#but i promise - sometimes we all need someone else to help us carry the weight. eventually the rage has to die so that we can let help in

[jujitto]

. . . . . 달빛 반사  ★ m o o n l i t r e f l e c t i o n s

! pairing. sung hanbin x reader

! synopsis . maybe you were working too hard or maybe you didn’t work hard enough. because it all seems to become nothing in the end. but then again, he has worked hard, and everything seemed to fall at his feet. so what were you doing wrong?

! warning. mentions of alcohol but not a lot! I promise!

! w/c. 1.8k

! @yeokii for the title! ❤️

For years you worked hard just for your hard work to accumulate to nothing. At first, it didn’t bother you as much but seeing him get everything that his life desired had made you feel a bit bitter even though you should be happy for him. But could you be happy? Catching his eye from across the room, you sent a small smile and waved his way.

Taking a sip of your drink, you tried to find something other than him to focus on. The bustling crowd and lively conversations provided a distraction at least for a little as you made your way through the crowd to get yourself another drink. As you approached the bar, catching the bartender's attention and ordering another drink to occupy your hands and thoughts.

With the fresh drink in hand, you leaned against the bar, surveying the room. People danced, engaged in conversations, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. “Rough night, I presume?” A voice startled you, causing you to turn towards the source. Finding the bartender you offered a faint smile and nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that," you replied, taking a sip from your drink. "Just one of those nights, you know?"

The bartender nodded understandingly, his eyes filled with curiosity. "Care to share?" he asked, polishing a glass absentmindedly. Leaning beside him on the counter you couldn't help but hesitate. “I don't know.....I did just meet you.”

The bartender chuckled lightly. "Fair enough, I suppose. But sometimes, talking to a stranger can be surprisingly liberating. It's like a temporary escape from our usual lives," he said, a hint of wisdom in his voice.

You considered his words for a moment, realizing that he might be right. You took another sip of your drink, contemplating whether you should open up to this friendly bartender. After all, what harm could it do? He was just a stranger, and you needed an outlet for the emotions swirling inside you.

"Have you ever felt like you worked so hard for so many years for it to become nothing but a waste of effort and time?” As you posed the question, the bartender's expression turned thoughtful. He leaned on the counter, his gaze meeting yours with empathy. "I can't say I haven't," he admitted, his voice carrying a tinge of understanding. "It's a common feeling, especially when our efforts don't yield the results we hope for."

You sighed, feeling a weight lift off your shoulders as you realized someone else could relate to your struggle. "It's just frustrating, you know? Watching someone else effortlessly succeed while you feel like you're stuck in a never-ending cycle of hard work without any rewards." The bartender nodded in agreement, showing genuine sympathy. "It's a tough spot to be in, no doubt. But remember, everyone's journey is different, and life has its way of throwing surprises at us-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the bartender's attention was diverted by another customer calling for his assistance. He excused himself briefly, promising to return to continue the conversation. As you waited, you took a moment to reflect on his words. However, your thoughts were cut off by a hand grasping yours. Turning to find the source, you were met with a warm smile and familiar eyes. Sung Hanbin, the person you had been watching from afar, who was also your boyfriend.

Hanbin's presence surprised you, as you hadn't expected him to seek you out amidst the crowded bar. His warm smile softened your bitterness, at least momentarily. "Hey," he said, his voice filled with genuine affection. "I've been looking for you. There are some people I wanted to introduce you to unless you want to stay here?" Some part of you felt a mixture of surprise and delight that Hanbin came over to find you. You couldn't help but smile back at him, appreciating his effort to include you in his social circle.

"Sure, I'd love to meet your friends," you replied, setting aside the lingering feelings of bitterness for the moment. As you both made your way through the crowd, Hanbin held your hand, and you felt a sense of connection and reassurance. Together, you and Hanbin navigated the bustling crowd, weaving through clusters of people until you reached a more secluded area where his friends were gathered. As you approached the group, Hanbin introduced you to each of them with pride in his voice.

At first, the conversation was going smoothly, and you found yourself genuinely enjoying the company of Hanbin's friends. They were friendly, engaging, and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know you. However, as the night wore on, you couldn't help but notice how effortlessly Hanbin fit in with his friends. He laughed easily, shared stories seamlessly, and appeared entirely at ease in the social setting.

In contrast, you found yourself feeling slightly out of place. You tried your best to contribute to the conversations, but the lingering feelings of bitterness resurfaced. It seemed as though no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't shake off the sense of inadequacy that had been building within you for quite some time.

As the group's banter continued, you became quieter, retreating into your thoughts. You observed how Hanbin effortlessly charmed everyone around him, and that only fueled your feelings of frustration and envy. Despite his success and popularity, Hanbin seemed to be completely oblivious to your inner turmoil.

After a while, Hanbin noticed your change in demeanor and leaned closer to whisper in your ear, "Are you okay?" His concern was genuine, and it momentarily softened the turmoil in your heart. However, you didn't want to burden him with your insecurities, especially not in front of his friends.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you replied with a forced smile, hoping he would believe your words. "I'm just going to go get some fresh air."

Stepping away from the group, you made your way outside to the dimly lit patio area. Taking a deep breath, the cool night air helped clear your head a bit. The soft sound of music from inside the bar provided a background to your thoughts as you leaned against the railing. ‘Maybe if I head home no one would notice? Maybe it would be best for everyone?” You thought but then again you couldn't just up and leave.

Tonight was Hanbin’s big night, and you didn't want to ruin it for him. Glancing up at the night sky, you found yourself lost in the twinkling stars. Lost in your thoughts, you didn't notice someone approaching until you felt the soft fabric of a coat draped over your shoulders. With a sigh you turned to find Hanbin standing beside you, his concerned eyes searching yours. "I knew you'd come to check on me. That's just the type of person you are.”

Hanbin smiled gently, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. "Of course, I would. You mean a lot to me, and I want you to be happy," he said sincerely. "But it's clear something's bothering you, and I can't help if you won't let me in."

You hesitated for a moment, torn between opening up to him and protecting him from your insecurities. But at that moment, as you looked into his concerned eyes, you knew you needed to be honest with both yourself and him. “I've always been the type of girlfriend to support you no matter what. When you got into the college of your dreams, graduated top of your class, got your dream job, and even now that you managed to get a promotion. I've always been proud of you but as time went on, I couldn't help but feel like my own accomplishments and efforts were being overshadowed. It's not that I'm not genuinely happy for you, Hanbin, because I truly am. But sometimes, deep down, I can't help but wonder if my hard work will ever pay off or if I'll be left behind."

Hanbin listened attentively, his expression growing softer with each word you spoke. He tightened his hold on you, offering comfort and support. "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," he said, his voice filled with sincerity. "I never meant for my successes to overshadow yours or make you feel left behind. Your hard work is just as important, and I'm proud of you too."

You looked into his eyes, searching for any sign of reassurance. "But it's hard, Hanbin. It's hard to see you achieve everything you've ever wanted while I feel like I'm constantly struggling to make progress. I know I should focus on my journey, but sometimes it's just so disheartening."

Hanbin gently cupped your face, his thumb caressing your cheek. "I understand," he said softly. "And I'm sorry for not being more aware of your feelings. Your journey is unique, and comparing it to mine won't do any good. We're a team, and I want to support you in any way I can."

You felt a mixture of relief and vulnerability in his words. Opening up to him allowed you to release the pent-up emotions that had been weighing you down. "Thank you for understanding," you whispered, your voice filled with gratitude. “Maybe I did let my emotions get the best of me tonight, but I'm grateful that you're here for me."

Hanbin smiled warmly, his eyes shining with affection. "Always," he said, pulling you into a comforting embrace. "We're in this together, and I'll always be here to support you, no matter what." Burying your head against his chest, you allowed yourself to be enveloped in his comforting embrace. Pushing a strand of hair from your face, Hanbin kissed your forehead gently. Silence settled between you two as both of you took in the cool night air glancing up at the stars above.

After a while, Hanbin broke the silence, his voice soft and filled with sincerity. "Do you want to head home?” You looked up at Hanbin, to find his eyes still settled on the night sky. “But what about your party? I wouldn't want to ruin your celebration," you replied, a hint of concern in your voice.

Hanbin turned to look at you, his gaze warm and reassuring. "You're not ruining anything, and my priority is making sure you're okay," he said gently. "Besides, the party can continue another time. Right now, I want to be with you."

You smiled gratefully at Hanbin, feeling a sense of relief wash over you. His understanding and willingness to prioritize your well-being meant the world to you. Taking his hand in yours, you nodded.

As you and Hanbin made your way out of the bar and into the quiet streets, you felt a sense of peace wash over you. Walking together under the moonlit sky, the streets were much quieter compared to the lively bar you had just left. The weight of the night seemed to lift off your shoulders as you and Hanbin strolled side by side, the soft sound of your footsteps echoing through the peaceful night.

#❝ Z E R O B A S E O N E ❞ #zb1 imagines #zb1 angst #zb1 fluff #zb1 hanbin #zerobaseone #zerobaseone imagines #zb1 fanfiction #zb1 ff #zerobaseone fics #sung hanbin #zb1 x reader #zerobaseone x reader #zerobaseone angst #zerobaseone fluff #zerobase1 #0_1 #sung hanbin imagines

[slushpuppi]

COMFORT !

Eric draven comforts the reader over a death of a loved one

Warnings; mentions of death, eric talks abt shelly alot, I dont think this is sad.

A/n: very long. It mostly is talking about Eric's view because he's a sad goth.. it also talks abt him wanting 2 help other people.. um.. 3rd p.o.v

-

Eric Draven was walking down a dreary alleyway when he heard a girl sobbing. Intrigued, he followed the sound until he found a young woman weeping on the ground.

"Are you okay, Miss?" asked Eric as he gently knelt beside her.

The girl looked up at Eric with tear-stained eyes. "No, my boyfriend just died last night," she said weakly.

Eric's heart broke for the girl as he took her hand. "I'm so sorry for your loss," he said gently. "Death is a difficult journey, and it's especially hard when it's someone you love."

The girl nodded, her grief too overwhelming for words.

Eric sighed. "I know that nothing I say or do can make your pain go away," he said earnestly, "but what I can do is offer you comfort. Sometimes, all we need is someone to be there for us, to remind us that we're not alone."

The girl looked into Eric's kind eyes and something in her shifted. For the first time since her boyfriend's death, she felt a glimmer of hope.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Eric nodded and held the girl close. "It'll take time, but I promise you that things will get better. The pain will recede, the memories will become less painful... and you'll find a way to move on."

For a few moments, they were just two lost souls clinging to each other in the midst of their pain. But as the girl stood up and began to walk away, Eric knew that he had done something important.

It was a small thing, really-just a bit of comfort- but sometimes that's all it takes to make a difference. And sometimes, that's all that we can do.

As the girl walked away, Eric couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness for her. He knew all too well what it was like to lose someone you loved. The pain of it never really went away, but he had found a way to channel it into something positive- something that would bring justice to those who had been wronged.

He stood there for a few moments, lost in thought, replaying memories of his own lost love, Shelly.

Suddenly, the girl turned around and walked back towards him. "I don't even know your name," she said softly.

Eric offered her a small smile. "It's Eric. Eric Draven."

The girl extended her hand and Eric took it in his own. "Thank you, Eric. Thank you for being there, for sharing your kindness with me. Even if it was just for a few minutes."

Eric nodded. "Remember- you're not alone. There's always someone out there who cares."

The girl nodded and walked away, her heart a little lighter than before. Eric watched her until she was out of sight, then turned and disappeared into the shadows.

He knew that he couldn't bring the girl's boyfriend back, but maybe he had given her something that was just as valuable- hope.

As he walked into the night, Eric felt a sense of clarity that he hadn't felt in a long time. For the first time since Shelly's death, he felt like he was serving a purpose- that he was doing something good with the pain he carried.

And in that moment, Eric Draven knew that no matter how much pain he felt, he wouldn't let it consume him. He would use it to make a difference- to bring justice to the world- or at least to bring comfort to those who needed it most.

The memory of the girl's tear-stained face stayed with Eric as he walked the darkened streets, the weight of his own sorrow a little more bearable knowing that he had brought some measure of comfort to someone else.

As he walked, he heard the sound of a woman screaming in the distance. Without thinking twice, he ran towards the sound until he came upon a group of thugs attacking a woman.

Eric's fists clenched at the sight, and without a second thought, he jumped into action, taking out the thugs one by one with his superior fighting skills.

As he helped the woman to her feet, he saw the look of gratitude in her eyes and knew that he had made a difference once again.

It might not have been enough to erase the pain of Shelly's death, but it was something- and sometimes, that's all that mattered.

As Eric walked away from the scene, he knew that he would continue to do whatever he could to make the world a better place, even if it was just one small act of kindness at a time.

And maybe, just maybe, in doing so, he would find some measure of peace for himself as well.

The night air was cool and crisp, a welcome relief from the heat of Eric's anger and grief. He walked along the streets, feeling a sense of purpose in every step. It was as if his body had been re-energized by something greater than himself- something beyond the physical realm he now existed within.

As he walked, he thought about everything he had experienced in his short time back in the land of the living. He thought about Shelly- her beautiful smile, the soft touch of her skin, and the weight of her absence in his life. He thought about the girl he had helped, wondering if she would be okay, if she would ever find someone to love again.

Eric knew that he could not bring Shelly back to life, nor could he solve all of the problems of the living world. But he could do something- he could take action in his own way, one small act of kindness at a time.

With each step, Eric felt his own sense of grief begin to lift, as if he was shedding layers of his former self with every passing moment. He felt renewed and ready to face whatever the world had in store for him.

As he walked, Eric realized that he was not alone in his journey. There were others out there who shared his pain, who had lost loved ones and were struggling to move on. And maybe, just maybe, by helping them, he could start to heal his own wounds as well.

With a sense of determination, Eric turned down the next street, ready to face whatever lay ahead with a new-found strength. No matter how dark the night may be, he would always be a shining light of hope for those who needed it most.As Eric continued to walk, he began to notice small acts of kindness around him. A stranger helped an elderly woman cross the street, a young boy offered his seat on the bus to a pregnant woman, and a group of volunteers cleaned up a local park.

These small acts of kindness gave Eric hope. They showed him that despite all the pain and suffering in the world, there was still good. There were still people who cared enough to make a difference, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant their actions might appear.

As he walked, Eric began to feel a sense of purpose. He knew that he couldn't bring Shelly back, but he could help others in her memory. He could be the light in the darkness, the hope in the despair, and the love in the hate.

With each step, Eric felt his own grief fading away. He was no longer walking for himself, but for others. He was no longer lost in his own pain, but focused on helping those around him.

The night air grew colder, but Eric felt warm inside. He knew that, in his own small way, he was making a difference. And that was enough.

As the night came to an end and the sun began to rise, Eric felt a sense of peace. He still missed Shelly, but he knew that she would be proud of him. Proud of the man he had become. Proud of the kindness he had shown to others.

And so, with a smile on his face, Eric continued to walk, ready to face whatever challenges the day may bring. He knew that he wasn't alone, and that together, with kindness and compassion, anything was possible.

#alternative #aesthetic #slashers #horror #horror headcanons #fanfiction #slashpuppi #slasher headcanons #eric draven #the crow #the crow comic #eric draven smut #its not even smut #fluff #cult classic #hashtag cultured #shelly webster #slasher fucker

[nuagederose]

As the Seasons Grey | Chapter Thirty-Seven: Particle Man

ao3 link

Alex’s voice was even warmer and softer once the class period went underway, perhaps more so than before when Christine met up with him before in the cafeteria. It almost felt as though he was seducing her right then and there even though he spoke before the entire class. He had promised her the sense of a cold shoulder when Captain Howdy passed the doorway later in the class period, but he stood before her with one hand rested on his hip as if he brought attention to the space between.

At one point, he took his seat on the stool near the front of the room and rested a hand on his knee. Christine couldn’t help but let her eyes wander down to his crotch and the inseam of his jeans. The soft rounded shape of his belly paired with the snugness of his jeans, and she found it particularly difficult to pay attention to anything else, especially anything that had to do with either reading or speaking anything in French. His French accent was absolutely textbook, to the point she found herself wanting to swim about in the mere sound of his voice.

At one point, he adjusted his weight on the stool, still with one hand on his knee. She couldn’t help but think back to the other night when he taught her that French phrase, especially when he indulged them in a work called Erotism: Death and Sensuality.

“Sometimes I find myself yearning more,” he confessed, and all the while, he kept his gaze fixed upon Christine. “I feel this itch within me that I simply cannot scratch and I feel the need for someone else to scratch it for me.”

“Like when someone scratches that spot on your back that’s hard to reach,” Eric declared, and Christine resisted the urge to laugh at that.

“Yes! Yes, exactly!” Alex chuckled at that, his big hearty chuckle straight from deep within him. He nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and flashed a knowing glance over to Christine.

“Bataille says that humanity is prone to the most trivial of urges, the most seemingly unimportant of things, things that we don’t really think about often, like hunger, and we do our absolute best to control them or satisfy them. For example, if you’re hungry, the obvious choice is to find something to eat, hopefully something that will fill your belly and give you the strength to carry on for a time. Not to launch into a lecture about sex and sexuality, that would be…” He lowered his voice to a near whisper, and then cleared his throat. “…off-topic, and could potentially make me lose my teaching license. But I will say that the desire for it can be strong, like if you haven’t eaten anything all day long and you feel like you could eat a whole dinner meant for four people. The desire that pools in your belly and between your legs could perhaps become a bit too much if you’re away from it long enough, and once it releases, once you are able to scratch that particular itch, it is so overwhelming that you can’t help but feel as though—” He ran his tongue along his lips at the sight of Christine, who wondered as to how no one in the class caught the look in his face or in his eyes as he never removed his attention from her. “—you’ve died and gone straight to heaven.”

Alex shifted his weight again on the stool, and that time, he erected his spine so his belly merely hung out over his lap like the belly of a Buddha statue. Christine could feel her lips twitching at the sight of him there: how she wished to touch him and feel him, especially with the cold outside. To cuddle up next to him and put her arms around him. His hair cascaded around his shoulders like the finest darkest lace she could ever find for herself.

“Le sens final de l'érotisme est la mort,” he said in a low husky voice, the same voice that he used when he spoke to Christine when he was in the mood. “‘The last sense of eroticism is death’ that translates to. Everything is sex. Death is all around us. It is from that that we learn to live.”

Christine then slowly held up her hand, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, Miss Peck?” he asked her, and the smirk crossed his face all the while.

“Are we going to be reading any Anaïs Nin over the next ten weeks?” she asked him, and a couple of people behind her snickered at that. Alex gave his hair a little shake and kept the smirk on his face as he looked on at her.

“Nous pourrions juste lire quelques morceaux choisis d'elle—we just might,” he assured her, and he nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose yet again. “Her intimacy, her power, her prowess, her agency, all of it, is one to speak to the strongest minds of them all. The strongest minds also make the greatest artists.”

The classroom two doors down released right then, and he turned his head away from her so she had a view of his gray streak and his side profile. His eyes wandered from behind the lenses to the other side of the room. Christine held still with her pencil in hand and her gaze still fixed on the inseam of his jeans. He knitted his eyebrows together as he noticed something about the small crowd outside of the door as they made their way out of Mr. Hansen’s class. He ran his fingers through his hair and continued talking.

“I don’t know… do we have any copies of Bataille’s work in our school library?” he asked the class.

“It’d be worth a look,” Eric proclaimed with a shrug of his shoulders.

“He gets particularly controversial with certain things,” Alex explained, and Christine could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice that he was expecting to find Captain Howdy out there in the hallway with everyone else. “Erotism is sort of… tip of the iceberg.” He returned his attention to the class before him, still with the smile on his face.

“What’s going on out there?” Eric asked him.

“Oh, I just thought I saw someone I know out there,” Alex replied with that lopsided smile and a little wave of his hand. Christine frowned at that, and she knew right then that Eric’s sighting of Captain Howdy was indeed the real thing. “Um, anyways. If you can find anything from him, that’d be great! I’m not going to be one of those teachers who makes you read from a book and write a paper about what you read because what’s the fun in that, right?”

“Right!” Christine declared with a chuckle, and he flashed her a wink,

“French literature is rich and voluminous and filled to the brim of things like philosophy, satire, and sexuality—and Nobel Prizes, too! And not to mention, the language is just sexy and fluid. The way you learn should be the same way as well. You guys should be able to read these things and not get bored with it. Just like with music, I want it to be visceral and physical, but also elegant and balanced so everyone walks away feeling like they genuinely learned something.” He then rubbed his hands together and glanced about the room. “Let’s have more fun next time, shall we?”

“We shall,” the boy two seats behind Eric declared, and Alex chuckled at that, and then he snapped his fingers.

“Class dismissed! Stay warm and dry on this cold snowy night.”

Christine then tucked her pencil into the front pocket of her bag, and then stood up with her bag in hand. She slung it over her shoulder and swished her long ponytail to the side merely to straighten herself up. Eric picked up his bag and tugged his hood over his head.

“I didn’t see her that time around,” Alex confessed to the two of them.

“She switched to my period,” Eric informed him.

“Oh, really?” Alex raised his eyebrows at that.

“Yeah. I kind of knew it was her, too, like she had this look to her and I had this weird hunch, too.”

“Always trust your gut, Sluggo,” Alex told him, and then he turned his attention over to Christine, and the smile once again crossed his face. He then leaned into the side of her face as if to kiss her, even though there were a couple of students right behind him.

“Swing around my place tomorrow or on your next day off,” he whispered into her ear. “Bring your art stuff with you, too.”

“Gladly,” she whispered back to him. Alex flashed her a wink, and then she turned towards Eric so they could begin back to the bus stop. Christine once again felt her face grow warm at the thought of being alone with Alex again, and in the safety and intimacy of his apartment no less. She walked out to the snow with Eric right next to her, and he even went so far as to helping guide her to the bus stop given the snow had thickened enough over the course of the day. They reached the stop just in time, right as the bus lumbered around the corner up the street.

The whole way home, he snuggled up next to her despite the blast of warm air from the vent before them. Christine hunched her shoulders a bit as if she was nervous about the bus veering off the pavement at any given point but the streets of New York had been cleared for the most part.

She hoped that things would remain snowy come her day off the next day, and she knew that he would love her latest drawing for her class, even though she made it based off his appearance.

As she made her way back to her apartment, she thought back to when she and Chris were at the very heart and soul of their friendship. It was such a vague, foggy moment but she could feel it in her bones as she thought back to a day in the backyard at his parents’ house. It was later in the day and during a rainstorm, and they were preparing to return back inside to the back part of the house. When she slipped the key into the lock of her front door, she strove to remember the context.

It was so elusive, so far away, so lost in the fog of her earliest fog bank, that it seemed impossible. Christine entered her apartment and rested the case upon her kitchen table. She still recalled the day that she made her killer nurse costume for Halloween. It was something that she would remember forever, especially when it brought her so much attention that day at school.

Something to remember for years to come.

Christine paused at the side of the table with her hand on the edge of the case. Gingerly, she opened the case and took her drawing pad out of hiding. She turned to that big drawing of the chubby boy with long lush curls. The long curls that looked as though they had been drenched under a spell of rain from the way that they swept over his shoulders. The long curls that reminded her of the younger version of Alex.

And then, like a bolt of lightning, she uncovered the memory. She and Chris had ventured back into the house because of the rain. That warm, late summer rain that fell in droves from the ocean because the last cyclone arrived on the Atlantic seaboard and even made its way up north to Long Island. He stood there in the middle of the grass with his arms up to the sky and his shirt and hair drenching as if he had fallen into the raging waters off the sands of Brighton Beach.

He had pinched his eyes closed against the rain, such that it looked as though he was in agony.

She made a promise somewhere along the way to remember for years to come, and yet she had very little memory of that particular rainy day, only mere crumbs, mere particles.

Her eyes wandered over the drawing, over the pencil scratches and the beginnings of shading all around the smooth shape of his face and his neck, all around his body. If only she could access more memories while she continued on the drawing throughout the duration of the class for that quarter.

Christine rested her fingers right next to the sketch of his face, round and full with a slight button nose. She hoped that she made the eyes well enough as it was difficult to master the liquid look of them as well as the depth of the iris colors. Chris had those rich brown eyes, but their level of brownness escaped her.

She tucked the drawing back into the case and headed off to her bedroom to change her clothes. Another evening alone as Wendy had gone off to visit Kenny down by Coney Island for the second night in a row. She had the thought telling her that they were going to reunite but Wendy promised her that the ship had sailed between the two of them. Nevertheless, it was still something that crossed her mind as she made herself a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich of Havarti and Roquefort cheese.

