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justreadingfics · 4 years

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It’s a Deal (Chapter 11)

Chapter Summary: Bucky is ready for commitment.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 4.6k

Warnings: fluff. Bucky is so smitten.

A/N: It’s been 84 years, but I hope you have fun! Thank you, @lesqui, for reading it over and helping me out with English and everything. The link to my masterlist, where you can find the other chapters, is on my description. Feedback is highly appreciated.

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Placing your hands on each side of your hips, you smirk at the popped-up screen in your office. Another project you just nailed. Ever since the promotion, your productivity has increased tenfold and you feel as motivated as ever, your creativity on a top level. Also, the last few weeks, after you decided you needed some time alone, you did set more focus on yourself and your own projects. Work being one of them.

It’s weird to say the least… you’ve been busier than ever and yet, it seems like you actually have much more time to yourself now. You’ve been reading books you’ve bought but never really got to read them, eating ice-cream at 3am as you watch The Return of the King for the millionth time, your drawers are finally organized and so is your precious DVD collection. You got to explore a great number of parks and spots you’ve never been before, even living in New York for so long. You’ve been going out a lot and catching up with friends and family.

It was a good decision. You remember in your relationship with Eddie there were always obstacles for you to hang out with people outside the small inner circle of you as a couple. Sometimes the obstacles were subtle, and not always brought solely by Eddie, but also by you who let yourself get involved in that dynamic. You had no idea how much you missed people that were yours only, and not yours and Eddie’s.

It’s been great to be single. Really, really single for the first time in your adult life. No boyfriends or fiancées, no booty-calls or deals. Completely single… A title and state of mind you didn’t really get to enjoy in the first months of being broken up, being too heartbroken to even think of everything you could do with your life then.

Deciding to be alone for a while…It was a great and reasonable decision.

You have to admit something to yourself, though.

Sometimes you just wanna throw “great” and “reasonable” out of the window. Because you do miss him… A lot.

Finding out how he’s changed his mind and predisposition towards your relationship has messed quite a bit with your mind… and heart. You weren’t expecting that at all and now you don’t really know what to do with the chaos that’s bringing upon your feelings. And what’s making it even messier is the other guy who also changed his mind and predisposition towards your relationship… you weren’t expecting that either… however, that particular change of heart hasn’t been making your own heart jump each time you think of it…

Squeaky little yells and an animated chattering sound of female voices catch your attention to outside your office. Your previous smirk turns into a smile while you shake your head to yourself. That type of commotion only ensues when a certain someone drops by the Tech Department.

With a wave of your hand, you shut down the screen you’ve been working on, before moving towards the sound. What you come to find a few stops outside your office, at the Department’s common area, is a little circle of your female coworkers around a Super Soldier. He’s always a hit among your coworkers, but today it seems like they’re even in a bigger frenzy, fussing around something that he seems to be holding in his arms. You attempt to catch an eye of it, but the bodies in front of you make it quite hard.

He spots you as you approach them and opens a huge grin at your sight.

You smile back at him just as widely and after you come closer and some of the girls make room, your eyes widen and a small little gasp slips out of you when you finally find out what the fuss is all about. They are all cooing and marveling at a beautiful cat on Bucky’s arms, white as snow on a mountain peak, standing there like royalty, staring back like they’re nothing but proud of being where they are.

“Hey,” Bucky greets, prompting your eyes to focus back on him.

“Hi, there,” you answer back while your gaze carries an amused question mark at him.

He lifts a hard drive with his free hand to your vision field, “We collected this last mission, it’s some alien stuff,” he offers you the drive, keeping his eyes on yours.

As you gaze at each other, you reach for the little device. His fingers brush against yours and that’s precisely when the chattering around both of you becomes nothing but a distant and vague noise that barely reaches your senses… until a loud clear of throat sound stands out.

“Alright, girls, let’s get back to our desks and let these two, ahm… work,” Camilla, your closest friend there, gives you a pointed look and a discrete curve curls the corner of her lips as she leads the group - which looks far from happy about it - away.

When your gaze meets Bucky again, he’s got that shit-eating grin of his that tells you the little interaction between you and your friend didn’t quite skip from his attention.

You bite your lip and are about to say something when he beats you to it, “Sorry, I had to bring her with me.” He looks down at the cat on his arm and gives it a gentle shake, grinning down at her while she looks up at him before her incredibly blue eyes shut in what looks like sheer contentment, “This little girl right here started whining at the door when I was leaving… she just can’t leave my side anymore.” Bucky shrugs and ticks his tongue, before winking at you.

You chuckle, finding the surprising scene before you nothing less than adorable. The fact that you enjoy being in the presence of his charm again doesn’t go unnoticed by you, but you say nothing about it, “It’s ok, of course. I love cats. What’s her name?”

“Y/N, this is Alpine. Alpine this is Y/N,” he introduces you two with pride lacing his voice.

“Oh, hello, Alp-” your attempt of petting the cat comes to an abrupt halt with you withdrawing your hand at the loud hiss the animal aims at you.

Your eyes snap at Bucky to see his jaw dropping and his eyes widening with a mix of shock and fluster, “Fucking Christ,” he gasps, before looking down at the cat who now licks its paws absentmindedly, “What the hell, missy? Apologize. Apologize now,” he scolds, gaining absolutely no reaction in response.

He scoffs, looking back at you with incredulous lifted eyebrows.

You laugh, mainly at his attempt of making Alpine apologize, “Don’t worry…” You wave him off, “How did that happen, though? I don’t remember you having a cat.” You narrow your eyes just when your head tilts.

He bites his lower lip before an almost cringing smile forms on his lips, “Oh well…”

A FEW WEEKS BEFORE…

“Weren’t the Skrulls, like, actually good guys?” Bucky frowns, shoving one of his post-missions Oreos in his mouth and crossing his ankles over the spaceship’s dash.

“Every bunch has its bad apple, I guess,” from the pilot’s seat Natasha shrugs, eyeing the apple in question from over her shoulder.

“You’ll regret this,” threatens the prisoner, who’s actually a Skrull slaver named Gragnon and has his hands and feet securely tied up, stuck on a sit at the back of the ship. Still, he tries to get up and advance towards the front, but a shield of red mist surges in front of him, making him fall back on the chair again with a growl.

Wanda, the third member of the party on that mission, smirks from her seat right behind Nat’s.

Nat rolls her eyes, “What a douche… Talos has been leading a search for him for years now, he’d be thankful we’re taking him to them. Feet off the dash, please.”

Bucky quickly obeys, pulling down his legs to the floor as Wanda snickers.

“In fact… we should thank the success of this mission to a certain someone, who came up with a device to break alien codes.” The cheeky smile on Wanda’s face as she started speaking only fades so she can shoot a glare back at the prisoner, who’s now revolved by a red mist dome.

“Damn right.” A dreamy little curl pulls Bucky’s lips as he swings on his seat and passes the bag of Oreos to Wanda.

“Jesus,” Nat scoffs, setting the ship on autopilot, before swirling her chair to see both Bucky and Wanda, “Could you ever imagine this could be possible? That this guy would someday be that smitten over someone?” she questions Wanda.

“Not in a million years. I don’t know Y/N that well, but I bow to her.” Wanda mimics the gesture before shoving a cookie in her mouth.

Bucky doesn’t even drop the dreaminess of his smile. He is smitten… completely… utterly… and fuck if that doesn’t feel damn good. He always thought that kind of feeling would be a pain in the ass, boring and painful. It is not. He feels like singing, dancing, hugging every human being and alien he comes across. Fuck, he would hug the Gragnon dude if it didn’t mean to get a kick in the ass from Natasha. It’s been ages that he doesn’t really get high on anything, but that feeling… he’s definitely hooked on it. There’s not a doubt inside him anymore and he’s in love with being in love with you.

“So, spill it,” Nat crosses her legs, swinging on her chair “You really went to her place and poured your heart out to her? Right after her ex proposed to her?” She questions, “What did she say?”

“Well, first she thought I was kidding and laughed her ass off…” He shakes his head with the same dreamy little smile on his lips, “Then, when she realized I was not, she started crying and, of course, so did I.” He shrugs, ignoring when Nat and Wanda exchange looks, “She wasn’t expecting that from me at all, and, we can’t really blame her can we?”

“Definitely not.”

“Nope.”

Bucky chuckles at the unison response from her friends before leaning over and snatching the bag of cookies from Wanda, before giving them the details of his talk with you, having their undivided attention. “And she said she needs some time alone, being single, I mean, to sort her feelings out… Also, it seems like she doesn’t think I can’t deal with the kind of commitment that being in love requires,” he says with a mouthful.

“Oh, honey…” Nat tilts her head.

He notices the sympathy on hers and Wanda’s expressions and waves his hand to brush her worries off, “No, no. None of that. All in all, it went pretty well. As much as I wished it would be different, I think her decision is fair. At least she didn’t say yes to the jackass with the ring,” he huffs, “I wasn’t really expecting her to throw herself in my arms. At least, not just yet.” He smirks.

“What?” Natasha shoots a look at Wanda before turning to him, “You’re not stepping aside?”

Bucky snorts at the question, “Are you kidding me? The first broad I ever fall in love with and you think I’ll leave the path free for that short little clown who thinks ten years matter?” He lets out an exaggeratedly loud laugh, “I’ve lived more than one hundred of them. Ten years mean nothing to me, and soon enough she’ll realize it doesn’t have to mean much to her, either.” A small smile rises on his face, “Of course she can have the time for herself she wants, find out what’s like being single. She deserves that. And she can think and figure out all she needs… have her fun... It’s all good…” He nods, “But in the meanwhile? I’ll be around romancing the shit out of that woman,” he states, right before tossing another cookie in his mouth.

“Holy shit,” Wanda addresses Natasha, with both eyebrows high on her forehead.

“I know…” Nat answers with an equally dumbfounded look on her face, before turning to Bucky, “Listen,” she sighs and tilts her head, “I hate to be such a killjoy here, but… I get you’re in love, and I know this is new and exciting for you.” She’s smiling before her lips tighten, “Having said that… I think she might have a point about you not being ready for commitment Bucky, you never wanted that. I’m gonna be honest here, I’m the one who set what you two had up because I thought it wouldn’t lead to this…” She waves all around him, “Feelings, I mean… and I would hate myself if you two ended up hurt because of it.” She focuses an apprehensive gaze on him while Wanda also rests her attention on him, looking like she agrees with her friend.

Bucky takes a good look between the two of them before putting into words the answer that’s so clear on his head now, “I know it may sound weird and uncharacteristic of me. Trust me, I know that.” He nods at Natasha, taking a moment to silently communicate with her in the way that has been always so easy for the two of them, “You’re right, I’ve never wanted that. Settling down to just one person, commit to a long term relationship…But with her,” he sighs and the corner of his lips curl up without further notice, “I want her and I want all of that with her, the whole package. I’m ready. I’m not afraid. I think the reason I didn’t want all of that before is because I hadn’t met her yet. That’s it. Simple as that. I know it’s not going to be easy, but to hell with easy. I want her. And I want her hard.”

Wanda already has a huge grin on her face when a satisfied little smirk twists Nat’s lips, “That’s what Amanda said.”

Bucky’s eyes widen before he squints at her, “What’ve you been up to?”

Nat puts on a nonchalant face and reaches forward to grab a cookie from the package. She takes a bite and shrugs, “Poor girl… needed some comfort after being let down by your buddy down there.”

Bucky lets out an outraged scoff and throws a cookie on her way, from which she dodges easily as she laughs, “I bet you were of great help in consoling her… Jesus… Amanda and you? The world isn’t ready.” He shakes his head.

Natasha sports a smug smile on her face when she nods her agreement, “You’re not wrong.”

“Alright, as much as I want to hear all about this Amanda girl, we’re getting close to the Skrull base now and we need you to land us, Nat,” Wanda nods towards the dash.

“Copy that,” Natasha makes a military salute at her, before shifting her seat and taking control of the ship again.

