#i mean i already knew that he came back eventually anyway so whatever

[endcrman]

Allostasis

(Chapter 4)

As a general rule of thumb, Grian doesn’t do public servers for a multitude of reasons. This one hadn’t even made it onto the list.

TW for PTSD symptoms, Self-Neglect, and minor Disordered Eating (All of these very minor in this chapter)

Read the whole fic here. (Here for Ao3/mobile.)

-

Getting back into the swing of things was easier said than done, Grian quickly found out. Nobody expected him to be normal again immediately, nobody except for himself, which was enough of a stressor he didn’t need.

He wasn’t prepared for the effort it took him to not just start wallowing in bed again, every morning began with a fight to get himself out of bed. Most days he managed, others he needed a little help. He tried not to think about how when he wasn’t out in a couple hours, somebody was flying by and checking in on him, he tried not to think about how much work he was being for everyone else.

He didn't like being work, he didn't like being an issue, even if everyone insisted he wasn't, he knew better.

He knew if it weren't for the week he spent in bed by himself, he wouldn't be receiving so many gifted meals. “Leftovers” he was told they were, as if anyone had leftovers in this server, he was being coddled; but damn if it wasn't the best he'd eaten in months, even with the guilt that piled on with every meal.

When he could, he threw himself into his own work, be it fishing, building, or being harassed by his friends at the permit office. It helped him feel normal again, being able to pretend nothing had been wrong in the first place.

“Hey Grian!”

Like he’d been doing just now.

“How’s the fishing going?” Gem had come up behind him without him noticing, which seemed to happen often while he was focused on the river. Not Gem specifically, just in general.

“Lots of junk,” he glanced over to see Gem without pulling his attention away from the bobber in the water for too long. “Plenty of fish though too, you hungry?”

She laughed a little, sitting on a nearby barrel. “I think I’m doing alright. What are you fishing for today anyways?”

What was he fishing for? He already caught his mending book a while ago, it was just a good mindless activity. He shrugged, reeling in the next bite, a cod. “Good to get me out and moving,” he admitted, casting again. “Keeps me from wasting away in bed all day.”

Gem was quiet for a bit, which made him nervous. “I’m proud of you,” she said after a while, which made him scrunch up his face.

“Ugh, no, no serious talk,” he said, laughing a little to try and lighten the mood. “Come be normal and fish with me. I need normal.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed right back, getting off the barrel to join him on the dock, sitting down to dip her feet in the water as she rummaged around for her own rod. “Let’s be normal together, whatever that is.”

“Normal for us,” Grian reiterated, soon realizing just how much his own feet were starting to hurt, just how long had he been out here? Eventually he was joining Gem, sitting cross-legged next to her. “So what’s your angle here?”

“My angle,” Gem repeated, reeling in and casting out again before she continued. “Why do I need an angle? Can’t I just want to hang out with my fishing buddy?”

“Nobody wants to just hang out with me right now,” Grian realized how bad that sounded as soon as it came out of his mouth, wincing. “I mean- that’s not-”

“I get it,” Gem interrupted him, and he let out a relieved sigh at not having to explain himself. “I’m not here to mother hen you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just missed you.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled, watching as his bobber sank beneath the water, too distracted to pull it back. “You wouldn't believe all the attention I'm getting right now, it's embarrassing.”

Another successful catch and cast from Gem. “We all feel a little guilty for not noticing sooner,” she explained, keeping her own gaze focused on the water. “I can't speak for everyone, of course, but we're trying to make up for it, I think.”

“We're veering off into serious territory again, Gem,” Grian warned, though he did nothing to stop it, hypocritical as he was. “Don't feel guilty, okay? It's not your fault, it's not anybody's fault.” Just his own. 

She barked a laugh at that, finally tearing her eyes away from the water again. “Easier said than done, but I'll try. You'll just have to convince everyone else now. You know Mumbo's worked himself up into a mess about all this, right?”

He grimaced, reeling in his empty line to set the rod aside, laying back on the dock to look up at the sky. Yeah, he knew. “I'm fine now, obviously. He knows he can just come talk to me, instead of sending you to do it.”

“Hey! I came here of my own volition!” Gem scoffed, sounding teasingly offended. “My ulterior motive is totally different from whatever he's got going on.”

Grian quirked a brow, turning his head to look at Gem again, who had a grin on her face now. “Ulterior motive, you say?”

“Well…” She drawled, reeling in another catch before setting her rod aside as well. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes when she finally looked back over at him. “You didn't hear it from me, but I think my little snail friend has been missing her usual company as well.”

It was almost embarrassing, how quickly he sat up at the mere mention of mischief. “Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. I could probably pass the message along,” he hummed, resting his chin on his hand as if deep in thought. That didn't last long though, soon enough he had a grin that matched Gem's, far too excited at the prospect to play coy. “I wonder if they’d like to see just how much Scar’s train has grown since the last time they visited.”

Gem threw her head back and laughed, scrambling to her feet. “I’m sure that’d be fantastic enrichment for them, we should see what they think.”

Grian followed her up, groaning as he was standing again on his own aching feet, but he was too excited to complain, adrenaline already pumping through his veins. “I bet I can beat you there,” he challenged, darting off before Gem could even react and cackling when she finally did shout out behind him.

He could almost hear her footsteps in the grass behind him, her own laughter quiet compared to the wind whipping past his ears as he picked up speed. Scar’s build wasn’t too far from his dock, thankfully, but he could already feel his lungs aching. He yelped as he tripped, just about falling head over heels as he rolled the last couple of feet, sprawled out on the grass as the world spun around him.

“Grian!” Gem sounded worried, and her steps slowed down as she stopped next to him, looking down from above. “Are you okay?”

He blinked, the world finally settling around him, then he cackled again and the worried look slid right off of Gem's face. “Never better!” He wheezed, starting to push himself up. Once he was sitting and catching his breath, he fluffed up his wings for a second so the feathers would lay flat again, slightly askew from his tumble. He was sure he looked like a mess in other ways too, grass stains on his knees and elbows, wild-eyed and flushed, but he couldn't bring himself to care, laughing again as Gem offered a hand to help haul him up on his feet once more.

Hearing Gem's laughter in return, he felt lighter than he had in a long time. “You are ridiculous,” she scolded, snickering regardless. “If that was a fair race I totally would have beat you.”

“Pfft, what? That was absolutely fair,” he bluffed, crossing his arms, though the look Gem gave him had him laughing yet again. “Okay. Okay, next time it'll be fair. Snails now?”

There was a pause, Gem narrowing her gaze as she crossed her own arms, but soon enough her grin was breaking through once more. “Alright, snails now.”

The two of them definitely didn't do anything but supervise as the snails did their work, eager to harass Scar and his build yet again. It really was a beautiful train so far, Grian almost felt guilty setting loose base-eating snails on it. Almost. They were small enough that the damage was barely there, just enough to be annoying, which was always his goal.

He and Gem were giggling again when they finally parted ways for the evening, prank left behind for Scar to find later, depending on when he decided to return home. Grian had his own goal now, the time with Gem making him realize just how much he missed his other friends too. Even when he was actively trying to take care of himself he was isolating and he hadn't even realized it. What else was he doing wrong?

Instead of dwelling, he found himself outside of Mumbo's base, the Mothball or whatever— surely he could come up with a better name than that, right? Cupping his hands around his mouth, he realized how helpful a horn would be in this situation. “Hey! Mumbo!”

Mumbo’s face looking through the barred windows startled him, he was almost expecting to have to go on a server-wide search he didn’t think he had the energy for. “Grian?” His eyes widened, and Grian could see his mustache curl into a smile even from this distance. “Hang on a moment, I’ll be right down!” And he disappeared again.

Grian had to stifle his laughter as Mumbo all but fell out of the hanging base, a hand clamped over his mouth as he tried to keep quiet. He mostly had it under control by the time Mumbo was up on his feet again, suit rumpled and hair sticking up in all sorts of directions. “Hi Mumbo,” his amusement was obvious, even without the laughter.

Before anything else could happen he was swept up in Mumbo’s arms, the sudden action forcing a squeak out of him as his feet left the ground, kicking a little. “Mumboooo!” He wailed, the dam holding back his laughter bursting once again. He stumbled when he was finally allowed to touch the ground again, arms out to keep his balance.

“Sorry, sorry,” Mumbo didn’t sound too sorry, more for the inconvenience than what he’d actually done, mirroring Grian’s smile with laughter in his own voice. “I just- I’ve missed you is all,” his tone petered off into something a bit more nervous as he wrung his hands together, “Scar told me a bit of what happened.”

Those words were spine chilling, and Grian felt his face fall. “He did?”

“No details!” Mumbo quickly assured him, hands landing on his shoulders. “He- he told me you weren’t telling Joel either so-” Grian felt himself relaxing a little as Mumbo squeezed gently. “He told me that something… serious happened, when we went offworld. I thought that maybe- but I- you were-” He sighed, hanging his head. “I’m sorry, Grian, truly.”

“Oh, Mumbo, no,” Grian tilted his own head forwards, bumping foreheads with his friend. “Is that why you haven’t come to see me yet?” He asked, trying to tease, “too busy feeling guilty?” Mumbo opened his mouth and closed it again, gaping a little like a fish, which meant his answer was yes, and he just didn’t want to admit it. Grian sighed, pulling away a little so Mumbo’s hands slid off his shoulders, taking one of them in his own. “Come on. We’re hanging out, no guilty feelings on my watch. Done and over with, show me what you’ve been working on.”

Mumbo perked up at that, like he always did when Grian asked about his redstone. “Well, you see, since I figured out how to get up into my base, I’ve started working on a way to categorize and organize my builds,” he said beginning to tug Grian along to show him just what he was working on, gesturing as he spoke, “if you break it down to it’s bare components it’s quite simple actually-”

Grian almost laughed at that— simple, as if— but instead he let Mumbo’s words wash over him, nodding and humming as expected. He might not have been picking up on too much of the specifics of the redstone, but it wasn’t like it was something he’d be using himself, the time spent with Mumbo was much more valuable than any redstone engineering.

“—and you’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

The words Mumbo was actually saying finally parsed in Grian’s brain, after however long of just listening without comprehending, and it made him squawk in offense. “I am too! You’ve got a- um- it’s like… a modified passcode kind of thing,” Grian bit his lower lip, waving his hand a little. “Right?”

Mumbo smiled so warmly at that, and the nod he got almost had him celebrating outwardly too. “Did you guess that, or were you actually listening to me?”

“A little bit of both,” Grian admitted with a snicker, shrugging slightly. “Sorry, I just like being here with you.” He didn’t mean for that to come out as mushy as it did, but Mumbo only looked even happier at the confession, so he didn’t mind quite too much. “Don't let it go to your head,” he tried to save.

“Aw, Grian,” Mumbo wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a side hug even as he pouted. “I like being here with you too.”

Grian huffed, reluctantly leaning into the other, his hesitance more for show than anything else. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he sighed, relaxing even more after a moment. He definitely didn’t stretch out a wing around Mumbo, and thankfully the other knew better than to comment on it, eventually continuing to explain the redstone in front of them; and Grian was actually starting to pick up on a couple of things. It wasn’t like he was clueless about redstone, he’d built a couple of contraptions at this point! He just hadn’t picked up quite the amount of knowledge Mumbo had yet.

“Are you getting tired?” Were the next couple of words directed at him, having Grian blinking his eyes open and lifting his head off of Mumbo’s shoulder.

“Huh?”

He heard Mumbo’s laugh, shaking him awake from his half-asleep daze, bringing him back to reality. “I asked if you were getting tired, but I think that’s answer enough. Let’s get you home, birdie.”

He scrunched up his face at the nickname, which just made Mumbo laugh again. “No, I’m fine. I don’t need to,” he protested, even as he allowed Mumbo to take the lead, undoubtedly leading him back to his base regardless.

“You’ve practically been sleepwalking the past half hour,” he sounded amused at least, rather than bothered or annoyed. “I appreciate the company, especially after so long, but you don’t need to stay up for my sake, G.”

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Grian huffed, falling in step with him, “nobody thinks so but I can, I’m a grown man damn it,” he wasn’t even mad at Mumbo specifically, he didn’t think he could be truly. “I shouldn’t have to be anybody’s responsibility.”

Mumbo was quiet, waiting for him to finish it seemed, because he only spoke when it seemed Grian wasn’t going to continue. “Nobody’s saying you aren’t, Grian,” his voice was purposefully even and patient, “but you’re going through a rough time, and we don’t want you to come out the other end hurt, or worse.”

He scowled a little at the thought, shaking his head. “But I’m fine now, I don’t need everyone babying me because they’re scared I’m going to- to-” He gestured with his hands, something he couldn’t describe. “-I don’t even know! But I’m not going to, I’m fine!” Even hanging out with Gem earlier, even though she had promised she wasn’t going to treat him like that, there was something unspoken in the air; and now with Mumbo too.

“Grian, I’m not trying to start an argument with you right now,” Mumbo rolled his eyes, Grian was sure of it, even if he couldn’t see it. He was being ridiculous after all. “Everybody here needs a bit of help sometimes, you just got unlucky enough that everyone else noticed, instead of just me or Pearl.”

“Scar and Joel and their blabbermouths,” Grian mumbled, kicking at the grass as they continued to walk.

“They mean well,” he was reminded.

“I know, that’s why it sucks that I can’t be mad at them,” he sighed, “everybody here means well. Bane of my existence, being cared for,” he snorted, even if Mumbo didn’t laugh with him that time.

“Grian…”

“I just wish you guys would tell me when I’m too much, I know I am sometimes,” he pouted, “I’ve been told before.” Mostly it was just when a prank went a little too far, and he had to help clean up and was told not to do it again. Which was just fine and totally fair, he just wished they’d do the same here.

“Grian, that’s not-”

“I wouldn’t get upset, even! I’d rather you guys tell me instead of working so hard to coddle me,” Grian cut him off. “Let me handle myself before I scare everyone away,” he sighed, voice dropping in volume as he crossed his arms tightly, almost hugging himself. “Sorry.”

Mumbo stopped walking, turning to face him again, and Grian couldn’t help but shrink even more under his gaze. “Grian…” Hands on his cheeks gently tilted his head up, forcing him to make eye contact as much as he was trying to avoid it. “Everyone’s trying to help because they want to, not because they feel like they have to. We like you, you’re our friend, and we hate seeing you hurt. I know you have a hard time accepting it, but you deserve it, okay? You’re not too much, and you’re not scaring anyone away.”

He wasn’t going to cry, he refused. He sniffled softly, looking away. “Okay.” Grian took a deep breath, eyes closing for a moment. “... Thank you.”

“Any time, G.” Mumbo’s hand found his shoulder again, just a gentle pressure that soon slid off. “Will you be okay tonight, when you get home?” Alone remained unsaid, though implied.

He opened his eyes again, meeting Mumbo’s eyes on purpose now. “I think so, yeah. You could always check in on me tomorrow, make sure I’m not getting up to any trouble?”

That made Mumbo smile again, easing the growing tension. “You are known to get up to trouble, true. I suppose I better put it on my calendar.” 

Grian laughed, finally starting towards his base again, checking behind himself to make sure he was being followed. “Don’t lie to me, you don’t have a calendar.”

“I could! You don’t know that,” Mumbo protested, then after a moment or two he sighed, hanging his head. “No, you’re right. I don’t.”

“I know you,” Grian scolded, snickering softly, he almost didn’t notice as they finally made it to his base, sun setting in the distance. “... No more avoiding me, okay?”

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Mumbo’s answer was immediate, then he looked a little guilty again. “No, I… I’m sorry. I’ll be over tomorrow, I promise.”

He smiled softly, nodding. “Good, I'll hold you to that,” he hummed, hesitating before giving Mumbo a quick hug, pulling away just as quickly. Mumbo had his own smile back, and Grian considered that a success. They split easily after that, Mumbo headed back to his base as Grian made his way up into his own.

Honestly, he was almost too excited to sleep. He found himself in his bed too easily, comfortable under the covers, but otherwise tossing and turning, thinking about tomorrow. It was a little ridiculous, he thought, they hadn't even made proper plans, but he couldn't help it, eager for things to be like they were again.

He was finally pulled out of his futile attempts at sleep by his comm going off, notification distinct from that 

samgladiator: hey. i know youre ignoring me and that's totally fine and i get it, i promise.

samgladiator: but ellen found out i had your comm address and basically begged me to let you know they say hi, lol. they said they miss you

Grian's stomach lurched, and he quickly hit the power again, turning off the screen. No, he wasn't thinking about this tonight. He took a deep breath, holding it in. He hadn’t spoken to Ellen in ages, he’d wager it had been over a decade even. They still thought about him?

He let out a slow breath, feeling his heartbeat slowing just a bit, he hadn’t even noticed how much it had sped up in the first place. He wasn’t going to freak out, he refused. Grian took another deep breath, setting his comm aside as he continued breathing deeply, laying back onto his bed.