She thought about Alex and his sense of indulgence. She wasn’t the best cook in the world, and she certainly was not Nelly, but she had a hunch that if she wormed her way into his belly, she could go from there in a way that Captain Howdy could never do for him.

She went to bed that night with her mind on both Chris as well as something to whip up for Alex once she saw him again in the morning.

Christine took the bus down to his neighborhood yet again, where the trees were shrouded in thick white snow from the overnight flurries, and yet she could tell that the bulk of the snow held off for a time thereafter. Carefully, she walked up to his front door and gave a knock on the panel.

“It’s open.” His voice floated through the thick red wood, and she nudged it open with her free hand. Christine was met with a blast of warm air and the smell of his cologne, and she knew that he had just climbed out of the shower.

“Alex?” she called out, and she stepped inside of the apartment. She closed the door behind her and hung her coat up on the hook next to the frame. Alex himself padded into the front room, dressed in a black sweatshirt and snug jeans.

“Oh, hey!” He showed her a sweet smile and open arms: Christine lunged for his body and held him close to her. She wanted that warmth next to her forever. Even with his slightly slimmer shape, he still felt as soft as ever.

“God, you look so good,” she remarked. “At first I was unsure because you lost a little weight.”

“Are you saying you find me attractive at any weight?” he asked her as he pressed his hands to his hips.

“As a matter of fact, I am,” she told him. “I just picture you so skinny, so slender and threadbare in appearance, and I cannot keep my hands off you. I picture you so big and round, and I never want to stop kissing you. You could be a hundred pounds or four hundred pounds, and I will always find you sexy, Alex.”

He bowed his head and tucked his hands into his back pockets. She put her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. Hearing his heartbeat was enough to bring a wave of tears to her eyes.

It wasn’t fair.

Alex held back for a look at the side of her head.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her in a gentle voice. She raised her head for a look into his handsome face: he pressed a hand to her forehead to brush her bangs out of her eyes. Though she could feel the tears, she needn’t let them fall right then.

“Reach into that shattered, wounded heart of yours and bring it forth,” he encouraged her. “Did you bring your art stuff?” She nodded her head, and he showed her an encouraging smile. “Let me watch you.”

It was like letting him watch her undress for the first time as she lay her drawing pad on his kitchen table. He nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and propped his chin up on his hand as she showed him the sketches she had made so far, as well as the big drawing of the boy.

“Wow,” he breathed at the sight of it, and she put her pencil down at the crown of his head to fill in the hair underneath the rim of the yarmulke.

“I worry about messing up the eyes in particular,” she confessed.

“I think that’s every artist’s insecurity,” he assured her with a nod. “They’re tricky to so much as do, and even trickier to get right. But… it looks like you’ve got it. Was this from a reference?”

“Nope, from my imagination,” she said.

“Wow!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Oh, my god, dearest Christine, I underestimated you.” He gazed up at her with a twinkle in his eye as if he had just discovered a brand new element. “You are a true artist, my dear! You have a gift! You cannot afford to hide it!”

Right as the words left his lips, the soft ringing of his phone in the bedroom caught their attention.

“Excuse me one second, please,” he said to her, once again in that soft silky tone of voice. He kissed her on the lips, a gentle peck that she was not expecting in the least, and her face grew warm once he stepped away from her. She brought a hand to her face as she strive to contain her emotions right then.

Perhaps this was her calling after all, to indulge in the arts until she simply had no way of doing so anymore thereafter. Alex’s low chuckle caught her ear right then, and she leaned out of the kitchen doorway for a look at him over at his piano on the other side of the room.

“As a matter of fact, it’s right here,” he was saying over the phone. Her gaze landed on something big and shiny rested upon the lid. “You had to get me a cross and not a Star of David?” He paused, and her heart skipped a few beats. She didn’t have to think twice to know as to whom he was talking to.

Alex propped the cross on the face of the piano, perched upon the lid: the way the daylight shone through the window onto the elaborate shape that lined the arms and body of the cross made her think of a church. Though a beautiful cross, something about that made her skin crawl and her stomach turn to the side.

Alex turned away from the kitchen door with the phone in one ear and his free hand pressed to his hip.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he said. “Of course we can do that. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll check my time once I get off the phone.” Though his voice remained down low, he spoke in short sentences as if he was in a hurry. “Yup, it’ll be right here once you come on over,”

Christine turned her head to the left for that view of Captain Howdy’s cross rested on the piano lid. The heavy cross that she bore when she was the one who struck Alex and dragged him around as if he was nothing more than a bundle of sticks used for kindling. It was a nagging sensation that she simply could not ignore even if she tried hard enough.

The feeling that she had lost Chris. She was so close to losing Alex as well, but to the arms of a puppeteer.

Alex tilted his head back. She didn’t have to see his face to know what he was doing. She had a sinking feeling that she was going to have to leave at some point that morning.

“Yeah, I’ll… see you then,” he replied, and he sounded as though he resisted the urge to sigh. “We’ll remember it for years to come. Love you, too.” He hung up and turned back to Christine with a slight blush across his face.

“I really, really hate to do this to you,” he began. “I really do, like I feel bad that I’m having to tell you this, like I would love nothing more than to stay inside of here all day and drink coffee and watch you draw when the snow comes in again. But I can’t stick around today.”

“You can’t?” Her heart sank at that.

“I can’t, no. She’s gonna be here in like twenty minutes.”

It wasn’t fair.

“We have to have time alone again,” she insisted.

“Absolutely,” he assured her as he sauntered closer to her. “We absolutely do.” He nudged a lock of hair away from the side of her face and pressed his lips onto her own once more. Smooth like the outer skin of a ripe fruit, as warm as a fresh dish of kugel on Rosh Hashanah; he stuck his hand into the roots of her hair at the back of her head, but she wore a ponytail and thus, no fingers through the thick of her hair.

“How about the school library?” he offered her.

“The school library on our lunch break,” she added, and he flashed her a wink.

“It’s a plan, my great artist,” he vowed, and he treated her to one more kiss before she returned to the kitchen to fetch her things. As she closed the black case and carried it into the next room, he never moved away from the edge of the piano. She decided to put her coat back on in the meantime, and yet there was a lingering thought in the back of her mind that told her a different story.

“We’ll remember these things for years to come…” She turned her head for a look back at him and the cross on the piano lid. He cradled the cross in his hands as if he had bought another bouquet of flowers, another gift that Captain Howdy would throw to the floor. Christine nibbled on her bottom lip as she thought about the night that she and Eric hid out in his closet, away from her glaring eyes and prying fingers. Alex had his back to her as he held the very top of the cross. So strange seeing a Jewish man hold a Christian cross as if he was about to put it between his legs. A Christian cross that was given to him as a gift.

“Remember for years to come…” The words crossed his lips as if he meant them. Christine scooped up her coat and slung it around her body: she padded past him for her case as well as her purse. She made her way outside to the snow: it was as if he had been caught in a trance, and she had no way of breaking him out of it. Christine stood at the base of the stairs with her hood upon her head and her eye on the front door to his apartment.

Remember for years to come when she wanted to remember her memories of Chris, and when she swore the exact same thing as well on top of that.

“I wouldn’t be so confident about that, Alex,” she said aloud.

#as the seasons grey #as the seasons grey fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic with art #traditional art #traditional drawing #chapter 37 #oc tag #oc art #drawings #alex skolnick #eric peterson #testament #testament band #artists on tumblr #badgalnirvhannahart

[silver-manticore]

Part 1

The curse had been broken, the spell undone. The ugliest man alive re-emerging as not a man, but Elf. An Elven mage in search of Cirilla as were we, before the Hunt could catch up to her. 

My short time in knowing Ciri from her times at the inn, as well as saving my life had made me committed to repaying my debts to the Ashen-haired woman, as well as our brief romantic trist...I had been found by Geralt, whom had familiar silver hair, piercing eyes, and a similar medallion to my dear friend, I practically begged him to allow me to tag along with him. In our first encounter he declined, in our second I inquired if he knew a female witcher with beautiful green eyes... and from then on he was interested in having me go along with him on his quest, after some time on the path with Geralt, he came to be in possession of a strange looking creature only referred to as "Uma". 

Upon my first meeting with Uma, I saw him to be a sweet and innocent creature. The journey back to Kaer Mohren was a long and arduous one, thus we took breaks as needed and aided locals, while Geralt handled the monsters with his silver blade, I would assist at a safer distance with the crossbow. It helped that I was a practical medic for the Witcher as well as a decent cook, he seemed less regretful that he was bringing me along for those reasons. 

It was fortunate that we both liked to be hygienic as well, I was given the opportunity for frequent baths and warm cots to sleep upon, though often I would be sharing the room with a snoring Witcher and the staring Uma. Often this creature looked at me, sometimes with a dopey smile and other times I saw a glimmer of something else in his gaze, as if he had become a different person altogether. During the nights which I was curled up comfortably on the second bed, which I thankfully slept alone on, I would catch Uma looking at my form laying in bed...I was at first a little creeped out by the behaviour, but I took it as him being unaware that it was rude, I honestly was too weak in the heart to scold him for he had suffered greatly as well as being jeered at while on the path. I would often keep him on my horse Mellon to relieve Geralt's mare Roach from the added weight of two, as my Stallion was well adept to handle much more with his age and muscle double that of the young horse. 

Uma was an innocent creature in my eyes, thus I felt no shame in bathing the poor thing, though he seemed a little sad when being helped, I realized why this was as Geralt told me it was someone under a terrible curse - of course he only told me this after I had bathed alongside the being, thinking he was merely a child-like monster. I nearly shrieked down the tavern in embarrassment of showing every inch of my naked body to another human, not knowing any better. 

It took weeks to get to Kaer Mohren and I had taken a liking to Uma, despite knowing that he was a cursed man. He listened to me better than he obeyed Geralt, and I couldn't help my bleeding heart for caring about him after I heard how Uma had been treated at the Bloody Baron's place, so, I took to holding his hand to make sure he wouldn't run off and get hurt again - it was a practice that I had become so used to, like I was to the presence of both Uma and Geralt on our journey. 

(Present)

I was saddened to see Uma get carried away by the Witchers, I felt like a worried mother when his large eyes looked and me, blinked, then smiled before being led to the laboratory to have his spell broken by Yennifer of Vengerberg, Geralt, and the old witcher master, Vesemir. I practically begged Geralt to allow me to be present in the grand hall. He knew better than anyone how attached I had become to the creature and simply grumbled; 

" (y/n), it's not going to be a pretty sight...don't interfere. No matter how much Uma seems to be in pain. He could die if anything goes wrong, especially from someone trying to help, understand?" 

I nodded and promised that I would leave it all in Geralt's hands now. 

Fortunately there were things I could help out with, such as helping to mop the floors clean with the boys after they scrubbed it down. 

Yennifer: I shall also need wiping down. 

Eskle glanced between myself and Geralt, he looked uneasy with the cloth in between his large callused hands, gently I pulled the cloth from his fingers as he protested to Yen. 

E: "Maybe Geralt oughta- oh thanks (y/n)"

Y: "I shan't bite either of you two, and I would rather not reek of vomit anymore."

I hummed in agreement and helped the Sorceress by gently wiping off the sludge against her lovely black coat, after this I elected myself to stand with Geralt and Yen, dabbing a sweet scented cloth to Yennifer's forehead as she perspired from keeping the spell active for hours. The scented cloth and the perfume pouch attached to my hip masked the smell of Uma's vomit, with the smell of wild strawberries and Roses. 

Geralt: Well, it doesn't smell horrible anymore, but I think the scent is putting Yen to sleep. 

Yen: I'm just...resting my eyes Geralt. 

Geralt bemusedly gave me a look of "sure" before he snarkily replied "That's called Sleeping." 

She only sighed and glanced between my now smiling face and Geralt's slightly amused, mostly concerned expression. 

"Well, do either of you have a method of keeping me awake, perhaps telling me a story, Geralt, (y/n)?" 

We two thought for a moment before I glanced at Yennifer again. 

"Would you like to hear the story of how I met Ciri?" 

Geralt: We've already heard that one though? 

(Y/N): Yes yes, the factual version that told you where she was heading, but not the full story with all the unnecessary details you hadn't the time to hear. 

Yen: Well, then tell us now 

I regaled to them the tale of Johann, what's his name, and his satchel of coins I was sure were a bundle of rocks. With fists flying askew and during my time of danger being rescued by the Ashen-haired woman we all sought to save now. 

Geralt: "Well- now that's a story. A really interesting one too" 

He chuckled a bit thinking of the tavern the way I had so vividly described it in my tale. 

Yen: One question though, what were you doing in that tavern in the first place (y/n)? 

I paused for a moment before sighing softly, 

"Well...I was to meet someone in that tavern, but they never showed up - my former financial backer who just up and vanished one day. Thanks to Ciri I didn't go empty handed at least, I got five new Gwent decks that day." 

Geralt seemed to be mulling over his question before asking "Know what happened to the guy?" 

I simply shrugged "maybe he got in with the wrong crowd in Novigrad? He was worth a lot of money, so it's fair to assume he had a lot of enemies."  

Yen: You two chit-chatting is putting me to sleep again- 

Geralt: "Then how about another story, ever  heard about the time I took Ciri ice skating?"

###

I bit my lip in anxiety and fear, watching Uma endure this painful ritual, even leaping to my feet during the last part wherein Uma screamed out in pain, to which Geralt let out a bark at me to "not come any closer!" Reluctantly causing me to sit and watch this torturous ordeal...until it finally happened, Uma began to glow and in place of the Uma I came to love, was a Elven man I did not know. With Ashen-Blonde hair and deep, penetrating gaze, ones that gave me a slight shiver to lock eyes with.

His voice was deep and melodic, as he was weakened and laying on the wooden table. Without another thought I took out my sheepskin canteen and rushed over as soon as the Elf finished speaking, putting it to his pink and lush lips. 

"Drink" I said in almost a hoarse whisper to the man, his clouded gaze looking up at me for a few moments, before his hand came up, laid upon my own on the bottle - and he gulped it down with haste, the ritual dehydrating and exhausting him. He soon fell back unconscious and Yennifer who looked thoroughly exhausted was still stabilizing the incantations over him. 

Y:  "If only you were a Witch's apprentice (y/n), I could relieve my ever aching arms." 

"Oh- I'm sorry Yennifer..." 

Y: "Well, I can test your affinity to magic later. If you're still up to it, I'd appreciate you sticking around as my assistant while I try to fix the damage the trials have done to him."

She nodded gently towards the man Geralt said "was no friend of his", the Elven Sage Avallac'h. 

Geralt glanced over to where I was and then to Yennifer. 

"I could use her on path Yen, I'm supposed to be gathering allies, she has a knack for getting people to do what she wants..." 

I looked between Yen and Geralt as they each had the expression of "she's going with me", which of course put me in a tough spot. 

Vesemir spoke up to save me from their bantering with simply "Enough both of you, whatever decision she makes is her own. Whether she goes on the path with Wolf, or stays here with us, it's her choice to make, not yours." 

I felt like a deer in the middle of the road, darting to and fro to escape two predators both on either ends of the path, one a white wolf, the other a black bear. I simply inhaled and stated my answer, weighing the options of staying and caring for Avallac'h or going to save Ciri with Geralt. 

"I know I came here to save Ciri, but I feel like I'd only get in your way Geralt. I'll give you letters though, to my allies that owe me favours, they'll join you with my written words alone. I'll help prepare the welcome party from here." 

I really did want to go, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to take on the wild hunt, not yet at least and…inside, I felt a twinge of fear, a dark voice in the back of my mind whispering: 

'what if Ciri doesn't want to see us, she's busy trying to run for her life…remembering us is but an afterthought.'

Geralt nodded slowly, getting used to the idea, but he did look a little sad about it. Maybe he too had gotten used to having company while travelling afar, but he also knew that taking a young girl with him while the wild hunt grew ever closer - may prove difficult. Protecting both Ciri and the lass could be fatal, thus Geralt resigned to the choice made by his one time travelling companion. 

Yen: Well, that settles it. Come my assistant, help me to get Avallac'h to drink more fluids as you did before. Then you can go ahead and write to your heart's content so Geralt can go on his way. 

  Geralt: When you're ready, I'll be waiting near the main entrance. 

I nodded to both Geralt and Yennifer, then taking up another canteen of water, carefully went over to the Elven man, he was what was called an Aen Saevherne, what the Aen Elle called Mages. I knew this only from the stories my mother spoke of, regarding the Elves, she was of course the most knowledgeable person I knew concerning that topic. Gently I brushed his soft locks away from his face, causing his baby blue eyes to flutter open. 

Softly I spoke to him. "Hello again, if you'd be so kind as to drink some more water, I'd appreciate it." There I held the lip of the bottle close to his, though this time around his eyes narrowed slightly, perhaps uneasy with my warm and friendly exterior - perhaps he did not remember me...the others did say he sustained brain trauma, though they were unsure how bad the damage truly was. 

To ease Avallac'h's distrust, I took a swig out of the canteen, gulping down one mouthful of fresh mountain water before looking back down at him.

"See? Not harmful Avallac'h. Will you trust me on this?" 

He hoarsely whispered something to which I came closer, placing my ear very close to his lips to hear him utter "fine..." 

I just nodded and pressed the bottle to his lips, his hand touching over mine like before, yet with a small grip to his hold, and he drank his fill, simply moving his head to indicate where he was finished with it. 

With the Help of Lambert and Eskel, the weak Elven sage was transported to one of the rooms within Kaer Morhen for further treatment and recuperation while the work on the Witcher fortress continued. My duties had also increased, but not by much. I had volunteered to cook and assist Yennifer with treatment of Avallac'h, which came as a relief to the Three remaining Witchers, though I had not known of it at the time until they expressed it when Yennifer let me go to the mess hall to eat and rest.

"Thanks (y/n)"

I was surprised for just a moment as I looked up to see Eskel, taking a seat across from me.

"For what my dear Eskel?" 

At the term 'my dear' I had the utmost pleasure of seeing the Witcher look flustered, almost a shy look on his well-worn features and rugged face.

"Ah…well…I -" 

"He's trying to say thanks from freeing us from being Madam Sorceress' personal slaves."

Chimed in an enthusiastic Lambert, who walked in with a few bottles of ale into the main hall. Eskel huffed a sigh and sat down finally and I could only smile between the two dark-haired men.

"Is that so? Well, you're quite welcome Eskel." 

I mused at his little smile and the way Lambert was eyeing us, as I took a bite from my sandwich filled with delicious wild mushrooms, sweet peppers, and some slices of cheese melted down into a delectable substance between the toasted bread.

"Though- I don't see why it's so horrible working for Yennifer. She's definitely…strict, but she does have manners- at times." 

Lambert: "Just wait till she gets the idea she's going easy on you, she'll have you hunting forktails and getting her potion ingredients next." 

#sage and strawberries #witcher 3 fanfic #witcher fanfiction #chapter 1 #eskel #lambert #geralt #yennifer #witcher 3 spoilers #avallac'h #reader #ciri #reader x ciri #Avallac'h x reader #Eskle x reader

[kidmachinate]

Against All Odds

Imagine being caught between two souls, not knowing their path forward

Imagine being told you mental needs are made up

Imagine going through both school, which teaches you no adult skills, and home not being far off from it

Imagine having to be the responsible one in the household as a child

Imagine coming from all this into the real world to find people that pretend to like you

Imagine being used and abused, and for speaking out, shamed by the law

Imagine having a ton of trust issues and lack of connection skills due to all of the above.

Some of us don’t have to imagine parts of this or even all of it. This is life for some people out there. Carrying around weight we may never know or understand. We are so quick to turn against another, be self-absorbed, and get lost in life’s distractions. We should spend more time offering support, understanding people’s pronouns, and looking into different personality types, even the ones classified as disorders. Everyone is trying to find their place in this world we never asked to be in.

Within two decades of knowing enough to speak on the matter, I’ve seen various transformations that happen with people who put in the effort or seek help when it applies. These transformations sometimes are rocky and involve substance abuse or burning bridges in the midst of filling your own needs throughout. It takes quite a bit to stand in the face of it all, since it is so easy to give up. To give in. To become hollow. Not everyone succeeds and those who do just want to feel accepted, as chances are they emerged a new person, potentially conflicted about who they are as a result of a good chunk of their lives.

Give yourself that pat on the back. A proper meal. A proper vacation. If you’re reading this, you refused to become hollow. You overcame your unique challenges. You survived against all odds. Embrace the flames without letting it consume you and fuel your new journey, without the things that no longer serve you. The path to a better future. The path to financial success. The path to people who genuinely care. The path to a self-made family, if there is a lack of a real one. You chose you and sometimes someone else chooses you too.

While this can apply to many, this was primarily meant for one of my personal choices. My partner in crime, by name in this post, Amber. You can and have succeeded. The road is rocky now, but I promise, everything is gonna be okay. I love you. Happy anniversary. Keep fighting the good fight. Know your tribe and don’t you dare go hollow.

#progression #hope #against all odds #love #anniversary #Spotify

[lotus-flowerz]

hello hello I love your writings so far sobs I couldn't help but do an ask myself aa (it's my first ask ever help hwkajd) could I request perhaps gn reader that flinched away from the boys by reflex? (preferably with Diluc, Kaeya and Kazuha but you can add or remove someone if you want to!) like they were hanging out and reader was lost in thoughts and suddenly when they see in the corner of their eyes how the boys raise their arm for smth reader quickly raises their arms above their own head to protect it- how would they react and how would they comfort the reader? I hope it's not too much or if you're uncomfortable with it you can ignore it if you want to whaaaa

AHHH TY IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE MY WRITING! i actually do this too, some of my old friends would make fun of me for it, so i hope that my writing here is accurate >.<

i also added beidou in here, hope you don't mind, i just had to since she's my favorite character <3

TW!! FLINCHING, ANXIETY, PAST TRAUMA, MENTION OF DEATH AND INJURIES

SLIGHT INAZUMA ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS

KAEYA BACKSTORY SPOILERS

The cherry blossoms fell silently from the trees under which you and Kazuha were sitting. Those had remained unchanged since you and Kazuha were children. The beauty of the pink blossoms falling towards the green earth without a care.

It had remained the same through the vision hunt decree, through the war, through watching Tomo get killed by the shogun, through both of you getting injured during said fight. Kazuha's hand was burnt from Tomo's vision, and your body had a large scar running from your knee to the side of your neck from a stray bolt of lighting from Tomo's divine punishment. If not for Kazuha's determination to not lose another friend and Beidou and her crew caring for you, you would be dead.

These days, although you and Kazuha both carried the same trauma, he seemed to be doing leaps and bounds better than you were. Your eyes flitted to Kazuha, who was writing poetry. The only sound that could be heard was his pen gliding across the paper, filling it with his eloquent words that always seemed to flow so smoothly.

You were deep in thought, when out of the corner of your eye you spotted something coming towards your face. Instinctively, your hands flew out to shield yourself, leaving a very confused Kazuha, who was only scratching his head, looking at you with concern in his eyes.

"Dove.. did you think I was going to hurt you?"

You slowly lowered your arms, guilt washing over you.

"No! It's just- sometimes, when movements are too sudden.. I.. you know, I try to protect myself because uh.."

His eyes drifted to your scar, then looked up at your face, only to find it tilted to the ground. He put a finger under your chin, bringing your eyes up to meet his, then kissing your forehead.

One hand snaked around your waist while the other traced lightly over your scar, sending shivers down your spine. You wrapped your arms around him as well, putting a little of your weight onto him.

He kissed your lips, squeezing you tight against him.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise."

"Kazuha, it's not-"

"I know it's not my fault. And I know I couldn't have prevented it. But I promise you, you're safe now."

He brought his hand up to cradle the back of your head as you buried your face in the crook of his neck.

"Thank you." you said, squeezing him a little tighter.

"No need to thank me. I love you, Y/n."

"I love you too, Kazuha."

You had been a part of Beidou's crew for just over a year now, after meeting her in the wharf of Liyue harbor after finally finding the courage to leave your abusive and toxic partner. You didn't have a place to stay and you were clearly distraught, so when she asked if you were okay and you immediately began to cry, she offered you to come on her ship. You trusted her, since she was the well-known captain of the Crux. After you had explained your situation, she offered you to join her crew. You agreed, and began dating her about six months after joining the Crux.

Because you had been aboard the Alcor for a year, you knew the crew was loud and prone to get drunk. You had never liked to drink, preferring to quietly sip a small glass of dandelion wine while sitting next to Beidou while she drank a few beers and talked with her crew.