“And as for you,” Wanda turns to Bucky, “I don’t need to read what’s on your mind to know you’re telling us the truth. You’re ready for commitment,” she offers him a soft smile, which he reciprocates, “And if you really wanna show her that, I may have an idea.” Her smile turns into a devious little smirk and that’s enough to pique Bucky’s interest.

~~~

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Bucky asks, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walks alongside Wanda through the busy sidewalks of Manhattan, “I mean… I know I said yes, but it is one hell of a commitment, what if it’s not for me?”

“Don’t worry, Bucky,” she smiles, “We’re just gonna take a look around, feel the vibe, and then see what happens. You don’t have to decide anything just yet,” she assures, wrapping an arm around his elbow as he looks down at her, “I just think it’s a good idea for you to get to know a bit more of this sudden inclination to commit…to experiment, I guess,” Wanda shrugs, “Besides, a dear friend of mine runs the shelter and the girl knows her stuff. If she feels like you’re not ready, she won’t allow you to get out of there with one of her babies.”

Bucky lets out a laugh. Feeling a little lighter about the subject, he places his hand over the one Wanda has wrapped around his arm, “Alright… I’m not opposed to the idea of having a dog, I guess. I always loved Labradors…” he frowns, “I would have to switch apartments, though…”

“Look at you.” Wanda nudges her shoulder on him, “Already making plans for your child…”

“Child…” Bucky can’t help but snort. He had agreed to Wanda’s idea of going to an animal shelter because he thought it would be a good way to show you he’s ready for commitment and, like he said, he’s always been fond of dogs and he’s sure if he ends up taking one home he’ll treat them well. But he also never understood how some people could be so attached to an animal to the point of considering them a child, or family…“I don’t know… I’m definitely not taking a pet home today. I agree with you, I shouldn’t decide anything just yet.”

As they walk past a small alleyway, Wanda halts, forcing him to stop with her.

“What?” Bucky frowns down at her.

“Shhh,” she brings a finger to her lips, staring towards the alleyway, “Listen.”

That’s when Bucky’s enhanced hearing catches the thin and shaky little sound coming through the trash cans.

“Come on,” Wanda pulls him to the alley and towards the cans.

What they find behind one of the containers, among all the filth around is a ball of white fur. Curled up and shaking just like the meows they heard seconds ago. A cat, a young adult white cat looks up and a pair of baby blue eyes meets Bucky’s and he just can’t look away from the plea on them and it’s just when something clicks inside his chest.

“Oh, no, look,” Wanda points at the tail, that has an evident injury on it, but when she leans down to examine it further, the animal flinches and rushes towards Bucky’s legs, letting out another trembling and weak meow. Bucky freezes as it starts climbing up his calves.

Given the poor coordination on their back little legs – probably from the damage on the tail- it can go much higher, but keeps trying. After the initial surprise, Bucky can’t help but to smile at the little fighter, who seems to reach out at him for protection. Next thing he knows, he’s leaning down and picks it up with all the caution he can muster.

“Hello, little lady… what happened there, huh?” He coos, nodding towards the small injury, which looks like a bite, having the cat meowing while bumping and rubbing the head against his chest.

“Is it a female?” Wanda tilts her head, an amused and questioning expression on her face.

Bucky smirks, not taking his eyes away from the animal, who is now quiet and seems much calmer, but digging her little claws on Bucky’s shirt, “I know a beautiful lady when I see one. Don’t I, gorgeous?”

A purring sound comes out of the now contented animal, the small injury on her tail apparently not being a problem anymore while she climbs higher and practically hugs Bucky with her little paws, whose fur is smudged by dirt, making his heart take a flip in his chest. Damn his heart nowadays…

“Aww, Bucky…” Wanda smiles, placing her hand over her heart, “What are we going to do? Should we take her to the shelter?” Wanda offers, with a bit of tentativeness on her voice.

Bucky’s eyes widen largely, before they snap to her friend. A protective tightness laces his hold on Alpine, who lets out another weak meow. Shit… Alpine? When the hell did he even come up with a name? Fuck if he knows, all he knows he’s done for and can’t possibly think of parting from that white furry little thing, who seems to have gone through a lot in her life already and probably has never met with human kindness before.

He doesn’t need to say anything as understanding falls upon Wanda’s face. He would even guess there’s a bit of pride adorning the smile on her lips now, “Alright, alright… we do need to take Alpine to the vet, though, Mr. I’m not gonna take a pet home today.” She winks.

~~~

PRESENT DAY…

“Oh well…” Bucky scratches the back of his neck while you keep your beautiful interested eyes on him, “I found this beauty on the street… she had an injured tail, poor thing… probably bitten by a dog. But she’s fine now, aren’t you, sweetie?” He coos, putting on the new tone of voice that belongs to Alpine now and loving the sound of your chuckle, “You know… I’m fully committed to taking care of her. I’m a cat dad now.” He says, putting some effort to highlight the word “committed”.

“I can see that…” you comment, nodding with a glimmer of fondness in your gaze at where Alpine is cuddled against him with eyes closed, completely relaxed.

Bucky looks down and smiles. That one is too cute for her own good, but he’s definitely having a talk with her later, for hissing at you like that, like he hadn’t given her a lecture about good behavior and how incredible you were before they left home.

“So, it’s been a while, huh? How’re you doing?” He asks softly, boring his eyes on you and holding back every ounce of him to not pull you to his arms and shower you with all the intense love he’s gathering in his chest at your sight in front of him. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t have spent those long weeks apart from you, but he met with missions and an Alpine in the way. Also, as much as he’s resolved to show you he’s the one for you, he understands you needed time for yourself. But, hell, he missed you so much.

“Oh, I’m good, I’m good… pretty good,” you ramble, brushing a finger behind your ear, that thing you do when you become a bit self-conscious, which happens often when he places his gaze so intently on you.

He can’t help but smile, his chest impossibly swelled with his feelings for you, because that woman who becomes all flustered with his attention is the same woman who whined to suck his dick while shitfaced after a party. Damn, he’s so in love with you.

“That’s great...Are you free tonight?” He asks, smoothly, “Wanda and Sam will make hamburgers, they’re one hell of a team in the kitchen, you’ll be welcome to come if you want to.”

“Oh… I…” You falter.

“I’m not trying anything, I promise,” He’s quick to add with a chuckle and raises his free hand up, noticing the trepidation in your voice. “Everyone’s gonna be there. We’re just gonna eat and hangout.” He shrugs.

“Oh… no, it’s not that, it’s just…” You tighten your lips “I’ve got plans.” Something Bucky guesses to be disappointment or something like that sweeps into your voice. As for him, he holds his breath, bracing himself for the news that you’re going out with that douche of an ex, “I’m gonna meet some friends from college tonight. I got a reservation for us for dinner and then we’re gonna go dance…”

Bucky lets out a breath and the smile that grows in his face is wide when he says, “Oh, alright. That sounds like fun.” Really, really fun, especially if that jackass isn’t involved. He’s not disappointed. Far from it.

You smile back at him, matching his mood. It doesn’t slip from his attention that you seem a bit surprised by his reaction at you declining an invitation from him in favor to hang out with your friends, but he says nothing of it.

“Yeah… I’ve been getting reacquainted with them lately,” you say, excitement plastered on the little curve of your lips and the glint in your eyes, “It’s been fun. I’d love to get to know Wanda and Sam’s talent in the kitchen, though….Maybe some other time?” You offer.

“Sounds perfect, sweetheart.”

The term of endearment brings the effect he was aiming for when you promptly does that thing with your finger on your ear again, but it was also noticed by the other girl in the room and currently in his arm, who seems to wake up from her comfort slumber against his chest to hiss at you again.

You look at each other in widened eyes.

“What the hell,” Bucky scolds down at the cat, glancing at you briefly, catching your now amused expression, before addressing Alpine again in a whispery voice, “We’re gonna have a talk back home, young lady.”

~~~

“What a number you put out there, huh?” His voice is gentle despite the reprimanding intention in his words while Bucky crouches and fills her little plate with the special food the vet recommended.

With her crystal-clear eyes glued on the plate, Alpine doesn’t really acknowledge his half attempt of admonishing her before digging in.

Bucky chuckles, “She’s cute, isn’t she? But so are you,” He scratches the back of her ear and she stops eating for a moment to brush her head against his hand, “You don’t have to be jealous, doll. You’re so cute, you’re my girl, too, you know?” he coos, still petting her, “But you gotta help me out there buddy. Ok? She’s really special and I know you’ll love her, too.”

Alpine lets out a weak meow before getting back to her plate and Bucky swears to God he sometimes wonders if the cat is some sort of shapeshifter in disguise, understanding every little thing he says.

Letting her out to eat, he stands up, “Hey, Friday,” he calls.

“Yes, Bucky?”

“Could you search for a table reservation in the name of Y/N Y/L/N tonight? I need the address of the place.”

A small silence ensues before the A.I speaks again, “Isn’t it a bit creepy?”

He sighs, placing his hands on his hips, “Friday… babe…” He smiles at the giggles that resound in his kitchen, before bringing a hand to his heart, “I’m in love, ok? I’m not gonna ruin her night…If anything, I’m just going to make her night out with her friends more… interesting.”

“Alright, you know I can’t say no to you,” the A.I concedes, “You can find the address in your phone’s map. Good luck, handsome.”

“Thanks, babe,” Bucky grins, before turning to Alpine, who’s now about done with her food, sprawled on the floor busy with cleaning out her paws, “And you?” He calls, catching her attention before he points at her, “You’ll have burgers with your aunt Wanda. I have plans for tonight.”

~~~

To be continued...

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes fanfiction #it's a deal

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ahwait-no-yes · 3 years

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🍬 Candy Kingdom 🍭

Woo another chapter!! Trying to make them longer,,

-5-

As fun as talking to people was, it was very exhausting. Once they all went their separate ways, Saihara felt fatigue settle in. Though, he was pretty happy about the fact that he didn’t make a complete fool of himself, so that was good.

“Saihara chan looks like someone just pissed in his food,” He pointed out, grinning at him. Shuichi was quiet for a moment before replying, “I’m just a bit tired I guess,” He had gotten used to Kokichi’s antics after a few days, quietly laughing when he said that.

“Ahh, that’s to be expected with you! Saihara chan looks like the kind of person that would die if he had to talk to strangers for a whole day!” He happily chirped, smiling at Shuichi as if he just complimented him. “I can’t say you’re wrong,” He murmured, covering his mouth as a light blush spread across his face. Kokichi snickered, grinning up at the other boy.

“Did you know I’m never wrong? I can see the future so it’s impossible!” He said, lifting his finger to his mouth. Shuichi decided to amuse him, a soft smile on his lips. “Is that so?” He asked, slightly tilting his head. Ouma’s grin grew as he threw his hands behind his head. “Yep!”

“So, since you can see the future, what are we going to do today?” Saihara asked, smiling at him. Kokichi brought his hand to his chin, something he caught Saihara doing a few times. Ouma hummed for a moment before grinning. “We’re gonna find a bunch of cats!”

Before Shuichi could say anything, Ouma continued talking, “We could like, start an army to overthrow the kingdom!” He exclaimed, a mischievous expression on his face. “Why would you even do that?-” He asked, hoping his voice sounded confused and not nervous.

“Because they’re total ass hats, I’m surprised no one noticed yet,” He replied, his voice monotone. “But I guess not everyone can be as smart as me!” He bounced back almost immediately, a bright smile on his face again.

Shuichi stared at him for a moment. He then remembered he never told him that he was the queen’s son. He realized now probably wouldn’t be a very good time to tell him about it. He slightly laughed, averting his eyes. “I guess so,” He murmured, not exactly sure how to respond without coming off as rude.

“Told you!” He suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Saihara by his shoulders and turning him to face towards a small group of cats. “Did you know there would be cats here?” He asked, glancing at the other boy. “Maybe! Or I can actually see the future!” He chirped, letting go of him.

Saihara chuckled, a soft smile on his face. He carefully approached a cat, letting it sniff his finger tips. Ouma leaned forward, pulling out a napkin that had some leftover food from earlier. “That’s why you kept it?” Saihara asked, turning towards him. “Maybe. I could just be having the cats poison it.”

“How does that work?” He asked, absentmindedly petting one of the cats. “Well, because these cats are poisonous, if you eat food that was contaminated by them you’ll die!” He replied, grinning at him. Shuichi hummed, trying not to smile.

“Does Saihara chan think I’m lying?” He said, dramatically placing a hand on his heart. “Truly, I’m wounded!” Shuichi burst into muffled giggles, his hand covering his mouth. “Hey! Stop laughing!” He complained, slightly pouting.

“Sorry, sorry!” His voice was muffled, though he was clearly amused. Kokichi quietly giggled, a grin on his face. He reached out to pet one of the cats, letting it nuzzle against his hand. “Do you like cats?” Kokichi asked, glancing at the taller boy.

Shuichi hummed for a moment, a content smile on his face. “Yeah, I’ve always wanted one,” He commented, continuing to pet one of them. “Why didn’t you just get one then? There’s ton of them here!” He chirped, grinning at him. That was until one of the smaller ones jumped onto his back, causing him to wince.

Saihara was going to ask if he was alright, but he started giggling and letting the kitten crawl onto his head. Shuichi started laughing with him, watching the kitten pawing at the strands of his hair that stuck out. (He still didn’t know how that worked exactly, he reminded himself to ask him at some point.)

Kokichi picked the kitten up, giving it to Saihara. “Here, hold them!” He exclaimed, letting the kitten sniff his face. “Okay okay,” He chuckled, gently holding the kitten. “Do you have names for them?” Shuichi asked, looking at the other boy. Kokichi shook his head, petting the cat in the other boy’s arms.

“Do you wanna name him?” He asked, tilting his head. “Can I?” Saihara replied, obviously excited. “I guess. You’re lucky, as a supreme leader I don’t usually make exceptions!” Kokichi chirped, going from kind to haughty in less then a second.

“Mm, what about Oliver?” He asked, turning towards him. Kokichi grinned, nodding. “Nishishi, sure!” Oliver purred, rubbing his cheek against Saihara’s face. “He’s doing that to mark his scent,” Kokichi pointed out, petting the cat’s head. “Really? Why?” Saihara asked, tilting his head.

“They do that so other cats know that you’re their person!” He pointed out, quietly giggling. “That’s why they do it? I thought they did because they liked us,” He muttered, chuckling. “Nope! They do it so other cats won’t get all buddy buddy with you.”

