#...you could say something fishy is going on here
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What’s left, pt. 3
#horizon forbidden west#hfw#hfw photomode#my gf asked me if you could leave the quest area without retrieving poseidon#so i did that#went on to hang out somewhere else and probably finish a side quest or two instead#then came back#i've never seen the sea holograms in the drained area?#at least not to that degree#and i think the fish disappear once you drain the water?#at least i have some pics from my first time there#and there were no fish#...you could say something fishy is going on here
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this is gonna sound like an absolutely batshit accusation but i'm betting that penn is a yiga clan member in disguise
#bwark#totk lb#he's feigning ignorance on us being the hero and joined the newspaper to get information on us#then when link joined the newspaper he was able to set up traps with other clan members by giving them info#it's happened twice now i'm suspicious#i bet all of the princess sightings are them in disguise too#though there is legit something up about zelda in this game. not the one in the memories she's legit but i noticed it the first time i got#a blood moon that something is off#then i went to zora's domain and the king reported her attacking him like. okay#i guess you could say there's something. fishy going on here
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— op81, cs55, cl16, ls2
a/n: spent so long on the graphic 💀
yourinsta
liked by mclaren, landonorris and 49,183 others
yourinsta call me pitbull cuz I’m mr worldwide 🤫 (+🇦🇺🇪🇸🇲🇨🇺🇸)
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landonorris coppiers
yourinsta you’re my og 🫶
landonorris just og? 😔
username I swear if oscar gives us nothinggg
username MY BABY IS SHY OKAY?
username GOOD DAY TO BE A LOGAN SARGEANT FAN 🦅🦅🦅🦅
username I could only pray the Spanish flag is for Fernando 😩
— oscar piastri
Nervously sipping on his emotional support orange juice. Maybe too much nervous sipping.
“So, what’s your type?”
“My girlfriend?”
“Tell her she’s mine too.”
“WOw, will do.”
Cheeks turning red, munching on the fries like a little chipmunk he is.
“I mean– I have three sisters so…”
“That’s a green flag.”
“Thank you?” a piece of chicken in, a smile comes out. “That’s it?”
“Maybe if he’s…Australian, maybe.” you shrugged.
“Yeah.”
“And if he’s…wait. what sign are you?”
“Don’t know..I think it’s kinda nonsense.”
“That’s a red flag.”
“Sorry?” cheeky.
The orange juice was left unattended for a minute. Good sign. Chuckles were still evident.
“Let’s get serious here…” shifting in your seat.
“Yeah.”
“You drive for a living?”
“Yeah, I go around in circles ‘nd stuff,” juice pause. “I could drive you around Melbourne..if you’d want to–”
“And you’ll take me back by eight? Maybe offering your hand as well?”
“Yeah,” squinting face. “I could do that.”
“Lovely.”
— carlos sainz
Does that thing with his eyes, bending down to take the fries in…while keeping an intense eye contact.
“Smooth operator, you like that song?”
“Everyone favorite song no?”
“Hard choice.” pausing your fries mid air. “Spanish songs that I have no idea what they’re talking about could be up there.”
“Really? Tell me one.”
“The one from fast and furious.”
“A lot of them,” throwing his head back. “Can you sing it for me?”
“Asking for me to sing already. You’re in a hurry Carlos?” a sip of your Diet Coke. “Fast Five?”
“Eh..Danza Kuduro?”
“How could I know?” you shrugged. “What’s the song about anyways?”
“Something like…dancing…er…with tight ass.”
“Make sense.”
Looking confused as ever with that big, brown eyes. Mouth agape and shut every time few seconds, curling into a smile most of the time.
“So you’re still looking for job next year?”
“Huh?”
“Lewis Hamilton? Looking for job?”
“Eh..” leaned back in his seat. “Could be. Are you offering?”
“I’m a pretty busy girl..”
“Really? How busy?”
“So you’re up for it? That’s fast.”
“I’ll have to talk to my manager,” raising his eyebrow. “What is your requirement?”
“A Ferrari driver.”
“Sure.”
— charles leclerc
Trying to not laugh his ass off every five seconds or just completely blanks out. Chicken tasted good though.
“Charles, I have to ask you one thing.”
“Yeah?”
“How do you pronounce your last name?”
“I don’t..I don’t care, really.” Shrugging his shoulders. “Charles. Le. Clare.”
“Hm…maybe just use my last name instead, it’s easier.”
“I– yeah?”
“What?”
His chicken was pretty cleaned up the first few minutes. Plenty of confused chuckles.
“Do you think you are a committed person?”
“I…I…it’s a hard question no?” he put his hand together, in an Italian – sorry, Monegasque way. “I like to say I am.”
“I could tell.”
“Really? How?”
“Your contract with Ferrari.”
— logan sargeant
He was used to burger and fries but maybe he could just tolerate chicken and fries for your pretty company.
“What’s your ideal date?”
“Hm..definitely chicken shop dates.”
“Really? Where’s best chicken you ever had then?”
“This one.”
“That’s not an option.”
Subtle stares here and there, his cheeks might be hurting from all the grinning though.
“What’s your ideal type?” munching his ketchup-ed fries.
“So you don’t do researches.”
“I am now.”
“You know…starting to have a thing for Americans. You have any recommendations?”
“You could start by going fishing in the Keys with me,” stretched his arms.
“I’m not into fishy things.”
“Just boat rides?”
“I could do that.”
Coke break.
“Your thoughts on frat boys?”
“They’re fine,” he shrugged.
“And you’re not like a..secret member? Is it like a One Direction..thing?”
“Maybe better looking?” smirked. “I could see myself being one if I wasn’t racing.”
“Dreams do come true, Sargeant.”
“Ouch,” clutching his chest. “Ah– well– Maybe this other dream could come true as well?”
“You being better looking than One Direction?”
tell me who should be in chicken shop dateee 😩😩
– @namgification @jsjcue @c-losur3
Today’s a great day to take care of yourself!!
#formula 1#f1 x reader#f1#f1 imagines#charles leclerc imagines#lando norris x reader#oscar piastri x reader#oscar piastri#carlos sainz#carlos sainz x reader#charles leclerc x reader#charles leclerc#logan sargent x reader#logan sargeant
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"You've Bewitched Me"
Prompt - NRC is in upheaval. A video of Yuu singing a song has been circling around the school about her being "bewitched," and everyone is trying to figure out by who. Yuu is embarrassed and upset about her private song being the subject of gossip, so she decides to hide from everyone only for her crush to find her and reveal he has been "bewitched," by her...
Pairings - NRC Students x F!reader
Warnings - Gossip, Incredibly Shy Reader with Stage Fright, Depictions of Anxiety, Not Beta Read
Song - "Bewitched" by Laufey
Prologue (Here) - Heartsyble - Savannaclaw - Octavinelle - Scarabia - Pomefiore - Ignanhyde - Diasmonia
When @/thegreatestmagealive uploaded a video of the Ramshackle Perfect singing a love song, to say NRC nearly blew up would be an understatement.
The song, the poster titled “Bewitched,” became an instant hit across campus, but also became the source of tension as everyone was asking the same question: Who bewitched the Ramshackle Perfect?
“20 Thumbmarks on Leona!”
“15 on Kalim!”
“Kalim? Really, no it has to be Vil!”
“30 DOLLARS ON LORD MALLEUS!”
“EVERYONE HUSH! Now Francis, how much on Vil?” The Halls of NRC were filled with gossip on who the song was about. There were multiple pots floating around of people betting on who it was about, and just as many heated discussions.
“Who says it’s a housewarden? She spends most of her time with the Freshies so it has to be one of them! My money is on the Red Head on the Basketball team, he is always hanging on her!” A Scarabia student chimed in at this corner table of the Cafateria.
“Ace? He’s an ass, no it has to be Spade! Anytime someone makes a comment about he at practice, he gets all defensive.” A Heartstyble student on the track team chimed in.
“That runt? Na, he has nothing on Jack.” The Savannaclaw student across from them chimed in.
“The Wolf? He barely says any words! Besides, the Perfect has more class than that, it has to be Epel!” A Pomefoire Student retorted getting glares from the Savannaclaw student.
“All of you are wrong, I ran the data,” The Ignanhyde student pulled out his tablet and showed them a chart, “Out of all the possibilities crossed referenced with the lyrics of the song, it has to be-“
Debates across the school were happening as people discussed who she was singing for. While some advocated for others, others advocated for themselves.
That night, in the midst of the debates, a poor Grim was looking for a place to stay the night. So he went first to Heartstyble.
Grim walked through the portal and saw *chaos*.
“CAULDRON!”
“DEUCE WHAT THE HELL!”
“Calm down you two! No one is going anywhere till Riddle gets back!”
Trey helped Ace out from under the cauldron while Cater tried to calm down Deuce who was red as roses. “Yuu’s private song was just released and all you can think about it YOURSELF!” Deuce called out to Ace as he attempted to wesal himself out of Cater’s grip.
Ace dusted himself off as Trey helped him up, “Well, it is pretty obvious! Who else could it be about? You Loosey Duece? Or maybe Mr. Magicam? Chef Dad? Or maybe, our esteemed leader? No. It has to be me, so I am going to go check on her-“
Deuce tackled Ace, again, so Trey and Cater had to dive in to separate the two.
It did not take long for grim to realize it might be best to come back later. So he went back through the portal to try Savannaclaw.
But his scruff was grabbed before he could step through.
“Heeeey, Sealie!!” Grim gulped as he knew that voice all too well. Floyd turned Grim around so he was facing the two most terrifying smiles in NRC. “Mind clearing something up for Jade and I? See, he thinks Shrimpy’s song is about him, but I say its bout me. And every guppy is saying a different name, so we wanted to get info from them inside fishie~”
“W-what are you talking about!” Grim said crossing his arms. He knew he was in deeeeep dodo.
“Come now Grim, you must know who she’s singing about?” Jade said with a sonically smile on his face, “Now, as Yuu’s close friends, we just want to know, who bewitched our dear friend?”
“Yeeeaaah Sealie, who?” Floyd sung melodically.
“I-I ain’t saying anything!” Grim kept his mouth shut. He had already made Yuu mad, he didn’t want to make. It any worse.
“Oh come on Sealie! Everyone has a price! What’s yours??-“
“What are you two doing?” Came the harsh voice of Vil, Grim’s savior. The housewarden meeting must have finished. Early as all seven, yes even Malleus, came into the hall of mirrors to witness poor little grim shiver in his fur.
“Heya Beta!” Floyd said and waved Grim around, “We’re just asking Sealie a question! That’s all!”
“I’m guessing it’s about Yuu?” Azul asked as he made his way over to his Eel’s. “How is the Ramshackle Perfect? We missed her at the meeting.”
“Yuu… wellllllllll….” Grim scratched his cheek and the other housewarden’s came over, all wondering the same thing, “She is kinda sorta mad at me. And kinda sorta threw me out for ‘not respecting her privacy’ which I didn’t mean to get her upset, I just wanted to show everyone she had a pretty voice and she got all mad.”
“We’ll if you need a place to stay, Octavinelle is always open to poor souls! And I am sure we can work out a pi-“
“We all know what you want Azul, just ask him now so we can clear this up!” Leona said, clearly annoyed at the Mers underhanded methods. “Whose the song about?”
“I-I don-“
“Why are we even asking this question? It is clearly me!” Vil said shaking his head.
“What makes you so sure Schoenheit?” Malleus asked, “I spend more time with the Child of Man and have more magical prowess, it is defiantly about me. I was just about to grab her the-“
“No way the songs about you Lizard!” Leona retorted, “She clearly-“
“The Song’s about Nii-Chan! I ran the-“ Ortho chimed in with Idia listening in on his screen.
“WILL YOU ALL BE QUIET!” Riddle yelled, somehow getting the attention of the others, “This is disgraceful! You are. All concerned with your own selfish needs when you should be worrying about our fellow housewarden whose privacy has been breached and is probably distraught!”
Kalim nodded and said, “Yeah, we need to go cheer her up! Besides, it was probably just a song about love, nothing else!”
Grim sighed and added, “Oh its about someone, You she hear the other songs she wrote about him-“
“About WHO!” Everyone asked.
“I DON’T KNOW!” Grim said and got the glares of everyone.
Azul sighed and said, “You just said you knew.”
“I said I knew she has a crush and wrote more songs about him. I never said I knew WHO it was.” He crossed his arms and looked at the ground, “And she threw me out before I could ask. I tried going back in but she sounded so… upset. When I asked to come back in and apologized she said she just wanted to be alone…”
The group looked dejected at this. Floyd let Grim go and sighed, “Poor Shrimpy…”
Azul looked at Jade and Floyd, “Let’s go, Lounge won’t run itself.”
As Azul left with his Eels, Leona and Kalim also branched off their dorms, “Jamil is probably wondering where I am.”
“Yeah, I gotta make sure Savannaclaw is still in one piece.”
Vil and Ortho branched off next with Vil grumbling about wrinkles and Ortho talking to Idia.
Riddle and Malleus were the last two left with Grim.
“Grim, your welcome to stay at Heartstyble. It might help keep Ace and Deuce in.” Riddle said then looked to Malleus, “The Perfect probably needs a night, but if you do check on her, please let her know I-… We are here if she needs us.”
“I will Roseheart,” Malleus nodded to his red haired companion as he and Grim walk through the Heartstyble Mirror. Malleus turns and before he can make his way to Ramshackle, Lilia is there. All he has to do is shake his head and Malleus knows what his mentor is trying to say, she needs time alone.
The next morning, the first years go to Ramshackle to walk with Yuu to breakfast as they do every morning, but when they got their, the ghost intervened and said she needs to sleep in. The three ghost refused to let any of them enter and even brought Grim’s stuff to the door.
Yuu did not show to any of her classes or reply to any text, and all of her friends quickly understood why. Yuu’s song was all everyone was talking about, more specifically, who it was about. All the pots from the nights before had tripled and almost every students had a guess on who it was about. Yuu has never felt more embarrassed.
By the time night rolled around again, Yuu had read every text, post, and comment about her song. People were making guesses and demanding she confess who. In the midst of the chaos and rumors, all she could think about was what her crush was thinking. She had liked him as more than a friend for a while now, but had no clue if he returned the sentiment. All the worse possibilities were running through her head.. ‘He probably thinks I’m some obsessed freak, this is so embarrassing, Grim ruined. everything, there is no coming back from this. our friendship is ruined, I can never show my face at school again…” Thoughts like this combined with her stage fright made her mood worse. She wrote songs and sang them to help her work through things, it was incredibly personal for her and she never intended to share any of them, not yet at least. Now she was lying in her bed, curled up in her blankets with her phone lighting up with text next to her. She could not bring herself to talk to anyone, she was too scared and embarrassed to.
The Ghost have been kind enough to fend off Grim (who she was still mad at) and her friends (who she was still too embarrassed to see) so she could have some time alone. They worked as her guards and caretakers, making her eat and get up every now and then. They were also the only ones who knew who her songs were about.
So when he arrived on her doorstep, the ghost decided to let him in.
Yuu was looking at her notebook, pouring over the lyrics again and again when a knock came at her bedroom door.
“Yuu… can I come in?” His voice carried through the door.
Yuu felt her heart stop. She held her notebook tightly and sighed, “I guess its now or never…”
She got up from her bed, notebook in hand, and stood in front of the door. She was shaking and as she stared at the door, terrified of what would happen next, when he cast a spell over her once again:
“Yuu, I… I don’t. know if that song was about me but I want you to know. You’ve bewitched me too.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: This is the Prolouge to a small series! Be on the look out for each characters part and if you want tagged please let me know! Please Like, Reblog, and Follow for more! If you are interested in seeing more characters in this scenario or these characters in different scenarios, please let me know! (Do not Steal)
#twisted wonderland#disney twisted wonderland#twst#twst fanfic#cynwrites#twisted wonderland x yuu#twisted wonderland x reader#twisted wonderland x mc#riddle rosehearts#ace trappola#deuce spade#trey clover#cater diamond#leona kingscholar#ruggie bucchi#jack howl#azul ashengrotto#jade leech#floyd leech#kalim al asim#jamil viper#vil schoenheit#rook hunt#epel felmier#idia shroud#ortho shroud#malleus draconia#lilia vanrouge#twisted wonderland silver#sebek zigvolt
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Sly Fox, Dumb Bunny. (OP)
summary: being the mclaren admin, you’re quite close with the papaya boys, one more than the other…
note: never had a redhead/strawberry blonde fc, but i love red hair, so this is for all my redhead/strawberry blonde babes 😗 also this seems short :( i’m sorry, ill try to post again in a few!
based on this idea i had a while back -> post link
fc: bella anderson (bellaanderrson on insta)
pairing: oscar piastri x mclaren admin!fem reader
type: smau
warnings: very slight suggestive comment, not bad tho
masterlist here -> masterlist link
^ check my list for all posts! ^
liked by: oscarpiastri, landonorris, and 89,193 others
y/n.user: media day vibes + a photo kika insisted i include 😐
view comments…
francisca.cgomes: you look so pretty❤️🤗
↳ y/n.user: you looking in a mirror? bc yes you are
f1updates: favorite posts from the best admin in f1 🙏
oscarpiastri: look at me on that scooter
↳ y/n.user: scootah 🦘🇦🇺
↳ oscarpiastri: if you and lando could stop making fun of me now
↳ landonorris: you know we never will mate
papayaedits81: brooo, i love this trio sm :’)
user3: she’s too pretty to be stuck with these men ugh
↳ user6: you mean the hottest men on earth??
↳ user3: they aren’t that hot
↳ user6: *GASP* GET. OUT.😖
mclaren: slay queen
↳ danielricciardo: y/n we know it’s you
↳ mclaren: no…..
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
liked by: landonorris, oscarpiastri, and 372,924 others
mclaren: 🧡💙double podium weekend💙🧡
view comments…
user5: somehow, y/n eats every time with her photos and posts
y/n.user: 🧡🧡🧡🧡
f1edits: y/n commenting on posts she makes is too good
4ln81op: PODIUMMMMMMM LFGGG
user9: WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO
oscarpiastri: cool photos!😎
↳ mclaren: thank you, mr. piastri 🫡
f2postsss: boom, double podium
opfanpage3: oscar looks so good in theseee
papayaboys: love these pics sm!! y/n, once again, you slayed this up
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
your instagram story:
seen by: oscarpiastri, lilymhe, and 82,193 others
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
liked by: oscarpiastri, logansargeant, and 92,203 others
y/n.user: preoccupied🌹
view comments…
f1updatepg: WOAH????
user7: hold up now, pump the breaks. WHO is that man???
paddockposts: y/nnnnn spill who this is????
landonorris: i know something everyone else doesn’ttttttt
↳ y/n.user: lando😳 zip it
↳ carlossainz55: he told me already….
↳ charles_leclerc: lol………..
↳ y/n.user: STOPPPPP
op81: oscar linking but not commenting?? fishy
francisca.cgomes: mwahahahaha i am matchmaker
y/nfanpage7: anyone else thinking it might be a driver??
↳ f1edit0: yea but who? i don’t wanna assume lando/oscar but she is closest to them, yknow?
↳ user4: i was thinking maybe logan idk
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
texts with oscar:
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
liked by: logansargeant, y/n.user, and 368,130 others
tagged: y/n.user
oscarpiastri: i would say she’s judy hoops because zootopia is one of her favorite movies, but she’s more nick wilde 🧡
view comments…
y/n.user: does that make you judy hoops?
↳ oscarpiastri: i’ll be judy if you’re nick, babe
↳ y/n.user: so i’m sly and you’re dumb?
