#I was replaying the level and noticed it while checking the area

[raventroll80]

A Beast on Mars

Chapter 2 Welcome to Mars

Freed from his prison, Slayer tries to find the source of the invasion, new allies are met and property is damaged.

Heads up this is Doom fic so there’s going to be a considerable amount of violence. This chapter contains blood, gore, a whole lotta demon murder, and death.

The Slayer jumped down from the plateau and surveyed the area, red rocks surrounded him on all sides, the wreckage of a transport lay burning just a few meters away. A massive tower could be seen off on the horizon, it’s jagged crown reminiscent of the gore nest he just purged.

To his right a small path lead through the rocks, green markers lighting the way. Following the path, the Slayer was led to an excavation site of sorts, floodlights shining down on large ruins in the red sand. The Doom Marine spotted a few zombies shambling about, though he noticed one group of undead were wielding weapons. Soldiers, great, deep in the recesses of his mind the Slayer recalled the burning pain of plasma from their rifles.

The Slayer rolled his shoulders before jumping down from the ledge and fired a round at the group of undead soldiers. Most were killed by the blast of the shotgun and most of the zombies were crushed beneath the behemoth in his decent. The howl of Imps echoed through the air as Scouts flooded the site, with their Brutes hot on their trail.

The first Brute jumped down and received a face full of lead, the spread picking off a few of the lesser Imps in the process. As the Brute recovered from the attack, the Slayer rushed over and bashed its head with the butt of his gun, the bones of its face made a satisfying crunch. Before he could make the finishing blow a fireball came hurling at him from across the excavation site, its sender sneering at him with its bloodstained teeth. With the flick of his tail, the meat hook went flying before sinking into the shoulder of the Brute. The demon howled before being yanked across the battlefield by the Slayer who gladly welcomed them with the blast of his shotgun.

Staggered from the blast, the Brute stood there in a daze allowing the Slayer to slam its head into his knee, crushing it. The first Brute then jumped onto the Slayer’s back and attempted to choke him, the Slayer retaliated by slamming his back and therefore the Brute against the wall behind them. Just as he felt the overgrown Imps bones begin to break a volley of plasma slammed into him. Right, the soldiers.

Growling in annoyance the Slayer raised his shotgun and fired at what was left of the undead soldiers, picking off a few more Scouts in the process. Unfortunately, the distractions were far from over as yet another Brute grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away. Just as he was about to fire another round into the demon the Brute slammed its arms down on him. The Slayer returned the gesture with his own punch before slamming his head into its own.

The Slayer recovered first and growled as he sunk his claws into the Brutes shoulder before grabbing it’s left arm. His growl became a roar of fury as the ripped the arm free from the Brutes body and used it to cave its head in. The Brute collapsed to the floor, the bright redness of its blood putting the rusty orange of the sand to shame. The sound of something scrabbling up the rocks reminded him about the first Imp he’d yet to deal with.

He turned to see the once furious Brute, was now attempting to flee… how cute. The Slayer flicked his tail and sunk the meat hook into the Imps leg. The demon squealed in pain as it was dragged back towards the Unchained Predator. Those squeals became shrieks of terror as the Brute raised its arms in a feeble attempt to defend itself but it was futile as the Slayer crushed its ribs beneath his boot. The remaining Imp Scouts scattered as their final Brute fell, leaving the Slayer roaring in victory. Finally, silence fell once more over the Martian landscape, that was before the Slayer picked up on a soft beeping.

There, at the top of the excavation site floated a small drone, it beeped at him again before flying off, the Slayer tiled his head in curiosity and quickly followed. He climbed out of the excavation pit and followed the drone until he was stopped by a security gate. The gate was locked and required a blue key card to open, or it would have if the Slayer weren’t nearly 16 feet tall.

The behemoth of a man kicked the security gate a couple of times before the metal tore free of the rock. Could he have just stepped over the fence? Yes. Did he want to? No! Dr. Hayden wanted him to fix his problem then he’s going to have to deal with the consequences. He didn’t care what he broke, just that he stopped this invasion before it got any worse.

As he continued following the beeping drone the Slayer passed by an alcove in the cliffside next to him. He was about to pass it without a second thought if he hadn’t noticed a bright red tail hanging over the ledge. Following the tail, the Slayer found that the tail belonged to what appeared to be the corpse of a tailed humanoid that looked not unlike himself. The Doom Slayer picked up the corpse and inspected their armour; it was mostly bright red in colour with black accenting, a single strip in the middle of the helmet presumably served as the visor or camera other than that, their face was completely obscured by the helmet. Much like his own armour the humanoids tail ended in a spiked blade, whether or not it could shoot out like his meat hook though, he was unsure.

The Slayer laid the corpse back down on the ledge and watched the drone dart into a cave, the Slayer dropped into a crouch and slowly crept forward. He didn’t know if the drone was leading him somewhere or running away, but what he did know was that he wanted to catch it. The Slayer stayed low to the ground and crept around the ledge and past some rails and a cargo dock before slowly sneaking into the cave. He stayed crouched as he watched the drone hover out of the cave and looked around for him, making confused beeps as it tried to figure out where he went, it was holding something…

Slowly and silently the Slayer crept forwards, eyes fixed onto the drone. Closer, and closer he crept, the little drone none the wiser until… Bam! The Slayer grabbed onto the drone which started to beep almost frantically as it tried to escape his grasp. The Slayer turned the drone over in his hands and inspected it; it was fairly small compared to the slayer though it would probably be about the size of an average human’s torso, its main body was circular and small arms appeared to be grasping a large crate labeled “CAUTION EXPLOSIVES”.

The drone made more panicked beeping before releasing an electric shock. The Slayer yowled in pain and dropped the drone who floated away from him. The Slayer snarled at the drone before lunging at it and tearing it apart. The drone made some strained beeps and whirrs before it’s lights went out; the Slayer huffed in satisfaction and began inspecting the crate the drone was carrying. Inside he found a handful of large grenades, so large in fact that he could probably use them.

A twinge of guilt shot through the Slayer as he glanced at the remains of the drone. Had it been trying to help him? He pocketed the grenades and gently scooped up the drone, clearly someone had to be piloting it, maybe if he brought them the remains, they could fix it? He pocketed the drone and continued on his way.

He passed by more wreckage and gore before he stumbled upon the entrance to a larger facility, broken rails lead to massive bay doors, lesser demons prowling about. Time to test out these new grenades. He pulled the pin and threw it towards them. The explosion shook the entire building, blood and guts went flying everywhere. Effective, he thought to himself as he climbed up to the door. The cargo bay had a much lower ceiling than the lab which forced the Slayer to crouch somewhat. A panel flashed beside door, the Slayer pressed it and the blast doors hissed opened as machinery clunked and whirred. The Slayer walked into the airlock and the doors shut behind him, the loud clunk of the doors locking in place made him growl in unease.

A few minutes had passed and the doors still hadn’t opened up into the facility and the Slayer was getting impatient. He had started pacing around the airlock, his tail twitching in annoyance. A sound chimed in his helmet indicating that a call was coming in. He allowed the call to come through, ho ping he’d get an explanation.

“Hello, I am VEGA the sentient intelligence assigned to Mars. I would like to apologize for what happened earlier; the electric shock is meant to be a deterrent against demonic threats. I was not aware that it was you who grabbed it before administering the shock.” The semi-robotic voice explained in a calm tone.

Oh, so there wasn’t a human piloting it, interesting.

“I would also like to apologize for the wait, power in this facility has been disrupted so I’ve had to reroute the power. The doors will-” VEGA had tried to continued but the Slayer had decided to take matters into his own hands.

“You cannot pry open the doors. They are hermetically sealed for-” The AI had tried to explain only to be cut off by the shrieking of metal as the Slayer began to lift the blast door. The Slayer had begun growling as he fought against the mechanisms only for the door to quickly rise from his hands as it opened.

“As I was explaining, the doors are hermetically to protect employees from the outside conditions. I would prefer you keep the damages to a minimum in the event that any survivors make their way to this facility.” VEGA explained in a less calm, almost annoyed tone. The call ended and the Slayer was left alone in the dark facility.

Following the hallway away from the airlock, the Slayer found himself in a much larger room where he was able to stand once more. The room in question appeared to either be a large chasm or mineshaft. The Slayer found himself stood upon a platform that housed a large cargo elevator, across the room a massive fan sat motionless. Catwalks connected the two sides to each other, the Slayer doubted that they’d support him. The Slayer was about to search for a way forward when the AI returned.

“It appears you are too big to access the control panel down the hall. I will send a field drone to assist you in restoring power,” the Slayer shook his head before leaping across the gap, his claws digging into the stone walls. He began climbing up the chasm in search of a passageway he could fit through.

VEGA had been instructed by Dr. Hayden to monitor the Doom Slayer in order to keep him from damaging the Mars facility any further, and to do that he needed to access the security cameras, and to access the cameras he needed the power to be restored. He needed the Slayer to open the door to the control room so the drone could get in, as it was jammed during the initial invasion, so he needed to convince the Slayer to turn back.

“I implore you to at the very least clear the way to the control panel as power is needed to operate the res-ops satellite. You will not be able to gain the information you need unless the satellite is operational.” That seemed to do the trick, as the Slayer stopped his climbing and looked back down at the platform below.

The beast let out a growl of annoyance before leaping back down to the previous platform. Much to their dismay the platform buckled beneath the Slayers weight and began to collapse. The Slayer quickly began digging into the wall in an attempt to open it up before the metal beneath him fully gave out. Luckily, he was able to tear the wall open and crawl into the hallway before the metal platform went tumbling down into the abyss below. The Slayer had ripped out some of the air and maintenance ducts to make room for himself as he waited for the field drone to arrive.

When the drone arrived, he had to shimmy around in order to let the drone pass by, a moment passed before the lights came on and the fan whirred to life. The Slayer slipped out of the thoroughly destroyed hallway and clung to the wall and waited for the drone to return, this place was a maze and he wasn’t entirely sure which way would lead him to the satellite. The drone returned, making an almost happy beeping noise before VEGAs voice came through on his comms.

“I have downloaded this facility’s map and laid out a path with the least resistance for you.”

A map appeared on his visor, indicating that he needed to go to another airlock across the facility, it also labeled a point of interest in one of the loading bays.

“The door to the airlock is locked via a maintenance keycard, one will be need in order proceed. The lockdown will also need to be lifted in order to open the airlock. I have traced the source of the lockdown to a Gore Nest in…”

The Slayer had stopped paying attention to the AI and was instead focusing on a zombie that was currently grabbing at the field drone. It was flailing its arms at the robot who appeared not be bothered in the slightest. The reanimated corpse had managed to grab the arm of the drone and was starting to weigh it down, the drone made a familiar beeping as it struggled to stay aloft.

The Slayer chuckled in amusement and grabbed the zombie with his free hand and crushed it, the corpse going limp in his hand. He let go of the zombie letting its body fall down the shaft, down and down, it fell until he couldn’t see it anymore. The Slayer waited for the sound of its body hitting the bottom, but it never came.

“Thank you, Slayer, I will let you be on your way now,” The AI said before disconnecting, once more silence fell as the Slayer was now left alone. At first, he had enjoyed the ambient silence, but now he was starting to feel… lonely? No, it couldn’t be loneliness, the Doom Slayer didn’t get lonely… right?

The Slayer shook the notion from his mind and began climbing up the walls of the chasm in search of a path forward. Eventually He found a tunnel that ended in a large metal hatch. A quick check revealed nowhere for the Slayer to open it, no problem, that’s what grenades are for!

A grenade was tossed towards the hatch, the explosion blew open the hatch revealing a smallish cargo bay crawling with zombies and undead soldiers. The Slayer tossed another grenade into the cargo bay and waited.

The explosive skittered across the metal platform; a few zombies shambled towards it to investigate. The undead soldiers seemed to be more cognitively aware as they looked towards the Slayer before they opened fire.

The grenade exploded and the Slayer swung himself into the room and returned fire. Imps howled as lead went flying through the air and the Slayer lobbed another grenade across the room. The explosion shook the room and the structure the Slayer clung to shifted as several barrels exploded beneath him.

Once the dust settled most of the demons were lying in pieces with a few still writhing in agony, a blast from his shotgun put them out of their misery. Slowly the Slayer climbed down from his vantage point, testing the platform below to see if it would give. Surprisingly it didn’t. The platform beneath him groaned threateningly as the stepped onto it, but it seemed to hold.

A loud clattering sounded from the structure he had been clinging to catching his attention. Snapping his head towards the windows which looked out into the bay where he currently stood. He watched as something darted out of view, what it was he wasn’t sure, but he decided to give chase anyways.

The windows shattered with ease and the metal walls were peeled away with ease allowing the Slayer access to the room within. The room in question appeared to be a locker room… that meant he must be close to the exit. Examining the room, the Slayer found a few corpses strewn about one of which had a chainsaw lodged in it, a close look revealed that it was still warm… someone’s been here.

Had that been a survivor he saw? How far had they gotten? Should he track them down? Even if he did find them what was he supposed to do? Like anyone in their right mind would trust him, let alone get near him.

Out of the corner of his eye the Slayer spotted a peculiar device fixed upon the wall. It was a white cylinder about the size of a human torso. He reached towards the strange device causing it to open up revealing a series of grey rings that extended out towards him. The Slayer tilted his head in confusion and intrigue.

“What was this device?” He thought to himself, “Maybe VEGA knows…”

The Slayer didn’t really know how to call for VEGA, hell he didn’t even know the Praetor suit had a coms system! Well, he’s worn helmets equipped with coms before… at least he thought he did, it was getting hard to remember anything before the Argenta. Regardless, logic would dictate that there would be some sort of interface or button somewhere on the helmet.

Before he could begin looking for some way to contact the AI, VEGA’s voice rang through the coms. “Is there something I can help you with Slayer?”. The Slayer pointed at the device and titled his head.

“That is a medical station. Are you need of medical attention Slayer?”

“Oh, that’s what that is. Ok!” The Slayer thought before he shook his head no, and turned around looking out the window into the neighboring storage room.

VEGA watched as the Slayer smashed the glass and began searching the room. The AI gave the closest approximation to a sigh as he could before flicking through the cameras; still no signs of survivors. It was hard for VEGA to get proper reading on the facility as Olivia had done something to lock him out of almost everything, there were miles of malware and firewalls for him to dig through, but VEGA liked a challenge.

The Slayer returned to the cargo bay and resumed his search for a way forward while VEGA picked away at removing the “security” measures. Little did they know, someone had been watching the Doom Slayer from the safety of the vents, and little did that person know that an Imp was quickly closing in…

#my writing #a beast on mars #doom g/t #troll! doomguy au #g/t #giant tiny #tw gore #tw blood #slayer enjoys property damage #VEGA does not #especially when he’s technically the one getting damaged #also fun fact the giant hatch in the second arena is actually there in game #I was replaying the level and noticed it while checking the area

[thefallennightmare]

Just Pretend-four

*gif created by me. feel free to use, simply give credit*

Parings: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Warnings/Tropes: language, angst, fluff, smut, star-crossed lovers, right person/wrong time, cheating, talks of mental abuse.

Summary: “I can wait for years, heaven knows I’m not getting over you.” A story about two star-crossed lovers, that always find their way back because their souls are entwined. The universe desperately attempts to bring them together, no matter what the cost.

Authors Note: 7k words in this one with so many easter eggs! Can you find them all?!

Collaborating With: @thescarlettvvitch(better give her all the love as well)

Tags: @thescarlettvvitch @ozwriterchick @waake-meee-up @notingridslurkaccount @niicoleleigh @sammyjoeee @xxrainstorm @dominuslunae @notmaddihealy @malice-ov-mercy @crimson-calligraphyx @iknownothingpeople @writethrough @thebadchic @blackveilomens Claudia on Tumblr @tobe-written @blacksoul-27 @loeytuan98

Malcolm's curses echoed throughout the open space of the venue as he tried to help Chase set up his drums.

"Dude, I'm telling you your doing it wrong!" Chase all but scolded.

"Then do it yourself, man!" Malcolm snapped while letting the symbol drop to the stage.

The loud sound made me jump as I was working on adjusting my microphone stand to my perfect height and with hands on my hips, I narrowed my eyes at the two of them.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Chase ran a hand over his face with an apologetic sigh. "It's been a long night. The drive here was rough on my back so I got little sleep."

"And Trey's been smoking on the bus so my asthma's flaring up," Malcolm said while throwing his long hair up into a bun.

I frowned at my two best friends when the guilt weighed heavy on my shoulders. Yesterday was a long day with the zoo and then half a day of travel for us to get to our next city, most of us were feeling the exhaustion deep in our bones.

"I'm sorry. Let me talk with Trey about the smoking."

Malcolm was quick to assure me it was fine and almost not worth talking to him because we all knew that nothing would come of it.

Biting my lip, I checked the time on my phone to noticed that we had some time before soundcheck.

"Text me your coffee orders, yeah? I'll go grab us some because I think we're going to need it today."

Jumping off the stage, I threw on the hoodie I had tossed before I started setting up while Chase called behind me.

"Ask the Bad Omens guys if they want anything!"

I waved my hand in the air in a way of saying I was already planning on it and made my way to the backstage area of the venue where I knew Bad Omens and crew were hanging out in the green room. They already had their soundcheck earlier and were just hanging out before having to get ready for the show later tonight. Boisterous voices echoed down the long hallway as I stepped through the door with a small smile on my face.

Noah and Nick were leaning back in their chairs while they played a video game on the system and the small television they brought along with them.

I snuck up behind Noah and covered his eyes with my hands which caused him to call out in a shout.

"Oh, fuck you. No fair!" He averted his head below my hands just in time to see Nick beat him in the level of Mario Cart.

Giggles escaped me in a fit as Noah turned in his chair to glare at me while I highfived Nick.

"You cheated."

I shrugged. "I wasn't the one playing."

The corner of his lips turned up in a smile as he extended the controller towards me. "Want to play the loser?"

I tapped my chin while nodding towards Nick. "I'm pretty sure I'd play the winner."

Noah scoffed. "Only because you helped him win."

"My, my," I tsked my tongue while crossing my arms over my chest. "Are we a sore loser, Noah?"

"The fucking worst."

Folio said as he snatched the controller from Noah and started up a new game with Nick. Noah's eyes burned bright as he continued to smile up at me, memories of our day yesterday at the zoo replaying in my mind. How sweet he'd been with buying things for me and the nickname-fuck, it still gave me chills when I remembered how sweet it sounded coming from his lips.

"Well," I cleared my throat while shifting on my feet. "I don't know about you guys but Hollow Souls desperately needs caffeine. Malcolm and Chase are seconds away from clawing each other's throats out. I thought to come to ask if any of you guys wanted."

Most of them nodded, so I told them to text me the order as I turned on my heels to walk out but noticed Noah rise to his feet, tossing on a hoodie.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Did you really think I would let you go by yourself? That's four trays worth of coffee."

"Oh," I hesitated. "You don't have do to that, Noah. I'm sure I can manage."

He ignored me, simply pocketed his wallet and used a claw clip to hold his hair out of his face.

Shit, no man should look that good with a fucking claw clip.

Pushing those thoughts away, I let him lead me out of the room while following close behind. It was a nice afternoon in North Dakota so I planned on walking which Noah didn't seem to mind thankfully. At first, we said little, just letting the comfortable silence fall between us, and as a group of people walked passed me from the opposite direction, I had to walk closer to Noah. Our hands brushed against each other and the same shock that buzzed through me nearly attacked me as I reared my hand away from him apologizing.

"It's alright," Noah smiled, not giving anything away if he felt the spark too.

"So," I finally said after some more silence.

It was killing me. I needed to say something to get a conversation going so I could listen to his voice.

"So," he repeated while dragging out the 'O'.

"I want to say thank you again for yesterday. It's been a long time since I've had a fun day like that," I admitted with a sheepish smile.

Noah looked at me surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. Lately I've been focusing so much on Hollow Souls and trying to elevate us to the next level that I haven't found time for myself to do things I love. Although, I love what I do."

"No, I get what you're saying. Some people think that just because we're always working on our career that we must not have a social life outside of it."

"Yes!" I smacked his chest with excitement. "You get it."

He chuckled as we turned the corner to the new block, the coffee shop slowly coming into view. As I read the very long text message of the coffee ordered, I was thankful that Noah came along.

"You know, we still have to watch our movie," Noah reminded me.

"Shit," I said realizing I forgot. "Yes, we do. We should have a movie night where we each choose a movie or something like that. I mean, we're going to be on the road with each other for a month might as well."

I smiled up at him with a bright smile on that Noah gave right back.

"Yeah, definitely. I think I'd have to choose The Scorpion King, I watched that movie so many times because of Godsmack being on the soundtrack."

I stopped dead in my tracks for a moment making Noah as well. "No fucking way. So did I!"

He gave me a teasing look. "Right, that's why you watched it over and over. Not because of The Rock."

My face scrunched up in disgust. "Fuck, no. I prefer my guys with long hair and covered in tattoos."

The air around us tilted on its axis as a red hue crept all over my face when I realized I described Noah as my perfect guy. Everything around us seemed to slow as the two of us stood staring at age other, his tongue pushing against his bottom lip, a low noise coming from the back of his throat.

"Uh, I think I see the coffee shop up ahead," I pointed behind him, drastically trying to get his fiery gaze off of me.

It rooted me in place making me incapable of thinking clearly or making the right choice.

Relcuctantly, Noah nodded slowly, and we began walking in stride with each other.

"So I noticed Trey wasn't anywhere to be found," he spoke slowly, almost trying to test the waters with this conversation.

"Yeah, he wasn't feeling well, so he's sleeping it off," I explained.

"Right," Noah snorted under his breath.

My eyes sliced over to him. "What's that supposed to mean, Noah?"

With a sigh, he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. "I'm not trying to upset you. But you have to admit, he's been drunk every night."

"I know," I let out a long breath and kept my gaze straight ahead to the old couple in front of us.

Cleary they were holding hands and taking their time in their afternoon stroll together. The older man leaned over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek and I smiled warmly when he took off his tan coat to lay it over her shoulders. Even in her red three piece button up jacket and skirt, she must have been cold.

"Are you warmer now?" He asked her while perching his glasses higher on his nose.

She tucked a strand of her ice white hair behind her ears, her own red glasses resting on top of her head.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Are we almost at the coffee shop?"

"Yep," he patted the pocket of his jacket that was slung over her shoulders. "I brought your favorite book to read to you. We only have a little while until you're needed back to the center."

"Angel?"

Blinking rapidly, I looked up to Noah as my body blazed with heat because of my nickname.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"You don't have to answer this but a lot of us are wondering why you're even with him. We all see how he treats you," he said.

I tried to find the anger that should have been festering with the bluntness of his question but it wasn't there.

Maybe because what he's saying is true.

"He wasn't always like this. When we first started Hollow Souls, Trey was vibrant and alive. The last few years have dulled his soul, along with the drinking. But I'm used to it, don't worry. I can handle myself."

"That's not what-."

"Can we drop it, please? With you, the last thing I want to do is talk about Trey," I snapped while coming to a stop in front of the door of the coffee shop.

The way I worded my sentence didn't go unnoticed by Noah whose lips twitched.

"Sure, angel. Come on, let's go inside."

His hand ghosted over the small of my back as he let me step inside of the busy coffee shop. The line had about 8 people in front of us so Noah and I fell in line behind the same older couple from outside.

"Noah, dear," the older lady smiled up at her husband. "I'm going to go grab a seat. Order me a tea?"

"Anything for you, Allie," he mused while leaving a tender kiss on her forehead.

I looked up towards Noah but nearly sucked in a breath when I realized how close we were. He may have towered over me in height but his lips were so close to my face, I could feel his warm breath fan across my own lips. They were plump and pink, almost begging to be kissed.

Ignoring how my heart race pick up and stomach flipped, I motioned towards the older couple in front of us. "Look, its you in sixty years. Same name and all."

Even with a fond smile on his face as he watched the older couple, Noah shivered.

"If I ever lose my hair, I might cry. This has been years worth of growth."

We shared a laugh and moved up in the line, Noah's eyes grazing over the large menu board.

"Have you ever tried a chai tea iced with oat milk?”

I scrunched my face up in disgust. "It doesn't sound appealing. I usually stick to the same drink."

Noah bumped his shoulder with mine. "Come on. It'll be good for you to try new things."

Don't fucking tempt me.

"I don't know," I hesitated.

I hated straying away from things that were so familiar to me.

"I think you’ll love it. Not too sweet, just right. It’s got everything you want. Would you trust me if I ordered it for you?” Noah's eyes practically begged as he pushed out this bottom lip playfully.

"Yes," I rushed out but quickly composed myself. "Sure, but I want whipped cream on top?"

"You can have whatever you want, angel," Noah promised.

We both stepped up to the counter and gave the young girl an apologetic smile as I pulled out on my phone.

"I am so sorry," I apologized. "But we have a pretty big order. We'll obviously pay extra since it's a busy time and don't mind waiting until it slows down if you want to make the order."

The young girl, Rey said her nametag, blinked slow as her eyes darted from Noah to me then back to Noah.

"Holy shit," she cursed while breaking out into a large grin. "You're Y/N! From Hollow Souls!"

My heart warmed at how ecstatic she was to meet me. Rey then gazed at Noah once again, with a less ecstatic expression but still star struck nonetheless.

"You're Noah Sebastian! I actually just started listening to Bad Omens because I saw you two were touring together. Enough, Enough Now is my favorite!"

Noah's face beamed with so much pride it was almost adorable.

"That means so much, thank you. Are you coming to the show tonight?" He asked.

Rey's shoulder fell. "No, I tried to buy tickets, but it sold out so fast!"

Noah and I shared a look before I rummaged through my bag looking for something I kept in here exactly for this reason. Ethan, our tour manager, always made sure we had extra tickets for something like this.

"How many do you need?" I pulled out a stack of five tickets.

"Oh, no!" Her eyes doubled. "You don't have to do that. Please don't think I'm not complaining to make you feel bad."

"Please," I assured her with a sincere smile while sliding all five tickets on the counter to her. "I'm about to order ten complicated drinks. It's the least I can do for holding everything up.

Rey eyed the tickets carefully, and Noah urged her with a slight nod.

"Let us get through this rush and we can start your drinks," she smiled while pocketing the tickets.

"Of course," I said then bagan rambling off our very large order.

Once we paid, thanks to Ethan's business card, Noah and I took our drinks that Rey made before the others over to a table in the far corner of the cafe, away from the gathering crowd. Since we would be here for a while, Noah and I decided to drink our coffee while sitting.

His long fingers drummed against the wood of the table, an unknown tune, as my knee bounced up and down with slight anxiety. Ever since tour started, I was never alone with Noah for longer than a few minutes, but now there was no one else around as a buffer if things became awkward.

Noah motioned towards my drink. "Try it."

I rolled my eyes at his eagerness before brining the warm drink to my lips, blowing away some of the heat first. He tracked every movement of my lips as the pursed out almost like I would kiss something.

Or someone.

"Alright, I have to admit; it is pretty good," I set the cup back on the table.

Noah's eyes burned with heat as he stared straight at my lips and suddenly feeling self conscious, I brought a hand to my face.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

"No, you're good, angel," his voice was deep, almost rough, as he finally tore his gaze away from my lips up to my eyes.

Just like every other time we stared at each other, it was full of so much tension but in the best fucking way possible. Behind the dark depths of his pupils, there was this magnetic pull that kept sucking me in no matter how hard I tried to grasp at whatever I could for support.

I cleared my throat to break the silence but Noah's phone buzzed on the table next to his coffee which broke the spell we were under.

"Fucking Keaton," Noah chuckled under his breath as he quickly typed something on his phone.

I nearly choked on my coffee, it burning all the way down my throat, and set the cup back on the table.

"Wait, Keaton? As in Keaton Pierce?"

"Yeah," Noah nodded with a bright smile. "He lost his copy of Super Smash Bro's and was wondering if he could borrow mine but little does he know, that was my copy he lost."

I huffed out a short breath. "Tell him I'm still waiting for the $100 he owes me."

His eyes brightened in surprise. "You know Keaton?"

"Yeah, one of Hollow Souls first tours was Warped Tour. We all got real close with everyone in Too Close To Touch but Keaton and I have this bond."

I was so engrossed in telling the story about how Keaton and I grew incredibly close the summer we were on Warped Tour together that I didn't notice Noah's jaw clench with jealousy until the last words fell from my lips.

"He's like a big brother I never had. He means so much to me," I smiled fondly.

"Keaton's one of my best friends," Noah divulged about how Bad Omens and Too Close To Touch also met on Warped Tour one year.

Running a hand through my long hair, I suddenly cursed myself for not bringing a hair tie, but kept my attention on Noah.

"I can't believe we have a mutual friend but yet never met before! I thought for sure Keaton would try to hook us up," I said.

"Yeah," Noah's voice trailed off as he was deep in thought, not realizng that as he brought his coffee to his lips, some of it spilled onto his sweater.

With a curse, he rose to his feet and pulled it off which in turned caused his shirt to lift as well, showcasing off more tattoos that it shocked me to see he had. The band of his briefs poked through the top of his jeans and with the sharp curve of his v-line, I was practically drooling at the sight of him. Which he quickly noticed because he threw me a smirk as he sat back in his chair.

"You're staring, angel."

"N-no. I was just-." I stammered like a schoolgirl that just got caught staring at her attractive older teacher.

Well, you kind of did.

"I was just surprised to see more tattoos. I though only your arms and neck were covered," I explained while messing with the cardboard sleeve on my cup.

"I've got tattoo's everywhere except my back and parts of my thighs but I plan on covering those spots soon," Noah informed. "Since we're on the topic of tattoos, how many do you have?"

"Oh, shit. I've lost count over the years. I've got them scattered all over and sometimes forget that they're there."

"You know," he leaned back in his chair with a cheeky smile, long legs extended towards me as his foot grazed lightly over my calf. "I'm pretty good at hide and seek. I bet I can find them if you'd let me."

My cheeks blazed with immediate arousal with his sly words and I had to squeeze my thighs together underneath the table, hoping Noah couldn't tell how turned on I suddenly became with this conversation. But two could play at that game. If he could make me flustered, so could I.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer someday," I winked while taking another drink of my now cold coffee.

Shit, how long have we been sitting here?

I dared a quick glance over to Rey behind the counter and noticed they were working fast to get all ten of our drinks ready.

The sound of metal scrapping against ground brought my attention back to Noah and realized he had pulled his chair closer to me, something dark filling his eyes. Our hands were on the table, so close they were almost touching, as his fingers began drumming on the wood once again; almost to keep them busy.

"By the way, I don't know if I told you how much I liked you wearing my shirt."

I gulped as my eyes darted from his down to his lips. "Uh, yeah. You-you said that."

He hummed. "I've seen people wear our merch but none of them quite pulled it off the way you did yesterday.

I licked my lips, breathless. "Many people wear your merch, Noah."

"No, angel. It's not the same," his fingers grazed over my knuckles. "It hit you in all the perfect places. It's like you were made to wear it."

Every inch of my body buzzed with arousal and heat with how foreward Noah was being. He was staring so intently at me as if he wanted to sink his teeth into the crook of my neck to drink me in. His nostrils flared slightly.

"You smell good."

I gulped. "Dylan Purple by Versace."