“My parents never let me have any pets, they said I wouldn’t take good care of it and someone else would have to,” He explained, tapping his finger against his cheek. “Who else would take care of it?” He asked, his face completely blank. “Just-” Saihara paused. He remembered what Ouma bad said earlier about the kingdom, and bit the inside of his cheek.

“Just some other family members,” He lied, looking away from him. Kokichi was quiet for a moment, staring at him. His face was completely blank, his eyes scanning over Saihara’s face. “So Saihara chan lives with a lot of his family?” He asked, a playful grin on his face. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Can I come over? I’d love to definitely not pull any pranks on anyone! That’s not a lie, I promise!” He smiled innocently at Saihara, looking up at him and batting his eyes. “I don’t know, we live pretty far away,” He murmured, letting the kitten go. “Really? What’re you doing here then?” He asked, tilting his head.

“I got lost,” He stated, looking at him. “Really? You must’ve been wondering for a while, huh?” Kokichi stared at his nails, presumably bored. “Yeah, I was,” He started fidgeting, knowing Ouma could probably tell he was lying. He’d have to tell him eventually, but he was worried that they would get in a fight and wouldn’t be friends anymore, and Saihara would never see him again.

After a few moments, Kokichi grinned and abruptly speaking up. “Well! Why don’t we play a game, Saihara chan?” He asked, staring at him. Shuichi was still cautious, not wanting to let anything slip and be found out. “What kind of game?” He murmured, standing up as well. “What about… Tag!” He chirped, his eyes sparkling. “Wouldn’t it be boring with just two people?"

Kokichi pouted, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "Is Saihara chan suggesting I’m boring?!” He exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Saihara. “I’m not!” He stated, taking a step back. “How mean! I’ve been nothing but nice to Saihara chan and this is how he treats me!” Tears were flowing out of eyes, hiccuping every now and then.

“Ouma kun, please don’t cry!” He pleaded, worry all over his face. Ouma promptly ignored him, continuing to wail on about how Saihara was such a bully. “You’re so mean! Saihara chan��s so mean to me!” He exclaimed, gently hitting the others arm. Shuichi gently grabbed his hand, causing his tears to practically evaporate.

“Ouma kun, please calm down,” He murmured, trying to maintain eye contact. Kokichi stared at him for a few moments, a light blush dusted across his face. “Fine, Stupidhara,” He pouted, flicking Saihara’s forehead. “Hey!” Shuichi rubbed his forehead, trying to suppress his smile. Kokichi just giggled, poking his arm.

—

“He’s been missing for a few days. Where could he possibly be?” Asuka frowned, turning to her husband. “I don’t know. I suggested letting everyone know, it’d help us find him quicker,” Hitoshi sighed, rubbing his temple. She rolled her eyes and continued to braid her hair. “That insolent child. When he gets back we’ll need to have someone with him at all times.” She glared at her husband, her hands trembling from barely masked anger. “This is all your fault. If you never-”

He glared back, raising his hand. She reluctantly quieted down, continuing to scowl at him. Just then, a girl with long blue hair entered. The two straightened up, Asuka let her hands fall to her lap. “Very sorry to,” She paused, gasping for breath. It seemed she had ran here, sweat was beaded on her forehead and she looked tired. “To, interrupt you too, I don’t know why they sent me, I’m simply too plain to-”

“State your business,” Asuka nonchalantly said, her voice monotone. She made sure to have a serene expression on her face, masking her irritation from earlier. “Eep! Sorry!” The girl flinched, smoothing her long dress before clearing her throat. “Um- someone says that they may have seen the prince entering the forest a few days ago. Th-they were taken in for uh, further questioning. I’m afraid that’s all I know.”

“I see, thank you for this information–” Asuka paused, her eyes scanning over the nervous girl’s face. “What is your name?” She yelped, a light blush spreading across her face. “M-My name?” She was quiet for a moment before saying, “Oh! Um, Shirogane. My name is Shirogane,” The girl, Shirogane, bowed. Asuka stared at her for a moment before waving her hand, dismissing her. She scrambled out, continuing to smooth out her skirt.

Once she was out, she sighed, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “So, that Saihara kid is missing, huh?” She felt herself smile, quietly giggling under her breath.

“What an interesting turn of events.”

4 | 5 | 6

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iblue-kitzune · 4 years

Text

Late Night Party Out at Stark’s Place

With a small sigh, Tony leaned back into the armrest of the soft leather sofa he laid stretched out on and closed his eyes. The temptation to give into sleep was there, just lingering at the edge of his mind, but he was neither tired or in the right mood for a nap. His body was still too wired from the food and drinks he consumed at the party he just left a few minutes ago, which was still going strong out front in his yard. He remembered something about his head hurting and complained to some of the guys afterwards. He didn't want to leave, but they gave him no choice and, without warning, shoved him back inside.

"Argh!" he grabbed his head, grinding his teeth together at the sharp pain that ran along his temples.

"Here," came a young woman's voice.

Tony tensed as a pair of small hands covered his larger ones, but then he relaxed once he felt a familiar wave of soothing energy wash over him, and the man couldn't help the relieved groan that left his mouth when those lithe fingers he knew oh-so well started rubbing his forehead.

"I take it that this beats Tylenol or Aleve any day."

Tony opened his eyes and found brown eyes of the same shade as his staring back at him. A soft smile crossed his lips as he sat up and rubbed his daughter’s bluish-black hair.

"Definitely!" he kissed the crown of her head and laid back down. "Thanks, sweetheart."

"You're welcome, dad," Kagome smiled and removed her hands from her father's head.

"I guess Tony wasn't the only one suffering from a headache around here."

The two looked up and saw Jane sitting across from them on the other sofa with a sleeping Loki draped over her body, his head resting comfortably on her lap as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through his raven hair.

"Too bad you weren't here earlier, Kagome. I could've used your help with Loki here," Jane gestured to the dark haired god with her other hand.

Kagome raised a brow.

"From the looks of it, you managed to do the job just fine," she smirked. Though her brow did rise higher when she caught the twitch of Loki's hand in his sleep.

"After a bit of arguing and telling him to lay down, yes I did," Jane looked away with a small frown on her face.

Tony furrowed his brows and focused his eyes a bit more on the two. Their party clothes did look a little rough and dishevel in some areas along with their hair. And was that a slight blush he saw on her face?

"Something tells me that a little more than Reindeer Games getting a headache went on."

Jane's face burned bright in anger. Or was that embarrassment?

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Tony! Nothing of that sort happened," she glared at him, spying the look he had in his eyes.

"Then—"

"If I told you, Loki would do more than kill me. Then he would go and do the same to you for knowing in the first place. I don't think you want that."

"The guy's asleep, Janie. What he won't know won't hurt him. Besides, what's the worst he can do?"

"I..."

"Would you like to find out, Stark?"

Tony froze.

Jane jumped in surprise and looked down. She blanched at the sight of her own hand in Loki's hair and immediately, yet gently, removed it as if she had been burned.

"Loki! You're awake!?" the young half-spirit squeaked, and hated herself for it, backing away from the god as he slowly sat up from his position on the couch.

"I am truly a bit disappointed in you, Jane. Surely you weren't thinking about telling dear Anthony here what we’d discussed in this room earlier, did you?"

Words could not express how Kagome felt about all of this, but she knew that her father and auntie figure were in for it now. The priceless look on her dad and Jane's face as well as the dangerous one on the trickster god's face said it all, and it made her laugh.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sounds of music and laughter rang through the air as a few animals ran around the front yard of Tony Stark’s home, weaving in out and out of people’s way as they chased a small group of children and teenagers around in a circle. They carefully slipped past a large group of adults sitting at the table, eating and drinking while playing a game of UNO, and almost ran into Pepper who just got done sitting a tray of food she had in her hands on another table.

Thankfully, she saw them and skirted out of the way in time, letting the kids run past her.

“Be careful next time, children!” she shouted to their retreating forms.

One of the children stopped and looked back, her dark brown hair whipping to the side from the motion.

“We will mom!” she said with a grin, her brown eyes twinkling just like the stars in the sky above them, and turned back around, securing the toy she had in her arms a bit more firmly.

“Hey wait up you guys!”

Just as she was about to join back up with her friends, the little girl spotted a familiar black haired man with amber eyes land on the ground from the roof he’d just left.

“Uncle Jude!” she ran over to him.

The spiky haired man turned around to see Tony’s youngest daughter, who was now eight years old, stop in front of him.

“Hello Morgan!” he smiled down at the girl when she hugged him, and right as he was about to return the hug, his eyes caught onto what she was holding in her arms. “What’cha got there?” he asked curiously.

Morgan took a moment to back up, releasing the man, who she viewed as one of her many uncles, as she did so, and flipped the toy around for Jude to see.

It was a giant sized purple and black bat plushie with yellow eyes that had black triangular markings on the inner corners of its eyes, small wings with black hands in the middle joint areas, large ears, and small feet. And for some finishing touches, from what he could see, there was a small blue and green checkered pattern bow-tie wrapped around its neck along with some black shades that were sitting on top of its head.

“Oh! A Noibat plushie!” Jude’s smile grew, immediately recognizing the Pokemon toy in her arms, and looked it over until his eyes came across a tear in its right wing. “Oh no!” he exclaimed with a frown on his face. “What happened to Noibat?”

Morgan mimicked his expression as she, too, looked down at the plushie.

“Noby got stuck in-between my drawer and bookcase in my room last night, and ripped when I got him free,” she explained sadly.

“That’s terrible,” he said, his frown deepened as he reached out and gently rubbed the plushie’s damaged wing in-between his fingers.

Morgan nodded as her uncle let Noby go. She looked up and held the Pokemon plushie out to him.

“Can you fix Noby for me, Uncle Jude?” she asked, hope swimming in her eyes and her voice.

Jude gave her a solemn yet reassuring look.

“Sure! Just leave it to me,” he carefully took Noby into one of his arms and looked at the plush for a few moments. “Give me a few hours and I’ll have him fixed up in no time okay?” he smiled, looking back at the eight year old.

“Okay!” Morgan replied, returning his smile with her own.

Jude chuckled and lightly ruffled the the little girl’s hair with his free hand, ignoring her indignant “hey!” as he turned her around afterwards.

“Now go on and continue playing with your friends, Morgan. I can see that they’re waiting for you right there,” he pointed at the other children standing near an empty table up ahead before giving her a light push forward.

Morgan looked back at him with a nod before turning back around. She fixed her hair and ran back over to her group of friends, waving at them as she did so.

A sigh left the spiky haired man as he sat down in one of the three empty chairs sitting on the front porch and dropped Noby in his lap.

“This tear shouldn’t be too hard to fix,” he mumbled to himself, staring at the plushie with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

“Hey, that’s my little sister’s Pokemon plushie...” he heard the front door open and a pair of footsteps walking over to him. “Are you going to stitch him up?”

Jude looked up to see Kagome standing next to him.

“Yep! Is Tony still inside dealing with his headache?”

“Oh that...” Kagome looked back at the door she came out of. “No. I already took care of that along with someone else’s headache but...”

Jude raised a brow at the expression on her face.

“But what?” he prompted.

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Kagome’s head.

“Loki got into a little scuffle with Dad and Jane because of the former’s teasing and what the latter was about to do,” she carefully explained. “He, umm...” she paused and then released a sigh under her breath. “Nevermind. You’ll see if you go inside.”

“I...see,” was all Jude could say.

Kagome nodded.

“Well, I’m gonna need to go inside to use the restroom anyway so...” Jude trailed off as he picked Noby up and handed him over to the young black-bluish haired woman. “Can you hold onto him for me?” he asked as he stood up from his seat.

Kagome gave the man a smile.

“Sure thing, uncle,” she said, holding the Pokemon toy loosely in her arms.

Once that was done, Jude walked past her, heading towards the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the sound of the front door being opened, Jane looked up to see Jude walk in and close the door behind him. When he turned around, she caught the expression on his face the second he spotted her. And she didn’t blame him when he stopped to stare at her and Tony, who was unfortunately fetching a ball for Loki much to his embarrassment. Not like she was in a much better position either, she mused, grumbling something inaudible under the God of Mischief’s hand.

‘Oh...’ then suddenly, she purred, much to her embarrassment, when he hit the right spot behind her left ear. “Jude...help...nya,” she spoke, her voice a little strained as she reluctantly leaned into the hand, melting under his ministrations.

“Umm...” Jude looked down to see a brown colored dog with brown eyes run past his feet with a ball in his mouth and looked up to see a purring brown colored cat with golden brown-amber eyes sitting in Loki’s lap and being petted by him. “Do I even want to know why Jane’s a cat and Tony is a dog?” he asked, lamely.

Loki raised a brow at the young man, but otherwise said nothing as he lounged back on the couch like he owned the place, feet propped up on the table in front of him, and accepted the ball Tony gave him.

“Woof!”

His green eyes drifted downward to see the dog wagging his tail despite the frustrated look on his furry face, and with a smirk, he removed his hand from Jane’s furry head to pet him.

“Again if you will, Stark...” he moved his hand away and threw the ball with his other one, watching the dog run after the toy seconds later. “Now Dr. Mathis...” he looked back up to see Jude still standing there, looking dumbfounded, “Is there something else you’d like to ask?” and went back to petting Jane.

