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#fun twist of fate though
ofpd · 11 months
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trying to put in contacts while singing a duet of on my own is difficult do not recommend
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majouartings · 2 years
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Sakura looked like she needed a friend 💐
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lovingempress · 2 years
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To review- not only have I finally gotten my beloved Sparrow to Bond 10 (a momentous task to be sure), I yet again cement my title as Onee-san in other games 😭 (I’d say “kid attractor” but that just sounds so wrong out of context). Enterprising friends may note that I have NP4 of the new Archer Summer Prisma Ilya (still not too sure how to feel about that, especially since I also somehow got Kiara-san out of it as well). I also, somehow, got a STHENO of all characters while pulling in July 4th, as well as - not one, but TWO Saber Lilys from the friendship banner of all things???! I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU COULD GET 4 STAR SERVANTS FROM THE FRIENDSHIP BANNER- HELLO???!
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*coughs into fist* In other gaming news, I have to say- the gacha system in Twisted Wonderland isn’t bad so far! I got a Birthday Leona during that event, and the beginning gacha reroll is incredibly forgiving (though I was too lazy to actually try it out- I just kept what I started off with LOL). However, with this new event... Fam, my luck is generally terrible (especially my gacha luck, as Genshin can tell), so forgive me for yelling but HOW DID I GET TWO ORTHOS IN ONE PULL??? HELLO??? Screaming sobbing shaking- I just wanted a Stargazer Gear Deuceeeeeeeeeeee ORZ
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*sighs* well, Ortho is also cute, and I did get two Idias from the 10 pull before, so maybe I should have expected that he would want to join his big brother, huh… though I have to say, damn Idia is kinda cute! The sweater paws are just so adorable, and his Lab (?) SR card really gives off unexpected sex appeal
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babisawyer · 8 months
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couldn't get the damn app to work to watch exorcist 2 so I watched the autopsy of jane doe instead.
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sunaluv · 5 months
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'IS SHE TAKEN?'
in which someone asks your man if you're single
feat: ran, gojo
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RAN
the club setting was filled with more excitement tonight. don't get it twisted, any club or event hosted by the haitanis was guaranteed to be the event of the day, good vibes, hot people, and lots of money to be made. but when one of the brothers was actually present at the club? something about their aura seemed to bring out the vibes in people.
ran's hooded gaze watched adoringly at you across the club, the setting bringing nostalgia to the first time you met. ever the social butterfly you were, accepting another phone number from one of the girlfriends you made tonight. the other members of the roundtable looked at one another, wondering if the haitani brother was even present.
"no wonder you're so distracted, boss," the man next to him nudged him with his elbow, to which ran side-eyed him. "she's a looker, d'ya think she's single?"
your boyfriend appeared neutral as he let the guy ramble on about how hot you were, and what he would do to you given the chance. he missed the harsh roll of ran's eyes. if he didn't know you were spoken for, he would make sure this guy knew by the end of the night.
as if on queue, you waved bye to your new friends and started to make your way to the table. eyes followed your figure as you passed, but that was to be expected when the prettiest girl at the club walked past.
"hey, sweetheart," his soft lips pressed against the crown of your head. "you alright?"
"i'm good! a little tired though," you let out a deep sigh, melting into his arms. "these heels have been killing me..."
wordlessly, his large hands had your ankles in his lap, undoing the buckles on your heels and rubbing tender circles into the irritated skin.
he smirked at the relieved sigh that left your lips. "my buddy here has something to ask you, sweets."
the man next to you seemed to go silent since your arrival at the table, the consequences of his actions just hitting. a deep breath followed by a gulp as he wiped his damp hands against his slacks. he almost flinched when your hooded, yet dominating gaze met his own eyes, but after remembering who and where he was, he gained his composure almost as quickly as it left.
"nah 'ts nothin'," he waved his hand. "just a passing thought, is all..."
others both around the roundtable and those dancing near it tried not to make it obvious that they were watching the exchange going down. they found themselves pitying a character who would not deserve it, under different circumstances. but, as discussed, the haitani aura seems to throw things off of balance.
if he didn't want to talk, ran would do it for him. "he wants to know if your single, claims he could give you a lay better than your man could,"
your eyes left the man, instead looking over your boyfriends face in silent communication.
'you and i both know he can't'
'...i know, my love, just humor me every once in a while?'
'you're such a character sometimes, haitani'
'you love it though'
eyes darted between you, awaiting your response, thus his sentence in anticipation. he didn't know what telepathic language you were communicating in, but he was glad to not hear his fate get discussed right in front of him.
"i'm very flattered, but i have a boyfriend, sorry." your response was dry towards him, but the gaze you held with ran was anything but.
catching wind of what was about to happen, you excused yourself from the table, leaving a kiss on the corner of rans mouth, whispering a 'be good' in his ear before leaving.
whatever happened after your departure was not your business, after all.
GOJO
"hey man," a hand belonging to an unfamiliar man clasped on satorus shoulder. "do you know if the girl you came here with has a boyfriend?"
you had dragged your boyfriend to one of your friend's parties, much to his dismay. he's sworn off drinking after geto's blackmail folder started getting a bit thick, meaning there was nothing fun to do other than socialise, but he didn't want to after people flocked to him for the wrong reasons.
so now he was maybe the only sober one in this lively scene, which leads to the current events.
he spoke your name for clarity. "uhh, I'm not sure. you can go ask her if you want. ill even put in a good word for you."
has this man been a fraction more sober, he would've questioned why the blindfolded man's smile was so wide, or why he was so willing to help, but alas, this was a party and alcohol was supplied.
"thanks, dude! you're such a lifesaver."
satoru almost felt bad for the guy. he was practically buzzing whilst traversing through the sweaty bodies in search of you. he felt bad until he remembered how bored he was before this happened, he has to put himself first sometimes.
after a couple stumbles, reroutes and a rest break, they had finally found you in your angelic beauty, laughing with a group of girls he didn't know.
he thought it was quite cute how the guy seemed to become more shy at the sight of you, and satoru couldn't blame him. had he been someone more normal, he would act the same in your presence.
one of the girls caught sight of the pair by the entry and gestured you towards them. your face softened slightly at the sight of your six-foot-something boyfriend and his... friend?
"hey toru," you smiled, before looking at the other man. "who’s this?"
satoru said nothing, slapping the guy a little too harshly on the back before stepping back. the floor was his.
"hey," he breathed out, before introducing himself. "i saw you come in with your friend earlier, and just wanted to know if you were seeing anyone?"
your heart rate picked up, but not for the reason the guy was hoping. why was gojo like this? did he enjoy seeing you suffer?
he obviously did as when you looked over your shoulder to the said man, he gave you a big, encouraging grin with both thumbs up. the audacity.
he had thrown you to the wolves and left you to fend for yourself.
"uhm..." you breathed, trying not to shatter the poor guy's heart. "i have a boyfriend, unfortunately. sorry."
"what do you mean, unfortunately!" satoru mocked you from behind the guy. "I'm a total catch, right?" he turned to the guy. "right??"
though delayed, the guy had finally come to the realisation he had been punked by the man who egged him on the whole time. his face burst into a deep shade of red, apologising profusely before rushing back into the crowd.
"you're such an ass, gojo."
"the last name huh?" he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm in for it arent i?"
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total-dxmure · 3 months
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✦ INVISIBLE STRING THEORY →【ELLIE WILLIAMS】→ CHAPTER THREE
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pairings: modern!marine ellie x reader
summary: the marines didn’t ruin ellie. ellie ruined ellie. after being medically discharged she feels lost. being sent to live with joel is more of a last ditch effort to save her and less of a fun reunion for the father-daughter duo. jackson is worlds different than chicago, but the fresh air and sprawling countrysides are a welcome reprieve. ellie finds herself finding comfort in more than just the change in scenery though. after losing your girlfriend due to an accident you feel as though you’ll never find love again- but that was before meeting ellie williams. the two of you figure out that you have more in common than just the fact that she and your girlfriend were both marines though. tethered by some invisible string, the two of you meeting has to be fate. who would have known that you were the golden ticket to ellie’s recovery?
warnings: eventual smut! lots of tension building and mutual pining. ellie falls first and hard. small town girl meets a frightening, strong ex marine. TW: talk of panic attacks, ptsd episodes and death. come for the ellie smut and stay for the plot and fluff. (A/N: here we are, the meat and potatoes. the fic is really kicking off. . . and they're already flirting?! ellie is so touch and affection starved that she nearly jumps out of her own skin every time you even look at her.)
⬶ previous chapter | next chapter ⤅
from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸 READ: this account stands with palestine, and so— i require everyone who interacts to educate themselves, and support/donate. READ THESE; 1 and 2, HELP HERE, BOYCOTT. silence is complicity, do not scroll past this. DO NOT BUY THE REMASTER, TLOU2, TLOU1, OR ANY GAME FROM NAUGHTY DOG! neil druckmann (the creator) is a zionist. PLEASE READ THIS. AND REBLOG THIS.
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In that halfway space between waking and sleep it was hard to discern what was real and what wasn’t. Your bed felt warm, sheets still tangled around your arms and legs. The weight of your blanket on your chest could easily be confused with another’s body, and so you felt yourself smile. Warm, happy, safe- 
Abby was behind you, her limbs expertly twisted around yours like she’d done it a thousand times before. . . and she had. 
Slowly you opened your eyes, staring blankly ahead of you into your pitch black bathroom. You recognized the fresh scent of your shampoo, and felt the way your hair still clung to your hot cheeks- wet from your shower the night before. It was like you were suspended in a memory, everything all soft and fuzzy around you. The dots weren’t perfectly connecting, and still you were happy. For a second you just laid there, unable to look down at the hand you could feel so vividly at your waist. Would you see Abby’s knuckles when you looked down? Would you see the rubber promise ring she had insisted on wearing? Everything always had to be even and fair with her. 
This morning felt familiar. Like you’d lived it before. Your breath left you in a rush when the bed creaked behind you. 
“Abby,” God, she was back. She was back and she was right behind you. “Baby?” 
There was a soft groan and then the arm tightened, bringing you into a warm chest. Her bicep squeezed your arm tightly against her shoulder, and all at once you were tucked in so tight. Confusion tugged at your features, and you mulled over exactly why you were clinging to her arm so tightly. 
“What’s wrong?” She whispered against your hair, her voice still thick with sleep. Still, her fingers stroked at your bare stomach. 
“I had a nightmare,” You mumbled, trying to recall exactly what had plagued you just seconds ago. You can’t remember now that you’re safe here. . . safe with Abby again. “You were gone and I was all alone.” 
Those moments came back to you in flashes. The ache, the constant pain of losing her, the “learning to live without her” that crushed you entirely. You turned around in her grasp, nuzzling your nose into the crook of her neck. You took deep inhales, trying to still your rising panic. You could feel the steady beating of her heart against your cheek, the warmth of her bare breasts against your collar bones. 
“I was gone?” She raised a hand, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, a few golden strands falling onto her forehead as she moved her head against the pillow beneath her. “You can tell me about it if you want.” She offered supportively, petting your back in slow circles. 
You don’t know why. . .  but you missed those circles. It felt like you’d been without them for weeks. Months. 
“I-I got a phone call. . . and they told me that you’d died,” Your bottom lip quivered, your eyes filling with tears. You couldn’t help but laugh pathetically at your unnecessary hysterics. Abby was right here. Everything was okay. “It felt like the longest nightmare I’ve ever had. It was horrible.” 
“You did so good though.” She whispered, her hands still stroking. 
Your muscles tensed, and slowly you moved your hand up her side, fingers brushing against her skin. You pressed a soft kiss against the underside of her breast, a tear breaking free past your lower lashes. This moment suddenly felt fleeting. 
“I did?” You questioned, pulling away to look at her. 
She was so beautiful. Like an angel had fallen from heaven and landed right in your bed. The sun was just beginning to rise, setting the line of trees just outside of your window ablaze. She was diaphanous and golden laying there beneath you. You were so lucky. You could barely breathe when she looked up at you like that, her eyes so thick with pride and love. 
“You did, baby girl. You stayed so strong.” She cracked a small smile, but it looked pained. Like she was also realizing that the two of you couldn’t exist here forever. “I need you to keep it up though, alright?” You couldn’t feel her hand on your back anymore, nor the softness of the sheets. 
“Please,” You sobbed out, reaching out to cup her cheek. She didn’t feel like anything. Like your hand was molded around a pocket of open space. Nothingness. She was about the size of the palm of your hand now, her urn sitting on the mantle in your living room. “Please don’t leave me again.” 
Her blue eyes stared up at you, proud and unwavering in their convictions, as they always were. . . always had been. “I’m never far. Pinky.” Promise. 
And then you were in your bed again, the alarm on your phone blaring. 
“Abby?” You mumbled, and you didn’t have to turn over to realize you were alone. 
Ellie was good at putting pressure on herself. It had always been a form of motivation, as cruel as it seemed. She couldn’t let today be awful. No episodes or meltdowns and no long bouts of silence. You were pretty and it really seemed like you could use a friend. 
Ellie could use a friend too. 
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d shown interest in a girl. She’d always been career driven with a one track mind. She was good at overworking herself and running herself dry. She hoped that you’d be able to use that to your benefit today. Ellie wanted to lose herself in something. . . in someone. She wanted to be useful for the first time in what felt like a long, long while.
So she woke up at the butt crack of dawn and took a shower. She kept her eyes shut tight as she washed herself and didn’t even bother to towel dry her hair before she was pulling on an outfit. Thick droplets of water stained the shoulders of her jean button up as she tied up the laces on her boots. She focused on one shoe at a time, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of you. Every once and a while her brain would wander, hellbent on self destruction, but with a small groan she’d remember the sadness in your eyes. 
She’d remember who she was before the accident. 
She moved down the stairs as quietly as she could, praying that Joel’s dog wouldn’t start barking once he realized that his new best friend was leaving the house. The keys to her old car were on the rack beside the front door, right next to Joel’s flashy new pair. He’d told Ellie over dinner that he’d been maintaining the beat up old Jeep the best that he could, meaning she at least had a little bit of freedom while she was back home. 
She locked the door behind her, the cool morning breeze stinging against her wet ears as she gracelessly stumbled down the stairs, juggling the bulky set of keys in her hand. A huge metal spaceship that Joel had stuffed into her Christmas stocking senior year, a neon green carabiner she’d bought at one of the gas stations closest to her school, and a few other childish charms that she couldn’t place any meaning behind swung from the nearly ancient keychain. Her sense of self expression and style back in those days was tacky to say the least, but she appreciated child-Ellie nonetheless. 
“You poor child.” She teased under her breath, climbing into the driver's seat and shoving the key into the ignition. She sucked in a breath and held it before cranking it up. 
To her surprise, the clunker started right up, though the engine shook the steering wheel a little when she put the thing in reverse down the driveway. She hadn’t driven a car since that night at the gas station. It felt a little weird to be behind the wheel, but even stranger to be back here. Jackson was a beautiful place. . . but it didn’t feel the same way that it had before. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her age or the changes that were happening inside of her. The streets still looked the same, aside from some very minor changes to neighbor's houses. She barely paid any attention to her surroundings when Joel had driven her through town yesterday, and she was a bit scared to see the differences. She didn’t want to dwell on those thoughts or do any soul searching, so she reached out for the radio, pressing play on whatever CD had been shoved into it last. 
Depeche mode began to blast over the speakers, and she let out a small sigh of relief. At least her music taste wasn’t horrible in high school. 
But it was no wonder she didn’t have a girlfriend. Ellie wouldn’t have dated little Ellie either, that was for sure. 
She felt a bit crazy to be driving in the opposite direction of town. Back when she lived here, town was the only place she was headed when she was allowed out of the house. It was no wonder why the two of you had never really crossed paths. She used to complain about how far off in the “middle of nowhere” Joel lived, but your farm had his ranch beat by fifteen minutes. The houses got fewer and farther in between, and despite how much Ellie truly did enjoy the city, she couldn’t deny how beautiful the countryside was. The sprawling fields, grazing animals, and splattering of wild flowers had her rolling down the windows of her car, ignoring the chill so that she could get a better look of her surroundings. 
Even the air quality was better in Jackson.
She’d been down this road a few times in her life, having been in the backseat of Joel’s car every single time. She recognized your home from her memories, but your last name didn’t mean much to her back then. She slowed her car down to a crawl, staring at the large sign that sported your family name proudly. 
Ellie would be proud of the farm too if it were hers. She bumped down the drive five minutes earlier than you had told her to show up, staring with wide eyes at your house. It was two stories with a balcony- white with green shutters. The wrap around porch was screened in, protecting you and any guests you might have over from bugs that thrive in the summertime heat. 
Your stretch of land belonged on a painting, and for a second she worried if maybe she wasn’t the right friend for you. This house was too nice and Ellie. . . Ellie wasn’t very nice at all. She'd only talked to you for five minutes yesterday, but she got the feeling that you were a "good girl". You were wholesome, which wasn't how anyone in Ellie's life would choose to describe her. She slowly made her way up your front steps, and for a second she wondered if she should leave. It would probably be better if she did. Ellie could always just lie and tell Joel that she couldn’t find your house. . . he’d probably drop it after insulting her about her bad sense of direction. 
Ellie couldn’t afford to get a crush on anyone right now either. It was horrible timing, and what would be worse is if you actually ever returned those feelings. How was she supposed to explain to you that she wouldn’t ever make a good partner? She couldn’t protect you from anything, not when any loud sounds or bright lights had her falling to her knees. She was careerless, depressed to the point where she had completely lost who she was, had a drinking problem, and was quite certain that she’d combust the second you’d touch her. She was touch and attention starved, but hadn’t remembered that she was even able to desire someone until she’d seen you yesterday- 
You’d be dodging a bullet if she hightailed it right off of your property. So she turned on her heel and stared at her boots as she began walking back down your stairs. Her feet kicked up dirt as she made her way back to her jeep, hand already reaching into her pocket for her keys- 
“Did I not hear you knocking on the door?” A feminine voice called out to her. 
She sucked in a breath so hard that she let out a loud cough, eyes widening as she turned around to face the porch. You were wearing a pair of dirt stained jeans today, though your hair was fastened back with a white bow. Ellie, despite her previous need to protect you from herself, couldn’t fight off the urge to get closer. There was something different about you today. You were a bit manic, your hands already busying themselves with straightening out a few of the potted plants on your porch. You seemed a bit anxious, but you didn’t comment on it so neither did Ellie. Any boundaries you had yesterday with her were gone. You flashed her a wide smile, sauntering up the drive so that you could wrap her up in a tight hug. 
Your arms were shaking as they weaved around her neck, pulling her in close. She froze, limbs locking up in surprise as she tried to fully grasp what was going on. You were treating her like an old friend, someone you were excited to see. Ellie didn’t know why you’d be so happy to see her. . . but then again, she was happy to see you. She remembered what Joel had said last night.
Maybe you were sick and tired of being alone. 
Your bare arms were cold too- freezing as her fingers accidentally brushed the backs of them. Ellie realized that she had gotten here just in time. If anything, she cursed herself for not showing up twenty minutes earlier, if only to save you from whatever had you this shaken up. 
“I probably knocked too quietly. Should have knocked louder, huh?” She mumbled, biting the inside of her cheek as she gave you a gentle squeeze. 
She wasn’t used to holding someone like this that wasn’t Dina or Jesse. You felt nice in her arms. Your muscles weren’t hard or rigid like hers, you were all soft and rounded edges. Gentle curves and arms ready and willing to embrace her. Flushed cheeks and silk bows. You smelled wonderful too- sweet and floral, like Jasmine mixed with honey. She didn’t want to let you go, and you didn’t seem ready to end the hug either.
You were still quivering. 
“Yeah, you should have.” You agreed, giving Ellie one last squeeze before taking a few unsteady steps back.
You hadn’t been completely sure whether or not she would show up today. Waking up this early was a lot to ask of anyone, let alone someone you had just met yesterday. Still, a part of you had hoped that she would be here. On days that were this bad you found it impossible to work, no matter how busy it kept you. You often spent “mental health days”  laid out by Abby’s grave or buried six feet under pillows and blankets in what used to be your shared bed.
Ellie’s presence changed things. 
So you squared off your shoulders and cracked her a wide smile, praying that it looked genuine and not forced. 
“Let’s hop in my truck and I’ll take you on a little tour of the property before we get started.” You tucked your bottom lip between your teeth as you watched the woman take a few steps closer to you.
Ellie looked like she wanted to say something but was holding herself back. You weren’t sure whether or not you would be able to handle her prying or the pity that would follow. 
Your fingers twitched at your sides, wishing so deeply that you hadn’t woken up at all this morning. Ellie was beautiful- gorgeous even. You would have been head over heels if you had met her years ago, before. . . well, before Abby happened. Still, her beauty wasn't enough to completely distract you from your grief. A part of you felt guilty for even finding her attractive as you slid into the front seat of the truck. 
Maybe that was why you’d had such a strange dream last night. Or maybe. . . maybe it wasn’t a dream at all. Maybe it really was Abby trying to tell you that it was okay to move on. That was confusing to even think about, and it made you count the months since her death on both of your hands, trying to gauge if enough time really had passed. You didn’t want to be alone anymore, but the thought of being in love with anyone seemed like an impossibility. Everything was broken. How could you ever love anyone the same way that you loved Abby? You’d just be doing that other person a disservice. 
That’s right, you were cursed. 
You could feel Ellie’s gaze on the side of your face as you made your way down the dirt road, up towards the hen houses. You blinked a few times, the apples of your cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Slowly you met her gaze, lips twitching up in a small smile as she quickly looked away from you, nervous over having been caught. 
“My dad built ten large coops, so this whole fenced-in area right here is where the chickens graze.” You stopped the car and put it in park, keeping the old thing running like you usually did during your quick morning chores. Sometimes the poor truck had a hard time starting back up, and you’d probably burst into tears if your newfound friend had to walk a half mile back to the house with you. 
“Do you guys have any problems with foxes?” She asked, keeping up with your fast pace as you unlatched the front of the fence for the both of you. 
Your nose wrinkled in disgust, and you were quick to throw your arms up exasperatedly. 
“Oh god, do we! I had to get someone out here to change out the fence just six months ago because one of those little fuckers had somehow managed to dig it’s way into their area. Killed seven of my poor girls.” You remembered how angry you were when you’d pulled up to the coops that morning. Burying seven dead hens wasn’t a pleasant experience for you, but it wasn’t something that was new. Still, you hated knowing that they’d suffered in their final moments. 
“Jesus, I’m sorry.” Ellie looked around the area, finding it impossible not to notice how well kept everything was. The coops were freshly painted, the grass was gorgeous and plush- bright green under her feet. Truly, your farm was an oasis. She’d never seen anything quite like it before, and you'd barely even started the tour.
“Can I hold one?” She asked meekly, smiling up at you shyly as you turned to look at her. You didn’t exactly take her as the type of girl that would want to hold a chicken, but you were happy to oblige her. 
“One of my mamas just hatched a few chicks. Would you want to hold-” 
“Yes.” She quickly added, jogging off in the direction that you were pointing, eager to hold anything tiny and fluffy that you had to offer. 
You were shocked at the laugh that bubbled its way out of your chest. A genuine, good natured laugh that you found hard to contain as she began impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for you to catch up. 
“Didn’t take you for a chicken lover, city girl.” You teased, unlatching the door for her so that she could make her way inside. 
The hens squawked excitedly at your appearance, realizing they’d be able to eat their fill of grass, bugs, and dried corn. A few ran over, crowding at your ankles. Rows and rows of nests were lined up along the walls. In the back of the coop were a few small rectangular doors that you could open, which was what you used to harvest eggs. Your dad’s old coops didn’t have anything fancy like that, so you grew up having your hands pecked at. You used to run back home to your mother with blood bruises and angry, raised skin. 
“I love chicks.” Ellie said simply and the double meaning wasn’t lost on you. 
As if on cue one of the chickens began pecking at the woman’s ankles, earning a small hiss of surprise from her. You snorted, biting your lip so that you wouldn’t laugh at her expense. “I can’t say the feeling is mutual, apparently.” You added playfully, looking around for the yellow poof balls. 
“Old news.” She was smiling at you, and something in your chest began doing awful, uncomfortable flips. For a second you even felt a bit nauseous. 
Ellie wasn’t Abby, but there was something similar about the two of them. The short haired girl seemed capable and strong. There was a physical sort of confidence in the way that she walked that told you that she knew how to handle herself. You watched as she shoved her hands in her pockets, shoulders squared off, feet shoulder length apart- and it had your lips parting. 
Still, you remembered Joel talking about his daughter. . . saying that she was military. You couldn’t remember which branch she belonged to, but you could tell that she was well trained. You tried to imagine what Ellie would look like if she was put in a situation where she needed to protect herself, and you found a shiver running up your spine.
There was a coldness that had been in her eyes when the two of you had first met that had chilled you to the bone. You saw none of it when you looked into her eyes now, but. . . still. . . the thought terrified you. Had those capable hands ever killed anyone before? 
You felt horrible even thinking that, even going as far as to give your thigh a small slap in punishment as you bent down, knees digging into the wood shavings and hay. The chicks didn’t seem off put by your small scowl. They saw you and instantly thought “food”, which had them clumsily running in your direction. You hadn’t heard her walk up beside you, only felt the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt brush against your arm as she sat back on her haunches beside you. 
“It won’t scare them if I pick them up, will it?” She asked gently, slowly reaching a hand out so that she could brush it against their plush down feathers. They chirped contentedly, unaware of what “danger” even meant yet. You were guilty of babying your chickens, meaning none of them were scared of humans. They pecked at you when they were annoyed, but were never violent per say. 
“Not at all. They might seem a bit unhappy, but it’s only because they’re hungry.” 