Noah leaned back slightly so I could see all of his face. "I'll have to pick you up a bottle the next time I stop at Sephora."

Holy Hera. What was this effect he had on me? He didn't touch me with his lips but I begged to taste them. Did he wear chapstick? Was it flavored? Would I be able to taste his coffee?

Get ahold of yourself! You're dating Trey.

Clearing my throat, I sat farther back in my chair to create some space between us but that's when I noticed something just underneath Noah's left eye and my fingers raised slowly.

"Do I have oat milk on my face?" he went to wipe a hand over his mouth.

I huffed out a laugh. "No, it's an eyelash. Can I?"

When he looked at my hand, Noah nodded and I gently brushed away the eyelash, it sticking to my finger.

"Make a wish," I said.

"Don't tell me you believe in that?" Noah replied.

"It's tradition, you have to do it."

He shook his head. "I don't believe that. In this scenario, there's only one thing can ruin my wish, but I don’t think I’m gonna let it happen."

I pouted whiel holding my finger up to his lips. "Please? For me?"

Noah slowly licked his lips before he grasped my wrist to hold my hand steady as he made the whole show of closing his eyes and blowing away the eyelash.

"Happy?" He smirked while keeping his grip on my wrist.

"Yea," I squeeked out.

Once again, we were stuck in that trance where everyone else around us faded away into the abyss and the only ones that mattered were the two of us.

"ORDER FOR Y/N!"

Jumping away from Noah, I practically scrambled out of my chair to grab the many trays of coffee.

Fuck! Get it together! He's just some guy flirting with you to pass the time. Stop acting like he'll fall over the edge for you.

The walk back to the venue was quiet and quick thankfully because my mind was running wild with everything that happened back at the cafe. Simply that's all it was; Noah passing the time with jokes. He didn't mean everything he said. And neither did I.

Right.

Ignoring the voice in my brain, I held up the trays to the group of people that sat huddled together on the couch in the green room.

"Fuck, did you two get lost or some shit?" Matt chuckled while taking his coffee from Noah.

"Sorry," I apologized with a grimace. "We went during the rush and told them to take their time making the coffee."

I handed Ethan his tea. "By the way, I handed out the spare tickets to the barista because of the large order. Also, don't come for me for the bill. I've seen the projected sales for this tour and know that you're doing fine."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Y/N. By the way, your boyfriend is looking for you."

Shit.

"I'll go find him in a minute," I said while passing out the rest of the coffee's to everyone.

"I'm right here."

Spinning on my heels, I stared blankly at Trey as a cigarette hung from his lips. His jaw was clenched tight with rage as he took in the scene in front of him; Noah and I holding trays of coffee from the coffee shop. It wasn't hard, even for him, to put the two together.

"How come every time I find you, you're with him?" He pointed towards Noah with his lighter.

"Trey, I'm not doing this with you right now," I said while walking over to the trash can, throwing out the garbage.

"Great, then lets go back to the bus and we can talk about it there." Trey went to reach for my hand but I snatched it away.

"NO!" My voice was louder than it needed to be but I didn't care; I was angry.

Yesterday and this afternoon with Noah were some of the best moments I've had in so long. I couldn't remember the last time I'd openly flirted with someone and enjoyed it. Noah made me feel so good about myself and I refused to let Trey ruin that; again.

"Just because you're my boyfriend Trey, that doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do or who to hang out with. Noah and I were picking up coffee for everyone, that's all."

"Oh yeah," Trey raised a brow. "Where's my coffee?"

"We figured you'd want a vodka instead," Noah said as he came to stand behind me, almost to show his support of me standing up to Trey.

He scoffed while looking towards Noah. "Did you forget the talk we had the other night, kid?"

Talk? What talk?

"You're older than him by two years, Trey. Calm the fuck down," Chase spat.

"Fuck off!" Trey snapped. "You guys are supposed to be on my side with this bullshit."

Malcolm spoke next. "With Y/N, we're sticking with her no matter what."

Trey's hateful eyes took in the sight of me one more time, eyes grazing over the exposed tattoos on my leg. "Cover that shit before the show."

It was as if he took all the negative energy out of the room with him as soon as he left, even some of the high I was feeling from my afternoon with Noah.

Noah noticed my hands shaking and went to reach for them but I stuffed them deep into my hoodie. "I'm going to get some air."

The air I needed ended up being me standing in the bathroom of my bus screaming so loud my lungs burned. I let out every harsh, negative, word that Trey dug into my brain. It was a never-ending cycle with him and I was angry at myself for allowing it to continue. My position in the band wasn't worth all the mental abuse. So why did I continue to stay?

Just get through this tour and then you can figure out your options.

The back halls of the venue were quiet, and I wondered where everyone had gone. Hollow Souls soundcheck was minutes away but I couldn't find Malcolm or Chase anywhere.

I opened the door to the green room but came to a halt at the scene in front of me; my heart pounded wildly in my chest and my breathing became erratic, uneven, as Noah turned around, almost dropping his phone. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of grey sweats and his shoes, and as much as I tried, I couldn't keep my eyes off of his chest and stomach.

But then realizing what he was doing when I walked in made me lean against the doorframe with a wicked smile.

"Who were you going to send those selfies too?" I questioned.

The sides of Noah's ears burned with embarrassment but he kept his cool. "I have no idea what you're talking about, angel."

Ignoring the way my pussy clenched at the nickname, I pushed myself off of the doorframe to walk into the room.

"Right. Well, whoever gets those pictures is one lucky lady," I said, hiding the jealousy in my voice.

"She could be," Noah responded without a hitch of hesitation.

There it was again. That magnetic pull that seemed to only be around when Noah and I were together. It was unknown and scared the absolute shit out of me.

"Uh," I stammered trying to find my words. "Have you seen the guys anywhere? We need to start soundcheck."

He gave me a confused look. "They're on the stage waiting for you. I figured you would have checked there first."

Oh, right? That would have made more sense than coming to the greenroom first.

I bit my lip. "Yeah, should have figured. Well, see you around."

What the fuck? Why did that sound so awkward?

Not wanting to look even more like a fool, I scurried out of the room and towards the stage where in fact; the guys were waiting for me. I frowned at their impatient scowls and Chase went to throw a stick at me but I quickly ducked to avoid it.

"You realize how late you are, right? Doors open in an hour, Y/N!"

"I'm sorry!" I raised my hands. "I got caught up."

Trey, who surprised the fuck out of me for being here, narrowed his eyes at me. "Let's just get this over with."

As we went on with soundcheck, I noticed Bad Omens merch table was being set up with Noah and Jolly helping. When I sang my parts of the song, I could feel a sense of confidence fill me which strengthened my voice. I could hit notes I couldn't before and found myself not loosing breath as I held a note longer than I normally would.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Noah stop what he was doing to watch with almost a proud smile on his face. Much to my dismay, he was wearing a shirt again, but still wore the grey sweats and I did my best not to let my gaze wander past his waistline.

Trey is right next to you, ya know?

Yet again ignoring the voice in my mind, I turned to Chase with a slight grimace. "Does Malcolm's bass sound off or is it just me?"

Malcolm strung a few strings, which in fact, were out of tune.

"Shit, give me a few minutes and we can run One Night again," Malcolm sighed.

"No worries," I said while pulling out my phone from my back pocket when I felt it buzz. "I'm going to-."

Holy Hera. Hades. Hekate, whichever of the Gods above would listen.

My pupils dilated as I took in the sight of the two new pictures on my phone from an unknown number, barley even registering the next texts that came in.

Yeah, I'd say she's pretty lucky. Enjoy angel. You sound beautiful.

Oh, I think you should wear something a bit more reveling than you usually do, in the most respectful way possible. Give everyone a killer show tonight. Come alive out there.

The words, as sweet as they were, were nothing compared to the pictures of Noah on my phone; the selfies he took earlier. I licked my dry lips and felt a coolness drip between my legs as I clenched them together. Daring a glance over to Noah, I saw him watching me with a stoic smirk on his face as a way of saying check mate.

What a cheeky bastard.

As soon as soundcheck was over, I rushed back over to the bus and riffled through my suitcases, disorganizing the way I had everything packed so I could find what I was looking for. It might not have been too revealing but compared to what I usually wore, this would definitely make some heads turn. Once I was showered, I did my makeup darker than normal and let my hair fall against my back in waves. I slipped into the short leather dress that stopped about mid thigh, the thin straps fitting just right. Even with my knee high leather boots, you could still see the tattoo on my leg.

Looking in the mirror, I couldn't stop the smile that broke out on my face. I haven't felt this good about the way I looked in so long; it made my heart soar with pride.

Checking my phone, I cursed when I realized Bad Omens set was already half way finished and knowing I still had to eat something quick before heading on stage; I made a beeline back into the venue towards the green room. Malcolm and Chase were already there stuffing their faces with whatever food they could find and when they saw me, their jaws dropped.

"Is it too much?" I asked while pulling at the back of the dress. "I just thought-."

"Don't." Chase pointed a finger at me. "You look really good, Y/N. Don't let those thoughts get inside your head, alright?"

Malcolm agreed but kept his eyes a little too long on certain parts of me so I had to smack him in the arm to get his attention.

"Shit, did you say something?"

"My eyes are up here," I pointed to them to make a show of it.

Once we all finished a quick meal, Trey of course nowhere to be found, I sent him a quick text to let him know we would go on soon and to finish whatever he was doing. I probably should have worried about where he disappears too but lately, his whereabouts or the activities he finds himself in didn't matter to me.

Chase and Malcolm ended up leaving the room to go do their own pre-show rituals which left me alone with the camera app open on my phone, really contemplating the hell out of this. It could go one of two ways; he could enjoy it and make whatever this thing between us more intense or he could ignore it completely, not giving a shit.

"Fuck it," I stood with a start and walked over to the mirror.

The same mirror Noah took his selfies in front of.

Trying to find the best angle with the lighting, I snapped a few different pictures and scrolled through to find the best one. Clicking on Noah's contact, that I now saved from earlier, I attached the best picture and typed out a quick message to go with it.

I feel so uncomfortable but I hope your ass is happy.

I let out a quick scream as I hit send, the fear almost making me back out. Bad Omens were still playing, I could hear Noah's screams echo through the thick walls, so I knew it would be awhile till he saw the text. In the meantime, I busied myself with my pre-show ritual to center myself.

Deep breath in. Hold for six seconds. Long breath out.

Deep breath in. Hold for four seconds. Long breath out.

I did this a few times while shaking out the nerves from my hands then started rambling off a few of my lyrics to some of my songs to warm up my voice. By now almost thirty minutes had passed so I checked my phone to see if Noah responded.

Read at 8:34 pm.

So he read it almost as soon as I sent it but didn't respond?

I blinked back the tears while tossing my phone on the couch.

"You're a fucking idiot. What did you expect him to do? Heart it." I muttered under my breath.

"Talking to yourself, angel?"

Turning swiftly on my heels, I saw Noah leaning against the doorframe by his arm. The smile that crossed his lips was the kind that made every part of your body flutter in the best possible way.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Hey yourself," his hair was falling into his face as he looked around the room, almost happy that we were the only two here.

"How was your set?" I asked while wiping my sweaty hands on the back of my dress.

God, how did one man make me so nervous?

Slowly, almost stalking towards his prey, Noah walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He said nothing, only reached the space to me in three long strides and raised a finger to my shoulder, brushing away the hair that fell across it. Our hips were barley touching but I could still feel the buckle of his belt press against the heat of my core and my bottom lip caught between my teeth to keep the moan that danced on my tongue from slipping out. His long fingers grazed over the bare skin across my collar bone over the pulse point on my throat, letting it linger there, as he leaned into the crook of my neck so he could whisper huskily into my ear.

“I know this is forward, and please forgive me for being bold. But you look sexy as fuck right now.”

A soft moan fell from my lips but I quickly recovered as Noah pulled away so he could look down at me through his long lashes.

Fuck, even his lashes were gorgeous. Every aspect of this man was perfect beyong words.

The confidence I felt from earlier was still surging through me so I wrapped the wooden rosary that hung from Noah's neck around my fingers and gave him a seductive smirk.

"You're pushing the limits, Noah," I teased.

"Oh, am I?"

Slowly, he leaned down towards my lips and I rose on the tips of my toes to reach him because even in my platform boots, Noah still towered over me. We were so close now I could just feel the warmth from his lips on mine before Chase's voice broke through the trance that encased around us.

"Y/N! Where are you! We're about to go on."

"Shit," I cursed while pushing Noah away. "Fuck, I have to go,"

He stepped to the side so I could walk past him but gently grabbed my wrist to stop me. "But seriously, you look beautiful, angel."

I was so worked up that I could have combusted with the nickname alone. Feeling his warm body heat behind me as we walked out of the greenroom and towards the back area of the stage where the rest of my band was waiting.

Including Trey.

Shit.

NOAH

I watched with fury behind my eyes as Trey dragged Y/N over towards the merch area, away from prying eyes and ears. Jolly came up to me with furrowed brows.

"Where the hell did you run off too after we got offstage?"

I locked my gaze onto Y/N's back as she fought with Trey. I wanted to step in to save her but knew that if I tried, it would make things worse. Plus, Y/N could hold her own against him, I've seen it.

"I was with Y/N," I sighed while giving my full attention to Jolly. "I wanted to wish her luck, that's all."

Jolly snorted, not buying my lie for a second. "Right. This is the only thing I'm going to say on the whole subject; Be careful, man. None of us want to see you get hurt especially after."

"Don't," I warned with ice in my voice. "I don't want to hear her name."

"Alright," he squeezed my shoulder. "Just be careful."

I quickly tied my hair back, so it was out of my face. "I don't like the way he treats her, Jolly. If he does that in front of us, what the hell does he do when no one's watching?"

Before Jolly could answer, our merch guy Steven came up to us with a deep frown.

"That guy is such a fucking prick," he seethed. "You guys should have heard the things he said to Y/N."

I nearly pushed past them to go find her but it was Nick now that held a hand to my chest to stop me.

"What did he say?" He asked Steven.

Rage was festering deep in the bowels of my stomach and I knew that if I didn't find an outlet for it soon, I would blow. So instead, I paced in a line backstage, burning a hole into the ground at my feet.

"I could only hear parts but from what I heard, I don't know how she's going to come back from it. It was nasty, Noah. She went up to Veronica their merch girl for something to cover up with but when they had nothing, I let her borrow my sweater."

"What?" I asked, now defeated.

She covered herself up?

Steve sighed. "I never wanted to jump over a table so damn fast to hit a guy. It killed me to see how broken she looked when he left her."

“Noah, you’re going to burn a hole in the floor with your pacing,” Folio's soft voice broke through my rage fulled haze.

"Can you blame me?!" I snapped while throwing a hand towards the stage where Hollow Souls set was about to start. "This asshole keeps getting away with treating her like shit!"

"I don't understand why you care so much? It's not like she's your girlfriend."

My head snapped up to one of our guitar techs, appalled that he had the balls to speak up about a situation he had no clue about.

Sounds familiar.

"Excuse me?" My pupils dilated with anger as I tilted my head towards the tech.

Nick felt the sudden shift in tension so he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Let's get some air, alright?"

The sounds of Y/N's broken voice played through the venue before being drowned out by Trey's guitar and screams as Nick lead me out the back door.

#noah sebastian #noah sebastian and reader #noah sebastian x reader #noah sebastian reader insert #noah sebastian smut #enemies to lovers #right person wrong time #starcrossed lovers

[gamersonthego]

GOTG Review: Echochrome

This is the fourth game in my Backlog Roulette series, where each month I spin a wheel to randomly select a game on my massive backlog that I must play (though not necessarily to completion). These wheel spins occur on the monthly preview episodes I co-host with my friends on The Casual Hour podcast.

You want to hear something super lame? Echochrome is all about your perspective. 

OK, maybe I should explain why that’s lame. Echochrome is literally a game about perspective. You rotate a camera to hide, reveal or alter the level’s geometry to coax a character you don’t directly control to navigate to specific areas of the map. It’s Lemmings in the style of an M.C. Escher. 

So when I say it’s a game about your perspective, that’s some on-the-nose, too-clever-for-your-own-good writer bullshit. Except that that’s not what I’m talking about. 

The perspectives I’m talking about are not within the game’s clockwork levels, but outside of them. In the menus. In the presentation. In your approach to the game as a player as you hold your PSP and look upon it. 

Echochrome does not function like a traditional game. You don’t go from Level 1 to Level 2. I mean, I guess you technically can, but good luck figuring out how. Because when you load up Echcohrome for the first time — after getting through its initial tutorial — you’re thrown into its main menu, greeted not by more expected options like “campaign” or “time trial” or “challenge.” Instead you’ll see the words “freeform,” “atelier,” “canvas” and my favorite “etc.”

Love it. No notes. Well, maybe just one note: What the hell do any of these things mean?

“Freeform” is the top option. Let’s try that. It dumps you into a puzzle. You solve it. You’re dumped into another puzzle. You solve it. Maybe this is a traditional game after all. But then you notice a letter and a number shown at the beginning of each puzzle. B4, F6, D1, C3. But you don’t think much about it. That is, until you reach a puzzle you can’t solve. One in which you realize the game has a 10-minute time limit per puzzle. 

This is B8. I'm too stubborn to look up the answer, but I just can't figure out how to get the last echo. I hate it.

Cool, cool. While I think on that puzzle, let’s go back to the main menu and check out “atelier.” There’s no Ryza or Sophie to be found though, only a 8x7 grid of level options. And now the codes you saw on freeform make sense. Those were level identifiers. Row B, stage 4. Which means freeform is essentially a randomizer, whereas atelier presents them in the game’s natural order, of which you’re free to tackle any of the 56 stages however you wish. You go back to the one that stumped you before — B8. But after five minutes elapse, the failure bell rings. You only get half the time to complete a level in atelier mode (I guess because you chose the level yourself?)

And then there’s canvas — a neat little level editor to make your own stages — and etc., where the options, saves, credits and a replay of the tutorial go. 

The game itself? Oh, it’s pretty cool, I guess. The perspective mechanics can feel a little inconsistent, requiring very digital outcomes through an analog control scheme. And the time limits feel rather pointless (if the game is already tracking your time on each puzzle like a score, then what’s the need for a limit?) in a game that should be as pleasantly relaxing as doing the daily crossword or sudoku. And it is equal parts frustrating and funny when the soothing disembodied lady voice says “oops” every time you let your Escher lemming fall off the world. 

But more important to me is how the game bucks traditional names, rules and conventions to do its own thing (as the late Sony Japan Studio was wont to do with all their games), giving it a novelty and charm that endures to this day. Echochrome II though, requiring both a PS3 and a PlayStation Move controller to play, ages quite a bit worse unfortunately.

#game review #backlog roulette #psp #echochrome

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2004): Decade

After being highlighted in the Top 100 WADs of All Time with both Null Space from 2001 and Doom Raider: Crypt of the Vile from 2003, Russel Pearson has been once again awarded for his contributions to the WAD-making community in 2004. This time, with one of the first Cacowards for this map. And as for me, it’s the third time I’ll be taking a look at his work.

G2: Decade

Main author(s): Russell Pearson

Release date: June 3rd, 2004 (original release)/ September 2004 (database upload)

Version played: ???

Required port compatibility: ZDoom

Levels: 1 (MAP01 replacement)

Decade is somewhat of a celebration of the 10th birthday of the Doom franchise. Some of you might even consider this map as a condensed version of the classic games.

It all started in mid-November, 2003 when the author found out about Doom’s 10th anniversary. He decided to make a map for this occasion (that started as a hybrid of the first maps from both games), and he made it. It was rubbish, he thought, salvaged what he thought had potential, and created what you can see today. Bigger and more linear than he thought, but still considered to be a well-done map by him.

Now, it’s my turn to check if this map is worthy of celebrating Doom’s 10th anniversary, or just celebrating this franchise overall.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about how this map looks. Sure, I could whine that it doesn’t look interesting texture-wise, how it’s yet another Knee-Deep in the Dead-themed, tech base map, or how it looks basic and doesn’t try that hard, but it makes sense here since Decade, as I said already, is a celebration of the Doom franchise achieving ten years of its existence.

And for this celebration, I really adore the references to the original maps. Maps like Hangar,

Deimos Anomaly,

Hell Keep,

or Refueling Base among other maps referenced in Decade.

As always, using a music track from Doom I instead of Doom II is always a bonus since it makes the map less stale to play.

Gameplay-wise, this map is rather simple to play. Typical Doom gameplay on a moderately big map, as it should be for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. Although, Decade tends to spice up some stuff.

Unlike the classic Doom games, Decade requires you to jump. Usually in terms of secrets and grabbing an item on boxes but there is one moment in the yellow key area where jumping is basically needed to get the key without melting in acid.

There is one interesting case where you encounter a set of four switches.

One of these will lower the lift nearby, two will raise some pillars with plasma and the last one will summon a bunch of Imps. Now, the funny thing about these switches that I notices while gathering material for secrets and screenshots, is that they are randomized. I don’t remember ever encountering (or at least noticing) such a funny mechanic in a custom Doom map/WAD. It kind of gives Decade a slight replay value.

There is another funny moment with a stack of boxes full of rockets.

When you encounter them the first time playing this map, you might think that by reaching their other side, you will be able to grab them, right? No. Turns out that you can only get like one or two rockets before blowing the barrel in the middle of the stack. Guess what happens next?

You actually need to do this if you want to get the secret in one of the previous areas. It’s kind of clever and hilarious.

Decade is challenging. It’s not as challenging as, let’s say, Deus Vult for instance but it can still screw you over if you are not constantly vigilant. It will also be one step ahead of you most of the time. Falling back to the previous room to bottleneck the enemies while they are trying to squeeze through the door? Guess what? Either more enemies will spawn in that area or the doors are shut. Either way, you are screwed unless you play this map slowly.

Even though on Hurt Me Plenty, this map starts at 634 enemies and may go even up to over 750, around 2/3rds of the enemies are low-tier. Half of them are actually Imps that can be easily mowed down if you are good at dodging, even though it tends to be tiring at the beginning and the end of a map for different reasons.

In order to spice shit up, the map introduces Supercharged enemies. You can recognize them by the platform that is lightened in red.

These enemies will keep resurrecting themselves until you deactivate the charger they are standing on. Thankfully there are only two of these enemies (replacing Cyberdemons and Spiderdemons). Supercharged Revenants now fire two rockets in a series while Supercharged Mancubi, instead of firing 2*3 fireballs, now shoot a volley of five projectiles in a horizontal line. Also, they are around twice as tanky as their normal counterparts.

I encountered one bug during my blind playthrough. When disabling one of the resurrection chargers, the uber-Revenant basically died after turning it off, like he was crushed or something.

Also, there is one interesting thing that is not a glitch but it’s worth mentioning. One of the secrets requires a set of teleporters (where the last one is hidden) to be used. But there is an unofficial way to get there too. You can cheese it by strafe-jumping from one of the Revenant platforms to get to the secret. And since jumping is now needed, well...

>:]

Decade is a lovable map that is a good choice for celebrating Doom’s birthday. Even though it can kick your ass, it’s still fun to play. If you are interested in this map, you can download either the original version from 2004 or the remaster from 2019 (that I’ll review in the rather distant future).

Three maps from Russell Pearson and a hat trick of really good quality. That’s how maps/WAD for ZDoom should’ve evolved: as an extension of Boom mechanics and features, rather than pretending to be some big, ambitious mod that wants to be the next Half-Life or something.

Tune in next time, folks, when we will be taking a look at the full version of RTC-3057 (or what was left of it after it was abandoned).

Bye!

#doom #Doom WAD #review #doom mod #Doom 2 #2004 #doom 2004 #decade #decade wad #doom decade #Doom WADs’ Roulette #cacowards

[space-mermaid-writing]

House Arrest [Loki X Reader] Chapter 2

Summary: You are Clint’s 'little' sister and actually a trained Shield agent. But you gave that up a few years ago and became a Chef, because you wanted a normal live. Then one day Natasha shows up at your door and takes you to the Avenger Tower for a while for security reasons.

Tags: Reader is an former Shield Agent, chef!reader, Reader Barton, 2012 Avenger vibes, everything is still alright, Slice of Life, Avengers Family, Loki has a good heart, still the god of mischief, Slow Burn, mention of food and cooking

Read it on AO3

Chapter 2: Not the new kitchen help

You can now call a cozy apartment with two rooms and a nice bathroom your own. You have stored your things in the bedroom and are now looking around the tower. The living rooms seem to be spread over several levels. Either there are really a lot of people living here or they tried to keep a little space to avoid stepping on each other's toes all the time. Living and working together can be quite a challenge for some people. The floors above consist - judging by the signs - of labs and various development rooms. Most of it is probably technical stuff, but some of the doors also have concerning warnings, and you don't want to spend your first day trying to figure out if they're genuine.

You find the outdoor platform with the big A and see, then it’s connected to some sort of party or lounge room. There are several couch sets and a rather nicely equipped bar. Overall, everything is very spacious and you're sure you can walk around here for a few days without anyone noticing your presence. At least once, you think you've lost your bearings for a moment, but then you find your way back to the elevators. On the other hand, there was surprisingly little going on up here.

All floors below the living area seem to be offices, at least the names of the elevator buttons suggest that. You don't feel like visiting them right now, because the exploration tour has left you pretty hungry. The last meal was also your breakfast this morning and now it's almost afternoon. So you look for the room that interests you the most anyway. And you find it near the lounge: a wonderfully large kitchen with fantastic equipment. You explore it with interest and notice that it‘s visibly little used. Among the people and other beings here, there seems to be no one enjoying cooking. Saving the world probably takes up enough of their time. As you open the refrigerator, a voice suddenly comes from somewhere, startling you briefly at first. "Good afternoon, Miss Barton. If you have any requests regarding the food or ingredients, please let me know." You look around, but can't see anyone. "My name is JARVIS," the voice explains. "I am an A.I. and I am available to assist you." "Uh-huh...hello," you merely reply, processing this information. Jarvis, meanwhile, continues talking. "Welcome to the Tower. The other Avenger members have been notified of your arrival in a memo." "Okay, thanks." It‘s a bit weird talking to a room, but apparently modern technology has already reached the next level here. Hearing nothing more, you start inspecting the contents of the refrigerator. The result is quite sobering. "It's all just fast foods," you grumble. "Would you like to suggest changes in the selection?", Jarvis asks. "Yes! Please and thank you." "You're welcome to make a shopping list, and I'll have everything ordered." Why not? Regardless of whether a computer can really do it, you nod. "Okay." "A personal tablet will be calibrated for you. You can pick it up from Mr. Banner."

A few minutes later you find yourself in the labs on the upper floors. The sterile lit hallway reminds you much more of Shield than the lower floors. You turn a corner and have to go down some stairs that lead you into a large room. Here, tables are jumbled with various types of modern computers and equipment. Further back is a robotic arm soldering a hard drive all by itself with a quiet whir. It’s a dream for any technology enthusiast. From one corner, you hear typing and beeping, followed by quiet murmurs. That's where you turn, looking at the whiteboards on the wall along the way, where complicated calculations and drawings could be seen. Then suddenly, right in front of you, a hologram appears in the air and you stop, rooted to the spot. "Oops!" "Oh, sorry." A head pops up from behind a nearby screen and you recognize Bruce Banner. His face is always shown on the news whenever there's been a shot of Hulk. But now you're more interested in the hologram as you take a closer look. It shows a nebulous, pulsating entity. "What is that?" you ask the scientist. "We got some cosmic stones. This was in one of them." "It's moving. Is it alive?" "Living would be an exaggeration, but there is energy present. My name is Dr. Banner, by the way." He reduzes the size the hologram so it's out of your way. "Barton, nice to meet you." "Clint's sister, I read the file. He never mentioned you though." "I didn't want any attention, but didn't quite work out, I guess." Bruce smiles sympathetically and reaches for a cup of tea, which, judging by his expression after the first sip, seems to be cold. You ask for the tablet you came for, and Bruce looks around searchingly. There are a few of them in the room, but the display of one lights up, drawing your attention. You see your name displayed and simply conclude that it's the right one. Briefly you say thank and goodbye, before you go back to your room and start making a shopping list. Please fresh ingredients and please deliver today.

Afterwards, you browse around a bit. The tablet, like every electronic device in the house, seems connected to the main computer and to Jarvis. You pull up a few files on your new housemates and read them curiously. At least the parts that are publicly available. You also take the opportunity to look for your own name. Because even though you know that your records were officially destroyed when you left, you know that no data is ever really gone. So you're almost surprised when you find only a few sentences about yourself and not even a photo. Mainly it was about your and Clint's entry into Shield at a young age as orphans. You had received a pretty good education, which may have also kept you from going off the rails. Besides hand-to-hand combat and firearms training, your specialty was handling knives, while your brother took up bows and arrows. For foreign missions, you had also had to learn various languages and had chosen the widely spoken Spanish and Russian. But you didn't work for Shield for a long time, instead opting out of your career early on. It just wasn't the life you wanted to lead. So you changed cities and mingled with the civilian population. And before you knew it, your talent with a knife led you into a traditional apprenticeship as a chef. You enjoyed this work more than having to fight to death, and you even expanded your knowledge and skills during a year abroad in France. But there is very little of all this in your records.

You set the tablet aside and stretch out on your new bed. Normally, you would be in full swing at work right now. A glance at the clock reveals that it's already early evening. Rush hour in most of the restaurants. But here? Without a task or a plan, there's not much you can do. On the other hand, a little vacation wouldn't hurt you.

At some point, the tablet gave a soft ping and when you checked, it was a notification that the refrigerator and all the pantries had been restocked. By now you are very hungry and you heard nothing about a joint dinner time, so you decide to cook yourself something. Out of sheer habit and to avoid getting your clothes dirty, you put on a chef's jacket and apron you brought from home and go into the kitchen. There's a radio in one corner that you turn on. Jarvis really did get everything you had asked for. It was a dream come true. Now in a much better mood, you grab a pan and get to work. From the freezer, you pull out a fish, which you gut and fill with fresh herbs. It goes into the pan first. Then it's the turn of the potatoes, which are peeled, boiled and rolled in rosemary.

You're so absorbed in your work - you've just poked a knife into the boiling potatoes to see if they're already done - that you don't notice a visitor, who had entered the kitchen at some point, until he makes himself known. "I'll have the course menu and a white wine to go with it." Somewhat confused, you look up as you hear the man's voice and see Tony Stark standing at the sideboard across from you. He notices your look and returns it with a smile. "I didn't realize we hired a new kitchen help." You frown and take a sharpening rod in your free hand to sharpen your knife while not taking your eyes off Tony. "Oh, I'm not a new kitchen help," you clarify. "I'm a chef." "Excuse me. Then would the chef please serve me the course menu and a white wine?" The trillionaire indicates a polite bow, but you merely turn to the stove and take the potatoes off it. You then retrieve a plate from the cupboard. "Jarvis", you direct your voice to the computer, hoping it’s still listening. "Would you please explain to Mr. Stark that I'm not here to cook for him and that he'll have to order his course menu, if he really wants one, from the Chinese place next door?" "Mr. Stark, I'm supposed to-." "I heard her, Jarvis," Tony interrupts the A.I., eyeing you a little more closely now. "That does make me wonder what you're doing here, Miss...? Aside from the fact that there's no Chinese working next door." "Then you should make one move in there," you replay amused. As you do, you wipe your fingers on the cloth you've hung on the apron at your hip and prep your dish. Just as Tony is about to say something clever, the door opens and another person walks in. You recognize Thor at first glance. "What's that delicious smell in the air?", he asks, looking around curiously. You smile and point to the stove. "I was just cooking. There's still some left for you to take." With that, you want to go to your room, but Tony stops you. "Oh, he gets something, but I don't?", he complains. You shrug your shoulders. "He didn't want a whole menu." With that, you disappear through the door and go back to your living quarters. There you quickly change into something comfy and make yourself comfortable on the couch, where you watch an episode of your favorite show while you eat. A little company would be nice, but you don't feel like meeting more people you don't know yet. And you don't feel like searching for Natasha in this huge complex. So you’re fine with being by your own right own.