Tomorrow. This was all a problem for tomorrow.

#grian #hermitcraft #yandere high school #yhs #geminitay #mumbo jumbo #writing #my post #allostasis fic #allostasis main tag

[thecoolertails]

ok well actually its good that i read issue 72 first because this special (15) says immediately that robotnik returned. so. idk why its before issue 72 in the reading order

#i mean i already knew that he came back eventually anyway so whatever #but its weird #my posts #archie sonic posting #super special 15

[that-sokovian-bastard]

Your Choice - Jason Todd x (f)Reader

Words: 4116 Pairing: Jason Todd x (f)Reader Warnings: SMUT. Minors DNI! 18+ only!!!! Mean dom Jason, swearing, rope bondage, edging, orgasm denial, multiple orgasms/forced orgasms, vibrator, teasing, blindfold, nipple play (just a little), fingering (f receiving), oral (f receiving). Jason is a kinky mf. Summary: After plans for the night change, Jason has an idea to keep you awake. It ends much more evil than you first expected. Author's Note: Truly love that this is my first ever time writing smut and it’s kinky as fuck. I have all the shame in the world and none at the same time. Also they have a safe word it’s just not explicitly discussed in the fic. Anyway, if you know me irl, it’s illegal to read this fic, actually. Don’t look at me. Hope you enjoy.

Jason / Full Masterlist

—

Every few minutes, you wondered how you managed to end up in this situation. And just as that thought came into your mind, it was ripped away by being pulled onto the edge. Then, you'd finally calm down enough to get back to contemplating how you even agreed to this...and you were right back on the edge again.

You knew Jason had to go out for patrol. If he missed it again, one of his family members was going to show up at the apartment in worry. And you definitely didn't need anyone to show up while being with Jason. You two had plans for tonight, but he ended up getting called on patrol. You tried to convince him to tell the team no, but he said he couldn’t and that you guys would just have your fun when he returned. But you were worried you wouldn’t be able to stay up the entire time before he got back, and you wouldn’t want to wake up when he returned. So, as he got ready to leave, he told you he had an idea of how you could keep yourself awake while he was gone without any worry.

Whatever his idea was, you expected it to be fun and a little evil. He reminded you that at any point as he was setting up, you could tell him to stop, and he would drop everything, but he would be leaving for patrol eventually, and you’d be in the bedroom alone for a while. He was very clear. 

Jason told you to undress as he pulled out some rope, instructing you to lay on the bed before he got to work. Working fast to not be late to patrol, he tied your wrists to either side of the headboard and your ankles to the bottom corners of the bed. You laughed a little when he finished and looked down at you. “Uh, Jason?” You said, tugging at the ropes to test their strength. “I’m pretty sure me being stuck like this is only going to encourage me to fall asleep,” You reminded him, cocky about your position.

He smirked in response, and you knew you were in for it. “Who said I was done?” He turned and walked to the dresser against the wall where he grabbed the rope from earlier. Before you knew it, he turned back around, and you couldn’t see what he grabbed. However, you didn’t have to let your mind guess for long as he quickly put the small vibrator right below your clit. He secured it with thinner rope wrapped around your leg to make sure that none of your struggles could dislodge it, then stood back to admire you before he turned it on. 

“Pretty sure this will also make me pass out,” You tried again to be cocky.

“Why do you act like I don’t know what I’m doing?” He scoffed and turned on the vibrator to its lowest setting, causing you to gasp ever so slightly in response. “I know for a fact this won’t do anything except keep you alert and awake. But if you really think you won’t be able to focus on only it…,” Jason trailed off and grabbed one more thing from the dresser. When he came back to the side of the bed, he slipped the black blindfold over your eyes and, even though you couldn’t see it, cracked the most satisfied grin as he watched you.

He could tell you were already starting to hold back from letting your body react to the subtle vibrations. Jason didn’t say anything as he finished putting on his gear, slowly, enjoying the background noise full of your suppressed whimpers. He slipped on his jacket, pulled on his gloves, and placed the domino mask on his face. Jason set his helmet on the top of the dresser near the window he usually left out of but stood next to you once more before he left.

“I’m about to leave. This is your last chance to opt out,” He said to you, entirely serious.

It took you a second, but after a breath, you managed a quick nod. “I’m, yeah. I’m good.”

“If you say so,” He shrugged and headed back to the dresser, grabbing his helmet and slipping it on. “Oh, and darling?” Jason called as he was halfway out. You hummed in response, and he continued, “I’m leaving the window open, so I’d keep it down. See you later.” 

You couldn’t even fully blame Jason at this point. He told you what to expect. He warned you. He warned you that you’d be alone with no escape until he got home, which, while he was hoping it was a quick patrol, could’ve ended up taking much longer. But you thought you could take it. Now, a few hours later, you’re starting to wonder if you underestimated the situation.

Frankly, you had lost track of time with the amount of thoughts circling through your head. It could’ve only been an hour so far, but you’re sure that it’s been more. You didn’t know and kind of didn’t care, either, as there was nothing you could do about it. Earlier in the night, you thought that maybe Jason put in a failsafe that if you really needed out, you could pull hard enough, but nothing worked. Not that you really wanted to get out, though; you were just testing. All you could do was wait.

So, you continued to wait, hyper-aware of all the noises happening around you. You had to listen very carefully since the blindfold over your eyes blocked that sense. It was hard to differentiate what was happening inside your apartment and outside since the window was still open, and the cool breeze was hitting your bare skin just right.

The cool breeze also reminded you that you had to keep quiet. Even though you were on the third floor, if you were loud enough, someone could hear you and welcome themselves in through the open window. It would have been difficult since it isn't a direct shot to the fire escape from your window, but you also didn't need random people (or vigilantes) imagining what was going on inside your and Jason's bedroom.

Finally, you heard a creek come from the window. "Jay...Jason?" You breathily called out, hoping he was finally back. When there wasn't a response, you groaned about the wind tricking you again, which resulted in a low laugh from someone in the room. He really was trying to fuck with your mind, too, by sneaking in, it seemed.

"Don't...don't do that," You said, not entirely clear on what you didn't want him to do.

You couldn't see Jason leaning against the corner of the room, his helmet already off and arms crossed as he watched you writhe and pull at the rope around your wrists and ankles. He didn't respond to your pleas but waited for you to reach the edge again before he said anything, fully making himself known.

"Wow," He marveled at the sight in front of him. "Someone just left you tied up here, did they?" He teased. You didn't respond, you couldn't, as you rode the edge but never making it over. He waited again before continuing, this time shutting the window and making sure you heard it so you knew you could be louder. "I can't believe they would do that to you. Leaving you all by your lonesome, tired and needy," Jason said as he walked closer. He stood at the foot of the bed and watched your back arch every few seconds, trying to get anything. 

Jason was proud of himself. You hated to admit it, but he was right about this whole situation being enough to keep you awake while he was gone. 

"Come on, don't you have anything to say about the mean person who just left you here? What a crazy criminal, right?" He taunted.

Again, you didn't respond. You could barely keep track of what he was saying. Jason knew it and leaned forward to touch your thigh with his gloved hand, lightly rubbing the top of it to encourage a response.

"R-right," You breathed out, almost a gasp. "It was...it was very mean of them."

"Then you got lucky that I showed up, sweetheart," Jason said, still slowly rubbing your thigh.

You took a deep breath as you prepared to respond again. "My," You started, pausing for a second before continuing. "My hero."

Jason pulled his hand back instantly and laughed again. "Hero? Oh, no. I'm no hero," He said, walking around the side of the bed and leaning in close to your ear. "I'm much, much worse."

Heat fluttered to your chest as Jason’s words hit you, and the buzzing below intensified. You hadn’t even realized he hit the button to turn up the vibrator’s level, pulling you back to the edge of an orgasm as you arched your back off the bed again, but this time, you were stuck there. The sudden change in power pulled you right where he wanted you. It kept you where he wanted you.

You heard Jason laugh from the corner of the bed now. You knew you looked pathetic, not able to calm down and not able to find release, but you couldn’t control it anymore. Jason peeled off his gloves as he watched you struggle, pulling at your wrists as hard as possible. “You’ve made such a mess already,” He stated. “How long has your captor left you like this?”

He was pleased when you didn’t respond, knowing the power he held over you right now. With his bare hand, he touched your thigh again but moved to the inside instead of staying on top. “I asked you a question, sweetheart. How long has your captor left you like this?”

It took a moment for you to get the words out, but Jason was patient. “I don’t know,” You spit out, almost as one word.

“No idea? Well, that’s a shame,” He sighed. “If it had been a long time, I would make sure to get you that release you so desperately need. But if you don’t know, it very well can’t be that long,” He continued to let his fingers circle your inner thigh, but staying far enough away from what you wanted to continue to tease you. “I think we can have some more fun before all that.”

“No,” You managed to get out, but Jason ignored it, knowing that no didn’t mean for him to stop. He had both his hands trailing your inner thighs now, only adding to his fun and your sensitivity. You could feel the bed dip when he kneeled between your spread legs, but still not close enough to you. He finally stopped teasing your thighs, but since he was closer now, his hands went up your body to your waist, your ribs, and your breasts. He circled all over your bare skin, some areas warm with need, some still cool from the late-night breeze. Of course, Jason knew how long you were like this, and even though it was longer than he was originally planning, he was going to make you wait just a little longer for having such doubt in him earlier when he was setting you up. He leaned forward, and you could feel both his hands dig into the bed beside your chest, and he was nearly straddling you, making sure to stay far enough away that you couldn’t feel him unless he wanted you to.

Jason leaned down to plant kisses on your neck and trailed down the center of your body, stopping just under your belly button. When he pulled back from your stomach, he realized you were still arching your back off the bed, and he couldn’t have that. You felt the hand to the right of you leave the bed, then land gently on your chest as he pushed slightly, making your back flush with the bed again. He kept his hand there, locking you down and making the vibrations much stronger as you couldn’t move anything with him holding you. 

“Jay,” You breathed out, catching his attention.

“Hmm?” He half-heartedly replied. It took you a moment to figure out what you wanted to say, so he prompted you. “Come on, use your words.”

“Please,” You begged, but you couldn’t say more than just the one word. 

So Jason decided to play dumb. “Please, what?” He posed. “That could mean a million different things, sweetheart; I need you to clarify.” 

He still had his hand holding you down as he waited for your response. As he waited, he tapped his fingers to remind you that his hand was there, and it was not moving until you said something. “Please, I need…I’m so close,” You finally managed to breathe out, begging him for any extra attention to get you over the edge.

“Need?” Jason asked. “What do you need me to do?”

He waited again, not moving, not even tapping his fingers. But he pressed the button on the vibrator again, turning it up another level to encourage you to tell him exactly what you wanted. He knew you were having a hard time with words, and he was enjoying the sight as your mouth opened and closed as you tried to find them.

“Need,” You barely managed to say. “Touch, oh my god, Jason.” 

“Touch? Baby, I’m already touching you, remember?” He tapped his fingers again, his hand still on your chest, right below your breasts. As the vibrations got more intense, you reacted harder, trying to pull your legs together for some friction and arching your back off the bed for some movement. But your legs were still secure to the corners of the bed, and Jason pushed down just a little rougher when he realized you were fighting against his hand. 

“Oh,” He dragged out as you continued reacting, pretending like he just came to a realization. “You want me to touch you somewhere else? You should have said so.”

You grunted in response, confirming what he said. “If I let go, you have to keep your back on the bed, okay?” He asked you, and you nodded to tell him you understood. “If you don’t, I’ll have to stop.”

The threat of stopping worried you because you weren’t sure how much restraint you had now, and it would only get worse when he started touching you in other places. You were hoping he’d go straight down to your pussy to give you what you wanted right away, but he wasn’t being that nice. Instead, his hand moved up from its place below your chest and onto your right breast, fiddling with it slowly. He gently massaged you, pulling strangled moans, and you worked as hard as you could to stay still. He rolled your nipple between his calloused fingers, and you thought the onslaught was over when he released your sensitive nipple and landed his hand on the bed next to your right side.

But just as you took a second to breathe, his other hand came off the bed, and he repeated his movements on your left breast. He knew he was torturing you with his slow movements, making you wait even longer for release. Jason could see you struggling to keep still and hold yourself to the bed. 

When he finished with your breasts, he decided you finally had had enough, and he’d move lower. He kept moving slowly, using one finger to track down your body as he leaned back. He brushed right over your clit, touched the vibrator for a little extra pressure, then stopped right before your entrance. He circled a few times, very slowly, enjoying the sight before him. 

You gasped as he circled. “Jason, please,” You begged, and this time, he happily obliged. He loved hearing you beg, but you’ve already given him so much that he was ready to help you. Jason watched your face as he slowly inserted two fingers, taking his time but making you feel good. You could barely focus on his fingers because you were so focused on keeping your back on the bed, and he could tell you were struggling. 

Jason reached his other hand up and laid it on your stomach, pushing down to keep you where you were so you weren’t worrying as much. You still had to focus to not move the top half of your back, but he was trying to help. Unfortunately, by him holding your stomach, it meant that he only had one hand to touch you with, and it was already preoccupied inside you. 

Jason’s fingers slowly pumped in and out of you, and he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew just one right move would send you in to your wave of orgasm, and he was having fun seeing how long he could make you hold on. You tried your hardest to keep your moans quiet, but he heard every single one of them. “Faster,” You begged through a moan, and Jason’s fingers paused.

“Are you telling me what to do?” He asked. Jason knew he was fucking with you in more ways than one, going from asking you to tell him what you wanted, to telling you to stop asking; he loved to change the rules. You hummed in response to his question, sounding like a suppressed no so that he would keep moving. “That’s what I thought.”

He started again, even slower than before, and it was killing you. “Just so you know,” Jason said as he kept moving his fingers. “Once you start, I’m not planning on letting you stop any time soon. How does that sound?” He asked, but your mind was such a blur at this point you couldn’t respond with anything besides a moan or a whimper. “So, do you want to start now or keep waiting?”

You whined again, but that didn’t satisfy Jason. “I need you to tell me. Do you want me to make you orgasm now, or do you want to wait?” He asked again, still slowly pumping his fingers. You weren’t sure how he was sitting on the bed, but you could tell he was still on his knees and probably leaned forward because you were sure you could feel his breath on your pussy. “Answer me.”

The hardest part was that you weren’t sure what you wanted. An orgasm right now sounded great, but you knew that he would keep his promise and you’d be oversensitive in seconds with as fast as he could pull them from you. But it would also be hell to wait because he knows all your tells. “If you don’t answer right now, then I’m going to pick,” He warned, which was the secret third option you knew you didn’t want, because his picking always ended with utter torture.

“N-now,” You decided in a snap, immediately not sure if that was the wisest choice.

As soon as you said it, Jason’s fingers inside you began to pick up their pace and hit nearly all the right spots. And you were right; you knew he was right in front of you, because he leaned in and over the small vibrator to immediately start sucking on your clit. The sudden change in pace and addition of his mouth made you scream, pulling at each of your secured limbs, barely able to get any movement. His other hand still held your stomach, but the top of your back and head arched off the bed in reaction. Luckily, Jason didn’t let up as he finally guided you off the edge and into a full-blown orgasm. 

It continued to rush over you, heat spreading throughout your entire body as Jason continued to suck, lick, touch, kiss, and even laugh and talk into you. You couldn’t make out any of what he was saying through your loud noises; you just knew that the vibrations of his laughter and speech were mixing with the still-on vibrator, and you knew there would be no coming down for a while. You tried to buck your hips, but everything mixed together kept your hips in place just as tight as your limbs were. The vibrator, just like it had been for the last few hours, stayed exactly where Jason tied it, and he had no intention of taking it off.

“Jason…Jason,” You called out over and over, barely having any time to breathe before you orgasmed again. “Hang on,” You said.

“I told you what was going to happen,” He said after he lifted his head from between your legs, making sure you could hear him. “This was your choice. You chose this.”

He waited to hear your response for a moment. Though he may have stopped attacking your clit, his fingers were still inside you, moving around in all directions. “Just…” You said. “I need…a second.”

“If I gave you a second, then I’d be breaking my promise of not letting you stop,” Jason said and didn’t wait anymore, his mouth right back on you, making you scream his name out again through another orgasm. As you came down a few moments later, he pulled his face back. “I’ll give you another choice. How does that sound?” He asked.

“O-okay.”

“I can either return to what I was doing, or I can move the vibrator,” He said. You waited to see if there was any clarification, but there wasn’t, and he was waiting for your answer. You knew there was a chance that he didn’t clarify because he wanted you to choose and screw yourself over, but you knew there would be no refuge if his mouth returned to your clit. Your choice was harder to decide in your mind because Jason never stopped moving his fingers in and out, in and out…

“Do you want me to choose?” He asked, pulling you back to reality.