It was now the one year anniversary of when you had left Liyue Harbor, and conveniently, the Alcor was anchored there for a bit for a supplies run, imports drop off, and exports pickup. While out and about with Beidou, you had seen your ex in the wharf. They were about to come and talk to you, when you had pointed them out to Beidou. Beidou had slipped her arm around your waist, glaring at your ex, who glared back and turned heel to walk away.

Now, you sipped your wine beside Beidou, deep in thought. The loud atmosphere wasn't helping your anxieties, and you couldn't get your ex's glare out of your head. You didn't even realize you were completely zoned out until Beidou raised her arm to sling it around your shoulders, after she noticed you were zoned out.

Your arms flew up to shield yourself, and you spilt wine all over the both of you. The cup clattered to the floor, but luckily no one else noticed what just happened.

Beidou's face dropped and she quickly picked up the cup, setting it back down on the table.

"Men!" she called out. "Y/n and I are turning in early tonight! Make sure you scallywags have this cleaned up by the morning!"

The crew cheered their goodnights, raising their beers to their captain and her first mate. Beidou smiled, slipped an arm around your waist, and led you back to your guys' shared quarters.

"Alright doll, what happened just now?"

She closed the door behind her and sat on the bed next to you, looking at you with a certain softness that made you melt.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, I was just thinking of my ex, and how we saw them earlier, and I couldn't get their glare out of my head.. and I left them exactly a year ago.. I don't know why I flinched away from yo-"

Beidou cut you off by taking both of your hands into hers.

"Y/n, don't say sorry! You know, your ex wouldn't stand a chance against even my weakest crew member. They will never hurt you again."

"I don't doubt that for a second," you said, a small smile growing on your face, "Thank you for taking me in, Beidou."

"No, the pleasure is all mine. I couldn't ask for a better first mate. You're safe now, okay?" she smiled, squeezing your hands.

You looked into her eyes for a moment before throwing your arms around her. She squeezed you back, kissing your head.

"C'mon, let's shower and get this wine off of us." she giggled.

You laughed. "Yeah, let's."

Kaeya had told you his backstory, but you never mentioned yours. You just weren't ready to talk about it. Your parents had never been great, you always walked on eggshells around everyone, and everyone was all too rough with you, emotionally and physically.

You had met Kaeya in the tavern one night, while trying to drink away what you were feeling. Kaeya had noticed how obliterated you were and let Diluc know he was taking you to stay at the Knights Headquarters, and would keep an eye on you. The rest was history, and now you and Kaeya had been dating for a little over a year.

Kaeya had told you his backstory on Monday. That same day later on, you had a run in with your parents at Blanche's, where they had yelled at you for deciding to become a Knight, and proceeded to pick you apart from your very core.

In turn, you had been drinking a little more than usual for the entire week. You seemed more withdrawn and just not fully there. And it all came to a head when you were laying in bed next to Kaeya.

He went to put his arm over you, a loving gesture, but your arms came up on instinct to shield yourself. He sighed loudly.

"You're scared of me."

"Oh Archons- I didn't mean to- no, I swear it isn't-"

"You've been acting all angry and cold ever since I told you about my roots. I thought you would be the one who didn't leave me after I told them."

"No, Kaeya- please, just let me explain!"

"I'm listening."

You began to hesitantly tell him about your parents. His face grew angrier and angrier every time you told him another thing your parents had done to you.

"I'll kill them. I had no idea that that happened though. I'm sorry for assuming."

"It's alright, Kaeya. I didn't even consider that you might think I was acting weird because of where your confession."

"I swear they'll never get near you again, alright? You're safe now. It's alright."

He pulled you into him, wrapping you up in his strong arms and putting his legs over yours, making you feel protected and safe.

"No one will hurt you, not on my watch. I love you, Y/n."

"I love you too, Kaeya. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"No need for apologies, you were gonna tell me when you were ready. Now let's get some sleep, that dandelion wine I downed earlier is starting to get to me."

You giggled, burying your head further into his chest.

"Alright. Goodnight, Kaeya."

"Night, prince/ess."

You and Diluc had been dating for a few months now, you had met when he had needed to hire a new bartender, and you volunteered your mixing skills to the Angel's Share. You had caught his eye immediately, and he had asked you out on a date soon after you began your work there.

Your ex wasn't a kind person, to say the least, so you had been hesitant to say yes. You assured Diluc that this was just because your ex was unkind to you, but you had never mentioned physical harm. You hadn't wanted to worry him.

You were sitting on the couch with Diluc, his arm slung over your shoulders while you stared into the crackling flames of the fire burning before you. Diluc wasn't paying attention, as he was reading a book in his free hand.

He raised his arm up, attempting to adjust to a more comfortable position, but you misread this. Your arms were shielding your face in an instant, and Diluc was looking at you with a shocked and concerned face that quickly morphed to anger.

"I'm going to kill him." he growled/

You lowered your arms and looked down, avoiding looking him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

"Did he hit you??"

"I, um, didn't want to worry you."

"Barbatos.. and this domestic abuser is just, what, roaming around Mondstat? No punishment for the pain he put you through?"

"I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want him to come and hurt me. I also didn't want to cause any trouble."

Diluc rubbed a hand over his face, before wrapping you in a hug.

"You're safe here, alright? I will never lay a hand on you to hurt you. I won't let anyone else hurt you either, okay?"

"Thank you.." your eyes welled up with tears, "I thought you would be upset that I didn't tell you."

"No, never. It's a hard thing to talk about. If you'd like, I have connections. We can have him arrested."

"I don't want to cause trouble.."

"You won't. He won't be able to hurt anyone else this way. But we can discuss this later. Would you care for a cup of tea?"

"That'd be nice. Thanks, Diluc."

"You're welcome, angel. Tell me if anyone hurts you again, alright? I'll protect you."

"Will do. I love you."

"I love you too."

#genshin comfort #genshin fluff #genshin x reader #genshin impact #diluc comfort #diluc #diluc fluff #diluc x reader #kaeya #kaeya comfort #kaeya x reader #kaeya fluff #beidou #beidou comfort #beidou fluff #beidou x reader #kazuha #kazuha fluff #kazuha x reader #kazuha comfort

[gotnofucks]

The Unreformed Rake

Pairing: soft!dark Ransom Drysdale x Reader

Summary: Ransom Drysdale is a notorious rake, but he seems to have taken a shine to you. When he plans to make you his, nothing would stand in his way. No is not a word he understands.

Words: 3k

Warnings: Slightly dubcon touching, fingering, semi-public touching, forced marriage hinted, 18 + Only

A/N: This is my submission to Siri’s 5k Softdark challenge. Congratulations love @stargazingfangirl18​ , you do us hoes so proud and keep our punanis so happy! I chose the prompt “Come on, just a little taste”. It’s highlighted in the text.

If your corset was a millimeter more tighter, you’d be dead. The mammas cared more about getting their daughters married off than about them making it alive through the ball. You were glad that as a second daughter you didn’t have too many eyes on you. All you had to do was let three to four men twirl you around the dancefloor to appease your mother, and then you could sit back and enjoy watching your older sister Anika try to catch a husband.

Mostly, the balls weren’t too bad. You got to meet with your friends and eat some delicious food without the constant supervision of your mother, sometimes you’d even find a decent dance partner who wouldn’t step on your toes or whose hands wouldn’t wander south of your back. You could have made it through the evening unscathed had one handsome rake not made an appearance.

The moment Lord Huge Ransom Drysdale stepped into the hall, all eyes were on him. And his were on you. He made a spectacular vision, donning the bright colours that most gentlemen stayed away from, and yet he looked more masculine than any of them. The eyes of every unwed lady followed his movements, their mothers urging them to approach him despite his reputation.

Everyone knew Huge Ransom Drysdale was a notorious rake; his stories were told at tea parties in hushed tones and often accompanied by giggles. He was proficient in the art of leaving a trail of broken hearts and stuttering men, but more than that, he was a master at getting under your skin. His eyes hadn’t left you for a moment, fixating on you and your current dance partner who was glued to your side like lichens to rock.

“You dance most marvelously Miss Y/N, would you do me the honour of the next one too?” He asked, looking smitten at you.

“Now now Allen, you wouldn’t hog Miss Y/N’s attention all for yourself, would you?” Lord Drysdale’s mocking voice carried over to you, the man walking languidly until he stood before you. “There are a number of other ladies in want of a partner, if you’d be kind enough to relent Miss Y/N’s hand to me.”

Allen bowed to him, recognizing the superior title and the man who held it. Placing a small kiss on the back of your hand, he beat a hasty retreat from you side like the coward you knew him to be. Lord Drysdale chuckled, raising a brow at you before offering you his arm. You had half a mind to turn your nose at him and storm away, but your mother would have conniptions if she learnt you said no to a Lord.

“You have a lot of nerve and no tact Your Lordship” You said in a whisper, allowing him to grip your hand and bring you closer. The music began and he spun you out gracefully before bringing you back into his body, much closer than was socially acceptable. His fingers were firm around yours, the hand on your waist tight, singeing the flesh underneath with his touch.

“You know I am a tactless bastard, that shouldn’t be news to you.” He said with a charming smile that could fool anybody but you. He put a façade better than any theater artist you knew. He led you around the other dancing bodies dexterously, not looking away from your face. After a moment, he abruptly asked, “Who were those three morons you danced with earlier? Didn’t I sent word that you must keep your dance card empty but for me?”

An appalled gasp escaped you and it was with restraint you kept yourself from bolting away from him. “Are you having me watched?”, You hissed in anger, wrinkling your forehead. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Of course I have people keeping an eye on you. Can’t let anything happen to my future wife.”

Because you couldn’t leave, you did the next best thing. You stepped on his toe with all your might, digging your hell into his feet until he groaned in pain. He retaliated by moving his hand from your waist to your backside, giving a firm squeeze to your ass that had you choking on a scandalized scream.

“Hugh!” You chided through gritted teeth, looking around quickly to see if someone had noticed. Amidst the sea of dancers, nobody focused on you alone, but it would be enough to ruin a lady’s reputation.

“You know that’s not what you call me.”

His blue eyes turned darker, more challenging and predatory as he leaned closer until his chest brushed against you. You struggled, trying to put distance between you as discreetly as possible but he wouldn’t give.

“Let go!” You said, digging your nails into his shoulder to no avail. The thick padding of his clothes prevented any harm.

“Say my name.”

It was an order, one that if not met would hold consequences. People thought they knew the philandering Lord Drysdale, but they had little inkling to the danger that resided just beneath the surface. You knew. Your gaze dropped away from his, head a little bowed in defeat.

“Ransom.” You whispered, and he let out a shuddering breath as if his name on your lips had taken away more from himself than from you. He wouldn’t let you address him as anything else, not you who he claimed would be wearing his ring soon.

The dance slowed to a stop, people clapping, and you pushed away from him, halfheartedly joining in the applause. Ransom stood too close, his hand on your waist still fast and you slapped it away in irritation.

“Look, just stay away from me. I don’t want mamma to see us together.” You said, weaving through the throngs of people and trying to escape him. He followed, keeping at your heels with no problem, playfully pulling at your sleeve.

“Stay away?” He scoffed, almost as if in wonder of your audacity to even demand that. “You’re gonna be Lady Drysdale soon, you need to get used to my presence. I will always be close. Very close.”

You turned on him, raising a finger and wagging it in his face. Heat was settling over your face and neck, seeping beneath your neckline and into your chest that was heaving. Ransom’s eyes trained on the rise and fall of your breast, a wolfish grin on his face as he licked his lips in appreciation and anticipation.  

“I am not going to marry you Ransom!” You yelled in a whisper, amazed at his arrogance. “You keep away from me.”

In a second his fingers encircled your wrist, pulling you away from the floor into the shadowy corners as you protested. Sweeping aside the curtains, he pushed you into an alcove, pressing you in deeper with his body as the curtains fell again to shield you from curious eyes.

“We’ll have to do something about that mouth of yours.” He hissed cruelly, caging you between his massive arms. “You can’t go around speaking to me like this.”

His face neared yours, eyes dark and dangerous as they glared into you, his mouth opening slowly. You knew what was going to happen and you turned your face at the last second, his lips finding your cheek instead. Warm breath fanned your already heated skin, a flutter of butterflies setting your nerves astray.

“Stop! This isn’t proper.” You said, squirming as Ransom refused to back away. He chuckled in derision, forcefully turning your face to his. You hated how he still looked so beautiful, despite the sneer and arrogance.

“Wouldn’t be the first time we did it. Or did you forget about those stolen moments after the lakeside picnics? What about those walks in the park where I’d press you into a bark of tree and ravish this sinful mouth? We’re long past proper my darling, and the only reason your virtue is intact is because I am affording you the dignity to keep it until our wedding night.”

Your gaze lowered in mortification, those shameful moments coming back to you as flashes behind your eyelids. He had been far too powerful, too intense to refuse. In your weakness, you’d allowed him liberties that made guilt settle like weight on your chest every time your mother bragged about your modesty to other mammas.

“That was my mistake, Ransom. I’m supposed to marry a man of impeccable standing, someone who holds everyone’s good opinion. After Anika gets herself a man, it’ll be me, and my mother would never marry me off to a rake like you.”

His chest expanded in indignation under your hands, and he held you steady as he ground himself against you. Anger, jealousy, and sheer disbelief at your words was evident in his glare, and you shivered in fear as his lips skimmed over your jaw.

“You will marry me, mamma or no mamma. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to make you mine.” He promised, eyes glinting in warning. “What’s that saying? A reformed rake makes the best husband, ain’t it?”

“You’re not reformed.” You countered, captive in his hold. A part of you that you refused to acknowledge didn’t want to leave at all.

“That’s true.” Ransom said, smirking. “I am a rake, its time I play to my reputation.”

He kissed you hard, his tongue pushing past your lips without preamble. You couldn’t help moaning into his mouth, your fingers clutching his collar for dear life, knees threatening to collapse as he kissed you like a man starved. You knew he had a talented tongue by his charming words, but there was more to it than merely speaking. He discovered you, explored you like an untouched cave and brought you back to life.

Nobody could make you feel like he did. You had no patience for conceited, blustering men, but Ransom was more than that. He was a force that overpowered your life like winds did to fallen leaves. He carried you with himself, unrelenting, persistent. He was passionate and hungry, he was obsessed. After the first time he had kissed you in the park, he promised he wouldn’t kiss anyone again. He promised he’d make you his, and that if any man tried to claim what belonged to him, it would end in a duel.

In his kiss, you felt his possessiveness. You felt his raw power and lust that had led you to sin on more than one occasion. Saying no to him was difficult, mainly because you were most yourself when with him. He gave you wings unknowingly. He gave you the freedom to rebel unknowingly. To him, it was your claiming. But hadn’t you claimed him too in one kiss? Hadn’t you transformed the rake into a marriageable sort in one kiss?

“Ransom, we can’t.” You breathed against his lips, both your mouths swollen and glistening.

“Yes we can. We will.”

His hand ventured south of your neck, dipping into your neckline and brushing against the plump swell of your breast. You sputtered, not knowing if you were urging him or objecting. He pressed you hard into the wall, trailing his lips from your neck to your chest, sucking and nibbling with utmost patience and care. You whimpered at his assault, soft mewls spilling from your mouth and you rested your head back, unable to control the heat that simmered in your core.

“There is no power in the world that can stop me from making you my wife.” He said, looking right into your eyes as he sharply pulled and tore a rip into your bodice. You screeched, thumping your fists against his chest before he gathered them in one arm and held them above your head. “This is just a preview of what will happen between us when you take my ring and name.”

Pushing away the limp fabric from your breast, his mouth enveloped your nipple in one fell swoop. You cried out in pleasure, his warmth spreading into your own body and you feared you’d burn. A fire was simmering between your legs, wet and wanting, chanting his name. His teeth gently grazed your nipple, causing you to whimper, a sound he captured in his mouth.

“Look at me.” He ordered, and you opened your eyes without having realized they were closed. The blue in his had never been darker, almost black like the night sky that swallowed down everything in its path.

“Please don’t.” You begged. “I have sisters whose reputation are tied with mine. You’ll ruin us all.”

Ransom smiled, and you gulped because he looked almost tender. As his fingers trailed down your front to gather the layers of skirt above your knees, he bumped his nose in yours. “Never. I am a Thrombey-Drysdale. I’ll take you, and I’ll save your family. Everything I own is yours.”

The look in his eyes was such that you didn’t protest as he traced your thighs, approaching the apex. He didn’t look away as he reached your moist core, nor when he found your sensitive nub and ran circles around it with his fingers. You moaned, biting your lip to stifle your voice as his breathing picked up. Your scent filled the small niche you were in, his chest digging into yours, hand buried between your legs.

A strangled cry did escape when you felt him at your weeping entrance, threatening to breach the untouched walls of your virtue. You shook your head, asking him not to cross the boundary that will change everything between you.

“Come on, just a little taste.” He urged, pressing inside with one finger. He delved in slowly, his intrusion felt against the spongy walls of your sex and you trembled. You were panting you realized, hips gyrating almost subconsciously to mirror his movements.

“Ransom” You moaned, pushing forward. You had to do something, anything. You felt about ready to combust.

“I know. I know. Look at me and remember the pleasure I can give you. Remember the love I will shower on you.”

Another finger joined the first, stretching you until it burnt. You held onto his arms, breath coming in sharp intervals as he moved in and out, the obscene sounds of your essence mixing in with your laboured breathing.

“Do you feel the fire my darling?” Ransom asked, and you nodded. He rested his forehead on yours, forcing you to meet his eyes as he sped up, the heel of his hand digging into your nub. “Look into my eyes and let go. Come, now.”

Your back arched and your pressed forward into his body, quacking in pleasure as sensations that had no name wrecked your whole body. Your teeth sank into his neck to hold in your scream, whole body vibrating and undulating in ecstasy. You remained like this until you caught your breath, sweat gathering above your lips and brow. He looked ravenously at you. He looked in awe too.

Raising his hand, he showed you his fingers soaked in your wetness and slowly he brought them to his mouth and sucked. You gulped, suddenly feeling empty as Ransom closed his eyes in the relish of your taste. When he finally looked at you again, you knew you were lost. The wolf had had his taste of blood. There was no escaping.

He kissed you slow and soft, sharing your taste with you and pulling you closer into him. It didn’t seem like he would part. For all you knew, the world had burnt away leaving only this niche in the wall intact, two people who were just learning to explore each other the only ones alive.

“Do you know, or should I say?” He asked, and you sucked in a breath. Who would have thought this day would come?

“Say it.” You answered. You knew, oh yes. But you needed to hear. You needed to watch those beautiful lips curve around words that bound you to him in something far more potent than marriage.

“I love you.” He said, sincerely, truly and with no hesitation. He loved you. Lord Hugh Ransom Drysdale loved you. Your eyes glistened with unshed tears and you stood on your toes to brush a kiss against his lips.

“I love you, Your Lordship.”

His arms came around you so strong that they felt like chains. You stayed in his embrace, disheveled and disoriented. You never expected your evening would have ended like this.

“Remember my love, then. And forgive me.” Ransom said. Before you could ask him what he meant, he threw apart the curtains that contained your sin and bared you to the world. The first person gasped aloud, and then ten more. You stood paralyzed, holding a hand against your chest to conceal the peeking flesh behind.

Ransom stood before you, nonchalant. Whispers flew around, taking the form of a vicious wind that swept across the ballroom until your mother was running towards you, scandalized. She took one look at you and staggered back, falling behind on the people who rushed forward to help.

“You – no. It couldn’t be.” She sobbed, holding a hand to her heart as if asking it to stay inside. You couldn’t say anything, shame written on every part of you. Ransom cleared his throat before looking at you softly, uncaring of others who gossiped when his lips pressed on your forehead.

“I plan to do right by Miss Y/N.” He announced, removing his coat and draping it around you. Pulling you out from the alcove, he put an arm around you and tugged you at his side. He glanced at you mother who was on the verge of fainting, a small tilt to his lips. “Madam, with your blessings, I would like to wed your daughter and make her an honest woman.”

You hid your face into his chest, not bothering to see your mother’s response. He had compromised you. He had ruined you. Ransom Drysdale didn’t take a no, and he fought hard for what he wanted.

“I hate you.” You whispered, heartbroken. Had he waited, you’d have said yes yourself. Ransom read the question in your gaze and stroked the curve of your cheek.

“I have done my waiting. No more of it. You’re mine now.”

#siris5ksoftdarkchallenge #soft!dark ransom drysdale x reader #dark!ransom x reader #ransom drysdale x reader #soft!dark ransom drysdale #ransom x reader #ransom thrombey x reader #ransom drysdale

[jameui]

SPECIAL PRESENT 1

Requested

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

PAIRING: Sugar Daddy!Jung Yunoh x College Student!M!Reader (featuring: Bestfriend!Lee Jeno)

GENRE: Fluff, Smut

WARNINGS: Unprotected intercourse, huge age gap, a lot of IMPORTANT flashbacks (i think), daddy kink, sex toys, overstimulation

SUMMARY: You were a striving student in Resonance High and had perfect records. Besides your devotion to your education, you were also gifted with a talent. All these stuffs making your sugar daddy, Jaehyun, proud of you, so he decided to give you a night you won't forget.

(P.S. so i was fucking dumb to actually think that when you said performance, you meant by performing on a stage, when you actually meant, how male reader actually did good in school. I was too late to notice. sorry. if this didn't reach your expectations.

The school's foundation day is fast approaching and each student at Resonance High are all excited preparing for that certain day. During the school's foundation day, events such as competition in sports and performances like singing and dancing or spoken poetry. All sorts of event takes place in that particular, not only a day, but a week, that every students can take part in.

The school's foundation day does not only happen after a day. It's a week of celebration for the foundation and, of course, free from homeworks and projects that students have to worry about. All their focus must be on having fun on those days and be active in participation. Some students never liked the thought about celebrating a foundation day, but you on the other hand, thought otherwise as it's your first time celebrating it with a friend, since you never really get to do it with any due to you practically being locked up in your house for almost all years of your life.

Now, you were away from your family and you got to finally do anything you wanted. For example, having a sugar daddy who gave you all the help you needed. Sure, at first, you were just doing it out of mere fun, but you never quite expected to actually grow feelings for the older male. You didn't know when it started, but the first time you ever felt the fluttering of butterflies in your stomach was when he became worried and concerned when you got sick after a very excessive practice, the day prior. You wanted to tell him so, so bad, but you didn't know how to.

You were scared that maybe you were crossing the line or coming off too strong or maybe he'd walk away if you broke the agreement. It first started with just you only being up for it because of the agreement. Though, you never really went as far as you giving him a good blow or having a steamy bath with him. Either way, he was still someone you could trust and the only person you could rant about all your problems. The thought of losing all these scared you the most.

Unlike some other people, Jaehyun was smart and was a successful businessman, owning one of the richest companies in the industry. Jaehyun, when he's not busy, he'd help you out with your math homeworks or would just do it for you, since he found it fun and easy. Sometimes, you think he's Einstein, reincarnated.

Jaehyun, besides his brains, is also fun to be with. He knows about your passion and talent for singing and dancing and your once dream to be an artist, so he would sometimes play loud music in the living room through the speakers and you two would be singing along, him making up lyrics when he have no idea what the song artist's saying in their song. He'd sometimes call them drunk, because they sounded like they were slurring their words, which you would always laugh to. Also, he'd let you teach him a few dance steps you saw on tiktok and you'd record it together, only for the fun of both of you.

You were seated by your section's booth and couldn't help, but crack a smile from the thought. That was until one of your classmates decided to cut the moment. "What's with the smile?" Jeno, one of your friends, questioned with a smirk whilst carrying a case of bottled apple juice, placing it beside the stand of the booth.

"Here to tease me, again?" You scoffed at him, as he shrugged his shoulders. You rolled your eyes at him and stood up from your seat before heading to the school's gate where the rest of the important necessitated items are waiting. You skipped along the way and stopped by the pick up truck that was parked at the parking lot. "Anything I can help with?" You asked with a smile.

"Here's the last of 'em." He gave you two cases of the bottled drinks, one stacked above the other making you grunt.

"This is heavy." You muttered under your breathe, your thin hands barely holding onto the handles. "Th-thanks." You told them your feet wobbling from the heavy weight of the trays.

Jeno who came walking back outside saw you struggling, making him chuckle deciding to help you. "Need help with that?"

"Yes, please." You said before passing the trays to Jeno carefully, so it doesn't topple over. "Thanks." You smiled at him, cracking your knuckles and shaking it to reduce the pain you felt on your hands.

"Welcome." He said, then walking back to the booth, with you beside him. "Ah, M/n. By the way, are you attending the practice this afternoon?"

"Yeah. Of course. Why do you ask?" You chuckled, kicking on a pebble that came your way.