After dinner, you continue watching the show, but eventually you realize you're getting tired. It really had been an eventful and long day. So you quickly take your dirty dishes back to the kitchen. But just as you're closing the dishwasher, Tony comes back in and leans against the frame with his arms crossed. "So… you‘re a Barton." Apparently he had spent a few minutes of his precious time gathering information about you and then waited for you to reappear. "Surprised there's another one?" you ask with a smirk. He takes that as a sign that you're not holding a grudge against him. He pushes himself off the door frame and comes closer, now leaning his arms on the kitchen island. "Nothing about Legolas surprises me anymore. Met his wife and kids the other day. Nice family. Are you guys a whole circus?" "Not anymore." You shrug. "So, what’s your deal?", he wants to know. "You left Shield in your early twenties. What's normal life like out there? No one waiting for you to come home?" You turn on the dishwasher and grab a water bottle from the supply. "Life is nice. Often stressful, but I have to worry a lot less about getting killed." You don't answer Tony's last question. It's really none of his business. "That is when you're not being yanked out of that life and brought into the house of superheroes", you add. "You'll get used to it. Both that we're super and that we're heroes. I promise." You laugh at his words. Tony seems to be a real egocentric, but also a humorous person. "Well, let's see", you reply, "Now if the welcome speech is over, I'd like to go to bed." "I won't keep anyone away from their beauty sleep. Good night." You wish him the same, then head back to your room, where you make yourself comfortable on the large bed. The strange surroundings were unfamiliar, but not you don't feel uncomfortable and so you soon fall asleep.

#Loki #Loki x Reader #House Arrest #Chapter 1 #my writing #Clint #clint barton #hawkeye #loki laufeyson #imagine #chef reader #mcu #marvel

[arvandus]

Touch (pt 9) - Amity

PAIRING: Dabi x Fem!Reader

STORY WARNINGS: 18+ only please!  Drug abuse/withdrawal, adult language/themes, heavy angst, past trauma/abuse, anxiety/panic attacks, PTSD, fluff, pining, slow burn, eventual emotional SMUT. *please pay attention to the chapter tags as these warnings will apply at different times*

CHAPTER WARNINGS: talk of killing, blood, needle/medical sewing; pining... lots of resistant pining.  Typical sensory overload due to quirk use.

CHAPTER SONG: Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish

Part 1   Part 8

Artwork credit to @hellowon31 on Twitter (https://twitter.com/hellowon31)

Part 9: Amity

Between your second night in a row of poor sleep and waking up incredibly early, it didn’t take long for exhaustion to find you again.  By mid-day your sensory overload had subsided enough that you collapsed into your bed, dreamless sleep dragging you under instantly.  It was short-lived, however; it felt like no sooner had your head hit the pillow, that a knock on your door roused you groggily from your slumber.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you stood up and answered the door to see Toga standing in front of you, a bloodied washcloth held to her temple.

“Oh my god, what happened to you??” you exclaimed, as you let her into your room.

“I was out running some errands and a thug tried to jump me in an alleyway.” Toga replied cheerfully. She halted in her tracks.  “Oh… aren’t you still sick with the flu?”  She instantly covered her mouth and nose with her free hand, taking a step back.

“Huh? Oh!” you exclaimed. Right.  Crap. You forgot about that little white lie.  “Sorry, hang on a sec.”  You quickly went to your medical bag and pulled out a white disposable mask, placing it over your face.  “Is that better?” You asked, your voice muffled.

The tension in Toga’s shoulders instantly left, her posture easing as her hand dropped away from her face. “Yeah, thanks.  Are you feeling okay?  I could try to do this myself this time…”

You balked at the thought of Toga treating her own injuries.

“I’m fine right now, I promise.” You replied. 

The blonde shrugged and fully entered your space, although her folded hands in front of her body communicated she didn’t want to touch anything.

“So, a guy jumped you in an alley?” You asked.

“Yeah.  He was big, too.  And had a quirk that gave him extra reach on his arms.”  Toga explained.

You weren’t quite sure what sort of errands required Toga to be in alleyways, but you had a feeling none of them were good. The curiosity pulled at you - you could feel the question on your lips, but you swallowed it down.  When you had first joined the League, you and Shigaraki had discussed the importance of compartmentalizing your role from the others.  You were the only one out of the group who was defenseless after all, so as the weakest link within the League, you had both decided it would be best if you knew as little of the League’s affairs as possible, in case you ever got captured and questioned.  You were allowed to participate in general discussions regarding the League’s next moves and what areas were important to you that you wanted to focus on, but the nitty gritty details were kept separate: private meetings with other villains, locations, times, that sort of thing.  So, despite your curiosity, you knew not to pry.

Instead, you asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “but I can’t get this to stop bleeding.”

“Let’s take a look.” You gingerly removed the cloth from the wound to see a deep gash in the skin before new blood filled up. You placed the washcloth back over the wound before it could spill over.  “Hm. Better keep that on there.  You’re going to need stitches.”

“I figured.” She grinned. She took over holding the cloth to her head while you grabbed your medical bag.  You escorted her into your bathroom and had her sit on the toilet seat. Her outfit was speckled with blood, some of it from her wound, and, you suspected, some of it not.

“So…” you started, as you washed your hands in the sink. “What happened to the thug?”

“I drained him.” She replied cheerfully.  The casualness of her statement filled you with a confusing mixture of fear and pity.

“You killed him?” you asked, as you prepped your needle and thread.

Toga looked at you with her yellow feline-like eyes.  “He would have killed me if I didn’t.”

“Tilt your head back.” You instructed.  Toga did as you said, and you carefully removed the cloth before placing your fingers over her open wound. She winced slightly at the contact, but quickly relaxed as your quirk soaked in. 

Silence filled the room as you cleaned her wound with antiseptic and set to work.  The heavy quiet dragged on as your mind mulled over the girl next to you.  You had a thousand questions in your mind, but none of them seemed very appropriate to ask, not without upsetting her.  And despite your good standing with the League, you made it a careful point not to get on anyone’s bad side.  It wasn’t so much that you didn’t trust them, although a part of you was always wary around those who were willing to commit violence.  But you also understood on a personal level that the problems these villains had went far deeper than society was willing to acknowledge.  Mental illness, quirkology, environment… all of it played a role in dealing the hand that these outcast individuals had been dealt.

Minutes passed as you stitched up the cut and cleaned the blood from the sealed wound once more. You were washing your hands when Toga finally spoke, her voice soft.  “Are you mad at me?”

You paused to look down at her.  Her brow was furrowed, her mouth pulled into a sulky frown as she stared at her hands. She looked like a child waiting to be scolded, and in that moment, you could see how young she still was.  You gave a soft sigh.  “Of course not.  He attacked you, right? You had to defend yourself.”

You paused then followed up with, “I’m sorry you had to do it.”

“Don’t be…” she replied. “I liked killing him.”

Your hands faltered as you began putting away your supplies and Toga noticed. 

“You don’t like it, do you?” she asked, accusation lacing her voice. She was defensive, waiting for your judgement. 

You couldn’t blame her. No doubt her quirk was something she likely struggled with all of her life before finally giving in to it.  She had never given you her story directly, but it wasn’t hard to guess.  Everything about her – from her ramblings to her actions - spoke of a caged animal who finally got a taste of freedom and refused to be captured.

Contradicting feelings warred within you, and you struggled to wrangle them.  You had to admit, you hated the idea of her killing.  More importantly, you knew that her victims weren’t always street thugs, villains, or corrupted heroes.  But at the same time, despite this uncomfortable fact, you also understood how strongly quirks affected behavior, how it could act like a poison, messing with the mind and forcing its way into being expressed.  It wasn’t the first time you’d seen it; you understood it intimately.

You looked down at her and a familiar sense of pity unfurled in your gut, snaking into your veins, pulling at your emotions even as your core roiled at the idea of needless violence. She was just like him... a victim in her own way, despite the horrific things she did.

“You think I’m a monster.” Her words cut through your thoughts, and your attention refocused on her. She had her knees hugged up to her chest, her feet propped on the closed toilet lid that she occupied.  You mentally scolded yourself for abandoning her as you got lost in your head and crouched down next to her.

“No.  I don’t think you’re a monster.” You answered soothingly.

“Then why do you look scared of me?” Toga demanded. 

You gave her a smile that you hoped reached your eyes. She was more perceptive than you gave her credit for sometimes.  You had to choose your words carefully. 

“I’m not scared of you.” You explained.  “ But I am a healer, Toga. I see someone who’s hurt, and I want to take that pain away.  It’s what my quirk is. It’s a part of who I am and it’s what motivates me. So, I won’t deny that it’s hard for me sometimes to understand why you do what you do because it’s so opposite of how I am.”

Toga averted her eyes, her body tightening in on itself.

“But…” you continued as you placed a hand on her forearm, “I’m not scared of you.  And even though you do monstrous things, I don’t think you’re a monster.”

Toga slowly lowered her knees, letting her feet touch the floor as she stared at you.  “Why not?” she asked.

“Because,” you replied, “You still care about people.  You and Twice were the first to welcome and befriend me when I joined the League. And the way you take care of Twice… like he’s your big brother… that counts for something.  You even care about Dabi, even though he’s an ass. That was why you checked on him that night, right?  You treat each of us like family.  Now why would a monster do that?”

“But I still want to cut you guys all the time…” she confessed.

“I know.  But you don’t.  That should count for something.”

Toga smiled at you with teary eyes.  “You’re so nice, big sis.”  Her compliment made you smile. 

Toga hopped of the toilet with a nimble bounce, signaling the end of the conversation.  “Am I all done?”

You nodded.  “You’re free to go.” You announced.  Toga made her way to your bedroom door, but she halted when you called her name.  “Toga… don’t forget to change your clothes.”

Toga looked down at the bloodstains splattered across her school uniform.  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.  Thanks, big sis!”

She left your room with a jovial wave.  As soon as the door closed behind her, you slumped down onto your bed as you removed the white mask from your face and placed it on your nightstand.  Exhaustion washed over you again, deeper this time than it was before.  It wasn’t even so much due to your quirk since you didn’t have to use very much of it this time.  Instead, your mind focused on Toga, replaying the conversation.  It filled you with a swath of competing emotions; pity, anger, frustration, helplessness, fear.  The feelings swirled in you making a rank stew in your soul, old and familiar.

This was just like before.

You shoved the feelings aside, unwilling to look too closely at them. You already had enough on your plate as it was… you didn’t want to dredge up more of the past.  It would only add more stress and it wouldn’t change anything.

You laid down again in the hopes that this time, finally, your sleep would be nightmare free and uninterrupted.

 * * * * *

The withdrawal-induced restlessness Dabi felt lasted throughout the day, making sleep near impossible.  To keep himself from going crazy, he forced his energy into cleaning up his space, despite his typical disdain for chores.  He straightened up his desk, took out the trash, and most importantly, did his laundry. It was overflowing and stank of mildew, and he was in desperate need of clean towels.  His bed was no better, reeking of sweat and infection and covered in chip crumbs. But while his body appreciated the movement, the lack of mental power the activities required did little to distract from intrusive, obsessive thoughts.

He wasn’t sure which thoughts he wanted to avoid more - thoughts of his family or thoughts of you.  The memories of family were old and familiar, but the emotions in them were raw, threatening to suck him in and shred him to pieces like it’d already done so many times before.  But thoughts of you weren’t much better, at least not to Dabi. He didn’t like the warmth he felt each time he thought of you, and yet he kept going back to that feeling, like opening the fridge to stare at that last piece of cake.  He was at war with himself, and he didn’t know how to fight it.

Somehow, with all of his coming and going from his room, he somehow managed to never run into you. He wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not, but like all other uncomfortable thoughts, his forced himself not to focus on it.  It shouldn’t be important.  You shouldn’t be important.  His mouth pressed into a thin line.  The number of times he had to tell himself that were becoming too many to count, and it never did seem to make much difference.  

The cleaning only occupied him for so long.  Towards the end of it he found himself sitting in his room, waiting for his clothes to finish drying so he could retrieve them.  He had laid back on his bed just for a moment, to stare at his phone. He woke up an hour and a half later, his mind muddled with jumbled dreams and memories.  Cigarette smoke, a child’s laughter, the sound of himself screaming in agony…

He shook his head to knock the unwanted fog from his brain and grabbed a smoke to soothe the shaking in his hands.  The cigarette was gone within a minute.  The haze still lingered though as every inch of Dabi’s nerves hummed and his gut clenched in discomfort.  So, he inhaled a second cigarette for good measure and followed it up with an electrolyte drink paired with a couple of antacids.  His laundry was likely done now; no point in letting it sit there and risk another League member touching his things.

With the laundry dry and sitting on his bed in a crumpled heap, he stared at the contents, a frown on his face.  Your towels were mingled with his, and the sight of it filled him with an uneasiness that had little to do with his withdrawal.  It looked entirely alien to him, intrusive in his personal space.  His stomach gave a weird flutter before giving way to a wave of nausea.

Stupid, he thought to himself.  They’re just fucking towels.

He began folding the first towel. It was half-assed in its effort and one hundred percent intentional, as if giving careful care to your items would give away something about himself he wanted to keep secret.  But even as he did so, intrusive curiosity crept into his mind.  How did you fold your towels?

Idiot.  He caught his wandering mind and reeled it back in forcefully, but it did little good. His mind was a master escape artist, running away to explore other unwanted thoughts without his permission as soon as his mental back was turned.

As he folded your items, his hands slowed slightly in their actions, taking in the feel of cotton on his fingers. He watched as he rolled the soft material between his thumb and forefinger while memories bubbled forth, broken and vague.  Waking up in the shower, sitting on the toilet with your towel over his head, feeling of your hands working the cotton over his wet hair. He tried not to think of your face, but of course not wanting it made it appear in his mind.  He remembered your eyes, the concern in them, and the memory filled him with a warmth that he was still struggling to understand, even as he tried to deny its presence. 

It was short-lived – the memory of your tender gaze soon faded away to a terrified one, and now he was remembering your scar.  A new thought came into his mind then, dark and plaguing. The look of fear you’d given him that night - did you wear that same frightened expression on your face when you were burned, marked by whatever asshole laid their hands on you?

Dabi could feel his body temperature begin to rise.

The last towel was folded, and he swiftly grabbed the pile and shoved it on top of his dresser as if were contaminated.  Contaminated with memories, contaminated with you…

He faltered for a moment, his anger disrupted by that strange sense of guilt that gnawed at him.  The unwelcome mental picture of you cowering in fear as flames licked your skin danced in his imagination.  No wonder you had been so utterly terrified of him that night. No wonder you’d been unable to look him in the eyes the next day…

Dabi caught himself staring at your things and forced himself to turn around to finish his laundry. He folded his clothes swiftly, not caring whether or not they were done nicely before shoving them into the dresser drawer. Then, with his clean towels in his arm, he went into the bathroom to give himself that much-needed shower.

 * * * * *

You woke up feeling groggier than usual as the orange-red glow of the late afternoon haze filtered into your room. As predicted, your sleep was restless and riddled with hazy uncomfortable dreams that instantly began to fade away as soon as you opened your eyes.  You sighed in annoyance as dissatisfaction slinked across your tired skin. It was as if you had slept the entire time with your body tensed, ready to run at a moment’s notice, and now you were feeling the effects. 

You got out of bed with a stretch to ease the stiffness in your muscles.  Maybe something to eat and drink could lift your spirits and wake your body up.  You slipped on your shoes and opened the door before remembering to grab your mask off of your nightstand.  Then, you left your room to trudge downstairs.

The smell of pizza greeted you as soon as you stepped out onto the main floor, and your stomach growled in response, your mouth watering.

“Y/N!” Toga cheered. “Did you take a nap?”

You frowned as your hand self-consciously went to your messy hair. Was it really that obvious?

“Yeah, I was pretty tired.” You confessed, as you tried to fix your stray strands.

“Are you feeling any better?” Magne asked.  You could tell she was asking about the ‘flu’ you were supposed to have.

You shrugged. “Yeah, a little…”

“And how about Dabi? You were treating him too, right?” Magne continued.

You felt embarrassment bubble in you, and you scratched at your cheek as a distraction.  “He’s doing okay… I think it’s hitting him harder, though. He’s probably going to need some more time to recover.”

“He came down here yesterday without a mask and everything.” Spinner grumbled. “Then decided to take a stroll.  He couldn’t be that bad, could he?”

You shrugged. “Stomach bugs are weird and vary from person to person.”

Shigaraki’s voice surprised you from behind.  “How’s his burn?”

He knew about that…?  Maybe Dabi said something the day before.  Either way, no point in lying about it now…

“It’s doing well... but it’s not completely healed yet.”

Shigaraki grunted and grabbed a slice of pizza from the open box sitting on the bar.

“Hey, Y/N!  You want some pizza?” Twice offered.

“Yes, that’d be-“

“She can’t eat pizza when she has the flu!” Toga scolded.  “She might throw it up.  She needs something simple!”

Your heart sank.  No pizza??

“No, it’s okay…” you started, your eyes staring at the perfect slice.

“I’ll go make you something, okay big sis?” Toga chirped as she bounded lightly towards the small kitchen behind the bar.

Oh… oh no….

“Oh, um… it’s okay Toga, I’m not really hungry…” you tried to call after her, but she was already gone and out of earshot.

You fiddled with your hands nervously.  Cooking was not one of Toga’s strong suits.  Fortunately, Kurogiri was present, watching the exchange.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t burn down the kitchen.” He commented, as he followed after her.

You stood there awkwardly, strongly contemplating grabbing the entire pizza box and running away with it. But you’d just had that personal exchange with Toga earlier, so abandoning her when she was trying to do something nice for you probably wouldn’t go over well.

Damn it.  You were too nice for your own good sometimes.

On defeated feet, you walked over to the couch and sat down next to Compress who was reading a book. He put the item down as you sat next to him and gave you a smile.  “How nice of you to grace me with your company, little flower.”

You crossed your arms and sulked into the couch cushions, wishing they would swallow you up.  “Toga is cooking for me.”

“Oh dear, so I heard.” He commented.  “However, Kurogiri is supervising her.  Perhaps this time it won’t be so bad.”

“Kurogiri doesn’t eat.” You pointed out.

“True,” he laughed. “But perhaps you set your standards too high.  I never said he’d ensure that the food is good; however, his assistance may ensure that it is edible.”

“Don’t you use logic on me, Mr.” you replied, even as you tried to suppress a smile.

“Then perhaps a magic trick then?” he offered.  “As a distraction.”

“Sure.” You grinned.

A few minutes later, Toga came out with two steaming bowls sitting on a rectangular tray.

“Oh good! You’re still here!” Toga smiled.  “I made you soup!”

You stifled a groan as you stood up and stared at the contents.  It… didn’t look bad…. It looked like it was canned soup at least, which, all things considered, were one of the simplest things to make. Still, it had that a slight burned odor to it when the steam reached your nose.

“Why are there two bowls?” you asked.

“Oh!  One’s for you and one’s for Dabi.”  Toga explained.  Behind her, Magne chuckled at the table.  “He hasn’t come down to eat yet today so he’s probably hungry.”

“It was my suggestion.” Kurogiri stated.  “You are still sick after all, so it would be in the League’s interest if you and Dabi had your meals in your rooms until you are no longer contagious.”

“Maybe it can be like a little dinner date!” Toga added.

You fought the flush of hot heat that seemed to take over your insides.  “A what?”

The last thing you needed was the League thinking you and Dabi were dating.

The blonde girl giggled as she handed you the tray.  Her hands instantly went up to her hot cheeks, her eyes glazed over with infatuation. “What I wouldn’t give to have a private dinner date with Izuku!”

“Oh geez, not this again…” Spinner grumbled.

“Hey!” Toga shot at him.  “It’s rude to tease a girl in love!”

You were grateful that Toga was easily distracted, and you took the opportunity to make your escape. “O-Okay. I guess I’ll go take this upstairs then… Thank you, Toga.” You mumbled.

You walked out of the room quickly, the soup sloshing in the bowls and threatening to spill.  But you wanted to get out of there before things got even more awkward.  Toga wasn’t even the real concern – the real concern was Magne.  Her chuckle had not gone unnoticed by you, and she was a master conversationalist when she wanted to be.  The last thing you needed was more intrusive questions or implied statements, especially with everyone there to listen in.

You took the stairs instead of the elevator, not trusting the old rust bucket to run smooth enough with bowls of hot soup in front of you.

Dinner date.  You wanted to laugh.  Dabi certainly wasn’t the type to do dinner dates.  In fact, Dabi probably didn’t even date. He probably just hooked up with random girls whenever he felt like it.

Your stomach tightened into an uncomfortable knot.

It didn’t matter.  You weren’t his type anyway.  And he shouldn’t be yours, not with all of his baggage. And boy, did he seem to have a lot of baggage.  Besides, he didn’t need the pressure of someone pining over him while he struggled to keep himself together.  He needed someone he could trust.  He needed a friend.

You felt yourself start to calm as you centered yourself on that single fact.  He needed a friend. You could do that.  You’d already committed yourself to it.

You made it to your own room and set the tray on the floor outside your door so you could go in and grab your medical bag.  If you were going to take soup to Dabi, then you might as well treat his wounds and give him his pills.  It was about time for it anyway.  With your bag slung onto your shoulder and the tray once again in your hand, you went over to his door and knocked.

It opened and you froze, eyes wide, as a warm humid air wrapped you up in the scent of shampoo and body wash.

Dabi stood before you in nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants that left little to the imagination.  Shit. It hadn’t even been a full five seconds and you were already staring at his crotch.  Hot embarrassment flooded you as you averted your eyes, only to get stuck on his glistening, bare form.  You’d seen him shirtless many times, had your hands on his body, even… but something about this moment was different.  Maybe it was the shower.  Maybe it was the simple - yet absolutely sinful - sweatpants.  Or maybe it was how he seemed to be carrying himself in this moment, like he was the king of his domain.  He was a living art piece, every angle of him stunning from the slope of his shoulders to the cut of his lean waist. Even his stitches looked beautiful, the light bouncing off of them like gems.  Whatever it was, Dabi seemed to be a thousand times hotter than you remember him being, and it left your brain feeling dumb as hot desire washed over you.

You were staring.  You knew you were staring but you couldn’t break the trance he seemed to put you in. Your eyes took in the cut of his cheekbones, the slope of his nose, the shape of his lips.   Aqua blue eyes stared at you in knowing amusement, grabbing you like the tide and pulling you in.  You could feel yourself floundering beneath his intense gaze as you struggled to get a hold of yourself.

“Uh…” you stuttered.

You were still staring.

“Hey, Doll­…” He greeted, a playful grin on his lips.  His voice washed over you, and you felt lightheaded.

This was so embarrassing.  If he had any doubts that you found him attractive before, then he certainly didn’t now.

“Hi.” You said dumbly.

His eyes broke contact with yours to look down.  “Hey-” His hand shot out to quickly grab the tilting tray, soup splashing messily over the sides of the bowls.

“Shit! Sorry, sorry.” You cursed, as you adjusted your hold. You kept your eyes down, unable to stare at him any longer.  “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” 

Was that a chuckle you heard in his voice?  How dare he.

You crossed the threshold, only to find yourself even more smothered by the clean scent of his recent shower that permeated the entire space like a fog.  Beneath it, the faint hint of cigarette smoke was present, but it was muted.  The light in the room was dimmer than you remembered and you realized why – he had put one of his shirts over his shoddy lamp, reducing its brightness.  The humid warmth in the room was paired with a strange heavy silence.  Your eyes instantly checked his window and there was no billow of the curtains this time, no street noise coming forth.  Your breath froze in your throat for a moment as you realized – he remembered.  All the things that had bothered you this morning were modified for your arrival.  A weightlessness swelled in your chest, intertwining with the attraction you were still grappling with.  You set the tray down with shaky hands before wiping your sweaty palms onto your pants.

Dabi came to stand next to you with his towel on his shoulder, the warm bare skin of his chest brushing against your arm as he stared down at the bowls.  With his proximity so close and your own emotions running amok, it took every ounce of mental fortitude not to hug him right then and there.

“Did you make that?” he asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Oh, uh.. Toga did.” You finally said, as you moved slightly away from his bare skin.

“We should have let the tray fall.”  He stated as he stared at the contents with distaste.  You couldn’t help but laugh at his comment, and it helped clear some of the brain fog.  He gave you a soft glare.  “Why did you even take this?  You should have just said no.”

“Well, not all of us can be as nice as you, Dabi.” You teased.  “Besides, she wanted to do something nice for us because she thinks we’re sick.”  You explained.

“If I eat that I probably will be.” He retorted.

“Oh, come on… it’s probably not that bad… just a little smokiness to it.  That shouldn’t bother you, right?” You put a spoon into a bowl and handed it to him.

He gave you a deadpan look as you held the bowl against his chest, his hands refusing to take it. “I’m not eating it.”

“Hey, if I have to eat this, then so do you.” You glared.

“Like hell.” He replied. “Besides, I already have food here.”

You set the bowl down and stared at the bags on his desk.  “Yes, chips, beef jerky, and cigarettes!  So healthy.”

“The three basic food groups.” He agreed with a grin. He sat down in his desk chair, his legs spread wide as he slouched back.  It took extra effort to not let your eyes wander.  “Tell ya what, doll… you try it first.  If you don’t throw up or die, then maybe I’ll consider eating mine.”

You rolled your eyes at him and grabbed your bowl.  “Fine, you big baby.” 

You filled your spoon and raised it to him in a mock toast before placing it into your mouth.  He watched the motion in silent amusement, his eyes focused on your lips as they closed around the spoon.

It was awful.  Definitely burnt.  And the parts that weren’t burnt were overcooked, making the textures all wrong in your mouth.  You swallowed forcefully, suppressing a gag.

“Mmm… You look like you enjoyed that.”  Dabi teased.

“Hey at least I’ve actually tried it.” You shot back.  “So, I guess that means only one of us is a little bitch.” 

Dabi’s eyes widened, the light in them dancing in amusement, as a grin spread across his face. “You kiss your mother with that mouth, doll?  You’ve been with the League too long.”

You pointed your spoon at him.  “Don’t try to act like you know me.  And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not dead.  So eat up.”  You picked up his bowl again and held it under his nose. By this point, you knew the soup wasn’t really that edible, but now you were determined to have him suffer with you.

The smell wafted up and he wrinkled his nose.  He pushed the bowl away back towards you.  “I don’t think so.”

You narrowed your eyes at him.  “You said you’d try it if I did.”

“I said I’d consider it.”  He replied. “It’s been considered and denied.”

“You’re an ass.” You pouted. “It really is awful though…” you confessed.  “and she had Kurogiri with her, too.  Like… how?”

“Kurogiri doesn’t eat.” Dabi replied.

You laughed.  “That’s what I told Compress!”

Your conversation was interrupted by a loud, hungry rumble in your gut.

A low chuckle rumbled from Dabi’s chest that made your heart pound and your flesh feel warm.  “C’mon doll, don’t torture yourself.” He said. “Why don’t we just go get a bite to eat. There’s nothing keeping us locked up in here.”

Toga’s words echoed in your head.  Dinner date.  Oh geez, if she or Magne saw you two leaving the premises together, you’d never hear the end of it.  The offer was tempting though, and you were pretty sure Dabi was starting to get tired of his snacks.  Junk food could only satisfy for so long; at some point he needed a proper meal.

But something nagged at you as you stared at the man in front of you.  He seemed to be doing okay at first glance… his recent shower certainly seemed to lift his spirits.  But you had been too distracted by his attractiveness earlier that you hadn’t taken the time to really assess him.  Now, you could see the exhaustion still in his face, could see the small wiggle of his leg and the drumming of his fingers on the table.   You checked the time on your phone – no doubt your quirk and the pills were beginning to wear off.  But how far along that was, you couldn’t really say; it was hard to tell with Dabi; he didn’t show his pain very easily.

You knew your appetite would disappear once you pushed yourself into sensory overload.  But Dabi couldn’t wait, even if he might try to play it off that he could.  More importantly, you didn’t want to try to deal with a withdrawal-suffering Dabi out in public. Your heart sank slightly. Goodbye delicious dinner, for the second time that night.

“…I should probably treat you first.” Your eyes landed on his bag of goods as your stomach rumbled again. “But maybe a snack would be good.” You confessed.  You felt embarrassed for asking, especially after the big show you’d just point on… but pride had to take a back seat before your stomach ate itself.

His blue eyes stared at you for a long moment.  You could feel your skin start to prickle under the weight of them.

“Sure, doll.”  He finally said.  He rummaged through one of the bags until he found what he was looking for under a bag of spicy chips.  “Is this your style?”

He tossed you a prepackaged muffin about the size of a softball.  You couldn’t fight the smile that blossomed across your face.  “Yeah, thanks.”  You opened up the wrapping and began breaking off pieces of it.  “You want some?” you offered, holding the muffin towards him.

He shook his head. “Nah.  Don’t feel much like eating.”

You broke off half of the muffin for him anyway.  “I still need to give you your pills, so you should eat something first.  Besides, this is too big for me to finish by myself anyway.” 

Was it a lie?  Of course. You were starving.  Did Dabi know that you were lying?  Of course.  But he took the other half of the muffin anyway.  You sat on the edge of his bed while he sat in his chair as the two of you ate together in silence for a moment. As you ate, your eyes wandered around his room.

That was when you noticed it.

 “Are those my towels?” you asked. 

Dabi looked over at his dresser as he stuffed the last of the muffin into his mouth.  “Yeah.  They’re clean now.”

“Thank you…” you replied. Your eyes scanned the room, taking in the details.  “You cleaned up…”

Dabi shrugged. “Don’t sound so surprised. I’m not a complete slob.”

You stared at him as he began fidgeting with a pack of cigarettes, tapping the box on the table, flipping it over, and tapping the other end.  Over and over it somersaulted, and you wondered if he was craving one right now.  Why didn’t he just take one out and light it up?

Was Dabi… being considerate?

Then again, the action didn’t come as much of a surprise to you as it might have before.  He’d been more willing to do small acts of kindness ever since the night of his withdrawal.  Bringing ramen.  Adjusting his room for your sensory overload.

Now this.

Was it fueled by guilt? Or did he actually care?

He looked like he was waiting for something.  You watched as he rubbed at his scarred arm with his free hand, irritation flashing across his eyes.  Of course. He was waiting for you and your quirk. You ate your muffin faster.  As soon as it had disappeared into your mouth, you reached for your bag and took out the pill bottle.  His eyes were on it instantly, the shaking in his leg stilled by the sight of it, his shoulders releasing some of their tension.