You pressed your hand to your cheek as you watched the woman pick one of the chicks up, holding the tiny thing tightly against her chest so as to not drop it. There was something almost comical about seeing the woman look this gentle, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tried not to hurt the tiny thing. It was adorable. Which was terrifying for you. 
You were once again reminded of your dream. . . and you didn’t think you were ready to let Abby go. Not even when Ellie looked up at you excitedly, using her free hand to gesture towards the small creature in disbelief. Almost like she was scared that even talking would frighten it. 
“So what do we do now?” Ellie asked, putting the chick down so that she could stand back up. You followed her lead, making your way back over towards the door. 
“We open up all the doors and let them walk around for the day. I usually come back and get them back in their coops by sundown.” You let her know, leaving the door wide open as you moved coop to coop. 
Ellie helped you, cutting down the time in half. The two of you were back in the truck in record time. You showed her the fields where you planted corn in the late summer to get ready for early fall. You pointed out the small flower garden you had taken upon yourself to cultivate, and then you pulled up to the green houses. Her jaw went slack as she took in all of the buildings. 
“You do all of this yourself?” She needed to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. Sure, she was no farmer, but even someone like her knew just how much work this must be for you. 
She couldn’t imagine you doing this all day, every day all by yourself. It kinda made her chest ache a bit for you. So when you nodded she took it upon herself to climb out of the truck, eager to do something to lighten the burden for you. 
As the two of you approached what appeared to be the oldest of the greenhouses, she couldn’t help but realize that she’d been with you for about an hour. . . and she felt great. Better than great, she felt normal. She had been sent out here so that she could recover, and while she didn’t quite understand what that really and truly meant, being here with you felt right. Being around the animals felt therapeutic, and while Joel might have told you a little bit about her in passing, you didn’t know enough about Ellie to pass any sort of judgment or feel any sort of pity. 
Even so, Ellie wasn’t sure she’d be against telling you about what happened. Something told her that you would be understanding. You knew what it felt like to lose people, and she was sure that you had regrets somewhere along the line. Everyone does when it comes to losing loved ones. 
She hated that you had suffered enough to understand where she was coming from, but loved that she wasn’t alone for once. 
The two of you walked in silence, and there was a heaviness in your eyes that let her know that you were thinking about something serious and sad. Ellie wondered whether your father was on your mind this morning. . . or perhaps your girlfriend. It wasn’t her place to ask, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to. 
“Want to help me water them?” You finally asked, motioning towards the tables of plants. 
She nodded, but quickly turned to face you. She couldn’t count how many green houses you had on top of this one. 
“Do we water all of those plants too?” She felt stupid the second that she asked the question, but even more so when you began to giggle. 
Sounding stupid was worth it to hear the sound, so she sucked it up. 
“Those green houses are newer and have a built in sprinkler system. We just have to worry about this one, thankfully. We’d be here all afternoon if not.” You began to head in the direction of the hose so that you could turn it on, your stomach tightening with hunger. 
You knew the second you got back to the house and made breakfast that you’d be nauseous though. Bad days like this were always the same. You were hungry but you couldn’t eat. You wanted to distract yourself but nothing would work. You wanted to talk to someone but didn’t have any friends that you trusted enough to actually. . . onload on, and you were sick of your mom crying on your behalf. 
“So you’re staying with Joel now? For how long?” You decided to make small talk as you handed her the hose, walking along with her as she painstakingly paid attention to every sprout. 
She licked her lips before answering you, eyes flickering in a way that made you think that she might feel a bit nervous. 
“I was. . . sent here. It’s not like I don’t love being home, because I kinda do. It’s just not something that I exactly chose for myself.” That didn’t feel like the whole truth, but you supposed that she would tell you whenever she was ready. 
You played with the raw hem of your old t-shirt, suddenly anxious that you might have put her in a bad spot. Still, you found yourself wanting to know more about her. 
“Do you have an addiction problem?” You realized how inappropriate it was to be so blunt. Your mouth went bone dry with panic, and you were quick to grab her hand, shaking your head. “A-All I’m trying to say is that my uncle had a really bad drug problem for years. He’s been clean and sober since last Christmas and is doing great. I don’t judge, that’s all. I’m proud of you, if anything.” 
She gulped, looking down at your hand and noticing how close your body was to hers now. She fumbled to turn the hose off with one hand, trying to get her breathing under control. It was twice now that you were touching her like this, and she hated herself for wanting to wrap you back up in a hug so bad. She was also trying not to notice how plush and kissable your lips were.
You smelled great too, which made it hard for Ellie to think. 
“Yeah, I guess I have a bit of an addiction problem,” She mumbled, but shrugged her shoulders soon after, contradicting herself. “But that’s not really why I’m here.” 
Ellie would have to tell you eventually, she supposed. If the two of you were going to be as good of friends as Joel wanted, then she’d have to fess up eventually. It was better to get it out and in the open now rather than later. Plus. . . if she had some sort of a breakdown then maybe you’d be more understanding if you knew why it was happening. 
“My therapist tells me that I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was in the Marines and I had a really bad accident. So. . . it was hard for me to live alone.” Ellie stared down at a long-dead leaf on the ground and bent down to pick it up, gently playing with it’s crinkled edges. 
“Did you have panic attacks? I have those sometimes too.” You wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone, as stupid as it might sound. 
You wanted to relate to her without telling her that your girlfriend had also been a Marine. She was being vulnerable with you, and the last thing you wanted to do was make this moment about you by bringing up your deceased girlfriend.
“Yeah. . . Yeah, I have those a lot. Sometimes I lose track of time- disassociate. It’s scary for others to deal with, so my friends thought that it would be best if I were with Joel. There’s less triggers here than back in Chicago.” You could tell that she was still uncomfortable with the subject matter, but she was powering through. 
Ellie appreciated that there wasn’t a hint of judgment in your tone. You genuinely seemed curious. . . and talking about herself like this felt good. Validating, even. 
“What triggers you? I just want to make sure that I don’t overstep or accidentally do anything wrong-” 
“No, no. You’re fine. It’s more so loud noises and bright lights.” 
“So no gunshots?” 
“Guns aren’t too bad. . . it’s more so car crashes. Explosions, you know?” 
Your mouth went dry. You did know. It’s how Abby died, afterall. You hated that Ellie had gone through something similar. Your heart ached for her. 
“Is that how you got this. . . ?” You began to brush your fingers against the scar over her eye. You froze as she flinched, guilt bottoming out your stomach as you quickly yanked your hand away.
She reached out to take your elbow into her calloused hand before you could drop your palm back down at your side, and pressed your fingers against the skin herself. Her skin was still soft, but raised and jagged. You’d never felt a scar this deep before. Still, it was warm under your touch. Alive. 
The moment felt oddly intimate, and you kept your fingers there for a few seconds too long before dropping your hand back at your side. Ellie felt like she was going to explode. No one had ever wanted to touch her scar, let alone been allowed to. 
“Yeah, It is.” She cleared her throat, grabbing one of her arms in her hands nervously. She was starting to realize that she didn’t mind being seen by you. “I’m legally blind in the eye now, which has been pretty hard to get used to.” 
“So you can’t see at all out of it?” You questioned, beginning to walk back over towards the repotting station. You’d noticed a few sprouts that were getting a little too big for their pots, and the last thing you wanted was crowded roots. 
She followed after you like a lost puppy, hot on your trail. “I can see shapes and colors. Movement, and everything. But if you held up your hand and asked me “how many fingers am I holding up”, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.” She’d practically had to relearn how to do everything again, as dramatic as that sounded. Losing the vision of one eye affected a lot more than one might think. 
“Oh, shit.” You remarked, nose wrinkling up in sympathy. You couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been on top of dealing with the mental anguish of the accident. 
“ ‘Oh, shit’ is right.” She agreed with a small smile, leaning her hip against the table as you began laying out the necessary supplies. She watched your hands as they moved expertly around the table, eyes locked on your fingers. “I used to be beautiful.” She joked absentmindedly, alluding to the scar that now marred her features. 
“You’re still beautiful.” You said, fully concentrated on the task at hand. 
You didn’t realize the weight that your words carried, nor Ellie’s reaction to them. She felt like a giddy teenager. She couldn’t stop herself from fidgeting with the buttons on her shirt. She was smitten.
You were the first person to treat her like an actual human being since the incident. This was the most alive she’d felt in almost a year. . . and she was talking about things. Not like she might talk to her therapist, it was different than that. She was talking to someone that wanted to get to know her, not just to diagnose her, but to understand her. It felt good. Really good. Sickeningly good. 
And you thought she was beautiful. 
“Do you want to help me repot these little guys?” You asked, motioning towards the tiny pots. 
She was scared of killing your seedlings but nodded anyway, desperate for your approval. Ellie watched as you demonstrated the entire thing for her, praying to god she wouldn’t forget a step. 
The two of you stood shoulder to shoulder, shaking out roots and gently tucking the plants into their new homes. It was calming- melodic, almost. The constant motion, the gentle noises of the wilderness all around you. Ellie could even feel herself getting good at it. Not as good as you, of course. . . but she wasn’t as bad as she thought she would be. 
You watched as she rolled her sleeves up and over her forearms, taking a second to appreciate her hands. Once again, you felt guilty for being so attracted to her. Strands of auburn hair had fallen out from behind her ear and hung in her pale face as she focused on her task. Her strong hands worked methodically. Her veins, her knuckles, her forearms and biceps- Ellie wasn’t just beautiful but gorgeous. 
‘Give me a sign, Abby. If I’m not reading too far into last night's dream. . . then just give me some sort of a sign.’ You thought to yourself, eyebrows furrowing as you packed more dirt around the seedling in your hand. You felt like you were being horrifically dramatic, but what else could you do?
You felt idiotic. Delusional, even.
Beside you Ellie continued to work, completely unaware of your building turmoil. Pot after pot, she was really getting the hang of it. Pack down a layer of dirt, shake out roots, pack dirt on top- repeat.
She  reached out for another one of the black plastic pots, sliding it over in front of her. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn’t hear the rattling. She’d been so close to covering up whatever was at the bottom with dirt, but the sunlight caught whatever it was just right.
It sparkled. 
Ellie pinched the object between two dirt coated fingers, her eyebrows practically raising up to her hairline as she realized that it was a ring. A valuable looking one, at that. 
“Uh. . . is this yours?” Ellie asked, showing it to you. 
You blinked a few times at the ring, scared for a moment that you were hallucinating, because things like this only happened in movies. People asking for signs from the other side only for a ghostly apparition to pop up on screen.
Still, that was your promise ring in Ellie’s hand. 
Your bottom lip quivered, eyes filling up with tears before you could even stop them. You reached out with gentle fingers, taking it into your hand graciously. 
“Thank you.” 
And you weren’t sure if you were talking to Ellie. . . or Abby.
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yawnderu · 2 months
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Final Girl — Slasher!Keegan P. Russ x Reader (1/?)
A word before we start: screaming sounds a whole lot like laughter.
Nothing beats the paranoia of a high man. Rough, calloused hands shove you into the dark wooden closet, whisper-yelling orders to keep your damn mouth shut before the though of protesting could even occur inside your little drunken head. Everything is spinning inside around the room, too focused on the light sensation in your head to be able to connect the dots until it's too late.
“Listen, man, we don't have anyt—” Life can be unpredictable. One moment you're having fun with your friends in a rented cabin in the woods, and the other, your best friend is being shoved into the floor by a much bigger man, the loud sounds of his shouts and struggling instinctively forcing you to put a palm over your mouth, trying your best not to scream along your dying friend.
A quiet whimper makes its way out of your throat the moment a long, bloodied machete is raised in the air, horrified wide eyes meeting yours as the panic fully sets in for him. It's like seeing a trainwreck yet being unable to stop watching, even when your brain is screaming at you to close your eyes. To save yourself from the trauma, to protect your psyche, to let the last image of your best friend be him alive—
Hack.
The masked killer lands heavy blows one right after the other on the figure underneath him, blood splashing all over the room, forcing another muffled whimper out of your lip as the man hacks away at your friend's dead body, seemingly getting more and more excited with every single new wound he's forcing.
The house is quiet— way too quiet for a group of 5 drunk people. You were previously in the bathroom, too preoccupied throwing your guts out in the bathroom to hear any noise through the loud gags and the ringing in your ears. The man's heavy breathing fills the room, making you subconsciously hold your own, not wanting to get any of his attention and be his next victim. They say ignorance is bliss, yet not knowing if the man is aware of your presence only makes the black pit of dread grow in your stomach.
His movements are slow and calculated, letting go of your friend's mangled up corpse, the sound of the machete being pulled out of his flesh almost makes you gag, secretly thankful that you emptied your stomach earlier. Baby-blue eyes scan the room with a precision that almost seemed robotic, instinctive, like a predator who has always succeeded at catching his prey.
Your heart goes down to your stomach when his cold gaze connects with yours through the thin wooden blinds, masked head tilting to the side in what seems to be sick amusement. He inches closer to you, his footsteps surprisingly quiet for a man his size, eyes crinkling up with his pupils dilating quickly, black almost taking over the pale blue.
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His gloved hand raises slowly towards the doorknob, maintaining eye contact with your tear-filled eyes— only for his head to snap up towards the sound of a crack on the wooden floor coming from the kitchen. He gives the closet one last look before running towards the sound, the sickening sound of your friend's blood and guts dripping down his machete and clothes following right after him.
Thrashing and more screaming is heard from the other side of the house, snapping you out of it enough to realize it's your only chance to escape the same fate your friends met. Your shaky hand twists the doorknob slowly, not daring to look at the dead body right in front of the door— the body of someone who died just to protect you.
A shaky whimper escapes your lips when you accidentally kick the limb corpse, shaking your head a few times to snap out of it before you move away from him, staring ahead with an unfaltering sense of dread eating you from within.
Your steps are wide and calculated, sobered up the moment the masked killer started attacking your friend right in front of you. From what little you can see thanks to the moonlight seeping through the windows, the entire place looks out of a horror movie, blood staining every single wall, dripping down at such a slow pace that it almost seems like it's God's way of taunting you.
Relief finds place into the pit of dread the moment you can see the entrance door, finally feeling like you're able to breathe again— like you're not leaving behind any of your friends who may have survived the brutal attack. Guilt has no place in survival, you convince yourself within seconds as your shaky hand reaches for the doorknob, only to be slammed against the wall, a gloved hand covering your mouth to muffle the bloodcurdling screams that leave your lips.
You thrash against his rough hold, earning nothing other than a much harder hair pull, only stopping your thrashing the moment you feel cold metal pressing against your throat. Your eyes close as tears fall down your cheeks, pooling on the soft fabric of the gloves of the man holding you against your will.
“And where the fuck do you think you're going, hm?” He turns you around forcefully, pining your body against the wall with his own, tilting his head to the side just to taunt you as his sharp machete presses harder against your neck. His free hand comes up to caress your cheek, teasingly spreading your friend's blood all over your cheeks, forcing a choked sob out of you.
“Aww... Now you're all quiet. Poor pretty, broken princess...” His tone holds nothing but fake pity and pure amusement, sickly getting off on your pathetically horrified expression. His body presses against you harder as he looms over you, only leaning down to press his masked face against the crook of your neck, not bothering to hide the way he's inhaling your smell as the back of his gloved hand keeps absentmindedly running over your cheeks in an action that would be soothing, had he not been the man who killed your loved ones.
“I'll let you go.” Your breath hitches at his words, not believing him for a single second— not when you can feel his boner pressing against your stomach, his hips subtly rubbing against you to get more friction while he wonders if it's truly worth it to let you go instead of sending you home in a box.
“But you say a word about this to anyone... and I mean anyone, princess, and I swear to God, I'll gut you like a fucking fish.” His words take a bitter tone after he calls you princess, though the hold on the machete softens slightly as he hears your choked sobs, knowing the only thing preventing you from nodding vigorously like a well-trained dog is the blood-bathed steel pressing to your neck.
“Yeah? Do you promise?” The machete is moved out of the way, yet he still keeps you pinned against the wall so you don't try to run away. His pinky finger is raised up to your face mockingly, giving you an expecting look that takes you a few seconds too long to understand. Your shaky hand comes up to his, intertwining your pinky with his in a childish promise, a whimper leaving your lips the moment he applies enough pressure to make it hurt before releasing you.
He moves out of the way after a few tantalizing seconds, nodding his head towards the door, watching you scurry away like a kicked puppy, his entire body itching to go after you— and deciding against it last second, knowing he'll be seeing you soon.
Author's note: The art published in all chapters belongs to @moosch!! We're both very excited about this project and to expand on something we've been talking about almost daily for months, I hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do. <3
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faexoxoxoxo · 4 months
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Little Pet...
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Being the king of curses, plaything against your will...
Pairing : Ryomen Sukuna x fem!reader
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"Every king needs an heir. You, my pet, are the one worthy to carry mine." 
Sukuna's a powerful man with a reputation for being cold and merciless to those around him, striking fear in the hearts of his enemies and loyal followers. You were perhaps the only living creature on this earth to whom he showed a somewhat soft side.
In the beginning, he'd remained unfazed by your constant pleading to go back home to your family. "Should I just slaughter your clan ? Maybe that'll teach you to stop whining." The words sending shivers down your spine. Knowing him, that wasn't a bluff, so you resigned yourself to your fate as his plaything, and that greatly pleased Sukuna, "Good pet, finally submitting to your master." He grinned as you struggled to fit all of his monstrous cock down your throat, not giving you a chance to breathe as he thrust back and forth, only letting you pull away as he cums, ordering you to swallow every last drop.
When you missed your period for the first time, you thought nothing of it, but as another month came and still nothing now something felt off...then came the nausea, you couldn't stand the smell of any type of meat, no matter how well cooked it was. Sukuna seemed to find your squeamish behavior amusing, saying he'd spoiled his favorite pet too much, but then he started to notice how your scent changed somehow; it'd gotten sweeter, if that was even possible, "fuck I could just eat you up." He grunted against your neck, two of his hands on your hips to keep you from moving away as he plowed into your tight cunt, while the other pair groped your tits leaving fresh bruises to replace the fading ones.
The next day, you could barely move. Thankfully, the servants Sukuna had assigned to keep you in check during his absence had been kind enough to help you get dressed. As you sat in front of the mirror, one of the women looked at you teasingly, "You should be careful, miss too much fun could be bad for the baby." Her remark had caused you to freeze "baby" the four letter word echoing in your mind, the sudden realization hit you like bucket of cold water...all the signs had been there, you were just too stupid to realize it.
You'd been determined to keep the news a secret from Sukuna attempting to hide your growing stomach with flowing dresses and loose kimonos, deluding yourself that perhaps this condition was simply a fluke....however, in your heart, you knew the truth you were pregnant, and it didn't take long for Sukuna to figure it out. "Seems I've been feeding you too much, pet." Hands on your barely noticeable bump, "That's not it, though, is it ?" He spoke, a small smirk twisting his lips. "You've finally got my heir in you, pet."
Feeling the air leave your lungs, you look at his smug face eyes widening in shock. He was right, of course... but still, hearing it aloud made it all feel so real. You were going to be a mother, with the king of curses, the most feared man in all the Jujutsu world, as the father of your child, and from the looks of it, he didn't plan on letting you or this baby leave his sights, not now, not ever.
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A/N - In my jjk era 💅🏼 English isn't my first language and i haven't written in a while, so please excuse any errors.
Likes, reblogs, and comments are very appreciated <3
My ask box is open for requests or if anyone wants to talk !
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dottores · 9 months
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HELIOTROPES
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pairing: dottore x fem!reader & segments
summary: the gods were sick and twisted. for five hundred years, he believed he was fated to be alone. he had long accepted it—embraced it, even. that is, until a midwinter night when that elusive red thread finally appeared on his finger. but as much as he wants to ignore it, the pull of a soulmate simply cannot be ignored.
genre: soulmate au, canon compliant for the most part.
warnings: fem!reader, worldbuilding for snezhnaya & fatui & fontaine, dottore.
notes: wooooooo this is the start of the heavy plot and finallyyyyy getting into their relationship 😎 it’s gonna be spiral from here on out.
GENESIS
“Don’t you have better things to do than bother me.” You frowned deeply, eyes squinted as you stared at the figure who had cornered you at the women's washroom. “You go from wanting nothing to do with me, to not even letting me freshen up in peace.”
“Alas, you’ve become my job because of your reckless actions,” Dottore said, unperturbed. “I assure you, I enjoy this no more than you do.” 
“Somehow, I doubt that,” you replied dryly. 
The empty smile that painted Dottore’s lips was now edged with a line of cruelty—he was absolutely enjoying this.
“You should be grateful,” he began, and you had a sudden feeling that you weren’t going to like what he was about to say next, “the attention you so desperately craved is finally being given to you.” 
You stared at him, a turmoil of emotions eating at your insides, the most prominent of which being outrage but you forced your face to remain cold, as if you were simply dealing with one of the nasty noble kids who liked to poke fun at your lack of a soulmate.
“You will find that the attention I ‘so desperately craved’ was received elsewhere,” you responded, watching the corner of his lips tighten at your words. Digging the knife in deeper even though you probably should have left it, you continued with: “I have as much desire for your attention as I do for a bug’s.”
“Elsewhere as in that lowly aristocrat you attended our event with?” he asked, faux-curiosity dripping from his tone but you knew better. His smile promised bloodshed and violence and you were not going to throw Artem to the wolves. 
“Not quite,” you said. “He still lives back in Fontaine, Artem was just a means to an end.”
Sorry, Wrio.
“Is Artem aware of that?” Dottore asked coolly—he didn’t believe you, that was unfortunate. 
You’d somehow have to warn Artem to keep an eye out but you weren’t sure if you would get the chance. Moreso, you didn’t even know if it would matter. You had a feeling that even if you did warn Artem, it would do him no good. He wouldn’t be able to protect himself from the Second Harbinger. 
“Careful, Doctor,” you chided. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous. It’s an unflattering look on you.”
“Jealousy implicates caring,” Dottore didn’t hesitate to counter, lips flat and unamused, “and I do promise you that the only thing I care about is making sure you don’t get in the way of my research. Or have the past two decades of neglect not made that clear enough for you.”
You stared at him, tongue kissing the back of your teeth as you forced back another snide comment—you thought you might be testing his patience a bit too much. The hint of amusement that had crept onto his lips was long gone, replaced by an unnerving emptiness. You hadn’t noticed how close the two of you were standing, your back flush to the wall and his body mere inches from yours, head tilted down as he spoke to you. 
Suddenly, the thin barrier of air between the two of you felt all the more hot. There was no way for you to slip away back to the event where you thought you might be a hint safer with all of the aristocrats’ eyes bearing witness. Worse, you didn’t even know if you wanted him to move away but you knew that you had to make him for the sake of your mission.
A shot in the dark to try to force him to take a step back, you leaned up on your toes, bringing your face closer to his. You couldn’t see his eyes beneath his mask but you imagined that you could, catching a glimmer of red as you moved in close. Your lips brushed his as you said: “I don’t think I am the one unclear about anything right now… are you?”
He stepped away.
You smiled thinly, raising your chin.
“No,” he said icily, “I am not.”
“Of course not,” you said, swiftly moving away but before you could even reach an arm’s length distance, gloved fingers curled around your wrist.
“Where are you going?” Dottore asked, you hated how he suddenly sounded amused because you knew it meant nothing good for you. 
“Back to the event before my date and his family start worrying about my absence,” you said, trying to ignore how the pads of his fingers trailed across your inner wrist—you didn’t even think he noticed the instinctual motion, much less how it was throwing you off.
“I’m afraid they’ll have to continue worrying about your absence,” Dottore drawled, grip on your wrist strong and unwavering.
“And why is that?” you asked through grit teeth.
You didn’t like where this was going, you felt like a cornered animal. 
“Because you will not be returning to the event, the Tsaritsa has so graciously offered you a stay in Zapolyarny Palace,” Dottore said easily as if he had not just handed you a death sentence and ripped away your dreams of avenging your father all in one. “You should be honored, not many are given such an opportunity.”
You stared at him, expression void of the turbulent emotions rushing through you. You didn’t have to be a genius to know what this meant: they were making you a political prisoner. This was a mistake. You should have seen this coming. You thought that the worst that could happen was that they would kill you, you hadn’t even considered that they could use you against your nation, your family. You despised your stepfather but he would not be the one affected by this: your mother, your half-siblings, your grandfather, Wrio and his father, they would be the ones bearing the burden of the consequences of your actions. 
For all of the anger and sadness and hurt you had felt because of your soulmate, you had never hated him until now.
“Are you kidding?” you asked quietly, with at least enough control over your voice for it to not crack as you spoke. You refused to allow yourself to be humiliated because of him.
“Unfortunately, I am entirely serious,” Dottore said but he didn’t sound as if any of this was unfortunate. You thought he might even be pleased if you could catch a glimpse of his eyes beneath his mask. “Don’t look at me like that, you put yourself in this position by coming here. You must’ve known that this was a possibility.”
You didn’t respond, staring at him—speechless for the first time in a long time. 
“Unless you didn’t.” He clicked his tongue as if disappointed in you. “One of my colleagues will be watching over you during your stay here. I urge you to lose your attitude with him, and with the rest, should you encounter them. You’ll find that they are not quite as patient as I am.”
“What?” you demanded, your body suddenly felt cold and your anxiety skyrocketed as if this couldn’t get any worse. “Why not you?” 
“Careful,” he mocked the same tone you took on him earlier. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re desiring my attention again. It’s an unflattering look on you.”
You scoffed. “It has nothing to do with desiring your attention as it does with fearing for my life. There you go with the self-importance again. Why not you?”
“You being here has opened up a weakness that I cannot afford for the others to learn about lest they take advantage of it,” Dottore said dismissively. “I will be limiting any and all contact with you for both of our sakes’.”