“Huh?” Jude snapped out of shock but not before sweat-dropping at the sight of Jane now cuddling up to Loki who didn’t mind her affection one bit. Though his jaw almost dropped in shock when the raven haired god smiled and returned her hug. “Err, no...” he finally said and forced himself to walk away from the...adorable sight...and from the guilt he could feel swelling up in his chest when Jane and Tony shot him pleading looks. “I was just heading towards the restroom,” he said, exiting the living room and turning a corner.

‘I’m so sorry you guys. I’ll make it up to you one day.’

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once one a.m. rolled around and everyone was getting ready to leave, after they helped the Stark family clean up of course, Jude walked over to Morgan with Noby in his arms.

“Here you go! Noby’s all fixed now,” Jude held the Noibat plushie out to the eight year child, who took it gingerly.

Morgan let out a small yet delighted squeal when she discovered the rip was no longer there. And what made her even more happy was the fact that Noby looked cleaner than he ever had been, which meant that Uncle Jude washed him earlier too.

“Thank you Uncle Jude!” she handed her plushie over to her mother and turned back around to hug Jude.

The spiky haired man crouched and returned the hug with a small smile.

“You’re welcome, Morgan!” he released the girl seconds later and stood up, looking over in Pepper’s direction. He waved good-bye at her and turned around, stuffing his hands inside of his pants’ pockets.

As he was leaving, he walked past Clint who was talking with Tony and Jane. And from what he spotted, the two were thankfully back to normal.

“What’s up with you two? Both of you have been acting strange around Loki ever since the three of you came back outside. Did he...do something to you two?” he heard the man ask.

“Well...” Jane said before trailing off.

Jude didn’t even have to look back to know that the two were sweating bullets.

“You don’t want to know,” the half-spirit woman finally decided on what she wanted to say to her colleague.

“What do you mean by—”

“Just leave it alone, Barton,” Tony said with a tired sigh.

Jude shook his head at their answers, but he understood why they didn’t want to tell anyone what had gone down inside the house. Heck, it was probably bad enough for them that he just so happened to have walked in on them playing with Loki. But he assured them that he wasn’t going to tell everyone.

And so far, he hasn’t.

“Have a good night Jude.”

“See ya later man.”

He looked up to see Jane walk past him, heading over to her car that was parked in the streets. Then seconds later, Clint walked past him too and headed towards his own vehicle where his wife and kids were waiting inside.

“Same to you two!” he waved at them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Stark family waited until every one of their friends got in their own vehicles and left the property before they turned to each other.

“Well, shall we go inside and head to bed?” Tony asked.

He got his answer in the form of a yawning Morgan who said “yes Daddy” in a low voice.

“Looks like I got my answer,” he laughed before he reached down to grab his daughter’s hand. Then he turned to his wife and leaned down to give her a kiss. “You too, Pep?” he asked her quietly, pulling away after a moment and wrapping his free arm around her waist.

“Mhm...” the light strawberry blond haired woman nodded her head, yawning afterwards, and leaned into her husband’s unoccupied side.

Tony smiled lovingly at his little family as they all walked up the steps leading towards their home and made their way over to the front door. He let go of Pepper for a second to open it, and once he did, he slipped his arm back around her waist. Then he pulled his daughter, who was clutching onto his pants leg, and his wife closer to him as he led them all inside, shutting the door closed behind them with the back of his foot.

#lokane #pepperony #fanfic #one-shot #jane foster #half-spirit!jane #the stark family #loki laufeyson #clint barton #kagome higurashi #jude mathis #marvel #mcu #inuyasha #tox #au verse #multiple crossovers #a tale of new beginnings gallery #late night party out at stark's place

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icyharrington · 5 years

Text

Sinful Thoughts (Michael Langdon X Reader) Part 2

click here for part 1 // tag list: (sorry if I forgot anyone!) @fuckthatfeeling @shado-cat @hxdesworld @the-captain-kidd @mrs-langdxn @natalielivesformusic

plot: you’re the epitome of a good christian girl. michael langdon intends to ruin that.

warnings: fem!Reader, high school au, fingering, michael is kind of a dick in this but in a hot way, u get finger fucked in a janitor’s closet oopsy😋

word count: 3.6k

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned.”

Your voice sounded foreign, like you were listening to yourself talk from another room. You swallowed a sudden wave of nausea as you waited for the priest to reply from behind the screen. “And how is it that you have sinned, my child?” The man’s voice was patient and calm. It didn’t make you feel any better.

You let out a shuddery sigh before responding. “I’ve been having bad thoughts. Sinful thoughts, father. Desires of the flesh...”

“I see. And have you succumbed to any of these thoughts?”

“No,” you said. Not yet, anyway. You considered this answer to only be a half-truth, as recently you’d been finding yourself grinding against your chair absentmindedly in class, watching that awful blond boy from across the room. You hadn’t touched yourself to any thoughts, at least not voluntarily, but you had a sneaking feeling that you were very, very close to breaking.

The last straw had been this morning. You’d been preoccupied in class, as usual, eyes glazed over as images of Michael Langdon’s hands danced in your mind, when suddenly there was a hollow pit in your stomach. You’d jumped to your feet and hurried to the girl’s bathroom, immediately holing yourself up in a stall to squeeze your thighs together and will away the thoughts that were bringing you closer and closer to your breaking point.

Once you’d managed to coax the feeling away, you bowed your head and recited a few prayers. God had to be testing your will— that was the only explanation you could think of that made any sort of sense. You’d always had such remarkable self-control, but you could feel it dwindling with every lude thought that crossed your mind. You had to admit, though: divine test or not, you were beginning to frighten yourself.

“Good, my child. Now recite three Hail Marys and you shall be forgiven.”

Your face fell. “Seriously? What am I supposed to do about this? I mean, I can’t think about anything but this one boy!”

The priest’s voice suddenly assumed a tone that was far more casual than wise and all-knowing. “Honestly, kid, there’s a lot worse things than having a couple dirty thoughts every now and then.”

You went slack-jawed, staring at the shadowy figure of the priest with disbelief. Was he really being serious? Did he really not have any kind of solution to offer for your problem? You huffed, discouraged, and without another word you left the confessional booth, letting the door slam shut behind you. Maybe he’s right, came a hopeful whisper in your mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you just touched a little...

You shook your head as if to erase the thought like an etch-a-sketch. No way. You couldn’t. You’d gone your whole life without giving in to your desires, so why start now? It’s a test, you told yourself firmly. God is testing me.

You pushed open the double doors of the church and walked into the parking lot, the sky navy blue and sprinkled with stars. You sighed, walking briskly as you started the fifteen minute journey home.

You’d hoped that going to the confessional would make you feel better, or enlighten you somehow. Instead, it had only heightened your confusion and distress. You pulled your jacket tighter to you as a soft breeze blew your hair back, footsteps erratic on the sidewalk as you hoped to shorten your walk through the cold.

Crunch. You stopped so suddenly you nearly lost your balance, whipping around as your heart jumped in your throat. It sounded as if somebody had stepped on a dead leaf on the ground behind you, but you’d been certain you were alone.

The sidewalk was empty. Not even a car was in sight. You scanned the premises anxiously before turning back around, quickening your pace. It was all in your head, you told yourself. You only made it a few more yards before you were interrupted again, this time by the sound of scurrying behind you, so clear there was no way you could’ve imagined it. You stopped, mumbling a desperate prayer and stroking your necklace, before gingerly turning around.

Nothing. The streets and sidewalk were empty. The streetlights cast eerie shadows down the uneven cement, overgrown with weeds and grass, but there was nobody there. What the hell? You thought, before scolding yourself for swearing.

You let out a panicked whimper, your body numbing from a mixture of fear and cold, and reluctantly you turned back around. You took in an indulgent breath, counting to three in your head before exhaling. It’s all in your head. It’s all in your head. It’s all-

You let out a strangled scream as a gloved hand found its way over your mouth, your body being pulled into a makeshift alley between two parallel fences. Immediately you were pressed hard against the old, splintering wood behind you, your flailing limbs tamed effortlessly by your assailant.

Then you heard a laugh. A very familiar laugh, at that. Your attacker removed his hand from your mouth, taking a step back, and even though it was dark you could recognize those angular features.

“Michael, what the- what the hell is wrong with you?” You managed, and you watched him grin at your natural reluctance to swear. A tear dropped from the corner of your eye and slid down your cheek, which you quickly wiped away with the back of your sleeve.

“I was going for a walk when I saw you, and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

“The opportunity to make me think I was about to be raped? Or murdered?” Your words came out at much more of a shrill pitch than you’d intended, and your body continued to shake from the leftover terror.

“Shhh,” he cooed, reaching a leather-clad hand to your jaw and tenderly wiping away the tears that continued to spill, forming dark spots on the front of your sweater. Even though you glared at Michael with contempt, that dreaded sinking feeling returned in your stomach upon having his hand against your skin.

“Don’t touch me,” you said, crossing your arms in front of you protectively.

“You say that,” he began, that stupid smirk giving way across his perfect lips, “but your thoughts are sending me a very different message.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“Hm,” he laughed dryly, thumb still working away the glassy stains on your skin. Then he brought his face close to yours, so close that his words caused the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. “Tell me about your dream.”

You gaped at him. He couldn’t possibly be talking about...? “What dream?”

He shook his head, appearing somewhat annoyed with you. “When will you accept that I know everything about you, (y/n)? Your thoughts, desires, dreams.” You faltered under the weight of his stare, unsure if your lack of motion was due to some sort of supernatural hold, or your own free will. “So, (y/n),” he said, lips brushing your ear and making you shiver. “Tell me about the dream you had.”

“You’re crazy,” you said, pressing yourself as far back against the fence as you could in a feeble attempt to escape his presence. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So you don’t remember? Waking up with your panties soaked through? Using every last shred of strength to stop yourself from touching that one part of you that’s off-limits.” You blinked at him, and again came that ache beneath your undergarments, demanding your attention.

“You remember.” He placed his fingers under your chin and tilted it upwards. “Don’t you?”

You nodded, an act of betrayal against yourself. “How did- how could you know?” you stammered, shallow breaths escaping you as you fought to keep your composure.

“I’m more powerful than any god you could ever dream of,” he told you, lifting one hand to your hair and petting it.

“That’s a lie.”

He tilted his head to one side, lips twitching upwards at the corners. He was loving this, the way you studied his every move with fear and lust behind your eyes. He darted his tongue out and ran it along his bottom lip, and you nearly whined at the way the moisture glinted in the dark. “But it isn’t, (y/n), and you know it isn’t.”

You glared at him, all at once frustrated with yourself for playing into his games, and without a second thought your palm was hot against his cheek, his skin icy from the nighttime chill. Your eyes wide, you brought your quivering hand back to your side, immediately regretting what you’d done. In the low light, you could almost swear his eyes were entirely black, glossy like a raven’s wings.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, our lord is with thee,” you choked, afraid. “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, J-J-“ You gasped for air, realizing that your throat was being constricted as your body inched upwards against the fence. Michael’s hands, however, weren’t touching you; your feet left the ground and you continued upwards as if by magic, dragged by an invisible force that also managed to prevent you from breathing.

“M-Mi-Michael,” you begged, your hands grasping senselessly at your throat. “P-pl-“ your mouth opened and closed frantically as your legs dangled uselessly below you.

He chuckled to himself before casually flicking his wrist, and suddenly you dropped back onto the ground, chest heaving as you took in a gulp of much needed air. Waves of blond hair falling over his face as he bent over to reach your level, he spoke with a twinge of sadistic amusement. “Are you ready to submit?”

All you could do was look at him, entirely speechless, and his lips curved up into a triumphant grin. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, (y/n).”

Without another word, he strode out of the alley and into the night, leaving you alone to deal with your thoughts.

ii.

All morning at school that next day, you compulsively checked the clock with a lump in your throat. Your stomach was unable to stop its incessant churning as you anticipated your inevitable crossing of paths with Michael later that day. You couldn’t shake the feelings of fear- fear for what he was, as it was blatantly apparent to you now that he wasn’t fully human- and arousal, and the combination of the two emotions was intoxicating.

You knew it wouldn’t be long before you unraveled in the palms of his ring-clad hands. There was just something about him that you couldn’t shake, and you thought maybe it’d be better for everyone if you just gave in to your desires.

You hated that you’d been brought to the point of nearly giving up- you’d been so strong until you met him. What was it about him that was powerful enough to change you?

When the time came to go to biology, you were forced to evaluate your options: the first was showing up and pretending like nothing was wrong, even though you knew Michael would be reading your thoughts all the same. The other was the more cowardly option- hiding out in a secluded part of the school while skipping the class altogether.

Michael would know that he’d won if you didn’t show up for class, something so out of character for someone as studious as you. You knew this. But wouldn’t he know either way that he’d gotten under your skin? He already seemed to be in tune with your every thought. Was there even any use pretending that you hadn’t been affected by him?

In the end, you wound up finding yourself hidden out in the janitor’s closet, knees drawn to your chest as you scrolled through your phone. Sure, it was the easy way out. But you were beginning to suspect that there would be no escaping Michael whether or not you went to class.

Sitting awkwardly amongst the mops and cleaning supplies, your heart jumped as the doorknob began jiggling gently.

