#and with the plan at the end you can outright call him out for lying and hes like

[wilsonphiggs]

I fucking hate mcsm btw (lying)

hey guys so I thought a bit too hard and I was thinking about how I would rewrite the story. one of my gripes specifically being with how they handled lukas and axel’s relationship. I went on a really long tangent on how I would’ve fixed it and I’ll paste it under the cut. (WARNING: IT’S A REALLY LONG RANT.)

so, I didn’t really like how they treated their dynamic. axel was so concerned for petra—and that’s understandable, considering she’s a friend—but they never gave a reason as to why axel SPECIFICALLY was worried so much, which caused him to lash out more. therefore, resulting in him mad at lukas for getting scared, along with the fact that he was the leader of the ocelots, yatta yatta etc. etc.

but my main point is: their mutual disdain for each other not only felt forced, but artificial. it felt so unreasonable, with axel shoving lukas around for seemingly no reason at times. not only that, but axel was just generally an asshole of a character. I get having someone joke around a little rudely if it’s all jokes and you know that—my friend group and I are like that all the time. but there’s a fine line between crude humor and outright bullying your “friends” or allies. not to mention he was just a frustrating character. “but… finders keepers!” when EVERYONE is in danger and he just refuses to give up the thing that would stop the witherstorm? a dick move.

and apologies, but lukas felt a little TOO nice at times in the first one or two episodes. yes, he’s generally a nice guy. and yes, he’s had some moments of getting frustrated or prickly. but considering that he was rivals with this group for so long, admitted that he didn’t really think highly of them for a while, AND petra herself called him arrogant? you can’t blame me for thinking that he was a bit too kind, even if he was trying to stay on good terms with everyone while the world was seemingly ending. yeah, he was awkward. and no, I don’t think he should’ve been outwardly hostile. but I don’t think he should’ve been quite as friendly as he was.

they should both have little quirks and flaws, but they should also both be lovable characters in their OWN ways. this is honestly how I would’ve written it:

it would’ve been better to make axel really stand off-ish because he doesn’t know how to really act around someone who was once “bad” in his eyes, but is now suddenly “good.” especially when the change is so sudden. distrusting, awkward, unpleasant interactions would feel much more natural rather than downright antagonizing lukas at every turn.

axel is really awkward and is a little distrustful of him because of so many factors, but maybe lukas interprets that as aloofness and detachment. lukas tries not to really disrupt conversations because he feels as though he’s intruding, but axel perhaps interprets that as arrogance and conceit. miscommunication, misinterpretation—these are much more natural ways of having animosity grow between two parties.

and hey, even better! this could allow you to have a choice ACTUALLY make a difference TELLTALE GAMES. (the company infamous for having choices in games that don’t Actually matter!)

maybe if you have axel stay behind with lukas to fortify the temple while also getting magnus, MAYBE you can see them actually visibly get along better! even if axel went off on his own to get magnus—which was him straying from the plan—maybe they agreed and decided it was for the better to get the order together again rather than just a few members. maybe you can see them having similar ideas, talking more, etc. etc.

and on the other hand, if you go with axel for magnus and choose olivia to stay, maybe axel feels a little more bitter towards lukas since olivia went off to get ellagaard. he feels bitter since he just let her go instead of convincing her to just STAY and wait for petra like the original plan was (even though he knows he would’ve broken that himself to go out for magnus, but moral highgrounds and such.)

yeah, sure. it’ll end in you getting both members of the order anyway. that won’t change. BUT, it still affects the characters! it fleshes out the characters more. makes them both have perks AND flaws! it HUMANIZES them, makes them more realistic.

and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, if the conflict between them builds up enough, you might have to choose one side or the other at some point in the story! there could be several decisions that alter their relationship and how they function! one of your lifelong best friends who has ADMITTED that you’re one of his only friends, and you can tell he cares about everyone there (even if not entirely obvious,) or a friend that, while you once bickered a ton with in the past, is now genuinely making an effort to change and care and seems generally more agreeable now? they both love you and your friends, undoubtedly, but they’re too bitter to be around one another. there isn’t enough room for the both of them. one has to go, jesse. so, who’ll it be?

in fact, maybe there’s a scene where lukas and axel are in danger. in the ellagaard route (followed by more good decision making,) one actually saves the other from said situation and everyone lives. in the magnus route (followed by more bad decision making,) they both intentionally sabotage each other and you have to choose to save ONE. either that, or it’s as originally said, where there’s a story-changing fight and you have to choose one or the other.

this is a minor thing but I could not stop thinking about it. but oh well them’s the breaks pal /ref

#minecraft #minecraft story mode #mcsm #mcsm fanart #mcsm lukas #mcsm axel #mcsm art #I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE RANTING ABOUT THIS GAME AND ALL THE PROBLEMS IN IT #announcer’s announcements (drawings) #announcer’s announcements (rambles)

[soullessjack]

i know ive vaguely mentioned that jack is putting on his own kind of personality-performance in the same way Dean is but something else I microwave in my head a lot is how he specifically plays it up with cas and performs in a similar way. they’re like two bodysnatchers pretending they’re humans and performing traditions that they think will help them blend in (like Cas calling Jack ‘slugger’ in the tombstone script draft)

I think another aspect of Jacks character that is often forgotten is that he also isn’t entirely human, and that coupled with the general infantilization he gets from the fandom means nobody is really looking very deeply into his behavior or recognizing it as a performance—specifically one that’s rooted in his need to be seen as acceptable and “Good,” and contributes so much to the sensitivity and defensiveness he’s shown to have towards his perceived place in TFW and the Winchester family.

everyone thinks it’s cute and charming that he wanted to match ties with Cas and supposedly has a talking teddy bear toy in 15x11 (the both of which can be seen as part of traditional nuclear family roles just like Cas calling him ‘slugger,’) but when that same episode ends with jack ruefully admitting to cas that he’s going to kill himself as part of Billie’s plan and as a way to atone for the damage he caused, you really have to question the sincerity of his behavior—especially since it’s not even the first time he’s used cutesy charming behavior to essentially manage everyone’s mood and emotions to keep being perceived the way he wants to be perceived at the face value he’s created for himself (unabashedly lying to Sam and Dean about anything happening while he was out with a big smile and an “I promise,” in 14x16, and doing the same thing to Mary in the beginning of 14x17).

another thing is that if jack does feel like he can be himself and also be accepted or even praised for it, like he was in apocalypse world with Mary and the refugees that saw him as a hero, he gets immediately defensive whenever something about his [genuine] self or his capability is questioned; he gets upset at Mary for not thinking that he can beat Michael alone and blows up at Cas for thinking he’s too weak to do anything by himself as a human being, and in both of these instances he switches tones a lot between a very deadpan and blunt when he’s essentially unmasking, vs a soft one when he’s trying to be reassuring and acceptable.

it adds a lot to his identity crisis in the beginning of s14 and especially to his soulless arc, when he’s basically desperate to get back into the traditional Good Son role he’s gotten even though his own subconscious outright mocks him for it and calls him pathetic for even wanting to be that person again

*which jack also becomes increasingly defensive and blatantly aggressive about.

im losing the plot because of my stomach hurting so TLDR jack is basically a bodysnatchers playing house the same way Castiel is amen godbless peace be with you all

#I haven’t written a proper jack thesis in forevgerrre #ive abandoned my boy #for another boy who’s very similar to him in ways I cannot be normal about #cal.txt #spn #supernatural #spn meta #it also doesn’t help that a LOT of his infantilization directly comes from the teddy bear quote and nobody seeing it as a whole lie lmao #but then again why would you need to look deeper into the character you assume is a stupid little baby …. #many such cases #jack kline #castiel #cas and jack #dadstiel #spn analysis

[kudouusagi]

Especially after the last chapter(15-2) people are confused why Souichi keeps saying they're not in a relationship. Let me tell you, it's not that he doesn't think that they are in a relationship, he just doesn't want other people to know that.

I know I've answered asks about when they started dating before but I don't think I've actually gone into detail about this so here we go again lol

They've been dating since the end of volume 8 and he is 100% aware of it. Souichi is just a lying liar who lies so he's not going to admit that to people unless it's absolutely necessary, but he knows it.

The #1 rule to remember when reading KSB: Souichi is a tsundere character.

Now let me quote from wikipedia about tsunderes:

"They usually play out as having an attitude toward the main character, either a male or a female, and often criticizing them in one way or another, until they eventually warm up to them or fall in love with them as the series progresses, though they usually find it very hard to admit it or outright deny it in some cases."

And if we look at the tv tropes page on tsundere, it even says people can be left scratching their heads if they're even together at all.

So denial is part of the formula for tsunderes and Souichi is a textbook tsundere. He's going to lie and deny it. That's just who he is.

When Takanaga was asked by fans after the series "ended" in Vol 8 if he was going to change in the continuation she said he wouldn't change that much because he is a tsundere character and he wouldn't be him if he changed that much.

In this chapter, Souichi made a big deal of saying that the rings were just friendship rings, but I think that's because he knows that if he allows Morinaga to call them something else, he'll slip and call them that around other people. He's probably right too. Morinaga has a track record.

If you want to see me go on a rant about how much they have progressed since then... keep reading.

They had the define the relationship talk in volume 8 and they have made progress in every single volume since then.

In volume 8 Souichi makes a big deal of asking him to stay by his side and saying that he's not running away anymore and they agreed that Morinaga would stay with him. (And I explained how those are ways to express love in Japanese over here in this post)

The "do whatever you want, idiot" is so tsundere it hurts lol

After this they even discussed about how the apartment was their home together.

In case you didn't know, this was the original place that Takanaga planned to stop at and so it was supposed to be clear they were together now. She had publicly announced that it was the end but then quickly realized that there was still more she wanted to write about them so Takanaga kept writing. The only reason she is still writing this story now is because she wants to.

Vol 9:

Here on the opening pages of Volume 9 we can see it saying "We thought their love story was over...?" and have a quote from Morinaga saying "You love me too, right, senpai?" (with the "love" left out but that's what it is).

Now, all Souichi does after this point is reassure Morinaga that they're together and he's not going anywhere. Yeah sure he denies it to other people, but he never does to Morinaga.

In this volume Morinaga feels insecure about leaving and wonders why Souichi likes his new helpers. Considering Morinaga had persistently bug Souichi for 2 years to even get him to remember he existed it's not a crazy thing to wonder about when it comes to Souichi.

They have a conversation about how Morinaga feels jealous and feels like the size of their feelings are different and Souichi doesn't deny that he has feelings and just tries to figure out why Morinaga feels that way. Souichi tells him not to doubt him because he came to the decision to stay with him and he's not going to change his mind that easily.

Vol 10: Souichi pushes Morinaga away in the bath and thinks he upset him so he thinks about it and tries to tell him he's not rejecting him he's just not used to all the touching. Souichi tries to make it clear that it's not Morinaga or his sexuality that he's rejecting. Because they had just been talking about Morinaga's parents rejecting him because of his sexuality. Morinaga says that even though Souichi was so homophobic before, he was never like his parents so there was no way he'd think that. (I also think the main reason Souichi even agreed to come along was because he assumed that Morinaga would want to try to visit his parents but I don't have firm proof of that besides him bringing them up)

Vol 11: Their whole problem in this volume is they're not communicating effectively. They go through the whole thing with Tadokoro only to find out that they're assuming things. Morinaga assumed Souichi would be like before and need an excuse to live with him if they didn't live together anymore and Souichi assumed they're together now so of course they'd move back in together when they could.

Of course once they decide that, Morinaga screwed it up for himself by reminding Souichi that his boundaries are different and he decides he still needs a separate room so he just stays in the apartment anyway. But they could have had that conversation without involving a third person and being messy so they're just terrible at communicating sometimes. Poor Tadokoro got caught up in their mess.

Vol 12: Morinaga finally moves out and starts his job. Souichi acts like he doesn't care and assumes that Morinaga will be back every weekend anyway so it won't be that different. Then Morinaga gets busy with training at work and doesn't come back for 2 months.

I want to point out that while Souichi throws his phone here he didn't actually write back to tell him no lol

So while they're living apart now, Souichi is trying to learn to communicate with him in ways that reassure him.

Then, Tadokoro is just trying to make conversation and brings up the house since he'd been involved in that mess and Souichi tries to deflect. Tadokoro tries to tell him he doesn't have to hide it because he knows and that just starts a whole new problem. Tadokoro doesn't know how big of a problem it is for Souichi to have other people know so that just blows up in his face. Souichi denies it only because he's embarrassed about it but not because it's not true.

Souichi doesn't tell Morinaga why he's so upset about it and stops communicating and so Morinaga thinks it's because something like what happened to him in high school has happened to Souichi because that would make him being angry about it make sense. Morinaga overthinks and gets sick and so Souichi ends up going to check on him. (I think it's really cute that Souichi has a spare key to Morinaga's place. They're husbands.)

Souichi realizes how much worrying about this affected Morinaga and then he doesn't care about Tadokoro knowing anymore. He doesn't try to correct him anymore, he just tells him not to talk about it. Tadokoro gives him an out telling him he just misunderstood but Souichi knows he knows because Morinaga told him he told him.

...Sorry, I also think there might be a missing in translation thing going on here because the word Morinaga uses to say he told him means something more like "I exposed our secret to him" but that's not the way someone would say that in English so.... yeah...

Vol 13: Souichi is getting softer and obviously misses Morinaga when Isogai visits. Isogai notices that he's lonely and offers to cook for him while Morinaga is out of town and he's there for work. Morinaga's pissed off about it but he's not actually worried about Isogai like he used to be in volumes 3 and 6 lol. Also while Souichi said he didn't care what happened when Isogai was on the phone with Morinaga he was obviously still listening because he came back and got pissed off when Isogai told Morinaga he was lonely but he didn't chime in any other time before that.

So, Isogai convinced Morinaga to call Souichi by his given name and changing how you call someone in Japanese is usually a pretty significant thing since it shows a change in the relationship. Morinaga has always called him "Senpai" which is a sign of respect because he is a younger student than him. Changing to his given name shows that their relationship is closer than that. Souichi doesn't think anything of it but then when hearing his name he found it embarrassing and it turned him on lol. But Souichi realizes that it would indicate to other people that something changed so he puts his foot down on doing it in front of other people.

Vol 14: After he finds out that Morinaga heard the girl, Souichi points out that he turned the girl down just to reassure Morinaga that he's not trying to get with anyone else. I think he was afraid it was going to a whole vol 9 scenario again but Morinaga has learned that he doesn't need to worry anymore so it wasn't a big deal. Then they have a whole conversation about how they're in a relationship but Souichi doesn't think it would affect anything if anyone found out. How you can look at this and think this man doesn't know he's in a gay relationship I don't know.

But he still doesn't want people to know who don't have to (because he thinks people knowing would mean they would know about what they do sexually because he really has no experience with relationships and the only person who knows is Isogai who saw him getting jacked off in the street lol.... you can't convince me this man has ever been in a relationship in his life before this).

When Morinaga tells him other people don't have to know anything else he's more open to it but still.... they have this whole conversation about being in a relationship and telling people. Souichi never denied it the whole time, he just didn't want to tell anyone.

And then the barrage of people come to hit on Souichi and he just wants to get rid of them. Morinaga convinces him to wear a ring to get rid of them. Souichi is socially dumb so he doesn't "get" rings but he knows it means he's in a relationship and he agreed to wear the matching rings.

Vol 15: Which brings us to now.

Now they've been together for 2 years since volume 8 and have been actively choosing to stay together because Morinaga graduated and lives in a completely different city. They're even wearing rings that definitely cost over $1000 each.

I checked and these are the rings that look closest the one ones they are wearing that I saw on the Cartier website.

So of course Souichi lied to his family. Souichi JUST said in vol 14 that his family were the last ones he'd want to tell about this and they almost found out already lol. But that's just because he doesn't want other people to know. (Souichi is lucky his family is so gullible). He's been fully committed to this relationship for 2 whole years now.

#koisuru boukun #I kept writing stuff and deleting it #I didn't know what I wanted to say with this post #They've been together since vol 8 people. #Everything after is just them building their relationship #I guess I'm posting this now lol

[jungk0oksthighs]

Against The Odds | Best Friend

Pairing - jungkook x reader, taehyung x reader

Genre - smut, angst, fluff, established relationship, ceo!jungkook, ceo!reader, attorney!taehyung

Word count - 2.4k

Drabble 3 - Jungkook and Taehyung have a drink

warnings: swearing, angst, unrequited feelings & stress

FULL SERIES COLLECTION

Jungkook and Taehyung are sitting at their usual booth in Black Swan, five beers into the night when Jungkook decides he can’t take it any longer, furrowing his brows when he nears the end of his drink.

“You know you can tell me anything right…” He settles for a friendlier approach than just asking his best friend outright ‘what the fuck is wrong with you recently?’

Taehyung has been acting…strange of lately. When Jungkook really thinks about it he’s been acting out of the norm for a couple of months now, the once usually bright and bubbly attorney seems almost…sad. It’s like his personality has done a quick one eighty into being an introverted, closed book. Maybe he’s overthinking it – he has been stressed recently what with the constant wedding planning and babysitting of your nephew Charlie. Trying to balance all that with his demanding career has been difficult, but even then he knows that his best friend is hiding something from him.

“Why are you being weird?” Taehyung chuckles, playfully sighing into the vape-clouded air, “If there was something wrong I would tell you man, don’t worry.”

Except Jungkook is worried, very much so. Is it him? Is he talking about the wedding too much? Has he missed something important? The CEO of Jeon Industries is somewhat of an expert at overthinking, he takes pride in being in control that’s arguably one of the reasons he’s so damn good at what he does. But he’s drawing a blank, he has no idea what’s wrong with his best friend he just knows that something isn’t right.

“Sorry if I’ve been talking about the wedding too much…” He clears his throat awkwardly, eyes boring into the other man’s face for any kind of an answer to his silent questions.

Taehyung nods slowly, cocking his head to one side, “Don’t apologise you haven’t been that bad to be fair to you,” His shoulders bounce with silent laughter, “Besides it’s a big deal you getting married…you’re allowed to talk about it. It would be strange if you didn’t.”

“Right…” Jungkook takes a beat, he doesn’t want to pry too much but at the same time this is eating him alive, “But if there’s something going on with you, you can tell me. I feel like all we talk about these days is my life, what’s new with you?”

Taehyung leans back on the leather seat with an exasperated sigh, “I don’t know what to tell you Guk, I’ve been swamped with work recently that’s pretty much it.”

“And work is okay?” He tries again, desperate to get to the bottom of this.

Tae nods in agreement, calling over a nearby shot girl, “Hi darling can we get another round please? And a whiskey each too.”

“Whiskey on a Thursday night…” Jungkook tongues his cheek, now he knows something’s wrong for sure, “None for me thanks, just another beer.” He witnesses the flash of surprise on his best friend features and tries to justify himself, “I don’t wanna go back to the apartment hammered, Charlie is sleeping over.”

“Ahhh… Again.”

“Mmm.”

It’s not that he doesn’t love your nephew because he does, it’s not that he doesn’t want to spend time with him because again he does. It’s just… Jungkook would be lying if he said the way Namjoon is using you as a constant babysitter for his son doesn’t bother him. He understands of course, Charlie needs you, and you need him. But the way your ex-boyfriend expects you to look after him when he’s busy is somewhat…infuriating. He’s learned to bite his tongue though, you’re so stressed out with the wedding and work and practically raising Charlie that he knows if he’s to voice his opinion on the matter it would only upset you - which is the last thing he wants to do.

“Y/N is too caring for her own good sometimes…” Taehyung knocks back the whiskey as though it’s water, both whiskeys that were brought to the table gone in less than ten seconds, “She should just tell Namjoon to fuck off and look after his own son, Charlie isn’t her responsibility.”

“Mmm…” Jungkook nods in agreement because that’s exactly how he feels too, he’s just too afraid to say it out loud, “Yknow at first it didn’t bother me but now it feels like I never see her one on one. Is that selfish of me?”

“Not at all,” Tae is quick to comfort him with a small shake of his head, “Talk to her about it, tell her how you feel before it spirals into something worse...don’t wanna leave it too late.” Taehyung looks away, the Adam’s apple in his throat bobbing.

“I guess…I just don’t want her to think I’m being an asshole about it.”

At this Taehyung makes a noise that can only be described as a scoff and a snort, though he looks unamused, “She’s madly in love with you man, she’d never think that of you.”

“Oh I don’t know…” Jungkook chuckles to himself, awkwardly swirling the beer around the glass bottle.

“Have you guys been fighting or something?” Taehyung’s eyes snap to his best friend, wide with curiosity.

“No, no…we never really fight it’s just-, she’s got a lot on her plate right now with the possibility of Ruth getting out of Cypher and if I—”

“Her sister is getting out of the nut house? Since when?”

Cursing under his breath Jungkook scrunches his eyes shut, “Shit, she asked me not to say anything…fuck, don’t say anything please. I think that’s probably enough alcohol for me.”

“Why did she ask you not to say anything?” Taehyung’s tongue clicks against the roof of his mouth, if Jungkook didn’t know any better he’d say he looks offended by the notion.

“No that’s not what I meant-, well it is… I said to her I could ask you for advice, see if you’ve seen anything similar to her situation in court and ask you what the next steps usually are but she said no. Please don’t say anything to her, I don’t want to upset her.”

“I won’t say anything, it’s not like I really see her much these days anyway.”

“Thanks man… I didn’t realise I was so stressed out about the whole Charlie and Namjoon situation. Sorry for rambling…” A pang of guilt his Jungkook’s chest, you only want to do what’s best for your nephew – he knows that. He just wishes you didn’t let your ex-boyfriend walk all over you in the process.

Taehyung hums in response, “Then let’s stay out tonight? You can always sleep at my place if you get too wasted to go home.”

“Ah I don’t know…”

“You look like you could do with a night off Guk, you said yourself you’re stressed.”

Jungkook exhales with puffed out cheeks, “I am.”

But even though he’s stressed and overwhelmed right now, he doesn’t want to leave you alone for the night with a teething Charlie. When’s your night off? When do you get a break? Between planning the wedding and everything else you’ve been swamped lately, it wouldn’t be fair of him to stay out tonight. Would it? You did go out with Taehyung a few weeks ago… He sighs again, rubbing inked fingers to his temples. Maybe a night out with Taehyung is what he needs? And maybe he’ll finally get to the bottom of what’s been bothering his best friend recently too…

“I’ll stay out on one condition…” Jungkook’s gaze land on Taehyung’s face, “You tell me what’s been bothering you recently.”