↳ oscarpiastri: sure, but only you can call me dumb bunny🤷♂️
↳ pierregasly: y’know hes down bad when he’s into this shit
↳ francisca.cgomes: you’re talking? really
↳ y/n.user: LMAO
f1wags: HOLD UP. WAIT A MINUTE😳😳😳 I LOVE THIS
user5: this is calling me lonely in every language
formulawags7: WOAH keep it in your pants there oscar, talking bout “only you can call me dumb bunny” OK
op81edits: oscar having a gf just makes him more bold and i’m loving it
papayaedit9: they actually are so cute together stopppp
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
oscar on a podcast, clip of him talking about you:
(interviews name: matt)
matt: “well, mate. i know we are running low on time now, but we are going to end it off with some fan questions.”
oscar: “awesome.”
matt: “alright, i’m not going to lie, a lot of people are very curious on how you and y/n started dating. who initiated it? how long?”
oscar: “um…yeah. kind of a long story, i’ll make it shot though.” *laughs* “when i came to mclaren last year, i actually had a crush on her and lando found out fairly quick. he started telling me her favorite foods, shows, hobbies, stuff like that. like, for example, one of her favorite shows is pretty little liars, so i binged that whole show just to try to talk to her about it.” *laughs and takes a sip of his water*
matt: “wow, man. thats a lot of seasons. did you at least enjoy it?” *laughs*
oscar: “honestly? yeah…it was quite entertaining. and i got a few conversations in with her about it.”
matt: “that’s really nice, i don’t think i’d have the attention span. now, how long have you guys been together?”
oscar: “well, i announced it last friday, and it’s thursday…probably around two months, i’d say.”
matt: “why did you guys decide to wait a bit?”
oscar: “we were a little worried about what my pr manager would say and we didn’t want either of us to get in trouble. but y/n was mainly worried about the fans. she didn’t want to upset them, but, i don’t really care. i mean, if a fan can’t understand and respect your relationship….”
matt: “then they really aren’t fans, are they? well, you two are absolutely adorable. tell y/n i say ‘hi’ and i send her good wishes for this upcoming year. you guys are the cutest, and i’m sure fans will agree.”
oscar: “thank you, mate.”
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
your instagram story:
seen by: oscarpiastri, pierregasly, and 93,199 others
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
(reposts, comments, and likes are appreciated!^-^)
#oscar piastri smau#oscar piastri fic#oscar piastri x y/n#oscar piastri fanfic#oscar piastri x you#oscar piastri f1#oscar piastri#op81#op81 smau#op81 fluff#op81 imagine#op81 x reader#op81 fic#op81 x you#oscar piastri fluff#f1#f1 smau#f1 fluff#f1 imagine#f1 fic#f1 fanfic#f1 fandom
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Matching - Portgas D. Ace
Find more of my work here: Tumblr MasterList
This is a little idea I had for a larger Ace fanfic I'm working on. I might revise this! Please let me know if he's in character or not...I'm starting to have my doubts.
It had been the better part of a week. No, maybe a whole week at this point. While before you’d spend most of your free time around him, now you were constantly “busy.” Heck sometimes he even finds it difficult to find you on the Moby Dick! Was this the end of the honeymoon phase everyone warned him about?
Were you starting to get tired of him?
You kept sneaking around...without him! Before you used to sneak around together! Worse still is…every time he pops up to see you, you always seem like you're hiding something. It's like quickly stashed papers, and tightly clenched fists. It’s the way you spin on your heel, and tense up, when you used to not do that at all.
What was maddening was how when the evenings would hit, or even at random parts of the day, you’d run and crash into him with a huge hug. You’d beam at him bright and genuine just upon seeing him, heck you’d be practically vibrating with joy as you’d squeeze the life out of him. He’d almost turned to fire once.
Maybe you weren’t tired of him?
When you did cuddle with him, your eyes seemed to linger on the tattoo on his arm. He’d even woken up to you tracing it with your finger once before. You’d looked sheepish that he’d caught you admiring it…actually you looked a little…panicked too…
You’d squirmed in his grasp when he asked you about it. Saying things like how it’s pretty, and how it’s a tattoo unique to him, so you were admiring it. You're pretty good at dodging his line of questioning whenever he voices his suspicions about your behavior. You were also incredibly sneaky about distracting him with your affections, and by the time he’s regained his original line of thought, you’d already be gone.
There's something fishy in the air and it's not the sea king he caught the other day.
He only finds out what it is you'd been scheming behind his back when he gets back from a mission. He was so distracted for most of it. He couldn’t figure out why you were so clearly avoiding him sometimes…were you having second thoughts? What was going on? Was this an elaborate prank?
He was still in a daze as he made his way back to the Moby Dick. You used to bring peace, yet right now you’d thrown him into turmoil. He hated the way he was doubting you. He hated not knowing what was wrong.
“Hey look Ace’s back!”
“How’d it go champ?”
“Aaaaaaacee!” It was your voice that pulled him back completely.
He’d barely had a moment to look up than you’d thrown yourself on him with a hug. The force of it all almost send him toppling backwards. His hat had been knocked off his head, and he could feel the press of its medallion on his throat. He's relieved at how genuinely happy you are to see him, yet still an unease twists up his stomach in knots.
You pull away much too quickly, pulling his arms and rotating them, checking for any damage. The way you're checking up on him to make sure he's not hurt and that he's okay floods his entire system with warmth. Yet he can't help the constriction in his chest and the nagging as to what it was that had you sneaking around before he left if you missed him this badly?
He can hear the crew laughing at the obvious display of affection.
“Being bold there little missy,” they taunt you.
You shrink in on yourself a bit, embarrassment catching up to you. However when you take his hand in yours, and whistles and cheers break out, “I was doing it for Ace,” the timidity in the lines of your shoulders and face brings the heat to his own face, “I thought he might like it.”
He squeezes your hand in his. Yet his brain screams at him, then what was all that sneaking around about?
Unsure how to deal with things, he just studies you closely as you ask him about how things went and how the mission was. You're not up to anything really, or at least it doesn't seem like it. You're as attentive and engaged as ever, things are just as they used to be before.
You drag him to the kitchen, knowing he must be hungry as he usually is after a mission. You even sit with him in your little corner of the mess hall while he eats, something you hadn’t done much prior to his departure. He's talking to you about the guy with the interesting abilities that he'd fought with his mouth full, and you're indulging him.
Yet even as he tries to fall into your old pattern, the confusion only festers further. What had been going on with you?
He feels absolutely awful, doubting you with the way you’re listening to him like he's the most interesting guy in the world. To be fair, to you, he really is. He keeps talking and chewing and answering your questions, yet the thing he really wants to talk about is bubbling just below the surface. Somehow all the tension and excitement peaks and he goes head first into his plate of food.
When he finally comes back to, there’s no food on his face, and he’s resting on his arms on the dinner table, his plate off to his side. You’re still next to him, gently brushing your fingers through his hair, patiently de-tangling any clumps you come across. He groans while sitting up and blinking the sleep away.
“You’re up,” you observe aloud, “here let me clear these out of the way for you.”
You get up from beside him, unthinkingly pulling your sleeves up your forearms, and reach for the plates around him. He notices something odd about one of your hands as you walk away with the stack of plates in your hands, but before he can say much you're already on your way to the kitchen counter. He watches you, lethargically shoving food in his mouth as you hand the dishes over to Thatch, who looks at your hands, then looks his way for a moment with an amused grin.
He could actually hear the next thing as the cook raised his voice, “nah leave those dishes to me, go hang out with your loverboy.”
Had the pirate not shoved you away with a plate of food in hand, Ace got the feeling you would have pointedly ignored Thatch’s teasing to do the dishes. You walked back, your brow and lips pursed in a kind of indignation. He couldn’t help the little huff of amusement. You’d gotten much better at handling their teasing over time, but he wouldn’t deny it was cute how it would get to you sometimes.
You took a seat beside him again, sliding the plate the cook had given you towards him. Your…well he could only hope he was still really your beloved, just stared at you in silence as he chewed. For some reason it made you squirm.
That’s it. He’d had enough. He has to figure this out. You’d said it yourself, it’s really important to communicate things! That’s how relationships last!
“You’ve been real weird lately,” was what came out as he grabbed the new plate of food, “you been avoiding me?”
His brow furrowed at the way your gaze immediately fell, taking your expression with it, and how you began to fidget with your fingers - a nervous - wait. Ace’s hand extended to grab your left one, bringing it up to his face.
There on your left wrist, right where your pulse sat, in black ink sat the letters ASCE, arranged horizontally and smaller, but a perfect replica of his own otherwise. Instinctively he rubbed his thumb across it, almost as though he was checking to make sure this wasn’t an illusion and that wasn’t just normal ink from a pen.
You were looking back at him, he could see it in the way your shoulders bunched near your ears, and the wobble of your lips, and how you couldn’t keep eye contact for too long, but kept glancing back at him…you were nervous. He absentmindedly began drawing circles on your wrist, just staring at you.
“I was avoiding you, I guess,” you admitted, “I was hoping to surprise you with that,” your free hand moved to play with the hem of your shirt, as you shrunk even more, “was it presumptuous of me? Should I have asked first?”
“For a second I thought I’d managed to chase you away,” he admitted quietly, looking back down at the mark of permanence you’d etched into your skin, “that you’d gotten sick of me.”
You snatched your hand away before he could think, moving in to embrace him, “get sick, of you? Then I’d be a tasteless heathen or…whatever, unworthy of you- totally - completely - absolutely unworthy of you!”
Your arms tighten around him, “I’m so sorry I put you through that love.”
“All that sneaking around was for this tattoo?” He couldn’t help the involuntary little crack in his voice. “You really did surprise me darlin’.”
He pulls away from you first and his hands find your wrists, and his eyes again fall onto the symbol, the symbol of him, lovingly tattooed into your skin. A mark to let people know just who put the ring on your finger.
He didn’t look up from it, even when you spoke up again, “Ace,” he just traced circles over the mark that sat proudly in bold black letters, “I’m really sorry that I made you feel that way - wait does that sound? It’s not-no wait. It’s my fault!” He glanced up at you for a moment as you struggled to put what you wanted to say into words, working strenuously to apologize sincerely.
His lips wobbled upwards.
He couldn’t help it.
You’d gone out of your way, to tattoo his mark onto your body. He couldn’t help but stare at it as he continued to rub circles with his thumb. Not only that, you were straining yourself so much all because he voiced that damned insecurity of his.
“I didn’t mean to put you through that?” You tried again. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I didn’t want to hurt you.” You paused, and he felt you move closer. “I’m sorry if what I did hurt you-no-I’m sorry that I did hurt you.”
There was a pricking at the corners of eyes, as he finally took his eyes off your little gift to him to look at you. There was a kind of relief, or maybe it was appreciation? Maybe even a tinge of surprise? He was touched, that was one thing he knew for sure-if the fire that burned in his chest was any indication. He was a sick bastard for appreciating this, wasn’t he? Seeing you so genuinely apologetic - it was alarming really, did he really deserve this apology when he was doubting you? How could he ever hope to compete with this?
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, doll,” his voice was uncharacteristically quiet as he continued to rub circles into your wrists.
“No I do,” you insisted, “Ace, I’m happy you’re communicating how you felt to me,” you responded quietly, but firmly, “so don’t downplay how it felt when I was the one being sneaky.”
“You didn’t mean any harm though,” his lips pull into a gentle smile as he slowly brings your tattooed pulse up to brush his lips against it before flicking his gaze to meet yours, “you were here prepping this lovely gift for me and I was only thinking of myself.”
A smirk tugs at his lips at the way you have to shake yourself out of whatever spell he’d placed you under, “just because I didn’t mean any harm, doesn’t mean I didn’t do any harm,” you press on, shuddering a bit when he brushes another kiss to your pulse, “if you did the same, I’d probably have felt the same way too, you have nothing to feel bad about.”
“Forgive me for doubting you, cariña?”
He almost laughs at the affronted look you give him, firing back a, “forgive me for hurting you, love?”
“Nothing to forgive,” he’s smiling more now, “I’m glad you were being so sneaky, made this surprise all the better.”
“Don’t downplay your feelings Portgas D. Ace,” he could hear your frown, “your feelings are important to me, you’re important to me.”
“My full name cariña?” He couldn’t help but tease.
“Yes,” you answered immediately and he looked up to see how upset you looked - it was almost annoying - he’d rather not dwell, “I want you to get just how upset you were off your chest.”
That got a chuckle out of him, despite the irritation that was rising.
“I don’t want to think about it too much,” his smile fell for a moment, “I don’t want to ruin this happy moment with stupid emotions in the past.”
“But I don’t want them to fester-”
“Mi amor,” he looked at you, almost pleading, “it’s true I felt like you were ignoring me, but seeing your little surprise makes me the happiest man on the five seas.”
Seems that was enough to quiet you. Though… “six, if you include the All Blue.”
When you chuckled at him, he felt his smile returning. He honestly couldn’t care less about the past. He’d said his piece, you’d talked it out, he didn’t care anymore.
“So, you know I love you right?” The timid way in which you asked was enough to knock the wind out of him.
Yet, he grinned, and brought your marked pulse up to lips again, “I love you too.”
“Oi get a room!” The two of you startled at the sudden shout coming from the other end of the mess hall. “Sure we can barely see you in your little corner, but the lovey-dovey energy in here is off the charts!”
“Shut up Thatch!” Ace fired back. “You’re just mad you can’t gossip to Marco about it!”
“You’re the one blocking the show!”
“Good!”
“It’s real funny though,” there was a pause, “who’d have thought the wild Fire Fist was actually a huge pile of mush!”
With the newfound yelling, people started to file into the mess hall. Which was when he noticed it was mostly empty prior to that. Of course among the people who filed in was the aforementioned first division commander.
“You like your little surprise Ace?” He asked the younger man.
“Wait you knew?”
“Who else would she ask yoi?” The medic gave him a lazy grin before turning to you. “So, did you get to say what you wanted to say yoi?”
Ace studied you as you shook your head looking both disappointed and sheepish.
“What did you want to say?” He couldn’t help but ask.
You huffed, a sheepish smile wobbling your lips, as you moved to his left side, your right hand pushing his upper arm to show more of his tattoo.
"See,” you held up your own tattooed wrist next to his arm, “now we match."
Extra:
Ace later: “I’m gonna marry her.”
Marco (who is next to him): “aren’t you already married?”
#portgas d ace x reader#portgas ace x reader#portgas ace x you#one piece x reader#one piece x you#portgas d ace x you#portgas d ace fluff#portgas d ace#portgas d ace fanfic#one piece fanfiction#one piece#ace one piece
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JUST LIKE YOU | LECLERC FAMILY
pairings: Charles Leclerc x sister!reader, Arthur Leclerc x sister!reader, Lorenzo Leclerc x sister!reader
warnings: mean words exchanged, threats.
author’s note: part 2 to this, hope everyone enjoys💗
____________________________________________
It had been a few weeks since her and Arthur’s huge fight, despite apologizing the tensions were still high between the two youngest Leclercs, a tension that left everyone wondering what the hell had happened.
“Hey is it just me? Or have Y/N and Arthur been distant from each other?” Lorenzo questioned Charles.
“I’ve noticed that too, almost like they’re avoiding each other” Charles replies thinking of the last time he saw two Interact.
“Y/N has been really focused on her studies, and Arthur’s spending time with Carla, I don’t think there’s anything fishy going on boys” Pascale says washing the last of the dishes.
“I mean yeah I get Y/N but Arthur? He could bring Carla here? It’s not like I don’t bring Alexandra or Lorenzo dosent bring Charlotte? Plus Arthur always used to bring Carla here, so they are definitely avoiding something” Charles says squinting his eyes.
“Maman i agree with Charles, the last time I saw Y/N interact with Arthur was when we were leaving for grocery shopping, and then they stopped” Lorenzo recalls, “Is Arthur home right now?” Charles asks, Pascale nods. The two brothers looked at each other and nodded.
“Arthur, you gotta pick Y/N up from school, we gotta umm go somewhere” Charles says, “I cant, I have to drop Carla off at the airport” Arthur says, lying straight through his teeth. Lorenzo and Charles look at each other. “Ok. Enough is Enough, What the hell happened between you two?” Lorenzo asks raising his eyebrows.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, me and Y/N are fine” he says nonchalantly, “Carla’s flight dosent leave till tomorrow, she told Maman that herself, so that means you just don’t want to pick Y/N up from school and we wanna know why” Charles says.
“Fine, you wanna know why? Because she makes me feel like a failure, she’s always comparing me to you Charles, and I’m tired of it. That day she crossed the line ok? And we talked it out but I’m still mad about it so that’s why I’m not talking to her” Arthur huffs before grabbing his car keys and leaving.
“That seems really out of character for Y/N, there has to be more to the story” Charles mutters as Lorenzo sighs, “alright I’m going to talk to Y/N then” he says grabbing his keys as well.
Enzo pulls up to Y/N’s school as he spots her talking to a friend of hers, a bright smile adorning her face. As soon as the girl spots her brother, she bids them goodbye.
“Hey Chérie, how was your day?” He asks her, “it was great! How was yours Enzo?” She says, “it was great, but umm listen did you and Arthur get Into a fight when we all were gone” he asks, the girl sighs out.
“We did yes, he didn’t want to take me to Starbucks so I told him Charles would and he took it to heart I guess” she rambled on making sure to not include the part where he called her a failure. “Chérie, you know Arthur dosent like it when you do that, so please apologize and make up” he sighs out, “look Enzo, I apologized I don’t know what else you want me to do?” The Girl says putting her hands on her face.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure something out” he says ruffling her hair. The drive home was silent, guilt was over taking her senses as she anxiously fiddled with her fingers. Her intentions weren’t bad but she was starting to realize the impact of her words. She was so hurt when he called her a failure yet she did the same thing.
Tears started streaming down her face, Enzo stops the car immediately, his face turning to hers in concern, “what’s wrong Chérie? Why are you crying” he says, his arm rubbing her shoulder.
“I fucked up Enzo” she says, a sob escaping her mouth. Her hands now covering her face, “I’m sorry” she says as he pulls her into her arms, “Shh don’t cry, what’s going on?” He asks her In the most gentle tone ever, “I compared him to Charles, and then he called me a failure, I was so hurt that I never realized the hurt I probably inflicted on him, I’m such a bad sister Enzo, his whole life people have told him that and I just make a joke out of it.” she mutters out, “Y/N you made a mistake that’s it, what matters is that you realized that what you said was wrong as well” he says, his hand on her head.
“You’re Right, I’ve got to make this right” she sniffles, “do you think we could stop by the store? I have an idea” she says and her brother nods.
When the two get home, Arthur and Charles can be seen having a normal conversation but as soon as the younger brother spots his sister, he gets up to leave only to be stopped by her.
“Tur wait” she says, he sighs out as he sits back down, Charles and Enzo take this as their cue to leave (eavesdrop)
“What Y/N?” He says looking straight at her, She hands him a bag, the bag was filled with all of Arthur’s favorite snacks and drinks. She takes a seat next to him.
“I’m sorry Arthur, what I said was mean and I should’ve realized that, instead of making a joke about it” she says, “No I’m sorry, I’m older than you and I called you a failure, you’re not by the way, you’re smarter than a Charles and I combined” he says pulling the younger girl into his embrace, her eyes start to tear up and she clutches onto him.
“I love you Tur Tur, you’re my favorite person in the world, my best friend and the best big brother I could ask for, you’re not second to Charles, you’re just as good as him, and if anyone ever says otherwise, screw them” she says as she cries into his shoulder, Arthur gives her a soft smile rubbing her back up and down, a smile that she was oblivious too.
“Yeah yeah I love you too, now can you please get off me? You’re kind of choking me” He mutters, “oh sorry” she says pulling away, wiping her nose and eyes. They look at each other and let out a laugh.
“So he’s your favorite now?🤨” a voice Interrupts their laughter.
#f1 fanfic#f1 imagine#f1 x reader#charles leclerc x reader#charles leclerc x sister!reader#arthur leclerc#arthur leclerc x reader
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Pinprick in the Backdrop
The background is something you should always pay attention to.
>Yan! Chrollo x Fem! Reader
>Warnings: not specified to avoid spoilers. please proceed with caution.
>Word count: ~15k (slow burn)
>a/n: proofread to the best of my capabilities. if there's any spelling error, pls ignore
There are always some people you see everyday without fail on the train. Some you find on your way to the station and in the train, some on the train, and some when you step out of it. Most of you have never talked to each other, but you recognise them. Even if the middle aged lady who always sits near the door of car 7 changed her hair colour completely.