You bit your bottom lip. You knew who was behind that door. It’d already been on the back of your mind that Michael might know where to find you, but your teeth began chattering in apprehensive excitement all the same. You watched the lock turn by itself- again, you’d known there was the chance that he could bypass whatever obstacles you put between the two of you. Every time he proved his supernatural powers to be more than a figment of your imagination, though, it managed to surprise you.

The lock clicked, and then the door was opening, a thin stream of light from the fluorescent-lit hallways cutting through the dimness of the closet. And then there was Michael with his beautiful hair and black jacket and expensive pants, towering over you as you became engulfed in his shadow.

He looked at you wryly, taking a step inside and shutting the door sensibly behind himself. “Is there a reason you’re in a dusty closet instead of biology class?”

Your fingers thoughtlessly traced your cross necklace for what seemed like the thousandth time that week, even though you knew it wouldn’t help you now. “You know why I’m here, Michael,” you said grudgingly.

“Why don’t you tell me?” he said, and you rolled your eyes. This was all a part of his plan to ruin you, having you swallow your last ounce of pride to admit that you were afflicted by him.

“I thought you knew everything,” you said sarcastically as he leaned forward and offered you his hand.

“Oh, believe me, (y/n), I do,” he said, helping you to your feet after you placed your hand in his. “I just want to hear you say it.”

He came closer to you, hips swinging slightly as he took his usual long, leisurely strides. Your back hit the dusty shelves, shaking something loose- there was a soft crash as something scattered across the floor, but you hardly noticed, too busy fixating on Michael as he closed in on his prey. Rolling his neck slightly, he licked his lips; his eyes were dark and glinted with a carnivorous sort of hunger.

“Fine,” you said loudly, resenting the way he regarded you so smugly. “I’m here because I couldn’t bring myself to face you. Because you make me want to do bad things. Un-Christian things. Happy?”

“Now, how hard was that?” He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, blinking innocently. “Tell me what you want,” he said, his tone gentle but authoritative, fingers trailing down your cheeks and ghosting your jaw.

“You know what I want,” you murmured, looking down as your face flushed with shame. Was he really going to make you say it?

Of course he was going to. You shouldn’t have expected any sort of mercy from someone like Michael Langdon. He was eating this up, thriving on your weakness. And for some reason, as ashamed as you were to admit it, that raw, domineering power only made your center throb harder with want.

“Look at me,” he commanded calmly, so low you almost thought you’d imagined it. You obeyed, shuddering as his eyes seared invasively into yours. “Tell me what you want, and you can have it.”

“I want-“ you began, pausing to gather your bearings. “I want you to touch me.” You hardly registered the words as your own; it felt like you were outside of your body, watching helplessly from afar as you eagerly allowed Michael Langdon to strip you of your remaining dignity.

“That’s it,” he said, lowering his hand to toy with the hem of your skirt. “Let go of everything. Give yourself to me.” He hiked up your skirt to your waist, and you could only imagine how crude this scene would look to an observer as he rolled your nude colored pantyhose down to your knees. You whimpered, barely noticing the way the shelf behind you dug painfully into your back.

“Where do you want to be touched?” he asked, making you groan in exasperation. Wasn’t the fact that you were submitting to him enough? Why did he need to further humiliate you?

“Please,” you breathed, but he only shook his head at you, no sign of sympathy in his stoic gaze. “Michael.”

Your hand shot forward and gripped his wrist, tugging it desperately towards your dripping core. He seemed pleasantly surprised at this, and seemed to be rewarding your boldness when he starred to rub circles over the thin fabric of your underwear. You moved your hand to grip his forearm, hissing as he applied hard pressure to your aching clit.

“Your underwear is completely soaked through,” he remarked, sliding his hand up to the waistband and snapping it hard against your lower stomach. “Have I always made you this wet?”

You knew he expected an answer from you, freezing in place as he waited for your reply. He could probably continue this for hours if he wanted to, just destroying you bit by bit. You gulped and nodded quickly, hoping that would suffice as an answer to his question.

He worked your underwear down to your knees, bunching it alongside your pantyhose. Next you felt his dress shoes nudging between your flats, urging you to spread your legs apart. You complied, his fingers stroking your upper leg and dipping into the juices that had begun to dribble down your inner thighs.

When he’d coated a sufficient amount on his fingers, he lifted them to your lips; you parted them obediently and he slipped them into your mouth. You wrapped your lips around them, moaning wantonly at the taste of your wetness combined with the salty flavor of his skin.

“Who would’ve known that the sweet little Christian girl would turn out to be such a needy slut?” he mused, removing his fingers from your mouth to trace them lightly over your swollen clit. “Good girl,” he praised, dragging his moist fingers over your entrance before easing them inside your tight walls. You whined, grinding your hips down as you felt yourself being stretched out for the first time in your life. It was exquisite, the way he felt inside you, and you couldn’t believe you’d been denying yourself this for so long.

He started out torturously slow, allowing you to get used to the feeling of his fingers inside you before increasing the intensity. When you’d been properly stretched out, he thrusted harshly upwards, forcing a gasp from your lips as your vision blurred. Your eyes fluttered shut and his pace quickened, his fingers expertly reaching and working at your deepest points with each vigorous thrust of his wrist. Your arms braced his neck, holding him close to you in case he might change his mind, decide to leave you high and dry. The thought of that alone made you want to sob.

“That’s it,” he said, aligning his thumb with your clit and tracing shapes over it firmly. “Allow yourself to forget everything but the pleasure.” You were one step ahead of him, your mind already blanking out as he pumped his fingers in and out of you, thumb pushing against your sensitive bundle of nerves without mercy. You cried out, muscles tensing as you realized you were about to have your very first orgasm, and for the first time you understood, really understood, the reason people touched themselves, had sex before marriage. What was so goddamned sinful about wanting release?

You rocked your hips forward, your walls clenching around him, and he stopped, fingers remaining inside you and thumb hovering just over your clit. You whined, rolling your hips against his hand, but he moved his hand with your body, not allowing you to take more than he was willing to give. “Tell me,” he ordered, knowing very well you knew what he meant.

“Michael, please,” you pleaded, wiping away a bead of sweat that was traveling down your forehead. “Don’t do this, I- I need this-”

He hummed softly, just barely sweeping his thumb over your clit, pulling it away before you could buck your hips towards him. “You need what, (y/n)? I need to hear you say it before I can give it to you.”

“Make me come, Michael, I need to come,” you blurted, blinking back tears which wobbled precariously over the rim of your eyes. You saw him grin, and then your vision blurred as he resumed massaging circles roughly against your bud, fingers stretching apart inside you before pounding hard against your spongey walls.

“Oh my- oh my god,” you sighed, too wrapped up in your ecstasy to care about using the lord’s name in vain. All you cared about in this moment was Michael and his beautiful hand turning you inside out, giving you what you’d been yearning for so desperately. He curled his fingers inside you and that was it- you orgasmed, a tsunami of pure, sinful bliss washing over you, and you made sure your face was buried in his shoulder to muffle the shrieks that you simply could not stifle.

You laid your head there while he slipped his fingers out of you, wiping the excess moisture over your protruding outer lips. Mindlessly brushing away a strand of his perfect hair from his neck, you opened your eyes with a contented hum, still too flustered from your orgasm to think clearly.

And then you almost screamed.

Suddenly you had all the answers you’d been looking for. You knew for certain now who he was, why he had such seemingly supernatural powers that both frightened and compelled you. It was remarkable, you thought, that you hadn’t realized it sooner.

Below his ear, etched in reddened, raised flesh, was a number.

6-6-6.

#michael langdon #michael langdon smut #michael langdon imagine #cody fern #ahs apocalypse #apocalypse #ahs smut #ahs imagines #mine #ahs #american horror story

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aalissy · 5 years

Text

Kittens

Here’s my part 3 for Marichat May! I hope you all enjoy it :)

AO3

Marinette ducked outside her bakery as she waved goodbye to her parents. Excitedly her footsteps quickened as she headed to an animal shelter nearby. Today was the day where she got her first pet, a cute little kitten. Sure she had always wanted a hamster, but her parents had decided that a cat fit best and were letting her go to pick one out.

“And where are you going this fine evening, purrincess?” a voice called from atop a light post.

As Marinette squinted up against the summer heat, she saw Chat Noir perched delicately, staring down curiously at her. “What’s wrong? Is there an akuma attack?” she panicked briefly, searching her surroundings as though waiting for the villain to jump out and begin fighting her.

“Nope. Just enjoying the summer heat,” he stretched up before flipping down to join her, “Are you going to answer my question meow?”

She scoffed at him, a small smirk teasing at the edges of her lips, “What makes you think I’d tell you, kitty?”

“If you can’t trust telling an absolutely pawsome guy like me where you’re going then who can you trust?” he flexed, smirking proudly at her.

Marinette giggled before rolling her eyes at his teasings, “If you must know, I’m going to the shelter across town.”

“Can I come, purrincess?”

She stared at him confusedly for a moment, “Now how is that going to work, Chaton? I don’t think the store is going to appreciate a superhero barging in with me,” Marinette turned to go before feeling a clawed hand grab onto her wrist.

“Please, Marinette.”

“Chat I...” she started before catching a good look at his face. His eyes seemed haggard and his mouth was drawn into a thin line. All in all, he looked sad and exhausted and suddenly it was all Marinette could do not to enrapture him into a tight hug. Closing her still open mouth, she nodded at him. His eyes brightened immediately, and Marinette felt a small swoop in her chest. Shaking off the strange feeling, she smiled happily at him, “Let’s get a move on then.”

They walked onwards in companionable silence for a few moments until Chat asked a question, “So what kind of animal are you getting?”

Marinette blushed slightly, “A kitten.”

His eyes gleamed mischievously as he stared at her, “Oh is that right? You know purrincess if you needed a little kitten to keep you company, you could always ask me.”

She punched his shoulder, “You flirty kitty, it was my parents’ decision! If it were up to me we would have gotten a hamster instead!”

“Meowch, be careful with those claws,” he pouted at her, rubbing his shoulder.

“I thought you were supposed to be the big, tough superhero,” she stuck her tongue out at him, giggling at his expression. Good, his eyes look happier, let’s keep it that way Marinette.

“I purromise you don’t need to worry about any of those akumas with me here,” he flexed once again, as Marinette launched into an outpouring of giggles.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m sure I don’t,” she waved him off, before murmuring a quiet thank you to him as he held the door open for her. “Hello, I’m looking to adopt a kitten,” Marinette smiled brightly at the woman behind the counter.

“Of course dear, I just need some form of identi-” she cut off as she stared wide-eyed at the superhero behind her.

“Oh don’t mind him, there’s no akuma attack. I just somehow managed to pick up a stray along the way,” Marinette smirked sideways at Chat Noir.

“Of course! Of course!” the woman yelped before getting out of her seat and rushing to shake his hand, “Thank you so much for doing all you can to protect our lovely Paris.”

“It’s no purroblem at all,” he bowed elegantly, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

Marinette leaned gently on the counter as she watched the woman hasten to take a picture with the superhero. I’m glad I brought him along. Turns out he needed to see this.

Marinette took out her school ID before coughing delicately, “Do you mind if I go see the kittens now?”

“Not at all! I’ll just show you where they are in the back,”

As Marinette followed the woman to the back, she turned around to look at Chat Noir who was still stood beaming at the front entrance. “You coming kitty?” she called after him.

“Right, right,” he shook his head to himself before following along after them.

“The kittens are right here,” the woman unlocked the cage as she hustled both Marinette and Chat Noir in before closing it behind them, “Do be careful with them,” she called before walking back to the front desk.

Marinette squealed as she sunk to her knees in front of the squirming creatures. Almost as soon as she sat down a black cat came up and nuzzled his face into the side of her leg. Picking him up carefully she placed him delicately on her lap before stroking the small animal. Glancing over to Chat Noir, she bit her lip in an attempt to contain her laughter as she saw most of the kittens were crawling atop him. He was staring down at them all in wonder as he attempted to pet them all and suddenly Marinette could not contain her laughter, “You alright there kitty?”

Chat Noir nodded absentmindedly as he continued to cuddle the kittens in his lap. Marinette looked down at her own kitten as he let out a contented yawn and fell asleep in her lap. “It’s going to be you,” she whispered at him as she scratched the top of his head.

The two continued playing with the rambunctious kittens for a few moments, but Marinette had already decided on a name for her chosen kitty. Once most of the animals had gone back to their corners and curled up, the two of them carefully and quietly shut the door behind them. Cuddling the still sleeping black cat to her chest, they made their way to the front.

“So you decided on a black cat then, purrincess?” Chat purred at her. Rolling her eyes at him, she nodded before kissing the top of her kitten’s head. “And he’s even got my trademark green eyes,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Oh don’t go getting any ideas, kitty. I’ve already decided I’m naming him after another boy with green eyes.”

“Who?” he frowned at her.

“Adrien,” she sighed dreamily before filling out the paperwork and handing the money to the still awe-struck employee.

Chat coughed slightly causing Marinette to look at him in concern as he stuttered out, “I... uh... you mean the model?” Nodding and blushing slightly, Marinette ducked her way out of the shelter and began her journey back towards the bakery. “You should introduce the two of them, you know? I’m certain Adrien would be very flattered,” he kept up with her quick pace.

Marinette giggled as the creature in her arms nuzzled further into her warmth, “Maybe someday.”