“And he won’t take advantage of it?” you pressed, you could feel the panic creeping in. 
Who was he passing you off to? 
Wasn’t it more of a risk to pass you off to someone else than to just keep you at his side?
“Oh, he will,” Dottore answered. “Just not in the same way the others would.”
Somehow, that wasn’t reassuring at all. 
You felt sick to your stomach, you wanted to cry but you refused to let the tears fall. You had never felt so helpless before. You wanted to go home—you were in over your head, flailing in open water trying to find a buoy before the currents dragged you under and the one person in the world that was supposed to be a lifeline for you was standing on a boat watching you drown. 
“I suppose that’s my cue,” an unfamiliar voice spoke, amused. Your gaze turned down the hall, eyes falling upon a dark-haired man dressed in black, gloved fingers intertwined in front of him as he walked closer to the two of you. “She’s quite the little spitfire, isn’t she?” 
Had he been there the whole time? How had you not noticed? Were you that absorbed in your conversation with Dottore that it blinded you to your surroundings? You were usually good at picking up presences—an asset that came along with your family’s passed down hydro art. 
“She will behave for you,” Dottore talked about you as if you weren’t there, but his voice was low in warning and you knew that was directed toward you. 
The man hummed, as if not entirely pleased with that statement before he focused his attention on you, eyes upturned and an unfriendly smile painted on his face. “The Regrator, Ninth of the Fatui Harbingers. I will be supervising you during your stay here. I do hope you prove yourself to be useful.”
The final statement sounded more like a threat than an off-handed comment.
An anchor attached itself to your ankle, dragging you down. 
Your soulmate watched as you sank in murky waters.
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For some reason, Dottore just couldn’t seem to get his head on straight. 
As he made his way down to the small lab he had set up in Zapolyanry Palace, all he could think about was the expression on your face as he handed you off to Pantalone. You looked at him as if he had just physically signed your death sentence—you clearly weren’t stupid, you had to know that Dottore wouldn’t do anything that he thought would put your life at risk, so he wasn’t understanding why you had looked at him like that and he didn’t like it. 
He tried to focus on getting back down to the lab—Theta was down there and Dottore was sure that the segment made a mess of the experiment he had been running  but he couldn’t even muster any irritation, much less anger. He could only manage a vague sense of bewilderment as he made his way down the dark halls of the palace. 
You couldn’t have been that angry that he wasn’t going to be the one looking over you. You didn’t even want anything to do with him anyway, you made that very clear. It was the best course of action for the two of you—the easiest way to make sure that the bond didn’t affect either of you more than it already had. Once he figured out what you meant by ‘the Hydro Archon isn’t the only god blind to threats’, he’d get you whatever evidence you needed and send you on your way back down to Fontaine. 
And then he’d never have to see you again and the two of you could go on with your lives as if this never happened. 
The thought of that left him unsatisfied and again, the bewilderment that was fogging his head grew. Why did that leave him unsatisfied? It was what he wanted. He didn’t want you around dragging him down and distracting him. The Fatui was going into the most critical few years of its existence, he needed to be able to put all of his attention on his research so then why…
“I don’t think I am the one unclear about anything right now… are you?”
Dottore exhaled as your words crossed through his head again, as his lips tingled at the reminder of the feeling of yours brushing his. He knew you had done it to get him to back up, he had known what you were doing as you did it and yet, it had still caught him off guard and he wasn’t used to being caught off guard. 
Was he the one unclear? Dottore didn’t think so—in fact, he thought he was perfectly clear with his expectations and needs, or lack thereof, that is. But the more he thought back to your words, your expression when you left with Pantalone, the feeling of you close to him, the more he hesitated and hesitation simply was not acceptable. 
Getting to the bottom of the steps to the lowest floor of the palace, Dottore’s eyes narrowed beneath his mask as a burning smell hit his nose coming from the direction of the metal door of his lab. 
Theta, Dottore thought, livid. 
All thoughts of you swept away as he stalked the rest of the way down the hall, strides long and purposeful before he threw open the door and slammed it shut behind him. The Theta segment’s head snapped up, eyes wide like a caught deer. In his hands was one of the vials that Dottore had been studying for residue energy of the old gods, the vial burned and blackened at the bottom, creeping up to the top—a putrid scent of rot and fire filling the room. 
“What did you do?” Dottore demanded.
Theta put the vial down, backing up a few steps. “It was burning when I got here,” was all he said in response. “You must’ve left it on.”
“Liar,” Dottore spat out, temper already having thinned from you having worn it down during both conversations he had with you and on top of that, his own confusion about you. He hated feeling as if he didn’t have complete autonomy over himself and your arrival in Snehznaya had absolutely destroyed any sense of control he might’ve had, questioning everything he thought he knew as true. 
Reaching forward, he snatched the vial from Theta’s hands, it burned the pads of his fingers but he didn’t let it bother him, peeking inside to see if there was anything to salvage only to find all of the remains he had gotten his hands on lost.
Dottore shut his eyes, taking a deep breath in as he tried to calm himself down, convincing himself that deactivating Theta would do more harm than help. He didn’t have the materials to make a new segment and he needed all hands on deck for the upcoming project, including hands as disastrous as Theta’s. 
“I specifically told you not to touch anything,” Dottore said tightly, tossing the ruined vial into the waste bin before directing a cold gaze onto Theta. 
Theta didn’t respond, staring at Dottore in a way akin to how a lesser predator would in front of a greater one—trying to decide whether or not it should fight back or flee. After a few moments of tension, Theta ultimately made his decision, raising his chin. “What happened upstairs?” 
Dottore raised his eyebrows beneath his mask. “Excuse me?” he asked, devoid of emotion as his mind raced.
Could they feel that he had met you? 
That would spell more trouble than Dottore was willing to deal with. What awful timing, he thought bitterly. Of course, you show up during the few weeks he had all of the segments returning to the north for briefings before the Fatui finally began to set out on achieving their ultimate goal: obtaining the gnoses and bringing down Celestia. 
Epsilon and the younger segments had already been in the north—they were still at the estate a few miles west of the palace. Delta had dropped off the Iota segment the other day so he could join Rho in tracking down the rogue belligerent in the east but they were making their way back to the estate, albeit slowly. Zeta should’ve arrived at the estate at some point tonight and Lambda would be arriving any day now. 
Dottore suddenly had a headache, trying to figure out what to do. He did not feel comfortable enough to leave you at Zapolyarny Palace alone with Pantalone but if he stayed, the segments would get suspicious and start showing up to snoop around, and if he told one of them that you were here to send them to watch over you, he knew damn well that the rest would know in a matter of hours. He’d either be facing a noose or a sword—either way, his ultimate fate would remain the same: the segments would know. 
“What happened up there?” Theta asked again, more intensely this time. “We could all feel it. It was strange. I don’t know how to describe it. What was it?”
Briefly, Dottore reconsidered deactivation as he stared at the younger version of himself, who was getting more and more impatient as each second without a response passed. He could see the way his fingers were twitching and the way he was shifting on his face, it was only a matter of time before he started getting more aggressive. He thought maybe he should let it get that far, that way he can just kick Theta out of the lab and go back to working—or more importantly, go back to figuring out what he was supposed to do about you. 
“What was it?” Theta demanded and then Dottore watched his eyes widen through the holes of his mask. “Was it h-”
He never got the chance to finish the question. The doors to his lab slammed open and Dottore had never been so grateful before to see Epsilon… until he noticed the panicked expression on his face and the way the Gamma segment was half-hiding behind him, hands shaking and lips pressed together tight. He wouldn’t even look Dottore’s way, gaze directed on the floor between them. 
“You’re supposed to be back at the estate,” Dottore said firmly, a foreboding feeling weighing on his chest as he stared at the Epsilon segment. 
“The Iota segment never came back from exploring the estate grounds,” Epsilon said, voice steady. Behind him, Gamma took in a shaky breath, turning away. “Kappa slipped away while we were trying to find you.”
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“You’re much quieter now,” Pantalone noted as he led you deeper into the palace, down dark, twisting and winding halls that you desperately tried to keep track of but it was like a damn maze. You thought you might never be able to navigate them on your own. “You had quite the mouth with the Doctor. I’ve never seen someone speak so scathingly with him and live to tell the tale.”
You didn’t acknowledge his comment, eyes tracing the portraits hung up along the walls—lined with gilded garnishes and decorated with a soft glow emanating from the moon outside. You wondered if it was by chance that the shadows cast over the portraits seemed to highlight some of the paintings' more distinct details or if it was a specific design choice. 
You remembered Pantalone mentioning that this was his wing of the palace and somehow you doubted that anything this man did was by chance, even something as meager as making sure paintings were positioned appropriately for the best aesthetic. You let out a breath, looking back out toward the window—toward freedom. It was dark out now and clouds were rolling in swiftly over the moon, smothering the little natural light, a storm was coming, metaphorically and literally. 
Even if you did get the chance to escape, which you doubted would even arise to begin with, all you would be doing is walking to your death. You’d freeze in the winter storms of Snezhnaya, you doubt you’d even make it to the line of trees half of a mile away from the palace. 
Dully, you wondered if that would be a better fate than this. 
“Oh?” Pantalone continued when you didn’t respond to him. “Is your cruelty reserved only for him? What a shame, I wanted a taste of that sharp tongue of yours.”
You bit back a scoff, staring straight ahead as you continued forward, ignoring the way his violet eyes laid heavily on you, waiting to see how you responded to each of his digs. He was testing you. For what? You didn’t know and you didn’t like that. You were having trouble reading the Regrator and reading people was one of the few things you could actually pride yourself on. 
You spent more than a decade of your life sitting in the back of the courtroom, watching proceedings and watching people because you figured that the better you were able to read people’s emotions and predict their answers and response, the better able you would be to hide your soulmate from those that liked to pry. 
Pantalone was an anomaly. Draped in the finest of Liyuean silks and donning the most expensive gems from the northernmost mines of Snezhnaya, a Harbinger and one of the wealthiest men in Teyvat, you expected that the man was well-respected, especially in his own nation… but you had seen the way that the Snezhnayan aristocrats looked at him. 
Where they looked at the other Harbingers with anxiety and fear, they looked at the Regrator with nothing less than derision, whispering to each other and ridiculing him behind his back. You had meant to ask Artem why that was the case but you had never gotten the chance because someone decided to interrupt the two of you.
So why? Why do they look at a man who had made Snezhnaya prosper with such mockery? The nation had been fumbling before his promotion—a powerful military, yes, but a powerful military meant little politically when they were in constant economic recession. They had gone from being the poorest nation in Teyvat to the second wealthiest, just below Liyue itself; they had gone from having no international political sway to having several nations in the palm of their hand. 
So why?
Your mind raced, finally looking at Pantalone from the corner of your eye. He held his chin high as he walked but there was a stiffness in his shoulders that didn’t match the otherwise lackadaisical confidence. His skin was borderline gaunt—you barely noticed it, it was clearly getting healthier but there was still an underlying haggard look that seemed inherent now, as if he had suffered years of sickness or starvation and no matter how hard he tried to rectify it, the damage had already been done. 
Aristocrats were a very predictable bunch. They found commonality with those that were similar to them and they found joy in deriding those that tried to be similar to them. You had seen it many times in the Fontaine courts, particularly when the nouveau riche families tried to find places with the old-blooded aristocrats. They could sniff who was their own and who was not like wolves sniffing out their prey.
The Regrator was not a born aristocrat. 
“I can see the gears turning,” Pantalone murmured. “Tell me, what conclusion have you come to, little spitfire?”
You looked at him, studying him for a moment before saying: “You weren’t born an aristocrat.”
Pantalone smiled, as if whatever answer he had been looking for was answered. “You lot really can pick out a needle in a haystack.”
You hummed, “It’s not hard when the needle is bright red when the rest are silver.”
Pantalone raised his eyebrows, curious, “It’s that obvious?”
“If you’re looking for it,” you explained. “Aristocrats are always looking for it.”
“I was an orphan,” Pantalone said, leading you further down the halls. You had given up on trying to keep track of the twists and turns. “I lived on the streets for two decades.”
“And yet here you are,” you responded. 
The richest man on the continent, a Harbinger, the reason for an entire nation’s economic boom.
“And yet here I am,” he agreed. “Unfortunately, it’s not enough for some people, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” 
“Yes,” you said dryly, “and I’m sure you’ll make them eat their words eventually.”
Pantalone let out a huff of laughter, drawing to a stop outside of a dark door. You came to a stop next to him, eyes meeting his as he watched you carefully. 
“Naturally,” he acknowledged but now there was a darker edge to his voice, a vein of poison seeping into his tone. “You will be staying here, I will be right across the hall. If you need anything, just knock.”
If you try anything, I’ll be there to stop you, you translated silently, catching the cold look in his eyes even as he smiled thinly at you. You gave him a smile that was just as void of kindness, pushing open the door to step into the room you would be staying in.
Vast and well-decorated, your eyes traced the span of the room from the large bed against the wall to the dressers that you wouldn’t be able to fill because the little clothes you brought to Snezhnaya were back at the inn that you had been staying at. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite of the bed and wide windows that rattled against the winds of the incoming storm. 
“I’ll be sure to send some of my subordinates out to fetch you some more outfits,” Pantalone offered but his offer was not made from generosity. The heartless, underlying meaning of his words struck deep: you are not leaving any time soon. “I believe we’re going to get along very well with each other.”
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“You… were supposed to be watching the younger segments, Epsilon,” Dottore said, now sitting at his lab table as he tried to keep himself calm, voice tight and teeth grinding. 
Every time he thought things couldn’t get worse, somehow they did. It was almost comical at this point how blatantly the Celestial gods seemed to have it out for him, using his life and misery as some twisted game of entertainment for them to watch.
“I’d like to see you try to handle all three of the younger segments at once,” Epsilon responded, voice somehow calm and snide at the same time. “… I nearly forgot, you couldn’t even handle one young segment, could you?”
Dottore’s gaze snapped toward Epsilon, rising to his feet in an instant. “What did you just say?” he asked lowly—he had dealt with enough insolence the past few years from his segments, and with you here now too, there was only so much left he could handle before he snapped.
Epsilon smiled casually. “My apologies,” he said, faux-remorse dripping from his tone. “I forgot the Beta segment is still a sore subject for you. I wasn’t thinking. Forgive me.”
Except the Epsilon segment did not forget anything and he, more than any other segment, always thought before he spoke. Every word he spoke was carefully chosen and articulated, each one with a meaning of its own that sometimes even Dottore couldn’t follow along with. 
He thought when making the Epsilon segment that he would be the easiest segment to deal with—empathetic and sentimental. But somehow, he became the most manipulative and cruel of all of the older segments, giving kind smiles all the while speaking words that ripped into each individual segments’ insecurities. 
He and the Delta segment in particular tended to be at odds the most. Delta was one of the easiest segments to set off and for some reason, Epsilon rose to Theta’s defense frequently—be it solely for the reason of getting under Delta’s skin or him actually sympathizing with the destructive and volatile segment, Dottore didn’t know or care. What he cared about was the fact that it led to him and Delta clashing nearly every time they were in the same room as each other; Delta getting loud and violent while Epsilon just stood there with amused smiles and quiet, antagonizing comments. 
The next week would be exhausting with the three of them all in the estate together. And now with you—he cut off his thoughts abruptly, only getting more irritated. You just had to make everything more complicated. He had to focus on finding the younger segments before he allowed his mind to inevitably drift back off to you.
“Where was he last seen?” Dottore asked, the pads of his fingers pressing hard into the metal of his lab table as he awaited a response from the segment.
“He was searching the ruins to the east of the estate,” Epsilon said. “He’s been there and back tons of times, I figured he would be okay on his own while I finished up what you asked of me.”
“You figured wrong,” Dottore said immediately, voice curt and icy. “He couldn’t have gotten too far. He gets distracted easily. He has to be somewhere between the palace and the estate. I can track a general location.”
“I’ll come with you,” Epsilon offered. “We’ll cover ground faster together.”
Dottore stared at him for a moment, studying him irritably. He hadn’t forgotten the snide comment the segment had shot his way—he wondered if this was his attempt at an actual apology or if he had some ulterior motives.
He nearly scoffed, knowing the answer instantly: Epsilon always had ulterior motives.
“Theta,” Dottore said coldly, gaze cutting to the side toward the other segment. Theta went stiff at the acknowledgment, waiting for him to continue. “You are to find Kappa. This is your chance to prove you are more useful active than destroyed. Do not fail.”
Theta’s lips pressed together tight, twitching as if he wanted to say something but decided against it. He nodded shortly after a moment and then looked away.
“What about me?” Gamma asked suddenly. “What do you want me to do?”
Dottore stared at him a moment. He would do more harm than help with him and Epsilon out looking for Iota—the last thing he needed was having to worry about another one of the younger segments getting lost while searching for Iota.
“Stay with Theta, help find Kappa,” Dottore finally said. “There are a lot of people in the palace for the promotion of the Eleventh. Many of whom would hurt him or use him as a weakness to try to get to me. Find him before they do.” 
Gamma nodded but swallowed thickly, nervous at the mention of all of the people in the palace for the event. Usually, the attendees all tended to stick to the ballroom during the course of the event but toward the end, some of their bolder enemies meandered down the halls of the palace in hopes of a chance just like the one Kappa wandering off presented. 
He needed to be found before that could happen.
His gaze drifted off to one of the thin, high windows in his lab as Theta and Gamma set off to look for Kappa. A familiar, foreboding feeling settled in his stomach when he noticed a storm rolling in over the mountains in the distance. 
“Are you ready?” Epsilon asked, tightening the drawstrings of his cloak as he prepared to go back out into the cold.
Dottore nodded, reaching for his own hanging up on the hook near the door. “Let’s go.” 
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It took about forty minutes of just sitting around the room with nothing to do for you to leave it. He hadn’t locked the door on his way out and he hadn’t told you to not leave the room, so you assumed that you had some semblance of freedom. 
Realistically, a part of you figured that this might be what Pantalone wanted—he wanted you to leave the room and do something suspicious so he could interrogate you, but in your defense, you didn’t have anything malicious or suspicious planned. You just wanted to go up and down the hall to get a sense of where you were.
You hesitated as your hand wrapped around the handle of the door, heart beating rapidly inside your chest, an irrational fear of being attacked as soon as you stepped outside of the room sweeping through you. Logically, you knew it wasn’t going to happen. There was no way that Dottore would hand you off to someone that would put you in a position where you could get hurt, or worse—for his own sake, if not yours. 
With that thought in mind, you pushed the door open, breath catching as you peeked your head out to look around. 
No one. 
The hall was dark, only dimly lit by a few candles in the distance. There was not a soul in sight and the only other door besides yours was on the opposite wall of the hall—you assumed that was Pantalone’s room, he had said he would be nearby. You could see a faint light emanating from beneath the door, so as quiet as possible, you slipped out of your room, shutting the door behind you gently. 
Looking up and down the hall, you decided to go to the right first. You wouldn’t be out for long—you just wanted to see what the wing of the palace you were staying in looked like, you didn’t like living somewhere where you didn’t even have a layout of the area. It made you feel helpless and trapped. 
Exhaling deeply, you kept your eyes peeled and your attention focused as you made your way down the hall, trying to ignore the creepy, expensive portraits that lined the walls—you swore that their eyes followed you as you walked by. 
The further you walked, the more anxious you got. It was a cold, creeping feeling that made you feel as if someone was watching you. Each little alcove that was built into the wall suddenly looked as if it was housing enemies, you thought the shadows seemed to be moving. 
Just as you were about to abandon your mission and run back to your room, unable to handle the fight or flight feeling rising to your chest, you caught a flash of red from one of the smaller alcoves. Your head snapped to the side, peering through the darkness to try to figure out what you had just seen—your heart leapt to your throat when a pair of red eyes stared back at you. On instinct, your vision reacted to your shock and anxiety, buzzing against your skin.
But the red eyes widened in surprise, fear, seemingly trying to press back against the wall but unable to move any further inward. It was only then that you realized how the pair of eyes were rather low to the ground—at the height of a child’s. 
“Come out,” you said quietly, kneeling down to the ground to try to make the kid feel more comfortable. 
After a few moments of silence, the figure drew out from the shadows, shoulders tense and hands locked in front of his body. He was young, looked only around five or six at most with tussled, silvery blue hair and trembling lips. He seemed nervous, borderline terrified, his fingers were shaking where he was holding them in front of him. 
It was then that you realized just how similar he looked to Dottore. The hair was styled differently but the same color and you remembered the glimmer of red you had caught beneath his mask when you had leaned in close. You stared at the kid, at a loss for words.
Did he have a child? It didn’t make sense. Dottore didn’t seem like the type of person to have a lover, much less kids. You’d like to think you had a decent idea of him considering you spent over fifteen years feeling his emotions and ten receiving random words from his train of thought. Shouldn’t you have realized at some point that he had someone else? Was that why he was constantly ignoring you? 
A familiar, ugly feeling stirred in your chest. Jealousy. You thought back to the snide comment you had made to him earlier, unsure if you wanted to laugh or cry at the irony of it. 
The thoughts raced through your head, rampant and damning, were you about to be like your stepfather? Intruding on a pre-existing relationship because you happened upon your soulmate. You felt sick to your stomach, you wanted to throw up, but the longer you stayed there without speaking, the more uncomfortable the child looked, refusing to meet your gaze and shifting on his feet anxiously. 
He was lost, that was clear enough from his body language and demeanor so you held your hand out to him. You figured that Dottore would come looking for him eventually, or someone would at least, and you thought he shouldn’t be wandering around the halls when there were still so many people in the palace. You could still hear the music and chatter in the distance.
“Come here,” you said softly, holding your hand out toward him. You watched as he stared at your hand curiously, an odd expression on his face, but he didn’t say anything as he moved closer to you. Your brows shot up when you noticed he was limping, gaze dropping down to the blood staining his pants. “What happened?”
He didn’t answer, which you should have expected, the kid seemed shy and anxious. Instead, as soon as he got close enough to you, you lifted him up to sit him on your hip as you rose to your feet. The child let out a surprised noise, fisting at your top when he realized that his feet were no longer touching the ground. 
“You shouldn’t be walking on that,” you told him. “I’ll bring you back to my room to check your leg. The Doctor will come for you soon enough.”
He didn’t respond. Instead, you couldn’t help the way your heart squeezed as he relaxed into your arms, resting his head on your shoulder. You could feel his eyes fluttering shut, lashes brushing your neck as they drooped. Instinctually, you hummed softly, one hand rubbing circles between his shoulders as you made your way back to your room, trying to sort through all of your racing thoughts as he fell asleep against you. 
Was it his son? It had to be unless the kid was some weird scientific experiment… which you supposed was also possible. You sighed heavily, making it half of the way down the hall back to your room when you caught sight of two figures standing at the end of it—you couldn’t make out their faces, it was too dark, but you could see their forms dimly illuminated by the moon glowing high in the sky. 
Instantly, something didn’t sit right in your stomach about it, alarm bells ringing through your head, echoing as one of them stepped closer. 
You stepped back, grip tightening on the boy. He stirred a bit, confused, but you kept your attention focused on the two new arrivals. 
“Hand the boy over.”
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RBS APPRECIATED
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Five-Point Star (M) ~Bang Chan
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Pairing: Bodyguard/Assassin!Chan x Mercenary!F.Reader Themes: Smut | bit of Fluff | Angst | Strangers to lovers to enemies but lovers? (i don’t even know how to categorise this one) Word Count: ~6k | AO3 Synopsis: With a career like yours, you knew you shouldn’t let yourself fall in love. But honestly, in retrospect, there was no way you wouldn’t have fallen in love with Chris. After meeting him, you couldn’t help but hope that he’d be the last person you fell this deeply for–maybe foolishly so… Warnings: pet names · cold weapons · firearms · questionable morals · graphic depictions of violence · graphic depictions of intercourse (smut warnings under the cut) · open ending.
Author’s Note: as soon as i watched the 5-STAR trailer my creative juices started flowing, and i set camp in my google docs until this piece was born. please don’t hesitate to let me know if i missed any warnings… this one’s a bit sad (or, at least, it made me sad). i apologise in advance. thanks once again to @straylightdream and @cursed-mars-bars for reading this and letting me know it didn’t suck💜
Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.
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Part 1 (you're here!) | Part 2 >
Smut Warnings: unprotected penetration [piv. no barrier method, but the reader is presumed to be on birth control] · finger sucking · some praising, of course · oral [F&M Rec] · rimming [F.Rec] · nipple play · creampie · overstimulation · multiple orgasms
Disclaimer: the story represented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.
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In your line of work, it was hard to have any kind of interpersonal relationships. Having either platonic or romantic connections posed a risk, not only to you, but also to the others involved. 
Even then, you were a firm believer that, as long as no one knew your identity while you were ‘on the clock’, was enough for you to keep at least a handful of people close to you. You had a few close friends, some with a similar profession to yours, some just office or retail workers that had no idea what you did for a living. What you didn’t have, though, was a romantic partner.
It was tough to keep a relationship going when you couldn’t tell them what you did to bring food to the table. You’d always dance around the topic fairly easily, but, eventually, the situation would become unsustainable, and either you or the other person decided to break things off.
You’d been single for a while now–a long, long while–and you honestly had no active desire to find yourself a romantic companion. That was…until you met Chris.
Chris was a friend of a friend of a friend, someone you had seen once or twice at the odd social gathering you attended. He was incredibly handsome, but, most importantly, he was funny, always made you laugh whenever you interacted, and also seemed to have similar interests to yours. 
In a twist of fate–and against your better judgement–you ended up going on a date with him. A date that, surprisingly, ended with you and him tangled in his bedsheets. That night, you discovered that, not only were you compatible with Chris when it came to opinions on the current state of the world, on the theories for the next season of your favourite shows, but also in bed.