You can still recognise them. Seeing their face isn’t a requirement. It’s their existence that matters. It’s especially funny when you call the teenagers by name on Halloween despite the costumes they’re wearing.
Perhaps you missed a great opportunity to go into criminology or become a detective. Maybe even a spy. However, what’s done is done. You can’t say you hate your job, so you suppose it’ll do as long as you’re able to live a comfortable life and send some money back home to your parents.
Speaking of money, your boss - or should you say the man who also overlooks the finance department - has been absent from work for two weeks. It’s the main reason why your salary this month hasn’t come in yet. Why they decided to not pay you all is a mystery, but why your boss has disappeared is a bigger mystery. The money you have left in your account isn’t enough for the entire month, so they better pay you all soon.
-
The penitence of innocents always baffles you. There was nothing you could have done, nothing you could have changed, so why? Why does the human conscience produce these feelings of guilt? Maybe it’s because you unconsciously recall times when you were cruel or times when you had ignored to cherish the moments.
At the end of the day, it’s puzzling feelings like these that make you human. Black jacket hugged closer to your body, you head back to your desk, shaking the mouse as you try to wake up the monitor. Your boss is dead. The reason why it took so long to confirm was because he died in a different country and his cell phone was destroyed.
Another mystery is why he flew to a different country on a weekend, and that too for just four days. He didn’t even have any family there. They all live here, so imagine their surprise when they find out his ‘business trip’ was actually a personal one. You don’t question why they didn’t bother to contact his workplace when he didn’t return.
Quite a lot has happened within the span of a few days. First there was the news of your boss being pronounced dead. That was followed by the memorial they had in the office, and lastly, your salaries finally came in. You can refresh your savings now.
Still, the radical change in circumstances you cannot get over. Your boss, the half bald guy whose biggest transgression was making jokes in poor taste, dead? The information you all were given is vague. He left for a different country, somewhere in the Mimbo Republic to be specific, from Yorbia, where you are. It’s not your job to dig into people’s business, but this seems too fishy because his family also refuses to utter a word.
Thus, like all women trying to find information on a man they are interested in, you turn to the internet. Scrounging through news articles of accidents and injury and deaths, you finally find a few noteworthy ones from the day he supposedly passed away.
The darkness in your bedroom adds to the suspense, light solely coming from your backlit keyboard and the open window. It doesn’t help that it’s past two in the morning, almost three, but you’re determined as you scan through descriptions of a ‘buy and sell’ gone wrong.
Two hundred people. That is how many died at that event.
To be fair, the entire administration and security also kicked the bucket, and the attendees were around one hundred according to the article. None of this still makes sense. Was your boss among those people? If yes, why would he be at such an event?
Scratch that, his family definitely knows something.
After spending a little less than an hour snooping around, you finally shut down your laptop and go under the covers. It’s understandable when sleep doesn’t come easily.
-
The commute to work was the same as usual. The only difference was that one of the girls in your neighbourhood was nowhere to be seen on the train. Maybe she skipped school today. Despite the ordinary day, you are in no mood to entertain when familiar footsteps grow closer and closer to your desk.
“Hi, [Name]!”
You wish you left the building for lunchtime after all.
“You’re not going out for lunch?”
With the most uninterested face you can make, you shrug, eyes not leaving the monitor. If he gets the hint, he leaves. If he doesn’t… you’ll just excuse yourself and leave.
“So you’re not eating?” He’s behind you now, eyes fixed onto your monitor as he tries to make sense of the gibberish. “Your work requires a lot of thinking. You should eat something.”
“Not right now,” you sigh. “I have a whole hour left. I’ll eat when I feel like it.”
You know what this guy is doing. His engagement recently went wrong when he found out his ex-fiance was cheating on him, and now he’s seeking out someone to fill the hole. Quite literally in his case, but whatever. Perhaps you would have given him the time of day if he wasn’t so obvious and desperate… or if you ever bothered to remember his name.
It’s worse when you remember that you didn’t recognise him after the break-up. Chills. That’s what you felt. It’s best to keep your distance. He isn’t the same guy who gushed about the love of his life 24/7. There’s something unstable around him.
“Well, whenever you feel like it, just shoot me a text.” His hands grab the edge of your backrest, just millimetres away from touching your back. “I want to treat you to lunch.”
Closing the tab and opening another one, you voice your response. “Sorry, but I brought food from home. I’ll be eating that.”
“Oh.” he sounds disappointed. “No worries. I’ll treat you some other time then.”
Note to self. Bring lunch from home everyday from now on. If that’ll help keeping him off your back then so be it.
-
It has now been two weeks since your boss’ memorial was held. His replacement has already been hired, but you can’t bring yourself to bother too much. Some of your coworkers have started cozying up to him and buttering him up which is intimidating the poor man. Workplace politics is something you could never have prepared yourself for.
Another thing you couldn’t have prepared yourself for is adulthood. Why is it so hard to choose what to eat? You can’t live off of takeout because it’s not healthy, and whenever you fail to finish eating the fruits you got before they go bad makes you feel like more of a failure. Thus, with great determination, you end up buying half a dozen apples.
If you eat one daily, you’ll finish them all in under a week. More items are added to your trolley and when you finally exit the self-service checkout, you roll your shoulders, readjust your backpack, manoeuvre the plastic bags into a more comfortable position, and begin the walk home.
It’s nighttime, just one hour away from the shops closing. You know you’re safe because almost all of the people you are familiar with. There are only some here and there who you haven’t seen before, but they’re all normal. It’s evident from the way ‘it’ is stable around them. ‘It’ is light and calm.
After a fifteen minute walk, you’re at your apartment building. Unfortunately, you wasted too much time walking around after you got off work and now you’ll have to eat dinner late. Well, it’s not like your sleep schedule is fixed anyway. Another day of sleeping late shouldn’t hurt. It’s the weekend now anyway.
-
It is on this wonderful Saturday afternoon that you realise you don’t have friends. Clarification. You don’t have friends where you live.
After graduating, all of your friends either stayed in the same city or moved away somewhere else entirely. None of them came here, or anywhere in Yorbia for that matter. It’s realisations like these that force you to ponder over your future. What are you going to do? What’s your aim?
Before, it was to graduate and get a decent job. Now that you have that, what now?
With the lack of ice cream in your freezer, maybe you should start with procuring dessert. What about takeout as well? You could go for an evening walk, watch the sunset and get food for dinner altogether. That sounds nice.
Laptop turned on, you type in the address of a shady website and start browsing through the movie catalogue. Today, you will relax. Having hours of screen time isn’t a good idea, but it’s the weekend. Mistakes don’t count.
-
Maybe I should get mama and papa to move in with me after papa retires. That’s your thought when you head to the supermarket to get ice cream with takeout in hand. Getting food before ice cream wasn’t the best idea since it’ll be cold by the time you get home, but what’s done is done.
Life is lonely here. Sitting at home, alone, eating takeout and ice cream out of the tub while shows you’ve rewatched more than five times play on the TV. Maybe you should make some friends, but where?
Your workplace doesn’t have anyone, let alone any girl, your age. You also haven’t met anyone you wanted to be friends with. They’re all blended into the familiar background.
Paying with your card, you leave the self-service checkout counter and ready yourself for the walk back home. It’s more fun when you’re leaving the house for a walk, not the other way around.
Still, you take in the people around you like you do all the time. Most people you know, you recognise. You’ve been seeing them for so long. There are always a few who are a little odd as ‘it’ is a little unruly around them, like your notorious coworker. However, ‘it’ is still light and faint but most importantly familiar. That’s the most comforting thing about it. The familiarity is what’s important.
So imagine the surprise and utter shock you feel when ‘it’ is as dark as the night sky around a stranger you have never seen before.
The darkest you have ever seen is something similar to how dark yellow is compared to pure white. So seeing something as contrasting as jet black to white, you can’t help it when the bags fall from your hand and onto the ground.
You’re frozen on the spot, mouth hung open as you stare wide eyed at the stranger who stands just a few metres ahead of you. He doesn’t notice at first, too busy speaking over the phone to pay attention, but when his eyes fall onto you, they’re slow and knowing, like he’s been aware of your gaze since you saw him among the others around you.
A few deep, trembling breaths, and you grab the bags off the ground and dash by him as fast as you can without it seeming too obvious you saw something. This time you do not pause to soak in the familiarity of the surroundings. Your only goal is to get home.
-
Bringing lunch from home is starting to get tiring. You have to wake up earlier and pack leftovers as well as make sure you have leftovers or cook something the night before in case you don’t. All because some weirdo who’s hung up on his ex can’t take a hint. To be fair you don’t have the guts to outright say no as well.
Maybe you should work on that.
Today, you decided to take a walk on the pier near your apartment building. It’s also a fifteen minute walk away since it’s close to the supermarket. Nevertheless, you sit down on a bench and just watch the water.
It’s soothing, being idle like this. God, you really need a break.
Families and couples who you usually see around walk about the area. There’s something so special about this. This comfortable bubble you’ve created. Sure, you’re lonely with most of your social interaction being the neighbourhood kids or the teenagers on the train, but it’s all so comfortable.
It’s warm. Maybe you should ask your parents to visit. They’d like it here. The accessible sea and half middle aged or above population would be something they’d like.
The sun has gone down now, and the moon has started to become visible. So, with reluctance to let go of the passing time, you get up, backpack once again on your shoulders, and start the walk back home. Maybe you should also get an actual bag instead of using the one you did in university. You know, something that’s more feminine.
Regardless, as long as this one works, you’ll use it. No need to get a replacement if the thing isn’t destroyed yet. Wait, scratch that. Should you get more ice cream? Brownies maybe? The supermarket is right here and they have a section for freshly baked items. The brownies were amazing when you last got them.
You abruptly turn on your heel, completely determined to get what you are now suddenly craving. One step forward and you collide with something, getting pushed back a few steps from the force of whatever kind of brick it was. Barely are you able to regain your balance. Had you fallen, your laptop would not have survived.
You raise your head to look at what it was you walked into, ready to curse while there are no children around, but are completely frozen when you see him again. ‘It’ is large, so much more prominent and stronger than what you have seen in all the years you’ve lived. It’s like it’s protecting him, gently swirling around him like a protective layer.
It’s menacing, to say the least. You have no strength to utter a single word when the stranger steps closer to you, tilting his head as he inspects you for any injuries.
Or at least that’s what you think he’s doing.
You’re absolutely horrified at how ‘it’ seems to dissipate as he steps closer, the presence of it almost completely gone. It’s now as noticeable as it is for everyone, but you can still see the darkness of ‘it’. No way does it help that you can now also feel the mancing aura it has.
“Are you alright?”
Blinking at him, you come back to the present situation, the background noises coming back to invade your senses. Your tongue feels like lead in your mouth, and your chest feels extremely heavy. Why is it so hard to breathe?
“Ah, it seems like the collision stunned you. It’s okay. I apologise for bumping into you.” The stranger smiles, and it causes bile to rise up your throat. You don’t like how he’s still looking at you like that. Like he’s looking for something.
“Hello? Are you alright, miss? Really, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he chuckles. You, on the other hand, fail to see what’s so humorous.
It takes a few more seconds to compose yourself, but your heart still beats loudly, spelling out the letters R-U-N in bold capital letters. However, social etiquette forces you to take a deep breath, bow, and voice your apology.
The stranger fails to get another word in before you awkwardly fast walk away with the nagging memory of the bandage covering his forehead and dark bangs messily falling over them.
-
Today, you walk home from the train station as fast as you can. The encounter yesterday has shook you to the core, and until you don’t see this stranger for a month straight, you will not cease the hurried travel back home.
Whoever this man is, you do not want to be within even a 10 metre radius of him. Something is definitely off about him, and in your experience the darker ‘it’ is, the worse person they are. You just don’t know what ‘it’ as dark as his means.
Nevertheless, fate likes to throw a pie on your face and laugh at you because he’s standing right outside your apartment building.
Fuck. That’s your only thought. Maybe you’ll hang around the neighbourhood or walk on the pier until he leaves. Yeah. better make yourself scarce. Unfortunately, fate throws another pie because when you turn your back and start quietly walking away, he notices you and calls out.
The bastard calls out to you.
Oh fuck me, you think. So much for not wanting to see him again. What does he even want? Does he want to know why you look at him like you’ve seen the man murder people countless times before?
“Ah, I’m sorry for disturbing your evening,” he says as he jogs up to you. How he noticed you while you were literally a building away you do not know. “I saw you leave this building in the morning, so I figured you live here. I’m sorry for intruding like this.”
‘It’ is still barely there like yesterday. That doesn’t mean you can’t feel the suffocating aura he has. Awkwardly, you sputter out a greeting. “Oh uh, h-hi.” The bandages aren’t there today, but those Godforsaken earrings are still there and his forehead is still covered by a hat. Does he have a receding hairline he doesn’t want to show?
He’s smiling at you, and you’re now noticing how wide and innocent looking his eyes are.
“My name is Chrollo,” he says. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Again, I’m sorry about the collision yesterday.”
You look at him for a few more seconds, heart beating erratically in your chest. “[Name]. And it’s okay. It was an accident on my part as well.”
Chrollo tilts his head slightly, eyes fixed on you and giving you his full attention. “Ah, that’s a lovely name. A lovely name for a lovely lady.”
You have never cringed this hard in years. Still, you force yourself to awkwardly laugh just to be polite and attempt to cut the conversation short. There’s no reason you should stick around. It’s utterly pointless and risky considering how his mere presence makes you feel.
“Excuse my forwardness,” Chrollo says, “but I was wondering if there are any good restaurants here I can try. I’m staying here at a hotel nearby until I find a proper accommodation, so I was hoping you could give me some recommendations.”
You open your mouth to say something just to stop short of any sound exiting your mouth. What comes next is an apology. Be useless to him. Don’t give him any reason to seek you out again. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t lived here long enough to know.” Wait, that makes it sound like I just moved here which makes me an easy target if he’s a serial killer. “No- what I mean is that I’ve lived here for a while but I usually cook, so I’m afraid I haven’t explored the food here. I only get takeout from the restaurant behind the supermarket nearby.”
Grey eyes blink at you, the gaze attentive. The corners of his lips are still turned upwards, and his lips slowly part to allow him to speak. Everything seems more detailed. You can’t wait to shrug him off.
“If I may, I’d love to explore the food here with you.”
Fuck. Did I just get asked out? No no. Be realistic. He just needs someone to cling to in this new environment or he’s a serial killer trying to make you lower your guard. You sigh. Whichever it is, you refuse his offer regardless. “I’m sorry, Chrollo.” The fall of his smile is instant. It’s almost creepy. “I don’t plan on eating out too much. I enjoy cooking, so I’d like to stick to cooking as much as I can.” Seriously. What is it with men and taking you out to eat? “Thank you for the offer though. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d love to get ho-”
“I don’t mind cooking together as well.”
“...” What? There’s no way he just said that to you.
“If you prefer cooking, I have no issues with cooking together.” He’s still looking at you, expectantly this time, and you feel like the ground beneath your feet is crumbling away. Why can’t men take a hint?
“Ah, I really should get home soon. Isasmo must be waiting for me. I promised him I’d be home early.”
“Isasmo?”
“Mhm.” You’re shaking your head now. The presence of a man awaiting your return or curious about your whereabouts always works. “He gets very worried if I don’t get home on time. I don’t want him to worry, so if you’ll excuse me…”
Chrollo chuckles. Closing his eyes, he gently shakes his head. The loss of his gaze is short lived, but when it’s back, it cuts through your being. “Sorry for keeping you. I didn’t know you had someone waiting for you at home.”
Like earlier, your heart starts beating in your ears. How he’s keeping you on edge you have no idea. It’s maddening. “Alright. I’ll be heading home now.”
He smiles. “No ‘see you later’?”
Because I don’t want to see you later! “Goodbye!” With that, you dash past him and quickly enter the comfort of your apartment building without looking back. Honestly, you should start coming home at different times. Just to throw him off in case he swings by again.
-
Today, you discovered that your other coworkers are ‘talking’. Due to your sad lack of friends, you have no way of getting in on what’s going on, so you’ve resorted to hanging around corners whenever you hear someone talking or walking around with headphones on so that people think you can’t hear them.
Oh you can definitely hear them.
After a few days of gathering information you have learnt that the coworker who has still not given up on his pursuit of taking you out for lunch is acting a bit weird. Honestly, you called it way back. The day his engagement broke, he started acting differently.
You know because you can see with your own eyes at a glance instead of having to rely on long term observation. It also doesn’t help that ‘it’ has become slightly darker. It’s no way as dark as Chrollo’s, but it is noticeable enough to be discernible.
Speaking of Chrollo, why is he at the pier? No, scratch that. Why is he looking at you?
Quickly, as to not make it seem suspicious, you grab your phone from your pocket, press it to your ear, and start acting like you just accepted a call. With that legendary tactic that got you out of countless social interactions in university, you turn on your heel and start walking in the opposite direction.
When confirmed that he isn’t following after you and is nowhere to be seen, you pocket the device and continue on your merry way. The wind is chilly, the moon is hiding bashfully behind a cloud, and a tub of ice cream has been picked up.
Goods in hand, you arrive at your apartment. It doesn’t surprise you that midnight comes quickly. It is only after the clock shows 12: 30 am that you release the unhealthy snack for the night from the freezer and sit in the extremely poorly lit bedroom and stare at your laptop screen.
This time, however, you aren’t gaming, only browsing through more than eleven opened tabs (you lost count after eleven) and growing more puzzled by the minute. The incident that may have led to your boss’ death is gaining attention, especially on the conspiracy theory websites. Some say that the entire thing was a result of the mafia’s activities, while some claim that a notorious band of thieves did that to steal everything.
You have no evidence or trails that your boss died while participating in that ‘buy and sell’, whatever that means, but it sure does make you suspicious because you recently found out one thing. His body wasn’t recovered.
The more you think about it the worse it gets. Despite not wanting to, you’ve doom scrolled for so long that you’ve ended up on a five year old conspiracy theory post claiming that a group called ‘The Phantom Troupe’ goes around the world stealing stuff. The comments are mostly people confirming it, some even claiming to be hunters and saying that it’s true and common knowledge among hunters.
If they’re that dangerous and destructive, why doesn’t the Hunter’s Association take action? It’s all just a bluff or an exaggeration.
Lights all off, you get up to place your laptop onto your desk, but catch sight of something moving in the corner of your eye. It was barely there, something black or dark, but knowing that you left your living room window open, you simply sigh.
It’s completely quiet. So quiet, in fact, that you can hear your own breathing. Setting aside the fact that the awareness forces you to have to manually breathe, you slam the window shut but rest your forehead against the cool glass. Eyes stare down at the empty neighbourhood, and you start wondering how you got here.
It sometimes feels like a dream. Highschool feels like just a few weeks ago, and yet here you are. It’s surreal.
Five minutes of reminiscence are all you allow yourself, hands promptly grabbing the deep green curtains and drawing them just to freeze when you catch sight of something shining right behind you for just one moment. Turning your head around at an unholy speed only gives you neck pain because there’s nothing there.
Curse you conspiracy theorists. You will be extremely mad if you have a nightmare or lose sleep.
-
Your coworker didn't show up today. It almost makes you feel sad because you can get lunch from outside without having to deal with him. Ah, but the food you brought…
Nevermind. You'll eat it at home. Shoving the lunchbox back into your bag, you grab your wallet and head to the elevator. Headphones are on like usual in hopes of catching any stray gossip from around you.
Oh and do you catch a big one. Your coworker isn't replying to any texts or calls. He's ignoring everyone. The guy from accounting said in the elevator that he might be hungover since he has a drinking habit. Honestly, you should try and advance your relationships with these people from simple greetings. They’re better information sources than the news.
Nevertheless, you breathe a sigh of relief, merrily heading outside the building to head to the little hole in the wall restaurant you've been eyeing for a while.