As they arrived at the bakery, Marinette turned around to bid a goodbye to the superhero. “Well I think it’s time for this kitten to go,” he bowed extravagantly at her before kissing her cheek, “Thank you, Marinette,” he whispered before vaulting away.

Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she watched him leave happily. Hopefully, I was able to cheer him up, she thought to herself as she walked into the refreshing coolness of her bakery.

#marichatmay2019 #marichat #slight adrienette #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #fic

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odderancyart · 6 years

Text

Spicyhoney Flowershop AU (yes I know it’s old)

The shop was quiet as Edge watered the last of the flowers. Night was falling outside, and a few stars had already appeared on the sky. He exhaled as a breeze came in through the half-opened window, rustling the leaves of the plants filling up the room and glanced at the clock. It was closing time in less than half an hour, and then he could go home. Doomfanger purred as he stroked against Edge’s leg, demanding pets. With a smile, he put down the watering can on the counter, the metallic noise echoing through the shop, as he bowed down to scratch his cat behind the ears.

It had been a busy day, but everything was settling down now. Few were out to buy flower at this time of day. He picked up Doomfanger, and the cat buffed his head against his chest as he made his way behind the counter. A vase full of fresh carnations presided on it. Edge’s eyelights glazed over his shop; he’d watered the flowers, swept the floor, organized what had gotten out of place during the day. There didn’t seem to be anything else for him to do, no.

With a content sigh, he sat down on the wooden chair backed up against the wall. Doomfanger immediately curled up, pawing at his legs. Sometimes, Edge was quite grateful that he wasn’t a fleshy monster; he couldn’t imagine that the sharp claws would be very pleasant if you had skin for it to pierce. As it was, the claws only scratched lightly, hardly enough to be noteworthy. A car rushed by outside, illuminating the shop for the briefest second before it disappeared once again.

Leaning back, he considered closing early, but decided against it. There might just show up some last-minute customer. Plus, he quite enjoyed sitting alone in here, with only his cat and the flowers as company. As he absentmindedly petted Doomfanger, he fished up his phone from his pocket and opened the book he was currently reading – The Ingredients of Love. As much as he preferred real physical books, it was undeniably quite useful to always have an e-book available.

A smile played on his lips. After years of fighting with his father over the fact that he did not wish to become a CEO or banker or whatever, things were falling into place. He and his brother were both disappointments, but their father seemed to have accepted that now. By some miracle they hadn’t had a falling out and were still seeing each other on family dinner in their father’s city manor every Sunday. Life was good.

Just as he turned yet another page, a smash made him jump. Edge was on his feet within seconds, and Doomfanger protested loudly as he was forced to jump. His claws stuck to Edge’s black jeans for a moment. Readying his magic, Edge twisted to look the way the sound had come from. He found himself staring into a pair of orange eyelights, and at a skeleton standing in the doorway. The pounding in his chest immediately slowed, and he relaxed, dispelling his magic.

The skeleton grimaced before he made his way up to the counter. Surprise filled his eyes as he looked at him. Breathing out slowly, Edge smiled pleasantly, ignoring the adrenaline still rushing through him. “How can I help you?”

“This is going to sound real weird, but, eh-” Raising an eyebrow, Edge waited patiently as the other rubbed his neck. “I want to tell someone fuck you in flower. Can you help me? And, oh, sorry for scaring you before.”

“You didn’t scare me,” Edge huffed, crossing his arms. “Merely startled me. But yes. I can do that.”

The corner of the newcomer’s mouth tilted upwards. He held out his hand. “Great. Thanks. I’m Rus, by the way. If that’s relevant.”

“Edge.” He shook Rus’ hand. A grimace flashed over Rus’ face as he squeezed, and Edge couldn’t help but smirk. He studied the newcomer as Rus flexed his fingers. Slouch. An obnoxiously orange hoodie and cargo pants, and sneakers that seemed to have seen better days. But his bones were well-shaped and white; flawless and pretty, and the orange dusting his cheek was near enchanting. If he straightened his back, he’d likely be taller than Edge now when he was wearing combat boots instead of stilettos. He was beautiful. “May I ask why?”

Irritation. “Yeah.” Rus let out something akin to a growl, and he stuck his hands into his pockets. Edge could see them clench through the fabric. “Douchebag ex. He likes this flower stuff and I’m hoping he’ll get the gist that I’m not fucking interested in taking him back.”

Edge hummed, bowing down to pick up the book on flower language he always kept beneath the counter. While he knew a lot of it, it was always useful to have a guide. The edition was almost falling apart from having been used so much, and he quickly found the right pages. He grinned. “Better ensure it can’t go unnoticed then, hm?”

As he made his way around, back into the shop itself, Doomfanger jumped up on the counter. Just as he opened his mouth to warn Rus, the cat hissed, glaring at him. Rus took an automatic step back, eyes widening. He managed to keep himself from chuckling. “Careful, Doomfanger doesn’t like strangers.”

“No kidding.” Rus took another step back, without letting go of the cat with his eyes. Then he stopped. “Wait. Doomfanger?”

“It is a perfectly good name for a cat.” This conversation was old. Red had never fucking let him forget he thought it was a dumb name, and mostly everyone would comment on it.

Rus grinned, but there was hesitance in his expression. Almost anxiety. “I think you’d get along with my brother. He’s got a dachshund named Bumbersnoot.”

“Perhaps him and I should form a club together with my brother’s fiancé. The club for people who know to give their pets cool names.”

That startled a laugh out of Rus, who was still chuckling as he looked Edge over. Like most others, he would likely not peg Edge as a florist if he’d seen him on the street; leather jacket, torn jeans, combat boots and scars he’d gotten from getting into fights as a teen hardly gave that impression, he knew that. Most of the time it amused him. He grinned back.

Picking up a red garden anemone, he held it up toward Rus. “The red anemone symbolizes illness. Once people believed you’d get sick just by breathing in its scent.”

“Fricking perfect. What more have you got?” A gleeful smile appeared on his face, and Edge’s soul skipped a beat. Hell, he was good-looking, there was no denying that. Walking around the shop with Rus, he assembled a bouquet of St. John’s Worts, basil, fragrant coltsfoot and yellow carnations. Respectively, they meant animosity, hatred, you’ll get what you deserve, and contempt. He wrapped the bouquet up with some privet, meaning stay away. The whole time, Rus came with clever comments.

When they went back to the counter for him to pay, Edge felt almost sorry. It was two minutes after closing time, and normally he’d be happy to go home, but his stomach sank with disappointment at the thought of ending this conversation.

When Rus fished up his wallet from his hoodie pocket, he opened it and grimaced. “Fuck.” Instinctively, Edge’s eyes narrowed as Rus grinned at him apologetically, his long, nimble fingers fiddling with the wallet. “So I forgot my card at home. But my brother’s not too far away, but I’m in a hurry, so would it’d be okay if- if he came and picked them up in a few minutes? Sorry…”

Oh, good. It wasn’t a ploy to get free flowers. Edge regarded him, saw how he slouched even more and hunched his shoulders. He made a quick decision. He picked up one of his business cards, handed it to Rus, and smirked. “How about this. You’ll go on a dinner with me – either as a date, or just as friends if you’re not looking – and I’ll give you the flowers?”

Rus stared at him, his eyes growing wide. For a short moment, Edge held his breath, wondering if he’d made the right call. The other gaped. Then Rus’ mouth snapped shut and he smiled. Widely. Edge’s soul made a somersault. Beautiful.

“I’d love that,” he replied. He took the card. “A date it is.”

Edge nodded sharply, supressing the little laugh nearly bubbling out of him, and snatched one of the small cards he sold by the desk. Grabbing a pen, he quickly wrote, with elegant cursive letters, Fuck off asshole, he’s taken.

Leaning forward to see, Rus snorted loudly. “A lil’ early to get possessive, ain’t it?”

He only smiled at he stuck it into the bouquet.

#spicyhoney #underfell #underswap #uf papyrus #us papyrus #flowershop au #my writing #flower language

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undinefin · 5 years

Text

アキレ〜さん〜お誕生日おめでとう〜

@red-dyed-sarumane SENPAI!!!!!!!!!!!! happy borth ur and old boy now and i did a cursed thing instead of writing something nice bc this was something that was brought up once and now its a must.

i hope u have a great day. buy the mic bitch.

Adopting Risru

im so sorry for everything here it gets really uncomfortable at certain points but never crosses anything i promise i just had to work with a lot of tropes that most often deal with love so. yknow. i promise i love you senpai and im supporting you 100% !!!!!! this wasnt an excuse to write sickly things!!!!!! i look forward to more utaite conversations~.

im not gonna read it over

Genre: cursed Word Count: 3877

The girl was sitting in her room, playing with her necklace solemnly. She sighed and began humming the melody to one of her favourite songs.

“Miwaku 1, 2, 3, kimi o tanjun ni, ubai satteshimau joudou, risei to no kyouhou,” she sang absentmindedly. Akire didn’t think of her voice as super amazing, but she’d been working hard on her range.

“Akire! Come downstairs I have a present for you!”

For a moment, Akire was confused. But then she remembered– it was her birthday!

As she made her way downstairs, Akire wondered what the present could possibly be. Maybe her mother would give her more money to buy albums but...thinking of the twenty something in her room it seemed unlikely. She could always hope though.

Akire heard a small noise. She looked down for a moment.

“Nani the fuck!!!!????”

Lying on the stair was her turtle Sui, on their back. Their toes were wiggling, trying to flip right side up.

Akire shook her head, “Sui, you’re such a dumbass.” The turtle looked at her. “Don’t you dare fucking piss.”

(this scene doesn't work anymore but FUCK man im still keeping it in)

Akire quickly returned the turtle to its tank and then finally made her way downstairs. But Akire was a clumsy baka so she tripped down the last three stairs.

“Itai yo!!!!!!” she shouted, like the damn weeb she was. She landed on her stomach, arms out. She lied there for a moment, tired.

Akire’s mother walked up. “Let’s go! We’re going to the pet store for your birthday!”

Akire shot up immediately. Would she finally be able to buy Water Vapor!?

“No more turtles though,” her mother said.

Akire pouted but understood. Her turtles were dumb. Cleaning their tank was work. Maybe she could get a cute little cat...

The idea of a cat got Super Nuko Ni Naritai stuck in her head. She began reciting the odd part at the beginning, making her mother shake her head in disappointment, but not surprise.

Upon finally reaching the pet store, Akire dashed inside. The cute dogs at the front of the store caught her eye immediately. She stayed at the windows where a bulldog, a golden retriever, and an Australian shepherd were playing. She was cooing and melting over their excitement.

A cat to her right caught her eye. Akire quickly moved onto the cats, watching the lazy balls of fur sitting, watching, waiting. They were so kawaii!!!!!!!!! She began singing Super Nuko Ni Naritai again, thanking the gods (Mafumafu) that it was in Japanese so no one could hear her inner furry.

“Hello! Have you heard of our new pet for sale?” a store clerk said, coming up to her.

Before Akire could even respond, the woman dragged her to the back of the store. In a cage was a small fox, a kitsune more accurately. The creature had odd navy fur, bordering on a dark violet. The orbs were an enchanting blue, curious, and unmoving.

“He’s only $42,069! So cheap for such a rare specimen!” the clerk said. She seemed desperate.

“Uhm-” Akire didn’t have that sort of money.

“Come on!!!!! He’s very cute.” As if to demonstrate this point, the clerk waved a treat in front of the glass. The kitsune perked up, but instead of doing a trick, he growled and scratched at the glass. When the treat didn’t magically osmosis through the glass, he backed up and crashed into the barrier, only to fall back into his cage.

“Cute...sure...” Akire said with suspicion.

“He’s just uhm...he takes some getting used to!” the clerk declared, seemingly more desperate.

Somehow, someway the gods above (Yukimi) must have carried Akire towards the cage, because before she knew it, she was standing in front of the creature.

Akire held out her hand, expecting the kitsune to start growling again. But instead the little fox sat and watched her. When Akire moved her hand to the side, it followed the movement.

“I think he likes you!” the clerk said rather forcefully. “You should buy him!”

Akire shook her head, “Oh I really don’t have that sort of money...I spend it on uhm, various musical interests.” Akire thought of her many albums.

Her mother walked up to the two. “Oh! What a cute little fox. Do you want him?” she asked her daughter.

“It’s expensive though...”

“How much?”

“$42,069,” Akire replied.

“Oh that’s perfectly fine!” her mother beamed. “It’s your birthday, we can afford it!!!!”

Akire watched as the poor kitsune was wrangled out of its cage. The creature didn’t seem to like the store clerks too much. Akire felt bad for him. He was kawaisou.

After the transaction at the counter, the store clerk turned to Akire. The creature was now in a small cage, with a leash (did....did leashes even work on foxes? Were you supposed to walk it???) and a blanket.

“What would you like to name him?”

Akire couldn’t explain why she thought of this name. Maybe it held some relevance to her in some other universe, perhaps it was the name of another utaite that she so loved.

“Risru,” she replied. The kitsune – now Risru – hummed at the sound, as if in approval (I really don’t know what to say here, really, what DOES the fox say. Like???? It doesn't bork does it??? no????????????? wa pa pa papapow! wa pa pa papapow!!)

