‘twas my birthday! So I’m catching up now but I figured for my birthday day fic I’d go a little more out than usual, hehe. Enjoy Price using you to blow off some steam ;3

Word Count: 3468

Walking in through the door, John slammed it shut, an anger and vitriol radiating off of him that had you wide-eyed and silent in a second, sitting on the couch and watching him.

“John?” You asked, but it was like he didn’t even hear you as he kicked off his boots, dropping his bag with only a little too heavy a thunk before he stalked into the house, an angry frown on his face.

Immediately, he walked over to the liquor cabinet, pulling out a scotch and pouring himself a hefty glass, not even bothering with the ice he usually so meticulously put in whenever he poured himself a drink.

Leaning back on the couch, you looked at him, a worried look on your face. “John. Big bear.” You finally got his attention with the horrible nickname you only ever used to tease him, though this time, there was not a hint of teasing or mischief on your face, your brows pulled up in worry. “What’s wrong?”

Taking in the deepest breath you’d seen him take in a long time, it almost seemed as if he was trying to reel in his anger before he sighed out deeply, rounding the couch and crashing down into it right next to you, nearly sitting down on you and spilling his drink; though it was clear his mind was somewhere else as his face twisted up in frustration. “Fucking Norris thinks he can ground my team because he’s ‘higher rank’.” He spat, making air quotes at the end as he took off his hat and slammed it onto the coffee table.

“Whoa, hey, what happened?” You ask, placing your hand on his thigh, to which John started tapping his fingers into his knee.

“Colonel Norris – bastard that he is – decided to ground my team because of a mistake his men made while we worked together a month back. An op went wrong because of it and now he’s making it a whole case, trying to spin it on my team.” John seethed, his fingers stopping their tapping as he instead started bouncing his right leg, frustrated. “Because it’s being investigated, we’re not allowed to go out until it’s solved. But we had a fucking target right in our grasp-!” John sat up, his hand wringing an imaginary neck before he huffed out a frustrated breath, falling back into the couch as he covered his eyes with his hand.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” You frowned and John sighed deep, sitting straight to throw back half of his drink in one go, barely even reacting to the burn as it glid down his throat.

“We’re not getting this guy in our sights again. It took me three months to track him down and right as we were planning a mission to get him, Norris comes with this shit!” He hissed, partially turned to you now, just ranting to you. “And I’ve had problems with Norris in the past in Urzikstan but back then it could be excused by him simply following orders from higherup, but this time it’s completely him and I’m bloody done with this bastard!” He growled to you, a fire in his eyes that didn’t seem to want to die out anytime soon.

“Is there anything you can do?” You asked, hoping to diffuse the situation a bit though it had the complete opposite effect, firing John up even further.

“I already tried everything! I sent e-mails, told Norris in person to just hold it off for a week, spoke in meetings about it but this molded muppet used his rank to override any of my requests!”

Seeing he was not going to be stopping, you knew you had to do something.

“How the fuck am I supposed to do my job when he is coming in here during one of the most vital times happening in the last half a year?! For a thing we didn’t even do?! It’s ridiculous and I’m gonna-!” “John- John?” You stopped him mid-ramble, turning his face towards you. “You’re getting too worked up. You need to blow off some steam.” You spoke softly, watching him huff out a breath as he tried to reel himself in, realizing himself he was just throwing everything on you now.

“I know, but I really can’t be bothered. I’m not going to the gym and I’m through my cigars this month. I’m not doing anything else today, sorry Y/N but-“ “That’s not what I meant.” You interrupted him again.

At that, his brows furrowed in confusion and you shifted on the couch, leaning towards him and placing your free hand directly on his crotch, your lips centimeters away from his, causing his breath to hitch.

“Plenty of ways to blow off steam without leaving the house.” You whispered and John groaned, shifting as just your touch – palming him – had him turning hard ridiculously fast.

“Darling, it won’t be pretty.” He gasped softly, trying to keep his composure as he closed his eyes, his lips pressed in a tight line while he leaned forward to slowly place his partially drank scotch on the coffee table.

You however, leaned in and started peppering kisses down his neck while he moved back to lean properly into the couch, having deposited his drink. “I don’t need pretty. Seeing you so worked up is just doing things to me.” You admitted, continuing to palm his crotch, feeling his erection straining against the fabric of his uniform.

Groaning, John just threw caution to the wind, grabbing your hips and yanking you onto his lap, his mouth slamming into yours.

You barely had any time to squeak before it was a mess of teeth clacking and tongue, John wasting not a single moment to claim your mouth for himself while his hands went down and tightly grabbed your ass, squeezing.

Pulling your hips into his, he practically forced you to straddle him as he began to thrust up, rocking his bulge against your crotch desperately.

It rubbed straight against your clit, making your eyes flutter shut as you wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing back with fervour.

His hands wouldn’t stop groping your ass, running up and down the expanse of it before he released his right hand, using it to smack the flesh hard. “Take it off.” He commanded, barely breaking the kiss to say it, his teeth nipping at your lower lip.

“O-Okay.” You whispered, trying to catch your breath from the intensity and suddenness of the situation, only to get a firm squeeze to your rear again - you better hurry up.

Getting off his lap, you took off your pants, pushing them down and stepping out of them before looking at your husband.

His eyes were roving your thighs, his pupils blown out before he reached out and held you by the back of the thigh, right under your ass as he pulled you in. “Be good for me and take it all off.” He rumbled as he slid forward on the couch, leaning in to place his lips to the front of your panties, grazing his teeth across it and making you shudder.

“Yes, sir.” You whispered, getting an approving squeeze to your thighs as you then pulled your shirt over your head, unclasping your bra as well.

While you did that, John’s hands roamed up your ass, slipping under the fabric of your undies and up until he turned his hands around and gripped the fabric, bunching it up before tearing it off your ass, leaving you completely naked as he simply dropped it to the floor.

Gasping as he ruined your panties and threw them, you didn’t even have time to protest as John locked his arms under your ass and lifted you as he got to his feet, starting to carry you to the bedroom.

“God, you’re exactly what I need right now.” He murmured against your stomach, his beard rubbing across your skin, making you close your eyes.

“Use me however you want.” You whispered, one of your hands tangling in his hair, making the man groan softly.

“Are you sure, love?” He asked, kissing your stomach while he kicked open the bedroom door, only half an eye used to navigate his way around the house.

“Positive.” You smiled and a little growl left the man.

Before you knew it, you were dropped onto the bed, your husband crawling over you with intent. Yet before he could fully eclipse you, you placed your hand against his chest, stopping him.

“What?” He grumbled, clearly unhappy by being stopped but you just smiled.

Seeing the sly look in your eye, John narrowed his own, trying to deduce what you were planning as you slowly moved out from under him, sitting up while he followed until you lowered yourself off the bed and down onto the floor.

“Thought I could do what I wanted.” He challenged, his chest deeply moving up and down, betraying how worked up he actually was.

“I’m just here to help you along.” You grinned, moving between his legs as you then reached for his belt, starting to unbuckle it, never breaking eye contact as you opened his pants.

As you moved to pull the clothing down his hips, he gripped your wrists. “No, darling. If you want to suck it, you can. But I’m in control. Understood?” He asked, dropping your wrists to instead fish himself out of his underwear, hard and leaking a drop of precum.

Swallowing softly, you couldn’t take your eyes off of his cock, a low chuckle leaving the man when he noticed. Reaching out, he placed his left hand on the back of your head, pulling you closer while his right hand gripped the base of his shaft, angling it towards your lips.

Without complaint, you parted your lips and took him into your mouth, immediately starting to suck.

Feeling that, John let his head fall back as he groaned, slightly rocking his hips. “Fucking hell-“ He hissed and you smirked around him, making the brunet snap his head down to you. “Don’t get cocky.” He warned and you innocently looked up at him, hollowing your cheeks as you sucked, taking him a little deeper into your mouth.

Groaning, his brown furrowed in irritation as he clenched his jaw, his hand tightening in your hair as he then pulled your head down, making you take him even deeper.

Getting the reaction you were hoping for, you moaned around him, sucking as you bob your head, John helping you by beginning to move your head up and down, clicking his tongue to try and stay quiet when he felt your tongue swirling around him.

“God, keep that up.” He grunted, starting to lightly buck his hips up into your mouth while he pulled your head up and down.

Closing your eyes, you just relaxed your throat, letting John begin to fuck your mouth as he shifted to sit on the edge of the bed, his hips beginning to speed up.

Almost as if a switch flipped, John groaned as he began to lose himself, leaning forward over you as he thrusted into your mouth, moving deeper and deeper until you gagged, spit gathering at your lips as he continued to move, pleasure curling through him.

Reaching out, you placed your hands on his thighs, doing your best to stay put, tears in your eyes as he became more and more vocal, pushing past your gag reflex.

His hips eagerly pumped into your throat, his tip hitting the back of your throat as you drooled around him, both of his hands cradling your head, pulling you down onto his cock in time with his thrusts.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum-“ John choked out, abruptly pulling out of your mouth, making you gasp for breath while he panted, his left hand holding the base of his cock, almost as if he was stopping himself from climaxing.

“J-John-“ You whispered but his right hand moved from holding onto your hair, down to your chin.

“Get on the bed.” He ordered through his pants.

Wiping the spit away from your mouth, you nodded and slowly got up, climbing onto the bed while still trying to catch your breath.

Grunting softly, John shifted onto the bed again, spreading your legs as he then spit onto his fingers, reaching down to rub through your folds, only to find you absolutely dripping.

“God, you love me being rough, don’t you?” John huffed, spreading your slick onto his fingers as he then pushed two fingers into you, making you whine.

“Y-Yes.” You mumbled, blushing. Though he always held an air of dominance in the bedroom, John never truly lost himself, always being just a little too careful for your liking whenever he went onto the rougher side.

Pumping his fingers in and out of your cunt, John growled softly, his eyes dark and intense. “You want me to fuck you then? Blow off steam?”

“Properly, yeah.” You whispered, taking in a sharp inhale when he scissored his fingers in response, a slight burn appearing as he stretched you out just a little too fast, needing to be inside you but wanting to prepare you at least a bit. “Leave it.” You gasped, John tilting his head, still scissoring his fingers.

“It’ll hurt, darling.” He growled softly, leaning down to bite at the sweet spot on your neck he knew by heart.

“I want it to.” You mumbled, grabbing his hips and pulling him down, making John huff.

“So you’re working against my command now too? Not even letting me prepare you.” He grunted, still moving along with you as he rubbed his cockhead through your folds, spreading your arousal on it as he clenched his jaw. At his words, you nodded as you bit your lip and the brunet growled. “Very well.”

With that, he pushed into you, not waiting or letting you adjust like normal as he instead shoved in to the hilt, groaning as he felt your heat envelop all of him, his eyes closing as he paused.

Opening his eyes, he then looked at you. “You asked for it.” He spoke lowly, the gravel in his voice twice as prominent as he began to move, his hands shooting down to your hips to hold you down; no easing into it as he began to rapidly pump into you.

Gasping at the burning stretch, you threw your head back, whimpering out a moan as your husband began to fuck you, his hips slapping into yours as he took you with short and quick thrusts.

“My team disobeys me, my superiors sabotage my mission, and now my own wife won’t even let me take care of her properly.” John hissed, a fire burning in his eyes as his thrusts intensified, strokes long and deep.

Your walls clenched around him as you moaned, a flush to your face from the anger and irritation radiating from him as he pounded into you, keeping you pinned down to the bed as you tried to buck away from him and into him at the same time. 

“Stay still.” He growled, the sound of skin slapping echoing in the room as he kept you down on the bed, his tip pushing into your g-spot with every thrust.

“Fuck-“ You gasped, making John groan as he moved, his eyes half-lidded as he could feel every ridge of your cunt, wrapped so tightly around his shaft, rubbing into him as he pushed in and out of you.

“That’s right, take it.” He hissed, his left hand moving up to squeeze your breast while the fingers on his right dug into the side of your ass. “Just like that.” He praised, his voice still rough as he leaned his face back into the crook of your neck.

“John-“ You gasped, only for him to sink his teeth into your skin. “Shut it.” He grunted, bucking his hips into yours in a frantic pace, his cock hitting deeper because of the new angle, rutting into your cervix and making you cry out.

Feeling the entrance of your womb, a loud groan escaped the brunet, his tip bashing into it repeatedly, sending waves of pleasure and slight pain through you, making you moan out more.

“Fuck, you feel good.” The man grunted directly into your ear, making you whimper.

Huffing, he couldn’t take it anymore, pulling back from your neck to tear his shirt from his body, throwing it off the bed and allowing you to see the hair dotting his torso, leaning down into the v-line and happy trail connected to his cock currently thrusting deep inside you.

Groaning, John pushed his pants and underwear down his thighs, not willing to stop fucking you just to take it off, simply accepting it as he felt relief washing over his sweaty body, no longer completely cooking in his clothes.

Seeing his chest bare before you, you whined and reached out, running your hands down his pecs, feeling the coarse hair on his chest, hiding the scarred, warm, soft skin underneath. As you trailed further down, your lip between your teeth, John suddenly grabbed your wrists, swiftly pushing them down above your head.

“Did I say you could?” He growled, punctuating his words with a hard thrust, making you moan out. “Stay put.” He huffed, holding your wrists down with one hand while his other moved to your waist, holding you down while he slammed his mouth to yours, his chest pushed into you.

Whimpering into the rough kiss, your eyes rolled back as heat grew in your abdomen, feeling him fuck into you, your toes curling as he bottomed out with every thrust.

Pounding roughly, John was huffing against your lips with every thrust now, sweat gathering on his brow and running down his back, causing a sheen on his skin mirrored on your own, the exertion and pleasure coming to a head.

“John, please-“ You moaned, your legs weak and trembling, feeling your head start to go light as the heat spread, your walls clenching slightly around his shaft.

“I know, shit-“ John groaned, rutting into you with fervour as his cock began to twitch, feeling you clench around him.

Whining out a moan, you clenched your eyes shut as you arched your back, John moving his lips from your lips down the center of your throat, his teeth nipping and biting as he groaned out a moan of his own, trying to stave off his orgasm as he slowed down his thrusts, getting rougher.

“Fuck, please!” You cried out for him, only for his thumb to descend onto your clit, making you moan loudly as your back fully arched, your cunt tightly clenching down on him.

Feeling that, John moaned, his cock twitching while you came around him, your walls spasming and squeezing tightly, making him groan out low and desperate, his hips bucking as he continued to rub your clit, stretching out your orgasm.

“Good girl, good girl-“ He panted like a mantra, his hips bucking quick and sharp into you, your pussy so greedily taking him in, your arousal coating his entire shaft and leaking down your thighs.

Whimpering out as you came down from your high, John thrusted just a few more time before moaning low in his throat, shoving deep into you, filling you up completely before he released himself inside your walls.

His cum, thick and plentiful, spurted into you, making you whine out at the feeling of it splashing against your walls, your entire body flushed as you panted, exhausted and spent, your throat and voice raw.

“Bloody hell.” John panted, staying inside you as he lowered himself onto you, his arms on either side of your face holding him up while he tried to catch his breath. “Are you okay?” He mumbled after a moment, pressing kisses to the apples of your cheek.

“Never better.” You panted out, letting out a short and light chuckle before you reached an arm up and placed it onto his cheek. “Are you?”

Leaning into your palm, his eyes finally seemed to have calmed the storm, instead holding a loving look towards you. “Definitely a lot better.” He smiled.

Carefully, he rolled onto his side, taking you with him, refusing to pull out as he pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you.

“I love you.” He murmured, kissing the top of your head.

“I love you too.” You replied, closing your eyes as you snuggled into him. “If you’re ever angry, you know where to find me.” You teased and John let out a rumbling laugh, kissing the top of your head again.

But then again, he was definitely considering on taking you up on that offer.

#hih kinktober 2023 #john price x reader #captain john price #captain john price x reader #john price #price x reader #captain price smut #john price smut #captain price x reader smut #captain price x reader #price x reader smut #not edited

[uplatterme]

love bites ♡

—cannibalism, s&m dynamics, bondage, blindfold, ball gag, double penetration, toys | dom!reader/sub!aether, s!reader/m!aether, reader is not gender-specified but does penetrate, aether's genitals are referred to with both cunt and cock (it is mentioned he has two holes + a cervix, but i didn't intend for him to be afab/intersex i just wrote ig?) —this is short. it's been in my drafts because i wanted to add more but i think this is fine tbh.

The ground below Aether is entirely soaked with his fluids. Both of his holes are filled, being controlled by the remote in your hand. It’s currently at a steady rhythm, but that doesn’t stop him from whining.

Aether’s head tilts back, a muffled groan erupting from his throat as another hit from your whip laid against his bare skin.

His steps staggered on the floor, only able to stand up with the tip of his toes as his wrists were tied too high to the ceiling, his short stature being barely even able to touch the ground with his feet.

It’s only been a couple of minutes or so, maybe an hour? He couldn’t tell accurately with the gag and blindfold numbing most of his senses so that he’d only focus on the pain you were giving to his rear.

The room was quiet except for the occasional screams and hitting, or the liquid that squirts onto the floor as Aether moans loudly onto the ball gag.

It was never easy whenever your jealousy took over you…but it was definitely fun. Especially for the immortal star whose skin was starting to bruise.

“They don’t deserve you.” Your voice rings in his ears.

“You don’t need to think of them, just focus on me.”

You take off the gag, dropping it mindlessly as it clatters on the ground. Next followed the blindfold, and though his eyes were stained, that didn’t take away from their shine.

With ease, you pull out the vibrator in his front. His wetness leaves a trail as you easily pull it out with how wet his insides are.

Aether flinches at the way he’s suddenly left feeling empty.

Although that doesn’t last long as that’s when he feels you stretching his hole, filling him tightly until he’s squirming onto nothing, unable to hold himself or even crawl away.

“If I can’t keep you in here, I suppose I’ll just leave enough marks so everyone knows who you belong to.” 

Aether whines at the prospect. He knows it’s a useless threat, especially with how he heals much faster than humans. Stil, he did appreciate the—Oh.

A loud scream leaves the outlander’s throat dry.

“Hnnghh—Aahh…Haah!”

His entire body shakes from the pain, his movements causing you to go deeper into him. A cry leaving him from feeling everything all at once.

He did not expect you to do that.

“S-So mean…” He breathes out, watching the blood from his shoulder drip down his body. Yet there’s a matching red blush on his face, as if what you did was something all normal couples do.

“You taste good.” You compliment, the torn flesh going down smoothly as you swallow.

Aether’s face leans towards you as if asking for you to share what his own body tastes like. Your lips close together, his tongue grasping the remains from you biting a part of his collar. He’s never tasted himself before, though that thought was always something he was curious about, the only problem was that he was too much of a coward to do it.

You two continue kissing, you pressing deep into his cervix, the pain coursing through him as he matches your rhythm.

“You’re so cheesy…” He states after he finally pulls back.

“What else am I supposed to do if you keep healing through all the marks I make? Hopefully, this one lasts more than a week.”

“It will…Maybe, you can just bite me again to be sure…” He suggests.

“This is supposed to be your punishment, you know?” You remind him, though it’s difficult to stay mad with the kind of faces that he pulls against you.

“It’s not my fault you get jealous easily.” He refutes.

“I don’t.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Aether says, smiling as he snickers a laugh which quickly gets cut off when you continue thrusting into him again.

“You speak when I tell you to.”

He doesn’t get to argue this time, his mind too focused on the way he’s getting penetrated so deeply. He’s forced to take each pounding, each inch that rubs against his walls sending him closer to another orgasm. His choked-up sounds continue to leak out with the thought of you being so possessive of him.

Your hands reach his cunt, his swollen cock begging to be touched. And so you fulfill that wish, earning another whimper when you slap his cock.

He’s so out of it. He loves how his body feels so much of a wreck, his sweat mixing with blood, and eventually with his cum.

He pants, his hands still tied up. His entire body trembles, the feeling of you pulling out is so agonizing itself. He wants to keep you in, he needs it. He has to take advantage of you as he doesn’t know how long until he can experience this high again.

So with a shaky voice, he asks.

“More?”

#plattered writings #sub aether #aether x reader #genshin aether x reader #sub genshin impact #sub genshin #genshin impact smut #genshin smut

[xxblairexxss]

Who are you? p.2

Pairing : Charles Leclerc x reader

Theme : Fluff, I think

Word count : 2.9k

Warning! Poorly translated French

Part 1 Part 3

It was your second time meeting the country’s gem boy but it surely wasn’t a smooth one.

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"I’m gonna put you here. Oh my God! I’m so excited!” You squealed and dipped your hand into the large box of new clothes that had just been delivered. Linda was all ready for your little haul, like she always was while putting her face mask on. "I bought this dress!"

"It’s so cute! Try it on!”

"What? Right now?" You were in jeans and a crop top, waiting for your VIP driver to pick you up as promised or as you were forced to agree two days ago. You didn’t know if he was the right on time person or someone who never bothered to check the time, so you got yourself ready for the day early because you surely couldn’t survive another round of humiliating yourself in front of the country’s precious gem again.

"There’s like 20 minutes left. He’s not going to knock on the door any second. Quick, try it on! I want to see how it is on you!” Linda assured.