The streets are busy as usual, almost everyone's lunch hours overlapping at this particular moment, so it isn't a surprise that you bump into a few people while trying to make your way. Although… it is a surprise when you bump straight into Chrollo.
Headphones are promptly pulled down to hang around your neck, and you brace yourself to visually deal with the pressing feeling that’s constricting your chest. ‘It’ is there but the comfort of the crowd allows you to deal with it with less effort.
You still don’t know why he’s like that. You don’t know why ‘it’ is like that around him.
“I’m sorry,” he apologises, “we should really stop bumping into each other.”
It’s the middle of the day and he’s dressed like he’s going to a funeral. Long black coat, black hat extending over his forehead, black button down, black dress pants, black-
What the actual hell are those shoes? Is that big yellow thing a nail that was screwed in? What the fu-
“Is something the matter?” Head tilted to meet your downward gaze, Chrollo’s expectantly looking into your eyes. There’s a moment of silence between you both, but you fill it with action as you move to the side to not take up space on the street.
With a very noticeable deep breath, you sigh. “Nothing’s wrong.” Something is wrong. His thing around him is creeping you out and making you uncomfortable. “I’m just a little tired.” Make yourself seem uninterested. You don’t particularly like this guy, remember?
He nods. “I see.” A pause and the dreaded question is voiced. “Do you work somewhere around here?”
“Yes,” you reply simply.
“Is it your lunch break?”
“Yes…” you hesitate.
“Perfect.” Like how your luck with the male human specimen has always been, Chrollo proceeds to utter the most undesirable string of words. “If you haven’t eaten, I would love for you to join me for lunch. I found a restaurant and was heading there just now.”
Despite knowing it’s hard to get out of this, you still try. “Ah, actually, I only came for a walk. I brought food with myself.”
“It won’t go bad,” he negotiates. “Please. Just this once at least. I promise you’ll have fun.”
Chrollo’s voice is light, cheerful when he says that. You are tempted, but still want to go where you were originally heading. Maybe you could sneak to the restaurant you wanted after shaking him off somehow. But before that, just to confirm what he has in mind, you ask him where.
And being the joke that your luck is, it decides to practise its humour right now because he took the name of the restaurant you were heading to. It also doesn’t help that your eyes widened and Chrollo commented on it, saying that he ‘caught you’. Screw luck. Screw having your way. Life is just a horrible comedy show with dad jokes and shitty puns coming one after another.
A while later, you are seated across from a man who has broken the record of most uncomfortable you have ever been. This time, however, ‘it’ isn’t what’s making you uncomfortable. It’s the way he looks at you like he knows something or is trying to know something.
You hate to admit it but after spending more than five minutes in his presence, you’ve gotten used to the suffocating feeling.
Even if you would rather not be desensitised to it.
It’s quiet between you both, Chrollo choosing to observe you shamelessly while you try your utmost best to avoid looking at him or showing that you’ve noticed his blatant gaze. It’s not busy in here, so that doesn’t help either. Phone in your hand, you scroll through social media apps, tapping away countless stories of people out and about.
The silence got comfortable, but he opened his mouth.
“I forgot to ask,” he says, voice low, “what do you work as?”
Your eyes briefly flit up to meet his but return to the screen immediately. “Data analyst.”
“Data analyst? You must be quite intelligent,” he chuckles.
“If crying through eight semesters of school is smart, then I suppose so.”
There’s a smile in his voice when he speaks. “You got through it though. I count that as smart.”
Is he trying to flatter me? “Is that so?” You close the app and open a different one, indifference dripping from your tone. “What about you then? You didn’t say anything about yourself. For all I know, you could be a serial killer.” Fuck. Did I really just say that?
To your surprise, he laughs. The bastard laughs. “I’m afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I’m not a serial killer. I am, however, a fan of the arts.”
You remove your eyes from your phone screen, looking up at him even with your head tilted downwards. “You don’t look the part.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“Those in STEM are all weirdos,” you state. Eyes move back to your phone, and you’re briefly reminded of the awkward lunches and dinners you went through during freshman year when you didn’t have friends. “The arts ones are pretentious. You look sophisticated, more like a theatre kid.”
Forearms now resting on the table, Chrollo leans towards you, an action you do not notice. “I’m quite sure that sophisticated and pretentious are synonyms, and even if they aren’t, they’re similar enough to be.”
You sigh. “‘A pretentious person works at the appearance of things. They want the appearance of substance, while either not understanding or not caring about actual substance. Sophistication, on the other hand, implies an authentic accumulation of knowledge and/or experience, and the ability to apply those things in advanced ways.’”
“...”
“That’s what an internet search says.” You look up, eyes slowly rising to meet his, but are startled when you see him considerably closer than earlier. He’s leaning forward, and out of instinct, you lean backwards. “So,” you continue, albeit nervously, “you’re wrong.”
Unfazed, he chuckles. “That means you think I have ‘authentically accumulated knowledge’. Why, I’m flattered.”
Again, you physically cringe with a crinkled nose at his smile and tone. “I’m only stating my observation. There are no intentions behind it.”
“Still,” Chrollo smiles, “you did think positively of me-”
“Food’s here!” He stops speaking immediately at your interruption, only shaking his head a little when you start eating. There’s not much time left for your break, so you’d rather get done with it and get back as fast as you can.
Not having the luxury of savouring the food to your desire is sad, but you don’t think about it. ‘Next time for sure,’ you tell yourself. The fact that Chrollo didn’t let you pay for your portion just makes you want to get takeout next time. At least you won’t stare at him in horror again.
Even if slowly being desensitised to ‘it’ isn’t a preferable outcome.
-
Good news is that you haven’t seen Chrollo for a little more than a week. Bad news is that you haven’t seen your coworker for a little more than a week.
If you had a jenny for whenever a superior at work disappeared for more than one week, you’d have two jennys. That isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. There’s got to be some kind of haunting going on. First your boss, then him? Another coworker? Another superior?
Sure, it’s been more peaceful without him here, but you don’t want another person to end up missing just to be pronounced dead. Neither is it good for the company’s reputation, nor is it good for the work environment. There’s already been word spreading around that they’ve started looking for his replacement.
Maybe that’s smart. Maybe… because not even the police have found any leads on his whereabouts yet. His entire apartment is just as it was, dirty laundry in the laundry basket, his phone and wallet still on his nightstand, bed not made, food left to cool still on the kitchen counter…
It’s a little eerie if you think about it.
Scratch that, it’s downright creepy. Where could he have gone? They even found half drunk bottles of different alcoholic drinks on his dining table. Did he get drunk and run off somewhere? Where could he have gone? Did he… get killed?
You have no idea of what’s going on. That is why you, being the detective that you are, have your laptop open in front of you at 1 a.m. as you scrounge the internet for any missing persons cases from this town. So far nothing noteworthy is coming up, the most being missing girls but nothing about a grown man disappearing to never be heard back from or seen again.
An hour or two of more searching bears no fruit and an additional hour of trying to sleep is rewardless. With great annoyance, you get up and throw on the biggest coat you own, something dark grey that almost reaches your ankles. Grabbing your keys and phone, you make the most foolish decision to take a walk at what you think is probably four in the morning.
The pier is silent. The only person you saw was a police officer on his bike drinking a hot cup of coffee.
It’s empty too, and cold. Is the nighttime really so serene? Hands are shoved into your pockets and your feet bring you to your destination on their own. It feels like walking on cotton, yet it doesn’t feel bad. It somehow feels soothing.
The empty pier’s cool wind blows through your hair. Enjoying this kind of loneliness is somewhat of a liberating experience. Did your missing coworker seek out something like this before he went missing? Did he want to feel the kiss of the cool late night wind on his cheeks? You lean over to look at the waves below, hair cascading around your face. You are met with the reflection of the starry night sky, and it isn’t long before you pull back.
Fifteen minutes of waddling around are all you allow yourself before pulling yourself back home. The keychains jingle when you turn the key in the keyhole, breathing a sigh of relief when you are finally back inside. Your feet immediately take you to your bedroom, hands grabbing the coat and throwing it to the nearest surface, and you immediately jump under the covers.
Face meeting something pink and smiling, you sigh again. “Goodnight Isasmo.” The pink axolotl’s smile remains and you cuddle the plushie before snuggling into the bed’s warmth. You hope sleep comes easy.
-
Three weeks. It has now been three weeks since your coworker has been missing. He has now been promoted to ‘missing person’ and his face, along with his cinnamon(?) hair, is now on every other newspaper or screen. It has also been three weeks since you last saw Chrollo, but you aren’t bothered by that. It’s actually a good sign. Never seeing him again is a favourable outcome.
Regardless, your coworker’s name is now permanently etched into your memory. Raaz Olen. That's his name. He has no direct family left, parents having passed away around a decade ago, and the only sibling alive is an older sister who wants nothing to do with him. It's a sad background if you think about it.
You sigh, turning off the computer screen before rubbing your eyes. Life has been uneventful these days. The most exciting thing you recently did was video chat with your old friends. Your best friend, the one who is about to replace your position in her life, suggested downloading a dating app because according to her you need some ‘action’. Were the eight semesters of action not enough? What’s so wrong with peace?
Yet in a moment of weakness, you caved into the idea and committed the act. A cropped group photo to show your arm awkwardly cropped out was uploaded and now there have been quite a few messages and matches. This unfortunate experience has only further proved why you say you have bad luck with the male human specimen. Their first move is to ask about your past relationships, and being salty over their shamelessness, you recount in detail just how agonising it was to be in love with what only hurt you back, to pine after what only reduced you to tears.
You deliberately left out the part that the object of your desire was your degree. At the very least, their uninterested replies were entertaining. Ah, such laughable insecurity. The app will go when you’ve had your fun. Until then, you suppose you’ll use it as a last ditch resort for entertainment.
If you do end up scoring a free dinner… well, no. You would rather not risk a date with a serial killer or worse, someone who wants a second date. The chances are slim, but never zero.
Another notification from the app dings, and you briefly check your phone to see a notification from someone who matched with you. There’s a “Hey! You’re very pretty,” as his message, and you almost scoff at the repetition. The amount of times you have been called ‘pretty’ by strangers on this app is laughable. Did they fall short of words? Maybe that’s just the standard compliment in the world of men.
You end up placing your phone face down, ignoring any following dings, and get back to work. There is only one hour left until you get to go home, and you would prefer not to leave this task for tomorrow to complete.
-
An old lady you see everyday on the train on your way back passed away. Despite having only exchanged greetings with her a few times and carried her bags for her at least a dozen times, you felt oddly sad when you heard of her death. Yes, you only knew her name and that her kids, her three sons, never called after moving away, but you felt like something had been taken when you heard.
Not something big but something small. Something you would not be bothered with by being gone but something you would definitely notice and feel the absence of. You took a day off to attend her funeral since it was hosted by the old age home she was living in, yet you ended up taking a day off after that as well.
Three boys, three men, lost a mother that day and none bothered to show up.
-
“Okay mama. I’ll pick you guys up from the airport. No, I don’t own a car. We’ll get a cab- it’s perfectly safe here! You’re not going to get mugged on the way from the airport, relax!”
More fretting comes from the other side, and you simply continue stirring the soup. The worries aren’t what annoys you. It’s the panic.
After around ten more minutes of reassurance, the call is disconnected and your soup is ready. It’s been a month since Raaz went missing, yet you cannot say you have moved on. It bothers you that a man like him can just vanish. Also, seeing his replacement walk around the office simply makes it worse. You prefer a person who would make you uncomfortable with interactions because of how ‘it’ seems to be rather than a person whose eyes wander where they aren’t supposed to.
Alas, on this fine Friday evening, soup has been cooked and a plan for your parents to visit you at the end of the year has been made. Your father agreed to use his annual leave to come visit you, and the only thing left is for the tickets to be purchased. If they like it here, you could convince them to move here! Maybe even look into your father working at the same place as you.
All is going according to plan! Now what to do about the guy who keeps pestering you to meet up…
You switch apps on your phone to see that he’s sent another few messages, mainly asking if you’re free this weekend. If you consider the sleep you need to catch up on and the show you want to binge, then you have no free time. Besides that, you really don’t feel like going out on a date. Should you just uninstall the app? Messing with the people you matched with has gotten tiresome. Perhaps you should.
Thus, with a few taps to your screen, your account on the application is deleted and the application itself is uninstalled. Honestly, you consider that a job well done. That calls for a reward; the reward being a coupon that can be redeemed anytime which grants you permission to do one stupid thing.
You know you would do the stupid thing regardless, but having a sort of system like that makes you feel less guilty when facing the consequences.
-
Being pulled into an alleyway with a hand firmly planted onto your mouth is not what you ever could have expected to happen to you on this Monday afternoon. Maybe your condemnation for toying with all those men on the dating app has caught up or maybe it’s one of those men here to force you to accept his advances.
Either way, you did not expect to start crying first thing when in a situation like this.
A hand strokes your arm, attempting to soothe you, as the other remains over your mouth. You can feel your assailant’s body heat and his breath over your ear when he leans in to whisper in your ear. “Be quiet and it’ll be painless for both of us,” he says.
You furiously nod, sensing the threat, and he immediately lets go. Legs promptly spring to run, but the hand grabbing your arm renders your efforts futile. It is when your struggling ends in you falling onto the ground and him twisting your arm behind your back painfully that you relax, repeatedly tapping the dirty ground with your palm to show that you give up.
There are no faces that come to mind when you think of who you could've angered to this point, so the surprise that floods your blood vessels when you see Raaz’s face under the black hoodie makes you almost dizzy. His hair is dirty and unkempt, facial hair clearly not maintained as he was always clean shaved, and there’s a wildness to his eyes. You try your best to not pay attention to how ‘it’ is darker than before. You liken the difference to how dark brown is compared to beige, but you realise that ‘it’ is more menacing than it ever was.
Raaz is clearly unstable, yet you yourself can’t stop shaking from the lingering adrenaline.
“Stay quiet and listen to me,” he orders. “I need a place to hide. [Name], you have to help me. You will help me.”
Hide? What does he need to hide from? You dust off your clothes as you stand, a groan leaving your throat when the soreness in your arm makes itself known. He immediately grabs it again, afraid you’d run, but let’s go when you angrily shrug it off. “What happened to you?” you ask. “Everyone thinks you’re dead.”
“I will be if you don’t help me.”
Taken aback, you try to think over the situation. Raaz, someone who you always thought was or had the potential to be unstable, is here, clearly frazzled and on the run from something or someone, and wants you to help him hide. What does he want? To stay at your apartment? Risk your life for him?
“I-if it’s that bad,” you start, voice already shaking, “I can’t help you.” The betrayal on his face makes ‘it’ stronger, and you freeze, barely able to get your words out. “If you’re not able to hide in such a big city, I-I don’t- I don’t think you’ll be safe anywhere I can keep you.”
Raaz grits his teeth, his hoodie now pulled down to reveal dirty cinnamon hair, and takes a step forward. Out of fear, and to maintain distance, you take one back but panic when you’re unable to lift your feet. One glance down and you see something shiny protruding from the ground wrapped around your ankles. It broke pavement to crawl around your feet and now they’re stuck to the ground.
You gasp when two arms settle on your shoulders firmly. With a shaky breath, you gather the courage to look up into Raaz’s crazed eyes, all colour draining from your face when his hands grab your face instead. Nails dig into your cheeks, harshly tugging it closer to his. When you retaliate by clawing at his wrists, he simply grabs your hair instead.
Tugging the strands, your head is pulled back, neck exposed. You can see him breathing heavily, ‘it’ growing more erratic and frightening. Like all rabbits stuck in a trap, you thrash, attempting to free yourself from his grip, to miraculously free your feet and be able to run into the safety of the public street.
“You-” he pauses, eyes widening. Your hair is immediately let go of, and he whips his head at record speed, looking over his shoulder. The panic is oozing from his countenance, hands shaking and lips trembling. You think you’re looking at a man running away from death just to be caught up with at every corner and turn.
Curses spill from his mouth, and he turns completely. You feel the grip on your feet loosening, and taking the opportunity, you pry your feet out of the grip. Raaz has still turned his back to you, head moving as he searches for something. When he does not react to your escape from your restraints, you run.
A hand barely grabs your hair again, but you are out of the alleyway before his pursuit is successful. Feet hastily take you back to the office building, and the first thing you do is run to the nearest bathroom. No one is inside, and you take the opportunity to catch your breath, letting all tears escape from your eyes before you wash your face and fix your appearance. The adrenaline is still in your system, and you’re left not knowing what to do.
How the hell is Raaz still alive? And what is he running from? Why does he have a target on his back?
You do not know him beyond a coworker who was not over his relationship ending. Who knows? Maybe his ex-fiance did what she did because she found something out and didn’t want to risk staying with him.
Either way, you can’t get the look he had on his face out of your mind.
-
Embarrassment is all you can feel when you exit the police station with a ‘call emergency services if you see him again’. Why don’t they understand that you might not be alive to call emergency services if you see him again? Bitterness is in your mouth as you hop on the train to get home. It’s dark now, and you would be lying if you said you weren’t scared.
You honestly don’t know what you did wrong to have gotten caught up in all that. Regardless, you’re looking over your shoulder as you walk home from the station, adrenaline coursing through you as you make your way through. It’s when you’re home and have checked all the rooms and windows that you breathe a sigh of relief.
Whatever the hell happened, happened. You’ll keep emergency services on speed dial and try your best to dial them if anything happens again.
If only sleep comes easy after all this.
-
It’s been a week since your encounter with Raaz. Today is Tuesday, the previous week’s Monday being the fateful day. You’ve since been bringing lunch from home like before and find it a little funny how Raaz is the one who’s making you bring leftovers again.
Anyway, to the matter at hand. Someone’s been inside your apartment.
You can tell because you left a pencil lead in the gap between the door and door frame of your closed bedroom door. It was still closed when you got home, but the pencil lead was broken and on the floor which is something that could not have happened unless someone opened the door with the lead still in the gap.
You had been doing that ever since the incident with Raaz and today is the day your paranoia proved to have grounds. Now what are you supposed to do? Live with the information that someone has been inside your home?
Isasmo stares at you from under the covers, his dopy black eyes peeking out. You’ve checked the rest of your apartment and other than Isasmo and you, there is no one. Or at least no one you are aware of. Maybe you should look into moving.
Should you inform the police? Maybe you should, but what would you say? “I was paranoid so I put pencil lead in the gap between my door like a psychopath and guess what? It was broken when I got home! I’m being stalked!” They might laugh at you or place you under observation, the latter of which is preferable.
You end up sucking up the courage and going to file a report, a picture of the broken pencil lead on the ground being your only piece of evidence. It’s an uneventful walk, one where you are completely alert and looking over your shoulder as you get to the nearest station. After being ridiculed for being ‘delusional’ and ‘overthinking’, they agree to file a report and ‘look into it’ when threatened to find your dead body in your apartment one day. Seriously, what does a girl have to do to be believed? Die?
You shake your head on the way home as you think over your conversation at the police station. The older officers ridiculed you but thankfully a younger one got them to at least file a report. Though you’ve been told you’ll be contacted if their investigation yields results, you doubt there will be one to begin with. Well, at least the pencil lead was intact when you got home. That is a relief.
-
It’s been a little more than a week since you filed a report at the police station and none of your pencil leads have been broken again. You would have thought the first one to break might’ve been done by something else had you not noticed that you’re almost out of pencil lead. You had counted 7 in the package just this morning and now there are 4…
Who’s messing with you? Do they think it’s funny? What if you’re paranoid? Are you sure you counted properly?
A sigh leaves your lips as you drop backwards onto the bed. Is this really what you have been reduced to? Curse whoever is doing this. The police have not contacted you again, so you went there yourself today and they said they didn’t find anything. As if they actually searched.
It makes you mad, yet you can’t do anything. Since there hasn’t been anything besides the pencil leads in the closed doors’ gaps, you chalk it up to suspicion. Whether you are delusional or the authorities, only time can tell.