***

At home, Akire was playing with Risru. For the first hour or so, he was curious, but still hesitant. He would only bring himself about a foot towards her, before scurrying off. The only thing that would keep him near her was a snack.

“Risru-chan! Kocchi kocchi!!!!” she cried. Akire waved a toy in front of her, piquing the curiosity of the kitsune.

The fox squeaked and jumped towards the toy, evidently landing in Akire’s lap. She rubbed behind his ears, giving him ALL the good rubs and pats. Risru stilled first, tense and uncertain. But after such pat, very rub, he calmed and leaned into Akire.

The time seemed to have flown by, and Akire was being called for dinner.

“So, how is he?” her mother asked.

Akire quickly responded, “He’s cute! I don’t know why he likes me though...I’m just super plain...”

Her mother chuckled, “Ha ha, maybe you’re just special!”

Akire rolled her eyes. “Special” she wasn’t special she was just a normal girl who definitely didn’t have magic powers or super strong strength or a great voice, s u r e.

She finished her dinner quickly and went upstairs. It was the ripe time of nine o’clock. Akire stopped by the bathroom mirror, catching herself and her very plain-boring-definitely-not-actually-super-pretty-and-will-cause-a-love-triangle appearance.

Her waist-length, brown hair hung, surrounded her face and simple brown orbs. Akire sighed, and didn’t mind whatever the mirror showed her. She began walking back to her room. Noticing the time, she sent out Oha’s to her favourite utaite.

“Silvana-oniichan!!! Ohayougozaimasu!!!!!!!!!!! And send tweet.”

As she walked into her room, she bumped into someone. The sudden crash surprised her, sending her phone out of her hand.

“Kyaaaaa~”

Suddenly Akire felt as though this was some school hallway. There were people staring as she fell down dramatically, her hair flowing majestically behind her.

She looked up and met with a face. If this was some dumb manga he’d be the new kid in school.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Oh no. He was hot.

The man helped her up. Akire felt all the blood rush to her cheeks as he did. His sapphire blue orbs twinkled, her reflection within them. His messy blue hair somehow flowed perfectly, cutely circling his face. Akire looked up further...were those...ears?

The man looked quite confused, “Akire-chan? Are you okay?”

Akire felt his hand touch her shoulder to check her condition. The touch sent tingles and shivers all over her body. Was this a good thing?

“Ah! Yes...arigatou...uhm...”

“Risru,” he finished for her.

It caught Akire off guard. “Ri..Risru-chan?”

He blinked – God (Isubokuro) even the way he blinked was perfect. His mouth pulled into a sweet smile, his teeth perfectly in line. “Yes, Akire-chan?”

Startled, Akire scurried back, tripping over her bottle of tea and falling onto the floor. “What...Risru...what happened!? WHAT!!???” She looked at him, now from a different perspective she noticed something. He didn’t have a shirt on! In fact, the only thing covering up his...member ( imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry ;)))))))))) was a random piece of cloth.

Akire turned her face away, not without a glance at his sculpted, fine, perfect abs. His six pack made her blush even more redder.

“Go put on a shirt! Or something!!” she demanded.

Risru quickly apologized and went to find one of Akire’s many oversized sweaters. He threw on Akire’s favourite MCR T-shirt and pulled his hair into a messy bu-

“What the fuck!! What the hell did you do with Risru-chan?? Give him back!” Akire somehow turned chibi and began hitting the full grown man with her fists like they did in the anime.

Risru laughed. His laugh was cute, admittedly. But...it’s not like she’d ever say that!!! Baka!!!!! The way his voice carried throughout the room, and sent warmth through her was nice. Akire would like to hear his laugh a lot.

Risru’s laugh was contagious. Akire found herself laughing as well.

“Kawaii,” he whispered, as if in awe.

“Eh???????????”

“You’re cute. Your smile is nice, I hope to see it more,” he said. “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu~~~” He bowed, showing off the cute, fluffy ears atop his head. But they were bad ears that were obviously made by an amateur furry artist because he also had his normal ears so he had four ears and it looked dumb.

Akire flushed EVEN harder. Her face was most certainly as red as Mafumafu-sama’s orbs. “Th-this still doesn’t explain what you did with Risru-chan!”

Risru scratched his head awkwardly, his ears twitching (the furry ones, not the human ones). “Well, I’m actually cursed by a great mage...” his tail swished sadly. “For 12 hours of the day I’m able to assume my normal form, for the other 12 I’ve been cursed to stay in the body of a-”

“Fox?”

“A human.”

Akire stared. “You...you’re supposed to be a fox?”

Risru looked extremely sad. He nodded.

“But...why would you want to be a fox?” Akire tried to ignore the very Shrek-Like Plot that Risru-chan had just presented to her.

Risru looked almost insulted. “The pets! The rubs! I’m so cute when I’m a fox, tons of people just wanna pet me. But after the curse I turned temperamental, that’s why I was so angry with all the staff at that store. Stupid human emotions.”

Akire just sighed, supposing that receiving physical affection was a good enough reason to want to be an animal. She supposed that being a fox also meant not having to go to school or work at all either.

“Akire?” he mother called up from the bottom of the stairs. “What are you yelling about up there??????”

Akire swore, “Risru-chan, you can’t be loud. I...I have to hide you! This is a secret, okay? You said for twelve hours?”

“Yeah from 8pm to 8am.”

“You can’t leave this room from those times. I promise I’ll take you out during the day when you’re a fox.” Akire bowed. “Hontou ni sumimasen!!!!”

Risru ruffled her hair, and smirked. “It’s okay, Akire-chan.”

***

The realization dawned upon Akire quite quickly. She had ordered Risru to stay in her room, and of course, that would mean he had to sleep in her room and well...

“Akire-chan, you’re wonderful, but I don’t want to sleep on tea stains! I want to be warm,” he pouted cutely.

There was only one bed.

Akire’s heart began to thump. No matter how much she tried to convince Risru to sleep on the floor, that she’d get fluffy pillows and sheets from elsewhere, he stubbornly refused it all.

“Aw c’mon! You get to wake up to a cute fox~” he teased.

Now, if this was a good story (or maybe this would actually make it better idk) Akire would realistically wake up at like 7 in the morning for her morning class (as a result, wake up to a Hot Man which honestly wouldn’t be too awful if youre like super thirsty or smt). But luckily, Akire-chan goes to ~~Animu School~~ so everything works out!!

Akire conceded, “Fine! But you have to sleep as far away from me as possible!”

And so they went to bed. Akire huddled into the far-left side, letting Risru spread out on the right. She tried desperately not to think of his cute grin and Rock Hard Biceps, eventually falling asleep.

Akire tossed and turned all night, feeling trapped in her sleep. At one point, she seemed to hit something in her sleep, eliciting a grunt from whatever she hit.

As promised, the next morning a small Kitsune was resting under her arm. His cute nose twitched in Risru-chan’s sleep. Akire slowly woke him up, and he yowled (I DON'T KNOW WHAT SOUND THEY MAKE IM SORRY) before climbing all over her for pets.

Wait...how did he get under her arm if he only recently turned into a fox??????

“I wonder...” Akire mused. “Oh well!! Maybe he was just cold.”

--Taimu skippu to 2 weeks later—

Akire how now been living with Risru for two weeks...you know what that means dear readers....fourteen nights................

It was Winter Break (for the sake of this story we’re not going to change the times despite it not really making sense, even though I could do it very easily tis FINE WHATEVER) !!! Akire usually never went away, so she was extremely excited to stay home and do Absolutely Nothing.

“Akire dear,” her mother called. “You’ll be alone for the next week okay??? I’m going on a trip with your father!!!!!!! Stay safe!!!”

Akire gasped. Her parents away for the entire time that meant....she turned to the small blue fox who was playing with one of her dogs – the one that liked Amatsuki.

She would be alone with Risru-chan for an entire week!!!!!!

So, you know EXACTLY what happened :))))))))))))))

AKIRE DID LOTS OF TWITCASTSS!!!!!!!

Sometimes Risru would join in, doing duets to songs like Myoujou Galactica and providing the Scream during Hibana since Akire couldn’t (yet).

“Twitcasting is really fun with you, Risru-chan,” Akire exclaimed. “Your voice is so nice,” she continued.

Risru noticed the expression on her face, the way her golden orbs seemed to lose their glow, and how her smile was turning upside down. “Eh, I think your voice is nicer though,” he said simply.

“Uso darou!!!!!!! There’s no way!!” Akire threw a pillow at him.

Risru threw the pillow back in response. This resulted in a full on pillow fight between the two of them. At one point, Risru managed to hit her right in the face, and she began to laugh.

“Kawaii......bishoujo.......deshu...”

“Baka!!! Urusai!!” Akire shouted. She shot the pillow back towards him. Eventually Risru tackled her, his bulging muscles stopping her from moving.

“I think you’re great at singing, and you’re very cute,” Risru whispered into her ear. He smelled like cigarettes and coffee (risru never touched either of those in his life but that's showbiz babey).

Akire found herself getting embarrassed from the words. “Baka!!!” she threw him off and dove into bed. Risru was still smirking when she peaked her head over.

And then he kabedon’ed her to the wall, suddenly he was wearing a leather jacket and his jawline was perfect, cutting. His orbs were an animal’s, rough and filled with passion, hunger. Using a deeper, throaty voice, he growled, “What’s up?” He flicked his head up and did the weird man-nod thing.

Akire smirked, “The sky.”

Risru almost pouted, “What!? You don’t...buy my Bad Boy Act??? This is so strange. NO ONE has ever resisted my charms!! This is a travesty!”

Akire flipped her hair, “I guess I'm not like other girls.”

Risru was now legally contracted to get Akire to fall under his cute charms so she could give him all the pets.

(this is the part in the wattpad fanfiction where things start taking a very dark and somewhat unexpected turn. If I cared to actually write it, it would go something like this:

“No!! You can’t take Risru away! He’s just like you and me!” Akire cried out desperately. But it was too late. The Furry Collectors had already muzzled the fox and were muttering amongst themselves.

Akire resolved that she would save Risru no matter what.

This would be the training montage and Akire would become very good at nearly everything in the span of about two months, including things like knife throwing, dodging, jiu-jitsu and maybe like wrestling or something. Definitely a badass with a sword or something.

Her trainer is an old man and she left a note to her parents explaining that she was on an exchange and they for some reason didn’t question it.

Akire stealthily made her way around the premises of the iron-clad building. She evaded all of the traps and managed to successfully beat up the guards outside.

Once inside, she located the control room, where she shut off all the power. Suddenly, all the furries began running out of their cages. Some of them were in human form, with tails and ears sticking out. Others were still animals, dogs, cats, and the like running away.

Akire threaded through the mass of furries, trying to find Risru.

“Risru-chan!” she called, running from room to room.

Eventually, she reached a room with very big doors that said “BOSS” on them.

“This must be the boss room,” she concluded.

The doors automatically opened, and Akire stepped inside. Immediately she saw Risru in his human form, stuck behind bars.

“Akire-chan!” he cried out. “You have to run, it’s not safe here.”

Akire’s orbs glinted with determination, “I’m not leaving here without you.”

“Well, well, well,” a low voice said from behind her. Akire turned and saw a figure emerge from the shadows. “Look what we have here.”

“Let him go!!” Akire drew her sword, holding it by her side. She charged at what seemed to be a slightly older man. His eyes flashed purple and he grinned, drawing two swords.

The two engaged in an epic fight, with Risru watching helplessly from the sides.

“Muahahahahah!!! You are a foolish little girl,” the man declared. “My project is almost complete. By midnight, your little fox’s worst dream will come true,” he sneered.

“No!” Akire shouted. She delivered a blow to his arm, knocking one of the swords out of the Villain’s hands.

“Yes! He will become a full human!!”

Akire gasped, her confusion stunning her for a moment. “YOU MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM!?” Risru howled from the side out of despair. Akire felt her heart growing heavy. Risru-chan didn’t deserve any of this!!

Fueled by anger, Akire pulled out her ultimate weapon, a shiny red button.

“I only wanted to save Risru-chan. But I can’t forgive you,” Akire said sternly. Her eyes were shaded by her bangs, and the shading around her pupils looked different to signify how serious she was getting.

Akire clicked the button she had and was suddenly enveloped in light. She was lifted into the air, and her eyes closed calmly. Suddenly, all of her clothing was being replaced with stuff that looked like it was from an idol game, her hair was being done up, and her sword was growing bigger.

Some random angel choir seemed to be singing one of her favourite songs, yet again.

“春と黒髪　夏の浅瀬　秋色の頬　冬は寝起きの悪い君も”

Akire turned all her attention on Villain-san and charged at him with her power. “You won’t get away with this!” she cried out.

The villain was overwhelmed, he screeched as Akire knocked him unconscious.

“ボクはボクはどれも好きだったよ”

Akire turned to Risru, who was still locked in the cage. She raised her hand and some weird magic energy flew out of it, blowing up a portion. Risru-chan ran out, meeting Akire for a hug.

“山紫水明　染まる君と　百花繚乱の日々よ　記憶の彼方へ”

Risru’s shirt was ripped, showing off his Rock Hard Abs. “I missed you so much Akire-chan.”

“Me too Risru-chan. I was so worried,” she exclaimed. “All my training, everything paid off.”