"Fine. Give me a second.” You took out the dress from the packaging, stripped yourself until you were left in your underwear, and slipped the dress on.

It was pretty, as you pictured it would be but it was tight. Too tight.

You definitely picked the wrong size that you couldn’t even walk properly in it.

"Damn! You look good!” Your best friend’s eyes widened as you walked into the frame, completely ignoring your suffocating expression. "Why is the upper part a little loose?"

"I picked the wrong size! I can’t even zip up the back.” You whined and tried to reach the zip part. "Oh, I got it.” You pulled it up, roughly three quarters from the full length, and gave up when it put you out of breath. "Nah, it’s too tight."

"It looks so freaking beautiful! You would be getting all eyes if you ever wore that in public!"

"Only after I change it to the right size because now—oh no." You frowned, tugging on the zipper a little harder. It won’t budge.

"What? Y/N, what?"

"It’s stuck!" You cried and tugged on the zipper again. "What am I supposed to do?"

"How can you get stuck in the dress?” Linda, being the most amazing friend you could ever ask for, burst out laughing.

"It’s not funny! I need—" You whirled your head towards the door as the bell rang. "Fuck! He’s here. What should I say?"

"Ask for his help!” Linda suggested as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"He can’t see me looking like this! Are you kidding me? Talk to you later.” You ended the call before she went into another round of laughter as the bell rang once again.

"Hey?" Charles tilted his head, brows arched as you opened the door with the chain on, which only allowed him to see you from the small gap. "Your appointment is in 5 minutes."

"I’m going with someone else. Sorry for troubling you.” You moved your face away as if the door would hit you when he pushed the door back.

"I thought you had made an agreement with Charles Monaco?”

"I don’t have time for a joke!” You shut him up and groaned. "I can’t go out like this."

"Like what? What is the problem this time?"

"Like this!" You whined.

"In case you didn’t realise, I can only see your head. What do you actually want to show me?” He heard the chain went loose as you closed the door.

"This.."

Charles stepped back when you opened the door all the way, much wider this time, revealing your little dress that grasped every curve of your body. "Dang, you tryna hit the club with that sprained wrist?"

"No, I’m going to punch that pretty face of yours." You stepped aside as he walked in. Just like everyone else’s first time being in a new area, he started looking around, waiting for you to elaborate further on your problems. You, on the other hand, were unable to look at him or bring up the topic, though it felt like you were going to faint anytime soon for the lack of oxygen.

"So? Your problem is?” He took another glimpse of you before checking his watch. "There’s no sense of urgency in that gorgeous body of yours, I see."

You locked your gaze on your feet and mumbled. "I’m stuck.."

"You what?" His brows were drawn closer, frowning at you.

"I’m stuck in this dress!” You squeezed your eyes shut, preparing yourself for the humiliation that was about to come.

"How the heck did you get stuck in the dress?" Charles wanted to laugh, and he knew you knew he was going to make fun of you too, but seeing you in the dress with your wrist secured in a bandage wrap made him feel bad. "Turn around. Let me see."

"Go ahead." You looked up and glared at him.

"Go ahead, what, silly? I’m trying to help you." He stood there like a statue, waiting for you to turn around because there was no way he would move to your back. He was nearly charged with an attempted murder two days ago, and he definitely didn’t want to take another leap in the dark. And he just met you. No woman would be comfortable enough to show the back of her body to a random guy.

"Go ahead and laugh at me."

"I don’t have time for a laugh, Y/N. We are late! They kept spamming my phone with calls. Just turn around.” He sighed.

You pursed your lips, gathering your hair in one hand as you turned your back on him, waiting for him to fix the zipper.

Charles was astounded. His hands went a little clammy as he saw your half-bare back. The way the body line became more obvious as you moved your arms even by a little bit, stunned him.

"Quit staring!"

"Oh, sorry." He muttered and took a step forward. The zipper was indeed stuck at the spot, as he had to tug on it a little hard to move it down. "Is this okay?"

You just wanted to dig a hole to hide yourself. Nothing could mortify you more than this. Not only did you not recognise the country’s athlete, he was here in your house with your exposed back for him to see. You felt his touch on your back as he pulled the zipper down and had to pray that you weren’t sweating from it. "Yeah, that should be fine. Let me just take this.” You turned around and quickly picked up your jeans and top that you had worn before and scurried to your room to change.

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

"We should be able to take your bandage off in two weeks! Until then, please take the medicine if there is any discomfort. If it lasts more than 2 days, give us a call or just come here for a further check-up."

"Oh! Can you.." You took out your phone and went to the notes. "..change the phone number to this one? It’s mine, so it should be easier.” You grinned and handed the phone to the staff.

"No." Charles took the phone away before it reached the staff’s hand.

"What is wrong with you? I’m so sorry. I don’t know this guy and why’s he acting like this.” You sent a glare to the driver and smiled again towards the staff. "Can you just use this phone number, please?” You took the phone back and handed it back, only for it to be in Charles’ hand again.

Your mouths were wide open as he proceeded to speak in French to the staff, completely ignoring you as if this didn’t have anything to do with you at all. The staff nodded and took the phone in his hand as he handed it back to you right away.

"What did you say to her?” You finally asked as you got into the car, after being stopped ten times by his fans for autographs and pictures.

"Oh, I told her she could remove my phone number and proceed with everything in the future with yours.” He arched a brow and smirked, which made you pull your face. "What are you doing?"

"It seems like everyone wants to take a picture with you. I should take my chance too!” You brought up the phone, angled it to where you and Charles were in the frame, and clicked on the snap button. "Gotcha!"

"You need to pay for that.” He turned the engine on and pulled on his seatbelt.

"Yeah, right. Don’t try to scam me. You didn’t ask for money from the fans earlier”. You stared at the picture you just took and cackled at his expression.

"That’s because they asked for my permission. You didn’t. They could sue you."

"Funny!" You pulled the seatbelt as the car started to move and waited for him to pull a face, but he didn't, so your lips went into a straight line. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Yeah. Do I look like I’m playing around?” He turned the blinker on before turning right.

"Do I still get sued if I just keep the pictures on my phone?”

"No, I don’t think so. I can ask my manager about that.” He tilted his head to the right and bit his lips to keep himself from laughing as he saw you gripping your phone with the picture on the screen.

"I’ll just keep it in my photo album. Wait, where are we going? You missed the turn! My apartment is there!”

"Relax! I know!" He kept his gaze forward and proceeded in a straight line.

"Then why aren’t you turning around? I’m calling the police.”

"And tell them what? Charles Monaco is kidnapping you? They won’t do anything.” He turned the blinker again and headed left; your apartment was no longer in sight as he went further away. "You owe me something. Remember when I told you I was in a rush after accidentally hitting you? I had a haircut appointment."

"So we are going to a hair salon? I haven’t been to one since I moved here.” You touched the part of your hair with your free hand while keeping your gaze on the window.

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

Charles pulled the door open, allowing you to walk in first as he followed behind. The place was spacious, neat, and decorous. It reminded you a lot of your local hair salon. There were a few people inside getting their hair done, with a few workers walking by.

"Boujour! Est ce que je peux vous aider?" (Hello! Can I help you?)

"Um.." You turned around, waiting for him to take over.

Charles walked all the way to the hairdresser as she hugged him and kissed him on both cheeks. The middle-aged woman then looked over to you and gave off a smile as she said something, as if asking the guy to take a seat while she walked back to get something.

You quickly made your way to Charles and tiptoed to whisper in his ear. "Is she your fan too?"

He looked at you and chuckled. "No, she’s my mom.”

"Are you being real? Stop joking around!”

He twirled the chair around and shrugged. "I’m being serious! She gave birth to me, Y/N."

"Oh.." You breathed out. The woman came back, and you stepped aside as she started working on the haircut while you took a seat on the couch at the back where you were facing them and still within the radius where you could hear them talk, though you didn’t understand anything except for the constant repetition of this one word.

"Elle pensait que je m'appelleais Charles Monaco." (She thought my name was Charles Monaco)

"Vraiment? D’où vient Charles Monaco?" (Really? Where did Charles Monaco come from?)

"Je ne sais pas, mais c’est mignon." (I don’t know but it’s cute)

For the next 20 minutes, you had been playing a game where you had to match the colours of the items together and hit the goal in order to go up to the next level. It was very distracting that you lost track of time and managed to go up to 50 levels ahead until he called your name.

"Making yourself at home? Should I pick you up tomorrow?” He laughed as you quickly stood up and walked over to him. "I’m just kidding."

"Charles!" His name was called out and you tilted your head,nodding at the older woman as she approached both of you with something in her hand. "Ceci est pour vous." (This is for you)

She handed you a small bag full of cute hair clips and kept on patting your arm as she said something to her son. "Ramenez-la à la maison en toute sécurité." (Bring her home safely)

"Thank you so much for these!”You grinned and turned to see that he was looking at you with a smile plastered on his face.

"Take care! Come if you need any haircuts, love!” She hugged you before making her way to treat her other customers as you left the store and headed back to the car with him.

"Oh my God, it’s so cute!" The soft pink hair claw caught your attention the most, so you picked it out and wrapped your hair around it, making your hair into a bun while looking at yourself through the sun visor. "It’s so cute, isn’t it?"

"You look cute with your hair up. Anyway, sorry for dragging you all the way here." He muttered.

"Give me a second. Where is it?" You frowned and dug your fingers inside the bag to find the matching pairs for the strawberry hair clips. "Oh, it’s okay! I got cute hair clips.” You shrugged it off and pin the matching clips to your face framing bang.

"I’m sending you off after this because I have a plan with my friends for dinner. Is it okay for you?” Charles found himself beaming at the sight of you trying every clip on, despite having your hand wrapped up in a bandage.

"What do you mean, is it okay for me? You are supposed to drop me off after your haircut.” The hair clips on your hair were taken off as you dropped them into the bag and left with just the hair claws to keep your hair up.

"Do you not have any plans with your friends?" He asked, picking a random topic to carry a conversation.

"Oh, I don’t have any friends in here.” You replied and played it off with a chuckle. Moving to a new country all on your own was such a new adventure for you that you barely had any time to find some new friends. Your mom kept on saying you weren’t able to find one because you kept on living in your own bubble, but how exactly did you start a friendship with someone who was never in the same school, class, or even neighbourhood with you? D9 you just go to their table and introduce yourself because surely no one would just barge their way into your life just to be friends? "You can just drop me there. I can walk my way up on my own because my hand is the one fully wrapped like a mummy. My legs are all safe and working very well." 

He chuckled as you gave a thumbs up before gathering your stuff in one hand and opening the door as he stopped by the side of the road.

"Are you sure you don’t need my help?"

"Yeup! All good. I don’t want to trouble you anymore.” You pushed the door closed and turned back to head to your apartment.

"Hey, Y/N?"

"Yeah?" Turning around, you bent down a little just to catch his gaze from inside the car.

"We are friends, right? I can be your first friend here in Monaco." 

"I’m not sure if you want to be friends with me. I’m not an athlete. I can’t even run 100 metres without dying.” You cracked a joke, but he wasn’t laughing along with you.

"I’m not just friends with athletes, silly. No one’s trying to challenge you to a 100-metre race."

"I’m not rich too.." You mumbled.

"Okay, I really want to know how your brain works because there is not a single hint of logic in everything you are saying right now. Do people in your country print out their bank statements first before accepting a friendship? No one’s flashing their wealth in here!"

You laughed at how frustrated he was. "Okay, sure! We are friends!"

"Which means I can text you, right?”

"Good luck in finding my phone number, Charles Monaco! Bye!" You waved and made your way back without looking back, thinking that would be the last time you would hang out with him again.

Without knowing he had your phone number saved on his phone with the help of the hospital’s staff earlier.

✧.* general tag list! @i83andrew @cltrlne @karmabyfernando @ohthemisssery @ru-kru @tastebaldwin @f1obessed @love4lando @shinrjj @ietss @leclerc13 @darleneslane @buckybarnessweetheart @xcinnamongirl @boiohboii @formula1mount @judespoision @alwaysclassyeagle @scenesofobx @mrsmaybank13 @vildetry06 @harriesgolden

✧.* tag list for p.2 @styles-sunflower @needtokeepfeelingsincheck @lexiecamposv

If your usernames were crossed, meaning I can’t tag you! Let me know if you would like to be removed or to be added to the tag list! Or if I missed anyone!

#charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc imagine #f1 imagines #charles leclerc #charles leclerc imagines #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #charles leclerc blurb #charles leclerc x y/n #charles leclerc fluff

[dizzycheetah96]

i’ve had this post in the drafts for like two months but with the release of poor things on hulu has come an uptick in really really bad poor things takes so here I am clocking in for the poor things discourse!!

while art is obviously subjective and can be interpreted like literally however you want blah blah blah etc. etc., I think a lot of the criticisms of poor things are pretty surface level and in the name of like performative anger and not genuine criticisms. will be addressing and commenting on the two biggest criticisms I’ve seen:

1. poor things portrays the born sexy yesterday trope

ultimately I think the film does enough to subvert the trope, and actually utilizes the trope as a vehicle to subvert it. what I think poor things is really doing is critiquing and commenting on how men seek out infantile and docile women as a means to exert control and assert their own self importance. these men then become disillusioned when said women gain intelligence, perspective, and experiences that don’t center them.

godwin, max, and duncan all sought to control bella in some way. they sexualize her, view her as an object, property, and an experiment. at the beginning of the movie, prior to bella leaving god’s house and exploring, we do get a bit of the traditional born sexy yesterday trope. but bella being who she is, she wanted more and she wanted to explore the world, grow, etc. this fundamentally changed the way these men interacted with her, and they were no longer infatuated by her innocence and curiosity, but saw her as threatening and something they needed to reign in and control.

first, when bella asks to leave the house and see the world, she is met with pushback from both godwin and max. when bella expresses her frustration, godwin fucking chloroforms her to get her to stop talking and fighting him. this pattern continues until bella leaves.

we saw this to an extreme with duncan. he noticed that bella was gaining intelligence and perspective, was threatened, and resorted to locking her in a trunk and literally fucking kidnapping her as an attempt to regain control. but after that, she continues to learn and grow. she meets new people who introduce her to philosophy and reading and intelligent conversation. this essentially brings duncan to his breaking point and he begins to mentally deteriorate.

2. all the sex was super gross bc bella developmentally had not yet reached the age of consent

people not grasping that bella having sex with all these men is SUPPOSED to make us uncomfortable is baffling. the depiction of this kind of relationship cannot be equated with endorsement. I actually think it was important that the audience know that at the beginning of the movie that bella had the brain of a child because it allows us to see how much duncan takes advantage of her. it also just further hammers home the critique of men preferring underdeveloped infantile women they can control, rather than independent intelligent women who challenge them.

I don’t necessarily have any problem with the movie depicting that bella enjoys having sex. discovering sexuality it is an ordinary part of adolescence (when she first starts masturbating I’m assuming she was like 12-14 developmentally) and ultimately what makes the lisbon scenes with her and duncan so uncomfortable is that we know that he knows he’s taking advantage of her. I do think it was intended to be uncomfortable for the audience to watch. she does not have the knowledge and understanding to know that the dynamic between her and duncan is very very bad, but she gets there eventually. I can’t fault her for in the moment not realizing what was happening to her.

but this is where my personal criticisms come in — once bella does learn how these men took advantage of her she does not fight back against them like I wanted her to. she isn’t outraged, she doesn’t tell them how violated she feels. duncan does get his comeuppance (which was hilariously played by mark ruffalo) but I think that max and godwin got off too easy. especially max who agreed to marry her when developmentally she was a child. I just don’t think she should have been so quick to forgive them.

I also just want to take a moment to discuss the common critique that “it’s so obvious this movie was made by a man like duh this is how men perceive what female empowerment is” etc. etc. this was actually addressed by emma stone in a conversation she had w olivia coleman — emma was a producer on the film and really feels like people are taking away her agency in deciding how to tell this story. she was an integral part in the production of the film, no one was demanding her to portray bella in a certain way, and ultimately what we see on screen is a product of her involvement in the filmmaking process. by reducing this to being a movie about how men perceive women you are completely removing and invalidating the women that actually had a say in how this story was told.

tldr; idk like obviously you can think whatever you want about it, but just don’t mistake depiction for endorsement and understand that sometimes the point of the movie is to make you feel uncomfortable. stories and narratives in fiction are complicated bc people are complicated!!!! we are messy and difficult and exploring certain topics in a fictionalized world allows us to better understand the world we live in. sanitizing ourselves of engaging with this kind of material will only hurt our ability to analyze and form opinions about contentious areas of life.

#poor things #*sigh* I am once again poor things posting #emma stone #yorgos lanthimos #poor things ily

[genshinluvr]

Another Small Problem

Pairings: Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader

Summary: After the first incident of your boyfriends turning into children (except for Zhongli and the newly added men to the harem), the men find themselves having to deal with another small problem that relates to the previous issue. You turning into a child.

Note: This is part 2 of "A Small Problem." Sorry it took me a while to make another part for "A Small Problem," I had a lot of things to do, and I didn't really get to plan the story out until way after the first part had been posted. My finals week is officially finished, and I have no idea how I did! I'm actually pretty scared because idk how I did, and I really hope that I did well 😭 anyway! I am officially on my winter break! >:D until I have to deal with the worst schedule for my winter quarter 🥹 Anyway, I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: None that I know of 🤔 Pierro is kind of mean to Itto and Itto got sad after it 🥺

Word Count: 11.4k

Read part one of Another Small Problem here: [A Small Problem]

You’re at the Harbingers’ estate, in Dottore’s lab, assisting him with one of his experiments with Albedo and Tighnari at your side. The three men are scattered around the blue-green-lit laboratory, scribbling down notes onto a sheet of paper and the other instructing what to add to the mixture. You stand to the side and let your eyes wander around the fascinating lab. You’ve been inside a few laboratories before but have yet to see a laboratory like Dottore’s lab at the Harbingers’ estate. The contrast between Albedo and Dottore’s lab is fascinating, and here you four are, inside Dottore’s lab, assisting Dottore with an experiment.

“Here, drink this,” Dottore says, handing you a glass vial that contains a turquoise-colored liquid inside of it. You reluctantly grab the glass vial from Dottore’s hands and lift it up to your face, your eyebrows knitted together with skepticism. 

You clear your throat. “What’s this supposed to be?” You ask, holding the glass tube beneath your nose to get a whiff of it. The liquid is unscented, but you’re worried about what it’ll taste like. Dottore looks over at Albedo, who takes his goggles off and lets them hang around his neck.

“I recall you wanted us to make an elixir that will help you focus on your studies. Therefore Dottore, Tighnari, and I have come up with this potion for you to drink that should make it easier for you to concentrate,” Albedo says.

You nod your head slowly and bring the glass tube up to your eyes to examine the liquid inside of it. You swirl the turquoise liquid in the vial and clear your throat quietly. “This better be flavorless because I just ate some delicious Liyuen dish, and I do not want it to come back up my throat,” you mutter. 

“It shouldn’t taste like anything, really. There’s a faint taste of mint and maybe a little bit of henna berry,” Tighnari says, peeking his head from between Albedo and Dottore’s shoulders. 

You continue to stare at the glass vial in your grasp, debating if you should take the elixir or use it whenever you’re studying. “Do I need to drink it now? Can’t I drink it whenever I’m studying?” You ask.

“We don’t know how long it’ll take for the elixir to kick in, so you might as well take it now,” Dottore says, crossing his arms behind his back as he, Tighnari, and Albedo waits for you to drink the experiment.

You nod your head before downing the liquid. You make a face and shiver when the elixir slithers down your throat. You hand the test tube back to Dottore and stare at the three men in front of you. “Now what?” You ask, rubbing your stomach when you feel your stomach heats up and tingle. 

“Now we wait!” Tighnari says.

Albedo looks over at you. “Again, we do not know how long it’ll take for the potion to kick in, so we might have to wait a while for the effects to show,” Albedo says. 

You look over at the clock on Dottore’s desk and notice that it’s almost ten in the evening. You stretch your arms in the air and clear your throat when you feel a burp coming up. “It’s getting late. I think we should stop the experiment for today. Hopefully, we’ll get our results by tomorrow morning,” you said.

You, Albedo, and Tighnari leave the Harbingers’ mansion, bidding the four Harbingers goodbyes before walking back to your estate. When the three of you walk into the estate, the rest of the men are already asleep in their bedrooms. The light in the living room was your, Albedo, and Tighnari’s source of light. You each bid each other goodnights before departing ways and walking to your bedrooms. You quickly change into your pajamas and brush your teeth, your eyelids beginning to feel heavy with each passing minute. You rinse your mouth, brush your hair and walk out of your bathroom, turning the lights off behind you. You collapse onto your bed and roll yourself into a burrito with your blanket and close your eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

Morning soon rolls by, and every person in the abode starts to wake up from their slumber one by one slowly. Diluc is in the kitchen brewing his coffee, leaning up against the counter while reading the Teyvat newspaper, his hair pulled up in a high ponytail. Zhongli enters the kitchen, dressed for the day; he fills the kettle with water and places it on the stove.

“Man, I slept like a baby last night!” Childe says, entering the kitchen with a bright smile on his face.