“Here.” You offered, handing him his pills.  He took them and swallowed them dry before opening up a beverage and taking a swig.

Dabi eyed the bottle in your hand as you closed it.  “That’s looking awfully low there, isn’t it?”

You put the container back in your bag, enclosing it in a zippered space.  “It’ll be enough to last us through tomorrow morning.”

“That’s cutting it real close, don’tcha think?” he replied.

You looked up to see his brow furrowed in concern and offered him a reassuring smile.  “It is.  But I’ll be picking up the refills tomorrow before our evening session, so there’s nothing to worry about.  Now let’s take a look at your back real quick.”

He stood up and dragged his chair over to where you sat and straddled the seat with his back facing you. The bandage was still on, but you could tell it had gotten wet in the shower.  You’d have to be careful when changing it this time, since the bits of skin that were starting to heal might reopen.

You applied your quirk first around the bandages, then began to delicately remove the wet gauze and tape. Your fingers were cold on Dabi’s skin and a small shiver ran up his spine at the sensation of your touch.  The wound didn’t show any signs of infection or fresh damage, so you continued business as usual, applying the antiseptic followed by fresh gauze.  As you patched him up, your eyes kept drifting to your towels, thinking about what had happened that night.  There was something important you’d been meaning to ask him.  Something you had to know.

“I… have a question.” You ventured.

“Hm?” Dabi responded, his head turning slightly to the sound of your voice.

“The next day… after I helped you out that one night… was there anything… off?  About you specifically?” you asked.

There was a long pause and you could tell Dabi was thinking heavily, which only made the dread in your gut sink in deeper.

“I couldn’t feel anything.” He finally admitted. 

“I’m not talking about the pain.  I’m talking about… I don’t know.  Anything else.”

“I know.” He replied. “When I woke up, I couldn’t feel anything.”

Your brow furrowed and the dread hardened into a stone.  “…what does that mean?”

“It means I didn’t care about a thing, doll.  Everything was turned off.” He was facing away from you and in that moment, you wished he wasn’t – you desperately wanted to see the expression on his face.  Your hands felt clammy as you processed his words.

“You mean your emotions?” you clarified.  You needed to understand more.  You needed to know how bad it was.  “What… did it feel like?”

“Empty.”

You finished putting the last bandage on him but you barely noticed as your vision became unfocused, your thoughts whirling.  Holy shit. You had turned off his emotions?  You supposed in hindsight it made sense, since it was likely his memories and the emotions attached to them that were torturing him that night.  Why else would he have been blabbering incoherent apologies as if he were desperately trying to atone for something? But still… the severity of that made your blood run cold. Emotions were everything, contrary to what some people might think. They fuel how people think, how they act, how they react… entire personalities – entire identities are built around how emotions are felt and how they are dealt with.  You very well could have entirely erased Dabi as a person. In fact, you likely did, at least temporarily.

You swallowed the hard lump in your throat and tried to calm your panicked breathing.  “…How long did it last?”

He was quiet again, and the silence was worse than anything.

“Please tell me.” You begged.  “How long?”

“Hours.”

Your heart was racing and your ears ringing.  Your eyes began to sting but you fought it, focusing on a patch of scarred flesh on his back to distract yourself, memorizing its pattern.  You didn’t want to cry in front of him. Not again.  And certainly not twice in one day.  You wanted to apologize, to beg his forgiveness, but you couldn’t make the words come out, not without your emotions spilling out with them.  Instead, you forced yourself into action, treating his scars with your quirk. 

There was so much more you wanted to know. How did he get his emotions back?  What did it feel like? Was it slow, or at all at once? Did he feel relieved?

Did it hurt?

But you couldn’t bring yourself to ask those questions, no matter how badly you wanted to know, no matter how badly you wanted to understand.  They were too personal, and you could already tell by Dabi’s growing reluctance that he didn’t want to talk about it any further.

You’d apologize to him. At some point, once your emotions were under control, you’d apologize.

You finished numbing his back and shoulders, even tracing down his triceps a little.  “Turn around,” you instructed.

He did as you asked, adjusting himself in the chair so he was now facing you.  You avoided looking at him, the shame and guilt far too heavy for you to lift your eyes.  Unbeknownst to you, a frown pulled at his brow, his lips.  You wore your emotions so plainly…

You took his hand in yours and continued your quirk as your skin began to prickle and sting. The sound of the shower dripping in the bathroom was louder now. Dabi shifted slightly in his chair and the scraping sound against the floor was like nails on a chalkboard.  The odors in the room went from pleasant to offensive.

“I gotta question for ya,” Dabi suddenly ventured.  “Did you change my clothes that night?”

Your hands faltered and you glanced up at his face before you could catch yourself.  His eyes had a glint in them you couldn’t quite place in your distracted mental state.  You felt embarrassment creep across your skin.

“I did.  I had to get you into the shower before you combusted.” You replied as you continued to treat him, your hands on his collarbone. The feel of it was so familiar now…

“I was naked?”

“Only for a moment!” you replied.  “You were in your boxers for most of it, but I had to change you out of those after the shower.” God, this entire conversation was so embarrassing… why did he have to ask about this of all things?

“…did ya peek?” he asked.

Your mouth struggled like a fish out of water for a moment as you glared at him.  “NO!” You finally exclaimed.  “Of course, I didn’t!  Why would you even…”  but then you saw the grin on his face and you realized he was teasing you. 

You playfully punched his arm.  “You’re an asshole.” You fumed.

He laughed.  “That didn’t even hurt.” He mocked.

“Of course it didn’t, idiot. I already used my quirk there.” You shot back.  “Now stay still so I can get your damn face.”

“So feisty…” he murmured.

Shit.  With your senses heightened, you could almost feel the vibration in his voice, as if he were closer to you than he actually was. For the briefest moment, it distracted you from the growing pain of your scar, from the sound of the drip drip from the bathroom shower.  You wondered what it would feel like to have those words uttered against your skin, his hot breath warming your flesh, the feel of his rough lower lip brushing…

You clenched your jaw until you nearly gave yourself a headache, forcing the intrusive thoughts out of your mind.  You weren’t here for this.  You were here to treat him and get out of his space.  You weren’t his type.  You repeated it to yourself like a mantra, a prayer, a reminder to the illogical part of you that wanted to follow the lure of his voice.  Why did he have to be such a flirt?  It didn’t surprise you, but it certainly left you feeling confused when his actions and words sometimes contradicted themselves.

All it meant was that he was getting comfortable with you again. He was treating you like a friend, and friends teased all the time.  Right?

His eyes watched you closely as your hands caressed his jaw, relieving the ache there.  You seemed lost in your thoughts and while you certainly didn’t look comfortable, you also didn’t look too be too horribly in pain. You were doing better today.  Still, your fingers danced quickly across his skin, skating under his eyes which he instinctively closed, and barely touching his lower lip.  It happened far too quickly before the presence of you disappeared, and it left him feeling empty.  How badly he wanted to grab your hands right then and put them back onto his face. 

When he opened his eyes again, your own eyes were downcast as you stretched your fingers slightly.

“You okay?” he ventured. The question sounded odd coming from him, even to his own ears.

You looked up at him then, and you could see he was concerned. That’s right… he knew about your quirk and your scar now.  You clasped your hands in your lap to keep them from shaking.  Shaking from the pain you were feeling, shaking from the fear of your own thoughts and desires.

“I’m fine.” You lied. Did he know you were lying with this too?

He knew.  In fact, you’d given him the same false words he always gave you.  It was like looking into a mirror.

“You don’t gotta do the legs.” He offered.  “I’m not dressed for it anyway.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” You chided.  “Of course I’m going to do your legs.  The better I treat you, the better you can rest.  And your body needs rest to heal your burn.”

He noticed that you made no comment on his withdrawal, which a part of him appreciated; it helped him avoid the discomfort of shame that was always associated with it. Still…

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere, doll.  I won’t be needing them.  Besides, the drugs help.” He replied.

You eyed him for a moment, assessing.  “How about I just do your calves then?” you bartered.

He assessed you in return before he gave a small half-smirk.  “Deal.”

By the time you’d treated his calves down to the tops of his feet, you were definitely grateful you didn’t have to do any more.

PING……..PING……

You rubbed at the bridge of your nose, feeling the onset of a headache as you skirted just shy of overload. You closed your eyes, hoping maybe the lack of visual stimulation might make the auditory more bearable.  Or at least bearable enough that you could actually move your body instead of feeling frozen.  But it only made it worse, allowing your brain to hyperfixate on it. You covered your ears against it as you struggled to find your way out of it, to regain control of yourself.

While you lost yourself in your senses, Dabi watched you in displeasure.  He’d made sure to have everything ready before you showed up.  He even made sure not to light up a cigarette, as much as that had grated on him, since he knew the smell would linger long after. But clearly, something was bothering you.  What had he missed?

He watched, waiting, giving you time to figure yourself out or ask for help while he secretly tried to decode the mystery.  Your eyes were closed, your hands over your ears.  Was it multiple sensory attacks?  You flinched again.  And again. There was a rhythm.  So, it was something you were hearing.

Curiously, Dabi closed his own eyes listening for anything that stood out.  Slowly, the quiet sound of water dripping greeted his ears like a whisper.  He opened his eyes just in time to see your flinch match with the sound.

That was it.

“It’s the shower.” He commented. 

It wasn’t a question – it was a statement.  You opened your eyes and looked at him with surprise before giving a nod, your hands still over your ears.  He knew his shower leaked for a bit after he used it, but he’d gotten so used to it that he just tuned out the sound by this point.  But for you… especially after using your quirk on him…

Why didn’t you just get up and leave?  Why stay here if it was bothering you this much?  Obviously, you wanted to get away from it…

Maybe you couldn’t.  Maybe, for some reason, you were stuck in what you were experiencing, unable to find your way out.

Dabi could relate to that.

And he didn’t like it.

He stood up and closed the bathroom door before returning to sit in the chair in front of you, waiting.

You could still hear it. But it was manageable now, muffled. Quieter.  You could feel yourself start to process the rest of what you were feeling.  The pain on your back; the feel of your clothes, your hair; the smell of Dabi’s body wash, fresh linen… cigarettes.  Slowly, your hands lowered from your ears as you focused on each sense, identifying all you recognized.  The world was still loud around you, but at least you could somewhat function again. Slowly, you opened your eyes to see him watching you through an unreadable expression.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much.” You replied. “Thank you.  Again.”

“It’s fine.”

A heavy, awkward quiet filled the space, and in that moment, despite Dabi’s kindness, all you wanted was to be back safely in your room.  Maybe it was because you were feeling overwhelmed by your own emotions, unable to properly control how your heart pounded around him, or how you couldn’t keep your eyes off him. Or maybe it was the way he kept looking at you, his expression unreadable yet his gaze intense, as if you were all that he was focused on and he was determined to discover all of your secrets.

Either way, you felt an ache grow within you, threatening to drown you. But you couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t dismantle it or bury it, not while your brain fought the senses overwhelming you. You could handle one or the other… but you couldn’t handle both.

You needed the comfort of your room; you needed your safe space.

“I’m… going to go lay down.” You said quietly, as you grabbed your bag.  It felt heavy in your hand.

If Dabi noticed the shift in your mood, he didn’t say so.  Instead, he stood from his seat and shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.

“Yeah.  Me too.” He replied.

Despite the suddenly aloof atmosphere, he still walked you to his door.  After you left, he leaned his back against the cold wood and ran his hand down his face.

So much for not caring…

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Part 10 ________________________________________________

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#dabi x reader #dabi #dabi x you #touch #dabi touch #soft dabi #pining #slow burn #TW: blood #TW: needles #TW: killing #TW: violence

[jessie9008]

Coffee and Bread

Hey guys so this is my first fanfic ever so I really hope you enjoy it!!!! I based some of it on my life. Sorry if it sucks. 

Summary: Y/N’s grandpa had recently just passed away and they have been really sad and no one from class 1-A has been able to make her feel better. Until little Eri comes in and wants to make Y/N’s sadness go away. Eri thinks of YN as an older sibling so she really wants to cheer YN up. 

(Sorry if I’m bad at summaries)

Word Count: 1.6K 

Contains: Mentions of death and a little bit of angst but with a happy ending!!!

Coffee and Bread 

It has been 3 weeks since the passing of YN’s grandpa, and it feels that their heart has been torn to pieces. YN has worked so hard to make their grandfather proud, but now that he's gone there is no point to continuing. Being once filled with ambition, they are now hollow. They’ve locked themselves in their room, unable to go outside because everywhere they look they see their grandpa. Leading to them refusing to speak  to anyone in fear of breaking down and looking weaker than they already do now. Many of their classmates wonder what is going on with their friend’s head wishing that they can help them through this difficult time. All YN is able to do now is replay all the memories of their grandfather in their head day and night with tears streaming down their face. YN is drowning in endless pain, desperately reaching out for salvation even when knowing that nothing or no one will be able to make them feel happy again. 

Mina stared at YN’s door taking a deep breath before she knocked.  “Hey YN the whole class is going to the mall just to hang out, why don’t you come with us?”  she asked.  

I stared at the door with sunken eyes, licked my chapped lips and whispered “No thank you”. I curled deeper into my blankets hoping that Mina would understand that I don’t want to go out. 

“YN you’ve been in your room for days now, you need to go out and get some fresh air”

“Please Mina I just want to be left alone” I begged. “I know you are hurting YN, but we are here to help you. You shouldn’t be suffering all by yourself” Mina pleaded. 

I yelled back “please just leave me alone” 

There was silence on the other side of the door. Mina let out a tired sigh and walked away in defeat.

I let out a tired sigh, relieved that she finally left me alone. I walked to my balcony to see what the outside looked like. I opened up my blinds and winced at how bright it is.  It looks so beautiful outside, it reminded me of how my grandpa would set up a table outside on days like these, turn on his radio, and pull out a deck of cards to play a game of war. This memory brought tears to my eyes. It hurts so much, all I think about is him, and how I won’t be able to hear his laugh, see his smile, or feel his hug. Why did he have to leave me so soon? It’s not fair he was supposed to see me graduate, give me the biggest hug and tell me how proud he is that I’m going to be a pro hero. I just wished that I could have said goodbye, and told him that I loved him one more time. I let out another sob, my knees grow weak, and I fall to the ground. I look up at my ceiling closing my eyes as I cry myself to sleep. 

Timeskip

Midoriya places the plate of food in front of YN’s door after getting no response from them. He walks back to his classmates with a defeated look. Eri looks up from her plate and  notices that YN isn’t with them eating dinner. She goes up to Midoriya with a confused face. 

“Deku why isn’t YN eating dinner with us?” Midoriya crouched down to Eri’s level “YN is really sad right now. They lost their grandpa, and he meant a lot to them.” 

“Will their grandpa come back soon so they can be happy again?” Midoriya gives her a sad look, “YN grandpa passed away, so he won’t be able to come back to make YN happy.” 

With a determined look on her face “Well if their grandpa can’t make them happy anymore then I’ll be the one to do it.” A small smile spreads on Midoriya’s face, “Maybe you will make them happy again.” He stood up and held out his hand to Eri, and he led her to the dining room so they could have dinner. While eating Eri decided that once she finished her food, she would go to YN’s room to cheer her up. 

Once finished Eri ran to put her dish in the sink, and rushed towards YN’s room. She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath in. Her small hands grabbed on to the door knob and slowly opened the door. She quietly closed the door and walked towards YN. She can hear their quiet sobs and it breaks her heart that they are hurting all alone. She climbs onto their bed and lays next to them, Eri pulls YN into a hug and they start to sob uncontrollably. “It’s okay YN, I know you miss him, but I am here to take care of you” she softly pats their head. “Can you tell me about your grandpa? I want to hear all your stories about him.” YN looked up at the young girl and gave her a weak smile “Okay” They went into a sitting position, now Eri is leaning against them. YN clears their throat “When I was about your age I used to sleepover at my grandpa’s every weekend. Around 5 in the morning he would wake me up with a big cup of coffee and some bread, and he would turn on the TV to our favorite show. Once we finished our coffee and bread, he would put everything and go outside so we could water his plants. This is one of my favorite memories of him.” YN’s voice cracked in the end. “He was such an amazing person. He is the main reason why I want to become a hero because all he did was help others and try to bring a smile to their face.” Tears were streaming down YN’s face and Eri pulled them into a hug. Eri rubbed YN’s back gently putting her into a deep sleep. She got off their bed and started to plan out how to make YN happy. 

Eri heads to Mr. Aizawa’s room “Mr. Aizawa can you help me with something?” He looked up from his computer, “Of course what do you need help with?” 

“YN has been really sad and I want to make them happy. They just told me that their grandpa and them would wake up early to eat coffee and bread and watch their favorite show. Can you help me make the coffee?’’

With a small smile on his face “How about we make you both hot chocolate instead because you are still too young to drink coffee.” 

With a big smile on her face Eri exclaimed “Okay”

Time Skip 

The next morning comes and Eri wakes up with a determined look on her face. She jumped out of bed, and woke up Aizawa so he could heat up some hot chocolate and make toast for her and YN. Eri goes to the common room and places a couple of blankets and pillows on the couch to use while they watch some morning cartoons. Once Aizawa put the toast and hot chocolate on the table, Eri ran up to YN’s dorm room. Once in front of the door Eri knocked very timidly. YN groans at the light knocking, and gets up from her warm bed. They cracked the door open to see Eri staring at them with bright eyes and a smile. 

“Good morning YN! Can you come with me to the common room please? I have a surprise for you!” Eri exclaimed. 

YN let out a small sigh and nodded. Eri excitedly grabbed their hand and led them to the common area. As they enter the common area YN notices the toast and hot coco on the coffee table and a bundle of blanket and pillows on the couches. They look down at Eri with a confused look on her face and ask “What's all this?”

Eri smiled wide “This is to cheer you up, I wanted to remake one of your memories that you had with your grandpa. Do you like it?” 

YN smiled at the young girl with tears in her eyes, and hugged the young girl, “I love it thank you so much” 

Eri giggled and led them to the couch to get under the covers and watch cartoons. YN sat down and Eri climbed onto their lap and pulled the blanket over them. 

“Thank you so much Eri, this really nice, it makes me feel like I am with my grandpa.” 

“I’m glad you like it YN! If you want we can do this every weekend?”

“I would love that Eri”

Eri smiled and cuddled into YN's chest and started to eat her toast and drink her hot coco. 

After a couple of minutes Aizawa enters the common area to check on them and he notices them fast asleep on the couch, he smiles slightly and starts to pick up the mugs and plates. He goes to the couch and places another blanket over the two sleeping children and heads back to his room to go back to bed. 

#aizawa x y/n #mha imagines #my hero academia #eri #i hope yall like this #eri x reader #mha angst #mha x reader #mha fluff #aizawa imagine

[amajikilvr]

Hey! Can I get a drabble with Tamaki Amajiki X Fem/GN Reader with Fluff number 11 please? Tysm❤️❤️

words of support - tamaki amajiki

word count 1k

reader type gender-neutral (they/them used)

premise you’re congratulated by a classmate after training

reader’s quirk spotlight (user can emit blinding light from their eyeballs at will, but, similar to eraserhead’s quirk, this effect ends once they blink.)

Your calves clench painfully as you momentarily decrease your speed to come to a halt. The tightening in the overworked muscles almost grows more severe now that you’ve stopped moving for the time being. Burning lungs help tease you with the thought of rest and your warm bed, but begin to bounce on your heels as you swiftly analyze the chamber you’ve found yourself in.

It’s similar to the others; completely chrome and filled with random structures built into the floor. And there it is. A small fluorescent flag limply hangs from the ceiling in the right corner of the room. All you have to do is retrieve it and you’ve finally passed the graded exercise. Hopefully.

“Ar-rooff! Ar-rooff!” Aggressive barking and heavy footfalls suddenly bounce off the walls and you brace and prepare yourself for the appearance of your teacher and opponent.

Trying your very best not to let yourself panic, you quickly envision a path to the flag. You barely have an opportunity to replay it in your head before Hound Dog bounds into the room from the hallway you were sprinting through moments earlier. You waste no time in activating your quirk and as expected, it hurts like hell.

A powerful blinding light floods the entire area and your extremely strained eyeballs and eyelids are the only thing keeping it from fading away and leaving you like a sitting duck. You have to utilize every fiber of your being to make sure they remain open and force yourself to start running towards your finish line. It’s a miracle that you’re able to remember where you’re supposed to move.

It’s always a bit disorienting to run this fast while you’re not able to see a single thing besides unbearably bright light. You nearly loudly cry out and reveal your location when you make a misstep and jam your foot against something solid. If your memory serves you right, then the flag should be right in front of you now.

You grunt and take a literal leap of faith to grab at the wall that’s supposed to be there. Your fingers curl around vinyl material and something besides exhaustion pulsates throughout your body.

Elation.

The completion horn goes off and you let your eyes close as you land back on the ground. Unfortunately, you can’t manage to get back on your feet or even open your eyes again...

──────

“My dear, make sure you’re properly hydrated before participating in such strenuous activity next time.” Recovery Girl’s voice is candied yet stern as she gives you her usual gummy old-lady smile. “Passing out isn’t very fun, is it?”

You take another long swig of water before answering to demonstrate your understanding of her instructions. “It really wasn’t…”

“Don’t fret about it too much. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you.” She hands you a bottle of eye drops and starts to head towards her connected office. “Now, you’ve got two young men waiting to see you, so you better hurry and move along. I practically had to fight them off at the door. Well, at least one of them.”

Huh?

You’re thoroughly confused by what that could possibly mean as you leave the clinic. Then you see them.

“Y/L/N-san!”

Your classmate, Mirio Togata, excitedly calls out to you with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. What’s not surprising at all is that Tamaki Amajiki is right by his side as well.

“Oh. Hey. What’s up?” You’re a bit embarrassed knowing that your entire class, them included, have just watched you collapse after struggling through your mock final.

They’re both just so powerful. Togata didn’t seem to be far from mastering his insanely difficult quirk and there were rumors of Amajiki reaching the cultivated status level of “The Big Three” next year. Also, it’s been a bit hard to look Togata in the eyes ever since his accidental nude display at the sports festival months ago.

“We just wanted to come check up on you. And congratulate you on passing!” Togata explains, a megawatt smile plastered on his face like always. “Right, Tamaki?”

“Hm? Oh. Um, yeah. Good job…”

You’re definitely feeling flustered now. Amajiki’s stare is intensely startling for someone so quiet. His indigo eyes don’t make a single move to look somewhere besides you.

Not to mention, the boys have changed back into their crisp uniforms while you haven’t even had the chance to take a shower yet. Your sweat has dried and left your costume clinging to your skin with a chill and sticky film. And then there’s your watery bloodshot eyes...

“I know it looks like I’m crying, but I’m not! My eyes are just worn out…” You cringe at the abruptness of your statement. “I’m definitely no Eraserhead.”

“Not yet.” Amajiki says as he receives an eyebrow raise from his buddy.

You smile at the... compliment? He looks more surprised than you are, as if his mouth had a mind of its own.

“Thanks, Amajiki-kun.” You nod at him and watch his face flush.

“You’re welcome…”

Everyone goes quiet for a few uncomfortable moments before Togata clears his throat pointedly.

“Remember what else you wanted to tell them?” He clasps a hand on Amajiki’s shoulder who jolts almost violently in response. The boy looks like he might be sick, body trembling slightly and cheeks going pale.

You can’t remember the last time you’ve been this intrigued.

“Y/L/N. I wanted to say I thought you did amazing. I, er, think you’re always amazing, actually.” Amajiki’s gaze has now turned to the floor. “I know we don’t talk much, but… I’m so proud of you.”

Pride and warmth washes over you. You had dug so deep back there and to be acknowledged by someone you admired felt fantastic. There’s also a funny feeling in your stomach as you can’t take your eyes off of Amajiki’s now rose tinted ears.

“We better get going.” Togata grins knowingly at you and nods at Amajiki. “Rest up, Y/L/N-san.”

Amajiki gives you a single nod and a small, barely noticeable, smile before Togata and him walk away.

They make it down the hallway when you get an idea.

“We should all eat lunch together tomorrow!”

“Definitely!” Togata calls back to you. “I’m sure Tamaki would love that!”

#bnha imagines #bnha x y/n #bnha requests #tamaki amajiki x reader #tamaki x reader #amajiki x reader

[jae-canikeepyou]

| closer | j.jh

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

genre: au + idol!jae & choreographer/dancer!yn

a/n: this request is long overdue but here it is! :) i’m sorry for the long wait ;-; it’s challenging to write since i’m not a dancer so my explanation’s a lil’ suckish. also! i had to edit a song remix for this oneshot, so the dance and imagination’s clearly up to you *wink wink* enjoy reading! ~j

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though you lost count of the frequent, unexplainable somersaults you experienced in your stomach, you weren’t sure whether this always happen whenever you were told to join other dancers to monitor a routine for a group. perhaps it was just you, that today felt entirely different compared to when you first started.

as far as your career went, this was the only time you felt so stressed. and by ‘stressed’, it didn’t mean that the boys’ couldn’t get the steps right— they were fast learners and the choreography you helped co-create wouldn’t be a problem to them.

nct 127’s rehearsals were at a spacious backstage for straight two days now. in those short days, there was a certain air that lingered and you couldn’t fathom it properly. with you around, the boys would suddenly crowd in a circle, anywhere in the area, and began to utter out whispers you hoped your ears were able to hear. maybe if you were reincarnated, you’d choose an animal with great hearing to be able to hear what they were saying.

and honestly it got you wanting to pull your hair out because.. what if?

what if they disliked how you were a person of few words during practice? or that they preferred if you gave more feedbacks toward their dance like other choreographers who came before you? there weren’t any hints leading to the source of action and really, if this was an actual investigation you’d be removed from the team for not having quick-wits.

taeyong immediately became your close friend right when you were introduced to them by your seniors. he had this you-can-tell-me-anything aura all over him and was the only person you always conversed with among the boys. given that you were part of the choreo team since kick-it era, the boys welcomed you; like so much. but in those greetings, a gut feeling kept bothering you that you would be pulled into something.. perhaps something you might not be able to handle? you wouldn’t know. it was a gut feeling anyway, fifty percent of your intuition were always proven wrong.

you stared at the widespread mirror, arms up to record them while examining their moves and rhythms to the beat. they were tired, you could tell with the way they swayed and continuously wipe off the sweat rolling down their temples. so you decided to give them a break after three hours of practice.

replaying the video over and over to check if they got the timing right, taeyong went to sit by your side gulping and squeezing the water bottle. “relax y/n. you’ll get more wrinkles if you keep doing that.” he nudged you gently to catch your full atttention from the phone.

“do what, exactly?” you looked at him, eyebrows furrowed tiredly above your death-gazing eyes.

he poked you with the butt of the cold bottle he held, where beads from it soaked your forehead. “this.” he lectured you again, almost annoying to the ears. “it’s not at all attractive.”

“we both agreed you have better brows than me but ouch that’s rude. i think i’m quite pretty and you know it.” you return a playful poke that had him nearly trampling backwards, a slight sting felt by your ankle once you regained balance.

per usual, you disregarded his innocent comment and continued to monitor the practice via phone. he didn’t mean it and you knew that. taeyong kept bugging you to cool off from work and hang out with them since you were all good friends to begin with. of course that development happened in a span of few months to be able for you all to reach that certain relationship.

however, was it possible to attain the level of intimacy when recently, all you felt from the other guys was the weird gap? you couldn’t even describe the awkward distance. taeyong shook both of his sleeves into sweaterpaws to rub the droplets on your forehead.

“quite pretty? you’re beautiful! you’re like a cool princess every guy wants and i’d honestly date you if what we are isn’t platonic.” he danced in a wave effect with his arm. you gently hit his chest for being very vocal even if it just was the two of you.

“aww, you always know how to make me feel better! thanks.” you sweetly compliment him for a second before your smile turned into a frown.

at the corners of your peripheral, johnny, jungwoo, mark, donghyuck and yuta all averted your scrutiny. the action was obvious and quick, but what made it more suspicious was that it happened respectively like falling dominos. although they did typical and cliché gestures of escapism from your response, still they pretended to ignore you either with their hands shoved in pockets or whistles of their own song.

a surrendering huff caught taeyong’s attention. you never sighed nor show any emotions of distress before and this was a little concerning to him. “what’s wrong y/n?” he turned around to see the others minding their own business despite taeyong already realising the edginess they showed.

“can you help me figure something out with them?” you begged as you tilted your gently slightly to the side. “it’s been weeks and i have no idea why they’re acting this way. am i that unapproachable compared to my seniors?”

taeyong suddenly pursed his lips to a small circle as if he was hiding some top secret information that was ‘exclusive for members only’. “oh- y’know.” he nodded quite repetitively but with hesitating breaks in between. he knew what you were going to ask him since it hasn’t been the first time. he usually could dodge your curiosity and wondered why he couldn’t now. “they’re p-probably just chilling.. like always.. yep.” he popped the ‘p’ and stood. “i’m sure it’s because they’re tired from rehearsals!”

things couldn’t just get any weirder. you squinted your eyes as you scooted in closer to him. “you’re stuttering. you never do that.” you pointed out, observing his wavering eyes. “do you know something-”

he stammered and gently pushed you away a little like it would stop you from asking further. “i-i don’t know what you’re talking a-about.”

“hm you sure about that?” you hummed and he mouthed a ‘yes’. “you don’t know what’s coming after you if i figure it out buddy.”

“i’m sure, y/n. stop being a worrywart.” taeyong pinched your cheeks. “i’ll let know you right away if i hear anything out of the ordinary.”

“uh-huh. jaehyun’s the one i think who’s ’out of the ordinary’. we never talked. just hi’s and bye’s and he doesn’t smile at me.” you commented as you spotted him at the entrance door. “bummer, i really find him good-looking..” your phone buzzed a message from your leader. technically he wasn’t, but a person in-charge of your schedules to teach other idol groups.

somehow you felt a wave of relief that you would be out of the venue for the day. it would be assuring to not be around 127 for a while when they behaved like they did. who knew thinking too much would bring exhaustion? this was more tiring than dancing. a lot more. you swung your phone to taeyong, telling him that you were going to leave. “i gotta go, see you.”

“oh, alright. take care.” taeyong waved subtly, confused as to why you suddenly spoke of jaehyun out of the blue.

you let out a long sigh and exited the venue with thoughts of wonder; they were good people and most definitely you were the approachable type, so why were they keeping distance besides taeyong? johnny, yuta and donghyuck were super friendly, and it’s unlike them to suddenly keep quiet. mark and jungwoo were fun to tease; seeing the expressions they usually don’t put on around you was really fishy. taeil and doyoung have similar affection for you because you were like a little sister and.. jaehyun?

well.. jaehyun’s jaehyun, and among them, he was the far-fetched one. that was what you felt from him,

from the beginning.

because every single time you crossed paths, he would look away right when you locked eyes with him. there was no smile, no expression.

nothing at all.

maybe it pinched your heart a little. and maybe there would be a right time for this. just maybe not today. hopefully that wouldn’t extend for another month. hopefully you would get to talk to him like you did with the rest of them. it was a challenging to be patient when you’ve kind of taken a liking on jaehyun despite the inexplainable treatment. he was.. cute.

once you were out of the group’s sight, jaehyun came in with a duffle bag and a beanie— that basically made his hair in a frenzy- along with taeil & doyoung. he had his arms frantically shaking as if he was trying to reason out. “i can’t hold a normal conversation without tensing up.” he dropped his belongings and joined the crowd, not noticing the growing smirks slowly coming into view from his friends.