“I told you—”

“Bulllllshit! I know something’s wrong with you man, you’ve gone from Mr Party to Debbie Downer. I’m serious what’s up with you? Is it work?”

Taehyung’s lips purse together awkwardly, “No. I uh-, okay… I have this friend going through some shit right now and I guess it’s consumed my life a little. I feel bad for him.”

Kook nods, wanting to understand more about what’s got his bestie so glum, “Who is it?”

“Well it’s not really a friend-, it’s a client. Yeah, a client. So I can’t tell you his details…but, he’s going through it right now and I want to help him, I do, fuck I wish I knew what to do but…it’s just-, his situation is difficult and I don’t know how to help him.”

“What’s his situation? Maybe I can help?” Jungkook hangs on to every word spoken, doe-eyes narrowed and focussed solely on Taehyung.

A humourless, somewhat sad laugh leaves his lips, “You can’t.”

“Try me. C’mon if it’s affecting you this much he’s clearly a good guy and a good friend to you, right? Let me help.”

Taehyung laughs again but this time it sounds more pained, maybe even a little defeated, “Alright but you know I can’t tell you his details, attorney confidentiality and all that.”

“That’s fine.” Jungkook offers a reassuring smile.

“My client…he’s-, well he’s got it bad for this girl. But the girl is strictly off limits to him, never gonna happen not in a million years, right?” Taehyung speaks with his hands emphasising his clients problem, “And he knows that, he’s not delusional he knows that it’s never gonna happen. But he still can’t stop thinking about her, when he sees her it’s like…Fuck, I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“Well how did he describe it?”

An amused puff of air leaves Taehyung’s nostrils, “He said that when he sees her it’s like all logic goes out the window. There’s something about her he just can’t get out of his mind… He knows it’s wrong, he knows it’ll never happen, he knows she’s not into him like that—”

Jungkook cuts him off with a pointed finger, “How does he know it’ll never happen? Has he spoken to her? Maybe he’s just assuming the worst.”

“Nah, she’s with someone else.”

“Oh shit that does change things…” Kook sighs knowingly, fuck, that does sound rough. He can’t even imagine what that must be like…it would be like him having to watch you being happy with someone that’s not him. He shudders at the thought, “But is she happy with this other person?”

Tae’s voice is low and sympathetic, barely audible, “Very.”

Jungkook leans back in his seat, hands roughly gripping his suit-clad thighs, “Well…” He clicks his tongue, not entirely sure where he’s going with this, “Tell him to grow up. If it’s never gonna happen and she’s already in a happy relationship he needs to do the right thing and let it go.”

“He’s tried, he’s been trying to do that for so long…this is what I mean I just don’t know what to do.” Taehyung groans before adding, “To help him. I don’t know what to do to help him.”

Jungkook nods when he sips his beer, sympathising with Tae’s client completely, “The way I see it is…She’s happy with someone else, the games over. Maybe if she wasn’t happy there would be some wiggle room but…if she’s happy, he needs to be a man about it and move on. It’s similar to if Namjoon was still pining after Y/N while she’s with me, yknow? Never gonna happen.”

“Well…it’s not exactly similar, Joon is Y/N’s ex-boyfriend there’s already pre existing feelings involved.” Taehyung cracks his neck, “This guy isn’t an ex of hers.”

“Okay, well for arguments sake then that’s like if… I don’t know, it’s like if you had feelings for Y/N even though she’s with me. Would just be a dick move yknow? Man needs to get over it before he ends up acting on his emotions and jeopardises her happy relationship.”

“He would never act on it—"

“So he’s just going to mope around his whole life and pray that she breaks up with the guy she’s with now?” Jungkook scoffs, “C’mon I feel for the guy yeah, it must be dreadful, but…if he doesn’t want to act on it and knows it’s not plausible in the first place. What’s the point stressing about it? He needs to get a fucking grip.”

Taehyung nods understandingly before his brows pinch together, he sucks in a breath of air before delivering a question that changes everything.

“But what if it was you? For arguments sake…if you had to watch someone you love be with someone else, when all you want to do is get her out of your mind and get over it. What would you do?”

Kook contemplates his answer for a moment, cocking his head to one side, “You didn’t say this guy loved her. That changes things…I’ve only ever loved one woman Tae… and the idea of losing her...” He can’t even imagine what Taehyung’s client is going through, he almost lost you once and it near killed him, “Fuck, you’re right…I can’t help you. Poor guy…”

“So…that’s why I’ve been a little stressed recently.”

“Understandable, guess we should count ourselves lucky that we’re not him.” Jungkook chuckles, calling another waitress to the booth, “Two beers and two whiskeys please, thanks.”

Taehyung grins, Kook is sure that’s the first time he’s seen him genuinely smile in a long time, “You’re staying out?”

“I said I would if you told me what was up, and you did...” Jungkook nods, sliding his phone from his pocket to send you a quick text message telling you not to wait up for him, “I know, I’m a good friend.” He winks. “I just hope Y/N isn’t too mad at me staying out...”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine with it, she’s usually pretty understanding.” Tae nods slowly and knowingly.

Jungkook smiles contently, “Yeah. I’m a lucky guy.”

“Very.”

x

#jungkook #taehyung #jungkook angst #taehyung angst #jungkook fic #taehyung fic #jungkook ff #taehyung ff #jungkook drabble #taehyung drabble #jungkook x reader #taehyung x reader #vkook x reader #vkook drabble #jungkook imagine #taehyung imagine #jungkook scenario #taehyung scenario #jungkook oneshot #taehyung oneshot #bts #jungkook bts #taehyung bts #jungkook smut #taehyung smut

[skaruresonic]

It’s not "schizoposting" if you’re replying to other people talking about Ian Flynn.

The term itself is ableist.

I'm not schizophrenic; I have garden-variety depression and anxiety. But even if I were schizophrenic, that wouldn't make it okay to act like I'm frothing at the mouth for stating opinions on my own blog.

I've noticed this habit amongst stans: they'll paint you as mentally unwell in order to discredit you. We've been called "conspiratorially insane" and "retarded" before. I've been told to seek therapy for being angry at the harassment I received. Hell, Kyle once told Greeny "I hope you get better soon" in response to her pointing out that Metal stated he rebuilt his body with his own two hands in the Metal Overlord fight, something that contradicted a claim Flynn made. It's just our old buddy ad hominem again, but ableism flavored.

And it's like, yeah, I am mentally unwell, no shit Sherlock, you've cracked the code. But regardless, I can still be mentally unwell and make a valid point. It's not like the mental illness completely short-circuits my ability to think.

Apropos of nothing, while I'm at it: people get really touchy if you say anything that can be skewed as "Flynn lies" or "Flynn is a liar," to the point of making sweeping grandiose claims that they'll automatically lose respect for you if you insinuate as much. (Which ofc begs questions of why.)

Lying isn't some binary yes/no type of thing. People can lie partially, lie out of ignorance, lie by omission, lie by implication, lie by obfuscation, or lie in spirit but not in letter. Not all falsehoods are capital L Lies, but by the same token, that doesn't mean they're no longer falsehoods. People can bend the truth without breaking it. Flynn projects a certain image by being noncommittal to the point of obfuscation. It's called talking out both sides of your mouth: where you say a lot of things that seem to address the question without actually having answered the question.

He doesn't lie outright. That's why I said it's annoying, because in a way it'd be easier to put his claims on blast if he were.

Instead, he drowns out the truth with verbiage. He hems and haws and doesn't offer a clear answer but instead usually winds up giving a sort of verbal equivalent of a Rorschach test so that he has plausible deniability in case his employers ever press him on his claims. Notice, however, that despite how tied his hands are, and despite knowing how people take his word dead fucking seriously, he seldom passes up the opportunity to run his mouth.

For example, "Eggman never, ever has a solid plan." The quote whose infamy earned it a spot on a TV Tropes page. He said it with his full chest, too, one of the rare answers that left no room for misinterpretation. Yet when someone relayed his own words back to him roughly a month later, he couldn't remember having said them, implying he either didn't really believe what he had said or else he has a poor memory.

More interesting than that, though, is when he proceeded to add, "But if I did [put it like that], then I was wrong."

IF I did. As if the existence of the words he recorded for the entire world to hear and posted for online posterity is debatable.

That's the kind of thing that skeeves me out at the end of the day. When you get caught in 4K and somehow it's others' ontological reality that must change to fit your presupposed narrative, not the other way around. And by that, I mean it would be somewhat easier to overlook if the matter began and ended at simple ignorance---but it's this constant evasion of blame and the underlying revisionism that creeps me out.

Flynn looks like he's admitting he's wrong while also casting subtle doubt on the notion that he said what he did. It's not just an "oops, guess I misspoke" or an "oops, guess I forgot" kind of thing, either. He pulls this sort of rhetorical trick all the goddamn time.

I'm personally on the fence about whether he does this deliberately or if it's the unfortunate byproduct of being a poor communicator: I feel like subconsciously, some part of it may be, given how BK built its name on speaking on behalf of Sega while simultaneously allowing him a platform to not-so-subtly shittalk them behind their backs. At this point I find it hard to imagine he's not doing this without some sort of agenda in mind.

And this isn't even getting into all the times he's been caught in blatant contradictions, which wouldn't be nearly so bad if everyone didn't take the man's word as gospel.

#asks

[tobiasdrake]

If we play our cards right, we might not get shot today. Those are better odds than we had ten seconds ago.

You, sir, are a braver man than I. You were hanging onto that thing with one foot in a footrest. You could not pay me to balloon-float from the highest point in the city like that.

Hahaha I don't think you have the authority to make that happen. Everyone, including you, has talked about how this guy's organization are basically the supreme rulers of Kanai Ward.

Son of a fuck I knew I should have thrown you out that window!

Shit, maybe you do have the authority. Halara, kill. Uh, please.

That's not quite the story he told us earlier. He said he has demon blood and that seeing his face causes people to lose their sanity.

Of course, Yuma cut him off before he could tell the full tale, so this might be some of the stuff we skipped. Or he's lying.

Honestly, I think it's a lifestyle choice. He invents stories to avoid having to explain that he wears it because he likes it. Hey, you do you, man. I'm not gonna judge.

Just like that? Man, you have told me outright that the Peacekeepers are basically the rulers of Amaterasu and this company town. I doubt it's going to be that--

Oh, We definitely should have thrown you out that window if you have clout like this. Holy shit.

The CEO can be top dog of a privately-owned company, but a company of Amaterasu's size is likely publicly traded. That would mean the company has a Board of Directors that the CEO must answer to, who are themselves accountable to the shareholders.

That might not be what Makoto's talking about, though. The fraught relationship between him and Yomi is extremely imbalanced. Though Makoto legally holds authority over Yomi, at the end of the day, all of the guns in this city answer to Yomi.

The line between megacorporation and mafia is extremely blurry. If Makoto tries to fire Yomi, Yomi can respond, "Yeah? Well, all of these men with guns say you're fired."

This is a company town. The first right of a government is the monopolization of violence. The Peacekeepers are that monopolization. If Yomi and a thousand men with guns decide that Yomi is God-King of Kanai Ward now, who's going to stop them? The military is always the greatest internal threat to a government.

Makoto is walking a thin line, trying to resist Yomi's consolidation of power without outright provoking Yomi into a full-scale coup.

Of course, like I said back in his tower, being against bad things doesn't make you a good guy. To be a good guy, you have to be for good things. We only know what Makoto's against. As CEO of Amaterasu, he's a key component of the mechanism that made this monster in the first place.

Makoto gives me the heebie-jeebies, in a "The enemy of my enemy can kiss my ass too" sort of way. But I suppose he did bail us out back there, so we owe him one.

...and then what? This is an isolated city-state, my dude. When you declare his exile and he and a thousand guns respond, "No, you go," what are you going to do to make him? What higher authority wields power over Yomi and the Peacekeepers that can force him out against his will?

This is the same problem that Shachi had with his plan to "gather evidence" of Peacekeeper corruption. When he starts shooting, when the streets run pink with the blood of his enemies, how do you intend to pry that power from his fingers?

No matter how sound your logic or how solid your evidence, you can't win a debate against a bullet.

...Did... Did Makoto just gift us a new sub? Ooh, maybe it'll have that new car smell. And bunk beds. I call rooming with Fubuki!

#master detective archives: rain code #drake plays rain code

[s0undsinmyhead]

After all my rants about Alex’s horrible departure I just want to make clear that what I’m most angry about is the complete destruction of Alex’s character. I already see this becoming a rant. Hopefully my last on this subject.

My last couple too long posts ranting about this focus a lot on Jo and Izzie. But at the end of the day it’s not that Alex and Jo aren’t together or that Alex and Izzie are. I like Jo and Alex together, but I could take it or leave it. They’ve had seasons where I was over them. I did always hate Izzie and Alex together I’ll admit that.

But the real issue isn’t about any ship it’s about Alex. And the focus goes to Jo because that’s the relationship that shows most how all his character development was destroyed. Alex is a good man and he loves Jo and he knows her past. Jo was abandoned when she was a week old and that gave her some trauma. Then add in Alex’s own trauma of being abandoned by his deadbeat alcoholic father. Being walked out on and abandoned by Izzie during their garbage marriage. And we you consider these things and the fact that Alex is a good person who cares about people and is honorable and has worked for years to not be a loser like his father, the idea that not only he would abandon Jo but that he would do it without saying a word. He would do it by lying and not calling. That he would leave Jo like Izzie left him, knowing how painful that is. That he would be too cowardly to come home and tell Jo to her face that he was leaving her. Goes against everything Alex has become over the last 16 seasons. Not limited to his relationship with Jo but with anyone.

I feel the same way about how he left Meredith. It was less an outright betrayal but it was still awful. Walking out on your best friend in the world without even saying goodbye? Alex was her person and she was his. He took that very seriously, they were family. To just drop her like he did is absurd. Alex would kill for Mer, do the writers expect me to believe he’d kill for he’d die for her but he can’t be bothered to say a proper goodbye. Let’s pretend that nonsense they wrote about him not saying goodbye bc he knew Mer could talk him out of moving to be with his kids, like she would ever do that. Alex left without saying goodbye to the kids. How can any of us ever believe Alex would leave without saying goodbye to Zola, Bailey, and Ellis. He loved those kids like they were his own. He took care of them like they were his own. Alex who loves kids and understands them more than anyone in the show is just going to abandon his first family without a word? I don’t think so. Obviously, he has to go and raise his kids but I don’t believe for a second Alex wouldn’t Sit down with Mer’s kids first and tell them how much he loves them and always will and how much he’s going to miss them and how they have cousins to visit.

So anyway long rant I didn’t plan over. I will never be okay with Alex’s exit.

#but I should probably move on #I still haven’t moved on from Marks death #long rant no one cares about #greys anatomy #alex karev #jo wilson #jo karev #meredith grey #anyway I can’t believe teddy cheated on Owen #like damn girl #I don’t even like him and that was too much

[lampmanliveblogs]

Here we can see side by side a bad parental figure and a good parental figure. Can you tell which is which? Can you spot some key differences? What qualities exhibited in these specimen makes them good or bad parents? Please motivate your answer.

Eda and Alador know each other. Which… yeah, that makes some sense, Alador & Odalia were in the stands watching the Emperor’s Coven tryouts when Eda first turned into the Owlbeast, so they probably attended some of the same classes at Hexside.

Stealing your coworkers lunches? Really? THAT’S what got you demoted? Not the fact that there was a prison break that happened right under your… well, you don’t have a nose, but uh… oh, and you got beat up by a fourteen year old. Twice. And the first time she didn’t have any magic.

Wait, didn’t I joke about Wrath being demoted in Through the Looking Glass Ruins? Or maybe I joked about him being fired… I’m still gonna say ”Called it!”

Regardless, he should still have some of that spicy insider information I’ve been craving for so long. Come on big boy, give us something good.

Wrath voices the same suspicion I have. That being, the new world Belos wishes to create isn’t going to benefit those with magic. Something that’s interesting is that Wrath says the Day of Unity will ”unite [them] with the Titan.” Which is not how we’ve heard Belos describe it before. In Follies at the Coven Day Parade, he simply described it as purging wild magic from the Demon Realm. In Hunting Palismen, he said that the Human Realm and Demon Realm would become one. Either way, this is supposed to cleanse wild magic.

We know that Philip was not very fond of witches and he was already working on the Day of Unity back in the 1600s. So my current theory is that whatever it he’s actually trying to do, it won’t benefit witches or demons, but will benefit humans. Maybe he wants to give humans the power of magic—or just get rid of all magic outright.

Whatever it is he’s trying to do, I doubt it’s going to be good for anyone. The idea of giving humans magic in particular is very frightening.  Because sure, there are humans like Luz, who are kind and generous. But then there are also human like Philip. Actually… hold on, I have a perfect example…

”It will start small. Magic will slowly spread around the world. Unmagical places will become magical. And then the magic levels will begin to rise. A magic flood to cover the entire world. Natural witches will awaken, more than ever before. Do you think they will sit by kindly and wait for permission to use their new powers?”

”You’re lying,” says Linnéa.

”No,” says Minoo. ”And it won’t end there. Magic levels will continue to rise. It will become easier and easier to learn magic. When the levels finally stabilizes, you will have a world where anyone can learn magic.”

She takes a few steps towards them.

”The world will fall into chaos. All politic, economic, and religious systems will fall apart. Magic will equal power. And those who have it will rule over the others. And from a smaller perspective… can you imagine someone like Erik Forslund with magic powers?”

(from The Key, the third book in the Engelsfors Trilogy. The Protectors, through Minoo, try to convince the Chosen Ones to let them take over the world. Erik Forslund was a bully and antagonist throughout the books who at one point tried to murder Linnéa. Translation by me, the official translation may differ)

Eda really be out here collecting new kids like Pokemon, huh?

Hey, we got Alador’s reaction to finding out Amity & Luz are dating!

I’m not sure why I was expecting more, this seems perfectly on-brand.

I would do another Engelsfors quote, the scene where Vanessa tells her mom she and Linnéa are dating… but I’m saving that for a potential moment where Luz tells Camila about Amity. I have this whole thing planned out, trust me, it’s going to be funny,

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #toh s2e14 #reaching out

[mdhwrites]

Go Watch A Old Man Called Otto

TL:DR: This is the best movie I’m going to see this year because movies this good, and a like this, don’t get made often enough. It is a genuinely, heartfelt story about, life, loss, grieving, the impact we have on others, etc. like that. Frankly, I would like this to be the modern “It’s a Wonderful Life” because while that movie is great, this one is a perfect update to its themes and topics. Seriously. Go watch this movie. Also CW: Attempted Suicide, Self Harm Topics and those that go with those. This was a movie I watched because my dad really loved it but I’d be lying if the one line synopsis didn’t worry me. “A grouchy old man who’s planning his demise is stopped short by a cheerful family moving in.”

It is explicitly a movie about suicide. About a man who wants to end his life. And it’s not just talked about. Every scene where Otto is alone evokes the question of “Okay, is this scene safe or how is this leading to an attempt on his life.” Even innocuous things can suddenly turn outright horrifying. And then fucking hilarious. I will be avoiding spoilers for the most part but this movie manages an absolutely INSANE feat where it is both a dark comedy while being absurdly respectful of the subject matter. It does not trivialize suicide for its jokes. Instead, it plays some of them straight and some of them get a laugh or can be enhanced by an internal joke. Hell, its FIRST scene is of Otto going to a hardware store and buying five feet of rope. Rope at that store is 99 cents per yard. They charge him for two yards of rope. Six feet. He is buying five feet of rope. GUESS WHY I REMEMBER THIS STATISTICS VIVIDLY!? And this is actually why I wanted to really shout out this movie because my experience with suicidal behavior and thoughts is driven by despair and clinical depression. It is deeply illogical which is why I fear a lack of thoughts far more than the painful ones. The ones that tell me my future is pointless and that contribute nothing can be argued with with reminders of those who love me. Who care about me. The work I’ve done. They don’t help entirely. I’ve literally attacked myself to try to get the thoughts to stop. But I fear a void of thoughts more. Because there’s no reminder of the good, there’s only the pain and me then. This has led to the closest I’ve ever come to killing myself, a night I’m still not comfortable talking in specifics about in public. It’s led to me smashing my skull against a telephone poll so hard I was seeing white flashes but not stopping because I didn’t care about the pain. It’s sudden, it’s violent and my writing of suicide and self harm is painted by those experiences. This movie showed me both how a man can get to a point where calling his electric company to get the power cut off isn’t enough time to get rid of those thoughts. Where the void IS your existence so even if you can act like yourself, there isn’t anything keeping you there. Where your perception of others and your life need to get to in order to get to that place where you can make every preparation required so as not to damage your house even if you need to GO.

And part of that is that I really, truly respect the movie for not doing a suicide note. I have talked to others about the romanticism of a suicide note. How it gives closure to those around them. An explanation. But if you’re so dark that you need it all to end, worrying about others enough to want to give them those answers is enough to reach out and get some help. Because suicide is one of the hardest things for a human being to do. ANY lifeline will be taken just by instinct. If there is someone who you can think of in the moment as not wanting you dead... You’re almost certainly not going to do it. Does that mean suicide notes don’t exist? No. Of course they do. I’ve admitted that I’ve written a story that was effectively a suicide note. I spent HOURS talking to a friend who wrote a story that was their suicide note and because of that they changed the ending of the story to one where someone was able to help and stop them. To give them a little bit of light back in their world. My mom had written one when she was a teenager. She told me when I talked to her about this subject months ago. You might also notice all these people are still alive. So there is some personal life experience to back this sentiment up. And with Otto, the point is that he is a grouchy old man. The movie definitely plays with themes of tradition versus present, what is lost, what is gained (admittedly it leans on what is lost as being better but mostly for the right reasons. The only scene in the movie that rubbed me the wrong way is redeemed by how it ends and how it comes back around but I can’t go into specifics without spoilers) and the contrast of that. It even has LGBTQIA+ representation though I won’t spoil how that I think is done well. It has PoC representation that is done well, with even one person being paralleled to Otto and Otto looking like the asshole but for all the right reasons and it doesn’t diminish who Otto is. But... When you’re a grouchy old man living alone, having just retired and seeing the whole world change around you... Who would you even have a note to write to? Why would you bother with one amongst all the rest of your preparations when a soul to connect is probably the thing you’re looking for the most?