“I knew you could do it. After all, kimi wa boku no (pico) kawaii bishoujo desu.”

Akire’s chocolate orbs sparkled, “Of course, I’m not like other girls.” She threw on her favourite MCR sweatshirt, and threw her hair into a messy bu-

An alarm went off in the building. People were scattering, running around causing a panic. One scientist ran past them, “It’s gonna blow! Our great overlord has fallen!! Someone carry his body out!!”

“ずっと見惚れたい”

Risru held her hand and they ran out of the building, Akire’s magical girl appearance slowly falling, leaving her in the clothes she came in.

“ずっと触りたい”

They reached a window, but it was high up, at least four stories. “We’re going to have to jump,” Risru said, his voice trembling. “Hold onto me, okay Akire-chan?”

“さよなら　さよなら”

Risru leaped off of the building with inhuman skill (bcos he is a furry and anime logic) landing safely on the ground. The two quickly began to run.

Behind them the building was being ripped apart with white threads, slowly turning orange before the iron and metal makings broke, the explosion setting the nearby trees on fire. The sound and vibrations tore at their ears. Shrapnel from the bombs was flying everywhere, and the energy of the impact caused the forest to pulse.

For a time, Akire couldn’t hear. But she could feel the heat of the explosion as she ran away from it, Risru by her side.

“季節の”

It was pretty epic.

“折々にて”

Yeah I think it would go like that. And then after she’d return her magical girl button to her trainer and come back home as if nothing happened and they didn't just get rid of some furry-destroying organization. But in reality this would never finish bc wattpad writers have a hard time transitioning from slice-of-life to action and their action scenes usually suck no offense)

--taimu skippu to less than a year later—

“Surprise!!!!! Otanjoubi omedetou!!!!!!!!” Risru exclaimed.

From behind his back, he pulled out a small gift that was horribly wrapped. Akire guessed that the fox did his best, but if he wasn’t allowed to leave during the night...he definitely wrapped it in fox form.

Akire unwrapped the box, inside was a microphone.

“Ri-Risru-chan....” she teared up.

The boy’s ears twitched with excitement.

“How did you even buy this?”

Risru smirked, “Don’t worry about the details! Hatsutoukou o tanoshimi ni shitemasu!!!!!!”

~ and they lived happily ever after ~

:)) i hope you enjoyed that. please dream about buff risru who's plot revolves around shrek and anime and wattpad. thank u for hitting up my inbox so you could drag me further into utaite hell and i hope u get lots of albums

#do i even tag this as utaite #i really dont want to #this shouldnt plague the utaite tag #writing #my writing #CURSED #PLEASE DONT OPEN THIS #fanfic

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inara-sensei · 5 years

Text

Winter Storms, Chapter Four

Tag List: @alcyonidus

Chapter Four

Leaving my home is harder than I ever thought possible, and not just because of the guards. Our neighbors have gathered outside our townhouse, all eager to catch a glimpse of me.

“I always knew he was a freak,” Lord Kattersburg mutters as we pass. “Grand Duchess Lanstrevona made a mistake letting that boy into her home.” If only my mistress could hear that. I resist the urge to stop and tell him that she would never work with him or lend him any sort of money next time his gambling debts got a little too high.

“He was nothing but trouble since Katya brought him back from whatever backwater orphanage she found him in,” Lady Andrianova announces loudly. I swear I can hear Mistress Katya gasp from her place on the front steps.

The carriage waits for us, sleek black and painted with gold detailing, bearing the tsar’s double headed eagle and the symbol of the sorcerer’s guild. A footman opens the door and we climb inside. The seats are lined with black and gold silk. Lanterns hang inside, unlit. The girl in the red cloak snaps her fingers and the four lanterns come to light. The boy smiles at me and extends a hand while the girl in blue busies herself pulling the drapes shut across the windows. Just before she shuts it, I catch a glimpse of Mistress Katya at the door with Eduard at her side. My mistress is alone. I am alone. She maintains her dignity and her posture, but in her hands is a lace trimmed handkerchief. The curtain falls.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he says. “I’m Ivan. And the fire summoner is Maria, and the water summoner is Natalia. Your familiar was surprising. We haven’t seen a lot of them before. What’s your name again?”

“Nikolai. My cat...familiar...is Zoya.” The word familiar suits her, though it feels foreign to say. Zoya ignores me and nestles herself beside me and Natalia. Natalia stiffens beside me. Her eyes shift between me and Zoya.

“We understand this must be a lot to take in,” Ivan begins.

“That’s an understatement,” Maria mutters. Ivan opens his mouth to continue his script, but Maria cuts him off again. She leans in and studies my face.

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?” I clutch my book in front of my chest like a shield against her.

“Contain your power for so long without any training.”

“Maria, you shouldn’t-”

“Oh shut up, Ivan. We all know the script at this point. And we all want to know how he was hiding such a powerful gift.” I shrug and absentmindedly stroke Zoya’s fur for a minute. I pretend I’m thinking over an answer, but in fact, I don’t have one. It was part of me to hide my gift, to suppress it, to let it out when I needed to and to tuck it away when I didn’t.

“I just did,” I say. “Simple as that.” Natalia sucks in a breath beside me.

“Your cat is adorable, may I pet her?” she asks. I glance at Zoya. It really isn’t up to me if anyone can touch her, it’s up to her. Natalia watches me for approval, so I shrug.

“If she’ll let you.” Natalia reaches out a hand. Zoya, while wary, allows her to pet her head. Natalia squeals and strokes her fur. Zoya looks at me like she’d rather be at home with Mistress Katya. I share the same sediment of my cat.

“Don’t try to change the subject. How’d you do it?”

“I just did. That’s it. I just did. Why are your cloaks so bright?” Ivan touches his with reverence, fingering the purple embroidery that dances across his cloak’s edges.

“They symbolize our specialties,” he explains. So this is why the sorcerers at the academy are called the Tsar’s Jewels and the academy his jewelry box. “Don’t worry, they’ve already begun creating yours,” he says when he sees my expression. “The young tsarevitch was adamant that you come into custody as soon as we could get you. He was inspired by your blessing.” Blessing. I stare at my hands, still covered by my new soft black leather gloves. Magic can come out of these hands, but I wouldn’t call it a blessing. The mess this power has made of my life is proof of that. And what of Mistress Katya? Hopefully her trading business won’t slow because of me.

“Is that what you call it?” I ask. Maria snorts.

“It is special,” Natalia says beside me. Her voice is as gentle as velvet, and soft like it too. “They told us it was a blessing all through our first years of school.” I had almost forgotten they had been together since they were children. A pit forms in my stomach. New arrivals around my age weren’t unheard of, but they weren’t common either.

“Do you think you’re cursed or something?” Maria asks.

“I don’t know.”

“Well you shouldn’t.”

“Would anyone like some tea?” Ivan asks. He gestures to the small teapot and cups against the carriage wall. We all shrug. He sighs. “Maria? Can I have a flame?” Maria snaps her fingers and the little candle burns brightly. He shuts the small door. “Normally, we’d have a servant here to do this-”

“But the tsarevitch was convinced that his little find needed to be cared for and guarded,” Maria says pointedly. Her brown eyes stare into mine. I take a deep breath. I will not rise to her bait. I sit a little straighter and rest my hands on the cover of my book like Mistress Katya did when I was small and I would sit in on her business meetings with men who tried to manipulate her.

“Well, I am thankful I got to meet all of you,” I say as diplomatically as possible. What I want to do is jump from the moving carriage, grab Zoya, and go home. Ivan passes out teacups, all a shiny black with the seal of the tsar painted in glittering gold paint. The tea is too hot to drink at first. Maria asks me to cool it. I don’t reply. Ivan attempts to keep the conversation rolling, and tells me about the wonderful facilities at the academy, all the classes they have, and the parties they get to attend as guests of the tsar. I nod politely, but I don’t have much to say. Instead, I stare out the window, and I don’t drink my tea, even after it goes cold.

***

The sky is pitch black when we arrive at the gates of the Sorcerer’s Academy and the winter palace, with only stars dotting the sky and the street lamps lit around the intricate gates of the palace. The carriage is halted only for a moment, then it begins to move through the tall wrought iron gates. My face is pressed to the carriage’s window, the drapes pressing into the side of my face. Natalia giggles.

“We did the same when we were children,” she says. Mistress Katya has come through these gates so many times, and she’s always complained about the long security lines and the searches she’s had to endure. I can picture my mistress sitting in her carriage, book in her hands in her court gown as she complains about how long this is taking her. So being a sorcerer came with less security, or perhaps trust.

The academy is behind the palace, but we stop at the front gates. I frown. The footman opens the door, revealing a young man dressed in a suit. His hair is greased back and he adjusts his suit jacket, too thin for the winter weather.

“Mr. Lanstrev, I’ve been ordered to bring you to the tsar.” I nod and climb out of the carriage. I reach for my book and for Zoya, but Natalia stops me.

“I’ll take them to your quarters,”she promises. I hesitate.

“The tsar will not be kept waiting,” the young man insists. I nod my assent. The carriage rolls on without me, but the man smiles at me and bows deeply. I step back. “Welcome to the Winter Palace, Mr. Lanstrev. We are honored to have you and your gift in our service.”

“It’s really nothing.”

“On the contrary, we’ve been waiting for you. Come along, we’ve kept the tsar waiting for far too long.” Two guards open the heavy doors to the palace, revealing a glittering white floor and golden ceilings carved with intricate shapes. The corridors are lit with lights using a sorcerer’s flame, no doubt, and guards line the walls in their shiny black boots and perfect uniforms. My jaw falls open. Mistress Katya always made sure we never wanted for anything, but she always kept moderation. This is luxury that I can’t believe.

“Come along!” I jump to action and follow after him. “You are to be presented to the imperial family.” I nod. “You will bow when introduced. Do not rise until the tsar gives you permission. Do not speak familiarly to them. They are to be addressed formally, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Do not speak until spoken to. Do not draw more attention to yourself than necessary. Be respectful at all times.”

“I understand.” He pauses at a pair of shiny red lacquered doors.

“Do not mess this up. I will have a student from the academy sent to show you in.” He knocks at the doors and disappears into the corridor. The doors swing open. I walk slowly across the plush red carpet. Guards fill the room. Sitting in a series of ornate golden thrones is the imperial family. The tsar, tall with dark hair and a full beard. The tsarina, dressed in silks with her dark hair piled high on her head and held in place with gold pins. The grand duchess, a girl with a slender neck and a spray of freckles across her cheeks. Finally, the tsarevitch, watching me with interest with his gorgeous brown eyes. A silver throne sits to the side, unoccupied. Painted behind the thrones is a shining phoenix, red, orange and yellow feathers surrounding it in a ray of sunlight while a black figure wearing the double eagle on a cloak holds up their hands. A sorcerer. I could marvel at the painting all day. Instead, I sink into a low bow like Mistress Katya taught me.

“Rise,” the tsar commands. His voice is booming and loud. I stand slowly. The imperial watches me with amusement, except for the tsarevitch, who continues his intense study of me. “I was informed by my son that you saved him a few days ago.”

“Yes, my tsar.”

“I am indebted to you, my boy. Ask me for something. Anything! Say it, and it shall be yours.” I want to go home. The words spring into my mind. I want to go home and be with my mistress and my cat and my books. Somehow, I know that won’t happen. Not with the fuss they made to have me come here.

“There are some books I would like,” I say slowly. The tsar laughs.

“He can ask for anything, and he asks for books. Go on boy, is there anything else? The ruler of all Russia can spare some books. ”

“Maybe reassurance my mistress’s work will not be hampered because of what I am,” I say. “People may not be so kind to her now.”

“Nothing shall change, my boy, of that I can assure you. Present your list of books to a servant at the academy and I shall have them delivered.”

I bow again. “Thank you, my tsar.”

“Rise, boy.” I straighten. “Come closer.” I take three cautious, small steps. The tsar stands and climbs down from his throne. The guards stiffen. He glances into my eyes and grins. “Interesting. You have such unique eyes. Lady Lanstrevovna picked you out of an orphanage, yes? I can see why she would choose you now.”

“Thank you, my tsar.” It isn’t the first time someone has talked to me about my eyes. Heterochromia was what made them so different. Left eye grey, right eye green with gold in the centers. Mistress Katya always said they were beautiful.

“They look like Irina’s.”

“Irina, my tsar?” The entire family glances toward the empty silver throne. The tsar’s eyes grow sad.

“My imperial sorcerer.” The tsar turns around and sits on his throne. “Alexei, you’re watching the boy like you’ve never seen him before. Is this the wrong Lanstrev?” Alexei-the tsarevich-jumps and straightens up.

“No, father. I just remembered that there are only eleven students at the academy with eyes like his. He would make twelve, wouldn’t he?”

“I didn’t realize it was so common, my tsarevich,” I say. It’s the tsar’s voice that cuts through the air. Long gone is the amusement in his posture.

“It isn’t.” He waves a hand. “Fetch his escort. Summon my court advisors, we need to talk.” A servant bobs a curtsy.

“Yes, my tsar.”

“Welcome to the academy, Nikolai Lanstrev. May the seven saints bless your hands.”

#writeblr #writblr #my writing #am writing #v writes #new writing #new work #new fiction #fantasy novel

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