You shook your head and yelled out your answer. “The vibrator!” You decided. “Move the…move the vibrator.”

You couldn’t see his pleased smile, and you sighed loudly in relief when Jason’s fingers exited you. You hoped that by move, he meant to get rid of it entirely, but you feared for the worst. Especially with how mean he was being tonight. As you thought about it, either answer was going to end the same way: he was going to keep you orgasming over and over.

You finally had a chance to catch up with yourself as he loosened the rope that held the vibrator on you, and it detached from your pussy. For a few seconds, you were just laying there, legs shaking in their binds. Jason loved watching your chest heave, and your legs shake as you still tried to pull at your wrists, but he couldn’t admire you for too long. Your worst fear came true as he tightened the rope again, this time leaving the vibrator sitting directly on your clit. You gasped out immediately, only groaning more when Jason pressed the button a few times to turn it on to its highest setting.

“Remember, you chose this,” He reminded you as you made your way into another orgasm. You continued to try to move your legs and hands, but still with no escape, as he made sure the ropes would never give way. You noticed when the dip in the bed between your legs let up, meaning Jason got off the bed. You weren’t sure what he was doing, but a moment later, you felt his rough hand on your chin. 

He leaned in, slowly kissing you through your moans and groans. As he pulled back, you could feel the soft smile on his face. “You’re doing so good, baby,” He said under his breath, almost breaking his character.

His hand left your chin, and you were worried he was going to leave you alone again. “Jay?” You called out.

“I’m still here. Just watching the show for a few minutes, then we’ll continue,” He said, and your eyes widened behind the blindfold.

“Con…continue?” You asked. You were certain that this was the beginning of the end of all of this. There was more he had planned?

Jason smiled again, though you couldn’t see it. “Of course. You didn’t think we were done, did you?”

“I-” You stopped when you were pushed into another orgasm caused by a mix of the vibrator and Jason’s words.

“Baby, we’re just getting started,” He said, making sure you heard it over your loud moan, excited for the rest of the night.

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #red hood #red hood x reader #dc #dc imagines #fanfic #x reader #fanfiction #dc fanfic #imagines #batman #smut #jason todd smut #jason todd x reader smut

[cy6err]

First look — W.S.

Pairings: Actress!Reader x Walker Scobell

Warnings: None! just fluff :)

Summary: After attending the Percy Jackson event at Disney, you were met by Walker and felt an instant connection with him.

A/N: Hi everyone, this is my first ever post and I don’t know if this will get a lot of attention :( How do people usually do that, by the way? Anyways! I hope you guys enjoy this because this was so fun to make. Also, my writing is a bit rusty because I have not written in almost two years 🥸.

And to come to my conclusion, Percy Jackson has been kind of a big hit lately (Walker scobell)

Note: This is completely made up and decided that you and Leah acted together in a show. (You can imagine whatever show you want!!) also, this is extremely short and a bit rushed 😭.

. ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

Arriving at the Santa Monica pier for Percy Jackson after being invited by your closest friend Leah Sava’ Jefferies, you took a look around the place.

It had been a long flight and drive but you had a feeling it was worth it. You looked your best that day, with a light touch of makeup, your hair done, and even a cute but comfortable dress.

Leah always talked about the days she had when filming the series over FaceTime, giggling and saying she had an amazing time. She would also talk about her friends, Walker and Aryan. You knew Walker from the movie he starred in with Ryan Reynolds “the Adam project”, so you were a bit stoked to see him in person.

To put it quite simply, you were a huge fan of him. I mean, who wouldn’t? He was an amazing actor and he was definitely passionate about his career.

It was beautiful outside, the weather breezy but not too windy or cold. You were lost in your thoughts when Leah snapped you out of it, “hey, they’re over there!” She exclaimed, grabbing your hand and practically dragging you over to them.

You laughed to yourself at your friend’s energetic self, eventually catching up to her with a smile. “Hey guys, this is Y/n, a close friend of mine back from an old project I was in.” Leah greeted, gesturing towards you.

“Hi, I’m Aryan Simhradi.” Aryan smiled, nodding towards you as Walker also introduced himself. “And I’m Walker. Scobell, Walker. Walker Scobell.” He whispered something under his breath for embarrassing himself a bit.

You chuckle, shaking his hand. “Y/n L/n, pleasure to finally meet you.” He looked at you confused and repeated your words, “To finally meet me?”

“Right, sorry, I probably sound insane.” You laugh to yourself, blushing a bit as you felt self conscious. “Leah would always talk about you and Aryan, and I was a big fan of you since your movie ‘The Adam project’.”

He nods in acknowledgment, “oh, I see. Good things I hope?” He smiled softly.

“Yeah, totally.” You return the smile. “I like your shirt, by the way. Blue really suits you.”

His smile only grew, a light tint of pink covering his cheeks. Someone wouldn’t usually get him like that so he was confused, but he liked the feeling. “Thanks, I like your hair. It’s pretty.”

You haven’t even noticed Leah and Aryan already gone, leaving you and Walker alone together. You guys got to know each other more and even gave a little complimenting back and forth.

—

Later came the time for him to greet fans and take pictures, along with autographs and sign the board. During that time, he also talked to you and fans were ecstatic to see you as well— Mostly because they knew you from the big role you played in (your show of choice).

After the pictures and chats were over with, you guys talked some more. “No way, you were actually into the show that much?” Walker asked meekly, surprised that you watched the show all in one day to catch up on what’s happening.

“I mean, yeah. Its amazing! You played the role well, honestly.” You said, waving your hands to prove your point.

“That’s impressive, actually. I’m flattered.” He laughed to himself. He felt himself drawn to you, your bubbly personality and that killer smile. He loved the way you would talk about your interests and he found it adorable when your eyes would light up on the topic you liked.

You too felt that way, you loved his presence and you instantly felt comfortable and easy to talk to. It felt like you had known him for years. You felt your chest clench, but in a good way— and whenever he would compliment you, you’d find yourself turning red. Everyone’s dream, am I right?

Leah and Aryan were not oblivious, they caught on to you two and noticed your guys’ faces when you looked at each other. They giggled like school girls and talked about you two from afar until it was time for them to go home.

You said your goodbyes to Walker and the others and hop into the car with an exhausted sigh. Turning your head to meet Leah’s smirking face, “what?”

“Oh nothing, just had a great time. You?” She asked, getting comfortable in her seat.

“Yeah, it was great actually. Thanks for inviting me.” You reply, blushing a bit at the fact that you talked to the Walker Scobell and did light flirting.

—

It wasn’t long for fans to pick up on you two as well, videos going viral of you two together at the pier. You were in your room scrolling through tiktok when you found a video of you and walker talking to each other, giving bright smiles.

Your Instagram blew up as well, getting tons of notifications from being tagged and getting new followers. Getting interested in the news, you found yourself tapping on the page and smile to yourself.

Instagram:

Liked by: leahsavajeffries and 12,309 others

Walkersfangirl21: is no one gonna talk about how Walker and Y/n look at each other??

Comments:

User1: RIGHT?? Like, they’re so cute together omg 😔

User2: they def have feelings for each other, fight me.

User3: NOO my man 💔

—> User2: HELP ??? User3

User4: fandom bouta go crazy 😭 they look good tg ngl

Y/nsliver: she’s so pretty 🙁 they compliment each other so well!!

You scrolled through the comments, giggling to yourself like a little girl until you got another notification: walker.scobell followed you. now

Immediately sitting up on your bed, you got a message from him. Your heart was beating to fast it felt like it was about to explode.

Walker Scobell:

Hey! Finally found your insta

I couldn’t get it beforehand because I forgot to ask for it :/

You:

Hey, what’s up? No way you spent your time trying to find my account 😭

Walker Scobell:

Okay.. you caught me. I didn’t actually spend my time to look for it. I went on Leah’s account following and searched your name, who can blame me?

You:

lol, work smarter not harder.

Walker Scobell:

Exactly! Anyways, I had a question for you?

You:

Yeah, what is it? I’m a bit nervous.

Walker Scobell:

Trust me, I am too 😭 but I’d like to say that I enjoyed my time with you this evening and I’d like to know more about you? I like how you are

Hopefully that didn’t sound creepy oh my gosh.

Like, what I meant to say is I like your energy?

You:

Yeah, of course! On text? Or…

Walker Scobell:

We can hang out? Go to an arcade or something. Whatever you want to be honest.

You:

Are you asking me out on a date?

Walker Scobell:

If I say yes is that a yes? Cause if not, I might actually die.

You:

LOL it’s a yes, I would love to go out :)

Walker Scobell:

Great! Text me the details when you figure it out? (I totally didn’t just have a panic attack.)

You:

Yeah, I will! (Same tbh)

Walker Scobell:

Okay awesome… uh, wanna ft?

You:

Ofc!!! Here’s my # xxx-xxxx

. ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

Hi guys!! I hope you guys enjoyed it… I’m not sure how to feel about this 😭 please send any requests 🤍🤍 xx

#fanfic #walker scobell #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #percy series #percy pjo #x reader #fem reader #fanfiction #fandom #drabble #oneshot

[lululandd]

problem;

pairing: simon ‘ghost’ riley x f!reader

word count: 712

warnings: self-doubt, anxiety, insecurity, eventual fluff

note: i really dont wanna paint könig, im mad procrastinating

summary: the unspoken ‘with me’  hangs in the air.

 “You packed.”

His curt tone made you flinch as you gingerly put groceries in the fridge. You tried as best you could to not look his way, hoping Simon would let the matter go. You had broken your leg and fractured your wrist in the most uncool way possible, slipping on ice. He had warned you beforehand, knowing how frail normal human bodies could be. Unlike his apparently, sometimes you wonder if he sees himself as indestructible just because he’s 6 '3.

His hand came to view and you froze, shoulders curling into yourself as you tried to subtly move away from him. Sensing your tense demeanour, he slowed his motions and gently grabbed the fruit from your hand, put it inside the fridge himself, and leaned on the counter. Not daring to look him in the face, you decided to try and continue packing your groceries. 

Sighing, he dragged your chair away from the fridge and closed it.

“You’re going to your parents?” his voice was barely above a whisper, but it scared you so bad he might have as well have shouted. “What’s wrong with staying here?”

You were on the verge of tears, not knowing why. Simon’s always busy with work, he barely comes home, and the one time he had a three month long break from it you stupidly slipped on some ice. He has to take care of you, instead of having fun and going somewhere or doing whatever he wants on his time off.

Stupid.

Useless.

“I just didn’t want to bother you with broken leg and hand stuff. My parents' place is closer to the doctor’s office and the physical therapy place anyway.”

He visibly tensed and you know you fucked up. 

“Physical therapy is after you’re fully healed.” he remarked, you saw a flicker of indignation in his eyes, “Are you planning to stay there the whole time I’m here? Every time I go to work you complain that I’m never home and the one time I come home for longer than a week you do this.”

You stared at him wide-eyed, a muted gasp twists your face. “It was an accident, Simon! You say that like I fell on purpose or something!” You say in a raised voice, appalled at his words.

He presses both palms on his eyes, “No, that’s not what I meant at all.” He squatted next to you–you never knew men that big could do that–and placed a large hand on your thigh. “By ‘this’ I meant going to your parents. I will be here for three months, and you want to stay with your parents for however long it will be. What’s wrong with being here?”

The unspoken ‘with me’  hangs in the air.

“Oh.” A wave of embarrassment flowed through your veins, you had thought of the worst of him when all he wanted was to spend time with you. With uninjured you, preferably. “Sorry.”

“You’re still not answering any of my questions, love.”

Weighing your words, you realised you can’t weasel your way out of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

“I don’t want to bother you, Simon.”

“Bother?” He breathes.

A shiver of apprehension travelled up your spine at the way he spoke. You’ve heard that tone before, but never directed towards you; it was always towards people bothering you two. Does that mean he sees you as a bother right now?

“You don’t have a lot of time off, and I don’t want you to waste it… here.. taking care of me while I can’t do jack shit. You have to carry me up and down the stairs, you have to carry me to and from the car when we go outside,” you gestured with your good hand, “you have to go with me to the doctors and my physical therapy, you have to do most of the cooking and cleaning, and you have to sit down and listen to me bitch about this broken leg from 1am to 4am.”

He stood up and cupped the back of your neck, his thumb slowly drawing soothing circles as he kissed the top of your head.

“You’re listing things I already want to do, with or without your broken leg.”

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #call of duty imagines #simon ghost riley #call of duty #scuffed writing

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Them reacting to seeing you do something weird

characters: Collei / Kuki Shinobu x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none

a/n: I decided to try and write something for two of my favorite 4 stars again since I don’t get all too many requests for them.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Collei

Among the forest Rangers in Avidya Forest, almost no one could confidently call themself a bigger expert than you when it came to the wildlife inhabiting the forest. If there was an animal living in it, you knew it, if someone needed to know how it looked like so they’d be able to recognize it, you had sketchbooks full of detailed portraits at the ready and if there was anyone that wanted to learn about them, their best choice of action was to ask you.

That being said, you had a tendency to get lost when wandering around the forest alone, and so Collei was quickly assigned to helping you keep your sense of directions when out to research, the win-win situation of you having a helping hand while Collei got the opportunity to learn from the experts beating the prospect of having to search for you day and night everyday.

“I remember the first time I ventured out into the forest, I was what? Barely ten years old? My mother always told me how panicked my father was when I didn’t return at nightfall, you should have seen his face when he found me playing with a shame lion not far from home, he was so relieved you could basically see the weight fall off his shoulders, it was great… I did get into trouble afterwards, but that didn’t stop me from going back barely a week later”, you talked about your childhood while shoving branches to your side, trying to make a somewhat clear path for the two of you, all the while Collei listened to you as if put under a spell. 

You weren’t that much older than her, probably only a few years older, and yet you were already regarded as an expert in your old field. Collei couldn’t help but admire you and yet, when she heard how early you started to get interested in the animals living in the rainforest, she started to understand the reason for your success.

That being said, not everything in your stories seemed to make sense.

“Your father was relieved when he saw you playing with lions??”, you could hear the shock in Collei’s voice as clear as day and while her reactions seemed like the only plausible one when confronted with such a detail in your childhood story, the sheer and utter confusion on your face made her question if playing with lions wasn’t as abnormal as she thought.

“Lions? Oh Archon, no. Shame lions, those small green creatures that can change their colors depending on the background. I can show them to you if you need a refresher”, you offered, shooting her a quick smile before turning your head back forwards.

“Shame lions? …Do you mean Chameleons?”, Collei asked hesitantly, hoping she was on the same page as you and didn’t accidentally insult you by implying you didn’t know how to pronounce the animal’s name.

“...Chameleons? I-is that how you pronounce that? Heh, that explains quite a few of my weirder conversations actually”, you stated with a nervous giggle, your face growing red as you awkwardly scratched your cheek, only to eventually break out into full-on laughter, worrying your companion for a moment, before your laughing eventually infected the ranger.

“Thanks for telling me, I guess the others didn’t have the courage to correct me… that or they were far too confused to.”

Kuki Shinobu

For most of her days, Shinobu was surrounded by Inazuma’s brightest, watching their sober forms do things normal thinking people wouldn’t do after drinking a barrel of the strongest alcohol money could buy the same way a child would watch an animal in a zoo, and yet, she knew her colleagues long enough to not bat an eye, no matter how stupid the predicament they found themselves in.

Hanging around Itto and his boys made her appreciate the quieter moments in life as well as thank whatever deity was responsible for introducing people to each other that you were a part of her life. You knew how to hold a conversation, were kind and always thought about how your actions impacted others and hid a brain behind those eyes of yours… a welcome change of pace for her.

So when the two of you bumped into each other on her way home, only to decide to walk along the beach in hopes just being near the water would be enough to cool you down somewhat, considering the scorching hot weather, only for you to ask her to stop for a bit so you could cool your feet in the water, refusal wasn’t on Shinobu’s mind for even a second.

“Don’t you want to step into the water as well? It has just the right temperature!”, you happily asked after putting your hand in it for a second, testing the water before quickly readying yourself to step into it, pulling your pants up a bit so they wouldn’t get wet, only to stop when Shinobu called out to you.

“Your shoes.”

Without missing a beat, you hit your forehead with the palm of your head, an embarrassed look spreading across your face as you giggled to yourself. 

“Of course, I nearly forgot. Thanks a lot Shinobu!” Your shining smile coupled with hearing her name leave your mouth was enough to make her cheeks heat up, not enough for you to notice, considering her facemask, however, something she thanked the heavens for.

Just as quickly as you had stopped, you returned to pulling off your shoes before placing them on the sand and jumping into knee deep waters… your socks noticeably still on your feet, a fact Kuki didn’t miss in the slightest, her eyes widening at the sight of your drenched socks.

“Wha-?”

“Something’s wrong?”, you asked, completely oblivious to what caused the person in front of you to be rendered completely speechless. 