"Oh, I just thought you'd be busy sucking your daddy's—"

"JENO!" You yelled at him with an evident blush on your face cutting him off to avoid anyone hearing what Jeno had to say. It's always been like this. Since the day you told him about having a sugar daddy, he'd always tease you no matter where you are or what you're doing. He'd always use your excuses against you and now, you're regretting ever telling him.

"Okay, okay. Damn." He laughed at your reaction, you staring daggers at him.

Just as you were about to spat back at him, you heard a group of girls' voices calling out to you. "M/n! M/n! M/n!" They were successful in gaining your attention, while they smiled running up towards you. "M/n! You didn't tell us you have a handsome brother..." One of them said, while batting their lashes.

You knitted your brows in confusion. "I have?" You asked the girls, who looked like they knew better and nodded their heads. First of all, you don't have a brother, but you have three sister, two are older and one is younger. Second, you don't even know who these girls were and yet, they mysteriously knew your name and who you were. "Wait, who are you talking—"

"M/n-ah." You heard that sweet raspy voice of the man you loved, your head snapping towards him who stood by the side of your booth. You guessed he was on his break, since he was still in his suit and it was already past twelve in the afternoon.

"Jaehyun!" You giggled as you ran to him, all the while opening his arms for you to throw yourself in. You gladly complied and wrapped your arms around him, the lot older male doing the same as he hung his long arms on your waist. You snuggled into his chest before you looked up at him to see him already looking down at you with a smile that displayed his deeply carved dimples. "What are you doing here? Aren't you busy?" He made you giggle when he patted your head and planted a kiss on your forehead.

"I wanted to see my baby." Jaehyun replied, then pouting. "I've been so tired lately."

You furrowed your brows in concern and hugged him tighter. "Can't you take a three days off?"

"I want to, but I got to keep the company running if I don't want it to fail." He answered you, making you nod your head.

Once the girls saw these, they quickly felt embarrassed and walked off without making a sound, Jeno laughing at them.

"Then, why don't I treat you to something sweet? How's that?" You wanted to do something for the older and this was the only thing you could ever think of.

The pout was still glued to his face when he looked back down at you. "Angel, we agreed that I would do the treating."

"Well, you're the one who needs my help, right now, so I want to do something for you, other than..." You cleared your throat and mumbled, "...the other things I do for you."

Jaehyun chuckled, as he finally gave in to your offer while he ruffled your hair. "Alright."

You pulled away from him once he had loosened his grip from around your waist. You took him by the wrist and told Jeno that you'd be somewhere else, leaving Jeno with the rest of the responsibilities, promising him to make up to it.

You were leading Jaehyun to the canteen, before he gently pulled on your hand. You turned your head towards him, your eyes moving down to where he held you. You chuckled and smiled. "What's wrong?"

"Can... I hold your hand, M/n?" The question took you aback, only since he never really asks those type of questions. Ones he only asks are some that goes by the line 'can you suck my dick?' or of some sort.

"Sure." You managed to smile from the obvious shock that got Jaehyun a little red. "You didn't even have to ask." You added to which he nodded to shyly. It would be times like this when you would forget that he is a good thirty years old because of his cute personality.

You two finally made it to the canteen, the taller male receiving a lot of stares from all those present inside. Jaehyun was yet to spot the attention he was gaining, but you were already feeling iffy even though you knew that those heart eyes were for Jaehyun. But, you couldn't help the feeling that those eyes didn't like you being around Jaehyun. "J-Jaehyun..." You squeaked out silently, tugging on the sleeve of his suit, taking his attention whilst smiling down at you. His smile faltered upon noticing how you looked subtly shaken and cowered in fear. "I.. I think we should leave."

"Baby, what's wrong? You look so tense." Jaehyun asked you out of pure concern, cupping your cheeks as he gently tilted your head upwards, so you could face him, but you removed his hands from your cheeks that got him almost shocked since you'd never really let yourself move away from his grasp, instead you would usually just lean into his touch and let yourself succumb to the warmth he was radiating, but this. This was different and he knew exactly that something was bothering you.

"Can we go, please?" You sounded like you were begging for you two to quickly move outside, leaving Jaehyun with no choice, but to nod his head and let you drag him out of the place. Alas, you were outside, but he never received even a word from you nor a hum, a sigh, nothing. Just complete silence.

He grew more worried thinking that he might have done something that he shouldn't have or said something that made you feel so uncomfortable. He was getting anxious as you continued to keep your mouth closed and never said a word. "Baby, you know you can trust me, right?" Jaehyun caressed your thumb in a comforting manner, his eyes showing how much he truly cared for you and how genuinely worried he was. He was scared that he might have done something wrong to you.

He himself never knew how it got to this. At first, just like you, he had only intended to find some fun in the relationship you both had and not actually grow some feelings towards you, but the first time he ever met you, all he ever had thought in his head was to protect you at all cost and give you everything you wanted, spoil you with all his money and riches, give you forehead kisses and pleasure that can make you see stars. Since the start, he only thought of this as something platonic and that it was a part of the agreement you both had consent on, but as you two got to spend more time together, he always felt something blossom inside of him. He always looked forward to every day, mainly because he had you to wake up to. His usual stoic expression, completely turned into those that said 'sunshine' all spread out on his face. That's when he completely knew, it was not only the benefits he was up for, anymore. It was you and his love for you.

He was just your usual workaholic man, who had nothing in his head rather than work, work, and work. Not until the day he bumped into you on that one faithful day, when you were so drained from all the studying you had to do and decided to buy coffee. You were so intimidated by his face that he got you cowering in fear when you turned to look up at him. The only courage you could muster was so small that you were only able to give him a polite bow before you entered the coffee shop to buy your favorite cappuccino coffee.

He was so intrigued by you that the next day, during that same time, he waited for you in that same exact location, but you never showed up. Until later. You were so shocked from the sight of him. You feared he'd beat you into a pulp, so you hid your face with your hand, hoping he didn't see you, but luck wasn't on your side that day and decided to let Jaehyun notice your presence.

"Hey, I—"

"Sorry, sir. I'm quite busy, right now." You immediately cut him off and got inside the shop, Jaehyun following suit. Your eyes made its way back towards the older who was following behind you closely. You stopped in your tracks and turned around to look at him, retracting his body from looking through your shoulders, throughout the whole time smiling down at you with his dimples showing. "Excuse me, sir, but do I owe you with something?"

Jaehyun pursed his lips, thinking before smirking and leaning closer to your face, with you, all the while, pulling your head back. "Yes." He answered you with his hands shoved confidently inside his pants.

Your gaze averted from his mesmerizing eyes to the table that supported you and kept you from falling. You gulped and felt your lips go dry. "D-do you need money? I don't have much, but will 7,000 won be enough?" You fondled through your pockets and took out your wallet.

"What? No, no." He chuckled, one hand taken out from his pockets and scratching his eyebrows while he sighed. "I have an offer."

Your brows were pulled together looking up at him, curious. "What is it?"

"Give me your number and I'll tell you over the phone."

And that's how it all started. Of course, he told you about lying that you owed him something, either way you were thanking the God above that he created you as gullible as ever.

As of the moment, Jaehyun could only feel his nervousness rise as he continued to stare at your back. "M/n, please say something. You're making me feel so worried."

"Jaehyun..." You finally stopped walking and spoke, before throwing yourself into him, the impact suddenly taking all the air inside Jaehyun's lungs away. "Don't leave me... please." You pleaded, your arms around him going tighter.

Jaehyun softened and felt himself get blanketed over with relief. He raised his hand to put it on top of your head and caressed them softly and soothingly. "I won't, M/n. I promise you."

In the end, Jaehyun was the one who treated you with something to eat. You were sat at a bench near your class' booth, Jaehyun next to you, while you swayed your feet back and forth. "Hyunnie." You called out to him with a new nickname you came up with, Jaehyun choking on his burger letting out a few coughs while you patted his back, laughing. "How the hell do you eat a burger that it got you choking on it?"

His coughing finally stopped and looked at you with a surprised face. "The nickname. You never called me that before."

You pouted in reply and blushed in embarrassment. "Do you.. not like it?"

"No, of course not." He was quick to shake his head, then cleared his throat, looking away. "It's cute."

You were able to see the pink tint painting his cheeks that you always found cute, since it's a very rare sight to see. Teasingly, you peeked over and was able to confirm that he was, in fact, blushing from just the nickname you created. "Oh my gosh, you're blushing." You cooed and immediately, Jaehyun scoffed, facing you to land a small kiss on your lips that got you widening your eyes and wiping away the mocking smile you had on your face. Your fingers made its way up towards your lips, unable to speak.

"Now, tell me who's blushing." Jaehyun smirked.

You glared at him, but instead of feeling intimidated, he found it cute. "I'm just surprised, since you never really like to, er, kiss me on the lips." You whispered the last part, loud enough for only you and him to hear.

You two were so happy in each other's company, that you both forgot that Jaehyun had somewhere else to be. That being his work. He wouldn't have noticed the time passing, if it wasn't for the alarm he had set, knowing he'd lose track of time when he's around you.

You walked him to his car and saw him off, waving your hand at him, not leaving until he was finally out of sight. You put your hands back down and sighed happily, walking back towards where you should be: at the booth where you should be finishing the preparation.

"So, how was the quick date?" Jeno asked you with a smirk, the sleeves of his shirt pushed back inside the hole that connected it to the shirt, showing his perfectly built muscles.

"It was great! Save for the part where I received death glares at the canteen. That felt terrible." You shuddered at the thought, but smiled again. "That aside, it was great."

"Your schedule didn't change? Are there still room for practice later?" Jeno asked you for the nth time that day. He's been asking you since you entered the classroom.

"It didn't, Jeno. Why are you so eager with me being present in the practice?" You chuckled at him, deciding to help him pack the treat bags you will give out to your customers.

"I just can't be left alone there with people I don't know. I'm an awkward person." Jeno told you.

"Jeno. You're literally known by all the students here and you're scared because they're strangers to you? I bet they all even want to be friends with you." You said, but Jeno just shook his head, his hair moving along with him.

"No, M/n. You must and need to attend the practice, either way." Jeno demanded of you.

You rolled your eyes at him and sighed deeply through your nose in defeat. "Fine, fine." Jeno's eye smile appeared and let out a small 'yes' making you chuckle.

"Hey, M/n." A voice started from outside the booth and saw a girl with her arms crossed, looking down at you whilst you seated at the ground. You looked up at her, but she didn't look friendly. She looked angry than friendly.

Your eyes flickered toward Jeno, then back to the girl and smiled. "Yeah?"

"Don't give me that smile, you whore." She spat at you, all of a sudden.

Your eyes closed shut, your mouth wide open and your forefinger raised up while you pushed it towards her way and scoffing. Your eyelids tore open and you smirked at the girl. "Excuse me? Whore? Who you calling a whore?"

"Listen, midget—"

"No, you listen here, Barbie." You said, a mocking tone with the last word. "You full on plastic, bitch. Get away from my sight. You look like a parasite."

The girl gasped in shock and opted to pull on your hair, but Jeno held her by her wrist and angrily stared at her. "You heard him. Get away. I'm not afraid to punch a person, even a girl, if they're purpose was to mistreat and shame on an innocent person." Jeno threw her hand away like it was trash, sending the girl from moving two steps back before stomping her foot and turning on her heels to walk away.

You could still see Jeno glaring at the girl while you looked at him in shock. "Wow, wow. Look at you."

"Sh. I'm not done yet." Jeno hushed you, before he continued his work. "You were saying?"

"Nothing. Was just shocked you told that girl off. I could have handled myself just fine, but thanks to you, I'm saved from causing a ruckus." You said, Jeno huffing through the nose.

"Seriously, you." He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose and knitted his brows. "Stop making the problem bigger."

"No way. I need to put up a fight. If I don't, they'd see me as someone weak." You defended yourself.

"And you can't even handle death glares that's being sent towards you?"

You were about to speak and fight back, but he was right. "That's... that's a different matter."

"Sure, it isn't, M/n." He said rolling his eyes.

Later that afternoon, past 5 p.m., you and Jeno excused yourselves from the class, since you have a dance practice for your performance on the opening of the foundation day. Out of habit, you skipped beside Jeno who was happy that you got to attend the practice today. Again.

You never really liked the person who choreographed the whole song. It was under a genre you thought you could never pull off or fit in, so your confidence was at a very low level. During practices, though, you try your best not to make it obvious that you were uncomfortable for that certain concept, but you still had to be seen making a lot of mistakes, some of the other students who joined clearly agitated. You could only bow and bow and bow at the mistake you knew you clearly had done, feeling guilty for the reason why always had to start again from the top. The reason why you never really got along well with these students.

You have arrived at the practice room, taking quiet steps as you both entered the venue trying your best not to make a sound. The intense gazes you received from the other students didn't come unnoticed by you, the reason why you pulled your knees closer to your chest as you buried your face in it. Clearly, they were enjoying those two few days you were absent, since they got to finish practice early and with no interruption nor mistakes. But, now that you're around, they knew exactly what awaited them.

Jeno saw you curled up into a ball and eyes making its way up to the students who looked so angry with you making him frown. "M/n. Don't mind them. You're actually doing even greater than them." He tried to cheer you up, so you acknowledged it with a smile.

"Thanks, Jeno. But, I don't think that will change the fact that my uneasiness with the dance is the reason why we have to start over and over again." You sighed and placed your head back down on your knees, Jeno drawing circles on your back.

A moment later, the mentor came walking in, displeased to see you present. "Oh, welcome back... M/n." He stated before you could hear those loud snickers coming from the students. You and Jeno were the first ones to stand in position, the others following suit. The mentor's face lit up with an idea on his mind. "Can everyone please take a seat for a couple of minutes?" He smiled, then looking at you. "Except for you, L/n."

Jeno's eyes fell upon you, a worried look on his face, mouthing 'I'll be fine' to reassure him as he sat back down along with the other students until it was only you and the mentor left standing. "You think telling your 'boyfriend' about me would scare me?" He mocked you with your head still hung low. "You have to try better than that." He smirked, pulling a chair to seat on it. His legs were on either side of the chair, so his chest was pressed upon the back rest of the chair to face you. "Start."

You were startled by the sudden order and went into position, but you only started fidgeting out of fear. "Where... I.. sir.. Do I stand—"

"L/n!" He yelled at you, making you jump from the sudden raise of his voice. You knew telling Jaehyun was a bad idea. "Fix yourself, will you? The performance is due tomorrow and you're such a mess." The misery you were caged in were the happiness of the students as they started to giggle, your fist clenching hard until your knuckles turned white.

The music started, but you were still nowhere from moving your body. You just stood there, head hanging low while gnashing your teeth. You weren't angry at the mentor. You were angry at yourself. You were angry that you couldn't do any better. You practiced the dance so hard, yet it were still so far from perfecting it. You just wished some kind of spirit would possess you and lead your body.

The whole place started to laugh at you as they watched you shamelessly froze on your position. You felt a small jab on your ribs that made you open your clenched fists and saw Jeno standing right beside you with a grin on his face, your expression softening as he started to lead the dance. Slowly, you felt your own body move to the beat and rhythm of the song, being at the same flow with Jeno. The students only watched while the song ended.

A slow clap from your mentor was heard, a smile plastered on his face. "Way to impress me you two, huh?" He stood from the chair and waisted his arms. "L/n." His eyes moved to you, expecting yet another scolding. "I'm proud of you. Keep up that confidence and I just know you'll do great." You felt a smile creeping its way up to your face, before the mentor closed in on you and ruffled your hair. "Alright, everyone. From the top."

-----

The practice ended at exactly eight o' clock in the evening and you were already feeling drained, your sweat soaked shirt sticking to your body. Your forehead glistened with sweat, that ran down to the side of your cheeks. You panted heavily and flopped your body down on the polished floor.

Why that late you ask? Well, you and Jeno decided to stay for a few hours to polish the dance, him pointing out your mistakes and going back to the steps to correct you. You were grateful Jeno was a very patient guy, so whenever you made a mistake or wasn't executing the dance properly, he'd just chuckle and help you with your 'cute mistakes', at least that's what he called it.

"Finally..." You panted, Jeno settling himself beside you, his limbs sprawled all over the floor. "Done."

"You did so great, M/n! I knew you could pull this off." Jeno gave you a compliment that made you giggle, a hand on your chest to catch your breathe.

"And it was all thanks to you." You told him.

Jeno shook his head. "Ey. The only thing I did was help your body to loosen up."

"Exactly." The cute noises coming out of your mouth once more. "Do you think we should practice more?" You asked the older who moved his head to look at you.

"Still up for one more?" He smiled knowingly at you, while you nodded at him. You both stood up from where you both lied and you went to your position with Jeno moving to the speakers to play the song for the last time.

The minute you both finished, you were so exhausted that your knees couldn't hold themselves up anymore and you fell to the ground, groaning. You were panting heavily, starting to even your breathing at the same time laughing proudly at yourself for how well you've done. "When I get home, I'm gonna take a shower and then, throw myself on the bed and sleep."

Jeno could only laugh and you two were left with half an hour talking about all the things in life. You listened to him rant about how the mentor was being more harsh on you than the other students, but you only shook the topic off telling him that it no longer mattered and that he should already move on. You had also thanked him for helping you, during that time when you had to do the dance routine all by yourself. You really didn't know what else to do than to just stand there and sulk.

A few minutes later, both of you were now starting to pack, Jeno having to make a quick visit to the restroom, leaving you all alone inside the studio. You were changing into a dry shirt, when the voice of the janitress from behind the window made your body go tense as you jumped and turned towards her. "Oh, fuck." You sighed out in relief, holding your hand close to your chest. "You scared me, ma'am."

Her eyes turned into those that looked like crescents and smiled. "My bad. Probably shouldn't have passed by unannounced." She nodded and proceeded to mop the hallway floor.

You were about to ask her about a certain matter that was troubling you, but when you lifted your head to face the woman, she was not there anymore. "Uh.. probably left for something." You shrugged it off and went back to scrolling through your feeds, the certain feeling of being watched sending chills down your spine. The silence was so deafening that you started to whistle to a song you were currently into, just to help calm the unnerving feeling. You started to feel all the hair on your body stand on its end when a very harsh opening of the door sent you off flying, then to the ground your heart beating so fast. "Shit!"

Jeno was obviously confused why you got so scared by him just pushing the door open, but he was also laughing at your state which made you glare at him. He helped you stand back up to your feet, as you dusted your pants from any invisible dirt. "What the hell happened to you?"

"You scared the shits out of me. That's what happened." You scoffed at him, hitching your back higher onto your shoulders. "Let's go." You two vacated the room, making sure to lock it, but you told Jeno not to since the janitress was still yet to finish cleaning, but Jeno was greatly puzzled at what you had said.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Jeno laughed lightly before proceeding to lock the door and hung an arm around your shoulder.

"I saw her through the window." You added.

Jeno shook his head in disbelief and didn't fall for your trick to scare him off. "First, the school does not hire a janitress or a janitor, since they have working students. Second, so the dance major students don't get distracted, the window inside the room is tinted, so you basically don't see anything outside."

You felt your heart sink at the revelation as you felt all your blood get drained. "Are you... s-sure?"

"Yeah." Jeno answered your question. You slowly turned your head back towards the room, the windows and saw a black figure waving their hands at you that made you sprinting off to the entrance, leaving a dumbfounded Jeno as he followed behind you. "What the hell, M/n?"

"Shut... up! You were not the one left inside the dance room, so you wouldn't know how much I'm fucking scared, right—"

"M/n!"

"FUCK!" You screamed on the top of your lungs, stomping your foot and punching the air for no apparent reason. "Jaehyun, you... nevermind. Just take me home, please. I think I'm already fucking wasted." Jaehyun, who was on his casual attire, approached you and placed a kiss on top of your head.

#x male reader #bottom male reader #bxb #male reader #idol x male reader #fanfiction #kpop #nct #nct x male reader #jung jaehyun x male reader #jaehyun x male reader #jung yunoh x male reader

[edenmemes]

skyward sword sentence starters

more to be added !