Diluc rolls his eyes. “Must be nice not to have to sleep in a bedroom that is close to someone that does snores in their sleep,” Diluc mutters, looking over at Itto, who stops in his tracks and gives the men a sheepish smile.

“Listen, if there’s a way for me to control it, I would! But guess what? I can’t control my snoring, okay?” Itto retorts, giving Diluc a dramatic pout with his arms over his chest.

Thoma walks into the kitchen and scratches his head, still tired from his sleep. Thoma yawns and walks to the refrigerator to pull a few ingredients out and places them on the counter beside the stove, waiting for Zhongli to make his cup of tea. 

“Has anyone seen [Y/N] today? I know they got back from the Harbingers’ estate late last night with Albedo and Tighnari, but both Albedo and Tighnari are awake,” Thoma says, opening the cupboard to pull out a pan, whisk, and spatula. 

The kettle begins to whistle; Zhongli grabs the handle of the tea kettle and pours the hot water into the teacup, waiting for the tea to steep. “It is the weekend. I’m assuming that [Y/N] has decided to take a day off from their studies to get extra sleep,” Zhongli murmurs, turning the stove off and placing the tea kettle off to the side. 

“If that’s the case, then that’s good to hear. [Y/N] needs to get more sleep considering they’ve been staying up late to study for school,” Diluc murmurs, pouring his coffee into his mug and blowing on the coffee, taking a small sip from it. Before any of the men could say anything else, a loud crash coming from upstairs startled the men, making them jump.

“What was that crash?” Childe asks. 

They trade looks before rushing out of the kitchen and heading towards where the loud crash came from. There stands Tighnari and Albedo, looking down at something, appalled. The glass tubes that once held a turquoise-colored liquid are now broken and shattered on the ground in front of Tighnari and Albedo. 

“What happened?” Cyno asks, walking out of his bedroom, his hair messy from his sleep.

Al Haitham and Kaveh look at the ground of shattered glass. “You’re going to need to clean that up before any of us steps on broken glass,” Al Haitham says, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a slow sigh through his nose. Tighnari and Albedo didn’t say a word. Instead, they continue to stare at the small bookcase on the second floor.

Kaveh cocks an eyebrow at Albedo and Tighnari. “What are you guys staring at?” Kaveh asks.

A tiny sneeze fills the silence. “Bless you,” Venti says, looking for the source where the sneeze came from.

“Thank you,” answered back a small voice.

Dainsleif grabs onto the back of Childe’s shirt and pulls him to whisper into his ears. “Is that a voice of a child?” Dainsleif asks, looking at Childe from the corner of his eyes. Childe slowly nods his head without answering Dainsleif’s question, his eyebrows narrowing as he stares at the small bookcase with scrutiny. 

Xiao slowly steps out from behind the men and approaches the bookcase; his jade spear materializes in his hands, and his grip tightens around the base of his polearm. “Reveal yourself this instant,” Xiao orders, glaring at the bookcase.

“Xiao, I don’t think we should be pointing weapons at anyone. Especially a child,” Baizhu warns, holding his arm out in front of Xiao. Xiao looks conflicted for a moment before hesitantly letting his polearm disappear in thin air. Baizhu walks towards the bookcase and kneels, peeking behind the bookcase. 

“Who’s behind the bookcase? The suspense is killing me!” Aether says loudly.

Heizou smacks Aether upside of his head and glares at Aether, shushing the blond man by pressing his index finger on his lips. “Keep your voice down, Aether! [Y/N]’s still sleeping, remember?” Heizou whispers loudly. 

“Should we go check up on [Y/N]?” Gorou asks, his eyes wide with concern. 

Kazuha shakes his head. “I don’t think we need to check up on them….” Kazuha trails off, not taking his eyes off where Baizhu is kneeling. Gorou gives Kazuha a questioning look, only for Kazuha to nod his head toward Baizhu’s direction. Gorou looks over at Baizhu; Baizhu stands up and turns around, holding a small child in his arms. The small child is wearing a t-shirt that is way too big for them; the child is staring back at the men with wide eyes that are filled with tears. 

“Who’s baby is that? Last time I checked, none of us got [Y/N] pregnant,” Scaramouche says, scratching the back of his neck while staring at the child nervously. 

Baizhu bounces the small child in his arms, a small smile on his face. “Everyone, this is [Y/N],” Baizhu says.

Thoma clears his throat and turns to the men. “It looks like we may or may not have another small problem on our hands,” Thoma says, laughing nervously.

“That’s [Y/N]!?” Aether exclaims, his eyes widening with shock, pointing his index finger at your tiny form. You cling to Baizhu before burying your face into Baizhu’s neck, tears wetting his neck. Baizhu chuckles and pats your back as you whimper into his neck.

Heizou laughs nervously, turning to look at Tighnari and Albedo. “Care to explain how [Y/N] turned into a child?” Heizou asks, propping both of his hands on his hips while waiting for either man to give him an answer. 

“Great! First, we turned into children, and now it’s [Y/N]’s turn to turn into a child,” Kaeya says, running his hands through his hair while examining your small trembling body. 

Ayato tilts his head to the side; a smile appears on his face. “So this is what [Y/N] looked like when they were a child,” Ayato mused; he crossed his arms over his chest as he watched you cling to Baizhu for dear life. You’re just too cute!

Childe walks up to you and Baizhu, squatting slightly in front of you. He gently pokes you to grab your attention. You peek from Baizhu’s shoulders and lock gazes with Childe. Childe gives you a smile and gently brushes your tears away.

“There’s no need to cry, [Y/N]. I know you’re scared and confused, and that’s okay! But the most important thing right now is to make sure you’re aware that you’re not who you originally were,” Childe coos. You blink away your tears and nod your head slowly, clinging to Baizhu tightly.

“I think the most important thing is to make sure that [Y/N]’s okay,” Xiao says, glaring at the ginger-haired Harbinger.

Venti giggles lightly and pats Xiao’s head. “I don’t think you should be making a scary face right now, Xiao. You’ll scare little [Y/N],” Venti coos, trotting over to you and rubbing the top of your head gently, trying his best not to scare you. 

“From what I can tell, [Y/N] is very well aware that they’re not in their original form. Being aged backward scared them, and they didn’t know what to do. Isn’t that right, [Y/N]?” Baizhu looks down at you, continuing to rub your back.

You nod your head shyly, loosening your grip around Baizhu’s shirt and flinching when Changsheng hisses softly and gets close to your face. You and Changshang stare at each other for a moment before you turn to look around helplessly, trying to find an escape route to get away from Changsheng. Even though you know that Changsheng isn’t going to harm you, your mind, which is now reduced to a child’s mind, sees the complete opposite. 

Gorou frowns, and his ears flatten on his head. “Aw, it seems like [Y/N]’s afraid of Changsheng,” Gorou says softly. 

Baizhu slowly places you down on the ground, and you stand there awkwardly. You make eye contact with Scaramouche before slowly making your way over to Scaramouche. Once you’re halfway across the room, you sprint towards Scaramouche, hoping to escape from Changsheng. Scaramouche kneels and opens his arms out wide; you run into his arms and cling to him, face burying into his chest. Scaramouche wraps his arms around your torso and stands up, fixing your bedhead. 

Itto stares at Scaramouche with his mouth agape. “Wow, I didn’t know that this little fella is fond of children,” Itto says. 

“Looks can be deceiving,” Kazuha whispers to Itto, who nods his head in agreement. 

“Why don’t we all go downstairs and get ready for breakfast now that everyone is awake? Albedo and Tighnari can pay the Harbingers’ a visit after breakfast to discuss the situation with [Y/N],” Zhongli says.

Everyone begins to slowly trickle to the dining room one by one while Scaramouche stays back with you still in his arms. Scaramouche looks down at you; you’re looking up at him with those wide eyes of yours, making him blush. 

“Have you brushed your teeth yet?” Scaramouche asks.

You shake your head in response. Scaramouche sighs softly and walks to your bedroom with you clinging to him tightly. You’re not much of a talker, are you? Scaramouche helps you brush your teeth and makes sure to brush the knots out of your hair. As for clothing, Scaramouche isn’t so sure about that considering all of your clothes are way too big for your current size, so you’ll have to parade around the estate in an oversized shirt for now.

Scaramouche hears your stomach growl; your face pinches up with discomfort, your tiny arms hugging your stomach. Scaramouche carries you out of your bedroom and down the stairs to the dining room, where everyone is waiting for the both of you.

“Ah, so this was the issue you two were talking about,” Pantalone says, eyeing your tiny body with mirth. Scaramouche glares at Pantalone and sits at the furthest part of the table, and sits down with you on his lap, looking around to see if there’s any temporary seat for you. What Scaramouche can recall is that last time, you mentioned to Zhongli about getting a high chair for those who turned into children, but you never got one because you assumed that the situation wouldn’t happen again; unfortunately, you were wrong. 

“I’m sure [Y/N] can still sit in their seat with a little assistance,” Dainsleif says.

Kaeya tilts his head to the side and looks at Dainsleif quizzically. “Oh? And what would that assistance be, Dainsleif?” Kaeya asks, taking a bite out of his pancakes. 

“We can make a temporary high chair for them by stacking their textbooks on the chair and letting them sit on it,” Cyno says, getting up from his seat and walking over to where your backpack is lying and pulling out five textbooks that are the same width of cinderblocks. Cyno places the textbooks down on the empty seat where you usually sit and adjusts it close to the table.

Scaramouche gets up from his chair and walks over to the empty chair that is occupied with your Akademiya textbooks. Cyno moves the chair back and lets Scaramouche place you down on the makeshift high chair, making sure that there’s no way for you to fall out of the seat. Cyno pushes your chair close to the table and pats the top of your head awkwardly. Usually, he would kiss the top of your head, but since your mindset has been reduced to a child’s mind, Cyno and the rest of the men are going to tip-toe around you.

“You three need to find the solution to the issue as soon as possible,” Pierro states, looking over at Dottore, Tighnari, and Albedo with a stern look on his face. 

Ayato huffs. “I’m sure they’ll find the solution in no time. After all, the last time this had happened, the effects only lasted twenty-four hours,” Ayato says, poking his breakfast with a fork.

“It better be within twenty-four hours because [Y/N] has a final presentation to do at the Akademiya,” Kaveh says, scooping up the scrambled eggs into his spoon and taking a bite out of it.

“Do you know the date of when [Y/N] will need to present?” Capitano asks.

Al Haitham nods his head. “I remember [Y/N] telling Kaveh and me that their presentation is on the seventh,” Al Haitham says, looking over at you. 

You reach for the fork and lift it to your face, staring at it with amazement, your mouth agape and eyes wide. Thoma walks over to your table and begins to slice the huge pancake into bite sizes, making it easier for you to eat without having to use a knife with those tiny hands of yours.

“And what day is it today, exactly?” Pantalone asks, looking around the estate for a calendar.

Pierro replies, “Today is the currently the fifth. Their presentation is in two days, and they need to change back to their original size before their presentation.” 

“Do you three think you can do that? Make the concoction and reverse the effects of the elixir that [Y/N] had ingested that landed them in this situation?” Capitano asks, looking over at Dottore, Albedo, and Tighnari.

Albedo nods his head. “If we get started on the experiment as soon as possible after breakfast to make the concoction to reverse the effects of the elixir that [Y/N] has taken, then we should have it ready by either tonight or early tomorrow morning,” Albedo says, stroking his chin.

“That is if we have the ingredients and plenty of time to make the concoction. The main issue is that we do not know how long it’ll take for the concoction’s effects to start kicking in to reverse what has been done to [Y/N],” Tighnari says.

Dottore crosses his arms over his chest. “Another issue that we’ll need to figure out is how long [Y/N] has been a child,” Dottore mutters.

“Let’s figure everything out once we’re done with breakfast,” Thoma says slowly, bringing his fork up to his lips and taking a bite of the slice of pancake.

While everyone is eating their breakfast, you’re struggling to eat your breakfast because of how clumsy you are. Due to you being a child around the age of three years old, your motor skills are lacking and clumsy, causing you to knock over a glass cup of water, spilling it all over the table. Silence falls over the table; everyone looks over at you with wide eyes, unsure of how you’d react. You end up mistaking their silence and reaction as a bad thing, so tears begin to flood your eyes, your bottom lips start to tremble, and you begin to let out small sniffles.

“No, no, no! Don’t cry! It’s okay!” Childe reassures you, quickly getting up from his seat and cleaning the spilled water off the table with a cloth napkin.

You begin to hiccup as you cover your face and wipe your tears messily. “‘M sorry,” you hiccup.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. There’s nothing to cry about,” Ayato coos, leaning towards you and wiping your tears away with his thumbs.

“I made an oopsie,” You whine, kicking your little legs with a deep frown on your face.

Itto gives you a sympathetic look. “It was an accident, onikabuto booboo bear. You didn’t do it on purpose,” Itto says softly, gently rubbing your back.

Aether clutches Heizou’s arms and bends over, clutching his chest with his other hand. “[Y/N] called it an oopsie. I’m going to cry; my heart can’t take this much cuteness,” Aether grunts.

“Just when I thought [Y/N] couldn’t get any cuter, they continue to prove me wrong,” Heizou says, pressing his hands to his chest with a pout on his face, trying to refrain himself from throwing himself at you and squeezing you in his arms.

Cyno strokes his chin while analyzing your pouting face. “This makes me wonder if their vocabulary changes as well,” Cyno murmurs to himself.

Kaveh looks over at Cyno. “Did you not hear [Y/N] call the accidental spill and ‘oopsie’?” Kaveh asks, propping his hands on his hips.

You cross your arms over your chest and let your fork clink on the ceramic plate loudly. You have an evident pout on your face, your cheeks stained with tears, your eyes bloodshot red from the crying you’ve done. 

“How about I feed you, hmm? You won’t have to worry about making an oopsie,” Scaramouche says softly, kneeling beside your chair.

Al Haitham’s eyes widen. “Oh? How sweet of you, Scaramouche,” Al Haitham crosses his arms over his chest with a small amused smile on his face. Scaramouche shoots a quick glare over in Al Haitham’s direction before turning back to look at you for a response.

You nod your head and throw yourself at Scaramouche. Scaramouche laughs softly and pats your head, placing you back down on your makeshift high chair. While Scaramouche was feeding you, Diluc couldn’t help but notice how your hair would get in the way whenever you were eating. Diluc finishes his breakfast before excusing himself to go to the kitchen to wash his plate.

“At least [Y/N] isn’t a picky eater. Children that are picky eaters are nightmares,” Kaeya says, watching you chew on your pancakes, your cheeks puffed up while Scaramouche and Zhongli gently tell you not to stuff too much food in your mouth or else you’d choke. You nod your head while slowly chewing on your pancakes, making sure not to rush or else you’d choke on the pancakes. Just when Scaramouche is going to feed you another slice of pancake, you shake your head and stare at the small piece of pancake on the fork.

“Oh? Are you full?” Baizhu asks.

You nod your head in response and place your hand over your tummy. “‘M full. No more pancakes,” you said softly.

“That’s okay! We’re happy that you ate breakfast today,” Gorou says, smiling at you happily. You look over at Gorou, and your eyes immediately light up at the sight of his ears. You point your dainty fingers in Gorou’s direction, slowly looking over at Zhongli and Scaramouche.

“It looks like [Y/N] is curious about Gorou’s ears,” Venti whispers, nudging Gorou lightly as he walks behind the general. 

“Careful now; children like to pull on things they can get their hands on,” Pierro says, cracking a smile as he watches you get off your seat with the help of Zhongli and Scaramouche.

You pout at Pierro and cross your arms over your chest. “I won’t pull, I promise,” you said. 

You waddle over to where Gorou is kneeling and stand on your tippy toes, reaching up for Gorou’s ears as he bows his head forward. Your tiny hands brush against Gorou’s ears before you let out a soft gasp. Gorou looks up at you through his lashes, a small smile on his face as he watches your eyes grow wide with awe.

“So soft,” You said, rubbing your fingers against the furs on Gorou’s ears. 

After petting Gorou’s ears for some time, you finally release Gorou’s ears and look at the men blankly. Gorou gets off the ground and ruffles your hair affectionately, a shy smile on his face. Once Diluc returns to the dining room from the kitchen, Diluc stops in front of you and kneels in front of you, gazing at you with the softest smile.

Diluc brushes your hair away from your face. “Do you want me to put your hair up to make sure your hair won’t make you feel itchy?” You look at Diluc and then grab at your hair, feeling it tickle against your flesh. 

You nod your head shyly at the redhead. “Yes, please,” you said politely. 

Diluc smiles and stands back up, holding his hand out for you to take. You grab Diluc’s hand and let him guide you out of the dining area of the estate. Once you and Diluc are out of earshot, the men begin talking amongst each other. 

“[Y/N] is a cute kid,” Pantalone says softly, finishing up his breakfast with a smile on his face.

“They’re….” Capitano trails off, unsure of how to finish his sentence, “they’re an anxious child, I notice,” Capitano murmurs, his eyes trailing over to where you and Diluc had exited. 

“Do we know much about their childhood? Perhaps they’re not an anxious child when they were in their world,” Dainsleif says slowly. 

Zhongli sighs and shrugs his shoulders. “Other than them having separation anxiety when they were a child, [Y/N] has never mentioned anything about their childhood,” Zhongli replies.

Xiao crosses his arms. “They probably didn’t mention it for a reason. They’ll tell us more about their childhood when they’re comfortable with it. Let’s not push them to talk about their past,” Xiao states.

The men nod their heads in agreement. The silence was soon occupied with the sounds of tiny footsteps running through the hallways on the second floor, small panting and giggles echo the estate.

“[Y/N], be careful. Don’t run down the stairs, or else you’ll fall,” everyone in the living room hears Diluc say.

“Sorry,” you reply meekly.

Diluc holds his hand out for you to take. You grab his hand and let Diluc guide you down the stairs of the estate. Once you reach the last step of the stairs, you release Diluc’s hand and hop down to the ground. You look at the men with a big smile, bouncing on the balls of your feet.

You reach up to your hair and lightly touch it. “‘Luc tied my hair,” you said softly with a bashful smile on your face.

Childe walks up to you and squats in front of you, smiling at you. “Aren’t you a cutie?” Childe coos, caressing your face in his hands and lightly pinching your cheeks affectionately. You feel your face heat up before you cover your entire face with your tiny hands and run back to Diluc, hiding behind his legs and peeking out from behind Diluc, looking at Childe shyly.

Pantalone chuckles. “It looks like the little one has a crush,” Pantalone coos, giving you a teasing smile. 

You feel your face heat up, and you grumble under your breath, clutching onto Diluc’s pants before burying your face into the back of his thighs. Diluc reaches behind and places his hand on the back of your head, lightly stroking your hair. Childe stands back up and chuckles, running his hands through his ginger hair. He looks like a prince. 

Kaeya crosses his arms over his chest. “Usually, I would say that the ponytail on top of [Y/N]’s head makes them look like a radish, but they look cute with it,” Kaeya says cooly, smirking at his brother. 

Kazuha laughs. “Usually? Are you implying that you would call them a radish whenever their hair is pulled up in a ponytail?” Kazuha asks. Kaeya smiles and nods his head.

Ayato nods his head. “He calls [Y/N] a radish all the time, especially when he’s teasing them,” Ayato says. You step out from behind Diluc and stick your tongue out at Kaeya, who chuckles at your childish response. 

“Now that we’re all done eating let's do something to keep [Y/N] occupied while Tighnari, Dottore, and Albedo make a concoction that’ll turn them back to themselves,” Gorou says.

Al Haitham raises his eyebrows at Gorou. “And do you know how to keep a child occupied?” Al Haitham asks, looking over at you, who is slowly trailing over to the giant fish tank in the estate, staring up at the fishes in awe. 

“We’ll figure something out,” Heizou says, walking over to where you’re standing and gazing at the fishes with you. 

Heizou squats beside you and points at the moonfin swimming around the fish tank. You gasp softly, staring at the beautiful fish with wonder. A thought pops up in Aether’s head. He turns to Itto and taps him on the shoulder to grab his attention.

“You’re good with kids, aren’t you?” Aether asks.

Scaramouche makes a face and points at Itto. “That oaf? Great with kids?” Scaramouche asks, letting out a scoff of disbelief and humor. 

“Didn’t he make a kid cry after beating them in beetle fighting and taking their candies as a reward?” Thoma asks, the corners of his lips curving up. Itto gasps loudly and begins to sputter out excuses, his cheeks and the tips of his ears turning almost as red as his horns. Itto scoffs to himself as he props his hands on his hips, his nose sticks in the air as he lets out a loud huff of breath.

“Hey, hey, hey! I did not make them cry! They were being sore losers and cried because I beat them fair and square in the beetle fight!” Itto says defensively. 

You walk up to Itto and stare up at him, reaching both of your hands up and making grabby motions. Itto’s heart melts at the sight of your big eyes staring up at him, wanting him to pick you up and carry you in his arms. Itto squats down and grabs you by your waist, lifting you and placing you on his shoulders so you can sit on them. You hold onto Itto’s long hair and begin tugging at it, making Itto wince and whine softly.

Pierro chuckles. “See? What did I say?” Pierro asks, raising an eyebrow at Itto with a faint smirk on his face.