-
Work has been slow lately, and you are reminded every single day of how boring your life has become. There has been no new gossip circulating and your attempts at making any new friends have not bore fruit. Your old friends have also started contacting you less as they’re busy in their own lives. Sure, you hardly have time yourself with how your job takes up two thirds of your day but you also don’t have a social life. That’s why you basically have nothing to do besides work and binge watch stuff.
Goodness, are you turning into your father? The temptation to download the dating app again whispers into your ear sometimes, but you fight it. You will only do so when you are seriously looking for someone, not when you are looking for fun.
Bag on your shoulders, you pocket your phone and head to the elevator. Despite the fact that there isn’t much work, it’s dark when you’re done. Maybe you’ve gotten slow, not work.
The elevator doors open and you promptly leave, heading straight for the train station. It's an uneventful journey, and you choose to fill the silence by plugging in your earbuds. You step out of the train station, adjust your bag again, and head for the supermarket. The grocery list on your phone is pulled out, music flowing into your ears as you go about getting groceries.
Now with two plastic bags in hand, you make your way home. If you had restocked milk earlier - and not gotten lazy - you wouldn't have to haul two heavy plastic bags back home. Delivery is an option, but you won't be at home during the day to receive them. If only they offered delivery during the weekend.
Your phone rings, but you don't check who's calling. It's probably your mother, and it would be inconvenient to stop and drop the bags to pull your phone out. With a sigh, you continue walking. However, your trek is cut short when a hand grabs your wrist in a crushing grip, and pulls you closer. The music is still blasting in your ears, and you start sucking in a breath to scream only to stop when the grip turns almost bone breaking.
One look and you see Raaz's face under the black hood. He narrows his eyes at you and pulls you with him, bags still in hand and earbuds still in. When at his desired destination - a random alley like last time - you are pushed in front of him and you almost fall face first. You brace yourself and end up staggering but the bags fall and slide in opposite directions.
“Bad news, [Name].”
You barely hear him, hands reaching to pull out the earbuds and pocket them. Turning on your heel, you face him. He doesn't look any better than last time, only worse. ‘It’ is quieter, but you can sense how erratic it is. It feels like he's hiding how unstable he is only to do a poor job.
“You're going to go down with me,” he smiles. “Since you refused to help me hide, you now have a target on your back too.”
Disbelief contorts your expression into one of disgust. He's bluffing. He has to be. “Stop lying, Raaz. I'm not stupid and I'm not going to help you.”
He laughs, loud and sad. “That's what your mistake was. You never said yes to lunch and then I… then I ended up drinking again because another woman I love didn't want me.” A hand runs through his dirty hair before it slides down his hood. “I drank so much I bumped into the devil I was running from. And then… ah, fuck. I ended up telling him who I was thinking it was just another guy at the bar.”
Raaz looks you in the eye, and you take a step back from the sheer intensity only to find your feet restrained to your ground like during the previous encounter. It baffles you, but before you could question it or let alone panic, he's talking again.
“Now you're going to go down with me unless you help me. I'll let you go. I-I’ll get over you and Liza if you help me. You won't be harmed… probably.” He shrugs at the last part, and you find yourself not believing him at all.
Still, you prod further in hopes of making a false promise and being able to get away. There's no need to reason with him to go to the authorities. If it could've been helped, he would've gone there himself. “And just what,” you ask, “are you asking of me?”
“Money,” he replies instantly. “I burned all my savings trying to run. I need money so I can get a ticket and get the hell out of here.”
“I don't even know what you're talking about. How do you expect me to trust you?”
Your question makes ‘it’ flare up for a second before calming down, and Raaz doesn't miss the way your eyes widened for a minute. “I suspect you can see things. I'm right, aren't I?”
“Answer the questi-”
“Your legs,” he deadpans. A finger raises to point at your feet, and he continues. “I restrained them. Do you know how?”
You gulp, but humour him anyway. “How?”
He smiles. “I can manipulate metal.” A beat of silence passes before he talks. “That's why I'm like this. Someone wants me dead for this and I know he can do better but he's too busy fucking with me to make it quick.” Raaz inhales sharply, running a hand through his hair again. “I don't even know what he wants by dragging it out, but I'm going to make sure he regrets it.”
“You aren't even sure I'll be okay if I help you,” you state.
However, he just smiles at your complaint. “When someone's too busy chasing the big fish, they ignore the little ones.”
“Fine,” you concede. If it’ll get this psycho off your back, you'll give him money. “How much do you need?”
“Half a million jenny,” he says, clarifying when your jaw hangs open, “and I'm being generous. I'm going to have to fly illegally and it's going to take money.”
“I… I don't have much.”
“You're a data analyst, [Name]. You'll get your bonus after two months. Do something, anything.”
You suck in a breath. Maybe you could take some out of your credit card and some as a loan. You really don't want to pay interest, but you'll have to if you want this problem solved. “Okay.” The deal is sealed and you are sent on your merry way with an address typed into your notes app.
You can't believe you just agreed to that.
-
It's dark and quiet. The taxi dropped you off a few blocks away, leaving you to walk to the warehouses that once used to be rented by people for storage. The people running the business sold it off to someone who never bothered to continue it. Now you're here, cold and scared as you stand outside the dilapidated structure.
The garage door opens on its own, Raaz's face peeking from the darkness inside. His eyes light up at the sight of you. “You're here.”
You're ushered inside despite your protests. All you wanted to do was throw the bag of money to his feet and be back on your merry way but you just had to be pulled inside by a freaking metal pole of all things. Now you're here, standing with your feet restrained to the ground as Raaz counts to make sure you brought as much as he asked.
The only problem is, he's now talking on the phone and he just mentioned how he's got ‘both the girl and the cash’. Oh, and now there's something that's restraining your hands and despite how much you wiggle and pry your hands apart, it doesn't budge.
When Raaz glances your way from staring at all the money inside the bag, he just smiles. “I'm sorry for dragging you into this, [Name], but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do.”
Anger is the first thing that makes itself known because you took out a loan with interest for this dunce and he goes ahead to stab you in the back. Maybe you should've told the police about him. Shit. You shouldn't have been so stupid. But it is also the police's fault for never taking you seriously. If they had, you would've actually sought them out a third time.
“What are you doing?” Your voice grows louder, angrier and more desperate. “Let me go! You said you wanted money and you got it so let me go!”
Raaz clicks his tongue, and what he says next makes things clearer. “Don't get me wrong, someone has been after me but if I do as the boss says, he'll get me out of Yorbia safely.” Something fades in his eyes as he continues. “It's not like it's my first time. If I didn't have this side gig, I wouldn't be alive right now. There are too many people after you when you're like this.”
Something hard and solid slithers up your body and covers your mouth, cutting short any words from your mouth. Raaz stands, the light behind him hitting his back to make him look more menacing. “You'll be taken soon. I asked them not to hurt you and sell you immediately. Though cruel, it's a small price to pay for my own protection.”
You can hear an engine rumble outside, and a buzz in his pocket is all he needs to start stepping towards the garage door behind you. He moves while looking at you, hand awkwardly reaching behind him to pull up the garage door as his eyes remain fixed on your body. “Tie her up quickly. It'll wear off if I look away so make it-”
Thump.
Something heavy drops onto the ground and immediately the metal grip on you loosens a little. You can hear footsteps and a kick before the sound of the door closing. It's agonising, being forced to be still and helpless while something happens behind your back that is definitely not in your favour.
More footsteps and a figure in black stalks towards the bag of money only to ignore it entirely and head for the door in the back. You take the opportunity to fight against the restraints, wiggling and trying to move your arms but it's metal and you only end up exhausting yourself. You hear a sigh from the other room and freeze.
When the person is back, you are more confused and helpless when you see Chrollo's face. This time, there is nothing covering his forehead and you see something black covered by his bangs. It's when he steps closer that you make it out to be a tattoo of some kind.
“Your involvement was a surprise, but a welcome one,” he says. ‘It’ is calm and his voice is even calmer. He steps even closer, now standing just two steps away. “I had thought you were working with him, so imagine my surprise when it turns out he was using you. Or trying to, at least.”
You make a face but the metal wrapped around your mouth stops you from being able to convey it properly. Chrollo smiles at the display, the corners of his lips curling upwards out of amusement. “Do you need help?” His question only makes you grimace. “I'll free you if you tell me about your ability.”
You have no idea what the hell he's talking about, but you nod anyway, desperate to have the rigid metal wrapped around you gone. Chrollo steps forward and you expect him to reveal a chainsaw or some other tool, so it's perfectly reasonable when you shriek as his hand grabs the metal and literally rips it away from your body. As he pries away the last of it, you end up gaping at him, mouth wide open as you stare at him in disbelief.
Hands hanging by your sides, your features contort into one of fear as soon as he stands. Chrollo is now looking you in the eye expectantly and you have no idea what to answer him. Thus, you take a deep breath, confidence coming from the fact that ‘it’ is still calm and not threatening at all. Your lips part to speak and you briefly catch a hint of satisfaction is his grey eyes. “Do you… come here often?”
Chrollo blinks, once then twice. He raises a brow. “Pardon me?”
“You know… do you hang out here frequently?”
Confusion grows on his face, but he quickly recovers. “No. I don't.” A few moments of silence pass and he speaks up with a sigh. “You're completely clueless about the circumstances, aren't you?”
Embarrassment heats up your cheeks and you look down at your shoes as you nod. Nervousness makes you bite your lip. You were about to be who-knows-what by Raaz before Chrollo strolled in casually. Speaking of, where's Raaz? You turn around, eyes falling onto Raaz lying on the floor and a hat discarded next to him. A realisation hits you, a hand on your shoulder disturbing your thoughts.
“What do you make of this situation, [Name]? What do you think is going on?”
You carefully eye him. Not sensing a threat, you voice your thoughts. “Raaz… was involved in illegal activities. It's why he disappeared. He was running from someone too and the people he worked for promised that he'd be safe as long as he did what they asked.”
Chrollo hums. “And what did they ask of him?”
“A woman to sell off…?”
“You sound unsure,” he smiles. The hand on your shoulder slips down to your wrist, thumb massaging the skin. “He was involved in human trafficking,” Chrollo reveals. “His fiancé didn't cheat on him. She was trafficked.”
Your eyes widen in surprise, more pieces of the puzzle coming out of nowhere. Nevertheless, the most surprising thing is how Chrollo is here. The hand circled around your wrist is wiggled out of, and the question on your mind is voiced. “How are you here?”
Chrollo tilts his head at you. “I could ask you the same.” When you raise a brow at him, he chuckles. “I'm here for your coworker over there. He told you about someone who was after him. That would be me. However, I'm not after his life.”
You raise your brow higher, prompting Chrollo to continue. “You’re a Nen user, right?” When you ask him what he's talking about, he grows more confused. “You're a Nen user without the awareness of being one? Interesting.”
A hand finds its way to his chin, but Chrollo is lost in thought for only a few moments. “What do you suppose I should do with your coworker? He used to ask you out, correct?”
“Yes? Does that matter?”
“Perhaps,” he smiles.
You gulp, sensing a kind of game he's playing with you. “Don't hurt him. Hand him over to the police. They'll… they'll know what to do with him.” Your request is heard, but Chrollo does not seem to care for it because he clicks his tongue and pushes his hands into the pockets of his black trenchcoat.
Crouching down in front of Raaz, he grabs his hand and you look away. A moment later, you look again and Raaz's palm is flat against the cover of a book in Chrollo's hand. Where the hell that book came from, you have no idea.
“Now that that's done,” he says, now moving to stand, “what to do with you…”
Your blood runs cold at the question. If this situation is anything to go by, Chrollo is not any better than Raaz. In fact, he may be infinitely worse. Regardless, you still do not feel any kind of threat from him, ‘it’ being considerably less suffocating than it was the last time you had met him. Perhaps it is the lingering adrenaline that makes it seem so, but you are not afraid of him at the moment. Thus, being the person that you are, you try at making him spare you.
“Maybe,” you start, “you could, you know, let me go home. I'm not going to say or do anything. I couldn't be bothered about this. I'll take the jenny I was scammed out of and go home. Or you could keep the money if you want! As long as I get to go back home.”
Your negotiation attempt makes Chrollo think. He spends a few moments pondering over the situation, eyes still focused on you. When he parts his lips to speak, you have already prepared yourself to not be let go. “I'll let you go if you agree to meet me tomorrow evening. I suppose I can think over what to do with you in the meantime,” Chrollo says.
The offer makes you take a step back. “Really? You won't scam me like Raaz did?”
“I can make a promise if it eases your mind.”
You bite the inside of your cheek. He's smiling at you teasingly and you in no way are feeling any sense of danger from him. Begrudgingly, you agree. “Fine. Where should I meet you?”
“Give me your number. I'll send you the location.”
You make a face at the request, but surrender when he pesters you with promises of no ill will. An hour later, you are at your apartment, the bag of jenny still with you as you start planning to immediately pay off the loan you took out.
-
It is 7 pm. You stand somewhere to the side where Chrollo had asked you to come, the man in question nowhere to be seen. He asked you to come around 7 pm and you ended up getting here at 6:36 pm. It’s been 24 minutes since you’ve been standing here in wait.
Though you’ve been waiting alone with your thoughts for so long, the dread starts settling in now. It does not help that you can feel a familiar suffocating aura before you turn to look at its source casually strolling up to you on the busy street. It also does not help that your alarm had been explicitly painted on your face as soon as he was within a 6 feet radius.
“I was expecting you to not come,” he says. “This is certainly a surprise.” Chrollo smiles at you again, the curve of his lips somehow more menacing than the darkness around him. There’s a hat covering his forehead like before, you note. It seems that he certainly wants to hide the tattoo in public.
“I suppose my life is on the line. I would rather not walk around with another target on my back. You don’t seem like someone I would want after me, if Raaz’s condition was anything to go by.”
“An excellent deduction. I’m not someone you would want coming after you, at least not for your life or ability.” You gulp his clarification, proceeding to ask what he concluded for the course of action he must take. Chrollo chooses to let a few moments of silence pass, listening to the bustle on the busy street before replying, “I’ll tell you in due time. First…”
That is how almost half an hour later you are sitting at a restaurant, Chrollo across you, and a menu in front of you. What the hell is going on, you have no idea. You came here to find out if you’re going to be kidnapped or killed. Not to be taken out for dinner. When asked what you’d like to have, you insist that you aren’t hungry, something that Chrollo makes it a point to ignore as he ends up ordering for you. It is even more disorienting when it ends up being something you’ve had multiple times for lunch during the workdays.
“So,” you start, nervousness seemingly dripping from your countenance, “I suppose the final verdict will be given for dessert?” When Chrollogives no answer, you continue. “At least give me a hint. Death or imprisonment?”
He blinks at you. “It’s a surprise.” With that simple statement, he is back to observing you, one hand on the table and tracing the rim of the glass tumblr in front of him. “I hope Isasmo isn’t worried about your circumstances.”
Ah shit, he remembers. “Nope. He doesn’t know.”
“You hid everything? I suppose that’s reasonable. An axolotl wouldn’t be able to help in any way.”
Your eyes widen, heartbeat picking up. “You… how do you know?”
Chrollo’s response is simple, but it isn’t any less chilling. “You talk to him everyday.” He’s still watching you, eyes crinkling at the corners from his amused smile. It’s maddening having to be on the receiving end of this. When you do not grace him with a response, Chrollo does not say anything further as well.
The silence is excruciatingly painful. Chrollo's gaze, however, is more uncomfortable than being called out in class for an answer and not knowing it. Thus, a bright idea pops into your mind, a legendary question that easily makes any conversation better. “So,” you start, bracing yourself, “you like jazz?”
The only reaction you get is speechlessness before Chrollo clears his throat. “Not particularly. You?”
You shake your head. “Not my style.”
Resting your face in your palm, you look away, eyes anywhere but him. The surroundings seem more interesting, the two couples and a few lone people in the background having more to tell than the person you thought was going to end up hurting you. Well, it’s not your fault you got caught in the crossfire of whatever was going on.
“What,” Chrollo says, perking you up, “was your relationship with Raaz?” He’s tracing the rim of the glass again, something that bothers you because of the discrepancy between the action and his expression. Regardless, you answer truthfully. There is no guarantee he already knows and is simply testing your truthfulness.
“He was my coworker. He used to ask me out for lunch numerous times. That’s all.”
“And did you go to lunch with him?”
You shake your head. “No.”
Chrollo simply makes a thinking face before he’s back to normal again, hands sliding underneath the table. Silence once again hangs in the air, the tension thick enough to be cut through with a knife. You are completely unaware of Chrollo’s aims and motives, yet he knows you more than you could have ever thought.
Which reminds you…
“Chrollo.” He perks up at the call of his name instantly. You continue. “Someone was most definitely coming into my apartment during my absence. Was that you?”
The smile he gave you told you everything. A groan comes from your throat, the annoyance over being paranoid and doubting yourself while being sure that something was amiss catching up. “And just why were you breaking and entering?”
He clicks his tongue. “I thought you were working with Raaz.”
“Yet when you didn’t find anything the first time, you still persisted.”
“New evidence can pop up anytime,” he shrugs.
How someone can be so nonchalant over something like this, you have no idea. Sure, you were worried at first but annoyed later on, but still!
“So have you decided what to do with me?”
After a moment of contemplation, you are given a smile and a promise to be informed of your inevitable outcome after dinner. Yet after dinner you are taken to a nearby pier with no sign of the final verdict being given anytime soon. Now settled on a bench next to Chrollo, the little distance between you both resulting from your death glares whenever he slid close to you, you decide to enjoy the cool breeze before asking him again.
And you do. You ask him again what he’s decided to do with you, and all you are given before the knowledge of your inevitable end is a smile and a tilted head. This is when you notice how long Chrollo’s hair is.
“I was considering an… ‘arrangement’,” he says. The words cause your heart to start beating faster. “I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head or your family if you agree.”
He pauses, gauging your reaction, and you start praying he does not turn you into some kind of personal slave. “If,” he continues, making you start fidgeting with your hands out of nervousness, “you agree, you’ll live comfortably without a care in the world.” Another pause and the anticipation grows. The sound of chatter in the background is completely mute and the wind has already stopped blowing.
“What I’m proposing is… well, you allow me to court you. I will take the necessary steps, and you simply have to accept.”
The minute Chrollo utters those words, you freeze. A reply is on the tip of your tongue, and you know it is not a wise idea yet you open your mouth anyway. “If you wanted to ask me out so badly, you could’ve just walked up to me and asked instead of threatening to kill me or my family.”
All you receive in response is a shrug before he formulates a reply. “Would you have said yes if I asked under normal circumstances?”
“No.”
“Then my point has been proven.”
You bite the inside of your cheek. Maybe you should test the waters. “And what if I said no? What then?”
Chrollo leans back on the backrest, now more comfortable before he continues his negotiation with you. “Was Raaz’s predicament not enough of an example?” The wind blows again, and he leans forward, eyes on the water. “Not that I would prefer that, but you understand what I’m referring to.”
And you do understand what he’s referring to. You understand because you saw what became of Raaz. Nevertheless, you need more information to negotiate. Perhaps you might be able to find a way out during his ‘courting’. “Are you a homeowner,” you ask. “And do you live in the house you own?”
Chrollo looks at you from the periphery of his vision, suspicion making him more alert. “No, but I can purchase a home anytime.”
“Alright,” you nod. “And do you have a stable income?”
“As long as the world has treasure and resources, I will.”
“I see.” You pause, thinking of more questions to ask. “What about family? How much family do you have? Any siblings?”
“None,” he replies, “Any other questions?” He’s looking at you directly now. “Or would you like to leave some things to be discovered later on?”
You purse your lips at the comment. So he has money and no family. Sounds mighty suspicious or concerning. Depends how you look at it. You’re looking at it both ways. Silence settles once again as you think over what to say next. Chrollo seems content to leave you with your thoughts, as he doesn’t make any move to break the silence.
But when the silence is broken, it is broken by your capitulation. Chrollo is pleased as expected, yet there is no sign of relief or contentment on your end. Perhaps you could purposely make the relationship fail, and then he might let you go. At the very least, this arrangement is better than having your parents and yourself hunted down by a criminal.