❝ you promised to meet me before it starts, remember? ❞ ❝ you seem pretty...relaxed about the whole thing. ❞ ❝ is something wrong? what’s the hurry? ❞ ❝ sometimes i just don’t know what’s going on in your head. ❞ ❝ i'm not like you. i fail at everything i try. ❞ ❝ a shrimpy boy like you hardly looks the part of a hero. ❞ ❝ swatting a few monsters will be no trouble for you. ❞ ❝ run and play this time. get in my way again, though, and you’re dead. ❞ ❝ don’t even pretend that was an accident! ❞ ❝ do you doubt these eyes? i look upon your shirt and i see a single thread loose on your sleeve stitching. ❞ ❝ this is no place for one such as you. and yet here you stand. ❞ ❝ i need to vent all this unhealthy anger,     and your agony is such a great stress reliever. ❞ ❝ remember what we discussed. restrain yourself. focus on the task at hand. ❞ ❝ do my words anger you? do my words sting? let them. ❞ ❝ you don’t come by here just to see me, do you? ❞ ❝ what’s wrong? you just made a face like you wanted to say something. ❞ ❝ oh, i get it. you’re trying to weasel out of having to practice. ❞ ❝ i guess it’s not all bad. at least i’m getting paid. ❞ ❝ there’s something i’ve been meaning to talk to you about.... ❞ ❝ would you wake up, straighten up, and grow a backbone already? ❞ ❝ nice try, but you’re not fooling me. ❞ ❝ i...i have to go. i’m sorry. ❞ ❝ folks were always cheering me on like it was a parade. but as you know, time passes. ❞ ❝ you keep some very strange company, friend. ❞ ❝ i don’t know if it’s safe yet...i’m going to stay here awhile longer. ❞ ❝ oh no. you’ve done it now! there’s no escaping this one! ❞ ❝ so, what now? are you going to cry? ❞ ❝ i can’t begin to tell you how sorry i am for pulling you into all of this. ❞ ❝ what is wrong with you? just look at what you’ve done! ❞ ❝ what we’ve seen here today defies explanation. ❞ ❝ you put up more of a fight than i would have thought possible out of such a soft person. ❞ ❝ did you really just draw your sword? foolish. ❞ ❝ should you heed the call of destiny,     i don’t know what dangers you may have to face. ❞ ❝ i can’t help being such a coward...i’m really sorry. ❞ ❝ i fear i spent far too long teasing and toying with you. ❞ ❝ you do your people proud. ❞ ❝ how long do we have to live in constant fear? ❞ ❝ i'll just beat you within an inch of your life! ❞ ❝ dawn is drawing near. it has been a long night for the both of us, hasn’t it? ❞ ❝ you were limp and unconscious. i feared the worst. ❞ ❝ what do you think you’re doing sneaking out with that? ❞ ❝ such a beautiful day, but we’re too busy to enjoy it. some things never change. ❞ ❝ i guess you’ll never learn unless you run into trouble one day. ❞ ❝ look at my face. if that’s your idea of a joke, i’m not laughing. ❞ ❝ you appeared to be relishing that snooze, so i declined to wake you. ❞ ❝ huh? oh, uh, nothing. really, i was, uh...talking to myself. ❞ ❝ you’re looking a little pale... ❞ ❝ i imagine you and i will cross paths again. until then, do not lower your guard. ❞ ❝ you certainly are persistent... ❞ ❝ all that may be well intentioned and true, but it doesn’t mean it’s right. ❞ ❝ i’m prepared to pay the price for what i’ve done. ❞ ❝ i had no idea we were fated to carry such a heavy destiny. ❞ ❝ i need your strength to tip the scales in our favor. ❞ ❝ all this training, and no results! ❞ ❝ all i’ve hears so far is a bunch of babbling about destiny,     but that’s a load of garbage. ❞ ❝ when night draws her tenebrous curtain across the sky, i come here. ❞ ❝ what in the world just happened? did you use some kind of magic? ❞ ❝ please, see it through and prove the legends true. ❞ ❝ i was happy just spending my days hanging around with you. i wanted that feeling to last forever. ❞ ❝ you are vital to a mission of great importance. ❞ ❝ the chances of that happening are just about less than zero. ❞ ❝ i hate to break it to you, but today’s the day i bust up this adorable little fantasyland you’re living in. ❞ ❝ this is a war, and the fate of the land hangs in the balance. ❞ ❝ i know you, and you’re no hero. ❞ ❝ you’re messing with me. say it again, i dare you. ❞ ❝ you float through life with your head in the clouds. ❞ ❝ i don’t do charity for wimps. ❞ ❝ what’s this...? what is it that my eyes behold? ❞ ❝ don’t even think about it! are we clear? ❞ ❝ the point is your work here is done. i got it covered from here. ❞ ❝ my eyes foresee a hazardous, thorny road ahead for you... ❞ ❝ you...this is your fault, you know. ❞ ❝ my heart is bursting with thoughts of you. ❞ ❝ i have a serious dilemma on my mind right now, and you’re distracting me. ❞ ❝ i’ll make you proud. you’ll see! ❞ ❝ feels dangerous. something could jump out at us at any moment. ❞ ❝ we’re talking about a tale that’s been passed down over a lot of years, so i wouldn’t put much stock in it. ❞ ❝ i have the right to experience an unfettered and passionate love, don’t i? ❞ ❝ i’ll tell you, it gives even a big guy like me the creeps. ❞ ❝ oh...how can i get you to notice me? ❞ ❝ i get the feeling nothing i can say will talk you out of it. ❞ ❝ my love for you is wider than the horizon and deeper than the clouds. ❞ ❝ trust my piercing eyes...listen to my pure and innocent voice. ❞ ❝ i feel so excited, so cheerful, so full of life. ❞ ❝ i sense a silent power dwelling somewhere in your frame. ❞ ❝ this turn of events has left me with a strong appetite for bloodshed. ❞ ❝ there’s no doubting it. the gears of fate have begun to turn. ❞ ❝ i'm sorry. i was lost in thought there for a moment. ❞ ❝ don’t men open doors for a lady anymore? how long am i supposed to stand here waiting for a little chivalry? ❞ ❝ i hate even saying this, but i guess you got it all figured out. ❞ ❝ you must not push yourself. you’re still recovering. ❞ ❝ you think you’re pretty suave, don’t you? ❞ ❝ i know you’re in a hurry, so i really appreciate you taking the time to help. ❞ ❝ i saw it, but i was able to escape by the seat of my pants. ❞ ❝ do you have any idea how that made me feel inside? furious! outraged! sick with anger! ❞ ❝ you’re really something else. i could never imagine myself doing what you’re about to do. ❞ ❝ i must aid you in fulfilling the great destiny that is your burden to carry. ❞ ❝ i should have believed you...i’m sorry. ❞ ❝ lately, when i think about you, my head gets all fuzzy, my heart races, i get short of breath, and i feel all dizzy... ❞ ❝ you should know better than that to fret about me. ❞ ❝ thanks for jumping in there to rescue me. ❞ ❝ hey, hold on there! what are you trying to pull all of a sudden? ❞ ❝ your face cries out in earnest wonder, and that cry is: ‘what’s this?!’ ❞ ❝ i promise up front not to murder you. ❞ ❝ you...didn’t hear any of that, did you? there’s no way you heard, right? ❞ ❝ i tell you, all sorts of weird things are going on lately. ❞ ❝ calamitous visions appear before me... ❞ ❝ you...make me so happy...i think i’m going to keel over... ❞ ❝ i wanted you to be the first to see me like this. ❞ ❝ i can’t imagine a more fitting color for you. it’s as though you were born to wear it. ❞ ❝ i bet you can’t even decide what to have for lunch on your own, huh? ❞ ❝ amazing, right? wrong! it is beyond amazing! ❞ ❝ it can’t be easy for you, can it? ❞ ❝ you’ll see in time that you have your own role to play in all this. ❞ ❝ trust in fate to guide your feet. ❞ ❝ i bet you’re here just to check me out, right? ❞ ❝ i just hope nothing has happened. i’m worried sick thinking about it. ❞ ❝ whoa...you’re kind of imploding my mind right now. ❞ ❝ if you wanna live again one day, you should head for home. ❞ ❝ you have a great journey before you, and those clothes...they don’t look up to the task. ❞ ❝ did you manage to get even a wink of sleep last night? ❞ ❝ ever heard of banging your knuckles against the door? it’s called knocking. ❞ ❝ so, uh...yeah. just how long have you been standing there? ❞ ❝ honestly, it’s almost as though you become a completely different person when you worry about me. ❞ ❝ you showing up here must mean we’re connected somehow. like fate. ❞ ❝ sorry to put you through that. i guess i owe you one now. ❞ ❝ to tell you the truth, i’m feeling a little frustrated, and right now i just need someone to vent to. ❞ ❝ what’s with you? leave me alone if you don’t want anything. ❞ ❝ hearing that is such a...huge weight off my mind. ❞ ❝ though your journey will put you in harms way, you must endure. ❞ ❝ i'm just deadweight. what kinda use is that to anyone... ❞ ❝ seriously, what is that thing over there?! ❞ ❝ before i say another word, i feel like i owe you an apology. ❞ ❝ during your long journey, you’ve grown so much. ❞ ❝ from the moment i laid my eyes on you, i could tell you had a gentle and generous heart. ❞ ❝ oh dear...i don’t know what’s come over me all of a sudden... ❞ ❝ you don’t appear to have any serious injuries. for that much we can be grateful. ❞ ❝ i can see into those dopey eyes of yours. ❞ ❝ i can finally smile and laugh again! thank you ever so much. ❞ ❝ i think i might of broke something. ❞ ❝ is that it? i thought it was going to put up more of a fight. ❞ ❝ i thought we were goners this time. sort of glad i was wrong about that. ❞ ❝ what? i don’t seem like my usual self? ❞ ❝ this place needs a name. a name fitting for this rugged, adventurous wilderness. ❞ ❝ what were you thinking? you scared a year off my life! ❞ ❝ care to explain just what you meant by ‘our special moment alone’? ❞ ❝ my advice? work hard and wish with all your heart. ❞ ❝ say, you look all flustered. ❞ ❝ i fear we can’t dwell on our success. ❞ ❝ the world is bursting with undiscovered surprises, isn’t it? ❞ ❝ you're not exactly mr/mrs.perfect either, are you? ❞ ❝ this is easily as scary as i thought it would be. ❞ ❝ i swear this neighborhood’s getting crummier every day. ❞ ❝ you ain’t as dumb as you look. ❞ ❝ i was going to ask if you wanted me to take care of you forever... ❞ ❝ i need to learn how to keep these delirious dreams in check. ❞ ❝ maybe you should forget about everything that happened here tonight. ❞ ❝ can you imagine a more gruesome fate? ❞ ❝ there are more monsters about than before, so be careful. ❞ ❝ human desire is an insatiable, fearsome thing. ❞ ❝ i sense an evil presence on the other side of this door. ❞ ❝ you understand, don’t you? i’m not wrong about this, am i? ❞ ❝ i never wanted to lay eyes on you again. ❞ ❝ i would have gotten discouraged if you hadn’t come by to cheer me on. you gave me motivation. ❞ ❝ who do you think you are, getting involved in my business like that? ❞ ❝ i just wish there was more i could do for you... ❞ ❝ i don’t even understand how you could make such a wild accusation! ❞ ❝ it was at that moment i finally realized. i realized that...i love you. ❞ ❝ make sure you come home every now and then. nothing like a good sleep in your own bed. ❞ ❝ you’d better not keep me waiting. ❞ ❝ make sure you put your heart into it! i won’t stand for anything but your best. ❞ ❝ how could you be swayed by the temptation of material gain?     do you have no honor? ❞ ❝ you really want to hear about all my troubles? that’s kind of you. ❞ ❝ you...weren’t supposed to see that whole spectacle. how embarrassing... ❞ ❝ you have only succeeded in buying us a little more time. ❞ ❝ watch it! that’s no way to talk to someone who just saved your life! ❞ ❝ you look like you need to get something off your chest. ❞ ❝ know that all the questions you have now will be answered in time. ❞ ❝ there is nothing natural about these tremors. ❞ ❝ you might just be the person i need! you seem pretty good with the ladies. ❞ ❝ it’s great to hear you’re so confident in me. ❞ ❝ ideal love is unfettered and passionate. anything less than that can’t really be called love at all. ❞ ❝ you're incessant buzzing around my head like some irksome gadfly when i’m this busy is...making me very disagreeable. ❞ ❝ you may not have noticed, but i’m trying to hide here.     could you please scoot along? ❞ ❝ you'd better keep your eyes to yourself, if you know what i mean. ❞ ❝ have you come to laugh at me in my miserable state? ❞ ❝ you...you came to see me! i’m so happy. ❞ ❝ your job is simple! you make sure none of these monsters lays a claw on me. not...one...claw. ❞ ❝ now is not the time to be picky about who will help you. ❞ ❝ watch carefully while i demonstrate what a real hero looks like. ❞ ❝ you are something else! there is nothing you cannot do. ❞ ❝ if you think about how often we meet, you have to admit that our relationship has gone beyond friendship, you know? ❞ ❝ i’ll make the affair so excruciating, you’ll deafen yourself with the shrill sound of your own screams. ❞ ❝ i was right, then. there is something special about you. ❞ ❝ i should have reprimanded you the last time we met, but instead i was...soft. ❞ ❝ ha-ha! you didn’t see that coming, did you? ❞ ❝ you really are a snake in the grass. ❞ ❝ you are indeed worthy of being called a hero. ❞ ❝ i’m not used to getting stared at like this. it’s making me blush. ❞ ❝ i can’t hide anything from you, can i? ❞ ❝ the longer i train, the more i realize i’ll never measure up to you. ❞ ❝ whoa...you took out every last one of them. ❞ ❝ i know how bad this must look to you right now, but i assure you i mean no harm. ❞ ❝ it’s all very strange, but i doubt there’s much of a connection between these things. ❞ ❝ you're a weird one, climbing all the way up here. ❞ ❝ don’t cry --- it’s perfectly, mostly safe! ❞ ❝ you and i, we’re bound by that thread of fate. destined to fight. ❞ ❝ meet me in battle, and the thread of fate that binds us will be soaked crimson with your blood. ❞ ❝ i do not wish to dwell on what may have happened if you hadn’t been here. ❞ ❝ you have awakened a wrath that will burn for eons! ❞ ❝ you really like those fantasy stories, eh? ❞ ❝ there is one teensy, tiny thing i lack...namely, mercy. ❞ ❝ i must warn you, i won’t go easy on you this time. ❞ ❝ i might be willing to forgive and forget if you’ll strike a deal. ❞ ❝ since i know i can be honest with you, i’ll admit i got a little sulky. it was frowns all around. ❞ ❝ i see you’re still among the living. ❞ ❝ i saw them dragging you off unconscious, so i tailed them. ❞ ❝ i want you to visit me at my house tonight. ❞ ❝ you don’t have to say a word. i can see how you feel by the spark in your eye. ❞ ❝ you’ll see. i’ll be as tough as you in no time. ❞ ❝ it’s not like ‘oh, hey, that person’s back! i’m so happy!’ or anything like that... ❞ ❝ whoa...that’s some really terrible handwriting. ❞ ❝ i would very much like it if you would go out with me. ❞ ❝ truly? you choose me? ❞ ❝ i swear to you, whatever it takes, i will drag you into an eternity of torment. ❞ ❝ you and i, we’re bound by a thread of fate. ❞ ❝ i’ll watch over you, protecting you from afar. ❞ ❝ until then, we’ll keep our love secret. ❞ ❝ this news has just filled my heart with rainbows! ❞ ❝ this place seems strangely familiar... ❞ ❝ don’t you gotta take care of your own business first? ❞ ❝ they’re not going to do anything nice if they catch you. ❞ ❝ it’s not humane to tease someone this bored. ❞ ❝ i’m not some sideshow for you to gawk at. ❞ ❝ it’s weird to say out loud, but that’s just how i feel right now. ❞ ❝ you can’t break me with interrogation. you’ll never make me talk. ❞ ❝ word is there’s a huge treasure hidden in these here ruins... ❞ ❝ what? that’s not weird to say! ❞ ❝ ...i understand your true feelings. better than you know. ❞ ❝ all the fairytales that we heard growing up...they appear all too real. ❞ ❝ do i look sad? no, i’m doing what i want to do! ❞ ❝ i don’t know what came over me! i had no clue i had the talent to make something like this. ❞ ❝ you shouldn’t be out here in the open with no way to defend yourself. ❞ ❝ you do have the tendency to cause trouble for those you ‘help’. ❞ ❝ as far as i’m concerned, i got nothing but time. ❞ ❝ don’t you play coy with me. i know that you know, so why not let me in on the fun? ❞ ❝ so you really think a sob story like that is going to work on me? what a joke. ❞ ❝ i’d take pleasure in punishing you, but i have no time for recreation. ❞ ❝ sorry to leave you on your own, but you look like you can handle it. ❞ ❝ remember --- it’s a secret to everybody. ❞ ❝ it isn’t as action packed as what you’re doing, but maybe this is my destiny. ❞ ❝ don’t you just love the way it smells down here? ❞ ❝ defending the land...it’s my purpose, i think. it’s why i’m here. ❞ ❝ what do i know...you might just surprise me. ❞ ❝ fibber! you’re a fibbity fibber! ❞ ❝ you needn’t even say it. i can tell from the look of sheer astonishment on your face. ❞ ❝ you have had this destiny thrust upon you without warning...    or choice, for that matter. ❞ ❝ don’t do anything heroic and get yourself caught. ❞ ❝ ...you want to tell me but you can’t? ❞ ❝ you know, i really worry about you. it’s a weakness of mine. ❞ ❝ try not to get in the way of my shots, ok? ❞ ❝ i haven’t slept a wink in...ahhh...i don’t even know how long. ❞ ❝ i had my suspicions, but until now i wasn’t sure. ❞ ❝ you seem a good deal stronger than the last time we met. ❞ ❝ i would be remiss if i didn’t let you know of the weight on my heart. ❞ ❝ i have a reputation to protect, you know. ❞ ❝ listen closely. do you hear that? ❞

#rp meme #roleplay meme #roleplay starters

[starlessea]

Move-in Day (Daryl Dixon/Reader)

Pt 3/3. Mini-Series Masterlist

Prompt: “If he so much as looks at you again, I’ll put him in the ground.” Requested by anonymous​, numbers #12 and #26 from this post.

Summary: Your ex boyfriend gives you trouble, and your current one sorts it.

Words: 3040

Warnings: Language, Violence, Past toxic relationships.

Usually, you were someone who preferred to solve their own problems. Whether it was stubbornly trying to carry all of your shopping to the car, back when the world was how it had been, or still trying to figure out where you'd misplaced that other sock - almost a week ago now. Even when the issue was a bit more serious, you would rather keep to yourself than ask for help. This time, however, you were left with no choice.

You felt the deputy's eyes on you, and nervously shifted your weight onto the balls of your feet. You were ashamed to ask him such a mundane request. The prison was a luxury in this new world; you had running water, your own room, plenty of food. Yet, you still pushed for that little bit more.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, Rick." You stuttered, and scratched the back of your neck shyly.

The man shook his head, but still wore a soft expression. He placed a hand to your shoulder, and you thought it was his own attempt to try and comfort you.

"Don't say that." He chided, but the look in his eyes remained warm. "We can sort something out for you, no problem."

The way he spoke reminded you of that night you'd eavesdropped on him consoling Daryl. He had that type of manner - one that could instantly make people open up, and trust him completely. You gave the man a smile to show your gratitude, and he squeezed your shoulder once more before removing his hand.

"Thank you." You said quietly. "It means a lot."

The officer hummed in response, but you noticed his gaze flicker above your head.

"I think someone's here to see you." He noted, his lips turning into a teasing grin.

You whipped your head around to see Daryl leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. He appeared to be waiting for you, but you hadn't even heard him come in. You thanked Rick a final time before excusing yourself, following the other man out of the room.

It seemed like he'd just come back from the run. He went quite regularly, and it had almost become a tradition for him to find you as soon as he returned. He'd always make some excuse as to why he needed to talk to you, but it was nice just to have the reassurance that he was safe.

As the two of you rounded the corner, out of view, you felt him slip his hand into yours - and you interlocked your fingers together.

"What was tha' about?" He asked, stopping at the end of the hallway.

He leant against the corner where two of the walls connected, and pulled you closer to him so that your chests almost touched. This seemed to be part of your unofficial ritual, too. He always liked to hold you after you'd been apart, and you always let him.

"I asked Rick if I could move to another cell block." You answered, stroking over the back of his knuckles with your thumb.

The man had his other hand around your waist, and he was so close that you noticed the subtle change in his expression instantly.

"Why's tha?" He mumbled.

His eyes were locked onto you, running over your face like he was trying to map every detail there. You tried to reply, but felt unsure of the explanation you should give. Daryl must have noticed the way you bit your lip, or glanced to the side every now and then, and you felt him rub circles over your hip to try and coax an answer from you.

"He's harassing me again." You finally admitted, your voice small and quiet. "Whenever I come back."

It wasn't often that you spent a night in your own cell, but every time you did, you'd find your ex linering about outside of it - like a reminder of what you'd left behind. You even locked the cell door on those nights, shuddering before you fell asleep like you could almost feel his eyes through the walls. Most of the time, he just leered, but sometimes he made remarks that left you feeling itchy.

"Thought it would be better to just put some distance between us." You added, awaiting Daryl's response.

It was just as expected. The man's jaw clenched, and his eyes flickered over your shoulder as though he was looking for someone.

"That bastard." He growled out lowly.

"It's okay." You reassured him, pressing your chest further against his.

You gave him a sweet smile to try and conceal your own worry, but he didn't seem completely convinced.

"Out of sight, out of mind." You told him. "I'll be gone soon."

The two of you stood in that little corner for a few more minutes, secluded from the rest of the prison as you enjoyed each other's company. It was rare that you got to spend a lot of time together during the day - which is why you often crept over to his cell when the night rolled around.

"Why don't ya jus' move into mine?" The man mumbled after a while.

You weren't sure whether you'd heard him right, so you took a small step back in shock.

"What?" You asked dumbly, and the man shook his head.

He suddenly seemed a lot more nervous, possibly out of fear of you rejecting him.

"Well, yer there every other goddamn night." He grumbled.

"Sorry." You whispered back, offering him a sheepish smile.

It was true. Oftentimes, the part of your day you looked forward to the most was slipping into his cell after everyone else had fallen asleep. You’d wait to be able to lie together in an entanglement of limbs, and feel his warm breath over your cheek as he drifted off.

You looked up at the man, but he glanced off to the side shyly.

"Didn't say I minded, did I?" He corrected himself.

Daryl seemed almost as flustered as the night you’d confessed your feelings back to him. His fingers had stopped tracing patterns over your waist, and he could barely meet your eyes when you looked at him.

"Are-" you whispered, before clearing your throat. "Are you sure?"

He certainly looked sure, but you wanted to check. Daryl Dixon was too caring for his own good sometimes, so you wanted to give him the option before he was stuck with you for good.

"Wouldn't ask if I weren't." He replied, more confidently this time.

You couldn't help the grin that spread over your face, and hooked your arms around the man's neck so that you could pull him down to you. Your foreheads were almost touching, and so you pressed your nose against his and smiled against him.

"Okay, then." You said, finally giving him that kiss he seemed to be waiting for. "Guess this is officially moving day."

You felt giddy as you packed your belongings into boxes. There wasn't that much, but Daryl was like a magpie when he went on scavenging runs - collecting any small trinket he thought you might like. After he'd asked you to move in with him, he'd left to go and inform Rick that you wouldn’t be needing another cell. He still had a few things to do, but he'd promised to come and help you carry your things once he was done.

You picked up a small, metal keyring and placed it into the box. It was shaped like a dog, and the tail wagged backwards and forwards if you flicked it. Daryl may have thought it was tacky, but after you'd told him that you liked animals, he'd come back from his trip with it. You laughed at the memory, before turning around to retrieve a pile of clothes.

"Where'd you think you're going?" A voice slurred, but you didn't need to look to know who it was.

He sounded like he'd been drinking. You wondered where he had even gotten the alcohol from - since he was too cowardly to ever tag along on runs himself.

"It's really none of your concern." You snapped back, not even glancing over your shoulder to look at your ex.

You folded a t-shirt in your hands and placed it into the box, but he caught your wrist before you could pick up the next one. You could smell some sort of spirits on his breath even from where he stood, and cursed yourself for not remembering to lock the cell door when you came in.

Finally, you looked in his direction - staring at him in disgust. You hadn't come face to face with the man in almost a week, but the sight of him still made you shudder. It was like whatever you had seen in him at one point, back when you were young and naive and just didn't know any better, had all faded away.

"Don't be like that." He chided, wearing that familiar smirk that never failed to get under your skin.

With his other hand, he tilted your chin up forcefully - so that you looked directly into his narrowed eyes.

"You always were much too pretty for your own good." He muttered to himself, holding your jaw firmly between his fingers.

The words made you feel sick, and you wasted no time in slapping away his hand. The sound rang out and echoed against the walls of the cell, and you saw that ugly scowl plague his face like thunder as soon as you had done it. You knew what followed thunder, so you took a nervous step back in anticipation. You hadn't wanted to give him the satisfaction of cowering in fear, but you'd done so on instinct - like it was an action well out of your control.

Except, nothing came. No harsh words were spat at you, nor did harsher hands grab you. You let your eyes flicker open carefully, and slowly dropped your arms from in front of your face. Your ex was no longer looking at you. Instead, his eyes were staring straight over your head - resting on the entryway where Daryl was now standing.

You barely had time to react before he stalked into the room, immediately positioning himself between you and your ex. He shot him a glare, before turning around to face you.

"Did he touch you?" Daryl asked, but it sounded more like a demand.

Each of his words came out harsh and gravelly as he said them. You suddenly felt overwhelmed by the intensity of his voice, and the stare that matched - so you looked away.

"Did he fuckin' touch you?" He barked again, even less patient than the last.

His chest heaved, and you decided that it would be best to spare your ex from Daryl's wrath - no matter how much you thought he deserved it.

"No." You choked out, glancing at the other man in the corner of your eye. "He was just leaving."

Your ex scoffed at your warning, but you had more confidence now that Daryl was there to back it up.

"You best quit botherin' her if ya know wha's good for ya." Daryl added lowly, and turned to face the other man as he said it.

Daryl stood slightly taller than your ex, but was more intimidating in a number of ways. Yet, the other man didn't seem to realise it in the slightest - and bit back before Daryl had even finished speaking.

"Listen, man. This isn't anything to do with you." He quipped snarkily, and eyed you where you stood behind Daryl.

You shook your head at him, hoping he'd take the hint.

"Nah." Daryl shot back. "She ain't nothin' to do with you no more."

Your ex left out a laugh, probably due to the liquid courage whichever beer bottle had given him. Sober, he definitely wouldn't have the audacity to meet Daryl's gaze - let alone answer back to him. This time, however, he addressed you as he spoke.

"Oh, I get it." He said with a smirk. "So this is the new guy you're fucking?"

Daryl didn't like that in the slightest, and you heard him growl at the tone your ex used with you. Despite how familiar you were with it, he wasn't.

"Going to move in with him after, what?" He continued, taunting you some more. "Two minutes?"

This time, you were the one to snap.

"Just stop. Get out and let me pack my stuff." You spat, narrowing your eyes at the man who you were once convinced loved you.

He seemed surprised for a moment, and took a step away - like he was physically taken aback that you’d spoken up for yourself.

"No." He countered, once he regained his composure.

Daryl hadn't put a stop to the confrontation yet, but you could practically feel the anger radiate off him where he stood - and knew it wouldn't be long before he did.

"Remind me how long we were dating, again?" Your ex remarked sarcastically. "Only for you to leave me so easily for some scruffy redneck who acts like he owns you?"

You saw red. You pushed past Daryl's shoulder so that you could get into the other man's face. No more would you bite your tongue where he was concerned; especially if he ran his mouth about the person who treated you so much better.

"You fucking hypocrite." You accused, through gritted teeth.

He took a step forward in return, and raised his voice at you in a way you'd almost forgotten.

"Who the hell d'you think you are speaking to me like that?" He yelled, and you could almost taste the alcohol on his breath from how close he was.

"Do you need to be reminded of your place?"

Then, Daryl punched him.

You should have seen it coming, really. Though, in that moment, you'd almost forgotten that the man was even there - so wrapped up in your own anger.

Daryl had stuck him square in the jaw, and your ex stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. He hit one of the boxes with his elbow, and it spilled to the floor - scattering your neatly folded clothes. Daryl pushed him against the stone wall of your cell, and you heard your ex's back hit it with a thud.

"Daryl-" you called out, but he was too far gone to hear you.

He got up into the other man's face, so close that he barely had to whisper for him to hear what he said.

"Listen 'ere, ya prick." He growled, dangerously low. "You're the one who needs to be reminded of yer place."

He had his forearm pressed up against the man's throat, and you could hear him gasp. Daryl had his back to you, probably trying to shield you from the sight - but you could still hear it perfectly clear.

"She ain't yours." Daryl said. "Hell, she ain't even mine."

Your breath caught at that, but he quickly continued.