Itto reaches up and slips both of his index fingers into your hair to get you to release his hair. You end up replacing his hair with his fingers, squeezing them as tightly as your tiny hands can. Itto looks at the other men and smiles in relief when the tugging at his hair ceases. 

“Let’s get started on making the concoction. The earlier we work on it, the faster we’ll be finished with the elixir, and [Y/N] should be back to normal by tomorrow,” Albedo says, turning to look at Dottore and Tighnari.

Dottore sighs wistfully and looks over at you; you’re occupied with tugging on Itto’s fingers, not paying attention to what’s going on around you. “It’s a shame that I won’t be able to spend time with [Y/N] while they’re in this form,” Dottore says, his head hanging low.

Tighnari rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “Oh, don’t be dramatic, Dottore. It would take some time for the concoction to affect [Y/N]. I’m sure you’ll have a few hours with them before they’re back to normal,” Tighnari says.

As the three men are about to leave the main estate, Venti pats you on the shoulders to grab your attention. “Don’t you want to say bye to the three men before they leave?” Venti asks. 

You look over at the door and wave at Albedo, Tighnari, and Dottore. “Bye,” you said softly, getting back to playing with Itto’s fingers, poking at his black nails. The three men bid you goodbye before exiting the mansion and heading over to the Harbingers’ estate.

“So, how are we going to keep [Y/N] occupied again?” Baizhu asks.

Cyno smirks and crosses his arms over his chest. “I have a few ideas in mind,” Cyno says.

Everyone sits in the living room, scattered on the ground, sofa, couch, and loveseat. You sit across from Cyno, sitting on Itto’s lap. In front of you and Cyno are cards; three in front of you and three in front of Cyno.

“Why in the world are we teaching a three-year-old how to play TCG?” Kaveh asks, pinching the bridge of his nose before letting out an irritated sigh.

Zhongli looks at the cards in confusion. “Don’t you think this will confuse [Y/N]? They’re a child; I don’t think they’ll understand how to play this game even if you try to teach them,” said Zhongli, lifting the character cards up to his face and inspecting them closely.

“Perhaps Itto is playing for [Y/N]. Children get bored of things easily, so it seems like Itto will be the one to play against Cyno in this game,” Dainsleif speaks up. 

Xiao sighs and rests his head on the couch cushion, closing his eyes. “I have a bad feeling that this isn’t going to end well,” Xiao mutters.

Xiao ends up being correct because Cyno beat you and Itto in the TCG game. Itto demands a rematch so many times but continues to lose. Itto stands up suddenly, causing you to tumble off of his lap and onto the floor. Itto points his index finger at the general mahamatra, his eyebrows furrowing, and his mouth pulls into a scowl.

“Instead of us having a rematch in this rigged card game, I challenge you in a beetle fight! My onikabuto versus your scarabs!” Itto proclaims. 

Kaeya walks up to Itto and places his hand on the oni’s shoulders. “Wait a minute, Itto. Don’t people call you Arataki “The Ultimate TCG Champion” Itto?” Kaeya asks, raising his eyebrows.

“What are you up to, Kaeya?” Diluc asks, narrowing his eyes at his adoptive brother, approaching the duo with his arms over his torso. 

“Saving him from humiliation, I hope,” Dainsleif mutters under his breath. Zhongli presses his lips into thin lines to prevent himself from smiling at Dainsleif’s comment. 

You whine softly and get up from the ground, tossing the TCG cards on the table. “I’m bored! This game is confusing,” You said softly, crossing your arms over your chest. Everyone around you was too busy bickering with each other to notice your small tantrum. “I’m going to sleep,” you grumble to yourself, walking to the nearest room away from the living room.

The closest room you stumble across is the library; it’s quiet, and the temperature is cool enough for you to fall asleep without any problems. You walk to the furthest part of the library and sit on the couch, pulling the blanket from the corner of the couch and tossing it over yourself. As much as you want to continue to be with the tall men, you’re tired, and TCG bores you to death. You sprawl out on the couch and close your eyes, curling up into a ball, feeling your eyelids growing heavier and heavier as you let your body relax on the sofa. Maybe a little nap will wake you up from the nightmare you’re currently experiencing.

Back in the living room, everyone was still bickering with each other, slightly shoving the person they were arguing with. The first person to notice your disappearance was Kaveh after scanning the room to find your tiny head amongst the big heads in the room. Kaveh suddenly stands up from where he’s sitting, grabbing the others' attention. Everyone falls silent and looks at Kaveh quizzically while the blond man looks around the room almost frantically.

“Where’s [Y/N]?” Kaveh asks. 

Childe’s eyes widen, and he suddenly gets up from his seat. “Oh shit, did we lose [Y/N]?” Childe asks, running his hands through his ginger hair, his blue eyes wide with fear and worry.

“How did we lose them already? It’s been a few minutes!” Heizou says as he searches the living room for any sight of your radish-looking hairstyle, according to Kaeya, not his words. 

Capitano sighs and covers his face (mask?) with his hand, shaking his head. There’s no way these men will be decent fathers and babysitters if they can barely watch over one child. Capitano gets up from the sofa without saying a single word and begins to look for you himself while the other men are distracted with trying to figure out how you managed to wander off without their knowledge. 

There was no way you’d wander into the kitchen and dining room because if you were to do so, everyone would’ve been able to see you. So, the kitchen and dining room are out of the question. The next room Capitano decides to investigate is the library, the room where you’re usually at the most other than your bedroom. Capitano peeks his head into the library and slowly walks into the quiet room, surveying his surroundings. So far, Capitano doesn’t see any signs of you being in the library. The more he steps into the room and walks around, the more he hears quiet breathing coming from somewhere inside the library of the estate. Capitano ends up coming across your little study corner, notebooks and books stacked upon each other, a trash bin next to the desk filled with paper balls and scrap paper. Capitano stops in his tracks when he comes across the small sofa that is tucked at the farthest part of the library.

You crack your eyes open when you hear the sound of quiet footsteps walking around the library. You sit up on the couch and rub your eyes with your fist. You look up and make eye contact with the masked man.

“Now, why did you wander off in here, little one?” Capitano asks, squatting down in front of you, gazing at you curiously from behind his mask.

You rub your eyes and yawn. “I’m tired, and everyone was arguing, so I went here to take a nap,” you said, patting the couch with your hand.

Capitano sighs and watches you take your hair out from the ponytail, letting your tresses fall and frame your face. You rub your head and plop back down on the couch, sprawled over the sofa with the blanket draping over you. Capitano lifts his hand up and lightly scratches your head, making you snuggle up against the palm of his hand.

“We should head back to the living room. Everyone is worried sick about you,” Capitano states, looking at the entrance of the library.

You grumble and sit up on the couch. “Okay,” you mumble, hopping off the couch. 

Capitano stands up and holds his hand out for you to take. You grab his hand and let him guide you out of the library. As the two of you got closer to the library, the voices grew louder and louder with each step you took. You stand close to Capitano when the two of you arrive at the living room where everyone else was at (aside from Dottore, Tighnari, and Albedo). 

Aether sighs in relief when he sees you enter the room with Capitano at your side. Aether hops off the couch and rushes over to your side, pulling you in his arms and hugging you tightly, his cheek resting on top of your head. 

“Oh, thank the archons that you’re okay,” Aether says, pressing a kiss on your head.

Thoma walks up to you and Aether, squatting to your eye level, and gazes at you worriedly. “Where did you go?” Thoma asks, brushing your hair away from your face.

“I went to the library to take a nap,” you said softly, resting your chin on Aether’s shoulders. “I was tired and wanted to find a place to nap,” you add.

Ayato sighs and shakes his head, rubbing his throbbing temples with his thumb and index finger. “Sweetheart, if you wanted to take a nap, you could have at least told one of us instead of wandering off on your own. You made us worried,” Ayato says sternly, causing you to flinch and shrink in Aether’s arms. 

Ayato’s eyes widen slightly before softening; he mutters a soft apology before running his hands through his light blue hair. Scaramouche walks over to you and takes you from Aether’s arms, holding you in his arms.

“Lord Ayato doesn’t mean to sound harsh, [Y/N]. Like everyone else in the room, Lord Ayato is just as worried for your safety as we all are, and you wandering off on your own scared us,” Scaramouche says, rubbing your soft cheeks lightly with the pad of his thumb. 

You frown and bury your face into Scaramouche’s chest. “‘M sorry,” you said softly, holding onto Scaramouche’s shirt tightly.

“Hey, cheer up, [Y/N]! We’re not mad at you! If you want to take a nap, we could all take naps in the entertainment room,” Venti says, popping up from behind Scaramouche, startling the both of you. 

You hum softly and begin playing with the item hanging from Scaramouche’s neck in a daze. “I don’t know if I want to take a nap anymore,” you said softly, resting your head on his shoulder.

Cyno crosses his arms over his chest. “Then what do you want to do, [Y/N]?” Cyno asks, looking at you closely. 

You feel your cheeks heat up under his gaze, and you bury your face into Scaramouche’s neck for a brief second, slowly peeking from his shoulders and looking at the men around you shyly. Now that you have come out of your easily distracted thoughts, you notice that you’re surrounded by handsome men who tower over you. Tall, attractive men with nice hair and perfect smile are protective over you and would lose their minds if you were to disappear for a few minutes. 

You shake yourself out of your thoughts and clear your throat. “I need to potty,” you stated, squirming out from Scaramouche’s arms. 

Scaramouche squats down to put you down on the ground. You look around the room and walk to the nearest person and tug on their pants. “Can you take me to the nearest bathroom?” You ask, looking up at Kaveh, who stares down at you.

Kaveh opens his mouth to say something but stops himself when Al Haitham and Xiao give Kaveh a look. Kaveh nods his head and reaches for your hand, guiding you to the nearest bathroom on the first floor of the estate.

“Remember not to leave them alone in the bathroom. They could fall into the toilet if they are not careful enough,” Baizhu calls from afar. 

The men all collectively chuckle when they hear a faint grumble from Kaveh from afar as he walks to the closest bathroom with you in tow. You push the bathroom door open, and Kaveh turns on the bathroom lights. You quickly walk over to the toilet while Kaveh closes the bathroom door behind you two.

“Turn around and no peeking,” you said, shimmying out of your underwear (which you noticed had shrunk with you as well) and climbing onto the toilet. 

Kaveh shakes his head and continues to let his back face your direction while he stares at the bathroom door in front of him. After a few minutes of peeing, you wipe yourself, hop off the toilet, pull up your underwear, and flush the toilet. You tap Kaveh’s calf. Kaveh turns around and looks down at you.

“Can you lift me up to the sink so I can wash my hands?” You ask politely, staring up at the blond man with your large doe-like eyes.

Kaveh nods his head and lifts you up to the sink, helping you wash your hands while imagining what you and his child might look like if you two were to have one together. Definitely a mini abyss mage with blond tufts of hair like their father. Kaveh reaches over to the hand towel and gives it to you, slowly putting you down on the ground. 

You wipe your hands on the fluffy hand towel and hand it back to Kaveh. Kaveh hangs the hand towel on the towel rack before unlocking the bathroom door and opening it for you. Both you and Kaveh walk out the door, and you sprint over to Scaramouche’s side, tackling his legs and snuggling up against him. 

Al Haitham lets out an amused huff of breath, trying to mask his jealousy. “It looks like [Y/N] has favorites,” Al Haitham says, crossing his arms over his chest as he watches Scaramouche lift you in his arms. You snuggle up against the indigo-haired man and rest your head on Scaramouche’s shoulders, playing with the little accessory hanging from his shirt. 

“Oh? Is someone perhaps jealous that [Y/N] might have favorites?” Pantalone asks, looking over at the gray-haired man with a teasing smile on his face. Al Haitham rolls his eyes and looks away from Pantalone.

You look up at everyone before shyly saying, “I don’t have favorites. I like all of you,” you said softly, continuing to play with the accessory on Scaramouche’s neck. You squirm around in Scaramouche’s hands; Scaramouche puts you on the ground and watches you walk over to Al Haitham.

You look up at Al Haitham, and he looks down at you; you hold your arms up and make grabby motions. Al Haitham bends down to pick you up and carry you in his arms. You snuggle up against Al Haitham and lay your head on his broad shoulders, playing with the fabric of his tight-fitted shirt.

“So, will today be a leisure day?” Gorou asks, walking over to the couch before sitting on the armrest, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kazuha looks over at you, you seem distracted by the fabric of Al Haitham’s shirt, but Kazuha can tell that you’re close to drifting off to sleep. “That is up to [Y/N] and whether they want to do something or not,” answered Kazuha.

“I don’t know what I want to do,” you mumble, wrapping your arms around Al Haitham’s neck. An idea suddenly pops up in your mind, making you jolt up in Al Haitham’s arms.

“Oh? It looks like an idea has popped up in your head,” Zhongli says.

“Can we go outside of the abode?” You ask, squirming around in Al Haitham’s arms like a worm. Al Haitham sighs and puts you down on the ground.

Xiao looks at you suspiciously. “That depends on what you want to do outside of the abode,” Xiao says slowly, raising his eyebrows at you.

You smile at Xiao innocently, swaying left to right with your hands crossed behind your back. Xiao knows you way too well to know what you’re up to, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Before everyone knows it, they’re close to Dawn Winery, near the body of water where cryo slimes like to roam around. 

“Tighnari, Albedo, Dottore, aren’t you three supposed to be working on a concoction to turn [Y/N] back to their normal selves?” Pierro asks, gazing at the three men that are analyzing the mistflower together. 

Dottore nods his head. “Of course, we are, Pierro! One of the key ingredients to reverse [Y/N]’s situation is a mistflower,” Dottore says, stroking his chin as he gazes at a particular mistflower that is slightly larger than the ones that surround it. 

“This mistflower is strangely bigger than the others,” Tighnari murmurs, looking over at Thoma and gesturing for him to come over. Thoma walks over to where Tighnari, Albedo, and Dottore are standing. 

Thoma has both of his hands propped up on his hips. “What can I do for the three of you?” Thoma asks, smiling at the three men politely. 

The sounds of your squeals and cheers echos the area as you’re sitting on Itto’s shoulders, holding onto his hair tightly while the oni runs around, chasing a cryo slime with his claymore out. 

“Oi! Be careful, you oaf! If you fall, then [Y/N] is going to fall and get injured!” Scaramouche screams from a distance. If people were to look closely, they’d be able to see a giant tick mark on Scaramouche’s forehead as he glares at the loud oni from a distance. 

“Pfft! Relax, Scaramouche! I won’t drop [Y/N] and let them get injured! You can trust me!” Itto screams back at Scaramouche, stopping in his tracks and wiping the bead of sweat from his forehead.

You nod your head and cling to Itto’s head, resting your chin on Itto’s head. “I’ll be okay! Don’t worry!” You said hollered back, patting Itto’s head with a smile on your face. Scaramouche sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm.

Childe pats Scaramouche’s shoulders with a small smile on his face. “It’ll be okay, Scaramouche. Even though I’m just as worried as you are, you can trust Itto on this one,” Childe says. 

Itto got back to what he was doing, chasing cryo slimes around with you on his shoulders. Usually, it would be the slimes that attack people unprovoked, but this time, it’s Itto that’s the one that is attacking cryo slimes unprovoked. Itto is mainly doing this because you insisted on chasing cryo slimes around, and Itto didn’t want you to get hurt, so he volunteered to be the chaser while you’re the spectator on his shoulders.

Albedo looks away from Thoma and looks back down at the mistflower in front of him, Thoma, Dottore, and Tighnari. “Can you attack this mistflower?” Albedo asks, pointing at the larger mistflower. “We need the mistflower’s corolla for the concoction,” Albedo says, standing up and backing away from the mistflower. Thoma nods his head and does what Albedo has instructed him to do. 

“Great! Now that we got the mistflower, we can finish up the concoction and have [Y/N] drink the elixir to reverse the—” Tighnari gets cut off by the sounds of screaming.

“Watch out!” Aether screams.

The large cryo slime lunges at you and Itto, knocking Itto off his feet and you off of Itto’s shoulders. You fly in the air and plunge into the lukewarm water. Itto groans and rubs his head with Kazuha, Gorou, Venti, and Aether checking up on him to see if he is okay. The other men ran to the edge of the water, panicking over who was going to fish you out of the water while you were flailing around in the water.

You know how to swim, but the longer you flail around in the water, trying to stay afloat, the more exhausted you become. When you plunge into the waters, you accidentally suck in a mouthful of water and breathe in a noseful of water. Your eyes are stinging, your nose hurts, and so does your throat. You cough up water, tears blurring your vision from the water, and you feel sick from the amount of water you’ve accidentally swallowed. 

While flailing around in the water, you failed to notice Capitano jumping into the water and swimming in your direction. Capitano pulls you into his arms before swimming back to shore with you in his arms. You cling onto Capitano tightly and bury your face into his neck, feeling shame and embarrassment slowly creep their way up your chest.

“You’re okay, [Y/N]. You’re safe,” Capitano murmurs into your ears, rubbing your back as he walks over to where the men are standing. 

You whimper softly and continue to keep your face burrowed into his neck, shaking from the cool breeze that is blowing on your damp body. The men immediately hound you and Capitano, shooting questions in your direction, asking you if you’re okay. You nod your head, refusing to look at the men, fearing that they’ll be disappointed in you (and Itto) for being reckless while messing with cryo slimes. 

“Itto, you should’ve been careful!” Pierro says sternly, glaring at the oni, who winces at the volume of Pierro’s voice.

Kaeya glares at Pierro. “He was being careful! No need to raise your voice at him!” 

Pantalone sighs and shakes his head. “Even though Itto was being careful, both Itto and [Y/N] were messing with a large cryo slime, thus getting both of them hurt,” Pantalone says.

You peek from Capitano’s neck and immediately look over at Itto, who looks very upset and guilty. You kick and squirm around; Capitano places you on the ground and watches you run over to Itto, latching yourself onto his leg and comforting the tall oni. 

You pat Itto’s leg to grab his attention. Itto looks down at you; the way he stares down at you reminds you of a kicked puppy. Your lips quivered, and you immediately buried your face into his thighs, gripping his pants tightly. “Stop being mean to Itto,” you whine loudly into Itto’s legs, letting out a series of sniffles.

“[Y/N],” Diluc says softly.

You shake your head, tears continuing to roll down your cheeks, dampening Itto’s pant leg. You peek at the men with a small glare on your face, cheeks wet with ears and eyes bloodshot red. “You guys are mean to Itto! I don’t like mean people,” you said, swatting away Diluc’s hands when he tried to reach for you. 

Childe makes a face and points at Pantalone and Pierro. “Technically, it was the old man over there and Baizhu’s Fatui twin that was being mean to Itto, not us!” Childe says, continuing to point an accusing finger at Pantalone and Pierro. 

“Oh,” you mumble, wiping your tears away. You turn to look at Pierro and Pantalone, glaring at Pantalone and Pierro, mainly Pierro, because of the expression he has on his face. “Apologize to Itto!” You demand, crossing your arms over your chest while standing in front of Itto like a lion cub trying to protect its parent from a predator. 

Dottore smirks and nods his head. “Yes, Pierro! Apologize to the oni!” Dottore crosses his arms over his chest, entertained by what has unfolded in front of him. 

You glare up at Pierro; tiny hands clenched into fists, your small face pinched up with anger, your nose scrunching up. How you see yourself, you see yourself as intimidating, but to the others, you look like an angry kitten ready to throw a hissy fit. It’s adorable, and they just want to pinch your cheeks, but they know if they were to try to, you would most likely bite their fingers off. 

Pierro sighs in defeat. “Itto, I’m sorry for yelling at you,” Pierro says, crossing his arms over his chest.

You turn to look up at Itto and tug lightly on his pants. “Do you accept his apology?” You ask. 

Itto hums for a second and sighs, reluctantly nodding his head. You give Itto another hug and bury your face into his leg. As much as Itto didn’t want to accept Pierro’s half-ass apology, Itto knew that he had to accept Pierro’s apology or else you’ll cause an even bigger scene. 

Dainsleif shakes his head and crosses his arms in front of him. “Let’s head back to the abode. You need to take a bath and change into something clean and dry,” Dainsleif says.

You blink up at Dainsleif. “But I don’t have other clothes that will fit me,” you said softly.

“Aw man, you’re right about that,” Heizou sighs, his head drooping. 

Ayato approaches you and squats in front of you, brushing your damp hair away from your face with a soft smile on his face. “It’s okay, [Y/N]. We’ll figure something out,” Ayato says.

Once you all arrived back to the abode, Dottore, Tighnari, and Albedo went straight to Dottore’s lab with the mistflower. You were unfortunately dragged to your bathroom that is connected to your bedroom for bath time. Xiao and Gorou turned the faucet on in the bathtub and plugged the drain.

“You’ll be getting a bubble bath!” Gorou says, turning to look at you with a big smile on his face. 

Xiao sighs and takes his gloves off, feeling the faucet water to make sure the water isn’t too hot or too cold. “Just don’t splash and make a mess,” Xiao says, not taking his eyes off the bathtub.

“I promise,” You said softly. 