And on a personal level... It does make me wonder where my dad would be without his wife and family. He feels like he’s growing more frustrated with things every year. Not because of them damn liberals, neither is Otto, but because retirement hasn’t been what he wanted. His kids haven’t turned out the way he wanted and people seem to just be becoming idiots more and more, including his kids in some ways. It took years for my dad to finally just stop bringing up the topic of work with me and I know he is almost certainly still frustrated with my disability, even as he tries his best to show understanding towards it. Admittedly, it’s FAR more reasonable after my brother abused my parents’ kindness and understanding for half a year while he faked disability so... *sigh* I won’t say that my opinion of A Man Called Otto is unbiased. It hits a lot of topics I care about with an archtype I love and I am a slice of life person to my core and so much of this is able to somehow keep a lighter tone than the subject matter would make you expect, at least to be respectful to it, while also just being a very real look into life and the importance of those people who, even if they’re grouchy, you can always rely on being there when you need them. And the kindness that breeds in return. So please: Go watch A Man Called Otto. One of my favorite movies of all time now. Edit: I forgot to mention this but the main character is played by Tom Hanks and yet the female lead in the movie is just about on par with him. She is INCREDIBLE. Honestly, just in general the cinematography, pacing, writing etc.and especially the acting is top fucking notch. It’s just a damn good movie.

#A Man Called Otto #Otto #Depression #Suicide

[benjaminthewolf]

Cliff Steele (Doom Patrol) Lol

*sigh* so…sorry for disappearing for a week…I was PLANNING on carving out time in my schedule to work on another non-vore project of mine but

1 I completely forgot about Valentine’s Day

2 Next week at my school we have wed-fri off and then the week after that we have Monday off so…

I’m just gonna be going back to remastering the first season of The Story Of P.O.V.

Also I think I’m going to be moving into weekly uploads and post on Monday so yeah.

Anyway enjoy the vore

****

“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!” the habitually suffering robotic member of the Doom Patrol known as Cliff Steele emphatically groaned out as he rather aggressively slammed the door behind him. “I have seen…A LOT of shit during my time in this stupid fucking team…” he grumbled to himself under his breath as he hobbled his way inside of the Doom Mansion’s premises. “But THAT? THAT JUST MIGHT TAKE THE CAKE!”

Cliff had just about managed to clank his way over to one of the many sets of stairs in the mansion which would lead him on up to his room, as all he ultimately wanted to do for right now, was simply lock himself inside and once again spend the significant majority of the rest of his day attempting to figure out just how he had ended up in this position. Unfortunately for him at the moment, however, this straightforward plan was absolutely not destined to be put forward; as Cliff had not come back unnoticed, and was not going to be able to make it up the staircase without being followed, as a result.

“Larry, I swear. If you even ATTEMPT to pry into what happened back there, I am PERSONALLY going to-” the robotic man began to growl out to his fellow team member in a semi-belligerent tone.

“UH-nonononono! No! No I wasn’t!” Larry Trainor almost immediately stuttered back in order to quelch the rising anger before it bloomed. This simple admission appeared to have the intended effect, causing his good friend Cliff to let forth most of the anger with a sigh.

He now knew he wouldn’t be questioned, but he still knew that something was up. Most of the Doom Patrol just kinda left the man to his devices whenever he got ticked off, and yet Larry, as was now more evident than ever, was a single exception. He kinda wondered why that was, and yet he also simultaneously felt as though he somewhat knew the answer. As a result of all of this, Cliff knew implicitly that Larry wasn’t going to leave his side until he got him to cheer up, an assumption that was all but confirmed the moment that Larry once again spoke up.

“So…you don’t have to tell me what happened…” he awkwardly began to stammer forth beneath his specialized facial bandages.

“Uh, yeah, you just told me that five seconds ago!”

“.....I just want to make sure we’re not going to find you lying curled up on the floor in a fetal position while clutching your subsequently fallen blanket and whimpering about not even being able to cry anymore…again.”

Cliff’s robotic body positively sagged from the emotional fatigue. He hated nothing more than to be called out on those things, and yet he still knew it was true, and thus could not become angry over it as a result.

“...and I assume that you think you have a better solution?”

“...well…yeah.”

Cliff dragged out another sigh. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, but wasn’t quite ready to say it out loud, lest risk his fellow patrol members overhear him.

Larry, sensing Cliff’s apprehension, swiftly took hold of his hand, in an attempt to console the man somewhat.

“...how about this, we go up to your room together and lock the door. That way nobody can walk in on us.”

Cliff at the very least attempted to buy himself some time by standing still. He now knew for sure what Larry was talking about, yet didn’t want to outright admit he was warming up to the thought. So, instead of saying it, he instead took but a single, minute step towards the stairwell, letting Larry know he was ready.

****

“You’re sure that door is locked?” Cliff attempted to triple check with Larry at his door before they finally began.

“*Sigh* Yes Cliff, I am sure.” Larry swiftly responded whilst giving the locked door knob a few unsuccessful twists just to settle the robotic man’s angst over being interrupted.

“Good. Alright then, get over here! The sooner this gets started the sooner I’ll start feeling better!”

Proceeding to clamor his way onto the large bed, Larry promptly shrugged his shoulders, whilst the mechanical body of Cliff began preparing itself for the process.

“I’m really gonna have to thank Cyborg for this next time he shows up…” was the very last thing Cliff murmured to himself before he finally unveiled his maw.

The aforementioned Cyborg in question had indeed given Cliff an artificial digestive system the last time he had teamed with the Doom Patrol, complete with false saliva and everything, all therefore allowing for the formerly wholly metallic and compact body of Cliff Steele to be able to house many easily expandable organs, as well as a similar functioning throat.

He was also finally able to taste again due to the artificial tongue he had gotten, however, currently, that wasn’t exactly something Cliff was happy about, as the second he had lifted Larry high enough to fit his whole head into his maw, the sudden, rough, fabric-like flavor inherently present upon the man’s bandages began to flood onto his taste buds. He knew he wasn’t going to say anything, of course, he had already decided he wanted to do this, and so instead of groaning or gagging, simply continued to gently hold onto Larry’s presence inside his maw, the slimy, squishy, seemingly entirely natural ambiance of the area giving him a burgeoning sense of hope that someday, he may gain most of his prior human functions back to some degree, and be able to live somewhat normally as a result.

Regardless of all that, for now, Cliff needed to get Larry down into his artificial stomach, and to that end, he gently tilted back his own head to allow gravity to drag the man downwards somewhat, as he grasped ahold of his torso that was still hanging outside. Cliff proceeded to widen open his gullet, revealing onto Larry the beginnings of the oncoming drop, as well as the plump, dangling uvula lying casually in the back just as it did in all biological humans.

Once Larry’s head was nicely inserted into Cliff’s gullet, the robotic man on the outside took a couple of seconds in order to let it settle in, that he could now, finally, experience the sensation that was swallowing. Gulping rather hard in order to squeeze all of Larry’s head into his throat, Cliff could feel the man’s torso getting inserted into his maw, whilst the rapidly salivating robot began to gently knead over the enlarged, bulging form that was Larry’s head inside of his throat.

Larry himself was well aware of just how elating this experience had to be for his friend. Ever since his initial accident, he had yearned all so badly to be able to once again enjoy all the minute biological facets that were to come with being human. Now, however, thanks to Cyborg, so much more of that yearning could finally be satisfied. Thus, he didn’t really want to interrupt the naturally important moment by abruptly speaking up, and simply remained silent as Cliff proceeded to swallow again, subsequently squelching the upper half of his body into the constricting, squishy esophagus. Thanks to his experience with the donkey, Larry did, indeed, know what an entirely biological esophagus felt like, and was as such able to internally marvel at the meticulous, attentive nature at which this robotic one had been put together, as Larry was barely even able to sense a difference. The only single factor that would tip him off to the contrary in a situation where he didn’t know, was that after Cliff swallowed once more, his head was now near to where a heartbeat would normally be discernible, and yet because of Cliff’s mechanical nature, none was indeed present.

Nonetheless, Cliff on the outside was absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of being able to feel something filling up his new, mechanical stomach, and as a result, finally swallowed for the last required time, before heaving forth a rather giant sigh (without actually breathing out any air, of course, as he possessed no lungs), whilst his beloved Larry within was effortlessly squelched further down and towards the awaiting chamber below.

Cyborg had indeed added in the natural ambiance that was to come along with a biological stomach, using some form of a speaker of course, and it was this white noise that Larry was able to detect when he neared the lower esophageal sphincter. Finally reaching the aforementioned natural value (well, natural in a human digestive system of course, but certainly not for Cliff,) Larry’s head was thus was squelched out into the squishy, wet organ within, causing the sensors in the area to immediately take note of him as such, and promptly pick up their churning as the rest of Larry’s body slipped in.

Cliff on the outside was positively overwhelmed with the pleasant feelings from his middle as his newfound mechanical gut promptly expanded outwards in a giant, tight bulge in order to house its current meal. Cliff let out a good lot of rambling, intelligile murmurs, that which Larry was naturally able to pick up, letting him know as such that he should probably just let the man be, and enjoy the sensation he produced.

Laning up into the squishy, smoothened form that was the goopy, slime-coated artificial stomach, Larry proceeded to give the sensitive, churning walls a bit of a pat, in order to let Cliff know he was okay, since due to not wanting to interrupt, he hadn’t really signaled anything to his robotic friend before now. Proceeding to adjust his sitting position and casually cross his legs inside the gurgling, swirling form of Cliff’s stomach, Larry finally shrugged his shoulders, and began to settle down for his stay. He didn’t know exactly when he would be let out, but really, at this point that all just boiled down to “Whenever the fuck Cliff decides.” Larry didn’t exactly mind that, though. The equally artificial warmth that the organ was able to produce began to seep into his being through his clothes and bandages, as did a bit of the gopiness against the walls (his lower half was already entirely soaked in the currently harmless liquids inside,) and thus, the entire, overall occurrence felt honestly rather relaxing, especially in light of all the consistent hero work that the members of the Doom Patrol partook in. Nuzzling himself deeply into the shifting, slickened walls as a result, Larry concluded his thoughts on the matter by simply reminding himself of just how much this meant to Cliff, before finally moving on.

Cliff on the outside, meanwhile, was positively reveling within the glory that was his currently expanded gut. Patting, glomping, and rubbing over the thing whilst his artificial tongue flopped hazily out of his mouth, Cliff was barely even able at this point, due to the flood of the pleasure moments ago, to formulate coherent thoughts. Given just how many of his thoughts nowadays were either grumpy, aggressive, or otherwise pessimistic, Cliff actually did entirely prefer his current state, though he obviously couldn’t consciously comment on it. Thus, laying silent within the privacy of his locked room, Cliff, the decidedly robotic man that had spent so long suffering due to this state, was now, finally, at long, long last, able to experience what it was like to be full.

#soft vore #safe vore #vore writing #vore stories #vore story #male pred #male vore #male predador #male prey #m/m vore #v0re #v0r3 #vor3 #v.ore #v/ore #human prey #same size vore #willing prey #willing vore #wholesome vore #extreme cuddling #endosoma

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Poking the Wolf | Kori | Trial 5.2 | RE: Kenshin, END, Akito, Hosts | ATTN: Hosts (especially An)

As Kenshin answers END’s previous question, she just nods to confirm it’s the same for her. Though the response they receive from the sisters is more frustrating than ever, especially the claim that this isn’t rigged at all. Even worse, Kori finds herself believing that, at least partially. They have the choice of voting for someone other than the man she still believes is being framed, or just not voting at all.

“We’re free to vote however we want, and they need to abide by their own rules, so I doubt they’ll be tampering with our votes, and we learned from the last trial that their randomization for who dies if we get it wrong isn’t fair at all, they just choose whoever the hell they want to kill instead of making it truly random. So, with the way Calluna phrased it, I guess it isn’t rigged.” She sighs, looking at the sisters with a tired expression. “Your answers are all pretty carefully worded, it doesn’t seem like you’re outright lying about anything, just framing the truth in a very specific way, manipulating it to fit with your narrative.”

Ugh, her head is starting to hurt from how stressed she is, and it’s END’s argument to Kenshin that brings her to a pause. She was thinking it already, from the moment that the idea of this trial being nothing more than a ploy to get one more death was brought up, that all of this shit could have been avoided if Kori just fucking died like she was supposed to, so she can’t hide the wince at hearing that someone else was thinking the exact same. She would have been perfect for this project, so if they had her, they could have gotten rid of the unusable AIs and everyone alive could just go home without a problem. She doesn’t want to die, she wants to be grateful for the mercy that’s been given to her, but it keeps getting harder to do so. After all, if things go how the sisters want, then that'd make two people dead because of her, and everyone else knows it, she's sure.

Shaking her head, her focus falls on Akito, a slight glare directed at him as the sisters call out his lies.

"I'm hoping this is the actual fucking truth this time, for your sake more than mine. It's been made clear that if you keep lying it's just going to be used against you, you've already pissed off several people here and made yourself incredibly suspicious even before this trial, so the more you lie, the easier it is for the sisters to make us doubt you and turn everyone against you to shift the trial in their favor. You admitted to being more than willing to lie to protect yourself, and damn, I of all people really can’t judge you for it, but you need to realize that right now, lying is just gonna fuck you over even more. And on a more selfish level, I want to trust you, I want to keep thinking of you as a friend. I fucking cried in your arms, the only other person I could say that about before the hell that was the last trial would be Kenshin, if even this is a lie then I won't be able to forgive you. I doubt any of us will, at this point."

“I wasn’t planning on voting anyway, not because I think we should, but because… I don’t think there’s much else we can do with the way things are right now.”

With that out of the way, her glare deepens as she looks past Akito.

“You keep saying shit like ‘Erisu Kabasawa’s vitals were no longer detectable to us’ instead of just saying that she’s dead, and that ‘there is a correct answer to who we need to vote for’ instead of saying there is an actual culprit who killed Kabasawa-san. You’re not being direct with us unless we happen to make a mistake, in which An immediately jumps in to berate us for being so stupid about this case while completely ignoring whatever other question we asked them in the same breath. You’re not being direct for reasons other than not wanting to solve this case for us, if this were any other trial you’d be like ‘of fucking course the victim is dead, why else would there be a trial at all’, so why not give us an answer like that?”

“You’ll imply to us time and time that she’s dead, but never say it outright. Just give a clear yes or no answer, is Kabasawa-san dead?”

As that question is asked, her glare fades, her expression going back to that of a tired gaze as she sighs.

“Cause if she really is, then… I guess I’m a hell of a lot more gullible than I thought I was. I really did believe that you two actually cared about Az-8, afterall. Or at least An did. We’ve already determined time and time again that Akito and Kabasawa-san are the only ones who could possibly be them, so if Kabasawa-san is dead, and we’re really supposed to believe Akito’s the one who did it, then either you failed miserably at protecting your sister, or you’re trying desperately to get your brother executed, and you don’t care in the slightest about either. Y’know An, I really bought it when you said you would do anything to protect all of your siblings, but this…

Her brows are furrowed in what looks like a pained expression, as if it hurts to have to admit this, though her eyes betray no emotion.

“This just proves you two only care about yourselves, Az-8 was or is just as expendable as the rest of us to you, aren’t they? You really have no problem with letting them get killed so long as it benefits you… I knew you were cruel, but god, I really let myself get tricked into believing that it was different when it came to your siblings.”

#KOKONE #chapter5 #trial5 #submission

[starshipsofstarlord]

The Baby Factor

Summary: You want a baby, but there are multiple things that can get in the way of a decision like that. The lack of a sperm donor, men, friends, secrets. (This is Part One of a new series so there will be more parts, no need to enquire about it).

Fandom: Marvel (MCU/AU)

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader, Eros x Female Reader, mentions of Peggy x Steve x Sharon (and possibly more pairings later in the series!)

Warnings: mentions of sex, talk of having a baby, the word sperm (since sperm donors and stuff duh), blackmail, fake dating, real dating, mentions of secrets, alcohol consumption, brief talk of violence, talk of breakups and long distance relationships, fluff, awkward and cute Bucky (he is a warning!), lady killer Eros, flirting, lying

Word Count: 3316 (I haven’t wrote anything this long in ages)

Masterlist Link

Necessarily you didn't know Bucky Barnes too well, he was just the batch of beef that followed your friend Steve Rogers everywhere since they reunited. Delicious, jaw dropping, stunning beef may I add to the description. He wasn't doing much with his life, he was just idly getting by and had just finished therapy, Nat had even dragged you to the small party in concur of the celebration since he didn't have many other friends. The two of you were alike in that department, both new to the group of brilliant minded and humorous people. Though there was one thing that was not obvious for any of them to expect from simply looking at you; you wanted a baby. Just to be a mother to a child you had birthed was the dream, no longer did you think about happy families, a family did not need two partners. All that was crucial was for somebody to get you pregnant, the good old fashioned way was preferred as it would be scarcely cheaper and you prayed for the process to be less time consuming. The problem? You still had yet to have decided on a sperm donor, not to mention that it was a strange thing to outright ask somebody.

You were in your thirties, and every minute that was gong past meant less time you were able to conceive a child. Sure it was a healthy age, but after this decade of your life was over, the less chance there would be. The entire circumstance was ravenously driving you mad, Tony had offered to give you the money to get inseminated in the sperm bank, however if that was the route that you wanted to go down, then you'd rather have summed up the money yourself, rather than feel indebted for getting pregnant. Only two people knew of your plan - Tony and Nat, and it would stay that way until you finally asked someone the question that you were dying to ask someone. The one thing through your journey so far that you had realised was that you wanted to know the father of your child, see his mindset, his appearance, know about his own history so you could we how each detail of him conjoined into the child's form and made them who they were. It wasn't an easy favour to ask someone however, you still had to dictate your choice which would be unfathomably hard; not everyone wanted a child, or to know they had one, and then there was the endurance of actually getting pregnant which when you were trying was known to be more difficult than some drunken one night stand where you'd end up knocked up nevertheless.

Steve came to accompany you at your side, there was a glass of water in his hand, and he reached out to put it in your own grasp. "You look deep in thought over here kid, thought I'd just check in." He always called you kid, you weren't sure why when you were only a couple years younger than him but you never paid it much attention. After all this time knowing him, it was normal. In college it had just been you, Nat, Steve, Tony, Bruce and Thor, and now the lot of you were all grown up, getting your lives together and starting your futures that would stick with you for the rest of your lives. Some people made no attentive differences in their lifestyles, surviving on minimum wage and cheap beer was how most got by, except for Tony of course, but you had made a significant decision. You knew what you wanted, and though you weren't keen on waiting any longer it was the easiest and most sensible thing that you could do. Taking a sip out of the glass, you were joyous to discover that it was really only water than vodka, both were clear and see through, as was your posture in the corner to your blond friend. Nodding when you finished you gulp, your nails tapped on the glass, creating back ground noise to your overly loud thoughts.

"If Sharon was here she'd scratch your eyes out for so much as talking to me." Ah yes Sharon Carter, his crazy and possessive girlfriend. You'd always preferred Steve with her cousins Peggy, he had met her on a college transfer to England, she had even stayed in Brooklyn for a while but the distance split them apart, and missing each other every second of every day just wasn't fair for them. And then in the midst of their breakup he had spent much time alone until Sharon came into the picture, he could do so much better, but he had fallen under her cynical spell and there was no saving him nor avenging his freedom. Steve laughed lightly and rolled his eyes at your naivety, putting a large and warm hand atop of your shoulder; it was always a lovely sound to hear, it was better than serious Steve that gave lectures i the gymnasium of schools when he filled in for Fury the teacher. "Y/n..." he had you on a hook as you awaited for him to finish speaking, raising your brow. A smile was on his face, one that you hadn't seen in a long time, and it all made sense as he finished speaking. "We broke up. Albeit she was cheating on me with Brock, she's living with him now, that said Sam and Buck are beyond pleased, I'd say they're happier than me. They hated her."

"I think we all did." You laughed simultaneously with him, until the sound of footsteps captured your attention. They were heavy and paced, and as you looked up you had to stop your jaw from dropping, it was the man of the hour, James Buchanan Barnes himself. He smiled shyly at you, there was a glass bottle in his hand, the metal one, and Steve could only pull his friend closer. "What're we talking about?" Bucky asked, and you found confidence in yourself to answer in place of Steve. "Sharon." You stated simply, and instantly a grimace covered his features causing you and Steven Grant Rogers to burst out in laughter again. It wasn't so hard to speak to him, but this was normal conversation, which you could have with any guy. Why was asking someone, whoever your choice may be, to have impregnate you without having to be tied down with a parental role, so hard? Bucky shook his head at you, clicking his tongue lightly before downing the rest of his beer. "Steve do you, um-" Steve surrendered his hands high as he patted his comrade on the shoulder before walking away, leaving the two of you alone.

"Hi." It was now just you and Bucky, he was the first to speak, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip a little as he adjusted his weight from foot to foot a few times. "Hey." You responded softly in return, a smile stretched along your face as the pair of you openly gazed into the others eyes. There was definitely mutual attraction, you thought. Bucky didn't just stare at any women, in fact he often avoided women due to them having hurt him a lot in the past, sometimes he'd peruse through the bars but he'd never stick to his desire to take anyone home, he was stuck in his old ways of distancing himself by avoiding anything that could so much as scathe his feelings. "I've, um, wanted to speak to you one on one for a while, we haven't really had much chance to get to know each other." At that you could feel your heart racing phonemically in your chest, rattling inside of the cage of your chest, the sound reverberating in your ears like thunder coursing through each individual blood vessel. "Steve said to me that you've been single for a while, and I have too, and so, I was uh wondering if you'd maybe, I don't know, want to go on a date with me?" His fingers scratched at his scruff, exhibiting that he was feeling slightly nervous as he awaited for your answer. You'd have loved to have said yes but given your circumstances it'd have been rather strange, however you couldn't turn him down, his baby blue eyes were practically begging you to agree to go out with him.

"I'd love to." There was so much you wanted to know about him, more than what Steve had told you, or the snarky remarks that Sam would pry him with now and again. A goofy smile wandered onto his lips as he breathed out a large breath, he surrendered to the notion of his nerves fading away. "You can get my number off the group chat, right? I mean so long as you don't put our plans on there otherwise Stark may pay our bill and have a secret army following us. And trust me he would, he's crashed plenty of my dates in the past, and Thor always accompanies him which doesn't exactly make their dream team inconspicuous." He laughed as he scratched the back of his neck; he knew exactly where he was going to take you, Coney Island, he and Steve always went as kids, he loved it there and whilst the option may have not been some perfect dinner date, he was aware that you always liked to occupy yourself with something, he was certain you had a self project in the works right in the moment, and he wouldn't ask what it was in order to respect your privacy, but he could not help but be intrigued by the mystery of your thoughts.