"She's no fuckin' object for either of us to own."

Those words stung you deep. Not because you disagreed with them, or because they hurt you in any kind of way - but because they made you realise just how wrongly you'd been viewed by all the men that came before Daryl. And perhaps, how wrongly you'd even been viewing yourself.

"But she did tell ya to leave." He went on, before his voice got quiet. "An' ya ain't gonna like me if you don't."

Daryl finally took his arm away from the other man's throat, and let him drop back to the floor. You watched as your ex pressed his fingers tentatively to the skin there, before looking at you in disbelief. You snorted, wondering whether he actually expected you to back him up like he'd always made you.

"You heard him." You said, ignoring his expression and looking towards the door. "Get out."

For once, the man listened to you. He stumbled out of the cell without even a second glance back. In the seconds to follow, you and Daryl stood in utter silence. He seemed a lot more calm than he had been, but his eyes were still fixed on the doorway in case someone was to appear at it again.

You slipped your hand into his, and only then did he look away. The man had a guilty expression, like he'd expected you to be disappointed at his actions. He was a little skittish, and quickly glanced away like he couldn't quite meet your stare. You lifted your interlocked hands, noticing his knuckles that were already starting to bruise.

Slowly, you brought his hand to your lips, and placed a gentle kiss there. It was tender - enough so to coax Daryl to meet your eyes and notice the warmth behind them.

"Thank you." You whispered, and you truly meant it.

Never before had you had someone fight in your corner. It had always been you trying to defend yourself the best you could - even if that meant appeasing those people who caused you problems. But, now Daryl had given you the confidence to truly stand up for yourself.

"If he so much as looks at you again, I'll put him in the ground." He said back, letting his eyes trail over his hand, which you held against your cheek.

After a few seconds, he pulled away. The man got on his knees and started to collect the strewn clothes from the floor, and you crouched down to help him. It was the simplest gesture, but it reminded you what it was like to be treated as an equal. Despite everything that had gone down, you thought that this moving day was one of the best days you'd ever experienced.

Daryl lifted the box once it was full, and held it under one arm as he walked towards the door.

"C'mon. Let's get ya outta here." He said, and you nodded in return.

A/N Reader wasn't dating Bob lmao, just wanted to use this gif. Also, I’m sorry I didn’t post this last night like I said - I wasn’t in a good place (but I am now!)

Send me a message if you want to be added or removed from the taglist!

Tag List:

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#daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon imagines #daryl dixon x reader #twd #the walking dead #twd daryl #twd fanfic #twd imagines #the walking dead fanfic #twd fanfiction #the walking dead fanfiction #daryl dixon x y/n #daryl dixon x you #daryl dixon x oc #daryl x reader #daryl x oc #daryl x y/n #daryl x you #the walking dead daryl #daryl imagine

[prettyboykatsuki]

ღ what being loved by them feels like | bnha edition ღ

➳ incl. midoriya, bakugo, todoroki, and kirishima. 

➳ tags / warnings ;; food ment, alcohol ment. 

➳ wc ;; 1.9k

➳ a/n ;; should be gn i think but im tired asf so lmk

i. midoriya izuku

Slow. 

It’s an unspoken promise of forever tucked under his tongue when he speaks to you. The comfort of a strong hand on your shoulder, an arm around your waist as he whispers to you some drunken secret. It’s not meant to be romantic, not exactly - when your friends ask you about it you always respond the same way. 

“It’s just Midoriya,” with a passive glance somewhere else, a dismissive hand shaking away the disbelief that someone so extraordinary could love you. It is disbelief, effervescent in how it fills your stomach with that tingly feeling. Midoriya takes it slowly. 

Being loved by him feels like a Sunday. Not in how it’s the mark of something but a reminder of repition, how good it feels to do something over and over again. There is so much to love about a Sunday afternoon, the comfort of knowing there is always another Sunday that comes after. That the luxury of warmth that stretches so far it is no longer a commodity. 

You don’t have to worry about when the next time will be. Midoriya loves you in a such a way that next time is every time. That your happiness is not something to supplement but to nurture - with presence and patience and tender care. You wonder how someone with such reckless abandon can love so carefully, with nimble fingers that zip up the back of your dress when you ask. 

Midoriya loves you with his hands. Always with gnarled flesh and scars to the bone - that brush so eagerly against your own. Sometimes, he blushes. He never gets used to your comfortable intimacy - not at first. That slow love has a habit of being embarassing. It’s friendly, supposed to be anyways. But something about the way he’s encased your hand with his, the silence the blossoms and blooms. You wonder if he’s always been so warm - you tell him as much. 

He replies with a gentle voice, a wistful smile and reply - “Only for you,” 

You stare at him, wide-eyed - like somehow this is some kind of confession, and he laughs. He laughs deep from his chest and the sound is too much. Midoriya has loved you so slowly, you seem not to have realized that every word from his mouth is a confession. It’s sweet, sticky like honey how it drips onto your tongue. You find yourself drinking it without thinking, without realizing how it’s the only thing you can taste when he’s next to you. 

Being loved by him is a slow feeling - the kind of love that stretches comfortably over time like old jeans. He always seems to fit you just right, like he was made for you. He likes to think so, anyway. 

ii. bakugo katsuki

Sober.

It’s the kind of love you’d expect to intoxicate you. Rattle inside of your lungs as it pushes against your ribs, the kind that makes you drunk off of adrenaline. There’s something about him that is fast, like the flash of an explosion. You’d believe he would love you before you could catch him in your palms. It is a cold can of coffee pressed to your cheek, a clanking knee as you sit next to each other on the concrete. 

You are fallen trees, a reminder that even something with roots need someone to hold them sometimes - that is natures will to lean against each other when the world has stopped holding you up. That when you are to fall, someone will be there to listen to the sound of your melancholy. He is evidence of your sorrow, the one that keeps you steady when gravity has failed you not once, but many times.

He holds your face in his untrustworthy hands, the ones that carry the weight of his violence. Clicking his teeth as he leans your head back, wiping the corners of your mouth of crumbs with his thumb, wet with his saliva. Something off-handed leaves his lips, something like “eat carefully, dumbass,” right to the core of your humanity as you move forward. 

Being loved by him is like hangover food. It’s the sated warmth in your belly, settled in your chest. Your mouth enveloping a comforting thing - leaves your body so light, you don’t ask about when the next time you’ll have it. This is enough to feed you - hold you off until your body needs to feel full again. You are never hungry. Satisfaction without sedation. A love without any misery. It is fullness that keeps you steady.

It’s when he touches you. He uses a strong hand to push your knees down from where they’re tucked, drags you to him until your weight leans on his lap. He enraptures your body like you are something to be kept safe.  Keeps you and holds you there when you bristle in discomfort. His chin rests on your shoulder as he holds you to his chest. 

“Why do you love about me, anyway,” you ask, mumble quietly like you are afraid he will hear you. 

“Everything, dumbass,” 

He means it like he only does with you. When your heart doesn’t race, doesn’t run, doesn’t flee from his love but slows, steadies and waits. He won’t let you escape from his sincerity. He keeps you in the center of his love - in the palm of his hands because you are the everything. You must face it with sobriety. A mind free of any misgivings, a heart that beats in sync with his like a soft thump. A familiar, shared rhythm. 

Love that leaves you fixed in middle court, with the lights left to create halo around you. A temperate, sober love. 

iii. todoroki shouto. 

Heavy.

It’s not an unpleasant weight to bear. Love that is given carefully, like a mallet on hot iron - it strikes you before it becomes something. It’s love that is tangible, before it is anything else. It curves the wires around you, makes a frame of your body before it covers you with fur to keep your warmth. You are the muse for the sculptors hands. Once he has found you, his gaze is funneled towards the curve of your smile. There is nothing else for his sights to linger on, nothing else for him to see.

His stormy eyes speak languages that have been lost to the common tongue. They are the ones that whisper melodies of you - that squint and widen and shift to the sound of your beating your heart. Todoroki loves you like he is re-learning an ancient tongue - which is to say, he is trying to remember what love feels like as he has long forgotten it. With clumsiness tucked into his belt loops, anxiety looped around his shoulders - always reminded of the kind of lover he cannot be for you.

His love is heavy because he puts himself into it. It’s heavy like the spring downpour, showers you until your skin sticks to your clothes and hang and clings desperately to your frame. You give up warmth for invigoration - how your soaked bones feel so lively as love washes over them. Cleansing like a baptism and thrice as holy, Todoroki’s love is what’s like when he meshes all of himself. Not ice that freezes, nor fire that scorches but a heavy and forgiving rain.

It is an easy morning - the comfort of a chest and its lungs - soft, even breathing as world becomes quiet outside. Fingers that dance over your sides, trace little artworks down your side and on your hips - lips that kiss the crown of your head. It is the warm hello as your eyes flutter open, the way his gaze pins you to your bed and makes sure it’s the last place you want to be.

His love is heavy, so heavy that every word of love he’s ever told you, you carry. It brings you strength when he tells you

“Good morning, my love,”

“Shouto,” you will mumble, with drooping eyes. Todoroki will smile like a half-moon, taper into a full grin until you can see his joy on display. He knocks his forehead into yours with something needy on the corners of mouth. He finds himself overwhelmed, wraps his arms all around you and squeezes.

“Sho, baby - you’re heavy,” through a series of giggles. He sighs, buries his nose into your shoulder and hums some song he’s made just for you.

“Sorry,”

“Don’t be,”

iv. kirishima eijirou

Aching.

It aches like a bruise weeks after its arrivals, a dull and gentle kind of ache that doesn’t hurt as much as it used to. It’s not that Kirishima makes you ache, but that loving him is a reminder of your growing pains. To love so much it aches is to love hard enough to bruise, to crush your ribs in the pursuit of adoration. It is the way his large palms rest at the nape of your neck, smooth down your chest with a comfort of presence.

It’s the hand that holds onto yours a little too tight, the way he grips onto you like you are going to disappear. He loves like how an ache stays - refuses to go anywhere no matter how much medicine you take. Love sickness is a deadly disease that creeps up on your spine. A bruise on your tailbone that doesn’t let you rest until you remember it. There’s such thing as a pleasant - like the kind of pains that makes us grit our teeth with a smile.

It’s yearning. The kind that takes place in ritual - the kind that you see when he takes your shoes off your sore feet. It’s the kiss on your calves and the strong hands that massage the knots in your legs, the whisper of “’m sorry,” when you help from the pain. It is love that hurts until it doesn’t anymore, until you realize that it had been trying to make you feel better all along.

After all, it is a growing pain - and all growing pains must stop aching eventually. Kirishima loves you and it hurts - it is like how we fall in love, afraid of what will find us when our feet touch the ground. Love without soreness is love without relief. It is a bruising force, and unwilling strength that only someone unbreakable could harbor. A wall that will never fall, a love that will never stop pushing. We must break something before it’s to be repaired, must break it down to it’s bare essentials.

His love is commiserating. It’s the togetherness that only dawn can bring when you’ve lost sight of everything but each other. The shadows of your lashes on your cheek and how he kisses them like they are going somewhere. Sunshine that brings pleasant warmth to your skin. Love that stains your skin, makes it thrum underneath the surface and runs through all of you like blood. It’s love that bleeds just as much as it heals.

Kirisihimas love is nothing short of an aching - a longing deep in your shoulders, settled in your collarbones. The kind that can only be soothed by endurance, acceptance. How he loves the parts of you that you cannot find beautiful. He faces it all head on like a wall must.

“Eiji,” with a trembling lip, a tired hand against his chest as he cups your face. You don’t remember why you’re crying but it aches a little when he smiles, grins with sharp teeth.

“I love you, baby,” he says with a trembling lip, wet eyes “God, I love you so much,”

#bakugou x reader #midoriya x reader #todoroki x reader #kirishima x reader #bnha x reader #bnha imagines #bnha fanfiction #writing tag #deku x reader

[fullfiresiren]

beauty of the dawn

jujutsu kaisen

fushiguro toji x reader

The notion of a loving family was something foreign to Fushiguro Toji. Family, to him, was a bitter word -- full of hate and abhorrence. Abandonment and fear were a commonality in his own childhood. But in you, he finds a warmth he didn’t think he deserved – a home he craved, a love that makes him feel safe; full of gentle touches and soft kisses. But he’s scared. He's broken, and angry, and he knows the threat of his family is always lurking close, snapping at his heels, ready to devour. You bring the notion of family to his doorstep, and he spooks. He panics. He can’t let them find you, he can’t and he has to give up the only feeling of warmth he has ever known to do so.

It haunts him forever – leaving behind the only woman he ever loved, and a child he will never know.

word count: 3.8k.

notes: *inhales* ANGST— lmao but really, I live for it. Toji may be a bad person, but I suck dick, not morals, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ bro I fr don’t even know what came over me. This has been like the smallest headcannon for me and somehow it turned into this horribly sad piece, and although Toji is a dick, I also think he is an incredibly complex character that, at the end of it all, was just a desperate father trying to look out for his child. I think he deserves much more than he got, and he kinda gets shat on in this fic lmao I'm so fuCKING SORRY FOR THAT--

warnings: nsfw/18+, angst, hurt no comfort, abandonment, unplanned pregnancy, pregnant reader

“Take me,” he prays, panting secrets that fall from his lips onto your soft skin; promises of pleasure as he breeds you deep. “Take all of me.”

And you do – over, and over, and over again.

Hilting him to the deepest part of yourself, and holding him close, so close, his breath a hot ghost across your face as he leans his forehead against yours. You keep him there until he is finished, taking his seed like it was sacrament. He gives you everything he has to offer, and only when you have slipped into a light slumber does he pull away.

He never strays far, though, and he cannot stay away for long. You are like sweet honey and warm sunsets; the breathing embodiment of a life he was never before privy to – the promise of something better; a miracle. Far from the cold depravity and sharp pain of his own family, in you, he found only warm touches, and words of tender affection. Toji feels so overwhelmed by the amount of love he has for you, that sometimes it’s unbearable. He feels so happy he could die.

He is not an honest man, by any means. He kills for a vocation -- and enjoys it, too. It’s something he’s good at. It’s an easy way to make money, and it helps him pay for his half of the rent on the meagre apartment you share. It also lets him keep the fridge full, make sure you’re always warm, and that you’re never without. He doesn’t really care about himself or what he has to do – so long as you’re happy.

The weight of his body is always heavy between your thighs, his chest solid, thrusts slow and deep, stretching you, making a perfect fit for himself inside you. He likes drawing it out – each time he takes you. He enjoys seeing you beg for release, relishes the way your tears slide down your flushed cheeks, because he likes being the one to kiss them away, knowing he is the only one who ever makes you feel this good. His name sounds so perfect when it falls from your lips at your height of ecstasy, and the way you take him in has him swearing he can see heaven.

You see a side of him that no one else does, but he’s dark, he’s toxic. The amount of sadness in his soul is challenged only by the sheer force of his anger. He's sure that he wasn’t always like this, but... he can’t really remember a time when he wasn’t. Everyone and everything was his enemy. He’s never really told you much about his family, or his past. His childhood had been dark, you assumed, based on the way he flinched around children, and steered clear of any conversational topics that included them or parental figures.

Toji Fushiguro was untouchable to everyone, and only just tangible to you.

He wants to be able to give you everything. He wants to lay his head on your chest in the depths of the night when he’s feeling lost, listening to the steady rhythm of your heartbeat to guide him home. He wants to come home every night, no matter what happens to him throughout the day, and be able to feel the brush of your soft lips; to taste your tongue with his – god – he wants to. But he’s afraid. He’s scared. If he gives you everything... if he shows you who he really is... what happens if you see something you don’t like? Will you pull away from him? Will you cast him out and abandon him – just like his family did? Toji isn’t feeble by any sense of the word, but he thinks that would be the one thing that would break him.

That’s why he’s only let you see glimpses... and only every now and then.

He’s just so miserable when he’s alone. He’s angry at the world, and you’re the only thing that soothes him. The only thing he has ever loved.

You’re staring at yourself in the mirror when he comes home, locked away in the too-small bathroom. You hear the keys turning in the lock; a signal of his arrival, and the door to your apartment opens, bringing with it sounds of paper bags crinkling, keys being tossed into their bowl, and huffing exhales as he struggles to kick his heavy boots off.

“Toji?”

“I’m home!” he calls, his voice a deep timbre in his chest, smooth like rich oak.

You follow it, leaving the safe space of your bathroom to find him, and when you pass the threshold into your small kitchen, he’s lifting bags of fresh groceries onto what little counter space you have. The movement carries with it droplets from an October rain that had caught him by surprise on his walk home, ones that hang from the edges of his black hair and drip down onto his damp black shirt.

“Toji,” you repeat, beaming as you bound into your small kitchen. “I have wonderful news!”

He spares you a glance between unpacking vegetables, dark eyes tracing the curve of your face, hands grasping at packets of food that need to be tossed in the fridge, and cans to be stacked in the shelves.

“Hmm?”

He offers you his face, leaning in close, pausing in his task to receive a small blessing of affection from you — a soft kiss against the scar on his lip that has his eyelashes fluttering closed, and then one more fully against yours – always greedy for any love you bestow, always chasing just one more, just once more, just another, my love, just one more...

He continues with his chore, but only when you giggle at the fluttering of kisses he peppers across your face, your jaw, suckling at your neck, your hands against his chest pushing him gently, urging him to finish his task – but not before you give him another deep kiss, all giddiness and mirth swimming in your gaze. He can’t help the deep chuckle that spills from his lips at seeing you so happy.

“Toji,” you begin, and he’s rummaging in the paper bags, brows furrowed because he could have sworn that he bought three carrots, and not two -- “I’m pregnant!”

He stills.

He can sense your beaming smile, almost feels the warmth of it on his cold skin, and it only makes him shiver.

The seconds tick by without any form of reaction, and the atmosphere grows horribly tense. Toji doesn’t look at you, but he can see from his peripheral vision that your smile slips at the same time that your shoulders round and you make yourself smaller, unconsciously closing off. You’re twisting something in your hands, suddenly nervous, and he has a nauseating feeling that settles in his gut, because he knows exactly what it is that you’re holding.

It’s proof.

“Are you... happy?” you ask, and you hate that you have to. It’s like a punch in the gut, and you’re afraid. This was not the reaction you were expecting at all.

“Are you sure?” he doesn’t know why he asks that.

He isn’t looking at you, and he isn’t moving – he’s not even blinking. You feel your hands becoming sweaty as you clutch the positive pregnancy test, mouth dry. A quickly increasing panic creeps over your skin, gripping you by the throat, and you honestly have no idea how to traverse this kind of response to your news. In the bathroom you only practiced scenarios in relation to a beaming, positive reaction.

Which room should we make into the baby’s room? Our baby can always sleep with us, though, and I know they’re definitely going to prefer you – I'm hopeless with kids... but I hope they look like you, Toji – a perfect combination of everything I love about you!

Do you want to pick names out? I hope it’s a girl... but a boy would be wonderful, too! I know the baby will adore you, no matter what! Do you have any names you like? We can name them after someone you love? If it’s a boy, I want to make his middle name yours...

Why didn’t you think he was going to show apprehension or reluctance? Why were you so idiotic to assume this is something he desired when he’s never given you any signs of wanting to start a family? He’s probably feeling entirely overwhelmed – and no wonder – you have no tact about this. Fuck, you’re stupid. You fucking idiot. Pathetic, dumb, worthless--

“Y-yes,” you reply, and your voice is a shadow of its former self. “I took three tests. I have one here--”

“How.”

You flinch a little under the curtness of his words.

“W-what—?”

“How did this happen?”

“Uhm...” your voice sounds so frail when you speak, and you can't help it. He’s making you feel like you’ve committed a horrendous sin. You’ve managed to combine the epitome of affection between the two of you into the creation of what will become a child – a perfect mix of the two of you, and yet, you’re beginning to hate yourself for doing so. You didn’t mean to... it was an accident... “We don’t... you know... use protection... and we... have sex... a lot...”

“I thought you were taking the pill.”

You feel like you want to throw up.

His entire body is unnaturally still, and he’s not looked at you once since you’ve told him. You are pretty sure that the can in his right hand is warping under the violent pressure of his grasp, and you wring your hands around the test nervously, the weight of it somehow heavy against your palms.

“I... don’t take the pill...” you remind, and then as an afterthought, you add, “I’m sorry.”

Words you never thought you would say in relation to this. You never though you would have to apologize in this kind of situation. You exhale a shaky breath, and it seems to bring him back to reality. He sets the can down on the countertop with more force than needed, and you try your best to blink back tears as you ask, “You’re... not happy... are you...?”

It’s more of a statement than a question, and it hurts to say – god, it hurts. The words sting when they leave your mouth, like a hard slap against your face, but the ache is not nearly as bad as the way his silence is wounding you. You feel like you’re about to collapse from the amount of pain you have in your heart.

“I need to go somewhere,” is the most he offers you, before he’s turning on his heels and striding past you, leaving the apartment you share.

The noise of the front door slamming shut echoes in your mind long after the sound itself has gone.

He never did come back.

  — — — 5 years later — — —

 In the end, you were blessed with a baby girl, all chubby with round, rosy cheeks. Dark hair and eyes like her father, but soft and gentle like her mother. She was an almost perfect child. She never cried, and she never fussed, content in just being close to her mother. She listened when you spoke, and learned fast, growing just as quick, and you would die for her. She was your blessing; Akemi – the beauty of a new dawn.

You’re sure that he would have loved her more than life itself, but you try not to spare any thoughts his way anymore.

Toji gambles his life away, blowing through anything he earns as quickly as he makes it, drowning himself night after night in heavy alcohol to dampen his senses until they are nothing more than a faint hum in the back of his brain.

With any luck, those things will kill him long before the guilt does.

He fucks faceless women, drunk beyond sense, and when he finishes, he leaves before they sleep.

“Hate me, (y/n),” he sneers, turning sharply to vomit up onto the wet asphalt, breath a shaky exhale as he stumbles into the cold night, thoughts only on you – only ever on you – unaware that he’s crying. “Hate me. I fucking deserve it.”

His face is smeared with bile and tears, and he is so fucking angry -- so desperately sad, and he cries, and cries. He wants to go home. He just wants to go home. He wants to meet her – his darling daughter – he wants to hold her, and kiss her forehead, and tuck her into bed. Fuck everything that he thought – he would have been a great father, he knows it – and you knew it, too. He’s so lost without you, and he wants to lay his head on your chest in the safety of your bedroom, listening to the steady rhythm of your heartbeat to guide him home. He wants to feel the brush of your soft lips again; to taste your tongue with his, moan your name into your parted sigh, make you feel him again.

He screams, but it catches in his throat before he can, and he splits his knuckles open when he sends a furious punch against a brick wall.

He can protect you from a lot of things – but not the power of his family. Not that. He’s just one man, and they’re so many. He has a heavenly restriction, and they are all blessed with both innate and inherited techniques, passed down through eons. He knows what they’ll do if they ever found out about you – about the child, and Toji swears on everything he has, that he won’t let them touch you – or her. Even if he won’t be able to. Even if he’ll never be able to hold his daughter, to thank her for being born, to cradle her against his chest and feel her wrap her small fingers against his – he won’t let the Zen’in have her. He won’t.

But that doesn’t mean that he deprives himself from watching over her – or you. Eyes follow the two of you home from her pre-school, singing nursery rhymes to your hearts content, watching as she orders “up, up, mommy!”, squealing happily when you lift her onto your shoulders. He imagines himself in your place; lifting her to higher heights, hearing her giggle a chorus of happy songs as your hand finds his, lips on his scar as you tell him how much you love him.

But he always keeps his distance, dark baseball cap shielding his features, and leaves before you feel someone following you.

It becomes increasingly hard to keep it at that. He starts pushing the boundaries, testing how close he can get. He knows he shouldn’t -- he has no right to – but when she dropped her stuffed toy one time in the supermarket, and you were oblivious to it, he finds himself bending down to grasp the too-soft toy in his calloused hands, dropping it in your basket when your back is turned, and your brows are furrowed as you regard the price difference between her favorite flavor of juice compared to the off-brand ones.

The thrill of being so close, of doing something, anything fatherly, was like a fix – a short relief from the aching despair and loneliness constantly plaguing him, and he finds himself doing it more and more – always pushing, always testing the waters. He even smiled at her once when she caught him staring, and she sent her own toothy grin back at him. His heart soared.

His daughter’s name was Akemi, and he first heard it when it fell from your lips one warm afternoon. He wants to write her name on his heart – right beside yours.