While waiting for the bathtub to be filled halfway, you, Xiao, and Gorou hear a knock at the bathroom door. Gorou gets up from the ground and walks to the bathroom door, opening it to reveal Zhongli with clothes in his hands.

“Childe and Pantalone went out to buy you temporary clothes to wear,” Zhongli says, stepping into the bathroom.

Gorou looks over at you, who stares at the clothing in Zhongli’s hands cluelessly. “What if I wake up the next day and the clothes don’t fit anymore?” You ask.

Zhongli smiles and pats your head. “They’re temporary clothes for a reason, sweetheart. We don’t want you to trip and fall while wearing a much larger shirt,” Zhongli replies.

“Oh, I see…. Okie dokie then,” You said, grabbing the clothes from Zhongli’s hands and putting them on the lid of the toilet.

Xiao shuts the water off and hands the bottle of soap over to Gorou, who pours the liquid into the water and begins mixing it. You stare at the water as bubbles start to form. Once Gorou is finished mixing the water and the soap, Gorou turns to you and takes his hands out of the water, wiping his hand and arms on the towel.

“Your bubble bath is now ready! Take your clothes off and get into the bathtub,” Gorou pats your head before nudging both Xiao and Zhongli to follow him out of the bathroom to give you some privacy. 

You take your clothes off and get into the bathtub, letting the bubbles cover you from the neck down. “I’m done,” you said, reaching for the shampoo bottle and squeezing the shampoo into your hands, scrubbing your hair.

Kazuha peeks his head into the bathroom and gives you a small smile. “They want to give you some privacy. Do you think you can handle bathing alone without any assistance?” Kazuha asks. 

You nod your head. “Yes, I am an independent small person,” you said, continuing to scrub the shampoo into your hair. “Oh, wait, how do I rinse my hair? Do I…” you trail off and dunk your head into the bubbly waters before popping out from the waters. 

You wipe the water and soap away from your eyes and look at the door, only to see an appalled Venti. “Let’s not drown ourselves to rinse our hair now!” Venti laughs nervously. 

“If you need assistance with rinsing your hair, you could simply just say so,” Baizhu sighs from outside of the bathroom.

You reach for the conditioner and squirt it into the palm of your hands. “I know, but it feels awkward having people in the bathroom while I take a bath,” you mumble, massaging the conditioner into your scalp and hair. 

“It’s okay. It doesn’t really affect us at all. Plus, this can train us to be parents,” Kaveh comments from behind the door.

You scrunch your face up. “I feel sorry for whoever is going to be your child,” you said. You hear Kaveh gasps in disbelief at your comment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it out loud,” you said sheepishly.

Kaveh turns to look at Al Haitham. “When [Y/N] returns to their normal size, I’m going to fight them,” Kaveh deadpans.

Al Haitham rolls his eyes and leans against the door frame of the bathroom. “If you fight them, then be prepared for me to kick your ass,” Al Haitham states, narrowing his eyes at the blond man in front of him. 

“Why not just have a battle with them in TCG when they return to their normal self?” Cyno asks, rolling his eyes.

You dunk your head back into the water and scrub the conditioner out of your hair. What your three-year-old mind didn’t comprehend was that it was making your hair even soapier with the bubble bath liquid in the bathtub. When you finished “rinsing” your hair and unplugged the drain of the bathtub, you got out of the bathtub and wrapped the towel around your body, waddling to your temporary clothes to change into them.

You open the door and walk out of the bathroom after putting on your clothes. Childe stops you and stares down at you, his hand stroking his chin with one eyebrow raised. “Your hair is still soapy,” Childe comments, reaching for your brush to brush out the knots in your hair.

“You dunk your head into the bathtub, didn’t you?” Diluc asks.

You nod your head.

“We can’t blame them for it. I think a bubble bath is more suitable after we wash their hair,” Aether says, propping his hands on his hips.

“Well, at least they’re cleaned now!” Itto says, patting your damp head with a smile on his face. 

Gorou hums and touches your wet hair. “We still need to wash the remaining soap and shampoo out of their hair and dry them,” Gorou says, wiping the soap residue off his hands with the towel in your hand.

“Back to the bathroom, we go!” Heizou announces. He picks you up by your waist and carries you back inside your bathroom to rinse your hair in the sink. 

After rinsing, drying, and brushing your hair, you sit at the dining table for dinner (lunch was skipped because you all spent lunchtime at the lake near Dawn Winery, which ended up in a disaster), waiting for food to be made. Dottore, Tighnari, and Albedo walk into the dining room with a cup that contains the concoction in Albedo’s hands.

“We have completed the concoction that should reverse the elixir that [Y/N] drank yesterday,” Albedo says, walking over to you and handing the cup over to you.

“Drink slowly now. We don’t want you to choke on the concoction,” Tighnari says. 

You grab the cup and take huge gulps of the concoction. You nearly gagged when the liquid touched your tongue, but you held back the gag and continued to drink the rest of the potion. It tastes like slime condensate (don’t ask) mixed with lizard tail (again, don’t ask) and mint. Once you have finished the concoction, you hand the cup back to Albedo and clutch your stomach with your face pinching up.

“Oh, dear. Is the concoction making you feel nauseous?” Dottore asks.

You nod your head and rest your chin on the table. “I feel like I’m going to puke,” you whine, kicking your legs back and forth.

“Please don’t throw up,” Venti pleads, kneeling beside you.

You sit back in your seat and sigh, resting your head on the back of the chair and closing your eyes, waiting for nausea to pass by. Dinner was the same as breakfast— instead of you feeding yourself, it was one of the men that spoon-fed you. The first time it was Scaramouche; this time, it’s Kazuha that is feeding you dinner because of your poor motor skills and clumsiness. 

“You ate the entire thing! I’m so proud of you!” Kazuha coos, pinching your cheeks gently with a sweet smile on his face.

You feel your face heat up and burrow your face into Kazuha’s arms, shying away from that gentle smile of his. You can’t tell if you’re blushing or if it was the concoction that was making your face heat up, like how it made your stomach hot after ingesting the liquid. Kazuha chuckles softly and ruffles your hair affectionately before kissing the top of your head, thus causing your face to feel even hotter than it already is.

Dinner soon comes to an end, and you find yourself lying in your bed, surrounded by your body pillow and stuffed animals that the men have gathered for you when they see something you like. You lay down and snuggle up against your body pillow, looking over at the door and around your room.

The men bid you goodnight about fifteen minutes ago, and you’re not able to sleep. You couldn’t tell if it was because of the number of thoughts running through your mind or if it was because the shadow at the corner of your bedroom looked like a boogeyman, ready to snatch you up. You whine softly and kick your blankets off your body before running out of your bedroom, running to the closest bedroom you can reach. Actually, you didn’t run to the nearest bedroom you could reach; you ran to the ex-archon’s bedroom because of the stories he told you about his prime time as an archon earlier today. Surely a man as strong as Zhongli can protect you from the monsters lurking in the darkness of your bedroom. 

You burst into Zhongli’s bedroom, grabbing the man’s attention. He was sitting in the corner of his room, reading a book.

“Oh? Do you need something?” Zhongli asks, closing his book and getting up from the seat, walking over to you.

You nod your head shyly. “Can I pretty please sleep in here? My room is too dark, and I don’t like being alone in the dark,” you said softly, slowly walking further into Zhongli’s bedroom. Zhongli smiles and nods his head, motioning for you to enter. You scramble towards Zhongli’s bed and climb on the bed by standing on the wooden bed frame and burrow yourself into Zhongli’s pillows and blankets while Zhongli closes his bedroom door. 

“Are you going to go to sleep too?” You ask as Zhongli approaches you and tucks you into his bed, pressing a kiss on your forehead.

“I will go to bed in a few minutes. You can go ahead and sleep now,” Zhongli says.

You stare up at Zhongli. “But I can’t sleep without snuggling up to something,” you said softly.

Zhongli chuckles and presses another kiss on your head. “Alright, give me a minute,” Zhongli says. 

Zhongli walks over to the book that he had placed down and puts it back on the shelf. Zhongli walks over to his bed, gets under the covers, and turns the lights off. Once the lights are off, you realize that Zhongli’s bedroom is even darker than your room. You squeak and latch yourself onto Zhongli’s arms, burying your face into Zhongli’s chest.

“It’ll be alright, [Y/N]. You’re safe with me,” Zhongli whispers, wrapping his arms around you and letting you lay your head on his chest, stroking your hair gently. “I won’t let anyone or anything harm you. I promise,” Zhongli murmurs, kissing the crown of your head. 

You close your eyes and slowly drift off to sleep, continuing to grip Zhongli’s night shirt as you fall asleep. The very next day, the men didn’t see you in your room. It nearly sent them into panic mode until they crashed into Zhongli’s room, only to see you back to your normal self, sleeping beside Zhongli. Topless. 

“You pervert!” Scaramouche screams, grabbing the nearest object on the ground, and chucks it at Zhongli’s head. 

Before the book can meet Zhongli’s head, he puts up a shield, and the book bounces off and lands on the ground. You hold the blanket up to your chest and rub your eyes, groggy from your sleep. 

“Relax, I went in here last night because I was scared of sleeping alone in the dark,” you said, looking around Zhongli’s room. “Can someone hand me a shirt or a coat for me? I am not leaving this bed without something covering me,” You said.

Childe quickly rushes over to you and tosses his jacket over your face. You grumble and slip the jacket on, and zip up the jacket. You slowly get out of Zhongli’s bed and sigh in relief when you notice that your underwear has at least grown with you as well, unlike the torn shirt on Zhongli’s bed. You grab the shirt and quickly peck Zhongli’s cheeks before rushing out of your room to change into something that actually fits you.

Kaveh looks over at Zhongli and shoots him a glare. “You lucky fucker,” Kaveh grumbles.

Zhongli quirks up an eyebrow at Kaveh before the others slowly trickle out of his room. Zhongli runs his hands through his hair and sighs. “What an interesting way to wake up,” Zhongli mutters, getting out of his bed to get ready for the day.

Note: Since Scaramouche's banner is out, I will be changing his outfit in the story and he will still be electro, but he'll be special and have two visions in the newer fics ✨ I hope all of you Scaramouche wanters have Scaramouche himself :> I got him on my first ten pulls along with Faruzan ^^ He's level 90, but I'm still working on getting him decent artifacts because farming for artifacts is not fun at all 💀 I also prefarmed some terrorshroom and dendro cube drops for Al Haitham, only to find out that he uses a completely different material that'll be released in 3.4 🥹 pain. Anyway! For those who are new here or are returning readers, I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

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#Genshin impact x reader #Genshin impact imagine #Genshin impact fanfiction #Arataki Itto x reader #Gorou x reader #Thoma x reader #Kaedehara Kazuha x reader #Xiao x reader #Albedo x reader #Zhongli x reader #Childe x reader #Venti x reader #Diluc x reader #Kaeya x reader #Kamisato Ayato x reader #Dainsleif x reader #Scaramouche x reader #Baizhu x reader #Aether x reader #Heizou x reader #Al Haitham x reader #Tighnari x reader #Cyno x reader #Kaveh x reader #Pantalone x reader #Pierro x reader #Dottore x reader #Capitano x reader #genshinluvr

[ivynightshade]

fatima aamer bilal, excerpt from moony moonless sky’s i know fire like i know my home; they burn the same.

i know fire like i know my home; they burn the same. / years ago, i couldn't turn a knife inside myself, so i decided to become one. / you can touch me underneath my ribs and not know me at all. / i didn’t build walls around me; i crawled under them. / my spine is a spear that pokes the bear in my guilty hands. / always the problem. always the cause. / terrible at loving. terrible at being loved. / i am sorry, you were asking me why i get violent like some sick dog? / you can shake my hand, but remember that i can bite. / you can throw me a bone, but i will always pounce for the flesh. / don’t bite the hand that feeds you, but i just might. / a hand is a weapon. / fingers to grasp. nails to claw. / i have seen my home melt in fire before my eyes. / there’s enough barbed wire i can swallow before i trust myself to hold a hand again. / and this space in time was made to bury me, being a person never came easy to me. / so i began stealing whatever i admired in a person, bit by bit. / regardless of how briefly someone has known me, i'll always carry a small piece of them because i had nothing of my own. / and whatever i had, it was burned to ashes in that house. / what if i told you that the way i breathe is not the way i am supposed to? / EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A HERO. / SO I LET YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN SAVE ME. / BUT THAT'S A MORBID DOG'S NECK; YOU HAVE A LEASH AROUND. / ARE YOU NOT FOND OF MY SICKNESS ANYMORE? / apologies for my teeth tearing through the meat; i don’t know how to keep my sanity when i am being loved. i get mean when i am seen for what i am. / the craft of raising hell if not love is my betting dime. so i never lose, except i am losing all the time. / and i want you to know that i am nobody’s enemy, but my own. you can’t save me anymore. / i will villainize everything until it rots with me. / i harvest these aches and try to yield something more to cement the walls. you can maim my bones, but you can’t maim me at all. / caucasian blue and sydney green, you know my name; you know i am meant to grieve. / shall there only be peace to my loathsome cry, when there is gravel on the earthy sky? / because what’s a grave to a carcass? home.

#fatima aamer bilal #i know fire like i know my home; they burn the same. #poetry #literature #poeticstories #parent issues #art #yearning #longing #book quotations #book quotes #words words words #typography #web weavings #web weave #poetry collection #taylor swift #bts #franz kafka #sylvia plath #lana del rey #mitski #poetic #unrequited poem #self deprecation #fiction #poem #pheobe bridgers #prose #jane austen

[bandaged-writer]

𝗖𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚

pov. what it's like to cockwarm him feat. dazai, chuuya, odasaku + sigma

warnings. consensual somnophilia, cum, smoking, cockwarming in public, f! reader, i think that's all lmao

notes. i'm deep in bsd brainrot and i'm gonna make it everyone's problem ✨ if you liked it, consider a reblog or a comment <3

𝗗𝗔𝗭𝗔𝗜 𝗢𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗨

The clock strikes 2 am when Dazai is supposed to be asleep and hold you tightly in his arms like he always does and wake you up with the sweetest of kisses in the morning, but how can he think of such domestic moments when his cock is pressing against your thigh? Tip, red and swollen, leaks of pre-cum and his entire length throbs at the memories he has of you underneath him, moaning and squirming and cumming all over his cock earlier that evening.

Dazai has no shame when he pulls you a tad bit closer, grabs the base of his cock and slides into your welcoming pussy, splitting your small lips open and watching as you swallow him whole. Burying his face in your hair, he inhales through his nose and groans in relief. The mere hug of your pussy around his cock is enough to temporarily relieve Dazai of the ache between his legs.

"Even in your sleep, you take me so well," he whispers his praise.

Careful as not to wake you, Dazai rocks his hips into you a few times before he settles down and places his palm over your lower abdomen. A serene smile graces his sleepy features as the brunette drifts off into another slumber.

Dazai cannot wait for you to wake up, scold him for being impatient and laying his hands on your body once more.

𝗖𝗛𝗨𝗨𝗬𝗔 𝗡𝗔𝗞𝗔𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔

"Hold still." Chuuya grasps your hips and guides you down his leaking cock. A groan rumbles in his throat as your gummy walls engulf him, flutter around him and leak onto his thighs. Through his nose, he inhales sharply and languidly sits back into the pillows cushioning the headboard of his bed. "Good girl," he praises and caresses his palm from in-between your breasts down to your tummy.

Fire-struck is your face when Chuuya's cock curves right against that sweet spot. How unfair of him to demand you to stay still while he is casually lighting his cigarette and blowing smoke up into the air like he isn't balls deep buried in your cunt.

"What's wrong? You look like you're about to cry." Faux sympathy laces itself in the low timbre of Chuuya's voice and his hand comes up to cup your cheek.

Placing your palms on his lower abdomen, you clench your thighs around his hips and bite your lip at the twitch of his cock which also happened to stroke that sweet spot within you. You whine. "This isn't what I had in mind when I..you know.." Ashamed, you look to the side.

His eyes travel from your soft face down to your split cunt and your swollen clit which is squished between your weight and his skin. When Chuuya exhales, smoke fills the air. "When you asked me to fuck you? Shh, don't worry your pretty head about it," he coos, "Just hold still until I'm done. I promise it'll be worth the wait."

𝗢𝗗𝗔 𝗦𝗔𝗞𝗨𝗡𝗢𝗦𝗨𝗞𝗘

Oda buries his face in the crook of your neck and groans as he presses his hips flush against your ass, his seed spilling into your cunt in spurts. Gently, he rocks his cum into you and listens to your honeyed mewls of "It's too much" and "I'm feeling so full".

Pearly white cum leaks from your pussy, dribbles down your thighs and onto the sheets and Oda can't help the shiver that rolls down his spine. The view of your spread legs, your chest heaving and falling and the fucked out expression on your face have his cock throbbing inside you.

"Let's stay like this for a little while," Odasaku suggests, coming to lay down by your side.

Strong arms wrap themselves around your waist and pull your nude back flush to his chest. His touch is gentle, loving, yet there is something carnal hidden in the way he holds you and makes sure that his entire length is nestled within your snug walls.

"Odasaku..," you breathe out, flustered. "Are you sureㅡ"

"I am," he cuts you off and presses a kiss to your shoulder blade while his eyes travel down to where he's connected to you. The ring of cum around his cock affirms his desire to remain inside you, just a bit longer. "Let me enjoy you a bit longer before you're off on another mission."

Who are you to deny Odasaku's request?

𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗔

Sigma can't remember how you managed to persuade him to take part in a round of Black Jack to humor his customers while you're sitting on his lap in that pretty dress which skillfully hides your pussy hugging his cock so snugly.

The guests don't seem to mind you sitting on Sigma's lap. You're a gorgeous thing that probably doesn't know a single thing about Black Jack, they suppose.

Arousal trickles down his length and Sigma hisses through his teeth when you purposefully clenched around him, making his cock throb and twitch within your tight walls. Red hues dust his cheek. "Could you please refrain from doing this?," he whispers.

You feign innocence when you mindlessly toss a card on the table. "What do you mean, dear? Possibly not this?," you say and clench around him again.

Sigma's grip on your hips tightens, fighting the urge to bend you over the table and rut his cock into your slick cunt until he's spilling his seed deep inside you. He silently curses himself for letting himself get tricked by your sweet voice, that enticing dress and the promise of a so-called good time. Whatever the definition of a good time is in your book.

When you shift on Sigma's lap and smile up at him, Sigma nearly loses it. The first spurt of cum fills your cunt and it takes all of his willpower not to blow his entire load while humoring his honored guests.

"[Name], please..," he pleads.

You chuckle as you feel his cum drip to your thigh. "The game isn't quite over yet, is it?"

#bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs x reader #dazai osamu #dazai x reader #dazai osamu x reader #chuuya nakahara x reader #chuuya nakahara #odasaku x reader #oda sakunosuke #sigma x reader #sigma bsd

[dawnoftime22]

all the things I shouldn't.

| W.M -> N.R

Undeserving of a Love Like Yours, Chapter 9

Chapter Warnings: sleeping problems, this chapter somehow contains going to sleep three times in detail and R raving over sea animals (aka me writing and raving about sea animals) half not proofread

Summary: After dealing with the appearance of a memory you once thought had been long gone once ago, you get a message from the redhead, asking to go out once more.

Series Summary: When you're stuck in a complete hole of confusion and hurt with the one you thought you loved most, a certain redhead finds her way into your life.

Word Count: 6.3k

Category: Fluff! (teensy hurt/comfort)

A/N: I feel like I'm making these way too long? but the chapter would feel like it has holes without it having the small little details so :') just tuck yourself in cozily and enjoy<3

Series Playlist

| Started on 13/04/2024, 1:39 PM |

| Finished on 29/04/2024, 12:26 AM |

Masterlist | Series Masterlist | N.R Masterlist

<- Chapter 8 Chapter 10 ->

"take the risk. who knows what lies ahead of your path?"

|——————————— ⴵ ———————————|

-- a week later...

The bedroom was bright from the open windows, air flowing in naturally through the space. It was quiet, other than from the distant gentle snoring of Kate sleeping in the living room, your door being mindlessly open.

You were not in bed, but reorganizing your closet, having gotten home from the mall with Kate and some new clothes. The gentle fabric of each shirt brushed against your skin with your touch.

There were music playing in your ears, making you nod your head slightly to the beat and hum, making sure not to sing too loud or something so you wouldn't wake up the sleeping archer.

You were about to finish up, but a box in the corner of your vision catches your eye. Just above all the clothes.

It had been sitting there for days, yet you somehow hadn't noticed until now. It was brought with you when you arrived, but you didn't put much thought to it, thinking it was just your old belongings.

Upon closer inspection with a step forward, you knew it wasn't the box you were supposed to grab. You push open the closet door further, then push yourself on your tip-toes to reach it. With the pull of your fingers, it soon goes into your hold.

The top was slightly dusty, so you brush it off with your hand, about to open it, but then taking a pause to sneeze. Your face contorts into a slight grimace as your eyes trail up, tilting your head so you can peek to see if Kate woke up.

The only movement visible was Lucky shifting slightly in his own sleep, while Kate had her arm hanging off the side of the couch, Lucky's fur just tickling her hand. She was still asleep.

With a soft sigh of relief, you look back down on the box. There was nothing written down on it anywhere, so it only made your curiosity grow.