It took her a few seconds and about ten times of blinking her eyes in hopes it would all turn out to be a hallucination before she finally responded, trying her best to look away as to not constantly remember her brain of what was in front of her.

“N-no, nothing.”

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #collei x you #collei imagines #collei x y/n #collei x reader #collei #kuki shinobu x you #kuki shinobu imagines #kuki shinobu x reader #kuki shinobu #gi shinobu

[lau219]

Why Deny?

Part 12

Previous part here

…………………………………………………………………………….

Eventually, they got around to actually focusing on work for a while. Leonard relayed to Y/N the conversation he’d heard at the bar during the party the other night, and that it seemed like, along with Simon Foster, there were a couple other people who weren’t happy with Charles Benton. It was possible that Charles was just a shared complaint they all had, but something told Leonard and Y/N that these people were also working with Foster in some way on whatever backwards shit he was involved in.

Did it involve Charles, and was he some kind of target? It was too soon to tell. However, additional information Leonard had got from Charles on his run back to Langley revealed that Foster had not only been declined a promotion, but that Benton had actually slightly demoted him due to less than satisfactory performance, and his salary had been cut quite a bit.

Leonard had asked Charles to also run the name of the guy who’d been talking to Foster and whose information he’d written down at the party. The guy was an employee at the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, but his status was lower than Foster’s, and his record was completely clean. To add to the confusion, the piece of paper that Y/N had snatched off Foster contained nothing more than a series of numbers and letters. Obviously, it had to mean something, but they hadn’t yet figured out what.

“Do you think Charles is in any kind of danger?” Y/N asked Leonard as she handed him back one of the files he’d brought back with him from Langley. It was possible that whatever Foster was involved in had nothing to do with Charles whatsoever, but she was still concerned for the man who she viewed as somewhat of a fatherly figure.

Leonard smiled.

“He said he knew you’d be worried about him, and to tell you, ‘Relax, kid.’”

Y/N smiled back, shaking her head.

“They ran Foster’s computer the other day, and nothing pertaining to Benton came up,” Leonard continued, “so he didn’t want anymore attention focused on worrying about him when there’s no sign Foster’s targeting him.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, necessarily. He could just be really good at covering his tracks,” Y/N said.

“I know,” Leonard said. “But there’s nothing more we can do until we get back there on Thursday. Now that we have access to his computer, we can do our own research then. They haven’t found anything new on him since their original suspicions came up, but there’s definitely something going on.”

Y/N nodded in understanding as she stood up from the small sofa.

“Maybe it’s correct that Charles isn’t a target. And maybe whatever Foster was involved in has already wrapped up. Since they haven’t found anything new on him, perhaps it was just a one and done thing after he’d accessed whatever he kept visiting Records and Security for.”

“Possibly,” Leonard replied, also standing, “but even if that’s the case, we still need to find out what he was doing, and if those other guys were involved. And also what kind of information he might have shared, and with who.”

“Well, unfortunately, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get anything else from him. He’s not going to talk to me anymore,” Y/N said as she looked at Leonard with a half smile. “I think you sank that ship when you hit him.”

“I don’t see any downside to that,” Leonard replied.

“Oh, really?” she said. “And did you tell Benton about your little brawl? Because he was expecting me to charm something out of Foster. What am I supposed to do now?”

“You got the paper from him,” Leonard replied, his face serious. “Benton knows about it; that’s enough.”

“Did you mention that you hit him?”

“I didn’t hit him,” Leonard replied, not even bothering to try to sound convincing. “He tripped.”

Y/N smiled knowingly as she moved and stopped in front of him.

“What exactly happened there, anyway? You never told me.”

“Nothing noteworthy,” Leonard replied, shaking his head.

“You punched him in the face,” Y/N countered.

“Long overdue,” he replied.

Y/N gave him a look, and had the intention to press further, but Leonard reached down and nudged her, placing his hand in the small of her back and guiding her towards the door.

“Let’s go; we’re going out to dinner,” he said.

“No, can’t,” she quickly replied, halting in front of him. “I’m busy.”

Leonard looked at her and raised an eyebrow as she turned around to face him, but then she gave him a coy smile.

“Oops, sorry,” she said, leaning in and giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Force of habit.”

————————————————

The next three days had them attending numerous lengthy meetings and presentations along with dozens of other CIA staff, one of which was Simon Foster. He made eye contact with them only once upon first seeing them, and then proceeded to keep his bruised face focused on his laptop for the remainder of the time. As they occasionally observed him, nothing he did roused any suspicion, but then again, they couldn’t expect much when they were in such an open environment.

But the open environment didn’t stop Leonard. Sitting next to each other during the first meeting, Y/N nearly jumped out of her chair when he slipped his hand onto her thigh beneath the table and glided it under her skirt to skim his fingers over her through her panties. He smiled to himself as he massaged her thigh, the question he’d always wondered about finally being answered — thigh-highs.

After she’d composed herself, Y/N had discreetly gripped Leonard’s hand under the table and shooed it away, but that didn’t stop him. Finally, she decided to teach him a lesson, and she slowly palmed him under the table for the last 10 minutes of the meeting. She laughed to herself when, as a result, he had to stay seated at the table for 5 minutes after the meeting had ended, and she winked at him as she exited the large room with the others while he remained at the conference table, pretending to be getting a call on his cell. At the next meeting, she intentionally sat herself away from him, to which Leonard gave her a look that made her heart skip a beat. They glanced at each other multiple times throughout the meeting, and when it finally ended for an hour-long lunch break, the two of them quickly walked back to the hotel and took the elevator up to their room, practically falling through the door as they raced to undress each other between kisses.

———————————————

“So how is this going to work, exactly, when we get back to Langley?” Y/N asked Leonard that night as he closed the laptop and rose from the desk.

“The same way it’s been working so far,” he replied as he walked over to the bed, removing his clothes and climbing into the bed beside her in his boxer briefs.

“Hardly,” Y/N replied, looking at him. “We can’t just be sneaking off, or having sex in your office every day at lunchtime.”

“Why not?” Leonard asked her with a devilish smile. “That was my plan.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved him.

“We have to be smart about this,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the CIA; it may as well be high school when it comes to gossip. You’re a superior, and I refuse to suddenly be labeled a ladder-climbing whore.”

Leonard pulled a face.

“That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

Y/N took a deep breath.

“The point is, you’re untouchable. Frankly, all the guys will likely be giving you a pat on the back. It wouldn’t exactly work out the same for me.”

Leonard pulled her closer before answering.

“We can be as discreet as you want to be,” he said. “No one has to know anything.”

Y/N nodded briefly, and then a small smile appeared on her face.

“What?” Leonard asked.

“You know, the upside to this is that we already know everything about each other.”

“Not true,” Leonard replied, shaking his head. “I still have secrets.”

“Like what?” Y/N asked him with raised eyebrows.

“I hate country music,” he said.

She couldn’t stop laughing.

————————————————

Over the next month, they resumed work in essentially the same capacity as they had prior to the trip. Among other work they now had to resume, they continued to work together to monitor Foster. As Y/N predicted, he didn’t try to contact her again, and the piece of paper she’d gotten off him was currently still a mystery. They were awaiting additional information on Foster’s connection in Venezuela, and also were working with Benton to coordinate a time to send Foster away on some bullshit overnight trip so that they could search his apartment. They’d need to be sure he’d be gone somewhere where an unexpected return home wasn’t possible, and also so that they’d have enough time to be sure to leave everything exactly as they found it.

During the day-to-day, however, Y/N made an effort to be especially mindful of not spending more time around Leonard than necessary, and avoiding any contact that could be interpreted as intimate. It wasn’t easy, but she was determined not to let any rumors start. They’d been almost completely successful at staying away from each other during work, except for one afternoon in Leonard’s office, where what was supposed to be just a quick check-in on something turned into sex on his desk when he’d placed a kiss on the back of her neck after closing the office door.

“Never again,” Y/N had said to him as she’d tucked her blouse back in her skirt.

“Never say never,” Leonard replied with a triumphant and satisfied smirk as he re-did his tie. She’d glared at him and shoved him back down into his chair before leaving his office.

They spent every evening together, and pretty soon, Y/N was practically living at his place. It was an interesting experience for them both – Y/N because it was such a drastic change from just a month prior, when she’d been so determined to continue to resist Leonard despite how she felt about him, and Leonard because not only did he finally have her, but it was a lifestyle shift. Before Y/N had come along, he’d had casual relationships, if you could call them that, but they were brief and mostly just to scratch an itch, and he never gave any of those women consideration for something serious. Frankly, it wasn’t something that previously crossed his mind often at all. But with Y/N, he found that changing.

But another change was unknowingly coming.

A little over a month later, Leonard had had to travel for another commitment for work, and they’d been completely apart for a week. When they’d spoke on the phone a few times while he’d been away, he’d sensed something was off, but Y/N assured him everything was fine, other than that she was coming down with something. They’d messaged back and forth throughout, and when Leonard got to work the day after he’d returned, he looked for her, but she wasn’t in her office. Almost as if on cue, he received a message from her, and he pulled out his phone to read it.

Meet me in the meeting room on the 8th floor.

Leonard smiled to himself. It was a smaller conference room that was hardly ever used, and he was dying to get his hands on her. He made it up to the meeting room, but when he arrived, she wasn’t there yet. Standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows, he turned around when he heard the door open several moments later, Y/N entering and quietly closing the door behind her. She gave him a small smile, and he immediately walked over to her, pulling her against him and planting his lips on hers.

Y/N responded, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him back, but quickly, she retracted, trying to speak as Leonard moved his mouth to her neck.

“I missed you, doll,” he said as he tried to slip his hand under her blouse.

“I missed you, too,” she replied quietly. But when Leonard had his hand on her bra clasp, she stopped him.

“Leonard, wait,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling it down. He lifted his head from her neck to speak, quickly looking at her.

“No one’s going to see us,” he said before he resumed kissing her. But she leaned into him for only a moment before trying to push him away again.

“Leonard, wait. Stop. I need to tell you something.”

Leonard heard the tone in her voice, and he pulled his head away from her neck and looked at her, the tension in her body obvious. He furrowed his brow in concern.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Y/N took a deep breath, looking down at the floor and completely exhaling, then slowly raising her head again, looking at him for a moment before she finally spoke.

“I’m pregnant.”

Part 13

@nyxxie-pooh @febris-amatoria @xsweetcatastrophe @alltoowellbeneaththemangotree @hannibellector @devotedlyshadowytheorist @aphroditeslover11 @natalie--rushman @garrison-girl-08 @fuseburner @neonpurplestars89-blog

#leonard miller #leonard miller fic #leonard miller smut #leonard miller x reader #leonard miller x female reader #cillian murphy #cillian x fem!reader #cillian fic #cillian murphy smut #cillian smut #18+ only

[cro0kedme]

jealousy, jealousy

Summary: If you asked Scaramouche if he ever felt jealous, he'd say that he doesn't waste his time on human emotions. Although if that's the case, then what is it he's feeling when he sees you with Tartaglia?

Pairing: Scaramouche x female reader

Tags: Scaramouche being bad at feelings, hurt/comfort, possibly ooc Scara, not proofread so sorry for any mistakes,

A/n: Hi @yureismellslikefanfic I got you for the @2023gisecretsanta event! Sorry about it being a bit late, I had to go through like eight trials just to start writing it but I eventually did it! I hope you enjoy it!

Scaramouche was absolutely, in no way shape or form, jealous.

That's what he'd tell himself, anyways. Denying that he'd ever care for a lowly human in any capacity; much less seek their attention.

So why did he feel an irresistible urge to suddenly dispose of the eleventh fatui harbinger whenever he was around you?

He saw how you smiled at the ginger more than him, and it wasn't your teasing smiles you'd give when he was around, it was a genuine one that he rarely saw on you.

Childe was chatting away with you by his side, unaware, or perhaps simply ignoring Scaramouche's glare.

Scaramouche debated going over there and simply dragging you away, but then what? And why did he even have the urge to do so in the first place?

As Scaramouche was internally seething and questioning why he was doing so in the first place, he noticed the ginger lean down into your ear to whisper something, and whatever it was he could only imagine was flirtatious in nature since you blushed.

Oh that did it. 

Disregarding any previous notion to ignore it he made his way over to you and Childe, speaking before he could even really process it.

“What are you doing? Don’t you have anything more important to be done then converse with others?” Scaramouche asked, glaring at you.

“What’s wrong with her talking to me? Are you opposed to friendly conversation?” Childe replied, which only turned Scaramouche’s glare towards him.

Scaramouche scoffed, “It’s hardly ‘friendly’ from what I’ve heard. You’re both getting too personal for a work environment.” And oh no, that came out more bitter than intended. He could already see a smirk start to cover your face.

“Oho? My lord, are you, mayhaps, jealous in any way?” You ask with an annoyingly satisfied grin. 

His next words don't come as easily as they should have, “You're so full of yourself. Of course I'm not.” 

Before either you or Childe can respond, Scaramouche turns away from the both of you, walking away as he tells you both, “Do as you please, it's not as if I care.” 

Despite the ugly feelings bubbling up that Scaramouche would never admit even existed, he left you and Childe alone. 

He all but stormed into his office, but he hardly got a moment before you stepped in. 

“Wait, Scaramouche. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.” You told him, and he scoffed.

“As if a lowly human such as yourself could evoke such feelings from me.” He replied.

“Right… So if you weren't upset, what was all that about?” You ask, clearly not buying his story.

“It's none of your business.” Scaramouche very much avoided answering your question.

You cross your arms, “I just want to help, is all.” You say. 

“I don't need help from a being such as you.” Scaramouche said, and he knew he was pushing your buttons. 

It seems, however, you had quite enough of him today so you turned around and walked towards the door. “Fine, be that way, then. At least I know Childe actually likes me.” You say and it's such a childish remark and yet it still spurred him into action.

He grabbed your arm before you could leave, “What do you mean, ‘he actually likes you’?” Scaramouche basically demands. 

You turn back to him with a glare, “Exactly what I said. At least Childe pretends to care about me, unlike you.” 

“Do you think I don't care about you?” Scaramouche asks, speaking before thinking. 

It seems you both realize what he said and Scaramouche quickly let's go of your arm. 

“Forget I said anything, just go back to-”

“You care about me?” You interrupted him, and you looked so full of hope as you said that, like you'd fully believed Scaramouche to hate you as he does everyone.

For once, Scaramouche didn't have a response. It was an odd feeling. 

“Scaramouche?” You ask again after his prolonged silence, “Do you care for me?”

And isn't that the question of the hour? Scaramouche had been fully convinced he'd scrubbed away all human emotions, but then you had to enter the picture. Making him feel things he thought he never could again.

Despite his lingering silence, you simply smiled. “It's okay,” You said, “You don't have to answer now.” 

Scaramouche only scoffed, “Whatever, just go. I'm sure you're forgetting something by prolonging your visit here.” 

By the way you immediately startled and hurried out the door, Scaramouche can only guess that he was correct.

“Shoot, right!” You exclaimed, “I gotta go, see you later, bye!” You said in quick succession before leaving and closing the door behind you.

Scaramouche stood still after you left, simply staring at the spot you were in moments prior.

Maybe, against all odds, that wasn't just a slip of the tongue. Perhaps, somewhere deep down, Scaramouche did truly care for you. Maybe he even loved you.

But that was a tough pill to swallow. Scaramouche didn't even know if he was capable of feeling love. 

Although, if it was with you, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

#Genshin impact x reader #scaramouche x reader #gixrsecretsanta2023 #Sorry again for any mistakes ack

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

How would the first years sees a female yuu practice ballet in a empty classroom that supposed to be abandoned? How would their reaction would be?

If you guys haven’t seen the movie “Leap!” (also known as “Dance!”), I highly recommend watching it since it involves ballet and I really enjoyed watching it! Equestrian vaulting is also absolutely stunning to watch in action, which in a way looks like a mix of gymnastics and ballet. I’ve never done ballet before, but I once did equestrian vaulting when I went to horseback riding camp years ago. It was fun—if a little nerve-wracking doing it on the back of one of the largest horse breeds the stable owned. Good times though! Would attempt again! :D

Anyway, let’s see how the monster boys will react to this~! >v>

////------////

Grim was already aware of Yuu’s skill as a ballet dancer, having seen her dance whenever they clean the dorm. From using the tips of her toes to spin and swipe across the tiled floors to the jumps and leaps she made to reach high places without landing heavily, Grim would watch it in awe. More than once he has stopped whatever he’s doing to watch, especially when music is playing. The soft melodies and fluid movements would make him sway almost hypnotically in place, while the quick tempos and swift movements got his blood pumping as he bounced and tried to dance along—even if it wound up with him tripping up the first few times, but he learned! 