It was honestly almost crazy how good he made you feel, how there seemed to be sparks flying in the air whenever your bodies touched in any way, and, not to throw roses on your own garden, but you were confident that you made him feel good, too. So much so, the next morning, when you had to leave and he’d kissed the oxygen out of your lungs before dropping the most adorable ‘You’ll call me back, right?’ you knew you had no escape, that there was no way you’d pass up this opportunity.
Five months down the line and you already had a Christopher-shaped hole in your heart. You knew it was stupid, that it was dangerous, but you just couldn’t help it. Not when he was quite possibly the best romantic partner you’d ever had–to be fair, the bar was already quite low, but he still managed to jump ten metres over it.
In any relationship you’d ever had you always avoided the topic of work, not only yours, but the other person’s, too. If you avoided asking about their job, maybe they wouldn’t ask about yours, that was your reasoning. However, you’d discovered that people loved to talk about their jobs, that some people even made them their one and only topic of conversation, which was incredibly inconvenient.
Thankfully, Chris didn’t talk about work at all. Not his, nor yours. You had no idea what he did for a living, all you could infer was that it paid enough for him to live comfortably in his cosy flat. You honestly didn’t care, he could keep that information to himself as long as you could keep yours as well.
What you did for a living was probably not the most morally right career path, but it was your family trade. You’d been trained for it since you were very young, so it was honestly a no brainer for you. Some people called it a gun for hire, some called it being a mercenary, you, personally, didn’t particularly feel like calling it anything at all.
People hired you whenever they needed someone kidnapped, tortured, or killed. And, although you had killed for your job before, you almost always tried to turn those offers down. Clean-up was messy, and even if you hardly had any empathy for your targets, killing them always made you feel a bit uneasy.
Two nights ago you were called in for a job, the kidnapping of the eldest son of the Kim family that ruled the capital city. Seungmin, his name was. Based on the investigation you’d done he was younger than you, a bit rowdy, and an apparent oddball. He, very inconveniently for you, also had a handful of very skilled bodyguards protecting him at all times.
You couldn’t find any records of those bodyguards of his, only that they called themselves the Five-Point Stars, and that they were good at what they did. Regardless, you had a lot of confidence in your own abilities. After all, never once had you lost a fight, nor been unable to finish one of your jobs–although you’d been close to being killed sometimes, you’d admit.
As soon as you woke up, you started to recount the plan you had put together for your mission tonight.
After wiretapping his personal tailor’s phone, you heard him tell someone how he had prepared Seungmin’s suit for the night. You knew Seungmin was going to attend a screening of a new movie that was financed by his father. It’d be dark, crowded, and the perfect setting for you to sneak in, get him unconscious, take him out of there, and hopefully outsmart his bodyguards.
A particularly loud snore next to you snapped you out of your focus, and you turned around to find Chris on his back, with an arm over his eyes and his mouth slightly open. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight, and, for a moment, even if just for this morning, you decided you wanted to enjoy being just a regular civilian instead of a trained assassin.
“Baby…” You reached for Chris’ shoulder to lightly shake him awake. “Baby, wake up”.
Chris’ whole body tensed. His hand flew to catch yours that was shaking him awake, and he held it in a tight grip. Throughout your relationship you’d discovered that Chris had incredibly quick reflexes, and a very intense fight or flight response, so his sudden movement didn’t faze you in the slightest. “W–what?”
“You were about to choke, baby. You need to move”, throughout your relationship, you’d also learnt that Chris suffered from a sleeping disorder. You found out about it the first time he woke you up in the middle of the night gasping for air.
Poor thing, he’d been so embarrassed while he told you about it, but you were quick to reassure him that you didn’t mind, if anything, it only made you worry about him.
Because that was how important Chris was to you. Important enough for you to care about his sleeping habits, important enough that he warmed your cold heart.
So now, any time you were awake and you heard him snore particularly loudly, you woke him up before he could choke on his spit.
“Ah… Thank you, sweetheart”, he mumbled, clearly still half asleep. 
Chris turned to his side, scooting closer to you and pulling you into his arms. You couldn’t help the small giggle that left your lips as soon as your head was tucked under his chin, just like he seemed to not be able to contain his at all, either. 
The feeling of his bare skin against yours was incredibly comforting, his warmth seeped into you, reaching areas deep within your heart that no one else ever had before.
As you laid there in his arms, as you heard his heartbeat under your ear, and as you felt the minute rumbles of his snoring resume, you realised this was probably the happiest you’d ever been with a partner, and you hoped that your relationship with Chris would be the last one you ever had.
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Getting into the movie screening was easy. Your specialty was sneaking around undetected, you’d learnt to walk without making a sound–no sound from your feet hitting the ground, nor your breath going in and out of your lungs, nor your clothes moving with the wind…
You’d also heard from Seungmin’s tailor–whose name was apparently Hyunjin–that the Kims had a special, private room in this particular cinema, so that was likely where the eldest son of the family would be.
Finding this room was the hard part. It wasn’t in any of the blueprints of the building, so you spent a good hour surveying the place, until you finally saw a waiter coming out from what seemed to be a simple wall.
Tightening the hood over your head, making sure the lower part of your face was covered properly by your kerchief, you made your way to that wall to inspect it closely. There was a tile on the wall that was shaped differently than the others. It was barely perceptible, just a tad smaller than the ones around it, so you pressed on it, and immediately you were able to push what you now knew was a door camouflaged as part of the wall.
As soon as you stepped into the room, you saw Seungmin, sitting on what looked to be a very comfortable armchair, watching the movie from behind the glass that kept this area hidden from the rest of the auditorium. 
Slowly, you approached him, careful to not make a single sound as you unclipped the rope you had attached to your belt. Before you could use it, though, you felt a slight disturbance in the air around you, and every single one of your senses zeroed in on the direction of it.
In a second, you ducked, just barely missing the bat that had been swung your way.
“Chan!” You heard Seungmin scream, but you didn’t dare turn to look at him, not when his bodyguard had all his attention on you.
It was just one man. You could barely make out the features of his face, not only because it was dark, but also because he had a mask covering the lower half of his face, and because he was moving so fast you could hardly take in anything else.
The man, Chan, based on the name Seungmin had screamed, certainly put up a good fight. Any blow you sent his way he blocked without much difficulty, just like you did his. It was a pretty on par encounter, but you were running out of time. The longer you stayed there, the more time you were giving them to get back-up, so you reasoned the wisest choice was to retreat. This mission was getting way too dangerous, and if they captured you it’d all be over.
Chan wasn’t giving up, though, and he was making it incredibly hard for you to make your escape. You managed to kick him in the chest, but aside from a grunt of discomfort he didn’t relent, and, with a swing of his bat, he was able to land a hit on your arm.
It was painful, yes, but you could hardly feel it with the adrenaline pumping through your system. Taking a knife from their designated place on your bodice, you threw it in Chan’s direction. It didn’t stab him, but it did manage to cut one side of his mask, enough to distract him so you could make your escape.
By the time you were out of the cinema the place was full of guards, so you knew your night was over.
It didn’t matter. 
You hadn’t lost. You were just experiencing a set-back.
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“Missed you so much, gorgeous”, Chris mumbled between kisses, further pressing you against the back of your front door.
“Missed you, too”, was all you mumbled back, unable to keep your lips away from his for too long.
You hadn’t seen Chris for seven whole days. It wasn’t because you didn’t want to, you were honestly desperate to see him, but once you were back at your place after your failed attempt to kidnap Seungmin you realised how hurt your body was.
That guy Chan had certainly done a number on you, and the only thing that kept you from bursting into flames by the rage you felt, was the fact that you were sure you’d done a number on him, too.
Your bruises had now just started to fade, so you figured they were now normal-looking enough that your boyfriend wouldn’t think much about them. 
You were supposed to go out for dinner tonight, but as soon as Chris was at your doorstep, as soon as his lips were on yours, you both quickly realised you didn’t want to go for dinner anymore. How could you, when the taste of each other was much better than any meal you could possibly have?
“Come here”, Chris pulled himself away from you, taking a hold of your hand and tugging you towards the sofa. “Haven’t been able to stop thinking about those nudes you sent me”.
You couldn’t help the smirk that came to your face. Of course he couldn’t stop thinking about the pictures you sent him. That was their entire purpose, after all. They were simple, really, but clearly enough to rile him up. It was just you riding one of your favourite dildos, with your ass on full display for him to ogle.
Chris pushed you to the sofa. As soon as you were seated he dropped to his knees, and spread you open for him. Wearing a skirt to your date was certainly the wisest choice you made tonight.
“Maybe I should send you a video next time. I’ll ride it just like I ride you”, you said, just as you lifted your hips enough for him to pull your underwear down your legs.
“Fuck, you spoil me too much”, was the last thing to come out of Chris’ mouth before he dived between your legs. His lips found your clit with expert ease, gently sucking on it.
Your entire body came alight, a moan of his name escaped your mouth, and you brought a hand to his head so you could tug on his curls, just how you knew he liked it. “So fucking good with your mouth, baby, fuck…”
Chris simply hummed in response, sending vibrations through your body, making you whine.
With his hands on the back of your thighs, he pushed your legs further towards your chest, getting better access to your centre. Chris had very quickly learnt his way around your body, and he’d even shown you new ways in which you could feel good, ways you’d never even imagined you’d get to experience.
His tongue changed focus, from your clit to your entrance, diligently licking your folds, and he groaned at the taste of you on his tongue once he pushed it within your walls. He stayed there for a while, occasionally coming back up to lick and suck on your clit only to come back down to slurp you up. Until he finally moved further down so he could lick the tender skin of your ass, all while he stimulated your clit with his fingers, making you shiver. 
Desire pooled in the pit of your stomach, and the most pathetic whine left your mouth as soon as he started to lave at your skin. You would’ve never thought how good this could feel, never let a partner come anywhere near your ass, but one night, after drinking one too many beers, the topic of things you would’ve liked to try in bed came up. 
You could still remember the look on Chris’ face when he confidently said ‘I’d really like to eat your ass. Like, would love to, honestly’. And maybe it’d been the fact that you were a bit tipsy, or the fact that he was so utterly unashamed when he said it, or maybe even the fact that you trusted Chris like you’d never trusted anyone else before, but you weren’t entirely displeased with the idea… So you gave it a try, and now you couldn’t even fathom getting head if you didn’t feel his tongue on your ass at least once.
Without detaching his mouth from your sensitive skin, he brought two fingers to your mouth, and you wasted no time on wrapping your lips around them, sucking on them, licking them. You couldn’t help but moan around his digits, and Chris simply gave you a satisfied hum in response.
He let you enjoy the feeling of his fingers in your mouth for a while, until they were thoroughly coated in your saliva. As soon as he removed them from between your lips, he brought them to your entrance and pushed them into you, to the last knuckle. “C’mon, baby. Show me your pretty tits. Hm?”
You just nodded in response, unable to form a sentence with the now relentless pace of his fingers continuously hitting the most sensitive areas within your walls. With trembling fingers, you unbuttoned your blouse and squeezed your breasts over the fabric of your lace bralette before you pulled them out of the cups.
“Shit, look at you… Touch them, baby. Just how you like it”.
So you complied, lightly dragging your fingers over your now stiff nipples, sending tiny shocks of pleasure up and down your spine with the motion. The stimulation you were giving to your chest, Chris’ fingers going in and out of your cunt, and the dirty words coming out of his mouth brought you close to the edge, and you started to feel incredibly desperate for your relief.
“Chris, baby…” You whined as Chris sped up his motions, as you rolled your nipples between your fingers.
“Yes, sweetheart?” Chris’ voice was so soft, a complete contrast to the brutal pace of his fingers.
“Want your–Your mouth”, you could barely hold eye contact anymore, seeing the desire in his eyes brought heat to your cheeks. It was always the same when he found himself between your legs, he always looked at you like you were the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, and it made you feel incredibly wanted. 
“Hmm… You sure that’s what you want?”
You nodded, a bit frantically, you’d admit. “Want your mouth to…make me come, please, love–”
You knew that the second the word ‘please’ left your mouth you’d get exactly what you asked for, and you barely registered the broken moan that flew past your lips as soon as his lips attached to your clit once again.
Chris’ movements didn’t relent until you were coming. They didn’t even relent while you were coming. He kept sucking on your clit, fucking you open with his fingers, turning you into a whimpering mess as he pushed you past the brink of overstimulation, and making you fall face first into a consecutive high.
When he was done with you, you were still trembling, panting, and he finally left his place on the floor to sit next to you on the sofa and pull you into his chest so he could softly caress your hair, mumbling sweet words of encouragement. ‘Mmm… Such a good girl, aren’t you, love? So good to me. You did well…’
You just hummed, burying your face in the crook of his neck to leisurely press kisses on his skin. 
As soon as you regained some of your composure, you kissed him. You kissed him with such want one would’ve thought he hadn’t just made you feel like you’d gone to the moon and back four times. You quickly undid his belt, unbuttoned his jeans, and tugged them and his underwear down just enough to let his length free of its confinements.
In no time, you had straddled him and sunk yourself on his cock, eliciting a shared sigh of relief.
You sneaked a hand under his shirt just as you leaned in to kiss him again. His abdomen tensed and relaxed while you slowly traced every muscle with your fingertips, your soft caresses eliciting content sighs to fall from his lips and get lost in your mouth. Taking a hold of the hem of his shirt, you tried to get it off of his frame, but Chris shook his head, pulling your hands away and mumbling a “no time for that… God, bun, move…”
Chris held your ass tightly in his hands as you bounced on him. His mouth attached to your chest, sucking your nipples into his mouth so he could lick them, nibble on them. Under the unfaltering pace of your hips, it only took a handful of minutes to turn him into a moaning, whining mess.
“Fuck, baby… If you don’t slow down, I’ll blow”, Chris nuzzled his face on your chest, and you brought your hands to the back of his head, further pushing him into your cleavage.
“Good”, was all you told him, admittedly a bit breathless. “Need you to fill me up, Chris, baby… Need it so bad…”
Chris swore under his breath, and his hold on your buttocks tightened. It wasn’t long until you got exactly what you wanted. With a moan of your name, your boyfriend pumped you full of his release, making you whine at the warmth of his cum reaching deep inside you.
You didn’t stop moving, though.
Even if your thighs were burning, you kept bouncing on his cock, until his groans of relief turned into desperate whines, until he was whimpering against your chest and digging his short nails on the supple flesh of your buttcheeks.
“P–please…” You heard him whine, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t felt accomplished by the sound. That was when you took pity on him, finally sitting down fully on his lap and stopping your movements.
Chris groaned, exhaling all that air he’d been holding in while you overstimulated him. He threw his head back to rest it on the backrest of the sofa, looking eighty shades of fucked out of his mind. He was breathing heavily–as were you–and he could barely keep his eyes open, but he still let out an incredulous laugh, giving you one of his blinding smiles, making you smile in return.
Cupping your cheeks, he pulled you down for a kiss before he whispered, “I fucking love you”.
And once he said it, you finally let yourself voice those thoughts that had been roaming your mind for a while now, just before you leaned in for another kiss. “I love you, baby”.
By the time you had both thoroughly enjoyed one another, you were too tired to leave your place. So you ordered takeout, got into your comfiest pyjamas, and decided to have your dinner date in the warmth of your home while watching your favourite show together.
Although, to be fair, you didn’t get very far into the show. With your now full stomachs, Chris pulled you into his arms while you both laid on the sofa, softly caressing your hair as he sang to you, inadvertently lulling you to sleep.
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This Chan guy was seriously testing your patience. 
Every time you tried to get to the Kim kid he’d always be there, he’d always manage to get you to back off. It was starting to hurt your pride, and, even if you were one to avoid killing, you started to genuinely consider taking his life just so he could stop being a nuance.
You’d had three other failed attempts at your task since that fiasco in the cinema, so tonight would hopefully be the day you succeeded. Seungmin was to attend a piano concert at one of the classic theatres his family owned, meaning he’d once again be in a dark, crowded place. There was no hidden room as far as you could tell from your surveillance earlier this week, so that gave you some semblance of peace.
You weren’t sure if it was the fact that this particular job was taking longer than usual to get it over with, or if it was the fact that you kept being forced to retreat by that one bodyguard of Seungmin’s time and time again, but lately you’d been incredibly frustrated, and it seemed like the only way to get that frustration out of your system was to get it fucked out of you. Luckily, even if your boyfriend didn’t know what was going on, he had been giving you exactly what you needed and more any time you asked for it.
The droplets falling down Chris’ pecs and his toned stomach added a delightful shine to his physique, yet you could hardly focus on any of it. The only thing you could focus on was the feeling of his cock on your tongue, heavy and warm, the delicious sounds coming out of his mouth and bouncing off of his shower’s walls as you took him in and out of your throat, and the dark, lustful, but somehow still loving look in his eyes. 
“Shit… You always tell me how good I am with my mouth… But what about you, baby, huh?” Chris leaned his head back on the tiles, holding your head in place so he could start slowly thrusting into your mouth, making you moan.
You just couldn’t take it anymore, you needed him to fuck you dumb, you needed to further disconnect your mind from reality outside of these walls. So, with a tight grip on the base of his cock, you pulled your mouth off of Chris and started pumping him in your hand, looking him right in the eyes.
“Fuck me”.
Chris just laughed as soon as the words were out of your mouth. He swiftly helped you to your feet so he could turn you around and push your chest against the cold tile wall. “Someone woke up a bit needy today. Hm?”
“And what if I–Fuck…” You completely forgot where your sentence was going as soon as you felt your boyfriend push himself into you, stretching you open just so perfectly all you could do was rest your forehead against the wall when he started to move.
“Maybe you should move in…” Chris attached his lips to your shoulder, kissing and sucking on your skin as his hand found its way towards your front, right between your legs to diligently rub that sweet bud at the apex of your thighs. The mix of his motions between your legs, of the words he mumbled against your skin, and the obscene sound of your wet skin colliding time and time again was steadily clouding your reason, enough to genuinely consider what he was offering. “If you did, we could do this every day, sweetheart…”
“Maybe I should…” You were certainly delirious, there was no way you could live with another person while trying to keep your trade a secret. But the longer you stayed in that shower, relishing the company and precise motions of your boyfriend, the more you wanted to believe it was possible.
Even after he’d coaxed a mind-numbing orgasm out of you, after he’d stuffed you full of his cum, and after he’d helped you dry your hair with the hairdryer he kept in one of the drawers of his bathroom, when you both were getting dressed in his bedroom, you desperately wanted to believe it was possible to have a normal life. Maybe you should start considering retirement… But would you be able to live a civilian life without the thrill of your job? You weren’t too sure. For Chris, though, you might try…
“Come here, bun”, Chris suddenly held your waist and dropped to his bed, bringing you down with him. All you did was laugh, scrambling to find a comfortable position on top of him so you could kiss him.
He was really giggly today, and the sound warmed you up. You dragged your fingers over his still damp curls as you peppered his face with kisses, chuckling with mirth and an immense amount of love for this man that had managed to make you feel a bit normal again. 
“Pretty?” Chris tried to get your attention. You just hummed in response to let him know you were listening, but you didn’t stop pressing kisses on his cheek.
With his hands on your waist, he tried to get you to look at him. “Listen, baby. There’s…there’s something I’d like to tell you…”
You finally pulled yourself away a bit, enough to look him in the eyes. He looked incredibly serious, more than you had ever seen him over the course of your relationship, and it gave you pause.
Chris opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out, the obnoxious ringtone of his phone interrupted him. With a roll of his eyes and an annoyed sigh, he gently pushed you off of him, muttering a ‘Gimme a sec, gotta take this…’
You watched Chris leave the bedroom entirely before you stood up from his bed and continued getting dressed. You could hear your boyfriend’s hushed voice coming from the living room, but you couldn’t make out a single word. Maybe it was for the best, you honestly didn’t like to pry on his private conversations. After all, you’d hate it if he tried to eavesdrop on yours, all things considered.
By the time he was back you had already gotten yourself into a fresh set of clothes. There was a frown on his face, but it quickly disappeared the moment he spotted you by his mirror.
Standing behind you, he placed his hands on your belly, pulling you back towards his chest as he pressed kisses on your neck. You just hummed, watching him through the mirror and melting in his hold. 
“Babe”, you mumbled, getting him to open his eyes and look at you through the mirror. He rested his chin on your shoulder, intently listening to you. “What’d you want to tell me?”
Chris took a deep breath, pulling himself away from you to take a hold of your hips once you turned around and looped your arms around his neck. “It’s nothing urgent. Say… What if we go on a little vacation to the coast this weekend?”
“Mmm… A little escapade?” You chuckled, and Chris hummed in response, cupping your cheek with one hand to pull you in for a kiss.
If everything went well tonight, you’d more than appreciate some time to wind down from the entire thing, and spending the entire weekend relaxing, barely even clothed, listening to the waves crashing against the breakwater with Chris sounded like absolute heaven. It’d be like your own little celebration for your win over that insufferable guard dog of Seungmin’s.
“Sounds like a great idea, baby”, you told your boyfriend as soon as his lips detached from yours, smiling brightly at him.
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The sound of the piano could be heard perfectly even outside of the theatre. You didn’t know the name of the piece, but it was clear that it was being played by expert hands. Even if you were mostly impassive whenever you fell into your…professional mode, you were still a bit on edge after months of having your plans ruined by Chan, so the melody floating in the air certainly helped soothe you a bit.
The corridors to the main hall were empty, completely quiet save for the sound of the piano bouncing off of the walls. The old construction was a bit difficult to navigate, but you’d gotten well acquainted with the place throughout the past week, so you found your way to the concert hall with ease.
Everything was dark, save for the lights shining on the stage, illuminating the silhouette of the musician sitting on one of the three pianos that’d been set on the podium. 
Something felt odd, though.
In an instant, you noticed the emptiness in the hall. The music stopped, replaced by a loud bang and the sound of the bullet hitting the wall, right where your head had been just seconds before your instincts kicked in and you moved away.
It was a trap.
You’d stupidly let them lure you in here, where Seungmin was, very clearly, not even present.
No matter. You might not get your target tonight, but you could still get your peace back.
Chan kept firing at you from the stage, and you continued to expertly dodge his bullets as you swiftly got closer to him. Somewhere in the back of your mind you could hear your father’s voice from back when he was training you, telling you that chasing after someone that wasn’t the one you’d been hired to attack was foolish, that it’d put you at risk. You didn’t care, this was personal now.
Taking one of the knives from your bodice, you threw it in Chan’s direction, just barely missing his form when he ducked out of the way. It felt like it lasted for a long time, you throwing knives at him, and him shooting at you, until you made it to the stage and he had no option but to physically fight you.
He was incredibly agile, but so were you. Especially after having fought him so many times. You’d picked up his tells, how he shifted his weight on his heel before he threw a punch, how he moved slightly to the left when he kicked, so it’d gotten easier to counterattack each and every single one of his moves.
Chan was good at what he did… But you were better.
With a kick to his knee and a push on his chest, you managed to send him to the floor and pin him under you. He tried to move, but you swiftly pressed one of your knives to his neck, effectively stopping his movements.
There was a moment of silence, a moment of you staring down at him, and a moment of him staring up at you.
This was the first time you’d actually gotten to see his face this clearly. There was usually barely any illumination whenever you’d fought before, and both of your quick movements made it easy to miss the details on the exposed areas of your faces. His straight hair pushed off of his forehead–save for one single piece that seemed to always be out of place–gave you plenty of room to see the blue contact lenses he wore. You couldn’t help but wonder if those were simply for aesthetic purposes, or if they held any sort of special tech quality to them–he worked for the Kims, after all.
There was something eerily familiar in the way his eyebrows furrowed, in his eyes, even with the obviously fake blue colour. Whether you were going to kill him or not, you suddenly felt an intense need to see his face. All of it. So, with your free hand, you hooked your finger on the side of his mask so you could pull it off.
For a split second, you couldn’t help but wonder if your eyes were playing a trick on you. Despite the straight hair and the blue contacts, the curve of his lips and the shape of his nose were so distinct there was just no way this man could be anyone else.
You tried to never speak while on the clock. After all, your voice might be a very good indicator of your identity. It might’ve been the shock of seeing such a familiar face, but you really couldn’t help the name from coming out of your mouth, as a barely audible whisper. “…Chris?”
Confusion crossed the features of the man under you. His eyes jumped all over your face–or what could be seen of it, at least. His angry frown turned into a look of shock, mixed with some concern, and you saw his Adam’s apple bob in your peripheral vision when he swallowed, almost audibly.
You still had the knife pressed to his neck, but you were honestly unable to move at all. So much so you didn’t even flinch when he slowly started to move himself.
With a trembling hand, he reached for the black kerchief that covered the lower half of your face. You didn’t stop him, you just let him tug it down to your neck and reveal your face to him.
The sound of your name, coming out as a breathless whisper out of his mouth hurt more than any hit you’d received throughout the past handful of months.
“What the…fuck”, the hurt tone in his voice broke your heart, and you could feel the lump form in your throat. “All this time…?”
“I had no idea”, you couldn’t help the tremble in your voice, and you weren’t sure if you hated yourself for being so vulnerable in front of the enemy. But then again, he wasn’t only an enemy, he was also the man you’d fallen madly in love with.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to get to Seungmin?” His voice trembled, yet neither of you dared to move further.
“I was hired to do it”, you replied simply.
“By whom?”
“I won’t tell you… I…can’t”, you could feel them. The treacherous tears that pricked your eyes… Crying in front of the enemy was unheard of, but you supposed these weren’t normal circumstances.
Chris swallowed again, and you could see tears of his own well in his eyes. “So…what now, bun?”