The rest of the night went by without an issue, smoothly. Nat went home with you and you both sat in your room, changed out of your casual dresses into pyjamas that brought a sleepiness to your state of which the alcohol probably didn't help with that. She now thought you were mad, but had made a prime suggestion to which you weren't completely opposed to. "If you want a sperm donor why don't you just ask Barnes?" You weren't overly certain if the redhead was being overly serious or not, but it made you think a lot about that scenario. He was possibly an option, though as you sat in your room mulling over the idea, your roommate Eros without disdain wandered into your private space, causing you to roll your eyes. Your mind swapped from Bucky and the date that the two of you would be going on soon to the red headed narcissist who had no respect for privacy, he was a gentleman like Bucky was, however their perspectives were far different, as were their personalities. The two of you got along most of the time, sometimes things such as his current intrusion was one thing that diverted that however. "Hey pretty girl, I was hoping I could pick your brain with a favour..." Nat raised his brow, she had never met him before, he shot her a wink before returning his attention back to you, taking a couple of steps closer. "I mean if this is a bad time I could always ask you later, but I'm kind of running out of time, so could I pinch you for a second?"

"Anything you want to say you can say in front of my friend, whatever crap it is I'll probably tell her afterwards anyway." Curtly he nodded. You were spouting the truth anyways, she already knew of the unison of time that you'd be spending with Bucky alone, which in foresight was why she had mentioned him being your donor. Though you wouldn't rush into anything, if any man didn't want to, then they didn't have to stick around as a father, that was not their duty. To be a mother would be a lifelong miracle that you wanted now! If any suitor of yours had a problem with you wanting a child, it firstly did not have to be with them, and secondly, they could always find someone else that did not have intentions to get pregnant. Eros took it upon himself via your instructions to continue speaking, after living with him for a few months you'd found him to be quite chatty, he was one that liked conversation. You liked that, it made you feel less lonely within the walls that you lived. "My brother Thanos is coming into town, and I may or may not have said that I have a girlfriend. And I need you to pretend to be said person, please." He was desperate for you to agree to his terms and conditions, though from what he had already spoke Natasha could not hold it in to remark her pure mindset. He took a couple of courageous steps forward, getting a better perspective of the frown that framed your features; you were already reacting better than he had expected though he knew that soon there was the possibility of that changing with the more that he talked.

"Does your entire family have weird names or are you guys aliens or something?" Natasha snorted out of the opposer of courteously, Eros rolled his eyes at your friend, you had enquired about a similar question when the pair of you had first met. He remembered the event in the timeline like yesterday, he was surprised to see such a beautiful specimen in the place that he would be paying to stay in each month as rent was a demand, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't try his luck with you, but you denied all of his trials and errors since you claimed that you wanted to live under normal circumstances with your flatmate rather than sexual ones. And with that said tension between the pair of you remained, though his favourite evenings were spent whilst the pair of you watched television, rom coms on Netflix specifically, where the duet of you and him would be sat on the small couch. Sometimes you fell asleep, with your head resting comfortably one his shoulder, and Eros dared not move a muscle, scared that if he did the solace that he was experiencing for a limited amount of time would end shortly. "And why should I do this roomie? I'm sure you have no problem getting girls, you practically get room service for them each night, so why not use one of them? I'm sure you could settle on rather acceptable payment that you'd enjoy also for them, however I'm not like them, we have very large difference, I'm not interested in you like that." You enquired suitably, crossing your arms to eventuate how unimpressed you really were with the damage that he had already done.

"Because... I may or may not have said that I'm already dating you; the descriptions were rather on point, and I said that we're living together which is not a lie. And I also sent him that video of you being high in our bathroom, so I guess I could say that I won't release that to anyone else?" Was he really blackmailing you right now? It was in a very Eros fashion, it wasn't anything particularly serious at least you wouldn't say so, however you didn't want that video getting out to anyone, your reputation would crumble to decimal pieces - it was private, and caused you to dramatically sigh, again when Natasha decided to pipe up and remind you that she was there also. "Now that I would pay to see." Nat said in reference in the video, her emerald eyes were flickering back and forth between you and your roommate, the chemistry between the pair of you was undeniable. It made her smile to herself, you were so oblivious to the connection, all the redhead wanted was for you to be happy. Though the way to be was for you to have a child rather than take up a lover, and that was okay, she just hoped that you found your solace soon without any more distractions ruining your private schemes.

"Well nobody is going to see it, because I guess I'm going to have to accept your offer Eros, and you better stay true to your word, otherwise we're going to have a rather huge problem here." Your brow quirked up at him, a dimple pronounced smile playing on his cheeks as he nodded at you, staring at you with his green eyes a moment longer, before evacuating your room, allowing you to regain your privacy. He even shut the door, his manners were already uplifting since he had done the reverse to gain your attention. Gulping you ogled at the ground for a second, Nat found a strangeness obliterating your gaze and thus the woman snapped her fingers. "What's really on that video y/n?" She didn't know Eros, in fact it was the first time that she had even seen him in person, occasionally his face would pop up on suggested friends on Facebook, but she'd never in person interacted with the man, and she wasn't sure if she liked him or not. The blackmail was something that she couldn't quite make up an opinion on, she would have to stick around a bit longer if she intended to do that. "There is a video of me getting high in the bathroom, but I know he's not referencing that one... There's another, and I know he wouldn't actually send it to anyone, not even Thanos who doesn't know me, but that's a risk that I can't take." Your chin dropped as you brushed the hair out of your face, your fists clenching tightly by your sides; there were things that Eros knew that others didn't have the privilege to, and if a single soul uncovered your secret, especially Bucky, everything would be ruined. You weren't sure anybody would trust you again.

Even if you divulged the truth to Nat, she would never look at you the same - everything would be a grand mess, you may as well burn the world down and start over, because you'd lose everything. "Then I'll help you, and make this lie believable. I may not know what this thing that you want to hide is, but I'm your best friend, and I will do anything that means that you are protected." All that you could do was pull your old friend into a sensual hug, this was why you appreciated her, she was one of the most loyal people that you'd ever had the chance of knowing. So now you were to go on a date with the Bucky Barnes that was weaving his way around your social circle, and allegedly dating Eros your roommate. Everything was occurring at once, simultaneously making your life more complex than it already was, hence why you wanted a child rather than a partner. It was someone to protect instead of be protected by, because every man or woman that had tried to keep you safe always got hurt, your legacy wasn't to live on through memories, instead it'd have been through a creation of your own, someone that you'd love forever no matter the mistakes that they made in the journey of survival. The world was vastly cruel, yet it was within your every intention to bring some reason to continue living in it to your life. Even the thought of having a child made your heart flutter as though a thousand leaves had been raised off the ground but the autumnal wind, and that was how you knew that was the right path for you to take, all you needed was for someone to help you paint that picture, and you had yet to discover who that person was to be.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x reader fluff #Eros x reader #harry styles x reader #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes smut #marvel x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #avengers x reader #imagines #imagine #xreader #bucky barnes #sebastian stan #marvel #Eros imagine #shy! bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader smut

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine being Azula’s friend but secretly dating Zuko behind her back

One of the first things you and Azula bonded over was your annoying brothers. Azula told you how her brother had stolen one of her best friends away from her and you related to that. Your twin brother was none other than Sokka of the water tribe, who was also very popular with women. Most of the women you knew liked him, from Yue to Toph to Suki to Ty lee! It sometimes felt like you were the second attraction in a friendship and so you and Azula quickly became close over your shared frustrations.

Then....you betrayed her.

Well, betrayal is a bit dramatic but maybe not given how upset she'd been when Mai and Zuko started dating. You knew that had been hard for Azula to process.  How difficult it had been wondering if her friends really liked her or just wanted access to her brother. So when you started liking Zuko you didn’t plan on acting on it at all. Then Mai broke up with him. 

Zuko was around at yours quite often, whenever he visited the water tribe he stayed in your home and when you visited the fire nation he extended the same hospitality. So throughout the years, you just naturally got closer and closer until....it happened. You started hanging out just the two of you and these occasions felt very date-like until Zuko just outright asked you out. You liked him and told yourself one date was fine, what harm could a single date do? But then as you kept seeing each other and one date soon progressed into many many more you knew your time to do the right thing and tell Azula you were dating her brother was approaching. 

However the idea of doing that idea terrified you. You guessed Azula wouldn’t take it well and didn’t want to lose your friendship with her because of your relationship with Zuko. You wouldn’t break up with Zuko just to make her happy but you also didn’t want to lose Azula’s friendship, so when Katara’s birthday arose you were fairly nervous. There was going to be a large party and all of Katara’s friends were coming...which included Zuko and Azula. You hadn’t been together with everyone since you and Zuko started dating so you had no idea how it would feel. The whole time you and Zuko would have to convincingly act like you weren’t a couple and not make anyone at the party suspicious of the two of you. So when Zuko’s ship got in you fixed your eyes on Azula and tried not to stare at him any more than usual. You greeted him formally and didn’t admire him as you usually would. You fell in step with Azula and decided just to focus on her. It wasn’t hard, you were best friends and very close...however fate was not on your side. You got seated across from him at dinner which felt like some sick punishment and struggled not to get lulled into conversation with him. It didn’t help that Zuko was in a playful mood. He kept making comments about the things you’d done on your date and then sending you sly looks across the table. When you met his eye he smirked blatantly and you lightly kicked him under the table. That only made Zuko chuckled and look adorable so you sighed and decided to just keep your eyes down the whole time to survive dinner. 

However, Zuko had no intention of stopping his teasing. After dinner you set about preparing the party for Katara tomorrow and having sent Sokka, Aang, Suki, Azula and Toph on their assigned jobs turned to your job of decorating. You were hanging streamers in the living room when you felt a hand curl around your waist. “Need some help there?” Zuko asked moving closer and he leaned up over you to hang it. “I could have done that myself” you smiled turning to face him and Zuko shrugged “I know you could’ve, but then I wouldn’t have been able to do this”. Zuko gently kissed your neck trailing down to your collar bone making you sigh. “Zuko...stop” you said faint heartedly and Zuko sensed that smirking "I don’t want to and you don’t want me to either, I can tell by how softly you said my name" he smiled "it’s been so long since we’ve had any time together". Your skin erupted in goosebumps and a shiver went down your spine as Zuko pressed closer against you. But you knew how badly this could end if literally anyone walked in. So swiftly you grabbed Zuko’s hands and twisted your way out of them. You held them tightly in one hand so he couldn’t try and slink around you again and used the other to make him look at you "Zuko we can’t okay, not on this trip. God knows i want to, i’ve missed you too but there’s too much that could go wrong i’m sorry". Zuko sighed but nodded his head "don’t worry i understand". Zuko’s shoulders sagged and you knew your insistance on keeping this quiet was difficult for him. "Thank you for understanding" you said hugging him quickly "i know it can’t be easy for you and I appreciate the effort you're going to for me". Zuko smiled resting his head on top of yours "it’s fine, i’d do a lot more for you if you asked but promise me it won’t always be like this....we will tell everyone soon?". You gulped but nodded pulling away "i promise, i will tell Azula...soon!". Zuko nodded “I believe you” and let his hands drop away from you. Not a moment later Sokka and Aang appeared in the room making the two of you jump. “Zuko just the man we need! We were thinking of making an ice sculpture, fancy some fire bending?”. Zuko nodded “sure” and with a last glance to you left the room. 

Hours later the party preparations finished you returned to your room which you were sharing with Azula for her visit. “Sokka made me blow up balloons” she said angrily “something about fire benders being full of hot air”. You smirked at your brother’s nerve when Azula’s next sentence wiped it off your face.  "Also I think Zuko’s dating someone again" Azula said softly and you paused. "Ow really?" you asked and she nodded "he’s been spending a suspicious amount of time in the southern water tribe lately. Lots of visits which he claims are diplomatic but I can’t work out what he actually does here! He doesn’t know that many people and so it got me thinking, y/n do you think your brother and mine....". "No Sokka's still with Suki" you said shaking your head. Azula sighed “and it’s obviously not Katara, she and Aang are basically married, have you seen him hanging around anyone else? He doesn’t know many people so it should be easy to spot". You paused pretending to think but were really just trying to buy yourself time. "Honestly i don’t pay much attention to him when he visits" you said cleverly covering your back "but i will from now on and let you know". "Thank you y/n" Azula smiled. You smiled back relieved Azula didn’t suspect anything and let out a large breath you’d been holding for this entire conversation. You were now more than ready for sleep and got into bed hurriedly. You laid your head on your pillow and closed your eyes utterly exhausted. 

"Goodnight y/n" Azula called and you nodded. You were very sleepy and after a long yawn smiled "good night Zuko".

You realised the name you’d said seconds after it came out of your mouth. 

You froze

As did azula.

"Did you just call me Zuko...". You blinked "did i? I’m sure i said Azula". Azula was quiet for 2 seconds before she shot up "it’s you!" she cried "you're the one my brother’s dating!". "No Azula that’s crazy!!! We'd just been discussing Zuko, that’s why he was on my mind!". Azula shook her head "you're lying! I can tell by the tone of your voice! You’re the new girlfriend aren’t you?". You sighed "Azula i’m sorry i was going to tell you...". "I can’t believe you" Azula yelled and suddenly the door opened. "What’s wrong?" Sokka and Zuko asked bursting in “we heard yelling” and Azula glared. "You! Couldn't just have Mai huh? Had to take another one of my friends? How about when you’re done with y/n you try things with Ty lee?". "Ow she told you...." Zuko frowned awkwardly. "No i worked it out!” Azula spat “Y/n accidentally uttered your name because she’s so lovesick" Azula cried "you both make me sick" and she strode away slamming the front door hard as she exited the house.

After Azula left you all looked at one another unsure what to do or say next. "So...you two are a thing?" Sokka asked and Zuko paused "yes...is your reaction going to be as bad as Azula’s or can i go deal with her?". Sokka shook his head "go deal with her before she burns the village down”. Zuko went to move past Sokka when your brother put a hand to his chest "but come back and see me after, me and Katara will want to talk to you about dating our sister". Zuko surprisingly looked intimidated and nodded "I'll be right back". "Zuko wait i should come too" you called "this is as much my fault as yours". Zuko nodded "let’s go" and led you outside into the cold night after Azula.

You found Azula trekking in the snow and as she wasn’t in proper shoes you gained on her quickly. “Azula!” you called and she jumped. She looked around and glared “ow look the happy couple, how nice of you to grace me with your presence”. Zuko rolled his eyes “only you’d be so attention-seeking to make this about you”. “Attention seeking? Who’s the person who can’t form his own friendships or respect boundaries? No always have to date my friends, is it some weird way for you to gain power over me? A sad way to boost your ego?”. As Zuko and Azula went to square up to each other you stepped between them. “Alright enough the both of you! Zuko please go back to the house, i’ll handle this”. “But she...”. “Zuko please” you said sharply and he nodded “fine” and with a glare left. You watched him go before turning back to Azula. You’d been about to suggest you go home given that Azula was surely freezing out here in the middle of the night but Azula broke into a rant. "Everyone leaves me for him" she cried "Mai! My uncle! Mother! Even my father...after i was smarter, a better fire bender, more loyal and younger he still gave Zuko every little chance and only crowned me after Zuko literally ran away! When will i be good enough people don’t just choose him without a second thought for me?". "Azula i didn’t choose Zuko over you! Just because i like Zuko doesn’t mean i don’t like you still". "That may be true but this changes our friendship completely, it did with Mai! People always prioritise their partners over their friends so i’ll be second best once again". "Are you kidding?" you asked "Azula now i need you more than ever! Relationships aren’t when you ditch your friends, they’re when you need them the most! Who else are you going to go to for a break or a nice getaway? Who else is going to support and love you in only the platonic way a friend can? Who else can i complain about Zuko to when he annoys me or we fight?" you asked "they’re all things you need your friends for! Desperately and that’s going to be the same for me". "But when Mai dated him...". "But i’m not Mai" you smiled softly "Azula we are good friends, i won’t sideline you because of this. You mean just as much to me now as before i started dating Zuko". Azula huffed but you could see her melting. "So...how about we go inside, get some warm milk and talk a bit more about this huh?". You offered Azula your hand and she took it but she didn’t stop there. Azula threw her arms around you and hugged you tightly. "I’m partly doing this for the cold but thank you" she said softly "nobodies ever tried to make me feel supported when they've chosen Zuko, they just tell me to deal with it but you’re the first to try and reassure me and so i know you mean it, to still be my friend". "Of course" you smiled "you're my best friend!". Azula smiled and linked her arm through yours "i like that!”. 

Zuko stared in awe as you and Azula returned grinning. "How did it go is everything okay?". You nodded "your extremely cool sister is fine with it". "Yes i thought this would be a great way to have an inside scoop on you zuzu". "She’s kidding i won’t talk to her about you...a lot". Zuko blinked "okay if everything's okay then i should go speak to Sokka and Katara, they’re waiting for me in the kitchen". Azula smiled "that’s a good idea, when you come back zuzu find me, i have some threats about what will happen if you hurt my best friend". You smiled at Azula and stepped to Zuko "good luck but don’t worry Sokka’s all bite, Katara’s the one to look out for but she has a big heart, just tell her how good a time we’ve had and you’ll be fine". "Good tips, any for my sister?". You smiled "Azula is one i have not worked out yet" you grinned "but i’m sure you’ll manage, you are the firelord after all". Zuko smirked and you patted his shoulder "after your appointment with my brother and sister and then your sister....you could always come find me in your room?". Zuko smiled "is that my motivation for surviving this?". You shrugged "you can think of it as that" and stepped away from him. Zuko watched you before sighing "alright let’s get this over with” he said loudly and strode towards the kitchen.

You turned back to Azula who raised an eyebrow at Zuko’s sudden confidence and she frowned. "Do i even want to know?" Azula asked and you shook your head "no". “Ow and don’t worry if I’m not in our room tonight”. “Euch Y/n!” Azula cried and you shrugged “what? I didn’t say why”. “I know why” she sighed before she smiled “at least I can have your bigger bed”. “Be my guest” you smiled, you had a firelord to get reacquainted with. 

#zuko #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #azula imagine #azula #azula x reader #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender imagine #atla zuko #avatar zuko #atla azula #avatar azula #fire nation #water tribe #firelord zuko #princess azula #fire nation royalty #azula and zuko #sokka #katara #aang #toph #suki #mai #ty lee #yue

[helpimhyperfixating]

Captive Together - Mer! Jotaro x Mer! Reader P4 (End)

My, what a journey this has been. I cannot understate how blown away I am to see all the love this series has gotten. So, thank you all. Truly. This may be the end of this oneshot (fucking long one) but it is not the end of Mer! Joot cause I can never have enough fish man and will continue to write, hehehehe. Now, without further ado, enjoy fish fuckery for the last time :3

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4

Word Count: 16705

While you thought nothing would be able to wake you from your exhausted sleep, a single click was all it took.

Both you and Jotaro shot awake at the same time, your eyes snapping open simultaneously and you crossed eyes for a second, a little confused, as the suddenness of being abruptly awoken from a deep sleep caused your mind to be hazy. 

Said haziness was quickly driven out however, when a young voice hissed, warning something to ‘back off!’

Jotaro’s eyes opened in shock as he immediately recognised it, meanwhile you felt your heart drop, realising that, no, the humans had not been lying.

Bolting into action, you both raced the twenty meters to the surface, Jotaro shooting out and grabbing onto the edge of the tank, pulling himself up as he looked into the room, only for his eyes to immediately land on two familiar forms stuck in the arms of humans.

“Josuke!! Okuyasu!” He shouted and both pups snapped their heads to the familiar voice, Josuke’s large puppy eyes tearing up a little as he saw the familiar face of - who he saw as - his big brother. 

“Jotaro!” They cried out almost in sync, squirming even harder in the arms of the scientists now, trying to get towards the larger merman. 

The scientists cursed to themselves, trying to keep a firm hold on the pups as their size, paired with the slipperiness (despite being wrapped up in towels) caused them to nearly drop them.

Jotaro’s chest rose up and down and you looked at him in surprise before it turned to horror, realising that the exact same pups you were trying to project that got you here, were from Jotaro’s pod, and had now been captured and brought to this godforsaken place.

Your mind raced and, with a quick plan that you maybe should think out more, you leaned onto the glass same way as Jotaro was, getting the attention of the pups.

“Okuyasu, Josuke! Pretend to be really sleepy!”

Their attention turned to you, recognising you a second later as their eyes widened. “Lady!” Okuyasu was the one to pipe up now but there was no time.

“Yes, it’s me, just play as if you’re really tired! Do it now!” 

The urgency in your voice made them obey and Josuke started acting really sluggish while Okuyasu just outright pretended to be asleep.

It was not the best but it would have to do. “Science human!” You switched to English, getting the attention of the two guys who were holding the pups as well as the two people overseeing the transfer of them into the small tank on the other side of the room.

Jotaro looked sideways at you, wondering what you were up to, and saw you make a subtle motion, tapping the side of your tail in a slow rhythm. Understanding, Jotaro started making low click noises. They echoed through the room in a steady beat, Jotaro releasing one every other second.

“How long they have no pod?” You called out frantically, playing up your panic and bad English.

“What do you mean?” The head scientists asked you, narrowing his eyes a bit.

“Pups die with no pod! How long?”

“Why is he making those noises?” He pointed to Jotaro, making the merman growl a bit which caused the man to quickly retract his finger.

“To let pups know we’re here. Too long with no adults make them sick and die.”

This caused the scientists to give pause, the one holding Okuyasu having been trying to get him to wake up and move, shaking him a bit, but - to his credit - Okuyasu was doing very well at pretending to be knocked out cold.

“Are they yours?”

“That does not matter!” You called out, undignified. And in this case you meant it. How can humans even be so simple minded that when they see a young in need that it would have to matter who’s it is before you help them. “Please.” You pleaded and the head scientists looked between you and Jotaro, to the two young Mer.

It was a little weird that the two who had been struggling and squirming the entire way up were all of a sudden so slow. But the threat of losing the two - what did you call them? Pups? - was something he couldn’t risk, one of them already seemingly passed out if not dead.