He wants to give her something – a pretty gift, but he doesn’t know what. He was never good at buying presents, and would only ever bring you flowers, since it seemed like something that could never go wrong, and would always bring a bright smile to your face. Flowers would be strange for a child, though. He twists the dainty silver bracelet between his large fingers, thinking bitterly that this was the same way you held the pregnancy test all those years ago. He didn’t really care how much it cost him. He’s sure that the salesman added unnecessary tax and extras to the price just to give himself more commission, but Toji doesn’t care – he just wanted something pretty to give to his daughter.

When he finally sees her enter the park, small hand tugging yours happily, his mind goes empty, and he can’t stop staring. You are as beautiful as ever, and it’s no wonder his daughter is so ethereal when she has you for a mother.

She is perfect, he thinks -- too good for this life -- and even though it’s the worst thing he has ever done, he is reminded that pulling away from you was the only way to save her from his family. It looks like she escaped the curse of inheriting any of his bloodline's techniques, and what’s more so – it seems like she, too, is oblivious to curses; skipping past them as she chases leaves that skit about the dirt path of the park, her teddy in her arms. Toji dips his head down when she draws near the bench he’s sitting on, the brim of his baseball cap keeps his face hidden, and his sadness known only to himself.

“Excuse me?”

He bristles when her voice floats past his ears, so gentle and sweet.

“Hey, mister,” she pokes his knee with her slim finger, so tiny compared to the size of his body, and he jerks at the contact. “Is this yours?”

She’s holding the bracelet in her small hand, the silver glinting in the morning sun, offering it up to him with large eyes, so close to him. At this distance, he can see the true color of her eyes – exactly like his own – and the small freckles that dot her skin. The longer he stares, the more his chest constricts painfully, tightly – he’s finding it hard to breathe, and he exhales suddenly, sharply snatching it away from her.

The force of the movement causes her to stumble a little, tripping over her feet, and before she knows it, the man who was once sitting before her has entirely caught her in his large arms, scooping her up before the ground has a chance to harm her.

She blinks once... twice... swaddled in his arms, sitting against his broad chest, and Toji frantically looks for you, finding you caught up in talking to another mother, too busy to notice. He knows he would scold you for it if he was still in your life, but when his daughter laughs, he snaps his head back to look at her, forgetting what thoughts he had in his mind at the glinting sound of her happiness.

“Whoa!” she exclaims, “You’re fast! Thanks for catching me!”

He doesn’t know what to say – if he should say anything at all. His plan was to give her the bracelet, telling her that it was a late birthday gift from someone that loves her very much, and walking off before she (or you) has the chance to catch on or respond. But now that he’s inches away from her, holding her close as she peers up at him, he’s lost again. He’s lost, and he can’t breathe. He needs you to steady him, but you aren’t here, and he doesn’t know what to do, what should he do, what should he--?

“Where did you get that scar from?” she asks innocently, her large eyes suddenly trained on the mark beside his lips.

“F-from an accident,” he mumbles, “a long time ago.”

“Oh,” she hums, hands splayed against his broad chest, looking around her, swaying her legs absentmindedly. “Wow, you’re really tall! I can see everything from up here!” she exclaims happily, “My mommy’s not as tall as this, so when I sit on her shoulders, I can’t see nearly as much as I can now!”

“Oh,” he mutters, not really knowing what to say, “is that so?”

“Mhm,” she nods, “Mommy’s not as big as you are either.”

At this, he gives a genuine laugh – a sound he hasn’t heard fall from his lips in a long, long time, looking at her with quiet adoration.

“She’s not as fast as you either,” she continues, “you were super-fast!”

“She’s strong in her own ways, though,” he mutters, offering her a soft smile.

“Do you know my mommy?”

He bristles, actively avoiding her gaze. His heart is racing from this much interaction with his daughter, and he’s sure she can feel it under her small palm. It beats for her – if only she knew, and Toji contemplates, for the briefest of seconds, just telling her. The thought leaves his mind as soon as it enters. He doesn’t have that choice, and he doesn’t deserve it.

“Not really,” he mutters, dipping down slowly to set her footing on solid ground once more.

“She’s really pretty,” the little girl continues, playing with the soft fabric of his t-shirt in a small moment of fondness and familiarity, “and nice – and she makes great food!”

Toji realises only after the fact that his hand had settled on top of her head, and he’s stroking her hair softly, thumb caressing her cheek when he moves to cup her face. She doesn’t seem to mind at all, and Toji is overwhelmed with a plethora of emotions. Pride in you for doing all this by yourself and raising such a wonderful child, shame for abandoning you and his daughter, mirth, anger, warmth, sadness, love--

“Akemi!” you call, seeing her lift her head at the sound of your voice. “This way, honey!”

“Oh, I have to go now! My mommy is calling me!” she perks up, gripping her teddy a little tighter and offering the man a smile. “Bye-bye!”

“W-wait!” he calls, thrusting the gift into her small hands. “This is for you, uh... f-from me...”

She looks down at it, before her whole face lights up, and Toji is suddenly breathless – she looks so much like you when she’s surprised, happiness blossoming over her face the same way it would on yours.

Toji feels a deep-rooted emptiness inside his body when he watches his daughter retreat away from him; a living embodiment of all his failures to you, and yet, as he sees her long, black hair whip out behind her, he realizes something else — she was your promise delivered; a combination of everything good between the two of you, in itself a miracle. He might not be in her life, but he was also partly responsible for creating something so beautiful, so ethereal.

He knows he doesn’t deserve it, but if he was ever fortunate enough to be granted a second, it would be a miracle; a holy gift.

A blessing that would accompany the beauty of dawn.

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x you #toji x reader #fushiguro toji x reader #toji x you #fushiguro toji x you #angst #pregnant!reader #abandonment #dilf toji

[wolferine]

Heart Skips a Beat

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Summary: Natasha faces her worst nightmare when a rescue mission goes wrong…

Warnings: Violence, blood

Word Count: 1276

Even with your respirator, you still have a hard time seeing through the smoky air. You carefully wade through the uneven piles of debris while dodging the ceiling beams and cables hanging down like vines. Steve assigned you to search the 3rd floor of the 12-floor condominium, but so far, you haven’t located a single living person.

“Hello? Anyone out there?” you call. With your enhanced hearing, you hear something shuffle in the rubble. A hand pokes out, bloody and white with dust.

“Here!” a feminine voice responds.

“I’m coming!” You leap over holes ten-feet wide and balance on beams thinner than a windowsill to reach them. You kneel to brush some dirt aside and find a young woman lying beneath a large ceiling panel. You click the microphone button on your collar and tell your team, “I got a live one on the third floor.”

“So bring them down,” Clint responds.

“I was just getting to that, thank you for the suggestion.” You grab the ceiling panel and toss it aside, offering a hand to the woman. She accepts but cries out as you pull her to her feet. There’s a piece of rebar, nearly as long as your arm, skewered straight through her calf.

“Hold on, it’s okay.” You remove a tourniquet from your pocket and cinch it around her upper thigh. “Let me carry you. I’ll get us out of here.” You gently pick her up bridal-style and retrace your footsteps. Her arms wrap around your neck as she clings to you like her life depends on it.

Then you remember that the staircase had long ago crumbled, and you’d gotten up here by climbing. There was no way you were getting down the same way.

“Um, wait, I didn’t think this through,” you admit to the woman, but she’s in too much shock to catch your joke. “Hey, guys,” you address your team again, “There’s no staircase for us—”

“So jump.” Natasha’s voice crackles in your earpiece and you smile. 

“You are all so very helpful today.” You look around to find an alternate route. Two stories down, part of the floor is still intact. You had used it as a platform to jump up to the third floor—it should be able to take your weight coming down, right?

“Hey,” you say to the woman in your arms, “There’s no stairs, so I’m gonna have to jump. Just hold on to me and don’t look down, okay? I won’t drop you.”

She nods and tucks her head against your chest. You tighten your hold on her and take three great steps, pushing off into the unknown. You land on your feet harder than expected, but your enhanced bones take the impact in stride. From there, it’s just a simple path through the rubble back to the street.

“I’ve got a live one!” you shout, and paramedics rush towards you with a gurney. “She’s got some rebar through her leg, so be careful with her.”

“We got her,” the paramedics assure, helping you set her on the gurney.

“You’re gonna be okay,” you promise the woman, patting her shoulder.

“Thank you,” she whispers, her hand lingering a little too long across your chest.

“You take care of yourself now.” You wave as the paramedics roll her away, then turn around and see Natasha walking towards you with an expression of jealousy. “What?” you ask, removing your respirator and wiping sweat off your forehead.

“Did you have to carry her like that?” Natasha says.

“Carry her like what?” you respond. “She had some rebar in her leg, Nat, I was just trying to—”

“We’re in public. You need to be professional.”

“No, you’re just jealous.” You step towards her, close enough to see the flecks of brown in her swirling green eyes. “Because I carry you like that to our bed all the time—”

“Don’t lead her on like that, you’re never gonna see her again.” Natasha steps back, but you see the blush in her cheeks and the twitch of a smile on her lips.

“I’m just doing my job,” you say. “Besides, I’m already in love with someone else.” You reach for her hand and squeeze it gently.

“Looks like Y/N found the last live one.” Steve comes up behind Natasha, his face streaked with soot and his hair matted just like yours.

“Perfect. So, we’re done here, right?” you say.

“Not just yet. We’re still not sure what caused the collapse—”

“Oh, come on, Steve, you know how these building owners are,” you interrupt. “They cut a bunch of corners, don’t build up to code, and then the whole thing comes down at the slightest—” Natasha shuts you up with a glare.

“How much longer do you think we’ll be here?” she asks.

“Could be a while. There you are, Barton.” Clint falls into place next to you.

“Well, if we’re here long enough, maybe we can hit up the nightclubs,” you say, throwing a glance at Natasha, but she doesn’t look at you. “Or, we can get some shawarma. That’s always a fan favorite.”

“Y/N.” Clint clears his throat.

“Sorry.” Sometimes you go a little too far, but that’s just how you are. Doing your line of work isn’t easy or normal, and you always try to keep things fun and light.

“We can celebrate after we’ve got this mess sorted out,” Steve says. “So what we need to do next is—”

BOOM.

BOOM.

You hear two gunshots; all of you do. But you’re the only one who gets hit.

The first bullet tears through your right shoulder and it feels like you’ve been struck with an anvil. Your body jerks upward and your blood sprays across the faces of your teammates. Before you even start falling, the second bullet spirals through your lower back and you swear you feel your organs explode. You stay standing, swaying slightly. You see the expression of shock on Natasha’s face, then the blood on her cheeks. Your blood.

“Shots fired, shots fired!” Steve leaps forward and slams Clint to the ground. Clint rolls out from under him and takes cover behind a car. Steve looks back and sees Natasha still standing, looking like a deer in headlights. None of your limbs seem to work. The respirator slips from your hand and your legs finally buckle to the right. “Get down, Nat!” He pushes himself up and tackles her to the ground.

“Everybody get down!” Clint yells. Paramedics and police officers scatter, civilians run in all directions.

Your right arm cushions your head from slamming on the asphalt and you hear your heartbeat in your ringing ears. The pain is dull, an annoying background sensation, and you’re not even aware of the blood pooling beneath you. Maybe you should’ve worn your bulletproof vest, but you hadn’t planned on being shot during a rescue mission.

Natasha stares at you helplessly, watching you gasp for air. Instinctively, she tries crawling towards you, but Steve flattens his weight on her.

“Don’t move, Nat!” he orders. “Stay down!”

But she doesn’t hear him. She only sees you. She sees your eyes glaze over, your fingers clawing weakly at the ground, trying to reach out to her. She sees the blood puddle forming around your body, practically drowning you in a sea of red.

Darkness pulls at the edges of your vision, threatening to swallow you whole. Your chest flames in agony with each shallow breath you take, and the darkness becomes more and more tempting. Your eyelids flutter; you don’t have the strength to keep them open. You don’t hear Natasha screaming your name as you blank out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click here for Part 2!

AN: I never thought I’d write fanfics again, but this brilliant idea popped into my head when I was watching 9-1-1 and I just had to write it. This is also the first time I’ve written a reader-insert story and one with no planned ending, so we’ll see what happens!

#natasha romanoff x reader #black widow #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff fanfic #black widow fanfiction #marvel

[septembercfawkes]

Getting Passive Protagonists to Act

Many beginning writers struggle with protagonists who are too passive. The plot seems to constantly be happening to him or her, but the protagonist doesn’t take an action to make the plot happen.

Ideally, when an event happens to a protagonist, the protagonist responds by taking an action that influences the next event, which then influences the protagonist, which then influences an event—and on and on. But that can be easier said than done. Especially if you have a protagonist who prefers to live life passively.

This could all get confusing, though, because in story structure, almost all protagonists will more or less become more proactive. But for the sake of this post, I'm talking about protagonists who are characteristically passive. A protagonist who may want to kick up his feet in a hammock with a glass of lemonade and watch the world deal with its own problems. How do we write a story about that guy?

Many people will tell you that you can't--you must change the character.

But that is not wholly true.

It's true in a good story, we need the protagonist to act--especially at key moments--but that doesn't mean he innately yearns to act.

Often the best solution in dealing with a passive character is to strengthen the stakes. Let me explain.

Anyone will Act with the Right Stakes

The stakes are potential consequences; they are what are at risk in the story. We often think of them as negative things (someone's life may be at risk), but they can also be positive things (the opportunity to be taught by a professional in your ideal vocation).

Stakes are important because if there is nothing at risk, then what happens, doesn't really matter, which means what the protagonist does, doesn't really matter, because it doesn't change any outcomes. The story only matters insomuch as we understand potential outcomes. The protagonist's choices only matter if they affect the outcomes.

For example, we only care about Frodo destroying the Ring because we know doing so could rid Middle-earth of Sauron’s evil. If we didn't know that, what happened with the Ring wouldn't really matter. And what Frodo did wouldn't carry any weight. (You can learn more about stakes in my article "How to Write Stakes in Storytelling.")

When struggling with getting a passive protagonist to act, (almost) always look at the stakes.

No Stakes

Make sure that you’ve at least laid out stakes. Sometimes writers feel like the stakes are obvious, so they don't mention them. Just as bad, if not worse, the stakes may be too vague. And definitely worse: nonexistent.

If the protagonist doesn't have anything clearly to gain or lose, why would she act? If what happened to the Ring didn't change something, why would Frodo go to Mount Doom? Why would any of us do anything if it didn't make some kind of difference?

In a case like this, clear stakes need to be on the page.

Let's look at some examples of what one might consider passive people within the context of their stories.

Shrek wants nothing more than to live alone on his swamp. If there is nothing at risk, is he really going to go on an adventure to rescue a princess? Probably not.

In The Edge of Tomorrow, I think it could be argued that the protagonist, Bill Cage (played by Tom Cruise) is somewhat passive in relation to the main conflict. The story is about him fighting in a war against aliens, but he has absolutely no desire whatsoever to enter combat--in fact, he's a coward. You think he would sign up to be the first in combat out of the goodness of his heart? No way.

In Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow, protagonist Vash would rather spend all day, every day eating donuts, playing with kids, and helping out the person down the street. He'd rather live life under an alias than face the fact he's the only one capable of standing up to the antagonist and saving the human race.

If none of these characters ever had anything at risk, then they would have never taken the actions they needed to, to move the story forward. They would have been forever passive.

In short, they only acted once there were stakes.

Wrong Stakes

If there are stakes on the page, and the character still isn't acting, then chances are they are either the wrong stakes (things she doesn’t care about) or the stakes are too small (the potential consequences don’t pose a real threat or a meaningful gain).

If they are the wrong stakes, you need to think about what the protagonist cares about and put it in jeopardy. We all care about something--whether that’s a reputation or a pet.

For a passive person, you might need to dig deeper and brainstorm longer to figure out what it is. And if you are having trouble, keep in mind that it's also possible the passive protagonist wants something for someone else or his environment. Maybe she's satisfied drinking lemonade and getting picked on, but she's not okay with her kid getting bullied--that's not something she can let happen.

Shrek mostly cares about living alone on his swamp. If his distant neighbor is at risk of dying in loneliness, Shrek's likely not going to do much about it. The best way to get him to act, is to put his home and lifestyle at risk. He will be willing to take action to save that.

Bill is afraid of dying (it's part of what makes him a coward). If he's put in a situation where he could die, he'll be forced to act.

Vash is obsessed with saving people. Children, friends, innocents, criminals. It doesn't matter who. He doesn't want anyone to die. If no one is at risk of dying, then it's unlikely he will be drawn to fight his antagonists. Almost always he is led to act because someone's life is at risk.

Small Stakes

If the stakes are too small, you need to make them bigger by making them broader or more personal.

Even the most passive person is unlikely to feel passive with a gun pointed at them. Unless they have a death wish, in which case, you could have the gun pointing at a loved one, or you could threaten torture. Even people who have a death wish don't want to be tortured. Almost all of us will act if the stakes get big enough.

Alternatively, you can promise an opportunity that is too good to pass up. If all I want is to live out my life on a hammock by the beach sipping lemonade, then maybe the best motivation is the promise of getting that. Maybe I'd be willing to act, if it ensured that.

It's bad enough for Shrek to have a few creatures come on his swamp, but the fact that countless numbers of them will be exiled to his swamp, is even worse. This is a big enough issue to get him to act--he decides he must visit Farquaad, which moves the story to the middle.

It's bad enough to die once, but it turns out for Bill, that he has to die over and over and over again. He also has to go on the battlefield over and over and over again, too. He keeps repeating the same events. This is enough to get him to try new tactics (and really, what other choice does he have?).

It's bad enough that Vash can't save everyone. But when it turns out the antagonists plan to destroy the whole human race, well, he can't live out life in donut-filled peace, playing cops and robbers with tykes. He has to act.

Inaction Stakes

If your passive character still really does not want to act, it's worth keeping in mind that inaction is an action--it just needs significant stakes. There needs to be negative ramifications for the protagonist not acting. Ideally, eventually these negative consequences get so big or so personal, that the protagonist has to do something about it.

For example, at one point, Vash decides to live under an alias and do nothing. He decides to be inactive. Unfortunately, this results in an entire town getting wiped out by the antagonist. Doing nothing has steep consequences. He needs to at least try to do something.

This can become a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation--where "damned if you do" at least carries a small chance of success over "damned if you don't."

At one point in Edge of Tomorrow, Bill decides to do nothing. He even goes to a bar to drink in the middle of the day. Guess what? He still has to repeatedly die. Whatever he does, he ends up dying, and having to repeat that time frame. He can either be endlessly in a tortuous loop where he dies, dies, and dies, or he can keep trying to fix the situation. On the surface, it seems like he has a lot of options, since he gets to make different choices each time he repeats the day, but 99% of them lead to the same outcome. So in reality, he has very few choices. Act and maybe die. Or don't act and keep dying.

Limit Options

Related to the last one, one way to push a passive character to act, is to limit her choices and the outcomes. In fact, if we want to take this to the real world, studies show that the more options people have, the less likely they are to make a choice--or even make a good choice.

Like Bill, when there aren't really any options, the protagonist will be pretty much forced to act. Either keep reliving the same torture or try to do something about it.

Add to it some kind of countdown or convergence, so that the protagonist has a very limited window to act, and she'll have to do something.

Stakes Reveal Character

How the protagonist acts when there are things at risk, will reveal what kind of person she is.

In this sense, one might argue, that by strengthening the stakes to get her to act, you are changing her character after all.

Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that you are now revealing who she truly is.

Whatever the case, it can become an argument of semantics.

Similar things can happen with the term "passive."

Just understand the concepts and the tools.

The Reluctant Hero

In most, if not all cases, a characteristically passive protagonist will create a reluctant hero. Shrek doesn't want to save Fiona. Bill doesn't want to win the war. Vash doesn't want to confront the antagonist. They just want something to not happen, more than they want to do The Thing™️.

In this sense, while the passive protagonist will ultimately still be acting within the plot (which is necessary to write a good story), he or she may still yearn for passivity.

Of course, the character's arc may possibly shift that yearning by the end.

And it should go without saying, that pretty much all these same tricks will work for passive side characters, as well--when you need to get them to act. For example, in The Office, Stanley is characteristically passive. He pretty much sits in silence and does crossword puzzles. But when pushed far enough, he will back talk his boss. And when he wants something bad enough (like a free pretzel on pretzel day), he'll actually act.  

#Writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writeblr #writer problems #writing reference #protagonist #fanfic

[jimlingss]

(sorry my tumblr app glitched so im not sure if this was sent twice) taking a chance for the requests! how about a seokjin or namjoon arranged marriage au with this: “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.” 🎄 happy holidays!!

↳ Playground Promises

1.9k || 100% Light Fluff || Kim Seokjin

The bell rings.

Moments later, children are sprinting from the doors and flooding the playground. You watch in fondness as some climb the monkey bars while others sit and dig into the sandbox. All of them were forging their first friendships they’ll remember forever and you were their witness.

This is one of your favourite times of day. You enjoy seeing the kids have their fun, listening to their laughter and giggles, watching their games of tag to play pretend. But today, your enjoyment is interrupted by a certain male teacher that comes to stand behind you.

Tall. Dark. And handsome. His broad shoulders carry the weight of the third-grade class and practically the entire elementary school. But you’d never admit that out loud.

“It’s a bit chilly out today. You should’ve brought your coat with you.”

You hum.

Every staff member, married and single, swoons over Kim Seokjin. It’s hard not to. But if others knew what your relationship was with him, you’re sure you’d never hear the end of it. The kids would make a big fuss and so would all the staff and faculty, and you’d rather avoid that.

“I didn’t know you were on playground duty today.”

“I switched with Sana,” he says and leans over to smile. “Thought you could use some company.”

You scoff. “She’s perfectly fine company.”

The corner of his plump lip pulls. “If you want to talk about the mathletes program. And I’m pretty sure you don’t.”

Before you can respond, a boy approaches the two of you with pink cheeks and wind-swept hair. “Mr. Kim, can I go to the bathroom?” the third-grader asks in the midst of catching his breath and the older man nods.

“Go ahead. But don’t run in the hallway, Lucas.” 

Said boy grins and dashes off.

Seokjin turns to you and lowers his voice. “My mom’s been asking about the kids.”

Your brows furrow. “Why? They’re a good bunch.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I don’t mean your class’ kids, I mean our kids.”

You blink owlishly. “There are no our kids.”

“That’s the problem.”

You sigh and roll your eyes. “Wasn’t getting married enough for them?”

Seokjin shrugs with a faint, mischievous smile. “They want to go out for brunch with your parents this Sunday. Are you free?”

“When am I not free?” you retort lightly, but slip your phone out of your pocket to check your calendar anyhow. Seokjin glances over to your screen and once you finish, you slip it back into your pocket. “I have some marking to do, but I’ll probably finish by then.”

“Okay.” The pair of you turn back to continue monitoring the children playing and you’re glad to revel in the silence that’s been created between you. But after a beat, Kim Seokjin pipes up again. You don’t know why you’re surprised. He’s quite the talkative guy. “Hey, Y/N.”

You look over and he meets your eye.

He asks, “Am I your lock screen?”

Your face heats. If you were once cold, now you were warm from head to toe. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” you mumble. It was just a picture from the other day and you wanted to change things up on your phone. You had nothing else to use. It was convenient. That’s it.

Your entire relationship with him is built on convenience. At least...on his side it is.

Still, Seokjin grins and fortunately, he doesn’t tease.

You rush to change the subject. “A-Anyway, yeah, Sunday works for me. But we should probably talk about this after work.”

“Why? No one’s around.” His smile is spread from ear to ear and he leans in, whispering, “Are you that scared of people finding out we’re married?”

Immediately, you whip your head in all directions. Luckily, there’s no kid or nosy faculty member. You turn back to him, glaring. “I already said, I like to keep my private life under wraps.”

“I remember. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were embarrassed of me.”

You scoff and a murmur unintentionally spills out of you, “That’s impossible.”

You don’t notice Seokjin’s smile.

It’s been three months since you got married. It was a summer wedding. More importantly, it was an arranged marriage. And not because you were both wealthy and needed to be wedded to get the inheritance under some arbitrary contract rule or because it was your grandmother’s dying wish. No. You live a much more mundane, normal life than the dramas, movies and books.

It was your mom who threw a fuss. She was scared you’d be alone and unmarried, an old maid like your aunt — you didn’t say it, she just heavily implied it. But following her practically senile meltdown, you agreed. Partly to appease her worries and partly just out of curiosity.

You always wanted to get married. And deep down, you always wanted your own kids. But at the rate you were going, you had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to meet someone on your own.