The sound of the pet name coming out of his mouth fully obliterated the remaining pieces of your heart, and you couldn’t stop the tears from falling anymore. So you didn’t. “I–I don’t know…”
“You should kill me”, Chris said, very confidently, without any semblance of doubt in his voice. And even though your grip on the knife tightened, you didn’t move it, you just shook your head in response, trying to contain the sob that threatened to come out of your mouth.
“You should”, he repeated after a few moments of silence. “I’ve done…many horrible things in my life. I’ve killed people, tortured people… I’ve done it proudly, too”, Chris brought a hand to your wrist, holding it gently, but firmly. “I’ve made peace with all that a long, long time ago… But knowing I’ve spent months hurting the woman I love is something I can’t live with…”
“You didn’t know”, your hand started to tremble, too, and Chris’ hold on your wrist tightened to keep it steady.
“Doesn’t matter”, finally, tears started to fall from Chris’ eyes, and his voice broke a bit when he spoke to you. “I wanted you dead. Even if I didn’t know, I was trying to kill you”.
You shook your head, closing your eyes tightly.
Maybe, if you closed them hard enough, you’d realise this was all a dream, a horrible nightmare you could still wake up from.
“Why don’t you kill me instead?” You mumbled after a while, when you finally opened your eyes. “I, too, was trying to kill the man that I love…”
“I can’t stop protecting Seungmin. I won’t stop. I’m the only thing keeping you from reaching your target, pretty. Look at us…” Chris’ thumb softly caressed your wrist, right on the sliver of skin your gloves exposed. “Look at our positions. You know you already won”.
You shook your head again, and Chris pushed on your wrist, further digging the blade into his skin as he mumbled, “Do it…”
He was right, you had the upper hand. Logically, it made sense for you to kill him, but there was no way you would. What a selfish thing for him to ask… Did he think getting to Seungmin was more important than his own life? That you’d be fine just…taking it?
Yanking your wrist out of his grip, you threw your knife to the side, as far away from you as possible. Chris just looked at you, confused, hurt, and you just couldn’t bear to see that look in his eyes. In an instant, you were standing, finally getting off of him.
“Baby…” You mumbled, trying to steady the sound of your voice. You turned your back to him, unable to look at him any longer. “I’m sorry… I don’t think I’ll make it to our vacation this weekend”.
With that, you started walking, trying to get as far away from that stage as possible.
The last thing you heard before you left the theatre altogether was the cacophony of sounds produced by what you knew to be the erratic smashing of piano keys, a complete contrast to the soothing melody you’d been listening to when you came in here… That soothing melody that you now knew was being played by Chan, by Chris, by your biggest rival who turned out to also be the love of your life.
As you left, with tears in your eyes, with your heart shattered in your chest, you realised that this was the first time you’d truly lost. There had been no room for you to win since the very beginning.
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General Masterlist
1K notes · View notes
pikahlua · 6 months
Text
MHA Chapter 405 spoilers translations
This week’s initial tentative super rough/literal translations under the cut.
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tagline 風は吹いた‼︎ かぜはふいた‼︎ kaze wa fuita!! The wind blew!!
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1 "ここ"じゃなかったのか…?ナイトアイ "koko" ja nakatta no ka...? NAITOAI Wasn't it "here"...? Nighteye
2 "ここ"だったよオールマイト "koko" datta yo OORU MAITO It was "here," All Might.
3 "ここ"が夢の終わりだった "ここ"がゆめのおわりだった "koko" ga yume no owari datta "Here" was the end of [your] dream.
tagline No.405 ラスボス‼︎ 堀越耕平 ナンバー405 ラスボス‼︎ ほりこしこうへい NANBAA 405  RASU BOSU!!   Horikoshi Kouhei No. 405 Last Boss!!  Kouhei Horikoshi
4 運命が捻じ曲がったんだよ うんめいがねじまがったんだよ unmei ga nejimagattanda yo Fate was twisted.
5 たしかに君の夢は たしかにきみのゆめは tashika ni kimi no yume wa For certain, your dream
6 彼処で終わった あそこでおわった asoko de owatta ended over there.
7 そして soshite And then...
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1 約束が残った やくそくがのこった yakusoku ga nokotta [your] promise remained.
2 "先達は死して託す"と相場は決まってるのにな "せんだつはししてたくす"とそうばはきまってるのにな "sendatsu wa shi shite takusu" to souba wa kimatteru noni na Even though the price of "die and leave everything to my predecessor" was decided, huh? (Note: I think All Might is poking fun at Nighteye's business lingo here and saying something like "the speculating market price became fixed" by his decision to sacrifice himself.)
3 それは架空の話さ八木俊典 それはコミックのはなしさやぎとしのり sore wa KOMIKKU no hanashi sa Yagi Toshinori That's [something from] a comic book story, Toshinori Yagi.
4 幻覚に何を言わせてんだろうね私は げんかくになにをいわせてんだろうねわたしは genkaku ni nani wo iwasetendarou ne watashi wa Just what am I making these illusions say, I wonder?
5 ヒーローであり人間だもの ヒーローでありにんげんだもの HIIROO de ari ningen da mono [You] are a hero and a human being.
6 楽には死ねないさ らくにはしねないさ raku ni wa shinenai sa [You] can't die that easily.
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1 何だ⁉︎ なんだ⁉︎ nanda!? "What's that!?"
2 爆破の"個性"…⁉︎ ばくはの"こせい"…⁉︎ bakuha no "kosei"...!? "An explosion quirk...!?"
3 あれ…昔 敵連合にら致られた… あれ…むかし ヴィランれんごうにらちられた… are...mukashi VIRAN rengou ni rachirareta... "That's... A while ago, he was kidnapped by the League of Villains..."
4 名前何だっけ…体育祭で拘束されてた… なまえなんだっけ…たいいくさいでこうそくされてた… namae nandakke...taiikusai de kousoku sareteta... "What was his name... He was restrained at the sports festival..."
5 っで dde "Deh!" (Note: These are just funny noises they're making as they skid on the roof.)
6 だっ da "Dah!" (Note: These are just funny noises they're making as they skid on the roof.)
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1 バクゴー‼︎ BAKUGOO!! "Bakugou!!"
2 ハア…! HAA...! "Haah...!" (Note: This is a heavy breathing noise.)
3 ハア…! HAA…! "Haah...!" (Note: This is a heavy breathing noise.)
4 爆豪…少年!大丈夫か…⁉︎ ばくごう…しょうねん!だいじょうぶか…⁉︎ "Young...Bakugou! Are you okay...!?"
5 こっちの台詞じゃ! こっちのせりふじゃ! kocchi no serifu ja! "Ain't that my line?!"
6 ヨボヨボのジイさんがよ YOBOYOBO no JII-san ga yo "You senile old man!"
7 ボッ BO "Ble-"
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1 こっちの…台詞でもあるんだ…が⁉︎ こっちの…せりふでもあるんだ…が⁉︎ kocchi no...serifu demo arunda...ga!? "But...that's also...my line too!?"
2 ヨボボボボボ YOBOBOBOBOBO "Bleghhh!" (Note: I think this is just a funny throwing up sound effect.)
3 エッジショット⁉︎ EJJISHOTTO!? "Edgeshot!?"
4 中に溜まった血を吐かせた…少しは楽になったか…? なかにたまったちをはかせた…すこしはらくになったか…? naka ni tamatta chi wo hakaseta...sukoshi wa raku ni natta ka...? "I made you vomit out the blood that collected inside you...do you feel any better...?"
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1 各臓器折れた骨… かくぞうきおれたほね… kakuzouki oreta hone... "For each of your organs and broken bones..."
2 俺の体で おれのからだで ore no karada de "using my body"
3 秘伝袴田流もやい結びを施した故 ひでんはかまだりゅうもやいむすびをほどこしたゆえ hiden Hakamada-ryuu moyai musubi wo hodokoshita yue "I made the secret Hakamada-style bowline knot, so that"
4 まず綻ぶことはない…! まずほころぶことはない…! mazu hokorobu koto wa nai...! "above all, they won't collapse...!"
5 だが…一息が地獄の痛みの筈だ だが…ひといきがじごくのいたみのはずだ daga...hitoiki ga jigoku no itami no hazu da "But...every breath must be like pain from hell."
6 動いていい身体じゃない…! うごいていいからだじゃない…! ugoite ii karada ja nai...! "It's not a body that's okay to move...!"
7 わーってる waatteru "I get it."
8 生かしてくれて いかしてくれて ikashite kurete "For keeping me alive"
9 ありがとう先輩 ありがとうせんぱい arigatou senpai "thank you, senpai." (Note: If you don't know, "senpai" is how one addresses their senior coworker or upperclassman in Japan.)
10 …俺は… …おれは… ...ore wa... "...I..."
11 繋いだだけだ つないだだけだ tsunaida dake da literal. "merely connected it." context. "merely tied you back together."
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1 心肺を強制的に動かし続けてはいたが しんぱいをきょうせいてきにうごかしつづけてはいたが shinpai wo kyouseiteki ni ugokashi tsudzukete wa ita ga "Although I continued to force your heart and lungs to work,"
2 意識が戻らなかった いしきがもどらなかった ishiki ga modoranakatta "you did not regain consciousness."
3 忍法千枚通し"極"は にんぽうせんまいどおし"きょく"は ninpou senmai dooshi "kyoku" wa "Ninpou Thousand-Sheet Pierce 'Zenith'"
4 自身の生命活動を削る姿 じしんのせいめいかつどうをけずるすがた jishin no seimei katsudou wo kezuru sugata "takes the form of whittling down my own biological activities."
5 限界を迎えーー… げんかいをむかえーー… genkai wo mukae--... "As I reached my limit--..."
6 "自分"か"爆豪"を天秤に掛けざるを得なくなった頃 "じぶん"か"ばくごう"をてんびんにかけざるをえなくなったころ "jibun" ka "Bakugou" wo tenbin ni kakesaru wo enakunatta koro "when I was forced to weigh both me and Bakugou in the balance,"
7 血流に乗り けつりゅうにのり ketsuryuu ni nori "[something] riding in your bloodstream"
8 流れてきた ながれてきた nagarete kita "started to flow through."
9 それは sore wa "That [thing I saw] was"
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1 "死"の直前爆豪の全身から溢れ出ていた "し"のちょくぜんばくごうのぜんしんからあふれでていた "shi" no chokuzen Bakugou no zenshin kara afure dete ita "overflowing from Bakugou's entire body just before his 'death.'"
2 小さな汗の玉 ちいさなあせのたま chiisa na ase no tama "A small bead of sweat."
3 俺は… おれは… ore wa... "I
4 繋いだだけだ つないいだだけだ tsunaida dake da "merely tied you back together."
5 "目覚めさせた"のは "めざめさせた"のは "mezamesaseta" no wa "What awakened you was"
6 お前が磨いてきた"個性"だ おまえがみがいてきた"ちから"だ omae ga migaite kita "chikara (kanji: kosei)" da "the power (read as: quirk) that you've honed."
7 つーか状況的にAFOだと思ったら何だあの光るチビブッとばす つーかじょうきょうてきにオール・フォー・ワンだとおもったらなんだあのひかるチビブッとばす tsuu ka jyoukyouteki ni OORU FOO WAN da to omottara nanda ano hikaru CHIBI BUttobasu "Anyways, because of the situation I thought that was All For One, but what's that glowing runt I bum-rushed*?" (*Note: Literally he says "rushed at/attacked/blew away [his arms]." I tried to add slang and emphasis to the word with "bum-rush" because Katsuki uses the BU- prefix.)
8 AFOだよ少年 オール・フォー・ワンだよしょうねん OORU FOO WAN da yo shounen "It is All For One, young man."
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1 手を てを te wo "[Give me] your hand."
small text "凝血"で動けない "ぎょうけつ"でうごけない "gyouketsu" de ugokenai "I can't move due to Bloodcurdle."
2 もう機能は失っているが… もうきのうはうしなっているが… mou kinou wa ushinatte iru ga... "Although it's already lost its functionality..."
3 添え木くらいにはなる そえぎくらいにはなる soegi kurai ni wa naru "it'll be like a splint."
4 "大・爆・殺・神 "だい・ばく・さっ・しん "dai baku sas shin "Great Explosion Murder God"
5 ダイナマイト" DAINAMAITO" "Dynamight." (Note: The quotation marks denote that this is the name of the gauntlet, not that All Might is merely saying Katsuki's hero name.)
6 こんなものしか…与えてやれないが… こんなものしか…あたえてやれないが… konna mono shika...ataete yarenai ga... "This is the thing...I can give you..."
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1 ……いや…後回しだ!ここまできたらOFAを先に頂く‼︎ ……いや…あとまわしだ!ここまできたらおとうとをさきにいただく‼︎ ......iya...ato mawashi da! koko made kitara otouto (kanji: OFA) wo saki ni itadaku!! ......No...postpone that! If I've gotten to this point, I'll take my little brother (read as: One For All) first!!
2 その為に弔の強すぎる精神を完全に乗っ取らねば! そのためにとむらのつよすぎるせいしんをかんぜんにのっとらねば! sono tame ni Tomura no tsuyo sugiru seishin wo kanzen ni nottoraneba! To do that, I have to completely take over Tomura's overly strong spirit!
3 "本体"自身の"個性"を弔に"与え"なければ…! "ぼく"じしんの"こせい"をとむらに"あたえ"なければ…! "boku (kanji: hontai)" jishin no "kosei" wo Tomura ni "atae" nakereba...! I have to give Tomura the quirk from my main body...!
4-5 そもそも向こうの"精神"が主導権を握れていれば…! そもそもむこうの"ぼく"がしゅどうけんをにぎれていれば…! somosomo mukou no "boku (kanji: seishin)" ga shudouken wo nigirete ireba...! If only the me (read as: spirit) over there had seized control in the first place...!
6 腸が煮えくり返る…! はらわたがにえくりかえる…! harawata ga niekurikaeru...! My insides* are boiling over...! (*Note: Literally, this word means "intestines.")
7 何故こうもーー なぜこうもーー naze kou mo-- Why--
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1 歯車が狂う⁉︎ はぐるまがくるう⁉︎ haguruma ga kuruu!? is everything going so awry like this!? (Note: This idiom literally reads as "Why are the gears going amiss!?")
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1 俺がラスボスだAFO‼︎ おれがラスボスだオール・フォー・ワン‼︎ ore ga RASUBOSU da OORU FOO WAN!! "I'm the final boss, All For One!!"
2-3 風は僕に吹いていた筈だ‼︎ かぜはぼくにふいていたはずだ‼︎ kaze wa boku ni fuite ita hazu da!! Literal. The wind should have been blowing to me!! Context. The wind should have been blowing my way!!
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tagline 繋がれた一撃‼︎ つながれたいちげき‼︎ tsunagareta ichigeki!! One blow lands!!
1 OFAに拭えねーもんは あいつにぬぐえねーもんは aitsu (kanji: OFA) ni nuguenee mon wa "What he (read as: One For All) can't handle..."
2 こっちで拭うってなぁああ!!! こっちでぬぐうってなぁああ!!! kocchi de nuguu tte naaaa!!! "I'll handle right here!!!" (Note: This line is a callback to the words Katsuki spoke in his apology to Izuku in chapter 322.)
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h34rtbeat · 15 days
Text
BAD RELIGION
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pairings: na jaemin x afab!reader
warnings: blasphemy, oral (f receiving), misogyny, purity culture, hard use of gender roles, dubious content (bordering non-con)
a/n: i’m back🤞🏻pls send in ur asks and requests i feel shitty and need to write. make sure to check rules since they have changed!
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born and raised, surrounded by ideology that made no sense to those who weren’t involved. skirts that went below your knees, paired with pitch black tights that left no doubt of how your family felt about ‘those’ teenage girls.
cross hanging from your neck, you felt as if you were crucified as well.
every. single. moment. was. gods.
it was not yours, no, never yours. it was the heavenly fathers, for him to decide your fate, not you, not anyone else. yet, it seemed twisted into men deciding it for you, rather than you for yourself.
life has seemed to regulate a new rule every year. when you were 12, you were not allowed to wear that nail polish.
13, no shorts that short!
14, no concealer!
15, a smack on the hand for even thinking of uttering a word of a shorter skirt!
16, a slap to the face for breathing words of sin to another being. as time continued, they just became stricter and stricter.
your mother only watching as her modesty prevailed— beauty in a sea of blood.
a bead of sweat rolled down your neck as it was heating up. the cramped bible study room not allowing for any breath to be shared unless it went up and above.
those shorts your parents hated would’ve been useful.
a pit formed in your stomach, how you dreaded such times. winter was okay with those unfashionable clothes, but heavens above, you couldn’t have fun in summer.
you left he class early, finishing your prayers as soon as you could. though none were sincere, there was one that was nearly the truth.
“please, father, give me your strength.” you didn’t desire strength or power. you just wanted summer shorts.
but, you knew what your mother would say.
“it’s impure!” her offended— almost scream-like voice resonated in your skull as you stepped on the pavement to head home. your legs were burning up. your neck still burned.
her hand slapping your neck, ushering you to stir faster.
your uncles would be visiting soon, why the hell weren’t you cooking faster?
now, as you walk home in the heat, you’re reminded again. this was not yours to choose, nor would it ever be. you had no idea of what surprise your father had planned for you at home.
he seems like everyone else. a churchboy, a gleaming smile, and that cross also hanging around his neck.
you felt your stomach churn, as you shook hands.
“my name is jaemin..” he muttered, through a smile. was that also gods smile? you didn’t know, or bother asking. he smiled and smelled like a god, is all you could register.
you replied with your name, releasing his hand as quick as it came. was he close with your father? oh, he was a family friend from what you could see.
“stop staring and go to the kitchen.” your father patted your shoulder, making your body stiffen. your necklace jingling as you walked into the kitchen.
stirring some mixture of whatever it was that your mom called it, you caught yourself before your mind could wander.
your ears listened diligently, catching bits and pieces of your father, his parents conversation. he seemed to stay quiet. it felt like a slap to the face hearing his mother brag on about jaemins girlfriend. or whatever she was— his mother described the woman being someone jaemin had a keen interest in.
you didn’t know it was you.
thus, the thoughts wandered. was he really so different? what was so different about him that it allowed this?
how could he have a loved one, wasn’t it gods choice? was that what liberation was?
after pressing enough dough into small balls for your mother, she pressed them on the stove, making them into flat tortillas. then, you had to go check on the slow cooker, was the meat ready?
then, your actions halted when you saw that man step into the kitchen, that same smile plastered on his face.
“I hope i’m not interrupting..” he chimed, walking over to your mother, “these look wonderful.. are you sure there’s nothing i can help you with?”
“oh, no honey! it’s my and my daughters duty to do this, please, i assure you, go sit back down with your father!” your mother ushered, patting him on his shoulder.
your mothers tone was so sweet, your finger almost twitched as you chopped some carrots. she was so willing to give her gratitude to anyone but you.
“if you say so, ma’am.” his eyes crinkled in interest, he knew your mother was going to say that. jaemin knew what families like yours were like. only hearing a daughter— he could already predict what they thought of you.
though the bible states everything is pure born, jaemin knew. he knew your parents thought you were tainted from both. why?
because the existence of a woman is a sin to those heavily involved in church.
he saw the way your eyes lingered on your mother, the way your knife slipped and you slit across your palm on accident.
“ow!” you reeled back, and instead of pain from your injury; jaemin saw it. the fear instilled by your parents- not the holy figure. your hand shook.
“oh..” your mother feigned faux concern, nearly shoving you to the sink to clean your wound, “she’s just so clumsy, isn’t she?”
you felt a lump in your throat. though you tried as you might, you could feel your throat tighten, the space seeming more cramped. you grabbed a towel, running off to the bathroom.
jaemin didn’t miss a beat. following after your panicked state, he watched as you closed the door. you didn’t lock it. his eyes narrowed, smile faltering.
you really had his interest this time.
you were so interesting— pure as ever. the way the blood trickled, he could only imagine.
his hand on the doorknob, he checked to see how far he was from the table. though, even if he was close, he doubts your parents would care.
they were so willing in handing you off without your knowledge.
your eyes widened in panic as he walked in.
“w-what are you doing here!?” your voice was meek, scared. he liked that. jaemins smile returned, as he went behind you.
“you didn’t lock the door. I figured you needed help anyway. that wound looks.. pretty bad.” his voice was smooth, calm. though his eyes were at the wound, his calm smile prevailed.
you didn’t say anything in response, even as he was behind you. his arms reached over, moving your non wounded hand away.
“I’ll help.” you paused, only making it easier for him. his soft hands were cleaning your wound.
you felt heat rise to your cheeks, averting your gaze nervously. he chuckled softly, leaning his chin on your shoulder.
“why.. is your head there?” you inquired, as his warm body was now even closer. you prayed that he couldn’t hear the way your heart beat.
“it gives me a better view, when i’m standing like this.” his response was plain and simple, you couldn’t fault him for it. maybe it really did give him a better view.
your lips parted to protest, but his movements had no intent of malice. if you did protest, it would show how impure your thoughts truly were.
“th-thank you.” you muttered, as he stepped back. you patted the wound with the towel, hissing softly.
“no biggie.. after all, you’re…” his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
“…hurt.” he finished. he wanted to confess and say ‘mine’, since— your parents did say that. but, he felt that letting you find out on your own would be better.
he softly grabbed your waist, moving your body to sit on the toilet lid.
he looked in the drawers, pulling out the first aid kit. he kneeled, your body was so warm. you were too shy to say anything when he grabbed you in such a way.
you looked away, as he wraps the bandage tape around the palm of your hand.
“it’s a shame this happened,” he mumbled through focus. “since you have such nice hands.”
you felt your blood rush. you weren’t complimented often, never so freely either. he said it with such ease, he genuinely meant it.
jaemin peaked up at you, curiousity in your gaze, possession in his.
“never been complimented like that before?” he probed, closing the first aid kit.
“n..no.” you managed to stammer out. he made you feel nervous, looking down at your hand.
he laughed softly, kneeling back down. he grabbed your hands with his, his chin resting on your covered thighs. this was strange— he was strange! it was too much, you just met him and he’s doing all of this!
“I think i’m fine now. we should get back out there, your parents will start to won-“ he tugged your hands softly yet with enough force that it lunged your body down.
“no. they’ll be fine. i’m pretty sure your parents don’t want to see you after that anyway. what’s the rush?”
he was right. your parents would be upset if you did come back out. silence hung over you and jaemin, as you just stared into his eyes.
“did your parents tell you?” jaemin suddenly broke the silence.
“tell me what?” you pulled back, sitting normally again.
you didn’t even notice how much closer he was getting to your heat, the way he’d rubbed his cheek on your thighs.
“…that you belong to me now.”
your eyes widened in so many emotions— shock, horror, surprise, anger. most of all.. betrayal. all those years of punishments, slaps… your knuckles red and swollen from the ruler smacking down on them at church; just to be given to a man you didn’t know.
maybe he just wanted to scare you, but you couldn’t say anything. the worst part is— he wasn’t lying. you knew, at some point..
you’d be like your mom, given to a man.
“no words, hm? I guess I’d feel that way too..” he mutters, his voice full of pity but his eyes full of something else.
“you know, our heavenly father is watching over us in heaven. jaemins tone was mocking, nearly taunting you.
“do you think he chose this fate for you? all those years of devotion, all wasted because you’re someone’s property now.”
you felt tears brim at your eyes, wanting to be angry. to rebuke, yell, scream kick.
you couldn’t. you just couldn’t. his hand rubbed soothingly on your covered legs. the position made it seem like he was worshipping you.
he wanted this. he wanted your purity. you said nothing- and he’ll grant you that. your time to accept.
he didn’t stop, though. his hands wandering down, rubbing your calves under the skirt.
“you’re so soft…” he praised, he blushed, turned on already by your soft skin.
“stop that.. what are you doing?” wearily protesting did nothing to falter him.
“shhh. let me have what’s mine.” jaemin cooed, relishing in the feeling of your warm skin.
you stifled back hot tears that spilled.
“oh, nono, baby.. don’t cry.” his hands delved, going to your thighs. “it’ll feel really good right now.”
you silently pleaded with him to stop, to let you go.. but your pussy welt warm.. and wet. it was a strange feeling, one you hadn’t felt before.
“please stop, our parents might hear us..” you importuned, as the hot feeling grew stronger.
“they’ll only hear us if you’re loud.”
you covered your mouth with your hands, as he lifted your hips up. he slid off your skirt, spreading your legs just enough for him to see your clad panties.
“you’re not telling me to stop.. so i’m going to keep at it.” his fingers rubbed your slit through your white cotton panties. jaemin felt like he was on cloud 9, you trulywere pure.
every movement of his made your body tremble, your left hand covering your mouth, the other going down and gripping his arm.
“calm down.. i told you, it’ll feel good.”
and he wasn’t lying. lying was a sin, after all.
his slender finger moved your panties to the side, and he delved into your sweet essence. your body, naturally, jolted.
“no! don’t go there!” you whined pitifully, as your hips grinded against your will.
his tongue was licking in that area— that sacred area. it felt warm, hot, you felt like you were gonna pee.
“p-please, i’m gonna pee!”
he paused his slurping momentarily.
“you’re not gonna pee, and if you do.. let it happen.”
he delved in more, his nose brushing and rubbing against your nub. you held your hand over your mouth. you prayed— to whatever it was, that no one could hear this utter indecency between your wet legs.
soaking his mouth, he tasted your innocent pussy. his fingers soon made their way, your thighs tightening around his head.
every movement of his made your body jolt and twitch, you couldn’t think.
your hand went down, rubbing his hair because you were scared of tugging it. your feet thrashed, as you leaned over, letting a pressure form in your tummy.
pressure and heat combined, as you felt the pressure release, painting jaemins lips a clear white.
he looked up at you, his mouth sinful, eyes full of greed.