-
It has been 3 entire weeks since you accepted Chrollo’s conditions. Your job is going fine, boring as usual, and seeing Raaz’s replacement still reminds you of the feeling of cold metal restraining you and keeping you in place.
It’s maddening, having to relive that feeling everyday. However, what’s worse is seeing Chrollo inside your apartment numerous times a week, mostly when you come home from work. He hasn’t made a move to stay the night yet, always excusing himself to ‘work’ or saying something along the lines of you not being ready for that step. It’s not that you’re ungrateful for it, but you don’t like being indirectly told that he pulls the strings and holds the power.
That’s why you’re here. Everything in the past several weeks has led to this and the tension and stress of those weeks has boiled down to reveal someone very tired and just a little spiteful. You knew he was someone to stay away from, and you did stay away from him. Or tried to at least.
“You said you wanted to speak to me about something?”
The devil has voiced your intentions, and you are now obliged to jump straight to the point. Having just got off work, you’re tired and a bit annoyed due to the lack of proper sleep. Despite that, you suck in a breath, continue strolling with him in the park, and give your response.
“We should break up,” you say, a sense of finality in your words that conveys your message that you shan’t be swayed in your decision. “Or stop this, considering this isn’t a normal relationship.” You had refused to hold his hand today, saying you want to keep them shoved into your pockets since they’re cold. They are currently sweating. “I don’t love you, and I don’t feel any bit comfortable. Continuing this would just make the both of us miserable.”
The break up dialogue sounded better in the TV shows you’ve watched, but you let it slide and continue. “Let’s just… see other people, okay? You’re probably just lonely. You said you have no family, and I can’t be the replacement. I don’t feel it working. I don’t feel loved and I sure as hell can’t love back.”
There is silence before Chrollo stops in front of you. He turns, facing you, and you are suddenly reminded of the children playing nearby and your bag being on his shoulders. “Is it because you remember the circumstances? If that’s the case, I can make you forget them.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant.” You flex your sweating palms inside your pockets, nervousness skyrocketing. “I just… it’s not working Chrollo.” There is desperation in your voice now. “You may find this arrangement fulfilling, but it’s not the case for me. I don’t even know what you do for a living! I don’t know your last name and-” You cut yourself off. You’ve gone off-topic.
“What I’m saying is,” you continue, “I’m certain this isn’t working out. We should go our separate ways.”
Silence once again settles, but it is soon broken by the sound of footsteps. With your head down, you see Chrollo’s shoes when he walks up to you. A hand on your chin raises your head to meet his eyes, and you gulp out of nervousness when his lips part to speak. “The condition was that I would court you and you would accept. There was no room for rejection to begin with.”
He pauses, looking for any reaction on your face. When he fails, he continues. “If you don’t feel loved, you should communicate instead of breaking up. A relationship thrives when both parties communicate, right?”
You brush off his hold, lips twisting in slight disgust. “You aren’t getting my point-”
“Explain it to me then.”
“I just did.”
“Your argument lacks claim and reason. It isn’t even an argument to begin with.”
A frustrated groan and you bring your hands out of your pockets. With a few slaps to your cheeks, you try again. “I don’t like you and I can’t stand you. If this wasn’t something that came as a result of what happened to Raaz and I met you as a stranger and ‘it’ wasn’t as creepy as it was, I might’ve given you the time of day but none of it happened!” Chrollo looks at you like you’ve grown two heads during your outburst, but you do not care. “Chrollo, you creep me out and I don’t like you. I can’t accept you and fall in love with you. What more do you not understand?”
He blinks, once then twice, before grabbing your shoulders. The action makes you freeze, the suffocating feeling from ‘it’ growing and becoming more visible and menacing now prevailing. “Elaborate on ‘it’.” The grip on your shoulders slides down to your arms but you do not feel any less threatened. Maybe that’s why he never stayed the night. You’re too frightened at times.
“There’s… something around you.” Revealing this feels wrong, but you know you have no choice now. “It’s dark, the darkest I’ve seen yet on any person. It’s scary and overwhelming and I don’t like it. Sometimes it’s calm and tolerable and sometimes it’s huge. It doesn’t have anything to do with emotions, or that’s what I think.”
Chrollo hums, letting you go. ‘It’ does not simmer down until a few more minutes pass, and he only speaks after it does. “It’s your Nen ability. You cannot see Nen, but your ability is an exception.”
“What do you mean?”
Chrollo glances around before stepping closer. He points to his right palm with his eyes and in a moment, a book suddenly just appears in his hold. Any questions on your end are silenced with the excuse of being in a public space. The only answer you get that evening is that the book is Chrollo’s ability.
Any further probing is told off immediately. Chrollo does not wish to say anything further, changing the topic promptly and continuing to converse like you did not just attempt to break up with him. The lingering fear from his threats slowly starts seeping in, and you once again grow bewildered over how your circumstances have changed.
-
You're in the kitchen when Chrollo says you need to pack your bags. He had gotten up from the living room sofa and strolled into the kitchen when he broke the news. Now, as he stands in front of you, your back to the counter, and recounts the essentials you need to pack, you blankly nod. Everything is a blur. You cannot control your actions, only watch them like a third party.
He turns his back to you now, sighing at your silence, but before he can take a step forward, you plunge a knife into his back. The silence is deafening, but when you pull out the blade to see your handiwork, you are greeted with only a handle.
The blade sits in Chrollo's palm, and he's looking directly at you.
All your muscles are frozen, and you cannot discern whether the ringing in your ears is from the adrenaline or from being stared down. Minutes pass this way, and it is only when you throw the handle somewhere to the side that it subsides.
“Pack the essentials,” Chrollo says, his voice cutting through the silence. You’re now noticing the TV is turned off. “We’ll leave tomorrow.”
You just noticed Chrollo’s palm is unscathed. How odd.
#yandere chrollo lucilfer#yandere chrollo x reader#yandere chrollo#chrollo x reader#chrollo lucifer x reader#yandere hunter x hunter
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Jessica Rabbit Effect pt. 4
So a lot of people have asked what if Crocodile & Mihawk found out about Buggys hot wife. So here we are!
Previous <<<
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• Buggy would be dragging his feet and reluctant on letting you go.. Truthfully he wanted to keep you on his little island village were you could live in ignorance and bliss. (Cause he's possessive)
• However it seemed some things couldnt be helped-
• Especially after your kidnapping attempt. So he felt safer dragging you with him to the Cross Guild meeting-
• "I'm so nervous" You admit, stepping in land as he kept you close.
• "Don't be- You'll be fine. I promise nothing will happen" He stated confidently, you assuming because these men were his friends- (While Buggy ment he'd kill to make sure no one harmed you)
• Once inside you saw them- And you damn near were ready to run back to the ship..
• They looked so much scarier in person!
• Craning your head up to meet the two massive men- Your nerves now all over the place as they just seemed to stare down at you.
• Hard-
• Your hand instinctively squeezing Buggy for reassurance.
• "Croc, Hawk- This is my Wife (Y/N)" Buggy said calmly with a hint of irriation in his voice at having them meet you at all, keeping a secure hand on your waist as you smiled softly at the two infamous men, still a bit nervous.
• "It's lovely to meet you both"
• Sir Crocodile and Mihawk exchanged puzzled glances as they stood before Buggy's wife.
• Perplexed-
• This pretty women was Buggy's wife?- Sure they had both heard rumors that she was apparently attractive but they assumed this was just Buggy's dramatic words floating around.
• However you were actually gorgeous!?
• Crocodile muttered, "Lovely to meet you as well-" Migawk nodding in greeting to you.
• "I know its a bit short notice me coming here and all, vut I made you both some gifts as a gesture of kindness" You say so sweetly as you reach into your bag and pull out the nice gifts for both of them nicely wrapped in colored tissue paper. Mentally praying Buggy's information was correct.
• Both Guild Leaders took the gifts in question- Still assuming something about this was fishy as both slowly ripped the tissue paper to take a peak at what you'd made.
• You had made a beautiful silk orange gold puff tie for Sir Crocodile since Buggy kept saying he was wearing a 'scarf' as a tie (But you knew better that it's a Puff Tie and not a scarf)
• And for Sir Mihawk you made him a white ocean cotton button down with front frills, you didn't make it as dramatic as you typically made Buggys but it was a incredibly pretty and beautiful shirt that would be comforble to wear whenever.
• Both men stared at the gifts, like they were trying to figure out what sort of trickery this was.
• "You made these?" Mihawk questioned at first,
• "I'm a seamstress" You state calmly, a bit worried they wouldn't be interested. However smiled when Crocodile complemented your craft and the quality of the tie.
• Once inside the main meeting room, conversation flowed naturally, You chatting up both men so they could become familiar with you. Even telling them the story of how you and Buggy met all those years ago.
• "Are you wanted to married him?-" Crocodile mused, taking another drag of his cigar.
• "Of course! He's so sweet afterall" Buggy looked miffed by Crocodiles words and the fact you gushed so much-
• Mihawk was the most interested in you however, taking sips of wine as he looked over you calmly.
• "Would you reconsider your marriage for a more suitable option?-" He so bluntly asked which made you blink in total surprise.
• "HEY!" Buggy yelled, Wrapping a protective arm around you as he began to yell at Mihawk for daring to 'hit on' his lovely wife- His temper definitely getting the best of him.
• Buggy throwing a full on tantrum now as he pointed a finger at Mihawk and screamed at him. The yellow eyed man grabbing his sword in warning-
• You flushed in embrassment and patted Buggys arm gently to calm him down before he got chopped to bits. "No No- I'm very happy in my marriage and love my husband dearly. I wouldn't choose anyone else-"
• Buggy stopped his little tantrum and seemed to be soothed by your gentle hands and soft words.
• Both pirates respecting such a loyal trait and moving on from such conversations.
• Both Guild Leaders found you quite enjoyable- You had wonderful humor, great in terms of conversation and essentially made up for everything your husband lacked.
• Work did take place however, Buggy and the two men talking over strategies of wealth and gaining a greater sense of power between them all.
• They did however find it irritating they couldn't beat Buggy's ass like normal- Seeing how it would upset you and the man seemed to be practically glued to you.
• By the time for you and Buggy to retire, Maps, Plans and even money had been exchanged-
• As the meeting delved later. Food and Alcohol was served, which left you full and a bit tipsy. Leaning your head on Buggy's shoulder as you soon fell asleep against him.
• "(Y/N)? Buggy said softly, claiming his arm to properly secure you against him as he saw your sleeping form.
• "Seems it's time to go our separate ways" Migawk said calmly, having finished off 4 bottles of wine himself and not too far behind you in terms of sleep. Crocodile wiping his mouth of the crumbs with a napkin as he set his near finished cigar on a ash tray.
• "Yes.." Buggy said softly, scooping you up with care.
• "....Since my wife is asleep- I need to say this to you both"
• Buggy didn't look at the two of them just stroking your hair as you slept- "I will only speak this once... If you two hurt my wife or make her upset in any way- Death will be the kindest thing I can give to you"
• They had always know Buggy hid his true abilities and simply didn't take things seriously- But they saw you were his only button.
• His only weakness-
• No words were exchanged, but a silent agreement seemed to settle on the three men.
• You were off limits.
• Buggy carried you out of the meeting hall, taking you to his private quarters so you could rest properly. Already mentally mapping out changing you into your nice PJs-
• The two men left behind watching their peer leave with his prized wife. Crocodile muttered, "How did Buggy manage to snag such a pretty and sweet wife?"
• Mihawk, equally mystified nodding in agreement.
• "It's a mystery as profound as the Grand Line itself."
Extra!-
"I can't believe those dirty bastards got you to make them clothes!" Buggy yelled, stomping his foot dramatically as he watched you sew at a purple and gold vest which clearly would belong to Crocodile by the large size.
You sitting in your favorte chair, dressed in comforble clothes as you continued to work into the evening in the home you shared with your dramatic husband.
"I make all your clothes" Gesturing to his low riding pajama pants and socks he was currently sporting. He waved this off with a dramatic eye roll-
"That's different your my wife and I still pay for your time since it's important! and they shouldnt get it fre-"
"They are paying me Buggy Boo" You cut him off quickly, taking the winds from his sails as he stopped mid rant.
"Eh?" He said confused, not knowing what you were talking about. You reach into your vanity next to you and handed your husband the letter both men had slipped you when you'd first met them in the guikd hall.
"They have me a lump some for 5 peices of clothes for each of them. 2 pairs of trousers, 2 shirts and a special item for each. For Crocodile he wanted this vest Im working on- and for Mihawk to restore a coat he liked" You explained, Buggy raising a brow at this news as he opened the letter quickly and read over how much they offered for such peices.
....
"GAHH!-"
Buggy yelled as he fell to the ground foaming at the mouth at seeing the large number.
15,000,000 Beri for each man....
He couldn't complain-
Well not about the men paying you so handsomely but about having to become the grumpy delivery man for his wife once the clothes were finished.
When he went to the meeting handing his two peers the clothes they had specially bought from you in the nice boxes youd always packed everything in.
Both men quick to open them and look over their new purchased goodies. Mihawk immediately putting on the repaired coat after seeing its quality- which was better then when he bought it.
"Tell your wife I'd like to make another commission when she has free time- I'll pay double" Mihawk said smoothing out the coat and seeing the nice gold pattern on the sleeves and nice red satin insides of the inner coat.
Crocodile adjusting his orange Puff Tie and he nodded in agreement and went through his box with great satisfaction. "Same for me as well-"
"I fucking hate you both..."
#x reader#one piece#one peice x reader#one peice live action#buggy one piece#buggy the clown x reader#buggy x reader#jessica rabbit effect#one piece buggy#op buggy
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could you write spencer x reader where she's pregnant but everyone finds out before reader does and spencer is the one to tell her, like the scene with Cece and schmidt in new girl. ofc u can write it however that's just where i got the idea from. thank you 💋
I haven't seen New Girl so I don't know how it all went down in the show, but I hope my take is alright x
The members of the BAU had started to notice that you had started to act a bit strange.
JJ noticed that you had started to go to the bathroom at what seemed like every half an hour while Penelope, who was known as the team’s personal baker, saw that you had started to decline her homemade cookies. Something was fishy.
“Spencer!” Penelope carefully hurried to the man’s way in her high heels, “We gotta talk.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Have you noticed that Y/N’s been acting a bit, hmm, I don’t know, strange lately?”
Spencer furrowed his brows and blinked a few times, “What do you mean?”
“Y/N is always the first one to take one of my cookies whenever I bring them in and now she’s refusing and saying the smell makes her feel sick. And, and JJ said that Y/N’s been feeling sick lately and-,”
“Wait, what? She’s sick?”
Penelope's eyes widen and she stares at Spencer, “You didn’t know? JJ’s noticed that she’s been going into the bathroom a whole lot recently.”
Spencer shook his head as he glanced towards you. Usually he’s the first to notice whenever you’re acting off, but with all of the work being piled up on his desk, if it didn’t happen right in front of his eyes, he wouldn’t be in the know.
“Have you noticed anything else?”
“Uh let’s see, she said she’s been feeling more tired recently. She said it could be from going to bed later at night or- oh wait, you don’t think that…”
Spencer nodded and excused himself as he walked towards you, the idea of what could be causing your unease could be more beautiful than nerve wrecking.
Spencer walked up behind your desk chair and rested his hands on your shoulders, his thumbs rubbing over the blades.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m alright,” you looked up from your paperwork and gave Spencer a smile.
“Penelope said you’ve felt a bit sick lately.”
“Oh um, yeah it’s nothing though. I’m sure it’ll pass soon.”
“Are you sure? How long has it been going on?”
“Oh um, I’m not sure, a week maybe?”
“A week? And you haven’t told me?”
“Spence I’m sorry I just, it’s always gotten better and I didn’t want to worry you.”
“But it’s kept coming back?”
“I guess yeah, why?”
Spencer sighed and caressed your cheek, “Sweetheart, don’t you see?”
You furrowed your brows and a moment later you realized what Spencer was hinting at, it was becoming clear.
“You don’t think that I’m…”
“Pregnant? It could be.”
You sighed and rubbed your hands over your face. Spencer kneeled down in front of you and took your hands in his, "Hey, listen to me, we’re going to be okay. I’m right here with you through all of it and if it really is what we think it is then I’m going to do my best to take care of both of you, I promise.”
“I know you would, Spence, it’s just a lot of responsibility.”
“I know, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I want this, I want this with you.”
Tears pricked your eyes and Spencer leaned over and kissed your forehead.
Later that night as the work day ended you and Spencer stopped by a pharmacy and picked up a few pregnancy tests and headed home with crossed fingers.
Half an hour later and four pregnancy tests later, that were all positive. Spencer held you tightly in his arms as you both took in the news, you were going to be parents.
“Are you sure you want this? With me?”
Spencer nodded and kissed your head, “Of course, there’s no one else I’d rather experience this with. Do you want this?”
You looked up at Spencer as he brushed the hair from your eyes. You thought about the time you had spent together, how over the years it seemed like he became even more delicate with you if that were even possible. The times you had seen him with kids made your heart soar and a part of you did hope that one day you could experience the joy of having a family together. Sure this was unplanned, but that didn’t mean you two weren’t ready.
“I do want this, I want this with you.”
Taglist: @radioactiveinvisible @whoisspence @sreidisms @lanascinnamongirls @luvkatryna @sp3ncelle @iluvreid @khxna @keiva1000 @indigosamsblog
If you want to be a part of my taglist go here!
You can find my masterlist here!
My requests are open so feel free to send one in! (SFW only)
#spencer reid#spencer reid au#spencer reid imagine#spencer reid scenario#spencer reid oneshot#spencer reid one shot#spencer reid headcanon#spencer reid headcanons#spencer reid hc#spencer reid hcs#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid fic#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid blurb#spencer reid drabble#spencer reid dialogue#spencer reid fluff#spencer reid angst#spencer reid x reader fanfiction#spencer reid x you#spencer reid x y/n#criminal minds fanfiction#criminal minds headcanon#criminal minds x reader#criminal minds imagine#criminal minds
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“Ride me, baby.”
Eddie Munson x female reader
summary: you have sex with eddie by the pond.
warnings: outdoor sex, language, short but sweet and smutty:)
There was something about it being risky that made you both horny motherfuckers. The thrill and excitement of it all that brought so much more pleasurable for the both of you. Eddie peaked his head out the trailer door, scanning the trailer park lot for any by-passers, with you giggling behind him like a little kid. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
Eddie grabbed your hand and led you outside, closing the door quietly to not wake his uncle on the couch. “You’re gonna wake everybody!” His curls bounced as he trotted down the steps of his home.
You both giggled as you ran around his trailer, trying to contain your contagious laughter, your bare feet getting slightly damp from the night dew that had frosted. “It’s cold!” You whined. “Are you sure you want to do this!”
“It was your idea!” Eddie exclaimed, leading you through the woods. “And you, should have worn shoes.”
You laughed like a madman, grabbing his arm with broth hands to keep up with him. You winced when you stepped on a sharp twig. “How much further?” You asked.
He pushed a branch out of his way and stepped to the side so he could pull you forward. “We’re here. Not too far when you take the shortcut.”
You sighed happily, stomping your feet on the soft grass rather than the mess of the forest floor. “It’s cute!” You beamed at the small pond, a children’s play set over to your left. “Wayne come fishin’ here?”
“Yeah, him and Hopper.” He brought you to the edge, your reflections glimmering in the water. “It’s pretty, isn’t it? Peaceful.”
You hummed, bending down to run your hand in the cold water. “Is there big fishies in there?”
He smirked at your term and shrugged. “I don’t know, baby, I’d assume so. Wayne’s not that good at it, if you ask me.”
“I wanna learn.” You out your foot in the water, gritting your teeth at the coldness.
“I’m sure he’d be happy to teach you.” He wrapped an arm around your waist. “Come er’.” He pulled you into his arms, cupping your cheek to give you a full, deep kiss that made your tummy flutter.