His favorite moments are the times when she would scoop him into her arms and dance with him, feeling as though he were lighter than air. Who needs a broom when he had Yuu? It was the best thing ever for the Great Grim’s human henchman to be so talented if he said so!

Of course, when it came to explaining Yuu’s ability to the other freshmen, words failed to convey just how impressive her dancing skills were and none of the others had ever seen her dance. None of the videos that Ace found online could match her grace or the flexibility she demonstrated--until he finally had enough and demanded they follow him: “I know where she likes to go practice during breaks!”

And so, thinking it was just another tall tale from the chimera, the other first years agreed to follow him for the time being and out of pure curiosity. When they drew closer to the unoccupied auditorium, however, they began to hear…music. “Shh…be quiet, or she’ll stop,” Grim warned them in a hushed whisper, turning to carefully nudge the door open wide enough for everyone to peer inside without exposing themselves.

Whatever quip Ace had in store died on his lips as he stared, watching as Yuu’s legs bent before she raised one high up in the air while balancing on the tip of her other leg, her arms stretched out in a graceful “L” shape. Somehow, she looked as still as a statue, making him wonder just how strong her legs were to be able to hold that pose. “Whoa…how is she even doing that?” he uttered in amazement, watching her smoothly transition into a slow sweeping twirl.

“Guys, if she’s dancing alone in a classroom, she may not want us to watch,” Deuce whispered, the centaur momentarily wincing when he saw her legs bend in ways he knew he could never pull off without injuring himself. Still, he couldn’t look away, his eyes watching intently as he eventually asked, “Can…humans really move like that?”

“Her movements are so fluid,” Jack commented, ears twitching as he found himself relaxing. There was something soothing about seeing her dance so gracefully, yet even from here he could see the power in her movements—restrained, yet clear as day with each step and twirl and bend and high kick. “Is this some form of martial arts from the human world?”

“Naw…it looks like tha’ ballet thin’ Vil—I mean…it looks like the ballet Vil has me and the other first years practice in the ball room,” Epel commented. As much as he hated being forced to do it…he found that it looked different watching Yuu perform. He knew he’d never be able to do half the movements she could with the way his legs were designed—but there was also a certain satisfaction in realizing that even Vil wouldn’t be able to mimic the same fluid grace or expect the same out of the others.

When a new song began to play, a gasp escaped Sebek before Jack and Epel covered his mouth. Though it was hard for them to not feel just as stunned the moment Yuu leapt atop the desks, spinning and jumping up from desk to desk in time to the rhythm until she reached the highest point. Her body moved with a grace and power that he’d never seen before, her expression—though calm—betraying the smile on her face as she continued her performance for the imaginary crowd. At one point she stopped, her back towards the door as she stood and shuffled backwards on the tips of her toes. Before he or the others could warn her how close she was to the edge of the desk—she leapt!

Time seemed to slow down, her body rising high in the air as—with her legs bent and curved—she spun in the air before straightening her legs out into an impossible split, soaring through the air. Then—as if lighter than a feather—she landed right in front of the podium at the very bottom and stood straight just as the music stopped, turning and bowing gracefully at the “audience”.

“Whoa!! That was amazing!” Deuce exclaimed.

Yuu gasped as she turned towards the doors, her face showing clear embarrassment and shock as she squeaked out, “Wha-? Deuce?!”

“Oops!” Deuce uttered, hands clamped over his mouth as he realized just how loud he’d actually been.

“Scramble!!” Ace yelled.

“Guys!!!” Yuu screeched as they bolted. “Get back here!!”

 /////------/////

Soon enough word spread around about Yuu’s dancing prowess, and it wasn’t long after that Cater and the others would come asking for a demonstration of this performance as well. After all, human dancing hasn’t been recorded in centuries—it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to observe (and record) such practices and seeing how humans could move! If Yuu has any knowledge on other forms of traditional dance, it would become a treasure trove of cultural knowledge to unlock and study the significance of the moves and the traditional garments worn by dancers!

#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland monster au #twst monster au #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #epel felmier #sebek zigvolt #twisted wonderland grim #twst grim #twst yuu #twisted wonderland yuu #fem!yuu #I could swear I posted this but found it in my drafts wtf 0.o #faun speaks

[data-is-my-favorite-android]

Thoughts on The Ghoul

So I think all the characters in the Fallout show are spectacular, but I had some thoughts on The Ghoul/Cooper Howard in particular that I just wanted to put down. Owing to his 200+ years of history, he's a downright fascinating, dynamic character, and I can't wait to see what they do with him next.

Anyway, here's my thoughts/character analysis of The Ghoul:

One of the things I found most interesting on my second watch-through of the show was how everything The Ghoul does is motivated by ruthless pragmatism, not cruelty. It can appear like cruelty--sometimes it tips over into cruelty--but cruelty is not the point. The point is always survival. He must survive to find his family. That is his goal and his one guiding tenet. Nothing else matters, everything else is fluid. Whatever it takes to survive.

Getting rid of the three bounty hunters who dug him up? Survival. Two of those guys were already one twitch away from killing him on the spot for being a ghoul, and the other threatened to harm him if he didn't show enough gratitude. Coupled with some of the other things he was saying, it seemed possible he would double-cross or kill The Ghoul the moment it suited him. No doubt The Ghoul has worked with the type before, and knew trouble when he saw it.

In Filly, he only shot people who were shooting at him. Cooper loves dogs, but he stabbed CX-404 because she was actively trying to kill him. On the surface, he healed her for equally pragmatic reasons: she could lead him to Wilzig. But he also seemed to respect, too, that she clung to life despite her debilitating wound. She's not his dog Roosevelt, so he tries to maintain a cold detachment from her (at first), but he has a soft spot for dogs.

He was willing to shoot Lucy in Filly, but he hesitated--which is more than he did for any of the other people threatening his life. Possibly he wouldn't have killed her (she was armed with a non-lethal weapon) until Maximus showed up on the scene and changed the calculus (dispatch the girl and deal with the newer, bigger threat without having to worry about her finding a lethal weapon and killing him with it). He didn't kill Maximus when he had the chance, either. He didn't need to. Maximus had already shown himself to be incompetent with the power armor. It was simple enough to damage the power armor and watch him tuck tail and run.

When he meets Lucy again, he uses her with the same casual, indifferent efficiency as he would any other tool. The point of dunking her in the water was to lure the gulper. It had the unfortunate side effect of also being torturous for Lucy, but the cruelty wasn't the point. Getting the head back was. The head=caps, caps=meds, meds=survival, survival=eventually find family.

We don't know what The Ghoul would have done if they had retrieved the head from the gulper and his medicine hadn't been destroyed. Probably it would have depended on what Lucy did. If she seemed likely to come after him and the head, he probably would have killed her or incapacitated her and left her for dead. If she had explained she needed to trade it with Moldaver for her dad, Hank MacLean, hoooo boy, he would have beelined for Moldaver's with Lucy in tow. Whether Lucy came along as his partner or his captive/extra bargaining chip would also probably depend on Lucy's behavior.

But they lose the head and The Ghoul's medicine is destroyed. The math changes. He can come back for the head, but he needs meds now, which means he needs caps now, and the only thing of value he has on hand is this pampered girl from a fucking vault who seems patently unwilling to do the things that need to be done to survive in the Wasteland anyway, so if she's gonna die, he might as well profit from it. He needs meds to survive. He needs caps for meds. It's simple, brutal math.

While he's hauling her to the Super Duper Mart, though, he does several interesting things that are degrading for Lucy, yes, but are simultaneously teaching her how to survive the Wasteland, testing to see if she'll adapt. First, he mercy kills Roger and butchers him. It's important to note that The Ghoul didn't have to take a detour from his all-important mission to obtain medicine--he could hear it was Roger, he could tell Roger was going feral and didn't have any meds-- but he went anyway to help ease an old friend's passing. And he made sure Roger's last thoughts were pleasant, too.

Then, because this is the Wasteland and the one law is survival, he wastes no time switching gears. There's no waste in the Wasteland, and a fresh dead body presents an opportunity for those willing to seize it. The Ghoul, mind you, has had 200 years to learn that he can't be picky. Ghouls are unwelcome in most "civilized" parts of the Wasteland, barred from the simple comforts and safeties and securities that other people can enjoy if they reach those scattered, precious oases. The Ghoul has had to eat people. It sucks, but it's that or die.

But Lucy doesn't understand that. She arguably doesn't understand what a ghoul even is because nobody's taken the time to tell her. She doesn't know what the last 200 years have been like. She's appalled--and then she has the audacity to voice her disgust. The Ghoul hands her the knife to keep butchering Roger in part to humble her, to drag her down into the dirt with the rest of them, but he's also teaching her a stark reality of the Wasteland. It was a lesson and a skill that he had to learn the hard way. (Interestingly, while nearly everyone in the Wasteland is disgusted by cannibalism, it's also a known thing that happens all the time. The Ghoul and Lucy are in the interesting position of being some of the only people in the Wasteland who were raised in societies where cannibalism truly was unthinkable).

On the walk to the Super Duper Mart, he refuses to give her water. On a pragmatic level, there's no reason to waste water on the equivalent of a dead woman walking--he's leading her to get her organs harvested, after all. (He is pretty petty when he pours out the last drops instead of giving them to her, though). But also, whether he is actively intending to or not, he is teaching her to adapt to Wasteland conditions. The water in his canteen, in fact, was just as irradiated and gross as the standing water from which Lucy ultimately drinks; he refills his canteen from the same rusted-out vessel Lucy drinks from, and likely drew the previous canteen's worth of water from a similarly unpalatable source. This is water in the Wasteland. Drink it or die.

When she runs away shortly after, he lassos her (and, sidenote: can I just add how fucking cool it is that they actually carry through his lasso skills? Like, that is actually an extremely useful skill and the writers utilized it!), which leads to that pivotal scene where she bites his finger off and he takes hers.

This is interesting for multiple reasons. The Ghoul calls her a "little killer" and seems satisfied to see her finally fighting with the same savagery as a Wastelander. This could be either because a) he believes all people have a killer lurking beneath the facade of civility ("I'm you, sweetie. Just give it a little time...") and she's finally found that steely will to survive no matter what it takes, and/or b) he believes she's been faking her doe-eyed, good girl persona. He's the one who first finds Wilzig's body, after all. To him, it looks like Lucy lured the doctor off and ruthlessly chopped off his head before running off with it. Maybe she's just a really good actress, and in biting his finger off, she's let that mask slip.

Either way, he introduces her to another law of the Wasteland: don't dish it if you can't take it. She takes his finger, he takes hers. He doesn't kill her for it, in part because that would be disproportionate, in part because that would be a waste (he probably needs he alive to exchange her for caps). But also, from a practical standpoint, she just bit off his shooting finger. Unbeknownst to her, ghouls can reattach body parts, even ones that are not their own. He's harvesting his replacement from her. If he wanted to be cruel, he had ample opportunity to be cruel here. He could have taken more fingers. He could have hurt her in ways that wouldn't have affected her value to organ harvesters. He could have degraded her and called her all kinds of nasty names. But he doesn't. He's efficient. If anything, he seems almost proud of her for abandoning her hoity-toity principles and fighting back.

He still needs caps. He's feeling the effects of not having his medication. He's still committed to delivering her to the organ harvesters. In his mind, he has no choice. This is about survival. He has to survive to find his family. This is the option he has available to him. This is how he lives to see another day. He brings her to the Super Duper Mart and, drawing deep from that actor's well, he maintains the tough-guy routine long enough to intimidate her inside, then he succumbs.

He's still down when Lucy re-emerges, victorious, and he knows, he knows that he's dead. He tried to kill her, now she'll kill him. It's the smart thing to do, the practical thing to do. Another law of the Wasteland...

But she doesn't do it. She has all the power here, she knows he's a dangerous element, that she would probably be safer if she left him for dead or killed him herself. But she breaks all the rules. She gives him, freely, generously, with supreme dignity and a selfless kindness he had long forgot, an abundance of the thing he needs to survive, the thing he was willing to sell another human being for no questions asked. Just like that.

There's also something to be said here about how resource scarcity (and the removal of that scarcity) affects people. As soon as The Ghoul gains a cache of at least 2 months worth of medicine, it frees him from the basic math of mere survival. He has room to breathe and think long-term (at least by Wasteland standards). He can reflect on the momentous thing that just happened to him, too. As he watches himself on the TV in the Super Duper Mart, watches the man he once was unwillingly (and unwittingly) take the first step onto the path to what he has become, he remembers what it was like being Cooper Howard. Why he, Cooper Howard, hated the "feo, fuerte, y formal" scene so deeply.

Cooper Howard was a kind, moral, and dignified man who seldom said an unkind word. He was a loving husband who deeply respected his wife and absolutely adored his daughter. Though his naivety, privilege, and ignorance blinded him to the ugly realities of the pre-apocalypse world around him, he valued justice, freedom, and equality. He wanted the characters he played in the movies to reflect that belief in the power of the law and respect the innate humanity of all people, even the villains. And, when he began to see the cracks in the perfect picture of his charmed life, he is driven to know the truth behind the facade. His deep, defining belief in justice and truth would not let him leave it alone.

Cooper Howard learned the truth that Vault-Tec (and by extension, his wife) were willing to drive the world off a cliff, and it destroyed his marriage and deeply affected him. Even then, demoralized and hurt as he was, he found it in himself to be thoughtful and kind to his daughter and the people, both adults and children, at the birthday party he worked the day the bombs dropped. Fundamentally, he was still a kind, moral man. And that kind, moral man found himself in the middle of the most horrific nightmare anyone could ever imagine experiencing: the death of the planet under a rain of atomic bombs. Then he lived through it and had to contend with the harsh realities of surviving on the annihilated landscape left behind. Fortunately for him, he already had several handy skills to carry him through: having formerly been a real cowboy, he knew a thing or two about surviving in tough conditions; having formerly been a soldier, he knew what it took to kill a man and had the experience and fortitude to do it; and finally, having formerly been an actor, he had a built-in psychological coping mechanism to insulate him from the horrors of the things he needed to do to survive.

Cooper Howard used to put on and take off personas for a living. Sure, he played white hats, but he had an intuitive understanding of character and narrative tropes. He played opposite some of the best bad guys in 21st century Hollywood! It wouldn't be hard for him to pull the cloak of acting around himself to do what he initially needed to do to survive. But somewhere along the way, the tough, ruthless persona he adopted stopped being an act and he became his character. He embodied the answer to the question posed by The Man from Deadhorse: what happens when a good man is driven too far?

Cooper Howard adapted to survive. His actions reflect the realities of being a ghoul (again, a people generally reviled by everyone and cast out of safe havens because they are deemed threats). Pragmatic and efficient violence are necessities if a ghoul wants to live long, stay sane, and stay out from under the thumb of would-be enslavers. Still, beneath it all, Cooper Howard is still there, buried deep down beneath the character-persona of The Ghoul.

The Ghoul is drawn to Lucy (platonically, romantically, or some secret third thing), to her goodness and old-world manners just as much as he is disgusted/irritated by them. She's an echo of himself, of Cooper Howard, of who he used to be, and he knows EXACTLY where that gets a person. She's going to get herself killed if she doesn't wise up. With those high-and-mighty, anachronistic principles, that black-and-white worldview, her totally naive misunderstanding of the realities of the Wasteland, she won't last long. And initially he sees her as a pawn, like he was, only good for moving him one step closer to his goal. But then she shows him she can adapt and survive. Not only that, she can be true to her core principles in the process. She can conduct herself with dignity. Lucy reminds him what it was like being the white hat, and shows him that yes, even in this hellscape, there can be heroes. Over 200 yeas, his pragmatism and need to survive sanded away the nuance between Good and Bad. But Lucy makes him reconsider whether maybe there is right and wrong after all, and maybe it actually does matter.

Thus begins his transformation, but the change is not immediate, and this is still the Wasteland. He escapes from The Govermint and goes after Lucy. To do that, he needs to find Moldaver. He tracks down someone who might know where to find her, kills him and accidentally blows a hole through the letter with the key bit of information he needs to find Moldaver. So, he goes to that guy's family to find the man's younger brother, Tommy. When he gets the information he needs, he kills Tommy. He gives Tommy the opportunity to back down, but The Ghoul has a lot of experience and reads Tommy like a book. Tommy is not the kind of kid to let something like this go, and The Ghoul has clearly been burned by leaving vengeful people alive before. Tommy reaches for a gun to shoot The Ghoul, and The Ghoul doesn't hesitate. He blows a hole in the kid. It sucks, but again, this is a decision born from sheer practicality, not love of carnage.

Later, he comes across CX-404 trapped in a Nuka-Cola machine (left there by Thaddeus). The head is lost to both of them now; the dog cannot help The Ghoul with finding it. But he saves her anyway and dubs her Dogmeat. He lets sentimentality get to him for the first time in who knows how long and allows himself to bond with another living being. When he does reach The Observatory (where Moldaver, Lucy, and her dad are), he clearly stashes Dogmeat somewhere to keep her out of harm's way and goes in after Lucy.