“Alright, get them into the big tank.” The head scientist ordered and the others nodded, starting to carry them over.

Both you and Jotaro backed away from the glass, knowing it would calm the humans more if you weren’t close; especially Jotaro, who had only ever displayed aggressiveness towards them.

Jotaro dove under and watched from there while you stayed on the surface, watching with big and worried eyes.

They first lowered Okuyasu down, seeing as he seemed to be in the worst condition. The one carrying him leaned over the edge of the tank, warily looking at the form of Jotaro who was a few meters below the surface, watching, but the merman stayed put, giving the scientist some reassurance.

Holding out your arms, the man placed Okuyasu down, half in your arms, half in the water, pulling away the towel when he figured the pup was lowered enough into the water.

“Play dead for a little bit longer.” You quietly whispered to Okuyasu, just looking like you were letting him know you were there to the humans. Okuyasu however, took that as a sign to ‘play dead’ instead of pretending to sleep like he had been, his tongue now lolling out of his mouth as he splayed his arms out and let them drift in the water.

“Miss.” Josuke whimpered from above, still stuck in the arms of the scientist.

“It’s okay, they’re gonna lower you now, okay?” You tried to reassure him, sending him a small smile. “Jotaro is waiting just below.”

Josuke nodded, truly scared now that he didn’t even have his friend with him anymore. His little arms were outstretched as if he were waiting for you to pick him up.

Your eyes trailed up from him and you locked eyes with the head scientist. Something in you told you that he was doubting everything that was happening and you decided that enough was enough. 

“Okuyasu, swim down. Now!” It was like he got shocked awake in your arms, immediately flailing his tail and rushing deeper into the water. 

Simultaneously, you launched yourself up. 

Because the scientists were so close to the tank, you had a perfect angle to grab onto Josuke. 

He immediately wrapped his arms around your neck while you tightly hugged him to your chest, allowing gravity to pull you back down and rip Josuke out of the scientists arms. 

The towel he was wrapped in got pulled along and two of the others tried to jump forward and grab Josuke back almost on instinct but they didn’t get a chance to as Jotaro breached, throwing up a massive amount of water as he did, one claw swiping at their outstretched arms trying to grab you and Josuke while the other tightly grab hold of you, pushing you down into the deep with him.

You both quickly swam down to the bottom, Jotaro having picked up Okuyasu along the way since he was still making his way down, and you both slid down onto the floor, puffing up a tiny sand cloud.

Josuke peeled himself off of you, his eyes even glassier than normal before he turned around to face Jotaro, zipping out of your arms and slamming into the large Mer, Okuyasu copying his friend on Jotaro’s other side, both pups now cuddled into his chest.

“We knew you weren’t dead!” He shouted out while Jotaro just sat with his arms splayed out a little, looking uncomfortable as he looked down at the tiny creatures compared to him latched onto his chest.

You stifled a giggle and scooted closer, taking hold of Jotaro’s hands, making him look questionably at you before you pushed them in such a way until he had his hands placed on their backs, sort of yet sort of not hugging them back.

Jotaro glared at you as they snuggled further into him but you just laughed softly, earning the attention of both the pups. 

Okuyasu was the first to break free from Jotaro and swam over to you, happily latching onto you as if he had known you all his life.

“Oh!” You exclaimed a little in surprise, not having expected that, but you wrapped your arms around him all the same. Josuke let go of Jotaro as well and swam the half a meter over to you, a bit more reserved as he stopped in front of you. “You both did really well, pretending to be sleepy and playing dead!” You encouraged and the both of them started beaming, Okuyasu pushing himself up with his arms and grinning widely.

“We totally fooled those humans, right?” He asked and you laughed.

“Totally.”

“Thank you...?” Josuke spoke while Jotaro got closer, loosely wrapping the end half of his tail around your sitting form and placing a hand on Josuke’s back.

You realised that Josuke didn’t even know your name. “I didn’t even get to give you my name last time we met, did I?” You asked and the both of them shook their heads no. “I think proper introductions are in order then!” You gently pushed Okuyasu away from you a bit before putting your hands on your hips. “Hi, I’m Y/N.” You smiled. 

“I’m Okuyasu!” Said boy shouted loudly, the enthusiasm in his gritty voice giving him such a charm that you couldn’t help but smile wide. You bowed your head a bit in a formal greeting as if you were meeting a high standing Mer before turning to Josuke, who had simply been watching but now jolted a little since he realised he had to introduce himself as well.

He was quick to puff out his chest though, giving a confident grin. “Hi! I’m Josuke, Jotaro’s uncle!” He seemed to be really proud of it while Jotaro sighed loudly behind him, rolling his eyes. 

It was already quite clear to you that Josuke loved flaunting that fact, as if his ‘higher’ family tree status over the older Mer made him automatically just a strong if not stronger. Yet still you couldn’t help but ask. “Uncle?”

“Grandfather dalliance.” Jotaro simply explained and you ‘ooh’ed.

“Da-watte?” Josuke asked but Jotaro grunted out a ‘Don’t worry about it.’

“How did you two get here?” The merman was quick to get to the point as the two young Mer drifted down to sit on the sand just as you and Jotaro were, your tail and Jotaro’s now forming a circle around yourselves, with Josuke leaning against his and Okuyasu leaning against yours.

“We were trying to find you...” Josuke picked at his hands as he muttered that, both their heads bowed down in shame already.

“Gimme a break...” Jotaro sighed. “Why would you do that?”

“Because everyone said to leave it but we knew you couldn’t be dead!”

“When they say ‘leave it’ it means it’s too dangerous to continue. It didn’t mean they thought I was dead.” Jotaro explained yet you were surprised by the gentleness of it. He clearly had experience dealing with pups even if he might not like it. “What happened after?”

“Well... we-“

“We went to where Y/N was taken away!” Okuyasu interrupted with a shout but quickly slapped his hands over his mouth. 

“Why?” You spoke up for the first time and the both of them looked up at you guiltily.

“We thought the boat that took you maybe took Jotaro as well.” He pouted and you huffed good naturedly. “Wait!” Josuke suddenly shot up, startling you a bit.

Without warning he pushed you down by your shoulders, with you not expecting it making it easy for him to do so.

“Ack-!” You let out a surprised noise as you folded backwards over Jotaro’s tail - which he didn’t bother removing - your arms falling gently down into the sand behind you.

“What.” You blinked a few times, until you felt small hands pushing on your stomach, making you lift your head to see what the heck Josuke was doing.

Said pup was hovering sideways, looking intently at your left side with a surprised yet happy look. “You healed!” He happily chirped and you let out a confused laugh.

“Yeah?” 

“Ohhhh, you’re right.” Okuyasu piped up, having drifted over as well, now poking at the scar that marred your stomach and side.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Jotaro shoo’ed them both away, getting their hands off your stomach before he lifted you back into a sitting position with his tail. 

“What’s that?” Josuke suddenly asked as he grabbed Jotaro’s wrist, inspecting the shackle that sat on his wrist. The pup experimentally poked at the metal, Okuyasu just looking at it in slight wary awe.

“Something not nice.” Jotaro simply shooed the pup off his arm. “Go play, we need to talk.” He waved the two away but they only swam a little bit before stopping and turning.

“Where?”

“There’s a ruin there. Don’t get crushed.” Jotaro pointed to the destroyed skull in the corner ten meters ahead of him, not seeming to care it might be dangerous.

Josuke and Okuyasu perked up and Josuke dragged his friend along, happily chittering the entire way.

“Soo...” 

“They were the pups you were trying to protect? Really? We got caught for the same thing and didn’t realise?” Jotaro started and you shrugged. 

“I didn’t think they were your uncle and his friend!” Jotaro grunted, having to give you the benefit of the doubt there.

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose before looking past your shoulder to the pups now curiously looking at the pile of rocks; Josuke trying to see if he could stick his arms between the cracks and find something cool, while Okuyasu was trying to find the biggest rock he could try and lift, currently struggling with one the size of his head.

“I should have realised.”

“Well, it didn’t matter at that moment really. Besides, we were too busy trying to get out?” You tried but Jotaro sent you a sideways glare.

“Don’t use my own words against me.” He deadpanned.

“Sorry, sorry.” You chuckled before looking up the tank. “You think they realised I lied?”

“After you jumped up and grabbed Josuke when they were already suspicious? Yes.” Jotaro scoffed before turning a bit more serious, looking at you. “They’ll most likely try to get them back.” 

“We won’t let them.”

- - - -

The tank was a lot livelier now that there were two hyperactive pups inside. They never seemed to find a moment to sit still; racing each other, play fighting, pulling your tail to see if they were strong enough to drag you (they had unfortunately dragged your face through the sand with that one), or asking if they could play with the balls at the top.

That last one was because you and Jotaro had explicitly stated that they could not go to the surface without either Jotaro or you. Which, of course, meant that you were usually the one dragged up, since Jotaro detested going up there. 

Right now, you, Josuke and Okuyasu were eating, Jotaro just sitting to the side with his eyes closed. 

Previous experience with the food led to you and Jotaro putting in a system. One would eat, the other wouldn’t. Next time, roles reverse. That way, should the food have been tampered with again, at least one will be awake to defend the other and the pups from being taken.

After eating your fill, you suddenly got an idea. Lazily, you swam over to the collapsed-and-buried-under-rocks skull. Starting to dig through, lifting rocks and placing them back down, peering between cracks, you began searching.

After a bit, you were tail-deep into it, reaching far in and shoving a piece of the skull aside before your hand finally touched what you were searching for.

“Aha!” 

A sudden poke on your tail scared you shitless and you jolted, bumping your head into the rocks beside you. “Ow!” Your shout came out muffled from between the rocks, making Jotaro raise his eyebrow in amusement after he had been watching just your tail flail back and forth for about ten minutes, sticking out from the rocks.

“What are you doing that makes you leave me to take care of these annoying brats by myself?” 

You wiggled for a bit and popped out of the hole you had created, looking at Jotaro before leaning down and grabbing a smaller rock out of it that had been bothering you. “Hey, they’re from your pod.” You chuckled but Jotaro just scoffed.

“They’re from yours now too.” He spoke with his arms crossed, pointedly looking at you and simply watching as you dropped the rock, the thing sinking down and slowly clattering off the mountain of rocks the two of you were sitting on top of. 

Your jaw was slack and Jotaro leaned forward, leaning his weight on top of the rocks on one arm while using the other to push your chin up, closing your mouth while he sported a small smirk. 

“R-Really?” Your voice was barely over a whisper as you spoke in disbelief, and Jotaro huffed in amusement, that smirk still on his face.

“Of course. You think I’d let you go after all this?” He cocked an eyebrow and your lip started trembling a bit. 

You hadn’t been part of a pod since your old one abandoned you when you got stuck in a trap many years ago. They practically proclaimed you dead while looking straight in your eyes and ever since then you’d been alone.

Right now, with Jotaro in front of you, your brain short circuited and you went back to your first instinct, which was to hide.

Shoving your head into the hole again, Jotaro shook his head to himself as he looked down at your tail sticking out of the pile of rocks, a small smile playing on his lips. 

Inside the hole, you had covered your face with your hands, trying not to burst out crying. You then felt Jotaro comfortingly starting to rub your tail with one hand and tried to swallow past the lump in your throat.

Now even more determined than before, you went in search for what you had tried to find from the beginning. 

Just a few movings of smaller rocks and you finally saw them: the statuettes you had carved. 

A whale, a shark and a manta ray. Only, despite the secure spot you had put them in, when the skull was destroyed, the manta ray had been broken in two, vertically down the middle.

Scooping up the figurines, you momentarily lamented the loss of the manta ray. You had specifically made that for Jotaro and had wanted to give it to him now.

A little sadly, you started to back up to get out, only to freeze. Trying again, you found yourself unable to back up.

“Uh... Jotaro..?” Your voice was tiny, making you even less audible with the muffling from the rocks, but your mate heard, humming a little to let you know he did. “I’m stuck. Help.”

“Good grief, really?” 

“Yes, please help.” You whined, feeling like crying again, only this time just out of pathetically feeling overwhelmed.

“It’s alright.” Jotaro assured and you felt him grip either side of your tail, starting to pull. After just a few seconds of him pulling and you trying to back up, you popped out, firmly clutching the carvings in your arm as you tipped back and sank until you lay upside down on the rocks. 

“What’s that?” Jotaro pointed down at the items in your arms.

Sitting up with a grunt, you turned to him. “These two are for Okuyasu and Josuke to play with.” You spoke, holding up the two statuettes. “And this one...”

You trailed off when Jotaro plucked one of the halves out of your hand. “A manta ray.” He mumbled and you smiled nervously.

“Yeah. It... broke... though...”

“Y/N?” Jotaro asked when your words came out sluggish and you suddenly started tilting forward. “Y/N!” Catching you on his torso, Jotaro looked down in worry, shifting your body until you were laying more comfortably against his chest. 

Stopping for a minute, Jotaro just sat and listened, noticing how there was no extra movement in the water. No fluttering of tails or chattering of young voices. So, putting his arms under you, Jotaro swam left around the column, quickly spotting both Josuke and Okuyasu, smushed together on the floor, sleeping.

Growling, Jotaro angrily slapped the leftover tuna with his tail, quickly leaving it and swimming over to the bed, carefully placing you down on your side. 

In all this time you didn’t even stir, just continuing to steadily breathe. Placing your head in a better position, Jotaro gently released you, then turned around and swam over to the two sleeping on the sand.

Picking both of them up at the same time, Jotaro sighed softly. Right now he was just glad you both thought ahead like this and that he was here to keep the three of you safe.

Bringing them over to the bed, Jotaro paused a second, not knowing where to leave the pups. In the end he decided to just lay them against you. He wanted to have you all in the same place together so he could immediately shoot into action if necessary.

Putting the two next to and against your stomach, they cuddled up with each other and almost immediately, your tail curled around them, pressing them deeper into you with a protective and comforting safety for the pups.

Briefly turning around, Jotaro just went to do one last thing.

-

The scientists were just sitting at and pacing around the table. Despite what they tried, the male had not eaten the drugged food and therefore was not asleep. 

They could not get in that tank when one of them was awake, especially the most dangerous one. 

Almost as if to demonstrate, a slab of tuna was suddenly flung out of the water, hitting the scientist sitting at the table so hard that he slam-dunked his head into the furniture before toppling off the table and chair, his head ping-ponging a bit as he was instantly knocked out.

The others looked horrified, looking between their colleague and the tank, none of them having been able to see the water be disturbed except for the meat flying out of it.

The male was definitely not happy. 

-

Having gotten the satisfaction of at least hurting one of the humans, Jotaro swam back down with a huff, making sure to monitor every movement in the water just in case while he swam over to the destroyed skull.

The statuettes you had had in your hand before you passed out were scattered around, two of them still on the pile of rocks, while the other two were in the sand. Gently picking up the shark and one half of the manta ray from the rocks, he swam down to the bottom, lifting the whale from the sand and accidentally pulling some of the grit with him before swimming over to the other half of the manta ray, mostly buried in the sand.

Holding everything in his left arm, Jotaro took it from the sand with his right and raised it up to his face. 

It was really well made, the shape exactly that of a manta ray, with you having smoothened it out somehow. The wing was not even chipped, despite the pressure the small thing had been put under.

No, surprisingly, it had only snapped perfectly down the middle.

Swimming back over to you and the pups, Jotaro placed the shark and whale in the sand to the right of you, swimming to sit behind you where he carefully placed the broken statue next to him before laying down as well.

He’d get some sleep, but keep his senses on high alert all night.

With his giant tail, Jotaro curled it around yours as always, resulting in the pups now being shielded by two tails, Jotaro’s so large that he was able to bring it up to your face so you could lay your head on it as a pillow, even with the two pups now sleeping in between.

Finally feeling content, he allowed himself to drift to sleep.  

- - - -

Being the last to sleep and the first to wake was not something Jotaro expected to happen. 

During the night, nothing had happened and the four of you had just been able to sleep peacefully. 

Stretching a bit, Jotaro sat up. Shifting his tail a little, he took note of how he felt better than yesterday - less tired and sore - but it was not enough yet. At the rate he was recovering he might have tried to escape the next day with you, but now you had Josuke and Okuyasu as well. Bringing the pups along meant using up more energy. So unfortunately, Jotaro estimated that the four of you would have to spend at least two or three more days in this hellhole. 

When after ten minutes not one of you stirred, Jotaro began to grow a little concerned. Maybe whatever was in the food had been too strong? Especially if the pups had been given the same amount as the adults, would they be able to take that?

Quickly, Jotaro moved until he was next to the young. Placing his hands on their chests, he was relieved to find their hearts were beating and they were breathing properly. Starting to shake them, Jotaro tried to wake them up - maybe a little too roughly but he didn’t care.

A small peep came out of Josuke as he was rattled awake, while Okuyasu just hummed a little in question, as if he was used to waking up like that. 

“Go play.” He motioned behind himself with his thumb, not even waiting for an answer as he shifted over to you, thinking of the best way to wake you up. 

Just letting his eyes rake up and down your form for a minute, Jotaro was snapped out of it when a pair of hands was placed on his right shoulder, a curious face looking over it down to what he was looking at, quickly followed by another pair of hands on his left, Okuyasu following in what his friend did like usual.

“Is she your mate?” Josuke piped up after a few seconds of silence and Jotaro sighed inwardly, already done with the day and the exhausting trek of what taking care of pups and all their questions meant.

“Yes.” He answered without much fanfare, going out to reach for your arm to shake you awake as well when an excited gasp right next to his ear stopped him. 

“So auntie Holly was right! Dad said he thought you’d never get one with how mad you always seem but she insisted that you would.” He blabbered happily, Okuyasu humming like a wise sage, pretending to know what was being talked about even if he had absolutely no clue.

“Good grief, of course that old man is gossiping.” Jotaro deadpanned. Not saying anything else, he just leaned forward and gently shook you by your arm, the two pups still hanging on his shoulders.

Stirring a bit, your eyes fluttered open and you tiredly looked to your right where you saw Jotaro hover over you, two faces peeking out over him.

Chuckling tiredly, you slowly sat up, yawning and scratching the back of your neck. “Hi.” You muttered, getting small greetings from the three men in return. “Another day.”

- - - -

Jotaro was up at the surface while Josuke and Okuyasu played with the balls on top. The entire time he was staring into the room of scientists with a menacing glare. 

Normally, you’d have gone up there with them but you honestly hadn’t even realised they went up, too focused on the broken item in your hand. 

Josuke and Okuyasu had seen you were busy and instead went to Jotaro, asking if they could go up. 

After about two hours you finally finished. 

“Aha!” You shouted, holding up the one half of the manta ray on a string that you had been working on, only to blink in surprise when you saw Josuke and Okuyasu on either side of you, leaning into your sides. “Huh? Oh, hey guys.”

“Hi, Y/N!” Okuyasu just happily greeted while Josuke simply smiled. Josuke was holding the shark while Okuyasu held the whale, the two of them having been playing quietly next to you and over your tail while you were too focused on the intricacies of weaving a thin yet strong string. 

“Good grief, you only just now noticed them?” 

Quickly looking up you noticed Jotaro leaning into the column straight ahead of you, about three metres away.

You gasped like a guppy for a few seconds before shutting your jaw with a clack. “It’s intricate work.” You pouted, bringing your hands and subsequently the half of the manta ray down to your lap as you weakly defended yourself. It didn’t work.

Figuring to just escape from his intent stare, you clapped your hands together. “Who wants to play maelstrom?” 

At that, both pups by your side perked up. “What’s that?” Okuyasu questioned and you smiled.

“I can show you, c’mon.” You giggled a little as you got up, dragging Okuyasu with you by his hand and just letting the manta ray halves drift to the sand.

Swimming up until you were about five meters above the floor, you let go of Okuyasu’s hands. “Now what?”

“Grab onto my tail fin and hold on tight.” 

Confused, he did what you asked and you looked down, seeing Josuke look at you curiously and you sent him a wink before abruptly bending down, shooting forward as you gently took hold of the end of Okuyasu’s tail, starting to spin like crazy as if a snake eating its own tail while imitating a water wheel.

The speed you were spinning at was crazy and Okuyasu started yelling and laughing loudly, devolving into a deranged giggle as you slowly started slowing down, spinning slower and slower until you stopped, hanging upside down and letting go of Okuyasu’s tail so he could catch his breath in an upright position.

He was trying to keep himself straight and head side up in the water but the world was spinning so much that he was wildly flailing to try and do so.

Laughing gently yourself as well, you grabbed hold around his midriff, starting to lead him back to the others while he was dizzily trying to swim.

You yourself were trying very hard to stave off your own dizziness but were doing a lot better than the pup. At least, you were, but that was quick to change when:

“Me next! Me next!” 

As you let Okuyasu go to swim down to the sand on his own, Josuke shot forward and into you, knocking you back from the sheer speed he had been swimming with for a second and you laughed loudly. “Alright, alright!”

“Yes!”

You snorted and shook your head with a smile. “Okay, so, hold on tight and don’t let go no matter what alright?” You told Josuke while you got into position. He hummed happily with a big nod and you lightly took hold of his tail fin as well. “Alright, here we go!”

- 

Swimming down to where Jotaro had been watching the entire scene was a lot harder than expected with how dizzy you were.

After Josuke had gone, Okuyasu wanted another round. And after that Josuke wanted to go again. And then they wanted to go at the same time. So you had taken one tail in either hand while they clutched yours together, big grins on their faces. And then they wanted to go about three times before their dizziness finally caught up with them, allowing you to get some rest and make the world stop spinning yourself.

Attempting to swim over to Jotaro proved a mistake as you just completely wobbled the entire time, nearly swimming upside down and right into the column had it not been for Jotaro deciding to take mercy on you and grabbing hold of your arms, swimming back with you to where he had been sitting.

“This is your own fault.” He said a little smugly and you attempted to lightly slap him but everything was double so you very much missed. “Almost.” He teased.

“Shut it.” You chuckled back before lightly shaking your head back and forth for a second, stopping your vision from hazing and just sighed a deep sigh, letting yourself slide down until you were laying on the sand, your head on Jotaro’s lap. 

Silence fell with just the vibrations in the water of Josuke and Okuyasu on the other side of the tank as they played.

“So, what’re these that they caused you to not even notice anything around you.” Jotaro broke the silence, asking that as he suddenly held up the manta ray pieces on strings you made.