You moaned into him, pushing off his jacket as it fell to grassy floor of the Earth. “You gonna fuck me out here?” You pushed your body against him.
He reached around to grope your ass, grinding his body against yours. He put his arms around you and lowered you gently to the ground, towering over you. “Fuck, I love that sweet little dress.”
You wore a yellow sundress, too short for the imagination was what Eddie liked to say about it, but he had no problem with you wearing it for him and only him. “Ride me, baby.” He husked, flipping onto his back to lay against the ground, unbuckling his belt.
You pulled down your panties and threw them half hazardously to the side, pushing his hands away so you could free his hardening cock. “Someones happy to see me.” You grinned ear to ear, bending down to take him in your mouth.
“Ah,” He gasped, looking down to watch you swallow his cock. “F-fuck,”
“Not yet, baby,” You let him go, lifting your hits. “I’ve gotta get me some too, now.” You smiled as your pussy stretched around his cock, your hands lifting your dress to get it out of the way.
“Jesus,” He looked up at the stars as you placed your hands on his chest, moving your hips slowly back and forth.
You moaned happily, the cool air drifting in your hair and soft against your skin. The grass under your knees, the sounds of crickets and night owls, the water behind you. It all seamed out of a movie.
You rode him quicker, your hands holding you steady and in place. You bit your lip hard, seductively, letting out little whimpers that made him twitch inside of you. “Such a dirty girl,” He trembled, becoming undone for you. “Riding me out here where anyone could see.”
You leaned down to kiss him firmly, shutting him up as you moved your hips back and forth like ocean currents. Your tongues tangled together, swiping over teeth and gums as you bounced on him. You moaned into each other’s mouth like animals.
You squealed when he tossed you around and put you on your back, throwing your legs over his hips as he thrusted into you hard. You cried out from the sharpness of his cock pushing inside of you, making you clamp your mouth shut. He grabbed your hands and placed them above your head. “Uh, uh, I wanna hear those sweet sweet noises, baby girl.”
He thrusted into you animalisticly, making your eyes blur with tears as you looked up to the stars. “Shit,” Your voice was full and shaky, your tits practically spilling from your chest as they bounced up and down.
His pelvis rubbed against your clit and sent you over the edge, biting his shoulder as you cried out. You felt him shoot his load inside of you, the tremble of his legs making him collapse atop of you. You both panted, your breath coming out in puffs of clouds.
“Shit,” He gasped into your neck, trying to hold himself. “Sorry babe- did you cum? I couldn’t last,”
You giggled, slapping his shoulder. “I always cum, Eddie. Now, get the fuck off me.”
#lana’s shit post#eddie munson#eddie munson x reader#stranger things#stranger things season four#joseph quinn#eddie munson imagines#eddie munson fluff#eddie munson one shot#eddie munson headcanons#eddie munson smut
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congrats!!!! how about fade into you with tasm!peter and touch starved!reader, in an established relationship???
Thanks honey!!
join the party
tasm!Peter Parker x touch starved!reader ♡ 960 words
When Peter gets home, you’re in another long, hot shower. With no one to witness how pathetic it looks, you’ve taken to sitting on the floor, letting the scalding water wash over your back and drip from your lashes. Your skin will be pinkish and puffy when you get out, but it won’t matter; you’ve got nothing to do other than wrap yourself in blankets and sit on the bed for the rest of the night.
When Peter’s voice comes, it sounds muffled, faraway, but you snap to attention nonetheless.
“Sweetheart?” A faint knocking. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” you say without hesitation, scrambling up and shutting off the water.
“Shit, it’s steamy in here,” he says as the door opens. “Want me to pass you a towel?”
“That’s alright.” You grab the towel you’ve hung by the shower, hastily scrubbing yourself dry and wrapping it around you.
Peter’s hands are on either side of the face the second you turn around, pushing your wet hair out of the way so he can kiss you properly. It’s a sweet, brief thing, and your chest aches slightly when he pulls back.
“Ouch, babe.” His hands feel cool as they move down to your shoulders. You shiver pleasantly. “Your skin’s burning hot. How long were you in there?”
You really should get another towel to stop your hair from dripping all over the floor, but you can’t stand to move away from Peter’s touch. “I was bored,” you reply, “and the hot water is nice.”
“Seems like it was more than just hot,” he murmurs, grabbing the other towel as if he’s heard your thought and beginning to squeeze the moisture from your hair. “Sorry I was gone so long. I never know how these things are gonna go, you know?”
“I know.” Peter had been attending a weekend conference on some scientist’s new research at a university in Chicago. He was supposed to be back days ago, but apparently he saw some fishy things while he was there that Spiderman felt an obligation to investigate. “Did you find the mutants?”
Peter shrugs, taking you by the shoulders to walk you into the bedroom. The air feels shockingly cold outside of the bathroom, but the warmth of his touch is enough to keep you from minding. “Sorta. It was a group of guys pretending to be mutants. Projectors and stuff combined with actual explosives to make it look like superpowered attacks.” He sits you down and begins digging through drawers, tossing you a pair of sweatpants and one of his shirts. “It was super sophisticated, had to take a ton of planning. Honestly, if they weren’t, like, bad guys, I would’ve been really impressed.”
You shrug the shirt on. “Sounds like you were impressed anyway, honey.”
“Well.” Peter makes a sheepish face. “Just because they’re assholes doesn’t mean they’re not smart assholes, right?”
“Right.” You say, standing to get the sweatpants on. You don’t know where to go from here, feeling oddly hollow but with no good reason. Peter’s here; your loneliness should be vanquished. You hold your elbows awkwardly. “So, how was the conference?”
“Baby.” Peter sounds almost disappointed, and hurt hooks its claws in your gut before you can even figure what you’ve done. “Why’re you all the way over there, huh? You haven’t even asked for a hug yet. Is something wrong?”
You hadn’t realized you were so predictable, but it is a bit odd for you not to tackle him the second he comes through the door. “I don’t think so,” you say, and Peter’s brows twitch together at your uncertain tone. “I just really missed you, Pete.”
He makes a pained, sympathetic sound, opening his arms and stepping toward you. “C’mere, sweetheart.”
And apparently that’s the permission your body was looking for. You meet him in the middle, his arms coming up slow and firm around your shoulder blades. Your chest aches again, but this time it’s almost pleasant, though you feel suddenly like you could cry. Peter seems to know, one arm tightening across both your shoulders while the other hand begins stroking up and down your back.
“Did you have a bad week?” he asks softly, breath tickling your ear.
“No,” you reply honestly. “I think…I think I just needed this.”
Peter gives you a squeeze in response, and you tighten your grip too.
“Let’s just do this forever,” you say, only half joking. “Think you could come to work with me tomorrow to hold my hand all day?”
Peter doesn’t seem willing to roll with your lightness. “Nobody else hugs you when I’m not around, do they?” he asks, and when you don’t respond, he pulls back slightly, taking your face in his hand. “Do they, sweetheart?”
“No,” you say, and you’re not sure why it feels like an admittance. You’re not touchy with your friends, and your coworkers aren’t close like that. When else would you have the opportunity for hugs?
“No wonder you get so lonely when I’m gone.” Peter’s voice is fraught with tenderness, and he pulls you close again, petting your damp hair. “I’ll hold you as long as you like, babe, but after that, we should look into getting you a cat or something.”
“A cat?” You twitch in his hold, perking up hopefully. “I thought your landlord didn’t let you have pets.”
“He doesn’t, but he also doesn’t have to know,” he says easily. “If it’ll keep you from getting sad like this while I’m away, a cat is a small price to pay. Gotta keep my girl happy, you know?”
“I think,” you counter, “that we should get a cat and you should never leave again.”
Peter chuckles, kissing the top of your head lightly. “Deal.”
#moonstruckme 1k celebration#tasm!peter parker#tasm!peter parker x reader#tasm peter parker#tasm spiderman#tasm!peter x reader#tasm!peter parker imagine#tasm!peter imagine#tasm!peter x you#tasm!spiderman x reader#tasm!peter x y/n#tasm!peter parker x fem!reader#tasm!peter parker x y/n#tasm!peter parker x self insert#tasm!peter parker x you#tasm!peter parker fanfiction#tasm!peter parker fanfic#tasm!peter parker fic#tasm!peter parker fluff#tasm!peter parker drabble#tasm!peter parker scenario#tasm!peter parker oneshot#the amazing spiderman
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Housewife
Part - 10
Summery: Billy and Stu have been planning these murders for quite some time. Everything is going to plan until you show up. What happens when they meet someone who is just as mentally deluded as they are?
Pairing: poly!ghostface x fem!reader
Warnings for this series: murder, blood, smut (will be more in depth on smut chapters), power dynamics, a dash of sexism, knives, stalking, perverse behavior, cheating, mention of suicide,
Part 1
"Did Neil Prescott attack you with the ghostface costume on?"
"They've yet to close the case on the murders. Do you think Neil could've had a partner?"
"Was is hard watching your girlfriend die in front of you?"
The reporters spit inappropriate questions at Billy from the moment he stepped out of his car. He was more than happy that he got away with it but he found it a little annoying someone else was getting all the credit for his well executed plan. Billy threw his his backpack on barley missing the healing wound underneath his polo.
He passed by the reporters pushing some of them out of the way. Surprisingly no one bombarded him with questions when he entered first period. He heard whispers as he walked the halls. They didn't bother him at first. Billy lived through it, he got the front row seat most of them would kill to have. The boy kept his head down as he walked into his first period class. "It was Stu's house I know he had something to do with it." One of the boys said talking with his friends. Billy listened into the conversation. He was a nosey person by nature. "That doesn't mean he did it. I mean Sydney's dad was a wack job after his wife slept with half the town."
Billy nodded to himself. "I don't know something seems fishy with how close Stu and that new chick were." If you were close with anyone it was Billy. He was just careful about showing affection in public because shit like this happenes. People talk. "They were probably fucking and Tatum found out, everything went side ways." The group of three started laughing as the teacher shut the classroom door. Billy wasn't keen on hearing people talk about you or Stu but Stu had thick skin. Words never really bothered him much.
"You know we all would've died if Y/n didn't call the cops when she did." Billy snapped his tone a little too assertive. The class grew quiet everyone hearing what the boy had to say. Even the teacher was quiet not wanting to upset Billy more than he already was. "Class I know that these last few weeks have been traumatic for some more than others. However it would be beneficial to everyone if we continued on with our unit."
Billy went through the day with his keeping his eyes on the ground. He started to realize how hard it was to get through the day without Stu by his side going on and on about something he really didn't care about. The lunch bell rang and like clockwork all the kids flooded the hallway. For the most part Billy was completely ignored except for a few wide eyes stares in the hallway. For a second he forgot about what he had done. He saw the fountain being occupied by two girls. The freshman girls looked at Billy like he was a celebrity. "Oh my god Billy Loomis. I didn't think you'd come back so soon. Are you okay?" The blonde student rambled on stumbling over her words.
"Move." He was a man of few words. "I'm sorry about Syd- wait what?" She asked as her friend started picking her things up. "Are you deaf or something? Get out of my fucking spot." The girls hurried to grab their things. "This is where we sit everyday are you fucking blind?" He yelled causing people around to stare at the scene. "I-I'm s-sorry..." The kid stuttered scared of the boy in front of her. "Duh- duh- duh- get the fuck out of here." Billy spat nearly making the girl cry. Silently her friend grabbed her hand pulling her towards the building.
He could feel the eyes of those around him tearing into his slim frame. Billy sat on the concrete slab where he always did. No Sydney, no Tatum, no Randy, no Stu, and no you. His peers just watched the boy have a mental breakdown. It was lonely being alive. It wasn't the lack of people that was upsetting, it was the quiet. Running a hand through his messy hair he jumped up. "Fuck this."
You had never felt so good on a Monday. Your wound barley hurt with a little help from the pain killers. "Elvis really?" Stu questioned as you pulled the record out of it's sleeve. "You're not an American if you don't like Elvis." He pulled his lips into a straight line. "Consider me Canadian." Your rolled your eyes sitting the needle down. "Did you know he came in his pants during one performance?" Stu crinkled his nose at the unwante information. "That is fucking disgusting. Tell me more." You laughed laying on your bed next to him.
Billy blasted his radio choosing to listen to the burnt CD Stu made him a few weeks ago. Sad whiney alternative rock seeped through the speakers. It did nothing to help his mood but he wanted to sit and wallow in his self pity for just a little longer. It wasn't a very long drive to your house which saved him gas. If he had to guess you were probably laid up in pain waiting for someone to come and help you. And if you weren't going to answer his calls he'd do the chivalrous thing by showing up unannounced.
You held your sides as Stu danced around doing his best Elvis impression. "Stop it's so bad." You cried with laughter barley able to get the words out. You heard a faint noise downstairs grabbing your attention. "Wait, shh do you hear that?" Stu pipped down letting you concentrate. "Somebody's at the door." You rolled off the bed heading down the steps. "I'm going to pick the next record." Stu called from the bedroom. Making sure you looked presentable you opened the door. Billy looked up at you a smile playing at his lips for the first time in what felt like forever. "Hey." He said as you stared in shock. Your heart raced and you felt sick.
"Jeez don't get too excited." The visitor rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease his slowly building nerves. It was obvious to him you weren't as happy about seeing him as he was you. To him you were a breath of fresh air but that was because he was stealing yours. "Y/n please talk to me." He pleaded making you snap out of the trance you were in. "Go away." You thought it'd come out as a scream but it barley qualified as a whisper. Billy caught the door as it was closing. "You can't just tell me you're in love with me and then disappear." He walked into the house as if he owned it. You couldn't help but laugh dryly.
"That's what you got out of everything thing that happened Monday?" He raised an eyebrow unsure of what he was missing. "What else was I supposed to get? You literally pointed at gun at me saying you did all this for me because you loved me." You slammed your front door causing Stu to jump upstairs. "I was going to kill you." You said plainly done with the chit chat. "Excuse me?" You walked to the kitchen grabbing a drink from the fridge. "You heard me. When I saw that article and saw your smug face all I could see was red." Billy took a seat on your couch deciding to take his shoes off as if he was staying longer.
"I did love you, you're right but that was years ago. For a second there you had me fooled I'll give you that. My original plan was to get close to you and then kill you. Simple as that. Stu made that hard considering you were two attached at the hip." You refrained from making a joke you knew the boy upstairs would appreciate. "Why didn't you just kill him too?" With the look you gave him he knew that wasn't a good question. You took a swig of soda setting the glass bottle down on the counter. "It might be a shocker for a heartless bastard like you but I don't just run around killing people that inconvenience me."
Billy was actually kind of hurt by the comment. "I found out you two were planning to murder a group of kids so I sat and waited for you two to get yourselves put in prison or better yet you'd kill yourself." Billy swallowed what little spit he had left in his mouth. He was uncomfortable. "I'm not stupid, I knew you were going to kill him. He was simply collateral to you. That's what really pissed me off. You hadn't changed at all. I couldn't kill you now because he loved you and I couldn't bring myself to hurt him. Does he know?"
Stu sat upstairs knees to his chest as he tried not to cry. He was dumb he knew that but he was okay with it. He didn't think he was think oblivious though. All he was to Billy was a disposable accomplice. Something he could throw away once he was done using him.
"I wasn't going to kill him. We were going to run away together." You laughed shaking your head in disbelief. "Watch out Loomis, you're starting to sound as delusional as me." The whole scene really played out like two parents in the midst of a divorce. "Why'd you come here?" The defeated sound in your voice made Billy regret his decision in coming here. "I wanted to see you." He muttered. "Well you've seen me." You held out your hands making sure he could get a good luck before he left.
"I love you." Billy looked up at you making sure your eyes met when you heard the words. You hated the way he could easily manipulate you. Maybe it was because you wanted him to. You enjoyed how the lies made you feel so you chose to believe them. "If you think that's what I want to hear it's not. Love bombing is a big red flag you know?" Billy slammed his fist on the couch arm in frustration. "What the hell do you want to hear then?" You pinched the bridge of your nose. "I can't explain every little thing to you Billy. It's not my responsibility to teach you how to be a decent human being. I just need time. We both do. If you still feel the same way next week we can talk okay?"
Billy bit his lip till it started to bleed. "Okay." He was yet again defeated by you. You weren't keeping score but he certainly was. "If I call will you at least answer? Please." The idea wasn't bad but you knew it was only a matter of time till this sense of clarity wore off. You'd take him back in a heartbeat because you're the same easily impressed girl you've always been.
"I'll think about it." You'd kiss him right now if he as much implied the idea. One whimper from him and you've would've started making the bastard a sandwich. "Thank you." He said as he put he shoes back on. "How are you?" It was a question you thought he didn't care enough to ask. "I'm feeling better. Thank you for asking. How are you doing?" Billy's wound didn't even bother him at this point it was his mental state that was in decline. "I miss you and Stu." That wasn't an answer to your question but you proceeded with caution.
"I'll be back to school next week. Why don't you stay home this week too? School is not exactly the best idea for us right now." All things considered that is. You didn't understand how much Billy despised his "home." Since his mother left him his house became a prison. A padded cell would be cozier. "I would rather go to school all day than go home." You felt for him but that's as far as your sympathy went. Slowly he stood up waiting for anything to keep him here a bit longer.
"I'll see you Monday, Billy." You walked over to him ready to open up the front door. Swallowing his pride he wrapped his arms around you burying his face in your neck. The strangely intimate act was not in Billy's character. "I'm sorry." He whispered to himself more than you. You weren't even sure if he knew he said it. Your arms wrapped around his back and he let you just hold him for a second. If this was some sort of manipulation tactic he was better than you thought. Billy cleared his throat as he pulled away.
"I guess I'll see you Monday." You nodded not trusting your voice. "Call me if you need anything." Billy added as he walked outside heading towards his car. "Bye." Your voice cracked and you quickly shut the door locking it. Instead of sliding down the door like they do in the movies you laid face down on the couch. Screaming you lungs out into the throw pillow seemed to attract the attention of the boy upstairs. "You okay Betty Crocker?" Stu said almost jumping down the stairs. "You want to go cliff diving?" You asked as you carefully rolled off into the floor.
Stu joined you on the carpet. "Can we drive off the cliff Thelma and Louise style?" You smiled cuddling up into his side. "Absolutely." You wanted to ask if he heard your discussion but with how red his face was you assumed he already knew. "Is Y/n your real name?" There was a calming sincerity to his voice. "I wouldn't lie about that. Well actually that's a lie, yes I would." He laughed covering his eyes with his arm. "But no I'm not lying about that. I've got my birth certificate somewhere around here or I could just give you my social security number." You smiled up at him. "That works too."
Stu played records as you and him cleaned the kitchen. He felt betrayed by his best friend and he desperately needed the break. Stu would forgive Billy eventually, he always did. He knew you'd forgive him too if you hadn't already. That's just what Billy did. Ignorance is bliss, Stu learned that a long time ago. In the meantime, Stu was busy playing house with you.
(if your name has a line through it Tumblr wouldn't let me tag you)
Part 11
Taglist: @katie-tibo @agustdeeyaa @bowlofceral @gonnapermashift @tati-the-fangirl @kozumewhore @tatijoestar @illyanam1011 @c4rved-pumpk1n @msghostface @gojosbucket @sammanna @lokigirlszendaya @reneki @fetusharryluvr @kadu-5607 @pumpk1n-writes @lovekeeho @tojisblood @zeysartzone @bluedevilss @life-of-music3 @flyestvenustrap @littleblondesoprano @imobsessedreader @loomiscorpse @nicciekawegosblog @reneemunson @miss-puregotti @ksgsfsgaj @zoleea-exultant @briefwinnerpersonaturtle @mistydreamscape @l4venderia @nex-crowley @ashreblogsnow @brynaa223 @your-desire666 @billyloomiswhore4 @holyladyofsorrows @megluv1 @ellieswifeiya @yoluvrz @forallthstarsinthesky @madsothree @youcantbesirius @lubunnii @captainhowdysseptum
#billy loomis#housewife#scream#ghostface#scream 1996#billy loomis x reader#ghostface x reader#poly!ghostface#scream fanfic#scream 1996 masterlist#stu macher fluff#stu ghostface#stu macher x reader#stu macher#billy loomis ghostface#billy loomis masterlist#poly relationship#ghostface x female reader#ghostface x fem!reader#scream x reader#scream fanfiction
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Indecent Proposal (15.2)
Summary: Your boyfriend wants to be part of their empire. You are the pawn he’s willing to sacrifice.