What you didn’t expect on that blind date was for the other person to be Kim Seokjin, third grade teacher. Down the hall from you at the school. Someone across the room every lunchtime. Your dads were apparently long time colleagues, but Jin was still as equally shocked as you were during that first meeting. Yet, he easily agreed to getting married when you brought it up. Even when it was only after two months of occasionally seeing one another outside of your workplaces.

You still don’t know why he said yes.

“Ms. L/N!”

You’re torn out of your trance by a little girl at your knees. 

She pouts. “Jennie won’t let me play on the slide!”

“Did you ask her to share?”

“Yes!”

Before any more can be said, she drags you over and Seokjin trails after you. There’s another girl with brown braided hair climbing on the slide, and she swivels her head over as the two of you approach, eyes the size of saucers. 

“Are you taking turns, Jennie?” you ask her, and she vigorously nods.

“I am!”

“Well, you’ve been on it for a while. How about Lisa takes a turn next.”

“Okay,” she draws out and gets off of the slide before turning to her friend. “Here you go.”

It’s always little problems you have to solve — from sharing to knee scrapes and monkey bar accidents. Sometimes it’s difficult for the children to compromise, difficult for them to apologize and difficult for you to find a good solution. But you undoubtedly wish your own issues were this simple.

While you’re stuck in your thoughts, you miss Jin watching you fondly. 

“You’re good with kids,” he says as you move out of the way of running children and walk back to the perimeter.

“I wouldn’t be doing this job if I wasn’t. But I deal with older kids much better.” There’s a reason you teach fifth graders and not any lower than that. Seokjin knows it too.

“Remember when we had to supervise that kindergarten class together?”

You shudder. “It was a nightmare.”

“You weren’t that bad,” he tries to say but then laughs. You feign a glare, and he adds on, “Okay. I’m sorry, but I still mean it. It’s not as terrible as you thought. You’d make a good mom.” 

At that, your glare vanishes in favour of furrowing brows. You really shouldn’t, but you can’t help it when curiosity pries — so you break your own rule against discussing private matters at work. 

“Do you want my kids?”

Seokjin is wide-eyed and he turns to you. “Why not? We’re married.”

“Yeah….but…”

“But? Do you not want kids?” 

“No! I definitely want them,” you declare, almost a bit too boldly. He nods and you explain, “It’s just...I don’t know if you’re serious.”

Seokjin blinks. “I’m being perfectly serious.”

“I mean I don’t know if we’re serious.” You add, “Enough to have kids.”

“What’s more serious than being married?” Jin has a genuinely inquisitive and amused expression, head quirked to the side. 

You inhale a sharp breath and his gaze coaxes you to go on, so you do. “It’s just that you agreed so quickly to be married to me. It doesn’t….feel real. I don’t know if you wanted to marry me, if you did it on a whim, if this is some kind of joke—”

He frowns. “This isn’t a joke, Y/N. I wanted to marry you.”

Your mouth hangs open. Your eyes are rounded.

“Wh—”

“Mrs. L/N!” You’re interrupted by your fifth-grader, Park Jimin. He sprints to you, huffing and puffing, before leaning his hands onto his knees to catch his breath. “Have you seen Taehyung?! We’re playing tag!”

“No, I haven’t.”

Jin suddenly points to the left. “He went that way.”

Jimin books it.

Silence fills the spaces between you and Seokjin again, but it isn’t like normal. It’s filled with unanswered questions and the suspenseful cliffhanger of an unfinished conversation. The laughter of kids on the playground and field resound around you, but for the first time, you don’t listen to it. 

It fades into the background as you turn to Seokjin, wanting to know more. “What did you just say?”

The man smiles softly. “You have to know.”

“I don’t,” you assert. “So tell me.”

“I’ve always liked you.”

You blink and he continues, “Since you substituted for the art teacher and I saw you squirt red paint all over yourself. It’s something I couldn’t forget. Plus, the way you draw those stick people.” Seokjin laughs heartily and you’re trapped in your spot, unsure of how to react or what to say. He reads your expression and softens. “Did you really think I would rush into a marriage if I didn’t have feelings for you?”

“I…” Your mouth is agape. “I don’t know. Why did we never talk about this?”

Seokjin shrugs. “You never asked and I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable if you didn’t feel the same way. I knew you married me for convenience.”

“That’s not true,” you retort within a beat. This whole time, you thought he married you for convenience sake. But it wasn’t entirely like that for you.

Seokjin’s eyes are big and you swallow down your embarrassment. “Isn’t it obvious every single breathing person loves you? It’s hard not to.”

Slowly but surely, a grin spreads into Seokjin’s puffy cheeks and he’s smiling from ear to ear again. “Well, you’re very good at hiding it then.”

Suddenly, the bell rings.

All the children reluctantly climb off the equipment, some dusting their hands while others grabbing their friends, and they rush into their lineups. There’s a few stranglers lugging their legs while groaning. But busy in their small playground worlds, no one turns around to notice you leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss to Seokjin’s mouth. It’s shy and brief, like the first peck exchanged between two for the first time. And you pull away just as fast, lips left tingling.

“We can continue this later, Mr. Kim.”

You stride off while Seokjin’s left smiling. After a breathless moment, he chases after you like children who have just made promises of their first love on the playground.

#bts fanfic #bts scenario #jin fanfic #jin fluff #jin scenario #jin reader insert #jin x reader #seokjin reader insert #seokjin fanfic #seokjin scenario #THIS IS MY LAST DRABBLE Y'ALL :D #anonymous

[theotheroccassionalfanficwriter]

Heyy can I request a 3rd part for Zhong x mage reader where they hopefully realize their feelings for each other? Feel free to end it off & add as much fluff & smut if you wish (*^ω^*)

Thanks for waiting anon, lol I just realize that this was almost the same as the previous ask so I decided to do a reader's POV continuing from where we left off last time.

So please enjoy the fourth part in the In Pursuit of Series: 1,2,3

In Pursuit of Love

Summary: You fell in love slowly, unknowingly, and when you had realized it, your love for him had already sunk into the marrow of your bones.

--

1.

Falling back together was easier than the time the two of you spent weeks apart from each other. You found it easier to fall back to your morning routine with Zhongli around than it was to relearn how you lived before. And somehow the two of you had grown closer, more attuned to each other’s thoughts that sometimes there was no need to talk further. It was the intimacy of being known, and by the archons you were drunk on it.

You lived freely and happily, as if all the burdens you had were gone. With Zhongli by your side, it felt like the world had become brighter. Spending time with him, starting and ending the days with him became so natural that you didn’t notice what was already there from the start.

It stood to reason that you didn’t put much thought when Zhongli woke you up with his tongue down your throat or his hands groping your now exposed chest. It meant that when Zhongli took off your clothes in the morning, placing kisses on your neck and leaving visible marks on your skin, you merely thought he was just getting things started to transfer his energy for your continued survival.

It meant that you didn’t think much when you found yourself returning the favor, opening your legs for him, riding his cock early in the morning and not bothering to stifle your moans because Zhongli told you he liked hearing how much you wanted his cock, how slutty you acted when he thrusted his cock in your pussy until it was raw.

You had thought all of his words as dirty talk, not actually carrying any meaning beyond making the sex pleasurable for both of you. And today was no exception, you woke up with Zhongli’s mouth sucking on your nipples, leaving new bruises on top of last night’s marks.

Your pussy was filled with fresh cum and you could taste his cum on the back of your throat. You idly wondered how long had Zhongli been fucking you before you woke up, but such thoughts were thrown in the back burner when you felt his fingers tease your clit and toy with your cum-filled pussy.

“Nnnn!”

With a pop, Zhongli stops sucking your nipples and kisses you on your mouth, tongue entangling with yours.

--

“Good morning” He greeted you with a soft and gentle smile that was at odds with his lewd acts.

“Good morning” You greeted him shyly as you spread your legs wide, and silently asked for his cock. You wanted to be awake this time when he filled you up.

For someone who was fucking you for an indeterminate length of time, Zhongli had a lot of stamina. His cock easily penetrated you again, geo cuffs forming like an absent thought on your wrists as he went in and out of you. His cum acted as a lubricant to ease his cock as it filled you to the brim, stretching your walls and giving you a pleasant burn.

Your ample breasts jiggled from the force of being fucked over and over. Your pussy felt raw but even so you couldn’t help but want more, Zhongli’s dick had ruined you for everyone else. You were quite sure that no one would be able to bring you over the edge the way Zhongli did.

Your entire body felt warm from the lust and the odd feeling that came from Zhongli’s archon energy. Before you could even ask him about it, your thoughts were interrupted by the hard thrust of his cock that had your body arching and feeling the warmth of his thick cum.

Zhongli pulled out and let the rest of his cum shoot on your body, some landing on your face and open mouth.

“Good girl.”

You smiled at him sweetly.

2.

For some reason, it became a common occurrence for you to head to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor with a homemade lunch for Zhongli, on days when you had no case to solve or you had reached a dead end. Today was a latter kind of day, there were no breakthroughs on the Chasm case which Qixing was gracious enough to not hasten you.

Especially since they were aware that you had landed a life threatening curse on yourself.

So now that you had gotten used to spending your lunch time with him, it made you realize that everyone in the Parlor was already familiar with you. You no longer limited yourself to chatting with Hu Tao or the Ferry Lady when Zhongli was busy with his job. Which was odd, now that you’ve thought about it. For all of the claims of your genius and the surprising amount of time you spent with children, you were never good at people.

Or to be more precise, good at keeping people. Your relationships with everyone you’ve met had always been so-so, you could rely on them for information you need, or calling in for a favor but if you could never truly trust yourself with them. You don't know when to call people friends or how to keep the ones you make, you suck at maintaining relationships and the only ones you’ve been able to maintain are from people who are surprisingly stubborn or sticky.

Ones who didn’t mind that you never wrote regularly or you came and went through their life like a breeze of wind. They were people who didn’t mind rebuilding friendship again and again, assuring you in their own silent way that you were wanted and welcome.

Which meant that the present relationship you had with the employees of Wangsheng was an odd change, a welcome one, but odd nonetheless. This was how Zhongli found you, contemplating in silence, in his office.

“Are you alright, dear?” He asked, worry marring his beautiful features.

“Hmmm...yeah, just thinking” You answered with an awkward smile and a heavy feeling in your heart that you can’t quite explain.

“You don’t have to, you know” Zhongli said, reassuring you.

“I really don’t know” You joked with him.

“Talk to the others if you aren’t up to it” He explained and to anyone else it would felt like a slight, a terrible jab at your inadequacy that you never quite got the hang of.

But it was Zhongli.

Zhongli who willingly shoulders the gossip about your relationship with him, who cares for you so deeply that he can give you himself for an indefinite period of time, Zhongli who simply wants to stay by your side and thinks the world of you, who believes that you are good.

And that’s enough to take off the sting from the reminder of your flawed humanity, makes your body relax and you find yourself leaning into his hand that somehow made its way to your face.

You nuzzle into it, a show of affection that makes you feel embarrassed but the weight of Zhongli’s affection, this intimacy from whole acceptance and being known, was an addictive warmth that you feared losing.

“Thank you.”

You hope that Zhongli can hear everything those two words encompass.

3.

The changes stemming from your relationship with Zhongli, mainly this odd but welcome change of being connected to people, and staying in a place for a long while meant that inevitably you end up having a permanent address people can find you.

It was novel to you, the idea of a place being stuck to your name. You said as much to Zhongli, during one of those rare times he had no work and decided to be with you for an entire day.

“How do your friends write to you then?”

“They don’t or well they post a commission to the guild and I pay for the reward” You told him truthfully before recounting the first time one of your friends had done so and it had involved a high ranking adventurer, the guild master of the adventurer’s guild and ending with an entire map of Mare Jivari.

“What were you doing there?!” Zhongli had asked scandalized.

“I was curious and there was no known map of it, so I thought ‘huh? Guess this would give me a whole lot of mora if I did this!’ how was I supposed to know one of my friends would end up pregnant during that time and wanted me to be a godmother?” You replied, slightly offended and amused at the look on his face.

Which naturally resulted in Zhongli extracting a promise from you to never go to dangerous places without him, ever again. And he was so earnest and so seriously worried about it that your grin slid off your face and you gave him your word.

Which then resulted in you feeling slightly off kilter about it. The thing is you never thought that Zhongli would care for you this much, for all of the fucking and the tender moments between you two, you’ve always believed that there was a line somewhere.

A line that dictated the end of his care for you and the beginning of his indifference. It wasn’t that you didn’t believe he wanted to stay by your side, it was just that you’ve always thought he meant it figuratively like he wanted to be kept up-to-date with you when your curse is finally lifted.

Because the thought of Zhongli, coming along with your adventures, travelling with you leaves you just slightly, very slightly, perplexingly happy. It makes you grab his hand and intertwine it together, and Zhongli doesn’t mind, doesn’t care for this display of affection and instead encourages it.

He squeezes your hand twice, and gives you a smile that assures you that you are wanted. A part of you dares to hope that you’d find your home in this place, here with Zhongli and if not, you’re content with him being a place you can return to, a place of reprieve from the life of a traveler.

And this leads to your few friends addressing letters to Zhongli’s place, adventurers from around the world used as glorified messengers for your equally eccentric friends, sending packages or cases in your way. Sometimes, asking for advice or a consultation but more often than not, a mere teasing letter inquiring about your daily life and the new found changes they’ve seen.

“It’s nice,” You told Zhongli, in the middle of reading one of your letters, “having this regular contact with them.”

You don’t notice the way Zhongli pauses in his cooking, just to look at you and your soft fragile smile.

“You can tell them to send their letters here, and I can always go deliver them to you” He offered.

You laughed, thinking that he didn’t mean it but nonetheless happy with his kindness, “If you keep doing stuff like that, you might just make an honest woman out of me!”

And Zhongli says nothing beyond a smile, and you let the moment pass. Willing your heart to calm down and not letting yourself hope for too much, you continued to read your letters even though your mind often drifts off to Zhongli’s “offer”.

Later that night, as you laid in his arms, you began to wonder if the two of you had blurred the lines of friendship and something more.

4.

Sex with Zhongli was always fun and just as exciting as the first time you did it with him. As you haven’t found a cure to your curse yet nor an alternative that didn’t involve an adepti, you felt indebted to Zhongli’s generosity on being your life support for an indefinite period of time.

It meant that sometimes when Zhongli did something that only lovers would, you were content to let it pass. Considering how much of his essence you needed, you were willing to let him enjoy you however he wanted.

It meant that on certain occasions where Zhongli’s libido was unbelievably high, you’d let yourself be led to a secluded to corner of a mountain, a road, or even Liyue’s backstreets to have your panties pushed to the side and be fucked by his thick cock.

You’ve learned how to muffle your moans as his cock relentlessly thrusted into your pussy, hands deftly freeing your breasts from its confines and playing with it. Squeezing and pulling and pushing it until it felt overly stimulated from the attention. Your body learned how to arch itself in the right way, ensuring that his cock repeatedly slammed its head into your g-spot.

The only change between then and now was that Zhongli had gained a preference on muffling your moans with his mouth, kissing you fervently as you milked his cock with your pussy. His kisses was intense, it made your knees weak and felt too intimate between two people fucking for necessity. Which often led to the two of you kissing for a long period of time, even when Zhongli rubs your pussy through the fabric of your panties or simply because he felt like it.

Zhongli was an excellent kisser, that much you could tell from the steadily growing frequency of him simply kissing you, without it leading to sex or having your pussy eaten out. And maybe you were biased with your opinion considering you’ve never kissed anyone other than Zhongli but you were quite sure that he gave the best kisses.

This thought only became more prevalent with each lingering kiss he gave you, the warmth that left your lips tingling. It made you want for something you don’t quite understand or dare to understand. Zhongli made your knees weak, he made you want things you’ve previously given up on, he made you want for a home you could return to.

Zhongli was changing you into someone you weren’t quite sure you truly welcomed and yet you couldn’t help but want and want. Selfishly wanting to tie him to you, to tie yourself to him.

“Zhongli?” Your voice trembled, soft and scared.

Even so in your eyes, he remained smiling, calm and patient as he gently took strands of your hair and kissed its tip.

“It’s fine, I can wait.”

You closed your eyes and bowed your head. The sound of his footsteps gently fading away as he walked away made you feel relieved and aching at the same time.

5.

Despite sleeping separately for the first time since you were cursed, Zhongli’s affection for you didn’t change. Except that he no longer gave you kisses outside of foreplay or sex even still his affectionate looks and smile remained.

It left you disappointed and yet a clarity of mind and heart.

Ultimately, you understood that Zhongli was doing this to give you space, a breather to allow you to make your decision without any bias or undue influence. This allowed you to realize that you had been deceiving yourself for a while now.

Even so you still didn’t want to voice it. You couldn’t even dare to speak of it in the privacy of your mind. So you did what you always did when everything felt constricting. You ran away.

The benefits from being a mage was that you could use the teleportation devices scattered throughout Teyvat. Which meant that it was quite easy for you to slip in and out of 7 nations without anyone knowing. So it was really quite easy for you to get out of Liyue Harbor, use the device in Mt. Tianheng and go to Snezhnaya.

The surprise and alarmed look of Tartaglia was enough to quell your nerves.

--

You raise a bottle of your finest fire water and said, “Let’s drink!”

2 bottles later and you’ve unloaded everything between you and Zhongli to Tartaglia. You sat across from him, legs spread and stretched out while his fireplace blazes on the side and engulfing both of you in warm orange light.

“So you’re in love” He smirks, amused and equally drunk, comfortably leaning in the plush seat of his tufted back armchair.

“I am not” You denied, sinking further into your seat and ignoring Tartaglia’s loud and uninhibited laughter.

“I just like the no strings attached sex and affection” You clarified, “You’ve known about me for a long time, I don’t do well in long relationships.”

Tartaglia takes a swig of his own bottle of firewater, “You do, we’ve been friends for a long time” He smiles at you “you’re just afraid of commitment.”

You look at him, face blank but eyes showing your reluctant agreement and Tartaglia leans towards you, “You’re afraid aren’t you, of what Zhongli would do in the future, about you, me, the Abyss and everything it entails, and Celestia.”

“Maybe.”

“You were never one to let your fears rule you” His voice becomes soft, the unspoken affection bleeding through his words, “so what exactly are you afraid of losing once you acknowledge it?”

“I hate it when you aren’t sticking to your ‘only cares about a good fight’ persona” You groaned out, sitting up straight “you’re lucky I see you as family or I’d curse you right now.”

Tartaglia laughs and ruffles your hair, “Go to sleep and then return to him tomorrow.”

He gets up and makes his way to his bedroom, before he could leave the room you spoke, “Thank you.”

From behind you, Tartaglia smiled and said nothing as he continued on his way. There were some things that no longer needed to be said between two friends.

--

You sat on the edge of the cliff in Mt. Tianheng, watching the sunrise as Liyue Harbor slowly comes to life. You weren’t quite ready to face Zhongli yet.

You wanted to steel your nerves, calm your heart and properly arrange your words. Despite the carefree nature you showed, when it came to the matters of the heart, you always treaded carefully. Gone were the days you fell in love recklessly, accidentally and unknowingly hurting others and being hurt in return.

You wanted to face Zhongli, sincerely, to give him the utmost consideration for all that he had done for your sake. You wanted to make sure, to truly ascertain that what you felt was real and not a mere byproduct of the curse you had been saddled with. Zhongli deserved to be loved for who he was, as he is, and not what he gave up for you. To love him out of gratitude was to trample upon his sincerity, and you didn’t want that.

So you stalled, you waited, you didn’t rush. You simply and slowly worked out what you truly thought, what you felt. By the time the sun was high up in the sky, you stood up and patted your clothes. You slowly made your way down, entering Liyue Harbor, greeting the merchants and the townsfolk that knew you.

Each step that you took made you nervous, despite that you continued to make preparations, you pre-ordered a take out from Wanmin Restaurant, buying Zhongli’s favorite dish, Crystal Shrimp, and Universal Peace.

“I guess, Mr. Zhongli isn’t going to be Liyue’s most desired bachelor anymore?” Chef Mao joked.

You blinked and then laugh softly, “Was it that obvious?”

Chef Mao smiled, fatherly and nostalgic, and then he spoke to you with a wiseness that only came from suffering the vicissitudes of life, “There are things that can’t be concealed easily, one is indifference and the other love.”

Surprised, you stared at Chef Mao who only laughed boisterously, and with his fatherly tone added, “I’m not blind, and I was young once! I can tell if a man is interested or not.”

With a wink, Chef Mao waved you away and you shook your head in amusement as you walked away after paying in full. You slowly made your way to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, taking in the sight of Liyue Harbor in its busiest time of the day.

And as you neared the bridge in front of the parlor, you saw him. Walking slowly over the bridge, a rain of red maple leaves fell as he passed, you slowly halted and stared at him.

Thump thump

Your eyes met his and your heart that was moved by him, began to beat just a little bit faster. You smiled, gentle and soft, filled with unabashed adoration for him and slightly ran towards him. Zhongli smiled at you, eyes reflecting the deep emotions that he had for you.

Time slowed down and ran fast.

“I’m home” You told him as you hugged him and buried your face to his chest.

His arms gently and tightly wrapped around you, “Welcome back”.

There were still things that needed to be said, confessions to be made but for now the two of you didn’t need to do that yet. Not when both of you had finally reached the same place, hearts beating in sync.

+1

“Hey,” You called out to Zhongli “Do you remember the temple that got me cursed?”

“Of course” Zhongli replied, face stern and serious as he remembered that disastrous day.

“Well, I finally found out the story behind it” You revealed as you comforted him, hand gently patting his.

Zhongli relaxed, tense frame slumping a bit in the privacy of his shared home with you. He pulled you into his lap, embracing you and softly asked, “tell me?”

You hummed and began your tale,

“There used to be an immortal, a scrap collector, who was Heaven’s beloved official, and” You paused dramatically “there was a ghost king, a great calamity that the heavenly officials feared. The scrap immortal had the world’s terrible luck, he would experience all sorts of misfortune and tragedy while the ghost king had the world’s best luck, he would never lose a gamble nor a bet.”

You looked at Zhongli, teasing and eyes twinkling, “And these two unlikely beings were each other’s dao partner.”

Zhongli choked, “My dear…”

You laughed and laughed, “surprised? I was too! Ah~ Zhongli that temple was the one the ghost king, Hua Cheng, the Xuè Yǔ Tàn Huā built for his beloved, his highness Xiè Lián. It was the only surviving relic of the place where the infamous Ghost City was located.”

Zhongli blinked, “Then we entered the Ghost Realm?”

You nodded, “Yeah, we ended up triggering an old protection array. I ended up being the receiver of the curse since I was careless when I was fighting, I damaged the statue of his highness and the ghost king punished me for it.”

Seeing Zhongli frowning, you hurriedly appeased him, “Don’t worry! Those two have been gone for a long time now! What was left in there was just a particularly powerful emotion powered curse! So don’t go fighting with them!”

Zhongli sighed, but the frown on his face didn’t go away, “Then your curse?”

“With or without your cum, The curse would have eventually faded away.”

You laughed at his blushing face and decided to reveal one more thing, “Zhongli~ Did you know that when gambling with the ghost king, the only way to get what you want was to pass a test?”

Forehead to forehead, you stared into his eyes, through his heart and to his soul, voice filled with wonder and love, “If you can move his highness, Xiè Lián’s heart with pity, the Ghost King would give you what you want even if you had lost the debt.”

“I-”

You cut Zhongli off with a gentle kiss, and then said, “That day, I heard your prayers, and begged them to let you go. To let me suffer the curse alone, to let me suffer the unbearable pain. Because I couldn’t bear to have you suffer the consequences of my actions.”

“I can suffer any humiliation but my heart can’t bear the thought of you being humiliated” You told him, this secret of yours, the one you kept close to your heart.

--

You didn’t know when you began to fall for him, maybe it was when you had brazenly teased him, “Osmanthus wine, I’ll give this to you so don’t be a stick in the mud!”

Or maybe it was when he had asked, visibly worried, “Are you not afraid of being struck down like the sinners of Khaenri’ah?”

Or maybe it was when he had lowered himself to the ground and cried, “I just want to save her alone.”

There were so many moments that could have started it all but you knew when he had completely taken grasp of your heart.

“Please, let me walk by your side, protecting you and your belief.”

His words that day, fell into your heart like a rock that fell into a pond, creating ripples as it sank down on the bottom and stayed. He had, without you noticing, walked step by step into your heart, and made himself at home in there.

You would forever answer the calls of adventure, the never ending stories the world was waiting to tell you, but you also knew that you would always, without fail, return to Zhongli. To your home and one day you would settle your old bones with him, weathered hands holding each other, and greet each day side by side.

#zhongli x reader #genshin impact zhongli x reader #genshin impact x reader