A shy smile spread on your face as you took one of them from him. “Here.” With that soft uttering, you pulled Jotaro down a little bit before slipping the cord over his neck. “I did the best I could with the materials I can use here, but it should hold for at least a while.”

Bringing up the necklace to his face to look at it, Jotaro gazed at it for a second before looking down past it, to you, still laying on his lap.

Though from an outside perspective he may look as neutral as ever, you had a clear and perfect view of the warm adoration in his eyes, making your heart flutter that you made something he liked.

“Thank you.” He softly spoke before dropping the necklace back to his chest. You didn’t even get a chance to answer when Jotaro was already bringing a cord over your own head, having grabbed the other piece that he had laying next to him and now carefully draping it over you.

His fingers brushed past your cheek and he gently lifted your head from his lap with his right hand, using his left to bring the cord down the back of your head and rest it in your neck. 

With a gentle motion he laid your head back down on his tail, leaning back up against the pillar after you had pulled him down as he decompressed a bit, never taking his eyes off you.

His palm drifted down to where the necklace sat on your chest, cupping his hand over it and softly pressing down. His eyes were soft as he looked at it, a content look washing over him as you saw his chest rise in a deep, happy sigh, the necklace prominent as it rose with the muscle.

- - - -

The humans kept trying. 

An annoyance and anger flowed in you as you looked at Jotaro, Josuke and Okuyasu all passed out on the seaweed bed.

It was cute to see the giant and intimidating merman sleep so sweetly with two pups curled almost against him, but just the thought that they were forcibly put to sleep because of the food you needed to survive ruined it a bit.

In fact, you didn’t even really need it. Both you and Jotaro would be fine going several days without food, but the pups wouldn’t. And because you needed all the strength you could to regain your energy and be able to escape soon, you and Jotaro just decided to keep eating, using the current safety system in case the food was messed with.

Seeing as there had been food prepared for four and you didn’t eat, there was some left over. You didn’t really want it to start rotting or stink up the tank, so you lifted it into your arms and started carrying it up.

Lifting it over the tank with quite some effort, you let it just plop onto the floor right in front of the scientists who just looked at you a little bit in disbelief.

“Why’d you do that?” One of them asked sadly, as if he was hurt by your action and you narrowed your eyes.

“Food bad.” You spoke.

“It’s not bad!” He defended and your upper lip curled a bit, showing off your teeth as you silently snarled. You were kind of done with the nice act. You and Jotaro were planning to jump out anyways so what was the use of it anymore?

“Food. Bad.” You reiterated.

“Why do you think that-“ In the middle of him talking you suddenly felt something in the water. Whipping around, you saw that something had lowered in the far right most corner while you were talking. Right where everyone was sleeping.

Diving under with lightning speed, you raced around the column and to the corner, quickly spotting a crane like contraption with a claw lowering down, about halfway to your mate and the pups. 

Growling loudly, you shot towards it and latched onto the pole right above the claw.

With your nails you started trying to cut through but it merely succeeded in making scratches, this metal clearly fortified with something that kept you from easily breaking through.

Now angry, you harshly bit down on the pole, your jaw strength enough to crush through bone and flesh easily. And, though the pole was sturdier than that, it slowly started to bend under the pressure you were forcing on it.

The claw quickly opened and closed, the crane starting to pull it back up to try and save it before you completely broke the contraption, trying to shake you off. 

One of the digits of the claw snagged your upper arm, tearing your skin open but you refused to let go, now starting to grab hold of the claw and break it apart.

By the time it had reached the water surface and you had finally let go, the claw was missing all but one of its digits and was sticking awkwardly to the side in a 45° angle, with you having bent the entire pole enough to no longer have the claw function. 

- - - -

“Y/N, what happened?” The husky voice paired with a slight sting on your arm roused you from your sleep and you blinked your eyes open to see Jotaro firmly holding your left arm as he held you laid on your right side, his thumb caressing your skin around the cut that sat there.

“The humans tried to take the little ones with one of those machines while you were asleep. I stopped them.” You would have shrugged sleepily had you not been laying on your side and had your arm also not been captive in Jotaro’s firm hold. “There’s a few metals there.” You pointed up to where the remnants of your battle with the claw lay in the sand.

“I’ll stab them with their own fucking tools.” Jotaro growled darkly, clutching your arm a little tighter and that woke you up a bit more, but you couldn’t help but laugh a little, your heart swelling at his protectiveness yet not knowing how to express it other than a joyous laugh.

At hearing the noise, Jotaro relented his grip on your arm a little before huffing and leaning down, starting to gently lick the cut while that oh-so familiar rumble started from his chest. 

You smiled up at him as he was still leaned over your laying down form, lapping at the wound that you had briefly treated the night before.

Jotaro could tell you had but he didn’t care. He wanted to do it.

You could sense his pettiness about that in how thoroughly he treated you now, making sure to go over every inch thrice before finally pulling back, licking his lips a little. “You did good. But don’t get injured next time.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” You stuck out your tongue but Jotaro was quick to shoot forward and nip at it, making you squeak and quickly pull it back in your mouth as your cheeks burned and you looked at him with a shocked look.

Jotaro smirked at your reaction before turning around and shaking both Okuyasu and Josuke awake, basically telling them to go piss off and keep themselves busy, although he didn’t say it like that of course.

- - - -

The next two days passed without any incident. The food was no longer tampered with and for the first time, the pups managed to fall asleep on their own terms. 

Surprisingly enough, they got tired quite early, giving you and Jotaro some time to relax; and you had to admit, with how much you enjoyed the peace and quiet, yeah no, you were not ready to have pups yet.

A few hours later, you and Jotaro joined them on the bed, you directly next to them and Jotaro behind you, having his arm slung over you and keeping you close as you both drifted off to sleep. 

-

Tugging on your arm roused you from your sleep, but only slightly, and you turned around to lie down on your other side, trying to ignore the disturbance.

As you snuggled into Jotaro’s chest however, your full wrist was grabbed and you felt it being lifted up and over your head before being pulled back a bit. 

Opening one eye, you turned your head to see the waters around you still dark and a tiny Mer tugging on your wrist with another right beside him.

“Guys, it’s the middle of the night... go sleep.” You whined sleepily, turning back and burying your head closer under Jotaro’s chin, which made him grunt a little while Josuke continued to yank at your arm, trying to get you to play with him.

“But I’m not sleepy at all! Come onnn, please!” 

“You’ve got Okuyasu.” You grumbled that as Josuke started attempting to yank you along with him, actually succeeding a little bit and making you groan as he pulled you out of Jotaro’s hold.

Lazily, Jotaro opened one eye and chuckled a little as he saw you, left arm stretched over your head where it was being held captive by a stubborn Mer pup who, in turn, had his friend pulling him; the hope that two pups were enough to move one adult from the clutches of another.

Surprisingly to you, Jotaro opened his arms, allowing you to slip away a tiny bit before he helped the pups by pushing you with his tail. You sent him a betrayed look but he just smirked at you, his eyes only half open in his sleepy smugness.

And that was how you started your day very very early, having to steel yourself for a full day of chasing and entertaining two pups.

- - - -

Lazily pacing back and forth, Jotaro was deep in thought; remembering the layout of the building and how far you and him would have to drag yourselves to get outside, thinking about how you two would bring Josuke and Okuyasu along. Preferably, Jotaro would carry the both of them so that you wouldn’t be strained. But he also knew he couldn’t do that. Not only would that tire him out but, if he had both pups with him, there was no way he could defend all of you, should you run into a human.

Just then, Jotaro stopped in his tracks, noticing something was off. While there had been noises and movement in the water all day; now, there was nothing...

Swimming around the column, he found the lack of movement or noise very suspicious - given how there were supposed to be two hyperactive little guppies zipping about. 

Yet, as he rounded the corner, he was greeted with a surprising sight that maybe did more to him than he would like to admit.

With a small blush, Jotaro watched as you were laying on the bed, sound asleep and tuckered out after a full day of entertaining pups, your mouth slightly open to try and get enough water in to breathe given that you were laying on your stomach. On your back, Josuke lay splayed out, also sound asleep, his tail tucked under yours as you had curled it up, yet still somehow managing to get the thing partially on your face, and - in contrast to the chaotic toddler on your back - just gently curled up in your tail and against your side lay Okuyasu, also sound asleep, his tiny chest just gently rising and falling. 

It was... an adorable sight.

Deciding to leave you all be for now, Jotaro stopped swimming around, just to make as little thrashing in the water as possible while he sat down close by, letting you sleep.

Tomorrow, he decided. Tomorrow night you would all finally get the fuck out of here.

- - - - 

It was dark in the tank as you and Jotaro got ready. 

About ten minutes ago, Josuke and Okuyasu had woken up on their own accord, confused as to why the adults were not beside them and swimming over to the two of you as you went over the plan one last time. Not that there was much of a plan.

Locking eyes with Jotaro, you took a deep breath and nodded. Time to go.

Taking both the pups by the hand, you led them to the surface and peeked out. In the room, there was just one scientist. Sticking your head back underwater, you softly clicked to Jotaro several meters lower. “Can you reach him?”

“I’ve got him.” Jotaro assured and you watched in slight awe as every muscle in his tail seemed to contract, preparing for the burst of power that would make him shoot out like an arrow released from a bow.

Not a second later, Jotaro shot up, rushing through the water and jumping out of the tank. 

He easily flew through the air, halfway into the room as he slammed straight into the human, knocking them to the floor under his weight before he rolled off and instantly whipped around, slamming his tail into them and sending them flying back into the wall where they crumpled into a heap, completely knocked out and broken.

Letting out an angry huff, Jotaro turned around and tiger crawled over to the edge of the tank, where you were now lifting Josuke up and over the edge. Jotaro grabbed the pup from you and lowered him to the floor before reaching back up to grab Okuyasu and doing the same for him.

“Y/N, come on.” Jotaro then urged you, holding out his hands in a silent promise that he’ll catch you.

Dipping down about two meters, you quickly moved your tail and propelled yourself upwards, jumping out of the water and over the glass and right into the arms of Jotaro.

He got knocked back onto the floor due to having no purchase for his tail but safely cushioned your fall nonetheless. 

Rolling over, he let you slip to the floor before getting on his stomach and propping himself up.

“The stairs are going to be hell.” He spoke and you nodded with a disgruntled noise before Jotaro turned to the pups who were patiently and anxiously waiting on the floor.

“Josuke, you go with Y/N. You are lighter than Okuyasu.” Jotaro grabbed his uncle under his armpits, lifting him up and placing him on your back. Josuke immediately wrapped his arms around your neck and you and Jotaro looked at each other, with you giving him a small nod. Jotaro lifted Okuyasu with one arm onto his own back where the pup clung in a similar fashion onto Jotaro as Josuke did to you.

Time to get the fuck out of here.

Starting to drag yourself across the floor, Jotaro made his way to the door and ripped it open by just slamming his claws through the wood and pulling, not caring about the lock.

While he did that, you crawled to the knocked out scientist and grabbed hold of the little card thingy hanging around his neck. Ripping it off, you just bit down on the cord and held it in your jaws as you crawled over to Jotaro who was waiting for you. 

He saw the item in your mouth and nodded approvingly, him having seen the scientists use that card to open the door he just ripped apart. It was not needed for now but who knew what you would run into.

Going through the door for the first time, you looked around curiously and warily, keeping your ears open for any sounds while you gazed at the concrete walls.

Beyond the door there was literally nothing but a staircase leading down, a silver one with tiny holes all over it that now made the water dripping from both you and Jotaro fall down through it, echoing on the metal where it fell. On the wall there was a plaque with a giant 3 as well as a smaller one saying ‘FIRE STAIRS’ whatever that meant.

“C’mon.” Jotaro took first initiative, going down tail first and looking back over his shoulder to see what he was doing and where he was going, Okuyasu holding on tight as he now had to rely on just his arms to not fall off.

Copying his move, you turned around and started going down, gritting your teeth as your tail rubbed painfully over the corners and bumps of the holes in the stairs, indented markings appearing in your hands as well while Josuke frantically clung to your neck, almost asphyxiating you but not entirely.

It was a slow descent. When you two got to the second floor, you heard some murmuring from inside the door that led to the underwater viewing room and continued dragging yourself down as silently as possible.

Before long, you both reached the bottom floor, coming face to face with a metal door. Jotaro placed his hand against it and Josuke squeaked. “Now what?”

“Now this.” You answered the pup, sending him a reassuring smile as you grabbed onto the door handle and pulled yourself up, showing him the card that you had taken out of your mouth a second ago and shoving it in the slot above the handle.

The red light turned to green and the handle went off its lock, abruptly going down, which made you lose your grip and slam your chin on the floor as the door creaked open a bit.

Jotaro put his hand on your shoulder in concern but you quickly got up, showing you were fine and sent him a grin. 

With Jotaro pushing your underside up with one arm, you grabbed onto the handle again with more ease and took the card out before getting back to the ground without issues and properly shoving the door open.

The lights were on and glaring and you needed to let your eyes adjust for a second after the dark, not getting anymore time as Jotaro was already pushing your back to urge you to go.

Taking an immediate right, you were met with a long hallway. At the end, two people were walking away from the two of you. Okuyasu was about to say something but you shot towards him and clamped your hand over his mouth, leaning your elbow on Jotaro’s back to be able to bring your other hand to your lips in a ‘shh’ motion. 

Once Okuyasu seemed to get the message, you let go and looked at Jotaro with wide, scared eyes. He jerked his head to the side in a motion to go and you quickly did as you were told.

Your tail was heavy and wet, leaving a wet trail behind you as you dragged yourself forward on your forearms. Jotaro was just a beat behind you, keeping tabs on everything and ready to step in if necessary.

“Left here, Y/N.” He spoke quietly and you looked left to see the door to the filtration room. 

Your arms were already feeling like lead but you continued to drag yourself forward, reaching the door.

“HEY!”

The sudden shout made you and Jotaro whip your heads around, looking back the way you came to see someone standing in the door of the stairwell, looking at you both with wide eyes.

“THEY’RE OUT OF THE TANK!!”

“Y/N, go, go!” Jotaro urged and you jammed the key card into the lock above the doorknob, taking it out once the light went green and slamming the door open, Jotaro shoving you inside before sliding Okuyasu across the floor towards you as well, just in time as he turned around and body slammed his tail into the man running towards you.

“Hold onto my arm!” You told Okuyasu and he did as he was told, both pups practically only balls of fear at the moment as they now both clung to you.

Some more yelling and Jotaro threateningly hissing sounded behind you but you knew he wanted you to clear the way. Get the next door open so that you could all move on.

The room you were currently in was filled with large cylinders. Pipes and thick cords running out of them as they were continually pumping - releasing a steady humming that made Josuke try to cover his ears on your back while Okuyasu clung closer to your arm.

You quickly moved past them and to the right a bit, seeing the door Jotaro had told you you needed to go through when discussing the plan.

Behind you, the door slammed shut loudly and you saw Jotaro inside, repeatedly slamming his body into it and bending the door with it, making it unable to open anymore. 

Glad to see he was inside, you tiger crawled over to the other door, panting slightly, and grabbed hold of the knob.

Right as you did, the door was swung open violently and you were thrown back, Okuyasu and Josuke getting flung off of you and landing a little bit further away, smacking on the ground with a splat and bouncing once before stopping.

You had slid backwards on your back but now sat up, seeing a massive man towering in the doorway. He held something of a black stick in his hands as he kept his eyes trained on you.

Starting to walk sideways, the man approached where Okuyasu had landed, the pup being the closest, and he leaned down, ready to grab him. Yet before he could, you lunged forward and he was forced to turn to you, dodging back and out of the way of your swipe.

Hissing threateningly, you stood protectively in front of Okuyasu, raising your tail and attempting to slam it into him, only for him to bring the stick up at the last moment, sticking the end against your scales.

A ‘trrt’ sounded and an electrifying pain shot through you, your tail automatically seizing and jerking to the side, trying to get away. You yelled out in pain as the man tasered you, the dampness of your body serving only to conduct the electricity even further and you were writing on the ground in pain.

“Y/N!” Josuke and Okuyasu cried out, terrified as they saw you be knocked down so easily.

The man grinned at the pups, as if to warn them for he could do this to them too. Lifting the taser back only momentarily, he gave you some respite, right before pushing it back on your skin. 

All you could do was gasp for air, wanting to scream but unable to as the electricity ran through and immobilised you. 

Finally the man let up, as he abruptly turned around to face the merman storming towards him, covering the ground in seconds with an anger and fire burning in his eyes that should have warned anyone to get as far away as fast as possible. 

Same went for the guard as he staggered back a bit, taser still poised but slightly trembling. 

He had never been allowed to see the Mer they had in the building, so he had no experience with them. He was just told that they got out and that he had to grab one of the little ones so that the adults would follow.

Jotaro lunged forward and grabbed onto the taser, yanking the guards arm down and repeatedly starting to slam the object on the floor. With every slam it broke more and more, falling apart, and the guard just opted for safety, letting go of the device and turning tail to run.

Jotaro’s reaction was immediate as he turned 180° and used his tail to sweep at the man’s legs, one of them letting out an audible ‘snap’ as it broke on impact, the guard collapsing in the doorway.

His fight or flight was on fire however and the man scrambled back up, the preservation of his life more important than the pain as he started running, limping with his broken leg yet sprinting as fast as he could down the hall. And it was the better option, for if he hadn’t, Jotaro would have torn him apart.

There was no time for the merman to go in pursuit so he instead turned around and crawled over to you, worry and anger the main two emotions as he grabbed hold of your face and turned it to face him.

“Y/N? Y/N, come on.” He whispered, lightly shaking your head back and forth to wake you up more when you started blinking. With one more shake, you took in a deep breath, fully opening your eyes much to Jotaro’s relief.

You slowly sat up, Jotaro supporting you along the way.

“We need to go.”

You swallowed. “Yeah.”

While Jotaro tried to get you back to, Josuke and Okuyasu had flopped and dragged themselves over with much effort, now looking up at you with big worried eyes as you slowly got onto your forearms.

“I’m okay, let’s go.” You smiled, putting the pups at ease, though Jotaro knew you were far from it. He had seen you lie to the humans long enough to know when you weren’t telling the truth.

Before he could do anything else however, you had already hauled Josuke on your back. Glancing at Jotaro, you sent him a determined look that showed he wasn’t going to change your mind. You just needed to push on a little, you could rest afterwards.

Frustrated that he couldn’t do anything else, Jotaro put Okuyasu on his own back again. Staying one fin length behind you as you both started up again.

Going through the door, there was no one around in the hall and you all turned left, seeing a door with a glass window about ten meters away. 

Your brows furrowed as you caught your breath, staring at the door. There was light outside. Wasn’t it supposed to be the middle of the night?

“Keep going, Y/N.” Jotaro pushed on your back, trying to urge you to go and you started up again.

Every muscle in your body screamed while exhaustion was taking over. Whatever energy you had left was quickly fading but you refused to stop. Ignoring the throbbing pain every move brought, you dragged your heavy body forward. 

In the last meter, Jotaro got past and ahead of you, your gait by now so slow that he was easily able to do so.

“Stay back.” He warned as he placed Okuyasu next to you. Dragging himself towards the glass of the door, he brought his arm back before driving his elbow into the glass and breaking straight through.

Immediately, open air rushed in and the sounds of people and cars and living reached your senses. After over a month and a half of near silence, it was almost overwhelming but there was no time for that.

Jotaro pushed the glass shards at the bottom out of the frame, letting them fall onto the ground before slipping through the gap he made.

He wasn’t worried about he glass, knowing his skin was thick enough to not get injured. The same could not be said about Josuke and Okuyasu however.

You knew so too and dragged yourself a little closer, sitting up and grabbing Okuyasu under his armpits and lifting him. 

Jotaro was quick to take him over, putting him on his back with some effort before sticking out his hand for you.

“I can smell the sand and the ocean, come on, we’re almost there.” Jotaro tried to encourage you, just to keep you going as he sensed your exhaustion, and you grabbed his hand, letting him pull you out of the window and onto the concrete sidewalk he was sitting on.

“There! Hurry up!” 

The shout sounded through the hole in the door, footsteps echoing from inside the building as the scientists started trying to get to the two of you.

That gave you a burst of energy and you swiftly pulled your tail through the doorframe; the smell of the sea hitting you now that your head was a little clearer. 

You had to squint at the abrupt glare from the sun, looking up and seeing that it was somewhere in the morning, not night, as it should have been.

You started crawling forward and behind you, Jotaro flicked the broken glass back through the hole in the door with his tail, injuring those who stood directly behind it before he quickly came over to you, joining you as you crawled across the sidewalk.

People just walking around and going to work started to notice, some walking around with nothing but a strange look while others openly stopped, mouth agape and starting to follow.

Jotaro and you managed to get past the building, having escaped through the side exit and now ending up on the street where the main entrance was. If you could’ve, you would’ve gotten away from the building as soon as possible, but crossing the street while cars were driving and you could do nothing but slowly drag your body was a bad idea. All that next to the fact that you were following your noses, going towards the smell of sea salt.

Right in front was a plaza, the road you had been crawling next to bending left, meaning you didn’t have to cross it and could instead move to the plaza. As you and Jotaro got across most of the open area, your tail painfully scraping over the concrete, the small crowd who had been following grew exponentially. The people in the plaza numerous and noticing you and Jotaro all at once.

Almost like flies, they gathered around and Jotaro immediately shot forward, taking Okuyasu off his back and putting him against your side while he put his arm over you and placed it on your left side, hovering over you and the pups protectively, shielding your entire forms with his own body as he growled, warning the people around to back off and stay away.

Josuke, sensing the danger, slid off your back and hid with Okuyasu, pressed into your side with Jotaro hovering over. This allowed Jotaro to get a little lower on the ground, baring his teeth as his scales puffed up to make him look even bigger, his hard and threatening stare circling the people around, the merman looking over his shoulder before spinning his head in a circle, snapping at anyone who was too close for his liking.

The people got the hint and stayed watching the Mer in a wide circle, wondering how the hell they got so far into land.

Stopping like this was bad news for you however. Now that you were no longer moving, you felt the adrenaline that had been keeping you going start to leave you.

Your whole body tingled and ached. Moving your hand, you saw the grain that covered some of the concrete move, but you barely felt it. And that’s when your arms collapsed, no longer able to support your weight.

Jotaro, who had been glaring at someone behind him, felt and heard you collapsing on the ground, his head snapping back around and looking down to see you laying on the concrete beneath him, a true look of dread overtaking his features as he saw your eyes slowly closing. 