Pairing: Mobster!Stucky x fem!Reader
Warnings: sexy mobsters, fluff, established Stucky, angst, implied smut, caring mobsters, pregnant reader
A/N: A shorter interlude chapter.
Indecent Proposal (15)
Indecent Proposal masterlist
“I licked him all over, he’s mine,” you pout and whine as Steve refused to let you suck his cock again. “Let me have a taste.”
“You had a taste this morning, right after you had a taste of Bucky’s cock. Be good and calm down. You’re hypersexuality is not normal.” Steve tries to get you to slow down and relax on the bed.
“Aw, let her be as horny as she wants to, baby,” Bucky ran his hand over his husband’s back, tickling Steve’s skin. “She only tries to keep up with my hunger. You know how much I love devouring you, Steve.”
“We had sex twice today, Bucky. You, me, and the insatiable devil carrying our baby,” Steve clicked his tongue when you tried to crawl toward Bucky to get from him what Steve denied you. “No, doll. We have an appointment for the next ultrasound. We cannot reek like sex and sin.”
“But we are all sinners, Stevie,” you cooed and crooked your finger. “Come here baby daddy and bring your little Stevie too.”
“That is enough,” Steve cupped your chin with two fingers. “We love you, but you must listen to me and Bucky.”
You giggled. “Aw, he’s so sexy when mad,” you purred his name. “I understand why you fell for this pretty man.”
“What? I-“ Steve huffed. “Buck, you need to help me with this brat. She’s out of control!”
Bucky leaned his back against the headboard of the bed to watch you and his husband bicker. “You mean she’s out for cock. Let her have it, Steve. She’s so much more cooperative when you give her dick.”
“Hey, watch your mouth, Sir,” you snapped at Bucky. “Or, how about you put it to better use while I use mine to suck your pretty husband dry?”
“We are late,” Steve whispered, still mad at you and Bucky for seducing him this morning. “I hate it when we run late.”
“Stevie,” Bucky whispered his husband’s name lowly, “you had fun, didn’t you?”
Steve cleared his throat. He didn’t want to admit that he indeed had more than fun having his way with you and his husband.
“Y/L/N,” the nurse called your name. “You are next. Please follow me.”
“We will follow you,” Bucky blocked the nurse’s view. He sized her up, huffed, and looked over his shoulder. “I’ve never seen that one before. What about you, Steve?”
Steve cocked his head to look the nurse up and down. Bucky was right. Steve checked the background of every person working at your gynecologist practice. The new face wasn’t one of them.
“Oh, I’m new,” she hastily said. “I started working here a week ago.” She nodded, more to herself than to assure your overprotective mobsters that she was no threat.
“Buck—” Steve didn’t have to say more. Bucky got his phone out, snapped a picture, and left you to Steve to call Natasha and Jake, the guy they always call if they want to find out more about a person.
“Y/N, you will stay by my side,” Steve stepped in front of you to take Bucky’s place. Something was fishy about the way the nurse looked at you. He dipped his head to whisper in your ear so no one could hear his words. “I got a bad feeling, doll. Let’s head back home. Fake that you don’t feel well.”
“Steve, I don’t feel good,” you said loud enough for the nurse to hear. “Can we drive back home? We can make a new appointment, right?” You dipped your head to look at the nurse.
She curled her lips for a second before putting on a saccharine smile. “Of course, Miss Y/L/N. But if you don’t feel well, the doctor can have a look at you. Maybe it’s for the best if you come with me.”
“I’m nauseous because I didn’t eat much,” you lied easily. “I’ll make a new appointment. Thank you.”
“You heard her,” Steve snapped at the nurse. “She wants to go home. Please give us a new appointment.”
“Sure, I…” she walked back toward the reception to ask her colleague for a new appointment. You watched her nervously wringing her hands. Bucky and Steve were right. Something was fishy about her.
“Wow, you call and a doctor moves heaven and hell to come here for a simple ultrasound,” you chuckle as your men look at the new ultrasound picture. “Guys, is something wrong? Did your tech guy find anything about that nurse?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Bucky said. He looked at his husband, having one of those silent conversations. “Right, Steve.”
“Right, Bucky. Nothing to worry about…”
Indecent Proposal (16)
Tags in reblog.
#steve rogers#bucky barnes#stucky#stucky x reader#female reader#stucky x you#steve rogers x reader#bucky barnes x reader#Indecent Proposal (16)
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Blasting Off To The Past: Chapter 1: The Customers Are Used To This By Now
Finished chapter 1 of my fanfic based on @yamujiburo's Jessie/Delia Pokemon comics. The fact that it's just the first chapter is a development that materialized roughly 5 minutes ago when I realized this thing is getting way too long to write all at once. It's just a fun little day-in-the-life story because I wanted an excuse to write these characters.
Here's the AO3 link.
Below is the full chapter text. Enjoy!
“Meowth, I demand to know why you just kicked me!” James yelled dramatically.
“Don’t flatter yourself, I wouldn’t waste my time kicking you!” Meowth
The lunch rush took its toll on everyone in different ways. For Delia, the strain kept her too busy to notice anything outside the restaurant. For Jessie, it meant Delia wasn’t looking at her.
In the case of James and Meowth, it was dealer’s choice. Today, that meant each blaming the other for the table leg they each routinely tripped over. Meowth’s thimble-sized temper had reached a boiling point. James was mad by association.
Delia had been holding down the kitchen until the commotion piqued her attention, prompting a peek around the corner into the dining area. She saw Meowth seething as his serving tray clattered to the ground, trading leers with James whose serving tray remained pristinely perched atop his fingers.
Then time stood still as she saw Jessie burst in with a face that gave her conflicting feelings, making a Beedrill-line for the bickering duo. How she heard the noise from across town would remain a mystery. The love of Delia’s life was a lit fuse heading straight for a flamboyantly colored powder keg. The focus now needed to be heading off the stormfront before it turned the restaurant into a restauNOT (she took a second to chuckle at that).
“Jessie. Babe. Sweetie.”
The red menace continued undeterred. Delia raised her voice.
“Jessie, stop! Jessie! Honey!”
Still nothing. Delia was desperate.
“STOP, DAMMIT!”
Jessie screeched to a halt, bringing the universe with her. She and her two partners in something or other all turned their heads toward Delia, three identical faces of exaggerated shock. Though Jessie’s sported a tinge of crimson.
“I… buh…” she attempted.
“Delia made a swear,” Meowth whispered.
James simply covered his ears.
But whether through shock or sheer force of Delia’s long-bided power, the situation was defused for now. The residual fallout kept things together until the restaurant finally slowed down. James and Meowth lost their abrasion around each other, more or less back to their regular selves give or take the occasional shared look towards Delia. Granted, not unlike their usual behavior.
Jessie, meanwhile, had stuck around to help however she could. At the moment, she was employing her puppy dog eye technique to try and soften Delia’s mood every time her wife looked her way. Despite coming across more like bewildered Magikarp eyes, which had Delia desperately suppressing a snort laugh at every turn, it probably would have worked even if she actually had been angry.
Eventually, closing time arrived. Jessie had finally released Delia from her fishy look and was taking a break from cleaning to watch James and Meowth. The other two former Rockets were Taurosing around with each other as they took the garbage out back. Delia noticed a wistful look in her wife’s eye. It was one she’d been seeing a lot of lately.
“You miss the adventure, don’t you?” Delia asked warmly.
Jessie gave a slight start at this before nodding. They’d grown to know each other well enough that it was no surprise Delia could read her so intimately.
“I know we weren’t the good guys going after the twe- eh, Ash and Pikachu like that,” Jessie seemed just a bit embarrassed, “but getting out there and traveling around really got my juices moving.”
“Even more than our little battling vacations?”
“W-well, I wouldn’t say…” Jessie hesitated, but she knew she never needed to hide anything from Delia, especially after all this time. “Kinda, yeah.”
Jessie’s regular trips out into the region with Delia to explore and battle gym leaders had very quickly begun to rank among the highlights of her life, and she wouldn’t trade them for anything, no matter how shiny. But…
“I just miss the camaraderie with James and Meowth,” she found herself gushing. “I miss the cartoon-level plans we came up with together, I miss the big Meowth balloon, I miss James’ camp cooking and Meowth’s snoring, not to mention-”
“I’m sorry, what was that about Meowth?”
“Oh, right, you never heard his outdoor snoring. Only happens when he’s camping. Real conker of a wavelength he could belch out, which you wouldn’t expect from a little fart like him. I think he developed it as a defense to make predators think a Snorlax is sleeping nearby or someth-”
“What?” Delia had trouble getting a word in edgewise sometimes, a trait of their relationship she oddly treasured. She liked seeing Jessie excited. “No, why would I ask to hear about…? Never mind, I meant the balloon thing.”
“Ok, yeah, that makes more sense,” Jessie admitted. “It was a thing of genuine beauty. A huge hot air balloon in the shape of Meowth. We even used official Team Rocket funds to commission it. They seemed cool with it.”
“I’d like to point out that they did very much fire you.”
“Oh yeah,” Jessie said with a guttural giggle. “Wow, things are definitely starting to make some more sense now that I say them out loud. But anyway, we used to go everywhere in that balloon. It was our own little home where we never had to deal with property tax. We’d sleep up there, have some fun by spitting off the sides, do… other things off the sides…”
“Honey, I love you but oh my god.”
“Hey, if you can think of other ways to handle being up in the air for days at a time…” Jessie’s old smug nature crept in, which she caught before going any further. “Th-the point is I just miss the balloon. It was sort of a symbol of that complete freedom we used to have. Nothing tying us down, literally. No rules. No responsibilities. No bosses or authori-” she paused, her expression that of a system reboot. “How did we not get fired sooner?”
“I didn’t realize how much you thought about that time,” Delia started to feel just a touch of guilt. Or was it jealousy?
“Not 'all the time' or anything. Some things just remind me of that past life. Like how James and Meowth have been sniping at each other a lot lately,” Jessie said with a look of dawning realization. “They must be feeling homesick too. Or, I mean ‘homesick’ I guess,” she made some halfhearted quotes with her fingers. A glance over at Delia dropped the fingers immediately as Jessie read her wife’s expression, as subtle as it was.
Jessie wordlessly walked over to Delia, not rushing, not holding back, simply going. She took her hands in her own and clasped them.
“I am happier now than I’ve ever been,” Jessie answered a wordless question. There was no need to explore the topic further. This is the most she’d talked about the old days since, she realized, that awkward time when she, James, and Meowth had shown up on Delia’s doorstep completely out of options. It was enough that she got it out.
Delia just smiled. It was a genuine smile, but one that obscured hidden depths. Depths that ironically flew right over Jessie’s head.
Once they finished closing, Jessie and Delia stepped out of the restaurant hand in hand, following James and Meowth who had apparently regained their passion for griping. Jessie paid little attention as they fired quips back and forth, sounding to her like synthesized speech from a Nintendo 64 game. She was content where she was, blissfully strolling home with the love of her life. No thoughts, just vibes.
If she’d only opened her eyes, she’d have seen the poorly-hidden look of sneaky determination emblazoned on Delia’s face.
-the next morning-
“Ash!” Delia burst into her son’s room. “We’re making a balloon!”
#hanamusa#pokemon#pokémon#delia ketchum#jessie team rocket#fanfic#i don't write stories#i only write banter#if a story materializes then it's by accident i assure you
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WAIT WAIT Hear me out , what if Platonic Yandere! Strawhats ... As Mermaids/Mermans with Human!Y/n ?
Let's say people that Strawhats meeted either hated them or tried to kill them until they got into fish trap and Y/n sees that Strawhats are quite injured and can't get out so Y/n helps them then runs away because they are hella scared?
I hope this is good! I kinda rushed it so I could have it done before the end of the month.
(Don't) Face Your Fears
Yandere Merfolk Straw Hats x GN!Reader
1.8k words
Part 2
Deep breathes, you remind yourself. Deep breathes.
It was taking everything you had not to turn tail and run, but you stood your ground. You need to face this. You won’t be able to grow if you don’t. Waves crashed onto the shore ahead of you, the noise not allowing you to forget for a second where you were. The salty and fishy scent in the air was also a strong reminder.
You’re not even sure where this fear came from. You can’t recall some traumatic memory revolving around the ocean, you just hated it. The mystery of what hellish creatures lurked beneath the surface, the mere idea of being lost at sea, drowning, it all terrified you.
All your life you’ve done your best to avoid the ocean despite living so close to it, but now you are trying to face it. You didn’t want to spend the rest of your life trapped by your own fears. What if you want to leave this island one day but can’t bring yourself to do so because you’re too scared to get on the boat?
You’ve made some progress, a lot really. Being able to stand on the beach like this was something you couldn’t have done a month ago. Tonight, though, you were going to take this a step forward. You hated doing this at night, but you were too embarrassed about your fear to risk people seeing you potentially freaking out over some water.
Your bare feet dug into the sand as you tried to will yourself to relax and step towards the water. It’s fine. Everything is going to be fine. You’re just going to wade ankle deep in the water and then call it a night. That’s it.
Ignoring the pounding of your heart and the sweat starting to form, you take the necessary steps, bringing yourself onto the wet part of the sand. You cringed at the sensation, not enjoying it even a little bit.
You stood there and waited for the tide to come back in, forcing yourself to stand still. Finally, dreadfully, a wave comes in and laps at your feet. Your first gut response involves dry heaving and wanting to run away, but you endure. It’s barely touched you, you need to tough it out.
Despite every nerve of your body violently disagreeing with this idea of yours, you take another step forward. More water rushes over your feet. It’s cold, but not freezing. It almost feels nice in contrast to the humid summer air.
Now, you decide to wait here and adjust, forcing your breathing to even out again. As the minutes tick by, you find yourself not minding it as much as you initially did. If you closed your eyes, you could almost pretend you were simply soaking your feet in the river by your home. Maybe you’ll be able to enjoy this? Maybe.
Shockingly, you found yourself walking through the water. Not deeper into it, simply staying at the same depth and wading along the shore. The silence was peaceful, and you found that your previously thundering heartbeat was slowing to a more normal rate. Against all odds and expectations, you couldn’t help but smile slightly. This was incredible progress for you, and you were proud of yourself.
The atmosphere changes as you hear something in the distance. Splashing, and a lot of it. It sounded too loud to just be a fish. Was it a person? Was someone drowning? You ran towards the source of the noise. As you got closer, you could hear yelling over all the splashing, too. It sounded like several people. What the hell was happening?
“Hello? Is everyone alright?” You called out, trying to get a feel for what was going on before you got there.
The splashes stopped, but you did get a response, “Hello? Who’s there?” The voice sounded feminine and distressed. Scared even.
You were getting close enough to be able to start to make out the people. There were a lot of them, at least five, but they were moving around too much to be able to count clearly. All of them were caught in a net.
“I’m (y/n). I was going for a walk when I heard you guys, and I wanted to see if you needed help,” which they most certainly did. How did that many people manage to get caught in a fishing net like this?
“We do! Can you cut this net open?” A different voice piped up, this one sounding like a young boy.
You could do that, there was a knife strapped to your belt that you kept there both for functionality and self defense. There was a problem though. They were deeper into the water than you were. If you went out to them, you would be waist deep. Much farther than you were prepared to go so soon.
Your hesitance didn’t go unnoticed. “Please! We need to get out of this! Some of my friends are hurt and we can’t treat them while we’re all stuck like this!” The same voice from before desperately pleaded.
Nausea rumbled deep in your stomach, but not just from the ocean this time. You couldn’t just leave a bunch of people to die because you were scared of a little water. Okay, a lot of water, but you won’t even have to swim. It’s going to be okay. You can do this. You will do this.
Forcing yourself to take deep breaths, you march forward. Miraculously, the rising water doesn’t crumble your resolve. You don’t look down at the water, purposefully focusing on the net ahead of you. You need to get them freed, and you need to do it now before you can have a chance to chicken out.
Unbuckling the holster for your knife, you unsheath it and get to work trying to cut through the thick rope of the fishing net. There was a lot of resistance, but you didn’t give up. The segment you were sawing your knife through snapped and you immediately moved on to the next one, vying to get a big enough opening for them to squeeze through.
There were loud cheers from a few of them as the net came undone enough for them to get out. They wasted no time and all headed for the opening to slip through. You held it open for them, wanting them to get out as quickly as possible.
The first one escapes, and that’s when you feel it. Something large and slimy brushes against your exposed legs. What? That was just a big fish, right? Maybe even an errant piece of seaweed. As the rest of the group filed out, you felt the same sensation on your legs each time.
These… These people were human… Right?
Chills were running down your spine as you questioned what exactly you were dealing with here. Before you could back away or ask questions, one of them approached you. He didn’t just come up to you, no. He full on threw himself out of the water and wrapped his arms around your torso.
“Thank you for saving us! We don’t get a lot of help from humans most of the time, so I’m really happy that one as nice as you came to our rescue!” This was the same boy that had spoken to you moments before to beg for help. He smiled widely at you, and the moonlight reflecting off the water was enough for you to be able to make out his too sharp teeth. As well as the fins on the sides of his head where ears should be.
Oh my God. Merfolk. This is a merman and you’re surrounded by more of them. Every rumor you’ve heard about them comes to mind instantly in one big violent pang. That they love nothing more than to drag any poor unsuspecting human they come across out into the ocean to drown them. That they would eat you after you died. That they could curse humans into becoming like them.
No. No no no nO NO NO!
With a scream, you shove the merman off of you and make a break for the shore. You get there faster than you thought humanly possible and kept running, not looking back. Fuck this. Fuck them. Fuck the ocean. Fuck everything you’re never going near the ocean ever again for as long as you live!
—
The merfolk could only sit in the shallow water and stare at your rapidly retreating and screaming form.
“I suppose they didn’t know we were merfolk when they helped us,” Robin mused.
“I like them,” Luffy was positively beaming despite being thrown off you seconds before. He’d crawled closer to the shore to watch you leave, his tail loudly splashing in the water behind him.
“Of course you do, you like everyone that looks at you twice,” Zoro scoffed, waving a webbed hand dismissively. He winced when the action strained one of his injuries, causing Chopper to snap at him to hold still.
“No, I really like them! I want to see them again! I bet that if we talk for a bit, they’ll come around,” Luffy nodded resolutely, already imagining what he’s going to say next time he sees you.
“How are you going to do that? I doubt that they’re going to go anywhere near the ocean for a long time,” Nami pointed out.
This gave Luffy pause, but only for a brief moment. His eyes lit up as an idea struck him, “There’s a river that goes through this island, right? I can use that to try and see them again. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they live along it!”
“At least let one of us come with you, you have no tact throwing yourself at them like you did,” Sanji could tell that this would take a certain level of finesse that their captain absolutely did not have. No doubt he would up and drag you into the water with him if you were close enough to do so.
“You’re only saying that because you want to see them again, too,” Zoro splashed water in Sanji’s direction, extinguishing the cigarette he finally had a chance to enjoy. Naturally, this caused a fight between the two to break out, with Sanji slapping Zoro with his tail while Chopper was yelling at both of them to cut it out.
Luffy didn’t pay them any mind. While your form may have vanished from sight, he could still follow your scent. Even if you weren’t right next to the riverbed, he wasn’t opposed to dragging himself across land to get to you. Now that he had your scent, there’s nowhere on this small island you could hide to stay away from him.
#one piece#one piece x reader#one piece x y/n#one piece x you#yandere one piece#yandere#platonic yandere#monkey d luffy#luffy#nami#cat burglar nami#zoro roronoa#sanji#black leg sanji#nico robin#tony tony chopper#mermay#mermay 2023#emtynessinmyworld#merfolk au
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