You walk to your bed, opting to place it on there. It made sounds of clunking and was just a teensy bit heavy. When your fingertips gently grasp the lid, you hesitate, but go in for the dive anyway.

Once it was opened, your eyes widen slightly, and it confirmed your suspicions of it not being yours. Or...half yours. Inside, held stacks of custom CDs, writing, and paper on the cases and within them. Some, not even having anything but a case.

Your heart raced as you read some of the writing, but you try your best to ignore it. Beside all the CDs sat an old portable player, one that was yours. Technically you didn't get the wrong box, but you were supposed to only grab the cd player.

A flicker of your eyes makes you stare at the discs once more. It was nearly getting to your nerves with how much she was following you around. But...something about it only wanted you to linger.

You shouldn't play one.

Yet, you couldn't help but grab one of the cases and open it. The writing was on the disc for this one. Blue marker on the front with a smiley face. It wrote, 'Roadtrips!' and your initial with Wanda. The disc had rainbow rays, reflecting back light from whichever way you angled it.

The lid of the player opens with a bit of fiddling, and you insert the CD. With the earphones plugged in and placed in your ear, you click play.

...Nothing.

You check the player, flipping it and clicking play again.

Ah, the batteries. Too bad, you should just turn around now by putting it back and never touch the box again. Yes? No, instead your eyes catch exactly two batteries, hiding between the cds and the wall of the box.

The world was tempting and teasing you, its almost making you crazy. Your hand reaches in and grabbed them to then place them into the battery compartment.

A breath goes out from your lips, your fingertip atop the button before you press on it. The white noise and the sound of the disc moving quietly sounded out.

As the starting melody played, it was like a knife first poked at your chest, then utterly, slowly, goes in to stab your heart.

This one, you would sing at the top of your lungs with her while you were in the car, going anywhere in the world. Just you, and her, and nothing else mattered. God, you missed those moments.

Your fingertips traced the others, moving them with a few noises as it hit against one another. The others, baking...dancing, some albums...and just playlists of songs you both loved, mixed together. What were you doing?

Quickly, you pull out your earphones, making it fall down to the bed. The music was now distant, quiet. But realizing you could still even hear it, you pause it.

A breath you didn't even know you were holding left your lungs. You shouldn't have done that. When you heard some sounds from the living room, you try to be fast with putting everything back in the box except for the player.

But the movement was only Lucky, your eyes watching him pad off to his bowls in the view of the doorway.

Your eyes falter of any panic and your shoulders relax as you went to store the box of memories back in the closet.

A few steps took you to your door, leaning yourself against the frame to peek and see if Kate was still sleeping. She was indeed. You supposed she had gotten tired, either from laughing, joking and simply having fun, or she was exhausted from doing her archery practices and going out with you.

Nonetheless, you check the time, having noticed the windows showing the sky going into a gradient, and the clouds evaporating.

It was 7:15 PM. You nibbled on your lip as you thought it over. You'll deal with everything else later. The task of organizing of your closet was finished anyway.

You close the bedroom door with a gentle shut, turning back around to face your room and go fall into the comfort of your bed.

As time went by, a yawn from you passes with it, and you switched your position all you could, picking up a book, or even tried to focus on your phone, but then you give up on everything and just decided to simply lay against the soft mattress.

Soon enough, your eyes grow heavy, and your vision grew darker. The daylight was also starting to fade away, and it added further to the luring sleepiness. Your fingers curled up and you closed your eyes, slowly falling into deep sleep.

As you were unaware, the sleep that was expected to be a few minutes of a nap, turns to hours, and you didn't even get to see the moon for the day.

Sometime later, you open your eyes in a half-awake state, noticing it was still daytime. Well, to you. It was actually now morning rather than afternoon as you checked your phone. A sigh leaves you.

Your eyes linger on your closed bedroom door. You only curled up further. You don't want to get up yet.

No one had texted, called, or gone in your room, so what's the point? Your tired eyes close once more as your breathing stayed soft, slowly going back to sleep while the house was quiet.

The hand of the clock moves slowly, yet the hours went like nothing as your mind rested.

"Y/N. Hey, you have to wake up." A gentle voice said next to you as you felt a shake on your shoulder. You groan, getting your peaceful time disturbed.

Kate watched as your splayed out arms moved as you shifted yourself to see her for a split second, your eyes barely open.

"What time is it...?" You murmured, the words barely even making sense to Kate, but to you it did.

"What?" She asked softly, confusion obvious in her voice while you yawned, turning to rest your cheek on the bed. She notices the sleepiness in your eyes when your face appears in her view.

"What time...is it?" You repeated slowly, trying to be clearer and raise your volume just a tad more. Your eyelids fell back to a close, too. Kate raises her eyebrows, crossing her arms as her concern grows.

"Its eleven. Come on, wake up, shower." She gestured with her hands, but you couldn't even see her. You made a sound that only convinced Kate it was going to take her more than that to get you to wake up or even get out of bed.

When she waited for a few seconds and you didn't answer or move, she offers with something that could hold more interest. "I'll make some waffles for you. You want some?"

Still, quietness came from you. You've gone back to sleep.

Gently, Kate reaches out and places her hand on your shoulder once more. "Hey." She swipes her thumb in a gentle motion, not wanting you to get mad at her for bothering you or something.

She then sighed softly.

Kate's eyes roam around the room, trying to see what could have possibly made you like this, but found nothing. Maybe you really were just tired. But the afternoon time staring back at her on your clock told her the chance of it being the latter, was starting to go down.

"If you don't get up, you're gonna lose the chance to have some tasty waffles." She says melodically as she leaned one hand on your bed. Her constant talking and gentle movements had you rousing from your sleep, and with the smallest step forward of getting you up, her concerns went lighter, but it was still there.

"...Did you get more messages?" She asked, her tone more serious now. You had a feeling if you didn't answer this time, she might just drag you all the way to the kitchen.

Kate knew about the countless messages from the brunette you once knew. The many times she's said to just block the contact were millions, but you didn't have it in you to lose the connection completely.

You roll over to lay on your back, your arms above your head as you blinked slowly, taking in a breath to come up with a reply. She waited patiently, although her eyebrows were furrowed.

"No, it's..." You trail off quietly with a sigh, your voice groggy from the morning. Kate pauses her thumb's movemensts on your shoulder, and you look at her more properly.

"I don't wanna get up." You go for a half lie. Kate thinks it over. Technically, if she needed to, she could bring a plate to you as you sat in bed, but that would only encourage you to stay in bed further on.

She also didn't want to force anything out of you, so she treaded carefully, but it didn't stop her from her determination to at least pull you out of this thing you entrapped yourself in. Even if its only been a few hours.

"Well, you're gonna have to. Unless you want me to carry you to sit at the dining table." She said plainly, but you didn't budge. The thought to even move slightly felt like a work on your energy.

Kate then slowly took steps backwards, getting farther away from you, and instead closer to the door. "Okay, I'm gonna have waffles without you! The sweet, soft, and crunchy ones that basically melt in your mouth!" She said, slowly turning around.

You shouldn't stay in bed.

And you decided you wouldn't.

"No, wait!" Your voice finally comes out slightly higher in volume than the barely audible one, but with a soft tone.

Kate turns around and raises an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips. You, on the other hand, pouted.

"...Don't finish without me." You whispered now, and Kate just about heard it, but it still had her smile widening. Her eyes watch you deflate on the bed before you push yourself up with your hands and slowly getting out of bed.

She walks to the kitchen with you following behind her, your fatigue visible within your movements. You hear Lucky's collar clinking gently that came with the brush of his body spinning around your legs.

Kate already had the meals ready, her hands only holding the drinks to place on the dining table. Your hand met Lucky's head for a moment before you join Kate at the table, looking to see what she had.

The plates held waffles with some fruits on the side. At the mere sight, your stomach was already grumbling.

You took your seat, getting comfortable. The plastic chair didn't help much with the ache in your body from sleeping in bed for too long, but the atmosphere of how the sunlight was gently going through the windows while the birds outside made shadows put up a peaceful feeling.

"Here," she hands you a fork, and you took it, about to dig in your meal, but your eyes brightened when you realize she had gotten another fork than only keeping a single one at her apartment, your head turning to look at her.

"Yeah, I got another fork, all your problems are solved now, I know." She said playfully, lightly nudging your shoulder. You giggle, starting on your waffle.

The breakfast-- Or brunch, as it was afternoon, goes smoothly with comforting quietness. You were finishing the last bite of your toast as you had your cheek rested on your other hand, your elbow on the table.

Kate turns off her phone, setting it aside to put her focus on you. She leaned closer to the dining table, looking at you closely.

"Are you sure you've been okay?" She asked gently, scraping the last of her waffle and putting it in her mouth, pulling you out of your spaced out state.

You nod, taking in a breath before responding. "Yeah, it's just a lot on my mind." The words came out like a breath, your eyes fixed on the table as you think it over.

"Well, it won't hurt to share. Come on." She folds her arms, pushing her empty plate forward gently as she waited for you to continue.

The crows ledged on another building within the view of the window cawed, and you stared at it, trying to come up with words while you did so.

"I...met someone," you said quietly, your eyes slowly meeting hers. You decided to give her the more positive news first, not wanting to mention the CDs you found just yet. Kate raises an eyebrow, curious as to it being someone new, or someone the two of you knew.

"Who?" She asked, eager due to your face lightly coming with a reddish tint. If she didn't focus much on your face for the sake of the conversation, she would've thought it was the sunlight.

"She was the person I bumped into when I was on a walk with Lucky...and at the airport," you said slowly and quietly, analyzing the look on Kate's face to then flick your gaze away. She stayed silent as she listened on to you, her mind searching for anything especially significant.

"Her name is Nat. She's...nice..." You shrugged, trying to play it cool as Kate slowly smiled. If you didn't look away, you might've thought to have to comment she looked like the cheshire cat from alice in the wonderland.

Not wanting to share much more with her, knowing she might get too excited, you only said, "And she's cool." You then purse your lips, your eyes going down to your plate.

"Cool? Just cool?" A smug grin replaced the smile growing on her face, but she didn't push further, already satisfied that you were still somewhat open to other people.

"Well, if that's all you're going to say, okay, but I need to know more later." She tilted her head, playing around with her fork and pushing the bit of syrup on her plate.

You nibble on your lips, thinking if you should give her the information you found out earlier, but you also wouldn't want to see it every times you opened the closet.

"I also found a box from Wanda's house I accidentally brought," you started, nearly not wanting to say it as Kate's eyes flickered to you, her form perking up slightly to sit properly. Your eyes flashed a moment of pain at the mention of her name, but it faded away.

"A box?" Her face scrunches up in confusion, trying to remember the day she helped you grab your things out from the car. There was a single box she remembered picking up, but she was unsure if it was the one you were talking about.

She inhales gently, and when you didn't continue, she asked. "What'd it have?" Her face held concern, preparing herself for whatever could be coming next.

"CDs. They're custom...I don't know what to do with them." You let out a gently, and quiet sigh. That mostly explains why you've been in bed for so long. Kate placed her fork back down, looking at you.

"Well, if you don't want them, we can sell them." She suggested with a gesture of her hand, trying to help you get rid of them.

"Or, if they have good songs, give some to me." She said plainly with a shrug, a small smile on her face. You laugh softly, and she thanked everything that you were at least somewhat fine...for now.

"Yeah, it's a good idea. And...I don't know about you holding my ex's old CDs." You narrowed your eyes, to which Kate's eyes widens.

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to!" She shook her head and moved her hands back and forth, adding to her expression, and you only giggled.

"I'm kidding, you can have some, but just don't play it in front of me." Kate's face and posture relaxes, and a smile wasbon your face as you pushed your chair back and grabbed your plate, going to the kitchen to place it in the sink.

She followed behind you, doing the dishes with you. The rest of the day went by peacefully, laughs shared as the two of you taught Lucky some new tricks.

You've also put up the CDs in a store somewhere with Kate's help, some of them lended to her when she found some of her favorites.

Then days, weeks, turn into months later, filled with small teary nights, movie nights with ice cream, meetups with...the redhead here and there, and your world slowly brightening.

As of late, your mind couldn't help but drift back to the redhead, the memories shared with her that was somehow growing rather than stopping at all.

In a cafe, the two of you sat, enjoying each other's company as the smell of coffee and baked sweets filled the air. You can see her glancing over every now and then, taking in the sight of your profile.

Oftentimes you would end up accidentally looking into her eyes a little too long within the car, and the both of you catch it, but you never took it too far than that, or even perceived it as actual feelings.

At the beach, a lake. She had the same color of eyes as her, her eyes luminescent from the glowing sun. But hers...hers are different. They hold a greener look with a tinge more brown at the iris, and oh, so soft.

The night was quiet other than the tapping of the water somewhere in the bathroom and the humming of the AC. You didn't feel a sense of sleepiness. Really, you just wanted to stare at the darkness.

The comforter around you kept you warm, and the position you were in was as comfortable as you could get. You tried putting your hand out to the edge of the bed, letting it rest hung over the side...you probably shouldn't do that.

As you realize you were too close to the edge, you exhaled slowly and pulled your hand closer to your body once more, moving yourself to the middle of the bed.

Your eyes stare at your phone, the screen facing down.

You shouldn't.

But you picked it up anyway.

Your fingers found the messages to Nat, your eyes seeing the old messages as you searched your thoughts for some words.

Are you still up?

You sent the message with a bite on your lower lip, leaving a mark. Thinking you shouldn't have sent a message so late in the night, you gripped your phone tighter and decide to leave it on the bedside table, nearly regretting disturbing her.

But then your phone lights up on the nightstand beside you, and your eyes widen in surprise, quickly going to grab it.

Yeah. Why?

I can't sleep, and I'm bored :(

Well, I have good news for you.

good news?

Are you free tomorrow?

I think so

Do you wanna go to an aquarium with me? :)

Your eyes blinked at the screen for a moment, trying to make sense if your sleepiness invaded your brain and you imagined it or if it was actually real.

Then, after a few seconds of registering it and deciding, you quickly type your response, a smile on your face.

YES?!?

Now, go to sleep.

okay, okay

you too.

Now, you almost couldn't sleep at all, your last drops of energy fueled by the excitement for tomorrow.

But it soon dies down, and with no warning as you close your eyes once more, you fell asleep easily. The room was quiet, and if you were still conscious, you'd notice it would only be white noise and your gentle breathing.

You slept peacefully, Kate doing the same in the other room with Lucky. The room grew in coldness with the night, causing you to curl within your sleep. Slowly, the moon fades away and the sun starts to rise.

The stir of your body and waking up was fatigued and hazy, a big yawn coming from you as you rolled on your back. You stared at the ceiling for a moment before your eyes widen with a realization dawning on you, the memory of last night reminding you of the aquarium.

You jump slightly to a sitting position, and then regret it at the fast pace, making you dizzy. You absolutely did not let the blood in your brain flow back naturally.

After gently shaking off the daze and letting it fade away with a couple of blinks, you sit for a few seconds before now slowly moving to get out of bed.

You followed your morning routine, showering and everything, but this time with excitement filled in your veins. You forgot you even struggled to sleep last night. Some messages were exchanged with the redhead for the plan of how you'll get to the aquarium, and you agreed on her picking you up.

Kate was already out the house, having told you the day before that she was visiting a friend and possibly even doing a sleepover. She did invite you, but you weren't interested.

As you start to put on your shoes, your phone dings, and your hand goes to grab it, turning it over so the screen was visible. The notification shows a message from Nat.

Hey, I'm in front of the apartment.

Your eyes widen and you finish up quickly, standing up to open the door. The light outside hits you, making your eyes squint, but it spots the black car pulled up near the side of the road when you went out the apartment.

You wave at her, and the corner of her lip raises up as she rolls the window down, sliding her sunglasses down to look at you more clearer.

"You ready to go?" She nodded towards you and you mirror her movement, being more than ready to go to the aquarium.

Nat's eyes look over your appearance for a moment. She was about to close the window but then remembered to ask, "And you got everything?" Her head turned to look at you more.

"Yup." You nodded once more as you went to round the car from the front and sit in the passenger seat. She had closed the window back up now, glancing at you to make sure you had your seatbelt on.

"Seatbelt," she murmured, putting the car in drive. You smiled and grabbed the seatbelt, clicking it in for your safety.

Her eyes focus back on the road once she saw you safe and comfortable in the seat, her hands firmly on the steering wheel as she made her way through traffic and turns on the road to get to the destination.

The drive was quiet, filled with gentle music. You can see the sunlight casting the warmest glow over everything in the car, including her striking orange hair that honestly only seemed soft now.

When you arrived, she opened the door for you right as your fingertips barely even brushed against the car door handle.

Getting in was easy, the line not being awfully long seeing as it's not their busiest day of the week. They gave free packets of yogurts to each ticket holder, but you already had yours open, while Nat was saving it for later.

Her hand held a camera, and you noticed it in the corner of your vision, your lips tugging up as you realize she was reviving the old hobby she had. She took pictures and videos of the sea animals, while also sneaking in some memories of you.

You start walking through the big spaces. In the corner of the room, held a big map of the entire aquarium, from sea animals that live in the colder regions, a shark zone, the exotic section, and the small fishes.

There was an ongoing show of the otters, the staff member in the enclosure feeding them fishes and having them do tricks as they excitedly move to snatch their food or swim in the water.

They talk about facts of the otters through the segment, making many other kids and people in the room beside the two of you captured in the moment.

After that was done, you were headed to the more colder region first, seals sitting on the right side while on the left held bunches of adorable penguins.

Nat smiled gently at you, her eyes all focused on your beaming face instead of the penguins.

"Nat, look!" You gently shook her shoulders, making her turn her attention to the penguins more properly, her eyes watching as they jumped and swam, while others waddled.

"Yeah, they're adorable." Just like you. That's what she wanted to say. Just like you, the penguins were adorable. But she only chuckled softly as you gently leaned into her from the side.

The footsteps and sounds of talking echoed through each hall and room with the gentle sound of some water going down a made up waterfall.

You gasped as you saw the sharks, swimming around gracefully. They were swift with their tails moving back and forth gently.

Black tip reef sharks, nurse sharks, lemon sharks...it held most of the more known ones, but nonetheless, you were more than happy to see them.

Nat kept you close, maybe even a little protectively as you both looked through the shark zone, watching as some of them circle around in their tanks until you make it to the end of the area.

"Whoa..." You slowly walked over to the stingrays, where you can watch them from above. At least, the small baby stingrays. The bigger ones were on the sides, accompanied with some turtles.

Nat was also admiring them, seeing how the stingrays moved across the floor and slid on the rocks. Some were even camouflaged within the sand, while others hid within plantation.

You were now in the more exotic section, and Nat had to hold back a laugh when she sees you getting scared at the sight of a huge japanese crab, although she was smiling, she also would not want it near her either.

The neon lights inquired with each animal of their color, the jellyfish being a pinkish purple as it majestically floated around in the dim lighting. It was aglowed, within a circle tank.

Sometime in the big trip of exploring the aquarium, you and Nat went to the diner that was marked on the map, grabbing something to eat and drink so you wouldn't get tired.

Afterwards, your journey continues, and Nat had to change her camera's battery to her backup one, thankfully having remembered to bring it.

You were seeing the smaller tanks now, seahorses, baby crabs, shrimps and starfishes on the entire wall. Each held their names and types, giving facts of what exactly they are.

"That one looks like you." You point at a orange starfish, sitting on the rocks. It nearly seemed like it was hiding. She was expecting a cool looking fish or a shrimp, but when she follows where you were looking and your pointed finger, she gasped and lightly slapped your shoulder.

"No, it does not!" She exclaims, staring at you. You giggled, finding her reaction to be amusing.

"The hair, come on." You gestured towards the orange starfish then to her, your eyebrows raising in question for her agreement, while hers raised in a challenge.

"Just 'cause it's orange?" Her voice was nearly more higher pitched, but her face was scrunched up in utter disbelief.

The moment passes by lightly with a few more laughs and distractions of the other fishes showing off their unique colors.

You pass by some eels too, octopuses, and a giant gar that shocked you. You followed it while its long body swam forward, and Nat shook her head gently.

Soon enough, you reach to the end of the aquarium, the end of the journey a little bit saddening, but the amount of things the place held was satisfying. Nat had just the right amount of batteries for the entire trip, too.

There was a souvenir shop at the end, as always. Within it had keychains, plushies, and some snacks available to take home. You had to run your finger through some of the plushies. They seemed to fluffy and soft not to touch.

Nat had bought you a keychain of a mini plush orca, and your heart melted at her memory of remembering your first proper meetup.

Outside, the sky was orange, the clouds dissolving as the both of you made your way back to her car. You had really been in there for that long?

Nat gets in the car with you, setting her camera safely in the center console. Your eyes follow her movement, and you went to reach for it.

"No," she gently pushes your hand away while at the same time, wearing her seatbelt, and you pull your hand back to your body with a pout.

"You'll be able to go through it later." Her lips ghosted the smallest hint of a smile, and you tilt your head in curiosity, but you didn't question it as she started driving. Maybe her battery had died entirely? But you had seen her turn it off earlier with some energy still left.