After fighting his way through the Brotherhood of Steel, we come to that pivotal scene where Lucy finds out about her father's history. Cooper hangs back to observe and learns that his niggling, hare-brained hunch about Lucy and her last name was correct: she was the daughter of Henry MacLean, a man-out-of-time who presents the first real step in 200 years toward Cooper's ultimate goal: finding his family. (I think it's important to note, however, that he isn't 100% sure of her connection to Hank when follows her to Moldaver's--his reasons for going to the Observatory are either to get information from Moldaver or simply to back Lucy up, should she need help). He lets Hank get away so that he can follow him, and he's willing to follow him alone. But now there's Lucy, who is as wrapped up in this shit as Cooper is (even if she doesn't understand it yet), and he figures they both deserve answers. She's shown that she can adapt to survive, she just needs a teacher. In their first exchange since she left him at the Super Duper Mart, he treats her with new respect and offers her the opportunity to come with him, learn from him, and find out about who she really is and the legacy that has produced her. But perhaps he also knows deep down that he needs to learn from her too. He needs to remember what it was like to be good, to be human. He needs it so he can be it for his daughter when he finds her.

So, yeah, I don't know, it's just interesting how Cooper Howard became essentially lost in method acting a villain to survive the fucking awful conditions he found himself in, but even then he isn't cruel. Like, there are a lot worse things he could have done to Lucy. A LOT WORSE. As far as I can tell, he never looks at or touches her in a creepy, predatory way. Yeah, he drags her around on a leash and cuts her finger off when she bites his off, but that's pretty damn tame for the Wasteland. He secures her with rope, but otherwise is pretty hands off with her. If he objectifies her, it's in an extremely non-sexual way. More of a taking-the-cow-to-market kinda way. Which still sucks, but again, it's not needlessly cruel or wantonly violent, which is pretty impressive given general Wasteland behavior.

He's a damn interesting character, and I'm super stoked to see how he develops--and how he interacts with Lucy going forward.

#fallout show #cooper howard #the ghoul #lucy maclean #long post #character analysis #also #have you guys noticed #Cooper is wearing the same hat shirt and trousers he wore when the bomb dropped?? #how has he NOT worn out those clothes after 200 years?? #how does he take care of them?? #Why does he wear them still? #...do you think it's so that when he does find his daughter #she'll be able to recognize *them* even if she doesn't recognize *him*?

[naavispider]

Hi what do you think about au with transgender spider? I don't know why but he gives me transgender vibes. It seems to me that from such a version Spider would reveal himself very young. What do you think the reaction of the Sullys, the scientists, the clan in general, and Quaritch and his squad in particular, would be when they first met and on their missions?

I love this idea! Spider is so strong and brave and true to himself already that I completely agree with you that he would come out very early on. He doesn't give a shit that he's the only one amongst the humans who is half naked and wearing blue stripes, so why would he care that he has the wrong the body parts to be a boy? He knows he can be whatever he wants, although it's of course deeper than that. He is Na'vi, so he shows it. He is a boy, so he's confident expressing that too.

As this is set so far in the future I would love to believe that the humans who stayed at Hell's Gate and helped raise him wouldn't bat an eyelid. And if anyone was surprised or unsure of Spider's decision, it wasn't exactly something that would get Spider down or convince him to stop. By the time he's 9 he's spending most of his time in the forest anyway. The science guys barely see him and let's be honest, they probably forget he exists most of the time (apart from Norm, Max and maybe one or two others).

The Na'vi definitely don't give a shit, you know most of them don't want their kids to play with Spider on the count that he's human, let alone that he is a different gender to what his body parts suggest. It's the least of any of their worries. Neytiri doesn't really get it, but also doesn't care anyway, and Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk are all delighted because they've called Spider a boy ever since they've known him. In their eyes, Spider has gotten all nervous to tell them something they already knew.

"What do you mean? We already call you him and his!"

Kiri is the only one who looks at him differently - but it's in a positive way. She sees the bravery Spider shows everyday, expressing his true self more than anybody else she knew, staying true to his spirit. If that didn't make him one of Eywa's children, she didn't know what would.

Neteyam is slightly slower to keep remembering pronouns etc because (being the oldest) he knew Spider before he fully came out. However, if an odd pronoun does slip out, it is quickly corrected and apologised over (Spider teases him about it) and within a few weeks that's that. It's just natural. Jake has a similar reaction to Neteyam, having known Spider for several years before he transitioned, and he had a hard time explaining it once to Neytiri. After the kids had finally all settled down to sleep, she asked Jake what Spider was doing, changing the way he wanted people to talk to him. Jake had his work cut out trying to explain that it was much more than just that, that Spider really was a boy inside, he had just been lumped with the wrong body parts to prove it. Neytiri (being completely oblivious) asked if it was a sickness that made his body be born wrong. She tried to imagine having the same problem as Spider, and realised the kid had it tough. Still, he was human, and the demon Quaritch's son at that - he would only bring them ill-fortune eventually.

Now, when Quaritch finds Spider in the forest with Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk, things go differently. Quaritch asks him his name and the boy gives it. Quaritch frowned, the name 'Socorro' bringing hope to his chest, but he couldn't piece the jigsaw together. He remembered holding his daughter in his arms, cradling her as she slept, watching her as Paz recovered from the birth. His child wasn't called Spider. His child was a girl. She was named after his mother. He knew for a fact that Paz hadn't had any other kids.

"[dead female name of your choice]?"

"Nobody calls me that."

"I figured they sent you back to Earth..."

"You can't put babies in cryo, dipshit."

Well, shit. It really was... her. His frown deepened. He signalled to Prager to take hold of Spider again. "Take her over there..."

Spider hissed. "It's him, dickwad!"

Quaritch turned as the kid was wrestled away to wait for extraction. He needed to call this in, but as he did so he watched the struggling child, spitting curses in Na'vi and conversing with Sully's kids.

He'd been gone 16 years. He knew the world had changed and moved on since the real Miles Quaritch died, but he didn't realise just how much of his past life he had lost, and just how much he was about to gain back.

#as for the recoms #they're all totally chill #everyone is #this is pandora and it's my headcanon so my rules #quaritch is totally chill too once he's over the shock of it #in fact #it makes him respect spider even more #his fondness only grows #transgender!spider #miles spider socorro #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #jc avatar #recom quaritch #miles quaritch #jake sully #neytiri #neteyam #tuktirey #avatar kiri

[szallejhscorner]

The Truth That Couldn’t Be Denied - Part I

Mel_Mio once more commissioned me to write the following idea:

“What if Chishiya returns to the real world after the events of CiaD and HLiF, and he does remember y/n, but y/n doesn’t remember him?”

So here’s part I, and part II will follow!

@rainsoughtflowers​ there it is :3

Soul mates, fairy tale romances, lovers for life. Things little children dream about in their glittering dresses, while wearing plastic crowns and watching Barbie movies where people always have their happy endings.

Those dreamers have yet to wake up, and it will happen eventually once they have to face the real world outside of their hope-filled bedrooms.

Chishiya Shuntarou never actually got the chance to dream such dreams. And yet he had found a person to reach through all the walls he built throughout the years, in a world full of death and cruelty. Never would he have thought to find you in the Borderlands – he never wanted to find someone at all. You had been no one to him at first, and up to this day, he couldn’t tell how you had managed to change that. The truth was, though: you had.

You had taught him that his heart was not only there to pump blood through his body, but that it could actually make him feel something. Up to this day, he refused to call it love. But whatever it was, it was there. And that he could not deny.

At night, he lay wide awake in his hospital bed, listening to Niragi’s rattling breaths. They both should be dead now, yet somehow they had managed to survive even the most severe injuries after trying to kill each other. Still, Niragi didn’t remember him for some reason. He didn’t remember anything about the Borderlands, about the games or how his whole body had been burnt in the fire of judgment.

Chishiya on the other side remembered everything, from the shooting between him, Niragi and Arisu, how he had caught the bullet that had been meant for Usagi and how you, the stubborn woman he came to like had kept talking to prevent him from succumbing to death. Chishiya remembered how you had told him hundreds of times how much you loved him, and how you had revealed memories about your childhood and whatnot. He didn’t recall most of it because the pain had prevented him from listening too closely, but your voice had kept him alive. This thought alone sounded so cheesy that Chishiya had to snort, and never would he speak it out loud to anyone.

Impatiently, he had waited for the day of his discharge, because he wanted to find you and see how much you remembered. Chishiya was sure that she shouldn’t remember anything about what happened. He had been supposed to lie there just like Niragi and believe that they all had suffered a one-minute cardiac arrest because of a comet crashing down on Shibuya; nothing more. It could be assumed that you didn’t remember him too – a thought that Chishiya didn’t approve of.

“Allowed to go home already? Lucky bastard”, Niragi laughed as Chishiya switched the hospital gowns for his normal clothes. Home. He had a certain image in his mind when thinking about home, but it wasn’t the place he lived at.

A tiny paper note was resting in one of the pockets, and Chishiya touched it with his hand. He knew exactly what stood on it, without even looking. It was your name, written by his own hands. You had a note as well, only that yours had a university on it instead of a name. While you had promised to find him in the real world, Chishiya hadn’t wanted to make it too easy for you by just giving you his full name. But if you didn’t remember him at all, you wouldn’t fulfill that promise anyway. You’d probably look at the note and throw it away since it had no meaning to you.

It was annoying, but the fact that you wouldn’t come for him meant that Chishiya had to find you instead. He could simply continue his bleak life, of course. Go back to being a medical student, in a world where money ruled even inside a hospital, and shake his head over all the pathetic human beings he observed. Although the Borderlands had taught him that there was a different option, one that came along with you. An option that didn’t make him feel so empty and hollow.

He threw one last glance at Niragi, who was still covered in bandages with several monitors tracking his vitals. That man had been burnt alive, shot several times, and yet he was still breathing somehow. Impossible to kill, the one thing devils and vermin had in common.

The other man continued his rattling laughter that soon turned into a cough. “No get-well wishes? You are a heartless fellow, eh.”

Chishiya smirked and gave him a little wave of his hand before closing the door behind him. Niragi didn’t remember, but Chishiya knew who that man really was. A murderer, a rapist, a psychopath. Deep inside, nothing of this had changed after leaving the Borderlands. It would stay hidden as long as the rules of this world forbid it to wake up, but inside it would growl and scratch to be unveiled.

Because the Borderlands revealed who a person really was. It didn’t turn someone into a murderer if that person hadn’t been ruthless before. He and Niragi would never have become friends, neither here or in the Borderlands. Chishiya didn’t care to be friendly to a man he knew didn’t even deserve to breathe this air.

Not that Chishiya deserved it, either. But just like Niragi, he was still alive and breathing and searching for the one person who made him feel something other than disdain and arrogance.

It was easy to find you. In a world so trapped by social media, almost everyone had several accounts on different sites, sharing way too much information about their real life. Pictures of themselves and their children, their birthdays, where they had gone to school, where they worked. Someone with hostile intent could easily track a person down using all this information, even if the address had never been given. But knowing where the primary school was, that they passed a giant oak tree on their way to the bus station, or that the neighbor had a dog breed with annoying poodles – all that could be used to pin the location down pretty closely. One of the main reasons why Chishiya didn’t give away anything on the internet.

He had even convinced the hospital director to leave out his surname on the hospital’s website, and avoid any images where his face could be seen.

You weren’t as naïve as to give away too much delicate information, but knowing your name and your face as well as some bits about your life that you had told him in the Borderlands, Chishiya soon knew where to find you. Of course he wouldn’t just ring on your door, assuming he’d most likely be a stranger to you. He intended to find out in a more subtle way if you remembered him or not.

The café was a tiny little shop, cozy with its brick walls, steel lamps and different-colored sofas. Chishiya had never been here before, since there wasn’t much interesting around besides a small book store and a pet shop, but it didn’t seem to be all too bad.

You had posted an image of the café not long ago, praising their drinks and cakes as the best that could be found in the whole city. The range did look quite tasty, that much Chishiya had to admit. But the cheesecakes, blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookies only got a few seconds of attention from the blonde, since he soon found something much more interesting: you.

You were seated on one of the sofas in the back, legs crossed with a book next to you and a hot drink in front. Focusing entirely on what you were reading, Chishiya watched how your lips were slightly parted in concentration and how a lone strand of hair had fallen into your face.

It made him remember the last time he’d seen you; tears in your eyes, dirt on your face, begging for him to survive. On your wrists, the scars from the King of Hearts could still be seen, and Chishiya knew that your shoulder would be scarred from the bullet you had caught in the Witch Hunt. If he pulled up your sleeve, he’d be able to see the cut from that asshole in the Jack of Clubs, and he couldn’t help but wonder if your hands still trembled now and then from all the shocks you had endured on that electric chair. How did you think you’d acquired those wounds? All from the comet, nothing else?

“Can I help you, sir?” asked the waitress and expectantly stared at Chishiya, who ordered a piece of cheesecake and tea to blend into the crowd. He sat down on a sofa close to yours, and you lifted your head for a moment to eye the newcomer. Chishiya wouldn’t admit it, but he wanted you to recognize him. His heartbeat increased, only a little, and it was hard to keep up a neutral expression. Yet you only scanned his face for a second with no recognition at all before you continued to read your book.

The pain was different from being shot since there was no physical wound, and still it hurt more than he liked. Back in the Borderlands, when he had claimed emotions to be a weakness, this had been exactly what he’d meant. You had asked to be his strength, and now all you did was stab an imaginary dagger right through the heart you had claimed as yours.

Pathetic. I’m not better than those little children whose dreams have yet to be crushed.

The cheesecake was supposed to taste sweet, but Chishiya didn’t taste anything at all. He stared into his tea until it got cold, and even when you got up and left the café after finishing the book, he didn’t get up from his seat.

You had been reading the Metamorphosis. The exact same book Chishiya had been reading in the Borderlands, when he and you had spent some days in the abandoned caravan. It could have been a sign that there still was a connection, although it left nothing but a bitter taste. For almost an hour, you had been sitting close to him, and several times your eyes had met his. Not once did Chishiya see the spark you used to carry when looking at him.

You didn’t remember him anymore.

#chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x reader #reader x chishiya #oneshot #aib #alice in borderland

[tadpolejourney]

Day 18

The owlbear cub came back last night. This time the poor little guy was injured. Luckily it wasn't bad. I reassured him that he would be alright. He's so cute. Gale came over to remind me that owlbears grow as if I didn't already know that. I think it would be cool to have an owlbear for a pet. It's not like I'm some weirdo who lives a 'normal' life in a 'normal' house anyway. Whatever that even means.

So we have an owlbear cub at camp now. I asked him what he wanted to be called, and he simply replied, 'Cub'. I can't get over how adorable he is, seriously. Sweet lil baby owlbear who will grow up to be my friend. After all, he knows I'm a friend, not food, already. Same goes for everyone at camp.

I told Gale how we ended up in our previous predicament with magic items, and he placed a magical lock on our camp chest. Only certain people who aren't prone to thieving can have access to it. Which means everyone but Astarion can open it now. Maybe he'll earn back that trust eventually. Gale and I didn't tell everyone else they can open it, so Astarion doesn't know he's the only one that's been left off the guest list. No doubt he'll test the mettle of Gale's skills, but Astarion won't be able to best Gale's magic. I also know disciplining Astarion will only work with natural consequences. No confrontation, humiliation, or lecturing. Listen to me. I sound like his parent. He's over 200 years old. I'm 22. This is absurd.

Gale and I had a fly-by-night test of his orb's volatility today. Not on purpose, of course. We ventured back towards the Blighted Village, on our way to Waukeen's Rest and the mountain pass. Something caught my eye when we walked past the well. Thinking about Gale's need for magical items (and our now bare stockpile courtesy of Astarion's greed and apathy), I wanted to venture down it. Naturally, this being a very normal place during very normal times, it turned out to be a cave full of big ass spiders. A big ass spider lair, if you will. Good loot though, including some magical items. We also found the amethyst that opens a creepy book we found in the village. Still not sure I want to open that creepy book.

When we first climbed down into the well, I accidentally hit a cocoon and we were immediately beset upon. I shouted at everyone to backtrack around the cave wall to line of sight the enemy (classic tactic to counter an ambush, forces enemies to trickle in and helps us focus them down). We all reacted as quickly as we could, and Gale and I ended up wedged in a crevice together. He cast misty-step while I was running into the same space, and we had a near-collision. That put us in a better-to-just-share-the-space-and-be-very-close-together-for-a-few-moments sort of situation.