“and you think choosing to freeze and stare would make her talk to you?” taeil asked straight up. “that’s called cowardice bro.”

jaehyun combed his hair back and wore his beanie again when the focus was shifted to him. “no it’s not. it’s called being shy.. i guess.” he crossed his arm, unsure of his answer as well.

mark took a sip of watermelon juice, later eyeing a bowl sitting peacefully on one side of the table for seconds. “hyung, do you expect to get closer to y/n if you act like that though?” he gave johnny a side-eye as he hid his smile behind the cup, to whom the latter responded the same.

“all of us are trying to keep quiet of your ecstasy towards her like you asked us to.” jungwoo implored because what was done has to be said eventually. “and now she thinks we’re hiding something from her, i can feel her suspicions for the past weeks.”

“did you make it obvious?” jaehyun hissed a little. “i warned you to act natural-”

johnny wrapped the young man in his arms, earning laughs from the others. “the one who’s not acting natural is you. i thought you’re a straight-forward kind of guy. this should be a piece of cake for you.”

“everyone, please come to the center.” their manager called them to gather up, informing details regarding the next schedule for the week.

sm town concert was just a week away and they’ve been practicing nonstop for it. the exhaustion on their faces fled when the manager said something that would make the fans see them in a different light. some staff giggled at their reactions, some told them to go with it, the rest just wanted to see how it would turn out to be. the boys weren’t expecting it, not at a sudden time like this when they’ve gotten the rundown memorised already.

normally they complied and no arguments were brought forwards. now they managed to scream all vocabularies to reason out that another dance routine would make them more exhausted than before. “we’re not pulling a prank nor a hidden camera if that’s what you’re thinking. anyway, the added part is around a minute interlude.. it’s before the actual track. only one of you will dance it.”

yeses and cheers of relief made majority of the staff exchange looks because they weren’t finish with the information they received. “this interlude is by volunteer, so whoever wants to do it just raise your hand or come up front.” the manager instructed as he wrote down the minutes, later both of his brows arched high forasmuch to his surprise, the decision was quickly decided; it would usually take the boys a while. “oh! thanks for being cooperative, jaehyun! the rehearsal starts tomorrow...”

jaehyun’s head never shot up as fast as it did just now. he didn’t pay attention to the short meeting and since all of the voices were indistinct to him, he was astonished with hearing his name being said. he wondered why they concluded with him doing the interlude. in his head a second ago, he was coming up with plans to finally— and normally— conversate with you. and upon turning around, his friends failed to keep their snickers in. they all simultaneously took a step back, leaving the dimpled boy remain standing in his position.

“...and take ten, then we’ll proceed to the last two songs for today.” the manager left the boys for a break.

wheezing breaths and heavy falls on the floor were soon followed by exploding laughters. they were like fireworks, jolting the nerves out of jaehyun and he rolled his eyes at his friends’ intentions to tease him. “that’s not fair, you guys plotted against me.” he pinched the bridge of his nose when a flush of betrayal finally covered his entire conscience.

they laughed since it was a reaction they expected, but more so when he missed out the most crucial information. “oh my g- he doesn’t know! hahaha!” haechan and jungwoo clung onto each other for support. it was too much to handle.

yuta scooted close to johnny, who had his phone up the whole time. “that was on record, yeah?” he asked and the latter grinned devilishly.

“rgha!” jaehyun growled, soon accepting the role that was predestined to him. “i swear john if you-”

“he didn’t really hear it!” mark cut him off and joined the younger ones, hitting each other and as they couldn’t believe that jaehyun, could be this dense. “wow this is insane!”

jaehyun’s ears turned faint pink. he didn’t like the excessive attention he was getting from his friends, and he has no idea what the sudden outbursts were all about. “hear what, exactly?” he had a petulant expression and shifted his weight on one leg as he waited for the answer.

taeyong choked a giggle at his question. it was similar with yours when you innocently asked earlier. “jaehyun, he said the other half of the remix duet is y/n. you’ll dance with her tomorrow, and until the concert.”

his heart pumped so fast that he didn’t know how to react; whether it was due to obvious fact that he would see you again for the third time this week, or it was your name and his.. in the same sentence.

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if there was something you didn’t like to experience again in your life, that would be spraying your nose in public. good grief, and it had to happen nearby the boys. you shut your eyes closed at the sprinkly yet piercing shock rising up from the nostrils to your head. after few seconds of calming down, youngjoon pat your head as if that would bring you comfort. not really.

“i thought hana’s doing the nct dance duet?” you rubbed the small tears from the corners of your eyes, the striking pain still lingered around your senses a little.

he shrugged that his shoulders the action made you think he has something to do with the sudden change of plans. but assuming too much would ruin your mood and affect the way you dance later, so you let it slide for today.

“i’m your senior. you’ll do what i decided on,” he gave you his phone; the title of the track was one that you were told to choreograph. “it’s about time your monitoring days are over. anyway, you’ll dance with..” youngjoon trailed off himself.

you scanned the spacious venue to figure who he was referring to. none came into your mind until jaehyun walked past by you, and youngjoon pulled him close. “ah! with him!”

oh great, i’m dancing with mr. far-fetched.

staring off into space, taeyong appeared briefly in your peripheral, mouthing that jaehyun ‘volunteered’ for the interlude— which didn’t really add up why he would decide to do this performance when he hasn’t talked to you at all.

it was funny how friendly and warm jaehyun was to your fellow choreographers. he would smile freely and offer spare bottles or snacks. however, he looked stiff now and you craved for answers for strange his behaviour. still, you would be lying to yourself if you said he somehow made you.. squirmy, in a good way.

“let’s work well.” he heard you speak as you began to walk to the centre of the venue, jaehyun soon following you from behind.

he noticed the boys sitting on bleachers for a break, secretly snapping pictures to tease him later on. they mouthed and told him to talk— he was leaving you hanging and making a lady wait for a response was not a gentleman thing to do. he was stunned with your natural beauty and to think you were before him, just made him realise that this was the chance,

to get closer.

because remembering what taeyong told him yesterday, his friends told him to step up his game after it was revealed you found him good-looking. that alone should be enough for jaehyun to have the courage to hold a conversation with you. soon jaehyun cleared his throat, pulled his t-shirt collar and bit his inner gums. “yeah, likewise.” jaehyun cleared his throat. “this should be easy. where should we begin?”

“this is the track we’re dancing to.” you fished out your phone to let him listen to the new version, noticing how youngjoon nod at you.

the said man approached, whispering words that had you wanting to facepalm. a gasp escaped your lips and jaehyun raised a brow in curiosity. “i’m gonna kill her-” your face bubbled up in subtle anger.

jaehyun couldn’t hear much, the volume of the interlude was loud enough to make your voices inaudible. he wasn’t good at lip reading too, but he felt different when his eyes met with yours. a smile you wore earlier flattened, your positivity was still there, yet little did he know the changes made on the spot. youngjoon walked back to the mixer and made jaehyun’s hair a mess.

oh how the gods and goddesses of love must’ve liked shooting arrows continuously at his barely-comprehending mind. he almost ran out of breath hearing those words come out of your mouth and he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy for him.

because to him you were a beautiful distraction.

he recalled how you first met in the practice room during kick-it era; comfy clothes, a chill person with light make-up colours and pretty much his friends instantly introduced themselves. he wished that he was close to you as taeyong was. hopefully by the time the whole concert video was out, fans wouldn’t make a meme out of him given the fact that they did when mc-ing for broadcasts, he unknowingly created a gap between himself and other girl groups.

half an hour had passed and perhaps at this minute, you decided to take back what you said; that they were fast learners. proven you wrong, again. some of them were but jaehyun kept messing up and you were close to losing your patience. he couldn’t get things right. whenever you asked him if he was alright, he claimed to have gotten the hang of the steps taught earlier.

what a lie that was. so far he has stepped your shoes, bumped you though they were minor, and missed some moves. what made you teeth grit was that he looked like he wasn’t aware he did those at all.

ugh look at him. he can do better than this. if he doesn’t catch up, i’m requesting for another member to dance with me.

although he quickly memorised his solo part before dancing with you, the one second break in between have already made him forget the next step. he wasn’t in the right mind, he knew that much and was continuously questioned himself why he lost concentration. dancing with naeun was an exemption. she was a fellow mc, and even then he was shy to hold her hand. but this? this was different. this was more than just holding hands. this included skinship he has never done before, let alone executing intimate movements.

“pretend you’re pulling a lever as she flicks her hips side and back the second time. your hands should be by her hips.” youngjoon instructed, observing jaehyun’s shaky movements at the mirror reflection with reference from the video you sent him before. “good. jae, body wave to the left. y/n to the right and both swing your shoulders outwards..”

but if he wasn’t in the right mind, you were slowly getting there too. the more you were faced with jaehyun, the more you head became fuzzy. you could feel yourself heating up and this wasn’t due to the dance at all. “y/n, caress his jaw and grab him close.”

jaehyun gulped, trying not mind his friends and focus on the routine. “oi, step in closer.” your senior said, nudging the boy at the back. “i said closer like you’re hugging her- ah.” youngjoon realised he made a mistake. the boy froze again and his figure hovered you, the lights above blocked by his shocked expression.

you were falling back.

at this rate, both of you might cause the other an embarrassment of a lifetime. you braced for impact and it was written on your face. jaehyun saw how you shut your eyes. he was afraid of injuring you and somehow did the unthinkable; not even his friends expected that from him and were worried the big guy might crush you. he flipped you around the moment you both were inches above the ground, landing on him instead. “mfgh. ow.” you heard him groan, followed by few gasps and shocked voices.

hesitantly, you opened an eye and felt his palms around your torso. he too had a sour face from the fall. “that was close.” jaehyun squinted you take a peek of you and let out a sigh, which already brought guilt showering over you. “glad you’re not injured-”

“are you two alright?” hana with concern, asked as others repeated the same question.

you got up to sit on your calves in apology but soon spotted hana and youngjoon grinning like their plan worked. so they did have something to do with this. “are you an idiot??” you sighed with a drumming heart, taking jaehyun aback. “you’re performing in two days and it’s best if i’m injured than you are.”

“hey, you’re dancing too..” jaehyun chuckled though was surprised with your sudden fits and tone of your voice, standing up to lend a hand. “..so it’s best if you’re not injured.”

he waited for you to respond to his offer and as you took it, you felt a painful throb at the left ankle. tsk, must’ve twisted a bit it when we fell. dammit jaehyun. you cleared your throat loudly. it came out more of a growl in an annoyed tone. “look, i don’t think you get it. you have two days to practice and there‘s only one you. there are many dancers who can replace me-”

“no, i don’t think you get it. you’re the only one who knows the choreography. you’re basically irreplaceable.”

perhaps if this was told to you in a different sight, you would be squirmy and walking on flowers now. but this was nothing of it. you had to remain professional and set your personal feelings aside.

“not unless if another dancer perfects the dance in two days..” you trailed off.

“okay okay, stop the talking and continue where you both left off. a fall like that shouldn’t be a reason why you’re quarrelling.” youngjoon clapped his hands, moving you in front of jaehyun to start from the top.

when you said that, jaehyun was unsure why you were suddenly irritated. he held his position for the duet before speaking words that had you all fluttery again. “well, i’m dancing with you and staff said it’s final.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the following day, your ankle swelled overnight and informed that you would teach jaehyun and yeri, whom you’ve chosen to be his dance partner— the only idol available prior to nct 127’s performance. you crossed arms, observing how she got the steps quicker than jaehyun. “i want you to pop your hips a little more and match the timing with jaehyun. look at him intently before he holds your hand and you letting go.”

a pout then was seen on her face, hesitant and shy to do what you instructed. “i know it’s weird but i’d like you to think what you’re doing is art..” you tried to sound encouraging and later saw jaehyun taking a break at the far end of the stage. “just expressed in forms of movements.”

yeri stifled a laugh, feeling a lot better now she saw how you looked at her fellow label-mate. “yeah that’s not how jaehyun sees it-” she hushed immediately for speaking her thoughts. “y/n, how has he not learned his part yet? didn’t you teach him yesterday?”

“trust me i did! jaehyun’s a great artist but he just doesn’t seemed focused like i imagined him to be.” you took a bite from your sandwich, and yeri giggled that you unconsciously ignored the first half of her sentence. “i mean his solo was a 15-second one. i don’t see why he would forget the rest of the 35-seconds.”

she pursed her lips and took sight of taeyong winking at her, hinting your density with these situations. “well i think he actually got the steps now.” she arched her brows, pointing at the direction where jaehyun was at. “i heard he works hard alone- not that i’m offending you! you’re a great teacher and dancer!”

you smiled as you crumpled the plastic wrap and tossed it in the bin. “none taken, i kinda understand why he would be nervous around me.”

her ears perked up and pulled you to the side. “ooh ooh you do? what is it? i’m in for the tea!”

“i pull a resting face while i monitor them. probably why he found it hard to approach me. he thinks i’m the kind who doesn’t want to be disturbed.” you and yeri walked further off the stage to sit at the very front.

she held her chest hearing how awful you might’ve felt from him. “aw that’s bitter tea! y/n i’m sure he doesn’t think that way! it just takes time, might be longer than the other guys but you’ll get there.”

“get to where?”

“to being friends, and not only the professional level.”

at another side of it, taeyong and the rest heard the whole conversation. they shared looks knowing that they had to relay the news to jaehyun, who was staring at you giggling away with yeri. he met eyes with them and had a thin lipped smile, walking towards his friends. “you guys are weird, quit the creepy smiles.”

doyoung smacked the boy’s head for the density his currently possessed. “do you know the impression she has on you?”

“who? yeri?”

now it was taeil’s turn to smack his head. “y/n, you dimwit.” he sighed, looking at your silhouette under dimmed light then onto jaehyun. “she thinks you’re great..”

“but what you do around her seems to have shown you’re not interested in her.” jungwoo completed his sentence.

jaehyun never felt so attacked by both from them and the facts thrown upon him. “what? no! i am interested in her!”

“then tell her that. it isn’t that hard to say you’re interested in being friends.” haechan bent to release the tension in his muscles.

they wanted to encourage him a little more yet were then called to stand-by for another practice, with the interlude as the beginning. the signal from the staff have ordered for the lightings and music to be queued and readied.

mark nudged him in a strength that nearly made him fall. “hey, it’s about the right time you get closer to her,” he said in a low voice, highkey referring to your ruptured ligament on your ankle yet jaehyun seemed to have missed the point. “or else there’ll be no development.”

jaehyun chugged on his bottle in silence. “what do you mean?”

“youngjoon hyung said she’ll be on leave for weeks. i don’t know how long but if you don’t do anything now, you’ll continue to live up to the impression without even talking to her.” he explained and cringed afterwards feeling taeyong and johnny’s presence among them.

“show her that what she choreographed for us is not in vain, okay?” johnny made his hair a mess, before leaving the stage to go to where you were. the stage director said his count down. you cheered on yeri with a thumbs up and the music started its tune.

a/n: can’t seem to add song in between texts, so here’s a link instead ;-; let me know if it doesn’t work :3

it was your choreography up there, that was soon to be shown to the world, recorded to be part of the rundown and later burnt in c.d’s. you felt nervous at the fact if they would really execute what you wanted to show— the form of art you put your sweat upon even if it were just 50 seconds. when jaehyun began taking yeri’s hand after his solo part, leading her then mirroring her movements, your heart squeezed for no reason. they should be able to nail this part until the last beat of the song.

but as you clenched your chest to prevent your hands from shaking, taeyong saw your expression, convincing him enough that your reaction towards this said otherwise.

the boys usually held a small dinner a day prior to the concert, for a good show and performance. yuta decided to invite you to a japanese restaurant nearby so you wouldn’t feel left out or feel a lot distant than you already were with them.

you prepared your essentials before meeting them, the tapes of your ankle band came loose and you reached to adjust it as discomfort was all you felt for a while. jaehyun knelt down to sit across you, licking his dry lips to simmer the nervousness he felt inside. “do you need help?” he asked when you looked up to notice his presence. “or is there anything i can do to help?”

“y-yeah. it needs a proper tightness to it.” you gave a faint nod. he smiled and held your left leg to rest it on his thigh.

silence was slowly killing him, he had to admit that at least. now that you both conversed, what then? would this just be another acquaintance talk like yesterday, where it was only a mere one? nothing else to it? nothing happened?

jaehyun wanted to set the professionalism to the side, heed to his friends’ words and actually become close to you. perhaps put his feelings for you behind him for the meantime. “sorry.” he conceded, which made you confused for a second. “i’m sorry.”

“from the fall yesterday?” you stretched back that your palms were your support as he taped the band around. jaehyun shook his head, making you more confused. “then what are you apologising for?”

“for making you feel like i didn’t want to talk to you since you arrived.”

you stared at him, lips parting when you finally grasped his purpose. “oh.. that! it’s okay. i’m not expecting to be that level of friends immediately.” you chuckled awkwardly because it was a bit of a lie. i mean it took a while to be good friends with the others-”

“i’m sorry that i chose not to talk to you and it might have given you a bad impression of me.” he took your shoe so you could wear and head to the restaurant. “i guess it really is difficult to when i admire you a lot. heck i even asked my groupmates to tone down their knowledge about that because they have plans to embarrass-”

he jolted at the drop of your phone and your sigh, eyes wandering and wavering at it then looking to you. he helped you stand up and when he did too, you sighed heavier, flattened lips and a smile. “my anxiety convinced me that you hated me.” you confessed, finally letting out the worry that has been bothering you for months.

you shyly looked back at him and noticed how he was fidgety as you were. you couldn’t handle the visuals he has— even more now that he was close to you. so ethereal and magnetising.

maybe this was what the somersaults you’ve been feeling all the time. the unexplainable gut feeling that you’d be pulled into something you couldn’t handle?

it was him.

jaehyun panicked at the word. “h-hate? i don’t! not even a bit. i really like you!” he sputtered, then waving his hands to deny his feelings. “i mean like as in like you as person and your dedication to all this.”

“heh..” you both turned to the voice and taeyong smirked what he heard. “just tell her already, jae.” he pointed out, and you were left clueless as they shared the same brain cell. jaehyun’s eyes grew, hoping that his friend wouldn’t expose him, but taeyong answered him with his eyes, as if his voice was almost telepathic.

‘not confessing! you’re not at that intimacy level yet! tell y/n that you wanna hang with her!’

“i-i just wanna get closer to you?” he pondered, scratching his neck from the tornado of feelings whirling inside. “as friends, not as workmates or anything.” he waited for your response, staring in your magnetising orbs that lured him into something deeper.

“we would’ve been if we talked earlier on.” you smiled, hinting that you didn’t mind taking that step with him too. “but yeah, same here, jaehyun.”

jaehyun smiled genuinely at you for the first time, no awkwardness nor forcing himself to. “yes!” he had his fists up with ecstasy that you said his name, only to panic at the time. the dinner was already starting.

taeyong exhaled and swung his arms to let the blood flow normally. “ah, now that’s settled. let’s get to the restaurant too.”

you punched his arm and he flinched at the impact and hissed that it came out more of a question than a reaction you expected. “what you get for lying that you didn’t know anything.” you stuck a tongue out.

“and i’m supposed to pay the price for it?” he rubbed to sooth the pain. “not fair.”

walking to the backstage, you slowly lifted your foot to head down the stairs. “don’t worry, they’ll get their punches from me real soon.” you whistled.

jaehyun took your hand, supporting your weight at the same time. he couldn’t rush you in the state you’re in.

“what about jaehyun? he’s the one who did all this, and had the rest of us included.” taeyong jut his lips to point to the boy, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jackets. “he should get a punch too.”

“i’m not punching someone who wants to be closer to me. it’s not a good.. first impression.” you hid a laugh with flattened lips, jaehyun mirrored you and gave a flirty wink.

with that, he managed to magnetise you, just to make his gap with you,

closer.

#nct 127 #jaehyun oneshot #jung jaehyun #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun writings #jaehyun au #jaehyun fluff #jung yoonoh #nct jaehyun #jaehyun #nct #jaehyun nct #jaehyun x reader

[joozvoicemail]

Fireflies | LEE Jooheon

Gif credits to me heh

📌A/N: as much as I like thrillers and horror films, I would unfriend those who plan any scary dare game mission. But if it’s alone time with my crush... LET ME PROTECT YOU IMMA WARRIOR⚔️

Genre: fluff

Word count: ~800

Warning: #cemetery (Idk if this is a trigger but better be careful)

====================

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

You stopped at the entrance of the cemetery and turned to check on Jooheon, who was complaining in a low voice. “You should have known earlier,” you sighed, “you ready?”

His bottom lip went under his teeth, brows tied firmly while eyes busy taking in the surroundings. “Can’t we just lie about it? Say it’s closed?”

“It’s gonna be okay. I bet they hid it somewhere obvious,” you hesitated for a second, still decided to hold your hand out for the torch, “I go first?”

Though it was not exactly late, the only sound in the area came from the rustling leaves under your steps. As your eyes adapted to the evening blue, you agreed to save the torch for later and clipped it onto the waist belt of your jeans. The cemetery was not large but the tombs were located sparsely. Together with the trees around, it formed a dreadful tranquillity. Jooheon was walking a step behind you on the pavement that connected the entrance and the little resting area at the very back of the park. He had his head slightly tilted forward, sneak peeking around. His hands were restless – sometimes they were clasped in front of his chest, sometimes rubbing his thighs, and sometimes covering the sides of his neck.

“AH SHIT--” when several crows flew past and let out a cry, he cowered; fists clenched at head level.

“Are you alright?” You asked as if you had not startled just now.

He patted his chest and slowly stood upright, eyeing the tombs apologetically, “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful…that freaked me out.” He took a step forward to stand beside you, still panting like a pity child. Since the moment you volunteered to accompany him on this dumb mission for the dare game your group of friends had planned, he had been treating you as his fearless savior.

As you arrived at the so-called “treasure point”, you two began your search in different areas. It was not long before you noticed a tiny yellow flag hidden among the daisies to the left of a bench painted in dark green.

“Hey, I think I found it!” Jooheon’s voice coming from the other side of the resting area put a pause in your motion to grab the flag. The mission could wait, you put the flag in your hoodie pocket and hurried to him.

It had gotten darker. You called his name only to realize he was missing. Tension built up in your throat. A sudden tap on your shoulder pushed your anxiety to the peak and led you to look over. Next, your edginess exploded because of Jooheon’s re-appearance on the opposite side of you.

“For God’s sake!” It was your turn to pant this time, after a soft exclamation.

“Oops, thought you wouldn’t be scared,” he giggled. This was the first time he showed some joy since you had gone on this mission. While you were recovering from the shock, you realized how his eyes sparkled like fireflies in the dark.

When you fell for him, it was that one time his eyes sparkled listening to your not-so-interesting story. Since then, never had you not get lost for a bit whenever those eyes gleamed, let alone every time his dimples decorated his smiley face. “Are you…okay?” His concerned voice reminded you to snap out of the romance.

You blinked rapidly to take your eyes off him, scrabbling in your pocket. “I uh- I found this,” the flag brightened up his face further, “I guess we could go now.”

On the way back, you could not stop replaying that smile in your head. You kept your eyes to the ground and mouth shut. He fiddled with the flag between his fingers, glancing at you once in a while.

“Erm-“ he cleared his throat, “why did you come if you’d be scared like me?”

“Who doesn’t get jumpy when you scare them like that?” You disclaimed to defend your courage; but he seemed to misinterpret that as a blame. “No, no, I’m not mad at you! I just thought you’d freak out less with…some company,” you squeezed out a smile, “it wasn’t that terrifying, was it?”

He recalled the scenes; eyes widened while fingers stroked his cheeks, “I’m never doing it again,” he shook his head to get rid of the horrifying imaginations. He noticed your chuckle; an embarrassed smile formed between his dimples. “Anyways, thanks for making it easier for me.”

You slowed down your pace to be one step behind him, just enough to watch the streetlights illuminate your favourite night view.

====================

Thank you for reading. Have a good day, or goodnight🖤

#wish you good Sunday rest #and no Monday blue! #monsta x scenarios #monsta x imagines #monsta x fanfic #monsta x fluff #lee jooheon #joohoney #Jooheon imagines #jooheon scenarios #jooheon x reader #mywriting

[shachihata]

me rambling about rejuv’s storytelling structure under the cut i didn’t edit this post so if i’m unclear well. That’s what you get

ok so basically as i do my *checks watch* third replay of rejuv, i’ve basically been putting together what i’ve been calling like... a “lore walkthrough” of it? essentially, i’m writing synopses of each of the “story beats” of rejuv in correlation with the “gameplay beats” of rejuv, as laid out by jra’s 100% walkthrough. which seems kind of nebulous, but i mean something like this...

where i’ve put the “story beat” next to, in parentheses, the one or more gameplay sections that they correspond to. and the way i’ve split up the story beats is, i’ll admit, pretty subjective. i’ve been sort of basing it off of the natural “flow” of events, with each chapter having some sort of exposition and then a main conflict/climax. for example, chapter 4 looks like this:

“goldenleaf town” sets up the exposition for the chapter conflict, while “wispy tower” is the main climax that provides some sort of resolution to this conflict. simple!

most chapters, i’ve noticed, are around 2 story beats long, with each story beat taking place in a different area from the last. chapter 4 is divided into the goldenleaf town exposition and the wispy tower conflict/climax; chapter 8 is divided into the magma stone exposition and the valor mountain conflict/climax; chapter 9 is divided into the past aevium exposition and the west gearen sewers conflict/climax. longer chapters sometimes break this flow by introducing what i call a “falling action” beat. an example of this would be chapter 5: from the pre-blacksteeple exposition of the disappearance of akuwa town, the blacksteeple castle conflict where you confront neved and madame x, and the terajuma island falling action where you’re introduced to the next main “hub area” of rejuv. i’m on chapter 12 right now, and the only chapter that’s been shorter than two “story beats” is chapter 3, one of the shortest chapters in the game gameplay-wise, anyway. the exposition and climax both take place inside of chrysalis mansion, and occur in such short sequence with basically no falling action to speak of; story-wise, there’s nowhere that feels “right” to split it up, if that makes sense.

now, i’ve noticed that what i consider to be the “weaker” chapters of rejuv actually are the chapters that have three story beats -- these chapters, as you might imagine, are the longer ones that tend to drag on in terms of their conflicts and resolutions. chapter 5 “naturally” ended with the ending of blacksteeple, but you have to sit through a sequence at terajuma island that imo breaks the mood of the chapter by introducing you to... a tropical jungle where everyone’s complaining about the heat, literal minutes after the INCREDIBLY intense sequence where melia reveals that she’s still alive, you’re introduced to who madame x even is, and madame x kills nancy. the conflict has come to its natural close, and yet you’re immediately thrown even MORE problems that DON’T have a natural conclusion with the end of the chapter. instead, they get “dragged on,” meaning that to end your gameplay session with the end of the chapter leaves you feeling “unsatisfied” with the few answers you’ve received: saki is missing and nowhere to be found, alex and sam reveal that angie is the next big bad guy of the terajuma arc, nim is getting weirdly sick and weak, a cutscene with ren shows him joining team xen... and so on.

obviously, in any story, there has to be an overarching plot and conflict that does span multiple chapters. like, i’m not saying that all the problems in a chapter need to be resolved in that chapter. i’m saying that the “weaker” chapters introduce multiple smaller conflicts that simply aren’t on the level of the main plot that don’t get addressed to any satisfying degree, which weakens the overall impact of the chapter’s conflict and makes it feel longer than necessary. if that makes sense!

it’s this tendency to “drag on” that makes rejuv’s storyline much weaker after act 1 (the ending at valor mountain), imo. chapter 8 was an incredibly strong chapter, definitely one of my favorite in all of rejuv -- magma stone exposition plus a powerful ending at valor mountain where a lot of subplots are either resolved or, at the very least, addressed in a way where the player’s reassured that they haven’t been forgotten about (just off the top of my head... crescent’s connection to the player, jenner’s love for melia, nim’s psychic powers and inhuman nature, zetta’s problems and disorders, team xen’s weird immortality-at-a-cost, etc etc etc). it’s a natural ending to the main conflict of act 1: Team Xen Has Problems And Wants Melia Soooooooo So Bad. you win! ...at a major cost. it provides satisfying resolutions to the problems that’ve been presented in the first half of the game, while still setting up the stakes of the next act (angie, team xen at large, Crescent’s Connection To The Player). you’ve got a pretty clear idea of What To Do Now and What The Plot Is Going To Address Next, but the main threat still on the table is Madame X And Co.

...and then act 2 comes in and starts muddying stuff up. the reason why act 1 works so well is because even though there are so many minor problems being introduced, the major problem is still hanging over your head at any given moment. melia dead? it’s team xen. keta’s dead? it’s team xen. aelita’s being tortured? it’s team xen. amber’s being kidnapped? You Guessed It, It’s Team Xen. there’s no ambiguity about what the overarching plot is, as opposed to the myriad of “overarching arc-spanning problems” that are introduced in each chapter in act 2. once again, off the top of my head: your role as the “interceptor,” the role of bladestar, kieran and clear, the puppetmaster, nim/lorna, angie, vitus/indriad, the stone incident... and team xen’s previously-monolithic strength is undermined by madame x’s role in the doomed future, as she becomes a semi-ally even though there was very little prior character development for her besides “evil lady who killed your mom and warned maria in the prologue and has some sort of goal that you’re unwittingly ruining.” their importance in act 1 is diminished by all of the new problems suddenly being thrown at you in act 2 that have arc-wide importance, even though you, as a first-time player, have no idea why so many problems seem to be having arc-wide importance.

expanding off of what i was talking about earlier with chapter 5: the problems “drag on”! a TON of problems are introduced with VERY little resolution in each chapter, and the previously-rigid story beats start falling apart, making the story less satisfying to play through even though you know there will be a resolution at some point in the future. take my (very very tentative) outline for chapter 11 so far:

i wasn’t... very sure how to split this one apart, tbh, because every beat has so many problems and so little resolution, everything ends up blurring together. the first beat, “grand dream city”: the missing rune. bladestar. valarie not recognizing you guys. alice and allen and karen and their connection to the theolias. cassandra’s connection to team xen. madelis’s new job. the second beat, “stone incident”: venam being turned into stone. isha and the hospital of hope. nightmare city. who the fuck is the puppetmaster. nightmare zetta. aelita’s problems and issues disorders. being the “interceptor.” the xenpurgis. the last beat, “rose theatre”: what happened to aelita. souta’s connection to the eldest. your crew being signed up for the festival of dreams tournament.