After minutes upon minutes of staring out the window, watching the skies fade deeper into darkness, the car soon arrives to Kate's apartment once more.

You stood in front of the door as Nat waited for you, making sure your surroundings were safe so she knew you went inside intact.

"Ah..." You sighed gently as you look through your pockets, trying to find the house keys. Nat curiously looked to you, her expression growing with concern.

"I...forgot to bring my keys." The words were said quietly as you turned back to her. She had made sure you had everything before the two of you went too, but none of her face had any judgement.

"You don't hide a spare one anywhere?" She asked gently, looking towards the carpet in front of the door or any other places that could have the key. You purse your lips, putting your hands in the pockets.

"My keys are the spare keys." Your shoulders go down in defeat, now your mind definitely remembering how empty your pockets felt aside from your phone.

Nat paused and stepped back in front of you, her quietness being in thought while her eyebrows furrowed.

"Well...isn't Kate home?" She knew it was a low chance with how you had not reached for your phone at all, and the apartment being dark.

"No, she's at a friend's..." You shook your head, biting your bottom lip gently as you stared off at her car with the engine on behind her.

"...Do you want to hang out at my place until we can grab the keys or when she comes back?" She asks nearly hesitantly, yet in very high hopes that you'll accept, especially not wanting you to be alone or anything.

"Uh...well, I mean..." You stutter slightly for a moment, your eyes meeting hers as you thought over. A gentle cold breeze flowed against your body from the night air, causing you to shiver.

Then, you took a breath in, "I don't really have any other choice, so, if it's okay with you, yeah." Nat's eyes soften and she nods, turning to her car once more, making sure you were following behind her.

The car doors close with a gentle shut, and you settle down in the seat once more, getting comfortable as you didn't know where or how far her place was.

She turns down the AC, having noticed your shivers, and also turned up the gentle music so it wasn't entirely silent.

Your eyes grew heavy though anyway as you rested your head against the backrest, and the streetlights that passed by was starting to blur and fade into what was bothering, to now something that lured you to sleep.

The red light makes her stop the car for a moment. When she looked over to you, her eyebrows raise, but she wasn't surprised.

She gazed at your sleeping form, her eyes trailing over every feature your face held. The red light and the streetlights even added on to your face.

She shouldn't stare. Especially not when you were asleep. What if you had woken up? When the light turns green, she continues driving, shifting in her seat slightly to gather herself together.

It wasn't actually much of a long drive, only 20 minutes or so until she arrived to her place. Nat unclicks her seatbelt and took a deep breath, looking over to you once more.

She doesn't want to pick you up or anything, knowing all too well it might just be too out of your comfort zone together. Instead, she goes to reach her hand out and gently shake your shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered softly, making you slowly stir in your sleep before waking up, a small noise coming from you. You look at her in a haze of sleep, and she smiled softly.

"We're here," she unclicks your seatbelt for you before turning down the music so it didn't bother you, but being patient for your response.

"Sorry I fell asleep." You whispered, your voice quiet and husky from your rest. She shook her head, dismissing your apology as she turns off the car.

"It's fine. You were tired." She said gently with a reassuring look before opening her car door and going out to get your door for you.

When she did, she also helped you out, not wanting you to trip or anything within your sleepiness. With you out, the car door closes.

You yawned softly and closed it with your hand while Nat grabbed her keys out from her pockets.

The lamppost's light illuminated your faces, the streetsign just barely even showing 'Sixth Avenue'.

"You know, you do really look like that starfish." You said quietly, blinking away sleep as you took in the streets of her place, to then your eyes landing back to her.

"Nope." She said softly with a gentle pop of her lips and a shake of her head, going through her keys to find the one for her apartment.

"Mmhm." You hummed and nodded, urging her to agree whilst you took some steps and leaned forward. She leaned back slightly, but paused her movements.

Her hand then falls, the keys falling back all over on the keyring but still between her fingers. She turns to you, her eyes searching your face.

She takes a deep breath, "Well, I think we can both agree on one thing." She said in a whisper, but even if she spoke in a low volume, the quiet area had your voices being audible. Even the noise of the gentle wind or a loose poster hitting something being hearable.

Your eyebrows raise in question for her to continue. You stood up more properly with your brain fully waking up, but now you saw how close you were.

"That our eyes see the same thing." She said, taking a step forward. Your breaths could be seen from the cold air, and you felt her warmth, making your cheeks flush just slightly.

"...And that is?" your words were quiet under your breath, almost not even audible as you gazed at her with your heartrate going fast as if you were in a high speed chase.

Her eyebrows furrow as she searches a word in her mind for an answer to the feelings swirling in her. She found a simple, obvious one, but pushed the word away.

She decides on "...Something," As her lips were just a whisper away from yours. You shouldn't lean in closer...it was too soon. But why shouldn't you anyway?

end of chapter 9. <3

Series Masterlist <- Chapter 8 Chapter 10 ->

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[amhrosina]

The Way of the Water (Namor x Reader)

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A/N: Y'all thought I wouldn't immediately write a Namor fic as soon as I saw Wakanda Forever??? Anyways, this ended up being over 3k words lol enjoy! Also, I did my very best to translate from English to the Yucatec Maya language that Namor speaks. If I messed any translations up, please let me know! I will fix them asap if necessary.

Summary: You meet Namor on the beach one evening, and what follows is a whirlwind friendship that quickly develops into more, but what happens when the real world comes crashing down around you?

(Warnings: minor character death (off page), angst, grief, mutual pining, flashbacks??, allusions of smut, but no actual smut)

Translations:   

jats'uts lool – pretty flower  

in ch'ujuk – my sweet  

in yakunaj – my love  

Rain pelted the windows of your apartment, and the increasingly loud rumble of thunder reminded you of him. It always did. Even the sound of the shower running sent you spiraling into your memories of him. He had completely and irrevocably taken hold of you, and even though it had been over a year since you’d seen him last, you couldn’t shake the grasp he had on you, on your heart.  

You had always loved the water as a child; spent hours frolicking up and down the beach, playing a never-ending game of tag with the tide. As you got older, the games eventually evolved into hours of sitting in contemplation, watching the tide inch closer to you until it finally washed over your toes. By the time the brisk water found its way to you, you had figured out exactly what your next steps would be. There was never a problem you couldn’t solve by sitting near the waves, breathing with the sea.   

//  

The beach near your mother’s house is where you’d first met him. It was dusk, and a storm was brewing on the coast, so the beach was empty of tourists and surfers. It was just you and the waves, until it wasn’t.   

You watched as the water began to behave strangely, gently crawling up the beach towards you in an unnatural fashion. The tide was still hours away from being at its full height, and you struggled to make sense of it. Your mother’s voice was screaming at you in your head, telling you to run away from the beach and never look back, but as you stood, the water enveloped your feet, caressing your skin with so much gentleness that you were rooted to the spot.   

“Don’t be afraid, jats'uts lool.”  

His voice echoed in your head, taking over your body and soothing every fear building inside of you. It was a kiss to each eyelid, a brush across your cheek, a comforting hug around your waist. It echoed safety and warmth, and you felt your anxiety wash away as he breached the surface ahead of you.   

You took a step forward and faltered. His presence was God-like, but not scary, you decided. You could tell how much power he held just in the way he stepped onto the beach, covered in beautiful hand-carved makings. He stopped a few feet in front of you, watching you for any signs of fear, but you had none. Pure curiosity lit your face, and he couldn’t help but smile a little bit.   

“Hello.” You breathed, unable to take your eyes off the ethereal being in front of you. He was strong, yes, and likely very powerful, but he was also beautiful. You couldn’t move, still rooted to the spot on the beach.  

“Hello.” He responded. “I am K’uk’ulkan, but you may call me Namor, if it suits you.”   

There was a gleam in his eyes, one that you couldn’t read, but you continued to stare in awe at him.  

“Are you a God?” You asked, voice light and wispy. “My mother always warned me not to meddle with Gods, but you are not here to hurt me.”  

His smile grew into a wide grin at your comment about your mother, but he didn’t laugh.   

“I am a type of God, I suppose. I am not here to hurt you, but your mother is right, jats'uts lool. Meddling with the Gods is a foolish endeavor.”   

He turned to the sea and sat down in the sand, patting the space next to him.   

“Sit. I will tell you about my people, and you can decide if you want to continue playing with a God.”  

His voice allowed room for disagreement – he was giving you the choice to sit with him or leave – but you lurched forward to sit with him, the decision already made.   

“My people,” he started, searching the sea in front of you, “belong to the sea. As do I. We are a formidable presence, which is why we are still a secret from the world. Anyone who dares disturb my people learns rather quickly that we are not a force to be reckoned with. So, if I tell you this, jats'uts lool, you must not repeat it to anyone. Can you do that for me?”   

“Yes.” You breathed. Your body had subconsciously leaned towards him, drawn in by his melodic voice. “Why are you trusting me with this, K’uk-,” you struggled to pronounce the name he had given you but tried anyways. He turned to you, smiling as you tried again to say his name.   

“I have seen you here, sitting with the sea, many times before, even though you couldn’t see me. You are alone, jats'uts lool, sharing your secrets with the tide. That is why I trust you. Because you trust her.” He nodded towards the water.  

He began his tale, describing his journey to you with overwhelming passion. When he spoke about his mother, his eyes hardened, but softened when he looked back at you. You sat with him for hours, in awe of his story and his people. When he finished, he gazed at you in question, watching as you processed the information he had shared with you. Day had fallen to night long ago, but the dark felt trustworthy, like everything being spoken would be held within it for the rest of eternity.  

“This feels like a dream.” You finally said, shaking your head. “Am I dreaming?”   

“This is no dream, jats'uts lool. But I must return to my people tonight.”   

He stood, holding his hand out towards you. You rested your hand in his as he pulled you to your feet, refusing to let go, even though you were both balanced in the sand.   

“Will you come back?” You asked, searching his gaze.  

He brought his hand to your cheek, gently cupping your face. You leaned into his hold, breathing in the scent of salt and sea.   

“I will come back if that is what you wish, jats'uts lool.”   

“What does that mean?” You call after him as he makes his way back into the sea.   

“I will tell you when I see you again.” He smiled as the sea washed over him, pulling him down into the dark depths of it and out of your sight. You watched the sea for a few minutes, trying to convince yourself that he wasn’t a figment of your imagination, and then finally turned and headed back to your mother’s house.   

//  

A loud clash of thunder brought you back into the present, in your apartment where you had lost yourself, yet again, in thoughts of him. It had been like this since that first night with him, and only got worse after every visit. Your heart panged with guilt over leaving the coast without saying goodbye to him, but you had to go, had to get away from the town that had taken everything from you, and he hadn’t come on the night you needed him most. The storm would leave eventually, but he would stay with you forever.  

It had been almost a full year since you’d left your small coastal town, and you eyed your car keys as the desire to return overwhelmed you. It was only a few hours away, still close enough to be reached by car, but not so close that you would be reminded of your childhood at every hour of the day. Before you could convince yourself it was a bad idea, you grabbed your car keys and bolted out the door.  

//  

Namor visited again two weeks after the first night. You were sitting on the beach one night, later than you usually stayed, half-convinced that you had made him up, when the ocean began to stir. Your heart leaped into your throat as he made his way out of the water.   

You met him halfway up the beach, enveloping him in your arms. The sudden reminder that he was a literal God, and that hugging him probably broke all kinds of rules, had you stiffening against him. The thought quickly washed away as he wrapped his arms around you, tightening your body against his. He was unexpectedly warm, even though the sea was cold, and your skin broke out in goose bumps where it touched his.   

“You are real.” You mumbled into his skin.   

He chuckled, leaning his head back to look at you.   

“I am real, jats'uts lool.”   

This is how every reunion went. You’d hug him, he’d swing you around in the sand, and you’d spend hours talking about everything. He told you about his home, a place you dreamed about. You told him about your childhood, how alone you had been for most of your life and how he was probably your only true friend, even though he was a literal God. He talked about bringing the sun to his people, and you were so overwhelmed with something in your heart that you had to remind yourself that God’s don’t love humans the way humans love Gods.   

One night, he finally asked you what he’d been wondering about all along as you both sat in the sand, watching the tide make its way up the beach.   

“Why do you spend so much time alone, jats'uts lool? You speak of your mother, but I never see her here with you.”  

“I’m waiting for you, Namor.” You tried to brush his question off by flattering him, but he had never been stupid, and you sighed as he refused to let it go.   

“No, even before you knew of my existence, you would spend many hours here. Don’t think I haven’t seen you crying. What bothers you, jats'uts lool?”  

You couldn’t fight the tears welling up in your eyes. Namor waited patiently as you worked up the courage to respond.   

“It’s my mom.” You finally murmured, roughly wiping the tears from your cheeks. “She’s sick, Namor, and I can’t do anything to stop it. The doctors say it’s terminal. All there is to do is wait, now, for the inevitable. She will die, and I will truly be alone.”   

Namor watched you, carefully constructing his response. You couldn’t look at him as you tried and failed to stop the tears flowing down your face. He gently grasped your chin, tilting your head to look at him.  

“I am sorry, in ch'ujuk, for your sorrow. I understand the grief of losing one’s mother. It never leaves you, and for that, I’m sorry. But you will never be alone, jats'uts lool. You will have me.”  

He leaned in, planting two soft kisses on your eyelids and wiping away the tears from your cheeks. You couldn’t stop yourself from capturing his lips with your own. You didn’t think about the consequences, or how many rules you were definitely breaking by doing it. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He grasped your waist, roughly pulling your body towards his.   

He laid back on the sand, pulling you on top of him as his tongue explored every inch of your mouth. You rested your knees on either side of his waist, grinding into him. His hands couldn’t figure out where to rest, running up and down your body, cupping your head, and squeezing your thighs as you grinded into him again.   

The previous conversation finally caught up to his thoughts, and he gently pushed your body a few inches away from his. Your lust slowly warped into confusion at his abrupt stoppage.   

“Not tonight, in ch'ujuk, when you are vulnerable and sad.” He closed his eyes, tightening his hold on your waist. “When I take you, I want it to be because you want it, not because you are sad and in need of comfort.”   

“I’m not-,” the look he sent you buried any attempt of continuing what had transpired. Namor was right, and you couldn’t deny his assumption that you needed comfort more than anything.  

You sighed, resting your head on his chest. He held you tightly as another round of tears engulfed you, racking your body with ugly and guttural sobs.   

“It will all be okay, in ch'ujuk. You will always have me.” He murmured, running his hand over your hair in a soothing gesture.   

When it was time to part ways, you walked him into the water, clutching his hand in yours. The tide, usually violent by this time of the night, was peaceful around you. It always was, nowadays. He cradled your face, kissing your nose lightly.   

“I have something for you.” He murmured, gently grabbing your hand. He began to tie what was probably the most beautiful piece of jewelry you had ever seen around your wrist. “It was my mother's, and now it is yours. It is a beacon of strength and persistence. My people wouldn’t exist without it. Whenever you are feeling weak, let it guide you towards peace.”  

A wave of emotions overwhelmed you, and you couldn’t breathe. The significance of him gifting you something so special to him was so incredibly generous that you couldn’t stop yourself from crashing your lips into his. He kissed you in sweet, unhurried motions, letting you push every emotion you were feeling onto him. He would take all the hurt away if he could. Carry it on his shoulders so that you could breathe easier. It wasn’t just a connection with you, it would always be something more, something galactic, something intangible but never missing from his being.   

When he finally slid back into the water, you clutched the braceleted wrist to your chest and swore to never let go of it.  

//  

The sight of the sea after so long calmed your nerves, as it always did. You had parked in front of the house that had belonged to your mother for so many years and headed towards the beach where it had all started. The house belonged to you now, but you hadn’t stepped foot in it since the awful night that had sent you scurrying for dry land, far away from the world you’d grown comfortable in.  

When you stepped onto the beach, your nerves resumed their anxious drumming. The last time you’d been here, you had been so angry at the world, so incredibly grief-stricken and so sad. Your mother had gotten pneumonia, a curse that had taken many sick people before her, but you were convinced she would pull through. When she didn’t, and you had to watch as EMT’s rolled her body out on a stretcher, you had stormed to the beach, intent on burning the world around you.  

You had called to Namor, begging him to take you away from here. You prayed and cursed and screamed, pounding at the sand with your fists, but he didn’t come. You sat with the anger until it finally warped into an incredible sadness, swallowing you whole. When dawn finally cusped the horizon, and you had finally accepted that he wasn’t coming, you had turned from the beach, climbed into your car, and driven far away. You hadn’t come back, until now.   

The storm had followed you back to the coast, where it was brewing something heavy in the skies above you. A light rain had drenched through your clothes on your walk from your house to the beach. It was dangerous to be so close to the water when the skies looked like this, but you didn’t care anymore. You needed to be with the sea, with him, even if he hated you for leaving.   

You sat on the beach, watching as the rain grew heavier around you. The tide was violent and angry, whirling and crashing hard onto the sand in front of you. That’s fine. You shrugged. Let it be angry with you.   

A stirring in the sea had you bolting to your feet, running towards the turbulent water. Namor stalked onto the beach, head swiveling back and forth until he saw you. You couldn’t help the sobs coming from your chest. You fell to your knees in front of him, clutching the bracelet you had never removed from your wrist to your chest.  

“Namor.” You mumbled, voice strangled and weak. “Please forgive me.” You sobbed into your hands, dropping your head. You couldn’t look at him, but you would accept anything he gave you, even if it was anger.   

You felt his presence before you felt his touch. He slowly wrapped his hands around your wrists, gently pulling your hands away from your face. He was kneeling in front of you, concern written on his face.  

“In yakunaj, where have you been? The sea has been missing your presence for a year now. Why did you leave? Why did you go somewhere I couldn’t follow? Why did you hide from me?”  

“Namor,” you breathed, voice breaking. “My mom. She-”   

You couldn’t say it. You hadn’t been able to since that fateful night a year ago. But Namor knew, sympathetic expression dawning on his face as you spoke.   

“Oh, my love.” He murmured, pulling you into his chest. You wound your arms around his neck, holding him tightly. You squeezed your eyes shut, relishing his warmth. “I am sorry you have been dealing with this alone. The sea called to me, told me you were hurt and angry, but I was far away, and by the time I got here, you had left. I’ve come every night since, but the sea no longer held your presence. I could not find you, in yakunaj.”  

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled into his skin. “I’m sorry for leaving. I've hated myself since I left, but I couldn’t face what I’d left behind.”  

“Do not apologize for your grief, in ch'ujuk. I am glad you are here. I am glad you are safe. I’m sorry I could not protect you from this.”  

You pressed your lips against his, something you’d dreamt about doing every night since you’d left. After all this time apart, you finally felt like you could breathe again. He was here, and he didn’t hate you.   

“In yakunaj, my people have been working on a way for me to bring you home with me, so we can rule the seas together. It could be your home, with me. Is that something you would want?”   

You gasped at his proposal, mind whirring. “Do you mean it, Namor?” You murmured, searching his eyes for false promises.   

“Of course, jats'uts lool. They took notice of my absences after we met, and I could not lie about falling in love with a human from the surface. Some were weary, understandably so, but the sea whispered to them about your gentle heart, and the sea does not lie. They have already begun constructing a throne for you.”  

“Take me home, Namor. Your home.” You whispered, heart aching at the thought of Namor telling his people about you, at the thought of them accepting his love for you.   

“I love you, in ch'ujuk.” He murmured, capturing your lips with his.   

“I love you, my king.” You responded against his lips.   

The surface world had never really felt like home to you. The sea had been your home long before Namor had stepped onto the beach that fateful evening so long ago, but now it beckoned you into its warmth. It called to you, and you would be a fool to ignore it. Yes, meddling with Gods was a foolish endeavor, but Namor was your home, and there wasn’t a chance in the world of you turning away from him now. You took a step into the water.   

Home.   

Tag List:

@alexxavicry @hallecarey1 @km-ffluv @chiaraxtargaryen

This is my first Namor fic, so I'm only tagging those who asked to be tagged in every Marvel fic I post. If you'd like to join Namor's taglist or you want to alter your form, click here <3.

#namor #namor mcu #namor black panther #namor x reader #namor x you #namor x oc #k’uk’ulkan #tenoch huerta #black panther 2 #black panther #marvel fanfiction #namor imagine #namor fanfiction #tenoch huerta x reader #tenoch huerta x you #namor fic #namor fluff #marvel #marvel imagine #black panther fic #namor angst

[i-love-your-shades-of-wrong]

you want complex characters? here's Gale.

I am fully convinced that people only hate Gale bc it's Liam Hemsworth and because they think he's annoying - and yeah, it's true, he IS annoying, but to like president snow more than him? (its pretty privilege)

Most people know by now that the love triangle in thg is for metaphorical purposes - the choice between peace and war. And it's not even a choice as a reader - there is quite literally no chemistry between gale and katniss (in my opinion). But that doesn't merit hatred for the character himself.

He grows up in the seam, poor and being the breadwinner for his siblings. (how sad) We're supposed to disagree with his motives by the end of it - he shouldn't want to get revenge because that makes him as bad as the capitol (yada yada yada). And Peeta is in the right because he wants to show mercy. (peace vs war)

But Peeta grows up as the bakers son. Has he ever gone hungry? No. Are we meant to feel bad for him because of his mum? idk. His name was in the bowl far, far less times. Does that make it any better? No, because he's picked (and this is meant to be about how the system is awful... you get it). But Peeta doesn't grow up hating the capitol because they don't hurt him... until the games.