You just needed a short nap, just something to get your energy back. Yeah, that was it.

“Shit, Y/N, no, no, no. Stay with me.” Jotaro took hold of your shoulder and rolled you onto your back, grabbing your face as he said that. “Y/N, come on!” 

Josuke and Okuyasu were letting out small crying noises, nudging your arm and shoulder to try and shake you awake while Jotaro started purring in his panic, hoping it would do something to wake you up.

The people around didn’t know what to do, just watching the previously aggressive and threatening large Mer suddenly cradle the one he was protecting. The cries and wails the young ones let out were heartbreaking, those around just helplessly watching the scene before them. 

Mermaids were rare, and they say if you were able to see one in your life, to consider yourself very lucky. This was not how anybody expected to get that luck however.

That weapon had burned all the moisture off of you. And while Mer could survive without water for a bit, if you wanted to have any chance of healing - and more importantly, surviving - Jotaro needed to find a way to get you wet.

Just then, some people came running into the scene with a large bucket. A man and woman had sprinted to the beach and down it the moment they realised what was going on, reaching the ocean and filling a large bucket before carrying it back up together with a firm sprint, now finally reaching the group again.

As they approached, Jotaro immediately put his hands on the ground, hovering over both you and the pups in a protective stance as he growled, warning them clearly and firmly to not come any closer.

The merman then noticed the bucket however, and his growl let up a bit. Scared yet determined, one of the humans pushed it closer towards him, their arm outstretched far until only their fingertips remained to push it closer, to which the human made the decision to retract their hand.

More focused on your survival than anything else now, Jotaro grabbed the rim of the bucket, pulling it closer towards himself with such a tight hold on it that his nails punctured through where he was holding.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Josuke whimpered and Jotaro sent him a small glance.

“She will be.” He spoke confidently, placing his hand on the pup’s head very briefly before grasping the water bucket.

Quickly, he poured some of the water over your neck and gills, tilting the heavy bucket that took two people to quickly carry with just one hand as if it were nothing.

Despite the water, you still weren’t breathing through your gills like he wanted you to, instead still slowly inhaling and exhaling through your mouth. 

Jotaro didn’t want to do this in front of all these people, but your life was more important. So, with his right hand still tilting the bucket and steadily pouring water, he pinched your nose shut with his left before leaning down and slanting his mouth over yours, stopping you from breathing through your mouth and nose so that you would be forced to breathe through your gills, possible now that Jotaro was pouring water on them. 

After a few seconds of nothing, they flared and started filtering the water, allowing you to breathe. 

Staying still for a few seconds, he  just let you breathe through your gills, long enough until he was confident it was sufficient. 

Dropping his left hand onto the ground, Jotaro let out a relieved exhale through his nose, keeping his lips on yours just a second longer before slowly pulling away, you simultaneously opening your eyes.

This instant was now thought to be proof that the old sailor myth of mermaids having a healing kiss was true.

Cradling the back of your head, Jotaro helped you sit up and propped you against his chest, trying to just keep you awake. Instantly, Josuke and Okuyasu were latched onto you, hugging you around your waist and burying their faces in your stomach. 

They were both sniffing and whimpering, Okuyasu even softly crying. “Don’t go.” 

You put your arms back around them, keeping them pressed into your side as you answered. “I’m not... Did I not promise- to play maelstrom there where there is an actual current?” You spoke, your voice slightly weak yet sweet all the same.

Suddenly, a splash of water was dumped over you and the pups as Jotaro emptied the contents of the bucket before throwing it to the side, nearly bouncing against someone’s leg if they didn’t jump out of the way. 

You blinked a bit in surprise, a little more awake now that you had some reprieve from the sun beating down on your dry skin and you turned your head to the one that did it while the pups nearly sitting on your lap spluttered a bit from the sudden water barrage.

Jotaro placed his hand over the necklace around your neck, feeling the stone and your skin under the palm of his hand right where your heart sat, calming himself with the loving gesture that he had really quickly picked up on doing ever since you made the item. 

Some commotion suddenly came from the back of the circle of people. “Excuse me, let us pass please!” Someone spoke with urgency in their voice and the people stepped aside to let a group of about three people through. With them being in lab coats, the people around thought they were here to help, you and Jotaro knew differently though, recognising their smell and the face of one.

Immediately, Jotaro growled loudly, puffing up his scales again and roughly slapping his tail to the floor in a threat display, unable to move much with you still leaning against him and the pups on your lap. Although, if you weren’t he definitely would have tried to rip them apart for hurting you to this extent.

The scientists stopped for a second, nervously swallowing before taking more careful steps forward, immediately making Jotaro hiss and slap his tail again, just a lot harder this time.

At this, two people from the crowd stepped up and started pushing the scientists back. “Dude, don’t! He clearly doesn’t want you closer, it’s dangerous, just give them space!”

“The female is injured, we just need to sedate them and bring them with us so we can treat her.” The scientist tried, but you had gotten enough of your head back to recognise what he was saying.

“No!” With that, you got everyone’s attention. “You did this, I’m not going back there with you! We just want to go home, leave us be!” You shouted, surprising everyone by the sudden English - and the scientists even more with the fluency of said English. Yet you had never seen a crowd of people turn on others like hungry piranhas so fast.

They all started shouting and those next to the scientists started pushing them back and away, throwing one question after the other at them as to why you would say that.

A loud and continuous wailing noise suddenly sounded, getting closer and closer and all four of you Mer covered your ears, the sensitivity of them not made for the noises of life on land. 

Tires squealed and doors opened and slammed shut as two police officers came speed-walking onto the scene, quickly followed by firemen, who’s fire truck  siren was even worse for you, causing people to try and get them to turn it off, which they quickly did as they came to a stop.

There was a lot of talking and shouting and angry noises that all just became a blur for you, unable to really make out what was being said. 

“Y/N, just hold on until we get to the sea.” Jotaro whispered in your ear, his purr starting back up as he sensed your distress over the noise.

Just then, one of the officers approached and Jotaro instantly clutched you tighter, growling a little though with a lot less malice than with the scientists.

The officer held his hands up to show he meant no harm before sitting down a little bit away, just folding his hands in his lap in the hopes it would show he wanted no trouble.

Jotaro’s snarl let up and he took it as a sign to start talking. “I’m sorry but, could you explain what has happened to get you four here?”

Right now, you were surrounded by humans, but these seemed to at least somewhat be on your side. It would be risky to trust them, but you decided talking was no harm regardless. “We were captured at sea and stuck in there for a long time.” You attempted to point at the building you and Jotaro had crawled out of but could not raise your arm higher than your own elbow. Jotaro gently grasped your forearm, not wanting you to waste energy like that and brought the limb back down, very lightly kneading where he held you, which was painful yet relieving at the same time. That action caused the officer to notice the shackle on Jotaro’s wrist, making him narrow his eyes before he turned his head to look at the building you attempted to point at. Thankfully, he seemed to have understood what you meant with your weak point. “Then they captured the pups and we couldn’t stay any longer so we escaped and now here.” You sighed a little, sinking a little further into Jotaro which worried him.

The officer’s gaze drifted down to the pups who were hiding under your arms from all the prying gazes and he turned to glare at the scientists his partner was currently holding.

“How come you’re injured?”

“Electric stick.” You said, not knowing how else to call it. “We just want to go home, please.”

“I know, and we’ll help you.” He assured before grabbing a weird black thing on his shoulder. “Chief, we have a case of people illegally capturing and keeping Mer, later on with two young. It seems like a pretty professional organisation. Requesting backup to arrest everyone involved.” 

Something crackled through as an answer and, while you couldn’t understand a word of it, the officer seemed to.

“Hey! How big are they?” Someone suddenly shouted from behind the crowd and the officer stood up, seeing one of the firemen holding the tarp they used to catch people on if they needed to jump out of burning buildings.

Turning back around, the officer took in the Mer. They softly seemed to be talking to each other now, quiet clicks and trills sounding out. “The male seems to be around 5,5 meters. The female 3 or 3,5.”

“Ah, that’s going to be hard with him then.”

“It wouldn’t work either way. I can almost guarantee they’re not gonna allow us to carry them down to the beach one by one and carrying them all together is too heavy. We need to keep them wet and escort them to the sea!”

“Luckily, we have water!” The fireman slapped the side of the fire truck and the two men grinned at each other.

- - - -

Both Josuke and Okuyasu were now on Jotaro’s back. They protested against it, saying they could do it themselves, but Jotaro was having none of it and just glared at them until they obeyed.

The fire truck had brought out a long hose, setting it to a low setting that just made it spray like an overgrown garden hose basically, pointing it at the Mer after some wary looks from them.

It was fresh water instead of salt, but luckily, most Mer had evolved to be able to survive in fresh water for at least a little while, making this no problem.

It seemed to be the first ever fresh water for the pups though, making them screw up their faces at the new taste and sensation before you were all sufficiently wet.

Now, you were both slowly dragging yourselves over the beach. The crowd of people was following from a small distance while the firemen and police were clearing the beach from beach goers or possible obstacles such as chairs or parasols. 

A weird high pitched whirring noise sounded as something was flying overhead but none of you paid any attention to it.

The ocean was finally in view, a mere twenty meters ahead of you, but you couldn’t anymore. Your arms felt like they were moulded to the sand. You were no longer able to lift them, just merely dragging them a centimeter every time, making the sand clump up and make it even harder for you to continue. But you just couldn’t. You were so tired. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, it almost hurt to think.

Jotaro tried his best to urge you to keep going, pushing on your back or briefly slinging one arm around you to shove you that small bit further before he had to use it to drag himself again, but it was starting to become futile.

Josuke and Okuyasu suddenly jumped off of Jotaro’s back, landing on the sand. “Josuke!” Jotaro warned but the pup merely looked back with a determined look.

“We’ll continue ourselves! You need to carry Y/N more than us!”

Jotaro gritted his teeth as he looked from the two in front of him to you. 

Letting out a frustrated noise, he knew they were right and he grabbed your arm, slinging it over his shoulder before he started shuffling you so that you were resting on his back, your arms around his neck.

“Just hold onto me.” He spoke, panting a little himself. You were not the only one who was exhausted, but Jotaro was doing a lot better than you were, physically.

Only having enough thought to link your hands together around his neck, you were a heaving mess as Jotaro started back up, going in pursuit of the pups who were now about two meters ahead of him. 

Quickly catching up to them, Jotaro kept the pups in line as you all reached the edge of the water in a few minutes.

Looking back one last time, the merman noticed the people had hung back about ten meters ago and he glanced at your head resting on his shoulder. Seeing how slow your breathing was, he wasted no time in getting into the water, grabbing Josuke and Okuyasu as he passed them and throwing them as far into the water as he could one by one.

As soon as he was deep enough in the water, he swished his tail back and forth, breathing the ocean water for the first time in over a month and a half. 

Diving down, finally you were all submerged beneath the water again and Jotaro sighed in relief before letting out a low click to let the pups know to follow as he quickly swam away from the beach, searching for some rocks he could momentarily hide behind. 

In no time he found what he wanted and he shot behind it.

“Go see if you can find gramps. But don’t stray too far.” Jotaro looked back at the pups with a stern look, making his point clear and the pups got the hint to get out of there for now.

They swam away together and started releasing the long distance clicks to try and see if someone from the pod could hear them, leaving just Jotaro and you for a second.

Getting you off his back, Jotaro held onto your waist, feeling how tense and locked up your muscles were as he then took note of how shallowly you were breathing.

The water didn’t flow all the way through your gills, leaving you to just try to take in more which resulted in a continuous loop of shallow and not strong enough breaths.

Moving his grip from your waist, Jotaro wrapped his tail around yours so that he could still hold onto you while he gently grasped your neck. What was less gentle, was how he then proceeded to jam his thumbs into your gills, opening them up and allowing the water to flow through, making you take your first deep and proper breath since returning to the ocean.

Your eyes snapped open at the feeling and you instantly brought your arms up, grasping at Jotaro’s hands to try and get them away from your gills. 

“Don’t.” Jotaro’s curt command stopped you from squirming and your brain caught up to what was going on. “You need to breathe properly. Leave it.” 

Swallowing thickly you tried to just stay still. “It’s not exactly a nice feeling.” Your voice was a little raspy and Jotaro’s lip quirked up a bit in sympathy.

“I know, but it is needed.” As a way to soothe and distract you, Jotaro leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to yours. 

The kiss was soft and gentle, the rumble starting up in Jotaro’s chest again as he started to move his thumbs back and forth a bit, needing to make sure the entire gill was free and open, no matter how uncomfortable it was for you to do so.

After a few seconds, he slid his thumbs out and instead comfortingly smoothed over your gills, deepening the kiss as he cradled your face, slowly moving his lips with yours now that, for the first time, he was certain there was no one around to look at the two of you. 

With your gills filtering water and providing oxygen, you could continue to keep your lips locked forever, but Jotaro eventually pulled away, pressing his forehead to yours. 

“You’re okay?” He spoke as he looked deep into your eyes, his aquamarine ones shining so brightly, even in the water.

“Yeah, everything just hurts a bit right now.” You answered in a light joke-y tone, making Jotaro chuckle a bit in relief.

“Let’s find the pod and you can rest.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead before wrapping his right arm around your waist, pulling you close as he slung your left arm over his back so that he could hold it and help you swim. (And totally not so that he could also feel your hand pressing against his abs.)

Starting to swim forward, the larger Mer released two low click sounds, Josuke and Okuyasu almost immediately answering as they came swimming in from the right.

“Y/N!” They both happily exclaimed when they saw you and latched onto you, hugging you happily while you wheezed at the tight squeeze and pain that brought. “You’re okay!” Josuke shouted out before Jotaro could reprimand them for not being careful, the pup having pushed away from you while shouting.

“I’m okay.” You smiled.

“We’re going to find the pod now, come on.” Jotaro got them both moving, the two pups perking up in happiness as they quickly started swimming a few meters in front of you.

Whatever energy they used up to crawl across the beach, they had gotten it back tenfold now at the thought of seeing their family again.

Despite feeling a bit better, swimming was incredibly difficult for you, your tail barely cooperating as you just couldn’t get it to move properly; still immobilised from being electrocuted.

Jotaro was practically doing all the work, both keeping you up, as well as swimming, even though he probably was exhausted as well, and you felt a wave of guilt wash over you.

Opening your mouth, you went to apologise or tell him to just let you swim on your own so he could rest, but Jotaro glared sideways at you the moment you did, Sending you a look that showed he already knew what you were thinking and that you needed to shut it.

Clacking your jaw shut, Jotaro let out an appreciative hum before he squeezed your side, pulling you even further into him, if that were possible, while he started purring. 

Jotaro left the long distance calling to Josuke and Okuyasu, too busy himself with the rumble in his chest for you. He knew where the pod was supposed to be, the calling was mainly a courtesy to let the others know you were coming; which he was pretty sure everyone would appreciate, given how Josuke and Okuyasu had been missing for several days from there - not even to mention he himself.

Yet despite everything, there was no rush. You all would reach the place where the pod set up camp in about twenty to thirty minutes, maybe longer since you were injured and the pups would get tired, but there was no rush nonetheless. 

You were finally back where you belonged.

- - - -

~Epilogue~

Soft, distant clicking alerted the pod something was coming. 

It was there but then it stopped again, leaving everyone to wonder if they actually heard it or if it was just something else. 

But then it sounded again, closer this time. 

Tomoko, Joseph and Keicho and his father were the first to recognise the calls and they got up from where they were, answering with their own clicks as they waited with baited breath. 

And then, about thirty meters away, from around the corner, came two small forms, clicking and calling out happily as they spotted the pod further away.

“Mom, dad!” “Big bro, dad!”

The two pups called out happily, waving and smiling as they swam as fast as they had energy left to do. 

“Josuke, Okuyasu!” All four of them shot forward, going to embrace the pups while the rest of the pod chittered happily upon seeing the familiar faces after several days, swimming in circles around them.

And then someone else turned the corner, having swam several meters behind the two smaller Mer.

“Jotaro!!” Even from far away, Holly immediately recognised her son, tearing up as she flew towards him as fast as she could, her shout making everyone in the pod look up as well. 

Within seconds she had reached him, latching onto his neck and burying her head into his shoulder. “You’re alright!” She cried while Jotaro let out a small noise from the impact, wobbling a bit in the water as he tried to stay upright.

“Careful.” Jotaro grunted as his mother cut off his gills’ water supply. Though that ‘careful’ was not meant in reference to himself. 

Holly let go of him and now seemed to notice the Mer her son had his arm slung around.

“Oh! Sweetheart, are you alright?! What happened to you?” Holly immediately started doting on you, putting her hands on your cheeks as concerned chitters left her. 

“I’m alright.” You smiled at her but Jotaro clicked his tongue, his brows furrowed down.

“You got fried alive, don’t lie.” He glared slightly but both you and Holly knew it was in concern, not anger. 

And that made Holly put two and two together. The closeness, the similar scent, Jotaro willingly touching you, the seemingly matching necklaces, the concern for your well-being higher than all else, even when seeing his own mother for the first time in so long.

The older mermaid gasped happily. “Jotaro, do you have a mate?!”

“Not now.” He tried to brush his mother off.

“Okay~!” She happily said but silently smiled to herself, for, that wasn’t a denial.

Holly then let go of her son and instead went to hang on your right, taking your arm and gently pulling it over her in a similar fashion to how Jotaro had done to you.

“Oh, I- I’m sure I can swim by myself now I-“

“No.” Jotaro’s answer was short and clear, the merman not even humouring your idea enough to look at you.

Even though you were used to him by now and had no problems with his way of communicating, he luckily did have a mother who was a lot better at it. “Nonsense dear, just let us help you.” She smiled at you as the mother-son duo started swimming.

Jotaro mainly ignored everyone as he swam past, them all knowing Jotaro long enough to know that if he was like this it was better to not approach and annoy him. Only his grandfather got a small nod as the pod patriarch when he swam past, the older Mer looking curiously as to what his grandson was doing and who that was with him that got his attention so much.

“Is Y/N gonna be okay?” Josuke’s voice was small as he asked that, fearfully looking at the three Mer swimming away while Joseph’s brows shot up. 

“Who is she? What happened, son?” 

“That’s Y/N. She was stuck with Jotaro at the humans when we got there. And then we all jumped out to escape but Y/N protected us and got hurt really bad. Is she... gonna die?”

With furrowed brows Joseph looked back, just in time to see the three Mer reach the caves and see Jotaro gently bumping his head against hers to keep her attention, the action way too soft for the grumpy Mer in his grandfather’s opinion.

“We’ll take care of her, Josuke.” Joseph assured his son. Tomoko and Suzie Q, who had joined them as well, looked up for a second, realising this small sentence to the pup was actually a way for the patriarch to accept the new Mer into the pod.

Joseph noticed the women’s looks and he held his hands up. “If I don’t, I think Jotaro will rip me apart.”

“So, you think he finally found a mate?”

“I still think that boy is incapable of that, no one would want him, you know how he is. No, but she must have something of a bond with him. Really good friends perhaps?”

“Oh, Joseph, you really are a fool and way too stubborn.” The matriarch of the pod sighed.

“That was an established fact.” Tomoko smirked, making Suzie Q look at her with a sly smile of her own while Joseph spluttered in the background.

- - - -

Reaching the cave he had called his own for years, Jotaro took in a deep breath, feeling his tense muscles from the past two hours relax and release a bit, the fatigue now really catching up to him.

Blinking to stay up and awake a little bit longer, he swam inside with you and his mother. 

He gently put you down on his bed before turning to the other mermaid in the room. “We need some rest.”

Holly understood the silent question and swam over to press a kiss to her son’s cheek, to which he let it happen without fight for once, the month and a half of absence and pure exhaustion resulting in him just taking it.

Beaming a smile, she put her hand on his cheek and turned his head towards her. “Welcome home, Jotaro. I’m so happy you’re back.” She said softly and Jotaro closed his eyes, exhaling deeply as he felt his mother’s touch again.

With that, Holly let go and swam back to the opening, looking back one last time to see her son already joining his mate on the bed, making Holly smile to herself before she fully left.

“Do you think they’ll really be okay with me joining your pod?” You asked, weakly yet worried, and Jotaro put his hand on your waist as he hovered over you.

“They will, especially after you stupidly defended Okuyasu and Josuke and got hurt in the process. And on the slim chance they don’t, I will make them.”

The threat in his undertone made you chuckle a bit which, in turn, made you grimace a bit, the muscles in your stomach contracting and hurting by doing that.

“You’re still so tense.” Jotaro remarked as he squeezed your waist where he had placed his hand, feeling your muscles still locked up and tight. 

“Ouchies.” You softly said with a smile at his squeeze.

Jotaro rolled his eyes a little playfully before leaning his face closer to you and getting a little more sincere. “Will you let me take care of you?” He asked quietly, no volume needed when you were so close.

“Always.” 

Letting out a happy rumble, Jotaro let it devolve into the continuous purr you were so familiar with, the Merman leaning down to press a soft kiss to your lips while starting to gently knead and massage your muscles. 

He started with your arms, knowing those were probably the most troubling areas right now. Pulling away from the kiss, he completely focused on what his hands were doing.

It was uncomfortable and slightly hurt, but at the same time felt incredibly relieving. Jotaro’s purring helped with relaxing your muscles, making it easier for him to massage the stiffness away.

He was careful and meticulous, working on your right forearm; pressing his thumbs down by the inside of your elbow and then dragging them down the entire length of your forearm before moving up a bit and massaging circles, only to repeat that process until he felt no more tension.

Not a single spot was skipped or neglected, to both your relief and your chagrin, cause it meant it would take longer, the uncomfortable almost-but-not-entirely-pain feeling persisting.

As if sensing your dread, Jotaro leaned his face down to your shoulder, pressing a small kiss to it before going down a bit. He had been working on your upper arm but now paused momentarily, instead firmly pressing his tongue against your skin and dragging it up.

Different from when he worked on wounds, Jotaro was not careful or soft. His tongue was instead pressing down just as hard as his fingers did while massaging.

He was not unlike a lioness grooming her cub, the lithe muscle working to relax and slightly numb your pain and discomfort.

As he moved higher, he brought his hands back up, massaging the muscles of your upper arm again where he had just been soothingly licking, his fingers now causing a lot less discomfort as your muscles were slightly numbed and more relaxed.

Seeing you react so positively, Jotaro continued with that method. Licking and preparing the next area he would massage while his hands worked on the previous one.