We'd never been that physically close. My body was fully pressed against his. His back to the cave wall, my hands on the cave wall, his arms around me. I knew he could feel my breasts, smell my hair and my soap and my sweat, just as I had his scent all over me and I could feel all of him. And I do mean all of him. He winced in pain after a moment, and I could tell something was going very wrong. His chest started to glow bright purple. The heat coming off that orb got so intense so quickly. I backed away from him while I pushed into his mind, forcing my mental glade of calm into his thoughts and taking him out of his body. I wasn't sure it would even work, but it did. The orb calmed down. Sometimes I have good ideas!

I think he's letting his guard down around me. In his mind, I mean. That or he was just really distracted. When we first met, he was the only infected person where our tadpoles never 'got acquainted', so to speak. I never saw in his mind. It felt like standing outside an impenetrable fortress. I didn't push at the time, and I wouldn't do it without reason now either. I think it's kind of rude to barge into people's minds. I only do it if I have to. Of course when we met he could see into mine, to an extent. It's really just ripples of my emotions that people get. I try to vigilantly guard my thoughts as well, now more than ever. It's not quite as impressive as Gale's total silence, but at least I have some control.

Tonight in camp he thanked me and said he thinks I may have kept him from destabilizing again. I told him, 'You're welcome, my dear wizard.' Made him blush. Probably made myself blush too, if I'm being honest. He cleared his throat, told me he wanted to apologize for our situation in the cave. He didn't word it exactly like that. He made a very clever and poetic allusion to his boner and how he hoped I wasn't terribly uncomfortable. I laughed and told him not to worry about it. I told him I had one too, he just couldn't feel it. And just when we were having fun flirting, he told me it's probably for the best that we don't, for now. Sigh. Normally I would have given up on him long before I even knew about the orb. I don't chase people. I don't beg people. I don't take scraps from people. How am I so willing to forgo all of my pride, strength, and reason for this man that I do it so effortlessly?

I think I'm in love with him.

<<< Day 17 | Index | Day 19 >>>

#wanted to give some actual legitimacy to Gale's fears of spontaneous combustion due to sexual/romantic excitement for the drama #would have also made for a really fun rp/skill check – can your Tav stop Gale from exploding in this scenario? #also going to bat for the owlbear cub having NO NAME #bg3 #baldur's gate #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate oc #baldur's gate tav #gale x oc #gale x tav #bg3 tav #baldurs gate tav #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate iii #bg3 gale #bg3 astarion

[hekate1308]

Okay Show Me

Prompt: Okay show me

Fandom: Death in Paradise

Pairing: Camille/Richard

Richard had gotten rather used to Camille showing up at his shack to complain about the blind dates her mother had set up for her. Truth be told, he was always a little too happy that she had chosen to see him at the end of the night instead of – but not that this would lead to anything, so he usually just provided her with beer and a glass of wine and made what he hoped were sympathetic noises even if he had never been the best at comforting people.

It seemed like the man of the week (as he had secretly come to call them) had been so full of himself that Camille had scarcely gotten a word in. Now, this was a complaint Richard had heard when it came to himself, as well, but he liked to think that he was always careful to eventually hear people out, and he didn’t think Camille had ever had a problem when it came to speak out when he was talking, anyway.

“I’m just…” she sighed. “The truth is, I’m tired. Some of them are alright, but there’s no spark. So we just sit and talk and pretend we’re having a really good time, which we probably would have if this wasn’t a date, but of course it is, so there are all these expectations holding you back.”

That, at least, Richard could empathize with.

“It’s just – normally, I get the impression that we understand one another, that there’s just nothing, and that we should just have a nice evening. But instead – well – you tell them goodbye and then they expect that they’ll have a good ending for such a date, and honestly, I’m getting tired of explaining myself.”

Richard frowned, being rather unsure what Camille meant. In his admittedly limited experience, dates usually ended rather awkwardly, by him accompanying the lady to her door and wishing her good night. He had no idea what someone like Camille would consider a “good ending” unless – no, no, he knew she was French, but – he really hoped he wasn’t blushing. But no, he liked to consider her a friend (although sometimes – no, he most definitely wouldn’t go there) and she would know better than to make such allusions. She knew his limits. So, whatever she meant, it would be something that was – well, he supposed romantic and swashbuckling and all these kinds of things he simply wasn’t capable of even in his wildest dreams.

So, he supposed he would just have to ask.

“Okay, show me.” It was probably not the most succinct of questions, but he supposed it was enough.

But apparently not. She looked at him. “Sorry?”

“Okay, show me” he repeated, feeling rather impatient. Certainly, considering what they had been talking about, Camille had heard him before but was pretending not to just to annoy him, as she had often done before. “Show me how you would expect a date to end, then.”

“You mean a proper date?” He would probably have noticed something was off, only that her eyes were glittering in that very distracting way once more, and he could feel himself swallow heavily as he told his heart to calm down.

He nodded, being unable to answer in any other way.

And then, just like that, Camille Bordey kissed Richard Poole.

Yes. Camille. Kissed. Him.

And he had no idea what to do.

For a moment or two.

Then he found himself responding – if he had had the time to think about it he would have claimed that it would have been incredibly impolite not to do so, although naturally, at the moment, he was incapable of rational thought – and his arm wrapped around her and –

He didn’t know how much time had passed before she drew back, laughing softly at his expression. “That’s how a good date should end.”

“I – I – I see” he stuttered. “So –“

“So now you owe me a date” she said matter-of-factly.

“What?” he blinked.

“You already got the ending to a good date, so now you owe me one. That’s just logical.”

For the life of him, he couldn’t see how.

But she suddenly grew self-conscious – a very strange sight – and then quietly said, “You don’t have to, of course. I just thought… well, when you… reacted… I….”

“Camille, I would love to take you out on a date.” He had no idea how he had managed to say it out loud, but thankfully, he head.

“You would?”

“Yes. I just was not aware that was an option…”

She laughed. “Richard, we have been flirting for the past year at least.”

He was about to protest that they had very much not, which she prevented by kissing him again, therefore putting him back two dates already.

Not that he minded.

#fictober23 #death in paradise #richard poole #camille bordey #camille x richard #british detectives #my writings

[madarasgirl]

Twin Flames

Read on AO3

Warnings: modern AU, “sugar daddy,” romance, alcohol consumption, eventual smut but smut is not the point, Madara x Nurse!Reader

What was life if not mundane? Until one day he barreled into your life and flipped it over. Nothing will ever be the same. You didn't belong to the same world, but the heart will yearn for what it wants.

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

The idea for this story (which will be part of a larger work) came from after an annoying shift at work when my friends and I were joking about what we were doing with our lives. This should be the most light-hearted part of the series I have in mind. Thinking of Madara as a sugar daddy was hot to me, so I needed to somehow get you to him. By no means am I encouraging anyone to become a sugar baby or glorifying these relationships with inherently unbalanced power dynamics in real life. And definitely don’t do anything potentially unsafe. DNI IF THIS THEME OFFENDS.

Inspiration was also drawn from the beautiful epic song "Star Sky," by the amazing group Two Steps from Hell. It is about two mirror souls reincarnating and finding each other through lifetimes, even if separated from age to age by time and death. The style of music renders the lyrics hard to elucidate, so you may need the lyrics separately on the side to make them out.

Word count: 4596

Chapter 1

You were so pissed after this night shift, everything that could have gone wrong going wrong. It was like the stars tried to align and screw you over. At least it was over, until next time. Fire in your veins, you stomped through the locker room to change. Part of you wanted to scream, while the other wanted to cry. Perhaps doing both wouldn’t be inappropriate either, given the circumstances. You stopped your turbulent rampage, trying to calm yourself so you didn’t slam something.

“Y/N. Let’s go out. We deserve it after all that,” your beloved friend Jasna said.

“Are we day drinking now? Here I was thinking there are still some things we are above doing.”

“Buddy, I meant breakfast. You’re already skipping ahead to tonight.”

You were about to make some sort of excuse to escape any social obligations at this time, but the alternative of going back to your empty home to collapse and bawl your eyes out the moment the door closed, which you knew you were going to do, held equally little appeal. Your stomach growled at you in disapproval, reminding you of your neglect since early yesterday evening.

You sighed, “Fine. Let’s do it. We have to eat sometimes anyways.”

“Hehe! I knew you still had some reason in you after your earlier outbursts!”

----------

Your party of two sat down at your favourite breakfast diner and ordered. Suddenly you were bone tired now that you had a chance to sit. What were you even doing with your life? Day in and day out, the same thing, 'saving people.' Were you even doing that? It was so often just one hopeless case after the other, like keeping bodies ‘alive’ while they slowly flushed themselves down the drain until they finally croaked. Such was nursing. It was soul-crushing work at times. And so meaningless at others.

“—And they even doubled my assignment. ‘It’d be a good double,’ they said. The moment they say that, you know it’s over! I was sent to OR at the beginning of the shift with my first patient while my other guy kept trying to pull his lines out. Luckily he didn’t get to his dialysis line or his central line or it’d be an even bigger disaster!”

Jasna was right. It wasn’t a good double. There are still way worse assignments. Your train wreck of a patient died, and you and whatever help the unit could muster last night spent hours using every resource trying to resuscitate a body you knew was long gone. Your back was STIFF from the CPR.

The workload only ever got heavier with no relief in sight. Only the sense of comradery with your fellow coworkers, especially the best nurses in the world, kept you going. You trusted them to have your back when things spiraled downhill with your patients’ lives and even with your own, if you were ever to end up a patient. They were always the only ones who truly understood when you needed to rant to each other.

Jasna suddenly snorted at you when you made a disparaging comment about her last patient. “Y/N! Shush, don’t let the higher powers hear you!”

“Well fire me then! I DARE THEM!” It was true. The ‘higher powers’ were more desperate for nurses to work than they had nurses wanting to work. “What are we even doing with our lives? We only keep going back because we hate ourselves but we want to see our work friends. And to put some food on the table.”

“If they’d just pay us more instead of themselves, they wouldn’t have half the problems they have. But of course, we just work there and nothing ever makes sense with the administration.”

"What else could we do?” You exhaled in exasperation. “I’m already in school again for my Master’s, but it’s only making things worse. I can’t take as many shifts as I used to.”

“I guess the only option left is to marry rich, ha!"

You rolled your eyes. “Any more sensible suggestions?”

“It’s plenty sensible,” Jasna huffed. “Try a sugar dating site…sometimes a girl needs to eat.”

You got quiet, remembering the trying times of being a nursing student, when between the needs of studying, preparing for exams and assignments, the long hours of clinical placement, and a part-time job, making ends meet was an almost impossible challenge for those without a safety net. Jasna had none, and needed to live, obviously.

“I am too old to be a sugar baby."

"Stop saying that! 29 isn't even old. I'll be your age in a few years." She played at being indignant.

To be honest, Jasna’s situation then was not quite different from your current predicament. Your Master’s of Nursing program was even more expensive than her Bachelor’s. The scholarship covered most of the tuition, but you still had to live. Rent to pay, food, any number of other miscellaneous items. Hospitals wanted more Nurse Practitioners and other specialized nurses, but there was no financial assistance, not when they also needed more nurses to toil at the bedside. With your course workload, even going from full-time to part-time at your current job left you in a rut. Not enough time for school. Not enough time to work and garner wages. You were at an impasse. And so, so tired.

You had no more fire in you for tonight. You sighed, thinking back on when you used dating apps in your early adult days, swimming through countless messages spamming "Hi" or "Baby you're hot, let's fuck" to find one decent message. Clearly nothing came out of it. How disappointing and tedious it all was.

“You’re thinking about it. I can tell.” Jasna gave you a knowing look.

“Nah. As if I want to make more time for something like dating. Clearly, time is what I’m always short on.”

“You do whatever you need to, I’ll be here. You could always just start a profile to check it out.”

The two of you wrapped up your meal and said your goodbyes. Until the next time you worked together again.

You stepped into the shower when you got home, steaming water erasing the grime of the night. The hot water temporarily soothed your worries and eased the tension from your muscles. It felt so good to be out of those dirty scrubs. Finally relaxing, your mind wandered back to your conversation with Jasna. You could just make an account, she was right, and flip through a few profiles. It was the kind of low commitment you could adhere to for awhile. It felt like a lifetime ago since you’ve last been with a man in any capacity.

It will be the same, just expect nothing. If the bar of expectation was already on the ground, there was only ‘up’ to go, so you couldn’t be disappointed, right? And you could just ignore whatever unsavory messages that came your way.

----------

“Brother, you need to go out more. You look more and more like an old man day after day, always so serious and disapproving. Your wrinkles are going to start showing.” A handsome young man stepped into the opulent study, raven hair down, freed from the ties of its usual low ponytail.

“And you need to dedicate yourself less to my extracurriculars, and more to business now that you’re feeling well. There are contracts to be negotiated.” Sharp eyes turned to acknowledge the newcomer to the room. The man at the huge mahogany desk put down his fountainpen, elegant script dancing across the plush papers he worked on. 

“I would if you had extracurriculars to speak of. As it is, I feel obligated to arrange activities for you, lest you rupture an aneurysm in your old age and stress.”

“Old age?” He was in his thirties.

Izuna grinned, knowing he was getting under Madara’s skin. And knowing equally well he could get away with things when it came to his stern brother, things that he wouldn’t let slip with others.

Madara was mildly irritated, but he’d play along, for now. Staring down his nose at his brother, he asked, “Hn. Then I’ll amuse you. What do you have planned for this old man which might alleviate his woes?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve always got your best interests at heart. We could set you up for a moonlit dinner date–“

“Out of the question. Why would I suffer the presence of some blathering fool? You should know I haven’t the time for frivolous activities such as—”

“—I even made you a dating profile on this website.”

“You did what?”

His brother, ever the cunning fox, grinned again as if he was feeling sheepish. “You’re now publicly an eligible bachelor looking for a lucky lady friend to spoil on a sugar daddy dating site. Would you like to know your username?”

“…” For once, Madara was at a loss for words. Out of all the ridiculous antics Izuna pulled over the years, never had he done anything on a public platform. They hailed from the Uchiha family for goodness sake. They had an image to maintain, even if not on principle, then at least for the unsullied reputation demanded in their business relationships.

Izuna was starting to sweat. Did he go too far? But this time, it wasn’t just a childish prank. “Look, I even found several excellent potential matches.” He pulled out his phone and booted the app to show Madara.

…It was you.

“Do you see something you like Madara-oniichan?” the brat was trying hard not to let the corners of his lips lift in mirth and failing miserably.

“…I think I should like to put you back in the hospital myself if you’d like to see your nurse so badly.” He glared furiously at his little brother, who was at times more trouble than he was worth. If he could kill with just a glance, Izuna would have combusted on multiple occasions already.

His mind jumped back to those months in the hospital long ago. In retrospect, he wished he got to know you more when he was visiting. But he was so overwhelmed by Izuna's state of injury, he was completely unavailable and nothing would have reached him at the time. Everything began with Izuna. Everything revolved around Izuna, his only remaining living member of family.

There had been a huge healthcare team involved in Izuna's recovery, and multiple units too, though they spent the longest in the ICU. After many months in the ICU, they made it to step-down, then transferred to the wards, and finally months of rehab. It’s been several years since then, and Izuna is finally looking as he did before the incident.

Throughout that time between healthcare facilities and units, Madara recalled countless smart, attractive nurses both young and older, professional despite the mistreatment by patients, families, the administration, and the system itself. You still stood out to him though. You were also pretty, but the way you carried yourself demonstrated you weren't even aware. You were all the more alluring for that.

Professional, competent, and kind. That was how he remembered you. He recalled when you eased him into a corner of the room as his brother died onscreen to explain what everyone was doing, gently reminding him that others in the room couldn’t hear important communication to each other when he screamed. You calmly explained why no one was shocking Izuna when there was no heartbeat, what medications were being given. There was a way of being firm in your demeanor without being disrespectful. You were so attractive to him. Too bad you were his brother's nurse and he wasn't in the headspace to pursue then.

“Just go for her! The worst that could happen is her rejecting your grouchy ass. What if some other lucky man snatches her up first?” Izuna started. "You see yourself? You've been alone for too long. I can't leave you all by yourself if something were to happen to me again."

Izuna had been drugged out of his mind to help control his pain, ventilation, and agitation. When eventually his sedation medications were weaned off and he woke up, he remembered how tender you were with him. Even the small details, where you saturated his wounds with saline before carefully peeling them back so the old dressings wouldn't rip against his healing wound beds. How you so sincerely apologized for each harder tug and each of his winces, as if you were the one hurting.

He was high as a kite, but some things he still remembered. Like how his brother would sometimes watch you as you worked when Izuna himself was a bit more lucid so Madara would be worrying less about him. No one else would have noticed these minute changes in his brother's behaviour, but they didn't escape him.

“You’re lucky brother. It’s this Saturday at 1900.” He pulled Madara out of his reverie.

 “Now what? What’s this Saturday?”

“Your date of course. I already contacted her and she agreed to see you.”