Is this an attack on Peeta? No, of course not, but circumstances are important as the actions taken within them (situation ethics). Peeta goes into the games and you'd think his outlook on life changes, but it doesn't. Some people have stronger cores - a lifetime of security within yourself does that.

Peeta goes into the games again, Gale saves the citizens of 12 in the bombing. Peeta's kidnapped. And Gale says this:

"He might have been tortured. Or persuaded. My guess is he made some kind of deal to protect you. He'd put forth the idea of the cease- fire if Snow let him present you as a confused pregnant girl who had no idea what was going on when she was taken prisoner by the rebels. This way, if the districts lose, there's still a chance of leniency for you. If you play it right." I must still look perplexed because Gale delivers the next line very slowly. "Katniss…he's still trying to keep you alive."

So, he's annoying, but is he a liar? No. He's ever the strategist, thinking of things from the logical point of view. (really grasping for straws but I need a pro and less cons����)

People really hated Gale for bombs - killing innocent people that just want to help the fallen? (ohno how sad). But are capitol citizens ever really innocent? Bystanders that simply allow children to be murdered year after year? The idea that they simply have no idea of the harm being caused is ludicrous. Do they not have critical thinking skills? No matter what happens in life, you KNOW murder is wrong. No matter what propaganda media shows you.

(also Beetee helped make those bombs too like gale was annoying but stop giving him full credit like if I was beetee I'd be pissed)

So, that comes to the idea that killing people as a whole is unethical, and it doesn't matter that they're awful people. Is that untrue? No. Is it far to those that have been oppressed their entire lives, being told that using force against their oppressors is wrong? Maybe. It's not an easy issue to resolve (kinda explains the metaphor, doesn't it?)

Neoliberalism probably wants you to blame the individuals. Coin, Gale, Snow. Coin and Snow were two sides of the same coin (ooh pun) - politicians, adults, playing for their own power. Is it wrong to enjoy power? No, of course not, just don't abuse it. Gale enjoyed power. But he was fighting for the freedom of the country, not himself. And he's only 19/20. You're a lot angrier when you're younger, as many adults forget.

The system is the real problem, clearly. Why should the capitol have all the power? Why are the districts being used? We don't know. But that's unimportant.

And then there's Katniss. She's the one making the decision - peace or war. On paper, its peace anyday. Katniss has seen both Peeta and Gale's hardships - Gale is a metaphor for who she could have been. Bitter, angry and hateful. It's not unjustified hatred but under Kantian ethics, murder is always wrong. Katniss does not want to retaliate because it's a vicious cycle of violence.

As far as we know, the capitol don't really pay for all they do. I know if I was a district citizen who suffered, I'd want capitol citizens to feel the same way. That is not to say that it is ethical, but it is not unjustified.

It would be more of a fair argument if Peeta and Gale suffered equally, but can you really quantify suffering. Their experiences shape them. Its easier for Peeta to want mercy for the capitol because he wasn't starved his whole life. And Peeta's stance is the right one.

But see, that's why we say complex character and not good person. Because the decisions aren't malicious in intent, just with clashing personal values to the norm. Like, bffr, half the people online hating on this guy would NOT have stood for mercy for the capitol.

(anyway have a nice day this was my ethics essay plan and I'd better get a 9 on it or else <333)

#the hunger games #catching fire #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #mockingjay #ethics #morality #gale hawthorne #peeta mellark #katniss everdeen

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

I Can't Stop Thinking About Mr. Grizz In Space

I'll preface all that I am going to say with the fact that Return of the Mammalians as a story has a lot of problems. Its pacing is kind of wack and basically all of the actual plot happens literally at the end. I think I like it more than most, certainly more than a lot of other high-profile Splatoon blogs here, but there's no denying it has a ton of flaws.

It did, however, leave me with a lot to chew on, and perhaps one of the things it has had me thinking about the most is actually just a little gag in the credits

About three minutes into the credits, Mr. Grizz is shown slowly orbiting around earth, given so little thought that the credits roll right over him, but I genuinely think this is one of the most poignant and evocative images in the whole game.

Now, Mr. Grizz wasn't handled very well in this game, primarily as a consequence of that whole "all of the story happens in the ending sequence" thing, but I think that conceptually he is about as perfect of a villain as they could've made for the supposed "finale" of the story they've been building up to now.

One of Splatoon's primary themes, especially with its villains, has been the dangers of clinging to the past. Octavio is a bitter old warlord stoking the flames of a long-gone conflict mostly to satisfy his bruised ego. Commander Tartar is obsessed with an idealized version of the past and seeks to remake the present when it can't live up to that ideal, even when that ideal never existed. Splatoon 3 even went further, revealing that inklings, octolings, and all the other land-living sea life are in fact humanity's truest successors, and Tartar tried to wipe them all out anyway.

Mr. Grizz continues this trend and takes it maybe as far as possible because he doesn't just want to reshape the present, he sees it as something unnatural and wrong on a base fundamental level, a mistake that can only be resolved by restoring the status quo, giving the planet back to the mammals. Coming as close as possible to literally turning back time. With Splatoon's focus on youth culture and pop media, it's hard not to read this theme as an allegory for the ways that older generations can cause immense harm in rejecting the new and in making futile attempts to grasp a world that once was but never can be again.

But Splatoon isn't trying to tell us that the divides between us are unmendable, far from it. Over the course of the first two games we see how inklings and octolings grow closer and closer until it's a complete afterthought in the third game, and even Octavio, when push comes to shove, is willing to bury the hatchet for the greater good. Calamari Inktantation 3MIX is perhaps the purest expression of this, a mix of old and new, a traditional folk song turned into a pop song, complemented by three artists that each pull from completely different cultures (Frye = India, Shiver = Japan, Big Man = Brazil) all mixed together by a 100+ years old DJ. Calamari Inktantation is old and new, pop and traditional, Inkopolis and Splatsville, octoling and inkling (and manta ray), in a chaotic, messy, beautiful swirl of sheer ecstatic joy. As a song, it is peak Splatoon, clear and simple.

But this isn't about Calamari Inktantation 3MIX, as excited about that song as I am, this is about Mr. Grizz, and after spending so many games exploring the dangers of clinging to the past, Splatoon 3 uses him to show us what happens when you cannot let go.

Mr. Grizz could not accept the present he found himself in. To him it was wrong, it was offensive, and he fought tooth and claw to bring it back with him, into the past, to the glory days, and he fails. Of course he fails, you can't stop time, much less turn it back, and the people of the present will always fight to protect their future. So where does that leave him?

Alone. Gazing down at a planet he was born on but can no longer recognize. From his orbit, he can see thousands, maybe millions, of little lights along the coastlines, each one an entire city, buzzing with life and all of its eccentricities. It's a world that would probably welcome him, if he gave it the chance. But he didn't. He rejected it and sought to return to a time and a place that no longer existed, and in so doing, all he achieved was isolating himself. And now, as he circles the world, all he can do is watch as it moves on without him.

#splatoon 3 #return of the mammalians #mr grizz #return of the mammalians spoilers #rotm spoilers

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Safe House: Night 1

A series of drabbles about Sierra Six. In this part, Six finds a place to hide out.

Warnings: these drabbles will containt dark content, including blood, violence, possible rape/noncon, and my usual fare. Your content consumption is your responsibility. If you proceed past this warning, you are consenting to reading sensitive content.

As per usual, I would love feedback. I didn’t expect to write this character so for this, I’d love to know if anyone wants to see more.

There’s a man at your door. A stranger. Sitting on the floor, one long leg stretched to its limit, the other bent as his shoulders slouch, head hanging weakly. 

Is he awake? Alive?

The building isn’t on the best side of the city. Usually, stragglers loiter by the door, trying to sneak in or bum a smoke. You’ve learned to keep your head down and lips sealed. Act like they aren’t there. 

How can you when he’s between you and safe haven?

You squeeze your phone, always in hand just in case. You tilt the screen up.

“Don’t,” his low voice crackles dryly, “no cops.”

You look up. He leans his head back against the door. He groans as he grips his ribs and bears his teeth.

“Sorry, I–” he grunts as he plants a foot, dragging his other leg up below him, unable to put much weight on it as he slaps a hand against the door to keep from falling back. His gloved fingers curl as he swears under his breath, “I’ll get out of here,” he wobbles on his feet, “I don’t– where am I?”

“Holland and Mackenzie,” you give the closet intersection, “what happened to you?”

“Not your problem,” he takes a step and staggers, his shoulder hitting the wall as he hisses. He’s in bad shape, that cut on his forehead is the least of it, but the smear of blood already has you queasy.

“I’ll call an ambulance,” you offer.

“No, no cops,” he insists a second time, “shit.”

You take a breath. You know better. You near with your keys in your other hand, holding one outright, ready to stab.

“Don’t try anything,” you warn as you point it at him. He laughs but it only makes him wince.

“Sure thing,” he shakes his head.

You aim it towards the lock and turn the latch back. You cautiously turn the handle and push inward, letting the heavy door open on its own weight. You look at him again.

“I… I got some rubbing alcohol? Some gauze somewhere–”

“You inviting strange men in around here?” he snorts.

“I suppose it’s like you said, it doesn’t need to be my problem.”

“Right,” he turns and grasps the door frame, arm above your head as you enter. 

He limps in behind you, falling against the wall once more as you shut the door. He’s tall, he would be even bigger if he could stand straight. You twist the lock into place and hang your keys. You unzip your coat and hang it on the rack with your purse.

“Bit cramped,” you say as you continue down the short hall, the front room and kitchen one and the same.

He trails you, one foot thumping heavily. You pull out a wooden chair from the table and he falls into it. You back away and look down at your phone. It’s not too late to call.

“No,” he repeats as he peels his gloves off, “if you like this place as it is, no cops.”

You frown and look away guiltily, “you mind if I order some food?”

“By all means,” he eyes you, taking in your stained apron and the bandana around your head. You’re a mess but nothing compared to him.

You key in an order adding a double portion of noodles to stir fry. You put the phone face down and search the kitchen drawers. You grab a few dish cloths then go through the bathroom to dig out the bottle of isopropyl, the box of bandaids, and the forgotten roll of gauze. 

You return to him as he lets his jacket droop down at the bend of the chair. There’s a tear in his black shirt, he rips it until most of his torso is bared. He’s covered in dark blood as it leaks from a gash down his ribs. You quickly drop your wares on the table and hide your mouth behind your hand as you gag.

“It’s not all mine,” he says, “I’ll survive.”

“Mmhmm,” you swallow, “I’m sorry, blood just make me—” You turn away, “I can smell it, oh my god.”

He scoffs quietly but says nothing. His breath gristles as he reaches for the bottle and you watch from the corner of your eye. He’s so nonchalant about it all, it scares you. 

Who is he? What is he?

“Shit,” he mutters, “can I ask you a favour?”

You look at him, pushing your hands flat to the counter to keep from shaking, “yep.”

“I need you to get my boot off,” he says, “I can’t… really bend over.”

He has gauze pressed to his ribs, deep red staining through. You go to him and get on one knee. He directs you to the left and untie the laces. You wiggle it off his foot and he groans. He sits back in the chair and huffs through his nose.

“Alright, one more thing,” he grits through his teeth, “put your thumb at the base of my big toe…” you glance at him in confusion but do as he says, “alright, take your other hand, grip my heel–” he inhales, hugging his middle as he presses the gauze tighter below his chest, “now push above my toe until you hear a pop.”

“What–”

“Just do it.”

You hold back another gag. You hate this. You hate blood, you hate injuries, you can’t.

“Come on, sweetheart, take a breath and–”

You suck in air and push. He snarls and hits the table. His toe pops and he throws his head back as a long ‘fuck’ rolls off his tongue.

“I’m sorry, I–” you let go of his foot, “did I hurt you?”

He snickers and shakes his head, “nope, you did it. Damn.” He puts his foot on the floor, “not the first time. You boot a guy hard enough in the skull and it just pops the joint outta place.”

You stand and stare at him. “You do that a lot?”

His eyes flit to the wall and he smirks, “when I need to.”

He pulls the gauze from his cuts and snatches up another square. You scrunch your nose at the torn flesh. “Got some medical tape? Even scotch tape? Something to keep this on.”

“Uh, I’ll go have a look,” you nod.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he leans his arm on the table as he mops up more blood with the fabric. You hesitate. The scars down his arm suggest this is just another night for him. You hope it’s just one for you.

#sierra six #the gray man #six #drabbles #drabble series #safe house #series #dark!drabble #dark drabb #dark six #dark!six

[jackwolfes]

I would love to start writing grishaverse fics but I'm worried about not getting the characterisation correct. I've started with a modern au, which was maybe not the best plan considering it's probably harder to keep the dialogue in character when they're not in their normal setting. Any words of wisdom? Since you seem to be so inherently good at nailing all of the crows 😅

your point on AUs is interesting because 1) i am a big big AU writer and 2) i know some people insist that AUs are always automatically less in character which is just emphatically not true and is often times good old fashioned pretentiousness

but i would say that the key thing to AU writing is understanding the characters in their entirety, as well as how their character changes depending on the situations they're in, and adjusting accordingly. i run into this problem all the time with wylan! so in AUs where his entry into the barrel is entirely different i have to reevaluate how like, scared for his life he'd be basically, and how that changes how he relates to other people

for another example - the way matthias changes as a character in SOC is tied to how far away he is from his (for lack of a better term) cult, paired with the love he is met with from nina and the evidence of "goodness" from grisha (jesper & kuwei). so then that becomes: what is the au equiavalent of the druskelle? how long has it been since he's left them? how long has he known nina, has he met jesper/kuwei, has he had closure yet against brum?

i also think it's suuuuper important with AUs to remember that in the books they are all teenagers and all act like teenagers. if you're writing aged up AUs, certain ways they act will necessarily be different - ie all of them, at one point or another, think way too highly of themselves and/or act like immature gits that don't know how feelings work: if you're aging them up you'll have leeway to temper them a bit. interestingly i think the netflix show does this really well, with wesper especially - wylan isn't flushing constantly when jesper flirts with him because he's already a sexually active adult, etc. it's an interesting case study wrt how to age characters up and keep the essence of who they are

anyway i have wildly different confidence levels for the different crows so don't like, take this as gospel, but if you're interested i jotted down a few of the key things that i keep in mind about each of them below the cut:

mh

matthias is funnier than anyone gives him credit for. he doesn't always mean to be but comedy + matthias = winner

if you're writing early matthias: he is scared and lost and angry. he is in a new country he does not know the language of, freshly betrayed by someone he was never supposed to trust, and kicking himself for being stupid enough to "fall for her tricks" (while also being so profoundly in love that he is angry all over again that he is still "being tricked")

if you're writing later matthias: he is just. fucking. trying. he can see that there is something hopeful on the horizon and has realised that he wants it and will do what he can to make steps towards it. i really like writing matthias as clueless but well meaning, where he's a bit thick about a lot of things but really wants to do better! like your cishet uncle at christmas who is REALLY trying to get your pronouns right because he knows it means something to you but just doesn't have a grasp of how they work, yknow?

his faith is SO important to him, especially as the series goes on and he starts doubting everything. when he's in fjerda he's embedded in it but when he's in kerch, it is the literal only thing he had keeping him going. when he joins the crows, he clings to it as if to prove to himself that not everything he learnt was entirely wrong until he can reconcile religion with loving grisha

wve

if you aren't familiar with the signs of autism, research them. once you have, congratulations! you now have a guide to writing wylan van eck.

wylan is infinitely meaner than anyone gives him credit for. i dont mean snarky, i don't mean bitchy, i mean MEAN. early on, he says some fucking savage things without any real consideration for how jesper feels because he just fundamentally hasn't had real kindness from anyone in so long, which means he doesn't know that he doesn't have to expect cruelty back.

he does not want to be doing anything illegal. he'll do it but won't fucking like it - except he will also at the same time be very prideful about what he's doing. so he'll do it, and won't fucking like it, but by god will he do it well and make sure everyone around him knows how clever he is. he doesn't brag, exactly, but he WILL be smug and will not skimp on theatrics when needed.

the thing that made wylan click for me was someone saying that he is not SHY, but he is RESERVED. at no point is he really actually timid. he gets flustered, and fear/anxiety for his life is fucking rampant, but he is at no point shy with his opinions. he just refuses to show his whole hand and is very much like kaz in this respect.

early wylan is just having the worst fucking week, all the time. like every day is the worst day of his life: he's tired, hungry, scared, anxious, belittled, lonely. a part of him genuinely believes that he'll be able to go home again, which makes him resentful of the how bad his life in the barrel is.

underneath all of this wylan is still a profoundly hopeful character. i think one of the most interesting things about him is that he has an unhindered belief that the world is at it's core good, even though it also has bad things in it, and a fundamental unwillingness to settle for other people's cynicism. he's not stupid, he's not deluded, he's barely even optimistic, but throughout the series he genuinely does seem to believe that there will be a happy ending in some way or another.

jf

if you aren't familiar with the signs of adhd………….

jesper to me is just doing his very best to get through life without feeling any negative emotion ever for any longer than he has to. much like matthias, he is lost and scared and angry - but instead of channeling this into a pseudo-facist military cult he tries to stop feeling the bad feelings as quick as he possibly can. he has learnt that bad feelings = the worst, and the way to deal with that isn't to embrace them to understand them and move on [because he has also learnt that "bad" means "should be hidden"] so he tries to not feel them at all. he does not dwell on his mother's death or his father's insistence that a beautiful part of himself is a curse. he squishes it down and tries to cover it with gambling and flirting and anything else that'll get him through - except those coping mechanisms always make him feel worse, which he tries to bottle up and cover with a joke and a smile…... etc etc etc

to emphasise: when he covers things up, he does so in the biggest, boldest and most public ways as if that'll prove to everyone else, as well as himself, that he's fine. he doesn't shut up, he's a snarky asshole, and his whole thing is that he refuses to stop moving because stopping let's the bad feelings catch up.

he is both incredibly cynical and incredibly optimistic, which is a strange juxtaposition to get your head around but makes him really interesting! he's described as having "reckless optimism" and an insane hope that everything will pull through - but so often when he talks to wylan he is utterly jaded about wylan's way of seeing the world.

jesper doubts himself and his talents fucking massively. whereas a lot of the other crows are almost too confident about their abilities to do things, jesper doesn't really put stock into his talents! and this again comes down to the fact he has fundamentally not taken the time to learn and understand why he has the talents he has, and only gets to that point at the end of CK.

ig

inej to me is just very teenage girl, by which i mean: she is funnier than anyone gives her credit for, she likes to be right, she crushes on idiot boys [and gets annoyed about it] and truly cherishes her friendships. she is a TEENAGE GIRL, not an all-caring insightful mother figure, and when she supports her friends she leans on them in return just as heavily.

related to that she is also infinitely more like… proud than people give her credit for. this is also similar to wylan IMO but inej takes great care in whatever she does, and while doesn't necessarily try to get all eyes on her, she DOES want the people she's manipulating to know that SHE is the one in control of their fates. but for all she holds power over other people and the next steps in her life [which is key re: taking control and autonomy of her life in the aftermath of her assault and displacement] it is always chased with the knowledge that at the end of it, her saints have the final say and final power.

i think it's also really important that she just does not believe herself to be a good person. like she doesn't, but she's making peace with that and spends a lot of time trying to atone for that by making the world better than she found it.

nz

nina is a notoriously hard character to get right [and also i haven't read king of scars so can't comment on anything but how she's written in SOC/CK] but one key thing about nina that i think jumps out is that she is just. tired. she's so tired by the start of soc because she does not like life in the barrel. she doesn't even like ketterdam! she fucking hates it! she's doing what she has to to find matthias but does not WANT a life in the barrel. her key goal and motivation is to fucking skip town as fast as possible.

it's also key IMO that she has had a very similar upbringing to matthias. it's very easy to see his indoctrination, and i wouldn't say that the ravkan's are quite as bad as the fjerdans considering ideologies and tactics, but as the books go on nina very much discovers that the way she was raised [taken from an orphanage without a say, raised to be a soldier, told to never question anything/step out of line/consider an alternate view] was also not great, which is why she decides to leave and make change on a local level

nina doesn't really hold back what she thinks, especially when she's upset with someone: she will just tell kaz someone they're being stupid straight to their face.

related to that, she is just low-level irritated at kaz for every waking moment of the series

kb

he's not mean, but he's a sarcastic fucker and incredibly blunt about the truth of things. he genuinely does not care about hurting other people's feelings [key with wylan tbh but seen with all of the other crows]

he doesn't volunteer information if he can help it: he likes to have the upper-hand and the last word, but will never show all of his cards until he is absolutely 100% without a doubt certain he's won something

he would rather be shot in the head than show true vulnerability [see: the "who is jordie" conversation]

that bitch loves a grand gesture. he doesn't have a love language so much as he only knows how to express his feelings by doing things for people [see: buying his crush a big boat]

#uthers bald head #soc #six of crows #advice #fic advice #asks #long post