...how many of these are resolved by the end of chapter 11? uhhhhhhhhhhhh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. yeah. compare this to how much “tighter” chapter 4 felt! the first beat, “goldenleaf town”: geara coming to intercept you in goldenleaf. ren’s connection to goldenleaf. narcissa’s problems with goldenleaf. mosely’s conflict with goldenleaf. the wispy tower incident. the second beat, “wispy tower”: mosely comes back to help you! you realize that the wispy tower is somehow connected to team xen/houses information important to team xen, and beat geara’s ass in the process! you beat narcissa in a gym battle, and goldenleaf changes their ways! ren tells you that he has problems with goldenleaf because it was his father’s last wish that he “save” goldenleaf! it sets up future conflict (ren’s dissatisfaction with the outcome, what sirius and co. were studying in wispy tower, geara meeting up with jenner/zetta/nim in the altered dimension), but there’s a clear main conflict that gets resolved and ties back to the main enemy, team xen. it’s clear-cut, it’s strongly written, it’s done.

yes, act 2 expands the scope and heightens the stakes of rejuv a lot, which is why so many problems Are Introduced At All -- but the main conflict gets very heavily muddied with all of the minor problems that are thrown at you with every single conversation, it feels. i’m only on chapter 12 but from what i remember, this “dragging on” problem happens a lot throughout act 2 (although there are some sections i think are very strongly written, don’t get me wrong). that’s why chapter 15 is so good, in comparison: it provides so much fucking resolution. it’s a “return to form,” in a sense -- conflict is set up and resolved in that chapter, while questions from previous chapters are brought back and answered (to... some “vague” degree of “clarity”). this is very much opposed to a lot of the chapters in act 2 imo, where a bunch of problems are set up with no resolution in that chapter at all. idk. my memory of them is kinda fuzzy and i gotta just keep chugging through the game, it’s interesting just to break down how all this stuff works in a meta storytelling sense ig :T

#ciphertexts #rejuvenation #fake tvtropes analysis #ahhhh fake tvtropes analysis tag i've missed you. #anyway. if you actually read all this wow. i don't feel like a single one of these paragraphs makes sense to anyone but me. #if youve got thoughts id love to hear em though. i love critical analysis and being a hater

[that-blue-vault-dweller]

The End of the World

Primary Relationship: (Platonic) Piper Wright & Female Sole Survivor

Characters: Piper Wright, Female Sole Survivor, Dogmeat, Cait, Curie, and Danse

Genre: Angst/Comfort

Rating: T

Word Count: 6889

Summary: When Piper and Nora follow a distress call, they find something that shakes Nora to her core. Of course, this incident does not help at all with Nora's state of mind as she finally puts together the teleporter to the Institute and tries it out. When Nora comes back from the Institute, she is just a husk of herself. It is up to Piper to help her best friend heal.

A/N: It’s been forever since I’ve written anything, and this fanfic has been pure heck for me because of my struggling motivation and the fact that my Microsoft Word program just decided it’d delete a good 700-900 words of this the other day, lol. So if it’s a little less than perfect, please keep that in mind 😅💙💛

“Every once in a while, you guys should really consider offing yourselves before we have to take the time out of our day to do it,” Piper called out, aiming and managing to land several headshots from behind the safety of her cover. She grinned, pleased with her marksmanship, as she downed a few more raiders. She glanced over at the blue-clad woman nearby her, making sure all was well.

  To her relief, Nora seemed to be doing perfectly fine, raising the auto laser-rifle barely above the top of the fence as she blasted various men in a repetitive barrage of relentless fire.

  So Piper then returned to attempting to shoot the incoming guys while Nora chucked grenades in their direction.

  They had made their way down to the marshes heading out on a mission that Preston had asked Nora to go on. Nora had been helping Sturges set up the teleportation device to get into the Institute, but Preston had said his mission was urgent—of course, it was always urgent, Piper could not help but think to herself—and Nora had headed out after ensuring that Sturges would be fine working on his own.

  It was on the way back from that said mission that Nora had picked up a distress call and took it upon herself to check it out. Personally, Piper had been strongly under the impression that it was either Pre-War or a trap set up by greedy raiders, but Nora still insisted on checking anyway.

  Welp. Turns out Piper was right. It was certainly, most assuredly raiders.

  However, Nora seemed to have her eyes fixed upon a certain part of the house where the raiders were coming out of, and she appeared to be quite focused indeed. Unlike other times when she was taking on raiders, Nora seemed to be driven by something deeper than just a will to live.

  Of course. Nora was likely still concerned that there was someone actually in the house that needed saving. Nora always had such everlasting hope and perpetual innocence despite how many times she had been scalded by the burning hand of reality.

  But before Piper could worry with this much longer, a bullet whizzed by her head and she jerked a bit, ducking. Her heart raced, beating almost painfully in her chest as she felt the quick wave of fear wash over her.

  “Jeez!” Piper yelped before leaning around her cover and shooting several more of them.

  Their numbers seemed to be reducing, and Piper grinned with relief, realizing that they were almost finished with the battle before them. As a small group of raiders gathered around the door of the house and were about to exit, Piper withdrew a grenade from her pocket, pulling the pin out of it and prepping for throw.

  “NO, PIPER, DON’T!!!” Nora cried, and Piper gaped at the blue-clad woman, just halting before she threw the grenade. Nora was completely panicked, and Piper just stared at her forgetting about the weapon she had just fired up.

  “Why not?!”

  “There’s someone in there! If you throw, it could blow up on them!” Nora desperately proclaimed, and it was then that Piper conveniently remembered that she was holding a grenade of all things in her hand.

  “Well, where in the heck am I supposed to chuck it then?!!! It’s about to go off, Blue!!!” Piper screamed, and Nora shook her head swiftly before rushing forward, shifting covers. The bullets immediately flew toward her, and just barely missed her form. She slid over beside Piper, snatching the grenade and throwing it as far in the opposite direction from the house as she possibly could.

  It landed in one of the muddy waterholes of the marsh, and after several moments, it exploded, water and mud shooting up into the air in a geyser-like fashion.

  Nora grinned in slight relief, but that moment was short-lived in light of the bullet that suddenly shot by her face. Nora furrowed her brow, her hand instinctively reaching over to Piper’s back as she tried to keep the other girl in cover. Piper ducked easily and leaned to the side as she angled her 10 mm to help Nora fend off the remains of the group.

  Between the two of them, they soon took out the entire lot of them. Nora wasted no time in hurrying toward the house, knocking on the door and calling out before gently opening it with her hands up in a surrendering gesture.

  Piper looked down, looting a few grenades from the fallen men to make sure that the both of them were well-equipped in case they had drawn the attention of other undesirables. After a moment, she looked up from her task and noted that Nora had completely disappeared.

  Piper presumed that the older woman was in the house just judging by the fact that the door was wide open, but Piper still hurriedly stuffed the grenades in her pocket so that she could ensure that this assumption was correct.

  The reporter strode through the doorway, looking around for Nora and stepping over the fallen raiders. From what Piper could see of the house, it was completely devoid of anyone— living or dead except for the bodies at the front door.

  “Blue?” Piper called cautiously before realizing that there was an upstairs area to the house. Piper turned and started up the stairs, withdrawing her 10 mm in case that there was something up there other than her best friend waiting for her.

  She edged up the stairs until she finally made it all the way up. She slowly lowered her gun at the sight that she beheld. Piper could hear the low volume replay of a distress call coming from Nora’s Pip-Boy, and there was Nora, bent down there on the ground next to a small pile of skeletons.

  Piper had apparently not been entirely correct in her belief that the distress call had been to attract people into a raider group’s trap.

  The reporter sighed deeply as she put her gun away, slowly ambling over to where Nora was. As she grew closer, she quickly realized that the skeletons were not just in a pile, but they were sitting in a very specific formation. There were two that appeared to have been a couple, one with a tattered dress and the other with a shredded suit. And there between them was a sickeningly small skeleton that they both were resting their hands on.

  The younger girl wrenched her gaze away from the sight there on the ground in favor of looking at Nora.

  Nora’s face was completely blank as she looked at the three. Piper swallowed slightly and knelt down beside the vault-dweller. Her heart suddenly squeezed painfully as she saw the watery sheen forming in Nora’s eyes.

  Piper sighed deeply, reaching a hand out and placing it on Nora’s carefully. The blue-clad woman flinched slightly at the contact, but it did not take her too long to recognize the gloved hand. As soon as she realized who it was, she turned her hand in Piper’s grasp and squeezed Piper’s hand.

  Piper quickly knew why the sight was so horrifying for Nora in particular. The three skeletons quite obviously reminded her of her old life, and it was apparent that it was greatly affecting the vault-dweller. It was honestly bothering Piper herself on a very deep level. Piper just surveyed the situation, mostly keeping her eyes on Nora as she tried to gauge the older woman’s reaction.

  As soon as Nora blinked and a lone tear streamed down her cheek against her will, Piper slowly got to her feet, deciding that they should not be there any longer.

  “Blue?” Piper spoke aloud, and Nora looked up at her. It killed Piper to see that lost, sorrowful expression on Nora’s ordinarily so upbeat and optimistic face.

  “Whaddya say we head out? Y’know, get some fresh air?” Piper questioned, holding out her hand to the older woman in a silent offering to help her up and out of here. Nora gave one last, lingering look to the small family before turning her gaze to Piper with a slight nod. Nora reached her hand out, taking Piper’s own, and Piper helped her up.

  “C’mon, Blue,” Piper told her softly, and they left the remnants of that old life behind.

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

       It had been several days since the incident, and they had both returned to Sanctuary since then. However, despite her hopes that it would disappear from the older woman’s mind, Piper unhappily noted how Nora seemed so terribly sad. Even Dogmeat’s enthusiastic, wagging greeting as soon as Nora set foot on the bridge heading to Sanctuary was not enough to bring that famous grin to the older woman’s face.

  Nora was still helping the people around Sanctuary with anything that they could need, but there was a sort of lackluster in her eyes instead of that spark of interest that she normally had when she heard Curie excitedly prattle on about her experiments. She had even lost that typical look of tenderness that she had when she looked at Cait and gave her usual motherly-esque advice and reassurance that Cait always so needed.

  Piper would have already been on her way back to Diamond City by now since it had been three days— and Piper never stayed more than three days after a journey with Nora since she knew Nat needed her. But since Piper had noticed the strangely melancholy mannerisms of the vault-dweller, Piper felt it necessary to stay and try to help or talk to the blue-clad woman.

  However, despite her best wishes, things were moving rather quickly with the teleportation device since Sturges had finally been able to put the machine together and all of Nora’s time was composed of trying to help him to get it running. Therefore, Piper had not had a chance to talk to Nora so far.

  And before she knew it, Nora was stepping into the machine on the teleportation pad that she and Sturges had somehow assembled by some miracle of work in duct tape.

  Piper crossed her arms over her chest, biting her bottom lip as she watched the entire scene unfold before her. Cait, Danse, Curie, and Dogmeat were all gathered about, and Dogmeat had not stopped pacing and whining the entire time. It was as if he sensed something big was happening and all of the nervous energy around him was affecting his own reaction to the entire ordeal.

  “I don’t think that you are qualified to be in control of such complex machinery,” Danse commented aloud as he alternated between glaring distrustfully at Sturges and gaping at Nora in something between desperateness, love, and fear. Piper could easily pick up on the normally so stoic man’s secret crush on her best friend, and she honestly felt quite sorry for him.

   “Don’t worry about nothin’. I’ve got this,” Sturges assured him, and Danse happened to meet Piper’s eyes in the midst of his gaze shifting about. Piper looked at him worriedly, silently conveying her skepticism. Danse’s gaze slightly softened in something akin to kindred understanding. It was something that her and Danse had never shared before, and even that could not make her feel any better about this entire situation. In fact, it just made her feel worse.

  “I don’t like it,” Cait added her verdict, just as irritated and unhappy as Danse seemed to be about the entire thing. However, Cait’s emotions were accompanied by an additional irritableness and the frequent clenching of her fists.

  “No disrespect intended, but I’m not too sure you like anythin’,” Sturges good-naturedly joked, and Cait set her jaw. Piper could easily see that the redhead was frighteningly close to stomping the mechanic into the ground.

  “Monsieur Sturges, I would feel much better if I could help you with this. I am rather worried about the success of this experiment, especially considering that you could be risking dear Madame Nora’s life,” Curie fretted aloud, hovering about the machinery.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it now, I’ve got this,” Sturges assured her. Curie worriedly looked up at Nora, who was standing on the teleportation pad. Nora offered her the first real smile since the morning of that fateful day.

  “It’s okay, Curie. It’s okay,” Nora assured her, reaching out to cup the girl’s cheek in a hand fondly, and Piper could see something strange in Nora’s eyes. It was something that Piper had never seen and was not quite able to recognize. She had seen it in quite a few hopeless wastelanders that they had met, but this was somehow different in Nora. Curie sighed and backed away a little with a small sniffle.

  “Nora, I don’t feel comfortable with this,” Danse expressed, stepping only a bit closer to the vault-dweller to express his feelings in a hushed voice.

  “It’ll be fine,” Nora told him simply, and Piper just studied her as the attraction toward the former paladin flickered in her eyes for the barest of moments before replacing itself with that strange unidentifiable emotion.

  “Ye stay in one piece, ye hear?” Cait told the vault-dweller as she stepped near the older woman, and Nora nodded as she extended her hand to gently touch Cait’s shoulder in a loving gesture.

  “I will,” Nora nodded, and Cait sighed slightly, leaning into Nora’s touch ever so slightly before backing away.

  “Alright, y’all, I think it’s crankin’ now!” Sturges called out, and all of them except Piper stepped away from the group. Piper swallowed hard, taking in the sight of the blue-clad woman standing there in the contraption.

  “Blue, are you sure about this?!” Piper finally asked desperately, and she felt her heart racing in her chest with the scariness associated with the entire situation.

  “I’m as sure as I’m going to get, I guess!” Nora replied with a slight shrug of surprising nonchalance for someone who could very likely die in the next few moments.

  “Hold onto your hats, folks!” Sturges called out and Danse took Piper’s shoulder in his hand, pulling her to a safe distance from the device.

  Nora smiled, waving to all of them and Piper could feel Curie trembling next to her. Danse was just staring at the device as it was shuddering with the power surging through it, his brow furrowed sternly but his eyes telling an entirely separate story. Cait was standing as stiff as a board, but Piper saw the unadulterated terror in the other woman’s eyes as she watched the scene unfolding before them.

  And as Nora suddenly dematerialized in a startling flash, Piper realized what she had seen in Nora’s eyes.

  It was the acceptance and welcoming of death with open arms.

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

      Piper had been sitting and waiting for a while now in Sanctuary Hills, scribbling a few small doodles on her notepad as she looked around nervously as if Nora would pop up randomly out of nowhere. She was genuinely terribly sick and worried about what had happened earlier.

  The machine had destroyed itself as soon as Nora disappeared, and Piper honestly had no idea what that meant for the vault-dweller. Did the machine work long enough to send Nora to the Institute? Were Institute agents standing there waiting for her if Nora had made it through?

  Piper’s stomach was churning, and she felt absolutely horrible about the entire ordeal. Piper easily knew that, realistically, the chances were not looking good for Nora.

  But Piper could not bear to consider that side of the situation. She refused to think about it. There was no possible way that anyone could have hurt the invincible Blue. Her invincible Blue.

  So she just sat and waited, having no idea what had become of Nora, but hoping for the best.

  However, she did not have to dwell on this thought too long, because before she knew it, there was a bright flash of light that was practically blinding. Piper brought a hand up to her eyes, covering them as she tried to shield herself. After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes, still squinting and readjusting after the light that suddenly invaded her space.

  After only a moment, her eyes made out a very familiar form. She immediately knew who it was with only the barest glimpses of the person.

  “Blue!” she cried before quickly getting up and hurrying to the other woman, hugging her tightly.

  The first thing Piper noticed was how strange the woman smelled. She was much cleaner than she was when she teleported away and she had this scent of antiseptic and something foreign. But she still had that Nora smell to her, and that is what reassured Piper that they indeed had not replaced Nora with a synth lookalike.

  The second thing Piper noticed was how Nora slowly brought her arms up around Piper and hugged her with a gentleness and a defeat that Piper had never seen in the other woman no matter how bad things got.

  Piper furrowed her brow as Nora leaned into the hug, ducking her head down to press her head into Piper’s shoulder. The reporter rubbed Nora’s back gently, thoughts running through her head at the speed of light.

  Piper did not say anything, finding herself at a complete and total loss as to what to say as her mind began to settle on a certain conclusion about the entire ordeal.

  It must have been too late for poor little Shaun.

  Piper immediately felt a little sick to her stomach at the thought of the child that Nora loved so dearly being gone from the world. She could not stand it, and the thought somewhat made her feel like crying for Nora’s sake. However, Nora seemed way too okay for that to be the case.

  Maybe she was still in shock.

  Reality came washing back to the reporter as a happy bark sounded off, and she felt Dogmeat jump up and lick Nora’s face, snuffling happily as he leaned his weight against the two girls. Piper pulled away hesitantly, and she quickly spotted Curie and Cait hurrying over. Piper could also hear the heavy footsteps of Danse’s armor stomping quickly behind her.

  Nora chuckled just barely, sounding terribly forced as she received Dogmeat as warmly as she could muster at that moment. As soon as Curie was within arms-length, she latched onto Nora as tightly as she could, nearly in tears as she sniffled and blubbered.

  “Madame, you are alright! Thank goodness Monsieur Sturges knew more about what he was doing than I feared!” Curie whimpered, clinging onto Nora as tightly as she could. Nora hugged the girl in return, rubbing her back carefully as she comforted her.

  “I’m fine, Curie,” Nora replied, and Piper painfully noticed the emptiness in her tone that replaced the ordinary warmth that she always without fail addressed Curie with. Piper crossed her arms. After a long moment of Nora just rocking in place with Curie in her arms, the poor girl finally released the vault-dweller, wiping her eyes pitifully.

  “Oh, goodness… I am a mess!” Curie announced, and Nora just reached out her hands, wiping Curie’s tears away with her thumbs as she cradled her cheeks in that motherly manner in which she regarded so many people.

  “It’s okay,” Nora assured her, only the smallest hint of smiles on her face. Curie pulled herself together after a moment, furrowing her brow only slightly as she hiccupped and watched Nora move to embrace Cait comfortingly. Curie looked over at Piper, her blue eyes shining with an unspoken question that, knowing Curie, would no doubt be a very much spoken question after a moment. Piper just shrugged, shaking her head in an attempt to dissuade Curie from asking just yet. Curie furrowed her brow, looking quite concerned as she clasped her hands to her chest while occasionally reaching up to wipe away her tears as they came coursing down her cheeks as per her usual emotionality.

  Cait stiffened as soon as Nora hugged her, quite obviously self-conscious of everyone around seeing the display of affection, but soon enough, her fondness for Nora and her relief won over as she hugged Nora bone-crushingly, her somewhat taller form hugging onto the vault-dweller with all she had.

  After a moment, Nora released her and looked to Danse. She smiled at him softly, the expression not meeting her eyes whatsoever. He had left his power armor during the time that she had been interacting with the others and he was looking quite out of place as he gazed at her in relief.

  Nora walked up and hugged him quickly, the side of her head pressed to his chest and he hugged her back, obviously not sure what to do but more than willing to try to express his feelings.

  After a long moment, Nora released him, and she looked at all of them, that small smile faltering as the pure hopelessness in her started to shine through.

 By this time, everyone had caught onto the mood, and they were all looking at her with deep concern and worry. Nora just swallowed hard, glancing away as she sighed deeply.

  “I’m… I’m going to go for a walk, okay?” Nora informed them, and they all nodded carefully.

  “Do you need company, Madame?” Curie questioned in that sweet manner that she always possessed. Piper immediately knew the answer that was coming before Nora even uttered a word.

  “I appreciate it, but I think I need a little bit of time… By myself,” Nora explained, and Curie nodded slowly, her brow furrowed with worry as she looked at the woman.

  “I’ll be back, guys,” Nora told them with a slight smile, her eyes suddenly looking very tired and weak as she started off in a direction. As soon as she began to walk off, Dogmeat hurried along beside her, frequently looking up in her direction as he gently nosed her hand. She looked down at him as she went, wordlessly reaching her hand out and petting his head as they walked together, his body pressed against the side of her leg.

  The group gathered shared a concerned glance, and Piper swallowed a little. Cait suddenly spoke up after a few moments.

  “I think the trip didn’t turn out so well…”

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

      “Piper, ye need to do something,” Cait spoke, her jaw clenched and her eyes focused on the ground.

  The journalist looked over to the redhead, her brow furrowed as she took in Cait’s oddly forlorn expression.

  It had been two days since Nora had returned from the Institute, and Piper had asked a minuteman heading to Diamond City to go and give Nat a written message explaining everything and why she had not yet returned home. She knew that she had to have been worrying her younger sister, but she did not feel like she could leave Nora in her current state.

  The woman was even more mopey than she had been when she saw the family of skeletons. In fact, at this point, Nora was downright worrying Piper sick. The woman refused to speak to anyone, and she only emerged from her old house occasionally to take the odd walk or to go fetch something to eat before quickly retreating to her hiding spot within her old home.

  Everyone had been bugging her periodically since she had gotten home, and she was always terribly distant and dismissive. She was never rude or hurtful, but she always seemed miles away and did her best to keep to herself. Cait had been in the house five times, Danse twice, Piper three times, and Curie ten times. Dogmeat had consistently and steadfastly remained at Nora’s side throughout all of it, and he was the only one that Nora did not try to drive away from her.

  “I… All of us… can’t help her. She needs you,” the redhead told her sincerely, finally meeting Piper’s eyes. Piper huffed lightly, looking away from the other woman.

  “The last time I saw her, she told me she’s fine and not to worry about her,” Piper quietly said. Cait shook her head, slightly annoyed as she wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brow.

  “That’s the same line she’s been running us, too,” Cait scoffed in irritation squeezing her hand with her other one as she uncomfortably attempted to deal with her negative emotions in a better manner that she likely would have ordinarily. Piper looked away into the distance in thought.

  Cait sighed and Piper could hear the immense exasperation. “Listen, Piper, I know we don’t see eye to eye on most things and that we both ‘ave our moments of actin’ out. But do this fer Nora. She needs help and I,” Cait paused, and Piper could practically feel the redhead’s emotions of pure humiliation, helplessness, and hurt rolling off of her in waves.

  “I think that yer the only one that can do it,” Cait ground out. Piper’s gaze immediately shifted to the fighter seated on the crate. Cait set her jaw and glared down at the worn concrete almost as if she were attempting to drill holes in it by sheer willpower.

  “Yer less pushy than Curie and ye ain’t as bad at emotions as Danse. And ye ain’t so lost as some of us,” Cait admitted, clearly referring to herself with the last description as she wrung her hands almost aggressively, her jaw tightening as she clenched her teeth.

  Piper glanced back over at the broken-down house. She sighed deeply, knowing it was certainly meaningful when Cait actually expressed such sentiment as she had to Piper of all people. Piper pushed off of the wall that she was leaned against and slowly started her way over to the front door of the place.

  Allowing her hand to gently brush the doorway, she carefully walked in, the old floor creaking beneath her feet and the leaves rustling a bit as they were pushed out of the way as she walked.

  Piper slowly wandered through the hallway of Nora’s old home in all of its destroyed glory, absently taking in the remnants of Nora’s life gone by as she slightly dreaded the encounter she was about to have with her best friend. It was not that she did not want to spend time with her or help her. It was just that she was somewhat afraid that the woman would try to push her away.

  She stopped at the door to Shaun’s bedroom, looking in at the forlorn sight of the woman crouched in front of the blue crib. Her best friend was bent down on the floor with Dogmeat close at her side, his chin resting on her leg, and there was the definitive sound of Nora’s Pip-Boy rewinding a recording. Piper paused before entering, listening carefully as an odd playback that Piper had never heard before began.

  “Hi, honey… Listen…

  “I don’t think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a mother you are… But we’re going to anyway.”

  Piper felt her mouth go dry. While she had never heard the man’s voice, she knew precisely who this person had to be. And it genuinely hurt her heart to know that Nora had quite obviously been listening to this recording for quite some time.

  “You are kind, and loving,” Nate explained and Shaun giggled. When Nate spoke back up, his voice was warm and filled with mirth. “And funny. That’s right.”

  “And patient. So patient. Patience of a saint, as your mother used to say,” he explained and Piper allowed herself a small smile. Piper wholeheartedly agreed with the man, despite not ever being able to see the Pre-War version of Nora. Of course, Piper was mostly sure that she had seen the closest resemblance to this Pre-War person that anyone else could have. But nevertheless, Nora’s patience persisted even today.

  “Look, with Shaun, and all of us being at home together… It’s been an amazing year. But even so, I know our best days are yet to come,” Nate continued, and Piper felt a dagger stab into her heart as she completely lost any happiness that she may have had. They were best days that were never to come for Nora.

  “There will be changes, sure, things we’ll need to adjust to,” Piper could not help but mentally note all of the many things that Nora had to adjust to all by herself. “I’ll rejoin the civilian workforce. You’ll shake the dust off your law degree…”

  “But everything we do, no matter how hard… We do it for our family,” Nate told her, and Piper felt her heart rip out of her chest as Nora allowed a small sob to wrack her frame. Piper wanted to step forward and at least attempt to comfort her, but she was not sure if it would be too large of an intrusion. Luckily, Dogmeat stepped in and nudged her hand, whimpering as he stared up at her.

  “Now say goodbye, Shaun. Bye, bye? Say bye, bye?” Shaun just laughed joyfully, and Piper saw Nora raise her hand and gently touch the Pip-Boy’s screen.

  “Bye, honey. We love you,” Nate expressed before the recording shut itself off. Piper bit her bottom lip slightly, feeling a pit growing in her stomach as she tried to keep away the pain.

  Piper honestly could not even begin to imagine how horrible it would be to lose one’s son and one’s husband all at the same time. Nora had some hope with Shaun, but now Piper had no idea if Nora had actually managed to find Shaun or if he was alive at all. All she knew was that her best friend was in a deep and terrible pain, which, very unfortunately, implied that something horrible had happened.

  “Piper.” The reporter was jolted from her reverie by a hoarse, husky voice that was altogether completely unlike the ordinarily so strong woman that Piper knew. Piper felt her stomach twist, and she swallowed a little.

  “Blue?” Piper questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Nora did not say anything else, so Piper tentatively stepped forward, starting to approach the older woman. Piper slowly came around her, noting how her face was tearstained and her face looked like a ghost. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed so terribly unhappy.

  Piper carefully lowered herself to the ground next to Nora and sat down, just looking over at the blue-clad woman and not saying anything. Despite her instincts that really wanted to push a little to encourage a somewhat swifter response, Piper knew that Nora needed some time.

  It was after a terribly long time that Nora finally spoke again.

  “It was all for nothing,” Nora told her in a gravelly voice. Piper felt her heart sink further if that was even remotely possible.

  “All this time, I’ve been fighting to find my son,” Nora spoke aloud, her voice wobbly as she evidently fought for the strength that she normally possessed. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Piper started to reach out and rub them gently, but she decided she would let the woman finish.

  “But my son… He’s dead,” Nora admitted, her voice cracking with the last word. Piper frowned, but something in Nora’s voice was strange. It was something different than the way that one would ordinarily speak of someone’s passing.

  “And I found a sixty-year-old man named Shaun leading the Institute,” Nora admitted, and Piper gaped at Nora, now realizing precisely why Nora had sounded so strange. Piper almost gasped, but she somehow managed to keep it under control so that it only sounded like a small, quick intake of breath through her nose.

  Nora’s son was the leader of the Institute.

  Piper could hardly fathom that idea. There must have been so much more time passed than just ten years. Piper felt her stomach flop uncomfortably as she looked over at her best friend.

  “And it was all for nothing,” Nora finished, sounding strangled as she finally sobbed miserably and shook all over.

  Piper wasted no time in reaching over and grabbing Nora in her arms tightly. The vault-dweller quickly clung on as if Piper were her lifeline. Dogmeat whined pitifully, trying to get as close to the two as their position would allow.

  “I almost wish I had been vaporized in that machine a few days ago,” Nora admitted pitifully, and it was all Piper could do to keep from breaking down crying with her at that confession. She knew that life was hard for Nora, and while Nora was not suicidal, Piper knew that sometimes, moments of weakness came to play where the woman would not exactly mind an accident coming along.

  And Piper knew why Nora had those moments of weakness. Life was not easy, and moreover, everyone that she used to know and love was gone from this world. Piper knew Nora loved her and all the rest of the weirdos running around, but Piper also knew that the loss of Nora’s husband and family weighed heavily upon her, too.

  Of course, now that she found him and knew that he was the very evil that she had been so strongly fighting against, Nora was quite obviously devastated. And understandably so. Piper found that she herself was blown apart inside even if it was mostly on Nora’s behalf.

  “It’s okay, I got you,” Piper whispered, honestly not having any idea how to make things better but deciding that reassuring Nora that she was there with her was the best route to take. Nora leaned into her heavily, and Piper held her tightly as the reporter felt all of Nora’s weight—physical and mental— pressing against her.

  As she held the blue-clad woman in her arms, Piper could not help but notice that Nora felt human for the first time. Right now, she was not that infallible figure of hope, optimism, and love that she so often portrayed. Right now, Nora was a sniveling ball of pain and weariness, and Piper had to take the role that Nora so often took with everyone else.

  And it somehow only endeared Nora more to Piper.

  “And that poor family in the marshes… That could’ve been us,” Nora admitted, her voice breaking as she spoke, and Piper was whisked back to the three skeletons that the two of them had found.

  “It wasn’t, though. It’s okay—”

  “I almost wish it was us,” Nora told her, and Piper clenched her teeth, a lump in her throat as she tried to hold herself together.

  “I understand why you feel that way… But I think a lot of people like you here, Blue,” Piper expressed quietly, and Nora just nodded, acknowledging Piper’s words.

  “I know… I’m sorry,” Nora apologized, and Piper shook her head.

  “Don’t be sorry. Talk it out,” Piper told her, warmth in her voice as she tried to wash away the inevitable hurt that was prickling a little with Nora’s admissions.

  However, Nora stayed quiet for a moment before some ugly thought must have washed up in her mind and her shoulders started to shake once again. Piper just sighed quietly, feeling her heart break a little more.

  Piper then gently began to rock on the floor, trying to offer the best comfort that she could for the vault-dweller as she referred back to her best techniques for soothing Nat.

  “Hey, it’s alright, it’s alright,” Piper murmured, softly humming some tune she had heard Nora play on her Pip-Boy millions of times. She knew she could not sing like Cait did— Piper had secretly eavesdropped once when the redhead was not paying attention— but she thought she would at least give it a try. She found that vibrations of a voice tended to soothe Nat, so it would perhaps work for Nora as well.

  She scooted over to the wall nearby in order to better support the both of them. Dogmeat crawled closer, keeping a close eye on the both of them. Piper just held her in her arms, trying to keep her humming as smooth and calming as possible. She also tried to keep away from sad tunes.

  Soon enough, it seemed to help her best friend and Nora had actually come to relax somewhat in the hug, her muscles slackening a little. However, there was a certain amount of tension that remained and the sobs had not totally halted.

  “I have to stop him,” Nora ground out after a few moments when she had calmed down only just enough to speak. However, the words launched another round of tears.

  Piper had a strong inclination of what exactly stopping the man entailed. He likely would not just easily give up his ideals and let Nora take down his idealistic world in favor of keeping alive a world that he obviously wanted to terrorize and destroy for whatever reason.

  Piper shook her head, stroking Nora’s hair carefully as she breathed in deeply.