Your eyes were closed as you let him take care of you, a faint chirr coming from your chest that encouraged Jotaro to keep going. 

As he reached your shoulders, moving to sit behind your head to give him a better angle, Jotaro decided to just teasingly lick across your gills. The action tickled and you jerked away slightly, unable to get very far as Jotaro still had a firm fold on you.

He chuckled softly at your reaction and you pouted at him. “And I was just starting to enjoy it.” You whined slightly, making Jotaro bump his head against yours. 

“You’ll enjoy it again.” He assured you as he leaned back down, dragging his tongue over your sternum while keeping eye contact with you. His hands started back up on your right shoulder, kneading firmly and lovingly.

Never would Jotaro have guessed he would enjoy taking care of someone this much. But with how protective he felt over you, it seemed only logical. You got hurt because he wasn’t there in time. Not only was this an apology from him to you, it was also to make it up to himself, making sure you were alright when he couldn’t before.

Of course Jotaro knew you could take care of yourself and stand your ground, hell, you had proven you could. But he couldn’t help the protective instincts. But then again, you didn’t seem to mind them too much either, much to his delight. 

Returning to the task at hand, Jotaro continued to gently take care of you, and by the time he reached your tail, you had fallen asleep.

Noticing this, Jotaro stopped himself momentarily. His hands were on either side of your hips as he gently held you, looking up as he took note of the steady inhalation and exhalation of your gills, an innocent flutter in his chest as he watched the organ open and close. 

Despite everything, you all had made it out. Staying in that tank would have been a death sentence and who knows what else the humans would have come up with. 

Just remembering what happened put a poor taste in Jotaro’s mouth but he just sighed, putting his hand on your stomach and looking at it briefly before focusing back on your tail. 

Right as he was leaning down and about to continue, a familiar feeling washed over the shark Mer and he growled softly in annoyance. 

Lifting himself up again, he immediately got up and swam to the entrance of the grotto pocket he called his own, met at once with his grandfather, mother and, surprisingly, his father - who had just returned from his hunt - trying to act as if they weren’t just trying to spy on him.

“What.” Jotaro growled, annoyance radiating off of him even though he was speaking a little quieter than normal.

“Ah, Jotaro, hi! Uh, nothing.” His grandfather awkwardly chuckled, thankfully having the brain to be a little quiet as well or Jotaro might have lashed out. The Mer was visibly very tired and somewhat agitated now, any small thing could make him throw hands.

“Jotaro, you’re back.” Sadao started, making the tired glare get directed to him.

“Yes. Hi. Get out.”

“We’re just worried about you and curious as to what is going on, Jotaro.” Joseph tried, his gaze specifically honing in on the metal stuck around the younger shark’s wrist, but said shark just let out a ‘Tch.’

“I’ve been spied on and looked at for a month and a half. If you have any questions they can wait.” He growled before slamming the rock that acted as a door shut, pushing it into the opening of the cave.

Jotaro swam back over to the bed in a huff, looking you over and happily noting that you hadn’t woken up or stirred thanks to the commotion. He swam to continue working on your tail but the exhaustion finally caught up with him. His eyes were drooping and even if he did push past it, he wouldn’t do as good of a job as he would like to. He’d finish it tomorrow when you both woke up.

So, with that promise in his own head, he gently joined you on the bed, carefully draping himself beside you before lifting your tail a bit and entwining it with his. It may be a little bit less comfy, but he just wanted to keep as much of you as close as possible. 

His arms were gently draped around you and he pulled you into his chest, burying his head against the side of your head. With a content sigh, he finally allowed his tense muscles to deflate, no longer having to be on constant full alert now that the pod was around to protect against danger. And he fell asleep within seconds, holding you close.

You were both home.

-

The three parents blinked a few times, baffled as they stared at the rock that was just slammed in their face.

“So... he’s alright then?”

- - - -

Bonus:

Tip, don't ever write when it is 2-3am and you are tired as all hell. Cause I did, and then I woke up to this

I  w h e e z e

And as a bonus bonus: Some memes made about the fic made by @ahoge-fish

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4

#jotaro x reader #jjba #mermaid au #jojos bizarre adventure #Jotaro Kujo #mertaro #au #merman #jojo x reader #mermaid #jjba x reader #fish fuckery #this has been a trip and a half #thank you all for all the lovely support ❤️

[book-boys-are-my-guilty-pleasure]

A Stark and her Soldier ~ Part 1

Imagine: Reuniting with Bucky when you end up helping Sam with the Flag Smashers.

Warnings: TFATWS SPOILERS! This takes place during the first two episodes of the show.

A/N: I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’M BACK (with a new header lol)!!! AHHHHHHHH! It’s been nearly two years but here I am… posting this makes me SO nervous, so feedback would be highly appreciated! More parts and some information about what I’m planning with this blog to follow soon! 

“You held us together – do it for them,” he paused before adding, “Promise me you’ll do it for them.”

You blinked away the tears, knowing what was coming, “I can’t promise that...”

“Y/N please,” the way he begged you with that shaking voice was nearly enough to push you over the edge.

“I-I promise.” He squeezed your hand before letting you leave.

“You’ve reached James Barnes, sorry I couldn’t take your call, please –” you hung up before the recorded message could continue, face burning with frustration. This was the 9th time you had tried calling him this week, not to mention the countless text messages.

You scoffed thinking of Steve’s last words to you, how were you supposed to hold them together when you barely held yourself together on a good day? It doesn’t make it any easier when the person you’re supposed to be holding together is so keen on letting himself fall apart.  

Every time you tried calling him, you ended up feeling furious, miserable, or like an absolute failure – usually all three. You promised Steve, you promised, and you failed. You groaned and chucked your phone across your bed.

The last time you had seen him, Steve had still been around, and you hadn’t even spoken to him since Tony’s funeral.

 You and Pepper had walked to the lake, each holding one of Morgan’s hands, and you had sat at the dock watching the arc reactor – his heart – float away, the people behind you forgotten in your grief. The weight on your heart was unbelievable, you had already lost your best friend, Natasha, and now your brother was gone.

You promised him that you wouldn’t cry at his funeral – he always knew it was inevitable – and so you sat there, sending him away with a pained smile.

You had no idea how long you had just sat there, staring at the horizon across the lake, trying to make this last moment with your brother last forever.

“Y/N?” You felt a hand squeezing your shoulder, “You should come back inside.”

“What happens now, Steve?” Your voice was softer than he had ever heard before.

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out together,” he paused for a moment before gesturing to Bucky, waiting outside the house behind him, “He wants to talk to you.”

You gave Bucky a small smile, “Hey.”

He walked over and dropped down next to you, Steve leaving the two of you to chat, “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” You nodded solemnly.

He added, “For everything, Y/N… he probably wouldn’t even have wanted me here, but –”

You shook your head and took his hand, heart fluttering at the contact. You had always been attracted to him, and it had only grown with every interaction. “That wasn’t you.”

You knew your brother never blamed Bucky, you all knew how it felt to have people mess with your heads and Bucky had had the worst of it. He was furious at Steve for years, but never at Bucky – you could never bring yourself to be angry with either of them, not after the stories you grew up with. Your father had adored the soldiers and you had been one of their biggest fans, and later one of Steve’s closest friends.

There had come a point after the battle between Tony and Steve when you had become sick of all the back and forth. You were lucky enough to find an escape when T’Challa got in touch with you, offering you a chance to come to Wakanda and learn about their technology – you weren’t ashamed to admit that you were the one who contacted him to beg for it. You hadn’t known that Bucky was already there. Slowly but surely, the two of you found comfort in one another and became good friends.  

He gave you a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “You should head inside, it’s getting late – I’ll see you again soon.”

He stayed true to that statement, the two of you stood with Sam and Bruce, waiting for Steve to come back after returning the stones – only to have him shatter your hearts.

You only saw Bucky in passing after that, occasionally visiting Steve at the same time – you never said a word to him, beyond a smile or a wave, and then you stopped seeing him all together. You tried, for the sake of your promise to Steve, but he never answered your calls or texts.

“We’ll figure it out together, right, thanks a lot Steve,” You muttered.

You jumped at the sound of your phone ringing, and your shoulders sank a bit when you saw Sam’s name flashing across the screen, “Hey.”

“He’s doing an interview,” You knew exactly who Sam was talking about, “Good Morning America.”

Your stomach turned, “That’s the last thing I want to see.”

“I know, I just thought I’d share my joy with someone,” Sam chuckled, “Any luck with Bucky?”

“I’m just wasting my time at this point,” You could feel the tears returning to your eyes as you said it.

“Hey, come on now, he’ll come around, he just needs some time.”

“Right…”

“Listen, I called because we have a lead, wanna join?”

“Please.”

“I hate it, his stupid face plastered on every wall, it feels like he’s mocking us.”

“Don’t you start, Y/N.”

“Seriously Sam, I get that he’s the new Cap – the fake Cap, but don’t you think that this,” You gestured to the posters around you, “is excessive?”

“It-”

“Shouldn’t have given up the shield.” Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice and your face heated up with anger, you hadn’t realized it was possible to feel such contrasting emotions at the same time, but here you were. You noted that his voice was a bit hoarse and wondered if he had been sick.

“Good to see you too, Buck.”

“This is wrong.”

“So is pushing away everyone who cares about you.” He finally looked at you and you saw shame glistening in those steel blue eyes.

He said nothing before turning back to Sam, “You didn’t know that was gonna happen?”

Wow, ignoring your calls was one thing, but outright ignoring you while you stood in front of him, that caused a different kind of hurt.

You stood in silence as Sam explained where the two of you were headed, trying to push away the pounding in your head, and suddenly, you found yourself in a jet sitting next to Bucky.

“You could have answered, even once. Could’ve at least let me know that you were still alive.”

“I know,” Was all he said.

“We were friends once,” Nothing, “and I still care for you.”

“I know.”

“Four months, a full four months and I didn’t hear a single word from you, I’m going to need more than ‘I know’.”

He sighed, “I’m sorry.”

You could tell that he meant it and didn’t know what more to say, so you got up and headed towards the open door of the plane, “I’ll catch you boys on the ground.”

You watched Sam follow, and considered helping Bucky as he fell through the trees, but you decided against it. He hurt your feelings and now you could call it even.

Super soldiers? How on earth were there more super soldiers?! You didn’t have much time to ponder on the thought as you got kicked in the face by one of them and fell off the semi – definitely should have let Tony make you a helmet like he insisted.

You flew back up only to see him dropping out of a helicopter, Fake Cap, fuck.

“Looks like you guys could use some help,” Your blood boiled at the sight of his cocky grin.

You weren’t winning, and you weren’t stupid enough to continue trying, let Steve’s knock-off take care of it.

You flew off just in time to see Bucky lying on top of Sam, the latter groaned in displeasure.

“Hey, can you gentlemen save the PDA for later?” You joked, earning a glare from both of them.

With the adrenaline slowly draining from your system, the pain from the blows you took started to set in, making you dread the trek in front of you. As if on cue, you heard a horn honking and Fake Cap pulled up next to you, “It’s 20 miles to the airport, you guys need a ride.”

“I think we’re good,” You simply stated.

“You won’t make it with that limp.”

You gave him a crude smile, “I’d rather crawl.”  

They stopped and opened the door, you exchanged a look with Sam and Bucky, silently deciding to join them.

You sat between Bucky and Sam, and felt the anger and disgust radiating off of both of them with every word that was exchanged.

“Y/N Stark,” You despised the way he said your last name, like he wanted to devour you, “You are one of the original seven, I trust you know the importance of having a strong team. I’d suggest giving a word or two of advice to your friends here.”

“Did you really just compare being on a team with you two, to being on a team with the Avengers?” You glowered at him, “A word of advice Walker, you’re not Steve, you might be holding that shield, but you will never be half the Captain America that he was. So quit fucking pretending.”  

“I didn’t realize Stark’s sister had such a mouth on her,” He smirked, he knew exactly what he was doing and as much as you hated to admit it, it was working, “Vicious.”

“Go to hell.”

The ride didn’t last very long after that, and you had no complaints when Bucky demanded them to stop the car.

You opened your eyes and rolled over to see Sam still asleep on the seats across from you, and Bucky was sitting on the large crate in the middle of the jet, “Not tired?”

“Nah,” He shook his head.

You pushed yourself to your feet and hopped up next to him, “You’d think they’d make those seats a bit more comfortable considering the amount of time we spend on these things.”

He chuckled and the two of you fell into a comfortable silence. After a considerable pause he turned to you, “Y/N, I meant what I said earlier, I’m sorry.”

The dark bags under his eyes were a stark contrast from the beautiful blue that you were looking into, which you noted which had lost its luster. You noticed that his voice still had a bit of that hoarseness from earlier in the day, and the dots connected. You remembered how hoarse your voice used to get when you’d wake up screaming from the nightmares after particularly rough missions. You understood why he was awake, he didn’t want you and Sam to see him like that.

You nodded, “I know, I just wish – I was worried sick about you. I know it hasn’t been easy for you Buck, but we were good friends once and I miss you.”

“I wanted to call, it’s just been tough,” He admitted, and you reached over to take his hand, only to quickly pull away as Sam woke up.

“You two okay?”

“Yeah,” You both said. You wondered if Bucky’s super soldier ability allowed him to hear the way your heartbeat picked up from that brief touch.

Your mind was racing a million miles a minute, you had barely kept the tears in listening to Isaiah’s story, both out of anger and sadness. How? How did this happen? How was this man tortured, then brushed under the rug? How did no one know about it? Why the hell did Bucky keep this from you?

Sam mirrored your pained expression, but something darker lurked beneath his eyes, you couldn’t even imagine the rage he felt. The sound of a police siren pulled you out of your thoughts.

Your anger only grew at the argument that ensued, “I am calm, what do you want? We’re just standing here talking.”

“Just give him your ID,” You glared at Bucky as the words left his mouth.

“Why the hell should he? He didn’t do anything wrong!” You growled, at the same time Sam said, “I’m not giving him shit, we were just talking.”

“Hey, hey, look, is this guy bothering you?” The officer asked you and Bucky. Your eyes widened, he can’t be serious right now.

“No, he’s not bothering us, do you know who this is?!”

You couldn’t even stand to look at the guy as his jaw dropped in shock upon realizing who Sam was, you felt your body shake with anger, and you didn’t even want to think what would have happened if Sam hadn’t been an Avenger.

The officer returned from his vehicle and turned the tables, announcing that there was a warrant out for Bucky’s arrest.

Watching him being handcuffed and put into the car shattered your heart, if the events of the day hadn’t already left you feeling nauseous, you knew this would be the nail in the coffin. All you could see was Bucky on his knees with a gun to his head nearly seven year ago when Steve barely prevented T’Challa from killing him and the four of you had been arrested – Tony had been furious with you, but it was the shame in Bucky’s eyes that had hurt you the most, and here you were, witnessing it again.

You reached over a grabbed Sam’s hand and squeezed as hard as you could, desperate for a lifeline to keep you from sinking into those painful memories.

You maintained that same grip on the poor man’s hand as you sat at the police station waiting for Bucky to be bailed out, “Sam, Y/N, I’ve heard a lot about you two, I’m Dr. Raynor, I’m James’ therapist.”

The two of you shook her hand and Sam thanked her for getting Bucky out.

“That was not me –”

“Christina!” You’d recognize that voice anywhere from the way it made your skin crawl, fuck, “Good to see you again.”

You clenched your jaw to keep yourself from punching the stupid grin off of his face as he pointed to himself when Dr. Raynor asked him who authorized Bucky’s release. You knew you had a problem with constantly wanting to punch people in the face, it was a trait that ran in the family, but Walker’s face was definitely one of the most punchable ones you had seen – a good ol’ pop in the jaw wouldn’t hurt, right? Just one?

“He’s too valuable of an asset to have him tied up –”

That was it, that was all you were willing to hear, you couldn’t stop yourself from getting in his face and hissing, “Call him that again, and I swear to god Walker, I –”

Sam put his arm around you, hand pressed to your stomach and pulled you back, “Y/N.”

Walker simply smirked and turned back to Raynor, “Do what you have to do and send him off to me. Got some unfinished business, him and I, you too Wilson, and bring your guard dog with you.”

It took everything in your power to keep from snarling at him.  

“James, condition of your release, session now,” The doctor ordered, “You two as well.”

“I’m good, I’ve been to enough therapy,” You shook your head, at the same time Sam said, “That’s okay, I’ll be out here with –”

“That wasn’t a request,” You couldn’t help but chuckle, and decided that you liked this woman.

You and Sam sat on either side of Bucky, facing Dr. Raynor as she got started. You couldn’t help but notice the way Bucky’s eyes shifted and jaw clenched as Sam tried to weasel his way out of the session, and your chest tightened. He looked so tired, and not just the ‘hasn’t slept in a few days’ tired, but more like he was tired of trying – he looked broken.

You decided in that moment that you would try, and not just for Steve, but for the man next to you who had held a piece of your heart before he even knew you, and managed steal that piece away when you had met him years later.

You realized how hard you’d have try when Bucky answered Dr. Raynor’s question with, “In my miracle, he would talk less.”

“Exactly what I was gonna say, isn’t that ironic?” You sighed, so hard.

She turned to you, mimicking the expression on your face, “Y/N, can I trust you to give me a proper answer?”

Try, Y/N, try. You saw a glimmer of hope in Raynor’s eyes as they met yours, but you simply shrugged and looked away, unable to bring yourself to open up, and she let her shoulders fall slightly.

“You guys are leaving me with no choice. It’s time for the soul-gazing exercise. Y/N, you can sit this one out, you get along with both of them well enough.”

You rolled your eyes at the reactions from the boys, this’ll be good. You couldn’t help but chuckle as they got closer to one another, maybe I should have taken part in this exercise. They made eye contact and continued to hold it, you realized what they were doing moments before the doctor did and let out a genuine laugh – earning a glare from Raynor, don’t encourage them she seemed to say.

“James, why does Sam aggravate you? And don’t say something childish.” Your head filled with a hundred different ideas about what stupid things Bucky would come up with, only to have them fizzle away at his cheeky grin towards the doctor, followed by the lick of his lip. It left your throat dry. Snap out of it, Y/N, what’s gotten into you?

He paused for a moment, his expression changing, and turned back to Sam, “Why’d you give of that shield?”

You held your breath, you knew this was going to come up, but weren’t expecting it here. You couldn’t take your eyes off of Bucky, noticing every change in his face, it becoming more pained with every word that left his mouth, and your chest tightening alongside it, until finally, “So maybe he was wrong about you. And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me.”

The break in his voice cracked your heart into a million pieces. You looked up, trying to keep the tears swimming in your eyes from falling. You turned your attention towards Sam and noticed the emotion behind his glassy eyes – it was different than anything you had seen in him before, it was almost as though you could see the burden he was carrying on his shoulders, the pressure that was pushing him in every direction.

I have to fix this, you told yourself, you couldn’t stand to see them like this, I have to try.  

Your mind was roaring with thoughts, you hadn’t even noticed that Sam and Bucky had left until Raynor asked, “What would be in your miracle, Y/N?”

You snapped your head towards her, then to the door, you weighed your options and headed towards the latter. You grabbed the handle and stopped, without turning towards her you whispered, “I’d find a home again, and they’d find some happiness.”

You pulled the door open, “Y/N, I don’t think those two things have to be separate.”

Her words swam in your head until you found Bucky and Sam walking outside, Walker and Hoskins storming off in the other direction.

“What’s that all about?”

“Walker being Walker,” Sam shrugged.

“So, what now?”

“Bucky wants to talk to Zemo,” Every memory that you spent years trying to forget came flooding back: Zemo using those words to turn Bucky into the Winter Soldier, who then proceeded to trash the compound and nearly kill you and your friends; watching your family fight each other at the airport and being forced to pick a side; watching the footage of your parents dying; desperately begging your brother and the man who had become your brother not to kill one another.

“You what?!” You gasped.

“Y/N –”

You stepped between the two of them, close enough to Bucky that you had to tilt your head up to look into his eyes, and whispered, “Bucky, no.”

“This might be our only lead, Y/N,” You stared up at him, silently pleading him, he reflected the same in his own, “Please Y/N.”

He took your hand and you instantly melted, “I – fine, but promise me you will be careful.”

“I promise.”

End. 

Read Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 and Part 6

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[thekingwhowouldhavebeen]

I have a lot of thoughts

/dsmp /rp Can’t stop thinking about the fact that even though C!Dream was PISSED at C!Sam for outright lying to him, he still gave Sam steak before he left. In fact, he stated “Here just take the steak” 

Like...Was Dream planning to give Sam steak the whole time? Or was it all that he had on hand. Was he lying when he said he’d be giving Sam rotten flesh, or potato’s, or this ‘kibble’ he keeps talking about. That even though Sam treated him horribly, broken and dehumanized him in a way that Sam should NEVER have done. Dream still can’t help but treat him better than how Dream was treated????

-------------------------------------

Also Dream talking about how “Are you a good person” feels so eerily familiar to the conversation after Sam found him when Sam and Quackity believed he escaped. The fact that Sam was saying he was a monster, a horrible person, a ‘bad’ person. And now here Dream is, roles reversed, saying the exact same thing. But of well, instead of TELLING Sam that he’s a Bad Person, he’s trying to coax him into realizing it himself. And the fact that Sam cannot comprehend the idea that maybe Dream genuinely really does have reasons.

Dream calling him out on his hypocracy as well, even if its subtle. How can Sam be a good person, believing the Ends justify the Means, and yet Dream is a bad person for following that exact kinda logic. C!Sam is wild and while I (lovingly) hate him with my whole heart, my brain just goes brrr everytime I think about his logic. 

---------------------------------

Dream bringing up the Pandora’s box metaphor is so good too. Like, he was basically implying that SAM created the bad things that were unleased. Dream didn’t always have this anger, this rage and hate inside him. So it genuinely makes me curious that when Dream finally got out, did plans change? I think as much as Dream wants to tell himself that he planned for torture, he obviously didn’t and it forced plans to change (whether he knows it consciously or subconsciously)

Also thought it was interesting that Dream used a ‘family in financial ruin’ as the metaphor. If we kill the child, then the family is free from debt. Sounds...familiar. A sever in ruin, left to fall to chaos and disharmony. Get rid of the child who is causing the most strain. I have no idea if CC!Dream planned that parallel, but I can’t help but think of it

#dreblr #c!dream #c!sam #dsmp analysis