“it feels good to be impure, doesn’t it?”
you panted softly, covering your face in utter shame. what came out of you? what was he doing with his mouth down there!? jaemin locked his lips, letting your panties slide back on naturally. as you delved in your shame, he put your skirt back on.
“let’s go to your room.”
snapping you out of your shameful demise, you looked up at him as he stood. your necklaces were hanging off your necks, a reminder of the sins.
“we need to go out and see them.”
“no we don’t, that’s nonsense. I’ll make up and excuse, too.” he replied, a promise of you not being in trouble.
hesitantly, you and him walked to your room.
no one had any idea, only a concerned murmur from his mother.
“her wound must’ve been pretty bad..”
moments later, jaemin let you lay in your bed. he sauntered out of your room, into the dining room.
“say.. is it alright if i stay with her? she wasn’t feeling well after her cut.”
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saetoru · 1 year
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✩ ‧₊˚ ✩。3:37 AM — ITOSHI SAE.
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“see? i told you this would be fun,” you hum.
“fun for you, maybe. you get to sit and do nothing. i’m the one driving,” sae gives you a side glare—one that he’s sure you see but elect to ignore in favor of picking the next song on your phone.
if you’d told him half a year ago that he’d be here, giving up sleep to drive you to god knows where in the middle of the night, sae thinks he might have actually laughed—which is something he doesn’t do very often. he’s a bit appalled with himself, truthfully—it’s half past three, way past his usual sleep hours, and he has practice in the morning. yet somehow, he almost thinks he’s having fun.
and then he comes to the daunting realization that he’s really not sure who he even is anymore.
athletes like the itoshi sae need to follow strict regimens. athletes like him need at least eight hours of sleep a day, need balanced diets and a healthy amount of exercise, and need to be level headed and make responsible decisions. athletes like him don’t stay up this late because of one measly pout and a tug to his arm. there’s no reason that sae should be this weak to you, no reason you should hold this much power over him—and yet, in a cruel twist of fate, you do.
you do and you know it, and you’re evil enough that you use it to your full advantage.
“where are we even going?”
“sae, shut up,” you roll your eyes. “why do you always have something to say?”
scoffing, he stops the car at a red light, pressing on the brakes and turning to face you. and he hates to admit it, but the moonlight kissing your skin through the windows makes his heart beat rapidly.
“do you realize i’m sacrificing my sleep for you?” he scoffs at you, looking over at the small patch of skin of your shoulder blade as his shirt droops over your body. he tries not to stare too long—but he fails miserably, and you seem to notice it too.
“quit staring at me,” you smirk, reaching over to pinch his cheek.
he swats your hand away—though gently—and scowls, grumbling under his breath at your supposed claim. you only offer him an amused giggle as he rolls his eyes, and no matter how correct you may be, itoshi sae refuses to admit, even to himself, that he was in fact staring. in his defense, how could he not stare when you look like that in his clothing?
“was not staring at you, stupid.”
“you so were,” you laugh, and he grunts, shaking his head as he rolls his eyes at you unimpressed. it’s a battle that costs him just about all of his self control to not glance down at your lips, but he wins—although miraculously, otherwise, he’d have to hear even more of your teasing, and he doesn’t think his eyes will recover from another round of rolling this time.
“no i wasn’t. that head of yours is too big,” he says, frowning and flicking your forehead at the smug grin you give him. and sae should be asleep, he should be getting enough rest to ensure his optimal performance at practice in the morning so that he can put his teammates efforts to shame—but you said please, and you pouted, and he’s not as strong as he claims to be, although he’ll never admit it.
so now he’s here, and he’s fighting for his dignity as you wiggle your brows playfully at him. but deep down, sae doesn’t think he wants to be anywhere else right about now.
“okay, if you say so,” you snort, “you’ll survive without eight hours of sleep for one day. and by the way, the light’s green now, dumbass. pay attention.”
he hears your giggling as he curses under his breath and presses on the gas pedal, and you slide your hand over his shoulder to play with the hairs at the back of his neck. he pretends to lean back and try to shake your hand off, but you both know it’s his way of leaning further into your touch—so you grant him more of what he craves, rubbing over the back of his neck soothingly as he drives.
“okay, well you’re supposed to be giving me directions, so where do i go now?” he mutters. you shrug, and he groans.
“i don’t know, i’ve been making up directions this whole time. just wanted to drive around. anyway, did you know van gogh’s starry night was painted from his window in an asylum?”
side eyeing you, he purses his lips, rolling his eyes with a heavy sigh. and even if you’ve dragged him out of bed for no reason—on a practice night no less—while he’s supposed to be getting much needed rest, he can’t help but find every annoying little quirk of yours endearing. even this one.
“what does that have to do with anything?” he asks flatly.
and sae is not an easy book to read, he never was—he’s like those difficult words you have to stop and google to understand, or those ridiculous metaphors that only literature teachers care for. but he’s well worth it, you think. he makes you want to skip the pages and jump right to the end, and he’s the kind of story you pray ends happily. and somehow, when he climbs out of bed in his wrinkled shirt and loose sweats, hair tousled and sleep laced in his eyes as he begrudgingly grabs his keys for you—you think maybe you don’t want the story to end at all just yet. or ever.
“just a fun fact, jeez,” you pout. “any soccer fun facts you wanna share?”
“athletes need plenty of sleep to perform their best,” he shoots instantly. you huff, rolling your eyes and crossing your arms at his stubbornness to just admit he enjoys being here as much as you do.
“sae, one of these days you’ll drive me so crazy, i’ll need to be in an asylum myself.”
“one of these days, when i send you to an asylum, maybe i can sleep reasonable hours,” he smirks at you. the soft slap to his shoulder causes him to chuckle in amusement, and you cave and send the softest of grins at his direction.
“you’ll never last a day without me,” you quip, and to your surprise, he smiles a little. it’s gentle—much gentler than you expect from someone like him, and you’re not used to it. but it’s pretty, just like the rest of itoshi sae, and you hope fate permits a few more nights with him by your side, whether it’s in bed as he sleeps or in the car as he drives. maybe, you’ll even dare to hope for an eternity.
“i don’t know,” he hums, and one hand lays gently on your thigh as he drives mindlessly with the other on the wheel, “i think i could manage to squeeze in ten hours of sleep if you were gone,” he adds with smug grin, and even as you scowl at him, you decide right then and there that if itoshi sae isn’t your happy ending, you don’t think you want one. ever.
“you’re rude, y’know that?”
“i’d say driving aimlessly for your stupid whims is rather generous.”
“hmm, maybe,” you murmur, looking at him with a look so sweet, he feels his breath catch in his throat when he peeks at you through the corner of his eyes. and he hopes you don’t notice it, or the way his expression softens too. “love you,” you add quietly, lifting his hand to kiss the back.
“yeah,” he mumbles. “love you too.” you lace your fingers with his, setting his hand back down onto your lap. he squeezes gently, and you squeeze back. “i love it more when you sleep, though.”
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i think sae rly likes driving tbh. finds it relaxing and if u play with the hair at the nape of his neck he loves it more. he’s pathetically a loser
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sara-scribbles · 18 days
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Melting the Dragon King's Heart (Part 3)
Fandom: Twisted Wonderland Malleus Draconia/F!Reader Summary: After falling down some stairs, you wake up in the body of a villain from one of Idia's cheesy romance books. Destined to die a fiery death, you have to figure out a way to change your fate. Word Count: 7,661 Notes: Hey all, sorry for being off the grid for so long! I've been busy and haven't had much time to do anything besides study. But we're finally at the end! I hope everyone enjoyed the story! It was a lot of fun to try my hand at writing this. Malleus is a fun character to write for.
I might have some more isekai/regression/reincarnation stories for Leona and Jamil. It's something I've been thinking about but haven't fully committed. Let me know if these ideas sound interesting and you'd like me to write on them.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Warnings: Physical abuse, emotional abuse, attempted murder, actual murder, death
Despite being in the library often, it’s always a little daunting when you first step in. There are plenty of staff to help, but shelves upon shelves of texts are still a bit much. A lot of the texts near the back are quite old. A lot of them have to be handled with care or they might just fall apart.
After asking for books on enchanted weapons, with a strange look from the librarian, you sit down and try your best to go through as much as possible. After a few hours of no success, you feel a headache coming on. Leaning back, you let out a deep, tired breath. There are plenty of enchanted weapons, some real and some just legend, but there’s nothing about the specific weapon you’re looking for.
In the story, the dagger is described as being crimson with an obsidian handle. It was originally a sword blessed by a group of fairies to take down a corrupted dragon. However, once the blade had been dipped in the ancient dragon’s blood, the blessing turned into a curse. Somehow the sword was broken but enough remained to create a dagger. 
Any cut made by the blade could not be healed. No magic, no potion, no artifact could stop the bleeding. The wounded person would bleed to death. If the person was lucky, they could die in a matter of seconds. Those not so lucky would have an agonizingly slow death. Even if they were to cauterize the wound, the bleeding would continue. It would only stop once the wounded died.
“Very grim,” you mutter under your breath. For such a light hearted novel, the curse of the blade was surprising. However, it’s never used since the main protagonist is able to get it.
“Your highness, is everything alright?” the royal librarian.
Sitting up straight, you clear your throat. “I don’t think I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for. Could you put these back?” You close the book with a thump.
“Of course. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, thank you.” Deciding to head back to your office, you leave the library. By now you know how to navigate your way through the castle. 
Your feet move on autopilot as your mind wanders. There must be something you can do. The only other thing you can think of is returning home to see if they’ve found the cursed dagger. Of course this would require you to figure out the relative time frame of when Yūki meets Malleus to when it's found. However, you’re unsure if following the story timeline would even be helpful with how different everything is now.
Arriving back at your office, you eye the stack of documents still left for your review. Plopping down onto the chair unceremoniously, you rub your eyes. Instead of doing the work on your desk, you find the previous book you had been reading. You never thought books about laws would be interesting, but Briar Valley has some strange laws that make reading about them fascinating.
As you flip to the bookmark, you note with some irony that the next chapter is on divorce. Perhaps when your plan had been to divorce Malleus, this would have been helpful. Though, still curious, you decide to read it. Everything about Briar Valley’s laws are complicated, though maybe not as complicated as the Queendom of Roses. There are separate laws for fae, humans, and fae-human issues.
You skip to the section on fae-human divorce since that would apply to you. “ ‘Depending on whether the parties have participated in the soul ceremony, divorce can be rather difficult though not impossible.’ What’s a soul ceremony?”
Before you can continue, Diablo knocks on the door. “Your grace, lunch is being served.” You quickly close the book before following him.
---
You’re silently reading in bed while Malleus goes through some documents. The times he used to come to your room to “hold your hand” has extended to almost every night. Instead of holding your hand, you both comfortably sit in your bed either talking or reading.
Malleus still returns to his room once it’s time for bed. You almost asked him if he wanted to stay the previous night, but you lost your nerves. There’s something very different from just reading in bed to actually sleeping next to him. You wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with him, but it’s almost been an entire year of marriage and you haven’t once slept in the same bed, so you’re unsure about how to bring it up.
Malleus shuffles his papers with a deep sigh. Glancing over at him, he rubs the bridge of his nose while muttering to himself. “Something wrong?” you ask.
He sets the papers aside on the bedside table. “Nothing really. Just that grandmother will be visiting soon. And she’s already placed certain…demands on me.”
Your eyes nearly pop out of your head. “She is?!” You had only met her a handful of times. Yet, in those few formal visits, all you can recall is how intimidating both in magic and overall presence she is.
Chuckling, the fae reaches out and squeezes your hand. “No need to worry, my heart. I’ll take care of all the preparations.”
Book forgotten, you turn to him. “What did she ask for?”
“She wants her favorite room overlooking the gardens. She, of course, expects to have dinner with both of us. And a few other things about her daily walks around Briar Valley that I’m sure Diablo can take care of,” he answers, ticking off each one on his fingers.
Fiddling with the sheets, you ask, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Hmm… She didn’t say anything in her letters. But I’m sure she’ll let you know if she wants anything.” His gaze flickers over to the book in your lap.
“I should do something for her. Since it’s been awhile, maybe I can get her some flowers. Or maybe plan an outing? Do you think she’d want to have tea in the gardens? Or maybe…” As you ramble, Malleus takes the book from your lap.
He nods occasionally while he skims the page. His lips press together in a thin line. Brows furrowing, his eyes narrow. You pause when you finally notice he’s not listening. “Malleus?”
Turning away from the book, he asks in a serious tone, “Did I do something wrong?”
Blinking owlishly, you cycle back to the conversation. Yet, nothing comes to mind about what he is referring to. “What are you talking about?”
He gestures to the book. “You’re reading about divorce in regards to fae-human relationships. Did I do something wrong to make you consider divorce?” Though his tone is even, the stormy look in his eyes say otherwise. There’s a flash of lighting outside the window.
Ignoring the sudden change in weather, you shake your head. “I’m not planning to divorce you, Malleus.”
His shoulders relax and his gaze clears. “I see…”
Taking the book away from him, you set it aside. “I’ll tell you the truth. I may have considered divorce at the start of our marriage because I didn’t want you to be unhappy.” ‘I also didn’t want to die’ you add silently. “But I realized that it would be unfair to ask for divorce based on a few months together. And it would be selfish of me to not consider your own feelings.”
“If you aren’t happy here, I’d be fine with a divorce,” he says, his voice strained. “I want you to be happy.”
Leaning against his shoulder, you hum in agreement. “I am happy. And you’re happy too, right?”
“Of course,” he responds without missing a beat.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Except the fact your parents possibly have a weapon that could kill him.
He wraps his arm around your middle, dragging you closer to his side so your head rests against his chest. He leans back against the pillows. You can hear the steady beating of his heart. A comfortable silence falls and you're almost lulled to sleep. The thought of sharing a room pops into your head once more.
“Hey, do you want to share a room?” you inquire, deciding to throw caution to the wind.
Malleus straightens up, which startles your comfortable position. “You wish to share a room?” His eyes are wide.
Sitting up, you find yourself picking at the sheets again. “Well, you basically come here every night, so that would be the most logical thing to do. And we are married, so it wouldn’t be strange if we decided to sleep in the same room.”
Shuffling out of bed, Malleus puts on his dragon slippers. “I will let Diablo know at once to prepare the master bedroom,” he says hurriedly. 
“M-Mallues?” He has already gathered his papers and is about to head out before he stops halfway.
He walks back over to you. With a large grin, he leans down and kisses the top of your head. “I almost forgot, my heart. Good night.” Eyes twinkling, he leaves without another word.
Your mouth hangs open for a bit before you snap it closed with a click.
---
In less than a day, your new bedroom is ready. Diablo has your things moved in while you're working. The old butler seems at ease and comments how Malleus is in a wonderful mood. Everyone you pass by smiles brightly at you. You’re almost embarrassed at the fact that it seems everyone knows why he’s in a good mood. But, it’s honestly adorable.
There is a nervous feeling that settles in your stomach as you think about the logistics of sharing a room. For one, you have to share a bathroom, which isn’t much of an issue considering how massive the bathrooms are. The only thing you’re concerned about is possibly being walked in on while changing. It isn’t like you haven’t seen another naked person, but you’re self conscious about the scars on your back.
No one, besides your parents and the few people who treated you on occasion when you were unable to, knows about the scars. They’re all thin and straight, but there are so many. They crisscross from the top of your back to the small of your back. Some are very old while others are only about a year old. 
You recall the faces of the few doctors who had seen the scars. Looks of shock and pity aren’t uncommon. One, you recall vividly, did not react at all, but you could see the way her hands shook. Yet, none dared to ask where the marks came from nor did they ever say anything to your parents. They valued their lives far more.
How could you blame them?
Shaking your head to clear out the bad thoughts, you decide you’ll figure out what to do when the time comes. For now, you have to decide what to do with two unexpected visitors. 
There had been a commotion at the palace gates that Diablo had come to you about this morning. When you heard what happened, you immediately went to meet them. Now in the drawing room, Yūki sits across from you looking sheepish. Grim happily munches on the food offered by Diablo.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” you start. It’s true since Yūki and Grim are not supposed to come for another two months. It’s just another indication that the story is completely different.
Yūki sighs. “Grim kept nagging about wanting to visit. When he wants to do something, he typically won’t change his mind. I’m sorry for dropping in unannounced.”
You wave off their apology. “It’s fine. I just wanted to be able to prepare for your visit more. Diablo can prepare a guest room. It’s a little busy here because Malleus’s grandmother is visiting soon.” you explain.
“Should we leave? I don’t want to be intruding…” Grim doesn’t seem bothered as he downs a cup of tea. Diablo pours him a refill without missing a beat.
“No, it’s fine. She’s not supposed to be here for another month. So, how are your travels?” you ask, changing the subject.
They seem to relax a bit. “It’s great! We went to visit the Scalding Sands before coming here. We even got to ride a magic carpet!” Their eyes light up as they talk about their newest adventure.
You wonder how they felt in the original novel when they had to stay in Briar Valley at the end. The author didn’t mention much about what happened except that Yūki went on to rule alongside Malleus. It was implied that they never left Briar Valley. Could someone who loved traveling so much really be happy staying in one place?
At some point in the conversation Malleus comes in. He pauses when his gaze lands on Yūki. You watch as he regards them curiously. Yet, it’s only a brief pause before he turns to you to ask you a few questions about a document. He leaves right after without a second look.
A part of you is a little disappointed at the underwhelming moment of their first meeting. However, another part is happy that there isn’t some kind of instant connection between the two. You’re selfish.
“He’s scary,” Grim mutters once Malleus is gone.
“Grim!” Yūki looks at you apologetically.
“What?! I’m just telling the truth! The magic rolling off of him is intense!” The cat waves his paws around. “It’s suffocating! You might not be able to feel it henchhuman, but I can tell!”
“It’s alright. Malleus can seem rather intimidating, but he really isn’t. I promise he’s a gentle, kind soul,” you assure them with a laugh.
Yūki relaxes once more. “He obviously loves you very much,” they state while chewing on a macaron. You face warms. “He only has eyes for you,” they continue “and it seems the feelings are mutual…” A single eyebrow goes up.
Trying to hide your embarrassment, you take a long sip of tea. Clearing your throat, you can’t meet their amused eyes. “Well…yes, they are,” you say in a soft tone. You can’t lie about your feelings. “He has a good heart. We started off rocky, but we’re in a good place now.”
Yūki and Grim both glance at each other. You realize you’re probably smiling like a fool and quickly school your features as best as you can. You steer the conversation to a different topic.
Later, Diablo shows them to the guest room and you head back to your office. There’s still paperwork you need to finish. On your desk is some mail with many of them being letters from other foreign dignitaries. However, one letter causes your blood to run cold. You know that sharp but elegant script as you know the scars on your back.
Rarely have your parents sent letters. Slipping the letter opener under the envelope, you’re almost tempted to burn the letter without looking. But the fact that they sent a letter must mean something important. It’s only a single sheet with only three sentences. You blink a few times before setting down the paper. The page blurs as you feel your chest pounding and a distant, high pitched noise fills your ears.
Dearest child,
Your mother has passed. Come home so our country may mourn her. The funeral will be tomorrow.
Father
Before you can fully realize anything, the door to your office opens. Malleus steps inside with a concerned look in his gaze while holding a piece of paper. Breaking out of your daze, you zero in on the paper in his hand. It’s the same sharp writing. There’s nowhere to hide.
“My heart, I am so sorry,” he says, gently setting down the letter. You can see that your father wrote more to him in the letter. “Are you okay?”
He reaches out but pauses when he notices the look in your eyes. There’s a long pause before you find your voice. “I’m fine. Thank you…” You carefully take your own letter and fold it back into the envelope. “I should prepare to return…” you whisper.
Malleus gently takes your hand in his. “Take all the time you need. I know the mourning process can take time.”
Your heart aches at his kindness. But how can you tell him that you don’t want to go back? That you’re terrified of returning to a place that only holds bad memories? Malleus lost his parents, so he’s no stranger to loss. But you hold no sympathy for the woman who called herself your mother.
“I’ll inform Diablo. Finish up what you need here.” He presses a kiss to your forehead before leaving to find the old butler.
You stand there for a moment. Your heavy breathing is the only sound that you can hear. You stumble your way out of the study. As everything fades in the background, childhood memories come back. Memories of a younger version huddling on the bed, knees draw close to her chest. Always shaking but never crying because it would only lead to further punishment.
A voice calls out as you stumble and fall forward. You hit the ground face first but you don’t register the impact. A hand comes into your lines of vision and you instinctively jerk away.
“Don’t…” you cry out weakly.
Suddenly Yūki’s face appeared into your field of vision. They say something but you don’t really hear. They move away for a bit and return with some water. They press the cup into your hands. They place a gentle hand on your back while rubbing slow circles. Your hands shake as you stare into the cup. As your breathing slows down, the pressure in your chest lessens. After a little longer, you take a slow sip.
“Your highness?” Yūki hesitantly calls to you in a soft tone.
Swallowing, you look around. Somehow, you stumbled your way to Yūki’s guestroom. “I…I’m sorry for barging in on you…” you apologize.
Yūki offers their hand and guides you to a chair. Setting the cup on the table, you sag back into the chair. “Just take your time,” they say, taking a seat as well.
Glancing around, you note that Grim isn’t anywhere to be seen. As if reading your mind, Yūki adds, “Grim went to grab a snack from the kitchen. He probably won’t be back for a while.”
You fiddle with your hands trying to find the words. You’re sure Yūki isn’t the type to gossip, so whatever you tell them would be safe. But should you be dumping your personal problems on someone who you’ve only met a few times?
“I don’t want to burden you with my personal problems…but would you be willing to listen?” The weight of everything has always been there, but you had ignored it. But with the arrival of the letter, you can’t ignore it anymore. Perhaps hearing the advice of someone from the outside would help.
Nodding, Yūki offers an encouraging smile. So you tell them everything. Well almost everything. You tell them about the past, your parents’ plan to take over Briar Valley using your unique magic, the fact that you’ve been lying to Malleus from the beginning, that they may have the one weapon that could kill Malleus. Every word out of your mouth feels like a release. Yūki listens without saying a word and keeping their facial expression straight.
Finally, you finish and it feels like you’ve been speaking for hours. Your throat feels dry, but the weight has been lessened. You wait for Yūki to respond. It’s a lot of information to be telling someone in one sitting.
Clearing their throat, their brows draw together. “Well…sorry but fuck that’s a lot!”
Your eyebrows go up as you stare at each other. Then, you start laughing. You both burst into laughter. It’s the first time you’ve ever heard Yūki say something like that. Wiping away stray tears, you shake your head with a smile.
“Sorry for dumping all that on you. I think I just needed to tell someone.” You sigh. “I’ve been holding that in for so long, but it feels good to at least tell someone.”
They wave off your apology. “You’d be surprised how many of my friends I had to play therapist for. It’s nothing new.”
Despite the reassurance, you can see the slight sag in their shoulders. “Still, you shouldn’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m being a hypocrite since I just did the same thing, but I want you to know it’s okay to just turn away if something becomes too much. You don’t have to fix everyone’s problems.”
Looking away, Yūki chuckles softly. “You’re the first person to tell me that… Thank you.”
You want to tell them that you know about the things they have to go through in the story. But don’t because Yūki isn’t a character in Idia’s book. Despite starting out in what you understood to be a story, you’ve come to realize that the people you’ve interacted with are not characters. They’re people with their own emotions and wills.
Breathing in deeply, you flex your hands. “I’m going to tell Malleus everything. I think it’s time he knew the truth, and he can decide for himself what he wants to do.”
“That’s probably for the best. Lying usually ends up biting you in the ass later on.” You both laugh. “He clearly adores you. So, you just need to trust in him to understand.”
“Right.” You offer Yūki a wide smile. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
---
After a lively dinner thanks to Grim’s antics, you’re getting ready for bed. Malleus is already tucked in reading. Though you plan to tell him everything, you can’t help but move slowly. You had prepared a speech, but now you can’t remember a word.
Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, you regard Malleus. His shoulders are relaxed and his facial expression is almost serene. The stress from hosting his grandmother has all but disappeared. Your heart swells with affection for him. You want to live the rest of your life with him in peace and warmth. And the only way that it can happen is if you tell him the truth. Together you can figure out a way to take care of your parents.
Feeling your gaze, Malleus looks up. “My heart?” His head tilts to the side.
Taking a deep breath, you square your shoulders. “Malleus, I need to tell you something.”
He closes the book, giving you his full attention. “Why don’t you come here and we can talk?”
Hesitating, you shake your head. “I want to stand. What I’m going to tell you will be a lot.” He nods.
As you tell him everything about your life and your parents’ plans, he doesn’t react at all. You pour out all your feelings and thoughts. As the words leave your mouth, you feel even lighter. A sense of relief washes over you as you finish. You wait in agonizing silence as Malleus remains quiet. His gaze is distant as he takes in everything.
Finally, he looks at you. He doesn’t say a word as he holds his arms out to you. Tears prick the corner of your eyes as you walk over to the bed. Climbing in the bed, he wraps his arms around your form and pulls you close to him.
You bury your face in his chest. You can only mutter apologizes as he holds your tight. He doesn’t say anything as you quietly sob. After what feels like an eternity, you seem to run out of tears. Your eyes are sore and puffy.
He kisses the top of your head. “Thank you for telling me the truth. It must have been difficult,” he mumbles. “We’ll figure this out together.”
Ear pressed against his chest, you listen to the steady rhythm of his heart. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I was too scared,” you admit. “I was afraid you’d hate me.”
“I could never hate you.” He gently wipes away the tears that have stained your cheeks. “However, I am upset. Very much so.”
His green eyes glow dangerously as he glances out the window. Dark clouds roll in and lightning strikes. “Should I go there myself?” he muses.