  “I know, Blue… It’s okay. It’ll all work out,” Piper assured her, even though she herself was quite uncertain of that fact. Despite this, she tried to maintain the confident façade. Nora just shook her head in reply, negating the statement wordlessly. Nora was not stupid, and they both knew the truth. But Piper knew it was best to just forget the truth for a little while.

  “All of us… I’m here. We’re here. We’ll always be here… So it’ll be okay,” Piper spoke, her words much more assured. This time, she truly believed her promise. She would always be there for her best friend no matter what.

  “Promise?” Nora asked after a while, her voice a little thick.

  “I promise. You’re stuck with me and all of the rest of those goofs outside, too. You couldn’t get rid of me even if you had a ten-foot pole with a mirelurk on the end. I’d get Cait and stick her on the end of a ten-foot pole of my own and let her fight the thing. And then while the mirelurk on your stick was distracted, I’d run to you and you’d be stuck then,” Piper proclaimed, and she happily noted that Nora’s body was shaking a bit with laughter with only a slight inclusion of sobs. Piper, greatly encouraged by Nora’s mirth, continued in her monologue.

  “I mean, wonderglue has nothing on me. Wonderglue takes one look at me, says ‘I can’t even’ and then gives up and goes home because it could never cling on like I do,” Piper persisted, chuckles affecting her now, too, as she made a funny voice to further emphasize the wonderglue’s supposed statement.

  Nora snorted slightly, burying her face in Piper’s shoulder as she shook her head. Piper pressed her cheek to the side of Nora’s head, laughing with her a little.

  “Y’know… You remind me of my little sister, Piper,” Nora muttered under her breath after a long silence.

  “Yeah? What was her name?” Piper questioned, not sure what to say but taking the sudden subject change in stride and figuring she’d go with it. After all, whatever it took to make Nora feel better, Piper was willing to jump for it.

  “Carol,” Nora answered shortly, her voice getting a little tight once again, and Piper felt her heart sink a bit in her chest.

  “Huh. What was she like?”

  “Well… She was more irritating than you by a long shot but had just as much guts and was just as kind-hearted. Ironically, she had been aiming to be a reporter, too,” Nora explained with a wet chuckle, a small sob shaking through her.

  Piper swallowed, feeling the raw emotion roll through her. She could not imagine what it would be like to speak from Nora’s point of view about a younger sister passed away. It made Piper horribly sad for her best friend.

  “But she just didn’t have the chance to be a hero like you,” Nora expressed, and Piper paused a little before making a small negating noise.

  “No, you’re the hero here,” Piper replied immediately, feeling tears start to creep up in her eyes.

  “Maybe… But you’re my hero,” Nora confessed, her voice so clear and genuine that Piper felt several tears escape. What in the world had she done to deserve someone that was so wonderful to her even when that someone was in pain?

  It was just another thing that made Piper willing to do absolutely anything for Nora.

  Piper just squeezed Nora even tighter, not knowing what else to say or do. What could Piper say to even remotely respond to those words correctly or appropriately?

  It took her a moment of sitting there in silence with her best friend, but she finally was able to get her thoughts together well enough to reply.

  “Blue… You’re my hero,” Piper told her quietly, her voice growing wobbly with the words. Nora raised up a bit, shifting in the embrace and hugging Piper at a bit more even of a level as they just sat there together, holding each other tightly.

  Nora would get through this one way or another. But one thing was for sure.

  Piper would be there every step of the way.

#piper wright #dogmeat #female sole survivor #fallout 4 #fallout #fo4 #fallout oc #fallout 4 oc #nora #nora hale #sole survivor #curie #cait #danse #paladin danse #fallout fanfic #fallout fanfiction #fanfic #fic #fanfiction #fallout fic #fallout 4 fanfiction #fallout 4 fanfic #fallout 4 fic #angst #comfort #platonic #friendship #family #found family

[violet975]

Random thoughts.

So i replayed BOTW a while ago for the first time and decided to write down some of the random thoughts that i get while exploring Hyrule, here they are.

… A lot of these things gave me some fanfic ideas and I hope that they will do the same for someone more competent.

It's realty in character that the response to being asked why you took the man's torch is either to bludgeon things to death with it or to be a pyromaniac.

When the tower pedestal shines, Link instinctively leans back for a second before diving right back in because curiosity kills the cat.

The message from the slate/tower is to watch out for falling rocks which either means that 

1: zelda is writing them (and has a fair bit of free reign still).

2: the ancient Sheikah could see the future.

3: Ai to the likes of Fi.

Ganon kinda reawakens when the towers are up so maybe he was resting and building a body until he was interrupted here, which could be why his form later is such a hodgepodge of the Blights?.

Link is not too naive since he kinda clamps up in his answers to the totally unimportant old man.

Did Link briefly make eye-contact with the camera when he got the spirit orb!?

Link is a bit freaked out in his "How did you know!?" Response cas now he knows something major is up when the old man directly mentions the spirit orb.

Again, in character that you can choose to be an impatient brat with the "paraglider please?" Or inquisitive when Roam points out the slate.

Either run out of temper with the "that wasn't the deal!" Or be resigned with "so I need more now?" When the old fart sends you off to the other three shrines.

Ohh, another adrenaline junkie option with the "got it!" Over climbing the tower for a good view or a Deadpan "are you joking?".

"Or so i heard quite some time ago.. I do not know if it actually works as such" so they did not get teleporting to work before? or he just didn't learn how it was done.

So the monks, according to how the Triforce signs they held, apparently associate Power with Magnesis, Wisdom with bombs, Stability with stasis and Courage with cryonis?

The monks dissipate into green specks like Ganon’s soul does under the castle!

I'm not into men but damn if Link doesn't look good in the Warm Doublet.

Oh. My. God, he was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule!!!!!

Link is such a dumbass, you get to ask Kass "are you a ...bird?" As if the man isn't standing right in front of you. No shit Sherlock! What next, is that a recorder?.

OhhohoHO! You either say "no(, i have not heard of them)" or "Ancient songs?" As if you do not initially realize why they are thought to be ancient which either is old memories warring with the now world or Link not realizing what impact The Calamity had on culture.

Another flat-faced sarcastic remark everyone!

When Manny mentions that his job is checking for beauties/sus people you can either be a dumb dunce and ask about the said beauties or a little menace with "sounds though".

Manny is an Incel, talks a big game and puts himself on top of a pedestal alongside being demanding and a creep.

Does Hateno not have a goddess shrine? Just the ~Evil~ one?

There is a pair of rusty knights sword and shield by the leftmost part of the walkway of Fort Hateno. Some knight probably died laying there, watching out over the field of guardians having been/being purged by Zelda.

A traveler (Chelessa) is interested in history and wants to question Impa about it, and is on her way to do so in fact. . Describes her personality as very pleasant, that must be wrong.

The Yiga know exactly how Links first waking moments played out so either they have extensive knowledge about his character and the setup of the Shrine Of Resurrection or Ganon was watching in on Zelda's call and relayed it to a minion in the clan.

"Hero boy" - derogatory.

Arrow in the eye of the bridge at the entrance of Kakariko, the Yiga are petty and I love it.

Piano's (the painter) hair bun thing that is styled like a pencil has paint on the tip... this man painted with his hair.

So the great fairy Cotera makes it sound like she will enchant your gear because you rejuvenated her, not because you bring the materials to do the enchanting.

The levels of enchantment seemingly depends on physical closeness to the Fairy (blow< indirect kiss< kiss < sex)

She can not enchant beyond Lv 1 without her sister's help, so they share power?

Paya specifies that they have watched over the Orb since the grandmother of the grandmother of Impa, that's 9 whole generations of long lived Sheikah! roughly 1000 years of recorded history!

Again with Link being a dense Shonen protagonist with "where is it?" Or a sly bastard with "really, though?"... maybe so that she would want to prove it ;) 

…”I'll answer you some day, just not today!”

Either Paya is just not ready for that or she is so nervous that she did not think about the fact that her own grandmother was in the room when she said it!

“Served the royal family in secret” so it's not common knowledge that the royals have a village of Magic ninjas!? No wonder it took a damn demon to topple it instead of rebellion or infighting... probably has been like this since the old old king banished 'em.

"The royal family was destroyed, and the members of our tribe scattered."- okay so it was probably some Sheikah that either thought the royal family was completely extinct and either fled or, according to this next bit- "Sadly, there were some who swore allegiance to Ganon at that time. They joined together as the Yiga Clan, seeking out all who opposed Ganon... cutting them down, one after another." 

So from that we get to know that not all Sheikah deserters became enemies (unless the Sheikah dislike defectors enough to hunt them down) and others who either joined an existing opposing group or simply up and created the Yiga clan that then aligned itself with Ganon... probably under either the belief that Hylia's line was extinct and that it was join or die or because they wished to spite the goddess and her followers.

I actually like this way more because it makes no sense that the Yiga could survive before the Calamity when the Royals would have an entire damn country and anbu black-ops to hunt them down with.

"Master link, now that you are awake, you are surely the most formidable opponent standing against them!" Either hero worship or the Sheikah are freshly out on capable warriors with Ninja magic tricks, probably the latter which would explain why the world isn't infested with Lynels or why hynoxes haven't just trampled every settlement.

"No doubt they will come for you, employing whatever underhanded methods they can device" 

oh come on! Do not tell me that i'm stuck with the goodie two shoe ninja clan!? Underhandedness is your bread and butter! No wonder you served the royals in secret because you and them by proxy would have been a laughingstock otherwise!!!

"The great fairy Cotera... few remain who know that this village was built under her watchful eye." So the village is fairy new and the Yiga came about before Kakariko or it is old and so well protected that they can't get in... at least not easily.

"The mysterious power of Cotera is that of sacred protection..." so the Great fairies are linked to either Hylia or the gods, good to know.

So it’s not that Cotera “-would be happy to help” but, instead “i can't think of any reason why she wouldn't be happy to help you”. so either she only directly helps men or the earlier "you can put your trust in the great fairy" means that she judges more favorably for the chosen hero.

"I heard that the weather is going to be beautifully tomorrow... to bad you won't be alive to enjoy it"

So they have weather accurate~ich prediction? through magic or old time methods?

Again: Hero boy - derogatory... It's a common nickname for Link within the Yiga.

The lush green shrine could tell that a buck was on it, so the platforms are most definitely scanners.

A travelers sword by a campfire at the foot of mount Lanayru, so someone either took a swim and died to the Lizardfo, dramatically quit or got killed in their sleep.

Love the effect when you have metal weapons on the ground and swing a ThunderBlade!

You automatically reflect the Octorock's rocks, goes faster if you do it manually.

There is a hollowed out part of a hill/mountain with a lot of fic potential to the North-West of the Sword by the campfire.

Located where the lines meet if you draw a line to the right from Rabia plain and up from Trotter's Downfall.

Koko of Kakariko has been deceived by my cunning and slight-of-hand. 

Yes, Sagessa (woman by the lake of the Dueling peaks stable), there is, in fact, something "quite romantic" in Link's "endeavor" to save Zelda, thank you for noticing!

The chests inside the shrines can only (non-violently) be opened by use of the Sheikah slate so why not steal a few? prefect safe-keeping for more stuff to keep in Links house.

Dunce moment everyone! 

The Yiga traveler tries to seduce Link and you either go with "OK..." so he either has no damn idea about what is going on or is just not good with women? 

Orrrrr you go with a straight "I refuse!" cas you see through their ruse and want to rub their face in the dirt!

According to Mina the Hylian, taking out two Bokoblins is considered as great martial caliber which both she and her traveling companion could not do while decently armed.

Best way to deal with a guardian scout when you have weak weapons: hit with electricity, switch weapon, hit 2-5 times, switch to electric, repeat.

When you first enter the area around Hyrule Castle, smoke Ganon throws a fit until Zelda slaps him away. 

This either means that Zelda canonically gets a larger workload from there on and out or that the both of them push harder against each other every time you get close.

According to Zelda's diary, Link was assigned as her guard after the champions had been appointed.

How Link was focused on her yet did not voice his thoughts apparently "makes my imagination run wild!". Either romantic or dense.

Link admits to staying quiet because of the pressure of being the boy chosen by the sword. 

King Rhoam mentions that he decided to honor THE royal family's traditions by naming his daughter Zelda, and that he is "not a man accustomed to frivolous musings". 

Basically confirming that he is not the parent of royal blood.

They probably knew about The Calamity for a good while cas the page after zelda's naming speaks of the fortune teller, probs 3-8 years since Zelda was described to already have vast interest in the relics.

Pikango gets up at 10 past 5, I spent the night watching him and Beetle sleep.

According to all known laws of aerodynamics, Rito should not be able to fly, is Revali's gale then just an absurdly strong variation of some kind of sky Arcanum that all Rito possess? Do all the races possess one as Well?

Slimes ate the Bokoblins in the tree base at the center of the west Hyrule fields.

Savelle is a helpful guy without a pension for violence.

Munk Shae Loya is just flexing on all the other Munks, those old farts need to sit down while he's been squatting on one leg the last 10'000 years.

Chork of the Tabantha Bridge Stable is drunk.

Toren is either naive or a simp for the Faireys.

If you have the Hylian hood equipped with no weapon while riding at max speed then your cape will flap.

"Sweet boy..." "...I see now that my first impression of you was correct. You most definitely are pleasant to look at." 

So link has some kind of presence/soul-thingy that appears pleasant to mystical creatures? Might be the spirit of the hero or this link in particular.

The Fairy Kaysar makes Link blush! No player input needed! We’ve found one of his types!... either that or he's just shy.

The fairies almost never use normal materials to enchant, it's always either monster parts that don't dissipate or things that grow in magical arias.

The Sheikah towers are sturdy as all hell, the Tabantha tower did not even get a scratch from a giant fucking pillar falling on it.

Okay, am I just crazy or is a Lizardfo and a Moblin holding a class for 5 bokoblins just to the left of the Tabanta fairy fountain!?

Lester, the wise curry rice guy at Rito Stable, describes Link as sunny boy, another point to the soul/aura theory thingy.

Phontos laughs to hide the pain.

According to the story that Kass sings. 

Calamity Ganon was the result of sealing the enemy at its source.

It fought not only the spawn of the Goddess and the bearer of the Spirit Of The Hero but also the army of Guardians and the Champions that piloted the Divine Beasts for quite some time, as implied in the "and the guardians protected them throughout every hour".

So what i get from this is that the attack 10 000 years ago was the first sighting of what we know as calamity Ganon. 

It was also far stronger than the one that attacked 100 years ago which implies that that one was either a rush job or that Ganon bounds had been tightened, both of which would drive him to seek out other methods like corrupting the Guardians.

...And the Guardians are apparently powered by the ancient blue energy which was, time-line wise, first shown when the Golden Goddesses created the world.

No wonder that Ganon was capable of doing this since he most likely is running on fumes, spite and the power of the Triforce which likely is made of/channels said energy.

According to the rumor mill, you need the blood of the Hero in your veins to wield the Master Sword, if this is accurate then that means that Fi is sentimental or that Link has magic blood.

Wildberrys are fucking massive.

Genli (the salmon child) is a cunt, one kid was crying about someone Vah Medoh killed and then Genli is all like "no don't stop it, if you do then i have to go to class again!", She would fit right in with today's youth.

Monk Akh Va'quot has the best position so far, he is just done with your shit.

"You adventurers are Crazy" -> "you're right"

You get nothing if you melt all the ice by the Tabantha tower! You lose! Good day sir!

Monk Daka Tuss got bored during his self-inflicted quarantine and started stacking his arm bands.

Tula (the bathing Zora) said "wow either you are a Hylian or hideously deformed"

Phura has vandalized and mounted one of the spirit frog statues above her door.

Okay but the fucking noice that comes out of Bolson when you buy everything!! It's as if you just walked up and twisted his nuts with the power fit to shield block a Lynel’s charge.

Is the flower by Link's bed a Korok version of a Silent Princess?

The monsters of Hyrule are show to have interest in consumption based on three accounts. 

1: the Bocoblins and the Moblins by Hateno bay steal cattle. 

2: Hynoxes carry around warriors foodstuffs. 

3: Moblins (or at least the ones by the camp near the Serenne stable/forgotten temple) have a resting animation where they dig through the dirt and stuff something down their goblet.

...not to mention that nearly every camp has a bit of meat roasting by the fire.

Koyin has joined the fan-club!

God, the Naydra snowfield is fucking loaded in chill-shromes!

Stasis is perfect for looking for ingredients in forests, just open it, look around and bam! No more hidey hoe.

Why no shiny text for hylia's statue!?

I really do not like that they changed Naydra's colors when the malice was removed, they were so cool and then bam! White! White is not the color for ice and cold!

When praying by the spring of wisdom you are facing Hyrule castle, the same with courage and power if my memory serves me right.

...The master Torch

The Katona Aug shrine is just fucking mini-golf, how is that meant to prepare the hero?! Imagine how that Monk goes to the afterlife and has to look his fellows straight in the eye and admit that he was so lazy that not only did he make the hero play golf, not only was he so lazy that he made the Hero play mini-golf, but that he was so lazy that he did not even make a course! It is literally just a straight line!

Robie wants to see Links scars to verify that he is who he says that he is, Robie was likely one of the ninja that took Link to the shrine of resurrection.

Oh and Robin has two interesting sketches in his lab, the first is a detailed graph of a Sheikah tower so those were likely known about long before Link activated one (the one closest to Robin would be the one covered in malice and guardians so he could not have gotten enough detail from that one).

And the other is a sketch of what I believe is either a tier 2 or tier 3 guardian scout. Now, how can Robin know how that looks if only Link can/could enter shrines?

The Sheikah shrine that has the Barbarian helm is located at the end of the Sinai maze, did they just plop the shrine down there and steal the treasure of the ruin to later present to the hero?

There is one usable room in the citadel.

There is no compendium slot for the malice eyes that litter Naydra, Hyrule Castle and the Divine Beasts.

You can change the element of already elemental slime, not just the neutral kind.

Those head-spitting fuckers inside the divine beasts! They are partially reanimating mobs! So it's not that the Blood Moon is the time where Ganon is at his strongest, it's just where he chooses to revive everything.

The edge of duality can also be found in the shrine at the top of the dueling peaks.

#botw #lore #fanfic ideas #the legend of zelda #breath of the wild

[thermaboo]

Happy Here || Villain!Reader X Shoto Todoroki

Warning: Reader is yandere, Noncon, recording, HEAVY Angst, Degradation, Slapping, verbal abuse, kidnapping, reverse noncon, very NSFW

All characters are 18+, and you have to be too to read this.

Word Count - 3.6K

a/n: If you follow me, you’ve probably seen this post 900 times because tumblr has been struggling to upload things properly, if you’re seeing this in the tags, hello~~~ Anyway, lmao nothing smacks harder than breaking in a strong character bruh and thats that! I typed this like a woman possessed so if you see a mistake mind ya business lmao.

He looked into the abandoned building, getting a reading that there was an energy source in the area. The sidekicks in his agency scoured the bottom levels and he went straight to the source. Today was supposed to be his day off, he really didn’t want to be out at this time. It was your 3 year anniversary, and he had to see it through without you.

It’s been 14 months and 23 days since you’ve gone missing.

If he had known that final call would be your last. He would've stayed on the phone with you longer, he would’ve talked about something else besides work, he would’ve told you not to go out. So many would haves and should ofs, none of them brought you back home.

His mind returned to the present, his feet had carried him to where he needed to be without the consciousness to follow it. It was useful for work, but otherwise a sign of his emotional disturbance. The floor was empty, a few broken windows illuminated the dirty flooring with a late evening orange. There were some glass bottles in the corner and pieces of trash strewn about. It looked properly abandoned, but the pulsating radar said differently. There was something in this room, but absolutely nothing at all.

He walked around the room, noticing a faint difference in temperature in a certain spot in the room. He walked through it a few times just to make sure he wasn’t making it up, but the last time he did it the temperature difference vanished. In an instance a rope like material surrounding him, leaving him in an upright but uncomfortable position.

“Hello love, I’ll be a bit late again, please don’t wait up for me.”

“It’s okay hun, I’m going out with a friend tonight.”

“Please be safe and enjoy yourself. I know I’ve been really busy but just in case you make it back home before me, I have some wonderful news to tell you.”

“Oh! Don’t leave me in suspense Sho, I’m gonna be thinking about it all night!”

“It’s a surprise, you’ll love it, I promise.” He glanced at the small jewelry box on his desk, hoping that you love it just as much as he loves you.

“Okay” He could hear your pout even through the phone. “Well I miss you okay, take a break if you need to. I love you.”

“Love you more.”

A figure walked into view from the dark, taking him out of his thoughts once more. A mask obscuring your face, whirring in the darkness with a faint glow. It illuminated the body underneath, a light green glow against your figure.

"Who are you", he shouted, trying to seem confident. He was a pretty powerful hero, he wasn't used to being so easily caught. There wasn't any response on your end, you simply tilted your head and stared at him through your mask. The whirring and the sound of his teammates running around confused being the only thing in the room. He rocks against his bindings, sending out a distress signal to notify the others of his location. You both hear the pings echo across the floor, the door slams open. Izuku looks around confused.

"Todoroki?"

"I'm here!" he calls out, watching his friend whip around confused. Izuku sighs and quickly leaves, assuming it was a mistake and all the machinery was acting up.

What's happening.

You laugh, voice aggressively distorted through your mask. He's still not frightened, not letting go of his hope that he can escape this. He tries again to activate his quirk to no avail, the bindings are quirk proof.

You continue laughing at him in the vague encroaching darkness of the room. "Who ARE YOU" he shouted a little louder. An explosion went off in the distance, the building groaned at the nearby pressure. Any heros currently in the building rushed towards the sound of destruction, realizing that this was a distraction.

The small device next to you fizzled at the tap of your foot, emitting a large energy pulse before turning off. You pulled out a scanner of your own to demonstrate how that mysterious ping on it before is suddenly gone. Curious.

You walked up to the man in front of you, his heterochromic eyes stared at you intently, trying to figure out who this mysterious woman was. You still said nothing. You didn't think it was possible for him to get any stronger but he looked bulkier since you've last seen him. A little darker, maybe not as nice to others, cold, frigid. You imagined what his interactions were like now in days. Did he try seeing anyone else, did he still hang out with friends? Did he even miss you? Your partners only showed you so much before leaving, all you’ve seen of him in months were through short videos and pictures, and he seemed so happy that you were gone. You stroked your hand up his chest, feeling around your old stomping grounds, trying to test the waters of your guilt. See if there's still any left.

All you felt was hatred, pure, unbridled hatred. You held his head delicately, patting his frayed hairs away as you thought about how much you missed his head. How he would lay in your lap and let you play with his hair and tell you about his day. Days you had ripped from you, days he seemed to forget. The pro hero was shaking in your grasp, you're not sure if it was from fear or the uncomfortable positioning of the ropes, but either was fine for you. You grabbed him by his hair and forced his vision up, you got your answer. It was fear.

"What was that explosion? What are you doing." He lets out in slight trembles.

"Oh, just a few friends. Don't worry about them, you can't do shit for them anyways."

“Why is this happening?”

“Because I can Shoto, because

can. They can handle that without me, but here, here is where I’m needed.”

He had no clue what you were talking about, the fear was starting to get to him. Usually there’s some kind of motive behind these sorts of things, but this seemed entirely too personal. He can’t help but notice how familiar you look and a thought crosses his mind.

You let one hand roam downward fiddling with the zipper of his hero costume. Giggling under her heavy breathing. "Stop.”

You keep going. Slowly.

"Please."

Slower.

"Ple-" a smack lands across his face, he doesn’t bother to move his face back, he just leaves it there. He isn't weak by a long shot, but right now there wasn't a single fight in him, he just wanted to run.

His mind replays the moment of panic. When her friend called to see if she simply didn’t leave your shared apartment.

“Hey Todoroki, I know she said you were at work, but do you know if she left the house.”

His whole body paused, “Yes, she left, she was walking when she last called me.”

“I-”. The sound of traffic and wind blew through the call. “She never showed up. I’ve called her and text her a dozen times and she didn’t respond. I don’t want to worry you I just-. I don’t know what happened.”

“I will call you back.” He hung up and immediately called you while running out of his office, call after call after text and nothing. He left a few panicked voicemails, hoping that you just had your phone on silent and was busy. His mind reeled at the possibilities, trying his hardest to think the best of the situation. Yeah, he’d arrive home and you’d be asleep on the couch, wrapped up in your favorite blanket, Tv cycling through Netflix shows. Maybe you realize you didn’t want to go, and forgot to tell your friend. Maybe-

The door to your apartment opened, silent, cold, nothing. He ran through the apartment checking everything, even underneath the pillow hoping there would be some kind of sign of you. All that was left was a funny little drawing you left for him on the whiteboard near the door. “Don’t forget to eat! There’s some Soba in the fridge, I won’t be gone too long!”

He rang the police and then your friend. “She hasn’t responded to any of my calls or text, and she’s not at the apartment. I’ve called the police.” The both of them continued the call in silence, hoping to say something that would reassure the other but nothing came to mind.

"Awwww, look who came to visit."

You poked at the forming bulge in his pants. "You're fucking sick, you know that?".

He cranes to look down, unaware that his body was reacting without his mind.  "Let me fucking go,” he strains against his bindings, desperate to escape whoever this was torturing him.

You squeeze his dick, and laugh again. "Or what? Where are you going to run to? Who's gonna hear you? You're in my world now." He tries to move away from your touch and you just persist. "Do you get this hard for every villain that touches you or just me?" He pushes against his restraints and looks at you with murderous but fearful intent. "You still don't know me? I'm hurt." His brain hurts trying to figure out who this woman was, wanting to figure out anything that can vaguely put some kind of understanding to this situation. He couldn't think of anything but-

Was it?

Who else had that quirk.

Images flashed in his head to you two holding hands in a crowd, he watched as the world continued on without any notice of their presence. The cars drove straight through them, people walked right by them, they were there and weren't all at once. "See, it's neat I guess but I can't go much further than here. One layer below this and it's pretty much the same thing with less people. One to the left has a weird saturation to it."

"I think it's amazing Y/n"

"Really?" You ask, unsure of how to feel. He was very confused at your insecurity, you were just not trained, but pocket dimensions were surely a powerful quirk. He wondered just how many of these dimensions there were?

He came back to his senses when he felt his dick pop out of his boxers. His memories fade into the darkness of his reality that keeps calling him back when he so badly wants to escape. In his mind he still has you, you’re safe, and this isn’t happening to him. For a second, the thought passes by that whoever this is may kill him, and he may get to see you again. He quickly shakes the thought away, you were alive, and he was going to find you one day. He mentally berated himself for even entertaining the thought of this being you or death.

"Shotooooo, I'm trying so hard to get your attention? Why do you keep leaving me?” You lift your mask slightly to accommodate his length in your mouth, you almost forgot how much you enjoyed this. Almost. Your lips bop up and down paying close attention to his cute pink head, it was always so pretty. Lucky for Shoto, it was always prettier in your mouth. You drag your nails around his thighs, making sure to draw blood on your way back. He arches, hating himself for responding to your actions

His dick leaves your mouth with a sickening pop, “How's my little Pro Hero? Think about how many people needed your help while you were here, you didn't even clock out for this.” You rest your head on his thigh and lazily stroke his cock, “you couldn’t even save your girlfriend.”

“Shut the fuck up you don’t know a thing about her.”

“Oh, really struck a chord there. Didn’t think you cared about her that much, especially because you’re gonna cum to some villain you can’t even recognize.” You begin to pick up the pace, precum coating your hand and filling the air with a wet gliding sound. “Or can you hold it in? Can you do it for her? Her dead body is in a ditch somewhere, and here you are, about to come on some other chick's hand.”

He said nothing, you could tell from the faint light that was left in the room that he was crying. Oh god did you love seeing those tears. You felt a familiar tensing underneath you and you prepared for what was going to happen next and placed your mouth over his cock again. His groans mixed with his sobs and he came in your mouth, you swallowed quickly and smiled upwards at him.

“I think she’ll forgive you for cumming, after all, the conditions weren’t entirely fair.” You stand up and turn on a lamp next to you before activating a button to readjust his ropes. He hit the floor with a thud and you could hear him groaning behind you before the bindings quickly tightened to their new position. You turn back around and take your place on top of his thighs, your hands reaching upward to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

“Sho are you okay?” He wasn’t sure if that was the memory or the woman on top of him, quite frankly they’re both starting the sound the same.

“Babe you’ve been so silent, are you okay? You sat across from him, holding his hand. You two were at a Diner, it seemed very late.

“Yes, I’m alright, I’m not sure where I went.”

“I understand, you smile at him and squeeze his hand.” There is only one cup on the table.

Izuku walks between the tables looking concerned.

“Midoryia, nice seeing you, we were just waiting for our food.” The green haired man stares at him sympathetically and puts his hand on his shoulder.

“Shoto, I think you need to see someone.”

“Why?” He looks in front of him, no one’s there. The seat is empty. It dawns on him that he’s done it again, went off on an adventure like he used to do with someone who wasn’t there. He paid the tab and quickly left, making sure to ignore the concerned faces of people who recognized him and must’ve seen him talking to himself.

“Izuku.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think she’s dead?”

Reality welcomes him back and he sees the top of your head laying down on him. You’re very warm, it sounds like you’re muttering something to yourself.

You snap up, glossy eyes connecting with his heterochromatic ones. “I was worried you might have died.” There wasn’t an ounce of seriousness in your voice. He continued to say nothing and you could feel him tremble again. He must have noticed that you were no longer wearing pants or underwear. The sound of burning in the distance still emanated in the air. This was all so horrid, well, for him at least.

You pull off the mask hiding your face and he begins to struggle underneath you wildly. You hold on to the sides of his hip and let him thrash about.

“No no no no NO NO NO!”

“Shhhhh It’s okay, it’s me.” You crawl upwards to be closer to him, you watch him, wild and confused underneath you. He looks like an animal caught in headlights. “I’m gonna make this all so much easier for you.” You glide back down him, hand reaching first for his dick. You give him a few good strokes and hover above him, seeing if he’d move on his own.

There was nothing.

You know, I don't know why you idiot Heros have big cocks if you're not gonna use it. You plunge all the way down him, earning a delicious whimper as he twitches inside of you, clearly feeling overstimulated by what's happening. "Awwwww, I forgot you were a virgin. I’m not anymore, but I was thinking about you every time they touched me.” His insides felt like liquid, he hated this. He wanted to lose his virginity to you, but not like this. He still sees you as the soft girl he met at a bakery, he sees your smile as you giggled in the rain underneath your umbrella, he remembers all the times he's confided in you, and the memory can not merge with who you are now. Corrupted, violent, dark.

You continue bouncing on his dick, watching him writhe underneath you. You wonder where he is right now, he looks at you so betrayed, so lost, but you can't tell if its painful or in lust. At this point, it doesn't matter and it all becomes a muddled mixture of everything.

"Y/n, p-please. This isn't you."

You slowly lift your bottom half, making sure to keep eye contact with those beautiful eyes, waiting to see the moment when he loses all his composure.

"You don't know that. You don't know anything about me." You slowly go back down on him, making sure it feels like blissful hell. "Where were you Shoto?"

You slammed down again. "I needed you." Slam. "And you weren't there." Slam. "You weren't there for so fucking long." Slam. "But you're here now."