A fountainpen flew with speed and embedded itself in a thick wooden door as it slammed shut and a cackling laughter disappeared into the distance.

----------

HOLY SHIT. It's HIM. You knew his name. You knew his face. It was Uchiha Madara, older brother to Izuna.

Every member of staff remembered these two. Izuna was a trauma patient transferred from another hospital for more advanced support after the trauma surgeons were finished with him. The extent of injuries was startling. Izuna was on ECMO to bypass and support his non-functional heart. He was also on every other mode of life support: maxed out on multiple pressors, continuous dialysis, massive transfusions... His survival was a miracle.

You remembered how Madara would come day after day to sit quietly by Izuna's side, sometimes bringing his work. He was polite to the staff despite how gravely ill his brother was, and that by itself already earned him a place in your memory. The only time you recalled an outburst from Madara was the first time Izuna coded and his primary nurse and others successfully brought Izuna back to life while you talked to Madara. Over the course of months, everyone on the staff agreed in the most objective way that these brothers were very fine male specimens.

You were anxious and unsure, but of course you agreed to see him at his invitation.

----------

Madara ambled through his large closet, stocked from floor-to-ceiling with enough finery to dress a king. He pondered several outfits, weighing each option against another. A suit and tie? Much too formal. A nice pair of jeans? He couldn’t run the risk of appearing sloppy. A dress shirt? Possibly. He picked up a few other options to match when he heard a click behind him. The pest was back.

“I know how to dress for a woman. I don’t need your help.”

“Relax. I’m only here to see how you’re doing.” Izuna was enjoying himself. It wasn’t every day one got to see Madara mull over his appearance as he did now.

“Did you need to use such a lame pickup line?”

“It worked! It was perfectly fitting. I thought it was cute.” Izuna picked up a brush and ran it through his brother’s locks, as he used to do when they were younger. With just the two of them left in their family, they had no one else but each other. They would take care of each other.

Madara relaxed back into the strokes, even if his mane was already perfectly brushed through and detangled. “It was bordering the boundaries of good taste.”

“But it applied for both of us. She can’t even accuse of me pretending to be you. Can you at least commend me for my genius? And why are you still here? Don’t you need to pick her up?”

“You were masquerading as me. Milady insisted on meeting directly at the restaurant.”

“You didn’t manage to convince her of otherwise? She’s already playing hard to get? Fantastic. Good luck with your courtship!” Izuna performed an exaggerated, swooshing bow with a toothy smile. He wondered if you might eat his softie of a brother alive if he didn’t accidentally scare you away first. It’d be funny, but he hoped you’d be brave enough to endure cracking through his stubborn outer shell and too kind to make his beloved brother suffer too much.

----------

Just on time! You stepped out of your Uber, treading carefully down the steps in kitten heels to ensure the first thing you did wasn’t to face plant in front of your date. You let the hostess know of the reservation Madara made and followed her to a more private section of the lavish restaurant.

Upon making another turn, you didn’t need to be led anymore. It was quieter, not due to the total lack of other people, but because of him. His presence took up the whole room, like it dragged out all the air and it left you breathless.

He was handsome and well-dressed as always. Faintly patterned navy blue dress shirt fitting snugly, outlining the definition in his arms and chest, dark trousers well-tailored, brown dress shoes tying his look together. He was the picture of elegance. Long fingers lifted a glass of wine to his lips and he sipped as he suddenly turned his gaze towards you. Your mouth ran dry as his eyes roved over your body, carefully taking you in.

He wasn’t even trying to hide it! You were at once extremely self-conscious from the intense scrutiny. Does he like what he sees? You continued your stride towards your destiny, even as a million insecurities bloomed within.

Madara couldn’t look away. His eyes traced your form-fitting black dress, following the lines of your bare legs up to your hips and arms, stopping at a graceful neckline to briefly dip back down to stare at the swell of your breasts. His mouth watered into his glass and he was aware he was being vulgar. He put his wine down before he could drop it and ripped his stare towards your face.

You were dazzling.

He took in your pink face and delicate features enhanced by the lightest touch of makeup. He gave a small genuine smile and pushed out of the cushioned chair.

“Y/N. It’s good to see you again. Thank you for coming.”

“Yes thank you for the invitation. I hope you weren’t waiting long.” What were you supposed to do now? How do you date again? He’s a businessman and talks to important people, important people shake hands, right?

You extend your hand towards him in greeting and add, “It’s good to see you again too.”

Madara chuckled and took your hand in his paw, brushing the backs of your fingers with his thumb before bringing your hand up and pressing his lips to the back.

“No, not long at all. I arrived shortly before you did,” he lied.

Lips parting in shock, you froze. This was not the reception you expected! The useless software in your brain ground to a halt, leaving you at a loss for what to do. Seeing your pause, he chuckled deeply again, the sound going straight to warming your face further, and he pulled out the chair for you, already the perfect gentleman. “I apologize if I was too forward.”

You were already flustered and the date had just begun. You gulped and almost uttered a short prayer to yourself to wish for strength. “Umm, no, we’re okay.” You quickly sat down, as if afraid you might fall over after all and looked away to admire the decor. There were thick silver curtains draped intermittently along the walls, chandeliers setting the mood from high ceilings, everything highlighting the centerpiece of the room, the baby grand piano. It was a gorgeous establishment.

He went around the other chair to present you with a masterfully crafted bouquet of fresh, exotic florals. “This is for you.”

When was the last time you received flowers? You were aware of this date originating from a sugar daddy/baby dynamic and Madara was just playing the part, but you still couldn’t help being slightly flattered. “Thank you. They are beautiful.” You accepted the gift and took a sniff of a particularly large bloom and smiled at Madara.

“Good evening ma’am. How are you? My name is Carlos and I’ll be your server tonight. Could I start you off with something to drink?”

“Yes,” you answered a bit too fast and eagerly. Heavens knew you needed something to give you liquid courage. The words barely registered as you looked over the drink menu before ordering the first thing that sounded good. Carlos paused at your request, but ultimately repeated your order before disappearing. Madara was looking at you thoughtfully.

“How have you been?” You asked him.

“It’s more of the usual business. Deals to negotiate, meetings, paperwork. It’s rather unexciting to talk about me. How have you been these past years?” Madara’s reply was brief, curt. He had his chin on his hand, resting his elbow on the table as he scowled with eyebrows furrowed.

Thinking of the Senju and how Tobirama tried to press him in negotiations only this morning left a foul taste in his mouth. Izuna was the one who was the wordsmith and would never lose to a Senju when it came to creating contracts. But Izuna was only recently back in the game and his priorities were backwards. The first thing he did was set Madara up on a date instead of dealing with Tobirama. No matter. With Izuna by his side again, things will take a turn for the better. The date.

He looked up to see you quiet and staring back at him with wide eyes. Shit. He forced his face into a more neutral expression.

“Here is the white wine you ordered ma’am. It is a French wine from the region of Alsace. It starts with notes of orange blossom and honeyed orchard fruits before building into a richer flavour on the palate. It is a delight.”

You eyed Madara’s glass, then looked over the table and groaned. Madara was already drinking wine. And there was already a bottle of opened wine at your table. Great. Now he thinks I’m a bumbling idiot and a drunkard.

“We could use a second bottle at our table, right? I could drink that,” you deadpanned and grabbed your glass, swirling it quickly before tipping it back. “Delicious.” You take hold of the dinner menu to start studying it, still too flustered to be ready to try talking to Madara again. Madara kept a straight face even if he was crestfallen at your anxiety.

This wasn’t going well anymore. Madara cursed himself. He thought they started off alright, but now? He was used to people being nervous in his presence, but he didn’t want you to be so stressed around him. You looked to him like you wanted to run or melt into the scenery. It didn't feel right. He tried to open himself up and appear softer. He uncrossed his arms.

“Don’t worry about the wine, Y/N.”

Should you not? He looked so disapproving and judgmental. You knew some wine was nothing to a man of Madara’s status, but still, you didn’t want to keep embarrassing yourself. You licked your lips when his eyes stayed focused on you.

“I won’t. I could drink that, as I said.” You resisted the urge to face palm yourself, disbelieving of how you just told a man you’re seeing for the first time in years you drink bottles of wine by yourself. Guess who isn’t getting a follow-up date?

He chuckled again deeply in his chest and you wanted to die at how he kept laughing at you. “Let’s get something to eat first,” he said. The two of you resumed your study of the dinner menus and placed your orders.

Madara watched you again, unhappy at your squirming under his gaze.

“It’s been a long time. How have you been, Y/N?” Hopefully talking about yourself, a more familiar topic, would help ease your nerves. He read that in a psychology book long ago.

“You know, still working at the same hospital. Same annoying problems. I went part-time recently since starting my Master’s.” You hoped he didn’t notice your use of the word “annoying.” It wasn’t like you were calling his brother, a former patient, an “annoying problem.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, to make more time for school. I think I want to leave the bedside and get more specialized so I can either teach or become an NP instead.”

He was happy for you. He’d always respected those who had goals and tried to make more of themselves in life. He was genuinely interested in what you had planned for yourself. He sat back in his seat and asked, “That is fantastic news. How do you like your program so far?”

You and Madara continued to make pleasant conversation. Madara was incredibly interested in what you’ve been up to the past years, but he tried not to let his curiosity sound like an interrogation. He was relieved as you appeared increasingly relaxed as dinner went on.

As the meal came to an end, you declined dessert, stating you were already full. Madara went to get the bill, even if you resisted, stating you will pay for yourself. He dissuaded you of such a notion before completing the transaction, leaving you mildly distraught.

“Come. I will bring you home.” Madara smiled warmly at you and offered his arm, observing as you stepped gingerly down the stairs outside the venue while using him as support, ensuring you wouldn’t trip. He opened the door on your side to his fancy car and closed it after you.

You were both quiet in his car, you fidgeting with the hem of your dress and not looking at him, returning to your previously skittish state. Madara was hyperaware of your presence. You really weren't aware of the effect you had on men around you. Even during dinner, multiple men looked your way to bask in your beauty and grace. While he was also taken in by you, all of you and not just your appearance, he wasn’t anxious himself. He wished you wouldn’t be nervous around him –you had nothing to worry about when you were with him.

He pulled up to the drop-off at your condo.

“Thank you for tonight. I haven’t had such a pleasant time in a long while.” His time was filled with either work, managing Izuna, or merely by himself in peaceful tranquility. Madara was sincere.

“Thank you again for inviting me. You were wonderful.” He really was. Despite your blunders, Madara had been kind the entire night.

You glanced up at him, unsure again, but he looked so dashing you couldn’t help it. Would he let you?

You shyly leaned over towards him and Madara immediately took the invitation. His face was mere inches from yours, when suddenly you chickened out and pecked him on the cheek instead. You wished him goodnight and a safe drive home and scampered away, screaming at yourself and how lame you were as you closed the door to your condo.

Madara stared after you, fingers on his cheek where you were moments ago, at first stunned, then beaming in delight.

My brother’s heart wasn’t the only one that stopped when we saw you.

~To be continued~

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

Notes:

I tried to capture the discomfort a normal person would feel when first getting to know Madara. He's seriously intimidating! I’d be nervous too if Madara suddenly dropped into my life, even if he wasn’t trying to kill me and was just being a normal guy. Such is Madara’s presence. Way too intense. I also tried to convey how Madara appears differently in front of loved ones like Izuna and a relative stranger, even if he’s already romantically interested. He really doesn’t know how to express himself well, but he tried. He ended up kind of cute in this one.

By the way, the Reader in this story isn’t me. I’m an ICU nurse in real life, so there are aspects to the character’s thoughts that may resemble mine, particularly with regard to the healthcare system. The frustration and anger there is real, given the current healthcare climate. I sincerely hope I didn’t turn anyone away with my ranting. The Reader is more an amalgamation of different real-life nurses in terms of personality, quirks, and life circumstances which hopefully still comes across as somewhat relatable.

It’s much more realistic for a Registered Nurse who needs extra $ to take a gig with a private nursing company than to go looking for a sugar daddy haha, but I wanted us to meet Madara.

Izuna should have died from his injuries due to cardiac arrest/sepsis/multi-organ failure and be missing parts of his limbs from the epinephrine (one of the pressors that would have been used), but this is fiction and I want good things for him and Madara. So Izuna lives. Come on, as if Madara would find himself on a sugar dating site of his own accord. Of course Izuna was involved.

P.S. This is my first time writing a real fanfiction with a plot in over a decade. I guess Madara inspires me. I found this lighter tone a bit hard to write. Please let me know what you think!

#madara uchiha #uchiha madara #madara #madara fanfiction #protect me forever #madara x you #madara x reader #madara x y/n

[baura-bear]

HEY POOKIE !!!!! HOW ARE YOU!!! HOPE YOU'RE FEELING BETTER!!! here's some vigilante david javid i wrote for you. it's kind of sloppy but also what david experiences is a big part of the idea in itself sooo!!! also yeah his superhero name is desmodus which I KNOW is lame but its origin is the latin name for vampire bat so. yeah. :3

David groaned, slouching further over his desk, eventually slamming his head on its surface and closing his eyes. He felt miserable.

He was just trying to sketch out some upgrades for his suit (if it could even be called that, considering it was just a normal outfit with a few quirks), and he ended up wallowing in his anxieties.

He straightened his back, running a hand through his hair as he sighed and looked at his room's ceiling, spinning on his chair. He felt miserable and he was a loser. And because he was a loser.

As David looked over at the corkboard above his desk, at the plenty of photos of himself and his friends, mostly Jack, he felt even worse. Because David Jacobs was a sore loser, and Desmodus was a cool badass. And he felt like Jack liked his vigilante persona more than actual David.

It was irrational--they've been friends for pretty much their whole lives, they've been through a lot, and yet, for whatever dumb reason, David was slowly growing sure that Jack didn't like him that much. He felt boring, too boring for Jack.

And it's not like Jack gushed about David's secret persona daily or something, but still, the one-off mentions about how cool he wasbor whatever were enough for David to gradually become paranoid. Plus, on the occasions that he ran into Jack while in disguise, Jack did seem pretty smitten.

How could David not feel miserable? He's been in love with Jack to the point of no return, just for Jack to have a crush on some guy running around in a gas mask? Not just any guy, either, but David. He could only imagine Jack's disappointment until finding out who really was under that mask.

David decided to sleep the sorrow off. He stood up and quickly toppled over to his bed, but of course, instead of actually sleeping, he just started doomscrolling on his phone, watching some stupid videos, anything to turn his brain off for a moment.

Just when his eyelids actually started getting heavy, someone suddenly barged into his room, startling him. He sat up and looked over at whoever was standing in the doorway, and it was Jack. Of course.

"What are you doing here?" David asked, scrunching his eyebrows.

Jack scrunched his eyebrows right back at David, throwing his backpack on the floor already. "What d'you mean? It's Saturday."

"Oh. It is?"

"Yeah."

Right. David forgot that it was Saturday, and as such, he forgot that Jack always came over for the night.

David didn't bother moving, and instead he just moved to the side a little, giving Jack more room, which he quickly occupied by lying down next to his friend.

Jack, hands at the back of his head, sighed contentedly, closing his eyes for a moment as he relaxed. That let David inspect the boy's face, and that was one of his favorite activities ever, even though he memorized everything so well.

"You seem kinda sad," Jack noticed, only now opening his eyes and turning his head to look at David, who didn't stop shamelessly checking Jack out, currently studying the curve of his eyebrows.

David shrugged. He couldn't tell Jack anyway, so he didn't bother.

"Awh, c'mon," Jack ushered, rolling himself closer to David, arms lazily wrapping around his waist and pulling him closer. "What's goin' on, Davey?"

David groaned, shaking his head, refusing to speak, though the embrace was obviously very welcome. He hugged Jack's torso, burying his face in his neck, or rather the fabric of his hoodie, and he closed his eyes.

A couple of seconds passed by like that, Jack patiently waiting, caressing David's back. "So you ain't gonna tell me?" he asked finally, but he didn't move.

"No." A firm answer, and Jack knew better than to pry at it.

"Alright. If you change your mind..." Jack offered still.

"I know." And David also knew, remembered that Jack cared about him. All of a sudden his worries seemed silly in retrospect, and even if just for now, David felt okay. He would offer Jack some leftovers in a minute, but he was silent, wanting to stay like that for a minute or two more.

HAIIIII DAV E!!! I am feeling better in terms of COVID!! Still a little funky in the head though but that’s normal! I hope you’re doing well!!! You’ve been pumping out so much great art??!!!! Writing and drawing included

I’m always so happy when you share with me :’)

David is so silly!!!! Of course Jack likes him silly silly boy (Desmodus is cool because Davey is cool obviously 🙄) hehe I love these two boys so much i wanna see Jack interact with desmodus cause I just know he thinks that’s the coolest shit ever omg

#thank you for sharing it makes me so happy #ftm-megamind #asks