“Malleus…” Placing a hand against his cheek, you turn his head so he looks at you. “Don’t do anything rash. My father is to blame not the people of my country. You can’t just go in and wipe out the country.”
Frowning, he looks thoughtful before he smiles sharply. “How about I just kill him, my heart. Or I can give you the honor of doing that.”
Leaning against his chest, you shake your head. “He might have that weapon…”
“I’ll squish before he even has a chance to think about using it.”
“This would be considered a criminal act.”
“What your parents did to you and planned to do with me are criminal acts. I’m only ending this before it can lead to something worse.”
“I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Then I’ll do it for you.”
Letting out a deep sigh, you smile to yourself as you tighten your hold on Malleus. “Let’s talk about what to do tomorrow. But thank you for offering to help despite everything.”
“Of course. I would do anything for you.” 
---
The next day you wake up feeling at peace. Malleus knows the truth and he still cares about you. You don’t have to go back to that place. Stretching, Malleus tightens his hold around your waste. 
You still can’t believe that someone as regal as Malleus likes to cuddle. Most mornings you spend a few minutes trying to get out of his hold. He can be rather clingy first thing in the morning. It’s cute.
“We need to get up,” you say, trying to worm your way out of his hold. He hums before releasing you.
Malleus sits up as you find your slippers. You can feel his stare and quickly look up. He’s frowning with his brows pinched together. “What’s wrong?”
“Your scars…I didn’t realize…”
Right, you usually hide them long before he can see them. But last night’s confession had taken a lot out of both of you. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, Malleus.”
Eyes narrowing, he shakes his head. “I need to talk to Lilia about what we should do.” He pauses, his brow smooths as he regards you. “Can I tell him everything you told me?”
You hesitate for a second but agree. “Yes. You trust Lilia, so I’ll trust him too.” If you’re going to do this without blowing up an entire country, you’ll need help. And Lilia seems rather level-headed under all the teasing.
Malleus leans over to peck you on the cheek. “I’ll see him now. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’m going to head to my office once I check up on Yūki and Grim.” You feel your mouth stretch into a goofy grin as he pulls away. You’re pretty sure the butterflies in your stomach when he kisses you will never go away.
Once you’re clean and dressed, you make your way to the guest room. Yūki and Grim are already out, though the feline looks half asleep. “Morning, you two.”
Yūki gives a short wave before a yawn overtakes them. They quickly cover their mouth. “Mornin’....”
“It’s too early to be up!” Grim grumbles.
You chuckle as he yawns. “I’m sure the cooks have prepared something tasty for breakfast.”
That perks him up. “What are we standing here for?! Let's go!” He rushes ahead as Yūki follows at a slower pace.
“So… is everything okay?” They give you a sideways glance.
“Yeah. He took it well.” You give a small nod. “Thank you for listening yesterday.”
“Of course.” They offer a reassuring smile. “I was also thinking about what you said yesterday…about not needing to fix everyone’s problems…”
“Yes?”
Chewing on their lower lip, they’re silent as you near the dining room. They relax a bit when Grim turns around to beckon for them to hurry up. “You’re right. I don’t need to fix everyone’s problems. I need to learn when to take a step back and say no. I’m going to work on that. I just wanted to let you know.”
“It might take a bit of practice, but it’s good you’re taking your own feelings and well-being into consideration.” Patting them on the back, you two share a look before they’re pulled away by Grim’s shouting.
A flash near the window catches your eye and your blood runs cold. “Your majesty?” Diablo calls to you, worry etched on his wizened face. He looks out but doesn’t react. “Is something the matter?”
“D-did you see him?” you ask, your hands curl into fists.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I did not see anything. Should I have the guards take a look?”
You pause. You don’t want to cause a scene if it’s nothing. But you also wouldn’t put it past your father to show up uninvited to drag you home. “Yes, have someone take a look. If they find Duke Wynters, please send him away.”
Without further explanation, Diablo leaves. You let out a deep breath. It could just be your own fears playing tricks on you. Joining Grim and Yūki for breakfast, you try your best to forget about it.
However, after breakfast Diablo reports that the guards did not find anyone. Not even a trace of magic. Despite that, you’re still on edge as you head to your office. Hand hovering over the door knob, the hairs on the back of your neck prickle. Grasping the handle, you throw open the door to your study with a bang.
There’s no one inside. Everything is in its usual place. You let out another deep breath and shake your head. Taking a seat, you take the nearest stack of papers to start work. You throw the stack across the room as if burned.
The letter that you had burned flutters to the floor. You jump up. “Diab-!”
A cold hand clamps down on your arm. “Don’t.” Duke Wynter’s grip is strong despite his age. Old memories hold you in place as fear settles in.
“You know, I was so disappointed when you didn’t come home for your own mother’s funeral. Tsk…” His voice is calm, but you know better.
“H-how did you-” You hate that your voice shakes.
“Get in here? There are things magic artifacts can do that can even trick a mighty dragon.” He snorts. “Now, we’re going home. And I’m sure your dear husband will follow.” He bares his teeth in a ruthless smile.
Duke Wynters pulls a small pocket mirror from his breast pocket. He tosses it out and it expands into a full length mirror. A disembodied face stares back at you. “Take us back home, Mirror,” he orders.
“As you command,” the mirror murmurs. The surface of the mirror ripples and slowly changes until it shows the image of the manor. Gripping your arm tightly, he drags you toward it.
You don’t want to go, but fear grips your body. So, you let your panic swell along with your magic. The room becomes so cold you can see your own breath. Your vision blurs as Duke Wynters screams and something explodes.
Then everything goes black.
---
Malleus sends the doors of the study flying off. The entire study has been destroyed. The windows have been blown out and a thick layer of ice coats everything. His breath comes out in small puffs of fog.
He shouts your name. The frozen chandelier shakes.
Lilia places a hand on his arm. “They’re gone. Most likely back to his home. We need to leave now if we want to catch up to them.”
Turning to Sebek and Silver, Lilia gives them both a hard look. “Malleus and I will go after the queen. You both stay here and make sure everything is okay.”
They both give him a salute. “Please take care, father,” Silver says, forgoing the formalities.
“Stay safe, your majesty!” Sebek bows deeply to Malleus.
The two fae give one last nod before they vanish.
Standing at the entrance to your home, it’s oddly quiet and deserted. Dark, gloomy clouds loom threateningly in the distance. For a brief moment Malleus wishes he could have seen you during your childhood. But that thought quickly fades as he remembers the scars that criss-cross your back. Bitterness fills his mouth and anger boils to the surface.
The front gate is locked, but he simply blows it away with a snap of his fingers. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Lilia gives Malleus a reassuring squeeze. “Everything is going to be okay. But…maybe we shouldn’t destroy everything.”
There’s a beat of silence before Malleus calms himself, though his fists remain clenched. “Let’s head inside.”
They enter the home but there’s still not a soul to be found. There’s an eeriness to the dead silence. Passing rooms, there’s evidence of the occupants hastily leaving. The two fae follow the strong presence of magic. They enter an outdoor courtyard though it looks like it’s seen better days.
There in the middle sits a figure slumped over. Malleus’s eyes widen as he rushes over calling your name. However, he’s stopped by another voice. “I’m so glad you could come, your majesty.” Duke Wynters stands on a balcony that overlooks the courtyard. Malleus notes he seems to favor his left side. Small flecks of ice cling to his tattered coat sleeve.
Clenching his teeth, his hands itch to burn him without thought. But the smug look on the man’s face makes him cautious. He has something up his sleeve if he can confidently speak down to two powerful fae.
“Let her go,” he orders. “And I will make your death a merciful one.”
The duke cackles. He gestures to the still slumped over figure. “Unfortunately, I cannot give you my dear daughter unless you’re willing to make a deal.”
His eyes burn with disgust. “Or I could just kill you right now.”
“You could. But then you’d also be killing her.” Duke Wynters raises both hands and starts moving his fingers. Now, Malleus can see what’s going on. Thin strings of magic are connected to each of the duke’s fingers. And they’re attached to you.
Your body suddenly moves. You jerkily raise your head and stand up. You're holding a dagger in one hand. Like a puppet, you mechanically point the blade at him. The strange crimson metal gleams under the low light. However, Malleus can see the pain and panic in your eyes. Despite your body being controlled, you’re fully conscious of what’s going on.
The duke continues, “You see, my unique magic allows me to control a person’s body like a marionette. However, my life and their life are connected until I end the magic. I believe you’re a smart one, you understand what I’m saying.” He grins sharply.
“What do you want?” Malleus finally asks.
The man chuckles. “All you need to do is to take her place. Call off your man and promise no harm shall come to me. In return, I’ll release your beloved.”
“How can I guarantee that once I die, you’ll keep your word?”
“Malleus I don-” Lilia is cut off with a look.
The duke sighs. “Honestly, you should have more faith in your father-in-law. But I will make a magic oath with you.”
Malleus doesn’t hesitate. “I accept.”
A wide, crazed grin forms on the duke’s face. “I knew you’d make the smart choice!”
“Malleus!” Lilia protests. “Don’t do this!”
“What choice do I have, Lilia?” Tears are streaming down your face. “If I don’t do this, she’ll die. And if she’s gone, I…I might as well be dead.”
The older fae can’t find any words. Of course he wants the queen back. But if Briar Valley loses their king, he’s not sure what will happen. However, Lilia can’t think of a way out of this. If what the duke told them of his unique magic is true, then they can’t kill him without killing you. And even if it might not be true, Malleus isn’t the type to take that sort of gamble. Not with you on the line.
Duke Wynters sighs. “This could have all been avoided if my dear stupid child had followed the plan. Instead she goes and falls in love with you.” Clucking his tongue, he shakes his head with feigned sadness. “That blade she’s holding is special. We spent so much time and resources looking for something that could kill such a powerful creature like you. The blade is cursed so that no wound made with it can be healed with magic or potions.”
Suddenly you start to jerkily walk toward Malleus while wielding the blade. The fear in your eyes shines brightly as you hold the blade inches from where his heart is. Your hand shakes.
Malleus meets your gaze. He had vowed to never make you unhappy, but it seems he’s unable to keep that promise.  Reaching out, he cups your face and brushes away the tears. “Do not worry, my heart, everything will be okay.” Pressing a kiss to your forehead, he can feel the blade’s point press into him. He closes his eyes.
“NO!” The shout that breaks through the tense silence chills him to the bone. Eyes opening, he only briefly sees you smiling through your tears with the blade plunged deep into your chest. You crumble to the ground.
The duke lets out a horrified scream that turns into a choke gurgle. He clutches at his chest as he loses his balance. He falls forward and plummets from the balcony. His body hits the ground with a sickening crunch.
However, Malleus is preoccupied with the blood that seeps from your body. Holding you close to him, he attempts to use magic on the wound. He ignores the blood that soaks into his clothes. But the blade only seems to absorb it. He mutters an apology as he pulls the blade out and attempts to heal the wound. Still nothing happens.
His voice cracks, “Lilia, what do I do?!” For the first time, Malleus is powerless.
Lilia shakes his head. “I don’t know…”
Your eyes flutter open. You attempt to touch him but you have no energy, so your hand falls uselessly aside. Malleus cradles your body. “Don’t leave me! Please!”
Your eyes glaze over. “No!” Malleus screams your name, but you don’t move. Dark clouds block out the sky and the wind howls outside as green lightning flashes.
A loud, mournful roar shakes the very earth.
---
You wake to bright fluorescent lights and the sound of a steady beeping noise. There’s also the familiar music of Idia’s favorite idol game playing. Turning your head to the sound, you spot Idia sitting in a chair with his eyes glued to his phone. It’s strange seeing him. Your head feels like mush as you try to gather your thoughts. Your heart throbs painfully for a moment before the feeling fades.
“Idia?” you call him.
He looks up from his screen, eyes widening. “You’re finally awake!”
Trying to piece together the last thing you remember, you ask, “What’s going on?”
“You fell down the stairs to the subway.” He pauses his game. “The doctors said you might be confused. Do you still remember everything?”
Sitting up, you glance at the clock on the wall with a slow nod. “How long was I out?”
“About a day.”
Touching the back of your head, you wince. “Are you sure? I swear it feels like I’ve been asleep for a long time.”
“Yup. You left me a message yesterday. By the way, it’s not a cringe book! Only noobs like you would think that,” he scoffs.
“Book?” Your head feels like a jumbled mess.
He rummages through his backpack before pulling out a familiar book. “The one I lent you. ‘Melting the Dragon King’s Heart’ is a heartfelt strangers-to-friends-to-lovers royal romance! It has everything you could ask for! Evil queen, hot dragon fae, spunky protagonist and a talking cat!”
You take the book from him. Frowning, you stare at the cover. The dragon king looks like a generic dark haired man. Yet, it looks wrong. “Are you sure he always looked like this?”
“What’s wrong with the way Malford looks?” You can see the annoyance in his face.
“Malford? Are you sure that’s his name?” You point to the cover. “I swear he looked different…”
Idia shrugs. “The dragon king is Malford Drago. He’s always looked like that. Yeesh! I know you didn’t like the story but at least pay attention to the main leads.”
When trying to remember, your head throbs painfully. Letting out a deep sigh, you fall back into the pillow. “Maybe I did hit my head harder than I thought…”
Glancing at the time, India starts packing up. “Visiting hours are almost over. I’ll let the nurses know you’re awake and come back tomorrow. Do you want me to bring anything for you?”
“I’m good. Thanks, Idia.” Smiling briefly, you close your eyes as you suddenly feel tired. Even as you drift off again, you feel like something’s missing.
---
A month after your fall down the subway stairs, you’re darting across the street. Dodging cars and people, you shout into the phone pressed to your ear. “I’ll be there in a few hours, Idia! I promise! I just forgot to grab some food.”
“I have food,” he grumbles. You can hear battle music in the background. 
“You have cavity-inducing candy! I need real food!” You skillfully weave your way through the people. “The raid can wait, my stomach can’t. I’ll text you when I’m heading over.” You end the call before Idia can argue further.
Despite going back to your usual routine, something feels off. The doctor had reassured you that you might feel a bit confused, but that you would be fine. You feel like something is missing. When you’re sleeping, you have such vivid dreams. Yet, when you wake up, you can’t recall anything and there’s a painful throbbing in your chest. When you checked with your doctor, they just passed it off as part of your body’s response to the accident. You tried your best to ignore it since then.
Pausing, you realize you’re standing near the subway. The same place where you fell because you weren’t paying attention. Tucking your phone into your pocket, you carefully descend down the stairs. You’re only halfway down when someone bumps into you.
“Hey!” The perpetrator rushes down without looking back.
Grumbling under your breath, you take a step. But your foot misses. You briefly wonder what Idia will say when he finds out you're in the hospital again. However, the fall never comes because the person coming up the stairs reaches out to save you.
Pressed against them, you meet familiar green eyes. They’re wide with surprise. “Are you okay?” Something about the voice sends a spark through your body. You know that voice.
Righting yourself, you frantically nod. “Y-yes! Thank you!”
He smiles. “Of course.” He pauses, brows furrowing. “You’re the one from before.”
“Huh?” You’re pretty sure you’ve never met despite the strange feeling.
He nods. “Yes, I remember. You fell down the stairs a few weeks ago. I tried to catch you but unfortunately didn't make it. I’m glad to see you’re okay, though.”
So he was the voice that called to you when you fell. “I…thank you for catching me this time. I should be more careful.”
When he smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Maybe keep both eyes forward. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt again.”
“…” You don’t know what else to say. He’s breathtakingly beautiful and even more so when he smiles. His sharp green eyes are warm when they meet your gaze. You’re usually not the type to fall for a pretty face, but you can’t deny the instant attraction.
He seems to take your silence as the end of the conversation. “It’s nice to see you again. I hope you stay safe.” He nods before heading upstairs.
You stand there on the step frozen. The further he gets, the more your heart aches. Why? Touching your chest, you bite the inside of your cheek. Taking a deep breath, you rush back up. Looking around frantically, you see him already halfway down the street.
“W-wait!” you shout. Phone pressed to his ear, he turns with a slight frown, but his expression softens when he sees you.
You rush across the street, nearly getting hit by a car. They honk loudly while yelling unintelligible out the window. Ignoring them, you rush to him. Trying to calm your erratic heart, you take a deep breath.
“Let me call you back, Lilia,” you hear him say into the phone before ending the call and tucking the phone into his pocket. “Are you okay?” he asks, a single eyebrow raised.
You nod. “I-I wanted to ask if you’d like to grab a drink with me if you’re not busy. To thank you for saving me.” Yes, that sounds like a valid excuse. And it's not like Idia expects you anytime soon.
He tilts his head to the side. “You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” You swallow nervously. “If you want to, that is…”
He regards you silently before agreeing. “I’d love to.”
Beaming, you hold out your hand. “Great. I’m (Y/N).”
When he takes your hand to shake, butterflies fill your stomach. He eyes your clasped hands with interest. “I’m Malleus,” he replies.
You stand there like an idiot still holding his hand. But he doesn’t seem to want to let go either. Your heart feels full and for the first time since the accident, the pain is no longer there.
Tag list: @candlewitch-cryptic, @whatstheoccasion, @nimko, @yo4sblog, @mc-cos-charm, @mochiclouds, @41sh4, @unloadingdata, @noctifer-cynoct, @rincommittedarsin, @liesatemyocean , @mavix
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aka-indulgence · 4 months
Text
Got a oneshot! Have a fic where Sans rejects your romantic pursuits with a happy twist ;)
CW: Flashback section containing Sans’ ex, where he wasn’t having a good time
(Sans & Gender Neutral Reader)
Sans doesn’t know what he thinks about the whole romance thing after a disastrous start. What happens when a precious friend confesses?
——————
It wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Sans didn’t think much of it when you came that day. Sans would often usually invite you over anyway, though today you were first to ask him if you could visit. Which was fine- he’s never as comfortable with anyone else as much as he was comfortable with you. (Maybe Papyrus, but even then there were things Sans wouldn’t tell his brother because he didn’t want to burden him with problems that Sans would rather burden himself with.)
You were laughing. He always loved it when you laughed.
“so i told him: paper-thin skin? buddy. pal. i ain’t got skin.”
You were in an uproar, slapping your knee. “Oh my god! I’d give the world to see the look on his face,”
“oh yeah. definitely unforgettable. man got so red faced he looked like he was gonna burst. he then stomped out like an angry toddler.”
You were giggling, before the both of you fell into a silence. That was a normal part of conversations, Sans was used to it. Especially with you, the silence was never unwelcome. But this time… something felt different. The air has shifted. Your carefree expression had changed into something more contemplative. He wasn’t sure what it was, then. Or maybe, he just didn’t want to read too deep into it.
You spoke up.
“... Hey Sans? Can I tell you something?”
Why was he nervous?
“... yeah?”
“It’s… um. Give me a second…” you laughed nervously. “Haha, sorry, I feel a little sick.”
Sans’ brows furrowed. “what’s up? you ok..?”
You huffed. “Ok. Yeah. Sorry for ruining the moment? But uh… it’s been on my mind for a while, and I have to tell you. I hope you’re ok with me saying this but. I like you, Sans. Kind of… a lot?”
… Ringing. Sans hears ringing. It feels like something in his soul crashed.
“... Sans?”
Sans wasn’t there. His mind was somewhere else.
“i just… i just don’t know if i like you in that way…”
Her face broke into despair. She wouldn’t look his way. She didn’t even say a word to him.
“w… wait. why are you… where are you going?”
“I can’t be here.”
It was years ago. Monsters had lived on the surface for about a year. She was one of Papyrus’ friends, and their first meeting had been wonderful. It still leaves an ache in his chest when he thinks about it now, how hopeful he was when he met her. She was fun, always got Sans involved in social events, always found her way towards him when he was sitting on the sidelines while Papyrus took the stage.
“hey i wouldn’t recommend the punch.”
“Why not?”
“y’see, i like funny things. and that thing… it ain’t got a punchline.”
“... Are you seriously punning?”
“i think i’m being funny.”
“Hah, that’s so stupid,”
She was laughing. But when Sans thinks about it now, maybe it was a pitying one. Sans wasn’t one to judge, puns didn’t win everyone over.
She quickly became a regular in his life, the first human friend he’s made since the surface, one that seemed more interested in him than his brother. She would even pout and joke when Sans didn’t give her enough attention which was cute, at the time. It was easy introducing her to his friends, with how often she tagged along with him.
She would put her arm over his shoulders, hug him, get so close to kissing but miss… Sans never initiated, but only because he wasn’t much of a physical person to begin with. It was nice to have someone so affectionate with him.
He really liked having her in his life.
And then… came that fateful day.
“I was going to wait for you. But you never asked me out.”
“what do you mean…?”
“I know you’re smart, Sans. I’ve been obvious. I just don’t know if you even like me.”
He didn’t know where this had come from. He was suddenly put on the spot, struggling to give her an answer, an answer that he knew she wanted. But Sans was lost.
“i just… i just don’t know if i like you in that way…”
“...”
She was stoic. She was upset with him, she left him alone in his room after he brought out the games he was hoping to play together. Had he made a mistake…? Was he really that dense? Was he just terrible with commitment?
She… she deserved better.
So he decided to fix it. At least, he thought he was fixing it. Though it turned to be a decision Sans would regret soon after.
He showed up at her door the next night. She hadn’t responded to his texts, his calls. Not even Papyrus’. He felt guilty, like he ruined something perfectly good.
i can’t lose her.
Sans was starting to panic if she maybe had left- then the door opened. Sans soul shook when he saw how her face fell when she saw his face. She was going to retreat back into her room.
“w-wait! please listen to me,” His hand was at the door. “i… i made a mistake. you’re important to me, ok? and i think i want… to be with you.”
His soul sung when she finally looked him in the eyes. There were tears in hers, but she was smiling, and he was happy to have her hugging him again. The tension snapping was a relief. That he saved himself. But even then he wondered… why did it taste bitter to say those last few words?
It… didn’t last long. More and more of Sans’ time was taken up by her, which… should be a good thing. Couples should spend lots of time together, right? But he didn’t have time for his friends anymore. Everytime she went out, he needed to come with.
“Sans, you smell like ketchup.”
“oh… yeah, i put too much on my hotdog.”
“Come on, you need to eat something better. People keep telling me you smell like grease.”
“... really?”
“Yeah. Here, I got you new clothes. Crisp!”
“oh… thanks.”
“Get ready, I’m planning to go at six.”
He was becoming active. He was going out every day, he wasn’t locking himself in his room.
It was for the better, he told himself. She brought out the life in him.
… Sans always thought he was intuitive. He was the best at reading people. He’s the judge. It came to him like breathing.
But apparently, he had been blinded. He had a hard time trusting himself. That maybe his gut feeling was wrong.
“SANS…”
Papyrus had found him alone during a party, having escaped to the bathroom. His sockets had bags under them. His face was dripping with water. He just… needed to rest. Without anyone else around.
“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”
“yeah… i am. just needed to freshen up is all.”
Papyrus looked so… sad. He hadn’t seen his brother frown so deeply, in a way that made Sans feel guilty.
“SANS. I KNOW YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO PROTECT ME FROM YOUR FEELINGS EVEN THOUGH I DON’T NEED YOU TO DO THAT BUT… YOU HAVEN’T LIED SINCE WE SURFACED, AND NOW IT’S BACK. AND I THINK… YOU MIGHT BE LYING TO YOURSELF AS WELL. BROTHER… WHAT’S THE MATTER?”
Sans was getting sloppy. He looked away from him, to the mirror- he couldn’t handle that sorrowful look on Papyrus’ face. All that did though, was force him to confront his own expression. His signature smile wasn’t even there. And Sans couldn’t muster the energy to bring it back.
“I DON’T WANT TO PRY, IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE, BUT… Could This Have Something To Do With Her?”
Sans should’ve said no. Denied it. Told Paps that everything was fine and he was just… just overwhelmed. But he didn’t.
“i… maybe. i…” He exhaled through his phalanges, staring at the bottom of the sink. “i don’t know if i love her, pap. at least… romantically. i’m… i’m trying paps, i’m trying, i should- she deserves to have someone love her. i want to love her.”
Papyrus finishes his thought for him.
“BUT YOU DON’T.”
“... no.”
Sans felt horrible. He felt like he was leading her on. But Sans really thought that he loved her. He did! He cared for her!
… But not in the way she wanted.
And Sans didn’t want to pretend anymore.
“What did it? Did… did you find another person??”
“no. it’s nothing like that.”
“Then what changed?!”
She was shouting. Sans didn’t like the shouting. She never took kindly to him giving anyone- anything else attention. Sans tried to fix it, at first. He thought he was the problem until he got the messages asking him where he was, why he was so absent.
“nothing has, it was just a lot of little things. i’m sorry. i don’t love you in that way.”
“... How could you say something so horrible!?”
It was a good thing they hadn’t moved in together. She had insisted on moving, and that was one thing Sans could put his foot down about. He has a couple of old shirts and pants at her place from the nights he’s stayed, but nothing he’ll miss much. Lots of them were clothes she approved. It smelled like perfume. Even when he thought he was in love with her he thought moving together then was too fast.
She blocked him. Cut him out. Told her friends how Sans didn’t try hard enough when she put in the effort. Sans was never a crier- but he was in tears, hiding in his room. He would talk about it with Papyrus, but right then, he didn’t want anyone to hear. He wanted to throw his phone, he wanted to scream at her. He loved her! Maybe- maybe he never wanted to date her, maybe, if they hadn’t they’d still be friends but she always just… took too much.
It was nice when Papyrus chose to cut her off, to show support for him. It was ironic, even though Sans was the one she always chased, she always seemed to be on good terms with Papyrus. Even would ask him to put in a word for her after their arguments.
Sans was fine now. No- more than fine. Sans was happy. His time with her being a mere bump during his time on the surface.