"I'm sorry I didn't save you. I won't leave you again." He's crying a cry you’ve never seen before. It should invoke worry in you, bring out the motherly instincts you always had for him, but instead it made you crave to see him broken like this again and again. You look at him tenderly and stroke his cheek. He seems like he’s on the verge of losing it.

“You're a good boy shoto, always have, always will be. And I can't hate my good boy.” He can’t escape to his head anymore, you were here, you were finally here with him.

You buck down on him, one hand leaned back on the concrete other on your phone's record button. You pull your mask down in order to distort your voice. "Show me you’re sorry". He bucks up into you, completely blissed out. His rhythm is sloppy and desperate, he can’t really think straight anymore. All of his thoughts are of you, and you were happy like this. He just wants to make you happy.

The light from the camera is blinding him, he should be covering his face, he should be doing something but he can't bring himself to fight against you. He smiles back at you and all he can manage out is a weak "I love you."

You look at him through your screen and he looks absolutely beautiful like this. Sweat plastered to his face, deep in a breakdown that you're sure he'll never recover from. You feel yourself going ragged against him, slapping his face as you near your end. He can't even form words anymore. Not an ouch, not a stop, just groaning and incoherent words. He's so close.

You slow your movements and grab him by the throat, just tight enough for his dick to feel it, but not tight enough for him to not be able to talk. "You're fucking worthless you know that right?"

"Yes."

"You're nothing without me."

"I'm nothing with or without you."

You pause and smile underneath the mask, surprised that you broke him down that badly in such a short time span.

"You're a fast learner. Now, smile Princess." You set your sights on the end and continue riding him with all the strength you had left. He obliges you, smiling with exhaustion, up at the light. You position your body at the right angle so his cock hits everything at the right angle, and you feel yourself flying over the edge of your orgasm. Your body spasms violently, your sure the camera is probably disoriented. Your hips continue to meet with his as you ride out your orgasm. He shortly met his own, moans and sobs echoing throughout the abandoned room.

You hope you caught that because you sure as hell couldn't see it through your own orgasm still burning through you.

You stopped the recording and laid on his chest in silence. A sticky liquid continued to drain down your legs, a lot of it actually. You tried not to focus on the feeling of his cum in you, it could probably get you going again and you definitely didn't need that. You instead listened to his heavy breathing, it felt so nice to be home.

He watched you type something away on your phone before you looked up at him. "This is gonna be everywhere in probably....20 minutes? Maybe even less. Your father will probably try to have it taken down but you know how the internet is." He continued to breathe on the ground, still feeling waves of his pleasure mixed with shame. He knows his Hero career is essentially over, but maybe it's better this way. You were the only person to ever understand him, and if he couldn't show you his love through saving you, he'd show you his love this way. Even if you never love him again, even if he can only see you smile by being below you. He just wants to be your hero, even if that means he has to be the world's villain.

You ran your finger through his hair, he cuddled further into you silently. He must've seen the news reports about his disappearance. It’s been weeks and it’s still on every station, his father is probably pushing hard to get him back but you know better than that. Besides, everyone loves his videos, every time you post it blasts to the top of trending before being “removed”. He should be happy to know his son is still alive. Your captors, well, coworkers let you keep a pet and you’ll be damned if anyone takes him away from you. "You're happy here right Sho?"

He says nothing, he just clutches into you further, his breathing increasing with every moment. That familiar tremble began to accompany his breathing, he was going to cry again.

"There there love, there there."

#yandere bnha #yandere mha #shoto todoroki x reader #todoroki x reader #yandere!todoroki

[imaginingsoftly]

Baseball Trivia - Josh Anderson

Type: Y/N insert shorts, strangers to enemies-ish to lovers, series

Requested: No

Warnings: standard swearing

AN: This will be a shortish four part series. It’s complete, so I’ll put the next one out Wednesday.

She was never going to an athletics conference again. There was too much testosterone and not enough actual conversation about their field, and was now the biggest waste of $300 Y/N had ever spent. In a room of 250-plus communications directors, she was one of maybe 20 women, and all of them had somehow managed to get themselves seats in a clump on one side of the room. Y/N, on the other hand, ended up in the row with all the washed-up college athletes that were convinced they could still play. The guy on her right was rambling on about how hard it was not to check out the female athletes to the guy on her left, who was agreeing emphatically. Fucking assholes. 

BU’s communications director was on the stage rambling on about keeping social media current, like he had any fucking clue how to do that. Y/N knew for a fact he didn’t even know how to post to Twitter, let alone how to run an effective page. Honestly, most of the keynote speakers were useless. Having 20-plus years in a field like athletics communications didn’t mean much besides knowing most of the other people who had also been there for 20-plus years. The actual job had evolved tremendously in the last 5 years, let alone since they first came into the field. It wasn’t just about writing press releases and keeping track of records any more. They were the people who wrote articles about the teams for the athletics website, the ones who live-tweeted games and kept the social media pages current and innovative. Y/N could almost guarantee most of the speakers didn’t even know how to send a tweet. 

The two assholes on either side of her grew tired of being sleazy, and decided to torture her instead. Y/N took a deep breath when she noticed their attention turn her way. “So, sweetheart, what exactly do you do?” Y/N rolled her eyes. Those fucking assholes were really going to call her sweetheart? 

She cut a glare at asshole #1 on her right, and he actually flinched a little. “First of all, don’t call me sweetheart.” Asshole #2, the one on her right, actually snorted, and Y/N raised an eyebrow at him as well. “Secondly, I’m the Senior Manager of Communications and Media Relations at UBC in Vancouver. I coordinate the press for all of our athletic teams, as well as organize all of the social media pages and our website.” The two were silent, and Y/N smiled slightly. “So what do you boys do exactly?” BU’s director finished talking before either one had a chance to answer, and it was almost too bad. She was looking forward to watching them flounder. Really, her job was a big deal. To be the person in charge and also be a female was a big deal, but to also be her age was pretty big too. At 26, she should probably still be working a low-level job, probably just now getting out of the internship stage. Senior management was usually relegated to guys like Mr. BU, who was old enough to be her dad, but hey: she was good at her job. 

Cam, one of Y/N’s classmates at BC, was thankfully waving at her from his spot in the back of the room, and Y/N slid away from her seatmates without a goodbye. Hopefully she’d never have to see them again. “So,” Cam called out as Y/N got closer, “was it enlightening?” Cam laughed in response to her eye-roll, and Y/N pulled the taller guy in with a laugh. It was nice to see him again. After BC the pair had gone their separate ways, and now they were on opposite coasts. Cam was fortunate enough to find a job close to home in New York, while Y/N had found herself on the far side of the continent in Vancouver. It was weird, after being together almost constantly for four years, to see each other maybe once a year, but it had worked out for the best. 

“Listen, Cam, the guys on either side of me spent the entire time talking about checking out the college girls. They were older than us.” Cam reacted appropriately, making a gagging noise, and Y/N was again thankful to have a person there with her. “Any chance I can get you to go out tonight?” Cam made an apologetic face, and Y/N groaned. “No, you have to come with me so people leave me alone.” 

Most of the time, people assumed they were together and guys left her alone. If he wasn’t there, guys would be bothering her off and on all night, and she never attracted the good guys. She was a magnet for married 40-somethings who liked younger women. “Sorry, babe,” Cam said apologetically, “but my flight leaves in like 2 hours. I’m headed to the airport like now.” He reached out his arms for a hug, and Y/N grudgingly obliged. “I am excited to see you in the city in a few months, though!” The two smiled at each other, and Y/N walked with Cam until he reached the bus taking a ton of the conference attendees to the airport. “Have fun, Y/N. Go be wild for the night.” He kissed her on the cheek with a smirk, and Y/N shook her head at him as he climbed onto the bus. She would go out that night, Y/N decided, and she would deal with those men if it meant doing something spontaneous for once. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bar looked welcoming, in a part of the city that looked a little less young and crazy than the part near the conference and her hotel. Distance from universities, Y/N had learned, meant everything when it came to bars. The ones close to Ohio State had been wild, and full of college kids. Definitely not her scene. This bar, on the other hand, was perfect. It was homey, sports memorabilia on the walls and country playing from the speakers. Y/N got a beer from the bartender and settled in on a barstool, staring up at the television screen above her. It was playing a replay of the Blue Jackets game from earlier that day, a Sunday matinee performance that had turned into a minor brawl with the Penguins. 

She sat in silence for almost an hour, waving for another beer about 45 minutes in. At one point three men threw themselves onto the barstools next to her, arguing emphatically about some video game, but they thankfully left her alone. 

At some point the argument between the boys had become goofing around, and then they began arguing again. “I’m telling you, man, the Yankees were the first ones.” One of the guys mentioned baseball, and Y/N’s ears perked up. Baseball was her favorite sport to work at UBC, even if the guys could be even more cocky than the hockey boys, something she’d previously thought impossible. 

Out of the corner of her eye Y/N saw the guy next to her shake his head in disagreement. “No way, man. I think Toronto was the first team to retire a number.” Oh, sports trivia. Y/N smiled. This was her specialty. 

“Technically,” Y/N interrupted, “The Habs were the first professional sports team to retire a number.” The trio turned to look at Y/N looking confused, and Y/N caught the eyes of the guy who’d mentioned the Yankees. He was pretty, with blue eyes that somehow managed to be kind and intimidating at the same time. She held his stare as she continued speaking. “If you were talking about just baseball, then it was the Yankees. They’ve also retired more numbers than any other professional sports team.” Y/N trailed off as the three continued to stare at her wordlessly, and she smiled nervously. 

It was starting to get awkward when one of the guys finally spoke, and Y/N almost slumped over in relief. “How the hell do you know that?” The guy that spoke, whom she now recognized as Seth Jones, was starting at her disbelievingly. Actually, now that Y/N thought about it she recognized all of the guys. Boone Jenner and Josh Anderson stared at Y/N on either side of Seth, and Y/N sat up a little straighter. Athletes. She knew how to handle them. 

She shrugged in response to Seth’s question. “I’m a sports fan. I like random facts like that.” Y/N held out a hand. “Y/N. Nice to meet ya.” Boone grabbed her hand first, and Y/N relaxed at the sight of his smile. There was something welcoming about him. Seth followed suit, gesturing at the other two guys. “I’m Seth. That’s Boone, and this,” he shouldered Josh, “is Josh. We’re also sports fans.” Y/N smiled at the three of them, and Josh reached out his hand to her as well. His hand was warm, and she found herself caught up in his eyes again. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Y/N,” Josh said, and Y/N had to fight to break his gaze. “Are you from the area?” She shook her head and looked away to clear the fog that had taken over her brain. “I’m from out of state,” she said. “I work for a university’s athletics department, and I’m in town for a conference.” She answered what would probably be their next question quickly. “And before you ask, yes I knew who you guys were. Baseball has my heart, but I do love hockey as well.” The boys all looked at each other and grinned.

Boone clapped Y/N on the shoulder, and she smiled up at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Y/N. So outside of knowing more about sports than everyone else, what do you do?” 

Y/N laughed. “I work in athletics communications. We’re in charge of social media for the university athletics, coordinating press, stats, all that fun stuff.” The guys were all nodding like they knew what she was talking about, and she laughed a little. “You know the promotional videos and other random crap that gets posted on social media?” They all nodded at that. “I’m part of the crew that designs those. I’m the person who live-tweets games. I’m also the person who decides which reporters get to talk to our athletes and which athletes are going to be available for pressers after games.” 

Seth whistled. “That’s a lot of shit Y/N, how the hell do you manage all of it?” She waved her arms. “No,” she laughed, “I don’t do it all alone. We have interns that help, I just need to make sure that everything gets done right. I actually have an intern that developed a concept for an absolutely incredible intro video for our women’s hockey team this fall that I can’t wait to help her put together.” The guys all nodded along like they were following. It was refreshing to talk about her job with people who kind of understood what she was talking about, outside of the people she worked around all day. 

The conversation moved on from there, and eventually Boone and Seth left the bar, the latter leaving with some girl while the former headed home alone. Josh remained, hooked on the increasingly drunken words coming out of Y/N’s mouth. At some point they had moved on to embarrassing stories about themselves, and after Josh shared a story about biting it in front of his new team Y/N only felt it was fair to share her first-day horror story. “So I’m sitting there thinking I’m doing a great job, like maybe this internship was gonna work, when I get a text from my boss.” It was her biggest mistake as an intern, and really her biggest mistake in the field period. “It turns out I was live-tweeting the hockey game on the women’s basketball page.” Josh had the appropriate reaction, widening his eyes and gripping the hand Y/N had settled onto the bar top between them. 

“No!” He exclaimed, throwing his head back when Y/N nodded in response. “What did you do?” He was genuinely invested, and Y/N’s mildly drunk brain was having trouble computing that. Why in the hell did a professional athlete seem so interested in the behind-the-scenes world of college athletics? 

It didn’t matter. She had a story to tell. “I totally panicked. Like I’m on the phone apologizing to my boss, who’s not yelling but sounds waayyy disappointed, and at the same time I’m trying to delete all the tweets. It was hands-down my worst day on the job ever.” Y/N met Josh’s eyes again, and the expression changed. They grew warmer, a little more fiery, and Y/N found herself leaning forward to meet his kiss halfway. 

She was never going to be able to kiss someone like this again. The couple of other guys Y/N had kissed in the past were good, but Josh was wow. Granted, players generally had a good amount of experience in that department, but maybe that just meant she needed to kiss more players. It was pure passion, and Y/N groaned when Josh’s hand found its way into the hair at the base of her skull. He tilted her head back to kiss her deeper, and then broke away suddenly. “Please come home with me.” Josh’s words were whispered into her ear, his proximity sending fireworks through Y/N’s brain. There was no question. She was totally going. 

Josh smiled when Y/N nodded in response. He slid a fifty onto the bar to cover their drinks and then some before grabbing Y/N’s hand and tugging her out the door of the bar and into the street. They were close to his apartment, a little less than two blocks away, and his hands were all over her as they stumbled up the stairs and into his place. It was modern, with lots of windows and some random abstract art she was sure he hadn’t picked out for himself, but that was the extent of the tour she got. He practically carried her into his room in his haste to get her clothes off, and Y/N settled in to enjoy the night. She had a feeling it was going to be a good one.

Getting out of Josh’s bed was the hardest part of Y/N’s night. Not only was it comfortable as hell, but the man sprawled across the sheets was tempting to cuddle with. If it wasn’t for her early morning flight Y/N might have stayed, maybe gone another round, but the flight was coming up fast and she still had to get back to her hotel across the city and then to the airport. Y/N paused as she exited the bedroom, considering for a moment leaving a note or her number, but then she decided against it. It’s not like they’d ever see each other again, right?

#josh anderson imagine #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #Baseball Trivia ML

[xylune]

FFXV Ardyn fanfic

I’ve been replaying Final Fantasy XV since things have settled down and I’ve had the chance to get all the additions and episodes. An idea for a canonverse AU hit me last night and I started working on it this morning, but for some reason, I just had to start writing a scene that won’t happen until later in the story...if I maintain the inspiration enough to keep at it.

Quick explanation: This story will build off the “Dawn of the Future” book addition, taking place after those events. Ardyn is unwillingly revived and supremely unhappy about it. Noctis and company are left with little choice but to try and manage him, as he’s become virtually un-killable. Unfortunately, Ardyn is desperate to die and the choices are to either deliver further torment on the man or try and help him find a purpose in his endless existence.

Beneath the cut (provided it works as it should) is a sample of a scene in which Gladiolus and Prompto are trying to babysit Ardyn, and the situation is made worse when he believes he’s seen a ghost from his past.

"Hmm, first time here. Let's see what's on the menu."

Ardyn checked a sigh of impatience. His flat still awaited, but it was a good ways further into Lestallum and they had been driving all day without a bite to eat. Even he, who could not die, still suffered the pangs of hunger and thirst. Cruel twist, that. What purpose did it serve for an immortal to still require food and drink? It wasn't as though he could starve to death; he'd already tried that. Going without did make him sick and weak, though.

Ever polite even when killing someone, the former Chancellor gave an elegant shrug and flourished a wave of his hand. "By all means, after you."

Gladiolus waited for his smaller companion Prompto to pass through the door first, and then the big, tattooed warrior followed behind. Ardyn held the door open for them both, and then he joined them inside the building.

"Charming little place," he mused, casting a look around. "There, by the window. A perfect spot for us."

The pair looked, and Gladio nodded. "Yeah. Backs to the wall and we can see who comes in and out. Good call."

"Paranoid sort, aren't you?" Ardyn smirked at the black-haired kings guard. "I chose it for the aesthetic position, but you see—"

"I see what I've been trained to see for all these years," interrupted Gladiolus in a low, serious voice. "Don't act so surprised. You're a big part of the reason we all learned to do everything strategically, learned to treat every place we went as a potential ambush spot."

"Guys," interjected Prompto before Ardyn could respond, "who cares about that? We're here to feed our faces and get something hot and nice to drink. Come on, I'm fading fast, here."

Gladiolus kept his hard brown gaze locked with Ardyn's for a moment, and then he nodded. "Right. A meal, then Ardyn's old place, then a place to sleep for the night."

"That's a top plan," agreed Ardyn amicably. "I would offer my flat for the night, but the utilities, I'm sure, have been cut off by now. Not to mention, the place hasn't been given a proper cleaning since I was last there. Dust mites, you know."

"How do you even know it's still available?" asked Prompto as they claimed their table and sat down. "You've been gone for a really long time. They might have cleared it out and rented it to someone else by now."

Ardyn shook his head, removed his fedora and plucked up the menu sitting on the table before him. "I'm paid up for the better part of two years on rent. You see, I can be forgetful about some things, and while it's easy enough to get utilities turned back on if I'm away for too long, personal effects can be a bother to replace. The flat is mine until the end of the year."

"Huh." Gladiolus examined his own menu. "Why not just buy the place, if you had that kind of money?"

Ardyn's usual flair with speech dropped, leaving his tone flat and level. "Because I didn't intend to be here for longer than that."

The younger two men paused, and they exchanged a look with one another over the tops of their menus.

"Oh dear, have I made you uncomfortable?" Ardyn's smirk came back, though it lacked humor. "How tactless of me. Still, you asked."

"Enough talk of suicide and death," insisted Gladiolus.

"I don't believe either of those two words were—"

"Or insinuations of the subject," interrupted the black-haired man, his squared jaw tightening. "We've talked about this. Remember the agreement."

"Yes of course, but the point remains that I was asked a question, to which I merely answered with honesty." Ardyn turned to the freckled blond seated beside him. "True, Prompto?"

"Well, yeah. That's a pretty valid point."

"All right, whatever," huffed Gladiolus. "Let's just drop it and get on with the eating. I'm starving and we're burning what's left of our daylight."

Ardyn could have ordinarily thought up a few snappy quips in response to that, but the inadvertent turn of the subject matter, however brief, reminded him again of his misery. His thoughts twisted back into the same dismal questions he'd been asking himself since the day of his unwilling return to the flesh.

How was he to maintain what little he had left of his sanity, knowing he had endless days and nights ahead of him with no end or purpose in sight?

"Hmph. No rest for the wicked," he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

Ardyn glanced sidelong over the top of his menu at Gladiolus, and then he pointedly focused on the text again. "Just thinking aloud, friend. Hmm, the Nebula Salmon Melt looks rather appetizing. I think I'll try that. What say you?"

Gladiolus scowled—not at Ardyn this time, but at the menu. "Everything looks pretentious to me. Iggy would love it."

"No meat and potato sub, then?"

"No cup o' noodles, either," added Prompto glibly.

Bless the speckled pistol specialist. Even though he clearly shared an understandable grudge and mistrust against Ardyn, Prompto's sociable nature compelled him to join in on some good-natured ribbing. Ardyn rather liked the lad for that.

"Knock it off," warned the big man. "Don't poke the bear when he's hungry, got it? I'm not in the mood."

"Yes, Prompto," Ardyn nudged the blond beside him with an elbow. "Do be careful. Now, Gladio—"

"I've told you not to call me that," reminded the kings guard with a frown. "Only friends and family are authorized to use the short version. You're neither. In fact, you're still at the top of my shit list, so cut the familiarity crap."

"Of course, Gladiolus," revised Ardyn politely. "I forget myself at times. Now, as I was saying, have you noticed the menu items on the other side? They have several items of a meatier variety."

Gladiolus flipped his menu over and looked. "Huh, you're right." He peered at the menu for a moment, and then he frowned, and he looked at Prompto. "What's 'prosciutto'?"

"Beats me, dude." The blond spread his hands helplessly. "I bet Noct or Specs would know, but I'm just as uncultured as you are. Ardyn, do you know?"

He did, but the older man's patience was quietly wearing thinner, and Gladiolus' rudeness wasn't helping. "It's meat."

Gladiolus' tiny smirk suggested that he was picking up on Ardyn's veiled frustration. "What kind of meat?"

"From a dead animal."

"No shit. What kind of animal? What part? Must be pretty special for such a fancy name."

Now Ardyn could feel his precious control slipping, and the daemons within him were trying to push to the surface. He spoke through his teeth, with a smile. "Why, the most delectable of both. A human ass."

Prompto sputtered, coughed and put his camera away. "Okay guys, time out. Let's just ask a waitress before you two eat each other. Hey, I see one over there. She's cute, too! Not as cute as Cindy, but real pretty. Uh, actually, I'll just go straight to her and ask. Don't kill each other, okay?"

For a moment, gold-amber eyes remained locked with dusky brown ones. Gladiolus was the first to look away, and he covered up whatever disquiet he felt by turning his attention to their companion, who had left the table to speak with a server.

"Him and the blondes. He's got a real thing for them. She is cute, though."

Inwardly glad for the distraction from his own annoyance, Ardyn followed Gladiolas' gaze across the room, to the bar area. Prompto was chatting with a fetching young woman wearing a uniform apron over her clothes. No matter the horrors he'd seen or the darkness he lived in, Ardyn could still appreciate beauty in all its forms. Women were certainly no exception, so he examined her with as much interest as his companions.

She had her back turned to him at first, but he noted that she had a pleasing form with delicate curves. Small of build, of average height, she had her hair gathered into a ponytail at the base of her neck.

The color of her hair caught his attention the most, provoking a little pang of nostalgia within him. It was certainly blonde, as Gladiolus said, but it wasn't a yellow tone like Prompto's or a platinum shade like the queen's. Most would consider it an unremarkable color blonde, almost a neutral tone between white and yellow, pale and with just enough highlights to lend a faint touch of gold.

Ardyn knew this particular hair color well, for he'd run his fingers through strands of it just like that, many times in the distant past. He'd always compared it to pale wheat, and he'd always found it to be the most interesting variation of that hair shade. Even the density of the waitress's hair was the same, though the length was greater than the hair he'd once touched.

She then turned, and Ardyn Izunia was treated to the interesting experience of feeling his body go hot and cold all at once. He couldn't say it was a pleasant thing. He couldn't move, and his breath halted in his lungs, lodging somewhere in his throat on its way out.

Her face, sweetly, softly rounding a bit where the cheekbones met the jaw, softening her features there before tapering down to a gently curving chin.

Her brow, pale and fine like the hair on her head.

Her nose. Her lovely, pert and perfect nose.

Her lips, pouty with a slight upward curve at the corners, sweet and generous with both kisses and smiles.

Her eyes. Colors of blue and green, forest and sea harmonizing together, creating a beautiful, soulful color made even more expressive by the downward tilt of the outer eye corners. There was wisdom in those eyes, made ancient by an abiding love and devotion to the gods, and to the light. There was compassion there as well, and laughter.

A collection of words describing his dead betrothed kept spinning in Ardyn's head, and a part of him realized he had reduced this poor girl before him to a collection of body parts, comparing them to his lost love's bit by bit, because he simply could not believe what he was seeing.

Everything about her, every part of her, was an exact copy of the woman he would have married, had fate been more kind. Down to every detail, as far as he could tell from this distance. He had eyes like a hawk though, and he could even see that she had the exact same faint little freckles on her cheeks and nose, in the exact places he remembered them. He used to kiss them lovingly when they spent afternoons together, so he'd memorized them all.

Gladiolus was talking to him, in his rough voice. Ardyn could hear him, but it was faint as if coming from far away. There was a ringing in his ears, and it drowned out his companion's questions. For a moment, Ardyn wondered if he'd gone deaf, but then he heard the waitress's voice. Even that was identical to the one he remembered. She even had the same accent.

Every other voice and every other sound in the cafe faded into the background as the fallen healer focused on the sound of her voice.

"—cured ham," she was saying to Prompto, smiling. "It's quite popular. You can assure your friend that it doesn't come from a human's ass."

Prompto then pointed at the table they'd claimed, and Ardyn was overwhelmed with a sudden, immediate rush of panic as the waitress's gaze flicked to him. He quickly looked away, turning his head so hard that his neck popped in the process. He closed his eyes, willing himself to calmness.

He was imagining things. Seeing things that weren't there. It wouldn't be the first time. His beloved Aera couldn't possibly be there, serving sandwiches and coffee in a cafe. She was dead. Not only that, she was lost to him forever. When he'd let go after the defeat of Bahamut, thinking he could finally rest, he thought he was going to be with her. She wasn't there, though. There was only darkness, and then...he found himself in the flesh again, in pain, in Noctis' throne room.

He only got to see his beloved for a moment, and she wasn't there waiting for him like he'd thought. Perhaps he'd only hallucinated her after all, and they couldn't be together in any form because of the sins he'd committed.

She wasn't really here, in this establishment, offering sandwich advice. It wasn't possible.

"Hey, what's with you?"

For once, Gladiolus's aggressive barking was received with gratitude, because it startled Ardyn enough to anchor him back to reality...somewhat.

"So sorry," he managed to verbalize, "but I need fresh air. Be right back."

She was coming. He could feel her presence, hear her dainty steps like the thunder of an approaching storm. Ardyn Izunia abandoned all pretense of grace and manners, snatched up the fedora he'd set on the windowsill, crammed it on his head and made his egress as quickly as he could without using his warping abilities and causing a scene.

"What the hell did you say to him?" Prompto looked from Gladio to the door Ardyn had just vanished through.

"Nothing. He just spaced out all the sudden." Gladio was frowning, appearing just as lost as Prompto. "He looked like he saw a ghost or something, if you ask me. You went over there to talk to the waitress, and then he went still as a statue and turned about five shades whiter. All I did was ask if he was okay."

Prompto scratched his head, looking through the window and leaning a little to get a better view. "I see him. He's by the street lamp. He's just standing there with his hands in his coat pockets and his head down."

"Prompt, I swear I didn't do anything. We watched you talking to the waitress, and then he flipped."

Prompto combed his fingers through his spiky hair—or as much as he could before the stiffening product in his locks stopped him. "Damn. Well, who knows with him? Why was I the peacekeeper here, anyway? Ignis is better at this than me."

"Because Noct is stressed as hell and right now, he needs Ignis at his side as his advisor and his hand."

"I know, I know," sighed Prompto. "This is kind of a vacation from babysitting for him and Luna. I...I guess I'll go out and talk to him, see if I can figure out what's up before he blows a gasket. She's gonna come bring us some water in a sec, but if we're not back inside would you order the drinks?"

"Fine. What do you want?"

The blond shrugged his slim, bare shoulders. "Just the usual green soda. I don't know what Ardyn wants."

"He needs a tall glass of calm the fuck down," grumbled Gladio.

"I don't think they serve that here," Prompto answered dryly. "He said something about coffee earlier."

"The last thing that guy needs right now is caffeine."

Prompto threw his hands up. "Well, I don't know! Tea or something? He likes tea, right?"

"Guess it couldn't hurt. Go on; I'll hold the fort."

Ardyn had calmed himself enough to risk another look inside, but Prompto came out and tapped him on the shoulder just as he was about to try and confirm what he thought he'd seen. To his chagrin, the older man jumped a bit, and he turned to face Prompto with a frown.

"You, boy, should avoid sneaking up on me that way."

Truthfully, Prompto was no "boy" anymore. He and his friends were now nearly of an age with Ardyn. At least physically. He couldn't help but still think of them all as youths though, for compared to himself, virtually everyone alive on Eos was just a babe.

"Sorry, I was worried about you."

The casually and honestly worded response gave Ardyn pause. He knew the core of Prompto's concern was rooted in Noctis' expectations of him, naturally. Prompto's concern was more in letting his friend and king down than any true care for Ardyn's well-being, but it was nice to hear someone say that without hesitation, all the same.

"You saw her too, didn't you?" He was hardly aware of what he was saying. The words spilled out without conscious thought, but Ardyn realized that he did need confirmation from someone.

"Saw who?"

"The girl."

Prompto blinked, and there was a rumble of thunder overhead. He glanced up at the sky briefly, then flinched when a drop of rain landed on his nose. "There were a few girls in there, man. Can you be more specific?"

Growing more agitated, Ardyn grabbed Pronto by the shoulders. "The girl. The one you were speaking to."

Prompto's hand inched toward the holster where he kept his gun, but he didn't draw it. He regarded the ancient warily, his fair brows hedging with alarm. "Whoa, slow down. Do you mean the waitress?"

Aware that he'd just inadvertently made Prompto feel threatened, Ardyn relaxed his hold, though he didn't release it. "Aye, the waitress. Blonde, fair of skin, eyes like the color of a lagoon. Voice like bells."

"Um...okay. Your speech has ah...really gone old school all the sudden. And that's a pretty intense description..."

"Just answer me!"

Prompto nodded convulsively. "Yeah, yeah! Of course I saw her, dude. I was the one that pointed her out in the first place!"

"So...she's real. She's really here."

The smaller man's eyes were almost bugging out now. "Well I sure as shit hope so, because otherwise I was standing there talking to thin air about human ass sandwiches."

If he weren't so bewildered, Ardyn would have laughed uproariously over that. Under current circumstances though, his sense of humor was crippled. Nonetheless, he tried to at least put on a facade of calm for the sake of his companion. He removed his hands from Prompto's shoulders, taking a step back to give the other man space.

"Ah, well. Begging your pardon, friend. I was merely...startled. She looks very much like someone I once knew, and well...this is rather embarrassing, but I feared for a moment that I was hallucinating. Hence my asking you those odd questions."

Prompto's "fight or flight" stance relaxed a bit, and he shifted from foot to foot. "Oh. Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. I mean, after what you've...well, it's okay."

Prompto gave the taller man an awkward pat on the shoulder. "She's real, you're not seeing things and the rain is starting to come down. Let's go back inside for some chow, okay?"

"Splendid. Do let's. After you."

Ardyn tugged his hat brim down a little lower, waited for his companion to go back in, and then peeked through the window furtively. The rain was coming down faster now, streaking the glass and spoiling his view. He couldn't see the waitress, but she was in there.

"Pull it together," he whispered to himself.

The girl was real, and she definitely shared some traits with his lost love, but surely his mind had tricked him earlier. He saw through the eyes of a grieving heart, and he was clinically insane. He could make it through a quick meal without going completely off hinge...he hoped.

#Final Fantasy XV #Fanfiction #Ardyn #Prompto #Gladiolus #suicide mention #dark humor #misunderstandings #insanity #part of a potential multi chapter fanfic #If I write this in full it will be one of those twisty turny massive headache inducing plots #what can I say I love the mad ones #Ardyn is love