Then, not too long after, he met you.
He never realized what was missing until he met you. You gave him space, and you never asked him to change for you. You… you liked who he was, you liked Sans.
After her Sans was afraid to attach so fast but… he really, really wanted to keep you in his life. He might even like you, more than a friend would. But he wasn’t ready to start another storm in his life.
As he looked into your eyes, he felt his soul sink. He wasn’t ready for it to end.
“... i… i’m sorry,” Why was the air so hot? “i… i… hhh,”
“Huh?”
It was a little hard to breathe. Which should be impossible. He’s a skeleton… air… air literally moves through his ribcage. He isn’t… uh… what’s happening?
You were frowning. Oh no. Were you upset?
“S-Sans? Are you ok?”
Sans was gripping the couch too tightly, phalanges digging into the couch cushions, close to ripping them. Beads of sweat were rolling down his skull. He suddenly felt pathetic… panicking over you.
“Sans?”
His eyelights darted back to you, bringing him back to the present. You looked so confused… he felt so guilty.
no… i can’t do it again.
“i… sorry. i don’t… mean to panic in front of you but… are you upset?”
“About what? I’m… Sans, you’re not making a lot of sense.”
He presses a hand to his face, then takes a deep breath. His mind was in a frizzle and he had to explain to you now before he goes crazy.
“sorry, my mind is a mess right now. i… i don’t want to make you sad. but i don’t know if i’m ready for a relationship right now. and it isn’t you, it’s… it’s me. i don’t want to take away your hope or anything but… i don’t know if i’ll ever be ready for a romantic relationship.”
You blinked at him.
“Oh,”
 Sans tensed. Expecting you to explode, or cry, or yell at him, run out the house, hate him, oh god he ruined everything-
“Sans, that’s… ok?”
“...”
what?
“w… what do you mean?”
You’re confused. Sans was too. You shift your eyes left and right.
“I mean… that’s ok. I just didn’t want to make you upset is all, and w… why are you looking at me like that?”
Was he dreaming? His eyelight flashed yellow, as if he could find something. He scanned your face, your eyes, your nose- looking for a shudder, a twitch, even a pulse out of place.
Your face was neutral. Was it just hard to read you?
“you know, you can tell me if you’re upset.” Sans was telling the truth. “i can take it. i’d rather you tell me straight to my face if you are. i… i don’t want to lose you.”
You look startled at his sudden pleading, before giving him a pitiful smile. You put your hands on his shoulders.
“Sans? Can you look at me?” You asked in a soft voice.
It was difficult to look up. He knows you, you’re not the type to yell at him or to curse him for little things. He’d trust his judgment but he’s been mistaken before. Nonetheless, slowly, he tilts his skull up to you. When he does, he sees the determination in your eyes, a fierce yet gentle look.
“Sans. Believe me, I’m ok. You’re not going to lose me if you tell me no. Ok?”
“m… mhm,”
Your serious expression melts a little when you start snickering. “Sans, I… I didn’t even get to finish my sentence. I was about to tell you that I’ll understand if you don’t wanna do a whole romance with me, I’ll be fine! I think it’d be great, and I stand by saying I like you a lot. But, I also like where we are right now, and staying like this is pretty nice too. Just being with you is fun, and whether you’re my friend or my boyfriend, that’s not going to change. So… if you’re ok with staying friends after my confession, I think I’d like that.”
The static of panic started to fade away, and a feeling of calm washed over him. The relief was so potent that Sans could feel his sockets start to sting.
h… heh… i was worrying for nothing.
“yes. god, i’d like that too,” Sans wobbles, phalange wiping his socket. “i was scared that if… if i said no you’d hate me.”
“Pfft,” you snort, before you quickly covered your mouth. “Sorry that wasn’t, I’m not laughing at you. I just want to know what made you think that?”
You bump him gently on the shoulder with your fist. “I thought you knew me!”
Sans snickers, a bit more giggly than usual. “i do! i just have doubts when it comes to romance nowadays,” He sighed. “so… you’re really ok with being friends?”
“Yeah! What’s so bad about being friends anyway? As long as you’re not weirded out by me, if I still get to see you, I count that as a win.”
Sans thought the same thing. He smiled.
“yeah… you’re right.”
It was definitely a win having you in his life.
You go oof! When all of a sudden Sans tugs you into a hug, squeezing you tightly.
“i’m… i’m glad i met you.”
You take him in for a moment, before wrapping your arms around him. You squeeze him back.
“Me too.”
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corollaservant · 10 days
Text
Retail Therapy // Dabi x f!reader x Shigaraki (18+)
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Synopsis: Working as a sales assistant in a high end sneaker shop is boring. But you're about to be taught otherwise.
Warnings: noncon/dubcon, degradation, vaginal and oral sex, illegal recording, mentions of crimes, ableist remarks (not from reader), harassment, dumbification
A/N: idk how I thought of LOV as streamers (but not like gamers). Thank you to the anon from @corollaburner (my spam acc) who said yes when I asked if someone wants this (im in tears :.) Hope you like it! (longer fic?)
Another boring day at work. But honestly, what were you expecting? 
You didn’t know anyone who had fun working in retail. Not that this would be your job forever, as you planned on quitting and you know, try something else. Dropping out of college may have not been a smart move but you were confident that you’d find your path, somewhere, sometime. The store was never busy, the pricing and interior design repelling most passers-by and only attracting a couple influencer kids (you often laughed at the term) accompanied by their rich parents or a few unknown athletes in an effort to buy designer and make a better name for themselves. High end clients never showed up in person, they had no reason to, no one shopped at boutiques anymore, all the more sneaker ones. 
You would often kill time by watching stuff online (who didn’t), looking at the latest socialite news in various media outlets, the world was going downhill, you thought, as you absentmindedly sipped from your water bottle, articles writing about villains, social pariahs, as they’d branded them, parading power by killing innocent civilians ‘for the fun of it’. 
Your thoughts were interrupted when two shadows at the door caused you to look up. Customers? No way. Your heart stopped for a second thinking to yourself what kind of a twisted game of fate this was, as both walked through the door. Who didn’t fucking know them, Dabi and his subordinate, the man he had on a leash even though he was the supposed boss, Shigaraki Tomura. What the fuck where they doing here? 
The taller man, which you knew was Dabi, wore a dark blue jacket with its collars ripped and matching pants that cut off above his ankles while his patched purple skin stood out, as surgically attached staples (or where these piercings?) moved when he smiled. Despite the menacing appearance, you had to admit he looked quite.. elegant? His shorter companion didn't fail to catch your eye either, a hood pulled low over his face wearing a miserable plain outfit. Under other circumstances, you’d throw pathetic guys like them in a second out the establishment, the store wasn’t some charity/asylum but you quickly reconsidered once you remembered the recent streaming they made. Shigaraki filmed Dabi burning up a whole forest just to kill some time as they laughed. Problem was they had accidentally murdered some poor people on a picnic, who they’d later find and film, joking about how ‘today was not the day for a picnic, guys’. The two guys would livestream the whole thing on various platforms, other times they’d upload it later on a channel they owned under an alias, where perverse comments encouraged shit like that and gave them both views. They obviously had a clear immoral viewpoint on heroes (they despised the filth society had created on false pretense) and never failed to shout it even louder. 
‘’Hello, sweetheart.’’ Dabi greeted you, approaching the register. His loyal dog followed close, hands in his pockets and a sly smile. 
‘’Me and my friend would like to check out a few shoes today, we’re feeling.. generous.’’ he continued. 
You quickly regained composure and stammered a ‘’y-yes, sure’’ as they looked at you, Dabi's eyes diverting to look at your work uniform, a blazer with exposed bust and a tight pencil skirt (yeah yeah you knew this was a high end sneaker store but rules were rules and you had to attract the filthy rich men somehow). 
‘’W-what would you guys l-like to see?’’ you were choking on the words, the proximity not helping further. 
‘’Sweetie got a speech impediment?’’ Shigaraki said directly to your face before Dabi interrupted.
‘’Don’t listen to this asshole, he isn’t getting any so he’s always pissed off.’’ to which the first scowled but remained silent. 
Dabi seemed.. kind? you thought as you looked at him and shyly moved to the display shelves. 
‘’S-so, could you guys tell me what you’re looking for exactly?’’ you couldn’t believe these two had to come to your place for fucking shoes, somehow the thought of villains having to buy clothes had never really crossed your mind. 
‘’We don’t fucking care, sweetheart’’ Dabi said looking directly at your fluttering from anxiety chest and eyeing your tits. Such a pervert, thinking you wouldn’t notice. 
The whole time Shigaraki was on his phone, which he held in a bizzare way, it was known his quirk involved his hands but you never bothered to care, both these guys were murderous and you possessed no ‘quirk’ or whatever they called it in hero circles so it really wouldn’t matter if it came down to physical altercations. 
‘’We have t-these ones’’ you lifted your arm up to show Dabi a new pair you got in last week as his eyes traveled to your bent ass, your skirt accentuating the curves even more, as he smirked to himself. 
‘’T-they collaborated two brands for this.’’ you murmured, not sure he heard you. His presence made you anxious, you knew what he was capable of and definitely wanted to live another day. 
‘’Oh yeah?’’ Dabi said. ‘’How much do these cost? They’re fucking ugly.’’
You opened your mouth to retort but settled with a ‘’T-two grand’’ which came off unsure and hesitant. 
‘’These are dead. Two grand for these abominations? Hey Shiggy, come look!’’ he told the man who had been too consumed with his phone to listen to the conversation.
‘’Look at that shit man, can you believe trash heroes buy that for two grand?’’ he asked as the latter responded
‘’Yeah I really don’t give a fuck, buy your shit and go, I have content to upload.’’
‘’Please excuse him, baby, he’s just a weirdo who gets off on livestreaming the people he decays, don’t worry we won’t take long.’’ 
Decaying? Livestreams? And why did he call you baby? These guys had to be joking, they were openly talking about murdering people for fun and you suddenly felt sick, your stomach with its contents turned over.
You had been silent, looking at them in horror, while Dabi broke the silence.
‘’Awwh, c’mon now, I’ll be nice. I think I might like these.’’ he said and pointed to a pair of black plain sneakers, they’d suit him, you thought despite the predicament.
You must’ve not reacted at all so he spoke again:
‘’Are you slow, sweetheart? I said I want to try these on, in 15’’ in a tone that made you immediately snap out of your thoughts and take a step back, he felt too close through your peripherals. 
‘’L-let me check in the b-back for you guys’’ you apologetically mewled as you backtracked, you couldn’t even turn around but slowly got to the storage room. Fuck, you thought, of course he had to be wearing one of the largest freaking sizes, your store never brought these as no one ever bought them, what was he, a fucking giant? You were frantically searching through storage drawers and basically anything scattered you could find across the room but with no success, the pair was sold out -it was a basic choice- and the sizing available was 13 and below. Shit, you cursed, as you were about to exit, when you saw two figures at the door startling you. 
‘’What’s taking you so long? Lost in the hallway?’’ Dabi mocks, as Shigaraki snorts. 
‘’I- i- couldn’t f-find the ones you’re looking for’’ you avert your eyes as you utter the words and Dabi’s smirk wavers as he stares at you.
‘’What does that mean, baby?’’ he asks, as he inches closer. ‘’You should be grateful I even chose this shitty store in the first place. It’s not enough you charge poor customers two grand for shoes I can find in the dumpster, now you’re telling me you don’t have the one pair I actually liked?’’ he raises his tone as he has you practically pinned against the door. You could’ve sworn the other guy's laughing but the room’s spinning and you try to take a deep breath. 
‘’I- i’m sorry, guys, p-please let me try to find s-something else- for you, I-’’
‘’No, I think you can just shut the fuck up now, sweetheart. I don’t want excuses from that dumb little mouth of yours’’ His words hurt as you try blinking your tears away, it used to help but not when they’re flooding your eyes like a stream anyway. You feel like this could actually be your end and matter of fact, anyone would know soon enough, as you’d probably also get livestreamed while they’re at it.
‘’Soo.. let me get this straight, you can’t find a proper excuse, you don’t have my shoes, you make me and Tomura wait while you're blabbering some bullshit and you scam stupid cunts for money. Does your boss know he’s hired the dumbest whore on the planet? Or do you fuck him to keep your job? Shame truly, all this for a shitty job, you reaally gotta be desperate.’’ he says and now the tears are well formed and fall from your eyes, as you sob- you literally sob, ashamed and hurt, these men didn't even know you and here they were throwing words around because of a pair of fucking shoes, you feel disgusting, useless and embarrassed, as you choke out some ‘’im s-sorry’’s and apologize profusely.
None of them seem to care about your tears or your stuffed nose, snots falling on your chest and staining the work blazer and Dabi continues in an amused tone.
‘’Stop crying, it's pathetic. Be of use instead, will you?’’ he sighs and signals to Shigaraki, who had been watching intently the whole time, to come close. 
‘’Tomura, how do you think bitches like her pay when they can’t satisfy my needs?’’ he asks the man, who contemplates for a second, kind of clueless and annoyed, interrupted from the live streaming of the rest of the LOV. 
‘’Ugh.. I don't know, kill her? Listen man, we don’t have much time, we have to go meet the rest, so whatever you want to do, make it quick, I want to show my face in Toga’s stream, she has too many hot bitches watching her.’’ he sighs.
This man is out of his mind.
‘’Shiggy you fucking incel, it’s not like you’re going to fuck any of them, so how about you put your scrambled decayed brain to good use?’’ Dabi responds, all while you’re looking at the exchange horrified, where the fuck is this going?
‘’Well, since apparently I’m the smart one here, I’ll tell you both how this is gonna end up.’’ Dabi exhales, he sounds bored but his eyes gleam, he seems amused. ‘’You can’t offer me my shoes? You offer me your body, it’s not like you have anything else going on for you anyways. I fuck you and your little cunt and you’’ he turns his attention to Shigaraki, ‘’you’re going to film the whole fucking thing. Should grant you enough pussy once I let you participate.’’
-
You want to scream, you really do. But there’s no words coming out, the phone’s too far away, the storage room hidden in plain sight and there’s two guys ganging up on you so what’s the only thing you do? Beg.
‘’P-please, Dabi, I can- I can help you find something else, we have-’’ you blabber but he cuts you off.
‘’Wow doll, surprised your dumb brain memorized the name. But I don’t blame you, I would too.’’ He’s inching closer to you as you backtrack, each step he takes leads you towards the end of the room, the closet touches your back as you’re pinned under him, touching the shelves. 
‘’Got the camera on?’’ he tells Shigaraki, without turning to look at him, while the latter scoffs.
‘’Yeah, all set’’ he says, you can see him holding his phone and wait impatiently.
‘’Now’’ Dabi says, ‘’take that nasty shirt off, God, who dresses whores like you up? Tits out and everything for the public to see.’’ he says as your shaking hands start unbuttoning the work blazer, you had no shirt under it, it was a hot day and you hadn’t bothered, it’s not like customers were frequent. 
He’s so close to you that your arms touch on his shirt as you slowly remove it and it falls down your shoulders, your bare tits in full display not just for him but for Shigaraki’s camera to film as well. His eyes rake you up and down, your cheeks stained with tears, your hair disheveled and flying all over as your tits bounce on your chest, rising and falling from anxiety. It’s swift, but you notice how his turquoise eyes widen-not a lot since they’re heavy lidded and half patched- to the sight of your tits.
‘’Fuck, these look nice’’ he comments as he brings up both hands to grope them while you gasp. His hands are not as cold as you expected, they’re large, slender and painted black as he starts circling his wrists while still at a fair distance. You moan and he smirks, Shigaraki switching spots to get a better angle. 
Dabi closes the distance as his face is on yours, his breath on your mouth as you close your eyes and he laughs.
‘’Awhh, did you think I’d kiss you?’’ he says as you whimper frustrated but he continues ‘’Whores like you don’t deserve kisses.’’ He grabs your skirt with both hands, as he aggressively lowers it. 
His words cut deep and you fight the urge to let another stream of tears fall down your face, you’d been called names in the past, but the way he talked intimidated and upset you way more than anyone before. Unbeknownst to him, your felt your panties soaked, his hands on your tits had turned you on, the thought of you being like this disgusted you. You really were pathetic and he’d soon find out.
His hands cupped your clothed cunt as you moaned ‘’D-dabi, please’’ to which a voice from the back laughed, you had completely forgotten about Shigaraki, the fact that he was watching (and filming) making you want to vomit.
‘’Baby, please shut the fuck up.’’ Dabi said as he moved to your left and continued ‘’Tomura, are you getting this?’’ but at this point Tomura was not only getting it but holding the phone with one hand while the other rubbed his hard-on.
Dabi moves your panties to the side, almost ripping them apart and pushes two fingers without warning in your lubricated cunt as you choke on a moan, his fingers feel so good around you and he knows how to move them inside you, working his way deeper, while they’re already long.
‘’Man, you’re not gonna believe how wet she is’’ he tells Tomura, who hums and strokes his clothed cock, his phone shaking in his hand. 
You’re being moved up and down the shelves, his fingers penetrating your cunt with force as you feel the pressure in your core build up, you think about fucking yourself on his fingers, grinding up and down but he brings his other hand to your neck and chokes you unfortunately correctly, blocking your airway immediately: ‘’Don’t think you get to decide when to cum’’ he says as he removes his stained hands, your arousal is brought to your face as he turns around and proudly shows the camera. 
‘’Look at this retail cockwhore guys, pussy dripping from two men she couldn’t sell shoes to’’ he brags and you crumble, embarrassed and desperate for an end.
‘’D-dabi, p-please don’t say that’’ you mewl and he looks at you with pity.
‘Say what? The fucking truth? Aren’t you a little cumslut, yes or no?’’
‘’I- I - am n-not-’’
‘’I said, are you or aren’t you my little cumslut, yes - or - no?’’ he orders as you notice something small and blue igniting from his fingertips and you freeze.
‘’Say it’’ he orders.
‘’I- i am’’ you brokenly murmur, but he needs all the words. 
‘’You’re what?’’ 
‘’Y-your cumslut’’ you're shaking not wanting to believe this ordeal.
‘’I need the name too, camera's on you know’’. he says again, his patience wearing thin.
‘’I-i-am--Dabi’s cumslut’’ you look at the camera and with that he finally snaps, turning you over and grabbing you by the waist, his wet fingers touch your lower back, ass to his erection, as he spanks you and you flinch.
‘’Good, now let’s show everyone how good cumsluts like you get fucked’’ he smirks as he unzips his pants and brings his cock in between your folds. 
The sensation is intoxicating, your heat and his pre leaking in between you while your hands are stretched to touch a shelf you can’t reach. 
‘’Make sure you’re getting this’’ is all Dabi says before pushing his cock inside you as you let out a sharp cry, he’s too big and you can’t take him at once, a shooting pain up your entrance as he starts thrusting at a steady pace. 
‘’P-please ‘s too much, s-slow d-down’’ you yell behind you but he doesn’t seem to be giving a fuck, as he grabs your hips harshly and pushes his angry cockhead with hatred all the way up inside you, your pussy stretching to accommodate him and his length and you thank his fingers for the prior lubrication and mess they made in your cunt.
‘’F-fuck, feels too good’’ he groans as he rams into you, you hear a sudden whimper and look around to see Shigaraki with his cock out, moving his fist up and down his length, a phone still on his hands while his eyes are fixated on the spectacle. 
You don’t have time to beg for him to stop filming because Dabi’s slender fingers are toying with your clit, his hard cock ripping apart your insides and digits finding the bundle of nerves with ease. He teases your clit, not harshly, as his cock does that for you, but in light strokes, like he’s trying to tickle you and you feel yourself tremble, your cunt twitches on and he feels it as he groans ‘’Shit, you’re tight, too? Who would’ve expected it, hmm’’ as Shigaraki is starting his commentary on camera.
‘’Take a look guys, this is probably the biggest cockwhore we’ve seen, look closer, I bet ya 10 bucks her hole so loose, Dabi’s numb in there.’’ while Dabi huffs, skin slapping sounds reverberate through the small room, as he continues his pace, his cock disappearing between your folds.
‘’Man, shut the fuck up’’ he tells the guy behind him, ‘’her pussy’s tight as shit..or maybe I just have a big cock, unlike your incel ass’’ he says and you moan, he’s becoming harsher, his cruel words only cause more arousal, you can’t deny the pleasure he’s giving you, each time he belittles you or Shigaraki for the matter, you feel yourself tense around his hard length and while you can’t see him you imagine him drinking in your desperate arched back, frustrated whines and pathetic attempts to sink down on his cock, even though you know damn well he’s the one setting the pace and pulling all the strings.
‘’Hey, Shiggy’’ he groans, ‘’want me to let the whore fuck herself on my cock? She seems so eager’’ he tells Tomura, who at this point is solely focused on your ass sinking up and down Dabi’s cock.
‘’S-sure’’ he breathes out, too horny to care. 
Dabi stops moving, cock hard and still inside you, stretching out your cunt regardless ,as you pant frustrated, you’d been so close and he stopped once again. Fuck it, you think, you need to get your release somehow. 
You take a deep breath and start your tantalizing moves with his length throbbing in your walls, you move and grind your hips back and forth as Dabi hisses, his hands dig in your ass, a pain from a metal on your hips, you’d definitely have marks tomorrow but it feels too good and he lets you, which surprises you.
‘’D-dabi, is she good?’’ a voice calls from behind and Dabi doesn’t answer, he just lets you do your work as you increase your pace, your legs are about to fail you but you raise yourself up and grip whatever you can find in front of you while chokes escape your mouth. You think you might make yourself come and he must be on the verge too, because he grabs you by the hair and shoves his cock all the way up your cunt, leaving you breathless as he spits a ‘’enough’’ and starts drilling himself inside at his own relentless pace.
You’re feeling numb, repetitive thrusts and a heating sensation down your core, you wish for his hands on your clit so you beg. Again. 
 ‘’D-dabi, please, t-touch me there.’’ 
‘’Beggars can’t be choosers, baby.’’ he smirks, breaths ragged as he plunges his cock into you, the perfect motion for your pussy to clench and while he acted all tough, a hand is back on the aching nub, he wants you to come undone, wants to be the one bringing you to such despair. 
‘’D-dabi, I-im-hmn.. g-gonna–’’
Hairs sticking to your face, veins popping out your hands as you feel something in your stomach snap, blabber a bunch of incoherent words and release all over his cock, trembling- pussy pulsating all around him. 
He’d been waiting for this, holding himself back, he could’ve come way sooner but wanted your orgasm on him so he lets himself go with a couple final thrusts. He moans out a ‘’f-fuuck– good–..good cunt–..baby’’ before shooting his cum all the way up your cervix, long spurts that feel endless inside you and the sensation is tingling, almost satisfying in a twisted way.
A voice interrupts the moment when both of you turn to look at Shigaraki, his angry cockhead in between half a fist and a frown on his face, he seems upset.
‘’Dabi you idiot, I wanted her too’’ he says and Dabi looks at you, fucked out and cum oozing from your hole. His cum. 
‘’Well,’’ Dabi looks at you, ‘’would my favorite cumslut help a friend in need?’’ he smirks, ‘’just a quick blowjob, we don’t have all the time in the world’’ and you wordlessly nod, his gaze doesn’t leave room for debate. 
‘’C-could I please have some water?’’ you mewl, your throat dry from the sounds made earlier. 
‘’Water?’’ Dabi laughs, ‘’nah, it’s too far away. Here, have this instead.’’ he says as he approaches you and swiftly moves his hands up your cunt, gathering his cum and bringing them to your mouth. ‘’Open up’’ he orders and your eyes widen before you realize his load is lubricating your mouth, as he continues ‘’now, you can suck the incel off.’’ he says as Shigaraki is too impatient to retort and already has his cock poking at your mouth. He’s smaller but has nonetheless notable girth. 
‘’Mhm..not gonna last long, man’’ he says to which Dabi snorts, not really giving a fuck. Indeed, once you're forced to take Tomura in your mouth and bob your head up and down a couple times, he pants and whines, cock jerking in your mouth, as his hand not holding the phone (all except one finger) rests on your head pushing it down his pubes. Soon enough he comes, you can tell by the way he frantically bucks his hips up, so you remove your mouth in tears, this feels horrible. His load spurts all over the place, some lands on your hair and some on his shirt. 
‘’Fuck!’’ he groans, ‘’my shirt’s stained, you whore.’’ his voice whiny as his eyes narrow. For the first time, he inflicts terror on you, as his hand’s about to touch you when Dabi interrupts.
‘’Enough, she’ll give you another one, I’m sure shitty store sells some lame shirts, as far as I’ve seen’’ to which Tomura sighs and removes his shirt. He throws it to your face and hisses.
‘’Gross, you can keep it, cumslut’’. You feel fucked out, tainted and humiliated when Dabi speaks up.
‘’Tomura–’’ There's still hope in your eyes, as you turn to him.
‘’She's about to put in on Depop you know.’’
Dabi and Tomura smirk and you wordlessly get up, something plummets inside (your heart?), as you wipe tears inside your elbow, the only clean body part of yours.
-
It’s been hours since the shift ended but you’re curled up in bed, bruised inside out and you can’t sleep, your mind blank, as you anxiously scratch your knees. You feel violated, you remember Dabi’s hands on you, cock and fingers inside you, Tomura’s shirt and his load in your hair, which was later thoroughly washed to the point clumps fell off, when a message appears on your phone.
It’s a message request from a @ touyat and it reads:
How’s my favorite cockwhore doing?
You suddenly feel very cold, how did they even find you? Your hands shaking as you pick up your phone to unlock it only for a new request to pop up: 
@ shigarakitomura
1 attachment sent.
You take a deep breath as you contemplate.
Well, this could be worse, you try to think rationally. This could’ve been livestreamed.
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